Chapter 4: Pink Party

DING!

The green running symbol indicated to everyone it was time to run once more. Zee shrugged his shoulders as he let Emma, Nichelle and Caleb pass him. After taking a small sip, he took off after the others, now lagging slightly behind everyone else.

Zee confessional: *leans back casually with his hands behind his head* Why are they in such a rush? Duuuuude… you know what they say. Slow and steady wins the –

In what seemed to be no time at all, Emily whipped around once more. Everybody skidded to a stop.

Suddenly, Zee felt something disturbing in his hands. A noisy fizzing and a rush of bubbles. He knew what that meant and the imminent danger he was in.

"GAHHHH! NO! Come on soda… be cool man…" Zee whispered to his can as he sweated nervously. Desperately trying to ignore the overflowing soda which was now dripping onto his shorts, he closed his eyes and hoped that Emily would just ignore him despite being in the open for her to see.

Emily narrowed her eyes once more and scanned the area left to right, right to left. No one?...That was rather surprising. She did a double check. Wait a minute she thought squinting. Was she seeing that right? A small movement near Zee's hand. She would have to check.

Emily put her sunglasses on and tapped a button on the frame. Now she could see everything in infrared. She zoomed in and sure enough… there it was. A cluster of soda and bubbles. Emily lifted her glasses, smirked and chucked another balloon at Zee's head.

Zee's heart was thumping. What was taking so long? And then he heard it. Something was zooming towards him. Zee opened his eyes just in time to see a pink balloon smash into his face.

SPLAT!

"ARGHHH!" he gave a cry of pain as he was thrown to the ground. Zee lay in a puddle of pink paint as he sipped his soda with a wild expression.

"Looks like Zee is out!" Chris chortled as Zee's icon received a giant X through it.

"One Orangutan out, two Panthers out," Chef read the score.

Julia sighed in frustration. Of all reasons to get out… your own soda can?!

DING!

The third round had commenced and they all took off. By now Bowie, Raj, Chase and Caleb were in the lead, each of them smiling cockily. Would they get ahead of themselves and fumble?

Raj confessional: This is great! Bowie and I are in the lead for our team! I'm not saying this is super easy but… *chuckles* OK, maybe I am. She's not throwing us out, that's for sure! *winks*

Caleb confessional: I'm gonna start this season by grabbing gold for the team. Then everyone will have to respect me! No more getting confused with a darn intern. *flexes bicep and smiles*

Right behind them were Julia, Emma, MK, Wayne and Nichelle. Julia scowled at the fact that only one Panther was in the lead with the other three Orangutans. If she hadn't chosen Chase, they would totally be sucking right now. Her mood did not improve as Emma passed her. Should she push her?... Maybe later…

Nichelle continued to run silently, concentrating only on the finish line. Behind them were Damien, Axel and Ripper. Dead last was Scary Girl who was running with an abnormally wide grin.

Emily turned around once more and they all froze, Wayne nearly tripping over his untied shoelace and almost colliding with MK who was right beside him.

Wayne confessional: Why is it always the left shoelace?! *looks at left boot exasperatedly*

MK confessional: *smirks* Why am I doing all this running when I can just hitch a ride to the finish line?

DING! Nobody had been thrown out that round and the running resumed.

SWOOSH! In a split second, MK quickly and silently hopped on to Wayne's back without him knowing. Now Wayne was giving her a free piggy-back ride to the end.

As everyone else continued to run as fast as they could, Axel decided she had had enough of tagging at the back. She needed to get up front. Axel clenched her teeth as she put more energy into her run but she was not amused to see Ripper was thinking the same. Apparently, he was tired of being at the back as well and was taking larger strides just like her…

"Can you NOT follow me?" she said irritated, refusing to look at Ripper who was right behind her. It was driving her crazy to hear those annoying, heavy, thundering steps.

Ripper frowned at Axel's accusation.

"I'm not following you," he snorted, pointing to a spot up ahead. "We're running to the same place."

Another pause as Emily turned once more. Everybody froze. Axel skidded to a sharp stop but at the last moment, stuck out a sneaky leg and ended up tripping Ripper who walked right into it.

"AURGHHH!" Ripper yelped as he belly-flopped to the ground, face-first.

Ripper's world went temporarily dark as he spat out a large chunk of mud in his mouth and struggled to remove the dirt from his eyes. He had to remove it or else he wouldn't be able to see! Unfortunately, he did not realize just how much he was moving his hands around as they desperately swatted the dirt away. Emily grinned evilly at Ripper.

"TIME OUT! TIME OUT!" Ripper desperately cried out but –

Too late.

SPLAT!

