Author's Notes:
-Once again, I need to apologize. I meant to have this chapter out by the near end of January, and now it's three months past that. I need to finish this story so I can put more focus into other projects and endeavors.
Anyway… on with the show!
"Last time, on the Ridonculous Race…" Don began the narration.
A montage began as the camera showed the last episode's events; the tango instructors showing the steps before showing the Ice Dancers dancing, and Jacques and Crimson attempting the tea serving challenge. It also showed the Goths' kiss and Emma receiving the envelope of evidence. Emma opened the envelope and snapped at her sister, much to her dismay and that of the Adversity Twins.
"The final four teams went down to Argentina to dance, and then served tea. Passion was in the air, but passion can refer to both love… and hate. The tea was spilled in more ways than one as Emma learned the truth about Kitty and Mickey being in love. And two sisters continued to spill it as anger spilled over, escalating into a full-blown boil! Yikes!"
Mickey looked at the dueling sisters and at his brother, and sighed in dismay. The scene switched to the twins at the chill zone and the Sisters eliminated. And apologizing to a businessman.
"In the end, Mickey joined his brother in continuing the race, leaving his love behind. And the Sisters were eliminated. But at least they made amends, both with each other and the teahouse owner."
The screen showed off the last three teams, followed by a rapid montage of all the countries and flags of where they had previously been. And showed Don standing within an arrow, creating an illusion of three Dons on screen at once, before showing the real Don back at the Plaza de Mayo nearby the May Pyramid monument.
"The Adversity Twins, Goths, and the Ice Dancers. These three teams have battled it out in twenty one countries and crossed a hundred and eleven time zones. Now the real challenge begins. From this moment on, it's a non-stop race to the finish line. Teams who slow down, will be left behind. Welcome to part 1 of the grand finale of the most stupendous show ever! This is the Ridonculous Race!"
Don flashed a smile for the camera.
[cue intro]
[after intro]
"Welcome back to Argentina, where today's winners are about to grab the first travel tip."
The Goths were shown near the Don Box.
Interview; Goths
"The final three. This is surprising, even for me." Crimson remarked.
"Even I'm surprised." Ennui remarked.
"Do you think we'll actually win and prove Charlie wrong for good?"
Loki chirped.
"I'll take that as a yes." Crimson concluded.
End Interview
A hand pressed the button and the goth girl got their first tip.
"We're going to the Bahamas." Crimson announced.
A montage began showing off the Bahamas, from a cave of treasure, to a beautiful beachside and a few flamingos.
"The Bahamas- known for its pirate history, stunning Caribbean beaches, and fluorescent pink flamingos."
Then it showed Don exiting an airport and approaching a Don Box wearing a pirate outfit.
"Once teams land in Nassau, they'll find this Don Box and their next travel tip."
A montage began of taxis being hailed.
"To the airport!" Josee commanded.
"Ride to the airport please," Jay asked politely.
"Just drive," Ennui flatly stated.
And the taxis sped off.
The camera showed the Goth's taxi rolling down the road, cruising comfortably and quickly. Loki rested on top of Ennui's head.
"Another tropical paradise of sunshine. Not my place." Crimson began.
Loki chirped a bit.
"What is it Loki?" Ennui asked their pet rabbit. A moment of silence passed. "I see…"
"Hmm?"
"Loki tells me that he believes something bad will happen." Ennui began. "He isn't sure what though."
"Those Ice Dancers are cruel. But if we can get ahead, maybe they'll be sent home." Crimson started. "Wouldn't that be nice? To see them get what they deserve."
Then it showed another cab with the twins.
"We can do this," Jay told his brother.
"We can do this," Mickey echoed, a little bit sad.
"Nothing to lose and everything to gain," Jay soon noticed his brother, slumped in his seat. "You okay?"
"Not entirely," Mickey admitted.
Interview; Adversity Twins
"Truth be told, I'm still pretty sad that Kitty got eliminated from the competition. I knew it would likely happen eventually, I just didn't know when." Mickey stated. "The fact that the Ice Dancers were the ones to do it was even worse."
"She'd want you to continue," Jay affirmed.
The younger twin looked up. "You think so?"
"Absolutely," Jay nodded his head up and down. "We've come too far to give up."
Mickey softly smiled. "Thanks Jay."
End Interview
A cab pulled up at the airport and the Ice Dancers soon ran inside to the ticket stand, disrupting a clerk trying to paint a monster figurine.
"Hey!" they shouted.
