Chris swiveled around in his chair to face the camera. He shot finger guns towards the lens and announced, "Annnnd we're back! Didn't that feel like the longest commercial break, like, ever? It was practically two years long!" He cackled and directed the cameraman to step closer to the control panel monitors. "Just to jog your memory, last time our teams duked it out on stage in a battle of the high school-themed musicals. Team Don won – unfortunately," he grumbled the second part to himself before turning back on his megawatt smile. "But was quickly humbled by a party gone wrong." The monitor replayed the catfight between Rina and Kirsten. "Will they get themselves together in time for today's challenges? Who knows!"

The monitor then displayed Team Chris' elimination ceremony. "Team Chris, the kings of mediocrity - unlike their namesake - finally lost a challenge and had to send home debatably their most talented player. And, things got heavy once fingers started getting pointed at psychology student Genevieve." The scene changed to Genevieve overhearing Janice and Erica's conversation about voting her out. "Will they be back on track now that the tensions have cooled down? I sure hope so, because tonight's prize for us coaches is a free trip to the best Botox-injector in Ontario!" He stopped himself and clarified sheepishly, "Not that I need that stuff. This chiseled face is all natural, m'kay?"

The screen switched to Team Blaineley's team meeting. "Oh, and let's not forget Team Blaineley, where pretty much no one trusts each other." On the screen, Luna gave Zane an analyzing look. "Looks like someone gave scaredy cat Brianna a bit of liquid courage, which backfired majorly. Will Zane and Leon be found out? Or will tensions on the team get so bad it doesn't even matter?" He snickered. "For the sake of our ratings, I hope it's the latter. Wait!" He pointed at the underpaid cameraman. "That totally rhymed! I'm like a modern day Shakespeare!" The cameraman made a hand gesture signaling for Chris to speed it up. Irritated that his rhyming skills went unpraised, Chris hastily finished the rest of the introduction.

"Will the drama of last night get in the way of today's physically excruciating mini-challenge? I can answer that question with a confident 'yes'. But see for yourself on this episode of Total! Drama! Takes the Stage!"

TEAM DON – STAIRWELL – 9:32 AM

Ivan slumped down the staircase leading to the dorm halls, absolutely dreading what was to come. He cursed at everyone he felt had led him to this moment: Chris for the last-minute announcement, Chef for not physically throwing Team Don off the party bus, and the entire team for being a bunch of idiots. Hell, Ivan realized, he could even blame Aaron for putting him on this team in the first place. Things were going downhill, and Ivan wasn't sure if all of this was worth the stress.

Upon reaching the Team Don hall, he considered two options. Ivan could corral his teammates together in less than 30 minutes and ensure that Team Don got to see another day. His other option was to let them all sleep in as punishment for partying all night like a bunch of хулиганы – hooligans.

CONFESSIONAL: Ivan

"People will never learn discipline if they don't suffer consequences for goofing off. As a child, I barely had any time to myself. I ate and breathed violin, even when…" the Russian stared into the distance, his eyes almost glazed. The flicker of the red light on the camera snapped him out of his trance. "I sacrificed a lot. Why should I let the rest of the team get away with what they did last night?"

Before Ivan could answer his own rhetorical question, Don's head poked into the recording booth and chirped, "Because you'd be first voted off if you don't!"

Ivan gave Don a withering look before refocusing on the camera. With defeat in his eyes, he said, "I suppose that's reason enough."

Ivan decided waking up the other boys first would be easiest. Though he still didn't know what occurred at the party last night, he did recall being woken up by Rina's pterodactyl screeching and did not want to be on the receiving end of that any time soon. He entered the Boys Room and cupped his tiny, pale hands around his mouth. He figured a good yell would be able to do the trick. "Wake up! Wake up! We have a mini-challenge!"

All he got in response was a downright painful sounding snore from Dalton. It was so loud it practically echoed off the walls. "You should really get that checked out," the violinist muttered. He combed a hand through his unruly hair and sighed. "Well, I tried. No one can blame me for that." He was about to exit the room, but a tingle of anxiety reminded him that becoming persona non grata of his team would send him back to Russia in no time. He had to think fast.

Maybe it was an imaginary lightbulb above his head, or maybe it was just the increasingly concerning sounds coming from Dalton, but Ivan got an idea. He dug under his bunk to retrieve his most prized possession. Protected within a leather case was the violin that had turned him into a prodigy. Made of the highest quality ebony wood, it had cost thousands of rubles, but his mother had always told him that to be the best, he deserved the best. An ache spread over his chest as he thought of his mother, and briefly wondered what she would think of him being on this show. As well as what he was about to do.

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" he tugged the bow down the strings in a way that created a high-pitched sound that was even unholier than Dalton's snoring. The cacophony pierced through everyone's eardrums, waking the boys up almost instantly.

Dalton was immediately on his feet, holding his pillow as if it were a weapon. Dustin flew out of his bunk and onto the hard ground. As Dustin was falling, Drew shot up with such force that he hit his head on the top bunk. "Dammit!" he yelped, clutching his forehead. "What the hell was that?!"

Dustin writhed on the ground, his lanky limbs askew. "Help…me…"

Dalton gripped his pillow until his knuckles turned white. "Are we under attack?! Somebody get the guns!"

Drew stopped rubbing his temples long enough to raise an eyebrow. "Well don't you seem ready to go? Maybe I underestimated you, Cowboy."

Before Dalton could reply, Ivan cleared his throat. "If you all are finished with the dramatics, we have to be outside for the mini-challenge by 10:00. Get washed up and dressed or we'll have to forfeit, and I would really like to actually have an advantage for once." The violinist scrubbed his dry eyes and promptly left for the Girls room.

Drew groaned. "You tellin' me we overslept?" He hopped out of bed and accidentally landed on Dustin's legs. Stunned by the boy's presence on the ground, Drew showed a rare display of sympathy and went, "Whoa, sorry kid. Are you good?"

