Welcome back to Episode 3! I've had some motivation and also time, so let's see how long I can be active in writing and uploading this series. Final time I say this, Ridonculous Race will stay where it originally was, a spin-off that comes after All-Stars ends. I have no control over it. Also, just to answer a review I saw, Dawn wasn't exactly siding with Scott, nor the other way around, they're just not targeting one another. Last thing, I'll do my best to write an Aftermath, right now I'm gonna add 10 peanut gallery guests with Bridge and Geoff hosting. Let's go to Rome! Hope this episode will be a little less predictable.


The episode opened in first-class, where Owen is seen relaxing with cucumbers over his face and a pile of cookies in his mouth, Noah sitting next to him with a book, and Ella humming along softly. The camera pans over, past Lightning going ham on a plate full of eggs, to Gwen and Leshawna sitting together watching TV, Courtney glaring at them while writing something down on a list.

"Girl, you ain't got nothin' better to do than glare? Ain't all that stuff between you and Gwen and Duncan in the past?"

"That 'stuff' being in the past doesn't change that my boyfriend cheated on me and with my best friend on the show no less!"

"Courtney, he KISSED me! I'm sorry, I truly am. But I've tried since the original World Tour ended to apologize, but you wouldn't let me! You're allowed to hate me and honestly, I understand it. However, you and I are on the same team and need to try and co-exist. Remember what happened last time? Heather got us BOTH booted. She's not here now, and neither is Duncan, nor Alejandro. The only person here who can even try to play mind-games this time around is Scott, so cool it, please."

Noah looked on, lowered his book slightly enough to reveal a smirk, then went back to reading.


CONFESSIONAL: Noah

"Scott, the only one who can play mind-games. It's actually great that Gwen thinks that. Because let's be real here, does anyone think little, scrawny, lazy, know-it-all Noah would try at all to win? No, I only noticed Alejandro was evil because I'm smart, not because I cared. I'm done being the sarcastic, smart, and funny loser. I'm winning this one, mark my words."

END CONFESSIONAL


The camera cuts to loser class, where on the Chaos bench, Jasmine is stretched out across half of it sound asleep, Brick is resting like a tired cowboy, Sam is curled up in a ball, Zeke is asleep with his toque over his eyes, Amy is sitting miserably glaring at anyone she can, and Dave is hunched over on the bench's corner, disgusted at the filth. Meanwhile on Inferno's bench, Scott is seen scratching around in his sleep, Dawn is meditating, Sammy is trying to sleep but keeps getting woken up by turbulence, Lindsay is sleeping like Sleeping Beauty, Sky is stretching and doing some light working out, and Trent is tuning his guitar.

"How did they deal with this gross cabin for ages? I'm glad I didn't come back for another season after Action."

"This isn't so bad. You live on an artificial island for so long, and almost get killed in an avalanche, flying in a cruddy airplane is kind of a breeze."

"Easy for you say, shorty! This place SUCKS. Of course my stupid team didn't win, we suck!"

"You know Amy, if you wanted to win, you could have at least TRIED during the challenge, right? All you did was talk to that little booger picking kid. Sam drove, Jasmine fixed the car cuz I told her what to do, Brick was helping, Zeke would have helped if you weren't distracting him... as far as I'm concerned you're why we're down here."

Sky blushed at Dave defending her and putting down Amy.


CONFESSIONAL: Sky

"It was incredibly sweet of Dave to stand up to Amy, his own teammate for me like that. I can't tell if he was just annoyed by Amy or was actually intent on defending me, but either way. Still liked it. And it did prove that Dave would rather confront Amy then bite his tongue. That's something for me, right? Like maybe we're becoming cool again? Oh, I hope."

END CONFESSIONAL


Suddenly, Chris's voice crackled alive on the intercom.

"Attention future corpses, please meet me in the cafeteria so I can introduce today's challenge. MOVE!"


All three teams piled into the cafeteria, where Chris was standing adorned with a cloth robe and small golden diadem while Chef was in a full Gladiator costume, complete with a spear and shield.

"As Courtney, Gwen, and Owen should remember, last time we did a World Tour, I accidentally had a blunder and thought the Olympics took place in Rome, when they actually take place in Greece. We hated that we didn't use Rome last time, so that's where we're heading this time. I'll explain the details of the challenge when you're ground-side. To get you there, Chef?"

Chef slammed his spear down and a two sparks ignited, going in a circle around the contestants and dropping them out of the plane and into the River Tiber.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH LANDING AND SHOVING THEM OUT OF THE PLANE?"

"YOU WANT HIGHER RATINGS DON'TCHA? THIS IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE!"


The camera cut to the Roman Forum, where Chris had each team gathered with their own Spartan helmet, colored to their team colors.

"Please don't tell me we're doing Spartan fighting. I don't necessarily want to have Lightning kill all of us." Noah deadpanned.

