The Peralta Challenges: SYOC Edition

by thedragonrooster

It's season two of the famed spin-off of Total Drama Island. John Peralta is back as host and he's looking for a new cast of characters, made by YOU. (SYOC Closed, 16/18 remaining) *team logos drawn by The Feline Overlord, John Peralta drawn by yours truly

6. Going In Blind

Hey everyone, I'm back with the next episode. I upped my game here by littering this chapter with character interactions and overall, I really love how this chapter came out. So I hope you enjoy!

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EPISODE 3: GOING IN BLIND

Things opened up right where they left off, with it being the afternoon following the first challenge. At the Ducks cabin, Tyson stormed out carrying a football, beckoning over someone from inside. "Come on, Kai," he called. "Let's play some catch by the beach."

As Tyson hopped over the bench railing, Kai exited the cabin soon after, adjusting his suit collar while he did. Tyson led Kai down by the beach, tossing the football to himself with a big smile on his face. He stopped by a sand bank and turned around. "Here seems pretty alright," he suggested.

Kai nodded and stood a couple yards away from the athlete, holding his hands out. "I'm ready when you are, sir," he said.

Tyson let out a small chuckle and passed the ball to his friend. After a couple back and forths, Tyson wanted to chat a little while continuing to pass the ball to each other. "So what's it like being a prince?" he asked curiously.

"A lot of demands and expectations," Kai answered, tossing the ball over.

Tyson caught it and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked, passing it back to him.

Kai caught it and held it to his side as he thought. "I just have a lot of expectations that I must live up to," he explained. "So much so that I'm not really allowed to play games such as this."

"Well that seems, like, kind of a bummer," Tyson replied, holding his hands out to call for the ball. "I thought being a prince would be basically partying everyday and having everyone else do your work for you."

Kai shook his head as he passed the ball. "There's a set of rules a prince must follow," he said. "Or at least, that's what my Dad says."

Tyson caught the ball, almost fumbling it for a bit. "Do you ever just, like, not follow those rules sometimes?" he asked.

"Only when my father is not around," Kai explained.

Tyson chucked the ball back with an intrigued look on his face. "Well your Dad's not here," he stated. "What are some of the rules you must follow?"

Kai caught the ball with one hand and then clenched onto his suit with the other. "Well for starters, wearing this," he answered.

"Do you not like wearing suits and such?" Tyson asked.

Kai nodded and stared at the ball in his hands. "Not really," he confessed. "I prefer to wear other outfits if I can."

"Well then wear 'em, dude," Tyson suggested obliviously. "Like I said, your Dad's not here."

Kai sighed and tossed the ball back. "I don't know," he said. "My Dad will be watching this show. What would he say if he saw me even just doing this?"

Before Tyson could answer, he dropped the ball that was passed and followed it as it rolled down the beach. From there, he could hear a faint high pitch buzzing sound or something. "Do you hear that?" Tyson asked, cupping over his ears.

Kai scratched his chin and squinted his eyes. "I think so," he said. "Sounds like it's coming from the dock area."

Tyson spun the football on his finger before pointing it in that direction. "Let's go see what it is," he suggested.

Tyson and Kai strolled down the beach, getting closer to the dock. The sound was getting louder and louder. The boys soon realized quickly that it was Rae using her theremin quietly to herself. She was playing a sweet little tune with her eyes closed. Really feeling the vibes from the instrument. When she finished, she opened her eyes to see them staring at her. She blushed a little and shyly waved.

Tyson had a big toothy smile on his face. "That instrument is so cool," he said. "You can create music without even touching anything."

Rae stood there awkwardly for a bit. "Uhhh… yeah I guess," she said quietly.

"Oh, can you do song requests?" Tyson asked. Rae silently shook her head.

"Ah, that's alright, dude," Tyson said, looking back at Kai. "Hey, wanna have a little foot race across the beach?"

"I suppose that sounds fun," Kai agreed with a shrug.

"Cool, man," Tyson said before taking off in a sprint. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

"Oh, that doesn't sound too pleasant," Kai said as he chased after him. Rae remained on the dock, awkwardly staring at the boys running off. But eventually, she would focus back on her theremin, closing her eyes and playing another tune.

/

Nearby the woods, Aditi and Miriam walked side by side and chatted about things. "And so that's why I always pack an extra fire starter with me from now on," Aditi said, pointing at her pack of materials. "You never know when you might get stuck out there in the cold darkness. I'm just grateful I managed to survive that night."

"Wow, that was a pretty fascinating tale you shared there," Miriam said monotonously as she stopped by a tree to pick off some bark.

"Oh yeah, I have plenty of similar stories that I could probably babble on about indefinitely," Aditi replied, watching Miriam curiously. "But I doubt you'd want to withstand that, haha."

Miriam stopped her picking and glanced over at Aditi. "I mean, I wouldn't really mind it honestly," she admitted.

"Oh really?" Aditi said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, how cool of you to say that. I love talking about my travels so much. Did you know that the rumored lost city of Atlantis was said to actually be a full continent that sank in the Pacific Ocean? If only I could breathe through water, I'd search the entire area for such."

"You'll be just like the little mermaid," Miriam remarked as she pulled off a chunk of tree bark nonchalantly.

"Ooh, I love that movie," Aditi replied, clapping her hands a little. "One of the few Disney movies I've watched actually."

"Nyeh, I don't really watch movies that much," Miriam replied with a shrug before tossing the chunk of bark. "The outside world is way more entertaining to watch anyways."

"Oh, I would agree," Aditi said, looking up at the top of the trees. "Can't beat the natural cinema." While Aditi was observing above, Miriam stared at her unknowingly, being lost in thought. When Aditi looked down from the trees and noticed her staring, she simply smiled back at her, causing Miriam to awkwardly look away.

Begin Confessional

Miriam sat there fanning herself a little. "Oh my, I think I might be falling for the little gal," she confessed as her cheeks blushed but her voice remained monotone. "I'm shocked at how easy I can talk with her, that's not something I'm typically great at. But she's just an adorable ball of conversations, wouldn't ya say?"

End Confessional

"Hey, how're you guys doing?" said Felix as he met up with the two girls.

"Just chatting about whatever," Aditi replied, eyeing over to Miriam, who awkwardly fiddled with her shirt.

"Sweet," Felix said, pushing his hands into his pockets. "I just came by to see how you ladies were doing. Maybe hopefully get to know you two a bit better while I'm at it."

"Oh I see," Aditi responded, nodding her head. "Well I was about to tell Miriam more about my travels. Care to listen in?"

Felix shrugged and shuffled to the side. "Sure, why not," he said. "I am a bit curious as to why you've chosen the wanderer's life actually."

"Oh, that's simple," Aditi said. "I just find Earth super fascinating and full of wonder. So many stories to unveil in so many places. I can't seem to enjoy a more normal life either. I always have to be exploring something."

"It's an interesting passion, I will give you that," Felix said, scratching the bridge of his nose before pointing at Miriam. "What about you? What's your story?"

Miriam looked around side to side before pointing at herself. "My story?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Felix nodded. "You're an archer, right?"

"You'd be correct," Miriam affirmed with a shrug.

"How long have you been doing it?" Felix would then ask.

"Ooo, yeah, I'm curious about this too," Aditi added.

Miriam rubbed the back of her neck. "Uhhh… since my eldest brother taught me," she explained, a bit reluctantly.

"Ah, well that's neat," Felix said. "Is your brother pretty good too?"

"Well he was…" Miriam sighed. "Before he drowned…"

"Oh no," Aditi gasped. "How horrible…"

"Damn, sorry for bringing up bad memories," Felix apologized.

Miriam shook her head. "Nyeh, you're fine," she assured. "It's been a couple years since the incident. And I've made it my biggest effort to simply carry on his legacy."

"Hey, I super respect that," Felix replied, reaching out and giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I think you're making him proud by doing such." Although he couldn't tell due to Miriam's face being half-covered, she actually grew a small smile when he said that.

Aditi would clear her throat to fill in for the silence. "So, about that travel story I was gonna tell you," she said, trying to move things along. "Still up to hearing it?" Miriam nodded, allowing her to share the story while Felix listened on quietly as he thought about things to himself.

/

At the girls' side of the Deer cabin, Neda was still with Kyla on her bed. This time, Neda had her arm wrapped over Kyla as they chatted about things. "So you're telling me you have thousands of fans over there in France?" Neda asked.

Kyla shrugged indifferently. "More or less," she answered. "They all come to see my cheery personality and stuff."

"Oh I see," Neda replied. "Well that sounds like a fun little excursion to have. How often do you rate things five stars or whatever?"

"I don't really have a numerical rating system," Kyla explained. "I simply just use my words to tell you how I feel. Basing it all on just a number is honestly kinda dumb."

"You know what, I would agree," Neda shared. "So anyways, are you feeling better now?"

"Oui," Kyla affirmed with a thankful smile. "It was such a pleasure chatting with you about my work. I'm glad to have you as a friend."

"Aww, you're welcome," Neda replied, side-hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, I can't even remember the name of the girl I was mad about," Kyla said with a smirk. "Was it Cassie? Tammy?"

"It's Jaz, dumbass," said a disgruntled voice. Kyla and Neda both looked at the front of the cabin to see Jaz with a cart of cleaning supplies. "They're already starting me off with cleaning the bathrooms, ugh…"

Kyla frowned as she watched her enter their bathroom and close the door. "I hope you fall in the toilet…" she grumbled under her breath, though Neda could hear her and giggled as a result.

Meanwhile, the boys side of the cabin had Gerald, Bo and Clifford sitting around while watching some cartoons on TV. Gerald had a judgemental look while he watched. "Do you think Mr. Krabs pays his employees only the minimum wage?" he asked.

"If by minimum you mean hardly anything at all, then yes," Clifford answered.

"Shoot, if I worked under a cheapskate like him, I'd just quit and work at the Chum Bucket," Bo said. "At least Plankton would probably pay me better."