The math whiz threw a shaky thumbs up before curling up into a ball.

TEAM DON – GIRLS SIDE – 9:36 AM

The state of the Girls room shocked Ivan. He expected to see a line made of tape dividing the room in half and the girls to be covered in war paint, but instead found four peacefully sleeping girls.

Well, it wouldn't be peaceful for long.

Ivan repeated the same motion with his violin, much to his (and everyone else's) dismay. Eleanor screamed at the top of her lungs and hid under her sheets. Nadine simply sat up and rubbed her eyes, used to getting loudly woken up by her brother. Kirsten was on her feet first. "What are you doing in our room, perv?!" and punched him in the face on reflex. Ivan clutched his eye.

Kirsten gasped once she realized the intruder wasn't Drew. "Oh, my God, I'm so sorry!"

Ivan winced. "It's fine." It wasn't, but there was no use in causing more drama.

"Kirsten's a wild animal, Ivan." Rina commented as she calmly removed her fluffy sleep mask to reveal a purple, puffy black eye. "It'd be safer to not engage and stay away."

Kirsten started to turn red but appeared to clamp her tongue. Ivan rolled his eyes as he felt a migraine threatening to wreak havoc over his head. He did not need this today. Or ever.

Luckily, before he had to say anything, Nadine stepped in with, "What's going on, Ivan? Is breakfast ready?" She had been hoping to trade some recipes with the other amateur chefs.

Ivan huffed a rueful laugh. "Breakfast is over. We have a mini-challenge outside in 20 minutes. Please try not to kill each other before we can compete. We need all the help we can get." He left and returned his violin to its case.

"Twenty minutes?" Rina dug a compact mirror from the ether and used it to examine her eye. She whimpered. "How am I supposed to cover up this…this…monstrosity…in twenty minutes?"

"I can help!" Eleanor chirped, joining the older girl on her bed. "I had a bad black eye from a volleyball injury once. Funnily enough, it was one of Ariana's makeup tutorials that taught me how to cover it up. Small world, right?"

Rina forced her eyes to not roll to the back of her head. "Not small enough," she muttered, but passed Eleanor her makeup bag. "If you can fix this literal eyesore before we have to be on camera, I owe you my life."

"Uh," Nadine interjected on her way to the bathroom. "You're already on camera. We're always on camera."

Rina didn't stop her eyes from rolling this time.

OUTSIDE – 9:59 AM

Teams Chris and Blaineley waited outside in the uncharacteristically sweltering Toronto heat. Chef stood before them holding something behind his back, staring at the crowd with slightly more malice than usual. Quite a few of the contestants wished they hadn't had such a big breakfast.

"So, uh…" Jalen prompted with clear discomfort. Sweat stained the pits of his suit jacket. He was really starting to regret his choice to "dress for success". "What torture are we being put through today?"

"Oh, you'll see." Chef snickered before checking his watch. He looked through the crowd and raised an eyebrow in irritation. "Where the hell is Team Don?" He quickly noticed Ivan cowering behind Leon and his ever-growing head of hair. Chef blew his whistle. "Pertovich! Where's your team?!"

Ivan gulped and ran a shaking hand through his dark mess of hair. There was a minute left, but a quick look at the door showed no sign of his teammates. "They…are on their way?" His accent came out even thicker through his nerves. He should've known the team would screw him over. Typical хулиганы, he thought bitterly.

Chef rolled his eyes. "They shouldn't be 'on their way', they should be here! It's very disrespectful to not be mindful of people's time." He crossed his bulging arms irritably, revealing what he had been holding behind his back the whole time: a shiny black handgun.

The crowd of teams gasped, and a couple (namely, Brianna and Devon) ducked to the ground.

"P-put that weapon of unspeakable destruction away!" Devon screeched with his head tucked into his knees, tears quickly forming in his eyes. "I knew coming here was a bad idea, but I didn't think it would end like this! Our Heavenly Father, please forgive me for all my sins and –"

"Boy, if you don't get up!" Chef aimed the gun at the sky and pulled the trigger, firing off nothing but a cloud of white smoke. "It's a starting pistol, fool. No ammo!" He fired it again just to prove his point. Most of the teens still flinched but were put at ease that Chef wasn't going to slaughter them where they stood. Except for Devon.

Still on the pavement, Devon yelped, "You are a dangerous person! I did some research before coming here, and between you and that McLean character, you two have over 74 criminal charges!" He rose on shaking legs and pointed a finger at Chef. "Including murder!"

Chef smirked. "Nothing any of you can prove in court. Anyway," he flippantly changed the subject. "Now on to today's mini-challenge—"

"Wait!" The introduction was cut off by the sound of the double doors opening and seven pairs of feet slapping against the pavement. All of them out of breath, they came to a halt in front of Chef, looking like total hot messes.

"Y'all look like total hot messes," Chef observed. Drew's usually perfectly tousled hair now sat askew on his head. Dalton's flannel was misbuttoned and his trademark cowboy hat was on backwards. Dustin looked like he had been ran over by a tractor and leaned most of his weight on the side that didn't hit the floor when he fell. Of the girls, Nadine and Kirsten were well groomed as they had claimed the showers first, however Rina and Eleanor were still in their pajamas. Chef shook his head and said, "Whatever, you're disqualified anyway."

Sounds of dissent came from the teens. Kirsten was first to challenge this information. "What?! We booked it here as soon as we found out there was a mini-challenge!"

"Yeah," agreed Dustin. "We're not even late! The guys and I perfectly timed our showers so we wouldn't be!"

"At least you guys got to shower," Rina muttered. Though she was glad that Eleanor had managed to cover up her black eye, it was at the expense of standing outside wearing a satin nightgown in front of everyone.

"That's too damn bad, because last time I checked, Chris told you to be here by 10:00." Chef held his watch up. "And it's 10:02," he finished with a raised eyebrow.

