I had a lot of inspiration for this chapter, so prepare for some drama!
Thanks to each and every person who has been favouriting, following and/or reviewing this story. I usually forget to put in a little note thanking you guys for your continued commentary and support.
Knifez: I'm really glad that you like the Trent/Gwen/Mike/Zoey love square, it was a random idea for a small side-plot that I ran with and now it's become a full-fledged focal plot. I hope you'll like my future plans for Noah and Dawn respectively, but I'm not giving any spoilers! And that is a very good point about the placings; I'll try to remember to fix that again if and when another double elimination takes place.
Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro: Thank you, my honey. -bows-
Guest: They are making a right mess of their love lives, aren't they? Let's hope that Bridgette wakes up to Scott's true intentions sooner rather than later, eh?
Shiny: There are a lot of people waiting for Scott with torches and pitchforks, both in- and out of- character – you're not alone. xD
I don't own Total Drama.
"Last time on Total Drama Island, our contestants found themselves in a modified version of a summer camp classic – capture the flag! Jo took no prisoners in her quest for flags, Cameron and Harold went head-to-head in a clash of the geeks, and Izzy ensured that Cody may never have children! But physical injuries weren't the only hurt that was felt by our contestants! Trent thought Mike was getting a bit too cozy with his girlfriend Gwen, and Harold felt the resounding sting of rejection when he asked Sadie out. Okay, he didn't really ask her out, but I'm sure in a few more dorky steps, Harold and Sadie would have been going out – if she hadn't said no! And to top it all off, the elimination ceremony was killer – a surprise double elimination! What else will these teen freaks do for a hundred thousand dollars? Find out right now on Total. Drama. Island!"
Cue theme song.
"How long do I have to soak before I can leave?" Noah asked impatiently, looking up at Chef with his dark brown eyes.
"Until you don't stink anymore." Chef responded, a laundry peg protecting his sensitive nose from the stench that the three teens currently carried. Chris and Chef had initially refused to let the three of them bathe in tomato juice after being sprayed by those skunks, but Chris had stopped finding their stench so amusing when he'd decided it had given the Gophers an edge in the capture the flag competition.
"Well how do I smell now?" Noah asked.
"What? Do you expect me to smell you?" Chef growled before he stalked out of the kitchen.
Noah sighed and slid deeper into the tub full of red-orange liquid, resting his head on the back of the wooden tub.
"You're anxious to leave." Scott observed from the tub next to Noah's. There was something about the ginger-haired teen that Noah just didn't trust. It was almost as though he was trying to draw information out of him or manipulate him. Noah thought that the rival team member was nearly as slimy as he suspected Alejandro was. "Got a hot date with someone?"
"Yes, actually, I do. Her name is Elizabeth Bennett, and she's a real firecracker." Noah commented. "Really witty and sharp tongued - she's just my type. My dear friend Jane Austen set me up with her."
"BLONDIE!" A female voice interrupted their chat as a very tanned teenage girl appeared in the doorway. "We're gonna have words if you don't come get your skunks pronto!"
The two boys glanced over at the third person in the room, sitting quietly in the tub to Noah's right. She had been so quiet that they'd nearly forgotten that she was there. She'd been meditating the entire time she'd been soaking.
"Oh look, your little pets are looking for you." Noah quipped as he rolled his eyes, glad that he wasn't in the cabin.
"Just hit the little buggers with the biggest stick you can find." Scott suggested, rolling his eyes and taking a deep breath as though about to plunge into the depths of the tomato juice when he stopped suddenly.
"Where are my children?" Dawn asked, suddenly fully dried and dressed, now standing by Anne Maria's side.
"How-?" Noah and Scott asked in unison before both changed their minds about the question and shook their heads.
An ear-piercing scream alerted Dawn to the presence of her precious wildlife, although it was not coming from the cabin she'd expected it to. Anne Maria had said one of her skunks had hidden in Jo's gym bag, then placed itself between her and her hairspray.
It was then that the entire Thrashing Bear team spilled out of their cabin, gasping for breath and choking on the fumes.
"HOW ON EARTH DO YOU MISTAKE A SKUNK FOR A CAT?!" Courtney screamed at Lightning between gasping for breath in the fresh air. "SKUNKS HAVE A HUGE WHITE STRIPE DOWN THEIR BACKS!"
The Screaming Gophers had already evacuated their cabin, and only moments after Dawn's arrival, a skunk appeared in one of the dual doorways of each of the three cabins. Once they saw Dawn, they sprinted to her. Once she had calmed them, she took her 'children' to the edge of the woods to convince them to return to the forest. Unfortunately, the campers were not so lucky.
"I can't sleep in there! It smells so bad!" Dakota exclaimed, changing her mind and halting in the doorway of the girls' side of the Gophers' cabin.
"Well this is just great!" Courtney cried out, outraged. "Now where are we supposed to sleep?!"
"I hope you all remember how you feel right now." Heather said coolly. "So that you all work harder next time so we don't end up here again!"
"Well then next time, maybe we should try letting people less susceptible to Justin's many, many charms guard the flags." Gwen retorted, casting a dark look at Heather.
"I didn't realize someone could fantasize and threaten at the same time." Duncan said with a smirk.
"You've seen that boy, haven't you?" LeShawna said with a dreamy sigh. "I wouldn't mind a piece of that man candy myself."
"Focus, people!" Heather snapped. "You're supposed to be feeling bad about yourself right now!"
"Oh trust me, so long as you're on our team to remind us to, we will." Gwen retorted in her monotone voice.
"Permission to mingle!" Brick suddenly asked, drawing the Bass's attention to the other two teams who had just arrived at the campfire.
"And just what do you want?" Heather asked, her hands firmly planted on her hips as she regarded the newcomers.
"We wanted to know if you guys wanted to hang out. Put aside team rivalry and have a good ol' bonding session." Trent said, offering a smile.
"Oh, really?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow at the other teens.
"Dawn's pet skunks stunk up the cabins and we need to give them time to air out." Courtney explained.
"How many times must I tell you all – they're not my pets! You should never take a wild animal from its natural habitat!" Dawn said, horrified by the use of the word 'pet' to describe her furry friends.
"Ok, fine. Dawn's skunk friends stunk up the cabins." Courtney said, rolling here eyes.
"Well I guess it sucks to be you guys then." Heather said, flipping her raven-coloured locks in her usual queen bee manner.
