Chris could be seen on the dock of shame, leaning up against the boat with a cheesy grin on his face. He flicked a marshmallow into the air before catching it in his own mouth and chowing down on it, though suddenly, he coughed it up from chewing too fast and spat it out into the lake around them. He glanced away from the camera awkwardly at first, but then, cleared his throat and went on with his introduction.
"Last time on Total Drama: Island," he started, trying to shake off the previous embarrassment, "We formed our little group of twenty-two campers into two separate teams: the Killer Bass, and the Screaming Gophers. They only had about five minutes to get used to cabin life before we pulled them into their first challenge, heheh, they were so freaking out when they saw how wicked it was! The first half of the challenge was simple enough: jump off of the thousand-foot cliff into the shark infested waters below. The team with the most jumpers wins a reward to help them with the second half of the challenge. Well, the pompous foodie, Rolf, didn't want to dare get his mustache wet, and as such, he didn't jump, making him his team's first chicken. Veronica also didn't jump for the Gophers, which put them at only nine jumpers total. On the Bass, the only one who couldn't jump was Josef, who was too paranoid, but luckily, everyone else did, so they won the advantage! What was the advantage, you ask? Why, getting carts to pull crates of supplies to the campsites to build a wicked hot tub! The Gophers were left to push the boxes by hand, and due to Colleen leaving Rolf to push a crate on his own, they weren't able to build their tub, so they lost big time! The first elimination was tense, but since Rolf proved himself to be weak, incompetent, and unwilling to jump for his team, he got that big boot! Kind of a shocker, I thought Colleen would be out of here for sure! Who's gonna be the next camper to bite the dust? Find out, right here, on Total Drama: Island!"
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," as the opening theme started to kick up, a camera whooshed its way through the island, passing by Chris and the Sasquatchanakwa until it reached the top of the thousand foot cliff, leaping off of it and diving into the water.
"You guys are on my mind," under the water, Duke found himself wrestling a shark, after just having made his dive into it.
"You asked me what I wanted to be and I think the answer's plain to see," on top of the water, in a small boat, Veronica was clinging onto Roxy's arm for dear life, until Duke popped up from underneath with the shark in his arms, causing the frightened girl to jump out of the boat with a scream, all while Roxy glared at Duke.
"I wanna be famous!" in the forest of the island, Lyle was playing the flute to calm a herd of bears around him, which Wendell and Annalise, who were off to the side in the bushes, threw rocks at, causing them to chase after Lyle.
"I wanna live close to the sun," on top of a waterfall, Leslie was bouncing up and down in a raft, while Hellen wrote something down in her book, neither of them noticing that they were about to go over the waterfall.
"So pack your bags, cause I've already won," the raft continued to fall down the fall, passing by Percival, who was practicing his swordplay while standing on a log that bridged a gap.
"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day," suddenly, Lukas and Peggy came running from one side of the gap, knocking Percival into the water as they ran past, revealing the Sasquatchanakwa to be chasing them, until all three crashed into the confessional booth and knocked Bobby out of it and onto the ground.
"I wanna be famous!" Rolf was being held captive by Chef, who was making some disgusting looking soup in a pot, while Josef plugged his ears nearby, being annoyed by Desiree and her non-stop blabbing.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na," on the steps to the beach outside, Francis and Evander watched Elicia intently as she performed some scene from a famous play on the sands, though a fish hit her in the head and knocked her to the ground, followed by Evander conking Francis on the back of the head.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" back on the dock, Claudia was playing her harp beautifully until and octopus tentacle grabbed her and launched her into the side of the lodge.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" at the campfire ceremony, Gene and Harriett were both leaning in to kiss each other before Colleen popped up in between them, slapping her ruler against the palm of her hand while the rest of the group whistled in unison, all sitting around the same campfire.
It was early in the morning, and still, everyone was asleep, enjoying the semblance of peace that they were able to have since the first challenge. But then, as good things always do, the sleep had to come to an end. Chris approached the cabins, holding an air horn in his right hand and a megaphone in his left, bearing his cocky grin the whole time. Without so much as a warning, the host blared the horn into the megaphone, waking all twenty-one of the campers immediately and causing Annalise to open the window in a fit of rage, with a cleansing mask still on her face.
"Do you mind!?" she growled from her cabin, "It's early in the morning, and if I don't get my beauty sleep, you're going to suffer for it!"
"And the nastiest girl this side of the cabin has already started her morning routine," Harriett commented as she passed the girl by, walking out through the door, "Odd that she started with the yelling this early, though."
"Oh, shut your face, Harriett!"
"Speaking of shutting face," Desiree butted into the conversation, "I saw Peggy shoving her face into some book the other day! It looked like a diary! Can I see it, Pegs? Can I, can I, can I?"
"W-what?" Peggy was slightly taken aback, and she glanced over at her pillow, making sure her diary was still underneath it, "No!"
"Yeesh, guys," Elicia rolled her eyes as she headed for the door, "You all cause more drama than any stage I've set foot on...and that's saying something, because-"
"Nobody cares, theater kid," Annalise hissed, "I'm going to murder Chris for this, I swear."
Elicia sighed, looking down as her and the rest of the Bass' girls headed outside to meet up with Chris and the other campers. The host was smiling, as usual, but something about him spelled trouble, more trouble than he usually brought about, at least.
"Good morning, campers!" he greeted the group, "Sleep well?"
"Not really, bro," Bobby let out a massive yawn, "But nothing a huge breakfast can't fix."
"Haha, funny you'd mention breakfast at a time like this. You see, breakfast is actually gonna have to wait for a little bit. You've got a challenge starting in exactly one minute from now!"
"What!?" Roxy stomped her foot angrily, "Rudely wakes us up out of nowhere, refuses to let us eat, and now he's forcing us into a challenge. You're lucky that I want to win this thing, otherwise, my foot would be so far up your-"
"As I was saying," Chris cut the girl off by putting his hand over mouth, causing her to glare at him, "You've got to get ready for your challenge, which is...a twenty kilometer run around the lake!"
