Hi, right quick: in case you read the previous chapter almost as soon as it came out, I updated the swimsuits Amy and Topher wore on their second trip to the beach to be more in line with a piece of fanart that was drawn by the talented unenthusiastictdmember on Tumblr! I don't think I can link websites on here so you should totally go look it up, it was an honor to receive fanart for my story!

The sound of birds chirping and fluttering through the air awoke several of the campers from their slumber before the rising sun did. Sugar, Rodney, Sky, Jasmine, and Amy were up and getting ready for the day, while Max, Ella, Topher, Beardo, Sammy, Leonard, Scarlett, and Dave slept stayed in bed for just that little bit longer. Anything to attain a decent sleep before being put to the test again.

Shockingly, contrary to every other morning, Shawn rose from his bed feeling more or less rested. He looked down at the other guys in his room, all still unconscious, and rubbed the little bit of sleep from his eyes. "Wow," Shawn said quietly. "Full night's sleep. Feels weird."

He descended the bunk and got dressed, saw his disheveled, messy hair in the mirror, and lazily threw his toque on over it. Exiting the room, he looked up at the sky above, at the pink fading into blue, and admired the sight of it for a few moments. "Normally I see this when I go to bed, not get up," he whispered, "but it's pretty nice to actually acknowledge it for once…"

"It is nice, isn't it?"

Shawn yelped and jumped against the railing, holding his hands up to protect him. When it turned out to just be Sky standing on the opposite site of the deck however, he dropped his guard. "Oh, it's just you."

"Just me," Sky replied, not looking at him. Her hair was damp and she had a towel hanging around her neck, though she was fully dressed and ready for the day.

Shawn, not wanting to keep things awkward, said, "So, uh… How's it going?"

Sky sent a sideways glance his way, but didn't question it. "It's going fine. Went for my morning run, had a shower." She nodded upwards. "I like watching the colors change before the day starts. It's sort of like a morning ritual for me. Normally I have a cup of tea to drink, but beggars can't be choosers here."

Despite the bit of tension, Shawn couldn't help but nervously chuckle. "Heh. Sky's watching the sky."

And despite the large eye roll she gave him, the athlete couldn't stop from smiling in amusement. "Ha ha," she said sarcastically. "Like I haven't heard that one before."

They laughed lightly, and Shawn mimicked her and leaned against the railing. After a moment of companionable silence, he sighed and bit the bullet. "Hey, look, I'm… real sorry about yesterday. I should've been more aware of my sleeping habits, and because I wasn't it cost us the win. I'm going to try and do better from now on, I swear."

Sky didn't reply right away, but when she did she started with a sigh of her own. "I think I can forgive you for making a mistake, especially when you want to own up to it." Shawn smiled at that, but it vanished when Sky turned to him with angry disappointment on her face. "But what I can't forgive you for is trying to get Ella eliminated because she tried to help someone else. I get that you just wanted to stay in the game, but targeting her and using that as a reason is just… low. Really low."

Shawn sighed heavily and looked away. "It… wasn't one of my best decisions, no."

"Why her instead of Sugar?" Sky then asked. "Sugar was definitely the bigger target between the two of them."

"I know, and normally I probably would have targeted her. But she's still a strong player, and the only time we won so far was because of her. I guess I figured more people would rather go after someone else." With a sigh he leaned against the rail. "Clearly, I was wrong."

"Clearly," Sky agreed.

"But… I promise, nothing like that is gonna happen again." Shawn stood upright and turned to his teammate. "No more sleeping on the job, no more voting for people who don't deserve it. From now on, I'm playing properly and fairly. You can count on that."

-SHAWN-

Shawn hisses through his teeth and rubs the back of his head. "Not… counting that deal with Sugar, which I may have totally forgotten about when I talked to Sky earlier. Ohh, I really hope we win today…"

-END-

Sky stared him down, looking to see if he truly meant it. Though he squirmed a little, Shawn stood his ground and didn't back away. After a moment, she sighed through her nose and nodded. "Okay. We'll give you another chance."

Shawn perked up and grinned. "Really?"

"Of course. You never meant harm, so now you can work to fix your mistake." She shrugged a shoulder. "Besides, we gave Sugar another chance, why wouldn't you get one?"

Laughing nervously, Shawn was nonetheless relieved. "True, I guess. But don't worry, I won't let you down, Cap."

Sky smiled and laughed as well. "I could get used to being called that."

It was at that moment that a door behind them opened up, and out of the girls' room walked Ella. Her hair was a mess, as were her pyjamas - cute pink bunny slippers, pink plaid pants, where one leg was rolled up higher than the other from the way she slept, and a simple pale pink tank top, with one strap haphazardly falling down one shoulder. In fact, it was falling down to rather dangerous levels, something that Ella herself didn't seem to realize. "G'mornin'…" the singer said blearily, rubbing at one eye.

Sky, however, was more alert, and after whirling her head to Shawn to make sure he wasn't looking - who had been, but turned away fast enough to not be caught - Sky quickly adjusted her teammate's clothes.

"Ella, you need to be more careful," Sky chided, fixing both her shirt strap and pants leg. "There are cameras everywhere and I really doubt they'd look away for something like this…"

"Oh, right," Ella mumbled. Her tone made it hard to know if she was taking the advice seriously. "Thanks, Mom." After a pause, Sky chuckled lightly, and Ella shook her head free of some of the cobwebs. "I mean, Sky, jeez. Sorry… You just give off so many mom vibes sometimes."

"I've been told that before," Sky replied, amused.

"Oh, cool," Ella said, and then casually added, "I gotta pee."

And with that she started for the stairs, but not before stopping once more when she saw Shawn doing everything in his power to not gain her attention. Ella seemed to wake up a bit more after noticing him, as if recalling the events from last night, and her brow furrowed at the sight of him. But in the end, she didn't say a word, and hopped down the steps and headed towards the bathroom.

