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Chapter Text

Chris McLean sat on the docks of Camp Wawanakwa on a folding chair, sipping on a cup of tea while reading the latest magazine. His shirtless form was printed on the front cover, of course.

“Ah, surprising to see you here.” Chris noticed the camera pointing towards him, before setting his tea aside. “It hasn’t been long since you last saw me, I assume?”

Chris stood up from his chair before walking further down the docs, as his folding chair was taken offscreen by a pair of intern hands. 

“It’s funny. You forget how small the world is until you bump into someone you know near and dear to your heart. Like me!” Chris smiled at the camera. “The world is small, which is why we’ve reached out of the boundaries of our universe to get contestants from all walks of life. Some of which you would probably recognise. That was deliberate, as it would boost our ratings.”

“With that being said, 22 people from outside the bounds of our reality will battle it out in a game of grit and determination, whether it is against our challenges, the great outdoors, or each other. The grand prize? One million dollars!” Chris continues to commentate. “Who will win this time around? Well, first you have to meet the ingredients of the meatgrinder. How fun.”

“Now, let’s meet the contestants, shall we? Who will represent their world? Who will gain your fullest attention? And who among these 22 contestants will win?”

“Find out here, on Total! Drama! Nexus!”

Chapter 1: Let's Take This To The Top

“Alright, everyone! I think I can see the boats dropping off our beloved contestants right now.” Chris walked up to the end of the dock. “Why don’t you join me as we give these lovely people a warm welcome, shall we?”

The first of many boats dock next to Chris, and the first contestant steps off. This was a tall girl with long white hair and white horse ears protruding the top of her head. She wore a short red dress with a red bow, white gloves, white stockings, and white running boots.

“From the derbies of Japan to this camp from Canada, Gold Ship.” Chris introduced the first contestant. “How you feeling?”

“Honestly, pretty bored. I mean, what kind of run down camp is this?” Gold Ship seemed unamused by the state of the campgrounds. “When are we gonna get to the challenges?”

“Hold your horses, eh?” Chris says, shooting a wink at the camera. “We gotta wait for the others to arrive. Say, I have a question. Are people betting on you right now? I don’t wanna bother looking it up myself.”

“I’m pretty sure somewhere there’s a betting ring for me, why do you ask?” Gold Ship asked.

“Just wanting to visualize the engagement this show’s getting.” Chris smirked. “Now, can you move over, the next ship’s about to arrive.”

Gold Ship moves to the side as the second boat enters the scene. The contestant that steps out was a tall, brown skinned man, wearing a full body costume colored orange and yellow, with an orange face mask, yellow goggles and brown gloves and boots.

“Rex Sloan, better known by his superhero identity Rex Splode.”

“Wow. I mean, I’ve heard stories and everything, but this place does look like ass.” Rex Splode exclaimed as he took a gander at the campsite. “No offence.”

“Two contestants in a row that insult this sacred place of reality television. Awesome start.” Chris mutters sarcastically. “So, what brings you here, Rex?”

“I’m considering this my leave for a while. Want to test my mettle here after my recent hospitalization. Really took the shit outta me” Rex stated

“Uhuh, and the grand prize?” Chris asked.

“A nice bonus if I win. Besides, I’m on payroll on the GDA. So if I lose, no biggie.” Rex shrugged.

“Okay. You may now step over to the side.” Chris stated as the next ship moved into frame.

The next contestant steps into the dock and immediately clenches her fist over her heart in a salute. She was a girl with brown hair in a ponytail. She wore a brown vest over a white shirt and brown harnesses, tall leather boots over white pants, and two metal contraptions to her sides.

“Sasha Braus, a young soldier and member of the Survey Corps. At ease now.”

“It’s nice to see you Chris McLean.” Sasha smiled as she shook the host’s hand.

“Far from your world, I see. Even farther from your home island. How’s your trip?”

“Oh, it was amazing! Can I say that the food I had on the way here was amazing? So many to choose from!” Sasha excitedly exclaimed her experience. “Will I be having the same kind of food here?”

“Well, we do have the supplies. You can cook as you can handle incurring the wrath of our camp chef.” Chris answered.

“Ah, that’s probably fine.” Sasha waved off the warning as she walked towards the other competitors. “I’m so excited.”

“Okay, next up on the list.” Chris spoke as the next boat appeared.

However, the boat just passed the docks without dropping the contestant, leaving Chris and the current contestants confused.

“Huh. That’s weird.” Chris scratches his head in confusion.

“Looking for me?”

Chris turns around to see the next contestant that suddenly appeared, being a tall woman with long and curly blonde hair. She wore a black and white dress with gold trims. She also wore a black hat adorned with black and yellow roses. She was currently holding a parasol in one hand and an apple in the other.

“Ah, Navia Caspar. Head of the Spina de Rosula.” Chris greeted the woman before shooting a glare. “You could’ve just stepped off the boat normally.”

“I’d say that was a neat entrance.” Rex spoke up.

“Thank you. I do like making an entrance.” Navia thanked her fellow contestant before turning to Chris. “A pleasure for you to let me on this show, Chris.”

“I’m glad to hear that. But are you sure someone of your stature would be able to handle stuff like this?” Chris asked.

“I’ve done my research. Nothing too out of what I deal with daily.” Navia reassured the host.

“If you’re so sure. You can join the others now, Navia.” Chris states as another boat enters the picture.

Stepping off the boat, the next contestant reveals herself to be another woman, this time with shoulder length, curly orange hair with two small buns, adorned with a yellow flower. She wore denim overalls over a green shirt, and she had white sneakers.

“GeminiTay, hailing from the Hermitcraft server.”

“Hey, Chris. Thanks for letting me on your show!” Gem waved at the host with excitement.

“Glad to see the excitement. I know you’ve had your fair share of games and competitions from the fellas back home, so is this really that different?” Chris asked. 

“No, not that different actually. I’m considering this as a warmup for an upcoming one we’re doing.” Gem stated.

“Wow, sounds like quite the event. Hit me up with your organizers once it starts, okay?” Chris asked.

“Oh, trust me, they’ll love you.” Gem added.

“Ah, thanks.” Chris watches as Gem walks past him, not noticing a glowing purple eye appearing behind him in a split second. “Let’s see contestant number six, shall we? Now where is…”

“Incoming!”

A big red dragon descended to the docks, startling the contestants. As it landed, a puff of red smoke was formed as another figure appeared in the dragon’s place.

It was a short girl with shoulder length red hair, wearing a red tunic around her body, with metallic shoulder pads and leather forearm braces and boots.

“The shapeshifting teen, Nimona, who went a step further and didn’t board the boat altogether.” Chris was unamused by her appearance.

“Bah, those slow rafts aren’t exactly my MO. Why not take in the scenery from the skies?” Nimona shrugged off the host’s complaints. “This the campsite? Pretty sweet.”

“See? The shapeshifter agrees with this place’s charm.” Chris stated, eyeing a certain horse girl and superhero. 

“Yeah, a nice secluded place to hide when running from authorities. This is perfect.” Nimona added.

“Okay, you know what? To the others you go.” Chris dragged Nimona towards the others before returning to his original position. “That out of the way, who else do we have?”

That question is answered as the next boat drops off its contestant, being a pink, fat rabbit man wearing a white shirt with black tie, and brown pants.

“Richard Watterson, from the weird town of Elmore.”

“Hello.” Richard then stops in his tracks as he begins to observe the campsite.

“Uh, hello? Earth to Richard?” Chris asked.

“How often does food come? If I’m gonna win a million dollars, I’d like to eat a lot during the process.” Richard stated.

“You can ask that question to our head chef. But are you sure you’re going to win the million dollars?” Chris asked.

“I’m not sure, but if I do get it, I can’t imagine what sort of food I’d eat with it.” Richard mellows up, dreaming of the possibilities.

“Glad you’re thinking ahead, but make sure you win to make your dream come true.” Chris stated as Richard went his way towards the others. “Okay, up next?”

Stepping off the next boat appeared to be a bald middle aged man with a brown beard and glasses. He wore a brown coat over a green longsleeve shirt, and brown pants.

“Walter White. Chemistry teacher hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico.”

“Hey, thank you for letting me on your show, Chris. It’s a pleasure.” Walt went on to shake the host’s hand.

“Right. And what is your gameplan here? Y’know, regarding your… condition?” Chris asked.

“Well, I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see what I can work with to start.” Walt answered while chuckling to himself. “But I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t think I had a chance, would I?”

“Ah, a strategic mind, I like it.” Chris smiled at the answer. 

As Walt moves towards the other contestants, another boat arrives with the next contestant. She slowly steps into the dock, revealing herself to be a teenage girl with long pink hair. She also wore a pink jacket, a grey skirt, and brown shoes with black socks.

“Meet Hitori Goto, guitarist of the Kessoku Band, but her friends call her Bocchi.” Chris introduced the girl, who rubbed her arm in embarrassment. “She’s just shy.”

“H-Hello–” Hitori stopped herself as she was raising her hand, feeling overwhelmed.

“Huh? You okay there?” Chris tilted his head.

“S-Sorry, this is just… a lot of people…” Hitori continued rubbing her arm. “I’ll just m-move to the back, if that’s okay…”

“A girl of few words, I see. Sure.” Chris shrugged. “Somebody ought to take her in, or we’re looking at a first boot.”

“Eep!” Hitori jumped at that declaration.

“Heh, love that.” Chris chuckled before turning to see the next boat arriving.

The boat drops off the next contestant, who appears to be a tall, chubby man with combed back white hair and mustache and wearing round glasses. He wore a green apron over a yellow t-shirt, and jeans.

“Taro Sakamoto. Fun fact, he’s a retired hitman.” 

“That guy’s a hitman? He just looks related to this guy.” Gold Ship questions, pointing a thumb at Richard.

“Ouch.” Richard frowned in embarrassment.

“I think he looks charming.” Gem stated.

“It’s a pleasure to meet my competition.” Sakamoto nodded towards his fellow contestants. “I’m just here to get the money that can boost my store.”

“Yeah, not much of a talker, but this guy’s a package deal.” Chris stated. “You can walk over to the others now.”

“Thank you.” Sakamoto walked off as the next boat arrived.

The next contestant steps off the boat, reading a grimoire she had brought with her. She was a short elf with white hair splitting off into two ponytails. She wore a white tunic with gold trims, black stockings, and leather boots.

“Everyone? This is Frieren, both an elf and her party’s mage.”

“A mage, huh? Interesting.” Nimona hummed to herself.

“No need for formalities, Chris. I’m just glad to be here.” Frieren spoke softly. “To everyone here competing, I give my respects.”

“Not to the host of the show? Harsh.” Chris frowned at what she said. “Say, what brings an elven mage to Total Drama in the first place?”

“Well, the money would be useful for our travel funds.” Frieren pondered before smiling. “And maybe I can buy an expensive grimoire from the City of Magic with that.”

“Wow. A million dollars being used for travel funds and grimoires, that’s new.” Chris exclaimed in slight surprise. “Do you have anything else to say, Frieren.”

“No need, I’ll move with the others now.” Frieren declines before walking over to the side.

“If I had a nickel for each soft-spoken person with white hair…” Gem snickered to herself, but never finishes the thought as the next boat enters the view.

The next boat makes its stop and drops off the next contestant. She was a teenage girl who had green hair tied up into a bun while two strands drop down and frame her face. She wore a traditional Chinese outfit with a light green robe and a long, burgundy skirt.

“Maomao, a poison tester and a palace apothecary.”

“So this is Camp Wawanakwa huh?” Maomao muttered to herself. 

“Maomao, care to tell us the reason why you decided to compete?” Chris asked.

“I’m mostly here to experiment with North American plants. I’d like to bring some home with me when I’m done.” Maomao explains. “But the cash prize will help benefit the workers of the rear palace.”

“So you came here for the purpose of studying plants?” Chris tilted his head in confusion.

“Yes, even if that means I put up with this terribly run summer camp.” Maomao stated as she walks to the others.

“That makes four on those who insult Camp Wawanakwa.” Rex commented.

“You guys are keeping count?” Maomao asked. “Hmm, I wonder how high that would go.”

“Wow, this place is ass.”

At the sound of a new voice, everyone turns to see the next contestant stepping off the boat. She was another teen with dark brown hair styled into a pony tail. She wore a blue shirt, black jeans and white shoes.

“Well, that makes five.” Rex stated.

“Ahem. This is Nicole, hailing from North Virginia.” Chris spoke up.

“Hey, if you’re gonna waste my time with this introduction bullshit, why don’t you tell me how long I’ll be expected to be in this hellhole.” Nicole asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well if you manage to not get kicked out before the merge, I’d say you can expect to be here for about a couple weeks or so.” Chris stated.

“Good, because I need the time away from my fuckass school.” Nicole stated. “And if I win the cash, then maybe I won't have to go back.”

“The spite is strong with this one. Ready to back those words up?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Am I done here?” Nicole tapped her foot on the floor.

“Sure, go on ahead.” Chris stated, prompting Nicole to walk to the others.

The next boat enters the scene and drops off the next contestant. He was a young man with messy blue hair and two black horns. He wore a black officer’s uniform with multiple orange and gold trimmings and an orange sash wrapped around his torso.

“Tank Fish, the chaotic commander of the Chaos Legion.”

“Hey, Chris McLean!” Tank approaches the host enthusiastically. “Thanks for inviting my dumbass over to your show.”

“You’re welcome.” Chris nodded. “So, think you got what it takes to win the million dollars?” 

“Oh, I don’t think. I honestly feel like bullshitting my way through this competition. But I’ll lock in if I need to.” Tank stated. “I mean, the money would be pretty nice.” 

“Oh? And what will you do with the money?” Chris asked.

“College debt. Tryna get rid of it, but it’s such a fucking hassle.” Tank takes out a fax machine and begins typing. “Hold on.”

As Tank types into his fax machine, a long receipt begins to be ejected, reaching the floor and eventually spilling over the dock. Chris fishes out the end of the receipt to read the final price and cringes.

“Yeesh, and I thought my lawsuits were bad.” Chris exclaimed. “Yeah, you’re not paying all this in your lifetime.”

“I fucking knew it. Well, no time like the present as I say.” Tank moves on to the other contestants. “Let’s get this party started!”

As the next boat pulls up, the next contestant steps into the dock. He was a tall and muscular man with black hair combed down and a small scar on the side of his lip. He wore a tight black shirt, baggy white training pants, and black slippers.

“Toji Fushiguro. A currently active hitman, specifically in his cursed world.” Chris says as a couple of blushes can be seen amongst the crowd before…

“Good lord, those abs.” Tank Fish exclaimed, causing some of the contestants to look at him. “What?”

“Please shut the fuck up.” Nicole stated.

“Hmm. So this is the place, huh?” Toji asked.

“Come on, come on, come on. Make that number six.” Both Rex and Nimona thought.

“Yep, welcome to Camp Wawanakwa, Toji.” Chris stated.

“Sweet. Better than nothing.” Toji shrugged his shoulders in acceptance.. “Things are bound to be interesting.”

“No!” Rex and Nimona frowned in disappointment.

“Yes they are. With you on the show, engagement among female viewers will go through the roof.” Chris stated. “Anything else you wanna say?”

“...I don’t feel like it.” Toji proceeded to walk to the others, ignoring the gazes being cast towards him.

“Sheesh, you seem really bored.” Chris commented before the next boat entered the scene.

Stepping out of the boat was a slim yet muscular teenage boy with blonde hair styled with three oversized curls on the front and a short braid on the back. He wore a pink two-piece suit with an exposed chest area and three blue ladybug ornaments; two on each side of his chest and one directly below his zipper.

“Giorno Giovanna, the current head of Italy’s Passione.” Chris introduced the contestant as multiple Japanese kanji appeared around his face. “What the? Get these off me.”

“Nice to meet you, Chris McLean.” Giorno lightly bowed towards the host. “Thank you for inviting me to your show.”

“Geez, it’s like he came out of a fashion magazine.” Rex exclaimed. 

“Yeah, pretty bizarre.” Sasha commented before shaking her head. “Wait, why did I say that?”

“I like the style on this one.” Navia nodded.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’d like to get to know you better as my competition.” Giorno stated.

“Well, someone’s the chivalric type.” Chris commented.

“I do what I can. I believe it’s useless to be hostile from the get-go.” Giorno stated.

“Alright then, you can join the others now.” Chris waves off the blonde as the next boat approaches the dock.

As the next boat enters the scene, the familiar scent of alcohol hits everyone’s noses. The next contestant limps his way onto the dock, revealing himself to be a dark skinned man with his left eye covered in an eyepatch and a black beanie. He wore a black demolition vest over a red jumpsuit with white sleeves and black boots. 

“The demolitions expert of the Reliable Excavation & Demolition, but you can call him Demoman.”

“Ay, finally got onto this show. And the place ain’t that bad.” Demoman sighs as he takes in the scenery. “Try sleeping on cold concrete barracks most of your life. That won’t be good for ya back.”

“Ugh, okay? That’s cool, why do you reek of alcohol?” Nicole had to cover her nose to block the stench.

“Eh, gotta bring something from home, y’know.” Demoman takes out a bottle of scrumpy.

“Yeah, that bottle’s not surviving today.” Nicole commented.

“I’ve got my ways.” Demoman takes a quick swig. “So, the million dollars. I have to win this game to get it, right?”

“Well, yeah. That is the entire point.” Chris answered.

“Alright then. I’ll show you how far I can go.” Demoman stated as he walked towards the others.

As the next boat enters the scene, it shakes as a massive figure that was the next contestant stepped into the dock. He was a large, muscular man with scaly dragon-like skin, whose head was covered by a kabuto helmet with a skull-like face, showing only his jaw and red eyes. His outfit consisted of spiked shoulder pads, spiked gauntlets, a leather loin and leather boots, and in his hand laid a massive battle axe befitting a conqueror.

“This jolly fellow is Shao Kahn, the tyrannical ruler of Outworld.”

“You don’t get to address me in that manner, McLean!” Shao Kahn raised his voice venomously at the house. “This competition will be nothing compared to me.”

“Geez, who shat in his cereal today?” Rex commented.

“Can his outfit get any more edgy?” Nicole asked as she noticed a staff being armed next to her, pointing at Shao Kahn and glowing white.

“Zoltraak.” Frieren spoke as her staff glowed with energy.

“Wait, no!”

Navia and Walter stop Frieren just as she fired a white energy beam from her staff, causing it to miss Shao Kahn completely and shoot off into the distance.

“Hmph.” Shao Kahn merely grunted at the attempt.

“Whoa, okay. It’s on sight between these two.” Tank Fish commented.

“He’s a fellow competitor, Frieren, we need him.” Chris stated. “However, once he’s eliminated, he’s free for the taking.”

“As if I will ever lose in this game.” Shao Kahn walked towards the others and glared daggers at Frieren. “Or lose to the likes of you, elf.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.” Frieren stated as her staff disappeared into the air.

As Chris appreciates the drama happening on the dock, the next boat arrives and drops off the next contestant. He was a tall man with combed back brown hair and a stubble around his face. He wore a brown suit over a white shirt with a red tie, blue jeans and black shoes.

“Chase Devineaux, former Interpol agent, currently an ACME agent.” 

“Ah, thank you for inviting me, McLean. It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to take a time out.” Chase stated. “I assume you’ve invited me due to my accomplishments at ACME?”

“Well, judging by your exploits in trying to arrest a certain red thief, I’d say no.” Chris stated, causing Chase to frown with displeasure. “But you are persistent, which might make for fun moments that’s good for the ratings.”

“I suppose that is something.” Chase shrugged his shoulders. “Wait, how do you know about La Femme Rouge?!”

“Studio secret my guy. Just have to deal with it.” Chris stated as he directed the agent to the others. “Move along, now.”

Chase grumbles to himself as the next boat enters the scene. The next contestant steps into the scene, revealing herself to be an entirely white person with red outlines, even her clothes. She had long hair, wore a tank top and had long, baggy pants.

“This is Red, one of the two main hosts of the Overly Sarcastic Productions.”

“Heyo, glad to be here.” Red greeted the host. “Boy, the traveling I had to do to get here.”

“So, Red. What do you think about your chances to win this whole thing?” Chris asked, prompting Red to drag him into a huddle away from the other contestants.

“Hey, Imma be real with you, Chris? I honestly don’t think I’m making it past merge.” Red whispered to the host. “I’m only here for shits and giggles.”

“Oh? Giving up already?” Chris asked incredulously. “How come?”

“I’m an avatar of a youtuber, and I don’t think the author is ready to write those as focus characters.” Red stated as she glanced at the other contestants. “I’ll be kicked out in a scheme made by either Shao Kahn, Walt or Nicole.”

“Author? Dude, what are you talking ‘bout?” Chris raised an eyebrow to that.

“Eh, you won’t get it.” Red shrugged as she turned towards the others. “Who’s ready for some challenges, baby?”

“What do you think they were talking about?” Walt whispered to the others.

“I dunno, something about an author of this game?” Tank answered with a shrug.

“You’re just talking out of your ass now.” Rex stated.

The next boat slows down near the dock, and the next contestant steps out. He was a teen boy with messy blonde hair and somewhat sharp teeth. He wore a white shirt with a black tie, black pants and white sneakers. 

“Denji, a member of Tokyo Public Safety’s Special Division.”

“Hell yeah! My first summer camp experience on live TV!” Denji pumped a fist upward. “It may be sucky and low maintenance, but I’ve been through worse.”

“That makes six of those who insult Camp Wawanakwa.” Rex smiled upon hearing that.

“Six? This damn place deserves more than six.” Nicole commented before noticing Frieren attempt to point her staff at Denji. “You seem really happy to be pointing that thing at people you don’t like.”

“Is this another competitor?” Frieren asked, still with her blank face.

“You better believe it, girl. I’m gonna be taking names, chicks, and the million dollars.” Denji grinned excitedly, prompting Frieren to lower her staff.

“As if your malnutritioned ass will do any of those things.” Nicole spat out.

“Huh? Wanna fight?” Denji asked.

“Guys, guys. Save it for later, the last boat is coming up.” Chris stated as the last boat appears in the scene.

The last contestant steps off the boat, casting a fierce glare at the people around her. She was a gruff looking woman with black, combed back hair with a side shave, dark blue lipstick and a tattoo on her right cheek. She wore a black jacket with a spiked and a furry shoulder pad on each side, a white inner shirt with a bullet sash, tan combat pants and black combat boots.

“Margaret Kohere, or to those who fell victim to her Salvo freedom fighting days, Mad Maggie.”

“Is this it? I would expect something more grand to continue my sentence.” Maggie looked bored to be here.

“Uh, what does she mean by that?” Sasha asked.

“See, Maggie’s a convicted terrorist serving her sentence in the Apex Games bloodsport. Currently in her world, there aren’t any matches happening, so I decided to put her here for the time being.” Chris explained.

“Um, isn’t that mega illegal?” Gold Ship asked.

“You got Shao Kahn. You got the Demoman. I suppose we can fit one more psycho to the mix.” Chris stated. “And besides, I signed a contract with some schmuck named Kuben Blisk to have some guards look after her once she’s eliminated.”

“What about beforehand, when she’s still in the game?” Chase asked.

“Figure it out yourselves.” Chris says before escorting Maggie to the others. “I believe that is everyone. Now may you follow me to the next location.”

The scene transitions to a location that was close to the dock. An unlit campfire was placed in the middle of twenty-two seats, with a direct line of sight to the dock they were on. Currently, most of the contestants sat on these seats with the exception of Shao Kahn who stood to the side.

“And now with everyone here, I say it’s time to get you all primed up. So, who here understands the general premise of Total Drama?” Chris asked.

A good half of the cast raised their hands, but Chris noticed that a lot of the others didn’t raise their hands at all.

“Seeing a lot of unraised hands here, so I’ll just explain anyway.” Chris shrugged. “You’ll be spending many long weeks on this island, surrounded by people who will be your competition, your rivals, your downfalls, maybe even your friends. And whoever those are will depend on the teams.”

The host takes out a small clipboard before tapping it with a pen.

“The studio has already decided which team you will go on, so if I call your name, stand up.” Chris stated. “For the first team, we have…”

“Chase Devineaux.”

“Tank Fish.”

“Toji Fushiguro.”

“Maomao.”

“Mad Maggie.”

“Denji.”

“Shao Kahn.”

“Frieren.”

“Sasha Braus.”

“Nicole.”

“And Nimona. You may now stand up.” The contestants followed.

“Oh boy…” Sasha frowned at the lineup, specifically because of Shao Kahn and Mad Maggie.

“This might be interesting.” Chase commented.

“Hell yeah, got a few nice chicks here.” Denji smirked, causing Nicole to look at him with disgust.

Frieren casts a glance at both Denji and Shao Kahn, with the latter noticing the gesture and staring down the elf.

“You guys will be known as the Manic Moles.” Chris tosses a red rolled up fabric to Frieren, which rolls out to reveal the logo depicting an angry mole.

“What a strange name.” Frieren commented.

“And as for the second team, stand up if you hear your name.” Chris says as the first team sits back down, gesturing to the clipboard once again.

“Giorno Giovanna.”

“GeminiTay.”

“Demoman.”

“Red.”

“Hitori Goto.”

“Richard Watterson.”

“Navia Caspar.”

“Walter White.”

“Taro Sakamoto.”

“Rex Splode.”

“And Gold Ship. You may now stand up.”

Demoman merely shrugged upon seeing his teammates, going back to drinking his scrumpy.

“This seems like an interesting team, wouldn’t you agree?” Navia asked Giorno.

“I guess so.” Giorno nodded in agreement.

“This team ain’t half bad. A single mercenary is certainly better than their overlord and their freedom fighter.” Gem stated.

“Yeah, definitely better.” Walt nodded.

“From this point forward, this team will be known as the Squawking Seagulls.” Chris tosses a blue rolled up fabric towards Giorno, which unrolls to reveal the logo of a hysterical looking seagull.

“Sure, call us seagulls, why doncha?” Rex commented.

“Now, the premise is simple. Every few days is a challenge in which both teams compete against each other. The winners gain immunity, while the losers get the privilege of voting someone off.” Chris explained. “Said contestant will leave the island, walk the Dock of Shame and ride away from Camp Wawanakwa for good. Some exceptions will be made, but assume your elimination is final.”

“The last person to pull through the thick and thin and become the last man standing will win Total Drama Nexus. And with it, the grand prize of One! Million! Dollars!” Chris ended off with a high note on the final words, prompting a lot of the competitors to cheer with excitement.

“So…” Hitori slowly raised her hand. “What are the sleeping arrangements here…?” 

“Yeah, I’d like to not feel like I’ll get molested every night.” Nicole added.

“Well, you see those two cabins?” Chris gestured to the campgrounds, showing the two cabins, each with two doors signifying two rooms. “Each cabin is separated for the men and women. The Moles take the right cabin, Seagulls take the left. Sounds good?”

“Phew, wouldn’t want to bunk with that guy.” Nicole sighed, gesturing to Shao Kahn.

“You have something to say to me, child?” Shao Kahn asked.

“And over there’s the mess hall.” Chris pointed to a large building next to the cabins. “Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available here, so if you’re craving something, you know where to go.”

“So, any more questions? No? Okay then. Bring your stuff to the cabins, get settled in, and return to the shore once I announce on the speakers.” Chris stated. “Oh, and before I forget…”

-Confessional: Chris McLean-

“You may visit the iconic outhouse confessional. Drop a thought about your team, explain your gameplan, or just let something out of your chest. It’s good for engagement.”

-Confessional: Chase Devineaux-

“Look, I don’t think I’m one to judge too early, but I don’t think this team is worth it.” Chase stated. “Shao Kahn and Maggie look ready to kill someone, Toji doesn’t seem like he cares about the game, Frieren seems to have the stink eye for two of her teammates and Nicole is… something. It’d take a miracle for this team to work together.”

-Confessional: Giorno Giovanna-

“If I’d like to get far, I’ll have to form an alliance.” Giorno spoke to the camera. “I’ll need to be careful about this, there’s a lot of information I don’t have, so I may have to start socializing to pick the right people.”

-Confessional: Frieren-

“If you were wondering why I attempted to shoot Shao Kahn and Denji, I noticed what felt like demonic aura from them.” Frieren explained. “Shao Kahn has the aura covering his body, while Denji’s only seems relegated to his heart. I may need to keep an eye on them to determine anything.”

-Confessional: Red-

“Really author? You just made three people do what Chris exactly said in the exact order he said it.” Red reprimanded as she looked at the camera. “I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

In the Moles cabin, Shao Kahn opens the boy's side to reveal a couple of bunk beds, shelves, a stool and a small metal fireplace.

“Don’t bunk with me, or I’ll make you regret it.” Shao Kahn warned the other males of the group as he made his way to his bed.

“Wasn’t planning to, bud.” Toji shrugged as the rest of the males entered the room.

“That does seem like the best option.” Chase stated.

“Fine by me.” Tank Fish shrugged.

Shao Kahn glared at all three of his teammates with contempt before sitting down.

“This is gonna be a long season.” Chase stated.

"Ooh!" Denji ran up to his bed and falls into it face first. "My first summer camp experience. So cool."

On the other side of the cabin, the females were all managing to get settled into their new living quarters, while Mad Maggie was laying down on her top bunk.

“Hey, did that fuckass host tell us where we can shower, or are we supposed to figure it out ourselves?” Nicole asked.

“There’s a communal bathhouse just behind the cabins.” Sasha pointed out the window, showing a small white building close to the cabins. “Think they provided bathroom amenities for us?”

“For those who manage to get far, I hope so.” Maomao stated. “Though it may be the studio’s decision, not Chris’.”

“That does seem to be the case in previous seasons.” Frieren stated as she took a grimoire from her suitcase. “The laundry on the other hand may be something that we have to do ourselves. I’ll handle our laundry, but I need a volunteer.”

“Not me, I don’t know how to do that stuff.” Nimona shrugged.

“I can help you with the laundry, Frieren.” Maomao volunteered.

“So can I.” Sasha volunteered as well 

“Thank you.” Frieren nodded before continuing to arrange her stuff.

The scene cuts to the Seagull’s cabin, where Rex was seen lying down on a top bunk.

“Okay, serious talk. Would you guys want to put up with the food in this place? It’s well known that the camp chef actively serves slop to the contestants.” Rex spoke out to the rest of the males in the cabins.

“Eh, I can just drink my scrumpy. Never failed me yet.” Demoman shrugged.

“I’d probably eat anything at the mess hall, I think I can handle it.” Richard stated.

“Okay, but what about the others? You guys ready to put up with that?” Rex asked.

“What’s this about, Rex?” Giorno asked.

“Look, I know damn sure that I’m not the only one dreading to eat whatever slop they’ll have us eat, so I say we may have to engage in some outdoor cooking.” Rex stated. 

“Did someone say outdoor cooking?” Navia’s head was seen tilting into view from the door.

“Um, eavesdropping much?” Walt asked.

“Oh, not at all. It’s just that he’s very loud.” Red was seen from the door as well, as the rest of the female Seagulls entered the male side of the cabin.

“Rex brought up an interesting point.” Gem stated. “I mean, why not roast stuff over a fire? Isn’t that the standard summer camp experience?”

“Hmm, sounds interesting.” Gold Ship smirked at the thought.

“And it may help to improve our teamwork.” Sakamoto gave his opinion on the matter. “I’ve seen groups of hitmen work more efficiently if they’ve bonded off work, it may work here.”

“Okay then, it’s settled.” Gem smiled at the prospect.

“Um, how would this work, exactly?” Walt asked. “Are we sure everyone here could sustain that? Who knows how to catch things here?”

“I can! I occasionally spend time in the woods when working on projects, so I do some hunting from time to time!” Gem stated.

“I can help out with that too.” Sakamoto pointed out. “I have trust in my aim.”

“I’ll handle the cooking then, can’t be too different than cooking in a kitchen.” Navia shrugged.

“This very quickly turned into a democracy, huh? Oh, Christ.” Walt sighed to himself. “Fine, we’ll have it your way.”

“Nice, I’ll find some place to set up.” Gem stated.

“Wait, Gem. What if Chris announces a challenge while you’re out?” Giorno stopped her from leaving.

“It’s only been twenty minutes, what’s ten more?” Gem asked before a loud horn was heard throughout the campgrounds.

“Campers! It’s been twenty minutes, we don’t need ten more.” Chris’ voice echoed around the campsite as Red glared at the camera. “Gather immediately, the first challenge will begin in a few minutes.”

“Okay, first challenge. Come on, people, let’s see what’s in store for us.” Rex dropped down from his top bunk.

Cut to two large catapults placed in front of the two cabins, with the two teams looking at them with either fear, disbelief or annoyance. Chris stood next to the catapult with his infamous smile on his face.

“Who’s ready to fly~?” Chris announces in a sing-song voice.