"They stunk up your cabin too." Zoey told the queen bee.
"You need to chill out queenie." LeShawna told Heather with a roll of her eyes before turning to the other contestants. "Of course you guys can join us."
"Thanks." The majority of the Bears and Gophers chorused as they joined their rivals around the campfire.
"Glad to see you made it through another campfire ceremony." Trent told Gwen with a smile as he and Zoey sat down next to her.
"Mind if I join you?" Mike asked. Zoey looked up at the brunette male with a smile on her face but it fell when she realized he wasn't talking to her, but Gwen.
"Yeah, sure." Gwen said with a shrug, glancing over at Zoey. Unfortunately, instead of sitting down beside Zoey like Gwen had hoped he would have, Mike sat on Gwen's other side.
Suddenly a blood-curdling shriek brought all the campers' attention to a single individual – DJ. "SNAKE!"
"DJ, it's okay. It's just one of the elastics from my braces." Beth said, bending down to pick it up.
The buff boy relaxed visibly. "Sorry for tripping - snakes just freak me out!"
"I feel you." Tyler said, putting a reassuring hand on DJ's shoulder. "Chickens give me the creeps, dude."
"You're afraid of chickens?" Gwen asked, unsure whether to sympathize or laugh.
Duncan chuckled. "Wow, that's really lame, man."
"Chickens are kind of creepy." Zoey said with a shrug, shooting a friendly smile in Tyler's direction. "But it's the horses that really freak me out."
Confessional
Gwen was sitting in the confessional, looking bored. "So suddenly everyone is having this big share-fest by the fire. Beth went on and on about how her mortal fear is being covered in bugs. Harold's afraid of ninjas. Even Heather admitted she's afraid of sumo wrestlers."
"What's my worst fear?" Gwen asked, cocking her head to the side for a moment as she thought about her answer. "I guess being buried alive."
"Fur coats or anything else made from animals." Dawn said, choking up a little at the mere thought of such a horrific idea.
A now stench-free Noah rolled his eyes. "Electric eels."
Mike paused a moment before he shrugged. "I guess my greatest fear would have to be. . . flying. That's some crazy stuff right there."
"I would never go up in a plane." Izzy said, which was quite possibly the most normal and average thing she'd said since stepping foot on the island. Her hands clasped together in front of her chest, she looked genuinely terrified by just the thought of it. "Never."
"People with hairy backs." Anne Maria said, failing to suppress a shudder of revulsion. When everyone looked at her, she grimaced. "It's so gross. I like my men nice and smooth."
"I'm scared of hail. It's small but deadly, dude." Geoff said.
"Not having my cell phone." Dakota said, clutching her pink flip phone to her chest. "I just couldn't cope with being cut off from everyone!"
"Being left alone in the woods." Bridgette confessed.
Scott shrugged. "Sharks, I guess."
"Bad haircuts." Sadie said.
"Oh, I change mine! That is so much worse than not being able to communicate with anyone." Dakota said.
"Having to diffuse a time bomb under pressure." Cody said after a moment of thought.
"Spiders, man, all those eyes and legs just creep me right out." LeShawna said.
"Every time I see a spider, I scream." Cameron said, proving his point by shrieking suddenly as he saw a small spider crawling on the ground by Justin's foot.
"KILL IT! KILL IT!" LeShawna shrieked in terror, jumping to her feet.
Once the spider had been dealt with, Justin gave a dramatic sigh. "Being ugly."
"Oh don't you worry baby, you've got nothing to worry about." LeShawna assured the male model with a smile.
"Calculus, man! All those numbers! Scariest thing in the world!" Lightning said, shaking with fear.
"I must confess, I have a terribly weak stomach." Alejandro said, hanging his head in shame.
"For me, it's the dark." Brick confessed quietly.
"Isn't that a bit juvenile?" Jo asked with a snort of derision, making Brick's face turn red.
"Well what are you afraid of?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow.
It was Jo's turn for her face to go red, and when it went red, it went beet red. "Oh fine." She rolled her eyes. "I'm afraid of girly dresses."
Lightning rolled his eyes. "You're not alone, man. Lightning thinks he speaks for all men when he say that fear of wearing a dress is in the top five."
Noah rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure you don't speak for all men when you say that."
"What does that have to do with Jo though?" Bridgette asked, raising her eyebrow at the jock.
"It has everything to do with Joe! He's afraid of wearing dresses just like every other man that Lightning knows!"
The teens fell silent for a moment, glancing between Jo and Lightning. Finally Jo just shook her head. "Just let it go. I doubt he'd understand anyway."
"I'm not really afraid of anything." Courtney said.
"Balony!" Duncan protested with a fake cough.
"Oh really?" Courtney said, turning to the punk wit one hand on her hip. "And what exactly is your phobia, Mr. Know-it-all?"
Duncan hesitated a moment as he looked around at his opponents before finally giving in. "Celine Dion music store standees." He managed to stutter out.
"Ex-squeeze me?" Cody asked with an amused chuckle, cupping his hand around his ear in the hopes that Duncan would repeat his words. "I didn't quite get that."
"Dude, did you just say Celine Dion music store standees?" Trent clarified.
"Celine Dion plays at my dad's hotels all the time." Dakota said. "We have so many cardboard cut-outs of her in the basement of the hotels."
"So if we had a cardboard standee right now. . ." Courtney began, but Duncan cut her off.
His hands on his ears to block out the sound of her voice, Duncan looked distressed. "Shut up!" He cried out, before turning his attention to Trent. "What about you?"
"Okay, well I hate mimes. Like, a lot." Trent admitted. When Courtney rolled her eyes, the musician turned to her with raised eyebrows. "Okay Courtney, you're afraid of something. Spit it out."
"Nope, nothing!" the CIT insisted.
"Come on Courtney, we told you our fears." Trent said sternly.
The brunette sighed. "Okay, fine." She finally gave in. "I think the closest thing I have to a fear is. . . failure."
Zoey sat up, her hand flying to her mouth to cover a yawn as she blinked, taking in her surroundings. To her left, Courtney was snuggled up to Duncan, both still fast asleep and Zoey had been totally right - they were totally cute together.
"Awww." Zoey said as she looked at the couple. Courtney sighed contentedly and opened one eye sleepily, having been awoken by Zoey's 'aww'-ing at them. At first, Courtney's brain failed to register her surroundings. That is, they did until she was spoke to.
