The dock of the space station was silent, not having been used in quite some time. It was probably due to the amount of challenges to far away to travel to by ship. The teleporter really did make the ship itself somewhat useless. However, there was something odd about it. There seemed to be a couple of green blobs attached to the sides of the ship, slithering around all over it like a bunch of slugs. The sight was enough to gross anyone out.
"Last time on Total Drama Space Station: six contestants remained after the madness that ensued from Thomas trying to kill me. Flint and Alexis too, but mostly me! Anywho, Gretchen was a tad worried for her friends, warning others to keep on look out because anybody could be just as evil as Thomas, but Anne didn't want to believe that. Archie apparently got a smooch from the show's coolest eliminatee, but he didn't want to talk about it behind her back. How sweet is that? He cares about her. Tony revealed that he bribed our contestant pickers to be able to get Thomas in the game and score himself a spot in the late game of the competition, what a scumbag! When we got the ball rolling on our challenge, we had to abruptly stop it to give a little treat to everyone: presents from their closest companions back at Playa Des Losers. March got quite the hefty pile of laundry from Luna, while Anne got a loud horn, which she kept honking all damn day! The challenge was simple, run through an obstacle course and try to reach the end first. The first run through saw our damaged Flint winning, giving him the opportunity to sabotage someone else with gravity boots! Before he had a chance to pick, though, Tony cleverly tricked him into delivering them to Anne! The second run through was intense, with Flint, Gretchen, March, and Archie getting through easily, but Tony and Anne having quite the difficult time. In the end, despite being able to get really close to Tony at then, Anne's heavyweight boots caused the climbing rope to snap, allowing the conman to score a place in the final five while our favorite comedian went on home. Our numbers are dwindling, but there's still lots of action to be seen here. What crazy stuff will go down next? Find out, now, on Total Drama Space Station!"
As the opening starts, the Chris space station is revealed and quickly zoomed into, showing cameras all over the corridors and traveling through them and reaching the captain's chambers, where Chris is shown. He shines an evil smirk before the camera zooms past, showing outside of glass in his room.
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the lyrics start while Alex is shown in his orange spacesuit, trying to befriend a space monkey, which, in its scaly, grotesque, but somehow still fluffy appearance, swims through the empty space away from him. Slightly to the left of him is Natt, in his black spacesuit, clapping unenthusiastically.
"You guys are on my mind," the camera pulls back inside, showing the cafeteria where Gretchen playing her guitar on top of one of the tables, while Jianne covers her ears, disapproving of the noise.
"You asked me what I wanted to be, now I think the answer's plain to see," Thomas is seen peering into the captain's chambers, before turning to smile and wave at the camera. The camera slides over quickly, showing Luna and Liz shaking hands while crossing their fingers behind their backs, each with a sneaky smile across their faces.
"I wanna be famous," Damien is seen on a stage, performing in his own little play, before the door to the room is opened by Benjamin, causing the former to stop what he was doing.
"I wanna live close to the sun," Dusty is by the pool, showing March, who is clearly mortified, pictures of some horses from back home.
"So, pack your bags, cause I've already won," Taylor is lounging by the pool as Nicolás jumps in, splashing water on her and causing her to start yelling at him.
"Everything to do, nothing in my way. I'll get there one day," Haley and Sebastian are seen together in the gym, both looking away from each other while whistling awkwardly.
"I wanna be famous," Vicente is seen on the other side of the gym being chased by several interns with cameras.
"Na na na na na na na na na," Chef is seen in the kitchen, inspecting the astronaut meals in their small packages, and opening one labeled, 'popcorn,' causing the room to fill up with popcorn and Anne, just outside the kitchen door, to laugh hysterically. Chef then bursts out of the room and starts to yell at an unsuspecting Flint, who then realizes that he has similar, 'popcorn,' bags in his hands.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous," Alexis is seen tinkering with a control panel, in the dark. The lights then flicker on and she gives a thumbs up before the camera pans over to Archie in the observation room, where the lights flicker off and he lets out an annoyed sigh.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous," Crustacean is seen in the same room, clipping a wire on a control panel and bringing the lights back on, before the camera pans up to show the galaxy, panning back down after to reveal Tony among the other contestants, showing them some fake watches with a huge smile on his face as they are all seen whistling in chairs with Chris in a room full of escape pods.
With only five contestants left on the space station, they found themselves overwhelmed by how massive it really was. There would be times that they could wander through the halls and not bump into anyone for hours. Despite that, they at least sometimes met in the cafeteria at the same time, today being one of those days. There was only two tables with any people at them, though. The first was near the far corner of the room, with only Tony at it. The others wanted nothing to do with him, and he more or less felt the same way about them. He simply sat and flipped his coin, occasionally tossing an intentionally creepy smile at the competition to keep them on edge. Meanwhile, at a table in the middle of the room, Archie, March, Gretchen, and Flint sat together, trying to not think about the impending sense that any of them could be out today and they wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it.
"So," Gretchen started, trying to break the awkward silence, "What do you figure we should do when the next challenge comes up?"
"What do you mean?" Archie asked, his expression being quite confused.
"Well, we all want Tony out of here, right?"
"That's an understatement," March grumbled, "Poor Anne didn't deserve to go like that."
"Exactly. So what do we do to get him out of our hair?"
"I got it!" Flint said, slamming his fist against the palm of his hand, "It's so simple! We just beat him up during the next challenge."
"No thank you," March quickly returned, "I don't want to actually hurt anybody."
"Yeah, I'm not doing that," Archie murmured. "I won't cross that line."
"It was just a suggestion, geez!" Flint crossed his arms, annoyed with his company.
"That'll never work anyways," Gretchen continued, "We need to get him out of here in a way that seems natural."