"Plus since he's so tiny, you could just step on him if he annoys you too much," Gerald added with a goofy smirk.

"And get charged with murder in the process," Clifford snarked dryly.

"Knock, knock, gotta clean your bathrooms," said Jaz as she pulled her cart into their side of the cabin.

Gerald got up from his bed quickly. "Hold on, I gotta use it first before you do," he said while Jaz just scoffed in frustration. Gerald shuffled his way inside to do his business while Clifford and Bo continued watching the TV.

"You know my sister really hates this show for some reason," Jaz stated as she watched along with them.

"Why is that?" Bo asked.

"Because she says it's too male-centric," Jaz explained as she organized a bit of her cleaning supplies.

"She sounds like a fun individual to talk with," Clifford said sarcastically as he laid back in his bunk.

"No, she's not at all," Jaz denied, oblivious to his sarcasm. Clifford was going to say something about it but just let it slide.

Gerald came out of the bathroom shortly, shaking off his wet hands. "Alright maid, you can clean the toilets or whatever," he said.

Jaz rolled her eyes and dragged her cart inside, closing the door behind her. Moments later, she shrieked. "Are you kidding me!?" she yelled. "Did you really have to shit all over the seat!?" Gerald fell to the floor laughing, while Bo shook his head and Clifford smirked in disbelief.

/

"That was a good game, bub," Vela said as she sat with Preston on the gym's bleachers. She held the basketball close to her knees. "You're pretty good with your shots. Do you perhaps play with your school?"

Preston shook his head. "Nope," he denied.

"Well then you must be a natural," she replied, nudging him in the shoulder with the ball a few times.

"Or you're just not as good as you think," Preston replied with a smug look on his face.

"Oh ho ho," Vela laughed obnoxiously. "Chef Boyardee is a comedian too."

Preston rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile. "I don't even know what to call you back," he said. "Who makes candles these days?"

Vela shrugged and rested her head on the basketball. "It's a niche hobby, no doubt about it," she said before smiling. "But I do make decent money from it."

"Wish I could say the same about my cooking," Preston confessed, staring off at the gym mats on the other side. "My parents don't think it's a feasible career path for me."

"Well who cares what they think," Vela replied, rolling her eyes. "You should be able to do whatever you want with your life."

"If only my parents could understand that more easily," Preston sighed, slumping his head into his hands.

"Aw, don't worry, mate," Vela said, patting him on the back. "You'll show them the light some day."

Preston smirked and lifted his head up. "The light being one of your candles, right?" he joked.

Vela playfully scoffed and rubbed the top of his head, ruffling his hair a little. "Come on, bub," she said, standing up afterwards. "Let's play some more."

Preston flattened his hair and got up. "First to twenty-one points this time," he suggested.

"Sure," Vela agreed.

Just then, someone else entered the gymnasium. It was Neda, skipping and humming her way inside. She stopped and waved at the two. "Sorry it took me so long," she apologized. "I was just having a really nice conversation with Kyla."

"Ah, is she doing okay now?" Vela asked, dribbling the ball on her way to meet up with her.

"Yep, she's fine now," Neda assured.

"Wait, what happened?" Preston asked with a confused look on his face.

Vela turned back to him. "Oh, Kyla and that maid girl got into a little scuffle earlier," she explained. "It's no big deal, it's been resolved."

Preston shrugged and stared around the gym. "Alright then," he said, before snatching the ball from Vela.

"Oh, we're starting now," Vela said with an amused smile on her face.

"Yep," Preston said as he dribbled the ball up to the net and made a shot.

"Ooo, can I play?" Neda asked excitedly.

Vela laughed and nodded. "Sure," she permitted. "Just don't accidentally let the ball slip from your hands this time." She gave a wink as Neda chuckled awkwardly.

/

A bit later in the evening, at the girls' side of the Ducks cabin, Yana and Sienna played with some dolls that they had while Celia laid back in her bunk, watching them with bored eyes. "We must stop the evil Peralta man from ruining this show," Yana said, speaking for her doll.

"Oh what will we ever do?" Sienna replied in the same fashion, all the while having a huge silly smile on her face.

"We must win this next challenge and out beat them at their own game!" Yana demanded before making her doll jump off the bunk and onto the floor. She giggled a little. "That's supposed to be like the cliff dive challenge from the first Total Drama."

"Uh oh, here comes the shark," Sienna played along as she used her shoe to represent such. Yana made her doll frantically "swim" away from the "shark", faking some panicked noises. Sienna hummed the Jaws theme as she made her shoe shark follow after Yana's frantic swimmer.

Meanwhile, Celia mumbled some things to herself before noticing someone entering their side of the cabin. "The hell are you doing here?" she asked with a frown.

Sienna and Yana stop what they were doing to see Jaz with her cleaning cart. "I gotta clean your stupid bathrooms," the maid informed them, rolling her eyes with a frustrated sigh.

"Oh, it shouldn't be that dirty," Yana explained. "I cleaned the bathroom earlier this afternoon."

"Yeah and you yelled at me for it," Celia grumbled.

"Well you left a lotta toothpaste gunk in the sink," Yana snapped, placing her hands on her hips. "Like, would it kill you to clean after yourself every now and then?"

"You ain't my mom, damn," Celia scoffed, looking really annoyed. "You're really getting on my last nerves with this. Cute or not, you're such a square that it ruins all of that."

"Well yeah…" Yana grumbled but wasn't able to think of a comeback. Instead, she just crossed her arms and pouted. "Whatever…"

Jaz just stared at the two with a disinterested look on her face. "So is the bathroom clean or what?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's clean," Sienna answered as Celia and Yana were too busy staring each other down. Jaz sighed and simply carried her cart to the boy's side of the cabin. Sienna would look over to Yana and try to smile at her. "Wanna go back to playing?" Yana didn't respond, her eyes were still locked onto Celia's. Sienna just sighed and decided to leave them alone in the cabin.

Begin Confessional

Yana sat in her chair with a peeved look on her face. "Celia can only test my patience for so long," she said. "She will either get her act together or I will just have to speak with Tyson so he can nominate her the next chance we get. I'm done playing Ms. Nice Girl with her."

End Confessional

The sun was setting as the sky changed hues bit by bit. Over by the beach, Edgar sat with his legs spread out and stared off longingly into the setting sun. "The sun has set inside me long ago," he mumbled. "I am nothing but the empty black night now."

"Oh hey Edgar," greeted a cheery voice from behind. Edgar turned around to see Sienna smiling and waving at him. "Mind if I hang out with you for a bit?"

Edgar stared at her before sighing. "Fine," he said.

Sienna would sit down to his left and watch the sun set with him. "It's pretty, isn't it?" she said.

Edgar sat there pretty still and stoic. "I suppose," he replied disinterestedly.

"It's really fascinating how a star millions of miles away can bring all of this life to our planet," Sienna continued, hoping to spark any kind of conversation with him.

Edgar drew something in the sand with his finger. "I find what's in between the stars more fascinating," he said. "The eternal darkness that we call outer space. So empty and void of anything."

"Right…" Sienna said, nodding her head awkwardly. "I guess it's kind of creepy when I think about it."

"Exactly," Edgar agreed. "Earth is merely just a floating rock, surrounded by the darkness. The universe does not care if the Sun brings life here or not. It will carry on the same either way."

Sienna sucked in her cheek, clearly having no idea initially on how to fully respond to Edgar's existential ramblings. "But you know Edgar," she said carefully. "Our universe wouldn't be the same without us, if you think about it. I mean, it wouldn't even be called the universe if it weren't for us."

Edgar stared at the sky, the sun almost fully set. "I suppose that is true," he said. "Sorry, if this conversation went a little too deep all of a sudden… I just don't find small talk all that meaningful."

Sienna lifted up her knees and rested her chin against them. "I understand," she said.

"You do?" Edgar asked, his face lighting up a little.

Sienna shrugged and stretched out her legs again. "Sure," she replied. "Small talk can be kind of the same over and over again. Meanwhile, I never really had a conversation like this before so it's one that I'll probably remember more."

Edgar slowly grew a sly smile as he stared a little at Sienna. He looked back at the sky and rested back a bit more. "I think I will remember this too," he said to himself.

/

The next morning, John had woken up all of the campers and sent them to the cafeteria for breakfast. They were served french toast this time with a wide variety of syrups to choose from. Rae sat at her team's table, poking around her food a little. Vela slid her tray next to her and greeted her with a smile. "Food's meant for eating, not poking," she quipped with a wink.

Rae shrugged as she took a knife and began cutting up her toast. "Always coming through with the great words of wisdom," she said sarcastically.

Vela laughed and playfully shook Rae by the shoulders, who was a bit surprised by such. "Anyways, how was your time alone yesterday?" she asked, peeling herself an orange.

Rae brushed some hair behind her ear as she took a bite. "Oh, I suppose it was alright," she answered.

"Well what did you do?" Vela pressed on as she plopped a slice of her orange into her mouth.

"Just play my theremin really," Rae explained, wiping her lips with a napkin. "I still need to set up all of my clay sculpting stuff at some point."

"Ah for your pottery making, right?" Vela replied, eating another slice.

"Well, it's just clay sculpting in general," Rae corrected. "Doesn't have to be pots."

"What's this about pot?" interjected a nearby Gerald.

"Oh hush, we're talking with each other here, bub," Vela shooed, rolling her eyes.

Gerald snickered a little. "Well damn, I was just trying to be a part of the conversation," he said.

"That's not necessary," Vela countered.

"You're not necessary," Gerald mumbled under his breath as he rolled his eyes away from her.

Meanwhile, Neda scooted up next to Clifford with her tray. "Hey there," she greeted. "Just want to say, thank you for not nominating me the other day."

Clifford glanced down at her with a smirk. "Oh but we're such an iconic trio, remember?" he joked, pulling in Bo as he did.

"What the hell is this?" Bo asked, with a miffed look on his face.

