Chapter 22: Finders Creepers

Reviews:

TaitanoRules555: Yes, it makes sense to me, but I'm not going to do it, for two reasons. One, I don't have enough ideas for every character to give focus to every one within every chapter. If I tried, I would just end up bogging down the entire story with filler. Two, The Kobold Necromancer puts much more detail into writing than me. My chapters are just not long enough to justify it.

Phenomenal Ultra Instinct: Brick did have an advantage, plus he was the most motivated. While Sam might have done better against anyone else, Tyler definitely had an advantage. Yeah, Topher might want to tread carefully around his team for the time being. Glad you have more to say about this chapter. Thanks!

QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless: While Sam did have some moments of usefulness, this particular lineup and lack of history were not advantages for him. He did well, all things considered. Yes, Dakota doesn't know how lucky she is. Topher did indeed make a big move; we'll have to wait and see what the effects are. Thanks! :)

DSX62415: I'd agree.

Knifez: Thanks. Sam is a good character, but it was his time to go.

TDFan: Sam isn't an incompetent player, but the difficulty curve is rising. The raid was an important part of the canon episode, so I couldn't leave it out.

Gucci Mane LaFlare: I wanted to give him some actual relevance before eliminating him. But for plot reasons, he had to go.

Yolotsin Xochitl: Thanks! The cast is big, but it's only getting easier to work with. ;) I made Cameron two years younger than the rest of the cast because I found it too unbelievable that a sixteen-year-old (seventeen by All-Stars) still hadn't gone through puberty, and as for Justin, I don't remember him doing anything particularly athletic in Action. Thanks.

xtremexavier15: I guess I didn't get banned, though I'm staying well away from the Doctor Who section for a while.

tonyunderscoreeap: I guess I didn't get banned, and I'm going to be a lot more careful from now on.

richboylion: Thanks for the advice.

DSX62415: Well, I guess the mods were feeling generous, because I'm still here.

Omni Spectator: Good advice, though I am still here.

Lone Wolf: Thanks. DJeardo was admittedly a decision I made for plot reasons rather than any particular love of the ship. And no, Cody did not end up getting a girlfriend. Even Sierra barely knows he exists.

TDFan: Don't worry, I haven't been banned and I will finish this story.


Teams:

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

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

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

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


The episode started in the evening. "Attention, campers!" Chris said over the loudspeaker. "It's time for your ultra-dangerous nighttime challenge! Report to the Dock of Shame immediately!"

The teens assembled at the Dock, with Scott, Courtney and DJ being the last to arrive. "Any luck?" DJ whispered to Courtney.

"No!" Courtney whispered back. "I searched all day and have nothing to show for it."

"Same here," Scott whispered. "Whoever that Charlie guy is, he's good. Maybe he'll be on season two."


Confessional: Intern Charlie

"Not while Chris is host."

Chris poked his head into the confessional. "What's that you were saying about me?"

Intern Charlie gave him a look filled with disdain. "I was saying that you're an awful boss, and after this season is over, I never want to see you again."

Chris looked like he might take offense, but he eventually said, "You know what? That's fair."

End confessional


A barge pulled up to the Dock, and Chris began his explanation. "It's time for us to return to Boney Island!" Several of the campers blanched at the thought of returning to the island, and Trent tapped his rabbit's foot to his forehead. "One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine."

"Your challenge," Chris continued, "a scavenger hunt for three creepy souvenirs. Your locations?"

Chef turned a film projector on, showing a map of Boney Island on the side of the barge, with three yellow letters around the island, and a giant purple sider in the center. "A haunted forest, a scary ancient cemetery, and an extra spooktastic cave. First team to each location gets a special clue. But watch out for booby traps. I really went to town with them, heheh.

"So move fast, and stick together. You'll be penalized for each player you lose!" he finished.

Scarlett raised her hand. "Have any safety measures been taken to ensure the local wildlife do not interfere with the challenge?" she asked.

