(In fucking January 2023) Just finished writing Episode 5, man I am so bored on break rn. I've been on college break for like 3 weeks, I go back to school in 5 days, yet I have like nothing to do and just wanna write.

I hoped you enjoyed last ep's little spoof elimination of Tyler, I thought it was a haha funny moment that we could all laugh at. I'm gonna beat the reviews and say sorry for the shitty challenge length, I just had no interest in writing it. I like fleshed out chapters, but I don't wanna overwrite something simple. It's a three-way TDM yk? There's very little to do there.

If y'all have a chance and would like to be so kind, please go slide the poll on my page a vote. It will be used in determining the cast for the next season I'm doing.

Last thing before delving in, I've actually changed my mind to say that Ridonculous Race happens before this season. The official timeline is Island, Action, WT, ROTI, PI, RR, WTV2, whatever I'm gonna call the next season, All-Stars.

Anyways, here we are in New Zealand, another adventure and for sure another elimination, it's sure to be a doozy. Without further ado, let's get the action started.


The plane whirred along through the sky that was slowly fading to dusk, and all the occupants were unwinding, enjoying their evening and the surprisingly simple challenge, along with the added benefit of no elimination for team Inferno.

In the First Class cabin, Team Chaos was enjoying their victory from the previous night. Despite the mild turbulence they experienced now and again (Chef left the plane on autopilot to go play cards with Chris), the teens were all resting delicately. Loser Class, however, wasn't as calm.

Noah had done everyone a favor and put Owen to sleep with Alejandro's hypnotic suggestion once the turbulence started, saving the big boy from the argument unfolding.

"Are you serious right now man?" Trent asked incredulously to an unseen opponent.

"Lightning is dead sha-serious, the Lightning are the best hockey team!" Lightning fought back.

"No way!" Trent responded. "It's easily the Flames."

"You're both wrong." Courtney spat snootily. "It's easily the Maple Leafs."

"I like the Kings!" Lindsay cheerily added.

"Why the Kings?" Sky asked the bombshell.

"Because they're royal and pretty and California is beee-ute-tiful!"

"I hope one day to reside in California." Ella sighed. "To be a world-renowned actress, walking the Walk of Fame, meeting famous people and enjoying the limelight." she trailed off, looking out the window. "Hopefully, one day."

"I've always hoped to live on a nature reserve." Dawn said. "Somewhere in Sweden, isolated, with no threats to Mother Nature. Then I can take my time healing the world from the evil forces that pollute it so."

"I'm gonna just live on my parents farm." Scott stated. "No reason to leave Pappy and the boys."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You don't want anything bigger than just your parents farm?"

"Nope!"

"Well if that's what you want then." Gwen continued. "I've always expected myself to land in NYC or maybe Paris. Somewhere I can starving artist myself to successful." the goth chuckled.

The group laughed and as Courtney began to explain where her preferred living destination would be, Sammy tugged on Trent's arm and began leading him into the cargo hold. The pair ducked out of the argument and into the leaking and cluttered hold. Trent leaned himself against a stack of boxes and Sammy stood facing him.

"Okay." Sammy started. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I know you didn't love the Lindsay vote yesterday." Sammy said cautiously. "But I want to make sure we're on the same page."

"What page is that?" Trent asked, leaving any sarcasm out.

"The page that gets you and me to the merge." Sammy winked. "And Sky too."

"I like that." Trent charmingly agreed. "But why Sky?"

"Sky's strong." Sammy stated. "If we keep her around longer, then we have a better chance at making the Final 3 together. She does have more experience."

"Good point." Trent cocked an eyebrow. "So we're allied with her?"

"I'm not totally sure yet." Sammy sheepishly admitted. "She asked me to vote for Lindsay last night, so, maybe?"

"Odd." Trent rubbed his chin pensively.

"I won't assume anything yet." Sammy assured him.

"Yea, assuming someone's on your side when they aren't is a one-way ticket to Crazytown." Trent tried to put grimly. It did not come off grimly, and Sammy barely contained her laughter.

"Mhm." the nice twin said through muffled laughs.

"Anyways," Trent blushed. "Are you gonna ask Sky to officially form an alliance?"

"Sure." she told him. "Go head back out there and ask her to come back here."

"Alright."

Trent exited the cargo hold and returned to Loser Class, as the cabin roared with laughter as Owen told the story of the time he managed to get kicked off of Big Brother for farting his way through a resilience challenge.

"Sammy wants to talk to you in the hold." Trent said as he tapped Sky on her shoulder.

"What for?" The Olympian asked.

"Go find out." Trent jabbed his thumb towards the hold.

Sky shrugged and made her way through the cabin towards the rear of the plane while Lightning started telling a story about the time he picked off a QB 17 times during a game and forced a mercy rule. Not many people cared, including Scott, who had been silently watching Sky and Trent's exchange.

"What're you up, Music Boy?" Scott asked the musician.

"I'm not doing anything, dirt- uhhhh..." Trent paused. "guy."

"So why'd you just send Sky back to the hold after you and Sammy just came back from there?" Scott sneered.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Oh I would."

"I'll tell you alright." Trent spat, getting up to fight.

"Woah dude!" Lightning interjected, holding Trent back. "What's with all the sha-hostility?"

"He's tryna get in my head man!" Trent fought.

"I'm just lookin' for the answers to what's going on is all." Scott reasoned, exacerbating his Southern drawl for maximum sympathy and believability.

"Cool it dudes, no use fighting right now." Lightning put, strangely responsibly.

"Don't try that again man." Trent coldly told the dirt farmer.

"Sure, sure." Scott feigned.


Confessional: Scott

"This is so stupidly easy!" The dirt boy laughed. "Get in Trent's head, and I've practically dealt with the two biggest threats on my team, since Sky's already made a blood pact with me." he paused for a minute and eyed the camera as though he heard a reflexive 'ew'. "Not actual blood, it's a saying."

END CONFESSIONAL


"So you want to be my ally, and you want Trent in the alliance as well?" Sky audibly pieced together.

"That's about it, yea." Sammy said, looking back at the conflicted Sky as though she was waiting for something.

"It's a bit early in the game to form alliances, no?" Sky asked her.

"Heather formed her big alliance in the second ever challenge." Sammy pointed out. "Why shouldn't we make an alliance now?"

"We can discuss votes and work together on votes, but I don't want to commit to an alliance just yet." Sky explained.

"But later," Sammy continued. "could you?"

"Let me think about it, alright?" Sky said as she left.

Sammy sat in the hold, unsure of how well her plan would work, if at all. Having Trent was good to at least secure one vote, but she wanted Sky as the last member to have a bonafide physical ace. Trying to get Dawn or Lindsay just wouldn't work for the alliance and Scott couldn't be trusted. She needed Sky, she was the only person who would make the perfect three-headed alliance.


Confessional: Sky

The gymnast was pacing back in forth in the small both, reviewing her options out loud. "If I buddy up to Sammy now, I'll always have voter's majority and will guarantee my way to the merge. But if I do, Scott will know something's up and try and backstab me. But if I don't, Sammy could target me." she slammed her butt on the toilet behind her and sank her head in her palms in frustration. "Nothing I choose will work right!"

END CONFESSIONAL


Sam yawned, stood up, and stretched. He surveyed the rest of his cabin which, save Brick who was reading, were all dormant or floating off to sleep. He felt a strange sensation of pride for clutching up yet another game for his team. Ever since his failure of saving Lindsay in Revenge, he'd worked day and night to be a more integral member of whatever team he'd be coming back to and so far, he'd say it was a qualified success. Sure, he hadn't helped much in the Grand Canyon or in Ireland, but he did help find the painting in Rome and had just won the game in Croatia after Gwen threatened to send them to purgatory again. This pride he was feeling was unnatural, as though he hadn't properly earned it. Nonetheless, he took the time for a midnight snack of Doritos and Mountain Dew.

"Evening soldier." Brick greeted, sitting himself next to Sam at the First Class bar, closing his book and grabbing some rum.

"Oh, hey Brick." Sam sighed, taking another slug of his drink.

"That was some mighty fine shooting today." Brick commended.

"It was nothing." the game guy brushed off.

The cadet looked at him sternly, but then collected himself. "No, seriously man, it was really impressive. I'm very proud of you."

"Eh well," Sam blushed. "I just wanna place better than last time."

"As do I." Brick took a swig from his glass. "But I also won't stoop do any dirty tactics. If I believe I earned the Drop of Shame, I'll take it with honor."

"Yea I get that." Sam said, although internally he was going away from agreeing with the whole 'take the Drop if I earned it' mindset. Why shouldn't he try to save himself, even if he messed up the biggest?

"I hope that the both of us could make the merge though." Brick continued. "Despite our short tour on the Toxic Rats, I always thought you were the most valuable competitor." he paused, rethinking about what he said. "Mentally, I should clarify."

"Thanks!" Sam beamed, perking up a lot, though that may have been in part because of the caffeine. "I do too man! You were definitely the nicest as well as being really strong."

"I appreciate that." Brick said stoically. He swirled his drink, drank the rest of his rum, and turned his glass over. "Goodnight Sam." Brick turned and went back to his recliner, placing the book in the empty seat next to him and laying back to sleep.