When she vanished behind the trees, Shawn exhaled heavily. "Uh… I might make myself scarce," he told Sky.

"That's probably for the best," Sky replied as she retreated back into her room. "See you at breakfast."

Shawn didn't reply as he hastily made his way in the direction opposite of Ella.

All was quiet in the area… for about only a minute, at which point the sound of the world's loudest alarm clock started loudly ringing and bursting everyone's eardrums. The walls of Maskwak's cabin seemed to reverberate at the noise, and screams from the boy's room could just barely be heard underneath it.

Sky burst out of her room, hands pressed against her ears, and quickly made her way next door. Throwing it open, she yelled, "What is going on?!"

Dave and Leonard, too busy wailing in pain to say anything, pointed towards Beardo.

Sky approached the sound board, and immediately deduced that the noise was coming from him. He still seemed to be asleep, and had an expression of pure terror on his face. Not knowing what else to do, and desperate to get him to stop, Sky hastily shook him to and fro. "Beardo, wake up! It's just a nightmare, you're okay!"

It took a few moments, but he finally woke up with a jolt. His arm actually swung out at her as he screamed in fright, but Sky had expected something like that to happen and she ducked out of the way just in time. "Easy, Beardo, easy!" she said to him. "You're alright, you're awake now!"

His breaths were accompanied by more normal screams, which slowly died down as he looked around and remembered where he was. The sweat continued to drip off him as his breathing evened out, and finally he let out one large, relieved sigh. "Okay," he said quietly, flopping back down onto his pillow. "Okay. Whoa. Nightmares, man."

Everyone else in the room did the same, though Sky flopped down onto the floor instead. "Yeah, I'll say," she said. "That sounded… pretty intense."

"That's putting it lightly," Dave moaned, his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the noise.

Leonard stuck his head over the edge of the bed to look down. "I think you woke the whole island with that… You okay, guy?"

"Yeah, yeah," Beardo said, nodding wearily. "Just… gimme a minute."

-BEARDO-

"Sometimes I get nightmares," Beardo starts, "but I mean, who doesn't? The only problem for me is, I sort of… wake up the whole neighborhood when it happens. Sometimes it's an alarm clock or the like, sometimes I sound like a dying mountain goat. The one thing it's good for is that when Moms and Pop hear it, they know what's going on. Although… I still get in trouble for it, which sucks.

"And, uh… No. I don't wanna talk about it." He scratched his arm uncertainly. "Bad memories, and all. You understand."

-END-

"What was the nightmare about, anyway?" Leonard asked.

"Oh, uh," Beardo stammered, freezing up somewhat. "Y-You know, normal stuff. Tests I didn't study for, goin' to class without any pants. The kind everyone gets."

Leonard and Sky shared a look; neither believed him, but neither did they want to press him for info. "Yeah, those nightmares suck," Sky agreed, and picked herself up to leave. "But I'm glad you're alright now." It was then that Sky recalled that she was in the boy's room, and that they were all still in their beds. "And… I'll just see myself out now." They thanked Sky, but they also didn't make any move to get out of bed and get ready for the day. With a small sigh, Sky turned back from the opened door and addressed the room. "And don't fall back to sleep for too long! The challenge will be starting soon and everyone needs to be awake and ready for it. Got it?"

The reminder of how they lost yesterday was not lost on the boys, but they also straight up didn't want to get up yet. And as if they had already practiced it, all three of them said in a tired, sarcastic drone, "Yes, Mom."

There was a pause, and the three of them laughed at it after a moment, but Sky simply stood there dumbfounded. "Do I really give off mom vibes that much…?" she asked herself as the door closed behind her.

-SKY-

"I've been called 'The Mom Friend' by my friends back home before, but it was always just a joke," Sky says. "But now I've been called 'Mom' twice, in less than five minutes, by four different people! At this point, I don't know whether I should be offended, or if I should just stay quiet and accept it."

-DAVE-

"I called her Mom," Dave whines with his head in his hands. Though he had laughed with the others before, he apparently had only just come to his senses. "MOM! I don't want her to be my mom, I want to date her! Ugh, this is so embarrassing… Can I bribe you guys to delete that footage and pretend it never existed? Please?"

-END-

The Bears weren't the only ones woken by the noise - over in the Salmon cabin, Topher, Max, Sammy and Scarlett had all basically fallen off their beds when they heard it, and were slowly and tiredly picking themselves back up. "Who sets an alarm clock so loudly…" Sammy groaned in a daze as she pulled herself up off the floor.

"Whoever it was," Scarlett growled, glaring in the direction of the rest of the rooms, "will sorely wish they never met me."

Likewise, in the boys' room, Max was picking himself up after falling off the bed, while Topher was grumbling and attempting to fix his hair in the mirror. "I guess that's as good a wakeup call as any," Max said, rearing his head back and popping his spine.

"Uh, no it wasn't," Topher said bitterly, scraping his comb through his coiffure. "I need a very specific amount of beauty sleep or else I can't go out."

Max raised a brow. "And… why's that?"

Topher rolled his eyes. "Obviously because I won't look like I had a full night's sleep, which means I won't naturally look my best, which means I'll have to track down the makeup department to help me bring out my best which should already be out. Have you never been on TV before?"

"Uh… I don't think so? Unless I walked by a news reporter without realizing or something."

"Then I guess you have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'm wasting my breath here," Topher grumbled, and proceeded to ignore Max's very existence.

Max didn't exactly know what he meant by that, but neither did he really care. "Guess I'll just get dressed now," he mumbled to himself, and did just that. By the time he had his clothes on, Topher was still at the mirror and also still ignoring him, so with a huff he simply chose to leave the room.

