And thus, here is the conclusion to Day 02! Quickly, might I add. But such is how life works, right? Something like that.
Warning- This chapter contains scenes of drama. No, I'm not joking, there's some dramatic stuff in this chapter. If you can't handle it, I recommend picking up a Dr. Suess book instead, because those are much more user friendly. I'll eliminate your favorite characters just for the heartbreak reaction; you won't see that in "The Cat In The Hat", but in this story, it might very well be possible. This is just a warning that should have been posted chapters ago, but I am forgetful just like all of you. After reading this long author's note, you've probably forgotten that you're about to read a chapter of TDM5!
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That was quite a mouthful.
Day 02, Part 03: The Last Gold Medalist
"And we are back, " said Troy, "Just about to begin the final event of our Olympics! With Team USA having secured immunity, Team Brazil looks to tie with Team Japan for second place, which would constitute an exciting tiebreaker!"
The crowd of Maximum Stadium cheered loudly, all rooting for their favorites. The three competing in the final event, Kayden, Dan, and Brendon, were lined up and staring at what appeared to be a large statue of Troy, holding a large unlit torch in each hand, with the symbol of the Olympics imprinted on its chest. Three winding stone stairways completed the statue, each leading into a tunnel that came through to a small ledge on the statue's chest.
"I know what you're thinking," nodded the host, "And you are all right! That statue doesn't resemble me at all! My nose is not that big! Now, for the challenge, this shall be the ultimate test of Olympics! Lighting the torch!"
"You can't be serious," said Celeste, shaking her head. "They'll die if they try scaling that!"
"No! Well, maybe," admitted Troy, "But they are smart kids! Except maybe for Kayden."
"Hey!"
Dan looked at his team nervously, then back at the statue, gaining confidence. "I can win this! I hope..."
"Troy, do I really have to compete in this if my team already has immunity?" asked Brendon, obviously intimidated by the extreme challenge. The host nodded, smirking, and Brendon took a deep breath. "Well, better make the best of this."
Troy handed each of the three a miniature lit torch. "Tread the long stairways up the statue, while keeping your flame lit, and make it to one of the giant torches! Then, use your fire to light the torch, winning the final Gold medal! Win the Silver medal by lighting the remaining torch, or by keeping your flame lit longer than your remaining opponent. If your flame goes out, you lose automatically, but if all three of you lose your flames without someone lighting a torch, then you all have to restart!"
"Sounds complicated," said Kayden, "But I can do this! For you..." He looked at Carita, smiling.
"Win a blow the whistle, you will head towards the statue and begin climbing the winding stairways!" the host held his shiny whistle high for everyone to see. "And yeah, I realize that you'll have to climb across the statue's chest to reach the arms, and climbing while holding a flaming torch is damn near impossible, but that's the fun of it, right?"
"No," whimpered the three competitors at the same time. Unexpectedly, the whistle sounded, and the startled trio all raced towards their respective stairways, each running as fast as they could while protecting their flames from extinguishing.
Dan paused for a moment to catch his breath, but realized that he had steadily made his way to the end of the stairway. He was puzzled as to how to climb across the chest while holding the torch, and decided that attempting to jump across to the arm would not be logical. Kayden and Brendon, who had also reached the statue's chest, stared in amazement at the task in front of them.
Brendon put the handle of his torch in his mouth, carefully angling the flames away from his face, and began to climb using both hands.
"Not so fast!" shouted Kayden, running and grabbing onto a ledge, right behind Brendon. Soon, he realized that without a free hand, he'd be unable to continue his way across, and sulked as he was stuck. Dan, meanwhile, stabbed the handle of the torch into the statue's cervices, using it as a tool to climb across; it singed his wrist a few times, but he managed to make it across to the arm.
"Yes!" exclaimed Buck, "Dan's got it!"
Dan ran over and held his flame to the torch, lighting it in victory, and flexing his nonexistent muscles. Brendon, meanwhile, climbed up on the arm and grabbed hold of his torch again, casually walking down the arm to claim second place.
Kayden, in a last ditch effort, and determined not to be upstaged by Brendon, threw his flaming torch as a hard as he could threw the air. In dramatic motion, it spun through the air, directly towards the large unlit torch...and then the flame went out. The smoking stick bounced off and fell to the ground, useless. Brendon looked confused for a second, but quickly used his own flame to light the torch, winning the Silver medal.
"Well, that didn't work," chuckled Kayden, nervously. He looked down at his teammates, who were glaring at him. "Can I just stay up here?"
