After driving through the Film Lot for about ten minutes, the trailer arrived at its stop: an old western town, complete with an old-fashioned saloon, a bank, and a jail/Sheriff's office.
"And here we are, castmates! This is where your first task will take place. The genre: The wild, wild west genre; Yee-haw!" When Luma saw that his "yee-haw" got no reaction from the teens, he cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, before we begin the task, we must first decide the teams. Everyone, please exit the trailer, and stand in a single-file line."
After the castmates did as he said, he continued. "Now, to pick the teams, we must first decide the captains. The two girls walked up and stood alongside him.
"You two will be the team captains, and will, one-by-one, pick your team members. Rosalina." He turned to the smart girl. "You get to go first."
Rosalina was instantly hit by a bunch of "Ooh, ooh, me!" "Me!" "Pick me!"
"Hmmmm…Iggy."
"Yes!" He walked over to her.
"Pauline? Your turn."
"I pick Peach." The muscular girl walked over to her, grinning. Mario looked shocked.
Make-Up Confessional
Mario: OK, why didn't she pick me? I'm Mario! I'm the toughest, strongest, and hottest guy here! She did my every bidding at the end of the last season! Heck, if it wasn't for me, she wouldn't be here right now! Why does she not pay attention to me anymore!
Pauline: In case any of you are wondering why I didn't pick Mario: I don't like him as much as I used to. Sure, he's strong, hot, and talented, but he's manipulative. He treated me like a slave last season! I'm gonna show him that I'm not afraid to stand up to him.
"Rosalina, your turn again."
"Lemmy."
Pauline then picked Tanooki, which aggravated Mario even more.
Rosalina picked Cat.
Pauline then picked Rain, and eventually had a team consisting of herself, Mario, Roy, Rain, Wendy, and Iggy. Rosalina then picked Peach and Luigi. In the end, everyone had been picked except Nyk. Since the last one to pick was Pauline, he went to Pauline's team.
"Alright, so the teams have been picked! Now it's time to reveal your team's names and insignias!"
Isabelle, wearing a terrible cowboy getup (a worn-out vest, short jeans, boots with rusty spurs, and a thirteen-gallon hat), walked up with two banners in hand; one red, one green.
"Rosalina, your team will be…" Isabelle threw the banner to Rosalina's team, and Lemmy caught it. When he unrolled it, they saw the image of a wooden, fold-up chair like the one directors sit in, with a megaphone propped against it. "…the Flaming Directors! And Pauline's team, you will be…" When Wendy caught the banner that was thrown to them, she unrolled it to reveal a clipboard and a pencil. "…the Psycho Producers!"
"Yeah!" Wendy cheered.
"Now that that's cleared up, it's time to start the challenge!" Luma then started to speak in the worst Western accent any of the teens had heard. "Cowpokes and cowgirls, git ready for one rootin', tootin' crazy hoedown! In this here particular task, there're three phases. Each one is either tough, unusual, or disgusting! You'll need to have sharp aim, a strong stomach, and a true can-do attitude!"
"That last one I can provide." Peach admitted.
"The teams will pick one of their members to participate in these phases. You can pick anyone you want, but you can't use the same one twice! The team that wins two out of three wins the task, and Invincibility! The first phase is a Drinkin' Contest!"
Several of the castmates gasped.
"Now, now. Don't worry, partners. This ain't alcohol you'll be drinking."
They all heaved a sigh of relief.
"It's a drink that's been handmade by our very own Sheriff Isabelle!"
Iggy fainted. Isabelle walked up alongside Luma with an evil grin.
"Sheriff, go ahead and tell all these fine young ones what you made that drink out of?"
Isabelle then pulled out a small, rolled-up piece of paper. She let it roll out, and it eventually stretched out to be almost as long as twenty-five feet. She spoke in her usual voice, clearly refusing to speak in the same terrible accent Luma used. "Well, just to name a few here, let's see…um…oh, yeah: some of the sewage from the local septic tank; some shredded rubber from a car tire; some milk that has passed its expiration date for three years; a down-home favorite, greasy, grimy gopher guts; some of the fake sand used in this set; some blended cockroaches; eye of needle; tongue of shoe; hand of clock that points at two!"
