Mal/Mike: Life Lesson.

   There he sat, alone in the darkest part of his subconscious while one of his split personalities was out fondling his girlfriend.
   Mike had separated himself from his remaining split personalities so they wouldn't see him cry. It had been months since he had seen Zoey, and she hadn't even bothered to contact him. He had tried to get in touch with her on a chat website, but she had blocked him for no reason at all, not even giving the poor guy so much as an explanation as to why she would do such a thing, and to make matters worse, she had summoned Manitoba to help her win the digging challenge instead of hanging out with Mike himself.
   Mike sniffled pitifully as his warm tears dripped from his brown eyes, leaving two glistening trails on his tan cheeks.
   "W-why?! Why would she do this to me?! Did I....do something wrong?...." Mike sobbed as more tears fell from his chocolate brown eyes.
   "Of course not dear child...." A dark, raspy voice spoke, earning Mike's attention.
   "W-who said that?" Mike asked, looking around.
   "I did...." The voice said again before lightning struck the ground in front of Mike, lighting it on fire.
   Mike wiped his tears away as he watched the massive flames form a demonic face.
   "W-who are you?...." Mike asked with a small whimper.
   "I'm you...." The demonic face made of fire answered.
   "But....that's impossible...." Mike denied in a cowardly tone.
   "Oh, but it is possible Micheal....You see? There's a place....A place in your head....A place on the other side of 'happy-go-lucky'....The one part of you that isn't looking for the bright side of things....In that dark place....lurks rage....You've kept it locked away behind thick bars of laughter, subdued by humor, but when laughter breaks down and humor can't quiet it's hunger....the rage gets out....and then it runs the show....Short version? You've finally snapped...." The fiery figure explained to the tearful boy.
   "But....that can't be....I....snapped?....Why?...." Mike questioned as his eyes began to tear up again.
   "Because of her....Because of them....Your personas Mike....That's all Zoey and Cameron cared about....They never cared about you....They were just using you....They were using you this whole time and you didn't realize it up until now...." The voice explained as Mike was surrounded by fire.
   "N-no....That can't be true! It can't! Zoey and Cameron are my best friends in the world! They can't be using me! They just can't!" Mike defended beginning to cry again. As much as he didn't want to believe it, he didn't have enough evidence to prove it fake, and if it was true, he wasn't sure if he could handle it.
   "To you they're your best friends....but there's no way of knowing what you are to them...." The voice mocked as the fire was slowly absorbed into Mike's body along with those words.
   Mike's sad, broken frown slowly twisted into a malevolent glare as the last of his tears dripped down from his cheeks. He could feel his blood boiling with rage and hatred as he stood up gritting his teeth fiercely before his bangs fell over his left eye. His eyes now had dark circles around them from crying so much but he managed to hold a malevolent look as he let out a low growl.
   "I'm coming for you zoe'...." He spoke in a voice similar to the one that had just spoken to him when he heard Manitoba fall in.
   "But first...." He smirked as he neared the room his personalities were in.
   "Wait! Ya hear that?....The Malevolent One! He's comin'!" Manitoba warned, causing Vito and Chester to panic and Svetlana to let out a high pitched scream.
   It was then, the portrait of Mike on the wall behind them exploded, sending the three flying into Manitoba and knocking him down.
   "Please....call me Mal...." Mike smirked as his personalities stood to their feet.
   "Stand back! I got 'm!" Manitoba attempted to lasso Mal, but instead of tying him up, he was only able to lasso his wrist.
   "Ya think ya smart don'tcha? Well guess what! I'm still the strongest!" Manitoba yanked on the lasso with all of his strength but Mal didn't budge. He only smirked at his alternate persona before sharply yanking the rope and causing Manitoba to fall to the floor.
   "Wind, wind the little thread....Wind, wind the little tread...." Mal repeated mockingly as he wrapped the rope around his arm, gradually pulling Manitoba toward him.
