Author's Note

Hello again, everybody! I hope you're all ready for this week's chapter - it and next week's have been...a little tough to write, admittedly, between trying to keep everything straight and figuring out exactly what I want from this set of characters, and just being distracted due to American politics. But I'm confident that it's turned out great so far, so even if tomorrow is the second Saturday in a row that I've had to work on this season I'm not worried.

On to the reviews!

Elizabeth Fire Ice Heart: Thanks! But unfortunately, it isn't likely that I'll be covering The Ridonculous Race any time soon - I seriously need to get job-hunting and money-earning if I'm going to be able to really live my life, and that means less time for fanfic writing once I've gotten the main Shuffled series out of the way. But if I do ever cover RR...I'll probably keep Geoff and Leonard in, but I'm undecided about the Reality Pros.

Sarcasm is a Habit: Great to hear it! I'm super glad that pretty much all of the reviewers have enjoyed my take on Leonard. I'm also glad you enjoyed the inclusion and portrayal of Gwen and Jasmine's fears, since even though they were such an obvious thing to have I was a tiny bit worried that since they weren't explicitly called out it would seem a little awkward or something. And as for the Courtney-Pearl comparison...I can kind of see it, but only just.

acosta perez jose ramiro: Thanks! Yeah, I figured Courtney would be meticulous enough to pay attention to Chris' warning and figure out what it might mean, even if she was never able to outright say it. And I'm glad you're enjoying Lindsay doing well as well.

Gage the Hedgehog: Thanks!

ashDanLand: Cool, glad to hear that you're enjoying most of the cast and are even starting to kind of come around to Courtney? Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed what I did with Leonard, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the season.

OMAC001: Mmm, yeah, I think a lot of people expected Leonard to go soon but not what he'd do before hand, which makes me kind of happy. And as for the note...well, it'll be explained eventually.

moka evans: It's kind of a shame that you wouldn't give Leonard more of a chance if you were writing him, but it's your choice. As for Justin...well, you'll find out what becomes of him soon enough. And don't worry about me dropping the season's main villain off too early, I have a pretty good idea about how I'm going to handle things on that front and will make sure the main villain lasts a proper amount of time.

Call Me Ishmael: Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed Shawn and Jasmine so much, and Leonard's development too. Though as for why he was the one who went home last week...well, I just wanted to do some more with Lindsay and the others. I figured it was pretty much Leonard's time, he had a nice run and got developed, and there just wasn't much reason to keep him around. Sorry to disappoint, but that's just how I feel. Aside from that, I am glad you enjoyed last week's episode and I hope you'll do the same this time.

Animation Adventures: Hahaha, wow, I never realized how shocking my interpretation of Leonard would be. Maybe it's just because I've had enough of a connection and understanding of roleplaying throughout my life that the whole distinction between In-Character and Out-Of-Character conduct just seemed so natural to me as something that would work with him. I don't know. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed Shawn's greater cameo, and as for Bridgette's this week...well, you'll see soon enough.

Guest #1: Yup! And who knows what else will happen between them...

Guest #2: Hah, yeah, a little self-awareness and go a long way with someone like Leonard. Noah being more of a pain-magnet than Harold has been mostly an unconscious choice, since I think part of me just gravitates more to putting Noah in that role. And yeah, Izzy's not someone who will show up all the time, but she will show up. The reason why she didn't fight Chef last week is just because I didn't really want to have such a confrontation then.

Glowing Insanity: It's always high praise when someone likes my version of an episode that was a canon favorite more. And yeah, Leonard really didn't get the focus and development really needed in Pahkitew Island, and especially RR - but I kind of get why that was, in that the earliest boots aren't usually meant to be sympathetic. And to be honest, I figured Izzy would be most people's natural choice for the monster, considering she was already known to be loose on the island.

Explorer of the Unknown: Hah, yeah, the poll-making was a learning experience for me as well. For some reason it didn't automatically show up on my profile, which seemed like an odd design choice but whatever. And to be honest, you pointing out the difference with Fang between canon and the Shuffledverse is making me smile. I knew coming in to the season that I wanted to shake things up with Fang, and having an inverted sort of relationship compared to canon just made so much sense, especially with Izzy around as an obvious choice to cause that inversion. She's completely different from Scott, and it's really showing. There's a lot of humor to be had in this relationship, I think.
And yeah, you're pretty much spot-on with Leonard; he just needs to be treated like a real person with real reasons and insecurities behind his actions. Maybe his strategy isn't a winning one, but I don't think there's anything wrong with going on a show having low expectations, and trying to go out with style. And as for the note...well, keep in mind that when it was sent, everyone except Harold just thought of Leonard as the weird kid who thought he was a wizard. And even after gaining some of their respect, that may not have been enough for the note-maker to take his side given what else happened.
As for the Maggots...well, there's so much I want to say here, but not much I can without spoiling things. I will say that I can certainly see Trent and Zoey bonding over old music, even if I never do get around to it in-story.
And regarding the cast for All-Stars...well, keep in mind that I have to keep in mind that the people chosen are meant to be All-Stars, skilled and/or memorable players who really deserve the title. And with only 7 from the first 24 cast members getting in, it means a whole lot of people have to be cut even if they might deserve some more focus.

StayOuttaMyShed: Awesome, I'm glad you're enjoying how things are being set up this season, especially Harold and Zoey. I'm really happy with what I've done with them and what I have in store, both as individuals and as a pair of friends. Like you said, Justin and Trent and Gwen and Courtney all took a backseat last week, but that was basically because I needed early captures, and with them out of the way it gave me a better chance to focus on Leonard and his interactions with the other Rat boys, and not to mention the Shawn and Jasmine and the Maggots girls in general. I guess canon really did try and make it seem like Leonard genuinely thought he was magical, but honestly my alternate interpretation of him is just so strong in my mind that I could easily see something like what I did happening in canon. And yeah, it is a shame that he had to leave right after his development, but sometimes that's just the time for a character to go.
And yeah, haha, I do want a guy/guy ship in the Shuffledverse and TSPI seems like the best chance to do it. But since there's not a lot of guy/guy ships that I actually actively support, and not much really stood out to me when looking over the cast for that season, I figured I'd get some input from my fans. So, yeah, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Knifez: Glad you enjoyed the challenge! It was kind of fun writing another suspenseful horror-like challenge again after London. And honestly, considering Leonard's title is 'The LARPer', you'd think more reviewers wouldn't be surprised when he was revealed to, y'know, be a LARPer. I don't know. Anywya, I hope you enjoy the rest of the season!

FOWLKON; Haha, yup! Even the strangest of characters can be easily developed if you just give them some thought and attention. I'm pretty happy with what I was able to do with Leonard this season overall, and even Lindsay too. I'll save the talk of possible relationships for some other time, though.

bruno14: I'm happy you noticed Fang growling at the spider, it was one of the biggest hints that it was still gonna be Izzy. And also that you found Leonard's elimination to be sad, since it's another sign that I've really done good with his development. As for the gay pairing in TSPI...well, I think it would be easier to justify than you think since somebody liking girls in canon doesn't exclude them from also liking guys.

DSX62415: Yeah, Izzy was probably the top guess for the spider monster, at least among those who mentioned it.

PizzaTheBomb: Really? The idea of Shawn actually joining the game never really occurred to me. I am glad you enjoyed Leonard's exit, though, including the letter.

Ddynamo: Haha, well, you've certainly been doing well so far, but only I know what'll happen next. Also, I'm glad you enjoyed how I played with the cameo last week; Izzy reprising her canon role as the spider just seemed so obvious and from there I figured why not have Shawn show up as well since Chris doesn't actually know what the spider's deal is. And I think it all worked out pretty well.

The Misguided Angel of Death: Glad to know that I've gotten one more person to like Leonard and be sad to see him go! And yeah, Lindsay is developing better than I was expecting, I guess it was easier than I originally thought to bring out some of her more TDA-ish attributes. And as for Harold and Jasmine and Zoey...well, only time will tell.

VIPGuest: Nah, Izzy staying for long isn't in the cards quite yet. And I am glad you liked Leonard here, even if you still also found him annoying. As for who I hate/like...well, I like nearly all of them, just for different reasons, so there's no easy answer there. As for hate...also hard to say. I guess maybe Amy? But that's more on a personal level, I can appreciate what she brings to the table as a character.

.netBUM: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed Shawn and Jasmine, as well as Harold staying true to his canon self while also developing in a bit different way. And I agree, Zoey ended up way too focused on Mike in canon, which is why I'm staying away from giving her a love interest this season - she has other plot potential that I'd like to explore. And like I've said so often today, I'm glad that yet another person enjoyed my portrayal of Leonard.

Star Saber21: Well, you weren't the only one who hadn't expected the team swap two weeks ago, though that was more because most expected it to be last week like in canon. Not much else to say, other than that I'm happy you're enjoying how things are turning out.