"No no no, these helmets are for something else. Welcome to Rome, located in the heart of Italy, home to the Roman Empire. The Romans were known mostly for their Gladiator battles, where prisoners would fight each other until one surrendered to execution or was killed outright. Because we don't have enough of you guys here to have you fight each other to death, we opted for a scavenger hunt instead. The Spartan helmets you were each given are so that you can store what you collect. There are three locations you must go to to collect your items. The first spot is the Sistine Chapel, where we have hidden three iterations of The Creation of Adam, that famous painting where those two dudes are touching their fingers. Second is the Trevi Fountain, where you will find 3 Chris-brand coins. Finally is the Colosseum, where you need to find one of three authentic Spartan spears. You know the drill, the first team back with all the items gets first class, the second team is in not winner not loser purgatory, and the losers will send someone home. Maybe. Oh, one more thing. In the Trevi Fountain is a Chef coin. The Chef coin can be used to skip straight to the end, or, in the case where the person that finds it is on the team that's in last place and the other two teams have already finished, they will have immunity for the vote. Now go!"

With that, the three teams scrambled off and soon thereafter, one team arrived at the Sistine Chapel.

"First place, good work Inferno! Let's find that painting!"

"Oh Skyyyyy! I remember doing a challenge like this with DJ last time we did World Tour where we needed to find a statue-thingy in Paris."

"Ok?"

"So, let's find DJ and we can win this easily!"

"Lindsay, you know DJ was the reason you got eliminated that episode, right?'

"Oh yea. I forgot about that."

"Come on numbnuts we're wasting time, we gotta find that painting!" shouted Scott.

Team Inferno ran into the Chapel as Omega arrived. Well, more accurately, the rest of Omega arrived. Lightning was already there as was Courtney who'd already caught her breath, Ella was slightly winded as was Gwen but they were there, when Owen, Noah, and Leshawna came barreling towards them, Owen and Leshawna gasping for air.

"What took you so long?! We're not in last, but we're not in first either. COME ON!" Courtney annoyedly said.

"Sha-cool it girl! Lightning will pull us all into first place!"

"Uh-huh, sure, cuz 'Sha-meathead' definitely knows what painting we're trying to find." Gwen sarcastically snarled.

"I'm sha-on it, watch!"

"Let's follow him before he accidentally defaces the Sistine Chapel." Noah deadpanned.

As Omega ran into the Chapel, Chaos finally entered, an exhausted Sam and lazy Amy slowing them down.

"Come on you koalas! We need to move!"

"I'm working on it!" Sam snapped back at Jasmine "I miss Dakota a little bit okay? She was a real-life power-up for me. *sigh* I miss her so much."

"I understand your qualms, soldier, but we need to hustle. We can't afford to lose a teammate."


CONFESSIONAL: Brick

"My stint on Revenge of the Island was tough, I'll be honest, but I feel like this one might be a bit tougher because of my team. The Mutant Maggots won almost every challenge we competed in, and though on the Rats I did lose and get eliminated by Jo and Lightning, my teams were strong throughout! Besides for Jasmine, I don't really know who on my team can be useful. Sam's a good player, but not always. I'm a little nervous that I might need to take charge again and lead my team at least until the merge!"

END CONFESSIONAL


Inside the chapel, the teams stood and looked ahead at three different paths.

"Yay, choosing paths again. You're just SOO original, Chris!" Noah shouted upwards.

"Eeny meenie minie mo, catch a tiger by it's toe, if he holler, let him go. My mother said to pick the very best one and. You. Are. It." Owen was saying, landing on the second tunnel.

"Works for me, any objections?" Leshawna asked the group.

"SHA-LIGHTNING STRIKES!" Lightning screamed as he ran down the second path, and the rest of Omega followed.


"North is fourth, east is least, west is best! Let's go through the left one!" Lindsay said optimistically.

"Worked for you guys last time, why not let chance decide if we lose or not. And if you're wrong, we know who to vote." Scott deadpanned, with Inferno running into the 1st tunnel.


"Guess that leaves us with one tunnel, eh?"

"Yea. Let's go. I hope it's clean." Dave nervously quipped, and lead Chaos into the 3rd tunnel.

"Quit your worryin mate, we got bigger fish to fry!"

Chaos ran down the tunnel, when Chris was seen, ready to throw to commercial.

"3 tunnels, 3 paintings, a whole heck of a lot more in store for our teens! Who will find their painting first? Who will finish first? Will anyone get the Chef coin? Or what about the invincibility idol? These questions and more, answered when we come back!"


The camera returned with Lightning running down a hallway, stopping every five seconds to analyze a painting.

He has a perplexed look on his face. "Is it this one? Uhh, how bout this one? This one's sha-gotta be it."

"Lightning, that is a statue, a map of the Chapel, and that's a bathroom sign. Seriously, you can't be that dumb." Noah said, sarcasm and annoyance flooding his voice.

"Shut it scrawny girl! I'm strong, I'm not really... uhhhhhh... what's the word? Oh yea, sha-smart. You rub me the wrong way like Cameron did, I won't hesitate this time!" Lightning barked.

Noah rolled his eyes and shot him a glare.


CONFESSIONAL: Noah

"I wanna win this thing really bad, and the first thing I need to do is make sure I stay cool with most of the team. Owen and I are tight, so that's fine. Courtney and Gwen obviously don't like each other, Leshawna likes Gwen, and I don't think Lightning is close to anyone here. On top of being abrasive, he could be a somewhat easy vote for us. The only wildcard here is Ella. I don't know much about her, but I don't want to risk her usurping me. I need to get Gwen on my side, and Owen can definitely help with that..."

END CONFESSIONAL


"Ooo team!" Ella sang, not enough to break the rules but enough to slightly woo Owen, "I think I found the painting!"

