Let us journey somewhere I'm going very soon! Thanks for reviewing, IllusionSign, but if it's a romance ship, I'd say don't.

After the elimination, I met Courtney in the cargo hold to see how she was. "What's up?" I asked.

Courtney gave a sigh. "I'm trying to ignore Gwen, like you said, but it's so hard. I just want to lose a challenge so I don't have to look at her, but I have to do it accidentally-on-purpose so Heather doesn't know I'm doing it, because I need her vote!"

"If you want to throw challenges, I'm fully behind you on that!" I laughed. "Let my team win, right?"

Courtney laughed too, but then became serious. "I don't want to lose. I'm not going to let anything stand in my way from winning this time. I just need to make it to the merge."

I gave a sigh. "Okay, let's keep this conversation off strategy. We're not on the same team, this time. Also, sensitive territory, since I'm not breaking friends with anyone over this. But because I want to help you, Courtney, I'll give you a warning: Please, please don't listen to Alejandro. I've been on a team with him from when I joined and trust me, if you let him in, it'll only cause trouble. I prefer to play fair at this point."

Courtney brushed my concerns off. "I don't think he'll cause that much trouble. I didn't listen to what he said about flirting with someone else, right? I don't have to listen to his 'strategies'."

But she didn't count on the strategy the boys decided on. "We must rise up and ignite the fires of victory!" Alejandro told our team.

"I'm all for starting fires." Duncan joked.

"And making sure they burn everything." I teased.

"The Amazons are only strong because they have both Courtney and Heather." Alejandro continued. "We need to break them apart. But how?"

Owen raised his hand. "Ooh, ooh! Act like you're crushing on Heather, and she'll go home, same as Bridgette and Leshawna!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Wait a second. What did you do to Bridgette? Chris said she wasted time making out with a flagpole in the Yukon. Everyone else told me you did something to her. What happened?"

"I did nothing to her that I wouldn't have done to any other contestant." Alejandro said, with such conviction that I almost believed he was all right. "I was truly fond of both her and Leshawna. I suppose I could attempt a false seduction, but it goes against the gentleman's code."

"There's a code for that crud?" Duncan said incredulously.

"And if I seduce Heather, Courtney will remain unaffected. If only we could weaken both at once..."

"Easy." Duncan scoffed. "Heather's kind of into you, right? So, seduce Courtney."

"Of course! If I flirt with Courtney, it will distract both of them from the game at hand, and one will surely vote the other out! Brilliant idea, Duncan."

I glared at Duncan pointedly. He gave me a cool stare back, and then asked "What's wrong, Stephie?"

"Listen," I hissed, "I get that this is a game, but are you honestly telling Alejandro that it's okay for him to play with Courtney's heart? She's already broken, there's no need to break her again, just for a stupid suitcase of money."

But to my horror, when we were called to the common area, Alejandro's magic powers of seduction were as strong as ever. He instantly went to work. "Courtney, we need to talk."

Courtney looked over at him and said "Whatever Duncan said about me, it isn't true."

"Believe me, I never listen to a word he says." Alejandro said, in a tone that, again, made me believe it. "In fact-" He whispered something to Courtney, and when she asked for confirmation, he replied "Any man who cannot percieve your true worth is a fool. What I wouldn't give for a chance to..." He cut himself off. "No. Forgive me...I've said too much." And as he walked away, Courtney watched him, seeing him in a different light.

"Hook, line and sinker." Duncan murmured with a smirk.

I shoved him. "You do realize the only reason she's falling for this is because of what you did to her? I just hope she doesn't get hurt."

"You all right?" Heather asked her.

"Never better." Courtney assured her, smiling. Heather shot a glare at our team.

I went over to Alejandro. "I know that this is a game, but as a halfway decent human being, I feel that I have to request something. Please, please, don't hurt Courtney too much. She's gone through enough."

Alejandro's expression remained calm and serene. "Stephanie, I'm not going to hurt Courtney." he said softly. "I have just as much empathy for her as you do. You know that my intention is to distract her from the game, not to break her heart. I promise, I'll simply give her the support she craves, and just add that little bit more that keeps her from playing to her full potential."

I gave him a skeptical look. "And you promise you won't let her get hurt too much?"

"I swear."

I had to leave it at that. I had absolutely no problem with distracting Courtney, after all, so why shouldn't we do that?

We actually had to jump out of the plane flying low. I was in the confessional talking about the Courtney thing, then as I went back to the common area, I heard Chris and Chef talking in the cockpit.

"Uh-oh." I heard Chef say.

"Uh-oh funny or uh-oh we're all gonna die?" Chris asked him.

"The landing gear won't come down."

"How does THAT happen?!" Yes, we had to jump out of the plane because the wheels wouldn't work.

For once, we were somewhere I'd actually been before – Australia. Last time I'd gone, it was when I was thirteen, because Bart had committed fraud, since he'd wanted to prove Lisa wrong about the Coreolis effect and made a collect call to Australia to a little kid, then gotten bored and left the phone off the hook for hours. We'd stayed at an American embassy, and Bart had to go to court and apologize to the whole country, before nearly getting kicked with a giant boot. In the end, it had been argued down to kicking Bart just once with a regular shoe, but in response, Bart had written "don't tread on me" on his butt and mooned the Australian government while humming the national anthem. We'd also accidentally brought a koala home, but luckily, once the helicopter landed, we shipped it back to Australia.

This trip would be very different, though. Chris told us that the first challenge was an emu race to Hanging Rock. Yes, we had to catch and ride a bunch of emus to that place where three girls once went missing.

Getting to an emu was pretty tricky, especially considering that it's tied with the ostrich as the dumbest bird ever, with an eye that's bigger than its brain. That said, it wasn't as hard as Courtney was making out. I actually saw her push an emu away to pretend that she was having trouble! In the end, Alejandro actually helped her onto one.

