Author's Note
Hello again! I won't lie, I haven't quite finished the next chapter yet. A lot of it is because even now I'm not 100% on who is going to end up eliminated; I have a good idea who but there's still a chance I'll change my mind since the award ceremony is still unwritten. It's basically between two different people, one whom I originally had slated to be eliminated next, and the one who I began leaning towards after I realized a few things I'd have to do down the line. Both choices are about equal in terms of advantages and disadvantages with respect to the plot down the line though...even once the decision has been made, I don't think I'll be certain it's the correct one.
But that, as always, is for tomorrow's writing session, and next week's viewing pleasure. Right now, I have reviews to address.
The Beautiful Kayla Storm: Well, sorry that I upset you. But hey, at least something you liked came of the episode.
FOWLKON: Ohoho, I can already tell I'm gonna have to refuse to answer that question a bunch of times this week.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Yeah, that's what I was thinking with the challenge. Scarlett's the type of person who sees through certain things easily, so you need to be more direct if you want to scare her.
Cole D. soul: I'm glad you thought it was interesting! And I'm glad you've liked my portrayal of Beardo as a pretty cool guy, I'm happy to have done so well with someone who was elimination fodder in canon. Oh, and Full Metal Drama is next week, today we have some disaster-themed challenges.
80jj: Yeah, I hate to see most characters go, but nearly all have to be eliminated at some point. And I think you misunderstood me, I'm not really intending on adding any new ships to the current story right now. In World Tour? Yeah, probably, but not in Action.
Ali6132: Hmm...well, you're certainly right about Scarlett. As for her and Max...well, I won't spoil the future contestants, but I will say that I'm currently entertaining the idea of some sort of crossover after the Shuffled series is complete where my version of everyone will somehow get to meet their canon counterparts. I think ti would be pretty amusing.
JinxQueen: Hurray for unexpected foreshadowing, I guess? And thanks for the compliment! As much fun as Lindsay taking charge of her team was in canon, I've liked having Scarlett being the boss of her team.
Ddynamo: I've really enjoyed exploring Scarlett's character so far, and seeing how far I can take her without going full-blown Scarlett Fever. I don't agree that her canon outburst was due solely to Max; I think she was always secretly just a little bit like that, but only dropped her facade because Max just kept annoying and belittling her. As for what will happen in today's episode...well, you'll just have to wait and find out.
StayOuttaMyShed: Well, a few reviewers expressed their sadness that Beardo was eliminated, but you're right in that several more either saw it coming or weren't too concerned about it. As you said, Beardo didn't have much going for him, so he was an easy pick to go.
I. M. Poik: Hah, I figured you'd be excited for Chef's return. Interesting predictions as always, and i will make sure to try giving the Aftermaths some more plot.
Identification: I'm glad people are happy about Chef's return. Although I don't think he would have changed the challenge that much, unless he got really dressed up - Scarlett could very well have expected him to show up, after all.
Zak Saturday: Thanks for the review! It's always good to see that readers like the plot I've been putting together.
Knifez: Well, this is Chris we're talking about, the man who takes glee in putting them in non-lethal danger every episode. Plus, he did tell the Grips they could scare the Gaffers however they wanted. I did consider including a scene where that was mentioned, but didn't go through with it since the episode was already getting long enough. That scream Beardo heard was meant to be Chef, by the way. And yeah, I'll be doing my best to ramp up the plots for the other characters from here on out.
spader13: Interesting analysis! Not much I can really comment on, but thanks for the review nonetheless.
OMAC001: Well, you'll just have to wait and see!
Star Saber21: Thank you! Not much else to say, but I'm glad you liked it so much.
bruno14: Thanks as always! It's good to know I inspire such lengthy reviews from you.
Proxxy The First: I can't really answer your question, but I'm happy you thought my idea for the Gaffers' loss was clever. Thanks for the review!
Last but not least, the list of remaining contestants:
Screaming Gaffers - Scarlett, Lightning, Beth, Sammy
Killer Grips - Jo, DJ, Dawn, B, Topher
We're finally in the double-digits, so get ready because things are gonna start being shaken up!
- Fangren
Episode 10 – Masters of Disasters
"Last time, on Total Drama Action!" The recap began with short clips of Beth throwing a few egg salad sandwiches into the air and catching them with her mouth, Sammy and DJ kissing in the kitchen, and Chris lying 'impaled' on a movie camera.
"The teams had their most terrifying experience yet in our Horror Movie Challenge!" Clips were shown of the host falling, DJ fainting off the couch, and a chainsaw swiping down across the screen and splattering it with 'blood'. "While the Grips chose their most intimidating member for the Scream-Off," Chris was shown pointing at the meter above him, and Jo was shown bursting in on B in the toilet causing the normally-silent boy to scream loudly, "the Gaffers were stuck with Beth." Two clips were shown with full sound, the first being Sammy pointing out that Beth was unable to scream and thus had to do the scaring, while the second demonstrated the wannabe's handicap when she was unable to scream later that night. "Needless to say," the host said dryly over footage of Beth failing to scare both Sammy and the combination of Scarlett and Lightning, "she failed big time."
"After that, the Gaffers had to sit it out the rest of the night in the dining hall thinking it was haunted," Chris was shown telling the seated teens his fake ghost story, "while the Grips tried to scare them away. But despite Jo and Topher's best efforts," both the dripping pillow ghost and Jo herself in a guard uniform were shown dangling in front of the Gaffers, and Beardo and Beth were shown fleeing in fear, "Scarlett just wasn't budging." The brainiac was shown uncovering both of the ghosts with an unimpressed look on her face. "It wasn't until DJ admitted to dating a member of the opposing team that B finally got to work," the gentle giant's confession scene was shown briefly, "and boy, did he really get to work." Support beams were shown falling around the three remaining Gaffers one by one, forcing them to flee the tent just before it collapsed.
"Because of an alleged, uh, technical difficulty, it was Beardo who was sent home." The over-the-shoulder view of Sammy's vote was shown again, followed by the beatboxer exchanging a sad hug with Beth and taking the Walk of Shame.
