The camera showed off footage of the dock. "Last time on Total! Drama! Island! The campers were tasked with hiding around the island to avoid Chef. Some campers did very well." The camera cut to Nila avoiding multiple shots from Chef. "While others performed rather poorly." The next camera switched to Historia, being caught almost immediately. "In the end, the winner was Robin when he proved just how much of a threat he could be." The camera changed to show him getting the upper hand on both Enima and Nila. "With another loss, the Screaming Gophers were forced to attend the ceremony again. After such a jumbled vote, Christopher was the one sent home." It cut to him waving goodbye to Bella. "Now, we are finally down to the final sixteen campers. Who's going to go home next? What kind of blindsides await our campers? And will Bella ever find another friend?"

"Why do you do it every time I'm here?" The girl mumbled out.

"Find out this time, on Total! Drama! ISLAND!" The camera cut off.

Marisa

After the challenge, she had returned to her cabin to find that there were two more tapes under her pillow. This one was marked Cameron and Xi. Not like she needed to know who they voted for. It was very obvious. And yet… she still felt curious. Maybe she could gain some extra information on what was happening.

She had managed to sneak right back in early in the morning the next day, and was about to play the video when a voice called out.

"Oh, so you did find this place."

She quickly turned around, only to see the masked figure behind her. "You…"

They shrugged. "Sorry about the scare. I was just worried you hadn't figured out about this place."

She glanced around, before her eyes focused on them again. "Is this where you got the voting confessionals?"

"Exactly. Surprised you even had to ask me that." They crossed their arms.

Marisa moved over towards the projector. "I just had to make sure. I didn't just want to assume." First, she placed Cameron's tape in, knowing it would provide the least amount of information.

Cameron

"Our entire alliance agreed to vote off Catrina. She seems more like a hindrance than a help. Like a Barbarian whose first instinct is to deck the nearest NPC. Don't need anything like that on the team!"

It was just like him to make that comparison. Next, she moved onto Xi, who she knew was involved.

Xi

He had his arms crossed. "We already instilled fear into him last time when we voted for him. Now, it's time to actually vote for Cameron. However, the way things might turn out, I only expect it to be a tie. Which means Catrina would have to win a tiebreaker. Still, I have some confidence in her."

That was… odd. "A tiebreaker…" She took a glance at the masked figure. They hadn't left yet. "I have some questions. You told me why you shared them, but why let me in on this place."

"Hmm?" The figure hadn't really considered that. "Maybe it's because it benefits me to let some other people know."

If it benefited them, it could only mean that they had no stakes in any of this. "You're from the other team, then. But that was obvious with the talent show."

They shrugged. "True, but have you never thought of another possibility? I wanted my team to lose the talent show? If I'm on the Screaming Gophers, maybe I wanted to vote someone off our team."

That made… some sense, but still next to zero. "Then that means you'd be someone who voted off Catrina. You wouldn't want yourself to be exposed, would you?" Marisa pointed out.

"All possible outcomes…" They trailed off. "But which… is the correct one?"

That was the question… even if she could narrow it down, there was no way to know who this person was unless they ripped off the mask. Marisa took a glance at the monitor. "Then I guess I'll just study the confessionals."

"Careful." The figure called out from outside the window. "One wrong move, and you'll be caught."

Marisa glanced to the side, hearing some footsteps outside the room. She'd have to come back here for some personal reasons.

When she turned her head back towards the window, the masked figure was gone. "Who do they think they are? Batman?" Quickly, she jumped out the window, making her way towards the forest.

Killer Bass

Later on in the day…

For the most part, everyone at the table seemed to be talking. Everyone, except Bella, who was looking at her food, clearly had no intent to eat it.

"Everything alright?" Nila had noticed her odd behaviour. "I know you do not normally talk much, but you at least eat your food."

"H-huh?" She almost seemed to be in a trace. "O-oh! Yes! I'm fine." She stuffed some food in her mouth. "See? Nothing wrong."

Confessional: Bella

"I don't want to go off the bat and accuse someone, but… I think Jeremy was one of the people responsible for Christopher going home. Just based on his comments." She paused. "And the fact that Christopher tripped him in the cha— it was Jeremy." She deadpanned, realising there was no other evidence she needed to find.

David blinked a few times, looking in her direction. "Yeah, Christopher might be gone, but at least the rest of us are still here!"

He didn't even seem to care. That's what ticked her off the most. He wanted him to vote off someone… and didn't even vote that person off. "Yeah…" She glanced to the side.

Confessional: Bella

"Science is more of my field… especially biology, but math isn't a hard subject. Chris said that six of us had received votes." She pointed to a diagram she had for some reason. It was the same one Jeremy used the other episode. "That means that all but two votes are accounted for. But since there wasn't a tie breaker, Christopher would have had to receive three votes…" She trailed off. "Which means David and Christopher didn't even vote together—" The footage ran out.

Forest

Xi had been fine with picking berries with Eleanor over the last couple of days. What he wasn't fine with, was the unwanted company. Both Jared and Talia had joined them up. He hadn't gotten the chance to ask Eleanor about it, but now that they had broken off a bit, he was able to ask her. "Why did those two tag along?"

"Hmm?" She seemed confused on why he would even ask that. "What's the problem with that? Shouldn't more people be searching for berries? That way we can feed the entire team without having to worry about Chef."

That was true… but it was just them specifically that bothered him. "Yes, but did you ask them to join?"

"Oh! No! Talia asked me what I was doing, and when I told her, she wanted to join. I suggested she bring Jared along. Nice to be in pairs."

Xi's eyes drifted to the side. Why would she want to join them? "Did she give any reasons?"

Eleanor had to think for a moment. "No… Not besides saying it sounded like fun."

This was suspicious at best. "Hey, Jared and yourself haven't really talked, right? Wouldn't it be best to form some bonds? Maybe we can switch over the pairings."

Her eyes sparkled slightly. "That's a great idea!"

The conversation between the other two went a little similarly.

"Why invite me for this?" Jared seemed a bit out of his element collecting berries.

"Hmm?" Talia narrowed her eyes at him. "With the way you've been acting these last few days, I thought you'd enjoy spending time with me."

Was she trying to flirt? The cadet couldn't really tell. "W-well!" He wasn't great at handling it either way. "Sure, but berry picking seems a bit…" He trailed off.

Letting out a sigh, she knew she'd have to talk about the real reason. "I was worried about Eleanor."

"Why? She's done this before, and it's not like she's alone."

She was beginning to doubt just how smart he was. "Xi's the reason why I'm worried. He's not someone I would trust."

Well that was a bit rude. "Hey, his appearance doesn't speak about his character. Besides, he hasn't done anything wrong for the team yet."

Talia placed a hand on her hip. "It's obvious to know that he's just sticking to Eleanor in an attempt to manipulate her."

Jared peaked his head out of the bush, observing the two. After he had collected enough data, he lowered himself. "Nope. It just looks like they're collecting berries." He said that mostly in jest, but it was time to be serious. "I don't want to accuse a man without any solid evidence."

"Without any solid…" She trailed off, annoyed. "By that point, it'll be too late."

"Hey!" Eleanor shouted out. She glanced at Xi, listening to what he had to say. "Maybe we should switch partners. I think it would make a great team building exercise."

Of course. Talia glanced over at Jared. "Do not go with him—"

She was interrupted when the gardener approached her. "You can pair up with Xi."

"I… What?"

Confessional: Talia

She had her legs crossed. "Well, this certainly speeds up the process, doesn't it?"

Besides the initial confusion, she didn't seem to have a problem. She moved to the other side, sending one last look at Jared. "A switch, huh." She didn't want to enter the conversation overly hostile.

Xi shrugged. "She wanted to do it. Guess she might have wanted to talk to Jared about something."

Yeah… she wasn't buying that. She had seen way too many fake people to not notice his voice. Still, accusing him directly was much different than talking to someone else about it. "I guess Jared is fun to talk to." She glanced down at him. "What do you think of Eleanor, anyways? You two are always talking to each other."

He remained silent for a bit. "She's a sweet girl. Always trying to help others. Always welcoming to have other people join in, even if they really don't need to."

"Are you perhaps mad that I wanted to join?" Talia crossed her arms.

Xi quickly shook his head. "What? Why would I be? Having four of us really speeds up the process…" He trailed off, glancing back at her. "Except… you don't really seem to be picking any berries. So clearly you aren't here for that."

Cat was out of the bag, then. "I'm keeping my eye on you. I know you're using Eleanor, aren't you?"

Xi let out a chuckle. "Whatever you say."

Meanwhile, with the other two, probably also locked in deep conversati—

The two were picking berries in silence. The first one to speak was Jared. "Are berries your favourite fruit?"

"No, apples are. But there aren't any apple trees around here." And that was the conversation.

