Welp, you've all been making speculations about this chapter quite a bit. Can't say I blame you guys. I will say this, this chapter certainly contains a big thing thats gonna REALLY change things up.

So I won't keep ya any longer, hope you all enjoy!

Strikes: 0

"Last time on Total Drama Island…" Chris began his usual recap of the episode. "The teams were given seven challenges that tested their trust in their teammates. The rock-climbing challenge revealed more than just Heather's grudge against Gwen. Dawn was quick to protect Lincoln's innocence. And Trent got the bad end of a blowfish courtesy of Lindsay. DJ trusted Geoff with his pet bunny. Huge mistake, by the way. Some other campers got dropped on their butts and Duncan shocked Courtney by showing her his softer side. Yeah, touching moments. Good times. Stay tuned for the most dramatic bonfire ceremony yet on Total. Drama. Island!"

"Edward! Edward! Where are you buddy!" Currently Lincoln was turning the Bass cabin upside down looking for something extremely important to him. His pet platypus Edward. When Lincoln woke up this morning, his little buddy was gone. He wasn't worried at first and thought the platypus had simply moved over to Dawn's side in the middle of the night and went to go sleep with the nature lover.

But when Lincoln went over to Dawn in the morning, it turns out that she had no clue where the platypus went. So the two split up to try and find the mammal. Lincoln was searching the campgrounds while Dawn was looking around at some of Edward's favorite places on the island.

"Woah man." Lincoln's attention was brought to Harold who had just come into the cabin after taking a shower and saw that Lincoln was quickly looking around at every inch of the cabin. "Where's the fire?"

Lincoln let out a sigh as he stood up and hugged himself a bit. "Sorry Harold." Lincoln apologized to the ginger as Harold applied some deodorant to himself. "When I woke up this morning, I couldn't find Edward anywhere. When I asked Dawn if he was with her, she said no. So we've been looking all over for him this morning."

"I wouldn't worry too much dude." Harold reassured Lincoln as the ginger finished getting ready for the day. Ever since the cooking challenge, Harold and Lincoln's friendship only grew. Not only has Lincoln been watching out for Harold and ceasing any pranks attempted on him, but they were also into a lot of the same stuff. Heck, yesterday the two ended up discussing ideas for a potential comic book. "Edward can take care of himself. Remember what he did to Heather?"

"Hehe, how can I forget?" Lincoln chuckled at the fond memory of his platypus just humiliating Heather on television. "That was a good day."

"Maybe he just wanted some me time." Harold suggested as Lincoln started to feel more at ease in the situation. "I'm sure even platypi need some alone time."

"Yeah I guess you're right." Lincoln said as finally a small smile came to Lincoln as he looked at Harold. "Thanks man, I needed that."

Harold nodded at Lincoln and was about to say something until they heard feedback coming from the loudspeakers. They were expecting to hear Chris announce the next challenge…but, "Listen up, you little cockroaches!" That was not the voice of the host Chris Mclain. No. It was the voice of the gruff and buff cook of the camp Chef Hachet. "I want all campers to report to the Dock of Shame at 0900 hours!" Most of the campers that were listening looked at each other with confused expressions as to what and when 0900 hours was. "That means now, soldiers! Now!" Everyone flinched as they made their way to the Dock of Shame as quick as they could as to not face the wrath of Chef.

Later at the Dock of Shame, all the campers were gathered up as per Chef's order with Chef himself also there. But he wasn't in his usual outfit. Chef Hachet was no longer in his usual chef's uniform and was wearing something a drill sergeant would wear. "Line up and stand at attention!" Chef yelled to everyone making most flinch. His yelling made all the worse by the megaphone he had. "You call this proper formation?! Knees together!" Chef smacked Geoff's legs with a wooden stick to get the party dude to pull his knees together. "Arms down!" Chef smacked Duncan's arms to get the delinquent into proper formation. "Eyes forward! Head up!" Chef then proceeded to smack pretty much every part of Harold.

"Oh, this is gonna be a fun day." Gwen whispered sarcastically to Trent.

But soon after that Chef was right in front of Gwen and yelling at her point blank with the megaphone. "What did you say to me, soldier?!" Chef roared loud enough that it blew Gwen's hair back.

"Um…nothing?" Gwen said with a bit of fear in her voice. The goth couldn't lie, Chef was intimidating as heck. And to think he already looked like he could kill someone when he was just being a cook.

"And you'll continue to say nothing until I tell you that you can say something!" Chef firmly yelled to all 14 campers in front of him. "Today's challenge will not be an easy one. In fact, I do not expect everyone to come out alive." Owen chuckled in response, thinking Chef was messing with them, only to be met with a hard whack to the head. "My orders are to make sure that all of the babies in front of me drop out of my boot camp except one. The last one standing wins immunity for their team! But before we get started, I'm positive two of you here are wondering what's happened to a certain platypus."

Lincoln and Dawn both gasped as they glared at Chef. "What did you do to him!?" Lincoln quickly yelled at Chef. Now he didn't care how tough or intimidating Chef was. If he laid even a finger on Edward…

Chef simply grinned and chuckled as he spoke without the air of the megaphone. "May I introduce to you all…" Chef then took a step to the right and showed off. "Deputy Edward." Standing in front of everyone and getting many surprised reactions was the egg laying mammal himself Edward wearing a general's hat.

"Edward!" Lincoln and Dawn let out in unison.

Chef chuckled again as he knelt down to Edward and patted the Platypus' hat covered head. "Met up while he was out getting food this morning." Chef explained as Edward had a fierce look to him. "One thing led to another, and he's now my deputy for this challenge.

"He's what?!" Lincoln then looked to his platypus and sent him a glare. "You traitor!"

"BRBRBRBR!" Edward loudly let out as he got up on his hind feet.

(Translation: QUACK! QUACK! I'M MAD WITH POWER!)

"…I've never felt more betrayed." Dawn sniffled a bit as he slumped down.

CONFESSIONAL – CHRIS

"Ok, for anyone wondering what's really going on, here's the deal." The host of the show begun the explanation of why Edward was working with Chef. "Turns out, folks at home loved Edward wearing hats like in the cooking channel. So, after a little bribery, we got him to put on a military hat and work with Chef for this challenge. The ratings are gonna sky rocket!"

