Total Drama Rematch 2024 Rewrite Chapter 29: 8 - 1, a total drama series fanfic

AUTHOR'S NOTES

We have now reached the merge. From this point, I would say the tone of this rewrite becomes a bit more serious now that we've left the pre-merge which was more light-hearted.

Episode 8: Ex marks the spot

ARR! It's time to go back to Boney Island. The final 10 go searching for treasure either at Jade Mountain or Black Lagoon - iconic parts of Boney Island which the original cast did not go to. It's a long, treacherous journey for our campers as they battle viper vines, monster beavers, menacing geese, and feelings of betrayal. Who will canoe back to Wawanakwa as a winner? And who will walk the plank?

July 18 2024

8:42 pm

Julia was scrolling through her MySelfieGram feed on her bed, eating a big bowl of chicken Caesar salad when she suddenly heard a knock on her cabin door. Annoyed at being disturbed from catching up with the latest celebrity gossip, she got up and answered it.

All of a sudden, she was face to face with MK who stood in the doorway with the orange sunset illuminated behind her. Julia wiped her mouth before smugly putting her hands on her hips and staring down at MK like a cockroach she wanted to crush.

"Are you lost little one?" she asked mockingly. She bent down and patted MK's beanie. "You do realize your cabins are over there?" she pointed sharply to the west cabins in the distance.

MK ignored this childish taunting and remained composed. After all…she had more important issues to cover. She crossed over the threshold, inviting herself to Julia's cabin.

"No… not lost at all…" MK said slowly, pacing around the cabin and eyeing everything in sight. Everything still looked the same since the last time she had been here only now Nichelle and Millie's bags were absent. MK briefly glanced at Julia's closet and smirked. Good times she thought to herself, amused.

"Actually I came to see you…" MK went on. She pointed to Julia who had just shut the door with her foot and was now leaning against it carelessly.

Julia frowned. "What do you want with me?" she asked rather unimpressed. Julia did not trust MK to talk about anything genuinely interesting like makeup, clothes, nails or hair. No… It was clear to her that MK was after something. But what?...

MK finally settled herself down next to Julia's bed and whistled. "Gonna make myself comfortable before I tell you," she teased, sinking herself into the bed that used to be Nichelle's. Julia narrowed her eyes but did not say anything.

After a minute of silence and the crunching of Julia's food –

"The teams are merging tomorrow morning," MK said bluntly.

Julia nearly choked on her salad mid-bite. Well, this was certainly news! Part of Julia had been hoping for this day to come since her and Axel were having a rocky relationship and she wasn't particularly close to either Chase or Wayne. In all honesty, she did not feel she could survive another team elimination ceremony.

Julia raised an eyebrow. "Yeah right… how do you know this?" she asked skeptically, inviting MK to explain.

MK was in no mood to give her source to Julia just yet… she wanted to save the big reveal for later… so instead she casually shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just a hunch. They merged at 10 people last time so why wouldn't they do it this time?"

"Mmm good point," Julia nodded. MK went on now that she had gotten Julia's attention.

"Assuming they're keeping things consistent, I wanted to make the first merge alliance," MK said casually.

Julia stopped and stared at the little cretin who was closest to getting her eliminated last season. MK stared right back into those hollow, cold purple eyes. The eyes which had struck fear in everyone else… but not MK. She was not afraid of Julia. If she wanted to get what she had come for, she had to remain calm and focused.

"Why are you asking me?" Julia asked suspiciously, waiting for MK's answer. Julia enjoyed being the one asking questions. It was as if MK had to pass a test to get her approval.

"Because I'm getting ready to ditch Caleb when that happens. He's not playing as aggressive as he should," MK swiftly replied. "And I plan on getting rid of Emma soon. I've been trying to get her eliminated for the longest time ever since she betrayed my alliance and tried to save Bowie but so far your team has just been sucking too much for us to go to an elimination ceremony."

Julia raised her fork and pointed it sharply at MK. "OOO you're playing sneaky this time… Interesting… Well… I'm not convinced. You're not exactly the strongest player here. I'd rather ally myself with Axel or Wayne and maybe even Raj if the teams really do merge," she drawled.

Julia fake-smiled and pointed at the door, hoping MK would get the hint that she should leave and that Julia was not interested in her offer.

Unfortunately for Julia, MK was not going to give up that easily. MK took a deep breath and continued venturing deeper into the lion's den.

"I heard things were pretty shaky with you and Axel after she suspected you backstabbed Nichelle which…good move by the way she was annoying," MK continued. "Oh yeah, I know what you did with the salt by the way. I saw you do it while everyone was focused on Ripper and the eggs. That was really smart and sneaky of you..." She hated flattery but she had to at least try.

MK confessional: *crosses arms and snorts* Pffft! Kidding! That was a NOOB move! Can't believe no one saw that. She just got lucky!

These words made Julia pause. Not only did MK admit to knowing about Julia's sabotage but she hadn't reported her to anyone else? This certainly intrigued Julia but still… it was not good enough. Julia wanted more. She wanted to squeeze water out of stone and if MK had more to offer then Julia was not going to stop until she got everything she wanted.

"Mmm true… Axel and I aren't as tight as we used to be... Then I guess I'll just go at it alone like I did last season." Julia flipped her hair carelessly and stared at her fingernails. This was so boring and quite frankly felt like a gigantic waste of time.

"Or you could partner with someone like me? Who actually has brains…Do you really think you'll go on another immunity win streak?" MK pressed on.

Julia stared at MK incredulously. Julia was flabbergasted MK could ask such a silly question. "Um… of course. That's who I am. Sorry MK, I'm not interested in making an alliance with you. Can you go away so I can respond to my DMs?" Julia sneered.

That was it. MK was done pretending to be thoughtful and caring with this stuck-up influencer who was being more stubborn than an annoying hangnail.

"You won't get as lucky as last time," MK warned, picking her words deliberately.

Julia's eyes flashed dangerously. Had she heard that right? Lucky? LUCKY?

"LUCKY?!" she shrieked. "I was NOT lucky. You just didn't know what I was capable of and then you messed with me and found out the hard way. Just like everybody else who tried to get in my way! Honey mountain? TCHA! I'm athletic and strong. Eating challenge? If I can pretend to like AVOCADO TOAST, I can eat gross foods. Selfie challenge? That ONE WAS TAILOR MADE FOR ME. Pole challenge, you wanna know who got lucky? EMMA! Because Chase was such an idiot and pushed us all off for PIZZA. You call that luck HUH?!"

Julia's chest puffed up and down after this long-winded rant as if she had just run through a marathon of memories. She wanted to stomp the mere thought of her being lucky out of MK. If there was anybody doubting her ability as a player, she would show them.

MK smirked. "Yeah… but you're purposely avoiding the other stuff. Bird egg challenge? You got real lucky Wayne and Raj got injured because you were going to go home there when Chase and Emma got back together, which you could not foresee. Amateur."

"THOSE BIRDS ARE AGGRESSIVE, CHRIS SAID SO HIMSELF. WAYNE AND RAJ DIDN'T LISTEN. IT'S THEIR FAULT. NEXT!" Julia shouted right away, dismissing MK's retort with a sassy fluttering of her hands.

"OK…" MK continued, smiling now that Julia was showing signs of struggle. "How about when you squirmed your way out by sheer luck from our last team elimination? When you eliminated ME?"

BANG!

Julia kicked the door loudly. "First of all, I didn't SQUIRM my way out of anything. And that wasn't luck. You were just an idiot for using my signature word in front of me. You only have yourself to blame loser."

MK chuckled. She had been anticipating Julia to cherry-pick her response this way. Julia was deliberately avoiding the other important part.

"No, no, I'm not talking about you finding out I listened to your confessionals. I'm talking about how you convinced everyone to join your side simply by saying I watched them POOP! How did no one realize you also could have done that? Why side with you and not me?" MK raised an eyebrow.

"Because – because – be – " Julia started but she could not finish. Her lips trembled as she struggled to find the right words. It was hard to come up with an argument for this because part of her knew deep down she had lucked out. But she would never admit this to MK.

MK confessional: *rolls around laughing* Got her!

"See?" MK smirked triumphantly. She had made Julia say she got lucky without saying she had gotten lucky. "You're lucky Wayne and Raj ended up sharing a brain cell at that elimination. Maybe they got flung a little too hard and it messed with their heads, I don't know. The point is, I'm sure those two voted me out. But you won't get lucky again. Do you agree?" MK greatly enjoyed repeating the word 'lucky'. Each time she did, Julia looked angrier and angrier.

"Shut up," Julia whispered, her bottom lip quivering from sheer rage. She would not accept standing here and taking the harsh truth from MK.

MK swiftly took advantage of now having momentum in this duel. "OK then, if something like this were to happen again do you think you can do it again Julia? And still succeed?"

Julia's eyes wandered up to the ceiling and she tapped her foot restlessly. But MK was not going to let go. "Why don't you just admit you're not the genius schemer you thought you were?" MK egged on, eyes flashing maliciously. Julia looked like she had seen her phones crushed. Her face was shrivelled with hatred and she looked frightening.

"You're not the bad bitch of this season, I AM!" MK laughed harshly as she jumped off the bed and started making her way closer to Julia.

"You WISH you were half as bad as me," Julia spat viciously as she stared down at MK.

MK was not fazed and continued to walk towards Julia who was standing defiantly in the center of the room.

"You're not a master manipulator."

Julia's eye twitched.

"You're just a lucky basic blonde."

Julia's hand shook and she threw her salad to the floor. She hadn't taken a bite out of it for the past minute.

"You're a discount Heather."

SMACK!

Julia hit MK across the face with the back of her hand. MK stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, clutching her face.

"I don't even know who that is but I'm not a discount of anybody!" Julia said fiercely.

MK rubbed her face and grinned. She had gotten inside of Julia's head. That was all she had wanted. To finally make this seemingly unbeatable villain lose a verbal battle she was so used to winning. Worth it, she thought amusedly as she lay there panting. Julia blew steam from her nose and for a minute, the two remained silent.

"Anyways MK you're wasting my time. The door's that-a-way!" Julia opened the door and gestured to MK to leave. Now that play time was over and MK had gotten the reaction she had wanted out of Julia, the urgency of the situation brought her back to her senses.

"Wait! I have to tell you something! It might be useful for you," MK said desperately.

Julia paused once again. Though she was still getting over the shock of hitting MK, if there was something useful waiting for her, maybe she could tolerate the pickpocket for a bit more...

"Mmmm OK…" Julia said in an unconvinced tone. "But if it's relationship drama or information on other alliances I don't really care to be honest. I can get all of that myself. I can squeeze it out of anyone at any time…" Julia did not have time for such trivial matters.

MK shook her head. "It's not that."

Julia looked at MK eagerly. "Oooo… is it a new phone? Is that what you're trying to do? Bribe me? Give it to me and we have an alliance MK!"

