Well here it is; chapter 2! This chapter will be like episode 6 only with a few differences to fit in with the last chapter of course.
In the last chapter I didn't give the Malevolent One a name because I figured he had one and we'd hear what it was sooner or later so I didn't want to make up one for him. Turns out his name is Mal which means bad/evil/unpleasant yada yada. Mal…Malevolent…makes sense. Anyway, I'll just call him Mal now
…
Zoey and Cameron were staring down at Mike as they waited for an answer, for him to tell them what had happened.
Mike began to desperately search his brain for something to say. There was no way he was telling them the truth, he had to think of something else.
"Come on Mike, tell us what happened," Zoey said gently.
"Uh…" Mike began but was thankfully interrupted by the sound of someone entering the tent.
"Yay! Mikes ok!" Sierra said running in. Duncan walked in after her.
"I thought you guys went to bed," Zoey said.
"We couldn't sleep, we were too worried," Sierra answered.
Mike looked outside of the tent and noticed that it was still dark which meant he must not have been out to long, just long enough to get some medical attention.
"Pff, I wasn't worried," Duncan said as he crossed his arms, "I'm a villain, but if there's some nut-job running around ready to attack us I need to know about it."
Duncan then looked at Mike. "Well, what happened?"
Again all eyes were on Mike. He began to feel nervous and started to rub his bandaged arm as it began to hurt. Zoey gently took his hand to stop him. "Careful, you'll tear the stitches."
"Stitches?" Mike asked as he looked at his arm. He then noticed that the palms of his hands were bandaged over too. "Man, I really got sliced up," Mike thought to himself.
"Yeah, your arm was cut up real bad," Cameron told him, "it needed stiches, luckily all your other wounds didn't need them, but Chef did have to pull pieces of glass out of them."
"Well that that's what happens when you take a nap in glass," Duncan snorted.
"Duncan!" Zoey said. The delinquent just shrugged.
"Zoey cut her knees up pretty good too trying to help you," Sierra told Mike as she folded her hands together, "it was so romantic, just like what Cody would do for me."
She then grabbed Cameron and began hugging his head. "Oh Cody! I've missed you!"
"I'm Cameron," the bubble boy told her.
"Sure…," Sierra said as she continued to hug him.
Mike looked at Zoey. "Your hurt?" he asked her.
Zoey smiled, "I'm fine."
"Hello! Can we get back on topic here?! What happened?!" Duncan asked Mike kind of harshly.
Mike must have had lady-luck on his side, because before he could answer, Chris walked in.
"Mike! Glad to see your awake!" Chris said in his usual chipper voice as he walked over to the bed, "how are you feeling?"
"Fine….," Mike said a little suspiciously, since when did Chris care about the contestants?
"In that case," Chris said, pulling a bunch of papers out of nowhere, "I'm going to need you to sign this."
"What is it?" Mike asked as he painfully sat up in the bed. He then realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt and noticed that his body was covered in some bruises and some small cuts.
"Oh just some paper work saying that you won't sue the show-or more importantly me-for your little bathroom 'accident'," Chris answered, air quoting the word accident, "I'm already on parole the last thing I need is a lawsuit."
"Accident?! Chris, Mike was attacked!" Zoey snapped, "Didn't you see him?!"
"Yeah, yeah," was Chris's reply as he held the papers and a pen out to Mike.
That got Mike thinking, could he really play it off like it was an accident? Chris probably already knew what happened since he had camera's everywhere. The only place there weren't cameras were in the bathroom stalls…yeah Chris must already know what happened. Mike could only wonder what the host must have thought of him now.
"Heh…Chris is right…it was just an accident," Mike said nervously as he took the papers and began to skim over them.
"What?!" the teens all shouted.
"Dude! How was that an accident?!" Duncan demanded, "You look like you went through a cheese grader!"
"Yeah well…glass can do that to you," Mike gave a fake laugh and started to sign the papers.
The others stared at him as if he lost his mind, but Mike kept his eyes on the papers, not wanting to meet their gazes.
"The floor was wet…" Mike started, trying to sound natural, like it was no big deal, "and I slipped."
Mike then risked a glance at his friends, the look on their faces telling him that they weren't buying it.
"You….slipped?" Duncan said slowly.
"Yeah…and then smashed my arm into the mirror…then hit my head on the sink." Mike replied with a fake smile.
His fellow contestants looked at each other. "Well…if that's what you say happened Mike," Zoey said hesitantly.
Zoey knew Mike was lying; something had been going on with him lately. She had seen him break Cameron's glasses, and then he lied about being chased by a bear during the challenge and now this? Zoey wasn't sure what to make of it; Mike was really starting to scare her.
