Okay, I'll be honest.
I was hoping Noah would fall in love with Emma all this time! I mean yeah, she's a lot of things: no-nonsense, competitive, a joykiller, snarky, but maybe now she could loosen up a bit. You know like me and Kitty: fun-loving, laid-back, comical, a little ditzy...
Oh...wow. Now I see why people talk about us.
After the Surfer Dudes went up, we took our next travel tip, "It looks like we're going to Dubai," Sky read from the tip, "Make your way to the only 7-star hotel to find the next Don Box."
"Quickly, to the airports!" I said cheesily on purpose, before I took off ahead of her.
"Zane, wait up!" She was able to catch up with me when I called for a taxi to drive us to the airport.
By the time we got there, we're bunched up with a lot of the teams already there, "Dubai, please!" Geoff voiced to the desk guy.
He typed in his computer, "Flight-leaving now time... fourteen seat. Rest on the next flight." We all cheered. Except for Dwayne and Junior, they were left behind on the second flight.
As we were about to take off, all of us walked down first class... for winners only (a.k.a Geoff and Brody). Which meant the rest of us were in regular class. When I found some seats, Sky was exercising. She really needs to take a break at some point.
"Uh, what are you doing?" I asked her.
"Warm-ups," She answered quickly, "It's going to be quick-flight so we have to be well-prepared and energized for the-"
"Actually, it's going to be 17 hours before we get to Dubai." I smiled, cutting her off.
Sky stopped what she was going and presented wide-eyes to me, "17 hours?!"
"Yup! That means we can finally have some well-deserved rest and relaxa-" In that instant, she was fast asleep on the seats. "Sleep tight, cuz." I sat right next to her to snooze until I heard the seatbelt sign blaring. "Hey Noah, put on your seatbelt."
In front of us, I heard Noah grunting in pain. "I know the seatbelt sign's on Zane but... why bother?" I looked up to see that Owen was right on top of him.
"Heh, it's cozy." He sheepishly admitted.
(Confessional: Airplane)
Zane: *Unimpressed face* From here, it looks like Noah's trying to sleep with a brick wall as a blanket.
(Dual Confessional)
Owen: Flying's the scariest. I usually squeeze my teddy bear, Beary, to get through it. But... I swallowed him *smiles* so now I squeeze my Noah! *Hugs/Crushes Noah*
"Hey, want the window seat?" Owen offered him.
He refused though, "Uh, gonna pass." Wanna know why? Because Emma and Kitty were right next us. Key name: Emma.
(A/N: And Kitty. Zane: SHUT UP AUTHOR! I KNOW WHAT'S BEST!)
"Oh really?" He laughed, "But you always want the window seat!" He spoke loudly. Owen and I laughed as Noah glared.
"Yeah, why would you wanna stay there lover-boy?" I mockingly questioned. Noah went to reading a magazine as Owen and I were snickering again, "Okay, enough jokes let's buckle in."
I easily put on my seatbelt. But Owen was struggling with his until he farted making us cough (it even startled Sky awake), "Seriously, dude?" I glared at him.
"Sorry airplane food." He apologized to everyone.
"I'm gonna hang in the toilet where it smells better." Noah retorted. Just as he exited out, he bumped into Emma. Looks like they both had the same idea. A little while later, they were talking about us and how intolerable Kitty, Owen, and I were (well Emma talked about me being a jerk to her, and Noah didn't really care much). Nothing about Sky though; I guess you can say she was the 'perfect one' (she went back to sleep though).
"Ugh! They're both so snarky and full of themselves!" Kitty complained.
"How are they not a couple yet?" Owen asked.
"Makes me wonder too." I joined in, "I used to hate Noah, but then he kinda grew on me."
"It's Emma. She's still recovering from her last break up." She explained.
"Oh, still fresh?" Owen asked.
"It was three years ago."
I responded with an eyebrow raised, "Wow, that must've been a rough three years."
"Yup. Getting those two together is gonna take a lot of work." The three of us fistbumped.
"Wait, what about you and Zane?" Owen asked, "I've heard you two are kinda having a thing..."
"Um..." We both blushed in response.
I started, "Well, you see that's not entirely true. We actually... uh... I gotta be over there!" I ran to the front.
"Me too!" Kitty ran the same direction.
"Don't follow me. You'll give it away!" I whispered to her.
"I wasn't thinking straight okay?!" She murmured back.
