My comments for the reviews in the last chapter:
Platrium: Thank you for reviewing even though it's a month old! XD Hoping that you will like the chapter and will have to say something to several teams. :3
Episode 5, Part 3 – "Crossed Hearts Gets to Cross First" – Lawrence
Brighton Seaside Resort – The Pier
Eleanor & Theodore – Best Friends
Eleanor was meandering aimlessly in circles, while Theodore is heavily concerned for his partner.
"Hey, Eleanor, just wanted to let you know that…" He paused, trying to come up with something that would soothe the tension around her. "…we still have a chance."
She then looked up to him with a blank expression, striding towards Theodore. She grabbed the collar of his jacket and stared at him in a serious manner, intimidating her counterpart.
"We will… we will stand a chance… no matter what…" She answered coldly as she releases him.
Theodore, able to recuperate himself, looked at her in worry as she continues her wandering around the pier. He tried his best effort but the agitation persisted as they waited for the last team.
After elapsing 20-25 minutes, the last team arrived in the pier. But soon to learn about when they found out that they were indeed in the last place, much to their worries. To top it all, they also found out that they were paired up with the team that had 'history' with them. The chipmunks were also shocked to find out that they have to team up with the Canadians.
Kevin & Sami – currently in Last Place
"What are we going to do now?" Sami whispered to Kevin, glancing over to the other pair. "And of all the teams, we stuck and we're going to work with each other with these guys?!"
"We have no choice! If that's we were getting, then so be it." Kevin replied, accepting the fate that they currently face.
Sami groaned in response.
Kevin & Sami (Confessional)
"They were the last team that we're expecting to work with… we didn't end up in greater terms the last time we've 'worked' with them." Sami confessed. "Just remembering it alone, just makes my stomach churned."
Leg 3 – Stadtpark
"This is our carriage now! Get outta there!" Sami ordered, calling out the chipmunks from the fiacre.
"Excuse me?! This is ours! Get your own and don't try to steal this one for us!" Eleanor retorted, peeking her head through the window.
"Really? Technically, you're stealing it from us…" Sami countered.
"Wh-what? What do you mean by that?!"
"Hey, what about this?" Sami asked Eleanor, flailing the pass over his hand. "Why don't you read the clue?"
Eleanor reads the clue once more. She shot himself in the face with her hand in realization.
"Why am I such a jerk?!" Eleanor answered indirectly, shaking her head continuously. "No-no-no!"
Eleanor & Theodore (Confessional)
"I have a bad feeling that working with them will lead up to no good, I could just sense it already," Eleanor said. "But we just avoid letting our guard down since it's going to be tricky from this point on."
Eleanor & Theodore – Best Friends
"So which one should we do?" Theodore asked everyone, breaking the silence.
"Well, we don't have an agreement that much, but this time, I'll let you guys get the decision on what we're doing," Kevin replied.
"Oh…" Theodore responded, trying to pick a task that suits him as he began thinking in thought.
"We'll do swimming."
The Canadians and Theodore looked over to Eleanor, whose head rose up and stared at the trio.
"We don't have much time to explain it, we just have to… w-w-work with each other…" She continued but faltered when she said the work that she thinks is cursed.
All of them nodded in understanding.
"But! No backing out at this, ever." Sami added, reminding everyone. "If we switched, it's one of us who's getting kicked out in here!"
With another nod and silence that continued after that, they hurriedly rushed towards the beach. But luckily, all of them were still in their respective Detours.
Brighton Wheel
Stan & Steve – Father/Son
Emma & Noah - Dating Reality TV Pros
Another attempt failed miserably as their frustrations begin to show as Stan pounds the door continuously.
"We got nothing at this point!" He exclaimed. "If we're stuck in this forever, then we're so out of this!"
"Okay, I got a proposition," Emma said, gaining the attention of everyone on the pod. "If we got nothing on the next turn, we'll switch."
"I concur," Noah answered, agreeing to the proposal of his girlfriend. "Plus, I know where the pods that we first landed. I have it all under control." He tapped his forehead to justify it.
"Sounds fine to me. Besides, I think all the teams are still here." Steve said, looking through the window, eyeing the teams on the beach. "But this ride can move faster?!"
