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Previously on the Amazing Race, our 16 teams got a chance to sleep the day away in Samoa. But a few of the teams took the time for some serious strategy. Tammy gave the critics their other Express Pass. Nick set fire to a bush. The prostitutes came in first. A fight broke down between teams. And bakers got cut from race. Only 15 teams are left. What crazy location will we drop them in next? And who will fall into last place and risk elimination? And what other twists does Toner have up his sleeve? Keep watching, it's time for... the Amazing Race: All Stars.

***

"Welcome back to Samoa," Toner introduces. "It looks like it's going to be another sunny day for our players. Which is boring. Anyways, for any of the viewers who were wondering who got the first Boomerang Ticket; you can stop the theories. Tammy & Rachel were voted to receive the first Ticket, but it expired yesterday so they're on their own and they are no longer eligible to get any future Tickets.

"With that being said, it's time to begin the fifth leg of the All-Star race. Up first are prostitutes, Devon & Jon." He steps to the side and allows them to collect the first tip.

"'Take a flight to Changi Airport to find the next clue box'," Jon reads. "'Changi'? What kind of a name is that?"

It's actually the name of an airport worthy of being a destination in itself. Teams must board flights to Singapore, a small city-state just off the coast of Malaysia. Also known as the "Little Red Dot", the city is known for its warm climate, diverse population, and creepy statues that will definitely stick with you. After teams land, they must take taxis to the Universal Studios on Sentosa Island where they'll find the next tip.

The prostitutes take an early lead with the olympians and critics right behind them. Tammy whistles for a cab and miraculously, one stops for them. The four of them cram into the backseat and they ride together. "I'm still in awe that you would give us the other Express Pass," Barbara says.

"Hey," the skunk says, "I made a solemn oath to try to be a better person this year; for my sake and for Rachel's." The green cat blushes and she rubs her arm. She's more than impressed that her partner is taking it easier this year. Plus, with Barbara & Eddy on their side; they'll be unstoppable.

Ren & Cal run off together with the marines right behind them. Right as they took the tip, Chris & Zack hugged each other and shouted with glee. Not because they came in fifth, but because they didn't hear the number four at the checkpoint yesterday. "Finally!!!" the wolf cries out. "After who knows how long we finally didn't come in fourth place!!!"

"And all it took was us being slowed down by the Roadblock for it to happen," Zack points out. Now that he thinks about those words, it's probably not something worth cheering about.

Flight number one holds enough seats for the first seven teams. But the other eight are stuck on the other plane, delayed by forty minutes.

Last-place drivers are a little bit on edge; so much tension between them that if you tried to cut the tension with a knife, the knife would snap in half. "I'm not happy with you," Donna says.

Vito shrugs. "Like I care what you think." Donna is all pissy at him because he purposely put them in last place to he could split up her and Claudia. His reasoning? The two of them together were slowing his team down. Now that she's gone, perhaps the drivers can start improving their ranking. Fifteenth place? Vito scoffs. They can do way better than that. Much better.

Mitch looks out the window of the plane with his ears pinned down. He sighs. "Dude, are you doing okay?" Jasper asks. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"I know. I just miss Kit. Why did we have to get on separate planes?" Mitch already misses that cute purple star over her eye and that glossy white fur. And the way she's so serious; Mitch doesn't know why but he likes a girlfriend who's more focused than him.

The humans try to catch a little shut-eye before they land. Brent looks over at the graduates, who are seated in a different aisle. June looks precious and fragile while asleep. Mabel... somehow she found a way to sleep with her feet hanging off the luggage compartment.

Brent nudges his friend by the elbow. "See?" he whispers. "Even her sleeping habits are much creepier." Syd grumbles something about wanting sleep and covers his face with a pillow. Brent is secretly proud that him and Syd are moving up in the ranks; they even beat Mabel yesterday. Yet, through all of that, they're still stuck on the second flight out. Tomorrow, he wants to get on the first plane out no matter what.

