Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

As Brody sat in the economy class with his teammates, he couldn't help but pout. "Man, this'll be the fourth challenge and we haven't gotten to try out first class yet," he pointed out. "I'm starting to feel like we're cursed or something."

"Ah, curse, schmurse. We've also only ended up in last place once. We're gonna win sooner or later, I know it," Duncan told him.

"You think so?" he asked, and the delinquent nodded. "Wow. Maybe you're right…" Then he smiled. "Yeah! We've got this!"

At the other end of the room, Cody was trying to take a nap. Before he had fallen asleep, however, he had set up a web of strings around him with bells hanging from it. As the plane hit a patch of rough air, each of them shook slightly and let out a faint chorus of chimes. That was still enough for his eyes to snap open and him to dart his head around.

"No more foot rubs, Sierra!" he shouted, before calming down when he saw that the super-fan wasn't in the room. Sighing in relief, he leaned back and tried to catch up on some sleep.

The reason for her absence was that Sierra was currently sitting in the dining room with Katie across from each other. "So… our alliance is down to three," she began. "Which means we're in danger of being picked off if the others team up again."

"Yeah…" Katie said, looking down at the table. Her mascara had run and her eyes looked slightly red, indicating she had been crying recently. In fact, she had been doing a lot of that during the flight away from Paris. "So, what should we do?"

"Well, it's obvious, right? We need to make an alliance with someone else on our team, preferably two. If we get at least one other person, we can tie the next vote at minimum," Sierra explained.

"Okay, but which of them would make an alliance with us?" she replied. "They were all willing to work together just to get rid of us."

"In order to make sure they survived, sure. Which is our way in." She leaned forward. "I think if we talk to Duncan, he'd be willing to make a secret alliance with us if we promise not to vote for him. He's lost two seasons so far, so I'll bet he really wants to make it far this time."

Katie hummed. "I… suppose that makes sense. But wouldn't he be just as safe sticking with the alliance he's in?"

"Not if we remind him how well his previous alliances had gone. Then we promise to never stab him in the back like other people have, and I'm sure that'll convince him," Sierra assured her.

She was quiet for a moment, thinking it over. "Well… Alright, sure. Giving it a try is better than doing nothing, at least. When should we talk to Duncan about this?"

"As soon as possible, so the next time either of us get a moment with him," she answered, and the other girl nodded. "Alright, let's get in there and explain the plan to Cody." Both of them stood and began walking out of the dining area back to the economy class.

Confessional Stall - Sierra

"I need to convince at least one other person to join our alliance, including who to ask if Duncan says no. Having one less girl hanging off Cody is nice, but not if it means he and I get voted out. After all, how can I convince him to love me if one of us gets eliminated?"

"Mmm… so good," Courtney said as she took another chocolate-covered cherry from a platter. "I do like the privileges of being a winner."

"You and me both," Liam said, reclining back in his seat across from her with a blanket, pillow and a glass of lemonade. "And the fact that we didn't have to worry about an elimination either is just as nice."

Gwen nodded in agreement and also took a cherry, popping it into her mouth. "I wonder how this will work once the merger happens. Will only one person get to be in first-class at a time?"

"Probably. Which will just make the competition for that chance even fiercer," Noah told her from his seat at the bar.

"Aw, we'll be fine!" Owen declared, slapping the bookworm on the back and nearly knocking him off. "We've got a 2 out of 3 win rate so far! If we were a steak, we'd be a 32-ounce porter house, and the other teams would be tiny slices of bologna."

"Need I remind everyone that we did lose the second challenge?" Alejandro said. "We're not invincible, so we need to be vigilant."

"Sure, but with you on our team there's nothing we can't handle!" the large boy said, making the other teen smile. That smile froze when he added "Whatever happens, I'm sure you'll give us an Ale-hand-bro!"

Confessional Stall - Alejandro

"Calling me Al is bad enough. How dare he pervert the name of Alejandro Burromuerto?!" he snapped, crossing his arms. "Ugh, not snapping at Owen and ruining the friendship I'm cultivating is going to be hard."

"Heck, I'm not even afraid of flying anymore!" To prove his point, Owen hopped onto one of the barstools and started spinning around without any straps or seatbelts. "Whoo-hoo!"

However, the instant he started doing that, the entire aircraft started shuddering. Chris's voice came over the intercom, saying "Turbulence! Everybody, strap in!"

Liam was nearly thrown out of his seat and his drink spilled all over his front. "Oh, come on!"

"Ahhhhhh!" Owen screamed. He fell off his stool and curled into a ball, shouting "I spoke too soon!"

Then they heard what sounded like metal tearing, and all of them looked towards the door to the dining area. "What was that?!" Heather asked.

"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from the economy class!" Courtney replied.

That guess was correct, as the turbulence had caused Bridgette's surfboard to be ripped from its spot covering the hole in the fuselage. It nearly smacked Harold in the face before the win pulled it out of the plane and let it fall through the sky. Without it covering the hole, the wind also began pulling at everything inside. All of the teens in the room started screaming and grabbing their seats, even the ones that had managed to get their safety straps on in time.

One of those that didn't was Caitlin. Not only were her feet lifted into the air, but she could feel her hold on her seat start to slip. Her eyes widened, and she shouted "Guys, I'm losing my grip!" A finger came loose, and she screamed "Help! Help!"

Then her hands slipped and she started flying through the air. Before she could get far, however, Ezekiel partially unbuckled his straps so he could lean forward. "I gotcha!" he said, grabbing both of her wrists. His eyes widened as he was nearly pulled into the air as well. "I… can't… hold on!"

A second set of hands clasped over his own. He looked to the side to see Scarlett, who said "Hold on like her life depends on it! Because it does!" He nodded and the redhead looked to her right. Seeing a large wooden crate, she called "Leshawna, push that against the hole!"

Leshawna nodded and used her hold on the bench to move over to the crate. Once she was next to it, she moved so the crate was between her and the wall, then shoved against it with both legs. The crate slid across the floor and hit the hole, completely covering it and killing the wind. Not only that, but they exited the turbulence at pretty much the same time.

Everyone hanging on for dear life fell to the floor. Nikki sighed in relief, before giving the hole a glare. "If Chris doesn't fix that before the next flight, I'm quitting."

"You and me both, brah," Ezekiel agreed, letting go of Caitlin and undoing his straps.

The blonde climbed to her feet and looked at him. "You… saved my life." Then she took a step forward and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The homeschooler froze, not used to getting hugs from girls other than his Mom. After a moment, he returned it and said "Hey, just doin' the right thing. You're, uh, welcome."

She held the hug for a moment longer, then pulled back and gave Scarlett a nod. "And thank you, too, for helping."

"Don't mention it," Scarlett replied before standing up. "After a fright like that, I could use some tea. Excuse me."

Before she could get far, however, Chris came back on over the intercom. "Achtung, mein veinerschnitzles! Ve will be landing soon. In preparation, everyone please head to the center of the cargo hold."

In the first class cabin, Gwen's brow furrowed. "Was that German at the start?"

"I think so," Noah said, looking out the window. "Because unless I'm mistaken, those are the Alps."

Liam also looked at a window and saw a range of snow-covered mountains. "So another freezing cold challenge. Great," he said, grabbing a spare shirt from his luggage. The last thing he was going to do was go out in the snow wearing a shirt that was wet.

It only took a few minutes for all two dozen of the contestants to gather inside the cargo hold. Once they were assembled, Lindsay looked around. "I don't see anything that could be part of a challenge."

"Well, they usually don't start on the plane," Fin pointed out. "From what we've seen, they start after we arrive somewhere, but I don't see how we're supposed to leave from–"

She got her answer when the floor beneath the teens gave way, revealing itself to be a pair of bomb bay doors.

All of them began screaming as they fell out of the plane and plummeted through the sky. The ground below was covered in snow, which might provide a soft landing, but they had still been dropped without parachutes. Thankfully, they didn't fall too far. They began landing on the side of a mountain next to an outcropping. When they hit the ground one by one, the snow gave way for a soft, if freezing landing.

Small plumes of snow went up from the impacts, especially Owen's. Alejandro landed on his front and grunted as the wind was nearly knocked out of him. He started rising on to all four when he heard a shout from directly above him. He looked up and was just able to catch a blur of blue and black before Gwen landed on him, driving him deeper into the snow.

The goth quickly looked herself over and let out a sigh of relief at seeing no injuries. "Whew, that was close," she said, before standing up "Thanks, Alejandro."

"No problem…" he groaned, voice muffled from his current position. He blindly reached for her hand and she grabbed it, pulling him to his feet.

Tyler and Lindsay landed right next to each other, and both of them immediately checked on each other. "Oh, Tyler, you're okay!" Lindsay shouted, giving him a hug. "I don't know what it would be like if something happened to you!"

The jock smiled and hugged her back. "You ain't got to worry about me, babe. We'll always be together."

Not too far away, Caitlin and Daphne had landed and were watching. "Aww…!" they both gushed.

As the teens continued recovering from their fall, Chris began descending from above with a parachute, a helmet and a fur jacket. All of them glared at him for not being given the same, but he ignored them and softly said "Guten Tag, und velcome to Deutschland, aka Germany! We're currently in the middle of avalanche territory, so you might want to keep it down."

Nikki's eyes widened at the warning, and she crossed her arms. "Very funny, man. By the way, where are those jackets you said you'd order for us back in Sweden?"

"I said they'd be here in several weeks. It hasn't been that long, so suck it up," he told her as he landed, making her grit her teeth.

Owen then perked up, sniffing the air. "Wait a second. I smell…" He sniffed again. "Food!" He then turned and ran up the mountainside to the outcropping once he got there, his eyes turned into stars. "So much meat… It's beautiful…" he said, before rushing forward.