"Morning sunshine." Duncan greeted the brunette with a smirk, just having woken up himself.
Zoey couldn't help "Awww"-ing at the couple once more.
Courtney gasped in shock and pulled away from him. "Oh my gosh! Ew!" She jumped to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at the punk. "You were cuddling me!" Courtney turned to Zoey. "You saw that! He was cuddling me!"
"I was calmly lying on my back, trying to catch a few z's. You were snuggling up to me." Duncan responded casually, still smirking.
"You are such an ogre!" Courtney said, but Duncan wasn't phased in the slightest.
"Eh, I've been called worse." Duncan replied with a shrug.
"Ugh!" Was the only sound Courtney could respond with before she stormed off.
Confessional
"Okay, I just want to say for the record that I was asleep and therefore unconscious at the time of the alleged cuddling with said neanderthal." Courtney insisted. "So essentially, it's like it never happened."
"You two are so cute together." Zoey told Duncan with a small smile as Courtney stormed off.
"If only she'd just admit that she wants me." Duncan replied with a snort before rolling over, presumably to go back to sleep.
Zoey's smile was wiped off of her face less than five seconds after that, because she then glanced to her left and found Trent with his back to her, snuggling Gwen from one side while Mike snuggled with the teal-and-raven haired goth from the other.
Gwen was laying on her stomach and Zoey sincerely hoped that the goth was asleep and as such unaware of the fact that both Trent and Mike had an arm around her waist. Didn't Mike know that Gwen and Trent were totally into each other? They were pretty much dating - how could he possibly have missed that?
Or maybe he didn't care. Maybe he just wanted what he wanted and what he wanted was Gwen.
Her lip trembled as she got to her feet and fled the campsite, tripping on Bridgette's ankle as a teary-eyed Zoey navigated her way through the sleeping teens. Bridgette sat bolt upright in alarm as Zoey fell across Harold, Noah and Anne Maria, the latter who woke up wielding her can of hairspray like it was mace.
"Gosh!" Harold cried out while Noah groaned at having been woken up in such a manner, then promptly went into a hairspray-induced coughing fit. But Zoey didn't stop. She picked herself up off her teammate's legs and continued to run.
Confessional
"How could I have been so stupid?" Zoey asked, pressing her palms against her eyelids as though to try and stop herself from crying. "Mike's single but he doesn't like me at all - he's totally into Gwen! She already has Trent and Cody, it's not fair that she gets Mike too!"
"What was her problem?" Harold asked, rolling his eyes, while Noah shrugged, waving his hand in front of his face to try and clear the hairspray-fouled air away from his face.
"I hope she's okay." Bridgette said as though she was thinking of going after the redhead, when she glanced back at her friend Scott beside her. Hey green eyes went wide and she frowned.
Suddenly Scott opened his eyes. "Good morning."
When Bridgette's response was an unusually hostile glare, he seemed to wake up a little more and glance around him. "Hold on. . . if you're not the one snuggling me. . . then who is?"
Confessional
Scott looked rather pleased with himself. "What? Putting the cat amongst the pigeons is my specialty." He put his hands behind his head. "Why else would I get that obnoxious tub of lard to cuddle me?"
Bridgette's glare softened slightly. "Sadie. Didn't you know?"
Scott face took on a look of horror. He spoke in a whisper to the surfer chick. "Oh man, you have got to help me get away from her before she wakes up."
"Why?" Bridgette whispered back, curious.
"Just help me get away from her and I'll tell you!"
"Okay, fine." Bridgette said, gently taking Sadie's arm and holding it up for Scott to crawl out from under. The ginger-haired boy looked immensely relieved by his new-found freedom.
"Let's get out of here before she wakes up!" Scott said urgently, grabbing Bridgette's hand and towing her out of the maze of sleeping teens.
Confessional
"With Lindsay out of the competition, I need someone else for my alliance." Heather said, tapping her finger against her lips as she pondered which of her teammates she could convince to be a part of her alliance. "I might know just the right idiot."
"I have a proposition for you."
"Don't worry, Heather, I voted for Ezekiel, just like you told me to." Harold assured the queen bee.
"That's why I'm here. Well, kind of, anyway." Heather said. "As you know, Lindsay also got voted out last night. She was in an alliance with Beth and I. You see, I have a plan to take me and two friends to the final three and Lindsay was our third person. The only thing is, my plan won't work with only two people - there has to be three."
"So you want me to be in an alliance with you?" Harold asked.
"Yes. Now understand that I do not make this offer lightly. If you're in the alliance, you're in the alliance - you can't pick and choose when you're in and when you're not."
"And if I don't want to be in your alliance?"
"I'll tell everyone about your little girlfriend, Sadie. And then you won't stand a chance of making it to the final three."
Harold sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine, I'll be in your alliance."
"Very good." Heather said with an approving nod. "I'll send Beth for you when you're needed."
And with that said, the queen bee whirled around and sauntered away.
Confessional
"I really wish I could have said no to Heather. I don't want to be in her stupid alliance." Harold said. "But I don't want to get voted out. I really hate Heather's whole attitude. It's like - GOSH! - she acts like she owns everyone."
Chris glanced around with a wide grin on his face as he surveyed the teens. Bridgette was glaring daggers at a bewildered Sadie, while Scott hid a grin. Trent kept shooting dirty looks in Mike's direction, and Zoey refused to speak to anyone. Tyler was picking at his food like he wasn't hungry while Heather stared thoughtfully at the Screaming Gopher's team while pretending to be listening to whatever it was that Beth was trying to tell her.
"What delightful tension!" Chris commented, before whistling loudly to get the teens' attention. "Campers! Your next challenge is a little game I like to call phobia factor! Prepare to face your worst fears!"
"Worse than this?" LeShawna asked with a grimace, holding up a forkful of the nasty breakfast that Chef had cooked them all.
"We're in trouble." Gwen said.
"First up we have Heather! Meet us in the theatre in five! You've got a date with the sumo!" Heather hardly looked bothered by Chris' announcement until the last word, which caused her to spit her mouthful of orange juice all over Duncan. That didn't stop Chris though as he continued on, enjoying every moment of the teens' suffering. "Noah – you, me, and a pool full of your favourite aquatic creatures!"