"OW!" Ripper yelped as he crashed to the ground, now out of the game. Emily made sure to give him a cheeky, little wink and nudged her head to the sideline. Ripper blinked dumbfounded. The audacity of this girl to taunt an alfalfa male. Ripper continued to stare blankly at Emily as he made his way over to join Zee and Millie.

Chase had had enough. He frowned at Emily.

Chase confessional: She just threw out my boys. NO way I let her get away with that!

"That's it, I'm going for it," he said fiercely, having eyes only on the finish line. He was going to get there now and finish this game once and for all. He had to avenge Zee and Ripper, his fallen brothers.

Julia laughed harshly.

"Yeah…right," she rolled her eyes and gave him a sarcastic stare. "This isn't one of your little prank videos Chase so take it ser – CHASE, WAIT! DON'T!"

Julia swore as Chase took off without a second thought. If their front runner got out, they would stand no chance at winning this. How could he not see that? Millie, Zee and Ripper had all been eliminated and he thought it was a good idea to sprint for it?

Julia confessional: *face-palm* My team… is…. an absolute mess…. and that's putting it nicely

Chase panted slightly as he saw the finish line getting closer and closer. Emily blinked. What is he doing?! she thought incredulously as Chase's figure became larger and larger.

WHOOSH!

The pink balloon crashed and splattered at Chase's feet as he jumped up and dodged it with relative ease.

"That all you got?" he taunted as he continued to run forwards with a cocky smirk. Emily's eye twitched.

Emily confessional: He is so dead. Luckily for him, I never miss twice *winks*

Emily turned to her side and narrowed her eyes in concentration before releasing another balloon with her left hand.

WHOOSH!

Chase ducked as another balloon flew over his head, missing the top of his hair by a few inches.

"OMG, I think he's going to make it!" Julia blinked, mystified.

Chase threw his head up and cackled with laughter into the air. That had been close. Real close. But he was still in the ga –

WHOOSH!

The balloon which Emily had just thrown to the very back turned itself around magically and blew everyone's hair as it past them all and headed straight towards Chase. He was in great danger now.

"What the – " Damien yelped as the balloon blew past his face. Talk about cartoon physics!

"Huh?!" Emma and Axel said together, staring in horror at the balloon.

"CHASE! DUCK!" Julia yelled fearfully, her voice cracking slightly.

"Duck, goose," Zee cheered from the sides.

"Wha – " Chase blinked stupidly. Why did everyone behind him sound so scared?

SPLAT!

Chase's arms flailed as the second pink balloon hit him squarely in the back. He collapsed to the ground face-first and groaned.

"Did not see that coming…" he sighed, disappointed.

"Emily's tricky curveball gets another one out," Chris commentated as the 4th Panther received an X. Man, they were sucking!

Chase groaned as he walked over to the sidelines with very defeated body language. It looked like he would not be able to avenge his boys today. Instead, he had gotten out immediately after them!

DING! The next round commenced.

It seemed everybody had only been running for a few seconds before Emily turned around again. This round was definitely much shorter than before. Emma skidded to a last-second halt, slightly out of breath.

"WHOA! That… was close!" she yelped as she stood next to Damien who was currently doing his best to not freak out as a bee buzzed menacingly in front of him.

"You're fine… just stay still," Emma muttered to Damien who was sweating nervously.

Damien's heart began to pound as the bee continued to buzz angrily around him. "No, go away…" Damien whispered urgently. "Shoo boy!" The bee apparently did not like being told off, pointed its stinger and without hesitation, brought it down on Damien's hand.

"OWWWW!" Damien comedically leaped ten feet into the air, flailing his hands as he felt a burning, stinging sensation.

SPLAT!

Damien received a pink balloon to the face and lay there groaning. How was that fair?! No way anyone could stay still from a bee sting!

Damien confessional: Rough start I guess… *chuckles nervously*

Damien walked off to join Priya where an intern was waiting with a medical kit to treat him.

DING!

Emily turned once more as Raj and Bowie, who were now in the lead skidded to an aggressive stop.

"This is too easy," Raj giggled as he flicked his eyebrow in a flirting manner at Bowie.

"Yup! We'll be there in no time!" Bowie cooed, smiling back at Raj. It was great that they were running side-by-side! Raj always provided Bowie that extra little bit of motivation and Raj felt the same way about Bowie.

Chris sighed as it looked like it was going to be another round of no one getting thrown out. Boring.

Emily turned away from the 11 remaining campers and gave a wide grin. It was time to spice things up.

DING! DING! DING!

Julia and Wayne gasped as Emily started to twist quickly and violently like a mini human hurricane. Now the sign above was telling them to run-stop-run-stop-run-stop… What should they do?...

"You think she can see us?" Raj whispered unsurely to Bowie.