The others followed behind him and were able to see three giant piles of what appeared to be raw meat. Owen was currently grabbing handfuls from one and stuffing them into his mouth. Next to each of them was a small pile of shovels and some sort of large metal device with an opening on the top and a crank each side. Each device was also embossed with one of the team logos.

"Easy there, tiger! That's raw sausage!" Chris said, and Chef grabbed Owen before throwing him off the meat. "Over 1,500 species of sausage call Germany home, and we're going to pay respect to that with the first part of today's challenge: making a giant German sausage!" He waved a hand at each of the devices. Upon further inspection, they could see that each also had another opening that a large plastic tube was attached to. "Each team will have some of you shovel meat into these large grinders while at least two people turn the cranks on them. And at least two more people will hold an oversized sausage casing on the end that the ground meat comes out of."

Heather grimaced. "Shoveling raw meat? This has got to be the most disgusting challenge you've made us do yet!"

"If you think that's bad, be glad we didn't save this for when we got to the States and had you make giant hot dogs. No beaks, hooves and butts in these meat piles!" the host told her. The queen bee covered her mouth as her face turned slightly green at the thought. "Oh, and I'd try to shovel fast, if I were you. You'll only have fifteen minutes to do it, and ending with a partially-filled sausage will make it a lot harder for you in Part 2: riding your giant sausages down the hill."

They all looked to the left, and saw a hill with a gentle incline, unbroken snow, and even a rainbow in the sky. "No, no, not that hill. That one," Chris said, and pointed slightly to the right. They looked again, and that hill had a much stepper incline, a plethora of rocks and tree limbs stocking out of the snow, and complete cloud cover with no rainbow in sight. As they stared at it, a bolt of lightning even struck the ground.

Caitlin stared at it with an unhinged jaw. "There is no way that's safe."

"Maybe, but the producers signed off on it! Oh, and one more thing: whichever team is the last one down the hill will have to pick one of their own to wear this." He then held up an outfit. To their horror, it was an undersized set of traditional lederhosen complete with knee-high socks and leather shoes. "Now, get ready to start stuffing once Chef blows the horn."

Off to the side, Chef stepped in front of a large alphorn and took a deep breath. The contestants immediately tensed, and once he let off a loud and low note,. They all took off, each of them racing towards their team's meat grinder and gathering into a huddle.

"Okay, we need to figure out who's doing what, and stat," Heather urged the rest of Team Tempest.

Liam looked over at the grinder. "Those cranks look like they'll require the most physical strain, so our two strongest should work there," he observed. "In which case, I nominate Courtney."

The C.I.T. didn't even try to hide her smile at the implication that she was among the strongest on the team. The fact that such a role would mean she didn't have to shovel any raw sausage was purely a bonus. "Works for me. And out of the rest of us, I think the other one should be…" She made a show of scanning the others before saying "Alejandro."

Heather grimaced at seeing her teammates nod. "Fine. In that case, I'm one of the two holding the casing on the end," she declared. No way was she going anywhere she'd have to smell that meat.

"I'll hold it, too!" Owen called, raising his hand.

"Okay, that leaves us," Noah said, looking at Bridgette, Liam and Gwen. "One of us should probably get on top of that thing to force the meat we send up there in."

Liam looked at the top of the grinder and frowned. "That seems a tad dangerous for someone's fingers or toes…"

Bridgette began to nod. "Yeah, it kinda does…" Then she smirked. "Which is why I vote for it to be you instead of us."

"I second that vote," Gwen added, and Noah nodded in agreement.

The slacker's eyes widened and he stared at them for a moment. When they didn't budge, his expression faded to a glare. "You all suck," he declared, before grabbing a shovel and starting to climb on top of the grinder.

Confessional Stall - Bridgette

"Was that a bit mean of me? Yeah, I'll admit it was." She crossed her arms. "But over the last two seasons, Liam's done more than enough to deserve it in my books."

The other teams likewise divided into roles, and soon the air was filled with the sounds of shovels and creaking machinery as the grinders began working. Lindsay, who was holding the casing for her team alongside Scarlett, nearly let go once the processed sausage started to practically ooze out into the casing. "Ewwww!" she shouted.

"Look away if it bothers you," Scarlett told her. Unlike the blonde, the sight of raw flesh didn't appear to bother her at all. "At least the casing is thick enough that we don't have to smell it."

Lindsay took her advice and both turned her head and closed her eyes. "Oh, I can still hear it! Quick, say something to distract me!"

The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Such as what, exactly?"

"I don't know! Anything!" she whined, shuddering at the sound of more sausage passing through the grinder.

"Well…" An idea entered her mind, and Scarlett let out a small smile. "I saw you and Tyler together after you both fell. It was very… cute."

Despite her lack of comfort, that got Lindsay to smile. "Yeah, we are a pretty cute couple, huh? And Tyler like, totally gets me, you know? And he doesn't make fun of me for not remembering stuff or not understanding it right away."

"You two do seem made for each other," Scarlett easily agreed. "Which is why it would be a real shame if one of you was voted off early, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, it would be super bad. Thank goodness I won't have to worry about that."

That response got her to pause. "...And why is that?"

"Because of our alliance, of course!" Lindsay said, as if it were obvious. "The one that me and Tyler have with Caitlin and Trent."

Scarlett froze, though thankfully the blonde still had her eyes closed. "I… see," she managed to reply. She had already suspected the two of them to be in an alliance with Caitlin, what with how obviously close the two blondes were. In fact, she had been hoping to join them. Trent also being a part of it was something she hadn't been aware of, and that meant they only needed a fifth if they wanted to lock down the next vote instead of settling for a tie.

So she could offer that and guarantee she made it through at least the next elimination… or use this knowledge to finally get the alliance she actually wanted. Out loud, she said "I'm happy for you, then. Maybe this time you'll stay together long enough to merge together."

"Oh, that would be awesome, wouldn't it?" Lindsay replied, grinning at just the thought and missing Scarlett's smile grow.

With Team Chris is Really, Really, Really, Really Hot, Nikki had volunteered to be the one that shoved the meat down into the grinder. As she did that, the smell wafted up to her and she nearly gagged. "Ugh, this stuff reminds me of Stick-It…" she groaned, before using her shovel to smack the top of the meat pile and force it in deeper.

"Less talking, more packing!" Fin urged her as she turned one of the cranks.

The purple-haired girl glared down at her. "Hey, at least I'm being useful!" she said, before pointing to the edge of the hill. That was where Sierra had taken a sizable portion of their sausage meat and was using it to build a snowman made of meat (a meatman?) whose head was shaped like Cody's. She smiled and gave it a kiss on the lips, completely discarding the fact it was made of raw sausage.

Katie frowned at the sight. For reasons she couldn't identify, Sierra kissing even just the image of Cody irked her. "If we don't use all the meat, I don't think we'll get a full sausage," she pointed out.

"She's right," Duncan agreed, stabbing his shovel into the snow before walking over to Sierra. He tapped her on the shoulder, and when the super-fan looked back, he said "Hey, we're gonna need that to finish the challenge. Hand it over."

Sierra's eyes widened. "What?! But… But I just finished making it!"

"And I'm glad you had fun doing so instead, you know, being useful," he snapped. "But now it's time you actually contributed to this challenge and started shoveling. Unless you want us to lose?"

She scowled, but looked past him at the real Cody. She saw him watching the other teams with a worried look, and she glanced at them as well. Most of them were making steady progress on her sausage, while her team was falling behind. And the last thing she wanted was to risk her or Cody being voted off.

Her expression settled into a pout, and she looked away. "Fine, take my Cody statue and ground it to pieces. Hope that makes you happy."

"Actually, I think it will," he said, picking the statue up. He then turned around and threw it into the air with a grunt. It landed in the opening to the grinder, and Nikki obliged him by stomping it in. Sierra's horrified expression as Meat-Cody's face broke apart was satisfying enough that she could even ignore the smell.

Over the next few minutes, Team Tempest managed to shovel and grind over half the needed meat for their sausage. The casing was starting to get taut enough that they actively needed to hold onto it to prevent it from coming off the exit of the grinder. As he and Heather did that, Owen got a front-row seat to see all the meat as it filled up.

"Hmm… That ground-up sausage looks pretty good," he said, starting to salivate the longer he stared at it. "I bet it's spicy too…" Without even noticing, he started to lean down and bring his face closer to the exit, mouth opening wider.

That stopped when Heather reached over and smacked him on the back. "Hey!" The large boy flinched and looked over at her, then flinched again at the glare she was giving. "I am not about to let you eat our ride down the hill, you giant glutton! So snap out of it and focus on keeping that casing on!"

"Alright! I will, I will!" he hastily agreed, standing straight and tightening his grip on the casing. "Sheesh…"

Confessional Stall - Owen

"I never did think Heather was that nice, but seeing her glare at my buddy Al all the time really drives it home. If there was one person on this team I'd vote for when asked, it'd be her. Well, her and Courtney, I guess."

With all three teams properly motivated and kept on track, they were able to move like clockwork when it came to shoveling sausage into the grinder and processing it. As the fifteen-minute mark neared, they were each able to fill their casings to capacity and then tie them shut.

Once the timer ran out, Chef blew the alphorn again and Chris called "Time!" The host walked over and inspected each sausage. "Well, at least those of you that don't win have a promising career in the meat-processing industry," he remarked. "Now, each team, push your sausages to the edge of the hill and get on. At my signal, one of you will give your team a push before getting on."

Tyler sighed in relief. If he was riding down the hill, that would give him time to rest his arms after turning that crank so much.

But then Caitlin turned to him and said "You're one of the strongest guys on the team. I think you should be the one to give us a push!"

He froze, and one look at his team showed that none of them had a problem with that suggestion. In fact, Lindsay even nodded in agreement. Seeing that, he put on a smile and puffed his chest. "Y-Yeah! I got this!"