"Nope!" Chris answered. "So watch for prehistoric beasts during the challenge."

"I see," Scarlett said, in a tone that conveyed that she was disappointed. "And the spider symbolizes..."

"Oh, yeah," Chris said as the camera zoomed in on the spider symbol. "There's some kinda mutated gigantic spider running loose around the island."

The camera took a moment to show the terrified visages of the campers. "Well, all aboard!" Chris shouted.


The footage flashed ahead to Boney Island, where the first team to run into frame were the Badgers. They stopped in front of a tree with a loudspeaker in its branches.

"All right, we're in first!" Geoff exclaimed excitedly. His excitement died, however, upon hearing an inhuman screech in the distance. Trent tapped the rabbit's foot against his forehead nine times.

"Welcome to the Haunted Forest!" Chris announced as the campers observed a small hole in the ground. "Your clue can be found at the base of this tree."

"Sweet," Geoff commented and reached for the clue, only to yelp in pain and withdraw his arm from the hole, a bear trap around it but holding the clue.

He handed the clue to Bridgette, who took it out of his hand as Alejandro helped him remove the bear trap. Just as the surfer was about to read the clue, the Gophers caught up with them. "Well well, look who we have here," Heather commented.

"Hey!" Sky protested. "Find your own piece of paper!"

"Let them have their clue," Heather told her team. "I have a plan." She ran ahead and motioned for her teammates to follow.


The shot cut to the Gophers at a clearing further ahead. "So, what's the plan?" Beth asked.

"Simple. Hide, then wait for the Badgers to show up so we can follow them to our first souvenir," Heather answered. She then dived into a thorn bush, while her teammates all hid as well.

The camera then panned over to the approaching Badgers. Bridgette read, "'Inside a knot is a nest, your souvenir lives with a pest, find Polaris to travel northwest?'"

Alejandro thought for a moment. He then pointed to a star. "That's Polaris, so I believe northwest is in that direction." He pointed to the right. "And Chris even left a path."

"Let's go!" Sky said, leading her team down the path.

Once they had passed, Heather climbed out of the bush. "Quick, follow them!" Her teammates did so, but B was caught by a strand of webbing. Since he was bringing up the rear, nobody noticed when he was yanked into the trees.


The Bass and Moose teams reached the clearing about a minute later. Both saw the trail that the other two teams had left, and rushed to catch up. However, Tyler had the bad luck to trip and fall. When his teammates passed him, he was pulled away by a strand of webbing.


The footage skipped ahead to the Badgers running through the woods, with Sierra in front, then Zoey, Sky, Geoff, Alejandro, Duncan, Trent, and finally Bridgette bringing up the rear. "Inside a knot is a nest...souvenir...something," Trent muttered to himself. "Bridgette, what was the rest of that poem again?" he asked without looking back.

Upon receiving no answer, he looked over his shoulder to see that she wasn't there, and stopped abruptly, . "Bridgette? Oh no, oh no, we're all gonna die!"

"Calm down," Alejandro told him. "She probably just tripped, or something. I'm sure she'll catch up with us soon."

Zoey wasn't convinced. "There are dinosaurs here, and some kind of mutant spider."

Alejandro cringed. "Well, I hope she just tripped. Because if something attacked her, I fear there may be nothing we can do." In order to change the subject, he pointed out a tree with a hollow knot in the trunk, and signs of a nest inside. "But I believe I have found our knot and nest. We'll get our souvenir, and if she still hasn't caught up, we can search for her."

Duncan wasted no time climbing up the tree, and reached inside the tree hollow. However, enormous squid-like tentacles reached out of the tree's other hollows, while an eye looked out of the knot.


Confessional: Chris

"I think most of the species on Boney Island are some kind of prehistoric stuff, but I honestly don't know anything about the giant land squid. Maybe those were around before people, maybe not. It's not like they have bones or shells or anything, so if they had been, they probably wouldn't have left fossils."

