Chris was in his living room, sipping a bottle of rum.
"I don't know," Chris thought, "bringing Geoff back WILL be good for the ratings, but I don't know. Vevo and Eva haven't made any real moves aside from eliminating Ezekiel and Ricardo. But no one liked them anyway, so..."
"If you're looking for conflict," VIA suggested, "break apart the teams."
"Nah," Chris frowned, "I can't merge them just yet, I need to wait until there are twelve or thirteen of them left for that."
"No," VIA continued, "I mean cause conflict within the teams themselves."
"I like where you're going with this," Chris nodded, "but how-"
"Easy," VIA said, "offer up one of the treasure chests as a reward for a challenge. That way, the winning team will be forced to decide what it's used for. I suspect there shall be some difference of opinion as to what the chest should be used for. This should easily cause the rift you seek."
"You know what?" Chris smiled, "that's not a bad idea! And I think I know the perfect way to integrate that into a challenge!"
~o.0.o~
Geoff was in the boys cabin, unpacking his things while talking to a few of his old friends.
"It's good to have you back, man," Cody smiled, "things have been getting a little... weird around here."
"What do you mean weird?" Geoff asked.
"Just stuff and things," Cody sighed, "Gwen's been acting weird lately, there was that one creepy girl who kept saying cryptic stuff, and then Lindsay's freakout-"
"What do you mean, Lindsay freaked out?" Geoff frowned.
"It was the weirdest thing, man," DJ chimed in, "we were doing a challenge in this weird, virtual reality sorta thing. Then, out of nowhere, Lindsay starts screaming and crying. Then- poof- she's gone! Once we got out of the simulation, Chris told us there had been some sort of 'side affects', and that she had been eliminated for medical reasons."
Geoff looked over to Cody, who nodded in confirmation.
"Seeing the freakout... to be honest, it was kind of scary," Cody muttered, "I mean, you'd think the three seasons before this would have made me used to stuff like that, but... I don't know."
"That does sound pretty weird," Geoff agreed, "anything else like it happen?"
"Well," Cody said, beginning to speak. He thought of telling Geoff about Gwen's problems, but decided not to go into too much detail for fear the others might brand her as crazy. "Gwen's been acting a bit odd lately, like I said. Weird dreams and stuff, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence."
"Maybe," Geoff agreed, "speaking of which, you two have been getting close."
"What?" Cody gulped, blushing instantly, "No, no! We're just friends! Don't worry, I-"
"Relax, man," Geoff smiled, "it's over between us, and she's an awesome girl. Just make sure that if you do become more than friends, you don't hurt her. Alright?"
"I'd never hurt Gwen," Cody promised.
"Good," Geoff said, "well, I think I'm done packing away all of my stuff- I'll talk to you guys later, okay? I'm gonna go see Courtney."
"Alright," Cody nodded, "later, Geoff!"
Geoff left the cabin, giving a smile and a wave.
"Later dudes," he said, shutting the door behind him.
The cabin was silent for a while, until Alejandro spoke.
"So," he began, "I've... a question, If I may."
"What's up?" DJ asked.
"I was certain I'd be going home last night," Alejandro shrugged, "and yet I remain here. Why is that?"
"Well," Cody said, "you seemed honest enough in wanting to start over, so we figured you'd give us a chance."
"I... see," Alejandro said, "I suppose I should thank you."
"If you really want to thank us," DJ said, "just do your best to make sure we don't have another elimination ceremony so soon, alright?"
"Alright," Alejandro nodded, "I... thank you anyway, amigos."
~o.0.o~
"I'm telling you Eva," Vevo smirked, "I've got our solution right here."
"Yeah, you've been saying that for a while now," Eva scowled, "mind telling me what your grand little plan is?"
Vevo and Eva were walking through the wilds, strategizing. Eva was still upset over the loss of both a chest and their only other ally, although Vevo seemed smug.
