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Chapter Text

“And the contestant going home tonight is…” Chris glanced at the last passport, “Noah!”

Noah rolled his eyes as he got up from where he was sitting. He could hear Owen blubbering behind him. He could feel Alejandro’s smirk burn into the back of his head. Apparently, Alejandro didn’t take being called a slipper eel very well. As he walked up to the drop zone, Chris stopped him. Noah stopped in his tracks, looking up at Chris.

“If this were an elimination challenge,” Chris grinned as he pulled Noah away from the drop zone.

“What?” Alejandro stood up in disbelief.

The pure shock on Alejandro's face was delightful. Alejandro wanted Noah gone, and he didn’t get what he wanted. Noah could see his fists were clenched, and his knuckles started to turn colors.

“You mean my best buddy gets to stay?” Owen cheers, wiping his tears from his eyes.

Owen runs up to Noah and crushes him into a hug. Over Owen’s shoulder, Noah shoots a glare towards Alejandro. Alejandro scoffs and looks away. He peered down at Duncan and Tyler, who were still sitting; they didn’t seem to care.

“Yeah, I thought getting Duncan on your team was consequence enough,” Chris explained.

“What does that mean?” Duncan raised an eyebrow, and Chris ignored the question.

“But you had us vote and everything!” Alejandro stood up and crossed his arms. He was still stuck on the idea that Noah was staying.

“Well, I changed my mind,” Chris said, looking at Alejandro. “Loser class is waiting for the five of you.”

Owen released Noah from his bear hug, and they both walked to loser class. Tyler, Duncan, and Alejandro are behind them. Noah sat down on one of the damp benches and crossed his arms. Owen sat next to him. The other three boys sat on the other side of the loser class.

“I’m happy you are still here, Noah. I would definitely be the next boot if you went home,” Owen told Noah.

“I know, buddy, we need to get Alejandro out of here quickly, but I won’t be easy,” Noah glared across the loser class cabin at Alejandro.

Alejandro looked back at Noah. Alejandro was conversing with both Tyler and Duncan about something. Noah knew Alejandro was probably putting some lies in their heads about how he should be the next one off. But none of that was a concern right now. It would be easy to get Tyler's vote, considering how light in the head he was. Noah predicted that Duncan wouldn’t stick around long since he was new and had no allies, Owen could stay for a while, but Alejandro would be the only tricky one to eliminate. Another problem was that Noah had no information about the girls or Cody. Heather, Gwen, and Courtney, being strong competitors from past seasons, have all made it to a merge at least once. Also, with Sierra and Cody being close against Cody’s will, it gave him an upper hand in challenges. In short, Team Amazon is unstoppable. Considering the sizes of the teams, the merge should be close, but who really knows? Noah closed his eyes to try to get some sleep as the plane slowly flew to the next destination. At about midnight, Noah woke up due to a sudden jolt of the aircraft. He opened his eyes and saw everyone deep asleep, but someone was missing: Alejandro.

“That sneaky bastard!” Noah thought as he stood up from the wooden bench. The only place Alejandro could be this late at night would be the confessional; it’s the only logical place.

Noah slowly walked to the confessional, almost like he was in a horror movie and was about to do something dumb. Finally, Noah got to the confessionals, and the door was closed with a sliver of light peaking out of the bottom. Noah pressed his ear gently against the confessional door so he could hear what Alejandro was saying.

“My plans for this past challenge might have been spoiled, but mark my words, Noah will be the next to go,” Alejandro said with pure confidence in his voice.

The brown haired boy narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“I just hope I can get Tyler or Duncan on my side; neither trusts me fully, but I need an ally to vote Noah out,” Alejandro added. “Plus, Noah has Owen on his side. After Noah, Owen is definitely next.”

“I called it, so predictably,” Noah scoffed in his head.

Noah heard the confessional door unlock. His eyes widened with terror; if he didn’t leave now, Alejnadro could catch him. Noah darted towards loser class and saw Owen sitting wide awake, like he knew Noah was missing.

“Noah, where did you go?” Owen questioned.

“Shhhh, close your eyes, pretend you're asleep,” Noah whispered and sat back down in his spot.

Noah looked up and saw that Owen had closed his eyes. Noah leaned against Owen and sharply closed his eyes. He heard Alejandro’s shoes hitting the plane's floor. Soon enough, he entered the room. Noah partly opened his eyes and peered at the man through his eyelashes. Alejandro was examining the loser class, like he was trying to look for something out of place. After a while of looking and walking around, Alejandro finally sat back down and fell asleep quickly. Noah opened his eyes after thirty or so minutes and nudged Owen.

“Waaaa?” Owen started to talk, but Noah covered his mouth.

“Quiet lunch box, Alejandro just fell back asleep,” Noah removed his hand from Owen’s mouth.

“Oh, okay,” Owen nodded.

“I heard him talking in the confessional about eliminating me next and then you,” Noah explained.

“Wahhhh?” Owen made another confused noise.

Noah covered his mouth, “Owen, quiet- you know what I will tell you in the morning, go back to sleep.”

“Okay,” Owen smiled and closed his eyes.

Noah fell back asleep shortly after Owen did. His sleep was not the best since loser class was comically bumpy and mixed with the smell of mildew. Sleep was not guaranteed. At around five, they all got woken up for breakfast. In short, it was not good, Chef's Mystery Goop. Noah wished he could be up in first class and get a nice warm breakfast, not tasteless goop. The remaining members of team Chris is really hot sitting in the dining hall while they eat. Noah and Owen sat next to each other, and the other three boys sat at the table across from them.
“What were you trying to tell me last night?” Owen took a big bite of the mystery food.

“Alejandro is talking about eliminating me next, and then you. Also talked about how his plan didn’t go as expected and how Tyler or Duncan don't really trust him,” Noah said as he pushed his breakfast leftovers to Owen.

“Really?” Owen accepted the leftovers.

“Yeah, we need to watch our backs or we can convince Tyler or Duncan to vote with us before Alejandro can,” Noah planned.

“That sounds good,” Owen smiled.

Noah and Owen sat quietly as they both watched the other three boys talk, but their conversation ended shortly after the other two boys' discussion. The dining area was quiet until Alejandro stood up to give his usual pep talk. He did this every time they were in loser class without fail. They were never really motivational, but he probably just did it for likability.

“Okay, men, we cannot lose another challenge. If we do, Team Amazon will have a numbers advantage over us, and that won’t be good. We need to pull through and beat them and get rid of this losing streak,” Alejandro raises his fist in the air.

“Yeah!” Tyler shouted.

Noah rolled his eyes and looked at Owen, “Don’t trust anything he says.”

Owen nods.

A little later in the morning, the Amazon’s showed up in the m

akeshift mess hall to see what the challenge location was going to be for today.

“Good morning, contestants! Today we will be landing in the home of the Olympics, Rome!” Chris told us.

Everyone looked at each other. The home of the Olympics was definitely not Rome; rather, it was Greece.

“Um, Chris, the Olympics originated from Greece,” Courtney corrected.

“No, they took place in Rome,” Chris defended.

“She’s right, the Olympics take place in Greece, not Rome,” Gwen chimed in.

“Interns!” Chris shouted.

Two interns rushed to Chris’s side.

“You guys might want to hold onto something bolted down,” Chris told everyone, “not you.” Chris pointed at the interns to his left.

I held onto one of the tables in the makeshift mess hall along with Owen, Heather, and Tyler. The plane tilted at a 90-degree angle, and the intern fell out of the plane. They all knew Chris was crazy, but not that crazy. The plane tilted back, and everyone let go of the tables.

“And you,” Chris pointed to the interns on his right, “get some info on Greece quickly.”

The intern rushed off, only hearing the tapping of their shoes. Chris stormed off as well to go tell Chef to redirect the plane. Everyone looked at each other, waiting for someone to speak up.
“I don’t know about you guys, I'm going back to first class,” Heather stormed off back to first class.

Slowly, all of the Amazons followed her. The plane was in the air for another two insufferable hours due to the redirection. The five boys did a lot of shifting around on the flight, each of them using the confessional at least once. Noah was waiting outside the confessional while Tyler was using it, and had the urge to listen in.

“Alejandro wants us to vote Noah off next, but I don’t fully trust him. I mean, Noah is a cool guy, and I want him to stay for a little while longer,” Tyler cleared his throat, “I want Duncan gone next, I never really liked that guy. But Alejndro is my only ally right now, and if Noah has to go, so be it.”

Noah listens closely to the confessional. If he didn’t make a plan now, he would be the next contestant free-falling from a plane. Noah would have to think of something quickly.
Tyler stepped out of the confessional, looking puzzled why Noah was standing there. Tyler scratched under his headband and walked off without saying anything.

Noah stepped into the confessional and locked the door. “So I screwed if I don’t get Tyler or Duncan to vote for Alejandro,” Noah crossed his arms, “or I could get Tyler to vote off Duncan, therefore getting rid of one of Alejandro’s allies making him weaker.”

The plan was perfect, but he would have to figure out how to execute it before today’s challenge is over. Noah went back to loser class and sat beside Owen. The plane had to be landing soon due to the fact it had been almost an hour and a half.

“Contestants, start making your way to an exit. We will be landing soon,” Chris’ voice chimed over the intercom.When the plane landed, everyone shuffled off the plane and split up into their respective team. Chris was standing outside already with at least fifteen typed-up pages of facts about Greece.

“Contestants, welcome to Athens, Greece!”

Chapter Text

“Ah, Greece, the home of the Olympics, ancient ruins, and your next set of challenges,” Chris read from his stack of papers, “the challenges for today will be based around the first Olympics. Your first challenge will be to snag a gold medal from around the Erymanthian boar's neck. I need one volunteer from each team.”

“I can do it for Team Amazon,” Gwen and Courtney said at the same time.

Both girls looked at each other and then back at Chris.

“I guess both of you can compete, but I will need two members from the team Chris is really hot to compete as well.” Chris crossed his arms.

“I can do it,” Tyler steps forward, with his chest puffed out.

This was Noah’s chance to bond with Tyler and have him vote Duncan or Alejandro off with him.

Noah quickly stepped forward, “I can do it as well.”

Noah felt bad leaving Owen with Alejandro and Duncan, but he needed to get through to Tyler; this might be his only chance after all. Alejandro gave Noah a dismissive look before looking back at Chris.

“Then it’s settled, Gwen and Courtney will look for team Amazon, and Noah and Tyler will look for team Chris is really, really fiery hot.” Chris tells everyone, “The rest of you follow me.”

Everyone follows Chris to the next challenge destination, just leaving the four teens alone.

“Let’s start looking,” Noah grabbed Tyler’s wrist.

“Yeah!” Tyler shouted.

Tyler and Noah weaved in and out of the rows of columns, trying to find the Erymanthian boar. They both tried to make small talk, since neither of them knew each other extremely well, but Noah was ready to get to the point. He didn’t choose to do this challenge because he wanted to hang out with Tyler or to piss Alejandro off, but to talk strategy.

“Hey, Tyler, I heard you talking in the confessional today. It sounds like you want Duncan off,” Noah led into conversation.

“Yeah, I don’t trust the guy. Just look at him!” Tyler explains, making gestures with his hands.

“Well, Owen and I were talking about voting him off the next time we lose, you know, get him out of here as soon as possible,” the brown haired boy told Tyler.

“I don’t know, maybe he would be good to keep around, he’s a strong competitor,” Tyler scratched his head.

“Are you dumb? If we don’t get rid of him, he will be impossible to eliminate after the merge! Plus, Alejandro will have one less ally to lean on,” Noah’s mind raced.

“I know, but Duncan in the merge would be no good,” Noah dumbed down his words for Tyler.

“That is right, but I don’t know, man, what if we get on a huge winning streak and Duncan makes it to the merge anyway?” Tyler questioned.

“I don’t know, but if we do lose, we need to get Duncan out of here,” Noah made his closing argument.

“I will think about it,” Tyler concluded the conversation.

Tyler and Noah continued to look for the Erymanthian boar and had no success. All of the columns looked the same. The columns being pearl white and looked like they were about to crumble to the ground.

“Have we been going in circles or something?” Noah guessed, “I think I saw this column ten minutes ago, or was it that one?”

“I don’t know, everything looks the same.” Tyler walked backwards, running into someone.

The someone Tyler ran into was Courtney.

“Hey, watch it!” Courtney shouted, running into the backside of Tyler.

“Sorry,” Tyler sharply turned around and knocked Courtney to the ground.

“Hey!” Courtney fell to the ground with a high-pitched yelp.

Gwen helped Courtney up, and the two teams looked at each other.

“Have you guys spotted the Erymanthian boar yet? Because we haven't,” Gwen tries to make conversation.

“Nope, it has to be somewhere, I mean it has two metals hanging from its neck,” Noah scoffed.

The teens have been walking around the columns for at least an hour. That boar can’t hide forever.

All of a sudden, heavy footsteps could be heard from the distance. The four teenagers looked at each other and then wondered where the footsteps were coming from.

“Um, I think it’s close by,” Courtney guessed.

“Yeah, like right behind us maybe,” Noah questioned.

The teenagers slowly turned their heads to face the beast known as the Erymanthian boar, but were underwhelmed. The creature seemed to be a bear with two horns tied around its muzzle.

“Are you kidding me? How tight is the budget on this show?” Courtney complained.

“Apparently extremely tight, that poor boar bear,” Gwen added.

The boar opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing roar. The teenagers' eyes popped out of their heads as drool sprayed them.

“Maybe we should run?” Tyler questioned.

“Yeah, that's a good idea,” Noah breathed.

The four teens started to run in the opposite direction of the boar. The boar began to chase after them, but they quickly lost sight of it. At this point, Gwen and Courtney were also gone, having probably run in another direction.

“We lost the boar, again,” Noah breathed heavily.

“Yeah,” Tyler seemed to be fine, not even out of breath.

“How are you not out of breath?” Noah put his hands on his knees.

“I do a lot of sports,” Tyle put his hands on his hips.

An idea hatched in Noah’s head, “What if I have Tyler attract the boar, and I sneak up behind the boar and take the metals.”

“Tyler, come here,” Noah waved him over.

Noah whispered the plan to Tyler. “Are you kidding?”

“It’s the only way, I will make it quick, I promise,” Noah told Tyler.

“Okay,” Tyler’s shoulders slumped.

Tyler walked out to a more open part of the columns. He started to wave his arms in the air and yelling at the top of his lungs. Noah hid behind one of the columns, waiting for the boar bear to make an appearance. Soon enough, the boar found Tyler where he was standing and waving his arms. The boar jumped onto Tyler and started punching and crawling at him. Noah quickly snuck up from behind and jumped on top of the boar. Noah slipped the gold medals off from around the boar's neck.

“I got the metals!” Noah shouted, raising them in the air.

The boar got up and off of Tyler and bucked Noah off its back. Noah fell to the ground, landing hard on his back. Tyler had a few scratches on his face, but other than that, he looked fine.

“Nice job, Tyler and Noah,” Chris’s voice filled the rows of columns.

Chris was standing with the two teams behind him. Courtney and Gwen came running towards the sound.

“Oh, come on!” Courtney complained.

“Nice job, guys, be happy that we won the second challenge!” Heather yelled at Gwen and Courtney.

Alejandro approached Noah, who was lying on the ground. He reached out a hand to help Noah up.“Nicely done, Noah.”

Fake joy dripped from Alejandro's voice. An artificial smile was plastered on his face. Noah took one look at Alejandro and knew he was only doing this to look nice.

Noah slapped his hand away. “Thanks.”

Noah stood up, and a sharp pain ripped up his spine. He walked over to Tyler, who was still lying on the ground.

“Nice job, Tyler,” Noah offered a hand, and Tyler took it.

“Thanks,” Tyler stood up straight.

Noah placed the metal over Tyler’s head. “You deserve this.”

Tyler smiled.

Noah walked over to Owen. “So what was the last challenge?”

“It was some wrestling challenge. Duncan and I got our butts kicked by Sierra and Cody, more or less Sierra.” Owen explained.

“Really? Sierra?” Noah questioned.

“She’s strong when she’s mad,” Owen grimaced.

“Okay, contestants, our next challenge will be hurdles, and since Alejandro and Heather are the only two contestants who have not participated, they will be facing each other,” Chris told us.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m fast and flexible,” Heather stretched her leg.

“That’s cute,” Alejandro melted into a perfect right split and tied his hair into a ponytail.

Noah felt his face get hot for some reason. Noah pressed his hands to his face to feel his flushed cheeks. Alejandro looked in Noah’s direction, and he sharply looked away, one of his hands still on his cheek.

The two teenagers got ready for the race, both stretching out their legs to get ready to outpace each other. Both Heather and Alejandro had athletic builds and long legs, the race would be close.

“Okay, contestants, go!” Chris called out.

Heather and Alejandro began to run and jumped over the first few hurdles. They were running at the same pace, jumping over every hurdle at the same time.

“Come on, Heather! Go faster!” Courtney cheered.

“Alejandro, pick it up,” Duncan wailed.

The race was close as the finish line became closer. Neither Heather nor Alejandro pulled forward in front of one another.

“Come on! Can you not tie?” Chris complained.

The two teens turn their heads towards one another and both picked up the pace. Noah couldn’t believe they were still tied.

As the two teens reached the last hurdle, they were still tied. As the finish line got closer, Alejandro and Heather crossed it at the same exact time, they tied. The whole cast let out a collective gasp.

“Uhhhhhhh,” Chris murmured, “I guess we will be using that tie breaker, interns, get the wings! The rest of you follow me.”

The teams followed Chris to an open field with a metal hanging in the air. The teams looked at each other and then at the metal suspended in the air.

Interns rolled in two pairs of wax and feather wings, “for the tie breaker, one contestant from each team will strap these wings on to fly up and get the suspended metal.”

“I will do it,” Cody stepped forward.

This was going to be easy, Cody really? That pipsqueak didn’t have an athletic bone in his body.

“And I will do it,” Duncan stepped forward as well.

Duncan, interesting, he didn’t seem like the type to participate in this kind of challenge. Maybe he thinks it will be an easy win.

“Perfect, now slip into these costumes,” Chris smiled.

“Yayaya costume!” Sierra squeaked, squeezing Cody.

Duncan and Cody changed into the ‘authentic’ Spartan war costumes. The two boys strapped the wax and feather wings.

“Okay, get ready, go!” Chris yelled.

Duncan and Cody started to flap their wings up to the metal as the sun beat down on them. It was afternoon by this point, and the sun was high in the sky. Feathers started to fall to the ground.

“Their wings are melting,” Noah said, picking up a feather from the ground.

“Not my problem,” Chris shrugged his shoulders.

“Duncan, hurry up!” Owen projected up.

“Cody, go!” Sierra waved her arms in the air.

