Cody was really starting to think that the universe was playing some sort of sick joke on him.

At the very least, it got a real kick out of watching him suffer.

They only had one day until the next challenge, thanks to Chef's boot camp lasting through the night and into yesterday morning - that really messed with his already horrible sleep schedule - and it seemed like he wasn't the only one who was affected by this disruption.

As Cody slowly trudged into the mess hall for breakfast at the usual time (six-thirty in the morning was when plates began to be served), he realized that there were only a handful of people that were there with him - Duncan, Leshawna, Courtney, Lindsay, and Tyler.

Of course, to knock him even further down, he was forced to witness Lindsay and Tyler (and Duncan and Courtney) swooning over each other.

He was going to be sick.

Lindsay and Tyler had taken a table for themselves, and were content to feed each other food while occasionally sneaking in a kiss. Cody could ignore them.

What he couldn't ignore was Duncan and Courtney doing practically the same thing, Duncan holding Courtney in his arms as she romantically fed him breakfast, giggling all the while.

Cody couldn't help but stare, even after he sat down. Since when was Courtney (or Duncan for that matter) ever caught showing that much affection? He couldn't remember the last time he had seen either of them being so… sweet with each other. Maybe Harold not rigging the votes against Courtney had something to do with it - she was somewhat ok before that, if a bit bossy, but that elimination seemingly had made her snap - or maybe it was a coincidence.

Regardless, it just helped to remind him of how alone he was.

"Hey, sugar," Leshawna greeted, "How you feeling today?"

"Like crap," Cody groaned, "That last challenge was… tough."

Leshawna nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean," she began, eyes briefly darting around to make sure the rest of the teens in the room weren't listening, "But that's not what I meant."

Cody blinked. "Then what did you mean?"

Leshawna sighed. "Bridgette."

Ah. Of course.

Why wouldn't everyone want to bring that up?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cody muttered, poking at his breakfast, but his immediate shift in posture was all the evidence Leshawna needed.

"Don't try and play with me, Cody!" She hissed, taking the boy by surprise, "Everyone can see just how messed up you are right now because of her and Geoff getting together!"

Cody shrunk back, taken off-guard by Leshawna's aggression towards him.

He opened his mouth to defend himself, but right on cue Bridgette walked in, and he immediately clammed up.

"Hey, Cody!" Bridgette greeted, waving brightly at him.

"O-oh, hey Bridgette," he responded shakily.

Leshawna crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him. "'Scuse me, Bridgette," she interrupted, "But I think I need to borrow Cody here for a second."

Bridgette blinked. "Oh, sure!" She turned to Cody, her smile not dampening in the slightest. "Talk to you later, I guess?"

Cody could only jerkily nod his head as Leshawna dragged him out the door of the mess hall, leaving Bridgette with the two couples who were too busy sucking face to notice her.

"See what I mean?"

Cody sagged. "Look, what happened happened. I'll get over it."

"Like heck you will!" Leshawna scoffed, "You've been like this for days. I don't need you and your mopey attitude costing us the challenge tomorrow -"

"Did you just drag me out here to mock me?" Cody interrupted, "Because if that's all this is then you can save it. I get enough of that back home, I don't need to hear it from everyone here, too."

"That's not the point -"

Cody interrupted Leshawna again, his anger at this entire situation finally bubbling over. "No, it is! You're pissed at me for being unhappy about Bridgette getting together with Geoff because I like her. Of course I'm unhappy about it! I really thought, for the first time, that I had maybe found somebody! Just in case you couldn't tell, I don't have any friends back home, or a girlfriend, or anyone, so sue me for being a tad upset!"

In the back of his mind, Cody dimly realized that the flimsy wooden door probably wasn't the best insulator for noise, and that there was a decent chance the people inside could hear him as he blew up on his teammate.

And just like that, all his remaining vitriol vanished. Cody sagged, feeling nothing but emptiness as his exhaustion from the previous challenge and the realization of how alone he truly was hit him like a truck.

"Sorry. I'm going on a walk," he muttered, already turning his back on Leshawna, "Feel free to have my breakfast."

