An unfamiliar planet could be seen, one which was incredibly small in comparison to some of the others that the contestants had found themselves on. Chris stood upon the rock, in his space suit, while looking over a large mass of obstacle courses that were set up, making sure they were to his liking. As he eyed it over, he smirked, knowing that this would make for some great content and probably a lot of despair and agony for the final six.
"Last time on Total Drama Space Station: I was totally sick, which wasn't cool, dude. Unfortunately, Dana had to take over as far as hosting the day went, and she did such a crappy job at it! I mean, maintenance? Really? That's not an interesting challenge at all. Anywho, her and seven cronies each took part in the challenge, being supervisors for each of the contestants in the various tasks that they were given. Anne had issues with creepy Jackson, who made her get mad. Real mad. March didn't fare any better with perfectionist analyzer Milly, who told her about why her sister is so coocoo, which made March go and tattle on her to her girlfriend, Mimi, who was super pissed about it. Archie got stuck with botanist Belladonna in a monstrous plant fighting challenge that she was little help in, which was definitely aggravating him. Gretchen seemed to have a good time with Dana, though, with the two rocking out during their part of the challenge. Now, for the real juicy bits, Thomas was trying to murder me! Like, I invite the dude onto my show and he tries to kill me when I'm sick!? What gives!? If it weren't for the efforts of Alexis and Flint, we probably all would've been goners. And Flint earned some badass points for whacking Thomas with that broken board, man that was cool. Dude even managed to make it back from his big fight with enough time to complete his part of the challenge and slickly avoid elimination! In the end, Archie won the reward of the challenge, which was being able to get a visit from one fallen contestant for the night. Of course, he chose Jianne, and they shared an adorable moment together. Unfortunately, Alexis ended up failing the challenge due to Thomas and his scheming, which got them both eliminated, though Thomas got a special surprise from crazy girl Maggie. Don't do crazy, dudes. Now, we're down to six of the twenty-two! You've got Anne, Tony, Flint, March, Gretchen, and Archie! Which of them will fall 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.
Anne sat in her room, feeling a bit weird knowing that Thomas was an assassin all along. She looked through her device, at pictures she had taken with each and every other person should could manage to get one of, noticing that the boy was even being strange in those pictures, sometimes glaring at specific contestants, like Damien or Alexis, in the background of photos. She gulped in a nervousness as she deleted each one with him in it, not wanting to be reminded of what went down during the last challenge. As she did so, she saw several pictures of her and Natt together, which made her crack the smile that the boy had loved to see.
"Aw, Natt," she said to herself quietly, "If only you were still up here...I'm sure you could help me forget about everything that went down. And it wouldn't be bad to just hug you to get rid of this tension. I'm gonna do something great for when we finally get back together again, just you wait."
She rose from her seat on her bed, stretching her arms out as she locked her device and tucked it into her pocket before heading for her door, twisting the knob to see Gretchen at the door, about to knock on it until it was opened.
"Oh, hey, Gretchen!" Anne chimed happily, "What brings ya to the comedy club?"
"Oh, I'm just...you know, checking on everyone," Gretchen started, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "I can't imagine most of us feel too good thinking about what Thomas was up to behind the scenes."
"Yeah, that...was definitely something strange. I can't say I'm feeling too good lately, just kinda nervous."
"I feel ya there. I mean, if an actual assassin was onboard, who knows what any of us others could be?"
"You're not seriously suggesting someone worse than assassin is among us," Anne suddenly looked directly at the camera, "Reference."
"Huh?"
"Nothing!" the jokester was quick to reply and turn her head back to face the rockstar, "But I seriously don't think anyone else could be that bad. Well, aside from Tony being greedy."
"I don't know, Thomas was super chill, and he was like a leader to some of us, but look how that turned out. You don't even have the slightest thought that someone else could be as evil as him?"
"No, I don't. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm done talking about this. It's making me feel more uncomfortable than I was before."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I just-"
"Later, Gretch," Anne said, irritated, as she quickly shut the door, leaving the rockstar sulking at it.
Confessional
"I really don't want to spark any more worry than there needs to be," Gretchen said, sounding kind of sad, "But I just don't want any of the others to get hurt because of some maniac on the loose! It doesn't hurt to put your guard up, even if just a little bit."
"Gretchen really is sweet, but sometimes she has weird ways of displaying how she cares," Anne noted, "I mean, she thinks she's helping people by going around and telling them to be on the look out, but all that's gonna do is make us feel more and more worried about what's to come."
Confessional End
Meanwhile, in his own room, Flint was still sore from his big fight. He lounged on his bed, looking up at the ceiling out of boredom and staring at the patterns of the paint. He sighed, stretching himself to rise to a sitting position, though it caused him an intense pain as his ribs felt like they were cracking. He immediately went back to lying down, feeling better than he did when he was sitting.
"Ah, crap," he mumbled, "This kinda blows. That stupid Thomas really got me messed up."
The boy looked around his room, growing a frown upon his face. Thinking about Alexis being gone really got to him, knowing that she really was one of the only people who gave him the time of day. Yes, she did hide the truth about Thomas for a very long time, but in the end, the girl was terrified. What kind of guy would he be to just leave her alone and let Thomas do as he wished? As he thought about her, he was reminded of the time they had spent together outside of challenges, plotting and scheming, and just generally having fun. Those were good times that he just wasn't sure he'd be able to get back, now that she was gone.
