Stealth had never come naturally to Wally, as a civilian or as a hero. As a child he'd been loud and obnoxious, demanding attention from all he could see. As a hero, he'd been just as attention seeking, wearing a uniform brightly colored in yellow and red.
For the most part, this had never been much of a problem for him. He didn't need stealth. He was so fast that people hardly ever saw him coming anyway, and by the time anyone actually did it was usually too late for them to do anything about it.
When the Team had been formed, however, expressly designed for undertaking stealth missions, Wally had had difficulty transitioning. For his teammates, it was simple. Aqualad was well trained, below water and above, and, for Robin, stealth was an art form. Superboy may have had little experience and a tendency to rampage (and loudly at that) but the G-nomes had filled his head with lessons and tactics that he could put to use and Miss Martian could camouflage herself at will and levitate silently.
In comparison, Kid Flash had been an elephant lumbering through a field of dead leaves and dried twigs.
This had been noticed very quickly and Wally was soon given to Batman for a week of intensive training on how to move quietly. The same one, in fact, that Dick had consented to in his initial training to take up the mantle of 'Robin'.
Dick had never spoken of what happened to him in that week and, to this day, neither had Wally, but, by the end of it, Kid Flash could run through any territory as silently as the wind itself when he chose.
And now, on the Island in Chris's latest challenge 'Hide and be Sneaky', Wally had never been more thankful for that little trick.
When Chris gave the signal to hide, Wally was leading the pack in the mad dash to escape the dock that would be Chef's home base, already planning out the best place for him to hide.
"Where are we going?" A familiar voice giggled behind him as he moved.
"Woods," Wally replied automatically, never slowing, "The trees'll give us the best cover and they'll mess with Chef's line of sight enough that he won't be able to shoot properly."
"Hah," Izzy cartwheeled unexpectedly, somehow keeping pace, "Wheeee! This is fun!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Wally watched her carefully, a part of him wishing that Artemis were with him instead. Izzy's skills ranged far and unexpectedly wide, but he somehow doubted that stealth was included. Still, he also sincerely doubted his ability to shake her, and merely allowed her to follow him into the trees.
He knew he shouldn't have let her follow him.
Wally had found the perfect hiding place quickly enough. Up in a tree, not too deep into the woods, with an unobstructed view of the camp, he could watch Chef's movements and stay safely hidden by the foliage. They were even thankfully out of earshot of the gargantuan cook, so he couldn't even hear Izzy's intermittent giggling fits.
But then Chef had started flushing out a few of the campers hiding in the farther edges of the campsite, moving out of Wally's sight as he neared the woods and was blocked by the lower trees.
A part of Wally knew that he shouldn't move if he didn't know where Chef was, but another part of him also knew that Izzy would reveal their location if they didn't skedaddle and find a new hiding place, maybe even make a dash for the docks and the invulnerability they represented.
Shifting slightly as he turned to Izzy, intent on telling her of the change in plans. His blood chilled to subzero temperatures when he realized that his fellow redhead was missing.
Looking around wildly, he saw that her crouching down at the base of the tree and, after taking another moment to check the surrounding area, he caught sight of Chef moving closer towards them.
And then, when he didn't think his heart could beat any faster, he saw Chef walk right past Izzy and the tree in which he was hidden, Izzy hiding behind the trunk as he moved past, only for Izzy, instead of taking advantage of her good fortune, to leave the safety of the trunk and start mimicking Chef's every movement.
Wally watched, dumbstruck, as Izzy's posture shifted to match Chef's, her face frowning in what should have been an hilarious impression of his if not for the situation and her hands grasping the air to mimic Chef's hold on his supped up super-soaker.
Loosening his iron grip on the trunk of the tree, Wally straightened, now standing on the comfortable branch he had been perched upon before he quickly began to move along it, striding as confidently along the foot-wide branch as he would on a concrete footpath, until he was within jumping distance of the next tree.
And so, as Chef stalked the grounds for the campers, he was unaware that he had picked up a tail in the form of Izzy, who was equally unaware (or possibly just uncaring) that she had her own tail following from the trees as Wally frantically tried to catch her attention without attracting Chef.