Leshawna grabbed his shoulder before he could get too far, spinning him around to see a guilty look on her face.

"Look," she began awkwardly, "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to rile you up like that. I'm not trying to get on your case about Bridgette or anything, really. I just want you focused on the game and not some crappy summer romance drama, y'know? The chance to win a hundred grand doesn't come around often, after all."

Cody resisted the urge to point out that what she had done with Harold yesterday was the exact same 'crappy summer romance drama' that she was currently warning him against.

"Apology accepted," he breathed out, "But I don't really care about the money. My parents are loaded."

Leshawna gave him a weird look. "Then why'd you wanna come on the show?"

"Did you not listen when I just said that I don't have friends?"

She winced guiltily. Cody didn't have it in him at the moment to feel bad.

"Right, sorry." She had trouble meeting his eyes after that. "But still, you wouldn't want to go home next after coming this far, right?"

"If you can get the votes to get rid of me if we lose the next challenge, go right ahead." Cody deadpanned, enjoying the way Leshawna's eye ticked.

"You know what I mean!"

Cody let a small smile creep back onto his face. "Yeah, I do."

Leshawna grinned victoriously. "Now, are you gonna go walk off and mope around in the woods, or are you gonna come back to breakfast and let me help you figure out a rebound girl?"

Cody sputtered, and Leshawna laughed as she dragged him back into the main lodge.

"Thanks, Leshawna," he muttered quietly as they took their seats again, "I mean it."

"You can thank me by swapping breakfasts with me again!" Leshawna shot back immediately, "Because I'm starving for some of Chef's best!"

Cody hid his smile behind his fork. All of Chef's food was his best to him.

"Now, rebound girls. You didn't hear it from me, but there's a certain farmer girl who might have the hots for you!"

Cody choked.

–

"Incoming!"

Cody groggily looked up with the rest of the cast, only for his eyes to widen in realization that not only was Chris flying the same rickety airplane that Owen and Izzy had rode in for Phobia Factor, but that he was also flying directly towards the campers.

"Hit the deck!" Someone called, their voice nearly drowned out amidst the screams of the scattering teens.

Fortunately for the eleven remaining campers (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it), Chris was a really bad pilot. If he was aiming for the campers he was off by a mile, nearly taking out the confessional as he tried to make a landing. Somehow, he didn't crash the plane, and only left deep gouges in the ground from where the plane's wheels had originally made contact with the earth.

Chris leaned out the window, megaphone in hand, and Cody instinctively covered his ears. His tired brain was not ready to deal with this.

"That was awesome!" He crowed, "I can't wait to get my pilot's license!"

"Are you insane?!" Courtney shouted, "Or were you actually trying to kill us?!"

Chris smirked. "Just flexing your muscles for today's extreme sports challenge!"

The megaphone had a bit of an echo, so that last part of Chris's shout repeated in everyone's ears for a good few seconds before the feedback finally went away. The worst it did was mildly irritate everyone, but it just confounded the problem that all of the teens were facing already.

"Ugh, it's too early for this!" Gwen groaned.

Lindsay nodded in agreement. "I know, right? I haven't even gotten my beauty sleep yet!"

"Hush!" Chris silenced them with a finger to his lips, before beginning to explain the challenge. "This week you'll participate in three challenges. First up… extreme sofa bed skydiving! Contestants will plummet… er, skydive, to a waiting sofa bed target below."

For a practical demonstration, the campers were treated with the sight of Chef Hatchet, still in his army uniform, jumping out of the plane down onto the sofa bed that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was only a few feet's worth of distance, but apparently that little bit of distance was enough force to retract the bed part of the sofa, slamming itself shut with Chef still on top - trapping him within the cushions.

That, combined with his muffled screams, was all it took for Cody to spring into action. While most of the other competitors winced back or watched uncomfortably as Chef got stuck, Cody hurried to free the man. Soon enough, DJ and Bridgette joined in, and they were able to get Chef out from within the collapsed sofa.

With one final heave, it came undone again, and Chef Hatchet heaved in lungfuls of air as Chris waited patiently for them to finish.

