Total Drama Stormbound Chapter 8: To Hail and Back, a total drama series fanfic

Welcome back to Total Drama Stormbound! It's been over eight months, and that's ridiculous, but we are so back. I beat my length record by a lot this time. We're at 28.8k and I do not know how it happened, but I'm really excited to share this chapter so I hope you enjoy!

"Previously on Stormbound!" Nimbus' normal recap was back, after the previous episode, and there was a shot of the beach on a sunny day. "The weather was cooperating for once, so we spent the day by the seashore. Between their superior athletic abilities and numbers advantage, the Dragons seriously dominated a game of beach volleyball." A clip played of Lio spiking the ball, followed by Kit and Ollie cheering with pom-poms on the sidelines. "But the main challenge was a sand castle siege where teams had to defend their buried treasure." A shot of Martin with his broom fighting against Iggy and his shovel in front of the Gryphon's castle was shown. "There were tricks and traps all around." Clips showed the Gryphons, led by Paradise, catching Kit and Iggy in their net trap, followed by Selene collecting the metal debris the Gryphons had buried while she was holding Kit's electromagnet. "But in the end, the ragtag group of three Gryphons managed to secure a crucial win." A clip showed Tanja running with the Dragons' treasure across the border. "And despite his heroic actions, it was Ollie who was sent home." Ollie was shown throwing away the bagel to save his team from the attacking seagulls.

"But the loss of the acrobat was felt by everyone, even the next day," Nimbus continued. "And tensions were further raised when we revealed that the teams were merging." There was a shot of the two teams in the mess hall in the morning. "Some unsteady alliances remained." Tanja was shown trying to break up Martin and Paradise's arguing. "And others dissolved altogether." Selene was shown walking away from Iggy and Lio during their meeting. "Kit tied some new knots with the former Gryphons." A clip played of Kit learning weaving from Paradise in the cabin. "And us staff… didn't get much of a break, did we?" Javi was shown with Pájarobotico, chasing Naila around camp.

Just when it seemed the recap was going to end, instead of the theme song, the feed all of a sudden cut to static. "But that's not all." Ada's voice now replaced Nimbus', as there was a shot of Maggie interviewing Drake on the deck of the Loser Cruiser. "Over the weekend, the Loser Cruiser was more than just the holding zone for the eliminated campers. Instead, I employed the losers as deckhands on a new expedition." A clip showed Ollie jumping off the gangplank after the ship docked on the new island. "And on our adventures, we found one more loser to add to our crew: my cousin Kestrel." The castaway was shown in his confrontation with Earl and Celia. "Now, which of the final seven will we welcome aboard next?" One final shot showed the island of Ventallan, seen on the horizon from aboard the ship. Ada was looking through a spyglass, where Nimbus' silhouette could be seen standing on the dock. "This is… Total! Drama! Stormbound!" Ada and Nimbus' voices said together.

Theme Song: "Stormbound" by Nimbus Cloudbreak

"Selene!" Iggy called out. He was pacing impatiently in front of the girls' cabin, and behind him, the sun was just rising.

Kit was the one that blearily shuffled out of the cabin. They were wearing a lumpy eye cover knitted out of neon green yarn, pushed onto the top of their head, and they were hugging their trench coat to their chest like a security blanket. They flinched when they saw Iggy, still seeming a bit intimidated by the sprinter, but they quickly recomposed themself. "Selene's not in there. It's, um, just Paradise and Tanja. So you probably don't wanna go in." They glanced conspiratorially back into the girls' cabin, and cupped a hand around their mouth. "I think they have cooties."

Iggy blinked. "…do you sleep with your trench coat?"

The tinkerer just nodded and gripped it a little more tightly.

Suddenly, Selene walked over from the boys' cabin. "Hi Iggy!" she shouted, startling Kit and nearly causing them to drop their coat.

"Huh, I didn't think anyone else would be awake at this time," he commented.

"Then why did you wake us up?" Kit cut in, but they were ignored. They rolled their eyes and stifled a yawn before shuffling back into the cabin.

"I thought we were going to run today?" Iggy asked Selene.

"Oh…" Selene frowned and fiddled with the large piece of driftwood that she was holding for some reason. "I forgot."

"Why were you out, then?"

That was when Martin came up next to Selene, carrying his rapier.

"We were fighting," she explained, and tried to pat him on the back, but he dodged expertly.

Iggy glared at the fencer suspiciously, and Martin adjusted his glasses, the light gleaming off of them hiding his expression.

"Do you want to fight with us next time?" Selene asked Iggy, seemingly oblivious to the tension between the two boys.

Confessional: Iggy

"Who does Mr. Perfect here think he is, trying to steal Selene from us? I'm no expert mathematician, but we're even more fucked if she sides with the Gryphons. But more importantly, I know I'm the best ally and training partner, so why would she ever choose Martin …actually, wait, since when have those two even been friends?"

A cold wind blew as Naila looked out the window of Javi's trailer and up at the gray sky. There were some tools spread out on the floor, as Javi was attaching some metal bars with joints to a telescoping pole.

Suddenly, Nimbus burst into the trailer. He was waving around a chunk of ice excitedly with one hand, and holding his umbrella with the other. "Woo, the weather machine is back online!" he cheered.

"What's going on?" Javi asked, while Naila grinned and threw confetti at Nimbus.

Nimbus showed Javi what he had found. "Haven't you noticed? It's hailing outside!" The hailstone was about the size of an egg. It looked lumpy and muddy, and Javi didn't seem nearly as excited as the rock star was.

"Um, Nimbus?" The mechanic stood up and went over to the tarp in the corner of the room. He removed it, to reveal that the weather machine had been powered off the entire time.

"Wait, you didn't cause the hail? And that means…" Nimbus trailed off and exchanged worried glances with Javi, and they heard the sound of another hailstone hitting the roof.

"We've just run into an honest-to-goodness hailstorm in Bermuda in the summer," the mechanic concluded.

They were interrupted by Naila cackling maniacally. "What a tragedy to befall us, ahahaha!"

Confessional: Nimbus

"Well, Javi could turn off the hailstorm if he wanted to… but this is so cool! I think we can work with this."

Confessional: Javi

"Things weren't looking good. The weather machine can generate storm clouds, but I can't exactly get rid of the ones that are already out there. I'm sure Nimbus knows that already though. Ay, I'd love to work on that new feature, but we have a challenge to run."

In the kitchen, Sophie was leaning against the counter, nervously watching the hail from the window.

"Um, Sophie?" Tanja prompted. She and the rest of the campers were all standing in line by the counter waiting for breakfast.

The chef put a hand over her heart, startled. "Sorry, dear, I didn't see you there."

Confessional: Sophie

"Oh dear, I really thought I was used to tropical weather, but I have never seen anything like this before."

Sophie quickly bustled back into the kitchen to get some bowls and ladle some soup from the big pot on the stove into them. It was a hearty stew with potatoes and vegetables. "I thought I would make something warm, given the horrid weather."

"Yeah, what's going on with that?" Paradise asked, annoyed by the sudden drop in temperature.

Sophie looked a little unsettled. "Don't you worry, dear, we'll keep you safe today. Nimbus and Javi will have the challenge under control."

"We really appreciate it. I trust you all are taking the necessary precautions," Lio said, but Paradise didn't seem as convinced, and Martin adjusted his glasses with a skeptical frown.

Meanwhile, Iggy seemed to be paying more to his bowl of food than the weather. "Whoa, this smells great!"

"I used to make this all the time back in Jamaica. It was one of my son's favorites," Sophie recounted.

He nodded thoughtfully. "That explains it. The food in Puerto Rico has some of the same spices."

"Since when are you a foodie?" Lio, who was behind him in line, asked.

"I need to know what I'm putting in my body. How else would I be able to get like this?" He gestured at himself with a smug expression. "…plus I used to cook and bake a lot with my little brother," he admitted.

Confessional: Iggy

"Y'know, I kind of assumed she just had these magic mom powers to cook food that reminded everyone of home."

"It's kind of funny seeing where everyone will sit now," Paradise remarked to Tanja. As expected, the two of them were together, as were Iggy and Lio.

"That's not the word I would think to use. You find amusement in this type of thing?" Tanja asked. "It is just stressful to me…"

Paradise giggled and shrugged. "I'm no Maggie. Obviously. But I like watching people. Back home I always got, like, so bored, and seeing Mother bicker with the groundskeeper was probably the most interesting thing that happened in a week."

"I was always busy volunteering or helping my family. I never had the time to concern myself with others' petty affairs."

Paradise quirked an eyebrow. "Petty is subjective."

"…fair point," Tanja conceded.

Paradise then was surprised to notice that Selene was practically dragging Martin off to sit with her. "Wait… since when was that a thing?"

"Martin did tell me he talked with her over the weekend," Tanja explained. "I did not see much of him this weekend though."

Confessional: Paradise

"Duh, Tanja should be spending time with me, not him."

"Whatever. At this point I'm just hoping he comes around, he looked kind of really miserable," Paradise continued. "And aren't we missing someone?"

As if on cue, Kit finally dashed into the mess hall, looking pretty disheveled and flustered. "Why is there ice coming out of the sky?" they asked hysterically.

Sophie had been just about to go out into the storm when they had run in, and she looked relieved. "Oh, there you are! I was worried your soup would get cold."

Kit tapped their pointer fingers together. "Sorry, I was busy taking care of some stuff, hehe."

The scene briefly cut to just a bit earlier that day, where Kit was furtively watching from the window of the "not-men's" cabin as the other campers made a mad dash for the mess hall while trying to shield themselves from the hail that had just started coming down. Once they were sure they were alone, they headed over to Paradise's bed and reached under her pillow. Sure enough, they pulled out Earl's clipboard, and they wasted no time in somehow shoving the entire thing into their pocket.

Confessional: Kit

Inside the confessional, they seemed absolutely terrified of what they had done, but they gave a sigh of relief once they shut the door, then proudly showed the clipboard to the camera. "This is the same hand alright," they concluded, looking at Earl's notes side by side with the missing page they had from when they had first stolen the scientist's umbrella. They then squinted at the messy writing. "I think. I dunno if those are supposed to be letters, or if it's a code or some other doohickey."

"When I can't read the words, I usually just look at the pictures, hehe." They flipped through the pages of notes, and showed a diagram to the camera. It depicted a mountain, surrounded by different types of clouds with their positions marked by arrows.

Their nervous gaze turned to the door. "I need to put this right back where I found it. I just had to see for myself."

Confessional: Maggie

"Hmph, after everything I tried with Paradise, how is Kit the one who gets away with it?" she whined, sitting on a crate in the Loser Cruiser confessional room.

Kit took their bowl and looked between the three groups in the mess hall, seeming a little intimidated by the situation. Iggy and Lio seemed to be having an animated conversation, as were Paradise and Tanja, while Martin was awkwardly sitting with Selene who was rambling on about something. They finally elected to sit with the pair of Gryphons. Paradise looked less than thrilled but Tanja gave them a friendly nod.

"So, uh, the weather, right?" Kit tried to start a conversation, tapping their pointer fingers together.

"Yeah, it's awful, what else is new?" Paradise responded sarcastically.

Tanja gave a bewildered shake of her head. "I am guessing our challenge will have to be indoors today."

"Um, Martin knows that I'm sticking with you guys now, right?" Kit asked Tanja.

The activist flinched at that. "Well, I… haven't had a chance to tell him yet," she said regretfully.

"Like, he didn't tell us he's Selene's bestie now either," Paradise cut in.

Kit anxiously stirred their soup around in their bowl. "You should, um, probably do that real soon."

"This is our chance to take out one of the Dragons, but we have to all be on the same page. Especially Martin," Paradise added with a roll of her eyes.

Tanja took a deep breath. "I will let him know as soon as I can. But we should not draw too much attention to it in front of the other team."

Confessional: Tanja

"I am really dreading resolving this all," she admitted, rubbing her temples. "At this point, everyone seems to have the understanding that all bonds are temporary. Like Kit, and Selene, and Martin still does not trust me fully. So how can I ensure we can still rely on each other during this crucial challenge?"

Confessional: Paradise

"We need Martin, and we need him present. Okay… maybe I was, like, a little bit harsh on him yesterday, but he's Tanja's alliance partner and all, so I'm sure she can sort that out. Without it taking too much time away from us, of course."

At the opposite end of the other long table, by the window, Iggy tasted his soup thoughtfully. Meanwhile, Lio absently stared out the window at the hail raining down.

It was the track star who finally broke the silence. "Your sister's been stolen by Mr. Picket."

"I noticed that too, and I think it's great that she's making friends. Perhaps he could help me get through to Selene again."

"This can't all be about Selene," Iggy snapped.

"It's also the logical way to secure the majority again, since Kit sort of hates us now."

"I'm not working with Martin."

"Why do you hate him so much?" Lio asked, changing the subject. "You two have faced off a few times in challenges, but isn't that pretty much it?"

"He's a rich boy playing an elite sport with fancy padded clothes and a flimsy metal pole," Iggy scoffed. "But he looks at me like… I came out of a dumpster and I'm not worth his time. He's so disdainful. I wanna knock him down a few pegs."

Lio quirked an eyebrow. "You're irritated… by people that think they're better than everyone?"

"Okay, what I do is different!" Iggy protested. "Anyone can run. When I win, it's because I've spent my whole life fighting for it."

"And I don't doubt that Martin trains hard too," Lio pointed out.

"I've always been happy to take any advantage I can get, and I expect others will do the same." Iggy sighed. "But, y'know, some people start with everything. And I know I didn't."

"I get it. Remember what you asked me last week during the beach challenge, about why I played on the men's volleyball team, despite being at an, ah, obvious disadvantage?" Lio recalled, and Iggy nodded. "There were people on my team who made that clear to me too. I'm not resentful of them, and arguing accomplishes nothing. Sometimes actions speak louder than words."

"I thought you were the one who always wants to talk things through."

"Maybe I'm learning from you."

Iggy furrowed his brow at that, not completely sure how to take it.

"You want to win the game and to beat Martin, that's what matters most to you. But that doesn't mean you need to treat everyone as your enemies the entire way. What am I, an enemy too?" Lio asked.

"You're someone I can always outrun," Iggy answered readily.

"Thanks, I figured as much," Lio said drily. "Okay, let's at least answer one important question. If we were able to win the vote, who would we get rid of?" he mused. "Tanja seems to be the one calling the shots for now, but Paradise is a lot more shifty than I had thought."

"I'm not that concerned. Didn't you see them in the last challenge? Tanja can't run. Her form was awful," Iggy scoffed. "But at least she tried. It's like Paradise refuses to participate in any of the physical parts of challenges, so she's not a threat at all."

He and Lio looked at each other for a moment. "I think the two of us have very different priorities here," the diplomat said finally.

Confessional: Lio

"Iggy doesn't seem to care as much, but I hate not being in the majority. Even when the odds were against me, like when my school's Gender and Sexuality Alliance needed more funding, I always found a way to get people on my side, even in a room of peers who… weren't like me. Why is it not working here?" he lamented.

"But I hate to say this, but Iggy's right. We need to focus on the game, and to do that, we need to adapt. I'll figure something out."

Confessional: Iggy

"Final seven is good and all, but that's still kind of a lot of people. In track, you don't get to celebrate just 'cause you won your heat. That's when you know the next race is gonna be even harder. As much as I want to abandon Lio and focus on just winning every single challenge until the finale, maybe I'll see what his plan is for now."

At another table nearby, Martin took a small spoonful of his soup, while across from him, Selene was drinking directly from the bowl.

The follower finally set her bowl down, and proceeded to wipe her mouth on her sleeve. Martin visibly cringed when he saw this, but she didn't seem to notice.

"So, how long have you been fighting for?" Selene asked.

"You mean my fencing?"

Selene nodded, before diving back into her soup bowl.

"For the entirety of my life, really," Martin recalled. "I suppose I was fortunate to have access to a local club. Other sports never interested me, but I found swordplay to be so elegant and precise compared to the mindless aggression present in so many other games. There is even a priority system for who can be on the offense, a 'right of way.'"

Selene seemed to miss the point entirely. "I fought a lot when I was little, too. I even bit someone once," she said proudly. Martin looked concerned at that. "Lio would usually stop me before I got to that point though. I don't think I had the right of way. Ever." She looked a little downcast at that. "So it's fun when someone actually wants to fight with me."

"Fencing for me is a chance to do something that never occurs on a day-to-day basis," Martin agreed.

"So we can keep fighting, right?" Selene asked gleefully.

Confessional: Selene

"This is so exciting! Martin is tall, and smart, and, um… tall, he can totally be my new Lio!" She then stopped herself. "Wait. I thought I didn't want a new Lio… but I do still want to be his friend."

Confessional: Martin

"I have enjoyed training with Selene, but I… did not anticipate how eager she would be to continue. I find it minutely unsettling how she has continued to pursue me. She is clearly going through some internal struggles that I do not find myself equipped to assist in."

All of a sudden, the campers were interrupted by the sound of a whistle, similar to an old-fashioned steam engine. Kit instantly ran to the window to investigate, and gawked at the sight of Javi's ATV. Naila was riding shotgun next to Javi who was driving. It had been decked out with bigger, more robust tires with snow chains on them, but more notably, it now had a massive canopy mounted on top of it. This was the thing that Javi had been assembling earlier, and it had the same foldable skeleton of an umbrella, but with metal plates in place of a fabric canopy. The occasional falling hailstone bounced harmlessly off of it. In addition, the truck was now towing a small procession of two passenger cars behind it, with equally robust all-terrain wheels. The first one just looked like a bare wheeled platform with a metal railing going all around the edges and reaching about waist height. However, the second car was a more complete carriage with a metal roof and walls, and it had benches for all the campers to sit inside, but was currently only occupied by Nimbus.