With Team Chris, Brody rubbed his arms and said "Hey, you guys mind if someone else gives a push? I'm kinda sore from all that turning." Beside him, Fin worked her arm up and down, then winced and nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, I can give us a good shove," Duncan assured him as he started to push their sausage into place.

"Works for me," Cody said, moving to assist him.

As Noah helped Alejandro push their sausage, he said "I think Owen should be the one to push us."

Courtney gave him a raised eyebrow. "Why's that? Wouldn't stronger be better? Someone like Heather, Alejandro or me?"

"You are pretty strong, but there's more to consider than that," he replied. Seeing he had the rest of his team's attention, he continued "It's simple physics: the more weight we have on our sausage at the start, the harder someone will have to push to get us moving. And given Owen's… mass… I think it'd be better if he gave us a push, then hopped on once we're already in motion."

Alejandro slowly nodded. "I see your point, and I'm inclined to agree." Looking back at the large teen, he said "Owen, can we trust you to push us as hard as you can?"

That got Owen to grin, and he called "You can count on me, Al!" In doing so, he completely missed the twitch in Alejandro's eye.

Once all three teams were in position, Chris held up his hand. "Auf die Plätze… fertig… los!"

On the final call, Chef brought his lips to the horn and blared another loud, rumbling note. Owen, Tyler and Duncan all gave their team's sausage as hard a push as they could. Out of the three of them, Duncan was the one that managed to push theirs the farthest. He immediately grabbed the back and pulled himself on, and Fin called "Let's go, whoo!" as they started going down the hill.

Team Tempest went over the edge a bit more slowly. However, once Owen hopped in, they immediately started going much faster. "Now this is what I'm talking about!" Gwen declared as they started racing down the hill.

The only team to not start going downhill was Team Diamonds. "Hey, what gives?" Caitlin asked, looking back at Tyler.

The jock grimaced. "It's not as easy as it looks, you know!" Then he turned and rammed his shoulder into the sausage. That gave it enough of a jolt to start sliding downhill, and he quickly caught up and jumped on. "Alright, let's win this!" he cheered.

Chris waited until all three of them were moving before cupping his hands around his mouth. "One thing I almost forgot: watch out for the rabid mountain goats! They're a teensy bit deadly!"

Katie paled. "Rabid what?!"

They got their answer less than a third of the way down the hill. Standing in the way were no less than three goats. Each of them appeared small and fairly harmless, with cutesy faces and bells attached to their collars. That cuteness lasted until one of them opened their mouth to reveal two rows of extremely sharp teeth. Then it let out a roar loud enough for them to feel it in their bones, which the other two soon joined in on.

Seeing the one in front of them tense its hind legs, Liam's eyes widened. "Lean right! Right!" he urged the rest of his team. They all did and the sausage began turning to the right just as the goat leaped at them. Its teeth snapped shut around the spot where Heather's head would have been. The goat then landed in the snow with a roll before hopping to its feet and chasing after them.

"Duck!" Leshawna called.

"I think you mean 'goose'," Lindsay began before the larger girl simply grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down. The rest of Team Diamonds also ducked, and the goat leaping at them soared straight overhead.

Team Chris is Really, Really, Really, Really Hot did not manage to either duck or dodge. Instead Brody, who was seated at the front of their sausage, managed to catch their goat by the neck. It snarled and snapped its teeth inches away from his face. His eyes widened as it flailed around with enough strength to nearly make him lose his grip. "Uh, guys? A little help?!" he called, holding it up higher.

But it turned out he didn't need any, as that was the moment when they passed under a tree branch. Said branch snagged on the goat's collar and ripped them out of his hands. The small creature roared and continued thrashing around, but didn't have the necessary limbs to reach up and free itself.

"Nice one, dude!" Cody told him before looking ahead. "Uh, rock incoming!" The others looked ahead and saw that they were indeed on a crash-course with a large boulder set in the snow.

Daphne looked around and spotted a large stick that they were also getting close to. Looking at Nikki behind her, she said "Hold my waist!" before leaning over the side and reaching for it with both hands. The pierced girl was quick to grab the brunette's waist before she fell off, and Daphne was able to grab the stick before driving it into the ground and pushing. That push turned them just enough to avoid the rock, making her sigh in relief.

Alejandro saw that and was quick to grab the next tree limb within arm's reach. As they came within the path of a large tree, he steered them around it. Noah looked back and gave a reluctant nod. "Good thinking," he said.

"Yeah, great job, Al!" Owen called.

Although he kept his face forward, that didn't stop his expression from darkening at hearing that. Looking back, he could also see the rabid goat still hot on their heels. With that in mind, he used the stick to push them into the path of a small rock. The sausage was large enough to go right over it, but the impact didn't give the whole team a bump and slowed them down slightly.

The goat, expected, immediately leaped at the opportunity. Literally so, as it sprang forward and sank its teeth into the back of Owen's shorts.

"Yaaaaah!" Owen screamed, nearly leaping off the sausage. He reached back and tried to pull the goat off, but it snarled and held fast. "It's trying to take a bite out of my butt!"

It took every ounce of focus Alejandro had to pay attention to the ground ahead and avoid smiling. While he moved them out of the way of the next rock, Noah did look back at Owen. "You can't shake him off?"

"I'm trying!" he called back, shaking and pulling the goat to get them to let go. Instead they tightened their jaws and sank their teeth in further. "Ow, ow, OW! This hurts so bad!"

Noah cast his gaze around for anything that might help… then his eyes landed on the sausage they were riding. After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the casing and pulled it with both hands. A small hole tore open and, before he could even reach in, raw meat immediately started oozing out. He quickly scooped up some and looked back. "Hey, goat! Fetch!" he yelled, and threw the handful of meat over the animal's head.

As it passed over them, the goat's nostrils flared. When the smell hit them, their eyes widened and they immediately let go of Owen's butt. They briefly tumbled through the snow before recovering and making a beeline for where the meat had landed, ignoring them completely.

The sight of the goat getting smaller as they got away made Owen sigh in relief. "Thanks, Noah. You're a real pal," he said, rubbing his rear.

Noah smirked. "Don't mention it," he said, before focusing ahead. The bottom of the hill was coming up fast. Thanks to that minor speed bump, Team Chris had managed to pull ahead while Team Diamonds was neck and neck with them. And not only that, but he had to keep both hands over the hole he made, or meat would start spilling out and their ride would deflate.

Harold looked over at Team Tempest's sausage, then to the upcoming finish line. "Hmm… I got an idea!" he called. "Everyone, try and lay against the sausage as flat as you can!"

Rather than argue, the rest of his team took his suggestion and leaned forward, hugging their ride. With less of them standing up the air resistance decreased slightly, and they started to inch ahead. It also increased the gap between them and their goat, who was still following behind.

That was when Fin looked back and saw both teams on their heels. "We've got company!" she called. "Do what they're doing and lie flat!"

Duncan looked back as he did that. He quickly spotted the stick Alejandro was using to steer, and a moment later he saw Noah holding shut the hole he had made. An idea came to him, and he smirked. "Hey, Al!" he called.

Alejandro looked up at him with an annoyed glare, which the criminal ignored. He then held up his hands and mimed stabbing something with a spear before nodding towards Team It took a moment for the meaning to click, but once it did Alejandro looked down at his stick. Then he smiled and gave Duncan a nod. He sat up and adjusted his grip on the stick, holding it like a javelin.

The teen took a deep breath, aimed and then threw his stick… at Team Chris.

The stick struck the side of their sausage and took through a long slit in the casing. "Hey!" Nikki shouted, but by then the damage was done. Meat immediately began spilling out by the armful. That in turn caused the sausage to begin deflating on veering to the right. Which in turn put them directly into the path of Team Diamonds.

They had just enough time for their eyes to widen and Tyler to shout "Oh, crap!" before the two sausages crashed into each other. Members from both teams were flung high into the air before landing in the snow. And they didn't stop moving once they landed, but instead each of them started rolling downhill. Bits of sausage also flew in every direction, which did a great job of stopping the mountain goat from pouncing on any one of them.

Heather observed the unfolding chaos with a grin. "Later, losers!" she called just before the ground started to level out. It took less than half a minute for them to reach and cross the finish line. The moment they did, Chef blew his horn to signal their victory and all eight of them started cheering.

"Congratulations on making it down the mountain first, Team Tempest!" Chris called. "And it looks like the first ones to come in second are…" He waited a moment for the rest of the teens to snowball down the hill. Given that their crash had catapulted them forward, the first ones to stumble across the finish line were Caitlin, Leshawna, and soon their teammates. "Team Diamonds! Which means that Team Chris will be the ones with the largest disadvantage in the final part of the challenge!"

That last part was said just as Duncan rolled into earshot. Spitting out a mouthful of snow, he shouted "That's complete bull, man! There's no way interference like that is allowed!" The fact that he had been the one to encourage such interference went unsaid.

Fin was next to make it, and she added "Totally agree, that was unsportsmanlike conduct down to a T!"

"He never said it wasn't allowed. And I had to do what was best for my team," Alejandro declared, placing a hand over his heart. That statement got him some smiles from Noah, Owen and Gwen while Heather narrowed her eyes.

The host nodded. "That's true; if I had a problem with you interfering with each other, I'd have said something. Maybe if you were a bit more ruthless and tried it yourselves, you might have won that." That got both Fin and Duncan to grit their teeth as the rest of their team made it to the bottom of the hill. "Now, before we get to Part Drei, we have some 'awards' to dish out. For being the winners of the race, Team Tempest gets to wear these!"