Duncan had some trouble, due to Cody sabotaging him. "Oops! Sorry!" the pipsqueak called back cheerfully.

"You did that on purpose!" Duncan accused. Cody blew a raspberry.

I kept Duncan company for a little while on my emu, and I related the story about Bart. "Originally, the Conover guy said they'd imprison Bart for five years, and Dad said that'd be fine, but Mom wouldn't let them do it. So...yeah, a free trip to Oz."

Duncan laughed. "Sounds cool. I'd take the booting if I got a free trip somewhere. Anything else happen?"

I remembered something else, laughing. "While they were working things out, Mom grabbed the phone off Conover and made this impassioned speech about how she could punish her son herself and as humans, both Australia and America could agree that was what should happen to a ten-year-old. Then when Conover took the phone back, they agreed that Mom wasn't allowed to use the phone again." We both burst out laughing.

However, a day later, when we caught up with Cody, I left Duncan in the dust when Cody tricked him into bumping into an angry kangaroo. A red kangaroo, in fact, pretty rare. And I think it was female, because when I finally arrived at Hanging Rock, two days after I'd begun (fourth, behind Alejandro, Heather and Courtney), Duncan was dropped off by the kangaroo, who'd carried him in her pouch.

"You get back here, one more round!" Duncan called after her. "I didn't hear no bell!" He got one more punch for that.

Gwen finally arrived, and gave him a concerned look. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing I will ever admit to."

Sierra was the last member of Team Amazon to arrive, being pecked by her emu. "Stupid...OW!"

As for my team...we were still waiting on Owen. While we were waiting, Chris explained the challenge – we had to bungy jump off Hanging Rock, plummet down and try to grab a sheep. Then we would have to shear them. Three of them had a tattoo of our team logo (Chris' face) and another three had a tattoo of Team Amazon's logo (the female symbol – poor Cody. I should add here that Team Victory's logo was a trophy"). The winners would be the first team to find a sheep with their logo, but while Team Amazon got an electric razor and could start straightaway, we had gardening shears and had to wait for Owen.

The only good thing about that was that none of us had to sing. Heather began the song this time. "Shearing sheep, don't be a creep, it's the only way we'll fly First, peeps!
Win the game, don't be so lame, try to lose this and your face I'll maim!"

Courtney sang the next lines, her gaze flicking towards Alejandro at one point. "Shear the sheep then with a smile, make yourself a giant woolly, woolly, woolly pile!

You had your chance and you turned him down, so don't be giving me no cranky frowns!"

Both girls and Gwen sang the next line. "We are shearing sheep, we are shearing sheep, we are shearing sheep, we are shearing sheep!"

Heather sang the last verse by herself, before they all chorused what they were doing once more. "Shearing sheep instead of you, only cause you don't have any, a tattoo!

I'll find the logo, we'll win again, and I'll be here, until the bitter end!"

After the song, Alejandro looked over at us. "Courtney's coming along, but I still don't have her trust." he told us.

Duncan grinned. "No problem, just follow my lead." He immediately shoved our other teammate, making the other girls look up. "Not cool, man, not cool!"

Alejandro caught on instantly. "But she's your ex! And I cannot help the way I feel about her!"

"Well, figure it out, or you're gonna feel a whole lot of pain!"

I jumped in. "Guys, stop!" I said. "Teammates, remember? The game comes first, relationships, second. Besides, Duncan, you were the one who cheated on Courtney, so why should you care?"

Courtney was still staring, so Duncan shot a glare at me. The minute she looked away, he and Alejandro both grinned deviously at both each other and me, just as Sierra jumped off the cliff, forgetting the bungy cord.

And that was the moment Owen arrived. It was time for us to take the plunge. Owen came up with something. "Hey, check it out! I caught one that's already sheared!"

Alejandro looked sideways at Duncan and I, amused. "How long until he realizes it's a dingo?"

"Three, two, one..." Duncan and I chorused. The dingo started attacking Owen.

I took a jump and grabbed a sheep, while Alejandro went back to flirt a little more with Courtney. "I've been thinking about the future." he said softly.

"You have?" Courtney asked.

"Yes. Tomorrow, and the day after, and even the day after that."

"I'm aware of what the future is."

"Not when it comes to me."

As it was, my sheep did the trick. We won, and Team Amazon was facing their first elimination. Courtney looked over at Duncan, pointed at Gwen and drew a finger across her throat.

I met Courtney in the cargo hold before elimination. "How are you holding up, Court?" I asked her.

"All right." Courtney assured me. "But I'll be a lot better once we've voted Gwen off. I just hope Chris isn't going to tell us it's a reward challenge again."

I felt very disloyal to Gwen, but my sympathy for Courtney stopped me from defending her. "Anyway," I said, "What was Alejandro saying to you earlier today?"

Courtney's face lit up, and I felt a pang. "I think he really likes me! He wanted to let me win until I said I wanted to lose this challenge. Plus, flirting with him is really annoying Duncan. And Heather says she's not into Alejandro, but it's pretty obvious she's jealous." She giggled. "I mean, it's Heather! It's fun to annoy her."

I gave a sigh. "That's true. But I'm still worried about you, Court. Alejandro said to me a couple of challenges ago that he really likes me, and that he's not using his emotions right now – that he came into the game as someone without emotions."

Courtney shrugged. "That's all right. But flirting with him is still annoying Duncan, so I'll keep playing flirty. Don't worry, there's no way I'd fall for him."

Well, that was reassuring. I just hoped she'd be able to resist him.

Gwen was voted off that night. She lost a tiebreaker when she and Courtney got an equal amount of votes.

Yeah, Gwen's gone. Sorry.