Sorry for the late chapter! But please understand that I have college classes and this was Halloween weekend too. Because of this, I will be updating once a week still, but it could be anytime that week. Please continue to remain patient with me.
Now let's get the next episode started!
Episode 3: Mission Improbable
(Narrated by Don.)
"Last time on The Ridonculous Race: Stranger Shuffle. Our thirty-six teams had to say goodbye to their previous teams as the aforementioned shuffle put them into brand new teams."
"Some got along fine!" A clip of Charlotte and Tai from the cheerleading challenge was shown, followed by Danielle and Lily's last confessional.
"Some? Not so fine." A clip of Sam and Kayla telling Victor and Brady off was shown, as well as Justin and Helen arguing with each other, as Don said, "But it was in Dallas, Texas that Helen the baker and Justin the model were the first two contestants to be eliminated from the show."
"Thirty-four contestants remain, with twenty-four more legs in the race to go," he continued, "Which two contestants will end up coming in first this week? Which two contestants will be going home? Find out right here on… The Ridonculous Race: Stranger Shuffle!"
After the theme song ended, Don stood in front of the thirty-four remaining contestants, who had already disbanded from their episode two teams, ready to be sorted into a brand new set of ragtag teams.
"I see you guys are already getting used to the gimmick, huh?" the host asked before chuckling and saying, "Alright! Let's see what teams we've got for today!"
Pressing a button on his remote, the portable monitor once again shuffled through everyone's names, before finally generating seventeen brand new teams for the current leg of the race.
The monitor read:
Ethan and Tai
Mitch and Brady
Markus and Jackie
Liam and James
Lexi and Xavier
Sam and Scarlett
Kelly and Rosa
Vanessa and Ash
Naoya and Blaine
Shakir and Brooke
Melissa and Victor
Jake and Isadora
Gertrude and Kayla
Rebecca and Danielle
Junior and Josh
Charlotte and Rosalina
Lily and Davis
"Markus and Jackie, Kelly and Rosa," Don spoke once the contestants moved to meet their new teammates, "You may look at the Don Box Tip first."
"Gladly!" was Kelly's excited response as the cheerleader hit the button on top of the Don Box, reading it out loud, "'Buckle up because something's rotten in the state of… Denmark?'"
The camera panned away from Kelly to show Don in front of a green screen with the sights of Denmark behind him, "Not just Denmark, but Copenhagen, Denmark! A city filled with precious artifacts, royal families, and a truckload of flowers! But this challenge, we don't have time to stop and smell the tulips… because we have a pretty big challenge to undertake! Wink, wink!"
Team Confessional: Markus and Jackie
"I'm pretty sure this means this challenge is going to be pretty awful, isn't it?" Markus asked, turning towards his teammate.
"I'm just surprised it took this long to get this bad, honestly," was Jackie's response, with a shrug.
Once again, the contestants were off, booking their flights to go all the way from Dallas, Texas to Copenhagen, Denmark. Once again, there was three flights, the first two flights carrying six teams each and the third flight carrying five teams.
The first flight had Kelly and Rosa, Liam and James, Markus and Jackie, Melissa and Victor, Mitch and Brady, and Rebecca and Danielle.
The second flight's teams were Charlotte and Rosalina, Gertrude and Kayla, Junior and Josh, Lily and Davis, Naoya and Blaine, and Vanessa and Ash.
The third and final flight carried Ethan and Tai, Jake and Isadora, Lexi and Xavier, Sam and Scarlett, and Shakir and Brooke.
Flight 1.
Mitch sat quietly next to Brady, who was asleep and snoring. While it wasn't visible, the air around Mitch seemed moderately annoyed. After all, he understood why Brady almost caused someone to lose the last challenge.
Brady soon snored loudly, waking himself up and looking around before deadpanning at Mitch, "Oh. It's just you. The quiet guy."
Mitch just quietly shrugged, admitting, "Yeah, true." However, when Brady wasn't looking, he made a gesture as if he was hanging a noose around the other boy and hoisting it up.
Meanwhile, across the aisle, Liam looked over at James, who was typing away at his computer, doing more computer hacking at the time.
"Isn't that illegal?" the gentleman asked, furrowing his brows slightly.
"So is downloading illegal movies but everyone does it," was James's blunt response.
"Yeah, but I think you could get into some definite legal percussions from that," Liam frowned and shook his head, "You really shouldn't mess with that."
James stared at Liam deadpan, before standing up from his seat and walking away from the other guy. Liam had to hold back rolling his eyes. James sure was a friendly soul, wasn't he?
The computer hacker went over to sit in Mitch's seat, since once again, the hooded boy had disappeared from sight like a ghost once more. He and Brady did talk a little bit back in episode 1, so he did believe that he wasn't as annoying as a lot of the other contestants.
"Sup, man?" Brady asked, nodding to the delinquent.
"Avoiding getting shamed morally," was James's simple answer.
"Yeah, that Liam, huh?" Brady asked, crossing his arms, "He really is kinda snooty and a goody good, ain't he?"
"Being a goody two shoes won't get you far in this race," James agreed, not looking up from his monitor.
Brady laughed for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, true that. Hey. I got a question? You gonna go for that Ash chick?"
James shrugged. They were just a team together, so he wasn't really sure that he really cared that much. He finally asked, "Why? Want her?"
"Nah, man!" Brady laughed, shaking his head, "Nah, I'm all for that petit chou over there." He jerked his thumb over towards Rebecca, who was currently idly chatting with her teammate, Danielle. James looked over at her before deadpan looking into the nearest camera.
Solo Confessional: Brady
"Yep," the bully inhaled and grinned, "All I have to do is put on the 'ole Watterson charm and speak my language, the language of love? Oh, she'll be crawling all over me."
Solo Confessional: James
"While I do think Brady's alright," the computer hacker looked up from his laptop, "he's definitely the most delusional person here. And that includes Rosalina, Ethan, Shakir, Melissa, and Naoya. Just so you know." It was obvious that he did find Brady more tolerable than the other five, except for maybe Melissa, but he definitely didn't think that Brady had a chance in the world.
"So wait," Rebecca spoke to Danielle, holding up two hands to her, "Let me get this straight. You're saying that animals help you out?"
Danielle took a strand of brown hair and tucked it behind her ear, before nodding, "I believe that about sums it up."
"So you're like Dawn or DJ or Ella," was Rebecca's continuing question.
"Ennui, too, now that I think about it," the girl replied after musing for a second.
Smiling slightly, Rebecca extended her fist for a fist bump with Danielle, "Okay. That's really cool. Too bad I probably won't be on your team if we have a challenge soon with animals."
Danielle returned the fist bump and laughed slightly, "Who knows? I may help you out sometime?" Rebecca was about to jokingly respond to that, but suddenly a shadow fell over the two girls. The two turned around to face none other than Brady, who had his hand on the back of Rebecca's seat and gave her a clicking motion with finger guns.
"Hey, mon petit chou," he spoke, not expecting Rebecca to know the word and expecting her to ask out of curiosity.
"My little cabbage, huh?" Danielle asked, giggling slightly. This would be entertaining, for sure.
Rebecca furrowed her brows and crossed her arms when Danielle explained what the phrase meant, "Your little… what? What does that mean?"