And the second he did he ran right into Scarlett, also just exiting her room. "Oh," Max said in surprise. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you as well," Scarlett replied cordially. The two stepped away from the cabin and continued on towards the Main Lodge. "I trust you slept well?"

"Well enough, before whatever that was woke me up," Max whined, sticking his pinkie finger in his ear. "My eardrums are still ringing…"

"Yes, mine as well," Scarlett growled. She looked back towards the cabins, specifically the Bears'. "I don't know how something so loud was triggered, but whoever did it, their days are numbered."

Max frowned at his friend-slash-partner-in-crime. "Ah… right."

-MAX-

"So… I sort of didn't realize how intense Scarlett would be when I started hanging out with her," Max admits with an awkward chuckle. "I just thought she had similar views on the world and authority and such, but I think she's more willing to hurt people than I originally thought she'd be. She certainly seems okay with me causing mischief and mayhem as a Wildcard. Which is… something I'm still not all that certain about, but I'm at the very least going to give it a try. I want back in the game as much as anyone, and if that really is the prize for creating pandemonium, then I have no choice but to go through with it! I've already wasted one day - I can't afford to do so again!"

-END-

"What do you think the challenge will be?" Max asked as they ascended the stairs to the Lodge.

"I'm sincerely hoping it's something mentally stimulating," Scarlett answered. "But given this show's track record, that seems to be less and less likely with each passing season."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Max replied. "I'm wondering what I'll have to do this time…"

"Cause chaos, most likely," Scarlett answered.

"Hmm… Yeah…" Max sucked in a deep breath and hit one fist against his chest. "Then if it falls to me to cause chaos, just call me… Chaos Causer!"

Scarlett actually stopped her stride to stare at him. After a lengthy and awkward pause, she said, "No," and continued on to the kitchen window.

"Aww," Max sighed, deflating, and followed after her.

Breakfast that morning was, once again, disgusting. For today, the campers were given a plate full of greens. What sort of greens was anyone's guess, however, as what Chef plopped onto their plates was something mushy and kind of soggy. Everyone who accepted the food gagged at the sight, and several of them made scathing remarks as they brought it back to their tables.

"You cannot be serious right now," Amy said in disgust as she sat down. "I eat salads all the time. Sometimes caesar, sometimes spinach, but it's a salad all the same. But this? This is not a salad. This looks like a clump of grass a cat ate and then threw back up. And then ate again and threw up again."

"And it smells so bad," Sammy moaned, pinching her nose and waving a hand in front of her. "Like… I wasn't fully awake before now, but I'm definitely up after smelling this."

Rodney lifted his plate to his nose and smelled it himself, before grunting in repulsion and pushing it away. "Gross!" he said loudly. "Is this what cows eat? Man, I'm glad I'm not one of them!"

Max eyed his in distaste, but turned to Scarlett before attempting to eat it. "You're well-versed in… everything. Are you able to identify what this even is?"

Scarlett attempted to do so, even leaning down and squinting into the mass of green mush. She sniffed it, took a little on her finger and sampled it on her tongue, which caused her to physically shudder. With a frown, she slowly admitted, "I… can't."

That revelation made everyone even more wary of the 'meal'. The only one not deterred was, of course, Sugar, who sat herself down at her table with hunger in her eyes. "I dunno what y'all are talkin' about," she said to her opponents, "this looks just as good as anything else we've eaten so far." She scooped some up in her spoon and chomped down onto it, and it was only then that she gave pause. Everyone watched her as she chewed on it and judged it, and after a few moments she finally swallowed. "Uhh… Hm." She had another bite, leaving everyone on edge for the verdict, and when she finished that portion she frowned heavily at the meal. "Okay, I admit, I've had outdated cabbage better than this."

The others gasped in shock at Sugar, the girl who had no misgivings about eating anything else, not particularly liking that morning's breakfast. "If Sugar isn't fond of it, I don't think any of us'll be able to stomach it," Dave noted uneasily, earning him several sounds of agreement.

Hiding behind the door to the kitchen and listening in, Chef Hatchet smirked and pumped a fist. "Gotcha," he congratulated himself quietly.

-CHEF HATCHET-

The hulking cook squeezes his large frame into the confessional, his trademark glare already directed right at the camera. "Every new group'a kids always got one that'll eat anything," he explains. "The first batch had Tubby, and the second group had Rat Boy. This go around, it's Little Miss Beauty Pageant. And whenever it's time for them to eat, Chris and I make a bet to see if the resident 'gourmet' will complain about it, or if they'll scarf it down like the slobs they are." He smirks devilishly. "This time, I won."

-END-

But despite disgust being the popular emotion for that morning, there was one person who was eating, and rather steadily at that. It was Dave who noticed first, and his jaw dropped at what he was witnessing. Soon the other Bears saw it too, and everyone stared at Ella in morbid fascination as she took bite after bite of the stuff. Something else everyone noticed was that she didn't even seem to realize what she was eating, as her eyes were unfocused and she was clearly lost in her own head.

-ELLA-

"Was it wrong of me to help a friend out?" Ella asks the confessional camera. "No. Absolutely not. Was it wrong of me to help someone on the other team out? Also no, but apparently not everyone saw it that way." She groans and shakes her head. "Ugh, I was just doing what I believed was right, and now people have beef with me about it. I don't want to distrust anyone on my team, but it's seriously starting to look like not everyone trusts me. Which just… hurts. A lot."

-END-

Ella continued to eat, being none the wiser to the meal's repulsiveness or all of the eyes trained on her. When she failed to meet any of them, the team hunkered down and started eating their meals themselves. They, along with the Salmons, had much trouble, and many complaints were aired aloud, but with some coaxing they all shoved it down their throats.