“What in the—”

-Opening Starts-

Multiple flash shots were seen of cameras appearing; the first being set up normally in front of a forest backdrop, the second rising from the water with a lily pad on top of it, the third appearing from the mouth of a fish head on a plate inside the mess hall, and the fourth appearing from inside a plant pot, with the flytrap occupying the pot attempting to bite it.

Dear Mom and Dad, I’m doing fine. You guys are on my mind.

The camera zooms into the island, quickly passing the docks, the main camp and Chris McLean sitting on a folding chair before zooming up the island’s 1000 foot cliff and falling into the waters below.

You asked me what I wanted to be, and now I think the answer is plain to see. 

Demoman was seen drunk underwater as the camera follows his bottle of scrumpy as it floats up to the surface, transitioning to a scene where Navia and Rex Splode were on a raft with one of Navia’s Geo cannons, which the two proceed to fire at shore.

I wanna be famous.

Cut to Denji who transforms into his Chainsaw Man form on top of a rock, scaring the nearby animals before being struck and sent offscreen by Navia’s cannonball. The camera shows Nicole who snickered at the sight of Denji’s injury before the camera pans over to a nearby Maomao, who gives her a disapproving stare.

I wanna live close to the sun.

Cut to Shao Kahn next to the edge of a waterfall as he has a fierce staredown with Frieren, who floated over the massive fall below her. The scene was ruined as they turned their attention to Chase Devineaux and Nimona, who proceeded to ride past them on a jetski and fall off the waterfall.

Go pack your bags ‘cause I’ve already won.

As Chase and Nimona fall, Nimona shapeshifts into a dragon and flies away. Just before Chase could land, Sasha Braus manages to grab him by the arm using her ODM Gear.

Everything to prove, nothing in my way. I’ll get there one day.

As Chase and Sasha land near the camp, they inadvertently startle a nearby Hitori Goto, who accidentally throws her guitar into the window of the mess hall out of fright. Inside the mess hall, Chef Hatchet, Toji Fushiguro and Tank Fish are seen yelling at a TV as they are currently engaging in a bet of some kind while Red watches in confusion

‘Cause I wanna be famous.

Next to the gamblers, GeminiTay and Taro Sakamoto are engaging in a swordfight as their battle causes a mess in the building. Outside of the mess hall, Richard Watterson and Walter White jog into camp grounds, before proceeding to collapse on the ground under their fatigue.

Na Na Nananaaa Nanananananaaa Nanananananaa. 

I wanna be. I wanna be. I wanna be famous.

Gold Ship is moonwalking at the dock before a fish jumps out of the water and slams into her eye, causing her to writhe on the dock in pain. The camera pans away from her as it displays the aquatic wildlife of Wawanakwa, which included a couple flying fish being caught by a hawk, and a squirrel on a raft that gets eaten by a shark.

I wanna be. I wanna be. I wanna be famous.

Giorno Giovanna is at the end of the dock as he uses Gold Experience to turn parts of it into two trees forming an arch above him, each tree bearing a flag of the two teams. A small bird lands on his finger for a bit before flying off into the sun.

I wanna be. I wanna be. I wanna be famous.

The sun transitions into the moon as Chris is seen with a tray of marshmallows in his hand. Mad Maggie comes from behind to steal a marshmallow before eating it with a scowl in front of Chris, who looks at her with visible fear on his face.

(Ending Whistle)

The camera zooms away from Chris and Mad Maggie, showing every single contestant gathering around a campfire before a glowing sign appears, bearing the words “Total Drama Nexus” on it.

-Opening Ends-

Teams

-Manic Moles-

• Chase Devineaux, The Persistent Agent (Carmen Sandiego)

• Denji, The Chainsaw Man (Chainsaw Man)

• Frieren, The Elven Mage (Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End)

• Mad Maggie, The Salvonian Warrior (Apex Legends)

• Maomao, The Apothecary (The Apothecary Diaries)

• Nicole, The Sociopath (Class Of 09)

• Nimona, The Shapeshifter (Nimona)

• Sasha Braus, The Upbeat Scout (Attack On Titan)

• Shao Kahn, The Konqueror (Mortal Kombat)

• Tank Fish, The Chaotic Neutral (Tank Fish)

• Toji Fushiguro, The Hired Gun (Jujutsu Kaisen)

-Squawking Seagulls-

• Demoman, The Mercenary (Team Fortress 2)

• GeminiTay, The Cottagecore Fighter (Hermitcraft)

• Giorno Giovanna, The Gang-Star (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

• Gold Ship, The Horse Girl (Uma Musume)

• Hitori Goto, The Introverted Guitarist (Bocchi The Rock)

• Navia Caspar, The Radiant Rose (Genshin Impact)

• Red, The Genre Savvy (Overly Sarcastic Productions)

• Rex Splode, The Brash Hero (Invincible)

• Richard Watterson, The Dad (The Amazing World Of Gumball)

• Taro Sakamoto, The Ex-Hitman (Sakamoto Days)

• Walter White, The Chemist (Breaking Bad)

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: A Team That Flies Together

“Welcome campers to your first challenge of the season!” Chris declares as he stands in front of two catapults. “Are you all settled?”

“Well, mostly. Mostly.” Gem shrugged, moving her plans for another time.

“I don’t like the fact that two catapults are there behind you.” Chase pointed out. 

“Yeah, I can’t imagine what the challenge would be if you brought two catapults with suspiciously people sized buckets.” Red crossed her arms.

“And you would be right to think about that.” Chris smiles as he points to the catapults with his thumb. “This challenge comes in two stages. For the first stage, you will have to push your team’s catapult all the way to the top of the thousand foot cliff.”

The camera pans over to said cliff in the distance as the campers all begin to dread the challenge before them due to how steep the climb was to the top.

“Yeesh. That’s certainly a climb.” Rex crossed his arms at the sight.

“You don’t expect us to bring these things up that hill, do you?” Mad Maggie raised an eyebrow.

“You’re two teams of eleven. I’m sure you can muster the strength required. Or get crushed by the catapult. Whichever’s funnier.” Chris stated. “And besides, I think some people here are more than enough to push these things.”

“You speak the truth, McLean.” Shao Kahn bellowed.

“Yeah, don’t like you interrupting, Shao.” Chris stated, causing the Konquerer to stare at him. “Once you get these catapults to the top, then it’s time for the second stage.”

Chris directed the campers’ attention to the water, where three large rings were seen a very long way out from the island, varying in size and forming something similar to a target.

“Each team must assign an Artilleryman, who must try to launch their teammates at the target in the water.” Chris explains the second stage of the challenge.

“Okay, do my eyes fucking with me, or is that way far off?” Tank Fish asked.

“That’s the idea. I want you to soar to the sky before plummeting like chickens into the target.” Chris explains. “The target has three zones, and each zone gives your team a point. The outermost zone gives one point, the second zone two points, and the center gives three.”

“So Artillerymen must launch their teammates at the targets to gain the most points?” Chase asked.

“Yep, and they only have ten teammates each, so make it count.” Chris answered. “Now remember. You’re playing for invincibility. If your team wins, good for you. If you lose, then say bye bye to one of your comrades."

The two teams look to each other with uncertainty, most wishing not to screw up so much on the occasion that they get first boot.

“Okay. Is everyone ready? The game begins!” Chris announces as he walks out of the scene.

“Hmm… guess we should get started then.” Toji approached the catapult, but was quickly shoved out of the way by Shao Kahn.

“Watch yourself, assassin.” Shao Kahn warned the assassin before grabbing onto the catapult. “Clear my path.”

“Oh please, as if you can treat us like—”

Shao Kahn merely pushed the catapult away from Toji, who was in the middle of speaking to him. As he and some of the Moles were in disbelief about the situation, Frieren noticed the Konquerer moving farther and farther away from them.

“He’s already on his way to the cliff.” Frieren spoke out.

“Hey! Think you can complete this without us?!” Denji yelled out.

“Wait for us first, you fucking dumbass!” Tank Fish yelled out.

The rest of the Manic Moles followed the Konquerer into the woods, meanwhile, Giorno and Gem were busy weaving around a couple plant fibers to create a makeshift rope.

“Think this is long enough?” Giorno asked.

“Yes, yes. That’s perfect.” Gem quickly got to tying the rope around the catapult and leaving two long strands for them to pull.

“There we go. Now, we’ll have to decide who to pull.” Navia turned to the rest of her team. “Rex, Gold Ship, Richard. You take the left rope. Sakamoto, Giorno and I will take the right.”

“Navia. I think I should stay close to the catapult. If it rolls too fast in the wrong direction, I’m able to stop it.” Giorno stated.

“Are you sure?” Navia asked, to which Giorno nodded. “Very well then. Demoman, you pull with us.”

“Alright, lassie.” Demoman agreed before taking another swig.

“Okay then, the rest of you, push from behind or clear the way.” Navia ordered as she and the rest of the team grabbed their end of the ropes. “Okay, let’s go!”

-Confessional: Navia-

“I like to think of myself as the charismatic type. It’s part of the job description, after all.” Navia stated. “Shao Kahn’s not gonna be winning any of his team’s hearts soon, and if he’s gonna be only the one to push their catapult, we should do what we can to capitalize on it.”

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Look, I’m not one to complain about this. I recently reached fifty and I don’t think I’d be able to change much if I was pulling from up front or pushing from behind.” Walt stated. “But looking at the rules, what incentive do we have to reach the cliff as fast as possible if a point system is the win condition? I mean, we can get done with this challenge a lot faster, but I feel like this challenge might have some side to it that Chris isn’t revealing.”

“Surely some of you guys have your own blades to help out.” Sasha asked the rest of her team as she was currently the only one using her blades to cut up any plants blocking the way of the catapult.

“Sorry, but if I had a knife, I’d be saving it for when I want to kill myself.” Nicole answered venomously. 

“I have a stash at home, but I didn’t bring any here.” Nimona shrugged.

“Hey, Mags. Surely you have a blade under that at that fucking leather under there, right?” Tank Fish asked.

“Don’t call me Mags, alright? And what’s it to ya? Shao’s not letting anyone push and it’s put us at a pace where the girl scout’s enough to clear the path for us.” Mad Maggie spat out.

While this was going on, Toji was walking behind the catapult watching Shao Kahn pushing it. He tries once again to push alongside the man, but the Konquerer slaps away his hand to stop him.

“What? Feeling your oats today?” Toji joked a bit, but was only met with a side eye from Shao Kahn, causing the assassin to frown.

-Confessional: Toji Fushiguro-

“I was in a good mood today, and this dumbass just had to sour it.” Toji spoke lazily. “This guy thinks he can do this all by himself, high and mighty prick. I hate those kinds of people.”

“Wait! Stop!”

Shao Kahn halts his pushing to look ahead, and sees the massive mass of vines blocking the way. Sasha was seen thinking of a way to get rid of it.

“Hesitating? Just burn it down.” Shao Kahn ordered.

“Wait, we can’t risk a forest fire.” Sasha stated. “Anyone have any ideas?”

“Okay, stand back, people.” Denji walked up to the vines before unbuttoning his shirt. “I got this.”

“What? Are you gonna flash the vines to scare it?” Nicole raised an eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Missy?” Denji revealed a single cord attached to his chest.

Pulling on the cord, a loud, rumbling and scratching sound was heard from the blond as his head transformed into a chainsaw, with glowing yellow eyes, pointy teeth and a long tongue, and his arms also had two chainsaws sticking out of them.

“Whoa, that’s gnarly.” Nimona smiles at the transformation.

“So… he grows chainsaws out of his body?” Mad Maggie raises an eyebrow as Denji begins to rip away at the many vines in front of their group.

“Hey, I’m not complaining.” Tank Fish shrugged. “Anyone have any comically large brooms? If not, we’re moving this by hand then.”

“Graaaagh!” Denji yelled out as he left a lot of vines on the floor in his rampage.

“Finally, let’s get this shit out of the way. Huh?” Nicole sighed before noticing Denji collapsing towards her.

Nicole lets Denji hit the cold dirt ground as his chainsaws retract into his body, but as his hands turn back to normal, he begins to scratch himself on his arms.

“Agh! What was that stuff?” Denji asked as he continued to scratch.

“Oh, god damn it. Way to go dumbass, this shit’s poison ivy.” Nicole swore out, noticing the rashes forming on Denji’s arm.

“Poison ivy?” Maomao perked up upon hearing that.

“Yeah, we might have to go around.” Sasha pondered.

“I think I can do something.” Maomao stated as she walked to the pile of vines.

“Wait, don’t go touching—”

Maomao began to pull on the vines to move them away from the path of the Moles, who watched as the green haired girl fully cleared the path without seeming to itch.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Mad Maggie commented. 

“Are you okay?” Sasha asked the apothecary.

“For the most part. I guess I don’t have as much of a resistance to it, though. This was my first time seeing poison ivy.” Maomao looked at her hands, which suffered a few rashes from holding the plant. 

“So damn itchy!” Denji groaned as he continued scratching his arms.

“And what should we do about him?” Frieren asked.

“If we can’t find a body of water on the way, we can launch him out of the catapult first. The irritation may wear off like that. Don’t touch him unless you want to suffer as well.” Maomao stated before turning to the pile of poison ivy on the side with a giggle. “I’ll be with you in a bit, Denji. Just getting a few samples for later, hehehehe…”

Shao Kahn begins to move the catapult once more as the rest of the Manic Moles continue their way to the cliff, with Maomao slinging Denji’s arm over her shoulder. It was then when Tank Fish noticed the similarly distinct catapult of the Squacking Seagulls ahead of them.

“Oh, damn! They’re ahead of us!” Tank Fish exclaimed.

“We have to pick up the pace, Shao Kahn.” Toji stated as he and Maggie attempted to push the catapult along with Shao Kahn, but the two were waved off by the Konquerer once again.

“I hear you.” Shao Kahn began to strain himself as he pushed the catapult faster than usual.

But it wasn’t fast enough to prevent the catapult of the Squacking Seagulls from disappearing in the distance. 

“One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.”

Gold Ship struggled to pace herself with the rest of her teammates as she had naturally strong legs which had caused an incident earlier in the challenge where the catapult drifted and slammed into a tree.

So, she resorted to counting steps to the others to ground herself.

“Hey, can you keep your voice down? I can’t concentrate over here.” Rex asked.

“I’m sorry, punk, you want a repeat of earlier?” Gold Ship raised an eyebrow at the question.

“Just keep your voice down? Please? I’m trying to be nice here.” Rex pleaded.

Gold Ship quiets down in irritation, before smirking with an idea.

She suddenly begins to mutter gibberish under her breath, barely heard by the rest of her teammates. Red notices that the muttering has a rhythm to it, and upon listening closely, she realizes that Gold Ship was muttering to the tune of Macarena.

Red also begins muttering gibberish to the tune of Macarena, which was noticed by Gem and Demoman, who begin to copy them as well.

Very quickly did up to half of the Squacking Seagulls begin to mutter the tune of Macarena, and the rest look at each other to figure out how it started.

-Confessional: Rex Splode-

“How…” Rex looked at the camera with a baffled expression. “...the fuck?”

As the Seagulls continued to bring their catapult through the forest, Walter approaches Giorno who was pushing the catapult from behind and notices his contemplative expression on his face.

“Hey, kid. You doing good there?” Walt asked, causing the blond to look at him.

“Yes, this is manageable for me.” Giorno nodded.

“You seem to have a lot of thoughts on your mind. Does it have to do with the challenge?” Walt asked.

“Are you saying you also thought of it too?” Giorno asked. “There shouldn’t be any incentive to get to the top as fast as possible.”

“Exactly, with the determining factor being a point system, and all.” Walt added.

“Which means there should be a hidden win condition that we have to reach as fast as possible.” Giorno stated before looking ahead at the Seagulls pulling the catapult. “I’m sure a few have already found out as well. Sakamoto seems to have figured it out. Navia as well.”

“What, we’re gonna wait until we arrive at the cliff until we tell the rest?” Walter asked.

As if on cue, the Squacking Seagulls exit the forest and meet the steep hillside leading to the thousand foot cliff. 

“Everyone.” Giorno called to his team, causing them to stop and look at him. “We have enough space away from the other team, I’ll discuss something for a bit.”

“You figured it out as well?” Sakamoto asked.

“Yes. Now…” Giorno began to explain his thoughts on the matter.

-Confessional: GeminiTay-

“After listening to Giorno, yeah. Hiding a win condition is something that Chris would do.” Gem stated. “But seeing that it’s Chris who set it up, it could practically be anything, so it would probably be difficult to find anything important.”

“Yeah, but before that could happen though…” Giorno directed everyone’s attention to the steep climb in front of them. “We still need to get the catapult up the cliff. We should assume the same position, but the ones who aren’t pulling should help me push from behind.”

“Right. All hands on deck I suppose.” Walt sighed.

“We have the lead, can’t lose it now.” Gem stated as she and the Seagulls behind the catapult prepare to push.

“Okay, let’s go.” Rex stated as he and the others began to pull on the rope.

The Squawking Seagulls began to bring their catapult up the hill despite how steep it is. It may be slow, but nobody wanted their catapult to roll down, or in the worst possible scenario, get destroyed on the way down. 

Hearing a panting noise, Sakamoto turns to see Richard beginning to wear himself out; getting all sweaty, breathing shallowly and overall not pulling with a stable stance.

“Richard, bend your knees.” Sakamoto suggested.

“I’m trying, but it’s getting harder and harder to pull.” Richard panted in fatigue. 

“Not really any worse than any of us here, bud.” Red strained as she pushed the catapult from behind. “I mostly want to get this done so we can get our campsite set up.”

“If we win this, we better celebrate with a dinner under the moonlight. Perfect way to start off the season.” Gem suggested.

“That’s the perfect idea! Okay, I’ll focus.” Richard took a deep breath. “Hagh!”

Richard began to strain herself as he started pulling on the rope, lightening the load and making it easier for the rest of the Squawking Seagulls to push their catapult.

“This is good!” Rex commented on the increased speed. “Keep up the pace, people! We still need to launch ourselves at the target!”

“Right! We still need to find out the hidden win condition in this challenge.” Navia stated before she noticed something flying her way.

Sakamoto grabs the object midair, revealing it to be a throwing knife. Realizing that they may be under attack, both him and Navia look down the hill to see that the Manic Moles have already arrived. 

The opposing team was behind Shao Kahn pushing the catapult with the exception of Toji, who was seen with a set of throwing knives in his hands.

“Hmph.” Toji smirked before throwing the knives at the Seagulls.

“Look out!” Navia warned her group.

The knives precisely slice the ropes being held by the Seagulls in front, causing the catapult to weigh heavily for the Seagulls in the back.

“Um, this doesn’t feel right.” Gem commented.

“W-What’s happening?” Hitori asked frightfully as the five became overwhelmed.

Looking over the catapult, Giorno notices that the vine rope had been severed completely and that none of their teammates in the front could pull the catapult.

“The rope! The catapult might roll everyone over.” Giorno uses both of his arms to push Gem, Walter, Hitori and Red away from the catapult’s path.

As the catapult moves back, Giorno lets himself fall backwards to avoid it slamming into him, before grabbing the rear wheels as a golden aura envelops him.

“Life, spring forth.” Giorno muttered.

In an instant, the catapult’s two wheels transmute into two small trees. Their roots embed themselves into the dirt, anchoring the catapult and preventing it from rolling even further.

“Whoa! You okay, dude?” Red reaches her hand for the blond.

“I’m fine…” Giorno grabs her hand to pick himself up. “What happened to the rope?”

“Take a wild guess.” Red answered after looking down at the approaching Manic Moles.

Toji was seen shrugging while sticking his tongue out, earning him a look of disgust from the blond.

“Okay, and how are we gonna get this thing up the hill when you turned the wheels into trees?” Rex came up to the blond from behind.

“I can turn them back, no need to worry.” Giorno turns back to the catapult. “Though we don’t have time to make another rope, we just have to push it then.”

“Oh! I’ll be one to push!” Richard quickly volunteered.

“Okay. Sakamoto, Gold Ship, Navia and Rex. You push as well. I’ll make sure we don’t have another sabotage on our hands.” Giorno instructed.

“And be quick, the Moles are closing in.” Red warns as Shao Kahn pushes their catapult closer and closer to them.

“Right! Team? On three!” Navia spoke out as Giorno turned the catapult wheels back to normal.

“One! Two! Three!”

The five of them tried their best to stay ahead of Shao Kahn and his team’s catapult, but the Konquerer was still steadily catching up to them. Despite being the only one pushing, Shao Kahn’s form showed no weakness, and he showed no sign of fatigue.

-Confessional: Gold Ship-

“Wow, that guy can really push.” Gold Ship commented with a smirk.

Despite their lead, the Squawking Seagulls reach the top of the hill at the same time as the Manic Moles. Chris was seen at the top bearing his signature smile.

“Hello, campers! Now that both of your teams are here, better assign an Artilleryman. I want to see you people flying!” Chris announced

“Okay, I’ll be the Artilleryman.” Navia declared. “Who wants to go first?”

“Ooh! I’ll go first!” Gem raised her excitement. “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep an eye out.” 

Shao Kahn grabs the rash-ridden Denji by the shoulders and throws him onto the catapult's bucket.

“I’ll be the Artilleryman, any objections?” Shao Kahn declared.

“Sure, you’re probably the heaviest person on the team and won’t go far. Especially with that armor.” Tank Fish commented, causing the Konquerer to glare at him.

“Okay! Something you guys should know!” Chris announced. “For those being launched, you can use what you have to alter your trajectory to get higher points, except for full on flight. Looking at you, Frieren.”

“I was never planning to.” Frieren commented.

“Okay, that’s enough of that. I want to see you guys flying, people.” Chris added. “Give the fans what they want!”

“Are you ready, Gem?” Navia grabbed the lever of the catapult.

“Oh, I was born ready.” Gem smirked. “Hit it!”

Navia pulls the lever, launching Gem into the sky, eventually landing into the 1 Point zone.

“Are you gonna ask if I’m ready?” Denji asked, still scratching his arms.

“No.” Shao Kahn pulls the lever, launching Denji into the sky and into the 1 Point zone.

Manic Moles: 1

Squawking Seagulls: 1

After adjusting the catapult for a better trajectory, Shao Kahn grabs Nicole by the back of her shirt and lifts her up.

“Hey! I was planning on getting on the catapult last, you fucking brute!” Nicole protested.

“We start with the lighter ones for a bigger chance of success.” Shao Kahn threw the brunette onto the catapult.

“I could’ve climbed onto the catapult myse-EEEEEEEEE!” Nicole couldn’t finish her sentence as she was launched out of the catapult. She lands on the 2 Point zone.

“Looks like I’m up!” Rex climbed into the catapult. “Have you adjusted your aim?”

“I did. But you should try to maneuver in the air for a better score.” Navia stated. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Navia launches the superhero into the air, and as Rex attempts to reach for 3 Points, an idea pops into his head. 

“If I can…” Rex takes out two small metal rods from his suit and uses his powers on them.

With the rods glowing yellow, Rex makes them explode, sending him closer to the center of the target. But he fell short as he only managed to land on the 2 Point zone.

Manic Moles: 3

Squawking Seagulls: 3

“And it’s still a tie. Good.” Sakamoto commented.

“Are they allowed to do that?” Maomao asked in confusion.

“It’s not straight up flight. I’ll allow it.” Chris answered.

“Right…” Maomao then hears heavy footsteps behind her. “I’ll get on the catapult myself, thank you.”

Avoiding getting grabbed by Shao Kahn, Maomao hops into the catapult and sighs with anticipation.

“Go ahead.” Maomao sighs before she was launched out the catapult, landing on the 3 Point Zone.

“Okay, wow.” Navia commented on the 3 Point shot. “Who’s up next?”

“Let’s do this.” Gold Ship hops into the catapult with a manic grin on her face. “Goldshi Space Program! Fire!”

Navia pulls the lever, launching Gold Ship with the catapult into the air. The horse girl attempts to hit the 3 Point zone, but unfortunately, she still falls short and hits the 2 Point Zone.

Manic Moles: 6

Squawking Seagulls: 5

“Oh no, I have to adjust my aim again.” Navia began to set up the catapult once more.

“And that’s a point ahead! Woohoo!” Nimona yelled ecstatically, before shapeshifting into a flying squirrel and hopping into their catapult. “Hit it, weird Konquerer guy!” 

“I’m Shao Kahn!” Shao Kahn exclaimed angrily before pulling the lever, launching the shapeshifter into the sky.

Nimona uses her flying squirrel form to glide over the ocean, and directly above the target. She shifts into a dolphin mid air and falls straight down into the 3 Point zone.

“Another 3 Point, nice!” Tank Fish exclaimed. 

“Okay, who’s next?” Navia turned to her team.

“Aight, I guess I’ll take this on.” Demoman takes another swig of scrumpy before sitting inside the catapult. “Hear that, gravity? I dare say bring it on!”

Navia launches Demoman into the air, and with a loud warcry, the mercenary dives down to try and reach the 3 Point zone. However, he still falls short and lands on the 2 Point zone.

Manic Moles: 9

Squawking Seagulls: 7

“Damn it. We’re falling behind.” Walt exclaimed.

“Navia.” Giorno approached his fellow blonde and began to whisper. “They could be searching for something right now. Send me next, I’ll try to help them out.”

“Right. But before that, we need to know how long their 3 Point streak will last.” Navia nodded.

“Waitwaitwait! You really think I’m skinny?!” Tank Fish yelled out as he was thrown onto the catapult by Shao Kahn.

“Put some meat on your bones.” Shao Kahn snarled before launching Tank Fish into the sky, before landing in the 3 Point zone.

“Okay, he’s really consistent with a catapult.” Navia muttered. “Guess they don’t call him the Konquerer for nothing.” 

“Right, guess I better get on it.” Giorno climbed onto the catapult and sat inside the bucket. “Launch me.”

“Right.” Navia pulls the lever, and Giorno was sent high in the sky.

As Giorno flew, he took out a small brooch from his outfit and injected life energy into it with his ability.

“Gold Experience.” Giorno muttered as the brooch turned into a palm tree.

The blond grabbed onto the tree and launched himself even further horizontally, landing him inside the 3 Point zone.

Manic Moles: 12

Squawking Seagulls: 10

As Giorno resurfaced, a medium fishing boat rode next to him, with the launched competitors on the deck dripping wet, and a familiar person driving it.

“Get on the boat, Pinky!” Chef Hatchet yelled at the blond as Rex appeared.

“Hey, come on up.” Gem reached her hand out and pulled the blond out of the water.

“Thanks.” Giorno stepped onto the boat as Rex and Gold Ship approached him. “Have you found anything?”

“No, not yet.” Gem shook her head, before noticing Giorno’s missing brooches from his outfit. All of them, it seems. “Hey, what happened to your brooches?”

“The one I turned into a tree turned back to normal, so I made it into a sea serpent to scout the area.” Giorno explained. “Same with my last two brooches.”

“So we have to wait more?” Rex asked.

The sound of catapults were heard as the contestants on the boat looked up, spotting Sasha and Red flying in the air.

“Here goes nothing!” Sasha activates the gas mechanism on her ODM gear to maneuver her way into the 3 Point Zone.

“Oh come on!” Red exclaimed as she landed in the 2 Point zone.

Manic Moles: 15

Squawking Seagulls: 12

As the fishing boat approached the new arrivals, Maomao and Gem went on to grab their teammates from the water. Suddenly, Sasha raises her hand.

“Um, I think I saw something in the water.” Sasha pointed out.

“Is it a shark?” Tank Fish asked.

“Eh, no worries, I’ll rip it apart.” Denji shrugged.

“No, not a shark.” Sasha stated. “It looks like a… um… fourth ring in the water?” 

“A fourth ring?” Giorno asked before one of the sea serpents appeared around his neck.

The serpent’s tail pointed out to sea, prompting Giorno to look out and spot something previously unseen in the water. It was another ring, outside of the designated target area, way smaller than the 3 Point zone, with a color that almost blends seamlessly with the water.

It took too long for Giorno to notice Nimona standing next to him, looking in the same direction.

“Whatchu looking at?” Nimona asked, causing Giorno to jump lightly in surprise. “Hey, Sasha, is that what you’re talking about?” 

“Um, yeah. I guess so.” Sasha turns to the person riding the boat. “Hey, Chef? What is that fourth ring?”

“You guys found it? It’s about damn time.” Chef picked up a radio and began to phone Chris. “They found it, you can reveal the Jackpot now.”

“Jackpot?” Red tilted her head as the Seagulls began to realize that it was the win condition they were looking for.

And Chris will announce it in front of both their teams.

-Confessional: Rex Splode-

“Shit.” Rex lets out a curse.

Shao Kahn and Navia were about to launch Frieren and Sakamoto respectively when Chris walked up to both teams.

“Alright campers! Your friends out on sea have found the elusive Jackpot zone!” Chris announced, perking the attention of both teams.

“Did they find the win condition? Then why is Chris announcing it?” Navia whispered to Walt.

“Hell if I know.” Walt exclaimed.

“So, mind telling us what this Jackpot zone is?” Mad Maggie asked.

“The Jackpot is outside the three zones, and it’s smaller than the 3 Point zone. So small, in fact, I think you can use it as a hula hoop.” Chris explained. “It’s high risk if you try and shoot for this one, but there’ll be a high reward if you do.”

“Skip the formalities, McLean. Tell us what the Jackpot does.” Shao Kahn snarled.

“Landing a Jackpot automatically wins your team a win for the challenge. Regardless of where the score stands.” Chris explains. “But remember, you still have limited ammunition— I mean a limited number of teammates, so if nobody lands a Jackpot, then it will be who has the most points. Pick your poison.”

“Hmm…” Navia thought deeply.

“What are you waiting for?” Walt asked. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna go for the Jackpot.”

The blonde casts a glance at her opposing Artilleryman, who stared at her as he began to change his catapult’s aim.

“What are you doing?” Frieren asked blankly.

“Hey, what gives?” Toji crossed his arms.

“Locate the Jackpot, puny elf. We shall have total victory over these Seagulls.” Shao Kahn pulls on the lever, sending the white haired elf into the sky.

“Hmm, it should be near that fishing boat.” Frieren looks around and spots the Jackpot Zone in the water. “I suppose a simple illumination spell would work.”

Frieren sends out a couple of small light orbs and sends them right as she lands in the 1 Point zone. The light orbs went on to illuminate the Jackpot zone, making it visible from the cliff.

-Confessional: Frieren-

“The Seagulls are starting to get desperate. It would be in our favor if we make a decisive play now.” Frieren explained. “But I’m afraid Shao Kahn’s arrogance may cause some friction with our team. I wish nobody would make any rash decisions.”

“There, now we’ll take this win from you.” Shao Kahn taunted.

“Navia, we’re running out of time.” Sakamoto spoke out, prompting the blonde to begin to change the aim of their catapult.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Walt asked.

“It’s now or never. We need to get the Jackpot before them.” Navia stated. 

“Shao Kahn’s very experienced. He’s not one to miss a target too many times.” Sakamoto stated. “It’s too big a risk.”

“Fine, fine. Just go ahead.” Walt sighed. 

“Okay, ready?” Navia receives a nod from the ex-hitman, and she pulls the lever. Unfortunately, Sakamoto was unable to land inside the Jackpot zone.

Manic Moles: 16

Squawking Seagulls: 12

“Richard, you’re up!” Navia declared.

“Bout time I ought to let loose.” Mad Maggie declared as she hopped on the catapult.

“Hey, Shao Kahn. Why would we need to win a jackpot if we’re ahead on points” Toji asked.

“I won’t be satisfied until I achieve true victory against my enemies.” Shao Kahn declared. “The Seagulls will know to deem me as a threat.”

“So you’re doing this to stroke your ego, huh?” Toji raised an eyebrow. “How pointless.”

“Oh, don’t let it get to your panties, assassin.” Mad Maggie snarked. “Hit it.”

“I’m ready! I hope…” Richard exclaimed nervously as he sat in the catapult.

Shao Kahn and Navia launch their teammates at the same time.

“Waaaaaaugh!” Richard yelled out in fear.

“Haaaagh!” Mad Maggie roared out.

Unfortunately, they were not able to land in the Jackpot, with both campers landing a bit to the right of the ring.

Manic Moles: 16

Squawking Seagulls: 12

“Oh? Things are starting to get heated. Both Artillerymen are aiming for the Jackpot, but they each have two shots left.” Chris announced. “Will anyone claim certain victory?”

“A little to the left.” Shao Kahn casts another glance at Navia as the two Artillerymen turn their catapults ever so slightly. “You! Scrawny man!”

“Alright, alright! I get it!” Chase exclaimed as he hopped onto the catapult.

As this was happening, Walter notices Hitori beginning to sweat in fear, realizing she was probably gonna be launched pretty soon.

