Chapter 3: You two just got EMSED

2:00 pm

The sun had now reached its peak and was blazing high above the campers' heads. Sweaty and anxious, they all eyed each other, neither so much as whispering a word to their neighbour. They were standing in the middle of an enclosed set with an open top to receive the sun's rays and the faint wind blowing on this ideal summer day. The deafening silence was broken only by the occasional shifting of a sneaker on the coarse sand-like ground in which they all stood. The walls were covered with drawings of innocent swing sets and children's playgrounds. There was even a windmill plastered on one wall. The games were about to begin.

All of a sudden, the doors opened and Chris and Chef entered the set. "Nice to see you all made it," Chris smiled devilishly. "You wouldn't wanna miss this one! Ahahaha…"

Ripper, Zee and Chase all eyed each other apprehensively at these words as if they had second thoughts of coming back to compete for three million dollars.

"Don't worry, today's challenge is a childhood favourite. Nothing to worry about," Chris said. "Just a sweet… innocent ….. child-like …. game." His eyes flashed menacingly at these last few words. Damien took a gigantic gulp while eyeing the door which Chris and Chef had just entered to check for any dangerous specimens which may come to kill them all.

Damien confessional: *fiddles with his fingers nervously* Why is he saying it like that? Hol' up… can you actually DIE from playing children's games?!

"With that out of the way, welcome to today's first challenge back!" Chris continued. "Joining us is a very special guest. She's the daughter of a handsome, wealthy and famous man. This man has dashingly amazing hair and stunningly white teeth, so white it landed him on the cover of 'Smiles weekly' for 46 weeks straight before losing to his daughter who obviously inherited his fine genes…"

Many faces lit up at these words and the same thoughts were buzzing through all of their heads. A special guest? Daughter of a handsome, wealthy and famous man? Who could it be? Whoever it was, they could not wait to meet them…

The doors opened once more and a thin, tall woman with straight, burgundy, armpit-length hair and light-brown eyes stepped in. Sunlight was reflecting off of her white sunglasses which were tinted with pink lenses. Immediately, the campers soaked in her strong facial features which included a witchy chin, a beauty mark above her mouth on the left side, and her opera mauve eyeshadow which stood out from the far distance. She was wearing the typical summer camp counselor which included a plain dark-gray, slightly baggy shirt, along with dark-pink shorts and a black belt to complete the outfit.

"That's right. My daughter, Emily!" Chris smiled.

Some faces fell at this revelation. Of course Chris had referred to himself as the 'handsome, wealthy and famous man.'

Priya confessional: *crosses arms and snorts* Of course… Why am I not surprised?

Emily strode in with an extremely nonchalant pose. She exuded poise and an unshakeable confidence. All anybody could do was stare blankly because this person was obviously not going to be nice. A moment of silence –

"Are you… nice?" Damien asked awkwardly to break the silence as he bit his hand to stop it from shaking so much. Emily stared straight into Damien's eyes which caused him to immediately falter and break gaze. To play it off, he stared at the bird circling overhead, pretending to be interested in it.

Emily walked next to Chris and Chef and put her hands on her hips as she leaned on her left foot. She did not smile.

"No hugs?" Bowie asked nervously, staring back and forth between Emily and Chris. "I mean… it's a family reunion!"

"I'm guessing she either got the red from her mother or she dyed it?" Julia asked quizzically pointing to those dark red highlights as if she wanted to cut some off and take them for herself.

"Chris man, your wife is stunning dude," Zee said in a laid-back voice. "I hope I don't come off as too weird brah but she looks a little young for you… sugar caddy?"

Everybody face-palmed at these words and Emily for the first time broke her unbothered expression and raised her eyebrows dangerously.

"Who is this idiot?" she snapped, turning to her father.

"That's just Zee," Chris groaned. "And you'd better get used to him saying stuff like that. Believe me, that was one of his less weird inputs."

