All right. It's time we got into what many people consider the best All-Stars episode in canon. Thanks for reviewing, yeezynight14, OmniPlanckInstant, PokemonFTW (in answer, I theorize he went after it after talking to Heather and came back for it later, and Danni waited for them to leave first), Nicky Haugh (thank you for the idea!), SuperKitty4789, RebelToasters12 and Bloodylilcorpse.

It was a downer not to have Zoey with us during the free night. Since she and Lindsay were both away, Sierra and I, of course, invited Beth to share our room. She gratefully agreed, not wanting to be on her own.

During the day, when Zoey was back, she didn't seem like herself. Just before having to go back to Boney Island, she got me alone and whispered "Listen. Just in case anything happens, remember, I'm counting on you to win this game if I don't."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why are you telling me this? It's not like you're going to die on the island or anything. You can handle yourself."

Zoey bit her lip. "Well, yes, but that's kind of what I'm worried about – if I-" But Chef had already taken her off to go back. I wasn't sure what she was trying to say, to be honest. It wasn't like she'd been pushed too far before. She was a survivor.

During the night before the challenge, the girls and I sat around, talking. I guess we should've invited Brick, since he was on his own, but we all knew that despite not being as tough as he wanted to be, no boy would want to sit around and talk girl talk.

So what did we talk about? Well, off-camera stuff from our seasons, mostly. Beth confided that she was kind of glad Lindsay never made it far enough where there was no one to watch over her, because she was sure Chris would make a move on her. He'd never made it clearer than in Action – on-camera some of the time, but even more when the cameras weren't around.

Sierra admitted that she used to hang around outside Loser Class when her team won, just to listen to everyone else chatting, so she could learn more about them. She even admitted that Noah was her second favourite TD contestant. "If I didn't love Cody so much," she said, "I would ship them forever."

Now I knew about the Noco explosion after the accidental kiss on the ear, but still, I frowned. "I don't see it. Cody's so obviously straight. And I think Noah's asexual – he's never shown any interest in girls or boys."

Sierra shrugged. "Like I said, if. C'mon, Danni, don't ruin the dream of the fangirl!"

I gave a sigh. "I'd ship them if they were fiction. But they're real, aren't they? Oh well, we can speculate all we like."

We didn't see Zoey again until the challenge the next day. I spent the morning hanging out with everyone else. Brick was off talking to some of the Villains. Understandable – he was on a team full of girls, and he was probably missing bro time, since Owen was first off, and Mike had been gone for almost a week already (I wondered how he was doing on the mainland momentarily, wondering if that other personality was getting weaker or refusing to disappear).

Chris called everyone to that weird arena place. Sitting next to the "ring" was a wheel with little silhouettes on it, but I didn't take time to look at them. No, instead, I was looking at Chef, who was on the island with Zoey in tow.

"Looking rough, Chef." Chris commented. And he was right, Chef did look pretty roughed up, and nervous. However, Chris just teased him about having a run-in with some baby animal on Boney Island.

I didn't have to strain my ears to hear Chef's hoarse whisper of "That girl ain't right."

I paused, looking back at Zoey, trying to work out if there was anything different about her. I wondered if this was what she was trying to talk to me about before she left.

But as I looked, she gave a small smile and said in an energetic voice "Looks like this challenge is going to be a winner for us, right?"

But even then, I wasn't sure, but it sounded as if there was...something in her voice. I wasn't sure what it was. It just didn't sound quite right.

But I brushed it off. I needed to focus for this challenge.

Boy, did I need to focus. Chris said the episode was part No Pain, No Game and part Phobia Factor. Yeah...the endurance challenge and the fear-facing challenge. Each contestant would spin the wheel and come up with an opponent to box. We'd have to last two minutes in the ring with them – either winning, or not going down. The first team to get three points won immunity.

I spoke up. "Um, didn't you say Zoey got a reward for getting the most eggs last challenge?"

Chris gave a sigh. "I was hoping you'd forgotten about that, but..." He said Zoey got an automatic point without having to box. And that was the moment I knew for sure that there was really something wrong.

"Why don't I get to box?" Zoey said aggressively. "I mean, okay, I'll take the point, but I want to actually do something to win this!"

"Why not?" Chris said cheerfully. "Looks like we have our first volunteer. Come on up and spin the wheel!"

So Zoey spun, and the spin landed on...

"Say hello to your foe...a bear!"

I gave a gasp. What were the odds? I knew for a fact that Zoey was more afraid of bears than pretty much all the other natural creatures on this island...and Fang to boot (although that was because he hadn't forgiven Scott for hesitating to give him back his tooth and went for him first).

