A Dramatic Ridonculous Race

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

With Chris McLean rotting in prison, it seems like the era of Total Drama has come to an end. However, numerous contestants flock to other shows, and some find themselves in yet another race around the world, and they'll make some new friends along the way. Some of them may even find love.

20. El Burro Supremo

(El Burro Supremo)

Spectacular Webhead 11: Give it time, these things usually take awhile, but they usually work out in the end.

OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla: This isn't the first time the Surfers got a win, but I figured they werer deserving of it in this one. The Best Friends doing the role reversal is funny, but also kind of painful at the same time. Lucky for them they're not out of the race yet.

Cody Fanatic: Usually when I plan out a story, I have the general idea and certain details mapped out, but I do make up certain parts as I go along. I find that it gives me more creative freedom and liberties, rather than limiting me to what I can or can't do. Thanks for the input on the next chapter, now you'll see what decision I've gone with. I'm also glad to see you enjoyed this chapter, so thank you.

SuperSonicHeroes: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Knowing Bridgette is more mature and focused, it only made sense she would keep Geoff on task and allow them to come in first and not waste time. I figured the Rockers doing the magic instead of the dune buggies would shake things up a bit, and I didn't want to be entirely predictable, likewise with how they changed roles later into the challenge. The Best Friends coming in last was pretty much avoidable, it's a big part of their story arc. Also I'm glad when people mention the shoutouts and references that I include. Thank you for your input regarding the Goths, I'll take it into consideration.

Frosty Wolf: I appreciate the input regarding the Goths. To be fair, as far as horrible stuff done by the Ice Dancers, stealing a pet is bad, but I think they don't really cross that moral line until the end of the season. I'm glad to see you liked this episode too, and I appreciate your input on Leshawna. I'll keep it in mind going forward.

Blagoj Pejov1: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

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"Last time on the Ridonculous Race: Lady Luck, or lack thereof as the case may be, took the final seven all the way to Vegas baby! The Goths and the Rockers made some magic happen, but it wasn't enough to snatch first place, which went to the Surfers. Video games do teach people things after all. Devin on the other hand, finally realized that he's head over heels in love with his best friend Carrie, and I'm sure plenty of you out there are saying that it took the idiot long enough. Unfortunately for him, that was after he accidentally almost fed her to a pack of hungry lions, which made Carrie decide that she was all done with loving Devin. They still ended up in last place for their troubles, but when they found out it was a non-elimination round, which also served to interrupt Devin's attempt at confessing his newfound feelings, well I think it's safe to say that was a bit of a mood killer. Speaking of mood killers, which team is going to be sent home this week? There's only one way to know that for cedrtain, because it's time for the next exciting installment of… the Ridonculous Race!"

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One intro later…

"And here we are again." once the intro had come to an end, Don started off the next episode in front of the Chill Zone from the day before "We start things off where the last one ended, this case in the sunny desert of Nevada, and the equally sunny Surfers, being the winners from the last leg of the race, are about to receive the first tip of the day."

"You know it bro, this is gonna be awesome!" Geoff and Bridgette made their way onto the scene, and the former pulled out a tip "Looks like we're gonna be heading for Mexico. That's gonna be awesome!"

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"I think the proper term to use here is OLE! You'd better not doubt for a second that there's a great deal to get excited about down in beautiful Mexico, where the salsa is just as hot as the sun that shines so brightly, if not hotter. Our seven remaining teams will have to take a form of local transit referred to as the Chicken Bus, all the way to our next destination, which comes in the form of the beautiful cliffs of Acapulco for their next challenge. Oh yeah, this challenge is going to be muy caliente!"

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And now for another frontrunner teams…

"Rock and roll man!" once the Surfers and Goths had their tips, Rock and Spud were the next to reach the Don Box "You know as long as we're in the top three, I don't have any complaints about how we're doing."

"Wait, we're in the top three?" Spud glanced over at him, then grinned and made the devil hand sign "Alright dude, we're killing it!"

"You know it man! At first we kept coming in the bottom ranks so part of me thought we were gonna be screwed, but then after Finland we totally started to kick things up a bunch of notches, and now we're in the final seven! We gotta celebrate this man! Since we're heading to Mexico, we gotta get some burritos!"

"Awesome!" and so the two of them rushed off.

Once they were gone, Trent and Leshawna were next to reach the Don Box, with the Sisters right behind them "Looks like we're going to Mexico. This one oughta be interesting."

"Wouldn't be my first time." Leshawna gave a shrug, earning a raised eyebrow "Awhile back, me and Tyler went on a show down there, and Harold tagged along. It was awesome, but the food is gonna burn right through your throat fast as (bleep)."

"Kind of like what Chef's cooking does?"

"But in a less lethal sort of way."

"Huh. I'm kind of looking forward to it now."

"Just don't get in over your head over all this, we gotta play it smart."

"...You realize that's basically the pot calling the kettle black right?"

"Yeah I know, but I figured if you get into a fist fight with a pro gamer like one of the Sisters and she tries to rip off your ponytail with your bare teeth, you either go all in or pull it back a notch or two."

"Huh. Fair enough." and so the two of them took off, leaving the Sisters to grab their tip and rush after them.

That was when Josee and Jacques reached the Don Box, the former pulling out a tip and then scowling at Jacques "Okay change of plans, from here on out we're done underestimating any of the remaining competition. Those pathetic Gothy vampires got lucky in the last challenge as far as I'm concerned."

"They didn't even come in first." Jacques pointed out "That was the Surfers."

"Don't interrupt me. I'm (bleep) sick of them doing better than us! But their luck is about to take a turn for the worst."

"This better not involve the garlic and the wooden stake again."

"I told you not to interrupt me!"

