...Oops. I am so sorry.
I'm gonna level with y'all: I've had this chapter written for about five years and frankly, forgot about it. I don't know if anyone who had any investment in this story is still on here. I have two other half-written chapters for this fic and I'm not quite sure where I was going with them anymore. But since I had this... I just wanted to post it, for some reason. I apologize again.
"Last time, on Total Drama!" Chris began. "Things were very exciting, and very shocking. Team We're Gonna Whoop Your Sorry Butts was merged into Team Awesome and Team Fashionista. For one thing, Xavier and Piper got along for a few minutes, which nobody saw coming, Cedric was rude to his new teammates as well as his old teammates, which everyone saw coming, and Ashley became more underhanded and got Anthony eliminated! What will happen this time? Find out on Total Drama: Surprises of the Island!"
The theme song played and the camera went to the teams eating "breakfast" in the mess hall.
At Team Awesome's table, Xavier was sitting as far away from Piper as he could, avoiding eye contact and avoiding speaking to her, still feeling awkward about getting along with her. Piper was chatting away with Alexis, ignoring Xavier, anyways. Jet was sitting next to Cedric, looking like his new miserable self. Cedric was eating the "food", ignoring everyone around him. Alek was attempting banter with Cedric and Jet, however, failing quite miserably, as neither one of them were talking. Lars, Nikki, Jenn, and Detgen were whispering quietly and frantically to each other.
At Team Fashionista's table, Sam and Seth were talking to each other, sitting at the end of the bench, casting suspicious glances at the rest of their team. Ashley had put a napkin on Jonathan's shoulder, and rested her hand there, whispering in his ear. Jonathan looked astonished that Ashley was getting so close to him. So astonished that he was just shoveling his breakfast in absentmindedly. And of course, Alison was bugging Andrew about leadership.
"Alright, Andrew. We lost the last challenge! I think it's time we delegate a leader! We need a leader!" Alison declared.
Andrew sighed. "Alison, I'm going to be straightforward with you. One, I hope you know I don't exactly trust you, right? So why are you implying to me that you ought to lead the team? Two, why are you implying that to me that you ought to lead the team? I'm not the designated leader or something. Three, I don't think we need a leader- Anthony got lost last challenge- there's nothing anyone can do about that, whether we have a leader or not. These things happen."
***Confessional***
Alison frowned and gritted her teeth. "That boy seems to be manipulating without knowing it! Ugh, that is so annoying! At least Ashley and Macy know their attempts. Andrew, however, doesn't, and that's a problem."
"A leader would be responsible for making sure that kind of thing didn't happen!" Alison protested. "And if something like that did in fact happen, we would have somebody to blame for it! I am taking a big risk offering to be leader- I will get held accountable for our problems! But it is a risk I am willing to take," she added with a tone of pride. "The team needs it."
"I'm sure you are, but we don't need a leader!" Andrew insisted.
"Somebody back me up here!" Alison snapped at her teammates.
"We need a leader." Ashley said lamely.
"Gee, thanks. Whoa, what!? You want to be a leader, why aren't you helping me more here!?" Alison said desperately.
"Hm, let me think. Maybe it's because I don't like you!" Ashley cackled.
"But you want to be leader, too!" Alison huffed.
"Yeah, but I'm not checking in with Andrew before I nominate myself." Ashley shrugged. "It's adorable you feel the need to do that, but who died and gave him delegating powers?"
Andrew rolled his eyes. "Oh, stop."
"But it's true!" Ashley insisted. "Don't you notice that she's the only one trying to get an "okay" from you before she starts manipulating or whatever?"
"Ashley..." Andrew said warningly.
"Are you implying that I like Andrew?" Alison screeched, disgusted. "I could never like that weirdo."
"Ahem, 'that weirdo' is right right here!" Andrew said, annoyed.
Alison grinned sweetly at him. "I know. Sweetie, you have no idea how aware of that fact I am."
"Look. We don't need a leader." Andrew sighed. "Can we stop this now?"
"No. We do need a leader. As I said, a leader can stop accidents like Anthony's from happening."
Andrew rested his head on his hand, elbow propped up on the table. "Alright, you manipulating the team is not my problem, but if things really start getting troublesome, it is going to be my problem. If that makes you leader in your head, you do what you have to do."
"Whoa, whoa!" Ashley interjected. "Are you basically giving Alison an 'okay' to lead the team? There's another capable person here to lead, as well!" she pointed at herself. "Namely, me!"
"And me!" Macy added.
Andrew frowned at the three of them. "This isn't my problem right now. Bicker all you want over this between yourselves."
"Thank you." Alison said, satisfied. "It is none of your business."
***Confessional***
Andrew just shook his head at the camera.
Over at Team Awesome's table, Lars, Detgen, Nikki, and Jenn were still talking to each other.
"Three challenges later and we are still dealing with this." Detgen commented miserably. "Why can't we get rid of Cedric?"
