Chapter 6 - Phobia Factor
The Killer Bass retreated to the pit again, shortly after Izzy got ceremoniously kicked out. They sat around the still going fire crackling brightly and though most were downtrodden, not all were. Trent and Gwen were aside from the people who sulked; jostling each other. Gwen was happy to return back to where she and Trent were before, without any of the dreaded awkward air Heather had tried to inflict on them. Heather. Gwen's smile darkened. It was great to get back at her with the red ant farm, but she still wanted more.
The team looked up ahead to the multitude of footsteps. It was the Screaming Gophers, faces flushed with intoxicating chips and from celebration. Courtney stood up,
"What do you guys want. Come by to rub it in?" At the front of the group was Kitty with a plate of jello and gummy worms suspended inside.
"We got some extra dessert after our tuck shop party!" She shook the jiggly sweets. "Thought you might want some!"
"So what, you're just being nice." Courtney said, voice dipping at the last word as if she couldn't comprehend the notion.
"If a confession's what you want, Owen stank up our cabin and we need some time to air out." Noah sadly pointed over to the bloated guy, who had just squeaked out another out. Emma wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Ew.. ugh it's like he's constantly full of gas." She waved the air.
Owen chuckled, "Well-" Beth took the plate of green jello and walked on over to Courtney and offered it to her. Courtney violently flinched and shrieked a "NO!" before regaining some composure.
"I mean, no thanks, I'm good." She heftly smiled.
"What're you on a diet or something?" Duncan asked, questioning her sudden outburst.
"No!" She made a face and crossed her arms tightly. "I just don't like green jelly okay?"
Beth tried another time to DJ and Duncan, but DJ let up one other outburst for the night and flipped the dish out of Beth's hands with a shrill, "SNAAKE!" It fell with a squish onto the dirt, the little gummy worm sticking its head out the mushy treat.
Cody bent over, grabbed the candy with his fingers and pulled it out. "Chill dude, it's just a gummy worm."
"Sorry for tripping." DJ apologized with a not-so-stable voice. "Snakes just freak me OUT." Tyler patted his back.
"I feel you, chickens give me the creeps dude."
"You're afraid of chickens?" Gwen astoundingly asked. Scott just looked sad beyond a point and Duncan laughed.
"Wow that's.. that's really lame man."
*static*
Gwen: So suddenly everyone's having this big share-fest by the fire. Gwen recalled, chin on hand. Like Beth went on and on bout how her mortal fear is being covered by bugs. Harold's afraid of ninjas- She shrugged with a perplexed expression- even Heather admitted she's afraid of sumo wrestlers!
*static*
"What's my worst fear?" Gwen repeated the question. "I guess... being buried alive." Lindsay was next to her.
"Walking through a minefield." She conjured up. "In heels."
"Flying man, that's some crazy stuff." Owen closed his eyes, shuddering.
Anne Maria sniffed, "Mm, bad haircuts. Now there's a hell."
"O-oh okay! I change mine." Lindsay interjected. "That's soo much scarier than a minefield!"
Scott, who was next after Anne Maria, reluctantly sighed. "The ocean. It's dark, huge, and just full of slimy critters. Eugh! It's not anything like on the farm."
Cody tapped his chin. "Having to defuse a time bomb under pressure."
"Being stuck in the sewage." A shiver went up Cameron's spine as he tried to shake off even the thought. "That would be a nightmare."
"Hmm... probably being alone forever?" Zoey rubbed her neck. "How about you Mike?"
"Oh! U-um ah..." He ran his hand through his voluminous hair several times. "I dunno... j-just being alone too?" Under a probing eye, one could have told that he was just lying on the spot, but this is Zoey we're talking about. She sweetly grinned at him.
"Well, I guess we should stick together then huh?" Looking over her sweet suggestion, the group moved on.
"For sure, spiders. Nuh-uh, keep me away from that nonsense." Leshawna cocked her neck.
"Omg, if anybody ever deleted anything off my phone, I would die." Kitty gasped.
"I can't think of anything I'd necessarily care enough about to be afraid." Noah drawled. "But I'll name one thing I hate: physical activity."
"Seriously?" Emma jested.
"It was that or idiots. What can I say, I hated P.E." Noah shrugged before asking, "What about you."
"Er.. nothing in particular." She looked away. Kitty shook her arm.
"Aw come on Emma! What about your abnormal fear of reje-" Emma slapped her hand on Kitty's mouth.
"Re-REELING in uh, sharks from the ocean!" Emma coughed. "Yeah, that's it."
"I'm not really afraid of anything." Courtney smiled, closing her eyes.
Duncan coughed, "Baloney." She whipped her head to him.