"Don't worry, you're going to want to hear this," Vevo smiled, "I know exactly what happened to the chest."
"What?" Eva asked, stopping in her tracks, "Where the hell is it?"
"Gone," Vevo sighed, "it was already given to Chris."
"Vevo, if you had something to do with it, so help me-" Eva started.
"Relax," Vevo snapped, "I had nothing to do with it. I didn't find out until later. See, I was up a little later than usual last night, when I saw something interesting- Lance got up, got dressed, and snuck out of the cabin. I got curious, so I followed after him. Well, I tailed him through the wilds, where- get this- he had stashed our chest in a bush."
"Are you sure it was ours?" Eva asked.
"Oh yeah," Vevo said, "but I'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, I considered confronting Lance then and there, but something told me to keep following him. I did, and he went all the way to Chris' cabin. Chris came outside, and they spoke for a bit. I didn't hear everything, but I know for a FACT Chris congratulated Lance for stealing the chest."
"That son of a-" Eva started.
"Anyway," Vevo continued, "Lance told Chris he wanted to trade it in for his meds. Sure enough, Chris handed him an orange bottle a few seconds later. Lance got this smile on his face, took one of the pills, and then walked off."
"So vote him out," Eva hissed, "make him pay!"
"Will you shut up a minute?" Vevo shouted, "I have a much, much better idea, if you'd let me finish!"
"Fine," Eva muttered, "whatever, make it quick."
"After he went back to the cabin, I sort of hung outside for a while," Vevo said, "I waited a good hour before going inside. I wanted to make sure he was asleep. Once I did go in, I immediately went over to Lance's belongings, and fished around for a while until I found that bottle. You're not going to believe this- it was an antipsychotic!"
"What?" Eva smirked, "Really?"
"Yeah," Vevo nodded, "apparently it's used to treat paranoia or bipolarity or something. So, I got to thinking... what if we use that as leverage?"
"You mean we still the meds and blackmail him with it?" Eva smiled, "That's the most evil thing I've heard all day!"
"Even better," Vevo snickered, "remember the plan about destroying the camp's food supply? I've noticed Johnny has begun to stick to a few specific areas in the wilds. I'm going to follow him around for a bit and find out where those areas are. Once I do, we collect as much food as we can, then burn it down."
"No," Eva corrected, "we have LANCE do it for us. Then we pin it on him, blame it on his condition!"
"Oh yeah," Vevo cheered, "we have this in the BAG!"
~o.0.o~
Later that afternoon, Chris was explaining the day's challenge to the campers.
"Okay, here's what's going down," Chris smiled, "remember those chests I said you could turn in for prizes? Well, I've decided that today, whatever team wins the challenge will earn a chest to use for themselves! What IS the challenge you might be asking? Simple! You may notice the two boats behind me, loaded up with scuba gear. Your objective is to put on the gear, and then set out to sea. You'll take turns diving down into the water, avoiding traps and underwater predators alike to try and find the chest! Oh, and did I mention each scuba tank only has enough air for about ten minutes?"
"Ten minutes?" Miri asked, "But that's barely enough time to-"
"That's the point," Chris smiled, "you're going to have to swim to the bottom of the sea as fast as possible, and search for the treasure chest. First team that finds it gets to keep it."
"So does that mean we have a reward challenge today?" Courtney smiled hopefully.
"Ha ha ha, NOPE!" Chris laughed, "The losers will send someone home tonight like usual!"
At this, a few campers began to grumble.
"Hey, you want me to make it another double elimination?" Chris asked, "No? I didn't think so! So, get in those boats, and set sail!"
~o.0.o~
After the contestants had gotten changed into their swimming gear, then quickly set out.
"Okay," Duncan told his team, "we need a win here to try and get our edge back. I say we send out two at a time, have them cover a specific area, and then come back up."
"Sounds good," Alejandro nodded, "I volunteer to go first."
"I do too," DJ shrugged.