"So sabotage?"
"Yeah, but there's just one problem with that."
"That being?" Archie asked.
"Tony's way smarter than all of us combined. We could sit here and spitball plans for hours on end, but somehow, at the end of things, he'll still come out on top, no matter how hard we try to beat him. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be here right now. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yeah, you have a good point. I mean, he wasn't even on our team before the merge and he still managed to get Damien out of the game and save his own skin. That can't be done by any ordinary money lover."
"So...you're saying that whatever happens to him would have to be on accident?" Flint questioned, unaware that he hit the nail right on the head.
"That's it!" March cheered, "It does have to be an accident, it can't just be any planned out thing! Tony always expects for people to have it out for him, but how can he expect something that was never even thought about in the first place?"
"That's all well and good," Gretchen said, though she didn't look satisfied with that logic, "The problem with that is that if we can't plan it out, how can we be sure it'll happen to begin with?"
"Well, the only thing that we really can do is completely avoid Tony," Archie added, "That way, he can't get to us, and we can't get to him. Anything could happen to him if we spent the entire time avoiding him. Just do our bits of the challenges and we're in the clear."
"It's worth a shot. Let's get that slimeball out of here, eh?"
"Yeah!" Flint and March cheered at the same time, each forcing the other two to high five them.
Meanwhile, Tony continued to flip his coin, watching the four of them try to plot against him. He had no idea what they were saying, but he had the sinking feeling that it was probably about him in one way or another. He let out an annoyed sigh, catching the coin and tucking it into his pocket before standing from his seat. He looked out from the reinforced glass at the stars throughout the galaxy, mumbling to himself as he did.
"Great," he started, gritting his teeth, "The four morons are up to something. What kind of plan can they come up with when all of their brainpower comes from three nincompoops and a guy who's sad all the time? Doesn't matter to me anyways, I'm sure that they'll find I'm far more difficult to outsmart than Tommy was. If only he could've stayed calm for a few more challenges, I wouldn't be in this mess. It's all Alexis' fault, oh, she makes me so aggravated! Whew, it's okay, Tony. Just calm down and clear your head. I can get rid of them easily. I don't need to worry one little bit about them."
Confessional
"I'm the only person left with any sprinkle of a game plan in their head," Tony started, looking at his reflection in the mirror, trying to make sure he had no crumbs on his face from Chef's food. "That means I've got this huge target on me. Those dimwits won't see this as a competition, they have to be all buddy buddy all the time. I say phooey! I know this game isn't here for us to make friends, it's here for one of us to win! And the winner, of course, will be I!"
"There's only five of us now," Flint started, eating a sandwich that he obtained from who knows where. "Things are getting super intense, which is no big issue for the Flintster, but I am a little worried about the others. I mean, I'm just not sure if they'll be able to handle the last few challenges, ya know?"
"Someone stole my sandwich earlier," Gretchen griped as she crossed her arms, "I was so excited to have that damn thing and now it's gone! Whoever it was has got some explaining to do...I mean, it was probably Tony. It had to be, right?"
"Left with five, we feel alive," Archie started, reading from his book, "Though walls close in, and dread begins, it gets intense, this metaphorical fence, that keeps us stuck, and out of luck. It could use some work, but it's not bad."
"I never would've thought I'd make it all the way to the final five," March blushed, almost as if she was embarrassed about something, "I also never imagined I would get so many people crushing on me throughout this season. I almost feel like a jerk for not being able to accept everyone's love...among other things that I did."
Confessional End
While the five contestants remained in the cafeteria, Chef and Chris were both relaxing in the Bio-Dome, lounging in beach chairs as they waited for their time to start the next challenge. They had sun umbrellas up above their chairs, as well as a table between them with two glasses of lemonade. Each was in a swimsuit, with sunglasses on and a tanning screen in their hands.
"Now, this is the life," Chris said with a chuckle, "My tan's gonna help me with the chicks, ya know, dude?"
"Man, you're gonna need more than a tan if you wanna get some honeys," Chef answered in a snarky tone, "Maybe you should try working on your muscles, shrimpy man."
"Leave it to the giant to call me a shrimp! Seriously, dude, you're abnormally buff. I don't see how anyone could get that ripped."
"It's called hard duty and exercise. You'd know that if you didn't sit on your lazy butt all day."
"Not cool, dude. I didn't come here to get roasted."
"Man, learn to take a joke. I swear, you act like a little baby about a tiny crack at you here or there, you just need to relax and let the haters hate. That's why I'm styling twenty-four seven and you're stuck in your 'I'm Perfect' la la land."
"Whatever, man. We should probably get ready for this challenge, right?"
"Oh, right. I forgot that was today, not gonna lie."
"Well, let's get to it. I'm sure those lame-o astronauts are waiting for us to call them down at any moment, right?"
"You got that right. What a bunch of pipsqueaks."
The two shared a laugh as they got up from their beach chairs, though it was short lived. They turned to see piles of green slime around them, five of them in total. They didn't really recall them being there, before, and their sudden appearance rose some questions.
"Hey, Chef," Chris started, scratching his chin in thought. "Did you put that weird goo in here?"
"Man, do I look like I have a stache of slime on me?" the co-host answered the question in an aggravated tone.
"No need to get pissy. Just wondering."
"Yeah, well, maybe you should- wait, did it just move?"
"Huh?"
Without another word from either of them, the five piles of slime lunged at the hosts, startling the both of them and not giving them time to react before somehow tying them up with rope that came from nowhere. With both of them tied down and unable to move, the five slime piles watched them struggle. After sometime, three of them shifted their shape into a crude representation of Chris. They were still green, but the outfit and looks were accurate enough. The other two shifted into Chef, remaining green as well. The hosts watched them in fear as they started to try and imitate them.
