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Previously on the Amazing Race, the cab drivers finally proved they have a weakness: disc golf; from which they fell waaaaaaaaay down. The officers showed us a few tricks, Echo dominated both tasks, and Kaleb come out of his slump and scored one the best placings for father and son. Judy & Nick came in first and although the alliance between Sindy & Sally and the emperors was just getting good, the vixens were sent home empty-handed. We're down to our Top 10. Which ones will rise while another falls? Only one way to find out. Keep watching (reading)... the Amazing Race. *** The sky is dark on this morning. Toner looks up the weather on his phone and sees a large thunderstorm heading their way. "That's not good," he mutters to himself. The red dog looks up to see the camera on him. "Oh, we're on? Welcome back to good-old Idaho." A large rumble from the sky makes the ground shake a little bit. "Now, before the huge storm creates any more ironic sense, yesterday's winners get the first clue of the day." Judy steps up to the clue box as usual. "Looks like we're heading to North Carolina." Nick smirks and looks over her shoulder. "That says, 'Dakota'." The bunny blushes at her mistake. Also known as the Peace Garden State, North Dakota is dominated by the Great Plains, Missouri River, and its inviting Native American history. All teams with take a shuttle bus to the airport and take a flight to Bismarck, North Dakota whereupon they'll take taxis north to Mandan and find their next tip at a local cemetery. The officers run down the rest of the trail and are soon joined by the rest of the teams. The last of which are the cab drivers, their arch rivals. In Donna's mind, she's done underestimating the competition. If she wants back on top, she's going to have to do something drastic. Once all twenty racers are aboard, the bus drives off east towards the little town of Pocatello, Idaho. Toner takes this moment to make a special announcement. "Folks, do I have a small surprise for you," he starts. "First off, let me say: Congratulations on making it halfway into the race. You're all getting closer and closer to our grand finale." Most of the teams cheer at that. "Secondly, I'm sure you may remember this from the past two seasons, but hidden somewhere in this leg of the race is a U-Turn. Find one and you can make one team repeat the first challenge. Third thing: I'm feeling extra nice today so, as a bonus, whichever team takes first place gets to have one phone call each to whoever they want." Toby perks up when he hears this. If him and Felix win, he might be able to get ahold of Fletcher, his back-at-home boyfriend. All Donna heard was the stuff about the U-Turn. She might be able to use it on the officers and be rid of them once and for all. Nick, on the other hand, is thinking the same thing, except for the cab drivers. What follows is a brief racing montage: At 8:33am (local time), the bus stops outside Pocatello Regional Airport. The ten remaining teams rush inside and get tickets on the next flight out. Since it's a long flight, everyone gets settled in to either take naps, talk, or just stare out the window in wonder (or in some cases, all of the above). Six hours later, at 4:35pm (local time), the plane lands at Bismarck Airport. Some teams are more desperate for taxis once they arrive than others, but each one gets in their own as they head for the cemetery. The pressure is especially on for those starting out in the bottom half. Since all teams got on the same flight, they have the opportunity to catch up. "I feel bad for not helping out Sindy & Sally yesterday," Lucius sighs. "They were our only allies and friends in this game." Max wraps an arm around his husband. "Honey, it was either help them or all four of us would've risked a penalty. Besides, their elimination shouldn't be drawing us down, it should be building us up. We now have a reason to fight harder than ever before to catch up and win the race." "When you put it that way..." They kiss. The haters, although still cannot stand each other, actually feel pretty good about their place in the game at this time. "Don't get me wrong," Josee says to Ryan. "You're still an irritating partner. But lately, I feel as if things between you and I are... getting a little better than they were in Central America." "Yeah," the wolf replies. "I'd even go as far as saying things are... pretty good." Ryan gently slips a paw over Josee's and they instantly feel their old electricity spark. Both of them lean in a little closer, enough to where they can feel each other's breaths. Then a sudden strike in the wolf's muzzle back him back up. "What was that for?!" "Sorry," Josee apologizes sincerely. "But... kissing after we broke up would look a little weird." Everyone's favorite soon-to-be married couple sit in silence as they are driven to the cemetery. Ren just looks out the window, thinking about their so-called alliance with the marines. He's noticed that ever since they got separated in Portland, him and Cal have been doing poorly. Hopefully with all ten teams uniting in the next task, they'll be able to get their little coalition back together. The fox's thoughts are interrupted when they pick up a large rumbling sound right next to him. "Sorry," Cal says. "I haven't eaten anything since the plane. And when are we going to have another eating challenge? We haven't