Attention, class, today we'll be warming up with replies.

lordgemini- Even worse than that, Brenna was in a position that she could have captured the queen and prevented a fool's mate. He could have kept the two knights thing going. But, I think ahem...royally screwing up was much more comical. You have some really neat guesses, and somewhere in that review you've made a correct prediction. But, I won't tell you which one.

Guest 1138- The investigation team will eventually solve that issue, and you won't have to wait all season to figure it out. But, you're on the right track. And, like I said before, I figured that challenge would be tough to keep track of, I even had a chess board out while writing it so I could follow it properly.

Lillaptop- Glad you're reading! If you've made it to hear, you probably noticed Gianna and George are...uh, gone. Sorry about that. I do really enjoy the leader mechanic, since it's so different than the other stories I've done.

Alright, enough warmup. Here's the episode.

Episode 4: Iron Student

Susan and Chef were in a control room within the school, watching over some cameras. "You're gonna have to tell them eventually," Chef demanded from Susan, who was scribbling in her clipboard. While her eyes were covered by her sunglasses, it was clear she was very focused on what she had there. "About the bus, I mean. They keep asking, and eventually 'It doesn't concern you' won't cut it." Chef took that chance to mock the host.

Susan let out a small growl. "First of all, do not do that again," she demanded. "Second of all, I already have that taken care of. You will see. They'll keep asking, but they won't figure a thing out." She smirked as she continued to write on her clipboard.

"Well maybe you should figure this out," Chef proposed, "don't you have something you need to be doing?" Susan gasped as she began fumbling around the room. "You gotta act like the camera's always on you. I figured you'd have that down by now."

Susan sighed. "You give me a lot of moving parts to manage with my own, Hatchet," Susan countered, "but here goes nothing." She took a deep breath. "Last time on Total Drama, we put our students at the limits, forcing them to think critically about their every move. In real life chess, the king and queens of each team gave their orders." Clips began playing of George ordering Brenna and Ben around the board, while Claire jumped in front of Celine to take the queen position from her. "The Parrots lost due to the poor choice of a king, and the rest of the team unable to follow their leader, and the rules." More clips played of Nathan and Brenna being shocked, while George was standing firm against Sharron's demands. "Because of his failure, the Parrots opted for George to leave, sending him and his kingdom packing." The final clips that showed were George's elimination.

"We're down to fourteen," Susan noted, facing the camera with her standard stone-cold expression, "but one leaves today. Who will it be? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!" She flopped onto the chair. "That had to have been better."

Chef nodded. "Your final line is improving, but you gotta sell all of it, not just the end. You can't just read it off like their notes." He took the clipboard away. "I mean it."

"But they are notes," Susan pouted. Chef gave her a cold stare. "Oh, fine."

Intro

[An instrumental began, and cameras began popping out in different places, the first being out of a painting in one of the school's hallways. Another camera emerged through a dormitory dresser, bringing some random articles of clothing along with it. A third camera popped out of the top of the school, where a bell would normally exist. The camera began flying around, and eventually entered the school itself through the front doors.]

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine

[In the main lobby of the school, Susan was seen frantically walking around the area, clipboard in hand, talking into a communication piece on her ear. She was barking orders loudly as she walked.]

You guys are on my mind

[The camera moved over to the art room, where Nala was seen designing a dress that was suspended from a hanger. She seemed very satisfied with her work, until Nathan had walked in the room. The boy scoffed at it before laughing violently and walking away, causing Nala to feel discouraged.]

You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see

[In a classroom, Peter had taken up almost the entire white board doing a math problem, and he was trying to explain it to Claire, who was evidently not paying attention. Instead, she focused exclusively on him, giving him a look of infatuation. Peter didn't notice this at all and continued explaining the math problem.]

I wanna be famous

[Carter was in the gym, using various punching bags, and as the camera settled on him, he gave out a good punch that launched the bag off of the chain. Carter only celebrated for a second, until an arrow whizzed by him, causing him to turn back and see Sharron, who was smirking at him. The two broke into a sprint after the arrow, and they were very close together as they did that.]

I wanna live close to the sun

[In a dark location. Brenna was conducting tests on some large contraption. She had notes littered all over the table. She appeared very worn out, until Ben ran up to her, out of breath, holding out a cupcake. Brenna accepted the gift and smiled at the boy.]

Go pack your bags, 'cause I've already won

[In the dormitories, Leo was on top of Nolan's bunk trying desperately to wake him up. There were tons of different pots and pans around him, and as Leo reached down to grab an even bigger pot, it proved to by too heavy and caused him to fall.]

Everything to prove, nothing in my way

[In the kitchen, Chef and Celine were in the middle of a cook-off, with Celine looking extremely composed as Chef scrambled around for things on his table. Kris watched the two from afar, and while it looked like she was interested her eyes gave off something else.]

I'll get there one day, 'cause I wanna be famous

[Gianna was seen in the hallway talking on a tricked-out phone with someone, until the phone shocked her. She began tweaking it around a lot until it started working again, and continued talking with the person on the other line. As she walked through the halls, George had tried to stop her, but she ran right into him, and didn't stop walking even after he fell over.]

Na na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na

[In the band room, Abigail was messing around on a paino, with a trombone out next to her. Jacob approached her to try and say something, but was stopped by a bucket of water falling on his head, drenching him. Jacob flicked some water off of his head, visibly mad, as Abigail cackled to herself. The two then began fighting with each other.]

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

[The camera flew down a set of stairs, and an apple flew through various different doorways. Brenna caught the apple, bit out of it, and threw it back in. The bite mark showed that it was the same apple as it flew through many different locations. A small, worn-out sign behind her read 'Ingress Academy']

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous! *whistling*

[In the auditorium, Celine and Kris leaned close to each other, until one of Peter's markers dropped on top of Kris. The two swiftly turned back, Celine looking angry while Kris remained calm. The camera zoomed out to everyone, whistling the theme as Susan snapped her fingers, causing the lights to go out.]

