Oh boy, it's been a while. I can always make excuses why this took too long and I do have my reasons, but why make an excuse when I can just apologize. This shouldn't have taken this long to push up.
I do want to thank those who waited, and once again apologize. And to the guest that requested this not to die, do not fret. For here we are.
Yolotsin Xochitl: I've been thinking (and I had a lot of time to think) of who I want to return in the merge. I want to try to have every single character have some sort of story, even if it's not this season.
ComplicatedYetSimple: I agree that Jasmine just hasn't done much in this fic. Elimination wise, you'll just have to see if your predictions come true.
I do not own any of the characters or ideas presented in this story.
I do hope you enjoy, I was a bit iffy on the chapter at best but thought it turned out good enough.
"Last time, on Total Drama Island!" Chirs started the episode in the usual introduction. "The campers had to see how much they truly trusted their teams, with some being a bit too trusting." Max was shown getting poisoned by Lindsay. "Some got hurt," the scene where Tyler was dragged throw the jellyfish filled water was shown. "Some triumphed," Sierra was shown knocking the arrow off of Jasmine's head followed by Scarlett climbing the cliff. "Some just got lucky." Noah picked up the piece of fugu and ate it without getting any ill effects.
"It all came down to a blind race on toboggans where, somehow, the Bass were able to come out of nowhere for the win!" Both Scott and Sammy were shown flying over the Gophers and landing in front of them, causing them to win before the Gophers. "Max's critical condition rendered him useless and his team thought so too, and he was sent off by his partner Scarlett." she was shown dumping him on the boat.
"Can Scarlett finally catch a break with Max gone? Will anyone survive today's brutal challenge? Stay tuned, for the most dramatic episode yet on Total, Drama, Island!"
(Intro)
The episode reopened from the intro with Scarlett sitting on the steps to the Gopher's cabin scrawling away in her notebook. Cody walked by and took an interest in what she was doing. "Whatcha doing there?" he attempted moved over. He began to awkwardly lean on the cabin's wall to attempt to look cooler.
Scarlett frowned and closed her notebook. "Is there any reason other than your crippling loneliness and lust for someone to love that you have come to bother me?"
It was Cody's turn to frown. "I was just asking what you were doing." he leaned closer. "Looks to me your writing in some sort of secret diary." he attempted a sly nudge to her shoulder but she jutted out her elbow with surprising force hitting him in the ribs. Cody reeled back in pain. "Right, don't bother you. Got it." he quickly nodded while rubbing his injured spot.
"Next time, it would remain your best interests to stick to bothering your own team." Scarlett stood up to leave but was interrupted by the ringing of the PA system.
"Listen up you little cockroaches." Chef's voice greeted them in a surprise. "I want all campers to report to the dock of shame at O-nine hundred hours."
Topher peeked his head out of the cabin and Beardo did the same on the other side. "So when's-" he began before the PA went off again.
"That means now!" Chef shouted. The campers began to pour out of the cabins in a rush to reach the dock as quickly as possible sans a few of the more uncaring ones like Noah and Scarlett.
The scene shot forward to the campers now standing on the dock with Chef in front of them decked out in a military uniform, wearing all green, a pair of sunglasses, a drill sergeant cap, as well as a whistle around his neck.
Chef walked up to the campers and pulled out a megaphone. "Line up and stand at attention." he yelled point-blank in their ears. He began to walk down the line and pulled out a stick. "Feet together." he told Sammy as he slapped at her legs with the stick causing her to let out a small yelp and quickly listen. "Back straight." he whacked Cody next and he quickly stood up straight. "Chin up." he used his stick to push up Lindsay's chin.
Topher stepped out of line. "Hey, just a quick question, where's Chris?"
Chef glared at the superfan. "From now on I am in charge." he shouted into the megaphone directly into Topher's face causing him to grimace and his hair to blow back. "Now straighten up and shut up." Chef paced to the other side of the dock. "Today's challenge will not be an easy one." he began to explain. "In fact, I do not expect everyone to come out alive."
"Overdramatic much?" Noah joked getting a small chuckle from Cody. Chef quickly walked up and whacked the two of them.
"My orders are to make sure all of the babies in front of me drop out of my Bootcamp except for one. That last one standing will win immunity for their team." Chef continued the challenge breakdown.
"So, like, when's breakfast?" Lindsay asked.
"Rule one, you will address me as Master Chief." Chef told the campers. "Have you got that?"
