89 days...wow. I can't believe that it took me 89 days to get this chapter completed and uploaded. There's a lot of reasons for the long wait, but I won't put them up here. If you wish to know why it too me about three months to get this chapter up, read the footer Author's Note. For now, enjoy chapter 31!
Daytona International Speedway - First Obstacle
"AA-AA-AHHH! STOOOOOP!" Katie shouted while she continued to be dragged by her partner's strength. However, for the first time since the challenge started, Eva complied with Katie's request.
"Ugh… Finally…" the BFFFL said painfully with a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, she was forcefully pulled up to her feet by Eva.
"Ow! Not so rough, Eva!"
"Less whining, more climbing!" the Muscular Teen shouted to her running partner.
"Climb?" Katie asked before looking up at the first obstacle. "Oh…"
The first obstacle was a full above-ground pool that had a pair of trapeze handlebars hanging from above them. The trapezes were currently being held by an intern, who was standing on a platform at the end of the pool closest to the starting line. There was another intern standing on the platform on the opposite side of the pool as well, although he didn't have anything in his hands.
Eva and Katie simultaneously climbed the pair of ladders that led up to the platform from the ground. Once they got up to the platform, they were given instructions on how to get past the obstacle.
"Grab these and swing over to the other side without falling into the water," the intern said.
"Easy," Eva said to herself as she took her trapeze.
"What happens if we fall in?" Katie asked as she took hers.
"You have to climb out and try to swing over again, but I think you would worry more about the jellyfish stinging you," the intern answered.
"Jellyfish?!"
"Let's go!" Eva shouted before getting a running start towards the pool.
"AHHH!" Katie shouted as they both swung over the water towards the other platform.
Meanwhile, the pair in second place made their way up to the pool platform.
"Whoa! This looks like the pool from the challenge when I ate that blowfish," Trent commented.
"The one with the jellyfish that Heather fell in," Justin asked.
"Yeah."
"That's probably because it is that pool," the intern said.
"Thought so! So, how do we get past it?"
While the intern explained the obstacle to the Drama Bro Duo, another pair was climbing up the ladder. However, there wasn't enough room on the platform for more than three people.
"Beep-beep! Trying to run a race here," Noah exclaimed while holding on to the ladder with B.
"Gotta wait your turn, Egghead. Or should I call you A-Noah-yance?" Justin said with a chuckle as the trapeze returned back to the platform.
"Your turn, guys," the intern told Justin and Trent as he handed the trapeze bars to them.
"See ya, nerds!" the Model taunted Noah and B while he and Trent started their swing, leaving the stationary pair glaring at their backs.
First Place (Eva and Katie)
Meanwhile, Eva and Katie were making their way towards the next obstacle.
"BTW," Katie started, "I wasn't whining back there, FYI. If anything, I was complaining because you-whoa!"
Suddenly, Eva tripped over her own feet, bringing Katie down to the ground with her.
"Ah!" They both said impulsively when they hit the ground.
"Ouch! Not again," the BFFFL groaned as she rubbed her bruises.
Suddenly, Eva got into her face.
"Why did you say that?! Did Dawn tell you?!" the Muscle-bound Teen rapidly asked Katie.
"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, Eva! What are you talking about? Did Dawn tell me what?"
"Uh…n-nothing," Eva stammered with widened eyes while getting back to her feet. "Let's just get to the next obstacle."
She helped her partner get back to her feet before they continued running. Unbeknownst to Eva, Katie had confused look on her face while she side-glanced at Eva.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Katie - "What was that all about?!"
*Static*
Fifth Place (Anne Maria and Brick)
Brick and Anne Maria were waiting in line behind the pair in fourth place, Mike and Zoey, as they waited for B and Noah to ride the trapeze to the other side of the obstacle.
"Ugh! They're takin' so long!" Anne Maria complained, "We coulda been passed dis thing already. I say we just skip dese two!"
"Patience, Anne Maria. We'll get to the obstacle in due time," Brick said to his partner before getting closer to her ear and whispering, "Besides, we can whiz by Mike and Zoey before they get to the next obstacle, easy."
The Jersey Girl looked shocked for a second before a smirk grew on her face as she nodded in reply.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Brick - "Yeah, that may have been a little mean-spirited, but if we're gonna have any chance of winning this challenge, I need to get Anne Maria to be the best that she can be. It worked in Boston, and it can work here too!"
*Static*
Anne Maria - "Ooo! Brick has a bit of a bad boy in 'im! I like it!"
*Static*
Last Place (Ezekiel and Tyler)
Tyler and Ezekiel huffed and puffed their way to the end of the line.
"Huh…aw man! We're in dead last, Zeke!" Tyler exclaimed while panting.
"Ugh…yeah! I thought Noah and B would be back here, eh," Ezekiel replied.
"B is more athletic than you would think," Dawn turned to them and said.
"Yeah, guys! The dude's a beast!" Cody commented, turning around as well. "I've seen him do flips and somersaults like they were nothing last season."
"Whoa! Really? Then why is he so-"
The Sport-o stopped his sentence short, realizing that they were talking about Dawn's boyfriend.
"Uh…so…um…so… Uh…sooooo, how long till we get to the obstacle, you guys think?"
The Moonchild giggled.
"Tyler, it's ok. B knows he is a little on the heavy side," she told them, "He told me that it's all genetic, so there isn't much he can do about it."
"Aww…that's too bad, eh," Ezekiel commented.
"He doesn't really mind. Although, he did say that others would probably give us strange looks due to our size difference."
"Heh! Yeah! People would probably expect you to date someone my size," Cody said with a chuckle, "You know, since I'm only, like, a few inches taller than you and skinny and all that…heh…"
Dawn, Tyler, and Ezekiel all looked at the Tech Geek with questioning looks. Cody's eyes darted back and forth before he noticed that he and Dawn were next in line.
"Oh look! We're up, Dawn! Let's go!" he said as he started to climb up the ladder, pulling Dawn with him.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Cody - *He wipes some sweat from his brow* "Whew! That would have been awkward…bad…worse… I hope they don't suspect anything!"
*Static*
Tyler - *In singsong* "Cody and Da-awn, sitting in a tree…"
*Static*
Ezekiel - "Wow! I haven't seen Cody act this weird since he was tryin' to get with Gwen. I wonder what's up with him, eh." [1]
*Static*
First Place (Eva and Katie)
The duo of Eva and Katie reached the second obstacle and saw something very similar to the first one.
"Another pool?" Eva questioned as they climbed up to the top of the platform.
"Eee-yup!" The intern said in a fairly deep voice.
Eva's eyes widened, in shock, after hearing the intern's response. Her partner looked at her in confusion, and waved a hand in front of Eva's eyes to snap her out of her trance before actually snapping her fingers.
"Huh? Wha?" the Muscular Teen said after shaking her head.
"Just hop on the rocks in the pool to get to the other side without falling in," the intern elaborated while pointing at two lines of rock pillars peeking through the water's surface from the bottom of the pool. "If you fall in, you gotta swim back here and start over."
"Got it!" Katie replied, "Thanks, uh…Sorry, what's your name?"
"Name's Mac."
Eva's eyes widened again.
"Thanks, Mac," Katie said with a smile.
"Eee-yup!"
"Let's go, Eva!" The BFFFL said as she pulled her partner towards the pool.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Eva - "An intern with a deep voice, named Mac, who likes to say 'eee-yup'?! Does everyone know about my secret and they're doing this crap to get to me?! HUH?! WELL IT AIN'T WORKIN'! YOU HEAR ME?!"
*Static*
Second Place (Justin and Trent)
While the Female Duo in first-place hopped across the second obstacle, the Drama Bro Duo in second made their way to the top of platform as well.
"Hop across! Got it!" Trent exclaimed.
