Chapter 20: X-Treme Torture


Reviews:

Knifez: I'll admit, once the eliminations start to come down to team politics instead of challenge performance, the challenges do indeed start seeming like more a side event than the focal point of the chapter. I choose to take that as meaning the team politics are interesting. When the Bass lose, it will be interesting. I decided you were right and changed the chapter to have Izzy giving Shawn a hint instead of the actual idol. Thanks!

TaitanoRules555: I think it best that I don't comment.

Crystaliser: The only one of those I'll spoil is that it will not be Ella. She quit, and she wouldn't come back even if Chris let her.

QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless: Izzy likes to make things interesting. I agree there's not that much I could do with Sadie, and she only made it this far because of luck. Noah's a funny guy.

PrincessGumballWatterson777: I am not planning a second season. After this season is over, I am either going to write a Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with some of the contestants following Vampirized Mal and Scarlett to the Hellmouth, or a Homestuck/RWBY crossover. But that will likely be some time from now.

Riley-Cooper123: Duncan going home right after a team swap would just not be logical. And Sierra kicking Chris in the nuts was my favorite part of the episode to write, even if it was a little bit hypocritical for Sierra to get mad at him for taking a mother away from her babies.

dark mage: No to both.

TDFan: I honestly haven't decided. I am planning at least a friendship between the two, and after that, I'll just see what feels natural. Thanks!

That British Guy: Okay? I didn't do much with her, honestly.


Teams:

Gophers: B, Beardo, Beth, Brick, Heather, Jasmine, Katie, Sammy

Bass: Courtney, DJ, Lindsay, Sam, Scarlett, Scott, Topher, Tyler

Moose: Cameron, Harold, Leshawna, Lightning, Noah, Owen, Shawn

Badgers: Alejandro, Bridgette, Duncan, Geoff, Sierra, Sky, Trent, Zoey


The episode began with the teams at breakfast. Shawn looked like he had after the 24-hour mark in the Awake-a-thon.


Confessional: Shawn

"I searched for the immunity idol all night after my encounter with Izzy, and I haven't found anything yet. I'm beginning to get worried, and I'm wondering if maybe the trade-off of having two teammates who will never vote for me might be worth using the immunity idol to protect Owen or Lightning, if one of them is voted out, rather than me.

"Actually, an alliance between the three of us could be helpful. Owen and Lightning are both competent enough that they won't hold me back, but I think I'd have an edge in the final three and the finale. I wouldn't really want to go up against Owen if the finale is decided by a vote, but otherwise it would be a pretty good final three for me."

End confessional


On the opposite side of the room, the Gophers were eating breakfast. Suddenly, Beardo started choking. Jasmine wasted no time in aiding him, and he coughed up a folded piece of paper. Curious about its contents, he unfolded the paper.

Upon reading the note, he gasped. "What does it say?" Beth asked.

Beardo couldn't speak for a few seconds. "It-It's a love note. Addressed to me."

Beth gasped. "Really? Who's it from?"

Beardo looked at the bottom of the note, only to see an illegible ink smudge where the signature presumably was. He pointed it out to Beth, who said, "Oh. Well, there's still only..." she did a quick head count, "seventeen people it could be from. Everyone here knows you like guys by now."

Beardo nodded. "Yeah, it's not like it was a secret." He looked at B. "Was it you that sent me this?"

B shook his head. "No."

"And I know it wasn't Brick," Beardo continued.

"Yeah, I don't like guys like that," Brick agreed.

"Well, that puts us down to fifteen," Beth said. "Katie, what do you think?"

"Sadie would have loved this," Katie whispered to herself. Then she took a deep breath and composed herself. "Okay, it couldn't have been Trent or Geoff. Trent likes Gwen, and Geoff likes Bridgette. Sadie and I kept up with gossip before I got switched to this team, and Harold and Tyler both have girlfriends, so it wasn't them, either."

Heather continued their brainstorming. "Cameron hasn't hit puberty yet, so it probably wasn't him. It could have been Topher, but it probably wasn't. We know from their obnoxious arguing that Sierra is his ex, so he's into girls. He could be bi, but probably not."


Confessional: Heather

"Do I really care who sent the note? Not really. But whoever it is could be an ally if we both reach the merge, so I'll help them figure it out."

End confessional


"True. We have no real reason to think he is," Beardo said. "So that leaves us with nine possibilities."

Chris interrupted the Gopher team's brainstorming. "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's challenge time, campers!"


