AnonBrowser here again! This one-shot is my second submission to FanFiction. Feel free to also check out my first story "A Life-Changing Attack" (which is also a one-shot). Here I'm focusing on the twin sisters Amy and Samey from TDPI. It starts towards the end of the episode "So, Uh, This Is My Team?" before finishing in between that and the next episode "I Love You, Grease Pig!", which you really should watch before reading as this story does contain spoilers. Don't say you weren't warned!
The first challenge from Total Drama's sixth season, Pahkitew Island, had ended. Victory easily went to the Floating Salmons (also called Team Kinosewak) for creating the best shelter with their sturdy treehouse over the unstable castle that the Confused Bears (known as Team Maskwak) had built which collapsed after a moose stampede. "I'd like to say it was a hard decision" said the show's host Chris McLean, "but let's keep it real; Team Pimâpotew Kinosewak wins the challenge!"
The bears groaned in defeat while the salmon cheered in delight. "The winners of each challenge will be rewarded this season with a take-out order from a sponsoring restaurant. This week, it's The Petting Zoo Barbecue." Chris continued. While repeating the sponsor's name, he gave their slogan "Someone ELSE touched your dinner. We guarantee it." McLean finished with a wink towards the camera. This prompted cringes among the players, who naively thought their host would have something fresher for them, especially a germaphobic boy on the bears named Dave even though he didn't have to eat it.
"Shoot! I always wanted a pony", one of the other bears, an obese girl named Sugar, said for some reason. She was also somehow the only one unfazed by McLean's comments on the night's dinner.
"Team Waneyihtam Maskwak, please go vote; one member of your team is heading home today." The host told the losing team, who sulked in response as they had to choose who would exit by taking the cannon of shame.
As the salmon ate their barbecue dinner, which overall was thankfully more enjoyable than the slogan they heard from Chris suggested and didn't make anybody sick, they learned all about the bears' castle and how Leonard was under the idiotic delusion that he was a real wizard with magic powers who could use them to defend himself against danger. Prior to the elimination ceremony where the camper with the most votes would leave the game, they were all certain that he was a goner for his poorly thought-out idea which cost his team the challenge.
However, the bears collectively decided that night that Beardo the sound-effect producer was their most expendable member, and the human soundboard was eliminated first instead. All the salmon were shocked to find that out until Chris added that Beardo barely contributed anything to his team's shelter. Something that nobody on the island knew except for Chris and his assistant Chef is that the sound producer was very shy around new people, which kept him from talking normally to others until he got more comfortable around them, and that it was easier for him to make sounds in front of new people. It had also evidently got in the way of him participating in that day's challenge. The host didn't bother mentioning it as he just found the boy irritating. His castmates thought he was odd for making sounds rather than speaking regularly, but harmless, and Dave found him annoying.
The salmon felt conflicted about what could come with future victories. On one hand, winning meant Chris would provide a free meal and they wouldn't have to scrounge the island for anything edible while avoiding a ride in that cannon. On the other, if the host was willing to give potentially infected food to them that night, then what could stop him from serving actual hazards in the future with dangerous consequences upon consumption? In any case, they were happy to have had something satisfactory that night, and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Of all the salmon, the one who had the most trouble going to sleep was Samey, one of the two cheerleaders. She not only had to face more challenges throughout the show, but also harassment from her elder twin sister Amy, the other cheerleader. Add potentially bad meals into the mix, and her mind was racing with anxiety. How far could she get in the game? Was there a way to escape her sister's abuse for good? When could she finally get enough courage to stand up for herself without backing down? How long could she survive on the island without getting sick?
The sisters had a long-term conflict that had started years before they joined Total Drama, and Samey wanted to join the show so that they could be apart, not together. Chris just HAD to accept both of their auditions rather than just one. While it got even worse when they got placed on the same team, she was still very grateful to have won her first challenge and thus not be the first one cut from the contest.
At the same time, she felt sorry for Beardo even if he didn't really participate in the challenge as she knew how much coming in last place hurt, often consoling her friends when they felt dejected after finishing behind everyone else in contests. Having sympathy for underdogs, perhaps she could help and maybe befriend him in the future as she loved the idea of making friends on the show, but he would have to wait for that while she was still in the game. Even one new friend from the contest would help at this point, and he or she might also help her firmly take a stand against her sister.
Amy always felt that being born first made her the inherently superior twin no matter what. She took great pleasure in mercilessly bullying her younger sister and never showed remorse for any of her actions. While the sisters were physically identical except for a mole on Amy's right cheek, they had opposite personalities. The mean cheerleader was a selfish narcissist who bragged about herself while treating others coldly (particularly her twin) and couldn't be paid to admit any of her flaws or if something bad was ever her fault. She would often somehow find a way to pin the blame on her sister instead. Conversely, Samey was a caring and kind-hearted soul who suffered from low confidence and self-esteem issues (mainly due to her sister's abuse).
