Even though I had done the jump in the first go and fell out of the World Tour jumbo more times than anyone should, the thousand-foot drop caused dread to flow through my veins. I barely made a splash when I was short, skinny, and trailing after Gwen. Now that I was the heaviest guy present, I wondered how much water I would displace. Probably not as much as Owen did, and doubtlessly would again because I'd have less surface area.

"Okay," Chris began, standing beside the chicken hat box. "Today's challenge is threefold. Your first task is to jump off this one-thousand-foot-high cliff into the lake."

"Piece of cake," Bridgette said, smiling at Tyler. I shook my head, knowing what Chris would say next. "If you look down, you will see two target areas. The outer area represents the part of the lake we have stocked with psychotic," he chuckled before adding, "man-eating sharks!"

Dave jumped. "I beg your pudding?"

Memories of the tiebreaker in Hawaii resurfaced, making my lower eyelid twitch.

"Inside that area is a safe zone," Chris continued. "That's your target area, which we're pretty sure is shark free,"

"Excuse me?" Leshawna asked.

Chris continued regardless of the comment. "For each member of your team who jumps and actually survives," he paused before gesturing down to the beach. "There will be a crate of supplies waiting below. Inside each crate are supplies you'll need for the second part of the challenge; building a hot tub! The team with the best one gets to have a wicked hot tub party tonight. The loser will be sending someone home. Let's see, Killer Bass, you're up first,"

The same event played out as before. Tyler going chest first into a buoy, Duncan's silent treatment, DJ's chickening out from acrophobia. Ezekiel's literal spin dive. When Harold jumped, I tried calling down, "Harold! Keep your legs," he hit the water groin first before I could finish. When he paused for breath between screams, I uttered the final line of my sentence amid my own cross-legged wince. "Straight,"

Chris and Courtney stood beside me, and Courtney made her gamble. "It's a calculated risk, I've seen the other team, and I don't think nine of them will jump."

I smirked. "Get ready to be proven wrong for the first of many times."

Chris took out his clipboard. "Let's tally up the results. That's seven jumpers and two chickens," he looked to the two remaining girls. "We're missing two,"

Sugar grumbled and thumbed at Anne Maria, who vigorously sprayed her pompadour. "I'm going last, but Tenderfoot Townie here is taking the month of Sundays,"

"Another coat ought to do it. I ain't getting my hair mussed up," Anne Maria explained. "I may want the hundred K of simoleons, but all this," she gestured with her free head to her body. "Is worth a billion, at least,"

Sugar growled and grabbed the can. "You put more work into your hair than a temperance preacher at a saloon!" she tossed the can over the cliff.

The Jerseyite gasped as she watched it drop. Anne Maria turned to Sugar when it splashed and smacked a fist into her palm. "Oh, you are so getting a beat down when this challenge is through," she jumped.

"That dog won't hunt," Sugar replied before she jumped too and belly-flopped outside the safe zone. Before the sharks could take a bite, the southern bell-end let off another cloud of gas, which caused the trio of Elasmobranchs to wince, cough and fan their fins away from their noses.

Dave winced. "Is that the only thing that girl does?"

Chris grinned. "So, that's nine jumpers and two chickens," he then turned to us. "Screaming Gophers, if you can beat that, we'll throw in a pull cart to put your crates in."

"Nice," Trent replied. "Okay, guys, who's up first?"

I stepped forward. "I'll set the example," I launched off the edge high with a mighty leap and arched into a swan dive. Far more graceful than the high-pitched and windmilling shriek I did the first time. I still didn't know my full strength as I ended up overshooting the inner ring and landed in the shark zone.

One fin swam up to me. The head lifted out of the water; somehow, I recognised this creature as the one who'd be mutated into Fang. The memories of getting snapped up and thrown about in a shark's mouth due to Sierra's rough treatment overcame me. I saw red.

First, dove underwater and plunged my hands into the shark's gills, stunning him. Then I lifted Fang from the water and flung him into the cliff face. Next, I grabbed his tail and swung him about overhead, treading water to stay afloat, as with little body fat, I struggled to remain buoyant. I let Fang go and sent him flying far into the lake. Fang surfaced and looked at me, to which I scowled darkly, and the shark swam away.

From the beach, I heard two voices.