"Oh yeah, and Chef's finally back!" the host added excitedly, a clip of the hulking cook stepping onto the red carpet marking the end of the recap footage. The scene flashed to the smiling host walking through the lot, eventually reaching the cast trailers. "How will the cast handle the sudden end to DJ's cooking? How mad is Chef gonna be at just about everybody? Discover all that, and more, in another thrilling, and filling, episode of Total! Drama! Action!"
xxx
(Fade to Opening Theme)
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;
You guys are on my mind!
Ya asked me what I wanted to be,
And now I think the answer is plain to see!
I wanna be...famous!
I wanna live close to the sun!
Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!
Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;
I'll get there one day.
'Cause I wanna be...famous!
(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
(Fade to Episode)
xxx
The episode opened with a shot of the blue and partly-cloudy sky before quickly panning down to the rebuilt craft services tent, now with a few patches in its roof. The scene zoomed in and cut inside, showing a close-up of a bowl of roach-infested gruel. A few deep drum beats played as Lightning took a trembling scoop of the food, pausing with wide eyes as Scarlett took a bite of her own.
She immediately gagged and spat the food back out. "This is disgusting," she said with a shudder. "I don't think I'm mistaken in saying that Chef Hatchet has deliberately reduced the quality of his cooking."
On the other side of the table, Sammy and Beth nodded. "What I wouldn't give for some of Brady's cooking...," Beth said with a mournful sigh.
"Or DJ's...," Sammy added with a more wistful sigh, turning around to send a smile and wave towards the gentle giant.
The camera panned over past the Grips' table to the meal counter, where DJ and B were waiting with trays in their hands. DJ returned his girlfriend's smile and wave, then turned his attention back to the counter.
"Yo Chef, are you gonna serve us or what?" he asked, immediately regretting it when the hulking man walked over to him with a glare on his face. Without saying a thing, Chef reared back his head and spat on the brickhouse's tray.
"Enjoy your meal," he said darkly. DJ cringed and walked away, and Chef turned his attention to the trembling B. "And what about you, Mr. Dining-Hall-Wrecker?" he asked menacingly. "You want some too?" His eyes wide, B shook his head and dashed away. The camera lingered on Chef as he snorted and walked back into the kitchen.
Another few drum beats played as the shot panned back to DJ and B as they walked over to their team's table, trays empty. "Dang, dude, looks like we're still outta luck in the food department," DJ told his teammate, who nodded as they sat down opposite Jo and Dawn.
"Why don't you just ask your girlfriend to share her food?" Jo spat. "In fact, why don't you just go join the Gaffers, since you're already dating one of them."
"Hey, just because we're goin' out doesn't mean I'm gonna turn my back on you guys," DJ told her in mild annoyance. "You get me, right Dawn?" He looked at his petite friend, who met his gaze for a brief moment before looking away sadly.
xxx
"I...don't know why I'm acting like this," Dawn confessed in the make-up trailer. "I mean, how much DJ and Sammy like each other have been all over their auras for awhile now." She sighed sadly. "I guess I just expected them to actually tell me about it, and not act like it was some big secret." She hung her head in her hands and groaned lightly. "Why can't I just be happy for them?"
xxx
"Uhh, Dawn?" DJ asked with a mix of confusion and concern. "You feelin' alright?"
"Hmm?" the blonde perked up. "Oh yes, I'm, umm, fine. Oh, and I don't believe that you'd ever betray your teammates, DJ. Even though you did keep something from us."
DJ sighed. "I really am sorry about not tellin' you sooner," he told the blonde. "We just...weren't sure how everyone would take it."
"Yeah," Jo snorted, "because you knew we'd see you as a liability. How are we supposed to trust you in challenges where you have to go up against your little girlfriend?"
"Uhh, I'm pretty sure we've been on opposite teams for like the whole game without it bein' an issue," DJ said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, but you haven't competed against her directly," Topher said in the seat next to B. "If a challenge comes up where you two have to go head to head, how do we know you won't take a dive?"
"Why would I take a dive?" the brickhouse asked. "You guys gotta know me better than that. Unless it involves havin' to hurt her, I'll be fine. You guys should stop blowin' things outta proportion."
Jo pursed her lips. "Well, you should watch your back. Don't give the rest of us any reason to think you're going soft on the Gaffers, or you're going home next chance we get."
"Like I said," DJ told her, "it ain't gonna happen!"
The viewpoint shifted to show Jo rolling her eyes before the camera panned slightly to the left to get a better shot of the Gaffers on the table behind her.
"Hmmph, dude's actin' like he's sha-happy about datin' the loser twin," Lightning said. "But anybody can see that Lightning's girlfriend is way better!"
"Hey, don't say that!" Beth said in protest while the twin in question hung her head. "Sammy's way better than her mean sister!"
Sammy looked up at her teammate and smiled. "Thanks," she said, "but you don't need to defend me. I don't really care what Lightning thinks of me or DJ."
"That doesn't mean you should have to put up with him," Beth said with a frown. "With Beardo gone, us girls have to stick together, no matter what they say about our boyfriends!"
"When are you gonna give that up?" Topher asked from across the room. "Nobody believes in your made-up boyfriend!"
"Yeah, well, nobody believes in your made-up...umm...face!" Beth countered with a slightly awkward pause as she thought.
"You really mean that?" Sammy asked her. "About us sticking together, I mean. I was kinda the reason Beardo isn't here right now."
"Totally!" Beth said with a smile. "Us girls are gonna stick together!"
"Just so you know," Scarlett spoke up without taking her eyes off her bowl of gruel, "I have no interest in sticking with anybody based on a shared gender identity."
Sammy and Beth shared a quick look. "Well, that's okay too, I guess," the nice twin told the brainiac.
"Howdy folks!" Chris said as he walked into the tent with his usual smile. "Hope you enjoyed your lunch while you could," he told them with a laugh.
"And exactly what sort of excruciating experience is on today's agenda?" Scarlett asked with a deadpan expression.
"Oh, nothing," the host answered with a mocking shrug, "just that your day will be a total disaster. Get it?" he asked the room. "It's a disaster movie theme! Y'know? Like in disaster flicks?"