The younger twin was often too timid to stand up for herself, getting attacked on the rare occasions she did so even with backup from friends at school, but knew deep down that would have to change sooner or later for things to get any better. As Samey finally dozed off, the main thoughts circling her mind were food, Amy, making friends, and the $1 million prize for whoever won the season. The kind cheerleader desperately wanted that money; she could use it to start saving up for her own apartment and be free of her abusive sister. It could also help show the Amy that she wasn't the best at everything.
Samey had a bizarre dream that night that the next challenge involved everyone eating gummi dollar bills. It was the weirdest candy she had ever seen. McLean had one volunteer from each team make a meal of some sort using these gummi dollars (kind of like the show "Chopped" where contestants had to use certain ingredients in their dishes) and another team member would be randomly chosen through a hat draw to eat the meal. They would have to eat it as fast as possible without getting sick to win. Before anybody else could speak, Dream Amy volunteered to cook for the salmon, gloating she was "the best cook ever" and their only chance of winning.
After a zombie-obsessed boy named Shawn volunteered to cook for the bears, Dream Chris then held two hats for each team, with both containing pieces of paper with the contestants' names. He drew from the bears' hat, and Sugar was chosen to eat for her team. The host then drew Samey's name from the other hat. Each cook had 30 minutes to prepare a dish with the gummi dollars.
Samey could sense that her sister was tempted to throw the challenge by purposefully giving her something disgusting, but deep down knew it would likely put her at risk for going home if the salmon lost, and wisely chose not to take such a chance. Both Shawn and Amy finished preparing their dishes just before time ran out. To win at that point, either Sugar or Samey had to finish first and not puke.
On behalf of the bears, Sugar's task was to eat a gummi-flavored pie. Samey had to finish some sort of soup with chunks of gummi dollars. The host blew a horn to start the race as both girls quickly started consuming their dishes. Sugar had no problems wolfing down the pie. The kind cheerleader had a bit of trouble getting used to the liquid taste of gummi, though eventually was able to consume it at a faster pace. She was a few spoonfuls away from emptying her bowl when Sugar finished the pie. The bears cheered excitedly for their victory as the salmon groaned in defeat, with Amy chastising her sister for being "too slow" and making them lose, adding "this further proves you're unworthy of any respect or friends" just to make Samey feel worse as everybody else booed her.
Suddenly, Chef rushed into the scene and warned him not to feed anyone the gummi dollars since they were infected as someone with extremely filthy hands had packaged them, but it was too late by that point. The thought of eating contagious food grossed out Samey so much that she vomited on the spot. Dream Dave did the same shortly afterwards.
"Oh well, that pie still tasted good" Dream Sugar replied while shrugging her shoulders as everybody else gave her looks of both disgust and shock. McLean then told the salmon they would have to send someone off. Samey wasn't surprised when she got the most votes and had to enter the cannon. Chris fired her off, and she soared through the sky faster and faster. The kind cheerleader was just about to hit a large tree trunk on some distant when she woke up from the nightmare in a cold sweat.
"If there's anything I must do other than prove I'm a worthy player and get as close as possible to winning the money," she thought to herself, "I need to make at least one friend from the show."
Unbeknownst to the younger twin, Amy had a very similar dream that night, except Samey cost their team the challenge sooner in that dream by vomiting after several spoonfuls and hit a bird in the sky after being fired from the cannon and fell into the lake. She had to swim her way to wherever Chris fired Beardo off to. Nobody had any idea where that was. Dream Amy snickered in silence, knowing she'd get chastised by the others for it if they heard her, and secretly reveled in outlasting her sister. The elder twin woke up with a big smile on her face, determined more than ever to go to the finals.
Identical twin sisters. Opposite personalities. Nearly identical dreams in the same night. What were the odds?
While a psychologist or neurologist might be intrigued to know the answer, these girls would likely be shocked to have similar thoughts as one another besides winning the show.
THE END
An idea of twins sharing dreams (or at least coming close to it) was a thought I came up with a while ago, but only recently was able to really flesh out and polish enough to post online. I also wanted to foreshadow Samey becoming friends with Jasmine and felt it would be nice to include some more nuance to her character that doesn't revolve so much around Amy (even if only a bit). Hope you liked reading this piece! Please be sure to leave reviews saying what you liked or didn't like, and be sure to give details on how to improve if there were any aspects you felt could be better.