Neda hid a smile with her hands. "Oh my gosh, I forgot about that," she confessed through stifled giggles. "I was so cheerfully excited that day, wasn't I?"

"I mean, I don't blame you," Clifford said with a smug look on his face. "After all, you met two Tennesseans that day. That'll make anyone super pumped."

Bo rolled his eyes and nudged himself away. "You are so damn sarcastic, fam," he mumbled.

Begin Confessional

"Our Captain is a bit of a wise guy, I see," Bo said as he rested his head back on his hands. "But he seems to not mind me that much. If I can keep it that way, I won't ever have to worry about getting nominated. Otherwise, I could just lead a veto if it came to that. Wouldn't be hard. I can talk my way out of almost anything."

End Confessional

"Check it," said Tyson as he nudged Kai with his elbow. He huffed some air into a spoon and then placed it on his nose, allowing it to stick freely without any hands. The spoon soon fell off and he caught it with a goofy smile.

Kai stared at his spoon and decided to try the same. When he managed to stick it on his nose, Tyson couldn't help but laugh. Kai took the spoon off and smiled bashfully. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's just funny to see you slowly break out of your shell," Tyson explained as he took his spoon and stuck it back on his nose. "Bet your Dad would hate this."

"That's a good bet," Kai said, sticking the spoon to his nose again as well.

Felix just stared at the two disinterestedly as he propped his head up with his elbow on the table. He was then poked in the shoulder by Celia, causing him to furrow his eyebrows at her. "What's up?" he greeted.

Celia had a smug smile on her face. "So what's it like sharing a room with these two doofuses," she asked.

Felix rolled his eyes a little. "They're fine enough poker opponents," he quipped.

Celia chuckled before pointing back at Yana with her thumb. "Hey, I'd rather deal with them then have to share a room with her," she said.

"Aww, did she finally reject you or something?" Felix asked with a fake sorrowful look on his face.

"Shut up," Celia scoffed, playfully pushing him away. "I'm not even bothering with her anymore. She's way too bossy for me."

"What's she doing?" Felix asked curiously.

"She's just so freaking annoying about everything," Celia complained. "Always making a big ass deal whenever I make one tiny mess. It's so stupid."

Felix smirked as he took a quick glance over towards Yana. She was busy chatting away with Sienna. "Guess you need to just stand your ground," he suggested, looking back at Celia. "If she complains about you making a mess, make a bigger mess."

"Look at you with the great advice," Celia replied with an impressed look on her face. "I think I already know what I can do. Oh, she's gonna freak out so bad… but not right now though because we got a challenge and stuff."

Felix nodded and stood up with his tray. "Well good luck with whatever you end up doing," he said, exiting the cafeteria shortly after.

Celia smiled, excitedly thinking over the mischief she could possibly cause before she noticed Edgar staring at her. "What're you looking at me like that for?" she interrogated. "You better not snitch on me."

Edgar looked away and put his head down. "Sorry…" he apologized quietly.

Begin Confessional

"I don't plan on telling on anyone," Edgar said, barely moving a muscle. "But I think Celia is just going to get herself into big trouble if she does whatever she is planning… Ah, but who cares really."

End Confessional

Eventually, all of the campers finished their breakfast and headed to the Main Hall, where John awaited them by the podium. "Good morning everyone," he greeted, once each of them took a seat. "Today's challenge will be quite the sight to not behold."

"Uhhh… what?" Preston said, raising an eyebrow.

John ignored him and stepped away from the podium, holding onto a dark green blindfold. "Your challenge this time is to do an assortment of small tasks while blindfolded," he explained. "For each task your team completes successfully, you'll earn a point. The first team to five points will win the whole shindig."

Samson then entered the Main Hall, dragging a table with a box of various things resting atop of it. He placed it down next to John and greeted the campers with a smile. "Here with the first task," he said.

"Before we tell you what it is," John added, stepping forward. "Could the Captains of each team choose one teammate to participate first?"

Tyson looked around at his team before pointing at Kai. "You got this, dude," he told him.

Kai slowly got up from his seat. "I will do my best," he said as he made his way to John. He was handed the green blindfold and told to put it on.

Clifford tapped on his chin as he decided on who should face the royal. He squinted over towards Gerald. "Wanna give it a shot?" he asked.

Gerald snickered and stood up. "Definitely," he said with a confident smirk. He was handed an orange blindfold and then the two of them were carefully brought in front of the table.

Samson pulled out two clear balls that had some sort of three-dimensional maze placed inside them. He placed one in front of each blindfolded camper, explaining to them what they were going to do as he did. "I have given you each a spherical maze," he stated. "Once I give the go ahead, you'll pick up the maze and try to solve it. You'll know when you solved it when the maze makes a ding sound."

"These are already pretty hard to do with your eyes," John added, checking his watch. "So you'll have to listen real carefully to where the small metallic ball is rolling. I would recommend that your teams keep quiet because of this."

"Just start the match already," Gerald demanded, growing impatient.

Samson shrugged and stepped back. "You may begin," he permitted.

Both Kai and Gerald grabbed their mazes and began twisting and turning them around aimlessly. Kai kept the maze close to his ear, concentrating on the sound while Gerald simply didn't use any particular tactics.

Begin Confessional

"I was not gonna waste my time trying to see if I could hear a tiny stupid ball rolling around," Gerald explained, crossing his arms. "Probably had a better chance just randomly twisting it around anyways."

End Confessional

The whole Main Hall remained quiet with the exception of the small clinks of the balls in the maze. Gerald and Kai both seemed to not be anywhere close yet but their strategies meant that one had a better idea of where he was. Kai even attempted to shake the maze a little to see if that would help.

Gerald decided to have a little fun and began tossing the maze around recklessly, somehow being able to catch it back even without seeing it. John seemed impressed as he watched but soon Gerald would make a mistake and drop the maze to the ground. "Uhhh, could someone hand that back to me," he asked.

Samson rolled his eyes and picked up the maze, placing it back in the hacker's hands. All the while, Kai was now getting pretty close to solving the maze. He could notice the small mechanical ball was hitting a lot more corners, believing this to mean he was getting closer to the end. With some careful maneuvering, he slowly crept his way to the finish.

Gerald, meanwhile, was starting to get a little frustrated. He fumbled around with the maze until it accidentally slipped from his hands again. "Goddammit," he groaned, waiting for Samson to give it back to him.

Yet what he didn't expect was that that drop actually brought him very close to the finish. And with a couple more random twists, Gerald was the first to hear the ding. "Yes!" he cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Get owned, prince!"

Kai lifted his blindfold up only to see that he was centimeters away from solving. He quickly felt bummed out at such a realization. "So close…" he mumbled to himself.

"Welp, that's one point for the White-Tailed Deer," John announced as he took the blindfolds from each camper. Gerald would head back, sharing high-fives with the likes of Bo and Clifford. Kai would shuffle his way with his head down but Tyson was quick to reassure him with a shoulder pat.

Samson cleared the table, preparing it for the next task while John asked the Captains to pick another one of their teammates. Tyson would end up choosing Yana, while Clifford chose himself. The two would then meet-up by the table and be given their blindfolds.

Samson pulled out two solo cups and ping pong balls, placing them on each end of the table. He handed a ball to each of the campers and adjusted them so they faced each other on each end. "Your task is to bounce a ping pong ball into the other opponent's cup," he explained.

"And no, there won't be any beer to drink after," John added jokingly. Clifford playfully snapped his fingers in disappointment.

"Alright, I want you to take turns with Yana trying first," Samson ordered, stepping back. "Begin!"

Yana bounced her ball and missed entirely. Clifford would bounce his and end up hitting Yana in the shoulder. It wasn't a big deal for her as she simply bounced her next ball but overshot it once again.

"Heh, this is just like watching two actual drunk people attempt this," Felix quipped with an amused smirk.

Clifford would miss his next shot, not seeming impressed. Yana would then overbounce the ball so much that it ended up bouncing off the top of Clifford's head. "Watch it…" he grumbled before making his next shot and missing.

Yana giggled apologetically and bounced her next ball, this time it wouldn't even bounce on the table as she tossed it too far to the side. "I'm getting worse at this with each shot," she sighed.

Clifford smirked and made his next shot and it managed to bounce off the rim of the cup but unfortunately wasn't able to make it in. Yana took a sigh of relief and attempted her next shot. This one went a little better than last time but still missed.

"Bruh, this is getting so boring," Celia groaned.

After a few more back and forths, all being misses, it was Clifford's turn again. This time he used his other hand to toss the ball. It seemed to work almost perfectly, just missing the cup. Clifford could sense it as he heard the others around him gasp.

Then it was Yana's turn. She took a deep breath, aimed her shot and let it bounce. Once she heard it clunk around inside Clifford's cup, she jumped up in excitement. "Oh yeah!" she cheered as her team clapped for her.

Clifford raised his blindfold and rolled his eyes when he saw Yana's ball in his cup. "Perfect…" he grumbled.

"We are tied, one to one," John announced as he took the blindfolds from them. "This next task will be outside. Follow me!"

/

Outside the Main Hall, Samson had set up a basketball hoop on the grass. He hoisted up a nearby basketball, revealing it to the campers. "Our next task will be a simple free throw contest," he explained. "Blindfolded, of course."

"Ooh Clifford, pick me to do this," Vela requested.

Clifford shrugged and seemed to not mind. "Good luck then," he said.

Vela would meet up with John to retrieve her blindfold while her opponent made his way to them. It was Tyson this time, volunteering himself as you would expect for a task like this. Once the two of them put on their blindfolds, Samson led them carefully to a few yards in front of the hoop. He handed the ball to Vela, who was told to make her shot first.

Vela kept her feet flat on the ground, holding onto the ball tightly. She faked an attempt to warm herself up before actually attempting her shot next. It was nothing but net. Many of her teammates gasped and shared disbelieving looks. Vela turned to what she thought was Tyson. "Beat that!" she boasted, jamming a finger into the person's chest.