Ryan trusts Josee enough to let her sleep on his lap. She usually makes the cutest noises during her sleep. Except that one time she ate pork and beans on their second date just to "try it out". "Blowing a tuba" is not the kind of thing a guy wants to hear during a car ride home.

With subtle movements on the floor, Nick slowly sneaks up behind Joey & Miles, who are snore-deep into their sleep. The red fox comes up behind the other red foxes with a small squirt can of whipped cream. Leaning over the back of their seats, he carefully sprays some off over their necks, giving them perfect cream beards.

As Nick settles back in his seat, Judy blinks awake to see him sit back down. "What've you been doing?" the bunny asks.

"Oh nothing," he answers. Lately, the vegetarians have been becoming the butt end of a few practical jokes from Nick. He has no idea what the appeal to them is; it's just hilarious when they get mad.

This just in, flight number one has landed in Singapore, and like it was predicted, it's nighttime there. Zack whistles for a taxi. "To Universal Studios, please!" he tells the driver. Wheels spin out as the teams begin the race for first place.

Kit sighs and looks out the window, watching the various buildings pass by. "What's got you bummed, sis?" Kitty asks, patting her on the back. She looks like a mix between nauseous and depressed.

"I just can't believe the frat bros were stuck on a later flight. You think that Mitch is going to be okay?" For a second, Kit almost forgets that Jasper is on the same team as him.

"I'm sure he will be. We'll just catch up with each other later on. But while we're alone, let's focus on the race a little bit, alright?"

Kit sits up in her seat. "You're right. I can't let boys distract me. Even though Mitch is a nice guy and he's got those adorable pointy ears and those sexy abs and-and those ocean-blue eyes that I want to just get lost in and-" Kitty slaps her sister on the side of her face. "Oh, right. Sorry."

Jen leans back in the backseat with her legs crossed. "So how exactly are we going to be working with the phone girls if we're never on the same flight?" the collie asks. She recalls the deal Sindy and Angie made during the fire dance task yesterday. She overheard what the two were talking about. And to be honest, Jennifer wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea.

"I was thinking that it'd be good to have a replacement for the movie experts," Angie explains, "but now that I think about it, they don't do very well in this competition." Jen was liking where this was going. "So, we'll keep the vixens in our back pocket just in case we need them. In the meantime, we work to maintain our lead."

Our married couple reaches the clue box first. "I don't see any other teams," Ren observes. "We must be in first." For once, he adds to himself. The fox takes the next tip. "It's a One-Way: 'Singapore Safari: Working together, you must take three pictures all over the city.'"

But not just any pictures; teams must take three selfies at three different locations: Sri Mariamman Temple, the Singapore Flyer, and the MacRitchie Reservoir, which will serve as this week's checkpoint. Last team to check in... could be eliminated.

All teams will be provided a camera, a truck, and a GPS for navigation. After that, they're all on their own. Ren & Cal take the lead with the marines right behind them. Zack squeals while Chris drives. "A selfie challenge?!" the fox gasps. "This is going to be the easiest task ever!" Chris

chuckles; he knows just how much Zack adores taking pictures of himself, even with other people.

"A picture-taking challenge?" Tammy asks, almost offended. She nudges Rachel in the arm with her elbow. "Can these tasks get any easier? You know what would be a good idea? If we used our Express Pass today." Rachel doesn't seem on board so the skunk continues. "I mean, think about it; if we use the Pass, we skip the challenge and go directly into first place!"

"I don't want to use the Pass on something easy, though," Rachel says. "Besides, we're not at risk of being eliminated. Why don't we save the Pass for when we really need it. In fact..." The cat reaches into Tammy's pocket and takes the Pass out, slipping it into her own. "Just incase."

Tammy slumps back. Rachel still doesn't trust her 100% even after what they've been through so far on the race. Perhaps I need to try a little harder, she thinks. "There's the Temple!" she points out. A low stone white building comes into view; a towering grey pyramid sits on top with five with all kinds of fake people hanging off of it.