"Alright! Dan wins Gold for Team Brazil, and since Kayden failed in the most epic way possible, that means that Brazil is now tied with Japan for second place!" exclaimed Troy, "And that also means that those two teams will compete in a special tiebreaker event!"
The crowd went wild, but the members of Team Japan were not quite as happy.
"Before we begin, each team will select in private who they want to compete in the mystery tiebreaker! Just to make this more interesting."
(Confession Cam)
Kayden- "Wow, I guess I really blew it, huh? Hey, at least I'll be remembered for something! Even if it is "That Guy Who Failed Really Badly". Not my smoothest moment, especially in front of Carita...but she's a forgiving person, I think."
Carita- "What a loser! I promise you, that if we lose this tiebreaker, he's gone! I don't care how in love with me he is, that was just stupid!"
Dan- "How did I do that? Well, I watch alot of action movies and stuff, so I guess I picked up on some cool climbing skills. Either that, or I got extremely lucky. Either way, that was an awesome win for my team! I'm a gold medalist! I want to thank my mom, and her amazing chocolate chip cookies. And also for letting me stay up past my bedtime sometimes. Alright, I do that all the time, you just don't know it. Oh wait, erase that!"
(Team Japan)
"Let's see," said Carita, pointing to Kayden. "We have to pick someone for the tiebreaker, and it will definitely not be you!"
"But-
"Not happening."
"I'm still tired from that obstacle course," admitted Katie, rubbing her sore shoulder. "What about...
"What about Goten or Low Ki? They were strong when they competed earlier," suggested Haruhi, pointing to Freddie. "He won't be much help, he's still sleeping."
"If they choose Wilson, which they probably will, I'm not going up against him!" Goten shook his head. "That dude is crazier than I am!"
"I think Carita should go," shrugged Low Ki. "I think you could handle Wilson."
"I guess," she sighed, spitting her gum out. "Let's go win these Olympics!"
(Team Brazil)
"What do you mean you don't feel good?" asked Dan, Bryce, Buck, Celeste, Ashley, and Cody in unison. Wilson laid on the ground, holding his stomach, moaning in pain, until he coughed up another bit of fur.
"I think that rat gave me indigestion..."
"Pepe, no!" exclaimed Dan, in horror.
"Oh man," complained Cody, "Our strongest player is down! Now who's going to compete in the tiebreaker?"
"Well," said Buck, "I reckon that I shall do it!"
"You sure? You didn't do so well in the first challenge," said Bryce, matter-of-factly. "I personally think that Dan should do it."
"No, no, I feel like I've got something to prove!" Buck stood his ground, smiling confidently. "I have to prove that I'm a man!"
Dan and Cody clapped in respect.
"Be careful," said Celeste, looking nervous.
"I'll try."
"And, Team Japan selects Carita! Team Brazil selects Buck!" announced Troy. The cowboy immediately began to regret his choice, clutching his hat tightly against his chest.
"Is it too late to send out someone else?" he asked, already knowing the answer before the host even replied.
"No way! And now, the tiebreaker has been set up while you were all not paying attention!" he said, motioning to the large pool of jelly that had been set up. Over the pool was a balance beam, and two giant cotton swabs were laid against the side of it.
"Oh yes," grinned Carita.
"Oh no," frowned Buck, gulping. "Again I ask, can I pull a switcheroo?"
Ignoring Buck, Troy continued. "Simple: use your giant cotton swab to try to knock your opponent off of the beam and into the jello! Winner takes all, while the loser's team will be sent to the elimination ceremony tonight."
"So take your positions, guys!"
They stood on the beam, holding the oversized cotton swabs and looking eachother in the eyes.
"Going to give up again?" asked Carita, gripping her weapon tightly.
"No way, sister!" Buck replied fiercely, although on the inside he wasn't quite as sure.
On the sidelines, the members of Team USA were relaxing and enjoying refreshments. Rain, Vicky, Brandi, and Lyanne were all rooting for Carita, while Brendon, Marissa, and Dani were all rooting for Buck; both sides agreed that Carita would probably win, though.
As the whistle sounded, Buck carefully took a step towards Carita, then swung, though she easily parried it and pushed him backwards. He nearly lost his balance, but managed to recover and hit her in the stomach. She retaliated by aiming for his legs, but he blocked her blows as well.
"Ready to give up, Bucky boy?" she asked, menacingly.
"Not a chance!" replied the cowboy, gaining a ton of confidence and smacking the large cotton swab right out of her hands; it splashed into the jello below. Defenseless, she stood shocked as Buck raised his weapon for the final blow to knock her in.