Some of the group gasped in fear of the thought, but Lyle jumped for joy and let out a bellowing "woohoo."
"Why are you so excited?" Gene asked, looking at the boy with a hint of concern, "A twenty-kilometer is nothing I'd be happy about."
"Gene, buddy," Lyle shook his head as he placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, "A run around the lake? How could you not see that as the most perfect start to any day? Gorgeous sights all around us, fresh air, it'll be amazing!"
"I think that munchkin on your team is off his rocker," Wendell chuckled to himself as Lyle rambled on.
Confessional
"Great, just what I need to start my day," Annalise pouted in the confessional, "It's bad enough that I'm awake this early, but this run is taking it too far."
"If I'm being honest, I haven't actually slept yet," Veronica mumbled, hiding her face in her hoodie, "I'm scared of having dreams...so I try to avoid knocking out. Well, until the drowsiness catches up to me and I'm forced to sleep."
"A twenty-kilometer run is nothing compared to the training we go through back at the manor!" Percival boasted, "Back then, it would be thirty kilometers at least! This shall be a cakewalk for I and my brethren!"
Confessional End
Chris had the group of contestants all lined up next to each other for the start of the run, while he stood off to the sidelines, looking down at a watch on his wrist.
"On your marks...get set...go!" Chris called out, causing the group to start running along.
Evander ran alongside Colleen and Leslie, checking himself out in a mirror while the obnoxious motherly one glared at him. It wasn't long before she slapped it right out of his hand, causing it to crack on the ground and him to gasp in horror.
"Ay, yo!" he shouted at her, suddenly skidding to a halt, "What gives, tutz!?"
"You shouldn't be staring into mirrors like that for too long," Colleen replied with an angry finger waggle, "Don't you know that mirrors steal your soul if you spend your whole life looking at them?"
"That's a load of bologne, ya nutcase! I swear, if you wasn't a dame, I'd kick your ass!"
"Oh, please. I could take you any day or night of the week. Your exterior toughness is a pathetic ruse for a soft and squishy inside, I'm tough through and through."
"Why, you! Gah!"
Evander stomped his feet on the ground angrily as Colleen ran off, chuckling to herself about the boy's silly anger. Meanwhile, Leslie stopped in front of the boy, waving her hand at him to get his attention.
"Whaddya want, bouncy girl?"
"Hi, hi, hi!" Leslie spoke in her usually overly hyper tone, "She broke your mirror, that's super mean!"
"Uh...yeah, I guess. It's whatever though, I ain't gonna let some bimbo like her get in my way. She'll be outta here before me, that's for sure."
"Oh! Well, I dunno about all of that, but I was just gonna ask if you wanted to borrow my little makeup mirror!"
"Eh?"
Leslie reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, pink mirror and holding it up with a smile on her face. Evander was slightly taken aback by the offer, and the fact that it was pink, but he accepted it into his own hands regardless.
"Uh...thanks, girly-...actually, what was your name again?"
"Leslie!"
"Leslie...hm...how 'bout I call you Little L?"
"Little L?"
"Yeah! Little L and Big E! We're gonna be friends, you and me, so it fits to give you a nickname, right?"
"Okay! Little L, Little L, Little L," the girl continued to repeat the nickname over and over again, once again successfully confusing the greaser boy.
"What are you doin' that for?"
"I gotta get it stuck in my head, so I'm gonna say it over and over and over and over-"
Confessional
"Sure was nice of Little L to let me use her mirror," Evander commented as he checked himself out in it, "She's a little weird, but that's all cool with me, and I'm the master of cool! Getting the cool vote from me is like...super cool! Yeah!"
"And over and over and over," Leslie continued going on with her endless sentence.
Confessional End
Further ahead in the group, Wendell ran along with Josef next to him, noticing that the gargantuan boy had a pack of water bottles in one arm while he ran, with one singular water bottle in his free hand, which he was drinking from as he ran. Wendell cocked an eyebrow at him, curious as to why he was doing this.
"Hey, big fella," Wendell called to the boy from the other team, "What're you doing with all of the water bottles? You're gonna piss yourself to death if you drink all of that."
"That is simply what you think," Josef replied as he finished off one water bottle before pulling another one out, "But it's just simply the fact that I wear so many layers of clothing, I need to be able to sustain the amount of sweat that I drip. If I don't, I'll pass out from the exhaustion."
"That's...delightfully disgusting, yeesh. Why don't you just take some of the jackets off?"
"And expose my soft and squishy parts to a world that can stab at them? Ha! Ha, I say! I will stay in my protective layer, while you let yourself become an easy target for a rogue stabber."
"...Right...well, you have fun doing that, Crazy Joe. I'm gonna run on ahead where there are...less of the clinically insane to talk to."
"Whatever you say, Weasel Man."
Wendell glared at the boy upon hearing the nickname he was given, soon running further ahead and ending up passing by Bobby, Lyle, and Gene, the last of which was collapsed with his face buried in the dirt, sweating profusely.
"Can't...go...on," the grounded boy uttered the words as if he were about to die, "Tell my mom...to freeze my head until they can revive me."
"Man, you're not gonna die here," Lyle shook his head in disappointment before hoisting the boy off of the ground with the help of Bobby. "You just gotta get yourself hyped up for the big meal we're gonna have after we're done running."
"We're gonna have a big meal?" a faint look of hope brought itself to Gene's eyes.
"Sure, bro," Bobby nodded, "There'll probably be lots of cheesy puffs or something."
"Ch-cheesy puffs!?"
Suddenly, Gene shot up into the sky, a look of determination on his face as he adjusted his glasses, causing them to shimmer in the light. He took to a starting position before kicking off of the ground and bursting off into the distance, leaving Lyle and Bobby far behind.