"Uh…what happened to Chris?" Heather asked after the reveal of Deputy Edward. The host hasn't been seen all day and frankly, Heater would rather deal with Chris then Mr. Psycho Chef any day.

"Rule number one!" Chef went back to speaking with his megaphone as he ignored Heather's question. "You will address me as Master Chief! Have you got that?!"

"YES MASTER CHIEF!" All the campers said in unison.

Satisfied, Chef nodded his head and explained more rules. "Rule number two! When you are ready to give up, you will walk to the end of the dock and ring the bell." Chef pointed to the end of the dock where a big bell was waiting for whatever loser dared to ring it. "Which brings me to rule number three! I'll have to get one quitter before the end of the first day! And that day will not end until someone drops out! Now get your butts down to the beach, soldiers! Now, now, now!" All the campers quickly ran off in a panic so they wouldn't face whatever torture Master Chief had in store for them if they didn't follow orders. Chef grinned at the camper's fear as he looked down at his duck billed deputy. "This is gonna be fun."

CONFESSIONAL – GWEN

"Okay, whoever's sick, twisted idea this was to put him in charge of this challenge, I have to say…I'm a little bit impressed." Gwen had to admit as she looked to the camera with a smirk.

CONFESSIONAL – LINCOLN

"I've been betrayed by a platypus." Lincoln said with a sigh. "Welp, certainly can't say I was expecting that to happen in my life."

The teams were now in front of the beach with the Killer Bass standing next to a red canoe with the Gophers having a green one next to them. Chef and Edward were standing in front of them all as the former explained how this would go. "Listen up!" Chef yelled to get all the camper's attention on him. "Each team will hold a canoe over their heads! I catch you taking your hands off the canoe, and you will be eliminated. And no one eats lunch until someone drops out. Canoes up!"

Both teams did as they were instructed as all members of the Bass and Gophers lifted up their respective canoe with relative ease. "Pfft! This isn't that hard." Owen said as this really wasn't all that challenging.

"Piece of cake." Geoff said confidently.

THREE HOURS LATER

The ones that thought this wouldn't be so bad were soon eating their words. For three hours straight they were forced to lift up the heavy canoe, in 95-degree weather, with absolutely no food for their incredibly hungry stomachs. And to make it even harder, Chef and Edward were currently sitting on top of the Bass' canoe, while the man himself Chris Mclain finally appeared before everyone and made himself comfy on the Gophers' canoe.

"Come on, you sissies!" Chef yelled to the campers below. He could see many of their arms shaking from the strain of lifting up both the canoe and either Chef and Edward or Chris as well as he heard many of their grumbling stomachs. "It's only been three hours!"

"Looks like they missed lunch today." Chris said with a grin as he heard Leshawna's stomach growl under him.

"Mmhmm. Guess they just weren't hungry!" Chef nodded and soon went back to yelling at the two teams. "Unless someone wants to quit now."

As if on cue, Owen's stomach proceeded to growl leading Gwen to glare at him. "Don't even think about it Owen." The goth sternly told the big guy, knowing that Owen would most likely be the one to give up for food.

With the Bass, Courtney's arms were shaking as she was doing her best to keep her arms on the canoe. While Courtney would consider herself pretty strong, upper body strength was an area she would admit she needed to approve on. Still, three hours wasn't that bad. "Arms tired?" Courtney looked back at the camper behind her, being Lincoln, with his eyes on her shaking arms.

"Like crazy." Courtney whispered to Lincoln as to not get the attention of Master Chief. "Doesn't help that I'm starving either."

"Tell me about it." Lincoln sighed out as at this point, both his arms and stomach felt like complete crap. Lincoln was never the strongest or most athletic guy around as he much preferred to use brain over brawn about 95% of the time. And not having a full stomach only made the situation that much worse for him. "Hey Courtney, can I ask ya something?"

"What is it?" With nothing better to do other than feeling her arms die and her stomach trying to digest itself, she might as well make small talk with the Loud boy.

"I'm just wondering why you always need things to go perfectly." Courtney's eyes widened at this as she turned to glare at Lincoln, thinking he was making fun of her perfectionist attitude like Duncan usually does. Lincoln sensed this and shook his head to reassure her. "I'm not trying to mock you or anything, I'm legitimately wondering. I mean you gotta admit, you were kinda hard on DJ during the last challenge."

Courtney narrowed her eyes at Lincoln a bit to see if he was being true with his words. When she saw his face seemed to carry no malicious or antagonizing attitude in it, the CIT looked forward again and sighed a bit. "Look sorry for that." Courtney actually apologized for her actions. This surprised Lincoln a bit as he can't remember Courtney apologizing before. "This whole competition has been…stressful on me."

"Hasn't it been on all of us?" Lincoln couldn't help but joke a bit. "At least you weren't Gwen during the last challenge." Despite Dawn covering his eyes, Lincoln ended up hearing about how Heather ripped off Gwen's skirt and exposed her panties for all, expect him, to see.

This actually got a small chuckle out of Courtney. "Oh my gosh. I think I would just die if that happened to me." Lincoln ended up chuckling with her.

Eventually they stopped and were silent again. But only for a minute as Lincoln let out a sigh. "Look, during the talent show Dawn said that your desire to be perfect was a cry for friendship and acceptance." Courtney flinched violently when Lincoln said this. This brought back a few…unpleasant memories for her. Such as the sleepless night she had after that particular challenge due to Dawn's words constantly going through her head. "What's that about anyway?"

"…"

Lincoln winced a tiny bit as Courtney didn't respond. "Look if you don't wanna talk about it we don't-"

"Moving to a new place was hard…" Lincoln quickly shut himself up as Courtney started talking. "I was 13 when me and my mom had to move away for her new job. So I had to go to a new school and leave all my friends behind. I was always an excellent student, straight A of course, but still moving to a new place was…hard on me I guess. And things weren't really easy when I first went to my new school. I pretty much had a target on my back as the 'new girl' and pretty much was ganged up on by everyone. The cheerleaders, all the sports teams, the popular kids, even the chess team sometimes."

"Wow…that sounds really rough." Lincoln said with sympathy. He figured moving to a new place was hard, he remembered how hard his ex-girlfriend took it at first, and it seemed like Courtney really became a bullying target.

