Out Of The Blue

Out Of The Blue Prologue
“Last time, on Total Drama Colors!” Chris began with a wide armed gesture to the camera. “Things got a little.. heated.” The host snickered as a wide shot of the burning and fallen buildings panned across the screen. “The teams were sent out to destroy some empty old buildings. And what better to destroy them with than flamethrowers?” The images then changed to Dennis and Ry grinning deviously as they received their weapons. “Though some choices were a little… ill-advised.” Chris laughed, while on screen, Jill high-fived Gaile after volunteering to attack and Benny sleepily looked down at his flamethrower.

“Now, here at Total Drama, it’s well-known that we pride our show on drama. And there was a lot of that in the last episode!” Chris chuckled as the screen flashed images of the teams blowing up one another’s buildings, closing with Ry making the Penguins building go down in a fiery blaze. “Not only were the fires a little… wild.” Chris laughed again at his terrible and half-hearted pun. “But the tension in the teams is really heating up.” The screen switched to show Ashley smashing Jillian on the head with her bucket. “After Ashley brutally sabotaged her own team to get rid of Todd, no one is safe. Message received, at least by most people.” The screen swapped again to show Ry and the Baroness pouring their buckets of paint onto the ground. “The Baroness and Ry seem to be making quite a statement. Will it work well for them, or will they all go down in flames?” The screen flashed to one of Chris, standing in front of a screen showing Todd, the Baroness, and Ry on a split screen with Ashley.

“Will the Parrots be lost without Todd? Will the Pandas get their team in gear, or will their disorder continue to pull them apart? Can the Penguins continue their ‘lucky-streak’? Will the Polar Bears forget Arizona in this challenge and leave her behind again?” Chris grinned as the television behind him flashed pictures of the different teams. “I dunno! But I can promise an action packed time on this episode of Total. Drama. Colors!” Chris spread his arms wide, and the screen faded out to the theme song.

Out Of The Blue Part 1
Drama stirs between most of the teams as Chris floods their brains with a water balloon based challenge.

Plot
As the show faded back in, the scene was dark in Arizona’s room. The girl woke up abruptly, opening her eyes, though it naturally didn’t make much of a difference to her. For Arizona, waking up was more of being aware of her surroundings than it was opening her eyes to meet the day. Reaching down to her bedside table, Arizona grabbed her cane from where she’d left it, sitting up and stretching. Reaching down with her cane, Arizona made sure she wasn’t going to trip over anything as she got out of bed. Her brother had done that to her more than once, leaving things out of place intentionally, and Arizona didn’t really trust the people here that much. Thankfully, her dorm room was all in order, and the girl stood up, still very sleepy. She fumbled her way over to the dresser, finding it kind of difficult in the total silence of the morning. Tapping her watch, Arizona listened to the electronic voice pipe out, “5:30 AM”. No wonder it was so quiet, everyone else was still asleep. Arizona would go back to bed, but she felt pretty rested and decided to just throw on some clothes and head downstairs early. Maybe she could get some good food before everyone else woke up. Throwing on a shirt and pair of capris from her drawer, Arizona found her way to the door and took the elevator to the bottom floor. Surprisingly, she could hear someone else’s shoes clacking on the kitchen floor. From the sound and smell, it was a girl, though Arizona didn’t know anyone well enough to match the clues to a person without their voice.

“Who’s there?” Arizona called as she entered the kitchen area, and Alice turned around, a glass of orange juice in her hands. The blue haired girl grinned, happy in a somewhat vicious way that Arizona was the one who was awake.

“Arizona! It’s Alice.” The member of the polar bears sang out, and Arizona looked relieved for the confirmation.

“Morning, Alice.” Arizona made her way slowly over towards where Alice was standing, and Alice headed forward to meet her.

“Did you sleep good? You had quite the adventure in that last challenge.”

Arizona’s face fell a little at the memory. “Oh, yeah, I’m doing fine.” Arizona snatched up the first thing she got her hands on when she reached the breakfast table, which was an extremely sticky cinnamon bun. Now the frosting was coating her hands, but Arizona didn’t seem to care much. She instead lifted the bun up to her mouth, taking a ravenous bite, and Alice took a sip of her orange juice.

“That’s great, Arizona. After Matt left you in there, I was really worried.”

Arizona stopped mid-bite. “Matt was the one who left me?”

“Oh, yeah. He said he would grab you if there was any trouble, but I guess he panicked. Pretty insensitive of him, if you ask me.” Of course, Matt had been the one who’d asked Alice to grab Arizona, but she was just twisting the truth a little bit. “I really had to convince Mika to go in and get you out. I don’t think the team likes you very much, to be honest. They think you can’t handle anything.”

Arizona had lowered the cinnamon bun to the tabletop, and was scowling. Alice grinned.

“I care about you though, Arizona. I think you’re a valuable addition to the team, maybe the strongest player we have.”

Arizona smiled faintly. “Thanks, Alice. It’s nice to have someone who believes in you.”

At this point, more people had begun pouring into the lobby, and Matt was heading over. “Matt’s on his way. I’m gonna go get some breakfast.” Alice rubbed Arizona’s shoulder before she pranced off.

As Matt approached Arizona, he wondered why she looked so unfriendly. “Morning, ‘Zona. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?”

Arizona turned around to face the food. “No.”

“Oh.” The mood between the two was tense, and Matt was feeling pretty uncomfortable. “Okay, I guess I’m gonna head off. I just wanted to let you know, your shirt’s inside out.”

Arizona felt her back until the tag was inside her fingers, confirming Matt’s statement. Flushing, the girl scurried off, cane held out in front of her to she didn’t trip over a chair, and Matt watched her leave with confusion.

By this point, the camera tore away from the Polar Bears to focus on the other teams now entering the room. Ashley’s steps looked slightly forced, and the viewer could detect a slight limp on her right side.The girl snatched up a bagel before slamming into her seat and fixing the other people walking in with a glare, particularly Ry, who entered scowling. He was still upset over Todd’s elimination, as was Jillian who was led in by Gaile and Dakota. The girl still seemed a little sniffly, and the team headed over to the Parrot table, Ashley putting on her friendliest face of disgust. Next in the room was the Baroness, chatting it up with a very excited Derby, who was holding his notebook and scribbling frantically.

“‘nd there we were, out ‘n t’ wild open sea with not a breath of wind ta guide our dinghy.” The Baroness explained to Derby’s wide eyed stare. The viewer could see that he was diligently taking notes on the whole adventure, hoping to draw inspiration from it later.

Mika and Mallory were the next pair, continuously talking over one another to try and tell a story.

“Oh yeah, and then I threw the bomb and it was like-”

“Boom! Yeah, like that bad-a** time I went ‘nd blew up the gasoline truck ‘nd the blokes were-”

“Running and screaming from the room and I was like, “It’s just a smoke-”

“Bomb, everyon’ thought it was a bomb but all I had was a single match and-”

The conversation was making the cameraman’s head spin, so they switched the screen over to one of Benny yawning his way into the room. Unbeknownst to him, Selene was slinking along behind him, waiting for the right moment to strike. The two walked in sync for a few steps, then Selene ran closer and jumped onto Benny, yowling. Benny almost had a heart attack right on camera, which he thankfully didn’t because his contract didn’t cover life insurance. Still panting in surprise, and with his heart racing, Benny tried to swat Selene off, and she leaped away, dashing into the kitchen giggling.

“Scare Benny!!!!” The girl cried out as she slid up to breakfast and started loading up a full plate. Benny was still shaking with horror as he slid into his seat, pressing his head into his hands.

“Just a few more weeks.” The boy mumbled, as Bailey plopped down next to him.

“Morning, Ben!” She said chirpily, until noticing that Benny was quivering. “What’s up with you?”

“Selene.” Benny groaned, and Bailey had to stifle a laugh.

“It’s okay, Benny. I’ll keep her away from you until she calms down a little.” Patting Benny on the back, Bailey was off in search of the wolf-like girl, who was ravenously tearing into a piece of sausage right in front of the serving plate.

Kiki and T were next in the room, the pair walking together in comfortable silence. Kiki had decided it was hardcore time to try and get in good more with T, and after a few failed conversation starters, she’d decided they could just be quiet for now. The silence of the two was completely broken only a moment later as Lavender and Dennis burst into the room, Lavender chasing the cackling boy.

“WHERE IS IT???” The girl screeched, and Dennis quickened his pace, hopping over a table and putting it between them.

“Where is what?” He said with wide, innocent eyes, and Lavender’s face contorted.

“My shampoo!! What did you do with it?!?” Lavender looked abnormally angry for just losing shampoo, and a few people in the room dared to giggle. The girl whirled around, panting. “Don’t laugh at me!!!! You’re probably all in on it too!!! I’ve only been here for a few days and I am sick of the pranks and there aren’t even any real boys this season and-” Lavender’s voice cut off into a shriek as her bottle of shampoo hit her solidly in the back of the head, thrown by Dennis.

“Calm down, sweetheart. I’m just showing my love.” Dennis blew a kiss at the girl, which Lavender saw as the final insult. She would’ve lunged over the table to show Dennis exactly how loving she was, but Kiki came over and wrapped her up, pinning her arms to her sides.

“Alright, Lav, calm down.’nd Dennis, ya can go sit over there,” Kiki let go of Lavender with one hand and pointed over to the table where Ry was sitting. “‘nd Lav ‘nd I’ll sit there.” Kiki pointed to a table at the other end of the room. “‘nd I don’t want ‘nymore fightin’ or arguin’ from either of ya!”

“Who’s fighting?” Dennis looked innocently over at Kiki before meeting her burning stare and resigning himself to his fate. Walking over to Ry, Dennis snatched up the shampoo from the floor, sat down, and began talking with the other boy about some incident involving a blowtorch and Ry’s hat.

Kiki and Lavender headed off to the other side of the room, Lavender still steaming mad, and soon T was left alone in the middle of the room. Sighing, they sat down in a chair which was set right in front of them with a mumbled, “Okay”, resigning themself to a quiet breakfast alone.

With that interesting fiasco over, people began returning to their normal breakfast, the camera choosing to focus in on the parrots since Arizona had yet to return.

“Alright, team,” the word came out forced, hissing from between Ashley’s teeth, “we need to work harder this challenge, since we lost last time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be sending another person home. I’m sure everyone who performed poorly knows who they are.” Ashley looked around the table, staring everyone directly in the eyes. All of her teammates squirmed a little under Ashley’s powerful gaze, even though they were sure they hadn’t really done anything wrong. Jillian sniffled a little more as Ashley looked at her, still upset from sending Todd home, and Gaile rubbed her back.

“She’s right, guys. If we wanna get all of us to the merge, we have to work ultra hard to keep from having anyone else get eliminated. I dunno about you guys, but that last elimination totally wiped me out.” Gaile seemed to be her usual chipper self, but she was rubbing Jillian’s back in a steady, peaceful fashion.

Dakota nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I didn’t really like the last elimination… I think.” The last bit was mumbled quietly, and Dakota subconsciously reached up for his camera before stopping himself so he could focus on the conversation.

“Agreed.” Jillian mumbled from her head buried in her her shirt sleeve.

“Good. So we’ll all actually try this time, and if someone doesn’t, then I guess we know who to send home.” Ashley’s words hung threateningly over the group, and the camera quickly switched off of the red team, unfortunately landing right on green.

“Where the ‘ell is ‘Zona at?” Mika questioned as she and Mallory sat down with Matt and Alice, plates loaded up with food.

Matt crossed his arms, obviously still ticked from Arizona running off earlier. “I dunno.”

The mood between the members of the green team was still very tense, which was uncomfortable since they’d worked so well together in the last two challenges. Alice decided now would be a good time to chime in.

“I think Arizona doesn’t like us very much. I think she’s worried she can’t do well since she’s blind, like when she got trapped in the building.”

“What should we do about it?” Mallory really just wanted the team to work together, since they hadn’t lost a single challenge yet. Plus, she’d gotten to make a bomb every episode so far, and she was loving it!