Confessional
"Woah, man!" Bobby was still in disbelief from what happened earlier, "Gene's like an anime character or some crap, being that speedy and all that jazz. I guess cheesy puffs are some sort of ultimate prize to him."
"I love cheesy puffs," Gene commented as he held a bag of cheesy puffs in on hand with a victorious smile.
"Wendell is quite nosey," Josef mentioned as he finished drinking another water bottle, "I've gotta keep an eye out for him...he could be up to no good."
Confessional End
Eventually, the run came to an end, and it was safe to say that the group was exhausted from it. There were campers strewn out across the ground, panting for air, while others had a hard time just standing up. Chris approached the lot of them, clapping his hands slowly as they looked over at him.
"Killer performance out there, dudes," the host applauded them, "I think a good job like that deserves a pretty big breakfast, don't you?"
"Yes!" Gene shouted, rising from the dirt he was laying in, "If I don't eat something soon my stomach's gonna eat itself!"
"Oh, like the gut munchers from Gut Munchers!" Francis butted in, happy to talk about some obscure movie, "They eat tons of stomachs in that movie."
"Oh, oh, oh!" Leslie piped up, "I lov-"
"Psh," Evander shook his head at the boy, "Get a load of this dweeb talking about his dweeb movies. Pretty pathetic, don't ya think, Little L?"
"Ah-...Yeah! So...uh...dweeby!"
Evander patted the girl on the back, smirking while Francis sighed and looked down at the ground, a defeated look on his face. Percival, who had taken his outer plate armor to reveal simple, leather armor underneath, approached the host.
"So, pray tell, good Chris," the knight spoke up, "Where might this breakfast of warriors be located?"
"Right at the main lodge, I'm sure the lot of you will loooooooove what we got there for you," the host snickered as the bulk of the group rose up and started toward the lodge.
Confessional
"Evander's been messing with me ever since I first got here," Francis said with a sigh, "It wouldn't be so bad if I had any friends, but everyone seems to group up with him against me. He radiates that cool guy aura that everyone wants to be a part of."
Confessional End
The two teams made their way into the main lodge, being met with amazement as their gaze landed on the tables, which had an assortment of foods from different cultures. There was turkey, wontons, pierogis, pretty much anything that one could imagine. Chris stepped in front of the crowd, gesturing to the table with a sway of his right arm.
"You've all earned this massive fest, so go ahead and dig in!" the host instructed them, "Remember, first come first serve!"
"Oh, thank the lord!" Gene hurrahed as he rushed over to the table, passing by all the others.
"Fun fact about turkey," Hellen started as she and the others walked over, "It's one of the foods best known for inducing sleep. Pretty neat, huh?"
Confessional
"Mother always told me that is was best to preserve your manners at a meal," Claudia started in an uptight voice, but soon, a grin stretched onto her face, "But who am I kidding? We all need to chow down every once in a while!"
"Man, everyone is enjoying that turkey," Lukas scribbled down on his board, "Too bad I don't eat birds! I have a ridiculous fear of choking on bones from anything avian, so I tend to avoid it. Everything else looks pretty nice, though!"
Confessional End
After a hearty feast, the twenty-one remaining contestants sat around the table, guts full and starting to ache from overeating. Veronica shuddered in the corner while watching all the others who had partaken in the dinner, being the only one who hadn't touched it due to a fear of getting in the way. Chris snickered as he approached the group and the table that was nothing more than scraps.
"Looks like you guys clean house quick!" he smirked at them as they moaned and groaned, "Can't say I'm all too surprised with that, considering all that happened today."
"Since we're done eating, does that mean we're done with the challenge?" Colleen asked, even her stomach being bloated from the feast, "We're all in need of some rest if we want to be useful at all in the next one."
"I agree with the crazy lady," Evander groaned, "Even a cool guy like me needs to get some z's after a run and a feast like that."
"It's funny that you both mentioned sleeping," Chris chuckled, "Your challenge has really only just begun!"
"What!?" Annalise snapped at the man, gritting her teeth, "How could there possibly be more to this nonsense!?"
"Relax, this part is super easy. It's the Awake-A-Thon! The rules to this challenge are simple: last team with anyone standing wins the challenge. You take a snooze, you're out. Doesn't matter if you wake back up or not, the second you sail off is the second your out."
"You...you fiend!" Roxy hissed, "You ran us to the brink of death, and fed us a feast to make us tired!"
"Uh, yeah? Seems kinda straightforward to me, I don't see what the issue is."
"You're a dastardly one, I'll give you that," Wendell patted Chris on the back with a smirk on his face.
"Thanks, Wendell. Now, let's get the lot of you over to the bonfire area to get this awake-a-thon started!"
Confessional
"Staying awake for an extended amount of time?" Josef scoffed, "It can't be too bad. All I need to do is stay hydrated, and then I'll be awake way longer than the rest of the group. I gotta say, I almost feel bad for the other team. I'll simply outclass them."
Confessional End
Not long after everyone left the main lodge, where they had just consumed the massive feast that Chris had ready for them, they found themselves in the bonfire area, some seating themselves down on the stumps while others stood around and tried to keep themselves entertained. It had only been a mere hour, yet, Annalise was already feeling her eyes growing heavy, due to the lack of beauty sleep. As she sat by herself, her eyelids started to blink slower and slower, until, suddenly, someone grabbed her by the arm, pulling her aside and hiding behind a tree.
"Hey, watch it, loser!" she glared at the perpetrator, "This tan takes forever to get right, I'm not gonna let someone like- hey, you're not from my team."
"You're right about that, love," Wendell smirked as he leaned back against the tree, "See, we may not be on a team together, but I have a proposition that may benefit the two of us."
"What are you blabbering about? I don't listen to people who aren't at least an eight outta ten."