Outside the entrance to the school, Brenna was waiting in a nearby bush. Ben was waiting right next to her, and two stayed close, trying to not draw any attention over to themselves. "They're coming, right?" Ben asked, "Celine and...who was the other one?"

"Celine wanted Kris to come along," Brenna responded, "and she seemed vary adamant about that, more specifically not having Peter here. I'm not sure why, but I'm willing to trust her choices here." Every once in a while the logician would poke her head out from the bush to see if anyone was coming. Suddenly, someone approached her from the other side of the bush. "Bah!" she shouted, turning around to see the two Goldfish girls.

"Sorry for startling you," Celine said, with Kris standing next to her, "but I took a more discreet path. I was concerned about being followed." She turned to Brenna, who was breathing a bit heavier from that small scare. "So how do we get there?"

Kris peered off into the distance, "By foot, I assume," she said dully. "And we should get moving. I doubt we'll have a ton of time between getting there and also getting back." She paused. "Those bus rides are always super short, though. Maybe the school is closer than we thought." With no other options, they began trekking through the nearby woods on foot.

The walk was, as expected, shorter than they thought it would be. After going over a river and walking for around another half a mile, they found themselves at the outskirts to the school. Ingress Academy looked even more abandoned than normal from the outside at night. "I forgot how odd this place was," Celine said to herself, "the inside looks so normal, and then there's this..."

Brenna handed each of them a piece of paper. "We'll split up and go individually. Once you're done your part, head back alone. We have to be sneaky about this." She looked at everyone again. "And...thank you for going this."

"A-alone?" Ben asked nervously. "I think that we really shouldn't be doing that. Those woods weren't the easiest to navigate through. What if someone gets lost?" He was mainly speaking out of concern for himself.

Brenna put her hand on her chin. "You're right, it would be illogical for me to ask you guys of that." She gave a nervous laugh. "Apologies, this is my first time leading anything." She turned to the school again. "We should get moving. There's no time to waste. We should come out in two hours regardless if we're done. If we map our sections out quicker, come out faster."

Everyone began heading into the school, which due to its secluded nature, remained unlocked overnight. The group split off into the four sections of the school. Brenna and Ben took the left and right portions of the first floor, while Celine and Kris handled the second floor.

Ben: "I think Brenna's onto something," he said quietly. "Everything looked different compared to what we saw the day before. Even some of the hallways weren't the same, but there's still four quadrants." He sighed. "I don't get this place."

Celine: "I'm getting a lot of info about this place," she noted, staring partially at her map. "I did the left part of the second floor, which is apparently the math area, but it wasn't this time. I don't think I'll share this with my team yet, though, because then they'll know we were out here."

Brenna: "Just as I thought," she said nervously, "the school is shifting. I want to go again so we can absolutely confirm this, but once we do that...I want to know why. This may sound like a bold claim, but I'm not too sure 'Ingress Academy' is known for its academics."

After the team finished mapping, they all retreated back to the front of the school. "We should as soon as we can," Kris noted, "people will start to notice things, and we should also get some sleep." With that, the group trekked their way back through the woods and into their beds.

In the morning, Nolan was shaken awake by the team leader. "It's time for you to get up," Carter insisted. "I'm taking you to be trained early. You'll be awake once I'm done with you today."

Nolan moaned as he meandered out of bed, slowly following Carter out. "I don't remember signing up for this," he complained, "but I'm far too tired to argue, so...I guess I'll go."

"Good," Carter said with a smile. "We're heading to the woods. And for the record, you agreed yesterday after the challenge." Nolan paused. He was definitely asleep when he agreed to that. Whoops.

Once they left, Leo hopped out of bed and walked over to Peter. "They're teaming up," he told the mathematician, who was busy doing problems again on his white board. "We have to do the same or we're dead meat." He paused. "And I have meat on me."

Peter shrugged. "I don't think they're really teaming up," he said nonchalantly. "I mean, he's training him, but we don't actually know if they're going to do anything strategy-wise. I think Carter just wants to win more."

"Well, I won't be subjected to training," he said confidently, "and you won't either. You just have to let me be in charge! Tell the girls today that I'll be in charge, and we'll win without his help!" He was jumping up and down like a kid. "I wanna be in charge!"

Peter shook his head. "With all due respect, I prefer Carter as a leader. I think he really multiplies our teamwork. If you helped him out I'm sure we'd be doing much better." Leo frowned as he said that, and left to go get Breakfast.

In 1B, Jacob let out a satisfied yawn as he got out of his top bunk, which last night went undisputed. Ben was still out cold from being up late the night before, but Nathan was sitting on his bed, scowling. "Is it not a pleasant morning, teammate?" Jacob asked the insolent. "We live in a team free of leadership disputes, and I would like to thank you for that."

Nathan scoffed. "Tch. I didn't vote for him because you wanted me to, I did it because he was a nuisance. You'll be next if you don't stop acting exactly like he was."

Jacob let out an offended gasp. "How dare you insinuate something so vile!" The band president quickly regained his composure and smirked. "But you're forgetting something. I have allies, friends even, on the girls' side, and you went as far as to insult that small one yesterday."

"She needed to hear it," Nathan said, "I was sick of her trying to pity me." He observed the well-dressed boy carefully. "I was meaning to ask, but what's your deal with the loose cannon?" he asked, "She and you seem to think very differently about each other. You dig her or something?"