Mike looked at the redhead as he finished signing the papers. "Zoey, I-"Mike was interrupted by Chris snatching the papers back.
"Thank you!" Chris said, "now then contestants, everyone in bed, you have a challenge bright and early!" With that Chris left the tent.
Zoey glanced at Mike, nodded her head and followed the host out. Since Zoey wasn't going to push the issue, the others decided they weren't going to either. Duncan crossed his arms, and with a final look at Mike, exited the tent
"Come on Cody-Cam! Its bed time! I'll tuck you in!" Sierra giggled taking ahold of Cameron's arm.
"Before you go, can you hand me my shirt?" Mike asked, noticing his blue shirt sitting on a chair.
"Sure," Cameron said, and then looked at Sierra, "uh….can you go on without me? I want to talk to Mike for a minute."
"Ok Cam-Cody kins! I understand," Sierra said, letting go of Cameron and then leaving the tent.
"I don't think she does understand…." Mike said.
Cameron sighed and got Mike's shirt. "No sign of Vito?" He asked as he handed it to Mike.
"No…" the MPD boy answered, pulling his shirt on, his stomach twisting up in knots as he remembered the conversation he had in his own mind, the conversation he had with…him. The Malevolent One, or Mal as he called himself. Just thinking about his evil personality made Mike feel sick with fear.
Mal had done some seriously awful stuff in the past…stuff Mike didn't want to think about. He was also worried about his other personalities. What had happened to them?
"Mike, are you ok?" Cameron asked worriedly as he noticed his friend begin to shake.
"Huh? Oh…yeah…I'm fine," Mike answered, giving Cameron a smile as he shook off his thoughts. He'd be ok; he just needed to get off the island.
"Don't worry, I'll help you figure it out," Cameron assured his friend.
"Thanks buddy"
"Well I'll see you later," the bubble boy said as he headed towards the tents exit, "get some rest, you need it."
"All right," Mike waved as he watched Cameron leave.
Now that Mike knew what was happening to him, he had no intention of letting Cameron try and help. With a demon inside his mind, ready to strike, it was best that everyone kept their distance.
…
Mike refused to let himself sleep. He couldn't sleep for he worried that if he did…Mal would take over. So Mike laid there in the dark infirmary tent struggling to keep his eyes open.
An intern would check on him every now and then and through them Mike had learned that he had only been unconscious for three hours after the bathroom incident. Which explained why it was still dark, it was around 1 in the morning when they had finished the bomb fire ceremony. One intern had offered to get Mike sleeping pills but Mike of course turned them down.
At some point, sleep must have gotten the better of him because Mike was awoken later by the sound of Chris on the loud speaker telling the campers to meet on the dock.
Mike quickly sat up and looked around, his heart pounding. Everything seemed ok…had he stayed in bed the whole time? He was too tired and sore to really think too much into it. Now that it was morning, Mike figured it was safe to sleep, Mal wouldn't try anything while everyone was awake, he liked to be sneaky.
Mike laid back down, pulled the blanket over him and closed his eyes, ready to get some much needed rest but that fantasy was short lived by the sound of someone entering the tent.
"Up and at 'em kid! Its challenge time!" Mike heard Chef Hatchet's voice say.
Mike opened his eyes and looked at the huge cook. "Not for me Chef, I quit." The boy told him.
Duncan had quit the game in season three and Anne Maria had quit last season so Mike saw no reason why he couldn't do the same.
"Nope, that doesn't work anymore," Chef told him, "Fans hate it when contestants just up and quit so from now on the only way out of this game is to be kicked off."
"What?!" Mike groaned, "Well then can't I have a sick day?" he asked as he pulled the blanket up over his head.
"No," Chef replied, roughly pulling the blanket off the young contestant. The insane cook then grabbed Mike by the back of his shirt and yanked him off the bed.
"Ow! Chef!" a startled Mike yelled.
Chef held Mike off the ground by the back of his shirt and began to carry him out of the tent, showing no sympathy for the injured teen.
"Hey! Ow! I don't even have shoes!"
…
Chris and the rest of the contestants stood on the dock of shame as the host told them that their challenge would be located in the "fun zone."
The teens began asking what "fun" meant, since Chris seemed to have a pretty messed up definition of the word, when a sound from behind caught their attention.
Everyone turned to see Chef carrying an injured barefoot Mike. Mike hung limply from Chef's grip but loudly voiced his discomfort.
Chef walked up to the others and then let go of Mike's shirt, letting the poor teens already battered body hit the hard ground.
"Ow!"
"Mike! Glad you could make it, we wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun," Chris said with a big smile on his face.