"Uh," Brady suddenly began to sputter, turning red, "Uh. Y'know! You're uh- cute like a… cabbage? It's-It's a French term!"
"Nice," was her uninterested reply, "But I'm not French."
"Well, yeah, but-"
"I'd quit while I'm ahead if I were you," was Danielle's response, trying to hold back giggles at Brady's failure.
"...Shit," he cursed under his breath before stammering, "Yeah," and walking off.
"So," Danielle looked over at Rebecca, "Did that make you fall for him?"
"It made me want to vomit if that's an answer for you," Rebecca replied, smirking at her teammate slightly.
The two girls jumped slightly when a loud voice rang, "WHADDYA MEAN YOU DON'T WANT TO BE IN AN ALLIANCE WITH ME?! I'VE SEEN YOU ASK OTHER BRATS!"
Melissa just stared blankly at Victor, "I just… don't?"
"Look, kid," the principal crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm the best alliance mate you could get out of anyone here! Anyone! At all! Ever!"
"Maybe if you didn't… scream," Danielle mentioned from over in her seat, "Or act like you do, someone would want to ally with you."
Victor opened and closed his mouth. He hated to admit it, but the British girl did definitely have a point.
Team Confessional: Danielle and Rebecca.
"Do you blame her?" Rebecca asked, shaking her head, "He almost cost him and Sam the game! I certainly don't want his help!"
"Because he cost someone the game or because he almost cost Sam the game?" Danielle asked, tilting her head slightly at the rocker.
"...Yeah, I plead the fifth on that one," was her simple answer.
Solo Confessional: Melissa.
"I reaaaally want people to like me and ally with me," she rubbed her arm slightly before frowning and shaking her head, "But! But, you know… I do want to win the game. And I'm pretty sure Victor would get us eliminated in a snap." She snapped her fingers for emphasis.
Solo Confessional: Victor.
"Okay, maybe I royally messed up last challenge," Victor begrudgingly admitted, "And now none of these brats want to work with me. But maybe… Just maybe if I…" He shuddered, "Work with them, I'll get to survive another few episodes here."
Markus and Jackie, surprisingly enough, had an extremely quiet demeanor at that moment. Both were hardworkers, and since Markus was finally with another overachiever of sorts, he found that he could work on his essays in peace. This was fine to Jackie too, since she could get a lot of theatre reading done while they ended up making it to Denmark.
Kelly and Rosa, however, were deep into a conversation that Rosa seemed a little nervous to talk about.
"I'm afraid that if I keep flirting with guys, it's going to end up getting me burned," the Latina explained, holding her hands in her lap and looking down slightly, "Or get me eliminated from the competition. And I don't want that. Not yet."
Kelly tapped her lip and gave a hum, "There's no way that you know that you can use that'll stop it dead in its tracks? Like, at all?"
Rosa just shook her head and frowned.
"...Do you want some help?"
The girl perked up and asked, "You'll help me?"
"Sure, I will!" the enthusiastic cheerleader beamed, "I mean, I helped Markus loosen up a little bit last challenge, so this'll be a cinch! Right, Markus?!" The workaholic turned red from embarrassment and slunk down slightly when Kelly said this, causing Jackie to giggle slightly in response.
Team Confessional: Kelly and Rosa.
"So you really think you can help?" the flirt asked, honestly curious to see if Kelly could help at least calming her natural seducing traits down.
"I'm P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E!" Kelly spelled out and put her hands on her hips, "Or my middle name isn't Gleeful, Rosa!"
"...Is your middle name gleeful?" Rosa asked, taking a doubletake for a moment.
Kelly fell silent before saying, "Well, no, but if it was, y'know?"
Flight 2.
In an interesting turn of events, the tragic comedian and the comeback kid had hit it off extremely well. Josh was currently testing a new standup routine for the thirteen year old, as the boy listened intently.
"And that's exactly how I drew this nub," Josh had his right hand in his sleeve, before pulling it out and pretending to be horrified, "Aaaaaah, it's a Ridonculous miracle!"
Junior burst into laughter for a moment before wiping a tear away, "Dude. Dude, you probably shouldn't joke about that. Knowing this show, you might actually lose an arm that way."
"Oh, relax," Josh chuckled, shrugging, "I doubt that they could have the injuries get that bad. Well, uh. Other than the fact Devin left here in a full-body cast."
"Or the fact that Don almost left Laurie and Miles on an island full of cannibals," the blonde kid reminded.
"Oh, yeah," Josh remembered hearing that last season with a nod, even though the two vegans came back safe and sound, "Huh. I didn't know that cannibals liked tofu." In response to that, Junior snickered slightly.
Solo Confessional: Junior.
"Josh is actually pretty cool!" the young teenager exclaimed, decidedly, "I mean, not a lot of people on this show are my age. Y'know. Except for Rosalina. But Josh actually pays attention to me and listens to what I've gotta say. It's pretty rad, honestly."
Solo Confessional: Josh.
"In all honesty," the comedian rubbed the back of his neck, "I kinda see Junior as a younger brother figure since my own brother couldn't come with me, y'know? Like a brother from another mother!" He shrugged.
"So any luck so far getting anyone together?" Charlotte bounced on her heels a little impatiently. She was way too excited to see what Denmark was like, since it was a country not routinely visited by shows like the Ridonculous Race or Total Drama World Tour.
Rosalina gave a sigh and shook her head, "No. I mean, I was trying to do so, but it just didn't seem to work out in any of my tries yet."
"Well, don't give up that easily!" Charlotte urged her with a smile, "I mean, we're just in the third leg of the race! I'm sure we'll get some happy couples sooner or later!" She shrugged.
"Yeah… Yeah, you're right!" Rosalina perked up and gave the older girl a smile, before looking around the room, "Like…. Joooooosh… And…."
"Do I not get a say in this?" Josh, who was in ear range asked, furrowing his brows.
"Well, you do want to find a good boyfriend, right?" Rosalina asked, giggling slightly, "How abouuuuut… Davis-"
"No, seriously," he sternly shook his head, "You could at least ask me before you try to pair me up with someone, you know?" As an awkward tension began to grow between the two, Charlotte and Junior wisely decided to sit this one out for now.
"I just did, silly-"
"Just forget it," Josh finally decided to just leave her alone, turning back to talk to Junior.
Team Confessional: Charlotte and Rosalina.
"Well, that backfired…" Rosalina muttered, feeling really awkward from that whole situation.
"He was right that you should ask first, though," Charlotte reminded, before noticing how down the girl was, "Hey! You draw, right?!"
"Yeah?" Rosalina looked up slightly.
"How about you show me some of your drawings and you put the whole cupid thing on the backburner for this leg," she asked, "Sound good?"
Rosalina mused for a second before saying, "Just wait until you see my newest yaoi doujin!"
"And that's when we burst out into chorus!" Davis exclaimed, talking animatedly to Lily.
"Mhm~"
"We gave the most showstopping performance of our lives!"
"Nice~"
"...You're not listening at all, are you?" Davis asked, arching an eyebrow at his teammate, who currently was writing in a notebook.
Lily looked over at Davis and said, "Oh, of course I'm listening! I can promise you that I would never tune out such intriguing stories about your singing career!"