It only took a moment for Chef's normal (angry) stature to return, muttering out a brief 'thanks' before jumping right back into the side of the plane.

"Of course," Chris finally continued, quietly thankful that that little disaster had ended quickly, "You'll be skydiving from five-thousand feet, and be using these!"

Chris tossed out two parachute bags from the cockpit, both of which looked absolutely destroyed. The straps on one of the bags were tied back together after they had ripped, and the other had a large hole in the side.

"Our lucky contestants…" Chris began, "DJ and Owen!"

"Oh no!" Owen cried, "Absolutely not!"

"Oh yes, you are!" Chris laughed, "Or else you lose. And your team will hate you. And then you'll get voted out. And you'll lose your chance at a hundred-thousand big ones."

"You're doing this, Owen!" Heather ordered, poking him in the chest and striking an intimidating figure despite her (much) smaller size.

"C'mon, man," DJ offered, putting a hand on Owen's shoulder, "It can't be that bad, right? Let's do this!"

Despite his bravado, it was clear that DJ wasn't exactly thrilled to do the jump either, judging by the shakiness in his voice.

"DJ!" Courtney hissed, "Don't give the other team encouragement!"

DJ blushed, slowly stepping away from Owen and back towards the rest of the Killer Bass.

"Not so fast!" Chris interrupted the chit-chat with a gnarly smirk. "Because the second challenge of the day is… extreme rodeo moose riding!"

With every new challenge announcement, Chris screamed into the megaphone, and Cody could already feel the headache coming on from it. Judging by the way Duncan and Gwen were giving Chris the stink-eye as well, he wasn't alone.

"Contestants will rodeo ride the Great Canadian Bucking Moose for eight seconds or get hoofed into a giant pile of socks from the lost and found."

"Pft," Leshawna scoffed, "That stink pile ain't nothing but laundry day back home!"

Chris laughed. "Well then, it's your lucky day, Leshawna! You're riding for Gophers! And… uh, Tyler, you're riding for Bass!"

Tyler gasped. "Aww, yeah!"

—

Confessional: Tyler

"I've got wicked strong fingers," he explained with pride, "Docs can't explain it. My first piano lesson, I broke the piano! I got into sports after that."

He grinned. "I think I've done pretty well for myself in that department."

—

"And for the final challenge," Chris announced, "Extreme seadoo water skiing! Contestants will waterski a race course, grabbing as many flags as they can before crossing the finish line, while a member from the opposing team drives the seadoo."

"How can we water ski without water?" Heather questioned.

Chris snickered. "It's really hard. Check it out!"

Cody was treated to the sight of Chef, who had somehow changed out of his army uniform and back into his regular cooking attire, attempting to ride the crappy seadoo that the show had created only to wipe out in spectacular fashion.

Chris laughed. "Awesome! Courtney, you'll ski for the Killer Bass, and Lindsay for the screaming Gophers."

"Cool!" Lindsay giggled, "I can model my new bikini!"

"And now for the cool swag!" Chris ignored Lindsay's fawning in favor of continuing to explain the challenge. "Whoever scores the most challenges gets bragging rights for the night, saves their butts from elimination, and wins a tricked out, multi-massage, mobile shower!"

Many gasps were had.

"Can it be?" Heather breathed out, looking as though she were genuinely in awe.

"Oh, it be!"

Owen groaned, looking decidedly unimpressed with both the challenge and its rewards as he scarfed down a bag of marshmallows (where did he get that?). "A shower?! How about something good?"

In an instant, Heather was in front of him, giving Owen an absolutely nasty glare.

"Listen to me you marshmallow eating goof!" Heather spat, "We are going to win that shower if it's the last thing we do, got it?"

Owen opened his mouth to respond, but it seemed like the last marshmallow he had practically inhaled got stuck, and he began to choke.

Cody was quick to react, as usual, and began to administer the Heimlich Maneuver to get it out of his throat.

He held back a laugh as Owen coughed it back up into Heather's face. Just because she was making good on her promise to him (and they were almost-sorta-kinda friends) didn't mean he couldn't laugh at her.