However, she was actually doing that to Samson. Tyson would quickly poke her on the shoulder from the other side, notifying her that she wasn't facing him. She turned around and then jammed her finger into his chest. "There!" she said with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face.

"Alright Tyson, you have to make this shot," John informed as the athlete was being situated at the proper spot. "Otherwise, the point will go to the Deer."

Tyson took the ball and held it close. Like Vela, he faked an attempt first then made his shot. He heard the ball bounce on the rim, spin around it and then fall through the net. "Hell yeah!" he wooed, pumping his fist in the air.

"Shooting out here like Michael Jordan," John remarked as he clapped his hands. "Vela, you gotta try it again now."

Vela took a deep breath and prepared her shot. She wouldn't be as lucky this time and ended up missing, causing her to stamp her foot on the ground with frustration. John would then inform Tyson that if he made the next shot, the point would be all his.

"Let's do this…" Tyson said to himself as he readied himself. He could feel the tension amongst everyone, potentially making him nervous but he remained calm. A swish of the net later and Tyson jumped around in triumph as his team cheered him on.

"A great display of skill from the both of y'all," John said. "But in the end, Tyson makes his team go up by one."

Vela seemed disappointed in herself as she headed back to her team. Rae stood next to her and tried to cheer her up. "You did a lot better than I would've," she said. Vela grew a small smile and patted Rae on the shoulder thankfully.

John quickly blew a whistle to get everyone's attention. "Alright, moving on to the next task," he said as he pointed at Clifford. "Who do you volunteer next?"

Clifford looked back at his team analytically before making his decision. "Let's go with Kyla," he said.

"Moi?" Kyla responded in surprise while pointing at herself.

"No, the other girl named Kyla," Clifford quipped, rolling his eyes. "Of course, you. Now get out there and redeem yourself."

Kyla gulped nervously and stepped forward. Meanwhile, Tyson had chosen Celia to take on this task. She would go up to Kyla with a confident smirk on her face. "Don't get super salty like you did last time, okay darling," she mocked playfully.

Kyla sighed, not really having anything on her mind to respond with. "Just show us what we're going to be doing, John," she asked. John looked back at Samson with a nod. Samson would then take out a baseball bat from his box. Kyla's eyes widened in fear. "Sacre bleu…"

Celia snickered and covered her mouth with her hand. "Girl, you must be the unluckiest person out there," she said, half-serious, half-jokingly.

"All you need to do is hit a pitch while blindfolded," John explained, handing them their blindfolds. "Don't have to run any bases or catch anything. Just swing your bat and hope you make contact. The camper who takes the least amount of swings to do so, earns the point."

Kyla was up first. She stood by a make-shift home plate as Samson pitched her the first pitch. She would miss entirely, completely not realizing her swing was seconds off. This would continue a couple more times until Kyla started to predictably get frustrated. She clenched tighter to her bat and swung as hard as she can but her momentum carried her too far and she slipped in embarrassing fashion. "Ack, I freaking hate this!" she screamed.

"Hah, there's the salt," Celia chuckled as she eagerly awaited her turn.

Kyla picked herself up, brushing some dirt off of her and took a deep breath. She readied her bat and waited for Samson's pitch. Kyla would miss again and this time she had enough. "Oh forget it," she tossed her bat aside in frustration. "I quit!"

Clifford face-palmed himself as Kyla took off the blindfold and aggressively tossed it to the ground. She stormed over to her team, not even caring that she essentially gave the other team a free point. "Real great redemption there," Clifford mocked.

"Absolutely pathetic," Bo added, shaking his head.

"Tell me, why did we choose to keep her around over Jaz?" Preston asked, crossing his arms.

Kyla ignored them all and took a seat by herself on the ground. Only Neda would sit next to her, attempting to console her friend by wrapping an arm around her. Kyla wouldn't respond much, only just staring deeply into the dirt.

"Well Celia, I guess your team is now at three points," John said with a shrug. "You don't even need to swing."

Celia lifted her blindfold and seemed disappointed. "Can I at least still try?" she requested.

John stepped aside and gestured towards the home plate. "Knock yourself out," he agreed.

Celia would only take a few attempts before landing a nice grounder down the middle. Once she heard the bat crack, she couldn't help but feel pumped. "Oh that shit was easy," she bragged as she headed back to her team.

Felix greeted her with a high-five. "Even if she had hit it eventually, you'd still would've won," he said.

"She quit for nothing," Celia replied, directing a smug grin at the other team. "Only two more to go. You bozos feeling scared yet?"

"Never!" Vela snapped, holding her head up high.

Clifford shared looks with Bo. "You think you can get us back in the game?" he asked.

Bo nodded and stepped forward. "Let me at it, chief," he replied with a smirk.

"So it looks like Bo will volunteer for this next task," John announced, pointing at Tyson. "Who do you choose?"

Tyson looked around, tapping on his chin. "Uhhh…" he seemed unsure before Felix suggested picking him. Tyson agreed with a cheerful smile. "Alright Felix, it's your turn then."

John led the two campers to a sandbox, the one that used to have the mud in it. Instead, there were now two sets of blocks that were meant to be put together in a certain way. After John gave them the blindfolds, he explained what was happening. "You two will have to complete this block puzzle without seeing it, of course."

Felix put on his blindfold and smirked. "Good luck, amigo," he said to Bo, who didn't respond much.

They were both told to begin and each of them took some blocks and felt around them. There were little pegs protruding on one particular side from each block. Bo was the first to connect two pieces, immediately reaching for the next block. Felix struggled a bit with his but soon made a connection. All of this to only have Bo connect another block.

"Come on Felix, you can do it," Sienna encouraged as she clapped her hands. She then noticed Edgar staring at her and sent a little wave in his direction. Edgar looked away but slowly grew a tiny smile.

"Boom, that's four blocks already," said Bo as he had just connected another block. Felix was still at two, having a hard time finding the right piece. Bo would pull ahead even further when he connected blocks number five and six in short fashion.

"This bites," Felix grumbled before finally being able to connect another piece. "Finally…"

But it was too little, too late as Bo would connect his final piece and win the task. Once prompted, he took off the blindfold and smirked proudly at his feat. Felix dropped his blocks and picked himself up, not having much reaction to his loss. When he headed back to his team, Celia was there to poke fun. "Uh oh, someone wants to get nominated," she jabbed.

Felix stared at her for a bit before shrugging. "You got me there," he said as he playfully nudged her away. Celia would respond by nudging back. Felix then turned around and did some sort of moonwalk to mess around with her before bumping into Miriam by accident. "Oops, my bad."

Miriam stared at him blankly. "Nyeh, those dance moves need a little work," she said.

"Tell him," Celia added as Felix rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Bo would return to his team and share some high-fives. "We still have a chance to turn this around," he said. "Who's going next?"

"Well actually, before you decide," John interjected, pointing at the Main Hall. "The remaining tasks will be done back inside there. So follow me everyone."

/

The Main Hall now smelt really tantalizing for some reason. The reason being that Michelle had arrived with some tin-foiled covered pots full of mysterious food. "Hope y'all are having fun so far," she said as each camper made their way to her. "These next few tasks John has put me in charge of."

"The floor is all yours, honey," John said, stepping aside and allowing Michelle to finish.

"Excellent," Michelle said as she went over to one of the pots. "Your next two tasks will test your sense of taste. So who will participate in the first one?"

Clifford leaned over towards Preston. "This is all you, chef," he said as Preston nodded and stepped forward. His opponent would be the adorably excited Aditi. Michelle led the two by the table and handed them their blindfolds.

As the two campers put them on, she pulled out two bowls. "Do y'all like beef stew?" she asked, unwrapping the tinfoil off the pots.

"Ooh, sure!" Aditi answered enthusiastically. "I've had my fair share of bowls. Are we going to have some?"

"Yes, and you'll need to guess the three ingredients used," Michelle explained, as she poured some stew into each of their bowls. "Not including beef, of course."

"So if we guess them all, that's a point?" Preston asked, fumbling around for a nearby spoon.

Michelle helped him by sliding the spoon into his hand and then doing the same for Aditi. "Either guess them all correctly, or guess more correct ingredients than your opponent," she answered. "In the event of a tie, we'll simply try another stew as I made plenty of different kinds. Now with that said, I'll have you taste the stew for as much as you need. Then on the count of three, you'll guess each ingredient individually at the same time. Does that sound good?"

"Oh yeah, sounds super fun," Aditi replied. Preston simply shrugged and began tasting the stew. Aditi tasted it as well but not with a spoon. She simply picked the bowl up and drank it straight out of there. Many of her teammates were bewildered by this decision but she seemed happy, even if some beef broth was dripping onto her clothes.

Preston took small analytical sips, thinking real hard about what kind of flavors he could distinguish. After a bit, he set his spoon aside and nodded, implying that he was ready. Meanwhile, Aditi finished up her entire bowl, plopping it down and letting out a satisfied belch.

Michelle held back a smirk with her hand and stepped forward. "Okay you two," she began. "On the count of three, say the three ingredients you think are in this stew. One… Two… Three."

"Carrots, celery and sweet potato," were Preston's answers. "Milk, lima beans and sweet potato," were Aditi's. Afterwards, Michelle asked them to take their blindfolds off and see for themselves. When they did, they saw carrots, celery and sweet potatoes.

"Preston absolutely crushed it," Michelle announced, nodding over towards John. "Guess that's a point for his team."

"Indeed so," John agreed with an impressed smile. "We are now tied at three points a piece."

Aditi got up from the table first. "Oh well, at least I got one of them right," she said as she met up with her team. She stopped by Miriam and waved. "Boy, that stew was pretty tasty."

Miriam stared at Aditi, noticing she had some leftover broth on her chin. "So tasty that you're saving some of it for later, I reckon," she said, gesturing towards her own chin. Aditi quickly used her parka to wipe the broth away then grew an embarrassed smile.