Make-Up Confessional
Iggy: OK, I read Shakespeare, and I know that those last three ingredients were a total rip-off!
"Toenail clippings; armpit hair; pine needles; and fur from a Grizzly Bear!"
"Stop!"
"Please, for the love of God!"
"PLEASE STOP!"
"OK, OK, fine. Wimps." She stuffed the note back into her vest pocket.
"So, for this here horrific challenge, you'll need the cowpoke on yer team who's got the strongest stomach. So make your picks, and choose wisely!"
The two teams huddled together and discussed their choices.
"OK, guys. Who here has the strongest stomach, and will do it without complaining?" Pauline asked her team.
It took them only two seconds to think about it. They all turned to Nyk.
"Well?" Mario asked.
"Sure. Why not, eh?"
"Good."
And on the Psycho Producers, Peach gladly volunteered.
"I've got a stomach of steel! I practically eat nails for breakfast!"
"Alright, fine. You got it."
"Excellent."
When the teams declared their choices, Luma led them into the saloon (which, unsurprisingly, was named "Luma's Bar").
Nyk and Peach sat down at the table in the center of the room, where many, many glasses of the hideous drink sat.
"So here's the basic idea: you each drink out of these glasses, one by one, until the glass is absolutely bone-dry. We have plenty on hand, so you won't have to worry about running out. The goal here is to drink the most amount in one minute. If one of ya either gives up, or throws up, then the other team wins. Get it? Then get ready!
They each picked up a glass, eyeing each other fiercely. Peach was the first to look nervously at the brown sludge that filled her glass. She swallowed nervously.
"Get set…"
Nyk raised the glass closer to his face. Peach reluctantly did the same.
"…GO!"
Their teammates started cheering them on as they rapidly drank the stuff glass by glass. It didn't seem to affect Nyk, but Peach appeared to have trouble from the very start. After drinking the first glass, she gagged, and nearly threw up.
"Don't do it, Peach!"
"Yeah, Ms. Stomach of Steel!"
Peach paused briefly, then set her glass down and picked up another one. Nyk just continued picking them up and chugging them down.
After twenty glasses, even John looked pale. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and he began to slow down. Peach was still moving as slowly as ever, apprehensive of drinking each and every glass.
Finally, only ten seconds remained. Peach and Nyk were neck-and-neck at thirty-eight glasses. They both simultaneously picked up the next glass and drank.
"Come on now, partners! It can't be a tie!" Luma yelled. "Someone throw up, already!"
Thirty-nine glasses. Five seconds. Both paused and looked at each other, expecting the other to vomit. Nyk swallowed, then quickly put a hand over his mouth. Peach also felt the bile rising up her throat. She slammed a massive fist over her mouth, only too hard. The vomit shot back down her throat, and she felt like choking. She opened her mouth and coughed several times, then it happened.
"BLECH! BLARGH! HACK!"
It started shooting out of her mouth like a cannon, splattering over everything and everyone in sight.
"Ew!"
"Gross!"
"Aw, sick!"
"Cool!"
Everyone was diving for cover, tipping over tables and hiding behind barrels. Peach continued vomiting, eventually hitting Luma.
"AAAAIIIIIEEEEEE! MY HAIR!" Luma, covered in the puke, ran out of the saloon, screaming for a hot shower.
Peach finally stopped vomiting, and doubled over, hacking and sputtering.
"Ooooooohhhhh…"
Isabelle, one of the only people who wasn't hit, stood up. "Well, I guess Luma ain't comin' back for a while, so I'll take over. Anyway, since tough girl threw up, that means Nyk wins the task! One point for the Pauline's team!"
"Woo-hoo!"
"Yeah!"
"Alright!"
"You did great, Nyk!"
Nyk didn't answer, as he was also on the verge of vomiting. He simply stood up, pale as a ghost, stomach gurgling loudly.
"Not…a…word…eh." He muttered. No one talked to him again.