"Man, Alexis," he continued to mumble, only this time, he showed a faint sign of tears on his face. "Why'd you have to go and let Thomas eliminate you like that? This is so not fair...but I promise you, I'm gonna win this for the both of us, and then we're gonna go to France or something! It's gonna be super romantic, and then, there'll be no way you can turn down my love."
Flint chuckled to himself, the loud laughter suddenly causing a burning pain in his ribs, which made him groan. He grabbed an ice pack that was off to the side and put it against his side, trying to take away some of the pain that he was feeling.
"Okay, ow," he spoke with a hint of irritation from the injuries, "How am I supposed to compete in these challenges if I'm all gonked up like this? These last few weeks are gonna be really hard."
Confessional
"Thomas and I had an epic battle in the basement last episode," Flint noted, holding two ice packs against his ribs and side, "The dude was going to kill Alexis, there was no way I could just let him do as he pleased! But, it looks like your boy made it out on top, even if coming out on top means getting all of these battle scars. Not to worry, though, as long as I stay positive, I'm sure that I can do this! Woohoo, let's go!"
Confessional End
Downstairs, in the cafeteria, Tony sat by himself, thinking about all that had happened in the past few episodes. How many people were eliminated because of Thomas and his evildoings? He kept asking himself that question, knowing a few, but not sure about the rest of them. Damien was the first of the bunch, which he only knew since he came to him and Benjamin for help with that endeavor. He saw him fiddling with the tablet in the one challenge where they pretended to be each other, so he knew that Natt's elimination could also be added to the list. And then...just Alexis, who we outsmarted in the most recent challenge. Thinking about it, he couldn't help but stifle a chuckle to himself, slapping his own forehead from the hilarity.
"An assassin?" he scoffed, "Way to go, Chris. Just when we thought you couldn't have been more of a dumbass, you go and do something like this! You're an absolute fool for letting that man on board this station...or are you?"
A twisted smile grew across Tony's face, the crazy look almost matching the intensity of Thomas himself. He tossed a coin up into the air, catching it quickly, and repeating the process again and again, smiling at the glittery luster of the money as it flashed before his eyes.
"Sometimes, you need to spend a little money to make a lot of money," Tony said deviously to the coin, "If that means...I dunno...having to pay someone to allow you access to all the applications in order to make sure that your competition isn't too great, and that a dangerous criminal comes aboard to distract everybody from the real threat...then so be it. But the thousand I spent won't matter a bit once I get that five million in my hands. And now that all the real threats are gone...it's only a matter of time before I win this damn thing."
Tony chuckled once more, catching the coin and tucking it into his pocket without another flip, thinking about just how devious he was all the while.
Confessional
"Yeah, I've rigged this thing in my favor," Tony said proudly, "It's true, it cost me a pretty penny to do it, but the payoff is so good! I didn't expect a few things to happen from this, though. For starters, Liz...that whole thing was entirely unexpected. I mean, how was I supposed to know that she would be interested in someone like me? No matter, I'm not complaining. It's pretty nice having someone to back you up, someone who's just as crazy as you are. The other thing was Flint coming back...I knew that they were bringing the other two, but Flint? They never even mentioned this before in their conversations with the big dogs. He was just brought back out of the blue...it can't just be a coincidence."
Confessional End
All this left the March and Archie duo to their devices, which just so happened to be in the auditorium, which wasn't unusual for them, considering they went there at least once a day to work on their own talents and skills. But this time, it was different. This time, the two felt a whole array of emotions that had their heads in a whirl. It was a mix of joy, from having made it this far, confusion, from finding out about Thomas, and nervousness, from being in the final six and knowing that either one of them could be getting out at this point. But there was one other thing that was floating around, which made both of them feel different emotions.
"So, Archie," March started, a little smile on her face, "Guess what I heard about you?"
"Oh, man," Archie let out an annoyed sigh when she asked him the question. "Who's talking shit about me, now?"
"Nobody's talking shit or anything, but somebody did tell me something that you did the other day. Something very interesting."
"You're making me nervous, I never do anything interesting."
"Jianne told me you kissed her the other day!"
"Ah! Why did she tell you that!?"
Archie started to panic as March giggled a little, knowing that the boy was very clearly flustered about the whole situation. She patted him on the shoulder as he looked down in, what seemed to be, shame.
"What's the matter?" she asked, "You like her, don't you?"
"That's not...I mean," Archie struggled to find the right words to say to his friend, "It's not like we're dating or anything."
"You're not?"
"No...we were just hanging out, and we happened to share one tiny little kiss. That was it."
"But you liked it, right?"
"Of course I liked it, I'm not stupid."
"So why are you so embarrassed about it?"
"It's not that I'm embarrassed about it, I'm just...I don't know, I wouldn't feel right telling everybody about it. It was a private kiss. I understand why she told you, considering we're friends and all, but I don't think she wants some of the others to know either."
"Oh, I get it! She's embarrassed!"
"...I sure hope not."
"I'm just teasing you, of course she's not embarrassed! You two would make a super cute couple."
"Cute? I think you need to reevaluate your definition of cute, March."
"Pfft, I know what's cute and what's not cute," she laughed a little at first, but then stopped, suddenly gaining an upset look on her face.
"What's the matter?"
"Oh...I called Damien the other day..."
