Finale time! Let's dive right in. Thanks for reviewing, Elizabeth Life Stone, queenoftrouble, and Bloodylilcorpse. So...is it good or bad that I surprised you?

I got up the next morning, humming.

Zoey looked up at me. "That song sounds familiar."

I shrugged. "It should. It's from the third season. Remember it?"

Zoey screwed her face up in thought. "Oh, yeah!" She sang a line. "I'm gonna win it, and you can't take it!"

I sang the next line in it. "I'm right here in it, and you just fake it!"

We both laughed, but then Zoey became serious. "We're not going to go into the finale with that really vicious attitude like Heather and Alejandro did that season, though, right?"

I shook my head. "So I want that million bucks. At least I'll be leaving this show knowing that I beat out thirteen veterans and...well...are you still planning to spend that money on..."

Zoey nodded. "Yeah. I mean, even though Mike is planning to get help himself, I want him to be able to get the best help possible. I know it sounds like charity, but seriously, the best prize I could have is to have him back in control."

"Which means that if I go on with my plan if I win – and trust me, a million dollars is worth less than Mal disappearing forever – my prize will be ten times smaller, and I won't feel too bad if you win." I paused and smirked. "Not that you'll win, of course." I added, half-serious.

Zoey smirked back, the expression looking pretty odd on her innocent face. "Bring it on!"

I paused again. "Just don't go crazy commando on me, all right?"

"You've got a deal!" Zoey laughed. "I'll admit, I went a little overboard last season."

"Attention, finalists!" The loudspeaker called us out for the challenge, and so we could get "Ready to diet!...sorry, typo. Ready to die!"

I rolled my eyes at Zoey as we left the hotel. "Typical Chris. We've defied death at least five times already this season. This challenge can't be any different." I remembered all the others...the reject Olympics, the questions and vote, the volcanic sacrifice, and the gladiator tournament. How hard could it be?

Chris congratulated us on making it to the finale. "It's something you'll regret for the rest of your lives, which will likely be rather short, since this challenge is so vicious...so brutal...so savage..."

I heard Zoey gasp.

"That our lawyers said we had to change it." Chris continued calmly.

Zoey breathed a sigh of relief. "So you made it less dangerous?"

"Nope! But we told them we did!" Chris laughed. Chef, who was standing by his side, didn't look too pleased when Chris addressed him. "High-five!"

"People gonna die." Chef muttered in a monotone.

"Yeah. Those people." Chris grinned.

We were given a chance to pick a weapon. Chris went through all of them. "Meatball bazooka, bow and blood-tipped arrows, a leech gun, a slingshot, or...why is there an oven mitt there?"

"There was an extra hook." Chef spoke up sheepishly.

Zoey instantly chose the bow and arrows. I decided on the meatball bazooka, because those things had a lot of force.

Basically, Chris had put all thirteen of the former All-Stars into yellow balloons. Our job was to shoot them down. Any All-Star whose balloon we popped became our helper.

"Can they breathe in there?" Zoey asked.

Chris shrugged, pointing over to another former competitor. "I don't know. Ask our classic competitor Owen. He filled them."

"Thanks, Chris!" called the wind machine who won the first season, surrounded by empty cans of beans. Turned out that he'd filled the balloons with his gas.

"Ew!" I exclaimed. "Chris, seriously. Didn't they get enough torture on the show? And by the way, did you tie them down?"

"Relax, they're perfectly safe." Chris assured me. "Owen doesn't have helium in him. We tested that. They'll only hover for five minutes, and then fall. And we're going to pop all the balloons anyway, so they can watch you and Zoey do the final challenge...or die trying." Anyway, he was done talking, so it was time for us to start shooting.

As a matter of fact, the two of us were lucky enough to shoot down two people each, and they'd be our greatest allies. First, Zoey shot down Cameron. Then, my bazooka popped first Sierra's balloon, and then Duncan's. Zoey made one last shot, and out came...

"Mike?" Zoey whispered.

"Of all the times..." I groaned. He'd said he would get help for his DID, but he hadn't had a chance yet, and Zoey ran to check who he was at that moment. She came back instantly, and I knew immediately from the look in her eyes that Mike's control hadn't lasted that long. Mal was still in primary control.

Still, at least I had my boyfriend and one of my new friends on my side, and in spite of everything, Zoey still had Cameron on her side, and no one knew more about Mike's issues than he did.

I went to greet my allies. I gave Sierra a hug (but didn't let her crush me with her returning hug). I greeted Duncan with a kiss, but he quickly turned it into a French kiss, which I returned.

"Ahem." We stopped to see Chris scowling at us. "As much as I want to see you two make out – NOT – we have to get to the final challenge."

I flipped Chris the bird. "Get a life. Just cause no one will hook up with you. It wasn't like we'd even been taking five seconds."

"We can resume it later on." Duncan whispered to me, chuckling. "By the way, nice one-finger salute." I laughed, giving him a playful shove.

Sierra, who had been watching us intently, started tapping away on her SmartPhone, and shot a nervous glance at Mal. "I had the time to check out Mike's criminal record." she whispered to us. "From what I can gather, I think Mal wants the million dollars, but now that he can't win, I think he's going to play his role, but then somehow find a way to take the mil anyway."