Stan & Steve (Confessional)
"Surprisingly, we worked so well with each other," Stan admitted, shaking his head that all of this happened. "How did this happen?"
"I know the reason why – that girl understands me very well," Steve answered, raising a finger to add emphasis. "But my goodness, how did that guy got her, by the way? She looks so gorgeous and hot!"
Stan cringed in response. "How did I ever learn you that? The way you thought it makes me want to go back in my teen days."
"That's so silly, dad." Steve chuckled.
Emma & Noah (Confessional)
"I can sense that there's something wrong with them, especially Steve," Noah said.
"Which is?" Emma curiously asked him.
"Which is wouldn't ever tell that."
"Then why did you said it in the first place?" Emma countered, eyeing Noah skeptically.
"Well, uhhh…" Noah stammered. "Nothing!"
Emma glared over Noah, who shrugged innocently.
Brighton Wheel – Outside Premises
Clarence & Jeff – Best Friends
Both of their heads were sweating profusely as the sun goes fully exposed in the sky where they are trying enough to decode the puzzle.
"How long have we've been here?" Clarence asked, wiping the excess liquid off his head.
"Looks like it's noon in here," Jeff answered, also removing the fluid from his body. "And it's already hot! This is crazy!"
Linda & Lawrence – Married Parents
"We still are clueless about what's their connection in between," Linda said, staring widely over the images on the table. "How can we actually do this?"
"Well, we're still trying though and we could have our minds froze off for a while if we moved into something frigid," Lawrence suggested, while others nodded to the decision.
"Sounds good to me. Can't think from a heated weather."
"Then let's go to a building!" Lawrence announced as they left their chairs and proceed to the nearest building possible.
Brighton Beach – English Channel
Charlie & Viola – Sisters
"It feels good when we're sunk in water in the middle of the sun!" Viola said satisfied and sinks herself before emerging back. "These chests are hard to so huge though. Can you help me?"
"Yeah, sure," Charlie said.
Timmy & Chloe – Neighbors
Timmy groaned after he rose from the deep water.
"This one is tough but my breath is gonna go wild soon." He said. "If this continues, then I might be in trouble."
Suddenly, Chloe appeared beside him while holding an object, flailing it with ease.
"I got another one, guys!"
Charlie & Viola/Timmy & Chloe - 2/4 images found
"My goodness, don't do that!" Timmy complained, shaking his head to wipe out the excess water from his ears.
"Oops, sorry." Chloe nervously chuckled, handed over the image to Timmy. "Better keep it somewhere."
"Sure thing."
Timmy swam his way through the sands to keep the images.
Meanwhile, the sisters came out from the water as one of them was holding an object that is similar to Chloe's earlier.
Charlie & Viola/Timmy & Chloe - 3/4 images found
"I got one!" Viola announced.
"Nice!" Charlie replied confidently. "Now I feel motivated now! One more and we're busting our butt out of here!"
"Gotcha." Viola winked to her sister as they dive back into the ocean.
Charlie & Viola (Confessional)
"Looks like we've been making progress for a short time," Charlie said.
"And with the help of our partners, I think we can be the first ones to left the beach," Viola added. "Being a part with them could be the best decision in the race so far!"
"Can't help with that! That was absolutely the best!"
"Agreeable."
Brighton Beach
Eleanor & Theodore – Best Friends
Kevin & Sami – Pro Wrestling Teammates
The quartet arrived over to the marked tent with their swimming gear on as they looked over to the ocean.
"There's a team over there!" Theodore said, gesturing the figures on the ocean. "We can catch up!"
"Yeah, we better start right away," Kevin said. "Before they could find it all."
"We should split up! That way, we can open the chests on ourselves." Sami suggested.
"I'm fine with it." Kevin shrugged in response.
"We are sticking with each other," Eleanor responded, contradicting the plan.
"Why?" Sami asked.
"I wanna go with him." She reasoned while Theodore looked dumbfounded over her motive.
"Well, whatever works then." Sami shrugged. "Now let's get started!"
Both Kevin and Sami lead the pack as they slowly walked their way towards the sea. Meanwhile, the other duo, looked at each other as Theodore felt Eleanor's grasp from his shoulder.