"Yes, Master Chief." all the campers answered.
"You'll sleep when I tell you to sleep, you'll eat when I say you can eat." he glanced over at Lindsay. "Is that clear?"
"Yes Master, uh, Cheep?" she took a second to think about his name.
"Rule number two, when you eventually give up, you'll walk down the dock and ring the bell." Chef pointed towards a bell on the end of the dock. "Which brings me to rule three, I'll like to get at least one quitter before the end of the first day and that day will not end until someone drops out. Now, get your butts down to the beach soldiers, now, now!"
Everyone began to run down at their own pace past the angry Chef.
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Confessional
Tyler - "Bootcamp training?" he chuckled, looking smug. "Its basically just like sports! I've got this one, in the bag!"
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Returning to the scene, the campers were now standing on the beach next to two team coloured canoes between themselves and Chef. "Now everyone, listen up." Chef stood with his arms behind his back. "Each team must hold a canoe over their heads. I catch you taking your hands off the canoe and you will be eliminated." he pointed aggressively at them. "And no one eats lunch until someone drops out." Chef chuckled as the campers looked concerned. "Canoes up!"
The two teams lifted the canoes above their heads. "This isn't even that hard." Scott boasted.
"Should be pretty easy." Jasmine smiled at her team.
The shot switched into the sky, watching the burning sun above. It switched back to the campers showing their deteriorating states. Lindsay's arms wobbled a bit, Scarlett looked increasingly bored, and Beardo felt his stomach rumble.
The camera landed on Chris's face. "Looks like they missed lunch." Chris smiled.
"Guess they just weren't hungry." Chef responded. The camera zoomed out to reveal the two sitting on top of the two canoes. "Unless someone wants to quit now."
"Don't worry, we are all good." Topher spoke for his team even though he looked tired himself
Cody crossed his legs and crouched over a bit but still managed to keep his hands on the canoe. "I kinda gotta pee."
"I am not losing because you had to go to the bathroom." Eva glared at him.
Scott scoffed. "You know you don't have to leave to go to the bathroom, right?"
A few seconds passed before everyone finally understood what he meant. "Gross." Sammy cringed at the thought.
"Remind me to stay away from him." Noah whispered to Eva purposely loud enough for Scott to hear.
"Dude, that's just something nasty." Beardo shook his head.
Scott rolled his eyes. "It's not like I pee my pants. It's just a suggestion for ol' weak bladder here." he took a hand off of the canoe to point to Cody before quickly placing it back on. "Besides, even if I did, I'd wash them afterwards."
"Sounds like your making excuses." Noah grinned as he verbally pushed Scott.
"Whatever. Don't blame me when we lose because someone needed to go to the bathroom." Scott brushed aside the argument.
The camera trailed back into the sky, past the hosts sitting on the canoes. It focused on the blazing sun until it shifted downwards in the sky. As the camera returned to the campers, the evening light was now shining down on them with Chef watching from a beach chair nearby.
Jasmine still looked confident in her own abilities but her confident show began to fade as she saw the fatigue in her team. "Come on!" she tried to encourage them. "Ignore the pain, we can do this!"
"Easy for you to say." Topher was visibly fatigued. "My arms feel like jello."
"You are the strongest of us here." Scarlett made a fair point to Jasmine. "We are bound to fail before you do."
"Actually, I don't know if I can even lose!" Tyler spoke up. "I think my arms feel asleep and my fingers are stuck to the canoe." he emphasized this by moving his body to the side and showing that his hands stayed firmly in place.
"While very interesting," Scarlett began with a fake tone of interest. "Do not attempt to throw the challenge to show off."
"My arms are so tired, I don't know if I can do this any longer." Lindsay whined.
"Come on, Linds!" Tyler smiled at her in encouragement. "I know you can do it!"
"Aw, thanks." she managed a smile through her tiredness.
"Yeah, that's it, I'm done." the whole Gopher team was surprised to hear someone speak up.
They all turned to the other team where Noah was lowering his arms. "What do you think you are doing?" Eva growled at him.
"Going to bed." Noah quickly stretched before moving on over to the dock.
Chef's eyes followed him as he watched Noah leave the canoe. He stood up and began to stomp behind Noah as the bookworm walked to the bell. "A real man wouldn't quit. A real man would fight through the pain until they couldn't feel anything anymore." he chastised Noah.
"Looks like I would disappoint your definition of a real man." Noah calmly stated as he ignored the insults. He reached the dock and rang the bell.