"It's not quite that," Jacob responded. "Abigail and I maintain a close personal relationship, but she is not someone I see as more than a friend, and she very much thinks the same." He smirked again. "But I have an ally in her already. What do you have?"

Nathan chuckled. "A brain. I'm smart enough to know two things. Firstly, she hates your guts. Secondly, I know that I'm much more able to pull my weight in a challenge. And with Sharron making those pairs yesterday, I think that we're going to have an easy time proving both of those to you today." He got up. "I'm going to eat food. If you don't want to lose today, you better be on your A game too." He paused. "Not that I care about you, but I care about me. Winning."

Jacob: "A humorous and arrogant boy, he is," Jacob said with a chuckle. "It's my natural duty to be friends with people, so there's no reason for her to hate me. But, I do recognize I was in the bottom two last night. I won't let that happen again."

Nathan: "Ben slept through that entire argument," he said angrily. "Once that good-for-nothing was gone I was going to request an alliance from him. I guess it'll have to wait for the challenge, assuming Nala gives me a chance to."

"Man, this stuff isn't nearly as good as I thought it would be," Claire said to Peter and Leo, who were the only ones at the table from their team. "Why did Celine have to cook that first day? Now everything else tastes terrible." She turned to Peter. "What do you think?"

Peter took a bite of some cereal. "Well, I've certainly had better," he said slowly, "but I find it difficult to know how they messed up cereal." He took another bite regardless. "Why do you ask me?"

"Oh, no reason," Claire said playfully. "Say, didn't you say you were gonna teach me chess? When will we do that?" Her face screamed with excitement, but her eyes said otherwise.

Peter didn't notice her odd expression she had. "We can take some time after the challenge if you want. I wouldn't mind." He continued to work on his own food, not paying much attention to the flirt.

Over at the Parrot table, the table was also pretty empty. Only Jacob, Abigail, Nala, and Nathan were there, and the table itself was quite silent. Eventually, Jacob took the opportunity to try and break that silence. "I expect we will do well today," he said cockily, "now that our biggest threat to safety is gone." He scoffed. "What recklessness."

Nala frowned. "Voting people off always makes me sad," she said, trying to gnaw off part of a waffle. "I mean, even if they messed up, we're still really screwing over any plans they had for the money."

"You've voted once," Nathan said firmly, "and if you really can't handle it, then maybe we should vote for you next, because you won't be voting correctly every time, since you're so worried." He scoffed. "This entire table's a mess. You keep trying to be nice to me, and you two have no clue what to do with each other." He addressed that last part over at Abigail and Jacob.

"I know very well what I'll do with him," Abigail spat back, "but I want to make him miserable before I send him home, so I'd love to win a few more challenges." Nathan rolled his eyes. At least she wanted to win.

Out in the woods, Sharron was eating another fish sandwich. She had gotten up earlier today so that she could actually eat it without walking back at the same time. At one point, she looked up and saw Carter approaching her with Nolan. She raised an eyebrow as she saw that Carter had brought someone else with him today. "Morning?" she asked, a bit confused to what Nolan was doing there.

Once the two Goldfish boys got toward her, Carter pointed over at a tree. "There's breakfast up at the top of that tree," he said, "if you want any today, then you need to work for it. I want to make sure you're awake today."

"Pass," Nolan insisted, "I would much rather starve than climb that. Can I go back now?" Carter seemed upset that Nolan was blatantly disregarding an important meal, and that he gave an order he didn't follow. Nolan then walked over to a rock that was nearby and laid across it. "Let me know when to head back." Carter sighed as he sat down near Sharron.

Sharron took a quick bit before offering her advice. "You can't force people into doing things with food," Sharron explained, "you gotta give 'em something that they'd want to do." She paused. "...What does he like to do?"

"Sleep," Carter said in a defeated tone. "Is it so bad that I want my team to be focused during a challenge? I mean, Claire's too wild, Nolan's too lazy, Leo's too...Leo, and now even Kris is going a bit reckless during challenges, which I can't comprehend at all." He turned to the archer. "Thoughts?"

"Well, you could probably motivate that lug there with sleep," she noted, twirling one of her arrows. "The others, you need to show them you care about them. Empathy." She tucked the arrow back into her quiver. "Like yesterday, I told Abigail I was sorry before pairing her with her...I don't even know what he is to her, but she doesn't like him."

Carter nodded. "That makes sense," he said. "I guess we need to start heading back. Susan wanted us earlier than normal. What do you think today is going to be?"

Sharron sighed. "I don't really care, I just want to be able to utilize my team to its fullest, and without George, that should be easy." She smirked. "You're gonna be in trouble today."

"I look forward to it," Carter said dully. He walked over to the log and shook Nolan awake before the three of them departed for the dorms.

Sharron: "My new team pairs thing is going to be tested today," she explained. "If this works, I'm probably safe until the merge, but if it fails, I'm in trouble tonight." She shrugged. "It's a gamble, but I intend to make it work."

Carter: "I don't plan on going down easily today," he said confidently. "If I have to carry my team on its back today then I will." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "It couldn't hurt to take Sharron's advice, though. Empathy..."

Once the three returned to the dorms, the last four contestants stumbled down from the bed area, all of them looking exhausted except for Brenna. "Glad to see everyone is ready," Susan said to them, walking briskly into the room. "Let us board the bus, today is a long day for us. This challenge will take some time to complete."

"We're not like, doing schoolwork, right?" Claire asked, "because I came here so I could skip out on school, not go do more of it. We weren't even told that we'd be at a school." She put a finger up to her chin. "Come to think of it, we weren't told a lot."

Susan quickly glanced at her clipboard. "Today will not be schoolwork, per se, but you will have your minds tested." Claire groaned anyway. "Now, no more prattle, time to board the bus."