"Alright, maggots! Come with me, and I'll give ya the next task!"
They all followed the dog out of the saloon. Peach had to be helped along by Rosalina and Cat, as she was still dizzy and out of it.
Make-Up Confessional
Peach: (Clutching her stomach and moaning) That…was…terrible! I'll never be able to get over that one! That was one of the worst…
Nyk: That was the most repulsive…
Peach:…disgusting…
Nyk:…gross….
Peach:…filthy…
Nyk:…stomach-twisting…
Peach:…torturous…
Nyk:…ordeal that I've ever had to go through in my whole life, eh!
Peach: Oooooooohhhhh.
They eventually came to an old-fashioned target range, with a large, wooden plank standing between the castmates and the huge field of targets. The targets were all cardboard cutouts of various Western-type objects and people, such as bandits with bags of money, horses, haystacks, barrels, bottles on top of barrels, and so on.
"For this challenge, you'll need to pick the person on your pathetic little team who has the best sharp shooting abilities. Both participants will be given a paintball gun. All of the targets that you see before you will be constantly moving, making it even harder for all of ya! The idea is to shoot as many targets as possible! There are only thirty-one targets in this field. The game either ends when all targets have been shot, or if both shooters run outta ammo! Get it?"
All of the teens nodded.
"Good. Now the rules are: no shooting the same target twice, and don't shoot a target that your opponent has shot already. We'll know when you try to do that, since the paint colors are different; red for the jock-boy, and blue for the cheerleader. Now, pick your players, and make it snappy!"
No one dared to ask Isabelle what would happen if they didn't "make it snappy". The teams quickly huddled again.
"Should we pick Iggy?" Wendy asked.
"No way! I may be strong, but I'm terrible with guns!"
"Tanooki?"
"The only gun I've ever fired is the Water Blaster 6000 at my last pool party."
"Then who?"
"I think Rosalina would be a good choice." Lemmy suggested on the other team.
"I think that sounds good." Iggy agreed.
During all the conversing, one particular castmate slipped away from the others. The castmate looked over at where the two paintball guns lied. Looking back at Isabelle (who was distracted by one target that was a crappy cardboard impression of a pony; there seemed to be a hint of sadness in her eyes), the castmate sneaked over to the guns, then grabbed the one that would be used by the Psycho Producers.
Time to make some adjustments. The castmate thought, grinning evilly. The Psycho Producers must not win.
No one noticed as the castmate worked on the Producers' gun. The castmate finished, set the gun down, and returned just before Isabelle grew tired of waiting.
"Maggots!" Isabelle roared. "Have ya picked, yet?"
"Y-yes!"
"Yes we have!"
"Good! Now send 'em up here and get ready!"
The two choices, Mario for the Producers, and Rosalina for the Directors. The two of them picked up their guns.
"Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the bonus; see that one target way in the back?"
"Uh…which one, the one of…HA, HA!" Mario laughed.
"Yeah, the one of Luma. While he's not here, I just couldn't resist saying this: You may get one point for shooting any of the other targets, but if you shoot that one, you get ten points!"
"Yeah! Now you're talking!"
"Good. Now, ready!"
Mario wrapped his finger around the trigger, aiming carefully at the one of Luma.
"Set!"
Rosalina looked around at the many targets, eventually focusing on the closest one: a barrel.
"Go!"
All of the cardboard cutouts started moving around, side-to-side, etc. The two shooters started squeezing off shots, pelting some of the nearest targets. Mario tried to hit the one of Luma three times, but failed to hit it. Rosalina was sticking with the closest ones, hitting seven in a row. Mario quickly did the same and fired shot after shot, pelting each target, and leaving the mark of red paint. At one point, Rosalina aimed for a target that had not yet been hit, a haystack, but missed and ended up hitting one that Mario had already hit.
"Oops!"
"That's one point down for you!" Isabelle declared.
"Darn it!" Rosalina quickly continued shooting, determined to defeat Mario.
