Well, this is a surprise! I was hit by a lot of muse to do this episode, so here's the fourth episode significantly earlier than usual! And while I'll let you guys decide if it's a good episode or a bad episode, boy is it a doozy...

We also have officially hit fifty-thousand words! Whoo!

Here we go!

Episode 4: Boiling Point

(Narrated by Don.)

"Last time on the Ridonculous Race: Stranger Shuffle! Our teams left the good 'ole U.S. of A for none other than Copenhagen, Denmark! But the flights there weren't the most entertaining of flights." Clips were shown of Lexi and Isadora's argument, Brady unsuccessfully hitting on Rebecca, and the contestants that were in line to complain about the movie being interrupted.

"When they landed, they each had to use their skills to make their way inside the royal palace! Some used their speed…" A clip of Mitch already inside the palace, shushing Brady was shown. "Some used their feminine wiles…" A clip of Lily flirting with the guard was shown. "Some used their wits." A clip of Junior and Josh disguised as an older man was shown.

"Once inside, they had to try to grab paintings of yours truly while navigating through lasers, with Isadora and Jake securing the first place spot this week!" A clip of Isadora and Jake celebrating their victory was shown.

"However, all seemed lost when James cheated and sent Lexi and Xavier into a spiral that could have sent them home, but the two used their wits to make it to the finish line just before James's penalty ended up sending him and his partner home." A clip of Liam glaring at James was shown, as well as showing Lexi and Xavier's relief that they were safe from elimination.

"But buckle up, because this next episode will be a definite hotspot! Who will be the next duo to go home? Find out right here! On… The Ridonculous Race: Stranger Shuffle!"

After the theme song finished, Don had pressed the button on the randomizer, as the names of the thirty-two remaining contestants flashed quickly on the screen, "Round and round we go, where we stop; who the hell knows?"

The monitor knew, stopping on the new set of sixteen teams for the current challenge:

Blaine and Victor

Rebecca and Davis

Sam and Shakir

Jake and Rosalina

Isadora and Kayla

Naoya and Junior

Gertrude and Vanessa

Scarlett and Rosa

Danielle and Xavier

Ethan and Brooke

Josh and Mitch

Charlotte and Brady

Ash and Jackie

Markus and Tai

Melissa and Lexi

Lily and Kelly

"I think you guys know the drill," Don spoke, crossing his arms, "Jake and Rosalina, Isadora and Kayla; you may be the first to collect the Don Box tip."

Isadora placed her hand on the machine, before pulling out the tip and reading it, "You're headed to a beautiful place, but don't see it as a vacation… Hm… We're headed to Sri Lanka, it looks like!"

Don, standing in Sri Lanka which was obviously filmed later in the episode, said, "That's right, Isadora! Colombo, Sri Lanka! Where the area's hot, but the food's hotter! Our teams must arrive here to receive their next tip, which will lead them to the first of the their two challenges for this episode."

Team Confessional: Jake and Rosalina.

"Talk about a pretty unique destination, huh?" Jake was a little surprised at the rarity of the country in shows like this, "I never would have guessed that we'd be headed to Sri Lanka, huh?"

"I'm… not too sure what continent Sri Lanka is even in…" Rosalina seemed a tad confused as well, before saying, "Oh! It's in Asia!" They were still a little confused, but neither of them bucked the idea at all.

After calling taxis, the sixteen teams had arrived at the airport. Instead of three flights, only two flights were booked this time.

Flight 1 carried Ash and Jackie, Blaine and Victor, Charlotte and Brady, Gertrude and Vanessa, Isadora and Kayla, Jake and Rosalina, Rebecca and Davis, and Sam and Shakir.

Flight 2 housed Danielle and Xavier, Ethan and Brooke, Josh and Mitch, Lily and Kelly, Markus and Tai, Melissa and Lexi, Naoya and Junior, and Scarlett and Rosa.

Flight 1.

Blaine and Victor sat in silence, as Blaine was scrolling through his pictures. Victor fidgeted for a moment before finally turning to face his teammate.

"So, sport," he spoke, "How, err, are you enjoying the competition so far?"

Blaine turned and stared at Victor as if he had grown a second head. This was… weird, to say the least.

"I mean, yeah," the photographer nodded in agreement, his eyebrow arched, "I mean as much as a life-endangering competition can be, anyway. Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm better than okay; I'm just peachy!" Victor tried to reply, before scowling, "Do I not look peachy to you?!"

"You rarely look peachy," a certain ex-intern entered the conversation, as Sam and Shakir sat in the row across from them, "So it's a normal occurence really."

"Did anyone ask you?!" Victor snapped at Sam.

"Here we go…" Blaine muttered under his breath as he went back to his camera.

"No, but I answered," Sam shrugged before asking, "Got a problem with that?"

"Dude, he has a problem with everything," was Shakir's response, snickering childishly at the scene unfolding before him.

"...I don't have a problem with anything," Victor finally replied, through gritted teeth and a forced smile, "Everything is hunky-dory."

Sam and Shakir shared a look of bewilderment, which was shared by Blaine looking at Victor in absolute confusion. Their collective thought seemed to be, "Is he sick or something?"

Team Confessional: Blaine and Victor.

"Okay, man," Blaine spoke, turning towards the principal, "What's up? It isn't like you to try to be nice to anyone or anything."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Victor asked, taking offense at what Blaine said.

"You always hate kids, dude, I don't know what to tell you," was Blaine's response, shaking his head, "Or anyone like… twenty years younger than you or more."

Victor grumbled before sighing, "Well, I want to win the prize money. I gotta at least act like I'm getting along with you brats."

This only caused Blaine to look even more confused at Victor.

Team Confessional: Sam and Shakir.

"Don't look now," Sam snarked, chuckling slightly, "But it looks like the apocalypse has finally begun. Old man Victor is actually trying to play ni-"

"THE APOCALYPSE?!" Shakir shouted, his eyes widening in fear, "And I'm five miles up in the air! I'm nowhere near my protective shelter!" With that, he ran outside of the confessional. Sam just watched Shakir leave, before staring wide-eyed at the camera.

"Windmill, windmill for the land.

Turn forever hand in hand

Take it all in on your stride

It is sinking, falling down

Love forever, love is free

Let's turn forever, you and me

Windmill, windmill for the land

Is everybody in?"

Rebecca's voice could be heard singing, as Davis personally performed the back-up beats and instruments with his own voice, nevertheless.

"Okay, I'll admit it," the rocker turned to the singer, "You really are the Lord of Accapella."

Davis gave an overdramatic bow and chuckled, "Did you expect anything less? However, your singing voice is just as nice, honestly."

"Thanks, dude," was Rebecca's sincere reply, "That's part of the whole rock star schtick, of course."

Meanwhile, a few rows away, two girls were messing around with a deck of cards that one of the girls, Kayla, had brought with her.

"Got any 3's?" Kayla asked, her legs crossed under her.

"Go fish," was Isadora's chill comment right back.

"Damn it!" by this point, Kayla had racked up around twelve cards in her hand alone.