Tammy pulls the truck over to the side of the road and hops out with Rachel, who has already turned on the camera. "You ready?" the cat asks. Both olympians offer their brightest smile as she snaps a photo of them standing in front of the Temple. "Sweet; it turned out awesome."

They both look up to see other teams coming their way. "No time to chat, we need to get to the Flyer and fast!" Both girls run back into their truck and they speed off. One down, two left.

The prostitutes and the sorority sisters arrive at the Temple next. The tiger fumbles with the camera while the husky stands in front of him. "You need to be in the shot too, Dev," Jon reminds his partner. "It's a One-Way, remember?"

"I didn't forget, I was just making sure that it was-" A bright flash blinds him for a second. Dev rubs his eyes. His fingers must have slipped and pressed the button. "Darn it! I can't see!" Jon quickly grabs the camera takes another picture of the two of them standing outside; Jon bearing a worried look on his muzzle.

"Maybe I should be driving," he suggests. Besides, Dev was driving a little slow on the way here. Don't think that Jon didn't see Tammy & Rachel zoom ahead of them. He will do anything to get back into the first place spot.

Angie & Jennifer also have problems with the flash. When Jen looks back on the picture, both girls have their eyes half-shut. "Should we try it again?" the collie asks.

Angie shakes her head. "Nope. It counts as one of the three photos. Besides, the tip didn't say they had to be GOOD selfies." With no other way to argue with that, Jen hops into the truck with Angie and the ride off.

The plane carrying our other eight teams has landed. They're going to have to make up a lot of lost time if they want to avoid elimination. As teams from the second flight get to Universal Studios, more teams finish taking the first selfie. Zack looks very enthusiastic in the picture while Chris musters his best smile. Cal & Ren did one of them sharing a kiss.

Donna took the wheel of the truck, pressing down on the accelerator. "Start out in last place," she grumbles to herself. "Lousy partner. Stupid show." She grips the steering wheel so tight that her fingers start to hurt.

"Did you manage to get the rest of the cream off your fur?" Miles asks. Joey continues to brush out her neck fur, mumbling in anger to herself. Ever since they woke up, they saw the practical joke that Nick played on them. Honestly, they weren't too pleased about it.

Joey tosses her brush aside. "Nick is absolutely infuriating," she says, narrowing her eyes in disgust. "If there's anything we can do to send his sorry butt packing, we should try to do it." Normally, Miles doesn't like to get into conflict, but Joey is right; the red fox cannot get away with this.

"Woohoo!!!" Josee hangs her arm out of the door, the air blowing into her face as she drives down the road. "Don't you just love when the wind is in your hair, Ry?!" she shouts over the sound of the wind.

Ryan shakes his head, the wolf hardly able to keep his eyes open. "Not really!" he yells back. "I don't appreciate the dust and bugs getting into my fur!" No wonder it took Josee three tries to get a driver's license; she's a maniac when it comes to speed. Why did I let her drive? Ryan thinks.

"We're here!" Josee jerks the wheel. The truck skids across the road, turning slightly until it comes to a stop at the curb, miraculously undamaged. "I learned that trick in college." The tigress hops out, scooping her boyfriend out of his seat. She holds him and the camera up in front of the Temple. "Smile, baby!" Click! Josee's smile and Ryan's look of slight fear take up most of the frame.

Barbara & Eddy show up minutes later with a few other teams. "We would have showed up sooner," Barbara explains, "but we got a flat tire and it slows us down completely."

"Luckily one of the locals was there to help us out," Eddy says "Let's go." He pulls Barbara out in front of the building for the picture.

Brent snaps the photo quickly, rushing back into his truck and buckling in. "Sweet, one photo down already and we're ahead of Mabel. This is looking like a good day." Syd rolls his eyes. Just don't fight it, he tells himself. Whatever you do; don't fight him.

The twins arrive not too much longer later. "Are you sure you didn't drive around on purpose to slow us down?" Kitty asks.

"N-No. What would give you that idea?" Kit asks nonchalantly. Her heart beats faster. Sweat pours down her forehead.