As Preston was getting up from his table, Michelle gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Had a feeling that you would easily win this," she complimented.

"Guess food-related challenges are my specialty," Preston replied, scratching behind his ear. "Good stew, by the way."

Michelle thanked him as he went back to his team, being greeted with a few high-fives. Then she cleared the table and dragged out a cooler with the help of Johnny. Yana saw the little boy and waved at him with an adoring smile. Johnny simply giggled to himself, causing Yana to nearly die from cuteness.

"Taste test number two," Michelle said as she pulled out some cups and placed them neatly on the table. "Who's next?"

Aditi tugged on Miriam's cloak. "Ooh ooh, you should try it this time," she suggested.

Miriam shrugged and glanced over towards Tyson. "Nyeh, guess I will be the next volunteer," she offered to which Tyson would agree.

Meanwhile, Clifford was having a hard time choosing who to go next before realizing something. "Wait a second, John," he called. "Am I allowed to pick someone who has already gone because if so, I'll just pick Preston again."

"Ah, I guess I forgot to mention that no repeats until everyone on your team has done at least one task," the host elaborated. "So your next pick has to be either between Rae or Neda."

Clifford sighed and eyed the two girls down. Neda nodded her head while Rae seemed pretty indifferent, albeit she was staring right at him. This caused Clifford to smirk and point at Rae. "With all that staring, it tells me you want to give it a shot," he said.

Rae looked around cluelessly. "Huh?" she asked.

Clifford rolled his eyes and frowned. "Go over to Michelle already," he scolded, jutting his thumb behind him. "Geez, it's not that complicated."

Rae let out a defeated sigh and dragged her feet to where she needed to be. From there, Michelle had both her and Miriam sit by the table, allowing them to cover their eyes with the blindfolds. Then she pulled out a blender and some ice from the cooler.

After plugging the appliance into the wall, she began her explanation. "This taste test will have you guess the fruit used to make this smoothie," she said. "Like the stew, there'll be three fruits to guess. But this time, I'll actually show all of the others what the fruit will be beforehand. Understand?"

"Sure, I guess," Rae answered, seeming to be sitting pretty still while Miriam tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.

Michelle then revealed to the others what fruits she'll be using. Some sliced mango, a chunk of pomegranate and some cherries. She plopped them all into the blender and started it up. After a few minutes, Michelle poured the contents into each cup and placed straws for them to sip from.

"Thank goodness, finally," Miriam grumbled as she pulled down her face-covering so she could sip. Both her and Rae made a few tastes, both being quite shocked by the weird combinations of flavor. Miriam coughed a little and pulled up her face-covering. "I think I might know one of them, blech!"

"Just like last time, answer them on the count of three," Michelle ordered, seeing that both girls were ready to give their answers. "One… Two… Three."

Miriam's guesses were orange, pomegranate and strawberries, with pomegranate being the one she had disdain for. Rae's guesses had her be pretty positive that there was mango and cherries in it but she couldn't figure out the third one. Nevertheless, her two correct guesses got her the victory over Miriam's one correct guess.

"Oh, well, that was neat I suppose," Rae said as she took off her blindfold to see the reddish orange icey liquid. "Can I take this with me? I really like it."

"Absolutely," Michelle permitted as she took Miriam's cup since she clearly didn't want any more sips. "And you earn your team the lead now with four points."

"Which means only one more point is needed for the White-Tailed Deer to win today's challenge," John added as both Rae and Miriam headed back to their teams. "But the Mallard Ducks have made a comeback before, they could do it again if they win the next two tasks."

"And I suppose you'll take this one from here," Michelle said as she cleaned up the table with a rag.

"Yep, but thanks so much for helping out, honey," John answered as he went over to his wife to give her a kiss on her cheek. Then he patted Johnny on the head.

"Anytime, hubby," Michelle replied with a smile. "In the meantime, I gotta start making lunch for the kids. See ya everyone."

"Bye Michelle," said most of the campers. Shortly after, Michelle took Johnny by the hand and the two left the Main Hall.

John stood by the table, eyeing down the campers individually. "It's just me from now on," he said. "And our next task will involve patience and coordination. Deer, you automatically have to send in Neda. Ducks, will it be Edgar or Sienna?"

Tyson turned to the two mentioned and tapped his chin. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Felix. "What is it?" he asked.

"Listen, I think Sienna is our best bet," Felix whispered, occasionally eyeing over to the girl in question. "Edgar will probably give little to no effort so I don't wanna risk it by picking him."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Tyson agreed. "But keep in mind, if Sienna wins then Edgar's gonna have to go anyway and plus, the Deer will be able to pick a repeat."

"Which I don't find fair at all," Felix added. "Why should we be punished for winning yesterday? So if Sienna ties things up, I'll demand John to let us also pick a repeat… And I want that repeat to be me."

"Allowing yourself to have redemption from last time, I got ya," Tyson replied, causing Felix to frown at him. The athlete responded with an awkward chuckle. "Hey, I'm just kidding, my dude."

"Right," Felix deadpanned before walking away.

"Well Tyson, gonna need a decision now," John ordered as Neda waited with him at the table.

Tyson nodded over towards Sienna. "You got this," he assured.

Sienna fist pumped with a satisfied "yes" and approached the table after. John had both girls stand at one end of the table and then pulled out an entire bag of solo cups from a nearby box. He tore the plastic wrapping open and slid a stack of cups smoothly onto the table.

"You're really getting a lotta mileage with these solo cups," Neda remarked, which caused John to let out an amused chuckle.

"Perfect props for a cheap budget," the host quipped before sliding half the stack towards Neda's side then the other half towards Sienna's. "Now, your task is very simple. Stack ten of these cups in a pyramid formation."

John took two cups and placed them next to each other with their bottom end up. Next, he placed a third cup on top of them forming a three cup pyramid. "Simple enough right?" he asked, sharing nods with the two girls. "Now with ten cups, you need a row of four, then a row of three, then a row a two before finally placing that remaining cup at the tippy top. Be the first to do this while blindfolded and you'll earn that precious point."

"Alright, this sounds like a lotta fun," Neda wooed as she covered her eyes with her blindfold.

John stepped back from the table as the girls continued to ready themselves up. "Alright. On the count of three, you may begin," he announced. "One… Two… Three!"

Neda and Sienna both took their stack of cups and began carefully pulling them apart. Sienna would pull one out and immediately place it while Neda started off by counting the four necessary cups. Sienna's tactic seemed to be quicker as she had the bottom row pretty much cleared. Next came the tricky part, stacking the higher rows. Neda was taking her time, being careful that she wouldn't knock anything over. She neatly pressed her four cups against each other, all the while Sienna was stacking the row of three.

"Look at her go," Yana cheered, waving her hands side to side. "That's what I'm talking about, mud buddy!"

Sienna let out a chuckle before placing the last cup in her row of three, moving onto the row of two next. Neda was still being pretty careful with her stacking but she was falling pretty behind because of it. Many of her teammates were getting nervous, with the exception of Clifford.

"I mean if she fails this, we can just send out our best player to go up against Edgar," Clifford stated with a smug confidence to his words. "Quite the dumb move to save him for last."

"You might be right," Bo added, watching the two girls steadily. "But I don't wanna risk it by underestimating them again. Remember, that's what happened last time."

Clifford shrugged and continued watching the stacking competition. Sienna was on her final cup but it was tricky for her to tell how high she needed to place it. Neda just started her row of two and from the looks of it, she was still going really slow.

Gerald rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Oh for heaven's sake, Neda," he groaned with frustration. "Sienna's one away, go faster!"

Neda felt her body tense up soon after being told this but something unexpected would happen. Sienna would accidentally knock down a few cups while trying to place the final one. Could this be a chance for Neda to steal the victory? Well, Sienna would quickly panic after realizing her mistake and in the process she would knock down a lot more cups.

"Oh no!" Sienna shrieked as her team gasped in shock.

Felix reactively face-palmed himself. "You gotta be fucking kidding me…" he mumbled to himself.

Neda, overhearing Sienna's mishap, felt relieved. She had much more time now and so she kept her slow and steady pace. And this would eventually pay off as she was able to stack the final cup very carefully and finish her pyramid.

"The White-Tailed Deer have won the challenge!" John shouted. "Oh and Sienna was so so close too. But luck wasn't on their side this time. So congrats to Neda for earning her team the final point."

Neda would immediately remove her blindfold, having the proudest smile on her face. The rest of her team clapped for her with respect. With so much excitement that she was unable to contain, she jumped around in joy, accidentally knocking her pyramid of cups down. She chuckled awkwardly as since she already won, it didn't matter if they fell.

Sienna was in the exact opposite of the emotional spectrum. She didn't even want to remove her blindfold and just stood by the table, looking super defeated. Yana would go to her and try to comfort her but many of her other teammates were not as forgiving. Felix especially was irritated, so much so that he left the Main Hall in complete disbelief. Celia would follow after him, almost finding his reaction hilarious.

"Don't be such a sore loser, darling," the rebel mocked as she followed him out of the building.

Felix turned around and flapped his hands to his thighs. "Like what the actual hell was that?" he groaned. "How do you blow it so badly? That should've been an easy win. Did you see how slow Neda was going? Like come on, Sienna!"

Celia grabbed him by the shoulder with an amused look on her face. "Relax, doofus," she said. "We can just vote her out later. No big deal."

"Guess we have to convince Tyson to nominate her then," Felix suggested, seeming to calm down.

"Oh, we will," Celia assured before dragging Felix back into the Main Hall where their team awaited them.

"I'm good, everybody," Felix said with a goofy smile.

"Well that's great to hear," John said sarcastically. "Unfortunately since you lost, I'm expecting to see you and the rest of your team back here for your first elimination ceremony."

"Woohoo…" Felix grunted.

"Tyson's got some decisions to make," John continued, facing the athlete directly. "Maybe talk this one out with your team during lunch time."

"I suppose I will," Tyson said through a sigh.