Courtney took a deep breath and nodded her head. It was hard revealing these painful memories to someone, especially when they were being recorded, but a part of her told her it would be better than keeping it in. "Well, it was like that for a whole year. And at that point…I had enough." Courtney explained to Lincoln. "At that point, I wasn't gonna be anyone's target. I pushed myself to the brink with everything. My academics, my debating skills, self-defense, everything I could. I wanted nothing but the best from myself…to the point where it defined who I was." Lincoln winced a bit. He's heard about people who kept doing something to themselves for so long that it became a part of them. And most of the time it didn't usually go too well. "It got to the point where I wanted nothing but the best from myself and others around me. I ended up started a band that broke up before our first gig, my debate partner bailed on me, and I guess I just continued pushing people away from me. I went from being to target everyone aimed at to someone everyone avoids out of fear."

"Courtney…" Lincoln whispered with a frown.

"And then one day I got the chance to visit my old home for a while." Courtney continued her story. "I was so excited to see my old friends again. But when I got there…they had all moved on without me. They all had new friends and new looks and everything was different. It was like I was the new girl all over again…"

Courtney was finally done. Her arms were trembling more, but Lincoln didn't think it was because of the weight of the canoe, Chef, and Edward. And if he listened closely, he swore he heard the CIT sniffling a bit. "Courtney…I'm really sorry that all happened to you. That was really unfair and you didn't deserve it." Lincoln said with nothing but honesty to Courtney. While he and Courtney have had a few scuffles, Lincoln didn't really dislike the CIT. She was just a bit…rough around the edges. Kinda reminded him of Lori if he was being honest. "But look around you. You're in a new place with new people. You can make a fresh start."

"Little late for that now don't you think?" Courtney sighed out. "Everyone's pretty much gotten a good look at who I am…"

"Yet you still got a few friends here." Lincoln tried to reassure the CIT. "I mean you and Bridgette are pretty close. And DJ isn't one to hold a grudge so I'm sure you just have to apologize to him for the last challenge. And hey, there's me and Dawn."

Courtney's eyes widened a bit as Lincoln said that. Turning around, Courtney looked over Lincoln to try and see if he was messing with her. "Really?" She asked in a surprised tone. "I…thought you didn't like me."

"There's a difference between being mad at someone and not liking them." Lincoln explained to Courtney with the CIT giving him all ears. "I was mad at you…a few times. But I don't think you're a bad person Courtney. You just need to learn to chill out a bit. Know what I mean?"

"I…think I do." Courtney said slowly. Truthfully, she wasn't sure if she got it or not completely. But she has a general idea. But overall, she kinda felt like a bit of a weight had been lifted off her chest. "Hey Lincoln…thanks. It actually felt kinda nice to get to talk about that."

"It's what I do." Lincoln reassured her as they both went back to focusing on lifting the canoe. But Lincoln couldn't help but say. "Sooooo…you and Duncan?"

Courtney's first instinct was to immediately deny any connection between the two, but after the talk they just had about her chilling out a bit, she decided to simply turn her head to him and smirk. "I think you got enough outta me for today." Lincoln simply shrugged at the CIT's words with his own grin before going quiet.

THAT NIGHT

That's right. This challenge went all the way until the moon was in the sky. Both teams still lifting their canoes and trying not to drop them as by now, most of their arms were completely numb and their stomachs were practically trying to eat themselves from the inside. All the while Chef was sitting in a chair and looking into a fire he had started in a small metal pit with deputy Edward sleeping next to it. "Twenty-five of us went to the jungle that night." Chef said to the campers as he told them one of his stories from when he was in the military. "Only five came back out."

Gwen let out a loud yawn in response before asking Chef. "What war were you in, anyway?"

"Did I ask you to speak?!" Chef quickly snapped at the goth girl. "Because I don't remember asking you to speak!"

"Whatever." Gwen muttered as she rolled her eyes. "He so wasn't in a war."

CONFESSIONAL – LINCOLN

"I think Gwen's right about that." Lincoln said as he had a hand to his chin. "The only war that had a jungle as a major part of it was the Vietnam war. And Canada wasn't involved in that. So either Chef is lying or he's not Canadian."

"Guys, I-I can't do this anymore." Lindsay told everyone in a whimpering voice…before letting go of the canoe. All of the Gophers gasped as Lindsay started walking away with her arms limply falling to her sides. "I have no more feeling in my arms."

Everyone watched as Lindsay started walking over to the dock. "Looks like we got ourselves a quitter!" Chef said with a mad grin. This caused Edward to wake up and waddle over to Chef's side to join him in watching the first camper drop out of the challenge today.

"Don't do it Lindsay!" Owen desperately called out to the dumb blond. But it was all in vain as Lindsay walked over to the bell…and rung it using her head. The rest of the Gophers then lost their hold on the canoe leading it to falling down on them with the Bass all grinning and throwing their canoe to the side. Chef then walked up to Lindsay and put a hand on the blond girl's shoulder. "Listen here. You have nothing to be ashamed of." The buff chef told her in a reassuring tone…before yelling at her point blank with the megaphone. "Except being a little baby that let your team down!" He yelled with such volume and pressure that he actually ended up knocking Lindsay down before turning to the rest of the campers. "As for the rest of you, head to the mess hall! Dinner is served!"

"Sweet Marie, thank you!" Owen cheered with more relief then he's ever had before in his life.

At the mess hall, all the campers were lined up ready to finally get something to eat. "All right, maggots! Open your ears! You've got ten minutes to eat before night training begins! Get to it!" Chef said swiftly and loudly as he presented…trash cans to the campers.

Many of the campers complied over the night training, feeling tired and exhausted enough after lifting a canoe for a whole day, while Gwen raised her hand. "Um, excuse me? Master Chief?" The goth spoke up getting Chef's attention. "Where's the food?"

"You're looking at it." Chef chuckled as he gestured the trash cans as Edward banged his tail against one.

Owen was the first to step up and remove the lid of the trash can to see what was inside. "This is the leftover garbage from this morning's breakfast." Owen stated as he looked at the garbage inside.

"Darn right!" Chef yelled as the other campers cringed as they looked over the garbage they were being served. "When you're at war, you take what you can get!"