Javi skillfully parked right next to the mess hall so the building's awning would protect them from the hail, and Nimbus hopped out of the passenger car. "Good morning campers!" the rock star called out, cheerfully as ever.

"Morning, Mr. Cloudbreak!" Lio responded, but as usual, none of the other campers seemed to pay the host any attention. Kit was still transfixed by the new upgrades to the vehicle, while Paradise was filing her nails and Iggy was doing his usual warm-up stretches.

"Naila, would you do the honors?" Nimbus asked, and the prankster materialized behind him and cackled before blasting Javi's air horn, causing Kit to jump several feet into the air and the other campers to begrudgingly turn and look.

"Today, we're going on a field trip!" Nimbus announced.

Paradise narrowed her eyes. "Even in this weather?"

"Especially in this weather!" Nimbus responded cheerfully. "We didn't feel like dealing with the hail, and we're not gonna coop you up in the mess hall for a challenge, so we had a new venue in mind that will be plenty safe… if we can make it there in one piece."

Confessional: Paradise

"That's weird, I didn't think a little bit of ice falling from the sky would be enough for them to change their challenge plans."

Suddenly there was a loud thump as a hailstone hit the roof of the confessional booth, causing small cracks to form on the ceiling. Paradise flinched. "Okay, I know nothing about hail," she admitted.

"Thankfully, Javi has rigged up a safe means of transportation to get us where we need to go." Nimbus gestured out the window at the ATV's new train-like setup. "…but there's no guarantee once the challenge starts."

"And as it turns out," Javi interrupted with a malicious smirk as he joined the others in the mess hall, "the challenge starts as soon as you get on." A few of the campers groaned at this.

"You should be thanking us!" Nimbus said. "I don't know about you guys, but I hate long car rides, and what better way to ease the boredom than to play a game? And besides… if you complete this challenge, you might just win a special advantage in the main challenge."

That information finally piqued the interest of some of the campers, especially Iggy and Martin.

Javi stepped forward. "We've been throwing a lot at you guys these days, so we thought we'd let you kids warm up with a simple endurance game of 'say uncle.' You can probably see that we have two passenger cars." He pointed out the features as he explained. "The wimp car has a roof. The challenge car doesn't. You can choose which one to ride in. If you manage to stay in the challenge car for the entire ride, without giving up or falling off, then you'll win an advantage in the next part of the challenge. Straightforward enough, right?"

"There's always a twist," Martin muttered.

Javi glared at him. "Well, since you said something… maybe I'll let Naila drive."

The prankster rubbed her hands together malevolently, and even Nimbus looked at Javi with an expression of pure terror.

"Does she even have a driver's license?" Tanja asked skeptically.

"Relax, Gremlin's used excavator mode before, and we were reviewing all the controls on the drive here. She's a lot better driver than you'd think… when she wants to be." Javi pat Naila on the back, looking much like a proud father, but knowing what he was like, this just made the campers even more uneasy. "So… all aboard!" he hollered.

Paradise grabbed Tanja's arm and immediately tried to drag her to the wimp car. "Seriously? I'm not stupid. This challenge is, like, so not worth it."

"You don't even want to try?" the activist asked her incredulously.

"If I try and fail, I'll be worse off than if I just sat out to begin with, duh. Don't you not want anyone to get hurt? You'll come with me, right?"

"Well, I don't know. An advantage in the main challenge, and we could stand a chance."

"There's no way in hell I'm standing out there in the freakin' hail! There are other ways to get an advantage," Paradise said confidently.

Confessional: Paradise

"This isn't the main challenge, so I'm not going to waste my effort on it. I'm, like, not as strong as Selene or as fast as Iggy, so we'll see if they just take each other out. Preferably sooner rather than later."

Confessional: Tanja

"It does not sit right with me to just give up before the challenge has even begun. There was once a time where I was too scared to my ground and would run from any challenge, and I paid dearly. But I suppose Paradise has a point."

"And besides," she admitted, looking at the ground. "It will be nice to spend more time with her."

Confessional: Martin

"…oh hail no."

After a long moment in which he was staring at the camera with a completely stoic expression, he finally burst out laughing.

"I suppose I see no disadvantage to participating," Martin said.

"Um, getting hit by hail?" Lio asked.

The fencer adjusted his glasses. "I simply will not get hit."

"Well, you can count me in too," Iggy declared. "There's no way I'm handing over the win!"

"So, if we all manage to stay on for the entire time, we'll all get the advantage?" Lio asked.

Nimbus nodded. "I guess so… well, Paradise and Tanja won't," he responded. "Thankfully, 'cause I would be so bored having to ride in the wimp car all alone."

Confessional: Paradise

"Okay, maybe that was a miscalculation on my part," she grumbled. "I thought it was going to just be me and Tanja, but if Nimbus is going to be with us and blabbing on and on the whole time, that sounds almost as unpleasant as being pelted by hail."

"Anyone else?" Nimbus asked.

Selene raised her hand. "I want to try!"

Lio looked a little more hesitant. "Well, if Selene is doing it…"

Confessional: Lio

"It's my job to protect her, and I haven't been doing much of that lately. I need to show my team—I mean, my allies… I mean, everyone really, I guess—what I am capable of, and that will restore their faith in me for certain!"

That left one camper not accounted for. "You coming, Kit?" Javi asked, as the engineer was just standing there in fright, hands in their pockets.

All of a sudden, Kit pulled a bright yellow hard hat out of their pocket and put it on their head, before stepping forward determinedly.

Javi looked at Kit's pocket, then the hard hat, then Kit's pocket again, trying to comprehend the spatial impossibility. "Ay, mije," he finally chided with a shake of his head.

Naila then honked the ATV's horn impatiently. She had taken her position in the driver's seat of the vehicle. Javi grumbled to himself and headed over to sit next to her.

"Alright, Paradise and Tanja, come with me." Nimbus beckoned the pair towards the wimp car. Paradise was more enthusiastic, and seemed relieved to be sitting, while Tanja still seemed hesitant to be sitting out. "And the rest of you…" The rock star then turned to the remaining five contestants. "Good luck." He gave a sinister chuckle, then turned to enter the wimp car as well.

"I know this is a challenge, but you all should be careful," Tanja murmured to the other contestants.

"Passing up an advantage for the elimination challenge sounds pretty careless to me," Iggy sneered, and Paradise glared at him. But despite this, he didn't seem too eager to get onto the challenge car, and neither did any of the others. As the campers shared nervous glances amongst themselves, as if willing each other to make the first move, Naila honked the ATV's horn again.

"Look mija, you can change the sound of the horn." Javi pointed out a feature on the dashboard to Naila. She pressed some buttons as she honked the horn, and it played the sound of a foghorn, then a barking dog, then something that sounded suspiciously flatulent. "No, Gremlin, not that one," Javi quickly amended. "The raptors might hear."

Iggy snickered, while Martin just shook his head disapprovingly.

"Chicos! We don't have all day!" Javi barked, gesturing at the challenge car. "Wimp out if you must, but we really don't want to be driving back from the challenge site in the dark."

"Aaaall abooooard!" Naila called out, and gave an unsettling grin.

The five remaining campers looked amongst each other fearfully. Then they heard another hailstone hitting the roof, this one sounding noticeably louder than the others. Kit jumped, startled. "Eek, that's a big ice rock!"

"The wimp car is that way," Iggy jeered at them.

Kit adjusted their helmet, experimentally testing it by hitting it with their fist. They took a deep breath, and then stepped out into the hailstorm. Their hard hat seemed to be protecting them pretty well, and they flinched when a hailstone bounced off of it, but otherwise seemed unharmed.

"We have our first contestant in the challenge car!" Nimbus declared as Kit clambered onto the wooden platform and took their place.

"Oh come on, that's cheating," Iggy grumbled.

Kit looked at Iggy. "The Loser Cruiser is that way." They looked about as surprised by their own remark as the now furious track star did.

Confessional: Iggy

"Oh come on, do they seriously think they can talk like that? At least Martin has the skills to back it up." He pounded his fist into his palm. "Okay, I've learned not to underestimate Kit too much, but that doesn't mean they're not going down… it's good to have good competition, it makes me want to get even stronger."

Iggy ran out the door of the mess hall after Kit and cleanly leaped over the railing of the challenge car, landing in the bed of the car. "See, it's not that hard," he gloated as he quickly darted to the side to dodge one of the falling hailstones, then grabbed the rail for balance. But then another hailstone bounced off of Kit's helmet and hit him in the chest.

"Hey, watch it!" he snapped, but Kit just shrugged.

"That's part of the challenge, hehe."

Lio cautiously got onto the challenge car next, trying to shield his face. "This is crazy!"

"It's taken you until now to realize that?" Iggy retorted. "Like this is any worse than the bear."

"But this is the actual challenge!" The diplomat was still almost hysterical. "The bear wasn't supposed to be part of that challenge, was it?"

"No comment," Javi cut in, having overheard, and Lio groaned in exasperation.

Confessional: Javi

"In our defense, we told them not to go past the safe zone in the woods, and did they listen? But those areas won't always be forbidden. There's been plenty of time to survey them since that challenge. Let's just say we were… saving them for a rainy day, heheh."

"Tanja?" Martin asked. "Would you hold onto my glasses for the challenge? You're the only one here I trust sufficiently."

Tanja was taken aback slightly by this. "Of course you can count on me… but do you not need those to see?"

"I do, but it is more likely that they would just get damaged."

"Wait, your glasses aren't just for the aesthetic?" Paradise asked, feigning surprise.

Confessional: Tanja

"He still wants to rely on me. Then what was going on earlier with Selene?"

She sighed. "I suppose I have not been completely honest with him as well. I am aware that I am playing both sides, but I would never let anyone down!"

Confessional: Selene

"Yeah, I wouldn't trust me either," she said cheerfully.

Confessional: Martin

Now without his glasses, he squinted at the camera. "Everything looks slightly blurry, but I am sure I will manage if I utilize my other senses as well. Perhaps it would have been more pragmatic for me to wear my contacts today. But… I do like the aesthetic of my glasses," he admitted.

Even without his glasses, Martin had been watching the others carefully, and finally felt ready to board the challenge car. He kept his distance from Kit and all the hailstones that they were deflecting, all while dodging the falling projectiles with ease.

However, he was thrown off balance when Selene jumped onto the car, causing the entire platform to shake. Kit especially was thrown around, being the smallest and lightest by a pretty clear margin.

"Looks like that's everyone!" Javi called out.

Naila cackled and immediately floored the gas. All of the campers were caught off guard by both how quickly she had accelerated and how icy the floor of the challenge car was getting already. They all slipped backwards and fell in a heap against the back railing, right in front of the wimp car.

From their safety sitting in the covered car, Tanja cringed while Nimbus whooped. "Nice save!" the rock star cheered.

"You've gotta do better than that!" Iggy shouted as he got back on his feet, taking his position in the center of the car again, though he was more cautious of the slippery ground now.

Selene punched away a hailstone, while Kit army-crawled on their belly back to their spot in the corner. Lio was doing his best to shield himself but he kept getting hit, and Martin was also struggling due to his bad vision. The hailstorm continued, with most of the chunks being smaller than a golf ball, but fast and frequent enough for the hits to sting even through the campers' clothes.

Confessional: Lio

"So this is just the customary 'people getting hurt is good entertainment' challenge, isn't it." He shook his head disapprovingly. "I thought Mr. Garcia was better than this."

Just then, Naila made a sharp turn. Martin, who had been focused on moving around to dodge the hailstones, lost his footing. But this time, Selene grabbed the back of his sweater with one hand while holding on to the railing with the other. "I got you, fighting partner!" But suddenly, the car hit a bump and she accidentally dropped Martin. He fell to the floor a second time, skidded into Kit, who didn't see him since they were still curled up in the corner, and bounced right back like a game of pinball, landing at Selene's feet. "Sorry!" Selene yelled as Martin fumbled to get back up on the slippery floor.

All the while, Naila was driving the cars away, further inland past the forest that some of the previous challenges had taken place in. The procession already looked precarious, with the small ATV pulling the two bulky passenger cars, even before the dangerous speed and winding path were taken into account.

Inside the wimp car, Paradise and Tanja stared out the window in amazement.

"We get a lot of rain back home in Portland, but I never thought I would see something like this," Tanja murmured.

"Yeah, I thought the only places this actually happened were, like, on top of Mount Everest or something."

Tanja gave her a funny look. "I think it is rare in a tropical climate like this, but it is more widespread than that."

Paradise shrugged. "Whatever, it's not like I think about many more places besides home anyways."

"Really?" Tanja couldn't help but be a bit curious. "Not even given the… difficulties of your home life? Have you never dreamed of living elsewhere?" She was relieved when Paradise seemed okay with the question.

"Okay, maybe I have, actually," she admitted. "I don't know a lot of the details, I honestly don't think I even know enough geography for that, but I've always imagined a big city somewhere sunny. Hail is, like, the last thing I want!"

Confessional: Earl

He was in the confessional room aboard the Loser Cruiser, looking out the porthole. Suddenly, he pulled out a piece of paper with his research notes, and stuck it up on the wall. "Hail requires specific conditions to form, and it is different from simple frozen rain or sleet." He gestured to the diagrams using his glass stirring rod to point at different parts. "It requires an updraft to carry raindrops even further upwards into the atmosphere, which is what causes hailstones to reach such large sizes."

Meanwhile in the challenge car, things were expectedly a lot more hectic, but everyone was holding their own.

"Please, is that all you've got?" Iggy seemed to be directing his taunts up at the sky, as he quickly dodged the falling hailstones, running in circles around the challenge car and barely keeping his balance. Martin's movements were much more deliberate, and he maintained his footing, but still seemed a little disoriented as he couldn't see very well. Lio had none of the speed or grace of the others, along with being the largest target, but he was hanging on for dear life.

Selene, on the other hand, didn't seem to be making any efforts to dodge, just hunkering down and protecting her face as she got hit.

And lastly, Kit had huddled up in a corner and curled into a ball, holding on for dear life and hoping their hard hat would protect them.

Confessional: Kit

"Well, the sky-ice-rocks are pretty small, and my builder-hat is pretty big," they reasoned. "I dunno why everyone else is running around. I just need to make myself small and get hit less times than they do."

Confessional: Javi

"Geez, these guys are a lot better at this challenge than I thought they would be. I especially wasn't expecting the… turtle strategy. Thankfully, we still have a few twists prepared, heheh." He held up a remote that was presumably connected to the weather machine. "I can't let the real forecast steal all of my thunder, can I?"

All of a sudden, the clouds above rumbled and a new hailstone came plummeting down, but this one was long and pointed. "Look out!" Lio pulled Selene out of the way, and the sharp cone of ice embedded itself in the bed of the wimp car.

"It appears my vision is worse than I had anticipated," Martin said disbelievingly. "Or did that really just fall from the sky?"

Kit just whimpered and curled up into an even tighter ball, still holding on to the railing in the corner.

Iggy kicked the ice and it fell over, revealing that it had pierced clean through the floor of the challenge car, and it now had a small hole.

In the wimp car behind them, Tanja pressed her nose to the window. "That looked like an icicle. I don't think that one fell from a tree. How would an icicle possibly come from the sky?" she asked. "There's nothing it could form on!"

Nimbus shook his head. "You're asking me?"

Paradise rolled her eyes. "I don't know, maybe a seagull was carrying it," she said sarcastically.

All the competitors in the challenge seemed pretty shaken, but when the next icicle fell, Selene was ready. She punched it and it shattered, sending ice shards flying everywhere.

Naila took another sharp turn, and the group headed into a denser section of the woods. The prankster expertly wove through the trees.

Lio looked up at the canopy above. Mercifully, it provided a bit of shelter from the hail, but then he had to quickly duck to avoid a low branch. Selene wasn't as lucky, and the branch hit her in the head.

"Mean tree!" She grabbed the branch, broke it on her knee, and threw the two halves away. Martin jumped to the side to avoid being hit in the head by one of the pieces.

"Next stop, the Great River Cloudbreak!" Naila called out. Suddenly, she floored the gas pedal and the entire procession lurched forward. Sure enough, right in front of them was the river where the campers had raced in dragon boats the previous week. It looked more like a small stream, having dried out after the last few sunny days, but it was a water hazard nonetheless, and the prankster fearlessly steered right towards it.

"Mija, wait-" Javi started to say, until he realized that Naila had a plan. She drove towards a fallen log on the side of the river, using it like a jump ramp. The ATV flew into the air at top speed and sailed clean over the river. However, those in the back weren't as lucky. Nimbus looked down at the river out the back window, and as all three cars hung cartoonishly in the air, everyone realized that the back cars weren't going to clear the riverbank fully. Naila began to panic, clutching the steering wheel as she continued to press the gas pedal. The ATV's wheels spun helplessly in midair. All five campers in the challenge car were huddled together in fear.

Javi was the only one who stayed calm. He reached over and hit a button on the dashboard, and jet boosters came out of the sides of the ATV, propelling it and its two trailing cars through the air. All three cars landed back on solid ground, though the back wheels of the wimp car kicked up some mud and it splattered on the back window, causing Paradise to shudder in disgust. They all bounced a few times, the wheels' suspension working overtime, but the train zipped forward again, not giving anyone a chance to breathe.

Javi turned back to look at the campers in the challenge car, who were all sprawled out in one big pile on the bed of the car. "See, not a scratch," he said smugly.