(Confessional: Airplane)
Zane: *Frowns while crossing arms* Okay, fine! So I have a crush on Kitty. Big whoop! But I'm not letting ANYONE know that. Not even Sky. I intend to keep it that way because... *keeps talking and not noticing his cousin sneaking into his confessional right behind him* well... why not? But I shouldn't worry; I'm the master of keeping secrets.
Sky: *Snickers softly*
Zane: Nothing can... *Senses something's wrong* get... past... *Turns around* A-HA! *Sees no one is standing there, she's right behind him folks* What the? *Scratches head in confusion* I could've sworn she was right behind me...
Sky: *Chuckles quietly again*
After landing in Dubai, we all took the shuttle bus which drove us right next to the Don Box in front of a 7-star hotel.
Sky took the tip and read from it, "It's an Either-Or: Serve or Squeegee. Teams can either serve back a ball launched from the world's toughest launcher, the Tennis, Menace, or wash an entire column of windows from this building."
I smiled knowing what we're about to do, "Let's turn the Tennis Menace into scrap!"
Surprisingly, Sky stopped and placed a hand on my shoulder, "I think we should wash windows."
I was dumbfounded, "WH-WHAT?! But Sky, we're both athletic. We'd be able through the challenge in no time!"
"Just trust me on this Zane," Okay, just what are you planning? "Besides, Owen and Noah doing the same thing." She pointed to the boys as they were running into the hotel, along with the Sisters, "We gotta stick with to our alliance."
I glared at her, "This wouldn't be an attempt to get me and Kit-" Before I finished, she started pulling me into the building against my own will. As soon as we were at the top, we were met by strong winds and a long way up.
"Hey, guys!" Owen greeted to us, "I thought for sure you'd do the tennis challenge."
"So did I!" I yelled over the winds, "But I guess someone needs to clean up their act,." I directed the insult/pun to my cousin. Yeah, I know. It's terrible.
She tried to assure me, "It's just washing windows safely from the platforms. How dangerous could it be?" Just right after she said that, one of the window cleaners fell down, formed into a fireball, hit the ground, and disintegrated into nothing. I sent her an angry look, making her scratch her nervously.
(Dual Confessional)
Zane: *Death glare to Sky* When I die, stay away from my funeral.
Needless to say, I was right about washing windows at least five or seven stories from the ground. It was more dangerous than it looked and sounded in the first place. A strong gust of wind blew our platform a little. This is probably a bad time to mention that I hate heights right about now.
"Uh, how is this safer than doing the tennis challenge?" I questioned as I gained back my balance.
"We're in alliance with Owen and Noah, remember?" Sky reminded me. Oh, right. AGH! Why didn't we make an alliance with another team?
"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have minded if we faced the Tennis Menace. As long as we work together for the most part and get to the chill zone in one piece!" I countered back.
"Just help me move to the next window, okay?" She's going to be the death of me someday.
We pulled the levers at the exact same time. Of course, that had to be the moment where an even stronger gust of wind, blew our platform dangerously unbalanced where I slid off and held on the ledge.
"ZANE! Are you okay?!" Sky called holding onto the wire from the other side.
"Just peachy," I replied back sarcastically/truthfully, "As long as the wires hold us, we'll be perfectly safe." At that second, the wire from where I was holding onto the ledge had snapped, making it to the point where we were hanging straight down, "Aw, come on!"
"Quick, climb up here!" She yelled at me. I started doing so as fast as I could, "Come on, hurry up Zane!"
"What do you think I'm doing?!" I retorted. Good news is since the platform is facing down, we can use it the top part of it stand. As we both stood there, holding the wire for safety, the glass part of it started to crack a little, "We need get Owen and Noah down here now!" At that moment, I heard Kitty screaming then tennis balls being aimed towards us. We covered ourselves with one of our arms to avoid being hit, the other still holding on to the wire, "HEY, WATCH YOUR AIM! FRIENDLIES!"
"KITTY, HELP!" Emma was almost in as much danger as we were. She was barely hanging onto the platform.
"EMMA, NO!" Noah turned back to see her fall in that instant. In a split-second, he was able to catch her.
They stared into their eyes for a second until I interrupted them, "HELLO?! WE'RE HANGING DOWN HERE TOO!" In that instant, Kitty was screaming in terror, "Kitty?!" I saw her falling down a far distance away from me. In that moment, I boosted Sky up higher to the point where she was on the platform with Owen, Noah, and Emma who were slowly descending toward us. I cut loose the wire that was holding the platform, grabbed my right hand onto it, wall run on the windows, catch her in my left hand, wall run back to where I came from, and land where everyone else was with Kitty in arms.