"Mike's coming too?" Cameron asked, "But he's hurt!"
"Yeah dude! That's really messed up," Duncan said as he helped Mike up.
"Thanks Duncan," Mike said.
Duncan looked at Mike for a second and then smacked himself in the face. "Gah!" the delinquent yelled causing Mike to give him a confused look.
"Seriously Chris, what is wrong with you?" Gwen asked.
"What? Mike's still got full use of both his arms and legs," Chris said, the smile never leaving his face, "he's fine."
Before anyone else could say anything a boat pulled up to the dock with an exhausted looking Scott standing in it.
"I'm back from exile," the dirt boy said as he tried to climb out of the boat only for Chris to push him back in.
"All aboard!"
…
The boat ride was extremely uncomfortable for Mike, everyone kept looking at him. His team, plus Cameron and Gwen, looked at him with sympathy, while the vultures looked at him with suspicion.
Alejandro, Heather, Gwen, Courtney and Scott stood as far away from everyone else as they could get and were whispering to each other. Mike could tell they were talking about him from the way they kept glancing over at him.
It made Mike feel self-conscious; it was like he was back in high school with everyone talking about him behind his back. Mike turned away from everyone and pretended not to notice the looks he was getting and stared over the side of the boat at his reflection.
Mike began feeling anxious as he looked at himself and the stitches on his arm began to sting and itch. He started to rub his arm trying to scratch away the itch without hurting the stitches.
"Mike, don't do that," Cameron said from beside him.
"I can't help it, my arm itches," Mike responded, his eyes never leaving the water.
Cameron looked up at his friend. "Are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry," Mike assured him.
The MPD Boy then glanced around the boat. Sierra was leaning over the side trying to see where they were going while Zoey and Duncan were off to the side, close to where Chris and Chef were driving the boat. The two were having a conversation and Mike couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Zoey was talking to Duncan and not him.
"It's ok," Mike told himself, "She's safer if she stays away right now."
Mike then glanced over at the villain's team and caught Scott looking at him. Mike frowned then went back to looking in the water.
"He was attacked in the bathroom?" Scott asked his teammates quietly after they told him what had happened to Mike.
"That's what we first thought," Courtney replied, "but according to bubble-boy over there, Mike is claiming it was an accident."
"How can someone accidently smash a mirror?" Heather piped in.
"I'll bet he did it on purpose," Scott said.
"Why would someone hurt themselves like that on purpose?" Gwen asked, immediately defending Mike.
"You watched the show last season didn't you?" Scott asked her. Gwen nodded.
"Then you know he's crazy, a guy with multiple personalities is bound to do something like that," the ginger said.
"Just because he has multiple personalities doesn't mean he's crazy," Gwen responded, "Have you met Izzy or even Sierra? That is what crazy is."
"Scott may be right," Alejandro cut in, "what if this is a trick to get farther into the game?"
"Yeah, he could have purposely hurt himself so we wouldn't think to watch out for him," Heather agreed.
"Ugh! You're all idiots!" Gwen said throwing her arms into the air then walked away from the group.
The remaining vultures looked at each other. "I think we should keep an eye on our friend Mike," Alejandro said after a minute.
The others nodded in agreement.
….
"Seriously? The fun zone is on Boney Island?" Duncan said as everyone got off the boat.
"Sure is, maybe while we're here someone will find the invisibility statue." Chris replied smugly as he looked at Scott.
"I searched all night!" Scott said, "There is no statue! Say it!"
"Yes, there is," Chris replied "and it's in the fun zone."
Chris led the way to what looked like a giant garage door with colorful balloons all around it.
"Ok everybody inside," the host said as he pushed a button to open the door.
Both teams walked inside and jumped as the door closed behind them. They turned around and looked at a giant television screen as Chris appeared on it.
"You are now in the fun zone!" He told them happily.
Chris then explained the challenge-be the first to collect six mutant eggs in your team basket and try not to die-pretty simple.
"This is really messed up," Courtney told him, "we could seriously die in here."
"Don't worry," Chris said, "with Cameron and Mike in there the rest of you will be fine."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Duncan asked.
"Hungry animals like easy prey and with Mike being injured and Cameron being…well Cameron, you do the math." The host answered.
"Hey!" Cameron yelled.
"Now go!" Chris yelled ignoring Cameron as he blew a horn to start the challenge.
Sierra immediately grabbed Cameron. "We should look for eggs together!" the super fan told him.
"Um we're on different teams," the nerd told her.
"That doesn't matter! Why would it matter?!" Sierra yelled, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. Luckily Gwen came to the bubble boy's rescue, pulling him away from the crazed girl and after the rest of their team.