"Goodnight." Sam faintly called out to the dozing soldier. He crinkled up and threw away his Doritos bag, went over to the game section, and grabbed a DS to play Donkey Kong before he called it. He looked back over to Brick as the music started, a concerned expression on his face.


Confessional: Sam

"I don't even hope to win this season." Sam plainly admitted. "All I want is to at least make the merge. Maybe even the Final 7. That would be cool." Sam chuckled. He opened the window and was blinded by the daylight. "Crap! I didn't realize it was morning already!"

END CONFESSIONAL


The night went and the morning arrived, with one large Amazonian and one short, pasty goth entering the cafeteria first. The room was desolate, with only one window open, allowing a piercing orange beam of light to lightly illuminate the space. All but one table was coated in filth, Chef apparently too lazy to deal with the messes the teens would inevitably leave behind. The two girls were at the breakfast bar loading their plates.

Jasmine, beaming and giving off a strong energy, loaded her plate full of bacon along side her sunny-side up eggs and assorted fruit. She glanced over to her left to see an inversed image of herself. "Morning Gwen."

Gwen, who appeared completely disheveled from just waking up, sloppily added some toast to her mess of a plate which included sausage and what appeared to be a Chef Hatchet classic of gruel. "Hi Jasmine." the goth yawned, parting her hair as she did.

"Long night?" the Amazonian asked. She sat at the only clean table opposite Gwen, banging her knee on the table in the process. "Bitch." she muttered silently.

"Kinda." Gwen told her, stirring her gruel. "Also kinda baked." she added, stabbing at some sausage. "Also kinda pissed at my team." she grumpily concluded, shoving a concoction of gruel and sausage down her throat.

"I hear ya mate." Jasmine responded in solidarity. "What's rackin' your mind?"

Just as Gwen was about to answer, Owen stumbled out of Loser Class, feelin' a little woozy there from Noah's hypnotic suggestion. The fat boy disregarded saying hi to the women, instead opting to go to town on the breakfast bounty.

Gwen glanced over at Owen, rolled her eyes, and refixed her gaze on Jasmine. "Men." she chuckled.

Owen stumbled over to the table and less than graciously plopped himself next to Gwen, resting his head on the table and drooling.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Jasmine asked, concerned at the fat boy whose eyes were barely open but still looked dead.

"He's just in a food coma." Gwen explained, prodding him in the ribs to get him to groan. "He did the same thing after he beat me in Island, those brownies did a number on him." she smiled dryly.

Owen, meanwhile, was deep inside his food coma. His dream this time around had him surfing a pancake, naked of course, through a blue sky, along with a bunch more flying pancake saucers. He was bobbing and weaving, and was soon joined by Gwen, Leshawna, and Noah all on their own pancakes gliding with them.

As the four of them glided along and laughed together, the sky slowly faded to red, as did Noah's shading. He side-swiped Leshawna's pancake, sending her flying and Gwen and Owen screaming. Noah then flew over to Gwen, lunged at her, and knocked her off her pancake, leaving just the two dudes. Owen was so shocked and scared that he shot himself awake.

"DON'T KNOCK GWEN OFF HER PANCAKE NOAH!" Owen screamed into a more occupied cafeteria, which now also contained Sammy sitting next to Jasmine and Sam pulling up a chair from another table. The four other occupants of the table stared at Owen for a few seconds, waiting for his explanation.

"Heh heh..." the chubby boy nervously chuckled, only receiving perplexed looks back. "I'm gonna go get fifths." He stood up and ambled over to the table, ruffling his shaggy blonde hair.

"I don't really see how people think we're similar." Sam said through bites of bacon, bits getting stuck in his teeth and other pieces being sent on the women he dined with.

"Yea." Gwen trailed off, staring at Owen. Owen wasn't inhaling food as he normally did, taking a particularly long time to assemble a plate. "I'm gonna go." she said, removing herself and her plate from the table.

"So Noah's gonna knock me off my pancake?" Gwen asked the big boy, sweeping the rest of her gruel into the waste bin.

Owen gulped loudly and his face turned a bright pink. "Nooooooo, you've got it all wrong." Owen nervously chuckled. "What I meant was that... uh.. that-um, ummm... that Noah was gonna steal your pancake! He's been trying to bulk up recently." Owen said, nudging Gwen towards the Loser Class door.

As if on cue, Noah strolled out, groaning and stretching to begin the day. His chest was slightly more defined and arms a bit bigger, so Owen's claims didn't appear as off-base as Gwen initially assumed. Still, she didn't fully buy Owen's story, shooting him a "really?" look.


CONFESSIONAL: Gwen

Gwen stares at the camera, looking completely over being in the game. "Owen's dreams are a lot of things, but one thing they always signify is Owen's feelings about the game." Gwen pieced together. "Like last time on the jet when he had that dream about Alejandro using candy canes to pop his balloons." Gwen's eyes widened as she finished her sentence, gasping audibly at the end, and bolting from the confession cam.

END CONFESSIONAL


Gwen ran through Loser Class and scanned for her target. To her surprise, they were sitting silently in a corner, reading a magazine.

"Are you reading?" an incredulous Gwen asked the individual, who threw their magazine to the side upon Gwen's questioning.

"Not anymore. Nothin' sha-interesting anyways." Lightning grumbled, his Sports Illustrated getting crumpled by Gwen attempting to slide it aside.

She sat down next to Lightning and took a quick deep breath. "About our last vote." Gwen started.

Suddenly, the intercom crackled to life and the horrific host's voice came alive.

"ATTENTION CHALLENGERS, PLEASE MEET IN THE FIRST CLASS CABIN AS WE PREPARE FOR LANDING. PRONTO!" Chris screamed over the mic.

"Dammit Chris!" Gwen cursed, getting up and storming off.

"I'M JUST TRYING TO CONTINUE THE GAME GWEN!" the intercom spat back, as if it'd heard Gwen.


The teams assembled in the First Class cabin facing Chris, the host with the most coated in several different and culturally appropriating tattoos symbolic to New Zealanders.

"Goooooooooooood morning campers!" Chris sarcastically greeted, receiving blank stares and scowls back from his audience. "Man, you guys are no fun." he pouted.

"Your definition of 'fun' is far more fucked up than the rest of ours, so I'm perfectly content being lame." Courtney replied.

Chris rolled his eyes at the remark. "Anyways, we're about to touch down in New Zealand!"

"Are the only destinations you can come up with stolen and poorly reused from the more handsome, younger, and overall better version of you?" Noah chided.

Chris pelted the bookworm with a rugby ball, dropping him to the floor. "Any more wise comments?" the host asked as he surveyed the cast and a groaning Noah.

Dawn slid over to Lindsay, the bombshell reapplying a heavy amount of mascara and lipstick. Something within Dawn felt drawn to Lindsay, almost maternally.

"Your lip color is lovely Lindsay." Dawn beamed, flashing a smile. "It really matches your aura."

"Thanks Dana!" Lindsay cheerily responded, then dropped her face. Smoke began emanating from her ears and she stared back at Dawn with confusion plastered on her face. "Where's my aura?"

"It's your energy." The moonchild explained. "It's within you all the time and represents in color the very person you are!"

Lindsay's expression remained the same and she merely tilted her head. "So I'm bright fuchsia?" she asked.

"Yes, you are." Dawn chuckled, blushing. "Would you ever mind sharing me some purple?"

"OOO yes!" Lindsay exclaimed. "Maybe I could give you some green too, it would totally go well with your sweater!"

"That would be really great." Dawn smiled.

"What are you two up to?" Trent greeted, propping himself up against the wall beside Lindsay.

"Oh Trent, Dana was just telling me allllll about my aura!" Lindsay gushed. "Apparently it's bright fuchsia!"

Trent laughed at her comment and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh yea? What's my aura lookin' like Dawn?" the musician asked the moonchild.

"Hmm..." Dawn pondered aloud. She looked Trent up and down, furrowed her brow, and took his palm with her hands. She drew her fingers over the lines in his palm, almost as if she was trying to draw something. She suddenly pushed deeply between his thumb and index finger, causing Trent to yelp and pull back in pain.

Trent recoiled and rubbed his hand of the shock that just went through it. "Ow man! What was that for?"

"Examining the odd color and outline of your aura." Dawn told the still reeling Trent. "You have a base of warm red and streaks of a sharp red, indicating love and aggression. As well, there's another color permeating in the background. May I take your hand again?"

Trent eyed her warily, but reluctantly gave her his palm. "Just no more jabbing."

"Of course." she said. Dawn placed her hand palm to palm in Trent's and closed her eyes. Her face morphed and transformed as she examined Trent's aura. First she looked confused, then surprised, and continuing to stretch her face forward as if to look closer. Suddenly, fear and horror flickered across her face as she let go of Trent's hand and snapped back to reality. She lurched back and gasped, as if she'd forgotten gravity, and stared back at a startled Lindsay and Trent in horror.


CONFESSIONAL: Dawn

The moonchild sat in her typical lotus position, concern etched across her face. "Midnight blue. Of course it's midnight blue!" Dawn rubbed her temples with her hands, groaning lightly. "There's too much unresolved there for it not to be the base of his aura. Unfortunately it happens to be the most prominent part! I can't inform Trent just yet, but I must. Soon."

