Total Drama Pizza Party Chapter 5: See? I Can Play The Strategy Game Too!, a total drama series fanfic

Chef and Chris stood before the fountain in the plaza.

"Last time on Total Drama Pizza Party!" Chef began. "The first Pineapple a' the game had been played, and Pepperoni Red made it their mission to climb outta the pit they'd been thrown in."

"Turns out, Orson's not just Sawyer's little coffee boy!" Chris laughed. "I mean, he totally is, but he's got a social game underneath all that... nothing he has going for him. He and Sawyer both reached out to the others to make sure they weren't completely screwed."

"In doin' so, people started to wonder if Lazarus's idea to shack up Pink, Green, n' Red pairs wasn't so bad after all," Chef continued. "Unbeknownst to them, Ichabod kept a strong hand over his own alliance, makin' sure those very pairs were his group's targets. N' these groups don't even know about the other!"

"In more lighthearted news, Alex got Sawyer to try doing something fun for once," Chris chuckled. "Charlie waxed philosophical to Sunshine, who absolutely didn't get what he was saying. Remi continues to enable Veronica in doing whatever weird stuff she's on about at any given hour. And Aoi, of course, remains as impenetrable as ever."

"The Invincibility Challenge was a battle of endurance," Chef recapped. "Players hung on tight over a big ol' pool a' maple syrup, hopin' not to end up in the sticky substance. Heh heh heh. Some folks tried harder'n others. Some failed despite tryin' their best! Orson n' Sawyer had to contend with the fact that their bars were covered in syrup, thanks to the Pineapple disadvantage. Sawyer lasted a damn long time, but it wasn't enough to beat both members of the Mushroom Blue Pair, who won the challenge!"

"Not only were the big boys safe for the night, but in an additional twist, they got to pick one pair to be vulnerable in the Half n' Half Challenge," Chris nodded. "These duels between two pairs will determine who goes home each round."

"They chose Pepperoni Red, lightin' even more of a fire underneath 'em," Chef confirmed. "Despite not havin' a vote of his own, Ichabod pushed his alliance into votin' for Bacon Pink. Pepperoni Red, meanwhile, tried to spin the others into votin' Anchovy Gray, seein' them as the easiest to beat in a challenge."

"And those efforts paid off!" Chris revealed. "Orson and Sawyer versus Aoi and Peter. Even with his position in the game on the line, Aoi simply didn't try in the Half n' Half Challenge. Leading to an easy win for Pepperoni Red, an embarrassing meltdown for Peter, and our first pair escorted out of the game, hehaha."

"Seven pairs left, n' nobody's gon' be sittin' comfortably now that the stakes have been established." Chef folded his arms. "Who will win the Pineapple Challenge in this round? Who'll they use it on? Will anythin' else crazy happen? Stay right there! It's Total! Drama! Pizza Party!"

Panic and Jenna met up at a secluded section of the park.

"Man, I still can't believe we just iced Peter like that," Jenna chuckled. "I mean, he was a dick, and I don't really miss him, but damn. We were the only ones he trusted."

"And that's part of the problem," Panic claimed. "I'm heading a revolution, here. Revolutions require people to actually give something. Peter didn't want to do that, and neither did Aoi for that matter."

"Still, I'm surprised you went along with what the Red pair wanted," Jenna noted. "Don't you hate them?"

"Sawyer's attitude makes my skin crawl, but Orson's not that bad," Panic admitted. "I respect him putting in the effort with me, and it's not like keeping the Gray pair would have helped us that much anyway."

"Ahhhh, I see," Jenna nodded, winking at Jenna. "Orson, huh?"

"I don't think you do see," Panic frowned.

"Alright, alright," Jenna placated, still with a laidback smile.

"I also don't think you see the big picture, here," Panic continued. "Shots have been fired, and the game is on. We have actions to take responsibility for. I won't tolerate this 'we'll see how it goes' attitude anymore."

"You were tolerating it before?" Jenna blinked, worried.

"I understand that you're new to this game. You probably see it as just another way to pass the time in between your stints as a cog in the machine," Panic said. "But I'm fighting for something greater. Something that could make a difference. I'd like to circle back to what you said last night. About making deals with every other pair."

"See? I'm putting in the work," Jenna frowned.

"That strategy has to be the worst idea ever invented!" Panic scolded.

"Feel like genocide is worse, but I'm interested in hearing your case here," Jenna remarked.

"People talk, Jenna!" Panic continued. "If Pair A tells Pair B that Jalapeno Green made a final two deal with them, and Pair B tells Pair A that they also have a deal, then you know how that makes us look?"

"Like both of them can trust us?" Jenna guessed.

"Like we're sneaky backstabby liars!" Panic huffed.

"And you insisting that we help the Red pair by voting out the Gray pair isn't sneaky backstabby liar behavior?" Jenna challenged. "Last I checked, you hate Sawyer and we were working with the Gray pair."

"Ah! At least I'm moving us forward," Panic insisted.

"I tried too, but apparently my ideas are worse than genocide, so..." Jenna threw up her hands and walked off.

Panic strangled the air as they watched Jenna leave.

Jenna: "If I wanted some asshole with delusions of grandeur to yell at me for not dedicating my every waking thought to helping them succeed, I would have just gone to work. Excuse me for not knowing every single detail of how this game is 'supposed' to be played!" (She scoffed and shook her head.)

Panic: "Ugh. I know it's not easy for Jenna, since she was just sort of snapped up into this game at the last second. But you have to understand that she isn't just holding herself back, and she's not just holding me back, she's holding the good of the world back! With that in mind, I think setting her on the right path is a little justified." (They pouted and folded their arms.)

The next morning, Ichabod stood in line at a food truck. Dede watched from afar in a bush.

"Okay, Dede, it's okay! Don't panic, Ichabod is in your alliance, it's normal to go up and talk to him," Dede said to herself. "It doesn't matter how… dashing… and strong he is! Just do it! Guys like it when girls make the first move…"

Dede breathed out, steeled herself, and jumped out of the bush only to see Ichabod standing directly in front of her, clutching a breakfast sandwich.

"Eeeeeep!" Dede squealed. "Ichabod! How long have you been there?"

"In the vicinity? Approximately twenty minutes," Ichabod stated. "They are operating these food trucks extremely inefficiently."

"No I meant… uh, right here," Dede squeaked.

"About thirty seconds," Ichabod replied. "Long enough to see you jump out of this foliage."

"Oh, I wasn't in there long, honest! I swear!" Dede laughed. "I was just, checking out the scenery!"

"Uhuh," Ichabod blinked.

"I, erm, just wanted to talk to you! One on one!" Dede stumbled. "Y'know, any time I'm able to talk to you one of the guys is around, so I figured it'd be a good idea to catch you without them!"

"For what reason?" Ichabod asked.

"Well, I just thought it'd be cool to hang out with you!" Dede blurted out. "Get to know each other a bit?"

"Right, I now see what this conversation is about," Ichabod said curtly. "I can assure you, I am not interested."

"O-oh, that's not what this was about at all…" Dede lied, with a pained expression on her face. "I just wanted to talk to you person to person!"

"Dede, I mean this with zero offense, but I can see straight through your ruse," Ichabod replied. "I have been through this song and dance a million times before. I simply do not wish to engage in such things, especially in this game."

"Well alrighty then!" Dede forced a smile. "It's just that we're in an alliance and all, and I barely feel like I know you! Would you not even spend time with me, as an alliance member and friend?"

Ichabod tapped his chin, deep in thought.

"I suppose that we can," Ichabod sighed. "I do not wish to give off the wrong idea here, Dede. However, if you wish to only spend time platonically, I will oblige."

"Oh, yippee!" Dede clapped. "I'm so happy, Ichabod! Thank you!"

Dede then suddenly hugged Ichabod, who looked at her, shocked. As they hugged, Brynleigh walked up and started laughing.

"Oh, Icky Bod!" Brynleigh laughed. "Dede? I'm surprised! I didn't know you'd go for the dorky girls!"

"T-This is not what it looks like!" Ichabod exclaimed, as he wiggled his way out of Dede's grasp.

"I guess you know what they say about those weird, shy types that like to sit in their room all day," Brynleigh winked and nudged Ichabod on the shoulder. "I bet that'll be a lot of fun!"

"I will not deign your perverse nonsense with a response," Ichabod huffed as he straightened up his sweater. "The average sexual deviancy of the type of person you are describing is nothing I am remotely interested in, and the fact that you are implying as such is appalling.."

"Hey wait!" Dede exclaimed. "Are you trying to imply I'm–"

"Yeah I am!" Brynleigh smiled. "Am I wrong though? Tell me I'm wrong!"

"Y-You're the worst!" Dede turned red with embarrassment.

"Ah, I get that a lot," Brynleigh smugly replied. "Anyway, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your date or anything! I'll just have to go tell the others the first showmance of the season is already forming! Later, dorks!"

Brynleigh began laughing as she ran away.

"Hey! You come back here!" Ichabod called to Brynleigh as he began to chase after her.

Dede stood there, alone, extremely embarrassed. She hopped back into the bush.

Ichabod: "Myself and Charlie are already clearly the biggest threats in this game, and despite our best efforts, ended up on the wrong side of the numbers of the vote last time. Our position seems less secure than before, and the last thing we need is someone spreading falsehoods about us to everyone else!"

Dede: "Ohhhhh that was a disaster!" Dede buried her face in her hands. "Ichabod just is so averse to anything I seem to say to him! He's so closed off and aloof! And to make matters worse, Brynleigh just came up and made everything so totally awkward! This couldn't have gone worse." She sighed.

Pavel found Orson studying the Burger Boy fountain in the plaza.

"You feelin' alright, bro?" Pavel asked.

"I'm trying to determine if this mascot character is meant to have some sort of creepiness factor by design, or if it's completely unintentional," Orson explained.

"Why would you make your mascot creepy on purpose?" Pavel doubted.

"Well, if a character is too perfect, people won't have anything to latch onto," Orson explained. "Lots of characters are intentionally designed with some sort of imperfection to help them stand out. The practice originated in Japan, if I'm not mistaken, and those guys know a thing or two about mascots."

"I'll take your word for it. I just think Burger Boy's a weirdo," Pavel shrugged.

"I can see the charm," Orson admitted. "By the way, aren't we supposed to hate each other?"

"Huh?" Pavel asked. "Oh, 'cuz I played the Pineapple on you guys? I wanted to go for a strong pair, but Brynleigh's the one who had beef with you two specifically. It wasn't personal on my end, but I'm sorry about that either way."

"Hey, I understand that it's all just part of the game. Apology accepted," Orson assured him. "Sawyer might not be so easily forgiving, but then, she seems like she knows what she's doing. I just don't see the sense in conflicting with others unnecessarily though."

"Yeah, Sawyer's made it her mission to piss me off, I'll tell ya that much," Pavel grunted. "Then again, I guess Brynleigh's done the same to you, huh?"

"That seems to be her mission with everyone. I hardly feel special in that regard," Orson joked.

"Honestly, I haven't had many chances to just have a casual bro chat. Even if our partners are out for each other's blood, I don't have anything against ya," Pavel offered.

"No kidding?" Orson asked. "I've seen you talk to Charlie and Ichabod sometimes."

"Er, yeah, but..." Pavel cleared his throat. "They ain't exactly good at small talk. Charlie's weirdly condescending a lot of the time, and Ichabod has such a 'colorful vocabulary' that anything outta his mouth is big talk by default."

Orson laughed. "That sounds like Ichabod alright. Shame about Charlie, though."

"Eh, I shouldn't talk too much crap," Pavel handwaved. "It's not like I'm exactly the god king of charisma, either. I'm workin' on it, but it ain't always easy."

"For what it's worth, I never thought anything bad about you. Not even after the Pineapple," Orson told him.

Pavel smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate that."

"So yeah, I'm not great at small talk myself, but if you want a casual bro chat, I'm happy to oblige," Orson told him.

"I appreciate that too," Pavel nodded. "So, like, how are you feelin' after all those pancakes last night, anyway?"

"Oh, geez..." Orson winced. "I did not sleep well last night, and we can leave it at that."

"Oof," Pavel reacted. "Well, hopefully we don't have to go back to Breakfast Land or whatever it's called. I've seen other themed sections near the outskirts of the park, so we gotta visit more of those."