"I'd say that's a pretty crappy attitude to have when you're clearly about to drop out of the challenge first. I can make it so someone else will lose before you, buuuuut...if you insist on not talking to me, I suppose I can just watch as you get voted off-"
"Enough! I get it! What's your stupid suggestion or whatever?"
"Glad to see your open to listening," the boy snickered as he pointed back at the bonfire, specifically at Josef, "See the big guy over there?"
"The one whose breath smells like garlic?"
"...Sure. See, he's...well, a thorn in my side, to say the least. I've got plans, lots of 'em, but a guy like him will just get in the way. Do you see what I'm getting at here?"
"You wanna get rid of him? You can't vote him off or anything, though, he's on a whole other team."
"Aha, I can't! But you certainly could...supposing something happened to make him fall asleep before you knock out."
"Pfft, what could possibly make that-"
"The water bottles. He drinks them by the pack, said something about passing out if he doesn't have any with him."
"Are you trying to tell me to steal them?"
"Well, I won't be able to. Dude's got his eye on me...however, if I were to distract him, I suppose it would be easy for you to, yes."
"And you're sure we won't get caught doing this?"
"Positive. So...it's a deal then? Our...partnership?"
"...Fine. But don't you dare trying to tell other people we're dating just because we're working together."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
With the agreement, the two shook hands, each with a grin on their face. They soon made their way back to the rest of the group, where Wendell himself stood at the bonfire, warming his hands whilst glancing over at Josef suspiciously. The tall boy was quick to notice this, and he stared back at him while Annalise started dragging the pack of water bottles behind his back away from him. As he watched Wendell, he reached back for one of the bottles, only to find that nothing was there.
"What the!?" Josef rose from his seat, looking all around him to try and find the water bottles that were no longer there. "Someone stole my water! Where's my water!?"
The boys eruption of noise alerted the rest of the contestants, and one by one, they stopped what they were all doing to stare at the boy during his fit. He started sweating profusely, the sun beating down overhead while he dug around in the dirt nearby. He felt his arms and legs giving out on him before falling to his knees, and eventually, to the ground. As he lay on the dirt, exhausted and suffering from the heat, he could just barely see Annalise in the distance, drinking one of the water bottles from his pack.
"You...rat..."
The last two words left his mouth before he passed out on the ground, dropping the Bass down to ten contestants remaining, just like the Gophers had started.
Confessional
"Not sure what that was all about," Peggy mumbled, "It was kinda scary, seeing him throw a tantrum like that..."
"What's his deal?" Duke asked the camera, seeming a little unnerved by the tantrum, "Acting like a kid who doesn't get the candy they want from mommy, psh. He wouldn't last one second in a ring with me if he wants to have an outburst like that."
Confessional End
Eleven hours had passed since Josef knocked out, marking the twelve hour mark in the challenge. Annalise had knocked out a few hours after Josef, but aside from that, everyone else was still standing. Chris stood at his podium, grinning as he noticed the many tired eyes around him.
"We have now reached our twelve hour mark," the host whispered as he watched the campers, "And only two people have fallen so far. I wonder how long it will be before more of them start to drop?"
Near the center of the group, Bobby and Lyle sat together, watching Gene stand nearby, debating how he should approach Harriett, who was inspecting the dirt near by the fire itself. The techie boy tugged at his shirt collar, gulping before starting towards her, but eventually turning right back around and sitting down next to his two buddies. He let out a drawn out sigh, putting his hands against his cheeks and staring down at the ground.
"You good there, bud?" Bobby asked, soon letting out a loud yawn, "Kinda seems like you're a little down in the dumps."
"Oh, you know," Gene sighed again, "Just trying to figure out how to talk to a girl that's way out of my league, that's all."
"I have a question," Lyle butted in, "How do you know she's way out of your league?"
"I mean, just look at her, dude. She's cute, she's interesting, and she's just the right amount of goofy. And then there's me...fat and stupid."
"Hey man, you shouldn't be worried about trying to date her right now anyways."
"What do you-" Gene was quickly cut off by Bobby speaking back to Lyle.
"Yeah, I never really understood that. Wouldn't you wanna be homies with a girl before trying to go on a date with her? That seems like the logical thing to do."
"You guys mean...like, be her friend?"
"Adoy!"
I never really thought about that...I guess I kinda had this underlying fear that doing that would get me locked in the friendzone for life, or something."
"Psh, nahhhh...now go," Bobby yawned in the middle of his sentence, "Go talk to...her..."
As soon as he said the last word, the unkempt boy came crashing down into the dirt, letting out a series of booming snores while everyone else glanced over at him. Chris snickered, marking down that the Bass only had eight campers still standing to the Gophers' ten. It wasn't long before day turned to night, and the campers found themselves at more mercy to the impending drowsiness in their systems. The eight Bass were still standing, but Claudia had already bit the dust, and was now snoozing in the dirt. Chris looked astounded at the amount of contestants that still remained awake, but he was determined to break them. He rang a little bell in his hand, calling their attention over to him.
"Campers, we've hit the twenty-four hour mark in our challenge!" he announced, causing some groans to be cast his way, "Unfortunately for all of you, that means we'll be amping up the stakes from here on out!"
"Whatever could you mean by that?" Colleen asked, narrowing her weary eyes at him.
"What I mean is...it's time for some fairytales!"
The host gestured to a stack of books next to him, each of different color and with childish princess pictures scattered about them. Chef stood next to them, wearing a sheep costume and striking a chord on a harp, causing some of the contestants to laugh at him before he snarled at them, getting them to shut up almost immediately. Chris grabbed one of the books, opening it and blowing the dust off of the pages before him.
"Ahem...once...upon a time," the host spoke in a boring, monotoned voice, "In a boring kingdom...in a boring castle...there lived a boring princess..."
Roxy could feel her eyes slowly starting to close as the host's voice trailed off into white noise. Veronica looked over at her, trembling in fear as she fell asleep, slumping forward and causing her hat to fall off.