P. T. Piranha: Right. Ultimately, it is the authors who control how likeable a character is, so if they go into writing thinking that someone is annoying and not worth keeping around, then that's what their work will reflect. But if they give a character a chance and explore them, then the readers will pick up on it and appreciate even the most loathed parts of the cast.

CVluvFoxy: Thanks! Yeah, Fang's capture was meant to be a big hint that Izzy was still the spider, because most other options probably wouldn't have bothered. Not sure what else to say, other than that some things may be clearer after this week?

graveexcitement: I gotta say, I'm really super happy with all the reviews you've been leaving, it always makes me so happy to hear from somebody who likes my stories. I'm glad you enjoyed TSA so much, as well as the resolution of the DJ/Dawn/Sammy love triangle in TSWT - like you said, polyamory is the best way to resolve those. I also enjoyed hearing that the second half of TSWT sucked you in. And yeah, your prediction of the cast distribution was pretty close, even if it was admittedly a fairly simple thing to guess at.
And as for this season, well, I'm glad you're continuing to enjoy things. I kind of think of this season as a way to do a lot of TDA's plotlines better, since this story shares so much of its cast with canon's season two. So that's why I'm doing things like including Trent's superstitious side so early, and giving development to people like Lindsay and Harold and Justin and Courtney. And then it's also presented such a good opportunity to flesh out Leonard into a proper character, and explore some other sides of Zoey and Cameron and Noah and Jasmine...it's just a cast that I'm really happy about. And I'm proud of where I've been able to take them even in just this first half of the season.
And as for the m/m ship in TSPI...well, it's something I've wanted to do for a while now, just never been sure exactly in which direction to take it. So having this poll and seeing all the responses has been pretty informative.

I. M. Poik: Well, yes, I eliminated him early, but that doesn't mean I didn't develop him - you don't need to get far in the game to be fleshed out as a character. As for Izzy, well, there's other, better places to consider her re-entry - last week was way too early. And as you said, the season is still fresh, and even though it is technically nearing its halfway point there's still a lot to come.

Jaspher 4 Me: I honestly don't see the appeal of Jasmine and Topher as a couple. They don't seem like each other's types at all. That aside, I'm happy you enjoyed Leonard's confession and Lindsay's just general demeanor. And I will admit that I do kind of regret not giving Gwen more of a chance to be in her element with the spookiness, but ultimately I needed the boys to last longer so I could give them the focus I wanted.

The Prime Writer: Yeah, sorry, I've been super busy/distracted by politics - I'll respond to your thoughts about the TSPI cast either tonight or tomorrow.
As for this season, I'm glad you're enjoying things so far. I've met my goal of developing Leonard into a proper character and not just an easy early boot; and Courtney is having to deal with her inner (and outer) conflicts. Speaking of conflict, Izzy's conflict with Fang (and to a lesser extent Chef) is definitely going to continue, and while I don't have it all planned out just yet I'd say it's safe to say things will get more physical at some point. And regarding Harold's anger towards Zoey...well, I can see your point, though I do still think Harold would be reluctant to agree to what Zoey said then and there.
With Trent and especially Jasmine, I've definitely been trying to make their insecurities a little clearer. They're both, I think, great characters, and showcasing their weaknesses just makes them all the better. And as for Chef talking more than in canon, the reason I decided to do that goes a bit beyond just the fact that it made sense. It might seem weird, but I figured that since Leonard was in this season and that him and Chef share a voice actor, that Chef should thus be able to speak more. I don't know, it's weird, but it makes sense to me.

link9753: Glad to hear it! Like so many others, I'm happy you enjoyed both Shawn's cameo and Leonard's development an departure. As for Duncan/Zoey as a ship...well, though I can see it happening, I don't know if I'd actually try to do it in the Shuffledverse had I had the chance. Not only would all their other love interests need to be absent, but I'd also have to want to put Zoey in a relationship, and after what happened in canon I'm a little wary to do so.

And that's it for the week! The poll in my profile will remain up for the time being, and as always a TVTropes page for this series exists, and as per usual with such things, could always use more work. I thoroughly appreciate those who've already been working on it, and look forward to seeing what you all add next.

The teams as they stand now are as follows:

Toxic Rats: Cameron, Courtney, Gwen, Noah, Harold

Mutant Maggots: Jasmine, Justin, Lindsay, Trent, Zoey

Could treachery be afoot this week? Read on, find out, and enjoy.

- Fangren


Episode 5 – Backstabbers Ahoy!

"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island!" Chris opened, the standard shot of the island quickly cutting to a clip of the campers hurriedly assembling in the common area between cabins as the recap montage began. "Eleven campers went on a scavenger hunt," a close-up of the screen that showed the scavenger hunt locations was next, "that was spoo~ky~!" he said in an appropriate tone, several scary eyes opening up in the hollow of a tree. "And very, very, painful," he added with a laugh as Courtney was shown getting choked by the squid-tree while some of her teammates threw rocks at both her and the tentacle, and Noah ran right into a minefield and got blown up.

"Classic competitor Shawn dropped by to help take care of a little spider problem," the host continued over shot of the veteran survivalist's entrance, then the sudden abductions of Courtney, Justin, and Trent. "But all he actually managed to do was chat with Jasmine a bit," the two were shown talking in both the pet cemetery and outside the spooky cave, "aaaand then get captured by the spider himself," Shawn's abduction was shown next. "Which, as it turned out, was actually Izzy in disguise." The redhead's reveal was shown, as was her subsequent departure with an angry Fang hot at her heels. "Guess that explains where that spider costume we ordered went..."

"Anyway, Leonard the Wizard proved he really did have his head screwed on right," the LARPer was shown taking off his hat and beard and speaking out-of-character with his male teammates, "only to immediately mess up and cost his team the challenge," he was shown leaving his captured team behind to chase after Lindsay, then getting informed he'd lost the Rat the challenge, "aaand get booted off the island." Leonard's elimination was shown, complete with his protestations and reveal of the note and ending his his catapult ride into the night while Chris laughed.

"Who will ride the Hurl of Shame next?" the host asked as the montage ended to show him standing on the Dock of Shame. "How many times can I laugh at them, before then? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Revenge of the Island!"

xxx

(Fade to Opening Theme)

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;

You guys are on my mind!

Ya asked me what I wanted to be,

And now I think the answer is plain to see!

I wanna be...famous!

I wanna live close to the sun!

Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!

Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;

I'll get there one day.

'Cause I wanna be...famous!

(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)

I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)

I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)

(Fade to Episode)

xxx

A dramatic note and a shot of the morning sun opened the episode, a flock of geese flying across the sky in formation in the distance. The scene cut to the boys of the Rats' cabin, the camera angled to show all three sound asleep in their beds – Noah and Harold on top, and Cameron cocooned below Harold.

The shot cut in close to Harold as he began to murmur in his sleep. "Why of course, Jasmine...I'd love to take a walk with you...," he began happily before suddenly stiffening up. "Wait, what is he doing here? You know Justin doesn't like mutant bobsledding...wait...why...no! No! NO!" The music rapidly turned intense as Harold bolted awake with a start, screaming and flailing and tumbling off his bed with his sheet and landing on the floor with a thud.

"Uggh, what is it now?" Noah asked groggily, putting a hand on his head as he sat up.

Cameron, seemingly already wide awake, stuck his head out of his cocoon. "I think he was having a nightmare," he answered plainly.

"Doesn't he have enough of those whenever we have a challenge?" Noah asked dryly.

"Sorry, guys," Harold told them, now on his feet but somewhat tangled up in his bedding. "It's this Justin thing, I just can't get over how he managed to seduce Jasmine and Zoey to the dark side."

"Dude, that happened days ago," Noah replied, now sitting on the edge of his bed. "If you can't get over it then at least channel your angst into kicking their butts." He hopped off to the floor, then started getting dressed.

"Noah's right," Cameron said as Harold turned his gaze to the right. "We should focus on trying to win today's challenge. That way it's possible that Justin goes home next instead of one of us."

xxx

"Harold being on our team gives us a distinct intellectual advantage over the Maggots," Cameron told the confessional. "And as we already proved last time, he works fairly well with Noah and I. All I'm worried about now is whether the girls can accept him, as Courtney is still veeery hard to please."

xxx

"I'm actually feeling pretty good about my new teammates," Harold said with a grin. "Sure we lost last time, but at least these guys haven't betrayed me." He hung his head and sighed dramatically. "I just wish I didn't have to go up against Trent...if my new team wins, he might go home next. If only there was some way to get the girls to see how awful Justin is," he said with an angry glower.

xxx

"Yeah, Harold's annoying," Noah told the outhouse camera, "but if I can tolerate Leonard, I can tolerate anyone. Besides, the guy's been pretty eager to fill us all in on what's going on with the Maggots. Seems that slab of hot man-meat Justin could end up being a threat in the future, unless the Maggot girls stop falling for his pretty-boy act."

xxx

The scene cut outside the Maggots' cabin, the voice of Lindsay rising up over it as she said "Okay, so, that was when my sister Paula totally realized that the hair dye she'd been using was not only giving her split ends, but it wasn't even the right color." As she spoke, the shot cut inside to show Lindsay happily brushing her long blonde hair while Zoey sat on a bed behind her back looking rather uncertain. "And so after Paula freaked out for like two hours my mom finally figured out how to fix everything, and so Paula didn't have to wear a hat all the time. And ever since then, we've been really careful about dying our hair."