"Because I just saw the humans and they were on flight number two." Kitty glares at her. Like the time Kit accidentally spilled finger paint on her favorite shoes and she tried to lie about it. Seriously; who would believe that the class pet goldfish, Bernie, would be responsible? (They were in kindergarten.)

"Ok, I admit it!" Kit breaks down. "I wanted to work with the frat bros." She holds her head in her paws. "What am I doing? I'm letting my emotions control how I play the game."

Kitty tugs on her sister gently. "Come on. Why don't we just take the picture and move on to the next location. I promise you that you and Mitch will get all the alone time you want at the checkpoint."

Meanwhile, the prostitutes are the first to arrive at the Singapore Flyer; a giant ferris wheel lit up purple under the night sky. Jon holds the camera again, only this time, he jumps into Devon's arms and takes the photo with the Flyer in the background. "We've got this, baby," the husky says. "One more location and it's victory once again!"

Cal & Ren arrive next for their shot. "How do you want to do this shot?" the bear asks.

"I don't think it matters," Ren says. The fox snuggles up to his husband, pressing his muzzle into Cal's soft chest. With his longer arms, the bear takes the picture. The light of the Flyer darkens their heads into a pair of silhouettes.

Kit & Kitty snap the picture in front of the Temple like they would in a spy movie; finger guns out. Sally & Sindy wrap an arm around each other's shoulders for their shot. June smile while Mabel looks at the lens with the same monotonous expression that she has been giving. Judy hugs Nick close as she snaps the photo; their classic pose.

Currently in last place, the vegetarians hustle to get the perfect shot. "I have a feeling we're not doing so well," Joey says. "Do you now know how to work a camer-" A bright flash cuts her off and she rubs her eyes. "Ouch! A little warning next time, please?"

"Sorry," Miles says. Both foxes hop back into their truck and drive off. He isn't very good with cameras, which is why they didn't do so great. One time he secretly tried to take a picture of his brother sleeping with his finger up his nose; but Miles forgot to turn the flash off so... it didn't turn out well for him.

Up ahead, the fraternity brothers were talking about their allies. "Do you think Kit will wait for us?" Mitch asks. Lately, the shepherd was all he could ever think about. She was such a nice girl.

Jasper shrugs. "I doubt it. She wants to win as much as we do. She has every time to continue on if she so pleases." Jasper is secretly thrilled that Mitch and Kit like each other; any dude likes it when his friends get along. But during a huge competition? Maybe a little separation would be good for them. For now, just focus on not coming in last and it'll all be good.

The drivers weren't very impressed with their first selfie. Donna scowled at the camera, while Vito tried to look anywhere but his partner; you can tell from the way he was looking at the ground. Looking back at the blurred picture, the fox sighs. "I don't know how much longer you're going to be mad at me. Claudia was a bad influence and you know it."

"She was also one of my friends and one of our greatest allies. Thanks to you, we dropped into last place, which is why I had to take the photo so fast."

"Yes. That's why WE had to do that." Donna rolls her eyes. Can her partner be any more annoying?

A mix of the first and second planes begin showing up at the Singapore Flyer. Angie & Jennifer, along with the olympians, daters, and humans show up next. "Sweet," Brent says. "We've jumped from ninth to seventh." Syd hops out of the truck and follows Brent to where they can get a good shot of the ferris wheel in the background.

Tammy snaps a picture of both her and Rachel with a neutral look on her face. "We're falling behind," the skunk observes. "All because Rachel didn't want me to use our hard-earned Express Pass."

"I've already explained this. If we use the Pass now, then we can't get out of a harder task in a future leg. No. We save it for when we really need it." Tammy sighs out a long breath. She can't even begin to express how annoying that's beginning to sound.

"Smile." Josee squeezes Ryan close to her body as she takes the shot. She's really impressed at how much they've improved their ranking today. But they still need one more picture to take.

Angie & Jen take a plain selfie; not wanting to think too much about detail and having to slow back down again. Barbara & Eddy drive up, rushing out for the picture. "Never have I ever struggled with taking a picture of myself in my entire life," Eddy complains.