Cafeteria

With almost half of the team gone to collect berries, and Marisa who knows where, there were only four people in the cafeteria. Nerd 1, nerd 2 with purpose, loser, and then Arianna herself. She had finished eating a while ago, but she didn't want to go do anything. She glanced over at Jack, who was still having difficulties downing his food. "You haven't gotten used to it by now?"

"Tsk, why would I? This vile food…" He trailed off. "I want none of it."

Rolling her eyes, she moved closer to him. "At this rate you'll starve." And she'd lose an ally.

Robin shook his head. "He's just waiting for those berries again."

Jack slowly shook his head. "As if. Unless they wash them, I'll be better off trying to cook something in the kitchen."

"None of us know how to cook." Catrina pointed out. "We were the group of four who went into the forest."

"Oh, Catrina. Finally joining in on conversations." Robin shook his head. "Unheard of."

She crossed her arms, mumbling something under her breath. "I kind of have to now that I don't have music…"

"Did you try putting it in rice?" Arianna raised an eyebrow.

"That's literally the first thing I did!" The DJ yelled out. It didn't work!

Robin shook his head. "I thought the first thing you did was try and turn it on."

"ZIP it…" She was going to yell the whole thing, but her anger died out halfway through. "It just means I need the money to replace it."

"Phone's aren't that expensive." Jack shook his head. "Just drop out and get a new one."

Catrina crossed her arms. "It's not that simple… I still have the tab to pay off."

Well, trying to make the group a little more optimistic, Arianna spoke up. "You've probably had the phone for a while. So the tab can't be that large."

"A grand…" She mumbled out, letting her face hit the table. "It was brand new. I got it a few weeks before coming here."

"..." Arianna stared at her for a few seconds.

Confessional: Arianna

"I'm trapped on a team full of idiots. Who brings a new phone to an ocean, and then gets on a boat for the challenge? She was just asking to be a grand in the hole. Dumbass." She crossed her arms.

"So if that's your motivation now…" Robin trailed off. "What was your motivation before?"

"It sounded fun to participate." She answered earnestly.

Jack furrowed his brows. "You mean you came here for a reason besides the money? I came here so I'd have enough money to move out on my own. My parents are great and all, but I don't think my personal success can start unless I'm on my own." Then that got him thinking. "What will the rest of you do with the money?"

"Probably just spend it." Arianna didn't really care.

"Invest it." Robin answered. "It's mostly free money, so there isn't any harm in investing it for the future." The rest of the table grew silent. "Hmm?"

"Dude…" Catrina shook her head. "That's boring as fuck."

That would hurt if he had feelings. "Whatever you say." He leaned back in his chair. "Don't you think it's time for a challenge?"

"Everytime someone says that…" Arianna began to say before being cut off.

Chris kicked in the door. "Challenge time!"

She facepalmed. "You have to stop doing that…"

Realising that not everyone was here, the host took a few steps out of the cafeteria, before pulling out a megaphone. "IIIIIT'S CHALLENGE TIME!" That should at least get most people here.

Campfire

It took a bit for everyone to show up, given that four of them were off in the forest collecting berries.

"What's the challenge today, Chris?" David called out, hands in his pockets.

"Since the competition has started, we've already lost six campers. So, as a reward, I think we'll take it easy today. Today's challenge is going to work a little differently. There won't be a ceremony at the end of the day."

"Alright!" David began to walk away. "See you guys later."

"H-hey!" Nila called out. "Do not leave us!"

"What's the point of a challenge if nobody goes home?" Jack crossed his arms. "Frankly, it seems like a waste of time."

"Because! The team that wins the challenge will get a reward."

Suddenly, David was back. "What kind of reward?"

"That will be found out at the en— He's gone again." The host shook his head. "Luckily this isn't a challenge where the number of people matters."

"Just hit us with the challenge already." Historia mumbled out.

Chris took a step back. "Alright! Alright! Today's challenge will be a creative challenge."

"Oh?" Mindy tilted her head to the side. "What kind of creative challenge? Like art?"

"Yes. Something like that. Both teams will be tasked with creating a mini idol of sorts."

"An… idol?" Xi raised an eyebrow "By that, you mean?"

"A small statuette to represent the competition. It can be anything."

Mindy raised her hand. "What material can it be made of?"

"... Anything, really."

"Will we be provided the tools?" Robin thought for a moment.

Hearing that, a smile grew on Chris' face. "Nope! You must provide yourself with your own tools."

Confessional: Arianna

"What the hell does he want us to do then? It's not like we can make our tools around here."

Talia raised her hand. "How much time do we have?"

"You all have six hours to make your idol. After that, judging will be done exclusively by me." He placed a hand on his chest. "So don't take too long." He walked away.

After a bit of silence, the two teams looked at each other.

"So…" Jeremy called out. "Want to share any ideas?"

"Let's go." Talia turned around. "And try not to steal any of our ideas."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Enima rolled her eyes.

Confessional: Enima

"As if we'd even need to steal from them. We have two people on our team who are masters of art. They've got nothing on us."

Screaming Gophers

"So." Catrina placed a hand on her hip. "What's the plan here?"

"You are an artist, you should know what to do." Robin pointed out.

"Hey! Musician! Wrong type of artist!" She yelled at him. "There needs to be someone here that's good at art." There was a long pause as nobody answered. "Oh my God, we're all useless."

"Hey now…" Marisa shook her head. "We should still be able to come up with something. This is nothing but an arts and craft challenge."

"Yeah, but did you see the labels of two of them?" Robin mumbled out. "They have two artists."

"Label what now?" Catrina raised an eyebrow.

"From the looks of it, we might have to copy them." Jack shook his head.

"Absolutely not! I refuse to cheat like they have!" Jared clenched his fist. "Especially for a challenge that's only a reward challenge."

Jack shrugged. "That's why I don't think it will matter. It's not like we'd be the cause of an elimination."

"Hey." Eleanor spoke up. "I also agree with the no cheating stance. It doesn't feel right."

"Then we better figure out what we want to do." Arianna said. "We need a design, some tools, and someone to actually make the idol."

"I could maybe make some paint." Eleanor hummed out. "I know you could attempt to make some paint with a berry paste."

"Oh! That's an excellent idea!" Jared seemed rather happy. "We collected some berries earlier, so we should use that."

From the looks of it, the Screaming Gophers were off to a rocky start, but they at least knew what direction to go in.

Killer Bass

As opposed to how they had been all season. The synergy with this team was actually off to a great start.

"Alright!" Enima stabbed a knife into a piece of paper against the tree. "Let's hash out some designs."

"Can I… have my knife back?" Nila realised she never got it back.

The mysterious girl snapped her finger. "So this is yours?"

"AH—"

Enima turned to look at Mindy. "What are you thinking of?"

She hummed out in thought. "We could just make an idol of Chris. Maybe he likes himself so much he'd rank himself highly."

Slowly, Enima nodded her head. "Good, good." She then pointed to Bella. "And what about you?"

"H-huh? Oh! Well… animals are cool." That's exactly what Christopher would say.

"Overruled." Enima moved back to Mindy. "Alright, Chris is a good start. But what about materials."

"Huh…" She glanced to the side. "I'm only really good with ice."

"Well…" Nila spoke up. "How about we make it out of wood? We could carve a statue."

"Do… any of us know how?" Enima placed a hand on her hip.

Speaking up for the first time this meeting was Jeremy. "I know David can carve. He has a few carvings around the cabin."

Enima placed a hand on her forehead. "Great, the one person we need right now."

Standing up, the surfer turned towards the cabins. "I could go see if I can fetch him."

With him gone, it left the girls alone.

"You know…" Mindy finally realised. "We outnumber the guys—"

"We are not doing this." Nila shook her head. "If David does not wish to cooperate, I will gladly lend my knife expertise."

Cabins (Killer Bass)

Jeremy slowly opened the door to step inside. "David, you here?"

The shady guy was lying down on his bed, carving a wooden statue. "Hmm? Why are you here?"

"Oh, the team was looking for you." He crossed his arms. "They want you to carve stuff for the challenge."

"Hmm… What's the benefit? It's just a reward challenge. We don't even know what we're working for."

"True…" The surfer hummed out. "But think of it this way, do we really want the Screaming Gophers to get it?"

"Hmm." David actually stopped carving for a moment. "That's a good point." He tilted his head to the side. "But instead of helping right away, let's just see what they do first."

Jeremy placed a hand on his head. "Why would we do that?"

"The votes last time were weird, weren't they? I need to see if they are working together or not. Six different people got votes, and Christopher got three of them. Which means five people voted on their own."

"I can't believe Christopher got three votes." Jeremy shook his head.

Confessional: Jeremy

"How did he not get more?" He smiled.

"Either way, for the most part the team seems divided." David put his hands behind his head. "So maybe we could pick someone up to join us in the votes."

"Why not Bella?" Jeremy suggested. "She was close to Christopher, so she might be willing to go for a revenge plot."

He rolled his eyes. "Because she doesn't exactly trust me."

"How can you tell?"

"Have you seen how she looks at me?" The shady guy narrowed his eyes.