"Uh...okay...," Zoey said slowly, looking rather bewildered. "That's...good to know?"

"Well duh," Lindsay said with a happy smile, walking over and examining a lock of Zoey's hair. "You're lucky yours is so good. Well, aside from the color anyway."

"Hey, I like my hair color," Zoey said, recoiling in offense. "And besides, I was asking about how you feel about Justin."

Lindsay stared at her blankly for a moment. "Ohhh, thaaaat," she finally said in realization. "Well, I kinda hate to say it, but I think he likes me more. No offense."

Zoey just groaned and palmed her face.

xxx

"Lindsay's...sweet," the indie girl confessed, "but she's just so hard to talk to. I wish Jasmine slept in the cabin with us, I'm really having doubts about this whole Justin thing. Maybe I can ask Trent for some advice?"

xxx

A pleasant tune played as the scene moved to a shot of the lake, a few red birds flying and tweeting past the camera. The perspective inverted to show Gwen sitting on one of the stump seats of the bonfire pit, drawing something on a sketchpad.

"Hey, wasn't expecting to see you up here so early," Trent said, walking up from the right and immediately attracting Gwen's attention. "You don't really strike me as a morning person."

"I'm not," Gwen smiled, "but I figured it was better to just accept getting up early."

"Yeah, it's not like Chris is gonna let us have much sleep anyway," Trent laughed, taking a seat on a stump next to Gwen's.

"Exactly," Gwen joined in.

"So...what're you drawing?" the musician asked, looking over at the goth's sketchpad.

"Oh, it's nothing...," Gwen said bashfully, "just the lake. Figured I might as well do something, y'know?"

"Totally," Trent smiled. "I probably would've been practicing my guitar had Justin not yelled at me for disturbing his 'beauty sleep' again." He rolled his eyes as he made air quotes.

Gwen smiled impishly. "Wow, sounds like he's a worse roommate than Courtney."

"Tell me about it," Trent said. "And the worst part is he's got all the girls wrapped around his finger. If my team loses again, I don't know if I can avoid getting voted out."

"Wow, that sucks," Gwen frowned. "I wish I could help, but, I mean, it's not like I can just throw the challenge or anything."

"Yeah, I know," Trent said, looking downward. "But hey, don't worry, I'll figure something out. Maybe I can find that Chris-head thing, or convince the girls..."

"I'd go with the second one first," Gwen told him, smiling off to the right. "If only because we have company." She pointed off towards the clearing's entrance, and the shot zoomed out to show Zoey walking up, nervously rubbing her arm as she did so.

"Oh hey, good morning Zoey," Trent greeted, standing up with a calm smile.

"Morning guys," Zoey replied. "Trent, can I...speak to you in private?" Her eyes briefly darted towards Gwen, and the goth stood up and smiled.

"Well, I'll leave you two Maggots to talk," she told the two, putting her arm on Trent's shoulder and smiling at the redhead. "Have fun!" she said with an impish wink and finger pistol at Trent before walking away.

After she'd left, Trent looked back at Zoey. "So, what's up?" he asked.

"It's, umm, about Justin," the redhead admitted, causing Trent's brow to shoot up. "I'm kinda worried that I gave in too easily when he asked me to vote off Harold. But I don't really know what I can even do about it right now."

Trent nodded, then smiled softly. "Well, maybe if you keep your distance from him you'll be able to clear your head a bit. And then I bet you'll have a better understanding of who you can really count on."

"I hope so," Zoey said anxiously.

/

A flash took the scene back to the Maggots' cabin as Justin walked up its steps with a light blue bathrobe on and a fluffy towel around his hair. He opened the door, and the camera followed him inside.

"Ahh," he sighed happily, "all alone. No obnoxious Harold, and no distracting music from Trent. It's almost like having my own personal trailer!" he joked, laughing as he walked over to his bed. "A really crappy trailer, but still," he added as an afterthought.

He reached under the pillow of his lower-right bunk and pulled out a hairbrush...and a letter along with it. "This is strange, I wasn't expecting any fan-mail until after the season was over," he said, raising an eyebrow as he picked up the letter and opened it up.

"To the best-looking guy on the island," he read, his voice becoming higher and tenser as he continued on. "I'm afraid that you might be in trouble. It might seem hard to believe, but I have good reason to think that you can't trust Lindsay – I mean, nobody's that stupid, right? She's just playing dumb to get in good with the other Maggots, and if you guys lose again she'll convince them to vote you off. You can't let that happen – you're much too gorgeous to lose.

With love, your friend on the Rats

P. S. - I'm sorry for not delivering this in person, but I don't want my teammates finding out."

Justin lowered the page, looking rather stunned.

xxx

"Okay, I'm not saying I'm gonna just believe a piece of paper," Justin confessed, holding the note between two fingers, "but I should probably look into this. I mean, I'm sure I have Lindsay and the other girls wrapped around my little finger, but how do I really know that they're gonna do what I say when I'm not around? I need to make sure she isn't spending too much time with the others."

xxx

A loon called as the scene moved to the Mess Hall, cutting inside as a few soft and plodding notes played.

Jasmine, Trent, Zoey, and Lindsay were seated at the forward table this time around, while the five Rats had been forced to claim the table closer to the kitchen. All of them were eating what appeared to be trays of mostly meat – bacon and roast chicken and some kind of intestines, with a bit of mashed potatoes and an apple on the side.

Justin walked up to the meal counter with his tray ready, but rather than look at Chef he watched his teammates from afar – they appeared to be chatting amicably, with Lindsay as the center of attention.

The model narrowed his eyes in mild suspicion until the gruff voice of Chef Hatchet snapped him back to attention. "Move along, pretty boy," the hulking man said, and the model finally noticed that his tray had been filled with the morning's meaty breakfast.

Justin got moving again and the scene skipped ahead to him arriving at the Maggots' table, where he quickly slid into place next to Lindsay. "Morning, Linds," he greeted with a smile that immediately got her attention. "What are you, uh, talking about?" he asked her, putting an arm around her shoulder and briefly looking at the rest of their teammates – Jasmine looking wary and Trent looking annoyed on the opposite side of the table from him; and Zoey watching with an uncertain expression next to Lindsay.

"Oh, not much, just things like high school and what we might do if we lose again," Lindsay answered nonchalantly, her brow furrowing when she saw Justin's eyes widen.

"Really?" the supermodel asked with a hint of nervousness. "What brought on the group strategy session?"

"We just wanted to make sure nobody has to go home if they don't deserve it, man," Trent told him.

"Yeah," Jasmine chimed in. "We're not really sure if voting of Harold the other day was the right call."

"Wow, that's, uh, reassuring," Justin said, even more nervous than he was before and even dropping his arm off Lindsay's shoulders.

"Sorry we didn't wait for you to get here before we started," Zoey told him.

Justin looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could he was interrupted by the whine of the intercom and the voice of Chris McLean.

"Attention campers!" the host announced. "Breakfast is cutting in to precious time that you could spend getting injured!" The shot cut to the loudspeaker outside as Chris laughed. "Grab your swimsuits and meet me at the dock, pronto!"

The campers, who'd already gathered in the middle of the lodge, began to groan and complain. "You have ten seconds to exit the Mess Hall," Chris added, "before I release...The Raccoon!"

"The raccoon?" Courtney repeated in disbelief, and the ten teens started to laugh as the camera pulled back and a large crate was lowered down from the ceiling on chains. It stopped just before it hit the floor, and the campers immediately looked at it with dread.

The front face of it was punched off, revealing the giant mutant raccoon inside. It roared, and with a shriek the two teams fled the building.

/

The scene cut outside to the campers catching their breaths, Chris watching them nearby with an impish smile.

"What's the deal sending that thing after us?" Jasmine asked him. "Some of us could've been seriously hurt!"

Chris just laughed. "Nah, only if you got between him and food. Good thing none of you stayed back for seconds."

"Yeah," Courtney deadpanned, the others looking similarly annoyed.

/

The footage flashed ahead to the two teams assembled on the Dock of Shame in their swimsuits – Maggots on the left, Rats on the right, Chris in the middle. Each team also had an old-fashioned diving suit connected by hose to a hand pump lying between them and the host.

"Alright," Chris began, "here to help us get today's competition underway, say hello to our classic competitors, Geoff and Bridgette!"