In front of Ella lied a painting, a beautiful Green border with a giant Omega symbol on the top center.

"Yes yes YES! Good job Ella!" Gwen enthusiastically and uncharacteristically shouted.

"Woop woop!" Owen whooped.

Lightning boosted the painting above his head and bellowed "TEAM LIGHTNINGGGGG, SHA-WOOOOO!"

Team Omega left the Sistine Chapel first and with no problems, putting them at an early lead.


"What does The Creation of Adam even look like?" Lindsay pondered aloud, a look of cluelessness strewn across her face.

"It's a guy laying down on the ground with God coming down to meet his finger." Sammy said matter-o-factly. "I got an A in art 3 straight years, and one of my best recreation pieces was this very painting."

"How convenient. Can we FIND the thing now?" Sky said impatiently. "I don't want to risk losing 2 team members in a row and becoming the next Team Victory.

"That team wasn't very fun for me, but me and DJ were a good duo!" Lindsay chimed in.

As Inferno was walking, they heard a roar echo through the Chapel.

"What the fuck was that?!" Scott screamed, a slight bit of traumatic fear ebbing into his voice.

Suddenly, Chris's voice came over an intercom

"Scott, I wanted to tell you that although we don't have any actual toxic waste this season, we DO have access to some of the animals. This doesn't stray too far into Pahkitew Island craziness so that's why we brought back, your BEST friend, FANGGGGGG!"

Scott's face instantly went pale and he froze on the spot.

"Scott? Scott? DUDE! COME ON!" Trent yelled into his face, to no avail.

"He can't hear you." Dawn eerily said. "Scott was deeply traumatized by Fang, and his aura is currently blank. I think he's so struck by fear, he's paralyzed and vacant from his body."

"Fucking. Great. Another liability." Sky snapped, her competitiveness getting the better of her.

Fang let out a snarl and started barreling towards them, drop-kicking Scott down the hallway and sending him hurtling while he screamed into and through a wall at the end of the Chapel. The rest of team Inferno stood out of the way and Fang went to town on Scott.


Meanwhile, Team Chaos was, unlike it's namesake, pretty calm.

Ezekiel was looking mesmerized at every painting that passed him by, never seeing anything like the Sistine Chapel had to offer back at his farm, Amy was annoyedly sulking, mad at everything like a typical bitch, Dave stopped every few seconds to look at a painting, Jasmine and Brick were both marching ahead, and Sam was innocently ticking away on his DSi.

"Oi, Sam! Could'ya put the game down and help us out with lookin' for the paintin'? We don't wanna be here all day mate."

"I'm not just gaming Jasmine," Sam innocently told her, "I'm playing a painting game so I can have an image that we can match to the replica painting. Take a look!"

Jasmine and a curious Amy looked down at Sam's game to see, sure enough, The Creation of Adam recreated, in pixelated form, displayed in Mario 64 where a painting of Peach should be.

"Woah." Amy gasped, a look of amazement painted on her face. "How did you manage to do that?"

"I figured out how to hack this game on my laptop, from there I just added some stuff I liked."

"That's amazing Soldier!" Brick clapped a hand on Sam's shoulder as he said this.

"Alright team, we know what we're lookin' for, now we just need'ta find it. Let's MOVE!" Jasmine bellowed, and the rest of Chaos began running, using Sam's DSi as a guide.


Outside the fountain, Omega had arrived, Lightning and Courtney waiting impatiently as Noah and Owen took forever to arrive while Gwen, Leshawna, and Ella were peacefully standing.

Gwen walked around the fountain, unable to see anything through the thick, blue water. "Alright, do we think Chris actually put any coins in the fountain?"

"Whaddya mean girl?" asked a confused Leshawna.

"Well, last I checked, Chris isn't the most straightforward," Noah drawled, criticism and logic sneaking into his voice. "He may have put the coins in the surrounding buildings, or maybe somewhere loosely on the ground."

Courtney scanned the area and noticed a large building in the background, a small cart, a stroller, and then returned her gaze to the fountain. It was pretty fancy, given that it was a national landmark for the Romans. It had two layers with a small statue of a woman in the middle, with blinded eyes and a revealed bosom. Once she finished, she had formulated a plan.

"Okay, there are 4 possible spots the coins could be. Lightning, I want you to climb to the top of the building, see if-"

"SHA-ON IT!" Lightning interrupted, sprinting over to the building and shimmying up a column to the top.

"Alright then. Noah, go inside, there could be coins hidden somewhere in there."

Noah raised a skeptical eyebrow, but obliged and went off.

"Ella, go ask that lady if she was given a coin and ask to search her stroller. I doubt she'd say no to the purest soul here."

Ella blushed at the compliment. "Oh, thank you! I shall go hopefully retrieve the Chris coin."

"Owen, I feel like I'll regret this, but go check the food cart over there."

Owen immediately grinned ear to ear. "You're letting me do the food part? TO WIN?! COME TO PAPAAAAAAAA!" His screaming slowly dying out as he stormed over to the food cart.

"And what exactly do you suggest me and Gwen do? Cuz you know how much we loved taking orders from Heather in season 1. Not so sure you wanna be the next her, huh?" Leshawna rudely spat, although her tone was justified.