Begin Confessional

"Well shoot," Tyson groaned as he scratched behind his neck. "I gotta nominate two people now and I really don't know if I want to. Like I know that's what my job as the Captain is for but I can't help but feel bad for whoever I end up choosing."

Tyson sat still in his chair as he reflected on the events of the challenge. "Alright, who should I at least not nominate?" he asked himself. "Obviously not myself… Maybe not Celia or Yana either since they won their task. I also don't wanna nominate Kai either for uhhh… reasons." He blushed a little bit after saying that.

End Confessional

It was lunchtime at the cafeteria for the campers. Michelle had served everyone the leftover beef stew she had made for the challenge as well as cheese and ham melts on sourdough bread. Everyone at this point had gotten their food and sat with their teams. Over by the White-Tailed Deer's table, there was some discussion about the events that happened during the challenge.

"A perfect three guesses for the stew?" Gerald asked a neighboring Preston. "Lad, did you cheat or something?"

"Nope, I just know my ingredients," Preston denied, taking a bite of his melt. "Like this has margarine in it, not butter."

Gerald's face was both confused and impressed at the same time. "Well I hope we get a cooking challenge or something because that's an easy win with you on our team," he said, playfully punching Preston on the shoulder.

"I, uh, cook too sometimes," said a quiet Rae, who quickly grew nervous when everyone faced her. "Well, I mean, probably not as good as Preston but yeah, I can at least do decent… Please, stop staring at me like that."

Bo smirked and turned to Clifford. "She doesn't mind staring at others but hates it when we do it to her," he shared quietly. "Hypocrite much?"

Clifford wiped his lips with a napkin and shrugged. "Clearly not the worst it can get for our teammates," he replied before staring right at Kyla, who poked at her melt despondently. Clifford rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. "Hey, just because we won, doesn't mean we're simply going to forget about you quitting on us."

"Yeah, what the hell was that about?" Gerald added, glaring at the french critic with disappointment.

"Guys…" Kyla whimpered, not even bothering to look at them. "I don't want to talk about this now."

"Well when should we?" Preston asked, tapping his fingers on the table. "Because if this is going to be a frequent occurrence from you, then you might as well kiss your ass goodbye from this island."

"She had a rough day, bub," Vela interjected. "What do you want from her?"

"It seems like she's always having rough days, everyday," Bo said, shaking his head.

"For real, she's just a whiny baby," Gerald added, picking at his teeth with his finger.

"Please, I'm sorry," Kyla apologized softly. "I won't do it again but just please…"

"You know, I don't get you," Clifford said, ignoring her plea. "You come to this show. You freak out over meaningless things. You whine about baseball too much. And then you act like the victim. Tch, none of my art could have predicted such a basket case."

"I just think she needs to go," Preston confessed, sharing an apologetic shrug with Vela. "She's clearly not in the right headspace for this."

Vela bit her lip and lowered her head. "You might be right…" she said. "But can we please just drop this for her own sake? We won. Shouldn't we be celebrating instead?"

"We can celebrate and still shit on such a pathetic performance, you know," Gerald countered.

"Pathetic is underselling it," Bo added with a smug grin. "Lousiest excuse of a teammate I've ever seen."

"J-j-just leave me alone, please," Kyla whined much more audibly as she curled up a little in her seat and slumped her head into her hands.

"Soft as hell too," Bo grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Meanwhile, Neda was really starting to feel bad for Kyla and decided to finally step in. "Alright, let's not pile on her any more, okay?" she pleaded. "Look, I know she's not been the best possible teammate that she could be but I just feel like you're all being way way too hard on her. Like come on, she's been having a pretty bad time here, alright? And all she really needs is a little more support from you guys."

"Aight listen, this isn't a therapy session," Bo replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "If she can't handle the game, then she shouldn't be here. It's that simple."

"No, stop saying that," Neda continued to plead. "Just give her another chance, please."

"We did," Clifford added. "And then she gave up on us again."

"Well I just think…" Neda tried to say but unfortunately she was having a hard time coming up with another defense. So instead she went a different direction. "Well I guess I can't change your mind about her but like Vela said, we won anyway so she has plenty of time to improve. I promise."

"Highly unlikely but okay," Clifford said, rolling his eyes.

Neda bit her lip and sighed, looking at Kyla, who pretty much hadn't moved since her last words. She just remained slouched over with her head slumped into her hands. Vela and Rae watched her with concern as well, both clearly feeling a bit more sympathetic for her then their male teammates.

"Poor girl," Vela whispered to Rae after she swallowed her current bite. "Outcasted by the majority."

"I know how that feels," Rae added. Once she realized that her comment garnered the concern of Vela, she grew nervous. "What? It's fine, really."

Begin Confessional

"Did I think the guys were being too hard on Kyla?" Vela asked rhetorically. "Probably. But then again, I can kinda understand it. However, seeing just how depressed the poor girl was getting, honestly really got to me. Even though they have every right to be upset with her, the boys just come across as complete assholes…"

Vela thought for a moment before raising her eyebrows with an idea. "You know what?" she said. "I think all of the girls on this team really need to come together and support each other even more then."

Vela grew more serious as she started to develop the thought more in her head. "Because otherwise, the guys are probably just gonna pick us off one by one," she said slowly, biting her lip pensively. "I can already see Neda being the next target once they get through Kyla. And then it might be Rae next…"

Vela clenched onto the armrests and shook her head, getting herself a little worked up. "I ain't letting them do that to my sisters from other misters," she stated sternly before growing a sly smile. "I think an all girl's alliance is needed."

End Confessional

The Mallard Ducks sat at their table, them being rather quiet this time. Tyson would soon clear his throat though and say something. "So uhhh, any ideas on who I should nominate?" he asked awkwardly.

"Personally, I think Sienna should be one of the nominations," Felix suggested, pointing towards the girl.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Sienna sighed as she propped her head up with her arm on the table.

"Losing the task in embarrassing fashion will do that to ya," Felix replied.

"Well you lost your task too," Yana butted in.

"But I kept it closer than she did," Felix countered.

"Well then why not nominate Miriam then since she did pretty bad on her task too," Yana suggested.

Miriam looked around to see the team now staring at her. "Don't you know how awkward it feels when you all do that?" she asked, referring to the staring.

Felix smirked and wagged a finger in her direction. "She did bad, yeah, but she's cool so I'll give her a pass," he said, causing Miriam to raise an eyebrow.

"So you don't think I'm cool?" Sienna asked.

"I mean, can you sleep on top of trees and wield the bow and arrow masterfully like she can," Felix asked, gesturing towards Miriam with his elbow.

"No, I suppose," Sienna denied.

Meanwhile, Miriam kept a stare on the poker player to which he would notice. "What?" he asked. "It's true, isn't it? You sleep on trees with no issue. You can shoot targets hundreds of feet away. You dress like a character from Game of Thrones. Like that's all pretty badass if you ask me."

Miriam, surprised by how straight-forward his explanation was, looked away and didn't say anything. She might've been blushing in modesty but it was hard to tell due to her face being half-covered.

"Well as someone who did win their task," said Celia who decided to join in on the discussion. "I agree with Felix in that Sienna should be one of the nominations."

"It is with my saddest displeasure to also agree," Kai added. Sienna seemed pretty defeated but she couldn't really do anything to defend herself here.

Felix turned to Tyson, who seemed to be quite uneasy. "Does all of this make sense to you?" he asked.

"I mean yeah, it makes sense," Tyson agreed reluctantly, glancing over at Sienna. "You really did blow it, dude."

"I know, I know," Sienna said, staring at her tray with sad eyes.

"Let's give her a pass," said the quiet unemotional voice of Edgar, surprising everyone at his table. They all stared back at him which made him fall back to silence.

"Damn, he actually said something," Felix quipped with a big smirk on his face.

Sienna gave Felix a look before turning to Edgar. "Thank you," she whispered. Edgar responded with a small smile.

Felix rolled his eyes and faced Tyson again. "For the second nomination, you could choose any one of us who also failed their task," he suggested. "Yes, that includes me. I'm a fair guy, I'll acknowledge that I could've done better."

"I really don't know, man," Tyson replied, picking at his chicken. "Nominating people is hard. I don't wanna upset any of you because I like you all."

"Well that's sweet," Aditi said, patting him on the hand from across the table. "But remember, it's just a game. No need to feel bad for simply just playing it. We'll all understand."

"Indeed, my friend," Kai added, fidgeting with his spoon. "As long as you keep playing things fair, then no one shall be upset with you."

Tyson shrugged and looked around at his team. "Well alright then," he said. Kai patted him on the shoulder and then huffed into his spoon, placing it on his nose to stick. Tyson chuckled at his antics. "Great, now that I've taught you that, you're gonna do that every meal, huh?" Kai simply shrugged, causing his spoon to fall which made him smile bashfully.

Aditi then picked up her spoon and huffed into it, sticking it on her nose as well. She looked over to Miriam and smiled cutely at her. "Look at me, I'm the Spoon Sniffer," the wanderer said. Miriam tried to keep a straight face but couldn't help but giggle just a little, her laugh being as monotonous as her typical voice.

Begin Confessional

Miriam sat with her legs crossed and propped her head up with her arm. "I couldn't help it," she said with a dreamy look on her eyes. "She's just so dang cute, okay?"

Suddenly, Miriam fell silent and uncrossed her legs. She hugged herself and stared at her lap. "I'm gonna be too scared to make a move, aren't I?" she asked through a defeated sigh.

End Confessional

"What the hell is this?" screamed Yana as she stepped inside the bathroom of her side of the cabin. The entire place was trashed and littered with toilet paper. Toothpaste was smeared all over the sink and mirror. The toilet was forcefully clogged up with one of Yana's dolls and a bunch of Yana's clothes were thrown recklessly around as well. She was absolutely horrified at the sight.

Sienna would enter the bathroom with her and immediately gasp. "Oh my god…" she said.