"Sure your foot can handle this, Trent?" Justin asked his partner.
"Yeah! Like I said before, my foot is 100% now. No worries, bro!"
"Alright, let's get to it, then!"
Soon enough, they were hopping from rock to rock to the other side. When they got to the third pair of rocks, Noah and B made their way up to the platform.
"Hop across the rocks?" Noah quickly asked the intern.
"Eyup."
"Without falling in?"
"Eyup."
"Do we have to wait until they finish?"
"Nope."
"So, we can start now?"
"Eyup!"
"Alright, let's go, B!"
With that, the Brainiac Duo started hopping across. Meanwhile, the rest of the pairs started to reach the second obstacle.
First Place (Eva and Katie)
On the other side of the obstacle, Katie and Eva had just completed it and were on their way to the next one.
"That one wasn't so bad," Katie said. "It was just an easy hop, skip, and jump across."
At that moment, Eva skidded to another stop, bringing Katie to a halt as well.
"That's it!" the Muscular Teen shouted while glaring intensely at her partner.
"Wha-what's wrong, E-?"
"You know exactly what's going on! You, Dawn, and everyone else on this show!"
"What are you talking about?!"
"Don't play dumb, Katie!"
"I'm not playing! I mean, I know you've been acting weird since our fight on the bus, but I have no idea why!"
"Oh, give me a break! It's so obvious that Dawn told you that I watch 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic', and you're using that to play this cruel joke on me! Now admit it! Or so help me…!"
When Eva stopped tirade, she looked at Katie's shocked expression. This sight, along with the surrounding silence, allowed the Muscle-bound Teen to come to a realization.
"You…you didn't know…did you…?" she asked in a whispering tone, with her eyes opened as wide as they could go.
"You…watch…My Little Pony…?" Katie asked in an equally quiet tone.
When she heard that question, Eva looked away from her partner.
"Go ahead…make your jokes. I probably deserve them all after everything I've done on this show, especially to you and Sadie. So…let me have it…"
She closed her eyes, expecting the worst.
"That's…so…"
Eva shut her eyes even more, preparing to hear the next word.
"AWESOME!"
The Muscular Teen quickly opened her eyes wide and looked over to her partner, again in shock. However, it was quickly replaced with an angry look.
"You didn't just say that to reference the show, did you?" Eva asked, disgruntled.
"Kinda," Katie said with a big smile, "But, that's only because I watch it too!"
"Heh! I should have figured," Eva said with a small chuckle. "You're like the stereotypical fan of the show."
"Not any-mo-ore," the BFFFL sing-said. "Haven't you heard of Bronies?"
Eva raised half of her brow.
"Yeah, I have. But, weird guys in their 20s aren't really what you think of when you think of pastel ponies."
Katie giggled at her partner's response before replying.
"Ha-ha! Maybe not, but Bronies are-"
"What are you two standing around for?" Noah interrupted them as he and B were running towards them. "Justin and Trent just passed you!"
When they heard that, Katie and Eva turned towards the third obstacle and saw that Justin and Trent did indeed pass them, and that Noah and B were passing them.
"Oh crap! We've gotta move!" Eva shouted.
"I'll explain while we run!" Katie declared before they started running again, before they were passed by Anne Maria and Brick, who had just passed Mike and Zoey.
Fifth Place (Mike and Zoey)
Speaking of the Perfect Pair, Mike and Zoey had just past through the second obstacle and were on their way to the next when they noticed that Eva and Katie were standing still before they started running a few meters ahead of Anne Maria and Brick.
"I wonder why Eva and Katie stopped," Zoey pondered out loud.
"Got me," Mike replied, "I just hope that they do it again so we can pass them easier."
"You know, if you were Svetlana, we'd probably be able to pass them pretty easy."
"Uhh…I don't know, Zo… Svetlana's a gymnast. I don't think she'd be much help on flat ground. Besides, I wouldn't want you to get hurt when she's doing all of those flips while our ankles are cuffed together."
"Are you saying that you don't think I'd be able to keep up with Svetlana's flipping?" the Indie Redhead asked with a raised brow.
"Well…we both know how impulsive and rambunctious Svetlana can get. I just think she'd be a little too much for you to handle, especially when you're cuffed together at the ankles."
"Uhh…You do remember when I went hardcore commando last season and I did all of those flips and jumps, right?"
"Well…yeah, I do. But, that was because you got angry after the amulet I gave you broke. Can you become 'Commando Zoey' without getting angry?"
"I don't need to become 'Commando Zoey' again. I just need to be able to do flips in time with Svetlana. Then, we can win this challenge with no trouble at all!"
"Ehh…I'm still not sure, Zoey," Mike said with a worried look on his face.
"Alright, how about this," the Redhead started, "How about, we do the Svetlana idea as a last resort? Like, if we're in danger of being in last place or if there's no other way to get through an obstacle, you turn into Svetlana and I try my best to keep up with her. Does that sound good?"
The MPD Teen looked at his girlfriend's face and saw her pouty face, complete with quivering bottom lip.
"Aw jeez. Not the 'Puppy-dog Pout'…" he said to himself before sighing in defeat. "Alright, fine. But only as a last resort." [2]
"Promise!" Zoey said with a bright smile on her face.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Zoey - *She looks a little nervous, with her hands clutching each other* "Ok…I know this may sound bad, but…I…I lied about why I want Mike to change into Svetlana. I mean, I do feel like she can help us win this challenge, but the real reason is I suggested the idea was…well…I don't want Mike to accidently change into any of his other personalities, especially not Chester or Vito. Manitoba could be helpful too, but, really, where am I gonna find a fedora around here?" *She chuckles before regaining her serious composure* "You see, I believe that Mike can only change into his other personalities if he's himself. But, if he already is one of his other personalities, then he can't change into another one. That's my theory at least. I would have told Mike the truth, but I don't know if he would be as into the plan as I am. Ooh…Does that make me a bad girlfriend?"
*Static*
Fifth Place (Mike and Zoey)
The Perfect Pair made their way to the third obstacle. They saw a set of monkey bars that curved slightly with the turn on the track. They also saw Katie, Eva, Brick, and Anne Maria climbing across those bars while wearing deer antlers and goggles.
"Put these on," the intern said to Mike and Zoey, handing them deer antlers and goggles.
The duo took them.
"What are these for?" Mike asked the intern.
At that moment, they heard popping sounds. They turned their attention back to the duos in third and fourth place, to see that they were being shot at with paintballs while they made their way to the other side of the monkey bars. One of the paintballs hit Anne Maria's hair and splattered onto her hands, making her slip off of the bar she held onto and fall to the ground.
"Dang it!" she shouted as Brick dropped to the ground next to her.
"That," the intern said, pointing at the now paint-covered duo. "Also, if either of you fall off and touch the ground, you hafta come back here n' try again."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Zoey asked as she put the antlers and goggles on.
"Agreed," her boyfriend said while doing the same, right before they climbed up to the monkey bars.
Third Place (Eva and Katie)
Meanwhile, Eva and Katie were almost at the end.
"So close," Katie grunted out as she and Eva reached for the next bar.
At that moment, one of the automatic paintball shooters managed to hit the armpit of her rear arm, causing her to let go of the bar.
"No!" the BFFFL shouted as she started to fall to the ground.
"Gotcha!" Eva shouted, grabbing Katie's arm with her free hand before she could touch the ground.
"Whoa! Thanks, Eva!"
"Grab…on…to the…bar!" the Muscular Teen strained to say.
"Oh! Right!"
With that, Katie grabbed the bar and managed to make it to the end with her partner.
"Whew! That was too close," Katie said once they landed past the obstacle.
"You got that right, but now's not the time to stand around, talking about it," Eva said, "Let's keep running."
Soon enough, they did just that.