Meanwhile Chris grinned and nodded in approval as he saw some of the campers, mostly Owen, actually take some of the garbage for food. "Well, I can see you've got this under control." Chris said as he looked up at Chef. "I'm off to craft services. Coming?"

"Serve me up some of that." Chef said as he picked up his beaver tailed deputy and followed Chris to go and get some actually good food.

Lincoln couldn't help but glare at his platypus and mutter "Traitor." As Chef took him to go and probably get a quality meal.

As some like Heather and Courtney refused to eat the garbage, Lincoln felt a tug at his sleeve and looked to see Dawn smiling at him. "I know a place where we can get some fresh berries." The aura reader whispered to Lincoln making the Loud boy smile. "Come on, I'll show you." Eager to have something other than garbage for dinner, Lincoln quietly snuck out of the main lodge with Dawn to go get some sweet, sweet fruit.

The only one who seemed to notice was Duncan, but instead of saying anything about it the delinquent grinned. With Lincoln gone, he could do something without any issue. As the rest of the campers were either doing their best to stomach their 'dinner' or complained about it, Duncan walked into the kitchen and, after a few moments, walked back out holding a glass filled with some sort of orange liquid. Duncan then walked up to Harold who was sitting at one of the tables. "Hey Harold." Duncan said as he handed the glass over to Harold. "I felt really bad about trying to prank you the other day. So here, I found you some apple juice."

"Thanks." Harold smiled and took the glass, thinking that Duncan was being genuine about it. The delinquent hadn't tried to prank him recently, at least that's what Harold thought, so the ginger thought that Duncan was being genuine about this. But he soon learned that wasn't the case as when he drank the 'juice' he quickly spat it out. "That's not juice!"

"Oh! Oh! My mistake dude." Duncan laughed out as Geoff snickered from nearby. While he hasn't aided in helping Duncan prank Harold, due to Lincoln promising to tell Bridgette about it if he did, since the white head was gone it wouldn't hurt to chuckle at the prank that he had no hand in helping with. "I-I've must've confused it with the kitchen grease."

As Harold glared at Duncan and stormed off, Courtney spoke up as she glared at the delinquent. "You guys are so immature." Courtney scolded the delinquent as he turned and grinned at her. "I hope you're proud of yourselves."

"Heh. Okay, look. I know you like me. He knows you like me, everyone knows it." Duncan pointed out as it was quite obvious that Courtney had some kind of attraction towards Duncan. It was so obvious at this point that it hurt. "So here's a tip. If you wanna kiss me, I might let you."

Courtney's glare towards Duncan only got fiercer as she yelled. "And to think I actually thought you were nice!"

Duncan flinched and was quick to shush Duncan as a few people turned their attention to this scene. "Me? Nice? Haha, yeah right." Duncan said as he crossed his arms in an attempt to diffuse this and not draw any suspicion to him potentially having a soft side.

"Why'd you think that?" Geoff asked as he walked up to the two with a confused look.

"Nevermind. I was wrong. He's just as gross and annoying as he wants you to believe." Courtney stated with a disappointed and scolding tone before storming off angrily. She really wished Duncan was truly nice. Just someone with a rough edge but was a big softie underneath. But it looks like he was no better than the rest…"Enjoy your garbage!" As she left, Geoff looked to Duncan who gave the party dude a nervous grin.

Once everyone had their fill of garbage, nothing, or in Lincoln and Dawn's case fresh berries, the night training began. And that training was…dancing along with Chef to the song Thriller. Chef had a radio playing the song as he danced on top of a wooden platform with Edward beating his tail against the wood in rhythm with the music.

And the campers, per his instructions, copied his dance moves as best they could. There was no sign of when they had to stop…until Duncan went up to the radio and turned it off. Everyone sighed in relief as Chef glared down at Duncan. Courtney quietly called out to him as Duncan crossed his arms at Chef and said, "One of us drops out, we're done for the day."

"We're done when I say we're done!" Chef yelled at Duncan as he looked right into the delinquent's eyes. "Now drop and give me twenty!" Duncan rolled his eyes and just decided to start doing push ups as Chef turned to the rest of the campers. "Anyone else got anything they want to say?"

"Uh, yeah." Gwen said with a raised hand while crossing her legs together. "Can I go to the bathroom?"

Apparently Chef's answer to that was to have Gwen clean the bathrooms.

After that whole fiasco, everyone was once against gathered up at the main lodge with both teams at their respective table. "For your next challenge, you will complete a three-hundred-word essay about how much you love…me" Chef explained getting a few deadpanned looks from the campers. Meanwhile Edward was fast asleep and just done with today as Chef carried him under his arm. "Anyone who falls asleep or fails to complete the challenge will be eliminated!"

CONFESSIONAL – DAWN

"I can think of 300 words for something alright!" Dawn said with a rather grumpy and agitated tone. While Dawn wasn't usually one for this type of attitude both the betrayal of Edward and the whole army training, especially due to her pacifism, was starting to wear her down a bit.

Two hours had passed before a timer went off. It was currently three in the morning and the campers were looking completely exhausted both physically and mentally. But time was finally up for completing the essay and Master Chief came in and quickly started looking over everyone's essays. He nodded in approval as he read over them seeing both the correct word amount and bathing a bit in his ego at the nice things said about him. If only because that's what he ordered them to write. And when picking up Duncan's essay, "I love Master Chief Hatchet because he is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very…this is just one sentence with five pages of very's in between!"

"It's three hundred words exactly!" Duncan stated as he technically followed the requirements of the essay. "You can count them if you want."

Chef growled as he slammed Duncan's essay down in front of him before walking over to the Gopher table…and slipping on a pile of drool Owen made. "Wipe up that drool, you little baby!" Chef ordered as he slammed a fist down in front of Owen and snapping the big guy out of his daze. Luckily he managed to complete the essay before this happened.

DJ and Trent however were fast asleep. "You two slackers are out." Chef told DJ and Trent causing them to wake up and hear the bad news. "The rest of you, get to bed and report to the playing field at 0500 hours."

"Uh, missed a spot there, General." Duncan told Chef in a tone that was specifically designed to tick Chef off he had hand him a hanker chief to wipe off the drool that got on him when the buff chef slipped.

