Almost halfway done with this rewrite! If you have any questions about the story, feel free to ask in the reviews or PMs. Please note that I can only answer questions that do not involve future events. I'll be sharing some responses with other users' questions in future chapters.

Chapter 7: Mo Monkey, Mo Problems

Team Kinosewak returned to their treehouse to enjoy their meal on the night of Amy's elimination, which left Dave in a relaxed mood making his way to the tree. Each of them climbed up the ladder and entered the dwelling, with Dave placing the greasy bag of questionable goods on the rusty table and signaling everyone to dig in as he wished to step out. Not that he didn't want to eat, as Dave desired to reflect once more as he exited the interior of the tree house and stared off into the night. After what happened, he could only question one thing; was everything Scarlett mentioned true?

"I could understand what she said back at the docks. She wore glasses and concealed her hair to blend in with the crowd. Whether those feelings are real, that begs to differ."

Behind him, he could hear footsteps. Rotating his head around to see Scarlett, who approached him looking tense, her hands clenched behind her back. Even without glasses, Dave found her gorgeous in the moonlight. Containing his nerves by holding on to the railing, Dave let her stand beside him.

"So, a lot happened today..." Dave began, peering into the distance.

"Yes," she replied with a soft tone. "Many particular events transpired."

The awkward atmosphere gave Dave chills down his spine.

"I'm just curious," he turned his head towards her, seeing she did the same, "Was everything you said being self-conscious true?"

"What a peculiar question," she replied with a hint of confusion, "If I were to lie about my insecurities, I wouldn't forgive myself."

He doesn't know if she's telling the truth, but he wants to believe her. It just occurred to him that she'd be notorious if she could go this far in manipulating someone. Dave returned a smile, "S-Sorry, I just have trust issues with people I'm very close with."

"Let me ask you a question now," She bit her lip, building up to her question, "If by any chance, down the road, I come to...betray our trust, how would you handle it?"

"W-Where is this coming from?" asked Dave, shaking beneath his legs.

"Just a curiosity," Scarlett elaborated.

"I don't know anymore, so why am I getting so hot and bothered speaking to her? The more I see this side of her, the less I see the other her."

He's getting mixed emotions from her curious face, trying to come up with an answer up to her caliber. Dave cleared his throat before answering, "Trusting you is my decision, and proving me wrong is your choice. If you believe what you're doing steers you on the right path, go ahead. But Scarlett, I know you'll do whatever makes you happy, even if I'm not there by your side.."

Scarlett's gaze on Dave intensified when he gave her a clear answer; she had never prepared to receive such an intricate way of seeing things. She lightened up a bit, "W-Well then, I believe you just gave me a new outlook on stuff. I guess, while we're all alone here...I have to tell you..."

Being this close to her made Dave's heart pound from the feeling of her body heat, "Tell me...what?"

"Whoa! This is getting too real for me! Is she going to say what I think she'll say?!"

But as she lingered on her train of thought, she quickly shook her head before retracting her hands from him, "...W-We should head back inside and consume our winnings."

His heart was going into overdrive, beating at rates he couldn't possibly think were possible. Scarlett showed her smile, causing Dave to nod vigorously, "Y-Yes! Let's dig in..."

Dave and Scarlett returned to the tree house to enjoy the remaining portion of their reward before retiring for the night. During the past few days, they have grown closer to each other, spending time together while gathering food and studying the flora and fauna of the area. Dave has realized Scarlett is not as bad as he thought but still needs more evidence to trust her completely. Today, he took things easy by standing by the lake and enjoying the fresh air.

"There you are!"

A screeching voice came behind Dave as he jerked his head to see a trembling Shawn sprinting toward him urgently. Dave responded by putting up his guard with his arms, "No! I'm not a zombie, Shawn!"

"No, not that!" the conspiracy nut shook his head, coming down to his knees, "I need your help! It's Jasmine!"

"Don't tell me, you think she's a zombie?" Dave sighed.