"Okay, Kayla," Isadora giggled, shaking her head, "Don't you think you should probably give up?"

"No way," the pastel goth shook her head, "I've got this! Just you wait and see!"

Team Confessional: Isadora and Kayla.

"...I don't think I've ever lost harder in my life," Kayla finally spoke, flatly, "Wow."

"I gave you a chance, you know," Isadora playfully teased her teammate.

At this point, Davis and Rebecca had walked over to see how the two's card game was going. Rebecca started snickering and Davis had to hold in a chuckle as well.

"Either Isadora's really good," he spoke, "Or Kayla's really bad."

"A little of both," Isadora spoke, laughing slightly.

"Shut uuuuup," Kayla childishly whined and crossed her arms, pouting.

"...Okay," Rebecca spoke up, arching an eyebrow, "I was pretty sure that you guys were playing poker, but you lost in go fish?" Kayla gave a groan and dramatically, and playfully, slumped to the floor in defeat.

Rebecca turned to go back to her seat, but accidentally collided directly into Sam, who was getting up to use the bathroom.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this," Sam spoke, rubbing his head slightly. Kayla, Davis, and Isadora shared a look, before deciding to sneak away from the two for the time being.

"Uh, yeah," Rebecca replied with a slight nod, "We probably should."

"So, uh-" Both spoke at the same time, before falling silent for the moment.

"So… You think the Gorillaz are pretty neat?" he finally asked, grinning slightly at her.

"Feel Good Inc. is like the power ballad of anyone who grew up in the '90s and '00s," she replied, "So, of course I do."

Solo Confessional: Sam.

"We ended up talking for quite a while," Sam noted, shaking his head, "But let me just say… I might think that Rebecca's pretty hot, but that isn't going to stop me from winning this prize money. At all. I'm not gonna pull a Noah this season." He determinedly cracked his knuckles and nodded to the camera.

Solo Confessional: Rebecca.

"Okay, I'll admit it," Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest, "I may have a teensy crush on Sam, but I'm going to take it slow. You know? Become friends first. That's really a lot more important here."

"So," Brady had relayed everything he had told James regarding his crush on Rebecca to his partner, Charlotte, "What do you think?"

"...Not to be rude, but why are you telling me this?" Charlotte asked, a little exasperated. At least he was deciding to not be a jerk for once in his life. There was that.

"Because the last person I told got eliminated? Duh?" Brady replied, rolling his eyes, "So. Do I have a chance?"

Charlotte fell quiet for a moment before awkwardly giving Brady a thumbs up. He gave a fist pump in response, and got up to try once more to woo Vanessa. Charlotte, however, didn't seem all that sure of his abilities.

Meanwhile, across the way, Vanessa was shocked to learn something about Gertrude. And in her eyes, this just made her even cooler to her.

"You have a wife?" she asked, her eyes lighting up at this new information.

"That I do, dearie," Gertrude replied with a nod, "We got married not long after the law was passed."

"That's so awesome!" Vanessa exclaimed, putting a hand on her teammate's shoulder, "So? What's she like?"

"She keeps me in line," the African-American granny chuckled wryly, "She'll never admit it, but she really does enjoy keeping up with me. She's a precious soul and I love her with all of my heart."

"Awww," Vanessa cooed, loving every bit of this, "Well, I hope you guys have a really happy life together!"

"Only the good will die young, so we'll probably live to be 150 or so each," Gertrude chuckled, deviously. All this did was cause Vanessa to giggle in response.

The two then watched Brady walk away from Charlotte, leaving her by himself.

"Where's Frenchie going?" Vanessa asked Charlotte, looking towards her.

"Yeah, about that," Charlotte replied, shaking her head, "He's going to try to hit on Rebecca."

Gertrude looked over at Brady and then over at Rebecca, "Huh. She could do better."

"Really?" Vanessa asked, tilting her head slightly, "Brady's looks like a decent catch."

"Looks aren't everything," the granny shrugged. Vanessa nodded in agreement. Brady's attitude would be a definite turn-off, wouldn't it? Of course it would.

Solo Confessional: Charlotte.

"I mean I couldn't just lie to him!" the aspiring actress told the confessional, "That wouldn't be right! ...Right?"

Team Confessional: Gertrude and Vanessa.

"Would you have let him go through with it, Vanessa dear?" Gertrude asked, looking over at the flirty geek.

"...Probably not, no," she shook her head in response.

As Sam and Rebecca continued to talk to each other, they were quickly interrupted by Brady.

"Hey, good lookin'," he leaned slightly, before stumbling slightly, "What's cookin'?"

"Oh, God," Sam groaned in annoyance of this. So, Brady also had an interest in Rebecca, huh?

"...I'm talking to someone right now," was Rebecca's flat response.

"Yeah," Brady replied, before jerking a to point at himself, "Moi."

"Yeah, you came second, dude," Sam shook his head and crossed his arms, "Pretty rude."

Brady just blinked at Sam, before turning back to Rebecca, "So, how about we-"

"Come on, Sam," Rebecca said, standing up and absentmindedly grabbing Sam's hand, "Let's talk about music somewhere else."

As the two walked off, Brady just stood there, dumbfounded at what had just happened.

Solo Confessional: Brady.

"What's he got that I don't got?" he asked, crossing his arms in annoyance, "There's no way that some intern is better than someone like Brady Watterson! Just you watch out, Samuel." He pointed at the camera.

Vanessa had decided to stretch her legs for a moment, when she saw a certain pastel goth overdramatically sprawled out on the floor of the plane. She looked down at her, before crouching down to get to her level.

"Why do the hot ones always die so young?" she asked, teasing the goth slightly.

Kayla opened one eye and said, "Yooo, V," in greetings to the flirt.

"Why are you," she motioned at Kayla sprawled out on the floor, "Doing this?"

"I lost at a card game," she sat up and shrugged, "So I'm showing my lament." The perky tone that she had seemed to show that she held no hard feelings for it, however.

"So, basically, you're trying to keep it interesting around here, huh?" Vanessa asked, catching onto it.

"Right on the nose!" Kayla playfully pointed a finger gun at Vanessa, "The last thing that I want is for this competition to be boring. So if I have to act the clown, hey! I'll do it!"

"Right, right," Vanessa replied, smiling slightly, "But you probably should get off of the floor before someone tries to run you down, pastel girl."

Kayla turned red slightly and nodded, giggling sheepishly, "Yeeeeeah, I probably should, huh?"

Meanwhile, Ash was surprised to learn that her partner was trying to be almost as environmentally friendly as she was herself.

"So, you support the saving of our oceans?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow at the overachiever.

"Of course," was Jackie's simple response, "The last thing we need is for our oceans to completely be polluted. Especially for how it'll affect our animals and our ecosystem."

Ash was quiet for a moment before dryly saying, "You. I like you. You're pretty chill. Well. When you're not being an overachiever and all."

"What's wrong with being an overachiever?" Jackie asked with a shrug, "Underachieving won't get you anywhere in life. Especially not in this competition."

"Eh," Ash shrugged, "Fair enough." With that, the two went back to idly chatting.