"Because he's smart. He's a crafty dude. Since he let Lars betray him, he's learned from his mistakes- he's not letting Jet out of his sight, and odds are Alek is going to end up becoming a full member of his alliance- Cedric's been persuading him to vote with them every time," Nikki told her. "And I think he and Alexis might have something going on. I've seen them sharing glances."
"Ugh." Detgen groaned.
"Is there anyone we could convince to join our alliance?" Jenn asked thoughtfully.
"Let's see now, Cedric is against us, Jet would probably die if he joined us, Alek appears to be siding with Cedric, Alexis might already be allying with Cedric, Piper does not seem like the person who would ally herself with anyone, and Xavier just doesn't listen. Odds are that he would have to be the head of the alliance. If he even took the situation seriously. And of course, we could note the other team, but, well, they'd be useless. They can't vote." Nikki said dryly.
"Just wondering." Jenn frowned.
Nikki sighed. "Sorry for being snarky, I'm just frustrated."
"Maybe we could try to get Alexis to join us?" Lars offered. "I mean, none of us are actually quite sure that she is in an alliance..."
"Well, maybe. I guess it doesn't hurt to at least check on that situation." Nikki shrugged. "I'll ask her today, if you like."
"Awesome! Thanks." Lars looked at his teammate gratefully.
"Good morning, campers!" Chris walked in.
"What is the life-threatening challenge you have prepared for us today?" Ashley asked miserably.
"Oh, something." Chris grinned evilly at them.
The contestants groaned.
"Last challenge, you climbed up the mountain, and today, you are going into the mountain!"
"So, there's something like a mine in the mountain?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes, nerdling!" Chris laughed.
"No mine carts!" Macy yelled out instantly.
"We'll see." Chris grinned again, and Macy groaned.
The teens followed Chris to the entrance of the mine.
"Here's the scoop. This mine wasn't actually planned on being built, so we really don't know what's down there- we only know that the builders did in fact build it, and they put some stuff in it. We were not able to send any interns in before you guys, because we couldn't afford it, because many of them are in the hospital and it is apparently our "legal right" or whatever to pay for the trips. Also, this just isn't important enough to use them for, so you guys get first dibs! But, we shall give each team a walkie-talkie, but, like the Amazon Challenge in Total Drama World Tour, they are for emergencies only. If one of you gets a boo-boo because you tripped or something, that does not count as an emergency. Since this will be a timed challenge, I decided for a punishment to fit the crime. To penalize your team if you use your walkie-talkie with no need to, five minutes will be added onto your final time when you get out of the mine." he tossed Cedric and Seth the walkie-talkies. He also tossed Macy, Andrew, Xavier, and Detgen flashlights. "Your time starts now!" he raised a timer in the air and pressed "start". The two teams ran into the mine.
"We're going to beat your sorry butts!" Ashley taunted Team Awesome.
Xavier frowned. "Not if we beat yours first!"
"You wish!" Alison said. "We're gonna whoop your sorry butts!"
Xavier narrowed his eyes and sprinted to the front of the group. He ran to the point where he was out of sight.
He came to a fork in the mine, and without waiting to contemplate (or waiting at all) with his teammates, sprinted down the left-hand path.
The larger group reached the fork in the mine.
"Where's Xavier?" Alexis asked.
"The moron went on ahead." Piper frowned. "XAVIER, GET BACK HERE, WE NEED TO SHARE THOSE FLASHLIGHTS!"
A faint reply came back, but it was incoherent and incredibly tough to tell which path it came from.
"Which way should we go?" Nikki asked, studying the paths.
Cedric took a deep breath and hollered, "XAVIER! GET YOUR SORRY *BEEP* OUT OF THE TUNNEL!"
Another faint reply came back.
Cedric groaned. "I have no idea where that came from."
"We figured." Piper said dryly.
"How about we just go right?" Jenn asked. "I mean, it's a fifty-fifty chance that we go down the right path. Plus, Xavier seems more like a "right" person."
"Okay, um, I feel like that logic needs to be argued with, but I have no idea how to." Cedric raised an eyebrow.
"How can you be a "right" person?" Detgen asked.
Jenn shrugged. "It just seems like something that can be done. It's like a gut feeling."
"Well, that's about as sensible as we'll probably get here. Right it is." Piper ushered them through the tunnel. "Let's go!"
"Safety in numbers?" Sam offered. "Right?"
"No way. I don't trust anything those guys think to be right." Ashley scoffed. "We go left."
They began to run down the tunnel.
After they were out of sight, a large bulldozer, driven by Chef, came in, pushing a large boulder in front of it. The bulldozer shoved the boulder against the left opening, and then Chef drove the vehicle out of the mine, and came back in, pushing another large boulder. He shoved this one up against the right opening. He then hopped out of the boulder, and he and Chris shared a good laugh.
"Whoa!" Sam gasped. "We have do to do minecarts again!"
In front of them stood a rickety set of tracks, and a cart waiting for them.
"How are we all going to fit in that?" Alex asked, confused. "Shouldn't there be at least two carts?"
"Chris is annoying." Ashley pouted.
"The builders are annoying." Macy frowned.