A little while later, Chris waltzed in through the front door, his mere presence stealing almost everyone's attention, with Sky having to elbow Ella in the shoulder to bring her back to reality. "Good morning, campers!" Chris happily said to them. "I hope everyone's enjoying their breakfast." The complaints started up once again, which were all music to Chris' ears.

Ella, hearing these criticisms, finally glanced down at whatever green mulch remained on her plate, and she covered her mouth in revulsion. "Augh! What the heck have I been eating?" she quietly asked no one in particular.

Chris heard her nonetheless. "That's a good question. Even I'm not sure what it is, and I OK'd it!"

"You gave the green light on this?" Scarlett asked him bitterly. Out of everyone in the room, she still had the most food on her plate. "You're truly a reprehensible excuse for a human being."

"You'd think that an insult, but you'd be wrong," Chris countered.

"I thought at first it was lettuce or something," Leonard said, "but now I'm beginning to suspect it might be moss."

"Eh, lettuce, moss," Chris said with a shrug. "The line starts to blur after it's been left out for a month or so."

Dave's cheeks immediately bulged and he dashed out of the lodge. Sky gasped and quickly followed after him to help.

"Sweet," Chris grinned, "I was hoping to get someone with that."

"Just tell us what the challenge is," Jasmine said with a glare. "That's the reason you're here, isn't it?"

"That, and to make you all suffer. But you already knew that." Chris cleared his throat and kept talking. "About 20 minutes down the path is a lake with a dock along one of its edges. That's today's location, the challenge of which will be taking place in the lake, so make sure to change into your bathing suits before you head out there."

"Oh, nice, more swimming," Sammy said with a smile and a clap of her hands.

"Don't forget, this is Chris we're talking about," Jasmine said to her, leaning in to whisper. "He's probably filled the lake with eels and sharks and stuff."

"Oh," Sammy said, a frown replacing her smile. "Right. Forgot where I was for a sec."

"We'll meet at the lake in 30 minutes, so that's 10 to get your gear on." Chris nodded to the door. "So? Get going!"

Everyone scrambled out and back to their cabins to change, and rather than wait for their team the ones to change fastest took off on their own.

However, one person in particular stopped halfway to the challenge area…

"Hey, what's up?" Amy asked her sister when she paused suddenly.

"I, uhh…" Sammy looked back down the path, hoping to see the person on her mind, though they had yet to show up. "I need to talk to someone."

Amy raised a brow. "You do?" When Sammy's only response was a nod, she shrugged. "Well, alright then, but don't take too long."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

As Amy continued onward, Sammy sidled up to a tree and waited, watching as a few of the others walked by towards the lake. Some gave her questioning looks, but the younger twin simply waved them off.

When her target finally showed up, she pushed off the tree and stood in their path. "I need to talk to you. Right now."

Shawn looked at her in surprise, and turned around to make sure she wasn't talking to anyone else, though no one was behind him. With a groan of defeat, he turned back to her. "Yeah, I really should've seen this part coming."

-SAMMY-

"I mean, we all know confidence isn't my strong suit," Sammy readily admits for the camera. "I've questioned myself more times than I can count, and almost anytime I find myself in an argument I shut down pretty much instantly. But," her gaze becomes steely, "when you bring my episodes into the mix, and single out my friend because of it, you should know for certain I am going to put my foot down!"

-END-

"What on earth were you trying to do last night?" Sammy asked him, arms crossed and eyes locked on to him.

"I, uh," Shawn stammered, twiddling his thumbs nervously. "I just… wanted to stay in the game, that's all."

"And so you decided to use my disability to do that?" Sammy took a step forward. "Do you know just how wrong that is?"

"I-It wasn't about the disability," Shawn hastily defended, taking a step back. "It was about Ella stopping the game to… to do something else."

Sammy looked at him incredulously. "Something else? Helping me out of my dissociation episode wasn't just something else. She had to bring me out the way she did, otherwise it would've messed me up really badly!" That part seemed to throw Shawn for a loop. "She may have stopped playing for a second, sure, but in the long run that was the right call. So I don't know why you thought it was a good idea to make her a target because of that, but it wasn't."

The two entered an uncomfortable silence for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Sammy looked like she was ready to leave when Shawn spoke up. "It… would've been that bad, huh?"

"Yes," she answered, but then the fire in her eyes died down somewhat. "Or, well… I guess not so much badly as it would've been super jarring and distressing."

"Oh. I… didn't realize it could get that rough."

-SHAWN-

"I'll admit that I'm… kind of sheltered," he admits. "I'm homeschooled, and there's only so much two people can teach you before you start to drive them insane with how often you're falling asleep in class. And I… kinda might spend more time watching movies than doing my own research on things that aren't movies. So… yeah."

-END-

"You didn't know?" Sammy asked after a moment passed.

"No," Shawn answered, and groaned heavily. "Now I feel like an even bigger idiot."

Now that her anger was fading, Sammy started rubbing one of her arms anxiously. "I guess… I didn't exactly tell your team what was up with me yesterday, so…"

Shawn looked like he was contemplating accepting that excuse, but it didn't last for long. "No, no, it's not your fault. If anything you're the last person who deserves blame. I'm the one who deserves it."

Sammy took her time staring him down, ensuring that he actually meant what he said. And in the end, she nodded. "Well… as long as you know that. And don't do it again."

He raised up his hand. "I solemnly swear that I will-" And then he moaned worriedly. "…try my absolute best not to cause any more harm."

She tilted her head at that particular phrasing, but didn't give it too much thought. "Okay… Thank you."

With that, Sammy headed back down the trail and left Shawn alone. When she was out of sight, the movie nut rubbed his knuckles into his eyes. "Man… I've made such a mess of things…" He nonetheless followed after her without another word.