"Since I didn't get to do it properly on the monkey bars, thanks again for helping me," the Nice Girl said as she ran.
"Hey, it's what a true, true friend would do," her partner said with a knowing smirk on her face.
Katie giggled at the obvious reference before she stopped instantly.
"Wait…are you saying that you consider me a true, true friend?"
Eva stared ahead for a moment, still running, but not replying just yet.
"Eva," her partner started, "It's fine. Just because we both like the same cartoon, that doesn't mean we have to be friends. But, even if we aren't friends, I won't tell anyone your secret. In fact, we don't even have to talk about the show anymore after this."
"But, I want to keep talking about it with you."
Katie gave her partner a shocked look as they continued to run towards the next obstacle.
"Ever since I started watching, the only people who knew I liked the show were me and my anger management therapist. Not even my mom knows," Eva commented, "And now, after watching all three seasons, and seeing and listening to some of the things that Bronies have made on the internet, I've wanted to have conversations about them with someone. But, I felt so…ashamed to even try and find someone to talk with, even on the internet. So…I was wondering if… you'd…"
"Eva!" Katie cut her off, "Of course! I'd love to talk about the show with you!"
"R-really?"
"Yeah! It'll be awesome! We can talk about our favorite episodes, favorite fan works, favorite characters…" Katie gasped dramatically. "Even our favorite princesses!"
Eva chuckled in her throat.
"Yeah…I'd like that," she said, with a genuine smile, to her partner, who smiled right back as they approached the next obstacle.
First Place (Justin and Trent)
Speaking of the next obstacle, the Drama Bros Duo was right at the beginning of the obstacle. However, they weren't alone.
"Finally, we caught up to you two!" Noah shouted as the pair in first place got on the tandem bicycle that awaited them.
"Aw jeez!" Justin exclaimed before turning towards the intern that was next to the bike rack that was holding 7 tandem bikes.
"What do we need to do?" he asked the intern.
"Ride these bikes to the next obstacle without falling off," the slightly nasal sounding intern said. "If you fall off, you gotta walk back to the rack and start over."
"Got it!" the Male Model said as he got on the front seat, leaving Trent to sit on the rear. "Let's go, Trent!"
"Yeah!"
With that, they rode off toward the next obstacle.
"Oh no you don't!" Noah shouted as he and B got on their bike, and started riding after the lead duo.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Noah - "In the last challenge, I got thiiiiis close to beating Justin and winning that tournament!" *He has his index finger and thumb separated by roughly a millimeter* "I am not gonna let that happen again! Even if it doesn't make any difference in where we ride to the next location; I am beating Justin today!"
*Static*
Sixth Place (Anne Maria and Brick)
The Reunited Duo finally managed to get through the third obstacle, after falling off twice and getting completely covered in paint.
"I'm so sorry, Brick!" Anne Maria apologized as they ran.
"It's alright, Anne Maria," Brick said before spitting out some paint that managed to get in his mouth. "There's still enough time to catch up. We've just gotta have some patience."
"Right," the Jersey Girl nodded.
"Also, we need to stay ahead of Tyler and Zeke back there. I didn't come back just to get eliminated again and take you with me."
"Heh! Gotcha!"
Last Place (Ezekiel and Tyler)
Speaking of the Underdog Duo, they were busy making their way through the Paintball-Target-on-Monkey-bars.
"Don't slow down, Tyler! We're almost at the end!" Ezekiel said between grunts of effort.
"Don't worry, Zeke! I'm with you all the way!" Tyler responded, giving as much effort.
As they got closer and closer to the end of their obstacle, whilst being bombarded by a multitude of paintballs, the two teens could feel the rising ecstasy of completing another part of the challenge at the brim of their psyches.
"Al-most…there…!" the Sport-o shouted.
"We'll…finish…to-gether!" the Prairie Boy shouted in response.
Once they grabbed onto the last bar, they both used their momentum to swing themselves to the ground after the end of the monkey bar.
"AHHH!" They both shouted as they landed on their feet.
"Alright! We did it!" the duo shouted jubilantly while they gave each other a high-five. After about 5 seconds of celebrating, they both sighed contently and stood at the end of the monkey bars for a few moments.
"Uhh…I think we should start running again, eh," Ezekiel said to his partner.
"Oh! Right! Let's go!" Tyler realized himself before they started running towards the next obstacle.
Starting Line
Chris and Chef stood at where the race began, looking at a TV which was displaying an image of all seven pairs on the one screen.
"Well, looks like this can be any duo's race," the Host said to the camera, "Right now, the Drama Bros are in the lead, but the Brainiac Duo is close behind, followed by the Female Duo. Or maybe I should start calling them the Pony Duo. Ha-ha-haaa! Still can't believe that Eva likes ponies! Ha! Hilarious!"
Chef Hatchet glared at Chris and grunted in a mix of annoyance and anger.
"Anyway, those two are followed by the Perfect Pair, I think the Short Duo, the Slowly Developing Relationship Duo…, need to work on that name, and, finally, the Underdog Duo. The leaders are almost at the halfway point of this race, but one slip-up could change that entirely! Unfortunately, we have to take a break away from the action for now, but be sure to stay tuned, Total Drama fans! You won't want to miss the exciting conclusion to this ridonculous race, after the break!"
The screen fades to black as Chris's eyes widen in astonishment.
"Chef," Chris's voice is heard, "Call Mr. McGillis! I've got an idea!"
Daytona International Speedway - Fifth Obstacle
As they approached the fifth obstacle, the Drama Bros duo and the Brainiac duo were battling each other for the lead on their tandem bikes. Not too far behind that battle was the Female duo, and some ways behind them was the Perfect Pair.
"Not...*Pant* letting…*Pant* you…*Pant* win!" Noah struggled to say while looking directly at Justin.
"Oh yeah…? *Pant* We'll see... *Pant* about that!" the Male Model replied.
Meanwhile, the pair in third place saw this battle as a way to reclaim the lead for themselves.
"If they keep focusing on each other," Eva started, "Then they won't even notice when we pass them both."
"Heh! Yeah…*Pant*" Katie responded, exhausted, while pedaling in-time with her partner.
A few feet before the next obstacle was a white line of tape going across the track apron, from the double yellow lines on the right to the single white line on the left. A sign stood on the left side of the line and it read, "Dismount bicycles after crossing this line."
Both leading duos raced to that line as hard as they could, trying to beat each other to it. However, both bikes' front wheels would cross the line at the exact same time, and then continue to go until they crashed into the fifth obstacle, with all four riders still on them.
All four riders groaned in pain as they lied on the ground right in front of the next obstacle. Meanwhile, Eva and Katie rode their bike to the line and quickly hopped off to their feet. Once their feet touched the ground, the Female Duo quickly made their way to the next obstacle, but not before checking on the crash victims.
"Are you all alright?" Katie asked the four teens.
"Just…peachy…" Noah lazily snarked.
B raised a thumbs-up from his fallen position.
"Don't think I, ugh…, injured myself again," Trent said with a groan.
"You mean, you don't think…Noah injured you again," Justin painfully corrected.
"Ugh! Let…it…go already!"
With that, Eva and Katie ran into the next obstacle, which was a flagpole, or seven flagpoles to be more specific.
"This looks sorta familiar," Eva commented, looking up at the flag on the top of the flag.
"You gotta climb the pole, grab the flag, come back down, and give it to the next intern," said the intern standing next to the poles.
Katie looked up, nervously, with a gulp before she received a hard pat on her back.
"We can do this," the Muscular Teen said to her partner. "Just follow my lead."
The BFFFL nodded before they walked up to a pole and grabbed hold of it from opposite sides.
"Ready, partner?" Eva asked Katie, getting an unsure smirk in reply.
"Ready, pardner," she said with a southern twang, making her partner chuckle for a moment.