"We can do this, right?" Eleanor coldly asked Theodore.
"Y-y-yeah…" Theodore only answered. "We can do it."
"Alright then…" She faced the ocean and began walking. "Let's roll."
Theodore looked so confounded at her actions, might as well as her cold voice that he was getting lately. But that didn't affect him fully as he followed Eleanor to the ocean to begin their task.
Eleanor & Theodore (Confessional)
"I can just feel it…" Theodore said, feeling uneasy about the current thought of his. "Something's up from Eleanor, I just can't think straight on what it is."
Brighton Wheel
The quartet of Americans and Canadians exited the pod as they looked upon the Ferris wheel.
"Did you catch the pods that were taken?" Steve asked Noah.
"Yeah," Noah answered. "You should pick out which one should we take because I was busy focusing on those pods."
"I think we should let the dad choose," Emma suggested an option.
"Me?" Stan said, surprised when his name was mentioned.
"Just don't pick 11, 13, and 7," Noah told Stan.
"Uhhh…" Stan paused, his eyes squinting to take a good look at the numbers that were used as he looked upon the ones that were unoccupied. "I'll think we can go with 4."
"Are you sure, dad?" Steve asked unsurely.
"Yeah, we have that one choice and I'm just taking a risk here."
"Okay, then, we should wait for it to come," Noah said, crossed his arms and as serious as a man.
After a few minutes of waiting, they finally entered Stan's pod of choosing as they closed the door and the pod began moving upwards. Steve instinctively went over to the box behind the door and takes a good look at it.
His eyes widened and his smile also as he raised his hand with a folder on it.
"I got one!" He announced and faces his father. "Good job, dad!"
"Thanks." Stan nervously chuckled, scratching his hair in the process.
"Now we got the thing that we needed, I think we should start investigating the images!" Emma proposed a deal to the other team.
"Investigating is my strong suit and I wouldn't lose it," Stan smirked, crossing his arms with confidence.
"Then we and Steve should work together on decoding because that's what we do all the time, right?" Noah said, looking at Steve, winking over him.
"Yeah! Sounds great to me!" Steve nodded, agreeing to the recommendation.
Because of this, Emma looked between them with concern gluing over her face. She thought of something because of Noah's response to Steve and realizing it, she widened her eyes as she came to a conclusion. But because there was no definite evidence, she fights that thought off and shrugged immediately.
"Okay, all is set and we're gonna finish it!" Emma said, pounding her fist to her palm with a smirk, now plastering on her face.
Brighton Beach – English Channel
Timmy & Chloe – Neighbors
Charlie & Viola – Sisters
The foursome opened each chest that they can get through. As they opened it, they found nothing inside. All they can do is to try and try until they have a dire need to breathe. Each time, the quartet opened another batch of chests.
Charlie shook his head, found nothing. The same goes for her sister as she closes the chest. While both Timmy and Chloe also found nothing on their treasure chests.
Timmy emerged from the seas, followed by Chloe then the sisters simultaneously. They had a difficult time to find this one and only image that they needed.
"Okay, the final picture sure is tricky to catch on," Charlie said.
"Can this picture showed up now?!" Timmy requested from above menacingly.
"If we can do magic, we could have found it in no time. But, you know… the race rules…" Viola answered, wishing this challenge would be over if it wasn't for their usage of magic.
"I think we should dive back now…" Chloe requested to everyone, raising up her finger to give her thoughtful insight. "We won't let our struggles get ahead of us, it should be us who will pass the obstacle!"
"Yeah!" The sisters reacted as they raised their fists to support Chloe's stand.
After the friendly rally, the girls swim back to the deep blue sea and Timmy was the last person as he groaned and just followed the girls.
Kevin & Sami – Pro Wrestling Teammates
Eleanor & Theodore – Best Friends
Same as the last foursome, the quartet also opened each chest that they found as they opened it one by one, they also found nothing, except for one of them.
Sami flailed and muffled to get the attention of everyone as he was holding an image that he obtained from the chest. He signals everyone to continue as he rose up to find a storage for the images that they collected so far.