Soon everyone had amassed near the lake, and they were quick to note that honestly, nothing looked all that weird about it. It was surrounded by dense trees all around, as if it were isolated from every other part of the island, and it was decently large and likely just as deep. A dock made of wood circled around its edge for a bit, but by all accounts it was just a lake.

Chris and Chef were already there, and just like the teens they were also dressed for the challenge. Chris wore light blue and grey swimming trunks, and a navy button-up shirt that wasn't buttoned up. A pair of sunglasses were over his eyes, and in one hand was a red fruity drink that the contestants likely weren't old enough to consume. Conversely, Chef was in an old white and blue striped swimsuit, complete with short sleeves and pant legs, that looked like it was pulled out of the 1920s. He also wore goggles and a snorkel around his head, as well as an inflatable ducky tube with a few patches on it around his waist. Black flippers adorned his feet, and his neutral expression did not give any hint as to whether he dressed himself or not.

"Welcome one and all, to today's challenge… Raiders of the Lost Lake!"

"Wow," Topher said in awe, but this quickly fell away to a smirk. "That reference is so dated. Didn't that movie come out in 1981? You're really showing your age there, aren't ya Chris?"

"Psh," Chris scoffed. "I know it was before your time, but it's still considered relevant! So how's about you stay in your lane, junior?" He punctuated this by taking a delicate sip of his drink, extended pinkie finger and all.

"1981 was more than 35 years ago," Scarlett told him casually.

And Chris immediately spat out the drink in shock. "More than 35-?!" he started, his voice and face in complete disbelief. However he quickly regained composure and cleared his throat. "I mean, obviously it is." All of the contestants (and even Chef) laughed at him for that, and he made sure to glare at each and every one of them. But he smoothed back his hair and continued on.

"Anyway! Today's challenge will be a little bit different from the last few," Chris explained. "Your objective is to dive into the lake and collect various goodies scattered around within. Each treasure you can find has a set number of points assigned to them - when all treasures have been found, we'll add up each team's points, and whoever has the highest number will be the winner!"

"This sounds like a scavenger hunt," Jasmine said, a grin on her face. Like all of Kinosewak (and Max), she wore the same swimsuit from yesterday. "Which is right up my alley. What are we hunting for?"

"Good question," Chris said. "If you'll all turn around to the TVs behind you, you'll be able to see what you're on the lookout for."

Raising her brow in surprise, Jasmine mumbled, "What TVs?" and turned around with the rest of the contestants. There, hanging from two different trees on the edge of the forest, were two flat-screen, 4K TVs, both of which were showing pictures and names of various items. Those items ranged from what looked to be relics of a time long forgotten (such as a chalice, a rusty crown, and so on) as well as everyday household objects (like a Phillips-head screwdriver and a beat-up folding chair). Each item was named and had a number next to its image, indicating its point value, and the general application of points suggested that the bigger and/or heavier the object, the more points it was worth.

But while the items were what the others were focused on, Jasmine narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "There weren't any TVs there when we came in," she said. "Those spots were empty. I know they were, I scouted this area the second we got here!"

"Don't know what you're talking about, brah," Chris said to her. His smile never wavered. "Those TVs were always there."

"Wait, what?" Jasmine asked incredulously. "You can't be serious. I know what I saw! Or, didn't see, I guess." Chris only shook his head, causing Jasmine to turn to the person closest to her. "You noticed it, didn't you?" she asked Sammy, to which the younger twin frowned and shrugged.

"By the looks of it, you were just seeing things," Chris said snidely. "Might wanna get your eyes checked out before going back out into the wilds."

Jasmine glared, but in the end she dropped the subject.

"Moving on," Chris said loudly, regaining everyone's attention. "As you can see, there are a total of 13 items in the lake, and a total of 21 points to be earned between you all. Teams will send two people at once to go searching for hidden treasure, and when one person finds something they'll come back up and be swapped out for someone else. Everyone will need to go at least once, and once a team sends everyone out the order will loop back to the beginning. You'll be able to select a new order should you see fit, however.

"Also, just as a note: you can't take the other team's items after they've been recovered, but feel free to try and steal from them when in the water, as the points only count when they've been added to your team's pile!

"Of course, that only matters for the players. The Wildcard," he gestured to Max, who was standing nearby him, "has a different objective. As with yesterday, Max has the choice to either help or hinder the team of his choosing, either by finding items on his own and handing them to whoever he wants, or by hiding them in entirely different locations." He then leaned in closer to Max, causing the boy to lean away in response. "He might also want to try being a little less nice than last time… Just sayin'.

"Maskwak and Kinosewak!" He then called out to the teams. "Choose who will be diving first. You have one minute to do so, and then the challenge begins!"

"Alright, guys," Sky quickly said, turning to the others. This challenge marked the first time the Bears had worn their swimsuits on the show - in Sky's case, she wore a one-piece black and white competitive swimming suit, and had her hair protected by a similarly-colored swim cap. The feather earrings and purple necklace she usually wore were nowhere to be found, of course. "We need to do this properly and as a team. We can't afford to lose again - we lucked out the last two times when no one got eliminated, but that good fortune isn't going to last. So we need to absolutely come in first today. Everyone got it?"

A resounding cry of 'Yes, ma'am's rang out from the Bears, but the only person who didn't join in was Sugar, and for obvious reasons.

"I'll be one of the first swimmers," Sky continued, not taking notice of Sugar's lack of enthusiasm. "And… Dave, how about you?"

Dave - who wore a pair of plain denim-colored trunks and a pale blue, unzipped hoodie with white short-sleeves - eyed the water and gulped. "Uh… Not that I don't want to, but are we sure this lake is filled with clean water?"

Sky glanced down at it. "I'm not sure how we could tell from up here. But is that a no? You'll have to go eventually but you can take a moment to psych yourself up if you need it."