"Boy!" Chef snapped as he got right into Duncan's face. But the delinquent didn't even flinch. "Do you wanna run fifty laps around this camp right now?!"

"No thanks!" Courtney was quick to get in between the two and diffuse the tension so Duncan wouldn't get in trouble. "He's going straight to bed. Aren't you?" Chef growled a bit before walking away as Courtney dragged Duncan in the opposite direction. "What are you trying to do?" Courtney whispered harshly to Duncan. "Get eliminated?"

"I didn't know you cared." Duncan said with a sly grin.

"I don't!" Courtney claimed harshly. "I just don't wanna lose his challenge! So stop being such a screwup and do what you're told for once! Okay?" And with that, Courtney stormed off outside and towards the cabins. Eager to get as much rest as she could.

"…She wants me." Duncan smirked as he held a fist out to Geoff.

"No doubt." Geoff grinned as he fist bumped Duncan. The party dude then turned to Dawn and asked. "You should know right Dawn?"

"Hmmm…" Dawn hummed a bit before deciding to smirk at the two and rest her head on her hand. "Now where would be the fun if I just told you~"

After getting what little rest they could, the campers that were still participating in the challenge had met up with Chef at an obstacle course. The course consisted of a muddy path all the way through with obstacles such as a wall, rope jump, tires that had to be jumped through, and axes that would need to be crawled under. "You will all run this course until you can all complete it in under one minute." Chef instructed before getting right up in Duncan's face. Edward was still asleep and not with Chef at the moment. "Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal." Duncan said with his usual smirk on his face.

"If you lose this for us, I'm gonna make you so miserable." Courtney whispered harshly to Duncan.

"Go, maggots, go!" Chef quickly yelled to the campers to get them going.

And so the campers quickly started running through the obstacle course as fast as they could. The wall proved easy for some like Gwen and Duncan, Heather and Dawn were easily able to jump through the tires with Owen getting stuck, Geoff and Leshawna narrowly managed to avoid getting hit by the constantly moving axes, and Courtney proved to do rather well on the rope jump.

But all of them had to keep doing the course over and over again until they were able to do it in under a minute like Chef instructed. So they would climb the wall over and over again, got rope burn from swinging on the ropes too much, and of course got very, very, very muddy. But like with most things the more they did the better they got.

At least…some did.

"GAH!" Lincoln let out in pain as both he and Harold fell off the wall with Lincoln landing on one of his legs and quickly holding it in pain. Meanwhile Harold landed face fist in the mud and when he pulled himself up he started throwing up mud.

"Lincoln!" Dawn called out in concern as she ran back to go check on him. "Please! Master Chief, Lincoln and Harold are hurt!"

Chef walked over to the scene, with a few other campers stopping to see this as well, as Harold said. "To…much…" Harold had to cut himself off to throw up some more mud. "Mud…"

"My ankle…" Lincoln winced as Dawn checked out his leg. "I think I sprained it…"

Chef proceeded to help the two up with Lincoln leaning on Harold for support with the ginger happily lending his aid to Lincoln. "Ring the bell and report to the infirmary!" Chef ordered the two as he pointed in the direction of the dock. "Your hours of duty are finished."

"Wow." Duncan grinned as he watched the two leave. "Poor gu-Ow!" Duncan was cut off by an angry Dawn 'accidentally' shoving Duncan down to the mud. Courtney saw this and laughed a bit as Duncan got up and was about to yell at Dawn only for Chef to get in front of him.

"Back on the course soldiers, now!" Chef ordered before getting his face into Duncan's again. "One false move and I'll be on you like stink on a poop wagon!"

"I look forward to it, sir!" Duncan saluted as he ran off, forgetting all about Dawn in favor of messing with Chef.

And so the campers continued with the obstacle course after Lincoln and Harold had to step out for the rest of the challenge. Owen ended up knocking down the wall, Geoff nearly got stuck in the tires, Heather got tangled up in one of the ropes, and Leshawna ended up getting stuck in the mud.

And when that last one happened, Duncan crawled past her and said. "Fallen soldier, I salute you!" But after this, he was once again looking up at Chef as he glared angrily down at Duncan.

"You just bought yourself twenty more push-ups!" Chef yelled at Duncan who grinned in response.

"Thank you!" Duncan said to Chef with his usual 'annoy Chef' tone…before planting a kiss on the buff Chef's cheek.

But this was too far. Chef's race went pure red with anger as multiple veins started appearing on his face. This actually got Duncan to flinch a bit as Geoff said. "I think you may have pushed him over the edge, bro."

"IIIIIIII…think you're right." Duncan admitted as Chef growled like a beast. While Duncan did have every intention of getting on Chef's nerves, the delinquent had to admit he just might have taken it a little too far.

"One-night solitary confinement. In the boathouse." Chef immediately gave his punishment to Duncan.

Everyone gasped in response with Duncan quickly putting his tough face back on. "Big deal. How scary can it be?" Duncan shrugged.

He would quickly learn to regret those words. The boat house was filled from stuff you'd find in a horror film. One of those rooms where half of the characters would meet their end. Shark jaws with many sharp teeth decorated the walls, barrels of water with…something swimming around in it, buckets full of squirming worms, large impale-a-man sized fish hooks, and even a whole shark hanging from the ceiling. "…Should've kept my big mouth shut." Duncan sighed as she sat down on a crate and tried to ignore all the potential murder weapons around him.

And so Duncan did whatever he could to simply distract himself and let the time go by. Whistling, carving the walls with a pocket knife, he even resorted to sweeping the floor. It got boring quick. Especially seeing as he was by himself most of the time…at least until…"

"Hello? Duncan?" The door to the boat house creaked open the bright light of a flash light peaked through. Entering the boat house was none other than CIT Courtney carrying both a flash light and a bowl of gruel. After the obstacle course they were given breakfast which…was at least better than garbage…maybe? Regardless, Courtney couldn't help but be worried about Duncan and wanted to bring him some food.

When Duncan heard the door open, he thought it was Chef coming to finish him off with one of the many sharp objects in the room. But once he saw it was Courtney the delinquent put on a grin as he greeted her. "Princess!"

"I wish you'd stop calling me that." Courtney said as she walked over to Duncan while rolling her eyes.

"So, come to claim that kiss?" Duncan asked with a smirk as he came up right in front of Courtney.