Drew scoffed. "Ah, c'mon man! Two minutes, big whoop. Just let us play!"

Chef shrugged, seemingly unaffected but secretly taking joy in the team's demise. Just as he had planned the night before. "Rules are rules. I told you last night not to party too hard. Besides," he swiveled the pistol between his fingers. "None of you are in good enough shape for what I'm about to have Team Chris and Team Blaineley do. Now move out the way! You too, Pertovich." He directed at Ivan, who slumped up against the wall of the dorm building with the rest of his team. The violinist refused to meet any of their eyes, his disappointment palpable.

"Now, I'm sure some of you maggots have an idea about today's mini-challenge, right?" Chef snickered again at some of the contestants' blanching faces. "You'll be racing each other for an advantage in the main challenge. And not just any race either." He almost paused for dramatic effect before remembering he wasn't nearly as obnoxious as Chris. "A relay race."

The teens collectively groaned, well, save for the athletes of the bunch who figured this would be the easiest mini-challenge yet. Aaron and Jordan bumped fists, silently communicating that they would take the lead on this one.

CONFESSIONAL: Aaron

"Team Chris is in desperate need of an advantage right now." The Chicano started counting off with his fingers. "A: it'll lift everyone's spirits after last night's loss. Things got kinda tense and I need everyone's eyes on the prize. B: as much as I hate to admit it, we did lose a pretty strong player. We all have our strengths, but Ariana definitely added…" he considered it for a bit. "Pizazz? But, that doesn't matter. We're all pizazzy! We're gonna win this mini-challenge, get the advantage, and get first place tonight!" He said with increased volume, his naturally competitive nature starting to shine through. "Besides, it's just a relay race. Easy-peasy. We've got this in the bag."

"But this ain't your average schoolyard relay race." This time Chef broke out into a full-on cackle. Coming up with this mini-challenge was the most fun Chef had had this season yet. "Before we start, I'm gonna divide you all into two groups, and set up who takes what position."

"Huh?" Zane questioned, already over the entire morning. He wished the show would nix the mini-challenges already. "You're picking the positions? How is that fair?"

"Because I said so!" responded Chef with a sneer. He also closed his eyes thoughtfully. "Plus, this is fairer than I should be. Team Chris is full of athletes and trained dancers. Team Blaineley has…" he eyed the group with some judgement. "A bunch of nerds."

Jalen raised a hand, ready to lay into Chef, before deflating and sighing, "Yeah…" He looked at an irritated Millie and comforted her with, "But not you! If you're a nerd, then you're the hottest one I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of nerds!" He didn't mention that was because they were his only friends. Millie's eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"Alright," Chef began again, annoyed that they were already behind schedule. "Unless anyone has any other interruptions, here are the groups. On the right I want Leon, Jordan, Janice, Millie, Hayato, Luna, Devon, and Brianna. On the left, I want Zavier, Gemini, Aaron, Jalen, Zane, Genevieve, Erica, and Chiara. Each of you will be put into pairs." He took out a clipboard from the ether and examined it carefully. "On the right side of the street – er, race course – in first position is Luna vs. Jordan. Second position is Leon vs. Devon, third position is Jalen vs. Janice, and final position is Brianna vs. Hayato." He turned to a new page and clicked his tongue. "As for the left side, first position is Zavier vs. Chiara, second is Gemini vs. Aaron, third is Millie vs. Erica, and final position is Zane vs. Genevieve. The pairs will race each other until they reach the next pair, where they will then hand off their baton." At this Chef lifted four batons out of his unknowably large apron pocket. Two were red for Team Chris, and the other two were blue for Team Blaineley. He tossed the red ones to Jordan and Chiara, and the blue to Luna and Zavier. "In order for your team to win, you have to come in first on both sides. If, say, Team Chris wins on the right and Team Blaineley wins on the left, then no one gets the advantage. Make sense?"

It did not make sense to most of the teens, but they nodded anyway. "These mini-challenges are getting more and more convoluted," whispered Luna to Jordan, who snorted. The soccer player cleared his throat and asked Chef, "What happens if there's a tie on one side though? Is there a tie-breaker?"

"Oh, there's a tie-breaker alright," Chef practically giggled with malicious glee. "Just hope we don't need to use it." He directed each contestant to their positions, which they quickly found were in…less than desirable conditions.

"You want us to run into oncoming traffic?!" Cried Janice as she stared down a speeding SUV. It swerved around her and Jalen, but not without the driver making an unkind hand gesture out the window. "You have lost your mind!"

"Hey," called Erica from across the street. "At least you're not on the side with all the road work being done. This is such bull." Potholes littered the rough asphalt on the left side, and multiple construction signs blocked what would have otherwise been a clear path to the finish line.

Janice sputtered. "Yeah, no, this side is definitely worse!"

Back in first position, Luna chewed her lower lip apprehensively. She wasn't sure how to breech the subject with Jordan, but now would be the perfect time to do so. She knew he would absolutely wash her in a race – not only was he a skilled athlete, but he had about two feet on her. Her relatively stubby legs wouldn't take her as far nearly as fast.

CONFESSIONAL: Luna

"I didn't come here thinking I was going to start an alliance, but after getting to know Jordan, he seems like the only trustworthy person here that also knows how to play this game. It'd be foolish of me to not take this opportunity. I want to get as far as I can here, and I know he does too. I'd happily help him when I can if he can get me out of this one small jam."

"Er, Jordan?" The older teen looked at her expectantly. "Remember what we talked about in the kitchen earlier?"

Jordan's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before a look of realization dawned on his face. "The alliance thing, yeah?" Luna nodded.

"You've given it some thought? I mean, I know this seems a tad sudden—"

"You want me to throw the race for you, don't you?" Jordan deadpanned.

