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Previously on the Amazing Race, our final six teams traveled to Mississauga for a little interesting adventure. After a stroll through the park, most of our teams tried to chill out in a local yoga school. Chris had a tough time finding his "zen". Cinnamon twisted into more ways than he ever imagined. And Felix sprained his ankle, which ultimately cost him and toby the race (so sad). Plus, a new alliance between the drivers and haters emerged.

Are their allegiances be true? Who knows? Only 5 teams are left in the race for the million. Which one will drop this time? It's time to find out. This is... the Amazing Race.

***

"Welcome back to Fire House 102 in Mississauga," Toner introduces. "With only five teams left, the race is getting more intense than ever before. Up first are yesterday's winners..."

Donna and Josee grab the first tip from the clue box for their teams. "'Fly over to Columbus, Ohio'," Donna starts.

Josee continues. "'And find the next tip outside COSI'."

Teams must make their way to the capital of Ohio, Columbus; a city known for housing several scientific institutions as well as over 800,000 people. Oddly, we'll see none of them today. Once everyone arrives at John Glenn International, they must tandem bike their way to COSI to find their next tip.

Vito & Donna waste no time in getting a taxi, but they leave their supposed allies behind. "As if we're going to help those losers out," Donna says. "We've come too far to be slowed down by wimps."

"Perhaps they are trying to trick the other teams," Ryan suggests as they speed off. "After all, no one can know about this alliance, right?"

"Agreed," Josee says. Lately, her and Ryan have been getting on better terms. She isn't sure what it is about him, but no matter how hard she tries to pull away, she cannot help herself. She still wants that wolf. As for how she's going to tell him... it won't be easy.

The strippers grab the tip next and run off. Zack, on the other hand, widens his eyes as he reads where he's going next. "'Ohio'? Awesome! That's my home state!" It's going to be a good day for him. But he knows better than to jinx him and Chris by saying they might win. They're in the Final Five after all.

Our last place officers finally get the first clue, joining the race to the airport to get seats on the next flight out. "How did we go from first to last in only two days?" Judy asks.

Nick answers, "I'm not sure. But it may have something to do with that yoga challenge yesterday." Thankfully I don't have to do that ever again, he adds to himself. "At least we're still in the competition. All that really matters is that we take out those annoying drivers and send them back to... wherever they came from." (New York.)

And what Nick didn't mention is that, like always at this point in the race, all the teams are on the same flight. A plane ride from Mississauga to John Glenn only lasts an hour. Once it lands, all ten racers find five red tandem bikes parked outside.

"How far is it from here to COSI?" Zack asks.

"About nine miles," Chris answers. "So let's move, move, move!" A few teams struggle to get on the bike but the marines and drivers quickly take off in a race for first. "Whatever you do, Zack; don't let them pass us!"

"I won't!"

Donna overhears this. The last thing she needs is yet another team ganging up on her. Perhaps a nudge into last will show those marine furs what she's capable of. All she really needs is a plan to send them home. Shouldn't be too hard, she thinks. My clever ideas sent the YouTubers packing, why not these guys? She snickers to herself.

Cinnamon & Pepper take their riding slow and steady. "That's it, man, keep it up," Pepper encourages. "We'll be there in no time." He doesn't notice the haters and officers passing them.

Nearly and hour of bike pedaling later, the marines make it to COSI first, sweating and half out of breath. "I've never rode a bike in my entire life," Zack says. "So the fact that we made it here first is pretty awesome."

"Never mind it, come on!" Chris pulls his partner inside, hoping to stay in first. But also because he wants an excuse to hold his paw. The next tip box is inside, which Chris retrieves. "It's a Roadblock. 'Whoever didn't play ice hockey in Saskatchewan must glide in the air'?" Both of them look up. Suspended on the second story is a bicycle attached to a long thick cable that runs off the platform.

Zack grabs the clue and keeps reading. "'Players must strap into the bicycle and pedal out 84 feet into the air to the end of the cable to retrieve your next tip, which will be hanging in front of them. They then must pedal back to reunite with your partner on the platform'." Chris gulps as it's his turn.

Vito & Donna come in next, making the marines hustle their way upstairs. Once they grab the tip and they look up, Vito lets out a breath. "Whew! Thank goodness I don't have to get in that. That looks terrifying." Donna glares at him with her death glare. "I mean... best of luck to you, partner."

The remaining three teams arrive at COSI; the strippers still linger in last place. Judy and Josee tremble over the thought of being hung two stories in the air. But like always, Pepper sees this task as nothing. "As long as you can set your mind to something," he says. "You can pretty much accomplish anything."

Upstairs, Chris is the first one strapped into the Hire Wire Bike. It takes him a second to start moving because the bike is weighed down (plus he already pedaled for nearly an hour, his feet are killing him). "Woohoo! You can do this, Chris!" Zack cheers from the sidelines.