"I'm not PLANNING on being the next Heather cuz I don't plan on kissing Trent anytime soon, although if Duncan was here, who knows what Gwen would do," Courtney coldly and callously shot at Gwen, clearly intending to hurt her. "Now, what I was going to say, was Leshawna, take the bottom pool. Gwen, get the top one. I'll look in and around the statue."

Gwen looked stunned and fought back a few tears, clearly upset at Courtney's comments, but she put her head down and stormed away.


CONFESSIONAL: Leshawna

Leshawna had her leg crossed over the other in her signature style, staring intently at the camera. "Man, I cannot STAND a bully. I mean come on, first Heather, then Duncan, then Alejandro, and now I gotta deal with Courtney stamping on my girl Gwen? Look, I get Gwen fucked up, but who don't? Courtney needs to cool it, or she's gonna enter a world of pain." Leshawna cracked her knuckles for dramatic effect

END CONFESSIONAL


"Uh-uh, nah, no, you ain't do that to my girl Gwen," Leshawna gritted her teeth, "She may have messed up, but that doesn't justify bullyin' her about it now, especially if you and Duncan are done. Now cool it, cuz I know right now who my vote's goin towards." Leshawna also stormed off, opting to flip Courtney the bird in the process.

Courtney had a look of shocked etched across her face, but merely grunted in annoyance, similar to how she used to do to Duncan, and scaled the statue.


"I FOUND IT!"

Dave's shriek sounded oddly like Tyler's from Machu Picchu, but sure enough, The Creation of Adam with a purple border, complete with a cartoon crashing cloud with little quips of dialogue was sitting right by him.

Sam cross-referenced his DSi and confirmed Dave's excitement. "Yup! That's it, all right."

"Well done guys!" Jasmine cheered as she hulked the painting up above her head and started tearing down the hallway. "We gotta go though! The other two teams could already be done by now, and may have gotten the Chef coin."

"Wait, Jasmine. Look over there." Amy was pointing down the hall at Inferno's painting, adorned with an orange frame and a fire emblem at the top.

"So what?" Jasmine retorted.

"So," Amy continue, annoyed, "Inferno hasn't gotten their painting yet. And, we can hide their painting so we can guarantee we at least come in second."

"But that's against the Cadet Code!" Brick protested, clearly uncomfortable with being on a team with another saboteur.

"I've gotta side with Brick on this one," Sam chipped in, "It wouldn't really be nice to do that, and plus we might get penalized."

"I think we should, eh? Could give us a better advantage." Zeke eagerly pointed out.

"Sabotaging Sky's team? How sad. I'm game." Dave cheerily added.

The Amazonian looked dumbfounded at the evilness of her team, but nonetheless put their painting down.

"Well, it appears we've voted for the evil side. Let's hide their painting."

Jasmine ran over and picked up Inferno's painting with relative ease, and looked around for a place to store it.

"Over here Jazz!" Amy called out, showing her an under construction exhibit.

"Good call Amy!" Jasmine shouted as she ran over and dropped the painting in the quiet room.

As she was about to go back to the painting, Jasmine snatched Amy by the collar and pulled her so they met each other's eyes.

"If you ever dare to call me 'Jazz' again, I will rip that boot off and shove it so far up your arse, you'll be brushing your teeth with it," Jasmine coldly and quietly spoke, her icy gaze unbreaking from Amy, "Got that?"

Amy merely nodded as Jasmine ran over, grabbed that painting and called out to the rest of the group.

"NOW GO!"


CONFESSIONAL: Amy

"Okay, so like, I know I'm not normally evil to anyone but Spare-me, but that was technically against Spare-me, so it works? Either way. Spare-me needs to be outta here before me, and I'll do ANYTHING to make sure that happens."

END CONFESSIONAL


Inferno was a complete mess. Scott was paralyzed and being carried by Trent and Sammy, Sky was charging ahead and impatiently searching for paintings every which way, Lindsay was innocently running, and Dawn was trying to calm the pursuing Fang. However, Fang was hot on their trail, heat-seekingly attracted to Scott.

"Man that shark is goddamn dedicated! How did you two deal with this for a whole season?" asked the musician.

"Well," Dawn said, slightly blushing from the running, "All animals are my friends. And as it appears, all animals are Scott's enemy. We need a diversion. If we don't get rid of Fang, we're going to need to give up Scott. His aura is almost gone."

"To hell with this! I'm not losing another season!" Sky screamed as she turned around to face Fang. She let out a war cry and speared him headfirst, knocking him to the ground and dazing him.

Back up front, Sammy dropped Scott to the ground, exhausted. "Ugh finally! My back was killing me from carrying that farmer." As she was limbering up and looking around, something caught the kind twin's eye. "What the... HEY GUYS! I FOUND THE PAINTING!"

The rest of Inferno, save a shaken up Scott who was slow to get up and Sky who was still walking back from dealing with Fang, came around to fact check that indeed, Sammy had the right painting. The orange frame glowed and had a orange flame that went white at the tip as a top center emblem.

Sky came back, grabbed part of the painting, and then barked "Trent! Help me lift this! We're probably in last!"

Trent obliged and hulked the painting up into his grasp as Inferno finally exited the Chapel.