Kitty was more than shocked, "Z-Zane! How did you... I mean... you just wall-ran to save-"
I stopped her there, "How about we just stick to tennis?" She only laughed in response then kissed me on the cheek, making both of us turn red while smiling, "Um, I guess that works too..."
(Dual Confessional)
Zane: I'll be honest, even I never expected to do that. And as cheesy as it sounds, I never realized how important she was until I saved her.
Sky: *Puts her hand together and smirks* Aw, you do love her!
Zane: *Blushes, scratches head, and sheepishly smiles* Okay, I do.
"Glad we're alive, but I'm bummed we're gonna tie for last," Emma commented.
Kitty glared at her, "Could you be more negative?"
"Sure, she implied we'll finish," Noah remarked, shrugging, "Plus, we only have one squeegee between us and you have no water."
"It's not over yet," Owen assured us, "I know how to win this! But you guys have to join our alliance first."
"Wait, you've been in alliance with them?" Emma questioned him, gesturing to me and my cousin.
"Ever since Iceland." Sky answered.
"And they're great once you get to know them," I supported, flashing them a smile, "Well, kinda," Kitty clapped in excitement while Emma and Noah shrugged.
"I will be your squeegee!" Owen announced. He then ripped off his shirt, poured water all over himself, and pressed against the window. I feel sorry for whoever's seeing this, "Let her drop!" Emma and Kitty pulled the levers at the exact time, as Owen was being to slow our descent. We crashed, but no one was injured.
"WOO! Go Owen!" Kitty cheered. At that moment, he dropped on the ground.
"Way to take one for the tema big guy." Noah complimented.
Owen laughed as he put his shirt back on, "I feel like I just took a rollercoaster through a car wash."
Emma took the next tip from the Don Box, "Find the chill zone in the Gold Souk. The what?!"
Sky took another tip from the Don Box, "A normal plaza where everything is made of gold. Travel there by taxi, some of which are gold... literally."
(A/N: When I watched this, I saw a guy pass by with a gold ice cream cone. I wanna new life right now... I want this one.)
I saw taxis arrive made of pure gold making me smirk, "They really do like their gold here."
Josee, along with Jacques who had just finished cleaning the windows, had pointed forward, "To the gold! NOW!"
We stepped into the taxi and we drove off to the plaza. When it stopped, we all sprinted out and into the Souk. Seriously, I don't think I've even seen this much gold in my life.
"Remember everybody, we're looking for a gold chill zone." Owen reminded us as we were running through the mall.
I laughed in response, "I'm pretty sure all the chill zones are gold."
"Found it!" Sky pointed to an open door and stopped by her.
"Ladies first." Noah gestured to them. Oh, look someone's a gentlemen.
"Really?" Emma was surprised, "Why would you... I mean... I don't know what to say."
"Maybe just get in before I another team shows up."
"Oh right. Uh, what about Zane and Sky?"
"Go in." We remarked.
"Thanks!" They both ran inside and scored first place.
"After you two." We both gestured to Owen and Noah.
"Really?" Party Guy smiled to me.
"Well, we are in an alliance." I shrugged, "Besides, we're way ahead of everybody."
"Thanks!" After they ran in, we raced to the chill zone.
"Sky and Zane, 3rd place," Don announced to us. A little while later the Ice Dancers finished, "Welcome to the chill zone, you've come in 4th," Jacques and Josee gasped until he revealed he was joking, "Kidding! The twins got here way before you!" Oh, right! I forgot to tell ya guys... Mickey and Jay came after us. It's amazing that they managed to catch up.
"Me and Mickey took the non-volt caps; they're a lot faster." Jay explained.
"You mean... WE'RE FIFTH?! We didn't even make the podium at all again?!" Jacques yelled in disbelief.
"What podium? There is no podium." Don remarked while raising an eyebrow.
"There's ALWAYS a podium!" Josee strained while her eye twitched.
"Hey, at least you moved up a position."
And the best part: no part of the set was destroyed this time!
*CRASH*
Oh... she's destroying the store instead.
In other news, Best Friends just came ahead of Mother and Daughter (after they both decided to shop instead of race). The really for real best part: Kelly finally stood up to Taylor by forcing her to hang from a platform until she apologized. Then after that, they got along pretty well didn't mind about the race anymore.
Speaking of which, I wonder if that might be a problem with the Ice Dancers when we face them later on.
A/N: Remember, licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets! Huh? Oh sorry, wrong note. I meant to say, Josee really needs to stop destroying stuff at the end.