Julia confessional: *stares perplexed* Zee is on my team… I don't believe it… Zee is on my team… I should have taken Caleb… *face-palms*

"Anyways, enough with the introductions. Let's get onto today's challenge. Emily will explain the rules. Take it away Mclean." Chris gave a graceful bow and took a seat.

Emily whipped her hair back and then stomped on the ground, creating a cloud of dust at her feet as she faced them all. Damien gulped.

"Listen up kids," she barked. "This is my lawn "– she gestured to the space between her and the campers – "I don't like brats walking up and down my lawn. So here's how this works. When my back is turned towards you, you take off " – she turned around and Ripper gave a smile as he lowered his eyes, enjoying the view – "When I spin around, you stop. IF I catch you moving, yerrrrrrr out! First to cross the finish line wins… WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!" Emily suddenly raised her voice at Ripper who was still staring absent-mindedly at her.

"N – nothing!" Ripper shook his head startled. In his mind, there was something extremely familiar about this woman. Where had he seen her before? The way she had yelled 'yerrrrrrr out' seemed like something he himself would have said… but why?...

"That's what I thought!" she spat as she glared at Ripper. Axel chuckled.

Axel confessional: *snorts* K, I like her.

Ripper confessional: Man, there's something familiar about her. But I just don't know what… *puts hand on chin and stares into space confused*

"Alrighto, we'll give you two minutes to discuss amongst your team," Chris nodded.

At once, the Orangutans embraced each other like one giant family. As they held each other's shoulders in a tight huddle, it was Bowie who spoke first. "Alright Orangutans! Listen up! We're the smarter team!"

To his right, Priya nodded. "That's right! When Emily turns, assume a position you can hold. No balancing on one leg. You got that?" Everybody nodded in agreement. It seemed the Orangutans' team chemistry was blooming. The same, however, could not be said about the Panthers.

Rather than being in a tight huddle like the Orangutans, the Panthers were all standing an arms' distance away from each other. Some looked engaged while others like Zee looked zoned out. Millie felt conflicted on who she should be looking at. Should it be Julia, their leader or Wayne, who exuded leadership and goodwill?

Being the captain of his hockey team, Wayne felt it was only natural for him to have the first say.

"Alright team! Strategy! So let's all – "

"STRATEGY?" Ripper fumed and threw his hands in front of him. He had never heard of anything so stupid in his whole time here. "DUDE! YOU RUN AND YOU STOP. ITS NOT ROCKET SURGERY!"

Wayne blinked at Ripper's noisy interruption. "I know that but we need to – "

"On your mark – " Chef's voice suddenly pierced through their conversations. Everyone turned their heads automatically and left to go up to the starting line. Wayne scowled.

"Get set…"

The Orangutans and Panthers bent their knees in anticipation at the starting line, many with determined faces, ready to take off and run to the finish line.

A platform rose above the ground and out popped Emily holding a pink balloon which fit comfortably into the palm of her hands. Small but deadly. Millie's brow furrowed and she balled her hands into fists in concentration as she tried to imagine herself getting to the finish line before anyone else.

Millie confessional: Since Priya's on the other team, I have to show my team I can do the challenges and that I'm not total dead weight. I'll win this one for sure!

"Come on Millie, let's get it. LET'S. GET. IT," Millie growled to herself as she flexed her arms.

"GO!" Chef cried as he blasted his fake gun into the air, signalling the start of the challenge. It was time to run.

Everybody immediately took off and began sprinting towards the finish line but nobody was running harder than Millie who was charging forwards like a Bullet Bill.

"RAHHHHH!" Millie roared as she kept her eyes fixated on that finish line, not even thinking as her legs carried her. Millie had taken off so fast that Priya and Chase's hair flew upwards as she passed them.

"Whoaaaaa….." Priya said nervously as she watched her best friend take the early lead. Chase blinked confusedly. He was supposed to be the fastest one here, not Millie!

"RAHHHHHHH!" Millie continued to roar as she sprinted like a madman, wide-eyed and no sign of losing any energy any time soon.