-Confessional: Hitori Goto-

“Sorry… I’m one of the last two shots the team has to win, so if we lose the very first challenge, I might be deemed useless by the team and booted off…” Hitori sighed. “I can’t let that happen.”

“Hey, how about letting me be next? She doesn’t seem to be handling this well.” Walt told Navia, who looked at their pink haired teammate.

“Right. Hop on then, I’ll try and talk to her.” Navia stated as Walter climbed up onto the catapult. “Ready?”

“This won’t be good… go ahead.” Walt gave the all clear.

Two lever pulls, and Walter and Chase were sent into the sky for another shot at the jackpot. Chase manages to get so close, but not close enough as he splashes down just outside the Jackpot zone.

“Oh no.” Navia gasped.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Okay… we’re not winning this, are we?” Walt looked at the camera, looking resigned to the fate of his team.

“We’re close.” Shao Kahn adjusted the catapult once more. “Hop in, assassin.”

“Hmm…” Toji grunted as he climbed up the catapult.

“Hey, you okay?” Navia asked her teammate.

“Um… no. No, I don’t think so…” Hitori whispered. “I’m the only one who hasn't launched yet, so if we lose, I might be the first one out…”

“Oh? Well, if that’s the case, you should be giving yourself more credit.” Navia stated. “The Moles might take the challenge, but don’t think it’s your fault.”

Toji glances at the two just as Shao Kahn pulls the lever to send him flying. As he soared in the air, he looks at the illuminated Jackpot zone, then at the 3 Point zone of the target area.

-Confessional: Toji Fushiguro-

“Eh, the Seagulls won’t land a jackpot. It won’t hurt to piss off Shao Kahn a little.” Toji shrugged.

Having made up his mind, Toji straightens his body and dives down, heading towards the 3 Point zone. The contestants on the cliff notice the change in trajectory.

“Huh?” Hitori perked up upon seeing this change.

“What is he…?” Navia squinted her eyes at the sight.

“What?!” Shao Kahn questioned loudly. “What is that imbecile doing?”

Toji splashed down in the 3 Point zone as the contestants on the boat watched on with confusion.

Manic Moles: 19

Squawking Seagulls: 12

-Confessional: Tank Fish-

“Was that our last teammate to be launched?”  Tank Fish asked the camera, looking baffled.

-Confessional: Frieren-

“Huh. That was unexpected.” Frieren stated blankly.

-Confessional: GeminiTay-

“Okay, this is getting interesting.” Gem nodded. “We might just be able to win this.”

“We have a chance.” Navia muttered.

“We do…” Hitori muttered before steeling herself. She climbs up the catapult before sitting in the bucket. “Please don’t talk about this once it’s over…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Navia nodded in agreement.

“Raaagh!” Shao Kahn roared out as he swung his axe to destroy the Seagulls.

“Oh! Better get on with it!” Navia grabs the lever and launches Hitori into the sky just before Shao Kahn strikes the catapult, splitting it in two.

“Aaaaaaaaagh!” Hitori shrieks as she flies through the air as the campers on the fishing boat watch. In moments, the pink haired guitarist splashes down in the water, directly in the center of the Jackpot zone.

“Whoa! She did it!” Gem exclaimed.

“This is a Squawking Seagulls victory right there!” Rex threw his fist up.

“You got that right.” Red nodded in agreement.

Back at the cliff, Navia was pumping her fist with excitement as Shao Kahn looked on in disbelief. Next to them, Chris walked up to the edge with a megaphone in hand.

“THE WINNERS! THE SQUAWKING SEAGULLS!” Chris yelled out into the megaphone, causing Navia and Shao Kahn to flinch at the loud noise.

“Ugh, must you be doing that?” Shao Kahn snarled with disdain.

“Yes I must.” Chris answered while pointing the megaphone at the two, causing them to cover their ears. “You know what that means! Moles! All of you must be at the campfire tonight! One of you will be going home!”

At the boat, the Manic Moles all sigh in defeat. They all know what will be happening tonight.

-Confessional: Denji-

“So after the fishing boat returned to shore, we learned from Chris what went down up there.” Denji explained. “Shao Kahn may be a bit of a prick— scratch that, a massive prick. But Toji really fucked it for us. He doesn’t even want to tell us why he did that!”

-Confessional: Nicole-

“I’m voting for Shao Kahn. What do you take me for? Fucker pulled me up by my shirt like I was a toy.” Nicole ranted with a visible look of disgust on her face. “Does he treat his concubines like that? Wait, no. He seems too comically evil to have concubines. He’s still a massive asshole.”

-Confessional: Shao Kahn-

“That assassin cost us the victory! What insolent thought did he have to defy me like that and risk everything!” Shao Kahn yelled at the camera before calming himself down. “Whatever. What he did was unacceptable, I shall see to it that the assassin will be the first one booted off this island.”

Later that night, the Manic Moles were gathered around the campfire. Now that everyone sat down in silence, nobody could ignore the tension in the air as Shao Kahn and Toji sat next to each other. The Konqueror stared down the assassin, who just stared ahead with boredom.

“Wow, isn’t this a sight?” Chris entered the scene with Chef Hatchet next to him while holding a tray of marshmallows. “Jeez, you can cut this tension with a knife, huh?”

Nobody was in the mood to laugh at that joke, causing Chris to frown in disappointment.

“Right. Now, you all have cast your votes, you’ve made a decision on who want gone.” Chris explained as he presented the tray of marshmallows towards the Moles. “You’ve seen this before. You know what this means. Ten marshmallows, eleven campers. If you don’t get a marshmallow, you shall march off to the Dock of Shame, board the Boat of Losers, and leave Camp Wawanakwa.”

“But first, Chef. Have something to say?” Chris turned to his partner.

“Shao Kahn. Your warring nature immediately caused friction between your teammates. You declined any help in pushing the catapult and gunned for the jackpot purely to spite the Seagulls.”

“Toji Fushiguro, you risked the jackpot for reasons you won’t explain, allowing the Seagulls to land the jackpot and causing you to lose the challenge entirely.”

“And now, if I call your name, claim your marshmallow. I’ll even throw it if I have to.” Chris stated. “The first marshmallow goes to…”

“Frieren.”

“Chase Devineaux.”

“Maomao.”

“Mad Maggie.”

“Denji.”

“Tank Fish.”

“Nimona.”

“Nicole.” 

“...and Sasha Braus.”

There is one marshmallow left, leaving Shao Kahn and Toji’s fates to its whims. Everyone else eats their marshmallows before preparing for the final verdict.

“And the last one to receive a marshmallow tonight will be…”

.

.

.

.

.

“Shao Kahn!”

The Konqueror grabs the marshmallow thrown at him, and casts a menacing grin towards the assassin. Toji was unfazed by this display, and merely shrugged in defeat.

“What? No complaints?” Chris asked the assassin.

“Well, guess someone has to take the fall.” Toji stood up and began to walk down the Dock of Shame. “I won’t be winning a million dollars, but I am gonna be staying at a resort, right?”

“Yup! Next stop, Playa Des Losers!” Chris answered as the assassin hopped onto the boat.

“Sweet.” Toji turned towards his ex team with a look of satisfaction. “I won’t be missing any of you.”

“Yeah, fuck you too.” Denji flipped the bird at the assassin as Toji was shipped away into the distance, disappearing from the camera’s sight.

The scene cuts to another location in the forest, where the Seagulls are gathered for dinner. Multiple skewers of fish were seen grilling next to a campfire, and a pile of berries was seen neatly placed on a cloth.

“Well guys? Enjoying the meal?” Gem asked.

“Oh, yeah. These fish taste so fresh when recently caught.” Red nodded.

“I mean, they seem to be enjoying it.” Walt says as he looks at Richard and Gold Ship absolutely devouring the grilled fish, leaving nothing but bones behind.

Demoman merely slept on a nearby rock with a bottle of scrumpy in his hand, causing Sakamoto to look with concern.

“He doesn’t seem to have eaten yet.” Sakamoto pointed out.

“I’m honestly surprised that the bottle isn’t empty yet.” Gem stated. “I don’t know if I should be concerned or impressed.”

“Here.” Navia hands a fish skewer to Hitori, who silently accepts the gift. “You did great today.”

“T-Thanks…” Hitori slowly nodded before eating her fish. “You seem pretty nice…”

“Heh, I try.” Navia giggled as she sat next to the guitarist.

Giorno looks at the scene with a slight smirk, before looking up at the night sky above him.

-Confessional: Giorno Giovanna-

“This is a calm start for now. But over time, things will begin to heat up.” Giorno explains to the camera. “Us Seagulls may have won the first challenge, but there’s no telling how long that would last. So we should hold on to that for as long as we can. But in order to do that—”

“You must watch the next episode to find out!” Chris’ voice was heard from outside the confessional, causing the blond to look in confusion.

“Have you been waiting outside to say that?” Giorno asked the host.

“Yes I did.” Chris answered, before he was heard walking away from the confessional.

“Well, you heard him. Until next time. Ciao.” Giorno waved goodbye to the camera.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: You Snooze You Lose

At the female side of the Manic Moles cabin, Sasha was seen entering through the door, covered in sweat. She quickly spots Maomao making her own bed, as she had just woken up and was still in her night garments.

“Morning, Maomao.” Sasha greeted the girl. “Can you pass me that towel?”

“Morning.” Maomao reaches for a small towel on a nearby desk and tosses it to the scout, who begins to wipe herself down. “You’re already sweaty this morning? Are you training for something?”

“Morning exercise. I have a slight suspicion my captain would punish me if I didn’t follow routine.” Sasha sat down. “I don’t mind, I always look forward to a good breakfast. But now…”

“Yeah, the food is not really that good.” Maomao stated as she finished setting her bed. “Don’t tell anyone I said that though. I almost saw Nicole get decapitated by Chef Hatchet.”

“Uh, was that the knife that was sticking out the door yesterday?” Sasha asked, lightly shivering in fear.

“Yes.” Maomao stood up. “It looks like almost everyone is having breakfast now. Everyone except…”

The two girls turn around to spot a sleeping Frieren, who seemed to have fallen out of bed while asleep. A pillow was over her face, and her blanket was sprawled across the floor.

“She slept like that on the first night. I don’t think it will be changing soon.” Maomao stated. “Let’s wake her up.”

“Here, let me help you.” Sasha approached the sleeping elf to help Maomao wake her up.

“Thanks.” Maomao pulls the pillow away from Frieren’s face to reveal her tired and disheveled appearance. “Wow, she’s really sleepy. Must not be a morning person.”

“Miss Frieren, wake up. We’re about to have breakfast.” Sasha spoke out to the sleeping elf.

“Mmmmmmf…” Frieren groaned sleepily as she slowly tried to move her body.

“This may take a while.” Maomao sighed.

It took a while, but the two manage to get Frieren up and standing, despite the elf’s barely coherent complaints. Maomao considered splashing her face with a glass of water, but the elf got herself walking upon hearing that suggestion. The three made their way towards the mess hall and entered the door.

“Oh god, did she oversleep again?” Tank Fish chuckled.

“Yeah, She’s definitely not a morning person.” Sasha chuckled as she sat Frieren down in front of a table. “Maomao, I’ll get you two breakfast, okay?”

“Oh, thanks.” Maomao sat down next to the elf as the scout left to get food.

Sasha grabs a tray and approaches Chef Hatchen inside his kitchen.

“Hello, Chef, what’s for breakfast?” Sasha asked the camp chef with a beaming smile.

“Slop.” Chef said quickly, not bothering to match her energy.

“...oh. Okay then.” Sasha deflated at the sight. “Three of that, please.”

-Confessional: Sasha Braus-

“This feels… familiar…” Sasha hummed in thought before shrugging. “Eh, maybe it’s nothing.”

Mad Maggie was seen eating a pile of slop without caring much about the flavor. Chase Devineaux sat next her, merely poking his plate with a fork.

“Ugh, how can you stomach something like this?” Chase gagged a bit.

“What’s it to ya? Think I actually like this garbage?” Maggie asked aggressively. “Tastes like the shit I put together when low on rations. And I don’t mean that lightly.”

The freedom fighter tilted her head as she avoided a knife thrown at her by Chef, who glared at her with animosity.

“Yeah, you heard me right. Think you can scare me?” Mad Maggie asked. “About as spineless as those bastards at the Syndicate.”

Chef merely returned to his work, mumbling something to himself as the rest of the campers in the mess hall continued to eat.

“Wow, what’s gotten him so pissy?” Nicole raised an eyebrow at the chef’s agitation.

“I dunno, might have something to do with our opposing team.” Denji shrugged as he continued to eat his breakfast.

“What do you mean?” Maomao asked.

“The Seagulls set up their own eating area somewhere, eating the fish they catch.” Denji explained. “He’s been trying since yesterday to bring them back here, but he failed every time.”

“Wait, what?” Nicole looked at the blond with a baffled look. “You mean they’ve been eating proper meals while we’ve been eating shit?!”

“Uh, yeah.” Denji nodded.

“And why didn’t you tell us?!” Chase asked.

“Uhh…” Denji tried to remember what happened.

Denji lazily walked around the forest, before noticing Chef Hatchet hiding behind a tree brandishing a couple knives. 

The burly co-host turns to see Gem and Richard fishing together. He prepares to throw his knives, intending to cut their fishing rods.

It was then Sakamoto swept by and stole Chef’s knives in a single motion.

“Hey, what the?!” Chef exclaimed, but Sakamoto jumped into the trees before he could be caught. “Come back here!”

Denji watches as Chef attempts to chase the ex-hitman and chuckles at his misfortune.

“Oh yeah, seeing Chef getting humiliated was pretty funny, so I kinda forgot.” Denji chuckled at the thought.

“Of fucking course.” Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “Maybe I should sneak in to grab some fish for myself.”

“Oh, campers! You know what time it is!” Chris’ voice boomed across the campsite from the speakers. “Take your showers, freshen up and meet me out front in half an hour. It’s time for another challenge!”

“Well, any plans you have regarding the Seagulls can wait.” Maomao stated, having finished her breakfast. “I don’t think we should afford losing two challenges in a row.”

“Right.” Frieren stated, still visibly sleepy. “We’d be too weak to challenge the Seagulls if we lose too much.”

“We’ll just have to see this next challenge then.” Tank Fish stated.

-Confessional: Nicole-

“Great, I’m feeling hungry just thinking about what the Seagulls are doing. Can’t a bitch just eat good fucking food without invoking eyes of a killer?” Nicole complained to the camera.

A few minutes later, both teams were gathered around the beach. Nimona glanced at Shao Kahn, who wasn’t present at the mess hall earlier.

“So, Big Shao. Haven’t seen you during breakfast.” Nimona slung a hand over the Konquerer’s shoulder. “Where’ve you been?”

“Nothing that concerns you. And you’re not allowed to refer to me by that name.” Shao Kahn said roughly, causing Nimona to frown in disappointment.

“Alright, campers. I assume everyone’s had a good night’s sleep recently?” Chris asked the contestants.

“I mean, the beds are quite alright. We can open the windows for fresh air.” Chase listed down. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, after this challenge, it’s gonna be a whole lot better.” Chris explained. “Why, you may ask? We’re gonna be retreading old ground and have the second challenge be the one and only Awakathon!”

Many eyes widen upon hearing that word, mainly from those who have watched the show before.

“Oh, yes. And the challenge seemed to have started a minute ago, at 9 am.” Chris checked his watch. “The challenge is simple. Be the team with the last person awake to win immunity.”

“All good? Great! The challenge has already started.” Chris continued. “This is gonna be fun to watch.”

-Confessional: Red-

“Sounds simple, but way too intense for a second challenge, Chris.” Red commented.

-Confessional: Rex Splode-

“So all I have to do is just stay awake for as long as I can, huh?” Rex thought about the challenge. “Seems… simple enough, right?”

-Confessional: Giorno Giovanna-

“This challenge may seem simple, but it will test everyone’s wills. If I’m looking for allies to win the game with, today might be a good time to test who has the strongest will among our team.” Giorno explained to the camera.

-24:00, 15 Hours In-

Before long, the sun had set over the horizon, plunging Camp Wawanakwa into darkness. Most of the campers (with the exception of Shao Kahn) were gathered around the campfire, sitting on the wooden seats.

A few of them had begun to sport eyebags under their eyes, with the most notable ones being Richard, Hitori, Chase and Maomao.

“Yawn… wow. Really long challenge, huh?” Richard sighed with fatigue.

“It just reached midnight. Everyone’s still awake.” Walt yawned. “It’s gonna be even longer…”

“Hmm…” Hitori sighed, leaning against Navia as she began to succumb to sleep.

“Hey, you okay?” Navia asked the pink haired girl, causing her to shoot up with surprise.

“Huh?! I’m sorry!” Hitori gasped, swiftly apologizing. “I’m just getting tired, I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”

“Oh, don’t be sorry. You can lean on me if you’re feeling tired.” Navia smiled.

“No… I can’t fall asleep first…” Bocchi frowned. “I don’t want to fall asleep first and risk elimination…”

“Oh, I’m tipping over…” Richard groaned before falling asleep on his side, catching the attention of most of the Seagulls.

Moles: 10

Seagulls: 10

“Oh, we lost one.” Red commented. 

“Huh, I thought he’d last a bit longer.” Walt stated.

“Gold Ship, help me bring him back to the cabin.” Sakamoto spoke out. 

“No, ask Rex to do it.” Gold Ship pointed a thumb to the superhero.

“Why me! You were the one being asked, dumbass!” Rex yelled in protest, quickly spiralling him and the horse girl in an argument.

Gem quickly filled in for Gold Ship and carried Richard with Sakamoto to the cabins. Navia turns to Hitori and gestures for the pink haired girl to sit with her.

“I’m sorry… I’ll just sit upright.” Hitori bowed to the blonde before sitting down.

-Confessional: Hitori Goto-

“This is starting to get difficult…” Hitori sighed, before rubbing her shoulder with embarrassment. “Yawn… Navia’s wanting to get close ever since the first challenge. I need help, should I reciprocate her kindness?”

At the campfire, Maomao held a poison ivy leaf with a paper towel, before using it to make contact on the back of her left hand.

“Hehehe…” Maomao giggled to herself as she felt her skin welt with rashes. “Yawn…”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Frieren spoke near the girl, currently reading the grimoire she brought to the island.

“You really shouldn’t be touching that, Maomao.” Chase stated with concern.

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ve been doing experiments on myself back home. I just like to see how much this ‘poison ivy’ would affect me.” Maomao explains.

“Hmm…” Frieren’s eyes trailed down to the bandage covering most of the girl’s left arm. “Those bandages…”

Frieren grabs her staff and performs a simple spell, causing the bandages to uncoil from Maomao’s arm and slink away.

“Huh?” Maomao looked in confusion before Chase came from behind her and pulled her left sleeve up.

At the sight of Maomao’s left arm, Frieren merely gasped, losing the grip on her staff in the process. Noticing her reaction, Chase looks down

“Oh goodness! Cover it again, Frieren, mon dieu!" Chase yelped upon seeing her arm.

“Yawn… the fuck’s going on over here?” Nicole walked into the scene, before spotting Maomao’s left arm. “Oh, what the fuck!”

-Confessional: Maomao-

“I should maybe do my experiments in secret from now on.” Maomao sighed in annoyance, wrapping her left arm with a bandage once again.

-03:00, 18 Hours In-

Tank Fish lies down on a log with a dead expression, before looking at his digital wrist watch.

“Oh hey, it’s three AM, guys.” Tank chuckled to himself. “Expect creepy shit, guys. Expect creepy shit.”

“With this lightheadedness, I might as well.” Sasha replied drowsily, laying stomach down on a nearby rock. “Is that a branch or a snake?”

“Can you lot keep quiet? I don’t want to hear your shit.” Maggie laid down nearby, eyebags visibly present.

“Huh, so that is a snake…” Sasha muttered as a snake slithered its way onto Mad Maggie’s stomach.

Looking at the snake with an annoyed expression, Maggie grabbed the snake by the head and threw it into the water.

“Not as venomous as the ones from Salvo, eh?” Maggie grumbled to herself in annoyance.

“Yeah, Salvo. Wherever that is…” Sasha muttered off before her head dipped down with fatigue. A final sigh was heard as she fell asleep.

“Hah, the first of our team asleep.” Tank Fish took a minute to laugh at the sleeping scout shortly before falling asleep as well.

Manic Moles: 8

Squawking Seagulls: 10

-07:00, 22 Hours In-

Sakamoto and Navia were in the middle of a chess match in front of the Seagulls’ cabin for possibly the hundredth time, with Giorno watching. All three were having cold sweats, and they now sported eyebags. Navia reached out for a bishop piece before her arm faltered with fatigue.

“Yawn… how long have we been at this?” Navia asked.

“I’ve lost count…” Sakamoto sighed. “We should call this off for now. We’ll need to eat breakfast soon.”

A knock was heard from inside the girls side of the Seagulls’ cabin. The three turn to see Hitori sticking her head into the doorframe.

“Hitori, do you want anything?” Navia asked.

“Sorry, I’m too tired to continue the challenge…” Hitori whispered slowly. “I’m going to bed now, so… can you please bring me breakfast today?”

“Oh, sure. I’ll wake you up once I’m back, okay?” Navia stated.

“Okay, thank you…” Hitori retreated back into the cabin.

“Come on, let’s go to our campsite.” Navia stated.

“Um, you guys may want to look…” Giorno looked outside with confusion.

Just outside the two cabins was Gold Ship, who had begun to sleepwalk and was just making her way into the forest.

The sleepwalking horse girl bumps into Denji, who almost spills the glass of water he was holding.

“Hey, what the hell?” Denji exclaimed, before Navia and Giorno arrived at the scene.

“Sorry about her! We’ll take her back now!” Navia grabbed the horse girl’s shoulders while Giorno grabbed her ankles.

As the two Seagulls carried their sleeping teammate back to their cabin, Denji shrugged off the interaction before walking off to the campfire. There, he saw Nicole and Frieren sitting near the fire. The former was currently lying down on a log staring blankly into the sky.

“Um, did she fall asleep already?” Denji asked the elf.

“Oh, yes. She did.” Freiren turned to look at the brunette. “Would you mind waking her up? It’s almost time for breakfast.”

“Oh, okay.” Denji complied, before splashing a bit of water onto the girl’s face.

“The fuck?” Nicole sat up and stared at the blond incredulously. “The fuck was that for?”

“I dunno, she told me to wake you up.” Denji directed the brunette’s attention to the elf.

“I said it’s almost time for breakfast.” Frieren explained. “We should head to the mess hall.”

“You mean I fell asleep already? Ugh, fuck this.” Nicole stood up and began to walk to the Moles cabin. “None of you better wake me up, this shit was a waste of my time.”

Manic Moles: 7

Squawking Seagulls: 8

-Confessional: Nicole-

“I mean, I was not the first to fall asleep right, would that prevent my elimination?” Nicole shrugged, struggling to stay awake. “The rest of my team will get their minds fucked if this shit goes on for any longer. Sucks to be them, am I right?”

Shao Kahn sat alone deep in the forest, intending to endure the challenge without the annoyances that were his teammates.

It was then his peace was disturbed as he heard the crunching of leaves to his side. Turning to a nearby bush, the Konquerer slowly reaches for his axe currently lodged inside a stump.

“Reveal yourself, or my blade will do it for you.” Shao Kahn spoke out to the bushes.

“Well, it was worth a shot.” A red snake slithers out of the bush, before a puff of smoke reveals it to be Nimona. “So, Big Shao. Still not good on the name Big Shao?”

“No.”

“Yeah, the nickname could use some work. You calling me ‘Shapeshifter’ really sets a vibe that I wanna replicate.” Nimona stated.

“You will refer to me as Shao Kahn, ruler of Outworld.” Shao Kahn replied angrily.

“Eh, fine.” Nimona shrugged as she approached Shao Kahn’s axe and ran a finger down the blade. “If you wanna know I’m here, I have a proposal to make. So I’m sure you probably want to win by steamrolling the competition, am I correct?”

“And why would that concern you, shapeshifter?” Shao Kahn grumbled.

“Because, that would make you the villain of this game, dude. Some big imposing person out to cause problems for his fellow competitors. And I would like to join you in that endeavor as your sidekick.” Nimona leant on a nearby tree as she spoke. “And that is the kind of energy I want to bring to the island.”

“Hmph…” Shao Kahn mulled over the shapeshifter’s proposal. 

While he did plan on taking this game alone to assert his dominance, he did not have any qualms when forming alliances if it meant he was on top. And if she ever thought to betray him, he wouldn’t waste time smearing his axe with her blood. 

“Very well then. You shall become my ‘side kick’, if it means I rise to the top. I expect nothing but your loyalty, shapeshifter.” Shao Kahn spoke to the shapeshifter. “Speak not of this transaction, or consider this alliance terminated, do you understand?”

“Righty roo, boss man.” Nimona pointed a finger gun at the Konquerer before transforming her entire upper body into a shark. “So, wanna shake on it to make it official?”

Shao Kahn merely stared at his newly appointed minion, causing her to frown.

“Okay, fine. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll be having breakfast at the mess hall.” Nimona transforms into a hummingbird and flies off, leaving Shao Kahn to continue his quiet time out in the forest.

-11:00, 26 Hours In-

The Seagulls were currently gathered at their makeshift campsite, sitting around trying not to succumb to their fatigue. Rex sat on a log eating a handful of picked berries.

“Hey, Rex.” Red called out to the superhero. “Mind passing some here?”

“Sure, catch.” Rex threw a few berries towards her.

“Thanks.” Red caught the berries before throwing one into the air and catching it in her mouth.

“Hah, I’ll do you one better.” Rex grabs two berries and throws them into the air, with one falling down and hitting his nose. “Ow.”

“You can carve?” Navia raised her hand forward as she talked with Gem, before one of the berries Rex threw into the air and landed in his hand. “Oh? Where’d this come from?”

“Ah, sorry. Tried to catch one in my mouth.” Rex leaned back with fatigue. “You can have it if you want.”

“Thanks.” Navia threw the berry into her mouth, before turning to Gem who was using a knife to carve some wood. “Back on topic, what are you making?”

“A small flower pot. I probably won’t bring it home, but it would be nice to decorate our cabin with.” Gem explained. “How are we looking so far?”

“We still have the lead, but I don’t know how long we’ll hold it.” Navia looked around, but noticed the absence of a Seagull that she swore was still awake. “Wait, has anyone seen Walter?”

Near the campfire, Walt was seen laying on the ground, asleep but with his eyes open staring into the sky above. This state lasted up until a guitar began to play nearby, which woke him up.

“Guess I got what I deserved.” Tank Fish sat nearby, playing a guitar while singing.

“What?” Walt could only look at the guy with confusion.

“Kept you waiting there too long my love.” Tank Fish continued to sing to the annoyance of the chemist.

“What are you doing? Get out of here, I’m not even your teammate.” Walt attempted to shoo off the Mole.

“Heh, worth it.” Tank Fish stood up while chuckling to himself. “Oh, by the way, you fell asleep.”

Manic Moles: 7

Squawking Seagulls: 7

“Okay, thanks for the update.” Walt sighed as he began to pat himself of the dust on his clothes. 

It was then Mad Maggie approached the campfire, holding a tray of food from the mess hall. Walt takes notice of the visible exhaustion on the warlord’s face, as well as the slight hint of irritability that he found familiar.

“What? Are you just gonna sit there?” Maggie glared venomously at the chemist. “Scram.”

Walt finishes patting himself down as he walks away from the campfire and towards the Seagulls cabin.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“I would’ve expected to last longer, but I guess I still have my limits.” Walt stated. “I’ll have to leave it up to my team then, though I’m not confident about our chances.”

-12:00, 27 Hours In-

Frieren struggled to keep her eyes open, fatigue had quickly become heavy on her head. She sat on a chair in front of the Moles cabin, rereading her biggest grimoire in order to avoid too much repetition that would slowly send her to sleep.

“Oh campers!” The elven mage looked above her grimoire as the voice of Chris McLean echoed throughout the campsite. “Whoever is not eliminated, gather around the campfire! I’m sure the audience would want to see everyone struggle with sleep all at once!”

“Hmm…” Frieren stood up from her stool, before opening the door to the cabin’s female side, with it’s current occupants being a sleeping Nicole, Sasha and Maomao, who stood up from the announcement. “Maomao, we should go now.”

“Understood.” Maomao attempted to rub the fatigue out of her eyes, letting out a few sounds of annoyance that the elf could understand.

“Good luck guys!” Sasha waved the two off as they left the cabin.

In a couple minutes, everyone from both teams that were competing in the challenge have gathered around the campfire near the dock. Both the Moles (Chase, Denji, Frieren, Mad Maggie, Maomao, Nimona and Shao Kahn) and the Seagulls (Demoman, Gem, Giorno, Navia, Red, Rex and Sakamoto) all were visibly deflated by their fatigue, and a nearby Chris smiled at their plight.

“And over here we see the exotic Canadian species camperi entertainus, who have now settled into their new environment.” Chris spoke quietly to the camera as if he was hosting a nature documentary.

“Quit it, dickhead. I know you’re old, but you aren’t David Attenborough.” Rex yelled out from across the scene, causing Chris’ eye to twitch ever so slightly.

“Now then, let’s see how long these guys last, shall we?” Chris talked to the camera before walking offscreen.

-18:00, 33 Hours In-

As the sun begins to set in the distance once again, the camera spots a few of the campers that have already collapsed from fatigue. Maomao had fallen asleep embracing a wooden stump, with a sleeping Chase nearby whose back was bent on a rock he was lying on.

As for the Seagulls side, Demoman had fallen asleep, clutching his bottle of scrumpy in his hand. Red had wondered how the mercenary went this long drinking only alcohol, while Rex was stuck on the fact that this singular bottle doesn’t seem to empty at all no matter how much he drank from it.

Manic Moles: 5

Squawking Seagulls: 6

“Look, all I’m saying is that we've never seen him bring any other bottle on the island, and every time we see him, he’s taking a swig from the damn thing.” Rex continued to rant about the mercenary’s bottle of scrumpy.

“It’s better if you don’t ask.” Red stated. “But Christ, this challenge is taking a toll on me.”

Giorno covered his mouth as he yawned. He didn’t expect the fatigue to hit this hard. As this happened, Rex almost stumbled to the side in his peripheral vision. The blond turned as the superhero grasped his head in annoyance.

“Rex, are you with us?” Giorno called out to the superhero.

“Yeah, yeah. Just almost slipped.” Rex waved off the blond’s concerns. “I’m already too deep in this, I might as well go as far as I can.”

Giorno hums at the man’s insistence, before reaching to the side and grabbing a nearby water bottle.

“Catch.” Giorno passes the water bottle towards the superhero. “To keep yourself awake.”

“Hmm.” Rex stares at the bottle for a moment, before twisting the cap open and splashing his face. “Thanks, I guess…”

The camera pans to the Moles, showing Mad Maggie carving a symbol on a nearby tree with her army knife. Her fellow teammates watch with some sort of terrified awe, as if her irritability was the only thing to stave off their fatigue.

“How long is she gonna keep this up?” Denji whispered.

“I’m not sure, it’s best if we leave her be.” Frieren continued to read her grimoire, contrasting with the Moles around her.

Nimona continued to observe the freedom fighter as she continued to carve her insignia into the tree. A snake slithers down the trunk, before its head is quickly pinned into the tree with the warlord’s knife.

-Confessional: Nimona-

“I’m sure you viewers at home know at this point. The Big Shao scoffs at the thought that we can lose.” Nimona explained to the camera. “But, just in case we do, wouldn’t it be in our best interest to, y'know, present someone as a bigger threat?”

-24:00, 39 Hours In- 

The clock strikes midnight once more, and the Seagulls don’t seem to be faring well. Red had just recently succumbed to her fatigue, dozing off as she leant on a tree. Navia and Giorno struggled to keep her eyes open, while Rex stared intensely at the moon above him like it had insulted him.

Gem continued to carve her flower pot in spite of the fatigue, taking the time to add in the details that would add personality to it. 

“Hey, Sakamoto.” The redhead called out to the assassin next to her. “Think I should add our team logo on this?”

The white haired man took a moment in thought, before turning back to his teammate. “Go ahead. I’m sure it would look nice.”

“Sweet, thanks.” Gem continued to spend a couple of minutes with her flower pot, before carving out the finishing touches on the Seagulls insignia. “Yes! Finally, I got it finished! Haha!”

It wouldn’t be long until Gem collapsed under her fatigue as well.

Manic Moles: 5

Squawking Seagulls: 4

“Hmhmhmm…” Nimona chuckled to herself as she picked up a small stone next to the campsite. A stack of tissue paper was neatly tucked in her other hand. She smirked to herself before turning to a nearby member of the Moles.

Denji’s back bent backwards as he laid down on a tree stump, struggling to keep himself awake. After the camera catches him blinking slowly, one eye after the other like a lizard, a crumpled piece of tissue paper hits him in the forehead.