"You did? How'd that go?"
"Not too well, he didn't really want to talk to me. He said he didn't want an apology, and there's no way to take it back."
"Ouch...you feeling okay?"
"I guess I'm alright...there's no chance of me and him getting back together, I know that. But..."
"But?"
"...I also got to call my girlfriend."
"You and Luna are official?"
"As of yesterday!" March got her smile back upon her face, "She said she was thinking about me since she got eliminated, and that she really missed me."
"I gotta say, and no offense, but Luna? She's not the...nicest person in the bunch."
"I think she's sweet. She even sad she won't cause any troubles to my friends, she doesn't want to be overly clingy and get in the way of us hanging out."
"...That's big of her, but I don't know."
"I get your skepticism. After all, she did kind of make fun of a lot of people for their looks...and other things. But she's different now, I think she really got a good understanding of how her comments made others feel when Liz was insulting her."
"I'll take your word for it. Either way, it's nice to hear you two are together, though I do still feel kind of bad for Damien."
"Yeah...I know. I really messed up with him."
"It's fine, I'm sure he'll forgive you eventually, it just might take some time."
Confessional
"She said I can call her 'Lulu!'" March said ecstatically, her face blushing a bright red, "How cute is that? I can't really have nicknames like that since, you know, only one syllable. But she called me 'Gumdrop' and that was kinda cute!"
"I don't wanna blabber any more about what went on between me and Jianne the other day," Archie mumbled, clearly blushing at the thought of it, "She doesn't need people talking about her behind her back, she's gone through enough."
Confessional End
As the six contestants tried to enjoy the façade of peace for just a moment, the loud speakers suddenly erupted with Chef's voice, which was as aggressive as it ever was.
"All of you maggots, get your butts on down to the dock for your next challenge!" he shouted.
"Oh!" Flint gasped, thinking about it for a moment, "Challenge time? I can kick some more butt now!"
Without another word, the boy rose to his feet quickly, causing his ribs to burn in pain immediately. A look of pain grew across his face as he stood, though he didn't sit back down. He was far too excited for the challenge that was about to happen.
"Ah, this hurts worse than anything I've ever felt before! But the challenge beckons me, I must answer its calls!"
He quickly ran from his room, slamming the door behind him loudly. Soon after, he and the other five that were still in had made their way to the dock, each donning their space suits as they saw Chef in his own. The teleporter was turned on behind him, which rose some question as to where they may be headed. They had already been to most of the other planets, save for Jupiter and Saturn.
"Yo, Chef," Gretchen called the co-host's attention, "Where's our next destination at? Somewhere inspiring?"
"Yeah, I wanna know, too!" March said, sounding more giddy than usual, "I've gotta make a special painting for somebody!"
"Would you all calm down and just wait for me to tell you!?" Chef snarled at them, "You're more annoying than any other group of maggots we've had before, I swear. Our next destination is a planet at the far end of the galaxy: Pluto!"
"Pluto?" Archie scoffed, "Pluto isn't a planet."
"Pluto is too a planet," Tony argued, "They changed it back a while ago."
"What's the point in changing it back?" Flint asked, "Pluto is probably the least important space rock, anyhow."
"That's offensive to Pluto!" Anne said with a faux-anger, "You're gonna make it cry some Plu-tears!"
"That was a miss, Anne," March shook her head in disappointment.
As the six of them talked among themselves, Chef could feel the rage building within him, which was only noticed by the group when he was straining himself so hard that his face was pure red. They immediately quieted down, causing the anger to simmer away slowly.
"Just go through the damn portal," Chef said with an annoyed sigh, "You stress me out more than Chris when he tries to include me in these challenges."
Without another peep, the group passed the co-host by, going through the portal and ending up on the landscape that Chris was at earlier. The obstacles in the area raised some mixed feelings, with pure joy from Flint, while Tony had some existential dread. Most of the others were pretty neutral to the place, not so much worried about a physical challenge.
Confessional
"Of course, a physical challenge!" Tony cried out angrily as he slammed his fist against the wall, "Now, this is gonna be a tricky situation for me to get out of, but I may be able to weasel my way through if I just make things a little more difficult for somebody else. But who should I pick?"
Confessional
The group continued to let their eyes wander throughout the area, and Chef came through the teleporter as well, standing behind them while Chris approached them. He clapped for them slowly, causing some uneasiness, as a seemingly happy Chris is a dangerous Chris. However, he didn't seem like he had any evil thoughts about him for the moment.
"Well, would you look at this," he started, continuing his slow clap, "Despite having to deal with your insane co-contestants, one of which was a literal assassin, which, by the way, I am still on edge about, you six have pushed through and made it to this point. To that, I say congratulations. Congratulations on making it to the final six in one of the most intense seasons that we have ever had. Flint, the speedster, the running man, and the mega simp, you've defied all odds by making it this far as a returnee to the competition. Most returnees get targeted pretty quickly, and our other two are out of the running, but you're still here. You can give yourself a pat on the back for that."
"Woohoo!" Flint cheered, raising his fists in the air.
"Anne, you've proved that the comedic relief can do much more than crack a joke every now and then by showing your fellow contestants that you have a heart of gold. You brought the best out of Mr. Emotionless, and you're still standing here today. Fantabulous performance!"
"Aw, shucks," Anne blushed, rubbing her arm awkwardly before running the statement through her head again, "Hey, he has a name!"