"You won't," she said, biting her lip. He hesitated for a moment, but when he heard his teammates cheering him on, he delivered the swing into her chest. He didn't expect her to grab the end of the weapon though, and yank it straight of of his hands.
With the tables turned, Buck was unable to react as the swab slammed into his chest, sending him spiraling over the side into the jello. His cowboy hat lay on the beam at Carita's feet, and with a great satisfaction she kicked it in and held her arms high in victory, the crowd going wild.
"Well," sighed Buck, "At least this jello is green."
He turned to see Goten sitting in the jello alongside him, holding a spoon. "Right you are, Buck my man!"
"Team Brazil," said Troy, disappointed. "I'll see you seven at elimination tonight!"
(Confession Cam)
Carita- "Yeah, who's the most badass chick on this show? That deserves some credit, just saying."
Brendon- "Wow, poor Buck. Maybe he should consider getting himself a lucky shirt! Or a lucky girlfriend." /He smiles, thinking of Katie./
Goten- "I think I need to get rid of the rest of this Tantrum before someone suspects something. My only problem is that it will probably burn through the ground if I try to pour it out...oh man, what to do?"
Wilson was lying on his bed, his stomach still upset. Brandi was sitting with him, trying to soothe him, but was annoyed when Goten walked into the room, whistling. She eyed him suspiciously for a moment.
"What do you want, foolish one?" she asked.
"I'm just stopping by to visit my good friend Wilson!" he said, happily. The cultist stood up and walked over to the door.
"Well, I'm going to go get an icepack, so don't do anything thou will regret," she warned, before closing the door behind her. Wilson looked up at Goten and halfheartedly grinned, still in pain from the indigestion.
"I've got some medicine for you, buddy!" said Goten, placing his remaining can of Tantrum Energy in Wilson's hand. "Drink that, and I'm sure you'll feel alot better!"
"If you say so," said Wilson, chugging the drink and tossing the can aside. He burped loudly. "I do feel a little better, although I suddenly have the urge to climb Mount Everest in a lightning storm."
"Yeah, I figured that would happen."
Brandi walked down the hallway into the kitchen, where Cody was chewing on a cookie. Startled, he nearly dropped his glass of milk, but managed to save himself some great humiliation just in time. "Brandi, what brings you here?"
"Don't talk to me, mortal," replied the cultist, opening the freezer and searching for an ice pack. Cody sighed, walking over to her.
"I know you don't like me," he started, slowly.
"Really? What was your first clue?" asked Brandi, sarcastically. She found an ice pack and shut the freezer door loudly, storming past Cody, who attempted to follow. "Find someone else to lie to and vote off, why don't you."
Cody was taken aback, and left standing in sadness.
(Confession Cam)
Cody- "Alright, I'll admit...that hurt a little bit. Why can't she see that I've changed?" /He sighs deeply./
Katie was leaning against the wall in the hallway, casually listening to music. Low Ki noticed this and walked over to her, smiling. She took her headphones out and turned to face him. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to praise you for your excellence in that challenge today," he shrugged, "It was really impressive."
"Thanks, but I didn't win," she shrugged.
"Still," he said, walking away. "It's always nice to hear a compliment."
She watched him walk away, thinking about his words, when Brendon appeared, startling her. He leaned in to kiss her, thankful that both of them were immune for the moment, at least.
Kayden, walking around outside, decided to enter the gym, if for no other reason than to vent out his frustrations. As he opened the doors, he immediately noticed Rain lifting weights, shouting at herself to work harder. She stopped when she noticed Kayden, snarling.
"You really coming here to work out?" she asked, "Because you sure as hell need it."
"Funny," he sighed, sitting on the bench. "I just really want to be noticed."
"By Carita?"
"Yeah," he replied, shrugging. "I guess it's just this inner thing; I've always had it easy in life, until these reality shows, and now all of a sudden it seems like no one cares to know who I am, and it just sucks."
"Don't feel down," assured Rain, stretching. "You just have to give yourself a drive to win. Remember, respect is earned. So instead of sitting here whining to me, get out there and earn yourself some respect! With that, you'll have Carita in no time."
"Thanks, that's actually helpful," he said, walking over to the gym doors.
"Yeah, but you will tell no one that I was nice to you," she warned, glaring.
"Oh, no worries!" Kayden chuckled, leaving the gym.
(Confession Cam)
Kayden- "Rain actually isn't as scary as she seems. She's still scary, but I do think that she could find a boyfriend around here! Maybe Cody would be interested, since I don't think the poor guy is ever going to get anywhere with Brandi."