"Just so we don't have to list all the things that are annoying us, I can just say that the whole universe is annoying us and we can get on with it." Seth frowned at them, obviously irritated.
"We ought to turn back- nobody wants to do this minecart thing." Andrew spun on his heel and groaned at his newfound realization. "Chris and Chef seem to have securely trapped us in here- we have to use the minecart."
"ARGH!" Ashley shouted.
"Into the minecart it is!" Sam made an attempt with a cheerful voice, but he faltered and then fell silent.
Andrew held the cart steady and helped his teammates in. They were rather squished in, and it was quite uncomfortable for them. Andrew gave the minecart a forceful push, then grabbed the top of the minecart and flipped himself over into the cart.
"Wow!" Sam looked at him, astonished.
Even Alison was impressed. "How did you do that?"
"Secret." Andrew grinned at them, as they sped down the track.
"Hey guys?" Alex asked, staring out the top of the cart, eyes wide.
"What, hon?" Macy asked.
"Are there such things as candy bats?" Alex asked, keeping his eyes on the surroundings.
"No, that's stupid." Macy said, rolling her eyes.
***Confessional***
Macy frowned. "Well, it sounded like a stupid comment at the time."
"Well, I think they've been invented." Alex pointed at where he had been staring.
Macy followed his finger and then screamed, grabbing onto his shirt. "CANDY BATS!"
The others looked and began to panic. Sam and Ashley were huddled on the bottom of the cart. Alex was at the front of the cart, apparently frozen with fear. Macy had her head buried in his shirt, sobbing. Seth was peering out the cart, eyes wide.
Jonathan had taken up getting into fetal position, however, appeared to be trying to use his knowledge to comfort himself. Or at least attempting to. "Okay, Jonathan, bats can be dangerous with deadly diseases and if you are bitten there is a possibility that you could die, because I'm not quite sure there is health insurance that covers any injury I get on this show, however, candy bats are an unknown species, so who knows? Maybe they're nice..." he began to sob.
Ashley was yelling at Andrew, "DO SOMETHING!"
"What can I do?!" Andrew asked her, throwing up his hands. "You can't handle bats with your bare hands!"
"Well, you're behaving like a freaking ninja today, and aren't ninjas supposed to have some freaky skill where you can catch things and throw them back? I'd say you're our first line of defense here!" Ashley screeched.
"There's a difference between a little gymnast-like skill and being a ninja! Besides, ninjas can't do... whatever you were just describing! That's hardly a realistic thing to be doing in real life!" Andrew yelled at her.
"Well, then think of something! You're behaving like the leader of the team, so you're the brains of this operation." despite fear, Ashley smirked at him.
Andrew didn't get time to reply to this, because the candy bats were upon them, swarming the top of the cart.
"AAAHHH!" Alison screamed.
Jonathan shouted, "I'M TOO SMART TO BE KILLED BY BATS! I PLAN ON DYING AFTER I HAVE BECOME RECOGNIZED AS THE NEXT STEVEN HAWKING!"
"WHO THE *BEEP* IS THAT?!" screamed Ashley.
Jonathan frowned. "ONLY THE SMARTEST MAN IN THE WORLD!"
"I DON'T ACTUALLY CARE!" Ashley rolled her eyes.
All this leaning caused the cart to start tipping. It tipped so much that it fell off the track.
Trust Chris to permit the most unreliable builders for a mine that was not even supposed to be there.
So Team Fashionista was falling. And they were falling very quickly, into whatever might be below the tracks.
"XAVIER! CAN YOU HEAR US?!" Piper shouted.
No response.
"Annnddd... we took the wrong path." Piper sighed. "Why can't Xavier just be patient?"
"I dunno. Anything without that nuisance seems right to me." Cedric smirked. "And you're supposed to think that, too."
"Uh, Cedric? Team Fashionista lost the challenge last time because they had lost Anthony!" Piper groaned. "We need all our teammates to win!" she spun around, ready to go back, and groaned again. "UGH!"
Cedric turned around, too, and laughed. "We're stuck here. Poor Xavier."
"We just have to hope we meet up with that moron before we get to Chris." Piper frowned.
"Ahem. Moron? More like your lover." Cedric taunted her.
Alexis started to snicker, but quickly covered it as a cough.
***Confessional***
Alexis grinned at the camera. "Cedric sure likes to get under people's skin. And let's face it- he's pretty good at it."
Piper frowned at Cedric. "I could never love Xavier. One, he's a complete airhead, a bully, and all-in-all, a brat. Two, he has a girlfriend, and odds are he's such a loser that he probably is cheating on some other girl back where he comes from, and three, one way or another, he has a girlfriend. Even if I wanted to date him, which I will emphasize once more, I do not, I am not a boyfriend stealer. Are we done here?"
***Confessional***
Alexis looked rather surprised. "Dang. So I guess Piper can hold her own against Cedric."
Cedric could not think of a good comeback for this. He just puffed and rolled his eyes. "We'll finish this later."
"I win." Piper moved to the front of the group and began power-walking, turning it into a jog. The rest of the team ran to keep up with her.
