Total Drama Island: Rematch!

by PencilPez

(The name is a work in progress!) At the end of season one, Chris invites each and every one of the campers back to the island for a rematch. Armed with old grudges, new strategies, and unlikely alliances, who will survive the havoc and come out on top?

8. The Key-lay Race!

"Last time on Total Drama…

"Our campers took part in a simple motorcycle race; drive around the course, score a point! …While trying to shoot each other down with paintball guns! Both sides took some nasty penalties, and certain people who will remain unnamed shot their teammates rather than their opponents! Yikes! After another crushing defeat for the Rhinos, we said farewell to Millie! For some reason!

"Nichelle and Caleb gained a new ally in Axel, and Chase is in hot water after another prank gone wrong! On the flip side, things finally look to be settling down for Bowie's crew! For how long, you ask? All that and more here, on Total! Drama! Island!"

—-

Another challenge day.

Once upon a time, Nichelle could recall that she felt excited for each new challenge. Maybe she hadn't been the strongest, the fastest, or even the smartest, but she didn't have to be. Since when was being Nichelle LaDonna not enough!? She was a star! A hero! A common household name, and a dang legend!

Until she was exposed as a fraud on national television, anyway.

Nichelle knew it shouldn't have mattered. She could lose half her fans and still have more than every other person there combined! But somewhere deeper, it stung. Nichelle felt as if she'd failed… somebody. But who? Her parents, who had worked so hard to support her dream of being a star? Her adoring fans, who watched their image of her crash and burn? Or maybe it was her team, who admired her and trusted her, then watched it blow up in their faces? Ugh… Nichelle was so over this! At least, she thought she was… but her carefully reconstructed confidence shattered all over again when Julia told her what the internet was saying. Yeah, she made a fool of herself, so what!? What gave those Tweeter weirdos the right to mock her!?

It felt like everywhere Nichelle went, she was being scrutinized. Her failures were on full display, and every success she'd worked her whole life for was tossed to the wind. As she watched over Julia's shoulder, the comments etched themselves into Nichelle's mind the moment she saw them, and played themselves over and over on loop.

'how are yall surprised by this girls hollywood fake frfr'

'Still love the movies, but I IDRK how I feel about like, the actual actress. Anyone else?'

'#stanMK absolute W'

'LMAOOOOOOO Nichelle Ladonna getting told, thats the tea'

'JULIA COULDVE DROWNED AND THIS WOMAN THREW A TEMPER TANTRUM WTF #JUSTICE4JULES #CANCELNICHELLELADONNA #SAVETHEFROGS'

Criticism never meant anything to her before. But now, the whole world was looking on in disgust, and Nichelle had nowhere left to hide. She was covered with the same icky, helpless feeling she felt when MK hurled insult after insult her way, growing increasingly frustrated with each and every failure.

She could have gotten back up, if it hadn't been for MK.

"Slow start! No biggie, she'll crush the rest of the course!"

"For sure! She's an action hero, bro!"

"Is she…?"

The team believed in her; except MK.

"Why didn't you tell us any of this BEFORE!?"

The team supported her at her worst; except MK.

"Dude! Find. The. NUMBER!"

The team encouraged her, no matter the struggle; except MK.

"Oh, I'm sorry… it's just that she's REALLY BAD AT THIS!"

And that had been it. That was when it all came crashing down around her. When MK, just another starry-eyed girl when they'd met, turned all-out vicious. So much admiration on the docks, so little on the field. And when all was said and done, the team agreed with her. The world agreed with her. Nichelle arrived a superstar, and left a laughingstock. And no less than half of that had been all MK's fault. She mocked Nichelle at her lowest. She humiliated Nichelle on national television. She ruined Nichelle's life! Everything she worked for, gone in an instant! All to some petty, snarky little…!

"You weren't at breakfast."

…Huh?

Nichelle peeked out of her bunk, where she'd spent the morning in solitude. She pretended to be asleep, and the Rhinos had left for breakfast without her. It wasn't long before the muffled voices had gone away entirely. But it seemed someone had come back for her. And of course, that person was Caleb.

He watched Nichelle carefully, concern lacing his features. Her ally pushed himself off the doorframe, and made his way to Nichelle's bedside with the caution of someone dealing with some kind of wild animal. "Mind if I stick around a while?" He asked gently, and Nichelle vacantly gestured toward an open spot on the floor by the foot of her bed. Caleb took a seat, and made himself comfortable while Nichelle awaited the inevitable.

"This because of dinner?"

Nichelle nodded. Her lip quivered, and eye contact seemed an impossible feat. Whenever Caleb looked at Nichelle, Nichelle looked away. She had an image to recover, and crying was not an option! Those were not tears, she just got a little water in her eyes! Caleb nodded, face full of understanding. "What Julia said to you yesterday was out of line. Axel, uh… gave her a couple choice words. Don't think that'll make it on air…"

Nichelle smiled weakly. Axel may have been small, but man, that girl had a whole lot of anger in her! "Don't tell her I told you," Caleb continued. "But I think she's been worried about you, too. You know, she didn't come to breakfast either. Said she'd guard the cabin or something."

"Huh," Nichelle sniffled, wiping at her eyes. "Girl, if that ain't mixed signals…"

Caleb chuckled as he nodded. Once he quieted down again, he seemed to really think about it. "Maybe not, actually." He mused. "Axel's not quite our friend, but… she's a teammate. And Axel strikes me as the type to look after her team… in her own deranged sort of way."

[CONFESSIONAL: CALEB]

"Axel's a tough case. Can never tell if she likes us, hates us, or some kind of weird mix of the two. Appreciate that she's looking out for Nichelle, though. I could get voted off any time, so I'd like to be sure they're both fine on their own, you know? Am I being overprotective? It's just an alliance… still, though, as long as it doesn't intrude on their own lives, right? A little peace of mind never hurt anybody."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Nichelle cracked a smile. "Yeah, girl's a total weirdo... But I guess even she's got her moments, huh?" She trailed off, closely examining each wrinkle in her blanket. Even now, a solemn feeling kept her locked up, unrelenting despite her best efforts.

"Look, Nichelle, you need to quit being so hard on yourself. Mindset's half the battle, you know?"

"I know," sighed Nichelle. "But this training stuff's hard! I just can't do it…! I can't do anything! And you? You're good at everything, Caleb! I don't know how you do it, because I can't, okay!?"

Caleb watched her with an unreadable expression. A few seconds of radio silence passed, and Nichelle shifted nervously under his gaze. What, did she say something wrong? The man could at least tell her instead of-

"How did you become an actress, Nichelle?"

"What?"

"You're an actress, aren't you? How did you do it?"

Nichelle's brain short circuited. She'd gotten loads of questions about her career over the years, she'd heard all the whens, whys, and whos, but she'd never gotten a how before. "Well…" She began hesitantly, gaining some confidence when Caleb gave her an encouraging nod. "...I started with basic vocal lessons. Y'know, nailin' tone and all that. After that, uh… started auditioning for plays around town. Got in a few. Once I was comfortable there, I moved on to auditioning for films. Started that when I was six, but never got cast 'till I was nine. Just a side character." Nichelle recalled that role fondly. Her first ever film appearance. Her debut. Only the most dedicated of fans remembered those days. "I was eleven when I got my first leading role. It was exhausting. Hours of practice, memorizing everything, cuts, redos, more cuts, more redos, makeup, hair, I had no idea it'd be like that!" She sighed, a reminiscent smile on her face. "Skipped school for a week after that, but my career really took off. I had to practice every day, but… I knew it was worth it if it meant being a star, you know? And here I am!"

Caleb chuckled, and Nichelle's expression fell. "...What?"

"Sounds pretty easy." He said disinterestedly, and Nichelle could already feel her blood start to boil. "Bet I could go on any old stage and turn out just as good."

Nichelle gasped, positively horrified. Her passion! Her craft! "Um, excuse me!?" She gawked, crossing her arms with a sassy glare. "Honey, no! I trained for years for this! You do not just walk onstage and hit stardom! No, you do not! Acting's gotta have passion! You only get to be my level after years and years of…" She trailed off, Caleb's point finally dawning on her. "...oh."

"Exactly," Her fellow Rhino stood back up and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Me and Axel's training is your acting. You won't be our level in a day, and we won't be yours either." He reminded her with an easy smile. "You'll learn. Just like you learned before. And just like you'll learn again." Caleb told her with a smile. "Keep at it. You'll be okay."

The actress opened her mouth to answer, when a high-pitched noise left both cringing.

"Oh, campers!" Chris sing-songed through the speakers, to their dismay. "It's challenge time!"

Nichelle hesitated to get out of bed. What if she messed it up again? Could the Rhinos afford a third loss?

Those worries were wiped away when Caleb offered her a hand, which she gratefully accepted. "Come on," he gently told Nichelle, pulling her to her feet. "Get out there and show em' what Nichelle LaDonna can do."

—-

"Raj, I do not know how you can eat that stuff! It's like if you made disease edible!" Bowie shuddered, exiting the mess hall hand-in-hand with Raj, who had just finished a large helping of something that neither one could identify.

Raj laughed it off, and Bowie nearly melted. How could he not, with a smile like that? "I got a strong stomach!" He answered pridefully. "Not as strong as Wayner's, but one time me and the guys had a pizza-eating competition, and I ate 39 slices before I threw up!"

"...Oh." The taller of the two giggled awkwardly, barely concealing his concern (and disgust). Just the thought of eating that much made his stomach churn… he literally could not. "Well, as much as I just love your competitive streak, that might be pushing it."

"Nah, it was totally awesome! Coach ordered so many pizzas, bro! Totally nuts!" The brunette suddenly gasped, turning to Bowie with eyes that practically sparkled. "You gotta come to the next pizza party!" Bowie internally cringed at the thought. As much as the thought of hanging around a bunch of cute jocks really spoke to him, eating competitions did NOT.

"Hmm…" Bowie pretended to think, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "You're so sweet, Raj! But I think I'd rather share a pizza with just you." Raj's expression rapidly shifted from disappointed to hopeful. "After all, you and me have some more dates to look forward to, don't we?"