“Help her out more, I think. Anytime she’s doing stuff, we should work with her, so she knows she’s not alone.” Alice had to contain a snicker as she said this, because the team was nodding so eagerly.

“That sounds like a f******’ great idea! Good job, Alice.” Mika grinned, and the team tore into their breakfast, unaware that Arizona was currently sobbing in the bathroom.

The camera was considering switching to another team, but ultimately decided to just pan over everyone. The yellow team was still split up, 2 of the 3 separate groups exchanging heated conversation. The blue team were all sitting together and mostly having a good time, though Bailey was keeping Selene on the far side of the table from Benny.

Without warning, the ceiling erupted. Buckets worth of water rained down over the contestants, interns laughing as they poured. One intern snuck over and turned on the sprinklers, causing a steady drizzle to land on the teams. Everyone started shrieking and many chose to crawl under the tables, Lavender in particular, leaving Selene, Dennis, Mika, the Baroness, and Bailey the only ones still in the rain. This group seemed to be quite enjoying it, even complaining when the rain finally stopped. Selene shook her hair like a wet dog, smacking Benny, who was just standing up, right in the face.

Chris’ voice came on over the room’s speakers, and everyone listened as they wrung out their clothes. “Alright, contestants! Did you have a nice shower?” Chris chuckled as most contestants groaned. “Meet me outside and there’ll be dryers for you guys. Get ready to feel blue!” With this, the microphone clicked off, and most contestants made their way to the doors, breakfast pretty much ruined. Lavender looked like she was about to cry, made worse when Dennis snuck up behind her and poured the entire bottle of shampoo on her head. The girl’s expression changed to pure hatred for a second, before she managed to contain herself. She flipped her hair back in an attempt to keep the suds out of her eyes. Kiki caught herself staring at the beauty queen, momentarily dazzled by how she could look attractive while sopping wet and seething with anger. The thug snapped out of her daze and slugged Dennis’s shoulder.

“Quit f*****’ around. We’ been lucky not ta lose, don’t need ya screwin’ us over before we know what tha challenge is,” she huffed, stalking out of the kitchen.

Dennis trailed behind her happily, his original target following at a safe distance. “Ah lighten up, Kiwi! ‘Is just a harmless prank! Heheheh~!”

Lavender scoffed at Dennis’ attempt to defend himself, while Kiki reached up and grabbed the front of the boy’s hoodie, yanking him down to look him in the eyes. Her flared gaze bore into his.“I refuse to be puttin’ up with this s*** this early, aight?” She growled before letting go of the prankster, continuing her march outside. Dennis shrugged, following her out seemingly unphased, with just a mild shudder to show he might be unnerved. Lavender followed with a joyful grin, happy that Dennis had gotten some just desserts. Ry, who’d been standing by watching the small commotion with a minuscule grin of amusement, followed suit behind the taller girl. Lastly, T walked silently after their team, hands shoved in the pockets of their hoodie in discomfort.

The other teams exited with significantly less conflict, and soon everyone was standing outside, shivering in their wet clothes. Some interns rolled in with several very large hairdryers, looking strange enough to be very comical until they all turned on and some of the smaller contestants (namely T and Dakota) were knocked to the floor. They did do a great job drying everyone, and within seconds, all the contestants were no longer soaking, though Lavender’s hair was coated in dry shampoo suds. Chris finally rolled in, standing atop a truck. Inside were four large buckets. The squishy, rubber shapes of water balloons could be seen inside each container. Chris was also holding a rubber hose.

“Morning, victims! I bet you can’t guess what today’s challenge is!“

"Let me guess, blue?” Ry lifted an eyebrow sarcastically, and Chris sprayed him with the hose. Ashley chuckled a little, and Gaile looked at her strangely.

“It was a rhetorical question.” Chris whipped out the color changer and panned through all the colors again, making all the contestants cover the eyes. In the eliminated city, a sudden burst of light from their clothes made Alexandria and Todd, who were eating breakfast together, screech in surprise. The quick peek at the eliminated contestants flashed off as quickly as it had arrived, and the colors settled on a rich royal blue. “Now, the color today is blue. And what’s blue?”

“Water!” Selene piped up, and Chris blasted her with the hose.

“Rhetorical. Anyway, water is blue. So today’s challenge is a water balloon fight!” Chris paused to gesture up at the balloons in the truck. “Each team gets one bucket. You have three minutes to collect your balloons, then you have to scatter in the city. The game is water balloon hide and seek, and it’ll be in your best interests to split up. Your shirts will beep when you approach another player who isn’t from your team. Benny, Jillian, come demonstrate.” Jill looked anxious to be called out, and moved to stand in front of the group awkwardly. Benny, however, didn’t move. A soft snore echoed from his mouth, and Chris groaned, yanking out the hose and blasting the boy with it.

Benny awoke with a shout. “I was awake!!’ He protested uselessly, and Chris beckoned him to the front. The host pressed a button on his remote, and as Benny approached Jill, their shirts started to beep, growing louder and louder as the sleepy boy got closer and closer.

"Benny and Jillian are close to one another, so their shirts are beeping. I’ll turn all of yours on after the three minute hiding period.” Chris pressed the button again, and the shirts turned off. Benny and Jillian were now awkwardly standing in front of the group with seemingly no purpose. “Go back to your teams.” Chris dismissed them, waving his hand in the air. The two scrammed, dashing off back to their places. Gaile gave Jill a high five. Chris was just opening his mouth to deliver some very important challenge information, when he suddenly noticed something. “Hey Polar Bears, where did you put Arizona?”

The Polar Bears looked around in shock, having forgotten that Arizona was still in the bathroom. Alice smirked and pretended like she hadn’t known.

“Well? Where is she?”

“I’ll go get 'er.” Mika bravely volunteered, eager to get back on Arizona’s good side. “In the bathroom, right?” She quickly whispered to Alice, and the manipulator nodded.

“You can’t just leave while I’m describing the challenge, Mika. I’m gonna-” Chris cut off as he noticed that Mika was being her usual self, defying authority and strutting off towards the hotel. Chris groaned and returned to addressing the group as a whole. “Fine then. Any questions before you start?”

T rose their hand politely. “I was wondering if-” T was cut off as a jet of water hit them right in the face.

“No questions? Alright then!” Chris stepped to the side, freeing up the buckets of balloons for anyone to reach. “On the count of three then. One… two… two and a half… two and three quarters…”

Everyone waited in suspense, muscles taught and ready to go.

“Two and five sixths… two and seven eights… two and ten elevenths… three!” Chris snickered as all of the contestants threw themselves into the fray, snatching up water balloons and attempting to organize. “This challenge promises to be quite a change from last one’s fire! Will the red team slip their way into victory after their loss last episode? Will Lavender melt when she gets wet?”

“I heard that!” Lavender’s voice rang out from off camera, and Chris smirked.

“Find out the answers to all this and more after the break on Total. Drama. Colors!!!”

Right as the screen faded to black, a brief glimpse of Mika leading Arizona to the rest of her team was seen. A simple voice clip played right before the commercial, Arizona’s voice ringing clear, and also slightly coldly, “Alice, would you mind telling me what the challenge is again? Blue?”

Staff

 * Chris McLean
 * Chef

Contestants

 * Alice
 * Arizona
 * Ashley
 * Bailey
 * Benny
 * Dakota
 * Dennis
 * Derby
 * Gaile
 * Jillian
 * Kiki
 * Lavender
 * Mallory
 * Matt
 * Mika
 * Ry
 * Selene
 * T
 * 'The Baroness'

Out Of The Blue Part 2
The contestants battle it out in a grandiose water balloon fight

Plot
As the show returned, the camera panned over to show the teams running for Chris’ truck. The strongest members of each team were grabbing the bucket that matched their teams’ colors. Kiki was first to return to her team with their bucket full of the plump, yellow water balloons they’d be throwing at the other contestants. She quickly waved her hand over in a “huddle up!” motion to gather her teammates for a brief group meeting. The rest of the Plaid Pandas rushed towards the girl. Kiki, of course, was first to speak.

“Okay, Pandas! We need ta spread out as far as we can from everyone, that way we don’t trigga anyone’s beepin’ things!” she instructed with a stern look.

“I don’t wanna get my hair ruined anymore than it already is, so I’m fine with that! I’ll climb a tree or something and aim from above.” Lavender said with a flip of of her greasy, soap sud infused hair.

“I think I speak for the both of us when I say that and Ry-Ry here will be taking more of a… defensive approach.” Dennis stated with a sly smirk, and gave Ry a wink, implying that they weren’t planning to take a defensive approach at all.

Ry smiled a wide trouble-making grin, almost identical to Dennis’, in response and nodded his head. Kiki rolled her eyes, opting to just let the two do their thing.

T was now feeling much more comfortable with their team and was slowly opening up to them more, now that things were a little calmer. “That sounds like a good idea to me,” they said quietly from almost behind Kiki. “I think that I will just hide in a bush and wait until the challenge is over. I can supply you all with extra balloons if you run out.”

Lavender nodded. “We could make a pulley thing to send more up to my tree as well!” she cried and began to look around for things to use for such a system, for some reason believing that everyone would want to help her out.

“No time for that! We’ve got to just take what we can. T, be sure to get some extras in case we run out or someone finds you.” Ry ordered.

T nodded their head, still slightly intimidated by their abrasive teammate.

KiKi clapped her hands to get the group’s attention. “Alright guys- and T, to ya stations!” she shouted and took off to find a good place to hide before the challenge began.

The rest of the team dispersed as well.

“Alright team, listen up.” Ashley ordered the group of Parrots. Everyone’s eyes snapped to lock onto hers.“We have to win this challenge. We can’t afford to be the only team to have sent two people home in a row. That’ll set us up as being weak. So… let’s not mess it up, okay?” Ashley glared at her team with squinted eyes.

The rest of the Parrots nodded to indicate that they understood.

“Can I-” Jillian started to ask.

Ashley whirled her head around to face the taller girl and shot her an exasperated look. “I’ll assign your tasks, okay Jillian?” There was an edge in her voice, and she clearly didn’t expect the girl to answer her.

Gaile rolled her eyes when Ashley wasn’t looking and Jillian bit the inside of her cheek, holding in her request.

“Dakota, you need to try to get people out. Be on the lookout for anyone not carrying our red balloons.” Ashley instructed and held up one of the balloons from their bucket, explaining things to Dakota like he was a child. She was clearly still feeling spiteful towards him after his admission that he was friends with Ry.

“Okay…” Dakota trailed off with an anxious look on his face.

Gaile placed a hand on Dakota’s shoulder and shot him a dazzling smile. “I think Dakota and I should team up again! It worked well for a hot second last challenge.”

Ashley stiffened a bit as she thought about the two working together. She hated to realize it, but Gaile was becoming a threat. This simply wouldn’t do. “Oh, sorry, but Gaile, you need to come with me, and you need to just keep hidden. You’re better when you stay out of the way. It’s for the good of the team.” The glint in Ashley’s eyes was harsh and cold, but the fake smile on her face looked genuine.

The sparkle in Gaile’s eyes dimmed a little bit, disappointed that she couldn’t work with Dakota; but her blissful grin remained on her face. She shrugged her shoulders at the team and nodded in agreement. Jillian, who had been spending the conversation’s length trying to muster up the courage to make her request, finally spoke up.

“I really would prefer to just hide this challenge, thank you.” she mumbled. Gaile looked at her friend with sad eyes.

“Are you totally sure, Jill? You were the tops last challenge when you were playing in the field. You totally opened up a can of whoop-a** on the other teams.” she coaxed.

Jillian nodded. “I-I just would rather not be in the way.” Jillian said as she turned away from the group, obviously still upset from the last episode.

“Whatever floats your boat, Jill.” Ashley said in her most phony-sympathetic voice. “It might be a good idea for you to stay safe this challenge anyway. Your head must still be hurting.” Ashley’s voice was just dripping with sympathy. Jillian buried her head in her sleeve. Ashley patted her on the arm slightly, before directing the conversation right back to assigning places. “Of course, I’ll be attacking. Gaile will help me by being lookout from a tree. And I assume you two already know what you’ll be doing.” She indicated Dakota and Jillian, who nodded.