“Huh?” Denji lifted his head up in a sleep induced daze.

“Yo, chainsaw dude.” Nimona called out to the boy. “I’m bored, let’s throw that piece of paper at each other.”

“Huh? What are you… talking about?” Denji looked at the shapeshifter in his daze, yawning audibly in his fatigue.

“I’m saying we need to do something to stave off the sleepiness.” Nimona stated. “You almost would’ve dozed off if I hadn’t thrown that piece of paper at you.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.” Denji nods before returning to his previous position.

Nimona frowns at that reaction. In response, she wraps her acquired pebble in tissue paper with a pout and tosses it at Denji’s chest. Denji raises his head once again in annoyance.

“What?” Denji asked pointedly.

“Come on, pass it.” Nimona continued to egg him on. “What, can’t throw for crap?”

“Now I’ll have you know I can throw. The mountain of a debt that I was stuck with doesn’t make that any less true.” Denji stood up, irritated, and reached for the crumpled piece of paper with the pebble on his chest. “Come on, if you’re bored, let’s do this all night.”

Denji assumes a pitcher’s stance and winds up to throw the paper ball towards Nimona, but he somehow launches it in a completely different direction, with the mass of the pebble amongst the tissue striking Mad Maggie in the side of the head

“What in the bloody…” Maggie stirred herself awake, the point of impact noticeably bleeding before her head snapped towards the two.

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Straight into the lion’s den, it’s all going to plan.” Nimona smirked knowingly. “And with Denji as my witness, this lion shall be smitten.”

“One of you seems eager to have your fingers cut off.” Maggie spoke to the two with annoyance. “Any of you willing to own up? I’m giving discounts, I’ll leave your pinkies intact if you do.”

“Oh, sorry, Denji doesn’t mean anything.” Nimona quickly puts on an apologetic facade, directing Maggie’s attention to the dirty blond in question.

“Denji, got a good throwing arm on you, eh?” Maggie walked up to the blond. “Pretty sure you can rough up any ol’ grunt with that.”

“Is that sure? Sure, whatever.” Denji looked disinterested in the conversation, causing Maggie to scowl even further.

“Oh, backing down, eh? Not when I am giving out compliments.” Maggie’s voice slowly got more aggressive as she spoke. “What? You’re not scared of me, are you?”

“What? No, I’m tired as shit, lady.” Denji growled, a vein threatening to pop in his head. “What? You want a fight? Is that it?”

“Maybe, maybe not. But surely you need to pay for this flesh wound in my head, eh?” Maggie continued to provoke. “Y’know, back in the Bone Cages, I used to knock the teeth out of skinny shits like you.”

“You really want to taste my chainsaws right now, huh?” Denji stared the warlord down.

“Sure, what’s the harm, eh?” Maggie smirked in wanting to challenge the blond.

The two continue to stare at each other with animosity, uncaring of the rest of their teammates looking at the commotion. Denji shifts his mouth, letting a wad of spit drop down into Maggie’s boots with a smirk.

The warlord pulls out her dagger as the blond reaches for the cord in his chest. But before any of them could do anything, a glowing white mark appeared between the two, acting as a wall to block the Salvonian’s knife.

Frieren approached the two with a stern look, despite the bags under her eyes displaying her fatigue. Her staff emitted a faint glow of mana.

“Seperate, the two of you.” Frieren lets out an order. “We can’t have you two kill each other. It’s too early in the game.”

Mad Maggie shot a pointed look at the blond in front of her, before mimicking his action of letting spit drop down to the ground as a sign of disrespect. As the warlord walks off back to her original position, but not before throwing her knife to the ground, killing another snake that was by her feet.

“Asshole.” Denji spat out before laying back down to his original position.

-Confessional: Frieren-

“I know Shao Kahn is dangerous, but Maggie seems way too unpredictable to ignore.” Frieren stated. “If she keeps this up, we could be looking at a losing streak here.”

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Phase 1, complete.” Nimona smirked at the camera wearing a pair of shades. “And also, side note, she seems to have a vendetta against snakes today.”

-6:00, 45 Hours In-

The sun begins to rise over Camp Wawanakwa once more, and both teams have lost members to their fatigue. Frieren slept on a log, using her grimoire as a makeshift pillow, Denji had reassumed his position of having his back arched on a tree stump, and Nimona found a small corner to sleep as a small ferret. On the Seagulls side of things, Rex was unceremoniously laying down on the ground with exhaustion, while Navia was nearby leaning on a tree as she slept.

Manic Moles: 2

Squawking Seagulls: 2

Giorno lets out a series of ragged breaths, attempting to fight off the exhaustion. Currently, he and Sakamoto have resorted to standing up to avoid sleeping, but it was clear to the blond gang-star that he might just collapse sooner than the older man.

Feeling a yawn brew in his throat, the gang-star opens his mouth to let the exhaustion fade audibly.

“Hmph, too much for a mere child, huh?” Shao Kahn gloated upon seeing the blond yawn. 

The two Seagulls stared at Shao Kahn, who still seemed to be going strong in this challenge, of his unchanging hoarse voice was anything to go by. But both Giorno and Sakamoto took notice of the slight slouch in the Konquerer’s posture, as well as the strained grip he had on his battle axe.

“Hmph.” Giorno merely looks away from the Konquerer, causing the brute to frown. “I find it a waste of my time to humor the likes of you, Shao Kahn. It’s useless.”

“I find this endeavor of yours is useless. Sooner or later, you will collapse under the weight of your mind.” Shao Kahn continued to taunt. “You won’t get to see me fall.”

“Mr Sakamoto. Want to see something?” Giorno spoke to his teammate, having already dismissed the Konquerer’s words.

Shao Kahn looks on in confusion and anger as Giorno tucks one of his ears into his head. Sakamoto leaned forward to observe the act, nodding his head with intrigue.

-Confessional: Shao Kahn-

“This insolent child, no respect for my authority. Once I rise victorious, I shall claim every single one of these competitors' worlds through Mortal Kombat, and his world shall be the first on my list.” Shao Kahn grumbled to himself, before a large yawn overcame him. He stops himself. “I shouldn’t be recorded yawning!”

The Konquerer picks up his ax and swings at the camera, sending the footage into static.

-Confessional: Giorno Giovanna-

“The most I can do right now are party tricks I’ve picked up in the past to distract ourselves from our fatigue.” Giorno stated, touching the eyebags still visible on his face. “For those at home, no. I don’t plan on revealing Gold Experience just yet. I just need to make sure I’ve found the right people to do so… is this a new camera?”

-Confessional: Chris McLean-

“Don’t tell Big Shao…” Chris giggled childishly, as he adjusted the Confessional’s new camera. “He sliced everything but the camera’s memory card, so that clip of him yawning is still safe and sound. Ah, isn’t technology the best?”

-9:00, 48 Hours In-

It has currently been two whole days since the challenge has started, and those who had fallen asleep earlier in the morning have been moved back into their team cabins to rest.. Mad Maggie and Shao Kahn sat in front of the unlit campfire staring at Giorno and Sakamoto, who still continued to stand in spite of their fatigue.

Sakamoto paced back and forth, rubbing his face of the fatigue that continued to bring him down. Just standing around would cause blood to pool into his legs, so he figured this would be needed to keep the circulation running for the time being, but he still wouldn’t know how long it would take this method to fail him.

It was only a matter of time before the ex-hitman notices his blond teammate collapsing in the corner of his eye.

“Are you okay?” Sakamoto approached the gang-star, who was trying to pull himself towards a nearby stump.

The ex-hitman helps Giorno up and lets him reach the stump. The blond sits down and lets his back rest on the site of the stump, before letting a sigh of exhaustion escape him. 

“I don’t believe I can go on anymore. This was really difficult…” Giorno stated, turning to his white-haired teammate. “I trust you can win this, okay?”

“Will making a promise be useless in your eyes?” Sakamoto asked, causing the gang-star to let out a weak chuckle.

“I don’t believe so, Mr. Sakamoto…” Giorno let out a comment before sleep took hold of him as well.

Manic Moles: 2

Squawking Seagulls: 1

“Hmph. It seems you’re the last of your team, Sakamoto.” Shao Kahn took another opportunity to gloat at the opposing team. “Think you are a match for me, hitman? It would be a pity if you collapse before this ‘teammate’ of mine does.”

Shao Kahn’s gloating was interrupted by the sound of snoring. Looking to the side, the Konquerer grits his teeth at the sight of Mad Maggie, who seemed to have fallen asleep while sitting on the log, army knife firm in her hand.

Manic Moles: 1

Squawking Seagulls 1

“Pathetic.” Shao Kahn growled out. “And she calls herself a warlord? Can’t even outlast an old man like you.”

“Hmm.” Sakamoto lets a light hum, before looking to the side, deciding to ignore the Konquerer once again. 

Realizing that the ex-hitman won’t humor him as well, Shao Kahn attempted to open his mouth as well. But when an exhausted yawn escapes him instead, he could only look down with anger.

-11:00, 50 Hours In-

It was now an hour before noon, and the two final members of each team sat down around the campfire, staring at each other over the lit campfire. Sakamoto focused all of his energy into staying awake. Shao Kahn slowly felt the grip on his axe lessening, his breath already audible.

And now, fifty hours into the challenge, someone finally collapses.

.

.

.

.

.

“Hmm?” Shao Kahn raises his head upon noticing the ex-hitman collapse in front of him, his chubby form rolling on the ground across the campfire, ending with his back facing the Konquerer. “Hah, this was inevitable if you went up against me. It was foolish of you to expect victory.”

“McLean! Give me my victory this instant!”

The Konquerer soon frowns after yelling this as he spots Chris in the distance, walking towards the campsite at a slow pace. 

“McLean! Hasten your stride lest I cut off your legs!”

Chris continues walking at the same pace, seemingly not having heard the Konquerer’s threats. Shao Kahn growls in anger. He finds it hard to grip his battle axe, but he pays no mind to it.

“How sluggish for this excuse of a host to take his time.” Shao Kahn stood up from his position, and attempted to walk towards the unconscious ex-hitman. “Uff…”

All at once, the fatigue that built up in Shao Kahn hit at once. In his attempt to stand, his legs gave in, causing him to fall face-first and subsequently dropping his battle axe. The axe falls short of Sakamoto’s neck, digging deeply into the ground.

Hearing this, Sakamoto turns his head backwards to look at his sleeping enemy with a huff.

“Looks like my gamble has paid off.” Sakamoto sighed. “Someone like him would probably drop his guard the moment he thinks he has won. I’m glad I trusted my instinct…”

“And the winner of this challenge is… the Squawking Seagulls!” Chris McLean finally arrives at the campfire, announcing the winning team of the challenge. “It’s a cause for celebration, don’t you agree, Sakamoto?”

“Don’t disturb me, McLean…” Sakamoto warned the host, before letting himself fall asleep right then and there.

The scene became uncomfortably silent after that, too silent for the host’s liking. Chris kneels down to the winner of the challenge and lifts his forearm mimicking a celebration.

“‘Thank you for the win, Chris McLean! You are so cool and handsome—’ Waugh!” Chris suddenly jumps as the ex-hitman’s arm jerks in an attempt to punch him.

Later that afternoon, the Manic Moles all gathered in front of their cabin, with the exception of Shao Kahn, Mad Maggie and Frieren, who continued to sleep in their cabin.

“Bah, this is not ideal. We lost two challenges in a row now.” Chase exclaimed, not feeling confident due to today’s loss.

“Yeah, it sucks. We should aim to win next time.” Maomao stated. “But first, I guess we should decide on who to vote for.”

“Any ideas guys?” Sasha asked the group. “I’m unsure who to myself.”

Upon hearing this, Nimona took a glance at Denji, who still stood tired and uncaring of the situation.

“Uh, hey guys. Why don’t we vote for Maggie tonight?” Nimona proposed.

“Maggie? Hmm, that is an option.” Chase pondered the decision.

“Wait, she was the second last person on our team to fall asleep. Any reason why you would want to vote for her?” Sasha asked, confused.

“Dude, she almost fought Denji because she got hit in the head with a piece of paper. She’s nuts.” Nimona stated.

“Wait, Denji. Is that true?” Maomao raised an eyebrow.

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Denji stated. “The woman was nuts, I’m voting her out.”

“I’ll be voting her out too, anyone else wanna join?” Nimona added, causing the other Moles to look at each other.

-Confessional: Nicole-

“Do I agree with them that Maggie is a violent bitch? Yes. But will I vote for her? Fuck no, Shao Kahn’s ass is still in the game and I haven’t gotten my payback for what he did in the first challenge.”

The Manic Moles all gathered around the campfire once again, all in various states of fatigue. Shao Kahn and Mad Maggie were awake enough to participate in the ceremony, but Frieren struggled to stay awake in her seat, requiring Sasha to sit next to her and stop her from collapsing.

“Don’t mind us, hehe…” Sasha giggled as the camera focused on them.

Chris approaches the campers once again, holding the tray of marshmallows that will determine everyone’s fates today.

“Alright, Moles. I’m sure a lot of you want to sleep already, so Chef won’t berate you all for your mistakes, we’re gonna make this quick. Each of these marshmallows represent a Mole that will live to compete another day. If you don’t claim a marshmallow, you shall take a walk on the Dock of Shame and leave Total Drama Island for good.”

“If I call your name, claim your marshmallow.”

“Nicole.”

“Frieren.”

“Maomao.”

“Denji.”

“Tank Fish.”

“Chase Devineaux.”

“Sasha.”

“...and Nimona.”

It was now Shao Kahn and Mad Maggie left, the Outworld Konquerer frowning at the thought of being cooped up here once again, but he still sat with confidence.

“And the final marshmallow goes to…”

.

.

.

.

.

“...Shao Kahn!”

“Hmph.” Shao Kahn smirks with arrogance as he catches the final marshmallow. “There is only room for one war-monger in this game, Mad Maggie. I don’t intend to give it up.”

-Confessional: Tank Fish-

“Bro’s talking like he was the one who eliminated her.” Tank Fish giggled to the camera.

The Moles grow silent as Mad Maggie merely stares at the Konquerer, annoyance etched into her face. Eventually, she decides switches her gaze to the rest of the Moles, some of them shrinking under her gaze

“Fine then. Vote me off, why dontcha? You just lost the beast that would’ve mauled the Seagulls to shreds.” Mad Maggie stood up, seemingly preparing to walk the Dock of Shame. “But let me tel you something, Shao Kahn. You know what us Salvonian’s do when we get cornered?"

“Surrender like the spineless cowards you are?”

“Oh, I am just hurt by that, Shao Kahn. The true answer? You make sure you leave your mark.”

Mad Maggie pulls out a metallic cylinder and pulls on its cord, causing it to swell into a large ball, before throwing it in the direction of the Moles cabin.

“Oh shit! The cabin!” Tank Fish exclaimed.

The wrecking ball smashes into the door of the male side, and after a moment of indiscernible sounds of destruction, exits the window on the female side, before disappearing deep into the forest.

As the Moles look in shock at what the warlord did, Mad Maggie casually walks down the Dock of Shame as if she didn’t destroy property.

“E noho rā, Manic Moles.” Mad Maggie waved off her team as she stepped on the Boat of Losers.

The Boat of Losers heads off into the night, leaving the remaining Moles baffled at what had happened.

“After this, she’ll continue competing in the Apex Games, whatever that is.” Maomao deadpanned at the scene. “I feel bad for whoever competes against her.”

“Uh, hey… You wouldn’t happen to know a spell that can repair cabins, do you?” Sasha lightly shook Frieren, who somehow managed to sleep through that entire ordeal.

“Zzz…”

“This may take a while…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: The Dramatic Relay

One morning a few days after the whole mess with Mad Maggie’s elimination, the Manic Moles’ cabin has been rebuilt much to the relief of its members who had to endure the cold winds entering the cabin and the massive gaping hole in the wall that separated the two sides (one which was covered by a poster of Astolfo, courtesy of Tank Fish).

At the moment, the Moles were spending the morning eating breakfast at the mess hall. Once again, the food was terrible, and Shao Kahn was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmm?” Frieren looked up from her wheel to see Nicole slowly making her way to the kitchen. “What are you doing, Nicole?”

“What does it look like? Chef’s out, doing god knows what, and the kitchen’s now free for the taking.” Nicole slowly opened the door to the kitchen. “There’s no way this place only has slop.”

“If Chef finds out you were in the kitchen, he will kill you, Nicole.” Maomao warned the brunette.

“Oh please, a man with that kind of build? Dying’s the least of my concerns.” Nicole enters the kitchen.

As the brunette began rummaging through the cupboards, Sasha and Chase stood up from their chairs and approached the kitchen as well.

“Hey, Nicole. Can you get some food for us as well?” Chase called into the kitchen.

“Fuck no, why would I?” Nicole spat out as she pulled out a box of crackers. “Hardtack? What is he, a sailor?”

“Come on, just grab a few extra things for us. I promise I’ll pay you back.” Sasha pleaded.

“I’m already risking my neck here to get a bite. If you want it that badly, just come in and steal like I’m doing.” Nicole rejected harshly as she made her way to the pantry.

“You know, if you want to eat that badly, there is another way.” Nimona informed her two teammates.

“Huh? You know where to find?” Sasha quickly turned to the shapeshifter.

“Tell us, I’m being driven mad eating the same disgusting slop over and over again.” Chase pleaded.

“Yeah, we can steal from the Seagulls.” Nimona stated. “Better than incurring the wrath of the cook of the camp himself.”

“Oh, really?” Sasha perked up.“Yeah, follow me.”

Nimona takes her fellow Moles into the forest, where they form a circle behind a tree next to a path.

“Okay, this path the seagulls take to their campsite. Sasha, you can trip people with your ODM gear, right?” Nimona gestured to the mechanisms to the scout’s sides.

“Oh, I can. But I don’t think I should be using military property like that.” Sasha rubbed her head in embarrassment.

“Okay fine. I’ll do the tripping then.” Nimona settles, before the sounds of footsteps are heard. “Oh, someone’s coming. Hide in the bush, quick.”

Nimona pulls her two teammates into a bush as the Seagull member stepped into view. Demoman walked down the path, drinking his bottle of scrumpy and not watching his steps.

As the mercenary continues his path, Nimona turns into a snake and shoots her tail across the path, wrapping around the nearby tree.

“Aeeuggh… Oof—!” Demoman slurred his words a bit, before getting his foot caught in something and tripping.

Demoman fell face first, prompting Sasha and Chase to emerge from the bush to charge him.

“Quick, grab something you could— huh?” Chase stopped himself once he saw what the mercenary was holding, the same bottle of scrumpy he had since the start of the season.

“What? No leftovers or something?” Sasha asked.

“The bloody hell are ya talking ‘bout?” Demoman groaned. 

“Bah, whatever. It’s none of your concern, anyway.” Nimona stated. “Go on.”

Demoman didn’t have it in him to care, so he stood up from where he tripped and continued on his merry way, taking a swig a moment afterwards.

“Geez, is he always drinking that?” Nimona pondered before shaking her head. “Nevermind, let’s hide again in case someone else comes.

“Oh campers! It’s that time again!” Chris’ voice echoed across the campsite. “Clean yourselves up and gather at the beach for your next challenge, over!”

“Huh. Well that checks out.” Nimona transforms into a deer in a puff of smoke. “You guys probably haven’t finished your breakfast yet. I’ll help myself to it if you guys don’t be quick.”

“Hey, wait!” Sasha called out, but Nimona was already galloping back to the campsite. “Hold on, Chase. I won’t let her take our food!”

“Huh? What do you mean— Whoaaa!” Chase is suddenly pulled by his arm as Sasha drags him into the air with her ODM gear.

-Confessional: Tank Fish-

“Yeah, too late for that.” Tank Fish smirked at the camera, eating two whole trays worth of slop. “Mmm. Don’t get me wrong, it tastes like shit, but it’s free.”

The next scene shows the two teams now gathered around Chris, who held a clipboard in his hands. Giorno and Sakamoto had to be assisted by Navia and Gem respectively, as they were still recovering from the Awakathon challenge that had happened.

“Good morning, you two!” Chris smiled gleefully at the two fatigued Seagulls. “Did you sleep well?”

“As a matter of fact, we did.” Giorno smirked at the host, mimicking his playful demeanor. “I’ve yet to remember a night where I slept for as long as I did, do you agree, Mr. Sakamoto?”

“Indeed. And the time between the Awakathon and today was pretty generous, even for you, McLean.” Sakamoto stated.

“Okay… not the response I wanted, but oh well.” Chris frowned at the response. “Geez, it’s like you rehearsed this or something.

-Confessional: Rex Splode-

“Consider that my idea.” Rex announced happily to the camera. “Besides, it’s Chris. Who wouldn’t want to wipe a smirk off his face, am I right?”

“Note to self… decrease rest time specifically for Awakathons.” Chris mumbled somewhat audibly as he took down a note in his clipboard.

-Confessional: Rex Splode-

“Though I may just have ruined the games of those competing in the future.” Rex frowned heavily upon realization.

“That aside, I’m here to announce today’s challenge.” Chris continued to explain. “Which I am now calling the Dramatic Relay Race!”

The host pointed to the side, letting the campers see the course that has been set up nearby. Two flags were stuck into the dirt nearby, displaying the colors insignias of both teams.

“This race is divided into a total of five stages, where you have to complete a challenge to get the flag to the next stage.” Chris explains. “The first stage is a simple 200 meter sprint down a simple straight track. The second will have one member riding on the shoulders of another to grab three team colored rings suspended in the air, before bringing them to the next stage.”

“Stage three is a rock wall, one where you have to make it up as fast as you can with the flag in tow. You may have to use your teeth with that one.” Chris added. “The fourth stage will have you shoot a t-shirt cannon at three out of a group of six. Make sure you get a t-shirt on one of them before moving on to the last stage, which is a long swim up to that buoy over there.” 

Chris pointed out to sea, where a singular buoy was seen floating out in the open, with a single bell attached to it.

“The first team to complete this challenge will receive invincibility. The losing team will have to say goodbye to one of their own.” Chris explained. “I will give you a moment to decide who does what stage. Remember that a camper can only run a stage once, so choose your lineup carefully.”

And with that, the two teams begin to gather, discussing who should compete in each stage of this Relay Race.

“I’ll dominate the last stage. The Seagulls should learn to fear us if I will be the one to ring the bell.” Shao Kahn immediately declared.

“Of course.” Nicole sighed.

“Uh, you know how to swim, Shao Kahn?” Tank Fish asked the Konquerer. “Not that I doubt you, but your big ass build doesn’t seem like the swimming type.”

“Hmph, I once swam over five miles to create a hole in an enemy battleship.” Shao Kahn gloated. “The distance to the buoy pales in comparison.” 

“Okay, if you say so.” Chase Devineaux states.

“I guess it goes without saying that I’ll take the 1st stage.” Nimona declared. “What about the 2nd stage? Two people will compete there, right?”

“We may need to have two of our tallest people there.” Maomao assessed, before turning to both Denji and Chase. “You two.”

“Huh? Us?” Chase raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yes. I doubt Shao Kahn is going to budge from his decision, and you two are the tallest ones here.” Maomao explained.

“I can take on the rock climb.” Sasha raised her hand.

“And I can shoot the t-shirt cannon.” Tank Fish volunteered. “That shit sounds easy as fuck for me.”

“That sounds good.” Frieren added. “Are you all sure of your roles?”

“I mean, if you’re all good, then I guess we should be.” Chase stated.

As for the Seagulls, the selection was going just as quick, even when they decided to let Giorno and Sakamoto sit this match out. Gold Ship had volunteered in the first stage for obvious reasons, Navia and Richard worked together in the second stage, Rex will climb in the third, and Gem will swim to the finish line in the fifth.

There’s just one hiccup they need to work on…

“Absolutely not.” Walt objected. “Not the Demoman. Pick someone else.”

“Aw, mind giving us your opinion, ya bearded bampot?” Demoman raised his voice confrontationally.

“We are not letting him do the third stage, not when all you’ve been drinking here is straight booze.” Walt stated.

“Is this really a good time to be arguing?” Rex asked.

“Yeah, calm down, guys.”

“All I’m saying is to have someone else, I’m not trying to argue here.” Walt stated.

“Listen, mate. I’ve been shootin’ up idiots longer than anyone here. If I would be missing shots so bloody easily, I wouldn’t be alive to compete!” Demoman exclaimed angrily. “If you got a problem with that, take it up to the other idiots back at home, they’ll tell ya the opposite,”

“What, am I just gonna believe you if you say it like that?” Walt asked.

“You better, or my bottle’s gonna find a way up your ass!” Demoman declared.

“Oh campers! It’s about time to start!” Chris called out to the contestants. “For those who are going to compete, head to your stations! Pronto!”

“Oh wow, how fast time goes.” Red commented, before turning to the two bickering Seagulls. “Look, we don’t have enough time to argue, so Demo is on the fourth stage, ‘kay?”

“Ugh, fine.” Walt resigned.

-Confessional: Red-

“Well I’ll be damned if that ain’t foreshadowing of the highest magnitude.” Red commented. “But I’m getting ahead of myself. We better hope this team has enough gusto to win, because we gotta keep this streak going.”

-Confessional: Walter White-

“I swear, this team is gonna be the death of me.” Walt sighed with frustration. “I understand what they are going for, but sooner or later, we need someone to step up. We cannot be too complacent right now.”

As Nimona walked up to the start of the first stage, she took notice of the Demoman walking deeper into the forest, accompanied by Tank Fish, who the Moles have assigned to run the fourth stage.

A sneaking suspicion wiggled its way into her head about who the Seagulls had put there.

“Oi, you are my enemy for today, aren’t you?” Gold Ship called out to the shapeshifter. “Feeling scared yet?”

“Honestly, I feel bad for you. With the Demoman on your team, you may have to work overtime for the time he might lose.” Nimona eyed up her competition.

“Eh, I wouldn’t stress over it. He may have only drank booze the whole time we’re here, but he seems still up to the challenge.”

“Really? Not even water?”

“Nope. But enough about him, are you sure you’re ready to take me on, Nimona?” Gold Ship grinned competitively.

“Oh, I can be ready in the blink of an eye.” Nimona matches her ferocity before shifting into a panther. “Bring it on, Gold Ship.”

-Confessional: Gold Ship-

“Ooh, I like this one. Hoho, this is gonna be fun.” Gold Ship rubbed her hands enthusiastically.

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Only drinking alcohol, huh? That does seem interesting…” Nimona muttered to herself.

“Alright.” Chris aims a revolver into the sky. “Do you have your flags ready?”

Both Gold Ship and Nimona were seen bracing themselves for the sprint, with the latter biting down on her team’s flag in her panther form.

“Okay! On the count of three!”

“One!”

“Two!”

“THREE!”

At the word “Three”, the revolver fires a blank into the air, the two racers sprinted forth, leaving a gust of wind in their trail. Despite their efforts, neither of them seemed to keep a distance between them before going neck and neck.

“Whoo! Kick her ass, Gold Ship!” Red called out from the spectators.

“Yeah, you can do it…” Hitori encouraged as well, albeit a bit.

The three spectators of the Moles team didn’t vocally cheer on Nimona; Maomao and Frieren had at least been clapping for the shapeshifter, while Nicole just didn’t bother at all.

“Oh! One more thing!” Chris yelled out to the two racers. “Beware the traps!”

As the two contestants continued their sprint down the track, multiple log traps were seen swinging down from above, threatening to knock them down where they stood.

“Whoa!” Gold Ship ducks down in order to dodge a log. “Okay. That was close.”

“Ain’t a Total Drama season without traps, I say!” Nimona tosses her flag into the air, jumping in between the swinging logs like an obstacle course. “You seem like you’re having a pretty hard tine.”

“Ha! As if!” Gold Ship exclaimed, zigzagging down the path in order to avoid the log traps. “Don’t expect this to slow me down, punk!”

“Too late, already did.” Nimona notices another log trap coming their way. “Heads up!”

Gold Ship slides under the last log trap, dodging it by the hair on her nose. As the horse girl clears the log trap zone, Nimona closes the distance by jumping ahead as a frog, before transforming back into a panther and catching the Moles’ flag in her mouth.

The two were neck and neck, and it stayed that way up until the second stage, where the next racers waited.

“Hurry it up, Nimona! You’re almost here!” Chase yelled.

“Remember to throw the flag once you’re done!” Navia instructed.

Both Nimona and Gold Ship cross the finish line at the same time, somehow, and tosses the flag to Denji and Navia respectively. 

But as the four of them turn to face the second course, Chef appears and blocks their path.

“Hold on for a second. Which one of you is gonna carry the other on the back.” Chef asked the two, prompting Chase and Richard to raise their hands. “Right, you need to be wearing one of these before starting.”

The burly chef pulls out two blindfolds from his person and presents it to the racer.

“Oh, mon dieu.” Chase sighed.

“I mean, if you say so.” Richard grabbed a blindfold and wrapped it around his eyes. “Hop on, Navia! Let’s get the win!”

“Right!” Navia stood on Richard’s shoulders. “Full speed ahead!”

Upon hearing this, Richard sprints off with Navia… in the completely wrong direction.

“Wrong way!” Navia yelled off-screen.

Richard and Navia return on-screen and pass by Denji, who just hopped on a blindfolded Chase’s shoulders.

“We’re being left behind. Chase, can you hear me?” Denji asked the agent.

“Yes, yes. The blindfold isn’t covering my ears, Denji.” Chase answered.

“Go! Go! We have to win this!” Denji pulled on the agent’s head like handlebars.

“Ow! Ow! I’m not some moped! Stop it!” Chase exclaimed as he began to sprint into the second stage.

“Left! Right! Right!” Navia called out the direction as Richard ran through the forest, but she failed to notice the incoming root before it was too late. “Watch out!”

“Ow!” Richard yelped out in pain, stumbling for a bit before continuing onwards. “Agh! That’s going to hurt!”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Navia cringed at the injury. “Are you sure you want to keep running?”

“No! But if we lose, we might have a late lunch! So I’m trying to win!” Richard trailed off. “Wait, aren’t we supposed to be looking for rings?”

“Oh, yeah! Left!” Navia instructed, and as the two made the turn, the blonde spotted a blue ring up ahead, hanging from a branch with a ribbon. “Oh, ring spotted! Just up ahead!”

Navia grabs the ring from the ribbon, and suddenly, a mechanism was heard before another log came swinging their way.

“Okay, on my mark, duck.” Navia instructed.

“Uh, okay!” Richard says as the log barrels dangerously close.

“Now!”

At the same time, both Richard and Navia duck and jump respectively, managing to avoid the log trap and making their way in search of the second ring.

“Over there!” Denji pointed left in the direction where he spotted a red ring.

“Over where?! I am blindfolded right now, I’ll have you know!” Chase exclaimed.

“Left!” Denji yelled out.

The ACME agent complied, shifting his weight to the side and turning to the left. Denji reaches out for the red ring, snatching it from the ribbon on the branch.

“Huh?” Denji perks up as he hears a mechanism, before noticing another log trap swinging their way. “Stop!”

“Wait, stop?!” Chase exclaimed.

“Yes!” Denji yelled out as he pulled the cord on his chest.

Chase stops in his tracks as a terrible ripping sound strikes his ears. Denji jumps into his Chainsaw Man form and blocks the log. The rotating blade tears into the wood, before it completely slices the log in half.

“Go! Go!” Denji yelled out, prompting the agent to sprint once again…

…before tripping on a tree root a few seconds later.

“Agh!” Chase yells out as he drops Denji from his shoulders.

“What in the?!” Denji tumbled on the ground towards a particularly leafy spot, where the ground suddenly collapsed under him. “A pit trap?!” 

“Oh no! Denji! Where’s the pit?” Chase exclaimed, looking for his teammate blindfolded.

“Ah ah ah! Stop right there, Devineaux.” Chris yelled out to the agent in the distance with a megaphone. “Your rider has been dismounted! So unless he climbs out of the pit and comes back, you aren’t going anywhere!"

“What?!” Chase exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say that earlier?!”

“I forgot.” Chris answered bluntly. “Don’t move until Denji returns. Alright?”

“Haha!” Navia was seen in the distance grabbing her second blue ring. “Over there! I see the last ring! Right!”

“Roger!” Richard does a sharp turn towards the last ring.

“Oh, mon dieu! Denji!”

“Yeah yeah, I heard!” Denji yelled from the pit.

-Confessional: Denji-

The camera recorded Denji as he rolled his right arm around with a neutral expression, before popping his elbow back into its socket. 

“Oof, that needs some time to heal.” Denji remarked. “Okay, we may have fucked up our shot at winning. I just hope the team wins just this once, or at the very least, vote out Chase. I’m not the one who tripped a teammate into a pit trap of all things.”

Tank Fish sat on a stool at the start of the fourth stage, playing the guitar he had with him. As he played, Demoman perked up upon recognising the tune he was playing.