"Cam-ody!" Sierra yelled into the sky.
"Why don't you help Mike look for eggs Sierra?" Zoey suggested. Chris was right, animals loved injured prey and even though Mike was scaring her right now, she would never want him to get hurt.
"Uh…Mike's gone," Duncan told her.
"What?!" Zoey shouted, looking around. Sure enough, Mike was nowhere to be seen.
"You guys look for eggs! I'll go find him!" Zoey told her teammates with obvious worry in her voice. The redhead then took off running into the mutated forest.
…
Mike walked barefoot through the forest, trying to distance himself away from the others. Since he apparently wasn't able to quit the game he had no choice but to get himself voted off and to do that, his team had to lose.
Mike decided that he wouldn't help in the challenge and just hope that they lose. He felt a little bad; if they lost that meant his team would have to spend another night in the loser's cabin, but at least everyone would be safe as soon as he was off the island.
Mike was scared; he knew Mal was there, waiting. Waiting for his moment to pounce, like a lion hunting a zebra. Mike couldn't bear the thought of anyone getting hurt because of him, it made him feel sick.
As Mike continued his way through the forest he eventually made it to a swamp. "Gross!" the teen complained, plugging his noise as an awful smell invaded it.
Mike began to walk around the swamp, keeping his eyes on the murky water. He remembered the giant mutant alligator living in a similar swamp from last season and he sure didn't want to run into that guy again, especially without Svetlana or mutant Dakota around to save the day.
Mike was so busy watching the water that he forgot to watch where he was going and cried out in surprise as the ground disappeared from under him.
"Ow…" Mike moaned as his already sore body was introduced to the ground for a second time that day.
The MPD teen then sat up on his knees and look around, he'd fallen into some kind of hole. Mike looked to the side of him and then gave an annoyed groan when he realized what he'd actually fallen into.
Sitting next to him were 8 giant eggs….he had fallen into a nest. "Oh you have got to be kidding," Mike said out loud, "I'm trying to lose! I don't want to find eggs! "
Mike stood up and brushed himself off. "Maybe I can somehow lead the villains here so they can-"
Mike stopped himself when he noticed that a huge shadow fell over him. The teen turned slowly around to find out what the shadow belong to.
Standing behind him was a giant green mutated alligator, the exact opposite of what Mike wanted to see. Mike gave the creature a nervous smile.
"H-hello...you must be these lovely egg's mother," Mike said as he began to back away, "they're beautiful…you've taken such good care of them." Mike continued talking as he back to the other side of the nest.
"Well it was really nice meeting you but I GOT TO GO!" Mike yelled as he jumped out of the nest and took off running through the forest.
Mamma gator was not amused. She let out an ear shattering roar and took chase. Mike could feel the ground shake behind him from her giant footfalls but didn't look to see how close she was, he kept his eyes straight ahead as he ran as fast as he could, praying that he would be able to outrun the furious mutant.
Mike must have used up all his luck the night before because it sure wasn't with him now. As he ran he felt something sharp pierce into his unprotected foot. With a sharp yelp of pain Mike's reflexes caused him to jerk his leg up as he tried to get his foot away from the pain.
The motion was so quick it caused him to lose his footing and down he went, hitting the muddy ground. "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead!" Mike's mind screamed. The frighten teen threw his arms over his head and waited to be chomped.
Mike heard the gator let out another roar, but this one sounded surprised, not angry. Mike risked a glance behind him and saw the gator rubbing her nose which was now red. The gator shook her head and growled, her eyes locking back onto Mike.
But before she could make a move towards him, a rock came flying out of nowhere and nailed her already red nose.
The gator gave a sound shattering screeched that seemed to make the earth rumble.
"MIKE! Get away from there!" Mike heard the most beautiful voice in the whole universe yell.
Mike looked up and saw Zoey standing on a branch in a tree not too far away, she was swinging her medallion around like a nunchuck.
"Hurry!" she yelled, throwing up a rock and hitting it with the medallion, sending the stone flying at the gator.
Mike stumbled to his feet, and ignoring the new throbbing pain in his foot, ran towards the tree. As he came up to it, Zoey jumped down and grabbed his hand. "This way!" she said and began pulling him through the forest.
They ran a short distance to a cave and Zoey pulled Mike inside. They waited in the dark as they heard the gator charge past, then waited a few minutes to make sure the she was gone. Zoey then peek outside the cave.
"Whew, it's gone," Zoey said as she walked out and Mike followed.
"Zoey you saved me," Mike told her with a goofy romantic smile on his face.