had one since Arizona." Ren smirks and rolls his eyes. As far as the strippers are concerned, they sit in their taxi with Pepper's arms fidgeting and his right leg bouncing in anxiety. We went from sixth, to seventh, to ninth, he realizes. At this rate, we'll be in last at the end of the day. In another cab, the New York drivers are taking their current placement very well. One of them, anyways. "Faster!" Donna growls. "If the other teams get there first, I'm throwing a MASSIVE tantrum!" Vito gives an impartial look and says directly to the viewers, "This is actually an improvement since being in fourth place. That's the sad part. But I do agree that being in tenth now is not acceptable." At Union Cemetery, the first two teams arrive and they dash towards the next clue box. "Another One-Way?" Toby questions. Then he shakes the feeling off. How worse can these challenges be? Then he takes a look at the task at hand. "... 'Grave Robbing'." For this One-Way, teams must work together to search through the open graves to find a flash camera. Once they find a camera, they must head to River Drive NE next to the Missouri River to find the next tip. Here's the catch: hidden inside one of the clues at the cemetery is the U-Turn ticket. Whoever finds it must use it before the next tip box if they want to use it at all. After that, the ticket expires. When the officers get their clue, Nick sees a second a yellow ticket enfolded around the white one. "Yes!" the sly fox exclaims. "We've got the U-Turn!" "Nice one, slick," Judy says. "But we need to be wise when it comes to using it. We should use it to send back a really tough, competitive team." She thinks for a second as for who that could be, but Nick already knows the answer to that question. "I think we all know the answer." He tucks the yellow ticket away in his pocket to make sure no one sees. "It's time to finally send home those annoying cab drivers." Speaking of which, Vito & Donna arrive next followed by the marines, YouTubers, and father and son. "Dang it!" Donna exclaims. "We don't have the U-Turn, which means we need to pick up our pace." "If we split up we might be able to find one in time," Vito suggests. They go their separate ways to search. Chris & Zack decide to search side by side. If they don't find a camera, they'll immediately jump into the one on the other side of their partner. Chris assumed that there wasn't many places that Toner could hide a camera with few open graves. "Find anything yet?!" Chris shouts out. "Not yet!" Zack calls out. "Oh, but I did find some strange-looking olive down here. Wait a minute... that olive is moving. AHHH!!! SPIDER!!!" The fox basically flies out of that open hole. Kaleb holds his son close as he slowly digs his fingers around the bottom of one pit. "Come on, dad! I'm supposed to be helping," Mac reminds him. "If you say so. But stick close to me." Kaleb lets him go, but keeps a special eye on him. He knows the rumors of some open graves being haunted. Majira stands at the edge of one grave, unenthusiastic to jump right in when it looks a bit frightening. His friend, Echo, wastes no time hopping right in and digs around. "Majira! You have to get in here too! Otherwise we're stuck with another penalty!" "I don't know if I can," he says. "I kinda of have a thing against being buried alive." The fox shivers at the thought of being stuck underground. Echo sighs and holds her paw out. "At least help me out?" she asks. The second Majira grabs her paw, she turns the tables and pulls him down into the grave. The fennec snickers a little. The friends with benefits look in each grave together to save time and to avoid confusion as for which graves have been searched. While they're alone, Toby asks, "So, if you don't mind me asking, why were you so excited when I asked if you wanted to do this race with me?" Felix stops digging for a second to think about the answer. "Because you're one of my greatest friends. Why? Did you not want me here with you?" "No, no, I didn't mean it like that. You're an awesome friend and I'm very happy that you're here with me. It's just... you sounded like you were expecting to be my first choice." Toby smirks and raises a teasing eyebrow. Felix blushes before turning back to his digging. When his fingers hit something solid, he thinks it's bone at first, but then realizes that it's the camera that they were searching for. "I got it!" the brown fox exclaims. The two help each other out of the grave and run out just as the officers climb out as well with another camera in paw. As they do, Donna finds another camera and pulls Vito out of the cemetery. "If we still can catch up, we'll reach the tip box first," she says. With the first three teams heading for the river, the strippers, haters, emperors, and the engaged couple finally arrive at the cemetery. Pepper holds Cinnamon's paw as they walk around in search of an open grave. When the brown fox looks at him questioningly, Pepper explains, "Dude, you're as silent as the wind. If we got separated, I'd have no way to find you." "Good point," Cinnamon signs before holding paws with his partner again. Josee & Ryan keep looking around a little. Seeing as how things were ok, Ryan decides to test that. "So, this is what they mean by having 'one foot in the grave'," he jokes. Josee doesn't say anything, but secretly finds it adorable that he's trying. Max & Lucius stay close when searching like