"Oh… Well, thanks, Lily; I appreciate it!" Davis replied, grinning at his teammate's compliment. He turned to the window for a moment to take some time out to just enjoy the sights of the airspace around them, as Lily shook her head slightly at the camera to signify she had no idea whatsoever about what Davis just talked about.
Meanwhile, Vanessa was playing none other than The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes on her 3DS. To her surprise, Ash had looked over her shoulder to watch her play.
"Green, red, or blue?" was Vanessa's amused question to her teammate.
"Red," Ash didn't seem all that phased and shrugged, "I think it's one of the cooler Links anyway."
"I agree, but blue's a pretty different color too," she mused, tapping her lips, before accidentally having her Link fall off of the platform he was on, "Damn it! Uh… That was completely an accident, just so you know,."
"Yeah," Ash smirked, crossing her and arms and rolling her eyes, "I believe you."
The environmental tomboy stood up and said, "Gonna stretch my legs. Gonna see what the other teams are up to."
"Alright!" Vanessa replied, as she became engrossed in her game once more.
Davis had become engrossed in the movie playing on the flight, the adaptation of Hairspray, leaving Lily to her own devices for the moment. As Ash passed by, she noticed that there was names of contestant's on each the girl's notebook, with some notary shorthand scribbled out beside it.
"Deciding which one of us to eliminate first?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow. She kept her tone neutral, just to see what Lily would say.
"More like, who should I observe to see who would make an interesting character study," was the girl's response, as she looked over at Ash, "I'm actually wanting to go to college to become a social psychologist!"
"A social psychologist?" Ash asked, looking a little taken aback, "I would have thought you would have went into something like wedding planning or something."
"And I never would have seen you as the type to save the environment as strongly as you do," the girly girl responded, simply.
Ash opened and closed her mouth before saying, "Yeah, touche."
Solo Confessional: Ash.
"I dunno," she shrugged, "Lily's a strange person, but to think she's going into something as serious and hard as psychology? I expected her to just be a ditzy girly girl, honestly."
Solo Confessional: Lily.
"I think that Ash is a pretty interesting contender, and that's why I do feel a little bad about lying to her partially," was what Lily said to the camera, "I'll be using my knowledge of social psychology to ultimately weed out the problem children. But for now, Ash seems just fine and not on my radar."
"Is this what public school's like?" Naoya asked, grimacing as he watched the main character of Hairspray get bullied for her weight. Part of him was glad that he was sheltered and homeschooled because of it.
"Well, no," his teammate, Blaine, shook his head, "I mean there is some jerks in high school, but it's not this… flanderized."
Naoya gave a soft, "Huh," his attention still focused on the screen.
Suddenly, the monitors went out. Several shouts of annoyance from both the contestants and other passengers could be heard throughout the plane.
"Well, that lasted long," Naoya muttered, slightly deadpan.
"Wanna go see if we can tell the staff about it?" Blaine asked, jerking his thumb towards a nearby stewardess.
Naoya nodded, "Not like we have much better to do." With that, the two boys stood up and went to go join a few others who had the same idea.
Meanwhile, Kayla was standing up to do the same thing.
"Do you think you can get me some peanuts while you're up, dearie?" Gertrude asked the pastel goth with a sweet smile.
Kayla rubbed the back of her neck and grinned back, "Sure, granny G! I'll do just that!"
As Kayla walked off, Gertrude mused, "Huh… Granny G… I really like the sound of that!"
To the goth's surprise, a long line had formed for multiple complaints against the airlines. Apparently a lot of the passengers had a lot of complaints, not just one about the movie itself. As nosy as she was, she picked up on the conversation going on between two of her fellow competitors, Davis and Blaine.
"How're you surviving the contest, anyway?" Blaine had asked, wanting to strike up some conversation with the musical fellow.
"Perfect~" he sung back with a smile, "Absolutely perfect, at that! Junior was a pretty great partner, and Mitch was surprisingly competent as well. How about you, Blaine?"
"I can't complain," Blaine replied, rubbing the back of his head with a grin, "I mean, Sam and Brooke are really nice. So, it's been great to be on a team with them. Naoya's… strange, but he's not too ritzy, you know?"
"Same with Lily," Davis chuckled, "Wonder if we could trade partners and team up for this?"
"I doubt Don would let us," the photographer shook his head but laughed as well, "Probably stick a penalty on us from the beginning."
"Yeah, I guess I can't argue with that," the singer rationed with a nod, "But maybe I'll get you next time. I think that would be really nice, actually."
Blaine gave a really flattered smile and nodded, "You know what? I think I'd like that, man."
As the two went back to idly chatting, Kayla, who originally was going to say something, instead decided to keep quiet and tend to her own business. Buuuut, she decided, she might prod at Blaine about this later.
Solo Confessional: Blaine.
"It's amazing how chill everyone is on this show, not counting like Victor, Brady, and Scarlett," Blaine mused as he sat in the confessional, "Especially Davis and Brooke. I should really get to hanging out with them a lot more."
Solo Confessional: Davis.
"Kayla, you're really not subtle when you're trying to be nosy, are you?" Davis revealed that he had noticed that the girl had listened the entire time. Kayla, who was going to go to the confessional afterwards gave an "Eeep!" from outside the confessional upon overhearing that and ran off, causing Davis to snicker slightly.
Meanwhile, two other contestants in the line were having another conversation of their own, but it was much more… excited in comparison.
"Wicked was so awesome!" Naoya exclaimed with a grin, "You said you got to work on a production of it in theatre class?" Now this side of public school he could easily get interested in.
"Yep!" was the enthusiastic actresses's response as she nodded, her fake cat ears bobbing up and down, "I'm actually played Galinda in it! ...Wait, if you're a shut-in, how do you know about theatre anyway?"
"It's basically one of the few things my parents let me watch," Naoya replied with a shrug, "So I consume a lot of it and a lot of books to keep myself from being bored out of my mind."
"Huh," Charlotte responded, blinking slightly, before asking, "Have you seen RENT then?"
"No, but I've heard of it," the rich kid shook his head slightly.
"See it, and I can promise you that you'll love it!" was her response, as she smiled slightly, "It's amazing. Although, you might enjoy classical theatre too…"
With that, Charlotte began to enthusiastically talk about theatre to the rich boy, who was just as enthusiastically listening and making notes on which musicals and non-musicals to try next. Of course, this ended up with them holding up the line and being met with groans from tourists who just wanted to complain to the flight attendants.
Flight 3.
"Did you arrest him?" Lexi asked, as she and her teammate Xavier were in currently in a conversation brought on from both of them being bored out of their mind from the flight, "Or do detectives even do that?"
"Well, they do," Xavier explained with a shrug, "But I'm not exactly an official detective just yet. I'm far too young to have that jurisdiction."
"Lame," she commented with a smirk, "You could always get your own handcuffs and go to town."
"...I'm pretty afraid to figure out what you mean by go to town," Xavier deadpanned, crossing his arms.
Lexi feigned shock before saying, "I can't believe you'd say that! Or think that! For a stuffy British dude, you sure do have your mind in the gutter, dude."