Once the fourteen contestants got on the bus, they realized something off about it. "She boarded the windows shut!" Nathan complained, trying to pull away at the wooden boards that now covered every window. "This woman is shadier than some of your futures." He got a few glares but naturally he ignored them.

Near the back of the bus, Claire noticed that Nolan was awake, and quickly shifted seats to right next to him. The nap enthusiast was caught off guard by the flirt's sudden appearance, but he let it go until she began speaking to him. "Hey, so I've got a question for you," she said in a much more serious tone than normal.

Nolan rolled his eyes as he saw her speak. "Look, I've tried to avoid you for as long as I could, but you keep trying to approach me," he said. "I'm not interested, leave."

Claire was shocked at the boy's cold words. "Um, okay, first of all, rude. Second, I kinda got that vibe already when you were conveniently asleep every time I try and speak to you." She huffed. "But still, there was no need for you to be so rude."

Nolan shook his head. "Those weren't coincidences, I was normally asleep, but the few times I wasn't I noticed what you were doing." He noticed she hadn't moved yet. "What do you want? I'm getting tired again."

Claire shook him to try and keep him awake. "Nonono, this is important I promise!" she let out a sigh. "Do you know what that...roommate of yours likes? I have a...let's call it chess date later today, and I wanted to make sure it was special, you know? So...what do you suggest?"

"Do you really want my honest opinion?" Nolan asked. Claire kept her focus and nodded her head, which surprised Nolan. "Okay, well, I think you should stop wasting your time." Claire gasped at his rudeness. "Someone like him most certainly isn't into you. I figured you would have known that." He then rolled onto the boarded up window and fell asleep again. Claire sighed as she stood up and went back to her original seat.

Claire: "That went poorly," she admitted, "but he's so rude! It doesn't matter, I'm going to get him tonight anyway. No one I've targeted has ever failed before!" She paused. "Nolan doesn't count."

Once the group hit the school, no one mentioned the short travel time. It felt normal, and without a chance to glance out the window, things were a bit more normal. As they stepped off the bus, the outside of it looked normal as well. Brenna quickly pulled her piece of the map out of her pocket, and began inspecting what she saw once they started walking through the hallways. They took a left on the first floor, which meant it lined up with Brenna's map piece, but to her surprise, the map didn't line up.

"Something wrong?" Ben asked, peering over her shoulder. He noticed that she was trying to secretly look over the map and gasped. "Oh, sorry, I'll...um, be somewhere else." He took a few steps back and ended up with Nathan. "Oh, hi."

"You were out cold this morning, so I didn't get the chance to tell you," the insolent said quietly, "but I recognize that alliances are crucial to this game. Prove to me today that you can be in mine." Ben gulped as he began backing up more, now behind most of his team.

Eventually Susan had stopped at the gymnasium again, but this time things looked a bit different. The grid was completely gone, and what replaced it looked very interesting. On the right, there were welding tools and blueprints, and on the left, there was a pile of parts and scraps of metal. In the middle, a ginormous boxing ring. "I don't like the looks of this," Nala said with a shudder.

Susan stepped in front of the ring and ordered the teams to group on either side. "Welcome to a crucial extracurricular activity in the STEM field. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics." Peter grinned at the last section, and just looked overall excited for the challenge. "Today's challenge will cover the engineering and technology section of that acronym."

She pointed at the teams. "As each of you have seven members, you will need to split up your team accordingly: three pairs of two, none of which may include your captain. You captain will manage oversight on the entire challenge, or can provide additional help where it may be needed." Sharron smirked. Her formation was going to line up perfectly with that.

Chef stepped forward. "Your first pair is on parts. You gotta run back and forth across the gym and grab the parts for your...project. You can only grab one at a time, so you will need to find a way to transfer them quickly." He pointed at the big pile. "No one's gonna be guarding it, but you can try and stop the other team if you want."

Chef pointed over at the section to the right. "You'll be designing giant fighting robot suits. Your only goal is to make 'em better and stronger than the other guys, so that pair will have to make sure their design is flawless." He then pointed at the ring. "The final pair will be fighting with em, which means you gotta make two of those suits to have a chance at surviving." He looked at the teams. "Questions?" No one responded. "Good, because I wasn't gonna answer them. You have three hours to design. Go!" That caused both teams to quickly break into a huddle.

Peter: "This challenge is incredible!" he said excitedly, "well, assuming I'd be a designer. Luckily, since I am the smartest one here, I think, I should be able to make a few calls on my own." He began thinking inside the closet. "Oh, maybe if I made the right arm go-"

Sharron: "I can't believe how lucky I got with these splits," she said, very surprised by the recent events. "Hopefully we don't blow it anyway. That would be really embarrassing."

The Parrots seemed to be moving quickly through discussion. "This should go rather quickly," Sharron said. "Nala, you said you were a designer?" She looked over at the cosplayer who was caught off guard by the direct question.

"Well, I'm not a perfect designer," Nala said timidly, "I mainly just show off dresses and whatnot, but I have a few original works. You want me on design?" Sharron nodded. "You got it! Leave it to me!" Nathan groaned, knowing he'd be stuck on design too.

Sharron then turned to Brenna and Ben. "You two can probably figure out the suits once they're ready," she assumed, "Brenna, have confidence." Brenna nervously nodded. "Ben, I trust you to win."

"Okay," the two of them said at the same time, causing the logician and the pushover to jump back in shock. "Sorry," they then both said at the same time again.

Abigail sighed. "If it's for the team, I'll partner with the arrogant fool," she said solemnly, "but know that you owe me big time." Jacob scoffed at the remark, causing the two to glare at each other angrily.

"You'll be repaid," Sharron said, "I don't know how yet, but I will." She smiled. "This will go really well, I can feel it. Let's get out there and show them we know how to win!" Her excitement came through clearly as everyone but Nathan cheered with her.