most of the other teams. "I can't seem to find any," the fox says. "Any luck with you?" Lucius shakes his head no. "Maybe we ought to split up so we can cover more ground." He sees Max looks a little hesitant by the way he shakes and whimpers. The wolf wraps his arms around him and whispers, "Don't worry. We'll stay close by." Ren easily leaps from one hole to the next. Cal, on the other hand, can't climb out of one grave without his future spouse helping him. Every time, it ends with the bear getting a new sweat stain on his back and stomach. "I'm just not used to climbing so much," the bear elaborates. "It's not that hard," Ren says. "Though you might want to hurry as I saw other teams heading out when we arrived." He cannonballs into another open grave they have yet to search. Zack finds a small camera in one of the corners of the cemetery, completing the task for the marine. A few minutes later, father and son finish when Kaleb finds one sticking out of the sides in plain sight. "Well how about that," the adult wolf says. At the river, the officers arrive first and notice ten rubber rafts sitting alongside the riverbank. Judy reaches for the clue box, but Nick points out the U-Turn station. "Now, I know you want a strong pair out, I do too," he says. He digs around the pile a photos for the one of them and slaps it in the "courtesy of" spot. "So, I say, why not take advantage of this and get rid of our greatest threat?" The sly fox puts a picture of the cab drivers in the "U-Turned" slot. Felix & Toby soon join the officers in a race for first place. "It's another One-Way," Felix reads. "'Head upstream towards Double Ditch Indian Village, where the checkpoint lies, on the raft. The catch is, you must use the camera to take three pictures of the scenery before you can check in. Failure to do so will result in being sent back on the river to try again'. Doesn't sound too hard." Toby and Nick paddle their respective rafts while their partners man the cameras. By the time the cab drivers arrive and prepare to leave, Donna notices the U-Turn station and the sight before her makes her gasp in horror. "No!" she shouts. Her and Vito are so close to taking back first place that they can't lose now. "Hurry!" Vito urges. "If we manage to hurry, we might be able to catch up!" The cab drivers turn right back around as Kaleb & Mac and Chris & Zack arrive in time to start the task. Back at the cemetery, more teams are starting to complete the first task. Ren finds one camera after digging through some of the dirt in one of the open graves. "I think I see one!" Max shouts. He takes a second look at what he has in his paws. "Nope. Wait... I think this is just an old sponge." "Weird," Lucius says. "I found one of those talking board things." He holds up a wooden heart with a glass circle on the end. "Hold on... this is a planchette!" He throws it to the ground before something bad can happen. But it lands next to an unusual bump on the ground. Max picks it up and wipes the first off to find the camera they were looking for. Pepper digs fast in the side of the grave, thinking that he saw Kaleb find one in a similar location earlier. Cinnamon taps on his shoulder with a camera in paw, but the grey fox shakes him off. "I'm trying to search for this thing, dude." Slightly annoyed, the brown fox shakes his shoulder but gets the same result. This time, Cinnamon gives his partner a swift kick on the side to get his attention. "What in the world did you do that for?!" The annoyed fox holds up the camera to show he found it. "Oh. Well why didn't you say anything, man?" Pepper asks. Cinnamon facepalms. The strippers climb out of the grave and pass the cab drivers on the way out of Union Cemetery. "Ok," Vito says. "This time, we split up. We immediately call for each other the second we find the camera. Got it?" Donna nods and they run opposite ways. The first four teams continue their battle for first place. Chris, automatically deeming himself the stronger of the two, paddle for their team as Zack takes the pictures. "I knew that taking that photography class would come in handy someday," he says as he snaps a pic or two of the river. "I didn't know that artsy bullshit interested you," Chris says. "It did at one point. But I decided to go against it when I realized my true passion lied with the marines. After all, I wanted to keep a family tradition: my great-grandpa was in the navy, my grandpa was army, my dad was in the air force, so I wanted to me a Marine." Chris has heard the same story many times from the fox, but was secretly impressed. This fox he loved has military blood in him and it took him this long to appreciate that. "You sure you should be the one holding the camera?" Mac asks while he paddles them up the stream. "You're the one with the stronger muscles." Kaleb snaps a photo. "Well, son, the reason I wanted you to row us is because I feel like you need to gain some strength. Remember back in North Carolina? You collapsed after carrying me, which is still impressive, but I think that this will be good for you." Mac would say something back, but he just got his dad to cheer up yesterday so he doesn't want to ruin that. Up ahead, the friends with benefits somehow pass the officers. They see Toner standing next to the carpet next to a hut of some sort. Toby gently holds Felix's paw as they hop onto land and jog their way to the checkpoint. Handing Toner their camera, the