“Ey, a companion of mine played something like that.” Demoman pointed out, leaving his bottle of scrumpy sitting on the ground. 

“I know.”

“Why do you know? Quite sure he told me that he composed it himself.”

“I just know.”

“What, did the man teach you or something?”

Throughout this conversation, Nimona had sneakily grabbed the bottle from behind the mercenary using a snake tail. She proceeds to pour the contents of the bottle into the ground (an endeavor that took longer than she expected), replace the missing alcohol with water, and place it back where she took it.

“I dunno what to tell you, man. I just know it.”

“Bah, keep your secrets then. I’ll just ask the lad if he taught it to you.” Demoman gave up trying to question the man, and picks up the bottle not knowing it had been tampered with.

-Confessional: Nimona-

“I have seen so many shows where the bad guy spikes a drink with alcohol or poison or something like that.” Nimona explained. “This seems like a way lamer version, but I wonder how long he can last without drinking alcohol. Oh man, I hope I can cause a withdrawal.”

Denji manages to climb out of the pit, using his chainsaws to scale the dirt. Pulling himself up, he sprints over to Chase and climbs onto his shoulders.

“Are we good?” Chase asked the blond.

“We will be, as long as we win the challenge.” Denji remarked. “Forward!”

As Navia grabbed the third blue ring, she expected the log trap to swing towards them and be easily dodged. What she didn’t expect was a wrecking ball to bounce out of the bushes a moment after, but she acted fast.

“Okay!” Navia aims her umbrella at the wrecking ball, her Vision glowing a yellow energy. “Crystalshot!”

A blast of Geo energy was fired from the umbrella like a shotgun, striking the wrecking ball head on and causing it to bounce away into the forest.

“Uh, what was that?” Richard asked, having been confused by the sound.

“I dunno. It looked familiar.” Navia remarked, closing her umbrella.

-Confessional: Chef Hatchet-

“Yeah, we couldn’t catch the damn thing. Ever since that psycho Maggie threw that wrecking ball at the Moles’ cabin, it’s been bouncing around the damn island escaping the interns.” Chef explained. “I thought it would run out of steam by now.”

“Hey! Over here!” Rex called out to his teammates as he and Sasha were stationed in front of the cliff face.

“Incoming!” Richard yelled out

Once Richard crosses the finish line, Navia hops off his shoulders and lands gracefully in front of Rex, to whom she proceeds to hand over the Seagulls’ flag.

“It’s your turn now, Rex.” Navia remarked.

“I guess so.” Rex receives the flag and grips it tightly in his hand.

The superhero turns to the rock wall and holds the Seagulls’ flag with his teeth. He then begins to scale the wall, starting the third stage of the relay race.

“You can do this, Rex!” Gold Ship yelled from the spectators’ area as Navia and Richard returned from the course.

“Hey, you two.” Giorno greeted his two teammates. “Both of you did good out there.”

“Aw, thank you.” Navia smiled. 

“Thanks, Giorno!” Richard thanked the blond.

“Okay, wow. They have a long ass lead.” Nicole remarked.

“Yeah. The other racers need to catch up for the time we lost.” Maomao added, before noticing Nimona entering the scene out of the corner of her eye.

“That or some miracle.” Nimona commented.

“That would be nice.” Frieren remarked. “Anything that would help us not lose the third challenge in a row.”

“Yeah, I hope something like that will happen.” Nimona stated while smirking ever so slightly, something that wasn’t noticed by anyone in the spectators’ area except for Maomao.

-Confessional: Maomao-

“Huh, strange…” Maomao rubbed her chin with curiosity. “Nimona seems to have done something if her expression is to be believed. Whatever it was, she seems confident that it would work. I wonder what she did.”

Rex made it up to the halfway point of the rock wall, steadily locking his hands and feet on the cracks he could find in the earth.

But all of a sudden, as he reaches his hand up once more for a handhold, the space above him erupted into an explosion, shaking the area around him and causing him to drop the Seagulls’ flag from his mouth.

“Oh shit!” Rex reaches down for the flag, only managing to catch it with his thumb and index finger. “Oookay! That was way too close for comfort. Also, mines? In a rock climb?”

“Uh…” Sasha stepped back a few paces to avoid the falling debris, watching as the superhero swung the flag up to his shoulders, once again placing the flag in his mouth. “I’ll have to climb that later, huh?”

Rex reaches for the small coin dispenser on his belt, extracting a few coins before using his power to make them glow a reactive energy. The coins were tossed above him and exploded, causing a chain reaction that caused the nearby explosives to trigger. Another wave of explosions emerged from above.

“Um, is it okay for you to be doing that?!” Sasha shouted at the superhero, who removed the flag from his mouth to speak.

“Uh, I think so.” Rex stated.

“You do know you are making a path for me to climb later.” Sasha pointed out.

“Hey, better than wasting time playing vertical Minesweeper.” Rex stated, before continuing his method of clearing the explosives.

Sasha looked on with confusion, before turning back to see Denji and Chase in the distance, looking for the third red ring to retrieve.

-Confessional: Sasha Braus-

“This is not looking good.” Sasha sighed. “I mean, on the bright side, I have a guaranteed way to climb the cliff now, but that won’t matter if we’re behind by a lot.”

“Oh shit, what’s going on down there.” Tank Fish chuckled upon hearing the explosions in the distance.

“Sounds like one hell of a time, eh?” Demoman exclaimed. “Think someone’s reached the third stage by now?”

“Sounds like it. Can’t expect Chris not to trap a race course. Bro’s addicted.” Tank Fish stated.

“I say aye to that, lad.” Demoman takes a swig from his bottle, only drinking one gulp from it before suddenly spitting it out. “Pffft!!!”

“Oh, wow. You good, man?” Tank Fish raised an eyebrow at the sight.

“Ah, crap!” Demoman poured the contents of his bottle into his palm and checked the consistency. “Someone put water in my damn bottle!”

Suddenly, Demo grabbed the blue haired man next to him by the shoulders, shaking him violently.

“Quick, mate! Put your hand in my mouth, you have to make me vomit right this second!” Demoman begged the man.

“Whoa! What? Ew, I ain’t gay for you!” Tank Fish declined harshly.

“It’s not like that! Make me vomit or else…”

It was then that the mercenary seemed to lose function, letting go of Tank Fish and crashing face first into the ground.

“Uhh, yo.” Tank Fish rolled the mercenary onto his back, revealing a drunk fluster on his face.

-Confessional: Tank Fish-

“Yo, I know I’m sexy as fuck, but falling over is a little much.” Tank Fish stated, before letting out a laugh. “Hah, jokes aside, drinking water causes him to fall over, huh? Damn, I wonder who tampered the dude’s bottle.”

“Run faster, idiot!” Denji yelled at Chase, having already gotten the third red ring from the branch

“Yelling at me isn’t gonna make me faster, Denji!” Chase yelled out as the two managed to cross the finish line.

“Here! Catch!” Denji tosses the Moles’ flag to Sasha, who manages to catch it.

“About time.” Sasha lets out an exasperated sigh, before moving on to unbuckle her ODM gear. “I guess I don’t need this.”

The heavy ODM gear fell to the ground in heavy heaps, and the scout made his way to the cliff face to begin her climb through the third stage.

Rex manages to reach the top, pulling his body up the ledge and standing up from a crouched position. Turning to the start of the fourth stage, his expression turns to confusion when he spots Demoman laying flat on the ground next to Tank Fish.

“Uh, what the fuck happened here?” Rex raises an eyebrow as he approaches the start of the fourth stage.

“Hey, don’t look at me.” Tank Fish raises his hands defensively. “He was suddenly like this. Fucker told me someone filled his bottle with water.”

“Wait, what?” Rex made his way to the mercenary and cringed at the sight of his state. “Oh shit, I thought he was joking.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Tank Fish tilted his head in confusion as Rex grabbed the bottle on the ground.

“He told us he can only drink alcohol on our first night here. Didn’t think he was actually serious about it.” Rex took a moment to sniff the bottle. “The strong smell isn’t there anymore. Shit, he can’t compete like this.”

At the spectator area, the others didn’t have a good angle to see the fourth stage, so they were currently watching Sasha scale the cliff. This was until…

“Huh?” Navia notices Rex running down the hill in the distance, frantically waving his arms in the air. “Rex?”

“Did something go wrong?” Giorno pondered.

The two of them glanced at each other with understanding, before they stood up from where they sat and sprinted towards the superhero, prompting the other spectators to look in confusion.

“This looks bad.” Sakamoto stood up, before he and Walter quickly followed their teammates.

“Okay, wow. Something's going on over there.” Nicole crossed her arms as Denji and Chase went into view, approaching the spectators area after they had completed the second stage.

“Uh, where are they going?” Chase asked.

“How should we know? Do we look like Seagulls to you?” Nicole raised an eyebrow at the question.

“By the way Rex was waving his arms, it seemed like there was something that went wrong.” Frieren stated.

“With the Seagulls? Sweet, we may have a chance to beat them.” Nimona slammed her fist into her palm.

“Uh, you do know we can hear you guys, you know?” Red called out from where she sat with Hitori. “You seem way too comfortable to be spewing crap like that next to us.”

“I’m just feeling optimistic right now, jeez.” Nimona feigned a hurt expression, a sly smirk hiding under this veil.

Maomao observed this interaction with a critical eye, noticing another layer of confidence she had.

-Confessional: Maomao-

“I’ve heard games like this tend to have bad apples that would sabotage others to win. I knew Shao Kahn would be one of them, judging by what went down near the end of the first challenge, and it seems like Nimona had taken up the role as well.” Maomao pondered. “Wait, no. I shouldn’t operate on conjecture yet. I can’t get too reckless too early in the game.”

Sasha managed to reach the top of the cliff at last, but was confused at the sight of most of the Seagulls having already gathered there.

“Whoa! What happened here?” Sasha asked in confusion, before noticing Tank Fish raise his hand next to them.

“Over here, Sasha!” Tank Fish yelled out. “The flag!”

“Oh, alright!”

The scout sprinted over to the blue haired man and passed the flag to him. Tank Fish then sprints off to begin the fourth stage, leaving Sasha to look at the mess that was happening.

“Wow, what happened to that guy?” Sasha gasped at the sight.

“He drank water, as weird as that sounds.” Rex answered quickly as they watched Giorno tend to the mercenary.

“For Christ’s sake, you believe that now?” Walt asked incredulously.

“Remember, we have different worlds here.” Giorno reminded the chemistry teacher. “He seems okay for now, but his body rejecting water is giving him a fever, he can’t compete like this.”

The sound of propulsion was heard, causing the camera to turn to Tank Fish firing from behind a line at a group of interns with a t-shirt cannon. One of the interns stumbles away from the group, a red t-shirt with the Moles logo having already been placed on him.

“Easy clapped.” Tank Fish remarked, before grabbing another red t-shirt from a nearby box.

“Damn it, they’re getting ahead.” Walt exclaimed.

“Hey hey, people.” Chris approaches the Seagulls gathered near the start of the fourth stage. “It seems like you guys are having some trouble here.”

“Understatement of the goddamn century.” Rex remarked. “Look, can we have someone sub in for the fourth stage? Our guy’s out of commission.”

“I’ll be the substitute.” Sakamoto offered.

“Huh, I don’t remember mentioning anything about substituting.” Chris rubbed his chin, smirking.

“What?” Navia raised an eyebrow at that sentence.

“But you didn’t say it is prohibited, right?” Giorno asked.

“I dunno. My memories seem fuzzy lately.” Chris shrugged, causing the Seagulls to deadpan at him.

-Confessional: Rex Splode-

“He’s fucking with us. He’s fucking with us, no doubt about it. Feels a lot more shitty when you’re actually on the receiving end of it.” Rex threw his hands up in disbelief.

Another blast, and another intern left the scene bearing a Moles t-shirt. Tank Fish was loading his last t-shirt into the cannon. 

“Hey, Chris.” Walt stood up, facing the host. “Look, you’re trying to delay us to make the game more interesting. Am I right?”

“Aw, am I that easy to read, guys?” Chris feigned a hurt expression.

“Yes.” Giorno deadpanned.

“Yup.” Navia answered bluntly

“Very easy to read.” Sasha joined in.

Demoman stirred awake as this conversation was happening, and taps on Sakamoto to grab his attention.

“I’ll tap you in mate…” Demoman muttered in a stupor before falling unconscious once again.

“Hey, hey. He tapped him in.” Rex turned to the host.

“Now that’s gotta count for something, right?” Walt pleaded.

“I suppose it does.” Chris rubbed his chin once again. “Alright, Taro Sakamoto. Fill in for the Demoman.”

“Oh, finally.” Rex sighed with relief.

“Oh no, Tank! Hurry!” Sasha yelled out as her teammate managed to land the third t-shirt he needed to progress.

“Huh?” Tank Fish turned back to see Sakamoto standing up and grabbing the blue Seagull flag. “Oh shit!”

Tank Fish sprints off with the Moles Flag to the start of the fifth stage, in an attempt to get as much distance from him and Sakamoto as possible.

As for the ex-hitman, as he grabbed his t-shirt cannon already loaded with a blue t-shirt, he grabs two more blue t-shirts from the box and tosses them into the air. What happens next happens in quick succession; 

Sakamoto fires the t-shirt cannon, points it up in a way that one of the shirts he threw slides into the barrel nicely and repeats until all three of the remaining interns in the distance have been branded with the Squawking Seagulls t-shirt.

“Wha?” Sasha felt her jaw drop at the sight.

“Good, we’re done.” Giorno stated.

The ex-hitman tosses aside the t-shirt cannon and follows the blue haired Mole member out of the forest. As he steps into the shore, he sees Tank Fish giving the Mole flag to Shao Kahn.

“Hmph, I wonder if you’ll even touch the water.” Shao Kahn turned to a nearby, unintimidated Gem with a cocky expression, before stepping into the water to start the fifth challenge.

“Gem.” Sakamoto ran up to the hermit, who looked at him with confusion.

“Sakamoto? I thought Demo was supposed to…” Gem quickly stopped herself. “Nevermind, I’ll ask later.”

Gem quickly follows Shao Kahn into the ocean and begins to swim. Now that both campers were in the water, they were quick to notice the other bodies that were also present in the water.

Two of these bodies swam up to the swimmers. Shao Kahn quickly backhanded one of these bodies, and Gem swam under one that attempted to attack her on the surface. Sharks. Of course.

-Confessional: GeminiTay-

“Sharks. Typical.” Gem crossed her arms at the camera. “I wonder if I can bring one of these home, we don’t have sharks over there.”

The two swimmers race their way towards the buoy, dancing around the incoming sharks. However, it became increasingly clear that this was Gem’s domain, with her slowly threatening to overtake the Konquerer and reach the buoy to ring the bell.

Noticing this decreasing gap between the two of them, Shao Kahn gritted his teeth in anger.

Another shark attempts to get the jump on the Konquerer, but ultimately fails, and ends up having its tail grabbed. With his makeshift weapon, Shao Kahn spun with great force, dragging the aquatic predator’s mass through the water and towards an incoming Gem.

The hermit brandishes a blue trident from her inventory and attempts to block the incoming swing. However, the overwhelming force ignores this attempt, sending Gem out of the water and away from the buoy.

“Whoa!” Gem yelped as she landed back into the water, this time, tens of meters away from the buoy. As she recovers, she notices the shark that slammed into her flying in her direction, having been thrown by the Konqueror. “Gah!”

Gem swipes at the flying shark on its head, sending it to the side and knocking it out. She takes a couple moments to process what happened, but just as she resolves to continue, the sound of metal striking metal is heard.

The hermit turns around to see Shao Kahn next to the buoy, having ripped the bell from the floating device and holding it high above his head as if he had ripped someone’s skull off.

“Uh, you know you didn’t have to do that.” Chris was seen on the shore with the rest of the contestants next to him, holding a megaphone to speak to the Konqueror. “But anyways, the winner of this challenge! It’s the Manic Moles!”

“Whoo!” A lot of the Moles threw their fists into the air, happy to have their first victory of the season.

“Yeah!” Denji, still in his Chainsaw Man form, began waving his arms around.

“Wauggh!” Maomao jumped back to avoid the blades.

“Hey, watch it, dipshit!” Nicole slaps Denji in the back of the head.

“And as for the Seagulls!” Chris turns to the losing team for today's challenge. “It’s about time you guys said goodbye to one of your own. Report to the campfire tonight for your first campfire ceremony!”

-Confessional: Walter White-

“I knew it was a bad idea to let the drunkard take part, but I didn’t expect what he said about water to be real.” Walt sighed. “I’m guessing someone filled his bottle with water, but that isn’t our concern right now. We need to decide who to vote for tonight.”

-Confessional: Navia-

“Wow, we really quickly lost the lead we had.” Navia looked confused. “Oh, I’ve always been dreading this part. Nobody seemed to have done anything wrong, but we still have to kick someone out of the game. I have to make a choice.”

-Confessional: Demoman-

“Can you tell I did a whole lot of vomiting to get it out of my system?” Demoman sat, weakened due to the experience. “Someone replaced me scrumpy, and it wasn’t that blue haired twit I was with. Got me one eye on him the whole time. I’ll have to find out who did it once the night is over.”

The Seagulls have arrived at the campfire, the warm orange light of the flame illuminating everyone as they took their seat around it. An air of tension sits around them, due to this being their first time attending the campfire ceremony.

“Good evening Seagulls.” Chris walked in front of the Seagulls, a familiar tray of marshmallows in hand. “So, you have lost for the first time. And now one of you shall walk the Dock of Shame, never to compete again.”

“Yeah, notice the heavy asterisk on the word ‘never’ there, bud.” Red pointed out, causing the host to glare at her.

“Well, other than Red, who else is feeling nervous tonight?”
A few of the Seagulls looked away in embarrassment or nervousness. Chris lets this energy hang for a couple seconds before opening his mouth once more.

“Okay, you have all casted your votes. And I’m sure you know what this is.” Chris lifted the tray of marshmallows for them to see. “Ten marshmallows, eleven Seagulls. If you don’t get a marshmallow, march over to the Dock of Shame. The Boat of Losers awaits a loser tonight.”

“I will now call the Seagulls who will receive a marshmallow.” Chris picks up the first marshmallow from the tray. “Red.”

“Giorno Giovanna.”

“Navia Caspar.”

“Rex Splode.”

“Richard Watterson.”

“GeminiTay.”

“Hitori Goto.”

“Gold Ship.”

“And Taro Sakamoto.”

Walt’s eyes flared up a tad bit to see himself in the bottom two along with the Demoman. The mercenary shared the same expression, but quickly resigned himself as he took another swig at his somehow newly refilled bottle of scrumpy.

“Okay, let’s get this out of the way.” Chef suddenly entered the scene. “The Demoman. I did not know being poisoned by water of all things was possible, but apparently that cost your team valuable time, time that cost you the race.”

“I know, someone ought to get a good beating from me for replacing me scrumpy.” Demoman spat out, excited to get his hands on the perpetrator.

“And Walter White.” Chef turned to the chemistry teacher, who lightly shook at the attention. “If I were to guess the reason you were here, I’d say it was because of your attitude. I know I would be voting for someone causing friction with the team.”

Hearing this, Walt slumped where he sat, thinking over what the co-host had said.

“Okay. With that out of the way, the final marshmallow of the day goes to…”

.

.

.

.

.

“Walter White.”

The chemist stood up from the tree stump and approached the host to receive the marshmallow, while the Demoman sat with disbelief in his seat.

“Yeah, sorry Demo. But I suppose you were most at fault today.” Navia apologised to the mercenary.

“We couldn’t vote for the others, y’know?” Rex explained. “Wouldn’t be fair to vote out Red or Walt since they didn’t really do anything to deserve it.”

“Aye, I understand, mate.” Demoman stood up from his seat. “I ought to turn the twit who replaced me scrumpy to gruel, but I guess that would have to wait.”

As Demoman made his way to the Dock of Shame, Walt walked up to him and stood in his path. The mercenary looked at him with confusion.

“Hey, no hard feelings, right.” Walt extended his hand to the mercenary.

The Demoman observed the chemistry teacher with an unsure expression, before slapping away his extended hand and continuing to walk.

The mercenary stepped onto the Boat of Losers and sat down on the chair as it trudged along the waters of Lake Ontario. The Seagulls looked on with a state of confusion and unease.

“So be it, then.” Walt finally responded bitterly once the boat was out of sight.

“You mean he ONLY consumes alcohol?” Chase asked Sasha with disbelief.

“Yeah, that’s what his teammates said.” Sasha confirmed as a few of the Moles gathered around her as she ate dinner. “The Demoman cannot eat or drink solid food.”

“Oh, wait. That’s so sick.” Nimona lets out a small chuckle, unaware that Maomao was still observing her.

‘So she wasn’t fully aware of what happened. But that doesn’t let her off the hook just yet. However, that is not my concern for now.’ Maomao shook her head before turning to Sasha. “What do you mean by that, Sasha?”

“It’s like I said. Apparently it’s because he’s been drinking so frequently that his body doesn’t like solid food.”

“Like an allergic reaction perhaps?”

“I’m not sure an allergic reaction would cause fevers and weakness.”

“So you’re saying his body treats food and water like poison?!” Maomao stood up from her chair. “I’ve never heard something like that happening! His digestive system must’ve been altered by its core fundamentals! When’s the campfire ceremony?!”

“Uh…” Sasha was surprised at the apothecary’s energy. “It’s happening right now, I think…”

“I must ask him more!” Maomao declared as she bolted out of the mess hall.

As the Moles look on in disbelief, Chef entered the mess hall, looking confused.

“The campfire ceremony just ended. Someone better catch that girl before she follows the boat out into the ocean.” Chef warned the Moles, before making his way to the kitchen.

The Moles thought nothing about this and continued their meals for the night, up until a distant splashing noise was heard, catching everyone’s attention.

“Maomao!” Sasha flies out of the window with her ODM gear in pursuit of her teammate.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: It’s Running Time!

One early morning, the familiar form of Chris walked in front of the two cabins, smirking heavily as he held an airhorn in his hand. Once he reaches the center of the screen, he holds the device over his head, turns to the cabins, and blasts a loud sound at them.

“Huh?”

“Whaaa…?”

“Ugh, ten more minutes…”

The sound stirred awake the sleeping contestants, if their voices were to be believed. But Chris wasn’t satisfied just yet. He pulls out a megaphone as well, placing it in front of the air horn and blasting it once again.

The resulting sound slammed into the two cabins, lingering for several seconds before stopping.

“Waugh!”

“What in the fuck, man?!”

“McLean! Your head will be a decoration for my Palace!”

“Better.” Chris smiled to himself, before putting the megaphone in front of his mouth. “Alright campers! Your next challenge starts in an hour! Get ready, we need to be early with this one!”

“An hour?!”

“Oh, come on!”

“I need to take a shit!”

As chaos began to envelop the two cabins, Chris walked away, satisfied with his work.

Forty-five minutes later, Rex kicks down the door of their cabin in his superhero costume while drying his hair with a towel. 

“Told myself the heater was sensitive, forgot anyway and got burned.” Rex muttered to himself. “There better not be a third time, not on my watch.”

The superhero bumps into Giorno, who was covered in a towel and had his blond hair down as he had just finished taking a shower.

“Oh, sorry.” Giorno apologized to the superhero.

“Dude, that’s what you look like with your hair down?” Rex asked, dumbfounded at the sight.

“Yes.” Giorno answered simply, before entering the male side of the Seagulls cabin.

Rex scratches his head in confusion, before he notices Navia approaching the cabin wearing a bathrobe and drying her hair.

“Heya, Rex. What are you still doing here?” Navia asked.

“Wondering how long it takes for Giorno to do his hair. Have you seen how he styles it?” Rex stated. “Good lord, that might take a while.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’s used to it.” Navia shrugged before reaching for the door to the female side of the cabin.

“I mean, you’re not any better. The challenge might be over while you’re still putting on that dress of yours.” Rex commented. “Are you not worried about that?”

“Don’t worry, stuff like this is quicker than you think.” Navia giggled to herself before entering the cabin.

“Sure, take your sweet time, why don’t ya?” Rex exclaimed.

“Yo, Rex! We got a challenge that’s about the start. What’s the holdup?” Red called the superhero from behind.

“Giorno and Navia are gonna be late. Like, do you see what they have on?” Rex asked.

“I mean, Navia’s dress does seem a bit much, but I can’t quite see the problem with Giorno.” Red shrugged.

“His hair, Red. Three curls, one braid.” Rex explained. “It’d take a miracle for them to finish in less than twenty minutes.”

It was then both doors of the cabin swing open, and both Giorno and Navia leave their respective sides with their appearances complete. Rex looks at the sight with disbelief.

“Uh, how did you…?” Rex pointed at the two with a raised eyebrow.

“Consider it a trade secret.” Navia winked cheekily at the superhero, who turned incredulously at Giorno as if asking him for his side of the situation.

“It’s just a matter of practice, Rex.” Giorno said simply, before the two blonds left for the forest, leaving Rex dumbfounded.

Both teams were seen gathered in front of Chris, who stood in front of a massive object that was covered with a massive sheet of cloth. 

“Good morning everyone.” Chris smiled at the curious expression of the campers. “We’re on a bit of a time constraint here, so I’ll make it quick. I present to you a new addition to Camp Wawanakwa, the Nexus Engine.”

The host rips off the sheet, revealing a large metal device, with multiple coiled wires moving up a shaft ending with a spherical node.

“Care to take a guess what this thing—”

“Is this how we’ll be competing in things from other universes?” Red raises her hand, interrupting the host.

Chris just stared at the man with annoyance for interrupting, while a few of her teammates chuckled.

“What? You said it yourself that we need to hurry things up.” Red crossed her arms at the man.

“Right. So the blame is on me there. Thanks for pointing that up.” Chris stated bitterly. “Anyway, once this device activates, we will all be transported to the universe that will act as the location of your next challenge. Start it up, Chef!”

Chef worked behind the Nexus Engine, causing the machine to hum with an ethereal energy.

-Confessional: Red-

“This seems way too gimmicky for just simple episodes in other universes.” Red stated. “If that ain’t a Chekov’s Gun, I don’t know what it is. I wonder if I would still be competing once it’s fired.”

“Where did you find this thing anyway?” Chase asked.

“I don’t remember. I should really ask the studio about that.” Chris says as everyone begins to be surrounded by a bright light. 

In a moment, the Nexus Drive teleports everyone into a large, circular stadium made of concrete. Large rows of seats were surrounding it, with one massive building to one side. Above the stadium was a massive network of white wooden stems ending in a tree that houses a massive orb of green energy.

Several colorful creatures with bird beaks sat on the bleachers, cheering on the new arrivals.

“Whoa, where are we?” Sasha asked.

“We are currently in Tree City! Home to the Running Man Championship and the Soul Tree.” Chris says as a holographic screen appeared next to him, revealing a massive circular city in the sky, held up by a spiraling network of roots that were connected to the massive tree

“What a niche ass show you pulled this one from.” Tank Fish crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought.” Chris commented, genuine confusion in his face. “Anyway, please welcome, Charming Gold!”

The massive building extends a walkway out facing the stadium, letting a single man stride into the scene. He was a tall, blue peacock humanoid wearing a black suit with a white and gold coat.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Give a round of applause for our new guests here in Tree City!” Charming Gold’s voice echoed across the stadium, starting another roar of applause. “Now, let’s give them a few gifts to show them our appreciation!"

“Huh?” Sakamoto looks down at his wrist to see a white digital watch that had suddenly appeared, bearing the letter ‘R’.

“Whoa!” Denji jumped as a circular device with a similar style to the watch appeared on his back, bearing his face.

The contestants all were unnerved to have these things appearing on their wrists and back. Some observed the watches with intrigue, while others attempted to reach for their backs to see what it was.

“These watches are how you eliminate your opponents. Use your watches to steal an opponent’s shield to take them out of the game.” Chris explains. “It can also be used to communicate with your teammates, so use it well.”

“For your challenge today, I will now present to you what we call, the Catch The King!” Charming Gold announces, as another holographic screen appeared in front of the contestants.

“Both teams must assign a King at the start of the game.” A female voice was heard explaining the rules. “Neither team will know who the other King is. The first team to find the other team’s King and eliminate them will be the winner of the challenge.”

“This match shall take place between several stages, all connected together with a portal network. Players can teleport to different stages using portals that are scattered throughout the different stages.”

“A King mark will appear under the King's shield, and will only be revealed if the King's shield is stolen." A mark of an "R" with a crown appeared on screen.

“Hmm.” Shao Kahn hummed at the rules of the challenge.

The sound of energy hums nearby, and a massive structure manifests in the center of the stadium. It resembled a massive tower, no doubt full of the rooms they will be using for the challenge.

“Are you ready?” Charming Gold spun in place, before pointing to one side of the stadium.

The spectators of that side roared with excitement.

“Are you ready?” Charming Gold repeated his action, pointing to another side and inciting another roar of excitement. “It’s… Running Time!”

With that declaration, the contestants felt hyped for the challenge ahead of them… all before a massive hole appeared beneath their feet and sent them underneath the stadium.

“Wauugh!”

The Manic Moles all screamed as they crashed into a circular room in a pile. Shao Kahn was the first to stand up, looking around the room and spotting a metal circular frame to the side.

A holographic screen appears above it, bearing the words “Challenge Begins in 1 Minute.”

“Agh… that hurts.” Chase groaned in pain as the rest of the Moles got themselves out of the heap they found themselves in.

“I wonder how long it will take for me to break a bone or something.” Sasha dusted herself down as Denji stood up next to her and popped his shoulder back into its socket, rather audibly. “Okay, that’s gotta be painful.”

“Huh?” Denji didn’t seem fazed by that.

“Okay, I guess we need to pick someone to become a King.” Frieren remarked.

“Look, I’m okay with whoever, just let it not be Shitface Kahn over here.” Nicole pointed a thumb at the Konquerer, who merely growled at the nickname the teen gave him.

“Wait, that does give me an idea.” Maomao pondered. “The Seagulls should expect that Shao Kahn would be our King. Exploiting that would be in our best interest.”

“So what we should be doing is putting a fake King in play.” Frieren completed that thought. “You can distract the Seagulls by letting them think you’re the King, Shao Kahn.”

“What nonsensical drivel are you two proposing?” Shao Kahn huffed at the thought. “Unless you provide a good point, I shall be the King for this game.”

“I mean, look at the bright side.” Nimona spoke up. “You’ll be letting the other team think you’re the King the whole time, you are the perfect for the job.”

“And they’ll most likely be gunning for your ass.” Tank Fish added. “Waste their time, man. I know I would.”

“I suppose that is sound. Very well then.” Shao Kahn nodded with agreement, before looking at the rest of the group. “However, I shall be the one to select our King. If we somehow fail, there will be consequences.”

“Go ahead, big boy, no one’s stopping you.” Nicole rolled her eyes.

Maomao could only nod at the compromise. All she hoped was that she wasn’t chosen out of nowhere.

-Confessional: Maomao-

“I would describe myself as being skin and bones in physique. I wouldn’t survive military training, let alone being chased by the others here.” Maomao stated.

A thrum of mechanisms was heard, and the metal frame in front of both teams lights up into a pink portal.

“Portals are now activated. Please use the portals to travel through other stages.” A female voice announced.

Shots of the two rooms were seen, as all of the competitors stepped into the portals in their rooms, sending through different areas of the game.

“Whoah!” Hitori flies out of a portal alone, and is immediately hit with a cold wave of air. “What the?”

The guitarist finds herself in a hallway entirely made of ice. Looking back, the portal she came out of has disappeared.

“...why did I end up here?” Hitori looks ahead once more and sees a new portal a distance away, and slowly makes her way towards it. "S-So... cold..."

Walter walked down the aisle of a train, taking a look at Tree City which the train tracks were encircling.

“Uh, is anybody good out there?” Walt spoke into his watch.

“Yeah, I’m good!” Richard’s voice chirped.

“Guys, just keep moving. Avoid combat, we need to focus our efforts on taking out Shao Kahn.” Giorno instructed.

“Whoa! Guys! Got two bogeys on me!” Gold Ship yelled out, grabbing Walt’s attention. “Requesting rendezvous! Over!”

“Get out of there!” Walt told the horse girl.

“What did you say? Over?”

“I’m telling you to get out of there!”

“Oh, we are not doing this.” Red jumped into the conversation. “Just keep running, Gold Ship! Over!”

“Roger that! Over!”

Walt rolled his eyes as he travelled through the train, finding the next portal to go through.

Sasha flies down a cylindrical hallway using her ODM gear, keeping an eye out on her surroundings.

Richard found himself in a circular arena filled with cement pillars. He spots a portal in the distance, and decides to walk towards it.

Rex found himself in a massive dome-like room, with a white and green esoteric decoration floating in the middle.