"Aha!" Colleen clapped her hands together, "I knew you would...fall asleep...before..."
Unable to finish her own sentence, Colleen feel to the ground from where she was standing, planting her face in the dirt while some of the other Gophers, namely Evander and Percival, snickered to themselves upon laying their eyes upon the sight. It was now eight to seven, with the Gophers down by one contestant.
Confessional
"That Colleen broad is a total nutcase," Evander scoffed, "We could use her knocking out so quickly as an excuse to give her the boot. I don't think anyone's gonna vote for Claudia, even if she did fall asleep first. She's too damn nice!"
"Is Evander badmouthing me?" a sleeptalking Colleen spoke between snores, "I'll show him what for..."
Confessional End
Chris continued on with his fairytales, causing even more drowsiness to arise in several other campers. Lukas seemed to be quite alright, though he did start getting noticeable bags under his eyes, though Peggy, who sat next to him, was clearly in a rough spot. She started to slouch her shoulders in her seat, yawning under her scarf while the boy tried to shake her to keep her awake. Despite all of his efforts, the girl's eyes closed, and she fell off of her seat and onto the ground, exhausted from the challenge itself. Lukas facepalmed at the sight before attempting to lean back in his own seat, only to realize that he was sitting on a stump, and fall over onto his back. He rolled his eyes as he got up from the dirt, noticing Duke nearby, who was snickering at him.
"Haha, ya little stick man," the wrestler jested in a tired voice, "You're totally gonna sink down the drain if you let sleep get you in a chokehold like that! I'm not even tired...I could go like this for days, probably even weeks! That's right, the Dukester never backs out of a challenge, especially not one with sleeping. What say me and you have a little challenge of our own, eh?"
Lukas cocked his eyebrow at the massive boy in front of him, who was grinning brightly.
"You and me see who can stay awake the longest on our team, just for the hell of it. I bet I can take you down in a challenge like that."
Duke held his hand out for Lukas to shake it, only for the European boy to shrug before taking his hand in his own and agreeing to the little wager they had. The wrestler let out a booming laugh, standing triumphantly before his teammate.
"There's no way I'm gonna lose this match! The Dukester will reign as champion!"
He laughed for a few more seconds, but his face suddenly stopped in a shining grin. Lukas cocked an eyebrow at him once again, intrigued to see what he was doing, only for the wrestler to fall asleep, standing up straight, with his eyes wide open, but snores erupting from his obnoxious mouth. The mute boy shook his head in disappointment, soon returning to his seat and adjusting Peggy so she was laying on her side rather than her face. Meanwhile, Francis was standing by himself near the rocky wall behind the campfire area, avoiding coming in contact with Evander. He whistled to himself, being able to ignore how tired he was for the time being, until, suddenly, Leslie popped up out of nowhere, right in front of him.
"Boo!" she shouted in his face, causing him to stumble backwards and scream, "Haha, I got you good, Francy France Francis!"
"You scared the lights out of me!" the boy retorted, hardly able to send the words out of his mouth, "W-why?"
'You like horror movies, right? I thought it would be cool to try and scare you to see how good you are with jumpscares! Turns out, you're pretty bad at it!"
"Well...I have been awake for twenty-four hours. Usually I'm a lot better with dealing with them. When I was watching Maws, I didn't get scared a single time, even when the giant shark popped up and ate that one girl out of nowhere. I don't even get scared of body horror, like that movie Drill. Sure, all the people there are in life or death scenarios where they need to injure themselves and cut off limbs to get closer to the exit, but I just thought it was cool to see people break expectations of cheesy horror movies and go further to do something much greater. What do you think?"
When the boy finished speaking and looked back up at Leslie, he noticed that she had slumped over on the wall, and was out cold. He sighed, feeling as if he bored her to sleep, and rose from his spot on the ground, only to quickly fall asleep right next to her. The Gophers were down to five, while the Bass still had six up and running. More time had passed, and it was now fifty-one hours since the start of the challenge. Lukas, Desiree, Gene, Lyle, Harriett, and Elicia remained standing for the Bass, albeit very drowsy, while Evander, Percival, Wendell, Veronica, and Hellen managed to keep themselves up for the Gophers. Chris watched from his podium, snickering as he noticed how exhausted they were.
Confessional
"Out of everything I've ever had to do for my training," Percival started, his eyes drooping, "This was definitely the worst back then, and it still is the worst now. Being able to stay awake for long periods of time is amazing and all, but it sure does take a toll on the body."
"I've taken on many feats in my travels across my home in Hawaii," Harriett spoke with a sense of triumph, "But even then, I always made sure to get a good night's sleep. This challenge is gonna throw off my whole game!"
Confessional End
A drowsy Gene wandered on over to join Harriett, who was still sitting around the fire itself, keeping warm while she looked at the dirt samples she had gathered from around it, which were now each in plastic vials. The boy looked at the vials with interest before lightly tapping the girl on the shoulder, nervous of what might happen when she turns around.
"Hm?" the tired girl shifted her eyes to look at the much taller boy, "Oh, hey, Gene!"
"Ah!" he leapt back in a slight shock, not expecting her to actually respond, "Ha...ha...hi!"
"What's up?"
"Oh...you know, just...staying awake and stuff."
"Heh, yep! Really blows, though, I'd rather be sleeping right now to preserve my energy for when this challenge is all over with!"
"Why's that? Any plans you're looking forward to, or..."
"Yeah, actually! I've been testing different types of soil on this island to see what might be good for growing certain crops! Trying to be a little self-sufficient while I'm here, that, and Chef's food is kinda...bleh, you know?"
"Heheh, yeah! It tastes like the lint that gets leftover in my dryer when I take my clothes out of it!"
"How would you know what that tastes like?"
"Ah! I mean...uh..."