Naila nudged Javi. "Don't worry, I knew you would do that."

The mechanic shook his head. "Eyes on the road, Gremlin." He then chanced a glance back even further, past the five contestants, and to the covered wimp car. "Everything okay back there?" he called out, and, only to realize he couldn't see Nimbus, Paradise, or Tanja at all since massive airbags had been deployed inside the car. He clucked his tongue and pressed another button, causing them to slowly deflate and the passengers to appear again, disoriented but unharmed.

The hail continued to fall as the campers tried to get their bearings after the unexpected jump. Iggy was at the bottom of the pile, trying to disentangle himself. "Ow, get off of me!" he shouted as he kicked Kit away. But then there was a loud clang and he recoiled his leg in pain when it hit something metal that the tinkerer had in their pocket.

"Are you alive?" Selene asked Martin. She grabbed the fencer by the back of his sweatshirt and set him back on his feet, but he barely had time to regain his footing before Naila ran over another rock.

"Are we sure this car is even safe?" Paradise asked Nimbus as she listened to the sound of ice hitting the roof of the wimp car.

Another round of the icicles started to fall, sending the campers scrambling. They all managed to avoid getting hit, but one of them hit the fence surrounding the challenge car dead-on, causing the wood to splinter. Kit whimpered from their place but stayed put.

"This is ridiculous," Lio complained as he brushed ice shards out of his hair. "There's no way this is legal." Another icicle embedded itself in the bed of the challenge car, barely an inch from his toes. "That's it! I'm out!"

But before he could get to the wimp car properly, the car hit a bump and he finally lost his balance and fell over the side of the railing and onto the ground.

"Lio!" Selene shouted.

The ATV just kept going, taking both cars and all the campers with it. "Wait!" Lio ran after them, covering his head.

"Mija, wait. You can't just leave them behind completely," Javi chided Naila. The prankster pouted and hit the brakes hard, the sudden stop catching the remaining passengers off guard. Selene skidded towards the front railing and tripped over Kit, who was still cowering on the edge. She managed to stay on the platform and grab the railing before she fell.

Tanja quickly opened the door of the wimp car to help Lio inside before he could get pelted by any more hail.

"Well, that was humiliating," he grumbled.

Paradise giggled. "You can say that again."

Tanja nudged the heiress and gave her a disapproving look.

As Naila wove through the forest, the remaining contestants weren't faring much better, Martin and Selene especially, having to duck to avoid the low branches. "I guess this is the one time I'm happy to be lower to the ground," Iggy admitted as he watched Martin lean backwards to go underneath a branch like it was a limbo pole, expertly maintaining his footing. Meanwhile, Kit was still hunkered down in the corner with their helmet.

As they went deeper into the woods, the landscape grew more icy, with frost on the trees. Even the bed of the challenge car had started to gain a thin coating of ice, which made it even more difficult for the campers to keep their footing.

Martin seemed completely concentrated as he dodged the hailstones, and he had taken to keeping an eye on Naila while she was driving to anticipate when she would turn. Meanwhile Iggy was running around more haphazardly but seemed to be avoiding most of the hail by speed alone, and Selene was just shrugging off most of the ice that hit her, using her arms to shield herself or swat aside the hailstones when she could.

"Wait a second, aren't we leaving the boundary?" Paradise asked, as they passed a tree with a ragged strand of orange tape tied to one of the branches.

Nimbus waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it."

On the way, Iggy noticed a bear lounging against a tree while eating some kind of carcass. It glared at him, before it was hit in the head with a hailstone.

Confessional: Iggy

"I swear, that was the same bear that Ollie and I ran into during the scavenger hunt."

The bear picked up the hailstone and angrily threw it, and it hit the back of the wimp car. Nimbus screamed.

While Paradise and Lio also rightfully seemed terrified, Tanja just watched thoughtfully. "I wonder if the wildlife is suited to this weather, or if the animals are as disturbed by it as we are."

"That would explain why the seagulls were so aggressive at the beach challenge," Lio noted with a shudder. "I'm really not a fan of wild animals at all, they can be so unpredictable."

"Not to mention them just being all icky," Paradise added. "Like, rabies and stuff."

"You do not need to be in love with them all, we just need to coexist," Tanja insisted. "Animals do not attack for no reason at all, but the weather-"

"Um, there was, like, clearly more than the weather that was messing with the birds," Paradise interrupted with a shake of your head. "I mean, Tanja, you probably know more about animals than I do, but I wouldn't be surprised if Naila or Javi provoked the seagulls on purpose."

Nimbus cleared his throat, causing everyone in the wimp car to look at him.

"Oh, I forgot you were here," Paradise admitted.

"But if you were wondering, I won't confirm or deny anything about Javi's… uh, I mean our methods!" the rock star insisted, putting his hands up. "Theorize all you want."

Nobody noticed that the bear was sniffing at the tire tracks left by the ATV. After a moment, it got up and started to follow them.

Confessional: Nimbus

He was combing his hair while looking at a handheld mirror. "I think Javi might've said he did something with the seagulls? But they also could've just been disturbed by the weather or camp in general, I wasn't really paying attention."

"I thought this would be a simple challenge, but everyone is approaching it differently," Paradise observed as she watched from the wimp car. Whether it was Selene's strength, Iggy's speed, or Martin's agility, the campers were settling into a rhythm. Kit peeked out from between their fingers to see all three of them struggling with the hail, when they themself had only gotten hit a few times.

"We really need Martin to pull through here," Tanja murmured, her nose pressed to the window as she followed the challengers intently. "I think he could be in trouble today."

"I mean, better him than us," Paradise remarked, and Tanja frowned at that. The heiress then turned to Lio, who seemed to still be recovering from his brief run in the challenge. "I'm right, aren't I? Martin's the biggest threat out of our group."

Lio brushed himself off, trying to maintain some semblance of dignity. "Well, I will say this. I am less concerned about threat level, and more about willingness to cooperate."

Confessional: Lio

"Honestly, I've been a lot more wary of Paradise since she tricked us with the net trap during that last challenge. I don't know what she's up to, or why, and I don't like that. I don't think she even tells Tanja about what she's thinking most of the time."

"That's it! Communication is key, and if they're not… maybe I can find a way to break up Paradise and Tanja, like how Eris started the Trojan War with her apple of discord- wait, why am I even considering such a blasphemous act! Everyone would lose their faith in me for sure, even if I'm only acting to keep my team around."

He stared at the camera for a moment. "…nobody is listening to these things, right?"

"I wouldn't worry too much though," Paradise concluded. "He has a plan."

True to the heiress' words, one difference in the contestants' methods was that Iggy and Selene were both focused only on the immediate threats, while Martin continued to observe his surroundings.

All of a sudden, something seemed to finally have clicked for the fencer, and he quickly lunged and sidestepped around the challenge car with not a single hailstone hitting him, even the ones that were in larger and unnaturally sharp shapes.

Confessional: Martin

"I know that finding regularity in a natural phenomenon is quite an illogical endeavor, but I will notice patterns even subconsciously. After all, being unpredictable is highly difficult in fencing, and once you understand your opponent's predisposition to certain maneuvers, securing victory will be trivial. So I saw that there is something wrong with this hail, if you will excuse my crude language. It is too regular, and the hailstones come at such even intervals. If I was not so confident in the infeasibility, I would have believed that a massive version of The Refrigerator from the music video challenge was up there flying in the sky and shooting hailstones at us."

Confessional: Javi

He was looking at the blueprints for The Refrigerator inside the confessional. "Hmm… that's not a bad idea."

The ride continued on, and the trees finally thinned, giving way to a more mountainous landscape. Selene was getting worn down by all the hailstones hitting her, while Iggy had to stop running around to catch his breath. All of a sudden, the bed of the challenge car started shaking as Naila drove through a patch of gravel, cackling all the while.

In the wimp car, Paradise screamed and clung to Tanja.

"Javi!" Nimbus shouted. "Couldn't you make this a little smoother for us?"

Naila turned to look back at Nimbus and stuck her tongue out.

"Gremlin, eyes on the road!" Javi barked, and Naila swerved just in time to avoid a tree, causing all the passengers to scream, in the wimp and challenge car alike.

Martin was trying his best to dodge the hailstones that appeared, but even he was having trouble keeping his footing, especially after the car made another sharp turn.

Confessional: Martin

"Even with the predictability of the climate, there's still one source of entropy in this challenge." He reached for the bridge of his nose, then appeared slightly baffled when he couldn't find his glasses. "…Naila."

The ATV and its small train of passenger cars continued Iggy looked around at the contestants remaining. Martin was dodging around with expert precision, while Selene was blocking the hail with her arms and shrugging off most of the hits. But then his gaze fell on Kit hunkered down in their corner. They had been hit a few times, but refused to let go.

"C'mon, you really think that hiding in the corner is going to save you?" the track star scoffed. "Get up and actually do the chal- whoa!" He was quickly forced to dodge as another icicle fell.

Kit peeked out from between their arms that were both covering their face. "You're the one that doesn't know how to play the challenge smart."

Before Iggy could respond, Naila drove over a bump and he slipped on a patch of ice on the bed of the challenge car. Iggy growled at them. "I'll show you that smart doesn't win you challenges, because I'm gonna win this even though I'm not smart… okay, that sounded a lot better in my head."

Confessional: Iggy

"The nerve of them to insult me like that. If they're gonna use everything they have at their disposal, then of course I'm gonna do the same. Clever tricks are no match for all my hard work and training. Even in the last beach challenge, we would've won if Ollie hadn't decided to save us instead of going after Tanja." He glared at the camera. "I never would've gotten anywhere in life by hiding in the corner, so I'm sticking to what I can do well."

Before Kit realized what was going on, Iggy had grabbed them underneath their arms and lifted them up completely. He was trying to pry them away from the railing. In this position, both of them were left completely exposed, and were getting pelted with hail.

"Give -ow- up yet?" Iggy grunted, and Kit shook their head and clung tight to the railing with both hands.

Martin didn't pay them any heed, being in the zone dodging, while Selene seemed slightly concerned by what was happening but unsure if she should intervene or not. "Wait, don't do that!" she yelled, before punching away another hailstone.

In the wimp car, Nimbus cheered enthusiastically as Iggy tried to wrestle Kit over the top edge of the railing and out of the challenge car. Paradise was trying not to laugh, but Lio and Tanja were both less amused as they watched.

Finally, a hailstone struck Kit's hand, causing them to let go, and Iggy shoved them over the railing. They landed on the icy ground, still curled up in a ball.

"Ring out!" Nimbus shouted, loudly enough for Paradise to glare at him for it. Meanwhile, Naila honked the horn of the ATV, causing it to make an explosion sound effect, then she hit the brakes.

When the cars slowed down, Tanja got out to help Kit into the wimp car. The tinkerer looked a little woozy as they finally sat down. They shivered and brushed some of the ice chunks off of their coat. They were still wearing their hard hat, and every so often, they would glance at the window as if they were still expecting hail to be hitting them.

"That still went better than I thought it would," they declared.

Confessional: Kit

"I just wanted to see what trying a very different tactic from everyone else would look like, hehe. I'm not that worried, since I still have another challenge, especially with the help of my thingamabobs." They patted their pockets. "I just hope Tanja and Paradise can protect me from Iggy… and maybe that Tanja can protect me from Paradise too…"

Naila floored the gas as she drove them up an even steeper path, causing the remaining three campers in the challenge car to all slide backwards.

"We're almost there!" Javi shouted cheerfully to the challenge car.

Selene gave a sheepish wave to Kit in the wimp car, who was fishing the hailstones out of their pockets. Something finally occurred to her. "Wait, we're allowed to push people off?"

"You bet!" Nimbus called out excitedly, though his voice was muffled due to the walls of the wimp car and the din of hail hitting the roof.

"Took them all long enough to start fighting," Javi muttered to Naila.

Selene's attention turned to Iggy and Martin, who exchanged identical glances of horror. As if on cue, a dark cloud drifted over the sun, casting an ominous shadow over them as it continued to hail and Naila laughed maniacally in the background.

Selene shouted a battle cry and charged directly at Iggy, trying to grab him like he had just done to Kit. The track star quickly jumped out of the way, and Selene started chasing him around the car.

Martin was having trouble keeping track of them both while still avoiding the hail, especially with his limited vision. But then he closed his eyes for a moment and listened for the footsteps. In a single swift motion, he extended a leg to trip Selene, and she hit the floor hard.

However, what he hadn't anticipated was for the brawler to kick his legs out from under him on the way down. The entire car rocked from the scuffle that was going on, causing Iggy to lose his balance as well, all as the train of cars careened on up the mountain path and hail continued to fall.

Selene was the first to recover, disentangling herself from the pile and crawling away to pick herself back up. However, her movements seemed a little slower, and she was breathing heavily. A big hailstone fell and landed at her feet, the impact having enough force to make a crater in the wood floor.

Iggy and Martin slowly started to get up as well, and for a single moment, the two made eye contact.

"Selene, be careful!" Lio shouted, his face pressed to the window of the wimp car. "There's no need to fight anyone, you can just hang on!" The follower didn't seem to hear him at all. She had a wild look in her eyes.

"Stop it, you're blocking my view!" Nimbus tried to drag the diplomat away from the window.

Confessional: Lio

"So, yeah, this is what Selene is like when she's left unchecked. Even in sports, it gets pretty bad, but the last time she actually fought someone, it really wasn't pretty." The diplomat clearly hadn't heard about Selene's sparring session with Martin a few days prior. "No matter what anyone says or does to you, violence is never the answer." He wrung his hands nervously. "But Iggy and Martin are each other's enemies too, especially without a leader to unite them. This is really not going to be pretty."

Selene looked like an angry bull, ready to charge. Martin gave Iggy a minute nod.

Selene lunged, and at Martin's signal, he and Iggy rolled to either side of her, causing her to crash into the railing. Before she could realize what was going on, they had each grabbed one of her arms and flipped her over and out of the car. She landed on her back on the icy ground.

"That's another one down!" Javi hollered, and Naila hit the brakes.

Tanja opened the door to the wimp car and glared at the boys. "Wasn't that a little rough?"

Iggy shrugged. "I do that to Cas all the time. And I know Selene's a lot tougher than my baby brother."

Sure enough, Selene just giggled to herself and got right back up. "That was fun."

Lio escorted her into the shelter of the wimp car. "Are you hurt?"

She didn't respond, but shook herself off like a dog, sending bits of ice and dirt flying everywhere, to the horror of Paradise and Nimbus especially.

"I should have known," Lio murmured.

"I don't really get hurt," she reassured him.

"Iggy versus Martin… again!" Nimbus declared excitedly as the procession got back on the road. "How is it gonna end this time?"

Another sharp icicle fell and embedded itself in the bed of the car, this one causing some small cracks to start spiderwebbing outwards from the point of impact.

"I think they're getting bigger," Paradise remarked.

Javi noticed the cracks and frowned. "Oi Gremlin, you might want to be a little more gentle now," he whispered to Naila. "We just need to hold out for a little longer."

"You know, there's still time to drop out," Iggy sneered at Martin, but seeing as how the track star was barely standing upright while he leaned heavily on the railing, he didn't seem too convincing.

The fencer just smirked, not even giving a verbal response, which seemed to infuriate Iggy even more.

Those in the wimp car had varying levels of engagement in the standoff. Kit was just sulking to themself in the corner of the car, but the others were watching pretty intently. Tanja and Lio seemed worried, Nimbus and Selene seemed entertained, while Paradise just looked more apathetic, as the hail beat down on Martin and Iggy all the while.

Until all of a sudden, the cars began to slow down.

Despite its hectic beginning, the challenge was coming to a more anticlimactic end. Iggy and Martin looked pretty beaten, and they were both holding on for dear life, in no condition to dodge the hail anymore. However, they still glared at each other, neither one willing to drop out. The terrain grew steeper as Naila fearlessly drove the ATV through a narrow, rocky path, a canyon where the cars were barely narrow enough to squeeze through.

Then, for the last time, the truck and its procession of trailers suddenly screeched to a halt. Iggy lost his balance and skidded into the front railing of the challenge car, but he managed to hold on, still getting pelted by hailstones. They had stopped at a rockier area near the base of a mountain. The air was colder, and there was an icy coating to the ground in addition to the hailstorm.

"Mira, Gremlin, pull that lever," Javi instructed. Naila obliged, and it caused a roof to extend over the challenge car to block the hail, similar to the one in the wimp car. Martin and Iggy both breathed a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the campers in the wimp car were still sitting in shock. Kit looked pretty sick from the bumpy ride, and they were still wearing their hard hat, which even had a few dents in it. Tanja seemed worried for Martin and Iggy. She ran into the challenge car and handed the fencer his glasses back. "Are you two okay?" she asked.

Martin nodded slowly, though he was pretty bruised up. He put his glasses back on and blinked a few times. "Are these working? You still look quite blurry… That might be concerning."

Next to him, Iggy promptly collapsed onto the floor of the car.

"And we have our two winners of the advantage challenge!" Nimbus declared as he walked into the challenge car. Eventually, the rest of the campers followed him. Kit trailed behind as they looked dubiously at the roof that had just appeared, as if they didn't trust Javi's gadgets.

Lio tried to help Iggy back up, but the track star glared and scooted away. "I don't need your help," he jeered, but stayed seated. "Just… resting for a bit."

The diplomat narrowed his eyes. "Suit yourself."

