Minisode 2: Are You Smarter Than a Block of Ice?

Chef walked up and grabbed the sign that had greeted everyone, and chucked it into the water. "One of you fools," he said boldly. "That's right, get ready, because your last chance to get in this game starts right now."

"Oh, that's a fun twist!" Kaif said excitedly. "I hope you're ready to lose!"

Monty laughed. "Sorry, kid, but I think I've got whatever happens here in the bag."

"We'll see about that," Chef told them. "Today you're doing a trivia contest." Monty and Setsuna looked upset to see that this was not a physical challenge. "You're gonna be asked questions about the village of Crevice. If you get one wrong, you are out, and out of the game for good this time." He handed everyone a die that had the letters 'a' through 'd' on four of the sides, and 'true' and 'false' on the last two. "Line up!"

The eliminated contestants lined up in order- Harvey, Kaif, Syd, Faye, Klase, Monty, Nicolette, and Setsuna. "Starting off with an easy one," Chef told them. "True or false: there are four villagers living in Crevice."

Everyone maneuvered their dice around, putting out the answer they thought was right. "Alright, looks like everyone said false on this one, except for Harvey." Harvey had a haughty smirk on his face and could not hold back the laughter.

"Ha! One question in, and I'm already back-"

"Of course, since Gregor was found, the number of villagers is five now. Harvey, you're out." Harvey gasped in shock. He hadn't cared enough about Crevice to even learn about a fifth villager being around.

Chef pulled out a card with the next question. "Question two: which of the villagers likes Gregor the least? Select A for Zenthus, B for Thea, C for Croshia, or D for Rodin." Once again, the seven contestants began finding answers.

"Reveal your choices," Chef ordered. Everyone had selected D for that answer. "Looks like everyone got number two right," Chef noted.

Kaif laughed. "I mean, Rodin probably hates all of them the most," he said playfully. Syd nodded in agreement next to him.

Chef shrugged. "Fair enough. I guess these will start becoming a bit trickier then." He pulled out the next card. "Question three: Croshia was asked to be the blacksmith after the avalanche. What role did she serve before that?" He read the options. "Select A for Huntress, B for Ceremony Master, C for Shaman, or D for Cook."

This question was clearly stumping some people more than before. People spent longer trying to remember what Croshia had said. "I thought she was always the blacksmith," Klase said nervously.

"Show me your answers!" Klase hesitated and picked A, but he was not alone, as Kaif was with him as well. Everyone else had selected B. "Croshia was originally the Ceremony Master, as we learned in the Timepiece challenge. Her husband was the blacksmith prior to the avalanche." He looked up at who picked what. "Kaif and Klase, you two are also out of the game. That leaves Syd, Faye, Monty, Nicolette, and Setsuna."

The middle three all looked excited at that prospect. "I'm glad one of us will have a chance to go back," Nicolette said enthusiastically. Meanwhile, Setsuna looked laser focused, not allowing herself to get distracted like the tiebreaker an hour ago. Syd was impossible to read with the scarf over her face.

"Question four!" Chef called out to get their attention again. "True or false: Thea is older than Gregor."

Monty looked stumped. "Hard to say...Thea is more agile for sure..." The other four also carefully selected an answer with this one.

"Show me what you picked!" Chef called out. Syd had selected False, Faye had selected True, Monty had selected True, Nicolette had selected True, and Setsuna had selected False. It was split right down the middle. "The correct answer is...True!" Setsuna spiked her die into the ground, upset that she didn't get it right, while Syd merely shrugged and placed it down in front of her.

"We lost two people that time!" Chef said. "It's down to Faye, Monty, and Nicolette. The three freakin' amigos. How fitting."

Faye shot Chef a grin. "Hey, you don't see us complaining."

Nicolette smiled sheepishly at the others. "We did take a large interest in the villagers while we were there."

Chef shook his head. "Whatever. We're probably gonna end the game right here on this question." He pulled out the next card. "Question five! Thea is afraid of what? Select A for Snow, B for Bears, C for Shamans, and D for Shady People."

All three looked stumped by this one, except for Monty, who instantly flashed the letter D on his die. Faye and Nicolette still fumbled with theirs for a little bit. "Running out of time, girls," Chef told them. "Three...two...one...show me the answers!"

