Total Drama Fantasy
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
Chapter Ten picks up exactly where Chapter Nine left off. That is, right after this out-of-story cold opening...
Disclaimer: The characters of the 'Total Drama' series belong to Fresh TV, Inc., Teletoon, and Cartoon Network, not me.
Warning: This chapter contains suggestive content that may not be suitable for children. Reader discretion is advised.
"LASSIE!"
A rough collie breed dog looked up from having her nose sniffing the ground at the calling of her name. She started running towards the sound.
"LASSIE!"
The dog jumped over a simple wooden fence, letting that not stop her as someone continued to call out her name.
Up ahead, a smiling Heather emerged from the house, closing the screen door behind her.
(Starring Heather the Queen Bee...)
Duncan grinned as he dropped his hoe and stopped working on his crops.
(Duncan the Delinquent...)
Gwen walked just ahead and to the right of Lassie, who was trotting behind in step.
(Gwen the Loner, as Timmy...
And of course... Lassie!)
Gwen was seen running her fingers under Lassie's chin and through her fur, as the dog's tongue hung out with glee.
(This week's episode... guess who's stuck down the well again?)
"Woof woof woof!" Lassie barked.
Lassie was in a panic, as she jumped up and down around Heather.
"What's got you spooked, girl?"
"Woof woof, woo woof woof!"
"Is this about Gwen? It's Gwen, isn't it!"
"Woof! Woof woof, woof woo woo woof!"
"She fell down the well?"
"Woof!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? We've got to do something!"
"Hi!" Heather put her best sounding voice out as she talked on the phone inside the house. "I'd like to get an estimate on a headstone..."
"Woof woof woof!" barked Lassie from outside.
"I KNOW THAT'S YOU IN THAT DOG COSTUME, IZZY, SO GIVE IT A REST, YOU PSYCHO!"
Heather coughed to regain her calm demeanor, then resumed her inquiry with the person on the other end of the line.
"Yes. Her name is Gwen. What's that... a casket? Nah... she won't need one. She's already been buried."
-[I wanna be, I wanna be famous...]-
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Chapter Ten - Does This Cave Make Everyone Forget Someone? (09.06.10)
-
(Our story this week actually begins now
Deep within the Pebble Mountains
As Duncan and Heather finally reach the bottom...
of the so-called bottomless pit.
That's right, we're starting with the villains.
Deal with it.)
Duncan and Heather were standing on solid ground inside the cavern as the former opened up his lighter, illuminating the area around him.
"You know," Duncan grinned as he looked at Heather's top, "I just thought of another danger of a wooden tank top. You want me to stand here and watch you burn? It's alright, because you like the way it hurts."
"Ugh," Heather stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I don't know what Courtney sees in you, you freak."
"What can I say... the good girls always fall for the bad boys!"
"Well, I'm a bad girl, and if you don't keep that lighter away from me or my clothes, the only action you'll be seeing is my fist in your face!"
"Fine."
"Good. Now, let's track down those losers so we can finish them off, once and for all!"
The two of them started their search, making their way through the caves together.
"Man, this cave feels like it goes on forever!"
Trent made his observation as he led a worried Cody and a carefree and nude Owen further into the mountain's inner corridors.
"I hope the others are okay," Cody said out loud. "Particularly Gwen. Oh, man... I'll personally never forgive Duncan if I don't see her alive again!"
"But she's a main character!" Owen reassured him. "Gwen's not going to die!"
"Oh yeah? Ever played 'Final Fantasy VII?'"
"No," Trent and Owen answered in unison.
Cody took a few seconds to spoil a major event in the RPG game. Trent didn't take the foreshadowing hint well.
"GWEN! WHERE ARE YOU? IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, STAY AWAY FROM GUYS WITH REALLY LONG HAIR AND EVEN LONGER SWORDS!"
Lindsay and Tyler were frozen in fear as the masked native approached them. He raised his spear in the air, and pointed it at them.
"Please don't kill me!" pleaded Lindsay. "You can't kill the hot girl! Kill Tyler instead!"
"Yes!" Tyler nodded. "Kill me! Lindsay's too hot to die!"
The guy in the tiki mask roared his approval, and Tyler closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable cold grip of death. Lindsay buried her face in her hands, not wanting to see the final blow either. After waiting for a few seconds, the native finally decided what he was going to do.
He placed the torch in a holder attached to the cavern wall to his right, laid the spear next to it, and then removed the tiki mask covering the front side of his body.
Er, her body...
"It's okay... I'm not gonna hurt you guys."
Lindsay and Tyler uncovered or opened their eyes and saw a familiar, yet friendly face standing in front of them.
"Beth!" Lindsay gasped with joy upon seeing her.