"Okay," Duncan nodded, "cover as much of the area to the west as you can, alright?"
"You got it," DJ smiled, "ready, Alejandro?"
"Ready," Alejandro agreed.
With that, the two dove into the water. Once beneath the surface, the two swam down as quickly as possible, scanning the area. Alejandro began to gesture to DJ, trying to indicate exactly where he would be investigating. DJ, however, merely stared straight ahead, treading water. Frustrated, Alejandro began to gesture faster, when DJ suddenly began swimming to the surface. Alejandro let out a slight sigh, and turned around to begin his hunt. When he turned, however, he was horrified to see a huge, eel-like monster heading straight for him. Alejandro turned, swimming away as fast as he could. He was able to spot a cave in a nearby rock formation, and he swam in, praying the creature would not follow. The eel initially did tail Alejandro, but suddenly turned around and swam off, as if bored. Alejandro grinned and began to relax, when he felt something brush up against his leg. Alejandro let out a yelp, and immediately sped out of the cave as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, the Ronin were sitting on the boat, listening to DJ recount what had happened.
"I have no idea what happened to Al!" DJ stammered, "The thing just took off after him! I... I was too scared to-"
"DJ, it's alright," Duncan assured him, "trust me when I say most people would do the same thing. You panicked, no one can blame you for that."
"Besides, it's better you came and got help," Courtney put in, "this way we can formulate a plan to save-"
A second later, Alejandro appeared on the surface of the water, and quickly hoisted himself on to the boat. He removed the mask from his face, and tossed it to the side, panting heavily.
"Al!" DJ exclaimed, "Are you alright?"
"Fine..." Alejandro groaned, "as far as narrowly escaping death goes, I suppose things could be better, but I'm fine."
"What happened down there?" DJ asked.
"I managed to evade the creature," Alejandro explained, "I must admit, however, I'm surprised I made it out with my life."
"At least now we know what's down there," Eva said," so who's going next?"
"I'll go," Courtney offered, "with any luck we can get this over with so no one gets hurt."
"I'll go too," Harold said.
"Alright," Duncan sighed, "good luck you guys."
The Legion had already sent out Lucky and Tyler, who were now coming back empty-handed.
"Alright, you guys find anything?" Lance asked.
"Oh, nothing," Tyler said, "just a GIANT FREAKING EEL MONSTER. But no biggie."
"A what?" Lance asked, "what the hell are you saying?"
"We went down there, and we got attacked by something," Tyler frowned, "at first, we saw this huge thing chasing Alejandro, but he managed to hide or something. Then it turned and saw us- we were lucky to escape with our lives!"
"A sea monster?" Miri scoffed, "Come on, you have to be exaggerating, surely it wasn't that big-"
"It was," Tyler gulped, "it had to have been at least as big as this boat!"
CONFESSIONAL: Miri
Granted, I've seen some pretty weird stuff on this show. But sea monsters? Come on! Something like that can't actually exist!
END CONFESSIONAL
"Look, something's down there," Johnny sighed, "if you guys want, I'll check it out."
"That'd be good," Lance nodded, "just see what's down there, alright?"
"And what do we do if there is?" Veronica asked.
"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" Johnny sighed, "I'll be back in a minute."
Johnny put on his mask, and slowly lowered himself into the water. Once submerged, Johnny allowed himself a few seconds to adjust to his surroundings. He swam around cautiously, beginning to feel a faint twang of paranoia. He had always held hunting in a high regard. His sister had instilled in him a respect for the animals he hunted, as well as the woods he hunted in. She had told him there was always a certain serenity to hunting, and growing up Johnny had to agree. It was the circle of life- nothing more, nothing less. And now, Johnny knew what it was like to be on both sides of the spectrum. He had grown up the hunter, and now he was the prey. Alone, out of his element, and unable to shake any feelings of being watched. Needless to say, Johnny didn't LIKE the feeling- but he acknowledged it as being strangely fitting.