Paradise looked pretty satisfied with her decision to sit out of the challenge, having seen the states of injury and exhaustion that all the participants were in. She picked up one of the unusually shaped icicle-like hailstones on the ground, and instantly flinched. "Oh, that's cold." But she didn't let go, and held it up to examine it. After a moment, she grabbed one of the smaller hailstones with her other hand and looked at them side by side.

Kit nudged Paradise. "Whatcha doing with the sky ice rocks?"

Paradise looked pretty annoyed, but showed them what they had found. "These look like two different kinds of ice. One is completely clear, while the other is more gross and lumpy."

Confessional: Kit

Instead of the usual confessional, they were sitting on one of the seats in the wimp car inside a makeshift confessional booth. A backdrop of a white sheet had been hung from the ceiling with duct tape to create a partition, and Kit looked less than amused by their new surroundings.

"I've been thinking about the diagrams from Earl's clippy-board, and the two types of sky ice rocks agree with it. I wonder if the reason why Earl had such a hard time understanding what caused the weird weather…"

Confessional: Paradise

"…was because there were multiple causes," she finished, having the same thought that Kit did. "Some weather events were just, like, regular weather, only not in season, like all the snow we got. But there are also things that don't make sense in any season or climate, like during the scavenger hunt, when there was fog that only appeared inland and appeared to be concentrated around a specific location. That's what Earl was investigating when I… sort of abandoned him. Could the source that he was looking for actually be two separate things?"

"But that challenge was just a warm-up," Nimbus continued. "Winners and wimps alike, welcome… to Mount Cloudbreak!" He made a grand gesture at the scene out the window.

Martin adjusted his recently re-acquired glasses. "Of course you called it that."

In front of them was a gaping hole in the mountain, the ominous looking entrance to a deep cavern. "This next challenge is a simple race-" Nimbus started to explain.

"Yes, bring it on!" Iggy cheered, suddenly revitalized despite the beating he had just taken, though he stayed seated.

Confessional: Iggy

"It's about time, this is just what I need!" he said determinedly. "I want to run, and I play by simple rules."

"I wasn't done yet." Nimbus glared at Iggy. "The seven of you will be racing through these ice caves. Javi?"

The mechanic left the ATV and joined the group in the passenger car with Naila alongside him, taking care as hail was still pelting the roof of the car. "This cave network has been mapped out by expert spelunker Naila, aided by some of my sonar tools," Javi explained. "But it's not all on the straight and narrow. You might find yourself climbing, jumping, or crawling… and there are plenty of dead ends." As he spoke, footage was shown of a camera zooming through a dark tunnel with a lot of sharp turns, before it abruptly ended in front of a steep rock face. There was a small light shining at the very top, showing that the path continued past the cliff.

"But to help you guys out, my friend Steven lent me some stuff," Nimbus' voice added, and another clip of footage from inside the cave showed a yellow backpack marked with the Stormbound lightning bolt logo, which was tucked in a corner amongst a pile of rocks. "So we've also set up some hidden supply caches throughout the cave. They contain gear that could be useful in your exploration… but be careful about going too out of your way to get it." A pair of glowing yellow eyes suddenly appeared in the shadows.

"And, last but not least," Javi continued, before he was interrupted by Naila.

"Behold, the cursed idol!" she yelled, and the camera cut back to the group, still gathered at the entrance of the cave. The prankster held something up to the group. It was a small statue in the shape of a bird of prey that was wearing sunglasses. It had jagged blue and yellow feathers and a long head crest that looked a bit like a rooster's comb and a lot like Nimbus' rat tail hairstyle.

"If you win the challenge, you will receive the thunderbird statue, which grants you a special power: all votes against you will be nullified in tonight's elimination ceremony," Nimbus revealed. "But you have to bring it to the ceremony for it to work."

"And that means you're going to have to fight for it, ahahaha!" Naila finished. The campers eyed each other warily.

Confessional: Paradise

"This changes a lot," she thought aloud. "I think there might be a lot of competition for the idol, and, like, I still obviously can't hold my own against the likes of Iggy or Martin."

Confessional: Kit

"Ooh… it's shiny…"

"But there's one last thing." Javi added. "Winning is great and all, and finding the statue of Nimbus' fursona is great too…"

"Wait- hey!" Nimbus protested, but Javi ignored him.

"But that's just one side of the coin, and alongside a winner, there has to be a loser."

"So, are we not voting for the loser normally?" Paradise asked. "Then what about the idol?"

"Oh, the vote is still happening," Javi confirmed with a sinister chuckle. "This is just a little… extra motivation, shall we call it. The last one through the tunnels will have to spend the evening before the ceremony helping Sophie in the kitchen. And I heard there are a lot of dishes to do tonight."

The campers all groaned at this.

Confessional: Iggy

"Sure, I'm not saying that it doesn't suck to do chores, I try to make Cas do my chores whenever I can, but seriously? The last one to arrive should go home, simple as that."

He stopped to think for a moment. "I get it now. If I'm stuck in the kitchen then I won't be able to talk with anyone and plan before the elimination ceremony. If I ever end up in last place, which I won't. But it doesn't even matter, 'cuz I never plan ahead anyways."

Now that all the rules and stakes had been established, the campers finally dismounted the passenger car. Despite the ominous looking entrance to the cave, they readily entered to get shelter from the hail. There were a few lanterns strung up on the wall, presumably from Javi's earlier expedition, and they illuminated a number of different entrances to tunnels of all shapes and sizes.

Lio peered into one of the entrances. "It looks pretty dark in there. How did you even map it in the first place?"

"Well, we had access to my cutting edge sonar," Javi gloated. "Which you obviously don't have."

"Are you sure about that?" Kit held up a finger in protest while using their other hand to dig around in their pocket, causing Javi and Nimbus to exchange concerned glances, until they finally came back up empty-handed. "I must've left my sound-vision-box at home," they said finally.

"Well, don't you worry, because out of the goodness of our hearts—and our insurance agents—we do have a little something for you," Javi continued. He hauled out a big plastic bin from underneath the seats of the wimp car, and opened it up to reveal a bunch of helmets with built-in headlamps, all in different colors. "You kids will be expert spelunkers in no time. Naila learned fast."

"Seriously, were those there this entire time? We sure could've used them in the last challenge," Paradise muttered.

"Don't pretend like you wouldn't have sat out either way," Iggy taunted.

Paradise examined her perfectly manicured nails. "And you would've gotten beaten up either way too."

While the two were bickering, Kit darted forwards and snatched a helmet, even though they were already carrying the helmet they had worn in the previous challenge. They took a roll of duct tape out of their pocket, and quickly taped their two helmets together before putting them both back on.

Confessional: Kit

"You can't go wrong with extra protection, hehe." They nodded their head, and the stack of helmets wobbled precariously. "... ow, I think there's duct tape stuck to my hair."

They then clapped their hands. "The other way to get extra protection is with that idol! And I don't want to share it with anybody."

All the other contestants got their helmets. "I love blue and yellow as much as the next guy, but I'm glad we get to be more colorful now," Nimbus remarked. There was no need for team colors anymore, so instead they all had different colors: Iggy's was fiery orange, Kit's was neon yellow, Lio's was sky blue, Selene's was midnight blue, Martin's was white, Paradise's was magenta, and Tanja's was earth green.

Confessional: Martin

He brandished his old umbrella from the boat ride on the first day of camp and pointed it at the camera. He opened it up, which mostly blocked the camera and generally looked pretty silly in the enclosed space, but he didn't seem to care. His umbrella matched the helmet he had just received: pure white, with not a speck of dust. "Don't think that I overlooked the meaning behind those colors."

Lio switched on the light mounted on his helmet, and looked around, watching the light illuminate the cave. "Okay, this is a little better."

Nimbus tapped his chin. "I feel like we're missing something."

Martin cleared his throat. "I believe that we were promised an advantage?"

"Oh, right." Nimbus rubbed the back of his head awkwardly while Martin rolled his eyes. "Martin and Iggy, as the winners of today's mini-challenge, you two will get a ten minute head start."

"I'll be in and out before the others can even start, watch me," Iggy bragged, and got into a starting crouch at the mouth of the cave.

Lio tried to get his attention. "Wait, Iggy, do you want to-"

"Challenge now, talk later, we'll figure it out," the track star snapped. Lio just sighed.

Meanwhile, Martin briefly made eye contact with Tanja, but Paradise narrowed her eyes. The fencer carefully adjusted his helmet.

Javi pulled out a stopwatch. Naila ran over to the ATV and honked the horn, and it made a wacky 'boing' sound.

"Go!" Nimbus shouted.

With the other five campers as spectators, Iggy instantly took off, his footsteps echoing all throughout the cave as he picked a tunnel at random and disappeared from view. Martin was more cautious, jogging after Iggy and taking note of the scenery around him. Soon, the fencer stopped when he came to a fork in the path, as it split into two separate tunnels.

Martin waited until he heard a thump and a scream coming from the left tunnel. He turned right.

What he had been avoiding was Iggy, and further along in the left tunnel, the floor was covered in ice. He slipped and fell, sliding on his stomach across the floor until he hit the cave wall.

Confessional: Iggy

"I run on a track. That's where I can achieve top performance. Grass is annoying, sand is miserable, and ice? Don't even think about it."

However, just as he was recovering, Iggy noticed a figure emerging from a previously unnoticed side tunnel. "Ugh, why are you following me?" he snapped as he got back to his feet. "You know you won't be able to keep up."

Martin looked just as annoyed as Iggy did. "It appears our paths did not diverge at all."

The two of them kept walking at a brisk pace, hoping to lose each other, but the only thing that happened was the path getting narrower, until they were forced to walk practically shoulder to shoulder.

Finally, Iggy looked at Martin. "Okay, man. I'm gonna regret this, but from one challenge winner to another… what do you say we work together today?" The fencer just gave a small smirk, and Iggy narrowed his eyes. "Hey, what's so funny?"

Martin gave a minute nod. "I thought you'd never ask."

Back at the mouth of the cave, the five remaining campers were waiting anxiously.

"So, what's the plan?" Paradise asked Tanja.

"Why are you asking me about the plan?" Tanja asked. "You're always the one with the plan. Don't you have one?"

She smirked proudly at that. "Of course, not yet, but I was just thinking how interesting it was that Martin followed Iggy. We need to decide which way to go, and maybe the others can weed out the traps and hazards, but we also need a way to overtake them. Actually, I was thinking…"

But before Paradise could finish, Kit came over to them, to the heiress' obvious annoyance.

"Soooo…. what's the plan?" the tinkerer asked Tanja, and she sighed.

"Kit, you have all sorts of gadgets that can help us, right?"

They nodded. "So, I was thinking of choosing the most difficult looking path to make sure that no one will follow us. I'm sure I can get through anything we find using all the thingamabobbers that I brought," they explained. "We won't need to stop to look for the supply caches, since I've got everything you can think of right here." They patted their pockets, and something inside made a bizarre clanking noise.

Paradise immediately shook her head. "That's a terrible idea. Why can't you just use your tools on the easiest path?"

Kit shrugged. "I'm not gonna outrun the others, so I'm not gonna try to chase after them."

"That's a good point. Do we care most about making it through first, or are we just trying to not be last?" Tanja added. "You said it yourself, Paradise, we can't compete with any of the others head-on."

"I get wanting to avoid being followed, but I still think that's, like, such a waste of effort to hit all the traps on purpose. If only we had a way to locate the others while we were in the caves…" She seemed to be formulating her own plan.

"I could build one of Javi's sound locator thingamabobbers, but it would take too much time…"

Paradise examined Kit's face closely, and they seemed nervous, but held her gaze. "Are you sure you're not just doing this out of curiosity?" the heiress asked.

"Okay, maybe a little," they admitted. "I dunno what kinds of things they'll have in the cave, and I wanna see them."

Confessional: Kit

They crossed their arms. "Paradise doesn't get to say anything about ulterior motives. I bet she just wanted one-on-one time with Tanja."

Confessional: Paradise

She twirled around a lock of her hair. "Okay, maybe I just wanted one-on-one time with Tanja. But there's nothing wrong with that, right?"

Meanwhile, Selene was a little ways from the group. She was sitting on the cave floor playing with some rocks and making a little tower.

Lio came over and sat down next to her. Selene didn't react at all.

Lio picked up a rock and added it to Selene's tower. Selene put another one on top. She smiled, and for just a moment, it was like they were little kids again.

But just as quickly, it passed. "What's your plan?" the diplomat asked.

"Go through the cave and reach the end," the brawler responded.

"You better be careful, Selene," Lio murmured. "I trust that Mr. Garcia has all the necessary safety precautions in place, but these challenges are still clearly getting more dangerous."

"I did better in the last challenge than you did," Selene stated matter-of-factly.

"Martin and Iggy of all people ganged up on you. I never thought I would see that happen."

"I'm happy they're friends now. They're both my friends."

"You still need to be more cautious."

"I can do it."

Lio clearly had a lot more to say, but he decided against it. "Selene? Good luck today," Lio murmured. "The two of them quickly embraced, before going their separate ways. "I'll see you at the end of the challenge."

In the corner of the cavern, Nimbus and Javi were having a hushed discussion, as Javi was showing Nimbus some blueprints of the weather machine's latest features. Naila was looking at a stopwatch, and right as the timer went off, she honked the horn of the ATV, and it made an alarm clock sound. Even Nimbus was startled by the noise, but he quickly recovered. "Ten minutes are up!" he announced.

This group wasn't as prepared as Iggy and Martin, but fumbled with their headlamps and were all too eager to make their ways into the cave. That was, except for Selene. She hesitated, looking around at the others. Lio seemed about to say something to her, but she panicked and bolted away, accidentally knocking her twin over in the process.

"Sorry Lio, bye Lio!" she hollered over her shoulder as she continued to run, but because she had stopped looking where she was going, she tripped over a rock and fell.

Confessional: Selene

She looked a little dusty but unharmed. "I need to do this on my own, and that's the most important thing. Or maybe I could catch up to Martin… no, I'll figure this out myself!"

As Selene barged through the cave, Kit pulled a flashlight out of their coat pockets and selected the tunnel that seemed to have the rockiest terrain.

"Kit, wait," Tanja called out as the tinkerer ran ahead.

Paradise shook her head. "You seriously still want to deal with all that rubble? There's no way I'm going that way!"

"I promise I'll take care of it." Kit reached into their pocket again.

"There's no more time to argue. C'mon, let's just go together!" Paradise quickly grabbed Tanja's arm and dragged her through the caves in the opposite direction of Selene. "This seems like the easiest path…" She then turned her nose up. "Still pretty grimy though."

Sure enough, the path was fairly level and free of ice, and there were some scuff marks on the ground, as if someone or something had traveled the path before.

"There are few places to hide things here. Perhaps we can stumble across a supply cache."

"Yeah, so, like, tell me if you see anything," Paradise said dismissively. "I still don't think we should go too far out of our way."

"What do we do if we're the first to finish and we get the idol?" Tanja asked. "Only one person can win immunity."

"Well, duh, I should obviously get-" Paradise suddenly trailed off from her usual confident plots, to the point where Tanja gave her a concerned look.

Confessional: Paradise

"Um, I should take it, because I'm the one who came up with the plan, and, like, why would I ever give it up for someone else, even if Tanja is probably going to be a bigger target?" She frowned, seemingly not convinced of this.

Confessional: Tanja

"I was really hoping to get the chance to find Kit, and especially Martin. But Paradise seems insistent on avoiding Martin. But at least, Paradise's plans usually work out."

"We can talk about that when we get there," Paradise declared finally. As she and Tanja continued on, the tunnel opened up, until they were walking in a massive cavern.

Paradise was surprised to see Tanja had a small smile on her face as she looked up at the high ceiling. "I know, we need to hurry, but I am always in awe of natural spaces such as this," the activist murmured. "To think that all of this was hidden inside of a mountain…"

"Is this natural though?" Paradise questioned as she continued to pull Tanja along. "How do we know Nimbus and Javi didn't, like, set this all up for us? Maybe they threw some dynamite and made these caves, I bet Javi could do that."

Tanja frowned. "That would not only be destructive to the ecosystem, but extremely dangerous, both during the process of hollowing out a cave, and for everyone who goes through it after. Mining and fracking have devastating impacts."

"Yeah, that, like, definitely sounds like something they would do." Paradise shrugged dismissively.

Tanja suddenly stopped Paradise and pointed at something up ahead. "Look. If none of this is natural, then we would never see something like this."

Paradise didn't see anything at first, but she followed Tanja's finger, and realized that there was an entire colony of dozens of bats hanging on the ceiling up ahead. The longer she looked, the more of them she could see. She started to breathe heavily.

Tanja gestured for Paradise to continue slowly. "We should tread lightly," she started to say, but then a breeze blew in the cave and Paradise thought she saw one of the bats move.

The heiress shrieked and ran the other way, nearly bowling over Tanja in the process. All at once, the entire colony woke up and started to swarm them, as Tanja ran after Paradise, trying to protect her head from the swooping bats.

While all of the others were scattering, Lio was more cautious, and was the last one to depart the entrance cavern. "Wait! Does anyone want to-" he started, before trailing off and looking around. The only thing he saw was Naila sitting in the driver's seat of the ATV, honking the horn to play the sound of crickets chirping. "…work together," he finished dejectedly.

He finally chose one of the larger tunnels and set out into the caves, leaving behind the ATV parked at the entrance.

Confessional: Lio

"Am I surprised that Iggy left me behind? No, not really, but I can still be disappointed. It's unhealthy how much he obsesses over winning." He shook his head disapprovingly. "I guess this will just be a test. After all this is over with, will he still be on my side or not?"