Shawn shook his head again, "I'm just going to say it, I have a thing for her! I'm a nervous wreck around her because I have feelings for her!"

"Oh boy, not again..."

"I don't know what to do! Just talk to her more?" shrugged Dave, trying to come up with something to get off his back.

"I know you have the gift with ladies!" he accused him, "I can sense it in..."

"Shawn?" Jasmine approached the boys from the side as she had an unsettling face, "Did you notice anything-"

"AH!" Shawn ran off as if a horde of zombies came his way, making Dave and Jasmine share an awkward stare.

"What's getting his head rattled?" she asked.

Dave took no time before answering, "He has a thing for you, but he doesn't know how to approach you."

"Really?" her face blushed from excitement, "I-I suppose I like the little stinker back. N-Nevermind, have you noticed strange things going around the island?"

"Uh-oh. This is where Jasmine was getting skeptical about the island. How should I approach this?"

"I don't recall anything strange on this island," he smiled back, acting clueless.

"But I could've sworn..." she placed her thumb and finger on her chin as she walked in the other direction, "Well, I guess I'll go look for Shawn..."

Sky and Samey walked side by side, chatting and sharing some information during the twins' swap. Sky took it all in all the unique quirks Samey picked up on Team Maskwak. In the meantime, Sky was hatching a game plan as it was time for her to focus on the competition.

*Confessionals*

Sky: With the merge happening very soon, I should start planning to get farther in the game. I need to boot people out who I think aren't competitive enough for the second half of the game.

"Since we survived this long into the game, I was thinking we should start an alliance," she asked the twin while picking out some berries.

"I'm down!" nodded Samey, "We should invite Ella and Scarlett too to make it an all-girls alliance?"

"Maybe...maybe we should scratch off Ella..."

Samey raised her brow, sounding curious about Sky's suggestion, "Huh? How come!?"

"I mean, she's nice and all, but maybe too nice?" Sky scratched her head, "She doesn't seem to be taking challenges seriously. I'm afraid she'll get seriously injured if she doesn't get serious. The merge might happen soon, and the challenges are getting fierce!"

"So what you're saying is, we should eliminate her soon?" questioned Samey, feeling a hint of tension from Sky's implication.

"N-No, I'm not saying..."

Sky and Samey abruptly stopped to see Dawn sitting on top of a flat rock in a lotus position, "How are you two doing?" she greeted them with eyes wide open.

"Oh, Dawn!" Sky greeted her with a smile. "Are you meditating right now?"

She was astonished when Dawn said, "I can sense you are a serious competitor, but that may be your downfall soon."

"Is that so?" Sky caught wind of her statement, "Not that I don't believe you, but you're on the enemy team. You can say as many things to intimidate us."

"Take it with a grain of salt, Sky." just then, Scarlett approached the group of girls giving Dawn a cold stare.

"Scarlett!" Sky approached her side of the pathway, "Don't worry about her. We just bumped into each other."

Slowly getting out of her lotus position, Dawn stood towards Scarlett, looking sympathetic. "Oh my, I sense your aura that you have not had a normal childhood. Must be from being homeschooled all the time."

Scarlett overheard Dawn's accurate analysis of herself, "H-How did you..."

"I also sense constant conflict occurring within you," she continued, "You're afraid of telling Dave—"

She was caught off guard when Scarlett's hands grabbed her shoulders and pinned her against a tree trunk, seething from her eyes and vocal tone, "You don't know anything about me! You don't know the fine line between scientific causality and supernatural-"

Sky rushed forward, trying to intervene. "Scarlett, let her go! We don't need to resort to violence!"

In the meantime, Samey approached Dawn to check up on her. "Oh my gosh, you okay?"

Being dusted off with the aid of Samey, Dawn replied, "I'm alright. Perhaps I went too far reading her aura..."

"Yeah, you did!" scolded Sky, comforting Scarlett. "Don't let her get to you, Scarlett."