Johnny continued to swim around in the dark, glancing over his shoulder every now and then. He was about to give up and go back to the boat when he finally saw it- a huge slithering form off to Johnny's side. It circled around for a few minutes, and then dashed forward, heading straight for Johnny. Johnny waited until the eel got closer, and then swam straight up, barely avoiding the monster. He headed for the boat, as fast as he could. One he got closer, Johnny cast a quick glance back over his shoulder, and saw the thing closing in. It got closer and closer, and for a split second Johnny thought everything might be over- until he felt himself being pulled on to the boat by his team.
"Johnny, man, you alright?" Geoff asked.
"Fine," Johnny coughed, "thanks for the save- I thought I was done for a minute there."
"So now we know something's down there," Sunny sighed.
"That's not all," Geoff suddenly gasped, "I saw Courtney go down there too!"
For a minute, everything was silent.
"Uh, who?" Lucky asked.
"Courtney, the- nevermind, I gotta go save her!" Geoff exclaimed. With that, he pulled his mask down, and leapt into the water.
"Yeah, he's dead," Sunny sighed.
"Great," Vevo muttered, "he's too busy focusing on saving a member of the OTHER TEAM to look for the treasure. Someone else has to-"
"Screw it, I'll go," Quinn scoffed, "I'm not scared of a damn fish/"
Quinn dove into the water, leaving a slightly annoyed team behind her.
"She's not very agreeable, is she?" Sunny frowned.
"She gets results," Johnny shrugged.
"Maybe, but do you guys trust her?" Sunny asked.
"No way," Tyler said, "she's a little too willing to... hurt things. I say she goes next elimination."
"Really? Because I say Geoff goes," Vevo snapped, "he's obviously too smitten with that girl on the other team. He could be a liability."
"No way," Tyler frowned, "Geoff's awesome, we can't send him home!"
"We'll talk about this later if it comes to it," Johnny said, "but right now we should focus on the challenge."
"It's not really in our hands, is it?" Vevo asked, "It's up to them, not us!"
"But if they don't succeed, it will be up to you," Johnny frowned.
"Yeah, right," Vevo scoffed, "I'm not going down there."
"Yeah, you are," Johnny said, "you pull your weight around here, that's how this works."
"Oh?" Vevo asked, "And if I choose not to?"
Vevo crossed his arms, and took a step forward, as if to challenge Johnny. Johnny briefly contemplated striking him, but decided against it.
"If you choose not to," Johnny smiled, "then I reckon you ain't eating tonight."
Vevo's smile faltered.
"Fine, whatever," Vevo muttered, "I just don't want to die, alright?"
CONFESSIONAL: Vevo
Screw Quinn or Geoff. Johnny needs to go down.
CONFESSIONAL: Johnny
To be honest, I would have loved to dim Vevo's lights. But honestly, I don't enjoy conflict- and if anything, that worked more against him anyway. If you want to make someone look like a bigger fool than they are, stay calm when they get heated. They look that much worse in comparison.
END CONFESSIONALS
Harold was swimming around, trying to avoid the monster lurking around as best he could. It was then he spotted what his team had been looking for- one of Chris' chests. Smiling, he reached out to grab it- only for something to grab him instead. He had been yanked from behind, and then something horrifying happened- one of the tubes from his oxygen tanks was severed. Harold was released, and he immediately swam upwards, struggling to reach the his haste, he didn't notice another human like form swim down towards the treasure...
Eventually, Harold reached the water's surface, and ripped his mask off, gasping for air.
"Harold, you alright?" Duncan asked.
Duncan held out a hand, and helped him on board.
"Something grabbed me!" Harold exclaimed, "I tried to get away, but it damaged my oxygen tank, I had to-"
"It's alright," Duncan sighed, "you did what you had to."
"Besides," Alejandro put in, "you aren't the first to fair poorly this challenge. Don't dwell on it."
"What about Courtney?" Cody asked.