He motioned to the side and the camera zoomed out as the cowboy-hatted partier and the wetsuit-wearing surfer arrived at the dock in a patched-up red canoe.

"What's up, dude," Geoff greeted the group on the dock.

"Let's get this over with," Bridgette chimed in irritably. "Remember," she told her boyfriend, "our contracts said demonstration only."

"Relax," Chris smiled, "no demo needed! Just chum the water and try not to get eaten."

Bridgette narrowed her eyes in suspicion, and Geoff reached into the canoe and picked up a bucket of green slop. He took one whiff of it and retched. "Whoa, man, what is this stuff?" he asked in disgust.

"Leftovers," the host grinned. "From last season."

The two lovers shuddered, and in doing so Geoff slopped a bit of chum onto the edge of the canoe.. "Well, I can see your standards haven't gotten any better," Bridgette commented.

"Hey, my standards are high," Chris countered, taking offense.

It was then that Fang rose out of the water and chomped down on the end of the boat, devouring the bit of chum that had been spilled on it and forcing Geoff to yelp and dart over to Bridgette.

"See? Fang likes it," Chris said.

"So not cool," Bridgette muttered in shock.

"Challenge, part one!" the host moved on. "Each team must get a pair of water-skis in an underwater mission." The shot cut underwater as he spoke, showing two sets of water skis tied to a pair of rocks on the lake bed. A school of vicious, spiny fish swam past from the right to the left, and a second later a school of eels passed through from the opposite direction. "Or drown trying," the host added as the camera zoomed in on the skis.

"One victim-I mean camper," Chris continued with a sly look, "will snag the skis in an old-school diving suit," he held up the Rats' suit, "and float them to the surface while the rest of their team pumps them oxygen," he held up the Maggots' pump. "First team to surface their skis wins, and gets an advantage in part two."

/

The music turned tense as the focus moved to the Maggots, Jasmine standing before her teammates. "Alright, I'm not gonna even bother trying to get inside this thing," she held up their diving suit, "so one of you will have to do it."

"Ooh! How about Justin?" Lindsay suggested with much enthusiasm.

"Huh? Why me?" the supermodel asked in surprise.

"You are the second-strongest one here, man," Trent said with a small smile.

"True," Zoey nodded. "You can probably get to the skis fastest."

"Wait, girls, what if I don't wanna do this?" Justin asked in disbelief, his nervousness showing in his smile as he looked from Jasmine to Zoey to Lindsay.

"Aww, c'mon, Justin, please?" Lindsay pleaded, pouting and clasping her hands and making puppy-dog eyes at the model.

"Sorry, mate," Jasmine smiled, dropping the diving helmet over the model's head. "Looks like we've decided."

The focus moved to the Rats, Courtney at the center of their attention. "Okay," she told her teammates, "does anybody want to dive?"

"I'd like to give it a shot," Harold volunteered.

"...really?" Courtney asked skeptically. "You want us to rely on you for this."

"Need I remind you that I did the best out of any of us last time?" Harold said, stepping forward and lifting up the diving helmet. "And if you still want me to prove my loyalty and usefulness to the team, then just let me volunteer."

Courtney pursed her lips and hummed. "Well...if you insist...," she finally said.

"Thank you." Harold added as he put the helmet on, and his cheesy grin showed through the glass. "Mostly because this is just so gosh darn cool!" he gushed excitedly.

xxx

"Uggh, Harold is such a loser," Courtney griped to the confessional camera. "But if he wants to put himself out there, then I guess I shouldn't complain. Either he proves his worth or he gives us an easy target, it's pretty much a win-win for me."

xxx

"Ready?" Chris asked, now standing between Justin and Harold, the two boys now fully dressed in their diving suits. Justin smirked confidently at his opponent, while Harold scowled right back, and with a rise in the music and a sharp "GO!" from the host, the two were off.

The shot immediately cut underwater as the two splashed down and sank to the lake bed, the music deep and tense. The perspective moved behind them as they looked ahead to the tied-up skis in the distance, and after sharing a brief glance the two boys raced off...rather slowly through the water, thanks to the heavy suits and water pressure. They kicked up air bubbles and small clouds of sand with each step they took through the rock-and-trash-littered landscape, and the camera focused in on Harold as he suddenly stopped as though his hose had been caught on something.

He looked back and the camera panned to follow, revealing Fang holding back the dweeb's hose with a single hand. He grinned toothily, and Harold screamed.

The tense music cut out as the scene moved back above the water, focusing on the Rats. Courtney was currently pumping with Gwen and Noah flanking her, and Cameron leaning off the edge of the dock to watch Harold's progress.

"Hey, you're not getting tired already, are you?" Noah asked the former CIT in an almost condescending voice as her breathing became heavier.

"I can take over for you if you want," Gwen added more sincerely.

"I do not need help on this," Courtney countered irritably, screaming out a battlecry and pumping more furiously so that the hose started bulging as air pockets moved down it.

The music picked back up as the scene cut back to Fang swimming viciously at Harold; the dweeb had stopped and closed his eyes, swinging around an arm with a rising cry of "Haaaaiii..."

On "YA!" he chopped at Fang as he approached, just as the bulging air pocket moved through the hose towards him...tugging him to the side just in time for both strikes to miss, causing Fang to ram into a rock while he looked back in confusion.

"Goooooo Justin!" Lindsay cheered excitedly as the camera cut back above the water, the blonde kneeling at the edge of the Maggots' half of the dock.

"Yeah, don't mess up...," Trent added halfheartedly behind her.

The camera panned away from them and on to Zoey and Jasmine, the latter operating the pump while the former talked to her...absentmindedly standing on the hose while doing so.

"Okay, I really think we need to so something about Justin," the indie girl said.

"Absolutely," Jasmine replied, looking up at her teammate. "We never should've let him talk us into anything."

"I know," Zoey hung her head sadly. "I regret ever joining his alliance."

"Wait, you joined an alliance with him?" Jasmine asked in shock, to which Zoey glumly nodded. "Wow, that's worse than I thought."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Zoey defended herself, anxiously rubbing her arm.

"I'm sure it did," Jasmine told her. "But it's not a good idea now, so you should probably just forget about it."

"But-" Zoey tried to say before Jasmine sternly cut her off.

"No buts," she said. "People who use their looks to get their way are bad news; if you try to keep your promise to Justin he's just gonna use it against you." As she spoke, the camera focused down on the slowly-growing bulge in the hose, trapped from moving onward by Zoey's weight.

The intense music returned as the shot cut back underwater, Justin eagerly approaching the water skis...until he suddenly gasped, stopped, and held his breath with a look of shock. He frantically started tugging on his hose, and the scene returned to the edge of the dock as the other end of the hose began to yank and twang.

Jasmine quickly noticed it, and moved her wide gaze up the hose to Zoey's feet. "Wait, have you been standing on the hose this whole time?" she asked.

"Huh?" Zoey asked, looking down in confusion.

"MOVE!" Jasmine shouted, causing the redhead to yelp and jump back off the hose, allowing the air pocket to finally rush down the hose.

Back underwater Justin's face had started to lose a bit of color as he kept on tugging at the hose. The air bubble finally reached him, and he let out a sigh of relief...followed by another gasp as he saw Harold approaching with a confident grin.

"Oh jeez, I hope I didn't just mess things up for him," Zoey said with great concern as the camera once again cut back to her and Jasmine. "I'm not sure I wanna be in an alliance with him but that doesn't mean I want him to choke."

"Wait, what?" Lindsay asked with great concern as the camera zoomed out, showing her and Trent watching nearby. "Justin's choking?"

"No no," Zoey said, quickly waving her hands as the blonde rushed over and stood over the air hose, "Justin's fine. There was just a...a problem, but we already fixed it."

"Oh...," Lindsay said blankly. "Well, good! At least you fixed it, and that's what matters. I mean, can you imagine how awful it would be without Justin around?"

Trent, Zoey, and Jasmine just looked at her awkwardly.

xxx

"Wow, Lindsay's really in to Justin," Trent told the outhouse camera. "I get the feeling she's not gonna wanna go against him, but that just means I have to try harder to get the girls to see Justin doesn't really care about them. I mean, how else am I gonna stay in the competition?"

xxx

The static cut away to the Rats, Courtney huffing and puffing as she continued to pump air at a fast pace.

"Wow, great job wearing yourself out in the first half of the challenge," Noah said dryly. "I'm sure it won't come back to bite us in the second part."

"I...can keep...going!" Courtney huffed determinedly, staring straight ahead.

"Actually, I think it would be better if you took a break," Cameron suggested. "We don't know what the next part is, so for all we know we'll need your stamina there more than we need it here to win the advantage."

"We'll win the advantage and I'll have plenty of stamina to spare, just watch!" Courtney declared, clenching her eyes and teeth as she continued to pump. Her breathing rapidly became more labored though, and after a second she started to wobble.