Dave opened his mouth to speak, but Shawn, decked out in a pair of dark-green camouflage shorts and missing his favorite hat, nudged him in the arm and subtly motioned towards Sky. It took Dave a moment to figure out what he meant, but when he did his mind hastily changed. "Uh, nope, it's not a no, it's a yes! Yes, I'll dive with you. Absolutely."

"Perfect! Thanks Dave," Sky said happily, and turned back to the lake.

Dave sent Shawn a grateful smile, while the movie nut did the same and nodded. Unfortunately, that didn't last too long, and Dave looked away from him nervously, which did not go unnoticed by Shawn.

-SHAWN-

"I know Dave could be the one who voted for me last night," Shawn explains sadly. "And… I don't exactly blame him for it. Sky clearly wanted to vote for me, and of course he'd want to support her. The only one at fault here is me."

-END-

"Sam, wanna hop in with me first?" Jasmine asked the younger twin with a grin.

"Oh! Umm…" Sammy looked down at the water questioningly. She knelt at the edge of the dock and tried to reach down to touch it, but it was too far away. With a frown she said, "Maybe… I'll wait to see how cold it is before jumping in."

Jasmine wasn't sure why that mattered, but she simply shrugged and accepted it. "That's fine, no sweat."

"I'll go in her place," Rodney offered, stepping up to the two. "I know I didn't do that great yesterday, so I want to make up for it."

Even though they had their differences, Jasmine couldn't help but smile appreciatively at him. "That's a nice thought, but give it a few turns before you take yours, okay?"

"What? But why?"

"Because we don't want to have both of us going at the same time. Sure we might be able to get two things now, but if they send out someone like Sugar, she'd probably be gunning for something we already have our mitts on. And no offense to the rest of these blokes, but I can't see them being able to put up a fight against her."

"Oh, none taken," Topher said, backed up by a nodding Scarlett. "She'd be willing to break at least something to get what we had, no doubt about that."

"So I'll go first, to keep Sky in check, and then you wait until Sugar goes so you can help deal with her. Sound good?"

"Uh… Not really," Rodney answered honestly. "I don't think even I'm a match for her."

Jasmine frowned and looked over at the opposing team, where Sugar was standing in the far back with an expressionless glance at her comrades. "Hmm… Alright, I hear what you're saying. You go first instead, and I'll hold out until Sugar hops in. You alright with that?"

With a grin, Rodney nodded. "I am!"

-RODNEY-

And the second the confessional starts, Rodney smacks his hand over his eyes. "Ugh, this isn't how it's supposed to go - I'm the one who should be taking charge, not her! And here I am, following her instructions without even realizing… It's weird how easy it is for her to give out good orders to the others, and have them listen to her! Why isn't anyone listening to me?!"

-END-

"If that's the case, I'll go with Rodney," Amy said with a raised hand.

"Perfect, thanks for volunteering," Jasmine said to her.

As Rodney approached the edge of the dock, Amy leaned over to her sister and whispered, "I'll let you know how cold it is, 'kay?"

"Okay, thanks," Sammy said with a smile.

-SAMMY-

"I don't do well in the cold," Sammy admits. "It's… another one of the triggers for my dissociation. I mean, it's not like I can't function in the winter or anything, but it really freaks me out when there's a sudden temperature drop. That's why summer is my favorite season, and why I mostly try to avoid our kitchen's fr-" She suddenly shudders, and slowly curls in on herself. "Ugh, dang it. I really gotta stop confessing to so much in here…"

-END-

The four contestants stood at the ready at the edge of the dock, with Dave and Sky on the left and Amy and Rodney on the right, and both sides were either glaring or grinning dangerously at the other.

Chris stood off to the side with airhorn in hand. "Divers, on your marks!" he began, raising the horn upwards. The four crouched and prepared to jump. "Get set… Search!"

With the sounding of the horn, they leaped and entered the water - Dave, Amy and Rodney all jumped normally, the latter actually cannonballing and causing a huge splash, while Sky alone dove arms and head first like a proper swimmer. The other contestants had to shield themselves from getting wet, some loudly declaring the divers to be rude and unfair in doing so.

The second they submerged under the water, Chris rubbed his chin in thought. "Feels like… I'm forgetting something…"

"What about me?" Max asked him, standing off to the side. "Was it me you forgot?"

"Hmm…" The host continued to rub his chin. "I did forget about you for a second, but I don't think that was what I remembered I forgot."

Max stared blankly at him. "Wait, I'm confused."

Chris shrugged. "Sucks. But yeah, you hop in too."

"Okey-dokey," the ex-jerk said happily, and mimicked Rodney in doing a cannonball.

The four diving contestants (and Max as well) broke through the water, and immediately began taking stock of the area. The bottom of the lake was what one would expect - underwater plants and grass, various rocks of differing shapes and sizes, and filled from top to bottom with water. Despite being rather open, none of the items from the list immediately stuck out in the divers' eyes. It was Sky who moved first, having submerged farther down thanks to properly diving, and she proceeded to scour the lakebed in hopes of finding something within the dirt. The others, seeing this, proceeded to do the same. Dave, figuring they were the least dirty things in the water, looked around the larger rocks, while Amy and Rodney sifted through the tall, swaying grass. Max, meanwhile, copied Sky and went off towards another open patch of dirt to look for items to hide from the others.

Back up on dry land, the waiting contestants were either watching the lake in anticipation, or had moved off on their own to sit down instead. It was a tense few minutes of relative silence, as everyone eagerly awaited who would surface first, and if they found anything or not.

And after those few minutes of silence ended, the water burst apart as a head stuck out of it. Dave sputtered and shook his hair out of his face, and breathed in deeply as he turned around to look at his team.