"It makes sense," Orson nodded. "I wonder when we'll get to see where Jenna works."

"Aw, there's no way we can vote her out until then, right?" Pavel laughed.

"The idea of seeing her have to face her boss and coworkers while performing some sort of embarrassing challenge does sound funny," Orson admitted.

"You know what? You're kind of a weirdo, but you're alright." Pavel smacked Orson on the back.

"Thanks, uh, bro," Orson responded.

"Ah, don't be so tense around me. You're gonna make me insecure," Pavel laughed. His face immediately went serious. "I'm serious about that. I take these things way too personally."

"I'll keep that in mind," Orson smiled.

Pavel: "I was kinda worried that the Red Pair might gun for my pair after the Pineapple, but we didn't even get votes last night, plus Orson seems like a chill dude. I think I made the right call letting Ichabod and Charlie have the win in that last challenge. Now I just have to make sure nothing goes wrong with Brynleigh, and... Well, I can keep trying to make her less rude, at any rate."

Orson: "So Pavel doesn't deny talking often with Ichabod and Charlie, and it isn't small talk, either. I wondered if something was up with those two pairs targeting me. Maybe those two pieces of the puzzle fit together better than I thought. That's awfully concerning, but I'd like to stay out of people's radars for a bit, if that's possible, so I won't push anything right now."

Later that day, in the rest area, Remi sat on a couch, drumming mindlessly on his shoe. Sunshine burst into the room, startling Remi.

"Remi!" Sunshine exclaimed with a massive grin on her face. "I've been looking for you!"

"Oh, hey Sunshine!" Remi greeted her back. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you still wanted to do those singing lessons you said you'd do at the last challenge!" Sunshine smiled.

"Yeah, sure thing buddy! I think that Charlie kinda said that for me, but I don't mind!" Remi patted the couch next to him, where Sunshine promptly sat. "Now I wanna say, I'm not exactly the best singer or anything…"

"I'm sure you're wonderful!" Sunshine reassured him. "Okay, let me warm up real quick. Mi-mi-mi-mi-miiiiiii!"

"You already got the first part down!" Remi said. "Making sure you're all warmed up is the first thing you wanna do as a singer. To help with that, try drinking a lot of water or teas before you intend on singing."

"But what if I might need to sing on the fly?" Sunshine asked.

"I guess then you'll need to stay hydrated!" Remi chuckled.

Sunshine nodded.

"Alright, um," Remi tapped his chin. "Let's see… I guess the next thing you wanna do after you warm up is you wanna pick the song you wanna sing!"

"Oh but there's just so many!" Sunshine whined. "I wanna sing them all!"

"That's fine, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to sing all of them!" Remi said. "But for now, we'll just pick one."

"I've got one!" Sunshine exclaimed. "I wanna sing You Are the Sunshine of My Life by Stevie Wonder!"

"Great pick, man," Remi nodded.

"Thank you!" Sunshine smiled. "Back when I was a baby, my mom used to sing that song to me all the time! So it's always been a little special to me."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Remi replied. "Sentimentality is always good in music, since it's supposed to remind you of the good times, yeah?"

"I agree!" Sunshine said. "Alright, um, I guess I'll go ahead and start!"

As Sunshine began to sing, Lazarus flung open a door to the main area.

"Excuse me?!" Lazarus yelled. "Could you guys keep it down! I'm trying to be alone with my thoughts."

"Hey, Laz man!" Remi waved him over. "You're just in time! I know we had a good time talkin' about music before, wanna come join us in a sing-a-long?"

"I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do less right now," Lazarus sighed.

"Aw come on man, you know that music's supposed to lift people up!" Remi continued.

Remi then got up and grabbed Lazarus by the hand. He then sat down, with Lazarus flopping in between Remi and Sunshine.

"It's alright man, you don't have to keep up the whole aloof facade," Remi reassured Lazarus. "I know someone who can appreciate a little Stevie when I see one."

"Oh, uh, yes, of course!" Lazarus choked out, forcing a smile onto his face. "Thank you, Remi!"

"Alright, Sunshine," Remi said. "Go ahead and kick us off!"

"Ohhhh, you are the sunshine of my life," Sunshine sang, before wrapping her arm around Lazarus and Remi. "That's why I'll always be around…"

Remi smiled and bobbed his head to the rhythm as Lazarus grumbled angrily to himself.

Lazarus: "Keep calm, Lazarus. Keep up the image that you care about this crap," Lazarus took a deep breath and exhaled. "No matter how many terrible, off key sing-a-longs it takes… you will win this game. At the end of the game, it will all be worth it…"

Remi: "I'd like to think I'm helping Lazarus really come out of his shell around here! I know early on he seemed to want to put on a front as some guy who you don't wanna mess with, but I can tell he's just a big teddy bear under all that!"

Sunshine: "I love sing-a-longs!" Sunshine began to sing loudly, causing the camera in the confessional to break. "Oops! Did I do that?"

Charlie sat on a bench in the park, people-watching, when Alex approached him.

"Hey, can we talk?" She asked.

"Of course. Please, have a seat," Charlie offered.

Alex trepidatiously sat beside him on the bench.

"How do you feel right now, Alex?" Charlie asked.

"Well, curious about why my team got votes last night," Alex admitted. "I know your pair didn't vote, but did you hear any of the other pairs mention why they might have?"

"Since Ichabod and I weren't going to vote, I don't think many people saw us as priorities during the lead-up to it all," Charlie told her. "So I don't know much more than you do, I'm afraid."

"I know I haven't had a chance to catch up with everyone all that much, but I hope Lazarus or I didn't do something to offend or upset someone," Alex frowned, hugging her knees.

"Come on, I doubt you could offend someone if you tried," Charlie laughed. "Lazarus... Lazarus."

"He's been easier to work with than I initially thought," Alex said. "But he still likes to go off and do his own thing."

"I can see how that would be frustrating, yeah," Charlie nodded.

Alex tilted her head a bit. "So, are you still gunning for the Red pair?"

"Maybe," Charlie half-answered. "There are a lot of factors that go into any decision. What works in one moment might not work in another. It all depends, really."

"Well, what are you thinking right now?" Alex asked uneasily. "Sorry if I'm overstepping, but now that I know I might be a target, I'd like to get a grasp on what exactly is going on."

"I hope you come to find out," Charlie smiled. "It's not fun, feeling like your own destiny is outside your control."

"Ah, right..." Alex glanced briefly at Charlie's cane. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh, no, I didn't take any offense at all," Charlie assured her. "Do you at least have an idea of who might have voted for you?"

"I think so," Alex figured. "Maybe I'll try to find them in a bit. I don't want to stress out too much, but I also don't want to just shirk and keep being a target."

"It's a tricky balance to strike," Charlie acknowledged. "But I know you've been in high-stress environments before. You can do it."

"Thanks," Alex smiled. "But what about you? I'm sure you're feeling good after winning yesterday's challenge."

"You'd think so, but my arms are still a little sore," Charlie laughed. "At least today's challenge isn't for Invincibility."

"It could still make a difference, though," Alex claimed. "And hey, winning a challenge at all would be pretty cool, so I'm still going to give it my best!"

"That's what I like to hear," Charlie nodded. "Best of luck."

"You too," Alex giggled.

Charlie: "I must admit, out of all the people in the game, I wouldn't have thought Alex would be concerned about the greater implications of receiving votes. She still strikes me as someone who's here for a good time more than anything. Whatever the case, I hope I was able to ease her stress a little bit. Even though she's my competition, that doesn't mean we can't be friendly competition."

Alex: "Charlie's sooooo weeeeird. Like, he was so obviously not telling me everything, avoiding questions, that kind of thing. But he was also polite and friendly, so it's like... How much of that was real, and how much of it was him just placating me? I think he might be trying to protect the pairs who voted for Bacon Pink, and if that's the case, then I need to do something to counteract that. But can I? That's the question.

Sawyer walked briskly through an upper floor of the pavilion, looking around anxiously. As she forced her way through the crowd, she saw Veronica sitting at a dingy looking table, with a greasy paper bag in front of her.

"Oh, Sawyer!" Veronica waved. "Might you join me?"

"I have a busy schedule, but I guess I can squeeze you in," Sawyer said, looking at her watch. She walked over and pulled out a chair, which she immediately recoiled her hand off of.

"Ew!" Sawyer reacted. "Why is this chair sticky?"

"I have no idea!" Veronica smiled. "Isn't it terrible?"

"Yeah, it is," Sawyer sighed.

Sawyer took out a handkerchief, used it to pull the chair out, and sat down carefully.

"Is this not the worst eatery you've ever seen?" Veronica asked, looking back at the small, scummy looking restaurant which read "Fat Joe's Food n' Taxidermy".

"I have seen worse, but not much worse," Sawyer grimaced. "I have to ask, why did you choose to eat here of all places?"

"Well that's exactly why!" Veronica beamed. "If I am to change my ways I must understand what the common folk do, right down to the meals that they force down their gullets!"

"Right," Sawyer said, unimpressed. "So, what did you want to talk about? I presume the vote from yesterday."

Veronica ignored Sawyer and pulled a large cheesesteak out of the bag, the cheesesteak was shabbily wrapped in white paper. Veronica looked at the sandwich, puzzled.

"There must be a mistake here," Veronica chuckled. "Where are the utensils?"

"Are you being serious?" Sawyer looked at Veronica, surprised. "It's a sandwich. You eat it with your hands."

"How barbaric!" Veronica gasped. "Well, I suppose there's no harm in trying…"

Sawyer rolled her eyes as Veronica grabbed the cheesesteak and struggled to take a bite. Veronica nodded her head in approval.

"Are you done now?" Sawyer asked.

"I still have quite a lot of this left…" Veronica said, uncertainly. "However, I am glad I purchased this food! Before coming out here, I never would've lowered myself to eating such cuisine!"

"Anyway," Sawyer rushed. "I don't have a whole lot of time left, so I wanted to discuss the vote. I presume you and Remi voted for Gray, correct?"

"Oh, yes!" Veronica nodded. "We certainly did. Those two hadn't said two words to me, so it was no problem at all! Pink told us to vote for them and everything!"

"Good, good," Sawyer replied. "Well, in that case, I can see a working relationship between you two and I moving forward."

Veronica absentmindedly put her elbows on the table, directly in a puddle of mysterious liquid.

"Oh no!" Veronica immediately jumped up from the table. "What is that?! Get it off!"

Veronica frantically waved her arm around, trying to get the liquid off her sleeve in vain.

"Are you going to continue to cry like a child every single time anything gets on your clothes?!" Sawyer raised her voice. "Grow up!"

"It's grosssss," Veronica whined. "Besides, you also whined when you fell in the last challenge!"

"It was completely different!" Sawyer yelled defensively. "I was… on the chopping block last time!"

"Ugh!" Veronica exclaimed, rushing off, leaving her cheesesteak on the table.

A disheveled looking passerby looked over at Sawyer.

"You gonna eat that?" He asked, pointing at the cheesesteak.

"Go for it," Sawyer grumbled as she got up from the table. The man immediately sat down and started eating.

Sawyer: "Veronica claims to be out here to change herself, yet still continues to overreact to the smallest things! Usually involving her dress. She wouldn't last a second in the real world, how pathetic! To think I almost thanked someone as thoroughly incompetent as her. That would've been a real embarrassment."

Veronica: "Sawyer is so cruel! Her and I were having a fine discussion, then all of a sudden she began to yell at me! It's not my fault that I got some sort of disgusting liquid on my dress!" She lifted up her sleeve, revealing a large green spot on the elbow of her sleeve. "I see why common laborers go on strike against big business types like her!"

Brynleigh paced through the rest area, chugging a soda and letting out a large belch.

"Excuse you," Charlie smiled. He sat in one of the couches across the room.

"What the?!" Brynleigh jumped. "Geez, at least warn a girl if you're going to sit there and watch her!

"I thought you knew I was here," Charlie told her.

"Do you think I would just burp loudly in front of someone else?" Brynleigh scoffed. "I'm a lady. I have standards, asshat!"

"You know what I've noticed, Brynleigh?" Charlie asked.

