Here is the second update! I said I would post the next chapter if someone asked for it, so I am posting it a bit early. From now on, I will try to post every Friday or Saturday. I will post the final part of this "episode" next week. Enjoy!
::
Hour Zero
In the last ten seconds of the countdown, the most vocal members of the Whacky Whales continued to shout and oppose ideas, which dissolved into what could only be described as bickering. In contrast, the Twisted Tigers appeared content with the plan Joe made. The Hunters of the Twisted Tigers seemed especially focused and ready to go when the moment would come.
Three… Two… One.
A cannon boomed. At the same time, the restraints were released, and the teens were left to stand on their platforms. Everyone, with emotions ranging from terror to determination, attempted to move… with disastrous results.
The metal suits weighed much more than what anyone expected. Each limb were at least fifteen pounds heavier, with the torso plate adding twenty. The contestants that did move acted like toddlers learning to walk for the first time; they either stumbled off the platform or, like Ronnie, Jal, Eli, Lucille, and Obediah, fell over completely and crashed into the earth.
Being the most physically built, CJ regained his composure the fastest. CJ then powered his legs forward towards the center, prompting Xander, Jessica, Aiden, Joe, Phoenix, and Abigail to also pursue for a weapon. One they gained their balance, Halo, Sara, Darren, and Velvet also went for the center. Willam, Leah, Kori, Saoirse, and Lucille (after getting back up), meanwhile, scattered into the forest. All the Runners from the Twisted Tigers and the last two remaining members of the Wacky Whales' Runners (Jal and Eli) watched what unfolded.
CJ, being the first to arrive at the Cornucopia, grabbed a maul from a rack and charged towards the first enemy he saw: Joe. CJ swung sideways at Joe's chest, moving slowly but fast enough to land a hit, cracking Joe's orb quite severely. The blow forced Joe backwards, but he recovered quickly and lunged around CJ to snatch an axe. Joe twisted around, and his axe clashed against CJ's maul.
Xander ran past the fighting to examine what would be the best weapon for him. A small handle and a bag with a noose next to it caught his attention, and he snatched both items. He yanked the bag to peer inside, but in his peripheral vision, Xander caught Abigail running towards him with a baton. Xander shuffled backwards, narrowly avoiding CJ's and Joe's sparring. He placed the noose around his neck, grabbed a quarter-sized marble from the bag, and fired at Abigail's face.
"Holy fuck!" she screamed and cupped her eye with a hand. "That's fucking cheating, asshole!" she yelled, trying but failing to move out of the way as Xander fired a marble at her orb, causing it to crack. But CJ bumped into Xander, forcing Xander to tumble down.
Meanwhile, Jessica seized a sword and immediately started running from the Cornucopia. However, Aiden saw her, and after grabbing a spear for each of his hands, chased after her. He threw the spear in his right hand at her legs. The spear entangled itself between her legs, and she flipped forward as she fell.
Appearing upside down in her vision, Jessica saw Aiden as he hollered, "Ah am sorry about this!" Aiden jabbed the spear downwards, but Jessica rolled over, and he stabbed at the side of her arm. Jessica heaved her body and rammed her shoulder into his torso, causing Aiden to collapse backwards. With her sword pointed down, she plunged it at his chest, but Aiden blocked her attack with his arms.
An arrow pierced Jessica's collarbone. She snapped her head up, and Phoenix fired another arrow at her chest. The arrow pierced into the edge of Jessica's orb and cracked it. Realizing it was futile to stay, Jessica turned away and, with her free hand, grabbed the spear lodged in the ground. Aiden grabbed at one of her calves, but her swift, reflexive kick forced him to let go.
Jessica, Xander, and Darren, who also managed to get by unscathed with a weapon, ran away from the Cornucopia, and the Hunters and Runners for the Twisted Tigers swarmed the center. Eli, Jal, and Velvet also went into the forest, but Velvet slowed her pace near the edge of the lining between the field and the forest. Turning around and ensuring no one from the opposing team watched her, Velvet hid behind a tall bush. She watched from afar as CJ fought against Joe, and a circle consisting of some Twisted Tigers formed around the two sparring male contestants.
::
Confession(s):
Velvet: "I stayed because I wanted to do something productive and hopefully learn something about the other team's strategy. And it didn't feel right just leaving CJ behind," she sighed.
Joe: "My plan worked perfectly—well, mostly, I should say," he scowled. "All we had to do was have all Hunters go in and use it as a base for our Runners to use. We secured the center, kept most of the weapons, and didn't have many 'casualties'." He shook his head. "This team still needs a ton of work."