Eva let out a cry of rage as she threw the canoe to the ground, ripping it out of her team's hands. Beardo took a few steps away from her as she continued to stomp the ground.
The Gophers were relieved and dropped their own canoe. As it dropped, Tyler managed to keep his grip on it. "You know you can let go now." Sierra told him.
"I can't!" Tyler exclaimed. "I think my fingers are glued on!"
"You are just experiencing some muscle tension from holding the canoe for too long, just relax and your fingers will loosen their grip." Scarlett told him.
Tyler chose to ignore her and planted his feet as he attempted to pull himself off the canoe. Scarlett rolled her eyes as Lindsay began to cheer him on.
The camera switched back to show Chef and Noah on the dock. Chef stood right in front of Noah causing him to look up to meet his eye. "At the end of the day, you tried your best." Chef sounded sincere. "But your best wasn't enough!" his voice quickly changed back to his drill sergeant tone and he used a megaphone to blast his voice into Noah's face. "As for the rest of you," he turned back to the teams. "Make your way to the mess hall, dinner is served."
"Just give me a moment!" Tyler called to Chef as he continued to pull his arms back to no success.
"Here," Jasmine bent over and grabbed his wrists. "Just relax for a second okay?"
Tyler nodded and stopped his attempts to free himself. Jasmine was then able to pry his fingers off the canoe.
Tyler smiled as he flexed his fingers. "Thanks a bunch! I owe you one."
"No problem, now let's get going before Chef starts yelling at us." Jasmine reminded them of the harsh host.
The scene switched to inside the mess hall. Both Chris and Chef stood in front of the campers next to a row of trashcans. "Alright maggots, open your ears. You got ten minutes to eat before night training begins, so get to it." Chef told the campers.
"Night training?" Lindsay cried at the news.
"Excuse me, Chef?" Topher spoke up.
"That's Master Chief to you!" Chef snapped back.
"Right, Master Chief, can I ask where the food is?"
"You're looking at it." Chef chuckled as he gestured to the trash cans beside him.
Sierra took a look into one of the cans. "This is all just garbage."
"Damn right." Chef confirmed. "When you are at war, you eat what you can get your hands on."
Sierra picked up a fish skeleton from the trash and just looked at it with uncertainty.
"Well," Chris spoke up. "I see you got this under control. I'm off to craft services, coming?" he asked his co-host.
"Serve me up some of that!" Chef responded as the two left the mess hall.
The campers began to begrudgingly look through the trash. "Well, guess I'm not eating anything." Topher gave up hopes of finding anything edible.
"Suit yourself." Scott shrugged as he took a bite out of a green piece of bread. "More for me."
"Man, how can you honestly eat that stuff?" Beardo cringed at the sight.
"Food is food." Scott shrugged again.
Tyler began to dig around one of the trash cans. He pulled his arm out to see it was completely covered in filth. "Dude, there is like nothing good to eat here!"
"I believe that is so because you are digging in the trash." Scarlett spoke to him condescendingly.
"I used to throw out good stuff all the time!" Tyler admitted. "There's bound to be something in here that is still fresh!" he basically crawled into the trash can as he leaned fully into it. He eventually leaned too far and fell face-first into the garbage.
Scarlett groaned at his stupidity while Jasmine rushed past her to help the jock out. Scarlett just turned around to go sit at one of the tables. As she walked over, she passed by Cody who gave her a sheepish smile and stayed clear of her path.
Scott noticed his strange behaviour and stared sceptically at him as he slowly continued to eat green bread.
Scott moved forward into Cody's way. "What was that about?"
"Oh, that? It was nothing." Cody denied anything.
Scott raised an eyebrow." "It didn't look like nothing."
"Well," he scratched the back of his head. "She kind of got upset when I caught her writing in her diary earlier."
"Diary you say?" Scott grinned.
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Confessional
Scott - "A secret diary could be a good thing for blackmail. Might be able to persuade her to help our team win instead." he chuckled.
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Jasmine finally pulled Tyler free from his makeshift garbage prison. "Thanks." he nodded to her. "I found this." he showed her a half-eaten apple, already mushy and brown. "You can have it as a token of gratitude."
"No thanks." Jasmine denied. "You can keep your, uh, scavenges." she then thought for a second. "Why don't you share it with Lindsay?"
"Nah, she would hate this stuff." Tyler refused.
