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Previously on the Amazing Race, our teams were torn apart by a tough choice. They either had to drink some shots and try to write their name (with their vision impaired via beer goggles) or send two footballs through a pair of goal posts. The relationship between the marines started to go up a little. The haters came in first place, and seemed to be starting to like each other again. Meanwhile, the strippers cool attitude began to make them slip. But not enough as the friends with benefits fell into last place. Luckily for them, it wasn't an elimination leg which means they're still in.

Six teams are still in the race for a million dollars. Which ones will make it this time? Who can guess? It's time for... the Amazing Race.

***

"Yesterday's endpoint was here, at La Follette High School in Madison," Toner reminds those just tuning in. "Our winners will be leaving first: the not-so-much haters..."

Josee & Ryan step up first, with the wolf saying, "I'm surprised to see that we've come so far in the game. Who knows? Maybe we'll win."

"Silly wolf, just because we came in first doesn't mean we won yet," Josee tells him as she grabs the first clue of the day. "'Ferries, Cars, and Planes'. Huh?"

Today will one crazy day. Teams must drive to Milwaukee, Wisconsin then take a ferry boat across Lake Michigan to the city of Muskegon. From there, they'll head to Grand Rapids and take a flight to Toronto. THEN they must drive again to today's destination: Mississauga; a city known for its large shopping centers and extensive walking trails. Once teams arrive at Credit River, they'll find the next tip box with a few surprises.

The haters run off. Next up are the semi-hostile cab drivers. Donna has heard second place four times in a row. It's been too long since they've had a true taste of victory. With only a few legs left in the race, the vixen is anxious and will do anything to get back in the lead.

The officers are next. "We're still in the Top 3," Nick observes. "Which is good because with only six teams left, it's pretty much anyone's game at this point. Plus, we've still got one problem getting in the way."

Judy looks straight ahead where the drivers are running towards five leftover Toyotas. "I want them out too," she says. "But if we want them out, we're going to do it by going faster. The last thing we want is to stoop to their level."

Chris & Zack leave next. "It's great that we're in the Final Six, but we can't stay in 4th place for long unless we want to end up losing," the former of the two says. "Our biggest threat at the moment are the drivers."

"Yeah, I've seen what they've been up to lately," Zack says. "If you ask me, it'd be great to win the million, but now I kinda want to see those two go down and if there's anything we can do to eliminate them, then you bet your bottom dollar I'm going to to it."

Chris perks up at the last sentence. "Not a smart idea," he says. "Mostly because you don't even have any money."

Cinnamon & Pepper grab the first clue of the day the way they have been this whole race; calmly as if money wasn't on the line. "Panicking at this point will make us slip up," Pepper says. "That's why we keep things calm and slow. We pretty much take the phrase 'Slow and steady wins the race' seriously."

"So far it's been working," Cinnamon ASLs.

Pepper chuckles and wraps an arm around his shoulder. "You bet it has, man."

Last team to depart are the friends with benefits. Both of them shivering in fear and covered in a scent that makes Toner's nose burn a little. "Yikes!" he utters. "What in the world happened to you two?"

"We went to a local club," Felix answers, his teeth chattering.

"You don't want to know, man," Toby says. "Y-You just don't want to know."

"Uh-huh..." Toner takes in the two semi-traumatized furs and helps them grab the clue. "Well you boys better get going." They hardly move. "Go!" They walk off together. Brother, Toner thinks, what in the world did they see? Probably something worse than the race if they can hardly talk about it.

All six teams manage to get across the lake and to the airport in Michigan. Hours later, they arrive in Mississauga, Canada. They immediately hail taxis to the river, which holds the next clue box. The drivers get there first, but just as they are about to leave, another cab crashes behind them, knocking them back into their seats. "How does that keep happening?!" Vito shouts.

"Not important," Donna growls. "We get revenge later." She storms out of the taxi and goes over to the tip box. "'Intersection: three superteams of two duos each must... cross the park'?"