Kevin & Sami/Eleanor & Theodore – 1/4 images found
Brighton Wheel – Outside Premises
Stan & Steve – Father/Son
Emma & Noah - Dating Reality TV Pros
They are currently sitting at one of those usual beach tables where they gathered the four images that they have collected.
"Let's see…" Steve began investigating the materials. "There's a castle that looked shiny; an arrow, which I don't know which way it goes; there's someone who pressed the light switch; there's this weird bridge… what could it be?" He enumerated and pointed the images with his accurate description.
"Hmmm… that arrow could be anything, could be up, down, left, right…" Noah added.
"Or north, south, east, or west…" Emma said. "This is the vaguest clue that I have ever seen!"
"Yeah…" Steve muttered, agreeing to the girl's observation. "So now what?"
Meanwhile, Steve's dad, Stan, silently surveys the photos. From the looks of it, it was obviously hard at first. But when he glanced at the picture of the asymmetrical bridge, he picked it up and tries to make a clue on it.
Stan & Steve (Confessional)
"From what I've noticed from that picture of the bridge, I think there's something to it that needs to decode. So, I just asked someone out there…" Stan asked.
Stan proceeds to raise himself as he found the nearest bystander, who looked mildly younger than him.
"Eh… excuse me? Can you give yourself a minute, mister?" He asked the man.
"Oh… sure…" The man replied instantly.
The man followed Stan as they made their way back to the tables where his other teammates are currently situated. The trio looked over to the oldest of the team skeptically.
"Do you know what this is?" Stan began interrogating the local, showing the image to the presumed resident of Brighton.
"I know where it is, it's River Tyne." The man replied quickly.
"So where's the river situated?"
The man chuckled. "Easy, it's in Newcastle!"
"Wait… Newcastle?" Steve recalled, picking up the picture of the castle. "Isn't this new castle?"
"Yeah!" Noah said, picking up the remaining images to his hands and reveals it to the homegrown man. "Then what about these two?"
The man squints his eyes to take a good look until he realizes it. "Oh, Newcastle upon Tyne! That's the full name of the city!"
Now, everyone looked over to the four images. When they got the clue, they connected the pieces of each picture, comprehending that the connection had a sense of its own. Everyone grinned over Stan, who seemed surprised at the turn of their faces.
"Thank you so much!" Emma exclaimed, shaking her hands to the man.
"Don't mention it!" The man replied with glee.
"Teams that have solved the whole puzzle can now proceed ahead and drive themselves, 350 miles, to the city of Newcastle upon Tyne! They must also figure out that their next clue is depicted on one of the images that they brought with them and it is located at Gateshead Millennium Bridge!" Phil voiced off-screen the next detail.
Stan & Steve/Emma & Noah – currently tied in 1st Place
Both teams entered their vehicles as they set up their location to their respective GPS devices.
"By the way, are we still teaming with them?" Emma asked.
"Probably, they didn't say that the partnership dissolved," Noah answered. "I think we can go now."
"Alright, go ahead."
Their vehicle moved out from the sights of the other team, leading themselves to first place, while the other followed a few seconds ago.
"Wow, dad. You really nailed the challenge by yourself." Steve said, praising his dad for his efforts. "I didn't know about that though. The thought of you solving a puzzle alone is way more astonishing than our combined efforts with the other team."
"Well, I did what I did." Stan shrugged in response. "Besides, all of them can decode by themselves and can get it. No one will leave the place clueless today. They just need that skill of looking for the smallest details."
Steve was so speechless that he almost sends himself to the front seat as the car stopped suddenly on a traffic light. Their vehicle is not so far away from the other team.
Royal Albrion Hotel
Clarence & Jeff – Best Friends
Linda & Lawrence – Married Parents
They are currently asking the concierge to find any clues from the images until the latter found out what the exact location is.
"It's the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, it's on Newcastle upon Tyne."
Lawrence looked up to the images as the clues were making sense after saying the details of the image, especially the picture with the bridge as the foreground.
"Oh, wow, I have never ever thought of this all along!" He exclaimed.
"How long will the drive be from here?" Linda asked.
"Less than six hours." The concierge answered.
"Wait, really?" Clarence said confusedly. "Then… we will—"
"Yeah, yeah…" Jeff interrupted his partner. "I'll drive for the whole trip."