"Greetings, dude," the one Chris slime said to another, "Check out my astonishing face."
"Wonderful face, dude," another Chris said, "My hair is pretty spectacular, right?"
"Nonsense, dude," the third butted in, "My hair is the most spectacular of all, and my teeth are amazingly dazzling."
The three Chris's continued to argue with each other about their looks, while the two Chef's were locked in a much...different conversation.
"Maggot!" one of the Chefs shouted to the other.
"Maggot!" the other shouted back.
Chef and Chris couldn't help but tear up as the imitations did their thing, hoping that someone would come to their rescue soon enough, lest they have to endure any more of this torture. After a few more minutes had passed, the slime men seemed to nod at each other, starting to walk towards the exit of the Bio-Dome awkwardly. They didn't walk like regular people, but they took oddly wide strides for steps. Not to mention the fact that they seemed to jiggle with every movement, just like jello. As they reached the door and started to exit in a single file line, one of the Chefs turned back to face the real hosts, who were as scared as could be.
"Maggot!" it choraled, leaving the room with the others and slamming the door behind it.
Some time had passed since the hosts were captured, and the contestants had gone their separate ways. Gretchen made her way back to her room, where she was busy trying to work on her music, filling in sheet music as she hummed tunes to herself, though there was a massive pile of crumpled up pieces of paper near her. Archie went to the auditorium, as it was the place he felt most comfortable. He walked up and down the aisles of seats, remembering the moment he and Jianne had shared in it, when she decided to tell him about her past. March was in the library, whistling as she worked on her art, using the paints that Luna had given her to make portraits for all of her friends. She hesitated to do Damien's, feeling guilty when she even thought about him. Flint was in the gym, trying to work out with some of the dumbbells. He felt like a wimp after Thomas had beat the crap out of him, so he made it a point to get some exercise in everyday. Then, there was Tony. He went to the basement, digging around through the mess of boxes to try and find something that may help him deal with the other four. Suddenly, the speakers turned on, letting out a loud burst of audio feedback and hurting everyone's ears.
"Greetings, astronauts," a Chris-like voice came through the speakers, "We have made a big, new, amazing challenge for the five of you, please come to the grand lobby to hear more about it."
"Maggot!" four other voices chanted, causing some confusion among the five.
Though the voices sounded off, each of them replied with a shrug, making their way all the way to the lobby individually.
Confessional
"What was with that announcement?" March knocked on her forehead in thought. "Hm, maybe Chris is sick again! And Chef cloned himself! What? It could totally happen."
"That was...odd," Gretchen noted, "I mean, even for Chris! And he's one of the weirdest people out there, ya know?"
Confessional End
Each of the five had made it to the lobby, but they all immediately noticed that something was off about it. For starters, the hosts weren't even there, nor did it look like they had been for quite some time. Second, the door to the dock was wide open, which was unusual, considering that, if the hatch was open, everyone could've died. Seeing this, Flint immediately shut it, the others agreeing that that was the way to go about it. And third, there was a poster on the wall, one with a large astronaut in a blue suit, with words that asked, "Have You Seen Him?" on the bottom of it. They weren't really sure how to react to all of this aside from with a buttload of confusion.
"What's going on here?" Archie asked, "Is this like a joke or something? How are you gonna ask us to come to the lobby and then not even show up to tell us what the challenge is?"
"I know, this is a little weird," Flint remarked, "Not to mention the fact that Chef's voice was all creepy and echo-y on the speakers. I mean, Chef is usually creepy, but not like that."
"They're probably just trying to make us feel uneasy," Tony pointed out, though nobody wanted to hear what he had to say.
"You're probably right," March started, though she glared at him, "But since you said it, I don't want to agree."
"You people are babies, I swear."
"Oh, shut your trap, Tony," Gretchen growled at him, "We don't need to take your insults."
"Whatever. Either way, it doesn't look like there's an actual challenge or anything, so how about we just go back to what we were doing before."
"Pfft," Archie scoffed at the conman.
"What's your deal?"
"Tony, that is absolutely the laziest attempt to derail us from the challenge at hand that you have ever tried to pull. You can't even argue with that."
"I'm not trying to derail you, you goon. I'm just saying that if the hosts don't want to do their actual jobs, then why should we wait around for them?"
"Sure," Flint rolled his eyes, "You just want us to go back to our rooms so you're the only one here for the challenge and they let you win by default."
"Okay, you know what?" Tony started towards the stairs, not looking back at the others, "If you don't believe me, how about I just go first, hm? You can sit and wait for however long you want, but I'm not coming back. I'm going to my room, and I'm gonna watch a movie while you dummies sit down here and wait for a challenge that is never gonna come. See ya."
Without another moment passing, the boy left the other four in the lobby, each one letting out an annoyed sigh.
"Well, I guess it's his loss then, right?" Gretchen glanced at the other three in the room, all of which were growing increasingly bored. "Oh, don't tell me you guys wanna listen to him."
"I mean, we don't," March looked down and twiddled her thumbs as she spoke, "But it is kinda weird that the hosts aren't here when they called us for a challenge. Maybe we should just wait in our rooms until they're ready."
"Yeah," Archie added, "No offense, Gretchen, and I definitely don't wanna sound like I agree with that scumbag, but this isn't really entertaining. I'd rather watch paint dry."
"That's a great idea!" Flint cheered, "Let's watch paint dr-"
"Greetings, morons!" a voice came from the hallway on the left of the lobby, causing each of the four to look over at the source of the noise. "How goes the search?"
As the owner of the voice came out into the lobby, the others could tell that it was indeed coming from Tony, at least someone who looked like Tony. The key difference was in the color, as it was a slimy green color.
"Uh...Tony?" Flint called his name, though still weirded out by the whole situation.