A dangerous and hectic tune began as the scene flashed to Chef Hatchet running against a featureless white background. "People running for their lives from volcanoes," a magma-oozing volcano dropped down onto the scenery just barely missing Chef, "earthquakes, asteroids," a fissure formed in the ground just past the volcano, expanding towards the running man before a small asteroid just missed striking him, "tidal waves," Chef ran headlong into a large wave which crashed over him and washed him away.
The scene flashed back to a close-up of Beth and Sammy gaping in their seats, followed by a similar shot of DJ, B, and Topher. "The more disastrous, the better."
xxx
"Hasn't my poor hair been through enough already?" Topher fretted, checking his coif with a hand mirror. "Not that I doubt Chris' genius or anything, but it's hard to look good on TV when you keep having to do these kind of challenges. Some of us have future careers to look forward to!"
xxx
The footage cut back to Chris standing in front of some sort of machine console as a few deep and ominous notes were struck in the background. "Your first challenge is," he said, pausing to motion to his right, "the Earthquake of Inevitable Pain!" The camera moved left and out, revealing the giant playing field that had been set up outside. It consisted of a platform resting at an angle on scaffolding and several pistons with a ladder set up at the high end. On top of it were a series of obstacles arranged in two identical rows: tires, traffic cones, monkey bars over a pool of water, a large metal tube, a balance beam over a pit, and a wooden wall to the far left near the top.
"Each team has to run the course," the host explained as the camera panned across the stunned faces of the cast, "challenging your dexterity," a close-up of the tires was shown, "maneuverability," a shot of the cones was added in a horizontal split-screen, "and other mad monkey skills," he finished as the monkey bars were added to the split screen.
A flash took the scene to Chef standing on top of the ladder at the end of the course. He picked a brick up out of a sack by his side and tossed it around with a vicious grin on his face, and the camera cut back to the host. "First team to the top wins! Best out of two earns today's reward."
The camera focused on the relatively unamused faces of the Screaming Gaffers. "Ooh!" Beth said with a sudden smile. "I just remembered, Brady had a summer job cleaning up after earthquakes and landslides!"
"Did he tell you how to make it through an earthquake-themed obstacle course?" Scarlett asked dryly.
"Err, not really...," Beth said with a thoughtful frown.
"Enough with the chitty-chat," Chris interrupted with a brief frown of his own. "Take your marks!"
/
Both teams were shown assembled along the bottom edge of the platform. "This is gonna be easy," Jo boasted as she performed a few warm-up stretches.
"I can't wait to swing on the monkey bars!" Beth declared happily while Lightning limbered up.
"Aaaaaannnnd," Chris said as a few deep notes heralded the beginning of fast-paced challenge music, "Action!"
He sounded a small air horn, and the shot cut to the four Gaffers as they ran up the platform and immediately into the tires – Lightning in the lead, then Beth, Sammy, and Scarlett at the end. Panning over to the Grips, Jo and DJ were out first, followed by Topher, Dawn, and B.
"Is this all you got?" Lightning said cockily after a close-up of him easily stepping through the tires.
"Are you READY to ROCK?!" Chris exclaimed with an excited cackle before pulling one of the levers on his machine console. The pistons immediately began to extend and contract, shaking the platform and causing Lightning and Beth to stumble and fall into one another.
"Why did you say that?" Beth exclaimed, the two now lying on top of one of the tires.
Jo and DJ had gotten to the beginning of the cones, but lost their balance too and DJ had to yank one of the cones off his head. Topher and Dawn jumped up onto the Grips' monkey bars, and the scene cut over to Chef on the ladder.
"Perfect time to get rid of some old junk," he said with a vicious grin and a dark cackle, reaching into his sack and taking out a football. He tossed it from hand to hand, then reared back and threw it at the girls on the monkey bars. It hit Topher in the face with enough force to knock him back into Dawn and both off the obstacle.
"Why is it always the face?" the pretty boy cried out as he fell out of sight.
Chef was shown casually throwing out several objects from his bag without looking – a kitchen sink, a bowling ball, a hammer, a rotary telephone, each with appropriate sound effects when they inevitably hit something. He paused when he took out a tiny rubber ducky, squeezing it a few times and smiling at it's squeak before looking at the camera sheepishly.
"Seriously?" Jo said indignantly after the duck hit her on the nose.
The camera briefly cut back to Chris as he smirked and pulled the lever again, putting an end to the shaking. Beth, Scarlett, and Sammy were shown regaining their balance at the start of the monkey bars, and the wannabe groaned in relief. "Uggh! Finally, a break!"
"AFTERSHOCK!" Chris exclaimed with a happy laugh, pulling the lever again. The platform resumed shaking, causing B to fall forwards into the pool of water, and Topher to stumble to his knees behind him.
The pretty boy threw up, and looked at the puddle of vomit with a disgusted grimace. "That lunch was even worse coming back up."
"Oh yeah," Chris said with a sly look, "that reminds me. It's lava time!" he announced dramatically, slamming his fist down on a button that caused more shaking and some ominous mechanical whirs that made Sammy and Beth look around nervously.
A pair of slots opened up just past the walls at the top of the course, and a steaming red liquid poured out of them. Chef bent down and touched the liquid with his fingers, taking a quick taste. "Tomato soup?" he said with a surprised look below, where the soup was being siphoned out of a large metal drum with a tomato on the side. "That was supposed to be for supper."
With the soup already closing in on the monkey bars, Topher and B were forced to quickly jump back up to them, while nearby Dawn quickly scrabbled on top of the metal tube. Beth and Sammy were also shown clinging to the top of the bars for safety.
"Pheeewww, wee!" Chris exclaimed as the camera cut back to him fanning himself with one hand. "is it getting hot in here? How 'bout a cool, refreshing, hailstorm!" The shot pulled back to show him standing on the seat of a cart-mounted gun platform which was attached to a golf cart being driven by Chef, who honked the horn with a dark grin. "Golf ball-sized hail is bad," the host said matter-of-factly as he sat down and grabbed the handles of the gun, "but, hail-sized golf balls are even worse!" He laughed and opened fire, a clear canister on the top of the large weapon feeding golf balls into it. Beth and Sammy, back on the ground, tried to shield themselves with their hands as they dashed towards the metal tube, but it sheer number of balls hitting them knocked the girls into it first.