"That life was more fun when you could just play rugby instead of bugging me?" Brynleigh guessed.

"You really value your independence," Charlie answered.

"Uh, yeah? What was your first clue, you Freudian drip?" Brynleigh sneered.

"I mean, as soon as I met you, I noticed your tendency to keep others at an emotional distance through strong language and sentiments," Charlie explained. "But over the days, I've noticed your preference towards keeping physical distance with others. You don't attend alliance meetings, you tend to ignore others and walk away from them... You haven't even stepped closer to me during this conversation, despite us being on opposite ends of the room."

"Oh... so you've figured it out, huh?" Brynleigh frowned. "Yeah, well, as I'm sure you know, there's a reason for everything."

"You don't have to get into it right now if you don't want to," Charlie empathized.

"When I was four, I fell off the jungle gym and broke my leg," Brynleigh began. "Everyone rushed to my aid, and it was then when I realized I was severely being-surrounded-by-others-phobic."

"Enochlophobia is tough to live with," Charlie hummed. "The fact that you've stuck it out in this season so long is actually very commendable."

"When I was in middle school, I fell hopelessly in love with the most popular boy in class," Brynleigh continued. "It took me months to summon up the courage to confess to him, and when I finally did, he turned me down."

"Rejection from someone you care about stings, but it heals in time," Charlie told her.

"But wait! He didn't reject me because I'm ugly or have a bad personality, obviously," Brynleigh added on. "It was because he was secretly a vampire, and he didn't want to bear the responsibility of letting a mere mortal bear the weight of everything that entails!"

"Someone who pretended to be a vampire was the most popular boy in middle school?" Charlie asked. "How interesting."

"Oh, he wasn't pretending. I saw him bite a girl on the neck once," Brynleigh informed him.

"I see..." Charlie said, getting increasingly concerned.

"I think it might all stem from earlier in my childhood, though," Brynleigh admitted. "Actually, when I was born, it was in the middle of a thunderstorm. In a graveyard. Lightning struck both my parents right after I was delivered, so a pack of wolves took me in and raised me as one of their own." She couldn't stifle her laughter. "And, and when I was seven, my pet goldfish ran away from home! He even left a note that said 'I can't swim in the sea of your sorrow anymore'! I've never been able to trust anyone since!"

Charlie's face fell when Brynleigh started bursting into laughter. "Brynleigh, I only ask questions because I want to help you. Making light of therapy won't help you any."

"Oh, I'll make it through, somehow!" Brynleigh dramatically put the back of her hand on her forehead. "I've learned to cope by talking to the stray possums around my neighborhood, for they are the only ones who don't flee in fear of my radiant awesomeness. Now, what time is it, I think I have angsty poetry to write!"

Brynleigh laughed mockingly as she tossed her empty soda can next to the trash bin and left the rest area. Charlie sighed.

Charlie: "I know that it's not easy admitting to the things that are holding you back, but it's a very healthy part of the recovery process. Frankly, I don't appreciate Brynleigh making light of this. It's made a huge change for the positive in my life, and I only wanted to help her."

Brynleigh: "It's cute that Charlie thinks I have some deep, dark reasoning for avoiding these idiots. The reason I avoid them is because they're idiots! Like? How hard is that to figure out? Oh, wait, he's an idiot, of course it's hard for him to figure things out!" (She laughs.)

Orson sat at a bench, surveying the area around him. He turned as he heard a commotion nearby. He saw Sunshine skipping merrily through the park. He stifled a laugh and stood up.

"Hey, Sunshine!" Orson called.

Sunshine immediately paused, looked over to see Orson, and started skipping towards him.

"Hiiiiii Orson!" Sunshine waved at him as she skipped up to him. "How are you doing? What are you up to?! Can we hang out?!"

"Hi," Orson said, uneasily. "Doing good, just sitting around here not doing much. And sure, we can hang out. I have nothing better to do, so I'd be glad to join you."

"Oh boy!" Sunshine squealed and pulled Orson into a crushing hug.

Orson exhaled loudly and started choking. Sunshine released him, and he fell to the ground.

"Sorry Orson!" Sunshine apologized. "I guess I just don't know how hard I love!"

"It's okay…" Orson said as he struggled to his feet.

"So what'd you wanna do buddy?!" Sunshine asked gleefully.

"I figure we could just talk about stuff, if you'd like," Orson said, taking a seat. "Y'know, about all our new friends and stuff I guess."

"I'd love to!" Sunshine agreed, sitting down at the bench next to him. "There's so many awesome people to talk about!"

"Oh, for sure," Orson nodded. "You and Dede seem to get along pretty well, that's good."

"Dede is such a sweetheart!" Sunshine clasped her hands together. "She is so nice, I think we'll be friends forever!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Orson said. "I haven't gotten much of a chance to talk to her, but what little I've been able to, she seems very cool. Hopefully we'll get the chance to hang out more."

"Oh I can go get her if you want!" Sunshine exclaimed. "I have no idea where she is, but I can search!"

"No, that's alright," Orson reassured. "I'm sure I'll find time to talk to her later. Who else have you been bonding with so far?"

"Everyone!" Sunshine continued. "I've been spending as much time as I can with everyone that I possibly can! I do spend a lot of time with Dede's friends though!"

"Oh yeah?" Orson asked.

"Yeah!" Sunshine nodded. "I know that she doesn't like being seen talking to people in large groups, but large groups are just bigger groups of friends to do fun stuff with! I don't really get why we can't just all go do something fun."

"Yeah, that's rough," Orson said. "I don't see why you couldn't just bring that up to her friends the next time that you all meet up."

"Well it'll probably just get shot down by Ichabod or something," Sunshine laughed. "You know how he is, all business all the time! I'm sure you could relate with Sawyer too! She seems to never want to hang out, always so busy with stuff! But I won't give up!"

"Ichabod does seem very stoic," Orson agreed. "He doesn't really seem to enjoy letting loose and not following rigid plans, from what I can tell."

"Too true!" Sunshine smiled. "I always tell him, 'you need to do some fun stuff with your friends!' but he always shuts it down!"

"I could see that happening," Orson said. "I guess next time we see him, we should try to get him to loosen up a bit, what do you say?"

"I'd LOVE that!" Sunshine hugged Orson again. "Sounds like a plan!"

Sunshine looked at her wrist, that did not have anything on it. She gasped loudly.

"Ohmygosh! I need to go! I promised Veronica I'd meet her to play more carnival games around this time!" Sunshine jumped up.

"Hey, don't let me hold you up," Orson laughed. "I've got a few things I need to do as well, but it's been good talking to you."

"Same to you, friend!" Sunshine beamed. "See ya later!"

Sunshine rushed off in the opposite direction she came from. Orson stayed sitting on the bench, thinking.

Orson: "Hmm, when I was talking to Sunshine, she seemed to mention Dede's 'friends' and then mentioned Ichabod specifically by name. It appears that there might be more going on in this game than I had originally anticipated. This doesn't necessarily bode well for myself or Sawyer… what to do, what to do."

Sunshine: "I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to get to know so many more friends here on this show! I love it! I need to tell Dede how I've made another close friend here! I'm sure she'll be psyched!"

Veronica stood outside of a store, summoning the courage to enter.

"You can do this. You are Veronica Adelheid Remi Gaspard!" Veronica pep-talked herself. "It is simply a store. You've been to those before. Even if you don't know what to buy, you can surely... figure it out..." She gulped.

She looked around and saw Panic walking by.

"Ah! Panic! Surely you can help me out!" Veronica called.

Panic slowed down and faced Veronica. "Were you planning on donating your ridiculous inheritance to the hungry or something?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Veronica laughed. "As it so happens, I found the remedy to my recurring issues with getting my clothes dirty."

"Yeah, most people use machines for that these days. It's crazy," Panic droned.

"No, not that!" Veronica huffed. "I meant this!"

Veronica gestured at the store in front of her. Panic looked up at the sign above the entrance, which read 'Hotdog Topic'.

"I don't even want to know if that's legal," Panic remarked.

"I aim to purchase new apparel to wear during the game's challenges," Veronica explained. "However, this sense of fashion is... outside my wheelhouse, we'll say. But people like you dress like this all the time! If anyone can help me pick something out, it's you!"

"Do you genuinely believe I would support this dystopian practice of turning food brands into trends, turning human beings into walking advertisements and glorifying the industry's chokehold on eating: a basic human need?" Panic scoffed.

"Well when you put it like that, it doesn't sound nearly as reasonable," Veronica huffed. "Is that logo on your shirt not a brand as well?"

"It's, uh..." Panic looked down at their shirt, which bore a band logo. "Music is different. Music spreads a message!"

"Oh please, dear Panic! It would be an immense favor, and with very little effort on your part!" Veronica cried as she grabbed Panic's hands and gazed at them with puppydog eyes.

Panic sighed. "Fine."

"Splendid!" Veronica proclaimed. "We shall be the most fashionable figures in the faire! Ohhhhhhhohohoho!"

The two entered the store, where a greeter immediately stepped in front of them.

"Hi, welcome to Hotdog Topic," he grinned. "If you need help finding something, just ask."

"Just browsing," Panic said, walking past without looking him in the eye.

"Why, you ignored that servant with aplomb," Veronica noted.

"I will not be swayed by a corporate shill," Panic explained. "Especially not one who bugs me while I'm just trying to shop."

"I see, I see," Veronica nodded with interest.

"Now, what exactly are you looking for here? Shirts? Pants? Accessories?" Panic asked.

"Oh, one or two simple outfits should suffice," Veronica said. She took a pair of plaid skinny pants from a nearby rack. "Do you think they'll have anything that will fit me?"

"They should. Though, women's clothes do tend to be limited in size. I mean this with zero offense because all body types are beautiful, but men's clothes are larger on average than women's clothes," Panic told her. "Gender is a limiting construct that anyone who wants to dress well should disregard anyway. So feel free to keep that in mind."

Veronica looked around the store. "Which is the women's section and which is the men's? It all looks the same to me."

"And now you see why I like this kind of fashion," Panic smiled.

"Excuse me. Are you ladies finding everything alright?" the greeter asked.

"Yes," Panic leered. They took Veronica's hand and dragged her to another part of the store.

Panic: "That didn't go nearly as bad as I expected. I still dislike the idea of putting products on the same level as art, but at least Veronica was receptive to what I had to say. If that was an actual Hot Topic, I might even have bought something myself."

Veronica: (She wore a pair of jeans with numerous straps, and a black tee with a Wingstop logo on it.) "Oh, look at me! I'm dressed like one of those rock and roll people! Remi will get a kick out of this when he sees me in such a state! I won't be surprised if we win every challenge from here on out!" (She proudly put her hands on her hips.)

Remi dashed excitedly through the park.

"I can't believe I almost forgot the Burger Boy show!" he panted. Something caught his attention. "Whoa, is that deep-fried Coke they have for sale?!"

Since he wasn't looking forward, he crashed into something and fell over. When he came to his senses, he looked up and saw Ichabod standing firmly in front of him.

"Whoa! Sorry, Ichabod. Didn't see you there," Remi chuckled.

"Evidently." Ichabod offered Remi a hand, which he took.

"Thanks," Remi smiled. "You're pretty cool for someone so serious."

"I suppose others tend to express their admiration towards me," Ichabod admitted. "Though I'm not much concerned about such matters. To me, all that matters is that I achieve that which I set out to do."

"Hell yeah! Achieving stuff is super cool," Remi nodded. "Recently, my band and I started playing some local gigs! That's the first step to success, baby!"

"Er, one can see it that way," Ichabod commented.

"Aw, come on, I know it's not school-related, but school isn't that important," Remi shrugged.

"Do tell." Ichabod's eyebrow twitched.

"I mean, yeah, school is cool for a lot of people," Remi figured. "But it's never really done anything for me. Like, I've tried, but it's just so boring. My school doesn't even have a music class, man! How's music any less important than science or math, anyway?"

"Mathematics and sciences hold far more real-world application than music," Ichabod stated. "While music can be enjoyable, it is hardly necessary for keeping the world going at a smooth pace."

"Bro, are you kidding?" Remi frowned. "Without music, who's gonna have the motivation to do anything?"

"If one relies on external factors to gain motivation, then perhaps they should seek to fix the root of the issue," Ichabod disagreed. "This mindset has served me quite well."