   "N-no! S-stop that! I'm beggin' ya! I'll leave ya alone! I promise! Just please let me go!" Manitoba Smith, the bravest of Mike's personalities, tearfully begged for his own life much to the other's shock.
   Once Manitoba was right at Mal's feet, he stopped, glaring down at the poor, helpless Australian with his cold, dark eyes.
   "Piss off!" He spat before delivering a swift kick to Manitoba's chin, sending him flying backwards into the wall. Mal then used Manitoba's lasso to lasso Svetlana's neck.
   She let out a shrill, high-pitched scream as Mal hung her from the support beam.
   "You're all going to die!" Mal cackled, causing Svetlana to scream again as she kicked her legs to escape her noose.
   "Let 'er go!" Vito ordered as he ran to attack Mal, only to get back fisted by him.
   "Oh!" Vito gasped as he fell to his back near Chester.
   "Whoa....That is one tough persona...." Vito noted, rubbing the back of his head.
   "That's no persona...." Chester whispered as he made eye contact with Mal, who just flashed him an evil, toothy grin.
   "MIKE!" Zoey cried out as Mike woke up with a small groan, pulling himself to his feet.
   "Thank goodness you're ok! Now here. Put this back on. We need Manitoba to win this challenge." Zoey returned the fedora to Mike's head, but instead of Manitoba awakening, Mike just stood quiet, glaring at her as he removed his fedora and smacked Zoey over the head with it before angrily storming off.
   "Mike, where are you going?! Mike!" Zoey called out to him but he merely ignored her.
   "I'll go check on him...." Cameron offered before heading in the same direction that Mike had ran off in. He found him, but much to his shock, Mike was slamming the red baby stroller from the last challenge into the ground aggressively in an attempt to break it, but it would only roll forward slightly when it hit the ground, causing Mike to look like a crazy person.
   "Mike, what are you doing?!" Cameron asked, a bit frightened by Mike's actions.
   "I DON'T WANNA HAVE SPLIT PERSONALITIES ANYMORE!" Mike yelled as he slammed the baby stroller against a tree, but even then it remained in one piece.
   "Why not?" Cameron asked as Zoey approached.
   "Because you would both rather hang out with them than me!" Mike angrily accused.
   "No, Mike, that's not true...." Zoey defended.
   "Oh yeah? Then why didn't you at least try to get in touch with me after last season?! And when we were finally reunited, you summoned Manitoba!" Mike demanded an explanation from his friend and girlfriend.
   "Well I have a Chat account. You've could have contacted us there." Zoey replied.
   "I TRIED! YOU BLOCKED ME!" Mike snapped as Zoey remembered what she had done.
   "Oh my gosh! Mike, I am so sorry! I thought that was someone pretending to be you!" Zoey apologized.
   "Sure you did...." Mike rolled his eyes before storming off to the confessional.
   "I wasn't joking!....Was I?" Zoey asked herself as her and Cameron followed Mike.
   Mike hadn't locked the door to the confessional, so it was easy for Cameron to open it. Much to his and Zoey's shock Mike was curled up in the confessional crying softly into his knees.
   "Oh Mike...." Zoey whispered, starting to feel really bad for what she had done to him.
   At the sound of her voice, Mike looked up at the two before shooting them both an ice, cold glare. He then screamed at the top of his lungs before slamming the door shut.
   Zoey and Cameron exchanged worried glances but were then startled by Mike opening the door and screaming in their faces. He then slammed the door again only to repeat that process about five more times.
   Zoey and Cameron decided to give Mike some privacy as they went back to the challenge.
   ~Later that night.~
   The Heroic Hamsters ended up winning the challenge and Mike ended joining the peanut gallery to watch the elimination. He had dark circles around his eyes from crying earlier and his bangs where now covering his left eye.
   "Hi Mike...." Zoey happily greeted in an attempt to make amends with her boyfriend.