Raj's cheeks turned pink, and Bowie smiled to himself. "Y-Yeah! Yeah! Like, um… oh! You can come to all my games!" Raj's grin widened. "And I'll score like, a hundred goals for you!"

Awwww! Bowie had to fight back a squeal. His Raji-poo was just adorable! It was really no wonder Raj wasn't the brightest; handsome and an absolute sweetheart? Smarts on top of that would just make him too perfect! Call Bowie a simp, but he really couldn't blame the universe for adding an upper limit! "I could just pinch your cheeks right now!"

"Aw, man! My aunt always does that… oh, but you still can, though! 'Cause you're not an aunt. I think. Right?"

The bleach blond chuckled. "Right. But it miiiight just have to wait!" Raj pouted. "Hey, we have to meet up with the team! Can't be a Snow Owl without team spirit, am I right?"

Raj perked right back up, a toothy grin spreading across his face.

"HOOT! HOOOOOOOOT!"

—-

By the looks of it, everyone had given up on staying within their own teams as they made the journey across the island. This was great for some; Bowie and Raj lingered toward the back, the latter cheerfully discussing some hockey team with Wayne, to Caleb's annoyance. MK was with them too, but trailed slightly behind the rest of her group. Whether it was from her limp or to pretend she wasn't associated, no one could tell, but neither she nor Nichelle seemed too pleased that MK was there.

Emma had taken a spot in the front, the usual spring in her step back and more lively than ever. Priya and Damien followed closely to her left, and Emma could faintly hear Julia's voice somewhere behind them. That last part kinda sucked; was a Julia-free day too much to ask? But it was whatever! Even Julia's grating voice couldn't put a damper on Emma's food. She had no idea why, but she just had the weirdest feeling that today was gonna be a great day!

"Hey, Emma."

…Nevermind. Emma sighed as she turned to look at Chase, who had appeared to her right sometime while they were walking. He wore that smug look Emma hated so much, and it took everything in her not to beat it right off his stupid face! "Hey." She sighed, voice dripping with contempt.

"Having any regrets yet? Missing this handsome face?" Emma growled. "Hey, c'mon! You know you do!" The blonde rolled her eyes, and Chase sighed. "You don't have to keep doing this, you know that, right? Seriously, I'm right here! It's okay, Emma. I know you get like, stupid emotional sometimes, and I totally accept that part of you! I forgive you, so you can quit playing hard to get now!"

[CONFESSIONAL: EMMA]

"He… forgives… me?" Emma took a deep breath. In through her nose, out through her mouth. Once, then again. "Okay, Emma... It's fine! It's totally fine! I'm good. I literally don't even care."

…

"ARE YOU KIDDING-"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Are you SERIOUS!?"

Emma faintly watched Priya and Damien back away out of the corner of her eye. Chase flinched, brows furrowed in confusion. "Uh, yeah! I know, I'm sweet! So?"

"So? SO!?" Emma shouted, face nearly red with fury. "NO! We are NEVER getting back together! You're a selfish child, and your priorities are non-existent! You threw a challenge for pizza! PIZZA!"

From somewhere behind them both, Emma could hear a faint chorus of "Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!" chanted by a couple campers. From that stemmed intrigued murmuring, and a few worried comments here and there. Emma paid them no mind.

"Hey, come on! Babe, you're totally overreacting. I'm giving you another chance, so why not just-"

"OH, I'LL SHOW YOU OVERREACTING!"

Before Emma got the chance to lunge at Chase, Damien threw himself between the two. "W-Woah! Woah! Hey, let's, uh… let's calm it down, yeah?" He nervously chuckled. Chase ducked behind his savior, still visibly in shock. He got lucky this time. "Real sorry about all that, Emma." Damien scratched the back of his neck apologetically, and Emma felt some of her anger drain away. "Chase, let's get'cha a little over this way… we're gonna have to have another talk, man."

Chase groaned, and Emma smirked. Served him right, that stuck-up, immature, whiny little brat! The blonde watched with satisfaction as Damien gently guided Chase away. Priya picked up the pace, walking at Emma's side with a worried expression.

"That… looked intense," She noted, placing a hand gently on Emma's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Long as Damien lets him have it?" Emma grinned. "I'm great."

—-

The contestants made their way to the challenge before long, where Chris already awaited their arrival. "About time!" He shouted once the group finally came into view. "I told you to be here ten minutes ago!" The man sighed, shaking his head. "Kids… they never respect my hard work!" Chef nodded sympathetically, offering the host a pat on the back.

Behind them, two obstacle courses awaited the group. One was lined with silver, and the other with gold, but both seemed otherwise identical. A sandy area was boxed in with red tape, and two shovels laid in the sand. A steep set of stairs began the course and two large, strange-looking boxes with a large hole in each waited at the top. After the stairs was a large pool of water, several obstacles scattered along the surface. A jetski waited in each pool, along with a helmet. At the end of the pool was another set of stairs that led down into some kind of pit that none of the campers could quite see into, as hard as they tried. At the end, yet another set of stairs led back up to another platform. This next one seemed awfully circus-themed; a trapeze, followed by a ring of fire, followed by another trapeze. And finally, at the very end, was a single box on a pedestal.

"Campers! Welcome to your third challenge! Today's challenge is simple; each of you will take on a leg of the course! One person digs up the key, and the others transport it across the course, relay race style! First team to unlock the box at the end of the course wins the challenge! And as always, the losers will be sending someone home! Any questions? Damien?"

"Uh… I only see six obstacles, and we're a team o' eight?"

"Yes! Four Jaguars will complete their part of the course independently, and four will pair up into two groups of two!" The Jaguars looked at each other in silent debate. "You decide the order yourself, but the first and last stations must be done alone! Now, go decide who's doing what! Y'all got ten minutes!"

—-

"Awright, boys, I'll do the diggin' since I got a great sense o' smell, eh?" Wayne opened up the discussion, cheerful as ever. No one objected. "Nichelle, you wanna do the second?" He offered.

"...Maybe I should do the last leg," Nichelle croaked out, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't wanna slow us down."

"Forget MK," Caleb reassured her. "No pressure, Nichelle. You can do whatever you want, but don't let what someone else thinks you can do limit what you try. Okay?" Nichelle looked Caleb's way, and cracked a small smile.

"Okay," She agreed. "I'll take the second leg."

"Oh! I can do the water bit!" Emma eagerly volunteered. "It actually looks kinda fun!"

"Sweet!" Wayne whooped. "Axel, Julia?"

"I'll take the circus. Doubt Pretty Girl over here could handle it. You go do whatever's in that pit, got it?"

"Sure," Julia easily agreed, typing something on her phone. "Whatever."

"Alright!" Wayne whooped as the team covered their ears. "LET'S DO IT, BOYS!"

—-

"Okay! Obviously we should pair up all the liabilities so they have less room to suck!" Ripper announced, to the great annoyance of his team. "That means Priya, MK, and Scary Girl!"

"What!?"

"Not cool!"

"WOOOOOOAH!"

"He's right!" Chase backed him up, earning a grin and a fistbump from Ripper. "If we pair them all up, they'll have people to help them, right! It's doing 'm a favor!"

"Thank you! Scary Girl and MK can do whatever together," Scary Girl grinned, her neck cracking as she turned her head to look at MK, who shuddered. "Priya will work with me!"

Priya sharply inhaled, and people shot her several looks of sympathy. "Um… c-could I, maybe… not… do that?" She meekly asked. Everyone muttered denials and apologies, to Priya's dismay.

"What, you think you're too good to work with me!?" Ripper snapped. "You ain't all that just 'cause you won last time, woman!"

"I mean, technically she is-" Damien tried.

"I'll swap with Priya."

Everyone abruptly stopped and turned toward MK, who had raised her hand to volunteer. Several people gawked, and all was quiet for a good ten seconds.

"Huddle up!" Bowie suddenly called. "Except Ripper and Scary Girl, you two just wait!"

The remaining six Jaguars huddled into a circle, with Ripper leaning toward them to listen in. "Um, MK, honey, what? Did he threaten you or something?"

"Geez, dude, no." MK shook her head. "I'm volunteering."

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but why?" Priya inquired, giving MK a quizzical look.

"If it's between that guy and Scary Girl, I'll take my chances with him."

"Seriously?" Bowie gaped. "You're willing to work with Ripper over Scary Girl? Now that's a hot take. Girl, you are nuts!"

MK chuckled with a nod. "Oh, yeah. Like, for real, it's weird how bad I wanna steer clear of her. You'd think something crazy happened! Like, oh I dunno, my stupid teammates using me as a human sacrifice for some stupid psycho on a stupid jackhammer! Man, that'd be insane, huh? Ha! Haha! HA."

[CONFESSIONAL: BOWIE]

"Ooooh…" Bowie winced. "I forgot about that…"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"I didn't."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

The team looked to Bowie and Raj, both of which wore equally guilty expressions. "...Priya, swap with MK." Bowie finally relented with a sigh. Priya nodded, and the Jaguars pulled out of the huddle. "Okay! Scary Girl, you're with Priya! Ripper, you're… working with MK!"

Scary Girl squealed, excitedly jumping up and down as she eagerly clapped her hands together. At least she was happy with the new arrangement… Ripper smirked, slugging MK in the arm. "Alright! Looks like you're on team Ripper! Good choice!"

"Don't touch me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Now listen up, plebs! What we're gonna do is-"

"YO, WAYNERS!" Raj suddenly bellowed, causing several team members to jump in alarm. The dirty blond across the way turned to him curiously. "WHAT STATION ARE YOU DOING!?"

"I'M DIGGIN'!"

"COOL!" Raj turned back to the team. "Okay! I'll dig! Chase, you bring the thingy up the stairs!" Chase gave a thumbs up, and Raj continued on. "Priya, Scary Girl, you're on third!" Priya nervously offered Scary Girl a high-five. The latter did not accept it, but did instead take Priya's hand, swinging it back and forth excitedly.