"Hey, teens! Proceed to the meeting area. It's time for me to laugh at your pain! There'll also be a challenge." Chris manically echoed throughout the loudspeakers.

"It's alright, Sky." Scarlett took a deep breath and left those few seconds behind, "Let's just proceed via Chris' instructions..."

Scarlett and the rest of Team Kinosewak left without a hitch, leaving Dawn utterly disappointed in herself for her necessary evil.

*Confessionals*

Dawn: I do not enjoy selfishly reading people's auras, but I must try to understand the people around Dave and find out why I couldn't read his aura.

Sky: Dawn's precocious to rile up Scarlett like that. I had never seen her lash out like that. What is she hiding?

Samey: I do recall her saying about Scarlett being homeschooled. Which is sad, to be honest.

Scarlett: Perhaps it's best if I...no...he must not know...he doesn't have to know...

"Here we go, this challenge. Things may be a tad different, but I'm certain Team Kinosewak will come on top!"

Gathering around the meeting area, the teams sat at their logs to await Chris' announcement about the next challenge. He stood beside Chef and Topher behind a small crate on a pole while next to an oddly placed vending machine in the middle. Dave, Rodney, and Ella were the only ones seated on Team Kinosewak's side.

"Where could the girls be?" questioned Dave, worried about their absence.

"Oh, I don't recall seeing them today." Ella replied, sharing his worried look, "Have you seen them, Rodney? Rodney?"

But Rodney wasn't compliant to answer as he remained speechless while looking quite blue.

*Confessionals*

Rodney: I feel so bad for having feelings for Samey, even though I asked her sister Amy to be my girlfriend. Is it wrong for me to cheat on Samey for her twin?

At Team Maskwak's side, Jasmine was anxiously thinking of a strange oddity earlier. "Something's weird with this island. Those trees were closer yesterday, and that mountain wasn't there before."

Just when she thought things were weird, Max next to her responded, "It appears you're becoming delusional from all of this..."

*Punch*

Jasmine playfully tapped Max on the side of his stomach, causing him to groan. Glancing to her right, she noticed Shawn sitting beside her, visibly nervous and sweating profusely. She grinned before looking the other way.

Over at the center, Topher gave Chris some in-depth hair care tips to pass the time, "You want to try a bit of lime juice and cilantro mixed with the avocado and mayonnaise."

"Would that help restore the pH balance?" Chris was solely invested in his hair care tips, jotting down notes with a small notebook.

"No, but it would make a great dip!" Topher said before chuckling historically.

Chris wasn't having it as he demanded in front of Topher. "Alright, one whole lap around the island, GO!"

Just seconds later, the three missing members of Team Kinosewak approached their log as they sat together. Dave situated himself between Sky and Rodney, while Scarlett sat between Samey and Sky.

"Where were you three?" said Dave, curious about their tardiness.

"We've just encountered Dawn by the forest," Sky answered, sounding disturbed, "She had an encounter with Scarlett, which sort of agitated her ."

"Agitate her? Don't tell me..."

"It's okay now. We've cleared it up," Sky said with a forced smile. She leaned close to Dave's ear and whispered, "Did you know Scarlett never attended regular school? She's been homeschooled her entire life!"

It appears Scarlett was telling the truth behind her past, giving Dave a glimmer of hope for him and herself. Dawn's incredible abilities were helpful in some way. He playfully acted as if he was shocked by Sky's breaking news, "R-Really, I never really thought of her being homeschooled."

When the rest of the campers finally sat down, Chris was eager to begin, "This challenge is called Snack Attack. This vending machine only takes gold coins; the first to get their gold coin into the machine wins and gets something to eat."

Chris waved his hand to the neatly packed vending machine filled with tasty treats and food, making the campers drool over the delectables displayed behind the glass.

"That sounds wonderful!" Ella grinned.

"I was hoping one of you would say something like that!" Chris turned his attention to Chef as he lifted the top lid of the wooden crate with two monkeys inside, "I'm giving the coins to Alfonse and Betty here, who are now going to run away."