"Stay with me!" Barbara commands. She holds up her partner and snaps a shot of them both in front of the Flyer, worried looks on their faces and their foreheads gleaming with sweat.

The drivers arrive next with a few more teams on their tails as most of the other trucks drive off for the third and final location. Mabel takes a turn holding the camera up to take a picture of her and June. When it develops, the cat takes a closer look how the purple lights in the background appear compared to the rest of the photo. "I love how the angle makes my black fur look darker in this," she says.

Kitty offers to use the camera again for her team. Kit rubs her arm in a shy manner; doing her best to keep her eyes open as the flash goes off. "You know," Kit says, "I'm starting to like the stars over our eyes better than the black blotches. It blends in better with the nighttime sky rather than make it look like we don't have fur there."

Ironically, right as they spin off, the frat bros turn up. "Hey! I see the twins! We better hurry if we want to make it!" Mitch says. His sweaty palms lose hold of the camera. Luckily, Jasper snatched it with his tail right before it hits the ground.

"Dude! You almost lost our pictures!" Mitch gives his partner an apologetic look. Jasper sighs. "Sorry, didn't mean to yell at you. Why don't we just get this leg over with? I'm already getting a little sleepy." Lazily, the hound dog holds the camera up and takes a photo of them both without thinking about how they're going to look in the shot.

The race for first place heats up at the MacRitchie Reservoir. In the middle of the lake, a zig-zagging dock leads to a giant red canopy with a wooden floor and a pointed top. A hiking path surrounds the lake so, the teams have a park a little ways away. The prostitutes, our married couple, and the marines arrive first; cameras ready in their fidgety paws.

Jon runs up to the lake first, followed by his partner. "Well, this is the reservoir," the husky states. "What are you waiting for? Take the picture!" Devon pulls Jon close and kisses him on the cheek as the flash goes off with the lake in the background. "Now... where's the checkpoint?" He looks around but doesn't see Toner or the carpet anywhere.

Devon shrugs. "I have no idea." He digs into the pocket of his jeans for the clue they received at the airport. "It only says that we have to check in here but... where's Toner at?"

Ren overhears this but doesn't say anything to Cal. As long as the other teams are stumped, they can catch back up, maybe even come in first place. Smiling, the fox takes the picture, then sticks the camera into his back pocket. Both teams frantically look around, trying to find Toner, but with no such luck.

"What do you think the big deal is?" Chris asks after Zack snaps the shot.

"I have no idea. But if I know one thing about this race, is that it's never a good idea to assume stuff. Let's just look around; some of the others are already doing it." Zack follows his allies close behind them. The wolf jogs up to stand by his side.

Sally & Sindy take another regular photo at the ferris wheel, unaware that they are trailing behind in last place. "When we get home, I'm thinking about taking up my old dream of becoming a model," Sindy says. "All day people get to hear my voice but they never get to see me, you know?"

Sally nods. "I understand, girl. But you sure you're ready for that kind of stuff? You've always told me you don't like girls who flash their bodies around like everybody's business."

In response, Sindy shrugs. "Just thought it would be nice to try something new."

The daters, twins, and sorority sisters arrive at the reservoir next. Much like the other three teams, they cannot locate Toner immediately either. "What is this, some kinda of a joke?" Angie asks. "A challenge-within-a-challenge deal? We have to find Toner within this place?"

Jen shakes her head. "I don't think so. It's dark out with all the mist, it makes it hard to see what exactly is going on, even with the street lamps. Why don't we focus on the task at hand first." With that, the collie snaps a pic of the girls on the shore of the lake.

Knowing this will be the last picture, Josee becomes a little snazzy, digging her sunglasses out before taking the photo. "Why both since it's the middle of the night?" Ryan asks.

The tigress giggles. "Ryan, I don't expect you to understand what it's like to be in style." She walks off without another word. That is what is so great about their relationship; they can insult each other all they want, and the other will still come around later on.

