Chapter Four: Sightseeing is a Contact Sport

Ezekiel let out a yawn before opening his eyes. Blinking a few times to get used to the darkness he noticed the sleeping figures spread throughout the room and the one right next to him. After a moment of confusion it all came back.

Once they had convinced the onboard staff to allow five people in the normally four person suite the sleeping arrangements had been easy.

Chef Hatchet not surprisingly had laid immediate claim to the queen sized bed. Any possible complaint was instantly silenced at the sight of Chef in a pink halter sleep top, short shorts and an eye mask on top of his head.

The younger males stared at the assistant in horror before rushing to the roll outs. Surprisingly Tyler and Noah had reached them first. That left Ezekiel and Harold with the pull out couch bed. "Just so you know...I am madly in love with LeShawna so this is strictly out of necessity."

Harold had explained and Ezekiel agreed. Though he was more then a bit perplexed by the jock's snickers and the sight of Noah smirking at them behind his book while muttering something about video cameras.

The homeschooler shook his toque covered head before carefully climbing out of bed taking great care not to disturb the still sleeping nerd. He repeated this process with Tyler and Noah as he slowly maneuvered his way to the balcony door.

Quietly he unlocked the door and stepped outside onto the small balcony. Outside the sky was just starting to lighten up and he could hear the rush of the ocean as the ship traveled through. Letting out a contented sigh he stared at the distant horizon.

His smile though immediately disappeared at the sight of wild green eyes suddenly popping up in front of him. Ezekiel gasped and took a step back in surprise at the figure now perched precariously on top of the bobbing railing.

"Izzy?"

"RAWR!!!!"

"AHHHHH!!!!"

Inside the suite the sound of the scream combined with a loud thump had caused an immediate chain reaction. Harold had promptly jumped to the floor and took up a defensive stance while whirling his num yo's.

Unfortunately he had forgotten to grab his glasses from the nearby table. Combined with the unfamiliar area, the auburn haired male ended up accidently tripping over Noah's discarded book. Harold let out a startled cry as his formable mad skills failed him. With a loud splash he landed in the hot tub in the corner.

Tyler meanwhile had sprung to his feet and stood at the ready on top of his bed for a few seconds. Without warning the cot legs suddenly gave out and the bed crashed onto the ground.

Unprepared for the action, the jock was sent flying forward and landed right on top of a very startled bookworm. Noah scowled and opened his mouth to complain, but froze when he heard an ominous creak.

"Oh you have got to be kid-" That was all the bookworm was able to say before his bed also gave up the ghost. Pushing Tyler to the ground Noah crawled off of the now broken bed. Looking around the room he scowled.

Chef was snoring loudly in bed with his earplugs jammed firmly in his ears, a shivering and soaking wet Harold was climbing out of the hot tub and Tyler stood up. Noah's scowl darkened as he noticed the giggling female lying on top of Ezekiel in a puppy dog like fashion.

"Alright who ordered the Izzy wake up call?!!"

"Seriously I don't know how the crazy bird does it. We're the floor above you guys for Einstein's sake." Noah complained absently taking the omelet the cook held out to him. Gwen rolled her eyes.

"I don't know and to be honest I really don't care. It's an Izzy thing and let's just leave it at that." The goth commented as she accepted her own plate. Noah smirked back. "Wiser words have never been spoken."

Without saying another word they made their way to their table where most of their group was already eating at. In another part of the restaurant Izzy in the buffet line had just reached for the last triple chocolate muffin.

"Come to Izzy Choco Delicious!" Izzy cooed as her fingers touched the muffin…just before it was snatched away. Izzy blinked as she noticed a little dark haired girl wearing a shirt with Courtney's picture plastered on it waving the muffin tauntingly at her.

Sinking her little teeth in the muffin the child smirked at the red head before sauntering away. Izzy lunged. Behind his unstable friend Ezekiel hurriedly dropped his own tray in his haste to grab Izzy. He barely managed to do so.

Holding onto her however was a challenge. The homeschooler let out a startled cry as he was unwillingly dragged forward. Seeing the struggle, Tyler decided to help restrain Izzy.

Back at the table Bridgette's eyes widened in shock. Especially when the little CIT supporter darted by the jock's feet causing him to be badly knocked off balance and he fell on Ezekiel causing him to lose his grip on Izzy.