"Life, why do you hate me so?" Noah asked only half a second before his head hit the table with a thud.
"How did they know those were your worst fears?" Lightning asked, bewildered.
"Because we told them." Gwen lamented only moments before her forehead hit the table.
"Sha-Losers!" Lightning said, looking pleased with himself. "Lightning didn't tell them anything."
"Aren't you mortally afraid of calculus?" Harold asked, pushing his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose.
"Sshh!" Lightning responded, clamping a hand over the nerd's mouth. "Don't tell them!"
"Uh, Lightning?" Courtney asked, tapping the jock on the shoulder. "They're filming us twenty four hours a day, seven days a week; I'm pretty sure they heard when you told us last night at the campfire what your fear is."
Lightning released Harold with a look of disappointment. "Sha-damn."
"Chef Hatchet, didn't you have a special order for our friend Tyler?" Chris asked, giving a wicked grin to his right hand man who was frying something.
Suddenly, Chef held out a tray with the crispy breaded skin of a Kentucky fried chicken that had been fried whole. Dawn gasped in horror because the chicken looked as though it had been breaded and fried alive.
"Don't worry, I doubt they fried it alive. They'd have animal rights groups all over them if they did." Noah commented absently to the moonchild whose face had turned a sickly shade of green. "It's probably just a rubber chicken."
It might have been alive and well once, but the beast within the breaded shell wasn't moving now though. Or at least, not until Tyler bit off the breaded crust covering the animal's head, and a live chicken's head popped out of the crust.
"Or maybe they just don't care what the activists are going to lose it over that." Noah said with a grimace.
Tyler screamed in terror and dropped the bread crumb-coated animal before he fled.
First up was Beth for the Bass. Chris lead the group of teens to a large blow up pool, but not just any blow up pool. It was filled with worms and arachnids and insects. This challenge immediately upset Dawn as well, and she flew to the side of the pool. "Don't do it Beth! You'll hurt them!"
"Back off weird girl." Heather commanded, grabbing Dawn by the shoulder and pulling her away from the pool. She turned expectantly to Beth. "Well, go on then."
"Chica, do not fret." Alejandro's smooth tones reached Dawn's ears as he took her hand and helped her to her feet.
Heather stood nearby, tapping her foot impatiently. "We're waiting."
Beth glanced at Dawn for a moment, but ultimately her loyalty to Heather and her team won out and with a shrug, the geeky farm girl slid in amongst the creepy crawlies. The other teens stared in horror as the brunette submerged among the writhing mass of small creatures.
Moments later she re-surfaced once more and Chris gave the Bass the first point of the game. "Beth sets the bar way up there!"
"Next up: our bad hair-cut gals!" Chris announced, taking two of the ugliest wigs he could have found and giving one to Sadie and the other to Dakota. "And remember, you can't take them off until sundown!"
Dakota and Sadie exchanged horrified glances, while Chris ushered them back out of the mess hall so that everyone would see their new 'dos. Then with a wicked smirk, the host made a sweeping motion towards the door of the mess hall.
"Introducing the ugliest member of our cast – Justin!"
"I don't think I can do this, Chris!" Justin called from within.
"Come on man, it can't be that bad-" Trent called to his teammate before the entire cast gasped in shock and horror.
"Man can they work wonders with movie make-up." LeShawna commented after a long awkward silence.
"And our resident animal lover – Dawn!" Chris announced, and the moonchild appeared in the doorway of the mess hall dressed head-to-toe in furs. And much to Chris's delight, Dawn looked like she was having a positively awful time of it.
"Aren't you afraid that she'll overheat dressed like that in the middle of summer?" Noah asked.
"I'm willing to risk it." Chris said with a shrug before turning back to the door of the mess hall for the final time. "And now our grand finale – presenting the dainty, graceful, lovely, feminine, sweet, girly-"
"WE GET IT!" A very irritated Jo called from within the mess hall.
Chris chuckled sadistically. "-the beautiful Jo!"
"Sha-zam! Who is that?" Lightning asked, staring with wide eyes at Jo who was all dolled up. "Sha-wow."
"That's it – I'm done!" Jo announced, storming back into the mess hall to take off the skintight strapless red dress and put her tracksuit back on.
"Disappointing!" Chris said gleefully. "Are you sure?"
"Positive!" Jo shouted from the building.
"Eh, your funeral." Chris shrugged.
"Nice one, Lightning!" Courtney praised her teammate for his 'act'.
"Next on the list – Izzy and Mike!" Chris announced as he lead the campers to a plane that was obviously not up to code. "Chef will be taking you on an all-expenses paid deluxe flight around the island!"
The ginger-haired girl and brunette male boarded the plane without hassle, but both started screaming their heads off the moment the wheels left the ground, although that may have been caused by the fact that tape was peeling off of the wings, revealing huge cracks.
Chris laughed as Chef's passengers started shrieking in terror, but instead turned his attention to the rest of the cast. "Let's see, who's next? Ah yes, Scott! Right this way!"
The show's host lead the shrinking group of teens to a swimming pool. Upon closer inspection, the teens could see several sharks swimming in the water.
"You cannot be serious." Scott said drily.
"All you have to do is chill with the sharks for twenty whole minutes. Here, we've even got a snorkel for you." Chris handed the ginger-haired boy a snorkel before finding a second one and handing it to Noah. "That pool is the electric eel pool. Same deal: twenty minutes in the water and you're good to go."
"Oh yippee." Noah deadpanned as he approached the pool full of eels.
"You can do this." Bridgette said gently as she put a reassuring hand on Scott's shoulder. "But it's alright if you can't."
Confessional
"What is Chris thinking?! Swimming with sharks without a shark cage? Scott could be killed!" Bridgette said, her eyes wide with alarm. "I've seen sharks eat surfers whole before – this is crazy!"
"We'll be back in twenty minutes to make sure you're both still alive." Chris told the two boys.
"We're just going to LEAVE him here? With sharks?!" Bridgette cried out in alarm.
"Your concern for me is heartwarming." Noah said to Bridgette sarcastically. "I'm only about to be electrocuted like five hundred times."
"Yes – isn't it great?! And thank you for volunteering to go next, Bridgette!" Chris said before leading the teens towards the forest.
"Oh crap." Bridgette muttered under her breath as they lead her to a log in the middle of the woods.
"Six hours alone in the woods – I hope you're ready!" Chris announced.