"Well, anything?" Leonard called down to him, hands cupping his mouth.

The hypochondriac only shook his head. "No, sorry! There's nothing sitting out in the open!"

"Well of course there isn't," Chris said loud enough for everyone to hear. "It's a scavenger hunt. There wouldn't be much of a challenge if we had everything in plain view!"

The next few people came up for air shortly after Dave - first Max, then Amy, then Rodney, and then finally Sky. All of them regained their breath, and all of the players shook their heads no.

"You all stay in the water until you find something," Chris told them. "Then you can swap with another teammate. Max… you just stay in the water."

"Aw," he said glumly. "My fingers are gonna get all pruny…"

Without further complaints, the five of them dove back in to continue the search. Aside from that however, there truly wasn't much else going on. They had to swim back up to breathe a few more times, and more than once one searcher ended up encroaching on another's territory and had to be chased away, but that was the extent of the preliminary search.

As they did so, the waiting players did just that - wait. Beardo, Leonard, Shawn, Sammy, Topher and Jasmine were all standing at the docks looking down into the water and waiting, while Scarlett, Sugar and Ella had stepped away on their own.

Ella, specifically, sat back against one of the trees behind her team. She wore a pink floral-patterned bikini, where the bottom had a wavy, somewhat transparent skirt attached to it; additionally, she wore her long hair in a low ponytail rather than loosely over her shoulder, and she also wore a frown on her face as she eyed each of her teammates. The revelation that she had votes against her had not left her mind once, and though she knew of one and had some ideas of the rest, she desperately wanted to know who among them wanted her out.

Meanwhile, Beardo waited with bated breath for his teammates to come up successful. He had on trunks that came in various shades of gray, and had his large head of hair tied back in a giant, gravity-defying ponytail. Naturally, given that this was Beardo, his chest hair was equally as thick as his regular hair and beard. He stood next to Leonard, who was sporting dark green trunks with bright yellow vertical stripes on the side, along with a pair of black crocs, completely unironically. "Who do you think'll get the first item?" Beardo asked Leonard.

"Well, obviously I'm hoping for Dave or Sky," Leonard answered. "But I think Amy and Rodney have just as much a chance as them."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. I don't want us to have to vote for someone again tonight, y'know?"

"Oh yeah," Leonard said with a heavy sigh. "I know."

-LEONARD-

"I wish I hadn't voted for Ella," Leonard admits dejectedly to the camera. "I don't think she knows it was me, but I'm scared it's only a matter of time before she finds out… Oh, why did Shawn have to ask me to vote with him? And why do I bend so easily when people ask me to do things? No wonder Tammy always talks me into letting her create OP characters in our games!"

-END-

As the divers returned to the surface to breathe air more often than for any other reason, Beardo had at one point taken notice of Ella sitting away from the team by her lonesome. Splitting off from Leonard, the larger boy walked up to and sat next to the singer. "You good, girl?" he asked her.

His voice shook her from her thoughts, and she turned to him with a slight smile. "Hey, Beardo," Ella greeted, and the smile faded. "And, I dunno. I guess the vote from last night's been weighing me down this morning, is all."

"Ah, yeah, say no more," Beardo nodded in understanding. "That'll mess with anyone's head, for sure."

"I just don't know who'd vote for me," Ella admitted. "I mean, aside from Shawn but I think that one's a given. And if what Chris said about the vote count is true, there's two other people on this team who wanted me gone over him…"

"I can say right now, I voted for Shawn," Beardo told her.

"Yeah?" Ella asked, and sighed in relief. "Then that's one person off my suspicion list."

"And you can probably take Sky off there too," Beardo added, "since she really was not happy with him after the challenge."

"Yeah, she said as much to me last night… So that's you and Sky who didn't vote for me. I know I didn't, obviously, and I also know Shawn did… So that leaves Dave, Leonard, and… Sugar."

Ella glanced up at the rest of her team - Shawn, Leonard, and Sugar weren't talking with each other, and they all had their eyes on the water. Ella's gaze narrowed specifically to Sugar, who for the challenge wore a simple neon pink two-piece, strapless swimsuit - bold and leaving little to the imagination, but not too loud as to hurt anyone's eyes, and had likely been used in a pageant prior in her life. She had her hands on her hips and was impatiently tapping her foot, waiting for her teammates to come up with something that would net them some points.

-ELLA-

Ella begins counting on her fingers. "Trying to maul me… Tattling on me about the food fight… Being the first one to call me out for not tagging out Sammy… The whole pushing incident…" Ella's eyes light up in shock, and to the camera she says, "You know… I'm really starting to believe that Sugar doesn't like me."

-END-

"I'm almost positive Sugar has it out for me," Ella whispered to Beardo.

The sound board scratched his head. "I mean… I think she has it out for everyone," he replied.

"Well, okay, yes, but me specifically. And I think it's been like that since she realized I didn't vote with her on the first day."

"Yeah? You gonna do anything about it?"

Ella paused, continuing to stare at the back of Sugar's head. "I don't know."

That was when the sound of someone emerging from the water drew their attention, and the shrill cry of, "I got something, I got something!" alerted the cast to the first recovered item. Ella and Beardo jumped up and sprinted over to the edge of the dock, but deflated in irritation when the diver turned out to be Amy, holding the Phillips-head screwdriver triumphantly.

"Amy makes the first find, but will only give her team the first point if she brings it back up to dry land!" Chris said over the cheers of her team. "Amy, climb up and have someone else go in your place."

The older twin did just that, accepting her sister's hand when she got close enough to the dock, and as soon as her feet touched the solid wood she made a break for her team's TV. When she placed the screwdriver in the square zone in front of it, the tally on the screen changed from zero to one. Kinosewak continued to cheer, while Sammy gave her sister a high-five, which was eagerly returned. "So, how was the water?" Sammy whispered to her.