"Alright…let's do this!"
The Muscular Teen reached up higher on the pole and pulled herself upwards. Then, when the chain attaching the ankle cuffs started to pull Katie's cuff, the Nice Girl would follow her partner's actions.
While the Female Duo made their way up their pole, the four contestants, who were involved in the two bike wreck, managed to recover from said incident and look up their respective poles. At the same time, Mike and Zoey rode their bike up to the fifth obstacle.
"How should we do this?" Mike asked, looking up a pole.
"You know, I bet this would a piece of cake for Svetlana," his girlfriend stated.
"You know…if I didn't know any better, I'd think that you liked Svetlana more than me," the MPD Teen said with a wry raised brow.
"What?! No! I don't like Svetlana more than you, Mike."
Mike snickered at Zoey.
"Relax, Zo! I was only kidding," he told her with a chuckle.
"Oh-ho-ho. You…!" the Redhead said with a somewhat forced chuckle.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Zoey - *She wipes some sweat off her brow* "Phew!"
*Static*
Fifth Obstacle
"Besides, if I did change into Svetlana," Mike continued, "she might start flipping all the way up, dragging you up, upside-down, by your ankle. Then you'd hit your head on the pole and go unconscious, get a concussion, and probably get eliminated due to health reasons…"
"Mike…"
"Or even worse, Chris would keep you on the show, have you compete with a concussion…"
"Mike…!"
"And you could make it worse during another challenge! And it would be all…my…fault!"
SLAP!
"Mike! Get a hold of yourself!" Zoey shouted, pulling at his collar while he rubbed the cheek that she slapped.
"Oww…"
"I'm sorry." *Smooch* "Better?" she asked after kissing the cheek.
"A little bit…"
"Good! Because Noah and B just gave me an idea."
She pointed at the aforementioned duo of contestants, who were halfway up their flagpole.
B was the one actually climbing the pole while Noah was hugging B from behind in a piggybacking position, more or less.
"Just to be clear to you and everyone watching this," Noah said, just loud enough for the camera to pick up his voice, "I only like you as a friend and an intellectual rival."
The Silent Genius rolled his eyes as he continued to climb up the pole.
"We can do that too," Zoey said to Mike, "I'll get on your back, and when you change into Svetlana, I'll be able to keep up with her while she's doing her flips, and keep myself safe. How does that sound?"
"I…suppose that's the only way we can do this…"
"Great!" the Redhead cheered before hopping on her boyfriend's back and grabbing hold of him. "Let's go get that flag!"
"Yeah…" was all Mike said before he started walking towards the pole.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Mike - *He sighs* "Maybe I was right about Zoey liking Svetlana more than me. I mean, I know I wanted Zoey to like my other personalities once she knew about them, but I didn't want her to like them more than the real me!" *He groans and puts his hands to his face* "What am I doing wrong?"
*Static*
Fifth Obstacle
At this time, Katie and Eva were close to getting their flag, with the Brainiac Duo being the next closest, and the Drama Bros Duo right behind them.
In fourth place, the "Perfect" Pair made their way to their flagpole. Once he was close enough, Mike reached out and grabbed the pole with both hands. As soon as he did, he let out a huge gasp and suddenly gained lipstick on his lips, longer eyelashes, and a high pitched Russian-accented voice.
"Climbink a pole? No 'svet' for Svetlana! Ah-ha!" Svetlana pronounced.
"Wait a sec, Svetlana!" Zoey quickly said.
"Ah, Zoey! Vhat is the problem?"
"I just wanted to tell you that our ankles are cuffed together, so please be careful when going up the pole. If I get hurt, Mike will have a fit."
"Oh, of course, darlink! I shall be the most careful I haf ever been. Now…we climb!"
With that, the Russian Gymnast started to make her way up the pole with Zoey on her back. She climbed using an abundance of flips and tricks that could not be properly described using words, or words other than "dizzying" at least. However, even though her flips would cause the average person to get sick, Svetlana stayed balanced both physically and mentally as she made her way up to the flag.
Once the flag was in her grasp, the Gymnast slid down the pole, that took her less than 10 seconds to climb up, and landed on her feet.
"Easy as cake, da?" Svetlana said, turning to her passenger.
Zoey, while managing to stay on Svetlana's back, did not manage to stop herself from getting dazed from the trip.
"Yah…cake…red…velvet…" was all she could say before falling to the ground.
"Vhoops!" the Gymnast said looking down at her fallen partner.
Meanwhile, the Female Duo was in the process of grabbing their flag.
"Got it!" Eva exclaimed.
"Alright! We can get back down now, right?!" Katie said with an anxious tone.
"Yeah, but we need to hurry. Quick, climb on my back!"
The BFFFL proceeded to do so as quickly as she could. Once she grabbed hold of Eva's back, the Muscular Teen loosened her grip on the pole just enough to start sliding down without freefalling.
At the same time, Svetlana was trying to wake Zoey from her fainting spell.
"Zoey! Please be wakink up now!" the Russian Gymnast shouted at her partner.
But, it didn't work. Zoey was out like a light. Svetlana looked at Zoey, then Katie and Eva, who had just dropped back down to the ground, and the flag that she was clutching.
"Oooooh!" she strained in frustration.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Svetlana - "My instincts told me to start flippink my way to the next obstacle! But, if I did that, then Zoey could get badly hurt, and then Mike would get angry! So, there was only vone thing I could do!"
*Static*
Second Place (Svetlana and Zoey)
Svetlana carried Zoey on her shoulders, fireman-style, to the next obstacle. However, since the chain on the ankle cuffs weren't long enough to have Zoey in this position and have both of Svetlana's feet on the ground, the Gymnast had to hop on one foot the whole way.
Starting Line
Chef was looking at the TV again, and noticed Svetlana and Zoey.
"Yo, Chris," Chef said, turning towards the Host. "Is this legal?"
"Are their ankles still cuffed together?" Chris asked his co-host.
"Yeah."
"Then it's legal. Not very efficient, but it's legal. It might cost them a few spots though. Ha-ha-ha!"
Second Place (Svetlana and Zoey)
The Host was right. The Hopping Duo was going way slower than the rest of the pairs, so they started to get passed. First, they were passed by Noah and B, then Justin and Trent, and then Cody and Dawn.
By the time they got to the sixth obstacle, they were neck-and-neck with Brick and Anne Maria, battling for fifth place. In fact, both teams gave their flags to the intern standing in front of the sixth obstacle at the same exact time.
"For this obstacle," the intern started, "One of you needs to carry the other on their back all the way to the next obstacle. If you fall, you do not have to come back here and start over again."
"Vat?! But, I've been doink that since the last obstacle!" Svetlana argued.
"Well, I guess you gotta keep 'doink' it then," the intern replied with a snotty tone.
The Russian Gymnast personality sighed in defeat before continuing to hop with Brick and Anne Maria alongside.
Last Place (Ezekiel and Tyler)
Meanwhile, in seventh place…
"aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! UGH!"
The Underdog Duo fell from the top of their flagpole. Luckily, Ezekiel managed to keep a firm grip on the flag after they crashed to the ground.
"Got…it…eh…" he said weakly.
First Place (Eva and Katie)
The first duo to reach the seventh obstacle on the course was the Female Duo of Katie and Eva. Of course, for the sixth obstacle, Eva chose to carry Katie on her back while she hopped to the next obstacle, which took about 4 minutes. So, to help pass the time, they started talking about their new found common ground: ponies.
"So, if you're Applejack, and I'm Pinkie Pie, then that means were Earth Pony sisters!" Katie exclaimed jubilantly.