The two monkeys jump and run out of the box, taking the coins from Chris' hands with them. "They're getting away!" Sky cried.

Jasmine took quick action, "Let's go-"

"Stop! Nobody moves!" Chris halted them from their seats, "The monkey's got a head start. Kinosewak's monkey has a blue necklace. Maskwak's monkey is in the pink one. Any questions?"

"I have one!" Ella raised her hand, "May I-"

Chris sternly gave Ella a fair warning, "If you sing just one little word, you are immediately blasted off the island!"

"Oh..."

"I can't wait to chow down on some of that grub in that vending machine!" Jasmine was mesmerized by the variety of treats neatly stacked in the machine.

As Chris had an airhorn prepared to start the challenge, he riled up the campers from their seats, "You can go after your monkeys, right...now!"

When the air horn sounded, everyone hurried toward the direction the monkeys had gone, except for Rodney. He slowly got up and walked behind the rest, looking dejected.

Jasmine was in front of everyone else as she looked back at her teammates, coming her way, "Come on! That monkey could be halfway to Brisbane by now!"

The first one she saw was Shawn, who went to climb next to her, "I'll look above, and you check down below!" he instructed.

"Alright, and Max can..."

Max approached her from behind, "I, for one, am done taking orders from you, jazz-man. Hee-yah!" flailing his arms at her, attempting to intimidate her.

"Nevermind, I'll do it myself!" She reluctantly picked up the little fellow carrying him like mere luggage.

After being placed on a tree branch by the garter belt of his underwear, Max screamed, "Evil will not be slowed by a mere wedgy! Yah! Oof!" before falling flat on his face.

"You have an aptitude to cause great disasters for yourself." Dawn walked to him, seeing his troubled-looking face.

"Silence! You wretched girl! I do not condone your insufferable faith in this so-called Mother Earth." Max snarled at her, propping himself up from his misfortune.

"My-My, you are some troubled soul. May you find your reign of terror concluding beneath the island," she stared into his eyes, seeing the trembling fear on his face.

*Confessionals*

Max: S-She doesn't scare me...not a single bit...

Within a few minutes of searching, Shawn located their monkey standing on a rock and holding the coin as she checked her surroundings for danger. After regrouping with Jasmine to the beach, she stealthy came near it, "Psst, Shawn. I'm going to need that banana of yours..."

"A-Alright," Shawn nervously grabbed the ripe banana from his pocket as he gently reached for Jasmine's hand. "Here you..."

"...Hello...Team Maskwak!" the panting voice of Topher approached them as he continued his punishment of jogging the entire lap of the island. "...P-Pleasant day w-we're having!"

The loud voice startled Betty as she ran off into the forest and past Jasmine and Shawn as she climbed the tree's length. What made things worse for them was witnessing Betty popping the coin in her mouth as she swallowed it whole.

Shawn and Jasmine were panicking, dragging their hands across their faces, "Nooooo!"

On Team Kinosewak, they were trekking through the forest, hopeful to find their monkey in the wild. As Dave walked besides Scarlett, who appeared lost in thought with her wandering gaze, he pondered the idea of altering his plans to eliminate her. He hoped she could make it to the semifinals and perhaps take their friendship to the next stage.

"This is tough. I don't want to get her booted off the island. She seems wonderful to be around, not to mention her smarts. But Sky...I don't understand why I was so engrossed with her in the original timeline. She is amazing at gymnastics and is compassionate. Besides those points, we never really had anything in common. Scarlett is a genius at heart. The second normal person on the island if I scratch out her other side."

After getting to know her better, Dave felt comfortable having her around. Despite these newfound emotions, Dave remained calm and asked, "Scarlett, what are your thoughts on...me?" with a hint of uncertainty.

"Y-You?!" she jerked her head towards him, blushing, "You seem rather...an interesting specimen to conduct conversations with!"