He took a shaky breath. "But that requires completing the challenge first. I'm not alone very often, and I really don't like it," he admitted.

Back at the mouth of the cave, Javi turned on the dashboard installed on the ATV, revealing a map of the caverns. "Here's how things are looking. Each of the supply caches also has a tracker, so we're able to tell when any of them are picked up," he explained to Nimbus and Naila. "The helmets are also tagged." The locations of all the supply caches were marked, and there were a series of moving blinking lights to represent the contestants. They were color-coded to match the helmets.

"Wait, why are there eight of them?" Nimbus asked, pointing at an additional dot in a plum color that was still at the entrance to the cave where they were.

"I made Gremlin wear a locator after the incident this weekend," Javi explained, and Naila nodded emphatically, holding up her arm to show the small blinking device she wore around her wrist.

"Ahahaha, I'm still waiting for the radio waves to fry my brain!" Naila cackled as she waved the tracking device around, to no one's amusement.

Nimbus frowned. "So all we'll see is those little dots? How are we gonna make an entertaining episode out of that? …Um, I mean, it also makes it harder for us to ensure their safety," he quickly added. "That screen still doesn't tell us very much about what they're doing."

Javi just chuckled to himself. "It's just like the scavenger hunt challenge. There are a few cameras installed, but it's impossible to put them everywhere. That's why I have my all new gadget." He then gestured to a small robotic creature that was hanging upside-down from the hail umbrella above them. "Pájaro-bat-ico."

Javi pulled his remote out of his fanny pack and pressed a button, causing the robot to drop from its perch and take flight. As its name suggested, its overall body structure was quite similar to the original bird drone, Pájarobotico, with the same camera lenses for eyes. However, its body was a more brownish color, and its wings were differently shaped, resembling a bat instead of a bird with a thin membrane stretched across a metal skeleton. The robot was equipped with some blinking lights so it could be seen in dark areas, as well as a speaker and microphone mounted inside the tall ears on its head.

"There are only so many cameras we can hide in the caverns, so I'll also be keeping an eye on them with this," the mechanic explained. At the press of another button, Pájaro-bat-ico flew off into the cave, and its camera feed appeared in the corner of the dashboard. The robot's location was also indicated by a blinking light on the map. "Now, let's see what these guys are up to."

Pájaro-bat-ico flew through the caves, and soon Javi and Nimbus saw it had reached the closest camper, who was represented by a light blue dot.

Out of all the contestants, Lio was the one who had made the least progress as he tentatively trekked through the cave. Now alone, he lost the confidence he usually had.

The area of the cave that he found himself in was wide open, but the terrain was pretty rough with many broken chunks of rock and ice on the ground, and he had to be careful to maintain his footing. He clutched his helmet to his head, as if trying to remember that it was there, as he looked around with his headlamp.

Until all of a sudden, the ground gave way beneath him. The amount of debris seemed to be hiding how unstable the area was and he realized that the entire section of the cave had been crumbling away due to erosion. He yelled out in panic and thrashed around, trying to grab onto something, but it just made it worse and the rocks kept crumbling.

He landed at the bottom of a pit. His helmet protected him, but a falling rock had hit the light, and it went out. He cringed in pain.

As Lio fell, his locator dot on Javi's screen didn't even blink.

"Do you think this tunnel really leads somewhere?" Iggy asked. He and Martin were now forced to walk single-file through a narrow tunnel, and the ceiling was getting lower too.

"I have always had a good sense of direction. I can discern that we are headed in the direction of our goal, and that is more of a lead than you would have."

"What are you, a racing pigeon?" Iggy scoffed.

Martin adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps." Iggy took the opportunity to push past him, but the track star soon had to duck to avoid hitting his head on a rocky overhang.

"This is getting kinda cramped…" The tunnel didn't get any larger, and Iggy finally got onto his hands and knees to crawl through. "Looks like it's going to shrink into nothingness to me."

Martin followed suit. "This is still our best chance, unless you want to double back on your own."

The next thing that happened was that the tunnel started to slope downwards, first gently, but gradually growing more steep, to the point where it was hard for them to stop from sliding. But suddenly, the two of them felt a slight breeze, and the tunnel opened up in the distance.

As soon as Iggy saw the end of the opening, he crawled as fast as he possibly could. Martin followed him, but then Iggy lost his footing and started to slide headfirst through the tunnel. When he reached the end, he fell, and landed in a large cavern. A moment later, Martin gracefully landed right on top of him.

The cavern they were in was illuminated by some mining lanterns. "Good, if Naila or Javi have been here, that means we are still on the correct path," Martin explained.

They saw it at the same moment: the cavern they were in had a single yellow backpack sitting plainly on a stone pedestal right in the center. "A supply pack?" Iggy said. "Huh, they didn't even try to hide it."

The two of them locked eyes for a moment, then they both ran for the pedestal, pushing and shoving each other.

"Ha, got it!" Iggy shouted as he snatched the supply pack. However, as soon as he grabbed it from the pedestal, a tremor seemed to go through the cavern. Martin quickly realized what was happening and ran for cover as rocks began to fall from the ceiling. "Nice knowing ya, I'm out of here!" Iggy threw on the backpack, and the two of them were forced to run in opposite directions as the entire cavern began to collapse around them, until a rock hit the camera.

Paradise was moving with surprising speed and urgency despite the rough terrain, and Tanja was struggling to keep up, but the flapping and squeaking of the swarm of bats behind them kept them moving. Paradise finally pointed out a side tunnel to Tanja, and the two of them turned off of the main path. The bats kept going past them, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Tanja leaned against the cave wall and slid down into a seated position.

"Those bats are awful," Paradise complained. "I really should have brought a bagel with me again…"

"That was expected. You were the one who disturbed them by screaming," Tanja said bluntly.

"Whatever, now that we've lost them, we can probably just backtrack…" Paradise trailed off and she finally looked around at the area they were in. It was a massive wide-open circular cavern, with many entrances all around the perimeter that all looked the same. "…the way we came," she finished. "Ugh, what do we even do now?" she lamented, and a moment later, her voice echoed back at her.

"The walls here are so smooth," Tanja said in wonder. "This is clearly not from humans and their crude mining techniques, It must have been eroded by the wind or water."

"Actually…" Paradise thought for a moment. "This place reminds me of something. Let's stay here for a bit."

"What will that accomplish?"

"Eavesdropping, of course," the heiress responded in a whisper, but even then, her voice echoed back to them. The echoes coming from all around them were difficult to parse, but she was concentrating.

Confessional: Paradise

"There's this one place in Mother's house, at the top of the stairs—well, the main staircase, of course there are several, in each wing—that has some really weird acoustics or something. I don't know, I'm not a scientist or a musician. But I like to hide there sometimes, because it reflects the sound from different places around the house and you can hear, like, everything people are saying. Of course, most of it doesn't concern me, but every once in a while I hear something worth my while. After all, it's not like I have anywhere better to be." She rolled her eyes.

Paradise beckoned Tanja to the center of the room, where the echoes were most clear. "It at least looks like there are footsteps coming from that way… and that way," she murmured, pointing at two of the tunnels.

Tanja listened along with Paradise, but then she picked up on something. "Wait, is that a voice? Someone's calling for help!" she shouted, and her own voice echoed back, ruining whatever Paradise was trying to listen in on.

The heiress groaned and shook her head. "That's probably not important."

"Help! Somebody help me!" Lio called out. He rushed to the edge of the pit he had fallen in and helplessly scrambled to climb out. Though the sides of the pit weren't too steep, they crumbled whenever he tried to get a handhold, leaving only rubble behind, which made it near-impossible to climb.

"No, this can't be happening!" Lio ranted. Sitting at the bottom of the pit, with only the dimmest of lights overhead, he fumbled with his headlamp, which had been cracked in the fall. Out of desperation, he shook it violently. It flickered for a moment, before sputtering out again, and no matter what he tried, it wouldn't turn back on. He was completely in the dark.

Confessional: Lio

"This is not how we'll end this!"

After a moment, he began to hear the sound of pounding footsteps. "I'M COMING, LIO!"

Selene ran in the direction of Lio's voice, and Lio breathed a sigh of relief as he began to see the light of her headlamp in the distance.

Confessional: Selene

She looked confused. "I thought I tried hard to go a different way than Lio… but I'm also not very good with directions."

"Maybe if I save Lio, then he'll understand me and realize that I can take care of myself, and then we can all be friends. And also, there will be puppies."

"Where are you, Lio?" Selene reached the cavern Lio was in, and shone her light all around, but didn't see anything.

"Down here!"

Selene finally noticed the pit, where Lio was standing at the bottom.

"Don't move, there could be more traps," he cautioned.

"Well, I might be able to reach your hand…" As Selene approached the pit, Lio could see cracks forming on the ground underneath her, and some rubble crumbled and fell into the pit.

"Wait, Selene!" Lio called out frantically. "Don't come any closer!"

Selene took a step back, looking as though she had just been slapped. "You don't trust me?"

"Of course I trust you! I just don't think this is the right approach. Maybe you can get a rope, or find someone else who can help you?"

"Why can't you let me help you? Is there something wrong with the way that I do things?" Selene raised her voice and stomped her foot, causing a small shower of rock to crumble off from the edge of the pit, forcing Lio to step back from the side to avoid it. She suddenly froze as she realized what was happening. "… sorry," she whispered. "Okay, I can figure something out."

Selene gingerly stepped towards the edge again, but despite her best efforts, it looked like she wouldn't be able to get close enough without the entire pit caving in.

Lio took a deep breath. "Okay, listen to me, Selene. I can find another way out. You should just go and focus on completing the challenge."

Selene was, expectedly, furious. "No! You're telling me to just leave you here all… wedged up in a hole?"

"I think you still have a shot at winning immunity, but if you look for a rope to help me, then you'll lose a lot of time for sure," Lio reasoned. "Besides, getting last place in the challenge isn't even a guaranteed elimination, and I have more allies than you do."

"But that's not how it's supposed to work! I won't leave you behind, because I know you wouldn't leave me behind either."

"Look, weren't you the one who wanted us to go our own ways?" Lio pointed out. "Just… think of it like that." He tried to sound confident, but he seemed to be trying to rush the conversation before he changed his mind.

Selene took one last look at the rubble, then reluctantly stepped back. "But if I find supplies, I'll come back," she added resolutely.

Confessional: Lio

"Well, I'm trapped and I'm alone. After weighing my responsibilities and my gameplay, was that the right decision? I really did just throw away the game for Selene."

Back at the mouth of the cave, Nimbus, Javi, and Naila were all still monitoring the campers' locations. Naila was flying Pájaro-bat-ico around, having the bat do some loops and barrel rolls as it swerved around. On the camera feed, she could see the colony of bats, who had finally stopped chasing Paradise and Tanja and found a new overhang. She flew straight towards the colony and caused all the bats to scatter, cackling to herself. "Boooo, I lost control of the bats," the prankster complained.

"I guess they aren't as easily suggestible as the seagulls," Javi mused. "Or maybe they can tell you aren't a real bat."

"I'm totally a real bat." Naila stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's time to get going," Javi declared. "No one is going to come back to the entrance at this point, and at the rate everyone's moving, we don't have much time to get to the finish."

"Can I drive?" Nimbus asked.

"No," Javi responded flatly as he hopped onto the driver's seat of the ATV, gesturing for the others to sit in the passenger car. He pressed some buttons on the small console, opening a surprisingly normal looking navigation app.

"At the next boulder, turn left," a mechanical voice narrated, as Javi pulled away from the cave entrance and started along a narrow path deeper into the mountains. In the back, Naila was making jet plane noises as she continued to operate Pájaro-bat-ico, while Nimbus just watched the camera feed over her shoulder.

Confessional: Nimbus

"Am I really the one not pulling my weight around here? I should've chosen a challenge that required more hosting… oh wait, Javi is the one who chooses all the challenges."

In their mad dash through the caverns, Kit came across a pit and they barely skidded to a stop in time. They teetered on the edge, and they could see that the bottom of the pit was lined with jagged spikes of rock. They screeched and windmilled their arms, and leaped backwards away from the pit.

However, after the tinkerer had calmed down, their curiosity was piqued, and they crawled back to the edge on their hands and knees. "Did someone put those there?" they wondered aloud, staring at the spikes in disbelief. They averted their eyes, as if they would disappear if they couldn't see them, and realized that above the pit, there were matching spikes on the ceiling. A few of them had grown so tall that they had fused with the spikes on the ground to form solid mineral columns.

Confessional: Nimbus and Javi

"Well, stalactites are the ones that hang down from the ceiling, and stalagmites are the ones that grow from the ground?" Nimbus tried to remember. "Or maybe it's the other way around…"

Javi shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I told Gremlin to polish them both." He held up a metal rasp, explaining why the rock formations were unnaturally sharp.

"That's sick," Nimbus said in awe.

Kit continued to look around the area, and they noticed that there was some kind of bag hanging above the pit, from a rope that was precariously tied to a stalactite on the ceiling of the cave. It had been marked with reflective tape with the Stormbound logo.

Confessional: Kit

They were digging through their pockets. "I have all the doohickeys I need. Of course, I wanna know what's inside, but I don't really think I'll need any kind of supply pack. But the others might, and I don't want them to have it. They pulled out a small jackknife and unfolded it. "…or maybe I just want to see what will happen, hehe."

Without hesitation, Kit threw their knife, and it cleanly cut the rope that was holding up the bag of supplies. The bag plummeted down and was impaled on one of the stalagmites. But the engineer was already moving on to the next task. "Well, the pointy rocks are usually made when water drips and leaves rock bits behind," they mused to themself, looking up at the ceiling. "Is there water nearby? If it's too warm for ice, then that's probably the way out."

Suddenly, they got the feeling that they were being watched, and right on cue, Martin appeared on the other side of the pit. He had a look of disdain on his face as he regarded the backpack of supplies that was now uselessly at the bottom of the spike pit. "Are you talking to yourself?" he asked.

"Um, well, now I'm talking to you," Kit retorted, which caused Martin to somehow look even more disappointed.

"If you are coming from this way, then this must be a dead end." With that, he simply turned and walked back into the cave the way he had come.

"Wait, Martin!" Kit called out. They took a few steps back and then took a running leap, jumping over the spike pit and landing on the other side near Martin. They gestured frantically in the direction where the stalactites on the ceiling were even denser. "I have an idea for how to get out."

Martin looked where the tinkerer was pointing only briefly. He seemed pretty skeptical. "And why would you tell me something like that?"

"I thought we were on the same side now," Kit said, confused.

Martin looked across to the other side of the pit, then looked back at Kit standing in front of them. "I can see that much."

Kit giggled. "No nonono, not sides like that. I asked Tanja, and she said-" Kit started, only for Martin to interrupt them with a glare.

"She said what?" He rubbed his temples wearily. "This is the first I am hearing of any of this. Why wouldn't Tanja inform me of this?"

"No, I promise I'm telling the… oh." Kit finally processed what Martin had said. "You think she's lying? Not me?" They seemed pretty confused by that. "I thought you two were in an alliance. Like, the alliance. Y'know, the closest one in the game. That everyone talks about."

Confessional: Martin

"Kit told me about the conversation they had with Paradise and Tanja, and the deal that they struck up. I wish I could say that this surprised me more. Picking up strays for a sheer numbers advantage will benefit us in the short term, but I know that casting this wide of a net can have its downsides if we get caught in the middle. But the most irritating part, of course, is how Tanja never told me."

"Then there is still the possibility that Kit could be lying. They are unpredictable, much like Selene is. Unlike Selene though, they are actually quite intelligent and logical about some things… although they are as equally unarticulate as she is."

Martin just stood there, staring off into the dark depths of the distance, weighing all of his options. Kit anxiously shifted from foot to foot, not sure what to do. Finally, they lost patience and cleared their throat. "Soooo, what are we doing? I'm gonna go this way, and I think I know what I'm doing, even though it doesn't usually look like it. You can follow me. Or not," they rambled. "I dunno if I would be able to stop you."

"I still don't understand where the 'we' is coming from. After all, you looked like you were sabotaging others along your path," Martin pointed out, pointing at the supply backpack that Kit had made fall into the pit.

"Well…" Kit still seemed a bit intimidated by Martin. "I don't think I thought this through. I usually don't, hehe. But I can fix it." Kit rooted around in their pockets and then pulled out a long rope that looked like it was made of knitted neon green yarn. They tied it to a piece of wire and bent the wire into a hook.

"You're going to help me?" Martin asked as Kit headed to the edge of the pit.

"I'm usually not that helpful," they admitted. "It's kind of a nice change, hehe." The tinkerer threw the edge of the rope into the pit and the hook caught on the strap of the backpack, allowing them to pull it back up. "Wow, this is kinda heavy."

After they pulled up the backpack, which had some puncture holes from the stalagmites but was otherwise pretty functional, Kit immediately presented it to Martin. "I don't need it. I've got lots of thingamabobbers and doohickeys already."

Martin unzipped the supply pack to reveal a pickaxe. "This isn't quite sufficiently sword-like, but I can make do."

Even though they had willingly forfeited the supply pack, Kit still leaned over to peer at it, a little closer than Martin seemed to be comfortable with. "Ooh, you got a two-point whatchamacallit." They reached into their pocket and pulled out a small hammer. "I bet if you find the right places, you can break through some walls."

"And risk causing the entire ceiling to fall? I was already stopped by one cave-in today."