Once again, MK shook her head. "It's not that either…" she said dramatically, pausing for effect, trying to stimulate Julia and spark her curiosity to get her to ask more questions. Right now MK was the master leading her horse Julia to water.

"Oh…" Julia said in a disappointed voice and smiling awkwardly. It seemed to her this conversation was not going to be of any benefit to her after all.

MK noticed the disappointment masked underneath that fake influencer smile of hers. It was time for MK to get to the crux of her argument, the reason she had come to Julia in the first place during these hours.

"Hypothetically speaking…" MK began slowly. "if there was a way for you to know which challenges we would be getting this season would you feel more confident?"

"Yeah…" Julia responded, staring suspiciously at MK.

"Well… I have this!" MK said cheerfully. She pulled out a piece of paper from her coat pocket and passed it to Julia's waiting hands. "Read it."

Julia narrowed her eyes as she read left to right, top to bottom. By the end, her eyes had widened greedily and they looked alive and lustful. "Bake 136 cupcakes, outlast everyone in an ice bath, escape a tower 100 m tall, Tiktok your way out of a piranha tank, bow and arrow challenge, face your fear in the phobia maze… Hang on… " There were some she had seen and others she had not done yet but she had pieced it all together.

"Is this… a list of all the challenges for the season?" she whispered excitedly as if she had just received a rush of adrenaline.

"Yup. And I've already crossed out the ones we've gotten," MK smiled at Julia's reaction. So suddenly the mood in the room had changed. It was almost as if MK and Julia had never engaged in a tongue-lashing exchange a few minutes prior. Perhaps Julia had never even hit MK for at this moment, a mutual understanding was born between the two most ambitious players of the game and they smiled evilly at each other. Each was eager to deal damage to the competition and they both realized the other complemented them perfectly. Julia's physical talents and her ruthlessness combined with MK's scheming and cleverness. It could not go wrong!

"As you can see, that means the remaining 7 are all merge challenges," MK went on, pointing at the paper.

Julia, quick-thinking as always however stopped gushing over the list and stared hardly at MK. While it sounded amazing to her ears, she could not let this piece of paper tempt her and make her lose focus from the game. Julia always had to consider herself first and the potential risks that came with associating with others.

"How do I know you didn't just write all the challenges we did already and then stuck 7 random other ones before you came to visit me?" Julia asked accusingly, staring at MK coldly, prepared to examine every facial feature of hers that showed any sign of discomfort. MK however remained calculated and level-headed for she had nothing to hide. This piece of paper was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Watch. Today's challenge will involve canoeing to a place called Boney Island. If that isn't the challenge today, you can just ignore me. But if I'm correct, well then, you'll want to stick around me more often eh?..." MK replied calmly.

Julia nodded slowly. She would definitely confirm if today's challenge really was canoes…and this Boney Island place. Only then would she slightly trust MK but she would not lower her guard down completely. She had to be prepared for any backstabbing.

Julia took MK by the arm, sat her down on the bed and gently rubbed the area she had hit with a cotton pad. This was not her being nice. If MK really was serious about this, she would need to start treating MK with some form of respect. All of this was for Julia's own gain of course. No personal feelings. Although… she couldn't help but feel like an older sister to the small and meek-looking MK. For some reason, at this moment MK was reminding her of her own younger sister, Megan.

"How long have you had this list for?" Julia continued with her interrogation although she asked in a softer tone. Though she already suspected what the answer would be, she was still rather surprised to hear it.

"Since the beginning. Sally gave it to me before she left. I promised her a fraction of the money if I won… she's so gullible… since when do I share money? TCHA! I don't!" MK laughed as she leaned back on Julia's lap with her hands behind her head. She was getting really comfortable now.

Julia blinked. "Sally? That intern who got fired from the first episode?" she said, recalling the one intern who was fired for providing the wrong colour of paint from the first challenge.

"YUP! We've been keeping in touch," MK smiled.

Julia snorted. "OK, I'm kind of impressed you managed to use an intern to your advantage. But what good is this list if we don't know the order it happens?" she said skeptically.

MK clapped her hands to her mouth excitedly. "Very good Julia! You're asking all the right questions…" She squeezed Julia's cheek with a pinch, ignoring Julia's expression which had just looked like she was about to kill MK. "That was also my biggest hurdle at the start… Luckily Sally eventually texted me the order using her friends on the inside. So I know what we're getting today and two days later and three days after that…I told you! Today! Canoes!" She let go of Julia's cheek.

Julia rubbed it and looked back at MK incredulously. Normally she wouldn't let anyone touch her like that, but MK's information had tempted Julia so much to the point where she didn't feel like fighting back. But then –

Julia's brow furrowed and she began thinking to herself. If MK had been using all of this to her advantage since the beginning…

"So… " Julia began slowly. Her brain was working overtime because suddenly a realization had hit her like a brick. MK felt Julia's legs twitching on her back. In fact, Julia's whole body was shaking now. "Wait…I just want to ask something…. if you knew about this the whole time… then…"

MK smiled eagerly and brought her face back closer to Julia's. "Yeah?" she asked slyly.

"You must've known we would be TikToking in our swimsuits… " Julia's breathing was turning shallow.

"Of course I did…" MK continued to smile cheekily and giggled. Julia was getting real close and MK could not wait to see her face when she found out.

"So then… y – you somehow messed with my bathing suit before the challenge a – and… left me to potentially die by piranhas?!" Julia concluded turning MK around so that the two were now face to face, their noses an inch away from each other.

"Yup, and they were so close…" MK muttered, feigning disappointment.

Julia gripped MK by the shoulder tightly. "What else have you done? Tell me everything!" she demanded.

MK was slightly startled at the intense gaze from Julia but she quickly recovered, glad to have someone to share her achievements with. "Let's see… I also sent Bowie packing when I stole a tablet that showed where everyone was dropped off. So I staged a fake fall with Caleb and we split Bowie and Raj. I knew I had to face my fear soon so I prepped weeks for that one. The only problem I didn't foresee was Emma and Bowie reconciling…" MK rambled reminiscently, deep in thought of how she had performed in the pre-merge. "Funnily enough I actually didn't cheat for the court case one because that riddle was too easy."

"Child's play," Julia added half-smirking. She was beginning to warm up to this little devil. She had more tricks up her sleeve than Julia had anticipated. Of course Julia still did not consider MK worthy enough to be her equal but maybe a… sidekick?

As if she had just read Julia's mind, MK blew air from her nose sternly. "Let me make things clear Julia. You work for me. I have the sheet, you don't. I have Sally's number and I'm not telling you the order. Only I get to know that alright? You try to double cross me and turn everyone against me like you did last time and I send you packing right away. Got it? If you agree to all of these terms and conditions, I accept you into my alliance and I'll tell you what today's challenge is."

Julia could not believe what she had just heard. NO WAY. I work for her?! Julia thought furiously, blood pounding in her ears. Julia was not used to being treated like this. She breathed angrily and it must have shown because MK had to hold back a laugh as she watched Julia's brain struggling.

Julia wanted to get all this information from MK but the thought of being her slave made her mind explode. But… still… perhaps she could betray MK later… right now, they would work together… Julia placed the thought of betraying MK at the back of her head and propped a fake smile on her influencer face.

"OK bestie! Let's cause some glamorous chaos! Final question though." And this was one she had been wanting to ask since MK revealed she had the sheet. "What if Chris catches you cheating?"

Julia expected MK to need a minute or two to carefully construct a response but it seemed MK was prepared for this one because she immediately answered playfully.

"AWWW Julia, you're not as cunning as I thought you were. Do you not know who Chris is? As long as I don't cross boundaries and steal Chris' hair products or do anything to harm his image, he'll let it slide. This cheating scandal is what keeps the show interesting and his ratings high. I've already suspected that he suspects me but I know where not to cross the line. For example, never touching his blow dryer to gain the upper hand in a challenge… That would definitely get me a severe penalty because my win would come at the cost of him having a bad hair day which is unforgivable…"

Julia's brain melted out of amazement for this cunning companion she was discussing evil plans with. "Impressive… I like your style. This could be the start of a beautiful alliance." She raised her fist to fist-bump MK.

"Welcome to my alliance," MK fist-bumped Julia in return.

"No, no, no, welcome to my alliance!" Julia half-joked. They extended a hand to shake with each other but for some reason each was trying to squeeze the other's hands as hard as possible to assert dominance. Apparently, they were evenly matched and after 30 seconds of squeezing, they agreed to a draw and quickly let go.

"By the way, touch my cheek like that again without my permission and I'll toss you into the river," Julia whispered threateningly.

MK pointed at Julia joyfully as she rolled over on to her front. "Awww did you like it Julia? HAHAHA!"

Julia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Bye," she drawled. Julia turned away to go for a walk by herself before it got too dark, though she could not help but suppress a little smile as she left.

MK confessional: *laughs* She didn't answer the question!

July 19 2024

6:05 am

Chase turned off the alarm on his phone and leapt out of his bed. Normally, he would not be awake this early but something had been bothering him the past few nights. His sleep schedule was horrendous. It had gotten to the point where he was averaging four hours of sleep because half the time he was tossing and turning restlessly.

For the past two nights, the prankster had been debating on whether or not he should reach out to Raj and Damien for help. There was a very specific reason why he preferred those two. He would need to ask them something very personal and now… before it was too late.

He had been procrastinating his meeting with them, constantly putting it off because he kept telling himself that he had the next day and the day after that… and the day after that. But now… well…

Chase really wanted to go to the finale but part of him felt he was just not finalist worthy. He felt he goofed around too much and this was where Damien and Raj would come in handy. Chase had an ominous feeling his days were numbered and as such he couldn't afford to waste any more time. He had just barely escaped the last elimination thanks to Ripper's sacrifice. That had really put things into perspective for him.

Chase put on his cargo pants and hoodie, tiptoed to the door, opened it carefully so as not to disturb a peacefully sleeping Wayne and bolted over to the Orangutans' cabins.

When he got there, he looked around nervously once or twice in case Julia was watching him converse with the enemy. Luckily, the girls' side of the Panthers' cabin appeared to be dark. He took a shaky breath and knocked on the door.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Chase confessional: *runs hand through hair awkwardly* OK… so Ripper left on pretty good terms with everyone and he gave me his spot! I don't know if I learned something from that but all of a sudden I want to make things right with Emma.

Only problem is she hasn't spoken a word to me since she broke up with me in the tower challenge… So I guess I need some help… uh…

"Psst, psst, it's yo boy Chase," he whispered aggressively to the door. At once, Raj answered. Chase saw the corner of Raj's eye protruding through the gap.

"Chase?!" Raj said stunned. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you and Damien," Chase replied. He gave another anxious glance back at his cabins.

