It was on their way to the boathouse that they came across a sight that made Noah's eyebrow raise higher than it usually did. Namely, the string of multicolored Christmas lights strung between the extention cord and the boathouse. "Well, that's not even remotely conspicuous," he said.

"Oh yeah," Cody chuckled, "The extention cord didn't quite reach, so Beth lent us the string lights she decorates her bunk with."

"So is everyone in on this now?" Noah asked.

"'Scuse me, coming through!" Owen bumped into Noah on his way to the door, carrying perhaps a dozen bags of cheesepuffs in his arms (one of them open and at present being poured into his voluminous mouth). It seemed to answer Noah's question.

"Well, everyone knows Brawl gets more fun the more people there are to play," Cody said. He opened the door for Owen to go through and then held it for Noah, playing the gentleman.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Nothing I love more than huge impromptu social gatherings," Noah rolled his eyes. "The things I do for 'love'," he delivered the joke with a tweak of his eyebrow.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

A cheer rose up as they entered, rendering Noah wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights. "The man of the hour arrives!" Geoff exclaimed, referring to the gap-toothed boy beside him. "Let's get this shindig started, dudes!"

"Right on!" Cody agreed, making his way toward his Wii to turn it on. Noah followed him loosely. Somehow every single camper had managed to cram themselves into the tiny boathouse; Gwen, Trent, Courtney, and Lashawna were squeezed next to one another on the futon, with Beth and Bridgette each sitting on either arm of the couch and Tyler stretched out along the back. Duncan and DJ had both pulled up wooden crates to sit on, and Katie, Sadie, and Owen were seated on the floor with cushions under their tushes. Izzy, Harold and Geoff were all laying on their stomachs hugging pillows. And Heather was standing toward the back with her arms crossed. Even with everyone there, the two of them had been left a place to sit 'front row and center'.

"Alright, who wants to play the first match?" Cody grinned, holding aloft the four Wiimotes.

"Obviously those of us who risked life and limb to get the TVs should get to go first," Harold reasoned.

"Makes sense to me," Duncan gave a smug smile, putting his hand out. Cody handed him and Harold each one of the controllers, then extended one toward Noah.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"I'm more of an RPG-player most of the time," Noah told the camera, gesturing off his hip, "But I've logged my share of hours on numerous fighting games." He smirked almost devilishly, "Cody has no idea what he's about to be up against."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"And the object of this game is…?" Noah drew out skeptically as he watched the game's boot-up sequence.

"You try to knock the other players off the map," Cody answered.

"And that's accomplished how…?" Noah continued to fake noobishness.

"The higher a character's damage percentage, the higher their knock-back, the more likely they are to get hit out of the playing area," the brown-haired boy explained. "And each character has their own special abilities and attacks. Plus there are lots of randomized items that show up and you can use in the matches. Don't worry," he reassured upon seeing the spreading confusion on Noah's face, "You'll get the hang of it once you start playing."

"Yeaaah… maybe I should watch a couple games first," Noah said, handing the Wiimote off to Izzy. The orange-haired girl gave a snarl of delight and began mashing buttons before they'd even gotten to the character select screen.

Cody took Link, Harold R.O.B., Duncan Meta Knight, and Izzy Olimar, beginning a survival match. Noah leaned back cooly as he observed the game progress, focused most on watching Cody's gameplay. While Harold made a worthy opponent, Cody still had the upper-hand; meanwhile Duncan struggled to compete with the other two's obvious knowledge of the game and Izzy was jumping off cliffs 'for fun'. In the end, Cody came out victorious.

"Haha!" he laughed, "Who's next? Anyone think they can beat me?"

"I'll give it a try," Trent said.

"Ooh, me!" Beth waved her hand over her head.

"Lemme have a go at it!" Geoff grinned.

Another round began. This time Cody took Samus, while Trent selected Mario, Beth Princess Peach and Geoff the Ice Climbers. It was a haphazard match on one of the bigger maps, but the result was the same, even with all of them ganging up on Cody, none of them could hold their own against the boy.

"Oh man, talk about wrecked!" Geoff laughed at his own failure as he was the last player knocked off the stage.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Oh man, I am such a boss at this game," Cody bragged in the bathroom. "This is sooo much more fun than Scrabble."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Next?" the blue-eyed boy grinned confidently, twirling the Wiimote around his finger by the wristband. Owen, DJ and Bridgette played him next. His skill with Yoshi beat out Owen's Kirby, DJ's Pikachu and Bridgette's Zero Suit Samus. He blew on his fingers and buffed his nails out on his shirt.

"Someone's gotta be able to beat this boy," Lashawna commented, picking up one of the controllers. Katie and Sadie both reached for the other two.

"Give me that," Heather snatched the Wiimote from Sadie.

"Rude!" Sadie put her hands on her hips.

"Totally rude," Katie agreed.

"You can lose to Cody in the next match," Heather rolled her eyes. She selected Ganondorf. Lashawna took Bowser and Katie took Jigglypuff. Cody went for Pit. The match began.