Over with the Goldfish, things were going a bit rougher. "Peter, if you had to pick someone on design with you," Carter asked, "who do you want? I trust your judgement enough after seeing what you did with that chess game yesterday."

Peter began looking around. "Well, Celine would be a good choice but she's almost certainly a better fighter. Claire and Nolan have been together a lot, so we shouldn't break them up." He frowned. "I guess that leaves me with Leo."

"What do you mean, 'that leaves me with'?" Leo complained. "You need to step back and let me take over, because I could easily show you how it's done!" He pumped his fists in determination. He faced Carter boldly. "You should put me in charge of oversight. You fight."

"No, not happening," Carter said bluntly. "I'm in charge, which means I oversee, but I do agree I'd be a better fighter." He shrugged. "But, that can't happen, so you should just chill while I handle things." Leo frowned. "You stay on design with Peter. I'm not giving you a chance to mess this up." He then turned to Celine. "You okay fighting?"

Celine nodded. "I can do that, but why are you being so...nice today? Just an observation. You're not as mean as the past two days." Carter's face turned bright red when she asked. "Or...maybe you'd rather I didn't ask. That's fine too." She then backed off. "I guess then Kris and I are fighting?" He nodded. "Got it. Let's do it, then!"

Carter: "So, I guess this 'empathy' thing is working a bit," he admitted, "but that silence from me was only because of how well that tactic worked out. I was impressed, that was all."

Jacob and Abigail quickly ran across the gym to try and get to the pile before Nolan and Claire had a chance to. Abigail was the first to start looking over the pile. "Nala said she wanted...cute things, but Nathan seemed against it. What's something in the middle that we could get?"

"Step aside," Jacob insisted, beginning to rummage through the pile himself. "I have an artistic eye for this kind of thing." He picked out a metal gauntlet that had some embellishments in it. "Ah, first try," he bragged. "But, now we must take it back all the way." He frowned. "This is easily the most tedious of the tasks."

Abigail watched him pout for a second before a smirk came on her face. "You know what? You're right, you really do have an eye for this," she lied. Jacob beamed as he took in the compliment. "But, you've inspired me. I know exactly what pieces to get. We should get a faster way to get them across." Jacob looked over to her in interest. "How about we toss these to each other, to shorten the time? You stand in the middle, and I will use your knowledge to pick out the perfect pieces.

"Excellent idea," Jacob commented, "I knew someone as enlightened as you would figure it out eventually." Unlike Abigail's sentiments, those were all genuine. The prankster took a second to gag behind his back. "I will await your selections in the middle." Abigail smirked as he walked off.

Nolan and Claire continued to charge at the pile of metal like normal, running back and forth each time. With each cycle, Nolan's eyes got heavier and heavier. Eventually, his run turned into a walk, causing Carter to scowl. "I guess I need to pitch in here," he muttered, "or they will never get enough parts." He began picking up some of the slack.

Over at the design area, Nala was working with what she was given. "This should work nicely," she said confidently, "Nathan, can you get on the welding? I'd really appreciate that!"

Nathan scowled as he grabbed the metal from her and looked over the design. "There's no need to be that chipper," he said, "one of us in this room goes home tonight, and if you get on my nerves it'll be you." Despite all that, he still listened to her and got going on the actual construction, leaving Nala upset at his last remark.

Sharron took that chance to walk over to the two of them. "You guys need to not do that," she insisted. "Nathan, she's trying to be nice to you, there's no reason for you to be a prick about it." Nathan rolled his eyes and continued working. "Nala, I hate to say it but maybe you two would work best in silence." Nala sighed but nodded to her leader.

Nala: "I don't get why Nathan's so despondent!" she said sadly. "I mean, there has to be some sort of hidden motive. No one's that mean without a reason, so I want to be able to help him out." She nodded to herself. "That's what I'll do."

Over with the Goldfish, Peter was working tirelessly on perfecting a design. "If we build up that arm with more bulk, they should be able to..." He called over to Celine. "Which arm are you stronger with?" he asked.

"Um, the right?" she answered, confused to why he'd ask that. Peter nodded and dove back into his design. He had adjusted the size on the right arm, probably to accommodate her more.

Leo peered over at what the mathematician was doing. "Those arms aren't even," he said, "you really need to let me have a more active role in this." Peter shook his head. "C'mon, just let me fix the arm thing!"

"No chance," Peter responded, "I'm making it so their stronger arms are bulkier." He pointed at the design. "That way, one can be for defense, while the other is for speed and attacking." He sighed. "Why don't you focus on assembly?" Leo huffed and walked off. "Thanks," Peter muttered to himself.

Once Peter was immersed in his designing again, Leo started looking over the things he was required to put together. "I'll show them," he said to himself. "I can prove that I'm better than them!"

Final preparations were happening over on the Parrot side. The bickering Parrots that were required to gather materials had fallen into a steady groove. Abigail had sent over the final piece they needed, when she pulled something else out from under the pile. "What's this doing here?" she asked to no one in particular, now holding the pot of a small cactus.

Jacob shouted over to her. "That's all of it, if I'm not mistaken. You should come back now, I doubt we want to cause our teammates any additional stress." He smugly smiled at all of their progress they had made over the Goldfish. "How perfect. Things are going smoothly."

"Sorry!" Abigail called out, "I have one more thing to toss to you, so just be ready to catch it!" Jacob got at the ready as Abigail smirked. Right as she was about to throw it, Nolan came over to the pile and saw her getting ready to toss the cactus. "Not a word," she said quietly, getting ready to throw. Nolan simply ignored her as he went back to work.