An intern handed him an armful of olive green Tyrolean hats, each of which also had a small red feather attached to the side. One was tossed to each member of Team Tempest, who warily put them on. "Those hats were made to be almost as light as the feathers on them. Other than making you look silly, you should hardly even notice they're there," Chris told them. He was then handed a second set of hats and turned to Team Diamonds. "For taking the middle place, you eight will do the last part wearing these heavy fur 'ushankas'."

Harold nearly dropped his hat as it was thrown at him. Holding up the hat by its ear flaps, he frowned and asked "If this is supposed to be a German challenge, why are we wearing these? Ushankas are a Russian hat design."

"Maybe, but they were worn in by plenty of people in East Germany," Chris pointed out. "Now, for ending up in last, Team Chris is Reeeeaaaally Hot will be wearing these!" Rather than toss them to the teens, the interns instead handed them their hats: traditional German military helmets complete with a spike on the top. Unlike normal ones, however, these weren't made of leather with a metal trim and instead were made entirely of iron.

Katie put her helmet on and almost immediately fell forward. "These things are really heavy!" she whined. "I can barely keep my balance with this on!"

Chris nodded. "That's the idea. After all, you're really gonna want your balance for what comes next. Speaking of which, if I could direct all your attention over here…"

They looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a large wooden platform. On top of it were nine separate squares, each of which was further divided into nine tiles, four with arrows on them and five between them that were solid white.

Liam's eyes narrowed. "Those look a lot like the kind of areas they have for…" Then his face went pale. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes. The final segment of today's challenge will be a dancing competition!" the host declared. That got him cheers from a few of the contestants, particularly Brody, Sierra, Heather, Owen and Leshawna. Some of the others, including Duncan, Liam and Scarlett, sprouted grimaces instead. Chris continued "Each team will nominate three people to be their dancers. Those nine competitors must learn a traditional German dance from Chef and perform it on these mats."

Harold gave the platform a wary look. "And what makes them so special?"

"I'm glad you asked, Harold! Each of these is wired to deliver an electric shock to whoever's standing on it if they get a dance move wrong!" Chris happily revealed. "It'll be fun and entertaining, I'm sure. The last person left standing wins the challenge for their team, and the first team to run out of dancers will be going to elimination. Oh, and Team Me, don't think I've forgotten about your 'reward': once you've decided who your dancers are, you'll also have to decide which of them will be wearing the lederhosen!"

Chef held up the tiny outfit once again, making over half the team gulp.

Confessional Stall - Cody

"Look, I would do just about anything to keep Katie and the other girls from seeing me in basically a German bikini."

"Uh-uh, man. I'm out, both on the dancing and that outfit," Duncan declared.

Nikki added "Well, I'd be willing to dance, but no way am I putting that thing on."

Cody gulped and moved closer to Sierra. She instantly noticed and looked his way. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he said "You, I think those hosen would really…" He gulped. "Hot on you."

Sierra gasped. "Really?! Pick me! Guys, pick me!" she shouted, raising both hands and jumping up and down. "I'll dance wearing the lederhosen! Let me do it!"

Daphne gave her a confused look, not having heard the exchange. "Uh… sure, I guess. I don't have a problem with her being one of the dancers."

Chris cleared his throat. "Funny, I was going to let you pick. But now that you want to wear them… Katie, you're wearing the lederhosen!" he announced, tossing them to her.

"No!" Sierra cried, while Katie shrugged.

Brody, who was cool no matter who wore it, said "I can be one of the other dancers, if you guys want."

Fin gave him a look over. "How good are you at dancing?"

"I think I do pretty good, as long as it's fun," he honestly replied. "I got great balance and a lot of energy, too."

The blonde surfer thought it over a moment, then nodded. "I'd be willing to take the risk and have you be our second dancer. Who's number 3, then?"

Katie bit her lip, then slowly raised her hand. "Um, I think I could do a good job. Me and Sadie used to dance together all the time… in our rooms back home," she admitted, her face slowly turning back from embarrassment. "I think I got pretty good at it."

While some of them appeared receptive to the idea, neither Duncan or Nikki did. The latter was the first to respond, saying "I don't know. That's two final parts of a challenge in a row we'd be relying on you for, one of which we lost. I'm not keen on taking a risk like that."

Katie looked for her to her other teammates. At seeing some of them, especially Brody and Daphne, appeared convinced by that, she felt a surge of panic. If her team thought she couldn't be relied on, she was almost guaranteed to be voted out next. "T-Then let me prove I can be reliable! I'll be the last dancer standing, I promise!"

Duncan visibly mulled that idea over. "I suppose letting you try wouldn't be the end of the world…" She started to smile when he suddenly smirked. "But… if you screw this up and we end in last place again, you're definitely going to be the one taking the Drop tonight."

That caused her to freeze. However, when Daphne, Fin and Nikki all nodded in agreement, she realized backing out now would just be worse. "O… Okay. Yeah. Yeah! I've got this!" she called, pumping her fist to hype herself up.

Not far away, Team Tempest was having their own discussion. Heather started by saying "Seeing as I've actually taken dance classes before, I obviously should be one of the dancers."

"You took ballet dancing," Courtney pointed out. "And if we're considering people with prior teaching, then Liam should be one as well."

The redhead winced. "I was hoping you weren't going to mention that. I feel like I already fulfilled my quota for doing stupid dances on camera in previous seasons."

"Well, we all know I can be a… bit of a klutz," Bridgette admitted. She rubbed her arm and looked away. 'So I think I shouldn't be one of the dancers."

Alejandro smiled. "I appreciate such honesty. It really shows how much you care about the team," he told her. That got her to look away with a small blush, and he focused on Liam. "As for you, amigo, I too have great dancing skills that I prefer to only use in private. If you are willing, I could do you a favor and be one of the dancers for you."

Confessional Stall - Alejandro

"I actually don't mind dancing in front of others at all. But letting Liam think we have something in common will make him more likely to trust me."

The slacker's eyes narrowed. If Alejandro had offered to take his place without some sort of repayment, he'd have refused. But since he mentioned a favor in exchange, that actually made Liam less wary. "I reserve the right to refuse said favor… but otherwise, sure."

"So we've got one dancer figured out," Gwen said. "If she's willing to put her neck on the line, I suppose we could let Heather volunteer. That way if we finish in third, we already know who to vote for."

The queen bee reared back. "Excuse me? Why would I agree to be eliminated if we end in last?!"

"Because we'll be relying on you to win, Ms. Ballet Class," Courtney snapped, stepping close to get in her face. "If you want to say you're such a great dancer, then put your money where your mouth is. And if you lose or refuse, then we know you're all talk."

Heather glared at her for a moment, then glanced at the rest of the team. All of them, even Noah and Owen, appeared interested if she really was still going to volunteer despite knowing the risks. "Rrrr… fine! But if he drops before me," she said, pointing at Alejandro. "Then he's out instead."

"That sounds fair to me," Liam quickly agreed, delighting in seeing Al's smile falter. "As for the final dancer, I think Courtney is our best chance."

Gwen frowned, unsure if she should be offended by that. On the one hand, that clearly implied that Courtney was a better dancer than her. But on the other, she hadn't really wanted to dance to begin with… Ultimately, she shrugged and said "Unless no else wants to volunteer…"

The other members of Team Tempest looked at each other, but no protests were raised. Courtney smiled and stepped forward. "Don't you all worry, I've got this."

"Let's hope so," Noah remarked.

Team Diamond's discussion over the dancers was much shorter by comparison. "Put me in! Everyone knows I've got killer dance moves," Harold declared, working his shoulders from side to side.

"Ain't no lie there, bro," Ezekiel agreed. "Heck, between you and Leshawna, we got enough."

Leshawna smiled at that. "Thanks for saying that, short stuff," she told him before looking at her team. "You make me one of the dancers, and there ain't no move they can throw at me that I won't do."

The sheer confidence in her tone was enough to make Lindsay and Tyler start to nod. Harold was already doing so, as was Ezekiel. Seeing all that, Scarlett shrugged and said "I'm fine with you and Harold both being dancers. Who shall be our third?"

Ezekiel shook his head. "Not me. I can drop a killer beat, but I ain't a dancer."

"Oh, oh, I can do it!" Lindsay called, raising her hand. "I've danced plenty as part of being a cheerleader!"

Trent frowned. "That's not exactly the same…" Then he shrugged. "But better than what I've got."

"I think she'd be great at it!" Tyler declared, stepping next to Lindsay and placing an arm around her waist. "I bet if we give her a chance, Lindsay could dance better than anyone hear."

While the blonde in question blushed at the praise, Caitlin smiled. "I'd be more than happy to give her a shot. Anyone against having Lindsay as our other dancer?" The rest of Team Diamonds shook their heads, and she said "Alright, it's settled. Go wow 'em, bestie."

Lindsay grinned and nodded. "You betcha!"

Confessional Stall - Scarlett

"Unfortunately, having both Harold and Leshawna dancing means I can't talk with them about the threat that is Lindsay's alliance. And I don't trust Ezekiel to keep his mouth shut enough to start talking about it with him." She sighed. "But it's fine. I still have time, and I won't have to worry about it anyway if we get first or second."

Once the dancers were picked and Katie given a moment to change, the nine teens were spread out across the dancing mats, which had been separated into groups of three. In one cluster was Sierra, Alejandro and Lindsay, while the middle trio was Katie, Heather and Harold and to the right was Brody, Courtney and Leshawna.

As Katie shuffled in place with a grimace, Heather couldn't help but smirk. "How's the hosen treating you?"

"Ugh. It feels like I have a wedgie that's getting a wedgie of its own," she whined, pulling at the seat of her breeches. Compared to her usual top and shorts, the outfit didn't cover any less. However, it was far tighter around the waist, the bottom of the breeches, and her shoulders. The colors also clashed horribly (in her opinion), and the metal helmet she had to wear made the whole thing even worse. "I don't know if I can do this…" she said, looking over the platform at her team.