"It is me, indeed," the slime version of the conman replied, "I am Tony, I like money."
"Well, he sure sounds like Tony," March noted, gaining some worried looks from the other three. "What?"
"Are you feeling okay?" Archie asked, taking a good look at the figure that had just entered the room. "You don't really look like yourself right now."
"Of course I am okay!" it replied, not skipping a beat, "But I am wondering something."
"What's that?" Gretchen questioned, skeptical as ever about the thing in front of them.
"Why are you all sitting here while there is a challenge in the happening right now?"
"In the happening? Dude, you're talking all weird."
"I am not talking as strange as it may seem, I am simply speaking with a knowhow."
"What the hell are you saying!?" Flint held his head as if it was aching while he screamed the question.
"What is this 'challenge' anyhow?" March asked, poking at the figure, finding it to be squishy.
"We have to find the chosen one!" it cheered, a bright smile flashing upon its face, "Big Blue!"
"Big...blue?" Archie couldn't help but let a slight chuckle out, "What kind of stupid name is that?"
"Big Blue is not stupid! Far from it! He tamed the mighty beast!"
"Mighty beast? What's the mighty beast?"
"Oh, it's quite the terrifying experience! It has horns of scary, and eyes of many!"
"Dude...Tony," Gretchen pleaded for some more sense in how it was speaking, "You're gonna make Flint's brain explode."
"It makes no sense!" Flint cried out, "Make it stop!"
Confessional
"I'm not sure what this weird slimy dude is," Archie started, glancing around as if someone were watching him, "But I'm not having it. That's not Tony, and something is definitely wrong here. Where's Chris and Chef? I never thought I would be worried for those crazy hosts or that greedy slimeball, but they could be in some real danger right now."
Confessional End
The real Tony, all the while, really was in his own room, watching a movie, just as he said he would. It was something about a guy who made it big through blackmail, and how he was going to keep avoiding getting caught while illegally pulling the strings through some monopoly. He thought it was funny, though the movie was quite clearly supposed to be intense. As he watched, he heard a knock at his door. He let out a sigh, pausing the movie and getting up from his bed.
"Coming!" he shouted to whoever it was, starting towards the door.
As he pulled it open, he noticed the most bizarre thing he had ever seen in his life. There stood Gretchen, well, a green version of Gretchen anyways, only wearing a bikini and leaning against the doorway with a perverted look on its face. Tony didn't once glance down at its body, but he did send a glare towards it, clearly not amused.
"What the hell is this about?" he asked, his glare not fading.
"Greetings, the Tony," the Gretchen imitation said with a wave, "I'm here for the romance to ensure between us."
"There are so many things wrong with this."
"What do you mean, the Tony? Are we not meant to be? Enemies to lovers?"
"Okay, first of all, you're green...like some sort of alien or some jazz. Second, I dunno how much you know about Gretchen, but I know for a fact that she ain't into guys. And last, but most important, even if she was into guys, she's not the kind of gal to hit on her best friend's boyfriend. You should've done your research better, buddy...thing...whatever you are."
"I thought I did a wonderful job?" the thing looked down in shame, "You two clearly seemed to be in the process of a relations."
"What the- do you not know how to speak?"
"I am speaking in a fine manner of talking. There is nothing wrong with my way of talk."
"I'm so...confused. Did Chris make you or something?"
"Make me Chris? I can do that!"
As if commanded to, the thing before Tony's eyes shapeshifted into Chris, causing the conman to cream like a little girl and jump back in fear, as the host was still in the same bikini that the Gretchen fake was wearing.
"What the hell are you!?" he asked, backing up to his bed and throwing pillows at the creature.
"I am the Chris, is that not clear?" it asked, taking a step towards Tony before stepping on something and letting out a cry of pain and leaping back. "The coinage!"
"Huh?" Tony found himself in a new type of confusion as the creature held its foot in pain, hopping up and down while blowing cold air on it.
The conman looked to where it had stepped, discovering the object on the ground to be a penny. Intrigued by what this meant, he grabbed another penny from the nightstand, tossing it at the intruder and causing it to hiss in pain again once the coin made contact with it.
"Make it stop!" it pleaded, backing away even further.
"Well, well," Tony felt a grin crawling onto his face, "Isn't that just the darndest thing."
Confessional
"So, we've got these creepy invaders on the Space Station," Tony started, holding a slingshot in his hand with a sack of pennies to his side, "And they burn if they touch pennies. This is quite interesting. They may have something to do with the disappearance of our beloved hosts, so it may benefit me to take them down and get whatever I can out of them."
Confessional End
Back in the lobby, the other four were still with the false Tony, who continued to act increasingly strange as time went on. It kept pointing at the poster at the wall, gesturing to the blue astronaut on it and referring to him as "Big Blue." While it did so, Tony hurried down the stairs, the real Tony. Everyone was shocked to see him, especially the fake Tony.
"Woah, what is going on here!?" March asked, glancing between the two in confusion.
"Tony!?" Flint's head ached even more, "But you're right there and...there...and...ohhhhhh!"
"Eat copper, you slimy sack of crap!" Tony shouted, slingshotting a penny directly at the creature and striking it in the leg.
It immediately cried out in pain, returning to the puddle of slime that it originally was, scaring the lights out of the four contestants that didn't know what they were up against. With that, it quickly squiggled its way out of the lobby, heading through one of the hallways and leaving everyone in the room behind.
"What was that!?" Gretchen asked, slightly shaken up by what just happened.
"Those things are aliens," the conman continued as he waltzed down the stairs, "They can shapeshift and whatnot. They've also seen everyone on board, so they can take the form of each of us. Only downside to their little game of costume party is that they stay green the whole time. Ain't hard to tell whos who when they got that going on."