   "Do not, talk to me...." Mike growled with Mal's voice, turning his nose up at her.
   As the elimination was going on, Mal took some time to think about his relationship with Zoey and his friendship with Cameron. Were they really coming to an end? Probably. The real question he was asking himself was could he handle it? At the moment, he felt that he couldn't and it was all his personalitys' faults.
   Anger boiled within him at the thought of his personalities as he began seething again.
   "One by one....they will all fall...." He said darkly, attracting Zoey's attention.
   "Did you say something Mike?" Zoey asked. Much to her shock, Mal back handed her with all of his strength, sending her spiraling into the dirt. He then tackled her to the ground and began to strangle her.
   "M-Mike....stop...." Zoey choked out gasping for air.
   Mal's eyes widened as he had several flashbacks of Zoey calling out to him for help. His head then began to hurt as he let out a small groan, removing his hands from her throat to grasp his aching forehead. His hair then returned to it's spikey appearance before he passed out on top of the frightened Zoey.
   "What do you suppose happened with Mike today?" Zoey asked Cameron as she carried the unconscious Mike to his bed in the Spa Hotel.
   "I don't know Zoey. He is mentally unstable. It could be anything...." Cameron replied as Zoey laid Mike down on his bed and covered him up.
   "I wonder what's going on inside that head of his...." Zoey pondered.
   ~In Mike's subconscious.~
   Chester tried in vain to break free from the chain that was holding him to a skateboard stand when he noticed a spikey haired figure approaching him.
   "Svetlana?! Is that you?!" He called out. He then screamed in fear when he saw it was Mike approaching.
   "Stay back! I have a skateboard!" Chester warned, holding up his skate board threateningly.
   "Whoa! WHOA! Chester! It's me Mike!" Mike flinched.
   "I know who ya are ya whipper snapper! You stay the heck away from me!" Chester cried swatting at him with the skateboard.
   "Stop!" Mike ordered aggressively, snatching the skateboard from Chester, much to his fear. He then calmed down and said, "Look....I am Mike. Mal is another split personality that you know....formed and you need to help me destroy him." Mike begged, lying through his teeth, but fortunately for him, Chester believed every word of it and decided to help.
   "Well there's the reset button....Push it and poof! You're just you again...." Chester explained with a defeated sigh.
   "Any idea where I might find this 'reset button'?" Mike asked.
   "If you free me I'll lead you to it...." Chester bargained.
   "Deal!" Mike agreed, using the skateboard to break his chain.
   "Right this way...." Chester began to lead the way oblivious to the evil smirk that Mike held on his face as he followed him.
   After a long while of walking, they found Svetlana chained to a rock. She was forced to carve statues of fish out of butter from fear that Mal would deliver his threats to kill her.
   "Svetlana! You survived our little encounter with Mal!" Chester exclaimed with excitement. The last time he had seen Svetlana, she was barely breathing and quite pale.
   "Mike! Chester! Oh, thank the Heavens you are here!" She exclaimed excitedly.
   "Now quickly, the chain!" She exclaimed before Mike used her chiseling knife to cut her chain.
   "So....are you with us?" Mike asked.
   "Oh absolutely!" Svetlana cheered as the three continued on their way.
   "We're the three best friends, that anyone could have! We're the three best friends, that anyone could have! We're the three best friends, that anyone could have, and we'll never ever leave each other!" Svetlana sang happily much to Mike and Chester's annoyance.
   ~Zeke and you shall find.~
   It had been days and Mike had continued to shun Cameron and Zoey, but the thing that disturbed them most was his malevolent behavior over the weeks, so out of concern, Cameron had created a medication to help stabilize his brain, but he would have to be sneaky in order to inject it into Mike.
   Cameron decided to pair up with Mike to find Chris in Ezekial's cave. This way, he would be able to inject Mike with the drug without somebody stopping him.