Meanwhile, someone else was actually humoring Rosalina for once, as Jake was reading one of her doujins.

"You know," he mused, "I might be straight, but this isn't half bad. I have no idea how this is going to end- Sex. It ends in sex, apparently."

"Well drawn intercourse, too," Rosalina replied, looking proud of this.

"I don't think you should know about this stuff," he chuckled amusedly.

"Hey, the internet exists, doesn't it?" she asked with a shrug.

Ash, who overheard the conversation, snickered slightly. The more straight-laced Jackie, however, just rolled her eyes. Talk about a weird conversation.

Team Confessional: Ash and Jackie.

"Come on, you couldn't have found that even a little funny?" Ash asked, nudging Jackie lightly.

"I have no interest in who knows about sex or not," Jackie replied sternly, "After all, I am asexual."

"...Oh, shit, whoops," Ash shook her head, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine," she spoke with a curt nod.

Solo Confessional: Jake.

"Rosalina's only thirteen, so people should look out for her," Jake told the camera, "...But obviously to do so, the first thing she needs is the internet taken away from her. At least until she's sixteen, you know?"

Solo Confessional: Rosalina.

"Jake's pretty nice," Rosalina said cheerfully, "I mean, no one else has read through my stuff with such fervor! Maybe if all goes well, I can get these bad boys published!" She patted on her notebook happily.

Flight 2.

"You're kidding," Kelly whispered in shock when she was told something by Lily.

Lily shook her head and whispered back, "No. From what I understand, Scarlett is looking for an alliance. That seems like a poor idea since she did try to destroy Pahkitew Island."

"Like, seriously," Kelly replied, "So… What would happen if someone did make an alliance with her?"

"She'd dominate the game is my only guess," Lily gave a frown, "She already is arguably the smartest of us, and the only two that even come close are Markus and Jackie."

Kelly widened her eyes at the mention of Markus, "Would he be… a threat to her?"

"I won't say that he couldn't be," Lily gave a weary sigh and shook her head again.

The cheerleader sat in her seat, deciding to think that over. She wasn't going to let one of her friends go home because Scarlett sabotaged the challenge or something. "We all have to work together to make sure that doesn't happen."

"I agree," Lily replied with a smile, "Shall we go warn him and Tai about what's going on?" When Kelly nodded, Lily's smile broadened. All according to plan.

Speaking of Markus and Tai, the former was doing a set of equations, while the latter was idly shuffling through a deck of cards. They both looked up when Kelly and Lily approached them.

"Uh, hey guys," Markus looked up and asked, "Do you guys need anything?"

"Scarlett," Kelly said, simply.

Markus tilted his head slightly, "What about her?"

"We have reason to believe that she's trying to form an alliance with a lot of the heavyhitters," Lily explained, putting on a long frown, "I heard so myself."

Tai thought about using his dust to ask for more information on this, but he knew that since Scarlett was currently on their flight, it could easily backfire on him. Then he'd be the person she'd focus on getting out. Thus, Tai stayed silent.

"...How do you know this?" Markus asked, feeling a little off about this, "I mean, who would trust her?"

"She's a strong player," Kelly explained, "I'm pretty sure that people would trust her skills, like, a lot!"

"Not to mention that she could strike fear into anyone who said no," Lily added, shaking her head wistfully, "So we need to know that neither of you will ally with her. Deal?"

The two boys looked at each other and then back at the two girls and gave them a nod.

Solo Confessional: Lily.

"The setup's complete," Lily smiled for the camera, her hands clasped together, "Now to wait to see what the challenges are and hope it's something that Scarlett does not excel at. The last thing that I want is for us to achieve the ultimate bad ending here, after all." Despite her innocent demeanor, a more malicious mood seemed to radiate off of her.

Solo Confessional: Markus.

"Something about that was really fishy," Markus mused, before shaking his head, "But… Right now, I need to do what's best for me and best for my mom. And if that means letting everyone know about Scarlett's plans then I guess… So be it."

Speaking of Scarlett, her actual plan of attempting to get an ally was beginning to look more flawed and less likely by the day.

"You'll become my ally or you'll suffer the consequences," she roughly hissed to Rosa. If anything, this would get her one ally.

"O-okay, I'll be in an alliance with you!" Rosa finally admitted, whispering to the genius, "Okay?"

"Perfect," Scarlett, almost on the turn of a dime, had decided to calm down, "Just absolutely perfect." She flashed a smile to Rosa, but Rosa could only flash an awkward one back to her. This was already looking pretty bad, wasn't it? But it wasn't like she had much of a choice in the matter right now. However, for a moment, she could have sworn that Lily was watching them.

A couple of rows behind them was the two British contestants, Danielle and Xavier, having a nice talk.

"I think I've heard of your dad's detective company before," Danielle mentioned with a hum, "Millstone?"

"That's the one," Xavier replied with a calm nod, saying the company's slogan, "'If your case has hit rock bottom, call Millstone.'"

"Right," Danielle nodded, before asking, "But if you don't mind me asking, why would a detective be competing on a reality show?"

Xavier gave a low hum, "Do you want the pretty answer or the truth?"

"The truth would be ideal," the animal child replied, laughing slightly.

"I'm extremely bored with what I do day in and day out," he admitted, "I want to see the world. I want to meet new people. I want to make fr- ...Nevermind."

"Make friends?" Danielle asked, finishing his sentence.

"...In a manner of speaking, yes."

Danielle extended her hand and reintroduced herself, "My name's Danielle. Ace wildlife enthusiast. From this point on, we're friends."

Xavier looked down to her extended hand before looking back at her and smiling lightly. Taking her hand, he shook it. "A pleasure to re-meet you, Danielle. The name is Xavier Millstone, Ace Detective."

The two were then interrupted by someone saying, "Hey!" They turned to face Scarlett, who mouthed if she wanted to join Scarlett in an alliance. The two Brits shared a glance before shaking their heads at the other Brit. Scarlett then gave a groan in annoyance when they did so.

Team Confessional: Scarlett and Rosa.

"Like it matters," Scarlett finally gave up for the time being, "As long as Rosa's by my side, that's a decent start."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Rosa replied, not so sure about this at all. But she felt as if she had no choice.

Team Confessional: Danielle and Xavier.

"Rosa's allying herself with Scarlett?" Xavier asked about the teammate he had back in episode one, "I… don't see how this could be at all."

"Scarlett's intimidating," Danielle replied, shaking her head, "She probably had little to no choice."

"...A pity," Xavier frowned.

Over with Ethan and Brooke, the two were talking amongst themselves, as Ethan looked over at Brooke's notes for her new novel.

"So, are you gonna base any characters off any of us?" Ethan asked, with a grin.

Brooke mused for a second, "Hm... I guess that wouldn't be that bad of an idea, would it? But the question would be, how would I adapt everyone to paper? I do have the thought of making Blaine the protagonist."

"Blaine?" Ethan asked in confusion, "Why him?"

Brooke pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, "Honestly? I'm not so sure why myself."