The scene flashed forward back outside in the middle of the night. Music played on a stereo as Chef danced away on a raised platform, stomping to the beat and moving his body in his attempt at dance moves. The contestants stood on the beach, copying his moves to the best of their abilities. Most looked tired or peeved at having to dance in the middle of the night but no one wanted to talk back to the chef.
Suddenly, the music stopped abruptly and Chef quickly turned to see what had caused the disruption.
"That's it I'm done with this." he heard an angry voice call out.
Chef saw Eva standing, arms crossed in front of the stereo. "What are you doing?" he yelled out.
"I'm not dancing for your enjoyment." Eva simply shot back.
"Turn that back on, now" Chef spat at her.
"Try and make me, I'm not scared of you like these other wimps!" she challenged him.
"You want to get eliminated? You sure act like it, girl." Chef raised a brow as he did not back down.
Eva's anger grew as she threw her arms to her sides, fists clenched in rage, but she managed to keep any insults mumbled under her breath.
"That's what I thought!" he grunted. "Now, anyone else got anything to say?" Chef looked at the others intimidatingly.
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Cody raised his hand and asked.
The scene switched to show Cody standing in the middle of the communal bathroom with a bucket and mop. "Should have just gone earlier." he sighed as he plopped the mop into the bucket.
A flash showed the campers now in the mess hall once more. "For the next part of the challenge," Chef began. "You will complete a three-hundred-word essay about how much you love me." he grinned. "Anyone who falls asleep or fails to complete the challenge will be eliminated." he quickly added.
"An essay? Really?" Scott asked dryly.
"Yes, and you will do it and shut up!" Chef yelled in his face. As Chef yelled in his face he noticed Eva reach into her pocket and pull out her mp3. He quickly swiped it and was met with a growl. "No distractions!" Beardo noticed Eva grit her teeth at Chef and moved away slightly, hoping to avoid and bursts of anger. She managed to stay silent and protest under her breath.
Over with the Gophers, Topher smiled. "This should be easy enough."
Chef quickly moved over. "If it's so easy for you, maybe you should all write three-thousand words instead!"
The team shot immediate glares towards Topher. "No, no it's good!" he quickly stuttered. "Three-hundred is challenging enough!" he raised his hands defensively and gave a begging smile to Chef.
Chef kept an intimidating glare through his sunglasses at Topher before backing away allowing him to breath a sigh of relief.
"You will all start now!" Chef yelled out across the room, turning between the two teams as he did.
The camera showed the clock as time passed until it hit three in the morning and buzzed. Chef began to walk around and collect the essays from the tired campers, as he walked by he noticed that Cody and Lindsay had fallen asleep.
Beardo quickly scribbled some final words down before setting down his pencil seconds before Chef took his paper. He attempted to mimic the sound of a triumphant horn but ended up sounding like a broken one instead.
As Chef picked up Sierra's she noticed there were noticeably more pages. "What's this?"
"Just practising my creative writing." Sierra told him. "I described every single way I adore you. It's just over a thousand words." she smiled wide.
XXXXXX
Confessional
Sierra - She sat tired, but smiling. "I absolutely love writing, even if the subject is Chef. Although, it seems a lot easier to write about romance than how much you like some scary old guy."
XXXXXX
Chef shook his head and continued to move around to finish collecting the papers. He got to Scott's and began to read it out loud. "I love Chef because he is very nice. I love Chef because he is very sweet. I love Chef- this is just the same sentenced repeated over and over again!"
Scott shrugged. "It has three hundred words. That's all you wanted if I recall."
Chef glared at the Scott for his technicality and slammed his fist on the table, waking up Cody from his slumber. "You two losers are out." he motioned between Cody and Lindsay. "As for the rest of you, head to bed and report on the playing field, at O-five-hundred hours."
"That only gives us a couple of hours to sleep!" Tyler groaned.
"Then you better get moving now!" Chef yelled at him.
"Yes, Master Cheif!" Tyler nodded before leaving the mess hall.
The camera flashed and once more showed the remaining campers and Chef outside in the early morning. All the campers had various degrees of tiredness being shown. In front of them, a muddy pit with various obstacles was set up.
"You will all run this course until you can all complete it in under a minute." Chef told them all as the camera panned over the full course. The campers had to deal with a high wall, rope swings, a hanging tire they had to go through and a pair of axes they would need to crawl underneath. "Am I making myself clear." Chef looked directly at Eva.