"REVENGE!!! My Choco Delicious shall be avenged!!!" Izzy roared out as she chased after the obnoxious little girl. Bridgette winced before turning her attention to the know-it-all. "Should we go after her?"

Noah paused briefly his fork halfway up to his mouth as he raised an eyebrow. "Let's see…spend the next hour searching for an abnormally cheerful psycho, be late for disembarkment thus missing the tour we already paid for or shall we just sit here, continue to eat breakfast and pretend we don't know her?"

Dumbfounded looks was his answer and the group winced as they heard Izzy's shouts in the background followed by several crashes. "Yeah I'm voting for the second option." Noah drawled taking a bite of his omelet.

Gwen shook off the daze first and she smirked. "You're still mad at Courtney aren't you?" The bookworm shot her a venomous look and the goth girl nodded. "Yep…still mad." On the other side of the large table Lindsay scratched her head in confusion.

"So why is Nathan mad at Corma again?"

Today's Challenge is the ever popular puzzle challenge! Chris McClain announced cheerfully gesturing to the large painted squares on the forest floor. Heather frowned. "Newsflash…there are no puzzle pieces."

The large grin on the sadistic host's face was of no reassurance. "Good question! And now for the answer! You have to FIND them! Which should be no problem for the Finders!" Chris laughed in glee ignoring the chorus of groans.

Rubbing a tear from his eye he continued. The puzzle pieces are hidden all over camp! Red for the Finders and Green for the Trekkers! First team to find them all AND put the puzzle together wins Immunity and a movie night! Now get to it!"

Not surprisingly the Finders were ahead thanks to three members. Noah, Eva and Cody. Eva much to their shock was an avid puzzle buff. The strong female reluctantly admitted she had taken it up during Total Drama the Musical as a way to relieve stress.

Cody had elaborated on that. Eva had been waiting by the Helipad of Losers as a red faced techno geek Cody descended his eyes wide with shock. The entire Helipad had been turned into a giant collage of HIM.

The bear, his bold heroic swing on the vine to save Trent and Lindsay, leading the guy's alliance…heck even his brave yet foolish attempt at getting down Chris's skate park of doom. It was all there.

And it now explained Sierra's reaction. The fan stalker had dropped her high intensity binoculars and had screamed bloody murder. She then proceeded to chase around the rest of her team around the plane yelling about how they let an evil Sasquatch lay claim to HER man.

"Yeah…it explained a lot." Noah mused to himself as he walked back to his team's board with a piece in his hand. To his minor surprise the over competitive CIT had once again taken control of the team in her usual fashion…with an iron fist.

The overachiever stood solely next to the half completed puzzle tapping her foot impatiently until she happened to notice the cube that he held. Instantly she raced forward and without so much as a thank you, yanked it out of his hand and proceeded to put the square….into the wrong place.

"Wrong place Ms. CIT." Noah commented before reaching down to fix it. His hand was harshly slapped away. "I KNOW what I'm doing." Courtney scoffed before waving a hand in dismissal.

Noah frowned and crossed his arms in annoyance. "If you knew what you were doing you would still have Cody and his iron woman working on the puzzle at the least. Speaking of which WHERE are they?"

"Your little wannabee boyfriend and the mountain gorilla are searching for the pieces. After all at this stage we only need one to put the puzzle together and it only makes sense for it to be me. After all I am the only one who had CIT training."

Punctuating her words, the bossy girl yanked away another cube from the approaching Trent with a smile. The smile disappeared when the piece was in turn yanked from her hands. Fire flared in her eyes and she spun around to face the deviant upstart.

"A true leader knows when to lead and when to follow. And no one insults my FRIENDS. Consider your dictatorship of the Finders forthwith terminated." Noah declared harshly his own eyes like ice. Without another word he pushed past the openmouthed musician and CIT.

Courtney's silence was brief and vengeance burned in her eyes. Letting out a cry of rage, the CIT tackled the disobedient know-it-all sending him flying on top of the puzzle. The scattered pieces had eventually led to the Killer Finders' defeat.

"Voted off third again. You should have been more of a team player."