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"I… don't know if this is a good thing or not…?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Bowie! Think you can handle whatever's in that pit?"

"Moi? Honey, take a look. I can handle anything."

"R-Right! Yeah!" Raj chuckled sheepishly. "MK, Ripper, you guys do the whole circus bit!"

"Yeah, seems fitting."

"So that leaves me on the box, yeah?" Damien inquired. At Raj's nod, he grinned. "Sweet!"

[CONFESSIONAL: DAMIEN]

"Whew! Now, I know I'm gettin' in the game an' all, but man, I could use a break!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Everyone ready!?" Raj was met with a mix of cheers and enthusiastic agreement, which he seemed to accept. He clapped three times, a determined smile making its way onto his face. "GO, GO, GO!"

—-

"So," Julia began smugly. "Feeling confident?"

"You bet! Why? Little nervous, Jules? You must be after penalizing yourself last time, hm? Oh, you poor thing!"

Bowie and Julia made their way to their respective stations together. It wasn't so much by choice as much as coincidence, but here they were, mortal enemies in a brutal staredown.

"Totally, almost as pathetic as getting knocked off your bike!"

"You would know."

"Ugh!" Julia scoffed, bringing a hand to her chest in offense. "Um, yeah! Your boyfriend or whatever went like, totally nuts! For reals, he should see a therapist, 'cause he's, like, not okay."

Bowie gave her a downright nasty look. "Talk about Raj like that again, and you'll need a therapist by the time I'm finished with you." His voice turned sickly-sweet, and Julia shuddered. "Okay?"

"Yeah, whatever, loverboy." Julia internally cringed. Love. That stuff was beyond gross.

"Loverboy? Oh, you're too sweet!"

"Um, that was not a compliment."

"Eh," Bowie shrugged his shoulders with a smirk. "If you have a problem with it, I'll take it as a compliment."

Julia sputtered, scrambling for a comeback of any sort. It hardly ended up mattering as Bowie went on ahead, leaving her in the dust. Smug little… she could not stand that guy. Julia took a deep, calming breath. Let it go, she told herself.

After all, she'd already slipped what she needed to into Bowie's pocket.

—-

With everyone in position, Chris spoke again. "Looks like you've all got your order decided! If anyone wants to swap, this is your last chance!"

No one spoke up.

"Wonderful! So, if both teams are ready…"

The campers cheered, as Chris raised the airhorn.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The airhorn sounded. Raj snatched his shovel off the ground, and rushed off into the digging zone with it raised high above his head. The spot he'd decided on was good enough, he figured, so Raj slammed his shovel down into the sand. He tossed one pile of sand over his shoulder, then another. He was looking for a key, right? Couldn't be that hard!

"Havin' any luck over there, Raji!?" Wayne called out from his side of the digging zone.

Raj briefly looked up, grinning widely. "More than you, I bet!"

"Oh, yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

"OH, YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

"OH, YEAH!?"

"YEAH!"

"HEY! Less yelling, more digging!" Chris shouted over the megaphone.

"Oh, our bad!"

The boys resumed digging, with a quip or a jab here or there. It would be another five minutes before Wayne finally shouted "I hit somethin'!", and began rapidly digging in that same spot. Raj, of course, had to catch up, so he matched pace with his best bud, frantically digging for his team's key.

Then the ground began to shake.

Raj looked around quizzically before his gaze landed on Wayne. A giant grab emerged from beneath his feet, and man, it looked angry. A couple people gasped, Raj included. Time seemed to freeze as everyone held their breath, silently waiting for something to happen. And when it did, it really did.

The crab grabbed Wayne between its pincers, flinging the jock across the dig zone like it was nothing. Wayne screamed as he barreled through the air, flailing helplessly at the unexpected flight. "Wayne!" Raj cried, his expression morphing into one of pure terror. He had no idea crabs could even get that big! He tossed his shovel aside, and rushed to his friend's aid.

"Oh, I forgot to mention; there's some other stuff buried around here, too, so you might wanna be careful!" Chris announced, chuckling without a shred of remorse.

"I got'cha! I got'cha!" Raj held his arms out, pacing along the sand as he attempted to match Wayne's position in the sky. This effort proved to be fruitless, as Wayne soared across the zone faster than Raj could move. The brunette could only watch as he descended, down, down, down, and finally landed headfirst into the sand. "Oooh!" Raj winced, scrambling to Wayne's side. "You good?"

Wayne gave a thumbs up, to Raj's great relief. He grabbed ahold of the other hockey player's ankles, and began yanking and pulling until Wayne was finally free, and coughing up sand. "Oh man, talk about a body check, eh?" He propped himself up on his elbows, and the friends watched as the crab fled back to wherever it had come from before being buried alive.

"For sure!" Raj chuckled, helping Wayne to his feet. "Clean hit. You all good to keep digging?"

"Oh, yeah!" Wayne nodded enthusiastically, determined as ever.

"Sick!"

[CONFESSIONAL: RAJ]

"I only ever seen Wayners give up on something like, twice." Raj boasted, face full of pride.

"...It was a pickle jar. Both times."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Raj had been just about to keep digging, when something shiny caught his eye.

No way.

Wedged in the hole Wayne's head had left, a glimmering, golden key stuck out of the sand.

—-

Axel waited impatiently, tapping her foot with crossed arms. So what if the challenge had just started? What was taking them so long!? She was sure that if she'd just been placed on a team by herself, she'd have won. She's been carrying the whole team, and without even a thank you! The least they could do was pick up the pace!

At least she had a half decent view of the rest of the competition. From her station, she could see almost everything that went on. Raj was on his hands and knees, staring into some hole in the sand like a weirdo. Not really reassuring that it was the same hole caused by her teammate getting launched by a crab… which was a sentence Axel never thought she'd say.

Speaking of the other guy, Wayne was still digging. The guy was relentless, which would've been a good thing if he didn't suck. They shoulda put someone else over there… sure, Axel knew that not everybody was a PSR 9.7 survivalist, but these guys were total scrubs! But if she told them what to do, then she was being too aggressive. Too aggressive!

Axel crossed her arms, kicking at the wooden floor beneath her. She could tell him how to dig without getting tired. She could tell him the most effective digging pattern. There was tons of advice from years of experience that Axel could give, but she wasn't going to!

She kicked Ripper overboard because he was causing trouble for the team. She had only tried to help!

But these chumps didn't want her help.

"Raj is the first to retrieve his team's key, and Chase is off!"

So she wouldn't give them any.

—-

"Woo-hoo! Yeah!" Chase pumped a fist, snatching the key from Raj as soon as the latter held it out to him. "Nice, dude!" He slipped the key into his pocket, and began his ascent. He had no idea how this part even qualified as a challenge! Sure, the stairs were kinda steep, but they weren't hard to climb. That is, until Chase began to hear a rumbling sound. He paid it no mind at first, sprinting up the stairs with the confidence of a man with no common sense. So it wasn't gonna be that easy, whatever! Chase could handle anything Chris threw at-

"WOAH!"

He barely managed to throw himself out of the way before the boulder hit him. Wide-eyed, Chase raised his head to look up the stairs. The boxes that served no function before now launched boulders at random intervals. The brunette watched, positively starstruck. Boulder boxes!? That was epic! Of course, he didn't really have time to marvel at how cool it was before he had to dodge a second boulder, but he was totally putting this clip on his channel!

For the time being, though, Chase had a job to do. "Hey, Emma!" He called. "You watching?" Somewhere, he heard Emma groan. She was watching! "Aw, that's sweet, babe!" He advanced further up the stairs, eyes filled with determination.

"Chase, look out!"

One of his teammate's voices drew his attention. Two boulders barreled toward him, one barely behind the other. Bracing himself, Chase leapt into the air. He kicked off of one boulder, using the extra momentum to vault over the other. From separate parts of the course, Chase could hear his teammate losing their frickin' minds over his wicked stunt.

"YEAH!" Damien cheered. "GO, CHASE, GO!"

"If you think that's awesome, just wait 'till you see what I can do!" That one was definitely Ripper.

"Nice! Keep goin', eh!"

Chase smirked, putting his hands on his hips as he puffed out his chest with pride. "See that, Emma? Just another classic stunt from the-"

A third boulder rolled directly over Chase's foot before he could finish that thought. Several people gasped, and there were some 'oooh!'s here and there.

"Ouch!" Chris hissed through his teeth, still donning a large grin. "That's gotta hurt!"

"I'm fine!" Chase reassured the group. "Doesn't even hurt!"

[CONFESSIONAL: CHASE]

Chase screamed into his sleeve, the fabric muffling the sound.

[CONFESSIONAL END]

[CONFESSIONAL: EMMA]

Emma giggled, kicking her legs excitedly as she spoke. "Okay, I was so right! This is a great day!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

—-

"Alright, lady, listen up!" Ripper paced along the platform, speaking to a disinterested MK. "I'm in charge here. Ya got that!?"

"Sure." His companion shrugged.

"Don't you 'sure' me-" Ripper paused, taken aback by MK's instant agreement. "Wait, really?"

"Not really the large-and-in-charge type."

[CONFESSIONAL: RIPPER]

"See that?" Ripper wiggled his eyebrows with a smug smirk. "Looks like my rugged good looks and intimidating presence won her over!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"For all the folks judging the heck outta me right now, lemme explain; one, he's not horrible strategy-wise. The whole human shield thingy was actually pretty smart… if kinda messed up," MK chuckled. "And two, let's say we screw this whole thing up and lose. I was just following his directions, so the team'll blame him instead of me. Either we win and I'm safe, or we lose and I'm safe! Boom, baby! Strategy!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"And Nichelle is finally on the move! But with Chase nearing the third station, things are already looking grim for the Rhinos!" MK and Ripper both turned to look. Nichelle was indeed making her way up the stairs. She moved slowly, narrowly avoiding the boulders tumbling her way.

"We're fine!" Ripper reassured MK, who didn't actually look at all worried anyway. "She totally bombed the challenges every other time, y'know!"

"I was there, dipstick."