For this challenge, teams must work together to navigate their way through Memorial Park to make their way to Lakeshore Road East, where the next clue will instruct them to make their way to Yoga Seven to find their next tip. For extra fun, a Fast Foward is put into play. Hidden in the park is the Amazing Race logo sewn onto a woven carpet. If a team finds it and hands it over to the yoga instructor, they get to head directly to the checkpoint at Fire Station 104 a couple blocks over. The last team to arrive... could be sent home.

The haters come up behind the drivers, taking second place. "We have to work with these amateurs?" Donna asks.

"I agree," Josee says. "I'm not taking sides with the over dramatic drama queen." She crumples the clue up and tosses it aside in an angry fashion.

That's when Ryan stepped in. "Look," he says, "there are four other teams right behind us and the challenge is for us to work together." The tiger and both foxes don't budge. So, he goes about the situation a different way. "Ok, how about this..." He goes over to Donna and takes the second clue from her paw; the green one. "We work together on the Fast Forward, that way we won't have to work together at all except this one thing. What do you say?"

Donna and Josee look at each other, both with fierce hatred in their eyes. But then they both give it a second thought then sigh in unison. "Fine," the vixen speaks. "Temporary alliance until this leg is over. After that we go back to hating each other."

"Done deal for me," the tigress says. With that, the four head into the park to begin the challenge as the marines show up.

"'Intersection'," Chris reads. Secretly, Zack has been dreading this type of challenge. Chris is already rude enough to him and didn't act so great when it came to the alliance with Ren & Cal. Being forced to work with another team with no other option is probably going to kill the hybrid on the inside.

But Chris takes a deep breath and puts on his best smile. "So... who will our teammates be?" he asks. Zack scouts the parking lot and perks when he sees the strippers arrive.

"Sweet, we get to work together!" Pepper says. Cinnamon just lets his tail sway in the wind. Zack likes the idea of working with them, but Chris on the other hand does not. He thinks that they're introverted, which won't help at all. At this point, he'd even take the friends with benefits as allies at this point. At least they have a strong beast on one side.

With barely any words, they run in the park with no thoughts about the separate task. This leaves the fifth-place officers and the last-place sex friends to make up the last superteam. "Where do we start?" Felix asks. "I'm terrible at navigating."

"Well, let's take a second look." Nick skims over the clue again. "It says we have to go to Lakeshore Road East so I'm assuming we have to go east." He sets it down and looks at the sky. "The sun is going to set that way." He points one direction. "So that means east is this way." He turns the other way and starts jogging down the path.

All three superteams are now making their way through the park. The marines/strippers hang a left and head around the semicircle towards the carnival. The friends/officers and went right near the food trucks and the lost and found. Donna, in the meantime, is up in the trees as her team's eye-in-the-sky to see where Toner would hide a carpet.

"I'm telling you," Vito says again for the third time, it feels. "We have to think from Toner's point of view if we want to find it."

"But where would he do that?" Ryan asks. His ex-girlfriend is over near the vendors searching behind them, much to the dismay of the people already there. The wolf starts thinking. Toner likes to make the racers look like fools (a lot). So to make them look like fools, they would make it seem like it's hidden very good when it wasn't in the first place. In plain sight. The library challenge in Jamaica and the textile search in Guatemala are proof enough that Toner's using a pattern of using the plain sight tactic.

"Guys! I think he hid it in plain sight!" Ryan suggests.

Donna rolls her eyes. "Oh please." She hops down from the tree. "Don't be so stupid, he's clever. Of course he hid it somewhere." She continues down the path where the others slowly follow until she comes up on a certain structure in the middle of the park. It's blue and white with several triangular pillars that point towards the top.

Is that a Gazebo? she asks herself. Underneath it, people are making their way in or out from the structure. It's open spaced to fit many. But something with a red border with black and yellow text catches her eye. Especially the globe logo with a plane encircling it. "Yes!" she shouts. "I found it!" She runs under the structure and snatches it from the ground.