Courtney simply smirked and held the bowl of gruel right in front of Duncan's face getting a disgusted reaction from the delinquent. "Even pigs deserve a meal." The CIT stated as Duncan slowly shook his head.

"Mm. No thanks." Duncan declined the offer as he and Courtney took a seat on some crates. "I'll stick with the bait." Duncan pointed to a bucket of live worms which honestly looked more appetizing then the gruel. Heck, it was probably cleaner than the gruel.

"That's all Chef would serve us after our pathetic performance on the obstacle course." Courtney explained as the only ones that would be allowed to go on to the next and final part of the challenge were Courtney, Dawn and surprisingly Duncan, from the Bass and Heather, Gwen, and Owen from the Gophers. As Duncan messed with the gruel, and found the spoon was stuck in it to where he could lift the entire bowl of food by just grabbing the spoon, Courtney asked the delinquent. "Why do you egg Chef on like that? You know you're going to get in trouble."

"Why are you so uptight all the time?" Duncan countered Courtney's question with another question.

"It's…complicated…" Courtney said as she remembered the talk she had with Lincoln the other day while they were lifting the canoe. Duncan gave a curious look at this. He wasn't expecting that type of answer. "But regardless, I just don't wanna lose these challenges just because my so called teammates always break rules."

"I don't always break the rules." Duncan claimed with a smirk. "Only the ones I want to." Courtney sighed aggressively in response getting a chuckle out of Duncan. "Besides at least I don't go crazy with following them to a T."

"Well maybe I do, do that ok!" Courtney yelled as she looked away from Duncan. "I guess that makes me a big uptight loser in your books, right?"

"Maybe." Duncan grinned which only got Courtney to growl at him. "So then, why do you follow them?"

"Because not following them gets you thrown into a fish cabin!" Courtney yelled as she held up a dead fish in front of Duncan's face.

"But I'm in the fish cabin with you, aren't I?" Duncan stated as he got into Courtney's face with a sly grin. This got the kind of reaction he wanted out of Courtney as the CIT ended up smiling, averting her gaze from Duncan, and blushed a bit. "Feel like ditching this crap for some peanut butter and jam?"

"Ha, are you kidding? All I've had for two days is this gruel." Courtney would love nothing more then to get some real food. Between the garbage and the gruel she was really started to worry about her nourishment and health. But more importantly, she wanted something that actually tasted good! "But Chef'll never give it to us."

"See? Now that's the problem with your thinking!" Duncan stated as he pointed to his head. He was gonna shape up this girl into a rebel even if it killed him. She had the potential. Now it was time to unleash the beast from within. "The trick is to not ask for it."

"Do you have some on you?" Courtney asked with a raised brow, kinda already knowing the answer to this.

"No." Duncan rolled his eyes. Looks like this was gonna take some work. But it'll all be worth it. "But I happen to know where to find it. It will involve breaking quite a few rules though. Are you in?"

Courtney thought about this for a moment. Her first instinct was to say no…but something within her was keeping her from doing that. At first Lincoln's words of this place allowing for a new fresh start to define who she was. And then this racing feeling in her heart came at the thought of doing something bad…and she liked it! It was like her brain was doing everything it could to encourage her to do this leading Courtney to say. "Let's do it!"

"Well, all right, then!" Duncan said as he and Courtney shared a high five. This was gonna be fun!

And where could these two possibly find some actual quality food on this island? Quite simple. The place where Chris and Chef got their food. The craft services tent! "Slowly. Slowly. Crawl." Duncan quietly whispered to Courtney as the two hid inside some bushes they pulled up from the ground to use as disguises so they could sneak up to the tent.

Luckily, when they got there, Chef and Chris were busy talking to each other so they didn't notice Duncan and Courtney crawling in and stealing stuff from the fridge. "I'm telling you man, those kids need discipline!" Chef yelled rather psychotically as he slammed a fist down on a table. Meanwhile Edward was under said table sleeping while still wearing his generals' hat. "I say we get roving death squads around the camp 24/7 to keep them in line. I want 10,000 tough guys and I want 10,000 soft guys to make the tough guys look tougher. And here's how I want them arranged: Tough, tough, soft, tough soft, soft, tough, tough, soft, soft, tough, soft."

"Dude…" Chris slowly let out as he backed away from Chef a little bit. "I'm afraid you've gone mad with power."

"Of course!" Chef yelled as Duncan and Courtney planted a dead fish in the fridge before taking off without once being spotted by the duo. "Ever try going mad without power? It's boring. No one listens to you."

Once both Duncan and Courtney made it back to the cabins, they decided to throw a bit of a party with everyone from both teams involved. Everyone was more than happy to quickly indulge themselves in some real food and pop for the first time in weeks!

"And what is with all those lame war stories?" Gwen joked with her mouth full of food and a bottle of soda in her hand. "He is so demented!"

"Girl, these nails were not made for combat training." Leshawna stated as she showed off her nails. After getting stuck in the mud at the obstacle course, she was forced to drop out and proceeded to take about three showers. And she still feeling mud in some places. "Know what I'm saying? Mm."

"Mm. Seriously, if I wanted to join the army, I would've." Bridgette spoke up after taking a swing of pop.

"So how's your ankle feeling Lincoln?" Dawn asked as she chewed on a sugar cookie while sitting next to Lincoln who had his left foot wrapped up in bandages.

"Well it doesn't hurt anymore so that's good." Lincoln stated as he lifted his leg up and down a few times to reassure Dawn. "Should be good to go again in a day or two. Man, I don't know how my pop-pop dealt with all this stuff?"

"You're pop-pop was in the military?" Trent asked while snacking on some chocolate chip cookies.

"Yep! He was quite the soldier. And his war stories are actually true." This got a good laugh out of everyone. Especially Courtney.

Ever since she helped Duncan raid the fridge, she's been a little…out of control. She couldn't stop giggling and bouncing up and down. It was as if she was on a sugar high. Which probably was true as she was stuffing her face with cookie sandwiches. She was actually about to reach for one more until Bridgette stopped her. "Okay, I think you've had enough." The surfer girl smirked at the CIT.