“Then let’s get going! We have a challenge to win!” Dakota cried enthusiastically and grabbed a handful of the balloons from their bucket.

Over with the Paisley Polar bears, Arizona was standing sullenly alone, only letting Alice get close to her. “I want to get a head start.” she snapped. She’d moved past the sadness of ‘being betrayed by her team’, and was officially angry. Arizona snatched up three of the balloons and took off on her own, stomping deep into the playing field and waving her cane in front of her so she didn’t trip or bump into anything.

The rest of the team blinked in shock, unsure of what had upset the poor girl. Alice pretended to be just as concerned and confused as the others. Though inside she was beaming with pride that her plan was working.

“What’s the matter with her?” Mallory asked with a cock of her eyebrow.

Mika shrugged. “I couldn’t get her to talk to me the whole walk over. She’s just miffed about somethin’,” she explained and shook her head.

“I can’t imagine what could have upset her this much. She just seems a bit down today. I think I must’ve hurt her feelings earlier, somehow.” Matt said with a voice filled with regret. He lowered his eyes to the ground.

Alice decided to step in while Matt was feeling guilty. “I mean, she did tell me that she was just angry about being abandoned and left to fend for herself during the last challenge,” she explained. “That must be why she’s still upset.”

Mallory, Mika, and Matt nodded as they recalled having to rescue Arizona from the burning building from the last episode.

“Which brings me to my next point. We really need to help her out this challenge. Arizona has a distinct disadvantage this time since she can’t see. I think it would be best for one of us to team up with her and make sure she’s protected.” Alice continued.

“That’s a great idea, Alice! We need to make sure that she knows we won’t forget about her!” Mallory cried.

“I think since I’m the one who upset her this morning, I should be the one to work with her. I need to prove to her that I’ve got her back. I feel pretty bad for making her upset today.” Matt volunteered.

Alice nodded and grinned in approval. This was EXACTLY what she wanted to happen. “Then that’s settled! Now, Polar Bears, let’s get ready! We have a challenge to win.” Alice tried to pep up the group, ready to set the dominos falling.

“I have my own plan already.” Mallory let loose a maniacal laugh.

“Oh f***, this‘ll be good.” Mika grinned in Mallory’s direction, feeling much more comfortable with the other girl since they’d started hanging out more.

The rest of the group exchanged worried looks, which Mallory took in with pleasure and satisfaction. She soon turned and took off with a wave, heading deep into the playing field until she disappeared from sight.

“Anyway…We need to have a plan, Polar Bears! Now, I know that we’re down a few people right now but maybe we could split up and have some of us hunt down others and some of us hide?” Matt tried to direct the team, attempting to step it up since he hadn’t been doing the best with helping the Polar Bears so far.

Mika, who was actually pretty upset from Matt making Arizona so snappy, since the two had just started bonding, couldn’t care less about what Matt wanted the team to do. “I’m headin’ off too.” Mika snatched up a few water balloons and cradled them in her arm. “Matt, you’d better make f*****’ sure you take care of ‘Zona.” Mika was pretty protective over the girl, since she’d rescued her from the fire in the last challenge. After giving Matt a threatening stare, Mika was off to join the fray.

It was now Matt and Alice left to stare at one another in awkward silence.

“So much for a plan.” Matt mumbled spitefully. “I’m gonna go find ‘Zona I guess. You do whatever you want.” Matt headed into the field, feeling a little uncomfortable due to Mika’s attitude.

“Oh I will, Matthew. You can count on that.” Alice said to his back as he walked further away from her. She then snickered maliciously, satisfied that her plan was working out so well. After turning to grab the last few water balloons from the team’s bucket, she went off to find a place to hide until the challenge began.

Meanwhile, in the Polka-dot Penguins, The Baroness was taking charge of the group’s plan of action. She had all her teammates lined up in a drill sergeant-esque line and was pacing up and down the row as she preached to them.

“Alrighty, mates. This is the challenge we’ve been waitin’ for. Today is a good day to be on me team, for I be an expert when it comes to attackin’ and strategizin’. That’s exactly what we be needing for this challenge. We need to stick together and eliminate the enemies we come ‘cross. I says we spread out ‘cross the quadrants of the field. That way none of those sea dogs can get anywhere without a mighty Penguin ambush!” The Baroness preached. She reached into the bucket and pulled out a good handful of their blue balloons.

“That sounds like a great plan to me!” Bailey stepped forward, attempting to reassert a little team leadership, and reached for the balloons.

“I suppose if we can execute this plan flawlessly, then it would be most beneficial.” Derby confirmed with a nod.

“Selene splash people!” Selene barked excitedly.

“As long as it’s not me.” Benny grumbled under his breath.

“There be no time left for runnin’ your lips! To your stations, hands!” The Baroness cried, and took off running to a spot for the challenge.

The rest of the team followed suit and dispersed themselves throughout the field.

Chris McLean’s face appeared on a screen that cascaded down in front of the playing field. He as usual had a smug grin on his face.

“Okay contestants! Get ready!… Get set!…G- GAH!!” Chris stumbled backwards on screen as an Alexandria picture hit him smack in the face. The host reached up and tore it off, throwing it to the ground in disgust. Chris straightened up a little bit in an attempt to regain some dignity, coughing awkwardly before moving along with the challenge. “GO!” he cried as a loud horn blew, and the screen rose back up.

There wasn’t a sound made for a minute or so after the challenge began. The contestants all appeared to be waiting for someone else to make the first move. The camera flashed from contestant to contestant to show what they were doing during this pause. Dakota had ducked behind a bush, red balloons in hand, heart beating out of his chest as he waited to be discovered. T had made themselves comfortable in the large, rotten hole of a tree. They had at least 5 balloons in hand in case any of their teammates ran out. Lavender positioned herself high up in her tree,m and placed her water balloons in the small hole of the branch she was laying on. Ashley was crouched behind a big bush as well, and in the tree adjacent to it, Gaile sat being her lookout. Kiki had found the one lone abandoned building in the course and had claimed the place as her hiding spot. She peeked out at the rest of the course from the top window of the building. Compared to the contestants in the trees, whom Kiki could see, she had a higher vantage point. Jillian was hiding in a hollow log, planning to stay there undetected for the whole challenge. The rest of the contestants were dispersed throughout the course, hiding in bushes, trees, or standing ready to attack. The sound of rustling leaves from a far distance could be heard and the camera rapidly panned over to reveal The Baroness as the first to make a move, slinking around with a plump water balloon in hand. She scanned left and right as she slowly combed through the field in search of those not on her team. She had a deep look of concentration as she trudged around.

Nearby, Bailey was set up in the first quadrant of the field. She peeked out at the areas in front of her by moving a few of the bush’s branches. She had to catch herself from gasping by covering her mouth when she saw someone. The camera panned over to where Bailey was looking to show Ry and Dennis wandering the field in search of people to hit. They both had identical sadistic looks as they scanned all around the field. Dennis’ fingers were just itching to toss a balloon at someone.

“Hey, do you see anyone?” Ry whispered to his partner. Dennis shook his head.

“Nah, but keep looking. And don’t just look at your eye level, I bet we’ll find people hiding in the trees too.” The Black Cupid replied.

Ry nodded in understanding and took off towards the closest tree and started to climb it. He moved surprisingly fast for a little guy, as he clawed up the tree’s trunk. With a final grunt, Ry made it to the top branch and did a quick scan of the area.

“No beeps. No person here.” Ry reported and jumped down from the tree, landing safely on his feet.

“Let’s just keep going then.” Dennis continued down the field, and Ry began to follow him.

The camera focused in on Bailey who was still watching the boys wander around. She hoped she wasn’t close enough to them to trigger their shirt alarms. Breathing a silent sigh of relief as the two headed off, she carefully moved the branches back to conceal her hiding place. They made a little bit of noise as they bounced together when she let go.

“Hmm?” Ry hummed as he thought he heard rustling of bushes.

Bailey covered her mouth again to keep herself from panicking and closed her eyes, waiting for herself to be discovered.

Ry made his way towards the source of the sound and began to reach for the bush. The camera went back and forth to scenes of Bailey hiding and panicking, and Ry reaching for the bush to create suspense.

Ry’s fingers were brushing the leaves of the bush when the sound of a splash could be heard from farther away, followed by the whooping of Dennis as he celebrated hitting his first target. A loud siren was sounding off over the course.

Benny was now standing up from his hiding place behind a boulder, now soaking wet from being hit with Dennis’ water balloon. The area was very noisy with the sirens and frantic beeps, since Benny and Dennis were standing so close to one another and their shirts were beeping like crazy.

“And Benny is the first one out!” Chris McLean announced over the loudspeakers.

Benny had a look of disappointment on his face as he slunk away and out of the challenge area as the sirens turned off.

“I fell asleep again. My snoring gave me away…” he mumbled groggily. His shirt had turned a splattered black color where it had gotten wet. “Why did my shirt change?” Benny questioned, glancing downwards in confusion.

“Ohhh, yeah.” Chris’ voice sounded once again over the loudspeakers. “The shirts go black where you got hit! No cheating in this game!”

Only moments later, the siren sounded off again.

“And Selene is also out! Wow! Two Penguins in a row! Not a good start, Penguins!” Chris cried again.

Selene came rushing out of the field with her own popped balloon in her mouth like a chew toy.

“BALLOON BROKE!” Selene squealed joyfully as she ran by the cameras on all fours. The sound of Benny screaming was heard from farther off, and it could be assumed that Selene had pounced on him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the course, Gaile had almost lost her balance after the loud siren caught her off guard. “Woah, man!” The girl yelped, and clung to the branch of the tree she was acting as lookout in, breathing easier after Benny and Selene’s sirens turned off. “Hey Ash, what the heck do you think that was?”

Chris’ voice came on over the shirt speakers. “Oh, I also forgot to tell you. The siren goes off after someone gets eliminated. So if you don’t like loud noises… May the odds be ever in your favor.” Chris started chuckling at his pretty not funny reference. His voice continued slightly muffled, as though he was away from the microphone. “Chef, did you hear that? I’m so great.” The swirling spot on the shirts clicked off, and Ashley looked scathingly up at Gaile.

“Gaile, you shouldn’t be talking. If you get us caught because you can’t shut up, we’ll probably lose the challenge again.” Ashley said, thus talking and contradicting herself.

Gaile shook her head in disgust. “Ry was right about you,” she mumbled.

Ashley caught the word Ry, and she could guess the rest of Gaile’s meaning. “What was that, Abigaile? Are you making off team alliances?”

“No, I’m making off team friendships.” Gaile was starting to lose her 90’s lingo from anger towards Ashley, and the other girl wasn’t winning any favors by calling her Abigaile.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Abigaile, do you have a problem? I thought we resolved everything after Todd left, but if we’re still having a problem, why don’t you bring it up with the whole team?” Ashley’s fingers were kind of itching to just throw a balloon at Gaile, but that would be foolish.

Gaile froze in disbelief that she had just been called by her real name two times in less than a single minute. She felt the anger start to bubble and bubble, threatening to spill over and cause her to snap. This was the ONLY thing that anyone could do that would get her to this point of anger.

“But please, consider what you’re doing, siding with the enemy. You know that everyone on the other teams is just out to get you, right? Everyone you talk to on the other teams? They think that you’re gullible, Gaile. They want you eliminated or manipulated. But you’re smarter than that, aren’t you?” Ashley continued.

Gaile’s resolve faltered for a second. Ry was her friend, wasn’t he? There was no way he’d be faking, right? No, Ashley was just lying. She had to be lying. “I don’t believe you, and I’m done guarding. You’ll have to protect yourself.” Gaile scaled back down the tree, but Ashley’s face still held a slight smirk. She’d done what she wanted to, planting the seeds of doubt.