"Gretchen, you're one seriously cool dude, and that's saying a lot, because you're a girl! You really know how to shred like nobody else, and you're the big sister that most of these delinquents really need in their lives. Rock on, dude."
"Wow, Chris," Gretchen felt a little strange, hearing the words he spoke, "What's gotten into you?"
"March, you're probably one of the sweetest people to have come on board the space station, despite having some drama here and there. You care a lot about people who really need it, and you try your best to keep them happy, even drawing wicked fan art of them in your free time. We could all use a friend like you."
"Awwwww," March felt herself tearing up a little from the statement. "That was so beautiful..."
"Archie, you're seriously a one of a kind dude. You've put up with more than most people could possibly imagine, yet, against all odds, you're standing here today, making it clear that no matter what comes your way, you'll find a way to overcome each trial and stand atop the battlefield with a well-deserved look of glory."
"What are you-?" Archie had a hard time speaking, not sure what to think about what Chris said.
"Tony...you're here."
"...And?" Tony asked, waiting for something more than that.
"That's it dude, you're just here."
"Favoritism much?"
"Yeah, whatever, money grubber. What matters is that you six are all here for the next challenge, but before that, we'd like to offer a reward to each one of you."
"What kind of reward are we talking?" Tony's mouth started to water involuntarily, "Is it money? Please say money."
"Tony, you're drooling all over your face," Anne said, sounding quite disgusted.
"No, it's not money. It's something far more special. We went ahead and asked the people closest to you to put something together for you so we could deliver it to you before the challenge, just to psych each of you up."
"That's really sweet, actually," Gretchen noted, "Are you sure you aren't just leading us on to deceive us?"
"Just accept the stupid reward already, gosh. Chef, bring them out!"
From behind the group, Chef pulled a cart through the teleporter, revealing six neatly wrapped presents on top of it, each with a card from their special person. The group looked at each present with joyful looks on their faces.
"This is awesome!" March said cheerfully. "I wonder who gave who what?"
"Is that really a question?" Chris asked her, "We all know who gave who what, just crack into them so we can get on with the challenge and I can eliminate someone."
The six glared at Chris, heading towards the cart that had peaked their interest, and grabbing the cards, tearing them open to read them.
"'Dear Anne,'" Anne started to read her note aloud, "'I miss getting to hear all your hilarious puns,' aw, Natt is so sweet."
"'I know you've found out by now, and I hope it doesn't affect our friendship,'" Gretchen read her own note, "Right...her plan..."
"'Your hair is almost as cute as mine,'" March blushed while she read her note.
"'Archie, you're a cool dude,'" Archie read his note from Jianne.
"And?" asked Flint, "What else?"
"That's it. That's all she wrote."
"Yikes, sorry dude."
"Huh? What do you mean? This is super meaningful. I can tell she poured her heart into this."
"Uh...right," Flint continued with his own note, "'Getting to fight off an assassin with you was the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.'"
"'I see that you've kept my locket,'" Tony read Liz's writing, "'It looks good on you, perhaps I shall get you more jewelry.' Liz's way with words is...something, alright."
"Now, onto those presents, kiddos!" Chef shouted at them, though he didn't sound as aggressive as he usually was.
Tony was the first to open his gift, noticing that, inside the wrapping paper, there was a small, blue box. He opened the box to notice a fancy watch, which was encrusted with several jewels. He looked closely at the gems, as if trying to verify their integrity, and gasping when he did.
"This must've cost her a fortune!" he announced, "How lucky am I, eh?"
The others rolled their eyes at him as he tucked the box away into his suit pocket, allowing Anne to show off her gift next. She proudly held a very large horn into the air, the squeezable part painted to look like Jupiter, causing some worry for the others as she squeezed it, causing a massive noise to erupt from it, "shattering" everyone's eardrums, including her own.
"Wowza!" Anne giggled as set the thing back in its container and on the cart, "I can be a mega clown, now!"
"Right," Archie shook his head, his ears still rattling as he revealed a very high quality pen from his gift. "Oh, I'm so using this after the challenge tonight. I'll write some great poems with this."
"That's so sweet!" March wiped her teary eyes, "I wonder what I got from Lulu..."
As she dug around in the massive box she received, she noticed several smaller packages in it. There was assorted items in it, ranging from designer clothes to canvasses and arrays of paints. Another note was on the bottom of the box, reading "I couldn't pick just one thing!"
"Oh, she's too good to me."
"No way!" Gretchen shouted from off to the side, "How'd she get her hands on this!?"
"Huh?" Tony glanced over at the rockstar, who had a guitar in her hands. One that looked just like the one that Chef had scratched up earlier in the merge.
"These are super rare! I don't even know how she could've possibly gotten her hand on this, but this is awesome! Liz, that's crazy! You're crazy!"
"That's nice and all," Flint interrupted, "But what am I supposed to do with this?"
The five looked over at Flint, who was holding up a strange, rectangular object. They all scanned it together, each not really knowing what it was until Anne noticed some words on the side in dark lettering.
"It says 'For all you did to help'" on the side," she pointed out. "I think you can open it, maybe?"
"Oh, maybe, lemme try," Flint started to pry at the box, opening it too forcefully, and dropping the contents on the ground. "Huh, it's a bunch of pictures of us."