"Only one way to find out…" Bowie whispered back, his heart pounding wildly against his chest. Normally, Bowie would never be this reckless but he was so damn close to that finish line. It was just a few feet ahead… Surely he could just sneak by and cross a toe over the line to finish this game?

"GOOOOOOO!" Bowie cried as he suddenly took off like a rampaging bull, Raj sprinting right behind him.

"GO! GO!" Axel yelled as she and Scary Girl also took off to the surprise of the others. Axel felt she was too far behind and needed to get to the front while Scary Girl was running just for the fun of it.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

A barrage of balloons suddenly left Emily's hands at what seemed to be the speed of light.

SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

Bowie, Raj, Axel and Scary Girl all yelped in shock as they received facials of pink paint and flailed their legs around uselessly. They all collapsed to the ground with a loud CRASH! And just like that, four more players had been eliminated.

Raj + Bowie confessional (Raj): OK…. Not a great idea…. *Scratches head awkwardly*

Raj + Bowie confessional (Bowie): We were so close! Ugh! Why did we do that? *stares shamefully at the ground*

While the other three lay defeated, Scary Girl quickly got up and clapped her hands. She was absolutely thrilled. "AGAIN! AGAIN!" she said as she jumped up and down eagerly. Without hesitation, Emily whipped another pink balloon at Scary Girl's head.

SPLAT!

Scary Girl's head jerked as she went flying backwards, laughing. Chef stared at Scary Girl open-mouthed.

"Ooooo, I know what'll be on the highlight reels tonight," Chris chuckled as large X's appeared on more faces. That had been an awesome round! Quadruple elimination!

DING!

Suddenly Wayne frowned as he felt something peculiar on his backside. Was it a fly? No, it was –

"AH HA! GOTCHA!" he said triumphantly as he dangled MK by her ankle. "PEN-AL-TYYYYYY!"

The upside-down MK was miraculously still wearing her hat while her hair flowed down to her face. Oh rats, he finally caught on she thought bitterly. She had been so close…

"You mean got us…" she said straightforwardly, pointing up ahead. Wayne gasped.

SPLAT! SPLAT!

Wayne and MK were now out.

Wayne confessional: How… did her hat stay on when she was upside down? Hold up… let me just… *does a handstand but his hat falls into toilet water* OH NO! *grabs his soaking hat out from the toilet*

"Just four campers remaining. Two Orangutans and two Panthers," Chris announced as the camera focused on Emma, Caleb, Nichelle and Julia.

DING!

All four took off with Emma in the lead, Julia right behind her, Caleb and Nichelle behind Julia.

"Sorry Julia," Emma said cheerfully as her golden-blonde hair flapped along her forehead. "After this next stop, I'm gonna win this thing!"

Julia did her best to put on a concentrated face as she stared up ahead at the finish line. However, deep down she was already plotting a way to get back at Emma for taunting her like that. Perhaps it was finally time to give that gentle, little push…

Emily, who they could now see clearly, gave another turn around. All four froze.

"Yes Emma, you're going to win this for us!" Priya said fiercely, elated at Emma being so close to the finish line. One more round and she would surely win.

"Yay Emma!" Damien whooped.

"Keep your foot on the pedal! HOOT-HOOT!" Raj cheered.

"Give it a little gasoline girl," Bowie winked. Ripper chuckled while Bowie frowned, disappointed that this was enough to make him think of flatulence.

Emma smiled, trying her best not to dance in excitement. Everyone was cheering her on! Nothing could ruin this moment. Caleb whistled in the air, waiting for his cheerleaders but no cheering came. He sighed quietly.

Meanwhile, Julia was not pleased at all of the praise Emma was receiving. She hadn't even won anything yet… and Julia was going to make sure Emma did not cross that finish line, even if it meant taking Emma down with her. Julia's brow furrowed and she pressed her lips with suppressed anger.

Julia confessional: Nichelle said she's been "training" all summer for this so I'll give her her moment to shine. If she messes up, she goes home. If she doesn't mess up, everyone sees me as a valuable player, which I am. *grins*

"HERE - I - COME!" Julia made sudden movements towards Emma who stood frozen in fear.

"Julia?!" Emma said incredulously. "What are you doi – "

CRASH!

"AHHHHHH!" they both screamed as they fell to the ground together.

The Orangutans gasped as their star player lay helpless. Ripper and Chase roared with laughter at Julia's dirty tactics.

SPLAT! SPLAT!

Emma and Julia received pink paint to their faces and they were now out.

Wayne confessional: Wow… Julia sacrificing herself so Nichelle can win the cup? That's what I call a real team player!

Emma confessional: *pink-faced Emma spins her fingers around her ears* SHE'S PSYCHO!