“Okay, Gaile, you can go run along if that’s what you want to do. Just, please don’t stand too close to Ry in this challenge. I’d hate for us to lose a member so quickly.” It was unclear as to if Ashley meant losing a team member in the challenge, or eliminating Gaile because she was siding with the enemy. Gaile stalked off angrily, holding the few balloons she’d remembered to get earlier, which was dwarfed by the other girl’s supply. Ashley shrugged and stayed where she was, seeing no reason to inconvenience herself over she and Gaile’s petty fight.

Meanwhile, Lavender was carefully sitting in her tree. She was attempting to brush the shampoo suds out of her hair with her fingers, when she was interrupted by a faint beep from her shirt. Freezing, Lavender clung to her branch and glanced around. Just off in the distance was Alice, walking parallel to the tree. She apparently hadn’t heard a beep, so Lavender had the upper hand.

Speaking of hands, Lavender now had a plump balloon held squarely in hers. She lined up Alice, ready for the attack. “Oh yes, you’re mine!” The girl giggled. She was just pulling back her arm for a shot when a different balloon was flung towards her from behind, smashing into her shoulder and causing a burst of black to spread across her shirt. Caught unprepared, the hit knocked Lavender off balance, and she shrieked as she fell out of the tree.

After recollecting herself on the ground, and when the ringing in her head had subsided, Lavender saw the Baroness standing above her.

“Arr, Lav, sorry ta have made ya tumble.” The pirate extended her arm and Lavender latched onto it, if only because she was still too dizzy to stand on her own. A siren rang out and Lavender sighed mournfully as the Baroness walked her to the sidelines.

“Oh, look, she didn’t melt!” Chris’ voice came onto Lavender’s shirt speaker with a chuckle, and Lavender groaned, collapsing next to Benny, who was surprisingly not sleeping, but rather had gotten dragged into playing tug-of-war with Selene and a stick. The wolf-girl growled ferociously as she wiggled around, stick in her mouth, and Benny quickly dropped the stick, foolishly worried that Selene was going to bite him. Selene laughed, the force of her momentum making her roll over. She spat the stick out of her mouth and looked over at Benny.

“Selene wins!” She cheered, and Benny grinned, his heartbeat slowing back down as he realized that Selene was no threat.

“Good job, Selene!”

“Again?” The girl picked up the stick excitedly and cocked her head.

“Why don’t you try and play with Lavender this time?” Benny gestured over to the injured hottie, who was still sore from her fall. Selene bounded over and placed the stick in her lap.

“Tug of war!” Selene cheered, and Lavender didn’t have the heart to push the stick away, despite how disgusting it was. Lavender forced herself up and she grasped the stick, making Selene wriggle with joy. “Alright Selene, but just one game.”

Selene yelped happily, satisfied with this, and Benny smiled, looking at the two.

The heartwarming scene was too much for Total Drama, and the camera zipped off to somewhere with more action. Namely, Alice, who was off stalking the arena alone.

Alice’s eyes darted backwards and forwards suspiciously. She wasn’t particularly concerned about losing, since she had trust on both sides of her team, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. Hearing a slight beep, Alice paused and leaned from side to side, trying to determine where the other competitor was.

Crouched inside a tree, T held their breath. Unfortunately for them, Alice leaned to the left and heard another beep. Grinning, the girl began walking in that direction, moving cautiously.

“Where are you?” The girl sang out, eying the tree in front of her and knowing the other contestant was inside. “If you come out now, we can make it a fair fight.” T didn’t move, but clutched one of their five balloons tightly. Alice was stepping closer and closer to the tree now. The beeping was getting louder and louder. The girl leaned forwards towards T’s hiding place. “And… got you!” She shrieked as she hurled a balloon inside. Just at this moment, T, in a moment of wide eyed fear, tossed a balloon outside, and the pair were both soaked with black on their clothes at the exact same moment. Alice, naturally, was off her head as two sirens went off.

“It’s not fair! I was first! I hit them first!!” She protested uselessly, stomping her foot on the ground. Quietly, T emerged from the tree, thoroughly soaked.

“Good job, Alice,” they said with a faint smile, extending their hand to the other girl in peace. Alice pondered not taking it, but that wouldn’t win her any favors for manipulating this quiet teen later, if they even survived past the merge. Sighing, the girl took T’s hand, and the two walked off to the sidelines together.

Kiki was crouched on the roof of her building, waiting for an unsuspecting contestant to walk by. From her vantage point, she could see many competitors wandering around, looking like small dots in the distance or curled up in the branches of trees. She snickered as Benny, Selene, and Alice all got out and exited the challenge area. Right as she finished her celebration, her expression changed to something more serious. Someone was walking under her, too far down for a beep to be heard.

It was Mallory, strolling along. She had something suspicious looking tucked under her arm, but Kiki couldn’t tell what it was. It didn’t matter though, as long as she got Mallory out. Kiki picked up a water balloon and leaned over the edge. “Yo, Mal!” She shouted, to get Mallory to stay still. Mallory paused in her walk and glanced upwards to see who was calling her name. Kiki dropped the water balloon.

Splat!

Mallory was sent reeling backwards as the water balloon hit her in the face. Unable to see where she was going, the girl tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and went sprawling. Her object fell from her arms, spiraling into the air. The camera zoomed in on it to show that it was an abnormally large, green water balloon made of metal. There was a brief montage of Mallory and Kiki’s eyes widening, and a slow “Noooooooo!” from Mallory. Then, the bomb detonated.

BAM!

A shower of water fell over the area. Kiki ducked down to the roof, pressing herself under a metal fixture to keep from getting wet. Mallory was thoroughly drenched, and mournfully walked off to the sidelines as the sirens rang.

A short distance away, Arizona was walking alone when she heard an explosion. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her and pulled her backwards, and Arizona could hear water splattering on something above her.

“Get off!” Arizona shrieked, tugging at the arms around her, and Matt let her go quickly, raising his arms in a symbol of defense, though Arizona couldn’t see it.

“Sorry, ‘Zona. I didn’t want you to get wet.”

Arizona crossed her arms defiantly. “Were you following me?!” Overhead, the water had stopped.

Matt looked up to the tree they were sheltering under, to make sure it was safe. “Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were doing okay in the challenge. You know, you don’t have to be so defensive about everything.”

“Well, I was doing just fine on my own.” Arizona scowled, turning to walk out from under the shelter and trying to look capable by tucking her cane under her arm. This backfired a moment later as the girl stumbled over a tree root. Matt quickly leaped forward to catch her, but Arizona wriggled out of his grasp as soon as she had her balance back. “I said, I’m doing just fine!!” She cried as she pushed him away.

Matt sighed, face palming at Arizona’s stubbornness. “You know you don’t have to pretend you’re fine if you need need help. It doesn’t make you look any weaker.”

“What, so I’m weak because I’m blind? Is that what you’re saying? That I just automatically need help?!” Arizona, in her blind rage at her team, wasn’t really listening, and Matt ground his teeth together in frustration.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what is it?!”

“I’m saying that you can ask for help if you need it, but you don’t have to. God, Arizona, you don’t have to keep trying to prove so much of a point about how capable you are, we all know that you can do things, but just in some situations, you just shouldn’t!” Matt’s voice had been steadily rising, which really wasn’t helping him prove his point. Arizona was still scowling, but she looked more sad than upset.

“Well, I’m sorry I’m such a burden to all of you.” Arizona turned back around and quickly walked away, face burning from shame as she waved her cane along the ground. Matt considered running after her, but he stopped himself. She was clearly too upset to listen to him right now.

The camera for paused a moment to get a close up of Matt’s confused and disheartened face before it tore away to show what Mika was up to. She was slinking around the course, walking as slowly and silently as possible, scanning the surrounding area with extreme precision. She had a look of mischief gleaming in her eye and was bouncing a particularly large water balloon in her hand. The rebellious teen had to be especially careful with this plump balloon so she wouldn’t pop it and soak herself like Selene did. The scene flashed back to reveal Mika finding a water spout and adding additional water to her balloon, plumping it to almost twice its original size.

”Where are you, Chrissss?” Mika called out in a creepy, singsong voice. She snickered to herself as she continued to make her way across the area.

Meanwhile in the challenge, Gaile was still wandering around, looking to get a few hits in for her team. She had a small balloon in hand, ready to fire at the first Penguin, Polar Bear, or Panda she saw. Even if it was a friend.

Gaile took a break from walking since she was still simmering down after her encounter with Ashley, and ducked behind a bush to regather her composure. She had probably just ruined her relationship with someone on her team in favor of someone who should’ve been a rival. But not only that; she had done this with someone she realized was a real force to be reckoned with in the game. Breathing a deep, unsure sigh, Gaile sat down on the ground and leaned on an old, hollow log that was behind her. She stuck a hand in her pocket and pulled out the rock that Ry had given her only one challenge before: a symbol of not only their alliance, but their friendship. She rolled the rock around in her hand, hoping she’d come to a realization of what she needed to do next.

“Ohhh, I just hope I didn’t make a mondo mistake.” Gaile groaned and buried her head in her knees.

The camera then flashed back over to Mika who was almost to the end of the challenge area. She still had the same sadistic grin on her face as she held the balloon menacingly. The girl turned around a corner in the arena and was shocked to find a shack just sitting in the middle of the course.

“Bingo!” Mika crowed happily.

She then slowly began to approach the shack, not using the door. She wanted this ambush to be a completely unexpected surprise. A window would be a much better way to get to Chris anyway.

“This oughta teach ya to order me around, Chris.” Mika growled and inched around the shack, spy style. Finally she found an open window and… what luck! Chris appeared to just be sitting in his chair, watching the challenge unfold from his television. The back of Chris’ head was just in range from the window. Mika grinned a menacing grin and began to raise her arm to toss her balloon at the host.

SLOSH!

The water from the balloon moved around and made the whole sack of liquid jiggle like jello as it flew from Mika’s hand and across the room.

SPLASH!

"Yes!! A direct hit!” Mika cheered and laughed maniacally as she saw the balloon burst against the host’s head. Her victory was interrupted when a stream of water blasted her from behind. Mika was soaked from head to toe. Her blue clothing turned black and clung to her body like it was painted on her. She whirled around with mouth agape to reveal Chris and Chef holding the same hose from the morning. The alarm wailed throughout the course.

“WHAT THE F***?!l” Mika cried with a scowl.

“Did you actually think that you’d get away with that? We have eyes everywhere, Mika. EV-RY-WHERE.” Chris taunted her jeeringly. He was completely dry much to Mika’s confusion.

“B-but… I F***ING HIT YOU. I HIT YOU IN THE DAMN HEAD! I soaked you!” she whined. Chris looked at Chef and the two began to guffaw. Chef wiped a tear from his eye.

“You mean that?” Chris taunted again and pointed in the direction of the chair. The back of Chris’ head now was sparking, clearly malfunctioning from an electrical short.

“You hit my Chris-bot! I had one more made.” Chris cried and laughed again. He then reached into his pocket and grabbed his microphone that connected to the shirt speakers.

“And Mika is OUT!” He announced with another laugh.

“WHAT?! NO FAIR! I DIDN’T EVEN GET HIT BY A DAMN BALLOON!” Mika shouted angrily.

“Yeah. But you did get your shirt wet. Sorry! Them’s the rules.” Chris stated with a satisfied smirk.

Mika’s hand blurred as she showed the host a particularly obscene gesture that would be inappropriate for the show. She held it up in the air as she walked off the course to join Benny, Selene, T, Alice, Lavender, and Mallory.

The camera flashed over to a separate part of the course to show Ry and Dennis continuing their witch hunt for targets to hit with balloons. So far they hadn’t had any luck after Benny. The contestants had hidden themselves very well this challenge.

“Where are they?” Ry pondered aloud.

Dennis shrugged his shoulders in reply. “I’ve got no idea, Ry-Ry.”

Ry scowled a little bit at the nickname. “It shouldn’t be too long before we come across someone. You just need to try harder.”

“Well, keep looking then. I don’t see you havin’ found anyone yet at all.” Dennis chuckled and began to look behind a few bushes.

