The child ran down the stairs of his large house, a huge smile on his face. The only thing that didn't seem to stop him was the attitude of those who were round the house. One person seemed to have been on the child's mind as he continued to run, more than happy to spend his day with said person.
Despite the seeming determination that the child had when woken up, he stopped and even fell backwards. In front of him was a figure… a shadowed female figure, nothing seemed to let up the identity. And then the figure approached the child, angry and very much crying. A shaking hand reached out when a voice came for him and took him out of the scene.
"Eagle One, you there? This is Little Wolf calling in, don't tell me you went and died on me." A gruff, male voice came over the radio, the frown that was no doubt on his face coming through in his tone as he spoke.
"A dream. It was all a dream." Chris McLean thought, getting up from a tree trunk, grabbing the radio from beside him.
"Little Wolf, calling to as if Eagle One is alive."
"Eagle One here. What's up Little Wolf?" Chris said into his radio.
"Finally. No sign of the Bear yet, how's it going on your end?" Hatchet asked "Other than a nice nap?"
"No the sign of the Bear. Not yet." Chris answered
"All right, we should keep going. Little Wolf, signing off over and out."
"Eagle One out." Replied Chris, putting down his radio in its previous place where he found it.
He heaved a sigh "All for this one Bear." He thought, boarding the nearby ATV he brought for his search and drove off.
The setting right now is Pahkitew Island, which name translated to 'Explosion', if Chris got his translation correct. Letting Hatchet do the other translations of team names and getting them wrong he somewhat wondered if that was the right one. This island was also the setting for the most recent Total Drama season, and although the season was over and done with, Chris and Hatchet remained on the island in search of the aforementioned Bear. One very interesting and potentially dangerous Bear and that is something for a Bear. Both people that were doing the searching were pretty infamous for being cocky and loving a lot of danger. Chris McLean, the host with the most. Everyone thought of him as the main face of the show throughout the seasons. And hated by the contestants and would say that he got worse over the past three or four years that they knew him, although producers thought the opposite and kept him on as the host of the show for his over the top personality, or so they say.
Then there was Chef Hatchet. He was originally hired to be mainly the cook and only the cook, though he was 'allowed' to appear on the show as an unofficial part of the show for funny interactions between him and the contestants. But that eventually that eventually evolved and his original role somewhat ignored as he got more of an upgrade in a role and he couldn't be happier being the unofficial co-host of the show. Some even forget that Hatchet even was a cook originally to be honest.
Thinking about it now, Chris thought that the two of them made a very good team together. He really did. These past four years that the two worked together, they really got close, in Chris' opinion. Hatchet probably thought the same Chris hoped. There was even a time that they had previously shared together long before Total Drama, time notwithstanding, since it had been several years since their college days.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Chris whirled around after a screeching halt of his ATV. Focusing on the area behind him, he narrowed his eyes. He heard something, he knew it. Getting off his ATV and making a motion to grab his radio and a special baton, not keeping his eyes off of the bushes where the noise and movements came from, Chris himself moved slowly towards the area. Pushing the bush with the baton revealed nothing. Chris breathed out in annoyance as he relaxed and walked back to put his stuff back on the ATV to keep on moving forwards. Revving it up, moving forwards and trying to clear his mind.
"It's been nearly a week and I am getting jumpy over squirrels in bushes." Chris thought "Then again, they ARE a bunch of mutants."
Roaring the ATV to life, Chris charged down the path unaware that he was being watched from afar. A person gazing out of a high part of a tree, glad that they were not found at that moment, completely uneasy on what Chris' intentions were with that baton.
On the other side of Pahkitew Island, one overly muscled and giant cook for teenaged contestants was having less luck than the other host. Also this one was not that happy on his lack of success that he was having. Giving out a grunt of frustration at a lack of results that faces the potential future of the search, Hatchet yanked back a log that fell in his path. The woods was more humid than usual so much so, that one could not call it a woods any more and more of a rainforest or a jungle, and that was severely worrying.
None of this was due to the machinery that was placed underneath the Island, that aspect was taken care of to insure that it did not interfere with the search at hand. That part seemed to be working like a charm and nothing seemed to be getting in the way. A very good sign indeed, for now, but it looked like the search had to keep going until the producers need, or any case want, a new season of Total Drama. That may be guaranteed, since there seemed to still be demands for a next season. Hatchet thinking that they may have some time off before that rather than a week that they did have, especially with another show on its way to distract the general audience for a good month or two. Long enough for them to do this job and get a new season on its way into planning. That is, if the Bear gave them too much trouble for that long, that would put a dent in their lives and jobs, as well as potentially getting in the way of any upcoming season after the Ridonculous Race show would be coming to a close.