Ethan looked over at the bookworm before shrugging, "Ooh! You should definitely make Victor the antagonist!"

"...That's not a bad idea-"

"A giant lizard antagonist!"

"...Uh-"

"A giant lizard with giant electricity spawning horns and fire breath and like really rancid feet and-" As Ethan rattled off different ideas, Brooke just watched him in awe. In a way, she wished that she could be that talkative and outgoing.

Meanwhile, Josh was hoping he could get his teammate to be much more talkative and outgoing but wasn't quite getting that out of him.

"Soooo," he spoke, turning to the hooded figure, "Mitch."

"That's what my parents named me," he spoke, bluntly.

"Haha, yeeeeaaah," Josh awkwardly tried to laugh at what he thought was a joke from the boy, "Say. Since we're working together, how about we get to know each other?"

Mitch turned towards Josh and said nothing to begin with before saying, "I was born on a new moon, during a tornado. After the death of my father just hours beforehand, I was born, my mother bleeding out not much later. After being left on a doorstop, I was taken in by a hunched over old man with one eye in an abandoned castle-"

"Great!" Josh clapped his hands together, "Uh. I'm glad we had this talk. I'll be, uh… Over here." With that, the comedian took off.

Mitch sat there for a moment before smirking and saying to the camera, "That was all totally a lie."

As Josh left, he ended up going to sit next to Brooke, who was now alone, since Ethan had decided to go bother Xavier for a little bit.

"...My teammate is really creepy," he spoke, turning to the bookworm, "And I have no clue if he's just kidding around, or if he's really… him."

Brooke looked up at Josh and asked, "Mitch? I… don't think he's completely serious. I mean, don't you think that's kind of a defense mechanism?"

"A defense mechanism?" Josh repeated, before stopping for a minute. Like his comedy was sometimes? It… made sense.

"I think there's a lot more about a lot of us than Don would ever say," Brooke mused quietly, "Honestly."

Josh was quiet for a moment before nodding. He almost thought about telling Brooke about why he was competing, but then again, he decided that now may not be the best time at all. Instead, he decided to change the subject, "So. Sri Lanka."

Solo Confessional: Brooke.

"I might be pretty quiet," she spoke to the camera, "But I also think that I understand people pretty well. Mitch might be strange, but I think Josh might see a lot of… himself? Inside of Mitch, too."

Solo Confessional: Josh.

"Alright," the tragic comedian hyped himself up, "I'm going to see if I can crack through anything inside of Mitch this episode. Hell, I'm sure that there's more to Mitch than creepy non-sequiturs and hiding under his hood, right?"

Meanwhile, near the back of the plane, Ethan had went up to Xavier, as Danielle currently had taken a quick nap to have the long flight get over quicker.

Xavier looked up from the book he was reading and asked, "To what prank do I owe the pleasure of this visit today?"

"Nah, no prank today," the prankster shook his head, "I mean, Danielle's asleep and that'd be hella rude."

"Hella quite," was the detective's response, "So. We've survived two eliminations so far."

"Yep!" Ethan replied with a grin, "Sixteen more to go!"

"Perhaps," Xavier shrugged, "But wouldn't it make a little more sense if some contestants returned to the competition? Perhaps not as late in as Geoff and Brody did last season, but still."

"Huh," Ethan tapped his lip slightly, "You might be right, dude."

"Might be?" he smirked and crossed his arms, "No, no. I'm always right."

"Yet you fell for something as simple as a banana peel," was the prankster's snickering retort.

"That was an unfair moment to bring up," Xavier sputtered, trying to defend himself, "That time did not count in the least."

"Yeah, it did," was Ethan's simple response which caused Xavier to groan slightly.

Having went to go find Mitch again, Josh had found himself in the very same issue Lexi had been in two episodes beforehand. As usual, the swift ninja-like boy had disappeared once again. Right when Josh was going to try to probe his mind to see if he can get anything out of him, too.

"Hey, Tai!" Josh called, turning towards the magician, who had gotten up to get peanuts, "Have you seen Mitch?"

Tai shook his head. But then again, it was hard to find Mitch a lot of the time to begin with. So it wasn't like this was a normal occurrence or anything.

"Great," he sighed, "Right when I was going to try to bond with him too."

Tai took off his hat and dug around for dust, spraying it in the air, the dust igniting and saying, "Let him be. He'll probably appear closer to when the challenge starts."

"Good point," Josh nodded in response before asking, "Hey. How exactly do you do that anyway?"

Tai mused for a moment before grabbing another handful of dust and spreading it, saying, "A magician never tells his secrets, Josh. Just like a comedian wouldn't tell anyone the secrets behind their comedy."

Josh shrugged, "Fair enough. Hey. Mind if I chill next to you for a moment? I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, but I've never really gotten around to it. As long as you don't accidentally light me ablaze, that is."

Tai looked over at Josh. They weren't even teammates, yet Josh wanted to go out of his way to talk to him. A grin spreading on his face, he nodded in affirmation to the gesture.

A few rows away, Junior was trying to introduce Naoya to pop culture outside of what you could see on television. It… wasn't quite working.

"So, these me-mes…."

"They're memes, Naoya," Junior corrected, holding an index finger in the air.

"I don't quite get them," the rich kid shook his head, "This one that you've mentioned in particular… Why throughout the whole month of October do people talk about a skeleton war? I've never heard of a skeleton war before."

"I think you might need to give it a rest, Junior," Lexi, who was sitting in front of the two boys and next to Melissa, stated, "The 1% probably doesn't get it."

Naoya frowned, "It isn't quite my fault that I was born rich, you know."

"Don't take it that way," Lexi shook her head, "I understand that pretty well, you know."

"How do you understand rich people problems?" Junior asked, arching an eyebrow at the punk.

"...That might be another story for another day, but let's just say that I do understand," Lexi replied, turning back to Naoya, "If you don't get eliminated and we get paired up, I promise that I'll tell you, Naoya. Deal?"

Naoya tilted his head slightly before nodding, "Sure. I think that's a great business deal!"

"Not quite a business deal, but hey," Lexi shrugged and smirked, "Close enough."

"And you won't tell me?" Junior asked, faux-pouting, only to get his hat brushed aside and his hair ruffled by the punk, "Hey!"

"I couldn't help it," she stated bluntly, before turning towards Melissa, "...You're pretty quiet, you know that?"

Melissa opened and closed her mouth before explaining, "I'm… not sure what to say? Watch out in the competition?"

The three looked at each other for a moment before Naoya asked, "Was that supposed to be a threat? Because I'm hardly scared."

"Yeah, I see that," Melissa rubbed the back of her neck, "I think today's just an off-day."

"Well, cheer up," Lexi bumped the side of Melissa's arm lightly with her fist, "Looks like you're amongst friends here, so you don't have to be so quiet, you know?"

"Around friends?" the usually "manipulative" girl asked, widening her eyes slightly.

"None of us are shunning you, right?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We're kind of an odd group anyway," Junior shrugged, "I'm the youngest around here, Lexi's a punk, and Naoya is the definition of clueless."