"I'm always ready!" Jacob called back proudly. He got in position as the final 'piece' came flying at him. As soon as he caught it, the pain from the small cactus instantly shot through him. "What the- ow!" he cried out, dropping the cactus in front of his feet. "How dare you!" His cry of anger was only met by Abigail cackling to herself over at the metal pile. "Ah, an excellent jest again, friend," he said, doing his absolute best to keep his composure.

Before Jacob had any more time to try and fight back, Susan called out to them. "Time is up! Everyone get ready to see these iron suits in action. Try not to embarrass your team."

Carter sighed at his results. He had two suits ready to go for the fighters, but things were still not going to end well. Sharron on the other hand looked quite satisfied with how the suits looked, but as she inspected her team, Nala and Nathan were met with bitter silence, and Jacob and Abigail were currently screaming at each other.

Sharron: "The pairs work," she noted. "They might not like each other, but the two I've seen so far work, especially Jacob and Abigail. Their chemistry is incredible, it's a shame they're so against each other." She smiled. "I have faith in Ben and Brenna. They'll do well."

Leo: "Peter shut me out today, just like Carter has the past three days," he said with a bitter tone. "I won't allow that to happen anymore, and when they see that Celine's suit is so much stronger than Kris's, I'll finally have their respect!"

After getting into the armor, Celine and Kris were standing at their edge of the ring near Peter. "These two should have stronger right arms," he said, "use them defensively, then strike with the left. Additionally, you can multiply our chances of winning by choosing not to divide. Work together and take them out one at a time."

"Got it," Kris said, turning her head to go see what the Parrots were doing on the other side.

"Leave it to us," Celine promised, "The arms don't feel too different, but I'll give it my all." Peter cocked his head for a second, but didn't notice anything off at a glance, so he turned around to join the rest of the spectators.

"Anything we should know about these?" Brenna asked the two designers, with Ben standing next to her. "Sharron decided this was a good idea for us, so I'm trusting her."

Nathan scoffed. "If you don't screw up or be reckless you have no chance at losing." He faced Ben. "That being said, whatever you did to me on that first day, bring that strength out. Use whatever force you have in there."

"Um...okay," Ben said nervously. He tried moving his limbs around in the suit, only for him to struggle. He stumbled down, but he got back up. "Sharron did trust us, I hope she won't be too mad."

"You guys got this!" Nala told them enthusiastically. "Plus, our designs look so much better. Despite how much they fight, Abigail and Jacob really picked out some great pieces." She laughed to herself. "Well, anyway, good luck out there!" The two designers left to go join the audience.

That left the four suited contestants, left to battle it out in the ring. "This ends once both fighters are down on the other team," Chef instructed, "that means you gotta knock them both down 'til they can't get up, or if their armor shatters completely." He then chuckled to himself. "Well, get going!" He rang a bell, and the battle had begun.

"Let's do this!" Celine called out, pointing over at Brenna first. "Hope you're ready!" Celine seemed overall very excited to get her chance at fighting, and charged head-on at Brenna. Brenna began defending, and was taking some solid damage from Celine going in on her. Eventually, Ben charged forward, striking Celine on the side of her armor, pushing her into the ring, casing her to rebound and fall to the ground.

Kris moved next, making her charge over to Ben, despite what Peter had suggested. "That's too reckless," Carter said with a sigh. Peter was also disappointed that she hadn't taken his advice.

Ben put his arms up to block her blows, which were coming rapidly and with a powerful strength. Ben was being pushing into the corner, and after a few more strikes, he was up against the ring's edge. "No chance," Kris told him with a hint of anger in her voice. She continued wailing away at the pushover, until she was pushed back by a powerful leg kick from him. The armor around her legs began to loosen from just the one leg sweep.

"He's not allowed to be that strong!" Leo complained, "how did he do that?" Nathan looked mildly impressed by that attack, and Carter also began watching the boy intently.

Celine finally had gotten up, and pulled Kris back too. "I'm fine!" she called out to the deadpan. "Let's focus on Brenna first." She and Kris redirected themselves to Brenna. "No hard feelings, right?" she asked the logician.

"Of course," Brenna said as she began trying to brace for impact. "I'd love to do another mapping tonight if we're not too bruised up." She continued trying to block, but the two of them were simply overwhelming her. Eventually, Kris used the bigger defensive arm for a powerful blow, and shattered Brenna's armor. After that hit, Brenna was knocked cleanly out of the ring, landing on the ground behind it.

Ben watched as the two focused their attention on him. "Oh man," he muttered to himself. "Um...sorry." Instead of backing into a corner, he charged at them both, knocking Celine to the side again. When he landed that hit, Kris didn't wait to coordinate another attack, and instead recklessly went after Ben again. Ben dodged and did another leg sweep, putting her on her feet. Ben used that chance to push her out of the ring, where the armor came apart, putting her out of the game.

"Wow, that was surprising," Celine said in shock. "You're a lot stronger than you look." She smiled. "Awesome, this will be a good fight then." She went for a punch with her left arm, but when she went for a punch, the arm fell off completely. "What? How?"

Peter watched as the arm fell off. "That's not right," he said to himself. "That was supposed to be a smaller arm piece than that. How did it-" he paused as he watched Leo try and hide himself, which worked really well due to his size. "I suppose this will be a wash, then," he said in defeat.

Ben readied his final hit. "Sorry, but I don't want to lose!" He charged at Celine, and landed a hit square in the chest. Celine flew back out of the ring, landing in the bleachers from the hit. Everyone was shocked at how hard Ben could punch, but since the armor didn't fully break, Celine wasn't in too much pain.

"I suppose that does it," Susan said with surprise on her face. "The Screeching Parrots have taken victory for today!" The Parrots cheered, all going over to Ben with smiles on their faces. Even Jacob and Nathan looked mildly impressed with what he was able to do. "Goldfish, you will see me tonight to seal your team's fate."