—-

"Okay!" Priya took a deep breath, eagerly turning to her partner. "Chase is almost here, how do you want to do this?"

Scary Girl leaned to the side, looking past Priya at the course ahead of them. She hummed to herself as she thought, before straightening up with a smile. "You drive!" She declared. "I want the key!"

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

Priya let out a long sigh of relief. "Scary Girl's my friend! And friends always trust each other! I just… don't know if I like the idea of her driving a jetski! But we totally agree! Woo-woo! Haha… right?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Got it!" Priya retrieved the helmet from the jetski. She lifted it above her head, but to her surprise, Scary Girl yanked it away. "Scary Girl! Um… if I'm driving, I kind of…"

"I need it!" The other girl cut her off, grin widening. "You'll let me have it, right?"

Priya raised both hands defensively with a placating smile. "S-Sure, sure! That works, too!" Scary Girl giggled, clearly pleased by Priya's answer. She slammed the helmet onto her head, and fastened it on with a click!

As the girls settled the matter, Chase came into view. He sprinted toward them, leaping out of the way of an oncoming boulder as he made it closer and closer to the next station. Unfortunately for him, Chase tripped at the last second. It didn't affect his performance, since he tripped onto the platform, but he did look pretty stupid.

Chase fished the key out of his pocket and offered it to Scary Girl, who happily accepte. Priya jumped onto the jetski, frantically waving for Scary Girl to join her. As soon as she did, the girls took off, leaving a splash of water in their wake. Priya grinned, and Scary Girl laughed maniacally as Chase was drenched in water.

"Scary Girl and Priya begin their leg of the course! Better hurry it up, Nichelle!"

—-

"...Better hurry it up, Nichelle!"

Nichelle was really starting to hate that guy's voice! Like, clearly she was doing her best, but she was not about to get run over by a dang boulder! 'Scuse her! Sure, she was takin' it slow, so what? She'd get there! She had to get there! She was Nichelle LaDonna! She had it all! She could do anything!

"Not so sure about that last one!"

And mental MK could shut her stupid mouth! Caleb was right! She could totally do this! Nichelle sidestepped a boulder that had been coming her way, narrowly avoiding being crushed. She advanced slowly, keeping an eye out for any incoming danger. Was this even legal? Man, she had no idea! But she did know that she wasn't gonna prove anything by whining!

So Nichelle kept going.

She was about halfway up, now. Not perfect, but it was something! The boulders were getting harder to avoid as she made her way up, probably because she was getting closer to where they were launched from, But she was doing it! She was actually doing it! She was…

"Whoop!" Nichelle lurched back as yet another boulder threatened to squish her.

Maybe she should save the celebrating for after she got up there…

—-

Julia was… less invested in the competition than her teammates. After all, why should she be? It wasn't even her turn yet! And once it was, it'd be in the bag. She'd taken down Bowie at nearly every opportunity, and she'd totally do it again. Like, for reals, Bowie's game was super yikes, especially for a finalist! He totally got carried. So yeah, Julia wasn't super worried.

What was on the agenda right now was shopping. If this was her last season, Julia'd have an influencing career to go home to once it was all over! Basically all her clothes were so last month, and it was driving her insane! Like, it was hard to look worse than Bowie or MK, or one of the nerd girls, since everything they wore was, like, chronically out of style, but she did not want to even come close!

Speaking of Bowie, Julia looked up to find him smirking at her. Hmph… what was he looking so smug about? He had to know she'd pummel him to the dirt as soon as that stupid key got to her. Metaphorically, at least. Not that she wouldn't take a literal opportunity, but… she wasn't really being given one either. Oh, well. Julia smirked back, barely phased.

She'd get him. Eventually.

—-

Priya expertly dodged and weaved through the obstacles. She and Scary Girl were nearly halfway across the water, and they still had a massive lead! At this rate, they'd win easily! But that didn't mean Priya planned to start slacking. Leads could be lost, and there was no way she'd let that happen! The Jaguars would celebrate another victory together, and then she'd get to work on that teambuilding!

"Nichelle has finally made it to the top, and Emma begins her part of the course!"

"Uh-oh…" Priya muttered, sneaking a glance over her shoulder. She soon regretted this, after having to abruptly steer out of the way of a large plastic shark. "Woah! Okay… we can't let Emma catch up! Any ideas?"

"Crash the jetski!"

"We… are not going to do that," Priya meekly replied. She kind of regretted asking… but Scary Girl didn't seem all too willing to take no for an answer. She climbed up Priya's back like some kind of arachnid, and held her arms out to maintain her balance as she stood on Priya's shoulders. It didn't hurt- compared to the stuff her parents made her carry, Scary Girl weighed practically nothing! -but she was concerned.

"Crash it, crash it, crash it!"

"Scary Girl, I don't think that's such a good…"

"CRASH IT, CRASH IT, CRASH IT!"

"O-Okay, okay! We'll crash the jetski!"

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"How is this a good idea!?" Priya sighed, smacking her forehead. "I really have a problem with telling her 'no'..."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

The girls were headed right for a short, skewer-shaped wall. But this time, Priya didn't steer left or right, nor did she stop. Instead, she braced for impact as they sped right toward it at full speed. She screwed her eyes shut, every muscle in her body tensing as her mind screamed at her to stop the vehicle. But she trusted Scary Girl. She had to trust her… okay, she really didn't trust her, this was a horrible plan, maybe she could-

CLANK!

They hit the wall, and Priya literally felt a weight lift off her shoulders as Scary Girl was flung from the jetski. Several people screamed in both horror and admiration as the purple-haired girl did a flip mid-air, soaring high into the sky. Even Priya was left dumbfounded by the stunt.

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"Nevermind!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"She's gonna make it!" Raj shouted, and several teammates cheered and applauded as Scary Girl neared the edge of the pool. Of course, Priya realized only a second too late; she wouldn't make it.

"Oooh! Looks like Scary Girl fell just a bit short! That's gonna leave a mark!"

Scary Girl smacked her head on the side of the pool on landing, and fell in. Everyone gasped as she began to sink to the bottom, reactions ranging from shock, to terror, to indifference.

As Priya struggled to start up the jetski again, Bowie jumped into action. She watched as he sprinted away from his station and dove in, smoothly gliding through the water like a hot knife through butter.

The moment was tense, and Rhinos and Jaguars alike waited with bated breath.

Bowie emerged with a gasp seconds later, supporting Scary Girl with a single arm as he used the other to swim to safety. While not unconscious, the latter definitely looked a little dazed, giggling madly as Bowie pulled her to the other side.

[CONFESSIONAL: BOWIE]

"Does she freak me out? Um, yes. One-hundred percent. But honey, there will be no drowning on this team while I'm around."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Bowie gently pried the key from Scary Girl's fingers with little resistance. He dragged her along the platform, leaving her to lie down once she had been moved a safe distance from the pool. "Priya!" He called, successfully gaining the aforementioned camper's attention. "Get over here and watch her!"

"Got it!" Priya agreed as she backed the jetski up, driving past the wall and speeding toward the other side. "I'm on my way!"

—-

"Yikes," MK hissed through her teeth with a wince. "That looked… fun."

"Of course it's Scary Girl who messes everything up for us!" Ripper snarked, rolling his eyes. "You picked the right partner! Almost feel bad for Priya,"

"Yeah, no kidding."

Ripper looked back at MK with a brow raised. It looked like he was thinking about something, which actually kinda worried MK, because how often did that happen? But either way, she wasn't gonna encourage him, so her current plan was to pretend she didn't notice.

"I heard what you said in your little huddle-up."

…Well that wasn't what she expected. She didn't say anything incriminating, did she? Nah, she didn't. Did she? She didn't actually remember. "So?"

"So, if we lose this challenge, we could get rid of Scary Girl! Duh! You want her booted, don't'cha?"

"...You could say that," MK replied with a shrug, keeping her expression completely neutral. After a couple dozen police interviews, you get good at that sort of thing. "So what, you gunning for a temporary alliance?"

The brunette nodded. "You're pretty smart for a girl. You're always hangin' around those other dorkuses, right?"

MK snorted. "Raj and Bowie?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Just talk to 'em, get 'em on our side!" That was some confident talk considering MK never actually agreed to anything, but okay…

"Right, well… it's a solid plan, but it's still only four votes, and we're a team of eight. Half isn't a majority, dude."

Ripper scoffed. "Uh, yeah, I can count!" Wow, his voice was annoying. "But Chase'll vote with us no problem!" He threw an arm around MK's shoulders, and she immediately tensed. "Use your brain for a second, would'ja!? You, me, your nerd friends, and Chase make five! Five's all we need to send Scary Girl packing!"

"Don't touch me," MK snapped, ducking out of his grip as she cringed. "Also, when was the last time you showered? Yeesh, dude."

"Real men don't shower!" Yep, she was burning these clothes. "So? Are you in or are you out!?"

That was a good question. MK really didn't like Scary Girl, Scary Girl going home meant she wouldn't, they'd have a guaranteed majority, and it's not like they were actively throwing the game to do it. There was no way around it; Ripper actually had a good plan. And hey, if it put her in better standing with a couple teammates, you wouldn't see her complaining.

"Alright, Stinkbomb." MK finally agreed with a smirk. "I'll talk to 'em."

—-

"Are you kidding!?"

A shocked Emma observed the whole ordeal from afar. She was surprised to see Scary Girl just flying through the air, but that girl was crazy! It didn't really surprise her that much. What did surprise her was when Scary Girl missed the landing, and fell into the water. She held her breath when Bowie leaped into the water, and sighed once he surfaced again. She wasn't worried about Bowie, obviously! But she was worried for Scary Girl. That was a pretty hard hit, and even creepy psychos aren't invincible! Probably… she hoped.

But as it turned out, Emma had her own set of problems to deal with. It was a little-known fact that not watching where you were going while operating a motorized vehicle was kind of a bad idea… and also exactly what Emma did.

She focused back on the course just in time to notice the incoming ramp, but not quite quickly enough to avoid it. She zoomed over the ramp, and time seemed to freeze in the few seconds Emma dangled in midair, gripping the handlebars for dear life as she shrieked.