***Confessional***
Cedric frowned. "Piper sucks. Completely." he then waved a piece of paper and a pen in the air. "I've started a list of who I want to eliminate. Lars, Xavier, Nikki, Detgen, Jenn, and now Piper. God, I can't wait for the merge."
Team Fashionista was on the ground. Once they had slammed the solid-rock floor of the mine, the cart tipped over and sent them all tumbling out into a large pile. Jonathan, Andrew, Sam, and Macy were being suffocated on the bottom of the pile. Ashley, Seth, and Alex were on top of them. Alison was on top of them, breathing heavily.
"Get... off... me!" Ashley puffed at Alison.
"Whoa! You all can... get off off me!" Macy screeched, muffled from being directly under Seth's chest.
Seth, annoyed, simply pushed up and Alison rolled off them with a thud.
"Can you not?" Alison dusted herself off angrily.
"Sorry. You were getting uncomfortable. You were basically sprawled across the three of us." he gestured to Ashley and Alex, who had both rolled off of the four on the bottom. Alex was breathing heavily and deeply, trying to calm himself, and Ashley appeared to be getting over something like a hyperventilation session caused from the fright.
"Ugh..." Macy moaned. She put a hand over her heart. "I... will... be murdering... Chris... and Chef... and the builders... and the producers... of... this... stinkin'... show... as soon as I... get out of here! Anyone... care to join me?"
It was a unanimous hand-raising.
"I'm going to sue... this show for everything- they have! They're not going... to be having another season- after this, because they won't- be able to afford- anything when I'm through... with them!" Ashley panted. She then promptly passed out from how quickly she had been breathing.
Sam looked down at the limp figure. "Oh God."
Jonathan put his ear to Ashley's chest. "The good news is that her heart is beating steadier, as well as her breathing is slowing from the incredibly speedy way it had been. She's okay."
"Well, we have to keep moving. Are we going to have to carry her?" Andrew asked. "We don't have water or a strong smell to wake her up, I don't think. The only other option I can think of would be to slap her in hopes to trigger her reflexes. However, it doesn't seem right for me to slap her... anyone up for the task?" he surveyed his team.
"I would never slap my woman." Jonathan said firmly.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." Alex frowned. Sam and Seth shook their heads, as well.
"I'll do it!" Alison waved her hand eagerly in the air.
Macy bit her lip.
***Confessional***
Macy made a pouting face. "If Alex was not there, I would've been more than eager to slap the fifty pounds of makeup off of Ashley's face. This is so dumb. Why couldn't I have, like, forced Jonathan to move off of Ashley and like me? It would've been so much easier."
"Macy? Care to join me?" Alison asked teasingly.
Macy closed her eyes and shook her head.
Alison's lips curled into a smile. "Don't tell me you're considering it?"
Macy appeared to have "composed herself in her role" and turned her head to face Alison. "Heck no! Slapping somebody is awful!"
"Oh, you're good..." Alison narrowed her eyes.
Alex looked at them, bewildered. Macy grinned at him.
Alison rolled her eyes, knelt down, and gave Ashley a good smack on the face. "Crap! Chipped a nail!"
Ashley shot awake. "Oh my gosh, I just had this awful dream that I was in a mine during a sadistic game show and my loserific teamma- hello!" she said weakly, noticing
her teammates hovering over her. She then rubbed her cheek. "Why does my cheek sting? What happened?"
"Macy slapped you." Alison said promptly.
"WHAT?!" Ashley whipped her head around and stared at Macy. "YOU LITTLE-"
Macy cut her off. "Honestly? I don't think I would be the one to do that. Alison's being a pretty little LIAR!"
Alison waved at Ashley and looked quick at Macy. "Hey, you called me 'pretty'!"
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Ashley leaped up and began chasing Alison around, and they ran down a tunnel.
"Let's follow." Andrew motioned to the rest of the team, and they began moving quickly forward.
Team Awesome ran in silence for most of the time, Piper running at the front, Alexis was running with Piper, however, Piper would occasionally speed up and Alexis would trail behind her. Behind Alexis were Lars, Jenn, Detgen, and Nikki, and Cedric was at the back of the group, Alek and Jet flanking him.
The group reached an end. But it was not a good end. The end was a cliff.
"Oh, come on..." Nikki groaned.
"Could there perhaps be another path that we missed?" Alexis asked hopefully.
Piper turned to face the team. "Did anyone see anything?"
"If someone saw something, I'm pretty sure they would say something." Cedric said dryly.
"Who knows?" Piper shrugged.
However, everyone shook their heads.
Lars peered over the cliff. "I can't see all the way down, it's too dark."
Piper shone her flashlight down. "Mm, well, you could probably jump, it doesn't seem like it's too far. Odds are that if you don't land on your feet, you will end up scraping yourself nicely or worst case scenario, breaking something, but we can probably get down pretty safely..."
"Any takers for first jump?" Jenn asked, surveying the group.
They stayed silent.
"Ugh, I'll go." Lars offered, biting his lip.