"But what was with the penny?" Archie asked, "How come it hissed like that?"
"Well, one of them showed up at my room. Believe it or not, it was trying to imitate Gretchen in a bikini! Ha, the oaf thought I was into her or something."
"Ew, no way," Gretchen blurted out.
"Yeah, yeah. Anywho, it came into my room and stepped on a loose penny, and I found out it was allergic to them or something like that. So now, I'm gonna find each of them and take 'em all down."
"This is messed up, man," Flint mumbled, his head still aching, "Why are there aliens on board? How did they get here?"
"Good question, Flinty. Thing is, I dunno why they're here aside from something about finding 'Big Blue.'"
"Big Blue?" March asked, gesturing to the poster, "They said this was Big Blue."
"Benny Boy?" Tony questioned the poster as he looked at it.
"Oh, yeah!" Gretchen had the realization of who it was, "I didn't even notice that was Ben's suit."
"Why would they want to find Benjamin?" Archie asked, very puzzled about this whole situation. "It makes no sense, he's been gone for a long time now."
"That is something we'd have to ask them, don't you think?" Tony tossed four small bags full of pennies to the other contestants, along with a slingshot for everyone.
"Woah, are we really going alien hunting!?" Flint suddenly lost his headache, becoming invigorated with his usual energy.
"Hell yeah we are! I figure if they ain't got no challenge for us, and these green jerks are terrorizing us anyway, why not make a little game out of it? Besides, I'm getting the feeling that they've got Chris and Chef under lockdown somewhere, so we may have to double this as a rescue mission."
"As much as I hate the idea of working with you," Archie started, "You've got a good point. I mean, we all have something against those hosts, but we're not going to get anywhere without them."
"Exactly!"
"So what's the plan?" Gretchen asked, stretching the band on her slingshot to test it out. "How do we make sure we get these crazies out of here and find our hosts?"
"Like so," Tony pulled out a jar from behind his back, one that was filled to the brim with green slime.
"Ew, it's so gross!" March gagged at the sight.
"Yeah, I know. Basically, if you keep smacking them with the pennies, they can't run away. Hurts 'em too much. After that, just scoop them up into one of these, and presto! You've got yourself an intergalactic prisoner!"
"Awesome," Flint said, jittering from excitement.
"How many of these guys are there?" Gretchen continued her line of questioning, starting to get on Tony's nerves.
"There's four hiding throughout the rest of the space station right now, which makes five of them total. I was able to get that much info out of this guy before it fainted. So, I figure the next thing we oughtta do is go asking where they've got the hosts tied up and what they want with Ben."
"So, are we splitting up, then?" Archie glanced over at the others, "I mean, maybe we should stick in groups just to stay safe. After all, we don't know just how dangerous they really are."
"Good point. How about a team of two and a team of three? We'll do me and Flint, and you, March, and Gretchen. Sound good?"
"Aw, why do I gotta be with stupid Tony?" Flint scuffed the ground, causing his partner to roll his eyes.
"Yeah, that works fine," Gretchen answered, "But don't you think for a second that this plan of yours is gonna make up for all the jerky things you've been up to."
"Oh, I would never! Flint, let's check everything from the hall on the left to the basement. You three, take the lobby, the cafeteria, and the upstairs. Just buzz one of the others in when you nab one of the aliens."
"Yay!" March cheered, "This is so exciting!"
The group split into the two that Tony had suggested, each heading off to their own designated areas, though Gretchen suddenly stopped once they reached the start of the hallway on the right. She turned to face the other two, a concerned look on her face.
"Hey, you guys," she called to them, causing them to turn back and face her, "Just...be careful, okay?"
"Wow, I feel honored to hear you say that, Gretch," Tony said, a slight mocking tone to his voice, "Really butters me up."
"Oh, shut up. I just don't want anyone getting killed out there."
"We're gonna die!?" March started to panic until Archie put his hand on her shoulder.
"No, March," he answered her worrying, "We won't die."
"Oh, thank goodness. I was really worried for a second."
Confessional
"Imagine that," Tony started, a grin on his face, "The girl that probably has the world's biggest grudge against me hoping for my safety. I'm so touched, I think I might cry!"
"I don't care if someone get's the crap kicked out of them," Gretchen mumbled, "Assuming they deserve it, at least. But I sure as hell don't want anyone to die, no matter what they've done to me."
Confessional
Gretchen and her squad started in the cafeteria, which looked as empty as usual. The only thing off about it was how tense the atmosphere was, though that could be chalked up to the contestants not speaking to each other very often, and the search going on. They wanted complete silence, so as not to give the alien a heads up as to where they may be. Gretchen herself was checking under the many tables in the massive room, trying to see if there were maybe even some traces of green slime monsters passing through, but coming up empty with her investigation. March took the kitchen, looking through Chef's things to see if it might be hiding in the pots and pans, though she didn't get anything with this, either. Then, there was Archie, who was checking around the entrance to the room, thinking that, if there was an alien in there, it could use any opportunity of them looking around for it to escape. As he glanced to and fro, hoping to spot something, he finally noticed Flint walking by, but not the regular Flint. It was, sure enough, the slime version of him.
"Greetings, poet broet," the Flint alien waved to Archie, expecting a warm greeting in return.
"...Hey," Archie coldly returned, reaching for something behind his back.
"Have you had any luck with our challenge to find Big Blue?"
"Nope, no luck at all. Tell me again, why are we looking for Big Blue?"
"Oh, Big Blue is the chosen one! We need to make contact with the chosen one, he will surely save us!"
"But what if he isn't here?"
"Of course he is here! That is a ludicrous assumption, why would he not be in this vicinity?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. And one more thing, where are we keeping the hostages?"