Confessional: Chef

"I'm pretty sure that ain't how fossilization works. But I don't know."

End confessional


One of the tentacles picked Duncan off the tree and tossed him away. The other Badgers all involuntarily stepped back.

Alejandro was the first to react. "Please pardon us for intruding, but my team and I are in need of something that was placed in your nest earlier. If it isn't too much trouble, would you mind giving it to us?"

The squid seemed to consider the request, then tossed a key at him. "That was impressive," Sky remarked.

Alejandro smiled. "I have a way with animals."

However, Zoey then caught everyone's attention, and not in a good way. "Guys! Duncan's gone!"

Everyone then began to panic. "We have to find them!" Trent exclaimed. "They could be-" he cut himself off as the Gophers approached. "No luck here," he said. "Want to see if Bridgette and Duncan did any better?" The Badgers then departed.

"I think I see something in our team colors," Jasmine said as she pointed out the tree.

"Could be a trap," Heather mused. "We should send in our most expendable player."

Brick had clearly been on edge, but he took offense at this. "Hey, no one's expendable!"

Heather looked at Katie, then gave him a look that told him that she thought he was full of it. Katie didn't seem to notice.


Confessional: Heather

"I know I'm not in the best spot right now, and I need to make sure that if we lose before the merge, Katie takes the fall. But I also don't want her to realize that, in case we don't lose before the merge, and I need to align with her. It's not easy."

End confessional


"I'll handle this," Brick said, putting on a show of bravery. He then approached the tree, only to be grabbed by a tentacle and swung him around in the air.

Suddenly the two other teams caught up with the Gophers. Upon seeing the giant squid, Courtney let out a string of expletives. It took a moment for her to reach coherence, but she finally said, "How the [bleep] are we supposed to deal with this thing?"

Jasmine threw a rock at the squid, and nailed it in the eye. The beast bellowed, and retreated into the tree, three keys falling to the ground.

Heather grabbed the key. Then she looked around. "Where did Brick go? And where's Bev?"

"And what the heck happened to Tyler?" Scott added.

"Wait, Tyler's gone?" Lindsay panicked. "TYYYYYYYYYLEEEEEEEEER!"

"No, don't..." Scarlett tried to stop her minion from screaming, but too late. Woolly beavers started chasing them. The three teams ran as fast as they could, but Owen couldn't match the speed of the others. Just as it looked like he was going to be torn apart, he was hoisted into the branches of the trees by a large strand of silk.


The screen cut to the graveyard, where the Badgers were just arriving, huffing and puffing. "Guys, this is really not good. We really have to find Bridgette and Duncan," Trent said.

"Yeah, about that...I think this is part of the challenge," Sky said.

Her teammates looked at her. "How did you reach that conclusion?" Alejandro asked her.

"Remember earlier, when Chris told us that there was a giant spider here? Yeah, that wouldn't have been surprising, there are tons of awful things here on Boney Island. You heard about the beavers, and the pterodactyls, and the velociraptors, and you all saw the land squid. Chris wouldn't have pointed the spider out to us unless it was a specific part of the challenge. And that means they'll be at the finish line."

"That does sound like the sort of thing Chris would do," Sierra admitted. The team looked unsure, but seemingly able to continue the challenge.

"Now, for the clue," Sierra said. She opened a coffin in an open grave right in front of the entrance, revealing a worn piece of paper with three rows of five numbers, ten of which were black, the other five were red. The red numbers were 6, 6, 18, and 6.

"Not liking the three sixes, even with the 18 separating them," Trent commented.

Suddenly, the other three teams reached the cemetery. "I think...we got...away..." Jasmine panted.

"Wait, where's Owen?" Noah asked?

"I'm sure he's still alive," Courtney said. "Chris can't let him die, not without legal consequences. If Owen died on the show, it would definitely be cancelled. I think. Hey, are these numbers our clue?"