"Heh-heh! I guess so," Eva replied with a genuine smile on her face.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Eva - "If you have told me a few weeks ago that I would be bonding with Katie while talking about My Little Pony-"
*Static*
Katie - "-while we were cuffed together at the ankles, I would have called the guys in the white lab coats on you, and watch you get carted away to the loony bin." *She said with a giggle*
*Static*
Seventh Obstacle
Eva let Katie climb down from her back once they crossed the line in front of the next obstacle which was placed at the beginning of the speedway's third turn.
"Hey…weren't you at the second obstacle?" Eva asked the intern standing at the seventh obstacle.
"Eee-yup!" he replied.
"Your name's Mac, right?"
"Eee-yup!"
"You wouldn't happen to also be known as 'Big Mac', would you?" Katie asked, half-jokingly.
Then, Mac's eyes widened in shock.
"Actually, yeah. How'd you know?"
Eva and Katie started to chuckle to each other before either one answered him.
"Just a lucky guess," the BFFFL replied. "Anyway, what's the obstacle this time, Big Mac?"
"You gotta run through these tires all the way to the next obstacle without missing any or falling. If ya do, you gotta come back here and start over."
"Yikes! We'd better not fall then."
"Agreed," Eva said before starting to walk towards the long line of tires with her partner.
"Thanks again, Mac!" Katie said with a wave of her hand.
"Eee-yup!" Mac replied.
"You know," the Nice Girl started while she and her partner stood in front of the tires, "Since we decided that you're Applejack, that means that Mac's your-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now, let's get through this obstacle," Eva quickly said.
"Ha-ha! Alright. Ready when you are, 'pardner.'"
"You're having way too much fun with this."
With that, they started running through the tires.
Fourth Place (Justin and Trent)
The Drama Bros Duo was going through the sixth obstacle, on their way to the seventh obstacle. Trent was the one carrying Justin while hopping to the next obstacle, due to the fact that Justin was wearing his usual sandals, and hopping around in those while carrying someone would just be asking for an injury, or, even worse, cosmetic bodily damage that could kill one of his modeling contracts.
"You're doing great, Trent," Justin complimented his partner. "Brick and Anne Maria are still a ways behind us."
"Thanks, man," Trent replied, panting slightly as he continued hopping towards the next obstacle.
"I'm always here for ya, man. And you'll be there for me, right, Drama Bro?"
"Of course, dude! Drama Bros for life!"
"So, would you join my alliance, if I were to ask you?"
"Yeah, sure. We're practically already an alliance anyway. So, why not?" the Cool Guy said with a shrug.
"Awesome!" Justin exclaimed.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Justin - "Alright, I've got Eva, Anne Maria, and now, Trent. If we can all survive this challenge, then Noah and Katie have no chance of winning this season, especially when I've got this!" *He pulls out his immunity idol and nuzzles it* "There's no way at least one of us isn't making it to the Finale."
*Static*
Second Place (B and Noah)
"Weren't you at the other obstacle?" Noah asked the intern at seventh obstacle.
"Eyup."
"So, we got to run through these tires?"
"Eyup."
"And we can't skip any of them?"
"Nope."
"And if we fall, we've got to come back here and start over?"
"Eyup."
"Alright. Sounds easy enough," the Bookworm said studying the tires as he and B stepped up to them.
They started to run through them with ease, until they got to the fourth row, where Noah tripped over the edge of a tire and fell, bringing B down with him.
As soon as they fell to the ground, they heard a whistle from the direction of the beginning of the obstacle. It was coming from Mac, who was looking and pointing directly at the fallen duo when he blew the whistle.
"Nope," he said when he stopped blowing the whistle. He then made a gesture for them to come back to the beginning of the tires.
"Ugh…" Noah groaned.
Sixth Obstacle
Ezekiel and Tyler had just given their flag to the intern and heard what the obstacle was.
"So, we've got to run to the next obstacle with one dude riding on the other dude's back?" Tyler asked.
"Exactly," the intern replied.
"Tyler! I've got an idea, eh!" Ezekiel told his partner as he got down on all fours.
"Aw, come on dude! We can't give up now!" the Sport-o told his teammate.
"No! Sit on my back. We can get to the next obstacle faster this way, eh!"
"Ooooh!"
Finally understanding, Tyler climbed on Ezekiel's back, like he would a horse, and held onto his shoulder blades.
"Hold on tight, eh!"
The Sport-o did just that right before the Homeschooled Prairie Boy started to run on his hands and feet on the asphalt surface.
Sixth Place (Svetlana and Zoey)
Svetlana panted heavier than she's ever done before, carrying Zoey to the next obstacle while hopping on one leg. They had lost the battle for fifth place shortly after starting the sixth obstacle, and were slowing down even more.
"Ooh!" she exclaimed. "If this racink track… vas a balance beam…, I could haf finished…the race already…"
Suddenly, a pitter-patter sound was heard from behind the (im) Perfect Pair, and it was getting louder.
Svetlana started to hear it above her own panting. So, she stopped hopping, stood on one leg, and turned around to see what the sound was. However, in doing so, the usually perfectly balanced gymnast lost her balance a bit, which made her fall towards the quickly approaching Underdog Duo.
As Ezekiel and Tyler were starting to pass for sixth place, Tyler's head made contact with Svetlana's, causing each of their heads to ricochet in opposite directions.
Despite the contact, Ezekiel continued running towards the next obstacle while Tyler shook it off and held his head with a grimace on his face. Svetlana and Zoey didn't come out as unscathed as the Underdog Duo did. Svetlana's head immediately got a huge bump where the contact was made, and she fell to the ground with Zoey landing right next to her.
"Ow…" Zoey groaned, finally waking up from her fainting spell. "Wha…what happened?"
She looked around to gather her surroundings, noticing her boyfriend lying next to her with a big bump on his head.
"Oh no! Mike!" she shouted with a gasp. "Mike! Can you hear me?! Mike!"
"Ugh…Zo…ey…" Mike managed to groan out.
"Mike! You're alright!" Zoey shouted thankfully as she hugged her boyfriend on the ground.
"Ugh…I don't…feel alright… What happened to me?"
"I don't know either. The last thing I remember is hanging onto Svetlana's back while she flipped up to get the flag off of the flagpole. I think I blacked out after that."
"I told you that you couldn't handle being cuffed to Svetlana…"
"I know," the Redhead said with a sigh, "I'm sorry for not listening to you, but right now, we've got to keep racing."
Zoey stood up to her feet and pulled Mike up to his. They were about to start running when a whistle got their attention. It came from the intern that was behind them.
"Hey! One of you needs to be carrying the other on their back to the next obstacle!" the intern shouted at them.
"Oh…In that case," Zoey said before picking up Mike and carrying him fireman-style over her shoulders. "Let's go win this race!"
She started hopping on one leg towards the next obstacle.
"Umm…Zoey?"
"Yeah?"
"What place are we in?"
The Redhead's eyes widened.
"I…I don't know…"
First Place (Eva and Katie)
"Ahh!" Katie shouted as her arms hit the asphalt.
A whistle sounded from behind her and her partner, at the beginning of the obstacle that they were currently trying to overcome. The obstacle being a pair of parallel poles, stretching about 20 feet long that each partner has to slide across, using only their hands, without touching the ground.
"Ugh…" Eva sighed.
"Sorry, Eva! I swear I'll make it this time! Third time's the charm, right?"
"I hope so. We may have had a huge lead, but who knows how close Noah and B are to us now?"
"I believe they just finished the previous obstacle, Eva," Dawn said as she shuffled her hands across the pole closest to the Muscular Teen.
"Oh! So we've got plenty of…wait…what the…?!"
That was when Eva noticed that Dawn and Cody were making their way through the eighth obstacle, passing her and Katie for first place.
"Where the heck did they come from?!"
"I don't know," Katie said, "But, if we want to stay right behind them, we better get past this obstacle as soon as possible."