   Right in the middle of their conversation about driving a wedge between Scott and Courtney, Cameron pulled out a bottle of mace and sprayed Mike with it, causing him to fall to the ground, screaming in pain.
   "Oh my gosh! It burns! It burns!" Mike cried out as Cameron forced him to roll over.
   The irritation caused by the mace made dark circles appear around Mike's eyes as his bangs fell over his left eye.
   "What did you do to me?!" Mike asked with Mal's voice when he noticed Cameron had a syringe. He quickly became enraged and began to wrestle Cameron.
   "Sorry about this Mike...." Cameron apologized before spraying the mace again, but Mal pushed the can, causing Cameron to spray himself by accident. Cameron began to cough aggressively, but then gasped when Mal shoved him to the ground.
   "Alright, that's it....You wanna play like that? FINE!" Mal growled before pulling a taser from his pocket.
   "Mike, stop! I'm trying to help you!" Cameron begged, standing back up with syringe in hand.
   "Help this!" Mal spat before kicking dirt in Cameron's face, blinding him. He then tasered Cameron, causing him to fall to the ground again.
   "You like that?" He mocked before kicking Cameron in the stomach. He then took the syringe from Cameron and injected him with whatever it's contents were.
   "That'll teach you to mess with me...." Mal snickered before he began to drag Cameron over to a large hole.
   "Mike! Don't do this!" Cameron begged.
   "Mike's gone....I'm Mal....and you're going to fall...." Mal laughed before throwing Cameron down the hole to his death. He then began to laugh manically.
   "I did it! I won! I took out Cameron WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mal cheered, attracting Ezekial's attention.
   "Now all that's left is to get my revenge on Zoey...." He said to himself seconds before he was knocked unconscious by Ezekial.
   ~In Mike's subconscious.~
   "Mike, are you ok?!" Chester called out.
   "You-hoo! Mike!" Svetlana called out as Mike slowly came to with a small groan.
   "What happened?...." He asked rubbing his head.
   "Ya passed out ya ninny!" Chester complained.
   "Hey what's that?!" Svetlana asked, pointing to a stage that was near by. On that stage, was none other than Vito. He had a dummy that favored Mal quite a lot, though it went by the name 'Dominick' as he was using it to tell jokes that only appealed to Chester, when suddenly, Mike snatched the dummy from him and used it to smash his chain.
   "We're going to find the reset button, and you're coming...." Mike ordered, continuing on his way as Chester and Svetlana followed, exchanging worried glances.
   "Uh, yeah, sure thing!" Vito nervously agreed, following behind them.
   It wasn't long before they reached Manitoba, who was burning Mike's dreams.
   Mike watched as Manitoba angrily lassoed his dream clouds and pulled them down into the camp fire below, incinerating them. Almost all of the dreams were about Zoey, and when they were burned and gone forever, it brought Mike a comforting sense of relief that dulled his rage and overwhelming sadness.
   He allowed Manitoba to burn all of his dreams about Zoey before he finally released him. He felt better now, but he had this small emptiness inside of him that made him feel down.
   ~Finale wreck-ending.~
   Mal had managed to make it to the finale two, but unfortunately for him, so did Zoey.
   The two raced and battled against each other until the both of them ended up under water, but as Mal was attempting to drown Zoey, his head began to hurt again like last time and he passed out, sinking to the bottom.
   "Mike!" Zoey cried out, swimming to the bottom after him.
   ~In Mike's subconscious.~
   "WAKE UP MICHEAL!" Chester shouted, startling Mike awake.
   "Huh?! What happened?!" Mike gasped, looking at his surroundings, seeing he was at the top of the tower. He then glanced over at the reset button.
   "We're here...." Chester announced.
   Mike let out a defeated sigh before he looked down at the ground, his bangs draping over his left eye as he did so. He then began to chuckle evilly, much to the other personalities' confusion.
   "You're all fools...." He spoke in Mal's voice before hitting the reset button.