"Hey, you wanna come in?" Raj noted Chase's odd behaviour astutely. Chase nodded intensely. Raj opened the door wider for Chase to slip through before closing it.

"Damien wake up!" Raj hollered as he shook Damien's sheets. Damien rubbed his eyes.

"Wazzaa?" he groaned groggily.

"I don't know, Chase came to see us," Raj said, turning to Chase and inviting him to explain his early morning intrusion.

Damien frowned. As far as he was concerned, him and Chase had had a total of zero meaningful interactions so this was certainly a surprise.

Chase decided to cut to the chase. "Boys, I need your help." He looked at them both desperately and his hands were extremely fidgety.

Raj and Damien blinked. This really did not look like the Chase they were used to.

"What is it?" Raj inquired.

"Emma," Chase replied simply.

Damien groaned at having been woken up at 6 am for this. "Dude, not this again… she's done with you. I'm sorry but you gotta let it go."

Raj nodded furtively in agreement. "What Damien said! I mean…I'd say you and Emma have been playing great without focusing on each other… why would you want to get back with her?"

Chase sighed. Of course. Of course, they had assumed he came to ask for help getting back with Emma. After his shenanigans last season with Emma and his reputation of being an insincere prankster who never learned his lesson, he was not surprised at all that they thought this.

"I don't wanna get back with her… " Chase mumbled. "I just wanna make things… right… with her, that's all…She's moved on but I don't want her to hate me…for… things I did in the past… not right…"

A moment of silence as Raj and Damien stared at each other and then at Chase in amazement.

"WOOOOO! DUDE, CONGRATULATIONS IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Raj whooped, clapping Chase on the back. Caleb shifted in his sleep.

"SHHHH!" Chase hissed. He did not want Caleb to hear this conversation but he also didn't want to go out and leave the safety of these cabin walls in case Julia was watching.

"Where did all of this come from? This better not be a prank!" Damien chuckled half-impressed, half-doubtful.

"It's not, I promise," Chase said sincerely throwing his hands up in the air. "And… well…you know… Ripper left on a pretty good note with everyone… and I don't want everyone to hate me before I leave… that is, IF I leave hehe…" And he had really meant these words for this was exactly what had been bothering Chase the past few nights. It was what had made him restless and unfocused on the game. He finally realized more than anything that he did not want to be known as the annoying guy anymore.

Only the loss of his two best buddies could make him think straight. Chase highly doubted he would be doing any of this if Zee and Ripper hadn't left him.

"Yeah, Wayner told me all about that Kelsey girl. She's just a troublemaker," Raj glowered. Wayne had told him over dinner after last challenge about Ripper's fear and challenge. Raj still couldn't believe that Ripper had gone over Chase and when Wayne told him that Ripper had voluntarily left, Raj broke down and cried into his best buddy's arms. He had been so moved by Ripper's story. So now it was his turn to be there for Chase when he needed it.

"She makes me look likeable," Chase laughed awkwardly playing with his hair. "So yeah… I got inspired to uh… act nicer to Emma I guess.. And since you two are on her team, maybe you know some stuff about her that I don't… I mean, I never asked her much about herself when we were dating anyways… Wasn't that great of a boyfriend to be honest… all I cared about was content."

Damien's jaw dropped to the floor but he was extremely happy for Chase.

"OK well then in that case Damien and I will help!" Raj declared proudly, putting his arm around Damien.

"You betcha!" Damien returned an arm around Raj. "Your first step is to apologize. And I'm not talking about no cheap, half-assed apology either. I mean a full, sincere, honest, from-the-heart apology."

Chase gave a weak smile. "OK but… What if she doesn't even give me a chance to apologize? Like everytime I open my mouth she just says, 'NO CHASE NOOOOO!' ?" Chase was really grateful that Damien and Raj were trying to help him out but he couldn't help but wonder about all the things that could go wrong. Emma might not even want to hear an apology and then what would he do? But as long as it was not too late, it would be alright…

"We'll figure something out. I'm sure an opportunity will present itself. We have the whole day," Raj said cheerfully, jumping onto his bed.

6:43 am

I wanna get him back

I wanna make him really jealous, wanna make him feel bad

Oh, I wanna get him back

'Cause then again, I really miss him, and it makes me real sad

Oh, I want sweet revenge

And I want him again

I want to get him back, back, back…

Emily stared up at the ceiling of her room as she laid spread-eagled on her bed teary-eyed and emotionally crushed. Ever since the last elimination ceremony, she had been unable to do anything except lie on her bed and replay all the good (and bad) memories she had of Ripper while GUTS played in the background.

She didn't even feel like rewatching the episodes to see all of the time they had spent together. She preferred what she had in her own brain. They felt more real.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

A loud pounding outside her door and Emily instantly knew it was Chef based on how hard he was knocking. A few seconds later, she heard his voice.

"Emily? Please come out, it's been two days and you haven't left your room except to eat and use the bathroom. That ain't healthy. You can't live like this forever…"

She gave him no response.

"Look I know you miss… Ripper… which is weird to me but I don't judge… I just never saw you two liking each other that's all… anyways, I know you're mad at yo father but… he's worried about you…"

Emily blew steam from her nose and kipped up from her bed. The mere mention of her father was enough to grind her gears. And what did Chef just say now? Worried for her? As if!

Emily aggressively opened the door. Chef flinched. She looked awful.

"Well tell him I'll never forgive him for what he did!" Emily snarled, puffy-eyed. Today, she didn't even have her iconic opera mauve eyeshadow on her. "And he can stop pretending to care about me. Now all of a sudden he feels bad for me?"

Chef gulped. "Ah come on… look… you know what? You'll see Ripper in the finale! And I heard you gave him your number too! You two can FaceTime easily!"

"But it's not the same, you know that…" Emily pouted. Of all people, she thought Chef would understand how she was feeling.

"You're right," Chef muttered, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "That wasn't the right thing to say… sorry…" He broke off and turned around. Clearly, she wanted to be left alone and Chef decided he was not going to pursue or attempt to change her mind.

"Whenever you're ready, you can come back…" he said gently over his shoulder as he walked away. Chef closed the door to leave Emily grieving on her own.

8:23 am

Emma entered the dining hall and was about to make her way to a spot next to Priya. Raj, who had been carefully watching the door nudged Chase.

"Show time!" Raj whispered. Chase nodded excitedly. First move of the day started right here, right now.

"Hey Emma, I saved you a seat!" Chase waved. Julia and MK each raised an eyebrow.

Emma froze and stared suspiciously at Chase. She also thought she saw Damien and Raj acting stranger than usual. They were sitting a little too still, staring hard at their breakfast but not taking bites. Almost as if they were eavesdropping. And then –

"Sup Chase!" Wayne boomed. He gave an exaggerated yawn and then plopped himself between Chase and Raj. "Oh man, I'm starving!" Wayne rubbed his belly with a goofy grin. Emma turned around and walked in the opposite direction to her originally planned seat.

Raj face-palmed. "WAYNER!" he said annoyed.

Wayne was taken aback at Raj's sudden outburst. He sniffed himself in the armpits. "What?... Do I smell like rotten eggs or something?" he asked innocently.

Raj shook his head. "Never mind. Just forget about it," he mumbled. Raj, Damien and Chase exchanged disappointed looks while the unaware Wayne began to wolf down his breakfast happily.

Wayne wondered what was going on between these three. It seemed they had something secret going on between them but if Raj didn't want to tell him, it must be something personal involving someone else. If it involved Raj, he surely would have told Wayne. Wayne decided the best thing to do would be to wait for a big revelation just like last season when Raj came out to him after the cassowary kicked them off. Besides, it would be more exciting.

Wayne chuckled to himself. He loved surprises, especially birthday surprises. Whatever this secret was, the more patient Wayne was, the more worth it it would be in the end.

The door opened once again and this time Chris and Chef came in. Chris immediately stood out since today, much like the past three days, he looked like a shell of his former self. His tousled hair, half-opened shirt, messy facial hair, droopy shoulders, and baggy eyes made him look like a failed alcoholic. Everyone thought he was going through a small bump on the road, a phase, and that he would groom himself proper by the next episode but alas they were wrong.

Everyone knew why. It seemed his relationship with his daughter was still strained. Emily hadn't even come in today.

"Today… the teams are merged. That's right. It's every camper for themselves. Give Chef your team banners," Chris said in a low, defeated voice. He had attempted to feign enthusiasm and his usual charisma but it was not working.

The room was quickly filled with audible gasps.

MK winked at Julia. Unlike the reactions of the others, these two were looking comfortable and calm, almost as if they had been expecting this news all along.

"Hey, where's Emily? Is she OK?..." Emma asked concerned as she went up to hand over the Orangutans' banner to Chef's waiting hands. Wayne handed over the Panthers'.

Chris did not answer so Chef did instead. "She didn't feel like showing up to work today… hasn't come out of her room for about two days… only to eat or use the bathroom…"

THUD!

Chris stomped his foot on the ground frustrated. "Ugh, she's being so dramatic… Anyways, I'm sure she'll be fine. Either way, if she doesn't show up to work, she doesn't get paid. Simple." Chris accompanied this harsh statement with a small laugh as he always found the thought of employees asking for money without working to be ludicrous! Those lazy slobs!

All of a sudden, Chase spoke up from his table. "Wow. Aren't you being a little insensitive? Ripper just left. Of course she's not thrilled about that."

Julia and MK spat out their drink. Damien, Priya and Caleb stared at Chase like he wasn't real. Wayne and Raj put their hands to their heads and let out long drawn-out 'WHOOOOAAAAAs', and even Axel looked unnerved. Emma's jaw dropped.

"What?" Chris poked his ear to make sure he had heard that right and that he was not feeling the effects of all the beers he had had last night.

Emma confessional: *puts hands to mouth and gasps dramatically* Whoa… WHAT was that?! There's no way Chase actually just said that!

Chris rubbed his head and stared at Chase with a puzzled expression. For the longest time, Chris thought him and Chase were similar to each other. In fact, Chris almost considered Chase to be a teenage version of himself, only with slightly worse hair.

"Chase my man. I hope you're just trolling me brother," Chris muttered. "Never expected those words to come out of your mouth. Since when did you start showing… er… empathy? I'm disappointed. I saw a lot of myself in you…"

"That isn't a good thing," Priya whispered to Caleb and the two of them giggled behind their hands. Chris glared at them.

"Anywho, I have an important announcement to make. This season we're bringing back an item, popular by demand. The Mclean-brand invincibility statute! A stunning golden bobblehead version of me will grant you instant immunity! Use this to save your butt from potential elimination! We've hidden it somewhere around today's play area so good luck!"

Damien's eyes lit up at this wonderful news.

Damien confessional: *stares stone-faced at the camera* Yup. I need that bobblehead.