"Hey!"

"What he means is, as long as you don't eliminate us or anything, we think you're chill," was what Lexi said to Melissa.

Melissa was quiet for a moment before blushing from all of the kind words the three (well mostly two) had given her and turned away, "Right. But you guys need to remember that world domination comes first and then our friendship comes second." The others realized that this was probably the best that they would get out of the girl.

Team Confessional: Junior and Naoya.

"I'm not that clueless," the rich kid huffed, crossing his arms.

"Dude," Junior spoke, chuckling, "If you looked up clueless in the dictionary, guess what you'd see a picture of? ...Well, my dad, but you'd be a quick second for sure."

Solo Confessional: Lexi.

"I don't see much wrong with Melissa," she shrugged it off, "I mean, sure. She wants to be evil. But I don't think she could dominate a McDonald's, not less the entire world."

Solo Confessional: Melissa.

"Friends…" Melissa mused for a second before shaking it off, "No, no. I was told that the only way to be liked was to push other people away. I won't let this get in the way of my plans! No way, Jose!"

"Mitch!" Josh called out again, this time alongside Tai, which got Lexi's attention. Standing up from the four, she walked over to the comedian.

"Lose something?" she asked, smirking.

"I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count," Josh joked slightly, "But it's cool. Tai's helping me look." Tai gave a nod in reply.

"Ah," Lexi replied with a nod of her own, "Do you guys need any help? I can lend a hand or two, I guess."

"Nah, we've got it," Josh shook his head and grinned, "Thanks, though, Lexi! C'mon, magic man, we've got a Mitch to find."

With that, the two boys headed off and left Lexi standing there. She pursed her lips for a second, feeling an odd pang run through her chest, but she shook it off. She turned and screamed, Mitch suddenly standing beside her.

"Where the hell did you come from?!" she exclaimed at the boy.

"...Why do people keep asking me that question?" was Mitch's deadpan reply.

"Flight 1, holding the first eight teams, has touched down in Colombo, Sri Lanka, as the race is on to get the first Don Box tip," Don's voice narrated as the first sixteen contestants flooded out of the airport.

In comparison to Copenhagen's rustic and flowery feel, Colombo was much more of a city and had beaches dotting the city at different points. As the teams ran to get to the Don Box, one team was able to make it there first.

Ash put her hand on the Don Box, and pulled out the ticket, as Jackie watched her read it, "It's a Botch or Watch. Whoever is holding this ticket must eat one of Sri Lanka's hottest cuisines, no matter how hot it burns their mouth. ...Great…"

Don stood inside a restaurant, "To be exact, they must come here to this restaurant and try Sri Lanka's staple dish."

A waitress put down the so-called staple dish as Don read off the ingredients, "Rice and curry with coconut milk, a vast assortment of hot chillies, curry leaves, cinnamon, garlic, and a really strong pinch of sun-dried tuna. Really potent to foreigners and known as one of the most flavorful and spicy dishes in all of Asia! Bon appetit!"

The first eight teams had made their way to the restaurant, and were already divided into who had to Botch and who had to Watch. The contestants who had to do it was Ash, Blaine, Charlotte, Gertrude, Isadora, Jake, Rebecca, and Sam.

Jake looked down at the spicy hot meal and gulped. If it was one of the spiciest foods in Asia, it seemed a little worrying in his opinion.

"I probably should have been able to do this challenge," his young Asian teammate, Rosalina, mused, before encouraging him, "But I know you can do it, Jake! Believe in yourself!"

"Believe in myself…" Jake chanted, taking a spoon and getting ready to try the dish, "Believe in myself…"

One touch to Jake's tongue set his entire mouth on fire, as he exclaimed, "Water! Rosalina! Water!"

"Water! Right!" Rosalina nodded, before splashing Jake in the face with it.

"No, in my mouth!" Jake continued fanning himself, now completely wet as well.

Solo Confessional: Rosalina.

"Hey," she shrugged, "The comically splashing someone in the face with water is kind of a trope you have to use here." She then apologized, "Sorry, Jake! ...Oh, right, water!" She stood up and ran out of the confessional.

Jackie and one of the Sri Lankan waitresses watched in awe as Ash, despite her grunts in pain from the hot meal, was downing with little problems, even putting it up to her lips and downing it. Somehow, she was pushing through despite the pain.

"AAAAAH," Ash exclaimed in pain as she set the bowl down, "DONE. TIP. GO."

Jackie took the tip from the waitress, as Ash was currently downing a whole pitcher of water. The overachiever read, "Now that you've survived boiling hot food, we're going to put you in hot water. We have evacuated Beira Lake and… filled it with crocodiles?"

"DOUBLE GREAT," Ash screamed, as she spilled water down her chin from what Jackie had read off.

Don, standing next to an alligator at one end of Beira Lake, said, "Yep! Our teams must take a taxi to one side of Beira Lake, get in a canoe, and row to me at the Chill Zone on the other side of the lake to be safe. The first team to get here gets the next headstart, while the last team to arrive will be cut from the competition."

"We did it!" Brady exclaimed when Charlotte finished her dish.

She took a drink of water before asking, "We? I actually don't remember us doing anything, Brady. It was- ow- a Botch or Watch."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off, "I'll make up for it next challenge, capiche?" He already had the next tip in hand and paused for a moment, "However, the next challenge does have alligators…"

"I'm not doing all the work," Charlotte vehemently stopped Brady right there, "You're going to do just as much work as I do."

"Fine," he conceded, "Come on. Let's beat the rest of the teams there." He ran towards the door and Charlotte followed after him, before coming back and decided to take her glass of water with her, her mouth still burning from the hot and spicy curry.

Unlike several of the other contestants, Sam had finished his meal without barely even flinching. The two teams who were near him, Rebecca and Davis and Blaine and Victor, all stared at him like he had grown a new head or something.

"How did he-" Davis began, pointing towards Sam incredulously.

"He has satan inside of him," was Victor's grumbling addition.

Solo Confessional: Sam.

"Yeah, no," Sam shook his head and crossed his arms, "Number one, I do not have Victor inside of me. Thank goodness. But I was an intern on Total Drama. We had to try a lot of the meals that Chef Hatchet forced on the other campers. Think about it, man. You build up immunity to it."

Shakir had begun eating a bowl of the dish on his own accord, and didn't seem to be bothered by it either. Although, since it was Shakir, that was probably for a reason of his own accord. "Now this?" he asked aloud, "Is good eats!"

"Get it to go," Sam told his teammate, as he read the tip, "We have a date with alligators, man."

"The only date I'd wanna go on, to be honest," Shakir laughed and stood up, "Let's do this!"

Sam turned to the other teams, "Good luck, guys. I'm sure it isn't all that bad." He then turned to Rebecca specifically and said, "Good luck."

Rebecca waved him off as he went on and looked down at the spicy food. She shared a glance with Blaine before she decided to finally dig in and give it her best shot. Blaine, however, didn't seem so enthusiastic to get started.

"This really seems like a bad idea," Blaine spoke, frowning at the dish.