Jeremy shrugged. "Maybe she just loves you?"

"If that's love, I'm scared to know what hate looks like." David deadpanned. Getting off his bed, he moved over towards the door. "Let's go see what they are plotting."

"I always knew you were the type to spy on girls."

"Shut it."

Screaming Gophers

The team had gotten to making some paint.

"It won't be… great… because we're missing some key ingredients." Eleanor mumbled out. "But it's good for finger painting."

"Yeah…" Arianna shook her head. "I'd rather not get my hands dirty like that."

"That's fine!" The gardener smiled. "Maybe you could help us figure out what to make."

"Wouldn't wood be the best material?" Xi crossed his arms. "Are any of us good with a knife?"

There was some silence before Talia lifted her hand. "I've never carved anything. But I've used knives before."

"Maybe a wooden statue would be too much." Jared shook his head. "What if we made something out of clay?"

"And how would we go about doing that?" Jack crossed his arms. "Not like any of us know how to make clay."

"Well!" Robin hummed out in thought. "We could probably gather the ingredients to make some ourselves."

"But it wouldn't look as good as wood." Talia countered.

Eleanor tilted her head to the side. "But the clay might compliment the paint…"

"How about we put it to a vote." Jared suggested. "All in favour of wood, raise your hand."

The people who lifted their hands were Jack, Arianna, Talia, Xi, and Marisa.

Which left Jared, Eleanor, Robin, and Catrina to vote for clay.

"Well I won the last challenge so my vote counts for three." Robin decided. "So that's 5-6."

"That's… not how that works." Marisa shook her head.

"Then." Jared crossed his arms. "Since this is only a reward challenge, maybe we split up into two teams. That way everyone gets what they want."

"Works for me…" Xi nodded his head. "Let's not waste any more time."

Screaming Gopher (Wood)

"I didn't exactly want the teams to be split." Talia mumbled out, looking through the wood.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. We've been winning challenges more often than not." Marisa pointed out.

Confessional: Talia

"On the bright side, this keeps me away from Catrina, and Xi away from Eleanor and Jared." She crossed her legs. "But it means I'm left to deal with him."

Xi picked up a log. "What size are we looking for?"

"Well, we only have six hours." Talia pointed out. "So maybe not something too big. Besides, I'm inexperienced. It's probably best to gather several pieces of wood in case we fuck up."

"We?" Jack crossed his arms. "It sounds more like you'll be doing all the work here."

"Hey now." Marisa shook her head. "We can't let her do everything. We should try and help out as much as we can."

"And what do you think we can do?" Jack looked over at her. "I'm not exactly good with a knife."

"Maybe clay was the right option." Arianna mumbled out.

Xi shrugged. "And yet you chose this option instead. Curious."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I just felt like making clay would be too difficult. We had better odds with this."

Marisa knelt down to pick up some chunks of wood. "Well, we've made our decision. So let's pray that the other group is doing better than us."

Screaming Gophers (Clay)

"Why are we in the kitchen?" Catrina raises an eyebrow. "Isn't clay made from rocks."

"Something like that." Robin felt it was best to not correct her. "But that's because the easiest way to make homemade clay is in the kitchen. Just need water, baking soda, and… cornstarch?"

"How do you know this?" Jared hummed out in thought.

The tactician shrugged. "Does it really matter?"

"I'm so stupid!" Eleanor called out.

"Yes, but I fail to see how that's relevant." Robin chuckled.

"Shush!" She called out again. "If we mix the berries with stuff from the kitchen, we might get a better consistency for the paint." She held her hands together.

"Oh!" Catrina smiled brightly. "So we're better off than the other group is what you're saying?"

"No!" Eleanor quickly shook her head. "That's not what I'm saying at all!"

"Focus." Robin called out calmly. "Let's make what we need to make, and then let's worry about how much of an advantage we have."

"R-right…" The gardener mumbled out.

Killer Bass (Boys)

The two boys slowly moved closer to where the girls had set themselves up. "Do you really think you can learn anything about them?"

"Eh, maybe not." David shrugged. "But it would be nice to know what they really think about us."

"This feels stalkerish…" He let out a sigh.

"Then why did you follow me?"

"I never said I hated it." The surfer smiled.

That raised implications that David didn't care about. "Just be quiet…" Peering beyond the tree, he was able to see the five girls.

The first person they heard speak up was Nila, who was taking chunks away out of the wood. "This is much more difficult than I thought it would be."

"Question." Enima took a look at her. "Why the knife?"

She quickly shook her head. "I am a trainee. I have practised with knives before!"

"But…" Mindy trailed off. "Why bring them to an island like this?"

The only person to jump to her defense was Bella. "Forests can be dangerous. It's always recommended to bring a knife."

David's eyes darted back and forth, before eventually landing on the one girl that didn't seem to be participating in the conversation: Historia. "Hmm…"

Confessional: David

He spun around his own knife, carving out a statue. "You know, I've been noticing something about her. She seems to be growing increasingly distant with the team. Not only that, but she hasn't been a great help with the team." He stuck the knife right into the statue. "Which means, it's the perfect person to try and get into an alliance."

He pointed out to her. "Jeremy. We could get her on our side."

"What?" He raised an eyebrow before narrowing them on her. "Why her?"

If he had to explain himself with the actual reasoning, he might be here for a bit. "Hot girl." He shrugged.

"Works for me." The surfer slowly nodded before he realised something. "Wait. Isn't she les-"

Pulling him away, David hid back behind the tree.

Nila had gone back to carving the wooden log they had found. Until, her attention had completely shifted over towards Historia. "Why have you not spoken yet?"

A little caught off guard about being spoken to, the scholar glanced the other way. "I'm out of my element with this challenge."

"Aren't you out of your element with every challenge?" Mindy poked fun at her.

Although it seemed like she might be poking a bear. "So what? There hasn't exactly been a challenge for me. There's been some for everyone else. Creative, cooking, outdoors."

Bella let out a sigh. "Well, there's bound to be one in the future."

"If she makes it that far." Enima shrugged with a smirk. When she realised everyone was looking at her, she seemed confused. "What? What's wrong with a bit of light humour?"

"Now does not seem like the time…" Nila put down the log. "It might not be your challenge, but you could still provide some kind of insight. What are things you like?"

"You'd find the things I like lame." She crossed her arms.

Enima shrugged. "Look, just tell us."

The scholar closed her eyes tightly, trying to block everyone else completely. "Fine! I like reading up about war and stuff. And history." She finally admitted. "But I don't think something like that would be good for the challenge. We should just go with the Chris idea, anyways."

"Works for me!" Mindy didn't really seem to care that they had annoyed Historia. "But we should really get David."

Oh right, Jeremy was sent to do that. The shady guy sent a glance his way, only to see that he wasn't there anymore. "W-"

"Hey." The surfer stepped out into the open. "I found him!"

No point in hiding now. Stepping out from behind the tree, David put his hands in his pockets. "Heard you needed help carving something."

"About time…" Historia shook her head. "Yeah, we do."

Nila picked the log back up, handing it over to him. "Yes. Please carve this into a statue of Chris."

He grimaced at the thought. "Why does it have to be Chris? Why do we have to pay him a tribute?"

Enima rolled her eyes. "Because it would net us more points. Can you think for a second?"

He shook his head, pulling out his knife. "Whatever. Just leave me be…" Before he carved anything into it. "Is there a specific design you wanted me to do for him?"

"Oh, yeah." Mindy reached over for her sketchbook. "I can probably draw up a design really quickly."

Standing up, the mysterious girl looked around. "I'm going to go get some stuff to make paint." She turned to Historia. "Come on, princess."

"M-me?" She slowly stood up. "Fine." It beat sitting around doing nothing. Even if she didn't really like Enima.

Screaming Gophers (Clay)

Now that Eleanor was able to mess around with her paint a bit more, she was able to improve the consistency of the mix. "Alright…" She hummed out, placing a finger into the mix. Then she used it on the table. "This seems like it could work."

Jared was pleased to hear that. "Then we just have to focus on the clay." He already had water boiling. "Are you sure about this?" He turned his attention over to Robin, who had moved over to the side, reading a book.

"Hmm?" He lowered his book, tilting his head. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've seen videos on how to make it before."

"Why were you watching videos on how to make clay?" Catrina raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Sometimes you're just that bored." He flipped the book to the next page, but closed it moments after. "Alright." Standing up from his chair, he glanced out the window. "We should see how the other team is doing."

"Oh yeah! Maybe we can steal from them!" Catrina had a smile on her head.

Jared shook his head. "No, let's leave them alone. They've been losing left and right."

"Huh?" The tactician narrowed his eyes. "I meant the carving team. I couldn't care less about the Killer Bass." He moved over towards the door. "I'm just going to see their progress. If it's shitty, I'll convince them to help us." Then, he left the room.

"Huh…" Eleanor didn't like that one bit, but she was too focused on making minor adjustments to the paint. "What exactly should we make when the clay is ready?"