"Woah, mama!" Anne Maria cooed. "That was hot! Not much can beat winning a fight with a shark."

Sugar nodded, drool gushing from her lips. "That boy's going to be more fun than the combined greased pig mud wrestling swimsuit phase of the Teen Mount Trumbull Contest."

The rest of the Killer Bass looked at me with stunned amazement.

I rolled my eyes as Chef arrived with the boat.

After I clambered on, I caught sight of Dawn dropping. Not only did she manage to take the lotus position, but her dissent speed seemed reduced. When she reached the water Dawn made no splash, not even a ripple, she seemingly phased through the water. She ended up outside the safe zone as well. The two remaining sharks closed in on her.

"Hang on, Dawn!" I yelled and dove in. Something ripped, but I ignored it as I powered up to her. I needn't have worried, as before the aquatic reached her, Dawn spoke calmly, "Um, excuse me," amazingly, the two sharks stopped and looked at her, stunned. "I apologise for my intrusion on your territory; eight more teammates will enter the water too. Should they fall outside the safe zone, would you kindly refrain from attacking?"

The two sharks smiled and nodded. One grunted something, which Dawn nodded at. "Yes, I'll make sure to do that. You two should comfort your friend," the sharks waved goodbye and swam off.

I blinked and smiled widely as I swam alongside Dawn. "That was amazing, Dawn. You are just full of surprises," I would have said more if Dawn had not slapped by hard across the face. The aura whisper pointed a finger at me. "You didn't have to harm that shark, Cody. You could outswim him," she glared with narrowed eyes and pouted lips. Her stare unnerved me more than the shark's teeth sevenfold.

Rubbing my stinging cheek, I slowly answered, "Sorry, Dawn. I just had a nasty shark attack when I was younger. I lost control of myself,"

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "That's not the full truth, though,"

I sighed. "Nothing gets past your aura powers, I see,"

She blinked. "Wait, how do you know about my aura abilities. I never mentioned it to you,"

I bit my lip. "It's a complicated story; I'll tell you when we have some private time," I then glanced at the boat. "Care for a ride?" I offered my back. Dawn smiled. "Thank you," she wrapped her arms around my neck, and I butterflied over to the boat.

After helping Dawn aboard and clamber onto the deck. Dawn squeaked, her eyes widened, pupils dilated, and she blushed profusely as she gazed directly downwards, not far as she was eye-level with the top shelves of my abs. "Oh, my," she uttered.

Dread and embarrassment flooded my skin as my eyes slowly descended too. And there it was.

The ripping noise from earlier must have been my pouch snagging and splitting against a splinter. My back was towards the beach, but I was exposing Dawn to my lower equipment. And my hyper-puberty enhanced them too.

I'd managed until now to keep this aspect hidden thanks to my odd hammerspace in my pants. In the old timeline, I could carry a whole loaf of bread, dozens of allergy meds, and other assortments in my pockets without it showing or impeding my mobility. Even the pouch worked like a bag of holding. This odd passive ability of mine came in handy when dealing with such prestigious and pendulous privates. Although I think all the available space has been taken up as I still drew a few eyes towards my bulge.

How do I put this? My manhood wasn't just big; it looked big on me. Some guys boast about being hung like a horse. Well, I could claim to be hung like an elephant with long-hanging fruit.

It's nowhere as fun or fantastic as you'd think. First, it's hard to control and keep discrete and presentable without pants that extend for miles through the linings. And second, given my size, I could never make love with a girl, as it would be painful, so I said I was still a virgin to Noah and was likely to remain one.

Immediately I covered myself with my hands and looked up at Chef, who also starred in a trace. "Chef?" I called. "Do you have anything I could make a cover?"

Chef shook himself aware and quickly produced a sheet of green cloth. "Some old torn tenting for the camp supplies," he explained. I took it and hurriedly knotted the material into a perizoma arrangement. The kind of loincloth the Minoan youths in the Knossos Frescos were depicted wearing, what artists showed Christ wearing in paintings of the Crucifixion.

Once covered, Dawn let out a sigh. "That was a frightfully awkward situation,"

I nodded as I tried the central knot tight and the dimensional transcendentalism activated. "I hope nobody else saw that, certainly not Sugar. There's something repulsive about that girl,"

"Yes," Dawn agreed. "Her aura is a mess," she looked back up at the clifftop. "Unfortunately, I'm sensing a lot of negative energy from our team members,"

Chef brought out a monitor showing the live feed of the other Screaming Gophers. And Heather was again refusing to jump.