"Oh really. Well, what exactly is YOUR phobia Mr. Know-It-All." She challenged. Duncan widened his eyes, looking around. All the contestants looking intrigued as to what the bad boy fear would be. He caved in under all of their stares and mumbled,
"C-Celine Dion music store standees." Cody guffawed.
"Exsqueeze me? I didn't quite get that."
"Dude, did you say Celine Dion music store standees?" Trent confirmed with amusement as Duncan just covered his face from the mention of it. Lindsay fangirled,
"Ooh I love Celine Dion! ... what's a standee?" She asked.
"You know, that cardboard cut-out thing that stands in the music store." Trent answered.
"Don't say it dude!" Duncan whispered loudly.
"Kind of like a life sized but flat Celine." Trent continued. Beyond entertained, Courtney took a jab,
"So if we had a cardboard standee right NOW..." She smiled.
"Shut up!" Duncan covered his ears. "What about YOU guys." He pointed to Trent, pulling attention away from him.
"OK well, I hate mimes. Like a lot." Trent answered coolly. Courtney rolled her eyes, ticking him off.
"Alright Courtney, you're afraid of SOMETHING. Spit it out."
"Nope! Nothing."
Duncan breathed a laugh. "Pff, that's not what she said last night." He said to DJ and Tyler, who only silently snickered in response.
"Duncan, did you ever consider that maybe I was just humoring you and your stupid story?" She crossed her arms.
"Sure, sure princess. Whatever floats your boat."
"Shut up!"
...
After the share-fest died down, the campers head back to their according cabins to bed. The night rolled into a dry, sunny morning. Chris whistled loudly with his fingers to the attentive contestants now seated in the mess hall.
"Campers!" He called with a strong voice. The rest listened with their untouched gruel sitting in front of them. "Your next challenge is a little game I like to call... Phobia Factor! Prepare to face your worst fear!" Leshawna raised her fork, stabbed into something hard, something grey, and something that tasted suspiciously close to rags.
"Worse than this?" She asked incredulously, tongue sticking out. Sitting next to her, Kitty took one look at the substance.
"We're in trouble."
"Now for our first victims..." Chris tidily flashed out a card and read it. He oddly stood next to the open doors. "Heather! Meet us all in the theater."
Heather didn't seem too worried, sipping a mug of orange juice.
"Itttt's SUMO TIME!" She choked and spit out the juice in a stream of orange. Anne Maria was unfortunate to sit right across from her. Her eyes went from wide open, to thin glares. She was in mid-action of spraying her hair some more before getting interrupted, and she clenched the hairspray until it cracked.
Chris continued and pulled out another random card. "Gwen. You, me, the beach.. A few tons of sand?" Gwen gasped. Lindsay raised her hand,
"Wait, how did they know those are your worst fears?" Gwen face palmed herself.
"Ugh! Because we told them?" Lindsay and Beth both stood still, looking at each other. Gwen put her head on between her arms. Trent patted her back and clarified,
"At the campfire last night."
...
'What's my worst fear?" Gwen repeated the question. "I guess... being buried alive."'
...
"Wait." Lindsay stood up. "They were listening to us?"
"It's a reality show Einstein." Gwen spoke from behind the threads of her dyed hair. "They're always listening to us."
Getting the point, Lindsay felt violated in a way and exclaimed, "That's like eavesdropping!"
"Chef Hatchet!" Chris called. "Didn't you have a special order for Tyler today?" Chef Hatchet's head poked out from the kitchen window as he stuck a net cage fresh out the oil, and into Tyler's apprehensive face. Inside of it was a chicken-shaped fry of something.
...
'I feel you, chickens give me the creeps dude.'
...
Tyler grabbed it, gulping, but bringing it close to his mouth and held it there for a moment.
He took a chomp out of the head and munched it warily. But then out of the hole he made, an actual chicken popped its head out of the bread encasing and gave a squack.
"WhuuUAAAAGH!"
...
Soon enough, everybody was standing outside, ready to go through the team one by one. Watching the atrocious large tubs full of worms in front of them, everyone looked rightfully squeamish. DJ averted his face to hurl, and Owen slowly fell over in a faint, pale composure.
Beth stood in the front of this line, staring the squirming worms down. She took a visible gulp, then with a determined face hopped over the tub and splashed into the giant mass of worms.
After a moment of being completely submerged in the pile, she popped her head out victorious despite the few worms tangles in her hair and her braces. The Screaming Gophers screamed in cheer as they scored one point.
"And Beth sets the bar WAY up there." Chris narrated.
In a flash, it was Lindsay and Anne Maria's turn. Chris held two terribly cut, mud brown wigs right above their scalps. Lindsay was easy to put on, but Chris REALLY had to stretch it out to cover Anne Maria's impenetrable hair. It snapped close with a metallic twing, and the two looked at each other in unease.