"Oh!" Catrina called out. "Let's just make the symbol of our team! That'd be great."

Jared brought his hand to his chin, humming in thought. "That wouldn't be half bad. Let's go for it."

Confessional: Jared

"I feared that splitting up the team would lead to less creativity being applied, but with only four people, we could potentially beat the other team. And even if we don't, I'm sure the other group will come up with something superb."

Screaming Gophers (Carving)

Finally, they had collected a decent size of wood logs, so Talia could finally begin to work on them. Having grabbed a knife from the kitchen, she began whittling away at the log.

"Is there anything you need us to do?" Xi crossed his arms.

She shook her head. "Not really…" She didn't bother making eye contact. "At best, if you can give me ideas on what you want me to make, that'd be great."

He wasn't really an artist, but he was sure he could come up with something. "Very well. But don't expect me to have any great ideas."

While Talia was working on that, Arianna put a hand on her hip. "Do you want us to go get you more supplies?"

She turned towards the supplies of logs that they had already gotten. They didn't really need more, but whatever. "Sure."

Good. "Alright, Jack, come help me." She turned a glance over towards Marisa before calling out to her too. "You can join up too if you want."

"Oh!" She hadn't expected to be lumped into the group with her, but she wasn't going to complain.

Confessional: Arianna

"Alright, now I've got these two broken away from the group. Couldn't get Robin since he wanted the other team, but I should at least be able to convince Marisa to join my cause."

As the trio walked further into the woods, Marisa was the only one actually looking for any other logs. "Aren't you two going to help?"

Jack looked down at her for a few seconds before joining in. "Fine. As much as I don't think we should be wasting time with this challenge."

Arianna, however, would stop him. "I don't think we even need more logs. This was more just to get away from the group."

Marisa raised an eyebrow. "For what exactly?"

As if that wasn't obvious. "Well, the further we get into the game, the more alliances matter. I already extended my hand out to Jack the other day. And he mentioned that you were the only other person he was close with."

"No I did-"

Cutting him off, she continued. "You two were part of that Dragon and Dungeon game, so I figured working with someone he's familiar with would be easy."

Still, she was choosing to remain sceptical.

Confessional: Marisa

She was writing things down in her notebook. "If everything up to this point makes sense, then Arianna would have had to vote off Cameron back then, which means in some way, she was working with the larger alliance. I'm not sure what her game plan here is. But I shouldn't outright turn it down."

"I wouldn't be opposed to working together." She said after a bit of silence. "But I didn't come out here to talk about the game." She came here to come get more logs. But it seems like she was the only one with that intention in mind.

Well, that was better than a straight up no. Arianna placed a hand on her hip. "But now seemed like the perfect time. With the way things are going, after today there won't be another challenge for a few days. Might as well set things up while we still have the time."

Jack crossed his arms. "You didn't even ask me how I felt about all of this."

"Do you have any objections?" She narrowed her eyes.

"... No. None at all." He offered with a grin. "It's just nice to be asked what I think."

Still a handful. "We shouldn't take too long here or else the other two run the risk of getting suspicious."

Confessional: Marisa

"Alright…" She was writing things down. "If I can get Arianna to vote with us, that's four votes to potentially take Xi home." She tapped the pencil against her forehead. "Oh, five if we count Robin." There was a small sparkle in her eyes. "That means we have enough to get Xi voted out."

Killer Bass

With two of their members having left already, it just left the five other people here. David had been waiting around for Mindy to finish her sketch of Chris. His eyes moved to focus on Bella for a few seconds.

It didn't take her long to realise she's being watched, and to return the gaze.

Not wanting to participate in a staring contest, he shifted his eyes over to Jeremy. "Well, the two of them aren't back yet."

The surfer was lying down on the ground, looking at the sky through the trees. "So what? We only need Enima at the end, don't we?"

"That's not what I meant."

Confessional: David

"It's hard to get Historia alone if Enima keeps hogging her like that." He was cutting up a piece of wood. "I guess we'll have to resort to kidnapping her." He shrugged.

Standing up straight, he looked at the rest of the team. "Well, until Mindy finishes up…" He stretched a bit. "I'm going to go look for more suitable pieces of wood. Jeremy, come with me."

The surfer quickly got onto his feet. "Got it!"

Bella narrowed her eyes when the two of them left.

Confessional: Bella

"I want to follow them to see what they're really doing, but I think I'd get caught instead." She let out a sigh, before an idea formed in her head. "But that does leave me alone with Nila and Mindy."

Coughing a few times to hopefully get the attention of the girls, Bella spoke up. "That ceremony was weird, wasn't it?"

Nila hummed out in thought. "I thought so, yes. Six different people received votes. It felt almost unnatural."

Well, she couldn't really say anything, given that the nature lover was the cause of one of those votes. "Yes, I know. But three people had to vote together, right?"

"I suppose." She wasn't very good at math, so she was just going to trust the smarter girl. "What does it matter?"

Bella realised she might have to explain her thought process here. "Well, they must have been working together. Did you vote Christopher off?"

She wasn't expecting an actual answer, but Nila delivered anyway. "No. I voted off Historia for not providing any help to the team. I would have voted for myself, but people said I helped the most."

"O-oh!" She turned to look over at Mindy. "Who did you vote for?"

But the artist wasn't paying attention. Instead she was deep in drawing.

"Mindy?" Nila called out to her. And yet, nothing. She moved over towards her, quickly removing her pencil from her hand. "We are talking to you."

"H-hey!" She quickly reached over for the pencil. "I'm working here."

"Mindy." She repeated, looking down at her. "Is everything alright? Normally you would spend time paying attention to gossip rather than working on the challenge."

The artist quickly glanced away. "Give me one moment where I did that."

"When you were listening to Chris' phone call, you had a late start. And during the first challenge you were off doing who knows what… And the talent show-"

"Alright! Alright!" Mindy raised her hands to stop her. "You've got me! What does that have to do with anything, though?"

The trainee frowned slightly. "Well, I am getting the feeling that something is not right. Ever since the water challenge, you have been distant. You did not say much after the challenge was over."

Mindy refused to make any form of eye contact, instead, her eyes were focused on the ground. "And so what if that's the case?"

Nila frowned, crossing her arms. "It means you must be unwell. This behaviour is different from all of your others before."

Confessional: Mindy

"I thought she wouldn't have noticed anything." She let out a sigh. "Sounds like she'll keep pestering me unless I tell her what's up."

Trying to refrain from making any eye contact, Mindy spoke up. "It's about the water sport challenge… I was the catalyst for the way it ended. Had I not tried to cheat, Catrina wouldn't have felt the need to get revenge."

Nila chose to remain silent as the artist kept talking.

"So, I guess I just feel guilty about the whole thing." She grabbed her pencil back from Nila. "There, satisfied?"

"Why not mention this sooner?" She held her hands together.

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Why would I mention this before?"

Letting out a sigh, Nila contemplated on how best to tackle this conversation.

Confessional: Nila

"I have never had to deal much with problems like this." She thought for a moment. "Most of the problems I needed to solve required violence." She tilted her head to the side. "And using words has never worked here before."

"I am someone you can share your problems with. I have no intention of using anything against you. I am simply here to listen to your woes." She offered her hand. "But let that be a lesson on why you should play fair. As should the rest of the team."

Mindy looked at her hand for a few seconds before smiling slightly. "Alright." She shook her hand. "But this won't make me feel better right away."

"No, it will not. However, doing a good deed will make you feel better. Remember that."

Bella stood by to the side the entire time, watching this interaction go down.

Confessional: Bella

"I feel like my attempt at a conversation was completely derailed…"

Enima and Historia

With the two having snuck off from their team, it was becoming increasingly more obvious just what they were doing. "Let me guess…" The scholar sounded annoyed. "We're going to spy, aren't we?"

Given that the painter was sneaking around, it was almost a given. "Yeah. So what?"

Rolling her eyes, she had to hold in her complaining. "Whatever. Just don't do anything else."

Soon, the two girls stopped at a bush, slowly rising out to look at what the other team was doing.

"They're just… Collecting wood." The scholar narrowed her eyes. "They don't have someone like David on their team, so I guess they might need a few attempts."

Enima snapped her fingers. "Exactly! But the entire team isn't here."

Scanning the area, Historia only managed to count three of them. "Yeah, you're right."

"That's because our team split up into two groups." Robin said, crouching between the two.

Historia looked like she was going to scream, while Enima took a much calmer approach. "What are you doing here?"

"Christopher was voted out, so I'm covering for him."

"How diligent of you."

Historia quickly shook her head. "What's the real reason you're here?"

He let out a small chuckle. "Same thing you are. Because my team is divided into two, I want to see how they plan on doing things."

"Um…" Historia placed a hand on her hip. "Not getting along is our team signature. Choose something else."

Feisty. He shook his head. "We aren't like you." He stood up, moving over to obscure himself behind a tree. "This is just a friendly team competition."