As for the other nine competitors – they were on the sidelines, and I looked at all of them. Courtney was no longer scowling. In fact, she and Gwen were sitting together, with tentative smiles (Later on, Gwen told me that she'd made up with Courtney and they were working towards a kind of friendship – not best friends or anything, but on good terms). Lightning, Jo, Scott and Sam were their usual selves. Lindsay smiled and waved to all of us. Heather was sitting right next to Alejandro, but faking my surprise, he gently cupped her face so she had to face him, then leant in and kissed her, and she didn't stop him. However, she did scowl and I heard her say "How many times daily do you feel the need to do that?"

I also heard Alejandro's answer. "What is wrong with me showing my affection for you as often as I want, mi amor? I thought I had the right, since you agreed to be my girlfriend."

Now that was a good sight. It was nice to see that they were finally together, but Heather was still denying she was into him? Wow.

The challenge was sort of a mix of all previous series. First, there were three moats we had to cross. First, there was the ROTI moat – of toxic waste. Second, there was the lava moat, a clear reference to WT's last challenge, what with throwing the sacrifice into the volcano. The third was pretty much a TDI reference – back to basics with normal water...except that Fang lurked below. Then, at the end, Zoey and I would leave our helpers and go to the TDA ending, similar to The Sword In The Stone. Because, to become the Ultimate All-Star, we had to pull the Sword of Victory out of a stone, while getting past Chef as the Mad King, now with my bazooka.

Going through every part of the challenge would be pointless. But I did work out who was rooting for who. Sam always said he rooted for the underdog, and although I had stronger helpers, Zoey was quicker than me, so he was on my side. Lightning and Jo were silent, mostly, but Lindsay and Alejandro seemed to be on my side. Gwen, Courtney and Scott were all on Zoey's side, but I think Scott wasn't really – I turned at one moment and saw him staring at Courtney with a goofy grin, so I think he only cheered for Zoey because he wanted Courtney to like him. Heather was silent.

I cast a nervous look over at Mal, standing by Zoey's side quietly. He saw me staring and shot me one of his smirks, this one lewd as well as dark, sending the shivers down not only my spine, but everywhere. Even my teeth chattered.

I didn't even remember much of the challenge, because I was so scared of what might happen if Mal got his undeserving hands on the money, even if Zoey or I officially won it. We got across the toxic waste, and used the ladder up to get across the lava (as did Zoey), but as I reached the other side, about to climb up to the third moat, I heard Sierra scream. I turned, to see her falling. Mal had just shoved her back down to the first moat...luckily, she didn't fall in, but she was hurt. The ladders had burned up, though, so Zoey's helpers (well, I'd really just say Cameron) and Duncan wouldn't be able to get across the lava anyway...except for the items placed on the sides.

But before anyone else could react, Mal tossed Cameron down to the first level, too.

"Duncan, step away from the psycho before trying to get across!" I called down, ready to cross the first moat. "I'd rather lose to Zoey than have you turn into Ezekiel's double!"

Mal was listening to this, and he had a pogo stick he was jumping on, about to launch himself up to our level. "Oh, I'm not going to deal with him right now." he smirked. "It looks like I'm running out of time, so I'm coming for you two!"

I exchanged glances with Zoey. "One of us has to get up there first! And we have to get Mike to take control for at least a moment!" I whispered.

Zoey nodded grimly. "I'll put myself in Fang's path while you get across. If that doesn't bring Mike out, there's not much else that can. Get the sword out of the stone, and if the two of us keep hold of the money until we get back to the mainland, we can keep it away from Mal."

What can I say? I got across, and Zoey was still alive when I got up there. Our last resort strategy worked well enough that Mike was in control, although as he said to Zoey, "I have a long way to go before I can permanently subdue Mal." And I had won Total Drama All-Stars! Sure, I had Chef's pasta staining my jeans and ruining my hair after he shot at me, and I also ended up throwing up into the toxic waste moat, but still, I was happy, and I stayed happy the whole way home. Once I'd had a chance to brush my teeth after being sick, I spent half the ride talking to Zoey and Sierra, and the other half with Duncan, sometimes talking, and sometimes just being close.

"So..." I said. "What happened with Heather and Alejandro? When did they start dating?"

Duncan shrugged. "I don't know what happened, to be honest. Heather was still furious when I got to the place they were staying – Chris commandeered Playa Des Losers as his private home, so we had to stay somewhere else. When Alejandro got there, she actually went up to him first and slapped him for getting her eliminated. Then he said something, and they spent the whole night in a room together, talking. The next morning, they went all affectionate for about a day. After that, Heather went back to trying to pretend she wasn't that into him, but the difference is just that she lets him show how much he's into her."

I gave the nine hundred thousand I'd promised to put towards getting Mike support to Zoey, keeping the hundred thousand for myself. If my parents were serious about disowning me if I didn't come home with the million, I'd need it.

I called my parents from a pay phone. Possibly the most predictable, yet still painful, phone call. When I explained that I only had a tenth of the money and why I'd given the rest up, I got a rant that basically was "If you're stupid enough to give up your money for a freak, you're no longer our daughter, nor are you welcome in our apartment. Don't bother coming back."

I slammed the reciever down and turned to Duncan. "Can I talk to your mom and see if it's a crime to turn your kid away before she turns eighteen?"

Duncan laughed. "Even if it isn't, you can crash with me for a while. I have my own apartment – it's tiny, but so are you."

So that was it. I moved in with Duncan that same day.

But the trials and tribulations are not over yet. In fact, they're only just beginning!