"Hostages? I do not know what you are meaning by that! I am just a humble run man!"
Archie could sense that the alien was about to make a dash for it, and, to stop that, he quickly pulled out his slingshot, blasting the creature with pennies and causing it to screech in pain before falling to the floor while the others ran over to the scene. Keeping his slingshot aimed right at the alien's forehead, he leered at it with a menacing aura.
"You found one, Archie!" March clapped rapidly, "That's awesome!"
"Nice job, dude!" Gretchen cheered for her partner, though he wasn't able to pay them any mind as he kept his focus on the alien.
"Now," he continued, "Answer the question I asked you, or I'll keep the barrage going!"
"Okay, I'll talk!" the alien quivered in fear as it spoke, "I don't know exactly where the hostages are in the space of! Only the leader knows where they are being kept, and I'm not sure where leader is!"
"There's only three of you left out there right now. You're telling me that you don't know where they are?"
"I know where two of the rest of us beings are existing. One in the basement and one in the upper of the stairs!"
"Why do you guys talk like that?" March asked, confused, "It's so annoying."
"I take great offendings from that!"
"Well, take some great offendings from this," Archie said with quite the hint of badassery before blasting the creature with another penny, knocking it out cold.
Without a second to spare, Gretchen retrieved a glass jar, scooping up the goopy mess into it before shutting the lid tightly.
"That was so cool!" March continued to cheer her friend on, who was tucking his slingshot away with a smirk on his face.
"And that makes two out of five," Gretchen added, "But this leader of theirs...do you think that one's more dangerous than the rest?"
"I'd assume so," Archie let out an annoyed sigh, "But this one was way too easy to handle, I can't imagine that the leader is a great jump ahead in difficulty."
"Whatever the case, let's call Flint and let those two what we found out."
Confessional
"That honestly felt...really cool," Archie felt a smile crawling onto his face, "And the others thought it was awesome. Also, let's be honest, how many people can say that they've fought an alien and won? Not that many."
"There's five, and two are already out for the count," March said with an excited bounce, "It won't be long until we take out the rest of those creepy crawlies from here!"
Confessional End
While the three had finished up their business in the cafeteria, Tony and Flint found themselves wandering the hallways, deciding which room they should check next. They had already gone to the aquarium, not finding much more than the fish and aquatic plants that were already in there. They also took a look through the auditorium, looking backstage as well as through the aisles for any sign of the aliens, but coming up just as empty handed as they were before. It was just before they decided to check the Bio-Dome that Flint's device started to buzz in his pocket. Instinctively, he grabbed it and answered it, almost expecting Alexis to be on the other line.
"Yello?" he answered, causing Tony to look over at him, confused.
"Flint!" March called his name excitedly.
"Aw, it's just you guys..."
"Flint, you doofus," Tony smacked him on the back of the head, "We want to hear from them!"
"Oh, right. What's up?"
"We just got in a scrap with one of the aliens down by the cafeteria! He let a whole bunch of juicy info slip for us!"
"Really!? That's awesome! What've you got for us?"
"Well, we found out that they have a leader of some sorts, and that leader is with the hostages, so Chris and Chef."
"A leader?" Tony asked, overhearing the conversation, "Did they mention anything about the leader? Like, maybe who it's disguised as?"
"No...all they said is that bit about the hostages. It didn't even know where the leader was hiding."
"Well, that sucks," Flint mumbled, "What else was there?"
"It did happen to know where the other two lackeys are! One of them is in the basement, while the other is somewhere upstairs."
"Basement?" Tony grinned, "We're not far from there, we can nab that one while you guys go for the one upstairs. Try to find out anything about the leader that you can, we need to know where our 'beloved' hosts are."
"Roger that, Captain Scumbag!" March mocked Tony, hanging up and leaving the two to themselves while Flint tucked his device back into his pocket.
"So, to the basement, then?" Flint asked his associate.
"Rightio, Flint." Tony replied, leading the duo as he walked towards the aforementioned cellar. "It's not gonna be easy to find something this elusive in that dark mess, but as long as we stay focused, we can probably get it in no time."
"Yeah. Though the basement gives me...chills."
"Why's that?"
"Oh, that's where me and Alexis had to fight Thomas. You know, when he went all coocoo crazy at the end there."
"Right. Well, he's gone, so you won't have to worry about him hiding down there."
"Yeah, I know that! It's just like some PTSD or something."
The two continued their back and forth, entering the basement without even noticing it at first. When they ended up tripping and falling down the stairs due to their lack of attention to their surroundings, they ended up in a pile at the bottom of the steps. They moaned and groaned, both barely able to rise from their downed position and back to their feet. Tony shook his head, turning a flashlight on from his device and scanning the room with it, though coming up empty at first. On the other hand, Flint felt this familiar presence, one that could not be mistaken for anything else.
"Gah!" Flint quivered, immediately hiding behind Tony, "Thomas is here!"
"This again?" Tony rolled his eyes in response, shoving Flint back and dusting his fancy jacket off, "Look, Flint. I said it before and I'll say it again. Thomas is gone, there is no way he's down here."
"Then who's that!?"
Tony, noticing Flint pointing to something in front of him. Wanting to humor the boy, he glanced over in the direction, noticing a slimy, green Thomas imitation before him and jumping back in fear. Both of the two were quivering at this point, but Tony was quick to regain his composure, reaching for his slingshot.
"Greetings, life ruiner and money lover," the Thomas alien waved to them.
Despite the fact that it looked more intense than the others, in the end, it really was just as dumb as the rest. Tony smirked smugly, taunting the thing with his slingshot, though not really getting any response aside from its watchful eyes following the weapon. Flint still struggled to contain his fear, even though the creature was just a dumb lackey. Tony let a penny fly at the alien, causing it to scream in pain and drop to the ground as he, similarly to Archie, held the slingshot up against its head.