::
Twisted Tigers
"C'mon, he's right there! Just take him out!" Sara yelled. Sara, Dev, Ronnie, and Faith watched the fighting males from a safe distance. Sweat dripped down both Joe's and CJ's faces, and they each heaved for air as they clashed their weapons over and over. Both of their orbs were cracked badly (but CJ's appeared worse), and neither looked ready to give up.
"I can help!" Dev offered, holding and waving out a club.
As he held off a blow, Joe yelled, "No! I can take him on my own!" Joe tried to kick CJ off, but that barely affected the bigger, stronger male. With Joe's attention momentarily placed somewhere else, CJ grabbed the axe with his gloved hand and tried to twist it to the side. Joe also barely moved, but enough space opened for CJ to push the head of the maul into Joe's chest. With the wind knocked out of him and his orb cracked even further, Joe stepped back.
CJ went for the final blow, but a web-like materiel shot from the side, coated his body, and knocked him over onto one knee. Still a bit dazed, Joe swung his axe into CJ's chest, piercing through the net like it was nothing and shattered CJ's orb. Shards of glass sprung out and the orange hue on CJ's chest dulled to nothing.
Boom!
CJ's eyes widened. Saying nothing, he slumped over onto his back, staring at the sky but not moving at all.
Lowering the net gun she found to shoot CJ with, Halo whooped, "We got him!" She smiled over at Joe, who had his hands rested on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
Joe twisted his neck and glared at her. "I said… I can take him on my own," he panted and pulled himself back up. "Next time, don't intercede me."
Halo frowned and lowered her gun. With her brows furrowing, she muttered something under her breath that seemed to be "Ass".
"Uh… Is he all right?" asked Faith. She and several other members of the Twisted Tiger formed a small circle around CJ to gain a better look.
"I believe he's dead," stated Dev. He nudged his foot against CJ's hand, which did nothing in response.
Whipping his head towards CJ, Joe stared at him. Taking a few steps to loom over CJ, Joe pulled the net off, pushed the maul away, and flicked CJ's nose. "He's not dead. I can hear him breathing. Dunno what's wrong with him, though."
A helicopter's propeller hummed from above, causing Joe, Dev, Faith, Sara, Abigail, and Halo to look up in the sky. Air blew and whirled around the Twisted Tigers, and the helicopter lowered itself to hover about thirty feet above. As a rope with a large metal disk lowered itself towards CJ, Chris shouted from a blow horn, "Congrats on the first elimination! That was a pretty cool fight while it lasted. You guys might want to stand back a bit."
"What's wrong with him?" Faith asked. The disk connected to CJ's torso.
Chris waved Faith off. "Don't worry. He's all right. When your orb is broken, needles from within your suits inject sedatives to make you 'dead'," Chris explained, holding out air quotes. "Simple but effective. I can't have any of you dying just quite yet. Have fun!" The helicopter zoomed up and away. CJ, meanwhile, dangled in the air as he remained attached to the metal disk.
"'Have fun'? How am I supposed to do that when I only have one fucking eye?" growled Abigail. The marble Xander shot at Abigail pierced her eye so badly that her eyelid was now red and swollen shut. "If that fucking bastard made me blind, I will fucking kill him."
Sara whistled. "Damn. I thought I had a dirty mouth."
The camera cut back to Chris, who shrugged. "What can I say? Total Drama got picked back up by Swiftflix! Thank god for that! Now we don't have to deal with stupid censorship or human rights violations." Chris laughed. (1)
The camera returned to the contestants. "Everyone! Regroup, regroup!" Joe yelled. "It's time to roll out the second part of the plan." As Joe twisted around to count off his teammates, he paused upon seeing Aiden limp towards the others. "What happened to you?" Joe asked as Aiden showed up with a giant red mark shaped like a foot that covered the left side of his face that covered part of his temple to his cheekbone.
"Ah got kicked in the face. Ah think ah have a concussion or somethin'," Aiden grumbled.
Joe nodded. "Okay, well—wait, we're missing some people. Where the hell—" he span around, only to see the missing group members, Maeve, Obediah, and Charolette far, far away. Ever so slightly, Maeve struggled against her weight to move towards the Cornucopia. Obediah trailed just a bit behind Maeve, and Charolette was still locked in place on her platform, unable to move.
"I guess we know for sure now who the weakest links are," Sara said to Abigail. Clearly not in a good mood, Abigail narrowed her one good eye at Sara as she turned away.
