Okay. Finale time! And time for someone to win this! Thanks for your reviews, Pokemon FTW, Lord of the Sloths, SuperKitty4789, Nicky Haugh, North Neon, Bloodylilcorpse and The Phenomenal Flair.

"Why, Chris? WHY?!"

These were the words I wanted to scream that morning. However, doing that would mean taking in more toxic gas than my lungs could handle. I'd probably have terrible cramps as it was, being stuffed in here.

Yeah, you got that. Chris decided to have Owen use the effects of...er...roughage to blow up balloons, and somehow, he stuffed everyone except the first guy off inside one. Okay, so we'd checked and they couldn't hold too much of the air for long. They'd pop within five minutes, so we'd all live. But, as he explained, if the other competitors shot us down, we'd have to help them with the final challenge.

Well, I would be happy to help Sierra. I was rooting for her. I wouldn't have minded if Brick won, but I would feel a little weird if I was to help him win right in front of my friend.

But oh well. I was starting to feel like I'd do anything as long as it got me out of this balloon prematurely!

Guess what? I didn't.

Yeah, I'm sure you were expecting me to tell you I had to help someone, but actually, no. Four people got shot down, and they had to help.

Brick got one Hero and one Villain. But it was Zoey and Anne Maria. Well, that was probably good. It was lucky their fight over Mike/Vito had ceased. Otherwise those two couldn't have worked together. Yeeeaah...don't tell Zoey I said that.

Sierra, though...she got both Villains. And, well, I didn't mind seeing Lightning help her. He knew we were friends and since he couldn't win, the least he could do is help my friend win. I knew he'd do it. Lightning was in for the win because of the idea of just winning, not the million dollars. He'd do his best, even if it was just for Sierra and not for himself or anyone he really cared about.

Sierra's other helper was Alejandro. And while I didn't know him very well, I sort of sensed just from his performance in World Tour that his big motivation in the show was honour before money. Heather was always in it for the money. But Alejandro was more about wanting to prove himself to himself, and everyone else who happened to be watching, too. I was sure, no matter how much Sierra disliked him, that he'd try his best to help her.

In fact, after the balloons had popped, I saw Sierra saying something to Alejandro. Something menacing if I judged by her expression, but she was speaking too quietly for me to hear.

But I heard Alejandro's reply. "I'm aware you despise me, Sierra, but I am obligated to help you. I am not planning to throw a challenge. I don't have any preference between you and your opponent, so I am not opposed to helping you."

Chris explained the whole thing to everyone listening. Basically, the finalists had to cross three moats. On the first level, there was toxic waste. Kind of a reference to Revenge, right? The third was lava – an obvious homage to the finale of World Tour. The third held plain water...and Fang. Kind of a "back to basics" feel, probably referring to the first season.

So where did Action come in? Well, after crossing all those moats, the finalists would have to continue to the top of the moat pyramid on their own, where there was a sword in the stone. Above, Chef would use his pasta bazooka to shoot at the finalists. The person who got the sword out of the stone first became the Ultimate All-Star and the winner of the season.

Well, what did you want me to say? There were a bunch of different things to help them get across each moat. So Alejandro noticed the bamboo immediately and suggested Sierra pole-vault, which got her across before Brick, who had more trouble getting across. As it turned out, Anne Maria's hairspray made some of the objects durable enough to float them across (Zoey tested this theory, despite the protests), but still, it took longer, while Sierra reached the other side of the toxic waste in one swift move.

But Brick caught up pretty quickly, looking at all the objects designed to help. Sierra, however, impulsively leapt on the pink pogo stick, and jumped just high enough that it propelled her past the lava.

However, Brick picked up his ladder from the toxic waste to the lava and just walked across, easily reaching the third moat seconds before Sierra.

By this point, the helpers were only just behind them. Apart from the ideas about getting past the toxic waste, the two didn't really need much help – there was a reason why they'd made it this far.

This time, both of them did what Brick had done before – use their ladder up from the lava to get across without attracting Fang's attention. They had to be more careful, of course, and Fang did end up breaking Sierra's ladder, but luckily, she managed to cling to the edge of the moat and pull herself out of the water before he could attack her.

By this point, I didn't know who would win. Brick had far more formal training than Sierra, and if he could win the Obsta-Kill Course, than getting the sword out of the stone and dodging Chef should've been all too easy. But Sierra had her own way of doing things, and, weird as it sometimes was, it almost always worked. Right down to the last second, it was anyone's game!

So who actually won?

Sierra. Just. She and Brick were actually both pulling at the sword. It came out with both of them pulling. All it depended on was who hung onto it once it was pulled out, and the force of it coming out combined with the force from the otherside managed to knock Brick backwards, leaving Sierra as the sole survivor. The Ultimate All-Star.

We all took a boat home, with Sierra excitedly bouncing up and down and clutching her million-dollar suitcase. Brick, as runner-up, looked a bit disappointed, but he congratulated Sierra bravely and several of the other competitors, mostly the Heroes, all congratulated him on getting that far, especially since it was possibly the closest finale yet.

After offering Brick a few words myself, I went back to my all-starry friend and sat down. "So what are you going to do with the money?" I asked. "In World Tour, you mentioned getting your arms extended, and a million-dollar statue of Cody or something like that, right?"

Sierra giggled. "I can't believe I said those things! No, I see the real Cody enough now that we're friends. Although I definitely will spend some money on an artisan cake for him, with tons of sweets on top. Sugar is his weakness – whenever he's mad at me, I just buy him gourmet jelly beans and all is forgiven!"

I giggled too. "So where's the rest of it going?"

"I guess I'll have to put some away for college..." Sierra said thoughtfully. "I was going to take out a loan but now I can pay by myself. I'm still going to be in Canada, though – I think Mom might need me atm, but I don't mind. As for whatever's left..." She broke out into one of her crazy grins. "Remember how you, me, Zoey, Lindsay and Beth all discussed going out and having cocktails at the start of the competiton?"

I nodded.

"I'm going to blow it on a luxury hotel suite and the five of us are going to have a proper girls' night and sleepover in style!" Sierra declared. "It'll just be the five of us, though. There'll probably be some money left over, so I'll probably just throw a less elaborate reunion party, but-" She leaned forward to whisper to me "I heard Chris on his phone. He's supposed to be hosting another show straight after this one, so I'll get details on the new cast and hold the party after the season so they can come!"

I grinned back at her. Despite some of the scarier parts of this season, it had been a blast. I'd liked it nearly as much as the last one. But in spite of it all, I was pretty glad to be going home.

If you've read "Total Exploded Pahkitew Island" or "The Ridonculously Exploded Race", you'll probably guess of a certain OC who will be making a guest appearance in the next chapter. Sorry this took so long to come out...this finale was pretty dull.