Chris assembled the teens at the campfire pit, as par usual. "Today's challenge is the Extreme Sports Challenge!" he announced. "Like the Water Sports Challenge and the Trust Challenge, this is a three-stage challenge, with the winners of each stage getting immunity. The team that does not win any of the three stages will send someone home tonight. For our first stage, we have EXTREME SOFA-BED SKYDIVING! You'll be jumping from five thousand feet onto a fold-out mattress, and wearing these," he said as Chef and Dakota held up ratty old parachute packs.

"The state of the parachutes does not exactly inspire confidence," Cameron admitted.

"Too bad," Chris said, "because you will be taking the plunge for your team, Cameron!" Chef tossed Cameron a parachute pack, and the bubble-boy buckled under the weight.

"Also parachuting for their teams are DJ, Brick, and Sierra!" Chris announced.


Confessional: Chris

"I'm slightly disappointed that Sky isn't doing this stage. Talk about a missed opportunity for a pun. But hey, the randomizer must be obeyed."

End confessional


While the four selected campers were boarding the plane that would take them to skydiving height, Shawn pulled Owen and Lightning aside. "I need to talk to you guys for a second," he said.

When they were out of earshot of their teammates, Shawn whispered to them, "I think I might know something about where the immunity idols are hidden."

Owen gasped. "You know where one is? Did somebody find one?"

"No, nobody found one, and I don't know where one is exactly. But I do know they have stickers on the bottom, so they have to be somewhere they can't be rained on. Otherwise, the stickers would be damaged by the rain. Maybe even peel off."

"So, like, in a building?" Owen asked.

"I was thinking more like, in a cave," Shawn said. "There are some caves around the island, probably near the mountain."

Lightning frowned. "Wait, sha-why would you tell us this? Wouldn't it make more sense to just find it yourself?"

"Simple," Shawn answered. "I want to form an alliance with the two of you. We'll split up to try to find the idol, and when we do, we'll use it to take out someone on the nerds' alliance."

Lightning frowned suspiciously. "You just wanna let us find it for you, is that it? Scared they'll sha-ditch you?"

Shawn's eyes widened. "What? No! If anything, I'm the only one of the three of us who doesn't need to worry! After all, Owen is the most expendable person on our team who isn't in the nerds' alliance."

Owen shrugged. "I guess that's true."

"And forcing everyone on the team to do grueling workouts every day has made Lightning unpopular," Shawn continued.

Lightning seemed surprised by this news. "Sha-whaaaaaa?"

"So, do we have a deal?" Shawn asked.

After a moment of hesitation, both of the other boys nodded.


Confessional: Shawn

"Okay, I am admittedly 80% sure that I won't be eliminated if we don't find the immunity idol. But I need to be 100% sure. Reality show or zombie apocalypse, taking risks is what gets you killed.

End confessional


While the three of them were talking, Beardo was trying to find out who had sent him the love note. The first person he asked was Noah. "I received a love note this morning, but the signature was saliva-damaged. Did you send it?"

"Sorry to disappoint, but while 'grubby lion man who can emulate an autotune effect with his natural voice' may be someone's type, it is most assuredly not mine," Noah answered.

Beardo gave him a look. "You could have just said no." Noah simply shrugged in response.

After that, Beardo asked the same question to Shawn, Lightning, and Owen, who had finished talking.

"Sha-no way, dude. The Lightning does not swing that way," Lightning said. "But if you do, that's cool. Lightning don't judge," he added, addressing the other three.

"No, I don't swing that way either," Shawn said. "But even if I did, I wouldn't have sent love notes anyway. Relationships only get you in trouble in a zombie apocalypse. 75% of guys in zombie movies get killed because their loved ones get turned, and they can't bring themselves to finish the job. That will not be me."

Owen shook his head. "Sorry. Wasn't me either."


On the ground, three of the four teams were moving their couches fairly easily. The Bass...less so.

"Seriously, guys! Lift with your backs!" Courtney said. "Argh, it seems like with DJ gone, the team's physical strength got cut in half."


In the air, Chris handed the four skydivers clipboards and pens. "If you could just fill these out," he said.

Cameron frowned. "If I am not mistaken, I believe we already filled out insurance forms for this show."

"You did, but these are for organ donation. I have this really cool cannibal challenge that I want to pitch to the producers." Upon hearing this, Cameron tore the form to pieces.

"What? That's terrible! You're a terrible host!" Sierra said.

"Whatever," Chris shrugged. "Here comes the drop!" He pushed the four out of the plane. DJ screamed.