DJ flinched at the sight of the numbers. "'6, 6, 18, 6.' Not comforting."

"Well, we won't find them just standing around," Scott said. "Fan out and search!" The four teams each did so, everyone splitting up.


Lindsay was looking around the graveyard, and fell into an open grave. "Ew, grease," she said. "And I just washed this skirt!" A strand of webbing lowered for her. "Hey, a rope! Thanks! Aah!" She screamed as she was lifted into the air.

From there, the episode went into a montage of the contestants searching and being taken. Leshawna, Heather, Lightning, Alejandro, Scott, Jasmine, Harold, Shawn, Scarlett, Geoff, Katie.

Zoey saw a hand reach out of a grave. Then a red-haired youth in an intern's uniform pulled himself out of the grave. He smiled evilly, revealing a pair of sharp fangs. Zoey screamed and ran. The vampire chased her out of the cemetery, into the woods. Zoey eventually tripped and fell, and the vampire laughed. "Thought you could run, did you? Better say your prayers quickly."

However, before he could attack Zoey, a giant spider dropped onto his back. He struggled to get it off of him, while the spider attempted to jab one of its legs through his heart. It stabbed through his torso three times, each time missing the heart. The vampire eventually got the spider off of him and ran away as fast as he could.

"Hm, must have missed that one," a muffled voice said. Before Zoey could question where the voice came from, the spider wrapped her up in silk and carried her away.


Back at the cemetery, Beth found a gravestone. "Hey, guys!" she shouted. "I think I found something over here!" The shot cut to a headstone, engraved with a skull mark and a date. "June 6, 1806! That's 6, 6, 18, 6, right?" Then she noticed that Sammy was the only member of her team left. "Whoa, where did everyone else go?"

"I don't know," Sammy said. "I could have sworn Jasmine, Heather, and Katie were here just a minute ago?"

"Well, here goes nothing," Beth said, as she inserted the key from earlier into the oddly-shaped nose hole of the skull. She turned it, and a spring-loaded coffin sprang up and slammed into her.

"Are you okay?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah," Beth said. "Let's just check the coffin."

The camera cut to the interior of the coffin, showing a shelf full of flashlights. "Well, at least we have flashlights," Sammy pointed out. The two of them then departed.

Topher looked out from behind a tree. He whistled loudly at DJ and beckoned him to follow. The two of them made their way to the gravestone, and Topher prepared to unlock it. "I just have to do this carefully..." he said quietly, trying not to get flung. His attempt was a failure, however, and the coffin sent him flying.

DJ took two flashlights from the coffin. "I got the flashlights, Topher," he said. when he realized he was the only one left, he panicked. "Topher? TOPHER? Okay, calm down, DJ. You can finish this..." he ran away from the cemetery as fast as he could.

Sierra heard DJ scream. "Guys! Over here!"

Trent and Sky followed her to the gravestone. Upon seeing that the three of them were all that was left, Trent tapped his rabbit's foot against his head. "One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine."

Sky took a breath. "Well, here goes." She tried to open the coffin, but as the two before her, she was flung into the air. She got back up again. "Well, that hurt. Flashlights?" Sierra handed her one and they continued on their quest.

Noah and Cameron were the last to retrieve their clue. Noah tried to avoid the coffin by unlocking the gravestone from the other side. It worked, but the coffin hit Cameron in the head.

The two of them retrieved their flashlights and quickly followed the others.


"Welcome to your final destination," Chris's voice greeted Sky and Sierra at the entrance to a cave with flags on either side. "Your clue is just inside the entrance, and down the tunnel into total darkness."

Sierra looked around. "Wait, where's Trent?"

Sky suddenly noticed that Trent was not with them. "Where is Trent? I thought he was right behind us."

"I stopped hearing footsteps a while back, so maybe he stopped to catch his breath? I'll go find him. You stay here, and don't go in alone. The spider might be in there," Sierra said.

