An air horn blasted through the air, waking the few who were still sleeping. It was only the morning after the Awake-a-thon, yet Chris had decided the next challenge had to happen then and now. Looking over at the enemy team, two of their girls had already been eliminated. Cody wondered how it felt to have your cabin slowly empty out. At this point, only Izzy, Courtney, Katie, and Bridgette were still in it. By the end of the team segment of the show, only Bridgette would remain, though things were subject to change now, he supposed.
After being ushered into the mess hall, Cody waited in line for food. A glob of "meat" fell onto his plate. He gave a reluctant look to Chef, who replied with a fierce look and a snarl. With a sigh, Cody returned to his team's table, sitting between Ezekiel and Trent. He poked at his food as much as he could, getting in one or two bites the only way he knew how: plugging the nose and closing the eyes. Even then, the taste broke through. He pushed his food away from him, not without earning an extra glare from Chef though.
He looked over and saw that Gwen had just made her way to the mess hall, no doubt having had to be woken up twice by Chris. Her exhaustion showed, with bags under her eyes, and a slight sway in her step. Despite this, she was able to make her way to our table amidst the cheers from her teammates. She promptly slammed her face down on the table. Cody wanted to chuckle but was feeling pretty similar to her right now. He had not gotten enough sleep for this challenge, which could be a problem.
Last time, he showed himself as an asset when he took out two people on his own while later taking a hit for the Gopher's previous MVP. This time though, he couldn't imagine himself having the energy to do that. Suddenly, Heather began to taunt the Bass. Cody tried to interject, but before he could, slop was thrown directly into Gwen's face.
Once they were finished eating, Chris led them to the beach where there was now a massive plexiglass arena.
"And since when has that been there?" Noah asked.
Chris stayed silent, only further adding to the mystery. Once the host started explaining the rules, Cody stopped paying attention, as usual. He looked around to find that he wasn't the only one not paying attention, as Duncan was already passed out on the bleachers.
Cody chuckled at Noah's movie reference, and Cody could have sworn he saw Noah look appreciative, even if only slightly. Chris then ushered them to their set of bleachers, and the team began to strategize. Against any reasonable logic, the Gopher's starting line-up consisted Leshawna, Heather, Owen, Lindsay, and Cody.
"Why they decided to send me, who's barely awake, and Lindsay, who's barely functional, is beyond me," he thought.
Chris blew the whistle, signaling for the game to begin. Cody picked up one of the balls and aimed for Tyler. However, his exhaustion pulled through, and it's a clear miss. He earned a scoff from Heather, though when Tyler tried to retaliate, he ended up narrowly bouncing over the sleeping Duncan. Owen subsequently threw a ball at the jock, taking him out of the round. Harold tried to show off his moves but was also taken out.
By that point in the round, Cody was barely conscious. No one had tried to hit him since Tyler, so he was entirely spaced out. That was until Lindsay, who was standing right next to him one second, was on the ground the next. The next couple of moves happened too fast for Cody to even notice, but somehow Courtney was out and Gwen was in. She couldn't even get to her spot before being taken out, however.
Cody leaned back to yawn, accidentally dodging a throw from Katie. Cody snickered at the pouting Katie. Leshawna was less lucky, as she was taken out by a fast throw from DJ. He was now back in the same one versus two as last time.
"It's been a while since I've done this, but…" he mumbled to himself before rubbing the dodgeball across his shirt fervently. He threw the ball between the two, and it latched on to Katie. No matter how far she ran away from it, it eventually caught up to her.
However, he had completely forgotten how he had eliminated DJ the first time. DJ quickly grabbed the ball and threw it at Cody, slamming it into his face. The Bass immediately started cheering. As he fell onto the ground, he quickly stretched his arms in the air and was able to catch it. The Bass' cheering quickly ceased, replaced by an even louder cheer from the Gophers.
Cody replied with a weak smile and a thumbs up. He stumbled his way back to the bleachers, receiving a few pats on the back. Cody's tired mind could only think of his incredulous win before passing out.
He was awoken by Heather, who was rudely shaking him. "Let's go, dork. Time to play," she said. On their way to the court, Ezekiel explained the current situation to Cody.
"So, we were winning, then Duncan woke up and then they started winning." Not that Cody needed the explanation, though he thanked him all the same. He got into position beside the home-schooled boy and prepared himself for the final round.
Cody tried his best to help his team, but he was ultimately eliminated pretty early into the round. Duncan himself had gotten him out with a mean throw. All that remained were Harold and Owen. Cody gulped. Despite every difference up until this point, it still ended up being Owen vs. Harold. All Cody could do was cross his fingers and hope that things played out differently. However, when Harold began to slowly lift his arm, dodgeball in hand, Cody could only groan. The Killer Bass had finally won and therefore the Screaming Gophers had lost. It was time for their first elimination. Thoughts began to flood the geek's mind about who he should vote for.
"I mean, Heather's the obvious choice, right? Sure, Justin may be useless, but Heather actively causes us harm, so surely I'll vote for her."
However, Cody quickly turned his head towards his teammates, who were now staring at the teen lost in a book. Cody understood immediately what was soon to happen. Both teams began to slowly drift out of the arena, Noah being one of them. Cody quickly pulled him aside.
"Agh, what the hell?" Noah groaned, struggling to get out of Cody's grip on his sleeve.
"Listen to me. You're in big danger right now, Noah." Cody said.
"Ah, is someone coming to kill me? Or are you threatening me? Oh who am I kidding, surely even you know that you're not threatening." He quipped.
"God damn it, Noah. Just listen to me! You didn't help at all during the game! You must realize people are going to blame you!" Cody said as urgently as he could.