"Break a leg!" Cedric shouted cheerfully.
***Confessional***
Cedric rolled his eyes. "Or two."
"Thanks so much for your support!" Lars frowned at him.
Cedric smirked back silently.
"Wish me luck..." Lars jumped. He hit on the ground and managed to stay upright. "It's okay! I made it!"
"Goody." Cedric muttered.
"I'll go next." Piper jumped. "YAA!" she landed safely, as well. "Next!"
"WHOOAAA!" Nikki jumped, and then landed on her feet, waved her arms around, trying to find balance, and fell to the ground.
"You okay?" Lars and Piper pulled her off the ground.
Nikki dusted herself off. "Yeah, I'm good. But wow, that was some shock you get after hitting the ground!"
Detgen jumped next, and landed safely. "Wow, that was a rush!" she commented cheerfully.
Jenn went next. She was the least lucky of those who jumped, and wound up landing on one foot, everything else flailing around. She then fell, in a crumpled mess, onto the ground. "Oof..." she moaned.
"Jenn!" Nikki said anxiously, and she and Detgen pulled their friend up.
"I scraped my knee." she complained, observing the torn flesh on her right knee.
"You'll be okay, it doesn't look too deep." Piper peered at it.
"Is there any way you can cover it up and get it clean, so it doesn't become infected?" Nikki asked.
Jenn asked. "Dunno. Is there any way I can get it to stop stinging?"
"Did you happen to bring any hydrogen peroxide or one of it's half-decent substitutes?" Detgen asked.
"...No..." Jenn looked at her, confused.
"So that answers your question. We don't have any water, and unless we find any, you can probably wipe your spit on it to clean off some of the blood, but you don't want to get your hands all over it, that's bound to get it infected, and unless you want to rip your clothes, I don't think we have anything that you can wrap it up with." Detgen said.
***Confessional***
Detgen smirked. "I take tae kwon do. I'm not going to say that doesn't come without a couple boo-boos here and there."
"Can I jump yet, or are you ladies still having a tea party down there?" Cedric peered over the edge of the cliff.
"Hey!" Lars yelled up at him.
"Sorry. Can I jump yet, or are you ladies and little girl still having a tea party down there?"
Lars shook his head. It really wasn't worth getting into it with Cedric over something as trivial as that petty attempt to get under his nerves.
"Yes, Cedric, you can jump." Piper narrowed her eyes and looked up at him.
Cedric jumped, landed on both feet, however, flailed around and fell on his face.
Lars was biting his lip really hard, trying not to laugh. Jenn and Detgen had their mouths covered with their hands.
Whereas her alliance members seemed to be hiding their pleasure at Cedric's fall, Nikki had an eyebrow raised, a smirk visibly on her face as Cedric rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. "Karma."
"*BEEP*" was Cedric's reply.
"I'll take it." Nikki shrugged.
"I'm coming down!" Jet announced, and Cedric had to roll over several times to narrowly avoid the boy from landing on him. However, Jet immediately tipped over upon landing, and Cedric was there to cushion the blow.
"Get off me!" Cedric demanded, pushing Jet.
"Sorry!" Jet squeaked.
"Even more karma!" Nikki laughed.
***Confessional***
Lars face-palmed. "Is Nikki crazy?! Now the odds are Cedric finds a way to either get her eliminated, maimed, or killed. I don't think Cedric's as mad at me as he was when he first found out that I had, uh, betrayed him, but Nikki isn't helping the situation! I mean, I would've loved to laugh at that, but I care about myself a little too much to do that!"
Nikki had her arms crossed. "It's doubtful that laughing at Cedric will get us anywhere, but you know what? The guy deserves it, after treating Lars the way he did. I know I'm basically the one to blame for getting Lars to vote, but it's been a several episodes, and he may as well get over it. Besides, he's currently treating Jet like he's an annoying little brother who he thinks is just there so he can blame if he gets into trouble, and that's not okay. I'm not going to regret laughing."
"Can I jump?" Alek asked cautiously.
"Yep!" Piper called to him.
He took a big leap and landed on his feet in a squatting position, and put out his hands to secure himself from falling over. He stood up, and observed his palms. "Aw, scraped."
"Alexis, you can come down now!" Piper called up to her.
Alexis peered over the ledge. "You sure?"
"Yep!"
"You sure it's safe?"
"Yep!"
***Confessional***
Alexis made a worried face. "I'm tiny. I can't say I would be okay if I jumped and something went wrong."
"Do I have to...?" she asked anxiously.
"Alexis, there's nowhere else to go! We're all down here- we can't climb back up even if there was another way! C'mon!"
"We're wasting time!" Cedric yelled up at her.
"Uh..." Alexis tried to think of something to say.
"You'll be okay, Alexis!" Nikki called up comfortingly.
"That can't be promised!" Alexis shouted back.
"Would it be worth trying to catch her?" Jet asked quietly.
"Might be worth a shot." Piper shrugged. "Alexis! Jet will catch you when you jump!"
"WHAT?!" Jet screamed.
