Chapter Text
"Aren't you excited to be back in this crummy old camp? All the exciting votes and challenges. Blindsides and alliances. So much has happened here." Trevor could barely contain his excitement as the air of Camp Tipiskaw flooded his nostrils and the memories flooded his brain.
"Woohoo." Derek said unenthusiastically.
Trevor moved on, "This season, eighteen past players will be battling it out for one million dollars. Nine of the most cold-hearted villains that have ever set foot in this beautiful camp. Nine of the sweetest, kindest, most heroic heroes that have ever graced this camp. They should be here any minute now!" In front of Trevor were two mats laid out on the dirt. One blue, one red. Someone was coming.
The rustling in the trees. The quiet footsteps in the dirt. Trevor shook with anticipation. The first player had arrived. "You said this season was going to be indoors." Riya was not pleased to see the camp again. For Trevor, it brought back fun memories of reading votes and validating totems, but for Riya, it brought back memories of hurting people and losing everyone who tried to care about her. She masked her feelings with her classic Riya "charm".
"I lied." Derek said this with a smile and a touch of dry humor.
"You!" Another player burst forth from the woods. It was Jake. The last time he played, he lost to Riya. The last time he played, she took everything from him.
"In the flesh." Riya tossed her hair. "I'd prefer if you saved whatever insults you have for once everyone's arrived so you don't waste any breath." Riya knew she was in for a storm once everyone made their way to the camp.
"Fiore, don't touch that. It could be poisonous." Alec stopped Fiore from touching a vibrant caterpillar that wiggled on a tree.
"Great, our first four players are here and coincidentally, you're all on the red team." Trevor was happy to see Alec, Fiore, Jake, and Riya again even if they weren't happy to see each other.
"I don't want to be on a team with her." Jake pointed at Riya as if she were a week-old sandwich.
"You could walk to the motel." Emily chimed in.
"Has she been there this whole time?" Alec noticed that Emily was standing in the shadow of a tree next to Trevor and Derek.
"Yes, she has." Trevor smiled.
"Try to keep up, slowpoke." Miriam was more than a few feet ahead of Tom.
"I think I'm seeing stars! This hike is harder than I remember!" Tom was out of breath. He huffed and puffed until he reached the mats.
"Tom, Miriam, welcome! You two are on the blue team!" Trevor announced. They took their places on the blue mat.
"Watch your step, there are branches everywhere."
"Thank you, Grett." Gabby and Grett emerged from the foliage.
"You two are on the blue team!" Derek said with a surprising amount of excitement.
"James, your elbow keeps hitting me!"
"You're so cute when you're mad." James and Aiden pushed their way through the overgrown path.
"James, you are on the red team. Aiden, you're on the blue team." Trevor lit up with glee as the mats began to fill with players. Riya, Jake, Alec, Fiore, and James stood on the red mat and Tom, Miriam, Gabby, Grett, and Aiden stood on the blue mat. "You may notice that there are only ten of you. That is because your first challenge is to reunite with your teammates." Trevor handed maps to Tom and Riya. "These maps will lead you to your camps. The first team to find their camp will win hammocks and blankets!" If the players weren't blinded by their resentment towards one another, they likely would've clapped. "I'll be waiting at the blue camp and Derek will be waiting at the red camp." Trevor and Derek stepped into a helicopter and they were gone.
"I should have the map. I studied cartography and navigation abroad for a few months." Alec elected himself the team's leader, at least for now.
"Fine, less work for me. I don't want to lift a finger when I don't have to." Riya passed the map to Alec. Riya's remark set Jake off. It didn't take much.
"Oh don't we know it! You'd probably like us to carry you, Ms. Hollywood princess!" Jake yelled.
"I would like that actually." Riya was unbothered. She knew Jake was justified in hating her but she was here to prove that All-Stars was nothing more than a fluke. The game just got to her last time. That's all.
"Please save the fighting for when we have to vote for one of you." Alec needed to concentrate. The villains set off into the forest.
"Tom, I trust you to lead us." Gabby was quite fond of Tom and she believed he was fit to lead.
"Thank you, Gabby. I think this tree on the map is the same as that tree right there." Tom pointed to a tall oak tree that towered over the five heroes. "So that means we go this way." Tom turned and started walking. The heroes followed him.
While Tom led the heroes on a wild goose chase, Lake, Tess, Hunter, and Ally waited patiently. Then, they waited some more and there was still no sight of the heroes who were becoming increasingly lost as time passed. "Do you think they'll be here soon?" Lake asked her fellow heroes. She sat around an unlit bonfire with the other three players.
"Come on, Lake, have some confidence!" Trevor tried to boost morale at the heroes camp.
Tess retired to her tent, "Wake me up if you see them." Tess knew how long it took to get to the heroes camp so she decided to take a nap.
Hunter stood up and extended his hand to Ally, "Let's go look for wood. Maybe we can start a fire."
Ally grabbed his hand and stood, "What are we supposed to start a fire with? Our positive attitudes?" Ally knew it was pointless but she still wanted to spend time with Hunter regardless. He looked at her and she instantly folded. "Fine, but I want to be here when the rest of our team arrives."
"I don't think that will be a problem." Lake stated the obvious. The other five heroes didn't have a prayer of making it to their camp in a timely manner.
The couple laughed and ran off into the forest together. The walked hand-in-hand down the wooded path. "Remember that marathon stream we did?" Ally struck up a conversation with her boyfriend.