"Just fine," Amy answered. "Hop in whenever you want."

"Oh, perfect, thank you!" Sammy then turned to Jasmine and raised her hand. "I'll go next!"

"Right on," Jasmine said with a smile and a nod. "Show 'em what you can do!"

Sammy grinned and, with a whoop, threw herself into the water. When the bubbles parted around her, she looked around to find a good spot to start searching, only to watch as Dave struggled to reach the surface with an open, dingy umbrella in his hands. Sammy was about to let him do his thing and go find something else, but thoughts from yesterday invaded her mind, and with only a bit of hesitance she quickly swam towards him.

Dave was attempting to get the tattered umbrella closed, as swimming with it wide open was causing too much resistance against the water. However, the second he saw Sammy in his peripheral vision, the germaphobe stopped what he was doing and stared at her in surprise. The younger twin gave him a pained look and mouthed, 'Sorry', to him, and reached both arms out for the umbrella.

With quicker reflexes than she was expecting, Dave held the item back, and tried kicking away to both deter the potential thief and swim away from her. But though she wasn't as athletic as her sister, Sammy wasn't having any of it, and kept up the fight for long enough that Dave eventually swam backwards into the dirt wall of the lake. He looked back in surprise, but managed to hold his breath in. Sammy, seeing her chance, reached for it again, but Dave swung the umbrella like a weapon to drive her away.

-SAMMY-

"He swung the umbrella at me like a baseball bat," Sammy says, her hair and body soaking wet with the lake water. "Uh, rude much?"

-DAVE-

"She tried to steal from me?" Dave asks in irritated shock, likewise dripping wet. "Wow. I didn't see that coming from her. She's ruder than I thought."

-END-

Sammy wasn't discouraged from the attacks however. As the umbrella was still fighting against the water, it was slow enough that if she timed it right, she'd be able to grab it. Sammy waited patiently, and on one swing she reached out and managed to grab a hold of it, and began to pull it her way. Dave held on for dear life, and the two entered an awkward underwater tug-of-war contest, with the umbrella as both the rope and the prize. But it was clear that the match would end soon enough, as Dave's grip was beginning to slip.

Sammy grinned as the item came closer to her, but then something unexpected happened. A finger tapped her shoulder on her right, and in surprise she turned in that direction. As soon as she did so Sky swam to her other side and pulled her hands off of the umbrella, and with the sudden presence of physical contact Sammy unintentionally allowed that to happen by curling into herself and backing away. Once she saw that Sky had saved Dave and, by extension, the umbrella, Sammy frowned and crossed her arms at them.

Sky glared back at her, before motioning for Dave to get going, which he did so without delay. The athlete followed right after him, and Sammy, quickly needing some air, did the same.

Dave broke through the surface first, and pulled the umbrella up, spraying water in an arc in front of him. "Found something!" he called up. His team hollered and helped him ascend the dock, and once the item had been placed the number on the Bears' screen went up by two, putting them in the lead.

Sammy, popping up just as he scored for his team, sighed and blew bubbles in the water. Sky swam over to her with a somewhat peeved expression. "I didn't think you'd be the first one to try and steal something," she said to the blonde.

"Oh, um, yeah," Sammy said awkwardly, "It's just, after what happened yesterday, I felt like I had to make up for it."

"Well… that I get," Sky said, "but it's still not really cool."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry." Sammy sighed once more, and dove back underwater, with Sky following shortly after.

"Woo-hoo!" Dave cheered, high-fiving most of his team. "I got us the lead!"

"That's great," Chris said dismissively. "That's really great. But I keep thinking I'm forgetting something…"

"Doubt it. You're probably just thinking you're forgetting something," Topher said to him. "Tends to happen with age, you know."

Chris glared dangerously at him, and that's when his eyes lit up. "No, wait, I remember now! It's time for us to release… the giant squid!"

It was at that point that Shawn began running towards the deck's edge. "Geronimmmmmmwait what?" He stopped right before the drop, but his balance was currently nonexistent and he fell off the edge. Rather than an epic cannonball like what he had been going for, Shawn landed painfully stomach-first on the water with a splat. Beardo and Ella, watching from above, winced and watched him slowly sink underneath.

"Wah-wah-wah-waaaahhh," Beardo sounded out, mimicking the noise of a sad trombone. Ella snorted out a laugh at that.

As this happened above the water, below the water Rodney was circling around a large boulder, with the hope of finding something buried beneath it. He was brushing away the dirt surrounding it, and as he did so his hand tapped against something. With a hopeful grin he went to take a look at what it was. It was then that Sammy swam down next to him to see if he needed any help, and Rodney motioned to the boulder for them to move it. The two attempted to push it aside, but it was incredibly heavy, even for one of the strongest members of the game.

As they shoved with all their might, a shadow passed over them, and the two stopped to look up to see who it was. But it wasn't actually anybody - it was something else, something the two of them weren't expecting to see.

Emerging from a small hole in the dirt wall that neither of them noticed before now, was a startlingly long, greyish-white tentacle with what looked like giant spikes sticking out of the end of it.

And it was floating in the water just above where they swam.

They stared in absolute horror at the thing, before clutching each other and screaming all their air away.

And that was when the clip paused, and the shot zoomed out to Chris standing next to the TV. Alongside him were a thoroughly shocked Topher, Scarlett, and Leonard. "Well would'ya look at that?" Chris said to no one in particular. "Who could've seen this coming? I can tell you one thing, I certainly didn't!"

"You are clearly lying!" Scarlett said with a glare.

"You bet your butt I am!" Chris happily declared. "Will Rodney and Sammy survive this attack? Will Kinosewak be able to go on without them? Find out, when we return to, Total… Drama… Paaahkitew Island!"