"Really?" I muttered. "Heather's trying to get out of jumping back of her hair? Again? We jumped, so she hasn't a leg to stand on,"

"Again?" Dawn asked. "Is this part of that complicated tale?"

"Yes," I answered simply.

Leshawna picked Heather up and chucked her over the edge. The Queen Bee became the first Gopher to land in the safe zone. She spat some water out. "Leshawna, you are so dead!" she called.

"Hey!" the girl with attitude yelled down in reply. "I threw you into the safe zone, didn't I?" Leshawna jumped and splashed cannonball style into the ring. I applauded. "Well done, Leshawna!"

The sassy sister smiled. "Thank you, hot stuff,"

Like before, Lindsay stated her assumption the show was a talent contest before she screamed and flailed her way down. Gwen followed, wailing too, as she locked her knees together. I was more interested if anyone from this version of the Gophers wouldn't jump.

Ella leapt and struck and arabesque pose. Like Izzy's crazy cackling, the princess cosplayer gave a few melodic bars as she plunged. Suddenly, many brightly coloured little birds flocked to Ella, perched on her limbs, and fluttered their wings to slow her descent. Instead of landing in the water, Ella glided onto the boat's deck. "Thank you, my feathered friends."

Dawn let a couple birds rest on her fingers. "Yes, that was kind of you to help," the birds chirped and flew off.

Chef moved the boat to dump us on the beach. As we got off, I cupped my hands over my mouth, expanded my diaphragm, and called, "Hey, Chris! Does that count? Only Ella never hit the drink."

Chris took a megaphone and blasted back, "She jumped, so I'll count it. Only three more jumpers of the four left, and the Gophers win the bonus,"

Dave shakily sidled to the edge. His hands trembled until he collapsed into himself. "I can't," he mumbled. "Dirty, rubbish-filled lake water. So, unclean!" Trent helped him as Chris put a chicken hat on Dave's head. "Sorry about this,"

"Don't sweat it, dude," the guitarist replied.

As Dave descended the escalator, Lindsay commented, "That's, like, so lame," she glanced at Heather. "Right?"

"Fully lame," Heather replied. I stood behind the two popular girls, allowing my shadow to cover them imposingly. They both flinched, turned around and looked up at me. I loomed over them with my arms crossed. "Heather, you got thrown into the water. You refused because you didn't want to get your hair wet on the telly. And Lindsay," I looked to the Blonde Bombshell. "You just followed the popular crowd opinion. Those are far pettier reasons than having a phobia like Dave demonstrated,"

I walked away before Heather could make some snide comeback. Returning to Dawn's side, the moonchild smiled at me. "Well said, Cody," the compliment reverted me back to my previous self, and I gave a goofy toothy grin and rubbed the back of my head with a chuckle.

We then watched Trent jump, followed by Noah. I never understood why Noah wasn't shown jumping on the broadcast; my only guess is the runtime needed shortening, and since Noah hadn't garnered much attention yet, his drop was put on the cutting room floor.

"Okay, campers," Chris called down with the megaphone. "There's only one person left. You guys need this jump for the win," he glanced at Owen. "No pressure, dude," Chris paused. "Okay, there's pressure,"

Every one of us Gopher cheered encouragement, some in our own manners. "You can do it, Owen," I yelled again, using my cupped hands and diaphragm, which seemingly matched Chris's megaphone in terms of volume. "Take a good long run, and show us some inner strength, blubber buddy!"

Owen chuckled. "Blubber buddy? I like that! You got it, dude!" he pulled on some armbands and walked as far back as the clifftop flat allowed. "I'm going to die now," Owen turned around. "I am going to freaking die now!"

"C'mon, big guy," Leshawna uttered as we all waited.

Owen bounded forward and sprung off the cliff. "Yeah!" he cheered before the realisation kicked on. "Oh, crap!" he said in a long yell.

Knowing what would happen, I crouched down and shielded Dawn. A tsunami of water crashed onto my back. After a few seconds for the water to recede, I unfolded myself. "You okay, Dawn?"