Lucky for her, the landing actually wasn't so bad! It kinda hurt, but it stopped aching after a minute or so. What really got her was the large splash of water on impact; Her skirt, and the lower half of her sweater were soaked, and Emma internally cringed. She hated wearing wet clothes, it just felt so… icky! But still, with a sigh and a shudder, Emma pressed forward. She had to catch up! The Rhinos couldn't lose again!

Okay, they could, but it'd really suck.

—-

Bowie descended the stairs. He could barely see five feet in front of himself, the surrounding area pitch black. How far down did these stairs even go? At some point, he'd entered some kind of cave. The bleach blond took one last longing look at the fading daylight, but kept going. He never won a crown by quitting before!

At long last, Bowie felt solid ground beneath his feet. What lied ahead, he wasn't sure of. That is, until a helpful monitor set up just off to the side turned on, revealing Chris's smiling face. "Oh, hi, Bowie!" He whispered. "I just thought you might want a little guidance! Aren't I kind?" Bowie rolled his eyes, and Chris clicked his tongue with a disapproving sigh. "You kids are so ungrateful these days… Now, all you have to do is navigate to the end of the tunnel without dying! You'll find a flashlight on the ground in front of you, so make good use of it!"

Bowie crouched down low, and felt around the rocky floor. Sure enough, his hand landed on a flashlight a few feet in front of him. He grabbed the flashlight, and rose to his feet with a satisfied smirk. "Oh, and Bowie? One more thing…"

The oblivious camper flipped the switch, and shone the light along the tunnel. To Bowie's horror, scattered along the ground in peaceful slumber were several large, aggressive-looking jaguars.

"...You might want to be quiet."

—-

Damien kind of had a habit of fidgeting when he was nervous. Which, granted, was often. But right now? He was borderline hysterical, man! The boulders had been a massive problem, first of all. Like, one, where were all those boulders comin' from!? No way those square little boxes could hold more than one! Unless they were being elevated from beneath the platform, which actually made a lot of sense now that Damien thought about it. More than defying the laws of physics, anyway.

But back to the point. On top of the boulders, Scary Girl had taken one serious hit! Now, he was pretty sure she wouldn't worry too bad if he got hurt, but that was a hard hit! She could be concussed! Damien was already itching to get down there and check up on her… he knew he had to stay put, but playing medic with Priya had sorta given Damien a little peace of mind in an otherwise hectic environment. This place was a commercialized safety violation, but the knowledge that he could make a difference and keep a couple people safe consoled him… a little bit, anyway.

The only thing stopping Damien from ditching his post entirely was the benefit it provided. He was lucky to get put on the last station. Pretty safe, first of all, and secondly, he got a clear view of the whole dang competition! Jackpot! He could clearly see Priya at Scary Girl's side, and he knew she was in good hands. Scary Girl, not Priya. Priya was in terrible hands. And if he kept his fingers crossed for Priya's safety behind his back, well that was his business!

—-

"Ugh, what is taking so long!?"

Julia paced back and forth, biting her nails anxiously as she awaited Emma's arrival. They were already losing, and she'd gotten lucky twice so far! She needed immunity, otherwise she was so going home. Bowie had already taken off, which left Julia without any kind of distraction. She obviously didn't go into it without a plan, but the timing had to be right! Which meant that Emma had to HURRY UP!

As if on cue, Emma skidded to a stop. The maneuver splashed water everywhere, barely missing the influencer waiting for her. "Finally!" Julia stormed toward her teammate, holding her hand out demandingly. "C'mon, give it!"

"Okay, okay, geez!" Emma fished through her sweater, reaching out to pass the key to Julia once she'd found it. Unfortunately for Emma, Julia was in no mood for the waiting game. She grabbed the key and forcibly yanked it out of Emma's hand, pulling the latter overboard in the process.

"Oops!" Julia giggled behind her hand as a furious Emma resurfaced. "#Sorrynotsorry!"

—-

Bowie crept through the tunnels, eyes darting in every direction. Slow and steady wins the race… that's what he kept telling himself. Slow and steady wins the race, slow and steady wins the race! He shined the light along the ground, carefully moving past and stepping over the sleeping beasts.

[CONFESSIONAL: BOWIE]

"I know how to be graceful." Bowie chuckled, leaning forward as he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. "Ballet teaches you a thing or two!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Somewhere above him, Chris's muffled voice rang throughout the cave.

"... … arrives… … Julia… … … …course…!"

Bowie couldn't make out much, but he didn't have to. Arrives, Julia, station. That was more than enough context. The person before Julia had arrived, and Julia had begun her portion of the course. But he didn't have time to be proud of himself! Not to compliment Julia, because ew, have you seen her hair? But if anyone could close the gap, Bowie had faith that it'd be her. Which meant it was up to him to make sure that didn't happen.

Slow and steady wins the race, but that was not the case anymore. Bowie really needed to pick up the pace… and yes, that was intentional. He broke into a jog, leaping over the sleeping jaguars that blocked his way. He would not lose! And he was pretty sure he could see daylight, somewhere far, far in the distance… he just had to get to it.

—-

"Julia!" Chris whisper-shouted once the influencer had made her way down the impossibly long staircase. "Glad you could make it! In front of you you'll find-"

Julia scoffed. "Whatever. I can literally barely see anything down here!" She swiped down on her phone, briskly searching through the settings. She tapped the 'flashlight' option and the cave lit up. "Oh crud," She whispered, eyes wide with horror.

"...Guess that works too. Anyway, all you have to do is make it through this dark tunnel of sleeping rhinos alive! Think you can do that?"

"Um, do I have a choice?"

"Not if you want immunity!"

"Ugh," Julia sent a nasty look the monitor's way, but that proved fruitless when it turned off a few seconds later… which meant she was on her own. With a shaky breath, Julia took her first step into the tunnel, holding her phone in both trembling hands.

[CONFESSIONAL: JULIA]

"Seriously? First some smelly dinosaur, and now rhinos!?" Julia punched the wall behind her, causing the whole confessional to rattle. "For reals, they should just demolish these stupid caves!" She took a deep breath, inspecting her nails as if her outburst had never happened. "That's okay, though. It's like, super fine. I survived every other cave. Bowie, though?" The blonde grinned deviously. "I had a little surprise for him… I didn't think it'd work out this well, but… what can I say? I'm a natural winner."

"Bowie is nearly out!" Chris shouted through the megaphone. Julia covered her ears. "Will Julia be able to catch up? Or are the Rhinos in for another loss?"

"Mmm… okay. I'm going for it."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Oh, no you don't…" Julia whispered venomously to herself as she abruptly stopped walking. She did a full 360 of the room.

Still in the clear.

Julia gripped her phone so tightly her knuckles turned white.

To some, it was a phone. To Julia? It was her greatest weapon.

—-

The light grew closer and closer.

"Almost there…" Bowie reassured himself in a hushed whisper. "Just a little more…" All things considered, the task had been easier than anticipated. These Jaguars were fast asleep, and Bowie was in no rush to wake them. As far as he was concerned, it was in the bag!

Buzz! Buzzzzzzz!

Bowie sharply inhaled. The Jaguars around him growled, and Bowie frantically patted himself down. He didn't keep any noisemakers on him, and he knew it! But to his horror, his hand landed on something vibrating in his pocket.

Bowie reached inside, and pulled out a bright blue cellphone. Unknown Number, the screen read.

One name raced through his mind as the growls of enraged jaguars met his ears.

"JULIA!"

—-

"Oooh! Looks like Bowie had to take an unexpected phone call!" Chris chuckled over the speaker. "With him distracted, Julia might just close the gap for the Rhinos! Things are really getting intense! Is Bowie about to become jaguar food? And more importantly, are the Rhinos on the way to their first victory of the season?"

One second passed. Five seconds passed. Then ten, and then fifteen. Somewhere in the digging zone, Chris could practically hear the cogs turning in Wayne and Raj's heads before the inevitable gasp of horror. "Jaguar food!?" Raj cried. His back previously to the competition, the brunette whipped around, visibly desperate for any knowledge of the whole Bowie-potentially-dying thing. Honestly, these kids never thought of the ratings!

"Relax, he's fine!" Chris chuckled–mostly to himself–before adding a "...Probably!" for good measure.

"Ey, not cool, bro!" Wayne shouted, rushing to Raj's side. Even from so far away, Raj looked like he was about to cry. "Ya can't drop a guy in with a couple o' jaguars an' go 'no biggie'! Pretty big biggie, man!"

To everyone's surprise, even Chef nodded his head in silent agreement. Chris scoffed, a look of offense crossing his features. "Why are you surprised by this? It's like you don't even know me!" He cried as he dramatically wiped away a single tear.

"Chris," Chef warned, glaring the host's way. "What'd the network say about feedin' the children to wild animals, huh?"

That earned him an exasperated sigh. "Not to," Chris drawled with a roll of his eyes. "Hey, you okayed this!"

"I figured ya learned from the raptor incident!"

"Why?"

Chef raised a finger matter-of-factly as he opened his mouth to answer. But when he did, no words came out. To be fair to him, he tried more than once; but each time, every answer fell flat. "Hm," Chef finally mumbled after some time. "Good question."

"Besides!" The host added, enthusiastically waving an arm out toward the campers, sans Bowie and Julia. "Look how much fun they're having!"

[CONFESSIONAL: WAYNE & RAJ]

Raj had curled himself into a ball, and rocked back and forth as he made some sort of odd, high-pitched sound of pure misery. With a frown and a sympathetic 'I know, bud', Wayne offered a gentle pat on the shoulder.

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"You are one twisted man."

"Thanks!"

—-

Ideally, being sneaky was a strong plan. But, like, Julia really didn't have time for that, though? That phone was only gonna keep Bowie distracted so long, so she needed to get moving!

And that logic was how Julia wound up sprinting blindly through the dark caves, just barely avoiding tripping over the slumbering beats. And while she was definitely making do, her phone's flashlight seemed less and less functional as time went on, leaving Julia further in the dark. She nearly broke the dang thing when she realized.