Only a few more feet, Chris tells himself. Sweat drips down his face. He tries not to look down, only ahead. Five clues are suspended in the air for the racers to grab. Once Chris is on the other end, he reaches out and snatches one of them. Without thinking, he quickly pedals backwards. Get me off of this thing, is all he can think.

He bumps into the platform and scrambles to get the straps off him. Zack gives him a hand and pulls him out. Instantly, Chris forgets about the scary bike ride and focuses more on that cheerful wag of Zack's tail and his adorable smile.

"What's the tip say?" Zack asks, killing the moment.

"Oh." Chris hands it to him. "It looks like a Detour. 'Electric Show or Space Show'?" For this Detour, teams can either help demonstrate the power of electricity by placing a paw on an electrostatic generator in front of an audience until their fur stands up OR ride a space simulator for two full minutes. Complete either task and they'll receive the next clue.

"Electricity?" Zack asks. Chris nods. They both run off as Donna gets strapped in next.

Unlike the marine's example, she cannot seem to keep her eyes off the ground, fear stabbing her in all direction. She whimpers as all she imagines is plummeting to get certain death. "Snap out of it, woman!" Vito shouts from the side. "We're in second place and the marines are already on their way to the next task!"

"I. Am. Trying!" Donna yells. She eventually makes it to the end of the cable and with a shaking paw, she reaches out for the clue but it seems that the clue is further than she can reach. "Come on, you stupid thing!" The vixen finally gets ahold of the clue and backtracks her way across the cable to her partner.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Vito asks. Donna slaps him in the face with the clue. "What I meant to say was... Space Show?" He giggles nervously.

Judy takes her turn next. She gets to the other side with no problems. Her real issue is trying to grab the tip. Even when she stretches as far as she can, the rabbit is still a ways away from grabbing it. "I can't reach it!" she exclaims.

"You can do it, Carrots; you're just a few inches away!" Nick says.

She continues to try, but realizes the only way to get it would be to get out of her harness. Slowly, she unclips herself from the bike. Without the restraints, she leans forward and grabs the clue, quickly getting back in her seat and pedaling back. Third place is not so bad, she thinks.

Josee begins her ride without another word. Meanwhile, the marines are back downstairs ready to help demonstrate electricity. "I hope you don't have stage fright," Chris says. Zack only shrugs.

On the stage, Toner stands next to the generator in front of a crowd of over 100 people. "Boys, all you have to is place your paws on here." He points to the generator in the middle.

The marines hop on stage and comply to the challenge, all four of their paws directly on the semi-spherical machine. At first, Chris feels a little tingling in his arms. Yet neither of the fur stands up. "How come this isn't working?" Zack asks.

"You have to shake a little to get the electricity to flow all the way," Toner says.

Chris growls. I feel ridiculous, he thinks. He starts to shake his head, causing his fur to start to stand. "It's working!" Zack squeals. "Keep going!" The fox begins to do the same. When Chris opens his eyes, all of the fur on his body is standing at attention. He looks like an oversized ball of lint. Zack, on the other hand, looks like an adorable orange fluff ball.

The audience that they forgot about applauds. Toner hands them the next clue, saying, "Nicely done."

Zack takes the clue. "It's a One-Way. 'Search for your next clue underneath a car'. What?" For this challenge, teams must head outside where a rig has been set up so one can simply lift a large car with a simple pull of a rope. One partner must pull on the rope to lift the car off the ground. The other must look under the car for directions to today's checkpoint. Last team to arrive... may be out of the race.

The marines take first place. But the drivers cannot seem to get into the thrill of the Space ride; which is simply a rocket with one side cut out to make room for two people. The sim only sways back and forth and displays a few lights. "This isn't a challenge," Donna complains. "This is a simple light show."

"I kinda of like it," Vito says. His partner elbows him in the gut. "Oof! I suppose that it could be a bit more... exciting."

The haters finish the Roadblock in time for Pepper to strap in for the challenge. "That was actually not as hard as I thought," Josee says.

"I knew you could do it, babe," Ryan says. "Now what's the next tip?" She hands it to him. Both grab on at the same time, their fingers brushing against each other. Ryan can feel a little spark of electricity come up upon contact. "How about we do Electric Show?"

"Worth a shot," Josee purrs. It's all she could do to keep from kissing him right there.

Pepper doesn't think about being in last place as he rides out to collect the tip. Cinnamon helps him out of his straps once he's back on the platform. "That was awesome! I want to do it again!" Pepper says but his partner reminds him of the clue he has in paw.

"Oh, right." He skims it over. "'Electric Show or Space Show'. I don't know about you but a space ride sounds a little fun right now. Let's do this!" The strippers head for the simulator that the drivers are currently making their way out of.