Joe face palmed. "Oh god—Dev, go help the one on the stand," Joe said. As Dev went, Joe continued to speak, "All right. All right. We got this. Here's part two of the plan. As me, Phoenix, Sara, and Abigail go out to track the rest of the other team, the Runners will stay here. Aiden and Halo," Joe shot her a dirty look, "stay here and watch over the Runners."
"Why me?" Halo asked and placed a hand on her hip.
"Aiden has to stay because he's hurt the most, and he isn't enough to protect six people and the weapons," Joe explained. "So, you two and everyone else stay here. Hunters, let's go and hunt down some losers before they get too far away."
::
Confession(s):
Halo: "Joe did have a pretty good plan, but considering how unorderly the other team acted, I think it was just by dumb luck that it worked. And with the way Joe acted when I tried to help as a team member, I don't think he's the team leader we need."
CJ: "I may have been the first out, but at least I had enough balls to go in and make it as long as I did."
::
Still hidden in the tall bush, Velvet watched everything that unfolded. Although she heard Chris clearly, she did not catch much, if anything, about what the Twisted Tigers said amongst one another. However, she continued to observe and noticed how the Runners of the other team huddled under or near the Cornucopia with two Hunters helping one another climb on top of the structure. Meanwhile, four Hunters split apart from the rest of the group to move towards the forest; two Hunters ran while the other half walked with more precision.
"They're splitting up…" Velvet whispered to herself. However, she clamped her mouth shut as one of the Hunters, Phoenix, headed near her way. He held his weapon of choice, an arrow, with a holster of arrows slung over a shoulder.
Moving onto her hands and knees, Velvet backed away from the bush. Although her suit scraped against dirt, grass, and leaves, Velvet moved as slow as possible and did not make any sudden movement to disturb nearby foliage—that is, until her foot banged against a rock.
Phoenix stopped in place, turning his head to stare in Velvet's direction. He then returned to his normal pace. But sensing something was not right with the way he moved, Velvet flung her body up to run in the woods, triggering Phoenix to run after her.
::
"God, I think I'm going to pass out," Leah groaned.
"Let's stop and rest for a moment," Wilam said, also heaving and leaning against a tree. Nodding, Leah sat on a rock. "God. I knew it was going to be a disaster. Our team is full of catty bitches. I mean, I'm a bitch for sure, but that was just bad." Willam shook his head.
"Well, to be fair—and I'm not defending anyone—but we only had thirty seconds to come up with an idea. Our team couldn't cooperate in a whole day if yesterday is any clue." Leah told Willam. She wiped sweat from her face with her hand, grimacing as her sweat smudged the glistening metal. "This suit is like a freaking sauna."
"No, a sauna would be lovely. This," William motioned at his suit, "is a travesty. At least we were taken as we slept." Leah gave a look at Wilam. "What? I mean I'm glad I didn't have a chance to put any makeup or my outfit on. I would've broken out in acne if I did."
Nearby stomps and crunching leaves and twigs caused Willam and Leah to stand upwards, preparing to run. But the familiar orange glow and distinct face and hair Saoirse led them to lower their guards again. Leah sat back down as Saoirse stopped running upon seeing her fellow teammates. Her lips curled in disgust. "Oh great. I run like half a mile and you two are the first ones I find," growled Saoirse.
Willam scoffed. "Oh look, it's Catty Bitch Number Seven. Pleasant."
"Good job on getting a weapon," Leah replied dryly. "Our chances of winning have definitely increased."
"Will you two just shut up? All you two have done so far is complain! You would have done the same thing as I did if you were in my position," Saoirse retorted, crossing her arms. "Have either of you seen anyone else around here?"
"Everyone scattered around like there was a twenty-five percent sale at a mall. So, no." his arms as best he could given his restraints.
Saoirse sighed. "Good. This running wasn't just for nothing. Well then," Saoirse restraightened her posture to stand upwards, "I'm gonna go now. Don't go in my direction." She walked past them.
"We wouldn't have it any other way," Leah replied.
Saoirse flipped Leah the bird over her shoulder, which was edited with a censor bar over it. This lead Leah and Willam to both chuckle, and they looked at each other with mirth.
"So what now?" asked Leah.
Willam shrugged. "Walk, I suppose. There's nothing else to do, really, except wait it out. Let's get to know each other in the meantime. Tell me a bit about yourself, Honey."
::
In contrast to his graceful movement earlier when he was still within the mansion, Phoenix's footsteps pummeled into the earth. Although his natural coordination and speed should have led him to capture the stray Runner from the Wacky Whales, Velvet's distance and the weight from his suit gave her enough of an advantage to stay far enough from Phoenix. He followed the imprints she left behind, which weren't hard to ignore considering they were eight inches wide and two inches deep in the earth.