With that said, the Female Duo rushed back to the beginning of the obstacle to try and get through it quickly.
Battle for Third Place
"I'm not letting you beat me again, Anti-Me!" Noah yelled as he ran alongside Justin.
"That's what you think, A-Noah-yance!" Justin yelled back.
"Stop calling me that!"
"Make me!"
At this point, they started to lean on each other's shoulder as they ran, glaring at each other, while their partners look at each other with worried and confused looks.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Trent - "Ok. I get that Justin and Noah have some sort of rivalry going on, but…this seems like a bit much, don't you think?"
*Static*
Fifth Place (Anne Maria and Brick)
Right behind that heated battle was the Reunited Duo in fifth.
"As soon as those goofs slip up, we'll be right dere ta pass 'em both!" Anne Maria stated in excitement.
"The way they're running now, they're bound to trip each other up sooner or later," Brick added.
Sixth Place (Ezekiel and Tyler)
Meanwhile, just finishing up the tire obstacle, behind Anne Maria and Brick, was the Underdog Duo.
"Yeah! We got through it, Zeke!" Tyler exclaimed.
"I know, eh! And it only took three tries!" Ezekiel shouted jubilantly in response.
Last Place (Mike and Zoey)
"Last place?!" Mike and Zoey yelled incredulously.
"Eee-yup," Mac the intern told them.
"We've gotta move!" Mike shouted as the Perfect Pair made their way to the tires.
Second Place (Eva and Katie)
Katie and Eva had just made it past the eighth obstacle and were on their way to the penultimate obstacle in the race.
"I can see the ninth obstacle," Katie pointed out. "They look like…stairs?"
"Stairs, huh? There's gotta be more to it than that," Eva said with a tone of suspicion.
Soon enough, they managed to get a better look at the next obstacle, and see that these stairs weren't actually stairs at all. They could tell by watching Dawn and Cody run up as hard as they could, but barely making any progress.
When the Female Duo got to the beginning of the obstacle, they quickly read the sign that was above the pair of "stairs" that read, "Obstacle #9: Run up the Down escalator!"
"Oooh! Escalators! That makes sense!" the BFFFL commented.
"Let's run up the one that Dawn and Cody aren't on," Eva suggested.
"Right!"
With that, they made their way to the unoccupied escalator of the pair and proceeded to run to the top of it as quickly as possible.
Eighth Obstacle
Ezekiel and Tyler had just reached the eighth obstacle when they looked back and saw that Zoey and Mike were gaining on them
"Uh oh!" Ezekiel exclaimed, "We gotta go, Tyler!"
"Strong fingers, don't fail me now!" Tyler said to himself as he rubbed his hands together before grabbing hold of one of the poles.
Finish Line
Chris and Chef waited at the finish line for the race and the race track on the apron of the front straightaway. Right in front of the line was a brick wall that was around 10 feet tall and had six lines of rope attached to the lower part of the wall that stretched over the top of the wall to the opposite side, where it was also attached to the lower part of the wall. Even though each rope was attached to the wall at both ends, they had enough slack so that a person could use it to climb over the wall, which was the objective of the tenth and final obstacle.
"The first pairs should be making their ways here soon, Chef," Chris said to his co-host. "Who do you think is gonna finish first?"
"My money's on Eva and Katie," Chef said.
"Yeah, you're probably right. The only way that those two could lose is if Katie screwed it up for them."
"Mm-mmm," Chef grunted with a shake of his head. "Trust me, man. That Katie girl is stronger than she looks. I can still feel the pain from that sponge baseball."
"Ha-ha! Oh yeah! I remember that! Ha-ha! Hilarious!"
"Grrr…" the Disgruntled Cook groaned.
At that moment, both hosts noticed that two of the ropes on the wall had started to move, meaning that someone was pulling on them.
"Ah! Looks like we've got our first pair! Who's it gonna be…?" Chris rhetorically asked to the camera.
Meanwhile, another pair of ropes started to move as well.
"Scratch that, viewers at home! It looks like we've got a battle for the win here on the last obstacle! Who will they be?"
The first pair to be seen on top of the brick wall was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"Dawn and Cody!" Chris exclaimed. "They are the first pair to the top of the tenth obstacle. However, in order to be the first pair to finish this race, they need to come back down to the ground and cross the finish line before the other pair does!"
"Let's go, Cody!" Dawn shouted encouragingly to her partner.
The Tech Geek nodded in agreement as he and the Moonchild grabbed hold of the same rope, on the opposite side of the wall. They started to descend down the finish line side of the wall when Eva and Katie reached the top of the wall.
"And it looks like Katie and Eva will be finishing second, unless they want to come down the hard way, by jumping down," the Host said with a look saying that he wanted the Female Duo to jump.
Eva and Katie looked down at the finish line and at Dawn and Cody scaling down the wall. Eva was contemplating jumping down to make the winning pass, but she noticed that Katie was panting pretty heavily. The Muscular Teen wasn't tired herself, but she could see why her partner would be. After running a majority of 2.5 miles and enduring 9.5 obstacles, any person with an average physique would be tired too, but Katie also had to keep up Eva, which was a feat in of itself. Realizing this, a small smile grew on Eva's face.
"Let's climb down," she told Katie.
"What? Really?! You don't wanna jump for the win?" the Nice Girl asked her partner.
"Nah," Eva replied as she grabbed the rope to scale down the finish line side. "A smart girl once said, 'it's always important to remember that friendship is always more important than competition.'"
Katie, realizing where the quote came from, smiled and nodded as they made their way down the wall while, unbeknownst to the Female Duo, another contestant watched on with a smile on her face.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Katie - "The friendship lesson from episode thirteen in season one: Fall Weather Friends! EEEEE!"
*Static*
Eva - "When I first saw that episode and heard that lesson, I thought it was pure baloney. 'How could anything be more important than competition,' I thought. But, after running this race with Katie, learning so much about her, and opening up so much about myself to her, I learned that there was actually some truth to that lesson." *She smiles at the camera for a few seconds before her usual serious face comes back.* "Besides, even if we did finish first, we'd still be in the Bottom Deck anyway. So, it didn't make a difference either way."
*Static*
Dawn - "I had a feeling that Eva and Katie would bond during this challenge. Going through hardships with someone tends to make you grow closer with that someone, especially once you both find a common ground." *She giggles*
*Static*
Finish Line
"Dawn and Cody are the winners, followed by Eva and Katie!" Chris announced to the camera.
"Yeah! We won!" Cody cheered as he pulled his partner into a hug and started jumping up and down with her in his arms.
However, Dawn wasn't jumping along with him. In fact, she had a look of shock on her face as soon as Cody put his arms around her.
The Tech Geek was quick to notice this, after jumping by himself for about 5 seconds, and quickly let go of the Moonchild.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Dawn! I-I'm just so happy that we… I mean, I didn't mean to-"
"There's no need to apologize, Cody," Dawn interrupted, "I understand that you're happy that we won the challenge. There is no reason to not want to celebrate."
"You mean…you're not mad that I hugged you like that?"
"Not at all… I was a little surprised that you did, but not angry at all."
"Oh…! Cool!" he said with a smile on his face.
"Just be sure to warn me next time you wish to hug me. Ok?"
"Heh…Gotcha!" Cody said as he rubbed the back of his head with a slight blush on his face.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Cody - "I hugged her and she didn't slap me! Yes!" *He exclaimed with fist pump*
*Static*
Battle for Third Place
The Brainiac Duo and the Drama Bros Duo were still side-by-side, dueling for the third place spot. However, this time, they were both running up the down escalators of the ninth obstacle.
"I'm…*Pant* getting…*Pant* to the top…*Pant* before you…*Pant* Justin!" Noah shouted at his rival.
"That's what…*Pant* you think…*Pant* Egghead!" he retorted.