Lindsay stood up, ran over, and gave a big hug to her best friend, who took it without hesitation.
"Whoa ho!" Tyler chuckled. "You had us going there for a sec, Beth!"
"Sorry," Beth apologized as Lindsay let her go. "But preventing teen pregnancies are a big deal to me."
The two of them got a good luck at Beth for the first time. She was wearing a green, single-strapped, sleeveless shirt and a grass skirt over brownish knee-length shorts... and tennis shoes on her feet.
"Producers said it was a safety hazard to walk around here barefoot," Beth explained.
"I think it's all cute on you," complimented Lindsay.
"Thanks!"
"So... what are you doing down here? Or in here? I don't know..."
"I live here!"
"Runner-up on 'TDA' to this?" Tyler shook his head. "Man, that bites!"
"It's not as bad as you think," Beth told him. "I'll take you to my pad and show you!"
Lindsay grabbed a hold of the torch while Beth took her giant tiki mask and spear. They began to walk off, seemingly forgetting one tiny little thing...
"Uh, hello!" Tyler yelled as the darkness started to envelop him. "Girls? Broken back, here! Can't move, and... OW! Excruciating pain!"
Trent, Cody, and Owen gasped in surprise when they came across an area of the cave that was illuminated by caged lanterns strewn on either side of them.
"That's strange," commented Trent. "Somebody must live down here."
"If so," Cody deduced, "maybe he can help us find Gwen and the others, as well as how to get out of here."
"And some food," added Owen, licking his lips. "I'm so hungry right now."
Duncan and Heather came upon a split in the road. One path continued straight ahead, while the other turned left and sloped downward.
"I say we should take the path of the left," Heather pointed at it.
"Really?" Duncan objected. "Because there's no way they could've fallen that far and still be alive."
"Oh? So, what are you suggesting?"
"That we keep going straight ahead! There's gotta be an end to this cave somewhere."
"In a dead end, I say! Look, obviously we're not going to agree on this anytime soon."
"And you're proposing..."
"We split up! Besides, all I want is Gwen. Once I take care of her, I'm outta here!"
"Gwen's got dark magic," Duncan told her. "There's no way you're beating her by yourself."
"Well," smirked Heather as she clenched her fists and started generating dark energy around them, "She's not the only dark one!"
"Pfft, whatever!" Duncan blew her off. "Do what you want..."
Duncan started heading down his path of choice, taking his lighter with him. Once he was out of sight and Heather was enveloped in darkness, she reached for a nearby stalagmite and pushed the top of it in, like a button. She heard a small panel open up in the wall just to her left.
Inside was a pair of night-vision goggles, which she took out and put on.
"There we go!" Heather exclaimed once they were snugly over her eyes. "Who said cheaters never prosper?"
She then ran off, down the other path.
"Password, please."
Beth and Lindsay were standing in front of a metal door that led the way into the former's cavernous home. The computerized security system kept anyone from getting near the door unless they stated the password first.
"I've never seen anything like it!" gawked Lindsay.
"Eh..." Beth shrugged. "It's common for mountain dwellers in this neck of the woods."
"Bad neighborhood?"
"Ever get spanked by a vampire?"
"No."
"Don't. Happened to me once, couldn't sit down on anything for a month!"
Lindsay gasped.
"Don't worry... he seems to only go after kids. And teens who look like kids. Or people act like kids. Look, just don't do anything kiddie, okay?"
"That's gonna be hard since people call me 'baby' all the time."
Beth didn't hear Lindsay's last statement, as she had again turned her attention to the security system, which again prompted for...
"Password, please."
"The password is..." Beth said aloud, "Brady, Brady, Brady!"
"Password confirmed."
As the door opened, Beth looked back at Lindsay and said...
"I figure I'd give him a shout-out since he's not in this story."
And then stepped inside, only to find someone waiting. Three someones, actually.
"Hi, Beth!" Trent, Owen, and Cody waved hello.
The three boys were sitting on a couch, watching some show on TV. They also happened to be sharing a bag of potato chips, and Owen still wasn't wearing any clothes.
"What the... why the... how did... Owen, why?"
"'Cause I don't have any spare clothes?" Owen shrugged.
Lindsay covered her eyes as she walked over, not wanting to see Owen's junk.
"So how did you guys know the password?" she asked, as she was stopped by Beth before she walked into the couch itself.
"No offense," Cody said to Beth, "but you should pick a better password than your boyfriend's name, stated three times successively."
"We actually kinda find out by luck," Trent explained. "We were talking about the Brady Bunch for some odd, plot-unrelated reason."
"Tee hee," chuckled Owen. "The episode with the football to the nose is classic!"
"I'm glad you're all here," Beth said to them all, "and you decided to include me in your little adventure. But why are you all here in the first place?"