tiger asks, "How did we do?" "You guys are in first," Toner announces. "And, as a reward, you get this." He hands them his cell phone. "You've got one minute." Toby takes it and dials a number that he knows by heart. He puts it on speaker and lets Felix listen in. Whoever he called picks up on the third ring. "Hello? Who is this?" "Fletcher?" Toby asks. "It's me!" "Toby?! I thought you were still on the race." Hearing his boyfriend's deep voice makes him burst with emotion. "I am, but I won a phone call. Oh, Felix is with me too." "Really? What's up, cousin!" The brown fox blushes before he replies, "Hi, Fletcher. How're you doing?" "I'm doing fantastic! Are you guys in first place?" Toby tells him that they are. "Woah! That's awesome! Listen, keep doing me proud, tiger, and win this competition. As for you, cousin, keep that feline of yours under control." "No promises," Felix giggles. The three tell each other goodbye before Toner takes his phone back, in exchange for another clue for the boys. They look confused for a second. "Huh? But I thought that this is the end of this leg." "You assumed wrong," Toner says. "This leg of the race is a continuation one which means it's divided into two parts. You guys just won part one, but you're not safe yet. So..." He takes Toby's paw and sticks the next tip in it. The tiger skims his eyes over it. "It says we have to drive our way to Minot, North Dakota to find our next tip." He lets Felix hop onto his back and they go catch a ride in one of the waiting taxis. With the race for first over, the last three teams complete the task at the cemetery and make their way to the river. Vito let Donna use the paddle as she was fired up and ready to speed them into first. "Slow down!" he cries. "It's hard to get a perfect shot when we're going too fast!" "We're in last!" Donna growls. "I will not slow down for anything!" Ryan strains his muscles to push his team further. "Come on, little wolf, you've got this!" Josee motivates. She takes the pictures of the river and plants around them. "You didn't come this far in the race to show you were a wimp, did you?!" Her words get in Ryan's head, making him go faster no matter how much his arms ached. "Remind me why I'm the one pushing the both of us?" Echo asks. Majira holds the camera up to his eye. "I've told you," he says, "you've shown that you have the clear strength between the two of us. If anyone can pull us out of last, it's you." *** The marines run up to the carpet next and hand Toner their camera, taking second place. Next up is the officers, but their bodies look half wet. "What in the world happened to you two?" he asks. "We accidentally ran into an outstretched twig and our raft sank," Judy says. "We had to double time it here before we sank into the river." "Never mind." Toner waves a paw and hands them the next tip. Kaleb & Mac- 4th place Cinnamon & Pepper- 5th place Cal & Ren- 6th place Echo & Majira- 7th place The emperors see the checkpoint in sight, hoping they haven't slipped up too much. In the back of Lucius' mind, he wonders if that planchette has anything to do with them falling behind. Then again, bad luck typically doesn't have anything to do with a foreign object. They bump into the shore and they run up to the carpet together. "Eighth place," Toner announces. He hands them the next tip while explaining the continuation leg to them. "I've had to explain that seven other times. Sorry if I sound a little irritated." "It's fine," Max says. As he takes the tip, he gets a sharp pain in his thumb and a small drop of blood spits out. "Ouch. Papercut." Lucius kisses his thumb and they head over to the available taxis left. This leaves the haters and cab drivers in a final dash to the checkpoint. Which one will come in last? Josee keeps pep talking Ryan to keep going. Donna uses her fiery determination to push her team forward. The sight of Toner makes the two use all the energy they've got to keep going. One team manages to ditch the other and cut them off. The two run up to the carpet with the female wrapping her arm around the male. "Haters, ninth place," the host says. Josee leans over and gives Ryan a quick kiss on the cheek. Before he blushes too much, though, she slaps him to get him back into focus. As they run over to get a ride up north, the last team shows up on the rug. "Cabbies..." "We know," Donna interrupts with a glum look on her face. "Tenth. Last. Out of the race." She sheds a small tear, feeling a little disappointed that she couldn't have done more to keep them in the game. Vito turns to the camera. "We just want everyone back home to know that we did our best at that we're leaving this game with our heads held high and or-" "Good news." Toner takes back the spotlight. "This is a continuation leg. It's not over yet for you two. Here's your next tip." He hands it to them and they skim it over. With bright smiles on, they run over to the last available cab and they drive off. "Looks like luck is on our side," Vito says. With the feeling of relief, a sense of intentness comes over the foxes. "We fell in last, but we're still in this and we're stronger than ever." "I couldn't agree more," Donna says. "As for those other teams, they better watch out. Because one by one, they are..." "Going down!" they say together before they share a maniacal and evil laugh that lasts for who knows how long.

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