If they had gone and put the proper GPS and did not leave that Bear alone for more than five minutes, they would have not been in a situation like this to begin with. Then again, Hatchet was also the big proprietor of putting an 'off' switch for that thing and wondered why they didn't put that one on that Bear in the first place. Something that Hatchet would like to bring up with Chris later on when they met up again.
"Damn that Bear." Hatchet thought "Why in the world did we give that thing free will?"
He shook his head in frustration and pressed forwards in the now humid woods. The search still seemed fruitless to Hatched, yet Chris still seemed insistent to find it, in fear of something bad happening. Then again, that didn't stop Chris from putting the contestants in dangerous situations before. The Bear would probably not phase them, if the Bear behaved itself. That would be a very big if. Until then, Chris wanted that Bear tracked down.
A shift in the woods caught Hatchet's attention of something not wanting to get caught. Yet it seemed to be a little small to be a bear making Hatchet more suspicious. Making his way towards the noise, being actually curious on to whom or what was there. Moving some of the bushes only to have whatever made the noise back off and fled into the woods.
The more puzzling thing about what ran was it was smaller than a bear, but bigger than a mutant squirrel. Almost boar sized but humanoid shaped as well. Hatchet blinked as the thing ran from the bush and far from their position.
"That… was strange." Hatchet thought. "What was that?"
So it looked like his search continued for something that would not run from the situation and at least not freak out when seeing Hatchet at least. If said Bear didn't outright hate the two of them. Hatchet pushed back from the bush and back to the path, for lack of a better term, thinking on what the most logical place to continue to search for that most elusive thing, Hatchet thinking that he had a better shot at for success than Chris at finding the Bear, giving a look around his current surroundings. Some of the things that he saw were not part of the woods as far as Hatchet knew though. It didn't take Hatchet too far walking down that path to get a message from McLean over the radio. Something that sounded pretty urgent when he spoke.
"Eagle one to Little Wolf. Come in Little Wolf." Chris' voice came over the radio, almost sounding like he was somewhat out of breath and grunting as he spoke.
"Huh, what is it Eagle One?" Hatchet asked "Did you finally find that Bear?"
"No!" Chris snapped back, frustration in his voice "It's a contestant!"
Hatchet blinked. Did he hear that right? A contestant on the island? Then it hit him that so called 'boar' was not that in the slightest. That was a contestant, he was sure of it, and with what Chris said, it made sense to him. And one contestant that fit a squat sort of stature, close to a boar was one contestant: Max. Hatchet smirked as he thought about it.
"That little bugger is quite fast." He thought "Then again, I did just stand there and watch."
"Little Wolf! Do you hear me? I said that there is a contestant on the island!" Snapped Chris
"I heard ya." Hatchet responded "I think I may have found a contestant myself."
"What?" Asked Chris, more like demanded really being him, also sounding like he had stopped in his tracks to talk, and process what Hatchet told him a little bit better.
"Yeah, but he got away." Hatchet replied, a smirk coming onto his face "I blame the Bear."
"Now is not the time for jokes!" Chris snarled
"I think it is. Now is the time to blame that Bear for this situation." Said Hatchet
"Are you talking to Chris McLean?" A voice came from behind him. A familiar voice that sounded male and a little too excited to hear the main hosts' voice.
Hatchet swallowed hard. Topher, the last contestant he wanted to see.
"Topher?" Chris asked with dread
"I saw Max, I swear!" Hatchet said in a strange sort of defence. It clearly was not Topher shaped, the contestant that he saw take off earlier into the woods.
"Porker?" Chris asked
"I am not a porker!" Max's nasally voice came, before he fell down from a tree.
Silence came from Hatchet and McLean as Topher and Max's voices fought each other for dominance.
"Let's rendezvous back at camp." Hatchet said, with some resignation, into the radio. "See you there… Little Wolf over and out."
With that, Hatchet put down the radio, not waiting for a response with the assumption that Chris actually agreed with this one, and started walking, Max and Topher eventually in tow with the realization that Hatchet was going to leave the two behind.