As he tried to keep up with her, the forest somehow seemed to thicken more and more. The spacing between the trees closed as foliage, bushes, vines, and more covered more of the ground, until he found himself waist-deep in plant-life. The path that appeared so clear before seemed to have vanished along with Velvet.
"She must be hiding in here somewhere," Phoenix murmured. "An axe would have been more helpful right now to slash through this." A sound to his left caused Phoenix to raise his bow, which he had loaded with an arrow. He followed the sound, not even trying to hide his movement. But as he neared the source, a rabbit jumped from the thicket and sped off.
"A rabbit in a tropical rainforest?" Phoenix said aloud, mostly to himself. But he reoriented his mind to focus back to catching Velvet.
Once he was about fifty feet away, Velvet, with a thick fern leaf planted on her head to cover her hair, poked her head out from a spot she buried herself in, and she lowered herself back into hiding.
::
Hour One
"Ugh. It's getting worse," groaned Abigail. She stopped after an hour of aimless running, which quickly devolved into walking, to stare at her reflection on her metal bodysuit's arm. Abigail's face, although distorted like in a mirror at a carnival, displayed a purplish hue that coated the swollen flesh around her right eye, which still refused to open. "Gotta get going again," she told herself and tore herself from looking at her reflection, for it also reminded her that she was alone. Abigail talked under her breath as she swung the baton like it was a baseball bat. "This sure is fun… I sign up for a show to win a million dollars with twenty-three people… and I can't find a single one… in a forest. Alone. Great. Chris is definitely gonna get something special later."
The sound of rushing water caught her attention. She neared the noise and found a stream. She watched the water and licked her dry lips. "That looks so good right now… But I'd rather not risk getting Cholera." Abigail lazily followed where the stream went with her good eye. As she glanced to the far end of where the water traveled, movement of two people whose suits glowed orange caused Abigail to grin rather widely.
::
Confession(s):
Abigail: As she picked at the dirt underneath her fingernails, she said, "I really don't know what overcame me. I mean, I don't like being alone for sure. At all. But something in me kinda snapped when I saw them. I am not crazy. Well, I am a little, but so is everyone else, y'know?" she jokingly finished with a smile.
End of Confession(s)
::
"That's why I like to carry my notebook everywhere I go. I would show it to you, but it's back at the camp, I hope…" Jal trailed off. Things were a bit awkward between her and Eli at first, mostly due to them not speaking at all until about half hour or so ago, so Jal just made some small talk.
"Wow. That's interesting! Hopefully you can get it back after the challenge. I bet you'll have a lot to write about later," Eli replied with a wide smile.
Jal returned it as Eli hopped over the stream they casually stumbled upon. However, Jal's brows furrowed. She glanced downwards as the ground seemed to vibrate underneath her feet. Her realization grew tenfold as she realized neither she nor Eli were moving anymore. She turned her head towards the source of stamping feet. Her eyes widened. As Jal began to run, she yelled, "Oh god, run!"
Eli moved his body around just as Abigail hollered, "You aren't getting away from me so easily!" Abigail raised her weapon over her shoulder, ready to swing. Eli also burst forward. He ran straight as Jal ran east, following the path of the stream. Abigail made a beeline towards Eli.
Eli pushed himself past trees he ran through. He could only hear his heaving breaths and cacophonies of thumping pairs of feet, which he hoped belonged to Jal. But when his foot was caught in an overgrown root and he fell forward, a loud cackle told him enough that Jal did not follow him. He tried to scramble back up, and he was almost about to push himself off his knees as Abigail pounced on his back legs, forcing him back down. "Gotcha!" she said as he yelped.
"Ow! C'mon, don't break my legs!" Eli snapped. Abigail relented. She instead placed her foot underneath him and flipped him over. "Why—oh damn," Eli said, cringing a bit upon seeing Abigail's injured eye. But he shook off his reaction to shield his orb.
"My, my, this is certainly a compromising position. If only we met in a different set of circumstances…" Abigail trailed off suggestively. "Oh well! That doesn't matter. What matters is that you should just let me destroy your orb and we go on our merry ways. You wouldn't want to end up with something like this, right?" she asked, pointing to her injury.
"You don't need to get me. You can still go after Jal. I'm sure you're fast enough to catch up to her," Eli reasoned. His eyes glinted. "If you let me go, it will make up for when you hurt me on the dock with your 'prank'."
Abigail's baton lowered slightly. She didn't say anything for a few moments but shrugged. "As much as I would like to do that…" she raised her bat, "We'll have to negotiate those details later."
::
Boom!