The death glare that she gave him shut Cody up real quick, though.

"Okay gang!" Chris finished, hopping back into the plane and starting the engine once more, "Chow for brekkie, then report back here in 20 minutes for… the X-Treme Sports Challenge!"

The resulting takeoff left everyone coughing up the rust and dust that had accumulated on the plane's propellers.

Cody had to wonder - was the last time that plane was used World War One or Two?

–

Cody huffed as the Gophers pushed their sofa across the sand, arms burning with the strain of exertion. Why did they decide to push it across the beach again?

He couldn't rest though. He was arguably the strongest person on the team (barring Leshawna), surprisingly enough, and if he stopped pushing the sofa definitely wasn't going to be moving at all.

Especially with how Lindsay and Heather were not-so-subtly protecting their nails by not actually pushing.

Cody perked up as he heard what sounded like a low hum. He looked around curiously and realized that the girls had all picked up on it as well.

It slowly picked up in intensity, getting louder and louder as the seconds ticked by. It only took another moment before Cody realized with a start that it wasn't a hum.

It was screaming.

Cody looked up in a panic, and sure enough, there Owen was, a tiny white speck in the sky that was barrelling towards the beach at a breakneck speed.

"Hurry!" Cody ordered, leaving no room for backtalk as they pushed the sofa with a renewed vigor.

Even with all of five of them actually pushing, it was gonna be close. Owen was dropping like a brick, and the distance between the sofa and where it looked like Owen would land wasn't getting any smaller. Still, all five of them pushed as hard as they could, and were making some progress.

Owen was getting closer. With one final heave, they shoved the mattress forward as far as they could -

Owen missed it by a few feet.

Boom.

What felt like a small earthquake rocked the Gophers, followed closely by a storm of sand that erupted from where Owen had landed.

Cody winced. It wasn't a gentle impact.

At all.

"Omar?" Lindsay asked, once the team had finally recovered from the shockwave that rocked the beach.

The crater he had formed was several feet deep, and the outline of where Owen landed was ever deeper. The only thing that Cody could hear was a muffled, pained groan from inside of it as Owen tried to respond to Lindsay's call.

–

"Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark," Chris commented, standing alongside Cody and the others as they watched the paramedics pull Owen out of the sand and onto a stretcher that the four of them combined could barely move.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Cody asked worriedly. Trent hadn't been too damaged by the challenge last time around (relatively speaking), but Owen was a much bigger guy, and that he did not look okay after he was dragged out of that pit.

Chris shrugged. "Maybe. But dude took a pretty big fall. We'll have to wait for the doctor's diagnosis before we make any decisions."

Well, that didn't soothe Cody's nerves at all.

Chris, seeing the disturbed look on his face, decided to throw on a sleazy grin and toss an arm around Cody's shoulder. "Relax, Codemeister! Don't worry about Owen, the big guy'll be fine. Just focus on winning the challenge, 'kay?"

Cody shrugged off Chris's arm, but nodded nonetheless. As long as they won the challenge, everything would be fine.

Besides, he had more important things to discuss at the moment.

–

"Gwen, can we talk?"

Gwen turned to him curiously, but nodded nonetheless as he led her slightly away from where the rest of the campers had gathered to watch Leshawna ride the moose. Cody wasn't worried about her chances, seeing as she had done so with ease last time around, and decided that now was as good a time as any to finally get some answers out of Gwen.

Once they were a decent ways away from everybody, she finally spoke up. "So, what did you wanna talk about?"

Cody steeled his nerves. "I need to know what happened during the paintball challenge. How did that happen to Trent?"

Gwen's face fell immediately. "Cody…"

"He's my friend too, I have a right to know!" He protested, aware that this was still a sore subject. "I need to know."

Gwen sagged. "I get it," she whispered, "It's just… I…"

She took a deep breath. "It's my fault."

Cody remained quiet, content to let Gwen elaborate at her own pace.

"We were walking together, in the woods, just enjoying each other's company," she explained quietly, "Just hanging out, y'know?"