"Now, sleeping arrangements. Girls, you'll be sleeping in the Panthers cabin while guys you'll be in the Orangutans cabin. You have one hour before the challenge starts, meet me at the lake, but… there's no need to change into your swimsuits! MOVE!" Chris clapped his hands, signalling them to start moving their belongings.

"Nice hunch," Julia said in a low voice to MK as the two headed back. Julia had decided she was going to help MK move her stuff to her new cabin.

"Told ya we'd be merging," MK sniggered as she looked up at Julia and smiled.

"And I'm guessing we'll be riding canoes later?" Julia said dreamily.

"You betcha," MK winked as the two set off next to each other, smirking. It was time to get their first immunity win together.

9:45 am

The final 10 all stood on the docks next to the waters. On the sandy beach, there were 6 khaki canoes parked along the shoreline.

"Today, you'll be paddling your canoes to BONEYYYY ISLANDD," Chris said shaking his hands dramatically to scare the campers. There was a noticeable lack of reaction as nobody really knew what the big deal was about this place except for Priya who gasped audibly.

Priya confessional: *shifts uncomfortably* Oh WOW! Never thought we'd actually be going back there! I don't really know that island as well as this one…

Chris smiled, glad that one person knew about the dangers of Boney Island. The others would find out eventually, he reassured himself.

"You will either go single, partner up or go in a group of three and paddle to the faraway island with the skull, just 15 minutes north of here. There, Chef will meet you and explain the second half of the challenge. And remember, no taking anything from the island or you'll be cursed forever…." he said spookily, wiggling all eight fingers.

MK rolled her eyes.

MK confessional: *shrugs* Whatever. I live to be cursed.

Chase also seemed to dismiss this ominous warning as nothing but mere over-exaggeration. "Yeah right… I'm so scared… " he chortled.

Priya put her hands on her hips. "He means it guys. One girl took a statue from Boney Island and her team lost three times in a row!" she said sternly.

"Well we're not in teams anymore are we? So it doesn't matter!" Chase rebutted.

Julia snorted. "Well then that means you'll probably just be going home instead and I honestly wouldn't mind that."

Chase laughed boisterously at this which startled Julia. He was in such a euphoric mood today. Nothing could bother him. He was going to make things right with Emma!

Julia confessional: *puts finger on chin and ponders* Why is he so happy? That's so unnatural and NOT OK. And earlier today, mouthing off to Chris like that? He's up to something and I need to find out what.

Chris blared his airhorn, signalling the start of the challenge. At once, the final 10 took off, running to people they wanted to paddle with or saving a canoe for someone to join them.

Chase wasted no time. Raj and Damien gave him a thumbs-up before heading off to a canoe together.

"Hey Emma, wanna canoe together?"

Emma was in the middle of running to a canoe but stopped and looked at Chase suspiciously once again. What is going on? she thought incredulously. Here she was, playing the best game of her life so far, having survived the pre-merge without Chase and now as soon as they merge, he tries to distract her? This was obviously just a ploy to trip her up and she was not going to fall for it.

Emma confessional: So now that his boys Ripper and Zee are gone, he wants to act friendly with me? Now that we've merged he's probably just going to use me for an alliance. Although… *squints hard and thinks to herself deeply* he sure is acting pretty good considering he blabbed to Chris earlier… *shakes head* but still, nope! FOCUSED!

"Sorry! I'm going with… Axel!" Emma spontaneously decided. Emma noticed Axel had no one to partner with so she seized her chance while she could.

"We are?" Axel turned around genuinely confused. Axel never expected Emma to want to partner with her. Though Axel always liked going alone, she would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly happy at Emma wanting to go together.

"Yes… please…" Emma whispered urgently and grabbed Axel's hands pleadingly. Axel raised her eyebrows. She had seen the Axemma posts.

Axel confessional: *crosses arms* I haven't said a word to Emma. I wonder why she wants to partner with me… *shrugs* Oh well, better her than Julia who'll probably be playing for herself now that we've merged. I've seen her hanging with MK anyways.

Raj and Damien were about to commence paddling when Chase came running towards their canoe. Water sprayed his crisp, yellow pants with each step. "K boys, let's go!" he hopped in to join them, sitting between Damien who was at front and Raj who was sitting at back.

"No luck with Emma, I'm guessing…?" Damien deduced.

Chase gave a long heavy sigh. "Nahh.. but I'm not surprised. Actually, I'd be surprised if it worked right away and she said yes."

"Don't worry, we still have ¾ of a whole day. That's plenty of time!" Raj smiled.

The three were about to start paddling but were once again interrupted, this time by Wayne. "Yo Rajie, you wanna paddle with me? Or… you going with them instead?"

Raj looked at Wayne with pity. He hated leaving Wayne on his own as the two had never been separated before but they had gone through the team phase apart from each other so a little longer couldn't hurt.

Raj shook his head. "Sorry Wayner, I think I'll go with Chase and Damien today. We just have to talk about something important."

"All right!" Wayne smiled, giving a thumbs-up as Raj paddled away with Chase and Damien. Wayne would be lying if he said he wasn't slightly hurt at this rejection. He stared down at his canoe sadly.

Wayne confessional: *looks down sadly* Ain't gonna lie. I thought Rajie and I would be a little tighter once the teams merged. But… NAH! *shakes his head and smiles* It's cool! Canoeing by myself is the perfect arm workout!

Wayne pushed his canoe with all the strength he could muster and soon his canoe was in the water. He looked ahead at everyone else. There, he saw the backs of Priya and Caleb in a canoe, Raj, Damien and Chase in another one, Julia and MK in another and Axel and Emma in another.

"Oh man… I'm dead last!" he gasped. "Gotta pick up the pace! Snow Owls never quit! HOOT! HOOT!" He began paddling but quickly stopped. He was not heading straight. In fact, his canoe was turning and rotating out of his control. He tried to reverse his direction with fierce strokes but it seemed each time he touched the water, he spun in a different direction.

"How does this thing even work?" he cried out loud. This was certainly nothing like hockey. Wayne noticed how effectively the other groups were moving through the water, with one person at the front and another person at the back, constantly keeping each other in balance.

Wayne confessional: Aw man, something tells me canoeing is a two-person sport!

Emma and Axel were in the lead. Each was paddling hard, determined to get to Boney Island as fast as possible.

"Hey thanks for saving my bacon back there. Chase wanted to partner with me," Emma said from the rear.

"Yikes…" Axel called back from the front.

Emma gave a little laugh. "I know right… But I'm not falling for that again. He's a really good actor you know? He's NEVER genuine with what he says! That's why he likes the camera life, gets to do a bunch of takes and he has to put a whole persona out there to please some people he'll never meet!" Emma rambled.

Axel couldn't help but smirk. It seemed Emma really had learned her lesson. For a second there, Axel was worried Emma would rant once again about how much she missed Chase so this was a pleasant surprise.

"Atta-girl. I'm proud of you for ditching him. He can go kick rocks," Axel smirked.

Emma laughed loudly and Axel couldn't help but smile slightly as well. Emma's energy was infectious.

"HAHA YEAH! Girl power!" Emma threw her fist into the air. Axel admired Emma's enthusiasm but she still wanted to give her a warning just in case. She lowered her voice and spoke in a serious tone. "Don't take any apologies from him Emma. I noticed he was trying to be nice to you over breakfast today too. Don't believe him. Anything he says."

"Thanks Axel. Wish I had somebody as tough as you to remind me of that years ago," Emma nodded. She was going to take Axel's sound advice. Otherwise, she would probably trip up and mess up today's challenge as well.

Right behind Emma and Axel, Julia and MK were rowing relatively relaxed. Indeed, they were in a very good mood. Julia took a deep breath of the morning air. "Easy money… Canoes just like you said," Julia winked up front.

"Yeah… I have a map of Boney Island here," MK pointed to her left coat pocket. "It should be easier to navigate around the place with this. Just promise we'll go alone. No one else can follow us. We're supposed to dig for treasure in the next part."

Julia gave a small laugh. "And I'm assuming you already know where this treasure is buried, right?" she cooed.

MK smirked. "Oh yeah!"

Julia was happy to be in an alliance with MK. She was starting to warm up to the pickpocket. From now on, Julia wouldn't have to worry as much about winning challenges. Instead, she could put priority on other aspects of the game.

Julia sat in silence thinking carefully about what MK had said to her the night before, of how she had skated through purely by luck and immunities last time. This season, she wanted to play strategic. She had already done that in the pre-merge by befriending Axel and Nichelle, albeit she cut one off early and the other didn't trust her anymore. She had been relying on Ripper, Zee and Chase to merge to manipulate them since they were easy targets but seeing that two of them were out, she couldn't rely on that either. Now her new plan was to find the immunity idol, keep tabs on all alliances and think about how she could break them apart, as well as sabotage the others at any given chance.

"Hey MK! Since we already know where the treasure is and it'll look too suspicious if we just find it immediately, we should spend some time to look for the invincibility statue first," Julia said.

"Oh yeah, for sure. That would help us big time. Let's look for it together buttknuckle!" MK laughed obnoxiously and slapped her thigh.

"Don't call me that. It doesn't sound as good when you say it," Julia rolled her eyes.

As if she had read Julia's mind, MK added, "OK, OK… and if we have time maybe we can sabotage the others."

"Definitely!" Julia said perplexed. It seemed her and MK were in complete agreement of how to play the game.

MK laughed to herself in her head. She had not failed to notice Julia was acting friendlier to her since their previous encounter. MK knew she had put Julia in a desperate position and she was slightly proud at Julia for lowering her ego and attempting to win in ways besides immunities.

MK was not sure if Julia exactly reciprocated her feelings but MK was beginning to warm up to Julia. Granted, it had only been 12 hours but they had already done a decent amount of scheming.

MK decided to tease playfully. "Sooo… this whole search for the immunity idol and sabotaging others… could this be considered like.. a villains' date?"

Julia looked thunderstruck. "What?! No! Noooo… I like W – " Julia froze and bit her lip. A moment of silence as MK raised an eyebrow. MK knew exactly what Julia was about to say before she stopped herself.

MK confessional: *tries to stay composed but ends up dying of laughter*

"Julia. You do realize at some point we may have to send him home too?" MK said quietly but just audibly enough for Julia to get the message.

Julia did not respond. She merely twirled her hair nervously and began rowing faster. MK chuckled and began to row faster too.

Behind Julia and MK, Priya and Caleb were rowing quite slowly. Caleb did not want to row too fast, not because he was worried Priya wouldn't be able to keep up (because he knew she could), but because he wanted to have ample time for an important discussion. For today was the day Caleb was going to confess. He had been sleeping on it for too long and he couldn't take it any longer.

Caleb had overheard Chase coming into his cabin earlier today and trying to make things right with Emma. Caleb had been pretending to be asleep but he had absorbed every single word. Oddly enough, it felt like Chase had meant everything he said. Caleb felt slightly hurt that Chase had wanted to see Damien and Raj exclusively. After all, Chase said he wanted to see them because they were on Emma's team but he was on her team as well! So why had Chase wanted to keep him out of the conversation?