"Freddie! Wake up!" exclaimed Celeste, shaking her boyfriend, who was leaning against the wall on the floor of the hotel lobby. "Oh man, he's been asleep ever since that first challenge!"
"Maybe he was tired from all of that running," suggested Dan, walking up alongside Haruhi and Lyanne.
"I don't know," sighed Celeste, "But this is just too much stress, and I want to make sure he's alright."
"Once, in this one anime, this guy was asleep for seven years, and then he died in an explosion," smiled Haruhi, thoughtfully. "Does that help?"
"No!"
"Oh, sorry," the otaku replied, rubbing her hands together nervously. "Anyone want to grab dinner before the ceremony?"
"I'm too tired to eat," chuckled Dan, putting his hands behind his head. "But I could use some Mountain Dew."
"Oh, I want some!" said Lyanne, cheerfully, looking at Celeste. "Wanna come too?"
"I should probably stay with Freddie," she said, looking at him sleeping on the floor, peacefully. "Although...he does look peaceful. I suppose I'll go for a bit, but I'll have to immediately come back for him."
She stood up slowly and walked with the others to the dining area, looking back once with a worried expression.
(Confession Cam)
Celeste- "I felt really bad about leaving Freddie there alone. I know that he would never leave me, and but I promise that when he wakes up, I'll be there for him every step of the way." /She smiles./ "Because that's what I'm supposed to do."
"I can't believe we lost," muttered Bryce, leaning against the wall. He looked at his companion, Ashley. "So, who do you think we should vote for?"
"I won't vote you if you don't vote me," she said, simply. "The rest I could care less about."
"Such a hard task," chuckled Bryce, joking. "I'm obviously voting someone who didn't win. Who does that leave?"
"The losers, duh. But do you know who I'm thinking?"
"Who?"
(Confession Cam)
Bryce- "Although I don't completely agree with this, I guess I'll vote with Ashley on this one."
Dan- "This is a difficult choice, but one that I feel must be made."
Ashley- "Easiest choice ever. Obviously, I just don't like you."
Celeste- "Again, I hate to vote anyone off, but Ashley wasn't the most spirited person on our team today. On the other hand, Wilson making jokes about Freddie wasn't really nice, and he's really bizarre. Why are the choices always so hard?"
Cody- "This isn't personal, but I'm voting for Wilson. Alright, that is kind of personal, but I have to vote someone! I'm not a totally bad guy though, don't get me wrong."
Wilson- "I'm feeling drowsy..."
Buck- "Well, I think I'm gonna go with Cody, just because of how poorly he performed. I hope he doesn't go, though. Also, I'd like to get rid of all of those fan fictions about me and Cody that I've been reading about!"
(Ceremony)
Troy grinned as he stood behind a table with twenty-one Maximum Trophies on it, all glistening in the lights of the stadium.
"First off, losers need to use their voting devices to vote off one of their own! You seven know who you are," said the host. Bryce, Ashley, and Buck made their choices pretty quickly, and the others followed fairly quickly. Goten, swaying back and forth in apparent exhaustion, randomly pressed a button, not even looking at it.
"Let us begin!"
He threw trophies to the members of Team USA first: Brendon, Vicky, Dani, Lyanne, Rain, Marissa, and Brandi. They happily caught the trophies, although Vicky held hers very tightly to her chest, causing a few stares.
"The next set of trophies go to the runner-ups of the challenge, Goten, Carita, Low Ki, Katie, Kayden, Haruhi, and Freddie!"
Freddie, still sleeping soundly, had been place in one of the seats safely next to Celeste. She caught his trophy for him before it hit him in the face, and placed it gently in his lap, glancing at the other contestants up for elimination while she felt nervous.
Bryce sat confidently, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Dan on the other hand was quite nervous, with his fists clutched up close to his chest, awaiting the results of the vote in fear and anticipation. Buck and Cody both had his fingers crossed tightly, while Ashley looked annoyed and bored. Wilson yawned, hardly even paying attention.
"You seven," started Troy, looking at the results of the vote. "One of you has spent your final day as a contestant of this show! As for the others, you are safe and will receive this shiny trophies."
"Starting off, trophies go to Dan, Bryce, Ashley, and Buck!"
The four caught their trophies happily, especially Buck, who exclaimed "Yee-Haw!"
"Ashley is safe?" asked Carita, laughing. "That's actually pretty funny."
"Shut up," replied the mean girl.
Cody, Celeste, and Wilson all looked at eachother, although the tired Wilson was trying his hardest to stay awake. Troy held two trophies in his hand, tempting them. Brandi looked nervously at her boyfriend.
"The next trophy," said Troy, "Goes to...
...Wilson!"