Ry continued to climb the trees and look in every single available space in the area. He was walking past a large knotty tree when he heard something that made him smile. A faint beeping sound could be heard from only a short distance away.

Hiding in a small hollow place in the base of the tree, Derby started to panic. He began to rapidly try to find where the shirt was beeping to muffle the sound, but to no avail. The beeps rose in intensity as Ry walked closer.

“Dennis! I think I got one!” Ry cried to his partner.

“Yes! On my way!” Dennis cheered and started rushing towards the tree.

Derby knew that it was over for him, and he stopped trying to mute the noise. He simply just sat still and waited for the inevitable to happen. He could see shadows of the two boys around the entrance to his hole. The camera panned to show Ry raising his water balloon into the air and giving it a good toss into the tree.

SPLASH!

The balloon hit its target and the siren began to sound off through the challenge area.

“And that’s the toll for Derby! Geez, Penguins, this is a terrible day for your team!” Chris announced with an antagonizing chuckle. Derby crawled out of the hole in the tree, clothing now splattered with black, and began to sadly slump back to the starting point.

The scene changed back over to Gaile, who was still sitting by herself with her head in her knees. Her crimped, white-blond hair draped over her arms like a waterfall.

“Oh my god, I just don’t know what to do!” the girl cried out distressedly. “There’s like, no way that Ry would be trying to use me or get rid of me. As if! He’s my friend. He said so. I gave him a scrunchie!” she continued on her shamble, rolling the rock he’d given her in her palms. “But there’s totally no way that Ashley, a teammate, would lie to me either… right? But then again, she has treated me like a liability to the team since Challenge One. Is Ry right or is Ashley?” she stuck the rock back into her pocket, not wanting to look at it anymore. The balloons had long since fallen from her hands. She then buried her face back into her knees and waited for someone to find her and hit her with a balloon. There was no noise for a moment as Gaile sat pitying herself. And then suddenly a small sneeze was heard from close by, almost directly behind the 90’s girl. She lifted her head from her knees for a short moment after hearing the noise and almost by instinct said, “Bless you.”

“Thank you,” a very quiet voice responded from the same spot.

Gaile’s head popped back up from her knees as she realized what had just happened. “Yo! Who’s in there?” she asked and began to crawl to the opening of the hollow log.

There she found Jillian, laying on her stomach inside the log and peeking out from a tiny hole in the wood.

“Jill?” Gaile called out.

“Crap! I blew my cover!” Jillian cried.

“Well, I guess it’s a super good thing that I’m your teammate. I’m not going to blow your cover, yo.” Gaile assured her teammate.

“Good. Now you better run along and leave me.” Jillian mumbled.

“Jill? What’s the matter? You’ve been acting kinda off today.”

“I just… don’t feel helpful anymore, Gaile.” Jill whispered.

Gaile laid on the ground on her stomach in front of the entrance of the log.

“What are you talking about? You are super helpful, Jill!” Gaile cried, but not loud enough to draw attention to the two of them.

“How so? I literally only got the chance to try to help the team once, and I ended up passed out in the infirmary. Just my luck!” Jillian exclaimed, a little louder this time. Viewers could tell by the look in her eyes that she was very upset.

“That totally wasn’t your fault! You got hit by a bucket! You didn’t do that to yourself.” Gaile tried to make her feel better.

“It still happened. I couldn’t help win the challenge. So we lost, and….T-Todd got sent home.” Jillian whimpered and buried her face in her hands.

“Jillian. You KNOW just as well as I that it wasn’t your fault we lost. Now quit buggin’ about it.” Gaile coaxed her in a friendly tone.

“I-I just…” Jillian stammered.

“Miss Todd?” Gaile finished for her.

Jillian nodded.

“Well, then I guess we better win this challenge. For him.” Gaile stated with a confident grin.

“But..”

“Jillian! Girl! You have girl power! You are a mad AWESOME explorer! You are the AMAZING Jillian!”

The camera took this moment to flip to the elimination hotel, where Alexandria and Todd were watching. Alexandria looked extremely offended at her title being stolen, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, the camera flipped back to Gaile and Jillian, the cameraman totally snubbing her. The episodes weren’t reallythat long though, so it was totally justified. Moment over, the show continued as usual.

“You opened up a serious can of whoop-a** last challenge. Don’t get me wrong when I say this, but you’d be crazy not to give adventuring another shot! It’s in your BLOOD.” Gaile preached.

Jillian’s eyes widened a bit.

“What do ya say, girlfriend?” Gaile suggested and held out her fist.

Jillian stared at the extended hand a moment, contemplating whether or not she wanted to try this, but she finally bumped her fist with Gaile’s and began to climb out of the log.

Gaile gave the super tall girl a hand up to her feet and flashed her a grin.

“And if you’re still feeling a smidge unsure, I’ll team up with you! Would you be down with that?” she suggested.

Jillian nodded with a tiny grin.

“‘Atta girl! Now, let’s go kick some butt!” Gaile cheered.

Outside of the challenge, Derby was just joining the rest of the group who had also gotten out already.

“Hello!” Derby called out to them. Benny stirred slightly, slowly waking up from his little nap. His eyes opened as Derby greeted his peers. Several of the contestants in the elimination area were sleeping, the sun making them all pretty tired.

“Oh hey, Derby. Wanna sit?” he asked and patted the area of ground beside him. Selene was on the other side, comfortably nuzzled next to his legs as she continued to sleep.

Derby nodded his head and joined Benny on the ground.

“You and Selene seem to be getting along quite a bit better.” Derby pointed to the sleeping girl. Benny shrugged.

“I don’t know what it is, Derby. When she’s awake and terrorizing me, I’m not the biggest fan of her, but when she’s real chill, she’s just cool.” he explained.

T smiled from a little bit farther away. They loved to see everything so peaceful and serene. They closed their eyes in a moment of bliss, but this moment was interrupted by Lavender squealing.

“AHHH! IT WAS ON ME!!” she screeched and jumped from foot to foot in a tizzy. She dusted herself off as she did so. Her eyes were wide with fear.

“What the f*** are you screaming about over there?” Mika growled, still bitter over what had happened with Chris.

“Yeah dude, I can’t even hear myself think, you’re so loud.” Mallory added.

Lavender glared at the two girls, her eyes still bugging out.“THERE WAS A GIANT SPIDER CRAWLING ON ME!” Lavender shouted again.

“Well if there was one, you scared it away.” Alice stated matter of factly.

T rolled their eyes and stared over at Derby until they made eye contact with him. T then tilted their head ever so slightly over towards the commotion. Derby groaned, but got up and joined the group of girls.

“Ladies, what seems to be the problem?” he asked with an annoyed voice. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Miss Drama Queen here saw a spider.” Mallory explained flatly.

“I didn’t just see one, it was on me!” Lavender shouted and flailed her arms towards her body.

“Ohhh, do you mean… THIS SPIDER!” Mika cried and quickly poked Lavender in the back.

“EEEK!” Lavender yelped and jumped into Derby’s arms.

Derby gasped at the sudden body flying into him and struggled to get a hold on Lavender, sending the two tumbling to the ground.

Mika and Mallory doubled over laughing.

“Hey! That wasn’t funny, Mika!” Alice cried and went to lend the two a hand off the ground.

“Aw lighten up. Don’t be a damn stick in the mud!” Mika cried back.

“There is no spider, by the way.” Derby mumbled from underneath Lavender. His glasses had flown off and were on the ground a little bit away.

“Thank you.” Lavender groaned, sore from the ground’s impact as they landed.

T giggled to themselves at the spectacle, and Benny and Selene were now both asleep together on the warm grass.

Derby pulled himself out from under Lavender, who had made no efforts to get up and off the ground, and began to reach for his glasses.

“Here, let me. It was my fault anyway.” Lavender said and picked them up off the ground, cleaning them with her shirt and handed them back to him.

“Th-Thank you, Lavender.” Derby said with a grin.

He then recollected himself and walked back over to Benny and Selene. He took out his notebook and pen and began to scribble something down.

The camera flashed back to the actual challenge. Ashley was now sitting in the tree that Gaile was supposed to be lookout in. Her face was contorted into a scowl, obviously still bitter that Gaile had abandoned her mid-challenge.

“Just you wait. She’ll be back any minute.” Ashley mumbled.

Suddenly, the sound of a twig snapping could be heard, Ashley snapped her head in the noise’s direction, ready to ambush whatever unfortunate sap had made it into her territory. She raised her water balloon up threateningly, taking aim.

“3… 2… 1…” Ashley counted to herself.

The balloon was about to leave her hand when Dakota was the one who walked between the two branches. The boy’s camera that he seemed to have 24/7 hung around his neck, gleaming in the sunlight.

Ashley halted immediately and lowered her hand, taking a deep, exasperated breath. She couldn’t hit a teammate. Even if he was friends with—the enemy. Ashley rolled her eyes at the very thought. She simply couldn’t understand why her teammates were so buddy-buddy with Ry. He wasn’t even on their team!

“Not to mention the fact that he’s an altogether disgusting person to be around for anything more than someone to exchange petty insults and whose attempts at making you feel bad were just as pathetic as his attitude.” the girl fumed in her head.

“First Gaile, now you..” she grumbled under her breath. Too many of her ‘teammates’ were acting traitorous. It was simply unacceptable. She felt the loyalty of team slipping through her fingers, and knew she had to do something to deter them from turning on her. From her vantage point, she saw something move in the windows from the abandoned building on the course. Seconds later, Kiki emerged to stretch her legs and move elsewhere, trying to ambush some people without having to wait for them to walk under her. As she walked away, one of the Panda’s yellow balloons fell softly to the ground.

Ashley’s attention was immediately transferred when she heard something which sounded like footsteps approaching. She flicked her head around to see Ry coming towards her. He was still a good distance off, however, which gave Ashley just enough time to devise her plan.

“Perfect.” she purred, a malicious smirk spreading across her face. She scrambled back down the tree and, swift as a fox, plucked the balloon from off the ground, making sure to veer her path far around Dakota. She then tucked it into her shirt and quickly climbed the tree again, resuming her position.

“Negative here too, Ry.” Dennis called from up a tree.

“Well then check over there!” Ry called and continued to walk towards Ashley.

Finally, Ashley had him in the perfect position. She raised her arm up and tossed the balloon forward with all her strength.

SPLASH!

The siren sounded throughout the challenge course and a voice began to scream in agony.

Dakota was down on the ground, clothing splattered black, holding his soaking wet camera like it was a precious gem.

Ashley leaned back in the tree and waited for the job to finish itself. She felt a brief pang of what Ashley assumed was guilt, but she pushed it away. After all, this dealt only with Ry. It was nothing personal towards Dakota.

Ry came rushing into the scene after hearing the screaming, just in time for Dakota to notice that he had been hit by a yellow balloon. A Panda’s balloon. Dakota stared at the broken balloon carcass and then back at Ry. He held up his camera, his lower lip trembling.

Ry’s eyes widened as he realized that he knew what Dakota was thinking.

“It’s ruined.” Dakota whimpered.

“Dakota, I..” Ry started.

“And in a very sudden and dramatic turn, Dakota is out!” Chris announced over the speakers.

Dakota leaped to his feet and ran to join the rest of the people who were out.

Ry thought about chasing after his friend, but by the time he’d finished debating with himself, Dakota was too far away to catch up with. All he could do was stand and stare.

Hiding and watching the whole ordeal go down, The Baroness popped up from behind a large tree.

“Ohh, that bilge-eating wench!” she hissed, and scurried out of sight.

Out of nowhere, Ry felt something hit him from behind, followed by a rush of water down his back. He’d been hit. The siren sounded off again, and Chris spoke over the loudspeaker.

“Caught with his guard down, Ry is out!”

He whipped his head around to see Ashley laughing evilly from her tree branch.

“Of course,” Ry growled under his breath, glaring up at the girl.

“Hello, Henry.” Ashley taunted with a little wave. She bounced a red balloon in her other hand.

“YOU DID THIS.” Ry hissed, teeth gritting so hard that it was a wonder they didn’t shatter from pressure.

“Me?” Ashley asked with fake surprise.