Duncan was pulling ahead of Cody and was almost to the metal. Duncan was moving his arms with fury as the hot wax dripped off the wings. Feather by feather, Duncan’s wings fell apart. When Duncan did get to the metal, his wings completely gave you and he fell to the ground. Cody quickened his pace and grabbed the metal with his teeth, and finally fell to the ground. The Amazons won again.

Courtney rushed over to Duncan. “Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine, Princess,” Duncan got up from the ground.

“Courtney, he's on the other team!” Heather stopped her foot.

“Looks like your team just can’t leave my team alone,” Alejandro swayed his hips.

“Just shut up, Courtney, come back over here,” Heather told Courtney, her cheeks turning a bit red.

“And the Amazons take the win for the second time in a row!” Chris exclaimed, “Team, I’m really, really hot, will be facing elimination for the second time in a row.”

Duncan walked back over to his team, all of them looking pissed.

“What can I say? My wings melted,” Duncan crossed his arms.

“Sure,” Noah narrowed his eyes.

This was perfect, Duncan didn’t only blow one challenge, he blew two. It would be too easy to vote him off now. Noah just needed to get Tyler 100% on his side, and Duncan would be out of here.

Everyone loaded onto the plane, the Amazon’s going back up to first class, and team Chris is really hot back to loser class. The five boys plopped down on the wooden benches and sat in silence.

“Losing, again, for the second time in a row! You all need to get your heads out of your asses!” Alejandro stood up, starting to lecture to four other teens.

“Says the one who lost,” Tyler stood up to argue with Alejandro.

“We tied,” Alejandro bickered.

“Guys, we don’t have to fight about this.” Owen pushed Alejandro and Tyler apart.

“You lost as well, you shouldn’t be talking,” Tyler pointed at Duncan, “so did you.”

“What? So this is my fault now?” Duncan got up and walked over to the three standing teens.

“Guys,” Noah gets up from where he’s sitting, his back popping under the pressure, “just drop it for now, whoever gets voted out, gets voted out.”

The four boys in front of Noah look at each other and sit back down on the wooden benches. The plane fell quiet with everyone looking angry. If the merge isn’t close, their whole team is going to fall apart. Team Amazon clearly has it together, on the other hand. Noah sneaks off to the confessional to blow off some steam.

Noah locks the door. “I can’t believe everyone was fighting over such a stupid thing. We lost, got over it, and moved on. Anyway,s Duncan is most likely going to get voted out next, hopefully I got through to Tyler.” Noah crossed his arms. “I guess Alejandro is going to have to stay around for a little longer.”

Noah stepped out of the confessional when someone grabbed the collar of his shirt.

“Voting off Duncan, really?” Noah looked a little closer at the person; it was Courtney.

“What?” Noah questioned.

“Are you intimidated by his strength? Or is it because you don’t like him? Or-” Noah cut Courtney off.

“Maybe because he lost us the tie breaker? Ever thought of that?” Noah raised an eyebrow.

“Well, if you eliminate him, you are dead to me. You here? Dead,” Courtney threatened.

“Sure,” Courtney let go of Noah’s collar.

Noah walked back to loser class and found everyone agreeing again.

“You are the reason we lost!” Alejandro shouted at Duncan.

“So what? Why don’t we get rid of the nerd or tubby over there!” Duncan called back.

“Guys! Stop fighting! We lost, get over yourselves, jeez, we are falling apart at the seams,” Noah’s hand met his forehead.

“Noah’s right, we have to keep it together,” Owen added.

“So what? So we can lose another challenge?” Duncan said aggressively.

“Maybe we wouldn’t lose if you put your big personality away,” Alejandro told Duncan.

“Guys, who cares who gets voted out? It’s just a game,” Tyler stepped in.

“Great, not like there’s money on the line,” Duncan turned to Tyler.

“Is that all you care about? The money? Not the people you meet or the places we get to go? What the hell is wrong with you?” Tyler pointed his finger at Duncan.

“Team Chris, it’s time to vote someone off.” Chris walked into loser class.

Five fuming teenagers looked at him, Tyler now having a hold of Duncan’s shirt.

Chris looked at the teens. “Do you guys need a minute?”

Tyler let go of Duncan’s shirt. “I’ll go first before the choice changes.”

Tyler walked over to the confessional to vote. One by one, everyone had their turn and voted. Noah, of course, voted for Duncan, but he doesn’t know who everyone else voted for. The teens were now sitting in the elimination area, waiting to see who was going to free-fall from the plane.

“The vote is overwhelmingly in one person's favor, and that person is…” Chris paused, “Duncan!”

“What is wrong with all of you?” Duncan stood up.

“What can I say, you are too full of yourself,” Alejandro crossed his arms.

That was ture, the only thing Alejandro was right about that is. After winning season two Duncan he has placed himself on a high pedestal, he needed to be knocked down one way or another.

“You will regret this,” Duncan shook his fists before jumping out of the plane.

A faint scream could be heard from inside the plane as Duncan fell. The screaming slowly faded out within thirty seconds.

“Congratulations, you four get to stay another day,” Chris told the boys.

The remaining four boys walked back to loser class to try and get some sleep.

“Noah, can I talk to you outside for a bit?” Alejandro asked Noah before he had a chance to sit down.

“Why not?” Noah followed Alejandro to an opening right by the confessional.

Alejandro grabbed Noah's collar. “You got lucky today, you will be the next person voted off this team.”

“What is up with everyone grabbing the collar of my shirt?” Noah thought.

“Keep telling yourself that, but I will stick around for however long it takes for you to get voted off,” Noah told Alejandro.

“Sure,” Alejandro let go of Noah’s collar and tossed him against the wall.

Noah’s back popped as it hit the wall. Pain shot up his spine again. He picked himself up off the floor. Noah put a hand on his back and walked back to loser class. They were in for a long flight, and right now, Noah just needed to rest.

“You okay, buddy?” Owen questioned.

“Yeah, my back is just bugging me from earlier, I just need to sleep on it,” Noah sat down next to Owen.

The sky fell dark after a while of flying. Everyone in loser class started to knot off after a while. Noah was the last one to fall asleep. His eyes finally closed as his eyes became heavy with asleep.

Chapter Text

Noah woke up to the plane thrashing around wildly. It was probably just Chef messing with them, but man, it felt like the plane was zigzagging through the night sky. Noah sat up, trying to balance himself, and watched as the rest of his team picked themselves up and off the loser class benches.

“We really need to win this next challenge, our sanctity depends on it!” Alejandro stood up, stretching his legs.

“I second that,” Tyler was still sitting, stretching his arms. Noah could hear the painful popping of his joints from across the plane.

The boar from the last challenge got him good. Noah was lucky to come out unscathed for the most part. When the boar bucked him off, he must have landed on his back wrong. As he was trying to stand up on the rocky flight, pain crept up his spine like it had the day before. Noah ignored the pain and hoped it would go away sooner rather than later.

The four remaining teens walked into the makeshift eating area. They were served more of Chef’s colorless, flavorless slop. The teens looked at the food and grimaced. All of them sat at the same table, awkwardly eating their food.

Tyler was the first to break the silence. “So, how did you guys sleep?”

“Not good,” Noah answered.

“Oh, come on, it's not that bad,” Owen nudged Noah.

“Says the one who was snoring all night,” Noah looked at Owen.

The plane cabin fell quiet after Noah’s comment. They went back to loser class after breakfast since the plane seemed like it wasn’t landing any time soon. An hour had passed with the plane still in the air when beeping and buzzing noises could be heard in the plane.

The intercom system cracked. “Dear possible crash victims, please remain calm and make your way to the main area of the plane. There will be snacks if you want a last meal.”

No one in loser class looked panicked but Owen, due to his fear of flying. The teenagers walked up to the main area of the plane and saw that team Amazon was already standing there.

Owen walked over to the fruit bowl and picked up a bunch of bananas. “You call these snacks? We are all going to die!”

Owen was really starting to panic; his breathing was picking up, and he was visibly shaking.

Noah walked over to Owen. “We will be fine buddy. Chris can’t legally kill us.”

“Really?” Owen questioned before wrapping his arms around Noah and crushing him into a hug.

“Ah huh,” Noah managed.

Owen releases Noah after a thirty-second rib-crushing hug. Soon after that, the plane started to fall from the sky. Noah’s stomach dropped at the sudden movement of the plane. The whole cast started to scream frantically when they realized the plane wasn’t pulling up. Now, everyone was panicking, not just Owen. The center cabin of the aircraft was manic for a minute as it free-fell from the sky, but strangely, the plane stopped right before it hit the ground, levitated for a few seconds, and finally landed.

“Now that we have safely landed, get off the aircraft, please and thank you,” Chris’ voice echoed over the loudspeaker again.

Everyone dragged themselves off the plane and into an empty field where Chris was standing alongside Chef.

“Welcome to Area 52 contestations!” Chris shouted.

“Really? Area 51 is supposed to be the cool one. What are we supposed to do here?” Heather questioned.

“Well, this is Area 52, and that is Area 51,” Chris pointed to the open field ten yards away. “Today’s challenge will be sneaking into Area 51 and finding a working Alien artifact, which will be hard due to all of the broken space crap in there. Just be careful of the highly guarded military base, one wrong move and we will be sending you home in a body bag.”

“Not too bad,” Noah thought.

“Team Chris is really hot, you will go right and team Amazon will go left, ready go!” Chris shouted at the contestants.

Both teams took off in their respective directions.

“Okay, men this challenge sounds easy enough to win, just try not to mess anything up,” Alejandro huffed.

The four teens were running until Noah looked at the land in front of them. There was about one hundred feet of freshly laid dirt and an electric fence behind the dirt, guarding the Area 51 building. Something was wrong with the field, extremely wrong.
Noah stopped running. “Guys, I don't think that field is safe to run across.

The rest of the team came to a stop, looking at Noah. They all looked at the field for a long second before looking back at Noah.

“The dirt looks like it was tampered with,” Noah concludes.

There were so many other things Noah could say about the weird-looking hundred feet of land. He could have said the dirt was clearly newer or that the electrical fence was a dead giveaway that the Area 52 center was behind it.

“How do you know?” Alejandro asked.

“Look,” Noah picked up a rock and tossed it onto a field.

The rock landed on the field, it only took two seconds for the rock to trigger an explosion, blowing the rock to rubble. It was an active landmine. Dirt and small pieces of rock went flying as the teens turned their heads towards Noah.

“How did you know that?” Tyler questioned.

“I don’t know, the dirt looked weird, and I read a lot of sci-fi,” Noah answered.

“Great, what are we going to do now? How do you cross a minefield?” Tyler crossed his arms.

“No idea,” Alejandro turned his head towards Noah, “any ideas, Noah?”

Noah felt three sets of eyes fall onto him. His eyes meet Alejandro’s cold gaze, his green eyes hitting the light perfectly. Noah felt his face get hot from embarrassment, of course, not the fact that Alejandro’s eyes were focused on him. Noah couldn’t think while looking into those olive eyes; he quickly blinked a handful of times and refocused.

“Maybe we can trigger the explosives and run over the rubble, there will be little to no chance of stepping on an explosive,” Noah spat the plan out.

Alejandro raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't sound too bad, we are going to need a lot more rocks.”

The teens looked down to find lots of rocks, to their surprise. They picked up handfuls of rocks and stuffed them in their pockets. Fistful by fistful, Noah’s pockets filled up with rocks and whatever else he could fit in his pockets. Everyone filled their pockets to the brim and then looked back at Noah.

“So, Noah, are you going to demonstrate?” Alejandro remarked.

He had a grin on his face; it seemed like Alejandro wanted Noah’s plan to blow up in his face, literally.

“How about you cross first, since you seem so eager,” Noah shot back at Alejandro.

“Well, it’s not my idea; you should be the one to test it,” Alejandro argued.

“If you want to be like that-” Noah started before Owen stepped in.

“We can all go at the same time?” Owen sounded like he was asking a question.

“Not a bad idea, Owen, I second that,” Tyler added.

“Fine, but we all have to go, no chickening out,” Noah protested, but walked towards the landmine.

The teens lined up with about five feet between each of them. Noah grabbed a fistful of rocks from his pocket.

“Ready?” Noah looked around to find everyone nodding. “Okay, now.”

Noah threw his first handful of rocks in front of him, triggering an explosion. He ran over the rubble once the air cleared and repeated. Handful after handful, he got farther across the minefield. I took him about ten handfuls of rocks to make it all the way across. Noah turned around to find everyone standing near him.

“Good, no one died,” Noah thought.

“Good plan, Noah,” Alejandro gave him one of his smirks.

“Yeah! Good job, best buddy!” Owen cheered, “Now what are thes-ow!” Owen touched the electric fence.

“How are we going to get over this?” Tyler pointed at the fence.

“There’s an opening right-” Noah tried to explain, but it was too late, Tyler was already climbing the electric fence.

Owen, Noah, and Alejandro walk through the opening in the fence and watch as Tyler elects himself.

Tyler fell to the ground. “How did you guys get over so quickly?”

Tyler picked himself up off the ground. The team started to walk around the building, the landmines and electric fence having been protecting it. They came across a door that was conveniently being held open.

“Looks like we beat the boys,” Noah could hear Heather's voice from outside the building.

“Think again, gorgeous,” Alejandro grabbed the door from Heather.

“Ughhhhh,” Heather scoffed as she turned away.

Alejandro held the door as the other members of his team walked in. The door shut as a crackling sound started to fill the large building.

“Welcome to the storage unit of Area 51. Your task now is to find a working alien artifact and bring it back to me, and try not to get caught by security. I might have set something off by hacking into these specks,” Chris told everyone.

A collective groan could be heard in the building. Both teams started to walk around the storage unit, exploring it. The Amazons split up into two smaller groups, but team Chris is really hot, and all stayed together. The storage room was giant, with walls of shelves and boxes stacked almost as tall as Noah. The place was a complete graveyard.

Noah was walking around with Owen as the other two boys on their team walked ahead of them. Noah was looking at all of the loose inventions on the floor when Courtney came into his line of sight.

Courtney stepped in front of Noah and crossed her arms. “You thought I was just joking about yesterday? I hate to break it to you, my threats are never empty! You will get what you deserve one way or another.”

Courtney continued to shout at Noah for the next five minutes as Owen stood and watched. She kept going on about how ‘he was going to get it’ and ‘you don’t know what I’m capable of’. For Noah, every time something went in one ear, and put the other.

When Courtney finally stopped to take a breath, Noah made his move.“Listen, I don’t care about your little plan to ‘make me pay’. To be honest, the only reason you have been exploding on me for the past five minutes is because no one on your team cares to listen to you. Now, will you move so I can get back to the challenge?"

Noah shoved Courtney and walked away from the stunned girl. Noah knows Courtney is a strong competitor, but acting impulsive like this is not going to work for her.

“What was that all about?” Owen finally asked.

“Courtney heard me in the confessional talking about eliminating Duncan,” Noah calmly explained.

“Oh, but all of us voted for Duncan,” Owen added.

“Exactly, but she thinks it was my idea to vote him off,” Noah added.

“Jeez,” Owen responded.

“Anyways, let’s keep looking; we can find Alejandro and Tyler later,” Noah suggested.

The two teens found more boxes to look through. They opened the boxes and started to dig through them, trying to find something that worked.

“There’s nothing in these boxes but useless space junk,” Noah tossed useless items one after the other.

“There has to be something,” Owen picked a glowing cube up from his box.

“Great, a glowing cube is good enough, let’s show it to Tyler and Alejandro,” Noah said.

Owen put both hands on the cube. “Hopefully it works.”

Noah and Owen found Alejandro and Tyler looking not too far from them. They both had their heads buried in boxes.

“I think we found something,” Noah told the other two boys.

Tyler and Alejandro popped their heads up from the boxes they had been looking through.

“Really? Let me take a look,” Alejandro placed both his hands on the cube.

Alejandro must have turned something on by touching the box because a bolt of electricity shot up in the air. The electricity shot up the roof, and two strange figures appeared soon after. They were two small green creatures with what looked like a leaf attached to their backs.

“Alien!” Tyler shouted as he put both his hands on his head.

One alien flew over to Tyler and stretched his finger out to him with a smile. Tyler smiled at the small creature and touched its finger, a bad choice. The creature proceeded to electrocute Tyler. Tyler pulled his finger away from the creature.

“What the hell?” Tyler questioned.

“That’s definitely an alien, and a working artifact,” Alejandro commented.

“We just need to catch it,” Owen said a little too loudly.

The Alien didn’t like the word capture and jumped at Owen, wrapping its little body around his face. The alien sent electrical shocks through Owen's body.

“Owen! I got you buddy!” Noah rushed over to Owen.

Noah grabbed the Alien and tried to tug it off, spoiler, it didn’t work. The alien's arms were stretched. Noah pulled and tugged at the alien as much as he could, and Owen was pushing back in hopes of helping. After three minutes of struggling, Noah pulled the alien off Owen's face and launched it at a support pole. The alien exploded on impact. Noah turned around to see that the other alien had attached itself to Tyler. Alejandro was desperately trying to pull the creature off Tyler's face. Soon, Alejandro got the creature off Tyler’s face. Noah looked for something to put the alien in; he found an empty box on the ground.

“Perfect,” Noah thought, opening the lid.

“Alejandro over here,” Noah gestured towards the box.

Alejandro tossed the alien into the box, and Noah closed the top.

“One working artifact,” Noah huffed.

“Now let’s get out of here,” Tyler said, rubbing his face.

The team started to run for the door, crossing the previously laid minefield paths. The next few minutes consisted of the four boys running through the Nevada desert until they spotted the plane. The boys spotted Chris and ran faster towards him. They stopped right by the Total Drama plane, and Noah gave Chris the box.

“One alien artifact, intact,” Noah huffed.

Chris opened the box, and an alien came flying out.

“Looks good to me, team Chris is really hot wins!” Chris announced.

Team Amazon came running up right after Team Chris is really hot. “Are you kidding me?”

Heather grabbed their alien artifact and smashed it on the ground.

“We did not spend hours walking around a stupid warehouse just to lose,” Heather continued.

“Well, sorry not sorry Amazon, you will be sleeping in loser class tonight, but if it makes you feel better, tonight is a reward challenge!” Chris told the team.

“Really you mean no one is going home?” Heather asked.

“Yes, that's what reward challenge means,” Chris rolled his eyes.

“Yes!” Team Amazon’s shouts as they celebrated.

Everyone gets back onto the plane, getting ready for takeoff, but this time Chris is really hot was sitting in first class. The first-class area was nice, clean, and most importantly, warm. Noah melted into one of the first-class seats and closed his eyes. Chris had walked the team to first class, probably there to tell them about their reward.

“Since you won this challenge, and the challenge was for a reward, you four will be getting a sci-fi movie marathon!” Chris told the boys.

“Not bad, not bad at all,” Tyler sat down in one of the plane seats, right across from Noah.