Sky nodded. "Okay, but hurry back."

Sierra nodded slightly and ran back down the trail. As Sierra left, Sky looked at the cave entrance. "I know I told Sierra I would stay here, but the clue could just be inside, and if the spider does live in here, it probably lives deeper in. Just step inside, get the clue, and get back out."

She steeled herself and entered the cave, and found a skeleton in an intern uniform with a note attached to its shirt. "It was just inside like I thought! Yes!" she cheered quietly. "Feel bad for this poor guy, though." She peeled off the note, and read it. "'By hook or by crook, the end is near if you look?' What does that mean? Augh!" The strand of webbing returned, catching Sky from behind.

DJ reached the cave next. He observed the imposing nature of the cave, and gulped. He stood still except for his quaking for a few seconds before going inside, still trembling.

As he went deeper into the cave, he found the same note Sky had found. "'By hook or by crook, the end is near if you look?' I'm looking, and all I see is creepy spiderwebs, and those two skulls with horns...wait, skulls with horns?"

He looked at one of the skulls more closely. "Wait, these aren't horns, they're hooks! This must be the last souvenir!" He took one, then he heard an ominous clicking noise. "I'd better keep moving."


A bit later, Sierra returned to the cave entrance, having found no trace of Trent. However, she did notice the four remaining members of the other two teams. "I thought you two were in the lead," she said to Beth and Sammy.

"We ran into some of the animals," Beth told her.

"I must say, I'm baffled as to how the local wildlife even continues to exist," Cameron mused as the five of them walked into the cave. "By all rights, if the extinction-level event that wiped out the dinosaurs somehow missed the inhabitants of Boney Island, the Ice Age should have wiped them out. And the Ice Age-era creatures should have died out once it ended. And yet, not only are there Ice Age-era creatures here, but also dinosaurs and pterosaurs! If I were to go into evolutionary biology, I could build a career out of studying the inhabitants of this..." he stopped abruptly upon seeing the skeleton, and gulped. "Time and place. Got it."

"It is pretty interesting, though," Noah concurred. "'By hook or by crook, the end is near if you look?' Who wrote this, Ayn Rand? Even Bryan Adams could write better clues than this."

Sierra opened her mouth angrily, closed it, opened it again, and closed it again.


DJ, terrified, walked hesitantly into a large, open area of the cave. When he did so, he was amazed by the mass of webs he saw. He noticed that there were many silk cocoons in said webs, with the heads of various contestants poking out of them. "Guys? That you?"

Many of the cocooned campers heard him, and implored him to get them down. However, one voice stood out. "Look out!" shouted Courtney.

DJ jumped forward, and just in time, as a web hit the ground right where he had been standing. Then the spider pulled itself towards him, and he screamed and ran. However, as he ran, he saw a second spider in a web in the direction he was running. "There are two of them!?"

He quickly changed direction and ran for what looked like an alcove in which the spiders wouldn't be able to fit, with flags on either side. He quickly ran in, and realized very quickly that it was hiding a large drop-off. He stopped just in time to avoid going over the edge.

Upon looking around, he saw a metal cable running from the wall to a point near the ground, and the purpose of the hook suddenly became clear to him. He hooked it around the cable, and zip-lined to the ground.

Upon reaching the ground, DJ heard Chris say, "And DJ is the first to arrive!" This was not over the loudspeaker.

DJ glared at him. "Chris! Why didn't you tell me there were two giant spiders?"

Chris shrugged. "One giant spider, two giant spiders, what difference does it make?"

DJ, shocked and furious, screamed, "IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE!"


Sammy was the first to notice the skulls. "Does that skull look like it has horns to anyone else?"

Noah followed her gaze. Then he walked over to the skull, examined the "horns," and picked one up. "Hooks?"

Sierra took the hook from the skull that only had one. "Yep, definitely hooks."

Sammy took the remaining hook. "I guess this is the last souvenir. But why a hook?"