Meanwhile, Chris McLean frowned at his radio. He normally was the one who ended the radio conversations, with a few rare, rude exceptions on Hatchet's end. But this time he sounded defeated almost, more so now than anything else but still…
Then again having Max and the wannabe him Topher fighting and demanding attention over and demanding attention over the radio can easily drain anyone to be honest. Also to be fair, at least he didn't have Beardo staring at him and making him uneasy, Chris mentally noting may have to rethink who he let onto the show as contestants. At least Beardo made himself obvious to Chris, not like the other one that was currently following him, which he was sure was another contestant, his mind going to Shawn. The only one, well other than the giantess Jasmine, to work so well at being up the trees and mobile and one who did NOT want to be seen at the moment.
"Well, then. If you'll come with me we'll go and see Hatchet." Chris said. "And we'll get some answers from the three of you."
No response came from Beardo.
"Like how in the world you three got here in the first place." Chris continued
No response from Beardo.
"And to see if there are anyone else from the previous season here."
Again, no response from Beardo.
"Sooo, shall we be off?" Chris suggested, spinning on his heel, not even bothering to wait to get a non-response from Beardo.
To his surprise and happiness Beardo actually followed him. That was a rare thing for him, as most contestants of the past would definitely not follow him, especially after what he put them through for the show and the views. This was pretty much his life to be honest, so he was willing to do anything to keep a very well-paying job that he loved so much.
So Chris was, at the end of the day, very glad that most of the Pahkitew Island contestants were fairly trusting of him at the moment, especially Beardo. That teen had the least amount of interaction of all things Total Drama and therefore did not have any clouded thoughts on the hosts and their actions that they had on the previous contestants that were there. Chris thought about the ATV and Beardo, wondering if the two of them could get on the thing so it could help them on their way to the rendezvous point with Hatchet, Topher and Max. Generally, no one touched Chris' stuff, but this may be an exception, for something of an emergency.
"How do you feel about ATVs?" Chris asked, twirling on his heel to face Beardo, who stopped suddenly not expecting the twirl.
Beardo gave him a shrug, Chris taking that as an 'okay', he was really hoping that would be an okay at least. The last thing he needed was something to go wrong or for Beardo to end up freaking out and putting the two of them into a bad situation.
"We'll need to get going to meet Hatchet and the others. So you better be all right with ATVs." Chris continued, getting onto the ATV. "There's enough room for the both of us, so get on and let's get going."
Immediately jumping onto the ATV, there was thankfully enough room like Chris thought. He revved up the thing and the two were off to meet the others. If Hatchet hadn't killed the other two off already, which would mean an easy law suit for the both of them if anyone found out, Chris could also admit that he wouldn't blame Hatchet would at least get angry at the two of them at least.
Checking out the correct points that indicated that he was on the right path for the rendezvous area Chris felt Beardo's arms tighten around him as he was clinging on for dear life.
"Okay with ATVs my gigantic ass." Chris thought "The kid probably told me that to get me to feel better."
Chris went and tried to steady the ATV, looking for a better path for him to take. There wasn't too much of an option to take, as Pahkitew Island was meant to keep its roughness. Unlike Wawanakwa, this before it sank, was the one that was supposed to be the cleaned out Island and renovated to be an actual Summer Camp, as well as the one that was meant to be kept around for more seasons in the future. Unfortunately, it was sunk due to an oversight by two people and needed a new season quickly for a new season. Some convincing from Chris kept the above area of Pahkitew Island rough, but under the island was a different story. As some of the Pahkitew Island contestants eventually and accidentally found out, that under the Island was an amazing array of technical wonders and machines, with one of the contestants known as Scarlett took over said area with her own know how. Thankfully the other contestants put an end to her time of craziness and Chris shot her off of the island with Max. Chris wondered how in the world Scarlett was completely missed being thrown into a psych ward, admitting that she was pretty smart and could have easily thrown people off. A few jolts to indicate the paths were getting worse; Chris gave a quick look around and saw that the two were very close to their destination.
"Just a few more minutes." Chris called out to Beardo. "So hand on!"
Chris revved up the ATV and charged down the so called path. It was getting worse to be honest, but the two were getting much closer to their destination, and Chris wasn't lying about that. Although it didn't take that long, the layout of the path made it longer than it needed to be; at least it felt like it to Chris anyways. But eventually the two got to their destination. Chris seeing no sights of Hatchet, Max, or Topher he gave a frown at the situation.