“I will get the flat screen in a little bit, along with your first movie,” Chris said, and started to walk away.

Chris left first class, walking towards loser class. Alejandro and Owen were still standing, while Noah and Tyler were sitting. Owen started to walk over to sit next to Noah, but Alejandro slipped past Owen and sat down next to Noah. Noah gave Owen a confused look as he walked to go sit next to Tyler. Chris came back pushing a cloth flat-screen.

“Um, interesting seating arrangements, but I'm going to get you guys set up with the first Star Wars movie,” Chris explained, putting a disc into the projector.

Soon, the beginning credits started to roll, and Chris slipped out of the room, turning the lights off as well. The four teens were focused on the screen for about thirty minutes before they started to get bored, well, only Alejandro. Noah could hear him whispering under his breath.

“What are you whispering about?” Noah turned his head to Alejandro, keeping a hushed tone.

“The future of our team, of course,” Alejandro’s voice dripped with fake sweetness.

“Oh, drop the mask, I know your true colors,” Noah fired back.

“Amigo, you know I only want the best for our team,” Alejandro narrowed his eyes, “wouldn’t you like to sit up here again?”

“You know what, let's take this conversation elsewhere,” Noah said, getting up from his seat.

Alejandro reluctantly followed him to an open space in the plane.

Noah crossed his arms. “What exactly do you mean by ‘the future of our team’?”

Alejandro let out a sigh. “You know, how to keep winning and staying in first class.”

Alejandro sounded a little on edge.

“Something is bugging you, what is it?” Noah pointed his finger at Alejandro.

“Fine, you got me,” Alejandro huffed, “Since you have already seen right through me, I’m trying to think which one of the girls would be best to manipulate next.”

“So you are asking for help?” Noah questioned.

Alejandro clenched his fist. “I guess so, I can’t manipulate Courtney because she has a boyfriend, Heather would be too easy, and Sierra is obsessed with Cody for some reason. The only option is Gwen and I don’t know how to get through to her.”

“You could always make something up about her,” Noah suggested.

“But what?” Alejandro asked.

“Something to do with Courtney, she’s batshit crazy and keeps telling me ‘I have something coming’ and honestly it’s started to get to me,” Noah told Alejandro.

“Jeez, what did you do? If you don’t mind me asking,” Alejandro asked.

“She thinks I’m the reason Duncan got eliminated,” Noah said flatly.

Alejandro rubbed his chin. “Maybe I can spread something about Gwen and Duncan then.”

“Like Gwen has a huge crush on Duncan and wants to steal him away from Courtney,” Noah made up.

“That’s perfect,” Alejandro smirked, “I owe you one.”

“Yeah, yeah, let's go back to first class,” Noah waved Alejandro off.

They both walked back to first class and sat back down in their seats, Noah and Alejandro sitting next to each other. The evening went on with Sci-fi after Sci-fi. Noah's eyes started to get heavy about halfway through Return of the Jedi. His head started to tilt and fell onto a shoulder that didn't push his head off.

Chapter Text

Noah started to wake up; he was still sitting upright, but his head was leaning against something, rather someone. Noah rubbed his head against the sharp shoulder and stood up straight. Noah turned his head to see whose shoulder it was; it was Alejandro’s. Alejandro was looking right at him with a smug grin on his face. 

“Good morning, mi sol,” Alejandro said, narrowing his eyes.

 Noah's face went red, “I-I didn’t mean to um- you know-that.”

Noah’s speech was choppy as his face flushed a deeper shade of red. 

“It’s alright, I mean I’m not mad about it. Anyways, you need to eat something before the plane lands.” Alejandro got up from his seat. 

Noah was left stunned and watched as Alejandro walked off. Owen seemed to notice and walked up to him.

“Are you alright, Noah?” Owen waved his hand in front of Noah’s face.

Noah blinked a few times before responding, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Noah got up from his seat and walked over to a table that had been decorated with breakfast foods. Noah made himself a plate with eggs and sat down.

“Wasn’t it weird that Ale sat next to you instead of Tyler last night? I mean weird right!” Owen told Noah.

“Mhm,” Noah responded.

Owen continued to talk about last night as Noah just nodded along. After a good fifteen minutes, Noah finished his food and got up from where he was sitting. Owen followed Noah as he sat back down in the plane seat. The plane was still in the air, but it had to be landing soon; it was almost ten in the morning. 

“Contestants, please make your way to the commons,” Chris's voice filled the first-class cabin. 

Everyone in the first-class area looked at each other and started to walk towards the door. When they got to the commons, Team Amazon was standing in the middle of the commons. 

Chris cleared his throat. “The landing gear isn’t coming down, so you guys have to jump out of the plane into the desert below.”

“Are you kidding me? Who doesn't check the landing gear before takeoff?” Courtney complained.

“Ha, that’s funny. Anyways, move!” Chris pointed towards the emergency exit door. 

One by one, each contestant jumped and landed in the desert below. The fine sand was densely packed on the ground. The teens dusted themselves off and grouped back into their teams. 

Chris was standing in front of them. “Welcome to Astrialla! The first part of your challenge today will be an emu race all the way into the Blue Mountains, hopefully no one dies of heat stroke, venomous snake bites, or scorpion stings. But anyway, release the emus!” 

When Chris was finished speaking, two interns brought at least a dozen emus to where they were standing and released them. The emus started to run around as everyone was still standing.

“What are you waiting for? An invitation? Go!” Chris yelled.

All of the teens started to run after the emus. The emus were fast and agile, but Noah was neither of those things. He quickly ran out of breath after ten minutes of chasing the large flightless birds. Noah was catching his breath when he saw Alejandro walking over to him with two emus. 

Alejandro handed one of the leads to Noah. “Consider this an offering for helping me.”

“Thanks, also, can I talk about our plan of action today?” Noah questioned, hopping onto his emu.

“Of course, amigo,” Alejandro’s emu started to trot.

“I was thinking that you could talk to Courtney and gain her trust before dropping that lie on her, so she’s more likely to believe it. I can talk to Gwen if you want more information on her before telling Courtney that lie.” Noah told Alejandro. 

“That’s a great plan, I know I was right to team up with you,” Alejandro’s words dripped with admiration. 

A small amount of blush was brushed on Noah's face. “Yeah, yeah, now go talk to Courtney.”

Alejandro’s emu began to speed up to catch up with Courtney. Noah was by himself for a good five minutes before Owen came up from behind him. 

“Hey buddy,” Owen smiled, “I saw you talking to Ale, what were you guys talking about?”

“Um, we were making a plan to get Gwen eliminated since she’s a strong competitor and to get some payback on Courtney,” Noah explained to Owen.

Noah could have lied to Owen, but that felt wrong. Owen was the only person Noah fully trusted in the game. Sure, Tyler was a good guy, but he can’t be fully trusted yet. 

“Why do you like Alejandro all of a sudden? I thought you hated him?” Owen commented.

Noah felt his face get hot. “I don’t like him, I'm just helping him.”

“Why is your face red then?” Owen pointed out.

“What? It's hot outside,” Noah brushed it off.

“Sure,” Owen said, stretching the ‘e’ sound. 

The two boys talked for about another hour before Noah's emu started to speed up as Owen’s emu slowed down. The heat, plus the extra weight of Owen, was tiring the emu out quickly. 

“I’m gonna take a rest, you go on without me,” Owen told Noah. 

“Okay, see you at Blue Mountain,” Noah said before his emu took off. 

Noah was alone in the desert for another hour before he spotted just the person he wanted to see, Gwen. Gwen was all by herself, so no one would hear their conversation. I might take a bit for Noah to get the information he wants out of Gwen; he is willing to wait. 

Noah steered his emu over to where Gwen was. “Nice seeing another person here.”

“Oh, hey Noah,” Gwen turned her head towards Noah, “how long have you been off by yourself?”

“An hour or so,” Noah answered.

“Jeez, your eyes must be tired of looking at sand,” Gwen joked.

“Yeah,” Noah let out a small laugh.

Noah and Gwen continued to talk for thirty or so minutes. They didn’t know each other very well but had a lot in common. Both teens had the same sense of humor, liked the same music, and even liked the same kinds of books. Noah felt bad for Gwen thought, she had done nothing wrong. 

As Noah and Gwen continued to talk, Noah finally worked up the courage to start digging deeper. After all, he had information to scrape up for Alejandro.

“So, how has Courtney been? She seems off,” Noah asked with fake concern.

“Yeah, she’s still upset about Duncan. I mean she doesn’t shut up about him, it’s getting on my last nerve,” Gwen confessed.

“I know, she thinks it’s my fault that he got eliminated,” Noah told Gwen. 

“Are you kidding me? I don’t know how Duncan can put up with her,” Gwen said.

“Who would you think Duncan would be the best for then?” Noah questioned.

Gwen’s face turned a little red. “I don't really know.”

“ This is perfect, considering the blush on Gwen’s face, she already has a small crush on Duncan, I just need to get the information out of her to confirm it,” Noah thought.

“Do you like Duncan?” Noah asked.

“A little bit, but you can’t tell anyone, Courtney will kill me,” Gwen said.

“Don’t worry, my mouth is shut,” Noah lied.

Noah felt bad about lying to Gwen, but she walked right into his trap. Noah changed the subject of the conversation quickly after he got what he needed. Their conversation carried on as the sun set and the moon appeared. 

“How much longer is this going to take?” Gwen asked.

“I truly don’t know,” Noah told her. 

Meanwhile, with Chris and Chef…

“How much longer do we have to wait?” Chef asked, looking at a map.

Chris grabbed the map from Chef.

“Two hours,” Chris squinted at the map, “never mind, more like two days!” 

Both men start to laugh like a bunch of banshees.

2 days later

It had been around a day and a half of riding an emu in the blazing hot sun of Astrialla, and Noah was about to lose it from heat exhaustion. He had lost Gwen a long time ago and was now not too far behind Alejandro, Courtney, Cody, and Heather. He wanted to stay just far enough away that no one would notice him. Blue Mountain was in view, and his emu was about to make the hike up the mountain. Going up the mountain was another fifteen minutes onto his time. Once Noah reached the top of the mountain, he fell off his emu. 

“Nice to see you, Noah,” Alejandro looked down at Noah. 

“Yeah, nice to see you too,” Noah dusted himself off. 

“You got anything to tell me?” Alejandro asked. 

“Later,” Noah crossed his arms. 

They watched as Gwen and Sierra made it to the top of the mountain with no sight of Tyler or Owen. 

“Now that all of team Amazon is here you can start the second challenge, Alejandro and Noah, you will have to wait for the rest of your team,” Chris walked over to the cliff of the mountain, “your second challenge will be to bungee jump off the mountain into the sheep pins below and grab one of the many sheep. Three of them have team Amazon logos, and three have team Chris is really hot logos. Grab one of your sheep, and you win. But to shear your sheep, the Amazon gets electric clippers, and team, I’m so smoked hot gets gardening shears.” 

Chris tossed a pair of grading shears over to Noah. 

“How are these going to shear a sheep?” Noah held the shears up.

“Figure it out,” Chris said flatly. 

 Noah and Alejandro walked over to one of the trees on top of the mountain to wait for Tyler and Owen to arrive.

“Now, do you have something to tell me?” Alejandro questioned.

“Yeah, turns out Gwen really does have a crush on Duncan and thinks Courtney is not good enough for him,” Noah told Alejandro. 

“Ahhh, very interesting, thank you, my dearest Noah,” Alejandro brushed Noah’s hair. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Noah turned his head away from Alejandro. 

Soon after their interaction, Tyler could be seen making the climb up the mountain. When he reached the top, his emu bucked him off. Tyler got up from the ground and walked over to the other two boys. 

“Have you seen Owen?” Noah asked.

“No, not at all,” Tyler answered. 

“Where is that butter donkey?” Alejandro said, clearly annoyed. 

Team Chris is really hot, was sitting under the same tree from earlier, waiting for Owen. It took another fifteen minutes of waiting for Owen to make it up the mountain. When he did make it to the top of the mountain, his emu was panting.

Owen got off his emu. “Hey guys.” 

“Perfect, Chris, we are ready,” Alejandro yelled at the host.

“Okay, go ahead,” Chris said, not even looking up. 

“I’ll go first,” Tyler said, already strapping the ankle strap on. 

He jumped off the mountain shortly after and retreated back up quickly, but without a sheep. Tyler was holding another animal that looked like a dingo.

“Look, this one is already sheared,” Tyler pointed at the animal. 

“No, Tyler, that’s a dingo,” Noah told Tyler. 

“Huh?” That was the last thing Tyler said before the dingo attacked him. 

Team Amazon took the ankle strap, and Heather jumped off the ledge next. She came back up with a sheep. Team Amazon sheared the sheep, no logo. 

Alejandro handed the ankle strap to Noah, “Your turn.” 

“Jeez,” Noah took the Ankle strap and secured the strap.

Noah looked back at his team before jumping off. He felt his stomach drop as the ground underneath him disappeared. Noah screamed all the way down and back up, grabbing a sheep on the way. Noah was shaking as he landed back on top of the mountain. Alejandro ran over with the shears to clip the sheep’s wool. 

“No logo!” He yelled. 

Noah stood up, still shaking, as Team Amazon bungee jumped again.

“You okay, buddy?” Owen asked.

“Yeah, I still don’t know how Chris gets away with this stuff, though,” Noah told Owen. 

“No logo!” Heather shouted, passing the ankle strap to Alejandro. 

“I’ll go next,” Alejandro said, passing the shears to Noah. 

Alejandro jumped with grace off the Mountain and quickly returned with a sheep. Noah walked over to the sheep and quickly found a logo. 

“Logo!” Noah shouted. 

“And we have a winner!” Chris walked over to Alejandro and Noah, “Team Amazon, see you in the elimination room.” 

“Are you kidding me?” Heather complained. 

“No, I’m not, and let’s all get back to the plane,” Chris said, starting to walk down the mountain. 

Everyone started to walk down the mountain and to the plane. When they reached the plane, Chris is really hot settled into first class. 

Noah sat down next to Alejandro. “So, how are you going to tell Courtney your perfectly composed lie?” 

“After takeoff, that should be just enough time for Courtney to convince everyone to vote for Gwen,” Alejandro told Noah. 

“Sounds good,” Noah leaned back in his seat.

Lift-off was later in the afternoon, and Noah felt Alejandro get up from his seat. Owen walked over to Noah.

“Where is Ale going?” Owen asked. 

“Somewhere, you really don’t know with him,” Noah replied. 

“That’s true,” Owen said. 

“Alejandro is a good guy, so it can’t be that bad,” Tyler was leaning back in his seat with an ice pack over one of his eyes. 

“That dingo got you good, didn’t it?” Noah asked. 

“Yup,” Tyler answered. 

Alejandro returned to first class after about fifteen minutes, with a smirk on his face. Alejandro sat back down next to Noah. 

“How’d it go?” Noah asked. 

“Just as planned," Alejandro told Noah. 

The first-class cabin was quiet for an hour after lift-off. Everyone was resting their eyes when angry footsteps could be heard from outside. 

“Noah!” A voice shouted. 

Noah’s eyes shot open at the loud voice that sounded angry. It was Gwen. Noah quickly stood out and walked over to Gwen. She grabbed Noah's wrist and dragged him to the commons. 

“What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you tell Alejandro of all people that I liked Duncan? Now Courtney is livid, and I’m 100% going to get voted off,” Gwen complained.

“It’s your fault for trusting me. I’m just playing the game, and you were too eager to drop your secrets onto someone you don’t know,” Noah shrugged, “I hope the fall doesn’t hurt too much.” 

Noah walked away from a shocked Gwen. 

“You will get yours!” Gwen yelled, but  Noah didn’t even turn to look at her. 

Noah walked back to first-class and sat back down in his seat. 

“What was that all about?” Tyler asked. 

“Gwen was mad at me for something small; in short, she won’t be on this plane for much longer,” Noah told Tyler. 

“Okay then,” Tyler leaned back into his seat. 

The rest of the evening was quiet for Team Chris. Chris is really hot. When Chris filling came into first class to tell them Gwen was eliminated, Noah felt a grin form on his face. 

“Great job, Noah, couldn’t have done it without you,” Alejandro praised Noah. 

“Thanks,” Noah replied, closing his eyes for the night. 

Chapter Text

Noah woke up in the first-class cabin with Alejandro sitting next to him. Alejandro was still asleep, softly breathing through his nose. Noah sat up straight and crossed his arms. He was starting to feel guilty about the whole Gwen thing. He felt bad for spilling one of Gwen's biggest secrets on live television, and the fact that Noah had worked with Alejandro of all people. Noah still didn’t trust the guy, but he was a good ally for now. Considering the sizes of both teams, the merge should be soon. 

“Don’t think so hard, steam might start to come out of your ears,” Alejandro’s voice filled Noah’s ears.

Noah let out a yelp, “I thought you were asleep.”

“I’m a light sleeper,” Alejandro told Noah.

“Sorry for waking you,” Noah apologized.

“You didn’t wake me up, I just woke up by myself,” Alejandro said.

“Oh,” Noah made a puzzled expression and leaned back into his seat. 

It was weird having Alejandro be nice to him, but Noah knows he’s just playing him. Noah had been observing Alejandro’s behavior for the whole competition; whoever got close to him would get eliminated soon after getting close. Noah didn’t want to be his next victim. 

Noah got up from his seat. He wanted to look around the plane to find a window to look outside, mainly to see what the sky looked like. He peeked out the window to find it was still dark outside. 

Noah walked back to his seat to find Alejandro still wide awake. “It’s still dark out. What time is it?” 

“None of your concern, come sit back down and go back to sleep,” Alejandro gestured. 

Noah sat back down next to Alejandro and curled up into a ball. Noah normally slept sprawled out like a starfish, but Noah would rather die than accidentally kick or hit Alejandro in his sleep. It was a touch uncomfortable, but Noah could live with that. 

Noah woke up around three hours later to Owen shaking him awake. Noah peeled his eye open to look at the blonde teenager. 

“What do you need, Owen?” Noah asked.

“The plane is going to land soon, thought I might wake you up. Owen smiled at Noah.

“Oh, thanks, buddy,” Noah smiled back.

Noah got up from his seat to stretch out his legs and arms. Sleeping in a ball has its disadvantages, one of them being stiff joints. The plane landed shortly after Noah was done waking himself up. The four boys in first class walked off the plane into the snowy flatlands of nowhere. Noah felt the chill of the climate almost instantly. He rubbed his hands on his shoulders for warmth. Soon, Chris appeared with a warm winter coat on.

“Welcome to the Ucon! The first part of today's challenge is to figure out what to do with these piles of parts!” Chris gestured at two piles of wood, cloth, and metal.

“Um, Chris, do we get any jackets?” Heather shivered.

“Nope! Now go!” Chris yelled, gesturing towards the two piles of parts.