"See, it's not too difficult. Just take your 'pointy stone-shovel' and…" They pointed the hammer at the nearest stalactite, stood up on their tiptoes, and without warning, they struck the side of it with the pointed claw of their hammer. A clean fracture began to form around the entire perimeter of the stalactite, and all at once, the tip fell and shattered on the ground below.

However, the impact caused a nearly imperceptible, yet ominous rumble throughout the cave. Kit didn't seem bothered, but Martin instinctually took a step back, and then another. Kit scrambled to follow him once they realized what was happening.

One by one, every single stalactite on the ceiling began to rain down. Some were even sharp enough to pierce holes in the cave floor. A few pieces of shrapnel flew towards Kit and Martin, but they were protected by their helmets. Martin looked horrified, but Kit was completely mesmerized, clapping their hands gleefully.

Once it stopped, where the rock spikes once were, the ceiling was just left with stumps. "Soooo… that trap is taken care of. Are you coming with, or not?" Kit asked, clearly intending to travel straight through the rubble of the broken stalactites.

"I doubt that your approach will be fruitful," Martin said bluntly. "But… I am grateful for the assistance."

Kit beamed at that as they watched Martin jump back over the gap and leave in the direction that he had come. "That was all I wanted to hear," they murmured. They reached into their pockets, searching for the next tool that they needed.

Confessional: Kit

They wrung their hands anxiously. "I like to solve problems my way, but I think that nobody wants to work with me because of it."

"But I kinda sorta helped someone today? I think I'm learning a bit about working with people, but until then…" Their usual timid countenance was replaced with pure determination. "I really need to win immunity."

Meanwhile, Selene was still walking through another section of the cave, seeming in awe of all the things around her, even though the terrain was pretty featureless. "I can do this on my own," she repeated, like a mantra. "What are the things I'm good at? What do I even like to do?" She couldn't come up with an answer to this. "Um, puppies?"

Suddenly she was answered by some kind of scraping sound, like feet shuffling along. "Hello?" she called out. "Lio?"

There was no response.

"Martin? …Iggy? …um, Celia?" She looked around frantically. "IS ANYBODY THERE?"

Her voice echoed around the cave, but before the sound could completely die down, she was suddenly answered by a resounding roar!

Confessional: Selene

"Okay, call me crazy, but I don't think that was a person."

She paused to think for a moment. "…maybe it's a puppy?"

The follower stopped in her tracks and listened carefully to figure out where the sound was coming from, before she ran in the direction of the noise.

Paradise and Tanja were still in the same cavern, trying to decide which way to go next. Tanja was clearly having a much more difficult time understanding the noises than Paradise was, and the activist was growing impatient as she sat down in the middle of the cavern.

Finally, Paradise pointed at one entrance, and she and Tanja both strained to listen.

A faint humming noise echoed around the cavern. It was Nimbus, singing the Stormbound theme song to himself.

"Mija, give that to me!" The humming was suddenly interrupted by Javi's hollering voice.

"Never!" Naila cackled.

Paradise and Tanja looked at each other, then nodded.

"It doesn't sound like any of the others have arrived either," Paradise noted. She led the way in the direction of the hosts' voices.

Meanwhile, Lio was still stuck at the bottom of the pit, in complete darkness.

"Somebody help me!" he shouted again, and strained to listen for a response, but he could only hear his own voice echoing back.

"I guess this is it," he murmured. "Swallowed by the gaping maw of Charybdis, to plummet into the gullet of the deepest ocean. A hero falls alone." He paced back and forth anxiously as he continued his frenentic monologue. "But will I be honored by the gods in the Elysian plains, or will my soul wander the bleak fields of Asphodel for eternity?"

Lio tried again to climb out of the hole, but just when he thought he had gotten a handhold, his foot slipped and he fell back down and landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him.

"Well, would you look at who it is?" Suddenly, just as he was ready to give up, the smug face of a certain track star appeared, peering down into the crevice as his headlamp illuminated the bottom.

"Iggy!" Lio exclaimed, too relieved to be bothered by the track star's attitude.

"How did you get down there?" Iggy laughed.

"I fell, what does it look like?" Lio snapped.

Confessional: Iggy

"The last time I put chasing victory above the people I cared about was… well, this competition was going to be the last time," he admitted. "No, that can't be true, I'm here for the people I care about!" he corrected himself. "And I'm not about to give up the chance to win this for my family by letting some other weakling slow me down."

He looked away from the camera. "But what was I supposed to do, just leave him there?"

Despite his inner turmoil, Iggy only hesitated for a second, as there was no time to waste. He leaned over the edge of the pit to try and reach for Lio, but it was clearly much too deep. "...how are we gonna do this?"

"Aren't you carrying something?" Lio asked impatiently. "Did you get anything useful?"

Iggy remembered the supply backpack that he had been wearing proudly but hadn't even opened. "I barely noticed it, it was so light for me," he bragged. He unzipped it and took out a coil of rope, and he tossed Lio one end. "I don't think I can lift you, so you're going to have to do some climbing. I didn't win that head start for nothing, so hurry up!"

Elsewhere in the caves, Selene was still following the sound of strange footsteps, accompanied by the unmistakable scraping of claws on rock. She clambered over a pile of boulders to continue on her path, then cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hi, are you a puppy?" she shouted.

There was another roar in response.

Selene jumped across a small stream, where she noticed muddy footprints on the other side, as the scraping footsteps got louder. She sped up to a run, chasing after the noise, and the footsteps got faster too. "Wait, don't run!"

As she was giving chase, she bumped straight into a mountain of brown fur, practically bouncing backwards and landing on the cave floor on her butt. After a moment, the creature in front of her turned around and stood up, revealing itself to be a fearsome brown bear. It stood up on its hind legs and roared at her.

Selene spread her arms wide. "PUPPY!" she shouted.

Confessional: Selene

"I'm not dumb. That definitely wasn't a puppy," she stated bluntly, but then she looked at the camera with plaintive eyes. "But I can dream."

Confessional: Nimbus

He was watching the video feed from one of the hidden cameras in the cave, and a blur of brown fur barged onscreen. "Duuude, no waaaay-"

Confessional: Javi

"Wait, how does a bear even get onto a tropical island anyways? It's not like the storms can blow it all the way here… unless…" He pulled out another blueprint.

When Selene didn't back down, the bear dropped onto all fours again and tilted its head in confusion: an uncannily canine gesture that didn't help its case at all. Selene walked right up to it and gave it a hearty pat on the head, causing it to cringe in pain. "I'm going to call you Puppy."

Puppy stared at Selene for a moment, before turning tail and starting to walk away deeper into the cave system.

"Wait, don't go!" Selene pleaded, and tried to follow the bear. She realized that it looked pretty hurt, and its fur was disheveled and matted with dirt and ice. "Bears—um, I mean puppies—don't usually go this deep in the caves, right?"

Puppy continued to walk, seeming to be avoiding putting too much weight on its left foreleg. It shivered slightly.

"You're probably hiding from the storm," she realized. "I don't like the hail either. We don't really see that in Arizona."

Puppy limped away, but Selene refused to give up, giving chase as the bear led her down an even darker tunnel.

Confessional: Selene

"In cartoons, you can usually tell which ones are the girl bears, because they have long eyelashes and they're wearing lipstick. I don't understand that. I'm a girl, but I don't like to wear lipstick because it tastes funny… but I still knew, this was a girl bear- I mean, puppy."

"Ooh, it's Paradise and Tanja again, gimme that!" Naila snatched Pájaro-bat-ico's controller out of Javi's hands once she saw what was on the camera feed. "Let's see if I can make another swarm…"

Now that Paradise and Tanja had left the echo chamber, the tunnels were eerily silent once more. "Do you think that anyone has reached the end yet?" Tanja asked. "I didn't hear anyone else besides the staff."

"I hope not, we could still be in the lead. But we should keep our voices down. Wouldn't want any of the others to hear us."

"Can you hear them now?" Tanja asked. "The acoustics of this place are so strange."

"Not really… wait." Paradise strained to hear something, and it turned out to be a familiar squeaking sound. "Not again," she groaned, as a swarm of bats loomed in the distance.

"Why are they so agitated?" Tanja wondered. "Let's hurry away."

But this time, before Tanja could stop her, Paradise picked up a rock and threw it, hitting the lead bat and causing it to wobble mid-flight.

"That was completely unnecessary," Tanja scolded, before grabbing. But it seemed to have the intended effect, and the cloud of bats dispersed as they continued on. One bat in particular had nearly crashed into the cave wall.

"Javi, help!" Naila was struggling to maintain control of Pájaro-bat-ico, and he helped her to steady the drone. Thankfully, it seemed like it could still fly.

After separating from Kit, Martin had backtracked to the point where the avalanche had separated him from Iggy. His path was blocked by a pile of rocks that had fallen, and he carefully examined it for weak spots. Then he precisely but forcefully swung his pickaxe. The entire wall crumbled instantly, revealing a new passageway.

On the way through, a glint of blue caught his eye, and he grabbed a small piece of stone that had a small piece of blue diamond embedded in it. It was almost a perfect cube, and he stared at it in puzzlement before putting it in his pocket.

Confessional: Martin

"In a cave, even with perfect navigation, it is not always possible to travel 'as the crow flies.' Unless you supplement your strategy with… just a miniscule amount of good old brute force."

"Maybe Ollie will enjoy this…" He held the little diamond cube to the light. "I will not deny that breaking through the cave walls is a risky approach, but it is also straightforward. All I have to do?" He adjusted his glasses, and light glinted off of them. "Not make a single mistake."

Martin swiftly made his way through the caves, breaking down walls as needed while he focused on carving out a straight path.

However, his streak couldn't last, and suddenly, a bat swooped out of nowhere and flew around his head, breaking his focus. His pickaxe slipped, and a giant crack formed in the wall, before spreading up to the ceiling. He was forced to run away as the tunnel collapsed, leaving his path even more blocked than before.

While most of the other campers had run into some kind of stress or danger, Kit remained carefree as they enacted their plan. They were looking around near the pit of sharp stalagmites, following the sound of water, and they finally came across a thin trickle of water dripping from the ceiling. They followed it, and the runoff soon gave way to an underground river.

Kit crouched on the edge of the river. They dipped their hand in it briefly, and found that it was cold, though not enough to be frozen. Surprisingly, they sat stock-still, weighing their options with diligence. After rooting around in their pockets for a moment longer, they finally came out empty-handed.

Confessional: Kit

They gestured at their pockets. "I have so many battery-charged-thingies in here. If I got in the water I would be fried worse than if I had touched the gun that shoots metal-connecty-sparks. But I knew what I had to do."

The staff team was still hunkered down inside the passenger car of the ATV, but now they were parked at the exit to the caverns. It looked pretty similar to the entrance, with a number of different tunnels of different shapes and sizes all feeding into it. Javi and Nimbus were watching Kit through Pájaro-bat-ico's camera, when all of a sudden, they saw the tinkerer dive into the freezing river, leaving their coat and both of their helmets on the bank. On the map, their helmet's light went out.

"Wait! Don't!" Nimbus grabbed the controller with the screen in a panic. "What's happening?"

Javi just sighed. "Ay, mije, what are you up to this time?"

Deep in the caves, lumbering footsteps echoed as Puppy the bear plodded along in the tunnel. Every so often, it would turn back to Selene and bare its teeth or give a halfhearted roar, but seemed to be resigned to her following. Soon, they came across a little pile of rocks that seemed far too intricate to be unintentional. Puppy promptly sat down in front of it, causing the ground to shake slightly around it, and carefully placed another rock on the pile.

Selene looked around. They were in a small hollow. The stone floor was worn out, and it was a lot more tidy than other parts of the cave, as if some creature had lived there for a very long time, but there were also some claw marks and broken rocks from a past scuffle.

However, the most important sight was the skull that was next to the pile of rocks. It was picked clean, looking old and weathered, so it was clear that it was in the shape of the head of a bear, but a much smaller one.

Selene covered her mouth in shock once she realized what had happened. Then she started to cry and hugged Puppy. The bear didn't struggle at all, and just made a sad noise.

"I'm sorry, Puppy. Are you a mom just missing your kid?"

Puppy lowered her head and gave a low, mournful bellow.

"It's okay. You can't always be strong enough to protect the people you care about."

The bear laid down near the pile of bones and let Selene pat her head. Soon, she put her entire arm around Selene.

"Um, Puppy?" Selene tried to wriggle away and edge towards the exit, but the bear extended one paw and grabbed her hoodie to pull her back in. "I need to go back to the challenge now."

Puppy just shook her head and put a paw around Selene's shoulders.

Confessional: Selene

"I volunteer at a puppy house- um, I mean, an animal shelter. Puppies like to play and they're very forgiving. I think people should be more like puppies."

Back at the exit to the cave, the staff were panicking. "Please tell me the drone has a submarine mode," Nimbus said as he gripped the screen with Pájaro-bat-ico's camera feed tightly.

Javi shook his head. "Ay, I wish I had thought of that, but I was never one of those water game kids. I'll see if any of the other cameras could give us a view, or if the sonar can pick them up."

Even Naila seemed somewhat agitated, as she was flying Pájaro-bat-ico back and forth in front of the river.

But just as Javi was pulling out his sonar device, they were interrupted by a loud splash. Suddenly, Kit emerged from the water behind the group, gasping for air. They clawed their way up onto the bank, soaking wet and missing their helmet and their coat.

Nimbus gasped, and Naila cheered. "Mije, what were you thinking!" Javi instantly berated them. "Swimming through the freezing cold river, and diving into a tunnel like that without knowing how long it could be? You could have drowned!"

Kit seemed a bit frazzled, but they stood their ground, wringing out the hem of their yellow t-shirt, which rarely saw the light of day due to them always wearing their coat. "I did know, though. I tried lots of tests."

"You… what?" Javi looked skeptical. He was rummaging through a compartment in the back of the ATV that held some first-aid and emergency supplies.

"I looked for the light, I tapped on the walls to see how thick they were, and I could also feel a breeze coming from some opening. Before I dived, I was sure that the outside had to be close," they explained impatiently.

After a moment, Javi nodded in approval. "Obviously, I knew there would be nothing too lethal, that would be a nightmare for liability." He pulled out an emergency blanket. "But I didn't think anyone would go through the damn river. We need to get you dry." He presented it to Kit, but they pushed it away.

"Well, I won, right? Do I get the shiny bird statue now?"

Naila, who was still sitting in the driver's seat of the ATV, tossed the immunity idol at Kit.

As soon as the engineer grasped the statue, their nervous energy seemed to melt away. They made a gesture as if to put it into their pocket, only to realize that they weren't wearing their coat anymore. "How do I even hold this?"

Confessional: Kit

They were wet and shivering inside the confessional. "I wasn't that worried about the challenge, hehe. Nothing is scary once I know how it works, and I know lots of ways to figure things out. I just hope they don't tell everyone I have the idol…"

Confessional: Javi

He rubbed his temples. "Ay, our challenges are safe, and they are balanced. Even in the open-ended activities, I am able to account for all the different ways the kids might complete them and plan accordingly… except for Kit."

Kit was now dried off and bundled up in a thermal blanket inside the wimp car, clutching the thunderbird idol tight like their life depended on it. When someone came up to them, they instinctively tried to hide it away.

But it was just Naila, and she was holding a mug of hot tea. "Javi wanted you to stay warm but he was too shy to give this to you himself," she explained.

"Gremlin!" Javi shouted in the background, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

Kit took the mug gratefully, but then peered into it. "Is that glitter?"

She grinned and nodded.

They stared at their very sparkly tea for a moment longer, then shrugged to themself and took a sip.

"You know… what if you give me your idol?" Naila said suddenly.

Kit gawked at Naila. Then they shook their head furiously, and checked again to make sure the idol was still there, half-expecting the prankster to have stolen it already. "Why would I do that?" they asked in exasperation.

"Because it would be funny." Kit didn't seem too convinced by this, so Naila explained further. "Who would expect to find the statue with me? You can do whatever you want without worrying if anyone will take it, and then I'll give it back to you right before the ceremony."

Kit narrowed their eyes. "But why would you want to help me specifically?"

"Because none of the others have the idol, duh."

Kit looked in the direction of Nimbus and Javi for approval, but Nimbus was humming one of his own songs to himself and not paying attention. Javi made eye contact with Kit, but then looked away and whistled innocently.

"Well, uh, I dunno."

Suddenly, the two of them heard footsteps approaching. "Well, you have to decide quick!" Naila said and held out her hand, as Kit still looked conflicted.

Iggy ran ahead through the caves, with Lio struggling to keep up but not wanting to lose his only source of light. "Be careful," the diplomat called out. "If you fall into a trap, it doesn't matter how fast you're going." The track star just kept on running, leaping over boulders and ducking under stalactites, as the path they were following was beginning to slope upwards.

"Please, I'm sure even if I did, I could climb out on my own," Iggy scoffed. "I don't know what was causing you to have so much trouble.

"My headlamp broke! And, it was pretty dark in there, and…"

"Dude!" Iggy cut in with a laugh. "You're scared of the dark? Seriously?"

"Only when I'm alone…" Lio protested weakly. "I always have someone to work with, usually Selene. It gives me purpose."

"And now you're stuck following me," Iggy teased, his headlamp lighting the way ahead of him, still keeping the same relentless pace throughout the conversation.

But suddenly, Iggy did stop, as the path ended in a steep face. It was smooth with erosion, but had a few grooves and chips for handholds. It looked solid, compared to the pit Lio had gotten trapped in, and there was light coming from some kind of crawl space above a stone lip at the very top of the cave wall.

"Considering the path we took to get to the cave entrance, it's a fair assumption that the finish is deeper in the mountains than the start, and that means higher up," Lio tried to reason. "So we're going to have to climb."