"Yeah, I'm taking over," Gwen said, stepping up and pushing Courtney to the side with one hand. The somewhat exhausted young woman was caught by a startled Noah, and Gwen started pumping. "Okay Harold, you better make this worth it," she said to the water.

/

The music rose sharply as the scene flashed back underwater where Justin and Harold were now wrestling, the supermodel having gotten his former teammate in a headlock "Just give up, man, you know you can't win this," Justin said as the dweeb continued to struggle.

"Let me go already, friend-stealer," Harold retorted, just before he looked to the side and gasped – the camera quick-panned to the right to show Fang rapidly approaching again, this time with his jaws wide. Justin screamed as well, and let go of Harold just as the dweeb managed to step in front of him. Fang rammed into the boys from behind, sending the smaller nerd farther forward while the larger model instinctively tried to keep the mutant's jaws from closing on him.

Harold quickly, if somewhat accidentally, capitalized by getting to the Rats' skis first; with the diving suit on he couldn't untie the ropes binding them to the rock but as it turned out just trying was enough to dislodge them; seconds later the two skis floated up to the surface.

A ship's horn was blown, and Chris called out "The Rats win the first challenge!" over the shot of the skis.

The music suddenly turned harsh again as the camera zoomed out and Justin burst out of the water with Fang following slightly after. The mutant shark quickly grabbed the model's air hose and used it to pull him up before he could sink back down, then with a vicious grin he twirled the suited boy around in the air like a bolas until the hose snapped and Justin was sent flying.

He landed on the edge of the docks with a groan, and was quickly hauled out of the water by Trent and Jasmine.

"Aww, bad news Justin, we lost!" Lindsay spoke up, still standing with Zoey in front of the pump.

"Yeah, I figured," the model replied as he took off his diving helmet and cast a suspicious look at the air hose – the camera panned down and zoomed in, revealing that Lindsay was now standing on it.

xxx

"Wait, was Lindsay the reason why I ran out of air for a few seconds down there?" Justin asked in thoughtful confusion. "It couldn't be...but if she was standing on the hose, then maybe...? Maybe that note is on to something..."

xxx

The music leveled off again as the scene moved to the Rats, Cameron and Courtney and Noah all helping to haul Harold up out of the water.

"I knew I could do it," he said with a cheesy grin after his helmet was pulled off.

"Yup," Gwen said, stepping away from the pump with a small smile. "And now that you have, I can take a break." She walked off down the dock rubbing her sore arms, and quickly met up with Trent coming from the other way.

"Hey, congratulations," he told her as a pleasant tune played.

"Thanks," she replied. "Hey, I was gonna take a quick walk before Chris shows up," she asked as the camera focused in on their faces, "You wanna come with?"

"Sure," Trent smiled, and the two turned to walk up the dock together...until the grinning host popped up in front of them.

"Sorry, kids," he told them gleefully as he pushed between them to the front-center of the dock, "but right now it's time to announce the results. The Rats are the first to grab water skis, and their reward?" he said as a triumphant tune started playing and a light-skinned female intern with a black ponytail drove a speedboat up to the Rats' side of the dock. "A McLean Brand Speedboat to use in part two of the challenge."

"Yes!" Courtney said, pumping her fist in excitement.

"Awesome," Harold chimed in, the rest of their teammates smiling.

"And for the Maggots," Chris turned to the losers, a spluttering engine attracting their attention to the lake as well as the southeast Asian male intern drove up an inflatable boat to the left side of the dock. "A totally leaky dinghy!"

The five Maggots groaned and hung their heads in disappointment.

"Well...maybe we can still win this, right Justin?" Lindsay told her teammates.

"Yeah, so long as none of us tries to sabotage the team," he said with a pointed and hostile look at the Lindsay which bewildered the blonde.

"Sabotage?" Lindsay asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that somebody tried to cut off my air while I was down there," Justin said, still glaring at Lindsay.

"Oh, sorry," a sudden and anxious voice caught his attention, and he turned his glare to Zoey who had raised her hand. "And I mean really sorry. It was an accident, I swear."

Justin looked taken aback by this, but quickly narrowed his eyes again and said "...if you say so."

"Part two of the challenge," Chris interrupted, briefly holding up two fingers as he continued his exposition, "a death-defying water ski race! The goal? Be the first to ring four bells on these four totally harmless buoys."

As he spoke, the shot cut first to one of the bells, then zoomed out to show it – and the other floating nearby – were attached to the top of what were very obviously sea mines. Geoff and Bridgette arrived just then, the party boy frantically bailing out water while the surfer nervously paddled their canoe up to one of the mines. They bumped into it just as Chris proclaimed its harmlessness, and both cameos and canoe were blown away by the resulting explosion.

Geoff, singed and screaming, crashed head-first into an actual buoy but quickly grabbed onto it. "Dude, that was wild," he said with shell-shocked awe.

Chris laughed. "Make that three bells," he corrected as a screaming Bridgette landed on the dock beside him. "See?" he told the slightly-charred young woman. "You totally got to demo the challenge."

Bridgette coughed out a bit of soot. "Yeah, I did. And honestly, I'm glad I'm not on this season."

The host laughed again, then looked at the camera. "Who will cry for their mommy? And who's cries will be drowned out by explosions?" he asked with a wide smile. "Find out when we return." He looked down at Bridgette, who coughed out a little more soot.

(Fade to Commercial and Back)

"Before the break," Chris said over a shot of the speedboat, the perspective a rare side-view of the end of the dock, "the rats got dibs on a sweet speedboat. Which, they'll need." The camera panned on to the winning team standing confidently in their bathing suits, and Gwen and Noah shared a quick low-five.

"Meanwhile," the camera panned to the left past the host and onto the other team, "the Maggots are stuck dodging water mines," the shot kept panning from the glum-looking losers onto their vessel, "in a leaky dinghy that couldn't float in a kiddie pool." True to the host's word, the inflatable boat appeared to have already taken on a little bit of water.

"Choose three campers to water ski, one to drive, and one to operate your gull cannon," Chris continued.

"Wait, did you say gull cannon?" Gwen asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you heard me," Chris said with a mischievous grin, taking out a remote control, pointing it at the boats, and pressing its single button. With a mechanical whir two identical turrets rose up from the two vessels; multi-barreled things with small sights and a large glass tank on top containing three unusually snake-like gulls.

"Wow, what video game did you steal those from?" Noah quipped from off-screen.

"Each team gets three chances to shoot the bells," Chris explained, ignoring the comment. "Or the other team. Especially the other team," he grinned darkly.

"This seagull looks abnormal," Cameron said, kneeling down at the edge of the dock to get a closer look at his team's cannon.

"Ohhh, that's not a seagull," the host said. "These babies are half seagull, half rattlesnake, all with paralyzing venom."

Cameron turned his attention back to the glass tank and tapped on the side of it until one of the call screeched at him, baring its fangs and causing the bubble-boy to recoil with fright.

Chris laughed. "Whichever team rings the most bells, wins!"

"Ooh, I'll drive!" Zoey quickly suggested, looking at Jasmine next to her. "If that's okay with everybody."

"Fine with me," the taller girl said. "I'll man the cannon, I reckon I'm a pretty crack shot."

The two girls walked forward past their teammates, Trent looking somewhat wary while Justin narrowed his eyes and glanced at a smiling Lindsay.

"Well boys," the blonde said, grabbing the arms of the boy on either side of her, "looks like we're skiing. Which is great, because I always wanted to be the top of a water skiing pyramid!"

"Wait, why do you get to be the top?" Justin asked with a troubled expression. "I wanna be on top!"

"Really?" Lindsay asked. "But you're so much heavier than I am. Besides, I think I might be on a roll with good ideas today and I don't really wanna stop."

"Sorry, dude," Trent said, putting a hand on the model's shoulder, "but I'm with Lindsay, and we're on the bottom." Lindsay nodded and walked off, Trent followed her, and Justin was left looking rather startled.

The focus cut over to the Rats as Noah sat down in the driver's seat. "I'll take the wheel," he said confidently, pulling a lever and turning on the engine.

"And I'll take the cannon," Courtney said, the camera panning over to her taking control of the boat's weapon. "I have a steady hand and good eyesight, it's only natural."

"So...we're skiing then?" Gwen said, raising an eyebrow and the water skiis while Cameron hesitantly picked up the tow line's handle.

"Awesome," Harold smiled and nodded. "I'm pretty good at balancing things, so just leave that to me."

Chris smiled, then blew an airhorn to signal the start of the challenge. The Rats' speedboat immediately started moving, causing Cameron to yelp as he was suddenly yanked along for the ride – and Harold and Gwen as well as they were frantically grabbed and pulled along as well.