"Was it left, then right? Or right, then left?" he asked of nobody in particular, as he held the two rings that were meant to deploy the parachute. He decided to try one combination, and it ended up being the wrong one, apparently, because the parachute did not deploy.

Brick had a bit more luck opening his parachute, which deployed successfully. However, there were some holes in it. Enough that the parachute slowed his descent, but not as much as it should have.

Sierra opened hers, and it was in good condition. However, the parachute got caught in a gust of wind, and blew off-course.

Cameron waited the longest to deploy his parachute. "Distance times acceleration downwards, accounting for air resistance, the perfect time to deploy is...now!" He deployed his parachute with no problems, and made a perfect landing on the fold-out mattress.

The other three hadn't been so lucky. DJ did land on the couch, but he did so before his team deployed the mattress, with no parachute, and was knocked unconscious. Sierra got her parachute stuck in the branches of a tree, and Brick landed in a pile of sand. Sammy gasped and ran over to his side.

As the interns rushed Brick and DJ to the infirmary, Chris said into a megaphone, "And the first immunity goes to the Moose!"


As the Moose left, Shawn, according to his alliance's prearranged signal, asked them, "I'm going for a run. Anyone else wanna come?"

Leshawna looked at him like he was crazy. "You trippin'? After that first run Lightning makes us do every morning? Uh-uh."

"Yeah, as tempting as that sounds," Noah said sarcastically, "I would rather do pretty much anything else."

"I'll go!" Owen said. "I need to lose some weight. Lightning, you coming?"

"Sha-yeah!" Lightning exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"Well, have fun with that," Harold said. The two groups parted ways, and Shawn's group headed to the mountain. "Okay, guys. Split up and look for caves."


The second part started by a pen containing a moose. "Okay, cowpokes! It's time for the EXTREME RODEO MOOSE RIDING CHALLENGE! You must ride the moose for eight seconds, or you'll get hoofed into a giant pile of socks from the Lost and Found! Our lucky riders are Katie, Courtney, and Geoff!"

Geoff was the first up. "Let's do this, moose dude," he said confidently, and he stood up on its back. Sky attempted to comment on this. "Geoff, you probably shouldn't..." her sentence was cut off by the moose bucking Geoff off as soon as the timer started.

"And Geoff is out?" Chris commented as Geoff flew over his head. "Ooh, that stinks big time for the Badgers."

"Wait a minute, pause that," Chris said as everything paused. "Let's just rewind that shot and run it in super slow-mo."

The shot rewound to just as Geoff flew over Chris. "I'm embarrassed. This is so degrading. I mean, just look at me!" The clip played Geoff soaring over him. A hand scribbled out Chris's clothes and circled his face with a pink marker. "Can we please get a decent budget together for hair and make-up? I look like I just fell out of bed. Geez!"

"Katie, let's see if you can do better."

While Katie prepared for her attempt, Beardo asked Scott and Sam about the note.

"Wasn't either of us, dude," Sam told him. "We're both straight."

Katie then was bucked from the moose, and landed on Sam. "Ouch..."

"Six point seven seconds!" Chris announced. "Better, but still not enough! Courtney, your turn!"

"Yeah, it definitely wasn't me," Scott said as he stared at Courtney. She had grabbed the moose's antlers with her hands, while holding it in a choke hold with her legs. It tried to buck her off, but failed, and collapsed shortly.

"Nice try, moose, but you'll have to do better than that! I was a CIT!" Courtney shouted.


Confessional: Scott

"So hot..."

Confessional: Sam

"What kind of summer camp trains its counselors to ride moose?"

End confessional


The camera cut to a montage of Shawn, Owen, and Lightning searching for, and searching through, caves. At the end of the montage, Lightning emerged from the entrance of a mine. "Sha-dang, that place is huge!" Lightning commented. "The Lightning could search there for days! He can always come back, though."

Owen ran out of another cave, pursued by a bear. Seeing an opening, Shawn snuck into the cave, where he searched around. He saw a screwdriver and a pink ribbon. "Must have been left here by accident by those two members of the Gopher team back in the camping challenge," he said.

However, those were not the only things of note he found in the cave. A bit further in, he found a wooden statue of Chris's head. Just to make sure, he turned it over, to find a sticker on the base that said, "Chris McLean seal of authenticity."

He pocketed the immunity idol, and snuck out of the cave.