Yana quickly grew furious and stormed out of the bathroom. "Who did this?" she demanded, marching over towards Aditi first. "Was it you?"

Aditi shared looks with Miriam, who was leaning up against a dresser. Yana kept her glare on Aditi, crossing her arms impatiently. "Well?" she pressed on.

"Hey dumbass, it wasn't them," said Celia, who had just entered the cabin. Yana turned around and fumed as Celia seemed all too pleased. "You wanna complain about me making a mess? Well there, I made a bigger mess. Now deal with it."

Yana's face grew red in frustration. Sienna watched along nervously by the bathroom door while Aditi slowly scooted her way behind Miriam for cover. Yana hoisted up an irate, shaky finger. "You little jerk," she seethed. "You think this is funny?"

Celia snickered and nodded. "I mean, I would say so, darling," she affirmed with confidence.

Yana clenched her hair tightly and forced out an aggravated scream through her teeth. "I can't believe this," she whined. "All I wanted was for you to be a little more tidy. Why do you have to be such an asshole about this?"

Celia raised an eyebrow as everyone else in the room awkwardly stood there to watch. "Me? The asshole?" she replied. "Okay, who was the one to yell at me for leaving my clothes on the ground? Oh that's right, you. And who was the one to yell at me for leaving a little bit of toothpaste in the sink? Ding ding, you again. You barely know me and yet you act like you can just boss me around like I'm gonna just sit back and take it."

"I'm not trying to be bossy!" Yana snapped, before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry for initially yelling at you. I was wrong for that. But you've only been escalating things more and more because of that and it's so frustrating."

"And you don't think it's frustrating to hear you constantly nag me about every little thing?" Celia countered.

"I don't nag you for every little thing," Yana denied.

"Yes you freakin' do," Celia shot back.

"I don't!" Yana shouted at the top of her lungs.

This was enough for Sienna to finally step in. "Come on you two, knock it off," she ordered.

"Nyeh, seriously," Miriam added with Aditi still cowering behind her. "You both are just being a headache and a half for the rest of us."

"Whatever," Celia said, rolling her eyes. "I did what I had to do and I got the reaction that I wanted. I'm leaving." She then headed back out of the cabin, leaving Yana to stare at the floor, taking deep breaths.

Miriam looked behind her to check on Aditi and furrowed her eyebrows. "You okay there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Aditi replied softly. "I just don't really like it when they start yelling at each other."

"You and me both," Miriam added, holding out her hand. "Come on, let's go explore some more of those woods for a bit."

"Okay," Aditi agreed, regaining a bit of her energetic demeanor. The two of them would then depart from the cabin, leaving just Yana and Sienna.

Yana was still trying to calm herself with her breathing while Sienna quietly stood next to her. "You think with me having a little brother who causes a lot of trouble, I'd be able to handle Celia with ease," Yana finally spoke. "But no, Celia is just way way worse then Kai could ever be… My brother, not the prince. That Kai is wonderfully mannered. But Celia's manners are just so awful that I can't really even begin to believe it."

Sienna nodded and patted Yana on the shoulder. "Yeah, Celia is very rude," she agreed. "All she does is swear at people and cause trouble."

"I really wish she failed her task so Tyson would nominate her," Yana confessed. "But of course, she just had to go up against the worst team member of the Deer. Ugh, such bullcrap."

"Well, I just wish Felix wasn't so quick to blame me," Sienna said, rubbing her own forearm. "And why did he have to be kind of a jerk with it too? He flat out called me not cool in front of everybody."

"Well I guess that's why he hangs with that no good brat all the time," Yana said, grabbing Sienna by the hand. "They're both jerks but I will make sure the others won't vote for you. We can only hope Tyson nominates Felix then after that, we'll take care of Celia next."

"Should we go talk to Tyson about this?" Sienna suggested.

"Well right now, he's at the gym with Kai and I don't really want to bother them by bringing up nomination to them," Yana replied, pinching a strand of her hair nervously. "Especially since Tyson got so stressed by just thinking about it."

"He's too pure for this," Sienna said, swinging their hands gently. "And him and Kai are so sweet together. Literally friendship goals."

Yana laughed as she remembered their antics at the cafeteria. "Gosh, when they just started sticking the spoons on their noses, in my head I was like, what a bunch of silly billies," she said. "I love them."

"Me too," Sienna agreed.

/

Outside the Deer cabin, Bo leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed while he observed Lake Michigan from a distance. He would soon divert his eyes to something else. That being Celia, who was heading towards his direction. He shot her a smirk and a nod. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh, nah, I'm just passing through," Celia replied, her expression clearly telling Bo that something was up. As she was beginning to walk past him, she was soon stopped by him grabbing her arm. "Huh?"

"You don't seem like your typical self right now," Bo said. "Where's the confidence and sass I usually see?"

Celia stood there and bit her lip for a sec before sighing briefly. "God, it's so stupid," she said. "The whole thing just annoys the crap out of me, I swear."

"I'm not following," Bo replied with an intrigued look.

"You know Yana, that blonde girl with the dumb ass bandages in her hair?" Celia asked, finger brushing her own hair. "Well she was getting on my last nerves, so I decided to set up a little prank and tell her off. 'Cause I'm not someone that will just let people walk over me. I will fight back."

"Alright, alright," Bo said, nodding his head. "Is she annoying? Or what?"

"She's like a goddamn overly strict parent," Celia answered, rolling her eyes. "I'm over here just trying to chill and take it easy and she's getting all up in my face over tiny little things. Like bitch, I don't know you, why the fuck are you bossing me around like I'm your goddamn little sister. Get out of here with that."

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I would feel if I were in your shoes too," Bo replied. "And she did seem like the uptight nagging type to me when I first met her."

"I just want her to leave me alone," Celia demanded, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "And so I only pranked her to get her to back off. But I don't think she's gonna listen. God, I wish I was on your guys' team or something. Just sharing a cabin with her is hell."

"If possible, I'd swap Kyla for you in a heartbeat," Bo confessed with a smirk. "Little Miss Frenchie is such a pathetic excuse for a teammate, good lord."

"Man, we should ask John about this then," Celia suggested. "'Cause if I could actually be with you guys, maybe I could finally chill in peace for once."

"Yeah, the other girls are mostly okay if not a little incompetent," Bo explained. "But Kyla is just so whiny and soft. I'd rather have you for sure."

"Hell yeah," Celia said, sharing a high five. "Ain't nothing soft at all about me."

Just then, Clifford came out of the cabin and spotted the two chatting. "Making alliances with the other team or something?" he asked facetiously.

Bo gave him a look. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Clifford shrugged as he approached the two nonchalantly. "The wind may be believed to be coming from one direction but in reality the wind never existed," he said, causing Bo and Celia to stare at him bewilderingly. Clifford simply smirked. "I'm so damn sarcastic, remember?"

Bo kept his bewildered stare for a bit before letting out a chuckle. "You're crazy, man," he said.

"Nah, we were just talking about our terrible teammates," Celia explained.

"Let me guess, Kyla?" Clifford replied, straightening out his sleeves.

"And my teammate, Yana," Celia answered with a nod.

"Yana won a task for you, didn't she?" Clifford asked.

"Nah, she means by her personality," Bo explained. "Apparently she's bossy as hell."

"Yeah but I don't want to go on about her any more," Celia said, shaking her head. "I'm just gonna move on at this point and maybe see if John could let me switch teams."

"If you do switch teams, just keep an eye out for Gerald," Clifford said. "He's a bit of a Peeping Tom."

"I'll fuck him up then," Celia boasted, causing Bo to chuckle again.

Cllifford waved a finger at her while looking at Bo. "Oh, I would love to see that," he said with a smug grin.

/

It was now time for the elimination ceremony. John had the Mallard Ducks sit in chairs at the Main Hall while he stood at his podium. "Well here we are," the host began. "Y'all managed to avoid this yesterday with an amazing comeback but unfortunately you were not able to do it again today. Which means it's time for one of you to be eliminated."

Felix and Celia shared confident looks. Sienna sighed and lowered her head while Edgar watched her despondently. Yana fiddled with a few strands of her hair while Aditi and Miriam sat together quietly. Kai was next to Tyson, who seemed to be rather tense to say the least.

John leaned forward onto his podium and observed Tyson. "Captain, please tell me who you'll be nominating," he ordered.

Tyson felt his palms grow sweaty as he looked around at his fellow teammates. "Right, the nominations uhhh…" he stammered. "Before I pick any of you, just know that it's still cool and everything…"

"You can do this, Tyson," Kai reassured, placing a hand on the athlete's back. But before Tyson could continue, Zack entered the Main Hall. Alongside him was a disgruntled Jaz, wearing rubber cleaning gloves.

"Sorry to interrupt," Zack apologized, approaching the podium with Jaz following right behind him. "We have a little issue on our hands."

"Oh boy," John responded, perking his head up curiously. "Alright, let's pause the elimination ceremony for a bit to see what's going on." Tyson sighed in relief and eased his shoulders. Kai still kept his hand on Tyson's back however.

Zack turned towards the campers and crossed his arms. "Well you see, John. Jaz showed me the state of one of the cabin bathrooms," he explained, before glancing right at Celia, who gulped nervously. "The girl's side bathroom of the Ducks to be exact."

"And I was so not gonna clean any of that, uh uh," Jaz added, looking peeved.

Zack stood there, eyes still locked onto Celia. "So which one of you did it?" he asked. Celia wouldn't say anything but someone else eventually did.

"It was Celia," Yana ratted, pointing the rebel out. "She did that to mess with me."

"Of course," Zack said with an unsurprised look on his face.

"You freakin' snitch!" Celia shouted, storming up to her feet and staring down Yana with contempt.

"Hey, did you think I'm gonna just let you get away with what you did?" Yana replied, standing her ground. "You need to face the consequences for your actions. You can't just go around and do whatever the hell you want. That's really mean and inconsiderate!"