But Courtney quickly took her arm back from the surfer and giggled madly, unable to keep still, as she swiped the sweet sandwich away. "Hehe, oh no! No! Just, just one more. Mm!" Courtney then stuffed the dessert into her mouth and swallowed…and was quickly met with a gurgling sound coming from her stomach which was followed by a burp. "Oh…yeah…yeah that one was a mistake." Courtney quickly ran out of the cabin where she proceeded to lean over the railing and throw all her stolen food up and send it to the ground.

As she did this, Duncan grinned as the delinquent walked up to her. "So the Princess has a dark side." He said as Courtney finish unloading her sweets and groaned.

"Okay. That was so gross." Courtney groaned out as she held her stomach. Looks like she still had some limits to her and it was best she not try and break them less that happens again…or worse. But the CIT soon went back to smiling like crazy as she said. "But it was like, once I did something bad, it was so much fun, I just wanted more!"

"Well, you could always gimme that kiss." Duncan offered as he wiped some chocolate off of Courtney's cheek. "That would be pretty bad."

Courtney playfully scoffed as she ruffled Duncan's mohawk. "You're still not my type." Courtney said with a smirk.

"Fine." Duncan shrugged as he faced his back to Courtney. "Enjoy a peanut butter-less life."

"Thanks." Courtney put her back to his. "Enjoy prison."

"I will." Duncan said…right before Courtney grabbed his face and placed her lips against his. That's right. Finally the CIT had taken up Duncan's offer to kiss him and the delinquent didn't resist one bit and leaned into the kiss. After a few moments, Courtney separated from him and walked off leaving Duncan in a loved dazed trance.

"Yes!" Coming next to Duncan was Geoff and DJ who had saw the whole thing and was quick to cheer for their friend finally scoring the CIT. "Dude!"

"Told ya she wanted me." Duncan said with a smirk on his face.

"Attention, all remaining boot camp recruits, the next evolution of your training begins tomorrow morning at 0700 hours!" Chef's voice boomed angrily through the loud speakers. "And if I catch the sucker that took my desserts, your butt is mine!"

THE NEXT DAY

And so began the last leg of Chef's boot camp training…hanging upside down from a tree. Dawn, Courtney and Duncan were hanging on a branch from the left side of the tree with Owen, Gwen, and Heather on a branch on the right side. "What you are experiencing is an ancient form of torture." Chef explained as he and Edward paced back and forth in front of the tree. "By now, the blood has begun rushing to your head." Chef started to list the affects of this torture as Duncan started to not look so hot. "The next stage is nausea, followed by dizziness and a flushed appearance as the blood begins to pool your eyes. You may experience fainting spells."

Duncan proceeded to face that last one and ended up falling off the tree and to the ground with a rather dopey expression on his face. "Duncan!" Courtney called out in a concerned tone.

Bridgette went over to check on the delinquent and saw that he didn't seem to have any injuries on his body. "It's okay!" Bridgette reassured her CIT friend. "He's alright!"

Courtney breathed a sigh of relief as she reached her arm ups to grabbed the branch she was hanging from for extra support. Dawn saw this but didn't copy the CIT. Heck, the aura reader was practically in her element here as she didn't show any of the signs Chef listed out. It was as if she was completely used to this.

Gwen and Heather did copy Courtney and grabbed the branch with their hands. Owen tried to do the same but couldn't quite make it. "Come on…I…can't…reach!" In his effort to reach the branch with his hands, a fart ended up escaping the big guy making him laugh.

"Okay, that's it." Heather let out in disgust. "I'm done!" Heather then proceeded to flip a bit and landed back on the ground, perfectly on her feet. This was quickly followed by Owen landing right on top of her. Heather's screams were muffled by Owen's blubber, good thing too, as Owen quickly got off the queen bee. "Off of me, you big ox!" Heather's words were heard once Owen got off her.

"Sorry." Owen apologized…right as giggling was heard.

Looking to the source, everyone say that Courtney started giggling and laughing uncontrollably. "Stop laughing this instant!" Chef ordered the CIT as he was starting to get annoyed by her laughs.

"Brbrbrb!" Edward followed up with a growl.

"I'm sorry, hehehe, I can't help it, hehe!" Courtney said in between laughs. Unfortunately this caused Courtney to lose her focus as she soon fell right off the tree and back down to earth. "Hahahahah!" But despite this Courtney couldn't stop laughing.

"I expected more out of you, soldier." Chef said to Courtney with a disappointed tone. The CIT was one of the campers here Chef actually expected nothing but 100% focus from when it comes to the challenges. And then suddenly she goes into an uncontrollable laughing fit? Disgraceful.

Courtney then stood up, all the while she never stopped laughing, and looked up to Chef after clearing her throat. "Master Chief? Heh. I just have one thing to say to you." Courtney said while trying her best to keep under control.

"And what might that be?" Chef asked with a professional tone.

"You really…need to take…a chill pill." Everyone gasped at what Courtney said right to Chef's face with the CIT laughing like crazy and Chef practically fuming as his face went red with anger.

"Hehe, yeah!" Duncan cheered Courtney on for her words and attitude. Man that girl was hot when she was like this. Even more so then usual. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

CONFESSIONAL – DAWN

"I've never seen someones aura change so drastically in one night." Dawn stated as she put a finger to her chin. "I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing…"

"Alright Dawny!" Courtney cheered the last Bass still hanging on the tree. "It's all up to you!"

"You got this, Gwen?" Owen asked the last remaining Gopher on the tree.

"Oh yeah. I can hang here all day." Gwen stated with a smirk.

"As can I." Dawn said genuinely as she smiled at Gwen. "May the best one win."

"Wow Dawn how are you so good at this?" Lincoln asked as he looked up at Dawn. He couldn't help but admire how cute it was seeing her long hair hanging upside down.

"Oh, it's because I fall asleep like this every night." Dawn revealed much to the surprise of everyone except the females of the Bass. "I always feel more in touch with nature like this."

Lincoln looked to his female teammates for confirmation since they slept in the same place as Dawn. Both Bridgette and Courtney nodded their heads as Lincoln turned back to Dawn. "Huh, kinda like a opossum." Lincoln said with a smile on his face. "That's kinda cool!"

Dawn smiled and blushed a bit at the complimented as Gwen gulped a bit. If Dawn actually went to bed like this for hours at a time, then this might be harder then she thought.