"Huh, they're late." Chris noted out loud, getting off the ATV, hoping that it would get Beardo off of the thing himself. "Wonder if those two are slowing Hatchet down."
Beardo taking the hint to get off of the ATV and to follow, Chris inspected the area again. Everything thankfully looked normal and in place, as small as the area was. It wasn't meant to be a big production despite what on the party said for some of niceties for the stay. What was around the area was your basic campsite. What was there was really meant a good week food-wise and supply-wise. Two if they really stretched it out, but the duo didn't intend to stay that long, especially with three unintended guests to deal with at the moment. Beardo didn't seem to completely know where to go or what to do at the moment, Chris didn't to blame him to be honest, as there was not a lot to do but wait. Then something then happened that alerted Chris that said that the two of them were not alone. Chris turned around to look at the woods with a snap. Something that he admitted may have been a little obvious to anyone or anything that would be watching and stalking them. Chris being thankful that Beardo was ahead of him at the time and didn't catch on to his behaviour just yet. Scanning the section of the woods that the noise came from, Chris didn't break eye contact as he bent down to grab a sizeable rock, eventually settling on the thing in question was in the trees, the next move was to determine if said stalker was still in the same spot, or moved positions.
"Man, I'm getting rusty at this." Chris thought, finally narrowing down the stalker's location.
Throwing the rock at what Chris determined to was the most opportune time, he landed a hit. A cry came out from the hit mark, telling Chris that what he hit was most definitely human, And the thrown rock was completely took said human stalker off guard as fell from the trees and hit the ground with a thud. That did get Beardo's attention as he snapped around to see what fell.
"All right, who are you?" Chris asked, moving towards who he hit. Confidence not leaving him as he moved towards said person.
"How?" Asked a bewildered Shawn.
"Zombie boy?" Chris asked back in surprise, stopping in his tracks. That made a lot of sense of how he kept hidden for so long, and for whatever reason, still surprised that Shawn was actually on the island with the others.
"It's Shawn." The teen replied. "And how did you find out about me?"
"I am a man of many talents." Chris replied, giving an arrogant smirk as he spoke to him.
"Suuure." Shawn said rolling his eyes, the sarcastic vibes clearly not at being hidden in his voice.
"Of course you got here first." Hatchet said, announcing the presence of him, Max and Topher.
"Were there any doubts?" Chris said, turning to the three of them.
"Only because you had the easy one to deal with." Hatchet replied, just then noticing a panicked Shawn behind Chris, looking like he wanted a place to hide from the much bigger man. "And zombie boy is here too? Great."
"My name is Shawn!" He said offended. "And how many of us are there?"
"With any luck, just the four of you." Chris answered
"But then again, we aren't always that lucky." Commented Hatchet.
Chris huffed and Hatchet shrugged. Both eyes met each other before Chris waved Hatchet over to a secluded area for a private conversation.
"All four of you, stay there. I mean it." Chris ordered the teens as he and Hatchet moved to the private, off area to talk.
"All right Chris, what do you have in mind?" Hatchet asked in a lowered voice. "You know we should just get send them home."
"Then again, they could seriously help us out." Chris rebutted in the same lowered voice.
Meanwhile, the four teens started to talk among themselves, albeit very awkwardly.
"I don't like this, not one bit." Hatchet started.
"They can help us out!" Chris argued
"Or get hurt." Hatchet shot back "Or worse."
"I'm pretty sure that Bear hates us, not those four." Chris brought up. "They could probably get near that thing without getting hurt, if at all."
"I still don't like this."
"You don't like anything."
The two glared at each other for a few seconds before Max approached the two of them, with enough nerves and awkwardness to fill several decent sized rooms and kill some of the birds outside of it.
"Um, excuse me? May I interrupt your conversation for a moment?" He asked
Chris and Hatchet broke eye contact to give their attention to him, giving the much shorter, squatter kid more of a glare than they fully intended to give, Max wincing a little bit at it before finding his voice.
"The four of us would like to know what is going to be done with us right now."
Hatchet gave an annoyed sigh as he and Chris looked at each other and then around the current area around them. The place could just work for six people.
"You're staying with us for the night; we'll come to a decision in the morning." Hatchet replied, pointing out the seemingly and very suddenly setting sun on small group "I may regret it in the long run."