Harold shrugged, and shook his head.
"Great," Duncan muttered, "look, I'll go down and see if she's alright. If I'm not back in eight minutes, something went wrong."
~o.0.o~
Quinn was slowly heading back to her team's boat, treasure chest in hand. Incapacitating Harold had been easy enough, and so too had been nabbing the chest. She was beginning to smirk slightly, when she noticed something torpedoing towards her: the eel.
Oh no, she groaned, not now!
Right as the monster began to get dangerously close, however, something colossal darted past, taking the eel with it.
"What the hell...?" Quinn thought.
A few minutes later, Quinn had reached the boat, and hoisted the chest on board.
"You got it?" Veronica gasped, "You got it!"
"We need to get out of here," Quinn hissed, "NOW."
"What's wrong?" Veronica asked.
"Yeah, your sea monster?" Quinn frowned, "I saw something take it out like it was nothing. Something HUGE- didn't you guys see anything?"
"The water did ripple quite a bit a minute or two ago," Tyler said, "but that was about the gist of it."
"Whatever, doesn't matter," Quinn snapped, "we need to get going."
"Sure," Lance shrugged, "soon as Geoff gets back."
Geoff, as it would happen, was still swimming around in the water, when he finally spotted Courtney. Smiling, he swam over to her as fast as he could. Before he reached her however, he saw something slowly moving towards him from the distance. Geoff stopped to watch the appraoching mass- and then panicked as soon as he saw what it was.
Cthulhu had returned.
~o.0.o~
Chris sat in the lab, watching men in white coats scurrying about, occasionally pausing to chat with a co-worker or write something down. Chris let out a sigh, and slammed his head around his desk.
"Chris," a voice said, "we've been over this. You're herre to science, not pout."
"Listen, DAD," Chris snapped, turning around, "I don't care about your little projects, okay? We've been over this!"
Leonard McLean looked at his son, and sighed. Ever since Chris had turned sixteen, he had become more and more of a hassle to deal with.
"Look, will you just cooperate with me for one day?" Leonard asked, "I'd just like to work with my son for once-"
"Yeah, since when has that mattered?" Chris snapped, "You've always cared about your interns more than your own family-"
"Chris, that's ENOUGH!" Leonard shouted, "You know what I think would do you some good? How about a few hours in the isolation chamber, hm?"
"Oh, go ahead!" Chris snapped, "I'm not afraid of your little-"
"Daddy?" a voice said.
Chris turned around, and saw-
Chris' alarm began blaring, and the host raised his head, groggily looking around the room.
"Great," he muttered, "stupid TV show. Stupid contestants. Stupid challenge. Stupid-"
"Yes, your broad vocabulary is truly impressive," VIA chimed in, "however, I've detected several anomalies along the beach. I would recommend investigation."
"Oh, that," Chris chuckled, "yeah, they must have found my little surprise."
"Oh?" VIA asked.
"Yup," Chris smiled, "You could say I managed to get an old friend to stop by."
~o.0.o~
The contestants were on their boats, trying to race back to the beach. The Cthulhu bot slowly stalked after them, occasionally reaching out to try and snatch a contestant. It already had Geoff and Courtney in one of its hands, although the campers realized an attempt at rescue would be pointless.
"Courtney, try to hang in there!" Geoff called, "We're gonna be okay!"
"Oh my god, I don't wanna die!" Courtney shouted.
"Relax, no one ever dies on this show- okay, well maybe one or two people have- okay, nevermind! Either way, WE'RE not going to die! We'll make it through this, I promise!" Geoff said.
"Oh man," Veronica groaned, "shouldn't we try and help-"
"SCREW them!" Quinn shouted, "We got the chest, let's just go!"
The boats pulled up to the beach, and the campers piled out. Cthulhu took one giant step on to the beach, and pulled his fist back, ready to hammer it down on the contestants- only to slowly lower it to the ground, and release Geoff and Courtney a second later.