"As stupid as these people are, I doubt they'd get rid of their smartest teammate. They probably realize they'll need my brain soon. Plus, they get that I wouldn't have even been able to help in dodgeball anyway."
"Do you really think these people are thinking that far ahead? They're mad at you for the moment, so you very well could get kicked off tonight." The last sentence clearly struck a chord with Noah, as he began to think about his chances.
"Okay, maybe you're right. What's in it for you?"
"Huh?"
"Why help me? What do you want out of this? An alliance? A kiss?"
"I'm just trying to help, okay?" Although he seemed reluctant, Noah did eventually take him up on his offer.
"So what's the plan? How do I get out of this?"
"We're going to have to try to convince the rest of the team to vote for someone else. But who?" Cody and Noah locked eyes, a small smirk forming in each of their mouths.
"Heather!"
"Justin!"
"...What?" Cody asked.
"I mean, Justin didn't help either, right? I just took the heat because I was funny. Sorry, sarcastic. So if I convince them that I can provide more in the future, Justin's out! Why Heather of all people?"
"Well, people hate her, right? She's awful to everyone! People are dying to see her gone."
"Yeah, what you said is true, but you said something even more right earlier. They're not mad at Heather at the moment. She actually helped in dodgeball, though I didn't see her land a single shot. Justin didn't do anything at all!" Cody gritted his teeth. He didn't like to see his own logic being used against him, but Noah was right. As much as people hate Heather, she hadn't done anything to inspire their rage this time. She was just annoying. Justin was their best shot.
"Alright, Justin it is."
Cody and Noah quickly made their way back to camp to start their new campaign. However, things soon turned sour. Their obvious vouching for Noah made it clear that Noah was just trying to save face. He didn't want to go home, so now here he was, begging. Luckily, the people they first tried this on were Heather and her alliance. Although they would have been nice votes to secure, they served as great guinea pigs for how to try to save Noah. They decided that if Cody were to try it alone, it might seem more genuine. Plus, he could bring up elimination in a much more natural way when on his own. This seemed to work a lot better. Gwen, Owen, Trent, Leshawna, and Ezekiel all seemed to listen with genuine interest. So when it was time to vote, Cody took a deep breath and stamped on Justin's face.
He made his way over to the campfire, being the second person there, behind Beth. Since they were going alphabetically, they had to wait for each camper to vote for their contestant of choice and make their way to the campfire for a while. However, eventually, Trent sat down next to Gwen, thus beginning the first elimination ceremony for the Gophers. Cody looked over at Noah. He remembered that Noah originally seemed so confident, like there was no way they could lose. But now that Cody had tipped him off, Noah seemed more stressed than he had ever seen him.
After what seemed like an eternity, Chris finally found his spot at the front and began reading the rules. When he was done, everyone knew it was time for names to be called.
"Gwen, Owen, Trent, Cody, and Leshawna!" he called out. Cody could barely catch his.
"Beth, Ezekiel, and Lindsay!" Three remained. Noah, Justin, and Heather.
"Heather!" Cody's hand gripped the log he was sitting upon. It was now or never. Either Noah left now, destined to leave early, or he would stay.
"And the final marshmallow of the night goes to…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Justin."
A gasp escapes Cody's mouth. Even though he had stressed about this outcome, he never truly thought it could come true.
"How?! I know it should have been me, Noah, Gwen, Trent, Leshawna, Owen, and Ezekiel versus the others. Okay, maybe Owen's confusing crush switched him over. But still! That's a six-to-five vote! I'm certain Zeke voted with me, so who?" he thought, silently gripping his hair.
Cody had no more time to think, however. Noah stood up curtly and gazed over his former teammates.
"Good one, morons. Eliminated the smartest person on your team. I hope the next challenge is intellectual, though I doubt it from this show. Good luck without me, idiots," he said, mouth drawn thin. When he walked past Cody, he gave a brief sigh.
"Thanks for the attempt, I guess," he mumbled before proceeding to the Dock of Shame. Cody couldn't imagine how it felt to be the first person eliminated from your team. Especially with how close to survival he was. There was some murmuring around the campers, but Cody tuned them out. When Chris said they were done, Cody quickly walked out of there, desperate not to make a scene. He laid down on his bunk and tears began to form in his eyes.
It doesn't matter what I do. These people are doomed to repeat history. Ezekiel was a fluke. I tried my damndest to save Noah and he still got eliminated. All I did was add more stress to his day. Great job, idiot.
Other people began to file into the lodge, but Cody put his head under the pillow and ignored them until he fell asleep.
A/N: So Cody slept through half of this challenge. Mostly because there's not much different than canon. The Bass just have Izzy instead of Sadie, while the Gophers have Ezekiel instead of Izzy. They'd both be good, but not enough to change the tide of battle.
Once again, Cody proves himself an asset to the team in the sole round he wins. I like that Cody pretty much wins the whole round out of sheer luck. Dodging due to a yawn, accidentally catching the ball. It gives him a good reason to be allowed to sleep the rest of the game. He was good enough to win them a round, but likely couldn't recreate that success. And it was important to have him sleep and be exhausted so that Noah could be eliminated.
Normally, Cody has to think about if he wants to save the normally eliminated, and in this case he wouldn't even think. He's friends with Noah, so he'd obviously save him. But every story always has Noah saved, with him usually being the first different elimination from canon. I wanted to do something different, so bye bye Noah.
Noah's elimination is a reminder that just because Cody has knowledge of the game that others don't, he alone does not choose the elimination. He wanted Noah to stay. He fought for Noah to stay, but it wasn't enough.