The third and final challenge took place in a large lake of mud. "And the final challenge of the day is EXTREME SEA-DOO WATERSKIING!" Chris announced. "Contestants will water ski a race course while grabbing as many flags as they can, while a member of the opposing team drives the sea-doo."

"How can we water ski without water?" Heather asked.

"Really hard," Chris said. "Watch." Dakota tried to demonstrate the challenge, but didn't make it far before crashing into a tree. Chris laughed. "Awesome! Skiers for this challenge are Duncan and Hector!"

"I really wish he would stop calling me that," Beardo said quietly.

"I understand, mi amigo," Alejandro commented from behind him. "My worthless brother Jose always calls me Al, specifically because he knows I hate it. That is only one of a great many reasons I despise him."


Confessional: Alejandro

"In this game, there are a few contestants I believe to be a strategic threat to myself. Scarlett, Cameron, Scott, and Heather. And while Cameron is in a currently unassailable position on his team, and Scott and Scarlett will deal with each other, I can affect Heather's game. I did not write the note, but if I can get Beardo to assume I did, I may be able to get one of Heather's supporters eliminated. I cannot tell him I wrote it, as I would lose plausible deniability if I did, but if my charm is sufficient, and it will be, he will make the assumption easily."

End confessional


"But your name is nothing to be ashamed of," the charmer continued. "It is a rare name for a man with rare talent. Take pride in it, as you do in your amazing voice and your beautiful beard." He smiled at the human soundboard.

Beardo stared at him.


Confessional: Beardo

"Could it be...?"

End confessional


Heather was chosen to drive the sea-doo. She drove erratically, swerving, making tight turns, and slowing down and speeding up randomly in an attempt to shake Duncan. And at first it worked, with Duncan being too off-balance to grab the first flag. However, he quickly adjusted, and managed to grab the second flag, though he did so by the fabric rather than the pole as he was supposed to. By the third flag, he was used to both skiing on mud and Heather's driving, and he took the third, fourth, and fifth flags with no trouble at all.

"And flags two, three, four, and five are Duncan's! Heather has to cross the finish line, or her team automatically loses!" Chris announced.

Heather frowned. She put her hand in her pocket as if searching for something, but her expression changed to one of worry when she realized it wasn't there.


Confessional: Heather

"I honestly didn't have that much faith in Beardo to win this for us, so just in case we looked like we would lose, I took a pocketknife so I could cut the line holding Duncan to the sea-doo. Only it must have fallen out of my pocket, because when I reached for it, it wasn't there."

Confessional: Duncan

Duncan held up a pocketknife. "I took it from Heather when she wasn't looking. Try something less obvious next time."

End confessional


"And Duncan snags four flags for his team!" Chris announced. "Can Hector collect all five flags to win?"

Beardo saw Alejandro getting onto the sea-doo to drive. "Should I be nervous?" he asked.

"Of course not," Alejandro answered. "You just worry about getting the flags. I will ensure you have every opportunity to do so."

"And go!" Chris announced, upon which Alejandro zoomed off. And while his driving was more controlled than Heather's, it was even less forgiving.

Immediately upon nearing the first flag, Alejandro swerved so that Beardo collided with a tree. Unprepared for this, Beardo failed to recover in time to get the flag. Then, before the second, Alejandro steered so that one of Beardo's skis would hit a rock. Beardo was still recovering, so he failed to avoid this obstacle, and he fell onto his back, with the skis dragging behind him.

He managed to recover somewhat, but not in time to get the second flag. "What are you doing?" he shouted at Alejandro, obviously feeling betrayed.

"Winning!" Alejandro replied.

"But...but...but..." Beardo sputtered. "Didn't you write that love note to me?"

"No, why would you think that?" Alejandro asked. "And even if I had, I wouldn't simply let you win. I would have made you earn it. Thinking otherwise was a mistake."

Beardo managed to grab the fifth flag when they passed it, but it was too late for it to make a difference. "And Hector drops the ball, bringing back only one flag," Chris announced. "Looks like the Gophers will be the ones voting out a teammate tonight."


Confessional: Beardo

Beardo sighed. "As much as I want to blame Alejandro, he was just being nice, and it was my fault for reading too much into it. In my defense, everything he does seems like a romantic gesture, but that's just how he is, and I should have recognized that he didn't mean anything by it."

End confessional


The Campfire Ceremony began as normal, with the campers sitting around the campfire and Dakota holding a plate of marshmallows for Chris. "As you know," Chris said, "if you do not receive a marshmallow, you are forced to walk the Dock of Shame, and you can never return to camp. Ever.