"So do I." Bridgette said in a horrified whisper as everyone abandoned her.
"Good luck. You can do this!" Courtney encouraged her teammate before running off to join the rest of the teens.
"Next on the list is Harold." Chris looked around and when he did not see the ruddy haired geek, he crossed his arms. "Does anyone know where he went?"
"Dude said he was going to the bathroom." Tyler told the host.
"Perfect!" Chris said gleefully before speaking into a walkie talkie. "He's in the communal bathrooms." With that said, he rubbed his hands together and selected his next victim. "Alright, so next up is Cody!"
"Oh crap." the techie said with a sigh as Chris lead them to the edge of the forest where several stinky garbage cans were rigged with wires and an alarm clock.
"Alright Cody, this stinkbomb is going to go off in exactly fifteen minutes. Everything you need to know to diffuse it is on these schematic blueprints." Chris handed the geek the blue papers.
"What? Are you crazy? I can't do this." Cody said, his hands in his hair.
"Then I suggest you find a safe place to hide, bra." Chris said, chuckling as he turned to leave the geek.
"Wait, you're not gonna stay to watch?" Cody asked.
"No way! That's a live bomb, dude!" And with that said, Chris lead the group of teens on to the next teen's challenge. This one was set back at the mess hall. A broad smile on his face, Chris handed a pack of paper each to Courtney and Lightning. "It's test time!"
"Aww man, Lightning thought this challenge was test enough!"
"You get to write a calculus test!" Chris told the athlete cheerfully.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lightning cried out.
"Oh suck it up." Courtney said, rolling her eyes at the athlete before turning to the host with a smile. "Is that the same test I'm writing?"
"Nope! You get to do advanced theoretical physics, neuroscience and biochemistry!"
Courtney frowned. "That'll be a challenge, but I'm sure I can manage it."
"Oh, and I forgot to mention one teensy detail – I hope you speak German, Swahili and Mandarin because each section is written in a different language!" Chris said. "Your school said they'd even count it as extra credit for next semester!"
It was Duncan who caught Courtney as she fainted.
"Come on Princess." the punk said, gently patting the brunette's cheek until she came to. When her onyx eyes fluttered open again, Duncan flashed her his charming smile. "Come on Princess, you've got a test to write."
"Isn't fear a wonderful thing?" Chris asked, pleased with himself as he continued on to the next location: the beach. He locked Gwen into a clear box so that she could watch herself being buried alive – that had been his idea.
"Don't worry, you've got enough air in here for an entire hour – you only need to do ten minutes." Trent reassured his girlfriend. "As soon as you're done, I'll dig you straight up."
"Hey, Casanova, maybe you could try helping our team win instead of our opponents?" Jo suggested, shooting a warning look at the lovestruck musician.
"I'll do it." Geoff volunteered, accepting the walkie-talkie that Trent offered him. He sat cross-legged by Gwen's timer and held the walkie talkie up to his mouth as the others made their way to the next challenge. "Hey Betty."
"Geoff? Where's Trent?" Gwen's voice sounded distressed coming through the walkie talkie.
"His team needed him for something so you get to chill with me."
"Great." Gwen said, annoyance now replacing the fear in her monotone voice.
"One whole h-hour?" Brick repeated, fear making his voice crack.
"Yep! And the best thing is that it'll be pitch black the entire time!" Chris said gleefully as Brick walked into the room. Chris slammed the door behind him before leading the teens on to the next phobia challenge. But not before Brick ran screaming from the room, the front of his pants damp from where he'd wet himself.
"He is enjoying this way too much." Trent commented to Zoey, and frowned when her response was an almost-hostile grunt. "Oh, hey, Zo, what's the matter?"
"What? Haven't you noticed?" Zoey snapped, turning away from her friend so he wouldn't see her lip tremble. Then she turned back to him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spoken to you like that – it was rude."
"What's up? You can tell me."
"Mike. And Gwen. That's what."
"Oh, that."
"It's not fair." Zoey said, and Trent nodded in agreement but was otherwise silent. Trailing at the back of the pack, the redhead suddenly turned to her friend. "Trent?"
"Yes?"
"I'm pretty, right?"
"What?"
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
"Uh – yes, of course! You're really pretty, Zoey!"
"Am I as pretty as Gwen?"
"Uh. . . definitely."
"Then why is it that guys are lining up to be with Gwen and nobody is even looking at me?" Before he could answer, she crossed her arms and turned her back to him. "I'm not desperate – I've just never had a boyfriend before and I thought that maybe here . . ."
Trent was silent as Zoey trailed off, unsure what to say. "You still like Mike, right?"
Zoey nodded mutely.
"Well maybe you should just try talking to him." Trent suggested. "Try telling him how you feel."
"I can't do that! He's totally into Gwen! Just because I want a boyfriend doesn't mean I want to be someone's second best."
"I guess you're right. You deserve someone who's totally crazy about you – you definitely don't deserve to be someone's second best." Trent sighed. "Mike is still an issue though. I just wish he'd stop trying to steal my girlfriend."
"Oh, there you are!" An intern said, sighing in relief. "You guys better hurry up – it's Zoey's turn to face her fear!"
The redhead paled immediately, and Trent took hold of her arm, in case she fainted. "Come on Zo, it's your turn. You can do this."
"You don't understand – when I was a kid, I went to this carnival and they were doing pony rides. Something scared the one I was on and it went ballistic. I fell off and it nearly trampled me. I haven't been able to go anywhere near a horse ever since."
"Hey, the carnival scared me too. My mom took me to one when I was little to see the elephants – I was stoked. I was so busy watching them that I lost her for a minute. I called out but when I turned, all I could see was this horrible white face with black lips pretending to be me. I screamed and tried to run, but every time I turned around, he was there doing this creepy run and scream routine."
"Mimes are pretty creepy." Zoey replied.
"IT IS THE SMALLEST SNAKE EVER DJ, JUST PET IT ALREADY!" Heather commanded, earning scornful looks from her teammates. She shrugged carelessly.
"Well that was disappointing." Chris said as DJ swallowed his fear and held the snake. "There weren't even any tears."
"It's not slimy like I thought it was gonna be." DJ said as he put the snake back in its terrarium.
"Next up we'll be having a one-on-one battle between Heather and our friend the sumo!" Chris announced.