"I'm just teasing you!" Harriett giggled as she stood from the ground, "I've definitely eaten way more disgusting things than dryer lint before, anyhow. There was this one time that I ate a stick, just to see if it would make for good sustenance on long trips, but I got a whole bunch of splinters all over my tongue. Let me tell ya, it wasn't a pretty sight."
"I can imagine," Gene blushed and glanced away, rubbing the back of his head before noticing Desiree and Lyle sitting next to each other on the stumps, with the boy groaning in annoyance.
"So, there was this one time that I met this teacher," the blabbermouth rambled, her annoying voice ringing in Lyle's ears, "She was like, super weird! She had this obsession with getting boxes of cereal, and dedicated an entire room to cereal! Her husband left because of her obsession, so I told the whole class! It was so funny, but I guess she got mad because she left the school district after that."
"Gah!" Lyle rose from his seat, clamping his hands down on his ears, "I can't take it anymore!"
With the speed of a racehorse, Lyle ran facefirst into the wall behind the campfire area, hitting it and falling to the ground, now knocked out from the sudden impact of it all. Meanwhile, Percival had propped himself up against one of the posts near the podium, yawning while Hellen came over to him with her box of facts in hand.
"Greetings, Percival," the albino girl greeted him with a blush on her face, "Or should I call you Sir Percival?"
"You may skip the sir, I hold no authority over anyone here," the boy answered with a friendly smile, "I'm simply here to have a good time with all of you."
"So humble- Ah, I mean...wanna look at some of my fun facts with me?"
"I'm not sure if reading is such a great idea right now," he let out a yawn, "You see, I've always found that books enhance how easy it is to get tired, especially under circumstances with no sleep."
"Nonsense! Actually, there is a fact in here about reading!"
The girl flipped through the pages of the book, eventually landing on a page and pointing down at a line on it. Percival's tired eyes solemnly glanced over at the books pages, but as soon as he read one of the lines, he immediately crashed to the ground, sound asleep. It took about five seconds for Hellen to fall asleep from her own book as well, and she landed right on top of the boy, snoozing with a smirk on her face. The Gophers were down even more, with only Evander, Veronica, and Wendell still standing, while the Bass still had Lukas, Gene, Desiree, Harriett, and Elicia.
Confessional
"I can go on for hours in a challenge as easy as this one, ha!" Elicia boasted, her drowsy expression suggesting otherwise, "As long as I keep myself entertained, there will be nothing to get in my way from securing this win for my team!"
Elicia smiled brightly for a moment, but soon enough, she slumped over on the side of the confessional, causing it to come crashing down to the ground while she slept inside of it.
Confessional End
Eighty-five hours had passed, and still, there were seven campers remaining. Gene and Harriett stayed together during the late hours, feeling the exhaustion crawling up on them as they continued to talk about the things they did back in their hometowns.
"I work at this big tech brand, Good Purchase," Gene noted with a yawn, "It's alright, I'm in my element for the most part. The problem is that I have to deal with all these old people, man. They don't know anything about the devices they use, so it gets kind of hard to keep a conversation going with them. It's always, 'Yes, I turned it on! What do you mean, it has to be plugged in?'"
"That sounds hilarious!' Harriett chuckled, "I don't have a job like that, I'm a tracker."
"A tracker? What's that?"
"Well, you know...people will go on hikes and stuff, or just hang out in the wild, and they'll drop things on occasion. It's my job to find those things for them, and I'm pretty dang good at it!"
"Oh, yeah? What's the hardest thing you've had to look for before?"
"Hm...well, there was this time that someone lost their lucky penny in the middle of the woods! Trust me when I say it took me literally three weeks to find the dang coin, they kept saying I was bringing back the wrong penny! But, I eventually found it, being used as part of a bird nest. It was kinda funny."
"Heh, sounds like it."
The two of them yawned in unison before looking up at the night sky and noticing the stars scattered all around. Gene reclined back against one of the stumps, continuing to stare up while Harriett layed down flat on the ground.
"Man, I really don't get out that often," the boy mumbled to himself, "But this view...the sky is so beautiful."
"I know...being able to experience nature on a higher level like this really makes you appreciate the small things in life."
"Yeah...maybe I should start going outside more when I go back home. What do you think?"
He waited a couple of seconds for a response, only to get nothing. A quick glance over to where the girl was laying down showed that she had fallen right asleep, and was snoring. The boy sighed, knowing that the only person keeping him awake had succumbed to the challenge, and not long after, he too fell asleep, using one of the stumps as a pillow. The night shifted to day once again, and only Wendell, Evander, Veronica, Lukas, and Desiree were still awake. Chris approached the group, shaking his head at them as he saw how they looked, noting that the ones who had fallen asleep already were starting to wake up.
"You guys are ridiculous," Chris pointed out, gesturing to the five who were still in the contest, "I was really hoping that that last night would've been the end of you, but it seems that I'll have to us some more extreme measures if I want you to actually drop out of this challenge. Alright, everybody who's already out, get up and go take a shower! Seriously, you guys reek! And don't even get me started on Miss Smells Like Sewage Theater Lover. Move it, people!"
A choir of groans erupted as the many tired contestants rose from where they were sleeping, with Josef immediately trailing Annalise, glaring holes into the back of her head. Chris sighed, turning to face the group of five that were seated on the stumps.
"I really didn't want it to come to this," the host continued, his disappointment showing, "I told Chef last night, 'Chef, I reeeeeally don't want it to come to this.' But dangit, if this won't work, nothing will! Everyone, prepare for a not so thrilling reading of...The History of Canada."
"W-what!?" Desiree stomped her feet in annoyance, "You can't read that to us, it's like torture!"
"Oh, be quiet! Ahem," the host pulled out a book, opening it up to reveal that it was none-other than a pop up book. "Our first stop in this long history is none other than...the beaver, beloved national animal of this glorious country."