But still, giving up her second phone was a worthwhile sacrifice, and it was paying off! She was so gaining on Bowie, and that was if she hadn't already passed him! It wasn't like she could tell. But she had almost made it to the end of the tunnel, and daylight shone brightly from the opening above. So even if it meant throwing caution to the wind, whatevs! That was what Julia did best! So she jumped, dodged, and weaved through the sleeping rhinos in her mad dash for freedom, leaving no room for hesitance.

Until…

Julia skidded to an abrupt stop. A mere couple of feet ahead, a large group of rhinos completely blocked the path out. The influencer nervously eyed the living blockade, shuffling back an inch or two. Julia was a confident gal. Some people said too confident. But, like, they were haters, so whatever. But this? This didn't just take confidence. To run right into an entire herd of murderous rhinos took suicidal confidence.

[CONFESSIONAL: JULIA]

"If I go, I'm totally getting mauled or whatever. But if I don't go, then Bowie…" Julia pondered to herself, expression betraying the silent conflict happening in her head. She seemed to weigh her options carefully, before clenching her fists with a determined fire in her eyes.

"I'm going through."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

—-

"What's taking him so long!? If I was down there, I'd've been done already!"

"Wow. Didn't realize that the last four times you said it. Care to bless us with some more of that alpha male wisdom? Really, we're all ears."

Frankly, Ripper and MK were both getting pretty tired of waiting. Ripper had gone to sit cross-legged on the floor, one elbow resting on his knee and supporting his cheek in the palm of the same hand. MK, on the other hand, paced back and forth, shooting back snarky quips in response to anything Ripper said, but rarely contributing much to conversation herself.

"Hey!" Ripper snapped, snarling as his partner rolled her eyes disinterestedly. "Don't you sass me, girly!" MK opened her mouth to retort, but both were distracted when they heard the sound of panting coming their way. Sure enough, a disheveled, dirty, scratch-covered Bowie appeared at the top of the stairs, still glowing despite it all. On the ground, Raj screamed with joy, wildly waving both arms at Bowie's safe reappearance. Bowie smiled back at him, waving at his boyfriend before he turned his attention to the duo waiting for him.

"Yeesh, dude." MK winced, approaching their teammate with caution. "You look like crap." Ripper snickered, and Bowie shot them both a menacing look.

He reached a hand out to pat MK on the shoulder, but quickly retracted it at the latter's glare. "Um, ex-squeeze me? Prettier than you, honey!"

"Kind of a low bar, but okay."

"Hey!" Ripper interrupted with a stamp of his foot. "You givin' us that key or what!?"

"Ugh," Bowie scoffed as he rummaged through his pockets. "Are you sure you wouldn't have preferred Scary Girl?" He lowered his volume as he spoke to MK, who did little more than shrug nonchalantly.

"Y'know, comparatively, this is still better."

"Hm. Well, it's your funeral!" The bleach blonde located the key at last, tossing it Ripper's way. The camper in question struggled to catch it, smacking the key back into the air a few times before it finally dropped to the floor. Bowie chuckled behind his hand, and MK hid a smirk.

Ripper, on the other hand, wasn't quite so amused. "You! Shortie! What're you waiting for!? Get on the stupid clown swing!"

MK eyed the trapeze cautiously. She didn't look all that eager to go, and turned back to her partner with a raised eyebrow. "Think you oughta go first," MK suggested, unfazed by Ripper's scoff of offense, the reason for which nobody knew. Or cared about, really. "I can't hold you up."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"It means my strength is maybe a couple levels above Nichelle's at best, and I will drop you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! If you're tryna catch a glimpse of these muscles, you're gonna try harder than that!"

MK pulled a face. "...Yeah. Because that's exactly what I was doing."

"Just go," Bowie sighed in resignation as he nudged MK forward, to the latter's irritation. "He will not stop until you do."

[CONFESSIONAL: RIPPER]

"I'm no dummy! The ladies have been all over me since day one! It's like I gotta fight 'em off!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

She may not have looked too pleased about it, but MK seemed to take Bowie's advice. She stepped up to the platform, and gave the left drawstring of her hoodie a nervous pull. A glance over the shoulder found both Bowie and Ripper waiting expectantly for her to jump, the latter growing more impatient by the second.

"And Julia completes her leg of the course! It's getting close, people!"

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"So, I let Julia pass, or jump to my death on some freakshow circus setup." MK deadpanned, visibly unamused. "What am I, the pain magnet?" She stopped suddenly, eyes slowly looking downward at her injured leg. "Dude, I better not be."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"MK, stop thinking about it!" Bowie called, snapping MK out of her thoughts. "Just don't think, and jump!"

"Oh wow, why didn't I think of that?" MK snarked to herself. But he was right, and she knew it. Plus, anything was better than letting Julia win. So MK took a deep breath, silently bracing herself for the worst. She took a few steps back, crouched a little, and in a hushed whisper, counted to three.

Then, she took a leap of faith.

—-

Julia gasped for breath as she stumbled onward. She made it through the rhinos. She made it up the stairs. She only had to make it a few more feet now, and then she'd be done.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans. With every step, her aching legs seemed to weaken. Weaken something enough, and it's only a matter of time before it crumbles. Julia only had a couple more steps to go before just that happened. She'd made it far, but soon her body had had enough. Julia's legs gave out, sending the influencer to the floor with a yelp of shock.

[CONFESSIONAL: JULIA]

"That was the fastest I have ever run." Julia commented, furiously typing up a storm. "If I haven't lost at least ten pounds, I'll lose it."

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Axel met Julia halfway. Her boots rapidly hitting the wooden platform told of her arrival, and Julia raised her head with a grimace. Axel squatted in front of Julia once she reached her, holding a hand out expectantly. "I got it from here," The brunette told her, in a tone Julia couldn't quite decipher. "Hand over the key!"

"Um, yeah, that was the plan." Julia weakly tossed her the key, which Axel caught effortlessly. "Now go!"

As if Julia's words were magic, the survivalist was off. She spun on her heel and took a running start, determination unwavering as she hopped onto the platform. From there, she launched herself off the platform, reaching out for the first trapeze. "Axel has begun the fifth part of the course! But will she be able to catch up to Ripper and MK?" Chris paused. "...Probably, considering how those two are doing!"

—-

How those two were doing could be summarized in one word; bad.

They were off to a pretty okay start, if you asked MK. She jumped and, to her surprise, actually landed it. Not with her hands, obviously, but she did manage to throw her arms over the trapeze, which left her dangling in the air at the moment. Probably not the best position to be in, but MK wasn't about to get picky. Figuring out where to go from there was the hard part, since falling wasn't really her idea of a sound strategy. But MK had a saying. A motto, if you would; when in doubt, make it somebody else's problem.

"What now!?" She shouted to her still grounded companion. "Because I am not hanging off this thing upside down, and we got this lunatic comin' up 3 o'clock!" MK tilted her head in the direction of a rapidly advancing Axel.

Ripper's eyes widened once he spotted Axel. "Oh crap! We gotta get moving!"

"I've been moving!"

"Whatever! Just stay there!"

"Yeah, 'cause I had a whoooole lotta other… what are you doing?" Ripper crouched low to the floor. His eyes were dead set on the trapeze MK hung from, and suddenly she had a very bad feeling. "Dude, seriously! How do I get off this thing!?"

"You don't!" Ripper's answer did absolutely nothing to ease the sudden sense of dread. "Don't let go, got that!? If you can't keep your grip, we both fall!"

"Wait, we!?"

MK wasn't left wondering for long. Ripper pushed off the platform and lunged forward. The former barely had the chance to react before she felt a yank on her leg, her bad leg, followed by a searing pain. MK bit the inside of her cheek, and cursed under her breath. "Dude, are you trying to dislocate my leg!?"

"You're fine!" Ripper told her with a scoff and a roll of his eyes. "Now swing!"

—-

"C'mon guys, hurry up! She's gonna pass you!"

Nichelle smirked, arms crossed as she watched MK's and Ripper's predicament from afar. Next to her, Chase made a desperate effort to get them moving, which went nowhere. Nichelle almost felt sorry for him… ha! She really didn't. That Chase guy was bad news! Plus, if the Jaguars lost–and they would, Nichelle was sure–then they'd boot MK!

"It's like… I dunno, a… rope thingy or something!" Chase tried again.

Man, they were still arguing! If you asked Nichelle if she was worried about winning, her answer would be a big fat heck no! Axel was killing it out there! The actress cheered as Axel landed the first jump, gripping the trapeze with stone cold focus. "Atta girl, Axel! Go get 'em!" She shouted, her words barely phasing the camper in question. "You got it girl!"

"A swing!" Priya supplied across the water. "Like, kicking your legs!"

"Don't think they're listenin'!" Damien's distant voice called. "MK! RIPPER! C'mon, guys, you gotta go!"

Yeah, Nichelle wasn't worried.

—-

The sound of the wind was always one of Axel's favorites.

Not the calm, gentle, breezy type. That was for pansies. Axel liked the way the wind whistled past her when she sprinted through the trees, or on the train to school on winter mornings.

Or when she was soaring through the air on a trapeze.

Maybe some people'd call it extreme, but Axel wasn't scared! Not one bit! Sure, she refused to look down, but that was for other reasons!

[CONFESSIONAL: AXEL]

"Heights are nothing! You don't survive anything by being a wuss! The only thing you should ever fear is fear itself! Also zombies! Because they're coming, and if you don't-"

Knock knock!

Someone knocked on the confessional door. Axel abruptly paused, and muffled speech followed.

"What do you mean I can't spread conspiracies on the show!?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

Whatever. Axel was better on the ground, but a little distance wasn't going to stop her! Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the handlebar tightly, swinging her legs forward as the trapeze moved forward, and retracting them as it swung back. Her gaze fell upon the ring of fire awaiting her, the crackling almost comforting if not for the fact it was meant to kill her. That would be a problem for most, but not for Axel. Why? Because Axel had a plan;

Wing it.