END CONFESSIONAL


The plane skidded across a rough field, causing the passengers inside to buckle and tumble.

"Move soldiers move!" Chris bellowed, opening the cabin door.

"Sir, yes sir!" Brick shouted as he jumped, being followed by his Chaos team members.

The camera flashed and all three teams were standing amongst themselves, with their backs to the camera and their team icons above their head. Chris stood in front of a violently rushing river, while Chef was less than pleased to be subjected to wearing his pink glittery bikini.

Several contestants either giggled or flat out belly laughed at Chef's outfit, receiving glares and grimaces back from the cook.

"Welcome to New Zealand, home of people with many tattoos, intimidating dances, and football that's somehow more violent than our southern cousins version back home." Chris monologued, afixing his gaze on Noah and Owen. "And for you two, welcome back."

"Oh thanks Chris!" Owen beamed. "But I don't think Noah really likes this place."

"Haha, shut it, man." Noah awkwardly chuckled, jabbing Owen in the ribs.

"Brings up bad memories huh? I get that, I really do." Chris said, feigning sympathy. However, he slowly trickled into giggles and eventually went full blown with laughing at Noah's misfortunes. "Ah, never gets old messing with you kids."

"Anyways, on to your challenge." Chris continued. "For the first leg, one member of your team must sail down the Kaituna River, a wild rapid ride, while collecting as many rings as you can from buoys defended by gremlins. The team who gathers the most rings will win a significant advantage in part two of your challenge."

"Uh, gremlins?" Sky questioned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, they're not gremlins per se." Chris said, lingering on the se. "The quote on quote animals that will be defending the buoys used to be koalas!"

"W-what do you mean, used to be?" Sammy softly asked.

"So, we housed every animal we used and thought we may use for Total Drama on Wawanakwa, and unfortunately for these guys, they got contaminated by the toxic waste from season four. Darn shame" Chris explained.

"You're sick." Courtney scowled.

"Don't blame me, I wasn't responsible for inventory." Chris defended. "But since these guys don't have much else to do, we thought we'd let them have some fun on this challenge. Release them!"

A helicopter in the sky released a cage door, sending a batch of disfigured koalas down onto the buoys, each one having a distinctly Gollum-like look. Their eyes were red and beady, their teeth yellow, jagged, and sharp, and foam spewed from their mouths.

"You sure they ain't got rabies?" Jasmine asked the host.

"Can't say either way Jazzy." Chris admitted. "They might, we didn't bother testing."

"Assuring." Gwen deadpanned.

"Okay, Team Inferno and Omega, you guys both have three attempts, and Team Chaos, since you won last challenge, you get to go four times. However, you're gonna go first." the host explained.

"Seems fair, eh." Ezekiel noted.

"There's a raft at the top of the river for you guys, get up there and good luck, you're gonna need it." Chris concluded, wolfishly grinning at the teens, who exchanged nervous looks.


CONFESSIONAL: Trent

"I'm kinda glad I only did Island and Action man." Trent exhaled. "All the drama of the first World Tour, the mutants in season four, and all that mechanical junk from season five? Man, I dodged a bullet."

END CONFESSIONAL


"Alright, who wants the first crack?" Jasmine asked her boys, who all avoided her gaze.

"I, uh, haven't been around a lot of water, eh." Zeke lied through his teeth.

"You jumped off the cliff in season one, didn't ya?" Jasmine pointed out.

"Yea but-" Zeke was cut off with Sam putting an arm in front of his mouth.

"Why don't you go first Jasmine?" Sam asked the Amazonian. "You are the tallest and strongest of us."

"I suppose that's true." Jasmine replied, rubbing her chin. "Alright, I'll do it."

She strolled over to the raft, which was merely a thin square of logs tied together. She prodded at the edge with her foot, causing a piece of it to chip off.

"Are you sure this is safe?" She called out to Chris.

"When has anything on this show ever been safe?" Chris retorted, laughing at the end of his sentence. "Climb aboard and go!"

Jasmine took a deep breath and boarded the raft, which buckled under her weight. It didn't sink, though, and she was swept away by the rapids. She centered her weight by putting both her feet equidistant from the center on either side of the raft, putting more pressure on whichever foot was towards the direction she needed to go.

"Crikey, this thing is surprisingly fast!" She exclaimed as she whizzed by a buoy, not even attempting to reach out for the ring.

After stabilizing herself and adjusting to the speed, Jasmine began compiling a strong performance. She was able to snag five rings from the buoys before wiping out onto the land at the bottom of the river, whooping once she stood up. Her whooping was cut short as she noticed a Gollum-koala attached to her arm.

"Youch!" She shrieked, flinging the animal off her arm, which was now swelling around the teeth marks. "Nasty bugger."

"And Jasmine sets the bar pretty high with five rings on her first go around!" Chris announced. "Inferno, send someone up."

Before anyone from Team Inferno could argue or shrink away, Scott jumped on the raft, sizing up the path in front of him.

"Those dumb mutants don't stand a chance against the Scott-meister!" The dirt farmer snickered.

Scott went with a staggered stance, putting his left foot in front of the right and also keeping them both off to the sides.

"Go Scotty!" Chris yelled, blowing his air horn which startled the ginger.

"Not cool man!" Scott screamed as he started down the rapids.

Near immediately, Scott snagged a ring off the first buoy with ease, avoiding the koala without a problem. "This is easy!" he laughed, swirling his ring on his finger. Unfortunately, he focused back on the rapids as a buoy came hurtling towards him, knocking him off the raft and giving him some scratches courtesy of a koala.

"Bleughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Scott shouted and he struggled not to drown, flailing his arms rapidly. He sailed past a number of buoys and furious koalas, managing to luckily grab a second ring before he crashed into the dirt wall. He pulled himself up from the dirt sopping wet and throwing up water, setting his rings aside.

"And Scott slots two rings on board for Team Inferno." Chris narrated. "Not the greatest effort, I might add."

"Shut it McLean." Scott sneered, shaking himself dry.

"Oooooo, fiesty!" Chris taunted. "Alright, Omega, who'll it be?"

"Sha-Lightning is on it!" Lightning called out, jumping and landing on the raft, taking a similar stance to Scott.

Courtney stepped up to object, but bit her tongue and stepped back. Noah noticed this, raising his eyebrow in a peculiar manner.

Unlike Jasmine and Scott before him, Lightning had absolutely no problem gliding down the rapids with speed and efficiency, weaving past buoys and avoiding mutant koalas with little to no visible struggling. By the time all was said and done, Lightning had managed to secure all ten rings off the buoys, arriving on land with five rings wrapped around each bicep. He shook them all free and they clattered to the ground as he kissed his biceps.

"Ain't no thing for Light-o-ning!" Lightning gloated.

"Way to go bro!" Owen cheered from the top of the hill.

"Yea Lightning!" Gwen echoed.

"Lightning wraps up round one with ten rings for Chaos, giving them a massive lead over the other two teams." Chris called out.


CONFESSIONAL: Sky

"I gotta say, I wasn't loving our chances." Sky admitted wearily. "And I was more nervous for which one of my alliance mates would potentially fuck up. If we were going to win this challenge, I knew I was going to have to step it up in the second part."


When the camera returned to the teams, Owen wrapped up his run, sinking his raft as he crashed into the bottom of the lake with three rings in tow.

"And that makes it a grand total of 17 rings for Team Omega, putting them in first." Chris narrated.

Lightning kissed his muscles while Courtney looked annoyed and Owen proud of his effort.

"Team Inferno sits at 13, a solid number thanks to the performances of Sky and Trent after Scott's early game screwup."

Scott scowled as Sky and Trent beamed and fist bumped one another.

"Finally, Team Chaos sits at a weak 11 rings." Chris concluded.

Jasmine glared down at Brick and Dave, who both only were able to come up with three rings a piece.

"Can I go again for our final run?" Jasmine asked the host.

"Nope!" Chris beamed. "Either Ezekiel or Sam will have to clutch up for your team in order for you guys to gain the advantage in the second part."

"I don't think I could do it, eh." Ezekiel said, quivering off to the side.

"Static water is fine, but rushing water is what sets you off?" Dave questioned.

"Doesn't mud make you freak out?" Ezekiel shot back.

"Guys, don't worry." Sam said, splitting them up. "I got this." He furrowed his brow in determination.

"Atta boy." Brick clapped his hand on Sam's back, making Sam beam with pride.

"Don't mess this up." Jasmine menacingly told the gamer boy.

Sam gulped, hopping onto his raft with a huff. He looked ahead at his surroundings, which slowly morphed into an 8-bit video game. "Coolllllll." He gawked, readying himself for action.

"Are you ready to rumbleeeeeee?" Chris asked the game guy.

"Time to level up!" Sam called out, leaning forward to set out on his expedition.

Sam raced down the rapids at the fastest speed, using every possible to limb to snag rings. It wasn't all painless though, as koalas jumped and clawed out at him every opportunity they had. Sam got more and more worn down at each buoy but was slowly amassing more and more rings. He made it up to four before reaching the halfway point, causing the members of Inferno to either frown or groan.

"He actually might do this." Jasmine noted.