"Haha, got two of 'em!" Chris cheered happily.
"Try to get the chubby one and the crybaby next," Chef told him with a smile. The host continued to fire with a vicious grin on his face, and cries of pain from nearly every castmates were heard off-screen.
Topher dropped down from the monkey bars, and immediately covered his head with his arms. "Not the face, or the hair," he said, "anything but the face and the hair!" Several golf balls strucks in in the back, the arms, and the hands, and Chris continued to shoot.
xxx
The pretty boy looked at his bruise-covered hands and cringed. "This was worth it...right? I mean, it hurts now, but I'm pretty sure this'll heal. And besides, what host needs perfect hands when they could have a perfect face?" He brought a hand up to his chin as he posed for the camera, but quickly winced in pain.
xxx
The host shot off a few more golf balls, then held up a button on a cord. "After-aftershocks!" he exclaimed as he pressed it, starting up the shaking once again. Jo was shown falling off the balance beam while DJ lost his own footing and slipped backwards into the metal tunnel. The camera panned back to the tube's beginning, where Dawn was standing with Topher and B. To their shock, the platform began to crack and split perilously close to them.
"Friends," Dawn said, "we must hurry!" She ducked into the tunnel but was forced out moments later when a screaming DJ tumbled back through it, knocking into the small young woman and sending both over the edge of the crack in the platform. B managed to dive and grab onto DJ's flailing arm, and the camera panned down to show that Dawn had managed to cling onto her friend's legs.
"Heheh, you really gotta hand it to Chris," Topher chuckled nervously, "he really went all-out with these disasters!"
"Dude, pull us up, pull us up!" DJ cried in an angry panic as B struggled to heave his teammates out of the crevice.
"R-right," Topher stuttered, bending down to grab the brickhouse's other arm.
The scene cut to the Gaffers as Lightning made his way across the balance beam, with Scarlett and Beth coming out of the tube and following him. Chris fired another volley of golf balls which knocked the two girls slightly off their balance, and the camera moved back to the Gaffers still at the entrance to the tunnel and also coming under heavy fire.
"We gotta keep movin'!" DJ shouted, motioning for Dawn and Topher to head into the tunnel while he and B sheltered them. Once their teammates were in relative safety, the two young men began to back up. The silent one took a step in front of DJ, and made the motion to get inside the tunnel. "You sure about this dude?" the gentle giant asked, getting a vigorous nod from B and a repeated motion to get inside the tunnel.
DJ nodded and complied, leaving B alone to shield the entrance with his girth. He shot an annoyed glare at the host, who laughed. "I love this game!" Chris shouted gleefully, pulling the trigger but getting nothing but clicks – he was out of ammunition. The shot cut back to B, who raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and jumped into the tube.
"Chef," Chris said in annoyance, "do something!" A few beeps from the golf cart signaled the hulking man's compliance as he rapidly reversed all the way to the ladder, crashing the gun platform and Chris along with it before quickly climbing up.
He resumed throwing objects at the castmates, starting with a flower pot that knocked Beth off the balance beam just as Jo and Lightning made it to the finish line and Scarlett made it to the top of her team's wall.
"Hurry up, you're almost there!" Jo called to the rest of the Grips as DJ gave Dawn a boost over the wall, Topher climbed down the other side, and B emerged from the tunnel and narrowly dodged a blender. The silent boy rushed across the balance beam to the smiling brickhouse on the other side.
"C'mon, man, I'll give you a lift," DJ told him, kneeling down and holding out his hands as a foothold. B nodded and gave him a thumbs up, accepting the boost up as bricks and pliers and even a cat in a football uniform were thrown at them.
Chef viciously tossed what appeared to be some sort of bomb, though the lack of an explosion when it landed off-screen suggested it was a dud at best. Regardless, the man smiled when he pulled out the next object: a very large hardcover book. "Ahh, my unpublished manifesto," he said happily.
The dramatically fast-paced challenge music faded into something more deep, tense, and threateningly monotonous as B was shown hauling himself up to the top of the wall and swinging his right leg over while DJ quickly jumped up and grabbed the edge next to him.
"I've lived a lotta years!" Chef declared before tossing his tremendous manifesto with two hands. The music sped back up as DJ and B were shown spotting the heavy book flying at them with a gasp each.
The shot closed in on the manifesto, and the footage slowed down as it slammed into B's right shoulder, knocking him clear off the wall and onto his back across the balance beam.
"Dude!" DJ exclaimed in shock, immediately dropping down and running over to his groaning teammate. "B, are you alright?" The large boy uttered a pained moan, clutching his shoulder and gritting his teeth.
"My editor was right!" Chef told the camera on him proudly. "My life really is dangerous."
B began to sit up and extend his left arm to DJ, but then winced in pain and flopped back down with a moan.
xxx
Jo started her confessional with her face in her hand. "Jeez, did B seriously just break his shoulder?" she asked, lowering her hand and showing her disbelief. "How the heck is he gonna compete like that? The guy uses both arms for, like, everything!"
xxx
"I can't believe B just broke his shoulder!" DJ told the confessional camera. "And here I am, the dude who gave him the boost up in the first place, walkin' around perfectly healthy!" He sighed and looked down. "How am I gonna live with myself knowin' he's suffered a serious injury 'cause of me?"
xxx
As B continued to groan in pain on the balance beam, one of the camera men was shown approaching him for a close-up.
"Hey!" Beth exclaimed angrily as the shot cut back to the Gaffers, Chef, and Chris, the host now on the ladder and framing a shot with his hands. "Aren't you gonna send someone to help him?"
"Yeah yeah," the host said dismissively as another cameraman walked by in front of him, "as soon as we're done getting every shot. The good news is, it looks like B won the challenge for the Killer Grips!" He motioned over to Jo, Topher, and Dawn as they gave a few celebratory cheers, joined in another shot by a smile from DJ and even a thumbs up from B.
"Aww, what?" Lightning exclaimed. "You gotta be kiddin' me!"
"Agreed," Scarlett added sternly. "We managed to achieve the goal of getting the entire team across the finish line first!"
"Serious injury trumps all," Chris told them with an impish shrug.