"Well, I guess we'll find out what they're for," Cameron said. Suddenly, he screamed. The three others turned and looked at him just in time to see the two spiders carry him and Beth away.

"There are two of them? I know our host isn't the brightest, but I thought he would be able to count to two!" Noah exclaimed. The three of them took off in pursuit of the spiders.

When they reached the cavern where the spiders were keeping their victims, the three of them could only stare. The cavern was huge, and full of webbed-up campers.

Cameron was hyperventilating. "Giant...spiders..."


Confessional: Cameron

"I'm mostly over my fear of spiders, but I don't think I can really be expected to handle these giant things!"

End confessional


The three remaining campers entered the cavern. "This is just like Shelob's lair," Noah commented.

Heather heard Noah's comment and looked at the three, and saw Sammy. "Hey, Sammy! Any chance you could get your teammates down from here?"

Brick's eyes were covered by the webbing, but he lit up upon hearing her name. "Sammy! You're alright!"

"I guess, but..." Sammy trailed off as she and the other two shined their flashlights at the two spiders. One of them was several meters away, while the other was about 1.5 feet away from Topher's head. Its mandibles opened, as if it was about to start eating him.

Upon seeing the spider, Topher's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "No! No! Please, God, I don't wanna die!"

Suddenly, the fear in Sierra's face was replaced with anger. "Hey, giant spider or no giant spider, nobody messes with my Tophy!" She threw a rock at the spider, causing it to drop to the ground, then punched it as hard as she could. The spider fell to the ground.

She then pulled Topher off of the web. "Don't worry, Tophy, I'll save you!"

Topher suddenly came to a realization that Sierra hadn't reached yet. "Wait, what about y-mmph!" The spider had not been incapacitated, and it shot a strand of webbing that hit him in the mouth, cutting him off.

Sierra yanked the strand, pulling the spider forward, and punched it again. Then she stuck it on the web, and ran for the alcove. The other spider went to pursue her, but in doing so, it walked over Cameron. Cameron, already completely terrified, suddenly snapped. He screamed and broke out of the webbing, punching the spider repeatedly.


Confessional: Cameron

"Adrenaline. Nature's super-strength formula. Someone really should bottle it."

End confessional


As Cameron punched the spider, it began to spark. Mechanical parts began to show as he broke the spider.

Noah had been frozen into in action. Lightning managed to snap him out of it by shouting, "Hey, nerd! Go follow Fan Girl! Don't lose this for us!"

"R-right," Noah said, and ran after her. Sammy went to do the same, but upon seeing Brick in the webbing, she stopped.


Confessional: Sammy

"I couldn't just leave him behind. Or my teammates! Or any of my other teammates," she added, unconvincingly.

End confessional


Sammy went to get her teammates out of the webbing, while Sierra and Noah raced to the zip line, where Chris and DJ were waiting. Sierra reached the start of the zip line first, then realized she had accidentally dropped her hook after using it to cut Topher down from the web. She didn't even spare a glance for the lost hook, instead removing her belt and using it to zip-line down the cable. Still carrying Topher, she reached the end of the cable, followed by Noah. "And Sierra, Topher, and Noah all reach the finish line!" Chris said.

Sierra grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Two giant spiders?" she screamed.

"Hey, calm down!" Chris said. "At least one of them is fake!" He pointed to Max, who was sitting in front of a screen holding a remote for a machine.

"No! My e-vil robot spider cannot be defeated by a puny living stick figure such as Cameron!" Max shouted. "You shall rue the day you messed with me, Cameron! Once I become ruler of the world, you shall rue like you have never ru-ed before!"

Noah looked at the screen, and saw the first-person perspective of the spider, which was being punched by Cameron. Soon, the screen turned to static.


Confessional: Chris

"Originally, I was going to have an intern control the spider, but then I realized Max would do it for free. The choice was easy after that."

End confessional


"What about the other spider?" DJ asked.