This, as you can imagine, did not last long. Chef was a military man through and through, and his well trained senses soon began to pick up on the two presences following his every step. Every time he turned around, however, he was confronted by nothing but trees, so he began to shift his course back in the direction of the camp, and to the more open areas it contained.
A toothy grin formed on his face. This was going to be fun.
From his position in the trees, Wally was the first to notice that they were being led to open land, when the distance between each tree began to grow.
'Crap,' he thought, when he realized that the distance between his current perch and the next tree along was already too great for him to jump. Maybe not for an acrobat of Robin's caliber, but certainly for him.
Looking carefully downwards as he forced himself to a halt, crouching carefully to maintain his balance some two stories in the air, Wally saw that Izzy was already running out of places to hide if Chef chose to turn back, and, in an instant, he realized that Izzy did not care.
The manic grin he could see gracing her lips told him everything. She was looking forward to the moment that Chef caught her. She wanted a confrontation.
Wally gripped the branch beneath him loosely in his hands, hopping backwards, allowing himself to fall, only to swing forwards as his arms pulled taut. Releasing the branch at the pinnacle of the arc, he fell forwards and downwards by a meter or so, his feet quickly coming into contact with another branch.
His forward momentum was too great to halt, so he didn't bother trying. Leaning forward with his momentum, he ran lightly across the branch before kicking off as powerfully as he dared, falling the remaining distance to earth.
Landing feet first, he rolled with the impact to disperse the force, bouncing back up as Chef began to turn towards the unmistakeable sound of his landing and the pained grunt that had accompanied it. Not wasting any time, Wally took advantage of Izzy's momentary shock to hoist her over his shoulder.
"Hey!" She protested as Wally's right shoulder dug into her belly, even as he ignored her and started running directly towards Chef, who was bringing his super-soaker to bear.
Not dissuaded in the least, Wally ran ever closer before he had a chance to fire, leaping skywards towards the terrifying black man who blinked in stunned surprise as a sneakered foot was suddenly brought upwards.
"Gah!" He exclaimed, as the sole crashed into his face, pushing him backwards and propelling the foot's owner upwards and over his gargantuan frame, even as he was slammed into the dirt.
"Hah!" Izzy cried out in joy as Wally landed, not pausing for a moment as he continued to run towards the docks. Pointing an accusing finger, she cried, "Take that Cheffy!"
"And next time!" She continued, settling on Wally's shoulder now that someone had taken Chef down a peg, "It'll be you and me! You got that you no good excuse for a cook?!"
"Shut!" Wally puffed as he ran, unused to performing such acrobatics with the weight of another person, "Up! Izzy!"
"Why?" Izzy asked quizzically, her elbow digging obliviously into Wally's back as he ran so that her hand could support her head as she looked back at Chef, who, it seemed, was not quite down and out just yet, "Oh."
"What?" Wally asked, as they passed the camper's cabins.
"Warning! Warning!" She hollered, "Red alert! Angry Chef preparing to fire at 6'o'clock! Take evasive actions!"
"On it!" Wally suddenly veered wildly to the left, putting the cabins between himself and the irate Chef, just in time for a powerful jet of water to blast by on the right.
For a moment, the only noise was the sound of Wally's huffing as he ran, before a second blast of water shot past. This time just inches to the left.
"Whoa!" Wally veered to the right, as Izzy squealed in awe, "That one came through the cabins!"
"What?!" Wally exclaimed fearfully, pouring on a touch more speed in what was now becoming a desperate race to the docks.
"That super-soaker shall be mine!" Izzy proclaimed, renewing her attempts to free herself from Wally's grip.
"Fine," Wally told her, veering around the dining hall, the docks returning to his field of vision and looking so tantalizingly close, "Get it after the game!"
"On your left!" Izzy alerted suddenly, prompting Wally to swing right in time for another of Chef's blasts to fly by, this one tearing a hole through the dining hall without any signs of slowing down.
"On your right!" Wally ducked to the left, movement in the corner of his eye alerting him to the fact that Cody and Bridgette had both chosen to take advantage of Chef's focus on himself and Izzy to make their own dashes towards the docks.
"Your left again!" Izzy sounded positively gleeful as Wally shifted to the right, his feet finally making contact with the wooden surface of the docks.