Luna began to sweat. "'Throw' isn't the word I would've used but…" she sighed. "You're going to give your team a huge head start. There's no doubt Team Chris will win this mini-challenge. But I don't want it to look like my fault when that happens, you know? So, if you wanted, we could form an alliance of sorts. Just to help each other out every now and then."

Jordan considered the offer. He didn't really have anything to lose, but he also didn't have much to gain either.

CONFESSIONAL: Jordan

"I don't want to go behind anyone's back by forming an alliance. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of my team. But…" he scratched the patch of hair on his chin. "Luna seems like a good person, and she's smart too. But how am I to know if she's not going to go back on her part of the deal after I help her out?" He hated sounding so cynical, but if he had learned anything from his past it was to not trust too easily. "If anyone on Team Chris finds out about this, I'll be kicked off in no time. I can't take that kind of risk without some…insurance."

"I'll see what I can do," Jordan finally said. "But," he added quickly upon seeing Luna's smile. "I have to know this isn't going to be one-sided. If I don't outrun you too badly today, you'll need to have my back when I need it, whenever that is."

Luna nodded. "Of course. Look, you already know my team is in total chaos right now. I wouldn't screw you over knowing you have intel like that." Jordan looked satisfied with this answer, so the English girl continued. "We should meet up later to discuss strategy. After your team meeting, of course." The two Brits shook on it and readied themselves for the race.

Down at the final position, Hayato and Brianna were trying their hardest to not look at each other. They hadn't talked since the scavenger hunt mini-challenge from yesterday, but neither teen had stopped thinking about the other. Hayato didn't want to race his old friend, he wanted them to sit down and share a plate of red bean mochi while reminiscing the past. He wanted to update her on his life and ask her about all those years she had spent away. He wanted to tell her she was even more beautiful than when he last saw her.

But instead, he had to race her to the finish line.

CONFESSIONAL: Hayato

"Fuck. My. Life."

Brianna was, surprisingly enough, the first of them to speak. "Um…I never got to thank you for yesterday." Her voice was quiet but steady (for once). She chanced a look at the Japanese boy and gave him a small smile. Hayato's knees turned to jelly. Which is, you know, not ideal during a relay race.

"Ha, yeah. Um." His mind went blank. "What do you mean?"

Brianna tucked a long strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Oh, just…encouraging me to play. I would've really messed things up for the team if you hadn't talked me into it." She frowned. "Well, I still messed things up anyway. It's my fault we didn't win."

Hayato reached to place a hand on her shoulder but stopped himself at the last minute. He knew how hard the blonde could be on herself but didn't want to overstep. "That can't be true, Bri—Brianna. You're so talented and—"

"Alright, alright, enough chit-chat everyone! Whether y'all are ready or not, I'm about to start." Without even counting down, Chef shot the starting pistol, and the race began.

LEFT SIDE

Zavier figured this mini-challenge was going to be a breeze. He wasn't lying when he said he ran track in high school. Yeah, he got kicked off the team after two meets, but that didn't really mean anything. He was sure he'd be able to outrun a literal clown.

"Do they have gyms at clown school?" Zavier yelled as he and Chiara dodged various "ROAD WORK AHEAD" signs. "I guess you guys have to be in pretty good shape to fit in those little clown cars, huh?" He laughed at his own joke but was quickly silence when he stumbled on the uneven ground.

Chiara made a sound that only to the attuned ear could be identified as a chuckle. The Pagliacco was glad that news of his past had not made its way to the other contestants. None of them were aware that he had spent time in juvenile boot camp, where he had been forced to run laps every morning for a year. His well-toned legs could carry him as far as he needed to go. "Do you…believe I work in circus?" he asked with a small quirk of the lips.

"Duh, isn't that where clowns work?" Zavier asked, genuinely stunned at the question. So stunned that he didn't see the open manhole that the boys were quickly approaching.

Chiara maintained a poker face as he said, "I don't know. Where do you work?" With that, he gracefully leapt over the manhole. Zavier, too shocked by Chiara's dig, kept running and fell right into the hole. All that could be heard was the sound of his scream and an eventual splash. After a couple beats of silence, Zavier screamed, "You have GOT to be kidding me!"

Chiara quickly reached Aaron and passed him the baton. Aaron bolted off almost instantly, leaving a cloud of smoke in Chiara and Gemini's wake. Gemini crossed her arms and asked, "Uh, where's Zavier?"

Chiara said nothing, but a gleam in his eye told Gemini all she needed to know. "Oh, so we're screwed. Awesome."

Zavier had managed to climb out of the manhole, covered in unspeakable substances. His eyes watered from the stench that now clung to his body, but he hit the ground running. As soon as he was within four yards of Gemini, he threw the baton and she caught it, before feeling the slick texture and dropping it to the ground.

"Ew, what is on that?" She looked at the sludge-covered boy. "And what is on you?"

Zavier, through gritted teeth, growled, "Just. Go. And wash your hands afterwards." He proceeded to pass out from the fumes.

Gemini looked from Zavier's limp body, to Chiara, to Aaron's retreating form, then back to Chiara. The Italian merely stretched his muscles, unaffected by the happenings around him. Gemini groaned, picked up the baton, and ran after Aaron.

The Texan was running at a comfortable pace, knowing that Gemini wouldn't be able to catch up to him. He hopped over another open manhole and briefly wondered why the street was such a disaster. He definitely regretted signing the 17 different waivers when he applied to be on the show.

As he approached the third position, he could see that Erica and Millie were in the middle of a rather…heated discussion.

Millie's round face was red with anger. "You take that back right now!"

Erica, with hands on her hips, replied, "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: CATS was hot garbage!"

"You're hot garbage!"

"Emphasis on 'hot', I know." The curly-haired girl cackled until she saw Aaron barreling towards them. "Took you long enough, big shot."

"Yeah, yeah," He looked at Millie who was still glaring at Erica. "Gave you enough time to rile up the competition though." He passed the baton and leaned in to whisper, "Gemini is way behind me. We're pretty much home-free. The only way we could lose is if the right side doesn't pull through."