Anne Maria struggled with getting comfortable, but then screamed in frustration as she finally tore the wig off.
"Do you realize how damaging this is to my do?" Anne Maria pointed at her now messed up hair. "Unacceptable. Not doing this, nuh-uh."
Lindsay scratched her chin, before standing up. "Oh- if she won't do it, then I won't either!" Everybody groaned. Lindsey slipped it off and gave Anne Maria a high-five. "
"Come on sugar, and I'll get you a REAL makeover." They both walked out, leaving Heather gawking at Lindsey with anger slipped eyes.
*static*
Heather: Are you kidding me? Ugh! She slapped herself. Lindsey's LUCKY she's in this alliance, otherwise I would've gotten everybody to vote her off... Hm... that Anne Maria girl is getting a bit too close to her. She better not steal away MY dumb minion, or ELSE.
*static*
...
Kitty was tied to a chair in a desolate cafeteria. The chef held up her phone menacingly. Holding down on one of the many apps seen, the option came up to delete it. Kitty gasped.
"NOOOOO!" She yelled, as Chef brought his finger dangerously close to the button. "I YIELD! I YIELD!" The dramatic lighting soon disappeared, and Chef gave her phone back. Chris shook his head while laughing.
"Seriously Kitty?"
"NEVER." Kitty tucked the phone into her pocket and stuck her face up at Chris's. "DO that again!" Before Kitty ran off, still terrified that Chef would somehow come up and delete it.
...
Cameron peered down at the drainage. Inside, would lead to the sewers. The disgusting, bacteria lined, wholly contaminating sewers. Cameron plugged his nose, gulping.
"Well? Come on! Just one jump down, and you get the point." Chris snickered. Cameron looked dizzy.
"D-do you even know HOW many different types of viruses and bacteria travel through there?" Cameron shivered. "There's parasitic bacteria, saprophytic, pathogenic, and up to 1 million different microorganisms a-a-and ooohhhh..." Cameron wavered around before falling faint onto the ground. Chris groaned with a snap.
"Damn! He should've fainted forward."
...
Next up was Owen, standing in front of the most rickety run down helicopter you'd have ever seen. Chef, dressed in a flight attendant uniform that was all together not very flattering on him, opened the door with a squeak. Owen gasped in horror, though at what was unclear.
The engine sputtered to a roll, the blades gaining enough momentum to hoist the plane up. The ride was extensively wobbly, one of the wings seeming to be held together with... duct tape? Owen's muffled screams from inside the plane could be heard as he saw the makeshift wing, the helicopter doing spins and dips in the air.
So on and on it went, with some successes and some failures. Harold, who had been respectfully reading his action comic book on the toilet had been predictably ambushed by ninjas. He walked out the stall, pants still undone and down, to meet a myriad of dark-cloth covered ninjas. He seemed amazingly unfazed as he pulled out (from where? only God knows) a pair of nunchucks from behind. He promptly began to spin them into a weave of complex defensive stances, making the ninjas lean back. However, he switched the pair from hand to hand so fast it began to look like a matter of nunchucks flying everywhere, and finally one went out of line and bonked him on the head hard. Twitching, he fell backwards, headfirst into the toilet behind him.
...
Leshawna fared worse, stepping bit by bit away from the oncoming terror, before bursting out into a plethora of screams. Coming after her? Chef in a crudely sewn spider costume. Not the Screaming Gopher's best. By watch, Heather slapped her head, but now it was her turn. In quick cuts, the teams assembled in front of the stage where a large sumo wrestler awaited Heather. She stood rigidly at the far right, trembling.
With a long roar, the giant man began to run towards Heather, arms up and fingers splayed. Heather got down into a shaky ball and covered her head, which in surprise had benefited her, as the wrestler tripped over the tiny figure and bounced off the stage and into the forest.
"Heather stepped up to the planks, scoring the Gophers their second point on the board!" Chris announced. Simultaneously, the plane with a terrified Owen inside, flew overhead upside down. One of the bumpers had fallen off.
...
A new set up on the stage consisted of a petrified DJ looking over to a small terrarium with a baby snake in it. For once being supportive, Duncan clapped loudly from the bleachers.
"Ey, you can do this buddy!" DJ stood dead still, holding a stare with the adorable little snake. After a long tense silence, the snake blinked, and DJ screeched whilst scrambling back.
"EEEP! It blinked!"
"It means she likes you DJ!" Cody called over.
Courtney rubbed her face. "It's the smallest snake ever DJ, come on!"
"Yeah but it's slimy and scaly." DJ shivered. "And slithery-"
"We need this point DJ!" Courtney stood up. "SUCK IT UP!" She yelled, making him flinch. All the boys congregated behind her shook their head slowly. She turned around annoyed. "What? We're heading back to Loserville people."
