Paradise Island season II
rating: PG
AN: This is a gift fic for Slughorn42, as a sequel of his fic Paradise Island :) I hope you all enjoy reading it!
Disclaimer: The concept and some of the OCs are Slughorn42's. Some of the others are mine ^^
Summary: Let's see what happens for the new season of the TV show Paradise Island!
The second season of Paradise Island had been as much criticized as it had been watched. The concept, to see how long the contestants could go without food had nearly got Doug, the show's host, fired. But his charisma and some promises had saved the emission.
The six young people were really excited when the boat arrived at the island, even if some of them were a little nervous. Doug explained to them the concept of this season, to survive the longest without food, all of this for 50.000 dollar. Doug showed them the villa where they would live for the time being, with every luxury available, except food. The cupboards were full of bottled water, vitamins and all kinds of tea, but not a solid food.
Doug wished them luck while returning to his cottage, an ice cream sandwich in his hand. He told them that if they got too hungry, they could visit him… if they did not want to win.
The first evening went well. All the contestants got to knew themselves, and were not that hungry because the show's production had given them a big meal the day before.
The morning after, they were all drinking orange juice and taking their vitamins while chatting happily. The sun was warm and the sea just beautiful.
"How long do you think we are going to last?" asked Jessie, a beautiful blonde girl.
"I, longer than any of you!" laughed Matt, a tall redhead young man. Everybody looked at him quizzically. He was not an arrogant guy, but he looked full of self-confidence as he answered their unvoiced questions: " I am used to not eating much. I am an aspiring Buddhist monk, so I fast regularly, especially when I meditate or pray. I plan to use the 50.000 dollars reward to buy me a new life in Nepal."
"You're lucky to have experience, but don't think you're the winner." Laughed Jessie.
"I too have an experience with fasting." Said quietly Joyce, a tomboyish brunette who was quite athletic. The other contestants had not heard her talk much, as she had spent the evening on her laptop playing a video game.
"Really? I thought you nerds at a lot." Snickered Amy a bimbo who looked at Joyce with contempt from behind her pimp sunglasses.
"It's a cliché. I live a somewhat Spartan life. Being a video game fan does not change anything. I fast often too, I find it agreeable, but I prefer to have my doctor near me when I do it. You have to be careful with these sort of things."
Amy snorted, but they did not have the time to argue as Doug appeared, wishing them a good day, some peanut butter from his breakfast still on his lips. They then decided to go swimming before the sun was too hot, except for Matt who stayed to pray.
The next days were mostly uneventful, except for the two other guys, Alpha and Joe, who began bickering other which one would seduce Amy before the end. The fourth day, some tensions began to appear, the hunger making most of the contestants grumpy.
"You don't find it funny?" asked Joyce on the fourth evening.
"That you are still here?" asked Joe with scorn in his voice.
"No, stupid! That a guy from the first season disappeared! He had looked downright crazy last time the others had seen him…" she had a dreamy far off look in her eyes " He ran off into the jungle… Maybe he found a treasure…"
"Yeah, maybe he died. This jungle is super wild! Doug forbid us to enter it. Who knows what kind of dangerous animal lurks there."
"Maybe you're right. But I'm just curious," pouted Joyce.
The fifth day, Joyce began packing stuff into her backpack, and she watched as Alpha threw himself at Doug who was eating a pizza at the window of his cottage. One down, four more to go. Gathering all her self-control, she entered the jungle. She spent the whole day searching, but found no sign of the lost man. Maybe he did want people to find him. In the two months between season one and two of Paradise Island, he had had the time to make himself at home. The days went on and on, and soon, only Amy, Matt and Joyce were remaining. They went to bed but in the morning, they found Amy gone. She had went to Dog's cottage to try to find food he might have forgotten outside, but got caught and was knocked out of the show.
"I'm really confident," said Matt to the camera the same morning. " Joyce is a tough girl, but I don't think she can stand it much longer. Me, I nap and meditate all the time, so I am still full of energy!"
Just after saying that, he saw Joyce preparing herself to go into the jungle again. She had spent every day of their adventure since her first trip going back, and only returning when the sun was starting to go down.
"So, you still haven't found that guy you were searching for?" asked Matt.
"Quite the contrary. I found him three days ago. Or rather, I found his pet Boa and he found me."
"Why haven't you told anybody?"
"Thomas doesn't want to. He is quite happy living in the jungle. He spends all the day like some kind of Tarzan, naked with his pets… Especially his snake. But he is a cool guy. I should introduce you too. Though he is not religious, he loves to meditate in some of the mangrove swamp trees."
Matt seemed to be lost in thoughts for a few seconds then acquiesced:
"Okay, I'm coming with you. I don't like the books they have at the villa and I was starting to be bored."
They spent a few hours walking in the jungle, but luckily they didn't come across any dangerous animal. They finally came into a nice clearing in the mangrove, and in the middle was seated a man in his twenties who was meditating, eyes closed, with a huge Boa draped around his shoulders.
He opened his eyes as the two young people entered the clearing.
"Hello Thomas. Beautiful day, isn't it?" said brightly Joyce.
"Hello wi-fi girl. I see you brought a friend with you."
"I, I'm Matt." Said Matt while extending his hand.
Thomas and Matt shook hands and Joyce introduced them:
"Matt is an aspiring Buddhist Monk, and Thomas is well… the guy who disappeared last season. I thought you too could be friends since you spend most of your time meditating."
"Maybe, maybe." Said Thomas. He guided Matt to the centre of the clearing and the two men began talking about their different means of meditations, and Matt asked a lot of questions about Thomas dedication to wild life and nudism. Thomas answered them while asking his own about Matt's interest in religion and Zen lifestyle. In the meantime, Joyce had climbed up a tree and was typing on her laptop, munching on a huge exotic fruit. The huge snake intertwined itself in the branches behind her.
When the afternoon was beginning to give way to the evening, Joyce woke up Matt and Thomas who had been meditating for a good part of the day. They came back to the clearing for two days more, and one evening, once back to the villa, Joyce said:
"Well, I think you won Matt. The internet connection in the villa is just awful and I'm quite tired of squatting Thomas' clearing. I'm going back home."
"I knew I'd be the winner! But you know what?"
"Hmm… no?"
"All my discussions with Thomas had helped me a lot. I don't need as much as 50.000 dollars to start my new life. So say we share?"
Joyce's face split into a great ear to ear smile:
"Sure! 25.000 is far enough for me! That's a lot of next gen games consoles and retro games!"
The morning after, they went together to Doug's Cottage to collect their reward, and Matt, on the plane home, Matt talked of his plans to go back someday on the island to see Thomas again, when he himself would be a real monk.
"You'll tell me if he is still all naked-Tarzan-jungle, huh?" said Joyce just before getting out of the plane. Behind them, Doug watched them with a smile. This season two had ended without the problems the production had predicted, and now all he had to do was think of an even harder challenge for the poor souls who'd be season three contestants.
The end!
I hope you all loved the fic! :)
