(a/n) glad to finally have this chapter done. I had a hard time writing it because the challenge was difficult to think through, which is also the reason its a single chapter challenge, though this is longer than most chapters. the next challenge will be easier to write because it'll let me get in some character development and do the challenge at the same time. so, anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Episode 13: Truth or Doom
"Last time one Total Drama Dynamite some stuff happened." Chris yawned. "There. Can I go back to bed now?"
Steve sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Chris wasn't being very cooperative that morning. First he was late for the morning recap shoot, then he refused to work until a cup of coffee was brought to him, during the first take a fish jumped out of the lake and landed in his hair (not his fault, true, but he was annoying as ever when he started complaining), and to top things off the take Chris had just wasted was their fourth try. "C'mon, Chris. We've got to get this done." Steve insisted. Chris muttered something vile under his breath and Steve rolled his eyes. "Take five."
Suddenly Chris's angry expression faded and he returned to his usual smirk. "Last time on Total Drama Dynamite… A fan favorite challenge returned from season one… make way for Phobia Factor! Each of our remaining fifteen campers had to face their worst fear. We started off by stranding Nicholas in the middle of the lake. Then we let Ayame have fun with some wolves. From there the irrational fears ranged from Tak's fear of country music to Jason's fear of tuna fish to Sakura's fear of getting her hair cut. Ultimately, though, props went to Kyra who went face to face with a crazed Chef with a gun and ripped him a new one! Curiously, Harper wasn't given a challenge, prompting his teammates to vote him off. As it turned out, though, he actually faced his fear in the previous episode when he got over his fear of girls and started dating Ayame. After realizing this, the rest of the Eagles immediately regretted it. See, not only was Harper smart… but now Ayame is maaaaaaaaad!
"Today, our campers are going to have to face humiliation or… well, you'll see. They say that happiness lies in truth. You'll find out why today on Total… Drama… Dynamite!" the annual explosions went off and Steve shut off the camera, allowing Chris to return to his irritated mood. "Finally!" Chris groaned.
"Okay, what crawled up your ass?" Steve demanded. "You've been in this mood all morning, so I'm guessing that either you have one serious hangover, you just lost a big bet, or something is literally up your ass!"
Chris groaned and sat down on the edge of the dock. "You got two out o three right. Big party last night."
"Ah… so which ones did I get right?" Steve snickered.
"Shut up."
~LATER~
"You okay, Ayame?" Kyra asked.
Ayame looked up to Kyra from her place on her bed, lying on her stomach with her face half buried in her pillow and her arms underneath it. It had been three days since Harper was voted off the island and she was still upset about it. At first she'd been enraged by what had happened and took her anger out on her team mates, mostly be using her karate moves to send them flying halfway across the island. But after a few hours and a good nights sleep her anger subsided to her current state: constant sulking. She hadn't said much of anything since Harper left other than "thank you" to Chef when he gave her food. She responded to Kyra's question simply by groaning.
"C'mon, cheer up, Ayame." Kyra insisted. "It was bound to happen eventually."
Ayame sighed and sat up, making eye contact with the blond girl. "I just didn't expect him to go so soon… or for such a stupid reason."
"I get it." Kyra assured her. "We over reacted. We didn't really have a reason for voting Harper off other than he didn't contribute to the challenge as far as we knew. But that doesn't change the fact that he's gone now. Now get up. It's challenge day and I can only guess what Chris has in store for us."
Ayame sighed and stood up. "Fine." She agreed reluctantly. "Just let me get dressed. I'll meet you and the others in the mess hall in five minutes."
"All right." Kyra agreed.
Kyra exited the cabin, finding TJ waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. He smiled when he saw her and gave a brief wave. Kyra smiled back. They walked together as they made their way to the mess hall. "So, is Ayame doing any better?" TJ asked.
"I think so." Kyra said. "She's still a little depressed, but she's at least leaving the cabin for the challenge today. I'd say that's good sign."
"Let's hope so." TJ said. "We're two people behind, so we can't afford to lose this challenge. And Ayame's one of our strongest players, so we need her at her best."
"Well, unless today's challenge involves fighting your own teammates to the death I doubt she'll be at her best." Kyra admitted. "She's definitely in the mood for a little revenge."