"Damnit!" Heather said with an annoyed sigh.
"That's karma for you." Duncan said with a sweet smile.
"Oh shove it." Heather said, flipping her hair and walking down the bleachers and up onto the stage. By the time she saw the sumo, her entire body was trembling. When the sumo wrestler charged her, she squatted down to protect herself and accidentally tripped the sumo, causing him to fall off the stage and therefore winning the match.
"And that's another point for the Killer Bass. So it's four points Bass so far. Lets see if any of our Gophers or Bears can get some points, otherwise they'll both have to send someone home tonight!" Chris said as he glanced over at the plane that was now descending from the skies. "Looks like Mike and Izzy are back – that's two points for the Bears!"
"Woo! Way to go team!" Cameron and Sadie cheered as the duo escaped the plane and frantically began kissing the ground.
"Ah, Chef, glad you're back!" Chris greeted his co-host with a smile. "Speaking of backs, it's time for Anne Maria to shave yours!"
"Alright." Chef shrugged before taking off his shirt.
"You'll need this." Chris said, handing a razor to Anne Maria. "Don't miss a spot."
"You can do this chica." Alejandro encouraged her, glancing around at his teammates. They were behind in the challenge. Jo had backed out within the first five minutes, Zoey was still curled up in the fetal position, refusing to get any closer to the horse that Chris wanted her to ride, and Trent had ceased trying to encourage his red-headed friend the minute he'd seen the mime.
Anne Maria gagged but stepped up to the plate with as brave a face as she could muster. Unfortunately, her almost-composure dissolved completely the minute she started shaving Chef's back, and she had to turn away. She tried shaving him with her eyes closed, but that didn't help either.
"I don't get paid enough for this." Chef growled as Anne Maria threw up all over his back.
"Wow, Gophers, you guys really suck." Chris announced cheerfully.
There was a huge BANG! suddenly, causing the campers to look around in alarm. A few of them even asked: "What was that?!"
"If I had to guess, I'd say that Cody just failed to complete his challenge." Chris said gleefully.
"HELP!" Trent screamed as he ran by, pursued by the mime.
"Just talk to him dude! Ask him to go away!" Chris told the musician through a megaphone before he looked at Chef again. "Chef, didn't you have a special treat for Alejandro?"
"Señor, ten misericordia de mí!" Alejandro cried out before stopping forward towards the plate of sludge that Chef was offering him. Taking the bowl, Alejandro nearly threw up just from the sight. There was long stringy red tissues that looked like the intestines of a small animal like a frog or a mouse. There were grey and brown hairs throughout the mixture, and several bits of shiny pink-brown skin that looked like earthworms. And to top it all off, it looked as though an entire bowl of clear, round, slimy things with black dots in their centres had been dumped on top like chocolate sauce on a Sunday.
Alejandro grabbed the spoon from the bowl and took his first bite.
"Do you like the crunch?" Chris asked Alejandro with a grin. "We had some leftover shells from the Escargot that we had last night and figured you'd appreciate us saving them for you."
Miraculously, Alejandro managed to keep it down. Well, at least until Dawn gasped in horror. "Chris, please tell me that those aren't real frogs' eggs! You're an evil, evil man!"
And then there was no stopping Alejandro.
Confessional
"Idiotas incompetentes, todos ellos!" Alejandro spat before throwing up again.
"Let's see how our friends are doing." Chris said gleefully, leading the teens back to the pools where they had abandoned Noah and Scott.
Scott pulled himself out of the pool, grinning. "Welcome back. How has the challenge been going?"
"Bzzzt!" Noah buzzed, having been shocked again as he waded towards the ladder out of the pool. "Bzzzt! Bzzzt!"
"Congratulations Noah, on earning your team's first point!" Chris said. "And that's another point for the Bears! That makes it three points each for the Bass and the Bears, and one point for the Gophers."
"So has nobody else gone yet?" Noah asked, looking at his team and frowning when several members of the team looked absolutely ashamed of themselves. "You're kidding me. How many people have gone aside from me?"
"Five, if you don't include people like Dakota and I, who are still working on their challenges." Dawn told him.
"So you're telling me that I didn't need to get shocked like a hundred different times by electric eels?" Noah asked his team, snatching a dry towel from the side of the pool. "You might have told me that we weren't participating in this challenge. Now, if you losers will excuse me, I'm going to go back to the cabins and read. Hopefully I'll even be able to forget that horrific experience."
"Well if we're going to lose anyway, then I'm not wearing this monstrosity for the rest of the day." Dawn decided, taking off the fur had Chris had given her. "I'm going to put my wonderful animal-friendly clothes back on."
And with that, she stormed off after Noah.
Suddenly, a hysterically shrieking Bridgette appeared from the forest and sprinted across the campsite to Scott's side. Bridgette threw her arms around Scott's neck and buried her face in his shoulder. "Th-the . . . woods . . . are so . . . scary." She told him between gasps for air.
"Its okay, you're safe now." Scott soothed the blonde, although his voice was aloof and careless.
"No point for the Bears from Bridgette, then." Chris commented.
"I DID IT!" Trent cheered, jogging to meet up with Chris' group again. He was dripping wet from head to toe as though he'd jumped in the lake. "I told that freaky mime to buzz off!"
"Congratulations! Your team gets another point! Good thing too, because you guys are way behind!"
"If we're losing, then I may as well wash off this horrific movie make-up and stop looking like an ogre." Justin said.
"Not so fast!" Chris said as Justin and Dakota turned to leave. "If you guys can get the last three members of your team to finish their challenge, I'll give you double points."
"That's not fair!" Heather cried out, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We accept your deal." Alejandro said, flashing Chris his most charming smile.
Confessional
"Let's see how you like this, Alejandro." Heather said with a smirk.
"Even though your makeup is terrible, I remember the gorgeous hunk underneath it all." Heather purred, running her fingers up Justin's arm.
"You know, you're completely right." Justin said with a smile.
"And just think – at sunset, all that makeup comes off and you'll be back to your perfect self again."
"I definitely will."
"Trying to thrown the Gophers off their game I see, Heather." Alejandro said, frowning as he observed how close Heather was to the male model.
"Oh, I would never do such a thing to Justin. He's too perfect to distract." Heather sounded positively dreamy.
"She's right you know."
"We have a challenge to complete!" Alejandro snapped, grabbing Justin by the wrist and towing him away.