As Cal & Ren walk down the shore of the lake, they pass by the canopy in the middle of the water. Cal looks up and does a double-take when he sees the outline of someone standing under the red roof. Before he's convinced it's some sort of apparition, Cal takes a second look and notices a few details begin to make out; floppy ears, jean vest and a long snout.

Toner.

The bear nudges his husband and points in Toner's direction. "It's in the water," Cal whispers. Ren nods as soon as he spots the host under the canopy. Together, they begin running around the lake towards the other end of the dock which will lead to the canopy.

Jon takes notice and instantly traces a path to where they're going in his mind. The second he spots the host standing in the water, the husky grabs Devon by the arm and pulls him to the closer end of the dock. "The bastard is on the water!" he whisper-screams. Dev yanks free of Jon's grasp and runs alongside him.

The married couple and the prostitutes run onto the docks; the sound of pounding footsteps against wooden ground echoes throughout the reservoir, but only enough to get the attention of a few teams, not so much as the others.

The back and forth motion gets to Cal as he slows down to the point of walking at each turn. Ren, seeing the other team gaining speed as they cross back and forth, aims a throw at Toner and tosses his camera as hard as he can towards him. The red dog catches it in one try. Ren grabs ahold of Cal and steers him towards the canopy with only one turn left. Dev & Jon are about to round their last corner as well, but the other team is faster.

Ren falls down on the carpet with Cal splaying out on top of him. Jon & Devon trip and fall down alongside the bear, giving their camera to Toner as well. "Photos check out," Toner says. "Ren & Cal take first place." The black fox whoops and the bear just smiles. "Prostitutes, once again you're back in second place territory. But nice job." With no mention of a penalty, Jon sighs in relaxation.

With the race for first done, it's now a 13-way fight to stay out of last. Seeing themselves in last place, the drivers, officers, and vegetarians hurry themselves up on the second photo. All three of them doing class (and almost lazy) poses in the shots. "We probably could've done better," Judy says. "But Nick wouldn't decide on what we could do for the second shot."

"It's a race, sweetheart," Nick retorts. "Nobody cares about the quality of the work as long as it gets done." Even though that's not 100% true, the rabbit stays quiet as the fox drives along to the next location.

"Why does everybody have to be so slow?" Donna growls. Her claws dig into the steering wheel. Vito cannot help but look at the last photo, where her used both paws to hold the camera while his partner stood behind him, giving him devil horns with her fingers.

Sheesh, he thinks. I know what I did to the bakers was harsh but give it a rest already. I was only doing what was best for us!

Against all odds, the humans arrive at nearly the same time as the graduates. "What?!" Brent shouts in disgust. "How are you two catching up?!" He groans in frustration and runs out to the lake.

June hangs back with Syd. "Hey," the wolfess says. "It's been quite some time since you and I had a real conversation. How's Brent holding up?"

"As good as he can get," Syd answers truthfully. "To be honest, I think he's getting worse by the second. I'll catch you later, okay?" He runs off to catch up with Syd before he has another hissy fit.

Chris & Zack run onto the platform to meet up with Toner. Once they hand him their camera, the dog announces, "Third place for the marines." The fox squeals and hugs Chris tight.

Tammy & Rachel arrive next along with their new allies, the critics. "Let's get a shot at the docks," the skunk suggests. "It looks like that's where all of the other teams are heading." With nothing to lose, the wolves follow them as the run for the lake.

By the time Jasper & Mitch, and Vito & Donna arrive, they notice that most of the teams are already there. "Aww, man," Mitch says. "What if we're already in last place?"

"All the more reason to work faster," Donna says, mostly to herself than to the boys. As they run towards the lake, Donna starts thinking about how the frat bros have won the race two years ago. Their "dumb boys" act may work on other people, but they're more clever than they seem. Even without Claudia here, she's going to try to mess with the minds of the other teams. She just needs to find out how.

The twins run up to the carpet with the camera in paw. "Fourth place," Toner says to them. And he says to the sorority sisters, "Fifth." And to the out-of-breath humans, "Sixth." Brent made Syd run at full speed towards the checkpoint after the photo was taken. "Do we need to get you boys medical attention."