Unable to focus, the trophy hit Wilson in the face, and he fell backwards in the stands, now fully asleep from the side effects of Tantrum. As he snored quietly, the bottom two were both shaking as they stared at the final trophy.
"I can't leave Freddie, I made a promise," whispered Celeste, biting her lip.
"I can't leave yet, I haven't gotten Brandi to forgive me yet," said Cody, sadly, still crossing his fingers.
"Tonight," said Troy, clearing his throat, "This final trophy goes to...
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"Cody."
The geek stood up in joy as he caught his trophy, but still looked sadly at Celeste. "I'm sorry."
She sighed, and began to say something, but at that very moment, Freddie awoke, looking around in confusion.
"Gah, what's going on? Oh Jesus, it's the apocalypse! I've been asleep for seven years, haven't I?" he asked, standing and twitching severely. Dan and Goten looked at eachother, shocked, before Dan cleared his throat.
"Dude, you have really bad timing," said the nerd, depressingly. "Your girlfriend just got eliminated."
Freddie looked at everyone who had their trophies, then at Celeste, who was preparing to walk to the boat of losers. "W-what? No! She can't leave! Not now!"
"Sorry man," said Troy, "But that's how the game works, I'm afraid."
"I'll quit in her place! LET ME! PLEASE!" Freddie began to shout in a panic, before being slapped loudly; time seemed to stand still for a moment as everyone stared at the person who had slapped him; it was Celeste.
"Freddie, listen!" she pleaded, her eyes tearing up. "I don't want to leave, and I know you don't want me to leave. But I know the real you, Freddie! You are better than this! I know that you can be a man and handle this without me!"
"You don't need me anymore."
Everyone was shocked by this comment, especially Freddie.
"W-What?" he stammered, stunned.
"Freddie, I love you with all of my heart, and I believe in you. But tonight I learned something; you need to be able to handle things on your own, for the times when I'm not there for you. Since I've been with you, I've seen you grow and become more of a man than you think you are. Just believe in yourself, and express your heart, and you'll be able to handle anything," she smiled, then pulled him in for a kiss.
Most of the other contestants clapped for the couple, and Freddie pulled away, nodding slowly.
"I'll miss you," he said, sadly.
"But we will see eachother again," assured Celeste, hugging him one final time as the boat pulled up. She walked down the dock, turning to wave at some people, before she stepped onto the boat and it left the island. Freddie stood at the end of the dock, watching the boat disappear into the distance. Dan and Buck walked up to him, and Dan put a hand on his shoulder.
"You going to be alright, man?" he asked, sympathetically. Freddie sighed, the shock of everything still hitting him.
"Y-yeah, I just need some time alone," he said, sitting on the edge of the dock as his two concerned fellow contestants left him alone to stare into the moonlight.
(Confession Cam)
Cody- "I'm grateful to be safe, but who would vote Celeste off? She's so nice! And I feel really bad for Freddie."
Bryce- "I'm starting to feel a little bit guilty about voting Celeste off. Maybe Ashley's right though, she and Freddie could be a major threat as a couple and stuff. Plus, nice people never get anywhere in the world..."
Vicky- /She's updating her blog on her laptop./ "Like, oh my God! The Celeddie fan base will be crushed by this! Also, is Buck/Cody still a possibility? I'm definitely going to add a new page for that...what do you think, Goten?"
/Goten is tied up once again, staring at the camera with terrified eyes./
"That's what I thought, too!"
Dani inserted the disk she had stolen into her laptop, smiling as she though of all of the information about the contestants that could be used. A screen popped up, however, that was asking for a password. Dani angrily slammed her fist on the desk. Then, she realized something.
"Oh Vicky, you are so, so predictable," she smiled, typing "Goten" and gaining full access to the contents of the disk.
"Success."
Votes:
Ashley- Celeste
Bryce- Celeste
Buck- Cody
Celeste- Wilson
Cody- Wilson
Dan- Cody
Wilson- Celeste
Celeste- 3
Cody- 2
Wilson- 2
Voted Off List: Hiro, Celeste.
And with a saddening elimination, one of the nicest TDM5 contestants says farewell. I'll miss her too, but not as much as Freddie. How do you think he must feel right now?
Now we are down to 20 contestants; remember, anyone is in danger of being eliminated, so watch out for your favorite characters as the story continues into Day 3.
After Day 3 will be the show's first "Aftermath" chapter, which isn't a big deal, but still an important part of the storyline! So you can look forward to that, as well as many more exciting challenges ahead.
Next Chapter Preview: The ultimate battle of good and evil begins...
-Troy