He scooped them up off the ground, looking at each one and smiling as he read the words she had neatly written on the bottom of them. They said things like "The Anti-Thomas Squad having a meeting" and "The Anti-Thomas Squad hanging out in the Bio-Dome." Each picture was a different memory that he could now remember forever, and he tucked them back into the box.
Confessional
"That was awesome!" Gretchen shouted, barely able to contain herself, "I'm gonna go wild with this thing, just you wait!"
"It fits me nicely," Tony noted, looking at the watch on his wrist. "Maybe I should collect more watches?"
"Natt, you've given me a weapon of mass destruction," Anne giggled as she honked the horn again, ignoring the safety of her own ears.
"I'm writing this next one with you in mind," Archie stated before clearing his throat, with his book and pen in hand. "While here in the dull, one thing seems to sparkle, it sticks out from the rest, an intense demeanor with a sweet inside, someone who deserves the world."
"You're gonna have to help me pick what looks best on me, Lulu!" March said cheerfully as a pile of clothes as tall as her was next to her.
"I miss you already, qu-...partner!" Flint said with a look of victory on his face.
Confessional End
The group each placed their gifts on the cart, which Chef pushed back through the teleporter and out of sight. With those out of the way, Chris felt much better. The mushy, wholesome stuff wasn't really his forte, but the producers insisted that this was something he should do for them.
"Now then," Chris started, "We've got a super intense challenge awaiting you six, one that will surely take all the energy out of you. As you may have noticed, there is a massive obstacle course behind me."
"Yeah, we figured you'd be making us go through that," Gretchen blurted out, annoying the host.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are my challenges too obvious for you? You try coming up with interesting challenges for an entire season."
"Jeez, man," Flint said as he laid into Gretchen, "No need to get all upset."
"Whatever. Each of you is gonna go through the obstacle course at the same time for the first part of the challenge."
"This is a two parter?" March asked excitedly, "It's been a while since we did one of those!"
"It is indeed. Whoever finishes first will win an advantage, or should I say a disadvantage for someone else! A pair of gravity boots!"
As he announced the prize for the first part of the challenge, Chef wheeled out the sleak boots, which were silver in color with, what seemed to be, dense metal plates on the soles of them.
"These boots make it really hard to move, and they won't let you get by easy in the second part of the challenge! The second part will have you each run through the course again, but the person who finishes last will be eliminated then and there, no ifs, ands, or buts about it!"
The group gasped, each looking at the boots nervously.
Confessional
"I can't end up with those," Tony noted, "I'll be a goner! I know Flint is really athletic, so maybe if he gets them, I'll be able to trick him into giving them to someone else and saving myself. I still don't know who, though..."
Confessional End
The group got to the start of the obstacle course, which showed a bunch of small platforms attached to an overhanging bar by a chain. They would swing if any weight displaced them, making them no easy thing for anyone to pass by without watching each and every step they took. Not too far ahead from it was a rock wall, though it was different than your average rock wall. Instead of going straight up, it curved outward, making it a very intense climb. Past that, there was a rope swing across a pit of mud, landing in it would send said person back to the start of the rock wall, surely hindering their progress. Continuing on, there were three large spheres over a similar mud puddle. The spheres looked like they would move if you stepped on them, and if you weren't careful, knock you into the puddle with ease and, again, send you back to the rock wall. Just a little past that was a spinning set of bars, which knocked aside anything that got in their way, again, with a mud puddle beneath it. Finally, just after that, there was a tall rope, one which led all the way up to a tall platform. The platform had a bell on it, presumably for the person who reached it to ring, just to symbolize them making it past the trial. They gulped in fear as they saw it, with Chris and Chef both snickering at them.
"What's a matter fellas?" Chef asked them with a look of superiority on his face, "Chicken?"
"W-W-We are not!" Anne stuttered as she spoke.
"This can't be that bad," Archie mumbled, "...I think."
"Is this thing even safe?" Tony asked, receiving some inconspicuous whistling from the hosts.
"Who even designed this thing?" Gretchen sounded incredibly agitated, "Not everyone is an Olympian, you know!"
"Yeah...this is frightening," March muttered to herself.
"This thing?" Flint laughed it off, "No biggie! Send us into the fray, Chris!"
"Alrighty then," Chris shrugged, "Ready, set, go!"
Chef fired a gun into the sky, causing a space pigeon to crash into the mud puddle, startling everyone. Trying to ignore it, the small group started on their way through the course, each hopping onto one of the swing platforms and trying to maneuver their way on to the next. Flint had an incredibly easy time with this part, swinging from platform to platform with ease, leaving the rest of them in the dust.
"See you guys later!" the boy shouted as he began to climb the seemingly impossible rock wall.
"Aw, no fair!" Anne whined as she almost slipped off of her platform before catching herself. "Chris, this challenge is clearly in Flint's favor!"
"What was that?" Chris asked in a mocking tone, holding his hand to his ear. "It's geared towards the guy who saved my life last episode? No, I don't think so."
"Oh, he is such a terrible person," Gretchen growled, "Dana was way better than you!"
"Oh. Her. Yay, everybody loves Dana and her crazy sidekick."
"Woah!" Tony nearly fell off of his platform, just barely grabbing onto another one and hanging off the side of it, "A little help, fellas!?"
"Hm," Archie thought about helping him, being the nearest to him, "Nah, every man for themselves."
"Oh, really mature, Edgar."