Other than Ayame, Kyra and TJ were the last to arrive at the mess hall. They quickly grabbed their breakfast, something that looked like biscuits and gravy, and sat next to each other at their teams table. Jason and Sakura sat across from them, discussing what they thought the days challenge would be while Lena sat next to Kyra, looking over at Chris, who was looking over some papers, with an obsessed gaze. Over at the other table Tak and Nicholas were arm wrestling with Payton, Penny, Ashlynn, Dylan, and Allister all standing around them cheering on who they thought would win. Russell sat at the other end of the table, listen to his MP3 player as he brushed Mr. Muggles's fur. Allister's tarantula, Jeremy, say on his shoulder. Chef was busy in the kitchen and Steve the camera guy was busy setting up his equipment. A few minutes after Kyra and TJ arrived, all went silent as Ayame stepped through the door, giving everyone that looked at her an irritated glare. She didn't bother getting food. She just got a cup of coffee and sat down at the Eagle teams table across from Lena.
It couldn't have been sixty seconds later that Steve told Chris everything was ready and Chris, fixing his hair one last time, got everyone's attention. "All right, everybody, let's get this party started. Everyone head to the amphitheater. I'll explain what we're doing on the way." Everyone got up and followed Chris out the door, Steve walking backwards in front of them, keeping his camera steadily on Chris the hold time. "So, I'm guessing all of you have played Truth or Dare once or twice, am I wrong?" Most of the campers blushed, embarrassed as them reminisced those embarrassments. Only TJ and Ashlynn chuckled at the memories. "Well, today we'll be playing a variation of the game. I give you…"
They arrived at the amphitheater to find it had been set up to look something like a game show from the seventies or eighties. There was a podium set up in the center, obviously for Chris. On either side of the podium there were a set of desks, six painted black for the Shrieking Eagles on one side and eight painted gold for the Raging Moose on the other. As Chris took his place behind the podium and the teams took their seats, he snapped his fingers. The curtains behind his pulled apart, revealing a banner hanging from the rafters with the title of the challenge printed on it. "Truth… or… Doom!" Chris announced. "Here's how it's going to work. In each round, both teams will nominate someone to take the challenge. The two nominees will then agree on taking a physical challenge or answering an embarrassing question. Failure to complete the challenge or answer the question truthfully will result in the loser being sent to… the Pit of Despair!" Chef then stepped onto the stage dressed as a medieval executioner, with everything from the black hood to the battle axe. "Executioner Hatchet will escort the losers to the Pit of Despair where they will be subject to unspeakable horror. Once one entire team is inside the pit the game is over."
"What kind of unspeakable horror are we talking about?" Penny asked.
"Let's just say that death would be sweet relief." Chris chuckled.
"Could it be considered attempted murder in any degree?" Nicholas questioned.
"Surprisingly, no. Now, let's get started!"
On Chris's order, the two teams huddled together to figure out who they would send up first. They had no way of predicting the difficulty of the challenges, figuring that Chris would pick them at random. Both teams only knew that they had to save their best players for last. But knowing how unpredictable Chris was, sending out someone expendable right away might not be such a good idea either. In the end, Jason and Ashlynn were the first pair to be sent up.
"Okay, Jason and Ashlynn, choose." Chris said with an evil grin. "Truth or dare?"
They didn't even need to discuss it. "Dare." they said in unison.
"All right." Chris reached under his podium and dug around for a few seconds. He pulled a small paper out and read what was on it. "Oh! One of my favorites!" he grinned. "Take a punch… from a professional wrestler."
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"I thought Chris said physical challenges." Ashlynn complained. "Taking a punch from a pro wrestler? First it's mental torture because you know it's going to hurt, then if you go through with it it's physical torture. I just want to say I didn't cry."
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"Best day I've had on the island so far." Jason said. He now sported a black eye, a severely bruised cheek, a neck brace, an arm in a cast and sling, a white bandage wrapped around his head, and a trail of dried blood coming from his nose. He was also in a wheelchair.
~END CONFESSIONAL~
An enormous, muscular man stepped onto the stage, wearing black leather pants and a denim vest. He had long, dirty blond hair and a goatee of the same color and he easily stood six and a half feet tall. He cracked his knuckles and chuckled darkly as he eyed Jason and Ashlynn. "Meet Black Mamba." Chris said. "He'll be smashing your face in today."