Resuming the conversation, Dave scratched his chin, "I'm curious as to why you use beefy words most of the time."

Scarlett answered. "I'm sorry if my convoluted terminology scares people; that's how I am," trembling from her tone.

"Don't be sorry. I find it fascinating," he replied with a big smile.

Sky was just behind them, spotting the two having a moment together; strangely enough, she could feel hints of jealous emotions flowing from her mind. Why was she feeling so jealous of her? She likes Dave, but not that much to be jealous of other girls. She suppressed these feelings and focused more on the competition.

Continuing the trek, Samey noticed a monkey wearing a blue necklace staring off into the distance, "Hey! Isn't that our monkey with the gold coin?" she pointed out.

"Oh?" Sky averted her gaze at Scarlett and Dave and kept her eyes on the monkey from behind, "I've got ya!"

As she attempted to grab Alfonse from behind, Sky's hand only managed to catch his blue necklace, causing it to break off from his neck. She fell to the ground as she watched the monkey escape through a bush, but that wasn't her primary concern. What worried her was the group of monkeys that resembled Alfonse perched on a tree with the others. The rest of Team Kinosewak arrived and witnessed the monkeys jumping and scurrying in various directions.

"So many lovely monkeys!" Ella gawked at the number of monkeys around the tree.

"No! How do we tell which one is ours?" Samey wondered, dumbfounded by the number of monkeys.

"Perhaps Ella could use her singing voice to entice them?" Sky threw out a suggestion from her head, only to be met with anxious faces, "What's wrong?"

Ella reminded her, "Sky, Chris specifically stated if I were to sing that I would be eliminated?" sighing with her breath.

"But Chris isn't here, so theoretically, he won't know if you just sang a few words?" Sky defensively made her claim.

*Confessionals*

Sky: Do I sound like the bad guy? I'm not! Ella is a delicate flower who needs to step up her game if she makes it to the merge, even if it means bending a few rules. Not that I want Ella to get booted off...

"Jeez, what's up with Sky being eager to eliminate Ella?"

"You know he has cameras everywhere?" Dave scratched his head, beginning to question Sky's persistence, "It kind of sounds like you wanted her to be eliminated."

"N-No! I'm not!" she feigns innocence with a smile, "But either way, we still need to get the coin somehow without spending the entire day finding out which monkey has it."

"Our best chance to find which monkey has the coin is by conducting a neuroscientific experiment," Scarlett turned to her teammates while crossing her arms while smiling, "I mean, it's no secret that the mirror neurons are hyperactive in primates, right?"

Dave followed up, chuckling, "Hahaha, you know how to crack a guy up!" With the girls cringing at her convoluted explanation.

"Y-You understood all of that?" Samey dropped her jaw in astonishment.

Dave scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, she means we should play monkey see, monkey do."

When she heard Dave understand her complex idea, Scarlett's heart began to flutter, "Yes, that is what I was conveying to you!"

As much as Sky felt confident of her teammates, she could sense someone was absent from their group, "Does anyone know where Rodney went?"

"No time to worry about him; let's focus on getting our gold coin," instructed Scarlett.

Samey volunteered herself for the group, feeling guilty, "I'll go look for him. I feel like I was responsible for what my sister did."

"It wasn't your fault, Samey," Dave soothed her, "Go on."

With Max and Dawn regrouping with Jasmine and Shawn, they now faced a dilemma; getting their monkey to regurgitate the gold coin from her stomach. Betty was sitting on another rock, scratching her armpits as the four came up with ideas on the spot.

"Alright, we need some tranquilizers to put that monkey to sleep and a knife to disect that gold coin!" Shawn ordered around before getting a whack on the head by Jasmine, "Ow! W-What did I say?"

*Confessionals*

Jasmine: Shawn may be a wilderness survivalist, but that may be motivated by his obsession with the zombie apocalypse.

Shawn: Gaah! I always say the stupidest stuff around girls

Jasmine asked, "Where would we find a knife and tranquilizers?" knocking some sense in him, "Perhaps we can feed the little bugger something she'll vomit."