Eva returned the stare but didn't say a word.
"I'm starting to think I should have joined Noah in hopping out." Beardo shook his head at the sight of the course.
"Go maggots, go!" Chef commanded them. They all quickly started the course, with most, as quickly as possible. They splashed into the mud and with the muddy earth being more slippery and harder to run on, Tyler had already found himself tripping and face first in the mud.
Jasmine easily climbed the wall due to her tall nature with Eva not fall behind, scaling it quickly. Topher had a successful climb but lost his balance and fell off on the other side.
Scarlett ran up to the rope swings and successfully swung across the gap, landing on her feet. She was followed by Sammy who managed to clear the gap as well but lost her balance on her landing and landed on her hands and knees in the mud. She wasn't deterred and got back up to keep running.
At the tires, Sierra easily barreled through and Beardo ran up and stopped. He took a deep breath and attempted to jump through, only to get stuck. Scott ran up behind him and tried to push him through. He managed to get Beardo unstuck and he crawled through the tire himself.
Sammy had reached to the now swinging axes and stopped in her tracks. She was shaking her head as she struggled to take another step forward. Jasmine ran up beside her and quickly got on her stomach to crawl through. She only paused a second to remove her hat before doing so. As she reached the end, she stood up and shook any mud off her hat before replacing the still somewhat dirty hat on her head.
As the contestants began to finish their laps, they had yet to clear it in under a minute causing them to repeat the course.
Scott ended up getting tied up between the two ropes in the rope swing, unable to free himself and looking pissed off at his predicament.
Beardo once more climbed the wall and fell over on the other side, splashing in the mud he stood up before clutching his chest and falling back down, now leaning on the side of the wall. He coughed and weakly let out a siren to get Chef's attention. He had also gained the attention of both Tyler and Scarlett.
"Dude, you okay?" Tyler asked but received no response.
Chef walked up and noticed Beardo wheezing. "Can't, go any longer." he breathed out. "Can't catch my breath."
Chef shook his head. "Ring the bell and join the losers, your tour of duty has finished."
Beardo stood up and walked off the course in defeat.
Chef noticed the small crowd. "Get back on the course, soldiers, now!" he yelled at them. Tyler was quick to return while Scarlett didn't seem fazed by Chef's attempts at intimidation. "What are you waiting for? The end of the world? Get moving!"
"Yes, Master Chief." she spoke in a sarcastic manner as she returned to the challenge.
The campers continued to try and beat the course in under a minute. Jasmine was once more attempting to get through the tire, already doing it a few times, she managed to get through quickly.
Topher climbed up the wall fairly fast and jumped down at the other side, landing on one knee. He groaned as even more mud caked his clothes and skin but got up and continued to run.
Eva aggressively crawled through the mud under the swinging axes, splashing even more mud as she went. As she did, she reached Sammy who had been crawling in front of her. While Sammy was to the side of her, she still blocked her path a bit. "Out of my way." Eva grunted as used her weight to push Sammy out of her path.
"Hey!" Sammy yelled in surprise to being pushed. She eyes went wide for a second as she realized she had raised her head slightly and she quickly splashed her dead down to avoid the axe.
Eva got to the end and stood up to see Chef standing over her. "There, done. That was forty-eight seconds, I counted." Eva told him.
"You Just endangered another soldiers life! I want one hundred pushups for that! When you're done that, you can run the course again."
"What? No way! You said under a minute and I did it under a minute." Eva raged. "I am done with your stupid games."
"You'll do as I say or-"
"Or what?" Eva interrupted him. "You'll have me removed from the challenge? Just because I'm the only one with any spine to call you out on your bull?"
Chef glared at her and growled. He seemed to be at a loss for punishments. "You'll spend the night in solitary confinement, in the boathouse." he said menacingly.
"Boathouse? Big deal." She crossed her arms.
The scene flashed to show her in the boathouse. The walls were covered in various sharp objects, hooks, harpoons, even the complete jaw of a shark. It was almost completely black inside and had nowhere to sit. She was forced to use a box labelled 'chum' as a seat. She sat leaning forward with her head in one hand. "This sucks." she stated out loud, looking absolutely bored.
A few footsteps rang out from outside and she moved her eyes towards the door, expecting Chef coming to taunt her, instead the door opened to reveal Noah. "What do you want?" she looked down at the ground.
"Heard you upset Chef's feelings. Wanted an interview with the only one stupid enough or brave enough to stand up to him." he explained his visit.
