The next morning in economy class I was writing everything I knew about Team Warriors. From Heather's obvious rivalry with Alejandro, to Courtney and Duncan's tenuous relationship. Anything that could help us win in a fight with them.
I started when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "What are you writing Quill?" I heaved a sigh of relief it was just Alejandro.
"We lost last time. The only reason we didn't lose anyone was because it was a reward challenge. So I'm writing down everything t've observed about Team Warriors." I explained.
"A good idea." Alejandro nodded his approval. "What do you have so far?"
"Nothing you probably haven't observed yourself. Heather has a rivalry with you, Duncan and Courtney are in conflict, Sierra's crazy but a big threat because she's anaylized the first two seasons. Cody and Ezekiel are small fish in a big pond. We probably don't need to worry for now but we should still keep an eye on the two of them. " I rattled off, I didn't even look at my notebook.
"All good points." He agreed. "We are lucky to have you on this team."
I blushed, the way he had whispered that had sent shivers up my spine. It wasn't even that flirtatious. He just had this tone that made the words seem intimate.
"T-thanks." Was all I could get out.
"Don't mention it." He whispered again. I felt paralized in a good way. It wasn't that I couldn't move, it was more like I didn't want to.
"Get a room." A droll voice remarked. I turned bright red. I hadn't known Noah was listening!
"S-sorry, I was just- that is we were just-" What had we been doing anyway? I was sharing my notes with Alejandro, then somehow we ended up, flirting? I wasn't sure. Alejandro was just complimenting me. Perhaps I had imagined the seductive tone? I knew I wished for his attraction. Had my desires clouded by judgement?
"We were just studying up on the other team." Alejandro explained.
"Yeah! That!" I said with what I can only assume was a nervous grin.
Noah raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you say."
Just before we reached our next destination Owen bragged to the other team. I am all for lowering the other team's confidence, but we lost last time. "Six episodes in and no elimination! If we were a steak we'd be a nine ounce porterhouse! and you guys would be a tiny slice of bologna." Team Victory glared at us.
"Need I remind you all that we lost the last challenge?" Alejandro chastised him.
"We mustn't let our guard down." I concurred.
Our words did little to temper Owen. "But with you as our leader nothing is impossible! Heck I'm not even afraid of flying anymore! Check this out!" Owen proceeded to unbuckle himself and dance about the plane.
Our craft was clearly not meant for such weight as the plane began to tilt. The boarded up hole opened and nearly sucked us all out, Owen particularly. "Al! Please Al! Give me an Ale-hand-bro!"
Concerned as I was with Owen's safety I found myself equally annoyed. It was one thing to not be able to pronounce Alejandro's name and quite another to make a pun out of it. Even if it was not malicious, and Owen was rarely if ever so, it was still rude.
We did get the hole covered again. Lashawna pushed a large crate over it and we all fell to the floor. Not much later Noah looked out the window. "Whoa are those the alps?" He asked.
"I-I believe so, but that does little to narrow down our current location as the mountain range is throughout several counties." I said.
After we landed Chris told us to go to the cargo hold. Once again he dropped us out of the plane and into the snow. I had taken to wearing my green jacket around my waist since our previous landing in the Yukon and quickly put it on.
On the upside it was good weather. I saw Lashawna land on Alejandro and winced on his behalf. Tyler and Lindsay had landed next to each other. Lindsay wasted no time in greeting him. "Hi Darryl!"
Tyler was at his wits end. "It's me Tyler! Season one you and me were together!"
"You must have confused with someone else. The only guy I was ever into on this show is Tyler and he's never coming back." She replied obliviously. I was starting to think Tyler might be better off moving on. As hard as that would be.
Chris hover above us on some kind of parachute fan hybrid that probably cost more than the plane. "Guten Tag and welcome to Deutschland AKA Germany." He said in a hushed tone. "We're in avalanche territory so you might want to keep it down."
"What! There's a sale at the Khaki Barn!" Lindsay yelled. I was concerned for her. How dumb do you need to be to hear that out of that Chris said? One of these days that kind of naivety was going to get her killed.
Our challenge? Avoid causing an avalanche with our singing. The song went well at first, Noah started us off, then half of Team Warriors sang, underlying tension between Heather, Courtney, and Duncan was evident, then Alejandro sang.
"When you don't hold back and lead the pack truly there is nothing stopping ,you, you, you." He sang to Lashawna. He was clearly trying to make her overconfident, and boy was she receptive.