   "You all fell for my little trick. You all truly believed I was another split persona. Well, now you'll all fall for your gullibility...." Mal snickered as Chester, Svetlana, Vito and Manitoba all fell to the ground around him, slowly dying.
   "I was just pretending to be a split persona so Chester would lead me to the reset button....Now you peons will never ruin my chances with Zoey again!" Mal cackled evilly as his personas became transparent.
   "W....was it really....w-worth it....Mike?...." Manitoba asked before coughing up blood.
   "Huh?...." Mal asked, cocking an eyebrow.
   "We....treated you like....family....and you....give us up for....f-for some girl that makes your heart feel unhappy?!...." Manitoba growled as Mal's eye twitched. It was true, Zoey did make his heart unhappy. Her and Cameron both had made him feel neglected and like a reject, and all he ever felt around them was anger and sadness.
   "MIKE!" Mal was suddenly distracted from his thoughts and his slowly fading personas by Zoey's voice calling out to him.
   "Zoey?! Is that you?! Did you finally come back for me?! I've been waiting so long!" Mal screamed at the ceiling, completely ignoring the fact that his tower was shaking and crumbling apart.
   It was then the thoughts began to run through his head: 'They only love you for your personas!' 'To you, they're your best friends in the world, but there's no way of knowing what you are to them!' 'They're jealous of your personas!'
   "N-no....It can't be true....It can't be...." Mal began to pull on his own hair as warm tears spilled from his eyes and streamed down his cheeks.
   "They....never cared for ya....like....we did...." Were Manitoba's finale words before he and the other personas faded.
   Mal was once again snapped from his thoughts by the warm feeling of his urine soaking his jeans and running down his legs. He had just soiled himself, but he didn't care. He was losing his mind.
   "No....NO! YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE IT'S MY TURN TO SHINE NOW! MIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNEEE!" Mal cried out just seconds before his tower exploded in a neon, pink blast.
   When Mike had awoken, he was still under water and he could feel where the water had gotten warmer from his urine. He could also feel Zoey pulling him out of the water by the wrist.
   "Mike! Are you ok?! Speak to me!" She begged, shaking him gently. Much to her relief, his dark, brown eyes slowly batted open.
   "Oh Mike, thank goodness you're ok!" Zoey exclaimed before kissing Mike passionately.
   Well, he finally got what he wanted. He got to kiss Zoey. So why didn't he feel happy about it? It was because Zoey didn't make him feel happy anymore. She just made him miserable, but he wasn't angry about it anymore, nor was he sad. He just felt this dull emptiness in his heart. That low feeling he felt when Manitoba was burning his dreams, and the only way he would get relief is if he left Zoey now.
   He broke the kiss, placing his hands on Zoey's shoulders and pushing her back into the water. He then stood up.
   "Mal?" Zoey questioned.
   "No Zoey....It's Mike...." Mike replied, pushing his wet hair up into it's usual spikey style.
   "Just Mike...." He added flatly before he began to walk away.
   "M-Mike?! Wait!" Zoey called out to him, crawling out of the water and sitting up on her knees.
   "You win Zoey....You can have the money....I don't care about it anymore....I don't care about you anymore either...." Mike sighed before walking away from his ex girlfriend.
   "No! Wait! Mike! Please give me another chance! MIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!" Zoey begged, still on her knees as Mike tuned out the sound of her cries. The farther away he got from her, the better he felt.
   "Mike, dude....Where are you going?" Chris asked.
   "I forfeit Chris....I'm done with this competition....I'm done with Zoey...." Mike replied tiredly.
   "Wow! That is, the best drama, you've ever brought to this show! You automatically win the million dollars!" Chris one again unfairly bended the rules and handed the million over to Mike, before sending him home.
   As the days went by, Cameron and Zoey became a distant memory. It turned out Mike really could handle it after all. Though, he wished he had have handled things better than he had.