"We fell down here after Duncan tried to blow all of us to kingdom come!" explained Trent.
"By the way," Cody went off-topic, "sweet pad, Beth!"
Cody pointed out the Persian rugs, satellite TV connection, and leather furniture, and running heat, water, and electricity, amongst other high-end things too good to be in a cave dwelling.
"Thanks! You've got to do a lot to stand out in this neighborhood!"
Lindsay gasped as she finally removed her hands from her eyes and took her first gaze upon Beth's 'house.'
"This is incredible! This is ten times better than Katie and Sadie's idea of repainting Main Street carnation pink and orange-smelling orange!"
"Wait," Owen sat up, "they were SERIOUS about that?"
Lindsay turned to nod at Owen, but even for her, it only took a split second to look down and realize he was still...
"GAH! Owen!"
Owen covered his 'shame' with a pillow.
"Oh, come on! You've seen it, too! Half the world's seen it at this point!"
"Stop it!" whined Lindsay. "The more you talk, the more I want to look at it... I mean, you! YOU!"
Beth rolled her eyes as she walked over to her dining table, pulled off the tablecloth without trouble, seeing as there was nothing on top of it, and handed it to Owen.
"Protecting this story's T-rating is priority number one," Beth said.
Everyone turned away as Owen put the tablecloth on and arranged it in a way that it would stay on his body.
"Nice!" Owen chuckled, signifying it was safe for everyone to look again. "This feels like silk!"
"That's because it is," Beth confirmed, before sighing in disbelief. "And it's not cheap, you know."
Beth walked over to a whiteboard that had an assortment of things to do. Already on the list were 'Call Brady x3,' 'Singing Lessons,' and 'Reunite Trent with his Birth Parents.' She wrote 'Buy New Tablecloth' to the list, in big, black letters.
"As I was saying," Lindsay collected her thoughts, "Beth, you SO have to give me the number of your decorator!"
"Actually, it's me," Beth sheepishly admitted.
"No way!"
"Yes way!"
"You're hired! And don't worry about housing, because I'll find you a palace in Shallow Falls! Smaller than mine, of course, but a palace is a palace!"
"That's great and all," Cody walked up to them, "but thing is, we didn't want to find Lindsay..."
"Princess Lindsay!" the heiress quickly corrected.
"Uh... Princess Lindsay. We want to find her a master to teach her how to use white magic."
"Oh," Beth lowered her head in disappointment. "I'm a master of a lot of things, but that's not one of them."
"Man!" Owen threw his hands up in frustration. "Almost everyone's already been in this thing! Who's left to meet that could be her master? Heather?"
Everyone took a minute to think about Heather being a white magic master... and then they all shuddered with chills.
"You had me goin' there for a second, big guy," Trent laughed it off. "Heather as an angelic healer? That... just doesn't sound right!"
Speaking of Heather, she had strolled down into a dead-end passage. But it wasn't a complete waste of time, as her night-vision goggles picked up a heat source sitting on a pedestal. Picking the object up, she lifted her goggles to get a better look.
"A book?" she identified, squinting her eyes.
She opened it and tried to read it, but it was too dark.
"Stupid thing must be on the fritz," she said aloud, referring to her goggles. "Since when do books give off heat?"
She got her answer, as the book became enlightened in a flash. Illuminating a small six-foot radius around it, it was just bright enough for Heather to clearly see the words in it. Not that she could understand them, as they seemed to be in some alien language.
"Meh," she shrugged, "at the very least, someone'll find it worth paying a few bucks for."
She closed the book, which in turn killed its light source. She then placed it under her right arm, lowered her goggles, and went back out the way she came in.
As Beth stirred a pot of stew on the stove in her kitchen, a weird feeling raced through her.
"I have this crazy feeling that the writer just screwed us."
"Ooh, ooh," Lindsay chirped as she handed Beth a salt shaker. "This one time, I thought somebody was asking me for a screw, when he actually was asking me if I wanted to..."
Beth reached up to clasp Lindsay's lips shut with her fingers.
"Lindsay, I love you as a best friend, but if you try once more to usurp this story's T-rating..."
"Usurp," Owen leaned in, smelling the stew, "that's maple-flavored, right?"
"Hey!" Beth shouted at him. "If you're not gonna help cook, you can't be in the kitchen."
"Oh, alright!" Owen gave up as he slowly marched out.
Beth let go of Lindsay's lips, who had taken the 'shut up' time to let her brain actually do some thinking.
"You know, I'm getting the strangest feeling that we've forgotten somebody..."
As if on cue, Tyler ran into the living area, past Trent and Cody, who were sitting at the dining table chatting, and jumped onto the couch, landing back-first.