"Ugh! This is getting ridiculous! I'll prepare an evil scheme while you work on this filthy primate," Max groaned as he left the group to do his own thing.

"Whatever, what have you got for us, Dawn?" Jasmine turned to her, only to see her quivering in fear, "Dawn?"

"Get away, my little friend!" she screamed at Betty, "Danger looms on-"

Without a second to react, a wild grizzly bear approached Betty from behind with its ravaging teeth visible. It quickly used its right claw to scoop Betty into its clutches as it consumed her whole in one gulp. This gave Shawn, Jasmine, and Dawn fright for their life seeing another obstacle in their challenge.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jasmine came to a boiling point where he frustration went off with her fists clenched, "I'm going to punch that bear's stomach until it spits out that sneaky fella!"

Dawn came to quell her anger as she gestured, "Please wait! Let me speak to the bear..."

She had Shawn scratching his head, "You can...talk to bears?"

"Not just bears, many creatures in Mother Earth's care." she elaborated, walking up to the grumpy bear, "Excuse me, Mr. Bear, I like you to spit out that little friend you've swallowed whole."

But the bear wasn't compiling, making a little growl at her. While she spoke to him like a typical human being, Jasmine and Shawn were impressed and stunned by her incredible talent that they decided to back away slowly to give them space.

Meanwhile, with Rodney still depressed, he walked at a snail's pace as he contemplated his choices. After mustering the guts to ask Samey to be his girlfriend, truth be told, it was Amy he confessed to. He felt betrayed by his own will, seemingly not paying attention to the voice in front of him.

"Rodney. There you are!"

He faced forward to spot someone he didn't speak to for a while, "S-Samey?! No! I can't!"

"You've been like this for days. What's the matter?" Samey walked up to him, seeing his slouchy posture mixed with dejecting face.

His face began puffing up as tears rushed out. "I just want to say...I'm sorry that I've cheated on you!"

"E-Excuse me?"

In one singular breath, he rambled, "I started liking you because of the Grease Pig Challenge, and I tried asking you to be my girlfriend. But Dave told me to slow things down and build up our friendship. But then, when you switched places with your sister, Amy, I developed feelings for her too and asked her to be my girlfriend behind your back. I'm sorry that I betrayed my feelings for you by falling in love with your sister and hurting you. I love both you and your sister."

It was difficult to process his whole ordeal from that one breath she took, so Samey took her time thinking of a response, "I know. I didn't expect Amy to force me onto her stupid plans. But that's water under the bridge. Come on. We've got a monkey to catch!"

"A-Alright..." he nodded somberly, following her from behind.

Returning to Max pacing back and forth, he was brainstorming some devious schemes looking irritated, "Those Kinosewaks will know the vengeance I'm about to put upon them! But all I could find here are stupid leaves!"

He kicked the pile of leaves scattered on the ground moments before Topher arrived at his location, still huffing out deep breaths as he sweated from the chest of his shirt, "Woo, you almost got me there. These leaves could make a great cover for...let's say...a net trap?"

"A net trap?" repeated Max, not realizing Topher gave him the idea, "Yes...a hidden net trap! I'm a pure genius! But where would I find one?"

"It's not like there's a perfectly-good net trap big enough to hoist six people near the junk pile just on top of a broken refrigerator..."Topher fed him the information he desired while staying anonymous behind him,

Max quickly ran over to the direction of the junk pile to get his plan to fruition. Topher chuckled before continuing his jog.

*Confessionals*

Topher: I'm not supposed to be helping out the contestants as an intern of Chris, but also, there's no harm in getting sweet revenge on my former teammates for voting me off...

After Rodney and Samey rejoined the Kinosewak team, Dave briefed them on the situation; they all agreed to play "monkey see, monkey tor to retrieve the correct monkey holding their gold coin from the group perched on the tree. Scarlett, Sky, Dave, Ella, Rodney, and Samey stood in a line flapping their arms like birds while the monkeys observed and copied their actions in no time.