***Confessional***
Jet's eyes were very wide and he looked very panicked. "Okay, upon request, I could probably come up with an assortment of jokes based off of somebody's life being saved. But I don't think I could actually save a life if it came to that! Or just preventing someone from scraping a knee or breaking a leg or something..."
"You sure?" Alexis asked.
"Yes, he's sure! Jump!" Piper said impatiently.
Jet opened his arms wide and looked up at the girl, as she took a deep breath and jumped. She landed in Jet's arms and they fell backwards. Alexis quickly put her hands around the back of Jet's head so that he wouldn't end up whacking it when he fell.
Jet's eyes were shut tightly, and when he opened them, he looked at Alexis, who was staring at him, anxiously. Jet followed Alexis's arms and realized that her hands were on the back of his head.
"Uh... thanks for, uh, saving my life?" Jet said, making it sound more like he was unsure of this fact.
"Um, I think it's more like I saved you from cracking your skull, although that may be the same thing..." Alexis said, biting her lip. "Thanks for catching me?"
"Oh God, I think they're falling in love." Cedric did not look very impressed. "Could you please speed the process or you know, do it later? We kinda have a challenge to win."
"I'm not falling in love." Alexis stood up. "However, it is a bit of an awkward when someone tries to save you from crashing to your death and then you, more or less, have to end saving whoever was saving you."
"Yeah." Jet stood up as well. "Besides, I've seen Seth making googly eyes at Alexis, and I think Alexis-"
"Okay, Jet, how about we don't go there?" Alexis said quickly.
***Confessional***
Alexis frowned. "I've seen the way Seth talks to me, and I think he likes me, but I'm not quite sure what I think of him. I don't need Jet saying something that can end up causing the team to start teasing me or something. I've got more important things to be working on." she brightened, and brought a fist down into her palm. "Like winning."
"Well, of all the things both teams have had to endure, which is much too little for my liking-" Chris frowned. "But I'm quite sure there's more to come!" he grinned. "Stay tuned for more on Total Drama: Surprises of the Island!"
Ashley was still chasing Alison, the rest of the team trailing behind when they reached a large area in the mine.
"Wow!" Alex breathed. All around them, there were gems sparkling around them.
"Ooh! Can we keep them?" Macy squealed.
Even Ashley had stopped to look around.
"Oh, please. Like any island Chris would have actual gems. This is a man-made island, apparently- and this wasn't even scheduled to be built. Construction workers are so cheap that these wouldn't even be plastic!" Alison rolled her eyes.
"That's it!" Ashley said. "They must be candy gems- like Ring Pops!"
"What gives you that idea?" Seth rolled his eyes.
"Well, it's just keeping in theme with the candy of the island." Ashley shrugged.
"But how would we know?" Sam asked, gazing around the area in disbelief.
"Jonathan, go bite one of the gems and see what happens." Ashley commanded.
"All right..." Jonathan shrugged, going up to one of the gems. He stood in front of it, looking conflicted.
"Jonathan, you really do not have to do that." Andrew made disgusted face. "We can simply assume and get on with our lives."
"He does if he wants to impress me." Ashley glared at Andrew, and then batted her eyes at Jonathan. "You want to impress me, don't you, Jonathan?"
"I can do that for you!" Jonathan said, and bit.
***Confessional***
Andrew grimaced. "That is sick. And Ashley's disturbing."
Sam covered her mouth.
A piece of it fell off. Jonathan chewed it. "Cherry flavored!" he announced.
Sam gagged.
***Confessional***
Sam stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Who... who just bites some unidentified thing off a cave wall?"
Jonathan shrugged. "All in the name of science. And love..." he sighed dreamily.
"That is absolutely disgusting." Macy announced. "Anyone want a snack?"
"Ha ha, no." Alison curled her lip.
Suddenly, another person sprinted into the area.
"Xavier?" Seth exclaimed, surprised.
Xavier frowned. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Trying to win a challenge." Ashley said. "However, you seem like you're trying to lose the challenge for your team. Why do you want to be eliminated?"
"Actually, I was the first person to move. It seems I want to win more than anyone else." he smirked.
"Oh, speaking of you being the first to get moving, why is it that are we already caught up to you? You at least seem like you're fast and probably have good endurance." Andrew said.
"After I got off the minecart, there was a really long trail. Why is it that you're here at the same time as me? Didn't you take the same trail?" Xavier asked.
"Well, we started that way, and then the minecart tipped over and we fell down." Sam said.
"Sam!" Ashley groaned. "Why?"
"Why... not?" Sam looked at Ashley, confused.
Alison whispered in his ear, "We don't want Xavier knowing about that. Odds are he would think of that as a weakness of some sort and use it against us."
"Oh..." Sam looked at Xavier, anxious.
He was laughing. "How did you losers manage to tip the cart over?"
"Bats came." Jonathan said.
"Oh no!" Xavier made a mock-scared face. "Were the big scary bats gonna try to eat your face off?"
"Ew!" Macy gagged.
"It's rather hard to steer a minecart when you can't see what's happening." Andrew said calmly.
