Sammy's POV
Sarah and I were up first after Owen and Noah, "Fly to Oulu, Finland."
"Finland?" She asked.
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Don's POV
"Finland. This European country is home to countless coffee drinkers, cell phone users, and the most saunas per capita, which is where the teams are headed. Here, at the Don box of the piping hot sauna's Apena Pilei Spa. Why suffer in the cold when you can suffer in the heat?"
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Sammy's POV (cont.)
We ran to the the stop to get a taxi, but they were flying past us! Literally, it looked like the drivers wouldn't stop for anything.
"Taxi! Hello?! Need a ride here! Aren't you guys gonna stop?! Come on! We need to go to the airport!"
"I got this," Sarah said as she pulled out a large sign board that read 'OULU OR BUST'.
"TAXI!!!" She and Spud (who just took off his shirt to flag down a taxi for him and Rock) screamed as a queue of taxi cabs immediately stopped for them to hop in.
Anyway, after a short flight, we arrived in Finland, rode another taxi, and approached the Don Box for our next challenge. The Reality TV Pros came in next.
"YES! First ones here!" Sarah cheered and gave Owen a high-five.
I took the next tip from the Don Box, "It's an All-In: Finnish Spa Day. Teams have to sit in a dry sauna-"
Owen smiled at the thought of relaxing, "Awesome!"
"-fully clothed at the highest heat for ten minutes." Noah finished as we noticed Owen stripping himself down.
"Okay, less awesome."
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Don's POV
"Each one has just enough room for two teams. The ten minute timer doesn't start until both teams have crammed inside. Since there's an odd number, a third team can do the challenge, too."
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Sarah's POV
"After the sauna, collect a tip from the next Don Box by crossing the semi-frozen river." We all looked over at it and saw a baby harp seal sneeze to slide off the ice.
"Well, this could be as hard as it looks," I sighed then replaced it with a determined expression while pounding my fists together, "Let's do this!"
"First place and second place!" Owen proceeded to select a sauna but we stopped him.
"Wait! Uh... mind if we wait, for uh, I don't know... Emma and Kitty?" Noah asked.
"Do I mind? Not in the least," Owen answered.
"So are we," I added. "After all, we are in an alliance."
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COMBINED CONFESSIONAL TIME (REALITY TV PROS & CHEERLEADERS)
NOAH
"I'm making headway with Emma. The trick is to constantly be in her face. Girls love that. But I won't let it affect our race. My top priority is Emma. I mean, winning!"
OWEN
*he, Sarah, and Sammy giggle* "Sure it is."
SARAH
"And besides, we still have first place and second place."
*Rockers enter sauna*
SAMMY
"Okay, second place and third place."
NOAH
"Relax, guys, we'll get there."
*Goths race Into the same one as Rock and Spud*
OWEN
"Third place and fourth place."
NOAH
"Still ahead of everyone else."
*Adversity Twins, Ice Dancers, Cadets, and Haters Pass By*
SAMMY
"Make that... uh... *counts with her fingers* ...seventh place and eighth place."
NOAH
"Okay, seriously, where are they?!" *Emma and Kitty showed up*
SARAH
"Oh, they you are! We were just wondering where you were."
END COMBINED CONFESSIONAL
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"Anyway, the sauna we'll pick can fit the six of us inside and I figured we all should go try together since we're in alliance," I explained.
"A sauna, huh? Sounds hot." Kitty was mostly mocking Emma.
Once we were inside the sauna we just selected, we were all sweating like crazy.
"SO HOT!" She complained. "How long have we been in here?"
"Ten seconds," Emma replied.
"So, uh..." Noah tried to spark up a conversation.
"Too hot too talk right now."
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DUAL CONFESSIONAL TIME (REALITY TV PROS)
NOAH
"Yup. Making headway."
OWEN
"And all it cost us was our lead!"
END DUAL CONFESSIONAL
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DUAL CONFESSIONAL TIME (SISTERS)
KITTY
"What's your problem? You like Noah."
EMMA
"Shh! Noah doesn't know that and I don't want him finding out! I'll ask him out after we win, okay?"
KITTY
*singsong* "You're gonna ask out Noah."
EMMA
"Ugh!"