"So what the hell am I supposed to do then, just stand here like a mannequin and be the pretty one?"

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous. What you're supposed to do is stand there quietly like a good mannequin and support the pretty one."

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"As a result of the fiasco they experienced in the last race, Devin and Carrie are the last team to hit the Don Box and collect their tip. They're going to have some serious ground to cover if they want to dig their way out of last place."

"Looks like we're gonna be heading to Mexico." Devin looked down at the tip, and then looked over at Carrie "That was on your list of top five places right?"

"That was awhile ago, but yeah." Carrie looked at him in mild surprise "I didn't really expect you to remember."

"How could I not remember? You're my best friend, I know everything about you."

"Well… not everything."

"What do you mean?"

"...It's nothing. Come on, we should go." and so she rushed off towards the bus.

"Right behind you homie." Devin was about to rush off after Carrie, but then paused and looked over at the camera "I feel like such an idiot for not realizing sooner just how awesome Carrie is, like for real. I let myself get so caught up with Shelley… that I never realized what I had right by my side. Call it cliche if you want, but that's just the way I feel about it. Now I can't get her out of my head, like how amazing she is, how gorgeous and how big her… personality is. Yeah sure, that's totally what I was gonna say. How big those- I mean that is on her. Thank god she isn't listening to any of those."

"What was that homie?"

"Nothing I'm coming, I didn't say anything I swear!"

"...Okay?"

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"All of our seven remaining the teams have boarded the Chicken Bus, and are now heading for the site of the challenge in Acapulco."

"Not gonna lie, I didn't see this coming." Kitty cast a look over at Emma "When they said that we were gonna be taking a Chicken Bus, I assumed that was just an expression."

"That hasn't stopped you from taking half a dozen selfies with all of them." Emma pointed out dryly.

"Well how often can you say you spent a full day riding on a bus full of chickens? This is a total goldmine of Instagram material!"

"...Good to know you got your priorities in order."

"Hey if I didn't say it, someone else more than likely would've. And better this than wasting time on god only knows how many cat videos."

"Fair enough." Emma gave a shrug, then looked around at some of the other teams.

"Alright my man, I got us the good stuff." Rock held up numerous white boxes oozing grease and other substances "I got us the gorditas and the burritos, time to celebrate! To the final seven, and then going all the way!" and then and Spud started gorging themselves.

Bridgette took note of this, and then saw Geoff eyeing the greasy buffet "We'll get some of that when we get to Acapulco. Sound good?"

"Awsome babe, you're the best!" Geoff pulled her into a tight hug "You know that right?"

"I'm just doing what feels right." she then cast a glance over at the camera, her voice low "That and that stuff looks way too greasy. Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling that eating those things won't end well for anyone."

"You know there's probably a lot of chicken stuff all over the floor." Devin and Carrie were making their way towards the back of the bus, the former trying to get somewhere with the latter, to little success "You could always sit on my knee if you want. You know if you're not still mad at me about the whole lion thing."

"I'm not mad, what happened was just an accident." Carrie assured him "But either way I think I would want my own seat. It's fine really, don't worry about it."

"Okay yeah that's totally cool, but if you end up changing your mind then me and my knees are gonna be right here, halfway down my legs and that's where I like to keep them."

"Um… okay? I'll see you in Acapulco." and so she just buried herself in a magazine, leaving him to walk away in humiliation.

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Meanwhile, with the buffet bingers…

"Down they go!" Spud promptly downed the contents of an entire box of burritos, and he let out a loud burp once he was done "Bus station burritos, one of the best things that a guy can binge on, aside from the choco oinks."

"No arguments here dude, too bad we've only got one left." Rock held up the last burrito in one hand "Too bad though, these things are awesome. I guess we're gonna have to figure out what to do now, maybe split it or-"

"Dibs!" Spud promptly chomped down on the burrito, and Rock's hand, causing him to scream in pain.

"Oh come on man, you promised you weren't gonna do that again after China!"

All the while, Trent and Leshawna were just watching the scene unfold from their place "I'm gonna go ahead and guessing that's not the kind of Mexican food you had in mind?"

"Definitely not." Leshawna told him flatly "Trust me, I ain't about to down any food I get from a bus station. I'm impulsive and somewhat bloodthirsty, but I'm not stupid."

"Fair enough."

"But then again, how bad can it be compared to Chef's cooking?"

"Or Lindsay's for that matter." he was met with a raised eyebrow "The trust challenge back on the island. I think. Truth be told I don't remember a lot about what happened then."

"Then that makes you the lucky one."

"I got poisoned and had to get mouth to mouth from Chef. How in the hell is that supposed to count as lucky?"

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Meanwhile, with the antagonist team…

"Okay, so say for the sake of argument that sabotaging the Goths is the best strategic move for us right now." Jacques shot a skeptical look at Josee "What exactly would you even do, turn the two of them against each other?"

"Forget it that won't work, they're stuck together like glue." Josee grumbled "Besides, chances are they'd see through it and target us instead."

"Maybe they don't have any actual weaknesses."

"Don't be ridiculous Jacques, everyone has a weakness." Josee then looked over and took notice of how Loki was climbing down into Ennui's lap, and her expression turned triumphant "And I think I just found it."

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"After being stuck on a bus with hundreds of chickens for a full 18 hours, our seven remaining teams have finally reached their destination in the form of the beautiful cliffs of Acapulco, and all of them are revved up and ready to rumble."

"Come on come on, where's the bathroom?! Duck for cover!" Rock was the first one to rush off the bus in search of a bathroom, clutching his stomach in pain, and when that failed he ducked into a nearby bush and… let nature take its course "Hey word to the wise Spud, if you're gonna do it then can you go in that bush over there?"