Both teams walked over to their respective piles of parts, thinking of what they would have to build. Noah looked closely at the parts, then looked at the surroundings. They were standing on a frozen body of water. Noah looked farther in the distance to see that the ice had melted, about half a football field away. 

“Are you alright, buddy? You’re zoning out,” Owen waved his hand in front of Noah’s face. 

“Yeah, just thinking,” Noah looked up at Noah. 

Noah continued to look around. He saw more ice behind them and the Amazons fighting across from him. It had to be something that floated, considering all the water and ice. Noah looked at the pile again. 

“ Wood, cloth, metal, wood, cloth, metal, wood, cloth- wait!” Noah got it.

“I think I know what we are building,” Noah turned to his team. 

“I lighten us, Noah.” Alejandro crossed his arms. 

Noah gestured for the team to come closer, “I think we are building a boat, considering all of the water and ice, it’s impossible to swim through.”

“That…makes sense, gentlemen. Let’s start building. But first, Owen and Tyler put this sheet up.” Alejandro tosses them a cloth sheet. 

Owen and Tyler put up the cloth in front of their building space. While the sheet was being put up, Noah saw that the Amazons were still fighting. 

“Okay, men, let’s get to building,” Alejandro demanded. 

The four boys began to build the boat. None were super handy, but they managed. The boat looked good when it was complete; most importantly, it looked like it could float. Chris came marching over to the teams. Alejandro moved the cloth barrier, revealing their boat. The Amazons looked at the boat that they had made and back at their creation. Noah looked closely at their structure, and they built Gwen’s face. 

“Looks like team Chris figured out that they had built a boat, team Amazon not so much,” Chris giggled at the large goth head. 

“We were supposed to build? Cody, I'm going to kill you!” Heather shouted. 

Heather picked up a mallet and chased Cody. Sierra quickly picked up a discarded metal pole and blocked Heather's swing at Cody, hitting Courtney on the head in the process. Noah laughed as he watched the team fall apart. 

“The next part of this challenge is to push and or pull your boat into the water and hope it floats,” Chris said. “Oh, and team me you get these as a reward.”

Chris tossed a sack of rocks at their feet. 

“Rocks?” Tyler questioned.

Noah grabbed the bag and looked closer at the rocks. 

“Flints, not rocks,” Noah grabbed one of the flints. 

“Okay, men, we should all push from behind to make it easier to push across the ice,” Alejandro told the group before moving to the back of the boat. 

The other three followed him. They began to push the boat across the ice-covered body of water. It took them about five minutes to push the boat across the ice into the water. The Amazons were still about twenty yards back. 

“In the boat, everyone,” Alejandro hopped over the side.

The rest followed him onto the boat. Alejandro grabbed hold of the steering system and started to weave around chunks of ice. They made it to the first checkpoint with the Amazons trailing behind them. They stopped the boat and got off the meet up with Chris. A canon was lowered onto their boat. 

Chris handed Tyler a plate with weirdly shaped spears on it. 

“What are those?” Noah pointed at whatever was on the plate. 

“Chef's Swedish meatballs and also your ammo. Your final challenge is to get the red flag at the other end of the icy water. But you better hurry up, the girls are right behind you,” Chris pointed out. 

The boys turned around to see the Amazons riding inside of Gwen’s head. The four hopped back into their boat quickly and started to ride off. The Amazons got their canon and meatballs quickly. They started to chase after the boat of boys. 

“Wait, they don’t have anything to light to canon with, we should be fine,” Owen told the boys.

Just as Owen said that a meatball came hurdling towards them. Sierra had pulled a piece of wood from the boat and used that as a launcher. The meatball missed the boat by a hair.

“Fire back, men!” Alejandro ordered, still steering.

Tyler loaded a meatball into the cannon, and Noah lit the fuse with the flint. The meatball launched into the air, hitting the side of the goth's head. 

“Hit!” Owen shouted. 

The boys celebrated, but it didn’t last long; another meatball came towards them, this time hitting the boat. 

“We are hit!” Owen panicked. 

“Calm down, Owen,” Noah told him, “load the cannon.”

Tyler put another meatball in the cannon. Noah lit the fuse once more, another hit. 

“How is that goth head still floating?” Alejandro complained. 

The Amazons launch their final meatball, another hit. Surprisingly, their boat was still floating. 

“We need to aim for the center of the boat,” Noah told the boys. 

“Okay,” Tyler aimed the cannon and lit the fuse.

“Wait-”  Noah was cut off by the sound of the sail falling into the icy water.

“Tyler! That was our last meatball!” Alejandro shouted.

“See ya later, boys,” Heather mocked them. 

“Hope you have fun in loser class,” Courtney added, looking right at Noah. 

“We can’t let them win!” Owen hopped onto the cannon. “Light the cannon!”

“Owen, are you sure?” Noah asked, holding the flints.

“Yes, buddy, light the fuse!” Owen told Noah. 

Noah lit the fuse, and Owen launched into the air, slamming into the goth's head. The Amazon's make-shift boat smashed into pieces. 

“Ohhhhh, look at that! Owen snags the win for team Chris is really hot! Amazon, see you in the elimination room!” Chris explained. 

“What? That’s not fair!” Heather shouted, shivering in the icy water. 

“That’s not my problem,” Chris told Heather. 

“Hey Chris, how are we supposed to get off our boat? We don't have a sail,” Alejandro asked. 

“Figure it out, I will be waiting on the plane,” Chris walked away from the teens. 

The three boys remaining on the boat look at each other. 

“I guess we have to swim,” Alejandro said before jumping in the water. 

Noah and Tyler looked at each other before diving in. The water was so cold it felt like thousands of little needles were poking at him. Noah's arms hurt as he swam to the shore. He flopped onto the snow-covered ground. Alejandro appeared above him. 

“Need a hand?” Alejandro reached his hand out to Noah. 

Noah grabbed it. Alejandro looked perfectly fine even though he was sopping wet. Noah grabbed Alejandro's hand, letting himself be pulled up. Alejandro's hand was warm, or Noah was just extremely cold. 

“You look freezing, here.” Alejandro took his shirt off and wrapped it around Noah’s shoulders 

“Won’t you get cold?” Noah shivered.

“I will be fine, amigo," Alejandro's voice was smooth. 

Noah looked over at the Amazons. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Heather had an angry expression on her face. It was probably from losing the challenge, but Noah had a feeling it was because of something else. 

The plane was about fifty feet away from where they were standing. Noah walked slowly next to Alejandro, grabbing onto the shirt draped over his shoulders. The shirt didn’t do much to protect Noah from the cold, but he felt warm inside. When they reached the plane, first class had heated towels waiting for them. 

“Here you can have your shirt back,” Noah tried to give Alejandro his shirt back. 

Alejandro stopped him. “No, you keep it.”

Alejandro then grabbed one of the heated towels and wrapped it around himself. Owen walked over to the dazed Noah with two towels. 

“Noah, you okay? You practically have hearts floating above your head,” Owen told Noah, handing him a towel. 

“No, I don’t! I’m just zoning out,” Noah told Owen. 

“Sure,” Owen narrowed his eyes, “also tonight is a reward challenge, no one is getting eliminated.”

“Where did you hear that?” Noah asked.

“Chris told team Amazon whenever they got on the plane,” Owen answered. 

“Do you know what the reward is?” Noah questioned.

“Nope,” Owen answered.

Noah and Owen just stood there for the next five minutes waiting for Chris. 

Chris walked into first class, “Today was actually a reward challenge rather than an elimination challenge. Tonight, you four will be enjoying Swedish massages!”

The boys cheered, all desperately needing a good massage. All of their muscles were tight from the fast-moving pace of the program. 

Chris handed each boy a towel. “Go enjoy, my dudes.” 

The team was pushed into a separate room with four massage tables waiting for them. Noah lay down on the table next to Owen and Alejandro. Once all of them were settled, four men walked into the room, most likely their masseurs. One of them stood over Noah and started to massage his legs. The pressure felt nice on his legs. Noah turned his head to Owen. 

“How does it feel?” Noah asked.

“Soooooo nice,” Owen stretched the ‘o’ sound. 

“I know, just feeling the stress melt off your body,” Noah added. 

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Owen smiled.

Owen and Noah continued to make small talk, but Owen quickly fell asleep. Noah figured that out when he started to hear soft snoring coming from the boy. Noah’s eyes started to get heavy as the masseur’s hands moved to his back. Noah had been having trouble with his back since Greece, but he felt all the pressure and pain melt away. Noah felt his eyes start to close, and he didn’t fight them. He slept on the table for the rest of the massage, and the sleep was well-earned. Between all of the thinking, building, and swimming he had done today, his body was tired. After about an hour of sleep, he felt a hand on his back nudge him. 

“Your massage is finished, sir,” it was the masseur.

“Thank you,” Noah got up, making sure his towel didn’t fall. 

He changed back into his clothes and thanked the masseur again before leaving the room. A sudden thought popped into his head, and he walked to the confessional. He opened and closed the door, checking for anyone.

Noah cleared his throat, “I think Alejandro had a few reasons why he gave me his shirt; number one to make Heather jealous, I mean, did you see the look on her face. Number two, Alejandro, is still trying to get on my good side by charming me. But aside from that, Alejandro is a good person to have close by.” 

Noah opened the confessional door, looking for anyone. He stepped out of the confessional and quickly walked to first class. He sat down in one of the seats, trying to get comfortable. Everyone looked tired and more relaxed after their massages. Tyler was the first one to fall asleep, and Owen wasn't far behind. Noah looked over at the wide-awake Alejandro.

“How are you still awake? I’m fighting to keep my eyes open,” Noah asked. 

“I don’t know, but you should get some sleep,” Alejandro told Noah. 

“So should you,” that was the last thing Noah said before he drifted off. 

Chapter Text

Noah was fast asleep in first class with his team, but the seat he had been sleeping in went cold all of a sudden. Also, his body was more stretched out than before. Noah didn’t mind the change, although it was weird. But the strangest part about the situation was the feeling of the floor giving out from under him, like he was falling. The feeling of being weightless was cut short by Owen shouting.

“Guys, wake up!” Owen’s voice filled the open space.

Noah opened his eyes to see nothing but blue skies. A collection of loud yelling could be heard from the contestants.

“Hey guys, you might want to get into those pattle boats or else the falling is going to be a bit more painful,” Chris shouted at them from the open cargo hold.

Conveniently, two swan-shaped pattle boats were falling right alongside the group. Each of the teens grabbed onto a pattle boat. The boats fell into the water. Noah looked around the swan to see who ended up in his boat. He saw Sierra, Owen, and Courtney, and Owen seemed to be distracted by something.

“What are you looking at, Owen?” Noah asked.

“W-w-water,” Owen pointed at something in the distance.

Noah squinted his eyes to look at what Owen was pointing at. Noah’s eyes widened as he realized what it was.

“Waterfall!” Noah yelped.

“Quick pattle!” Alejandro yelled from the other boat.

Sierra and Courtney started to paddle the boat faster. But Courtney quickly folded her hands.

“If we live, I promise to never wish on someone else's downfall, ever again,” Courtney shot a glare back at Noah.

“Gee, I’m touched,” Noah said in a monotone voice.

“If we live, I promise to be a better person,” Heather's voice filled the open air.

“Yeah, that’s likely,” Noah thought.

“If we live, I will let Sierra kiss me,” everyone looked towards Cody, “what? Like we are going to live?”

Noah turned his head back towards Sierra, who had a smile creeping up on her face.

“I. Want. My. Kiss!” Sierra shouted, shooting her arms up in the air.

Sierra got up from where she had been patting and grabbed a rope. She tied the rope around Owen and tossed him like he was nothing onto the other boat. Then she put the rest of the rope in her mouth and started to pattle. The two paddleboats were moving away from the waterfall in no time with the speed Sierra paddled at. The boats crashed onto land, scattering the contestants on land. Noah landed face-first in the sand but quickly got up.

“Cody, I will restore your breath now.” Cody didn’t have time to respond before Sierra interlocked her lips with Cody’s.

Noah looked away in discuss and walked over to Owen. Owen was frantically trying to untie the rope around him.

“Need help?” Noah pointed at the rope.

“Yeah,” Owen nodded.

Noah untied the knot in less than a minute. After the knot was untied, Noah could hear Chris’s voice

“How were the falls, kids!” Chris asked.

“They almost killed us!” Heather remarked.

“The falls are the crown jewel of Canada, alongside the casino, which will be the next place we will be going!” Chris told the cast.

“Cool!” Owen celebrated.

“Now follow me,” Chris started to walk.

All of the contestants followed him, trusting that he knew where he was going. I took about ten minutes of walking through the woods and five minutes walking on the sidewalk to make it to the casinos, but the floor they were on didn’t look like the casino.

“Well, since you are all underage, we had to move this part of the challenge to the less exciting theater hall,” Chris explained. “Also, as of right now, there are no more teams.”

Courtney and Heather began to celebrate, knowing they didn’t have to work with each other anymore. Alejandro turned around to look at Noah and the rest of his team.

“It has been an honor to work with you, men,” Alejandro stretched his hand out for a handshake.

Noah accepted the offer and shook his hand, along with the rest of their team. Noah enjoyed his time working with his team, and they only managed to have one loss. A loud screeching sound could be heard from the stage, and everyone looked up.

“Since we are in the honeymoon capital of the world, I thought it would be appropriate to give you guys arranged marriages. Each girl will pull the lever on the slot machine to pick a husband,” Chris explained.

Noah counted up the girls and then the boys; it was uneven.

“But there are only three girls and five boys?” Noah questioned.

“Well, Noah, you will be joining the girls,” Chris grinned at him.

“What? Why me?” Noah complained.

“Because you were the first one to point it out, now get up there with the girls,” Chris pointed to where the girls were standing.

Noah rolled his eyes but listened. He stood between Sierra and Courtney. Chef was standing on top of the machine, ready to pack the boys into it. As he shoveled the teens into the machine, he made a motion with his hands to lower something into the machine. A cage appeared above the slot machine; the cage had a bear in it.

“What is the bear for?” Heather crossed her arms.

“For a little added fun for me,” Chris said.

“I’m happy I’m not in the machine now that you put a bear in there,” Noah commented.

“Well, I hope you get the bear,” Courtney turned her nose up.

Noah ignored Courtney’s last comment. The bear was stuffed into the machine alongside the boys, and then the top was closed.

Sierra was first in line and was practically hyperventilating as she stepped up to the slot machine. She pulled the handle and watched intently as the slots moved. After about ten seconds, the slots landed on Alejandro. Sierra looked shocked that it wasn’t her beloved Cody. As Alejandro slid down the quarter shaft, she slammed the little door shut on his arm. Alejandro made a blood-curdling shriek as the door closed around his arm.

“Sierra, looks like your partner is-” Sierra put her hands over Chris’s mouth.

“No, this isn’t happening! I need Cody!” Sierra complained.

That’s when Heather stepped forward, “I should take him, she won’t stop otherwise.”

Heather opened the means to help Alejandro out.

“Why does Heather get him?” Courtney argues.

“I don’t know and I don’t care, Noah, it’s your turn,” Chris answered Courtney.

Noah stepped up to the mechanic, praying that he would get Owen. He pulled the lever, and the slots landed on Owen's face. Noah celebrates as he helps Owen out of the machine.

“Oh, hi Noah! Good pull!” Owen said.

“Thanks,” Noah responded, walking to the other side of the stage.

Courtney was up next. She went up to pull the lever, and the slots landed on the bear. Noah couldn’t help but giggle as he watched Courtney run away from the bear. Eventually, Courtney got away from the bear, and she pulled the slot lever one more time. This time, Courtney landed on Tyler, which means Cody was stuck with Sierra. Courtney seemed to be fine with Tyler, but Cody was hiding in the slot machine from Sierra.

“Now that everyone is matched up, let’s move on to the next part of the challenge," Chris says.

Chris starts to walk to another room, and the duos follow. Owen and Noah walk close next to each other, hoping the next challenge isn’t too bad. Chris opens the door to the next room and steps onto a raised platform.

“A good marriage is dictated by trust, and who can argue louder so for this challenge, each groom will be given a megaphone and will have to guide their blindfolded bride to their dress. Good luck!” Chris explained.

“This is so immaculate,” Noah pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It's not that bad, Noah,” Owen patted him on the back.

“Well, you aren’t the one who has to wear a wedding dress on live television! Why couldn’t I keep my big mouth shut for once?” Noah looked up at Owen.

Owen patted him on the back again and walked away to get his megaphone. The four boys were now standing on raised platforms with megaphones, and Noah was left with the girls.

“Here are your blind folds, ladies,” Chris smiled.

Noah rolled his eyes and placed the blindfold over his eyes.

“Okay, go!” Chris shouted.

“Owen, talk to me,” Noah told Owen.

“Uhhhh, walk three steps to the right and then five to the right,” Owen responded through the megaphone.

Noah followed Owen’s direction and surprisingly didn’t run into anything. Owen still doesn't know his rights from his lefts.

“What now?” Noah asked.

“Um, take six steps to the right, no wait, the left,” Owen corrected.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, oh wait-”

Owen didn’t finish his sentence as he watched Noah trip into muddy water. Noah almost fell face-first into the muddy water, but his arms caught him.

“Sorry, Noah,” Owen apologized.

“It’s fine,” Noah flicked the muddy water off of him, “where to next?”

“Five steps left and two right,” Owen said.

Noah followed the instructions and ran into a mannequin.

Noah pulled his blindfold off. “Good job, Owen.”

“You too, buddy,” Owen beamed.

Heather had already completed the challenge; Noah and Owen were second. Noah looked at the dress on the mannequin. It was a simple silk ankle-length dress with a bow in the back.

“Not too bad,” Noah thought.

“Hey, Noah,” Chris tossed Noah a towel, “for the mud.”

Noah caught the towel, “Thanks, I guess.”

Noah used to towel to clean the now mostly dried mud off his arms. As the challenge carried on, he watched Courtney trip and fall into almost every obstacle due to Tyler’s bad directions. It was amusing to watch, and he had to stop himself from giggling a few times. Courtney eventually made it to her dress, but Sierra had barely started.

“Time to move on to the next challenge, too bad, Sierra, but-” Chris didn’t even finish his sentence before Sierra took off running towards her dress.

Sierra ran through all of the obstacles like they were nothing and grabbed her dress, “Cod,y I got the dress.

Cody let out the loudest, most disappointed sigh ever.

“Now, before we start the last challenge, brides, change into your dresses,” Chris told them.

“Time for public humiliation,” Noah thought, taking in a sharp breath.

Noah walked over to one of the provided changing areas and slipped into the silk dress. It fit him surprisingly well, the silk sliding over his skin perfectly. Noah couldn’t get the bow himself, though. He walked out of the dressing room and walked over to Owen.

“Do you know how to tie a bow?” Noah asked.

“No, but I can try,” Owen responded.