Carter turned to Peter. "Look, kid, you've been great so far, but what happened? I thought you had design covered." He was also concerned about Kris's recklessness, but he didn't have time to investigate all of them.

Peter shrugged. "I was working on design while Leo handled assembly. The suits should have been identical. Someone must have added in an extra large arm. She was supposed to have one to strike quickly as well."

"So...Leo screwed it up then," Claire said in conclusion. "That makes a lot more sense. I mean, I knew you wouldn't ever do anything to horrendous, right?" Peter stared at her blankly. "Hehe...well, don't forget our chess date tonight!" She skipped off to the bus.

Carter: "I wish some of the personnel from the Parrots were with us," he said with determination. "Ben specifically. The way he fights is so odd, especially since he lacks confidence." He put a hand up to his chin. "Perhaps he would be more apt to train. A shame he's not on my team, though."

Leo: "Peter never explained his design to me," he insisted. "If he did, I didn't listen, since he just kept telling me to do things!" He sighed. "But, I'm not dumb. I know the other target has to be Kris after how she acted in that fight. I have to get enough votes, since there's no doubt Peter's going to try and eliminate me, dirty rat."

Back on the bus, the four fighters were all lying on separate seats in the back. "That was exhausting," Brenna said with a sigh. "Even if I lost first it was still incredibly tough. Trying to move while being covered in iron was not my plans for today."

Kris let out a sigh as well. "It won't affect us in the long run," she said. "We should still head out tonight. But, maybe we try and do this a bit more quickly, by sneaking out right after we eliminate someone." She said that last part with a hint of nervousness.

"I agree," Celine said quickly, "we can't afford to lose any more time. You guys saw how the path to the gym today was different?" The other three nodded. "We need to pinpoint where that comes from." She then turned to Ben. "Speaking of earlier, you were great. Where did that strength come from?"

Ben hesitated for a second. "I-it's just a thing that happens sometimes. I don't understand it enough, and I don't know how to control it, so there's no point in worrying about it." He cowered back a bit. "I hope Sharron isn't counting on that to happen again, because it might not."

"There you are," someone said, approaching them. It was Nathan, staring right at Ben with a scowl on his face. Ben tried to back up, but he was already pretty buried in his seat. "You're good enough," he said bluntly. "The deal's on." He then moved back to his own seat, not interacting at all as he went back.

"What was that about?" Brenna asked the pushover. "An alliance offer?" Ben nodded. "Well, it couldn't hurt to keep yourself in the game." Ben nodded again. "But, don't just take my word for it, make your own decision." Ben nodded again, which made it clear to Brenna he didn't get it yet.

"There you are!" Claire cheered, finding Peter outside the dorm rooms. The mathematician was in the process of setting up a chess board, but there was nothing else on the table. Claire frowned. "Not very decorative, so I brought this!" The flirt placed a vase with a singular flower in it. "That's better, don't you think?"

"I suppose," Peter said slowly, "but you should be careful not to knock it over while playing. This game can be quite exciting." He started with the pawns. "You get eight of these, and their goal is to try and get to the other end of the board, and 'promote' to a higher ranking piece." Claire nodded mindlessly. "They can only move one space forward, though, so it is a high investment."

Claire laughed to herself. "I'm always willing to take big investments," she said, staring right at Peter, "even if it scares others, I would be willing to go anywhere for whoever needed it."

Peter blinked a few times. "That's...reassuring, I suppose. Okay, the queen is your strongest piece on the board. It can move wherever it wants in a straight line or diagonally, which makes shooting across the board easy and making big plays perfect. But, that also means your opponent will be trying to take out the queen as well." He looked at her. "This is the piece you were in the challenge yesterday."

Claire battered her eyelashes. "So...I was your foundation, then?"

"Not quite," Peter answered eccentrically, "The king is the most quintessential piece on the board. Subtracting a queen from your ranks does not lose you the game, but letting the king be captured puts your game at an end."

Claire watched as he spoke about that. Instead of trying another line, she said something else. "That's pretty much like this game, though, right? Like, if we were to lose Carter or Sharron, either team would be in trouble, but it's not really over until you're out for good."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "I suppose that's a way to put it," he said. "To be honest, I haven't been thinking a ton about strategy. Actually, this is the first time I was thinking about it at all." He shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to meet people instead."

"Well, you met me!" Claire said back playfully. "Okay, show me the rest of this game. I really want to learn." She gave him a warmer, more genuine smile. "And, if you ever want to talk strategy with someone you can trust, I'll always be there!"

Nathan was the only one in the room at the moment, peering around and enjoying his brief moment of silence before anyone would inevitably walk in. Even so, that was more short-lived than expected, as Jacob had instantly sauntered into the room. "Ah, I've found you!" he said. "This will come as rash, perhaps, but I think you ought to consider an alliance with me."

The insolent raised his eyebrow. "Oh, and what exactly is in it for me? I'm already in one, so essentially, I'm only doing you a favor." He chuckled. "Be quick with your offer."

Jacob was taken aback by the statement, but held his ground. "Would it not be advantageous for you to have options? Presumably you would be able to rule the team had you had someone as powerful as me by your side."

Nathan laughed. "No chance. Your offer stank, but that doesn't matter, since I have better things to worry about anyway." He furrowed his brow. "First up, I need to make sure that pity case stays off my back." Jacob didn't quite get what he meant.

Outside their door, two people were listening in on their conversation. Abigail was trying so hard not to give herself away with her laughter, but it was too funny to her that Jacob was flat out rejected on that. Nala on the other hand was more nervous. "Oh man, he's going to eliminate me!" she said nervously, "but what did I do?"