"Huh?" Spud looked at him from where he was using his headphones "What am I doing in a bush?"

"...Oh yeah, your whole delayed reaction thing. Good for you." Rock paused and looked over at the camera "Probably not gonna be a good thing for us later though."

"See that's why I told you eating those things was a bad idea." Bridgette looked over at Geoff as the two of them, along the Best Friends, the Performers and the Sisters.

"Time to put things into motion." Josee on the other hand was trying to get close to the Goths to put her plan into action "So tell me, do either of you like… stuff?"

"Not particularly." Ennui told her flatly "Stuff is so mainstream."

"Oh, oh god you're too funny! Anyone ever tell you that?"

"No."

"Well they should, because it's true."

"Didn't I tell you back in Austrailia to not pretend to be friendly? It gets more disgusting the harder you try."

"...Oh no look out, I tripped and now I'm falling!" she pretended to trip and fell flat on her back on top of Ennui.

"Ow."

"Oh I'm so sorry about that, let me help you up." she pulled Ennui back to his feet while discretely grabbing hold of a certain somethin within his shirt and stuck it in her pocket "Who knew you could knock someone over when they're wearing such big and chunky boots?"

"Don't touch me."

"Right." and so Josee made her way over to Jacques "Done and done."

"I take it you put your plan into action?" Jacques raised an eyebrow.

"See for yourself. Nothing up my sleeve, but what have we here!" she reached behind Jacque's ear and pulled out Loki… only for him to pounce and start mauling Jacques's face.

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Meanwhile, with the other teams…

"Come on hurry, let's go!" the other teams made a mad dash to the Don Box, with the Performers being the first ones to reach it and grab a tip "It's an All In challenge, who loves peppers and who loves dip?"

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"For this All In challenge, one member of each team will have to eat one of the hot peppers we provided from the local food cart on the beach. Once they've eaten it, they have to wave the flag in the corresponding color, and then the second member of each team will have to make just like an Acapulcan cliff diver. For those that eat the hottest pepper, that being the red pepper, their partner will have to jump from the lowest ledge. Those that eat the mid range pepper, the green one, and their partner will have to jump from the middle ledge. But for those that eat the mild pepper, that being the yellow one, and their partner will basically end up jumping all the way from the space station. The member of each team that jumps from the cliff will find their next tip attached to canteens that are anchored along the bottom of the bay. And because we're not total sadists, the canteents are filled with just enough cold milk to soothe the burning mouth of each team member that eats the peppers."

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Now for who eats and who jumps…

"Okay, this oughta be fun." Trent glanced over at Leshawna "On the one hand, I'm not the best with heights after what happened on Wawanakwa, during the whole challenge with extreme sports. On the other hand, even without Lindsay poisoning me and Chef's cooking, I've got a weak stomach."

"So in other words you want me to eat the peppers, got it." Leshawna told him flatly.

"Okay then, I guess we got our picks then. At least this way I won't collapse in a pool of my own vomit." and so he made his way towards the cliffside.

Geoff on the other hand glanced over at Bridgette "You want me to eat the stuff babe? You saved me from turning my gut into a roller coaster, it's the least I can do."

"Thanks for the offer babe, but we'd probably be better off if I at them." Bridgette told him "I still remember what happened the time you ate a whole gallon of DJ's mom's spice."

"Hey Duncan was the one who dared me to do it, I couldn't just turn him down. But yeah, fair point. I'd better start climbing."

It was at this moment that Rock staggered his way over to the Don Box and pulled out a tip, and then he looked over at Spud "I'm gonna level with you dude, if I eat another bite of anything and I'm gonna need a new pair of pants. Any chance you still got room in there?"

"Huh?" Spud pulled down his headphones and looked at Rock "Yeah I could eat, we getting more burritos?"

"Maybe later, for now you're gonna have to eat some hot peppers."

"Huh. Cool."

"Good, now let's go!" and so the two of them took off, passing the Best Friends.

"Alright, so it's eat the peppers or jump off the cliff." seeing a chance, Devin straightened himself up and tried to make a move "No worries Carrie, I'll jump off the cliff."

"But you're afraid of heights." Carrie pointed out "Why would you volunteer for something like that?"

"Uh… maybe I just want to show you that I can do it, and so you don't have to?"

"Don't worry homie, I'm not scared of something like this. I'll go ahead and jump, you stay down here and eat the pepper." and so she rushed off.

"Yeah… Yeah I can do this Carrie, I'll eat the hottest pepper they've got!"

"Just don't push yourself too hard!" so Carrie made her way towards the cliffs, glancing at the camera as she did so "You know if Devin had tried something that sweet two days ago, then I would've let myself believe it meant something. But now I know better, and to be honest it feels pretty good to be free of that. It didn't mean anything right."

"That's for you to decide." Ennui suddenly popped up behind Carrie, earning a terrified yelp from her "Do you mind? You're blocking the path."

"Oh, sorry. But do you think it meant anything?"

"He's your partner, make your own decision."

"Fair enough I guess. I gotta be honest though, I never expected you to be so… talkative and social with other people."

"Only to those I respect. You and your partner are survivors." and then he walked past Carrie and continued on to the cliffs.

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"As the last team arrives, fresh off of getting mauled by a gothic rabbit, the other teams have all started to dig in, or are about to."

"Well here goes…" Devin picked up one of the red peppers and immediately cringed "I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to see flames coming off of it…"

"You can do it Devin, I have faith in you!" Carrie cheered him on from her place on the path to the cliffs.

"Yeah she's right Devin, you can do this. For the girl you love." so Devin took a breath and then touched the pepper to his tongue… and immediately screamed in pain and bolted.

"Devin what's going on, are you okay?" the only response Carrie received was Devin dunking his head into the bay and screaming underwater.