"That's what…*Pant* you said…*Pant* last time…*Pant* stupid!"
"I can't think up…*Pant* good comebacks…*Pant* while running…"
B and Trent just rolled their eyes. Meanwhile, Anne Maria and Brick started going up the same escalator as Justin and Trent.
"You two betta not fall…*Pant* othawise, me and Brick… *Pant* are kickin' your butts!" Anne Maria threatened.
Eighth Obstacle
The Underdog Duo had just passed the obstacle while the Perfect Pair was halfway through it.
"C'mon…*Pant* Miiiike!" Zoey said with a strain, holding onto her horizontal pole with all of her strength. "We've gotta…*Pant* caaaatch up!"
"I knooooow…*Pant*! I'm just sooooo…*Pant* exhausteeeeed…*Pant*!" Mike replied with even more strain in his voice.
They continued to slide their hands on their respective poles towards the end to try and keep up with Ezekiel and Tyler, with hopes of getting out of the elimination spot in this race.
Finish Line
Cody and Dawn had their cuffs removed first, since they finished first. Now, Chef was in the process of unlocking Katie and Eva's ankle cuffs. It was taking a while, so Chef decided to start a conversation.
"So, uhh…you two like…ponies, huh?" he asked them quietly.
Both Katie and Eva looked shocked by the sudden question.
"What?! How do you know that?!" Eva asked with a loud whisper.
"We had cameras with high quality microphones on each pair. We could hear everything you guys said."
"So…everyone who watches this will know that I watch… M-My… Little…?" the Muscular Teen asked with a slight tremor in her voice.
"'Fraid so."
Eva started to bite her lip nervously as she thought about how everyone would react to this news about her. What kinds of rumors would be created? Would she be looked at differently? Would she lose all the respect of her fellow gym-goers?
Then, it was at that moment that Eva felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned to where the hand was coming from and saw Katie's face, looking at her with a gentle smile.
"It'll be alright, Eva," she said to her partner. "Who cares what other people think? If they don't support you or like the idea of you liking something as harmless as a cartoon, then you shouldn't care what they think. If that's the case, then they don't deserve to know you."
The Muscular Teen thought about Katie's words for a few moments before a small smile formed on her lips.
"You're right," Eva said with a nod. "Yeah! I don't care what any out there thinks of me! I'm a Brony, and I'm proud! And if anyone has a problem with me, they can answer to my fists!"
Chef smirked and nodded.
"That's what I like ta hear!"
Then he bent down a little and put his hand next to his mouth before he started whispering.
"Just so you know, Rainbow Dash is my favorite," he said to Katie and Eva with a wink and a click of the tongue before walking back to Chris with both ankle cuffs in-hand.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Chef Hatchet - "Yeah! I like ponies! Big whoop! Wanna fight about it?! Huh?! DO YA?!"
*Static*
Finish Line
Two more pairs of rope started to move on the tenth obstacle.
"Looks like there's another battle to the finish comin'!" Chris announced.
Then the last pair of ropes started to move as well.
"Ah! Make that a three-way battle! But, only one team can finish in third and get a spot in the Bottom Deck! Which one will it be?"
Soon enough, four heads popped up on top of the wall.
"The Brainiacs and The Drama Bros are neck-and-neck at the top of the tenth obstacle, but who will cross the finish line first?!"
"Let's go, Trent! We can't let them beat us!" Justin shouted to his partner.
"Hurry, B! Let's go, go, go!" Noah urged his partner as they all started to descend down the opposite side of the wall.
B gave the Egghead a look of disdain and annoyance, which signaled that those orders were the last straw for the Silent Genius. He wanted to end this partnership as soon as possible, so he jumped off the wall, in the direction of the finish line. This forced Noah to let go of the rope, which he was not prepared to do just yet.
"AHHHHH!" he screamed in a high pitch before he was effortlessly caught by his partner, who landed on his feet across the finish line.
"Noah and B finish in third!" Chris announced after the screaming stopped.
"Ah! Yes! We beat Justin and finished in…wait…third?! I thought we were in second this whole time, behind Eva and Katie!"
"Nope," his girlfriend answered. "We finished in second."
"Then, who was first?"
"We were," Dawn and Cody answered with a wave.
"Wha…?! When did you guys pass us?!"
This made B slap his head.
"Oh, we passed you two when you fell in the tire obstacle," Cody answered on his own.
"But, when did you pass us?" Justin asked as he and Trent crossed the finish line.
"During the 'Carry you partner on your back' obstacle," Dawn answered this time.
"I was going pretty slow," Trent said, "Hopping isn't one of my strong suits. Ha-ha…"
"Wait…You saw them pass us, Trent? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you? How did you not notice?"
The Male Model thought back to the obstacle.
Flashback
Trent was slowly and wobbly hopping on one leg with Justin, who was looking at his image in his mirror, on his back. Meanwhile, Cody, with Dawn on his back, hopped past the other Drama Bros.
"Hey Trent," Cody greeted as he passed by.
"Hey Cody," Trent replied.
"Shh, Trent. You need to concentrate if we're going to beat Noah," Justin told his partner, without looking away from his mirror.
"Uhh…ok…?"
Present
"Oh…" was all Justin could say.
"And fifth place goes to Anne Maria and Brick!" Chris announced.
"D'aw! I was really hopin' we could ride in da Bottom Deck on your first day back, Brick!" Anne Maria whined.
"Ah, it's alright, Anne Maria," Brick responded, "as long as we've both still have a chance to win in the end."
"Heh…Yeah, you're right!"
"Well… looks like we've only got two pairs to wait on now," Chris announced to everyone there. "The Underdog Duo of Ezekiel and Tyler, and the Perfect Pair, Mike and Zoey are still racing out there! Which pair of people will prolong their possible plunge to perpetual plunder?"
…
…
…
"Say what, now?" Anne Maria asked.
At that moment, two pairs of rope started to move on the brick wall.
"Here they come now!" the Host shouted, pointing at the moving ropes.
The Other Side of the Wall
Mike and Zoey were climbing up the ropes closest to the grass while Ezekiel and Tyler climbed up the ropes closest to the racing surface. Both teams were about even, with Ezekiel and Tyler having a slight advantage.
"Fingeeeeers…don't faaaaail…me now!" Tyler said with a strain in his voice as he scaled the wall.
Ezekiel was able to stay with him, but not without giving it all of his effort as well.
"We caaaan…do thissss…, Zoey!" Mike encouraged with a lot of strain in his voice.
"I hoooope…we can!" she replied.
"You hope…? We both neeeeed…to be confideeeeent…!"
"I…know…"
"…But?"
"But…?"
"You think…*Pant* it'd be better…*Pant* if I was…*Pant* Svetlana, right?"
"…Well…"
"I knew it! You like her more than me, your boyfriend!" the MPD Teen shouted while a few strands of his hair fell in front of his left eye.
"No, Mike…! It's not like that…!" his girlfriend tried to tell him.
"You think she's better athletically than me?!" he asked in a darker tone. "Well…I'll show you who's more athletic!"
With that said, Mike started to climb the rope faster and harder than before. In fact, he started climbing so much quicker that Zoey couldn't keep up with him and had to let go of her rope. Before she knew it, she was hanging upside-down, from her cuffed ankle, being dragged along the wall.
"Mike! Stop!" she shouted in protest.
Meanwhile, Mike had made it to the top of the wall, and was standing on it. At the same time, Tyler and Ezekiel had just gotten their hands to the top. Mike then turned to look down at Zoey, who was still hanging upside-down.
"Still think Svetlana's more athletic than me, Zoey? Huh?" he asked in a slightly deeper voice than usual with more strands of hair over his eye. "How do you like me now, Zoey?!"