"Maybe that works for you, but for me, the root of the issue is that school just don't fit me. Never has. Might get a GED or something." Remi shrugged. "But hey, successful musicians make bank anyway, so it's all good. I've got my own path!"

"Then I wish you the best of luck," Ichabod said. "However, I think there are more pressing matters at hand."

"Oh my gosh, I totally missed the Burger Boy show!" Remi smacked his forehead.

"I am referring to last night's vote," Ichabod corrected. "Did you vote for the Bacon Pink Pair, as we discussed?"

"Huh? Oh, that?" Remi scratched his head. "Nah, it seemed like Gray was where the majority was leaning."

"I see," Ichabod hummed. "Well, I shouldn't hold you any longer."

"I might still be able to catch the second act! See ya!" Remi ran off and waved goodbye as he looked behind him, only to run into a light post.

Ichabod: "I learned two things from that chance discussion. For one: I cannot rely on Remi after all. He goes with the whims of the wind, it seems, and his dismissal of the importance of education is... baffling, to say the least. For two: enough pairs found the chance to collaborate and vote for the Anchovy Gray Pair. That is far more concerning, as it means that my alliance does not hold the majority. I must concoct a way around this factor."

Remi: "I mean, heck, I don't doubt school has done a ton of good for a ton of people. Like I said, it's just not my jam. I feel like Ichabod thinks that makes me stupid. Lots of people think that, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. On the plus side, I only missed a couple minutes of that show I was going to see. It was so funny! I love that stupid burger man."

Dede and Pavel stood in front of a ring toss game booth in the amusement park section of the park. Dede tossed a ring and missed the bottle she was aiming for.

"Ugh, dang!" Dede grunted, she then turned to Pavel, who was lining up a shot. "So, crazy vote huh?"

"Yeah, it was," Pavel said, halfway paying attention. He then threw the ring and it landed perfectly on the bottle. He pumped his fist. "Yeah, baby! Check that out! Let's go! Give me that one!"

The unimpressed booth worker sighed and handed Pavel a stuffed elephant wearing a leather jacket that he was pointing at.

"But yeah, that vote wasn't really reassurin', I'll tell you that," Pavel responded, clutching his new stuffed animal.

"Agreed," Dede said, nervously. "I think that it shows we might need to focus our efforts on trying to get another duo to work with our alliance here."

"But who?" Pavel asked. "We already burned Red so that's out of the picture, and we all voted Pink already…"

"That leaves Green and Purple," Dede continued. "Hmm, Green are both so cute but very closed off… makes it hard to really want to work with them."

As the two continued to talk, Alex walked up to the two of them.

"Hey, guys," Alex greeted.

"Oh, h-hey Alex!" Dede stuttered. "What's shakin'?"

"Not much, just checking in with everyone," Alex smiled. "Speaking of, how do you guys feel about the previous vote? I know I almost got voted in, but I was wondering if there was anything I did to cause it?"

Dede and Pavel looked at each other, and Dede piped up.

"Oh no, nothing at all!" Dede said. "You're practically perfect, Alex! So smart and pretty and–oh, um, I'm losing the track a bit there, haha…"

"Well, thanks," Alex chuckled.

"No but I don't think you did anything wrong!" Dede continued. "I'm glad Gray left, they never talked to anyone at all, so them being gone is ultimately a good thing for all of us. One less wild card right?"

"Yeah absolutely," Alex nodded. "What about you, Pavel?"

"What about me?" Pavel asked.

"Well, what'd you think about the–" Alex began.

"I didn't vote for you!" Pavel blurted out. "I don't appreciate you just tryin' to say I did that."

"Well, I didn't necessarily mean that," Alex said. "But I was just wondering if you did vote for us, what we could do to fix that."

"Why are you just barging up to me and asking me that?!" Pavel raised his voice. "I don't know what you guys did to get people to vote for you!"

"Oh, well that's alright then," Alex said, surprised. "No worries, guys. I'll leave you guys to it then. See ya."

Alex quickly turned and left, leaving Pavel and Dede standing there.

"That might not have been the best way to go about that, Pavel," Dede said.

"Tch, probably not," Pavel spat out.

Dede: "Oh man, I know I wasn't doing so great there, but Pavel knocked it out of the park in making things awkward there! We're already not in the best spot, so yelling at a potential ally is only going to make things worse for us! We might've just completely burned the bridge for Pink, if we hadn't already…"

Alex: "Well after that, I gotta say I might just have all the info I need to know I definitely need to solidify something. I can tell when someone's trying to pull the wool over my eyes, and Pavel is not a great actor." Alex chuckled. "I think I need to stop focusing on those pairs and focus on the ones I have a chance of forming something with."

Later that day, Jenna sat at a table, waiting. After a short while, Sawyer and Lazarus arrived and took seats.

"You called?" Lazarus said, putting his arm on the table.

"I did," Jenna replied matter-of-factly. "I called you two here because I have decided that I wanna play this game a lot harder than I did before. I mean, you guys saw what happened to Peter and Aoi."

"We got rid of them because nobody cared if they left," Sawyer laughed. "And they were a weak, easy to beat team. Sound familiar?"

"I don't like what you're insinuating," Jenna said uncomfortably. "But regardless, I wanted to talk to you guys about your plans moving forward."

"Well, maybe I should push to get rid of you, if you're gonna become such a game player," Sawyer raised an eyebrow. "Having threats around isn't exactly something I want, you know."

"You can if you want, but remember who could've went home last round and who voted to make that not happen," Jenna retorted.

Sawyer's eye twitched. "Fair point, I suppose."

"Well, I know I for one don't have a ton of plans going forward," Jenna continued. "So I figured I'd ask you guys if you wanted to make some sort of alliance between our teams here. After all, three teams are better than one, yeah?"

"I like this idea, because it was my idea a few days ago," Lazarus replied pointedly. "Remember, Sawyer? Remember how you blew it off?"

"To be exact, you proposed an alliance between you, myself, and Panic, and not our partners" Sawyer corrected. "Which, frankly, is extremely idiotic. I also seem to remember you mentioning our partners to be… 'dumbshits', something crass to that effect."

"That's news to me," Jenna said.

"Well I–you know–ugh," Lazarus sputtered. "Whatever! Fine, take credit for my brilliant plan, why don't you."

"Whoever's idea it was, I see no reason why we don't keep voting together," Jenna said. "It just makes sense, especially since you already went into the elimination challenge, Sawyer. And you guys almost got voted in against them, Lazarus."

"That is sound logic," Sawyer replied. "As much as I find Lazarus to be repulsive, I see little reason not to keep up our deal here."

"I am not repulsive," Lazarus insisted. "If you think so, you must not find any guys easy to look at or something. I am easy on the eyes, maaaaan."

"Check the ego, little man," Sawyer said curtly.

Lazarus gasped. "Why, the nerve–"

"Anyway, if you guys agree, I guess that's all we gotta talk about, yeah?" Jenna interrupted. "I'm not sure how to end these strategy talks."

"This is as good a time as any to end this talk," Sawyer affirmed. "I certainly have little else to add."

"Ditto," Lazarus pouted.

"Cool, got it right," Jenna smiled.

Jenna: "See? I can play the strategy game too! Panic acting like I have no idea how to do anything in this game, and I've already made an alliance before they've even made more than like two friends in this game, watch me go." She smiled proudly.

Sawyer: "While she may be technically correct in that our deal could easily be continued, it doesn't automatically make Jenna a trustworthy person in this game. I haven't spoken two words to her almost this entire game, and now all of a sudden she is pulling me aside for strategy discussion?"

Lazarus: "This is ridiculous! This was all my idea! I should be getting the credit for this! Not some half-witted pizza delivery girl! My strategic mind created this alliance! Mine!" Lazarus buried his face in his hands, then suddenly his head jerked up. "I will make sure that it's known that I am the one in charge here. Trust me."

The fourteen contestants gathered in front of a new location. Just north of the Breakfast Nook, a collection of fast-food eateries, famous or otherwise, connected to this particular hub, called the Fast Food Festa.

Remi turned to notice Veronica dressed in her new clothes. "Whoa! Sick threads, Roni!"

"Mm, yes, they are, aren't they?" Veronica boasted. "This particular style is quite chic amongst the clientele around here, it seems. And I don't have to worry about getting them dirty, since they were so cheap to begin with!"

"'Cheap', huh?" Panic winced.

Chef and Chris stood before the players.

"Alright, it's time for y'all's next Pineapple Challenge!" Chef announced.

"Follow us, and we can get things... rolling," Chris snickered.

"I assume that'll be funnier once we know what the challenge is," Jenna figured.

"You're giving Chris too much credit," Brynleigh disagreed.

The group made their way deeper into the Fast Food Festa. The location proudly decorated itself with motifs of burgers, fries, onion rings, and milkshakes.

"I feel my arteries clogging just looking at all of this," Sawyer grimaced.

"Oh no! Shield your eyes!" Sunshine cried. She reached to cover Sawyer's eyes, but Sawyer swatted her hands away.

Everyone came to a cordoned-off area in the center of the hub, which housed seven machines all linked up to giant hamster wheels.

"What the...?" Pavel reacted.

"What, you've never seen the ol'... hamster wheel into... thing... machine?" Lazarus attempted.

"Not in real life," Pavel said.

"Alright, listen up!" Chef redirected. "Today's challenge will have each of ya takin' up a specific role for your pair. One person will be runnin' the hamster wheel, of course. By keepin' the wheel turnin', you'll give power to the machine. The other person in your pair will hafta solve a puzzle on that machine!"

"But be warned, dear contestants," Chris snickered. "If the power runs out for even a second, you'll have to start the whole puzzle over! Hehaha."

"These don't seem like very practical attractions," Jenna noted.

"Oh, no, we had them made specifically for the challenge," Chris said. "Usually they just have regular arcade cabinets here."

"When ya finish the puzzle, your machine will flash green n' play a victory jingle," Chef continued. "First pair to get that to happen'll win the Pineapple, which they'll use tonight to disadvantage another pair of their chosin' in the next Invincibility Challenge."

"Seems simple enough," Charlie smiled.

"I'm excited to try it!" Alex agreed.

"Good! Figure out who's doin' what, n' we can get this goin'!" Chef instructed.

Jenna: "So either me or Panic has to keep running in a hamster wheel nonstop, huh? I don't suppose there's any chance the person who's been talking down to me this whole time will let me try the puzzle, is there?" She sighed.

Lazarus: "It's no secret that Blue and Brown pairs have done pretty well, but Bacon Pink has always been right behind them in these challenges. I think we can take this one. It's not about brute strength, it's about strength of mind, maaaan."

Pavel: "This one can be over in a few minutes, or it could take all year. The sinister part of it all is that, no matter what role you take, you have no control over how well your partner does. You just hafta do your best and hope your partner is able to keep up. It's fine, everything's going to be fine. I have... faith in... Brynleigh." He laughed awkwardly.

Veronica: "With Remi's unending zeal, and this new-and-improved Veronica, we shall have this one, as they say, in the bag!" She took off a sneaker and showed it to the camera. "Look! Not only is it comfortable and suitable for daily activities, but it has little pictures of that talking drink pitcher who destroys others' property! How charmingly quaint!"

The contestants all took their decided positions in their designated contraptions.

"Alright! Runnin' the wheels for their pairs: Orson, Veronica, Jenna, Sunshine, Pavel, Ichabod, n' Alex," Chef listed.

"Solving the puzzle for their pair: Sawyer, Remi, Panic, Dede, Brynleigh, Charlie, and Lazarus," Chris established.

"Ready..." Chef built up. "GO!"

On go, the runners all began jogging at a reasonable pace to get the wheels turning.

"Alright, let's see..." Charlie looked at the screen on his machine once the power turned on. An array of seemingly-random letters displayed before him. "Looks like a word search of some sort. Should be simple enough."

"Come on, there isn't even a word bank!" Brynleigh complained.

"Hmm..." Sawyer traced her finger across letters that spelled out 'FRIES'. The touch screen picked up the input, and the word 'FRIES' appeared to the side of the array of letters. "So we'll have to figure out what the words might be on our own. Interesting."