"I'll ignore the fact that you called me stuffy, Punky Brewster," was Xavier's chuckling, yet still sarcastic comment. Of course, it was easy to tell that two of the more jaded contestants would get along fine with little to no problems.
Across the aisle from them was Jake and Isadora, who were currently trying to keep up their relatively happy demeanors despite the fact that two children were sitting behind them and kicking their seats almost incessantly.
"Well, it could be worse," Isadora mused, trying to make the better of the situation.
"It could be?" was the techie's response, arching an eyebrow, "We could have five children kicking our seat?"
"Pretty much," she giggled in response, "Pre-tty much."
Jake laughed, but when he was kicked once more, he groaned for a second before turning around to face the kids. "You know, that's pretty rude. You don't have to keep kicking our seats like that."
"Yeah," Isadora added with a nod, "Why don't you like take a breather and watch the in-flight movie or something?"
The two children looked at each other for a moment, before looking back over at the two and kicking their seats this time on purpose, swifter and harder than they did earlier on.
"We… should have seen that coming, shouldn't we?" Jake groaned again, in annoyance.
"In hindsight?" Isadora asked, before nodding, "Yeah, probably."
Lexi, who was watching all of this go down, stood up from her seat and said, "That's not a way to stop 'em. This is how you stop something like this."
She turned towards the kids and said, "If you kick their seats again, I can promise that I'll get the pilot to strap you to the hood of the plane for the rest of the trip."
The two kids froze in fear at the punk and looked at each other for a moment, before deciding to nervously turn their attention back to the movie.
"See?" she asked, winking at the two.
Isadora, however, wasn't all that pleased with that tactic, "You know, they're just kids. You didn't have to scare them out of their minds."
Lexi arched an eyebrow at the explorer, "Okay, then, Isadora the Explorer. The way you two handled it didn't work. I'm pretty sure your teammate realizes that too, right?"
"I plead the fifth," Jake made the correct choice in backing out of this conversation right then and there.
"Xavier," Isadora decided to turn the tables on Lexi, "Do you think that what she did was right?"
"No, it was definitely not right," Xavier replied, causing the girl to smile, but that didn't last long, "However… I probably would have done the exact same thing."
Team Confessional: Lexi and Xavier.
"You probably should have plead the fifth in hindsight," Lexi commented, chuckling slightly at her teammate.
"Probably," he shrugged, "But then again, I don't particularly care for kids anyway."
"Spoken like a true blunt, stuffy British dude," Lexi prodded jokingly, causing Xavier to roll his eyes slightly.
Team Confessional: Jake and Isadora.
"I'm sorry, but Lexi just kinda… irks me," Isadora, for once, was frowning, "That's not how you would handle that situation. I mean, yeah, they were acting up, but they were still just kids!"
Jake, still not wanting to get into this debate, said, "Still pleading the fifth."
"So, Sam." Upon hearing his name, the ex-intern ended up turning his head to face his teammate and grimaced.
"Since we're on the same team," Scarlett continued, "And since you're such a hard-working player, I believe that an alliance is in order, is it not? One of the smartest players and one of the strongest players could consistently cause a nice balance of power as we help our teammates. Through this, we could easily become two of the six to make it to the final three teams, by my calculations."
Sam was quiet for a moment before saying, "That's a really good point, but you're forgetting something pretty important."
Scarlett looked a little taken back before she asked, "Oh? And what would that be?"
"Uh, Pahkitew Island?" he asked, "I was an intern at that time? You almost blew up the entire island and tried to kill everyone?"
The redhead began to nervously stammer, "You- You were on that season?"
"I was," he crossed his arms and gave her a stern look.
Composing herself, the genius stood up and said, "I think I'll… Be somewhere else." With that, she walked off, but that was just fine with Sam. Although, he did inwardly wonder why he had gotten two bad teammates in a row.
A few rows away, Brooke watched as her teammate held upside down from the door that held all the luggage from their row.
"Uh, Shakir?"
"Yeah, Brookeworm?" the silly individual asked as he continued to hang upside down from the top of the door.
"I'm pretty sure you're going to get yourself hurt," she tried to gently reprimand him.
"Nah."
"No, I'm pretty sure that's unsafe!" Brooke shook her head and continued to try to get him to chill down somewhat.
"Look, if I was really in any danger, wouldn't I be hurt by now?" Shakir asked. However, it was at that moment, when he accidentally lost his grip and fell off and onto the floor. It was then that all the luggage inside the cabinet fell down on top of him, prompting Brooke to move her legs to avoid getting them hurt.
Team Confessional: Shakir and Brooke.
Brooke was reading quietly, while Shakir was trying to come to terms with the fact that she was right and the fact that he was a little disoriented by the fall.
"...I guess!" he finally responded to Brooke's warnings. Of course, this was way late of an answer to her.
As Brooke was trying to rescue Shakir from the comically large hill of luggage, she was stopped by another contestant that had decided to try and talk to her.
"May I ask for a moment of your time, Brooke?" Scarlett asked, adjusting her glasses.
"Uh, I'm-"
"Perfect," Scarlett interrupted her and began to talk. Just like she had told Sam, she began to spit out a spiel about teaming up with Brooke in an alliance, as Brooke went back to try to rescue her teammate.
Once Scarlett was finished, she asked, "What is your reply?"
"Um," Brooke looked up and over at Scarlett, "I wasn't listening, actually…"
The redhead scowled at the bookworm and said, "Alliance. You and me. Sound good?"
Brooke stared at Scarlett for a second before shaking her head, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline."
"Great!" the evil genius exclaimed, throwing her hands up, before deciding to walk off, mumbling to herself to see who she could actually talk into this.
The bookworm watched the other girl walk away before turning back to Shakir when he said, "Mom, is that you?" She sighed quietly before returning to her attempt to free him.
Near the back of the plane, once more, Ethan was planning on a prank to use on Xavier. This time, however, he did not use a complicated prank; just a simple banana peel. Quietly, Tai watched him in curiosity.
"Hey, magician guy," the prankster turned to his teammate, "Think you can pull something out of your hat that can get detective pants over here?"
Tai tapped his lip for a moment in thought. He then rose his index finger to the sky with a small gasp of realization. Digging around in his hat, perhaps metaphorically, he ended up pulling out a toy firecracker. Throwing it on the floor, it popped, sounding suspiciously like a gunshot.
They watched everyone's head turn towards the back of the plane, as Xavier had stood up and had begun to make his way back there.
"Who did- Waaaaah!"
He actually ended up falling for it. Xavier slipped on the banana feel, falling face first on the floor.
"Yes!" Ethan jumped up from his seat after giving Tai a highfive, "I knew that I'd get you!"
"That was-" Xavier frowned, standing up as well and crossing his arms, "That was a cheap tactic, however. A very cheap tactic."
"Don't look at me, look at Tai over here," Ethan crossed his arms too and grinned.
Xavier gave Tai a nod before saying, "Yes, well. You may have won this battle." He took off his glasses and pocketed them for a moment for dramatic tension, "But you have not won the war." He began to walk away, but accidentally slipped on the banana peel once again due to not having his glasses on, causing Ethan to burst out into laughter and Tai to snicker.