Putting on a final burst of strength, Wally hitched Izzy in his grip, pouring on the speed to make the hairpin turn at the end of the dock in order to reach the lifeguard's post that was 'home base'.
"Freedom!" Wally cheered as he laid a hand on the base, securing his invincibility for the day's elimination. As he moved to return Izzy's feet to the ground, however, Chef unleashed a final blast of concentrated water at them, blasting the pair clear off the edge of the dock, into the (naturally) shark-infested water below and officially taking Izzy out of the game.
Floating near the sandy floor of the lake, arms crossed disbelievingly and dangerous expressions on their faces, the sharks steered clear of the teens for their own safety.
In the end, the only other contestants to reach the base had been Cody, who called upon years of experience in avoiding bullies after Izzy had been hit and he and Bridgette had been targeted, and Leshawna. Bridgette had come close, but her clumsiness had gotten the better of her and she hadn't been able to avoid the water sent her way.
By that point, Owen had already been caught, along with Geoff, who had been taken out mere minutes into the game.
Of the final two contestants, Heather was the next to be caught, but had then sold out DJ in order to earn herself invincibility in the coming vote. The act of which had given the other campers a sudden desire to vote Heather off.
So, as the host began to dole out the marshmallows, Cody, Heather, Leshawna and Wally were the first to receive the gooey treats.
"Next up, we have Bridgette," Chris stated calmly, tossing the surfer girl a symbol of immunity.
Chris paused at that, taking note of the nervous faces before him in the forms of Geoff, DJ and Owen.
"Now," he held up the two remaining marshmallows, "Which of you three will stay? Who will go? Let's find out together, shall we?"
Frowning slightly as he looked checked the results of the vote a final time, he sighed. "Geoff, DJ. You guys are safe."
"Owen," he continued, sounding almost genuinely sad as he singled out the rotund contestant, "I'm afraid we're going to have to see you and your endless supply of toilet humor go."
With a hitch in his breath and an honest to God tear in his eye at the thought of all the wonderful material his writers had come up with that he would no longer be able to use without Owen there to act as the perfect target, Chris continued, coming extremely close to outright sobbing, as he said, "I'm afraid that you'll have to walk the Dock of Shame and board the Boat of Losers."
Owen, for his part, was taking his loss with far more grace than Chris, actually moving in to comfort the sadistic host, "It's okay, Chris. I'll be fine."
"No!" Chris bawled, "It's not fine! I had so many jokes lined up for you! Jokes that the world will never get to hear me deliver! Who's gonna be the butt of the joke now? No one else's is big enough, man!"
The remaining contestants, as well as Owen, glanced around awkwardly, before Owen gave Chris an awkward pat on the back, waved goodbye to those still seated around the campfire, and walked off to the Dock of Shame with an unprecedented amount of dignity left in tact.
And his friends, though honestly sad to see him go, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Owen was perhaps the nicest guy in all of Canada... but his farts could honestly be classed as a biohazard.
Later that evening, an uncharacteristic silence settled in the boy's cabin as the four remaining inhabitants each raised a can of soda, handed out solemnly by Wally. Where exactly he had come by such treats was something that they had long since stopped questioning, merely accepting that there was little Wally could not do in the quest for sugar and caffeine, up to and including stealing from Chef's private kitchen.
"To the totally raddest dude I've had the honor of partying with," Geoff began, the slightest hitch in his breath as he raised his can high.
"To the nicest guy I've ever known," DJ continued, equally somber, bringing his own to meet Geoff's.
"To the greatest teammate a guy could ask for," Cody added.
"To Owen," Wally finished, as the foursome brought their cans together, "May he know peace, wherever he may be, far away from the devil that is Chris McLean."
"Amen," the others chorused, bowing their heads.
"And now," Geoff continued solemnly, "A moment of silence for our eliminated bro."
"We'll miss you buddy," DJ said softly.
"Sorry we had to vote you off," Cody offered sincerely.
"But we had no choice," Wally bowed his head in shame.
They were going to miss Owen's company, no doubt about it, and they would never be able to fully forgive themselves for voting the lug off the show, but...
"And here's to finally being able to breath in the cabins once more," the guys raised their cans once more, this time with noticeably more cheer as their guilty consciences worked to justify their actions and scrub their consciences clear.