"Edgar?" March asked as she hopped over Tony, "Who's Edgar?"
"I think he means like Edgar Allen Poe," Anne pointed out. "That somber poet writer guy."
"Ohhhhhh."
"Are you really that dense, March?" Tony finally pulled himself up, though he was pretty much out of breath.
"Hey, that was mean!"
"That...was...the...point. Man, Chris! You are a bastard, you know that?"
"Thanks, Tony," Chris replied happily, "That means a lot coming from you. By the way, Flint is already almost at the spheres."
"What!?" the five cried out in unison, looking up into the distance to see just how far ahead of them he was.
The boy in the distance turned to look back at his competition, waving in a cocky way that made them envy his athletic ability. He chuckled as he went on his merry way, while the next of the group, being Gretchen, made it across the swinging platforms and started to make her climb up the rock wall, though she fell off of it and onto her butt after making it about ten feet up.
"Okay, come on!" she groaned as Archie passed her by, starting his own climb.
"Wait...up...everybody," Tony pleaded as he was still out of breath, and not even halfway through the swinging platforms.
"Man, I kind of feel bad for him," March said to Anne as she started her climb up the rock wall.
"Meh, I don't," Anne replied, barely able to maintain her grip, "He's a huge jerk."
Confessional
"Maybe it is mean of me to talk smack about Tony," Anne thought out, "But he still hurt a lot of people earlier in the season. Who knows when he can start again?"
Confessional End
Having made it up the rock wall, the four with average athletic ability were making their way to the spheres, which looked way too intense. March led the group, hopping onto one of them and clinging onto it for dear life as it wobbled around. Anne gulped, soon hopping onto the same one and barely keeping her balance as it wiggled to and fro. Without much room to press on, she hopped onto the next one, almost sliding off before catching herself. Up ahead, Flint was running through the spinning bars, leaping over and ducking under them as they swung his way, not getting hit by any of them. Archie and Gretchen watched him in awe, not sure how he could be so good at this. Meanwhile, Tony had just finally made it across the swinging platforms, stopping to take a deep breath before even attempting to climb the wall.
"That...was...insane," he forced the words out of his mouth as he hunched over, "Oh, I'm gonna puke..."
Gretchen and Archie finally started to make their way across the spheres, trying to hop on them as well as Anne had, though once Archie made it onto the second one, he slipped right off and fell into the mud puddle, cursing himself as he headed back to the rock wall and started to make the climb up, passing by Tony on the way.
"Man, you really need to step up your game, Tony," he mumbled as he got further away from him.
"I'm not built for this sort of thing, give me a break!"
Back up top, Anne, March, and Gretchen met each other across the spheres, right before the swinging bars. They looked at them closely, trying to figure out the pattern, but they seemed to all move at different speeds, making it difficult to tell when to dodge which one, or when would be a good time to go. Flint, on the other hand, had already started his climb up the rope to the bell, still astonishing everybody who watched him go.
"How are we supposed to keep up with that?" Gretchen asked the other two. "He's way too good at this!"
"I don't think we can," March mumbled.
"Chris definitely is helping him out right now," Anne added, "I'm sure he'll stop after this challenge."
"Still," Gretchen gritted her teeth, "Not very fair."
"You're telling me," Archie said tiredly as he approached them from behind.
"Oh, you're back already!" March chirped, "Where's Tony?"
"Still at the bottom of the rock wall."
"Ooo, looks like he won't be making it out alive from this challenge," Anne snickered.
As the four conversed, they suddenly heard a bell ring loudly in the distance. They glanced over to see Flint, all the way at the top of the platform, with the tug for the bell in his hand as he waved to them with his other hand. As if cued in by that, hidden speakers all over the course suddenly woke up with Chris's voice.
"And that gets us our winner for the first half of the challenge!" the host announced, "Flint gets to choose who wears the gravity boots!"
At the bottom of the rock wall, Tony slammed his fists on the ground.
"I didn't even get to try it," he mumbled
"Meet back up at the start of the course, and we'll get you all ready for the second half of the challenge! Come on, time's a ticking!"
Confessional
"That was too easy!" Flint cheered as he wore a look of intense pain upon his face, presumably from ignoring his injuries and just bursting through. "Ow..."
Confessional End
The six met each other back at the start, all of them a little tuckered out from the challenge that they had just taken part of. Tony was definitely looking the worst of the bunch, his face almost green from how woozy it made him, while the others just seemed to be a winded for the most part.
"That...was...bs," the conman panted between his words.
"Dude, just exercise or something," Archie mumbled.
"It was bad," Gretchen started, "But compared to our other challenges so far, I'd say it was a lot more relaxing."
"Yeah," March added, "By the way, Flint, who are you gonna make wear the boots?"
"I hadn't really thought about it yet," the running boy replied, tapping his finger against where his chin would be on his helmet. "It's a tough choice."
As the five talked among themselves, Anne slowly revealed that she still had her horn behind her back, squeezing it and honking it loudly, startling everybody and causing them to glare at her.
"Okay, I'll stop now!" she giggled as she tucked it back away.
As the group shook their heads in disappointment, Chef approached them with the cart, the moon boots sitting on top of it.
"Alright, maggot," he grabbed Flint's attention, "Just say the name of who you want to wear these and we'll toss them their way."
"Huh, I need a second to think about it," he replied, continuing to tap his helmet in thought.