Confessional: Ethan and Tai
"You're amazing, you know that, dude?" Ethan congratulated the magician on his help for pulling off the prank. All Tai did in response was pull out some dust and ignite it, jokingly saying with the dust, "I know."
The first plane finally touched down in Copenhagen, Denmark, as the first six teams began to make their way towards the first Don Box. The first two to make it to the Box was none other than James and Liam.
"It seems to be an All-In," Liam spoke as he read the ticket, "Take a taxi to Denmark's royal family's Amalienborg Palace. Get ready, because you must do anything in your power to get past the guards or break into the palace. ...Oh no."
"Oh, yes," James replied with a smirk. This challenge was right up his alley.
Don was seen standing at the Amalienborg Palace and said, "Oh, yes, is right! The heavily guarded Amalienborg Palace is home to Denmark's own royal family. So of course, it won't be easy to make it past the guards. Inside, on the top floor of the the mansion, is the next Don Box, which will lead our teams to the second of today's challenges."
Calls for a taxi could be heard, as the camera zoomed back to them once again, this time with Don's narration, "The first six teams are making their way towards the palace, while the second set of six teams have arrived in Copenhagen, ready to head after and try to catch up. However, the third and final plane is still yet to arrive in Denmark."
Jackie and Markus stared at the grand palace before them. Of course this wouldn't be easy, as guards stood outside of the palace and none of them looked especially friendly.
"Do you think if we ask nicely they'll let us inside?" Markus asked, turning towards his teammate.
The other overachiever turned towards him and arched an eyebrow, asking, "What do you think?"
"Well, it's poss-"
"No," Jackie interrupted him, shaking her head, "Now, we're two of the smartest competitors here. It'd probably be a good idea to try and think over this before we get going. Right?"
Markus paused for a second before nodding, "Right."
As the two began to think, another team was also pondering over the correct way to make their way inside.
"Place seems locked up tight," Victor mused to himself as he looked it over, "Okay, I hate to say this, but what'cha got, kid? ...Kid?" Victor looked over and Melissa was gone. He looked around frantically for a second before seeing Melissa talking to one of the guards. He ran up to stand beside her, a little blown away by how she was trying to get in.
"We just want to meet them!" Melissa exclaimed, before giving the guard a puppy dog stare, "Pretty please with whipped cream on top?"
"That is the dumbest-"
Victor was interrupted by the guard nodding and saying, "Certainly, little miss. But is he with you?" He arched an eyebrow at Victor.
Melissa looked over at Victor before shrugging, "Sure, why not. He's my dad."
"Sure, why not?" Victor repeated, crossing his arms at Melissa, "Is that anyway to speak to your father?" Either way, he decided to play along with it.
The officer gave the two massive scrutiny, before shrugging, "Eh. Come on in." Stepping aside, the two contestants ran inside, ready to climb the many steps to the top floor.
"Damn," Victor commented, "That was some good manipulating."
Melissa paused for a second before asking, "I was manipulating someone?! Oh my gosh, finally!" It seemed that she didn't know that she even did it. Victor closed his eyes for a moment before forcing a smile and nodding.
Solo Confessional: Victor.
"I've gotta stay on this kid's good side for now," he told the camera, "Because the last thing I wanna do is end up being eliminated second. And if her innocence gets us to the finish line? Then by hell, so be it!"
"I have absolutely no clue how we're going to pull this off," Liam commented as he looked at the palace.
"Shh," was James's response.
Ignoring that, Liam continued on, "I mean, this challenge could very well be impossible! Yet somehow… Melissa and Victor did it?"
"Shh."
"I mean, if even Jackie and Markus can't solve it, then how will we?"
"Shh."
"WILL YOU STOP SHUSHING ME AND LISTEN?!" Liam, for once, lost his temper, turning on his heels and screaming at James who once again had his head buried in his laptop.
"And… Done," James hit the enter key on the laptop, before looking back up at Liam, "I was able to override their electronic locking system on one of the lower windows. If we can sneak over to it, we're golden."
Liam fell silent before crossing his arms. As James lead the way and Liam followed, the computer hacker said, "Yeah. That's right. Fall silent, dapper boy."
Meanwhile, Kelly had another idea on how they could get inside. Turning to face Rosa, she laughed nervously and said, "So, uh. I did I'd help you, but-"
"I don't want to do the seducing thing," Rosa frowned, "You said you'd help me not do it as often…"
"Right, right," the cheerleader sighed, but relented, regardless, "How good are you at being thrown up in the air?"
"What?" Rosa asked, widening her eyes.
"...Right, my cheer team isn't with me…" she mused, now in deep thought, "This, like, might be a lot harder than I first thought- What are they doing?" She curiously pointed over at Mitch and Brady.
"Follow my lead," the raspy, monotoned, hooded boy spoke to Brady, "Step with your toes and be sure to be swift and agile. Like a cheetah."
"Oh, I can be swift and agile!" Brady exclaimed proudly, jerking a thumb towards his chest, "Just you-"
"Good, now shut up," Mitch hissed. If they were going to sneak past the guards using Mitch's personal abilities, then they would have to be as quiet as they possibly could be.
Mitch began to swiftly and sneakily move towards the palace, with Brady behind him. For most of the time, it seemed to be working. None of the guards noticed them moving past the door.
...Brady noticed the fact they didn't notice.
"Hey, it's working!"
Suddenly, all eyes were on Brady, as he was right at the door. He grinned sheepishly before being forcibly pushed further away from the door, causing him to grumble and glare at the guards. However… Mitch wasn't with him.
He looked around to find the quiet boy, but to no avail. He finally found him inside the palace, through a window.
"How did-"
Mitch put a finger up to silence him, and motioned for him to find a way to get in. Brady gave his teammate a salute and began to try to find a way to get himself inside.
Solo Confessional: Mitch.
"We're doomed," was all the hooded boy said to the camera.
"Are you sure that you can do this?" Rebecca whispered to Danielle, who had brought her bow and arrow from her luggage with her to the challenge.
"Trust me," Danielle replied, giving the rocker a smile, "My aim is pretty good."
Focusing on a loose light on one of the higher floors of the palace, Danielle put an arrow into her quiver, before pulling back and sending it flying towards the light, silently and sneakily. The arrow shot through the air, stabbing the light and causing it to fall to the ground with a loud crash.
Several guards ran over to see what had happened, while Danielle and Rebecca sneaked in the door. Meanwhile, Brady tried to do the same thing, only to be stopped by the guards returning as he shouted, "Oh, come on!"
Inside the palace, Rebecca gave Danielle a high-five and exclaimed, "That… was… Awesome!"
Danielle shyly moved a hair away and said, "It's just my element, I guess. No worries."
"I also saw that," both girls jumped when they noticed Mitch standing beside them, "That was decent."
"Where did you come from?!" Rebecca asked, as she stared at the silent boy.
He stayed silent for a moment before deciding to be captain obvious in his usual deadpan tone, "My mother's uterus."
Rebecca and Danielle shared a glance before shrugging and deciding to start climbing the stairs to the top.
"With only two teams advanced onto the next challenge, the second groups of teams have arrived," Don narrated as the camera switched back to the outside of the palace, "Meanwhile, the third flight has touched down in Denmark. How will the rest of this challenge go?"
"Um, Granny G?"