The camera zoomed out and the music became duller as the Maggots got their start as well, the dinghy moving away from the dock at a much slower pace, enough to drag Trent, Justin, and Lindsay off the dock but not quite enough to keep them afloat on their skis.

/

The music quickly ramped up in pace and intensity as the focus flashed back to the Rats' skiers; the three were currently clinging to each other and their two skis, neither of which were quite on their feet yet.

"Okay...almost...got it!" Gwen said, managing to slide one foot into a ski with one hand while holding onto the tow handle with the other. With a nervous cry she got into a crouching position on the narrow piece of wood, and the focus moved to Harold and Cameron. Each boy had one hand on the tow handle, but while the dweeb's free hand was holding on to the other ski, the bubble-boy's was slung around Harold's neck.

With a grunt, Harold moved his legs and the second ski into position. For a brief second it looked like the ski would get swept away by the water, but a sudden helping hand from Gwen was enough to stabilize it. Harold slid his feet into place, and with a smile shared between the three they stood up and cheered.

The camera panned out and to the left from them to a trail of bubbles behind the Maggots' accelerating dinghy, which soon revealed themselves to be Lindsay, Trent, and Justin somehow still in their pyramid formation.

Also rising up from the water was Fang, who snapped his jaws at the Maggot trio earning a startled cry from Trent. "Hey, we need to go faster!" he called up to his other teammates.

"It doesn't go any faster!" Zoey called back to them with an almost apologetic anxiousness.

"Well keep trying!" Lindsay called out. "Fang's gonna eat us!"

"Wow, Linds, you're really trying to take control here, huh?" Justin asked her.

"Huh?" Lindsay said, looking down at him in confusion – a sentiment that quickly turned into a scream as Fang surged up behind them again. Trent and Justin joined in, but just before the mutant shark could chomp down on them he was shot in the nose by one of the mutant gulls and dropped back into the water with a blank look in his eyes. The three Maggots sent startled looks ahead, and the camera panned over to show Jasmine grinning back at them, the cannon pointed their way and a gull missing from the tank.

"Don't worry, I got your back!" she told them confidently. "Although now I have to make sure both shots count," she added to herself.

The focus cut back to the speedboat as Courtney narrowed her eyes, her cannon already turned backwards. "Alright, I am not gonna risk Jasmine getting a shot at the bells," she called out to Noah.

"Be careful!" Noah replied. "We only have the one gull to spare!"

"And it's all we'll need," Courtney said softly and darkly, firing off her cannon. The gull shot towards Jasmine, who was just turning her own cannon back around – it hit her in the left shoulder, and she immediately felt its effects.

"I've been hit!" she cried out in alarm, beginning to stumble to the side. "I've...been...hiiittt..." she slurred, finally toppling over onto Zoey and knocking the smaller girl away from the ship's wheel.

"Oh no!" the indie girl said, struggling to get out from under her teammate. "Guys, I can't steer!" The shot zoomed out to show the dinghy swerving off-course and plowing into a stand of reeds.

The focus moved ahead back to the Rats, where Courtney pumped a fist and cheered. "Yes! Alright guys, we should be home free!"

The shot briefly zoomed out to show Gwen, Harold, and Cameron cheering, then zoomed back in on Noah. "Good, because we're coming up on the first bell!" he called out, the camera panning along his pointer finger to the first water mine.

Courtney grinned, and the perspective moved to show through her cannon's aiming sight as the cross-hairs aligned with the bell. She fired and the gull flew out, whizzing through and ringing the bell. The mine exploded as the Rats passed by it, and the five half-cheered, half-screamed.

"Oh no, we're losing!" Lindsay cried out as the shot cut back to the Maggots, still moving forward in their dinghy.

With a grunt, Zoey got herself out from under Jasmine and took control of the wheel. "Guys, what should we do? I can't steer the boat and shoot the cannon!"

"Just shoot!" Justin told her. "We can't let the Rats hit another bell or we'll lose!"

"But what if the boat hits something?" Trent countered. "We might literally be sunk!"

"We're sunk regardless if we can't hit any of the bells!" Justin replied.

"Well, maybe one of us can try to ring the bell?" Lindsay suggested from atop the two boys' shoulders.

"Really, Lindsay?" Justin told her. "Are you just gonna not back me up anymore?"

"Huh?" Lindsay said in confusion. "Justin, I-"

"No time," the model said dismissively, raising a hand to stop her while turning his attention back to the dinghy. "Zoey, if you wanna make up for your little accident with the hose earlier, I need you to fire that cannon!"

The indie girl bit her lip in indecision, but hurried over to the dinghy's weapon all the same and turned it around. The focus cut back to the Rats as they approached the second mine, and with a darkly eager grin Courtney cocked her cannon...but before she could fire, a gull shot past her and her teammates and hit the bell. The Rats cried out as the mine exploded right by them again, and Courtney gasped in indignation.

"Hey!" she called back angrily. "That was my target!"

"Sorry!" Zoey replied. "But not really!"

"Zoey, watch out!" Trent called out in sudden panic, pointing ahead of their boat. Zoey looked from him to the direction he was pointing, then cried out in shock.

Moments later, the dinghy crashed in to a tall rock jutting out of the lake, knocking Zoey off her feet and causing her waterskiing teammates to crash and fall into the boat in turn.

"Hah! Serves you right!" Courtney taunted loudly and harshly from the Rats' speedboat. "Okay Noah, bring us around to the last bell!" she commanded.

"Aye aye, Captain," Noah replied with an awkward sort of dryness, circling the speedboat back around.

The camera lingered just long enough for the three skiers to come into focus, and cut in closer to them. "Wow, Courtney's really getting into it," Gwen commented. "She better not go back to bossing us around after this," she added with an annoyed look.

"I...think this is just a temporary effect of adrenaline," Cameron guessed.

"Well remind me to never get her worked up like this," Harold added.

/

The scene flashed back to the Maggots as all except Jasmine got back to their feet.

"Well, at least the dinghy isn't wrecked," Trent said as he looked at the intact front side of their inflatable boat.

"But how are we gonna catch up to the Rats?" Zoey asked in concern. "And what are we gonna do about Jasmine?"

"Okay team, I have an idea!" Lindsay spoke up decisively, drawing her team's attention. "Trent, you take over for the cannon, while Zoey keeps driving and Justin and I ski with Jasmine."

"Uh, are we really gonna let the one who let us crash take the wheel again?" Justin asked in disbelief.

"Hey, that only happened because you told her to take the cannon," Trent pointed out.

"Well...," Justin said, at a loss for a retort.

"Guys, come on, we don't have time, right?" Lindsay said, grabbing each of their arms. "Let's just go with my plan, okay?"

"Fine with me," Trent said while Zoey just looked indecisive.

"Well not with me," Justin said, turning his attention back to the blonde. "Look, Lindsay, I appreciate you trying to help, but I think we can all agree that I should be the one in charge right now. I mean, just look into my eyes and tell me I'm wrong." He pointed to his faces, smiling handsomely and batting his beautiful eyelashes at the blonde.

Lindsay did indeed start looking into his eyes, and her expression became dreamy...until Trent stepped up to them, and thrust the still-unconscious Jasmine into Justin's arms. "No time, guys, we gotta hurry up!"

/

The footage skipped ahead to the Maggots back in motion, the members in position according to Lindsay's plan – Zoey driving, Trent at the cannon, and Justin on both skis with the other girls behind him, Lindsay pinning Jasmine in place.

"Great plan, Lindsay!" Trent called back to the blonde, earning a frown from Justin. "I think we might be back in this!"

/

Another flash took the scene to the Rats, their boat moving back to the right with Courtney looking down her cannon's sights.

"Are you gonna take the shot already or am I gonna have to keep circling until we run out of gas?" Noah called back at her in annoyance.

"Don't blame me," Courtney replied, "how am I supposed to get a clear shot at the mine when it's surrounded by stupid rocks?" She made an exasperated motion to the side, and the perspective shifted to a panning shot of the last water mine floating in amongst several tall, craggy rock formations.

"Well you better hurry up," Gwen called out from behind the boat, "because the Maggots are catching up to us!"

The camera quick-panned over to the approaching dinghy, then cut back to the speedboat. "Crap," Courtney muttered. "Bring the boat closer!" she shouted at Noah.

"Wait, no!" Harold immediately called out. "Stop the boat!"

Courtney raised an eyebrow in exasperated disbelief.

xxx

"Stop the boat? Stop the boat?!" the ex-CIT repeated. "This is a race!" she exclaimed, spreading her arms wide. "Does he want us to lose? Uggh, don't tell me he's still loyal to his old teammates..."

xxx

"You'll have a better shot if you're not moving," Harold continued, "just trust me!"

"Makes sense to me!" Noah called out, pulling back on the throttle and slowing the boat down.

The camera cut back to the Maggots as Zoey watched their opponents. "Hey, they're stopping for some reason!" she called back to Trent.