A devilish look on his face, Tony approached Flint, leaning as close as he could and whispering something to him.
"Anne?" Flint asked, "Why would I give them to Anne?"
"Anne it is then," Chef announced, pulling the heavy boots off the cart and placing them in front of Anne, causing all the other four to look at the two boys in shock.
"Wait a minute-"
"All choices are final, have fun in the second half!"
With an ominous chuckle, Chef headed away from the contestants, five of which were glaring at Tony. The conman shrugged his shoulders, clearly not really caring about what they thought about this deception of his.
"Why would you do that!?" Gretchen growled at him, "I thought you were different now!"
"Eh," Tony replied with little care, "Just because you think something doesn't mean it's true."
"But Anne's gonna lose because of you!" March argued, "She didn't even do anything to you!"
"Um, she's annoying? Hello?"
"This is all my fault," Flint said solemnly as he looked down on the ground, "I should've said Tony."
"It's not your fault the dude's a major sleezeball," Archie mumbled.
"If you were gonna get the boots, you would've done the same thing," Tony griped.
While five of the six argued among themselves, Anne looked down at the heavy boots with fear in her eyes. She put them around her feet, immediately regretting it when she had a hard time lifting them off of the ground. She let out a sad sigh as she dragged her feet, moving forward just a little bit while the others watched, Tony finding it particularly amusing.
Confessional
"And I am in the clear!" Tony cheered, "See ya, clown!"
"That Tony really is rotten to the core," Anne mumbled, "What a bad apple."
Confessional End
With the six all ready to start the second half of the challenge, Chris and Chef returned to the starting line, snickering as they looked at Anne in the clunky boots. She sent them a quick glare, though they kept laughing.
"Come on, this is the one time I need you guys to not laugh at me!" Anne begged them to stop laughing at her misery, but it was no use.
"Yeah, whatever," Chris said between his laughter, "Ready, set, go!"
Chef shot the gun into the sky again, this time causing a rock with wings to crash to the surface, startling everyone once again as he tucked the gun away into his spacesuit. All six of them started on their way, though Anne was barely able to move if she wasn't dragging her feet along. Even Tony got well ahead of her while she was stuck behind. Flint, once again, swung through the first area with ease, making it to the base of the rock wall far earlier than the others and starting his climb while they tried to press on. Archie, March, and Gretchen had a somewhat easier time with it this time as they made it through the platforms relatively quickly, with Tony just trailing behind by about five platforms and Anne barely even on her first. The conman turned to face her, laughing at her struggle as he finally made his way through the platforms, though still losing a lot of his breath on the way.
"See ya later, loser!" he shouted to her, heading to the rock wall that Flint had already cleared and that the other three were currently about halfway through.
"Come on, Anne," she tried to pep herself up, "You can do this!"
"I don't think you can," Chris pointed out, as she was still close to them, "I mean, that's gonna take you probably ten minutes to get to that rock wall. That's a real shame."
"Shut up, Chris!"
"Just pointing out the obvious."
"I don't need you to tell me that."
She started ignoring him as she dragged her feet onto the first platform, the weight of her boots causing it to fall down a little. She grabbed onto the chain for dear life as the platform fell to the ground, leaving her dangling. With a deep breath, she grabbed onto the next platform, barely able to pull herself onto the chain before that platform fell beneath her as well. Tony, who had made it a decent way up the rock wall, turned back to watch her, laughing at her struggle before his grip slipped.
"Woah!" he shouted, falling a little until he caught himself a couple grips down and sighing in relief. "That was a close one."
Up ahead, Flint was once again already through the spheres, moving on to the spinning bars and dodging them with the same skill as before, while the three behind him hopped from sphere to sphere, doing a lot better than they were last time, having learned a little bit about maintaining their balance since then. Despite the fact that they were pressing on with good speed, they couldn't help but feel bad about what was happening to Anne.
"That Tony is such a jerk," March mumbled. "I thought you said he was a good guy?"
"I guess I was wrong about him," Gretchen replied quietly, "I'm sorry, I should've never trusted him."
"It's not your fault that he turned out like that," Archie added, finally hopping off of the last sphere and waiting for the other two, "You can't blame yourself for the actions of other people."
"Thanks, Archie. But we could've gotten rid of him by now if it weren't for me defending him."
"It's fine, Gretchen," March assured her, "Let's get through this and we can figure out what to do about him later."
As the three all cleared the spheres, Tony finally made it to the top of the rock wall, almost completely out of breath again. They glared at him and ran on to the spinning bars, hearing the first bell toll from Flint, who had finished way earlier than anyone else, once again. Back at the beginning, Anne was still trying to get through the platforms, stuck in the halfway point of them. They kept falling from the weight the boots put on them, causing her to have to grab for the chains instead of being able to stand. Holding herself up with the boots on was no easy feat, either. It felt like she was constantly falling down at each chain, and their was nothing she could even do about it.
"Hanging in there, Anne?" Chef mocked her as she moved onto another chain.
"Can you two leave me alone!?" she shouted back, stressing out even more than before.