Erica shrugged. "Jordan's got us covered over there. We got this." She bumped Aaron's fist and took off, ignoring Millie's irritated huffing.

"This is a nightmare!" Millie shouted at the sky. "Where is Gemini? Chef said this was going to be a fair race!"

Chef, who was standing at the finish line but had an earpiece filtering all the discussion to his ears, sucked his teeth. "I never said that." He looked at the camera. "Did I?" He shrugged. "Oh well."

Aaron pat Millie on the back, which was as bad of an idea as patting a feral cat. "I'm sure she'll be here soon. Why don't you do some breathing exercises while you wait?" Without waiting for her to agree, Aaron started slowly inhaling and exhaling. "Like this?"

Millie's head twisted around at a near impossible angle. She pulled down the collar of Aaron's shirt and said in an eerily high-pitched voice, "Don't. Talk. To Me. Ever. Again." Once she released him, her demeanor instantly changed back to her usual bubbly self. "Oh, look, it's Gemini!"

Aaron stumbled away just as Gemini arrived and passed the baton. Millie skipped towards the third position as if everything was right in the world.

Gemini noticed Aaron's shaken expression. "You okay, dude? The run didn't do a number on you, did it? I barely made it through all the construction tape. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen, right?" She playfully punched Aaron in the arm which snapped him out of his stupor.

"Oh, yeah," he said with a forced laugh. "The construction tape was a doozy. Not the scary theater kid. The scary theater kid was fine."

Erica was well ahead of Millie and, despite all the roadblocks, would be at the final position in no time. The New Yorker knew if she wanted Team Blaineley to have a chance at getting that advantage, she would have to play dirty.

Erica was running underneath a wooden safety platform, which was barely held up by one rather weak-looking pillar. Millie dipped down to grab a piece of loose asphalt, and threw it at the pillar, knocking it free and sending the whole platform crashing down on top of the other girl. She giggled as Erica cried for help and tried to make her way out of the rubble.

As Millie ran past the Erica, who was clawing her way to freedom, she sing-songed, "And this is why you never talk down on CATS!" Steam practically poured out of Erica's ears.

CONFESSIONAL: Erica

The Puerto Rican sat in front of the camera, holding a large bowl in her lap as she stirred a concoction together. When it appeared full mixed, she grinned at the camera. "Millie will pay. That is all."

Millie reached Zane and handed him the baton. Before he could run away, she chirped, "Just so you know, I personally just got us the lead. So, don't mess this up. No pressure!" She winked and pushed him away before he could say a word.

Genevieve wasn't too bothered by the current circumstances. She had ascertained that the chances of either team winning the advantage were slim. There was simply no way that Team Chris would be able to win on both sides anyway. She knew the team's pride would take a hit, but she was hopeful that her teammates wouldn't start pointing fingers at each other. It was just a mini-challenge, after all.

She had spent her time in the final position silently studying Zane. He was, substantively, a tough cookie to crack. She had tried to start polite conversation, and while he had answered some of her questions, he kept everything very vague. She wondered how he managed to get along with a team full of rather…loud personalities.

Like the personality of the girl who was now bouncing on the balls of her feet next to her. She mentally noted the interaction between Millie and Zane. Between the disgusted look on Zane's face and Millie's feigned exuberance that was hiding something much darker, Genevieve knew she had an ideal potential subject on her hands.

"Congratulations on getting your team a lead," the college student said kindly. "That must have been difficult with Aaron and Erica."

Millie blinked her dark brown eyes once, then twice. Her mouth slowly broke into a smile. "Oh, thank you! It wasn't too hard, Erica ran straight into a trap and I took advantage of it." Genevieve could tell the other girl was deeply flattered by the compliment and made another mental note. Millie desperately craves validation, she thought.

The dam had been broken and Millie couldn't stop talking. "I had a feeling that Gemini and that dingbat Zavier were going to let us down. It's like, you can't count on people for anything around here! At least on my team, that is. It feels like I'm putting in all the work and getting zero recognition. They all act like I'm some sort of dictator! But am I really? Am I really a dictator or are they just a bunch of ungrateful laze-abouts? I wouldn't even mind if they would just respect me!" Genevieve listened and nodded as Erica appeared in her periphery.

"You know, you're actually pretty easy to talk to," went Millie, as if Genevieve had contributed to the conversation in any meaningful way. Genevieve was used to people telling her their secrets, but she hadn't expected Millie to serve her team's biggest weakness to her on a platter. "Your name's Jenny, right? Do you like CATS: The Musical? You don't seem nearly as cultureless as the rest of the people on your team."

"Genevieve. And, sure." Genevieve said quickly right when Erica gave her the baton. "It was nice talking to you!" The blonde ran off, knowing it was for naught as Zane was within feet of the finish line already.

Before Millie could take a seat on the curb of the sidewalk, Erica whispered to her, "Watch your back tonight, okay?" and walked away. Millie gulped.

Zane reached the finish line and threw the baton at Chef's head. He glared at the boy but nonetheless declared Team Blaineley the winner for the left side of the course. Aaron's jaw dropped, Genevieve simply sighed, and Erica furiously kicked a rock on the ground. Chiara maintained his disaffected appearance, but was internally pissed that things went south after he had given the team a leg-up.

Millie, Gemini, and Zane on the other hand were ecstatic. They all high-fived (even Zane and Millie) before noticing that Zavier was still passed out all the way down the street. Zane inhaled and trudged back to get him before either of the other two could ask. He was honestly surprised that they had won at all, especially without his own brand of manipulation in the mix. If the right side did what they needed to do, then this would be the second mini-challenge win in a row for Team Blaineley.

Except, he noticed, the race was still in progress across the street. And it wasn't looking good.