“You did this, B****ley. Let me ask you this. Are you satisfied with yourself?” Ry said.

“Satisfied with what?” she continued to pick.

“YOU DESTROYED THE ONE THING MY FIRST FRIEND TREASURED MOST.” Ry cried out angrily. His hands were balled up into tight fists;

“Oh, Henry, don’t be silly. Don’t you see those plastic pieces on the ground?” Ashley motioned over to where the bright yellow was clearly showing, before her voice dropped to a snarl. “You did this, Henry.”

That was the last straw for Ry. He lunged towards the tree, jumping for the lowest limb but unfortunately missing. Ashley cackled before Chris came back on over the loudspeakers. “THAT MEANS NOW, RY. MO-OOVE IT, OR I’LL ASSUME YOU WANT TO BE ELIMINATED TONIGHT!” Chris ordered.

Ry cut his eyes at the voice’s direction and reluctantly stopped. “I’ll get you later, B****ley.” Ry said with an accusatory point of his finger.

“I’ll be waiting, Henry.” Ashley looked down at the boy from her higher vantage point, the two both knowing she’d just taken the upper hand.

Ry stiffened and walked away towards the start of the course, mumbling profanities in Japanese and raising both hands into the air. They rapidly blurred.

Dennis had taken off running the opposite direction after watching his partner get unexpectedly attacked. He hated to abandon his teammate, but right now it was every man for himself! He kept running for a while more before diving behind a bush. There, he reorganized his balloon ammo, and caught his breath. He wasn’t exactly sure, but there couldn’t possibly be that many people left in the challenge. He sat back a minute and closed his eyes, calming down long enough for his heart to stop beating as rapidly as it was. But this moment of peace didn’t last long when he heard the scraping of a stick on the ground.

“Arizona.” Dennis said under his breath with a sadistic smirk.

And sure enough, Arizona was walking towards him, completely unaccompanied.

“This will be almost TOO easy!” he laughed and raised his arm to throw the balloon.

“WAIT! ‘ZONA! PLEASE,” a voice cried from afar.

Dennis turned toward the sound and was delighted to find Matt was racing their way. “A bit more challenging. But killing two birds with one stone’ll work just as well!”

Arizona stopped in her tracks. “Leave me alone, Matt.” Arizona ordered just as Matt caught up with her.

“But, ‘Zona, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Please let me talk.” Matt coaxed.

“NO. You think that I’m totally incapable of handling myself. You think I’m a BURDEN!” Arizona shouted and turned away from Matt.

“Arizona, why would you think that?” Matt asked. His eyebrow was raised in genuine confusion.

“Because I know what you said. I know what the whole team said about me!” Arizona exclaimed. She turned away from him again and wiped the tears away that were developing in her eyes.

“Arizona what are you talking about?” Matt asked.

“Oh, enough of this chit chat.” Dennis mumbled quietly and threw his balloon at the two.

Matt’s eyes widened as he saw the balloon flying at Arizona.

“LOOK OUT!” he shouted and pushed her away. But his attempt was in vain as he pushed them both into the line of fire.

SPLASH!

The balloon hit the both of them and exploded. The siren sounded.

“Ooh, tough luck, Polar Bears. Both Arizona and Matt are out! That means you are the official losers of this challenge.” Chris announced.

Dennis was rolling on the ground laughing maniacally, almost not believing his luck.

“This is your fault!” Arizona sniffed and whirled around, stomping off in the wrong direction.

Matt took off in the other direction looking defeated. “This way, Zona.” he called, making Arizona stiffen once again. The camera could see that her eyes were full of tears.

The Baroness was just about to return to her quadrant of the course when she heard what sounded like a hyena laughing.

“What the ‘ell?!” she cried and slunk over towards the sound to check it out.

She saw Matt and Arizona walking away, both in opposite directions, and Dennis laughing like crazy on the ground. His eyes were shut and watering, he was laughing so hard. The Baroness rolled her eyes and got a little closer, stepping without making a sound.

“You’re way too loud, lad.” The Baroness snapped and tossed a balloon at the boy who was still hee-hawing.

The balloon splashed across his chest and the siren went off. Dennis stopped laughing immediately and sat up to face his maker.

“WHAT? Where did you come from, Pirate?!” Dennis asked. His face was contorted in confusion and shock.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, ye landlubber. Yer out.” The Baroness stated.

“Not bad, Baroness. Not bad.” Dennis praised.

“Anddd Dennis the Menace is OUT!”  Chris announced over the speakers.

Dennis picked himself off the ground and started walk towards the starting line with the other people who were eliminated. He nodded his head in respect as he walked away.

Now feeling invigorated from getting Dennis out, The Baroness knew it was time to take care of some business. She’d witnessed something go down that was downright dirty, and she simply couldn’t let justice not be served.

“Now for the wench.” The Baroness stated and grabbed a balloon from her supply.

Narrowing her eyes she trudged through the course, retracing her steps to end up at the tree Ashley was sitting in. She carefully slunk up to the trunk and took a look to see if she was still there. Sure enough, Ashley’s foot was dangling casually from the branch.

The Baroness smirked in anticipation and began to slowly inch her way up the tree, trying desperately not to make a sound.

The camera panned over to show that Ashley still had a satisfied smile on her face, and was completely unaware that an enemy was encroaching on her territory.

Suspenseful music played as The Baroness continued to climb the tree, finally reaching the top without being detected.

She carefully climbed on top of the branch with Ashley and gave a little whistle. Ashley and her shirt alarms began to beep.

Ashley jumped a bit, making the branch shake, and turned to face The Baroness. Her jaw dropped in shock. Her hands fumbled to try to get a balloon before The Baroness could.

“How did you-?” she asked.

“I saw what ye did to that poor lad, Dakota. I also saw what ye did to Ry.” she growled.

Ashley quickly tried to compose herself. “Listen, pirate, you didn’t seeanything.”

“Save it for Davy Jones’ locker.” The Baroness replied. Ashley looked down at the ground to see how far it would be of a fall if she jumped.

“Farewell, ye bilge-rat.” The Baroness exclaimed with power in her voice and tossed her balloon at Ashley.

The balloon hit the girl very hard, the Baroness not wanting to spare Ashley any pain. The mean girl wobbled and with a shriek, fell off the branch, laying splayed on the ground and losing her breath with a sharp gasp, though she was otherwise unharmed.

The Baroness gazed down at Ashley with a satisfied grin. She let out a mighty pirate’s laugh as the siren sounded.

“Good-bye, Ashley!” Chris cried over the speakers. The sound of cheering from Ry could be heard in the background as Chris gloated. Ashley glared and, pulling herself up, stomped out of the course.

The Baroness’ celebration was interrupted when something hit her from above.

SPLASH!

The pirate began to scan the area in search of the thrower.

“Blimey! Who did that?” she asked.

The sound of a girl laughing could be heard, and Kiki popped up, back to her hiding place in the building. She gave a little wave to The Baroness.

“Blast! I’m hit!” she exclaimed and the siren went off.

“Avast! The Baroness has walked the plank- er I mean she uh…she has.. SHE’S OUT!” Chris yelled, embarrassed he couldn’t make a good pirate pun.

“Landlubbers.” The Baroness said flatly and rolled her eyes before heading back to the start.

Back at the starting point, everyone was talking amongst themselves. Benny, Lavender, and Selene had begun playing fetch. Derby was watching them play and sometimes was able to throw the stick for Selene himself. But not everyone was in such a good mood.

The camera panned over to Arizona, who’d slowly found her way back to the start without having to be guided by anyone/Matt. She was now actively engaged in a conversation with Alice.

“He keeps acting like he didn’t say anything!” Arizona whined and buried her face in her hands.

Alice rubbed her back soothingly.“There, there. It’s okay, ‘Zona. I got you. I won’t let that filthy jerk come anywhere near you again,” she assured with a satisfied grin.

Arizona lifted her head up from her hands. “Th-Thank you,” she stammered.

“Is that what you want?” Alice asked, her face returning to normal.

Arizona bit her lip and thought a moment. She had thought that she and Matt were friends. She really liked him. He had been so supportive of her the first challenge. It had made her feel so empowered.

“Yes.” she answered quietly and started to cry again.

“Don’t cry, love. You’ve made the right decision.” Alice said. She had a caring tone to her voice, but a malicious smirk on her face.

Nearby, Matt was sitting on the ground, trying to think of how to make Arizona feel better.

“I don’t know what you did to her, but you’d f****** better apologize.” Mika said snappily.

“I didn’t do anything!” Matt argued.

“Her tears say otherwise, ya ****face.” she said.

Matt turned away from her and groaned.

The camera then panned over to Dakota who was still holding his camera and secluding himself from the rest of the group. He had the most heartbroken look on his face.

Ashley saw him and decided now was the time to pick at the wound. She briskly walked over, pushing away any feelings of remorse she had looking at him so heartbroken. Now wasn’t the time.

“Hey there, Dakota.”

Dakota looked up at her and held up his camera. “It’s ruined.” he whispered.

“What happened?” Ashley asked in fake surprise.

“R-Ry broke a b-balloon on it.” he stammered.

Ashley’s mouth dropped open. “He did?! Oh Dakota, I’m so sorry. I thought he was your friend!” she cried.

Dakota wiped the tears away from his eyes. “I-I thought so too, Ashley. I-I guess you were right. I-If he hated me so much, then w-why did he let me k-kiss him?” Dakota hiccuped.

Ashley momentarily forgot her facade as a flash of anger flooded her body. “You kissed Henry?” she hissed, spite rushing over her.

Dakota nodded, his sorrow clouding his ability to see Ashley’s anger. “H-He didn’t like it and I guess he decided that this was the best way to get rid of me.” the broken boy continued.

Ashley took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She had still succeeded. She had still driven something between them. She just had to crush Dakota’s crush before it was too late. With a shaking breath, Ashley continued in her simpering tone. “You poor thing! Now we’ve learned a lesson here, right?”

Dakota nodded.

“Good. Now let me look at your camera,” she said, taking it directly from his hands. Dakota looked confused, but let her, sniffling a little.

At this time, Ashley was relieved she had learned how to fix wet cameras from research last year. Of course, she wouldn’t have gotten it wet if she couldn’t be the hero who saved the day. “Don’t worry, Dakota. Just stick this in some rice and it’ll absorb the water, so as long as this isn’t a film camera, all your pictures should be fine.”

“Really?!” Dakota looked over at Ashley and beamed joyfully. “That’s amazing!! Thank you, Ashley!”

“I think I saw a bag in the kitchen cabinet. I can help you can fix it tonight if you want.”

“Oh, Ashley, thank you so much! I’m so glad you’re my teammate!” Dakota cried, taking the camera carefully from her hands.

“I am too.” Ashley purred happily. Her plan was working out flawlessly yet again.

Jillian and Gaile had been wandering in search of people to eliminate, but hadn’t had much luck. It seemed like most of the people were cleared out except for those with REALLY good hiding places.

“There can’t be that many of us left.” Jillian stated.

Gaile nodded her head in reply. “That would explain why we haven’t found anyone else yet.”

Just then, the two’s shirts beeped. From a nearby bush, Kiki was seen to be walking away, having come down from the building yet again.

“AFTER HER!” Gaile cried and started to chase her as fast as her short legs could go.

Jillian followed right behind her.

Kiki looked behind her, sensing she may be being followed.

“S***!” she cursed when she saw Gaile and Jillian behind her. She sped up a little, hoping to shake the two of them, but she failed to see the tree branch that had fallen on the ground in front of her. Her boot caught on it and sent her sailing the ground. All the balloons she had rolled away, or burst.

“Aww, this f****n’ bites.” Kiki groaned and rubbed her head. The footsteps of Gaile and Jillian were getting closer and there she was sprawled out on the ground with no ammo left. She tried to get up and run away, but it was too late.

''SPLASH! SPLASH!''

Kiki was hit by two balloons, one from Gaile and one from Jillian. The siren sounded through the course and Kiki mimicked it sarcastically.