"Nice job," Ryan applauds. Josee rolls her eyes but gives a weak smile. Vito hugs her tight, the feeling of being behind far away from him at the moment.

"First place, here we come," Vito says.

***

Chris & Zack make their way past Gate 02 with the latter chatting away with Pepper. "You're kidding, right?" Pepper chuckles. "A huge gaping hole in the window? All because of a spider?"

Zack blushes. "Yeah. Turns out the bug was on the outside the whole time and I didn't even know." He recalls the infamous story of his first day where he smashed the window with his boot. It was also the day he realized he was good with his feet.

"That must've hurt," Pepper goes on. "This one time, me and Cinnamon went to a baseball game in New York and a foul ball accidentally hit him on the head. He pretty much forget everything that happened that day until the next week." Out of instinct, the brown fox looked around to see if any other balls where going to hit him again. "And think, this was only a year ago."

"Is he ok now?" Zack asks.

"Of course he is." Pepper smiles. He kinda likes this younger fox. Almost like a brother to him even though he's an only child.

Chris sighs and stares straight ahead. Don't think about him, he thinks. Just focus on the task at hand which is to get these losers to the finish line so I don't have to associate with them any more. The group takes a sharp left at Dave D'Eyre Square when Chris sees the next clue box. Him and Cinnamon then grab the next clue.

"Yoga Seven, let's go!" the hybrid urges. Zack follows him down the street as the strippers trail them.

Toby & Felix then approach the street. "Hey!" the tiger notices. "There's the clue box." The officers see it too and they grab the next challenge.

"We better hurry," Judy says. "The other teams are ahead of us." She nods towards those running down the street. But then again, she thinks, we haven't seen any sign of the drivers or haters.

***

Toner hangs out at the fire station where the carpet sits. Around him at a set-up table are three dalmatians wearing their working uniforms. "So firemen actually play cards all day when there's nothing to do?" he asks, keeping his own hand a secret.

"Pretty much," the dog on his left says. He then indicates the few cameras around him. "So... what exactly are you doing here?"

"I host the Amazing Race, as I've said a million times." Toner rolls his eyes. "Now come on, are we going to play Canasta or not?"

"We're in the middle of Poker," the Dalmy on the right barks.

Whatever, Toner thinks. Just as he's about to figure out what to do next, the familiar sound of a cab approaching fills his ears. That was too quick; maybe someone used the Fast Forward. He sets his cards down and walks over to the entrance where the carpet lies and watches as the two teams he really hates come up to them and step on the carpet first.

"I'm going to hate saying this," he says, "but Vito & Donna, Josee & Ryan, both tie for first place."

"Finally!" Donna exclaims. She goes over to hug her partner as the haters share a quick kiss. Once done, the vixen turns back to her superteammates and starts thinking. They are a strong team; maybe if they work together for a bit, they can make the finale together.

She speaks up. "Hey," she says. "How about the two of us work for a little bit until we knock the others out of the race?"

Josee isn't sure about this proposal. After all, it's like making a deal with the devil since Donna has been pretty rough most of this game. Ryan, on the other hand, will do anything to keep them in the top 3 since it's the only way to avoid the fighting. The wolf steps in front of Josee and holds his paw out. "Deal," he says.

Donna shakes his paw, with her other behind her back with two fingers crossed.

Toner goes back to his card game with the firefighters and stops in his tracks when he realizes one thing. "Hey! Did you just look at my cards?"

The race for first is over. But for the other four teams at Yoga Seven, it'll be a tight race to get there first. "Read me the clue again?" Zack asks.

"It says that we have to participate in a yoga exercise until we get our heart rate down since it's one of the purposes of it." Chris skims over the clue again. He sets it down. "That could be a little difficult."

"How bad can it be?" That's one thing about Zack that Chris enjoys, he's always optimistic. Even when it seems very pointless.