Jason and Ashlynn both went wide eyed. "You've got to be kidding me." They both said.
"Nope. So who wants to go first?"
Surprisingly, there was no wait. No argument. Not even an awkward pause. Everyone gasped as soon as Jason stepped up to the plate. "I'll do it." He said without hesitation. "I'm from New York. I've seen worse."
"Are you crazy?" Sakura demanded.
"What part of from New York don't you get?" Jason questioned. He then turned to the professional wrestler before him, looked him square in the eye, and took a few steps forward. "All right, Black Mamma's Boy, give me your best shot." He pointed to his cheek. "Right here." The big man just growled and stretched his arm back, clenching his fist tightly. Then he swung his fist forward, hitting Jason right where he'd pointed to. Jason fell backwards onto his back. TJ, Kyra, and Sakura all ran over to help him to his feet, but they cringed when they say his face. His nose was bleeding, his cheek was severely bruised, and his neck was at a weird angle, but other than that he was okay.
"How many fingers do you see, dude?" TJ asked, holding three fingers up in front of Jason's face.
"Fairy dust and bacon." Jason mumbled deliriously.
"He'll be fine." Black Mamba said. "I didn't hit him that hard.
"Okay, good job, Jason. You can go back to your seat." Chris said.
"Finland!" Jason shouted as TJ and Sakura hauled him back to their team.
"All right, Ashlynn, your turn."
All eyes turned to the brown haired girl and Black Mamba cracked his knuckles. Ashlynn gulped. After seeing what he'd done to Jason, she wasn't so sure she could go through with it. "You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" she asked, giggling nervously.
"You kiddin'?" Black Mamba asked. "I knocked three divas unconscious when they ganged up on me in the right last week."
"But I'm not a pro wrestler!"
"You agreed to anything this show can dish when you signed that contract, girly. Now just sit still and this'll be over real quick." Black Mamba said as he stretched his arm back. But as he swung forward, Ashlynn ducked under the attack. "Your funeral." The wrestler said as Ashlynn rose back to her feet… as Chef walked up behind her, still in his executioner's costume. He picked her up by the waste and put her over his shoulder as he stomped off towards the forest. They quickly disappeared into the thicket of trees, Ashlynn kicking and screaming to be let down the whole way. Ashlynn's shouting slowly died away until all was silent. Then there was one last bloodcurdling scream before the game continued.
"Okay… moving on!" Chris said as Black Mamba left the stage. "Who's next?"
"Should we be worried about that scream?" Penny asked.
"C'mon, c'mon! Next two victims." Chris insisted. Lena and Russell were sent up. "Okay, you know the drill. Truth or dare."
Again, there was no thought given to the decision, but this time it was more out of a combination of Russell being horrified of the last dare and Lena being in a Chris worshiping trance. "Truth." Russell said. Lena just mumbled something, Chris's name barely able to be heard.
"Okay." Chris dug under his podium again, pulling out another small piece of paper. "Oh! Good one. Have you even made a fool of yourself on camera for money?"
"What do you think we've been doing since we got on this island?" Russell demanded.
It hit Chris like a ton of bricks. "Wow… we did not think that one through… Anyway, you answered truthfully, and I'm guessing Lena is incapable of answering, so you're both safe. Next?" After a brief argument, Russell and Lena returned to the podium, their teammates making the go back up due to them not getting a fair challenge. They picked truth again. "Let's see… Ohoh! The parents at home are going to love this one! Have you ever experimented with drugs or alcohol?"
Immediately Lena snapped out of her trance. "Yeah, I've had a few glasses of wine in my day." She admitted.
Russell just rolled his eyes. "Nope."
Suddenly, a loud buzzer went off and Chef returned to the stage. "You shouldn't lie about this stuff, Russell." Chris said.
"How could you possibly know if I'm lying?" Russell Demanded.
"I'm glad you asked." Chris said. "See, we had some extra money in the budget, so we had the entire stage floor converted into a giant lie detector! Not to mention you have a seriously bad poker face, bro."