Caleb could only conclude that he must be giving off dirty, contaminated energy from all the cheating he had failed to report and that even the unlikeable Chase was avoiding it like the plague. Therefore, he would not live a lie like this any longer. He took a deep breath from the rear. OK, here goes nothing. She won't be mad, just say it!

"Priya... " Caleb began slowly, easing his way in.

"Yeah?" Priya turned from the front and looked at Caleb curiously.

"I – I'm nervous," Caleb continued in a low voice.

OMG does he like me? Priya thought hopefully. Today was the day! They were finally going to become an official couple! "Why?" she asked, trying to suppress a smile. "What is it? Talk to me!"

Caleb was rowing even slower than before. "Well, I – I like to play fair… and so… I feel horrible telling you this… but…"

Priya's heart sunk. So it was about the game and not her. OK then… And even worse Priya had a feeling this was not good news.

"Yeah?..." she asked again, disappointed.

"Well… I'm not a cheater I swear! But… I've been cheating… sort of! And I don't like it!"

Priya felt hot bubbly anger brewing inside of her. Caleb, the model student, buff gym bro, and her first real crush cheating? "What do you mean?" she snapped.

Caleb was starting to regret ever starting this confession. "Well, technically MK has been cheating and I've just been compliant. You see… she knows which challenges we're going to get in advance – "

"WHAT?!" Priya exploded so loudly that crows circling overhead scattered.

Caleb nodded. "Yeah, has them all on a list. I saw it."

Priya was not rowing anymore. "And you knew this the whole time and didn't report her?" she seethed.

"Well, I mean – I – I – we were winning so many challenges but I – " Caleb began but Priya cut him off.

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" she shrieked. "You of all people! I thought you were a model student Caleb. Top grades, gorgeous body, and what I thought was a good personality. But you're just a dirty, rotten cheater!"

Caleb was so wounded by Priya's facial expression he couldn't even cheer himself up with the fact that she said he had a gorgeous body. "Priya! NO, no I'm not!" he protested. "I wasn't even really a part of the chea – "

BANG!

Priya scoffed and slammed her oar. "Yes you are! And unlike MK, I'm not going to tell you things you want to hear. Got it? I'm reporting to Chris ASAP!"

This was a disaster so Caleb tried to salvage things to the best of his ability before he lost the girl of his dreams over a stupid paper. "But Priya, you need proof. You need to show the paper MK has. She's put some scribbles and her handwriting and stuff. I can help you get the pap – "

Priya gave a laugh so insane Caleb's arm jerked behind him. "OH PLEASE! DON'T TRY AND ACT LIKE A GOOD GUY NOW. YOU'RE SO GOING HOME NEXT. I'M VOTING FOR YOU NO MATTER WHAT!"

By this point, Caleb had stopped rowing as well. With neither of them rowing, they were just sitting in a canoe in the middle of a lake arguing.

"Priya please… It wasn't my fault… I didn't think MK would go this far…" Caleb snivelled. Part of him felt Priya had overreacted but maybe this was how seriously she took Total Drama. Even an ounce of cheating was sinful to her.

Priya confessional: *mocking voice* "I didn't think she would go this far". REALLY? WHAT IS THAT MIT BRAIN OF YOURS FOR ANYWAYS?!

Caleb confessional: *blinks* Yeah… this is kind of a disaster…

Priya snorted. "She has a list of challenges for the whole season and you thought she would just stop after one or two? If anybody got something as powerful as that, they wouldn't let it go until the end!"

Caleb tried to spin this to his advantage and hope Priya would understand where he was coming from. "Exactly Priya!" He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Please, imagine you had that paper. What would you do with it?"

Priya pushed away Caleb's arms off of her shoulders. "Burn it and pretend I never saw anything," she answered simply. This was not the answer he had been hoping for.

"A – Are you sure? My point is, I – I'm not a terrible person. I was just too greedy. But I – I've changed. I've learnt my lesson!"

Priya shrugged her shoulders and turned away from him. "Whatever… We'll see about that…" she said disbelievingly.

Suddenly, Chase, Damien and Raj passed them. They were now in last place.

"We have to get going!" Caleb said, startled that they had wasted so much time.

"… In the meantime we should work on what you're actually going to say. That way you don't screw things up again. What are you thinking?" Damien asked Chase.

"OK…" Chase began awkwardly. He had never apologized in his life so he didn't exactly know how to start or what constituted a worthy apology. Regardless, he still gave it his best shot pretending Damien and Raj were replaced by Emma in the canoe.

"Um… Hey Ems. So I know I did a lot of questionable stuff to you in the past but… I really thought what I was doing was good… it's not my fault that our fans kept asking for crazy content. I was just trying to keep up with demand – "

"STOP!" Raj said sharply. "That's awful!"

Damien shook his head. "None of that fluff boy! She don't wanna hear any of that. How you gonna call that an apology when you never even said the word 'SORRY?!' "

Chase's eyes widened. Damien was right! How could he start a long-winded apology and not once say the word sorry? "Oh damn, you're right… how did I forget about that?" Chase said stunned.

"Try it again!" Raj encouraged him. Raj believed Chase could make a half-decent apology with some effort. Chase cleared his throat and tried again. He pretended like it was the real thing and that he could not screw up.

"Hey Ems… Look… I just wanted to say I'm sorry for… cutting the brakes off your car, sending your mom to the hospital, using your jacket as a stepping stone when I pissed myself, and overall being a terrible boyfriend. I never asked you how you felt. I was too focused on the numbers and content that I forgot about you. How does that sound so far dudes?"

"Ayo, that sounds rehearsed," Damien whistled, impressed. "Slightly unnatural too but…"

Chase chuckled. "Yeah I was kind of going over it in my head before I came to you guys this morning." He cleared his throat and continued.

"I was greedy because I wanted the attention and I was worried if I didn't make the next video crazier than the last my channel would die and I would become irrelevant. Every time you broke up with me, I told myself you would come running back but the truth is every time it happened I was scared that it would be the last time. I don't know why I kept doing it.

I know you might never forgive me, but I hope you know how much you mean to me. They say you only realize what you have when you lose it. Well, when you officially broke up with me in the tower challenge I cried… a lot "

– Damien and Raj exchanged looks. This was certainly news to them –

"I never told anybody this, but that night I went to the outhouse confessional and cried all night. Several nights actually. I didn't get any sleep. Because you called me 'Chase Maxwell Peralta' I knew this was the real deal. You never do that!

I really miss you and I know you may never forgive me, but I hope I can at least prove to you and to myself that I'm not a totally horrible person… I guess…" Chase ended his speech and looked at Raj in front of him and Damien in back. Their eyes looked wet but that may have just been from the glare of the sun shining down on them.

"That was – " Raj said voice cracking.

"Beautiful," Damien finished, sobbing. "Sounds hella rehearsed but still… beautiful."

Raj wiped his eyes and gave a thumbs-up to Chase. "Now just do that again when you have the chance and you're set brother!"

"Like you said, she might not date you again but at least you two will be on good terms again," Damien added.

Chase gave a half-nod because he was getting extremely nervous at having to do it all over again for real. "Thanks guys…" he began but he suddenly stopped. The air had changed. "Hey…was that there earlier?" he looked around at the swirling gray mist that had now formed. It enshrouded them on all sides and it was getting hard to see ahead.

Raj squinted. "I don't think so…" They, like the others, had just entered Boney Island territory.

Damien looked up in horror to see a massive cliff in the shape of a human skull looming over them. The others did the same. The mist they had encountered before was everywhere now, covering rocks, hills and trees. A very eerie atmosphere indeed. Everybody felt some degree of fear inside their bodies as the air had turned horribly chilly. They were in their summer clothes yet this island did not feel like summer at all. In fact, it seemed this island did not have anything happy on it. Almost as if it had always been cold, dark and miserable…

"Scary Girl would have loved this place…" Damien muttered under his breath.

Group by group, they all hopped out of their canoes and stepped onto the sandy beach. Axel squinted. She was digging this place herself.

Axel confessional: *groans* Why couldn't we be on THIS island instead?

CAW!

A black raven circled above them all, stared down at each of them and landed on a ripped-up sign. They had arrived at Boney Island.

Chef stood waiting for them a bit farther away from the beach and into the clearing of the woods. He was dressed up in his military uniform. Axel gave a nod of approval. Chef did a head count and got a total of nine people.

"Hold up… where's Wayne?" he asked routinely. Everybody looked around. Raj gave his signature 'Hoot! Hoot!', but when nobody hooted back, Raj concluded Wayne was not here. What had happened to him? Hopefully he hadn't drowned… that would be horrible.

"Moving on…" Chef shrugged his shoulders casually.

Raj confessional: *nods smartly* When Wayne disappears for long periods of time, it means he's taking a poop

"Alright everyone. First merge challenge is a simple one," Chef boomed. "We have two treasure chests buried somewhere on this island because today two of you will earn immunity. Of course, if one person happens to find both treasure chests, they will win immunity for themselves though it's highly unlikely. That's because we've placed them on opposite sides of the island. Once you find your treasure, sail back to Wawanakwa. First two back with the treasure gets to keep what's inside and also wins immunity for today!" he finished and flashed an evil grin.

So that was it? They just had to run around and search for treasure? There were so many questions floating in everyone's minds.

"But this place is so big!" Emma protested, staring at the skull-shaped cliff. "How are we supposed to just guess where the treasure is? It could be anywhere!"

Chef chuckled. He had forgotten to mention the maps. "Relax. I haven't given y'all your maps yet." He tossed each camper a piece of parchment with little engravings scattered here and there. Apparently it was supposed to be a map of the place, though not a very good one. Chef guided them through the maps.

"Now, one treasure chest is located over on the east side of the island." He pointed to his right. "Right now we're facing north by the way. Anyways, the first treasure chest is located in a place called the Black Lagoon. Over here, the lakes are black. Quicksand, poisonous vipers and killer giant spiders roam everywhere. The trip to this area is dangerous and highly deadly…" he whispered eerily.

Chase, Damien and Raj exchanged scared looks.

Damien confessional: Definitely avoiding that one! Hopefully the other path is easier!

"The other treasure chest is located in the west at a place called Jade Mountain. A long grueling hike uphill, battling ferocious cold winds that could blow you off over the edge and fall into the deep chasms below. On your way up, expect to see dangerous beavers because they like to hide there… oh and aggressive geese too. There is an alternative path to the top of Jade Mountain through the caves but it's pitch black in there and you don't have flashlights so why bother?"

Chef cleared his throat. "Neither path is easier than the other, but if I were you, I'd stay away from the Black Lagoon." His voice had dropped to barely a whisper and he stared at them hardly for he was not kidding when he gave this warning.