Birds startled by the sound cawed and flew away. Darren jerked awake from dozing off. As he sat in a bush between two trees, which after some renovations gave him plenty of space, Darren looked up to the canopy of the trees. He picked up the weapon he set on the ground next to him to place it in his lap. Now looking at it, he wasn't so sure why he picked it… The weapon was a giant metal fist that he could slip his hand into. He hadn't examined it thoroughly before, but he turned it around in his lap, seeing a button on the side.
Wanting to test it out, Darren placed his hand into the fist, gripped the metal bar inside, and pressed the button. The front part of the fist, the knuckles, burst forward like a bullet shot from the barrel of a gun. The force was so powerful and caught Darren off guard that he was pushed backwards into the bush and rustled the entire plant and some branches of the trees beside him.
"Who's there?" a female voice called out. "You better show yourself or else!"
From Darren's perspective, the voice was behind him, and he recognized it immediately. "It's just me, Darren," he told her. He stood up and turned around, facing Lucille.
Lucille held a rather large rock over her shoulder. She stared at him for a few seconds before lowering her arm. "Oh. Okay. Whatever." This caught Darren off guard. Before he could comprehend her reaction, she stated, "I better get going. That thing you have could be heard from a mile away. It's not safe here."
As she started to walk away, Darren said, "Wait." Lucille turned around, her eyebrow arched, and he continued, "I'm sorry for ditching you earlier. It was rude."
With her lips tightened into a thin line, Lucille nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry if… I came on too strong."
Darren also nodded. After some moments passed between them, Darren glanced at the weapon that he fired, which had a chain that connected to the other end of the knuckles. He pressed the button, and the chain recoiled back into the fist, dragged the knuckles against the ground until it formed the shape of a fist again.
"That's a weird weapon. Why did you even choose it?" Lucile asked.
"I honestly didn't really think. I just ran and grabbed it." Darren glanced back at the fist, and he smiled as his eyes lit up. "I have a plan. Can you help me?"
"Sure," Lucille replied, smirking.
::
Confession(s):
Lucille: "I know there are many haters out there—against your better judgement, of course—that don't think much of me. But when I want something," Lucille leaned forward, "I'll do anything to get it. Even if I need to be a bit quieter than usual." She crossed her arms, with the corner of her lip pulling upwards.
End of Confession(s)
::
Both of Jessica's hands, alongside the rest of her body, grew clammy as she walked and held the sword and the spear. She stopped and shifted the spear to rest under her arm, but she snorted to herself as she said, "Right. Forgot about these damn gloves." She continued to move, pushing through the hunger pains deep within her abdomen. But Jessica perked as she heard incoming stomps. She dropped the spear and positioned herself with the sword, but seeing that it was only Jal, dropped her stance.
Upon seeing her teammate, Jal stopped to catch her breath. "I'm so glad… I found you!" she exclaimed, taking in a deep breath. "There's an enemy Hunter behind me. I don't know if she followed me, but she took down Eli."
Jessica nodded. "Okay. I'll get her. What was she carrying?"
"A baton," answered Jal.
Jessica glanced at her sword. "I can take her down with this." She eyed the surroundings around, and she picked up the spear she dropped to hand over to Jal. "Take this. Give it to one of our Hunters if you find them. I can't risk the enemy having more weapons."
"But I can't use it. I'm a Runner," Jal told her.
"You can't use it to fight. There's nothing in the rules that say you can't carry it. Now go," said Jessica, turning her attention towards finding Abigail.
::
Kori sprinted the fastest despite the suit holding him down with far more weight than he was used to. He maneuvered himself through the forest as if he knew exactly where to go; he kept going until he found what he thought to be a suitable location: a waterfall, the same one that threaded a loose stream that Eli and Jal found earlier.
With his back pressed against stone, Kori walked around one of the side pillars that outlined the waterfall. Behind the waterfall was a small opening that could hold a few people, with a small opening against the wall big enough to slide through.
Kori kneeled against the ledge, scooped up water with his hand, and splashed the cool water against his face. He then sat down and waited.
::
Hour Two
Sara wanted to scream.
Time was hard to tell without any digital devices on hand to know how much had passed, but she knew hours had to have passed. Sara knew this as she trekked through what felt like an endless amount of forest without anyone else in sight—not even her own teammates! The excitement that initially drove her fizzled out like a dying sparkler, and she yearned to have the thrill of the chase again.
What's worse is that she really, really had to pee.
With a grunt, Sara tightened her hands around her weapon and continued onward.