"Might be one for you, but." Enima stood up straight. "We need whatever this reward is. It might end up being a challenge advantage."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Why would it be that?" He hummed out in thought. "I thought it might just be food besides Chef's cooking."

Enima narrowed her eyes. "Then isn't that something you want?"

He shrugged. "I don't care either way." He spent a bit of time looking around. "Where's your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend. Yet." But then she realised something. "Wait, where did she go?"

David, Jeremy, and Historia

"You guys can let me go now…" She narrowed her eyes. The two had practically kidnapped her, and she didn't even have a chance to scream. The other two probably hadn't even noticed yet.

David waved his hand dismissively towards Jeremy. "Alright, you can let her go."

"Finally." He wasn't in the nature of kidnapping people, so he wasn't sure what to feel. "So now what?"

It was time to strike a deal. "Alright, Historia. I'm going to be frank with you."

"I thought you were David."

"Zip it! Jeremy!"

Confessional: David

He let out a sigh. "Where's Christopher when you need him? He would be better to deal with then Jeremy. But now that my options are limited, I have to take what I can get."

"You aren't very useful to the team."

"Thanks."

"And nobody likes you." Jeremy added.

Only making things worse for him. David let out a heavy sigh. "That last part isn't true. The deal here is, I need someone to be voted off."

"And what, you want my vote?" Historia raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't you go to anyone else?"

He didn't want to have to explain too much, and yet here he was. "Most of the team probably won't work with me. Much less to vote out who I want to vote out."

"If it isn't Enima, then I don't care." If she had a way to jump to a different alliance, she would take it.

"No… It isn't…" But he had a better idea. "But that's where the deal comes in." Good. She already had someone in mind to vote off. "We vote for the person you want to vote off. In return, you help us the next time we are forced to vote someone off." He extended his arm out to shake on it.

"Huh…"

Confessional: Historia

"That's it?" She seemed at a loss of words. "That seems a little too fair. He must have other things in mind."

"What's the catch?" She hadn't shaken his hand yet.

"What's the-" He narrowed his eyes. "What catch does there need to be? We're both helping each other vote someone off. And it benefits you more because I'm putting my trust in you that you'll vote with me after this."

She still wasn't sure how she felt about the entire thing. But if there was no catch at the moment, she might as well go for it. "Alright. Fine. Deal." She shook his hand.

Perfect! "Alright, we're going to unkidnap you now. Jeremy, get her."

"Wh-"

"On it boss." She had no time to react.

Screaming Gophers (Clay)

"Alright." Jared had followed the instructions that Robin had left for them as best as he could. And while it wasn't the best clay he could have hoped for. He still felt rather content with what he got. "What do you think?" He showed off the mixture.

Eleanor moved over to get a better look. "Oh that looks great." She ran her hands through it, trying to see just how good it was. "How long before it hardens?"

"Hmm…" Robin had failed to mention that. "I'm not sure. We should probably get started on it now. After we're done moulding it, we can put it in the fridge to harden. And then we can paint it."

Things seemed to be going well for them. "Yes!" The gardener turned to look at Catrina. "You should help too."

She wasn't much of an artist, but she walked over to the bowl. "I could try and make it into an idol. That way we each did something. Well, except Robin."

The cadet shook his head. "Nonsense. He helped out with the recipe. Without him, we wouldn't have been able to do this."

True, but he still wasn't back. The DJ placed a hand on her hip. "What's he doing anyway? He said he was going to see how the other team was doing, but it doesn't take that long, does it?"

"Hmm…" Catrina brought up a good point. "It's probably best not to worry about it."

Confessional: Jared

"I would go out and investigate myself, but not at a critical moment like this." He crossed his arms. "We're already down to just a three person team, and I don't want to leave Catrina and Eleanor alone to complete the idol."

Letting out a sigh, Catrina moved over to the clay. "Then… Let me get started on this."

Eleanor moved closer. "I'll be here to help with anything you need." She smiled at her.

Screaming Gophers (Carving)

The trio eventually joined back up with Talia and Xi with a… less than stellar haul of logs.

Seeing this, Talia raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing the entire time?"

"Tsk." Jack crossed his arms. "We didn't find many that I considered suitable. Sorry, but I at least wanted to win this challenge." He lied to her.

Marisa dropped the logs she had collected. "We got what we could. But I figured spending all of our time out there was going to be pointless." She also lied.

Arianna didn't say anything, but had she, she would have lied like normally.

"Hmm…" Xi crossed his arms. "We figured out what we wanted to do for the idol."

"Oh?" Marisa walked over. "What did we figure out?"

Talia let out a small sigh. "Well, I don't personally agree with it, but he wanted a boat."

Arianna crossed her arms. "A boat?"

Confessional: Arianna

"We were gone for half an hour, and the best you can come up with is a boat?" She placed a hand on her forehead. "We're going to lose to the clay team, aren't we?"

Xi shook his head. "Calling it merely a boat is doing my idea a disservice." He leaned back against a tree. "What I truly want is the boat of losers. It's the final thing a camper sees before they are eliminated."

Alright, Marisa was starting to lose out hope, but he brought it back. "But is Talia skilled enough to make that out?"

"Uh…" The waitress frowned slightly. "That's the issue. I don't think I'd be able to do something like that."

"Tsk…" Jack moved over to one of the pieces of logs. "Then perhaps one of us has a secret talent we don't know about yet?" He looked down at it. "I may not be an artist, but I am an admirer of the arts."

Right, they didn't have to rely solely on Talia for this. Marisa sat down, grabbing a log. But before she could start, she realised something. "We should probably get more knives."

Xi decided to volunteer himself. "I'll go get some. I can either check the shed, or just get some from the kitchen." Although if he swung around the kitchen, he could see how the rest of the team was doing. Perfect.

Killer Bass (Carving)

For the most part, the remaining three girls were silent.

At least, until a group returned. David, Jeremy, and Historia, who was still hanging out with the two of them, returned.

"How's the sketch going?" The shady guy walked over to Mindy.

"Right." She looked through her sketchbook before showing him a page.

David narrowed his eyes. "What's that fox doi—"

Mindy let out a scream before flipping to the correct page. "Here!"

Looking at it for a few seconds, he slowly nodded his head. "Alright, I can work with this." He moved over towards the piece of wood he had gathered earlier. "This shouldn't be a problem." Twirling his knife around, he began to hack away at the chunk of wood.

Nila, on the other hand, had some questions. "I thought you left with Enima." Her eyes were on Historia.

Quickly glancing away, she tried to come up with an excuse. "She left to try and get some paint supplies, so I was sent back. I ran into David and Jeremy on the way back."

She had no reason to doubt that. "Very well." However, similarly to Mindy, she felt something was wrong. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Huh? No… not really." The scholar frowned slightly.

Nope! Something was definitely wrong! "You must not lie." She narrowed her eyes.

"Ugh…" Historia looked the other way. "You should be able to figure out what's wrong. I haven't been able to do anything for the team as of late."

"Or at all." Jeremy called out from the back.

Wincing, the scholar kept going. "I just feel like I'm not on par with the rest of the team. They've all done something that warrants them staying here."

Ah. So exactly what she was talking to the others earlier. "So? Why not try and do something about that?"

"What am I supposed to do?" She raised an eyebrow.

Soon, a devilish smile appeared on Nila's face. "Why not do some training with me? That should help you be able to contribute to the physical challenges a bit more."

"But…" Historia started to say. But no… She couldn't keep just saying no to every ounce of help she was being offered. "Alright. I'll do it-"

Grabbing her arm, Nila dragged her away. "Let's go!"

"H-hey! Wait!"

Confessional: Nila

"I do not know how I became the therapist of everyone in such a short time."

Screaming Gophers (Clay)

Catrina had tried her absolute best to try and mould the clay into a 3D idol, and honestly, she was doing a pretty good job.

"Woah…" Jared was impressed. "I didn't know you had this kind of skill at your disposal."

She shrugged it off. "My parents said I was a very artsy kid. But I mostly dropped that as I reached highschool."

Confessional: Catrina

"If all else fails, maybe I should pursue a career in making art." She hummed in thought before laughing out. "Naaah. Music's all I need." She instinctively went to put on her headphones, only to realise there was no music playing. "Oh- Right."

At that moment, Xi entered the room, looking around. "Oh? You seem to be doing quite well for yourself." He eyed the idol. "Definitely more progress than we've made." He crossed his arms, giving the room a scan. He landed on the knife rack, but something else caught his attention.

"Yes!" Eleanor seemed rather happy. "I was a bit worried that the clay wasn't going to work out, but we might have a chance to win this after all." Her eyes followed him as he approached the counter.

Lodged into it was an axe. He used what little strength he had to pull it out. "This could serve us well."

"Hmm?" Jared realised something. "You haven't even started carving, haven't you?"

He shook his head. "No, not yet. But we still have plenty of time, and plenty of hands to help out." He eyed Catrina, who seemed to be pretending that he wasn't there. "Where's Robin?"