"Not everyone is nice," Abigail said to her in a calming tone. "Nathan is though, he just needs to see that in himself first." She smiled at the cosplayer. "If you ask me, everyone has some amount on innate good in them, you just have to bring it out of them."

"How would you do that?" Nala asked the prankster, who was interested, but also concerned about her well being around the insolent.

Abigail smirked. "With laughter. I'm gonna prank him until he smiles. You can count on me for that, alright?" She extended a hand to the cosplayer, who was still concerned about the whole situation.

"Okay," Nala eventually said, "thank you so much." She then looked at Abigail. "Does that mean you're doing the same thing with Jacob? Does he have innate good too?"

Abigail's smile instantly changed to fear. "What kind of loaded question is that?" she asked irrationally. "I'm trying to help you, don't say things like that." Nala nodded wildly to try and keep her friend's trust.

The seven remaining Goldfish met in the lobby for elimination. Susan and Chef were standing in front of them. "Well, welcome back," Susan told them, "I'm sure you will eventually learn how to not lose a challenge. Until then, we must continue eliminating you guys." She had six Chef erasers on her. "Remember, if you don't receive a Chef Hatchet-styled eraser, you'll be taking the Bus of Shame and you will be going home for good."

Susan saw specifically Celine and Kris exhausted on the couches in front of her. "I will...I will toss them to you tonight. You appear to be tired." She sighed. She didn't like diverting from that plan, but she figured it as a good decision as host. "Carter and Celine, you two are safe." The untrusting boy and the master chef caught their erasers, and Susan called out another two names. "Nolan and Claire are also safe." The nap enthusiast and the flirt got theirs, satisfied with their performance.

That left three more people. "Each of you have screwed up in some way," Susan explained. "Peter, you're lack of focus on your teammate allowed for a catastrophic flaw in your design." Peter hung his head in shame. "Leo, your lack of obedience caused the catastrophic flaw in your design." Leo huffed and faced off to the side. "Kris, you didn't follow strategy today while fighting, and let your...I suppose feelings get in the way."

"It wasn't feelings," Kris defended quickly. "I...I don't have those." She stayed firm with that claim, but it was easy to tell she was disappointed in herself as well.

Susan tossed out the next eraser. "Peter, you're safe for the night." Peter let out a sigh of relief as he got his eraser, as did Claire. "That leaves the final eraser to one of you. The person taking the Bus of Shame tonight is...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Leo." Kris caught her eraser without any expression on her face, but she was definitely tense. Celine took note of it as she seemed to relax a bit more in her seat.

"No!" Leo cried out. "Y-you can't eliminate me, I...I have so much more to do! I didn't even get to become leader! If I was leader we wouldn't have lost!" He glared at Carter. "You'll pay for it!" He charged at the untrusting boy, who simply stuck his hand out in defense. Leo collided with his hand, but just kept running in place like the hand would go away.

"I got this," Chef said with an annoyed tone as he grabbed the bossy weakling and tossed him over his shoulder, walking him out to the bus. Everyone else then left for the night.

Celine snuck into the kitchen after making sure it was empty, and turned the lights on. "I hope he doesn't come in here," she said quietly to herself, "I can't imagine the trouble I'd be in." She then smiled. "But, when you gotta cook, you gotta cook." She went over to grab a pan, when she heard a lot of heavy breathing coming from behind the rack of pots.

Celine listened for a second more before following where the sound was coming from, and she then put the light on in that area too, only to find Kris sitting on the floor and breathing heavily and having a clear look of distress on her face. "Hey," she said, getting Kris's attention. Kris spun her head around to see her, and quickly stumbled back to try and hide. "What are you doing here?"

"W-what are you doing here?" Kris asked nervously. "S-shouldn't you be getting ready for," she paused to take another breath. "for the investigation tonight?"

"I am," Celine said slowly, "I was going to make some food to take with us so we wouldn't be as exhausted in the morning." She sat down next to the deadpan. "But, are you okay? Well, you certainly don't look it, but I just want to check on you anyway."

Kris shook her head. "Don't worry about it, please." She could tell Celine was not satisfied with that response. "Fine, I'll tell you when we get to the school tonight, but please don't tell anyone you saw me here."

"Well, things are heating up, I suppose," Susan told her co-host from the control space. "I'm not sure what investigation they're going on about, but are you gonna let them stay in that kitchen?"

Chef shrugged. "She knows what she's doing, I trust her to make good food in there." He shook his head. "I hope she doesn't think she's pulling one over on us though." He faced Susan. "Alright, you're up. Do your thing."

"Right!" Susan answered nervously. "We lost another today, putting us at lucky number thirteen!" She shook her head as she said that line. "Anyway, be sure to see what happens next to everyone on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!"

Chef facepalmed. "You can't complain about the lines while you're reading them. If you weren't so busy doing shady stuff, you'd know that you can read and approve the lines beforehand." Susan grumbled to herself as Chef said that. "There's always next time."

Teams:

Screeching Parrots: Abigail, Ben, Brenna, Jacob, Nala, Nathan, Sharron

Swift Goldfish: Carter, Celine, Claire, Kris, Nolan, Peter

Eliminated: Gianna, George, Leo

Not gonna lie, I felt a lot worse about eliminating Leo this early when I found out he became more popular. He's definitely done for this season, but this will not be the last you see of him.

I think the challenge went pretty well, I did it to push the partner plot Sharron was doing, and we'll see more of that as time goes on. Also, challenges have been designed to push plot in general this season, so I think we'll see a lot more of that in general.

Anyway, who do you think is going next? If your favorite was recently eliminated (sorry gemini), who's your new favorite? Leave a review and let me know what you think. See you next time!