Pressed against my expansive pecks, Dawn peeled off and looked into my eyes with a blush and one of those cute little smiles which said I like this, but I know I shouldn't be showing it. "Yes, I'm dry, thanks to you," I smiled myself, nodded and stood straight as Owen praised himself and the team cheered.

"The winners!" Chris announced. "The Screaming Gophers!"

I turned to Courtney, seeing her sitting near the back of the sand; the water rushed hard enough to knock her chicken hat off. "So much for a calculated risk, huh, Courtney,"

The Type-A girl glared at me, then stopped, struck by something. "Oh, wow,"

I sighed. "Now what?"

"Um, Cody," Dawn said, holding a sodden sheet of cloth. Suddenly I felt a breeze lower down and realised. "Oh, great," I looked around at everyone else, transfixed at the sight before them.

Sugar's tongue hanging out of her mouth. Bridgette, Gwen, and Lindsay backed away frightened and stumbled against their respective future love interests.

Ella shielded her eyes dramatically. Dave walked up, unzipped his wetsuit, and pulled out a handkerchief. He tied the cloth over Ella's eyes to act as a blindfold. "There now, does that help?"

Ella gasped and put her hands to her face. She smiled widely and nodded. "Thank you, good sir," Dave smirked, rubbing his knuckle against his chest. "Happy to be of service,"

Dawn hummed. "The shift in Ella's aura is something to monitor closely,"

I ignored that for the moment as I had more significant priorities. Deciding to make the most out of a bad situation, I crossed my arms roguishly and posed. "What's wrong? Don't other peoples' shrink in cold water?" I felt Dawn give me a rough smack against my thigh. How much of this would be broadcast?

Anne Maria held up her hand in defence. "Okay, that's way more salami than I can manage," she patted Sugar on the shoulder. "Happy hunting that honeybun,"

"Hey, guys?" Owen called, still floating in the ring. "Cody's not the only one who lost his bathing suit,"

This distraction allowed me to rush into the bushes and replace my clothes.

On the route back to the campsite, I pulled two carts by grasping the left side handle of the right cart and mirrored it for the left cart. Trent steered the right cart while Dawn managed the left one.

I looked back and saw Courtney argue with Eva, no doubt pushing her counsellor-in-training experience, not that it ever seemed to do anything well.

It should go without saying that our endeavour to build the hot tub went swimmingly. Of course, we were delayed by Chris's insistence we open the crate with only our teeth. Without Izzy and her rope trick, it took a bit longer. I did most of the work using my front buck gaps like a prybar. Indeed, I secretly trained myself to do so with some of those neighbourhood construction projects I worked on part-time.

As we unloaded the contents of the boxes, I saw Heather apologise to Leshawna. As they walked away, I glanced at Dawn, who stayed beside me and whispered, "What does your aura reading say about that interaction?"

Dawn narrowed her eyes. "That Heather only said those words to lull Leshawna into a false sense of security. Of course, Leshawna is not so easily convinced. And Lindsay is confused," she then looked to where the two popular girls stood. "Heather presently sees Lindsay as her stooge," she said. "However, from your aura, I can see you know all this already and that Heather has the potential to improve,"

I nodded. "Again, I'll explain once we're alone," then I knelt and whispered in Dawn's ear. "And preferably away from the cameras."

Dave checked off the items for the hot tub, as his crate included the instruction manual. He laid out all the constituted pieces in rows and counted them. Meanwhile, I took the separate one for the air blower and the plumbing and started assembling it. It was not my first time building a hot tub in this timeline.

Heather grew impatient and walked over to Dave. "Will you stop wasting time?"

"I'm not wasting time," Dave said as he placed a set of nails of a certain length down. "I'm making sure all the parts are neat, accessible, and categorised correctly, so we don't waste time wandering aimlessly for missing tools or make a mistake by putting the wrong length of a nail in the wrong plank, therefore, meaning we'd have to dismantle the whole thing and start again,"

"Just build the tub!" Heather snapped.

"We are building it,"

"No, you're not; you're naming all the hammers and wrenches,"

"This is part of it, and I'd be done much sooner if someone hadn't decided to interrupt me by being bossy and complaining. You're the one wasting time walking about while I'm doing something here,"

Heather growled, leaned into Dave, and pointed accusingly. "If we lose this chicken head, I'll make sure you're out first,"

"If," Dave replied. Heather huffed and walked away.