"Typical, expecting us to just know all the answers to whatever bizarro system they want us to follow," Panic huffed.

"Do feel free to take your time, Remi," Veronica smiled as she ran in her hamster wheel. "I don't plan on stopping anytime soon!"

"That's great!" Remi encouraged. "I won't go that slow, because winning a challenge sounds cool, but I'll keep what you said in mind. There's no letting the pressure get to this guy!"

"Quake in our unstoppable determination, peasants!" Veronica proclaimed.

"I will not," Ichabod declined. "Unstoppable determination is what I strive for on a daily basis. It is to inspire, not to intimidate."

"Yeah, make a positive impact!" Pavel cheered.

"Quiet, you! I'm trying to focus!" Brynleigh scolded.

"How are you feeling, Sunshine?" Dede asked as she looked over the word search.

"Excelle-mazing!" Sunshine chirped. "I can run forever if I have to!"

"Well, hopefully I can find all the words before then," Dede chuckled. "Oh!"

She found 'SODA' on the word search, and it filled in on the side.

"Is this the kind where words can be backwards or upside-down?" Alex asked Lazarus.

"Believe me, I'm keeping an eye out," Lazarus twitched. "I don't just let the details pass me by, maaaan."

He found 'ONIONRING' on the word search, and it filled in on the side.

As Panic looked over the word search, the screen suddenly went dark.

"What the?!" Panic reacted.

They peeked to see Jenna walking slowly on the wheel.

"Sorry. Just need to catch my breath," Jenna panted.

"Already?" Panic doubted.

"I never claimed to be good at running," Jenna grimaced.

Sawyer peeked her head to look at Orson. "Don't even think about slowing down. We need to win this!"

Orson sighed.

Panic: "I mean, sure, neither me nor Jenna are really athletic, but I figured since she's on her feet all day working for the man, she'd at least have better stamina! This is going to take some doing, but I refuse to give in so easily."

Dede: "Between Sunshine's boundless energy, and my eye for detail, I think we might actually stand a decent chance, here. Oh, I can just see it, me winning a challenge, Ichabod telling me 'good job', him slowly but surely realizing that I'm the perfect person to support him in his endeavors for greatness... I'm thinking an overall green motif for the wedding, but I'm open to discussion."

Brynleigh looked back right as Orson tripped and fell, losing power to their station. Sawyer screamed in rage.

"Heehee!" Brynleigh covered her mouth as she laughed. "Serves you two right!"

"Man, weren't you just telling me to shut up so you can concentrate?" Pavel asked as he ran.

"So you have ears after all!" Brynleigh laughed. "Now can it! I'm trying to concentrate!"

"That's–!" Pavel raised his voice angrily.

"Frankly, I do not believe this squabble is worth it," Ichabod pointed out.

Pavel grumbled to himself as he started slowing down. The power to their station began flickering.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Brynleigh immediately turned her head back.

"Running," Pavel replied, annoyed. "Which is more than what you're doin' right now!"

"Why, I never!" Brynleigh scoffed. "Sorry I am so much smarter and have a larger brain than you! I had to be on the hard part!"

As they argued, Lazarus continued looking at the screen. Eventually he found 'MILKSHAKE' on the puzzle, and quickly filled it in.

"How ya doing, partner?" Alex asked as she ran.

"Unsurprisingly, I'm doing great, man," Lazarus said smugly as he continued to analyze the puzzle.

"Good, glad to hear it," Alex said between breaths. "I'll keep going as long as I can, but I might need to slow down soon…"

"Don't stop now!" Lazarus exclaimed. "I'm on a roll here!"

"A roll isn't a type of fast food, silly!" Alex giggled.

"OK," Lazarus said, and turned back to the puzzle.

Alex looked away awkwardly. Suddenly a yell from Panic's station rang out.

"Again?!" Panic yelled out.

Jenna shrugged as her walk drew to a snail's pace.

"Wow, that is quite unfortunate for Panic and Jenna!" Veronica called to Remi as she ran at a steady pace. "Thankfully my new footwear that I acquired today is improving my speed! Most fortuitous!"

Remi stared at the screen with a befuddled look on his face.

"Remi!" Veronica yelled out again. "Is that not most fortuitous for our team?"

Remi blinked suddenly.

"My bad Roni!" He replied. "I was just too busy focusing on the puzzle! Yeah, it is very good for our team!"

"Are you nearing completion yet?" Veronica asked. "Surely this puzzle will be nothing for you, right?"

"Oh, uh… yeah!" Remi hesitated, looking at his puzzle with zero words banked. "I'm well on my way to finishing this! Just keep up what you're doing! You're doing great!"

Veronica smiled proudly as she continued running. Remi turned back towards the puzzle with a worried look on his face.

Remi: "Did I just lie to my partner? Sorta. I mean, she was doing a great job. That was the truth! But I didn't wanna just admit I had no words banked on the puzzle yet! That'd just be embarrassing! I don't wanna let her down either, so it sucks man."

Lazarus: "Unsurprisingly, I am absolutely crushing this challenge, maaaaan!" He put up a peace sign. "Alex saying she needed to stop was unacceptable! She can't stop until this challenge is done, dammit! I'm doing my part, the hard part! She just needs to not stop moving! How hard can that possibly be?"

Ichabod maintained a steady pace on his hamster wheel.

"Progress report, Charlie," he requested.

"Uh, I have a couple of words," Charlie admitted. "It's a big word search."

"Any progress is acceptable progress," Ichabod responded. "I am confident you will not disappoint."

"Well when you put it like that," Charlie chuckled. As he looked back at his puzzle, he saw the word 'TATERTOTS' and quickly crossed it out.

"I am putting it simply," Ichabod said matter-of-factly.

"Stating things simply is so helpful!" Sunshine cheered. "Thanks Ichabod!"

"Yeah, thanks for dumbing things down for the simpletons!" Brynleigh sneered. "How nice of him."

"It really is!" Veronica concurred. "Such courtesy!"

"Man, I really don't think there are many simpletons around here," Pavel defended, stopping in place. Brynleigh groaned loudly.

"Are you TRYING to get us to lose here, stupid?!" Brynleigh yelled. "Get back to work!"

"Oh yeah?!" Pavel roared. "I guess I fuckin' will!"

Pavel began to sprint on the wheel as fast as he could, sending sparks through the cables towards their station. The station whirred with electricity and began sparking as well.

"Calm it down, meathead!" Brynleigh called back. "You're gonna break it!"

"Nope! You had your chance!" Pavel yelled. "I'm gonna keep up this pace as long as I ca–AH!"

Pavel then lost his footing and began spinning around the wheel violently. Brynleigh laughed loudly as he continued to flop around the runaway hamster wheel.

"Laughing at the suffering of others," Panic said. "Extremely unsurprising of you."

"Like you wouldn't if you were in my position!" Brynleigh retorted.

"Is Pavel the scum we have in positions of power in this country?" Panic asked rhetorically. "I thought not. It's completely different."

Eventually, Brown's wheel came to a stop, shutting down Brynleigh's station.

"Well thanks a lot, Pavel!" Brynleigh whined. "Now we have no chance at all to win!"

"Actually, Brynleigh," Dede began. "I don't really think this is Pavel's–"

"-Place to talk because he cost us the challenge?" Brynleigh interrupted. "Couldn't agree more, thanks Dede!"

"T-That's not what I was gonna say at all!" Dede blushed as she turned around, flustered.

"That was weird," Orson observed.

"Did I ask you to talk, Orson?" Sawyer immediately said, still staring at her screen. "The power's gone out seven times, and I need you to step it up!"

Orson sighed and looked over at Jenna, who mimicked a whip cracking sound and motion and giggled.

Brynleigh: "Pavel is still a stupid dumbass who can't do anything right, but watching him tumble around like laundry in the hamster wheel was so funny I definitely wasn't even mad he ended up losing power to our station! I guess he's good for one thing after all!"

Orson: "Well, if I didn't already look like Sawyer's puppet, then I certainly do now." He hung his head. "I suppose I need to take solace in the bonds I have created that have helped us survive, which I guess goes to show who really is doing the lifting here."

Lazarus remained focused on the puzzle. He crossed out the word 'NUGGETS'.

"Are you seeing what's going on over there?" Alex chuckled as she turned her head.

"As funny as I'm sure it is, I'm in my state of zen, maaaan," Lazarus claimed. "Which is to say, I'm making pretty good progress on this puzzle. I don't need an excuse to laugh at the others."

"That's... one way to put it," Alex smiled. "I'm starting to get a little tired, but I'll do my best not to stop. Don't want to reset all your progress."

"No, no you do not," Lazarus twitched.

Meanwhile, Veronica paused to catch her breath, powering off Remi's machine.

"Ah! Oh my goodness!" Veronica gasped. "I'm so sorry, Remi! All your hard work finding those words is for naught!"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Remi chuckled nervously. "I'm sure they'll be in the... same places they were before."

"I feel simply awful!" Veronica choked up.

"Well hey, I won't be able to pick it back up until you keep on running," Remi offered. "Falling down is rough, but you can't keep going until you pick yourself back up."

"You are correct!" Veronica realized. "I shall accept this as a learning experience!"

She began running as fast as she could, only to tire herself out after a few seconds.

"You okay?" Remi wondered.

"I will be," Veronica panted. "I... will be..." She coughed.

As Sawyer's machine powered back on, she quickly found and crossed out the words she'd already located.

"So much time wasted that could be spent finding new words..." she grumbled.

"I choose to think of it as looking at something you think you know, where opportunities to notice new paradigms present themselves," Charlie claimed.

"I'm sorry, has your partner forced you to reset your progress?" Sawyer snarled.

"Well, no, but if that were to happen, that's how I'd view the occurrence," Charlie smiled.

"Rest assured that I will not stop until we win this challenge," Ichabod claimed.

"What happens if someone else wins it?" Jenna chuckled. "Will you just keep running for the rest of eternity?"

"Certainly not. The entire rest of the game presents itself," Ichabod answered.

"I think she was joking," Charlie told him.

"If that's the case, then her brand of humor seems to have gone entirely over my head," Ichabod stated.

"What is your brand of humor, Ichabod?" Jenna wondered.

"Hm..." Ichabod considered. "When I was a child, I saw a cartoon in which a rabbit caused a duck to switch his opinion by momentarily claiming to follow the duck's opinion. The duck instinctually took up the rabbit's opinion. I found that humorous."

"You should check out some modern sitcoms. They're funnier than their reputation suggests," Alex winked.

"Yeah, when that guy popped out of the ball pit and went 'Bazinga', that was a cornerstone moment in television," Brynleigh scoffed.

"It kind of was..." Alex frowned. "But we will recover!"

"That's the spirit!" Sunshine cheered. "What are they talking about, Dede?"

"I need to watch Alex's sitcom," Dede thought aloud, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Maybe Ichabod will watch it with me."

Dede: "Even with everything going on around us, I knew this was the best shot so far for me to actually win a challenge. Sunshine didn't slow down on the hamster wheel once, so I had to make the most of that and focus on the puzzle! I have allies to keep safe!"

Jenna: "I have no idea what our chances look like, to be honest. It seems like the words stay in the same place even after the power goes out; Panic just has to cross them out again. How much energy I can manage long enough to keep the thing running is a whole nother story, though. I'm only human."

Having recovered from his earlier incident, Pavel returned to a steady pace on his hamster wheel.

"Keep it up, Pav. I think I've got something going, here," Brynleigh mentioned as she crossed 'FISHFILET' off her word search.

Brynleigh chuckled to herself as Pavel looked at her.

"What's up?" Pavel asked.

"Who even orders fish at a fast food place?" Brynleigh asked back. "I mean, like, come on!"

"I mean, I'm sure someone does…" Pavel responded.

"I did, once," Remi commented. "Big mistake, trust me."

"No more context needed," Brynleigh recoiled.

Lazarus began pulling at his hair, angrily.

"Ugh, so close! So fucking close!" Lazarus muttered harshly to himself. "I only need one more word!"

"It's alright! You got this!" Alex encouraged.

"Just. Keep. Running," Lazarus hissed.

Alex looked awkwardly at Lazarus as she continued jogging.

"Hmm…" Charlie thought out loud as he scanned the puzzle. He spied the word 'TENDERS' and filled it in. "I think I'm almost finished, Ichabod."