She was able to catch sight of Cody, who had been staring in her direction. The moment she turned around, he blinked and focused on her face. "Oh, I… I think you can!" he quickly said. But she could see the honesty in his expression when he added "With how much you and Sadie loved to dance, I don't doubt our chances for a moment."

Katie smiled. "Thanks, Cody. I'll do my best," she said. Not only had the encouragement felt great, but she could swear Cody had been staring at her butt in this outfit. In fact, he might do it again once she started dancing. A quick glance to the side also showed that Sierra had crossed her arms and had her lips pursed like she had been forced to suck a lemon. That just made her smile widen.

Chef blew his horn to shut them all up, then stepped forward in the middle of the ground in front of the platform. "All of y'all be quiet and pay attention!" he snapped. Tossing the horn to the side, he moved his feet apart and raised his arms. "Follow my lead, and you might be able to avoid gettin' zapped."

The nine dancers glanced at each other before also raising their arms.

Music began in the background, the most prominent of which was an accordion. As Chef began dancing, he also called out each of his movements for them to follow. "Right knee up, left arm swings! Stomp, hop, slap your thighs! Kick your butt, jump and clap!"

Confessional Stall - Sierra

"I was really hoping to wear that outfit and have Cody's eyes on me instead of that floozy! Still, at least I can pull this challenge off. After all, my grandparents are German, so I'm, like, a tenth-generation slap dancer! It's what kept me alive on the school playground… and probably why I didn't make any friends." She briefly looked up at the thought before shaking her head. "But who needs friends when you have a Cody?"

Once Chef had finished showing them the rest of the dance sequence a single time, it was up to the contestants to remember them all. "Everyone ready?" Chris asked, and each of them nodded after taking their place on one of the mats. "Alright, then on my mark… get set…"

Ding-ding!

Heather's eyes widened. "Oh, crap."

"And music time! You nine, start dancing and singing!" the host declared.

Background music consisting of an electric beat and accordions immediately started playing, and Harold glared at him. "How come only we have to sing and everyone else doesn't? That seems really unf–Gaaah!" he started, before being cut off as the mat detected his lack of dancing and gave him shock for it.

"Because I was this challenge to be challenge-ing. And forcing you to both remember dance moves and improvise lyrics at the same time will that get done," he replied. "Now get moving, unless you feel like getting zapped."

Courtney smirked. "And here I thought none of this challenge would be fun," she said. Then she started moving, fluidly repeating the dance moves Chef had shown. At the same time, she began "Step to the beat and don't fall behind. Perfect form is how I shine. Right, left, stomp in time. Get this right, and victory is mine!"

Leshawna was the next fastest to fall into rhythm. She stomped hard, then hopped and slapped her knee. "I didn't come this far just to fall, so I'll outdance every one of y'all." She kicked her heel back, jumped and clapped her hands overhead. "Try to keep up, go ahead. But blink once and you're as good as dead."

Seeing her encourage Harold to start moving as well. And once he started, he quickly fell into the rhythm as well. "Every move is calculated with grace, so watch as I dominate this place." His stomp was much lighter, and he swung both arms to the sides as he jumped. "One misstep could end my game. But this kind of tension just fans my flame."

Across the platform, Brody was getting into and adding in an extra move between each of the ones that was required. This meant he was dancing twice as fast as everyone else, enough to nearly blur. "This is wild, bro, I'm loving this! Spin and jump, you can't miss this!" While a few of the others blinked at him rhyming 'this' with 'this', the surfer boy was more focused on doing a jump and spin while clapping before landing with a raised knee that he slapped. "Keep it loose, just ride the flow. Stay on beat and steal the show!"

By contrast, Katie was not throwing in any extra moves. In fact, the ones she was doing were stiff and cautious thanks to both her outfit and the weight of her helmet. "Okay, okay, just don't mess up. I've danced plenty of times, so no biggie, yep! Step by step, I'll make it through," she sang. As she raised her knee and was about to stomp, the helmet shifted and threw her off balance. She quickly staggered back and missed her cue completely. "Gotta prove what I–OW!" she cried out as the mat shocked her.

"Focus!" Sierra hissed at her before focusing on her own movements. She wasn't missing a single one, performing the slap-dance routine with clear expertise even with her helmet on. Her knee lift was sharp, the slap wasn't too harsh, and she jumped just high enough to come back down stomp again at the right time. "Cody's watching, so I won't fail, or so help me I'll eat my ponytail. Every move has to be just right with my future husband in sight!"

As Heather moved with all the grace that her ballet classes had given her, she couldn't help but snicker at Lindsay's dancing. Said blonde wasn't doing bad by any stretch, but that didn't mean she couldn't say something to throw her. "Oh please, this whole thing is nothing cool, and even then you manage to look like a fool," she sang. "Now watch me dance and slay. This is how you do it, 'cause I'm not going home today!" Her right knee drove up, left arm swinging perfectly across her body. Her stomp was clear and sharp, and her hands slapped her thighs exactly on the beat. Then she jumped, kicked back and clapped midair before landing squarely on her tile.

The blonde watched her and bit her lip, flattering slightly as a sense of uncertainty rose up in her. But that only lasted until Alejandro leaned over. "Ignore those who don't know fabulous dancing when they see it. Truly, you are fabulous, and everyone knows it, especially Tyler. Don't hold back and show him what you can do!" he whispered.

Lindsay looked behind her at Tyler. Although he hadn't heard their exchange, he immediately gave her a grin and a supportive thumbs-up anyway. The sight of that, combined with the Hispanic teen's words, was enough to light a fire in her. "You know what, you're right. Step aside, people, because it's for this cheerleader to dance it!"

As she exploded into action, Alejandro looked over at Heather. "I'm disappointed, Heather. You're above such petty taunts," he said with a small shake of his head.

Confessional Stall - Heather

"The heck I am! Ugh, there is nothing I want more than to smack that arrogant faker and get rid of his entire 'good guy' act. And I know it's an act; no one that hot is also a good person inside!" she declared, crossing her arms. A moment passed, then she blinked as she realized what she just said. "Wait, I mean no one that–!"

"Kick and clap and turn around, jump and hope that I don't land face-down!" Lindsay cheered as she danced, jumping higher than anyone else. At the height of her jump, she even did a forward flip. She landed on both feet with a huge grin and immediately kept moving. "Smile big and keep it cute as I dance in heeled boots!"

Leshawna glanced down at that and visually confirmed that Lindsay was indeed slap-dancing in her normal footwear. She smiled and called "That's it, girl! Keep it up!" Not one to be outdone, she also started dancing with more enthusiasm. As she did, she sang "Stomp to that beat and move those hips, make up some lyrics 'cause we got no scripts. You better hope and you better pray, 'cause I got the skills to blow y'all away!"

Seeing both girls so fired up after Alejandro's words, Courtney leaned over in his direction. "What are you doing?! Why are you giving encouragement to the enemy?!"

"Don't worry, it's all part of the plan," Alejandro assured her. That got her to frown further, not enjoying being left out of the loop on any sort of plan. However, he ignored her and faced the camera. He still needed to do at least some singing to stay in. With that in mind, he took a breath and said "German dancing may not be my forte, but neither was riding a sausage sleigh. So I'll keep doing my best for the sake of my team. And in the end, it'll be us Tempests who reigns supreme!"

That was when the background music ended with a clash of cymbals, making Chris shake his head. "Aw, man, I was hoping at least one of you would get eliminated during that part."

Harold smirked. "Sorry Chris, but no musical challenge can match my awesome moves. Like this!" He then crouched, placed a hand on the ground and started to spin around on one hand. However, he almost immediately heard a loud buzzer before feeling a current run through the platform and up his arm. "Yowowowow!" he shouted, dropping onto the mat. Which in turn meant that he missed the next move, and so another shock was sent through.

The redhead flailed around for nearly five whole seconds before he was finally able to roll off the mat. He kept rolling right off the platform and into the snow, a small trail of smoke rising up from his back.

"You okay there, baby?!" Leshawna called, slowing down as she looked over in concern.

Harold groaned and weakly gave her a thumbs-up. Heather chuckled at the sight, causing the other girl to whip her around to look at her. "Wow, those moves were really awesome. They kind of reminded me of a dying fish."

Before Leshawna could shout back, she was surprised when Caitlin did it for her. "You're one to talk!" she yelled from the sidelines. "I thought you were supposed to be a ballet dancer, but it looks more like a headless chicken routine!"

"Oooh, burn!" Tyler chortled.

That got the queen bee to round on her instead. "I'm surprised you could even tell what a chicken is. Seems to me like all you'd know is what shoes match well with your top!"

Now Lindsay frowned as well. "Hey, are you trying to call my bestie stupid? 'Cause she's not!"

"Yeah!" Caitlin nodded. "I'll have you know that putting together a good outfit on the fly in any situation is harder than it sounds!"

Heather rolled her eyes and turned to Lindsay. "Of course you'd be the one to think she's smart. Do you think you and her are friends because you both have more bleach in your hair than brains?" she asked, before glancing over at Tyler. "It certainly explains your taste in men."

That got Tyler to glare at her while Caitlin and Lindsay both gasped.

Confessional Stall - Lindsay

"I know I'm not the smartest person around, so you can say it about me all you want. But nobody insults my friends or my boyfriend!"

The blonde's shocked expression soon turned into a glare. She grit her teeth and crouched, making Heather raise an eyebrow. "Let's see if you insult me after this! AAAAAA!" she screamed, before diving off her mat and tackling Heather around the waist.

Both of them rolled off the platform, limbs flying and shouts ringing. "Oh, it is on!" Heather called, driving her fist into Lindsay's stomach.

The air was knocked out of her, but Lindsay didn't let go. In fact, she responded by tilting her head back before lurching forward, smacking her forehead with her own. Heather blinked several times in a daze, which Lindsay used as a chance to give her own punch to the ribs.