"I think that's your answer girlfriend." Leshawna promptly dragged Devin ot of the water by the back of his shirt "Word to the wise hun, you might wanna call this a reason to downgrade a notch or two."

"I can do it… I thwear I can do it… Thith ith nothing, I've totally got thith."

"Devin don't worry about it!" Carrie called out to him "I'll climb up to the next level, just go ahead and eat the medium pepper instead!"

"Oh thank the great god above…"

"Piece of advice sugar, you don't want her to hear that. " Leshawna patted Devin on the back and pulled him back over to the food cart, then handed a green one to Devin while she grabbed onto a red one "Here goes nothing."

"You thure you can handle that one?"

"Dude I once had to drink half a dozen shot glasses on blended cockroach, along with god only knows how many other disgusting things that Chef made us. How bad could something like this be?" so she downed the pepper and made her way over to the shore with the red flag in hand… and then her face turned red as she started literally breathing fire "GET THE (BLEEP) MILK BEFORE THE (BLEEP) BURNS A (BLEEP) HOLE IN MY THROAT!"

"I'm on it!" Trent gave a thumbs up and promptly leapt down into the bay.

"I WAS WRONG, I WAS SO (BLEEP) WRONG! I'D TAKE ANCHOVIES AND (BLEEP) ROACHES OVER THIS HELL!"

During this scene, Bridgette watched Leshawna's melt down and was quick to rush over to her side "Are you okay?"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M (BLEEP) OKAY? IT BURNS!"

"Just hang on, Trent will be back up soon with the milk you need. As for me, I'm gonna have to take my pick…" Bridgette looked over at Devin, then at Leshawna "I'm guessing that the two of you picked the red ones?" she was met with the sound of screaming from both parties "That's what I thought. I'd better play it safe." and so she looked up at Geoff "Sorry about this babe, but you might have to climb up a level or two!"

"Looks like this is it." this was when Kitty, Jacques and Crimson made their way onto the scene and began observing the food cart "Okay so they're pretty hot peppers, but it's not like they're really that bad right?"

"Oh god… Oh god…" Leshawna crawled her way along the beach and collapsed in a heap in front of them "Kill me now… just end it all…"

"...Okay, so that might have some merit to it."

"If you want further confirmation then just take a look over there." Jacques pointed to where they could see Devin dunking his head in the water and screaming in pain.

"Okay then, medium it is."

"And let that be a lesson as to why the bravest decision is usually the dumbest one."

"No kidding. Seriously, I'm the one that usually loves spicy food, but those peppers are hotter than the sun."

"Milk…" Leshawna slowly crawled her way towards the shore "I need milk…"

It was at this moment that Trent emerged from the water gasping for air "I couldn't find any of the canteents down there, but-" he was promptly grabbed by the shirt and flung back into the water.

"I don't care if you gotta grab a goat or a cow or whatever, don't come back here without any of that milk!"

"...Well you make a convincing case." and so Trent dove back down into the bay.

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"As the Performers try to hold onto their lead, the Goths, Ice Dancers and Sisters try to make up for lost time. On another note, Devin has managed to recover from the heat just enough to have a crack at the medium pepper."

"Okay here we go, attempt number two. You can do this, do it for Carrie." so Devin took a deep breath and bit down on the medium pepper… and then his face turned red and his eyes turned into literal waterfalls.

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Meanwhile, on the cliffside…

"Okay, so this isn't so bad…" Carrie shared a nervous look with Geoff and Emma as she looked down into the bay "Olympic divers do this kind of thing all the time. I mean sure they train for it first so they don't die while they're doing it, but-" she was cut off by a loud scream, and looked out to the beach to see Devin writing on the shore in agony "Devin! Bridgette, Kitty, is he okay down there?!"

"Call it a hunch but I get the feeling you're gonna want to start climbing!" Kitty called out to her, and then proceeded to down a green pepper… only to go red in the face and start screaming in pain herself "HOT HOT HOT, OH SWEET (BLEEP) IT BURNS!" she started waving a green flag "JUMP ALREADY!"

"Nice work Kitty, just hang on and I'll be right there!" and so Emma jumped off the ledge and into the bay below.

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Meanwhile, on the shore…

"Okay… I think I'm good…" Devin managed to stop writing around in agony and looked at the pepper in his hand "This is nothing… I can do this… for Carrie…" so he stuffed the green pepper into his mouth… and then promptly spat it out and started screaming again.

"Devin it's okay, don't worry about it!" Carrie called out to him once he stopped screaming "Just eat the mild pepper, I'll jump from the top!"

"No I can… I can do thith…" he tried to get up, only to fall flat on his face "Okay, you might be onto thomething there…"

"Cool, free peppers." Spud promptly downed a red one without a care in the world and let out a cough of red smoke as he waved the red flag "Awesome! Rock you're up dude, go for it!"

"Okay, how bad could this be?" Jacques braced himself as he downed a green pepper and started yelling in French.

Crimson on the other hand downed a red one, and only had this to say "Ow." and then she waved the red flag.

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Meanwhile, with the divers…

"Now that's what I'm talking about it! ROCK AND ROLL!" Rock promptly leapt off the bottom ledge and down into the bay.

Carrie on the other hand just let out a sigh and started climbing to the top level "This is going to be a rough one, I just know it."

Geoff on the other hand took notice of this, and glanced out over to the shore "Hey babe, go ahead and eat the yellow one okay?"

"You sure about that?" Bridgette called out to him.

"Yeah totally, I got something I wanna check on!" and so he made his way to the ladder and began climbing right behind Carrie.