“Brrr…” Hitori profusely rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to warm herself up on her way to the portal. “So cold…”

“Coming through!”

“Huh?!” 

The guitarist looks at the portal where the sound came from, where Gold Ship suddenly emerged at top speed.

“Whoawoah!” The horse girl suddenly lost traction, slipping on a collision course with Hitori.

“Oh no!”

The two Seagulls crash into each other, sending them sliding down the ice hall before stopping at a distance.

-Confessional: Gold Ship-

“GAAAAGH! Freeze burns!” Gold Ship screamed in pain, having multiple red marks on her face.

-Confessional: Hitori Goto-

Hitori merely sat in the confessional, shivering in the sheer cold.

“Get your ass back here!”

Tank Fish and Nimona emerge from the portal, but immediately begin to slip on the ice.

“Oh shit! Nimona!” Tank Fish yelled out to his teammate.

“On it!” Nimona grabbed the blue haired man’s wrist.

Nimona’s legs shapeshift into those of a bear’s, which she uses to gain traction on the ice and prevent the two of them from slipping. The shapeshifter proceeded to leap at the two Seagulls in an attempt to take their shields.

“Hold on!” Gold Ship grabbed Hitori by the shoulders, startling her.

“Wait, what are you- whoa!”

Gold Ship kicks the ice wall, sending her and Hitori away from where they were and preventing the Moles from eliminating them. Another kick on a parallel wall sends the two flying into the portal before the two Moles recovered.

“Come on! Follow them!” Tank Fish urged the shapeshifter.

“I’m on it! It sucks that I can’t shapeshift my torso with this watch and shield.” Nimona muttered to herself before following the two Seagulls.

“Oh, solid ground!” Hitori sighed with relief in her new environment.

“Let’s go, up and at ‘em.” Gold Ship suddenly picked up the guitarist, bridal style.

The horse girl carries Hitori as she sprints down a cylindrical hallway, just as Tank Fish and Nimona emerge from the portal and give chase.

“Hey, Hitori. Contact the others, why doncha?” Gold Ship told the guitarist.

“Uh- um, okay!” Hitori tapped her watch with haste. “Someone help us please! We’re being chased!”

“Hitori? Wait, who are you with?” Navia’s voice replied immediately.

“Sleeping beauty’s with me at the moment, Tank Fish and Nimona’s on our tail!” Gold Ship yelled out.

“Okay, Gold Ship? Just keep running, you’ll find us eventually.”

“You better come quick, cause I- Whoa!”

“Gaaagh!”

Hitori yelped as she was thrown off of Gold Ship’s hold. She tumbles on the floor, before looking back to see Shao Kahn holding the horse girl by the back of her collar.

“Hey! What the?! Let me go, damn it!” Gold Ship thrashed around in an attempt to free herself.

“Silence, you loudmouth!” Shao Kahn uses his watch to steal Gold Ship’s shield from her back.

The Konquerer drops Gold Ship as she attempts to look for her shield on her back, with Tank Fish and Nimona arriving at the scene. Suddenly, a black rift appears on a nearby wall where a massive hand grabs the horse girl.

“Oh, not again. Unhand me you fiend! Unhand me-!” Gold Ship’s resistance was cut short as she was pulled into the rift, to Hitori’s horror.

“Gold Ship has been eliminated!” A female voice echoed throughout the stages.

-Confessional: Hitori Goto-

“So scary! That thing almost came out of a nightmare!” Hitori panicked inside the confessional.

“Oh, darn it! We were too late!”

Hitori looks back to see Gem, Sakamoto and Giorno arriving at the scene.

“Hitori, come with Gem and locate our teammates. We’ll handle it from here.” Sakamoto stepped forward.

“Come on, follow me.” Gem told the guitarist as the two ran down the hallway away from the fight.

“Huh?” Tank Fish watched as the two Seagulls ran away from the fight. “It’s her.”

“What?” Nimona turned to her teammate in confusion.

“Hitori. She’s the King, Hitori.” Tank Fish muttered.

“Are you sure?”

“I think so. Come on, launch me at ‘em.” 

Nimona shifts her arms into gorilla arms, before grabbing Tank Fish by the collar and throwing him above Giorno and Sakamoto. Once the blue haired man landed, he went to work chasing after the two Seagulls.

“Why are you running?!”

“Gem! Tank Fish is coming after you!” Giorno spoke into his watch as an axe moved overhead.

Sakamoto kicks Giorno out of the way of the axe as it impacts the ground heavily. As the ex-hitman recovered, Nimona with tiger limbs leapt at the wall before attempting to pounce on Sakamoto.

“Gold Experience!” Giorno sends out his Stand at the shapeshifter.

The golden Stand blocks Nimona and stops her in her tracks, enough for Sakamoto to spinkick the shapeshifter away.

Nimona lands next to Shao Kahn who retrieved his axe from the ground, and the two teams stare at each other, waiting for their moves.

“Remember, Shao Kahn is our priority.” Sakamoto told the blond.

“Right.”

Navia and Red sprinted down a metal hallway covered with holes.

“Giorno and Sakamoto are fighting Shao Kahn and Nimona.” Gem’s voice echoed from Red’s watch.

“Let’s hurry.” Red told the blonde.

“There, a portal.” Navia pointed at a portal on the floor.

But before the two could jump through, Sasha zips between the two with her ODM gear, disorienting them heavily.

“Whoa! What the?” Navia turned her attention to the scout, enough for Red to notice her shield missing from her back.

“Oh, crud.”

“What?”

Navia is suddenly pulled into a black rift and out of the game. As Red watches the scene with confusion, Sasha turns herself around and makes her way towards the podcaster.

“Navia has been eliminated!”

“Well, better leave.”

Red hops into the portal before Sasha could steal her shield.

-Confessional: Sasha Braus-

“It’s as we thought. Now that Shao Kahn is fighting, the Seagulls seem to be making their way to him in order to take them out.” Sasha pondered. “And now, they should be heading right into the rest of our team.”

Rex was seen sprinting down the train towards a portal, before Chase suddenly emerged from the nearby seats and grabbed the hero by the arm.

“Hey! What the?!”

Chase steals the hero’s shield from his back before letting him go. The rift appears nearby, grabbing Rex by the waist.

“Oh you sneaky basta-” Rex yelled out before getting pulled into the rift.

“Whoa!”

Richard yelled out as he was pulled into a rift. Frieren turns to Walter before raising her staff, prompting the chemist to run.

“Hagh!” Nicole jumped out of a corner at the chemist.

Walt dodged the attempt before jumping into a portal.

“Damn it.” Nicole swore out.

“Hey, you okay?” Gem asked the guitarist as they stopped in the arena full of pillars.

“So… tired.” Hitori was seen comically panting next to a pillar for support.

“Ok wow, you got low stamina.” Gem remarked.

“Rex Splode has been eliminated!”

“Richard has been eliminated!”

“What is going on?” Hitori asked with confusion.

“Wow, our numbers are dropping fast.” Gem commented as her watch began to ring.

“Guys. I think I know what’s happening.” Red’s voice was heard from the hermit’s watch. “They must’ve figured out we were heading for Shao Kahn, they’re picking us out like flies out here.”

In a dome-like room full of ornate copperware and statues of Charming Gold all around, Red hid inside a pot as the sounds of Sasha’s ODM gear was heard.

“They must’ve planned this out in advance.” Red whispered into her watch. “Our teammates were too busy looking for Big Bad to focus on the others.”

The sound of pressurized gas grew further and further on Red’s ears. She lifts up the lid of the vase just in time to see Sasha leave the room.

“We should regroup. Be quick, but be careful.” Red stated as she stays inside the vase. “Just be wary of Sasha. I have a feeling she’s gonna be a pain to deal with.”

“Sure thing.” Gem replied.

“Right.” Sakamoto’s voice answered.

Sakamoto turned to Giorno as he used his Stand to block Shao Kahn’s axe. The gang-star dodges to the side as Gold Experience punches a nearby wall, creating a wall of roots that completely block off the opposing Moles.

“Let’s go.”

Giorno and Sakamoto quickly vacate the area as Shao Kahn attempts to cut down the roots.

“Hey, Big Shao.” Nimona called out to the Konquerer.

“What did I say about referring to me like that?” Shao Kahn growled at the shapeshifter.

“We can take another path, y’know?” Nimona pointed out.

The Konquerer growls at the suggestion, before lowering his axe.

“Very well.” Shao Kahn began to walk with the shapeshifter down the hallway.

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Whoo, the Seagulls really took a hit there. Hope they can handle the pressure, if you know what I mean."

The ripping sound of revving grabbed Gem’s attention. She and Hitori look up at the top of the pillars to see Tank Fish and Denji on top of them, the latter having transformed into his Chainsaw Man form.

“Yo, Tank. Didn’t you say she was the King or something?” The hybrid turned to his teammate, gesturing to the pink haired guitarist.

“Eep!” Hitori jumped at being addressed by the living powertool.

“Yeah, I guess so, let’s jump her then.” Tank Fish stated.

“That’s more like it.” Denji leapt from his place in the pillar. “Let’s get crazy, damn it!”

Gem steps in front of Hitori before pulling out a wind charge from her inventory. She slams the item into the hybrid’s chest, unleashing a blast of pressurized wind and sending him flying away from the Seagulls.

Tank Fish emerged from behind a pillar to try and steal Hitori’s shield. Gem quickly acted by grabbing the blue hair’s man’s arm and twisting it behind his shoulder.

“Agh! Oh fuck!”

Gem quickly steals Tank Fish’s shield, and he is swiftly taken out of the game by the rift. She turns back to where she sent Denji flying to see the hybrid already sprinting in their direction.

“Tank Fish has been eliminated!”

“How about some noise then!” Denji raises his chainsaw arms into the air, letting them play a mechanical ripping noise.“Come on, Hitori.” Gem grabs the guitarist’s hand as they sprint towards a nearby portal.

As the two ran, Hitori noticed a line attached to a nearby pillar. And among the ear-piercing sounds of the chainsaws, she also hears the sound of pressurized air.

“Wait, stop!” Hitori halts the two’s movement as Sasha zips right in front of Gem.

“Whoa!” Gem exclaimed from the close call.

“So close!” Sasha exclaimed.

As Sasha takes a moment to change her momentum, Gem and Hitori quickly jump into the portal away from the pursuing Moles.

Maomao found herself walking in a large circular room with a massive hole in the center. A single bridge crosses the gap with a portal in the center, and the apothecary gets close to the hole to see another room way at the bottom of it, as indicated by another portal down at the bottom.

“A pretty big fall. I wonder if anyone’s down there.” Maomao muttered to herself as someone exited the portal in front of her.

Maomao stills as Walt exits the portal, panting heavily as if the wind got knocked out of him. The chemist recovers from exhaustion just as he realizes who was in front of him, and stills himself as well.

Maomao bent her knees with anticipation as Walt balled his fist, both waiting for the other’s actions.

-Confessional: Maomao-

“The old man probably thinks I’m an easy target. He’s definitely gonna head for my shield, I’m sure of it.” Maomao muttered. “Curse my skin and bones physique.”

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Oh, kid’s definitely planning to take my shield. She’s got that look on her eye that I don’t like.” Walt stated. “I can’t turn back right now, I’ll have to get through her to escape.”

Suddenly, Maomao’s watch began to blink, causing her to look at it in confusion.

“Hey dumbasses! We think the guitar chick is the Seagulls’ King.” Denji’s voice spoke out.

“Wait, really?” Chase’s voice asked.

“Yeah, I’m already chasing after her.” Sasha replied.

“We’re on our way.” Frieren replied.

Maomao turned back to Walt, who heard the conversation from his position.

“That last voice was supposed to be the elf, right?” Walt asked.

“Why are you asking?”

“I’m asking if that was her voice, if she changed priorities just now.”

“I guess, but how does that…”

Maomao watches as Walt jumps back into the portal, and takes a few seconds to realize what he meant with those questions.

“Miss Frieren must’ve been chasing him earlier. I guess he was thinking of a way to get around me to escape.” Maomao turned to her watch. “I guess I have to help find the guitarist. Sasha’s on her tail right now, so it probably won’t take long.”

Maomao felt something touch her back. Looking behind her, she saw Sakamoto, who had just stolen her shield.

“You’re way too silent.” Maomao told the ex-hitman calmly.

“You’re way too calm.” Sakamoto replied.

“Why’s that?” Maomao raised an eyebrow, before being grabbed by the massive hand from the rift. “What in the-?!”

“Maomao has been eliminated!”

“Was that Walter who went through the portal?” Giorno walked over to the ex-hitman.

“Yes. I don’t think he noticed us.” Sakamoto stated.

“Let’s catch up to him, we need to regroup with our King.”

The two Seagulls hop into the portal on the bridge to catch up to their teammate. In the room below, Sasha and Gem emerge from the portal at the same time. The scout tried to steal the hermit’s shield, but her hand was slapped away.

“Ow.” Sasha shook her hand before noticing who wasn’t with them. “Wait, where did Hitori go?”

“Uh…”

Sasha looks back to the portal they emerged from to see Hitori’s head sticking out of it.

“Oh!” Hitori disappeared back into the portal.

Sasha was about to head back into the portal before realizing who she was with. Turning around, she felt her arm being grabbed by Gem, who had attempted to steal her shield.

The two were quickly caught in an arm lock, each one not letting the other pin them down for an easy shield steal.

“I’m not letting you get her, y’know.” Gem remarked.

Sasha looked at the hermit for a moment, before turning back to the portal, her expression being more nervous by the second.

“What? Not gonna escape?”

The scout frantically looked at the situation she found herself in, trying to find a way to escape. One wrong move, and she would be eliminated.

“Come on, at least try.” Gem stated before a realization suddenly hits her. “Wait. You’re being way too cautious here, aren’t you? Is that indicative of any… role you’re playing?”

-Confessional: Sasha Braus-

“I fear we may be screwed.” Sasha gulped, sweating heavily.

Hitori finds herself in the large room full of Charming Gold statues and copperware, where she sees Walt, Giorno and Sakamoto gathered in the center.

“Hitori, where did Gem go?” Sakamoto asked the guitar.

“S-She’s dealing with Sasha right now.” Hitori rubbed her shoulder.

“Doesn’t seem like they’ve taken each other out. Gem must be holding her own well.” Giorno remarked.

“So, what now?” Walt asked. “Should we focus on taking out Shao Kahn now or…”

“We should focus on thinning out their numbers now. We can’t focus on Shao Kahn yet with our current numbers.” Giorno stated.

“Okay, then we should move then.” Walt stated as he turns to one of the exits in the rooms, before noticing the floor being blanketed by a layer of smoke. “What in the…”

Giorno and Sakamoto look around to notice the buildup in smoke in the room. Hitori was the first to get the idea to look up, where she sees Frieren hovering over the four of them. A heavy amount of smoke was released from her staff.

“Okay, what now?” Walt exclaimed as the room began to grow more and more obscure.

“Covert operations!”

Sakamoto dodges to the side as Chase attempts to steal his shield. The ex-hitman retaliates, but Chase quickly retreats into the smoke.

“Whoo, that was close.” Chase was heard exclaiming.

“Stay close, we have to leave this room immediately.” Giorno instructed.

Giorno hears the ripping metal, causing him to dodge a shield steal from Denji. The gang-star quickly steals the hybrid’s shield instead, causing him to look with confusion.

“Huh?”

“The fuck was that?!” Nicole’s voice was heard from the mist.

“What was your plan there?” Giorno asked as Denji is pulled into the rift.

“Denji has been eliminated.”

Giorno turns around to see Walt getting pinned down by Nimona, who quickly steals his shield.

“Walter!”

“Walter has been eliminated.”

As the chemist is dragged away by the rift, Nimona disappears into the smoke. Before Giorno could attempt to pursue her though, Shao Kahn runs into the scene and tackles him with his shoulder.

“Hggk!” Giorno grunted.

“Out of my way, child.” Shao Kahn growled.

As Giorno gets knocked to the ground, Shao Kahn continues his mad dash through the smoke, before stopping abruptly. Sakamoto goes on to help Giorno up.

“Are you okay?” Sakamoto asked, and was responded to with a nod. “Where’s Hitori?”

“Huh?”

“I believe you must be looking for this child.”

Shao Kahn’s axe pulsed a red energy, causing all of the smoke to be dispelled in a single moment and revealing all of the Moles surrounding Giorno and Shao Kahn. The Konquerer then turns to the two Seagulls, holding a comically frightened Hitori by the collar.

“Gah! Where did you come from?! Let go of me!” Hitori panicked.

“Hitori!” Giorno exclaimed.

“In Outworld, one must not serve two Kings. And that shall be the same here.” Shao Kahn stated as he stole the shield from Hitori’s back. “Hmm?”

“What? What’s wrong?” Nimona jogged up to the Konquerer to see what he noticed. “Oh crud.”

Hitori did not have the King mark behind her shield. A couple of the Moles notice the two’s expressions and quickly put the pieces together.

“Hold on, you guys have been chasing the guitarist all this time, and she isn’t even the King?” Chase asked the two.

“I-I never said I was the King though.” Hitori stated as she was dropped onto the floor. “You guys just assumed I was.”

The rift appears once again, and the hand quickly drags Hitori into it, finalizing her elimination.

“Alright, own it up already. Who’s the dumbass who thought she was the King?” Nicole asked.

“Uh, I think Tank Fish was the one that told me.” Nimona stated. 

“Ugh, that foolish idiot.” Shao Kahn shook his head angrily, before turning to the two Seagulls their team surrounded. “Nevermind that. Taking the two of you out will cripple your team, and we will be crowned the winners.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” 

All of the Moles turn to their watches at the sound of the new voice.

“Not anymore. Oh god, why did I say that?”

“Which of our teammates isn’t here?!” Shao Kahn asked his team.

“Uhh…” Denji tried to remember which of his team were eliminated or safe.

“Oh, Sasha.” Freiren answered, a slight look of surprise on her face

“Oh shit.” Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Yep.” Red says as she and Gem hold Sasha down.

“Did you really have to taunt my team like that?” Sasha asked.

“What can I say? You guys guessed wrong and this needs dramatic effect.” Red turned to her teammate. “Would you do the honors?”

“Sure can!”

Gem steals Sasha’s shield, revealing a massive R with a crown on it; the King mark. The two Seagulls back off as the scout is grabbed by the hand from the newly formed rift.

“This sucks!” Sasha yelled as she is pulled into the rift.

“The Manic Mole’s King has been Eliminated.” The female voice echoed throughout the stadium. “The winners of Catch The King are the Squawking Seagulls!”

-Confessional: Red-

“Oh, god. I know I might get booted for this, but Author, you do not make me say stuff like that.” Red pointed at the camera, slightly chuckling to herself. “It’s so cheesy, oh boy.”

“Hmm…” Shao Kahn grunted angrily at the result of the challenge.

“That was unexpected.” Giorno remarked.

“Agreed. But it’s a pleasant surprise.” Sakamoto stated as their surroundings began to glow a white energy. 

“What’s happening now?” Chase exclaimed.

The structure the contestants found themselves in began to fade into an ethereal form before disappearing. Everyone was now in the center of Tree City’s stadium, standing on flying white platforms marked with a yellow R.

The thunderous applause from the spectators in the bleachers hit everyone at once, which soured the mood of the Moles since they knew they were cheering for the Seagulls.

“Oh yeah. I forgot we were in a stadium.” Frieren stated.

The floating platforms shifted positions to the center of the stadium, where Gem and Red were also taken by their own platforms.

“Oh hey guys!” Gem waved to their teammates.

“Good job there, you guys.” Giorno stated.

The platforms made two lines facing Charming Gold’s building. The blue feathered host walked down the platform on his building once again, catching the attention of the contestants. 

“And now, the winners of this game!” Charming Gold announced. “And the King that has survived capture.”

As he spoke, the platforms of the Squawking Seagulls rose into the air, showing to the audience around them who were today’s winners. Red’s platform rose up a little higher than teammates, with a hologram of the King mark appearing above her head.

-Confessional: Nicole-

“Way to make us feel like shit. Gotta give it to the showbiz types.” Nicole crossed her arms.

Another platform floated up to the contestants, carrying Chris, who seemed to be chuckling to himself.

“Man, that was unexpected. The Seagulls really wasted your time, huh?” Chris continued to chuckle. “Okay, enough of that. We’ll be returning to the island soon. Seagulls, you’re safe from elimination. Moles? You know what to do.”

“Yeah, we know.” Chase crossed his arms.

Back at Camp Wawanakwa, Walt walked out of the Seagulls cabin by himself. He walks down the steps and begins to make his way to the campsite as the sun was already descending into the horizon.

Before he could enter the forest though, something catches his eye for a brief moment. The large and unfortunately recognisable form of Shao Kahn was walking deeper and deeper into the forest.

Walt took a look at the path to the Seagulls’ campsite for a moment, before turning to the forest and following the Konquerer.

The walk was unexpectedly long, but Walt managed to keep up with the Konquerer until he decided to stop. The chemistry teacher quickly scrambles into a nearby bush as Shao Kahn speaks up.

“You were a fool to believe that blue haired charlatan, Shapeshifter.” Shao Kahn growled.

“Come on, you were also caught up in that lie.” Nimona sat playfully on top of a tree branch. “Don’t deny it.”

“This game is turning out to be more of a pain than I thought.” Shao Kahn stated. “Now, we should decide which of our worthless teammates we should eliminate.”

Walt stilled his breath, trying his damndest not to make a noise as the two continued their conversation.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“So the Moles already have an alliance going on, huh?” Walt remarked. “And of course possibly the most blatantly villainous contestant is one of them. That feels very redundant. But still, I have to keep this in mind.”

The sun has long passed the horizon as the Moles gather once again around the campfire. Sasha hunched herself a bit as Maomao sat next to her. Tank Fish sat with his chin resting in his hand. Shao Kahn glared angrily at his teammates, which seemed to cause tension in the area. Nicole and Frieren didn’t seem to care, the two of them first noticing as Chris and Chef walked in with the tray of marshmallows.

“Good evening campers. Excellent plan there. Too bad you kinda wasted your time. Like really.” Chris stated. “And now, I’ll be distributing the marshmallows now. If you don’t get one, you’re out.”

“Chase.”

“Denji.”

“Nicole.”

“Maomao.”

“Nimona.”

“Frieren.”

“...and Shao Kahn.” Chris now displayed two marshmallows on his tray. “Good job, Shao Kahn. You managed to escape being in the bottom two for the first time.”

“And that’s how it should be, McLean.” Shao Kahn remarked.

“Shut the fuck up. The only reason the others didn’t vote for you is because others have fucked up worse.” Nicole muttered to herself.

“Got something to say, child?”

-Confessional: Nicole-

“Yeah, I want this fucker gone. But to do that, I will need some support.” Nicole stated. “Should I start a campaign of some sort? No, that’s fucking stupid, he’ll be on my ass in no time.”

“Nothing, just enjoy not having your head on the chopping block for today.” Nicole responded. “Lord knows how fast you’ll be back on that shit.”

“Sure, sure.” Shao Kahn waved off the insult.

“And now for the last two Moles.” Chris took a glance at Sasha and Tank Fish. “Now Chef?”

“Sasha.”

“Yes.” Sasha stood up immediately, performing a salute.

“Um, I appreciate the gesture, but this is not the time. Settle down, soldier.” Chef raised an eyebrow as the scout sat back down. “You were assigned as King because of those fancy grappling boxes you have there. Then you somehow got caught, and without any of your teammates in the area, sealed your fate.”

“Tank Fish. Now I don’t know about this ‘Chaos Legion’ you lead, but they clearly need someone more suited to analytics.” Chef stated. “You somehow got it in your head that Hitori was the Seagulls’ King. You then roped everyone else in your team in this assumption which cost them an unnecessary amount of time.”

“Yeah, that was fucking useless. I won’t deny that.” Tank Fish replied.

“You two have cost a win today, and only one will be saved from elimination by this marshmallow.” Chris gestured once more. “And this last marshmallow will save…”

.

.

.

.

.

“Sasha! Your mistakes today go unpunished.” Chris says as he tosses the last marshmallow to the scout.

“Oh thank goodness!” Sasha exclaimed with relief.

“Okay, Tank Fish?” Chris turned to a blue haired man. “You know what to do.”

“Actually, Chris. I don’t.” Tank Fish told the man. “As far as I know, marketable plushies do not walk.”

“What are you talking about? You’re a man, not a marketable plush—” Chris blinks during his statement, and suddenly Tank Fish was now a miniature, plush version of himself. “Wait, what? He can do that?”

“Did he just disappear or something?” Chase asked as Frieren walked over to the plush.

“No. It seems he did turn into this… marketable plushie.” Frieren picked up the plush, reading the tag attached to it. “‘The Depths call me?’ What does this mean?”

“Who knows?” Chef walked over to the mage. “Plush please.”

Frieren hands the plush to Chef, who proceeds to take it down the Dock of Shame and toss it into the Boat of Losers. The boat proceeds to drive off into the night. Maomao turns to Sasha with a contemplative look on her face.

“I wonder what we look like as marketable plushies.” Sasha pondered.

“I have no idea what a marketable plushie even is.” Maomao stated, watching the boat as it sailed off.

Suddenly, everyone noticed that the boat was caught in a sudden whirlpool. The boat spins around in an attempt to escape it, but was inevitably swallowed by the force.

A line of text appeared above the whirlpool reading “The Depths” for a second before it and the whirlpool disappeared.

The Manic Moles watch in confusion at what happened to the commander-turned-plushie for a good moment.

“Good riddance.” Shao Kahn broke the silence as he made his way back to the Moles’ cabin.

As the Konquerer walked back to his team’s cabin, he took one glance into the forest, at the metallic form of the Nexus Drive just sitting there in the open, before continuing his path.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Boney Island Safari

Walt walks out of the Seagulls cabin one early morning, just as dawn begins to break, after having freshly showered. He spots a few of the campers standing near the beach, namely Red, Gem, Maomao, Chase and Denji, and walks over to them.

“Oh, hey Walt.” Gem greeted the chemistry teacher.

“I’m here. I read the note I got.” Walt stated. “So, what’s the commotion? Why are we all gathered this early in the morning?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll get to that. I just need to complete the inspection.” Chris looked at the chemistry teacher before looking back at his clipboard.

Just in front of them, a massive tugboat sat in the water, smoke coming out of the exhaust on top of the helm. Chef exited the door to give the host a thumbs up.

“Systems are all functional. I believe that’s the last of it.” Chris checked off the last box on his list as he hopped onto the tugboat. “Okay, does anyone have any questions?”

“So what is this? A part of the challenge?” Denji asked.

“Good question. Yes, we’ll be heading somewhere for today’s challenge. Don’t worry, we’re not gonna be using the Nexus Drive, it’s too early to use it again.” Chris stated.

“As it should. Lord knows how repetitive that would be.” Red deadpanned.

“Yeah. But why did you specifically call for us?” Chase asked.

“Will we play some special role in the challenge?” Maomao asked.

“Yep! You have all been randomly selected to take part in this special event. And all I can say for you is to hold on or you’ll be eliminated!” Chris says as he enters the helm of the tugboat.

The tugboat that was now a good way out in the water, going further as the seconds went on. The six of them took a moment to realize that the boat had left the island.

“Uh, aren’t we supposed to be going somewhere today?” Gem tilted her head in confusion.

“Yeah, leave us here, why don’t ya?!” Denji cupped his hands to shout at the boat.

The sound of friction catches Walter’s ears. She looks down to see a length of rope getting pulled by the tugboat that had left. The chemistry looks behind his shoulder, and gasps with surprise.

“Out of the way!” 

The others look back and manage to dodge what was coming at them, clearing the way as the objects splashes into the ocean.

“Phew, that was close.” Gem sighed with relief.

“Uh, guys?” Chase raised his voice with concern.

The six of them look at the objects that had almost missed them, revealing them to be the Moles and Seagulls cabins, fitted with large inflatable rafts under them and are now currently being dragged by the tugboat out at sea. Both cabins had a length of rope trailing behind them.

“The cabins?” Maomao raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Oh shit, we’re gonna be left behind!” Walt quickly sprinted to the docks, pointing at the rope that was trailing behind the cabins. “Grab onto the ropes! You guys are gonna be eliminated!”

As the chemistry teacher dives into the water, everyone quickly connects the dots and begins to panic.

“Ah shit!”

“We have to hurry!”

“Wait up!”

The remaining five campers quickly sprint down the dock before swimming to the rope, holding on for life as they are dragged further and further away from the island.

-Confessional: Red-

“Okay, Author? I know what you were trying to pull there, it’s such a Chris thing to do, but did you really have to make me part of this prank?” Red scowled at the camera as she wrung her hair dry. “You could at least tell us not to shower before this, all that effort wasted.”

The tugboat travels across Lake Ontario, the sun rising a good distance above the horizon as the vessel’s rubber hull makes contact with shore.

The two cabins on inflatable rafts drift into the scene as well, facing the island they have arrived in. The female side of the Squawking Seagulls’ cabin opens up, revealing a very nauseated Hitori in her pajamas who made her way to the side and vomited into the water.

“Ugh… urp.” Hitori groaned as she limped on the fence.

“Are you okay, Hitori?” Navia leaned out of the door with concern. 

“Why am I all nauseous so early in the morning?” Hitori asked queasily.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s the question we should be asking right now.” Rex stated as he walked out of the male side of the cabin.

The rest of the Seagulls walk out of the cabin at that moment to see the new setting they found themselves in. It was the shore of another island, shrouded in fog that unsuccessfully conceals the jagged rocks and trees of the landscape. The most notable feature of the island is one of the nearby cliffs resembling a massive skull.

“Okay, what the fuck is this?” Nicole exclaimed loudly as the Manic Moles were seen exiting their cabin.

“This!” Chris’ voice was heard, prompting the campers to look at the tugboat he was currently exiting. “Is Boney Island! This is where today’s challenge will be held.”

“Uh, okay? And why did you have to drag our cabins by tugboat? We could’ve taken that same tugboat.” Rex raised an eyebrow confused.

“Because, I wanted to mess with a few of you guys as an interesting open to the episode.” Chris explained.

“Uh, I know you did… all this, but this does seem a little tame compared to your usual shenanigans.” Nimona remarked.

“Eh, that would be us he was talking about.” Chase entered the scene as he and the others from the dock crawl out of the water onto shore, all dripping with water.

“Yeah, you guys were mostly just collateral in this situation.” Gem stated.

“Oh wow, what happened to you guys?” Gold Ship asked.

“Well, if you want the summarized version…” Walt gestured to the others.

“We were tricked by Chris into getting dragged by the tugboat by rope.” Maomao deadpanned as she wrung her hair dry. 

“And that was how we were dragged across Lake Ontario for almost an hour.” Denji complained as he pulled out a strand of seaweed out of his mouth. 

“Don’t recommend it.” Chase attempted to flush the water out of his ears.

“And why exactly did you do that, McLean?” Giorno raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t bother, it’s unlikely we’ll get an explanation that even slightly makes sense.” Red stated.

“Damn it, it’s cold.” Maomao shivered.

“Yeah, I recommend you guys get a change of clothes. Don’t worry, we built another shower nearby, you guys get the first dibs for today.” Chris stated as the soaked contestants returned to their cabins to prepare another shower.

The host meanwhile, hops off the boat and walks on the shore, prompting the other contestants to step onto shore as well.

“Uh yeah. That aside, why did you bring us here?” Rex asked the host. “Isn’t this that scary island you turned even more scary because you dumped all your mutants and nuclear waste here?”

“Yup!” Chris says. “This is where today’s challenge will be held. I expect you all to be prepared and at the Fun Zone in two hours. Good? Okay.”

Chris and Chef walk into the jagged forest of Boney Island, on a path that leads to the Fun Zone. The contestants that were tricked by Chris exit their respective cabins and make their way to the nearby showers.

Walt turns to look as the two colleagues disappear into the fog of the island, before brandishing a grimace on his face.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Should I have expected that plan to come out of that madman’s head? Maybe. Y’know, I was skeptical from the start, but I guess him dragging two cabins from one island to another was too absurd for me to expect.” Walt stated. “But that doesn’t really quell the awful taste in my mouth. Hopefully I can do something so that it does not happen again.”

The next scene shows all of the contestants now gathered in the middle of Boney Island’s forest, where a massive wooden wall divides a portion of land. This wall features a gate, one where Chris and Chef are the closest to.

“Good morning, people.” Chris smiled as the contestants gathered in front of them. “Who’s up for a little adventure?”

“I consider breakfast an adventure. Just saying.” Denji muttered. 

“Yeah, if you’re gonna drag our cabins away from the mess hall, least you could do is hook us up with some grub.” Nimona nodded with agreement. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, we prepared a couple of amenities for you to use. You can eat during the challenge itself.” Chris stated. “Now, the challenge today is the Boney Island Safari!”