But this Zoey didn't seem at all afraid. In fact, she proved that her point was earned by kicking the bear in the crotch and then punching it in the stomach before punching it in the nose. The poor thing was ready to leave the ring long before the two minutes were up.

Zoey? She just smirked triumphantly.

Scott went next, and spun to end up with...Fang. Phobia Factor indeed! Scott practically went catatonic and lost almost immediately.

It was my turn next. I spun the wheel forcefully, but it didn't matter. Now that I was this close, I noticed Chef had his foot on a pedal. The wheel would stop wherever he and Chris wanted it to stop.

This time, the silhouette was familiar. It was a person, tall, slim, and athletic. It was...oh, come on!
There were only two people on the last season that I had disliked with everything in my heart. One was unconscious after being beaten by a shark, and the other stood right in front of me.

Jo.

"Hey there, Cheer Chick." she greeted me, sounding pleased. "Ready to lose to a real athelete?"

I shrugged, trying to seem cool. "All I have to do is last two minutes in the ring. You won't even get to touch me."

Okay, okay. That wasn't completely true. I had to box, but I spent most of my time trying to dodge. The gloves did take a toll on my centre of gravity, so Jo got quite a few hits on me. Still, I earned my team the next point. Just.

But two points from Zoey and I weren't enough. Sierra and Beth both lost their rounds. Heather and Duncan, who each went before them, though, won. I was hoping against hope that Lightning would lose his round, because then Brick had a chance at tying up the scores (funny, I would've thought between me and him, Jo would have been his adversary...maybe she didn't actually scare him, or maybe it was because they really did like each other, like I'd always thought).

But it wasn't to be. Lightning won easily, and we Heroes would be sitting at the campfire tonight.

However, we didn't vote. Chris announced that he had something special in store for us tonight. The Villains got to choose which of us went, and we got to choose who to exile. "And, the teams are NOT merging! Now you may gasp."

A few of us had thought the merge had come, but of course not! Our mornings were merge times, not campfire ceremonies.

"So, Vultures, who's going home tonight?"

The Villains all started whispering. I couldn't hear them properly, but I felt safe. The special something in my pocket garanteed that I'd stay for at least one more round.

Finally, Duncan spoke up for the rest of the Villains. "Chris, we decided to eliminate..." I'm not sure whether he meant to pause for emphasis or not, but it felt like he did. "...Danni."

I looked at the Villains. Heather looked pleased and a little relieved, like she'd thought of me as a threat. Lightning looked annoyed. I knew he would have tried to argue my case. And Scott was smiling smugly. Oh, this would be delicious. Now this would take the wind out of his sails!

I smiled sweetly at the Villains. "Sorry, guys, but I should explain that Heather had the wrong suspicions last challenge. We all know none of you guys got the invincibility statue she hid. That's cause..." And I held it aloft. "I did."

"Well, what a time for a second twist!" Chris stated. "Okay, Vultures, I'll give you some more time to choose someone else."

I looked around at my teammates. Brick and Sierra both looked nervous. Beth was staring straight ahead, her face unreadable. And Zoey...I'm not sure what was up with her. She'd been acting strangely aggressive all day, and now she looked completely unconcerned.

This time, Lightning spoke for the Villains. "Our choice to take the Flush is...Zoey."

My friend immediately blinked, her eyes widening. Then, suddenly, her face changed, and she smiled. "I hoped I wouldn't go out like this," she admitted. "But the stress was starting to make me act...oh, it doesn't matter. Now that I'm out, I can get back to feeling like myself again!"

I hugged Zoey goodbye before she was flushed. "Say hi to Mike from me." I told her. "And I don't care what happened today – I know who you really are."

Zoey smiled gratefully. "I guess I've learned something – competition is the monster, not us. I'll be rooting for you!"

Oh, and as for exile? Well, we didn't really have any grudge. So we just picked the Villain who we thought had gotten off easiest so far – and that was Heather. She was still seething silently, ever since I'd pulled out the statue, but she didn't argue.

We may have lost something, but there was a weight on us as we went back to the cabins.

Yep, Zoey's gone, and with her Commando Zoey. A big SORRY to her fans, especially Nicky Haugh as I know you probably wanted her to stay longer, but I felt this was as far as she could go. I didn't want to take Zoey as far as canon did so that characters who still had potential development would get another chance. Hope you don't mind the way I did it. In short, the Villains are very game-savvy, and they knew that Danni and Zoey had the best physical skills of the Heroes.

And now that Danni has used the immunity idol, you can bet she won't exactly be on Heather's good side.

Sorry this took so long. I can't promise when the next chapter will be out. Hope you enjoyed it regardless.