Noah snapped out of the memory and his eyes narrowed briefly in annoyance. "I don't get mad Gwen…I get even, especially when it comes to my acquaintances. Now if you excuse me I'm going to get ready to go ashore as it were. See you downstairs."

Several hours later Noah was in a much better mood. The tour through the island had been very informative and filled with a seemingly endless amount of detail. His favorite combination. For the first time since joining the god forsaken show the bookworm felt at ease.

Not even the approaching trip at the shopping market could put him down. If anything the venue had improved his mood for more then one reason. With ease the cynic stepped calmly aside letting Tyler tumble by.

Ignoring the thumps of the jock going down the stairs, Noah continued to stare at the shirts in his hands in debate. "I still think you'd look better in the purple one Nathan." Noah frowned and turned to face the clueless blonde.

"T-Shirts are something the triplets would wear not me. And while we're on the topic, I am shopping for my 8 brothers and sisters and for my parents. And I might as well just get the Wonder Duo their infernal snow globes while I'm at it."

Lindsay clapped her hands in delight before grabbing his hand. Before the wide eyed bookworm could protest, the buxom blonde had led him into store after store searching for the perfect gifts.

Noah wasn't the only one who needed assistance. Bridgette shook her head in amusement as the taller nerd dashed all over the market looking for items worthy of his chocolate goddess. Special chocolate and perfume were only the start.

"Hey Bridgette would this be the perfect gift for LeShawna? Or will this be the perfect gift for LeShawna?" Harold questioned holding up tropical dress after tropical dress. Without waiting for a reply to his question he continued.

"The red really brings out the gorgeous luster of those choc…olate al…monds she calls eyes, but then again the greenish blue one really accents her perfect behind…then again there is the black one that amplifies her delicate nature…"

Bridgette shook her head again with a smile. "Oh yeah…we'll be here for awhile." She mused to herself greatly enjoying the sight of her flustered friend. Inwardly she thanked Lindsay for the sudden trip. She was greatly enjoying herself.

Ezekiel wished he could have said the same. Unlike the rest of his group he and Izzy had bowed out of the sightseeing tour. Or rather Izzy had discovered something of great interest and had dashed off in a hurry before they could board the waiting bus.

Naturally he quickly raced after in an attempt to keep the red head's would be chaos under control...not that it would matter in the end. Falling off bikes, colliding with walls and other tourists…without a doubt he would be sore tomorrow.

Finally Izzy stopped her mad dash through town. "There it is! There it is!" Izzy cheered happily pointing to a large pyramid in the distance with a long slide coming out of it. As they watched a tiny doll sized figure came down it and disappeared just as quickly.

"The Leap of Faith…a 6 story plunge right through a shark tank! Woo hoo!!! Izzy cheered happily completely unaware of the look of terror gracing her best friend's face. "We're gonna do wot eh?!"

"Climb up the giant pyramid and go sliding down several stories high right into the shark tank! And hey if we end up surviving we can do it again! And if we're lucky we get to pet the stingrays! This is going to be sooo much fun Zeke!"

Imagi's Ramblings: Okay longer wait and I battled with the loss of inspiration, but next chapter is finished!

Quick notes Noah having triplets as family is in my other story 23 presents. Same goes for the little brat girl. I should come up with a name for her…any ideas anyone?

Other stuff The Leap of Faith actually exists it is at the Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas same for the stingrays. Pretty cool hotel. And there are hot tubs in the large suites on cruise ships. ;)

Other Other stuff my Ezekiel pumpkin came in 2nd in the TDI blog contest! Major shock…I thought Noah would win! I wasn't surprised on the winners, though they could have been more fair on the costume one…yeah I'm annoyed a cosplayer teen one instead of a little kid. I mean how can you tell a little kid they lost? Yeah could have done that a different way.

So onwards to the next chapter! Might take awhile…my inspiration has suffered hugely do to the injustice that is TDM. I mean there are THREE different stories going on there! And all has Zeke (also known as my muse) as the butt or the nonexistent character AGAIN.

I can't tell you how mad I am at that…but I'll battle onwards! Necro hope you liked and Winter honest and true I will get back to Commandeers! Loss of inspiration is a terrible terrible thing.

Thanks for the reviews! :)

Imagi