"It was nothing…I can't even count all the times you saved me," Zoey gave him a shy smile but then her face became serious.
"What were you doing going off on your own in your condition?!" Zoey demanded glaring at him.
"I…didn't think you wanted to be around me…" Mike answered, it wasn't the truth but he was picking up that vibe.
"Mike….I-"Zoey stopped when she noticed Mike was leaning heavily on one foot, "Sit down," she told him while gently pushing him onto a boulder.
Mike sat down and examined his foot. He must have stepped on a rock or something, a big bloody gash sat right on the bottom of his foot, luckily it didn't seem very deep.
Zoey knelt down and took his foot and started to gently brush away the mud from the wound. "It's not that I don't want to be around you," she told him, "it's just that…well…you've been acting so weird…I guess I'm just confused."
Zoey tore off the bottom of her shirt and used the fabric to bandage Mike's foot causing him to flinch.
"Sorry," Zoey said.
"it's ok," Mike assured her, "I know I've been weird…it's just that...I've got lot going on right now I guess…" he tried to explain.
"Well I can't help you unless you tell me," Zoey told him as she helped him stand and, taking ahold of his hand she added "so you better get talking."
…
"You lost contact with your other personalities?" Zoey asked as her and Mike walked through the forest. Well Mike was limping but he noticed Zoey had a slight limp too and remembered that she had cut her knees.
"Yeah, ever since Scott hit me in the head with that shovel," Mike replied. He had told her the truth, just not the whole truth. He left out the part where his pure evil personality had come back after being locked away for many years seeking vengeance.
"Well…if a hit in the head made you lose contact with them….would another hit on the head bring them back?" Zoey asked.
"Like a reset button!" Mike said, "Worth a try." Mike was desperate to get everything back to normal and what Zoey said made sense, if a hit in the head had started all this maybe another one would end it. He then grabbed a big rock and handed it to Zoey.
"Ok do it," he told her, bending over so she could easily hit him.
"I can't hit you in the head with a rock!" Zoey said dropping the stone to the ground, "Maybe Cameron will have a better idea."
"Ok…" Mike said.
Mike felt like he was on the clock and wanted to end this as soon as possible. A part of him believed that getting hit in the head wouldn't do anything but give him a headache…and possibly a concussion. He already hit his head on the sink last night, but that had been Mal's doing. But maybe…just maybe…if he hit himself hard enough….
"Mike look at that!" Zoey's voice brought Mike out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" Mike looked to where Zoey was pointing and saw a nest full of giant eggs.
"We can win this! Come on Mike help me pick up the nest!" Zoey said excitedly.
Together Mike and Zoey picked up the nest and began to carry it back to the entrance of the fun zone. Mike had thought about pretending to trip to slow them down and maybe lose some eggs…but Zoey was so excited that he didn't have the heart to go through with it.
Plus Mike was feeling more confident now, that maybe he could get himself under control without having to go home. Maybe Cameron would have an idea what to do.
…
Amazingly the hero's team had won thanks to Mike and Zoey bringing in so many eggs. As everyone headed back to the boat to head back to the main island Mike caught up to Cameron.
"Hey Cam, sorry you lost," Mike told him giving him a sympathetic smile.
"That's ok, we'll beat you guys next time," Cameron said smiling.
Mike laughed, "maybe, but listen, I need your help," Mike began, "I was wondering if-"
Mike was cut off by miss queen bee herself, Heather. "Um excuse me, bubble-boys on our team now," she snapped, "find your own nerd freak," and with that she grabbed Cameron and dragged him away.
…
Once they had made it back to the island Mike was feeling desperate and anxious, if the villains wouldn't let Cameron help him he had to find a way himself. As everyone headed towards the campfire pit to vote someone off, Mike had made up his mind on what he was going to do.
He found a big rock and headed into the confessional, the only place where he knew the others wouldn't bother him.
Mike sat down on the toilet and held the rock above his head. "I have to protect Zoey at all costs," he told the camera. Then squeezing his eyes shut he took a deep breath and let the rock drop.
Mike felt the hard stone connect with his already injured head feeling the sharp pierce of pain. But that was all he felt…something wasn't right.
"Ow…" Mike groaned opening his eyes, he realized he wasn't in the confessional anymore, "Where am-AH!" Mike yelled as he tried to walk forward only for something to grab his leg causing him to fall. Mike turned around and gasp in horror at what he saw.
He was chained to a bolder! He was in his subconscious chained to a bolder!
"Oh no! no no no no! NOOOOOOOO!
...
And that's where I'll end it, I have some more ideas but I want to see what happens in the next episode of TDAS to decide if I want to use one idea now or wait. Anyway Please review!