CONFESSIONAL: Sky

Sky had a frustrated look etched across her face. "Why, why, whyyyyyy? There are 4 finalists competing this season. I'm one, and the other 3 are all on Omega! How in the hell is Chaos doing better than us? Ugh, if only I could make a trade or something. Or two. Or trade all 5 members of this stupid team! I'm winning this time, I don't care what happened last time."

END CONFESSIONAL


Back at the fountain, Chris was giving an update to the audience, hovering above the sight in a jetpack.

"And team Chaos arrives, painting and helmet in tow. While Inferno wastes time in the Chapel, Chaos and Omega can peacefully search for the Chris coins. But I don't think anyone's gonna find any for a WHILE. I hid them really we-"

"GUYS I GOT IT!"

Sam was currently halfway submerged in the lower level of the fountain, his entire body soaked from diving in the fountain, surfacing to reveal a coin the size of his hand with a giant smirking Chris on the front and the TD logo on the other side.

Courtney looked down, bewildered. "THEY JUST GOT HERE! Leshawna, how did you not find that coin?! We had a whole extra HOUR!" Courtney screamed, her brow creasing her forehead.

"Don't blame me," the sister shot back, her clothes soaked and her hair in an afro, "You were the one who told me to search down here. I wouldda looked in the general area, not just this part'a the fountain."

While the ladies bickered, Sam threw the coin in the helmet, and, just as quickly as Chaos arrived, they left again. A familiar voice called out from afar when he saw Chaos leave.

"ARE YOU GUYS SHA-DONE ARGUIN'? WE GOTTA FIND A COIN, AND IT AINT UP HERE!"

"Hate to interrupt the lovefest out here," Noah chimed in sarcastically, "But there's nothing in here either."

"Good leading, Courtney. Glad you got to seal are fate." Gwen ominously chided.

Courtney started sputtering to stay something, but as she did, Inferno arrived.

"Good, we haven't lost yet. Split up and find the coin!" Sky screamed out, with Inferno spreading out and allowing a mad dash to ensue.


CONFESSIONAL: Owen

Owen looked visibly distressed, torn as he stared into the camera. "So, when Courtney told me to go search the hot dog cart, I kinda forgot everything, hahaha. Long story short, there's now a teensy hunk of metal swirling around the ol' digestive track. It's happened like, only 27 times before, so it's nothing I'm not used to. But man, I could've just cost us the challenge! I feel terrible." The big lug's stomach growled. "And also hungry."

END CONFESSIONAL


The confession cam cut to static and re-opened with a shot of a tunnel gate opening up, with 6 figures emerging from the shadow, Spartan helmet and coin in tow.

"Welcome team Chaos to the third and final leg of the challenge!" Chris screamed through his megaphone, dressed head-to-toe in his traditional Roman outfit with his golden diadem. Chef stood at his side with his Roman warrior outfit, spear, and shield. "This part is the simplest! You see the spear Chef has? Find yours. It could be anywhere in this Colosseum. And I mean anywhere!" he clicked the megaphone off, and leaned over to Chef, "Who you think's gonna find your coin?"

"Man, I thought for sure Jasmine would've gotten it. My bet's on either Courtney or Lindsay. I don't know why, I feel like that girl's gonna have some dumb luck."

"Dude, all her luck is dumb luck. Her entire life is dumb luck."

"Chris man, that's a bit cold."

"That surprises you?"

As the two hosts were conversating, Chaos had made an interesting formation. Jasmine was all the way on the top level of the Colosseum, with Amy, Dave, Brick, Sam, and Ezekiel all descending down, with Zeke being on the arena floor. They began walking around the Colosseum, attempting to get the maximum coverage of the arena.

Chris looked over and was in utter shock. "What the fuck are they doing?"

"Man, I don't know. But I tell ya, I don't know that this'll help em much."


Back at the fountain, the teams were tearing the place to shreds, not much conversating besides the occasional 'nothing here!' or a shout from Sky to 'hurry up!'

After a 15th shout from Sky, Scott was starting to lose his mind.

"Could you shut the fuck up?" yelled the dirt farmer, his face morphing into an aggressive scowl. "We get it, we're in last, we don't need you to keep reminding us about it AND not helping at the same time!"

Although no one expressed their support for Scott, no one directly decided to disapprove. When Sky was scanning around at her teammates for backup, she was met with nothing but quick looks away of shame.

"Oh. I didn't realize my team didn't want to win. Sorry for trying to be motivating."

"Motivating?" Sammy asked, dumbfounded, "You sound like Amy right now Sky. You really need to cool it."

"But-"

"No buts. You need to cool it, or you're gonna have 30000 miles to figure out your competitiveness."

The threat of elimination was enough to calm Sky, who went over to sit down on a bench, dejected. She however miscalculated where to place her behind, and accidentally placed her center of gravity on the back edge. Sky wobbled over and fell, taking the bench with her. Thanks to her blunder, however, Trent was able to see something shining.

"Guys, I think I see a Chris coin!"

Sure enough, there was a large Chris coin laying beneath the bench, partially hidden by a shrub. Trent quickly scooped the coin up and put in into Inferno's helmet, boosting them into second.