"Hell yes he will, go Sam!' Brick cheered.

"Ten bucks says he wipes out." Courtney whispered into Noah's ear.

"Deal."

Sam continued soaring down the rapids, missing a couple buoys but also collecting two more, leaving Chaos and Omega tied with 17 rings a piece. Sam's eyes fixated on the last buoy, which he was heading right for, confidence spilling out from his face.

As he neared the buoy, the koala reared its ugly head and yanked the ring off the buoy, snickering. Sam looked perplexed, which then turned to horror as the koala lunged at him. Sam screamed out as the koala connected with his face, clawing him to bits. He never altered his path, leading to Sam crashing head on with a buoy and spilling out on the ground at the bottom of the lake.

Chef turned Sam over with his foot and pelted the Gollum-like creature off the gamer guy. Sam spat up a loogie and coughed, dropping all his rings to the ground. Chef silently counted them with his hands and then refixed his gaze on Sam.

"I'm impressed, Couch Potato." Chef beamed, radioing up to Chris with Sam's count of rings.

"And..." Chris started, pausing for dramatic effect.

"Get on with it!" Courtney commanded.

"Team Chaos takes part one and earns an advantage in part two of the challenge!" Chris announced to the cheers of Chaos and disdain of Omega. "Once again, Sam the game guy proves himself to be a useful asset to the team."

Sam weakly flashed a thumbs up from the bottom of the hill that all of his Chaos members, save one, returned.


CONFESSIONAL: Dave

"I don't really like Sam that much." Dave said plainly. "He's been very helpful so far, but he just seems so weird. He reminds me of Leonard but with video games."

END CONFESSIONAL


"Welcome to part two of your challenge." Chris greeted the contestants with purple, orange, and blue flags sitting beside him.

"In continuation of us paying homage to the greatest fantasy series ever-" Chris started.

"Uh, no." Gwen interrupted. "Harry Potter takes that cake."

"I like Percy Jackson more." Dawn added.

"Anywho." Chris scolded. "Your challenge is to scale this mountain and place your flag on our Eye of Sauron. Which, of course, is a prop guarded by Chef."

A cloud of smoke billowed to the right of Chef and out of it appeared Chef, adorned in a wizard costume that would put Leonard to shame, clutching a giant staff with a large glowing ruby stuffed in the helm.

"Ooooo, soooooooo scary." Scott taunted. "What're you gonna do, nerd us to death?"

Chef glared at Scott, aiming his staff towards the dirt farmer. The rest of Inferno stepped aside from him as Scott was struck with a jolt of lightning, frying him instantly.

"Put." Scott coughed out a black plume of smoke.

"How is that even possible?" Courtney asked.

"Hahahahaha, Harold was a bit bummed about not being invited back to compete this season, so we used his mad tech skills for help in some of the challenges." Chris said darkly.

"That's horrifying, eh." Zeke said, quivering behind Jasmine.

"Don't worry about it mate." Jasmine reassured him, looking pretty nervous herself.

"Now for your advantage." Chris said as he turned to Team Chaos. "Since you guys, or, who am I kidding, Sam won you guys the first part, you guys have a half-hour head start over the other two teams. But be warned." Chris' gaze turned serious. "This is a true Total Drama mountain, fit with booby traps, rabid animals, and the occasional explosive. There's no mutants this time around but you still could get seriously injured. Or die. Who knows. Hehehe haaaaaaaaaaaa." Chris laughed. "Man I love this game."

"Delightful." Dave deadpanned.

"Well, let's get climbing." Jasmine announced to her team, wrapping the Chaos flag around her arm like a tourniquet.

"Wait, what are we supposed to do while they climb?" Courtney shot at the host.

"Stay down here and soak up the beautiful and vibrant culture." Chris chided, cheesily smiling at the CIT.

Courtney merely rolled her eyes in rebuttal.

"Do whatever you want, talk strategy, take a nap, enjoy the scenery, play rugby." Chris listed off. "Just don't interfere with Team Chaos."

Noah was all too pleased at this, propping himself up against a tree trunk with a book. Owen soon joined the bookworm, dozing off next to him belly up.

The rest of Omega and Inferno soon followed, the more competitive contestants such as Courtney and Sky taking the time to observe the mountain while the mellower contestants like Dawn and Lindsay took the break to catch up on some much needed rest.

Gwen glanced over at Noah, who, in addition to Owen, was accompanied by Ella, who was humming to a bird on her finger. The goth then looked towards Lightning, who was alternating between push ups and sit ups. She mulled over who she wanted to talk to, though she looked none too thrilled to talk to either of them.

"98... 99... 100!" Lightning beamed, pushing himself up with enough force to stand entirely upright. "Sha-yeaaaa, I am gorgeous!" He boasted, flexing his chest.

"Normally I don't look much into bodies, but yours is really impressive Lightning." Gwen commented.

"Thanks girl!" The uber jock smiled back. "Lightning's been blessed!"

"Yea, seems so." Gwen disinterestedly continued. "Look, remember earlier how I was asking about last vote?"

"Yea, what about it?" He asked.

"Well, did you vote for Leshawna?" Gwen asked back. "I won't be mad if you did."

"Nope!" Lightning blindly responded, going down for his pushups. "Can you do the Lightning a favor and sit on his back?"

Gwen thought it over for a brief second before sighing and planting herself on Lightning's back. "So then who did you vote for?"

"Sha-none ya business!" Lightning barked.

"Okay, sorry." Gwen sarcastically replied, crossing her legs.

"Put both your legs on Lightning's back." Lightning ordered, not even breaking a sweat despite reaching 50 weighted push ups. "Lightning needs more resistance."

Gwen rolled her eyes and sat lotus style on the season four finalist's back, rolling her eyes.


CONFESSIONAL: Gwen

"God, why does Lightning have to be so impossible to talk to?" Gwen complained, running a hand through her hair. "I need to know who voted Leshawna off and why. Ella said she was convinced, Courtney said she didn't..." She paused and snorted in rebuttal. "She definitely did. So that leaves Lightning, Noah, and Owen." She reasoned aloud. Her face slowly morphed from confusion to realization, and quickly to anger. "That little weasel!" She screamed into the camera.

END CONFESSIONAL


CONFESSIONAL: Lightning

"Lightning doesn't understand what goth girl's problem is." He scoffed, leaning up against the confession cam wall and throwing a tennis ball off the opposing wall. "So what her little friend lost, that's why Lightning doesn't need friends." He caught the ball with one hand and spun it on his finger. "Team Lightning will go back to back!" Lightning flexed, throwing the ball hard off the wall. "Sha-OW!" He exclaimed as the ball smacked him in the forehead.

END CONFESSIONAL


Across the field, Trent sat under a tree idly plucking his guitar while Sammy watched on, enchanted.

Dawn, who sat near the couple, observed this from her lotus position. Dawn still was uncertain as to whether she should tell Trent about his inner lingering issues with Gwen now or later, as she was sure that it would likely cause him some strife and potentially mess up his game.

"You got a song request, Dawn?" Trent called out, noticing the moonchild staring at him.

"Oh, uh..." Dawn started, startled from being abruptly brought back to Earth. "I- uhhh, hmm."

"Oooo, can you play that one really sweet love song?" Lindsay cheerily asked.

"Which one is that again Linds?" Trent asked back.

"You know, the one that goes 'bababababadum bababababadum bababadum bababababadummmmmm'" Lindsay belted out.

"Yea, sure." Trent smiled, flashing a smirk towards Sammy.

Dawn attempted to enjoy the moment, but her face said otherwise.

"What's wrong, am I out of tune?" Trent asked, adjusting one of the nobs on his guitar and flicking a string until Dawn fixed her face.

"No no, not to my knowledge." Dawn eerily responded.

"Then what's wrong?" Trent continued.

"Nothing, it's okay." Dawn quickly said, shutting him down.

"Alright then." Trent replied skeptically, continuing his playing but with a lot less confidence.

Dawn leaned into Lindsay, who was idly painting her nails a new shade of deep orange. "Can you help me?"

"Sure!" Lindsay smiled, taking Dawn's hands.

"No, not with that." Dawn laughed. "Can you go distract Sammy please?"

"Yep!" Lindsay eagerly agreed, plopping herself by Sammy and distracting her. "Hey Sammy." Lindsay cheerily greeted.

"Oh, hi Lindsay." Sammy returned, shaking herself out of her Trent trance.

Lindsay gasped as she looked at Sammy's nails. "OhemGEEEEEE! What color is that?" The bombshell asked, grabbing Sammy's hands.

"It's, uh, red?" Sammy responded, unsure of herself.

"Can I give you a new look?" Lindsay asked, turning Sammy away from Trent and towards her before the nice twin could respond.

With Sammy distracted, Dawn glided over to Trent and resumed her lotus position. He continued to play his guitar, though not in her direction, thus causing him to not realize Dawn staring a hole into his soul. When Trent finally did glance over, he jumped back slightly, banging his head on the tree behind him.

"Ow man." Trent whined, rubbing the back of his head. "What's up Dawn? Why are you staring at me?"

"May I talk to you about something Trent?" The moonchild asked in response.

"I guess." Trent suspiciously agreed, strumming slower.