"No, it's all right," Brent wheezes. He leans against one of the wooden poles that supports the structure to catch his breath.

Barbara & Eddy- 7th place

Tammy & Rachel- 8th place

Josee & Ryan- 9th place

Donna & Vito- 10th place

Sindy & Sally- 11th place

The officers and vegetarians arrive at the lake and spread out; mostly because of resentment from Joey & Miles. "Are they really that mad over a ridiculous prank?" Nick asks. "Wow. I didn't even intend to do something like that for the rest of this race. But now... they're looking like easy targets."

"Nick, please don't focus on them," Judy says. "We're in the bottom four and we need to stay in the race." The rabbit holds up the camera and snaps a photo of them both. "Did you see where the other teams went to check in at?"

The fox shakes his head. "We'll have to search the grounds together. It's too dark to go separately."

Joey adjusts the camera lens to it shows Miles clearly underneath the dark layer of shadow the nighttime lake casts behind him. "Almost ready and... smile." She darts around to the front of the camera and they flash their teeth in two bright smiles. After the millisecond of light, the vixen tucks away the camera.

"Now that we've got that done, where are we supposed to find the checkpoint?" Miles asks. He's noticed that the other teams have been having difficulty with finding Toner and the carpet.

The vixen shrugs. "I don't know. We'll have to look around like the others." She grabs her partner's paw and tugs him forward.

"Where on Earth can Toner be hiding?" June asks. Even though she's a canine, she can hardly see through the mist in the air. "I saw most of the others come this way and they've just disappeared." Mabel stops them dead in their tracks, with the frat bros bumping right into them.

"Oops! Sorry, ladies," Jasper's voice says. "It's hard to see with all this stuff in the air."

"It's fine," June says. She turns to her partner. "Mabel, what has gotten into you?" The black cat holds up a paw. She lifts her nose and sniffs. Even without canine instincts, she can detect a certain smell in the air. Arrogance and a pinch of sadism on top.

"I can smell him, Toner," Mabel says. She takes another large whiff and the answer comes to her like the answer to a chemistry question. Wait! she scolds herself, that sounds too much like the old Mabel. "He's in the lake; under the canopy."

All four teams close in on the lake, some more aware of the checkpoint more than others. The graduates and frat bros run for the docks as fast as they can. It was obvious the girls weren't going to let them pass so Jasper & Mitch allowed them to go ahead. The officers reach one end of the dock at a walking pace, still unaware of the fact that Toner was standing at the end of it until Judy perks up an ear and ears the sound of footsteps running on the planks. "Do you hear that?" she asks. "It sounds like running."

"We should probably see what the big deal is," Nick says. The officers run down the zig-zagged path.

Toner greets the graduates first of the four. "Twelfth place," he says. "Jasper & Mitch, thirteenth." The college boys cheer and give each other a high-five.

"So this is where Toner was hiding the whole time?" Nick asks. "Pretty clever. But please tell me that we've made it."

"Yep. Fourteenth place goes to the officers."

***

It's another five minutes before Joey & Miles discover that the checkpoint was right under their noses the whole time. The night time and the exhaustion catch up to them, both foxes shivering in their boots. When they walk up to the carpet, they've given up hope that they'll hear a good number. "Vegetarians," the host starts out. "You're the last team to arrive."

Miles lets out a long breath. "I guess we could've done better. I'm sorry I let you down, Joey." He hugs his best friend close, more for comfort but also to offer body warmth.

"You didn't let me down," Joey says. "There's nothing we could've done to-"

"Surprise!" Toner blows a noisemaker in his muzzle. "This was a non-elimination round; you're still in the race." Both foxes perk up and squeal victoriously even though they lost today. Tomorrow, though, will be a different story, and they will do whatever it takes to make sure they stay out of last place this time.

"Well, we had 15 and 15 still remain," Toner says to the audience. "But I guarantee you that one team will be going down. Next time on... the Amazing Race: All-Stars."