Accompanying Monty's D guess were Faye's A guess and Nicolette's C guess. "All different answers," Chef mentioned. Setsuna, sitting on the side, looked bitter, since she knew the correct answer for this one. Syd looked indifferent, as she had no clue. "Well, for starters, Thea does not fear shady people, she simply dislikes them and works to remove them, meaning Monty is out of the game."

"Finally, as Setsuna learned yesterday, Thea was originally supposed to be a shaman, but was not skilled enough to continue on that path, so also not something she fears, just something she was. That means that the winner of this challenge, with a correct guess, is..."

"Faye!"

Faye looked like the news hadn't completely sank in yet. "I did not see her winning a challenge," Monty said as he and Nicolette sat down with the others.

"I'm certainly not complaining," Nicolette replied. "I believe she probably deserves it the most out of everyone."

"Well, now that we're out, you owe me food," Monty remarked dryly, earning a laugh from the kind-hearted girl.

Faye grinned with excitement. "I'm back! I'm going to make sure I win for all of you," she told them. "I'll throw a wrench in all of their plans."

Faye: "I have to win," she said boldly. "Not just because I want a better life for myself, but because I want to show people I can do it. If Persephone got put on Team Gorgeous, maybe I'll be on Team Persephone. That'd be a welcome surprise for sure."

As Faye left with Chef, Kaif wandered over to Setsuna. "Bummer, huh? I could tell you knew that last answer too. How'd you know it?"

"I got along really well with Gregor," Setsuna mentioned. "I can't believe I said he was older than Thea! I guess I just thought Thea was younger, really. Gregor looked about one or two years older than me...plus or minus two thousand."

Kaif laughed. "Hey, you still probably got way more out of that experience than me." He was silent for a second. "How is Sasha doing?"

"I thought you didn't like her," Setsuna remarked.

"She definitely caused me a lot of drama while I was there," he said, "but I wanted to help people too, you know? I just hope she got out of that scheme-y rut."

Setsuna laughed, her mood easing up a bit. "Well, good news for you, she's a full-on hero at this point. She even told Rodin that we're not here to help." Kaif gasped. "Chill out, Rodin's too apathetic to really do anything about it."

Kaif sighed in relief. "Well, that's amazing to hear. How are you doing?"

"Eh, I could be better," the archeologist admitted. "But, Gregor told me I did a really nice job with the shaman work before I left. Well, he told Zenthus I did. But, it made me feel good. Like I really did get something good out of this." Kaif smiled. He liked seeing other people doing better.

Meanwhile, at the front of the beach, Chef and Faye were getting ready to board the boat. Behind them, Syd had constructed a metal shield that blocked the barrage of rocks Harvey was throwing at her and Klase. "Well, it's time to put these losers out to dry for good! How will Faye shake things up? Will she come right back? Find out next time, on Total. Drama. Ancient Abodes." He shrugged. "Was that any better?"

Faye shook her head. "Still dull, but I don't really care."

Current Teams:

Team Gorgeous: Alessia, Persephone, Sasha, Shion, Zev

Team Persephone: Chander, Winslow, Winter

Returning: Faye

ELIMINATION TABLE:

16th: Harvey Wilder, The Unhinged Man-Child (6-2 Vote)

15th: Kaif Nishida, The Lover First, Normal Person Second (4-3-1 Vote)

14th: Sydney "Syd" Waller, The Silent Whiz With Machines (5-1 Vote)

13th: Klase Svoboda, The Reserved Pianist (3-2 Vote)

12th: Montgomery "Monty" Miller, The Hot-Tempered Bassist (5-2 Vote)

11th: Nicolette Delany, The Kind-Hearted Saint (Winner Selection)

10th: Setsuna Yuki, The Flirty Archeologist (3-3 Vote, Lost Tiebreaker)

Welcome back, Faye! Unlike the first comeback challenge where I made it painfully obvious who was going to come back, I wanted this one to be a bit of a shock, and I think it's a solid surprise. Faye is one of the characters who's backstory interested me the most in the application process, but I knew that like Persephone, I needed her gone for a little bit of the season.

I also added some scenes for some of the more prominent plots in the game portion to be wrapped up nicely. But, until next time, that is it! What are you expecting from Faye's return? Who do you think is going to go next? Let me know what you thought in the reviews, and I'll see you next time!