"It's about your aura." Dawn explained. "I saw some, uh..." She paused, "Peculiar colors while I was performing a reading." She pulled Trent's face further away from Lindsay and Sammy so they were making eye contact. "Would you like to talk to me about any feelings?"

"I don't have feelings for you!" Trent nearly shouted, backing up further. "What the heck Dawn?"

"Not for me." Dawn emphasized, rolling her eyes. "I meant for one of the other girls on our team? Or maybe even on a different team." She trailed off, slinking back and looking out towards the field.

Trent caught her gaze exactly and looked over to Gwen perched atop Lightning's back, looking disinterested. In an instant, he felt all those feelings bubble back up to the surface. Friendship. Admiration. Love. Paranoia. Resentment. Anger. Bitterness. Lunacy. Awkwardness. Disdain. He still remained at disdain as the poignant word to describe his emotions towards his goth lover from season one, but it felt different somehow.

"I don't really wanna talk about it." Trent finally stammered, his face flushing with color as he averted his gaze from Gwen. "Plus, that stuff's all in the past." He craned his neck over to Sammy, who was giggling with Lindsay as they applied make up on one another. "I'm content." Trent confirmed, turning back to Dawn.

Dawn sighed. "If you say you are. I just advise you to deal with your past issues instead of bottling them up. It's not wise." She warned, strolling away and joining the girls.

Trent watched as she walked over, then peered over at Sammy, and finally back over at Gwen. He sat staring at the goth girl for a few seconds until she felt his gaze. Gwen looked up but Trent quickly retreated, mindlessly fiddling with his guitar until Gwen got bored and changed her sights. He let out a low sigh and played a depressing chord on his guitar.


CONFESSIONAL: Trent

The guitarist was visibly shaken up, his standard calmness absent from his usual confession cam pose. "I don't care about my past with Gwen!" He protested to an unresponsive camera. "I don't!" The silence only seemed to unnerve him more. "Really, I don't!" Crickets.

END CONFESSIONAL


"Man, this mountain looks a lot like the one from Mountain Explorers 12: The Final Expedition." Sam lamented, walking slowly at the back of the Chaos pack. They had made decent progress, expected because of their lead, but without time to survey the mountain were stuck ambling up it blind and on the first path they took.

"Y'know, this mountain actually does seem really familiar." Jasmine commented, leading her team. "It kinda reminds me of the island from last season's finale, right Dave?"

Dave, who had been mindlessly following in front of Sam, became startled at the mention of his name. "Um, yea! Sorry, what did you say, I wasn't paying attention." He admitted, returning his gaze down the mountain.

"I said-" Jasmine started, spinning around, causing Brick and Ezekiel to bump into her and fall over. She opened her mouth to continue, but noticed specifically where Dave was looking. "Mate, don't tell me that's what your problem is."

The rest of the Chaos boys turned their attention to Dave, who was still staring down the mountain at one particular contestant. Although no one could tell precisely who it was with how high up they were, everyone had a general idea.

"Brick, Ezekiel, Sam, head up without us." Jasmine barked. "Dave and I need to talk." She tried to sound comforting, but due to her size and thick accent, it was more menacing than anything.

"Yes sir! Er, I mean, ma'am!" Brick replied, marching ahead with the prairie boy and game guy in tow. Once they were out of frame, Jasmine looked back at Dave, disappointment etched across her face.

"Hey Gigantress." Dave smiled sheepishly. "What's up?"

"What's 'up'" Jasmine airquoted. "Is that you're really starting to hold us up mate. I mean, crikey, I had to send our teammates ahead without my supervision just to see what your problem is!" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I thought you resolved your issues after last season's finale."

"I thought I did too." Dave retorted hotly. He took a breath and then sighed. "But I don't know. How do you stop feeling all those intense feelings about someone?" He whined, looking back towards Sky.

"By giving it your all in the competition!" Jasmine rallied.

Dave let out a long, exasperated sigh. "I'm trying. But it's hard to focus."

"Would this be what Sky wants?" Jasmine asked. "You can mope all you want mate, but even with my vote, the other guys might sack you next time we lose since you've kinda been holdin' us back."

"What?!" A startled Dave yelled. "That can't happen, I haven't had any time yet!"

"Neither did Dakota, or Amy, or Leshawna, but they're all gone now." The Aussie explained, ticking off each finger as she went. "You don't want to end up like them, then we need to get up this mountain." She left in a huff, running back up the mountain again.

Dave sighed for a brief moment and pondered his options. He watched Jasmine's hulking frame fade away from his sight and looked back towards Sky. Even though he knew she couldn't see him, he still shot her a troubled look, sighed once more for dramatic effect, and started back up the mountain.


CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine

"I wish I knew what Dave's problem was." Jasmine complained, hat in hand as she was doubled over her knees. "He's really got to get his act together, the rest of us are working as a well oiled machine and this apathetic persona of his really is souring my dough."

END CONFESSIONAL


"Head start is over!" Chris informed Teams Inferno and Omega as he blew his airhorn.

"Finally!" Lightning said, standing straight up and flinging Gwen off his back.

"Thanks teammate." Gwen sarcastically groaned from the ground, sitting up and rubbing a quickly reddening part of her head.

Courtney eagerly went to take the reigns for Team Omega, but was stopped as Lightning reached the flagpole first.

"Sha-yoink!" The uber jock exclaimed, grabbing the Omega flag from the flagpole and tying it around his head like a bandana, the Omega logo front and center.

"Hey!" Courtney whined, before being grabbed by Owen.

"Let him flourish." Owen instructed, looking on in awe as Lightning started sprinting up the hill. Tears cropped up around the corner of Owen's eyes as he started grinning goofily. "I'm so honored to be on his team." The oaf croaked out with pride.

Courtney opted to respond with an eye roll as she watched Lightning bolt up the hill.

"Really, no whining?" Noah asked. "No moaning, no complaining, no insisting we need to stop him? Nothing?"

"Oh would you put a sock in it?" Courtney shot back. "In case you haven't realized, our power house just took off with the only way to win the challenge tied around his microscopic brain, probably so tight that he's actively losing any circulation he still had!"

Ella and Owen gasped as Courtney began heavily seething. Noah struggled to contain a laugh, and Gwen looked understanding.

"Oh dear Courtney, how could you say such a thing about our beloved teammate?" Ella innocently asked the still raging CIT.

"Beloved isn't really the word I'd use." Gwen snorted, strolling over to her teammates. "I can understand being completely engulfed with rage at a teammate." Her words became more sharp as she turned towards Noah to finish her sentence.

"Yea, sure." The bookworm trailed off, tugging at his collar. "Courtney, do you have an idea of how to scale this?" Noah continued, attempting to diffuse the tension.

"Does it even matter?" Courtney sighed. "Lightning ran off with our flag, not much we can do except hope he gets there not last."

"Or..." Gwen lamented.

"Or?"

"Or."

"Or-or-or!" Owen clapped out like a seal, earning the ire of both women. "I'm sorry I don't know what we're doin'."

"We can make sure our opposition doesn't get there first." Gwen spelled out, nudging over to Team Inferno who were in a team huddle.

"Dastardly." Noah quipped.

Gwen glared in response and Team Omega minus Lightning began slowly climbing the mountain.


Scott ran over to grab the flag, but was quickly stopped by an arm from Sky yanking him back.

"If you don't mind, I think I should take the flag." Sky said pointedly, reaching out for the flag herself.

However, it was Scott's turn for stoppage as he grabbed hold of Sky's arm and whipped her around to look at him.

"Why should you take it?" Scott shot.

"Why shouldn't I?" Sky asked defensively.

"Oh please." Scott dismissed. "After watching your lame season, I know that I'm way more suited to deal with deadly challenges."

"Who made the finale in my season Scott?" Sky chided. "Did you even bother to notice that I'm an expert in climbing and all things athletic? Or were you too busy crushing on Sugar?"

"Guys, heyyyyyy, it's okay." Lindsay insisted, stepping between the two hotheads. "Let's just talk this out over some low-cal snacks."

Sky looked at her with confusion while Scott opted to glare.

"I-if it's cool with everyone." Sammy started. "I'll take the flag."

Scott and Sky stared one another down, looking ready to kill the other.

"Fine by me." Scott drawled, turning towards the mountain with a huff.

"Fine!" Sky retorted, whipping herself around in a similar manner to Scott.


CONFESSIONAL: Lindsay

"Okay, so after dealing with Heather." She said, gagging at she did so. "I've become, like, an expert at making people happy. I'm like a pro! I wish I could just get paid to make people happy."

END CONFESSIONAL


Thanks to the diligent scouting by both Courtney and Sky, Team Omega and Inferno respectively weren't far behind Team Chaos, as both former teams had found a more direct path, at the cost of being chock full of hazards. Lightning, or Team Lightning as he was boasting, was cruising along the longest path, running anywhere that looked like up. He was lucky in that his path wasn't littered with traps, but his bashfulness was still fresh in the minds of Team Omega.

"I think I see the top, eh!" Ezekiel cried out as Team Chaos reached the summit.

"You won't go no further!" Chef yelled from atop his fort, leaping off and slamming his staff into the ground, sending sparks flying. "You suckas gotta tie that flag on the big ol' eye behind me," Chef jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to show a glowing, levitating orb. "But that ain't gonna happen." He snickered as he began peppering shots off at the teens.