"Two tickets to Nassau, now!" Josee demanded, trying to intimidate the clerk. "There are two other teams and you're going to put them on a later flight. Do you hear me?!"
"Ahem," a familiar voice spoke.
The two turned to see Crimson and Ennui looking at them dead in the eyes, their bunny Loki (the rabbit glaring at them) as well as the twins Mickey and Jay raising their brows in unison.
"You're not going anywhere without the rest of us," Ennui told her.
Josee screamed and threw the computer monitor out the window, much to the apprehension of the Adversity Twins.
"We are so sick of those Goths!" Josee screamed.
Jacques held his fists together.
Interview; Adversity Twins
"Well… that was unnerving." Mickey admitted.
"No kidding." Jay echoed.
"The Bahamas. Think there's going to be a swimming challenge?"
"Almost certainly." Jay asked. "Remind me, sharks don't live in the Bahama coastal areas, do they?"
"I'm not sure. We were lucky enough to get a tip that had floated to the surface during one of the early challenges." Mickey began as flashback footage aired.
The camera showed a flashback of Mickey grabbing a tip on the surface of the water before emerging from the water.
"Don't worry." Jay reassured his brother in the present. "Sharks or no, we'll swim past them and everyone else."
Mickey nodded, his spirits a little more lifted.
End Interview
A scene showed a map of the plane in the air and its pathway to the Bahamas before showing the actual plane landing.
"All three teams are on the same flight and once it lands, every move they make will be crucial."
"Ándale! Ándale!" Josee exclaimed.
"Go, go, go!" Jay cried out.
The Ice Dancers lead the pack, followed by the Goths and the Adversity Twins. As such, the dark dressed dancers got there first.
"It's an All-In. 'Arr Matey, this way be treasure maps'?" Josee asked.
A montage began with Don outside and inside the museum explaining the challenge, showing off a map with the Ridonculous Race logo.
"Welcome to Nassau's Pirate Museum. Teams must travel here by cab and search this grand display of petty theft for one of these; A Ridonculous Treasure map."
Then it showed Don on a jet ski.
"Once they find a map, they must travel by jet ski to the coast of Abaco Island, where they'll find this Don Box with their next tip.
And then he showed himself holding a flaming Boomerang card before it vanished into thin air.
"And one more thing, there's a Boomerang in play. And not just any Boomerang- a Flaming Boomerang. The last Boomerang of this series wields incredible power. If a team is hit with one, they'll have to start the previous challenge again, even if it's the second challenge of the race. But the question is… where is it?"
The scene turned back to the Adversity Twins as they waited for a taxi. "There aren't any actual pirates, are there?" Jay asked.
"Um… I think we're the pirates."
"Oh… Oh!"
Jay shuddered.
Interview; Adversity Twins
"When we were kids and went trick-or-treating, there was one boy dressed as a pirate and he tried to steal Jay's candy. He's been scared of pirates ever since." Mickey told the audience.
"They're scary... and they're thieves." Jay turned to his younger brother, almost cowering. "Mickey, are we the baddies?"
"I wouldn't call us pirates." Mickey began. "Think of it more like… treasure hunting."
"I guess that's one way of looking at it."
End Interview
The teams were shown running down the streetwalk.
"The Twins are the first to get a taxi, followed by the Ice Dancers and the Goths."
The scene showed the Ice Dancers in their taxi, both smirking.
"As professional athletes, we have the unique ability to stay calm under pressure." Jacques told the audience.
However, not long after she said that, a taxi zipped past her.
"There go the Goths." Josee remarked. "Now we're in last place! Would you please hurry up?! We're in a race! You need to go faster! Faster!"
He turned up the radio, causing the Ice Dancers to cover their ears from how loud the music was.
Josee held one eye open as she gave a harsh side glare to her partner.
"I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more often." Jacques admitted.
The taxi continued down the road.
Soon the Twins arrived at the entrance to the pirate museum. They began their run inside. "Hopefully this will be easy…"
Only find a lot of maps to examine to try and find the right one.
"Okay, this is gonna be hard…" Mickey said.
"Let's split up." Jay advised. "You search left, I'll take right."
The twins split up and went in different directions, with Jay looking at paintings and decorations on the walls.
"Nope, that's not it." Jay said, looking at a map on the wall.
Mickey started looking at maps held in an open barrel. "Nope."
"Nope."
Soon the Goths arrived, the cab pulling away as the Goths gradually went forth, only to be run over by the Ice Dancers.