Russell cursed under his breath as Chef escorted him into the woods. A few moments later he could be heard screaming as loudly as Ashlynn had earlier and then there was dead silence again. Chris chuckled. "Take a hint from dear Russell… Don't lie! Next?" Kyra and Nicholas stepped up to the podium. "Okay then, truth or dare?" they chose dare.
From there things went… interestingly, for lack of a better term. Nicholas and Kyra were both placed inside of a glass box full of starving mosquitoes. Needless to say, they both ran out itching like crazy and Chef escorted them to the pit where they let out bloodcurdling screams and then went silent. Then Payton and Ayame went up. Since Ayame was in no mood for games they went with Truth and ended up telling whether or not they'd played strip poker. Both said no. Both went free. Then TJ and Allister ended up being dared to jump into a pool full of piranhas. Allister managed to escape without a scratch. TJ was also unharmed… mostly because he didn't do it and was then taken to the pit.
As it turned out the pit wasn't actually a pit. It was just an old, abandoned cabin deep within the woods. But the screams that they'd heard were all too real. For waiting inside the cabin, aside from the other four who had been eliminated, was the worst torture of the modern age… High School Musical on a big screen TV with surround sound. "Noooooooooooooooooo!" TJ shouted. "It's unbearable!"
"You got that right, kid." Chef agreed as he threw TJ inside the cabin and slammed the door behind him.
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"I was expecting something vomit inducing when Chris said unspeakable horror." TJ complained. "But High School Musical? He might as well have given us the death penalty!"
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"Just look away, dude. It can't hurt you if you look away." It was Nicholas. TJ then noticed that the other four that had been eliminated all had their backs turned to the screen.
"Don't you guys think you're taking this a little far?" Kyra asked. "It's not that bad of a movie."
"Blasphemy!" everyone else in the room shouted.
"So, what brings you here, TJ?" Ashlynn asked.
"I didn't feel like getting eaten by Piranhas."
~AMPHITHEATER~
"C'mon. It's a simple yes or no answer, Sakura." Chris said. "Have you ever been to a nude beach?"
Sakura sighed. "Fine. I'm not getting eliminated over this. My family and I went to Spain a few years ago. I didn't know it was that kind of beach. I took two steps in, saw what was going on, and turned right back around. Happy?"
"Not necessarily, but you're not lying. So you're safe." Chris said.
"Perv." Sakura growled.
She went back to her seat, sitting between Jason (who was still out of it after the first dare) and Ayame (who was still barely speaking). Lena went up next since Jason was still unable to and it had been longest since she'd gone up. Her opponent was Penny. As Chris asked them the dreaded question, Sakura's thoughts drifted off, deciding not to pay attention. Her thoughts drifted from subject to subject until she heard Jason speak. He'd done it a few times before, mumbling something that made no sense, but this time his words actually made a legible sentence. "Am I alive?" Jason groaned.
Sakura smiled. "Well, you're awake. And last I checked the two go hand in hand. Do you think you're okay?"
Jason glanced over to her with his eyes, unable to turn his head because of the neck brace he now wore. "Depends." He said. "Is your hair green and are there two of you?"
"No."
"Then no… So how're we doing?"
"We're down four to five." Sakura explained. She glanced back over to the stage to find Lena and Penny doing some crazy stunt that she could only explain as riding a unicycle while juggling explosives. "And from the looks of things, you're next."
"Have you seen my condition?" Jason questioned, trying to raise the brow above his black eye. This resulted in his cringing in pain.
"Do I look like I care?" Sakura said, smiling mischievously.
Lena returned soon after that, her face covered in black soot. Jason, not feeling like arguing with Sakura, groaned and went up to the podium. "I'll get you for this, you pink haired witch." He said as Dylan joined him. When Chris asked them to choose, Jason was unfortunately still a little messed up from his last challenge, so he went with dare again, to everyone's surprise. Dylan just smirked, thinking he's just gotten the upper hand. But it was actually a good idea on Jason's part, since he wasn't in any condition to answer questions at the time. Chris dug under his podium again and quickly scanned the paper he pulled out with his eyes.
"Well, this should be interesting." He said. "Kiss someone that would normally repulse you… good luck with that." He chuckled as Dylan and Jason both went red in the face.