DJ took in a deep breath and bent over to the snake. Clenching his eyes shut, he held out a single quivering finger. After a long pause, he opened his eyes again, surprised to see the snake happily on his hand. He brought it closer to him with a pleasantly surprised smile. DING! That was one point for the Killer Bass.
The crowd acclaimed DJ and whooped. Courtney smugly smiled. "See? Fear is only in the mind."
...
"Cody! Your turn." Chris smiled. Cody stood beside a couple of trashcans woven together with red and green wires, tying itself into a beeping alarm clock. Cody pulled his face, already feeling the pressure.
"Alright Cody, this garbage bomb is going off at exactly ten minutes. Everything you need to know to defuse it, is on these schematic blueprints." He handed over a blue scroll over to him that had labyrinthine white writings on it.
"What?! No way, I can't do this!" Cody gulped.
"Then, hehe, I suggest you find a safe place to hide brah." Chris chuckled. "Later dude."
"Wait! You're not gonna watch?"
"No way. That's a live bomb dude!" He shouted before quickly speeding away.
...
In a different scene, Mike and Zoey were both at opposite ends of the island. They would have to stay alone in the woods for six hours. Keeping an eye on both, one seemed to be more scared than the other. Chris, boredly watched Mike nestle down on a long boulder and nap, before turning his attention to Zoey. She was sitting on a log, hands clasped with knees together.
"This isn't so bad. I'm just in the forest... left alone... for six hours." She idly hummed to distract herself. A tiny amber-colored chipmunk poked his head out the log and suddenly scampered in front of Zoey. Beyond startled, she instinctively kicked out with a shriek, the chipmunk throttling through the sky. It landed into the waters, where a nearby Chris was shoveling on sand onto a clear glass box with Gwen in it. She looked down horrified as the top began to get covered. Trent walked out of the watching Killer Bass and bent over on a knee to get closer to Gwen.
"There's enough air for an hour." He reassured, speaking into the small slit open on the box. "You only need to do five minutes."
"As long as we decide to dig you up." Chris threw in with a lax smile.
"Not funny Chris!" Gwen gripped against the glass, hands pressed against where Trent had laid his.
"Sheesh. Take a pill."
Trent turned to the frenzied Gwen. "I'll be listening the whole time." He slid in a walkie talkie and Gwen grabbed it with a calmer smile. "Just yell for me if you panic and I'll dig you right up!"
"Good bye cruel world." Her smile then slowly faded as Trent closed up the only opening in the box. A dump of sand covered her face.
...
Across the beach was Scott in a differently shaped glass container. He looked down at his feet with fearful eyes, sweating furiously. It was planted firmly on the clear floor, but it sure didn't look that way to him. The box was held up by a claw machine manhandled by Chef, and Scott yelped as the box began its descent into the deep blue sea.
"I'm gonna kill ya Chris!" He shrieked, hands grasping at the smooth walls. Chris was walking down the shore with his hands behind his back.
"Hey, at least you're going in during the day!" He laughed. Scott screamed until the box finally was fully submerged into the water. Under the surface, the box was seen being lowered more and more until it hit the bottom of the ocean. He looked around shaking before deciding to look up. He slowly calmed down, seeing how the sunlight shone in ray through the water.
"Huh... um, I guess this isn't SO bad." He grumbled, taking in the water around him. A dark shadow whipped by him, making him jump. "W-what was that?!" He stood still with a whine, still oblivious to the giant white shark right behind him. It smiled.
...
Shooting back up to where Chris strolled on over to where Emma was sitting. She had a large fishing pole in her hands, and she edged out over on the dock. She looked exceptionally bored. Chris yawned,
"Something tells me this isn't your worst fear." Emma rolled her eyes.
"Well, it's too late for that now isn't it? And how long do I have to stay here?" She frowned, staring straight ahead.
"However long it takes for a shark to come." Chris shrugged.
"Are you serious? What are the likelihood of me catching and reeling in a flipping shark?" Emma waved one arm around in disbelief.
"Hehe, believe it or not, it's not that low." He said ominously before shrugging off to draw another card. Emma groaned loudly, falling backwards. Miraculously, the rod began to reel. She gasped, lurching forward and grabbing it with two hands. Chris perked up as well, rubbing his hands together. "Ooh here goes."
"What the-" She stood up and went back and forth on a battle between her and whatever was stupid enough to bite. She grunted, a few drops of sweat fell before she finally lifted up the catch with near super strength. She opened her eyes and saw a hysterical Scott looking at her in shock. He was still inside the box, but half the box had been swallowed by the shark. The hook had caught on one of the larger fangs of the shark somehow, bringing the shark meant for Scott to her. The glass cracked a little, making Scott shout.
"Well what're you waitin for? Get me OUT OF HERE!"