"Excellent," Ichabod said. "You have my assurance that this wheel will not stop until we have won."

"Not if we win first!" Dede teased, as she found the word 'KETCHUP' on the puzzle. "I only need one more word too!"

"Fuuuuuuck!" Lazarus yelled. "I can't lose now! I've come so close!"

"Sounds like plenty of teams are nearin' the end of the challenge!" Chef announced. "Cheese Yellow, Mushroom Blue, and Bacon Pink only need one word!"

"Bummer," Jenna muttered as she slowed down.

"Well don't just stop because they're almost done!" Panic called back. "We still have a chance!"

"I'm not stopping, I'm just slowing down," Jenna said.

"Well I certainly would be done by now if it were up to me," Sawyer complained.

"Sorry," Orson said.

"Our success is imminent," Ichabod said. "Let us not lose sight now."

"I feel like I have to be missing something really obvious here," Charlie thought out loud.

"Really obvious?!" Lazarus exclaimed. "Wait, I have an idea!"

Lazarus scanned the puzzle, looking intensely. Eventually he spotted a word he hadn't crossed off yet. He crossed off 'BURGER' on the puzzle and suddenly his machine flashed green, with a 'VICTORY!' screen on it.

"YESSSSSSS!" Lazarus yelled. "Let's fucking go! In your face!"

Lazarus began dancing obnoxiously at his station. Assorted looks of annoyance and groans emitted from the rest of the cast.

"Alright Laz, you don't have to rub it in…" Alex said, worriedly.

"Hell yeah I have to rub it in!" Lazarus defended himself. "I'm happy, let me fuckin' have this, maaaaan!"

"Your happiness is noted," Ichabod crossed his arms.

"Sorry, Sunshine," Dede whimpered. "I tried my best!"

"It's okay!" Sunshine reassured her, pulling Dede into a hug, "You tried your best and we had fun, so that's what matters!"

"Blech," Brynleigh gagged, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, how dare they care about each other," Pavel sighed.

"See, you have some sensible takes in that noggin of yours after all!" Brynleigh chuckled.

Sunshine: "Even though we didn't win, we were really close! I think that just shows our duo is capable of anything we put our minds towards! With friendship, anything is possible!" Sunshine giggled.

Ichabod: "Another failure… Why must my burden be so heavy… To make matters worse, Bacon Pink has won this challenge. They are the duo that we pushed to go into the Half and Half Challenge against Pepperoni Red last round, and if they happen to know that, our duo may be in danger of receiving the Pineapple. I must do my part to ensure that will not happen.

The fourteen contestants gathered together as Chef held the Pineapple.

"Alright, today's winner is Bacon Pink!" Chef announced. Lazarus rubbed his hands together.

"Excellent…" Lazarus muttered to himself as he approached Chef and took the Pineapple. He began laughing deviously to himself as he walked back to Alex.

"Thanks, Chef," Alex said.

"So much power… so little time," Lazarus said, cradling to Pineapple.

"It's just one challenge," Brynleigh cringed. "Geez, talk about blowing shit out of proportion."

"Did you not do the same thing when you won the Pineapple last time?" Sawyer rolled her eyes.

"You guys started that!" Brynleigh stuck her tongue out at Sawyer.

"Kinda got ya there, pal," Pavel admitted. After Sawyer stared at him, he looked around uncomfortably. "What, am I supposed to not defend my teammate?"

"Silence!" Lazarus exclaimed. "This is my moment, I will not have you two ruining it!"

"Wouldn't it be… our moment?" Alex smiled.

"Who finished the puzzle? Huh? Huh?!" Lazarus taunted.

"Bacon Pink," Chef interrupted. "You two have tha rest of tha afternoon to figure out who you wanna use the Pineapple on! Report back to the plaza at 6 pm and name which duo you're gon' inflict a cruel an' unusual punishment onto! Got it?!"

The cast broke apart and walked away.

Alex: "So Bacon Pink won! I guess to start, I'm really excited! But I'm also worried… last round we already seemed to have a lot of people who wanted us out, and to have to make another enemy already is gonna be tough. However, I think I have an idea of who pushed for us, and if we can make sure to use this power wisely… it can help us secure ourselves going further. Here's to hoping!"

Brynleigh: "Pfft! How dare that cow Sawyer compare me to Lazarus! Like, my reaction to winning was COMPLETELY different than his! He's crazy, clearly! Muttering to himself and chuckling like a… villain! I'm just opinionated, and proud of it!"

Sawyer: "So Pink has won the Pineapple, huh? I suppose there could be worse results, and if Orson couldn't complete his end of the challenge, then Pink winning is acceptable. However, we were the recipients of the Pineapple last time, and I do not want the trend to continue. I'll need to have a talk with them… and make sure they know we're not ones to mess with."

Lazarus: "So much power!" He held up the Pineapple and gazed at it. "Hold it together! Hold it together! There's still so much to be done! I will use this power to finally gain the control in this game I have deserved from the very start! I told you I'll show them who's boss, and would you look at that? It's me!" He laughed maniacally.

The Blue, Brown, and Yellow pairs all met up in the park.

"You really couldn't wait two seconds after the challenge ended, could you?" Brynleigh griped.

"Yeah, I don't want to be part of strategy talks," Sunshine frowned.

"It is imperative that we all stay in the loop," Ichabod claimed. "None of us have tonight's power, and given the votes against the Bacon Pink Pair last night, any of us very well may receive the Pineapple tonight."

"Easy to say when you didn't even vote for them," Brynleigh commented.

"But we did," Pavel mentioned. "Whatcha got in mind, Ichabod?"

"Well, for starters, I'd like to ask if anyone present feels particularly close to either Alex or Lazarus," Ichabod inquired.

...

"Very well. In that case, let us proceed with my original plan," Ichabod determined. "Dede and I shall speak to Lazarus in hopes of convincing him to set his sights on the Pepperoni Red Pair. Charlie and Pavel shall do the same with Alex."

"Wow, you really don't have any faith in me or Sunshine, huh?" Brynleigh snickered.

"You've expressed minimal interest in assisting the alliance," Ichabod said curtly.

"What, and you were just going to have Charlie walk all over the park looking for Alex like that?" Brynleigh condescended. "Talk about inconsiderate."

"Hey now, I think Ichabod has a point," Dede stepped in. "Besides, Charlie's more than capable of walking around the park."

"Actually, my leg's not feeling great today..." Charlie admitted. "If Brynleigh really wants to give this a shot, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let her try."

"Damn, you really don't have any faith in Brynleigh, do you?" Pavel scoffed.

"Huh? I just said it wouldn't hurt to let her try pitching against Red," Charlie repeated.

"Yeah, but the way you said it sounded like you think she's gonna fuck it up!" Pavel accused.

"Maybe I will fuck it up if you keep talking about me like I'm not even here," Brynleigh threatened. "Nothing's stopping me from telling Alex to use the Pineapple on the BORING Blue Pair! Heh heh heh."

"Bryn, that ain't helpin' either!" Pavel scolded. "If we can all just calm down for a second!"

"I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll see you guys later." Sunshine wrung her hands as she made a quick getaway.

"Sunshine..." Dede followed after her partner.

"Dede, wait! We have to find Lazarus!" Ichabod reminded her as he followed after her.

"Come on, Pav. We have our own work to do," Brynleigh grabbed Pavel's wrist and tried dragging him off. He tore his hand out of Brynleigh's grasp and followed her normally.

"Well, that certainly could have gone better," Charlie commented.

Pavel: "It sucks, because I know our alliance can work together and kick ass while doin' it! But everyone just keeps gettin' under each other's skin. Especially Brynleigh and Charlie. Why do those two have to go out of their way to act like they're the only ones worth listenin' to? It's infuriating!"

Dede: "The hardest part about all of this? Having to pick a side. Because even if I'm helping one person out, I'm just making someone else feel even worse. What if I end up siding against someone who actually likes me? What if I inadvertently sever our soul bond before either of us even knew it was there?! I mean, everyone in my alliance has something going for them... It could happen!"

Charlie: "Pavel's issues with my tone continue to confuse me. I'm starting to suspect he's projecting. Maybe I remind him of someone he knows or knew, someone who talked down to him or undermined him. I want to get to the root of the issue... but he doesn't seem to want to talk to me, so that might be difficult."

Meanwhile, Remi and Veronica sat at a table, looking around the park.

"Man, I haven't seen anyone since we left the challenge!" Remi observed. "Wonder where everyone's at?"

"Hmm… I too wonder about their whereabouts!" Veronica exclaimed.

Veronica looked around and noticed Panic walking alone through the park.

"Oh, look!" Veronica pointed. "It's Panic! I must stop them!"

Veronica rushed over and put her arm around Panic, who immediately pushed Veronica off them.

"Hands off!" Panic exclaimed, stepping away before realizing it was Veronica. "Oh, it's you."

"No need to… panic, Panic!" Veronica giggled as Panic crossed their arms. "It's only me, your sister in arms, your compatriot in counterculture, Veronica!"

Veronica then pointed at her outfit, which was the same one she was wearing earlier. She smiled widely. Panic sighed.

"Right…" Panic said. "So, what's up…"

"Oh, I simply hadn't talked to anyone since the challenge had adjourned and was wondering if you wanted to join me and Remi over there!" Veronica pointed at the table where Remi was sitting, and Remi waved.

"I don't know," Panic said. "I haven't even talked to Pink yet, and they won the whole thing–"

"You'll have fun, you simply must come along!" Veronica put her arm around Panic again and ushered them over to the table. "Take a seat!"

Panic grumbled and sat down at the table.

"Sup, Panic!" Remi greeted warmly.

"Hi," Panic replied.

"See? Isn't this fun!" Veronica nudged Panic. "Us three here, king, queen, and… monarch of the culture wars! Isn't it splendid?"

"Yeah, it is," Panic's eye twitched.

"Well I'm glad you showed up, because I actually did wanna talk to you!" Remi smiled. "I feel like we haven't really gotten much of a chance to talk."

"I suppose you're not wrong," Panic conceded. "So, what'd you want to talk about?"

"Well normally I'd love to talk about music and stuff!" Remi exclaimed. "But right this second I think we gotta talk about what to do now that Pink's got the power!"

Panic nodded with surprise. "Alright, sure, wasn't expecting that."

"Why's that?" Remi asked.

"Well, frankly, you just didn't give off the vibe of someone who cared about the game or anything," Panic explained.

"Oh, that's fair!" Remi laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not much good at that kinda stuff, but I do care!"

"Well then," Panic nodded again. "That's something we have in common. The caring part, not the not being good at stuff part…"

"Yeah, I got ya!" Remi chuckled. "Anyway, I wanna let you know outright that me and Alex are buds, so I think if you want I could talk to her about not giving you guys the Pineapple this round or anything, considering we did just vote together and stuff."

"Well, I'd appreciate that," Panic said. "Since, really, we do need people who trust us around here. Progress doesn't happen without unity!"

"Absolutely!" Remi agreed. "Although I won't lie, I don't know what's up with Laz, man. Especially after how he acted after he won, who knows what he's up to!"

Panic chuckled slightly. "Yeah, that guy's definitely a poser. I don't think even he knows what he's doing."

"I couldn't agree more, friend!" Veronica said, pulling next to her and laughing heartily. "He truly does not know who he is inside, unlike us! We are going against the metaphorical grain, as they say!"

Panic winced as they looked at Veronica.

"Yeah, we haven't worked on a less formal tone yet," Remi laughed. "I keep telling her it doesn't sound right when she says it like that!"

"You're right… it doesn't," Panic gritted their teeth, before sighing. "But I guess it's… a work in progress. You know what they say, Rome wasn't restructured to benefit the masses in a day."

"Yeah! Wait, Is that how it goes?" Remi asked, confusedly.

"It's how it should go," Panic crossed their arms.

Remi: "Man, turns out Panic isn't all doom and gloom after all! I figured they weren't as spiky as they seemed, and just one good conversation can change how ya feel about someone! I think I wanna put a good word in when I go to talk to Alex later…"

Panic: "Remi seems okay, I guess. While I don't think he quite takes the plight of a musician as seriously as I think he should, he's at least an artist, which alone makes him cooler than most of the non-creatives here. Veronica on the other hand… yeesh, talk about being a poser! But, I have to admit, I think she's actually trying to learn. And that's rare in a rich, privileged person like herself. I'll consider helping educate her, and perhaps she can grow."