They all rushed behind cover, with Jasmine and Dave on the left and Brick, Ezekiel, and Sam taking up the right side.

"We need a game plan!" Jasmine barked out, gathering the men's attention. "Dave, Brick, draw Chef's fire!"

"Are you crazy?" Dave screamed out next to her.

"You're one to talk." The Aussie deadpanned. "Sam, Zeke, run around the side and try'n knock the staff outta his hands, yea? Then, I'll bolt up the middle and put the flag on. Ready?" Jasmine looked to the boys, the right side boys nodding in agreement.

"Dave?" She asked her left side companion, who looked bug eyed at the prospect.

"Yea!" Dave shouted with a jolt. "Let's do this!"

The germaphobe charged head first towards Chef, catching Brick off guard. The cadet ran out after him, but was too late to help draw fire.

"Dave, watch out!" Brick called out, but he didn't get the words out in time. Dave turned to look at him but as he did was blasted with a flash of electricity from Chef's staff. Dave went hurtling over the edge of the cliff and out of sight of the rest of the Chaos.

"Ezekiel, go help Brick!" Jasmine ordered, the prairie boy sending a nod her way as he ran out to draw fire.

Sam ran over to try and wrench the staff from Chef as Jasmine looked over the cliff at Dave's fried, flailing body, biting her lip as she did so. Quickly however, she steeled herself and turned back towards Chef, beginning her own assault.


About a quarter from the top, Team Omega still without their mega athlete were plowing ahead with minimal problems, save Owen slipping and falling in some oil slick. Team Inferno was a few paces behind, delayed further by a mine launching Scott backwards.

"I think we're gaining on them!" Trent called out from the front. True to his word, he and Sammy at the front of Inferno were hardly behind Gwen and Courtney at the rear of the Team Omega pack.

"Then run harder!" Sky shouted, supporting Scott like he had a broken leg, spurring her team to run faster.

"I think it's time!" Gwen urged, slightly panicked as she looked over at Courtney.

"Okay." Courtney agreed, looking ahead again. "Owen!"

The big guy slowed down to go in between the two girls. "Yea?"

"It's go time." Gwen said, nodding at Courtney who nodded back.

"O-kay!" Owen said, a big smile stretching across his face. Owen stopped in his track as the rest of his team ran ahead and, as Team Inferno started gaining on him, leapt back in a trust fall.

"Incoming!" Dawn squealed, pulling Lindsay out of the way as Owen's massive frame flew back towards them. Trent did the same with Sammy, and the four Infernos up front were safe from the danger. Owen bounced off the path and started flying upside-down towards the final two Infernos.

"Watch out!" Scott screamed, throwing himself off of Sky and towards the mountainside just before Owen collided with him. Unfortunately for Sky, she wasn't prepared and was in the direct line of attack of the season one winner. Owen flattened Sky, taking the both of them deeper down the mountain.

Sammy peered down the path. "I can't see them anymore."

"They don't have the flag, let's just go." Scott groaned, limping up towards his teammates.

"But-" Sammy started.

"But what?" Scott shot, wrapping his arm around an uncomfortable Lindsay. "She's down, we need to keep going."

"No man!" Trent retorted, turning back towards Scott and down the mountain. "You guys can continue, I'm going to get Sky."

"Me too." Sammy defiantly added, untying the flag from around her waist and throwing it down on the ground.

"I advise we press forward." Dawn eerily told Lindsay and Scott, looking down at Sammy and Trent's disappearing forms as they undid their progress. "We shouldn't interfere."

"Okay." Lindsay agreed, begrudgingly hoisting Scott up as Dawn grabbed hold of the flag. The trio continued upwards at a more modest pace with Dawn in front.

Gwen looked back at the blob that was Sky and Owen bounding down the mountain, along with Sammy and Trent going the wrong way, and finally at the Inferno group that was continuing up the mountain. A smirk crested along her face as she caught up with the rest of her team.

"Worked like a charm." The goth girl snickered, high fiving Ella in the process.

"Wish I thought of that." Noah quipped, shooting Gwen a smile. He was met with blankness in return.

"Let's not squander this lead, shall we?" Courtney interjected, sprinting up to the front of the dwindling Omega pack.

"What does it matter anyways?" Noah asked as he pulled himself up towards Courtney. "I mean, without the flag, we're just running up a mountain to say we ran up a mountain."

"What if Lightning's at the top already and needs our help?" Courtney scoffed. "What if he needs our help right now to win the game?"

Noah rolled his eyes, continuing to jog up the hill but allowing himself to slip to the back of the pack. As he did so, Gwen again sent a dirty look his way, before aggressively wrenching her head back forward.


CONFESSIONAL: Noah

"Okay, I'm starting to feel a bit guilty." Noah tugged on his shirt collar, then rubbed the back of his neck. "It was still a good strategy, but I'm not so sure it was the right call to dump Leshawna so early." He groaned, facepalming as he did so. "Maybe I should've just gone for Courtney."

END CONFESSIONAL


"Get off of me!" Sky protested beneath a monsoon of lard. She scratched and clawed at Owen's girth, but couldn't budge him at all. Eventually, she sent a punch his way, slamming her fist into his rear. Owen, instead of moving, farted straight into her face, laughing as he did.

"Sorry!" Owen awkwardly rolled off the gymnast and stood up, brushing pebbles off his large chest. "Just doing what I had to do." He turned around and began rumbling back up the hill, leaving Sky to catch her breath and to pick herself up.

"Ow." Sky groaned as she heaved herself to her feet, similarly wiping herself clean. She grabbed her shirt and took a whiff, recoiling from the stench that quickly imbued itself in her clothes.

"AGHHHHHHHHHH!" Dave screamed as he plummeted down to Earth. Unluckily for everyone aside from Chris, Dave slammed directly into Sky as he fell, knocking them both to the ground.

"Oh man, ow, oh gosh." Dave groaned, picking himself up. He looked down at who he collided with, and flushed with color. "Oh, uh. Hey."

Sky stood back up again, brushing herself off once again. She was about to lay into whoever it was who slammed her, until she realized who it was. "Oh. Hi."

"Are you busy?" Dave asked, rubbing his arm.

"Gee, I don't know, am I Dave?" Sky sarcastically asked, preparing to walk away again.

"Wait! That was a dumb question." Dave smiled sheepishly, grabbing her arm before she could leave. "Could we just talk real quick?"

"Fine." Sky sighed, turning to face her former crush. "Just don't try anything."

"Well, by 'try anything'," Dave airquoted, a smarmy grin forming across his face. "Do you mean not try to talk to you?"

"Dave, you're eating your words again." Sky said, running her thumb and index finger across her eyebrows.

"Anyways..." Dave blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wanted to actually apologize for everything on Pahkitew. I shouldn't have ignored your but."

"You only ignored one of my buts." Sky teased, prompting Dave's face to redden even more.

"Haha, yea." Dave stammered, somehow feeling even more awkward than before. "But I'm sorry for ignoring what you were saying. And for slowing you down in the finale. And also trying to kill you. And also rooting for you and Shawn to die. And-"

"You've said enough." Sky interjected, shushing him with her fingers. "Look, I don't completely blame you for how things went down."

Dave look bewildered, as if Sky had sprouted three heads. "You don't?"

"No." The gymnast sighed and lowered her head. "I should've told you about Keith at some other point, even after you shut down what I was saying."

"Sorry about that again." Dave apologized.

"Stop, it's okay." Sky urged, annoyance creeping into her voice.

The two sat in silence for a few seconds, waiting for the other to say something with baited breath. Eventually, one of them cracked.

"So, are we good?" Dave asked, desperation filling his voice.

Sky paused, staring into Dave's puppy-dog eyes. Part of her felt Dave's actions were unforgivable and, although he was obviously showing remorse, did not feel inclined in the slightest to forgive him. But the other side, her heart's side, she felt bad for Dave and knew it would be easier for everyone to just forgive him. Plus, maybe a fresh start would be good for her.

"Yes." Sky eventually agreed. "We're good."

"Sky!" Sammy called out, Trent following closely behind. "Are you alright?"

"Yea, I'm good." Sky said, running up to meet her teammates. "Let's keep going." Sammy and Trent ran back ahead and Sky set off to running behind them. She looked back towards Dave with a warm smile, then shot back up the mountain.


CONFESSIONAL: Dave

"Yes, yes, yes!" He pumped his fist in the air after each word. "Finally made everything right with Sky, phew." He wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead. "It feels like a giant weight's been taken off my shoulders."

END CONFESSIONAL


"Man, this mountain is sha-huge!" Lightning complained as he ran along his trail. He had been lucky to avoid any major traps or penalties, but that was only due to how long it was taking him to climb the mountain.

Unbeknownst to him or his teammates, Team Omega was on the path only a few meters above Lightning's.

As Lightning sprinted ahead, he failed to notice an odd, glowing clump of dirt in his path. He unwittingly continued forward, stepping on the hazard as he did. The hazard happened to be a mine, causing the athletic overachiever to fly upwards straight in the air with a shriek. Courtney looked right towards the plume of smoke forming and saw Lightning's spinning, screaming form.