"Bite me." she shot at him.
"No thanks, would prefer keeping my mouth away from your muddy flesh." Noah raised his hands in front of him and shook his head.
"What do you really want? To annoy me for the rest of the night?" Eva sensed an ulterior motive.
"Oh, I would love to spend the night here in this dump but I had plans to sleep in an actual bed." Noah stuck his thumb behind him to signal the cabins. "But, I did think I'd bring you this." he held up her music player.
Her eyes shot open and she instantly got up and swiped it from him. "Where did you get this?"
"All I can say, is a little birdie told me you had it confiscated." he smiled.
Eva backed down and looked around awkwardly. "Uh, thanks." she let an awkward, thankful emotion crawl onto her face but it quickly faded to just awkwardness.
"If you'd excuse me, I need to go spread joy and happiness elsewhere." he said with complete dryness in his voice.
He quickly left without another word leaving Eva by herself again. She looked down at her mp3 and put her earbuds in before sitting back down.
The scene switched to show the boy's side of the Bass cabin. Beardo was already in bed and Noah was currently absent leaving only Scott and Cody awake. "Hey, buddy." Scott tried to sound overly friendly to Cody. "You said something about a diary earlier, right?"
"Yeah, Scarlett's, why?" Cody looked confused.
"I was thinking you should go talk to her, you know, bury the hatchet?" Scott suggested.
"I don't know, I think Scarlett would rather be left alone." Cody refuted the idea.
"You sure? Maybe she just got a bit rowdy because she likes you." Scott grinned as he noticed Cody perk up at the idea.
"You think so?" Cody asked.
"I could tell when I saw her in the dining hall earlier." Scott lied.
"I don't know." Cody looked around in thought. "I think I've set my sights on someone else."
"Someone else? I've watched you flirt with every girl on this team!"
"Well yeah, but that was old me! I'm a new man! One that wants to end this show with an actual relationship."
Scott groaned. "Look, you should at least go apologize to her or something!"
Cody began to look sceptical. "Why do you care anyway?"
"I-" Scott began as he realized he didn't have a proper excuse. "I just uh, want to make sure there are no ill-tidings later in the game."
"Do you like her? Is this where this is going?" Cody grinned slyly.
"No!" Scott raised his voice some more.
Beardo sat up in his bed as he looked down at the two. "Can you two be quieter." he yawned before going back to sleep.
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Confessional
Scott - "How hard is it to trick one nerd into helping you steal another nerd's things?" he complained.
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The door swung open and Noah entered to see Scott aggressively defended himself. "Shouldn't you two be asleep?"
"Shut up, this is none of your business." Scott glared at Noah. He reached down and grabbed Cody's wrist. "Come on, let's take this outside."
Cody protested but acquiesced, allowing Scott to bring him out into the night. "So what is this all about? I don't think you're being too truthful."
"Look, I just want to borrow the diary is all." Scott told him as he moved over behind the cabins. "Find some dirt on her."
"Ok, there is no way I'm helping do that." Cody refused some more. "If she finds out she'll kill me!"
"Not my problem." Scott told him. "But what is my problem, is having a useless member in this alliance, you help steal that diary or you're out of here." Scott threatened him.
"Can we sleep on it?" Cody asked.
"Fine, in the morning you can go out on your own when everyone else is busy with the challenge." Scott told him. "Don't make the wrong choice here." he left back to the cabin.
Cody stayed outside and just sighed.
"Having an argument?" he heard someone ask. Cody looked around to see who was talking to him. "Up here." he looked up to see Jasmine in a tree.
"What are you doing up there?" he was surprised.
"Just, relaxing. I find it peaceful in nature." she told him. "I can ask the same to you."
"It's nothing." Cody sighed again. "Just some small troubles."
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Confessional
Cody - "So Scott wants me to steal Scarlett's diary for whatever plans he has." he explained the ordeal. "I don't really want to help him with this but I don't want to be kicked out of the alliance. I'm really starting to doubt this alliance thing is a good idea."
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The scene returned at day time with all the remaining campers in the challenge with Chef. Jasmine, Sierra, Scarlett, Topher, and Tyler were all on for the Gophers, while Scott, Eva, and Sammy made it for the Bass.
Chef paced down below. "What you're experiencing is an ancient form of torture." he began to explain. "By now, the blood has begun rushing to your head. Next is nausea, followed by dizziness, and a flushed appearance." As he continued to talk a few of the campers looked uneasy as if experiencing the symptoms as he said them.