As for Ennui, he glanced out to see Crimson wave the red flag "Looks like it's time. Are you ready to jump Loki?" he received no response, and so he reached into his shirt… only to pull out a burrito "Loki?" he looked around, and once the realization hit him he dropped the burrito and turned very… melodramatic "Nooooooo…"

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Meanwhile, on the shore…

"I got the stuff, and the tip!" Trent rose out of the water with a canteen in hand, which was promptly snatched away by Leshawna "You good?"

"Thank the great god above…" Leshawna promptly started downing the canteen and breathed a long and heavy sigh of relief "So what's the next challenge?"

"It's gonna be an all in, I think they called it Burroed Alive."

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"For this All In challenge, our seven remaining teams will have to take two burros from the nearby enclosure and ride them two miles south until they reach the Mayan temple, which also happens to serve as the Chill Zone for today. As is to be expected by now, the last team to arrive may be cut from the race and end up like the Mayans who once lived here. Not on TV. Unless you watch the Discovery Channel, National Treasure or Indiana Jones. I'm assuming."

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Now with the frontrunners (and others)…

"Oh hell yeah, first place here we come!" Leshawna caught Trent in a high five, and the she took off running.

"Gotta admit, it does feel pretty good." Trent was quick to chase after her "All things considered, I think the two of us make a pretty good team."

"No arguments here, now let's show the rest of them what we're made of."

"I'm guessing you mean the Ice Dancers?"

"Hey I ain't gonna complain if it means I get to shove my foot up Josee's (bleep)."

"...Okay then."

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Meanwhile, at the top of the cliff…

"Oh boy…" Carrie glanced down nervously at the bay far below her "Suddenly I understand all too well why Devin is so afraid of heights."

"You up for some company?"

Carrie glanced over to see Geoff make his way to the top of the ladder "Oh hey, what are you doing up here? I thought Bridgette was gonna go for the medium pepper."

"That was her plan." Geoff gave a shrug "But I figured it ain't right to let you go up here alone like that, so I thought I'd give Bridge a pass on the spicy stuff so I could come up and keep you company."

"I definitely wouldn't object to that right now, so thanks. It's probably gonna take Devin a little while to eat the pepper."

"Good timing then, I actually had something I kinda wanna talk to you about. It's actually about me and Bridgette."

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Meanwhile, on the shore…

"Oh thank the great god above!" Kitty breathed a sigh of relief once she finished downing her cantine of milk, and then she turned to where Emma was reading the tip "So what's the next challenge gonna be?"

"Racing on burros, now follow me!" Emma quickly took off running, with Kitty following close behind her "You know we're so good when there aren't any boys around to screw things up for us. Emma and Noah for the win!"

"You know my name is Kitty right?"

"...(Bleep). I've gotta stop doing that."

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Meanwhile, with the team with a missing member…

An unsettling calm settled over the challenge site as Ennui emerged from the bay with a tip and a canteen, which he handed to Crimson "Here."

"Thanks." Crimson accepted the canteen, but then paused and looked at Ennui "What's the matter?"

"Nothing important."

"You say that, and yet you're so emotional."

"...Loki's gone."

"How?"

"I don't know. He must have jumped out at some point."

"Oh. So what do you want to do?"

"You remember what I told you about Toxic Mold?"

"The black cat that you got for Christmas, but then he slipped out the door and you never saw him again?"

"That's the one. I won't let history repeat itself."

"Agreed. No bunny gets left behind."

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Meanwhile, with another straggler team…

"Oh god… air…" Rock burst up from beneath the water gasping for air, with a tip and canteen in hand, and he made his way over to Spud "Alright man I got the stuff, go ahead and do what you gotta do."

"Huh?" Spud pulled off his headphones and looked at Rock "Wait, what's that now?"

"It's full of milk, you're gonna want some dude, trust me."

"No thanks man, I'm not really thirsty right-" Spud cut himself short when his stomach began rumbling loudly "Oh man…"

"You okay dude?"

"Yeah I'm probably just hungry. You think maybe I could get some more of those really good red peppers or-" and then his face turned red, his eyes watered, and he ran over to a nearby bush screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Or maybe it's his delayed reaction." Rock breathed a heavy sigh as he glanced over towards the camera "I feel like I should've seen that coming."

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Meanwhile, at the top of the cliff…

"Looks like one of the Rockers is a little… busy." Geoff glanced down the cliff in the direction of the shore, where he saw Spud in the middle of… business "Now I'm thinking Bridge made the right call about those burritos."

"Speaking of Bridgette, didn't she finish her pepper by now?" asked Carrie.

"Yeah she did it no problem, I'm just waiting for Devin to wave the flag so we can jump off here together." Geoff then looked over to see a yellow flag being waved frantically "Alright, I think that's him. You still nervous about this?"

"Kind of, but we have to jump eventually. Should we do it together?"

"Works for me. And I still wanna talk to you about something later."

"Fair enough. Alright, let's do this one 3. Ready… 1… 2… 3!" the two of them clasped hands and leapt off the cliff, screaming at the top of their lungs all the while.

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Meanwhile, on the shore…

"All clear, now go!" Jacques waved the green flag, prompting Josee to dive into the water and emerge in a graceful manner "Oh bravo Josee, you are truly magnificent! I would give you a 10 if I had a score card!"

"Don't insult me, 10 isn't anywhere near enough for-" Josee was cut off by the sound of loud high-pitched screaming, and then Geoff and Carrie landing on top of her.

"Wait wait wait!" Devin suddenly rushed up to the edge of the shore "Wath that Carrie holding handth with Geoff?! Wath the?!" he rubbed his eyes, and immediately started screaming in pure agony "PEPPER JUICE! MY EYETH!"

"Holding hands? Seriously?" Jacques shot him a raised eyebrow "She was probably just helping him jump, he is a screamer after all."