"Tut-tut." Chris walked up to the entrapped Scott. "You still have one more minute to go. Emma? You're done with the challenge. Another point to the Screaming Gophers!"
"Huh." Emma smiled, cocking her eyebrow. "Alright then." She let go of the fishing rod with both hands up, and began to walk on over back to the cabins. Scott yelled,
"Whoawhoawhoa WAIT!" Both the shark and the box splashed down. Chris began to laugh with his hand on head, but immediately stopped soon as he heard the sound of shattering glass from below. He sighed,
"OK Chef, reel him outta there." He ordered with a twirl of his finger. Chef pushed forward a lever in the tractor, and the long claw went down into the water. After a few seconds, it dragged up a gasping Scott. He shook his hair, catching his breath.
"Was that *gasp* five minutes?" Chris looked chipper.
"Yep! It was 5.03. Pretty close cut Scotty." He snorted. Another ding, another point for the Killer Bass.
"Wow, seriously?" Scott hung his head tiredly.
"Yep." Chris let some more laughs escape him. "Seems like that shark really has it in for ya. Maybe if you give back his tooth, he'll leave you be." Scott's eyes widened.
"Th-that was the SAME shark from before? No WAY!"
"Yes way! We really should name him, huh?" Chris sneered. Scott glared at him.
"Oh yeah? Well how about Chr-"
"Fang? Mmm..." McLain snapped his fingers. "I like it! Chef, put him down."
"Wait don't put me back in the sea-!" Chef, instead, swung the arm of the claw left and right, swinging him around back to the island and letting go. He flew across the sky before landing in some of the nearby pine trees.
"Ouch." Chris winked. "Oh, speaking of five minutes, it seems like Gwen's time is done. But where oh where is her precious Trent?" The camera shifted over to recap what had happened so far on the other side of the beach. Apparently, much has transpired.
...
Three minutes in, everything had been peaceful. Trent talked into the communicator. "You still alive in there? Only three more minutes."
"And then you'll dig me up right?" Gwen's slightly hoarse voice asked through the walkie talkie.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." He replied. "I promise."
"I need some kind of distraction. Tell me a story!" Inside the coffin-like container, Gwen spoke into the transmitter. "Um.. why do you hate mimes so much?"
Trent stood up with a sigh. "My mom took me to this carnival once when I was four so I could see the elephants. I was stoked." Gwen looked crazily around her, before shutting her eyes and encouraging,
"Yeah?"
"I was so busy watching them that I lost her for a minute. I called out, but when I turned, all I could see was this horrible white face with black lips pretending to be me! I screamed and tried to run, but every time I turned around he was there doing this creepy fake run-and-scream routine." A hand appeared out of nowhere, and tapped him on the shoulder with its gloved fingers. Trent turned his head around, and then threw the mic into the air. It was a mime, daintily pretending to be inside an invisible box.
"AAAUGGGHH!" He booked it over and ran from the mime, and thus, from Gwen. The mime followed him. A voice sputtered from the sand.
"Trent?"
The scene of Trent running from a mime passed by the two teams. Tyler shouted, "Just ask him to leave you alone bro!" Trent continued to run back and forth until he was back at the beach. He screeched to a halt and panted. The mime did so too, and then struggled to climb over a make believe wall. Trent shouted,
"There's no wall there man! Stop being creepy!" The mime resumed on his "climbing". He hyperventilated, and shot his gaze over to the pier. He sprinted down the sand, then down the wooden boards, and then-
SPLASH! Trent threw himself into the shallow waters and saw that the mime had stayed up there doing his act. "WOO-HOO!" Trent pumped his fist up. "What's the matter mime? Can't swim?" He taunted. The mime, much to his horror, then took in a cheek full of air and posed to jump in as well. He stuttered,
"Stop! U-uh, your make-up will run!" Trent pointed out. The mime realized this, and stood back up sadly with a nod, before walking away. Another point for the Killer Bass! Trent cheered, "Take that you makeup wearing freak!"
Back from the shark escapade, Chris was back on their side of the shore and clapped loudly for Trent. "Nicely played Trent." The mime walked by him slowly, and Chris himself could be found cringing. Trent walked out, his hair dripping with salt water.
"Aw that was awesome." Trent wiped himself off before freezing. "Hey- do you ever feel like you've forgotten something?"
"Sometimes." Chris grinned knowingly. "I usually ignore it and the feeling goes away. Oh wait! Now it's come back to me- I should go over and get Cody. Hehe, he's probably buried in garbage now." Trent gasped, grabbing his hair.
"Bury! Oh CRAP! Gwen!" He shouted before running off.
...
Zoey walked aimlessly around after playing a game of tic-tac-toe on the dirt floor with a twig with herself. The silence was overbearing, and she continuously checked her timer. "It's okay Zoey... there's only.. 3 hours and 45 minutes left to go!" She flinched against her will when she heard a crow mocking squawk out from the distance.