"This is for every mean thing you've ever said about me!" she cried.

The two of them continued rolling across the ground. Tyler debated for a moment about whether to intervene, before deciding that his girlfriend had this. "Whoo! You go, Linds!" he cheered while the other members of each team watched.

While the rest of the contestants on the platform would have liked to keep watching the fight as well, their attention was put back on the challenge when Chris pressed a button on a remote. The dancing mats started rising into the air on top of metal pillars, leaving all over teen feet above the ground. "Remember, the last one left standing wins!" he reminded them.

Courtney nodded and glanced down at her feet. "And that one is going to be me!"

"Pssh, you wish, girl," Leshawna replied. "But only one of us knows how to drop it like it's hot!"

She proceeded to do just that and the C.I.T. snorted. "Whatever, I can do that too!" As Courtney dropped down low, she also stuck out her left leg between Brody's. The surfer boy fumbled and nearly tripped over her ankle. While he was able to swing his arms and recover his balance, he did end up missing a move and getting a shock.

"Ow! Hey, that's interference!" he called.

She smirked. "Which Chris still hasn't said isn't allowed~," she taunted, jumping and swinging her leg back. As she came back down, she swung it forward and into his knee. He cried out and stumbled, and the mat gave him another shock. That was enough to make him lose his balance, and he cried out as he fell down below. "Maybe be a bit more ruthless next time!"

Bridgette ran over to Brody and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him out of the snow. Once his face was uncovered, she said "Don't listen to her, I think you did great."

He managed to give her a smile, saying "Thanks, Bridge. You're the best girlfriend a bro like Geoff could ask for."

Seeing her own teammate go down, Sierra briefly glared at Courtney before looking over at Chris. "So, just to be clear, we are allowed to try to force each other to fall?"

The host nodded. "I don't see why not. It is a slap-dancing competition, after all."

That was all the confirmation she needed, and the super fan gave Alejandro a vicious grin. So vicious, in fact, that he briefly paused. "Now, now, there's no need to be excess—" he started. Then he stopped when Sierra lunged sideways and swung both hands at him. Alejandro's eyes widened, and he bent backward just in time for the tips of her fingers to whiff past his nose. "Madre de Dios!"

"Der einzige Gott hier ist Cody!" she replied, spinning on one heel before trying to stomp on his foot.

Alejandro hopped back to avoid it, but doing so threw him out of rhythm. The mat buzzed and sent a shock through his legs. "Gah!" he cried, teeth clenching as his hair stood on end.

Courtney saw Sierra go after her teammate and smirked. She turned toward Leshawna, intending to sweep her leg out next. Unfortunately for her, Leshawna had been watching. The larger girl hopped over the sweep, landed and even slapped her thighs on beat. "Nice try, princess! But you ain't tripping me that easy!"

Compared to either duo, Katie was having a much easier time of it. After all, without Heather or Harold to try running interference, she was free to just dance to the beat without anyone to stop her. "You know, this is starting to feel kind of fun!" she said, though her helmet slipped down to cover her eyes as she said that. She smiled in her team's direction as she reached up to fix it, completely missing a glare from Sierra.

Said superfan could see that Cody still had eyes only for her despite the moves Sierra was putting out. Growling slightly, she turned and bumped her hip against Alejandro's side as hard as she could. His eyes widened as he was shoved toward the edge of his mat. He pinwheeled his arms, barely managing to step back into place before the sensors could shock him.

"This is for Cody!" she sang, going for another leg sweep that he hopped over. "This is for love!" He backed away from a headbutt and responded with a kick that she stepped out of the way of. "And this is for destiny blessed from above!" she called before bringing one leg in and doing a pirouette. She spun once, twice, three times, and on the last spin she stuck her leg out and caught Alejandro square in the chest.

The impact sent the surprised teen flying off both his mat and the platform. He landed in the snow a short distance away from Heather and Lindsay, who were still fighting. Heather briefly looked his way at the sound of him hitting the ground. Of course, Lindsay used the distraction to shove a handful of snow down the back of Heather's shirt.

"F#$% that's cold!" she shouted, before giving the blonde a nuclear-level glare. "You are so dead!"

Chris looked over the four remaining dancers and hummed. "You know, having two of you dance by yourselves won't be very exciting." Then he grinned. "Let's fix that, shall we?" He pressed another button on his remote and the platforms whose occupants had fallen retracted back into the platform. Meanwhile, the ones holding Sierra, Katie, Courtney and Leshawna moved closer until they were all dancing against each other. "There, that's much better!"

The four girls traded glances, sizing each other up. Courtney looked Leshawna in the eye, then jerked her chin towards the two members of Team Chris. Leshawna's gaze narrowed, but then she slowly nodded. The two of them then turned away from each other, with Courtney focusing on Sierra while Leshawna picked Katie.

The moment she noticed that she had the larger girl's attention, Katie's smile faded. "O-Okay, why are you looking at me like that?" she asked nervously while still trying to keep time with the music. "Because it feels a lot like how Sadie and I used to look at cupcakes right before eating them."

Leshawna rolled her shoulders while dancing in place. "Sorry, girl, but we ain't about to let Team Chris skate by with two dancers this late in the game. Look at this way: Now we get to see what you're really made of."

The music picked up speed again, accordion notes blending with a faster electric beat. All four girls immediately had to quicken their stomps and jumps.

"Kick, stomp, spin around!" Courtney called, movements still perfectly controlled despite the faster pace. "Jump, clap, stomp both feet, slap both thighs!"

Sierra did her best to keep up, but the weight of her helmet was making that harder than she would have liked. She missed one step and squeaked as the shock from it nearly made her lose her balance. Gritting her teeth, she managed to push through and keep dancing. "If you think I'll let you make my Cody sad by eliminating me, you've got another thing coming!"

She lunged forward and Courtney managed to sidestep the attack, but Sierra immediately followed with a spinning slap-dance kick aimed at her shin. Courtney hopped back while still keeping rhythm, though her expression had gone from smug to annoyed.

While Sierra occupied Courtney, Leshawna turned her focus fully toward Katie, causing her to gulp. She stomped hard, then swung her hip sideways into the thinner girl. Katie yelped and stumbled. Her heavy helmet slipped forward over her eyes again just as she tried to recover. The next shock from the mat made her hop forward, putting her only a foot away from the edge.

Seeing that made the super fan's eyes widen. "Look out!" she called.

However, Courtney immediately tried to take advantage of the distraction. She swept her foot towards her ankle. Sierra jumped over it by pure instinct, landed on beat, and retaliated by trying to tackle Courtney outright. Both girls locked hands and shoved against each other while still 'dancing'. In between stomps, kicks and attempts at elbowing each other, Courtney shouted "This dance… isn't very… traditional anymore, huh?"

"Love conquers all tradition!" Sierra replied, trying to return the favor and sweep Courtney's legs.

The C.I.T. smirked. Keeping her grip on Sierra's shoulders, she dropped onto her back and pulled her down with her. Before Katie could land on top of her, Courtney planted her feet against her stomach and pushed as she let go of her shoulders. The result was that Katie was thrown over her and into the air. "And skill conquers love!"

"Noooo!" Sierra cried out as she was thrown, sailing past the platform and landing right in the snow. Her legs flailed around as she tried to pull herself out, but to no success.

Chris cupped his hands around his mouth. "And Sierra takes an unwilling dive! Team Me is down to one dancer!"

Katie swallowed hard, realizing it was up to her. If that wasn't enough to put a weight on her shoulder, Duncan then called "No pressure or anything, but if you blow this, you're dead tonight!"

"Hey!" Cody exclaimed, giving the delinquent a glare.

"What? It'll motivate her, and it's true. After all, she blows two challenges for us in a row, she deserves to go down," he claimed with crossed arms.

Meanwhile, Leshawna kept dancing while eyeing Courtney. "Girl, you sure got hands. Then again, I knew you fought dirty after last season."

Courtney flipped her hair back. "Please. If you can't keep up, don't be proud and just admit it."

"Oh, I can keep up," she promised.

The music sped up again. Accordion notes shrieked while the beat intensified into a rapid-fire stomp rhythm. The remaining three girls immediately had to move faster, hopping and stomping in near-perfect sync just to avoid being shocked. Katie struggled to keep pace with both her heavy helmet and the lederhosen.

Fortunately, the other two girls had decided to focus on each other. "Left kick, right stomp, swing and spin!" Courtney said while attempting a shoulder-check.

Leshawna absorbed the hit and shoved right back. "You wanna dance dirty? Alright then!" She dropped low after a stomp, sticking one leg outward. Courtney jumped over it cleanly, but Leshawna immediately followed by grabbing Courtney's wrist and yanking her forward. That was enough to make her stumble, and therefore miss a step.

"Gaaah!" the C.I.T. shouted as she was shocked. She retaliated by spinning and angrily driving her hip into Leshawna's side. Now she was the one who stumbled and received a shock for it, but Leshawna grit her teeth and kept going. Their dance battle devolved into a mixture of slap-dancing and outright combat. Sweeps, shoulder-checks, hip bumps and arm shoves all mixed together while they somehow still stayed on rhythm.

On the next beat, Leshawna jumped, clapped, spun around, and stomped twice. Then, just when it seemed like she was done, she added an extra spin with her arms stretched wide. Courtney's eyes widened just before Leshawna's arm slammed into her shoulder like a clothesline. The blow caused her to stagger back several steps, and then her eyes widened when she tried to take another and realized she was at the edge.

Several of the other teens gasped, including most of Team Tempest. Even Heather and Lindsay, who were both holding handfuls of snow, stopped to watch.