As I tightened another nut, I glanced at Dawn. "Dave already told me he had germaphobia; given that exchange, does that mean he's got OCD?"

Dawn nodded. "Yes, however, it appears to be a mild case; Dave is still able to function,"

Dave continued by counting the planks. "We need more wood,"

Owen walked up. "But that's everything we found inside the crates,"

"Well," I said, putting another pipe into position. "Use wood from the crates,"

"All right," Dave said. "But only the one that matches the length of these planks," he indicated to the ones beside him.

When the Killer Bass arrived, Trent, Noah, and Ella started prying the struts off. Harold, Ezekiel, and Courtney pushed their crates next to their cabins. Eva and Tyler dropped theirs while Anne Maria strutted up, not putting in the effort.

Leshawna pocked her head out of the crate as she tried taking it apart for inside. "Hey, aren't you missing a white girl?"

Anne Maria shrugged. "White Trash took a leak and brushed her big caboose on some poison ivy,"

Courtney coughed. "Right now, she's getting a drink,"

"Yeah," Harold joked to Ezekiel. "If they drink with their butts,"

Meanwhile, Dawn gasped and walked up to Courtney. "Your eye looks terrible, Courtney,"

"Oh, it's nothing," the CIT feigned. "Just an allergy,"

Dawn narrowed her eyes. "That is a black fly bite. It'll continue swelling until your eyelid is shut and shall remain so for several hours unless treated," she took Courtney. "You really shouldn't brush off serious situations in your efforts to maintain perfection just because it's a desperate cry for friendship and acceptance. That also goes for your controlling behaviour and insistence on pushing that same perfectionist burden onto everyone around you,"

Courtney shivered and then ran to the confessional.

Our efforts to make the hot tub went flawlessly. In fact, with Dave acting as project leader, we made it in less time than the Screaming Gopher did the first time.

Like last time Courtney took charge of the Bass's building and did not heed Dawn's advice. She butted heads with Anne Maria. The Jerseyite stood away and admired herself with a compact mirror. Courtney trudged over and glared. "Care to lend a hand?"

Anne Maria brushed her off. "Have you seen my nails?" she showed off her perfect manicure. "These are why I drive with my feet,"

Dave looked up from the manual and turned to Trent. "Okay, how does that work? I can understand driving with knees and maybe the left foot at a stretch if Anne Maria drives an automatic, so no clutch pedal. But both? She said feet as in plural. How could she operate the brake and throttle pedals?"

Trent shrugged. "Don't look at me, man. I drive like everybody else,"

Courtney shoved Anne Maria closer to the work site. "Do something, or you'll be voted out!" the tan enthusiast took another hairspray from her poof and gassed Courtney in the face. "Don't push me, Court Order!" at this, Courtney struck back, and it devolved into a catfight. Even worse, Sugar jumped in, thinking it was a fight contest.

Dave spent some time wiping down the tub after with finished assembling it. Watching the Killer Bass flounder about and the slapstick elicited a chuckle. "Look at that," he said as Harold took a hammer to the groin and a double bout of bashes when Bridgette lifted a plank. "Keystone Comedies, the live show!"

And Courtney appeared unconcerned by the rushed and bodged work she forced the Bass to do in the short time and incoordination. She focused on getting the job finished before sundown. And, like the first time, she resorted to duct tape. The stuff is waterproof, but from the outside, layered and not straining again, misplaced joints holding back the weight of water.

The two teams stood with our separate hot tubs. Chris first inspected ours and nodded in approval. "This is one awesome hot tub!" Chris proclaimed. We all cheered in response, and Owen emerged from within the water, having gone in to test the water displacement.

The host then went over to the Bass' hot tub, which had a pop-ringed seagull floating in it, with the Killer Bass looking down at their poor job. Chris raised a brow at all the tape on the hot tube and pocked it a bit, only for some water to leak out and squirt his face. Soon after that, the Bass's hot tub, if it could even be called that, completely fell in pieces.

Chris naturally announced us Gophers as the winners. Knowing Owen would become over-enthused, I shielded Dawn's eyes from his dance and noticed Dave did the same for Ella. Though the Germaphobe looked ready to throw up again.