::
Velvet emerged from her spot she had not moved from for hours. She did not even move as Phoenix seemed to have moved on; Velvet did not want to take any chance that Phoenix might be close by or waiting it out for her. But she knew she had to find her other teammates soon. Pulling herself out from the thick vegetation, she stated. "That was too close. I need to find the others." Velvet bolted in the opposite direction of Phoenix, hoping no one else on her team had been the ones who were caught.
::
Phoenix had long ago abandoned his search for Velvet. Given his weapon of choice, he knew he would not have done much damage in melee. Instead, Phoenix opted to find someone else. He stepped and maneuvered through the environment as quietly as he could with his given weight. Suppressing his breath with his chest, Phoenix attuned his ears to his surroundings. The other difference besides his change of strategy was also his chest and bodysuit; what once glowed bright orange and glimmering monochrome had now been covered with mud.
The faint sound of voices caused Phoenix to freeze. He closed his eyes. Realizing they were drifting from his right side, Phoenix shifted his direction to follow them. Phoenix pulled his bow and arrow as he neared the source. He hid behind a thick tree once he was about forty feet away from the source. Sitting on a fallen log were two members of the Whacky Whales; Phoenix instantly recognized this fact because of the blue hues that emanated from their orbs.
"Here we go," Phoenix whispered to himself. After he rested his arms, he positioned his bow and arrow again as he stared intently at his targets. Phoenix took a deep breath and let go of the arrow.
In one second, the female teammate talked, and the next, her orb shattered and went dark. With the arrow lodged in her chest, she spazzed for a few seconds and fell backwards.
Boom!
The male shouted, "Leah!" He tried to shake her awake, turning away enough to effectively avoid Phoenix's arrows if he were to shoot anymore. Realizing Leah was truly out of the game, the male Wacky Whale lifted himself up and ran away.
Phoenix waited for a minute to pass and followed the path of the other contestant using his footsteps.
Confession(s):
Phoenix: "I live on a strict vegan diet, and I am experienced in hunting game when the need arose. As a result, I have had numerous opportunities to cultivate and hunt thanks to my family. That one girl getting away earlier was a fluke—I didn't focus enough. But I won't let that happen again. People aren't so different in their patterns of behavior and thoughts than any other animal," he stated and shrugged.
End of Confession(s)
::
Abigail smacked her dry lips together, and her stomach growled. She sauntered in the direction that she thought Jal went, eager to take her down, but her depleted energy and injury took a toll on her body. Now she slugged onwards, stopping every few minutes or so to look around. When she stopped about the tenth time, her eye caught sight of a hole on a tree. But seeing what looked like steam rising from a metal pan, Abigail walked towards it. Once she stood in front of it, she pulled the contents out of the tree, revealing what looked like a perfect pie with a golden crust.
"Hmm. This is too good to be true," she said, inspecting the top closely. She flipped it over and noticed writing inscribed the bottom. Grinning after reading the note, she dug into the pie, feeling around inside and tearing it apart, until she found the prize. She pressed the button. But when her stomach rumbled again, Abigail licked her finger. She moaned as she tasted the cherry filling and began to ravage the insides.
"That is disgusting," commented Jessica from behind.
Abigail looked up and turned around. The pie filling smeared across her lips, chin, and hand. Glaring, she dropped the pie with the baton inside as Jessica brought her sword down. Abigail moved over and raised her baton to strike Jessica. Jessica blocked the attack and swung at Abigail's left. Due to her eye being damaged, Abigail's reaction was slowed, causing her orb to be hit and damaged. Abigail held Jessica's blows off for some time, but with one final hit as if she slayed a beast, Jessica jabbed the sword directly into the orb.
Boom!
Freezing in place for a moment, Abigail fell onto her knees and succumbed to the drugs. She fell over, unmoving.
As Jessica pulled the sword out, a helicopter zoomed over her head. It was mostly covered due to the canopy, but two figures were lowered to the ground on ropes. As one intern handled Abigail, the other focused on Jessica, holding an unbroken orb in his hand.
"You pressed the button?" he asked.
"Uh… Yes," she replied.
He glanced over at Abigail, shrugged, and said, "Good enough for me. Stand still."
::
Hour Three
"This has to be the most boring and sucky day of mah life," groaned Aiden, rubbing the side of his head and wincing as pain shot through his temple. He laid on his back, but he rolled over onto his stomach and propped his chin onto his folded arms. The sun blazed brightly in the sky, and as he tried to look up at Halo, the sun especially glowed behind her and highlighted her fierce red hair. Aiden squinted to get a decent look of her.