"You are not my fucking mother," Celia growled. "You do not have any authority over me. So why don't you sit down, shut up and leave me the hell alone for once."

Yana shook her head and glared at her. "Don't you disrespect me again," she demanded, getting quite tense in the shoulders. "I am not gonna deal with your crap anymore, you immature spoiled brat!"

"Girl, I am this close to beating you up," Celia threatened, shaking her head and growling a snarl. She rolled up her sleeves and clenched her fists as the rest of her team watched in nervous anticipation, unsure if a fight would actually break out. "Call me that one more time, bitch. I dare you!"

"Lay a single hand on me and you will suffer severe consequences," Yana countered, pointing a finger and stepping just a bit closer.

"I don't give a damn, you hear? I'll square up with whatever you throw at me," Celia shouted back. "Now back the fuck off or you're really gonna get it!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Zack interjected, pulling away Celia, much to her dismay as he held her by the shoulder.

Yana took a deep, calming breath before heading back to her team. She sat with an exasperated look on her face as Tyson quietly scooted up next to her. "Should I nominate her? " he asked with a whisper.

"Please, I can't deal with her attitude anymore," Yana replied, rubbing her temples. She looked up to see Celia still by Zack with her arms crossed. She would nudge her shoulder away from his grasp but didn't do anything else.

John, who was quietly watching this all go down, cleared his throat and geared his attention towards Tyson. "So anyway, who are you nominating?" he asked.

Tyson sighed, still nervous about all of this. "I guess I'll nominate Sienna," he said as the chosen girl nodded her head, clearly understanding why she was nominated. Tyson then took a deep breath and felt his heart in his chest thump faster. He shook his head and gave the rebel an apologetic look. "Ah man, this sucks… Sorry Celia, I have to nominate you too."

Celia rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she grunted before noticing Felix staring at her. She shook her head defeatedly and he shrugged at her in response.

"Will the two of you come to the podium, please?" John requested. Once the two girls did, he continued. "Before we get to the voting, does anyone want to veto these nominations?"

"Well obviously me," Celia said, holding up her hand.

Sienna held hers up as well.

Felix then raised his hand. "I'll veto," he offered, looking over to Celia and giving her a wink. She seemed to be quite thankful for the gesture as she tapped over her chest and nodded.

"Unfortunately that's only three campers for the veto which is not the majority," John stated, since no one else raised their hand. "So the nominations will stand."

With that said, John had each camper vote one by one. After that, he tallied the votes up and proceeded with the ceremony as Celia and Sienna stared at each other nervously. "Alright everyone, the votes are in," John announced. "The camper going home this time is…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…Celia!"

"Are you freakin' kidding me?" Celia gasped in frustration. "I won my task!"

"Yeah but you've been causing a lot of trouble for us girls," Sienna said as she felt relieved from being safe.

"That's Yana's fault and you know it!" Celia shouted.

"I don't know, Celia," Aditi interjected, tapping her pointer fingers together. "You were the one to purposely trash up the bathroom."

"And I saw you chatting up with the other team," Miriam added. "So I struggled to trust you here."

"You two are insane," Celia responded, shaking her head at them before facing Yana, who was smirking proudly at the situation. "And you…"

Yana leaned in and squinted her eyes, still with the smirk on her face. "Yes?" she said.

Celia stood there for a bit before ultimately shaking her head. "Nah, you're not worth it anymore," she grumbled before turning to John. "Aight, where do I go now?"

John pointed at his brother. "With Zack," he answered. "He'll take you to get your stuff, then he'll bring you to the dock where you'll get on a boat that'll sail you back to Milwaukee."

Celia rolled her eyes with a sigh. "K, let's just get this over with then," she said, following Zack out of the Main Hall.

Meanwhile, Tyson sat with his head slumped down to which Kai would take notice. "Are you alright, my friend?" he asked kindly.

Tyson raised his head and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm good," he answered, turning towards Kai with a smile. "Who did you vote for?"

"I went with Sienna solely based on her performance," Kai confessed. "The quarrel between Yana and Celia wasn't enough for me to change my mind. But what about you?"

Tyson bit his lip and looked pensive. "I, uh…" he stumbled. "I voted for Celia… But I really didn't want to vote for any of them. Man, I just hope we never lose again."

"That's understandable," Kai said, patting Tyson on the shoulder. "I'd much rather not be in this position again either."

John soon dismissed everyone and let them head back to their cabins. Sienna and Yana walked back together, both feeling pretty relieved. "I told you I wouldn't let them vote you out," Yana said as she and Sienna swung hands together. "So what're you gonna do now?"

"I'm not sure, might just relax or…" Sienna stopped herself when she noticed someone else with them. "Oh hey, Edgar."

Yana stopped as well and smiled at the emo. "How're you feeling, sweetie?" she asked.

Edgar simply shrugged and turned to Sienna. "I was hoping for Tyson to nominate me," he told her. "I didn't do anything for the challenge so it would make sense. And because I'd rather be eliminated."

Sienna and Yana shared concerned looks before the plump girl cleared her throat. "Why do you want to go home so bad?" she asked. "You're blowing away a great opportunity."

"Yeah, I mean, I get that you're sad and stuff," Yana added. "But wouldn't you wanna try to see if you could win the million at least?"

Edgar stared at the ground, not sure what to respond with so Sienna stepped closer and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Edgar, I really don't want you to go," she said.

"Why?" Edgar asked, still staring at the ground.

"Because… I think you're pretty cool," Sienna answered, sharing a nod with Yana. "And I think you and I can be great friends."

"Don't forget about me," Yana cheerfully as she too would place her hand on Edgar's other shoulder.

"Edgar please," Sienna continued as the emo still wasn't saying much. "Just try to give this a chance. Don't give up just yet. We're here for you as well."

"Yeah, I agree," Yana said, placing her other hand on Sienna's back, thus making a sort of triangle. "Also I apologize the other day for asking you not to stare. I didn't want to embarrass you if I did. I just don't really like being stared at but I'm sure you meant no harm."

"I just think Edgar gets lost in thought a lot," Sienna suggested. "I sometimes do that myself and end up staring at someone by accident."

Edgar would slowly raise his head to see both girls sharing warm smiles in his direction. He eyed back and forth at both for a bit before sighing. "I guess I will give it a chance," he said reluctantly.

"Aww, there we go," Yana said, pulling the three in together for a group hug, with Edgar being thrown off a little. "Us three are like a supportive family."

"Yeah…" Sienna said as she blushed a little.

/

Celia was heading her way to the dock with her belongings as Zack escorted her to her destination. "So can I have my paint cans back?" she asked.

Zack rolled his eyes. "I guess," he said as they made it to the dock. "Wait here."

As Zack went to retrieve the paint cans from his office, Celia stood by the dock with her arms crossed and a sad look in her eyes. But her eyes would light up once she saw Felix approaching. "Come to tell me goodbye, sweetheart?" she asked.

"More or less," Felix replied with a shrug. "I really tried to keep you around but I don't know why no one else decided to veto with us."

"I ain't surprised," Celia said. "They're all probably scared of me but I don't give a shit."

"Well, I'm gonna miss our little banter," Felix replied. "Things are gonna be way less fun now."

"Just don't cry like a wuss when I leave, okay?" Celia mocked playfully.

Felix faked some sobbing. "Too late for that, sista," he said, covering his face with his hands before dropping them to reveal a smug grin on his face. Celia rolled her eyes but smiled as well.

Suddenly Zack returned, holding Celia's spray paint in his hands. He furrowed his eyebrows at Felix. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"Saying goodbye to my friend, what does it look like?" Felix answered with a bit of sass.

Zack ignored him and handed the cans to Celia. "Do not spray paint the boat on your way back, do you hear me?" he ordered sternly.

Celia blew a raspberry and then smirked at Felix. "See ya around, chump," she farewelled.

Felix nodded with a smile before slowly reaching out for a quick embrace. After they hugged, Celia took her bags and paint and boarded the boat while Felix would watch her sail away. He stood there, seeming to reflect on the day before frowning. "Thanks a lot, Captain," he mumbled sarcastically. Afterwards, he made his way back to his cabin.

Begin Confessional

Felix sat there with a reflective look on his face. "If I had just a little more time, I could've maybe been able to save Celia," he said before shaking his head. "Fucking Tyson, screwing everything up… Well, I'm not gonna let something like this happen again."

He adjusted himself in his chair as he pulled out his deck of cards. "Tomorrow, I will start my alliance," he stated, riffle-shuffling the deck. He then took the top card and stared at it. "But with who…? Edgar? Kai? Aditi? Yana even? So many options…"

After a moment to really think about it, Felix pulled out a pen and grew a smile. "I think I might know who to gamble with," he said as he drew something on the card and revealed it to be a drawing of an arrow.

End Confessional

"Welp, I'm back in my office," John said as he sat back in his chair. "So that means the episode is ready to come to an end. Will Felix's alliance come to form tomorrow? Will Edgar be able to turn things around emotionally? Will Kyla give up on another challenge? Well, I hope to see you all here again to find out on the next episode of The Peralta Challenges."

---

Votes:

Celia: Aditi, Edgar, Miriam, Sienna, Tyson and Yana

Sienna: Celia, Felix and Kai

---

Team Status:

The Mallard Ducks: Aditi, Edgar, Felix, Kai, Miriam, Sienna, Tyson and Yana

The White-Tailed Deer: Bo, Clifford, Gerald, Kyla, Neda, Preston, Rae and Vela

Eliminated: Jaz (18th), Celia (17th)

---

It really pained me to have Celia leave this early but I unfortunately couldn't really have her go any further than this. Her friendship with Felix was nice and it will obviously lead to some development between Tyson and Felix (possibly in the next chapter) now that she is gone. She was a fan favorite by many, including me. I think she's an overall hilarious but relatable character and I thank The Feline Overlord for sending her to me.

Name of the next episode:

EPISODE 4: WHAT'S YOUR LIMIT?

And with that said, stay hydrated and have a wonderful day :)