"Isn't Jigglypuff just like the cutest character?" Katie said, bouncing the avatar about on the platform.

"Omigosh, she so totally is," Sadie agreed. "Just like you, Katie!" The two squealed and hugged.

"You have to play to win!" Courtney slapped her forehead.

"Speak for yourself, sister," Duncan ribbed. "I notice you haven't tried beating 'undefeated lightweight champion Cody Anderson'," he mimicked a wrestling announcer voice, "'standing 1.6 meters and weighing in at a hundred pounds'."

She scoffed, folding her arms. "I was giving other people the chance to play. It's called being nice. Or maybe you haven't heard of it."

'GAME!' flashed up on the quadrupled-screen in record time. "Who's left?" Cody asked, crossing his legs at the ankles and feigning a yawn.

Courtney snagged up one of the Wii remotes. Katie handed hers off to Sadie and Gwen took the last. Sadie quickly selected Jigglypuff to match her BFFF and Gwen contemplated awhile before settling on Fox McCloud. "Nice pick, Gwen," Cody commented, taking Lucario; Noah felt his eyes roll. Courtney went for Zelda.

"The princess selects the princess, I notice," Duncan didn't stop teasing.

"Oh shut up," Courtney blew a raspberry at him.

The match began. Perhaps predictably, Cody only attacked Sadie and Courtney to begin with. It didn't take them long to lose all their alotted lives, leaving just he and Gwen. It was quite obvious he was playing at a lower level, giving Gwen the chance to get some good hits in on him and up his damage percentage past 100%.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Is Cody seriously letting me get hits in?" Gwen asked frustratedly. "Does he have any clue how annoying and un-fun that is?"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"I'll admit it, I'm going easy on Gwen," Cody said. "It may even look like I'm about to let her win. But I'm playing Lucario. Everyone knows that the higher his damage percentage gets, the more powerful he gets." He leaned back in the stall, "I'm just biding my time."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

He saw a Smash Ball spawn in the stage. A quick up-B combo later and he'd snagged it, unleasing Lucario's Aura Storm. Gwen failed to dodge and Fox McCloud was sent hurtling head-over-heels way, way off the platform, securing Cody his fifth win in a row.

"So," Cody's hands went to his hips, "Not many of you left to challenge me." He grinned with a sly tilt of his head. Tyler picked up one of the controllers uncertainly.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"This is one time I don't think my awesome finger strength is gonna help me," Tyler said nervously.

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"You've had plenty of time to watch and see how it's done," Cody nudged Noah with his elbow. "You ready to play?" Cody offered his Wiimote to him.

"I don't think you're giving me a choice," Noah answered, taking it. He selected Ike (a personal favorite of his), while Tyler chose Captain Falcon. Cody picked Link.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Until now, Cody has played a different character each time," Noah observed, "And so far, the person that's come closest to beating him was Harold in the very first match. I can thus assume he's most confident playing Link. I'll have to be careful; Link is much faster than Ike," he began to explain his strategy, "I'll probably be taking a lot of hits, but as long as I can stay on the platform, that won't matter. The infrequent hits I make will be significantly more damaging."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Because there were only three of them, they picked one of the small stages that consisted of just a platform. Noah grinned— piece of cake. '3', '2', '1', 'GO!' hit the screen. His fingers sprung into action. Ike tore into Captain Falcon, sword swishing in wide, devastating arcs. Tyler was so shocked he dropped his controller down between the couch cushions.

Cody directed Link to intercept, attacking Ike with button-pressing vigor. Noah was ready for it, dodging what he could of the barrage and taking the rest as he vied for his own hits. Both their damage counters grew, but Noah's faster, as he'd predicted. He began to do more aerial attacks, keeping out of range of Cody's primarily horizontal moves. Several times Ike was sent spiralling off-screen, but always at a very steep angle, making it easy for Noah to land safely back on the platform, despite his high percentage. Tyler's character had long since been smacked off, not once but twice, and the boy forfeited.

Cody propped his tongue in the corner of his mouth, turning his controller somewhat as he tried to battle against Noah's annoying stategy. Next thing he knew, Link was tossed back and just as he was recovering, Ike swung his sword in a wide arc at just the right moment, striking him at the perfect 45° angle to be unrecoverable.

This went on. Ike was tossed off the platform, then Link again, and then Ike. It came down to each of their third and final lives, and everyone was on the edge of their seat because not even Harold had gotten Cody down to his last life. Their percentages were both high, sparring mercilessly. Noah's tactic got even more vicious; he knocked Link off and purposely jumped off the edge of the platform to strike at Link a second time to ensure he couldn't recover, before double-leaping to catch hold of the edge and saving himself.

"No no no no no!" Cody shouted and then 'GAME!' splashed across the screen.

The whole room was staring at Noah. "What?" he shrugged.

"I thought you didn't know how to play!" Cody exclaimed. "You tricked me!"