But at the last second, Courtney planted one foot, regained her balance, and snapped back into the rhythm. "Nice try!" she called, before stepping closer and swinging her leg in an obvious high kick. Leshawna ducked under it only to realize too late that it was a feint. Courtney's foot hooked around her ankle and pulled, causing her to lose her footing. She wobbled on her other foot as she tried to pull away from Courtney, but focusing on that caused her to miss one of the dance moves.

"Owwww!" Leshawna yelled as she shook in place. The pain from the current briefly distracted her and, once again, Courtney took advantage. She leaned forward, grabbed Leshawna's shoulders, and spun with all her momentum. She sent Leshawna flying off the mat, clearing the edge of the platform and crashing into the snow below with a huge puff of powder.

For a moment, there was silence. Then Chris called "Leshawna is down! Which means that Team Diamonds are the losers of today's challenge!"

That entire team groaned, with Tyler shouting "Awwww, man!"

From her position on the ground, Heather gave Lindsay a smirk. "Guess your team really couldn't take the pressure, huh?"

"Oh, you want to talk about taking something?" Lindsay said, pulling her hand back. "Then how about you take this!" she shouted and swung. Before the queen bee could raise her arms to block, she slapped her on the side of the mouth hard enough that the impact echoed across the mountain. Not only that, but a single tooth flew out of Heather's mouth and landed in the snow.

Alejandro's eyes widened. "That's enough!" he called, running over and grabbing Heather by the shoulders. Gwen was right there with him, and she grabbed Lindsay before the two of them pulled the girls apart. "This has gone way too far!"

"No, it hasn't! She deserves that and worse!" Lindsay shouted, but she didn't try to struggle as her friend pulled her to her feet.

"Ain't that the truth!" Leshawna said as she pulled her head out of the snow.

Scarlett didn't shout or groan, but she did glare at Lindsay. Besides being sad at losing, the blonde didn't appear to have any other bad feelings. 'Even though she eliminated herself by attacking Heather,' the redhead thought. Lindsay had been dancing well before that; if she had kept her cool and stayed in, they may have stayed in the running.

Chris cleared his throat. Once attention was back on him, he said "Now we're down to our top two dancers: Katie and Courtney! Let's see which one makes the cut!"

Trent looked between the two girls and suppressed a snort. "This might be quick," he muttered, and Gwen nodded in agreement.

Nikki also heard it and frowned, saying "Hey, don't count her out yet."

Courtney rolled her shoulders. "Ready to lose?" she asked with a grin.

Katie adjusted her helmet nervously. Then, to the surprise of her team, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her expression hardened. "Not yet. After all the hours of dancing Sadie and I did in our rooms, there's no way I'm quitting now."

Despite herself, the C.I.T. couldn't help but be a little impressed at her determination. "Alright, your funeral."

The music intensified one final time, and both girls resumed dancing. "Stomp, clap, spin and kick!" Courtney recited confidently as she moved. "Honestly, this is getting kind of easy!"

Katie nearly missed a step trying to keep up, but at the last second she corrected herself. The next sequence started immediately after. A jump, then a clap, heel kick, a spin, and then two stomps. Both of them performed it easily enough, but at the end of it Courtney thrust her shoulder in Katie's direction. The lederhosen-wearing girl ducked under it and instinctively kicked outwards.

She managed to hit Courtney in the ankle nearly by accident, but even that glancing blow, combined with the C.I.T. overextending from the shoulder-check, was enough to knock Courtney off-balance. She stumbled back and yelped as the mat gave her a shock. Her leg muscles tensed and she couldn't react fast enough to make the next beat either. A second shock made her growl, but she managed to force her legs to start moving again.

Looking at Courtney's frustrated expression, Katie was struck by an idea. She put on a smile and called "Come on, Miss 'I Always Wanted to Be In A Musical'. This is your chance to really strut your stuff, and you're fumbling it!" As she said that, her movements also became less cautious. Her stomps were harder, her next jump was slightly higher, and her claps were even louder. Even with the heavy helmet and ridiculous lederhosen, she started finding the rhythm.

Brody watched with amazement. "Whoa… she's doing really good."

"She totally is," Cody agreed, not taking his eyes away from the sight of her dancing. Which Sierra was quick to notice and scowl over.

Courtney frowned as Katie suddenly spun around her cleanly while staying perfectly on beat. "Where was all this confidence earlier?"

"I was nervous earlier!" Katie replied. Then she bumped Courtney with her hip just as the C.I.T. was about to jump and do a kick. The unexpected contact threw her timing off, and instead of jumping she stumbled forward towards the edge of the mats.

"Ow!" she snapped as she received another shock, and now she glared daggers at Katie. "That's it, the gloves are coming off!"

The music sped up one final time, becoming almost absurdly fast. Even Chef looked impressed that the girls were keeping up. Courtney immediately tried going on offense again. She swung her leg low in another sweep that Katie jumped over. She then tried another shoulder check, but the other girl spun away as she came close. "Rrrr, will you stop dodging already?!" she shouted.

"Mmmm… Nope!" Katie replied, making sure to say it with a pop on the 'nope'.

From the sidelines, Liam saw the anger grow on his girlfriend's face and realized what was happening. "Aw, great," he muttered, palming his face. "She's losing her cool."

Sure enough, Courtney let out a shout before lunging forward. But this time, rather than back away, Katie caught and grabbed her by both arms. Courtney's eyes widened and she shouted "What are you doing?!"

"Something Sadie and I used to practice!" she called back, before turning.

Courtney was pulled off her feet and braced herself to start flying through the air as Katie spun around. But Katie didn't do that, and instead stopped and let go once she had turned around completely. Courtney was thrown to the edge of the mats and she scrambled to one knee. When she placed her hand on the ground and pushed off to stand, she heard that buzzer again before a current ran up her arm.

"Ow!" she shouted, jerking her arm back as she stood up. She started to take a step back before stumbling as she realized that there was no more mat behind her. Her arms windmilled to either side as she tried to keep her balance… and then the mat gave her one more shock. Her balance vanished completely, and she tumbled off the mat. She fell right down and landed on the platform with an undignified shriek.

Chef blew his horn to signal the end of the dance-off, and the music cut off as well. The mats lowered back down onto the platform, which Chris stepped onto and walked over to Katie. Raising her arm, he said "And there you have it! For the first time this season, Team Chris is Really, Really, Really, Really Hot has won a challenge!"

Team Chris burst into cheers, with several of them jumping up and down. "Whoo-hoo!" Fin shouted.

"Alright, that's how it's done!" Nikki said, sharing a high-five with Duncan.

"Katie, you were great!" Cody called. That one made Katie blush as she jumped down from the platform. However, Sierra grit her teeth and looked away with crossed her arms.

"Team Me, some of the finest strudel awaits you in first-class. Team Tempest, you get to enjoy being in not-winner-not-complete-loser purgatory. Team Diamonds, you're voting some out. I'll see you in the elimination cabin in a little while."

Confessional Stall - Sierra

"I'm glad that we won, but I can see that floozy falling for Cody before my very eyes! I mean, I understand the appeal, but I need to do something before she gets any wrong ideas. Cody is my future husband, no one else's!"

Cody

"Man, Katie really impressed me today. And not only that, but I'm starting to see that she's as cute as Gwen or Heather." A spot of pink appeared on his cheeks and he rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe… maybe getting to know her a bit more would be a great idea."

Gwen

"I guess Heather kind of helped us avoid losing by taking Lindsay out with her. Talk about taking one for the team," she said with a chuckle.

After the team loaded back onto the plane, it took off into the skies for their next destination. Alejandro had been walking through the cafeteria towards the economy class when Heather walked in front of him and crossed her arms. He came to a stop and winced at the sight of her face. The queen bee was sporting a black eye and swollen cheek as well as frayed hair from when some strands had been pulled out. And that was all in addition to her missing tooth.

"Alright, fess up," she told him. "You deliberately encouraged Lindsay to go all-out and I want to know why."

He raised an eyebrow and sniffed. "I think you've taken one too many slaps to the head."

"Ha! You can't fool me, I know when someone's working an angle," she claimed. "You're up to something."

Rather than deny it, he reached forward and raised her chin. "Do you know how great you look with that missing tooth? It really brings out the anger in your eyes."

Her eyes widened and she recoiled away from him. "You…! That is so…! Ugh!" she eventually shouted. She stomped past him with her hands balled into fists, making sure to shoulder-check him on her way past. He let it happen with a smirk, which just made her even madder.

Confessional Stall - Heather

"There is no way that walking rock-hard prime rib of a–" she started before freezing. "A jerkface isn't up to something. But what does he have to gain from tricking Lindsay into literally taking a dive for her team? Is he hoping to drive a wedge between her and the rest of her team or something?"

Scarlett was sitting in economy class and filing her nails. While she could have sought out her teammates herself, she knew she didn't need to. In fact, they would come to her. Sure enough, her attention was diverted when Harold and Leshawna sat down next to her. "I take you're here to make an offer?"

The other redhead frowned. "How could you tell?"

She resisted the urge to smile and put her file away. "Because both you and Leshawna were dancers in the final part of the challenge, same as Lindsay. She won't want to blame herself for our loss, so the next choice is to blame you two. And since you're not part of her alliance, that will make it easy to convince the rest of them to vote for one of you too."

Leshawna grimaced, but didn't deny any of it. "Yeah, that's about the size of it. And since we can count, we know that we need two other votes just to force a tie, three if we want to win the vote for sure. Ezekiel's already agreed to be one of them. If you agree to be the other, we'll both make that alliance you've been asking for."

Scarlett hummed, leaned forward and propped her chin up on her hand. "It sounds like a fair deal… but you're offering me something I already asked for when you were confident about getting through an elimination. Now that the odds have changed, the price for my vote has changed as well."