"Is something wrong with their boat?" Trent replied with a look of confusion. "Or did they stop on purpose?"

"Well if they did," Justin called out, "maybe we can just get in close and ram them a little bit, throw them off just enough so we can ring the bell first?"

"I don't know," Lindsay said uncertainly, "that doesn't sound like it'll work..."

"C'mon, Lindsay, we already did what you wanted to do, let's do what I wanna do this time," Justin told her in a patronizing tone that just seemed to befuddle her.

xxx

"Okay, Justin has been acting really weird lately," Lindsay confessed. "It's like, I don't know, he thinks I'm his enemy or something. But we're in an alliance, so we can't be enemies! Did I do something wrong?"

xxx

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Zoey?" Trent asked the redhead.

"I don't think we have much choice anymore," the indie girl answered nervously, the camera moving behind her as she pointed forward. The shot rapidly zoomed in on the Rats parked by the rocks and sea mine, Courtney carefully lining up her shot while Noah watched from the helm and Gwen, Cameron, and Harold sat on the boat's stern. Those three were the first to turn their heads to the approaching camera and gasp, followed by Noah and then Courtney.

The perspective shifted back to a sideview of the Maggots as their dinghy slammed into the side of the Rats' speedboat, sending the trio of Maggot skiers into the air and causing Courtney to stumble...and fire off her team's last gull.

The music peaked rapidly as the gull hit the bell and kept going, and moments later Lindsay, Jasmine, and Justin fell onto the mine plunging it underwater.

The three humans were the first to surface, and Jasmine had finally woken up from her venom-induced stupor. "What?" she said, looking around in confusion. "What am I doing here?"

The sea mine surfaced just then, causing the three teens to scream and back away. The camera backed away too, becoming the view through a pair of binoculars.

"No explosion?" Chris said from the dock, the camera cutting to his side as he lowered the binoculars. "Not cool," he turned and told Chef.

Moments later, an explosion from off-screen lit up the area, and the camera moved behind the two adults just in time to catch the plume of smoke and water rising up from the lake and dissipating just as quickly.

"Ka-boom!" the host laughed as a grand tune played in the background.

/

"And the Rats win again!" Chris announced to a triumphant tune as the footage skipped ahead to the winning team assembled on the beach. They cheered, and Harold and Noah high-fived.

"Well Harold," Courtney told the dweeb, "I didn't think that idea was gonna work, but it looks like you were right to get us to stop."

"Yeah, good call back there," Gwen added.

"Thanks," Harold grinned. "I guess that makes me one of the most valuable members of the team, huh?"

Gwen and Courtney's smiles dropped. "Yeah, don't push it," Courtney said.

The focus cut over to the Maggots as their dinghy ran aground on the beach, and Trent and Zoey dragged their singed teammates to shore.

"Seriously, what did I miss?" Jasmine asked in a slightly dazed tone.

"Us losing, basically," Trent answered, glaring at the supermodel as he anxiously checked his reflection in a cracked hand mirror. "All thanks to Justin's bad idea."

"Hey, in my defense," the supermodel said, "I didn't see any other way we could stop the Rats from winning. It's not my fault Courtney got lucky. You can't blame a guy for trying, y'know?"

"I guess," the charred blonde replied with a look of slight confusion. "But, I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but your ideas today didn't really, like, work, but mine did. So I kinda think that if we'd just all listened to me then we could've won, or at least not been blown up by a buoy."

"So...what you're saying is that you think you're the better idea person and that we should all just follow what you want when things get tough?" the supermodel asked with a pointed look and a quick pace.

"Uhh...maybe?" Lindsay replied uncertainly, hunching slightly as she noticed the curious gazes of Zoey, Trent, and especially Jasmine. "I mean, I'm smarter than I look, y'know."

xxx

"Okay, I think it's pretty clear that Lindsay really does wanna take control of the team," Justin told the confession camera, cleaned up and back in his usual clothes. "And I think I might just have an idea on how to use that to my advantage. Good job, brain," he looked up and tapped the side of his head, "this really makes up for those let-downs in the challenge."

xxx

The scene flashed ahead to Justin leaning up against the side of the Maggots' cabin, looking at his reflection in a mirror until he noticed Jasmine walking by.

"Oh hey, just who I wanted to see," he said with a beautiful smile as he slid out in front of her. "You mind if we talk for a second?"

"Uhh...," Jasmine began, but Justin quickly cut her off.

"Okay, good," he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her closer to the wall. "Now, I know I haven't always followed your lead, but after you got taken out today I really missed having you around to figure things out. You're pretty invaluable, you know that?"

Jasmine smirked, barely hiding her amusement. "Yeah, and?"

"And I don't wanna say it, but I really didn't like how Lindsay was trying to take over the team the moment you were unconscious," Justin continued. "She said it herself, she's smarter than she looks, so I think we should get rid of her before it's too late."

The survivalist chuckled. "Maybe you're on to something, mate."

"You know it," Justin replied, running his fingers through his hair and winking. "Between my looks and your leadership I really do think we're the best pair out here, so we gotta stick together. I'll see you around." He shot her a finger pistol, and walked off.

The camera lingered on Jasmine as she in turn lingered by the side of the cabin, and moments later Trent walked up form behind. "Hey, you weren't just talking to Justin, were you?"

"Yeah, why?" Jasmine replied, turning around to face the musician.

"Well, what'd he say?" Trent asked.

Jasmine snorted and laughed. "He wanted me to vote for Lindsay tonight, if you can believe it."

"You're not gonna do it, are you?" the musician asked warily.

The outback giantess snorted and laughed again. "As if. He's the one I'm voting for. I don't like how he's turned on Lindsay when the girl's so in to him, and I'm tired of him trying to throw me off my game by using his gorgeous good looks. It's a distraction that I need to get rid of."

Trent breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Man, is that good to know. For a second there I was a little worried he'd gotten to you again."

"Well he didn't," Jasmine smiled, "and I think he might be in for a little surprise tonight."

"Yeah," Trent smiled, and the two bumped fists.

/

The scene flashed again, now showing a close-up of a short lock of red hair as slim and well-manicured hands finished twisting it into a braid. The camera zoomed out to reveal Lindsay and Zoey sitting on a bed in their cabin, the indie girl's pigtails now replaced by short braids.

"There, all done. And now we match!" Lindsay said cheerily, finishing off Zoey's right-side braid then brushing her fingers against the two long braids in her own hair. She held up a hand mirror, and both girls looked at their reflections side-by-side.

"Wow, neat," Zoey said as her roommate put the mirror down and looked more closely at her skin.

"Hey, I never noticed before, but your skin is really good," Lindsay said. "What brand of moisturizer do you use?"

"Oh, uh, it's a small local brand," Zoey answered as she stood up off the bed, "you probably haven't heard of it."

"Well then, I guess I'll have to change that," Lindsay said with a decisive nod before perking up in realization. "Oh, and before I forget, since we're friends and in an alliance and all I figured I'd tell you that Justin wants us to vote Jasmine tonight." Zoey's brow shot up in surprise. "Yeah, I didn't really get why," Lindsay continued, "but he said he really wanted to know that we're still on his side, which, duh, of course we are."

"Yeah...," Zoey said blankly. "And wait, did you say we were friends?"

Lindsay blinked at her, then raised a brow in confusion. "Well yeah, what else would we be? Is there something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head in concern.

Zoey shook her head, looking rather stunned. "No, it's...it's nothing. I'm just...gonna go outside for a bit, okay?"

"Okay," Lindsay said, still looking somewhat concerned as Zoey left the room.

/

A low, tense, but ultimately emotive tune joined in with a chorus of crickets and frogs as the camera followed Zoey outside. She closed the door and slumped against it, muttering "Friends...?" and touching the braid on the right side of her head that had been completed only minutes before.

The sound of footsteps on creaking wood caught her attention, and she looked up and gasped.

"Hey, Zoey, I've been looking all over for you," Justin said, the perspective inverting to show him smiling down at Zoey with the dusk sky behind him, extending a hand to the young woman. The shot moved back to a sideways view as Zoey accepted the hand up, and Justin's smile widened. "Nice braids," he said, noticing the change in her hairstyle. "Anyway, about the vote-"

"It's Jasmine, right?" Zoey cut him off. "Lindsay already told me you wanted us to vote for her, but-"

Justin's brow furrowed, and he cut her off. "Hold on, I haven't said anything to Lindsay yet," he told the indie girl, earning a look of surprise, and a few deep notes in the background music transitioned it into something more ominous. "She must be trying to get rid of Jasmine and take over the team, just like I thought."

Zoey gasped. "You really think that's what she's doing?"

xxx

Justin opened the confessional with a laugh. "I totally told Lindsay she should vote Jasmine to prove she was really on my side. I guess she must've decided it would be easier to go along with that then to eliminate me tonight."

xxx

"Definitely," Justin answered. "Good thing I realized it, huh? Now we can vote her out before she causes anymore trouble."