"WHAT?!" Victor slammed his hands on the table and glared at Blaine, before clearing his throat and trying to calm down, "No, err, what I meant to say was… WHAT?!"

"Come on," Davis turned to face the photographer, "You can do it. It's just a bowl of hot food. I'm sure it'd not even as close to what Don's making it out to be."

Meanwhile, in the background, Davis heard Rebecca scream, "This is worse than what Don is making it out to be!"

"You two aren't even on the same team!" Victor added in the chorus, crossing his arms and glaring at Blaine and Davis.

"...I guess I might as well give it a shot," Blaine decided after hearing what Davis would have to say, "Here goes something."

A sip. A slurp. A few seconds passed.

"THIS IS LIKE HELL HAS COME TO REST INSIDE MY MOUTH!"

Solo Confessional: Davis.

"This… This is going to take a while," Davis said, sighing, "But hey. Rebecca seems to be getting used to the heat, so that's good!"

From outside, he could hear the rocker say, "I'm definitely not getting used to the heat at all!"

Solo Confessional: Victor.

"That Davis kid needs to worry about his own teammates," the balding principal grumbled, "Blaine can handle this on his own. Or he SHOULD. I ain't being nice on him because I'm getting PAID for it."

He then paused, "Wait. I kinda am, aren't I?"

Vanessa looked on in horror. The unthinkable had finally happened. The one thing that she, and several other contestants thought would never happen.

Something had actually bested Gertrude.

"More- hack - water, dearie!" the granny asked the girl as she continued to try to survive the issue she had regarding the hot dish. She continued to give her another glass of water, but things were not looking on the up and up for them at that moment.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see none other than Kayla and Isadora looking at her.

"You guys are already done?" she asked in surprise.

Isadora flexed playfully and said, "Latina blood doesn't run through my veins for nothing! Spicy food can't best me, even if it was a lot hotter than I was used to!"

"We're going on ahead," Kayla told her, "Don't worry. Granny G's a lot tougher than she looks." A harrowed look crossed the pastel goth's face, "Trust me."

"Either of you going to save me a kiss for the finish line?" Vanessa teased, trying to look at the up and up here.

Isadora and Kayla shared a glance before playfully blowing Vanessa kisses and moving on. Vanessa pretended to catch them and hold them to her chest, before turning towards Gertrude who said, "A lot more- huff- water, dearie."

Solo Confessional: Vanessa.

"We're doomed, aren't we?" she sighed, but regardless said, "No. I've got at least two people who said they want to see me not eliminated. So once Gertrude is able to survive the rest of this, we'll give it our all!"

"As Ash and Jackie, Sam and Shakir, Charlotte and Brady, and Isadora and Kayla move on to the next leg of the competition, the second flight has touched down in Sri Lanka and the rest of the contestants have arrived to compete in the Botch or Watch!" Don's voice narrated as a clip showed the rest of the teams running two-by-two into the restaurant.

This time around, the ones competing in the Botch or Watch were Danielle, Ethan, Josh, Lily, Markus, Melissa, Naoya, and Scarlett.

"...How did- What did- Huh?!" Junior was currently staring at Naoya incredulously. While he had complained about it a couple of minutes beforehand, he actually finished his dish with little to no problems.

"Oh, it'll come back to bite me," Naoya replied, saying, "I can already feel me getting heartburn. Ugh…" Instead of feeling burned inside and out, he was beginning to feel a little nauseous instead.

"Then we need to get going," Junior pulled Naoya to his feet and began to pull him towards the exit of the restaurant, "We kinda need to get past the alligators before your heartburn really sets in, man."

"...Wait, alli-what now?" Naoya seemed concerned that the next challenge involved alligators but was continued to be dragged off by Junior, nevertheless.

Meanwhile, Lily was taking her time at trying to eat the dish, only taking small bites and interchanging it with intervals of water.

"Five teams are already on the second challenge," Kelly reminded her, "We've got to catch up!"

"We have no- ow- rush, Kelly," Lily replied, as she took another bite of the dish, "I can promise you that I have this situation completely- nnn- under control."

Kelly looked at the Native American girl with a look of uncertainty, "Are you sure about that? I mean…"

"I'm absolutely positive," she replied to Kelly, "Now. Would you mind doing a cheer to cheer me on while I continue?"

Kelly grinned, "I'm glad you asked, teammate!"

As Kelly began to perform a cheer for her teammate, another team was also struggling to get going regarding the challenge.

"You're actually being patient with me?" Ethan asked, turning to face Brooke.

Brooke nodded, "I don't think that we'll be the next contestants eliminated, so I think we're fine. Take as much time as you need for now."

The prankster grinned at the bookworm, "Say. You're alright, Brooke."

The girl smiled back in response. To her, making more friends in the competition was really nice.

"Soooo…" he drawled out, "Why did you pick Blaine to be the protagonist of your novel?" Brooke frowned and shook her head, refraining from saying a word about that to Ethan.

Team Confessional: Ethan and Brooke.

"I heard someone say that being Latino or Latina meant we could stand this just a moment ago," Ethan said to Brooke, "Isadora, was it?"

"Yeah?" Brooke did hear that as they walked in.

"Yeah, no, this is way too hot for me," Ethan replied, shaking his head slightly.

"There's gotta be a way to make this less spicy… Maybe if I…"

Rosa interrupted Scarlett and said, "Um… You know… That's why Liam and James got eliminated less episode, right? Finding a way around the challenge?"

"Not exactly," Scarlett adjusted her glasses, "No, they downright cheated and almost got the punk and the detective eliminated if my memory serves correctly."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Rosa asked, shaking her head slightly.

"...Drat," Scarlett muttered under her breath, "I suppose I'll have to live with the spiciness on its own now, won't I?"

"You know, when you say 'drat' like that, you kinda sound like Peridot from Ste-"

"Quiet," Scarlett glared slightly at the other girl, as she began to try to eat the food.

"Burning… Burning, burning, burning…"

Markus had his mouth open, trying to fan himself now that he had finished the dish. Tai stood there for a moment before digging around in his pockets, pulling out a flower and spraying water into the workaholic's mouth.

"...Thank you," Markus replied to the magician, who simply bowed in response to Tai giving him some water, "So, uh… What does the next tip read?"

Tai looked at the tip and paled slightly.

"That's not a good sign, is it?" Markus asked.

The magician shook his head.

"It's death defying, isn't it?" he asked again.

The magician nodded.

Markus gave a sigh, but regardless said, "We might as well get going."

As the two boys ran on, Josh watched them run by and gave a nod to Tai before turning back to the dish in front of him. He mentally decided that he would just keep pressing forward. The quicker he ate the dish, the quicker they could continue on with the challenge. Taking as many bites as quickly as he could, he quickly finished the dish and quickly downed it with a glass of water.

"That's a spicy meatball," he half panted, half joked.

Meanwhile, his teammate gave a slow clap. Josh turned to Mitch in utter surprise that the hooded boy showed something close to emotion. Regardless, Mitch had grabbed the tip and already was going onto the next challenge. Josh looked at the camera for a moment before running after him.