“A safari? Huh, we really are going into the Fun Zone.” Red crossed her arms.

“Now, for those of you who don’t know, the Fun Zone is filled to the brim with fun stuff, such as nuclear waste and mutated plants and animals.” Chris explained.

“The same ones that got you arrested for illegal dumping of waste and environmental crimes?” Rex raised an eyebrow.

“Wow, I thought he would be arrested for something else.” Nicole stated.

“Anyways, both teams will enter the Fun Zone, carrying a total of three Polaroid cameras each. There will be a list of mutant creatures that will be available for the both of you, and your goal is to take a picture of every creature on that list.” Chris explained, smiling. “Make sure the image isn’t blurry, and that you capture the mutant’s face. Then you have to stick your photos onto your team’s respective blackboard for it to count.”

“And where is this blackboard?” Navia asked.

“Take a look here, folks.” Chef called out.

Two stations were seen brandishing a team logo, each one with a roof above them. Chef presented the contents of each station; a table, a whiteboard, a minifridge, and a couple of brochures.

“This is where the photos will be assembled. This challenge could take all day, so amenities are in the fridge.” Chef stated as he grumbled something about not cooking for them today.

“Now, I’m sure you all know what you should know. Whoever compiles all the mutant creatures on the list on the whiteboard first shall win immunity.” Chris explained. “For the losers, need I say more?”

“Okay, do I make myself clear? Good, Chef? Open the gates.”

Chef walks over to a nearby lever and pulls down on it. The massive wooden gate that obstructs their vision begins to open, revealing the supernaturally exotic fauna that lay within. A green aura slowly spills out of the gate, no doubt due to the toxic waste that polluted it.

-Confessional: Maomao-

“Alright… interesting. A forest polluted with radiation.” Maomao rubbed her chin in curiosity. “I’ve heard what that was earlier in the morning, wasn’t really in depth, Chase seemed like the only one who knows and even then, he struggled in explaining. But something that can change organic matter, that sounds interesting. I wonder what other surprises will appear today?”

“Huh? Hoooooo!”

Maomao perked up upon opening the minifridge, and her laugh as she began scrambling through the contents caught the attention of the other Moles.

“What is it?” Chase asked

“Is it delicious?” Sasha asked.

“Aha!” Maomao exclaimed triumphantly as she lifted a can of alcohol over her head. “I can finally have some.”

A hiss was heard from the can as the apothecary opened it, before beginning to drink. The rest of the Moles sweatdropped at her behavior

“Well, I’m just gonna dig in, none of you fuckers better stop me.” Nicole says as she takes out a small container from the minifridge.

“Hey guys.” Navia called her teammates’ attention as they were in the middle of eating. “Look here.”

The blonde picks up the brochures on the table, presenting them to her teammates who look on in curiosity.

“The list of mutant beasts are on these brochures. This can help us identify what we need to take a picture of.”

“Sweet. That saves us a world of pain.” Rex commented.

“But it looks like there are only three of those things.” Giorno stated. “Looks like we’ll have to divide ourselves into groups.”

“One for each brochure, right?” Walt asked.

“Right. Now let’s finish eating so we can start the challenge.” Giorno instructed.

An hour later, Walt found himself hiking down the mutated forest of the Fun Zone along with Navia, Rex and Red, each one wearing a camera around their necks. Navia walked ahead of the group with her umbrella on her shoulder, and Rex trailed behind acting as their rear guard.

Walt continued to read the brochure, eyes catching onto the mutant beasts that were listed on it.

“So a total of five mutants that we need to take pictures of.” Walt read. “And why did you guys pick the large mutant octopus for us to find?”

“Well, it is an octopus. I doubt they would be swimming in land.” Rex answered.

“The Fuzzy Kraken. Wow, I am not looking forward to seeing that.” Red deadpanned at the name.

“Huh, is that what that says?” Rex raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. What did you think it said?” Navia asked.

“I dunno, wasn’t that big on reading.” Rex answered. “Is that really what that’s called? Yikes, I agree with Red.”

“I mean, we’re  just gonna take a picture of it, right?” Walt asked.

“Yeah, sucks for the camera.” Rex commented.

“Hmph, is the description on the brochure that bad?” Navia chuckled upon hearing that.

“The name of the damn thing is enough to give me the creeps, do I look like someone who wants to read the rest?” Rex stated.

“No, not really.” Navia faced the path they were on once again before smirking. “I can read it to you out loud if you want.”

“Okay, now you’re just fucking with me there.” Rex retorted. “Please do not.”

“Yeah, save the surprise for when we actually see the thing.” Red added.

“Okay, you bet.” Navia continued to walk down the path.

-Confessional: Navia-

“I’ve been thinking of getting in an alliance with my teammates for a bit now. I do need strong allies if I want to make it far.” Navia stated. “Giorno is a good pick. Rex and I are close enough to join forces. Maybe I should also get Sakamoto in it as well.”

“Hmm?” Denji turns a corner into a clearing before perking up. “Oh, check this out.”

Nicole and Maomao enter the scene as the two see what was in the clearing. It was a field of purple fauna, soaking up the sunlight that shone from above.

“Great, purple grass?” Nicole raised an eyebrow.

“Purple grass, that’s gotta be something.” Denji stated. “Oi, Maomao. Is there anything regarding purple grass in that thing?”

“Uh, it’s not one of the listed mutants, but there is something here.” Maomao reads the information on the brochure. “A Silver-Skinned Ferret, one of the mutants on the list. These purple fields can act as a home for them.”

“So, we should check the fields for these ferrets, eh? I’m down with that.” Denji walked towards the field.

“Yeah, the sooner we get these photos, the better.” Nicole followed behind.

“Uh, wait guys. There could be a reason why they choose to live there.” Maomao reaches out to the two.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Denji turned his head to the apothecary, before noticing that he had stopped. “Huh?”

The purple grass had latched onto Denji’s pants, anchoring him to the ground and keeping him in place. The same was happening with Nicole, who also had noticed the strange fauna sticking to her pants.

“Uh, the fuck?” Nicole tried to pull herself away. “What the fuck is this? Damn it, it’s like an even more annoying Velcro!”

-Confessional: Maomao-

“There is a reason why the ferrets have a symbiotic relationship with the grass. And we just found it out the hard way.” Maomao deadpanned.

Sasha and Chase stick their heads out of a small bush, eyeing a deer grazing in grass. Its horns were made of wood, as if they were two small trees growing out of it. The roots grow down its back and trace its spine.

“Here we go, it’s the Bonzai Deer.” Sasha read the brochure, confirming their target.

“Alright, let’s go— Whoa!” Chase suddenly trips and falls out of the bush.

The Bonzai Deer perks up upon hearing the commotion, and quickly bolts out of the scene.

“Oh crap!” Sasha exclaimed.

“Oh no, come back here!” Chase sprinted into the greenery after the mutant beast.

“Hey! Wait for me, Chase!” Sasha quickly followed after the ACME agent.

“Ugh, how long have we been walking again?” Gold Ship groaned with boredom as she followed Hitori and Sakamoto through the mutated forest.

“For about an hour at this point.” Sakamoto stated as he continued to walk through the forest.

“Did I sleep weirdly tonight? I feel like my back is killing me.” Gold Ship complained. “Or maybe it was that stunt Chris pulled? I should find some way to get back at him after this.”

Hitori walked silently in between the two, fidgeting nervously as she looked for any sign of mutants around them. She suddenly felt Gold Ship tapping her on the shoulder.

“Yes, what is it— eep!” Hitori jumped as she turned to the horse girl.

“Huh? Is my hair all messy? So what? You don’t have to be rude about it.” Gold Ship glared at the guitarist, unaware of what was perching on her shoulders.

“Uhh…” Hitori points above the horse girl’s head, causing her to look up.

The camera pans up to show Gold Ship face to face with a vulture, one with red eyes and an unnaturally long neck. After a long moment, the bird shoots fire into the horse girl’s face.

“GAAAAGH!” Gold Ship covered her face in pain as the vulture began to peck violently at her head. “Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!”

“Wait, that’s one of the mutants!” Hitori recalled reading the brochure earlier in the challenge. “A… Firehose Vulture? Chris is way too literal with the names.”

“Don’t get all busy with the semantics! Help me here!” Gold Ship began attempting to swat away the vulture’s attacks, but its long neck makes this endeavor difficult.

“Uhh, don’t worry! Just hold still!” Hitori held her camera and pointed it at the struggle between reincarnation and mutant. “Uh, okay!”

Hitori snapped a photo using the camera. A small film was ejected from the side, which the guitarist pulled out and shook to reveal the image that was imprinted.

“So this is how the camera works. So cool.” Hitori pocketed the image before grabbing a nearby stick. “Don’t worry, I’ll save you, Gold Ship!”

Hitori whacked the Firehose Vulture in the neck with a stick, disorienting it a bit, but the bird’s attention was now on her. However, Sakamoto swats it away with the brochure, sending it flying even further. 

“Fly along now.” Sakamoto stared at the bird, waving the brochure into the air to scare it off.

The vulture rubs its neck, wincing as it stung, before flying off into the distance.

Deep under the surface of the ground, a Silver-Skinned Ferret was digging through the soil, connecting the tunnel to a network of burrows. As it digs, it heads face to face with a black mole that was also making a tunnel.

As the ferret sniffed the fellow digger, a flash of light hits it in the face, blinding it slightly and causing it to retreat through the tunnel it had dug. The mole turns back and begins to move through the path it had made itself.

Giorno held his hand out as the mole exits a hole in the ground, letting it nest in his hand, before it turns into a polaroid camera that spits out an image.

“Are you sure you took a picture of the ferret?” Richard asked.

“I guess we’ll find out.” Giorno shook the film as the image began to form on it.

And by image, it was too harsh as it was illuminated too much. Only the shape of the ferret could be distinguished, and even then, it was iffy due to the sharp and chaotic blackness around it. Giorno, Richard and Gem deadpan at that failed attempt.

-Confessional: GeminiTay-

“Yeah, that would’ve been too easy, would it.” Gem raised an eyebrow at the picture that she showed the camera. “This? This is just insulting.”

“We may have to find a patch of purple grass if we want to find a ferret.” Gem suggested.

“Good point.” Giorno tucked the photo into his pocket.

“Hmm?” Richard notices something in the distance.

He watches as the Bonzai Deer sprints through the forest as Sasha and Chase follow it using the scout’s ODM gear.

“Um hey, isn’t that one of the mutants we have to take a picture of?” Richard asked, letting his two teammates know of the ongoing situation near them

“Yeah, that must be a Bonzai Deer.” Gem stated.

“Let’s go after it.” Giorno ordered as the three went to follow the mutant deer through the forest.

Navia raises her hand to signal her teammates to stop as they enter a stony river area

“We’re here.” Navia stated.

“We have to be quiet about this.” Walt warned. “The brochure doesn’t say anything about how big this thing is.”

“I mean, there is Kraken in its name, right?” Red whispered while an eyebrow.

“As far as I know, krakens don’t live in rivers. But I may be wrong about that.”

The four Seagulls walk in silence atop the wet stones, attempting to look for the mutant beast. Rex held the camera in her hands as he looked around, but he suddenly felt something deform under his foot. He looked down to see that he had stepped on a tentacle covered in brown fur.

“Oh.”

The tentacle writhed in pain before snatching the hero’s leg, threatening to drag him into the river.

“Oh shit!” Rex exclaimed.

“I got ya!” Red grabbed the podcaster’s arm, but was quickly pulled as well. “Whoa!”

Navia quickly grabbed Red’s leg, anchoring her feet among some rocks to stop her two teammates from being dragged away.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Navia grits her teeth as her ankles were feeling a lot of pressure. “Walt! Can you help us here?!”

“Hold on!” Walt made his way to his teammates.

Unfortunately, Walt was too late as Navia was eventually pulled from her spot, sending the three Seagulls down the river by the tentacle.

“Shit!” Walt exclaimed as he tried to follow his teammates down the river.

“Why the fuck are we doing this, again?” Nicole asked as Maomao balanced on top of her shoulder.

“Yeah, I just have to cut this damn thing with my chainsaw.” Denji asked, standing in front of the two as he couldn’t move.

“That would scare the ferrets away, just let me take a picture of it first.” Maomao stated, holding her camera. “Denji, do you mind?”

“Heh, hell no.” Denji smirks as he patted his shoulders in preparation.

“I’ll put laxatives in your food if you don’t stop that.” Maomao reprimanded the blond, before attempting to bridge the gap between her two teammates. “Whoa!”

Maomao struggled to balance with one foot on each of her teammates, and they took a moment to get her steady. As this happened, Denji notices something in front of him.

“Huh?”

On the other side of the purple grass field, Sakamoto stood atop a tree branch. The ex-hitman held his camera before taking a picture of something in the field before disappearing into the wilderness.

“Hey, that guy got a picture before us!” Denji exclaimed.

“Ignore him, it probably means that a ferret is actually in the grass. Hold steady now.” Maomao lifts her foot from Nicole’s shoulder and manages to step steadily on Denji’s shoulder. “Okay, now just a second.”

Holding her camera, Maomao spots a Silver-Skinned Ferret in the grass. As the apothecary aims the camera at the metallic animal, Denji’s nose begins to itch.

“Huh? Uh-aaCHOO!” Denji sneezed violently.

“Okay-Whoa!” Maomao exclaimed as she was thrown off balance.

The sneeze causes Maomao to fall off the blond’s shoulders, sending her into the purple grass. The camera quickly follows, slamming into her face heavily.

“Ow!” Maomao covered her face as she reeled from the pain.

“Oh look at what you did, dumbass.” Nicole deadpanned.

“Ah, sorry. My bad.” Denji apologized as he wiped his nose.

As Maomao tended to her bleeding nose, something else landed softly on her face. Opening her eyes, she realizes it was a polaroid photo, one showing the Silver-Skinned Ferret that she had managed to take a picture of.

“Huh. We managed to get a picture.” Maomao showed her teammates the photo. 

“Okay! Let’s get out of here then!” Denji rips the cord in his chest.

Shifting into his Chainsaw Man form, Denji slashes away the grass trapping his pants, as well as Nicole’s.

“Finally, I do not want to have to stand in this shit any longer.” Nicole quickly hopped away from the purple grass.

“Yeah, but just stay there, this is gonna be more complicated.” Denji turned to Maomao, who soon realized that her situation was a lot more awkward a bit too late.“Uh… wait! Is there a safer solution to this?!” Maomao exclaimed.

“Nope, not one that takes too long.” Denji points at the apothecary with his chainsaw. “Don’t worry, I’ll try not to damage anything!”

-Confessional: Maomao-

“Hmm…” Maomao holds up her torn green robe up to the camera, a piece of fabric falling softly out of view. “Would I be able to stitch this back together?”

The robe tears even further, splitting the fabric into two parts.

“Nope, need to ditch this.” Maomao sighed.

“Alright, gotcha!”

Gem manages to snatch the Bonzai Deer’s neck with a makeshift rope, pulling herself at the mutant beast and mounting its back.

“Oh! Steady, steady! We need to take a picture of you, boy!” Gem grabs the wooden antlers of the deer to steer its direction.

“Here! Over here!” Richard waved down the hermit, signalling her to where he and the others were.

“Alright!” Gem steered the stag towards the group.

As the mounted mutant makes its way to the group, Richard and Sasha manage to take a picture of it with Gem on its back. The hermit hops of the Bonzai Deer as it disappears into the wilderness.

“Okay, we finally got a picture of the deer.” Richard shook the image from the camera.

“Oh, thanks for the save, guys.” Sasha smiled.

“Um, these are our enemies, y’know?” Chase tapped the scout’s shoulder.

“Uh, no pressure?” Gem raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, something swooped into the area and began pecking at Chase’s forehead.

“Huh? Ah! Ow! Agh!” Chase tried to wave away the bird.

“Oh no! Stay still, Chase!” Sasha went to help her teammate.

The Firehose Vulture continued ravaging the ACME agent as his teammate tried to help. Giorno contemplated helping out as he felt something tap his shoulder.

“We should hurry.” Sakamoto spoke to his teammates, with his group entering the scene behind him. 

“Yup, we already have a picture of the firebird.” Gold Ship walked up to her teammates, her face visibly covered in soot.

“...I can see that.” Gem commented.

“It’s good that you’re here.” Giorno walked up to the horse girl as he handed her their photo. “Gold Ship, get the photos set up. The rest of us should split to find our teammates.”

“Aaaaagh! It’s after me now!” Sasha yelled in the background.

“Aye aye! Whiteboard, here I come!” Gold Shop runs off into the wilderness.

Walt knelt down in an attempt to catch his breath. He was further down the stream, attempting to follow his teammates.

“Oh god… this isn’t good for me.” Walt heaved in strained breaths.

As the chemistry teacher continued to catch his breath, a thundering boom echoed in the nearby trees. As Walt turns to see what was happening, a massive mutant flytrap emerges from the trees, followed by multiple bursts of energy.

“Shit!” Walt braced himself as the mutant fly trap completely passed him by, crossing the river and disappearing in the trees on the other side.

“You are foolish not to kill that thing.” Shao Kahn growled as Frieren and Nimona emerged from the forest.

“We shouldn’t risk killing Larry. We don’t know if Chris would accept pictures of dead mutants.” Frieren hovered into the air and continued tailing the mutant fly trap.

“Hmm?” Shao Kahn noticed Walt crouching next to the river. “Not worth our time. Nimona! Hasten your stride.”

As Shao Kahn breaks out into a sprint, a pang of anger flares up in Walter as he watches the Konquerer pass by him, like nothing more than a pole on the road.

As Nimona quickly followed in a deer form, Walt steeled himself. Standing up from where he was, he muttered a few words as the shapeshifter passed by him.

“I know you took out the Demoman.”

Nimona’s eyes shot wide open, stopping in her tracks. In a puff of smoke, the shapeshifter turns to the chemist in her human form.

“What did you say?” Nimona asked with a dumbfounded expression.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Now, this was just a hunch I had a couple of days ago. I knew someone from the other team had sabotaged us during the relay race, and I assumed it just be these two since they were in an alliance.” Walt stated. “I wasn’t exactly certain earlier, so I made a huge gamble there. But now, judging by her reaction? I can use this to my advantage.”

“Did you really think no one was able to notice?” Walt walked up to the shapeshifter. 

“Ehem… what are you talking about?” Nimona sweated subtly, but enough for Walt to notice her confusion.

“No way getting out of this one, kiddo. I could just tell your team about your alliance. The one you made with possibly the most hated person in this game.” Walt sat down on a nearby rock. “Honestly, I feel like doing that, to at least get the competition out of the way.”

“Huh, what are you on about, old man?” Nimona walked up to the chemist and got close to his face. “Wait… You have some sort of proposal, do you?”

“Hmm?” Walt looked at the shapeshifter.

“Aw, you want to join our alliance, don’t you?” Nimona smiled. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to use that front on us, y’know?”

Walt merely blinked at how upfront Nimona was being.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Wow, this just got really awkward, huh?” Walt crossed his arms in confusion. “I was expecting to scare her a little into getting me into her alliance, but she seems really into the idea.”

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Alright! We have another member in our alliance! And he’s part of the other team as well!” Nimona grinned excitedly. “I honestly didn’t expect him to be the one to approach us, but hey, if he figured us out already, he seems like a good enough asset.”

“Hold still, asshole!” 

Rex dodged under a tentacle as the massive, brown-furred mutant octopus that dragged it around chased it around a stony pond area. Red was nearby, chucking rocks at it in an attempt to guide it.

“Try and move it to the right!” Red dodged another swing. “Wait! No! Too much! Bring it back!”

“Okay, think it’s in the right spot.” Rex blew up an incoming tentacle with his powers. “Now!”

Navia leaned on a boulder as she pointed her camera at the mutant beast. Just then, Larry emerges from the nearby forest and crashes into the Furry Kraken. The two mutants collapse due to the force.

“What in the?” Rex exclaimed as the area was riddled with white destructive energy. “Whoo! What is going on?!”

“Hey, watch it!” Red exclaimed.

“It stopped.” Frieren flew out of the forest holding her staff. “Oh, and that must be the Fuzzy Kraken.”

“Hmm…” Shao Kahn took a picture of the two mutant beasts.

“Hey!” Nimona’s voice was heard as she and Walt ran into the area. “Do we have what we need?”

“We do.” Shao Kahn shoves the pictures into the shapeshifter’s arms. “Make haste, shapeshifter. Set these images up.”

“Aye aye!” Nimona transforms into a deer before disappearing.

“We should see how the others are doing, Shao Kahn.” Frieren mentioned.

“Hmph. If those imbeciles haven’t taken a picture already, they will pay.”

The two Moles disappear into the forest. Walt watched this play out, before walking over to the rest of his teammates.

“Oh, thank god I managed to find you.” Walt exclaimed.

“Hey, Walt.” Navia tried to stand up after taking a picture of the two mutant beasts. “Good thing we managed to find each other again. We should–Ack!”

“Whoa! Whoa! Easy there.” Rex quickly caught the blonde and slung her arm over her shoulder. “Try not to put pressure there, alright?”

“What happened to her?” Walt asked.

“I sprained my ankle earlier, while we were getting pulled away by the tentacle.” Navia explained. “Ack…”

“Look, someone has to bring these pictures back outside the Fun Zone.” Red stated. “I’ll go ahead. Navia still needs you to help her stand, Rex.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Rex nodded.

“Better hurry now, we don’t want to lose, don’t we?” Walt ushered.

“Right.” Red runs off, following the path Nimona took to return to the Fun Zone’s gates.

“Hey, thanks for catching me, Rex.” Navia thanked with appreciation.

“Ah, don’t sweat it. Besides, this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t step on the damn thing.” Rex stated. “Come on, let’s get you back to safety.”

“Okay.” Navia nodded, smiling softly.

“And screw you!”

Gold Ship yelled out as she finished scribbling around the image of the Firehose Vulture on the whiteboard, such doodles including strapping the mutant on a rocket ship and blasting it off into space.

“Hmm… pretty artistic.” Chris stood next to her, rubbing his chin as he observed the drawings. 

“Looks like we both have three pictures.” Maomao looked at the sole Seagull from her station as she stood with Nicole, Denji, Chase and Sasha.

“Hmm…” Nicole turned to Maomao, who seemed pretty nonchalant about not wearing her robe. “Why the hell are you so chill?”

“Oh. This? I don’t really care that much.” Maomao stated. “And besides, not like I have much to show with my skin and bones look.”

“For real?” Nicole turns to Denji, who sat on a nearby table. “Hey, dumbass.”

“Huh? What do you want?” Denji asked.

“What do you think of this?” Nicole pointed at Maomao, who just looked at her unamused.

“Eh, too flat for my liking.” Denji waved off. “Oh, by the way, my bad for destroying your robe.”

“See? It’s just how it is for me.” Maomao turned away from the brunette.

-Confessional: Nicole-

“God, this girl’s such an enigma. It’s so difficult to try and get a read on her.” Nicole stated. “Like bitch, I know you have skin and bones, but why aren’t you bitching about it?”

“Over here!”

The contestants present in the area turn their attention to the gate of the Fun Zone, where Nimona emerged from the mutated forest as a cheetah with Red hanging on by her tail.

“Alright, emergency breaks on!” Nimona stops her run abruptly, sending Red flying and crashing into something offscreen.

“Agh!” Red exclaimed.

“I got the last two images!” Nimona tossed the images towards her teammates.

“Whoo! That hurts.” Red regrouped with Gold Ship with her images in hand. “Alright, you help me attach these images, Gold Ship.”

“Aye-aye!” Gold Ship does a salute.

Red and Gold Ship quickly attach the images of Larry and the Fuzzy Kraken on the wall, next to the images of the other mutants.

“And it is a close one, ladies and gents!” Chris exclaimed.

“Oh, wow. Really?” Gold Ship raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, no. I lied. The Moles completed it a whole 5 seconds before you.”

The two Seagulls turn to the Moles’ station, where the opposing team was celebrating their victory in the challenge.

“Whoohoo!” Sasha threw her fist into the air.

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Denji yelled out.

“Chef? Can you go call our beloved campers and tell them that the match has been decided?” Chris asked, as Chef got onto a nearby ATV and drove into the Fun Zone.

“Well this sucks.” Red crossed her arms. “Guess we have to go vote someone out, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, such a bummer.” Gold Ship walked off towards the Moles’ station. “Does anyone have a 10 sided die? You guys must have one.” 

Red spots a few people walking out of the Fun Zone, those being the group she was with earlier; Walt, Rex and Navia, with the latter being helped by her superhero teammate.

“Finally, we’re back.” Rex exclaimed. “Let’s sit down, shall we?”

“Right.” Navia was led to the Seagulls’ station. “You’re not tired or anything?”

“Nope. Part of the job description.” Rex waved off the blonde’s concern. “Want me to tell you about my escapades?”

“Oh, do tell.” Navia smiled.

Red eyed the two as they sat back down on the chairs. Walt walks past her on the way back to the minifridge, an uncharacteristic smile on his face as he takes out a can of beer.

“You seem pretty chipper right now.” Red stated.

"Is that so? Huh." Walt stated, before opening the can and drinking.

The podcaster is suddenly hit with a realization.

-Confessional: Red-

“Hmm, you’re really gonna give me a choice here, eh Author?” Red raised an eyebrow at the camera. “Fine. I guess I’ll change the game on my own terms.”

Back at Camp Wawanakwa, the Seagulls were now summoned at the campfire, with Chris standing in front of them.

“A-Are you okay, Navia?” Hitori asked the blonde with concern.

“Oh, I’m fine. Just a sprain, will heal in a few days.” Navia smiled at the guitarist, her foot having been wrapped in bandages.

“Alright, Seagulls. You seem to have been bested for the second time.” Chris smiled as most of the Seagulls looked around in uncertainty. “Alright, if you hear your names, receive a marshmallow that seals your fate.”

“Gold Ship...”

“Navia…”

“Richard…”

“Giorno…”

“Gem…

“Hitori…

“Sakamoto…”

“...and Rex.”

The remaining Seagulls without a marshmallow to their name were Walt and Red. They sat still on their seats, waiting patiently as the host’s partner turned towards them.

“Red. You and Gold Ship tried hard to get the pictures up at the last moment, but unfortunately you fell short.” Chef stated. “Walt. Did you even do anything today? You got separated from your team and only found them last minute.”

“Oh please. What kind of things would I be able to accomplish by myself in that place?” Walt replied.

“Alright, save the explanation.” Chris held up the last marshmallow in the air. “The final marshmallow of the day goes to…”

.

.

.

.

.

“Walter! Come on over!” Chris hands the sweet towards the chemistry teacher. “Now, Red. You’re out of the games. You may take your leave now.”

“And that’s the game for me. No point in prolonging my presence any longer.” Red stood up from her seat and began walking over to the Dock of Shame.

“Um, stay safe, Red!” Rex called out to the podcaster.

“You got it.” Red pointed finger guns at the rest of her teammates before stepping onto the Boat of Losers.

As the podcaster was boated away from Camp Wawanakwa, Navia shared a glance with both Rex and Walt, the three of them nodding with understanding.

-Confessional: Navia-

“Red told us to vote for her once we made it out of the Fun Zone. She said her time here was already up and that it's our duty to make things interesting.” Navia stated. “We didn’t know who to vote for then, and while we don't know what she meant by that, she did offer the option to us. But still, it sucks to lose another one of our members.”

-Confessional: Walter White-

“While I don’t particularly understand her reasons, I guess I should be thankful that Red volunteered to get eliminated. My head probably would’ve been on the chopping block if that didn’t happen.” Walt stated. “I’m safe. And that means I’ll be able to negotiate with Shao Kahn in the future. Let’s see if my efforts become fruitful.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Like, Where Are Your Balls?

“Hey, Big Shao!” Nimona greeted the Konquerer in the usual spot for their meeting.

“When will you stop referring to me by that blasted title, shapeshifter?” Shao Kahn growled angrily at his teammate. “Just get to the point, you speak of someone new to join our alliance?”

“Yup. And here he is right now.” Nimona looked over her shoulder. “You can come out now, Walt.”

Walt emerges from behind a tree into the clearing, looking at the floor. At the sight, Shao Kahn couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Heh, you want this to become our teammate?” Shao Kahn asked the shapeshifter. “Do not make me laugh.”

“Aw, c’mon. I mean he’s smart enough to figure us out.” Nimona stated. “And besides, he’s part of the other team. We do need a man on the inside, after all.”

“For what purpose? For his team to win the game? I will not accept it.” Shao Kahn sat down once more. “I thought this would be interesting. Send him off, or our cabin will have a new decoration.”

“Oh, really? Man.” Nimona turned to the chemistry teacher. “Sorry, guess you don’t make the cut.”

“Ah, I guessed as much.” Walt shrugged. “I mean, you guys seem confident you might win, right?”

“What do you take me for, puny human?” Shao Kahn growled.

“Ah, I understand. So you’ll probably be okay with, say, both teams knowing about this alliance of yours?” Walt turned his back to the Konquerer.

After Walt says this, he hears Shao Kahn stand up behind him, as well as the sound of his axe leaving a nearby log. Walt doesn’t bother turning around as the Konquerer approaches him from behind.

“If you plan to cut my head off with that axe of yours, you’ll be disqualified from the show. Would be a shame if the great Shao Kahn gets himself disqualified.” Walt looked down as he talked, realizing that the Konquerer’s axe was mere inches away from his neck. “And besides, you do want to have power over this game, right? A man on the inside seems like power to me.”

“Hmph, fine.” Shao Kahn pulls his weapon back. “As I have said to the shapeshifter, you would be wise not to speak of this.”

“Guess great minds think alike.” Walt nodded, before walking off back towards the campgrounds.

-Confessional: Walter White-

Walt faces the camera and sits calmly down on the seat. After a second, he takes a deep breath, and exhales, letting off a couple ragged breaths of the anxiety he carried.

“Okay… hah…” Walt takes a moment to catch his breath. “Looks like I managed to convince him.” Good. I’ll need connections with someone like him to get far in the game.”

The high-pitched sound of microphone feedback echoed throughout the campsite, before someone began to speak through it.

“All ya turd nuggets better gather in the mess hall! It’s challenge time, and I am not in the mood to repeat myself if you’re deaf.” A raspy female voice echoed through the loudspeakers. “Get to it quickly!”

“Oh, that’s new.” Navia turned to Rex and Giorno as they sat on the docks fishing.

“Yeah, that is not Chris. Think this is something about today’s challenge?” Rex asked.

“Most likely. We should get to the mess hall just to be safe.” Giorno said as something began to tug on Rex’s fishing rod.

“Oh? Will follow you in a sec, just gotta…” Rex begins to reel in his catch, but it quickly proves to be a difficult endeavor. “Wow, I must’ve caught something big.”

“Oh, I’ll help you.” Navia assisted the superhero by grasping the rod as well. “Just keep reeling it in.”

“Alright.” Rex turns the reel as fast as he can, until a shape can be seen under the surface of the water. “Okay, pull with me. Right…”

“Now!”

The two Squawking Seagulls successfully pull the object out of the water, revealing it to be Mad Maggie's wrecking ball, now decorated with a strand of seaweed. The wrecking ball starts bouncing down the campgrounds, making its way to the confessional outhouse.

-Confessional: Walter White-

Walt continues to catch his breath as the wrecking ball crashes through the walls, flying above the chemistry teacher’s head and exiting the outhouse through the opposite wall. Walt jumped up in surprise as he looked at the two holes it made.

“What in the…”

The three Seagulls on the dock watch as Walt leaves the outhouse to inspect the damage. The chemistry turns towards them and spreads his arms out as if signalling ‘What the hell’.

“Whew, I thought they would’ve found the thing by now.” Navia remarked.

“Yeah. It's been how many days now?” Rex tilted his head, before deciding to shrug it off. “Eh, whatever. Hey, Giorno, wait up!”

Giorno opens the door to the mess hall to see that a crowd has formed around a table, made of both Squawking Seagulls members and Manic Moles members.

“Oh? What’s the occasion?” Navia asked as Rex walked up to see what was happening.

“Uh, there seems to be a cat eating a sandwich right now.”

“A cat?”

The last two Seagulls walked up to the table to see something sitting on the table. In the shape of a maneki-neko doll, they were currently eating a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich.

“If you turds got nothing better to do, you can help the cook pull your host out of the freezer.” The maneki-neko doll spoke without looking at the campers.

“You better help me here, Turbo Granny. You’re the one that did this to him.” Chef yelled from the kitchen.

“Screw off! I’m only here to assist with the challenge according to your contract!” Turbo Granny yelled out.

“Alright, we’ll just force you out!” Another new voice echoed from the kitchen, as the sounds of moving hinges indicate that the freezer was being opened.

“Ahh! Please don’t drag me out!”

“You’ve got a show to run, jackass! Continue your showbiz just like always!”