"However, that will not be the case for Jasmine, Heather, Beth, Beverly, or Samey. That leaves Katie, Hector, and Brick, for failing their challenges today."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that my parachute was defective!" Brick protested. Notably, he had many bandages on, and much of his visible skin was bruised.

"Which is why you're safe." Chris said, as he tossed the cadet a marshmallow. "And tonight's loser is..." the camera panned to Katie, who kept glancing at Beardo, and Beardo, who simply looked resigned.

"Hector."

Beardo made Pac-Man's iconic death noise. "Yeah, I thought so," he said. He was about to step out onto the Dock of Shame, but was stopped by someone else shouting, "WAIT!"

DJ hobbled over to Beardo as quickly as he could. He was also heavily bandaged, and was using a crutch.

"I couldn't just let you go before telling you that I wrote that note," DJ said. "Sam told me you were looking for the guy who sent it. Well, here I am. I'd give you a hug, but I don't think my ribs can take it right now."

"Oh, yeah! I didn't find out who that was!" Beardo said. "So, like, do you wanna go out once the competition is over? Like, on a date?"

"That sounds awesome," DJ said.

Beardo then walked onto the Boat of Losers, smiling. "It was really nice to meet all of you!" he shouted.

The camera panned over to Chris. "Great. Now because of him, we're going to have to butcher this episode in editing for the Chinese version, to the point where the elimination doesn't even make sense. Anyway, the rest of you are safe. For tonight."


At the Bass cabin, Courtney was about to go inside to go to bed, but she was stopped by Scott. "Um, Courtney, I've been meaning to talk to you for a little while now."

"Yes?" Courtney asked.

"Well, I wasn't sure when was the right time, but after the guy that DJ liked was voted out, I figured I should do it now, before the same thing happened to me." Then he realized how that might be interpreted "Not that there's a guy I like, I'm just trying to ask, Courtney, I know I don't have that much to offer, but will you be my boyfriend? I mean, I'd like to be your girlfriend. I mean, that's not what I mean, I just...AAARGH!"


Confessional: Scott

"I guess being tounge-tied runs in the family."

End confessional


Courtney giggled. "No, I think I get it. And yes, I'd be willing to give it a try. You're tough, and ambitious, and clever, all things I like."

Scott pumped his fist. "Yes!"

Courtney frowned slightly. "I do have one condition, though."

Scott looked worried for a moment. "What is it?"

Courtney wrinkled her nose. "Have a shower. A long one."

She entered her cabin, and Scott sniffed his armpit. He cringed at the smell. "I'll get right on that."


A/N: A short chapter, but hopefully enough happened to keep it interesting. While challenges with individual participation typically make for short chapters, there was a fair amount of plot that happened.

Thoughts on Beardo? Underused, though I'm not going to say he deserved to make the finale or something like that. He seems like a likeable enough guy, and he was extremely funny in the one episode he appeared in. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the humor is dependent on audio and visuals, and doesn't translate well to fan fiction. I did attempt to give him some believable characterization.

Also, to this point, Alejandro has been fairly complacent. Axing Gwen and backstabbing Justin are both all well and good, but I figured he was overdue a move. Cutting down an alliance seemed like a fairly logical step.

As for DJeardo, it was actually a fairly last-minute decision. I initially planned to simply have Alejandro fake-flirt with Beardo and use that against him in a similar manner to how he fake-flirted with Bridgette in Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better, but I decided it would be less traceable for Alejandro to create a situation that could easily be mistaken for a misunderstanding.

Elimination order:

52: Dave, the Germaphobe

51: Staci, the Compulsive Liar

50: Dakota, the Fame-Monger

49: Sugar, the Pageant Queen

48: Amy, the Evil Twin

47: Leonard, the LARPer

46: Anne Maria, the Jersey Shore Reject

45: Izzy, the Psycho Hose Beast (still out there?)

44: Rodney, the Lovesick Farm Boy

43: Max, the Super-Villain Wannabe

42: Jo, the Take-No-Prisoners Jockette

41: Ezekiel, the Homeschooled Guy

38 (Tie): Gwen, the Loner

38 (Tie): Dawn, the Moonchild

38 (Tie): Eva, the Hothead

37: Ella, the Fairytale Princess

36: Justin, the Eye Candy

35: Cody, the Flirty Geek

33 (tie): Mike, the Introspective

33 (tie): Aiden, the OC Hate Sink

32: Sadie, the other BFFFL

31: Beardo, the Human Soundboard