RIGHT SIDE

At the sound of the pistol, Jordan shot off like a bullet. Running came naturally to him, almost as natural as kicking around a soccer ball. He took no issue with the cars whizzing down the street towards him. His coach back home had made his team run in the street multiple times before. Granted, it was in the cycleway and not headfirst into traffic, but it was no skin off his bones. He managed to dodge the cars as if he had been doing it his whole life.

Luna, on the other hand, was struggling big time. Every time a car came near her, she would jump out of the way and stay still until another car would drive towards her. She appeared to be playing a game of leapfrog that was going nowhere. She would never make it to the second position at this rate.

Jordan had originally intended to just slow down a couple times, so as to give the younger girl some time to catch up. But now, it looked like he would need to be a bit more hands-on. He backtracked until he reached Luna, who was caught like a deer in headlights, totally frozen in place. He swiftly knelt down in front of her with his back turned, beckoning for her to hop on.

Luna stopped cowering long enough to gasp. "Are you mad? You can't piggyback me to the next position! Leon and Devon will see."

"Not if I drop you off right before we appear in their line of sight. If I leave you here, you'll never be able to hand off the baton and your team will blame you for the loss. We're supposed to be helping each other, right?"

Luna wrung her hands but agreed. She was warmed by Jordan's actions and silently promised herself that if she were to win the whole competiton, she'd dedicate a portion of the winnings to him. She hopped on the young man's back and they took off.

Luckily for them, Leon and Devon were too busy avoiding cars themselves to notice their near arrival. Luna jumped off Jordan's back and said, "I owe you big time." The two of them ran the rest of the way, Jordan still coming in the lead but not by nearly as much as Devon expected.

"What took you so dang long? I thought I would catch my death out here!" Devon snatched the baton out of Jordan's hand and scurried away. Jordan grumbled, "A thank you would've been nice" under his breath.

Luna and Leon exchanged the baton and the Spaniard pat the small girl on the head. "You did a great job keeping up with that guy! You must be very fast. I will take your endurance all the way to the finish line!" He paused. "Or, at least to third position. Adios!" He launched off, literally leaping over the cars in his way.

Leon caught up to Devon and subsequently surpassed him easily. He had spent years training himself to near physical perfection, and he wasn't going to let some puny cars hinder him. His game of car leapfrog (leapcar?) was much more effective than Luna's, and he reached Jalen in no time.

Jalen, who had been trying (and failing) at hitting on Janice the whole time, was somewhat glad for an out. He was sure he was seconds away from getting slapped in the face when Leon tossed him the baton.

"Well, uh, this was a great chat," said the jazz singer with his faux-deep voice. "But I have to skedaddle. Would you mind giving me a kiss for the road?" He puckered his lips towards Janice, but before she could sock him in the mouth, a car came and punted him off the road.

Janice and Leon stood in horrified shock. Their fears were laid to rest when Jalen landed in the bed of a truck carrying manure. The driver of the truck, not noticing that a literal person was on top of his vehicle, kept driving. Jalen got up to the best of his ability, his body sore from the impact of the hit-and-run, but not nearly as sore as it would be when the adrenaline would inevitably wear off.

CONFESSIONAL: Jalen

Jalen sat in a wheelchair in the recording booth. Both his arms were in casts and an intern waited in the background to push him back to his room. "I don't know how I did it, I really don't. But no one can say I didn't come through for my team." He grinned, showing that one of his teeth was missing. "No matter the cost!"

Jalen eyed the van driving behind the manure truck, and took a deep inhale. If he was going to get out of this, he would need to move fast. He sent a prayer to Frank Sinatra and took a literal leap of faith.

To his surprise, he landed right on the roof of the van. The driver started yelling at him to get off, so Jalen jumped to the next car. With the baton still in his hand, he made his way back to his original spot.

Devon was still there, as he had gotten into a fight with one of the drivers who had honked his horn at him. The southerner was outside the front seat window of the car, giving the guy a talking-to about manners.

"It's very rude to use that thing on people! You could've given me a heart attack!" Devon stuffed the baton into the pocket of his slacks and used his sleeve to wipe off his glasses. "I got bad nerves, you see."

"And now you're getting on my nerves!" The driver shouted back. He honked his horn again just to spite the boy and sped off, almost running over Devon's foot.

Devon huffed. He screamed towards the car, "I thought Canadians were supposed to be nice!" He put his nose in the air and fixed his bowtie, so put off by the driver that he forgot what he was supposed to be doing in the first place. That was, until he saw Jalen hopping from car roof to car roof like he was in an action movie. "Egad!" he cried, before continuing the race.

Devon made it to Janice, who glowered at him with contempt. She said, "You're lucky Jalen got sent into orbit, because otherwise we'd be way behind Team Blaineley." As if summoned, Jalen hopped past them with a determination that no one had ever seen in him before. Janice took the baton and got to running.

Hayato and Brianna had continued their conversation after the race began, and were now sitting on the ground, deaf to the cars zooming around them. They were in the middle of exchanging stories about school when Janice and Jalen arrived at the same time with batons at hand. Jalen, on bended knee offered up the baton to Brianna, who stared in confusion until Jalen uttered, "Please take it, I'm going to pass out any second now." Just as he did exactly that, Brianna grabbed the blue baton and redirected her attention to Hayato, who was just handed a red one by Janice. The childhood friends stared at each other for far longer than reasonable, driving Janice mad.

"Uh, Hayato? Can you get a move on? Please?!" She begged, unaware that Team Chris had already lost on the other side of the street. Hayato glared at her and she backed off.

He said to Brianna, "Doesn't this remind you of the time we—"

"Yeah! It was so funny…" she giggled at the memory and unconsciously moved closer to her friend. Literally no one knew what they were talking about.

Brianna and Hayato, so close to each other they were almost holding hands, casually strolled towards the finish line. They repeated old inside jokes as cars crashed around them in their attempt to avoid vehicular manslaughter. After an agonizing amount of time, they finally crossed the line, and were stopped in their tracks by Chef.