Almost immediately, Desiree fell to the ground, sound asleep from the boring tone in Chris's voice. Lukas gulped in fear, noticing that he was the only member of his team left standing, while the Gophers still had three. Though, as Chris read the passages from the book, Evander's eyes started to close behind his sunglasses.
"Ah...Chris," the cool kid mumbled as he wobbled in his seat, "This is so...not cool..."
After those words, the boy crashed to the ground, his sunglasses flying into the air from the impact before landing back on his eyes, shimmering in the light and impressing the host himself. Wendell glanced between Veronica and Lukas, noticing that Veronica's eyes didn't even have the slightest of bags underneath them, but rather were full of a nervousness.
"Huh, that's interesting," the scheming boy whispered to himself before yawning, "Almost a hundred hours kept awake, and not showing any signs of needing sleep. That's really...something..."
With one final yawn, Wendell finally crashed, falling to the ground and snoozing right next to Evander, with the two of them coincidentally holding hands while they were sound asleep. Chris continued to read from his book, and Lukas and Veronica kept glancing over at each other, waiting to see who would fall first.
Confessional
"I gotta hand it to Veronica," Lukas scribbled down on his board, incredibly fast, "Girl can really keep herself awake and not show how tired she is. I'm impressed...kinda reminds me of this girl I babysit. She'll insist that she's not tired, and will stay up for hours in bed just to force me to read a whole bunch of stories to her. Kids are crazy."
"Lukas didn't eat anything at the banquet," Veronica pointed out, trembling in her seat, "I can only imagine how exhausted and hungry he is now...but he's staying awake. It's kinda cool...someone putting themselves through that much trouble, just so their team can win a challenge."
Confessional End
"Come on, you guys!" Chris stomped his foot on the ground, "I've tried everything in the book, how can there still be two of you left! Just go to sleep, take a snooze, it's time fore beddy-bye! What is wrong with all of you?"
"I'm not tired," Veronica mentioned quietly, "Does that mean I get in trouble?"
"Gah! One of you is going to have to fall asleep sooner or later, and when you do, I'll be more than thrilled. So hop to it, knock yourselves out! Literally!"
"Hey, just goes to show how willing we are to win," Lukas scribbled down, holding it up for Chris to see.
"It's not like anyone is going to vote for you guys, you both stayed awake the longest! Come on, aren't you all tired? Doesn't the thought of being in bed right now seem so pleasant?"
Veronica and Lukas glanced between each other once again, looking back at the host blankly as he facepalmed in annoyance. He continued to grumble to himself for a moment, but then, out of the peripheral of his eye, he noticed that Lukas was starting to slump over. Excited as could be, the host watched the boy as he slowly, but surely, fell to the ground, as sound asleep as one could possibly be. He jumped for joy at the sight, rushing on over to Veronica and grabbing her hand, raising it up in the sky as a sign of victory. The girl was startled, but she let it happen, regardless.
"The challenge is finally over, the Gophers win! Nice job, Veronica!"
"O-oh, well thanks, I-" Veronica was unable to finish her sentence, as she fell asleep almost immediately.
Chris shrugged, dropping her to the ground and grabbing his megaphone from out of nowhere before turning it on and aiming it towards the cabins.
"Bass, you'll all need to report to the elimination ceremony, pronto! Time to feel what it's like to have to vote someone off of the island!"
Another chorus of groans erupted from the cabins as the tired Bass started to emerge from them, one by one. Immediately, Josef went after Annalise again, staring her down with anger in his eyes while she rolled her own before turning to face him.
"Can I help you, weirdo?" she asked lazily, clearly not interested in speaking to him.
"You can explain to the team that you betrayed me!" he hissed at her, "You stole my water bottles and made me lose the challenge!"
"What are you talking about?"
Annalise tapped her fingers together in an innocent look while the rest of the Bass who were coming from the cabins stopped to watch what was going on. Josef didn't let up, still certain that she had caused his loss, despite her reluctance to admit it.
"I'm not playing these silly games with you, just admit that you sabotaged me! You knew that I would've won the challenge, and you took me down because you want to get rid of me!"
"Yo, Josef!" Duke put his hand on his shoulder, "Stop yelling at the little lady like that!"
Josef shoved the wrestler away, turning to face the rest of his team, who were all shocked by his sudden aggressiveness. Noting that everyone was currently against him, the boy gritted his teeth, soon storming back into the cabin. The team approached Annalise, each of them seeming to be worried for her well being after the incident just went down.
"Are you okay?" Harriett asked, "I mean, you're kind of annoying, but he seemed like he was getting just a touch too aggressive with you there."
"I don't know, he just started yelling at me out of nowhere! It was really scary!"
The pageant queen trembled in her high heels while the group tried to comfort her, smirking to herself when they shifted their attention to the cabin itself, where Josef was glaring out of the window at them.
Confessional
"That rat, Annalise...she screwed me over!" Josef complained, "Now everyone thinks I am crazy! Tell me something, do I look crazy to you!? I'm not crazy!"
"So exhausted," Lukas wrote down slowly, "Never wanna be awake ever again."
"I can't believe I fell asleep in the confessional," Elicia slapped her hand against her embarrassed face, "It took me hours to get the smell of port-a-potty off of me and my clothes...this is so embarrassing."
"That Josef dude is crazy!" Duke pointed out, his arms crossed, "He's going around picking on someone who isn't even close to being in his weight class! That's a recipe for disaster!"