Each team is given a small wristband that acts as a heart monitor. Once someone gets it down to an appropriate amount of beats per minute, they can sit out. Both members of each team has to complete the task in order to race to the firehouse. Last team to finish could be doomed...

The marines get a headstart with the strippers right on their tails. The friends with benefits and officers don't show up for a few more minutes. Because of this, they're taken to another room to do the challenge so they don't disturb the other four.

For Zack, it's easy. Once he's in the Lotus position, his mind is clear of everything around him. Even memories of Chris being pushy gets pushed aside. His heart rate starts to drop as their instructor, a young leopard, slowly guides them into a new pose, one that Cinnamon has a little trouble getting into.

Zack's wrist then beeps and turns green, indicating a finish. "Yay," he says, flipping rightside up and running over to get his phone. Seeing Chris in this state of calm might never happen again so he wants to capture the moment.

"You know, this is actually more calming than I expected," Pepper says softly. "What about you, Cinnamon?" He looks over and sees the brown fox having trouble getting in the new squat-like pose. Pepper tries to help but only ends up splitting his jeans.

In another room, the friends and officers are in the middle of doing a handstand pose... or trying to, is a better way to put it. Toby does it with no problem. But Felix and Nick cannot seem to stay on their paws longer than five seconds.

So after falling on his butt for the third time, Felix complains, "I may be a performer, but I can't do a handstand!"

"Here." Toby's wrist turns green. Once it does, he gets into his feet and helps Felix get upside-down. "The trick is to not think about it at all." The tiger holds the fox's sensitive footpaws in the air for a few seconds to help him get balance.

"Thanks!" he says.

"If only it were that simple for me," Nick says before falling again. On the other hand, Judy has no issue standing on her paws. Being small, she has a little advantage of getting into any yoga pose. The only issue is that rabbits have a faster heartbeat so, it will take her a while to complete the task.

But this is a race. Two of the eight players inside are done, but the other six are struggling to find their inner zen. Chris keeps being distracted by Zack's presence. Cinnamon cannot get into any poses correctly. And no matter how many times Toby helps out, Felix can't seem to get his heartrate down.

Nick starts to improve once his feet are back on the ground again. But for the next pose, he has to lie on his back and bend his legs inwards. He struggles; his legs feeling weird but in a good way. He can hear a beep to his left and sees that Judy is done.

Come on, he tells himself. Just get it down lower and we're home free.

Felix prepares to get in the same pose too but hears a slight crack downwards. "Ow! My knee!" he exclaims in slight pain.

"Are you okay?" Toby asks.

"I'm going to guess that he isn't." Nick's wrist beeps and he springs to the balls of his feet. "Well, we'd love to stay but we have a race to win."

The officers run out, locking up their third place position. Meanwhile, Pepper has finally completed the task and is waiting for Cinnamon to do the same. Zack starts to get worried about Chris. If he can't get his mind in focus soon, they might get eliminated. What calms him down? Zack asks himself.

Got it!

The fox walks over to the wolf/husky and says, "Hey, remember the time you took me into that lighthouse once? All around us was the ocean?" Chris nods, unsure of where this was going. "Do you remember all that calm, peaceful water?" Zack exaggerates each word.

Chris suddenly goes slack, smiling to himself. He remembers how Zack was that day, happy and giggling at the sight of the open waters. Pretty much any smile of the fox's is enough to make him happy. Even on this race when he acts goofy, it warms his heart to know that he still has a soft personality.

Beep!

"Chris! You finished!" Zack squeals.

He opens his eyes and looks down at his wrist. Lit up green like a christmas tree. "I did?" he asks, wagging.

Zack nods and grabs his wrist. "Yep. Now we need to run!"

Pepper stays calm even when the marines run out the door towards the Firehouse. He just watches his partner twist himself into a whole slew of new poses. "I'm not worried," he tells the audience. "Like I said before, staying calm will keep us going. And besides, this guy is nailing it!"