She huffed, "I know you're just trying to freak me out producer people- but it's not going to work!" And then there was an explosion.
...
Back at the beach, Trent and Chris were digging Gwen up. Trent looked up at Chris. "What was that?!"
"If I had to guess, I'd say Cody just blew himself up." Chris smirked, gesturing at the stream of smoke no too far in the distance. To where Cody stood, there was garbage disposal piles everywhere, including one on Cody. It wrapped around him like glue; a half rotten watermelon and banana peel covering his eyes.
"Oops." He wobbly stuttered. He meandered through the junk in heavy trudges. "Is anybody here? Girls?" He headed down the path to the forest. "Ladies? ANYONE?!"
...
After a short amount of time, Trent finally finished digging Gwen's glass coffin out. He threw the shovel aside and sighed in immense relief. "Gwen! You did it." He said with a doped grin. The walkie talkie shot out from the pit and hit Trent's head.
"She's alright! Haha, she's alright." Chris yelled, another point going to the Killer Bass.
On another patch of the island, the rocky helicopter that had been flying this whole time finally set down and rolled into the grassy plains. Owen smashed out of the vehicle with a yell. Wordlessly, he dropped down and began to kiss the ground. While Owen celebrated for still being in one piece, the Killer Bass stood someplace near the mesh hall, waiting in anticipation for Duncan's turn. Everyone, save for Duncan and Courtney, sat down on the front steps of the nearby porch. There was the dreaded cardboard cut out in front of Duncan's terrified face. Courtney stood beside him smiling.
"She's pretty. She's nice." Courtney gently pointed to the spitting image of Celine Dion in a sparkly red dress. It stood very still, unnerving Duncan. Chris walked up behind him and snapped his fingers.
"Just one hug, and you're done." Duncan turned to Courtney with anxious eyes.
"That looks... really real man." He gulped.
Tyler shouted, "Dude, she's made of cardboard. Get in the game!" Duncan looked back and forth, but still seemed hesitant.
"Hey." Duncan turned to Courtney's voice, surprisingly being quieter and encouraging this time. "It's okay if you can't do it." Duncan stared down at the green mascara lined eyes of the standee, letting out a sigh. Making Duncan jump, Courtney took his hand in hers. Startled, Duncan smiled and nodded.
"Right, I'll try." He smiled.
"You can do this." Courtney pushed.
"Ok! Okay." Duncan inhaled. Then, with a burst of energy he sprinted toward the standee with arms open wide. He clasped his arms around the flat figure, eyes shut and arms a little shaky. He even lifted it up off the ground a bit. He let go once the crowd began to cheer. DING! Immediately, he looked to where Courtney was standing. She whooped and, much to his astonishment, she ran over to him and hugged him.
"You're awesome!"
"Hah!" Duncan grinned, sounding a little surprised himself. "I did it!" Courtney hugged him a bit longer, before realizing what the hell she was doing, and she quickly retracted. The rest of the team flooded in celebrate.
*static*
Zoey: Heya! She waved. I'd actually like to thank the producers for making me face my fear. I never liked being alone, but it turns out, it's was alright! There's really nothing to be afraid of.
*static*
Cody zombied his way down the path of the forest, where Zoey spotted him with a shrill scream. She instantly sprinted away from the monstrosity as he wobbled over and tripped into a log. There was a pickle on his eye.
...
"Aaaugh!" Zoey ran for her life, shaken to bits from the terrible, stinky monster she just saw. Slowing down after a while, she stopped to look around. She flipped out her timer.
"*pant* Hey, the timer's almost up! Wow, I guess I've been running for a while..." She looked around the forest, mapping out her way back to the cabins when she heard a soft, snoring sound. "Huh?" Zoey weaved her ways through the trees, following the noise, when she stumbled on,
"Mike!" She gasped with joy. "I can't believe I ran into you! ... uh, Mike?" She peered over to Mike's placid face, napping away on the boulder he was on. His face contorted to various expressions, before settling on one. He gasped, and lurched forward.
"What? Oh! Zoey! What're you doing here?"
"Well, I ran away from this weird forest creature, and found you here!"
"Oh, awesome! Haha." Mike slid off the rock, and cracked his back with a wince. "So! Does that mean the time is up?"
"Around. Come on! Let's head on back to the cabins." Mike nodded and they both walked back together. Occasionally, Zoey's hand would brush up against Mike's, causing him to blush.
"Soo.. what were you doing the entire time in isolation."
"Oh, just napping." Mike shrugged.
"Napping? Really?"
"Yep. It was pretty nice really."
"But, I thought you said being alone was your biggest fear?" Mike widened his eyes.