"Ugh, that took forever. We didn't even get the subs we wanted." Hunter cleared a stray hair from Ally's face. "That stupid hair was distracting me."
Ally laughed, "My hair isn't stupid." She shoved Hunter playfully. "I would do a hundred marathon streams if they were all with you." Ally stopped walking.
"A hundred? That's a lot." Hunter leaned in to kiss Ally and she let her hand rest against the side of his face. They stayed there, kissing until the sun started to go down. It was just them and the trees and that was all they needed.
Meanwhile at the villains camp, it wasn't so peaceful. "Wow, so you decided to try a third time, huh? I actually watched your season and All-Stars before I came out here and let me tell you, the audience reception for you was icy at best." Nick was just happy to be invited back for a second chance and he was ready to have fun.
"Shut up, you toad!" Yul was as vile as ever. Ellie took note of the fact Nick had prepared by watching the season Karol and Yul were from and All-Stars. The first season she played with Nick, she saw him as a bumbling fool but this time she felt threatened. "You're a nobody. You shouldn't be talking about audience receptions." Yul's voice was grating and harsh and the worst part was that he wasn't even right. He was never right. No perception at all was better than how Yul was perceived.
"Did I strike a nerve?" Nick would be offended if someone that wasn't Yul insulted him. Alas, Yul insulted everyone so, ironically, his insults carried little weight.
Yul turned away without saying a word. He left Nick and the others and walked into the woods with a scary amount of calmness. He walked and walked and walked some more. "I don't need him. I don't need any of those assholes. I'll just find a totem." Yul saw a small chunk of wood that was the perfect shape and size. "Or even better. I can just lie." Yul pocketed the piece of wood and skipped back to camp.
[Karol Confessional]
"These kids are all bark and no bite. I'll show them who's the Queen Bee when I pick them off one by one. Also, fuck Yul."
"Are we almost there. I'm feeling lightheaded." Riya complained.
"We could leave you here for the coyotes." Jake had nothing nice to say to Riya, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to say anything.
"Jake, please." Alec was growing tired of Riya and Jake's bickering but there was nothing he could do.
Fiore tugged at Alec's shirt, "Are we almost there? I'm starving!"
"Yes, Fiore. It shouldn't be long." Alec was sure he was almost there.
James slowed his walking speed so Alec, Fiore and Riya could walk ahead. Then when the time was right, he grabbed Jake. "Hey! What are you-"
"Don't be so loud. I wanted to talk to you." James spoke in a hushed voice and looked to see that Alec wasn't privy to Jame's first strategic move of the season.
"Well? I'm listening." Jake wasn't the best at staying quiet but it was good enough.
"I think we should form an alliance." James proposed a truce between him and Jake. "At least while there are still teams."
"With you? No thanks." Jake almost went back to the other three villains but James stopped him.
"Think about it. We both want to see our boyfriends so we have no incentive to betray each other." James closed out his pitch.
"Fine. You have yourself a deal, but just for the team phase." Jake shook James' hand to make their alliance official.
Back at the villains camp, Yul was ready to show off his new totem. "Look what I have." Yul waved his fake totem around but he made sure to cover most of it with his hand and he put it back in his pocket almost instantly.
"Why are you showing this to us?" Ellie was baffled. It didn't make any sense to boast about possessing a totem.
"Think of it as a courtesy." Yul then laughed obnoxiously causing Karol's face to contort into a scowl. Everything about Yul made her want to crawl out of her skin. He was the most deplorable excuse of a human being she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.
The heroes weren't having as much luck as the villains. Most of them thought they weren't even going to find their camp, "We passed that tree an hour ago!" Aiden groaned.
"No, they're just twins." Tom knew he was lost, but he was too stubborn to admit it.
"Twin trees? What's next? Rocks that are cousins?" Grett thought Tom was being ridiculous and she was mostly right.
"Actually, those rocks we just passed were-" Tom was too far gone.
"Oh my god. We're going to die out here." Grett had already kissed those hammocks goodbye the second time she saw one of the "twin trees". This was the fifth time she'd seen the tree.
In the same breath, the villains, found their camp. "We made it! Alec, you're amazing!" Jake couldn't believe his eyes.
"Congratulations, villains, you won the comfort reward challenge. Rest up, you've got a real challenge in the morning." Derek left the villains to start a fire and set up.
"Did he say villains?" Jake was perplexed. There was no way he was a villain. It just couldn't be true. That's what he thought.
"Why is Nick here? He didn't even make the merge." Fiore said the first thing on her mind.
"I'm here to win, duh." Nick was a bit offended but he brushed it off. He couldn't let his competition know how much Fiore gets under his skin or how ready he was to vote all of them out.
[Alec Confessional]
"Keeping this team together is going to be a challenge. Between Jake and Riya's constant arguing, Yul's unsavory comments, and Ellie's scheming, I may very well go mad."
By the time the heroes made it to their camp, the sun was down. Tess' nap turned into a peaceful slumber, Ally and Hunter had started a fire, and Lake had enough time to look for a totem. "I'm sorry, heroes, but the villains beat you. Get some sleep for your first immunity challenge in the morning." Trevor left.
[Tom Confessional]
"That was the map's fault."
[Grett Confessional]
"I wasn't planning on walking through the woods all day but I don't have much say in what happens on a team of heroes, do I?"