Chris just shrugged. Upon seeing the horrified expressions of the other four, Max decided to tell them. "The other spider is just..."


The camera cut to Cameron, who, after thoroughly destroying the robot spider, had passed out from the adrenaline crash. Sammy was currently getting her teammates down from the webs, and freeing them from the webbing. A muffled voice could be heard from the spider.

Curious, B removed the "head" of the spider to reveal Izzy. Everyone voiced their surprise.

"Why the [bleep] were you..." Jasmine trailed off.

"Oh, the spider costume? Well, when I heard there was a nighttime challenge at Boney Island, I knew i would have to kill all of the vampires, otherwise they would attack everybody and drink their blood," Izzy explained. "I missed one, apparently, but he's probably passed out somewhere. I did stab him three times. Anyway, once I had taken out the vamps, Chris asked if I wanted to mess with you guys, so here I am."

Beth piped up. "I think we have a problem. There's a zip line here, but we only have one hook, and we can't all use it."

B put his hand to his chin and contemplated the problem. Eventually, an answer came to him. He walked over to the broken robot spider, and removed one of its legs. Beth asked, "You want us to use the spider's legs to zip-line down?" B nodded.

"Well, let's go. I don't want to risk the penalty for leaving people behind being small."

If Lightning's arms weren't bound by webbing, he would have facepalmed. "Sha-[bleep], the penalty!"

"What about them?" Brick asked, gesturing towards the members of the other three teams.

"They'll be fine," Heather said tersely. "If we have to, we'll come back for them later." With that, she zip-lined towards the finish line, followed by her teammates.

Once they reached the finish line, Chris announced, "And the winning team is...the Gophers!"

"Wait, what?" DJ asked. "But they came in last."

"Yes, but they didn't lose any members," Chris said. "You lost five, Noah lost six, and Sierra lost seven."

"Wait, but that means..." Sierra trailed off.

"Too bad," Chris said. "If you had rescued one of your teammates instead of your boyfriend, Noah would have lost this challenge for his team instead."

And of course, Sierra's pants chose that moment to fall down, giving everyone present a view of her underwear.


At the Campfire Ceremony, Chris asked the Badgers, "So, fun night, huh?"

"Oh, it was loads of fun," Duncan said, voice heavy with sarcasm.

"I was attacked by a vampire," Zoey deadpanned. "Let's just get on with it."

"Fine," Chris said. "Marshmallows go to Trent, Bridgette, Duncan, Alejandro, Zoey, Geoff, and Sky. Sierra, you are eliminated."

"Yeah, I kinda figured," Sierra admitted. She then looked at Chris, and smirked evilly. "Oh, one thing. Did I ever tell you about when Chris was in a boy band?"

Chris forestalled her by shooting her with a tranquilizer gun. He then gestured to Izzy and Max. "Boat of Losers. And take her with you."

Izzy and Max carried her onto the Boat of Losers. Max said, "Let us depart. I have e-vil to do." The Boat of Losers then sped away.

Chris looked at the seven remaining Badgers. "The rest of you are safe. For tonight."


Topher was standing outside the Gopher cabin, and watched the Badgers return to their cabin. Upon seeing who had been eliminated, his shoulders slumped, and he went inside.


Well, this chapter took way too long to write. And unfortunately, I can't promise the next update will be faster, especially because I don't know what I want the next challenge to be and I'm probably going to be spending some time scouring SYOC stories for a suitable challenge. I partially blame the long wait on exams, but I've also been feeling less than motivated to work on this story. The next few updates will probably be slow, but after the next two chapters are done, I have the next few planned out.

I absolutely cannot stand Sierra, and I think she might be the only character in this story that I wrote as OOC on purpose. Aside from her character design, I cannot think of a single thing I like about her, except maybe the general idea behind her, and even then, Topher did it better.

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

30: Sam, the Gamer

29: Sierra, the Super-fan