The camera focused on Sammy as she began to look flush. "As the blood pools in your eyes," Chef continued. "You may experience fainting spells." Sammy closed her eyes before falling from the tree.
"Come on!" Eva shouted out as she watched her team member fall. "Is that all you can handle?"
"Sorry." she apologized as she got up.
"Come on we got this!" Tyler cheered out. He proceeded to slip out of the tree and land face-first into the dirt.
Lindsay ran over to make sure he was alright.
Jasmine reached up and grabbed the branch.
Topher noticed and mimicked her, followed closely after by Sierra. The Bass began to do it as well not knowing why.
Suddenly, Scarlett dropped down, landing on her hands and knees.
"You guys got this!" Tyler continued to cheer from below.
"Maybe the girls do, but I'm starting to feel a bit off." Topher looked sick.
"Just hold on, we only have to outlast the Bass." Jasmine reminded him.
"You better hope you can stay up for hours!" Eva yelled at them. "I'm not dropping any time soon."
"Hours?" Topher continued to look worried. He eventually lost his grip and slid off the branch.
"Yelling won't help us." Scott told her as he readjusted his position.
"Shut up." Eva snapped at him.
Down below, the Bass looked uncertain of their victory. "Man, Eva is really worked up." Beardo commented.
"Tends to happen when you make her mad." Noah added.
"She really needs to work on her anger." Beardo continued.
"Looks like it's helping us here."
Beardo nodded. "Fair enough."
The scene quickly switched to show Cody by himself near the cabins. He walked up to the Gophers and looked around. "Okay, this shouldn't be too hard." he told himself. He made a second check just to be sure he was by himself by walking into the girl's side of the cabin.
Inside, Cody began to look around, not really knowing which bed Scarlett claimed as her own. His search was quick, however, as he managed to find what he was looking for. He reached for the book but stopped himself. He looked uncertain as to if he should take it. "This isn't right." he continued to speak to himself.
A noise outside spooked him as he made a quick decision to grab the diary and go, running out of the cabin before anyone could see him.
Back with the main challenge, none of the remaining contestants dropped out yet. Jasmine managed to look strong while in the tree while Sierra was beginning to fade. Scott looked strained while Eva looked to only be increasing in anger as the blood pooled in her head.
Eventually, Cody joined the crowd in watching the event. Scott looked over and glared at him and Cody returned a slight nod. Scott smiled and then let himself drop.
"What was that?" Eva's rage continued to boil over.
"I slipped." Scott lied, not seeing to care too much about her hatred.
Sierra managed a smile. "We got this." she said confidently.
"Come on, Gophers!" Tyler cheered out.
"Yay, Bass?" Sammy let out a small cheer sounding more confused than confident.
Eva began to shake in her anger, beginning to lose her grip.
"I thought I trained soldiers, not losers." Chef began to taunt the contestants.
Eva couldn't contain herself any longer and lot out a primal scream. The camera showed a wide view of the island as her voice roared out, scaring birds away from the island.
Back in the close-up view, the scream scared and shocked everyone, including the Chef. Sierra ended up falling as she was too shooked to keep her grip.
The same happened to Eva, however, and she fell to the ground, landing on her feet in a huff. "You know what? I'm done!" she shouted at the Chef. "I'm tired of this stupid game and this worthless team." As she continued to shout insults, no one dared to speak up to stop her. "I quit!" she yelled out as she stomped away.
All was quiet for a few seconds until Noah spoke up: "I'm going to go have a chat with her. If I die, do not mourn." he went to follow her.
Chef coughed to get the attention back on himself. "Looks like the training is over." Jasmine jumped down from the tree and Chef approached her. She stood up and Chef gave her a salute. "Congratulations, soldier. I'd go to war with you anytime."
"Eh, thanks." Jasmine didn't really know how to respond. "I'm glad to have made you proud." she returned the salute.
"You did, soldier." Chef began to tear up. "You did."
The camera changed to show Scott with Sammy and Cody on the dock. "So," Scott began. "Where is it?"
Cody pulled out the dairy. "I still don't think it's right." he muttered.
"I don't care what you think." Scott grabbed it form him. "I care about winning and this should help us win." he opened it and began to flip through it. "What is this?" he continued to turn the pages, growing more and more irritated. "This is just a bunch of nonsense!"