"Wow… it's really bad huh?" Priya said apprehensively.

"Bad is an understatement," Chef nodded. "It's probably the worst part of Boney Island, survival rate 0."

Damien threw his hands up exasperated. "WHY would you even think of letting us go there?" he shrieked.

Chef snorted. "We ain't forcing any of you to go anywhere! If you're smart you'll go for the treasure chest waiting at Jade Mountain. But… I'VE SAID TOO MUCH! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING! This challenge starts NOW!" He blared his horn and went to sit on a beach chair he had set up along the shoreline to resume The Autobiography of Chris Mclean Vol. 5.

The challenge had started, the treasure hunt was on but nobody had so much as taken a step in either direction. Everybody was staring at each other in anticipation, waiting for the other person to make a move before moving themselves.

Julia was tying her hair into a bun and MK was rolling up her sleeves. Finally, they started heading east. The others couldn't believe their eyes.

"WHOA! You two are going to Black Lagoon?" Emma asked incredulously.

"Yeah…" Julia turned slowly and put her hands on her hips, staring back at the others with a superior grin. "Why wouldn't we? There's probably less people going there meaning we're more likely to get the treasure for ourselves!" She and MK exchanged smirks.

"But it's DEADLY!" Damien yelled. "You heard Chef, survival rate 0, not 10%, not 15%, ZERO!"

MK shrugged nonchalantly, beaming at Julia. "First time for everything, am I right?"

Julia nodded at MK and leaned against a tree. She curled her lip as she faced the others. "Awww, what's wrong? Are all of you chicken?" she gave a fake laugh.

"BAWK! BAWK!" MK mocked beside Julia, flapping her arms.

Julia + MK confessional (Julia): OK, I'm having way too much fun messing with them… *flaps arms like a chicken*

Julia + MK confessional (MK): I know right! *chuckles and flaps her arms as well* Chickens!

"Look, if you babies want to go the safe way go ahead. If you're too scared to go to Black Lagoon, you can take wittle Jade Mountain," Julia said teary-eyed in a baby voice. MK held her sides in fits of laughter.

"Have fun potentially dying!" Raj roared. He turned to Chase and Damien to avoid looking at Julia and MK's smug faces. Raj told himself they were full of hot air. They didn't know this place any better than the others did. They were probably the most scared so they were trying to talk loudest. It was pure cope.

"Jade Mountain?" Raj enquired as he bent down to tie his left shoelace.

"Jade mountain, it is!" Damien instantly agreed. For him, there was no other option. Raj nodded appreciatively.

Chase however put a hand to his chin and bit his lip, thinking hard. Was Jade Mountain really the path they should be taking?...

"Wait… hold up!" he said slowly. Raj and Damien spun around slightly confused. "What if Chef was just tricking us? What if Black Lagoon is actually the safer one and we're heading to a death trap?" Chase said.

"If it was Chris, I'd agree," Priya said. "But it's Chef… I think I'll go Jade Mountain." She also tied her hair up to a bun and proceeded to tie her left shoelace before setting off. It looked like it was going to be a long hike up but she was ready.

Caleb tried to shoehorn his way into Priya's good books. "Great idea! I'll come with you Priya – "

THUD!

Priya slammed her foot. "NO! You'll slow me down!" she growled.

"But – "

"BYE!" Priya waved Caleb off and took off sprinting. She was the first one heading to Jade Mountain.

Julia and MK laughed and pointed at Caleb.

"What's going on between you two?" Julia gasped dramatically. She sensed juicy drama that needed to be squeezed out sooner rather than later.

Caleb huffed. "Leave me alone Julia. Priya, wait!" he cried. And Caleb took off after Priya without looking back. Now two people had started their journey to Jade Mountain.

"Jade Mountain, Axel?" Emma extended a hand. Axel high fived her.

"Oh yeah, let's move!" The survivalist's eye glinted hungrily. Normally she would've liked to explore Black Lagoon but there was a time to explore and a time to win challenges. Right now, she needed to take the easier, boring path. Axel and Emma headed west to Jade Mountain.

For Chase, this was all the confirmation he needed. He shook his head. "K, never mind! Let's do Jade Mountain!" He beat his chest like a gorilla and took off sprinting after Emma and Axel.

"Atta-boy!" Raj whooped behind him. Raj and Damien shortly followed, leaving Julia and MK as the only ones at the starting point.

The dynamic villain duo threw their heads back and laughed into the sky as they watched their fellow competitors disappear from view.

"It's so cute to see them try so hard even though they're not going to win," Julia smiled.

"I know right!" MK snickered.

"You ready?" Julia smiled. She motioned to MK to get on top of her.

MK piggy-backed on to Julia. "Oh yeah! The producers gave us a bunch of dud maps with hardly any detail. But… luckily, I got one right here that'll guarantee us getting to both the treasure at the Lagoon and the one at the Mountain before anyone else!" She whipped out a map from her pocket and discarded the map Chef gave her by tossing it on the ground. They would not be needing it.

Julia crushed the map on the ground beneath her shoes and put her hands to her face excitedly. "Brilliant! We'll win this challenge for sure!"

MK opened up her map and cackled. "Treasure first?"

Julia nodded from below. "Yup, let's guarantee immunity today first. Then we find the idol and sabotage the others k?" Julia was fully aware that MK and her had discussed finding the idol back on the canoes but that was before she saw up close just how large and spooky Boney Island actually was. The plans had to change.

MK nodded. "Giddy up horsey! Straight ahead!" she teased and Julia began sprinting.

MK narrowed her eyes. They first had to pass through a swamp before reaching the black lakes. And there was no way around it. This was the fastest way to get to the lakes so it seemed they would have to get their hands dirty for a bit.

Emily walked slowly to the dock where her father was currently sitting, a pair of binoculars hanging goofily around his neck. As she got closer, he turned around. "Hey Em, feeling better?" he mumbled, stone-faced.

No response.

Chris sighed. "Anyways, Wayne is stranded out there, he's going to need some help. Take the speedboat and rescue him please."

She was already way ahead of him. That was the only reason she had come after all. When she had received the text from Chef about a missing camper, she figured somebody had messed up the canoeing portion. There was always one of those. Without speaking, she zipped up an orange life vest, took an extra for Wayne, hopped into the speedboat and cruised away without looking back.

Chris stared sadly at her backside as she disappeared into the distance.

Wayne was drifting peacefully along the lake. He had ditched his paddle since he didn't seem to be making much progress with it. He just kept spinning around in circles, not really getting anywhere.

Wayne confessional: Bummer… I'm like a sitting duck… except I feel more useless!

Wayne squinted. He thought he saw the vague shadow of Boney Island up ahead. The others must be there already he thought miserably. He was the only one out here, all alone. Wayne stood up on his canoe and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"CHRIS? SOMEBODY?" His voice echoed across the mass of water surrounding him. He looked around desperately. He was lucky a shark hadn't chewed up his boat by this point.

Wayne sat back down in his canoe and started feeling slight resentment towards Raj for canoeing with Damien and Chase. He thought Raj would be rushing to partner with him once the teams had been merged, but it seemed that was not the case. Why, he had known Raj 10 years longer than everyone else here! It made no sense to Wayne that Raj had chosen other people. And then Wayne began to feel angry with himself. Why hadn't he tried harder to get Raj into his canoe? They would've been the first ones to Boney Island if they had paddled together, Wayne was sure of it.

Lost in his thoughts, Wayne barely picked up on the faint rushing noise coming behind him. The noise got louder and louder, almost as if something was moving closer towards him. It sounded like… a motor!

Wayne's heart lifted with joy and he turned around.

Yes! He had not been imagining it. A boat was cruising towards him. "HERE!" Wayne jumped up and down and flung his arms in all directions.

Even from this distance, it was not hard to tell who was coming to rescue him. The vivid red hair blew elegantly as she came closer towards him.

"EMILY! OH THANK THE HOCKEY GODS!" Wayne pumped his fist. He was saved!

Emily slowed the boat down to a halt right next to Wayne's stranded canoe. She took off the sunglasses she had brought with her and looked at Wayne sternly.

"Challenge already started. Hop in. I'm going to drive you to Boney Island," Emily said, unsmiling.

"Sounds good!" Wayne said. He made his way, one leg at a time into the motor boat and stood next to Emily. At once, Emily began driving. The boat was cruising speedily, its powerful engine sending splashes of water behind them. Wayne whooped. He was going to Boney Island!

For a few minutes, they cruised in silence. Silence always killed Wayne as he was extremely social so… dare he try and strike up a conversation with Emily? Especially now of all times?

Though Wayne knew better than to bother a teenage girl who was emotionally distressed, he couldn't help but try to make Emily feel better. After all, she had come and rescued him.

"Hey… you feeling better?" he tried.

No response.

Wayne had expected this. A minute later, however, much to Wayne's surprise, she choked and began speaking. "Not really, no. And honestly I don't even want to be here. I only came because I heard you were about to drown," she said quietly.

Wayne gave a small jerk of his head. After another 30 seconds of silent cruising, Wayne went in with an even nosier question but it was one he was genuinely curious of.

" … Did you like Ripper? I mean I heard you two were pretty good buddies but…" he broke off awkwardly.

Emily shook her head. "… I don't know…" she sighed.

Wayne and Emily continued to cruise silently. Wayne could see Boney Island just in sight of them. A minute later and he would be on the island!

Very abruptly and so suddenly she shocked Wayne, Emily spoke. "Not at first. I hated his GUTS." It took a moment for Wayne to realize she was continuing their conversation.

"I liked hitting him in the paint challenge, and then he made fun of dancing… but when he pushed me to the killer and did his best to make up for it, I think… that's when I started to kind of like him. He seemed really sincere with his apology… like he was really sorry he put me in danger… I had lots of fun times with him… I drew him when we were hanging out on a tree," she laughed at this memory. Wayne gave a weak laugh himself.

"I saw him get attacked by a bunch of angry chickens," she laughed again. It felt liberating to share all of the memories she had of Ripper.

Wayne laughed again, encouraging her to go on. He was imagining Ripper getting his posterior bitten by angry clucking cock-a-doodlers. Wayne knew how angry they could get. His uncle owned a farm back in Saskatoon after all.

"I found out how much music meant to him," she said sadly. Now she knew why he had written 'Crying.'

"Wow… you miss him eh?" Wayne was beginning to tear up because Emily was crying. Apart from being a big social hockey star, he was also very emotional. He found himself being moved by other people's stories just like Raj.

"Yeah… but… I only have myself to blame. I was supposed to stop my dad. When I saw Ripper's fear and the challenge he was going to get, I knew he couldn't do it. I tried my best to get my dad to change it… but he didn't listen. He never does… it's all my fault Ripper's gone." She broke off, once again.