"Alright, alien," Tony started, sounding a lot scarier than usual. "We know about your leader. Why don't you tell us what it looks like before we really hurl some pain down onto you!"
"Y-yeah!" Flint squeaked, clearly afraid as could be, "What he said!"
"The leader?" the creature on the ground thought about it for a moment, "The leader is in the mask of what is Chris at the moment."
"It looks like Chris, eh?" Tony let out a chuckle, "And you don't happen to know where your leader is hiding, do you?"
"No, I don't."
"Figures, don't know why I expected to get any good information out of a lackey like this one. Alright, Flint. Get the jar ready-"
"Wait!" the alien cut him off quickly, as if having thought of something to say. "I don't know where the leader is being hidden, that is true, but that is only because the leader is not ever hiding!"
"Say what now?" Tony was a little shocked to hear that, but didn't move from his spot, "What do you mean by that?"
"The leader is following the you guys! All five of you, they are watching with a close eye to make sure nothing goes wrong."
"Oh...well that's unnerving. But, it's also helpful. Thanks for that little tidbit."
"May I be freed from the hostage position now?"
"Hm...nah," Tony laughed as he hit the creature with another penny, knocking it out, just like Archie had before him. "Flint, take care of this mess."
Tony waited to hear from his partner, but he got no response. He let out an annoyed sigh, turning to see that no one else was in the room with him.
"Flint?"
Again, he received no response. He shrugged, scooping the alien into a jar, much like the other two were in, and closing the lid tightly. He then took a look around, trying to check if his partner was maybe hiding elsewhere, though he continued to come up empty with each nook and cranny he searched.
"Alright, you've had your fun, leaving me down here by myself, but this is serious. We need to stay-"
Unable to say another word, Tony found himself being scooped up by something green and slimey, and getting a sack tossed over his head. Meanwhile upstairs, March was chasing down the fourth alien, which had made itself look like Damien, aggravating her to no end. She had gotten way further ahead than the rest of her group, ending up in the observation room, alone with it. Finally, she managed to land a penny against its head, knocking it out instantly.
"Oh, shoot!" she cursed, walking over to it with a jar in hand. "I was supposed to ask you questions and stuff..."
She let out a sigh, trying to look the other way while she scooped up the creature, barely able to ignore the gooey texture of it. Once she got it in the jar, she made sure it was shut tight so it couldn't escape from her.
"Hey, guys!" she called out for her friends, but not really getting much of a response from them aside from some shuffling noises. "Ah, you're still coming up here! Take your time!"
It started as just seconds without a response, but the seconds quickly turned to minutes, and as they failed to show up, she found herself more and more worried about where they may be. She left the alien behind, choosing to go look for her friends instead of waiting around for them to find her.
"You guys!" she called for them as she went down the stairs from the observation room, looking around each corner in search for them. "Where are you?"
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she noticed something green off in the distance. It sort of looked like Chris, and it had Archie and Gretchen in its hands, each with a burlap sack over their heads. She watched carefully as it trudged on down the halls, following it both slowly and silently.
Confessional
"I'm not sure if that's the leader or what," March started, looking as nervous as could be, "But I have to help them! Archie, Gretchen, I'm coming to save you!"
Confessional End
Now, with four of the five contestants captured, they found the burlap sacks being torn from their heads, revealing to them that they were in the Bio-Dome, along with Chris and Chef, both of which were still tied up from earlier. Archie glanced over at Flint, who looked as if he had seen a ghost, while Tony had an incredibly vicious glare aimed at something off to the side. A change in glance revealed Tony's target to be a slimy, green Chris, one with angry red eyes. It paced back and forth before the group, as if it were trying to figure out what to say to them. Suddenly, it stopped its movement, turning to look at its hostages with that angry glare that Tony was wearing on its own face.
"You dudes are the not cool," it started as it got closer to them, looking down as they all were forced into a nervous sweat, "I am simply trying to make contact with the chosen one, and you all had to ruin my plan! Where is he? Where is Big Blue?"
"We don't know where he is!" Flint exclaimed, trying to weasel his way out of the ropes he was bound by, "Just let us go, man!"
"Oh no, I'm not going to the letting you go. I'm going to keep the each of you in these ropes until I find our chosen one and claim him for our people. The mighty beasts need to be taken care of, once and for all!"
"What are these mighty beasts you keep talking about?" Gretchen asked, wriggling around as much as she could, but making no progress through her bindings.
"The mighty beasts of legend! They're quite terrible, and they eat everything they can get their filthy the hands on!"
"Why do you talk like that!?" Tony growled, "It's so obnoxious, and none of you are giving us an answer!"
"You do not need to know what the way of our talking. We have all of you now, and we will have our answers!"
"Wait, all of-" Flint was quickly cut off by Archie.
"Yeah, you have all of us," Archie noted, "It's only a matter of time before you squeeze the answers out of us."
"Dude, what are you talking about?" Chris whispered to the contestant, "Isn't March still out there?"
"Yeah, but we don't need this thing to know that."
"Man," Chef mumbled, "I'd be worried about that girl, how is a tiny little thing like her gonna be able to take care of a huge mess like this?"
"What are you all the quiet speaking of?" the alien asked, stomping its feet angrily, "I need to know what you are talking of now, dudes!"
"Uh, y-your birthday party!" Flint blurted out, unsure of what else to say.
"Gasp! I did not the knowing it was my birthday today! Carry on your secret conversation, I will not the listen to a peep!"
"Good!" Gretchen added, a fake smile across her face, "You don't wanna ruin your big birthday surprise, do you?"
"No, I would never the dreaming of it!"