As the Ice Dancers ran off screen and the Goths got up, they were shown to be a bit disheveled and Loki growled at them.
"They are the worst," Ennui flatly remarked.
Interview: Ice Dancers
"We're not the worst." Jacques said in the interview.
"Uhm-uhm." Josee nodded. "We're dedicated competitors who will stop at nothing to win and are willing to ruin the lives of anyone who gets in our way." Josee corrected.
End Interview
A montage began with music playing as teams frantically searched for maps, the Ice Dancers most frantic.
"Not it!"
"Nope!"
"Dang it!" Josee shouted.
"Nothing!" Jacques echoed.
The Goths entered the map room.
"Let's go." Ennui began.
Crimson looked at a map on the wall before silently nodding side to side. Jay unfurled a map, sighing at the result.
Josee growled as she tore a map apart.
Mickey sighed as he pulled another real map instead of a race one.
Maps scattered about the floor as Loki tapped his paw against Ennui's boot, pointing to a painting that had a piece of paper sticking out.
"Well done, Loki."
"First place," Crimson flatly stated.
The Goths ran out to the changing stalls, getting into their swimwear before getting on the jet ski.
"The Goths jump into first place, leaving the other two teams behind."
The Goths were shown in their red swimsuits, speeding along the water, with Crimson driving. Ennui held onto her, his arms above her waist as Loki sat on Crimson's lap.
All the while, the camera showed the Twins started getting more desperate and the Ice Dancers getting angrier.
"Will the Adversity Twins and Ice Dancers be able to catch up?" Don wondered.
The Goths' waterski came close to their destination.
"We're the first ones here." Crimson told her boyfriend.
Ennui stopped the jet ski. "This is going surprisingly well."
"Maybe Loki was wrong." the goth girl remarked as they stepped onto the docks. "Maybe the bad thing Loki predicted will happen to someone else."
Crimson pressed the button and got the next dip.
"It's a surprise Botch or Watch. Dive to Survive." she began. "Whoever holds the tip must dive and search for buried treasure. Huh. This doesn't sound bad at all."
"Uh… Crimson, are you sure about that?" Ennui asked.
Don demonstrated the challenge in a montage, the screen showing him underwater, then a still shot of the supplies they would have, the treasure chest, the surface of the water, the beach and the chill zone.
"In this beyond dangerous challenge, botchers must navigate these underwater tunnels in search of gold doubloons. Armed with only their map, a flashlight, and a small tank of oxygen. And if they take too long, they'll run out of air, and you need that stuff to live. So find this big cavern, locate the gold coins and swim back up to the pier, race their jet skis to the shore and run along to this first midpoint chill zone of our grand finale. The last team to arrive may feel as sorrowful as the sea."
Interview; Goths
"Of all the challenges we've been through so far, this one doesn't seem too bad. Honestly the dark hole challenge in Siberia seemed more risky, and I completed it without any problems."
"Yeah. I guess that is true."
Loki chattered in apparent agreement.
End Interview
Back in the pirate museum, Josee stood on a horizontal barren flag pole, trying to get a better view of the room for a race map.
"Aw man, we've searched everywhere." Jay remarked.
"We can't give up. We have to keep looking." Mickey told him.
Suddenly, Jay felt a sneeze coming on, and he sneezed hard, knocking himself into a barrel. The barrel tumbled over and Jay rolled out of the way, revealing a race map.
"A map, yes!"
Only for Josee to reach out and steal it.
"Hey, we found it first, give it back!" Jay ordered, standing up for himself in a rare moment of confidence.
Mickey rushed to his brother's side in an attempt to retrieve the map. "This is ours!"
And Jacques quickly followed to help his partner as well.
Both teams tugged on the map.
"Mickey, let go."
"What?"
Jay nodded side to side. "Let it go. It's not worth it."
Mickey sighed but obeyed his brother's instructions.
The sudden release of force sent the Ice Dancers flying back. The map flew into the air as the Ice Dancers were shown bent out of shape. Jay retrieved the map as it floated down.
"Thank you," Jay remarked.
The Adversity Twins left, leaving Ice Dancers groaning in pain.
The scene cut away to the twins in their swim trunks boarding the jet ski, with Mickey in the front and Jay in the back. Mickey started driving, only to stop every so often.
"I've never driven a jet ski before, so I guess this is far out of my comfort zone."
"It can't be that hard, right?"
Before they could think any further, the Ice Dancers whipped past them, causing them to tumble into the water.
Mickey sighed. "Okay… maybe I was wrong."