"Oh!" Eleanor was going to answer. "He wandered off to do his own thing."

Maybe to mess with the other team. If that was the case, Xi wasn't going to stop him. "Alright, I'll be on my way now." Making sure he had enough knives for everyone, he left the room.

Now that they could get back to business, Jared turned to Catrina. "Alright, do you think it's ready to go into the fridge now?"

"Yup!" She lifted it up. "One step away from victory!" She moved it to the fridge.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

Screaming Gophers (Carving)

Xi had returned to the group, tools in hand. "I found some other things that might be of use." He placed the axe down. "Could help us with making more chunks of wood." He reached over for the knives he had grabbed. "They aren't the best, but they would be the closest to the desired effect." He handed one to everyone who hadn't received one.

"This one's a total bust…" Talia let out a sigh, letting her attempt at a boat fall to the ground. "How much time do we have left?"

Jack checked his watch he always had. "Just two hours remaining. We should have enough time left."

Marisa gripped onto her knife. "Then let's make the best boat out there."

Arianna raised an eyebrow. "I doubt we'll be able to." She really should have just helped out the clay team, at this rate.

Jack shook his head. "Nonsense. With two hours, and the amount of people we are, we're bound to get something done."

Letting out a giggle, Marisa turned to look at him. "I've never seen you so optimistic before."

"Arts are something I enjoy very much." He grinned. "So, I'd like to be able to create something in a similar vein once in my life."

Hearing that, Arianna felt a small bit of motivation rising up in her. She began to chip away at the wood chunk she had.

Confessional: Arianna

"What? Theatre is a type of art, so I can understand the sentiment. I'm not a complete bitch."

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask." Talia spoke up. "How was their progress going?"

"Right." Xi had completely forgotten about that. "The clay idol they've made wasn't in a bad shape. It's gotten me worried that they'll beat us."

"Even more of a reason to try harder." Marisa pointed out. "If we can beat them, we should be able to beat the other team." Her carving was coming along nicely, but she was missing a few key details that would make it resemble the boat of losers.

"Honestly, if we lose to them, it'd be a bit embarrassing." Jack pointed out. "They are one less than us."

"Two less, actually." Xi corrected. His eyes shifted to the side. "Robin wasn't there, so he could be anywhere."

Arianna almost let the knife slip off the wood when she heard that. "What do you mean we don't know where he is?"

Confessional: Arianna

"This is why it's so hard to seclude him for a conversation. He's either never alone, or when he is alone, he's in God knows where." If she could just talk to him, she could at least finish the alliance she wanted to make.

Xi shrugged. "I didn't really care to figure out where he went. It's not too much of a serious challenge. So I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Off in the bush, Robin shook his head. "I have no idea what I'm doing." He mumbled under his breath.

Historia and Nila

"Is this really necessary?" The two had gone back to the cabin on Nila's orders, and Historia was currently on the ground, attempting to do a sit up.

The trainee was sitting down on the bed, looking down at her. "You said you wanted my help in making you tougher. And yet you choose to complain."

"Urg…" Had she known she was going to force her on the ground, she would have reconsidered. "I thought maybe there was a healthy diet I could take… Or something."

"A healthy diet is important!" Nila nodded her head. "However, that does not exist on this island. So this shall be the alternative."

Great. Just what she needed. "Is this what you did all your life?"

"Hmm… Almost." She hadn't really talked about the training she had done. "I started at a rather young age."

Finally completing a single sit up, Historia decided to do a bit of digging. "Why did you start all of this anyways?"

"Oh?" Nobody here had taken the time to ask yet. "Because I wish to follow in the footsteps of my father. He was part of the military."

"Was?" She didn't like the implication of that.

Realising how bad that sounded, she quickly shook her head. "No no! He is still alive. He has just retired from that life." She crossed her arms.

Oh hey! Another sit up. Talking was distracting her enough that she didn't notice her body yelling at her. "But you didn't have to follow in his footsteps."

"Um… Well…" She glanced the other way. "Unlike my sister, I am not academically inclined. It is perhaps the only thing I would have been good at."

So basically she was stupid. "So you didn't do well in school, so you thought the best thing for you to do is to throw your life away to the military?"

"Um!" Well when she put it like that, it did sound irrational. "Well…" She frowned slightly. "I was very good at following orders amongst other things. So it worked out well for me." Now she was just feeling bad about herself. Quickly standing up, she pointed down at Historia. "This is not meant to be a therapy session for me! This is supposed to be a training session for you!"

"Ugh…" She says she's not that smart, but she was able to pick up on her true intent with the entire conversation. "Fine, fine." Sit up number… Three! And that was all she could really do. "Can we take a break?"

"No."

Maybe she had made a mistake asking her for any help. "Ugh…"

"What about yourself?"

"Huh?" Well, she hadn't expected to be questioned herself. "What do you mean?"

Nila played around with one of her twintails. "Well… You are the exact opposite of me, no? Academically gifted, but you do not seem capable in any other field."

This got a frown on her face. "Don't remind me… I've mentioned this before." Although she couldn't recall if it was in a confessional, or around the others. "My mom put all my focus on studying, so I didn't really have time to do anything else." Now that she was saying it here, it dawned on her just how sad it was. "Whatever, why do you want to know?"

Historia really was just the opposite of her, wasn't she? "Because perhaps we could learn something from each other. Two different styles of life, after all."

Learn… from each other? An idea like that had never popped in her head before.

Confessional: Historia

"I guess I could stand to learn a few things about her way of life. Would probably do me good instead of just sticking to what I'm good with."

For once, a rare smile formed on her face. "I think I would like that."

Confessional: Historia

"Wait, why is everyone trying to be my friend? I don't like it one bit."

Nila clapped her hands together. "Wonderful. We can start going more in depth after today. We should probably return to the rest of the team soon. The challenge will be over soon, after all."

Good. She was running low on fumes, and the next sit up would kill her.

Screaming Gophers (Clay)

It was finally time. Eleanor moved over to the fridge, taking the clay out. "Alright, it's ready now." She confirmed my poking it lightly. "Leave the rest to me." She set it down on the table.

While she had never really been too into painting, she figured she should be the one to paint, given that she made the entire mix. "I guess green will be the primary colour, huh."

Jared nodded his head. "Yes. But we could incorporate a few different shades." He brought his hand to his chin. "Not to mention we don't just have to rely on one colour."

"Use some black for the eyes." Eleanor mumbled out as she painted the eyes first. "Or maybe I should have done this last…"

The cadet shook his head. "No point worrying about it now."

"Right!" She could just repaint it later after all.

"Hey." Catrina called out. "I also included a base to it, if you maybe want to make it red for the Killer Bass logo, it could be us standing over them, crushing them!"

This got a smile from Jared. "Yes. I like that very much."

"Huh…" Eleanor had a different opinion. "We don't really need to be crushing them… do we?"

Catrina placed a hand on her shoulder, before giving her a dark look. "Crush them."

"O-OK…"

Confessional: Eleanor

"I'm beginning to realise just how scary the team can be." She held her hands together. "But… As long as we win, I guess it's fine.."

Killer Bass

"Done!" David held out the completed idol, admiring it for himself. "Looks pretty nice, if I do say so myself."

Mindy took a closer look. "Woah… It's almost exactly as I had drawn him to look like."

"What do you take me as? An amateur?" He glanced around. "Now we just need Enima to come back to paint it." Last he had seen her, she was hanging out with Robin. So she should be back soon. But just in case. "Jeremy, go fetch her."

"Alright." He had no objections.

Mindy raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure he'd be able to find her?"

He shrugged. "We know where she is, so it shouldn't be too hard."

After a few seconds, the sound of violence could be heard as Jeremy fell to the ground.

After a few seconds, Enima made her presence known. "You don't have to worry about coming to find me." She had a bag with her now. "I went to go get my supplies." She placed the bag down on the floor.

David raised an eyebrow, a grin slowly growing. "Oh? Is that what took so long? What happened to Historia?"

"... I don't know, she just vanished all of a sudden." She pulled out a few bottles of paint, as well as a plate. "Mindy, did you draw in the colours, or am I free to do whatever?"

She shrugged. "I was leaving it up to you. It's Chris, after all, so it shouldn't be that difficult."

"Right." Well, that at least meant she didn't have to cross reference someone else's art. Looking at the idol David had carved, she hated to admit it; It was actually well made. "Do you do this often?"

He twirled his knife around. "Days get boring, so it's always fun to have something to whittle down. Besides, art is art, so it's not that weird."

No. It wasn't. David just didn't seem to be the type that would be into art that much. "It's just weird seeing you be useful for once after all your other blunders." She teased him.

However, that rubbed him the wrong way. "And what exactly have you done to help me out? Your track record is almost as bad as mine."

"I had the talent show, didn't I?" She gave him a smug look.