45 MINUTES LATER

A total of 45 minutes have passed and Gwen and Dawn were still hanging on the tree. Dawn looked completely fine and was even allowing a few birds to perch on her arms all the while engaging in a conversation with them. Gwen though…

"Uh…guys…" Gwen's words were a little slurred and the goth was looking a bit dazed. "I don't…feel…so…good…" And once Gwen finished her sentence, she was no longer able to keep hanging onto the tree as the affects of the hanging upside down finally got to her.

All of the Gophers gasped as the Killer Bass all cheered. Dawn smiled as the birds she was talking to senses the situation and flew away so the aura reader can meet up with her teammates. As the Gophers all slumped down in defeat, the Bass all caught Dawn and cheered for her as they raised the nature lover in the air. "Nature girl!" Dawn looked to see that Chef had called to her and gave the girl a salute. "Congratulations, soldier. I'd go to war with you anytime."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Dawn said rather awkwardly. "While I am a pacifist that doesn't believe in violence as a solution to problems, I'll certain think about it."

"You do that soldier…" Chef said as a single tear went down his eye. "You do that!" Chef then knelt down to Edward and removed the general's hat from his head. "Alright, your hour of deputy is over. Go meet up with your friends." Edward didn't need to be told twice as he quickly waddled after Lincoln, Dawn and the rest of the Bass. Hoping they would forgive him.

With the Gophers, Owen was about to head over to the mess hall to hopefully fill his sadness with food over losing the challenge. But suddenly both Heather and Lindsay walked in front of him with the former stating. "Alright Owen, here's whats going to happen." Heather began as Owen raised a brow. "You are going to vote with me and Lindsay tonight."

"Hmmmm…I don't know…" Owen said with a nervous and unsure tone. "You're kind of mean…"

Heather was expecting this and pulled out her secret weapon. "Would you do it for an Owen Snack?" Heather smirked as she pulled out a candy bar from her pocket that she saved from last night.

"An Owen Snack?!" Owen said excitedly as he looked at the bar in Heather's hand. But the big guy soon found himself slapping himself to try and distract him from the sugary goodness in Heather's hand. "No! I must remain strong!"

Heather nodded at Lindsay as the blond spoke up. "Would you do it for two Owen Snacks?" Lindsay offered as she pulled out another candy bar.

"Two Owen Snacks?!" Owen's mouth was drooling a bunch as he looked at the two candy bars the girls were offering. But only if he voted with them tonight. "…Ok! I'll do it!" Owen gave in as he fell to his knees. "I'll vote with you!"

"Good boy." Heather said as he and Lindsay tossed their candy bars to Owen. "Now here's what's going to happen…"

THAT NIGHT

"Well Gophers, didn't take long for us to meet back here again." Chris said as night had fallen on the camp and it was time to yet again send a camper home and bring the number of campers down to 13. Holding up a plate of five marshmallows, Chris once again explained the rules. "I only have five marshmallows on my plate. And these marshmallows represent the campers that will continue to be campers. Here. You've all cast your ballots in the confession can. If I do not call your name, you must immediately go down to the Dock of Shame, catch the Boat of Losers, and go home. And you can't come back. Ever."

"Lindsay. Owen." Chris called out the first two Gophers who would be receiving a marshmallow and tossed said sweet to them. Owen even catching it in his mouth.

"Heather. Leshawna." Heather smirked as she caught the marshmallow with Leshawna sending a glare to Heather.

Just then, Trent and Gwen's eyes widened as they realized something. On the plate was only one marshmallow. And there were only two campers left…them. "Well ain't this a predicament." Chris said as he tossed the last fluffy white treat up and down in his hand. "Two campers. One Marshmallow. Who's gonna get it?" Gwen tensed up incredibly, but a hand was placed on top of her own and the goth looked to see it was Trent's hand with the guitarist giving Gwen a look that said 'everything's gonna be alright.' Gwen couldn't help but smile at the gesture as both campers turned to Chris.

"And the last marshmallow goes to….." Chris really dragged this one out as Gwen felt a few beads of sweat come down from her head and Trent took a deep breath through his nose. "…Gwen."

Chris tossed the marshmallow to the goth, but she didn't catch it. A look of sadness came to the goth's face as Trent was voted off the island…for good. "Well…guess that's that." Trent sighed out in a saddened voice. But the look on Gwen's face hurt him more than the elimination. So, using his last moments on the island wisely, Trent proceeded to give Gwen a surprise peck to the cheek.

Gwen's face exploded with red as Trent smiled at her. "Hey, just keep doing what you're doing alright? I promise I'll be rooting for you all the way." Trent told her causing Gwen's eyes to water a bit as a tiny smile came to her face. "And hey, maybe when this is all over…we could go out sometime?"

"…" Gwen was silent at first as her heart felt like it was going a million beats a second. But the goth looked up at the guitarist and managed to let out. "I'd…I'd like that."

Trent smiled fondly, any upset feelings of being eliminated gone. "Sweet." Trent said to Gwen before he went to go collect his stuff. He may have lost the game, but in the end, he got the girl. And that was easily worth more than 100 grand to him.

And so with bags and guitar in hand, Trent went down the Dock of Shame and got on the boat of losers. Once he was on, he looked to Gwen who was waving him off at the dock and gave the goth a smile as he waved to her as the boat took him away.

A few tears went down Gwen's face as Leshawna was quick to come to her friends' side and comfort her…all the while Heather watched with a smirk before heading off to the showers.

Hehehe...hahahah...AHAHAHAHAHA! Bet none of you saw that coming ay? None of you even considered that the Gophers might lose! Welp, time to say goodbye Trent! I have a few reasons for this. One, the romance between him and Gwen was handled really badly and I kinda wanted to not really deal with that. Two...he really hasn't been helpful during the recent challenges. All he's really been doing is just himself hurt or dropped out in some way like this challenge. And in case you guys are curious, here's how I think the votes went...

Heather - Trent

Lindsay - Trent

Owen - Trent (After being bribed)

Gwen - Heather

Leshawna - Heather

Trent - Lindsay (For being the first to drop out today and for poisoning him last time)

So with Trent gone early, things are really gonna get tossed around! And I can't wait for it! So remember to fav, follow, and leave a review and stay tuned for...

"X-Treme Torture"