"Swimming in your eyes it's butterflies and suddenly there's nothing I can't do!" The one thing I didn't understand was why? Team Victory was hardly the biggest threat right now. Why not stir up the drama between Courtney and Duncan? And why wouldn't my jealousy stop flaring up?!
Then, somehow, Lindsay remembered who Tyler was. It was the absolute worst timing as the overexcited jock cried out in glee. The avalanche buried us. We had to climb back to the top. Surprisingly Owen made it up first as he smelled food.
Said food turned out to be a large pile of raw meat. There were three, each next to a large meat grinder. Our first objective, stuffing sausages, then riding them down the treacherous mountain, first one there would get a reward. Last Team there had to have one person wear lederhosen for the rest of the challenge.
Team Warriors got into a fight, well Heather and Courtney were fighting, over the fact that Heather had thrown out an electric meat grinder. That was lucky for us, I doubted we'd be able to stuff a sausage faster than a machine.
As usual Alejandro took charge, grabbing Izzy as she almost fell into the meat grinder. "Tyler we need your strength on the grinder, Owen stuff that casing like your life depends on it, Noah you make sure Izzy doesn't get in the pile again." He threw Izzy at Noah who crushed him, I winced on his behalf. "Quill you help me shovel."
I nodded and climbed up after him. Alejandro would shovel the meat in, then I would push it down, which was gross but manageable. Things seemed to be going well, Team Victory was doing fine, but team Warriors was a mess. Between Courtney yelling at Heather, Heather complaining and Sierra using half of their meat to make a meat Cody they were far from finishing before us. Especially after it slid down the mountain.
I heard Noah laughing. "Cody's got a tiny sausage." I really thought he was more mature than that.
"At least my team has a sausage!" He retorted. That was when we noticed Owen had eaten all the sausage meat rather than stuffing the casing.
"Dude that was raw meat! Not good!" Chris chuckled.
"Do you have any idea how many diseases you're at risk for?!" I added.
Alejandro suggested we ride Owen, and Chris agreed. We climbed on and began our descent with Team Victory on our heels. One thing I did notice on the way down was how every time Owen called Alejandro Al we hit into something. So he was vindictive. We all have our flaws. Besides Owen clearly wasn't that hurt.
We won, but I'm not sure our reward was the best. The heavy helmet probably weighed more than I did. Our next challenge was simple. We had to learn and perform a german dance on what looked like a video game platform. They were rigged to zap us if we misstepped, or Chris needed a laugh.
Since Team Victory had a smaller team only two of them got to compete. Lashawna, and Bridgette for Victory, Heather, Cody, and Sierra for Warriors, and Alejandro, Owen, and Noah for us.
Then there was the matter of the lederhosen. Cody attempted to get Sierra to wear them but Chris made him wear them. I would've felt bad but I was just relieved she wasn't wearing them.
Chef taught the dancers the dance, which looked ludicrous, then they practiced. I couldn't quite hear the conversations from where I was standing but it looked like Alejandro was buttering Lashawna up more. Whilst simultaneously getting under Heather's skin.
Then the platform rose up. Lashawna kept getting shocked but she kicked Noah off the platform. Cody missed and Alejandro took him out. Sierra saw this and took out Bridgette. Owen got shocked and all the raw meat came back to haunt him.
The final four were Alejandro, Lashawna, Sierra, and Heather. Not the best odds. "Stay on the platform Lashawna! You've got this!" Gwen called out.
"I'm not going anywhere!" She said with confidence.
"That's it seize the day!" Alejandro encouraged.
"She's not even on your team!" Heather yelled, hitting the other. Lashawna grew angry.
"I'm gonna seize the you!" She yelled, launching herself at Heather and beating her up off the platform. Everyone was cheering, and that when I noticed something that concerned me. Alejandro stopped trying. He let Sierra win.
Up until now I'd been fine with most of his moves. They all had a reason to work, but what merit was there in letting the Warriors win?!
Later on the plane I confronted him about it. He was exiting the main area when I cornered him. "Quill to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Why did you give Sierra the win!" He gave me a look of surprise.
"I would never think to do such a thing!" He told me. I raised an eyebrow. "Truly I was just so shocked by Lashawna's outburst that I froze up."
I sighed. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." After all, what reason did he have to do such a thing?
There were two things I noticed when Team Victory got back. One Lashawna was gone, not surprising, and two Gwen was glaring at Bridgette, who kinda of looked like she felt she deserved it. What happened?