As soon as Chris' words finished, the members of both teams rushed to their positions. Gwen couldn't help but give the other team a glance as she quickly made her way to her position, noticing the confident smirks on their faces.
She had to begrudgingly admit that they had a right to their smug looks, considering that even with her positioning of the team Gwen still felt that the competition would be incredibly challenging.
Still, as the other team looked at the organization of the Screaming Gophers, Gwen couldn't help but gain her own smug smirk at the look Noah gave. He was clearly expecting the team to be organized more along the lines of Heather's plan.
Knowing that she would need to put her full attention onto the competition however, Gwen turned away from the other team, having arrived at her position.
It was at this point that Chris pulled off another crazy stunt, sending a gigantic TV screen down from above them. When the TV turned on, Gwen could see the members of both teams first members lined up at the start.
The screen changed, now having giant numbers in the center of it that were slowly counting down. Clearly, when the numbers reached zero, the competition would start.
Gwen noticed the looks on both of the competition starters faces turning serious, displaying some nervousness at the daunting task ahead of them.
Gwen had been right about who would be competing in the first challenge from the other team; namely Tyler. The reason Gwen had assumed him to be the member most likely to compete was simple; he was the only member of their team that was both athletic and flexible.
As Gwen looked over the two competitors, she noticed that while Tyler seemed nervous, Heather actually appeared confident, as if this competition would be a cakewalk for her.
Seeing this caused Gwen's own confidence to skyrocket; while she had previously thought that her organization of the team was a good one, seeing the looks on her teams faces really solidified that fact.
The countdown on the screen reached zero, the number being accompanied with the loud blaring of a horn. The second this occurred, the starters of both teams began their advance, neither wanting to be left behind at the start.
As the two began crossing the plank, Gwen felt relieved at the sight of Heather pulling ahead quite early. This was huge, something that could help them to pull ahead in this competition. Having an advantage at the start would have a multitude of benefits besides just the lead, including a huge morale boost.
As the competition went on, Gwen watched as Heather would patiently wait for the cannons to shoot before she'd continue on, choosing a slower but more steady pace. While slower, the pace she moved at was still far faster than Tyler's own, him seeming to be highly concentrated on keeping his balance alone.
This was one thing that Gwen had noticed, while Tyler was flexible, he seemed to be prone to losing his balance at the same time.
Gwen watched on with her heart hammering as Tyler seemed to notice Heather's gaining of distance, him choosing to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to catch up.
Yet, Gwen continued watching on with some amusement growing in her chest at the sight of Tyler losing his balance at his faster pace, managing to get hit by one of the cannons directly in the balls. Him getting knocked down seemed to have the added affect of knocking him out
Gwen wondered what would happen with him having lost consciousness, how would Chris choose to proceed?
Her question was quickly answered after Heather arrived at the side of Lindsay, passing the baton off to her.
After this process was completed, a timer appeared on the screen that slowly counted down from five minutes. Along with this came the loud voice of Chris appearing through the TV's speaker, "Due to Tyler being knocked out, we've decided that the Killer Bass will have a five minute set back before their second competitor can start.
Gwen felt exhilarated at the news; a five minute head start could easily lead to their teams victory where it may have previously been a loss.
Lindsay wasted no time in putting on the Screaming Gopher's themed blindfold, beginning her start to the second obstacle at the same time the countdown was started.
Gwen sighed in relief at the sight of Lindsay seeming to luckily dodge the swinging logs narrowly every time. This was the reason for her picking Lindsay, she just seemed to have supernatural luck.
By the time the countdown had ended and the second member of the Killer Bass began to move, Lindsay had already made it to the end of her obstacle course.
Yet, what Gwen found a little surprising was how rapidly Harold began to complete the obstacle. Even with the blindfold on, Harold seemed to easily fly through the logs, moving at his fastest speed. At the speed he was moving at, he'd knock their five minute lead down by at least half.
So Gwen got to work after receiving the baton from Lindsay, trying to once again increase the gap between the two teams. She was a bit surprised when she'd realized who her competitor was however, with it being none other than Noah.
By the time Harold had finished speeding his way through the second obstacle, Gwen had already completed half of the next one.
Gwen estimated that with Noah's lacking physical skill, she'd easily increase the gap between the two teams even farther than it was previously. Yet, it was at this time that Noah made a decision that caused looks of shock on the faces of all present.
With a sigh, Noah looked up at the TV screen before he began to speak to Chris, "I forfeit this challenge, I believe I lack the physical capability to complete it." This caused looks of astonishment to appear on the faces of everyone.
Yet, Gwen quickly realized that something was amiss; while Noah had forfeited, he hadn't even attempted the obstacle course. As she slowly thought about exactly what he could be scheming, Gwen quickly came to a realization that caused her to let out an audible gasp.
'Noah must've realized that he wouldn't be able to complete the obstacle course in under two and a half minutes, meaning the gap between the two teams time would only continue to increase. So, he chose to forfeit, by choosing to do so he reset the gap between the two teams to five minutes.' This caused Gwen's eyes to narrow, realizing Noah may be an even bigger threat than she'd previously thought.
While Gwen was the first to figure this out, she wasn't the only one. Quickly after her, some of the smarter competitors managed to figure this out as well, all of their eyes narrowing at Noah's figure.
While quite a few people figured out the truth of the situation, a majority of the members of both teams hadn't managed to figure it out. This led to jeering aimed at Noah from both teams, as well as Noah receiving the label of a coward.
While some members of his team had realized the truth, they chose to stay silent. This was because this situation could easily be used to their advantage; if their team were to lose this competition, they could easily have Noah voted out, removing a rather dangerous competitor.
Gwen thought about it and realized that the best solution for Noah would actually be to explain himself; giving his teammates a logical explanation for his forfeiting would lead to the animosity he was facing decreasing if not disappearing altogether.
Yet, Noah didn't choose to do such. This was caused by Noah's rather vain personality; he believed that he had no reason to explain himself to his teammates if they were too stupid to figure the truth out.
Gwen shook her head, instead focusing on the screen which had changed to showcase the image of the pondering face of Chris.
After a long while of thought, Chris finally gave a nod, signifying his agreement to Noah's decision. This caused smirks to grow on the faces of the smarter members of the Killer Bass, while Gwen and a couple other members of the Screaming Gophers seemed to gain rather serious frowns on their faces.
Gwen refused to believe that Chris didn't know the truth; this meant that he'd accepted Noah's decision even knowing the advantage it would give to the Killer Bass.
Gwen couldn't figure out whether this was Chris wanting the show to get higher ratings with more turmoil, or if it was instead his way of tacitly helping the Killer Bass to get their first win against the Screaming Gophers.
Shaking off the rather complicated thoughts running through her head, Gwen gained a serious look as she finished the last leg of her challenge, handing off the baton to DJ.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! As you might've been able to tell, I'm hoping to implement some more elements from the original Total Drama series to make it seem more like a fanfic than an original. I still plan to make an original after this one, but this story will stay as a fanfic for now.