"Alright, they seemed to be following our movements," Sky saw the monkeys repeating after them, "Let's try something else. Twirl like a ballerina!"

The five now spun clockwise with their tippy toes and arms up like a ballerina, to which the monkeys followed their movements to a tea. Dave felt confident with his progress in the challenge, keeping up with the flow of things.

"I wonder how team Maskwak is getting their monkey's stomach, which probably got eaten by the bear as well."

Scarlett grabbed a coin from her pocket and commanded the monkeys, "Throw a coin in the air!"

The rest grabbed a coin from their pockets and tossed it with a flick of the thumb, which triggered one of the monkeys to grab a gold coin from its possession and toss it into the air. From that moment, Alfonse tossed the gold coin, and Sky locked onto it as she aimed to grab it from her palm. "Yes, we've got it!" she cheered on, seeing Alfonse face-palming himself looking disappointed.

"Come on. Let's get to that vending machine!" cried Dave as he gestured to Sky.

The rest of Team Kinosewak ran in a pack, returning to the starting area where the vending machine was located to insert their coin. Dave was smiling along the way running beside Scarlett, panting out, "That...was a brilliant...idea, Scarlett!"

"T-Thanks!" she said, panting from her running.

"Everything seemed to be going smoothly as ever; we're about to win the challenge, I'm on good terms with Scarlett, and I'm approaching the merge really-"

Dave's thought was interrupted as he and the girls were entangled by a hidden net concealed beneath the leaves on the ground, which hoisted them up 10 feet in the air. It happened so quickly that they were bewildered as their bodies were uncomfortably squished together. But Rodney's slower pace made him survive the trap as he saw his teammates hanging a few feet above. "W-What happened, guys!?" he gasped.

Sky was panicking from the net's hold, vigorously tugging the net's rope, "Who put this trap here?!"

What flustered Dave was not the sudden net trap he was unfortunately caught in, but his cheek was squished up on Scarlett's as they tried orientation themselves to avoid this awkward moment. "I'm so sorry, Scarlett!"

"It's alright..." she had a hint of blush on her cheeks, grabbing ahold of the net, "It appears to be a commonly used snare to entrap local wildlife such as..."

"Guys! Rodney isn't trapped!" Samey stuck her finger between the snare, pointing at him, "Sky. Give him the gold coin!"

She was reluctant to win this challenge, so Sky tossed the coin onto the ground for him to catch, "Rodney. Go to the starting point and insert that coin into the machine!"

Rodney panicked from the pressure, jumping around as he bounced the coin after catching it in the air, "W-Where is it?!"

"Come on, Jasmine! You got this!" Shawn's voice shouted in the distance.

Just then, Rodney could hear Jasmine's footsteps as she held out her gold coin in front of her, running past the ensnared Team Kinosewak. It caused him to think fast a dash toward Jasmine while Sky and the rest of her teammates tried breaking free from the trap.

Dawn and Shawn approached the trapped Kinosewak member grinning at their humiliation, "Wow! You fell for the most basic zombie trap!" chuckled Shawn.

"Can you just get us out!" demanded Sky, "We're about to win anyways!"

But Dawn slowly pointed her right finger to the distance, "You might want to think again."

Jasmine and Rodney were in a race to the vending machine while tied for a few seconds until Rodney stumbled on a rock from his front pathway and fell on the ground, faceplanting; unfortunately, he also dropped the gold coin he was in charge of. Despite the challenging competition, Jasmine made it to the vending machine and successfully inserted her gold coin into the slot.

"Game over! Team Maskwak wins the challenge!" Chris from the sideline announced the winner.

"Nooooooo!" Sky's lost her temper as she cried.

"Alright, I guess that's enough. Will you free these friends of ours from their unfortunate trap?" Dawn graciously summoned the grizzly bear from behind the tree.