"Oh yeah thure, of courthe the wath. The wath jutht being helpful, thometimeth too helpful for her own good."

"Uh huh. You realize that he's dating her sister right?"

"...Oh yeah, I kind of forgot about that."

"And there you go."

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Meanwhile, with the frontrunners…

"Giddeyup ya little jackass!" by this point, Leshawna and Trent had gathered their burros and were making their way towards the Chill Zone, the former trying some… unconventional methods to increase their lead "Come on ya little stallion, move it faster!"

"It's not a stallion, these things are burros." Trent pointed out.

"Yeah I get that, but ya never know what someone can do if you push the right buttons with a guy."

"That is true. I still haven't forgotten about you trying to run over Heather with an ATV because she insulted you."

"Oh for crying out loud, when are you gonna get over that?"

"I'll let you know."

"But I'm not kidding, pull the pin on that grenade and it's gonna rip right through the trail like a hot knife through butter."

"I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"It'll be fine, just check it out. Yeehaw stallion, move it!" and that made the burro speed up and rush down the path "See that white boy, what did I tell ya?!"

"...Well I'll be damned. Okay then, credit where it's due."

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Meanwhile, with other burro riders…

"You know on the one hand, Mexico is nice." Kitty glanced over at Emma as the two of them rode on the back of their burros towards the Chill Zone "On the other hand, I feel like they could use a few lemonade stands here and there."

"See you later losers!" this was when Josee bolted past them on her burro, with Jacques not far behind her.

"What the- How did you-"

"You can thank the ice skating for that." Jacques told them "The constant work to our quads make them excellent "A strong squeeze to the thigh can get a creature to do whatever you want them to do."

"Jacques move it, get your fleabag to hurry the (bleep) up!" Josee barked at him.

"And now small talk is over, bye." and so Jacques went on his way.

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Meanwhile, at the burro enclosure…

"These things actually look kinda fun to ride." Geoff and Bridgette collected their burros and made their way to the start of the path to the Chill Zone "So how are these things different from donkeys again?"

"They're the same thing, burro is just the Spanish word for them." Bridgette told him "That's all there is to it really."

"Then why not just call them donkeys? It's kind of over complicated if you ask me." Geoff was about to mount his burro, only to stop when they noticed Carrie helping Devin towards one of the burros, his eyes swollen shut "Oh boy. We'd better give them a hand, right?"

"Of course, I mean look at Devin. The poor thing looks like he got put through the wringer by god only knows what."

"That's about what I thought, just give me a second." so with that in mind, Geoff made his way over to the Best Friends "So how's it going, you guys need a hand?"

"Well we wouldn't say no to some help right now." Carrie told him "The thing with Devin is that he can't see right now because he apparently got some pepper juice in his eyes."

"Yeah but I'm all good now, tho giddy up burro!" Devin kicked his burro… unaware that he was sitting on a rock.

"That and I'm pretty sure he's severely confused."

"Either that or it's just the eyes getting in the way of it. Give me a second, I think we've got this covered." so Geoff and Bridgette grabbed hold of Devin and proceeded to place him on the back of a burro "There we go."

"You might want to tie him on, just to be safe." Bridgette added "Anyway let's go, now we can all head over to the Chill Zone together."

"Actually babe, you mind going on ahead?"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah it's no big deal, I just wanna talk to Carrie about something while I've got the chance."

"Alright if you're sure, but I won't go too far ahead. I'll see you guys at the finish line." and on that note, Bridgette went on her way.

As the rest of the group trailed close behind, Carrie looked over at Geoff "So what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Mostly about what I wanna do once the race is over." Geoff gave her a sly grin "See this is what I've got planned…"

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Meanwhile, with the straggler teams…

"Loki." at the same time, Ennui and Crimson were continuing their search of Loki all around the beach, to no avail, regardless of how little emotion they were showing "Loki."

"Don't start freaking out Ennui, we will find him." Crimson told him "You don't need to have a meltdown just yet."

"I know, and yet I can't stop the fear from rising into my face. It's like the time we learned that the guys from KISS don't wear their makeup most."

"Oh man, don't get me started on that." this was when Rock made his way out of the bushes and over to the two of them.

"You're still here?"

"Spud and I kind of got betrayed by the burritos we had on the bus ride here, and they pretty much wrecked havoc on our guts."

"That was at least two hours ago." Crimson pointed out.

"Yeah but Spud's got that whole delayed reaction thing going on, so the burritos didn't hit him until a little while ago. And then there's the whole thing with the peppers, and he downed one of the reds, so…" he trailed off at the sound of Spud groaning in agony in the bushes "Yeah, that isn't going as well for us as I would've liked. What about you?"

"Loki is missing, we're not going on until we find him." Ennui told him.

"You mean your rabbit with all the goth makeup?"

"That's him. Have you seen him?"

"I'm pretty sure I saw him mauling one of the Ice Dancers awhile ago. He's probably still around here somewhere, if you need a hand finding him I'm up for helping."

"Thank you." and thus the search continued.

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Meanwhile, with the frontrunners…

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me." Leshawna let out a groan as she saw her burro sit on its ass and refuse to go over a bridge "Why the hell did it have to drop on its ass like half a mile away from the Chill Zone?"

"Probably because you pushed it to go so hard and so fast, now it's pretty much drained a lot faster than mine is." Trent told her, earning a raised eyebrow "You spend enough time around guys like Cody and you pick up a few things like that."

"Fair enough I guess. Dammit, why couldn't have that taser with me?"

"...You have a taser with you?"

"Had one anyway. One of my cousins is a cop and she gave it to me for self defense before we left Canada, but I couldn't get it through customs." it was then that the sound of snoring drew their attention, courtesy of Leshawna's burro "Oh for the love of (bleep)!"