Axel let her grip loosen in one hand, before removing it from the handlebar entirely. She felt her other hand ache as it struggled supporting the rest of her weight alone, but she could deal.

Reaching up with her newly freed hand, Axel patted her hair down almost experimentally. Murmurs of confusion arose among the other contestants. Murmurs turned to shouting when the survivalist stuck her hand into her hair, and began rummaging through it.

"What is she doing?"

"Girl, tell me you ain't storing things in your hair!"

"Would you quit kicking!?"

Okay, that last one was just Ripper, and Axel was pretty sure he wasn't even paying attention to what she was doing. But his voice was just so... It took every ounce of self-control for Axel to resist ditching the course and seeing how Captain Flatulence liked another boot to the face. God, she couldn't stand him.

Axel couldn't let him distract her, but she sure could grumble about it. And that's what she would have done– until her hand finally landed on exactly what she'd been looking for. All eyes were on Axel, people shuffling as they anxiously awaited whatever she had planned.

That made the gasps of both awe and horror that much more satisfying when she yanked a set of nunchucks out of her ponytail.

"Woah-ho-hooooo!" Chris chuckled as he leaned forward with great interest, his already wide grin spreading from ear to ear. "Looks like Axel's got her own set of plans! Would hate to be on the wrong side of that!"

The mention of Axel's name looked to be what got the attention of her competitors. Ripper and MK quit struggling for a minute and looked her way, both gawking. MK was the first to react. "HOW!?" She shrieked, scrambling to pull herself back onto her trapeze.

"Chriiiiiiis!" Ripper whined, kicking his legs furiously like an angered toddler. Axel snarled. "She can't do that!"

"Ehhhhh…" Chris made a so-so gesture, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not not allowed!"

"Man, what's with you and bendin' the rules for Axel!?" Damien chimed in with a frown. "First the paintball war, now this!?"

"Two words! Ray! Tings!"

With another kick to build up her momentum, Axel smirked. She didn't care much for ratings. Or TV, actually. Someone didn't like her, they could shove it. But if it pissed Ripper off? Axel could make an exception.

When the trapeze reached the halfway point on another forward trip, Axel finally let go. She cut through the air like a bullet, darting toward the flaming circle ahead. The brunette readied her nunchucks, each hand clutching one handle and keeping them apart. Would this work? That or she'd die. So Axel was putting her money on 'yes'.

CLANG!

Metal met metal as the chain hit the ring. Axel brought both handles together, pulling herself into a little ball as her makeshift contraption sent her around and around and around. She flew through the hoop, over the top, then back through. Again and again.

Bad idea? In hindsight, yeah. But you only live once, right? So after about twelve consecutive rounds, as sparks flew from the friction, Axel let go, and was sent flying across the second half of the station.

—-

"Would you let go already!?"

"Stop whining and just swing!"

"You're weighing me down!"

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"It means get off!"

Ripper and MK had made little to no progress. The duo found themselves still stuck on the first trapeze, bickering endlessly back and forth. Whenever things went quiet, someone would start it all over again. They'd lost momentum a while ago, and dangled helplessly in the air. Ripper still hadn't let go of MK's leg, and MK clung to the handlebar like her life depended on it. Probably because it did.

To make matters worse, the voice of a certain host over the megaphone only soured their moods further. "Don't try that at home, kids!" He chuckled, and both Jaguars knew instinctively that he hadn't been referring to them. "Axel takes the lead! MK and Ripper need to get moving, or it might be one of them going bye-bye!"

"Seriously!?" Riper growled, and MK could feel him glaring at her. "This is all your fault!"

"Dude! This wasn't my idea!"

"If you did what I said, we'd have won by now!"

MK rolled her eyes, expression full of scorn. "What, by hitting the ring and setting yourself on fire? Yeah, that woulda worked out real nice."

"Uh… guys?" Damien timidly called.

"I would've made it!" Ripper argued, exuding way too much confidence, given the situation.

"Guys!" Priya tried this time, worriedly eyeing the trapeze.

"We were moving before! You could have jumped!"

"If you even try to blame this on me, I'll-"

Ripper didn't get to finish that sentence. The two suddenly dropped a couple inches, and radio silence followed. Ripper seemed to process it first, looking up at an equally horrified MK. "...That's probably bad," He commented, eyes wide.

"Think so, yeah."

"CHRIS!" Damien shouted, to the host's displeasure. "Man, what are these things made out of!? They should not be breakin' this easy!"

Chris shrugged. "Got 'em from the dollar store, what can I say?"

"The dollar store?" Chef echoed incredulously.

Damien's reaction fell more under the 'terrified' category. "The dollar store!?"

"Yup. That would explain a lot," MK muttered to herself. "Just perfect."

"Man, I gotta figure out what dollar stores this guy goes to!"

"I really hope you never-"

SNAP!

The ropes to the trapeze snapped, and suddenly they were falling. The pair screamed as they plummeted, and cries of shock, terror, and amusement rang out along the course.

"I can't watch!" Damien covered his eyes with his hands. After a couple seconds, he let his middle and ring finger spread apart to watch through the narrow gap.

Julia whipped out her phone, eagerly turning the camera toward them. "This is so going on my MySelfiegram!"

Scary Girl, in typical Scary Girl fashion, laughed hysterically at their expense.

Ripper hit the ground first, landing flat on his face with a yelp. There were some 'oohs' from the crowd, but Ripper was determined nonetheless. He pushed himself off the floor with a grunt, slowly rising to his feet.

…That is, until MK landed on him.

"OW!" Ripper let out a high-pitched shriek, to everyone's surprise (and mild amusement). "Would'ja watch where you're falling!?"

"Not how gravity works," MK pointed out. "Thanks for breaking my fall, though."

"Hey! What's your problem, lady!?"

"Dude, chill, you're fine."

"MK, Ripper!" Priya shouted, hands cupped around her mouth. "You guys need to get moving!"

"Don't you sass me!" Ripper jabbed a finger right in MK's face, to the latter's visible annoyance. "You try being used as a landing pad and see what a good mood you're in!"

"Wha…!?" MK squawked.

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

MK said nothing, instead opting to aggressively gesture toward her injured leg.

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"I was falling, dipstick. Can't just change direction, otherwise I woulda gone up!"

"Hurry!" Chase frantically shouted. His words fell on deaf ears.

"Dipstick!? Listen here, shortie-"

"Wow, a jab at my height. That's so original it could be a twelve year old's self insert."

"Guys! The key!" Bowie added, watching something neither one could see.

"Well- well that's not- well, you're-"

"No one cares, dude!"

"GUYS!" Damien's yell finally caught their attention, and both jerked their heads in his direction. "Throw it! Throw the key!"

—-

Damien crossed his fingers while Ripper dug through his clothes, searching for the key. "Man oh man, where'd I put it!?" He could hear Ripper mumble to himself. Damien's gaze darted between their course and the Rhino's, where Axel's feet hit the next platform with a thud! They were running out of time. "Found it!" Ripper announced, raising the shiny object in the air. "Damien! Go long!"

He shot to his feet, holding his hands out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Caleb rush toward Axel, and retrieve the key from her. Ripper pulled his arm back, holding the other out in front of himself to aim. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…" Damien nervously muttered. Was it to Ripper or himself? Anyone's guess.

Ripper swung his arm forward, and the key was in the air. Damien held a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun, squinting as he did. The key came his way. Damien braced himself, and…

Clink!

The key hit the wall of the pit it had come from, and had fallen back to the floor.

Behind Damien, someone cheered. He looked over his shoulder to find Caleb opening his team's chest, while Axel looked on smugly. He deflated, predicting Chris's words before they were even said.

"The Royal Rhinos win the challenge!"

—-

MK frowned. "Well, crud."

"...We're totally pinning this on Scary Girl, right?"

"Oh yeah."

—-

The Rhinos celebrated as they made their way back to the cabins, cheering and whooping in victory. Wayne was stoked that they won! But still, he was kinda worried for his buds…

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Nichelle punched the air, narrowly missing Caleb, who calmly sidestepped the accidental blow. "How's that!? Them Jaguars wish they had these skills! Axel, girl, those were some moves you had goin' on there! Where'd you learn to do that!?"

Axel smirked. "Just picked it up as I went along." She paused, eyeing the rest of her team cautiously. "...Couple of you weren't too shabby this time around. Try doing that every challenge, and maybe we'd win more!"

Caleb snorted. "Are you complimenting us?"

"I'll compliment your face into the dirt, pretty boy."

"That makes like, no sense." Julia chimed in, though the rest of the team found themselves a little surprised that she'd even been listening. "For reals, you can tell you're not the brains."

"Julia!" Emma scolded, sending her a dirty look. The influencer clicked her tongue in annoyance, and went back to typing. "I think you guys did really good! Especially you, Nichelle, you're really getting better!"

Nichelle's cheeks turned pink, and the actress giggled. "Aww, you think so? You too, girl, you rocked that water station!"

Wayne stayed out of the conversation. It wasn't that he didn't like his teammates! 'Cause he totally did! Except Julia. But Raj, MK, and Bowie could be in trouble! Felt pretty crummy that he couldn't do anything about it. He hadn't been paying much attention toward the end there, so he had no idea what happened! But they'd be fine! Right?

[CONFESSIONAL: WAYNE]

"Awww, dude!" Wayne whined leaning against the confessional wall with a frown. "Totally blows not knowin' what's happenin' over there! But I gotta believe in 'em! They'll figure somethin' out if it goes wrong!"

…

"...They will, yeah?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

So Wayne didn't talk, but he did listen. Everyone was making plans for the evening now that they didn't have to go to the elimination, but what plans could Wayne have without all his pals!? Man, this sucked!

The Rhinos filed into their cabin, and Wayne spared a glance at the cabin opposite to theirs. Bowie, MK, and Raj all sat together on the steps, quietly discussing something amongst themselves. Raj spotted him first, and waved enthusiastically at Wayne. Bowie looked up, and their eyes met. He waved too, but with a little less energy. No biggie! Poor guy musta been tired. MK didn't react to Wayne being there even though he knew she saw him, so he waved at her too, just in case. He watched her sigh and give him a two fingered salute, and grinned.