"Well, well, well," he began with a leer. "Looks like because of these two lovebirds, we've got a tie." He enjoyed the groans from Team Blaineley. "That means Team Blaineley can only get the advantage if they win the tie breaker. If not, no advantage for either of you clowns." He saw Chiara appear in the crowd that was now forming around him. "No offense."

"No offense taken," Chiara soothed.

Chef went on, "For the tie breaker, I'll need both teams to offer up their fastest competitors." Everyone, except for Jalen and Zavier who were still out of commission, huddled to discuss.

"You should've seen Leon jumping over all the cars," vouched Luna. "He practically has superpowers. Whatever the tie breaker is, he'll be able to smash it."

Zane agreed, adding, "He'll wipe the floor with whoever Team Chris picks. It's a no-brainer, dude." He started shaking Leon's shoulders in an effort to hype him up.

The gentle giant looked thoughtful, and redirected everyone's attention to Luna. "But Luna is a great runner too! She was only slightly behind that Jordan guy, and he's fast as lightning!"

Luna rubbed the back of her neck, cringing slightly. "Oh um, that was nothing. I s'pose I got a big energy boost from breakfast. I'm absolutely knackered now." She faked a yawn and looked away from the crowd just in time to not notice a skeptical look from Zane.

Gemini clapped her hands together. "Cool, so it's Leon against either Aaron or Jordan. You got this!"

While Team Blaineley seemed on good terms and in positive spirts for once, Team Chris was very quickly falling downhill. All that could be heard from their huddle was a clash of accusations and complaints, everyone's voices blending together.

"Hayato, what the hell happened out there?!"

"That stupid, psycho theater freak ruined everything!"

"I just don't see how everything went left so fast…"

"This mini-challenge was stupid anyway, who cares?"

"We care!"

"Maybe we should all just calm down…"

"Shut up, Genevieve!"

"Guys, come on let's be civil."

"I did my part, unfortunately the same can't be said for everyone."

"You spent like five minutes arguing with a driver?!"

"This was supposed to be our comeback…"

"This is basically all Erica's fault anyway."

The fighting stopped when Erica lunged at Devon, knocking him to the ground. The choir boy's glasses flew and landed at Chiara's feet. Chiara knelt and retrieved them for his teammate as Aaron yanked Erica off Devon before she could do any damage. Before anyone could make another move, Chef blew his whistle.

"If y'all are done trying to kill each other, do we have our tie breaker competitors?"

Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on, but stepped forward anyway. "I'll just do it." He cordially shook hands with Leon, who looked about as excited as Aaron looked mentally exhausted.

Chef cracked his knuckles and motioned for the boys to follow him around the corner. They quickly obliged and were led to another street that was closed off due to road work. Despite this, behind all the orange safety cones was the party bus that Team Don had been celebrating in last night.

Leon's eyes widened. "Ooh! This looks fun. Is the tie breaker a dance-off?"

Chef snorted and instructed, "You two stand right in front of the bus, okay? Don't do anything else until I say so." With that, Chef boarded the bus and started the engine. He pressed a button turning on the speaker system that would carry his voice at least three blocks away. "Leon and Aaron! Welcome to the first ever Total Drama Takes the Stage Tie Breaker. Since you both claim to be decent runners, it's time to put that to the test. For real this time." He revved the engine. "Can you outrun a party bus?"

"What?!" Aaron balked. "You don't think this is going a little far?"

"This is Total Drama, what did you expect?" Chef taunted. "In order to win the tie breaker, you have to outrun the bus all the way to the end of the street. You must be in front of the bus the whole time. If you ever try to step off to the side, you lose. If you beg me to slow down, you lose. If you get run over, then well…" he threw his hands up as if to say, "oh well". "But hopefully it doesn't have to come to that. Ready?"

Leon nervously picked at the bandages on his arm. "You won't really try to run us over, will you?"

Chef raised a brow. "You signed the waivers, right?" Leon nodded. "Then don't ask me anymore questions." This time he counted down from 3, giving the boys just enough time to exchange one last terrified look before Chef floored it.

They ran for their lives down the street, careful to not step out of the invisible boundary Chef had set. Aaron was in the lead, but Leon was only a couple yards behind him. Unfortunately for Leon, the bus was right on his tail.

Leon jumped when Chef blasted his horn at him, but still stayed in line. He pushed himself to catch up with Aaron. As the end of the road approached, he was confident that the both of them would make it in time and that Chef would just give both teams an advantage.

That was, until he tripped.

The rough asphalt scraped his hands, which he had used to break his fall. He stood up, turning around to see how far away Chef was, only to discover that he was mere seconds away from getting run over.

He braced himself, prepared to meet his fate, until he heard, "Hey, stop the bus already, you're going to kill him!"

In an instant, the bus stopped, only an inch away from deleting Leon from existence. The Spaniard let out a shaky breath. His strong legs almost crumpled beneath him, but he stood tall despite the sweat that had begun to fall from his forehead.

Aaron joined Leon and rubbed his back comfortingly. When Chef exited the vehicle, Aaron's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Are you crazy?! Waivers or no waivers, Leon could've died!"

Chef clicked his tongue. "Uh huh, okay, are you done?" Aaron reluctantly nodded. "Good, because you lost. Team Blaineley gets the advantage." Aaron's jaw quite literally dropped to the floor.

Caught in a stutter, he tried to get out some sort of protest but could only utter, "B-b-b-b-but…"

"You forgot the rules already? You beg me to stop, you lose, remember?"

Aaron looked like he was going to be the third person to pass out that day, but Leon wrapped a heavy arm around the younger teen's shoulder. "You saved my life, amigo. That is worth more than any advantage, no?"

Aaron made a sound akin to a sick horse, but forced a smile onto his face. "Yeah, it was no problem." He promptly released himself from Leon's grasp and dragged his feet back to Team Chris.