Everyone else's interest was peaked as Chris finished speaking and they turned their attention to Jason and Dylan. This was going to be interesting. Who would they choose, why would they choose that person, and the one that was on everybody's mind… did Chris mean one of them? Surprisingly, Dylan was the first to move. Without hesitation, he marched back over to his team's side of the stage, grabbed Payton by the shoulders, and pulled their lips together for a brief and unexpected kiss. As soon as it was over Dylan turned back to Chris. "Okay. I win." He said.
"What the hell, Dylan?" Payton shouted after the shock wore off. "I repulse you?"
"What?" Dylan questioned. "You're a girl and I'm gay. It's nothing personal."
Payton growled and slammed her fist on her desk. "Why you…"
"Son of a bitch."
Everyone turned to the one who'd spoken. Allister. He glared at Dylan briefly before getting up from his seat and walking off. "I'm out." He growled to Chris as he stepped off the stage. "And I don't want him following me."
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"I understand why Payton's mad." Dylan said to the camera in the old outhouse. "But Allister? I don't get it. He's admitted that how I feel about him is mutual and just needs some time and it was a challenge to kiss someone that repulsed me. I just don't understand what I did wrong."
~END CONFESSIONAL~
"Well… looks like Allister just fled the game." Chris said. "Still, you're safe Dylan. Or at least you are in the game. God only knows what Allister has in store for you later…. So, moving on. Jason, you're up."
"I'm in a neck brace." Jason pointed out. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to be putting my head against anything."
"So. You're forfeiting?" Chris questioned.
"Jason, I swear to god, if you loose this for us you are going home tonight!" he heard Sakura yell.
Jason, unable to move his neck, turned his entire body to glare at her and then turned back to Chris with a devious grin. "All right, I'll do it." With that Jason stomped over to his team's side of the stage and pulled Sakura into a kiss, which shocked her but everyone else just snickered knowingly. It was a bit more lingering than Dylan's kiss with Payton… but it also ended more dramatically… with Sakura punching Jason right in the eye. "What… the… hell?" she demanded.
Jason, holding his hand over his eye and rubbing the back of his neck, glared at her with his one unbruised eye. "What? We have been fighting practically since we got here."
Sakura glared at him with a low growl, but then a sly grin crossed her face. "I hate you." She said.
"Ditto." Jason said back. "So… uh…" then he collapsed, resulting in his head and arm slamming against Sakura's desk. A snap and a crunch could be heard.
"That can't be good." Chris said.
"Don't worry." Chef said as he walked up next to the TV host. "He signed an insurance form before the show started. He can't sue us."
"Dude! He's hurt! Get him to the infirmary!" Chris shouted.
"Oh, you're worried about that for once?" Chef chuckled before going over to Jason, cradling his unconscious body in his arms, and carrying him off to the medical tent. They waited for Chef to return and confirm that Jason would be okay before continuing the game.
The next few challenges went through without any problems. Dylan was eliminated for lying about ever kissing someone of the opposite gender, though the question was originally the same gender, Chris changed it for obvious reasons. Dylan actually eliminated himself on purpose, figuring that his team didn't want to see much of him at the moment. Next to take the fall were both Payton and Sakura who both refused to be used as targets for Chef's knife throwing practice. Then Lena was sent packing. The reason, Chris was getting annoyed by her constant staring at him so, instead of using the dare on the paper, he told her and Tak to stop looking at him, which she was unable to do. Then Penny was eliminated, not because she answered the question untruthfully, but because she refused to reveal whether she was a virgin or not. Because she didn't answer, she was eliminated. Ayame managed to make it through that challenge with a clear and truthful "No." Then it all came down to Ayame and Tak.
"All right, you two. This is it. This is for the win. Ayame, if you lose this it'll be your teams fourth lose in a row. Tak, it'll be your team's first loss in four challenges if you loose. Now you only have to answer one question… Truth or dare?"
"Whatever." Ayame grumbled.
Tak thought it over for a few seconds before picking dare. Chris dug under his podium again and when he saw the dare he'd picked, he grinned evilly and began chuckling. "Your dare is to… battle to the death!"
"What?" Tak and Ayame demanded, shocked.