"Can't say I disagree with you," she replied, blowing some strands of her hair, wet with sweat, out of her slightly reddened face. "Nobody's come and it's a million degrees out here." She glanced down at Aiden and frowned. "Let's hope we win this so we can stay at the mansion and get some ice."
"Why? So our pops are much colder when we drink 'em?" Aiden replied. (2)
"No, to cover your injury," Halo told him.
Aiden shrugged. "Eh, ever since ah was a kid, I worked on mah family's farm and had much worse. Cows ain't so nice."
Halo perked up at hearing this. "Family farm, you say? Didn't you say you were from Mississippi?"
"Yep! Good ol' Mississippi," he answered quickly. Aiden's squinting eyes slammed closed as he flinched away from Halo's excited squeal.
"Wow, you're a southerner too! I mean, I knew it from the accent, but it's cool to know we live close by," she said.
"Yah!" he replied.
Below Halo and Aiden, the Runners for the Twisted Tigers were assorted around the Cornucopia doing various things. Dozing away and snoring, Ronnie laid on the ground with his hands folded under his head. Charolette sat a bit farther away from the others, with her knees pulled up to her chest. Dev, far too restless to sit, walked along the outside the Cornucopia. Faith and Maeve, meanwhile, watched Obediah with slight amusement as he struggled against his suit to walk and look every weapon perched on the walls.
"All of you should really come and observe the array of weapons," said Obediah, leaning in for a closer look at a katana. "They range from being styled from the fifteenth century to the future! Chris has outdone himself with the equipment he has acquired."
"I would look, but I'll have to pass." Faith shrugged. "I'd rather save my energy from moving too much in this bloody suit in case we need to run."
"And we're not supposed to touch those," Maeve reminded a bit quietly.
Obediah contemplated for a second and said, "We are not allowed to act as offense against the other team. Chris did not specify that we aren't allowed to look at the weapons. Or handle them, for that matter," he added absentmindedly.
"Wow Obie, I'm impressed. You have a bit of deviousness to you," Faith piped up with a cheeky grin.
"'Deviousness'?" Obediah repeated, and his cheeks flushed as he struggled to turn around to face Faith and Maeve. "Oh heaven's no, I am not like that! I am just an aficionado for history and anything related to the subject." He turned back to face towards the table about ten feet away from him, which was covered in even more weapons. "I respect Chris far too much to deviate away from his stated rules."
"Respect?" Faith arched her brow. "Since when has Chris done anything to warrant respect?"
"Chris is certainly an eccentric character." Obediah huffed, taking a step forward. "And I do not agree with every decision he enacts." Another step. "But it is undeniable that…" Step. "He is charming and interesting!"
Faith murmured, "Whatever you say…"
Obediah stopped moving, examining the table far more closely. "Besides, there are quite a few items here that can potentially aid our Hunters, such as these," he said, holding out binoculars.
"We should tell them and let them know," said Maeve, who smiled when Obediah and Faith nodded at her idea.
Obediah offered, "I shall inform them!" Obediah heaved, slowly turning and making his way to the front entrance. He stepped past Ronnie (who groaned and shifted to turn his back) and looked up at the Hunters. Aiden and Halo now sat up together as they spoke, but upon hearing struggles of Obediah underneath them, stopped talking to look down at him.
"What's up? Is something wrong?" asked Halo.
Obediah shook his head. "No, but one of you should come down and investigate some of the items in here. They may assist you two in guarding us from the enemy."
"Sounds like a great idea, partner! I'll come check it out," Aiden said, hopping over from the top. He groaned, clutching his head, but he still smiled at Obediah, who returned it with another smile of his own.
::
Confession(s):
Faith: "Obediah is a sweet fellow, but I'm afraid he will get chewed out from this competition quickly."
Obediah: "I hope I did not mischaracterize myself as having ill intentions or whatnot! It is undeniable that, statistically speaking, there are potential teammates amongst us that are feigning their intentions." He frowned at this idea but shook his head. "But I can assure everyone that I am not one of them. I do not know if I will win, but if I do, I intend to do it fairly!"
End of Confession(s)
::
Saoirse was walking alongside a stream as Wilam nearly ran into her. When he saw her, he stopped in his tracks to avoid bumping into her. She twisted around upon hearing him, and annoyance crossed her features as she sniped, "Didn't I tell you to not follow me?"
"I did not have many options." He attempted to use a similar tone, but the need to catch his breath far outweighed anything else. "And this was from complete chance." Wilam turned his head to look over his shoulder and faced frontwards again. "Whatever you do, run now," Willam told her, picking up his pace to jog away from Saoirse.
She watched him, shook her head, and muttered, "Weirdo." After a brief second, realization dawned on her face. "Wait. Where is—" Saoirse began to say, only to receive an arrow to the chest.