"I don't understand. Why did Max still make the net trap? Did someone else influence him to do so? No...I have a feeling about who we have to vote off..."

The bear nodded as he let one of his sharp claws slice through the net as the rest of Team Kinosewak fell from a ten feet drop, groaning from the impact. Dave's back was aching as he slowly stood up while rubbing the affected areas with his hands, "Nggh...my back..."

"Yes! We've won!" Jasmine pumped her fists in the air, celebrating her teams victory, "Whose idea was it to make the net?"

Max gave himself the credit, running towards her with a cackle, "It was I, Max! My genius brain gave me an incredible idea to trap those pathetic Kinosewaks for my revenge!"

*Confessionals*

Max: HEHEHEHE! Another successful scheme forged by yours truly!

Jasmine: Am I impressed by Max's plan to trap Team Kinosewak? Yes. Am I going to give him the praise he so craves? No...

Dawn: Strange enough, this island isn't what it seems. Nevertheless, I can still communicate with Mother Nature and with precious wildlife.

"N-No fair! He cheated! He should be disqualified!" Sky reproached him while helping Samey on the ground.

However, Chris made some specifications as he explained, "I didn't say it was against the rules to sabotage each other reaching to the finish..."

"But..."

"No buts!" halted Chris, continuing his announcement, "Today's snack food is from our Japanese affiliate; It's Chef Hatchet's Total Drama Yum-Yum Happy Go Time Candy Fish Tails. Okay, Team Kinosewak, it's time for you to vote to determine who's going in the cannon. I'll see you tonight at the ceremony..."

When Team Maskwak gathered by the vending machine, Team Kinosewak was left dissatisfied and in agonizing pain, trying to recover from their fall. In the meantime, Dave was wavering, for he expected the results of this challenge to be drastically different from the original timeline. It still ended with Team Maskwak securing the win.

"Ella didn't get the chance to sing, so technically, she doesn't get kicked off the island. But if it weren't for his clever trap, Max would've gotten eliminated tonight! No, I was a fool getting distracted by Scarlett, but she's so...brilliant..."

"Dave..." Scarlett reached out to him, slightly battered up from the fall, "It was a misfortunate event to lose the challenge due to Max's clever snare."

"Y-Yeah..." Dave bit his lips in return, "Are you alright? Any bruises and such?"

"I'm alright," she reassured him with a smile.

"Oh dear, my beautiful dress!" Ella was frowning at seeing her dress all scuffed up.

Hours passed, and team Kinosewak were seated at the campfire ceremony, all sporting gloomy faces. Chris had him a plate of 5 marshmallows ready to be handed out to the remaining campers.

"Back here, Team Kinosewak?" Chris rhetorically asked, passing out the first marshmallow, "Scarlett, Dave, and Sky are safe!"

Each of them caught the marshmallows they were graciously given, as Samey, Rodney, and Ella were left without any, "The next one receiving a marshmallow is...Samey!"

Samey smiled as she got her marshmallow in her possession, leaving Ella and Rodney without one. They got more nervous as the seconds passed, "The last marshmallow will go to...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Ella!"

When she received the last marshmallow from the plate, Rodney sulked from his seat as he accepted the consequences, "I know it would be me..."

"Sorry big guy, we did what we had to..." Sky sounded very upset with her team's loss crossing her arms.

"Without my crush on her, Sky is becoming more serious in the game..."

"You did your best, Rodney." Dave gave him a comfortable smile.

Chef approached Rodney slowly, commanding him, "You can walk yourself to the cannon."

Rodeny shamelessly walked himself to the cannon of shame, preparing himself to climb onboard. Chris did give him a chance to say a few parting words, but he shook his head as he was blasted off without a hurdling scream. The silent elimination gave Team Kinosewak a moment of awkward silence.

Chris stared at the camera to make a final remark for the epsiode, "Not the most shocking elimination. Team Kinosewak is down to five members, but can they bounce back on the next challenge? Find out next time on Total Drama Pahkitew Island."