Wayne stared at Emily empathetically. He felt she was being too harsh on herself. "Well I think you should stick it to him – Chris," Wayne said fiercely, squeezing his fist. "And it's not your fault! Don't beat yourself up."

Though she had been in an awful mood all morning, Wayne could have sworn Emily gave him a little smirk.

10:38 am

"Priya, please! I'm sorry!" Caleb yelled as he took big strides up the mountain as fast as his feet could carry him. It was tough work considering he had just hit legs yesterday but right now, nothing could stop him from getting to the girl of his dreams.

Caleb was getting frustrated that Priya wasn't stopping to hear him explain himself properly. He felt as if she was determined to hate him.

Caleb confessional: *huffs* Why won't she listen? Am I really going to spend all day trying to convince her I'm not a terrible person?

Priya was running up the mountain, clenching her teeth. Of course she could hear Caleb loud and clear but she did not want to turn back. Her eyes were focused only on the winding, rocky path that was going up to the top.

Desperate for a response, Caleb tried something more bold. "What do you want? How can I prove myself to you?" he pleaded.

Priya had no time for this nonsense. She wanted to make the message unmistakably clear so that Caleb would stop bothering her.

"RESIGN IN DISGRACE!" she bellowed, keeping her eyes straight ahead refusing to look at him.

Caleb blinked. Unbelievable! he thought angrily.

Caleb confessional: Well I'm obviously not going to do that!

Priya continued running. The path was curving so Priya started adjusting accordingly. As soon as she turned around a corner, she came face to face with another path going straight up and a…. massive human-sized boulder rolling towards her!

Priya jumped over to a little area to the side of her and hid comfortably as the boulder rolled off and fell to the river below with a noisy SPLASH!

Priya darted out and proceeded to dodge the boulders, slipping left, then right, jumping over others.

Caleb followed Priya and came face-to-face with a boulder coming his way. He could see Priya leaping here and there. Boy, she was a lot more athletic than he was. He couldn't move like her, not with his big frame. What to do now?

"C'mon Caleb," he gritted his teeth in determination. "My biggest strength… is my STRENGTH!" Caleb rushed to the boulder head-on. As it came nearer to him, he pulled his fist back and –

WHAM!

He punched the boulder so hard that it crumbled into mini fragments and pieces. Boulders were no match for him. Caleb laughed happily as he punched boulder after boulder that came rolling down. Though it was not his intention, he was making things easier for Axel and Emma who were right behind him.

"GO CALEB! KEEP PUNCHING THOSE ROCKS!" Emma cheered as Axel did an unnecessary flip in the air for absolutely no reason.

Julia and MK had just reached a marshy swamp. Here, the air was misty just like it had been right before they reached Boney Island. Everywhere they looked, they saw odd creatures with unbalanced eyes, all resting on the thick trees. Some looked like a fusion of dragonfly and worm. They heard a wolf howling somewhere in the distance. The mist was getting thicker too, almost like a semi fog-like state. But MK and Julia were not afraid. They had each other.

MK hopped off of Julia's back and put a hand to her forehead, scouting the area they were in. According to her map, they should be at "Viper Creek."

So where are the snakes? MK thought, looking around at the intimidating mass of swirling gray and green. Julia crouched next to the swamp and squinted her eyes, looking straight ahead. There were rocks they could hop on to cross this swamp, jumping from one rock to another.

"Sooo... what now?" she asked MK, unsurely. Part of Julia had been expecting a much easier path which was why she had been so cocky back at the starting point. But it was too late to turn back and head to Jade Mountain. It was too much for her pride to handle.

"We hop along these rocks, get across and then we can take this little detour to get to the black lakes without going through 'Tarantula Valley'," MK replied calmly as she consulted her map.

"OK, so instead of taking on spiders and snakes, we only need to worry about snakes?" Julia's heart lightened. At least they didn't have to take on two types of disgusting creatures. But still, snakes… they weren't going to be easy…

"YUP!" MK said as she leapt on to the first rock. "I'll go first, I got some handy equipment in here." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a medium-sized bag. Apparently, she had been hiding it there the whole time and Julia had never known. Julia smiled, feeling better now that MK had some useful tools up her sleeve.

MK strapped her bag onto her shoulder and started making her journey across the swamp, one rock at a time. Julia followed.

Halfway through the crossing, Julia noticed the fog had been hiding the vines she could not see before at the start. They hung everywhere, a mass clump of them covered the canopies above. She was lost in thought staring at them and then – her foot lost balance and slipped into the dark, murky swamp. It was very hot and sticky. Julia instinctively yelped, pulled out her foot and clutched the vine above her in horror. MK turned around curiously.

"Everything OK?" she asked, slightly annoyed. They were only halfway across and couldn't afford to waste time.

Julia nodded, her right arm shaking slightly. "Yeah… I'm… I'm fine…" Julia muttered. But was she really? Julia was a little unnerved but she didn't think she would be shaking this much. In fact, wasn't it odd that every other part of her body was completely still except her right arm which was vibrating uncontrollably?

Julia slowly looked up at the vine she had grabbed onto and screamed because it was not a vine. Her hand was wrapped around the neck of a snake and from the looks of it, she had just woken it up.

"SNAKE!" she yelled, staggering slightly. Julia saw the snake's eyes stir slowly and its mouth began to open wider, hissing.

Julia and MK could not stop the barrage of hissing that soon followed. Each snake was now waking up their neighbour, wondering which foolish traveller was trying to get through this time.

Before they knew it, the entire swamp was filled with loud hissing, echoing through the sky. At least 200 snakes, all slithering around on tree trunks woke up and hissed. There was hissing behind them, above them, in front of them, all around them.

Julia and MK stared open-mouthed, their backs against each other. They could not even cover their ears for they were paralyzed in fear. And then –

The first snake pounced, narrowly missing Julia's ear as she ducked. It was using its own tail to wrap itself around the branches and keep the high ground advantage for itself.

Julia shivered. That had been a close one. Luckily she had found the strength to move at the last second.

More snakes were now circling around their two victims, hissing eagerly. Two more snakes tried to lunge at MK but they bumped into each other mid-way and shook their heads angrily.

MK knew she had to act now or else she and Julia would be snake snacks. She reached into her pack and pulled out a sharp machete. But where was the other item she was looking for?...

MK tossed the machete to Julia who caught it. "Hold em off!" MK ordered. "I need more time to find something!"

Julia's jaw dropped in horror. "WHAT?! ALL OF THEM?!" she shrieked, starting to sweat as panic slowly overtook her. The humid atmosphere was not helping her nerves.

Julia confessional: Time to channel my inner Amazon warrior energy! *plays with machete and smirks*

Julia had turned her back to the snakes to talk to MK which was a big mistake for they chose this moment to strike. Julia, having sensed the snakes coming back for more, turned around at the last second and cleanly slashed its throat.

CHINK!

The snake withered in pain and dropped to the hot swamp where it sunk and did not come back up. First one down. But there were so many left.

The other snakes were hissing more aggressively now, having seen their brother fall. They were going to attack in groups, going for the blonde first for she had slain him. Julia realized the snakes were not going to be so forgiving.

Three more lunged at her and she had no choice but to jump back to the previous rock. Where she had been a few seconds earlier, there now lay blood-red fang marks engraved on the rock.

"MK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Julia yelled, frightened. Julia did not know how much longer she would be able to hold the snakes off.

"Yeah, yeah, don't rush me!" MK said, turning her bag upside down. Truthfully, MK found it slightly amusing that the snakes were only going after Julia when MK herself was standing right below them, rummaging through her belongings.

"Come on… where are you?" MK muttered.

CHINK!

Julia easily sliced the bodies of three more snakes who fell to the lakes.

Another two snakes tried to strike at Julia, one going for her leg, the other going for her neck. Julia sliced the one reaching for her neck easily in half but missed the one that had gone for her leg. Luckily for her, it seemed that snake had also missed her as it shook its head, irritated.

Finally… MK had found it!

This time, 10 snakes were circling above Julia's head all around her. She braced herself, getting ready to leap to the rock behind her if she had to again, but MK's voice cut through the air.

"GET DOWN!" MK shouted.

WHOOSH!

Julia quickly ducked, curled up into a ball, and felt a strong wave of heat as MK activated the flame thrower, burning all 10 snakes in one clean motion. MK had narrowly missed burning Julia's hair off.

The snakes howled in pain and slapped their bodies around furiously, trying to get the flames to disappear but it was too late. They were disintegrating before MK and Julia's eyes.

MK continued to burn more snakes. She turned around in a circle, blasting every single one of them.

"YEE-HAWWWW!" the pickpocket laughed insanely. Julia laughed and clapped her hands. She wanted to have some fun as well.

"Give me that!" Julia called, waving her hand to receive the flamethrower, a malicious glint in her eye. MK smiled and tossed Julia the flamethrower two rocks away. Now it was the cold-hearted influencer's turn to have some fun.

Julia caught it and ignited it, burning every single snake she saw.

WHOOOOSH! WHOOOOSH!

Julia laughed maniacally as she watched them all wither and die before her, their helpless bodies crying out as they thrashed around helplessly. She was having too much fun watching flames consume those who had tried to attack her.

Julia + MK confessional (Julia): This isn't the first time I've burnt snakes in my life. *plays with fingers casually*

Julia + MK confessional (MK): Uhhh…. *stares at camera wide-eyed*

"Is that smoke?" Caleb asked mind blown, pointing at the sky to the east. Great thick smoke was billowing overhead where Julia and MK had gone. Priya had finally stopped to stare at the sky which was quickly turning dark gray near Black Lagoon. Just then, Emma and Axel popped up behind them.

"WHOA?" Emma froze in her tracks. "WHAT DID WE MISS?"

"Guess they shouldn't have taken that path after all," Axel smirked.

"I hope they're alright…" Caleb said concerned, unintentionally looking at Priya.

Priya snorted. Was this his way of proving himself to be a kind and caring person?

They had no time to relax however.

Axel squinted her eyes. She could see a wave of black heading towards them in the sky. At once, she gasped. "MOVE! MOVE!" she yelled to the others.

Priya, Caleb and Emma stared blankly ahead. What was the big deal? It was probably just some of the smoke making its way over… however, as it kept coming closer towards them they saw beaks, flapping wings and gleaming red eyes. A whole army of wild Canadian geese were making their way over. It seemed the smoke had displaced them from the trees they had been sleeping at in the distance and they were now making their way over to the mountains.

Priya, Caleb and Emma took off running at once, following Axel. They had to find a place to hide. The birds were much faster than them and in what seemed like no time at all many geese were circling overhead, looking down at the campers attempting to run away. Very quickly, they were surrounded by geese. Axel cracked her knuckles and bent her knees in anticipation, ready to fight them all.

Axel confessional: *clenches teeth* I hate hate hate hate HATE Canadian geese.