"Dude, you're just sha-makin' this up as you go," Lightning said in frustration.
The host gave his a smug look, then smiled at the camera. "I love my job!"
/
A close-up of a flashing red siren took over the scene, and B was wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher. "The wounded B," Chris said dramatically as the ambulance doors shut and it drove off, leaving the four Grips to watch with varying levels of concern. "What will become of him?" The shot zoomed out, showing the Gaffers standing nearby as well, Sammy and Beth also looking worried. "Stay tuned to find out!" Chris said, popping up in the foreground with a grin on his face, earning a glare from most of the remaining castmates.
(Fade to Commercial and Back)
The deep and dramatic music continued as soon as the footage cut back to a shot of a water tower, the camera slowing panning down to the film lot's waterfront area. A submarine had been suspended from the arm of a crane, which ran along the top of the screen and was supported on the right by a structure built adjacent to a dock where the cast and host stood. Two sections of the submarine's outer wall had been made transparent, allowing full view of a pair of rooms within; there appeared to be hatches on the top and bottom leading into and out of each compartment. In the water below the submarine were two inflated rafts, roughly aligned with the 'windows'.
"Is B gonna be okay?" DJ asked with concern as the camera focused on him.
"Oh, B's fine," Chris reassured the group. "A few broken bones but he's been put in a splint now. Shouldn't take more than six to eight weeks to heal!"
"Oh no," Beth said, "it's that bad?!"
"I mean," the host quickly corrected, "he's doing fine!" None of the cast looked like they believed him.
xxx
"That's what release forms are for," Chris whined in the confessional trailer, holding up one of the forms. "Correctamundo?" he asked the camera.
xxx
"Alright!" the host said as the camera began to zoom out. "Now it's time for the second disaster-themed challenge." The two teams were shown to have boarded the life rafts, the grips on the left and the Gaffers on the right. "Who's excited?"
Neither the Grips nor the Gaffers gave him any response other than an annoyed glare, and cricket chirps were heard as the camera panned from one to the other.
"Because of B's win," Chris continued with a smile, "the Grips have the advantage of getting this handy-dandy piece of paper for the second disaster challenge." He took a seemingly blank piece of paper out from behind his back, rapidly folded it into a paper airplane, and threw it over to the team who'd won it. The camera followed it as it flew through the air, passed over the heads of the four Gaffers, made a loop-the-loop, and eventually got snatched out of the air by an unamused Jo.
The jock-ette unfolded it, showing a small string of roman numerals, and quickly furrowed her brow. "What? Hey, it's just a bunch of numbers! How's this supposed to help us?"
"Perhaps it's some sort of...code?" Dawn suggested after a bit of thought.
"Okay, time to get inside!" Chris announced.
"Do we have to?" Beth asked with a hesitant look towards the submarine. "It doesn't exactly look comfortable."
"Would you do it for a million bucks?" the host asked with a sly look.
The bespectacled girl exchanged a shrug with Sammy. "Well, I guess I've already come this far."
/
The footage flashed forward, showing each team in one of the submarine's two visible compartments. "Anyone else getting a bad feeling about this?" Sammy asked her team as her eyes darted around the room. The sound of sonar pinging in the background was quickly joined by the wailing of a klaxon as lights around the submarine began to flash red. Various shot of hatch wheels, pipes, each team's feet, and the startled faces of DJ, Scarlett, and Sammy were shown.
"What's going on now?" Jo demanded with a hint of panic in her voice.
"I don't know," Dawn answered nervously, "it's too dark to see! This isn't good..."
"For this challenge," Chris announced over intercoms in each room, "you've gotta get out before it's too late."
"Too late for what?" Lightning asked as the footage changed to a monitor feed of the Gaffers, the camera pulling back a few other monitors next to it showing close-ups of Topher, Jo, and DJ. Chef was sitting in front of them inches away from the camera, looking back at the monitoring console out of the corner of his eyes.
"Oh, you'll find out," Chris told them with a laugh as Chef nodded.
The viewpoint shifted to show the host and his assistant sitting at a table playing cards in the control room. "Pick up two," Chef said, placing a card on the table himself as the handsome host drew another pair.
"You mind cranking that lever?" Chris asked, and his hulking associate quickly complied.
As soon as the lever was pulled water began to flow heavily through a network of pipes, causing them to drip at various joints. More ominously, water started pouring into the submarine's compartments via a grate in the floor. It quickly began to pool around Scarlett's feet, and she looked down with shock and unease.
"This isn't good," she said plainly.
"I wish Brady were here," Beth said. "He's a registered lifeguard!"
"I sincerely doubt he'd be of any help," Scarlett said bluntly as she began trying to look around the poorly-lit room, "since if we do start to drown it'll mean we're trapped in here."
/
"This is just great," Jo grunted as she tried to turn a hatch wheel on the wall to no avail. "Stuck here in the dark, water rapidly filling up the place, and our techie's stuck in the infirmary!"
"And this water is freezing!" DJ squealed, looking antsy in the foreground. "How the heck are we supposed to get outta here?"
"Hey hey, no worries!" Topher said, the camera panning over to him walking casually through the water. "Chris isn't just gonna let us die here, we're too important!" He noticed a cardboard box sitting on a nearby table, and opened it up with a grin. "See, just the tools we need!" he said, taking several flashlights out of the box and turning them on.
"How'd you find those so quickly?" Jo asked as she caught the light that was tossed to her.
Topher shrugged and started searching around with his light. "What can I say? I just have good night vision. Not something I'll probably need once I'm hosting my own show, but I'm not complaining!"
"Having good night vision makes sense, considering how much time you've-" Dawn began to say before Topher quickly dashed over with a panicked look on his face and covered her mouth.
"That's, uh, that's really not important right now," the pretty boy said. "Or, uh, ever. Hey!" he said with a sudden forced smile, directing his light beam to a hatch in the middle of the room. "Maybe that's the way out?"
"I think there's an exit up there, too!" DJ added, shining his light on the ceiling hatch above them.
/
"There must be some means of exit in here," Scarlett said as she and Sammy blindly looked around the room, while Beth and Lightning attempted to open two of the wall hatches without success.