“What a loss! With Kiki being eliminated, the last of the Pandas is OUT! Sorry Pandas, you lose too!”

Kiki finally got back up on on her feet and slumped back to the start.

“WE GOT HER!” Jillian cheered joyfully.

“We sure did! Girl power!” Gaile cried and offered Jillian a high five. Jillian high fived her partner back.

“Now announcing the final 3 of this challenge! Jillian, Gaile, and Bailey! May the odds be ever in your favor!” Chris announced over the loudspeakers, obviously unconcerned with potential copyright lawsuits for using the Hunger Games’ quote twice without permission.

“Wanna go get Bailey, and seize victory for our team?” Jillian asked Gaile casually.

“Totally! Sounds like a rad plan.” Gaile giggled and the two took off to find Bailey.

Meanwhile, Bailey was also looking for Gaile and Jillian. She had 4 full water balloons in hand.

“Okay Bailey, don’t screw this up. This is your chance to prove your worth to your team! You’re the only one left. Let’s win this!” Bailey gave herself a pep talk, a little nervous at being outnumbered, but proud that she’d survived so long. Longer, even, than the Baroness.

She climbed up the tallest tree should could find and stood fearlessly at the top branch, surveying the area to see if she could find the two hunters. Much to her luck, the two were only a short distance away, and though she could see them, they couldn’t see her.

“This is almost too perfect! Everything is coming out, Bailey!” she exclaimed with a proud grin.

All she had to do was wait until they were under her and drop two balloons on them, to claim her victory!

The camera panned back over to Gaile and Jillian to show them taking a quick break.

“Okay, girl. We need a totally fool-proof plan of attack. We can’t just get there and wing it.” Gaile said.

“Nope. I say we split up and when we find her, we attack her from both sides.” Jillian suggested.

“You, my dear friend, are totally brill!” Gaile grinned and stood back up to begin their plan.

Jillian giggled a little, happy at the attention. “I’ll go around that way and you go that way.” Jillian pointed, and Gaile nodded.

“‘Kay! Catch ya on the flip side!” Gaile cried and went her assigned direction.

Meanwhile, back in the tree, Bailey looked very confused.

“They were just sitting… not even trying to look for me. What the heck?” she cried, then watched in confusion as the two ran in different directions. “Now what are they doing? Gaile is going the exact OPPOSITE WAY. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!” she howled.

Bailey realized too little too late that she was being very loud and as she watched both heads turn, she knew she’d given herself away.

“Oh geez. I need to get higher up!” she cried.

She turned and saw the tree she was in was adjacent to another much larger tree. There was a set of branches close and sturdy enough for her hop to the next tree over. She would be able to climb up higher and fire her balloons down at her opponents.

“Yes! Gotta do this! Gotta get this right!” Bailey cheered for herself and started to rush as she continued to climb down.

Gaile and Jillian were getting closer and Bailey was almost to the branch she needed in order to tree-hop. The two were finally close enough to hit Bailey if needed.

“What is she doing?” Gaile asked as Bailey began braced herself to jump.

“She’s trying to hop over there. We’ve only got one shot. When I say throw, throw your balloon!” Jillian instructed.

Gaile nodded and aimed her balloon. Jillian did the same.

The screen then split to show both sides of the scene.

“1….2….” Jillian and Bailey both counted.

Bailey made a daring leap from the first tree, flying through the air between the two trees.

“THROW!” Jillian cried.

The two girls threw their balloons with all their might. They soared through the air, reaching higher and higher until they were right behind Bailey.

“NO!” Bailey shouted as the balloons made contact with her shirt and burst. Water splashed out and went tumbling to the ground below.

Bailey, through her skills, landed safely in the other tree just as the siren went off for the last time, though it was ultimately pointless.

“And with that Bailey is out! THE PINSTRIPE PARROTS WIN THE CHALLENGE!”  Chris announced.

Victorious music began to play and all the Parrots cheered.

“YES!! WE DID IT!” Jillian cried and pulled Gaile in for a hug.

“We did it! And more importantly… YOU did it!” Gaile stated with a big grin. “Jillian, I told you adventuring is in your blood! You’re a born hunter!” Gaile tightened their hug.

“I-I guess you’re right! I DID IT!” Jillian cried happily.

Bailey climbed down from the tree and crossed her arms huffily. She was a bit disappointed how close she made it.

Gaile broke the hug and extended her hand for a shake.

“Congratulations Bailey! You did a wicked job. Your team will be mad proud of you.” she said.

A tiny grin spread across Bailey’s face and she shook Gaile’s hand. She then shook Jillian’s hand as well, and the three walked back to join their teams, heads held high.

Back in the front Dakota had pulled Ashley into a hug as well. Though the personal touch made Ashley uncomfortable, she went along with it.

Over Ashley’s shoulder, Dakota made eye contact with Ry.

Ry pointed away from everyone, indicating he wanted to talk to him.

Dakota broke off the hug, leaving Ashley to scowl after him, and reluctantly joined Ry.

“What is it?” Dakota asked.

“Dakota. You know I didn’t do that to you right?” Ry whispered.

“Actually, Ry, after the way you treated me after…our kiss… I’m not too sure youwouldn’t do this to me.” Dakota stated.

“Dakota. Come on now. You’re my first friend. I wouldn’t do this, and you know it.” Ry continued, anger choking his voice.

Dakota stared at the ground and kicked at an imaginary dirt clod.

Ry chose now to speak up. “You know who would do this to you? Ashley.”

Dakota snapped his head back up.

“Come on Ry. Now you’re just being paranoid. Ashley is a good person AND my teammate. Why would she hit ME? And the balloon that hit me was one of YOUR teams’. You were the only one close by that had one of those.” Dakota argued. He wanted this all to be a mistake but he just wasn’t sure.

“She confessed to doing it! She admitted it right to my face! Well, she didn’t exactly confess to it, but she did in context! You’ve gotta believe me.” Ry begged. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing Dakota.

Dakota’s made a face as he went into deep thought. “I’m not sure if I believe Ashley did it. But I don’t want to think you did it either. My camera is going to be fine, so we’re cool.” Dakota said.

Ry’s normally blank face cracked a tiny smile.

“Thank you, Dakota.” Ry said gratefully.

“But tell me this, why have you been acting so weird? Right after our kiss, you started being really off. It freaked me out and made me think you didn’t like me.” Dakota whimpered.

“I’ll tell you one day, Dakota. I just can’t right now. I’m not ready or exactly sure myself. But I can promise you that it wasn’t because I didn’t like you.” Ry said and showed that he was still wearing the friendship bracelet he’d given to him.

Dakota smiled at this gesture and was about to say something else when Gaile ran up and hugged him from behind, Jillian joining in as Gaile waved her on. Ry quietly slunk away, to go join the Pandas.

“We WON!” Gaile cried happily.

“We did! You guys won this for us!” Dakota cheered.

Gaile hugged him a little tighter, but not enough to hurt, when she saw that his eyes were still a little red from crying.

“Let’s go celebrate!” Jillian suggested.

“Yeah we have a little while before the elimination!” Dakota said.

“Let’s go grab some chow!” Gaile said and let go off Dakota and Jillian.

“Ashley! C’mon! We’re gonna eat!” Jillian shouted across the way to the girl who was watching the touching display with disgust in her eyes.

The episode ended showing all the teams walking back to the hotel. The Parrots were still cheering, smiles from ear to ear while the others teams were just trudging along. The screen then faded to black as a commercial break began.

Staff

 * Chris McLean
 * Chef

Contestants

 * Alice
 * Arizona
 * Ashley
 * Bailey
 * Benny
 * Dakota
 * Dennis
 * Derby
 * Gaile
 * Jillian
 * Kiki
 * Lavender
 * Mallory
 * Matt
 * Mika
 * Ry
 * Selene
 * T
 * 'The Baroness'

Plot
The show returned after a commercial for a McLean brand toaster. The scene resumed with all the contestants seated in the elimination area. The Polar Bears were seated in the middle, in benches directly in front of the Wall of Shame. The Pandas, Penguins, and Parrots all sat in the “Peanut Gallery” bleachers surrounding them. The camera did a quick pan over the teams to show how they were doing. The Penguins were sitting together, relieved that the day was over. Benny was fighting to stay awake after the long day of sitting at the starting line and playing with Selene. Selene was jumpy as usual, trying to look at everything, so Bailey was holding her still in her seat. Bailey still had a disappointed look on her face after coming so close to winning the challenge for her team, but her team was so proud of her, she knew that she’d survive. The Baroness was leaning back in her seat, legs crossed and eyes closed. She was completely content since she got to throw a balloon at Ashley during the challenge. Derby was rocking slightly in his seat, anxious to hear which contestant would be getting sent home next. Overall, almost everyone was satisfied with how the challenge had ended.

Over in the Pandas, however, that wasn’t exactly the case. Ry had separated himself slightly from the rest of his team, his eyes still a little red and puffy from crying earlier. He could never let his team know that he had been upset. He turned away from the group and glared in Ashley’s direction. Even though the issue with Dakota seemed be resolved, his fiery fury for her still raged on. He would never forgive her for what she did to him and Dakota. She had almost made him lose his first and best friend. And for that, Ry swore that before the game came to an end, he would have his revenge. Lavender, now happily playing with her clean and soap-free hair, didn’t seem very concerned about anyone going home at all. Kiki had a tired look on her face, as she had done a lot of walking, running, and stalking that day. She just wanted the elimination ceremony to be over, so she could go back to her room and sleep. Dennis was smiling his signature wide, mischievous grin. He was excited to get to splash another contestant with paint. T sat in their seat, slightly hunched over as they fought exhaustion. They were tired as well and still a little shaken up from the repetitive loud sirens during the challenge. After a moment, they found themselves leaning over onto Kiki’s shoulder. The thug raised an eyebrow, but was too tired to care enough to make them move. As the cameraman panned over to the Parrots, Ashley glared back at Ry and huffed in annoyance.

“I know you’re staring at me, Henry. Just take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she grumbled under her breath, looking simultaneously upset and angry. Dakota turned, believing he’d heard her say something, but decided to ignore it when she wasn’t looking back at him. Gaile played with the scrunchie on her wrist, hoping that elimination wasn’t as rough as it was last time. She stared up at the wall with Alexandria and Todd’s paint splattered silhouettes on it. She wondered who would be joining them up there and was relieved that her team had won the challenge. Jillian also stared up at the wall, looking at Todd’s silhouette with a shy grin. She missed Todd, sure, but she also knew that today, she made him proud by helping her team win the challenge. Dakota kicked his little legs, ready for elimination to begin. He had a lot on his mind after his conversation with Ry after the challenge. Bored with the lack of activity in the Parrots, the camera returned it’s focus to the Polar Bears.

Matt was staring over at Arizona, who was still angry and scowling because of the betrayal she felt. Alice was sitting between the two, trying to hide her satisfied smirk until she was away from her team. She had a hand on Arizona’s back, in an attempt to comfort the fuming girl. The camera panned back over as Matt once again attempted to get Arizona’s attention, but Alice shot him a death glare.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you, Matthew.” Alice hissed.

“But I don’t know what I did wrong!” Matt whined.

“You should know.” Alice said, mock-angrily turning her head away from the jock. She knew that he hadn’t intentionally done anything to upset Arizona, but had fallen right into her trap anyway. Any trust Arizona held in Matt must’ve been destroyed by now, and it was all Matt’s fault, whether his actions were prompted or not. Matt frowned deeply, still unable to realize what he’d done wrong, before he turned away from the group. Alice glanced at the crestfallen boy, a malicious smirk growing across her face, then turned back to Arizona.

“Don’t you worry, Zona. I won’t let that jerk come anywhere near you anymore,” she assured the blind girl.

“Thanks, Alice. I’m so glad that I have at least one friend here that I can trust.” Arizona loudly directed this comment towards Matt, who brought his head thudding down to rest hopelessly on his knees. As Arizona finished her statement, Chris McLean arrived to the scene. The rest of the cast perked up in preparation for what he had to say.