Her eyes were locked on her shoes. "And then we found a stupid fucking bag of potato chips, just laying on the ground. I was hungry, and so I grabbed them, even though Trent warned me not to. I thought he was just jealous he didn't get to them first. Things were fine for a bit, and then all of a sudden there was a growl, and I turned around to see a bear. It was probably attracted to the food. Trent… Trent made me run away first, with a head start and to get help, and I just listened. By the time I brought help back, he was… well, you know…"

She trailed off weakly, voice cracking the entire time.

Cody was catatonic.

The bag of chips.

The motherfucking bag of chips. The same one that led to him being mauled.

Beth really did curse them, huh.

Cody didn't know what to expect when he cornered Gwen for an answer, but this made him feel… almost hollow. Was someone just guaranteed to be hurt there? How much would he have had to do to prevent somebody from getting hurt?

It made him feel a little better, but not by much.

He blinked, and was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that Gwen was waiting for him to respond.

"I…" he began, "Thanks for telling me."

Gwen just nodded, ashamed, and turned back to return to the group.

"Wait!" He called, making her pause, "It's not your fault, you know that?"

"It is -"

Cody put up a hand to silence her. "Did you bring the chips into the woods? Did you know a bear would be there? Did you want Trent to get hurt?"

"No, but -"

"But nothing." Cody finished, voice neutral even as his mind waged a war against itself. "It wasn't your fault."

Cody knew that Gwen didn't believe it, but he knew it would help to tell her that nonetheless.

She offered him a small smile. "Thanks, Cody."

He just shot her a lopsided smile and thumbs up.

"And that makes eight seconds!" Chris announced, "That means Tyler and Leshawna have tied!"

Wait, what?

Cody's head snapped towards the crowd, where Tyler was being thrown around from on top of the moose. His hands, however, were gripping tightly to its antlers, and even though the rest of his body was ragdolling all over the place, Tyler hadn't been thrown from the moose.

Shit.

"Woohoo!" Tyler cheered, even as he finally let go and was sent flying off into the grass, "I'm the man!"

"Yay, Tyler!" Lindsay cheered, clapping happily, "Good job!"

Heather smacked her upside the head. "He's on the other team, genius! That means we're still losing!"

"Can they even still win?" Courtney asked, "I mean, we've won and tied, and there's only one challenge left!"

"Of course we can!" Heather argued, "I'm getting that shower!"

Courtney scoffed. "As if - your team is dead in the water!"

"Ladies, ladies," Chris said calmly, "As great as it is for the ratings when the two of you fight, I've got a show to host! And Courtney's right - kinda. You see, the Gophers can't win as it is, but they can tie it. And if they do that, we go to sudden death!"

"What's the sudden death challenge?" Duncan asked, curiosity piqued.

Chris chuckled. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

–

"You are so out of your league, princess!" Heather taunted from the wave rider.

"Bite me!" Courtney spat back.

"Here's the road rules," Chris announced, "Oh wait, there are no rules! Which means, this is gonna be awesome!"

"And go!"

Cody watched nervously as Heather took off immediately, and Courtney could do little but hang on for dear life as Heather dragged the C.I.T. through the mud.

Just like Harold before her, however, Courtney held on through it all, and flag after flag ended up in her grasp as the race around the course continued. Soon enough, Heather crossed into the area where the prying eyes of the campers weren't privy - the same spot where she had once lost her top to Harold.

Cody could only hope she somehow managed to pull it through for the team.

Unfortunately, it seemed that luck was not on Heather's side. Cody didn't know what happened while Heather and Courtney were alone, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.

Courtney skied through the finish line, five flags in hand, giggling to herself all the while. Heather and the seadoo were nowhere in sight.

"And the Killer Bass win!" Chris proclaimed from the speaker taped to the totem pole above the teens, "No need for Lindsay to go out and ski, no matter what she does the Gophers have lost!"

"Aw, man!" Lindsay sighed, "I was really looking forward to getting to try out my new swimsuit today!"

"Don't worry," Tyler soothed, "I'd be happy to go for a swim with you later!"

Lindsay gasped. "You mean it?"

"Of course!"

"Aww," Lindsay cooed, "You're, like, the best boyfriend ever, Tyler!"