Back at the cast quarters, Alex paced back and forth in the living area. She tapped her chin, deep in thought.

"What to do… what to do…" Alex muttered to herself.

As she thought to herself, Brynleigh swung the door open and put her hands on her hips. Pavel stood behind her.

"Alex, we need to talk!" Brynleigh proclaimed.

"Brynleigh?" Alex looked up, startled.

"Brynleigh?" Brynleigh mocked. "That's my name, don't wear it out!"

Brynleigh then walked up and plopped into a recliner in the living area and Pavel sat down on the couch. Alex shrugged and sat down on the couch next to Pavel.

"So, what's up guys?" Alex asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious?!" Brynleigh asked. "The Pineapple, of course!"

"She wants to know what you were thinkin' in regards to using it," Pavel said.

"Don't speak for me!" Brynleigh narrowed her eyes angrily. "But yeah, I wanted to know what you were thinking in regards to using it!"

"Right," Alex said. "Well, I can't say I haven't been debating what I wanna do with it. There's a lot of options, y'know?"

"That makes it sound like you're gonna use it on us!" Brynleigh whined. "After we didn't use it on you last time too…"

"C'mon Bryn, that ain't necessary," Pavel grumbled.

"What? Have you never seen a negotiation before?!" Brynleigh exclaimed.

"It's not a very good negotiation if you mention it's one right off the bat…" Pavel shook his head.

"Shut up, you made me say it!" Brynleigh snapped. "Now you're making us look bad in front of Alex!"

"I'm making us look bad?!" Pavel scoffed, crossing his arms. "Man, I'm just tryin' to help."

"Well you're doing a bad job of it! I should've just done this myself," Brynleigh yelled.

"I-um," Alex began before stopping herself, with a puzzled look on her face. "It's… okay?"

Pavel and Brynleigh looked at each other before looking back at Alex.

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry," Pavel mumbled as he looked away. "I didn't mean to just… dump all that out in front of you. It just happens, I'm working on it."

"It's all good," Alex smiled at Pavel. "It happens, it's a high tension situation. Don't feel that bad for getting upset."

"What about me?!" Brynleigh huffed.

"Well, the same goes for you too," Alex laughed. "It's okay, I get you two are stressed out, it's no big deal, really."

"Well then," Brynleigh blinked. "Um… you're not using it on us are you…?"

"I won't lie and say my mind is completely made up, after all I haven't even gotten the chance to really sit down and talk with Lazarus yet," Alex said. "But I personally am not leaning towards using it on you, no."

"Oh, man, what a relief," Pavel exhaled. "That's good t' hear, pal."

"Yeah, no problem," Alex smiled again. "Well, I guess I should probably go find Lazarus and talk to him, but good talk guys."

Alex hurried out of the room, leaving Pavel and Brynleigh sitting in silence.

"You almost blew that," Brynleigh rolled her eyes.

Pavel balled his fists in anger before exhaling loudly and closing his eyes. Brynleigh smiled smugly.

Brynleigh: "Man, Pavel is really crappy at talking to people! If I hadn't been there, I bet he would've just totally lost his cool and ruined everything for us! So, um, hehe, you're welcome for the assist, Pavel! He's lucky I'm so damn awesome and good at everything!" Brynleigh crossed her arms and looked directly into the camera.

Alex: "Honestly, going into that I wasn't really sure what to make of Pavel and Brynleigh, but after that talk… I can honestly say they don't seem like too much of a problem," Alex chuckled. "They don't even seem to like each other, let alone have good team cohesion. As long as I stay on their good side, I think I'll probably be good."

Meanwhile, Charlie hobbled through the park slowly, looking down at his leg and frowning.

"Despite what I may want to believe, I am not unbreakable," Charlie muttered disappointedly to himself. "It's okay to have bad days… you can be vulnerable. I am still capable, I am still capable…"

As he continued to walk through the park, he began walking towards a bench and noticed Orson sitting at the bench, looking around. Charlie slowly hobbled his way over and Orson waved at him.

"This seat taken?" Charlie asked.

"No, go ahead," Orson nodded and gestured to the bench.

Charlie sat down on the bench next to Orson and grunted in pain. Orson looked at Charlie.

"Are you alright?" Orson asked.

"Yeah, I am," Charlie winced slightly. "Sometimes my leg just gets like this, there's some pain involved. Recovery isn't linear, they always say."

"That's definitely true, I'm glad to hear it's okay at least," Orson smiled slightly.

"No need to worry, I'll be fine," Charlie smiled back. "So, what brings you out here by yourself?"

"Oh, just people watching," Orson replied.

"Really?" Charlie looked shocked. "I'm surprised."

"It is just calming, looking out at a crowd, I think that isn't too surprising," Orson gestured out to the large, bustling crowd of people around them.

"I'm mostly surprised because I wouldn't have expected that from anyone else here, considering this show's tendency for casting people with completely different hobbies and interests," Charlie stated.

"That's fair, I do tend to enjoy this type of stuff though," Orson said. "It's interesting just seeing what makes people tick, you know?

"I do," Charlie smiled. "Psychology has really interested me since my whole accident happened. I didn't have much ability to do much else, so I studied human emotion and the effects of therapy."

"That's fascinating," Orson said attentively.

"Well thanks," Charlie chuckled. "I didn't expect someone to find this all that interesting."

Orson shrugged. "It's surprising, but it goes to show you never know until you try, right?"

"I suppose you're right," Charlie agreed. "I suppose I'm also surprised that you're talking so cordially to me considering my team gave yours the Pineapple in round one."

"Ah," Orson noted. "The way I look at it is that it's just the game, you're doing what you have to, it's how it goes. I won't hold it against you, especially since I know Sawyer was rubbing people the wrong way."

"Well that's a pretty respectable way to look at it all," Charlie commended. "And really that's all it came down to, we had to pick someone."

Orson and Charlie sat in silence for a moment, looking at the crowd.

"Y'know, I feel like in a different world the two of us could've had a good alliance from the start," Charlie mentioned. "It's interesting how something as simple as who we split off with at the very beginning, with no idea of who the others were, could have so much impact on our games."

"I can sense that as well," Orson concurred. "I suppose never say–"

As Orson spoke, suddenly a familiar face walked out from the crowd. Sawyer stood directly in front of Orson and Charlie, arms crossed.

"There you are!" Sawyer exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Oh, well, I was just sitting here talking–" Orson began.

"I can see that, I'm not blind nor stupid, no need to treat me as such," Sawyer narrowed her eyes. Orson rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, the two of us need to talk, immediately."

"It's okay, I understand," Charlie shrugged. "It's important to check in on our pairs."

"Well, alright then," Orson said. "I'll be heading out now then."

As Orson stood up and followed Sawyer back into the crowd, Charlie reclined slightly on the bench and rested his head on his hands. He sighed.

Charlie: "It's moments like these that show me how things can change on a dime. I've been having a not-so-great day today, truthfully. Luckily for me, I just so happened upon Orson, someone who for all intents and purposes has been my enemy in this game, and we just had a good talk. Shows beneath everything, the game and whatnot, everyone's still got that human connection going on."

Orson: "Despite having to cut the conversation short, I do think Charlie and I were able to establish some sort of connection, which is very important moving forward. Although I must wonder what Sawyer wanted that is so important?"

Someone knocked loudly on the door.

Sawyer: "Are you almost done in there?! We have important talks we need to be a part of, Orson!"

Orson sighed.

Dede and Ichabod walked through the amusement park, looking around.

"This is growing to become more of a nuisance than I had initially anticipated," Ichabod shook his head pensively. "We have not seen any sign of Lazarus for quite some time."

"I know!" Dede agreed. "It's too bad that it's just… the two of us alone, in an amusement park…"

"Yes, quite, there are still plenty of things to be done still," Ichabod chastised. "I do not have time for leisure."

"Oh, bummer," Dede sighed.

The two kept walking in silence. As they searched, Dede and Ichabod spied Lazarus riding on a merry-go-round, clutching the Pineapple in his hands.

"Oh, there is he!" Dede cried out, pointing at Lazarus.

"I suppose we must wait for him to be finished with his tomfoolery first," Ichabod crossed his arms.

After a few minutes, Lazarus eventually exited the merry-go-round and immediately noticed the two standing there.

"What?" Lazarus asked. "What do you two want? I'm very busy, as you know."

"I can see that," Ichabod grunted. "Regardless, I have a proposal for you."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Lazarus smirked.

"Well, I believe that the correct course of action is to use the Pineapple on the Pepperoni Red team," Ichabod stated. "It is simply logical."

"Logical, huh," Lazarus nodded. "Why is that the logical conclusion?"

"They are the strongest team," Ichabod replied.

"I feel like that could very easily applied to you and Charlie, actually," Lazarus grinned. "I guess it would be the logical thing to put it on you, maaaaan."

"Obviously I would not state myself as the correct recipient of the Pineapple," Ichabod furrowed his brow. "That would be idiotic."

"As idiotic as someone walking directly up to someone else and expecting him to use HIS power on one of THEIR targets?" Lazarus scolded.

"Well I never!" Ichabod protested. "In what world is simply discussing a potential strategy idiotic?! That is the point of the competition!"

Dede then jumped in between the two of them.

"Fellas, fellas! Take a chill pill!" Dede yelled. She then looked at the two, and sheepishly backed out from between them. "Sorry, I just wanted to cut in real quick!"

"Go on," Lazarus looked smugly at Ichabod. "I'd like to hear something actually logical for once here."

Ichabod grumbled.

"Anyway, I wanted to say, I also think putting the Pineapple on Red is a good idea," Dede admitted. "But I think it's not just them being the strongest."

"Oh, this will be interesting," Lazarus said. "I'm listening."

"Well, I just think that they clearly made the last vote go their way by getting Gray in," Dede explained. "Gray was an easy team to beat, no offense! And they wanted them specifically, if I had to guess. So the two of them are clearly capable of manipulation!"

Lazarus nodded, and then looked over at the Pineapple again.

"So it would make sense if you wanted to go after a team like them, to weaken a team who is already so clearly good at making people go their way," Dede continued. "If they were that capable when on the backfoot, imagine what they can do if given a little leeway in the game! Not cool!"

"Yes, not cool indeed, maaaaan," Lazarus agreed.

"Yeah!" Dede smiled. "I'm not saying you have to make that decision or anything, just think about it, ya dig?"

"Yeah, I do," Lazarus confirmed. "And regardless, Sawyer has been pissing me off lately, so it might not be the worst idea in the world to get rid of her…"

Lazarus trailed off, deep in thought. Dede and Ichabod looked at each other silently, and Lazarus suddenly had an extremely devious expression on his face.

"I have a plan now," Lazarus grinned, and looked back at the Pineapple. "I will be leaving now, I have a lot to think about, maaaan. Peace out, brothers."

Lazarus then hurried off, Pineapple in hand.

"That was a close one!" Dede said, wiping her brow, and then seamlessly put her arm around Ichabod. "Now then–"

"No," Ichabod rejected.

Ichabod: "As much as it greatly pains me to say so, I must give credit where credit is due. Dede certainly deescalated things there quite well. While I do not approve of her advances towards me, she is proving to be a more capable and reliable ally than I had anticipated. Perhaps more reliable than others we deemed alliance members already."

Lazarus: "Y'know, there was one thing that Dede said that I couldn't agree more with! And that is that this Pineapple needs to be used to weaken an already strong team!" Lazarus chuckled. "I have a plan to do just that, trust me. I will use this Pineapple and this small token of power is just the beginning of my dominance in this game! Lazarus is back! Believe it, maaaaan!"

Later that day, Jenna hurriedly walked through the park, shoving past people in her way.

"I knew I should've just waited to go to the bathroom," Jenna grumbled.

As she kept rushing through, she eventually ran into someone and fell to the ground. As she looked up, she saw someone holding their hand out to her.

"Oh my gosh Jenna, I'm so sorry!" Sunshine apologized. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh, not now," Jenna sighed.