Sammy peered over and looked at the pages. "It just looks like a bunch of random letters."
"Yeah, I can tell." Scott scoffed. "This is useless." he slammed the book shut. "Although, I can still work with this," he changed his mind as he grinned.
"What now?" the geek asked. "Are we going to talk about the elimination?"
"What for?" Scott turned around to leave. "Eva's gone. The only one left after her is Noah."
"What about Beardo?" Sammy asked.
"Oh yeah, soundboard." Scott rolled his eyes. "He is an annoyance but less grating. He should listen to reason, Noah will not. I'll need him gone to get later in the game."
Sammy just nodded along while Cody looked to be second guessing things.
The scene switched to night, where the Bass sat infront of the orginal host, Chris. Chef was still in his military getup, standing behind them.
"So," Chris began. "We have a special case tonight." he looked over the team, who all looked towards Eva. "I heard, that someone quit today. But, it could all just be a misunderstanding. So, I just need whoever it was, to say it again, to my face." he gestured to himself.
"Couldn't you check the footage?" Scott asked.
"Trust me, I have." Chris assured him. "I just really want to hear her say it."
All eyes were on Eva as she sat, hunched over. She grumbled something inaudible.
"What was that Eva?" Chris provoked her. "I couldn't hear you."
"I said I changed my mind, alright?" she raised her voice. "I'm staying."
"How's that fair!" Scott instantly protested. "She already said she quit!"
"Well, I never heard her directly." Chris shrugged with a knowing grin. "Anyway, that doesn't make you safe as we still have an elimination to do! So, get to it!"
The campers got up to go vote. "Had to talk to her." Scott grumbled as he purposely pushed past Noah.
"Never claimed to help her decide." He retorted.
The scene flashed again with the same setup. "I have only five marshmallows on this plate. Only five of you will get one. If you don't get one, you must walk the dock of shame, and board the boat of losers, and never ever return." he continued with the whole speel.
"Samey." he began. She smiled as she got up to get hers. "Beardo." He made a ding of a cash register as he got up.
Chris held onto the next marshmallow long. "Cody." he finally stated. "Scott." he followed up.
He was down to the final marshmallow. "I only have one left. Only one of you get to stay." Chris told them.
Eva had a mixture of annoyance and actual embarrassment, as she believed her outburst earlier was for nothing. Noah looked indifferent. "Come on," Eva spoke up. "We all know the outcome here."
"Sush!" Chris held up his finger. "The final marshmallow of the night goes to," he paused. "Eva."
Noah looked surprised but it quickly turned into annoyance. "Right, vote off me. The guy who literally didn't do anything wrong."
Eva actually looked upset to see her action have Noah leave but she quickly shook it off to keep a strong look. "Tough luck." she looked down.
"Next time, try to be useful." Scott taunted him. He was surprised to feel a fluffy treat bounce off his temple.
"Just, shut up." Eva grunted.
Noah managed to smile at that. He turned to his team. "Have fun running into a brick wall. Without me you won't have the brain to go over it." he walked off.
Scott stayed at the stumps but the rest of the team did give him a proper farewell. They watched as he boarded the boat of losers and was driven off into the night.
Everyone eventually left the fire, everyone except Scott. He sat for a few moments, whittling away at a log before taking a look around. Confirming he was alone, he took out Scarlett's journal with a pencil. He began to scribble away.
With Scott chuckling at his work, the episode faded out.
And there we are! In a weird twist, Noah gets sent off. Even if the Eva event didn't happen, I believe Scott would want him gone over Eva or Beardo. He could argue Eva helps win challenges and Beardo is more submissive.
Why Noah? Well, it was between him and Beardo and I made a tough choice. I do believe keeping Beardo is weaker overall but hopefully the post-merge story line is better off for it. Only time will tell if this elimination was a mistake.
So, one more remains before the merge. Then, after the food special, we will see the return of two campers. I have one basically 100% locked at this point. The other, is still stuck between three characters. I'm exploring the idea of how they can help push the story further on. They still might leave early on in the merge, it all depends if their story is active or reactive.
I will add that I am once more sorry for the wait. Thanks to those who stuck around.
Votes:
Noah: 3
Eva: 1
Scott: 2
Elimination Order:
22nd - Dakota
21st - Sam
20th - Amy
19th - Sugar
18th - Justin
17th - B
16th - Izzy
15th - Leonard
14th - Anne Maria
13th - Max
12th - Noah
-Jawa