Solo Confessional: Mitch.

"The fact that Josh has now tasted hellfire makes me appreciate him as a partner," Mitch was blunt, "Through the pain, he pushed through. I can respect that."

Lexi watched Josh and Mitch run by, as she watched Melissa keep attempting to finish the dish. While the girl was whining and exclaiming in pain every once in a while, she was still trucking on regardless.

"You can do it," Lexi cheered her on in her own way, "You're almost there."

"I can feel my sins crawling on my back," the girl overdramatically wailed as she continued to eat.

"Well, tell your sins to take a number and get in line," was the punk's answer.

Melissa gave a weak nod as she continued to eat. Before long, however, she actually finished the dish, before slamming her head on the table and mumbling, "Done."

"You okay?" Lexi asked, as she held the tip, "Need a break?"

Melissa shook her head and waved her hand dismissively, "Let's… just get the second challenge over with."

Lexi nodded as Melissa stood up, and the two girls ran off to join seven other teams with starting the second challenge.

Meanwhile, Danielle and Xavier were currently taking their time, seeing that other teams weren't doing any better than they were.

"Are you sure you're okay with me taking my time?" Danielle asked her teammate.

Xavier gave a nod and a shrug, "I'm patient. Besides, I know that I couldn't do the challenge myself without taking probably even longer."

"Fair enough," she nodded and took another bite before scrunching up her facial features at the heat.

"How hot is it?" the detective asked in curiosity.

"Do you know how fiery hot sauce is?" Danielle asked when she was able to speak again.

"Yeah?" Xavier asked in response.

Danielle laughed slightly between the hot surges, "Think that, but probably ten times hotter."

"That's hot," Xavier dryly teased, causing Danielle to laugh and reply with, "You think?"

"Eight teams are starting the second challenge," Don narrated, as eight teams began to row across the alligator infested lake in canoes, "This is where the race already begins. Can the teams make it to the other side with one of their own already weakened from the previous challenge?"

The teams that had arrived for the second challenge were Ash and Jackie, Charlotte and Brady, Isadora and Kayla, Josh and Mitch, Markus and Tai, Melissa and Lexi, Naoya and Junior, and Sam and Shakir.

However, three teams happened to be much further ahead than the rest of the crowd.

"They're catching up!" Kayla exclaimed as she continued to row. Isadora, who was also rowing, turned back to see both Markus and Tai and Melissa and Lexi catching up with them.

"Not when I shift into maximum overdrive!" Isadora replied in response. Just then, however, her oar was suddenly chomped down upon by an alligator, "...Bummer." She went to grab one of the extra oars in the canoe.

"That was just rude!" Kayla replied, taking her oar and bopping the reptile on the nose with it, "Bad gator!"

However, during all of the two girls's excitement, the other two teams behind them had made their way past them.

"Can't… go… on…" Melissa panted, as she began to slow down somewhat and the other team began to pass the two girls.

"You can't give up now," Lexi replied, turning back towards her, "We're so close to the finish line! A true antagonist wouldn't give up yet, you know!"

Melissa paused for a second before a determined look crossed her face. Beginning to put all of her energy into her rowing, she began to row faster and faster.

"We're almost to the-" Markus was interrupted when the flirty punk and failed manipulator rowed past them and onto the shore, "-End."

"Lexi and Melissa," Don greeted the two girls as they reached the Chill Zone, "You two are the first two contestants to arrive. You two will receive a headstart in the next challenge!"

"We did it!" Melissa cheered, embracing Lexi in a hug. The punk felt awkward that she was suddenly being hugged, but regardless patted her partner on the shoulder.

"Markus and Tai?" Don asked as the two arrived on shore, "Not bad. Second place."

Team Confessional: Markus and Tai.

"Well, second place is better than nothing," Markus shrugged, deciding to take the placement that they were given. Tai gave a quiet nod in agreement.

"Isadora and Kayla," Don spoke, as the explorer and pastel goth arrived on shore, "Third place."

"Well, I got first last time, so," Isadora didn't seem all that disheartened at all that she got third place.

"Bronze is still a really good placement anyway," Kayla agreed, with a nod.

The other teams all did their best across the water, each team working to different varying degrees from each other.

Ash and Jackie, both being extremely hard-hitting players, worked extremely well in tandem. Jackie did have some thoughts about bashing some of the reptiles like Kayla did, but Ash kept her from doing so. After all, they were just agitated animals out of their usual ecosystem. The two girls claimed fourth place.

Shakir had rolled around in mud and had made himself be alligator bait, which had inadvertently caused Sam to have to work extra hard to get them across the lake. Of course, this had inadvertently been a good thing as the two scored fifth place.

Sixth place went to Charlotte and Brady, due to the fact that Brady actually decided to give his all to get them across the water. After all, neither of them wanted to be alligator chow. Plus, it wasn't good for the alligator's diets.

Team Confessional: Charlotte and Brady.

"Why can't you work this well in every challenge?" Charlotte asked the French teen, tilting her head slightly.

"Eh," Brady shrugged, "Gotta keep my teammates on my toes, y'know?" Charlotte then turned and stared at the confessional cam as if she was on The Office.

Josh and Mitch had a pretty solid placement, landing in seventh place. Either way, they were in the first half of the placements. Junior, despite he and Naoya coming in eighth place, had to do most of the work because of Naoya's sudden heartburn and nausea, causing the boy to end up groaning and just sitting awkwardly in the boat.

By this point, the other eight teams had started the second challenge as well. And they fared somewhere between better or worse when it came to how they handled the challenge.

Coming in around five minutes behind Naoya and Junior was Rebecca and Davis, who, surprisingly to everyone else, had sung to the alligators to soothe them in a rousing edition of a certain Total Drama World Tour song.

"It's rowin' time!

Vanquishin', vanquishin'!

Crocodile season!"

"...Well, technically, these are alligators," Rebecca remembered.

"...Either way," Davis shrugged.

Team Confessional: Rebecca and Davis.

"You know, it's an utter shame that this wasn't a musical season," Davis sighed slightly, "I would have loved a World Tour take on the Ridonculous Race."

"Ridonculous Race: Ridonculous Encore," Rebecca added, pitching a title to the show with a grin, "It'd sell like hotcakes, I can assure you."

Tenth place went to Jake and Rosalina, who did their best to make their way over to the other side of the lake. Behind them in eleventh was Danielle and Xavier, who had kept up their calm pace, actually talking and bonding a little more over being born in nearby hometowns from each other.

Twelfth place was Blaine and Victor, who both seemed just glad to not come in last.

Team Confessional: Blaine and Victor.

"Well, I see the competitions aren't letting up now that we're four episodes in," Blaine noted with his arms crossed.

"What's next?" Victor asked, scowling, "So-"

"Please don't jinx us," Blaine shook his head.

Don watched as Ethan and Brooke claimed thirteenth place and announced, "Three teams remain on the water! Which teams will be going home? Will it be Gertrude and Vanessa? Lily and Kelly? Or Scarlett and Rosa?"