Jenna took Sunshine's hand and Sunshine lifted her up to her feet.

"I should've watched where I was going!" Sunshine exclaimed. "But it's okay, maybe we were supposed to meet and get to know each other!"

"I'm busy, I really can't right now," Jenna said, trying to walk past Sunshine, however Sunshine cut her off.

"C'mooooon," Sunshine begged. "We haven't gotten much of a chance to get to know each other! Don't you wanna be friends?"

"It's not that I don't wanna be friends," Jenna rolled her eyes. "I just have other stuff I need to attend to right now."

"Oooh, can I come?" Sunshine asked.

"Not really, no," Jenna shook her head.

"Awww, why not?" Sunshine sniffled.

"Because I said so," Jenna explained. "It's just some boring, not fun stuff I gotta go do."

"Oh, well can't you just hang out for a bit before then?" Sunshine pouted. "I'd love to get to know you!"

Jenna sighed and put her face in her hands.

"Alrighty then!" Jenna exclaimed, immediately changing her tone to a much more friendly, cheery one. "What'cha want to talk about?"

"Wow! You changed fast!" Sunshine grinned. "This is more my speed! I'd love to talk about everything! I wanna know 'Who is Jenna?'!"

"Oh man, Jenna is a lot of different things!" Jenna continued, her eye twitching. "She's a student, a hard worker, and she's got a lot of friends workin' down at Tito's Pizza!"

"You do?" Sunshine marveled. "How do you like all your friends down at Tito's Pizza?!"

"It's great!" Jenna's smile began to look forced.

"That's awesome!" Sunshine clapped her hands together. "I have a lot of friends back at school too! In fact, every school I go to I try my best to make sure every single person there is my friend! There's nothing better than companionship, wouldn't you agree?!"

"Absolutely!" Jenna forced out. "Nothing more important, at all!"

"I'm so glad someone agrees!" Sunshine squealed. "I like to think everyone around here's my friend, but they make it so hard to get to know them! I guess it's just the darn game that gets in the way, but why not take time off from it to get to know each other!"

"Great way to look at it!" Jenna agreed. "Say, I have an idea!"

"Oh really, what is it?!" Sunshine asked with glee.

"Maybe we can sit at this table over here and get to know each other a little better!" Jenna exclaimed, pointing at a table.

"That's an amazing idea!" Sunshine rushed over to the table and sat down.

"Alright, but I don't think it'd be right to get to know each other on an empty stomach," Jenna continued. "I'll go get us some food, I'll be right back!"

"Oh, that's okay Jenna, you don't have to!" Sunshine laughed.

"No no, I insist!" Jenna backed up a bit. "It'd be rude of me not to!"

Jenna then turned around and ran off in the direction she was going originally.

"I'll be back soon!" Jenna exclaimed from behind her.

"Oh, okay!" Sunshine replied from the table. "I'll just be waiting here!"

Jenna continued running as fast as she could.

"That should keep her distracted for probably a couple hours…" Jenna muttered. "Now I'm late, great."

Sunshine: "I wasn't sure how Jenna would be, we haven't talked much. But now I can tell she's just like me! I'm so glad there's someone else around here to talk about the value and power of friendship with! I'm so excited!"

Jenna: "You know, I wasn't expecting to have to bust out the customer service voice in this whole competition. But when the time calls, the time calls I guess. It seemed to work on Sunshine and got her to let me leave for a little bit, but she's cost me some valuable time already, which sucks."

Alex, Lazarus, Remi, Veronica, Sawyer, Orson, and Panic met up at the Breakfast Nook.

"Alright, looks like we're just waiting on Jenna?" Alex mentioned.

"You know how little she takes these things seriously," Panic dismissed. "I'll fill her in if need be."

"I'd tell you to give your partner some credit, but you haven't extended that courtesy to anyone," Sawyer snickered.

"Oh, are you the pot or the kettle over here?" Panic grunted.

"Whoa, let's play a smoother beat, alright?" Remi stepped in.

"My point is: I think we can all guess why Alex and Lazarus asked us to convene in such a manner," Sawyer claimed.

"Well, ever since my pair almost got sent to do the Half n' Half, I've kept an eye out for who might have voted for us," Alex began.

"You won't believe what happens next," Lazarus smirked. "Because-"

"Yep. Brown and Yellow," Alex confirmed. "Sorry, did I interrupt? My bad."

"Ah! Whatever might you have done to offend them?" Veronica wondered.

"Search me." Alex put her hands up. "Maybe they really didn't like that episode where Cherry kisses Harrison even though he's still dating Misty. Wouldn't be the first. Either way, I asked Dede and Pavel about the vote, and they all but confirmed my fears."

"And you think the Blue Pair might be in on it, too?" Orson guessed.

"I'm not 100% on that, but I think so," Alex admitted.

"And that's where all of y'all come in," Lazarus grinned. "Because-"

"If our four pairs work together, that's a majority over the other three," Alex laid out. "Sorry. I'm excited. Anyway, since Lazarus and I won the Pineapple this round, I think we can really make some headway."

"Whoa..." Remi realized, impressed.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. Stuff came up," Jenna announced as she joined the others. "What'd I miss?"

"Alex just offered an alliance between our four pairs," Orson smiled. "I think it's a really strong idea."

"Huh?" Jenna blinked. "Is that... Is that not what we were already doing?"

"Not to my knowledge," Veronica admitted. "In fact, despite our final two alliance, Jenna, you've spoken nary a word to me of late!"

"Sawyer, Lazarus, did I not pull you aside earlier today with a very similar plan?" Jenna exasperated.

"Not that I recall," Sawyer denied. "And if you had, I'm sure the plan wasn't nearly as effective as this one."

"Yeah, this is the first big step between our four pairs that I'm aware of," Lazarus smiled. "Anyway, as I was saying-"

"Jenna, you can't just assume everyone's on the same page as you," Panic told her. "That's Total Drama 101."

"I- The- Are you-?!" Jenna stammered. "Alright, fine. This alliance is a good idea! I wish I'd thought of it!"

"Well, uh, I'm glad we're on the same page now," Alex offered. "That's going to be important moving forward."

Jenna sulked.

Alex: "I'm pleasantly surprised at how easily that worked out. I know some people in that group don't get along great, but I think they realize that collaborating as a team is the key to success! And believe me, there are sooo many cheerleader chants I've had to learn over the course of my show. I would have busted them out if I had to!" She giggled.

Orson: "So Alex picked up on the Brown/Yellow/Blue alliance too, huh? I guess they weren't as subtle as they might have thought. At least not following an actual vote. Alex is smarter than she looks. I'll have to make sure she doesn't outpace me and Sawyer, heh."

Jenna: "Are you freaking kidding me? I was this close to getting a big alliance to work together, just like Panic keeps freaking out that we should do! And then of course, damn Alex has to show up and pitch an even bigger alliance! So now I'm just the idiot who was late to the function and had nothing to show for it!" She pinched her eyes. "I haven't even been doing this for a week and I'm already starting to miss work."

As night fell, the contestants met up with Chef and Chris in front of the statue at the plaza.

"Alright, everyone! It's time for the-" Chef stopped as he looked over the players. "Where the hell's Sunshine at?!"

Sunshine sat smiling at the table in the mostly-empty park, hands politely clasped together and humming a little tune. A custodian swept the ground around her, not acknowledging her at all.

"I'm waiting for my friend," Sunshine informed the custodian.

...

Sunshine continued humming.

"I'm... not sure," Dede admitted. "Should I go look for her?"

"Eh, we're runnin' outta moonlight," Chef decided. "This here's the Pineapple Ceremony! The Bacon Pink Pair won today's challenge, so they've won the ability to force a disadvantage onto another pair of their choosin'! Alex, Lazarus, make your decision!"

"That should be 'Lazarus and Alex'," Lazarus muttered bitterly as he and Alex stepped before the others. He cleared his throat and spoke audibly. "Our fellow contestants! I'm sure you're all dying to know who we chose."

"We've thought about it, and I think we've made the best decision," Alex smiled. "In the end, we're giving the Pineapple to..."

...

"The Mushroom Blue Pair."

Ichabod and Charlie both seemed taken aback by this. Dede tried to hide her surprise. Nobody else reacted.

"Us? This is preposterous!" Ichabod rebuked. "We've been nothing but cordial to you."

"Yeah, I have to admit, I'm not sure where this is coming from," Charlie frowned. "I thought we were getting along alright."

"Well, it's the decision we've made," Lazarus chuckled smugly. "That's the game, maaan."

"If you expect the two of us to take this decision lying down, you are sorely mistaken," Ichabod leered.

"I mean, if lying down relaxes us enough to have an open conversation with them, then-" Charlie began.

"I do not tolerate obstructions, no less unwarranted obstructions!" Ichabod said firmly. "I hope you don't expect this... Pineapple to stand in our way of victory."

"Guess we'll see," Lazarus patronized.

"N' that's the ceremony," Chef concluded. "See y'all tomorrow for the Invincibility Challenge! Until then... dismissed!"

Lazarus: "I mean, I already didn't like Ichabod after the first challenge. I know his pair didn't technically vote for us, but his pair also does consistently well in challenges. If we can keep them from winning, we can keep them from being safe, maaan. And that's good news for this shiny new alliance I've put together. It's powerful, if you really think about it. ...If only everyone realized it was all my idea!"

Dede: "Ohhhhhh no. This might be the worst-case scenario, friendos. Ichabod's alliance has the Pineapple disadvantage, there's not much I can do to help, and I'm still not really sure where Sunshine went! I hope she's okay! I can't worry too much. I have to stay strong, like the others." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Cool as a cucumber... daddy-o..."

Veronica: "Does this qualify as 'sticking it to the man'? Because even if I didn't do so directly, it feels good to be on the right side of history! Ohhhhohohoho!"

Ichabod: "The Bacon Pink Pair have fired back. The fact that I allowed them to win the challenge in the first place, let alone determine that my pair are priority targets... I must do better! I will not allow this lapse in responsibility to carry over into the remainder of the game! I will do everything it takes and then some to ensure victory for Charlie and myself!"

After everyone else left, Chef and Chris stood before the statue.

"The game rests for no one, Chris," Chef chuckled. "Rulin' the world don't mean a thing if ya lose it the next day."

"Of course, that can easily swing in the other direction, hehaha." Chris rubbed his hands together. "Invincibility hasn't happened yet, brah."

"No it has not," Chef confirmed. "The Mushroom Blue Pair may have the Pineapple, but will it be enough to slow 'em down?"

"I guess we'll have to wait and see, eh Chef?" Chris hinted.

"Right ya are, Chris," Chef confirmed. "Who will be safe? Who will be at risk? Who will be the next two players headin' home? You're gonna hafta find out! Next time! On Total! Drama! Pizza Party!"

Pepperoni Red Pair:

Sawyer - The Businesswoman

Orson - The Ordinary Guy

Onion Purple Pair:

Veronica - The Sheltered Heiress

Remi - The Superfan Drummer

Jalapeno Green Pair:

Jenna - The Last-Second Recruit

Panic - The Disillusioned Punk

Cheese Yellow Pair:

Dede - The Retro Romantic

Sunshine - The Lover of All

Sausage Brown Pair:

Pavel - The Reformed Gangster

Brynleigh - The Brat

Mushroom Blue Pair:

Charlie - The Aspiring Therapist

Ichabod - The Terse Perfectionist

Bacon Pink Pair:

Lazarus - The Offbeat Hippie

Alex - The Friendly Actress

Anchovy Gray Pair:

Peter - The Surly Cynic

Aoi - The Complacent Model

Not Picked:

Flick - The Isekai Survivor

Jacqueline - The Proud Nerd

Kiko - The Mushroom VTuber

Toby - The Optimistic Reporter

A/N:

Asujoll: Big plays! In a format that rewards challenge strength, the Pineapple is sure to have an effect on the way things go. How it affects the next round... well, you'll just have to wait and see. Mushroom Blue are no slouches. And hey, the game's always moving, even beyond that. We're excited to show you what's next.

Max: Another episode and another power shift! The Pineapple's place in the game is sure to spice things up next episode, especially with a team as strong as Mushroom Blue receiving it this time. Next episode is sure to have excitement as the next team is sent home. Stay tuned!