Once Owen lumbered back into the guy's side of the Gopher cabin to dress again, Dave sighed in relief, then brushed himself down. "I'll pass on getting in," Ella placed a hand on his shoulder. "Why ever not, David? You were excellent at organising as the grand prince of our building team. You should reap the reward,"

"First, just Dave, please. Second, it's the same reason I didn't jump," he thumbed the tub. "The water came from the lake, which is seriously unclean," his eyes widened, and the bottom lid twitched. "Did you see how much trash was in the water?" Dave then looked at the heater and air blower. "And I seriously doubt the water's going to be hot enough to sanitise,"

Noah rolled his eyes. "We're not going to drink it,"

Dave shook his head. "I'm still not risking it,"

Dinner at the main lodge improved on lunch; at the very least, it resembled food, a spicy beef curry served with rice. Dawn, next to me, took the beef out, which I gladly accepted.

A similar conversation took place amid the Bass. Courtney pointed to Tyler, but Anne Maria came to his defence. "Don't knock the jock; he jumped, might not have stuck the landing, but he did a far more of a doozy than you. You took a gamble and lost,"

Both girls looked about ready to fight again. Then Ezekiel opened his mouth and offended the girls. And as before, Zeke was the first boot. I climbed a tree to watch the event, and like last time, Chris joked Homeschool was voted out for his dirty habit of gold-digging, not his sexist comments.

I couldn't help Zeke there, and frankly, I didn't want to help a sexist guy; he needed to learn. Given his homeschooled background on an isolated farmstead, I don't blame him for being misguided and close-minded. After all, Ezekiel said his dad told him to help the girls out, so Zeke could learn to be better.

Statistically speaking, Ezekiel wasn't entirely wrong. If the only info you got about the outside world was from newspapers or the internet, you would think like that. However, individual people did not conform to the image statistic proposed.

But I knew I would help Zeke during the World Tour in whatever way I could to stop him from becoming the feral freak. As far as I knew, Ezekiel drowned when Wawanakwa Island sank at the end of All-Stars unless his mutations allowed him to swim or dig long enough to reach another landmass. So, I assumed he was missing and presumed dead when Sierra killed me.

I owed it to Zeke, and his family, to make him a better human being, not allow him to devolve into the pitiful and confused creature Chris let him become. Also, Chris needed to be reined in during the future seasons, and from what he said about a producer stopping him from picking Izzy, I thought McLean might just have a tighter leash.

As Zeke reached the dock, I walked up and gave him some advice; he had the opportunity to see the world outside his family farm and learn about women in the real world. I don't know if he'd follow it, but I hoped he would.

After the elimination, the Screaming Gophers had our hot tub party. Trent, Lindsay, Ella, Heather, and Noah lounged in the tub.

Dawn and I sat on the cabin veranda. I leaned to the moonchild's ear. "This party's likely going to go on all night, so we'll have to find another chance for me to explain myself."

The following two days would be just hanging about and getting used to the surroundings. However, we'd be in groups too big for Dawn and me to walk off and discuss things without someone noticing. Heather would get suspicious that we formed an alliance. The best chance to have that talk and not appear suspicious would be sometime during the Awake-A-Thon during the next episode.

Dawn nodded. "I understand, Cody."

The pink princess raised her soda can. "A toast, my friends, to the Screaming Gophers."

Leshawna started chanting, "Go Gophers!" and rocking some dance moves. Owen and Dave joined, with Owen copying the sassy sister and Dave improving a modern jive.

I looked at Dave, impressed. "That's some talent he has with his feet."

Harold, Bridgette, and Courtney walked past us celebrating, their slumped posture showing disappointment at being the first losers. Courtney addressed the cameraperson, "Are you recording this?" the camera operator adjusted the zoom. "Good," the Type-A said, and she thumbed back at us. "They can enjoy their little party all they want," she pointed at herself. "But I am going to win this competition," then gestured straight at the camera. "And no one is going to stop me."

I crossed my arms. "Challenge accepted," I muttered. After Heather, the two people at the camp I really needed to watch out for were Duncan and Courtney. Courtney simply needed to be eliminated without any rigged votes. For that, I had to stop Duncan from picking on Harold too much. That would be a tall order since we were on opposing teams, and Harold would most likely be gone before the merger.

The calm of the next few days until the Awake-A-Thon would allow me time to think up a plan.