END DUAL CONFESSIONAL
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After ten minutes, Kitty picked up from what it looks like a bucket of water and use it to pour on herself, "I didn't know dry saunas had water."
"Uh... it isn't water. It's Owen's sweat," Noah pointed to Owen, sitting around a handful of buckets full of his sweat.
"I-I am like a sweat volcano," Owen groaned.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed as if she did the biggest mistake of her life and ran out of the sauna, still screaming and flailing her arms in panic. Owen went on ahead as he really needed to cool down.
As Noah, Emma, me and Sammy headed over to the semi-frozen river, we noticed Kitty frantically cleaning herself and Owen frozen in an ice block.
"Whoa! That looks way too cold," Emma said.
"Come on, it's not that bad," Noah replied. Really? Just tell it to the two friends who are now getting freed from a new ice age. He jumped in anyway and was freezing, "S-s-see?"
After crossing the river in the same way Emma did, I noticed the Goths' makeup and wigs completely messed up and removed.
"Uhh..." I could only let out as I saw their real appearances. Ennui had brown hair and looked preppy, while Crimson was had blue eyes with ginger hair. Under all that, they seemed pretty normal.
"So, is everything o-" Sammy stopped as she saw the same thing I did.
They looked strangely at us then to themselves and screamed. Both of them took out their mirrors and shrieked in terror again.
"My face!" Ennui yelped.
"Don't look at me!" Crimson wailed and tried to cover her face.
Sammy only gave wide-eyes at the situation and took the next travel tip, "Head to downtown Oulu and get ready to air out your rock on. What does that even mean?"
"No idea," I answered.
We arrived downtown just before the Reality TV Pros and were at an open stage where the audience appeared to be Goths that just looked like Crimson and Ennui before their makeup and wigs were ruined.
"Cool! I wonder who's playing?" Owen wondered, stepping out of his cab.
Noah took the tip from the Don Box and replied, "Uh, we are."
"It's a Botch-or-Watch." Mickey said.
"Teams must battle it out in Finland's national sport: Air Guitar," Emma read then scoffed, "Air Guitar? For real?"
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Don's POV
"For very real. Performances will be judged by this applause meter. Get the crowd into a maximum frenzy and teams can rock on over here to the chill zone. Bottom out and it's off to the back of the line to try, try again."
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Sammy's POV
"Whoever didn't pull the rickshaw in Beijing must perform here." Kitty finished.
I grew a confident smile, "Air guitaring, huh? That's not a challenge, that's like guitar without a guitar..." I lost my grin at the last part.
Backstage, I was practicing my air guitar, looking crazy, with my partner examining how I was.
Sarah complimented, "Nice job... I think. How do you feel about doing this?"
"Like a idiot." I answered.
"Maybe if you just imagine yourself in your room practicing." She suggested.
"That's kinda hard to do when your friends are watching you." I referred to the Kitty, Emma, Owen, and Noah.
Noah was first to go on stage. He was doing great until he tripped over a wire on stage that cause speakers to unsettle. Owen ran to cover him, but I'm sure the speakers would've done less damage. By the time he got back here, all of the other teams were here.
It was my turn. But as I tried (emphasis on that word) to wow the crowd, some of the spectators bombarded me with tomatoes, leading to me running back to Sarah.
"Okay, that didn't go as well as I thought," Sammy mused.
And it was no surprise that everyone else after me failed miserably on the first try. Ennui was doing good until a spectator yelled at him when his paper bag fell off, "GET OFF THE STAGE, PREPPY!"
Sarah and I saw Devin and Carrie giving Crimson compliments.
"Crimson? Wow, you're skin is so... natural!" He said.
"I love your hair." She pointed to her.
"You're throwing a lot positive emotions my way, and I don't know what to do with that." Crimson replied in a frightened stance.
I placed a hand in her shoulder before I could say anything, "You can just accept who you really are and stay emo. You don't need all that makeup and wigs for what you really are inside," Crimson only blinked at her in response, making her sigh, "Or just go down to the Goth-style shops."
Ennui came by at the scene, "Thank you, but we can handle this ourselves." He faced his partner, "This is just what the world is for us now, Crimson. I think I know how to handle it."
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DUAL CONFESSIONAL TIME (GOTHS)
ENNUI
"We're quitting."