"U-uh, yeah! I was kind of afraid at first. But I.. guess the challenge really helped me get over it!" Mike shrugged. Zoey eyed him carefully, before laughing.
"That's great! I think it helped me a lot too." Mike visibly sighed.
...
Emma meandered her way through the cabins. On her way, she spotted a distant shadow of some crazy obstacle course. And someone was running through it.
"What challenge is this?" As she walked near, she found out who was meant to take this test. "Noah?" Noah was sitting relaxed on a trampoline, which was supposedly supposed to launch him into the obstacle course.
"Are you done?" Emma asked.
"Nope."
"What? But there's only a few minutes left."
"Yep." Noah got up and stretched. "Look, I tried the course a couple of times to humor Chris. But trust me when I say that this is rigged." He gestured to the spiked tires swinging from a monkey bar above, slippery tar covered slides, and a rock climb. "This is meant for Olympians. Not intellectuals." Emma scoffed, hiding a smile behind her hand.
"But, I think you'd do pretty good at it."
"What?"
"You're both lawyer smart, AND athletic." He smiled before quickly looking back into the book he was reading. Startled by the sudden, casual compliment, Emma tried to just brush it off.
"Yeah, well.. you should give it one more go." Emma huffed. "Don't just give up, we'll need every point we can get." Noah looked up from his book and sighed, putting it down.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah. I'll do it."
"That's it? No snarky remarks? Or resistance?" She asked.
"Why, did you want any?"
"N-no, it's just.. Just go on already." Emma ended. Noah walked toward the trampoline and looked over the course, scaling out the most energy conserving method (or just laziest method) to go about it. Noah spotted something far off, attached to the cabins nearby. It was a hose. Grinning, he ran over, grabbed it with the water on, and came back.
"What are you doing?" Emma pondered outloud.
"You'll see." Noah smiled wider, excited to impress her. The hose turned on, and it shot out a burst of water that washed away all the slippery substance on the slides he would have to climb later. Turning it off, he then swung it back and forth before launching it onto the top of the bars. It tangled itself.
"Here goes." Noah jumped a couple times on the trampoline before shooting up high enough to swing across the complicated bars in one swoop. He let go and landed on the slides, nearly falling. He balances himself, smiling sheepishly, before running over to the last part: the rock climb. He began to up one by one. He didn't bring any convenient cheat with him here, so it took much longer to complete it. But it was a rather straight, unchallenging wall, so he managed to complete it by crawling up the top and sitting on it.
"Yes!" Noah fist pumped. He looked down and spotted Emma waving.
"Woohoo!" She cheered. "See? That wasn't so hard." Noah slid down the rope behind the wall, and met up with her. A brief silence passed them before Emma asked,
"Do you think Chris will count that as cheating?"
"I finished it, didn't I? He never said HOW to."
"Oh, you'd make a good lawyer." She gibed. They walked back together laughing. Kitty popped her head from the bushes behind them, snapping a picture before chuckling. She waved to the cameraman.
...
"Courtney." Chris smiled. "Let's go."
"W-wait what? But I didn't.." Courtney stammered.
"You didn't have to." Chris crossed his arms in mirth. We're always watching you and your reactions."
...
Beth took the plate of green jello and walked on over to Courtney and offered it to her. Courtney violently flinched and shrieked a "NO!" before regaining some composure.
"I mean, no thanks, I'm good." She heftly smiled.
"What're you on a diet or something?" Duncan asked, questioning her sudden outburst.
"No!" She made a face and crossed her arms tightly. "I just don't like green jelly okay?"
...
"But- but, ugh! No!" Courtney racked her head.
"Aw don't worry man, it probably won't be so bad." DJ patted her back.
In a flash, the team was in front of an incredibly tall plank board made of wood. It loomed over another prodigious tub full of green jelly. It was being mixed by Chef. Courtney looked up, eyes filled with dread. Duncan breathed a small laugh of amusement.
"You're afraid of jelly?"
"Shut up!" Courtney turned to him. "Only - the green kind! It's like sugary, jiggly snot!" She squirmed.
"You can face your fear and dive straight into this pool of jelly, OR let your team risk losing yet another challenge." Chris announced. Courtney sighed, sulking over to where the long ladder began.
"This is insane." Courtney said outloud. "I could seriously die doing this." She gulped, climbing up. E
The Screaming Gophers were all done with their challenges by now. Emma looked up.
"Oh, now that's just cruel." She grinned.
"Bet it's warm by now." Noah lit up his eyes, speaking a bit louder while smirking at Emma.
"Warm green jelly, snotty bouncy- eugh!" Emma shuddered.
"You're not going to make me quit!" Courtney glared at them.
"That's it, keep climbing!" Duncan called up.
"She's just trying to psyche you out!" Trent yelled.