DING!

Julia gave the Orangutans and especially Bowie a malicious look before turning to Nichelle. "It's all you Ladonna!" she said sweetly, making sure to put as much weight as she could on Emma's back.

Emma pounded her fist on the ground in frustration as Julia sat carelessly on top of her. "UGH! CALEB RUN!" Emma yelped. "OW! Get OFF of me!" Emma kicked Julia off annoyed.

Julia shot Emma a dirty look. The audacity of Emma to touch her with her dirty shoe!

Caleb and Nichelle took off, and now it was neck-and-neck. Caleb had larger feet and was covering greater distance with each step but Nichelle had Sonic-like speed and a fierce determination. Each had something to prove to everyone today.

Nichelle did not want to be known as 'Midchelle LaFloppa', a nickname she had seen circulating her social media. And Caleb wanted to finally earn some respect from his fellow players who seemed to consider him a joke at the moment.

"We got this in the bag. Caleb vs a pretend action star?!" Bowie chuckled as Raj gave a nervous laugh. He enjoyed trash talking as much as the next person but was Bowie being a little too cocky? Underdogs always had a lot to prove after all… that's how it was in sports…

Raj blinked. Maybe he had nothing to worry about after all because now Caleb was in the lead, having overtaken Nichelle who had just tripped!

"NO!" Axel, Chase and Ripper said simultaneously. Meanwhile, Julia narrowed her eyes and bit her lip to suppress a grin. This was exactly what she had wanted. For all of the blame to shift to someone else if they lost. Guaranteeing her a safe spot…

Nichelle brushed her hair from her eyes, panicking as Caleb's lead grew steadier and steadier. Her victory was slipping away with each step he took. She quickly got up and began sprinting once more, only this time she was not trying to overtake Caleb by running as she knew there was physically no way it could happen. She had to do something else. Something bold. Something daring. Something risky, but it just might work.

Nichelle confessional: Mama always said it ain't about how many times you fall. It's about how far you can jump.

"CHAMPION!" Caleb said happily as he envisioned himself crossing that line and seeing his teammates' smiling faces as they chanted his name. He looked up. What was that dark cloud passing above his head?

"Huh…?" he said slowly. Wait a minute. That was no cloud. It was Nichelle!

She was soaring, soaring, soaring… in slow motion?... Perhaps, because Caleb felt his world was slowing down and the worst possible ending was about to occur.

Emily turned, ready to fire another balloon at Nichelle or Caleb or possibly both but she froze and gaped in amazement at what she was seeing above her. She dropped the balloon which landed with a SPLAT! at her feet.

THUD!

Nichelle landed over the finish line gracefully on one knee and punched the earth with her fist. Immediately, she stood up proudly.

"Ballistic Panthers win!" Chris announced. The game was over!

"WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!" the Panthers all cheered excitedly, pumping their fists in the air in celebration. Everyone looked happy for Nichelle's victory except for Julia who was cheering rather awkwardly. She had expected Nichelle to lose but this was a rather pleasant surprise for her. And now… Julia truly had her eyes set on a second potential alliance member… Nichelle had proven herself today after all…

"How… did she do that?" Bowie mumbled while Raj laughed and winked.

"Let's not underestimate her next time, eh?" he nudged Bowie who returned a cheeky wink.

Bowie sighed. Perhaps he had been a little too cocky today. Caleb dropped to the floor.

Caleb confessional: *Puts hands over head* NO! I CAN'T BELIEVE I CHOKED THAT! I CAN'T GO HOME FIRST AGAIN, CAN I?!

Nichelle confessional: *stares down at hands triumphantly* I think all my training has worked.

Chris clapped his hands as he walked to the middle of today's play area. It had been an extremely entertaining afternoon indeed!

"Wow… you all just got splattered!" he chortled as he looked at everybody's faces. "But… good news! This was a reward challenge! Psyche! Welcome back everybody!"

At these words, the Orangutans cheered for nobody was going home today! Bowie and Raj hugged each other, Emma and Priya jumped up holding each other's hands and Caleb pumped his fist. He was not going home today! He would have a second chance to prove himself. And he would not mess it up under any circumstances. Nichelle had gotten the better of him today but it was not going to happen again.

"Panthers… your reward… a nice, steaming hot tub perfect for parties and celebrations. Yours to keep for the rest of the summer. BONUS!" Chris grinned at the camera.

AUTHORS NOTES

Hope you enjoyed this one. I thought it would be nicer to have Caleb vs Nichelle as the last two since they are the ones who feel they have the most to prove. Chapters marked with a (!) in the title indicate my favourite chapter of the episode to write. For Episode 1, that would be this chapter!