"Yes, miss?" Gertrude tried to feign innocence as the two sat on a stolen motorcycle.
"I don't think this is a good idea…" Kayla faltered, before saying, "Maybe… Maybe we should try something else that couldn't get us killed or, you know… Arrested?"
They were on a road work pathway that had a ramp leading towards the royal palace. Regardless of Kayla's worries, Gertrude just gunned the motor of the motorcycle more.
"Nonsense!" the daredevil grinned, "Now hold onto me just like my wife does!"
"Please tell me your wife is alive…" Kayla nervously muttered as she gripped around Gertrude's waist.
"Let's rock and roll!" the granny cackled as the motorcycle zoomed off, going up the ramp, and crashing through one of the mansion's windows.
Successfully inside the house, Gertrude cheered, "Yes! We made it, dearie!"
Kayla just weakly rose a hand up in agreement, giggling extremely nervously.
"Oh, don't just sit there, dearie," Gertrude said, standing up and hitting the Don Box to get their next tip, "We have to climb all these stairs before they catch us, you know!"
Meanwhile, Vanessa and Ash exchanged glances as they looked up at what they had just seen.
"Did Gertrude just-"
"Gertrude did just," Ash interrupted Vanessa with a nod, "But, that does give us a pretty good thing, doesn't it?"
"It does?" the flirty geek arched an eyebrow at the environmentally friendly girl, "What's that?"
"We can use the window they crashed into to get in with no problems," she replied with a smirk, "Technically there's no way they can give us a penalty for it since we still have to climb in."
"Huh," Vanessa mused for a second before smiling, "Not bad, Ash! Let's give it a shot! You first!"
Team Confessional: Vanessa and Ash.
"Just don't stare at my butt while I try to get in," Ash said, turning towards Vanessa.
The girl just giggled and said, "I make no promises."
Meanwhile, Josh and Junior had decided on a more… comical approach to try and enter the palace. Junior was stacked on top of Josh, as they were dressed in a fancy trenchcoat that they were able to find in a nearby store.
One of the guards perked up when they saw the tall "individual."
"Oh, Mr. Buckingham!" the guard explained, "Just in time! We'll let you right in!"
The two said nothing for a moment, before Josh spoke and Junior tried to lipsync, "Ah, yes! It is I! Mr. Bucking! ...Ham! Toodle-loo!"
"Need someone to escort you up?" the guard asked, smiling at "Mr. Buckingham."
"NO!" Josh's voice bellowed, before Junior cleared "their" throat and Josh said, "No, no. We're used to the path up by now."
"Okay, man," the guard stepped aside to let the strangely wobbly man through, "See you later, sir!"
As the two made it inside the manor and shut the door behind them, they threw off their disguise and Junior jumped down from being on top of Josh's shoulders, the two giving each other a fist-bump for their job well done.
As Josh walked over to grab the next tip, Junior asked, "Who the heck's Mr. Buckingham anyway?"
"He could be the mayor of Mars for all I know," Josh teased as he read the tip before saying, "We… Have a long trip ahead of us, dude." He pointed at the long spiral staircase towards the top.
Junior sighed, but regardless nodded and said, "Let's do this!"
"And this picture I made for my second yaoi doujin called Lost in the Contours of love," Rosalina was showing her notebook to Charlotte and one of the guards, "It's the royal family's favorite."
"Wow!" the guard exclaimed in awe of the pictures, "I didn't know that the royal family had a personal yaoi artist!"
"That's odd, isn't it?" Charlotte smiled, playing along, "But since I'm her personal assistant, I can promise you about how legitimate this is!"
"Sounds legit!" the guard grinned and opened the door, "Think I can get one of those pictures as a laminated print?"
"I'll think about it!" Rosalina called over her shoulder as the two ran inside.
"Wow," the actress spoke as she hit the Don Box button, "I can't believe that the guards are that…"
"Dumb?" Rosalina asked, snickering slightly.
"Well, I was going to say ditzy," was Charlotte's response, "...But yeah."
The two shared a laugh before Rosalina said, "So! You should really become my assistant!" Charlotte stood there for a moment before widening her eyes in bewilderment at what Rosalina just said.
Instead of currently doing the challenge, Blaine and Naoya had noticed how hard a lot of contestants were having it, and were instead seeing the sights around the palace. Blaine was taking as many pictures as he could, while Naoya was just having a good time.
"Selfie?" Blaine asked, grinning at his teammate.
"Ooh!" Naoya's eyes lit up as he clapped his hands quickly and grinned, "I've always wanted to… 'selfie!'"
Team Confessional: Naoya and Blaine.
"Hey, we gotta have some fun sometime," Blaine shrugged and grinned.
"All work and no play makes Johnny's knives that more dull," Naoya added, flashing a peace sign at the camera.
"...That's 'All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy,'" Blaine corrected the sheltered rich kid.
"Yeah, yeah," he waved that off, "That too."
As the two boys continued on, another team was using one of the team member's looks to make their way inside.
"You know, I really adore foreign men in uniform," Lily seemed to be pulling a card that people would have expected Rosa or Vanessa to do. Well. People would have thought that Rosa's was unintentional, but this was obviously intentional.
"Y-you do?" the guard blushed and scratched his chin.
"Oh, definitely!" the Native American girl smiled and tilted her head slightly, "But do you know what I'd love more?"
"Wh-what's that?"
Lily bridged the gap between herself and the man, "If you'd let me and my brother inside to talk to the family."
"Well…" the guard trailed off, "...Okay. But we'll go on that date afterwards?"
"...Sure," of course, Lily wasn't interested in that at all. With that, the guard let her and Davis inside the building.
"Well, I know who's milkshakes brings some boys to the yard," Davis teased his teammate, "Next time you see a particularly cute one, put in a good word for me."
Lily just simply giggled and said, "Will do."
Back in front of the yard, the last six teams had finally arrived. But one of these six teams had already gotten inside before any of the other six.
"Man, I bet this is James's doing," Jake said with a grin, "He didn't close the data trial behind him, so I was able to locate the correct lock."
Isadora, who was doing a stretch to get ready for the long climb up the steps said, "I'm glad he did! Even if it wasn't on purpose! We have a good chance to get moving and make it there before any of the other teams!"
"Yeah, but… You know," he said, "That's a lot of steps."
"It's chill, man," Isadora shook her head, "We take as many breaks as we need."
"Oh, right, you're kinda lazy," Jake remembered, before saying, "But that means… We'll be able to keep our energy up for the second challenge!"
"Exactamundo," the explorer grinned, waving a finger-gun playfully at her teammate.
"A junior detective from the UK?" a frantic guard asked, as he looked at Xavier's badge, "Are you here to find and capture the impostor Mr. Buckingham?!"
"...Yes," Xavier put his badge away and nodded, "Yes, that is exactly what I and my personal Watson here wishes to do."
"So scoot over and let us get this over with," Lexi added with a stern nod.
"Yes, of course!" the guard stepped aside and frantically said, "Thank you both so much!"
As the two stepped in, Lexi gave a small snicker, "Wow. That was too easy."
"Bless his gullible heart," Xavier chuckled as well, placing a hand over his own heart.