The doors to the kitchen swung open as a white haired woman pulled Chris out into the dining area, the host panicking wildly.

“No! I can’t! My reputation will be ruined!”

“You’ve already been arrested before, this shouldn’t be as bad as that.” The woman stated.

“Hey, Seiko.” Turbo Granny turned to the woman. “I’m still not yet finished with my sandwich, so you’ll have to explain the challenge.”

“Fine. But you’ll have to explain with me, you hear?” Seiko raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

“So, uh, who are these two?” Sasha asked Chef.

“These two are gonna be facilitating today’s challenge.” Chef explained. “The woman is Seiko Ayase, and the little cat thing is a yokai named Turbo Granny.”

“Alright, listen here.” Seiko called everyone’s attention. “Today’s challenge is going to revolve around these things.”

Seiko points her bat at something on the table where Turbo Granny was eating, being two small golden spheres.

“Ooh, shiny.” Gem commented.

“Aaah! These must be ox bezoars!” Maomao grabbed one of the spheres with excitement.

“Somehow I doubt that.” Nicole stated. “What are these things supposed to be, anyway?”

“Testicles.”

The silence was thick once Seiko said that. Maomao stood frozen, before silently placing the balls back down on the table before walking out of the mess hall.

“I’m sorry, what?” Nimona tilted her head.

“Turbo Granny is a yokai that can possess people. She can also curse people by removing their organs through spiritual means, specifically their genitals.” Seiko gestured to the cat doll sitting nearby, still eating her sandwich. “The contract that was offered to us stated that Turbo Granny can take the balls of someone on the island.”

“Wait, those aren’t mine, are they?!” Rex moves to the corner to check his pants. “Whew.”

This prompted a lot of the male campers to check their pants in case their junk was stolen. After a couple of moments, they all sigh with relief.

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought it’d be gone again.” Denji sighed.“Okay…?” Nimona slowly spoke up. “So… nobody got their junk stolen. Whose genitals did you steal?”

“Take a wiiiiiiiild guess on who I took ‘em from.” Turbo Granny stated as she finishes the sandwich.

A few seconds pass, and everyone slowly turns to Chris McLean, who was currently in the process of sneaking out through the front door.

-Confessional: Gold Ship-

Gold Ship takes a long moment to wheeze out a laugh, turning purple and keeling over out of breath.

-Confessional: Shao Kahn-

Shao Kahn spends the entirety of his time in the confessional letting out a guttural laugh that echoed powerfully.

-Confessional: Nicole-

“Pfft— oh man, that’s fucking hilarious. To have your nuts being taken by a ghost inhabiting a lucky cat as a celebrity, this is going down in the history books.” Nicole smirked, finding the entire situation to be funny. “Guess that’s one reason why I’m grateful to be in this show, to witness the start of the hugest fucking scandal coming Chris’ way. Unless he touched someone before, which is likely.”

-Confessional: Maomao-

Maomao holds up a hacksaw she found, contemplating whether to use it on her hand or not. Suddenly, a line shoots into the large hole on the confessional wall and pulls the tool away from the apothecary.

“I’m sorry, Maomao! Can’t let you cut your hand off!” Sasha’s voice was heard off screen.

“Drat.” Maomao frowned at the sight.

Seiko draws a pitcher’s mound on the ground of the campsite as the campers watch. Chris sat on a chair a good distance away, facing the forest of Camp Wawanakwa.

“Alright. For today’s challenge, you will be inserting the man’s balls back into his body.” Seiko explains the challenge, with Turbo Granny sitting on her shoulder.

“With pleasure.” Shao Kahn grinned maniacally.

“Wait! No! I am the host! I should not be subject to this!” Chris yelled out.

“Or would you rather spend the rest of your career castrated?” Seiko replied to the host, causing him to shut up.

“I mean hey, on the bright side, you’d be safe from any cheating scandals that come your way.” Rex yelled out. 

“Pfft.” Gold Ship spat out in laughter.

“Oh please, he for sure has been fucking way before this.” Nicole commented, before turning to the pitcher’s mound. “Wait, hold on. Surely we aren’t going to be throwing his testicles like baseball players.”

“Right on the money there, girlie.” Turbo Granny stated. “Hope you sissies have a good pitching arm, because you're punting the damn things into this bitch’s scrotum.”

“And I’ll be the one batting them away.” Seiko places a cigarette in her mouth. “Two teams, two balls. You’ll be pitching one at a time. And if I successfully bat away a ball, a ballot will be drawn to randomly retrieve the ball from the forest and pitch next. Whoever reinserts a ball first wins the challenge.”

“Wait, you mean all of us will be… touching his balls?” Chase asked.

“Oh, grow up, you turd nuggets! It’s wrapped in spiritual energy! And it’s not like his junk is as big as these things!” Turbo Granny yelled out.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve been described as a large frog before!” Chris yelled out from where he was sitting.

-Confessional: Maomao-

“Now why does this feel like deja vu?” Maomao slightly shivered as she sat in the confessional.

“Alright, rock paper scissors to determine which team starts.” Chef says.

“Hmph.” Shao Kahn turned to the Squawking Seagulls. “Who wants to try their hand against me.”

Sakamoto walked over to the Konquerer and held his fist out. A sneer grew from Shao Kahn’s face at his presence, before the two engaged in a single round of RPS.

Sakamoto plays scissors, Shao Kahn plays rock.

“And the Manic Moles start the game. Shao Kahn, you won RPS, you go first pitch.”

Shao Kahn grabs one of Chris’ Golden Balls and walks over to the pitcher’s mound. Seiko walks in front of Chris and assumes a batter’s formation.

“Surely there is a better way to do this right?!” Chris exclaimed in fear. “Those are my family jewels you’re hitting!”

“Pitcher’s standing firm. Hey hey hey!” Seiko calls out 

“Why aren’t you listening to me?!” Chris yelled out.

Shao Kahn braces his arm as he prepares a pitch straight for Chris’ loins. Turbo Granny moves her face to Seiko’s ear.

“I assumed this challenge wasn't gonna take long, but you got the big ol’ bastard pitching first, huh?” Turbo Granny whispered into Seiko’s ear.

“Hey, have you already forgotten the object you’re using as a vessel?” Seiko asks as Shao Kahn pitches the ball with a shockwave. “With the maneki-neko doll, I’m blessed with good luck!”

Seiko strikes the golden ball with her bat, sending it high up into the sky in a glint of golden light before falling into the forest.

“Whoo! That seems like a homerun if I ever saw one.” Rex exclaimed in awe.

“Alright, time for the ballot.” Chef pulls a card out of the Manic Moles’ ballot. “Nimona! You’re up!”

“Aye aye!” Nimona transforms into a hummingbird and flies into the forest.

“Alright, for the Seagulls’ first pitcher, we have…” Chef pulls a card from the Squawking Seagull’s ballot. “... Gold Ship! Get to pitching!”

“Right.” Gold Ship grabbed the ball before moving over to the pitcher’s mound. “Better get ready, I’m gonna make it hurt!”

“Oh, by all means, go ahead.” Seiko prepared another swing.

-Confessional: Chris McLean-

“Surely this qualifies for bodily mutilation, right?”  Chris asked the camera with a fearful expression.

“Nah.” Turbo Granny appeared from under the shot, jumping on Chris’ shoulder and leaning on his head. “That contract you had us write lets us choose who on the island to castrate without ANY repercussions. I’ve been dead for who knows how long and I still know to read the fine print.”

“Gah! How did you get here?!”

Seiko bats away the ball into the forest. Chef pulls another card from the Seagulls’ ballot.

“Giorno! You’re up.”

“Right.” Giorno nodded before following where the ball flew off.

As the gang-star enters the forest, Nimona returns to the scene as a komodo dragon with her team’s ball wrapped by her tail.

The shapeshifter scuttles over to the pitcher’s mound before transforming back into her human form.

“Alright. Time to unleash a wicked swerve.” Nimona boasted as her arm transformed into that of a gorilla’s.

The shapeshifter’s massive arms throw the golden ball at Chris, a surprising curve being followed. Seiko strikes the ball at an angle, causing it to get deflected to the side and into the ocean behind them.

“Whoo! That was a good pitch there.” Seiko stated.

“Um…” Maomao tilted her head. “Are the… balls perhaps buoyant?”

“I’m sure they are.” Turbo Granny shrugged. 

“Chase! You retrieve the ball.” Chef yells out after pulling from the ballot.

“From the sea?” Chase raised an eyebrow. “Alright then. Sasha, hold my jacket.”

The ACME agent hands his coat to Sasha as he makes his way to the docks. Everyone watches as he dives into the water and swims out into the distance.

“This is nothing! I’ll find the ball in no time!” Chase yells out as his voice gets more and more and more distant.

As Chase swims further and further out into the water, a silence overtakes the area as they wait for the two members to arrive.

“Hey, uh, this is how you’re supposed to pitch, right?”

Navia turns to Hitori who was behind her team, trying to assume a pitcher’s stance right before a throw. But this quickly proves to be unstable as she begins to wobble on one foot.

“Whoa!” Hitori exclaimed.

“Whoa, be careful there.” Navia exclaimed. “Frankly, I don’t really have baseball in my world, so I’m not really sure how to do it. Oh! Wait!”

Navia tapped Rex’s shoulder, catching his attention.

“What’s up, Navia?” Rex asked.

“Just asking for tips on how to pitch. We both may need it if our turn comes up.” Navia stated.

“Oh, sure. I’m down. Nothing’s happening anyway, so fuck it.” Rex agreed.

“Thank you!” Navia beamed.

-Confessional: Navia-

“I feel like I’ve made good friends with Rex. I wonder how he’ll feel about an alliance.” Navia stated. “I probably should start gathering up allies as the eliminations pile on.”

Giorno walks onto the pitching mound and clutches the ball in preparation for a pitch.

“Oh, just wait a moment and watch his form, okay?” Rex stated.

“Gold Experience!”

Giorno summons his Stand that throws the ball straight at Chris, but it was batted into the air by Seiko.

“Richard! Get on it.” Chef yelled out.

“Oh! Gotta go!” Richard trailed the golden ball into the forest.

“Oh, come on, Giorno. We could’ve had a learning experience here if you didn’t use your stand.” Rex exclaimed.

“What are you talking about?” Giorno asked.

“Eh, it’s not that big a deal, he’s just trying to teach us how to pitch.” Navia stated. “Just in case we get chosen.”

“Well, since that didn’t work, we can just practice in the meantime.” Rex stated.

Maomao watches this interaction from a distance as she sits on the stairs of the Manic Moles’ cabin.

“Hmm…”

“Alright.” Denji breathed out, catching Maomao’s attention.

Denji was currently in a pitcher’s stance as well, trying to recreate what the other campers were doing on the mound.

Maomao stands up and walks over to the dirty blonde, before joining him in trying to replicate a baseball pitch.

“Oh? You want to join me, Maomao?” Denji asked. “Yes. I would need to pull my weight in physical challenges like this.” Maomao nodded. “It would be a shame if we lost because of me. I’d be quickly kicked out.”

“Ah, got ya.” Denji pointed a finger gun at the apothecary. “Anyway, think you can help me with this one?”

“I thought you knew how to throw.” Maomao tilted her head at the question.

“Nope, got no clue. Which is why I’m asking you.” Denji explained.

“Baseball doesn’t exist in my world.”

“...”

“And my only physical activities are chores.”

-Confessional: Denji-

“Well, shit. The both of us don’t know how to pitch. That could be a problem.” Denji rubbed his chin.

Chase emerges from the sea with a golden ball in hand, running over to the pitching mound dripping with lakewater.

“I had to swim around sharks to get this.” Chase exclaimed.

“So? Get on and punt the damn thing already.” Seiko brushed the exclamation off.

Chase pitches the ball, which was struck by the spirit medium sending it into the forest.

“Frieren, get on it!” Chef yelled out, prompting the elven mage to stand up.

“Ugh, I have to take a shower again.” Chase complained. “Be right back!”

“Oi, Chase! Get back here, we need your help!” Denji yelled out.

“I can’t hear you! Tell me when I get back!” Chase quickly enters the communal bath, leaving Denji flabbergasted.

As Frieren hovered her way into the forest, Maomao noticed someone else missing from their group after realizing there was a lack of insults.

“Where’s Nicole?” 

“Oh, I think she went behind the cabin.” Denji answered. “Are you thinking we should ask her how to pitch.”

“Yes. Follow me, we may need to convince her.” Maomao gestured.

“And why would I do that?”

Nicole’s response was quick. Maomao realized that the student hadn’t really thought hard on what she was doing. Frankly, she was starting to get annoyed by it.

“I just plan to throw his nuts at him as intended. I don’t want to have to teach you shit.” Nicole stated.

“We have to at least try not to get eliminated. If we lose here, there is a chance that either you or I will be the next one eliminated.” Maomao stated.

“I’m willing to take my chances.” Nicole stated.

Maomao narrowed her eyes at the girl’s attitude, taking note of her similarities to certain types of people back in the rear palace.

“And why are you with her?” Nicole casted a glance at Denji, who stood nearby.

“Honestly, it’d be a shame to have another hottie be kicked out of our team.” Denji scratched the back of his head.

Nicole merely raised an eyebrow at that, and Denji’s frown dropped slightly. Maomao’s frown deepens, expecting a not so good outcome to come from this.

“Define hottie, because you must be out of your mind to consider that maniacal warlord hot.” Nicole stated.

“I mean, she did piss me off, but I’m not blind.” Denji answered. 

“You know what? Fine. I’ll try and recall some of the shit I see on TV.” Nicole walked over to her two teammates. “Just don’t blame me if either of you two get booted off this fucking island.”

-Confessional: Maomao-

“Well, it took some convincing, but she’s gonna help us.” Maomao sighed. “She’s pretty difficult to work with, but at least that’s progress.”

-Confessional: Nicole-

“I honestly don’t give a shit about what Maomao thinks, but I guess it’s about time I should find my footing.” Nicole crossed her arms as she explained to the camera. “Denji’s definitely a dumbass, the kind of dumbass that’s focused on hot chicks, and I am in need of an alliance if I want to win this thing.”

Richard pitches the ball from the mound, but Seiko manages to strike it into the forest just like most of the previous attempts.

“Aw.” Richard frowned.

“How did that not hit? That was some serious curving.” Gem remarked.

“Sakamoto, your turn.”

The ex-hitman gave a thumbs up to the co-host and ran into the forest. Gem walks over to where her team was and watches as Hitori tries another faux pitch.

“Amazing form, Hitori.” Gem remarked, causing the guitarist to flinch

“Eep!” Hitori froze, before relaxing just a smidge. “O-Oh, thank you.”

“Yeah, just keep practicing that until it’s your turn.” Rex stated.

“Right.” Navia nodded.

“Right…” Hitori nodded.

Frieren emerges from the forest, with Sakamoto following quickly behind.

“Frieren arrived first, she’s next on the mound.” Chef called out to the two.

“Alright.” Frieren replied blankly before walking over to the mound.

Frieren looks at the golden ball with a blank expression on her face, before turning to the spirit medium ready to bat whatever comes her way. The other Moles watched in confusion as the elf didn’t make any attempts to prepare herself.

They were right to think that, as Frieren tossed the ball relatively softly, letting Seiko bat it into the air into the chimney of the mess hall.

“Huh?!” Shao Kahn exclaimed.

“Okay, wow.” Sasha remarked.

“What was that pathetic excuse of a pitch?!” Shao Kahn exclaimed.

“I am a mage, I don’t aim for my physical attributes.” Frieren explained, her tone still neutral despite her attempt.

“Maomao, you’re up.” Chef announced.

“Huh?” Maomao was in the middle of practicing, and was caught off guard as she stood on one leg. “Whoa! Alright.”

“Sakamoto, step onto the mound.” Chef called out. 

Sakamoto walked over to the pitcher’s mound, and his foot steps on top of it, the ball is already pitched at high speeds towards Seiko.

“Being hasty, are we?” Seiko narrowed her eyes.

Seiko reacts quickly, striking the ball away from its frightened owner and causing a second shockwave for the day.

“Pitching abruptly, huh?” Seiko eyed as the ball flew high above the forest. “You almost caught me off guard there for a second.”

-Confessional: Taro Sakamoto-

“It was worth a try.” Sakamoto stated blankly towards the camera.

“Hitori, you’re up next.” Chef called out.

“R-Right!” Hitori stopped what she was doing and turned to the forest. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Okay!” Navia waved off the guitarist.

As Hitori leaves to follow the ball into the forest, Maomao leaves the mess hall with their ball in hand, dusting off the fireplace ash that covered it. The apothecary made her way to the pitching mound as she looked at the spirit medium.

“Show me what you got, girl.” Seiko taunted.

Maomao grips the ball tightly, before straining her arm to pitch the ball at a power she wasn’t used to. The ball was batted away, of course, but it seemed to have landed considerably closer than Sakamoto’s pitch earlier.

“Hmm, was that a good attempt?” Maomao questioned herself as she clutched her arm at that strenuous pitch.

“Nicole, your turn.” Chef called out.

“Of course I am.” Nicole rolled her eyes before walking off into the forest. “Now where did that fucking nut go?”

Meanwhile, Hitori was seen running through the forest, her breath shaky from having to run deep into the forest.

“Come on, push through it.” Hitori muttered to herself, before spotting something in the distance. “Huh?”

The glint of a golden ball shined from above, its source currently tucked into a hummingbird nest.

“Phew, I thought it would be a while for me to find it.” Hitori spoke to herself softly. “But now…”

Seeing no other way, Hitori jumps up to grab the branch, hanging onto it as she scoots over to where the nest was.

“Okay, there. I’m next to the nest. What now?”

Hitori contemplates what to do for a moment, before attempting to shake down the branch with her weight.

“Nice and steady… huh?” 

The wrecking ball rolls into the scene once more and slams into the tree Hitori was climbing, causing it to tremble and shake violently.

“Whoa!” Hitori falls off the tree branch, landing painfully on the ground. “Graaagh…”

As Hitori tends to her injury, the golden ball drops onto her head and falls onto her lap.

“Huh.” Hitori quickly grabs the ball and pockets it. “I have to get back soon. I hope I get there before the next Mole can pitch.”

Meanwhile, Nicole was seen reaching into a bush to pull out a golden ball.

“Hmm.” Nicole hummed to herself before walking back to the campsite. No muss, no fuss.

-Confessional: Chef Hatchet-

“Ah. The power of editing.” Chef says blankly, reading a cue card in his hand. “Don’t look at me like that. Chris is currently too castrated to be in front of a camera right now.”

“I’m back.” Nicole walked back into the campsite. “Let’s get this over with.”

Nicole steps onto the mound and pitches the ball, which gets launched into the air.

“Sasha! You’re up!”

“Okay!”

Sasha zipped into the forest with her ODM Gear as Hitori returns from the forest. After Hitori returns to pitch, a montage begins, displaying the next couple of pitches.

“Navia! You’re up!”

Navia leaves for the forest, while Sasha flies in to pitch the ball, which was batted away.

“Chase! Your turn!”

Chase runs off, as Navia returns to pitch. She tries to emulate what she saw with the others, but her attempt was also batted away.

“Giorno! Up and at it!”

Giorno made his way towards the forest, before Chase sprinted back into the field. The ACME agent attempts a quick pitch like what Sakamoto did. However, he was also unable to catch Seiko off guard with that attempt.

“Denji! Better get on it!”

Denji walks into the forest as Giorno jogs back in. Stepping onto the mound, Giorno once again attempts to use his Stand to pitch, this time attempting to curve the ball. This fails as well, with the ball being launched into the air.

“Walt! It’s your time now!”

Walt stands up from sitting on the ground. Before disappearing into the wilderness, the chemistry teacher casts a glance at Nimona and Shao Kahn, catching their attention.

“Huh, it seems like Walt needs something.” Nimona remarked quietly as the chemistry teacher disappeared into the woods.

“So? If it could benefit us, then you should scurry off and meet him.” Shao Kahn insisted.

Denji runs into the scene with a golden ball. The devil hunter runs onto the mound and tries another pitch. And just like the others, it fails to get past the spirit medium.

“Nimona, your turn.” Chef declares.

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Well, that makes it easier.” Nimona remarked.

The shapeshifter flies through the forest in the form of a crow, speeding between the trees before spotting a certain bald headed man in the distance.

Walt reaches into a hole in the tree in order to pull out the ball as Nimona pops up behind him.

“Heya, Walt!”

“Oh! Jeez!” Walt jumps up in fright, bumping his head on the wood above him. “Agh! Agh…” 

“Oh, sorry dude.” Nimona quickly apologized.

“It’s… fine. It’s fine.” Walt rubbed the bump on his head in pain.

“So, got a plan in mind?” Nimona asked. “What is it? Who’s the target?”

“The target? You want a target?” Walt asked. “Well, if you want to know, what we’ll be sabotaging is…”

“...the Squawking Seagulls.”

Walt runs out of the forest with a golden ball in hand, running over to the pitcher’s mound.

“Whoo! You got this, Walt!” Gold Ship cheered on.

Walt spares a glance at the horse girl before turning back to Seiko, who stands at the ready.

“You ready?” Seiko goaded the chemistry teacher.

Hearing this, Walt pitches the ball, pulling as much strength as he could into the throw. Seiko manages to bat it with ease, though, sending it into the forest.

Looking up above the canopy, Nimona in a pelican form followed the Seagulls’ golden ball as it traveled through the air, catching it in her mouth as it got close to the ground.

“Okay, good luck finding this!”

Nimona transforms into a gorilla in a puff of smoke, before punting the golden ball in a random direction far from its original landing point.

“Alright, now to get back to my team.”

Transforming into a deer, the shapeshifter sprints back to the campsite as fast as she can. As her hooves gallop on the floor, the next Seagull to pitch after Walter ran past her, not knowing what she had done. 

Gold Ship sprinted through the forest, excited for another go at pitching Chris’ ball at him as painfully as possible.

-Confessional: Walter White-

“Look, I know it’s silly to try and sabotage my own team, but if I want to keep being in Shao Kahn’s alliance for the foreseeable future, I’ll have to get into his good graces in some way.” Walt explained to the camera. “I’ll need to give Shao Kahn a reason to keep me in case things get rough for the alliance. And hey, baby steps.”

Nimona steps onto the pitcher’s mound and grapes the golden ball in her hand. She stares down the spirit medium, before transforming her arms into orangutan arms, using its length to curve the ball in an odd direction.

“Huh?” Seiko raised an eyebrow as the ball curved in her direction.

Forced to prevent the ball from hitting her, Seiko moves her bat to strike it in an awkward angle, sending the ball crashing into the female side window of the Seagulls’ cabin.

“The fuck?” Rex exclaimed.

“Hey! Our window!” Gem exclaimed. “What was that for

“Oops, sorry. My bad. That wasn’t intentional.” Nimona scratched the back of her head, before turning to Seiko who was giving her a nasty stink eye. “But what was intentional was trying to get you not to bat the ball into the forest.”

“And so you pitched the ball at me, huh? Interesting.” Seiko spun her bat around. “But where does that lead you?”

“Well, earlier, Nicole managed to pitch before Hitori, despite the Seagulls’ getting their ball pitched first, right?.” Nimona explained.

“Oh, I see what’s going on here.” Seiko takes a puff of her cigarette. “As long the ball returns, the team can pitch no matter who did it previously. Is that your point?”

“Yup.” Nimona turns to the rest of her teammates. “You guys do know what that means, right?”

“So you're saying we can try and manipulate the ball in a way so that it wouldn’t go far.” Chase mused. 

“Huh? Oh!” Denji grabbed Frieren by her tunic and brought her to the open. “Hey Chris! Can we try and stop the ball from flying away? Frieren can do it.”

“So rough.” Frieren frowned.

“Wait, no. That’s probably not allowed.” Maomao shook her head.

-Confessional: Giorno Giovanna-

“She’s right. Something that deliberate shouldn’t be allowed.” Giorno rubbed his chin in thought. “Chris has the ultimate decision in all this.”

-Confessional: Nimona-

“Which is why we’ll use that to our advantage.” Nimona stated, continuing Giorno’s train of thought. “Walt says we should convince Chris to change the rules in our favor.”

“That being said, he warned me not to be the one to bring it up in order not to bring any attention that could uncover our alliance. So, by implanting the idea into my team, especially considering who’s in it, then something amazing happens.”

“Hey Chris!” Nicole yelled out. “You want your nuts back, yeah?” 

“Of course I do!” Chris yelled out in response. “Preferably as fast as you can.”

“Hey! Hey! No, I don’t this!” Richard yelled out.

“As fast as we can, huh? So, can we try and stop the ball from flying out?” Nicole asked.

“Come on! If we make enough noise he won’t be able to hear it.” Rex ushered the rest of his team. “Don’t listen to those assholes!”

“Would be able to make this challenge go much quicker, don’t you think?!” Nicole yelled out to counter the superhero’s attempts to drown her out.

“Fine! Whatever! Just return my pride as a man to me!”

-Confessional: Richard Watterson-

“Um, this is bad.” Richard stated nervously. “Oh, I don’t want our team to lose again.”

And with that, preventing the ball from flying was allowed. Chef, having been distracted by the exchange, remembers what he was there to do. He shakes the Manic Moles’ ballot in preparation for another draw.

“Pride, as if that thing was being used in the first place.” Chef muttered.

“I heard that!” Chris yelled out as his co-host drew another card from the ballot. 

“Nicole! Get on it!”

Seiko watches as the brunette rolled her eyes and made her way to retrieve the ball from the Seagulls’ cabin.

“Alright then.” Seiko sighs as she slung her baseball bat over her shoulder. “Bring it on.”

What follows for the next ten minutes was hard to watch for the Squawking Seagulls, as it was an endless loop of Chef calling on a member of the Moles, who pitches the ball that Seiko bats away, which was then blocked by hexagonal shields of mana conjured by Frieren.

Seiko was visible getting worn out with every pitch that came her way, especially after pitches from the likes of Shao Kahn and Nimona.

“Guys, this is bad.” Hitori exclaimed.

“They’re trying to break Seiko down to find an opening. They’ll hit a pitch in no time.” Giorno remarked.

“Where the hell is Gold Ship?” Rex raised an eyebrow.

“I volunteer to look for her.” Richard raises a hand.

“Yeah, we have to make sure that she’s okay.” Navia nodded in agreement.

“Gaaaaagh!”

Gold Ship was seen running out of the forest, her hands grasping head as she screams the top of her lungs

“Guys! I can’t find the ball!” Gold Ship yelled out.

“What?” Walt exclaimed.

“I can’t find it anywhere!” Gold Ship repeated loudly. “I looked around where I saw the ball land and I still couldn’t find it!”

“Oh shit.” Rex frowned at that. 

“Look, are you sure you checked thoroughly?” Gem asked.

“Of course I did! Multiple times, in fact!” Gold Ship attempted to tear her own hair out in frustration. “I’ll head back to look for it again, be right back!”

“Shao Kahn!”

The Konquerer steps up to the pitcher’s mound as he stares down the spirit medium in front of him, panting heavily from the intense workout she had.

“Hmm, think this’ll be the one to get ya?” Turbo Granny taunted from her shoulder.

“It would be wise of you to shut up.” Seiko raises her bat again, ready for another swing. “So, you got another one in ya, big guy?”

“Hmm.” Shao Kahn gripped the ball tightly.

Bending his legs, Shao Kahn lets out a grunt as he pitches the ball, emitting a shockwave in the process. The ball curves into a spiral as it flies, forcing Seiko to act quickly.

Unfortunately, the spirit medium swings a moment to late, as the ball curves upwards to narrowly avoid her bat.

A glistening sound fills the air as the golden ball strikes Chris McLean in between his legs, emitting a golden light that shines in everyone’s faces.

“GraaaaaaaaaagH!”

The force of the throw sends Chris flying forward into the waters of Lake Ontario. Shao Kahn takes a moment to smirk before letting out a bellowing laughter at the expense of the host.

“Alright. We have a winner today.” Turbo Granny remarked. “The team who managed to get a ball back onto the host is the Manic Moles.”

“Woohoo!” Chase exclaimed.

“Yeah-ha!” Denji threw his hands into the air.

“Oh, darn it.” Gem deadpanned at the sight.

“Well, you guys know what to do.” Seiko turned to the Seagulls.

“Yeah, make sure you guys prepare for tonight.” Chef walked up to the Seagulls. “But first, we’ll have to restore Chris’ balls, the both of ‘em. So hand it over.”

The Seagulls fall silent at this, nervously glancing at Gold Ship who merely covers her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from laughing. “Wait…” Chef notices their behavior and puts the pieces together. “No, you didn’t…”

“Yeah… we did.” Rex replies.

“Mmm, this tastes so good.”

Denji scarfs down a bowl of food as Maomao and Nicole watch in two different ranges of disgust. It was currently night time, and a massive table has been prepared in the middle of the campsite with multiple trays of food, with the members of the Moles currently enjoying a nice big dinner.

“Oh, tuna.” Chase reaches for a tuna bowl, but it is quickly taken away.

“No! My tuna.” Nimona exclaimed, bowl in hand.

“Don’t you hog all the fatty bits to yourself!” Turbo Granny jumped out of nowhere, hanging onto the bowl for dear life.

“Oh no you don’t!”

As Chase and Nimona fought over the bowl of tuna, Shao Kahn helped himself to the entire serving of hot pot; no one bothered to stop him.

“Seiko, do you have more steak?” Frieren asked, an empty plate in front of her.

“Yeah, we already finished ours.” Sasha chimed in.

“You two ate all of the first batch by yourselves.” Seiko raised an eyebrow as she stood in front of a grill. “Next time, save some for the others. I don’t wanna hear any complaints from the lot of you.”

“Do you really have to do this?” Chef raised a disapproving eyebrow at the spirit medium as she flips a steak.

“The contract I was given says I can cook after the challenge.” Seiko explained. “Take it up to your higher-ups.”

Chef grumbled before turning to the Seagulls, who currently sat in front of the campfire ready for judgement to be brought onto them.

“Um, where’s Chris?” Walt asked. “He isn’t available right now. Pretty Boy’s currently focused on looking for his second ball.” Chef explained the reason of the host’s absence. “The one you people lost.”

“That wouldn’t reflect on our legal records, would it?” Gem asked.

“Unfortunately for Chris, no. You know how the network is with its contracts. Airtight.” Chef stated, before presenting a tray of marshmallows to the Seagulls. “However, you still lost today’s challenge. And that means one of you will be booted.”

The burly chef walked up to the Seagulls and began handing out marshmallows to them.

“I’m not in the mood to do the entire song and dance right now, so I’ll just give y’all the marshmallows.”

The Squawking Seagulls all received a marshmallow from the co-host. In order, there was;

Rex,

Giorno,

Richard,

Hitori,

Navia,

Gem,

Sakamoto, and…

.

.

.

.

.

Walter.

Gold Ship sighs to herself, before standing up.

“Alright. I had a good run.” Gold Ship remarked. “See you guys.”

“Yeah, it sucks.” Rex stated. “Have a safe trip, girl.”

“You bet I will.” Gold Ship replied. “Honestly, my only regret right now is not being a part of the dinner.”

“Oi!”

Gold Ship turned to Seiko, who raised her hands to draw her attention.

“Come eat yer fill before you head off. You’ve had a trying day today.” Seiko offered.

Hearing this, Gold Ship’s mouth morphs into a smirk, before sprinting off towards the dinner.

“Agh!” Turbo Granny was thrown off the bowl as Chase and Nimona continued their struggle. “Turd nuggets. Huh?”

Turbo Granny watches as Gold Ship made her way towards her, eyes fixated on the bowl of tuna currently being tugged between the two Moles.

“I’ll have the tuna first!” Gold Ship declared.

“Get out of the way!” Turbo Granny yelled out in a panic.

The Seagulls watch in amusement as Gold Ship collided with Chase and Nimona, intensifying the struggle for that singular bowl of tuna.

“Well, at least she’s enjoying herself.” Navia remarked.

“Come on, I don’t want to miss all that food.” Richard urged.

“You’re speaking my language, pal.” Rex replied. “Come on, the night’s still young.”

Later that night, after Gold Ship left the island, Giorno and Navia were seen ducking in a secluded area in the forest, with the gang-star looking out as two more people met up with them.

“Ah, you two. Thanks for coming out here so late.” Giorno greeted the two new arrivals.

“Yeah, I hope this’ll be quick.” Rex crossed his arms.

“So, I assume this is what I think it is.” Sakamoto stated.

“Yup.” Navia nodded in confirmation. “We’re suspicious of the Moles for sabotaging our challenges.”

“Um, yeah. Today is a huge fucking example.” Rex stated.

“We also shouldn’t forget what happened in the relay race.” Giorno added.

“So, now that we’re all together…” Navia spoke up.

“Wanna join an alliance?”