Cody tuned out the two of them.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

The Screaming Gophers weren't supposed to be the losers today.

And yet here they were.

"Cody!" Leshawna called, grabbing his attention, "You remember our deal, right?"

Oh yeah. Someone had to go home.

Someone who wasn't supposed to.

And Cody would be the decider, wouldn't he?

Cody gulped and nodded at Leshawna and Gwen, who smirked back and high fived each other. It seemed that missing out on a nice, hot shower and massage was a small price to pay to get rid of Heather for them.

If only things were that simple.

–

Cody was silent as a statue as the Screaming Gophers sat at what would be the bonfire ceremony before the merge.

It wasn't a good feeling at all, especially since he knew that Heather, Gwen, and Leshawna all expected him (and Owen by proxy) to vote on their side.

He really wasn't a fan of the tension.

But he did what he had to do. Was he proud of it? Not one bit.

He spared a glance at Owen, who had returned to them just before the elimination ceremony to cast his vote, absolutely covered in bandages and casts as he sat in his wheelchair.

Just like Trent before him.

He was happy to go along with Cody's vote - after all, as long as it wasn't him going home, Owen was ecstatic.

Cody just wished the rest of the team would say the same after tonight's vote.

"As you know, if you do not receive a marshmallow you will be forced to walk the Dock of Shame," Chris began, voice quiet, "And you can never return to camp."

A pause.

"Your votes have all been tallied," Chris said quietly, "And unfortunately…"

"..."

"..."

"I've been forced to make a decision. You're being overruled."

Cody froze.

No.

"Owen's injuries are worse than we thought," Chris explained simply, "And he needs medical attention that we aren't equipped to give him here right now."

"What?!" Owen gasped, "That's not true! I can still continue! Just give me some time!"

Chris shook his head. "Afraid not, buddy. Doctors were stingy about even letting you back here tonight, this is the only solution we have."

"This is bullshit!" Gwen shouted, "You didn't force Trent off the show, why are you doing this to Owen?!"

Chris shrugged, although he actually looked apologetic as he explained.

"Trent's injuries were bad, but most of them were superficial, at least compared to Owen," he continued, "Besides, you all came together and had the sense to vote Trent out after he got hurt. That's not what happened tonight."

Silence greeted Chris.

Well, silence aside from Owen's sobs of desperation and claims that he could keep going.

Chris sighed. "Say your goodbyes, guys. I'm not happy about this either."

One by one, despite Owen's continued protests, the Screaming Gophers said their goodbyes to Owen.

Lindsay, Gwen, Leshawna, Cody, and even Heather.

His hearing was strained, but he thought he might have heard something akin to an apology from Heather.

Chef and a handful of interns came up behind the teen who would have won Total Drama, and began to wheel him off towards the Dock of Shame, where he'd likely be taken to be treated at Playa de Losers.

It didn't make Cody feel any less terrible about the situation.

"Wait!" Owen called sadly, voice muffled by the bandages, "Can I at least have a marshmallow?"

Chris smiled. "Owen, my man, you can have the whole plate. If you would, Chef?"

Chef took the tray from Chris, and held it in one hand as he used the other to help push Owen to the dock. "You can have them once we get those bandages off, son."

Owen nodded, sniffling all the while.

And just like that, Owen was gone. Cody was the last man standing for the Screaming Gophers.

The cabin had never felt as alone as it was now.

—

A/N: Anybody expect that?

Bit of a shorter chapter, which kinda sucks, but I just didn't have as much to work with with this episode, unfortunately, since a lot of scenes just needed to be cut (especially because the challenge is so weird AND Harold's love letter thing happened already). Kinda the same with the next one, but once we hit the merge, things should really ramp up in intensity. Owen will be missed, but his time is up.

Also, I'm gonna try and work on a schedule, to try and keep me motivated during my next semester (which starts in a week). Chapter releases for Second Chances should be once every two weeks at the longest, unless something comes up, but this means rapid releases aren't going to be as likely. Just a little something to try and regulate my writing.

Hope you enjoyed! Make sure to review!