Chef beckoned Team Blaineley over and held up Leon's fist. He grumbled out answers to the questions he knew the contestants were ready to ask in quick succession. "Leon has won your team an advantage for tonight's challenge. You'll receive it right before the challenge starts. You've got a lot of time to kill so," he finally released Leon who was beginning to grimace from the strength of Chef's grip. "I'd wind down with some music if I were you." He snickered to himself and made his way back to the party bus.

"He definitely meant something by that," observed Zane. "Why would he tell us to listen to music otherwise?"

Luna huffed and snarked, "Oh, I don't know, because we're on a show about making music?" She had grown tired of Zane and all of his vague Zane-isms, especially when she had a feeling he was up to no good. Deep down, she knew she had no concrete reason to be skeptical of the older teen just yet, but she just knew that he would lead their team to ruin, whether intentionally or not.

Zane was stunned by the display of passive aggression from Luna, and logged it in the back of his head for later. He couldn't let another challenge go by with one of his smartest teammates on his back. "Sure, I guess. But we should still—"

"Have a team meeting!" interjected Millie with a finger pointed up to the sky. "We're not wasting another mini-challenge win like we did last time. Team Chris is getting ready to meet right now to discuss strategy. We should be doing the same."

"For once," chimed Zane. "I actually agree with Millie. Let's meet up in the lounge in half an hour."

Gemini frowned. "Uh, maybe make that an hour? Or three?" She motioned to Zavier who remained knocked out on a city bench. "Zavier's still kinda out of commission." She then noticed an unconscious Jalen getting carted off by the Total Drama med team (who were all just interns who had flunked out of nursing school). "And I don't think much needs to be said for Jalen."

"Yes, and I um…I need to talk to…" Brianna trailed off, losing her steam halfway through her request. She eyed Hayato's retreating form as he left with his team, who were all hanging their heads low in defeat. Hayato looked back and meaningfully locked eyes with the blonde. Brianna inhaled and tried again. "I need some time to talk to—"

Zane loudly cleared his throat. "I think you've done enough talking, for once. Leon was this close," he made a pinching motion with his fingers. "To getting flattened like a pancake by Chef. That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't forgotten we were supposed to be racing Team Chris, not flirting with them." Zane made sure he was projecting his voice enough that the rest of the team could hear. Even though he had no intention of losing tonight's challenge, he would make sure that Brianna was a prime target for elimination if they did.

Brianna began to sweat, her blue eyes becoming glazed over. "N-no! I wasn't flirting, I just w-wanted more time to catch up with an old friend!"

Millie made a "tsk-tsk" sound while shaking her head. "Brianna, this is the second time you've almost screwed the team over. You've yet to show us why we should even keep you around." Brianna looked as if she were about to fall to her knees in despair.

"Alright, come off it you two," came Luna to the rescue. "Bri is an excellent singer. Even though she was a bit…out of it…last night, she still sounded great. She's just having a hard time adjusting to this competition, is all."

Gemini agreed, "Yeah, plus it's way too early to tell who isn't an asset yet. Isn't that the point of the team meeting, anyway?"

Zane sighed but relented. He didn't want to look like an asshole – that was Millie's job. No, he was sure Brianna would screw up again soon, and wouldn't even need him to point it out.

Leon threw Zavier's limp body over his broad shoulder. "Thanks for looking out for me, Zane! But I am fine, really! It definitely woke me up," he finished with a shaky laugh, clearly not as fine with his televised almost-murder as he led on. Still, he led the charge back to the dorms, the rest of Team Blaineley following in toe.

Team Don, who had been watching the entire affair unfold with varying levels of horror, were the first back in the dorms. Rina made a beeline for the bathroom so she could finally take a shower, beckoning Eleanor to follow her so she could reapply her makeup. Drew, who had been smoking a cigarette the whole time, threw out what remained of the butt and crushed it with the toe of his shoe. "Welp, at least we didn't have to do that."

As everyone shuffled inside, Dustin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Dalton noticed and stopped, nudging the genius. "What's the matter, buckaroo? You look like you're staring down one of them trick-o-nometry equations."

Dustin immediately corrected, "Trigonometry equation," causing Dalton to shrug. The lanky teen bit his lip and said, "You don't think it's a little weird that Chef only had two types of batons? And there are only two sides of the road…"

Dalton righted his hat for the first time that morning, realization slowly dawning on him. "Hold on…it's almost like he planned this whole thing!" The boys were immediately silenced by the distant sound of laughter emitting from the speakers of the party bus.

Dalton frowned. "Should we tell the others?"

"Honestly?" Dustin looked warily at the infamous bus. "I don't want to see Rina and Chef go head-to-head. And she would definitely try."

The Tennessean tipped his hat at his friend. "See, this is why you're the smart one."

Hiiii. So uh. It's been a while! A lot has happened since my last update that was like...a year and a half ago! Graduating, moving, new job, moving AGAIN etc. But I never forgot about this little fic, in fact most of this chapter has been written since March 2021, I just didn't have the motivation to finish it. But, now that the new Total Drama season has been announced, I'm more motivated than ever! The next chapter featuring the main challenge is already finished and will be posted in two weeks exactly. Thank you for still keeping up with this fic and it's extremely sporadic updates, it really means the world to me!

Speaking of the new season, what do you guys think of the characters? I actually quite like their designs and can't wait for the show to start again!

And speaking of designs, I've been wanting to create visuals for all of your OCs. Since so much time has passed it probably is hard to remember what all the characters in this fic look like so I'm working on creating them in the Sims 4 (since I can't draw lol). I'll post a link to pictures in the next chapter.

Okay, enough of that, time for questions! What do you think of the teams at this point in the competition? Who do you think has a chance of making it to the merge (happening once there's 12 contestants left)? Who are you rooting for? Has your opinion changed on any of these characters since the beginning?

Again, thank you so much for reading!