"Whatever. See you losers at the finish!" Xavier sprinted off.
"I really hate that boy." Ashley shook her head.
"You never talk to him. How do you already hate him that much?" asked Sam.
"Because he's annoying." Ashley sniffed, and stomped off.
Team Awesome was walking without any conversation, until Cedric grabbed on to Jet's and Alek's shoulders and held them back until they were a distance behind the rest of the team where they couldn't hear anything they said.
"Alek, you've agreed to vote with us for the past few challenges- are you ready to become a full alliance member yet?" Cedric asked.
Alek bit his lip, seemingly embarrassed. "I'd prefer to keep my options on who I can vote for open and not be accused of betraying or anything after the fact." he said, obviously referencing Lars.
Jet looked over at Cedric, awaiting his reaction.
"Of course. That is definitely understood." Cedric said cordially. "But on that note, would you mind joining the rest of the team? Jet and I have some personal alliance matters to discuss."
Alek nodded, and sped up.
***Confessional***
Cedric frowned. "I'm already standing on my last legs here, and the fact that Alek won't totally agree to being in a complete alliance is a problem. Something has to be done to even the odds."
"Jet?" Cedric said.
"Yeah?" Jet sounded anxious.
"I need you to do something for me."
"Yeah?"
"Keep your mouth shut." Cedric said.
"What does that mean? What did I say?"
Cedric wasn't listening anymore. He called out, "Come on! We have to hurry!" and sprinted up to the group and attempted to get to the front of it. As he got by Lars, he stuck out his leg and Lars went down. Cedric's foot got trapped between Lars's legs and he stumbled to the ground as well. Cedric fell back onto Lars. Lars, who hadn't been expecting the fall, flailed around, and made a desperate attempt to stop himself by sticking out his arms.
The only thing heard in that part of the mine at that moment was a sickening crunch, followed by a scream of pain. And then Cedric fell on top of him.
"Lars!" gasped Jenn.
"GET OFF OF HIM!" Nikki screamed at Cedric, and with surprising strength, yanked him off of Lars. "What was that for?!" she demanded.
Cedric actually looked quite shocked. "I-I-I just wanted... wanted... to get to the f-front of the group... I accidentally hooked my foot around his l-leg..."
"*BEEP*! ABSOLUTE *BEEP*! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, YOU ABSOLUTE *BEEP*! WHAT THE *BEEP* IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP*..."
While Nikki dealt with Cedric, Detgen, Jenn, Piper, and Jet were all crowded around Lars.
"Can you move your arm?" Piper asked cautiously.
Lars made an attempt, and groaned in pain.
"I think... I'm going to be sick." Jet looked green, and he also looked close to tears. He backed away and promptly threw up behind the group.
***Confessional***
Jet looked sick. "I knew Cedric wanted revenge, but... but... WOW!"
Cedric frowned. "I had actually just meant to trip Lars so that he would scrape himself or just fall and need time to recover or something and hold up the team, and then people like Piper and Xavier would vote against him because they thought he was the reason we'd lost. I hadn't necessarily meant for him to break his arm, but since he did, and I can't change what happened, I'm going through with it. What's done is done."
Nikki was seething. "Cedric needs to go. And he needs to go soon. He's such a *BEEEEPPPP*..."
Alexis had her eyebrows raised. "Cedric isn't afraid to do anything to stop people from getting in his way. I've got to say, I'm quite impressed."
Piper studied Lars's arm, which was bent at an awkward angle. "I'm pretty sure it is broken. We need the walkie-talkie. Can you stand up, Lars?" she asked.
Lars gritted his teeth and nodded, tears streaming down his face. Detgen grabbed Lars's right hand and Piper propped him up from his back. Piper accidentally pushed up too hard and Lars bumped into Detgen and screamed in pain once more.
Jenn had the walkie-talkie in hand, and was calling Chris. "Chris? We need help. Cedric tripped Jet and now we're pretty sure he broke his arm!"
The reply came back in ten seconds worth of time. "What did I say about tripping and boo-boos? There's a punishment for that!"
"Chris McLean, you are to get off your lazy, spoiled *BEEP* and help us!" Nikki yelled into the walkie-talkie. "Lars is seriously hurt!"
Piper was still studying Lars, and brushed her fingers over his arm, and he groaned again.
"So I hear." Chris said. "Wow, Lars! You are an excellent fake-screamer! Have you ever considered auditioning for a horror movie?"
"Chris... I'm really not... faking... you need to come help!" Lars looked like he may pass out from the pain.
"All right, you actually do sound like you're about to die, so I'm sending Chef into the mine and he'll take Lars out. However, this does mean you forfeit. Do you accept these conditions?"
"YES!" Jet screamed, panicked. "HELP HIM!"
"Oh wow, so it seems like Jet's losing his mind." Chris commented.
"This isn't funny!" Jenn exclaimed. "We really, really need help!"
"Fine. Fine. You took the right path, right?" Chris asked.
"Yes." Jenn said. "Please hurry!"