He wasted no time in taking out their rope, and handed Iggy one end, before he started to tie the other end around his waist. "Here, we should stay together."

Iggy shook his head. "And have you drag me down when you fall? No way!"

Lio was starting to get annoyed. "Why won't you ever accept my help? But I can't force you, so if you're so confident you can do this alone, then go ahead."

Iggy's gaze traced the precarious path up the cliff face, all the way up to the tiny ledge where the path continued, far above their heads. His attitude changed completely, and he stood rooted to the spot. "You go first," he mumbled.

Lio raised an eyebrow at that. "That's not like you at all."

"Just go, there's no time," Iggy snapped.

Lio started to approach the rock face, but he knew something was wrong, and he looked back at Iggy expectantly.

The track star looked away. "…I'm afraid of heights."

Lio frowned at this, but then he gave a determined nod. "Get on my back."

"Wait, what?"

"Get on my back and I'll carry you up to the ledge."

Iggy instantly shook his head. "Hell no, that's humiliating."

Lio didn't miss a beat. "Then you're going to be the one slowing us down."

Iggy glared at him. "Says the guy who's afraid of the dark." He looked up at the rock wall again. "I can do this."

Lio just grinned. "I knew you would say that."

Iggy had no answer to that.

"And I know that you're going to do it too. Here, see the path I take."

With that, he started to climb up the wall, carefully picking out where to put his hands and feet as he headed towards the ledge with the tunnel.

He looked back to see how Iggy was doing, only to see that the track star had backed up almost all the way across the room and was in a starting crouch. "I'll do this my way," the track star murmured. Suddenly he surged forwards and charged straight at the wall, practically running up it until he managed to get a foothold about a body-length above the ground.

"Just don't look down," Lio spoke soothingly as he stood above on the ledge.

"I know that much," Iggy shot back through gritted teeth as he clung to the wall for dear life. He finally reached the ledge, and the two of them began to carefully inch along to reach the tunnel at the far side of the cavern.

In a different part of the caves, Paradise and Tanja were making much faster progress. "Look!" Paradise shouted and ran ahead of Tanja, seeing light ahead. She burst into the cavern where the hosts were. Tanja followed, too tired to argue.

"Aaaand… congratulations, you've made it to the finish!" Nimbus announced while playing air guitar.

"Did we win?" Paradise asked, and looked around the cavern, until she was shocked to notice Kit. "You…"

They gave her a sheepish wave. "I went through the river," they explained. The tinkerer was still wrapped up in a blanket, and they were now sitting on the hood of Javi's ATV, warming themself up from the heat radiating off of the running engine.

"And you were the first one?" Paradise asked.

They reluctantly gave a nod of confirmation.

"Martin and Iggy really aren't even here yet," Tanja noted, and stole a glance back at the set of tunnel entrances. "What is happening in there?"

"Ahahaha, they've met their certain doom!" Naila suddenly popped up and threw glitter in the air, but she was ignored by everyone.

"Maybe they took each other out," Paradise offered as she examined her nails boredly. "I knew it was best to stay out of their way." She sat down next to Kit. "So, that means you have the idol." It was more of a statement than a question.

Further back in the caves, Martin had returned to the spot where the cave-in had separated him from Iggy. He was digging through the pile of rubble, trying to find a way through, when all of a sudden, he heard lumbering footsteps.

He barely had the time to take cover behind a boulder before Selene burst onto the scene, riding on Puppy's back. The bear let out a loud bellow.

Martin took off his glasses and cleaned them before putting them back on. The bear was still there. It slowed down to a walk when it saw the rubble up ahead, lumbering in his direction.

"Puppy, wait!" Selene called out, pulling on the scruff of the bear's neck like it was its reins. "You could hurt him."

Martin clutched his pickaxe tightly and began to slowly back away, clearly terrified. Puppy whimpered and hung her head.

Selene nodded sagely. "You're right, we still have to try to help. Sometimes, we just have to stand up and fight for what we care about."

She patted Puppy's flank. "Puppy… CHAAARGE!" The bear reared up on her hind legs, and with a swipe of each of her two massive front paws, the entire pile of rubble was cleared in front of Martin's eyes.

Selene extended her hand. "Martin. Get on."

Confessional: Selene

"I hope that we didn't scare Martin too much. He's so serious, so I thought he would want help with the game. Also Puppy wanted another friend."

"Made it!" Iggy shouted as he finally jumped down from the ledge and set foot on solid ground. Lio was already there waiting for him, and they continued on through the tunnels, and it seemed like their path was getting brighter.

"Wait." Lio held up his hand. "Do you hear that?"

All of a sudden, something large and brown came barreling towards them. Both boys screamed and tried to jump to the side as Puppy the bear ran through the caverns, with Selene and Martin both hanging on for dear life.

Puppy roared angrily when she saw Iggy, and knocked him over with a paw.

Selene only looked at Lio for a moment, before she steered Puppy back on course. "Over there, Puppy!" She pointed towards the tunnel that had some light streaming out from it, and the bear galloped forward.

Lio helped Iggy up, prepared to chase after them. "By Jove, that was definitely a bear. We need to help them!"

"Well, they seemed like they were having a good time, I don't think they'll get hurt if they can hold on." Iggy lied. "But Selene and Martin… does that mean we're the only two left?" he looked at Lio.

"It's likely." Lio nodded grimly.

"Well, nothing personal, but…" Iggy grabbed the rope that Lio still had tied around his waist and yanked it, causing the diplomat to fall down. "I'm sure not gonna be last!" He sprinted after Selene and Martin.

Nimbus hid behind Javi as the bear's footsteps got closer. "Javi, make it stop!" he cried. Puppy burst into the cavern. Paradise screamed and Kit assumed the fetal position, while Tanja seemed prepared to fight.

Javi muttered some expletives to himself as he assessed the situation. "Gremlin, prepare the tranquilizer." Naila saluted and ran over to grab something from the back of the ATV.

"Wait, you don't need to hurt her!" Selene shouted. "Puppy, stop!"

Sure enough, Puppy screeched to a halt in front of Javi, her claws leaving skid marks on the stone floor.

"Puppy, sit!" Selene commanded next.

The bear immediately plopped its butt on the ground, allowing Martin and Selene to dismount, completely unharmed.

Naila was the first to recover from the shock, and she gleefully applauded. Puppy lowered her head bashfully, as if embarrassed at the attention.

Selene patted the bear's side. "This is my new friend, Puppy."

"Puppy?" Javi repeated dubiously.

Nimbus' jaw was wide open, while Kit and Paradise were hiding behind the wimp car. Puppy gave a soft whine.

Suddenly, Martin started to laugh. "Wow, we really did that. How exhilarating." He brushed the bear fur off his sweater. "…never do that to me again."

Javi scratched his head. "Geez, I don't even know where to start with this type of liability. But, um, if you could tell the bear to kindly vacate the challenge premises, that would make me—and our lawyers—feel a lot more secure."

"That makes Puppy sad," Selene responded, and the bear whimpered.

"Fascinating," Tanja murmured. "This type of behavior is practically unheard of in wild animals, especially mature ones."

"There is something seriously wrong with that bear," Paradise stated bluntly, but she was startled when Puppy's head whipped in her direction and the bear growled at her. Tanja immediately got in front of Paradise.

"Bad Puppy, be nice!" Selene scolded, and the bear reluctantly shuffled away. "See, she's well-behaved."

Javi scratched his head. "Eh, I guess if you have control over it, it's your responsibility now."

Selene gave him a mock salute. "Puppy will be good."

"Not only is there a bear in Bermuda, but a really smart one. What a world we live in!" Nimbus cheered.

Suddenly, Kit peeked out from their hiding place inside the challenge car. They had been watching Puppy for some time now, something that Javi had just noticed.

Kit seemed like they were about to ask something about Puppy, when Javi abruptly stepped in. "Oi, mije, this challenge is going to be done soon, want to help me and Gremlin get this caravan turned around?"

Kit cocked their head and pointed at themself. "Me?"

Confessional: Kit

"Ooh, Javi's really nice, I didn't think that he would let me work with some of his equipment. I'm pretty easily distracted, hehe."

"Guess we're just waiting on two more," Nimbus commented.

Soon the finish was in sight for Iggy. Lio had gotten up and followed after, but he had no chance of catching up with the track star.

That was until Iggy crashed straight into Puppy's stomach. The bear was standing on her hind legs, and she loomed over Iggy and gave a menacing grin. She brought a paw down to swipe at him, and he rolled to the side just in time.

As Iggy was blocked by the bear, Lio ran past him to reach the cavern where the rest of the campers were waiting.

"Puppy, don't hurt him!" Selene called out.

The bear stopped attacking Iggy, but before he could get up, she grabbed the back of his jacket in her mouth, carried him over to the others, and dropped him on the ground, then turned to Selene as if expecting praise.

Selene shrugged. "Good enough." She pet Puppy.

"What on Earth is that?" Lio demanded.

"My new puppy."

Lio narrowed his eyes. "That's a bear."

Puppy whimpered.

Selene shook her head and put a finger to her lips. "Puppy," she corrected.

Lio just backed away slowly.

"I suppose that's the end of this challenge," Nimbus announced. "So congratulations Iggy, you've won…"

The track star was still lying on the ground where Puppy had dropped him, but instantly perked up.

"Won yourself a whole evening of kitchen duty once we get back to camp!" Nimbus finished.

"Bullshit," Iggy grumbled.

"And as for today's actual winner…" Nimbus continued.

The seven campers all listened intently, realizing the implications of this.

"Their reward has already been distributed," Javi finished with a sly wink. The contestants let out the collective breath that they had been holding, as Javi hopped onto his ATV. He, Kit, and Naila had turned the entire caravan around so it was facing the entrance of the cave. "So let's get back on the road."

Naila blasted her airhorn, which was especially obnoxious as it echoed around the confined space, causing everyone to cover their ears. "All aboard!"

Confessional: Paradise

"Tanja and I know that Kit has immunity. The others don't. So if we play this right, it won't matter what kinds of numbers the others have. And yes, I'm including Martin in the others."

Confessional: Tanja

"Of course we have to let Martin know the news. With a majority and the idol, there is no chance of failure."

Right as they were all prepared to leave, Kit raised their hand. They were still bundled up in their thermal blanket. "Wait! Before we go, could I get my coat back? I left it in the cave." Everyone groaned at that.

"What happened to your coat, anyways?" Paradise asked. No one ever saw Kit without it.

"I, uh, was going through the water," they explained vaguely, not wanting to reveal they had won the challenge. "And I didn't want any of my stuff to get wet so I left it."

"Ay, mije." Javi sighed. "I will retrieve your coat by tonight. We shouldn't leave that stuff out there. But we need to get back now, before Sophie begins to worry."

Mercifully, Naila didn't try anything funny on the drive back down from the mountains. The hailstorm had ended, and the sun was even shining, causing the ice to start to melt. Sitting behind her, Javi was looking at Pájaro-bat-ico's dashboard, which showed that the drone was dragging Kit's trench coat behind it as it flew through the caves.

Meanwhile, Nimbus was seated with all seven campers in the wimp car.

"We saw Selene and Martin finishing the challenge. So one of you three must have the idol." Iggy pointed at Paradise, Tanja, and Kit.

"Wow, what a clever deduction," Paradise said sarcastically, as Kit stuck their tongue out at him. "We're clearly outmatched by your brilliant strategic prowess."

Tanja rubbed her temples. "This ceremony is going to be an exhausting guessing game, I can tell."

Martin adjusted his glasses. "This is what we signed up for."

As they drove through the forest, Selene looked out the window, watching Puppy. The bear was running alongside the caravan, tongue lolling out as she appeared to be having the time of her life.

Meanwhile, Lio was just beginning to comprehend what had happened with the bear. "Selene, I need to know," Lio demanded and pointed at Puppy. "About… that. Why would you go after a bear? That's a wild animal, how did you know it wouldn't attack you! Did you get bitten, you need to get checked for rabies, or-"

Selene shrugged indifferently. "I could've attacked Puppy too. Maybe not given her rabies though. But we understood each other."

"You got lucky."

"I beat you in the challenge again," Selene pointed out. "And I didn't fall into a hole."

Lio sputtered at that for a moment. "It's only natural to be worried if I see my sister being dragged off by a bear!"

"Why are you upset? I wanted to help you when you got stuck, but you wanted me to leave you, so I did. I just found my own way through the challenge."

"I wanted you to secure your safety, not go off and attempt to tame a wild bear!"

"This isn't about my safety, is it? It's all about what you want!"

"Of course I don't want you doing anything reckless. You're the reason Mom and Dad know that I'm-"

Selene abruptly stood up, causing the car to rock slightly, and Nimbus glanced at her nervously. "You don't get to use that against me anymore," she said darkly. "All these years I've felt like I've had a debt to you, but I never could make you trust me again. I don't even want to play this game anymore, I just want you to leave me alone."

At this point, their conversation had escalated to the point where all of the others in the wimp car had grown silent. Kit was nervously fiddling with the hem of their shirt.

Confessional: Nimbus

"Geez, they're almost as bad as me and my sister Cirrus used to be."

"Stop it, both of you!" Tanja barked. "You are both safe. No one was in any danger, since I trust that the staff had means of intervening." She glared at Nimbus as she said that, and he gave an uneasy nod.

Iggy nudged Lio, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it, while Selene huffed and sat back down, and looked out the window again. When they finally emerged from the trees, Puppy hung back, and Selene nodded in understanding, giving her a somber wave. After a moment, Puppy turned and lumbered back into the woods.

The caravan finally stopped right outside of camp. Nimbus unceremoniously kicked open the door of the wimp car. "Don't forget, I'll be seeing all of you tonight!" Everyone seemed all too eager to get out.

"I need a hot shower after that," Paradise whined, immediately heading for the cabins.

"Yeah, and I need a nap," Iggy started to say, but he was stopped by Sophie prodding him with the handle of her wooden spoon.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

The track star froze.

"Nimbus told me that you volunteered to help me in the kitchen tonight?"

Iggy gulped. "Um, yes ma'am."

He and Lio exchanged frantic glances. They weren't sure if they would have a chance to talk before the ceremony.

"Uhhh, you figure it out," Iggy gave a vague gesture at Lio, all but confirming he had his vote. Sophie was starting to look impatient, so he quickly followed her to the mess hall.

Confessional: Sophie

She folded her arms. "It's about time I get some more help here, but also some more company. I ask her every day, and Naila hasn't shown up to do the dishes a single time. Though I've heard Javi has been putting her through her paces."

Confessional: Lio

"I'm no oracle, but I can tell disaster is looming. And it's almost poetic justice, having my closest ally whisked away as well." He took a deep breath. "I'll find something productive to do. I'll keep moving forward."

No sooner than the campers had gotten settled, camp was getting busy again. "Paradise!" Lio called out and jogged over to the heiress.

"What do you want?" she snapped. She had her hair wrapped up in a towel, and shot him a murderous look, but he pressed on.

"Look, I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say."

"Uh-huh." Paradise just gave an aloof nod.

"Your team also has the idol, so you can protect anyone on your team that my team chooses to vote for. That reduces it to a mind game, and that's a hassle for everyone involved. So I have a deal." He paused for a moment, trying to gauge Paradise's reaction, but she seemed completely unimpressed by his whole spiel. "I'll vote for whoever you want, just not Selene."

Paradise chuckled. "I'm glad you've finally realized it. Whichever way you look at it, you're, like, kind of in real big trouble."

"Look, I get it. I just can't let my sister go home, especially like this. I still need to fix things. Surely you understand that."

"I can tell you one thing," Paradise said casually, but Lio felt his blood run cold. "The person we wanted to target wasn't Selene. It was you."

Confessional: Paradise

"Do we really plan on voting for Lio? Maybe, maybe not. But what's most important is that he thinks we are. People do reckless things when they believe they're in danger."

Meanwhile, Tanja approached Martin at one of the picnic tables. "Are you hurt?"

"Surprisingly, no, besides any residual shock. That seems to occur whenever I am in proximity to Selene. She is like… Ollie but with violence instead of circus tricks, but she helped me today."

"Well, I think we have Kit's vote," Tanja revealed, having dreaded this.

Martin adjusted his glasses. "Really now," he stated flatly.

"I talked to them over the weekend, and they wanted to work with us to get rid of Lio."

"I know."

"You… what?" Tanja asked, confused.

"I met Kit in the caves today and they told me," he recounted, clearly still annoyed. "Why they were the first one to tell me escapes me."

"It's because you were too busy moping," Paradise said as she slid in next to Tanja on the bench. "And playing with Selene, apparently. But we have more important business now."

"Did you find out anything from the Dragons?" Tanja asked.

Paradise smirked. "It's looking pretty bleak for them. Maybe we won't even need the idol at all. So are you in?" she asked Martin.

He frowned. "Is Lio still your target, even after today?"

"It's our chance to take out one of the two, definitely. They're, like, both a mess right now."

"I didn't like the way that he talked to Selene," Tanja added.

Martin shook his head at that. "You are still voting with your emotions, I see. Lio has no power anymore, and Selene is clearly the greater threat."

"Lio has Iggy," Paradise pointed out. "And we don't know what Selene will be like if we take out Lio, especially if she votes for him, which I think might be happening."

"Which one of you is going to use immunity?" Martin asked, still dubious at the plan.

"Kit still has the idol," Tanja revealed before Paradise could stop her. "I don't know if they'll give it up, quite honestly."