Finally, Courtney's head popped up from behind the plank. She held her head, looking down. She trembled, holding her face.
"Like you said Courtney, it's okay if you can't do it!" Duncan shouted.
"Yeah, but the point would be really nice." Gwen grumbled loudly. Duncan shot a look at her, before looking back up to Courtney.
"You can do this! Come on, I believe in you!" Duncan hollered. "Remember what you said? Fear is all in the mind! Or something like that." Courtney opened her scrunched up eyes, and shakily looked down. Her eyes locked in with Duncan's. He look pretty genuine. Courtney stood up in a stiff line, and shakily stepped forward.
"Nnngg AH!" Courtney, with a small hop forward, bravely took the fall with a long scream. Cannon balling into the tub, she bounced into the jelly until it reached her stomach. Then it spit her out, splurging her out the jello. "WWHOA!" She flew in the air again, and fell into Scott.
"Oof!" She opened her eyes after some time, finding herself carried by him.
"Uuh, whoops?" Scott let her down. Duncan ran over, bumping into Scott and causing him to fall over.
"Hey!"
"Courtney, you did it! And you're not even that covered in jelly!" Courtney looked down. The jello simply bounced her out due to its mixture. She still was dripping in it to the knees, but otherwise, she felt relatively okay. Deciding not to focus on the oozy feeling on her legs, she looked up and exulted,
"I did it.. I can't believe I did it!" Courtney whooped simultaneously as the rest of the team gathered around and celebrated. The two hugged each other in the midst of the crowded cheers. Then they looked at each other and quickly retracted, jumping back into place.
"Uh, thanks? For helping with.. that." Courtney thanked Duncan, unused to having her tongue speak nicely to Duncan so much.
"Ehh I knew you could do it." Duncan rolled his eyes. "Now, wanna eat some jelly?" He joked.
"No!" Courtney huffed, at the same time Owen shouted a YES! They looked at each other.
*static*
Courtney: I still can't believe it... I actually did it! Can't believe I'm saying this, but Duncan actually helped me while I was up there. He's really... She snapped up to the camera. Uh- he possibly might be a regular person.
*static*
...
At an outside pen, Chris leaned against one of the fences, facing the Killer Bass.
"Alright gang, we're nearly done. Tyler, for your challenge, you need to get into this pen for three minutes, with these chickens." He opened up a box that had a couple of chickens inside. They flapped out.
"You can do it Tyler!" DJ encouraged.
"Yeah." Duncan smirked. "Unless of course you're chicken." He flapped his arms imitating one.
Tyler was rocking himself in the corner with petrified eyes.
"I don't think we're getting anywhere with this one." Chris commented. Courtney walked over and leaned over the fence.
"Tyler this is our last challenge. Quit being such a girl!" She shouted. "You have to do this, or we're going to lose." Cody chimed in.
"Technically, we'd be tied. We're at a 7 to 6 right now." Cody typed something into a calculator-like machine and showed the ratio. Chris looked down on his watch, the minutes ticking by, until finally he yawned.
"Welp! That's it. Gophers, you are the victor!" The team hurrahed, jumping up and celebrating. The Killer Bass looked down in a groan, glaring at Tyler - who was still rocking himself on the ground. Courtney screamed, Duncan having to hold her back from tearing into Tyler.
...
Soon enough, it was night time. Tense music played, the bonfire burned brightly between the Killer Bass and Chris.
"There are only two marshmallows left on this plate." Chris had already cut to the chase, finished passing out the safe ones. The ones left were Cody, Harold, and Scott.
"The three of you didn't complete your challenges today. One of you is going home tonight and cannot return. Ever." He drawled. "The next name I'm gonna call... iiissss..." The three guys left were tense with suspense. "Harold!"
He sighed and walked up lankily to claim his prize. Cody and Tyler glanced at each other. "And the final marshmallow goes to... Cody." Cody jumped up.
"Yes!" Tyler slumped over. Duncan smugly patted his shoulder.
"You'll get that chicken next time dude."
He began to slowly walk over to the boat. "Looks like a new pecking order has been established here." Chris chidely winked at the camera.
"It's not like he cried.. fowl." Duncan joined.
"Time for Tyler to fly the coop." Scott snickered.
"He won't be flying high tonight." Gwen indulged.
"Okay that's enough." Courtney stood.
Tyler finally reached the dock. Soon as he stepped in, he sat down with a slump. He sniffed, tears starting to develop. Then he heard a clucking noise. Then more. And more. Until he looked about and saw that he was surrounded by chickens. He screamed.
*static*
Lindsey: Aww, I'll never forget out time together Taylor- ah, Tyler. Lindsey blew a kiss to the camera. Bye. She smiled with a waggle of her fingers.
*static*
Credits!