As Inferno ran off, some of Omega looked ready to quit. Ella hadn't had any luck with the baby carriage, Leshawna had given up on the pool, Noah was reading a map of Rome, Lightning was running around aimlessly, Gwen was still searching in the upper pool, and Owen had been in the bathroom for the last 2 hours. Courtney, meanwhile, was pacing around, obviously frustrated but also scared for her place. How could she possibly go from earning MVP honors in the first challenge to off the plane in the next?

"Oh boy THAT HURT!" Owen bellowed, clutching his stomach, "What's worse is that I didn't get it all!"

"Owen, buddy, TMI." Noah somewhat sincerely let him know.

"We're hosed, guys. No point in trying." Leshawna moaned, her face in her palms.

"No!" Courtney fought back, "We can't give up now! We could still find the Chef coin!"

"And what if someone on the other team already got it?" Gwen shot back at the CIT. "What if Scott got it while he was here? Or Jasmine? What if someone HERE has it?" Gwen's pitch escalating, clearly losing her mind due to being in last and having to deal with Courtney.

"Man, Lightning is sha-pissed! He did all that work for nothin'?" a confused Lightning questioned. In an instant, his face morphed from confusion to anger. Lightning let out a war cry and punched the fountain.

"Lightning stop! You're destroying national heritage!" Ella cried, trying to pry an enraged Lightning away from the fountain.

As Leshawna and Ella ripped Lightning away from the fountain, a crack was shown going from the base of the fountain up to the statue. The statue crumbled and, slit right in between the bosom, was a coin smaller than a dime.

"Sha-what's that?" Lightning asked as he examined the metallic object, seeing Chef's signature cheesy grin on the back.

Suddenly, Chris came flying in on his jetpack, still in toga gear.

"Lightning and Team Omega have found the Chef coin! All they need to do now is reach the colosseum and hand me their helmet, painting, and coin, and they'll take first place!" Chris shouted through his megaphone. Omega erupted into cheer and started running to the colosseum.


Chaos had made it 1/3 of the way around the colosseum when Inferno had arrived, Inferno opting to split up around the grounds then work their way up rather than go all the way around on different levels. It was working to various degrees: Sky and Trent had done some smart sleuthing, like searching in the gladiatorial tunnels and some old lower-down stands for the spear, while Scott and Sammy were both walking aimlessly in the giant sand arena, Dawn was merely pawing through some ancient weaponry and armor, and Lindsay was unhelpfully digging in the sand.

Chris' voice came over the two teams, piercing through the colosseum with his megaphone. "ATTENTION REMAINING TEAMS. OMEGA HAS FOUND THE CHEF COIN, AND IS NOW ON THEIR WAY TO THE COLOSSEUM. IF I WAS YOU, I'D FIND YOUR SPEAR. IF YOU DONT, ONE OF YOU WILL BE FALLING OUT OF THE PLANE TODAY. AS AN ADDED INCENTIVE, IF OMEGA FINISHES LAST, LIGHTNING IS THE ONLY ONE SAFE. MEANING COURTNEY CAN GET ELIMINATED!"

Amy sat down, defeated. "This sucks!" the evil twin pouted, "We've been walking around for AGES around this stupid colosseum and nothing! Jasmine, what made you think this was a good idea?"

The Amazonian jumped down to Amy's level and stood beside her, or moreso, loomed over her. "Listen here Amy. Cut. The. Shit." she said through gritted teeth. "Making enemies this time around won't help ya, understand? I don't know how you managed to convince your team to vote for Sammy last time."

"It's not my fault! You're stupid idea could cost us the challenge!" Amy shot back.

"It won't." Jasmine growled, "not if everyone is searching properly! We don't know where Chris hid these spears, and we need as much coverage as possible, right?"

"Not to interrupt, eh?" Zeke chimed in, "But I kinda agree with Amy. We could have split up more, yknow? What if our spear is on the other side of the colosseum?"

"You wanna blame me for my plan? Fine!" Jazz shouted, rage coursing through her temples, "But don't tell me it wasn't smart."


CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine

Jasmine sat with her signature leg over the knee, but with frustration etched across her face. "Man, that Amy gets ROIGHT on my nerves. It's like she just KNOWS how to be a bitch. And of course, I got stuck with her. Tragic, but nothing I can do about it unless we lose."

END CONFESSIONAL


Scott was currently pawing through the stands of the Colosseum, suddenly having an orange glare catch his eye.

"What the..?" the farm boy said aloud to himself.

He began walking towards Chris's throne, much to the inquiry of Chris.

"Hey Scott," Chris innocently and suspiciously asked, "whatcha doin over here bro? Shouldn't you be like, searching the colosseum?"

"Ain't that what you'd like me to do." he shot back at the host man, continuing behind his throne.

Lo and behold, behind the throne was a spear, 6 feet long, with a topaz handle that had flames wrapping around it like a boa constrictor. Scott lifted it, and shouted at his team.

"GUYS GRAB THE SHIT I FOUND THE SPEAR!"

Without a moments hesitation, the entirety of team Inferno was at the throne, Sky carrying the painting, Trent with the helmet, and Sammy with the coin.

"And from last to first, team Inferno wins the Roman scavenger hunt! Guys I gotta admit, I thought Amy hiding your painting would've hindered you more, but who am I to judge. I know Dave was down for it." Chris said as he douchely grinned, loving his stirring of the pot.

"Wait, what?" Sky tearfully asked as she dropped the painting to the ground and looked over at Dave, who was actively averting his gaze. "Dave?"