"Maybe we can just… walk by and hope they don't… do anything to us?" Emma laughed nervously, staring directly at the geese who were flapping aggressively. Together, their rhythmic flaps sounded like a giant whirlwind roaring against their ears.

"Not gonna happen. These geese never leave people alone, it's in their DNA," Caleb responded, his knees also bent and hands in front of him ready to take on the geese.

As if they had understood him, the geese launched themselves at the campers, their bodies slicing through the air in unison.

A goose managed to wrap its beak around Emma's flower she wore on her ponytail and was yanking at it with all its might. "OW!" Emma yelped, trying to swat the annoying goose out of her hair. The goose bobbed its head sassily from left to right, as if it were taunting Emma and went in for another attempt at the flower but out of nowhere a pebble flew through the sky and hit it on its head. It looked around stupidly, growling, looking for its attacker.

"HEY UGLY! COME AND GET ME!" Axel waved her hand, provoking the geese with a wide smirk. The goose shook its head furiously and charged straight at Axel. She dodged it by jumping and rolling over to the side. And then she took off her pants.

Emma confessional: *flicks eyebrows* Axel getting naughty…

Axel, who was now standing in her army-green panties, whistled at the goose. She dangled her pants as if she were in a rodeo circus act. Whenever the goose came charging at her, she pulled away her pants at the last second and laughed while it honked angrily as it narrowly missed the pants each time. This process continued over and over. Emma and Axel laughed at the goose getting increasingly frustrated and charging faster each time.

Axel confessional: *bows* Popular circus act. Works like a charm.

At long last, Wayne whooped as he saw the shoreline of Boney Island. He was finally close enough to see Chef snoring peacefully. Emily honked the boat horn in a crabby fashion, which woke Chef up from his daytime nap.

"Wayne's here," she said, pointing to her travel companion.

Chef put a hand to his ear. "Who?" he asked sleepily. Man that autobiography is trash he thought glumly. Darn put me to sleep…

"WAYNE!" Emily repeated.

Chef fell out of his seat and rolled his eyes. "Oh right! The final competitor. You made it… finally…now I gotta repeat the instructions all over again just for you…" Chef mumbled, sour-faced.

"THANKS EMILY!" Wayne called over his shoulder as he jumped out of the boat and headed towards an irritated Chef.

Emily winked. "Thanks for the talk Wayne. It's not too late. You can still win!"

Wayne gave a hearty thumbs-up as Emily turned the boat around and headed back to Camp Wawanakwa.

Wayne put both hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. "What'd – I – miss?"

"Uhh… it's a race to a treasure chest. Either Black Lagoon or Jade Mountain," Chef replied.

"K what are those? I don't know this place…" Wayne looked around, intimidated by the gloomy, depressing nature of the island. He had never seen a place so miserable before.

"They're iconic parts of the island and… well… I ran out of maps… sorry…" Chef grinned, tucking the spare map in his pocket deeper. He felt Wayne's punishment for disturbing his sleep would be to navigate this place with his eyes only.

Wayne threw his hands in the air. "So I'm just supposed to wing it? That's crazy!"

Chef gave an aggressive huff through his nose. "Start running around boy. I'm sure you'll find something useful. But I guess… I'll tell you the general directions. Seven out of nine went west that-a-way to Jade mountain –" Wayne looked to his left – "that big mountain over there."

"Ahhh OK?" Wayne said slowly. He did not feel his odds were great if he had to compete with seven others and was already contemplating taking the other path.

"The other two went east to the lakes, the Black Lagoon specifically. Crazy bunch of nutters – "

"I'm going for the Lagoon!" Wayne said firmly, puffing out his chest.

Chef scowled. "You sure? It's deadly man! I'd recommend the mountain."

"I'd rather compete against two than seven even if the path is harder," Wayne explained. "Besides, nobody has the chest yet right?"

"Er – I don't think so… challenge just started a few minutes ago so I guess you're not that late – "

Wayne gave a little nod. "Black Lagoon it is! HERE I COME!" He ignored Chef's panic-stricken face and began sprinting full-speed east.

Wayne's journey had hardly begun when he noticed something peculiar on the ground. Wayne squinted his eyes and moved closer to it. It looked to be slightly rectangular but not exactly?...

As he made his way closer to this object, he realized it was a map of the island! Although… it looked badly beaten and there was a shoe imprint which covered the entire map, as if someone had trodden on it and crushed it beneath their toes… He was starting to have second thoughts about this path.

Wayne confessional: Why is there a map on the ground? Did someone already get hurt here? OH man… *shudders*

Wayne picked the map up and tried to flatten it to the best of his ability but to no avail. "Oh man, this is useless! It's all crushed, looks like someone STEPPED ON IT!" Wayne whined. He was doing his best to read this subpar map but was not getting much useful information from it. At least, it's better than nothing he thought grumpily to himself.

Wayne pocketed the map and decided he was going to use his eyes. If he ever got completely lost, only then would he try and use the map. He took off running once more and with that, all 10 mergers were now searching for treasure.

Chase, Damien and Raj came around the corner to see a stunning scene: their fellow competitors fighting off a bunch of Canadian geese.

Axel was in her underwear smacking geese with her boots, Emma was whacking them out of her hair and Priya was on top of Caleb's shoulders warding them off with a giant stick. It looked like absolute pandemonium.

"Well, you don't see that everyday…" Damien mumbled, wondering how this situation had come to be.

"Let's turn around," Raj nodded. How lucky for them. They were going to take a detour up to Jade Mountain while the others were stuck here fighting off geese!

Chase, Raj and Damien all laughed out loud, high-fiving each other as they headed back but this victory was short-lived. They turned around a corner and immediately came face-to-face with large furry creatures with front teeth the size of an average human.

"M – M – MONSTER BEAVERS!" Raj cried. The three of them took off sprinting back to the geese. Chase was fastest and turned around the corner first. Raj and Damien panicked as the beavers kept getting closer and closer to them. They desperately needed an escape. The beavers' sharp teeth were getting dangerously close. One barely missed the back of Raj's jersey by a few inches.

To their left, Damien saw a cave. "THE CAVE RAJ!" Damien pointed. They had no choice. Even though Chef had said they were pitch-black, it would be their best hiding spot.

Damien and Raj darted into the opening of the cave and ran as far as they could before it got too dark to see anything. Thinking they had successfully ditched the beavers, they turned around only to be proven horribly wrong. The beavers had followed them into the cave and were chomping their buckteeth loudly.

"UH-OH!" Raj sweated. There was nowhere else to go. Any further and then they wouldn't be able to see. It would be running in pure darkness which was obviously not going to end well.

Damien and Raj backed up slowly as the beavers approached them, gnawing their teeth and slapping their tails hungrily.

"This is it. This is where I die. Being eaten by a bunch of beavers in a pitch-black cave on an island with a giant skull for a landmark!" Damien trembled. He kept backing up until –

SPLASH!

"What?" Damien looked down at his feet in awe. They were now standing in water. But now, the beavers did something extraordinary. They turned around and slapped their tails in frustration at Raj and Damien for escaping their clutches.

"Apparently, these beavers hate water…" Raj deduced, chuckling slightly at their narrow escape.

"Or maybe there's a giant monster in the water that they're afraid of," Damien muttered, staring apprehensively at the water beneath his feet.

Raj felt Damien was just being a little too paranoid and shook his head. The water was barely reaching their ankles. If there was a monster here, it was probably a ferocious trout at best.

Damien confessional: Y'know when Priya told me to watch Island 2007, I noticed the beavers looked a little different than they do today… it's like they got bigger, their teeth got yellower and their faces got rounder. But I can tell they're the same ones I saw on my TV.

So… yeah! I knew Raj and I would be alright when we got to the water! Definitely… I wasn't scared one bit! *laughs weakly*

Damien and Raj decided to wait another minute to make sure the beavers had really left before stepping out of the water.

Raj squinted. Chef hadn't been lying. This place was almost pitch-black. It would be hard to see anything which was why Raj was so confused when Damien began making his way over to a stalagmite with a greedy grin on his face.

Damien had just seen something shine from the stalagmite and unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, he had to check. Damien extended his hand excitedly and felt his fingers wrap around an item the size of his palm. Damien let out a gasp of joy. He had found the immunity idol.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Lots to talk about.

First, Julia and MK. Yeah, I wanted a more natural transition for the two of them to start working together. I was never the biggest fan of how buddy-buddy they all of a sudden were in canon but I don't blame the writers too hardly for this since they only had 13 episodes. I just didn't like how the audience was left to assume important things (a lot of people theorized that Julia forgave MK because of all the followers she gained after the raptor roast video was made public while MK forgave Julia because she admired her cunning nature. Even though this makes sense on paper, I just want more detail lol).

I thought it made sense for MK to tempt Julia with something valuable and admit to Julia's face blatantly about the swimsuit incident. This way, Julia develops a newfound respect for MK. And MK reaches out to Julia because she knows she is a good player. MK has been keeping a close eye on Julia since their fight in the horror challenge (which is also why she was the only one who caught Julia sneaking in the salt). Their little back-and-forth also shows that Julia knows her game last season had some flaws and that she had lucked out during the last team elimination.

The biggest surprise today... Chase. Yeah, this is pretty controversial. On Reddit, the fandom seems pretty split on whether or not a redemption arc would ruin his character. I personally decided to give it to him under one very specific condition – the loss of his buddies. I like the Trout Trio because they work as comedic relief together but also because I feel they can help each other improve as characters. I also wanted to give Chase some more interactions since it was painful to watch him basically have zero interactions in canon Rematch. Chase-Raj-Damien was a fun trio I came up with. Can he redeem himself? Or is it too late? After all, Axel is already telling Emma not to listen to him...

The "cheating" plot is now with Priya and Caleb since Bowie is gone. Even though Caleb wasn't cheating himself, the fact that he failed to report MK makes Priya think he is an accomplice.

And finally I decided to take the "Wayne-being-alone" thing they did in canon Episode 8 and actually have him do something besides sleeping and being invisible. In my rewrite, Wayne always plays hard and will not give up. We also see him and Raj being split up. Wish we saw more of this side of him in canon.

Yeah, I decided to give Damien the idol. The only difference is now Raj also knows he has it. Interesting...

Besides our contestants, I wanted to give some character development for the hosts Chris and Emily. This way, they're not just the bland hosts who watch challenges. Chris' mini arc is finally listening to his daughter and fulfilling her one wish. Emily's arc is standing up to her father. I am really trying to use everybody in this story rather than putting the spotlight on two people (Looking at you canon Priya and canon Julia -_-).

Also, two thumbs ups to Emily for listening to Olivia Rodrigo!

I put a canoe scene where everyone is talking just like OG Island because it gives room for good dialogue.

Also, about Damien's last confessional. I HC the beavers mutated/evolved since we last saw them.

New interactions in the merge: Axel-Emma, Julia-MK, Raj-Damien-Chase, Wayne-Emily