"Tyler!" Lindsay cheered with glee as she ran out of the kitchen and over to him. "You're alive!"
"No thanks to you two!" Tyler growled as he sat up. "You two left me there for dead! I can't believe you! Especially you, Lindsay! I thought you liked me!"
"But I do like you!"
Lindsay knelt next to Tyler and kissed him deeply on the lips.
"Wait a minute!" Beth thought out loud as she walked over, "Didn't you have a broken back? How the heck did you walk all the way here, much less run?"
Tyler broke off his kiss with Lindsay to answer.
"Now that I think of it, I really don't know. All I remember is being in excruciating pain, then Lindsay kissed me, and then you two left me behind!"
"You mean..." Lindsay began.
"Inspired by the love of his life possibly leaving him," Trent and Cody said in unison, "he overcame the pain, got to his feet, and got all the way here without any problems!"
Trent and Cody high-fived each other.
"Actually," Lindsay clarified, "I was going to say my kiss healed him."
"A kiss can heal people?" Owen smirked. "Now I've heard everything!"
"And yet..." Beth brightened up, "it's crazy enough to be true!"
Beth reached over and quickly plucked a hair from Lindsay's head.
"Ow!"
"Sorry," Beth quickly apologized before depositing the hair strand into a test tube she had pulled out of her pocket.
"What did you do that for?"
"To prove a point! Gimme 20 or 30 minutes!"
20 or 30 minutes later...
"Good news, everyone!" announced Beth, as she approached the table where everyone was sitting. "Dinner will be ready in five minutes!"
"Alright!" they all cheered.
"Even better news," Beth continued. "Lindsay was right! Her kisses DO have the power to heal!"
"So she didn't need a master," Trent expanded out, "she just needed to learn how to use her powers!"
"Which means Beth just wrote... herself... out of the story," Cody proclaimed.
"Nonsense!" Beth argued. "There must be something else I can do!"
"I have an idea!" Tyler said as he walked over to the whiteboard.
"I have a better one!" shouted Owen. "Gwen is missing!"
"Gwen!" Trent and Cody screamed in horror.
"Seriously," Beth rolled her eyes, "does this cave make everyone forget someone?"
"How could we forget about Gwen?" Trent asked aloud. "The apple of my eye!"
"We've got to save her," Cody declared, "and fast!"
"Luckily," Beth spoke up, "one of the things I AM a master at is finding people just by getting a whiff of their scent. Quick! Someone give me something that belongs to her!"
Everyone hastily placed something on the table. Trent put down a greenish lock of hair, Cody placed down the bra Gwen had given him long ago, Tyler produced an autographed photo with her signature, Lindsay had an exact replica of Gwen's 'Total Drama' outfit, and Owen had... the remains of a spewed-up poisonous fish in a plastic bag?
"You kept that thing for six chapters?" Tyler looked at Owen. "Really?"
"The hair will do," Beth said aloud.
She picked up the lock with a pair of tweezers, held it up to her nose, and took a good sniff of it. She then smelled the air, trying to find a current that matched her scent.
"Got it!"
Several minutes later, the gang of six was running through the cave, with Beth leading the way.
"We're close!" Beth yelled. "Very, very close!"
Beth and company turned around the corner, but instead of running into Gwen, they had found Duncan instead.
"Aha!" Duncan shouted. "Gotcha!"
The six stopped and hunched into battle positions.
"First squad, deploy!" shouted Trent.
Tyler, Lindsay, and Beth stepped forward, and their current HP and MP appeared above their heads.
[Tyler HP: 175 MP: 21
Lindsay HP: 100 MP: 8
Beth HP: 142 MP: 99]
"I said first squad!" Trent exclaimed. "Not second squad!"
Duncan smirked as his current HP and MP appeared above his head.
[Duncan HP: 0 MP: 33]
"Wait... wha..."
Duncan promptly fainted.
"When the villains get three chapters," Beth explained, "they really only get three chapters!"
"Forget about plot conveniences!" shouted Cody. "What about Gwen? If Duncan hasn't found her, then maybe there's still hope!"
Beth sniffed the air and picked up Gwen's scent once again.
"This way!" she pointed, towards a small distant beacon of light.
After a bit more running, the group emerged from the cave and back into the surface world. They were now on the other side of the mountain range that they, minus Beth, had fallen into earlier that day.
"We're back outside!" Lindsay stated accurately.
"And worse," Beth said with a sad face, "Gwen's scent is gone!"
"Gone?" Trent and Cody yelled.
"How can that be?" asked Cody.
"What could this mean?" questioned Trent.
"It means," Beth told them all, "that she has vanished... without a trace!"
*** To be continued... ***
[nope, I didn't see this coming either]