"C'mon...," Lightning muttered as he tried to force his hatch wheel to turn. He gave another grunt of exertion and slipped, falling forward into the Gaffers' cardboard box. "Sha-Lightning!" he exclaimed in delight, holding up the flashlights he'd accidentally discovered. "Okay girls, let's get in the game!" he declared, tossing each of his teammates a flashlight.
"Oh em gee, I think I found something!" Sammy said in excitement as she and Scarlett shined their lights on the ceiling hatch.
"Same here!" Beth added as she illuminated the floor hatch and bent down to get a closer look. "It's a combination lock!"
"Then we'd better work quickly," Scarlett said, bending down and putting her hand on the dial.
/
The camera cut to a close-up of Jo turning the dial on the floor hatch while DJ stood behind her shining his light down on it. "Uggh," she grunted as she finally let go, "it's a freaking combination lock!"
"The numbers on the paper!" Dawn said immediately. "It must be the combination!"
"Huh," Jo said blankly, rooting around in her pocket and taking out the crumpled-up note and shining her light on it.
"See, I knew Chris would give us the tools to get out," Topher said with a confident smile, walking over to the jock-ette. "Go on, tell us the numbers," he told her expectantly.
"Yeah yeah," Jo replied as she flipped the note upside-down and back again, "just give me a second, will ya?"
"Uhh, I don't think we have a second!" DJ said in rising panic, the water already well up his legs and nearly covering the floor hatch.
"It's either...," Jo squinted, "3-1-11-3-6-2," she rattled off before flipping the paper again, "or 2-6-3-9-1-3. Hard to tell with such terrible handwriting."
"Well, better get crackin'!" Topher said with a cheesy smile. Jo rolled her eyes, and barged past him to crouch down by the dial.
"Great," she muttered after looking it over for a second, "these numbers are freaking tiny! Somebody give me a light."
"On it," Topher told her, shining an extra light down on the dial. "Now which number are we going for first?"
"Hold on, let me double check," Jo told him, taking the note back out of her pocket. She moved her light onto it, and Topher did as well, but ended up shining his beam directly into her eyes – she squinted and reflexively moved her hands to block it, but in doing so lost her grip on the note.
"Crap..." she muttered, picking up the now soggy and unreadable note out of the water as Topher smiled sheepishly.
/
The scene flashed over to a close-up of the Gaffers' dial as Scarlett turned it back and forth and her teammates watched in silence. The water rose above her head and she came up with a gasp. "This isn't working!" she said in frustration. "How am I supposed to determine the combination with the water rising so rapidly?"
xxx
"Even without knowing the exact structure of the locking mechanism," Scarlett informed the confessional camera, "I could have been able to decipher the combination if given enough time. Of course," she scowled, "that would require I not drown first."
xxx
"Maybe we could, I don't know, boost each other up there?" Sammy suggested, her light shining on the ceiling hatch.
"Seems worth a shot," Beth said, shrugging along with Lightning. The athlete held out his hands to give Sammy a foothold, boosting her up onto his shoulders before Beth climbed up them to the top.
She strained to reach for the hatch, but it was still too high up. "It's no use!" she told her teammates. "We're gonna need Scarlett up here too-whoa-oah!" As she spoke she made another attempt at reaching out, but only managed to cause the three to lose their balance and collapse into the water.
"Well now what?" Lightning asked in annoyance.
"My boyfriend used to do underwater photoshoots, and he taught me how to hold my breath for a really long time!" Beth suggested.
"That...doesn't sound like it'll help us escape...," Sammy told her uncertainly just before Scarlett emerged from the water with another gasp.
"What are you all doing?" she asked them.
"We were trying to open the door on the ceiling," Sammy said, "but-"
"Just wait until the water level reaches the point where you can float up there," Scarlett told her. "But before that, help me look for something I can use as a tool."
/
"Does anybody else have a plan to get us out of this death trap?" Jo asked her teammates, all four floating idly in the water.
"Shouldn't we just keep tryin' that combination?" DJ said with a tremble in his voice.
"If you wanna keep holding your breath and fiddling with that dial, be my guest," Jo told him. "But I'm not convinced it's the only way out."
"Well, while you're doin' that, I'm gonna try that combination again," DJ said in a panic before taking a deep breath and plunging under. The camera followed him as he awkwardly sank to the bottom, a flashlight in his hand and the legs of his floating teammates dangling around him. He turned the light on and got to work on the dial, but only managed to get it turned twice before his breath ran out and he was forced to surface.
"Wait, of course!" Topher exclaimed as the gentle giant emerged with a gasp. "How could we forget about that?!" He pointed to the ceiling hatch with a grin, and with the current water level was able to grab onto it along with Jo.
"Wait, stop!" Dawn cried out. "You mustn't open that, it's filled with negative energy!"
"This whole place is filled with negative energy!" Jo countered as she and Topher pried the hatch cover open.
A shark stuck its head out of the opening with a roar, and the two Grips who had opened it quickly closed it again, eyes wide with shock.
"I take that back," Jo said, backing away from the hatch slowly.
/
"Almost...there...," the overachiever grunted as he forced the wheel of the ceiling hatch to turn, excitedly exclaiming "Sha-Lightning!" when it finally opened.
He immediately shrieked and slammed it shut when a jet of fire came forth from the opening. "That wasn't safe at all!"
"Yeah," Sammy agreed, shaking in fear.
"We gotta keep trying, though!" Beth told them from off to the side of the room.
/
The scene cut to the control room, with footage of the Gaffers continuing what they'd been doing on the monitors.
"Fire, huh?" Chris said with a hint of nervousness. "Don't you think that's a bit much?"
Chef shrugged.
xxx
"Seriously, I just got back here!" Chef told the confessional camera angrily. "Why do I gotta immediately bust my hump for those kids, and after all the trouble they've caused me too?" He slammed a fist onto the table, scattering a few make-up brushes. "Don't I deserve a little me time?"
xxx
Close-ups of Beth, Dawn, DJ, and Lightning were now being shown on the monitors, each one looking with dread at the water that was now up to their necks or shoulders.
"Really, it might be time to end the challenge," Chris said with rising concern. "The water's getting pretty high, and, uh, those kids are terrible swimmers!"