All Dave could do was bite his tongue and keep searching.

"At least we won." was all Sky could muster.


CONFESSIONAL: Dave

He had a troubled look on his face. "I know I'm mad at Sky, and I'd rather her be eliminated right now or just leave me alone. But those puppy-dog eyes... I feel horrible! And I shouldn't, when she left me to die! I need to talk to her, and Jasmine after this. I might've been holding onto this revenge thing for too long. It's been a year now, time to move on I guess?"

END CONFESSIONAL


"Soldiers, I hate to say this but Omega was here." Brick informed his team.

Truth behind his statement, Omega came barreling in, Lightning with the painting above his head, Owen wearing the Spartan helmet, and Courtney holding the miniscule Chef coin in her palm.

"Wait, I see the spear!" Sam cried out, pointing out desperately at the Chaos spear, which had it's handle coated with magenta paint and rustling cartoon clouds, sitting in the shadows on a bench in a Gladiator tunnel.

Jasmine barked at her team, "Grab everything and MOVE! I'm making a run for the spear."

Due to scaling the colosseum by height and moving along in a group, the majority of Chaos was already at Chris's throne, painting in Brick and Dave's hands, Sam with the helmet, and Zeke holding the coin. Lightning had already made it to Chris himself, slamming the painting down next to him.

As Jasmine ran, the world seemed to move in slow motion, as Chris began announcing arrivals as she was running back.

She was halfway across the sand when she heard "Courtney has made it!"

Jazz kept running, determined to get the spear and send someone to their elimination

Her feet slammed on the floor, each stomp more powerful than the last.

"That makes Ella and Gwen! Three left, and there's still Jasmine!"

She made it to the tunnel, scooped the spear in one hand, and crossed the shadows from the entrance into the light of the colosseum

"Leshawna arrives! Only Noah and Owen left!"

Jasmine was sprinting full speed diagonally, seeing Noah and Owen slowly but surely making their way up the stairs. She thought she would have enough time, that there would be just enough athleticism in her body to push her over the edge.

"That's Noah! Who will win, lovable slow lug Owen, or athletic super-freak Amazonian Jasmine?"

Jasmine was almost there, she could see the throne in her tunnel vision, but also Owen lumbering up the stairs, his Spartan helmet obscuring her vision. She made a mad dash and jumped for it, as the screen faded to black.


"And...

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Team Omega is in not first not last place! That leaves Team Chaos to head towards their first elimination. Today's MVP, on the Inferno team, is a three-person race. First option is Scott, who found the spear in the final leg and won Inferno the challenge. The second option is Sammy, who carried Scott through his paralysis and also found Inferno's painting to dig them out of last place. However, today's MVP is Sky, who, despite her team's annoyance, motivated everyone to carry on and also found her team's Chris coin." Chris turned to Jasmine and team Chaos, "Now for you 6, get ready to send someone home."

Jasmine was standing on the steps, disappointed by losing, but her expression instantly turned to anger, and she charged towards Amy.

"You bloody idiot! We might've won if we didn't hide that STUPID painting!" the Aussie bellowed, her accent going very thick in her enraged state.

"Don't blame this all of me!" the mean girl retorted, "MAYBE we would've found the spear first if you hadn't made us do that dumb colosseum circling."

"God, will you two shut up?" Sam shockingly yelled at both of them, "We lost, and now one of us is losing, get over it or it'll be one of you two."

"Thanks for ruining the tension, Sam!" The host whined, fixing himself up. "Now, Inferno and Omega, enter the peanut gallery. Chaos, enter the confession cam. It's voting time!"


CONFESSIONAL: Owen

"Man am I glad Lightning found that coin!" Owen said, relief ebbing into his voice. "For sure Chris would've said something about me eating the coin, and I would've gotten the ol' heave-ho. Thank goodness I have so many friends on my team, and they're all strong players! Oh, and there's Courtney. She reminds me of Heather..." he trailed off

END CONFESSIONAL


Sky was walking through the plane towards the elimination room when a tan arm tugged on her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Look, I wanted to... apologize, for my team's behavior today. And yes, I wasn't exactly against the idea of sabotaging your team, but hindsight is 20/20, and I do regret it. I just wanted to apologize, I may get eliminated tonight."

"Well, thank you for that. But what was that about? I know we aren't really friends, but I thought standing up to Amy was something that kind of, I don't know, meant something."

"I don't know how I feel about you Sky. On the one hand, I hate you, and Shawn, and Jasmine. You all left me to die on that island, and that's seriously fucked up. But on the other hand, it was somewhat my responsibility to also get off the island instead of just sitting there watching the TV while you guys boarded the chopper, and that stuff's all in the past. I'm nowhere near forgiving you for everything, but I will give you that I do feel bad enough about what I did today to apologize."

"At least it's something, haha. We'll talk more later. Don't get eliminated."


Both Inferno and Omega had loaded into their peanut gallery seats, the only notable seating arrangements being Sammy and Trent next to each other and Gwen and Leshawna being on the complete opposite end of the gallery from Courtney.

On the bleachers of loserdom, Jasmine and Amy were sitting far away from each other, the latter shooting daggers down at the former with her somewhat-alliance-y mate, Zeke, nearby. Sam and Brick sat by each other, slightly tense but not terribly nervous, and Dave was alone, twiddling his thumbs.