Cinnamon is lying on his stomach, holding himself up with only his arms. His face is slack, head dangling. Pepper snaps in his face to make sure he's alive. He is. And when his wrist beeps green, the grey fox cheers and helps him onto his feet.

Last place Toby & Felix are still waiting for that one last beep to signify their finish. They still aren't aware of how behind they are. Luckily, once Felix is in a Tree pose, he closes his eyes and wills his heart to stop beating too fast. Thought a few nerves are at fault. The officers are gone and they could be in last place for all he knew.

His partner has done all he could do. The only advice of his still isn't working. If they get sent home, Toby will be a little sad but happy he did this with one of his good friends.

Beep!

Felix's wrist turns green. The tiger perks up. "You did it, fox!" He hoists his partner onto his shoulders. "Now come on, we need to run!"

***

"Strippers, somehow you've made it in third place." Toner sends his congratulations to the foxes before they walk away. He hears a few more taxis in the distance as well as the sound of boots stomping on pavement.

Chris & Zack step onto the carpet, covered in sweat. "Fourth," Toner says. "Again." Both boys collapse onto the ground. "Quick question, why in the world are you boys covered in sweat when you could've simply just rode a taxi over here?"

"We did," Zack pants.

"Taxi got a flat tire," Chris breathes. "Too tired to talk." Although he is a little mad that his team came in 4th for the sixth time in a row. If this keeps up, him and Zack will never make it to the final leg of the race.

"Can someone get these sweaty people off of my carpet?" Toner asks. A few behind the scenes crew members come to drag them away. "It's a final dash to the finish line between the officers and friends with benefits. But only one of them will continue on..."

Toby checks on Felix's ankle as they ride their way towards the firehouse. "Does it hurt too much?" the tiger asks.

"Only when I put a little weight on it." Felix tries stepping on the ground, but winces when pain stings up his leg. "We'll be lucky if we can make it in fifth today." He whimpers and pins his ears down. "I'm sorry if I completely screwed everything up."

"No way!" Toby wraps an arm around his friend. "Even if we get sent home today, which we might not, this has been the most fun I've ever had with you; WAY more valuable than a million bucks if you ask me."

Felix sniffles and wags. "Thanks. That really means a lot." Their emotional moment is soon cut short as their cab stops outside of the firehouse. Toner stands at the carpet which is only ten yards away.

As the boys hop out of their cab, they notice out of the corner of their eyes, the officers running down the street from their taxi. "We're so close!" Toby says in a panic. He keeps his arm around Felix in support as they run/limp their way towards the carpet. But they're too slow.

"Nick & Judy, 5th place," Toner announces.

"Whew! That was close," Judy says. We may be in fifth, she thinks, but at least we're still in the race. Next round, they're going to have to try harder in order to continue.

Toner watches in agony as the final team hops onto the carpet. "Toby & Felix, it actually pains me to say that for the second time in a row, you've come in last." For once, the host sniffles then rubs his eyes. "It looks like you guys are officially cut from the competition."

The tiger and fox turn themselves around and head away from the station. Toner then turns to the audience with red, puffy eyes. "Well, it looks like an actually cool team has been eliminated. It sucks, but there are still five more teams left in the race for one million dollars. Who will be left behind next? Keep watching... the Amazing Race."

***

"I'm glad I got to travel with you," Felix says as the boys head home.

"Same here," Toby answers. "This has been the most fun with you that I've ever had in my entire life. What do you have to say about all that has happened?"

"Well first, I think you Americans are a little crazy; dangerous climbing, eating contests, and digging through graves?" He chuckles; Toby elbows him playfully. "But seriously, I had a lot of fun. I definitely want to return to Canada at some point in the future. They sure know how to have some fun."

"Same here. Now, let's head home and mess around with your cousin."

Felix rolls his eyes. "Oh God."