Confessional: Enima

"Not really." She had her arms crossed. "That wasn't even me. Something distracted me and caused me to miss my act. However, someone still managed to step up, so I'm not complaining." A smile crept up on her face. "In fact, the interesting thing was-" The footage seemed to be corrupted from here.

Right. He forgot about that. He crossed his arms. "Fine. But wasn't that more so because of Ashton not performing?" He tilted his head to the side. "I didn't see your performance, but it couldn't have been too great."

Mindy's eyes sparkled. "No, it was. Felt like a real phantom thief."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd find something like that interesting." His focus shifted back towards Enima. "Just finish the idol. We have less than an hour left." He didn't want to lose because they spent all the time talking.

Screaming Gophers (Carving)

After many failed attempts at making anything presentable, finally… Someone had managed to complete an idol that resembled the boat of losers in some capacity.

"Done." Jack held it up, a smug look on his face. "It was the fifth attempt, but I think it turned out pretty well."

"Woah…" Arianna hadn't been expecting much from him, so she was pleasantly surprised at what he managed to make. "You weren't kidding when you said you were into art." It beat out any of her attempts. No point in trying anymore. She let her half finished idol fall to the ground. "How much time do we have to spare?"

Checking his watch again, he frowned. "Only about twenty minutes left."

"No time to paint…" Talia mumbled out. "It's fine."

"But we still haven't seen what the other group has done yet." Marisa pointed out.

Xi shrugged. "We don't need to worry about that. You have to remember even though we're having a friendly competition, if there's better, we should let them win."

That was true, so for the time being she was going to step down. "Then we should go get ready to present it."

"Agreed." Jack made sure to get the last few loose chunks of wood cut off. "We're going to win for sure."

Screaming Gophers (Clay)

"Aaand…" Eleanor was adding the final touch to the idol. "Done!"

Jared moved over to get a better look, a soft smile appearing on his face. "You actually did pretty well."

"Yeah!" Catrina called out. "Way to give some life to my sculpture."

Still, even with the encouragement, she felt unsure. "But I not only have to beat the other group, there's still the other team we have to worry about."

Jared tilted his head down. "Hey. Don't say that. They might have messed up somewhere."

Catrina went to grab the statue, before being slapped away by Eleanor. "Let it dry up first before you ruin it!" However, realising how rude she sounded, she quickly softened her tone. "S-sorry…"

Rubbing her hand, the DJ shook her head. "Nope, my fault. Didn't even hurt!"

Confessional: Catrina

She had her hand in a bucket of ice. "Who made this girl!? Why does it hurt so much!?" She wanted to scream.

Killer Bass

Enima let out a sigh. She had been very careful with every single detail she had painted. She had never painted something like this, and had only used a canvas before, so it was a new experience for her.

Confessional: Enima

"You know, I should start a business painting mini figurines. There's probably some money to be had in there. Not enough to compare to the prize from this season, but it's something to think about."

Once she had made the final touch, she slowly placed it on the stump next to her. "What do you think?"

Mindy slowly nodded her head. "It looks beautiful."

David grinned. "Well, I think that's the most teamwork we've put in any challenge." There was a long pause before the smile faded off his face. "And it was for a reward challenge."

"..." The artist glanced the other way. "We really need to get our priority in order…"

Confessional: Mindy

"Why couldn't this be an elimination challenge?" She had a small pout on her face. "We would have crushed it, and finally closed the gap we have with the other team. Whatever the reward is, let's hope it's worth it."

Cafeteria

Now that the time was up, the two teams had to present their idols. Although, there was still one obstacle left for the Screaming Gophers.

"Hmm…" Xi had his arms crossed, looking at the two idols that they had made. "I think it's time we put it to a vote."

Looking at the two that were presented, it was pretty clear what the winner would end up being.

"Why waste time on a vote?" Talia moved over to grab their attempt at carving a boat. "The clay one came out nicer than ours, so let's just present that one."

"Huh?" Marisa was caught off guard. "But what about the vote?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"What?" Jared clenched his fist. "Don't just say that! You put a lot of effort into this."

"This isn't even the one I carved." The waitress shook her head. She turned to look at Jack, handing him the boat. "If you want to keep it."

He looked at it, tilting his head. He hadn't planned on keeping it, especially with how it wasn't going to win. But… "Very well." He grabbed onto it. Although his eyes did glance over at the garbage to the side.

Confessional: Jack

"It's a shame that my first full attempt at carving anything ended in failure." He examined the boat closely, a small smile forming on his face. "But for a first attempt, I must say it was pretty nice." Sounds like he was considering keeping it.

Soon, Chris would walk into the cafeteria, looking at both teams. "You've had six hours to prepare your idol. Now, it's time for you to both present to me what you've made."

The first person to make a move was Eleanor, grabbing the clay statue from the table. "We went with something different than most would make." She placed it on the table in front of Chris. "Instead of a carving like most people would consider, we opted for a clay statue. We even painted it with berries we found around the island." She spun the idol around a bit so all the sides of it could be seen.

Confessional: Eleanor

"Even if we don't win, I think we should just be proud we managed to make something that incorporated so many different things. Way better than a wood carving!"

Continuing with the explanation, she lifted up the idol. "We decided it would be best to do an idol that represented our team, so we made a full version of the Screaming Gopher." After her explanation was done, she placed it down.

Chris had slowly been nodding his head as the explanation went on. "And what do you have?" He turned towards the Killer Bass.

The one who went up for them was Mindy, covering the idol so Chris couldn't see it. "We went with something a little more pleasing on the eyes." She uncovered the idol to show off just how much it looked like Chris.

"Oh?" The host seemed to like that.

She had a mischievous smile on her face now, knowing she already had him hooked. "With the combined effort of three of our members, we were able to conceive, carve, and paint your magnificent face, which doesn't even begin to capture the beauty of the real man!"

Confessional: Arianna

She rolled her eyes. "That's right, just suck up to the man so you can win. Real good strategy there." She said that, but she knew it'd work, which was why she was pissed off.

Mindy put the idol onto the table. "We hope you like it." She held her hands behind her back.

Chris looked at both idols presented to him. They were both really good! But of course, he could only declare one of them the winner. "The winner of today's challenge is…"

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"The Killer Bass!" He lifted up their idol. "Both teams had good ideas, with the Screaming Gopher implementing a unique way to make their idol. They used various resources around the island to really make it stand out. However, the Killer Bass ended up looking more official. And…" He trailed off, flashing a smile. "It's me. Can't go wrong with me."

Yeah… the other team had figured as much as soon as they showed off that their idol was Chris.

"Maybe we should have tried the same." Marisa shook her head.

"Tsk." Jack crossed his arms. "As if we'd ever make something in his image. What we did was good enough."

Eleanor had picked up the idol they made and slowly walked back. "Well… What do we do with this now?"

"Hmm…" Jared crossed his arms before an idea popped up in his head. "We can have it be a table decoration here."

That seemed to add a sparkle in her eyes. "On! That's great." She moved over to the table, placing it squarely in the center. "It looks perfect here."

"Yeah!" Catrina had a bright smile on her face. "That way our work won't go to waste!" She turned to look at the carving part of the team. "Well, yours did, but-"

"Enough." Xi crossed his arms. "No need to rub it in our faces." He turned to look at Chris. "You said there was a prize? What would that be?"

Right! He did say that. The host moved over to the winning idol, picking it up. "There's more than just a reward for today's challenge. I'm here to announce that something has been added to the game." He held out the idol. "With this being the winner, it now becomes an immunity idol."

That seemed to catch David's attention. "And what does that do, exactly?"

"This will be hidden somewhere around the island. Finding it allows you to use it when you are about to be eliminated." He placed the idol back on the table. "Once used, all votes against you become null."

Confessional: Arianna

"I need that. Now. Not just for myself, but to make sure nobody else gets it."

Confessional: Marisa

"Introducing that to the game changes up everything." She began to mark some things down in her journal. "But we lost, so we won't even know where to begin…" She let out a sigh. "But I know who I could talk to for some information."

Confessional: Robin

He had his arms crossed, a frown on his face. "Had I known such a reward existed, I would have tried more for this challenge." He bit his thumb. "I'll have to change my strategy going forward."

"That's not all." Chris continued. "Because the Killer Bass won the challenge, they, and they alone will be provided a hint on the location of the idol."

"What?" Jack narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you specify this before the challenge?"

David let out a sigh. "For once I agree with the other team. This didn't seem like a challenge with a lot at stake."

The host shrugged. "That's on you for not trying hard enough." Picking the idol back up, he continued with a further explanation. "This idol can't be used forever, however. After the final five, it's useless. So you better use it before then. That is all." Idol in hand, he left the cafeteria.

"Tsk…" Jack crossed his arms. "This is bull…"

"Hey." Marisa tried to be positive. "We just aren't provided a hint. There's still a chance we can find it on our own."

Xi shook his head. "But this island is huge. The odds of finding it is miniscule."