"Yeah...," Zoey said, a troubled expression on her face.

"Okay, great to hear my favorite girl on the island is by my side," Justin said, placing a hand on the indie girl's shoulder, smiling, and batting his eyelashes so that Zoey gave a short, dreamy, and almost gasp-like moan. "See ya later," the supermodel finished in a flirtatious tone, waving and winking and leaving Zoey to slump up against the door of the cabin again.

xxx

"Is Justin really telling the truth?" Zoey asked the confessional camera with great and troubled concern. "Or is this just him trying to manipulate me like with Harold? I mean, it's really hard to resist those looks, but...," her eyes and fingers moved to her right braid again, "Lindsay said she was my friend..."

xxx

/

The crackle of a campfire rose over the night's chorus as the background music shifted into the first few deep and dramatic tunes of the elimination ceremony motif, and the camera cut to the moon high in the sky. The scene panned down to a bush rustling just at the edge of the clearing, then zoomed out to show the five Maggots – Trent on the left, then Jasmine, Zoey, Justin, and Lindsay on the far right end – seated all in a line in the front row of stump seats around the fire pit. Their eyes were a mixture of sadness, disappointment, trepidation, and anticipation as they looked towards the just-off-screen host, and with another deep note the ceremony began.

"After an episode filled with questions of leadership and loyalty, it is the Maggots whose bonds must be tested," Chris began, Chef Hatchet already standing by with his hazmat suit and strongbox. "The following campers are momentarily safe," the host continued, holding up his tray of four ordinary marshmallows.

"Trent," he threw the first treat to the musician, who caught it with an eager and relieved grin.

"Zoey," the camera panned over to the indie girl next as she caught her confection with an anxious frown.

"And the slumbering titan known as Jasmine," the host said next, tossing the smiling survivalist the penultimate marshmallow from the tray.

"Huh?" Lindsay said, perking up in confusion.

"And, the toxic marshmallow of loserdom goes to...," Chris said, the elimination music drawing near to its peak tension as Chef plucked the glowing thing from the box and held it in his tongs.

The shot cut back to Justin and Lindsay, the blonde looking at the supermodel in confusion while he gave her a dark, sly smile in return.

"Sorry, Linds," he said in a smooth and dulcet tone, "but your time is up. No taking over the team for you."

"What?!" Lindsay said, standing up in outrage. "What are you talking about? I would never try and take over the team!"

"Sure you wouldn't," Justin said with a haughty and condescending nod. "Too bad for you someone told me otherwise," he added, holding up the note he'd received and smiling smugly.

Lindsay swiped it from him, quickly read it, and gasped. "Justin, how could you believe this?" she asked him in shock and horror. "I've been on your side since day one! I trusted you, and I was doing everything I could to make sure you trusted me back! We were in an alliance!" she told him, causing him to cross his arms and close his eyes while still maintaining his smile. "We were friends! And...and I thought maybe we could be even more than that!"

Justin chuckled and shook his head. "Lindsay, even if I did believe you felt that way, that still never would've happened. I'm in this for the million, and that means I gotta watch out for threats. And thanks to that note, I realized that everything you did today made you look awfully like a threat."

Lindsay stared at him in disbelief. "You're just throwing away everything we had together over a piece of paper?!" she said, crumpling up the note and throwing it on the ground and stamping on it. "I can't believe this! I liked you Justin," she threw up her arms and got in his face as the music took a more fast-paced and dramatic edge, "even though I know the others weren't so sure. But now I realize that they weren't sure for a reason, because you aren't just some mega-gorgeous super-hunk. You're also a two-faced, backstabbing, lying little..."

The music rose up rapidly, culminating in a hand gesture that had to be pixelized, a mouth that had to be pixelized as well, and a long string of words that had to be bleeped. Justin was shown utterly stunned by the verbal assault, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping; Chris and Chef were shown raising their eyebrows in surprise; Trent and Zoey gaped while Jasmine was shown smiling; a hairless mutant squirrel looked out of a tree hollow in shock; an impish smile formed on the host's face; and finally Lindsay finished, descending into heavy breaths.

"Well," Justin said, still looking shocked, "wasn't expecting that. Umm, Chris, you mind wrapping this up?" he said, looking at the host.

"Sure thing," Chris smiled. "The toxic marshmallow goes to...," Justin was shown looking frantically expectant while Lindsay hung her head in defeat, "Justin."

"Huh?!" both beauties said, Lindsay excitedly and Justin in despair.

"You heard the man," Trent told the model with a smirk. "You're out."

"And good riddance," Jasmine chimed in.

"Sorry," Zoey said, fingering her braids and averting her gaze as Justin turned to her in shock, "but we just couldn't trust you."

The shot cut in to Justin's wide-eyed close-up as he said "I can't believe this..."

/

The screen flipped around a central axis, transitioning the scene to the Dock of Shame with Justin sitting in the bucket of the Hurl of Shame, still quite visibly shocked to be there.

"Chris, cmon', you can't seriously go through with this," he frantically told the smiling host below him. "I'm the most beautiful person on the show!"

"Yeah, no you're not," Chris told him just before he launched the model into the night with a scream. "I'm the most beautiful person on the show," he said, turning around to face the camera as the series' capstone theme began to play. "And speaking of me, what kinds of danger will I have for the campers next time? Find out, on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"

The camera jumped outwards with each part of the title as usual, but the scene lingered there even as the capstone theme faded.

/

The shot cut back to the campfire pit, now dark and empty save for a rustling coming from the same bush as earlier. The music turned tense and eerie and after a few moments Noah rose up from the foliage. He crept into the clearing casting wary looks around him, passing the stump seats and reaching the crumpled-up note that was still in the ground. With a confident smile and a slightly more nervous look in his eyes he picked it up, looked it over, and put it into his pocket.

xxx

"Okay, so since I haven't had any luck so far with that 'Chris Head' thing," Noah explained to the outhouse camera, the night sky visible through the small openings between the walls and the roof, "I figured I'd try and mess with a few heads and see if that got me anywhere. The note I sent Leonard was kind of a letdown," he said, pulling out the napkin he'd snatched an episode ago. "I figured I could form a secret alliance with the guy and use his annoyance to keep the girls' attention off of me. Had I realized he was just roleplaying I would've done it without the note, but it's better this way. When he screwed up that scavenger hunt I knew our Type A Team Leader would be gunning for him, and even with the wizard's revelation Cameron is still too deep in the girls' pocket to turn against them. Siding with Leonard and Harold would've just meant Leonard got creamed in a tiebreaker and I'd be on the bottom with Wonder Boy. So yeah, not following up the first note worked out pretty well for me."

"And more importantly," Noah smirked, taking out the note he'd picked up more recently, "this one actually worked better than I was expecting! I figured it would take longer for that meathead to build up enough paranoia to turn against what was probably his biggest ally, but I guess dumb luck was on my side today. Not sure how things are gonna play out from now on, but I think I'm in a good position to handle whatever gets thrown at me."

xxx

(Fade to Credits)


Author's Note - Post Script

Welp, that happened. Unlike Lindsay, as so many of you I think were expecting, I decided to eliminate Justin. Why? because it honestly just made more sense to me while writing it - Trent wants Justin gone, and Jasmine and Zoey don't want to listen to him anymore, so there's nobody who'd really want to vote Lindsay off right now. Although I am still happy with the path all the Maggots took to arrive at this conclusion - Trent being worried for his own safety, Jasmine mostly just coming to it by herself (though with some influence from Shawn), Zoey learning more about what it means to be a friend, Lindsay realizing that Justin wasn't who she thought he was, and Justin himself just not being as effective a manipulator or canny a strategist as, say, Alejandro. Overall, I'm really happy with how everything on the Maggots' side came together.

On the Rats' side...well, it's not as striking as the Maggots, but I'm pretty happy all the same. A bit of conflict between Harold and Courtney, Gwen still active with her interest in Trent, Cameron...as the middle-man, in a sense, and then Noah...

Noah's confessional at the end, or the first part at least, was something I had initially wanted to include last episode when Leonard's departure was more immediately relevant, but I felt that I just didn't have the time or space. Plus, it would give a bit more mystery to the source of the notes, a reason which almost caused this last confessional to be delayed even more. But I ultimately decided it would work better here, and I hope you all agree. The strategy itself is keeping in mind with what I've been trying to go with this season, with Noah being more of a behind-the-scenes type of guy who doesn't try to lie and manipulate up front but rather strategize in secret. I just hope that I've explained what he was trying to do well enough, but I suppose I'll find out in the reviews.

That said, let me know what you all think! Until next week,

- Fangren


Appendix: TSROTI Eliminated Contestants

Cody - (13th Place)

Izzy - (12th Place | Still AWOL)

Leonard (11th Place)

Justin (10th Place)