"Guys, I see Lightning!" Courtney shouted, peering over the edge at Lightning who'd slammed back into the ground, groaning as he slowly regained his footing.

"How did you manage to be right under us this whole time when you ran ahead way before us?" Noah snarked, placing himself next to Courtney as Gwen followed on Courtney's right.

"It doesn't matter." Gwen shot at Noah. "Lightning, can you climb up to us?"

"Sha-easy peasy!" Lightning boasted, beginning to scale the mountain with Izzy-like efficiency.

Owen had finally caught back up with his team, flopping over with a heave, startling the rest of Omega who were watching Lightning fly up the side. He rolled over with a large gasp, taking big, rapid breaths.

"What'd *gasp* I *wheeze* miss?" Owen panted from the ground.

"Us getting back in the game." Gwen smirked as Lightning threw himself up over the ledge, performing a triple somersault as he did so.

"Awesome!" Owen beamed as Noah and Ella helped the big guy off the ground.


Team Omega was able to quickly make their way to the crest of the mountain, which was now occupied by the half of Team Inferno that continued ahead along with a still struggling Team Chaos minus Dave. Unfortunately for the other teams there, virtually no progress had been made. Brick and Sam were being repeatedly blasted, Sam in particular looking a lot worse for wear. Ezekiel had taken a lot less volts but was nonetheless mildly hindered, while Jasmine had been lucky enough to avoid many major blasts. She had only managed to reach the eye one time, and just as she went to untie her flag, Chef blasted her with the staff, knocking her through one the pillars surrounding the orb.

Team Inferno wasn't fairing much better either, mostly because Dawn and Lindsay were poor at drawing Chef's fire or taking the staff. Every time they went to distract for Scott, Chef was either able to blast the dirt farmer away or hit the girls towards him. The one time Scott had almost made it, a spring trap popped up and threw Scott backwards into his teammates.

"How are we supposed to make it to the eye?" Ella asked aloud to her team as Scott flew past her shrieking in the background.

"Owen, can you do a sequel?" Noah prodded his buddy in the ribs.

"No problemo!" Owen shot a double thumbs up to Noah, steadying himself to run over. Courtney quickly tugged on his ear and kept him back.

"Ahem." The CIT cleared her throat, garnering both the ire and the ears of her team. "We need a plan. If Owen just runs up to Chef, he'll get blasted back for sure and we just wasted time." She explained as Ezekiel took another blast, groaning loudly as he flew into Jasmine.

"Okay." Gwen turned towards Noah with a dark smile. "Why don't you go distract Chef?"

"Uh, why ask the least athletic person on the team to go dodge lasers?" Noah retorted, rolling his eyes. "You and Ella should do it, you're more nimble than me." The bookworm glared at the goth, who glared back with vigor.

Courtney quickly interjected, stepping between the two with poignant Courtney-ness. "How about we all go? We distract Chef, get Owen to engulf him, and then Lightning ties on the flag for an easy win. Good?"

"Fine." Gwen spat, turning towards Ella.

"Whatever." Noah grumbled, going over towards Owen.

"Oh yea, Team Lightning for the win!" Lightning whooped, getting down in a runners stance.

As Team Omega steadied themselves, the other half of Team Inferno bounded up the hill.

"Alright, now!" Courtney cried out as the rest of her team ran forward. Unknown to Team Omega, Team Chaos and Scott were each listening in and timed their runs perfectly with Omega. Sammy, Sky, and Trent watched on as Courtney, Ella, Gwen, Noah, and further behind them Owen sprinted head on at Chef as Brick, Ezekiel, and Sam swarmed him from the left and Dawn and Lindsay came in from the right. Chef was able to get a few blasts off but was soon overwhelmed as the campers hoarded around him and dogpiled the cook, Owen topping it off by leaping on top of everyone in the pile.

Jasmine, Lightning, and Scott all exchanged glances and bolted for the eye.

"Stop them!" Sky called out, Sammy and Trent following just behind her.

It was a rough, violent affair to get to the eye. Trent tried to jump on Jasmine's back but was taken down by a stiff arm from the Amazon. Lightning hockey-checked Scott, sending him groaning through another pillar by the orb, but Sky quickly jumped on Lightning's back and put him in a headlock. She couldn't bring him down fully, but he was slowed down enough to where he couldn't claim victory.

"What'd I miss?" Dave asked as he finally returned to the top of the mountain. He quickly went bug-eyed at the mayhem surrounding him, and froze on the spot.

"Grab them Dave!" Jasmine ordered as she threw a clinging Trent off again. "What the?"

While Jasmine was distracted, Sammy leapt over and wrapped herself around Jasmine's ankles. Jasmine shook her legs violently, but Sammy stayed put. "C'mon Sammy, bugger off!"

"I need to win, Jasmine." Sammy tightened her grip around Jasmine's ankles. "I'm sorry."

Scott finally managed to recover from his sudden fusion dance with a stone pillar and made his was back towards the orb, though very gingerly. Dave, still just loitering by the mountain's peak, looked over towards Jasmine, then to Scott, then back to Jasmine.

"Don't look at me mate, tackle him!" Jasmine barked, inching forward despite Sammy's incessant clinging.

"Oh, right." Dave said, running over to grab Scott.

Scott, to his credit, did pick up the pace when he saw Dave gaining on him, but was still losing ground to the 'normal guy' nonetheless. Sky flicked her eyes over to Scott and saw Dave gaining on him, suddenly getting a brilliant idea. She leapt from Lightning's back and pinned Dave to the ground with ease, allowing Scott an opening but also giving Lightning away for free.

Lightning charged ahead, not even bothering to hit Scott again as he deemed him too far away. Lightning yanked off his bandana and tied it upon the orb.

"Sha-boo yah!" The uber jock exclaimed.

"Lightning ties Team Omega's flag around the Eye of Drama, giving them the win and first class privileges." Chris announced as he flew up on his jetpack. "Lightning wins MVP honors."

"Make that number 37 for the Lightning." Lightning flexed.

Dave wriggled under Sky's pinning, but her strong lower body and rugged core kept the scrawny boy from being able to move around too much. He was eventually able to wrestle himself over enough to flip onto his back and be able to look Sky in the face.

"I thought we were good!" Dave choked out, clearly fighting back tears.

"Being good doesn't mean I'm going to let you make my team lose." Sky explained, keeping Dave firmly locked in place.

Dave sniffed. "Did you have to be so hard though?"

Sky ignored him. "Tie the flag Scott!"

"I'm trying!" Scott shouted back, just now managing to limp his way over to the levitating orb. He was shakily trying to untie the Inferno flag from his arm, clearly still suffering from being thrown through a pillar.

"Not like this..." Jasmine groaned as the weight of Sammy and now Trent, who'd leapt up and wrapped himself around her torso, were weighing her extremely down. With a grunt, she shook Trent off once more and jumped straight in the air, shaking Sammy free in the process. "Yes!" She whooped.

"Don't matter, sissy." Scott chided, finally tying the Inferno flag around the orb.

"And Scott the Saboteur gives Team Inferno second place!" Chris continued, flying down as the teens who were crushed by Owen slowly started regaining their footing. "Team Chaos, you're sending someone out the jet door tonight."

"No." Jasmine moaned, untying her flag and throwing it on the ground in front of her. She looked over at Dave, who was being helped up by Brick after Sky got off of him, and shot daggers in the germaphobe's direction.

Dave didn't let this go unnoticed, but chose to deal with more pressing matters first. "So, what was that?"

Sky whipped her head around from her celebrating team and immediately flushed with color. "What was what?" She asked, her tone slightly defensive.

"Tackling me to the ground?" Dave nearly shouted, his face also getting red.

"It's called making sure my team doesn't lose." Sky told him. "You were going to tackle Scott, I had to stop you so we didn't have an elimination."

"But we just buried the hatchet!" Dave protested.

"Okay?" Sky brushed off. "This is still a game, and a game that I actually want to win this time around. No hard feelings, okay?"

"No!" Dave shot. "Not okay! No-kay!"

Chris popped up between the pair. "Uh, dudes? I got a show to run here and as much as I love some drama, we need to get back to the jet. Capiche?"

Dave turned and left with a huff, his feelings obviously severely hurt.

Sky looked on after him, but bit her tongue and instead turned towards her team.


CONFESSIONAL: Sky

Sky looked towards the confessional with a torn expression plastered across her face. "I didn't mean to be so rough with Dave when I pounced on him, it's just..." She trailed off, peering out towards the orange sky. "If I didn't, Scott wouldn't have tied the flag on the eye, and one of us would be going home. And we would've lost another challenge, which is unacceptable. I came here to win." Sky slammed her fist into her other palm. "Not deal with more boy drama. I want to play a fully strategical, smart, and strong game." She tried to sound intense, but doubt was clearly creeping into her voice. "I'm sorry Dave, but I did what I had to do." She looked back out the window, and heaved out a long sigh. "Maybe I shouldn't have been as rough with him as I was."

END CONFESSIONAL


Sky exited the confessional looking rather weary, and was surprised to see Dave waiting for her.

"Oh." Sky stammered. "Hey."