"One side losers, we'll see you at the finish line, behind us of course!"

"Oh hell no, that's where I'm gonna draw the line."

"So what are we gonna do?" asked Trent.

"New plan. You head over to the Chill Zone and try to cut them off, I'll figure something out with the glue factory over here and catch up in a few."

"...Glue factory?"

"What, was that one too much?"

"A little bit."

"Duly noted, now get moving!"

"On it!" and so Trent mounted the back of his burro and took off towards the Chill Zone, hot on the heels of the Ice Dancers.

"Now the (bleep) to do about you."

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Meanwhile, with the cheaters/frontrunners…

"It's not much further now, the gold is within our grasp!" Josee and Jacques bolted across the bridge, only that was where she screeched to a halt "Hold on a minute, the stupid goth roden is trying to squirm its way free and-" she was cut off by Loki bursting out of her unitard and snarling at them, scaring their burros into throwing them off and running away, with Loki taking his leave of the scene immediately after.

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At the Chill Zone…

"Huh, so that's what the Mayan temples look like up close." Don glanced up at the temple that loomed over the Chill Zone, only to look over and see Trent pull up onto the scene on the back of his burro "I can't help but notice that you're shy one loud and aggressive partner."

"She's having burro problems over by the bridge." Trent let out a sigh "So much for getting first place this time, no chance of that happening now."

"Actually a better chance than you think."

"What do you mean?"

"Give me a second and you'll find out!"

"Hold it!" this was when Josee and Jacques stormed onto the scene without their burros "There's only one of the Performers, they don't win!"

"They don't yet, but unless the two of you manage to cough up a pair of burros in the next few seconds, I'll have to give you a 10 minute penalty."

"NO!"

"Huh, so that's what you meant." with that in mind, Trent took a look down the path and quickly spotted Leshawna at the other end of the bridge "Leshawna hurry up, the Ice Dancers have a penalty! You've got 10 minutes!"

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the bridge…

"Leshawna hurry up, the Ice Dancers have a penalty! You've got 10 minutes!"

"Looks like some luck is on our side right about now." Leshawna gave a smirk as she looked down at her burro and pulled something out of her pocket: a red pepper "I was gonna save this for later so I could shove it down Josee's throat, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures." so she opened the burro's mouth and shoved the pepper in there, forcing it to bolt upright and let out a scream.

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Meanwhile, with the two straggler teams…

"Okay quick update, looks like Spud is getting ahold of himself." Rock made his way back out of the bushes holding an empty roll of toilet paper, only to notice the Goths sitting on the beach looking dejected "No luck on finding your little buddy huh?"

"No." Ennui shot a dejected yet emotionless look at Rock "At this rate, I don't know how we're ever going to find him."

"Hey don't lose hope just yet. You never know, maybe he'll turn up really soon."

"Wait, what is that?" Crimson pointed to a figure appeared further down the trail, which later revealed itself to be Loki riding on the head of a burro.

"...I didn't think it was gonna be that soon, but okay."

"Intended or not, you were right."

"I didn't know that he could ride." Ennui held out a hand and let Loki hop onto it "So we have him back now."

"Does that mean that we should keep going?"

"Yep." Ennui then turned over to Rock "Thank you for helping us try to find him."

"No worries guys, good luck." Rock waved the Goths off as they made their way over to the burro enclosure, only to then realize something "Crap, that means we're the last team here, we gotta move! Spud let's go, we gotta jet or we're screwed! Spud?"

"They betrayed me…" Spud crawled his way out of the bushes in obvious pain "The burritos betrayed me…"

"They betrayed both of us dude, but we can worry about that latter. We gotta move it or we're gonna get sent home!"

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Meanwhile, at the Chill Zone…

"Okay this is ridiculous!" by this point, Josee had resorted to stomping around the area in order to curtail some of her rage "Our ten minutes has to be up by now."

"Funny thing about that, it isn't." Don told her flatly "You still have 4 minutes and 10 seconds before it's up, and if any other teams show up in that time, then it means SOL for you."

"...Can you say that on the air?" Jacques gave a raised eyebrow.

"I ran it by the people in charge of censoring, they said they don't have any problems with it as long as I don't spell it out, otherwise they'd be so far up by-" Don was cut off by the sound of a loud braying noise, and then Leshawna's burro rushing onto the scene and screeching to a halt on the carpet, launching her off screen in the process "Uh… okay then, I guess first place goes to the Performers. And we might wanna get her to a doctor."

"I got her." Trent helped Leshawna up and slung her arm over his shoulder as he carried her away from the scene "Not gonna lie, that was pretty excessive."

"Hey, it means we won and the ice skating freaks didn't. I call that a win." Leshawna winced from the pain "You probably aren't wrong though. Pretty sure I cracked a rib or two."

"Let that be a lesson, next time don't force feed a ridiculously spicy pepper to a burro just to win a race."

"How did you know that's what I did?"

"I saw you grab a pepper from the stand before we left, we were on a time crunch and you had a burro to motivate. It wasn't that hard to piece together." and so the two of them took their leave of the scene.

"Huh. Well that happened." Don's attention was quickly grabbed by the sound of a buzzer, followed by the Ice Dancers bolting onto the carpet, and then the Sisters (wearing sombreros) showing up on the scene "Second place goes to the Ice Dancers, and third place to the Sisters, complete with a local fashion choice."

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"As more and more teams reach the Chill Zone, our two straggler teams, those being the Goths and the Rockers finally collect their burros and try to make up for lost time."

"Heehaw." Crimson and Ennui (with Loki stuffed into the latter's shirt) were the first team to leave the enclosure and start on the path to the Chill Zone.