"Ooo tensiony! Usually we don't get this until at least 5 elimination ceremonies in. Let's look at why you all could be on the chopping block:

Jasmine, your crummy colosseum searching idea was horrible and ultimately made you guys go from first to last, but you did try to save the team, so A for effort. Maybe.

Amy, your idea to hide Inferno's painting may have actually helped them, and you didn't exactly do much in today's challenge.

Ezekiel, all you really did was follow Amy and contribute to arguments. Not the most helpful dude.

Dave, you're flip-flopping between being vile to Sky and seeming like you give a fuck. You also were the deciding vote to hide Inferno's painting. Bad day, huh?

Brick, you really didn't do much of anything.

Sam, I'd say you're the only safe one here."

"Thanks Chris," the gamer started, but was immediately cut off by Chris.

"Yea I don't care, you're safe. Army boy, you too."

Sam and Brick both caught their peanut bags, giving one another a high five for safety.

"Next person to be safe...

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Dave."

Dave sat, thankful he was safe, but instantly screamed in horror and ran from the barf bag coming towards his face.

"The last person with no votes,

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Ezekiel."

Zeke caught his bag in amazement. "Let's goooooo! I finally wasn't the first elimination on my team, eh?"

"Yes, yes, congratulations home-school." Chris griped, annoyed that Zeke had cut him off. He turned his attention to the two ladies in front of him. "One of you is going home. The other stays. Who will it be?"

The music swelled as Chris tossed the barf bag in his hand. Jasmine was a full image of fear, sweating and hoping, praying, that Chris called her name. Amy, meanwhile, was sitting cross-legged and staring daggers at Chris, waiting impatiently to be called safe.

"Tonight's winner, the woman who gets to stay another night, is...

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Jasmine."

Jasmine shouted out in glee as Amy looked stunned, going home first on her team in back to back seasons.

"WHAT?! Are you guys serious?!"

"Oh poor Amy. Buh-bye, bitch." Sammy shot at her, callously and venomously, but understandably.

"Shut up, Spare-me! Like you'll actually win. Give me my parachute already!" the evil twin shouted impatiently, looking like she could tear Chris limb from limb.

Chris obliged, threw her the chute, and then pushed her towards the door.

"Any last words, miss Amy?"

"Yea, I do. Spare-me, you're so DEAD! I will have my-"

Chris cut her off and reared his foot back.

"THIS! IS! SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Chris flung his foot forward at full force, sending Amy flying out of the plane and careening towards the Earth.

"That concludes tonight's epic elimination ceremony. You're all free."

The teens all left, some shocked, some laughing at the manner in which Amy was eliminated.

The camera zoomed in on Chris as he prepared to end the episode.

"Wow, Amy's gone already! How will Dave and Sky's relationship improve in the coming weeks? What will Ezekiel do without his supposed alliance mate? How will Courtney and Gwen co-exist on the same team? Will Owen's digestive track ever get that coin out? All these questions and more answered on the next fantastic episode of TOTAL! DRAMA! WORLDDDDDD TOUUUUUUUUUUR! VOLUME 2!"


Voting Confessionals

Amy stamped Jasmine's face with fury. "She will go downnnn!"

"My vote's gotta go to Amy. I mean, Jasmine at least tried to save the team. Amy dishonored the Cadet Code!" Brick explained as he stamped Amy's passport.

"I don't really know... if I eliminate Jasmine now, we'll be down our strongest member and any chance of me and Sky having anything is gone..." Dave pondered aloud. "I guess the reasonable vote is for Amy. I gotta talk to Jasmine about this too."

Jasmine aggressively stamped Amy's face. "If that wildly dingo thinks she can blame me for us losing today, she's gotta anotha thing comin'!"

Sam silently mulled over his options, eventually landing on Amy's face.

"Amy was pretty mad at Jasmine today, eh? I guess if we're supposed to be allied, I should help her with that?" Zeke questioned, eventually opting to stamp Jasmine's face.

FINAL TABULATION:

Amy: 4 votes

Jasmine: 2 votes


Reasoning: Man was this a toughy. I kept jumbling different endings in my head, having each team lose at some point and seeing who I could cut loose early and still have my story make sense and work. Amy was the only one. I didn't want to turn someone into fodder, and I already have enough inter-team friction with Omega. Amy getting eliminated just works, she's not really a great gameplayer so I wanted to make it seem like she was being a great gameplayer when in actuality she was actually a terrible player. I know the alliance with Zeke and the Dave animosity towards Jasmine may have made some of you think Jasmine was on the outs, but I have a plan with Dave's wishiwashiness.


That's the chapter! Did ya like it? I've been trying to take a page out of Knifez's writing style, because I reread my first two and honestly hated how they looked and flowed. I hope this one looks a lot better. Also, I'm doing my best not to go too OOC here, but I also want to go with my story and my creative direction. Please review and lmk what you think of this new and improved style, and also my elimination choice of Amy. Lastly, who do you think is next to get the boot? I'm planning an aftermath every sixth episode, so after potentially 2 more eliminations, maybe more maybe less :). I'm gonna have Gidgette host, but who would you like to see on the 10 character panel? As of now, Harold and Eva are locks, anyone else is fair game for the panel. See you next time!