She finally made it across the first area, immediately running as fast as she could, which was more like slow walking with the boots on, towards the rock wall. As she put her hands on the first two grips, she heard the second bell toll. Without a second to climb up, the third bell toll came, ringing loudly and striking fear into her. She move up a little, her boots still making it hard to hold herself up, and then the fourth bell tolled. She gulped in fear, realizing that there was only bell left until the challenge was over. She started to climb faster and faster, trying to make her way up the wall with all her determination, eventually making it up, though her energy was incredibly low at this point. It was like she had just ran laps around the entire space station for hours on end. As she scanned the area for Tony, she noticed him at the start of the hanging rope.
"Tony!" she shouted, causing him to turn back and look at her, his eyes widening.
"Oh, crap!" he cried out, starting to climb the rope as fast as he could, the girl starting towards him, filled with rage.
"I'm gonna so get you for this!"
As she continued to shout at the conman, she hopped from sphere to sphere, the boots pushing them in like trampolines and bouncing her to the next with ease. He continued his climb, sweating intensely as she got closer and closer. The bars started spinning rapidly at her, causing her to kick them with the boots angrily, busting them beyond repair and causing them to stop spinning.
"Yikes!" Chris chuckled a little, "She's so gonna kick the crap out of him when she reaches him!"
"You're telling me," Chef added, "I appreciate the determination, though."
"Yeah, it's impressive how pushing one person too much will get them to achieve things like this."
Back up top, Tony was quite near the end of the rope that Anne had just reached the base of. She glared up at him, grabbing onto it and starting to climb it as quick as she could. As she did, Tony heard a snapping noise. He looked over at the platform, noticing that the rope was fraying there, and soon to rip if they weren't careful.
"Watch it, girl!" he shouted down at her, "You're gonna tear the rope off and then neither of us will make it through!"
"You don't deserve to win anyways!" she shouted back, as angry as could be.
She started to climb even faster, defying all odds as the other four watched in amazement from the sidelines, praying for the best. As Tony neared the very top, he saw that the rope was just about to snap.
"You need to slow down, I'm telling you it's dangerous!"
"You just want to win-"
Her statement was cut off by the sudden snap of the rope. Tony was quick to grab onto the ledge as the rope fell, taking Anne back to the bottom of it with it. The conman looked down at her, exhaling deeply as he was, once again, out of breath. He was barely able to pull himself up, but he managed, and tugged the rope to the bell, ringing it as the fifth competitor and causing the other four to look at them in disbelief.
"Well," Chris started to applaud the performance, "Anne, you may have started having the greatest comeback known to man, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough! You are officially out of here!"
The comedian struggled to get up from the ground, but she immediately pulled her feet out of the gravity boots, feeling as light as a feather afterwards. Tony started his way down from the top, the other five glaring at him with an intensity that couldn't be matched by anyone, except maybe Thomas.
"What?" he asked, "What's all your deals?"
"Our deal?" Gretchen hissed, "You got Anne out, you ass!"
"Yeah, what gives!?" March shouted in his face.
"It's a competition?" Tony replied, letting out a slight chuckle, "We're not supposed to be buddy buddy, we're all here to win. The sooner you guys realize that, the better."
As he passed them by, whistling all the way, they continued to glare at him, their eyes burning into his soul.
Confessional
"What an obnoxious prick," Archie muttered, "Can't believe we still have people like that around here."
"Tony is so going down when I get the chance to make him pay!" Flint said intensely, almost as if he was burning with an intense fire.
Confessional End
The six of the teens met back up in the escape pod room after some time, five of them still glaring at Tony, as angry as could be. Anne was the only one still in her space suit, which was as unique as ever, with it's green polka dots about it. Chris stood by the escape pod, waiting for her eagerly.
"Come on, we don't have all day!" he said impatiently.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Anne grumbled as she headed over, stepping into the pod.
Without another word, Chris pulled the lever, sending her off into the distance, away from the station. Tony whistled as he turned away from the room, heading back towards his own bedroom until he was suddenly grabbed by the other four.
"Woah, what are you guys doing!?" he shouted as they lifted him up, "Put me down!"
"Nope, you're gonna get some good old fashioned payback!" Flint cheered.
The conman screamed as the four carried him all the way to the gym, tying him up to a post for a volleyball net and leaving him there. They snickered as they left him in the room, each going back to their own.
"Oh, haha!" he fake laugehd in an annoyed tone. "Get me off of this ting! Guys! GUYS! ...Guys?"
Author Notes:
*And the residential comedian of the space station finally takes her leave, being cheated out by Tony and his schemes. What? You didn't think we would have the rest of the season with no one to spark the drama, did you? Big RIP to Anne, though. She was a lot of fun to have around, she will be missed.
*I'll probably start updating episode three soon, but it could take sometime, with work and everything.
*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:
BadLuckAE - Yeah, Flint's a big hero now! Will it carry him to the finale? Who knows, but that could be interesting to see.
Zoryan El Muerto - Yeah, Archie had to be the winner for that challenge, no matter what. The people need more Jiarchie moments!
MatiasND - If Thomas got arrested it would be way too easy. It's gonna be a lot harder to actually get rid of him.
In the Pod...
"Stupid, Tony!" Anne shouted, honking the horn repeatedly to calm herself down, "What a sleezy, no good, dirty, greedy, stupid, stinky, slimy, conceited, obnoxious, annoying, mean, idiotic, scheming bastard! I need more aggressive adjectives to use, that's not enough!"
She let out a sigh after, and suddenly traded her frown for a smile.
"Oh well, I do get to see Natt again! I'm soooo excited! Here I come, Natt!"