“Evening contestants! I just know you’re all excited for this elimination, right?” Chris teased the cast. There was nothing but silence for a few seconds as the camera showed the looks of disdain and exhaustion on the contestants’ faces.

“Great!” Chris cheered with a sadistic smile. “The Polar Bears have already cast their votes, and surprisingly, you guys were pretty split!” Matt visibly exhaled at this, as if he’d been holding his breath. Arizona heard him and stiffened, clutching onto Alice’s hand. Matt looked over at them and sighed.

“First, before we determine the loser, everyone can grab their blue bracelets from Chef… Chef?” Chef walked out from behind the building, clutching a large bag of bracelets and looking disgruntled. Chris walked over to him and the contestants could hear him hiss, “Where were you? You can’t just leave me like that!”

“Well, I’m sorry that no one told me we were having an elimination right now. You know, you really should keep the people on your show more well informed-”

“You know what, I don’t have time to argue with you right now.” Chris grabbed a handful of bracelets from the bag and marched over into the stands, throwing the bracelets into a blue shower on the contestant’s heads. The safe contestants scrambled to pick their bracelets out like little children grabbing candy from a broken pinata. They then carefully slipped the bands on their arm with the other two colorful bracelets from previous eliminations. The Polar Bears remained just as nervous as before.

“Alrighty then! Let’s begin, shall we?” Chris asked the group with a knowing smirk.

“Let’s just get this over with…” Matt said remorsefully. Arizona felt a brief flash of guilt, and turned her head in the direction of his voice. Alice saw and quickly leaned over to hiss in her ear.

“You don’t need him, ‘Zona. He betrayed you.”

Arizona’s eyes widened as the word “betrayed” seemed to flow out of Alice’s mouth so smoothly. It was like while she said it, Arizona was having a flashback of the day’s events. It lit a fire of fury in her heart and she quickly turned away from the group once more.

“Yeah. Let’s just get on with it,“ she grumbled angrily. Her team was a bunch of traitors anyway, except for Alice. What was the harm in sending any of them home?

Alice saw Arizona’s anger boiling on her face, and gave a very tiny, almost unnoticeable smirk to the camera. She then leaned back in her seat, another crisis averted.

Mallory was sitting very stiffly in her seat, hands folded in her lap; she knew she had just as much of a chance of being eliminated as anyone else did on her team. She had spent the whole challenge working on a bomb that went off on her and got her out. Since it hadn’t worked, she really hadn’t been a huge help to her team during the challenge. Mika was staring directly at Matt with arms folded tightly across her chest and brows furrowed. She still wanted to know what he had done to make Arizona so mad at him and everyone else on the team. At this point, her fingers were just itching to throw blue paint on him. Chris McLean nodded and grabbed the results from Chef.

“Here we go!” he cried enthusiastically and opened the envelope. “First one safe… Mallory.” Chris announced and held up a blue rubber bracelet in the air. The heavily inked girl was finally able to breathe again. She stood up and walked up to the front to retrieve the bracelet. She then carefully slipped it on her wrist and rejoined her team.

“This person is safe, but only by a little, especially after what she did to me… Mika.” The host scowled at the rebellious teen. Mika’s eyes lit up as she realized she’d be there another day. She then regained her composure and cooly strolled up to grab her bracelet.

“Alice.” Chris said, and the blue-haired girl retrieved her bracelet, a victorious grin on her face. When she returned to her seat, the host paused for suspense.

“There is only one bracelet left, and two of you,” he said eerily. Arizona and Matt both tensed up, realizing one of them would be sent home that night. Matt stared down at the ground, knowing what was coming. Alice beamed with joy and eagerly waited for Chris to read the last “safe” name, also sure of what would happen. Suspenseful music began to play. Arizona turned away from everyone again so no one could see the tears she felt pricking her eyes, feeling just as betrayed as before and suddenly worried about the possibility of her own elimination.

“Arizona.” Chris said and waited for Arizona to make her way to the front for her bracelet. She blinked back more tears as she waved her cane along the ground as she walked. She then plucked the bracelet from Chris’ hand, shoved it on her wrist and made her way back to her team. When she got there, Alice was waiting to give her a big hug; she was really glad that Arizona couldn’t see the malicious smirk on her face.

“That means it’s time to go, Matt.” Chris announced and gestured towards the wall. Matt nodded sadly and stood to walk to the Wall of Shame. Ry looked up for a moment, gave the camera a sad look and then looked back down at the ground. He’d had a couple interactions with Matt, and though they weren’t friends, Matt was a good guy.

“He’s gone, Arizona. He can’t make you feel inferior or hurt you anymore.” Alice consoled Arizona.

“I just still can’t believe that he did all this. He left me in a burning building! He got me eliminated from the challenge today! He belittled me because of my disability and said I was a burden!” Arizona wailed.

Alice rubbed Arizona’s back gently. “I know. I wouldn’t have told you that if I’d known it would hurt you so badly. And don’t you worry, I’ll deal with the team later.”

Matt’s eyes widened when he realized what she just said. “'Zona, wait! You got it all wr-” Matt started to say.

“No time for chit chat.” Mika growled and went to grab her can of blue paint.

“But guys! Listen to me!” Matt cried as more people retrieved their paint cans and took their places in front of him.

“You’ve been tricked! You’ve ALL been tricked, Polar Bears!” Matt shouted desperately. Alice glared at the shouting boy and made her way with Arizona to the front and center. Chris stood out of the contestants way and began his countdown.

“3..”

“You were lied to, Arizona. Someone tricked you!” Matt cried desperately.

“Yeah, you.” Alice said, lifting an eyebrow as if this was obvious.

“2…”

“No! I didn’t! Arizona I didn’t lie, it was-” Matt shouted.

“1…”

SPLASH!

The contestants all threw their blue paint on the pleading boy, covering him from head to toe and stopping him mid-sentence. He shut his eyes and lips tightly and winced as the cold paint made impact. When he reopened his eyes and stepped away, his silhouette was left on the wall, outlined by blue paint splatter.

“Time to go, Matt.” Chris said and gestured to Chef to carry him out.

Chef groaned exasperatedly but walked over to Matt, scooping him up and carring the protesting boy out of the elimination area. The last thing heard before the pair left was Matt’s desperate shout of, "I wouldn’t hurt you, 'Zona!” before the boy was gone. Arizona was once again crying into Alice’s shoulder.

“Enough tears, Arizona.” Chris said annoyedly, “As for the winning team of the challenge, Pinstripe Parrots, here is your reward.” He then looked towards Chef once again and snapped his fingers. Chef rolled his eyes and grumbled to himself about how he “didn’t get paid enough to let the little man push him around”, but still walked over to the Parrots with the bag of prizes. He took out and gave the team members one item from the bag: plastic guitars. Each was a different color. Jillian received one in red, Ashley received one in green, Dakota one in purple, and Gaile in pink. “Enjoy.” Chef said dully, before marching back to his hotel.

Chris then turned back towards the contestants “The rest of you - get back to the hotel to get some shut-eye. You’re gonna need it.” Chris said in a gloating, sing-song voice.

The teams all began to leave the elimination area and head back to their hotel rooms. As they left, Gaile heard a low beeping sound. With eyes wide she reached down and removed her Tamagotchi from her belt loops to find it was about to die.

“NO!” The girl cried and hurriedly pressed the buttons on the tiny device to save her virtual pet. The Baroness heard her shouting and rushed up to make sure everything was okay.

“Lass, why ye be screaming?” She asked concernedly. Gaile looked up and blushed a little, realizing she had been shouting pretty loudly.

“Oh, no no, don’t worry. I just lost this game. It’s no biggie. But hey, I’m glad you’re here!” she exclaimed.

The Baroness cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “Ye are?”

“Yeah! You’re a rad girl and I dig talking to you.” Gaile replied, causing The Baroness to grin a little.

“Thank ye, little lass.”

“Would you mind passing on a message to Ry for me? Ashley for sure won’t let me near him after our fight.”

The Baroness nodded understandingly. “Aye. Go on.”

“Please tell him that it may not look like it now, but I do have a plan. He’ll know what I mean.” Gaile explained.

“Aye, I’ll be sure to pass it on. Congrats to yer team for the win.” The Baroness said.

Gaile grinned victoriously. “Thanks! And congrats to you, too! I heard you kicked major butt today and got like three people out! Talk about a sweet victory!”

“'Twas only two, but one was Ashley so I’ll count that a big accomplishment.” The Baroness chuckled.

“GAILE!” A voice cried from farther behind the two girls.

“Speak of the devil.” Gaile mumbled flatly before turning and flashing Ashley a friendly grin and speaking sweetly. “Yes?”

“Would you come here? Don’t you think there’s something we need to talk about?” Ashley asked, though it sounded more like a command.

Gaile nodded her head. “Yes. Yes there is. I’ll talk to ya later, Baroness.” The Baroness waved and headed off to find Ry.

While Gaile was turned around saying goodbye, the lens could see Ashley’s lips give a vague twitch, which stopped instantly as Gaile turned back around to approach her. Now, the girl was back to her fake smiles, which looked noticeably more strained. “Gaile, we should talk about what went down today during the challenge.”

Gaile stuck her hand in her pocket and fiddled with Ry’s rock. “Yeah. I know, I shouldn’t have ran off.” Gaile admitted.

“Well no, you shouldn’t have. What you did was very risky for our team. We got lucky that you and Jillian were actually able to win this for us. Very, very lucky.”

Gaile nodded her head but didn’t say a word. In her mind, she was rolling her eyes.

“We need excellent… no,” Ashley shook her head before continuing, “flawlessteamwork if we’re all going to make it to the merge. FLAWLESS. We can’t have wild cards trying to shake things up. Do you get what I’m trying to say, Gaile?”

“No. What are you trying to say?” Gaile inquired.

Ashley gritted her teeth, getting the feeling that Gaile was still pushing it. “What I’m trying to say is that you need to be a better team player, or we’re going to lose.” Ashley tried to calm her anger, remembering that she still needed to be in good with her team. “I like you Gaile. I trust you. I would just hate to see something happen to you because you were unpredictable and messed up for our team. I’d hate to see the team turn on you for treacherous acts. I’m only saying this because I care.”

Gaile nodded her head. “I know. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Gaile said remorsefully.

“Good! As long as you keep being a team player, we should make it to the merge just fine.” Ashley briefly narrowed her eyes, hinting at who wouldn’t be making it to the merge if they lost.

Gaile grinned a little, and nodded again. “Of course.”

“Let’s go on to the hotel, then.” Ashley suggested and resumed the commute to the hotel. Gaile made sure that Ashley wasn’t looking and rolled her eyes.

As the Baroness went on her way to find Ry, she was suddenly stopped by none other than Dennis. The prankster had ran right in front of her, as if he was going past her, then stopped at the last second with a signature quirky laugh.

“Keheheheh, hey there, pirate girl!” he started with a cheeky grin.

“Ahoy there, landlubber,” The Baroness replied, crossing her arms over her chest with a proud smile as she thought of how easily she’d eliminated him. Dennis recognized her almost immediate pride, but didn’t seem bothered.

“Just wanted to letcha know, you won’t get me that easy next time, ya hear?” he told her airily, “I’ve got my guard up, ‘specially for you, No Beard.” He finished with a finger pointed at the Baroness. The girl stifled a laugh, before raising an eyebrow. “That be soundin’ like a challenge, if you ask me,” she said, alluding that she wouldn’t stop trying just because of his warning. Dennis simply laughed a trademark laugh and, with a wink, returned to bother his own team. The Baroness grinned, her head held a little bit higher as she left the amphitheatre.

“Looks like tensions are rising to me!” Chris said as the camera centered back on him. “Is anyone safe from the ‘Queens of Mean’? Will the Baroness and Dennis end up fighting to the death? And will Arizona ever stop crying? Find out next time, on Total! DRAMA! COLORS!“

As the scene faded out, the camera caught a blur of a girl with orange undercut-style hair running to catch up with Alice and Arizona, linking arms with the latter before saying, “Hey, 'Zona, I think we should have a chat..”