"Hey, be careful with those wrists! I have a modelling contract for them!" Justin insisted. "I can't have red marks!"
"Cameron, LeShawna, it's your turn!" Chris announced with a smile as Chef walked up behind the duo dressed in a massive spider suit. He tapped LeShawna on the shoulder, who seemed to consider facing her fear at first. She took a few steps back before realizing she couldn't do it, instead turning with a shriek and fleeing him. Cameron took one look at the man in the spider suit and screamed like a girl for a moment before kicking Chef in the knee, downing the massive man.
"That was unexpected." Chris said with a chuckle. "One more point for the Bears."
"Yay!" Cameron cheered for a moment before seeing the murderous look in Chef's eye. At the sight of it, he fled, screaming.
Confessional
"On the plus side, my arachnophobia has been cured!" Cameron said gleefully, before his cheer faded and he looked around nervously. "Except now I'm terrified of Chef."
"Whoa, that's pretty wicked, dude!" Trent said, observing Geoff sprinting around the beach, pursued by a small black cloud that was pelting him with hail. He glanced over Chris' shoulder at the console in his hands. "Can you make the cloud go lower and pelt him harder?"
"You are one sick dude." Chris said. "But yeah."
"That's awesome." Trent said as Geoff screamed in terror, before tapping his chin with a single finger. "Do you ever feel like you've forgotten something?
"Sometimes. I usually ignore it and the feeling goes away." Chris said before he chuckled. "Watch this! I'm going to bury him in hail!"
"Bury? Right!" Trent exclaimed, turning to the party guy. "Hey Geoff! Do you know where Gwen went?"
"Aw crap!" Geoff cried out before continuing to scream in terror. "I forgot to dig her up, dude!"
"YOU WHAT?!" Trent screamed, outraged. But instead of confronting Geoff about it, the musician sprinted to the part of the beach where his girlfriend was buried and grabbed the walkie talkie. "Gwen! I'm here! I'm digging you up right now!"
"Wow, I think this is the first time I've seen a grown man cry and it isn't my fault." Jo commented, almost amused by the fact that Lightning was curled up in the fetal position near his calculus lesson.
Courtney was still slaving away at her test, although it was apparent that she'd been crying at some point as well.
"Time's up!" Chris said gleefully, yanking the page away from Courtney mid-sentence, causing her pencil to make a long line across the page, crossing out the remaining questions. He took a glance at the page, then chuckled. "Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! You were supposed to answer the German questions in Japanese, the Swahili questions in Arabic and the Mandarin questions in Latin! Since you clearly didn't read the instructions, this gets you an automatic fail!"
Courtney began sobbing hysterically.
"Since Lightning did not complete his test, only Courtney earns a point for her team. That leaves the Bass and the Bears all tied up with five points each, and the Gophers trailing behind with a lousy two points." Then the host walked out of the mess hall with a grin on his face. "Next challenger!"
As the teens watched Tyler tremble as he sat, curled in the fetal position in the middle of a pen filled with chickens, Scott approached his teammate Sadie, who stood a little ways away from the others. "Wow, that hair looks really awful on you."
Sadie frowned. "That was a totally mean thing to say."
"Although I suppose it's no worse than your usual hair."
Sadie gasped in shock. "You're so totally mean! Why would you say something like that?"
"Eh." Scott shrugged, before turning the conversation on a new topic. "You really should have said yes to Harold when he asked you out."
"He didn't ask me out! He just wanted to be friends!" Sadie exclaimed.
Scott didn't appear to be listening. "I mean, it's not like you could do any better. You'd be pretty lucky to even get a loser like Harold."
"Harold is totally not a loser!" Sadie shouted.
"How cute." Scott said in a tone of disgust.
"He let me out of the freezer when I got locked in!" Sadie told him angrily before gasping. "It was YOU!" She pointed an accusing finger at Scott. "YOU locked me in the freezer! That's why the whole kitchen stunk of skunk!"
Scott gave a slow, sarcastic clap. "Oh, how very clever of you. It's a wonder you have any friends at all – if I were as stupid as you, I would be too stupid to make friends."
"Well I totally have way more friends than you'll ever have! Nobody wants to be friends with a total meanie!"
"You know, your friends probably don't even need you. Katie and Eva and B – they're probably having a party right now without you. They're probably celebrating being free from you for such a long time."
"Katie and Eva and B would so not do that to me. I've known Katie like my entire life, and Eva is so not a backstabbing jerk like you. And B is totally sweet and would never do that either."
"I'll bet Katie and Eva are total BFFs already – when you get home, they'll both have forgotten who you are. Good riddance to bad garbage, they'll say."
"Katie and Eva and B would so not do that to me!"
"Well, we'll know who's right soon enough. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but you're the next one to go. You'll be joining your little friends soon enough."
"You're the reason they're gone, aren't you?!" Sadie growled, narrowing her eyes at the boy.
Scott smiled. "Well, as much as I'd like to take credit for Katie's departure, I can't. But as for Eva and B. . ."
Sadie took a deep breath. "You know, Katie taught me a lot of things: love thy neighbour, love thy brother, love thy classmate and even to be nice to that mean girl in homeroom! But Eva taught me a lot of things too – THIS!"
And with that, Sadie's fist connected with Scott's face, knocking him to the ground with a surprised grunt. The raven-haired girl then dove on top of the redheaded redneck, straddling him and punching him repeatedly.
"Oh my gosh!" Bridgette cried out, and in a few short moments, several hands were pulling Sadie off of Scott.
Confessional
"All part of my plan." Scott admitted to the confessional, holding an icepack to his face. "Poor Sadie – what will you do now that the entire team hates you?" He sighed, lowering the icepack for a moment to reveal a black eye. "Damn, Eva taught that girl how to hit and hit hard."
Static.
"Okay, so Chef Hatchet is pretty scary, but he's not the only person who I'm afraid of as of today." Cameron said. "Sadie attacking Scott like that was pretty terrifying."
Static.
"Sadie is going down!" Bridgette declared. "Nobody gets away with hitting my friends like that!"
"Ow! What was that for?!" Scott asked innocently, putting a hand to his jaw.
Bridgette grabbed Scott, helping him stand up by putting his arm around her shoulders. And the mellow surfer girl shot Sadie one of the most hostile glares that she had ever given anyone. "Are you crazy?! Why would you hit him like that?"