"Wait a second, what just happened?" Eva asked, "It just let them go?"
"Of course!" Chris smiled, "I can't KILL you guys! Well, not yet anyway."
Everyone turned and saw Chris standing behind them.
"Surprised?" the host smirked.
"Not really," Cody frowned, "you do the whole 'mysteriously appear behind everyone' thing too often. It's lost it's effect."
"Hey, I'LL say when it's lost it's effect!" Chris snapped, "Until then, you just be quiet! Anyway, who found the chest? Cthulhu was triggered to appear once someone had."
"I did," Quinn said, dropping it on the ground before her.
"Really?" Chris frowned, "Well then, it looks like the Legion won again!"
The Ronin groaned, and began muttering.
"Ronin, get ready, because you have elimination in one hour," Chris said, "as for the Legion, you have the rest of the evening to do as you please!"
~o.0.o~
Lance was in the boy's cabin alone, feverishly looking for his medication once again.
"Oh come ON!" he shouted, "How could I lose it again so soon?"
"You didn't lose it," a voice behind him said.
Lane turned around, and in walked Vevo, carrying a small, orange bottle.
"Give those back," Lance demanded, "NOW."
"Relax," Vevo smiled, "we want the same thing, man! I just needed to talk to you, and this was the best way to get your attention."
"I said give them back."
"Once I've said my peace," Vevo shrugged, "that's all I want."
"Fine," Lance snapped, "but I suggest you hurry the hell up."
"Hey, we don't need to be enemies," Vevo told him, "I... we have a lot more in common than you think."
"Oh?" Lance asked.
"I know what it's like to be treated differently. This condition of yours- you feel like it holds you back sometimes, don't you?" Vevo asked, "You KNOW you can do better, don't you? But how often are you given that chance?"
Lance said nothing.
"People like us," Vevo continued, "people like us are never given what we want. And you know what we want? A chance, just like everyone else. Hell, Lance, you make a better leader than those other yahoos on the other seasons of this crappy show."
"Get to the point."
With that, Vevo tossed Lance his medication.
"I'm just saying," Vevo sighed, "you deserve better. And if you WANT better- come find me, and we can discuss how to make that happen."
For a while, nothing was said. Until, at last, Lance broke the silence.
"Alright," he muttered, "what did you have in mind."
"Simple," Vevo said, a wicked grin spreading from ear to ear.
~o.0.o~
A few hours later, and the elimination ceremony was underway, and Chris had just started passing out the marshmallows.
"First marshmallow goes to," the host started, "... DUNCAN!
DJ and Alejandro also get marshmallows, despite each of them doing a craptacular jub today. Really guys, you blew it.
Eva. Seriously, Eva? Have none of you learned your lesson?
Cody and Gwen. Which, come on, I'm sure you all saw coming.
Courtney and Harold, it's down to you two. Harold, you failed where your team needed you most, and Courtney, reduced to the role of damsel in distress- and can anyone really trust you with your boyfriend on the other team? Final marshmallow goes to...
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"COURTNEY!"
Courtney caught her marshmallow, and smiled.
"What?" Harold frowned, "Why me?"
"Sorry, dude," Duncan frowned, "we didn't want to, but someone needed to go."
"All right," Harold sighed, "at least I did better this time around, right?"
"Right," DJ smiled, "take care of yourself, man."
Harold smiled and waved to the other contestants, and made his way to the boat of losers.
CONFESSIONAL: Duncan
I do feel a bit bad for voting off Harold. But out of everyone on the team, he's proven the least useful overall, and right now we need to even things up with the Legion before we hit the merge.
END CONFESSIONALS
"Well, it's been a rough day for you guys," Chris said, "go get some sleep, and try to work on not sucking so much anymore!"
"Gee, thanks," Eva muttered.
"Well, that's all for now, folks," Chris said to the camera, "so tune in next time for an all new episode of
CAMP TV:
SPECTER ISLANDS!"