"M-Mike…you're…you're scaring me, Mike…" Zoey said shakily as tears started to form in her brown eyes.
At that moment, the MPD Teen noticed the look of fear that his girlfriend was giving him. He blinked a few times and shook his head, making the fallen strands of hair stand back up.
"Wha...Zoey?" he said looking down at her again. "Zoey! Hang on! I'll help you get up here!"
He started pulling her up by her leg, trying hard not to drag her body on the wall.
Meanwhile, Tyler and Ezekiel managed to get their free legs and their torsos on top of the wall. However, they failed to realize that they couldn't move their cuffed legs the same way, until Ezekiel pointed it out.
"Tyler, we're gonna have to roll over."
"What?! We can't just roll over and let Mike and Zoey beat us!" Tyler exclaimed.
"No! I mean, roll over on the wall, eh!"
"Ooooh!" the Sport-o said in realization before looking down to the ground where the finish line was. "Ooooh…"
"Eee-yup…This is gonna hurt…"
"Well…we've come this far… Roll over on three!"
The Homeschooled Prairie Boy nodded with a gulp as they started the count.
"One…two…three! AHHHHH! OOF!"
The rest of the contestants and the hosts winced and let out exclamations of pain as they watched the Underdog Duo land, face-first, on the asphalt, across the finish line.
"Ezekiel and Tyler finish in sixth, which means that Mike and Zoey finish in last, which also means that they have been eliminated from Total Drama Avengeance!"
Mike and Zoey, who were both sitting on the top of the brick wall, looked down at the finish line area with looks of disappointment.
"This… this is my fault… It's all my fault…!" Zoey said quietly as she covered her eyes and started crying.
Mike comforted her by hugging her and letting her cry on his shoulder.
"It's alright, Zo," he said to her, "It's my fault too…"
Daytona International Speedway Parking Lot
The door to the Copter of Shame was open, awaiting its two riders.
Mike and Zoey were currently saying their goodbyes to their friends. B, Brick, Noah, and Cody were having a final conversation with Mike while Dawn, Katie, and Anne Maria, surprisingly, were having their own conversation with Zoey.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye girls," Zoey said sadly.
"We're gonna miss you, Zoey," Katie said as they hugged.
"Yes, we are," Dawn said, joining in on the hug.
Anne Maria looked on for a few seconds before sighing.
"Ugh…yeah. I'll miss ya too, Red," she said before joining the group hug.
"By the way," Katie whispered while the group hug continued, "Keep an eye on Mike."
"W-what?" Zoey asked.
"Katie is right, Zoey," Dawn whispered, "I sensed a dark and evil aura coming out of Mike while he was standing on top of the last obstacle without you."
The Redhead just stared at Katie and Dawn, speechless.
"Yeah…I ain't no aura reada, but even I could tell that sumthin' was wrong wit Mike," Anne Maria added
"We understand if you don't believe us, but-"
"Actually, I do believe you," Zoey interjected.
The three girls gave a look of shock when they heard this.
"I…noticed it too…At first, I thought I was just seeing things, since this was the first time I'd seen Mike get angry. But, after what you three have told me, I know for sure that I wasn't seeing things."
"So, like, what are you going to do," Katie asked cautiously.
Zoey looked over at Mike, who was still in a conversation.
"I'll talk to him about it first. Then, we can figure out where to go from there…"
"But, what if it happens again?" Dawn asked.
The Redhead couldn't think of a response. She just continued to look at her boyfriend with a worried look on her face.
"Alright! Mike, Zoey, time to board the Copter of Shame!" Chris announced, "Say you're absolute last goodbyes and get in!"
With that said, Mike high fived all of his friends before walking towards Zoey, who was hugging her three friends one last time.
"Don't worry, girls," she told them, "If I can't handle Angry Mike, then you'll be the first ones I call."
"Alright…stay safe, Zoey," Dawn said.
"Yeah, stay safe," Anne Maria added.
"Please, stay safe," Katie said before Zoey walked to the Copter with Mike.
The Perfect Pair got into the helicopter and sat down in the seats. They waved to their friends as the door slid closed. A minute later, the helicopter became airborne and started to fly away from the scene.
"Now, we're down to the final 12!" Chris said to the camera, "With two favorites now out of the game, how will the rest of this season go? Who are the favorites now? Who are your favorites now? Whoever they are, you can root for them next time on…"
"Total!"
"Drama!"
"Avengeance!"
On-board the Copter of Shame
Zoey was asleep in her seat while Mike was looking out the window, slowly drifting off to sleep as well.
Once his eyes were fully shut, he started to snore a little, signifying that he was asleep. His reflection in the window seemed to do the same, until the reflection's hair fell over its left eye, which opened along with his right eye. The seemingly sentient reflection of Mike smiled evilly and started to chuckle just as evilly.
"Mal is back, baby! Mhm-mhm-mha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!"
The picture then fades to black.
References:
[1] - If you didn't notice when you read through it, I had all of Peter Olring's Total Drama characters recording on the Confession Cam in a row. In case you don't know, Peter Olring is the voice actor for Cody, Ezekiel, and Tyler in the American and Canadian versions of Total Drama.
[2] - The Puppy Dog Pout, I got from Kim Possible. One of my favorite shows from my childhood and one of my favorite shows from Disney, period. Right up there with Phineas and Ferb.
Whoo! That was some intense stuff, huh? Ha-ha...ah... Believe it or not, this whole chapter took up 42 pages on MS Word and over 11,000 words. I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written, ever! Anyway, I know that a good number of you are probably glad that Mike and Zoey are gone. I've seen on the Total Drama Fan Group on FaceBook that they, along with Cameron, are not very well liked, which I find pretty funny actually. Now, all of that hate isn't what made write them out, it was the fact that I wanted them to be eliminated together that made me do that, and this was just the perfect opportunity.
Alright, if you're still reading this, you probably want to know the reasons why this chapter was delayed for so long. Well, here's a list of the reasons.
1. College - Pretty self-explanatory. I finished the semester on December 19th, the last day of finals, and, needless to say, I was busy with schoolwork and such the whole time. Not only that, but school tired me out really easily.
2. Hobbies - I have hobbies outside of school besides fanfiction writing. I'm an amateur musician, or at least I'm trying to start an amateur career as a musician, and I recorded some songs while I was at school. Now, I've started do collaborations with people who have noticed my talents, which has also cut into my free time. I also started voice acting while during the semester, or at least I was auditioning for roles in different online works. I've already got a few roles that I should be recording for soon. I also race on IRacing, which doesn't take up as much time as it used to, but that's only because I've gotten more hobbies since I started IRacing.
3. Underestimating this Challenge - I didn't think that this challenge would be a challenge itself to write. I thought I could easily make up 10 obstacles to place around the track and have the contestants either breeze through them or have a rough time with them, but I was sadly mistaken. I knew that I wanted the last obstacle to be a climbing wall of sorts, but I really had to think for the other 9 obstacles. At first, I just took some challenges from previous seasons and turned them into obstacles, which worked until I got to the sixth obstacle in the race. From there to the ninth obstacle, I really, really, had to come up with creative obstacles, which was difficult since I have a lot on my mind already. By that time, I realized that this chapter was gonna be longer than I first thought, so I almost cut it into two separate parts. But, then I remembered that some of you didn't like that the Aftermath was cut into three parts, so I didn't want to put you all through that twice in a row. Also, by that time, it was already New Year's Eve, and I thought that a lot of you would be disappointed to see that the episode would be another three parter after two and a half months of nothing, so I urged myself to keep writing until the episode was finished.
TL:DR - College sucks, I have a lot more hobbies than writing this story, and the challenge took a lot more time than I expected it to.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one. I'm not even going to hazard a guess as to when that will be up, but I'm hoping to get it up by next month. Fingers crossed! See you all in chapter 32!