"Kidding, kidding." Chris admitted. "The real dare is far worse… Watch the entire High School Musical trilogy!"
"I'm out." Tak said immediately.
"Well, that was quick." Chris said. "The Shrieking Eagles win!"
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"You seriously pissed me off today." Payton said to the camera before stuffing her vote in the box. "You could've at least have given me a warning."
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"Do I think I'm going home tonight?" Dylan said. "Nope. Only Payton and Allister are mad at me and that's two out of eight people. The others will be glad I stayed in the challenge as long as I could… right?"
~CONFESSIONAL CAM~
"You shouldn't have lied man." Tak said to the camera as he put his vote in the box. "But that's not the only reason I'm voting for you."
~BONFIRE CEREMONY~
"Let's see here…" Chris said with his signature grin as he eyed the plate of marshmallows on the podium before him. "Seven marshmallows and eight of you. So who doesn't get one?... Let's find you. One for Tak, one for Penny, one for Payton!" He tossed the fluffy white sugar balls to each of those called. "Nicholas, Russell, and Ashlynn, you're safe too."
Dylan glanced over to Allister who didn't return his gaze, instead staring blankly into the fire. "What's going on? Why is Allister here too?" Dylan questioned to his team mates.
"He gave up without being eliminated." Russell said bluntly.
"Come on, he was pissed off! Show some sympathy!" Dylan demanded. He then turned to Chris. "I don't care who got more votes. Give the last marshmallow to him. He doesn't deserve to be eliminated." As Dylan spoke, Allister looked over to him in shock and surprise. To his amazement his anger faded away almost instantly. Dylan didn't care about losing his chance at the prize… he just wanted to make sure that Allister wasn't eliminated for no reason.
Chris shrugged. "Fine. He was getting it anyway." He said as he tossed the marshmallow to Allister.
"Good." Dylan said. He stood up and stretched. "Well, it's been fun." He said as he started walking towards the Dock of Shame. But just before he was out of the fires light, he looked over his shoulder back to Allister. "I'm sorry, Allister. You too, Payton." With that, he left and boarded the Boat of Losers.
All of the other Moose left soon after, as did Chris, but Allister stayed behind at the bonfire for a while, watching as the Boat of Losers disappeared over the horizon. "I forgive you." He whispered quietly, a tear running down his cheek and falling to the ground.
~LATER~
"Why do I feel like I didn't deserve this?" Jason mumbled to himself. After all of the injuries he'd sustained during that day's challenge, Jason was stranded in a wheelchair with one arm in a sling and of course all of the injuries that he head had gotten. He was sitting on the Eagle Cabin porch, watching the lake water reflecting the moon and star light. It was calming, but still didn't do much to help with his still lingering, mild pain.
"Probably because you didn't." It was Sakura, just now exiting the girl's side of the cabin after making sure that Lena, Kyra, and Ayame were asleep.
"Well, look who it is." Jason chuckled. "Did you really have to punch me?"
"Excuse me for wanting to be convincing." Sakura said as she walked behind Jason and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I am sorry though."
"It's all right." Jason said. "It was me who thought it would be better if no one knew about us."
"Speaking of that…" Sakura moved to the side of Jason's wheel chair and knelt down, getting to eye level. "I… I'm tired of hiding it." She admitted. "I heard from Ashlynn that Dylan was sent home tonight. That makes two other couples that have been split apart now. I was thinking it might be nice to… you know, be open in front of the others about us… before one of us is sent home too."
Jason sighed and kept staring out to the lake, since he still couldn't turn his head. "I guess." He said. "I am getting tired of this pretend fighting we've been doing since we got together… when was that, again?"
"The day before the paintball challenge." Sakura reminded him. "Remember? We called a truce and then I grabbed your arm just before you left."
"Oh yeah." Jason said as it dawned on him. "A lot has happened since then."
"Yeah…" They were both silent for a while, just enjoying each others company as they both looked out to the lake for a pleasant moment. Then Sakura stood and stretched her arms. "Well, I'm going to bed." She said before bending over and kissing Jason on the cheek. "Good night."
"Mind wheeling me into the cabin?" Jason asked.
"Do it yourself." Sakura laughed as she closed the cabin door behind her.
"I only have one arm!" Jason shouted back.