END DUAL CONFESSIONAL
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Sarah's POV
After a little bit, the Rockers had showed up and Spud showed us how it was done. After that, all of us followed their example and got to to the chill zone. Sammy was up first and her performance was added some twists and flips, which was given a round of applause from the crowd.
Sammy and I walked over to the chill zone and met with Don, "Congratulations, Cheerleaders. You're second place!"
The two of us shared a high-ten.
We went back to Owen and Noah, who were desperately trying to complete the challenge and the Goths were nowhere to be seen.
"How'd we go from first to last?" In response to Owen's question, Noah shot him a glare, "Oh, right."
"It's Emma isn't it?" I raised an eyebrow knowing the answer all too well. Bookworm only sighed in remark, "Just pretend no one's looking... oh wait, never mind."
"Look on the bright side: the Goths aren't even here," Owen tried to put a positive spin on things. Noah gasped and pointed behind us. We turned back and saw the Goths' new look.
It scared the living daylights out of us.
"Step aside. We're here to rock." Ennui declared.
I stammered, "W-wow. I see you took Sammy's suggestion on going to the Goth shop. Very brave."
"Hey, there you guys are! You won't believe the super preppy couple that said they were you!" Owen exclaimed.
A light glare from me returned to him, "Owen, they were the super preppy couple."
Just one look from the audience on stage was enough to get the Goths a secure spot in the chill zone. One of the guys in audience even fainted at the sight of them.
"That went well." Ennui said.
Don glared at them, "Oh, yeah. I'll be having nightmares about it."
The Goths walked over to the Ice Dancers and saw a trophy shaped coal in Joseé's hand.
"Whoa. Is that a Hawaiian lava rock?" Crimson asked.
"What of it?" Jacques remarked.
"That's hardcore. Those things cast a shroud of darkness around all those who plunder them." Ennui explained.
"Can we have it?" His partner requested.
"Your good luck charm has been cursing us all this time?! Well done, Joseé!" Could've been worse. You could've been on the volcano that nearly burned Alejandro to a crisp!
"Thanks. How do we break the curse?!" She asked them desperately.
"Just toss it anywhere in Hawaii." Ennui's answer made them Ice Dancers look at each other.
In a unexpected turn of events, Mickey gained confidence... then lost it when he got on stage and scratched himself. Jay tried to help but ended up in the same predicament as his brother. I don't know what to say on this one rather than...
"Now's your chance Noah. Go out there and rock on!" I pointed to the stage.
"But if Emma's watching, I can't." That's the first time I've ever heard him whine. I facepalmed and groaned.
"OH, COME ON!" Owen screamed in frustration, "Do you think Emma wants to date a quitter?"
"Maybe..."
"Dude, just go out there and do what Spud did." I gestured.
"Easy for you to say."
"Racing with you the most fun EVER. There's no one in the world I'd rather eat eyeballs with. But if we get eliminated, it's over for us and for you and Emma. Is that really what you want?"
After a moment of silence, Noah replied, "Gee, you guys. I don't know what to say."
Sammy smiled, "Just think about being Owen's hero rather than Emma's." Speaking of him, he cried at the last part and Sammy and I comforted him.
And after a good lecture, Noah was able to complete the challenge and was able to get himself and Owen the second to last spot to the chill zone, beating the Adversity Twins who got eliminated.
After their quick confessional, I greeted Bookworm with a high-five, "Nice job, dude! Now Emma will ask you out for sure."
Noah scratched his head, "Yeah, about that... I'm off her for good.
"Well, that's gr-WHAAA?" I stopped and look out him crazy, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's think about this for a moment."
"I've already made up my mind, Sarah. It's like I said: if she was into me, she would've said something by now. But that's just not the case," He left me in astonishment. So that's it?! He's just gonna give up on Emma?!
I stammered as he left, "I... wh... you...I just..." we turned to his partner, "Owen, do something about this. Tell him to reconsider."
"Sorry, girls. But once Noah does something, he never looks back." He shrugged.
Sammy and I groaned in frustration. By now, Emma's gotta like Noah. But once she finds out that he doesn't like her anymore, she and Kitty will quit the alliance. What do I do now?
(A/N: For those who voted the previous chapters besides JubileeJigsaw, please please please please 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 send me your OC team(s) using the formats in the last chapter of Pahkitew Pandemonium)