Pretty soon, only eight targets remained. These included a bandit with a black bandana over his mouth and two bags of money, the pony that Isabelle had been glancing at, a wine bottle placed on top of a barrel, and the Luma target. The score was sixteen to eight; Mario's favor.
Mario paused for a moment, then carefully aimed again at the face of the Luma cutout.
"I've got you now!" He said as he pulled the trigger.
Only a click responded. No shot.
"What? I'm out already?"
"Huh? That can't be!" Isabelle responded. "I counted each shot you fired. You fired only twenty!"
"And?"
"That's only half! You originally had forty paintballs!"
"But…b-but…that makes no sense! Why do I have half of the original amount?" He thought for a moment. By now, this outburst had the attention of all the castmates, including Rosalina, who stopped shooting to listen.
"…DID SOMEONE SABOTAGE MY GUN?"
Everyone started looking at each other, expecting the culprit to come clean.
"Well, it don't matter." Isabelle eventually said. "You still technically ran out."
"You're kidding."
"Nope."
"COME ON!"
Isabelle turned to Rosie. "You've still got a chance here! Keep going!"
"Yeah!"
"Keep going, Rosie!" Her team encouraged her.
Rosalina paused nervously, glancing at Mario. A smirk appeared on her face, and she continued shooting.
"I don't believe this!" Mario angrily threw his gun to the ground and stormed off.
As Rosalina shot at the remaining targets, she turned to her teammates. "Seriously, guys. Who sabotaged his gun?"
She was greeted by a bunch of shrugs, although most of them soon after turned to Cat Peach. A few seconds after she saw the stares, she quickly realized, then responded, "What? No! I didn't do it, I swear!"
Make-Up Confessional
Tanooki: She did it.
Iggy: She so did it.
Nyk: Who else?
Peach: It's obvious that she did it.
Rosalina: I don't mean to point any fingers or anything, but she has done evil things like that in the past. Besides, no one else would do something like that.
Cat Peach: No! It's true! I swear, I DIDN'T DO IT! OK, maybe I've done things like that before, but I'm telling the truth! I didn't touch those guns!
Rosalina: Well, maybe she wouldn't stoop that low, but then again…
Peach: …she did almost blow up Skyler and Madison in a cave.
Cat Peach: I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it…
Nyk: If we lose tonight, she is so going home.
Cat Peach: (Noticeably out of breath from all the rambling) For the last time…oh, forget it.
After a few minutes, Rosalina had nailed all of the remaining targets except for the Luma one. The score was sixteen to fifteen, still Mario's favor, and she had one shot left.
"This is it!" Isabelle declared. "Hit the target, and we'll settle the score in the final challenge, and you just might win! Miss, and they win automatically. No pressure. Hee, hee, hee!"
Rosalina swallowed nervously. She was sweating hard, and her finger was itching to pull the trigger. She focused on the Luma target, and the Luma target only.
"Come on, you can do it!" Tanooki encouraged her.
"You can do it, Rosalina!" Peach agreed.
Rosalina aimed carefully, the head of the target directly between the eyes in her crosshairs, following it as it moved.
"Any time, now!" Isabelle roared impatiently.
Rosalina slowly pulled the trigger, inching it closer and closer to firing. Rosalina closed her eyes, then fired.
POW!
The shot rang out, and everyone gasped. Rosalina slowly opened her eyes, and saw the blue paint splattered all over the cutout's head.
"YES!" She cheered.
"And the score's tied!" Isabelle declared. "Time to break the tie with the third and final challenge!"
At that moment, Luma walked up, his hair wet from the shower he just took.
"Ah, that feels better. But they still don't pay me enough for this…oh. Hello, castmates. Um, Isabelle? What just happened?"
"I hosted the second phase while you were, uh, busy."
"WHAT? I told you to never take my place unless I say so!"
"Sorry. But what did you expect? That we wait for you? Your showers can take hours!"
"…Yeah, I guess you're right. So what happened?"
"The cheerleader's team won, and the score's tied."
"Oh, goodie! Now the drama is really racked up! Time to see which team will come out victorious!"
Make-Up Confessional
Luigi: Personally, I think I actually like Isabelle's hosting better.