"Focus!" Chef shouted. "I want my chips back," he said calmly, pointing to a tall canister on the table, "I'm starvin'." He casually tossed a single chip into his mouth.
"This is getting serious," Chris told him, "tur-turn off the water!"
Chef rolled his eyes and shook his head, but reached for the lever anyway. It quickly snapped off in his hand, and Chris gasped. "We've gotta get the cast outta there!" he said, standing up in panic as the music began to rise tensely. "Simple formula! No more contestants equals no more episodes equals no paycheck, and the end of my luxurious lifestyle!"
"Texas Hold 'Em?" Chef asked after dropping the broken lever and shuffling their deck of cards.
"You're not hearing me!" the host exclaimed, holding his head in exasperation.
"What, Gin Rummy?" Chef asked again, holding up a hand of cards with an unconcerned expression.
/
A shot from just below the surface of the water showed Dawn and Topher treading it just before DJ came up for air.
"You making any progress down there?" Jo asked him.
"I've got no idea!" DJ said in a panic. "It's hard enough tryin' to see the numbers through the water, but now my flashlight's stopped workin' too!" He held up the light, clicking its switch to no effect.
"So what, are we just gonna die in here?" the jock-ette asked angrily.
"No, that can't be true!" Dawn said. "I read my tea leaves this morning, and I didn't see anything about us dying!"
"They're leaves," Jo countered, "what the heck would they know?!"
"A lot," Dawn shot back. "The have predicted so much that's happened this season! The danger that would have befallen Geoff and Bridgette had they stayed, DJ losing everything if he worked with Chef, even that a great secret would be revealed tonight!" Her teammates looked at her, and each other, in shock. "Believe me, if we were going to die here, the Universe would have told me!"
"Hate to ruin the mood," Topher spoke up, "but we still need to find a way out. Dawn, couldn't you, I don't know, talk to that shark guarding the other exit?"
Dawn furrowed her brow in confusion. "Shark? What shark?"
"The...the one in the ceiling, Dawn," Topher replied with disbelief. "The negative energy you tried to warn us about, remember?"
The blonde stared at him. "Odd, I didn't sense anything alive up there..."
The other three Grips shared a look, and the footage flashed forward to show the boys opening the hatch cover back up. Sure enough the shark popped out and roared again...and just stayed there with it's mouth hanging open.
Jo scowled, then gave it a heavy left hook that broke the mechanical head clear off.
/
The footage cut back to the control room where Chris was watching the Grips with tense worry. "Brilliant!" he said with forced relief. "They've figured out the shark's a fake! It won't cause the water to drain, but at least one team is safe. Hopefully," he said with slightly more panic, "the Gaffers can find a way out too, and I'll still have a paycheck!" He quickly hugged Chef, who'd been playing cards by himself and looked annoyed at the sudden contact.
/
"There's no other option but to force it open!" Scarlett told her teammates. "Grab something heavy or sharp and come with me!"
Beth, Sammy, and Lightning shared a worried look, the water rising dangerously close to the ceiling. They each took a deep breath and dove under, and once they'd done so a song reminiscent of action and intrigue began in the background. A montage was shown, beginning with clips scrolling across the screen of each of the four Gaffers grabbing something from around their flooded room. Beth and Sammy each picked up one of the flashlights that had been dropped at some point, while Scarlett and Lightning each broke a section of thin pipe off the wall. Chris was shown watching them nervously from the safety of his control room, and at their leader's direction they began to beat on the dial of the floor hatch one by one.
Chris was shown covering his eyes in fear and anxiety, peeking out just long enough to gape. The clips moved to the Grips as Jo and DJ tore the rest of the mechanical shark out of their ceiling exit, the room almost completely filled. A split screen formed, the top continuing the footage of the Grips as Jo climbed into the cleared hole, while below the Gaffers continued to beat on the floor hatch. As Lightning and Sammy went back up for air, Dawn and Topher made their way up and out. The camera on the Gaffers focused in on the dial as cracks began to form in it and its base, and DJ squeezed himself into the Grips' exitway.
The top switched over to the control room as Chris bit his nails, the bottom changing to Chef calmly playing solitaire. The two shots separated vertically, and footage of the Gaffers took over the screen once again. As Scarlett and Beth came back down from their own breath, Lighting and Sammy broke the dial off and Lightning managed to shove his pipe into the mechanism it was covering. Together the four pulled on it, and the background music reached a triumphant peak as they managed to lift the lid open just enough for Beth to jam her flashlight through the torrent of air bubbles streaming up from it and into the gap.
Scarlett and Lightning quickly moved their longer tools into it as well, and with a bit more effort they succeeded in prying the lid completely open. A larger cloud of bubbles briefly covered the screen, and when they dissipated Scarlett was swimming out the gap with Lightning, Beth, and Sammy following after.
Back in the control room, the background music came to an end as Chris pumped his fist. "Wooo-hoo-hoo! Yeah, mmm, mmm!" He cheered, doing a joyous dance around the room while Chef watched in annoyance and ate his chips.
/
The footage cut back outside as the four Gaffers dropped out of the submarine with a torrent of water. They surfaced quickly, and grabbed onto the nearby life raft even quicker.
"Oh em gee," Sammy said in relief, moving a lock of hair out of her eyes, "we really did it!"
"Yeah," a voice laughed from above, "too bad you didn't win!" The four Gaffers looked up, and the shot cut to Jo and the other soaking-wet Grips sitting on top of the submarine by an open hatch cover. DJ and Dawn waved sheepishly, while Topher just gave them a cheeky wink and finger pistol.
"Awww," Beth sighed as she and Sammy looked disappointed. Lightning slapped the water in frustration, and Scarlett merely leveled a glare at the other team.
/
A flash took the scene to a close-up of a roaring fire outside the cast trailers. It was now dark out, and all eight who had competed in the second challenge were sitting around it in bathrobes, the Grips on the left and the Gaffers on the right. Additionally, Sammy, Beth, Scarlett, Dawn, and Topher each had a towel wrapped around their hair.