Lexi pressed the Don Box and read the tip, before asking, "How good are you at climbing stairs?"
"Average; below average?" the detective asked with a shrug, "Why?"
Lexi motioned towards the grand staircase. All that Xavier could say in response was an already exhausted, "Great balls of fire."
Team Confessional: Lexi and Xavier.
"I am really not looking forward to this," Xavier lamented at just the thought of having to climb all of those stairs.
"I'm not looking forward to it either," although Lexi's possibly lament didn't come from that, but from the possible reason that they possibly could be eliminated over anything else.
Ethan and Tai looked over at a group of guards who were escorting Shakir and Brooke away from the door, "And don't even attempt to try that again!"
They could also hear Shakir's voice ask, "Was it the banana?" Tai decided that he didn't want to even know what Shakir had roped Brooke into to try on the guards.
They turned back to the guard they were focused on, as Ethan said, "Say, wanna see a magic trick?"
"Not especially," the gruff guard spoke, "But I doubt you kids will leave even if I say no, so go ahead."
"Perfect!" the prankster grinned before stepping aside, "Take it away, Tai!"
The magician gave an overdramatic bow to the unamused guard. He gave a slow nod and rose a finger to signify he was about to start…
...Before throwing down a smoke bomb to disorient the guard!
The guard coughed and when the smoke cleared…
Tai was half in the door and Ethan had barely moved.
"...I was supposed to follow after when he dropped the smoke bomb, wasn't I?" he chuckled sheepishly. In response, all the guard and Tai did was nod slowly in response to the prankster.
"Focusing on the ten teams already inside," Don narrated, "Well… Nine for the most part, since Xavier still hasn't made it even halfway up the steps… They're about to begin the second challenge!"
"It's an Either/Or of sorts," Jake read the new Don Box tip, "One of us has to be tied to a harness and be lowered into a set of… Electrocuting lasers?!"
"Sounds shocking," Isadora giggled, before asking, "...Man, the last challenge really went from 0 to 100, didn't it?"
"That's right, Isadora," Don narrated, as he stood amid a flower-filled Chill Zone, "Each team must pick someone to be lowered down into the set of electrocuting lasers into the palace's royal painting room. They must then steal one of the eighteen Don paintings and be raised back up by their partner and the semi-electronic winch we have installed. They must then use the window zipline I installed down to me at the Chill Zone."
Team confessional: Jake and Isadora.
"If I die, bury me with my laptop," Jake joked, crossing his arms, "Or better yet wait until it's a challenge that they really can't recover my body."
"So… cremate you then," Isadora said, amusedly.
"...Bury my ashes with my laptop," Jake ended up changing his thought.
The teams made up their minds on who would do what. Charlotte would be lowered by Rosalina, Gertrude would be lowered by Kayla, Jake would be lowered by Isadora, Junior would be lowered by Josh, Liam would be lowered by James, Lily would be lowered by Davis, Melissa would be lowered by Victor, Rebecca would be lowered by Danielle, and Vanessa would be lowered by Ash.
Vanessa and Danielle were the first two finished. Surprisingly, the two girls ended up working extremely well together. With Vanessa's dexterity from her video games, and Danielle's watchful eye, they were able to get Vanessa down, the painting grabbed, and back up without any trouble.
Jake and Isadora, surprisingly, weren't very far behind them, however. Jake did almost drop the painting once, but despite that, they made it pretty easily back to the top.
"Yikes!"
Josh looked down to keep an eye on Junior, widening his eyes, "Hey, you okay?!"
One of the lasers had gotten close to him, but Junior was deflecting it with the bling around his neck. "Uh… yeah. Keep lowering me!"
"Roger that!" Josh called back. Once again, Junior was lowered further, accidentally sending the laser beam out and zapping Liam.
"Yeow!"
"Sorry!" the boy apologized to Liam, as he was now holding onto a painting and was on his way back up to Josh. While Liam seemed pretty phased from the sudden shock, James seemed to look like he had an idea.
Solo Confessional: James.
James chuckled a little evilly as he messed on his laptop, "Even if Liam might be already shocked from the lasers… Maybe I can find something that will really help us in the challenge."
Solo Confessional: Josh.
"Well, you could say that was pretty… shocking," Josh teased, chuckling slightly in the confessional.
Meanwhile, the first three teams were racing to the other side of the room to hit the zipline and make it to the Chill Zone first…
The team that happened to do that was none other than Jake and Isadora.
"Isadora! Jake!" Don announced, "You two are the first to arrive at the Chill Zone, which means in the next round, whatever teams you two are put on will receive a head start!"
"Yes!" Isadora exclaimed, high-fiving Jake, "First here! I knew saving our energy would give us a boost at the last minute!"
"You've gotta have some sort of strategy," Jake agreed with a grin.
The second team then pulled up right then.
"Second place goes to Junior and Josh!" Don announced to the two boys.
Team Confessional: Junior and Josh.
"You know, we make a pretty solid team, don't we?" the younger of the two boys asked, "I don't even care that we didn't make first!"
"Sucks that we'll be changing teams next episode though," Josh agreed.
Junior sighed, "Yeah."
"Annnd we have Rebecca and Danielle coming in third!" Don announced
"Rad as hell!" Rebecca cheered at her and the other girl's placement, "Great job, partner!"
Danielle shook her head and simply said, "No. It was a group effort."
Charlotte and Rosalina ended up getting fourth, once again putting the two in a pretty decent placement. Of course, they were a pretty solid team through most of it. Gertrude and Kayla received fifth. To Kayla's shock and awe, Gertrude did get zapped, but she tanked it like she had barely gotten hurt at all.
Lily and Davis ended up coming in sixth, Davis being able to make sure Lily could complete the challenge safely. However, Lily had overheard a rumor that seemed to be troubling her.
Solo Confessional: Lily.
"So, supposedly Scarlett is going around to other contestants and is asking for an alliance," she mused, before frowning, "Hm. Duly. Noted."
Vanessa and Ash came to the finish line right after them, coming in seventh.
"...Is that it-"
"No," Rosalina giggled, "Here comes your boyfriend!"
"For the last time, I'm happily married, you brat!" Victor and Melissa had arrived.
"Annnd, eighth goes to the loudmouth and Miss Evil," Don commented dryly as the two reached the Chill Zone.
Melissa gave a gasp and her eyes lit up, "You think I'm evil?! Really?!"
"Haha!" Don laughed, "No!" All Melissa did was sadly frown in reply.
Back with the other contestants, Don narrated, "As Liam and James continue to struggle with the second challenge, the other eight teams have arrived to the second challenge themselves!"
Solo Confessional: Liam.
"We might NOT have had so many problems if James would have actually HELPED," Liam complained, as he had officially lost his shock of electricity coursed through his veins, "I WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS."
To get inside, each of the teams had used different ideas. Ethan and Tai had finally succeeded in their smoke bomb plan by using it on another guard, Kelly and Rosa had given up and just let Rosa use her charms to get in, Markus and Jackie had memorized the guard's routes and went in when they weren't looking (Brady also sneaked his way in at this time), Naoya bribed the guard to let him and Blaine inside, Sam and Scarlett scared the guard into letting them inside by telling them who Scarlett was, and Shakir distracted the guards to let Brooke inside then knocked the guard out with a headbutt.