"Remind me to never come back to this place ever again," Donna says. She's been through more interesting stuff in high school. She grabs the next clue from a nearby tip box. "No time to waste. We need to get outside; now!"

Cinnamon & Pepper come up behind them and take their place inside the simulator. "This is gonna be sweet!" the grey fox says. The brown fox sighs and waits for the machine to start. It's great that Pepper is having fun, Cinnamon thinks, but we need to focus on the game. This is supposed to be a race, not a vacation.

The ride whirrs to life and the lights on the dashboard begin to flash around. An animated voice says "lift off" and the ride tilts back. Pepper, still acting like a child, throws his paws up and shouts.

Outside, the marines are ready to begin the car lifting challenge. Two ropes are suspended from a large lever attached to a platform that the car sits on. Chris, being the stronger of the two, grabs the one closer to the car and yanks down with all his might. The car begins to inch its way off the ground, amazing Zack.

"Wow," he says. "That's actually pretty awesome." He quickly runs over to look underneath the car, but doesn't see anything written on the ground. No directions of any kind. "I can't find anything!"

"Please hurry!" Chris strains to say. "I can only hold this thing for so long." One of the rules is, once you drop the car, that team must step to the back of the line in order to try again. Zack looks around for a few more seconds but finds nothing. Eventually, Chris gives out, dropping the vehicle back to the ground. "That thing is harder to lift than you think."

Just then, the drivers come out to begin the car lift as well. "I'll pull," Vito says. He takes his place at one of the ropes and pulls it down with as much strength as he can muster.

Donna makes her way to the car, getting on her knees and looking underneath. "What?!" she shouts. "There's nothing underneath this thing!" If Toner tricked us again, she thinks... She has had about enough of the trickery. Last leg of the race made her look like a fool. This time, she isn't about to let Toner get to her.

But before she can get a second look, Vito drops the car, panting heavily. "Even though the rig makes it easier," he says, "It's still hard to keep it up long enough."

Back inside, the strippers finish the Space Show. As they run downstairs to head outside, they pass the officers, who complete the Electric Show. Judy appears normal, but Nick becomes extra poofy. "What? Foxes have thicker fur. It's normal."

"Just keep telling yourself that," Toner says. He gives them the next clue. Josee & Ryan step up next for the task. "Haters; seems like you might get a little electricity back in your relationship, eh?" The host is greeted by crickets. "Nothing? Whatever."

They place their paws onto the generator. Josee can feel a slight hum from the machine as her fur begins to stand up. She looks into Ryan's eyes, ignoring the fact that the wolf is becoming a little more poofy. "Hey," she says. "For most of this race, we've been fighting with each other." The tigress scratches the back of her head. "I guess of miss what we used to have: love. Not hate."

"Yeah," Ryan sighs. "Maybe this race has gotten to us a little too much. Competing with each other, fighting all the time. It does nothing to help solve our issues." He gives a subtle smile. "Maybe... if you want... we could... start over? Once the race is done?"

Josee swishes her tail. "I would love that."

Toner kills the magic by handing them the next tip. "Haters, you're done with the task and you may now move on." Secretly, he doesn't want to see them make out.

Ryan picks Josee up off her feet and carries her to the next challenge. Speaking of which, the marines and drivers are still struggling to find the directions to the checkpoint. Once the officers and strippers arrive, they groan. "At least my arms will finally get a break," Chris says.

Nick takes a first try at lifting the car off the ground. Picking it up is easy. It's when he has to keep it up that causes problems. He feet slip and his fingers slide. Judy looks underneath the car but like the other teams, she finds nothing. "Are you sure we're doing this challenge right?" she asks.

"The clue said to look under the car," Nick says as he lets go of the rope. "Where else would Toner put the instructions."

Cinnamon rubs his paws together when he goes to lift the vehicle. Pepper jogs over to the car. As it eases off the ground, he looks under. Again, nothing. But then his eyes look upwards to the underside of the car. The words "Video Game Exhibit" are displayed in big orange letters.

"Found it, bro!" he shouts excitedly. "First place, here we come!" The strippers run out, shocking the rest of the group.

Donna pushes Vito towards the rope. "Hurry! I'm going to see what they've found." She runs over to the platform when Vito begins to pull the car up. Donna gets on her knees. Nothing is written on the ground. Where did that stipper look? she thinks.

Her eyes glance upwards and she sees the same written text that Pepper found. "Aha!" she exclaims. "We've been tricked all along!" On the inside, she wants to crush Toner's skull for making them look stupid again. But she can't afford those thoughts. "Hurry! Get back inside!"

Vito lets go of the car and runs in with his partner.

"Where did they look?" Zack asks.