"Whoa, look at her go man…" Zee said stunned as he watched Millie in awe. Indeed, for him, this was a surreal experience. Everyone else tried to stay focused on the finish line and ignore the rampaging Millie. They were running… running… and then –

A blur of burgundy hair as Emily began to rotate her body to face the campers running towards her. Her heel pivoted and the next thing they knew she was facing them, with her hands behind her back to conceal the balloon.

Everybody's shoes halted to a stop and they froze, staring at Emily apprehensively. Everyone except for one, that is…

Emily narrowed her eyes as she tried to catch any movement but was shocked to see something charging straight towards her. Millie, with no intention of stopping, was still running with fiery determination. Emily blinked and stared at Millie incredulously. She could not believe it.

"RAHHHHHHHHHH!" Millie continued to scream, unaware of the fact that no one else was running behind her.

"MILLIE!" Priya shrieked as she failed to get her best friend's attention. Next to her, Bowie raised his eyebrow slightly.

Bowie confessional: Priya is getting distracted. This is NOT good. Ugh, I thought I had to worry about Emma and Chase but now I have to worry about Priya and Millie too. *sighs* Well… hopefully she doesn't take a dive for Millie!

Emily sneered. Stupid girl. It was time to throw her out. Now.

At once, Emily leaped as high as she could into the air, staring down at Millie as her hair flowed gracefully behind her, twirled fancily and then released the balloon in her hand ferociously. If Millie had been running fast, it was nothing when compared to the speed at which the balloon was charging towards its first victim of the day.

Emily crashed to the ground, punching the earth. If she had thrown it right, any second now the balloon would collide with Millie's face.

"RAHHHH – "

SPLOOSH!

Millie's head whipped back as the balloon smashed squarely into her left cheek.

Everybody gasped in horror as Millie crashed to the ground. Nobody had expected Emily to hit so precisely with so much force. The first camper was out.

"Ohhh…" Millie groaned as her messy hair fell on the sides of her face.

"MILLIE!" Priya screamed. Next thing Priya knew, she had bolted off to check up on her best friend, forgetting she was supposed to remain still.

"What the – ?" Bowie said startled.

"Priya, no!" Emma cried but it was useless. Priya had already taken off. Emily quickly threw another balloon which hit Priya's abdomen with a loud SPLAT! so hard she was thrown backwards and knocked out.

"After round one, our first two players are out!" Chris chuckled as two large X's popped through icons of Priya and Millie's faces on the big screen. One Orangutan, one Panther out.

"Did… we…. won?" Millie chuckled weakly.

Priya confessional: *groans* Why did I let myself get distracted?! This is not a good start!

"HA! You two just got EMSED!" Emily cackled as Priya and Millie walked off to the side to spectate.

Ripper blinked twice. Now he knew exactly why this girl looked so familiar to him. He would recognize that iconic catchphrase anywhere.

"EMSED?! THAT'S EMILY MCLEAN. The greatest women's college baseball prospect over the last 50 years!" he blurted out awestruck. "But they call her Emi on the field!"

Everyone gasped both at now knowing who they were playing with as well as Ripper's random knowledge of woman's college baseball.

"So proud… so proud… nice pitch Mclean!" Chris called out to his daughter who tossed a balloon in her hand, smirking. Everyone gulped and blinked in fear as they did their best to not move a single muscle.

Chris turned to the sidelines where a short female intern with a black ponytail was currently refilling paint. "And… I do seem to recall asking for red paint… oop! Looks like Sally is out. Please give in your uniform later today before you head to the dock! You're out of here! Last day on the job!" he chortled as Sally left the set moodily. MK smiled to herself.

MK confessional: *puts thinking hand on chin* So… an intern just got fired huh? Interesting…

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Yup, this is Emily from Disventure Camp (so you can see we're really going in a different direction with this!). There's a reason I chose her instead of Krystal. Episodes 7 and 10 will make it clear why. She is 19 years old here. Including Emily (who will be a recurring character) instead of Axe Hatchet (who only appeared in one episode) should solve one of the major issues I had with the season.