"Wow… I felt sorry for you, Jeff…"
"Nah-uh," Jeff replied, waving his sympathy of his best friend. "It's fine, nothing can go wrong."
"Thank you so much for your help!" Lawrence complimented the current hotel attendant as they shook hands. "It helped us so much!"
"You're welcome." The attendant nodded.
Clarence & Jeff/Linda & Lawrence – currently tied in 3rd Place
"Oh, boy, another one of those rides…" Linda said to her husband.
"Don't worry, hon, we know how it's going," Lawrence said, reassuring his wife. "Besides, we still hang around with the boys."
Linda nodded as them and the best friends are currently on their way back to their vehicles.
Brighton Beach – English Channel
Kevin & Sami – Pro Wrestling Teammates
Eleanor & Theodore – Best Friends
Kevin sunk and found two chests beside each other, hoping for at least one of them contained the piece of a puzzle. But when opened, he found no picture from both boxes. He shook his head, pleading to himself that he would find another one in a span of a few minutes.
While his best friend, Sami had the same case as his buddy, he unveiled the box and discovered nothing also.
Meanwhile, Theodore peered from the bottom as he took his precious time to breathe fresh air and when he observed that no one is around him, he went into a short episode of anxiety as that didn't long last enough when someone emerged from the ocean.
Kevin & Sami/ Eleanor & Theodore – 2/4 images found
"Found one!" Eleanor announced to Theodore, who recoiled from the sudden appearance of his partner. "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah…" Theodore responded shyly.
"I'm going back here, I'll just put the image on the sand, just in case something happened." Eleanor started swimming back towards land and glances back to Theodore. "I'll catch up with you, just keep diving!" She smiled at him, which caused him to reciprocate the expression.
Eleanor & Theodore (Confessional)
"So far, with our relationship with those guys… well, let's just say it's pretty safe and sound." Theodore admitted. "I just hope it would stay that way for the entire leg!"
Charlie & Viola/Timmy & Chloe - 4/4 images found
"Aha! I got you, you devious picture!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Nice!" Viola reacted happily with a swipe of her fist. "Now let's get the other pictures so we could solve it!"
Both Timmy and Chloe nodded concurrently as they swam back towards land to get started.
A1 - London Orbital Motorway
Stan & Steve – Father/Son
The duo stopped by a convenience store that was luckily positioned in the middle of the building-less motorway where they stopped by and asked someone out for any information about their next information.
"Excuse me, do you happen to know where this is?" Steve asked the counter, revealing the images in front of the employee.
"Oh, yeah… it's the Gateshead!" The employee replied immediately.
"Are we in the right way?"
"Yeah, it's the most common motorway for those riding up to the north."
"Thank you!"
Both men entered back to their vehicle as they moved out and continued their expedition.
"Gateshead… Gateshead… Gateshead…" Stan muttered repeatedly, reiterating the name to make sure he remembers if any case happened.
Emma & Noah - Dating Reality TV Pros
On the other hand, the couple decided to pass the father and son duo soon as they saw the parked vehicle from the gas station.
"Just let them be, I have something up on my sleeve," Noah told Emma. "And no, it's not any sly at what were you thought about just now."
"Sure, you can still take a break if you want to," Emma replied, leaning over her seat.
"No worries about there, sweet princess," Noah said reassuringly. "We still have a few hours left though. Besides, I'm kinda used to this kind of trip. Lucky for you, you have to rest for the whole journey."
Emma shrugged in response.
Emma & Noah (Confessional)
"Taking a journey from a long period is a pain in the ass, but I'm sure I can tolerate the long-kilometer trip. Besides, I'm the one who had been in several instances of length adventures, back in Canada. From province to province, that's surely will be a key factor in here."
"Yeah… make sure you have to bring some seltzer just in case it's getting longer." Emma said, unveiling a bottle of carbonated water and drink a volume of it. "You might get road sickness!"
"I don't drink much before we're going on a trip. Maybe you're the one who's getting queasy on the road, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not!" Emma denied the allegation.
"Guilty as charged," Noah smirked in front of the camera with crossed arms.