"I'm not sure," Chris says. "Why don't we try looking again." He tries to pull the car down but cannot seem to get it to move. Zack volunteers to lift the car up since he hasn't yet. "If you're sure you can."

"Of course I can. I've got this." The fox grips the rope hard and pulls down. "Please hurry!" he strains to say. Chris jogs over to the car that's inches off the ground, eyes darting all around to find the last clue of the day. But he cannot seem to find what the others were looking at. He growls in frustration as Zack sets it back down.

The wolf/husky steps to the side to let the officers go next. "I don't understand," he says. "Where were they looking at to find the tip? I couldn't find it under there." He's also mad that they lost their first place position and are well on their way to being in last.

Nick lifts the car again for Judy to look. She's about to give up when she sees the words written on the bottom of the platform. "I found it!" she says. Typical Toner, trying to make everyone mad for his own amusement.

***

Toner stands inside the arcade game, staring at a Xevious screen that he's been playing with for a while. His eyes are dry and his paws ache, fingers curled around the controllers. Suddenly, the sound of two people running up to him fill his ears.

"Did we make it?" It sounds like Donna. Oh right, Toner remembers, he put the completion carpet next to him.

"Oh yeah," he says, completely distracted from the video game. "You... you made it."

"Oh for Pete's sake! Are we first or not?!" Vito demands. He sounds out of breath.

Toner nods, eyes still on the screen. "Yeah... yeah, you're... the first ones here." The drivers cheer for their placement. Their shouts distract him enough to lost one of his lives. "Hey! You made me lose!" Donna rolls her eyes and walks away.

The host rubs some saline into his eyes to wet them again. As he does, Cinnamon & Pepper reach the arcade and hop onto the carpet. "Remind me to never play Xevious again," Toner tells them. "It gets way too distracting." Both foxes stare at him, Cinnamon with his arms crossed. "Oh, right. Strippers in second place."

While Nick & Judy check in the arcade to claim 3rd place, the marines are still struggling to complete the car lift challenge. And to make things worse, the haters make it outside right as Zack has the car into the air.

"Keep that thing suspended!" Chris shouts. "This may be out last chance!" He goes into panic mode. The fox doesn't look like he can hold the car up long enough. He runs over to the car. But on the way, he falls and slides on his back underneath the vehicle. His first thought is if Zack drops it, he'll die.

When he opens his eyes, he sees "Video Game Exhibit" in bright orange letters on the bottom of the platform. How could we have missed it? he thinks. Chris quickly scoots out from under the car and runs back up to Zack.

"Did you find the clue?" he asks.

"Yeah. Let's go." Chris will be disappointed to come in 4th yet again. But he's most relieved that he won't be in last place.

Josee & Ryan take their positions at the car. Ryan lifts, Josee searches. The wolf yanks on the rope as hard as he can. As soon as it's an inch off the ground, Josee crawls underneath to start the search. Her issue is that she's facing down. And like most of the teams earlier, she finds nothing written on the pavement.

"You've got this, baby!" she shouts. "You can keep this thing up!"

"I'm trying!" Ryan calls back. His arms become weaker. He can feel beads of sweat beginning to form as he tries to keep the car in the air so he won't crush his girlfriend.

It feels good to be able to call her that again. The race has made him forget why he broke up with her in the first place. Josee is brave, beautiful, and very strong; you can hardly find that in a woman these days.

Ryan lets go of the rope as soon as he knows Josee is safe. "Let's switch places," Josee suggests. "You need to build your strength back up." She grabs ahold of his arm feeling a little muscle underneath his fur. Before either protests, she picks him up and kisses him. This time, with genuine feelings for him. She knows what she wants; she wants Ryan to be with him forever.

"Sorry to interrupt-" The sound of Toner's voice frightens them and they jump back. "Oh wait, I'm not sorry. I love getting in between two love birds." Josee growls at him. He takes a step back. "Anyways, the other four teams have checked in already which means you two are in last place."

Ryan shrugs. "Oh well. At least I have you, honey." They resume making out.

"Yeah... goodbye." Toner walks away.

***

The daters catch a bus back to the airport. "We may have lost, but I've had a lot of fun on this race," Josee purrs as she curls up with Ryan. "Besides, it's not a total loss since I now have my man back." She nuzzles the wolf under his chin.

Ryan chuckles. "Yeah, it feels great to be eliminated. No more stress about the competition. We can finally relax and be happy together. But I do admit that our relationship has been tested quite a bit this whole time."

"I say we passed, big time."

"Same here.Who knew that all we really needed was some time to work out our problems?"

"This will be an interested story to tell our kids someday."

"Kids?" Ryan blushes. But relaxes into his tiger's grip. "Maybe. Let's talk more about that once we get home."