"Anyway. Time for the third phase! Everyone follow me!"
The castmates followed Luma and Isabelle to where the third phase would take place. At the end of the dirt street running down the middle of the town, there were two wooden cattle that were very poorly made. There were holes in the wood, one cattle was missing a leg, and the other had one horn that was upside-down.
"Here's the final part of the task! Here, you will once again pick two of your teammates to participate in this. You will both be given a lasso, and one minute of time. The idea is to throw that there lasso around your cattle's neck as many times as you can before your one minute is up. The team whose player has lassoed it more wins! Now pick your players. And remember, choose carefully. This phase will decide the fate of your team for this task."
The teams once again huddled and discussed their next player.
"Look, we can't use Nyk or Mario." Tanooki Mario stated. "They've already gone. Who should we use?"
"I'll do it!" Iggy eagerly volunteered. "I went to Cowboy Camp when I was seven. They taught me how to lasso cattle when I was there, and I was AWESOME at it!"
"You better be." Cat Peach growled.
She received dirty looks, and quickly remembered how they all still thought she was the one behind the earlier sabotage. She quickly lightened up.
"Uh, I mean, I'm sure you'll do just fine! Heh, heh. (Gulp!)"
"Whatever. So Iggy it is." Rosalina declared.
After they picked, Iggy and the other participant, Roy, walked up to the rope that was stretched across the ground, which served as the boundary that kept them from getting any closer to the wooden cattle, which stood approximately seven feet from them.
"Here are yer lassoes, partners!" Luma said as he handed the two of them their lassoes. Roy quickly picked his up and twirled it over his head like a pro, while Iggy was still trying to straighten it out.
"On yer mark…get set…go!"
Roy immediately threw his lasso at the cattle, and successfully got it around the neck.
"That's one point for the Psycho Producers!" Luma declared.
Iggy threw his lasso, and missed by a mile.
"Whoops." He quickly pulled it back in and tried again. He hooked the horn.
"Uh-oh." He pulled it back and tried again. It almost hit it, but bounced off.
"Darn it!"
Meanwhile, Roy was lassoing the cattle again and again and again.
"Wow. I never knew that I was this good at this lassoing thing!" He said to the others.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Iggy was now just throwing his lasso recklessly, missing, hooking other parts of the cattle, or just barely missing.
"NO!" He then threw blindly and actually got it around the neck.
"Hey, I got it! I got it!"
"Good, now keep going!" Nyk reminded him.
"Oh, right." He pulled the lasso off and continued throwing and missing, throwing and missing, while Roy didn't miss a single one.
Needless to say, you can guess how this one ended.
At the end of the one minute, Luma declared the winner.
"The Psycho Producers win!"
"Alright!"
"Yeah!"
"Enjoy your victory, all of you! You can go back to your trailer, and enjoy the fact that none of you are going home tonight!" He then turned to the losers. "Sorry, Directors. This just wasn't your day. Report to the Theatre tonight. One of you will be going home!"
All of the Flaming Directors were giving Iggy the evil eye.
"What in the world was that?" Cat Peach screamed. "You were terrible! Absolutely TERRIBLE! One to forty-seven? ONE TO FORTY-SEVEN! That's pathetic!"
"You know, I actually agree with her!" Lemmy said as well. "I mean, that was pretty bad! You said that you were good at these things!"
"Well, I thought I was." Iggy shrugged.
"You said you were seven when you went to that camp. How far away were the cattle from you at that place?"
Iggy paused, trying to remember. Then he did, and he shamefully admitted, "Three feet."
"THREE FEET?" All of his teammates roared. Iggy nearly fell over.
After the Flaming Directors cooled down, they walked out of the Western set, towards the Theatre.
As the castmates went their separate ways, the castmate who had sabotaged Mario's gun was angry at the plan's failure.
Darn it. That foolish Iggy's weakness foiled my plan! The castmate thought. Ah, well. There will be other chances to get the Psycho Producers to lose. I have many more tricks up my sleeve. And I intend to use all of them.