"Well, that was a pretty exciting day, huh?" Chris told them as he walked past the glaring Grips with a reverent tune playing in the background. "Looks like another reward for the Grips. Seems like the Gaffers are a tad overdue. But," he paused to laugh, "I wouldn't hold my breath!" Beth and Sammy glared at him and his pun.
"And now let's see what the Grips have won!" Chris said once he stopped laughing, pulling a card out of his shirt. "Ohhh!"
The shot flashed to Chef in his sparkly pink dress standing in front of a curtain that was quickly pulled back to reveal a scene of a city on the water, with mountains in the background and a totem pole in the fore. "An all-expenses paid trip to beautiful British Columbia!" The shot flashed again, now showing a close-up of a small cabin bathed in red light and steam, an odd and low bubbling noise in the background. "That's right, you'll be staying at the luxurious inn, 'On the Volcano'!" The camera pulled back, revealing that the cabin was indeed located so far over the mouth of an active volcano that it looked like it would fall in at the slightest provocation. "A charming lodge, teetering on the edge of a little-known active volcano, on Vancouver Island."
The Grips looked at him with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "To get you there," the host continued as the scene flashed to Chef, dressed in a traditional German costume and accompanied by an unseen yodeler, hiking up the side of a mountain. "You'll be enjoying an exhilarating eight-day hike up the craggy, treacherous-"
Both the host and the various background sounds were interrupted by a record scratch and an angry outburst from Jo. "Not a chance!"
xxx
"Seriously, we could have drowned back there!" Jo said in the confessional. "Good thing none of us, especially me, were willing to give up and die in this dump."
xxx
"Honestly, risking actual death if we couldn't find the way out?" Topher told the camera before shaking his head in disappointment. "That's just sloppy challenge design! And here I've come to expect more from Chris. Though it could just be Chef's fault," he said, tapping his chin in thought. "I mean, I for one wouldn't put it past the man to have cut corners setting up, especially given how mad he's been since he came back."
xxx
"Umm, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we'd prefer refreshments for our reward," Dawn told the host. "Chips and pop, preferably."
"Suit yourselves," Chris replied, putting the card back in his shirt pocket. "More money for my end-of-the-year bonus!"
xxx
"We go through two disaster challenges and nearly die," DJ confessed with disbelief, "and the dude thinks we'll wanna go stay at a volcano?" He shook his head and made tutting sounds. "That's just messed up right there."
xxx
DJ and Jo clinked soda bottles together as they, Dawn, and Topher enjoyed their reward at the picnic table outside the rebuilt craft services tent. The camera quickly panned to the left past the sulking Gaffers, and stopped on Chris wheeling B up in a wheelchair. The large boy's coat had been replaced by a figure-of-eight splint around his shoulders and a sling for his right arm, and he was looking annoyed and bored.
"Hey," the host whispered to him, "if you promise not to sue, I'll make sure you get well compensated, okay?"
B rubbed his chin in thought, then made an 'okay' sign with his left hand. "Good," Chris told him before helping the boy out of the wheelchair. "We'll iron out the details later, but for now you can go enjoy your reward." B nodded and walked over to his team, leaving Chris to wipe the sweat off his brow.
The footage skipped forward to the silent boy joining his teammates in their celebration. "Welcome back, Silent Treatment," Jo greeted as DJ handed him a bottle of pop with a smile; B gave them a smile and nod in return before he began to drink. "Good to see you're still as quiet as always," Jo added. "Speaking of which," she turned her attention to the petite blonde nearby, "Dawn, didn't you say something about some kinda secret being revealed tonight?"
Dawn immediately tensed up, as did two of her male teammates. "Oh, right, yes," she answered in a stilted fashion. "It must've slipped my mind. Perhaps...I should double check my tea leaves! I'll be right back..."
As she dashed off to the left, DJ cleared his throat. "You know what?" he said, trying to hide his nervousness. "It's gettin' late, so I'm gonna hit the sack." He dashed off to the left as well.
"Y-yeah," Topher added, "I'm gonna get some sleep too, right after I go do something else I, uh, forgot about..." He scurried off in a different direction than his two teammates, leaving Jo and B alone and looking rather bewildered.
xxx
Topher drummed his fingers nervously on the make-up trailer's counter, his eyes not meeting the camera for a few seconds. "Yeah, the last thing I need right now is to have people interested in my secrets. Not, uh, that I'm hiding anything," he added with a nervous chuckle. "It's just that I have a future career to keep in mind, I don't need people knowing about my criminal rec-" He stopped himself in mid-syllable, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Without a word, he scrambled out of the camera's view and the footage cut to static.
It resumed briefly, the confessional now empty but the camera filming it shaking violently. "Gimme that tape!" Topher was heard demanding in desperation, accompanied by faint sounds of struggle and the camera being moved around before the footage cut back to static.
xxx
"Well," Chris said with a shocked look in the control room as the dramatic end-of-episode theme began to play, "that was interesting. Looks like there's more to Topher than meets the eye! What will become of this revelation?" he asked the camera with a smile. "Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Action!" The shot zoomed out, showing Chef still playing solitaire at a table in the corner.
(Fade to Credits)
Author's Note - Post Script
As at least one reviewer guessed, it was B who received the manifesto-based injury. However, since B breaking his jaw doesn't have nearly the same effect as the same happening to Owen in canon, I opted for something a little different. You'll have to wait to see what comes of it.
I'm not quite certain I gave Chef a satisfactory level of post-return anger, especially since I know a bunch of you were looking forward to it. I did try to increase it a bit with his lines throughout the challenge, but as i said I'm uncertain if it was enough. Let me know what you think!
As for the challenge itself...well, the second part at least. Obviously I couldn't give them the easy way out through preserving the combination, but I didn't want a rehash of the canon episode - thus no bendy straws to help someone open the lock. Both teams still got free in what I do feel were fairly good ways, and I hope you all feel the same way.
And...well, I'm sure there's a few other things you're interested in hearing about, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait!
I'll see you all next week!
- Fangren
Appendix: TSA Eliminated Contestants
Geoff - (Tied for 14th Place)
Bridgette - (Tied for 14th Place)
Shawn - (13th Place)
Alejandro - (12th Place)
Sierra - (11th Place)
Beardo - (10th Place)