Yeah, they'd be okay. He just knew it.

—-

"We need a plan. Now."

The conversation picked up right where it left off once Wayne was out of sight. Bowie led the discussion, while MK and Raj listened intently. "MK, you know you're probably on the chopping block right now, don't you?"

The noirette waved him off with a grimace. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Thanks for the insight, genius." Bowie gave her a pointed look, and MK sighed. "Okay, yeah, I messed up. But seriously, he was holding on to my bad leg that whole time! Like, twenty minutes of excruciating pain! Cut me some slack, dude!"

"I'm not saying you were wrong, I'm saying that sometimes, you've got to control yourself! You nearly got eliminated last season because you couldn't keep your mouth shut." MK opened her mouth to argue, but Bowie shushed her. "Unless you want to make the same mistake, you have to keep that temper in check, missy!"

"Temper?" MK echoed. "Yeesh, never heard it described like that. Yeah, I get kinda annoyed with idiots. So what? How's that having a temper?"

"It's costed us two challenges!"

"He was trying to rip my leg off!"

"MK!"

"Woah!" Raj interjected, drawing both Bowie's and MK's attention. "Same team, bro, chill! If we wanna win, we gotta be on the same page! So let's quit yellin' at each other, eh?"

Bowie's expression softened. "...Okay. Thank you, Raj." The hockey player grinned, and Bowie smiled back. "My point is, MK, if you don't wanna get sent home, we need to do something!"

"I mean…" MK shrugged. "Ripper says we should vote for Scary Girl."

"Scary Girl?" Raj repeated. "Why?"

"I dunno, I wasn't listening. But he's gonna get Chase's vote, too. Them plus the three of us makes up a majority."

Bowie seemed to think on it, glancing toward the cabin. "Well, it's not a terrible idea…" Suddenly, his expression lit up. "In fact, we've got quite the opportunity here!" Raj tilted his head curiously, and MK raised an eyebrow. "He's pretty much handed us the entire vote on a silver platter. We can vote for Scary Girl with Ripper and Chase," He began with a smirk. "Or, we could tell Scary Girl what they're up to. Damien will vote with Priya, Priya will vote with Scary Girl, and Scary Girl will vote with us!"

Raj gasped. "So we got full pick on who to take out!"

"Wow," MK's bored expression shifted to one of slight interest. "That's… actually a solid plan. Alright, Prom King. What's your pick, then?"

Bowie thought to himself, fiddling with his bracelet as he weighed their options. After a few seconds, he looked at each of his allies with a smile. "Well…"

"...Why don't we put it to a little vote of our own?"

—-

Priya sat on her bed, knees to her chest, as she jotted down all her ideas. She wasn't joking about the teambuilding! And today just proved her point; they lost because Ripper and MK just kept on fighting, and Priya wouldn't let the Jaguars make the same mistake twice!

"Still workin' on that list?" Someone asked her, snapping Priya out of her own little world. She peeked over the side of her bunk to find a thankfully friendly face staring back at her.

"Damien!" She greeted with a smile, vaulting over the side of her bunk to meet him. "Yeah, I've been at it since the challenge ended… I have so many ideas, but so few good ones!"

Damien chuckled. "Yeah, I been there. But hey, I think whatever you come up with'll be great. Don't think too much on it." He flashed her an easygoing smile, and Priya found herself smiling right back. "...Hold up. Where'd'ja get the notebook from?"

"Oh! Millie gave it to me!" Priya waved the book for emphasis, before clutching it to her chest with a smile. "She said it might come in handy, and look at that! It did!" The brunette sighed, staring longfully at the cover. "I miss her."

"I figured. But hey, I bet she'll be cheerin' you on in the finale, yeah?" Damien offered with a smile. Priya weakly smiled back.

"Yeah, I guess so… I just feel bad that I wasn't there to help her, you know?"

"I doubt she holds it against you."

"...I know. Thanks, Damien."

Damien put a hand on Priya's shoulder with a gentle smile. "Anytime."

"Attention all Jaguars!" Both paused when Chris's voice came over the speaker. They exchanged nervous glances, because they both knew what was coming. "Please make your way down to the elimination ceremony! One of you is going home tonight!"

—-

The Jaguars made their way to the bonfire, tense as can be. Of course, they all knew it was coming, but it was hard not to feel on edge. The newest injuries hardly helped; Scary Girl's head had been bandaged, Ripper still stumbled as they walked, and MK's limp hadn't improved any. The walk was quiet, save for Bowie's whispers to MK and Raj, and no one but them knew what all that was about.

By the time the team reached the campfire, a certain host was already there waiting for them with an amused smirk. "Jagged Jaguars," He began. "You were on a winning streak, but you're here today because you lost. Why?" Chris shrugged. "Take it away, Chef!"

Chef cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Priya,"

"Huh? Wait, what did I do!?"

You didn't have to crash that jetski. The team relies on you as the voice of reason! You let 'em down, and Scary Girl had to suffer the consequences."

[CONFESSIONAL: PRIYA]

"What?" Priya sputtered in confusion. "But crashing the jetski was her idea!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"MK–"

"Rigged."

"-You chose to pair up with Ripper, then refused to cooperate with him. That is not what a team player does."

[CONFESSIONAL: MK]

"Seriously, how was any of that my fault!?"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"Ripper, you put yourself in charge, but didn't bother with yours or MK's safety!" Ripper scoffed. "Your negligence put you both in danger!"

[CONFESSIONAL: RIPPER]

"Uh, yeah! 'Cause that's how you win!"

[CONFESSIONAL END]

"And finally, Scary Girl."

"Yeeeees?"

"...Crashing the jetski? Really?"

"Well, it worked!"

Chris took over once again, chuckling to himself as Chef sighed. "Well, looks like you've got some options! Hope you make the most of 'em!" He commented. Jaguars exchanged glares and wary looks alike as Chris accepted the plate of marshmallows from his co-host.

"Jaguars, cast your votes."

—-

"The votes are in, and your ballots have been counted! Now," Chris plucked a marshmallow off the plate and squeezed it a little, before turning to the campers. "The following Jaguars are safe;"

…

…

…

"Damien,"

"Yes!" Damien caught his marshmallow, and popped it into his mouth.

…

…

…

"Priya,"

…

…

…

"Raj," The brunette beamed, holding his marshmallow up to show Bowie.

…

…

…

"Bowie," The bleach blonde smiled back, holding up his own marshmallow in response.

…

…

…

"...And Chase! MK, Ripper, Scary Girl…" The campers in question exchanged worried looks. "You all screwed up pretty bad today! But according to your team, the person who screwed up the least iiiis…"

…

…

…

Scary Girl's eyes and fingers alike twitched erratically.

…

…

…

MK looped her jacket's drawstrings around her finger nervously.

…

…

…

Ripper bared his teeth, arms crossed defiantly.

…

…

…

"MK!"

MK let out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding when Chris tossed the marshmallow her way. Raj grinned and gave her a thumbs up, while Bowie offered a nod of approval. The attention turned back to Chris as he picked up the sole remaining marshmallow.

"Ripper, Scary Girl." He spoke, his tone eerily serious. "This is the final marshmallow of the ceremony. If your name is not called, you must leave immediately, walk down the Dock of Shame, and be taken away in the Bucket of Tears."

"Bucket of Tears?" Bowie repeated. "You are really running out of ideas." Raj wheezed, and MK snorted. A couple giggles were heard here and there, and Chris scowled.

"Can it, Bowie, Julia beat you to the punch!" The host snapped. "Now, if I may continue?"

Bowie motioned for him to go on. "The floor is yours."

"Thank you! Now, without further ado, the final marshmallow is going to…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Scary Girl! Eat up!"

"WHAT!?" Ripper shrieked, jumping out of his seat.

"What!?" Chase mimicked. "How's that fair? It's not his fault we lost! Seriously, what gives!?"

"Yeah, what's your problem!?" Ripper turned toward MK. MK stared back, unfazed. "We agreed to vote for Scary Girl!"

"No, you agreed to vote for Scary Girl." She argued. "I said I'd talk to Bowie and Raj, which I did actually do. And we came to the consensus that your idea sucks and we're not doing it."

"She held up her part of the deal," Bowie chimed in with a smirk, earning a grin from MK. "You've got nothing against her."

"Chris! She cheated! I want a revote!"

"No revotes!" The host instantly shut him down. "Dock of Shame, Ripper! Let's go."

"What!? But… but…!"

Chris sighed. "Chef?"

Ripper yelped as Chef yanked him upwards by the collar of his shirt, and trailed after a retreating Chris. The eliminated camper pouted, sending the remaining Jaguars one last nasty look.

"Happy travels!" Bowie called after him with a wave.

—-

"I have no idea why I got voted off! I was the only one with any brains around here!" Ripper crossed his arms defiantly as Chef dragged him along the dock, Chris leading the two toward the Bucket of Tears. "But people always get intimidated by the big, strong, smart guys. Guess it was too much for them! Buncha babies!"

Chef tossed Ripper into the bucket, the latter cringing as some water splashed onto his leg. "Any last words?" Chris prompted. Ripper blew a raspberry at him, before turning away. "Alright! Take 'im away, intern!"

"Hey, I just thought of something!" Ripper piped up as the boat started.

"Ooooh, sorry!" Chris, who was not sorry, chuckled as the boat began to sail away, bucket in tow. "Looks like you're all outta time!"

"Hey, wait!" Ripper cried. "Waaaaaait!"

As the boat–and Ripper–disappeared into the distance, Chris turned toward the camera. "Y'know, not too surprised with how that turned out! I will not miss him! Or any of the angry letters! Fourteen's down to thirteen, folks, and it's still anyone's game! Who'll make it twelve, and who will live to see another day? Was this a case of bad luck for the Jaguars, or are the Rhinos on a comeback? Tune in to find out next time, on Total! Drama! Island!"

—-