"Changed to what?" Harold asked with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, nothing unreasonable. But I know you trust Ezekiel more than me because of my relation to Liam. So I want ironclad insurance that you won't turn against me," she said, before sitting straight. "If I vote with you tonight, not only does this alliance last even after the teams merge, but I'll be the last person you ever vote for."

Both Harold and Leshawna stiffened at that before looking at each other. They know what she was asking was basically an agreement to go to the final three with her. Not only that, but Scarlett had spoken the truth: they didn't trust her, and negotiating like this only reinforced that feeling. Agreeing to a near-permanent alliance with her felt like agreeing to carry a scorpion across a rover and hoping it didn't sting you.

But… they needed her vote, no matter how they felt about it. Lindsay's bloc simply had too many people for the two of them to beat alone.

Harold exhaled through his nose before slowly nodding. Leshawna nodded as well before looking back at Scarlett. "You got a deal," she said, holding her hand out.

The bespectacled girl grabbed her hand and shook it with a smile. "Pleasure doing business with you," she stated, her tone containing a hint of smugness that she couldn't quite suppress.

"Now that you're on board, there's just one other thing," Harold said, getting her attention. "It would be better if we were able to get one more vote to avoid a tie-breaker challenge, but that would mean convincing someone in Lindsay's alliance to not vote for us. Any ideas who we might be able to talk to?"

That got all three of the others to frown. "I… don't know about that, dawg. Maybe Trent?" Ezekiel suggested, looking over at Leshawna. "You and Gwen are homies, right? Maybe tell him that by keeping you in the game, that'll improve her chances later on."

"Huh. That's actually not a bad idea," Leshawna said, starting to smile. "Yeah, we could offer them the chance to join us after the merge if Trent works with us now! We'll benefit now and later!"

Scarlett nodded and stood up. "If we have a plan, I'll leave it up to you. And when it's time to cast my vote, I'll do my part in keeping you both in," she told them before walking out of the cabin.

Harold gave Leshawna a huge smile. "I like this plan. Stuff like that reminds me that you're as smart as you are pretty."

That got her to blush slightly, and she scooted closer to him on the bench. He scooted over as well, and the couple looked at each other with half-lidded eyes. Ezekiel, correctly reading the room, cleared his throat and also stood up. "Well, I'm gonna just… yeah," he said, before walking out and leaving the two of them in private.

Once he was gone, the two of them leaned in and kissed.

However, while that was happening, Scarlett made a beeline for the cargo hold. As she suspected, she found both Tyler and Lindsay in there, making out.

When she cleared her throat, Tyler pulled away and gave her the stink-eye. "What do you want?" he demanded, clearly both annoyed and suspicious of her.

The latter she could understand while she barely avoided rolling her eyes at the former. Instead, she crossed her arms and said "I just had a very eventful conversation with Harold and Leshawna. Unless you want to risk your girlfriend getting eliminated by them, it'd serve you well to hear me out."

Lindsay stiffened. "Me, eliminated? How?! Why?!" she asked, beginning to panic until the jock wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

"The 'how' was Ezekiel's idea, which was to convince Trent to switch sides in exchange for an alliance after the merge. The 'why' is because you're the only one besides them that failed in the final challenge," she answered, walking over to a wooden crate covered by a tarp. She threw the tarp away and sat down, crossing one leg over the other. "But luckily for you, I have a way to prevent that from happening."

The couple looked at each other for a moment… and then back at her. "What way?" Tyler asked.

Just over an hour later, Chris had the team bearing his name gather in the elimination cabin. Next to his podium was a platter, which he held up. "I have eight contestants sitting in front of me, but only seven bags of the finest peanuts never to be handed out on commercial planes due to allergy-induced lawsuits. It's time to see who's going to get 'em!"

An intern then stepped forward and handed each of them a stack of passports. "You learned this last time, but just to be certain: The person whose passport you stamp is the one you don't want to live to the next round. Are we clear?" the host asked, looking directly at Lindsay.

She frowned. "I got it, I got it! Sheesh…"

"Alright, then everyone line up to take their turn voting in the confessional," Chris told them all.

Confessional Stall - Leshawna

"I do feel kind of bad about trying to eliminate Lindsay when she's never done me wrong. But it's got to be someone, and I'd rather it be her than me or Harold," she said, before stamping the passport with Lindsay's picture.

Lindsay

"Man, the idea that Leshawna would blame me for us losing just so she could stay in…" She frowned. "I mean, I guess it was kind of a bad thing when I tackled Heather and started fighting her. But it felt so good!"

Ezekiel

"Yo, you seein' this, dawgs? After two seasons of being in Liam's shadow, your boy's starting to make up strategies of his own!" he boasted, before bringing the stamp down on Lindsay's picture as well. "You just wait, this is the start of my rise to glory!"

Trent

The guitarist was biting his lip as he looked at two passports. "This is actually a lot harder than it seems. I mean, Leshawna's right about her and Gwen being best friends and all. But I know she's friends with Lindsay, too! So I'll make Gwen sad no matter which one of them I…" Then he blinked and slapped his forehead. "Of course, it's so obvious!" he declared before throwing both passports away and grabbing a third one.

Scarlett

In the privacy of the confessional, the redhead let her smug smirk out. "In situations like this, my idiot brother might have made a false deal with one faction in order to secure a real deal with the other. But I've positioned myself to get real and lasting benefits from both sides. All it takes is a little finesse."

Once each of them had their turn to stamp a passport, the entire pile of them was handed to the intern. They checked which ones had stamps and gave those to Chris, who counted them up. Then he said "Okay, the votes have been tallied and your decisions made. Leshawna…"

Her eyes widened and she gasped happily.

"You may or may not get a bag after I give this first one to Caitlin!" he continued, before tossing the bag behind her.

Caitlin caught the bag and let out a sigh of relief. She didn't think she had done anything to deserve being voted off, but one could never be too sure.

"And now Leshawna gets one," Chris said, and the larger girl nearly fell off her seat in her haste to catch the bag thrown at her. "After that, we have… Tyler!"

"Aw, yeah, baby! Whoo!" he called. Before he could be tossed the bag, he jumped to his feet and ran over to the podium, grabbing one right off the platter. "Ain't nothing gonna stop me now!"

"Yes, yes, you're very pumped. Now, get out of my shot!" Chris said, shoving the jerk out of the frame. He fell over and the peanuts spilled all over his front, but the host ignored that. "Next to survive is… Trent!"

He caught his bag of peanuts before giving a guilty glance towards Harold and Leshawna's group. To distract himself, he started to shove a handful of peanuts into his mouth before he froze and gagged at the taste.

"Scarlett…"

The redhead set her bag to the side once she caught it. Not only did she not enjoy the smell, but she cared more about what they represented: she had survived and was one step closer to that three million dollars. "Only three of you left. Who's gonna be lucky, and who isn't?" Chris asked.

Ezekiel and Harold glanced at each other before both of them looked at Lindsay. The blonde bit her lip and squirmed in her seat. Even an encouraging smile from Tyler wasn't even to get rid of the butterflies in her stomach. Similarly, as the two of them held hands, Leshawna reached over and grabbed her boyfriend's.

"Harold…"

The nerd immediately flipped from worried to excited. "Yes! Still in it!" he shouted, pumping his fist. He glanced at Scarlett and said "I wasn't sure if you'd really—Ow!" he started, before stopping as a peanut bag hit him in the side of the head.

"Save the conversation for after!" Chris snapped at him. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat and said "And the final contestant to survive is…"

Ezekiel clenched his fists, leaning forward in his seat. Lindsay tightened her grip on Tyler's hand. Both of them were tense with nerves and anticipation.

…

…

…

"Lindsay!"

The blonde nearly fell out of her seat. In fact, she would have had Tyler not caught her. "Oh, thank goodness!" she said, completely missing the bag as it sailed over her head. She let go of Tyler's hand, but only to pull him into a hug tight enough for his face to start turning pink. "We really made it! I was so worried we wouldn't!"

Ezekiel, on the other hand, was stiff with shock. "I... I'm out?"

Chris nodded. "Yep, this is the end of the flight for you, 'Z'. You've got about fifteen seconds to put a parachute on, and then you're taking the Drop of Shame."

"But how? We had it all worked out! We were gonna vote for Lindsay so that Harold and Leshawna…" he said before trailing off. His eyes widened, and he spun around in his seat to look at Scarlett. "You! What did you do?!"

"I did exactly what I said I would, which was try to keep those two in the game," she told him, nodding towards Leshawna and Harold. "The fact that the rest of the team decided to vote for you isn't my fault." Which it was, but he didn't need to know that.

Ezekiel opened his mouth to argue when a pair of interns grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him out of his seat. One of them handed him his parachute while the other walked over to the exit door and opened it. "Any last words?" Chris called over the wind.

He was quiet for a moment, and then he put the chute on and started walking. "Yeah, I got just one thing. You can eliminate me three times in three different seasons, but it ain't stoppin' me. I'm gonna become rich and famous even if I have to make that money myself. You just watch: the Z's gonna become a major rapper, and I'll have enough money to make even you look broke!"

Chris snorted. "Right, as if that's gonna happen." Then he planted his foot against the small of Ezekiel's back. "Have fun dreaming about that on the way down!"

"It's ain't just a dream, I'm really gonnaaahhhh!" he said, before switching to screaming as the host kicked him out of the exit. As he started to plummet, he shouted "I'll be famous, you'll see!"

"No, I won't!" Chris shouted down, before closing the door. "Well, Team Diamonds, I hope the rest of you enjoy your snacks during your stay in economy class. I have a hot tub and an over-baked pizza waiting in my quarters for me to enjoy."

Ignoring the glares from the teens, he turned to the camera and finished "As for all of you watching at home, I bid you all farewell, auf Wiedersehen and goodnight. Tune in next time to see who will be the next to fall here on… Total. Drama. World Tour~!"