"He was saying totally mean things to me!"
"Like what? Like he doesn't want to be your boyfriend?!" Bridgette asked rhetorically. "He's not into you so you hit him?"
"Hold on - WHAT?!" Sadie sputtered, her eyes wide with shock. "Why would I ever want to date a jerk like Scott?!"
"I'll thank you to not talk about my boyfriend like that!"
Confessional
"It just goes to show how pathetic and naive Bridgette is." Scott said. "She actually thinks I feel something for her."
"You're going out with him?" Sadie asked with a snort of derision. "I feel sorry for you."
"You're just jealous!" Bridgette said, before turning to Scott. "Come on, let's go get you fixed up."
Confessional
Sadie sat in the confessional, looking like she had a lot of mixed feelings. "So I totally just screwed up my chances of winning this game, but I totally don't regret anything. Scott totally had that coming to him!"
The sun was just going down when the last of the challengers had to face their fears. It was finally Duncan's turn, and the host lead the group of teens back to their cabins. Standing with her blank side to the beach was a cardboard cutout of Celine Dion, making Duncan shudder.
"You can do this." Courtney said as she took the punk's hand reassuringly. "She's pretty. She's nice."
Duncan looked down at Courtney's hand in his and smiled. "Alright, I'll try."
"Um, hello, Courtney? Are you forgetting who's not on our team?" Bridgette asked in irritation as Scott, who had one arm wrapped around her waist, finished whispering something in her ear.
Courtney dropped the punk's hand like a hot rock. To cover for herself, she put her hands behind her back and gave Duncan a smile. "But it's okay if you can't do it."
"Don't listen to her! She's just trying to thrown you off!" Heather snapped.
Duncan rolled his eyes and sprinted towards the cardboard standee, wrapping his arms around it and finally conquering his fear, evoking cheers from his teammates – and from Courtney. That is, Courtney cheered until she realized who she was cheering for, and fell silent in an instant.
"One more point for the Killer Bass!" Chris announced before turning to the three contestants whose challenges had begun but not finished. "Congratulations on making it through today without taking off your wigs or your makeup! Especially in that fight today, Sadie! Great work keeping your wig on!"
"Oh can it!" Sadie snapped in irritation, sending a dark look at the host as the glares of several of her teammates bore into her back.
"Geez, touchy." Chris said, frowning momentarily. And then his wide smile returned. "Dakota and Justin earn a point each for the Gophers and Sadie earns a point for the Bears putting the score totals at-"
"Wait, wait, wait." Jo said. "You said you'd give us double points for whoever else finished the challenge!"
"No I didn't." Chris said in an almost sing-song tone. "That was only if three more Gophers faced their fears, but since Zoey didn't face hers, no double points! And with a meagre four points, that puts you guys on the chopping block tonight! And since this isn't a reward challenge, it doesn't really matter that the Bears and the Bass tied for first place! Gophers, I'll see you tonight at the campfire ceremony!"
"Welcome back to another campfire ceremony." Chris greeted the teens cheerfully as they found their seats. "First marshmallow goes to Dakota." Chris tossed the blonde a marshmallow. "Jo. And here's one for Cody too."
Confessional
"I'll admit I was a little nervous tonight." Jo told the camera. "I was weak and I failed my challenge. But it's not going to happen again."
"Dawn. Trent. Anne Maria."
"Good luck." Trent whispered to Zoey as he passed the redhead on his way to get his marshmallow. She smiled up at her friend.
"Noah and Alejandro." the host gave both males their marshmallows before turning to the remaining two contestants. "Justin, Zoey – you're our bottom two tonight."
Zoey sighed and stood up. "I guess I'll get my stuff then."
"Sit down." Chris said, rolling his eyes.
"What's the point? Justin faced his fear but I couldn't face mine. Obviously I'm the one going home tonight." Zoey said, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Just sit down."
Zoey sat.
"Justin, dude, I think this one is totally wrong, but the final marshmallow of the night goes to Zoey."
A stunned silence followed as the host's words sunk in. After a few moments, Zoey rose mutely and walked to collect her marshmallow.
"I can't be eliminated." Justin said in disbelief. "I was going to donate all my winnings to charity!"
"So noble!" Dawn swooned, causing her teammates to regard her with strange expressions.
"Sorry dude, but you are." Chris said with a shrug as Chef came to escort the male model to his ride away from the island.
The Votes
"Heather may think she has one-upped me, but I assure you that I am fully aware of her intentions. She has no interest in Justin whatsoever." Alejandro said. "I still vote for him though."
Static.
"I hate to say it but I'm voting for McGorgeousness tonight. And by that, I mean Justin. Sorry hotstuff, but Al said you gotta go." Anne Maria said.
Static.
"I vote for Alejandro. There is a darkness in his aura which deeply unsettles me." Dawn said.
Static.
"Alejandro told me that I could save Zoey from elimination if I vote for Justin instead." Trent voted.
Static.
"I vote for Jo. Her fear was the easiest to face and she failed." Justin said. "Mine was the hardest to face and I managed it."
Static.
"Zoey is the weakest link right now, but I overheard Alejandro telling Trent to vote for Justin, and it would be foolish to not seize the chance to take down one of Alejandro's top allies." Jo said. "So I vote for Justin."
Static.
"Jo told me that we're voting out Justin tonight, so that's who I vote for." Cody said.
Static.
"Alejandro told me to vote for Justin, but he totally faced his fear just like I did! I'm voting for that Noah guy tonight instead." Dakota said.
Static.
"Oh I don't know who to vote for. Anne Maria, I guess." Zoey said with a shrug that showed she didn't particularly care. "I'm probably going to get voted out tonight anyway, so why even bother?"
Static.
"I'm going to take a chance and go against Jo on this one. We need to get rid of that slimy eel Alejandro." Noah said.
Eliminated so far:
28th: Justin
29th: Ezekiel & Lindsay
30st: Beverly
31st: Owen
32rd: Eva
33th: Sam
34th: Sierra
35th: Staci
36th: Katie
And there we have it, another chapter of Total Drama Island Rewritten. And with a whopping total of nearly ten thousand words, this chapter is way longer than I originally intended it to be, oh well. I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you guys see any areas where you think I could improve, let me know – I want to become a better writer and the only way to achieve that is through constructive criticism, so don't hold back! I can take it!