"Then just stay over there and look at the ceiling!" Tony said, a sly grin on his face, as per usual. "Your gift will be here soon enough."
"Oh, I am so the excited! We can continue our discussion about Big Blue once the birthday bash is quite over!"
With that, the alien looked up at the ceiling, a smile across the face that it was borrowing. The group let out a sigh of relief in unison, though they knew that it wasn't yet over. They still needed to wait for March to come, but how long would that take? They had no way to contact her, and the thick brush of the dome made it far to difficult to see anyone just passing through.
"What do we do while we wait?" Archie asked the group, "I mean, if we just sit here and don't do anything, surely it'll get suspicious of something."
"I know, but what can we do?" Gretchen answered his question with her own, "We're stuck in dead water right now, can't move or get ourselves free. We just have to hope that March gets here soon."
The group waited and waited for the fifth contestant, but as time went on, it became clear to them that something may have happened to her on the way, or she didn't know where they were to begin with. The alien was growing impatient with them, tapping its feet while waiting for the promised present that was never going to arrive to them. Suddenly, it stopped staring at the ceiling, instead choosing to glare over at the group that had fooled it. Each of the six of them gulped in fear as it headed back in their direction, stopping right in front of them.
"I've been waiting for this so called birthday surprise for many the minutes now," the alien grumbled, stomping its feet again, "There is no birthday surprise!"
"It may just be taking a while, heheh," Chef tried to ease the mood with his words, but the alien was not having it.
"Oh no, I don't believe it will ever arrive here! You all made it up to get me off of your backs so I wouldn't find Big Blue! I demand you to the telling me where Big Blue is this instant, or else things will get messy!"
"We don't know where Big Blue is!" Flint cried out, "He's been gone for a long time!"
"What do you mean he's been gone?"
"He left!" Tony shouted, "Vanished, disappeared, he's donezo! Get that through that slimey skull of yours!"
"The rude comments will do nothing for you but make me the angrier! I will not stand for this! I've had enough of this endless waiting, I shall get rid of the you useless humanoids!"
"Or will a useless humanoid get rid of you?" March's voice came from somewhere in the trees, though it wasn't exactly clear where.
"What is this!? There is another one of you!?"
The alien glanced around, not seeing any sign of the girl that had infiltrated the Bio-Dome without being caught. It could here her giggling through the trees, but her position seemed to change rapidly, almost like she was running through the bushes. Oddly, though, no noise could be heard on the ground, not even a single footstep. Even her own peers were at a loss as to what was going on.
"Stop this tomfoolery! I demand to be in the knowing of what you are doing!"
"Then how about I show ya?"
Suddenly, March burst through the mass of trees, swinging on a vine before sending a penny straight at the alien with her slingshot, causing it to stop and screech like the others had before. As she got closer and closer to it, she opened the sack with the pennies in it, slapping the entire thing against its face and causing it to fall to the ground, knocked out cold. The group couldn't help but cheer as March leapt from the vine, landing next to the alien in a victorious pose before scooping it up into the final jar.
"That was the coolest thing ever!" Flint cheered, "Go, March!"
"Nice job, buddy," Archie gave her an approving nod.
"We're saved!" Chef and Chris cried out in relief.
"Not bad at all!" Gretchen added to the compliments, "You really are full of surprises."
"Whatever!" Tony blurted out angrily, "Just save us already!"
"Okay, just one second," March replied, tightening the jar as much as she could. "There we go!"
She quickly ran over to the others, untying each one of them before they all hugged her as a group, including Tony, though he was kind of smushed into it by Chef. When the hug finally broke, they found themselves at an impasse.
"Hm, what do we do with these aliens?" Flint asked, tapping his chin in thought.
Suddenly, the rest of the group got a devilish look on their faces, leaving Flint in confusion.
"What? What're you guys thinking about?"
The group left the Bio-Dome, and Chef tossed on his space suit, heading out to the dock while Chris opened up the hatch for him. Without a moment to spare, he tossed each one of the jars out into the void of space, causing them to float away from the space station. When he came back, Chris closed up the hatch and he sighed in relief.
"Well, astronauts," the host started, "I can't congratulate you enough on a killer performance today, so none of you will have to go home tonight!"
"Aw, yeah!" Gretchen cheered, playing the air guitar with bravado.
"I do wonder, though," Archie interrupted everyone's celebration, "What did they want with Benjamin?"
"Yeah...they never really explained," Tony added, scratching his chin in wonder.
Meanwhile, on the distant moon of Jupiter, Europa, a bunch of slimy green aliens, in their true forms, which showed them to be broad with Benjamin inspired hair, as well as a beak of sorts on their faces, could be seen running away from the Sasquatcheuropas that Benjamin was able to tame so long ago.
Author Notes:
*Whaddya know, no elimination in this episode! I needed to do one more non-elimination episode, and I thought this one would be a fun way to do it. Though I guess the aliens kind of got eliminated in their own unique way, eh?
*Placements: 22nd - Taylor; 21st - Nicolás; 20th - Vicente; 19th - Haley; 18th - Crustacean; 17th - Sebastian; 16th - Damien; 15th - Benjamin; 14th - Jianne; 13th - Dusty; 12th/11th - Luna and Liz; 10th - Natt; 9th - Alex; 8th/7th - Alexis and Thomas; 6th - Anne
Review Responses:
Attackin2 - Yeah, it really killed me to eliminate Anne there. I always thought it was funny, though, how you and a lot of others in the discord thought she was going to be one of the fastest eliminations after merge. And there I was knowing that she'd place sixth the whole time. I miss her already...
Candela Monsoon - You're right! Anyone could be a finalist now...even Chef!
Nobody245 - Tony is the epitome of "don't take your eyes off of this." They ignore him as a threat because of Thomas, and now he's back in business.