Owen grabbed the ribbons and tried to tie a believable bow. After five minutes of Owen trying, Alejandro noticed and walked over.

“May I be of assistance, amigos?” Alejandro asked.

“Yes, please,” Owen handed him both of the ribbons.

Alejandro took hold of the ribbons and tied a perfect bow.

“Is there anything he can’t do?” Noah thought.

“You look good in a wedding dress,” Alejandro told Noah, tightening the bow.

Noah's ears turned red. “Shut up.”

“I’m not lying, you look good,” Alejandro flashed a smile.

“Whatever,” Noah felt his ears flush ever redder.

“Alejandro! I need help with my zipper!” Heather shouted, ruining the moment.

“Well, my wife requires help. See you later,” Alejandro walked off to help Heather.

“Your ears are red,” Owen pointed out.

“No, they're not,” Noah covered his ears.

“Sure,” Owen rolled his eyes.

Another five minutes passed before Chris started to talk again.

“Let’s get going, bridal party. We have another challenge to complete,” Chris told everyone.

The teens began to follow Chris out of the casino. They walked outside back to the falls. A path led to a platform in the middle of the falls.

“Your next challenge consists of walking over the falls on a tightrope, and you will have to pass customs at the end to win. On top of that, grooms will have to carry their brides.” Chris explains, “Since Alejandro and Heather won the last challenge, they get a head start.”

Alejandro scooped Heather up, “Let us get started.”

“O-oh, of course,” Heather stumbled over her words.

Noah felt something tighten in his chest, something like anger or jealousy. He pushed the feeling aside and focused back on the challenge. Sierra and Cody went next, and then Courtney and Tyler, leaving Noah and Owen to go last. Owen held Noah tightly in his arms as he started to walk across the rope. The rope was around two football fields long. After a while of Owen shuffling on the rope, they watch Alejandro surprisingly trip over his own feet and fall into the water below, dragging Heather with him.

“That sure is a long way down,” Owen commented.

“Just don’t look down,” Noah told Owen.

They were at the halfway point when they saw Sierra and Cody reach customs. They quickly get turned around and run into Courtney and Tyler.

“Wait, hold on, Owen,” Noah guest tire Owen to stop.

Owen stopped walking. “Why?”

“Out of the way!” Courtney yelled.

“Oh, that’s why,” Owen added.

“Yeah, I don't want to get caught up in that,” Noah responded.

“No, you move it!” Sierra shouted back.

“Why are you going backwards anyway? The challenge is that way!” Courtney argued.

”Sierra, calm down, it's not a big deal,” Cody told Sierra.

“Stay out of this, Cody!” Courtney yelled.

“That’s it!” Sierra grabbed a handful of Courtney’s hair.

“Ow!” Courtney yelped.

“Courtney, calm down,” Tyler tried to tell her.

“Shut up, Tyler, and keep walking!” Courtney demanded.

“I can’t,” Tyler told her simply.

“Go!” Courtney jerked her body forward, causing all four of them to fall.

Noah and Owen watched as it all unfolded.

Noah looked at Owen, “Well, that was easy. Let’s go pass customs.”

Owen started to walk all the way to customs. Chef was waiting in the customs booth.

“Answer these questions to pass customs,” Chef told them, “What is the capital of Canada?”

“Ottawa,” Noah answered.

“What leaf is on the Canadian flag?” Chef asked again.

“The maple leaf,” this time Owen answered.

“Lastly, what is the national animal of Canada?” Chef asked one last time.

“Beavers,” they both answered at the same time

“Congratulations, you passed customs,” Chef told them.

Owen got off the rope and placed Noah back on the ground. Noah’s legs were stiff from Owen carrying him across the rope. He began to stretch his legs.

“Congratulations, you two have gained immunity and will be sharing first class tonight!” Chris told the two.

“Where is everyone else?" Noah asked.

Chris smiled. “Look below you.”

Noah and Owen looked off the edge of the platform; the other contestants were swimming away from what looked like sharks.

“I forgot to tell them about the sharks, oops!” Chris laughed, “Anyways, let's get you two back on the plane, the others will join us later.”

The two boys shrugged their shoulders and walked back to the plane with Chris and Chef. Owen sat down in one of the seats.

“This is going to be so nice!” Owen explained.

“Yeah, but I need to get out of this thing. Can you come over here and untie the bow?” Noah asked.

“Of course,” Owen walked over the Noah.

Owen pulled the ribbons and untied the bow.

“Thanks, I’m going to go change,” Noah said, grabbing his clothes.

Noah rushed to the confessional to change his clothes. He slipped out of the silk gown and back into his usual outfit. He opened the confessional door, and a pair of hands grabbed him. It was a panicked-looking Cody.

“You need to help me vote off Sierra! She is driving me crazy!” Cody shook Noah.

“Okay, okay, calm down, and let go of me,” Noah told Cody.

“Please, Noah, help me. Get Owen and Alejandro to vote for her, and I can get Heather or Tyler!” Cody explained.

“I get Owen, but why Alejandro?” Naoh asked.

“You two seem to be close,” Cody answered.

“Fine, and don’t worry about Heather, I can convince Alejandro to get Heather,” Noah crossed his arms, “don’t think this makes us close.”

“Okay, thank you so much,” Cody hugged Noah.

“Great, now go,” Noah told the brown-haired boy.

Noah walked back to first class to relay the information to Owen. Owen was sitting down in one of the seats when he entered the room.

“I have some new information on who we are voting for tonight,” Noah told Owen

“Oh, who?” Owen asked.

“Seirra,” Noah said, “ pay wants to vote her off, and in the long run, voting her off now would be beneficial. If she gets booted, Cody will have no allies going forward, leaving him as an easy boot.”

“That makes sense, who else is going to vote for her though?” Owen questioned.

“Cody wants me to get Alejandro,” Noah said, crossing his arms.

“That will be easy since you two are buddy-buddy,” Owen replied.

Noah rolled his eyes, “Sure, I’m going to go talk to him now.”

“Okay, have fun,” Owen waved him off.

Noah crossed his arms and started to walk to loser class. He poked his head through the door frame and saw Alejandro sitting with his arms crossed. Noah gestured towards him, and Alejandro seemed to notice. He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to Noah. Noah started towards the commons to talk, and Alejandro followed. When they reached the commons, Noah started to speak.

“Cody wants to vote off Sierra tonight,” Noah said, bluntly, “I thought about it, and it might be a good move. Once Sierra is gone, Cody will have no allies and will be easy to vote off.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Alejandro brushed his hand over his chin, “but we need a fifth, assuming Owen is voting with you.”

“That’s where you come into play,” Noah took a deep breath, “I noticed Heather has grown to like you, ask her to vote for Sierra.”

Alejandro narrowed his eyes, “Nice observation skills, Noah. I will do that for you.”

“Thank you,” Noah flashed a smile at him.

“Anytim,e amigo,” Alejandro smiled.

Noah felt butterflies well up in his stomach as Alejandro smiled.

“I should be heading back now. Goodbye for now,” Alejandro waved, walking away.

Noah watched as Alejandro walked away, and soon he went back to first class with Owen. Chris didn’t call them to the elimination room until the sun was setting. They all gathered in the elimination room.

“You guys know the drill,stamp the passport of the person you want gone,” Chris waved the teens off.

Noah was the person to vote and used the stamp to put a huge red ‘X’ on Sierra's passport. He walked back to the elimination room and saw Alejandro sitting down. Alejandro nodded his head. Once everyone was back sitting down in the elimination room, Chris pulled out the passports.

“Well, tonight we have a clear loser, and that loser is…” Chris dragged his words, “Sierra!”

“What? But why?” The teen girl stood up from where she was sitting.

“I don’t know, but the drop of shame awaits!” Chris tossed her a parachute.

“Goodbye, total drama, I will miss you, but I will miss Cody the most,” Sierra started to tear up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chris pushed Sierra towards the exit door.

Sierra fell out of the open door, yelling, “I love you, Cody!”

“Now that that’s over, you seven should go get some rest,” Chris told the teens.

Everyone got up to leave and got back to their assigned classes. Noah looked over at Cody, and he mouthed a ‘thank you’. Noah smiled at him before slipping back to first class. He sat down in one of the seats and leaned back.

“I’m going to get some shut-eye, you should too,” Noah told Owen.

“Right behind you,” Owen told him.

Noah closed his eyes, thinking about what he had done today. He felt accomplished; he had gotten rid of one of the most powerful players in the game. Everything was falling right into his hands.

Chapter Text

Noah was fast asleep, leaning back in his seat, when the sun from the airplane window woke him up. Owen was already pacing back and forth in the cabin. 

“What are you doing up so early?” Noah asked the blonde.

”I don’t know, I have had my mind on a few things,” Owen answered. 

“Like what?” Noah raised one of his eyebrows. 

“I will tell you later,” Owen responded. 

Noah narrowed his eyes but quickly shook it off. What could Owen possibly be thinking about at seven-ish in the morning? Noah just brushed it off as Owen thinking of random, made-up situations. Owen’s brain liked to do that, mostly with something bad happening to himself or his friends.

The morning moved slowly since both of them woke up at around seven, and they normally didn’t leave until ten. Owen and Noah had spotted a conversation and wondered where they were landing next. 

Chris’ voice came over the intercom, “Good morning, contestants, start to make your way to the commons and prepare for landing.”

“Great, let’s see what we have to do today,” Noah crossed his arms.

“Hey, I probably won’t be that bad?” Owen told Noah.

“Yeah, right,” Noah started to walk towards the commons.

Owen followed Noah to the commons to find the other teens. Noah looked around at who was left: Heather, Courtney, Tyler, Cody, Alejandro, Owen, and himself. Noah wasn’t super concerned about anyone right now, but it would be nice to have another person he could count on. Noah has Owen, and Alejandro was on and off; he needs to watch everyone closely during this challenge. The plane landed and everyone got off, surprisingly normally today. Noah looked around at the scenery to see greenery and a big wall.

“Welcome to China, contestants! Home of many inventions such as gunpowder, fireworks, and paper. Also well known for the Great Wall of China, which has been standing for over 2,000 years! In today's challenge, you will be traveling via the Great Wall. There is a selection of vehicles up this ramp, and you will be using the vehicles to get to our mystery destination!” Chris told the teens.

“Told you it wouldn’t be that bad, Noah,” Owen nudged Noah.

“I guess you were right,” Noah shrugged his shoulders. 

“Okay, contestants, get ready, set, and-” Chris’ phone started to ring, “One sec, hey, I’m trying to host a show right now. Yeah, I know…”

Chris started to walk away from the teens, getting deeper into a conversation on his phone. 

“So, do we go?” Heather asked Chris.

“Huh? Speak up, the WiFi out here sucks,” Chris gave an unclear answer. 

“Is that a yes?” Alejandro asked.

“No, it’s fine, everything is fine, just leave me alone,” Chris yelled into the phone.

The seven looked at each other in confusion, wondering when to go.

“How about now?” Courtney hesitates after two minutes of waiting.

“You’re pulling my ear, but whatever,” Chris clearly speaks into his phone.

That was all the teens needed to get the challenge started. The contestants started to run up the incline of the Great Wall.

Chris flipped his phone shut, “Who told you to go? Get back here!” 

None of the contestants could hear Chris shouting at the bottom of the wall. Heather pulled ahead of everyone else and made it to the top first. She snagged the bike. Alejandro and Tyler made it next: Alejandro taking the skateboard and Tyler taking the tricycle. Owen and Noah made it up third and looked at the options. 

Owen pointed at the rickshaw. “How about this, I can pull and you can just ride along.”

“Are you sure, Owen?” Noah questioned.

“Of course! Anything to help my best buddy.” Owen said, getting behind the pulling bar.

Noah sat down on the rickshaw, and Owen began to pull. He held onto the sides of the vehicle since it wasn’t the smoothest ride. The wall was over 2,000 years old, which gave it time to form potholes and bumps. After about five minutes of Owen pulling the rickshaw did he started to talk.

“I was thinking about something this morning, Noah,” Owen broke the silence.

“About what?” Noah asked.

He already knew the answer to the question, thought. Owen was going to say something about a fantasy he had in which he was either falling out of the sky, in a plane crash, or falling out of a plane crash.

“It’s about you and Alejandro,” Owen told the brown-haired boy.

Noah’s eyes went wide. “That’s not a usual Owen question.” 

“I mean you to seem really close all of a sudden,” Owen added.

“If you are asking if we are friends, we are far from it,” Noah crossed his arms. 

“No, not like that, but a bit more than friends,” Owen replied.

Noah's face went red. “Is Owen implying that I like Alejandro? As if he is most likely only being nice to me to get farther in the game. I’m doing the same thing with his manipulation skills.”

Noah couldn’t even fathom how Owen could think that. Are they in an alliance? Yes, do they like each other? No. 

“No, I don’t Like Alejandro!” Noah raised his voice.

Owen took a deep breath, “How about the time in Greece when he helped you up after you fought the boar? Or when we were in Area 51, he trusted you enough to form an alliance with you. And don’t forget the time you had your head on his shoulder all night, and Alejandro didn’t push you off. And the time he caught you an emu, with you even asking. Or even when he gave you his shirt in the middle of Sweden after diving into ice-cold water! And most recently tied that bow and called you pretty!”

“Number one, He didn’t help me up in Greece; I helped myself up. Number two, we made that alliance because I caught onto him. Number three, he did not call me pretty!” Noah argued.

“You get my point, thought. Ale likes you,” Owen tells him.

Noah felt his face turn a deeper shade of red, “Yeah, right! That’s called being nice!”

“Ale has never done anything like this for anyone else,” Owen told Noah. 

Noah was quiet for a long while after Owen said that. Noah started to think about everything Alejandro had done for him. He felt an overwhelming feeling in his chest. His heart started beating fast, accompanied by a rising sensation in his chest. Noah didn’t want to put his finger on the feeling because he knew that Alejandro could never feel the same.

“Come on, Noah, I know what you are thinking. You can’t push these feelings down; it's going to hurt you,” Owen told him, “just tell me, I’m not going to tell anyone else.”

“No, I don’t like him, Owen, and stop trying to pry information out of me,” Noah crosses his arms.

“Oh, come on, Noah, you are my best friend. I know I might not be the sharpest, but it’s so painfully obvious it’s starting to hurt me,” Owen responded. 

Noah thinks for a while about Alejnadro and his actions. Noah knows deep down in his heart that he is being manipulated by Alejandro. But he wants to believe just this once that someone likes him back. Alejandro is so unpredictable to the point that Noah doesn’t really know his feelings about the guy; he likes him for a fact, though. Noah likes Alejnadro so much it hurts; it hurts to see him with anyone else. Especially Heather.

“Fine,” Noah sighed, “I have a small thing for Alejandro, but it’s never going to happen. Alejandro clearly likes Heather. I mean, they are destined to be together. Alejandro is just using me for my strategy.”

“You don’t know that for sure, though,” Owen told Noah.

“I’m pretty sure, Owen,” Noah ended the conversation, “you will realize that sooner or later.” 

Owen and Noah continued up the Great Wall to find the finish line. It didn’t take long for them to find the finish line since a large checkered banner marked the finish. Noah and Owen were the first two to cross.

“Congratulations, one being the first and second contestants to cross, you will be competing in the next bit of the challenge. Now we have to wait for everyone else,” Chris tells them.  

“All right!” Owen cheers, holding his hand out for a high five.

Noah clicks his hand against Owen’s. Heather showed up not long after.

“How did you two beat me?” Heather questioned, her voice rising slightly. 

“I don’t know, blame your bad biking skills,” Noah tells her.

“Ugh,” Heather scowls.

 The three stand in silence as the others arrive. Alejandro being fourth, Tyler being fifth, Courtney being sixth, and Cody being last.

“Great, looks like you are all ready for our next challenge,” Chris tells the teens, “follow me.” 

Chris started to walk away from the cast, and the seven teens followed him. They walk along the Great Wall for another thirty minutes before reaching their destination. The location was a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. There was no one at the restaurant, so Noah guessed that Chris rented it for an hour or two. They stepped into the restaurant, slipping off their shoes and walking to the dining area.

Chris stood in front of the teens. “Welcome to the most authentic Chinese restaurant that we could rent for cheap. Your next challenge will consist of you seven sampling a handful of traditional Chinese dishes. The last person to finish each dish has to go sit on the loser's bench.” 

“Pretty straightforward,” Noah thought.

Noah wasn’t a picky eater by any means, minus his life-threatening allergy to peanuts. Hopefully, Chris still has that paperwork. 

The contestant sat down at the table, ready for their first dish to be served. Chef walked out from the back of the restaurant with a silver tray. 

“Your first dish is deep-fried mealworms,” Chris tells the teens as Chef places bowls in front of them. 

Noah picks up his chopsticks and picks up a few mealworms. He put the mealworms in his mouth and hesitantly started to chew them. They turned out not to be so bad; they really didn’t taste like anything. Noah finished his bowl quickly.

“Done,” Noah opened his mouth to show Chris.

Noah looked over at Owen, who had also finished.

“Not too bad,” Owen told him.

“Yeah, this might not be too hard,” Noah shrugged his shoulders. 

Slowly, everyone started to finish their mealworms until only Alejandro was left. 

“Alejandro, you are out of here,” Chris pointed to the loser's bench. 

“Whatever,” Alejandro stood up and crossing his arms. 

“Pretty boy can’t eat a few mealworms,” Heather mocked.

“Shut up,” Alejandro scowled.

“Next dish,” Chris called out to Chef. 

Chef passed out more bowls of food this time with some kind of noodle and meat on top.

“What’s the meat?” Cody asked.

“Happy you asked, it’s donkey,” Chris tells Cody.

“DONKEY!,” Cosy shouts in horror, “I can’t eat Ace!” 

Cody was referring to the donkey that he rode for the Great Wall challenge. 

“Your loss, kid,” Chris shrugged. 

Noah again picked up his chopsticks and began to eat his food. The donkey tasted like beef, and the texture was kinda dense, but it tasted good. Noah finished his food.

“Finished,” Noah opened his mouth again.

Noah looked over at Owen again. “Not awful.”

“Yeah, this one was good,” Owen smiled. 

“Add it to your list of favorite foods,” Noah replied.

Cody never ended up touching his food and was sent to the loser's bench. Soon, the next dish came out. It was another noodle dish. Noah smelled the dish and smelled something he couldn’t put his finger on. Then it hit him, a familiar smell of peanuts. 

“Chris, are there peanuts in this?” Noah asked.

“Why yes, Noah, they are in the sauce,” Chris tells him.

“Great,” Noah crossed his arms, “I thought you got my allergy information in the first season of this stupid show.”

“What do you mean?” Chris questioned. 

“I’m allergic to peanuts, Chris. I put my allergy information in my contract.” Noah told Chris. 

“That’s a shame, must have misplaced it,” Chris shrugs, “you're out, Noah.” 