Martin shook his head disapprovingly. "This is exactly why we did not want to let more people in."

Though some of the campers were too immersed in their discussions to notice, in the middle of camp, there was a rather strange sight. There was a clothesline strung up between the two cabins. A massive pile of electronic junk was underneath it, and Kit's trademark trench coat had been hung up to dry, having finally been retrieved from the caves by Javi's drone.

Suddenly, Kit ran out of the bathroom carrying a hair dryer plugged in with a comically long extension cord. They proceeded to turn it on to the highest setting and aim it at their coat. But just as it was getting hot, their hair dryer turned off.

"Sorry!" Selene called out from the ground, having tripped over their extension cord.

"It's okay, I know this isn't the best place for laundry, hehe." Kit ran over to plug it back in, but didn't turn it on yet. "Soooo… what did you do to the bear to get it to listen to you?" they asked, jumping up and down excitedly.

"I looked, and I listened, and I realized what she wanted. She was lonely."

"I think I was doing the same thing, before Javi distracted me," Kit recalled. "I mostly do it to machines, hehe, I can't figure animals out, but I thought she was really cool. Will you take me to meet Puppy later?"

Selene thought about that. "She's probably sleeping. But if we ever see her again, I think she'll be friendly."

"Ooh, do you want to help us get rid of Lio?" Kit asked suddenly.

"What? No!"

Kit backed away instinctively at the outburst. "Really, I thought you would totally be on board. Y'know after you told Lio you wanted him to go away. Besides, me and the Gryphons have the immunity idol, so if you wanna side with them and vote for one of us…" They finally trailed off when they realized that Selene didn't look convinced.

"I'll think about it," Selene said flatly.

Lio was sitting on his bed in the boy's cabin when Iggy suddenly barged in. "Oh good, you're here! I just told Sophie I was going to the bathroom, so I don't have much time…. wait." The track star suddenly realized that Martin was in the room, tidying up his bed.

"Go on," the fencer said mockingly.

"C'mon Lio, let's go find somewhere else." Iggy tried to drag Lio away, but Martin held up his hand.

"I would not be so quick to dismiss me, like you have been doing for this entire competition." The light gleamed off of his glasses. "In fact, I may be able to help you both."

"Would you really vote with us?" Lio asked, still disbelieving of his sudden change of allegiance.

"Yeah, why should we trust you?" Iggy jeered. "You and Tanja have been working together since, like, day one."

"Kit has the idol," Martin stated.

Iggy glared at him. "So what if they do? Even if you're telling the truth, they could still use it on any of the others, so we're back at square one."

Martin adjusted his glasses. "My proposal is entirely different. Something that the Gryphons would never hope to anticipate. It is perhaps the only avenue Iggy and I would be willing to collaborate on."

Iggy caught on, recalling the first part of the challenge, and nodded.

Lio groaned. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

Martin slowly shook his head.

"It's time, campers!" Nimbus' voice blared from the loudspeakers around camp. Martin covered his ears. It was finally evening, and the contestants had all been anticipating this moment, so no other instruction was needed, and they headed towards the campfire.

"We have seven votes, more than either of your old teams, so this is going to be the largest elimination ceremony… in the entire season! Isn't that cool?" Nimbus said to the seated campers, but most of them looked pretty tense. "Wait, seven, right?" He looked around, and counted the campers quickly. "Iggy's not here yet, huh."

Javi stepped forward. "Well, we should at least start getting set up. Naila?" He turned to the prankster just in time to see her shove all six of the immunity marshmallows into her mouth at once and then hide behind Nimbus.

"Aw man, we needed those for the ceremony!" the rock star groaned.

That was when Iggy finally showed up at the campfire. "Wait!" he shouted. He was still wearing an apron and oven mitts, and was carrying a tray of cookies he had baked with Sophie.

"Perfect, that'll work!" Nimbus snatched the treats right out of his hands.

"Hey!" Iggy protested.

"I think those just came out of the oven. Isn't that hot?" Javi asked.

"...yes," Nimbus responded, and a single tear of pain fell down his face. He set the baking pan down on a nearby stump a little bit too quickly.

"Alright, Iggy, you can be first up!" Just as soon as the track star had taken a seat, Nimbus immediately gestured for him to cast his vote.

Iggy looked back and gave Lio a quizzical glance. The diplomat nodded, and the two of them seemed to come to an agreement, before Iggy headed into the confessional to vote.

After he was done, Nimbus called up the other campers, one by one. Nobody spoke at all throughout the entire process.

"Tough crowd, huh," Naila said and nudged Javi, who rolled his eyes.

Confessional: Lio

He stared at his blank ballot. "I am at a huge crossroads, and I feel like I am about to open up Pandora's Box and expose us all to a host of brand new terrors. What would a truly great leader do?"

" …and am I even leading anyone anymore?"

Finally, Tanja, the last person, had cast her vote, and returned to her seat with her usual stoic expression, only for Paradise to sidle up next to her.

"Now, before we get started here, does anybody have a little gift for us?" Nimbus asked.

The campers all stared blankly at him.

"Maybe something shiny, wooden, and with awesome hair?" Nimbus prompted.

"Yes! Wait!" Kit reached into the pocket of their slightly damp coat as everybody watched.

Confessional: Tanja

"Did they manage to hold on to the idol? Good for them. I thought everyone would be after them."

Finally, Kit pulled out… nothing. The other campers gasped.

All of a sudden, the thunderbird statue fell into Kit's lap, accompanied by a shower of purple glitter. "Ta-da!" Naila crowed, having tossed it to them.

The campers looked between Kit and Naila, stunned, as they high-fived.

"Wait, you had the idol this entire time?" Paradise asked, and the prankster smirked.

"Maaaybe."

Martin adjusted his glasses. "I suppose no one could have foreseen that."

"I will play it on myself," Kit said confidently.

Nimbus took the idol from Kit, and immediately started fussing over it, trying to brush all the glitter off.

"It's glitter. Don't even try cleaning it," Naila told him.

Meanwhile, Javi was tallying up the votes. "Nice work, mije. Come and take the first immunity marshmallow… er, cookie."

Naila grabbed the pan of cookies and brought it over to Kit, and they took one. They took a bite, and then gave Iggy a thumbs-up, but the track star was too tense to notice.

"Not that you got any votes," Javi jeered. This seemed to surprise Kit. They instantly looked at Paradise, who had a worried grimace.

"Also safe today…" Javi announced. "Paradise."

The heiress nodded grimly and took a cookie.

At this point, Nimbus had given up on the idol. He grabbed the ballots from Javi. "C'mon, don't take my job! Also with no votes… Iggy."

"I don't normally eat unnecessary sweets, but my baking is just that good," he gloated.

"Yeah, we're all so grateful that you came in dead last so you could bake for us," Paradise remarked, and he scowled at her.

"Tanja!" Nimbus called out. Paradise visibly relaxed as the activist got her cookie, while some of the others were growing more and more confused about how the vote was turning out.

"And Martin!" Naila threw a cookie at him like a frisbee and he caught it without even looking up.

"And that leaves two," Nimbus continued. "Fitting that it would end like this, eh." He looked from Lio to Selene. "The biggest physical threat, and the biggest social nuisance. And as it turns out, you two were the only contestants to receive votes today." The twins themselves actually didn't seem nearly as shocked by this as some of their fellow campers were.

Confessional: Tanja

"That doesn't seem right. I did not have the chance to talk much with either of them, but I cannot imagine that Lio and Selene would vote for each other."

"You heard it right, one of the Astaire twins is headed home today," Nimbus announced, while Naila stood on top of a tree stump and brandished the last immunity cookie menacingly. "But the last immunity cookie goes to…"

"Lio."

Confessional: Lio

"Circumstances changed, and I believe that I have the better chance of winning this, so I should be the one to continue on, on behalf of both of us. That's all there is to it. I refuse to make the same mistake as the hero Orpheus, and give in to temptation just moments before escaping from the underworld."

"…who am I kidding. Either way, I know that I've failed."

Confessional: Iggy

"I know we're doing what we have to do, and of course I kind of need Lio to stick around, but it's still fucked up that he wanted to vote for Selene. I would never ever vote for Cas. That would make him sad, and I can't handle it when my little brother is sad, okay?" He sighed. "Me leaving my family behind for a competition, for one last time, was worth it," he said, though he didn't sound convinced. "I'll make sure it's worth it."

Confessional: Martin

"Tanja will thank me later."

For a moment, the contestants were all silent in shock. Finally, Paradise spoke up. "Something doesn't make sense. Wouldn't we have a majority?" She looked at Martin suspiciously, but even that didn't solve the puzzle entirely.

"Yeah, wait a minute." Iggy nudged Lio. "How did you pull that off?"

The others began to whisper amongst themselves, but before a full-fledged argument could break out, Selene stood up, her expression resolute. "I voted for myself."

"You what?" Lio burst out. "Why?"

"She probably thought you would do the same," Iggy muttered to him.

"I-"

Lio started to protest, but Selene shook her head. "It wasn't for you. I made this vote for me."

"You're giving up your chance at victory, just like that?" Iggy asked.

"I don't want to win. I want to be free."

"She could've just quit earlier and saved us all the headache of the vote," Paradise grumbled, but Tanja silenced her with a glare.

"Well, Selene, you know the deal." Javi pointed at her. "It's time to pack up and meet me at the dock. Your ride will be here shortly."

"As for the rest of you, the ceremony is adjourned," Nimbus added. "Go get some rest!"

Lio ran to catch up to Selene as she headed back to the cabins. "I can't believe you would want to leave this place so badly that you would vote yourself off," he lamented. "I feel like I failed you."

Selene gave an indifferent shrug. "It's not your job to take care of me."

"Well, I hope you can take care."

There was anger in Selene's eyes, but her tone was eerily calm. "I think you should practice being away from me too. It will be good for you."

Confessional: Selene

"Voting Lio off could be one thing. But leaving him behind seemed right. I don't think he will do very well. I like the people that were eliminated more anyways."

While en route to pick up the next camper, the Loser Cruiser was abuzz with activity. Celia, Earl, and Ollie were all working on putting up the flag that they had decorated, and Kestrel was reclining by the prow of the ship as he supervised them, until he was interrupted. "Mr. Kestrel!"

The pilot looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, Maggie?"

The gossipmonger went right up to him and sat next to him, uninvited. "You really crashed on that island and survived there for months?"

They cocked their head. "Yeah, so what's it to you?"

"And you're really Ada's long-lost cousin?"

"It was a couple of years. That's not really that long." He waved a hand lazily. "Besides, it's mostly on Ada for not keeping in touch."

"That's a long time to be away from people." Maggie shuddered. "It must've been so dreadfully dull."

"I got used to it. Kinda prefer it in a way. Now there are just too many people to keep track of," Kestrel remarked.

Maggie rubbed her hands together nefariously. "Don't worry, I'll give you a rundown. I know everything that goes on around here." She pointed at the trio on the deck. "So first, there's Celia, and she totally stole Nimbus' sunglasses."

The aforementioned rebel was pacing back and forth underneath the mainmast like a foreman, watching as the flag was put into place. "Alright, just a little higher," she called out. Earl was pulling a rope to hoist up their flag, while Ollie made adjustments from his perch on top of the mast.

"Perfect!" Ollie clapped his hands gleefully. He swung himself down from the crow's nest and scrambled down the rigging, while Earl and Celia admired their handiwork.

The flag was made of a vaguely rectangular scrap of sailcloth and colored with Celia's spray paints. The centerpiece of the design was a terrifying black-and-white rendering of a hyper-realistic skull and crossbones, complete with bloodshot eyes and some rotting flesh peeling off of the bones. "LOSERZ" had been painted in bold jagged letters underneath it, with some stylized lightning bolts. But besides those two features, the visual appeal of the flag decreased significantly, with a red-and-white striped border, pink polka dots, and some hexagonal patterns that looked suspiciously like skeletal diagrams of molecules.

Kestrel raised an eyebrow. "That sure is a flag."

Kiwi the parakeet fluttered down and landed on the pilot's shoulder. "It looks like unicorn diarrhea, awk," he chimed in.

Meanwhile, inside the ship's cabin, Ada still had her map laid out on the big wooden table. Drake was sitting next to her. Though he was clearly one of the masterminds behind the flag design, he was absent while it was being installed. The artist was diligently sketching Kestrel's island onto Ada's map.

"You can remember the shape of the entire coastline?" Ada asked in disbelief. She stuck a push pin into the map to mark her cousin's crash site.

"I remember a lot of things," Drake mumbled. "But most of them, I wish I had forgotten, yeah."

Ada frowned. "That's concerning."

While the rest of the campers still on Ventallan were settling in for the night, Javi escorted Selene towards the dock. The follower was completely silent, and watched stoically as the Loser Cruiser approached. A young man with a blond ponytail and an aviator's cap was standing on the main deck, and he lowered the gangplank.

"Who the hell are you?" Javi asked.

Kestrel shrugged. "Don't worry about it, old man. Now, who's today's lucky loser?"

Javi was fuming, but Ada quickly appeared behind her cousin to diffuse the situation, tipping her tricorn hat at Javi. She gave Selene a warm smile. "Welcome aboard," she said, but the follower remained silent as she trudged onto the ship.

The mood aboard the ship had changed instantly as soon as they had docked at Ventallan. The five eliminated campers were all gathered on deck, whispering amongst themselves, but then they saw who the new arrival was.

"Selene!" Celia shouted as she pushed the others aside, nearly sending Maggie flying, and ran across the deck of the ship.

That was the last straw, and the follower suddenly burst into tears.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Celia linked arms with the much larger girl and led her away. Ollie tried to approach them, but then he saw Celia's expression and knew to leave them be.

Javi and Ada weren't completely sure how to handle the situation either. "I see you've been doing some renovations," the mechanic remarked, looking up at the new sails, along with a whole secondary mast, that had been installed on the ship. "So, um, how has sailing been?" he awkwardly asked.

"The smoothest," she responded vaguely. "Especially now that I have a solid crew. You landlubbers just keep getting rid of the most capable sailors."

"It's the kids' decision, not my business." Javi shrugged. "But I get the feeling that things might be pretty ugly tomorrow."

On the beach, Javi's trailer was looking worse for wear after the hailstorm, and though the damage looked mostly superficial, there were a number of dents in the roof. Inside, Javi was holding the bottom of a stepladder while Naila stood on top. The prankster was using a mallet to pound the dents back into shape.

"I think I like this competition more when there aren't teams to manage," Nimbus remarked.

"That checks out, you've never been a team player yourself," Javi grumbled.

"Hey, I'm totally a team player! You know what? I'll go right ahead and record this recap for us," Nimbus announced. He grabbed the tripod in the corner of the room. "…um, Javi, how do you work the video camera again?"

The mechanic muttered some obscenities to himself, but went to fetch the camera, before they abruptly cut to the outro.

"Today on Camp Ventallan's very first solo challenge, all hail broke loose!" Nimbus announced, sitting on the couch inside Javi's trailer. "Will Lio be able to keep going without Selene? Will Paradise keep putting herself first? And how long can Kit keep slipping through the cracks? Find out next time, on… Total! Drama! Stormbound!"

Naila threw a handful of glitter at him, right as the video cut off.

But then there was one more clip. On the dock, a little bit after the elimination ceremony, Lio was sitting alone, not even caring about the dwindling light. He was watching the Loser Cruiser sail away.

All of a sudden, he felt the dock shake underneath him. He froze in fear as Puppy the bear lumbered over and sat down next to him. She gave a sad bellow.

Remaining Contestants: Iggy, Kit, Lio,Martin, Paradise, Tanja (6)

Elimination Order:

13. Naila Jaziri, The Ominous Prankster (no team, disqualified/intern)

12. Drake Thakur, The Nightmare Artist (Gryphons)

11. Earl Ng-Meyer, The Scientific Matchmaker (Gryphons)

10. Celia Ruiz, The Moody Rebel (Dragons)

9. Maggie Reid, The Fragile Gossipmonger (Gryphons)

8. Ollie Warren, The Runaway Acrobat (Dragons)

-Merge-

7. Selene Astaire, The Belligerent Follower (Dragons)

Wow, this episode was an ordeal.

Yeah, that's about it. It's embarrassing how long it took to get out (even if I did release a chapter of House Party in between). This was the last episode to have its challenge finalized, as I initially planned to have Ada's rescue mission for Kestrel extend into this episode and have her rope the remaining contestants into it as well. I think the end result was pretty messy, and a lot of things contributed to this: the one-challenge idol thing, which was kind of a bizarre experiment; Selene pseudo-quitting but there still being a vote; and the second part of the challenge being basically being completely improvised, to name a few. That being said, I'm still proud of this episode. I think there were a lot of fun developments, I got to finally write a challenge that was just "haha funny people get hurt," and of course, there was a puppy.

With that, we are officially in the midst of this story's second arc. I chose to include the Loser Cruiser intermission for a variety of reasons, but having a whole episode of fun in between two of the saddest eliminations in the entire season was definitely a big one. It was probably clear throughout this chapter how much of a comfort character Selene is to me. She's probably my favorite character in the entire story and she's grown on me immensely throughout this whole process. I'm not completely satisfied with how her sendoff went but I enjoyed her arc overall.

I clearly have a lot of thoughts about this episode, but I would also love to know yours! Constructive criticism helps me grow as a writer. Thanks so much for reading and for sticking with this story, it means a lot to me. I can't believe we have only five episodes left, and hopefully this next one takes fewer than eight months.

Feline's Forecast: The wind is picking up, so grab a partner and hold on tight before you get blown away... unless that's what you want?