Boom!
::
"This is taking forever," groaned Lucille. She sat on a big rock and tossed the smaller rock she found earlier between her hands. "This better not be like the movie where this challenge lasts for weeks. Chrome does not fit my style." Lucille glowered at her metal arms.
"One can hope," replied Darren. He now sat in the same spot before he encountered Lucille. The other difference besides Lucille sitting on the rock was that Darren's weapon was dislodged, with the end tied around a tree about twenty feet away. Leaves covered the chain and the knuckles as Lucile sat about three feet away.
Lucille blew a raspberry. "You wouldn't happen to have met any of the actors that worked on that movie, have you?" she asked, attempting to sound casual as she looked at her nails.
"Nope. Not my department," Darren replied.
When she was about to ask another question, distant crunching foliage to their left side caused Lucille and Darren to tense up. A voice then yelled, "Hey!" as the crunching turned into stomps. With her brows furrowing and face hardening, Lucille quickly moved forward as Darren readied himself.
In his narrow line of vision, Darren could not see much. But when he saw feet less than a foot from his trap, he pulled the weapon up, forcing the chain up to snap against the incomer's legs. The person fell flat on their face, and as Darren moved out of his spot, Lucille hurdled herself onto the person's back to hold them down.
"It's just me!" Jal yelped, trying to twist her neck to show it was her. Dirt now smudged her entire face.
Heat rushed to Darren's neck. "Oh god, I'm so sorry! I thought you were from the other team."
"Why the hell didn't you say anything?" demanded Lucille, taking her sweet time to get off Jal. "You could've said 'Hey! It's me, Jal! Your teammate!'"
"I thought you recognized me," Jal answered as she stood up, attempting to wipe away some of the dirt and spitting out a leaf that clung to her lower lip. "And I had an encounter with an enemy Hunter, so I thought she might still be behind me."
"Wait, what happened?" asked Darren. When Jal explained her encounters with Abigail and Jessica, Darren nodded. "That's good. Hopefully the boom was from our Hunter taking out the other one." He glanced around their surroundings. "We should all stick together. There's safety in numbers."
"In the meantime," said Lucille, "you don't need this." She took the spear from Jal and jabbed at the air. But she miscalculated the force she put in the jab, and her foot slid about two feet before she stopped herself from sliding any further.
::
Xander rubbed his eyes, and he looked back down to the floor of the forest. It took quite some time to find the right spot, but now he sat near the top of a hundred-foot tall tree in between two long, thick branches that extended from the tree's trunk and formed a 'V' shape. His spot gave him a decent view below him. But not a single person had yet to pass him. Despite an ever so slight breeze in the air and some shade from the leaves, Xander found little solace from the heat. Sweat beads stung his eyes, which he wiped away with his suit's gloves.
He leaned back against the branch that extended outwards. Xander did not move with much fear, because he tied several vines around his waist to the branch to keep him from falling out. Nearby, a small, yellow bird landed on a nearby branch and chirped incessantly, breaking the silence that had surrounded Xander. He glared at the bird and waved his hands around to scare it off. The bird stopped, turned its head at Xander, and continued to chirp.
Xander pulled a marble from the bag and fired near the bird. He shot the leaves around the bird. Instead of scaring it off, the bird flew up and straight at Xander's face. "Aghhh!" he yelled out as the bird pecked at his face. Xander tried to swat at it, but the bird moved too fast for his hits to land.
Unbeknownst to Xander, Joe heard the commotion. He stood at the base of the tree.
"What the hell is going on up there?" Joe asked to himself. His shoulders shifted side to side as he tried to get a good look of the commotion. But he could only see someone in a metal suit with an orange orb. "Well… It looks like there is only one way to get a good look at them," Joe said, twisting the axe just before he struck the tree trunk.
::
The camera cut to Chris standing in front of the helicopter, which had now been parked near Chris's mansion. Several interns and the pilot sat inside the helicopter sipping on juice boxes. Chris said, "It looks like CJ, Eli, Leah, Abigail, and Saoirse could not take the heat and are out! That leaves nineteen contestants left standing for our first challenge! Will the Wacky Whales bounce back from their losses and work together? Or will the Twisted Tigers wipe them out? Stay tuned and find out after the commercial break!"
::
Reference(s):
(1) Swiftflix=Netflix. Considering how Total Drama has not been greenlit for another proper season, I imagine that another network would pick it up and bypass the "PG" rating to be more adult rated, hence why there is no censorship!
(2) "Pop" is a southern colloquial for soda.