Noah opens and then closes his mouth, then walks to the loser's bench. 

He sits down at the bench and crosses his arms, “stupid allergies.”

“Good thing you didn’t eat any of it,” Alejandro tells him.

“Yeah, whatever,” Noah rolled his eyes.

He watched as the competition went on and more of the teens got eliminated and joined the losers' bench. Soon, only Owen and, surprisingly, Courtney were left. 

“Okay, you two, whoever wins this round gets immunity and gets to fly first class,” Chris tells them as Chef brings out the last dish. “Your final dish is boiled octopus!” 

Owen hesitantly looks down at the dish, but Courtney doesn't look distraught by the dish. 

She looked over at Owen. “What’s the matter? It’s just a little octopus.” 

Courtney taunted Owen as she picked up her chopsticks. Courtney picked up the first tentacle and dipped it in the provided sauce.

“Come on, Owen, you have eaten worse things than this? Remember when you took cockroach shots back on that stupid island? Octopus has nothing on you,” Noah told Owen. 

Owen looked at his food and then at Courtney’s; her food was almost gone. Owen picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of the octopus. 

Owen chewed his food. “Not bad.” 

“Well, too slow, big guy, I’m done,” Courtney opened her mouth. 

“And we have a winner!” Chris shouts as Courtney stands up.

Courtney looked over at Noah and dragged her finger across her throat. Noah was dead.

“Courtney, who would you like to take up to first class with you?” Chris asked her. 

“Hard choice, but I have to say, Heather, we are the only two girls after all,” Courtney says. 

“Great! Let’s get back to the plane,” Chris starts to walk away. 

The contestants follow Chris out of the restaurant and back outside. Noah was walking next to Owen.

“What happened up there?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know,” Owen tells Noah, “I didn’t even know octopus was edible!”

“Well, don’t worry, you did great,” Noah smiles at him. 

“Yeah, I guess, you did two,” Owen responds.

“Thanks, but good thing I didn’t eat that peanut dish or else you would get to see me go into anaphylactic shock,” Noah nudges Owen.

“Yeah, that would have been bad,” Owen laughs. 

“Well, I might have some bad news for you,” Noah clears his throat, “I think Courtney is going to try and eliminate me tonight. She can easily get Heather since they will both be in first class, and Tyler and Cody are easy votes to get.”

“You don’t know that for sure! I could always be someone else, buddy!” Owen pats Noah on the back.

They continued to walk towards the plane and reached it within ten minutes. Courtney and Heather went up to first class while everyone else went back to loser class. Noah and Owen sat next to each other in the stale room. It had been a while since Noah had been back in loser class. Once everyone was all settled in the plane, Noah got up to use the confessional. The confessional was empty, so Noah opened and locked the door. 

“I think Courtney is going to have me eliminated tonight. I mean, did you not see her gesture as if she was going to slit my throat? She most likely already has Heather and lowered that idiot Tyler to vote with her. It’s hard to tell with Cody, but she will probably say something about Gwen and have his vote and loyalty. Voting is starting soon, and I’m wondering if I should pack my bag first or say my goodbyes,” Noah ranted.

He opened the confessional door and walked around for a bit before going back to loser class. When he got back, only Alejandro was there. He was sitting on one of the benches with his arms crossed.

“Voting is about to start, amigo; all of the others are already voting,” Alejandro tells him.

“Then why are you here?” Noah asked. 

“I stayed back to inform you,” Alejandro stood up from where he was sitting.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Noah crossed his arms. 

“Anyways, let us go vote,” Alejandro gestured, walking towards the elimination room. 

Noah stood at the end of the line and waited for his turn. Once it was Noah's turn, he entered the confessional and looked at the passports in front of him. He grabbed Cody’s passport and stamped it, knowing his vote wasn’t going to count. He opened the confessional door and walked back into the elimination room. Chris was holding all of the passports and counted the votes. 

“Surprising votes, ladies and gentlemen,” Chris put the passports down, “if I call your name, you are safe. Courtney, Tyler, Alejandro, Cody, Heather, and finally…”

Noah was holding his breath, and his heart was beating fast. He knew it was his time to go, but he didn’t want to let go of the competition.

“Noah! Owen, it’s time to say goodbye!” Chris tossed Owen a parachute. 

Noah's heart skipped a beat with the knowledge that he was staying. But his best friend and closest ally had been eliminated.

“Oh, I guess this is goodbye! You all have fun, and Noah, win it for us!” Owen told everyone. 

Noah stood up and hugged the blonde, who had tears in his eyes.

“Cut the sap and get a move on,” Chris groaned. 

Owen saluted everyone before diving out of the plane. Noah hated to see Owen leave; the companions were going to be harder without him. Noah looked up at Courtney, who had a huge grin on her face. Courtney was the reason why Owen got eliminated. Noah looked away sharply. The now six teenagers got up from where they were sitting and walked back to their respective classes. Noah sat down on one of the loser class benches and sighed. 

Alejandro crept up beside him. “Sorry about Owen.”

“It’s whatever,” Noah turned his head towards Alejandro. 

Alejandro's face looked sincere, which was shocking. Alejandro didn’t like Owen one bit. 

“If you ever need anything, I’m right here,” Alejandro told Noah.

“Okay, thanks,” Noah flashes a smile. 

Shortly after that conversation, Noah found himself lying down on the musty loser class bench, trying to get some sleep. He stretched his legs out and closed his eyes, still thinking about Owen free-falling from the airplane.

Chapter Text

Noah didn’t get much sleep that night. He was tossing and turning back in loser class. He couldn’t get the image of Owen falling out of the plane out of his head. When the sun finally started to shine into the plane, Noah perked up, trying not to look too tired. No one else in loser class appeared to be awake. Noah sighed and got up to use the confessional.

Noah stepped into the confessional and locked the door. “Thanks to Courtney, I now have no reliable allies in the game, but I could use this to my advantage. If the pattern continues, Courtney will eliminate my closest ally, but who do I choose next? Tyler or Cody would be the easiest at this point in the game. Heather would be too hard to befriend, and I can somewhat trust Alejandro for right now.”

Noah stepped out of the confessional and went back to loser class to find Alejandro and Tyler awake. They were talking about something, back quickly shut the conversation down when Noah walked into the room.

Noah scrunched his eyebrows, “What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing,” Tyler crossed his arms.

“Yeah, right, you can rather tell me or I can find out by myself. Alejandro knows that I’m good at that,” Noah shot both boys a glare.

Tyler looks at Alejandro nervously. Noah could tell Tyler was bad with secrets, according to his body language. Alejandro nodded his head, signaling Tyler to tell Noah.

“Okay, Ale suggested that we get Cody out next since Heather and Courtney are far too powerful right now,” Tyler pointed at a still sleeping Cody.

“And plus, once he’s out, that’s one less easy ally they can gain,” Alejandro added.

Noah thought about it for a while. Once Cody is gone, Courtney and Heather have fewer allies than him making them easy to pick off. All they had to do was set the trap and watch them fall into it.

“Agreed, Cody is next,” Noah nods.

Noah sits back down in his spot and waits for the plane to land. He looked out the window, looking for any clues to where they could be. Noah got nothing; the plane was flying over nothing but grasslands. The plane landed after flying over dry grasslands for thirty minutes.

“Passages, you should know the drill by now,” Chris’s voice echoed over the speakers.

Everyone in loser class got up and made their way to the commons and out the plane door. They really were in the middle of nowhere. They saw Chris standing about ten feet away from the plane, and the contestants gathered around him.

“Welcome to Tanzania and the Serengeti plains! The first part of today’s challenge will combine two of Africa’s favorite sports: soccer and cricket! The first part consists of one contestant running towards those African safu plums, grabbing as many as they can carry, and running back. They will be doing this while they are being pummeled with soccer balls,” Chris explains.

“Great, running,” Noah scoffs.

“The second part of the challenge is to take the plums you scored and smash those gourds open. You will be using a cricket bat to hit the plums. Whoever cracks their gourd open first will win a vital award to use in the next challenge.” Chris finishes, “Anyway, Tyler, you are up first!”

Tyler stepped up to the chalk line on the ground.

“Ready, set, go!” Chris yelled.

Tyler started to run towards the crate of plums. Noah looked down at the soccer ball he was supposed to kick at Tyler. Noah has and never will be athletic, and he can’t even remember the last time he kicked a soccer ball. He kicked the soccer ball at Tyler and completely missed. It seemed that no one could hit Tyler, and he easily made it to the crete of plums. He grabbed an armful of plums and started to run back. Before anyone could hit Tyler with a soccer ball, he tripped over his own feet.

“Total wipeout!” Chris laughs, “Courtney, your turn.”

Courntey stepped up to the chalk line, “and go!”

Chris shouted, and Courtney started to run towards the plums. Courntey was a lot faster than Tyler. Noah attempted to kick a soccer ball at her but missed by a long shot. Courtney grabbed her plums and started to run back. Noah thought she was going to make it across the line, but a soccer ball came flying at her face, making her fall and drop her plums. Noah looks around to see who kicked the ball. He looked across from where he was standing and saw Alejandro smiling.

“Nice shot, Alejandro,” Chris tells Alejandro. “Cody, you are next.”

Cody nervously walked up to the chalk line, getting ready to run.

“Go!” Cody started to run.

Cody was a slow runner but surprisingly good at dodging things. Cody got to the crate of plums and scooped some up. Before he could start running back, Heather shot a soccer ball at the back of his head. Cody fell to the ground and plums scattered around him.

“That looked like it hurt!” Chris giggled, “Noah, you’re up.”

Noah signed and walked over to the chalk line, preparing to have soccer balls launched at him.

“Ready, steady, go!” Chris shouted.

Noah started to run towards the plums, having the occasional soccer ball kicked at him. He got to the plums and picked up an armful. Naoh started to run back, and it seemed everyone was kicking more soccer balls, most of them coming from Courtney. She kept missing back as each ball got closer and closer to Noah. Before Noah could cross the finish line, Courtney nailed a soccer ball at the back of his head.

“Nice shot, Courtney!” Chris told Courtney, “Your turn, Heather!”

Heather rolled her eyes and walked to the starting line.

“Go!” Chris told her.

Heather started to run towards the plums. Heather was fast, considering she was running in his heeled wedges. She quickly got to the plums and scooped them up into her arms. She ran across the finish line with no problem.

“Finally! Someone who crossed!” Chris claps, “Alejandro, you are last.”

Alejandrp stepped up to the chalk line.

“Go!” Chris tells Alejandro.

Alejandro starts to run towards the plums. He easily dodged the soccer balls, even kicking some back at the contestant who kicked them. Alejandro scooped up a bunch of plums and started to run back. He passed the chalk line just as quickly as he ran over it.

“Congratulations, Alejandro! Let's move on to the second part of this challenge now,” Chris handed everyone a cricket bat. “First person to smash their gourd gets an advantage.”

The contestants looked over at the gourds set up. Each gourd was placed on top of a stone podium. Everyone looked down at the plums they managed to grab.

Noah counted his, “twelve tries."

Even though Noah didn’t cross the finish line, he still had half the plums he had grabbed.

“Okay, start!” Chris tells the teens.

Everyone started to launch plums at their gourds, trying to hit them. Noah looked closely at his gourd; he would have to hit it at least two times to crack it open. Noah threw his first plum in the air and calculated the angle he should hit the gourd. Noah hits the plum and misses the gourd by an inch.

“Okay, a little more to the left,” Noah thought.

He tossed another plum up in the air and hit it. This time, the plum hit the gourd right on. The gourd made a cracking sound but didn’t split. By this time, Heather had already cracked her gourd open.

“Congrats, Heather, you have won a vital advantage in the third part of today’s challenge! Everyone else, you have ten seconds to crack your gourds open, I promise you want what’s in them.” Chris told the teens.

Noah launched another plum in the air, hitting the plum at just the right angle. The plum cracked his ground open. Alejandro, Courtney, and Tyler also managed to crack open their gourds; Cody, not so much.

“Congrats to the five of you who managed to crack your gourds open. Cody, the next part of this challenge is going to be much harder for you.” Chris told Cody.

“What exactly is the third part of the challenge? And when do I get my advantage!” Heather asked.

“Slow down, Heather, the third part of today's challenge will be hunting down the one and only,” Chris walked over to a cage and pulled the cloth off of it, “Ezekiel!”

The contestants gasped as Chris pulled the cloths off the cage. Ezekiel looked like he had lost his humanity with his clothes ripped and most of his hair gone.

“What the hell happened to him?” Courtney asked.

“Don’t know and don’t want to know,” Chris tells the teens.

“I thought you shoved him out of the plane in the first episode,” Noah crossed his arms.

“I know, but Chef found him chewing on a box back in the cargo hold,” Chris replied, “you will be hunting him down and the winner gets invenvenability and a spot up in first class.”

“How are we going to hunt him? And where is my reward!” Heather repeated.

“In a second,” Chris complains, “go look in your gourds, they contain what you are going to hunt with.”

The contestants walk over to their smashed gourds. Noah digs in the gourd to find a sling shot and a pocket.

“What is the pocket for?” Noah asked.

“Tranquilizer balls, launch them hard enough and they will burst, letting out some sleepy goodness. Let me demonstrate,” Chris aimed the slingshot at an intern.

Chris shot the tranquilizer ball, and the intern passed out cold.

“Okay, now stand back, we are giving Ezekiel a head start, unlock that cage, Chef!” Chris tells Chef.

Chef threads the key through the keyhole to unlock the cage. Ezekiel came running out of the cage and ran into the distance.

“Heather gets six for cracking her gourd first. Courtney, Noah, Alejnadro, and Tyler get three for cracking theirs open. And Cody, you managed to not hit your gourd once, earning you one tranquilizer ball.” Chris passed out the ammo.

“No sling shot?” Cody asked.

“Nope, you just have to throw them and hope they pop. Anyways, Go!” Chris shouts.

The contestants took off running into the African grasslands. Noah, Alejandro, and Tyler quickly gourped together.

Alejandro stopped in front of Tyler and Noah. “We should work together; it will be easier to catch Ezekiel."

“Sounds good!” Tyler almost shouts.

Noah nods his head.

“Alright, let's get going,” Alejandro started to run. The other two followed close behind.

The three teens ran around the plains for about for a while, trying to find any hints to where Ezekeil could be. They occasionally talked about their plans to eliminate Cody. He was the easiest target, especially without Sierra to protect him. It was kind of stupid for Cody to want Sierra thrown off the plane. She was his only ally in the game, and now he had no one. Was she annoying? Yes, but was she his only ally? Yes.

“Do you guys really think it’s a good idea to vote off Cody? I mean, he’s a cool guy after all,” Tyler questioned.

“Well, considering that Courtney would be too hard to vote off, and I could easily get through to Heather Cody, is the next good option.

Noah nodded his head once again and looked down at the ground. He found footprints.

“Guys, quiet, Ezekiel could be near,” Noah pointed at the tracks.

Alejandro and Tyler fell silent. The three boys pulled out their slingshots as they slowly followed the tracks. The tracks led to a bush, and Alejandro gently rustled the bush. What came out of the bush definitely wasn’t Ezekiel; it wasn’t even human.

“Um, that’s not Ezekeil,” Alejandro points out.

“No shit,” Noah looked up at the beast.

The animal was a yellowish color with a thick mane of brown hair. The animal was a lion.

“Should we run?” Tyler asked.

“No, do not run, walk away slowly and then run,” Naoh tells the two.

They slowly started to walk away as the lion looked at them. Once they were about fifty feet away from the lion, they started to run. Noah dragged slightly behind Tyler and Alejandro. They had no idea where they were running, but stopped after a while on a dirt patch.

“You think we lost it?” Tyler asked.

“I hope,” Alejandro answers.

Noah was breathing heavenly with his hands on his knees when he noticed that his shoes were missing, not only his shoes, but his whole foot. Noah could still feel his feet, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“Guys, my feet are gone,” Noah points out.

“What do you mean your feet…” Alejandro looked down.

Tyler looked confused, “What are you two talking about?” Tyler looked down, “AHHHHHHH MY FEET ARE GONE!”

“Quiet, Tyler,” Noah put his hands over his mouth.

“What do we do? It's already up to the middle of my legs,” Alejandro asked, trying not to panic.

“Well, considering this is quicksand, wait until it reaches your waist and gently distribute your body weight,” Noah explains.

“Wait? I don't want to wait,” Tyler protested.

“At this rate, it will be at our waist any moment,” Noah said, moving his arms up.

The quicksand reached Noah's waist first. Noah gently distributes his body weight to the point his legs bob up in the quicksand. He gently moved his arms like he was swimming and reached the edge of the quicksand pit. Alejandro was quick to follow.

“A little help, amigo?” Alejandro reached his arm out.

Noah grabbed Alejandro’s arm and pulled him out of the quicksand. The sand had a good hold on him, but with Noah's added help, Alejandro came right out of the quicksand.

“Thanks,” Alejandro flashed him a smile, a real smile that reached his eyes.

Noah felt his chest flutter, but quickly shoved the feeling down, focusing back on Tyler. The sand was now at his upper torso, with his arms still sticking out.

“Tyler, you need to distribute your weight,” Noah shouts.

“I can’t!” Tyler shouts back.

“Yes, you can,” Noah tells him.

“I don’t think he’s going to listen to you,” Alejandro chimes in.

“Do you have a better idea?” Noah asked.

Alejandro quickly looked around and found a lone stick.

“Here,” Alejandro tossed Noah the stick.

“Um, Tyler, grab on,” Noah holds out the stick.

Tyler quickly grabs onto the end of the stick. Noah starts to pull Tyler out of the quicksand, but very slowly.

“Alejandro, can you help since this was your bright idea?” Naoh asked.

“I would love to, but there is no stick left on our end,” Alejandro pointed out.

“Just help!” Noah shouts out of frustration.

“These two know how to make plans but not act on them,” Noah thought.

Noah continued to pull as Alejandro got closer behind Noah. Soon enough, Alejandro grabbed Noah’s upper body and wrapped his arms around his upper torso.

“What are you doing?” Noah asked, his heart skipping a beat.

“Helping, now pull!” Alejandro tells him.

Noah tugs harder on the stick, and Alejandro helps by pulling Noah and the stick. Without a problem, they freed Tyler from his quicksand prison.

“Thanks, guys,” Tyer gives the pair a thumbs up from the ground.

“Yeah, sure,” Noah answers.

“Of course,” Alejandro added, “We should get a move on before that lion finds us.”

“Agreed,” Noah and Tyler said at the same time.

The three continued to walk in the glasslands, looking at the now mutated Ezekiel. They walked for another ten minutes before they came across a rustling bush. The boys once again grabbed their slingshots and changed at the bush. This time, they charged without looking at the target. The three were yelling and screaming, but all of a sudden, the atmosphere felt quiet. Noah opened his eyes to find Alejnadro, Tyler, Heather, and Courtney passed out.