Noah only smirked. "And you fell for it hook, line and sinker." He didn't have time to duck the pillow Cody swung at him, taking it right in the face. "Aah!" His arms windmilled, but he toppled backward onto his back. Cody didn't relent, quickly stradling him and continuing to smack the pillow repeatedly down on his head each time he attempted to lift it.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Would it be too much to ask for one day where I don't get hit in the face?" Noah asked, but the slight smirk he was trying to hold back seemed to indicate this was one time he didn't mind all that much.

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"IRL brawl!" Beth shouted, grabbing up her own pillow and pelting Heather.

"What the hell?!" Heather scoffed. Both Katie and Sadie ganged up on her from either side. She squawked, trying to shield herself with her arms, to no avail. Duncan whopped Harold, Gwen nailed Geoff, and before long it devolved into a free-for-all chaos, every camper for themselves.

"Oh no you di'n't!" Lashawna came after Duncan in Harold's defense.

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"She is so beautiful," Harold said, "Especially when she's angry." The stick of a boy gave a dreamy sigh of admiration.

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"Go, Izzy! Ahahaha!" Owen laughed, watching the girl climb the back of the couch to pounce off it and perform a pillow-padded elbow smash on Tyler. His brown eyes bugged out on impact. Owen was reaching into his bag of Cheetos when a rampant pillow smacked the open bag out of his hand, sending the orange-powdered pieces scattering over the floor of the boathouse. It didn't take long for several of them to be trampled underfoot in the scuffle. The large camper gasped in dismay at the destruction of his snacks, hitting the deck in an attempt to gather them back up. DJ was backing up as he defended himself against Trent, and didn't notice Owen had leapt behind him. He tripped over him, giving a yelp, and the Wiimote he'd been holding went flying out of his hand. The controller struck the top right TV, lodging itself in the screen.

Almost immediately the brawling ceased. "Oh shit!" Cody gawked. Noah (finally able to lift his head) propped himself up on his elbows, eying the damaged flatscreen.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Honestly? Everyone should have seen that one coming," Noah commented aloofly.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

The TV smoked, then fell off its mount and landed screen-down on the ground. And, with comedy-perfect timing, the door to the boathouse suddenly opened. Standing in the doorframe was Chris and Chef Hatchet. "What is going on in here?" the former asked.

"Busted!" Duncan chortled. Lashawna and Courtney both swatted him with their pillows.

The show host put his hands on his hips. "Decided to throw a little party, huh? I should remind you, destruction of company property is a major breach of contract," he said, seeming less peeved and more mishievous; Hatchet cracked his knuckles. "It might even be an immediate elimination offense…" He waggled his eyebrows, eyes scanning over the campers, waiting for one of them to volunteer who was responsible. Cody's eyes darted anxiously between campers.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"Section 12, paragraph 34: Destruction of any piece of company property which purpose is not solely to be destroyed during show production shall result in the ejection of the party at-fault, unless otherwise over-ruled by host Chris McLean," Noah recited from memory, as if it were common knowledge. "Seriously, you're telling me no one else read the contract?"

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"This whole thing was Cody's idea," Heather told the camera with disdain. "As much as I'd love to inform Chris, the rest of the team actually seems to like the disgusting little twerp. I'd be next on the chopping block. And that is not happening." She crossed her arms huffily.

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"Oh man," Geoff tugged on his hat, "The little dude could be in serious trouble! And all cuz we went overboard."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Silence was stretching. Cody looked ready to pop, his top teeth biting into his lower lip. "I'm Sparticus!" Owen shouted suddenly.

Noah felt his eyes roll. Were they really doing this? Fine. "I'm Sparticus," he announced flatly.

"I'm Sparticus!" DJ chimed in, and Harold and Trent chimed in next.

Duncan cupped his hands over his mouth, "I'm Sparticus!"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"What?" the punk gave the camera a glare, "You thought I was gonna rat out the little geek?" He folded his arms with a snort, "It's not like Chris promised me amnesty."

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Soon almost the whole boathouse was doing it. "Fine! Fine!" Chris shook his open palms at them to knock it off. "So much for quality entertainment." He folded his arms. "Since none of you will tell me who did it, the only solution is to punish you all equally. Tomorrow's challenge was actually a pretty easy one. But I guess I'll have to find a way to make it a little bit harder on you guys, heh heh." The campers groaned collectively.

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

Cody gave a tremendous sigh of relief. "I thought I was a goner. Not even any of the Bass tattled on me? I can't believe it!"

~~kkkssshhhttt…!~~

"That said," Chris continued mercilessly, the size of his grin an indicator of what was in store, "I'd turn in for the night if I were you. It's going to be a looong day tomorrow. Oh, and I'm confiscating this," he added, picking up the Wii console and stuffing it under an arm. "Whoever it belongs to can get it back once they leave the island."

Hatchet held open the door. The campers walked out in single-file, some looking dejected, others annoyed, and some sheepish; they split off for their cabins.

"Kids these days, huh?" Chris said when they'd all left, hands on his hips.

"Jus' no appreciation for the great outdoors," Hatchet agreed, "Always gotta be glued to their screens."

There was a short pause before Chris' face cracked with a grin. "Want to play some Mario Kart?"

Chef nodded and shut the boathouse door.