"Come on dude let's go, we gotta move it!" Rock pushed Spud onto the back of a burro and then mounted one himself, and the two of them took off after the Goths.

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Meanwhile, at the Chill Zone…

"And then there were four. Well, three and a half." Don looked over to see Bridgette arrive on the scene on her burro "I'm pretty sure you're missing half of your team."

"He stayed back to help the Best Friends, one of them is having some problems after the pepper challenge." Bridgette told him.

"You didn't go with him?"

"He said he wanted to do it alone, and they're not that far behind."

"You're not kidding, they're coming up right now."

Sure enough, Carrie and Geoff came up onto the scene with their burros, the former looking at the latter "So you're serious, you're really gonna go through with it?"

"Yeah, I didn't see a reason not to." Geoff gave a shrug "I mean sure we're pretty young and stuff, but if we managed to get through everything that's happened over the past few years, then I know we can handle anything. I'm gonna ask her when the race is over."

"That is so great, I'm so happy for you guys."

"Just don't say anything yet, alright? I want it to be a surprise."

"Don't worry, we won't ruin anything about this."

"I hate to interrupt, but you guys are on a TV show." Don cut in "Geoff and Bridgette, Carrie and Devin, you guys are tied for fourth place." this was met with a delighted squeal from Carrie.

"Yes, we did it!"

"Yay…" Devin let out a moan as he lifted his head "Carrie… I have to… you need to… I gotta thay that…"

"Devin listen, we really need to get you seen by a doctor. Just stay here and rest, I promise I'll be back soon." and so she walked off.

"But Carrie… aw man…"

"Yeah, this could be a problem." Bridgette knelt down and checked out Devin, his eyes still swollen shut "That's not good."

"That bad?"

"I'm not really an expert, but it's probably gonna be at least a day or two before you can see properly again."

"Aw man… But hey, maybe it'll heighten all of my other thentheth. Check it out." he tried to use his hand to swat a nearby butterfly, only to end up fall off the burro and hitting the ground with a loud thud "Ow…"

"Yeah, you might wanna take him over to the infirmary." Don motioned for Bridgette and Geoff to take Devin away as he turned to the camera "It all comes down to the final two teams. Which of them will make it, and which one will give into the Mexican heat. But which one is going to be which? It's going to be close." he was soon met with an answer as a pair of burros ground to a halt on the carpet "Looks like fifth place goes to… the Goths! The two of you are still in this thing!" he was met with a low growling noise from Loki "Okay I stand corrected, the three of you are still in this thing."

"Hm." Ennui and Crimson shared a look and dismounted their burros as they took their leave of the scene, though as they passed the Ice Dancers, Loki shot a dark glare at them, complete with him giving them a throat-slice gesture that made them visibly flinch.

"Well that happened."

"We made it!" Rock and Spud finally pulled up onto the scene and dismounted their burros, the former leaving over to puke into a push and the latter just dropping to the ground like a rock, groaning in pain all the while "Did we make it?"

"Yes and no. Rockers, the two of you raced hard and made a surprisingly strong comeback. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but as the last to arrive, you're out of the race."

"Aw man." Rock let out a pained groan and helped Spud to his feet "That's a drag. Well thanks for the chance I guess, it was a lot of fun. Give is a call if you do another season, I think we'd be really into it." and so the two of them walked away from the scene.

"Huh. Well you have to give them credit for going out with dignit." Don then turned towards the camera to sign off "Now only six teams remain in our race around the world. Which one of them will be sent home next? There's only one way to find for certain, and it's to tune in for the next exciting installment of… the Ridonculous Race!"

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Now for the losing team outro…

"Well that could've gone better." Rock breathed a sigh as he and Spud made their way towards the beach "Getting kicked off was lame, but I'm pretty proud of how we faired. We got to do all sorts of crazy stuff, we rocked out in Finland, and we even got to perform in Vegas. That's like the dream for a rocker!"

"Yeah no kidding man, this was awesome." Spud gave him a dull grin "Maybe we'll win this whole thing after all."

"We just lost bro."

"...Oh yeah. Crapbaskets."

"Yep. Well we're still in Mexico, so you wanna go get some chimichangas? Maybe see if we can play with a mariachi band or something?"

"Sounds awesome! Chimichangas and guitar stuff!"

"You know it dude! ROCK AND ROLL!" and so they continued walking into the sunset.

A/N:

And thus, the final seven are downgraded to six. Before going any further, I want to thank all of you who reviewed the last chapter, especially those who voted whether or not I should keep the Goths in the race. Thanks to the input all of you provided, this is end result: the Goths stay in, but the Rockers are heading home. Truth be told, aside from not giving them the shaft with the double elimination, I wasn't sure how far I wanted them to go, but I think getting to the final seven is respectable enough.

As far as character interactions go, most of them involve just interacting with their own team members, though I did put some good emphasis on Carrie and Geoff in this one. Given that I made Bridgette and Carrie sisters in this one, I thought it only made sense to give Carrie and Geoff some time together. And a little bit of Carrie and Ennui.

Now to close out the chapter, I'd like to take the chance to point out that I've reached a huge milestone for this story: Over 100 reviews! This wouldn't be possible without the support of all of you guys, so thank you for that.

Rankings:

Performers- 1st

Ice Dancers- 2nd

Sisters- 3rd

Surfers- tied for 4th

Best Friends- tied for 4th

Goths- 6th

Elimination order:

Rockers- 7th

Reality TV Pros- 8th

Brains & Brawn- 9th

Father & Son- 10th

Stepbrothers- 11th

Adversity Twins- 12th

Mother & Daughter- 13th

Fashion Bloggers- 14th

Vegans - 15th

Geniuses - 16th

Tennis Rivals 17th

LARPers - 18th