“Well dang,” Noah thought, looking at the four teens on the ground.

They had shot each other with tranquilizer balls and passed out cold. Somehow, no one had hit Noah, which made sense since they only had two attackers. But soon after, Noah could hear another creature in the bushes. Noah raised his slingshot, but this time it wasn’t an animal; it was Cody.

“Nice to see you here,” Cody says.

“Oh, it’s just you,” Noah sighs, putting his slingshot down.

“Yeah, just the contestant you were going to eliminate,” Cody huffs.

“What?” Noah’s heart dropped.

“Oh, I heard you, Alejandro and Tyler talking. I was falling you around the whole game,” Cody admits.

“But- how did you…” Noah stuttered.

“I’m good at sneaking up on people,” Cody digs into his tranquilizer pouch.

He pulls out a makeshift slingshot he made and aims it at Noah.

“So I'm going to need to win this one, sorry,” Noah doesn't have time to react before he is out cold on the ground.

Noah and everyone else were out cold for a good hour until this showed up and started to poke the teenagers with a stick.

“Come on, wake up! You were supposed to throw the tranquilizer balls at Ezekiel, not each other!” Chris complains.

Noah rolls over onto his side to see Tyler with drool running down his face. Noah rolls onto his other side to look away.

“Come on, or else we are leaving without you,” Chris threatens.

“You mean someone won?” Courtney questioned.

“Yeah, Cody, the only one who wasn’t in your tranquilizer ball battle,” Chris answers.

“Damnit,” Noah thought before propping his upper body up.

“Can we, like, have a few more minutes?” Heather asked.

“Nope, if you are not on the plane in five minutes, I’m leaving you here,” Chris says as he walks away.

The five teenagers on the ground quickly got up and ran towards the plane. They loaded themselves into loser class. Noah sat slumped against the plane interior, same with everyone else. The plane took off soon after, and Chris visited them soon after with Cody.

“Since we weren’t able to do this on the ground, Cody, how do you want to bring up to first class?” Chris asked.

“Courtney,” Cody answers.

“Prefect, Courtney, follow us,” Chris walks off.

Courtney got up from where she was sitting. She almost tripped and fell at least three times trying to follow Chris and Cody.

The loser class area slowly falls into sweet silence once Chris leaves. Oh closed his eyes for what felt like an hour before opening them again. He looked around loser class to find anyone else awake. Everyone was still passed out cold. Noah got up from the bench he was sitting on and wandered over to the confessional.

Noah stepped into the confessional. “Since Cody has immunity tonight, we can’t vote him off. The most strategic thing to do would be to vote off Courtney, but that would be too hard, Same with Heather. I think Tyler would be the best move here. He is practically useless in challenges and is a dumb as a rock.”

Noah finishes his confession and walks back to loser class. He finds Alejandro awake.

“Where did you go?” Alejandro asked groggily.

“I feel like we should vote off Tyler tonight,” Noah cuts right to the point.

“What? He is a reliable ally,” Alejandro reasons.

“But he is useless in challenges plus, you can charm Heather onto our side,” Noah points at Heather, “she has had a crutch on you all season.”

“That is true. What do we tell Tyler?” Alejandro questioned.

“Tell him to vote for Heather,” Noah replies.

“Perfect,” Alejandro finishes the conversation.

They wait for either Tyler or Heather to wake up to execute one half of their plan. Heather wakes up first.

“Heather over here,” Alejandro gestures.

Heather rubs her eyes before getting up.

“We plan to vote off Tyler tonight. Will you join us?” Alejandro asks.

“Why should I help you?” Heather rolls her eyes.

“We could always use your strategy, and I know you don’t want to work with someone like Courtney. She shoves your bright ideas to the side. We won’t do that. Plus, you can get a ticket to the final three,” Alejandro praises her.

Noah tells his chest sink as Alejandro praises Heather. He knew that Heather desperately wanted Alejandro but wouldn’t admit it, and Alejandro is the same.

“I mean, you have a good point,” Heather sticks her hand out, “deal.”

“Much appreciated,” Alejandro shakes Heather's hand.

The three of them sit next to each other until Tyler wakes up.

“What are you guys talking about?” Tyler asks.

“Oh, just how throwing tranquilizer balls at each other wasn’t a great idea,” Noah makes up.

“Yeah, I was out for like two hours,” Tyler responds.

“Let’s not do that again,” Alejandro laughs.

“Yeah,” Tyler giggles.

The five of them talk about the tranquilizer incident for a while. Heather told her side of the story, and we told our side. After a while, Heather left to use the confessional.

“Okay, Tyler, now that Heather is gone, we plan to vote her out,” Noah tells Tyler.

“Since she is a strong competitor and all,” Alejandro adds.

“Okay, sounds good,” Tyler smiles at both of them.

“That was easy, Tyler really is an idiot,” Noah thought.

Heather came back from the confessional and sat back down. The five male conversations until the sun started to set and the moon came up. Chris rudely interrupted them when the moon was becoming visible in the sky.

“Time to vote, kids,” Chris tells them.

The teenagers get up from where they were sitting and walk to the confessional. Noah stood in front of Alejandro. He turned his head and gave him a knowing smile. When it was Noah's turn to vote, he put a nice red stamp on Tyler’s passport and walked out into the elimination room. Voting finished up soon after, and Chris came out with all of the passports.

“Very interesting choice tonight, contestants,” Chris clears his throat, “if I call your name, you are safe, Cody, Alejandro, Noah, Courtney, and lastly…Heather! Sorry, Tyler, you have a date with the drop zone.”

“But how?” Tyler asks, surprised.

“I don’t know, dude,” Chris shoves a parachute into Tyler's arms, “see you later.”

“Goodbye, guys,” Tyler smiled at the remaining five and jumped out of the plane.

“Goodbye, bumbling idiot,” Noah thought to himself.

“You five get to live on another day, now go get some sleep,” Chris tells the cast as he walks away to his quarters.

Noah walked back to loser class with Heather and Alejandro. Noah didn't stay up long after getting back to loser class. The tranquilizer dart hasn’t totally worn off after all.

Chapter Text

Noah woke up from the tossing and turning of the plane at around. He had slept all the way through the night since his last visit to first class. Noah picked himself up and off the loser class bench to stand up. Alejandro and Heather were still asleep on the benches. Noah was still skeptical of Heather since Alejnadro just roped her into their alliance, but a three-man alliance is better than two after all. With Courtney up in first class, it was easy to get Heather on their side. Noah sat with his thoughts for a while before deciding to use the confessional. Noah got up from where he was sitting and walked to the confessional. 

Noah closed the confessional door before he started to talk, “Last night, Heather joined an alliance with me and Alejandro. Alejandro is going to have to pull out every move in the book to keep Heather on our side. Even though Heather never liked Courtney, she is a good ally to have. But we have the advantage, Heather has a bit of a crush on Alejandro. It’s truly painful to watch sometimes, also knowing that they will 

probably end up together pains me. I just need to shove my feelings aside and suck it up.”

Noah stepped out of the confessional to find Cody leaning against the wall. 

Noah jumped a bit, “Please tell me you didn’t hear any of that. Those confessional walls are thin.”

“Only a bit of it, but I won’t say anything,” Cody tells Noah, “Also, I kinda want to apologize for yesterday, I feel kinda bad about throwing a tranquilizer ball at you, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, I got a good nap out of it,” Noah reassures Cody.

“Okay, just wanted to say sorry. See you when the plane lands,” Cody walked into the confessional. 

Noah went back to loser class and saw Alejandro standing up, stretching his legs. 

“Those benches are not meant to be slept on,” Alejandro says, looking over at Noah. 

“Yeah, they suck, ”Noah says straight up. 

Alejandro walked over to Noah, “Any idea of what we could be doing today?” 

“Nope,” Noah shrugs. 

Alejandro and Noah talk for a while before Heather wakes up. Heather properly joined the conversation until Chris came onto the intercom. 

“Passengers, prepare for landing,” Chris tells the teenagers on the plane. 

The three in loser class started towards the commons since that was where they usually exited the plane. The plane started to shake as they walked to the commons, but it was nothing extreme. The plane had landed by the time they reached the commons, and Chris was there to meet them. Chris opened the exit door, and everyone filed out. Noah instantly notices the easter island statues. He looked around to find one of the statues on its side.

“I guess that's what we hit,” Noah points out.

“Probably,” Alejandro adds. 

Noah turns around to find Alejandro standing with his arms crossed, Heather standing next to him. Courteny and Cody were standing behind Heather and Alejandro. 

“Where is Chris? I want to get this challenge done and over with,” Courtney complained.

“ I think he’s up there,” Cody pointed to the top of a small hill and a pair of steps.

The five remaining teens looked at each other and then back at the stairs. They started to walk towards the stairs. As the five climbed the stairs, they could start to see Chris standing on top of the hill. They walked over to the man and waited for instructions. 

“Welcome to Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui! This place is so old that no one knows why these things were built,” Chris pointed to the stone carvings behind him. “Anyways, today you five will be embarking on an easter egg hunt! You see what I did there?” 

“Get on with it,” Courtney rolled her eyes.

“Jeez, okay, getting on with it, each of you will be wearing one of these nice head pieces!” Chris tossed each teen a featured headpiece.

Heather got red, Alejandro got blue, Noah got Greenish blue, Cody got purple, and Courtney got orange. 

“Hiding in each of these heads are eggs of the same color as your head pieces. You have to find three eggs that are your color and make your way through the underground caverns to the highest point of the mountain. Make it to the top of the caverns with your three eggs intact and get ready for the next part of the challenge.” Chris cleared his throat, “And before you ask, no backup eggs, and if you drop one of your eggs, you have to go back and find a replacement. Whoever gets to the top first gets a huge advantage in the second challenge. Is that clear? Go!”

The teenagers started to spread out to find their eggs. Noah takes a closer look at the stone heads. Noah thinks he is seeing things at first, the heads look off. He squints his eyes and looks at the faces closely. 

“What’s wrong, Noah?” Alejandro notices Noah looking at the heads.

A lightbulb goes off in Noah’s head. “All of the heads are previously eliminated contestants.”

Alejandro looks closer at the heads now that Noah said that.

 “Great observation, amigo, ”Alejandro runs his hand through Noah’s hair. 

Noah felt a nice heat rise in his chest as Alejandro’s fingers ran through his hair. 

“We should start looking,” Noah tells Alejandro.

“That would be a good idea,” Alejandro responded.

Noah walked up to the Izzy stone head and started to look for his egg color. Noah climbed up the base of the head and dug his arm into Izzy’s ear. He searched for feelings around the deep cavern. Soon, Noah felt an egg and pulled it out. The color matched his headpiece.

“Score,” Noah thought.

Noah didn’t know how he was going to carry the egg, though. He had two hands, but he needed three eggs. He looked around for anything he could use to hold his eggs, then he looked down at his sweater vest. Noah carefully climbed down from the Izzy head to the ground. He placed his egg on the ground carefully and slipped his vest off. He tied the end of the vest shut and gently placed his egg in the makeshift bag it held. Noah let out a sigh of relief. He picked up the makeshift bag and started to look again. Noah walked over to the Duncans' head next. Noah wasn’t the biggest fan of Duncan, but he might as well look for one of his eggs. There was an egg balancing on Duncan's spiked choker. Noah walked over to the egg and discovered it was orange, because of course it was orange. Courtney quickly turned her head when she saw the orange egg. She was currently at the Tyler head.

“Noah, that’s my color, but thanks for finding it for me,” Courtney begins to climb down from Tyler's head.

“Oh, it is,” Noah looks Courtney dead in the eye and drops the eggs, “oops, my fault.”

Courtney rolls her eyes and goes back to looking.

Noah climbs off the Duncan head and looks at the remaining heads. Noah walks over to the Linsey head. Noah searches behind her hair and finds a blue-green egg, his color. Noah places the egg into his makeshift bag.

“Just one more egg,” Noah thinks.

Noah walks over to the Owen head; he surely has to have one of his eggs. Noah looks up at the Owen head and finds that an egg is stuffed up his nose. He thought about how he could get the egg down without risking it falling. Noah decided to kick the stone head and hopefully catch it. Noah angled his kick right under Owen’s and watched as the egg fell. Noah caught the egg and he placed it into his bag. 

“Perfect, three eggs,” Noah looks down at the eggs. 

Noah started to walk towards the cavern when he heard a voice from above him.

“Look out!” A voice shouted.

Noah looked up to discover an egg falling from one of the stone heads. He instinctively reached his arms out to catch it. The egg landed perfectly into his hands. Noah looked up to see who dropped the egg; it was Alejandro. 

“Thanks for catching that. I’ll be down in a second to take that off your hands,” Alejandro looked down at Noah as he started to climb down the stone head.

Noah watched as Alejandro climbed down from the stone head that looked like Sierra. 

Noah gave Alejandro his egg. “Was that your last egg?”

“Yeah, do you have all of your eggs?” Alejandro asked.

“Yes, I do,” Noah opened his makeshift bag to show off his eggs.

“Nice, I wonder where Heather is at,” Alejandro turned his head, trying to find Heather.

His eyes quickly fixed on the Leshawna stone head. Heather was trying to get one of her eggs out of Leshawna’s earrings. She successfully retrieved the egg. 

“Heather, come join us,” Alejandro gestured towards her. 

Heather hopped down from the stone head and walked over to where Alejandro and Noah were standing. 

“We were about to go into the caverns if you wanted to join,” Alejandro tells her.

“Sure, I would rather go with you guys than by myself,” Heather crossed her arms.

“Gee, don’t sound so excited,” Noah commented.

“Whatever, let's go,” Heather started towards the caverns. 

The three start to walk towards the entrance of the cavern. The cavern was dimly lit with light and was quite rocky. The three stepped into the rocky cavity and started to climb up the steep hill. As they wandered deeper into the cave, Alejandro started to talk with Heather.

“So now that we are away from the wrath of Courtney, is there anything we need to know about her?” Alejandro's voice was smooth as he spoke.

Heather's face turned a slight shade of pink. Alejandro’s charms work surprisingly very well on Heather. She was clearly falling for Alejandro with one flirtatious remark at a time.

“Um, nothing too important, but she does have a huge grudge against Noah for some reason,” Heather shrugged.

“Very well, thank you for telling me,” Alejandro smiled at Heather. 

Noah saw a small smile form on Heather’s face. Alejandro and Heather continued to talk as Naoh listened. He listened to every remark, comment, and flirtatious word that left Alejandro and Heather’s mouths. Noah walked behind them, looking out for anything Chris had placed as a trap. This goes on for another five minutes until the cavern starts to shake. 

“Hey, is it just me, or is the cavern shaking?” Noah questioned.

Alejandro and Heather stopped to see if they could feel vibrations.

“I don’t think it’s just you,” Alejandro looked back at Noah.

Noah looked down the shaft of the cave and saw a huge boulder rolling towards them. 

“Boulder!” Noah pointed out.

 The teens quickly moved out of the way of the boulder. 

“What was that? That could have killed us,” Heather shoots her arms in the air. 

“It was clearly a rock, but how did it roll down the tunnel?” Alejandro looked up at the cavern.

“I don’t want to find out, so let's keep walking,” Noah told the two. 

Heather and Alejandro nodded their heads and started to walk up the cavern. The cavern got darker as they got farther away from the entrance. It was becoming harder to see Noah's eyes adapted quickly. Then Naoh started to feel more shaking.

“Guys, I feel more shaking, I think I might be going crazy,” Noah admits.

“Clearly, because I don’t feel shaking,” Heather crossed her arms.

“I don’t feel it either,” Alejnadro adds.

“Then what is it?” Noah looks down at his eggs resting in his makeshift bag. Noah picks one of the eggs up, and it had cracks on the shell.

“Um, I think one of my is shaking,” Alejandro and Heather walk over to observe the egg. 

The egg was shaking more violently now, and cracks were visible.

“I think it’s going to hatch,” Alejandro points at the cracks  

“I couldn’t tell,” Noah says, looking at Alejandro. 

Alejandro turned his head towards Noah as the egg hatched. The baby brid poked its head out of the egg to find Alejandro and Noah looking at each other. Noah didn’t notice the baby bird until it flew in between Alejnadro and Noah. Noah quickly held his hands out to catch the baby bird. The bird looked at both Alejandro and Noah before flying into Noah’s hair.

“Well, isn’t this just great?” Naoh said as the baby bird nested on top of Noah’s head. 

Noah didn’t exactly have short hair or long hair; in short, the baby bird had plenty of hair to nest into. 

“What’s the bird’s deal? My hair is not a nest,” Noah gestured.

“I think the bird thinks you're its mom,” as Alejandro said that the bird flew over to Alejandro’s head.

“Then why is the bird in your hair now?” Noah crossed his arms.

“Just as long as the bird stays in your guy’s hair and out of mine,” Heather starts to walk, “now let's get going.” 

The three walk for another ten minutes in the dark cavern. The baby bird keeps switching between Alejandro's and Noah’s hair every few minutes. It was quiet until the sound of Courtney and Cody could be heard from a distance. The two quickly pass the three walking.

“What is going on?” Heather questions before looking behind her.

The two boys follow and look behind themselves. Nothing was visible until a huge bird appeared out of nowhere and started to fly at them. The three look at each other and start to run towards the exit of the cavern. At the end of the cavern, they are met with daylight. 

“Wow, nice to see you five competing,” Chris says, crossing his arms.

“Close the cavern!” The teens shout.

Chef pushes over a stone head of himself in front of the exit. The huge bird runs into the stone head, effectively stopping the large bird. 

Chris turned his head towards the exit of the cavern, “Come on, you guys just hate fun, but anyways, let's move on.” 

The five teens squint their eyes at Chris, clearly fed up.

“Courtney, since you arrived first, you get this handy catcher mask,” Chris tossed the mask to Courtney. 

“Why exactly do I need this?” Courtney asked as she placed the mask on her face.

“Glad you asked, for today's challenge, you have to climb all the way up the rock pillar to that Condor nest. Condors are known to be quite crabby creators, especially since you five stole her eggs,” Chris pointed at the nest on top of the pillar.

“Ha, thanks for the mask, condors are known to pluck the eyes out,” Courtney laughed. 

“You five will be climbing up in arrival order, so Courtney, you're first, then Cody, Heather, Alejandro,  and lastly Noah!” Chris listed off the teens. 

“Wait, why am I last? I got here at the same time as Alejandro and Heather,” Noah crossed his arms.

“Well, considering the bird on your head, one of your eggs hatched, meaning not all three of your eggs are intact. And as for Heather being before you and Alejnadro, the rule of ladies first comes into play.” Chris explains.

“Whatever,” Noah rolls his eyes at the bullshit excuse.

“Anyways, Courtney, you can start climbing!” Chris tells the girl.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Courtney starts to climb the pillar.