The walkie-talkie fizzed off, and in five minutes, Chef was there with a golf cart, in a nurse's outfit and several new interns. The interns helped Lars into the cart and they sped off.
Xavier came out of the mine ten minutes later. Team Fashionista came out five minutes later. And lastly, the whole of Team Awesome came out five minutes after Team Fashionista.
"Oh, come on!" Xavier groaned at his team. "What took you guys so long?"
"Save it, Captain Annoys-Everyone-Out-of-their-Minds. We had to forfeit." Piper frowned at him.
"Why?" Xavier frowned at her. "Are you all really so incapable of doing anything without my presence that you had to use the emergency walkie-talkie? This really wasn't hard, how did you manage to screw it up that badly?"
"Cedric tripped Lars and Lars broke his arm." Nikki glared at Cedric, who remained emotionless.
"Oh." Xavier raised his eyebrows at Cedric. "I wouldn't even do that. What's wrong with you?"
"Look, I didn't mean it to be like that." Cedric said strongly, and rather convincingly.
"Sure you didn't. And I'm just kidding when I say I want to kick your *BEEP* right now." Nikki retorted.
"We win!" said Ashley cheerfully.
"Shut up." Xavier told her.
"I would, but I quite enjoy winning." Ashley grinned, prancing around Xavier.
"Elimination!" Chris said. "The time where a young teen's voice does in fact, count. However, that is not the case today, as Lars is injured and legal says he couldn't compete until his arm was healed." he nodded to Lars, who sat next to Nikki, his arm in a cast. "But since Nurse Chef informs me that although Lars's fracture was rather minor compared to some, he will not be healed for about a month, he is eliminated!"
"Wait!" Lars said anxiously. "I have an invincibility pass!" he waved it in the air.
"Oh, you won it during the scavenger hunt?" Chris asked. "Nice. But you still can't compete. We can't afford to get sued. And I'm about five minutes away from going back to prison, so..."
"Yeah, but like, what if I went home or something for the length of the time I can't compete, and then come back when I'm okay?" Lars asked.
"I want somebody to be eliminated tonight!" whined Chris. His phone began to ring, and he picked it up. "McLean here... Really? But I don't want to! ...He can? Are you serious? What are waivers for then, jeez! ...Yeah, yeah... Fine." He hung up. "Well, legal says it's not a bad idea, since you are obligated to use the pass and have the suing capabilities due to your injury, even if Cedric was responsible..."
Cedric frowned.
Lars crossed his fingers.
Chris closed his eyes and gave it some thought.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"All right, Lars, here's the deal. Chef will take you to the new Playa Des Losers by the Boat of Losers, and you will remain there for the duration of your injury, where an actual doctor will do standard tests upon you. When you are given the "all-clear", you will return to the game like you never left. Deal?" Chris asked.
Lars nodded eagerly, and stood up. "See you guys later." he smiled sadly.
"Don't worry." Nikki gave him a hug. "I have a plan for dealing with Cedric. You'll be all set when you come back." she smiled.
"Thanks, Nikki. And thanks for being a good alliance member." Lars nodded. "And thank you, Detgen. And thank you, Jenn."
Jenn and Detgen smiled sadly at him.
"Oh, please. You're coming back soon enough. You're not leaving them forever. Let's get going!" Chris groaned.
"Bye, Lars!" Jet said, sounding and looking more depressed then he had been since Lars's betrayal.
Lars shook his head at Jet, and walked over to Chef, who was waiting at the edge of the area. He followed him to the dock, and they hopped into boat. Chef started the ignition and they moved away.
"Well, isn't that exciting?" Chris said. "Cedric's going to have a lot to deal with- but he's also quite a crafty dude- he'll figure his way out of this. Or, at this point, with most of his team despising him- not. What will happen? Find out on the next few episodes of Total Drama: Surprises of the Island!"
Back at the campfire, Piper, Xavier, and Alexis had all left. Detgen and Jenn had stood up, all giving Cedric dirty looks as they passed. Nikki stood up after them, gave the dirty look to Cedric, then walked over to Jet and frowned at him, and hissed to him, "You knew. You knew what was going to happen, but you didn't bother to try to stop it from happening. You're just as bad as Cedric- even though it seemed like you cared. At least Cedric owns his awful behavior."
"I really didn't! Honest!" Jet protested, eyes wide. "And I care, I do!"
"Save it." Nikki looked disappointed. She then walked away.
Alek shook his head and walked away, so that it was only Jet and Cedric.
"Why?" Jet asked Cedric.
"Believe it or not, that's not what I intended to do." Cedric said calmly.
"Then what did you intend to do?" Jet said angrily.
"Not that."
"Fine, don't say. But I can't believe that anyone could be such a jerk to someone else, over a stupid reality TV show, over a bunch of money. Basic decency should come first." Jet stomped away.
Cedric rolled his eyes at Jet's back, and then turned to the fire, staying seated, and watched the flame die until it was only a wisp of smoke, barely noticeable in the night sky.
This may be it. I don't know. I'm so sorry.