"How would we know?" Sam snarked as he stood next to Don.

"...Get back in line," Don muttered.

"Is there a reason you're not helping?" Kelly asked, turning back towards Lily, who was knitting while they were in the water, "Gertrude and Vanessa just passed us!"

"We've caught our steam now!" Lily heard Gertrude shout, "Ain't that right, dearie?"

"Fourteenth place here we come!" Vanessa shouted back as they landed on the shore, "...Of course, that doesn't seem like the best placement, but…"

Lily turned back to Kelly to answer her question and said, "I suddenly had inspiration for an alligator themed piece blanket. Once I'm finished I'll- Ow!"

Kelly widened her eyes when Lily, in her inattentiveness, accidentally stabbed herself hard with a large needle. Blood dripped down Lily's hand as she grimaced in pain.

"On second thought… I will help you," Lily finally admitted, deciding to place her hand in the water to get some of the blood off of her hand, then quickly withdrawing her hand when an alligator snapped at it.

The two girls rowed on, as Rosa and Scarlett were right behind them…

...rowing over where the blood flowed.

"Uh, Scarlett?" Rosa asked, as she heard a low rumbling, "Did you hear that?"

"...Yes," Scarlett was suddenly extremely anxious. She hadn't seen any alligators for a few moments, and that never meant a good thing, if a show like Ridonculous Race had anything to say about it.

And she hated when she was right. Suddenly, an alligator crashed through the bottom of their canoe, splitting it cleanly in two. Both girls let out a scream as they were suddenly divided between the two halves, Scarlett sitting on the front half and Rosa standing in the back half.

Scarlett pursed her lips before whacking the alligator on the head and driving it off. Upon closer inspection, she noticed blood in the water and gulped.

"You have to jump," she told Rosa.

Rosa shook her head.

"I didn't ask you if you wanted to," the genius snapped, "You have to jump, Rosa!"

"I can't; I'm weak!" Rosa shouted back, "All that I've done this entire competition is pawed all over people because of something I can't help and I haven't even improved! What am I supposed to do?"

"You're supposed to trust your teammate!" Scarlett answered her, "Trust me that you're probably stronger than you look!"

Rosa frowned before closing her eyes tight. If she stayed on her side of the split canoe, she would definitely end up as alligator food.

So she jumped…

...And landed on Scarlett's side of the boat.

"See?" the evil scientist asked, smirking slightly, "You're much stronger than you think."

Rosa was quiet for a moment before nodding, "Yeah… Yeah! I am stronger than I look! I'm more than just a pretty face!"

"We can celebrate later," Scarlett replied, shaking her head, "We have to catch up to Kelly and Lily or this is over."

As the two rowed in just half a canoe, Kelly pointed towards them, "Uh! Their canoe split!"

"What?" Lily asked, looking back, "How did- Nevermind. They look safe. We should keep rowing."

"Are you sure?" Kelly asked, wanting to see if they could turn back and help them out.

"Positive," Lily gripped Kelly's shoulder, "Keep rowing."

The race was on. Or at least for all practical purposes it was. Despite all the effort that Rosa and Scarlett were putting in, they were ultimately screwed by their destroyed canoe. With that, the fifteenth team had arrived on shore.

"Kelly and Lily," Don spoke to the cheerleader and Native American girl, "You two have come in fifteenth place. You are safe."

"Y-E-S!" Kelly spelled out, jumping up and down. Lily just gave a relieved, happy smile in response.

Finally, Rosa and Scarlett came on shore, both knowing the news. Don spoke to them, "Rosa and Scarlett? You two came in sixteenth place. Because of this, you are eliminated from the competition. I'm sorry."

Last Words: Rosa.

"I may have lost," Rosa spoke to the confessional cam, "But Scarlett's right. I'm stronger than my flaws. Much stronger than my flaws. My flaws will always be a part of me, but this competition? It showed me that my flaws don't matter. It's the true strength inside my heart that matters."

Last Words: Scarlett.

"Yes, it's nice and all that Rosa was able to become greater than she thought she was," Scarlett said, taking the hairband out of her bun and effectively reverting to her true, crueller self, "But I was eliminated third?! I should have won! This was my chance to win the million dollars! But if this is what you guys want, then I'll steal the million-"

Suddenly, Scarlett was shot in the arm by a tranquilizer gun by an intern, causing her to slump against the side of the wall of the confessional and fall asleep. The intern called back to Don, "Got her!"

"Good!" Don called back.

As Don watched Rosa and the intern that was carrying Rosa head out, he turned towards the camera, "Another two contestants down. We're now down to the dirty thirty. Our game just got kicked up a level. What will happen next time? Find out right here! On… The Ridonculous Race: Stranger Shuffle!"

The camera went to static and the credits began to roll, however, after the credits, one last confessional was shown.

Solo Confessional: Lily.

Lily was seen sitting in the confessional, her hand currently bandaged from where she stabbed herself, "It caused me some pain… But I was able to do a pretty subtle sabotage. I don't care if Don sees this before the next episode. Scarlett could have been a threat. So I did everyone a favor by calculating how much to stab myself to cause the blood to be recognized by the alligators."

Her usual smile graced her face, but it took an antagonistic tone, "After all… This is just the calm before the storm."

With that, the confessional went to static, finally ending the episode.

Episode 4 Race Rankings:

1st- Melissa and Lexi

2nd- Markus and Tai

3rd- Isadora and Kayla

4th- Ash and Jackie

5th- Sam and Shakir

6th- Charlotte and Brady

7th- Josh and Mitch

8th- Naoya and Junior

9th- Rebecca and Davis

10th- Jake and Rosalina

11th- Danielle and Xavier

12th- Blaine and Victor

13th- Ethan and Brooke

14th- Lily and Kelly

15th- Gertrude and Vanessa

16th- Scarlett and Rosa (Eliminated)

Remaining contestants: Ash, Blaine, Brady, Brooke, Charlotte, Danielle, Davis, Ethan, Gertrude, Isadora, Jackie, Jake, Josh, Junior, Kayla, Kelly, Lexi, Lily, Markus, Melissa, Mitch, Naoya, Rebecca, Rosalina, Sam, Shakir, Tai, Vanessa, Victor, and Xavier.

Eliminated contestants: Helen and Justin, Liam and James, Rosa and Scarlett.

And thus, Rosa and Scarlett are eliminated. I really did like Rosa, and while she still has her unintentionally seducing ways, she also learned that was just part of her and that she was really strong. So, at least she got some development. Plus, of course, she has a chance to return later in the season.

Scarlett, however, was planned to be eliminated in some way by Lily for since I started episode one. I thought it would be a good way to officially put Lily on the map against Brady as an antagonist (same with Victor, but he's more of an anti-villain if you ask me; annoying but not constantly villainous.)

While I still want to hear as much thoughts on this episode as usual, I actually have an OC question for you guys to fill out at the bottom of your next reviews too, if you would!

The questions are...

Would your contestant end up in an alliance with another contestant(s)?:

If so, which contestants could you see them allying with?:

Next Episode: Dancing All Night