The pillar was tall with jagged edges, but Courtney easily climbed up. As Courtney climbed, the baby condor was nesting in Noah’s hair. Noah reached his hand up, and the baby condor hopped onto it.

“You need to stop doing that, it hurts,” Noah tells the Condor like the bird can hear him.

“Talking to the bird, I see,” Alejnadro walks over to Noah.

“Shut up, this thing is driving me crazy,” Noah slightly taps the condor on the head.

“It’s quite attached to you,” Alejandro tells Noah.

“Yeah, it also seems quite attached to you, considering it was nesting in your hair for a while in the cavern.” As Noah said as the Baby bird flew into Alejandro’s hair.

“Yeah, it's very interesting,” Alejnadro tapped his finger against his chin.

Soon after that interaction, Noah could hear Courtney falling from the pillar and her eggs breaking. Chris sent Cody up soon after Courtney fell. Cody, not being the most athletic guy, fell before he could even reach the nest. Heather went up after Cody picked himself up and off the ground. 

“Do you think Heather will reach to top?” Alejnadro questioned.

“Considering Heather is one of the strongest players left in the game, she is most likely to reach the top of the pillar,” Noah told Alejnadro.

“Why do you always have to be so factual about everything?” Alejnadro Questioned again.

“I don’t know, that's like asking you why you enjoy manipulating people,” Noah fired back.

“Mi amigo, it was just a question, no need to be so defensive,” Alejnadro sticks his hands up in front of him.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Noah apologizes. 

“No need to apologize-” Alejandro was cut off by Heather falling from the stone pillar.

Heather was always interrupting everything: intentionally or not. What does Alejnadro see in her?

“Looks like it’s my turn, here have your bird back,” Alejandro picked the baby condor up and placed it on Noah’s head. 

Alejandro walked towards the stone pillar and started to climb. Noah watched him closely, knowing that if Alejnadro didn’t make it up, Noah would be next. Noah had gotten better at physical challenges, but not good enough to climb up a stone pillar many yards off the ground. Then Noah felt a familiar pulling at his hair, the condor. Noah grabbed the baby bird from in his hair and held it to his ear. 

“Hopefully you understand me, you see him up there? You like him and you want to distract her,” Noah pointed at the female condor sitting in her nest, “go distract her to help my friend win.”

The baby condor seemed to understand since the bird started to fly up the pillar. The baby condor sat in the female condor’s nest, and the older condor quickly noticed. She turned her attention from Alejandro for just long enough for him to place his eggs in her nest. 

“And we have a winner!” Chris shouts. 

Alejandro celebrated as the other contestants clapped. He carefully climbed back down the found and walked back over to the group. 

“Alejandro, you have invincibility tonight and first class with someone of your choice, but we will get to that later. Let’s get back in the air,” Chris starts to walk, and the contestants follow. 

The walk to the plane and board without any of Chris’ shenanigans. Noah sat in their class with Cody, Heather, and Courtney as the plane took off. The elimination tonight should easily be Cody, or so Noah thought. Cody pulled quite the stunt in the safari that no one saw coming, but Noah thinks Cody’s rain has come to an end. He had no way of telling Alejandro he was planning on voting off Cody next; he would just pull him to the side before voting. After an hour in the air, Noah got up to use the confessional. He walked to the confessional and closed the door.

“I think it’s a given that Cody is going home, but I want to make sure he goes home. After observing the stunt he pulled in the safari, he is a lot smarter than I thought. Honestly, I thought he wouldn’t last this long after Sierra got eliminated. That girl carried Cody on her back. Anyways, Cody is out of here,” Noah finished his confessional before walking back to loser class. 

Noah sat in loser class trying not to fall asleep as the sun started to set. The other three were not too far from sleep until Chris' voice came over the loudspeaker; everyone perked up. 

“Voting starts in tea minus five minutes,” Chris says clearly through the intercom system. 

The four teens in loser class quickly get up and walk to the elimination area. Alejandro is standing there, waiting.

Noah walks over to him. “Vote for Cody, he’s an easy boot.” 

“I figured you would say that,” Alejandro replied, “I already confirmed the vote with Heather.”

“When?” Noah asked.

“Before the second challenge started,” Alejandro told him. 

“Okay,” Noah narrowed his eyes. 

Chris entered the room, “Voting time, kids.”

The teens walk over to the confessional. Noah is third in line, behind Heather. When get got into the makeshift voting booth, he put a big red stamp on Cody’s passport. Soon, voting was complete, and everyone was waiting for the votes to be read.

“This was another overwhelming vote. If I don’t call your name, you, my good friend, have a date with the drop of shame,” Chris clears his throat, “Alejandro, Courtney, Noah, and… Heather! Cody, you have been eliminated.”

Cody looked around him, “I kinda saw that coming.” 

Chris handed Cody a parachute. “Any final words?” 

“Um, good luck to everyone left,” and with that, Cody jumps out of the plane.

“Now that is dealt with, Alejandro, who are you bringing up to first class?” Chris asks.

“It’s a hard choice, but I have to go with Heather,” Alejandro tells Chris.

Noah's heart drops to his feet. After everything he did for Alejandro in this challenge? He literally helped him win, and this is how he gets repaid? Noah couldn’t believe it, but without saying a word, he walked back to loser class. He sits on one of the damp benches thinking. Noah’s mind races with thoughts; he has been an ally of Alejandro for far longer than Heather. Noah’s mind was moving so fast that he couldn’t get a clear thought to pop into his head. Why is he always second? Why is he never the first option? Why does the universe hate him so much? Noah stays up thinking one thing the whole night: Is he really just another pawn in Alejandro's game of chess? 

Chapter Text

Noah watched the rays of the sun poke through the loser class windows. He didn’t get a blink of sleep last night. Noah was lying on his back on one of the damp benches, thinking. Courtney was still sound asleep on the bench across from Noah.

“How is she still sleeping? It’s light out, and it’s not like these benches are comfortable,” Noah thought.

It took another thirty minutes for Courtney to wake up. When Courtney woke up, she immediately got up to stretch her legs.

Courtney looked over at Noah. “You look like death. What happened?"

“Why should I tell you?” Noah looked at Courtney.

“I don’t know, maybe because we are the only people back here?” Courtney says.

“Still not a valid reason,” Noah points out.

”Whatever, shut up,” Courtney crossed her arms.

“Didn’t say anything but okay,” Noah remarked as he got up from where he was sitting.

Noah walked towards the front of loser class and left. He walked down the narrow hallways of the plane until he got to the confessional.

Noah walked into the confessional, “I have a lot to say, first of all, what the hell was that last challenge? I felt so stupid after I helped Alejandro. I mean, he didn’t even get a thank you, just radio silence. Why do I even try anymore? He’s always going to pick Heather over anyone else. Number two, I think Courtney is trying to get me to open up so she can use it against me later. If I give in and play along with her, I can easily get her out of the game so I can smash Heather or Alejandro in the finals. But also Heather and Alejandro could easily vote me out after Courtney is gone. I’m stuck in quite the mess, I’m just going to play it by ear.”

Noah unlocks the confessional door and walks back to loser class. He sat back down on the damp bench across from Courtney.

“Feel better?” Courtney asked.

“I will feel much better after you are gone,” Noah rolls his eyes.

“Listen, I know I’m going to be the next boot, and I know you want to get back at Alejandro. Team up with me, and we can throw him off his game.” Courtney tells Noah.

Noah thought for a little bit. Was Courtney trying to play him or actually trying to be nice?

“Tell me more about this,” Noah asked.

“Okay, so I was thinking we could act all buddy-buddy, and you could completely ignore him. That would drive Alejandro mad since you two are friends." Courtney explained.

“That sounds doable," Noah sticks his hand out, “let’s do it.”

Courtney shakes Noah’s hand. Noah and Courtney continue to talk about their plan before Chris’s voice comes over the intercoms.

“Good morning, kids. Meet in the commons before the plane lands,” Chris's voice echoed.

Noah and Courtney look at each other before getting up. They slowly walk to the commons, both of them trying to make small talk. This friendship act has to be convincing. Alejandro and Heather were already in the commons by the time Noah and Courtney wandered in. The plane landed, and the exit doors opened. The teens hopped off the flying death trap and walked over to Chris, who was standing beside the plane.

“Welcome to Drumheller, Alberta! Pits of wicked old dinosaur bones currently surround you four. Grab whatever bones you can, and make your own interpretation of a dinosaur. You have two minutes to look through the plane’s cargo hold to look for extra supplies to make your dinosaur. Go!” Chris instructs as he points at the open cargo hold.

“No hi, hello, good morning? Just right into the challenge?” Cournteny commented.

“Yes, now go!” Chris yells for a second time.

The four remaining teens run towards the cargo hold. There was nothing but junk in the cargo hold, at least nothing that Noah had interest in using. Heather managed to find a bunch of glitter glue and took off running with it. Noah found a box of ribbon after digging in a box for what felt like hours. He didn’t have any interest in the ribbon, but he thought Courtney might. Noah grabbed the box and walked over to Courtney.

“Courtney, I found some ribbon you might like,” Noah showed Courtney the ribbon.

Courtney looked closely at the ribbon and then behind her. She saw an upset Alejandro glaring a hole in the back of her head.

Courtney smiled and turned her head back around. “You know, I could do something with this, thanks.”

“Anytime,” Noah nodded.

Noah and Courtney walked out of the cargo hold to start making their dinosaurs. Alejandro followed soon after, empty-handed. Noah truly had no idea what to build; he wasn't creative at all. The only thing he could think of was making a dinosaur in a mini form; he took that idea and ran with it. Noah started to look are pint-sized dinosaur bones. It took him a while to find att of the bones he needed; it was surprisingly hard to find such small bones. Noah landed on making a Stegosaurs. He carefully put the bones together to make his mini Stegosaurs. After Noah finished constructing his mini Stegosaur, he thought it was missing something, then he remembered Courtney’s ribbon. Noah found Courtney quickly; she was standing next to a large model of a Brachiosaur. Courtney was tying a bow around the dinosaur's neck as Noah walked up to her.

“I thought this was a make-your-own dinosaur challenge, not make a preexisting dinosaur,” Noah said, startling Courtney.

“What do you mean? This is a bowiosaurs, not a brachiosaurs,” Courtney smirked, clearly proud of the name she made up.

“Clever,” Noah told her, “anyway, can I borrow some ribbon? I think if someone breathes too hard on my dinosaur, it will crumble into hundreds of pieces.”

“Yeah, sure,” Courtney handed, “what did you end up making anyways?”

“Just a mini model of a Stegosaurs, I’m not that creative,” Noah scratches the back of his head.

“Wow, and you were telling me that my bowiosaurs weren’t creative,” Courtney crossed her arms, “also, I think my plan is working. Alejandro has been giving me nasty looks.”

“He has? I haven’t noticed, but that's good to hear. I want him to feel like he has no control over the game,” Noah told Courtney.

“You really don’t like Alejandro. What made you change your mind about him?” Courtney asked.

“Well, in the beginning of the game, he treated me okay, but after I plotted against him in London, he tried to vote me off. After that didn’t work, Alejandro started to plot against me, but then he realized he was surrounded by idiots and needed a brain. We started to work together, but turns out I didn’t mean anything to him, and he was waiting for the perfect chance to throw me under the bus.” Noah explained.

“Those are some asshole moves, he deserves whatever comes to him,” Courtney tells Noah, “anyway, you should get back to your dinosaur before it blows away.”

“Yeah, you’re right, see you later,” Noah turned around and walked towards his Stegosaurs.

Noah kneeled down to be on the same level as his Stegosaurs and tied the ribbon around its torso. Finally, Noah's dinosaur was finished.

“And that's time, kids, let's see what you got!” Chris shouted just as Noah was getting up from kneeling. “Alejandro, you are up first.”

“Well then, meet the Alectrosaurus, yes, that is his real name. I don’t think I need to say anything more,” Alejandro presented his dinosaur.

“Very impressive, Heather, your turn!” Chris exclaims.

Heather cleared her throat, “This is the Glitteratops. If you haven’t noticed, its bones are held together with glitter glue, giving it an extra sparkle.”

“Very nice, Noah, you're next,” Chris points at Noah.

“This is the micro Stegosaurs. It has everything a Stegosaurs has but just on a smaller scale,” Noah holds his dinosaur up.

“Very nice, Courtney, you’re up!” Chris finally looks over at Courtney.

“This is the Bowiosaurs. It has all of the aspects of a Brachiosaurs, but it is decorated with bows, making the dinosaurs extra flashy,” Courteny presented with confidence.

“Nice work, Courtney! Now that we know your dinosaur,s it’s time to vote on the best one,” Chris crossed his arms.

“Who will be voting?” Courtney asked.

“Good question, you four will be! With a shocking twist!” Chris pointed to a wooden chair.

“Um, what is that?” Heather pointed to the chair.

“A lie detector, and thank you for volunteering to go first,” Chris explained.

“Ugh, I hate this show,” Heather stormed over to the lie detector and sat down.

“Okay, Heather, which dinosaur did you like the most, and you can’t pick your own?” Chris told her.

“Um, I like Courtney’s Bowiosaurs the best. I love the name,” Heather confessed.

“One vote for Courtney, Alejandro, you're next,” Chris told the teen.

Alejandro sat down. “I liked Heather's dinosaur.”

A volt of electricity ran through Alejandro.

“lie! Let’s tell the truth this time, Alejandro,” Chris told him.

“Fine, I found Noah's mini dinosaur to be the most interesting to me,” Alejandro confessed.

“There you go, telling the truth isn’t that hard. One vote for Noah!” Chris smiled, “Noah, you’re turn.”

Noah sat down, “like Heather, I thought Courtney’s was the best.”

“Nice, two votes for Courtney, speaking of which, Courtney, it’s your turn,” Chris tells Courtney.

Courtney sat down, “I liked Heather's the most, I loved the glitter glue.”

“Very good, one vote for Heather,” Chris cleared his throat, “but Courtney still manages to win. Courtney, for your reward, you get a post digger to use in the next challenge.”

“What exactly will I need a post digger for?” Courtney asked.

“Well, let me tell you about the second Challenge! My interns were supposed to bury these barrels full of maple syrup, but they got confused and buried our remaining oil supplies. For your challenge, you will each need to dig up a barrel of oil and bring it back to the plane. The first person to do so will win immunity.”

“Are the rest of us just going to use our hands?” Heather crossed her arms.

“Nope, since you and Noah tied for second, so each of you will get a pickax. But Alejandro over there gets nothing since he came in last,” Chris tossed Heather and Noah a pickax.

“What? I can’t dig up a barrel of oil with my hands,” Alejandro complained.

“I don’t know, but figure it out, anyway, you also might want to keep your eyes up because we will be throwing the occasional boulder at you,” Chris yelled, “anyway, go!”

The four teens started to wander into the never-ending flatlands. There had to be at least forty miles of flat land; finding a barrel of oil was going to be almost impossible. After walking for a while, Noah finally found a spot. Noah started to dig with his pickax, but after digging countless holes, he didn’t find any oil.

“This is impossible! How am I supposed to find a stupid barrel of oil out here?” Noah thought.

Noah pulled himself out of the hole he had dug and started to walk around again. After a while, Noah started digging in a new location. Noah had dug a four-foot deep hole when he started to hear a whistling sound. He looked up and saw a boulder hurdling towards him. Noah quickly got out of the hole he had dug and watched as the boulder landed in the hole.

Noah took a deep breath, “Are you kidding me? Boulders? That thing could have killed me! I’m so sick of this stupid fucking show!”

Noah yelled as he threw his pickax across the empty flat lands. Noah’s pickax made a weird noise, and he looked over at it. The pickax hit a barrel of oil.

“You know what, this show isn’t that bad after all.” Noah walks over to the barrel of oil.

Noah picks up his pickax and begins to dig up the barrel. It took him a while to free the barrel, but soon Noah was rolling it back to the plane. Once Noah got back to the plane, he found out that he was the first person to return with a barrel.

Chris walked up to Noah, "Congratulations on immunity! You can go wait in the plane while the others find the other barrels.”

Noah nodded and walked into the plane. He walked to the commons since it was usually the coolest part of the plane. Noah sat down at one of the tables and put his head down. He was maybe on the plane for an hour by himself until he heard a familiar voice.

“So you are the one who beat me?” Noah looked up to find Alejandro.

Noah stood up from where he was sitting.

“Yes, surprising, isn’t it? Well, not really, since you only hand your hands to dig, and I had a nice pickax,” Noah crossed his arms.

“Yeah, yeah, I still managed to come in second, though,” Alejandro said, “ also, I can see you and Courtney are getting along again.”

Noah could see the hurt on Alejnadro's face when he said that. Now it was Noah’s job to rub even more salt in the wound.

“Yeah, it’s nice to have another person think the same way as you. Since you and Heather seem to have quite the alliance going, I thought I might make friends with Courtney,” Noah told Alejnadro.

“It’s nice to see that you are making friends outside of Owen,” Alejnadro commented.

“Yeah, I finally found another person that I can talk to and can admit when they do something wrong,” Noah sat back down. “Anyway, I would like to continue to sit in silence.”

Alejandro narrowed his eyes and sat down across from Noah at another table. By the time everyone returned to the plane, it was getting dark outside. Chris walked inside the plane once everyone had sat down.

“It’s time to vote, remember, Noah has immunity. After you're done voting, meet me outside by the campfire. We’re going old school for this elimination!” Chris tells the contestants.

The four teens line up outside the confessional to vote. Noah ended up voting for Heather since he would have felt bad if he voted for Courtney, and he couldn’t bring himself to vote for Alejandro. After voting, he walked outside and sat down next to Courtney. Alejandro and Heather followed after they voted. Chris walked outside soon after with a tray that had passports and marshmallows on it.

Chris cleared his throat, “Welcome to the campfire, kids. Our first marshmallow of the night goes to Noah since he has immunity.”

Chris tossed Noah a marshmallow.

“Let’s read the remaining votes for a little fun,” Chris picked up the first passport, "first vote goes to Courtney, second vote goes to Heather, third vote goes to Alejandro, and the fourth and final vote goes to… Courtney! Once we get up in the air, you can do the proper drop of shame.”

Chris tossed the last two marshmallows, Heather and Alejnadro. As they walked towards the plane, Noah noticed something.

“Chris, I think something is standing in the cargo hold,” Noah pointed out.

Chris stops and looks, “I think you're right, Noah.”

Everyone stops in their tracks and looks towards the cargo hold. On one could see what it was until the creature lit a match. The match illuminated the creature's face; it was Ezekeil. Before anyone could react, Ezelkeil dropped the match into the oil spill from earlier. In seconds, the plane exploded into a pile of rubble. Thankfully, no one was close enough to the plane to get hurt. Everyone turned their heads slowly towards each other before Chris let out a loud cry.

“My beautiful plane!”