Brighton Beach – English Channel
Kevin & Sami – Pro Wrestling Teammates
Eleanor & Theodore – Best Friends
The team of four arose from the sea as they looked at each other, finding nothing on their grasps.
"Has anyone find anything?" Sami asked everyone.
"Nothing," Eleanor answered. "We just have two, so far."
"Aww, man! This is really, really hard!" Theodore spoke, complaining about the difficulty of the challenge.
"Then why are we working?" Kevin asked Theodore.
"Because… Intersection?"
"Exactly, the more we gathered, the more chances that we're getting it," Kevin replied. "Now, I'll go back…"
With that, Kevin went back in the sea to continue the task, while the others also followed suit with no groaning or complaints.
A1 - London Orbital Motorway
One hundred and fifty or more miles away from the leading team, the following intersected were confidently driving to the route that their GPS devices gave to them.
Clarence & Jeff – Best Friends
"Oh boy, he's sleeping, cool, right?" Jeff said to the camera, looking from the mirror. It showed that Clarence was indeed sleeping. "But can he get a quiet sleep? His snoring really bothers me at all."
Jeff then proceeds to apply alcohol over his hands while focusing on the road.
"That feels safer than ever." He said then realized. "By the way, how are team mom and dad are doing right now?"
A few miles away from the parents were chilling out from the sights of a peaceful highway, filled with naturalistic-looking trees beside the road.
Linda & Lawrence – Married Parents
"Ah, just taking a glance over them makes the whole ride so soothing," Lawrence asked then looks back to Linda. "Isn't it?"
"Yes, indeed. Just one of the reasons why long rides are so mesmerizing." Linda said, looking over to her window. "How many hours left, honey?"
"Well… four hours and thirty… let's just be captivated by Mama Nature here while we're hanging on in the car." Lawrence chuckled additionally.
Brighton Seaside Resort
Timmy & Chloe – Neighbors
Charlie & Viola – Sisters
The quartet sauntered throughout the resort to search for anything that can help them advance to the next destination, but everyone looked to no avail.
"We got nothing? What's going on?" Timmy noticed.
"I-I don't know, even myself couldn't believe it!" Chloe replied. "Even themselves have troubles too!"
"This is way too easy of a task but we just happened to be stuck in here for a while," Charlie said.
"Oh boy, oh boy, this is getting stressful already," Viola added, cupping her face in worry. "This is way too easy to be so hard! Ugh!"
"Why not let's drive somewhere and ask people on the road?" Chloe suggested.
"That could be a good idea but maybe we should hang out here for a while then we can go ahead," Charlie answered.
"Okay then," Chloe answered uncertainly because she was not happy nor mad at the answer of one of her teammates.
After the temporary agreement, they went all into Charlie's suggestion, but it went backfire as no one answered nor have any idea on how to solve the puzzle, this made them upset.
"How are we still in here in the first place?!" Timmy complained.
"Wait, hold on a second." Charlie stopped walking and turns to face Timmy. "Are you implying that it's my fault that we are still here?!"
"Well, if you haven't suggested that then we should have been on the road at this moment," Timmy answered. "Right, Chloe?"
"Huh?!" Chloe was caught off-guard by the call of her name as her response faltered that caused the two of her teammates to start a dispute.
"Guys! We should stop now…" Viola said, trailing off as their argument continued despite her voice being loud as ever. Then faces Chloe, who looked concerned at the state of the two.
"What. In. The. World. Are. We. In. For?!" Chloe freaked out, ruffling her hair violently. "We have to do something!"
The squabble continued as both Viola and Chloe watched their teammates respectively in horror as the screen slows down and was ended abruptly by the black screen, indicating for a commercial break!
A/N: After a month of no update, I finally gathered to write this chapter. Plus, the fact that the online classes will be up soon, the possibility of my activity on writing could be in jeopardy. Well, it was fun while it lasted!
If you have any requests, questions, suggestions, criticisms, you can put it on your review or put it over on my DMs. They are all open and will reply to it anytime!
Cya.
~Aelluminatick
P.S. Please drop an entry for my survey about the series! It means a lot to me if you send your entry, it is very valuable for me to know your thoughts about the race! The link for the survey is in my profile, just copy-paste it to the address bar! Thank you!
