Kai wakes on Plummet Mountain with a pounding head after the previous night’s fighting, drinking, and being drugged unconscious. Andy, Braxton, and Blair wake nearby as well, and Kai realizes they have all been placed together for the second Trial. A note explains that they must work as a team and climb nonstop for twelve hours to reach the top before the other team, turning last night’s rivalries into an immediate obstacle.

Kai quickly understands the design of the Trial: the contestants were forced to brutalize one another first so that cooperation would be even harder now. With daylight already fading, Kai pushes the group to start moving. As they climb through thick trees and rough ground with no food, water, weapons, or trust, Kai notices the Sights tracking their progress while Andy tries to distract everyone by talking.

The group’s fragile truce nearly collapses when Andy and Blair begin trading insults. Blair escalates the argument by hurling pinecones and then a large rock, forcing Kai to intervene and redirect the attack before it hits Andy and himself. The conflict confirms how volatile the team remains, but they continue upward in tense silence because the Trial gives them no choice.

Their next danger is more immediate: Andy suddenly warns everyone not to move, and Kai sees they are surrounded by large snakes. Kai and Blair are forced to cooperate, using Blair’s power to throw the snakes away from the group while Braxton and Andy try to avoid being struck. During the scramble, Andy is bitten in the calf.

Once they escape the nest, Kai checks Andy’s wound and worries that the bite may be poisonous, especially because he cannot bear the thought of losing another person he cares about. Andy insists she can keep going, but her pain is obvious. Blair impatiently backs Kai’s judgment, and Kai lifts Andy onto his back so the group can continue climbing despite her injury.