"Hey." Was all Dave could muster. He looked even weaker than Sky, and bruises were starting to creep up and down his arms.

"Did you hear anything I said in there?" Sky cautiously asked.

"Everything." Dave said.

"Dave, you do get this is a game, right?" Sky pressed.

"Yea, I know." Dave replied defensively. "That doesn't make my feelings immune."

"Tackling you wasn't anything malicious, I swear!" Sky insisted, placing her hand on Dave's shoulder. "I want things to be okay with us, but I also want to win. Don't you want to win?"

"Ugh, I don't know." Dave groaned, placing his hands in his head. "Maybe? Kinda? I'm not sure anymore."

"Look, for what it's worth, I'm sorry." Sky told him, moving her head to Dave's chin and lifting his face up to make eye contact with her.

"Thank you." Dave choked out. "I'm sorry too. I think I've been taking everything to heart when I haven't needed to."

"Yea, you think?" Sky teased, chuckling as she did.

"Yea." Dave blushed, rubbing the back of his head.

As the two looked at one another, the intercom crackled to life.

"ATTENTION TEAM CHAOS MEMBERS. PLEASE DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO WHERE DAVE AND SKY ARE BEING ALL MUSHY AND CAST YOUR VOTES. MEET ME AT THE ELIMINATION CEREMONY IN 15 MINUTES. MCLEAN, OUT!"

Sky looked up at the confessional, bewildered. "When did he even have time to put the passports in? I was just in there!"

Dave, who looked as though he wanted to choke Chris, noticed Chef walking down the hallway. "I think I have an idea."

"Well, good luck tonight." Sky cheerily told him. "I'm gonna go chill in the peanut gallery." Sky slid her hand across Dave's shoulder as she left.

"See you." Dave called out, watching as Sky disappeared through the flap separating the confession cam from the elimination area.


"Well, well, well." Chris cackled, loving the visible tension. "What a fun Lord of the Rings-y day, huh guys?"

"Yea, it was a riot." Noah deadpanned from the peanut gallery. He occupied the top leftmost spot, with Owen to his right. Gwen was next to the big guy, not so subtly throwing icy glares towards Noah, while Ella next to her looked on in with angst. Courtney and at the far right Lightning looked unbothered, Lightning in particular slyly grinning to himself after another win.

The bottom row of the gallery had a bruised Trent sitting on the far left with Sammy holding an ice pack up to his head. Dawn stared eerily at the duo while Lindsay continued to look unbothered and Scott sat with a particularly deep scowl. Sky was looking on towards the Bleachers of Loserdom, straining a smile towards Dave, who actually reciprocated her efforts.

"Your votes have been cast and I gotta tell ya, a 3-2 split is never what you wanna see." Chris grinned as each member of Team Chaos either gulped or began perspirating.

"Now, onto who's safe." Chris said as he faked ruffling through passports.

"Brick. Sam." Chris listed off as he threw the barf bags. "You Revengers live another day." The two boys shared a fist bump and leaned back.

Jasmine began to squirm in her seat, Ezekiel started pulling his toque lower to his face, and Dave's eye started twitching as his smile became more strained.

"Last person with no votes..." Chris drew out, watching the eyes of Dave, Ezekiel, and Jasmine flick between him and a barf bag. "Jasmine." The host announced, chucking the bag at Jasmine full force.

The Aussie was able to scoot to the side, causing the bag slam into Brick's face. The soldier began retching and gagging as the barf that now caked his head.

"Dave, Zeke." Chris said, pausing to look at both boys. Ezekiel's toque was nearly fully covering his eyes while Dave's smile had completely evaporated to show the nervousness that now consumed him. "You're both on the chopping block for pretty valid reasons."

Chris turned towards Dave. "Dave, your weird situation with Sky and overall crabby mood have really ruined the vibe within your team. And let's not forget that your own former crush stopped you from helping Jasmine win it today." Chris finished with a laugh.

Dave said nothing to defend himself, just looking off to the side and hanging his head in shame.

The host then turned towards Ezekiel. "Zeke. You, uh," Chris paused, looking for the right words. "You've been kinda wimpy so far man. You also picked a pretty bad ally in the early game and she's already gone. Might've put a target on your back, eh?" Chris mocked.

"Probably wasn't the best choice, eh." Ezekiel admitted. "But she kinda forced me into it."

"Yea, yea, whatever, don't care." Chris ignored. "The Chaosian taking the Drop of Shame is...

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Dave!"

Ezekiel released his white knuckle grip on his toque and breathed out a quick sigh, watching as the barf bag sailed over his head.

"Dave, get ready for the drop bro." Chris told the 'normal guy', tossing him a parachute.

"Sorry mate." Jasmine consoled. "I didn't vote for ya, if that makes you feel better."

"It's okay." Dave wistfully told her. "My head wasn't really in it."

Dave made his way towards the plane's exit, gazing out over the purple haze that lit up the sky. He was quickly yanked back from the edge by Sky, who whipped him around so they were face to face.

"I'm sorry Dave." Sky said, tears cropping up at the side of her eyes. "I didn't mean to throw you off your game."

"It's not your fault." Dave told her, giving her a heartwarming smile. "I haven't been in it this time around."

"Still, I feel bad. I kinda cost you the challenge." Sky blushed and rubbed her arm.

"It's fine Sky." Dave warmly told her. "Good luck Jasmine!" Dave called out to his former teammate, who shot him a thumbs up.

"Goodbye Sky, good luck." Dave said, turning towards the Jumbo Jet's exit door. "You better have actually put a parachute in here this time, Chris!"

"All chutes guaranteed." Chris rolled his eyes. "I got so much flack for that TEENSY gag."

"Here goes." Dave squatted down and leapt out the door with a shriek. Sky watched him fall for a bit before turning back to leave with a sigh.

"Wow, Dave is out early!" Chris shouted towards the camera, wrapping Sky in a side arm hug. "Who'll be the next to be dumped out of my luxury jet? Will it be Sky?" Chris asked as a squirming Sky managed to free herself from Chris' clutches, glaring at the host as she stormed off. "Find out right here next week on Total! Drama! World Touuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrr! Volume 2!"


Voting Confessionals:

"I don't think I earned the Drop of Shame for today's efforts, therefore I'm voting for Dave." Brick explained, stamping Dave's passport. "He went AWOL when we needed him most, and that's not what being a good soldier is all about.

"I want to vote Sam, but Jasmine's convinced Ezekiel is the best option." Dave told the camera as he stamped Ezekiel's passport. "I just hope someone can see the position I was in and cut me some slack."

Ezekiel said nothing, instead just stamping Dave's passport with a douchy smile.

"I told Dave to vote for Ezekiel, and hopefully Sam will come through." Jasmine stamped Ezekiel's passport. "Dave's gonna be real lucky if he makes it through tonight. And if he doesn't, I'm kinda screwed here."

"One thing I've learned from playing so many MMORPG games is that you never leave your party behind." Sam went to press Dave's face, but hesitated. He scratched the back of his neck and screwed his eyes tight, slamming the stamp down on Dave's passport. "Sorry Jasmine, but Dave's game is over." Sam chuckled as the confession cam cut to static

FINAL TABULATION:

Dave: 3 votes (Brick, Ezekiel, Sam)

Ezekiel: 2 votes (Dave, Jasmine)


Chaos: Brick, Ezekiel, Jasmine, Sam

Inferno: Dawn, Lindsay, Sammy, Scott, Sky, Trent

Omega: Courtney, Ella, Gwen, Lightning, Noah, Owen

Eliminated: Dakota, Amy, Leshawna, Dave


Reasoning: So Dave was originally gonna merge, believe it or not. My original theory with him when I first got into making this story a couple years back (btw super embarrassed about my old writing, so much OOC and poor continuity, sorry dudes) was that I would have him outlast Sky, maybe even get her eliminated, and then simmer until the early merge as a mild antagonist. But as I thought about it more and more, I just decided against it. Why? Cuz Dave fucking sucks as a character. Like man, I rewatched Pahkitew Island and his only tolerable scenes for me are early episodes with Sky and that Ella scene in that ep where Amy returned. He's insufferable, so I just decided fuck it, I'm throwing him a bone here and gonna just chuck him out by resolving whatever the hell he's got going on with Sky. I'm strongly considering adding him to the next season I wanna write so for the four Dave fans out there, stay tuned.


I started writing this chapter 6 months ago. I have a phenomenal update schedule, I know. What's crazier is that I started writing this story again last week and I had like, 3000 words? And now I'm floating near 14,000. Wild.

So whad'ya think? Love it? Hate it? Think it's mid? Slide a review your boy's way. Looking for all the criticism I can get after those abysmal first chapters. I'm tempted to just tell people to start reading from this chapter or maybe last. I'm finally gonna try and tell long terms stories!

Who do you think's gonna be the next boot? How will Team Chaos fair being down 2 members on the other teams? Are you guys excited for the Aftermath episode? I'm not!

So far, based on the reviews, the Aftermath will be hosted by Gidgette, and will contain Cody, Duncan, Eva, Harold, Jo, and Shawn on the panel. Four spots left people, fill em up or I'll fill em (Cody and Jo were handpicked by me :)). Reminder to go vote on my page's poll please!

Until next time, shuppyer out.