Confessional End
The Bass eventually found themselves seated at the elimination campfire, with some of them still exhausted out of their minds. Lukas had definitely had it the worst of all of them, with him being the last man standing for his team. He slumped over onto Peggy's shoulder, his eyes barely open while she blushed at the fact that the boy was so close to her. Annalise smiled innocently while Josef glared at her intensely, his nostrils flaring with rage. Desiree was babbling on about some nonsense to Lyle, who kept repeatedly slamming his head against his seat to try and get her to leave him alone. Harriett sat next to Gene, who was drooling over another bag of cheesy puffs, which had her giggling at him. Duke kissed his own biceps while hiding his tired eyes behind a pair of sunglasses, and Bobby was already sound asleep again, his mouth agape as he snored loudly, bothering Elicia, who was too polite to tell him to close his mouth. At the podium, Chris stood with a platter that had ten marshmallows, enough for everyone but one.
"Bass, duuuuudes," the host shook his head as he spoke to them, "I saw some pretty shabby attempts at staying awake during this challenge, and I gotta say, I was expecting more from a group with so many shut-ins. One of you even knocked out an hour into the challenge! How is that even possible?"
"It wouldn't have happened if not for a dirty rat on our team!" Josef shouted in anger, standing from his seat.
"Oh, whatever do you mean?" Annalise widened her eyes and put her hand over her mouth, "Who sabotaged you, dear Josef?"
"Ваши грязные уловки не будут длиться вечно, ведьма. (Your dirty little tricks won't last you forever, witch.)"
"Huh?"
"Anyway!" Chris interrupted the boy's outburst, "I kinda wanna catch some z's, and I know a handful of you guys do to, so let's get right into this! It's your first time here, so I'm just gonna go over the rules of this elimination ceremony really quick. I have ten marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, I'll toss you the treat, and that means you're safe. However, the camper that doesn't receive a marshmallow will be out of the game, which means you gotta take a walk across the Dock of Shame to catch the Boat of Losers and skedaddlidooski your butt on off the island. And you can never come back. Ever."
The intensity of the final word the host uttered caused several contestants to gasp, sharing some worried glances between each other while they waited for him to start calling out the names.
"Our first safe camper is, to no surprise, Lukas."
Chris flicked the first marshmallow over to the mute boy, though it bounced off of his tired face and hit the ground. Lazily, the boy signed "thank you" at the host in response.
"Next up...chatterbox Desiree and shy Peggy."
"Oh, awesome!" Desiree squealed excitedly as she caught her marshmallow, "You know, I met a kid who was scared of marshmallows once and I told the whole school about it. Never saw him at the school after that."
"I wonder why," Peggy grumbled at the girl as she caught her own marshmallow, tugging her scarf down to eat it.
"The Dukester..."
"As if the champ would tap out this early!" Duke boasted as he caught his marshmallow with a cheesy grin on his face.
"Gene...Bobby..."
"Eh?" Gene looked up from his cheesy puffs, only for the marshmallow to bounce off of his face and fall into the bag, "Ah! You've tainted my snacks!"
"Woah, bro," Bobby chuckled before catching his marshmallow with his mouth and continuing to talk while chewing, "I don't even get mad if that happens, cheesy marshmallows are mm-mm good."
"Harriett...Lyle..."
"Yes!" Harriett rose her hand in the air to grab the marshmallow before tossing it into her mouth.
"Make it stop, man!" Lyle ignored the marshmallow flying at him while Desiree continued to talk her lips off of her face.
"...and Elicia!"
"Phew," Elicia sighed in relief as she caught her marshmallow, "Had me worried there for a second, Chris!"
Annalise frowned as she realized that she was in the bottom two with the very person that she helped sabotage. It must've been a mistake that she could've fallen this low so early, but the glare from Josef told her all she needed to know. She returned to smiling cockily, knowing that, despite his bravado, their was simply no way that he could outdo her.
"Josef, you knocked out super early in the challenge, and not only that, but your strange mannerisms and the pointing fingers at everyone when something bad happens to you has put you in the hot seat for this elimination. Annalise, Josef is insistent that you stole his water bottles and caused him to pass out from exhaustion, despite the little proof he has of this."
"I'm sorry that you feel that way," Annalise made puppy dog eyes at the boy, "But I swear, I didn't do anything."
"You're full of it, pageant queen," Josef spat his words back at her.
"The last marshmallow of the night goes to..."
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"...Annalise."
"Yes!" Annalise cheered as the marshmallow flew to her, quickly reverting to her innocent act, "I'm sooo sorry, Josef! Better luck next time!"
"She's a dirty rat!" Josef rose from his seat again, stepping towards Chris before turning to scowl at everyone, "Someday, you will regret allowing her to stay over me. Don't say I didn't told you so."
"Riiiiiight," Chris patted the boy on the back, "Dock of Shame awaits, bud."
With an eye roll, Josef turned back to face the dock again, walking down it before getting on the Boat of Losers. Turning to face his team one last time, he shook his head in disappointment. Slowly but surely, the boat started off, carrying him away from the island and leaving the rest of his exhausted team by themselves.
Confessional
"Bye bye, crazy coat boy," Annalise snickered as she wore an evil look on her face, "So sorry you had to leave before you could even start! Now, as far as things go with that Wendell boy...his plan worked. I must say, I didn't think it would, but it sure did. Perhaps he could be useful for keeping myself in the game as long as possible...without having to strain myself of course."
"I sure am glad we have someone as dumb as Annalise around to listen to my orders," Wendell smirked at the camera, "I'll string her along to get rid of as many people I want, but when the time comes-"
The boy pulled a camera out of his pocket, one which showed the footage of her stealing the water bottles from Josef on it.
"I'll expose her and move on without any suspicion on myself. This is all going so perfectly according to plan."
Confessional End
Author Notes:
*Josef is outta here! He's kind of a comic relief character, him being so skeptical about everything and all, but having him be too trusted by everyone would destroy hope for all antagonists, so realistically speaking, he would get targeted very early. Besides, he is far from trustworthy himself.
*Votes: Josef - Harriett, Gene, Bobby, Lukas, Peggy, Lyle, Annalise, Desiree, Elicia, Duke; Annalise - Josef
*Placements: 22nd - Rolf; 21st - Josef