While the first half of the teams more or less did pretty good with the challenge, the second half of the teams had much more of a problem. Ethan was lowered by Tai, Kelly was lowered by Rosa, Lexi was lowered by Xavier, Markus was lowered by Jackie, Mitch was lowered by Brady, Naoya was lowered by Blaine, Sam was lowered by Scarlett, and Shakir was lowered by Brooke.
Naoya and Blaine, who came in ninth place, did well getting Naoya down to the paintings, but the rich kid did end up getting shocked a few times coming back up. Ethan also sustained a few shocks and dropped some of his prankster props down below, but regardless he and Tai came in tenth.
Kelly and Rosa, despite coming in eleventh after the four boys, were able to do the challenge with little to no problems.
Team Confessional: Kelly and Rosa.
"I'm a cheerleader, I'm TRAINED to be nimble," Kelly explained, "So, of course I was able to do this! Rosa was really chill about lowering me down as well!"
"That's what teammates are for," Rosa replied with a smile.
In twelfth place was Markus and Jackie. Jackie had tried her hardest to speed up the process, getting her partner zapped a few times, which she apologized for. Thirteenth place was Sam and Scarlett, who despite not caring for each other at all, did put their annoyances away to complete the challenge. Fourteenth was Mitch and Brady, Mitch skillfully dodging the lasers on his way down and back up, leaving Liam and James, Lexi and Xavier, and Shakir and Brooke as the last three teams remaining.
Team Confessional: Mitch and Brady.
"Lasers cannot defeat the darkness," Mitch spoke matter of factly, "My speed was just too strong for it."
"You've GOTTA teach me that," Brady replied in response, only to notice that Mitch had already left the confessional.
Liam finally had completed the challenge and was pulled up to James, saying, "Come on! We're in the bottom three!"
"Shut it, I know that," James replied, as a smirk crossed his face, "But I'm about to make sure we don't come in last."
"...Please tell me you're not going to cheat," James paled.
"Too late," was James's response as he shut his laptop, "C'mon." With that, the two continued onto the zipline.
Suddenly, once the two had gotten on the zipline, Lexi watched as a myriad of extra lasers shined around her, effectively trapping her.
"Uh, Shakir?" Brooke asked, as the boy returned with the painting, "Were there that many lasers before?"
Shakir, who saw it as extremely suspicious, frowned and shook his head, "Hell no."
The two ran over to Xavier, who was worriedly peering down at Lexi, trapped amidst the multitude of lasers.
"I could use a little help here," Lexi called back up, suspended upside down and holding the painting but unable to maneuver too much, as she would be shocked multiple times.
"You guys go on," was what Xavier said to Shakir and Brooke.
"And let you two be eliminated?" Brooke asked, shaking her head.
"She's right, bruh," Shakir added, "That ain't fair."
"Then you two would be eliminated instead or at least have a chance to," was the detective's response, "Lexi has this."
The two shared looks of disagreement for the moment, before going on, not wanting to leave the two to possibly get eliminated.
Xavier peered down at Lexi, his hand cupped under his chin.
"I hope that means you have a plan, dude," was Lexi's tired response.
Xavier stayed quiet, continuing to look down at the many lasers. He then uttered the word, "Presto! I've got it! Lexi, do you trust me?"
"...Do I have a choice?" Was the punk's response.
"True enough," Xavier said, as he took off his glasses, "Follow my instructions, if you would."
Liam and James had reached the Chill Zone, as James uttered, "Fifteenth place. See, Liam? We-"
"Are getting a penalty," Don said when he crossed his arms, "Ten minutes. I saw the cheating stunt you pulled on Lexi and Xavier. Didn't you guys watch the penalties that I gave the Ice Dancers last season?"
Liam gave James an annoyed glare, as the computer hacker said, "Trust me. They can't free themselves in ten minutes."
Solo Confessional: Ethan.
"Xavier can't be eliminated yet, our prank war just started!" Ethan exclaimed, shaking his head vehemently.
Team Confessional: Rebecca and Danielle
"This isn't right," Danielle shook her head, "You can't just eliminate someone because someone decided to cheat!"
"If they can get here before their penalty runs out they might survive, though," was Rebecca's response, "Lexi and Xavier might be able to make it here. They might not. Unfortunately, that's the game."
Team Confessional: Josh and Junior
"That was dirty," Josh was livid, "Lexi doesn't deserve that! ...Xavier either!"
Junior arched an eyebrow at Josh and grinned, saying, "Oh?" and nothing else.
Shakir and Brooke had arrived, claiming fifteenth place. It was down to rather or not Lexi and Xavier would be able to make it there before their penalty ran out. Ten seconds remained.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
"Lexi and Xavier!" Don exclaimed as the two finally arrived and the two breathed a sigh of relief, "Sixteenth place! Liam and James, you came in seventeenth. You two are going home."
Team Confessional: Lexi and Xavier.
"This smartass here threw his glasses down to me and told me to hold the painting under my arm, directed me down to the degrees I needed to hold the glasses to redirect the lasers, and it deflected the lasers to bring me back up," the punk spoke, "Damn."
Xavier, with his glasses back on, shook his head, "This was all Lexi's work."
Lexi turned to the detective and furrowed her brow before smirking, "You're really weird, you know that?"
"I don't need you to tell me that," he shook his head and smirked as well.
Final Words: Liam.
"I got eliminated because my teammate cheated," Liam sighed before nodding, "If I hadn't have mentioned it, maybe Don wouldn't have known..."
He then shook his head, "No. James deserved to be eliminated. I'm glad I noticed it. Good luck, everyone." He bowed slightly.
Final Words: James.
"I said I would win this competition," James said through gritted teeth, "If this was Total Drama, I WOULD have. Fuck you, Don!"
"No thanks, kid," Don shook his head, chuckling, "Four contestants down. Thirty-two to go. Who'll be the next contestants to be eliminated? Find out on the next Ridonculous Race: Stranger Shuffle!"
Episode 3 Race Rankings:
1st- Jake and Isadora
2nd- Junior and Josh
3rd- Rebecca and Danielle
4th- Charlotte and Rosalina
5th- Gertrude and Kayla
6th- Lily and Davis
7th- Vanessa and Ash
8th- Melissa and Victor
9th- Naoya and Blaine
10th- Ethan and Tai
11th- Kelly and Rosa
12th- Markus and Jackie
13th- Sam and Scarlett
14th- Mitch and Brady
15th- Shakir and Brooke
16th- Lexi and Xavier
17th- Liam and James
Remaining contestants: Ash, Blaine, Brady, Brooke, Charlotte, Danielle, Davis, Ethan, Gertrude, Isadora, Jackie, Jake, Josh, Junior, Kayla, Kelly, Lexi, Lily, Markus, Melissa, Mitch, Naoya, Rebecca, Rosa, Rosalina, Sam, Scarlett, Shakir, Tai, Vanessa, Victor, and Xavier.
Eliminated contestants: Helen and Justin, Liam and James.
And Liam and James are the second set of contestants eliminated. I did like both characters, but neither of them were really fitting into the plans of the rest of the competition. But, they do have a chance to return later at least!
Next Episode: Boiling Point.