Robin, on the other hand, had a different opinion. "Sure, if you want to be stupid about it." He walked away from the team.

"Hmm…" Back with the Killer Bass, Jeremy seemed deep in thought. "So that means one of us is going to end up with it."

"No." Historia narrowed her eyes. "It's just more likely."

Mindy stretched out. "Shouldn't the people who helped out with the idol be the only ones that get to claim it?"

David smirked. "I see no problem with that. I actually made it, so shouldn't I get it?"

"This is a fair and square reward. Whoever finds it shall keep it." Nila frowned slightly. "There shall be no trying to lay claim to it without actually finding it."

The shady guy raised his hands up. "Alright, alright. No need to yell at me." He turned to look at the host. "How will we receive this hint?" He pointed over towards the other team.

"Good point." Chris turned towards Chef with a smile.

The man slowly began approaching the Screaming Gophers, with a meat cleaver in his hand.

"You don't scare us!" Jared called out, but it flying past his face made him change his tune. "Maybe we should leave!" He quickly called out..

Even if he wouldn't kill him, the odds of harm were pretty strong.

However, one person remained. "You don't scare me." It was Robin. He needed to know the hint by any cost necessary. So Chef could do whatever he wa-

Picking up the tactician, he chucked him out the closed window, shattering it on impact.

Confessional: Robin

He was now covered in a few cuts, with a few tiny pieces of glass still lodged in him. He had a hand to his chin, thinking, with a smile on his face. "Hm."

Now that Chef was guarding the entrance to the cafeteria, that left the Killer Bass as the only people in the room (besides Chris).

"Alright!" The host called out, trying to get everyone's attention. "Now, don't expect the hint to be anything you'll be able to piece together right away."

Enima tilted her head to the side. "What? Is it a riddle?"

"W-what? No." It was. Coughing a few times, he took out a piece of paper. "To all of those that have come before, and to all of those wanting more. You'll find the very thing you seek, just when things look bleak."

"Huh…" Nila had no idea what that meant. She turned to look at Historia. "Do you know what it means?"

"As if." She was smart, but she wasn't riddle smart. "Besides, we shouldn't be talking about it here."

"Ah, right…"

Enima placed a hand on her hip, her expression changed with a bored one. "Is that the only hint we're given? It doesn't seem very practical."

He didn't let their comments ruin his iconic smile. "You'll find out the usefulness eventually." The host turned towards the exit of the cafeteria, leaving the team alone.

David tilted his head to the side, deep in thought.

Confessional: David

"To all of those that have come before, and to all of those wanting more. You'll find the very thing you seek, just when things look bleak." He repeated the riddle to himself. "Nope. I've got nothing. But it's fine. I'll find it soon, no matter the price."

Dock

Chris stood in front of the dock, having walked there straight from the cafeteria. "And that marks the end of this episode! Not a lot of excitement given the stakes were lowered, but this will change the game for the better. Now the campers have something to be on the lookout for. What does the hint mean? Will someone actually find the idol? And most importantly, will this help the Killer Bass out in any way?" He leaned closer to the camera. "The answer is no. As for the other questions! Find out next time on, Total! Drama! ISLAND!" And then the camera cut off.

Campers Remaining: 16

Screaming Gophers:

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Arianna Rodriguez: The Popular Girl

Catrina Rwuicks: The Outgoing DJ

Eleanor Eden: The Sweet Gardener

Jack Bunda: The Cynical Critic

Jared Caertas: The Law Abiding Cadet

Marisa Campbell: The Excited Journalist

Robin Fuego: The Snarky Tactician

Talia Wayward: The Rude Waitress

Xi Loung: The Manipulative Psychologist

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Killer Bass

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Bella Fiore: The Quiet Nature Lover

David Talon: The Shady Guy

Enima Palapeli: The Mysterious Painter

Historia Lenz: The Unbearable Scholar

Jeremy Cloud: The Fearless Surfer

Mindy Misuto: The Mischievous Artist

Nila Darabond: The Soft Military Trainee

Eliminated: Jenna, Matthew, Ashton, Josef, Cameron, Christopher

Marisa

Despite there not being an elimination today, she had still received two more tapes. Then again, this was to be expected. After all, the figure mentioned that it would happen after every challenge. In her hands, she held the tape for Eleanor and Arianna. "This should provide some good info…"

Sneaking back into the room she had found, she moved right over to the tape player.

"So…" The voice called out, causing her to stop. "Find what you've wanted to yet?"

Turning over, it was the masked figure again. She spent a few seconds looking at them before shaking her head. "No, not yet." She put in Eleanor's tape.

Eleanor

"Well, I already feel the stress off my back." She smiled sweetly. "Xi already told me who to vote for, so I don't have to feel like my personal choice got someone eliminated." She glanced off to the side. "So that's why my vote will be for Cameron."

Made sense, of course. At this point, it was 3-2 against Cameron. And she already knew who Arianna was going to vote for. However, before she got the chance to put in the second one, the figure spoke up again.

"Are you curious about the hint the Killer Bass were provided?"

She froze up slightly, turning to look at them. "What? Why would you bring that up now?"

They chose to not provide a verbal answer. Instead, moving over towards the monitors in the back. "It would do me no good if you failed to provide me any use before the merge. With all the work you've done, you're bound to put a target on your back."

Marisa frowned slightly, looking the other way. "So? I don't think my name has been brought up at all yet. Besides, if we keep winning, that won't be a problem."

"Still…" The figure played a confessional tape. This one belonged to David.

"To all of those that have come before, and to all of those wanting more. You'll find the very thing you seek, just when things look bleak." He repeated the riddle to himself. "Nope. I've got nothing. But it's fine. I'll find it soon, no matter the price."

"Stupid, this one was." The figure shook their head. "Revealing the clue in the confessional."

That was the hint…? "Wouldn't this be best suited in your hands? At least for your own game?"

"Ah, you see. It doesn't matter where it ends up, as long as I know who has it." They tilted their head to the side. "This is an official declaration of an alliance."

Marisa frowned, looking the other way. "And why would you want to make an alliance with me?" However a new thought quickly formed in her head. "Wait, I don't even know who you are! How would an alliance even work?"

The figure let out a sigh. "I figured this would be an issue." They reached over for their mask, stopping only a few inches away.

"Nah." They lowered their hands. "Not revealing myself. You'll just have to trust me. Especially with all the help I've been to you." They pointed over towards the confessional tapes. "Besides, don't you have some things you need to verify?"

She felt a sense of unease wash over her. Gripping onto the tape for Arianna, she moved over to play it.

Arianna

"Seems like we're finally making a move. Though I'm sceptical of how many people Xi truly has on his side to pull this off. He'd need at least five votes to send Cameron home, and even then, where the hell is he going to get those votes? He has myself, Eleanor, and from the sounds of, Catrina, but besides that, there shouldn't be anyone else." She crossed her legs. "But if it does work out, I can gun for the rest of the nerds. I already started on Jack, so I just have to convince the other two to join an alliance with me."

As expected. Her gut feeling from before was right on the money. "Lying is natural to her, I see."

"Once you see how she is in the confessionals, her act falls apart." The figure spoke up. "You can hear the fakeness in her voice."

Marisa stared at the screen for a bit longer, deep in thought.

Confessional: Marisa

"Even so, I don't have much of a choice, do I? My only other potential allies are Jack, Robin, and Catrina. If Xi somehow has the rest of the team working for him, I need to take all the help I can get." Which meant pretending like she didn't know how Arianna was. "But I won't let her fool me."

Now that the two tapes had been viewed, the masked figure turned the other way. "That's all for today."

"..." Marisa glanced over at them. "I know you won't tell me the real reason you're helping me out, but…" There was something on her mind. "Why do you follow me here? Doesn't that risk me figuring out your identity?"

The figure remained silent for a bit, before turning their head towards her. "Because I have to make sure you're actually watching the tapes. It's pointless if you don't do anything about it." They glanced over towards the door. "You should go. Chris should be here soon. I can hear him."

"Hmm…" She didn't hear him at all, but she also didn't want to take any chances. "I'll get to the bottom of who you are." She put the tapes away in her bag. She had been keeping all of them up to this point.

Moving over towards the window, she glanced over towards the figure one last time, before leaving the room completely. "I need the next challenge to come soon." The longer she waited, the more unease she felt about the entire thing.

However, the figure did not leave. Instead, they moved over towards the confessional tapes, looking through them. "Where are you…" Finally, they landed on Enima's from earlier.

"Not really." She had her arms crossed. "That wasn't even me. Something distracted me and caused me to miss my act. However, someone still managed to step up, so I'm not complaining." A smile crept up on her face. "In fact, the interesting thing was-"

They stopped the footage at that moment. "Trying to rat me out, aren't you?" Quickly, they managed to damage that recording, leaving it corrupted. "No thank you. Don't need you ruining my game plan."

Moving away, they passed by another destroyed tape, showing that it wasn't the only time they destroyed a confessional.