Replies, or as they're more affectionately known as...reply.

lordgemini- Yeah, things are picking up for sure, with Peter's reveal and the PIG plot going at a fast pace, things will be resolved very quickly. I actually think the plot for this season is stacked much closer to the beginning, simply because the PIG plot doesn't last the whole season. But there's a lot more coming today! Get ready!

Alright, stand back, I'm summoning the story now.

Episode 7: Love It and List It

Susan was sitting in the control room with Chef, and she was busily working on a giant chalkboard, scribbling numbers all over the place. "You look like you're on the verge of a breakthrough," the cook mentioned, watching the host feverishly work through all the numbers stretched across the board. "Or a breakdown. Tough to tell which'll come first."

Susan let out a huff. "Laugh all you want but if this is complete I could have a working hypothesis by tomorrow. I was not very concerned at first," she explained, "but now that some of the information about my past has been...leaked, I need to work these issues out quickly before one of those kids, specifically perhaps a math-loving schemer, gets their grubby hands on it." She crossed out three numbers on the board. "Ugh, not quite..."

Chef then noticed the cameras had arrived to start the episode. "You look...busy," he decided. "I got this one." He turned to the cameras properly. "Last time, on whatever Susan's calling this season, we went into the chemistry lab, a special place for both myself and Susan." The opening scenes that played were of Nathan interrogating Susan, and Nala pointing out information about her. "We made gas, which was made with three chemicals that we picked to be explosive unless they were all used, which worked out well." The next clips were of Kris instantly diving into the chemicals and Nolan's car exploding. "During the race, we randomly picked out some people and the snobby boy managed to actually pull out a win." The next clips were Jacob being smacked in the face with the flamethrower and Jacob launching fire right into Nolan's engine. "Peter used that chance to gain favor with his team and vote out Claire, finally giving us a reason to pay attention to him."

"There's twelve people left," Chef said dully as Susan continued to scribble in the background, likely not even realizing the cameras were there, "someone drops today, and I don't really care who, but you might, so tune in today for Total Drama..." he checked the notes next to him. "Cultivated Will!"

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 wasn't 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 piano, 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.]

The opening scene was the school at night, just as the sun was setting. Out from a bush nearby, Brenna emerged alone. She snuck her way into the school as quickly as she could, and dropped down to the basement. It was still as dark as ever down there, and without any great light, it was nearly impossible to maneuver around.

Suddenly, Brenna heard a door open behind her. She let out a small gasp before jumping back and ducking behind a box. Another door had opened up that she didn't know was there, since that area was typically so dark. She used the quick burst of light to try and gain a visual on her surroundings. She ducked down a bit further once voices could be heard. "I'm telling you," Susan's voice said in an exhausted but stern tone, "I can perfectly manage myself. You have no reason to keep checking on me."

Chef's voice responded, clearly annoyed at whatever she was referring to. "That's what you said three hours ago when I reminded you that you still have a show to host tomorrow. You're forgetting that I've been doin' this gig for eight seasons. There's no reason to doubt me." He turned to close the door. "You have everything?"

Susan, who finally had snapped out of work mode, yawned for a quick second. "Yeah, I think so. I'm going to lock the school tonight though. I think with our new development we don't want to risk anything." She closed the door that they had come out of. "Alright, let's leave."

"Finally," Chef muttered to himself. He let out a cough to dodge any snark that could have come back at him. "I mean, good choice on the lock. That kid definitely can't be trusted. But, if they win, so be it." The two hosts finally left after what felt like an eternity, leaving Brenna and the door. Once she was certain they had left, Brenna began to panic a bit. A locked school meant she couldn't get out through the door.

Trying to put that aside, she went to the door that the hosts emerged from, and pulled on it. Through how tired Susan was, she had forgotten to lock it. Brenna pushed the door open, and slipped inside to have a look. She was shocked at was was in the control room. There were tons of switches all over the place that moved the school around, and each room could be put in a different spot. She noticed the art room was now front and center, which was not the case during the past challenge.

As she turned to leave, she noticed the portal gun's blueprints were lying in front of the chalkboard, which had all of the equations written on it. Brenna grabbed the blueprints and left to try and find the copier in the library, which had been moved to the second floor according to the control room.

Brenna: She held the blueprint copy in her arms closely. "I know how dangerous this is," she said, "but apparently someone on the show is after her work, so the faster it's stabilized, the better, right? I don't want this technology falling into the wrong hands, that's all." She paused, and put her hand to her chin. "But, who is the 'wrong hands'?"

In the morning, Nathan got up with a grumble, and he still seemed angry from last night's meal. "You ought to remember that it's a new day today," Jacob recommended. "I don't want my alliance at half capacity because you have a grudge against one of the most non-threats in the game."

Nathan grumbled again before snapping his head over to the band president. "I don't need you trying to give me advice," he said bitterly, "and it's not a grudge I plan to keep for much longer. Next time we lose, I want her out, and you'll listen, because it's not your alliance, it's mine." He left the room after that, not even giving Jacob a chance to retort.

"What arrogance!" Jacob commented when he finally was by himself. He went to leave, but when he opened the door, he found Nala waiting outside. "Do you need something from me?" he asked condescendingly, "I'm quite busy."

Nala peered around the room. "You don't look too busy to me," Nala replied softly. "Um, anyway, have you seen Nathan around? I was hoping to have a chat with him." She tried to look into the room to see if he was in there. "He's not still mad at me, right?"

Jacob shrugged. "That's not really something I'm focusing on," he lied. "Quite frankly there are better things to do with my time, and I plan to go do that now." He picked up a case that he had with him and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Nala alone to go try and find the insolent.

Room 2A was now down to two members, only Celine and Kris. "It felt weird not going to the school last night," Celine said out loud. "I've gotten so used to going there that it just felt off not being in that kitchen to meet up."

Kris was not paying attention. Her gaze was on Celine, but the lack of presence in the kitchen was not what she was thinking about. "Huh?" Kris stammered. She tried to remember what she just heard. If she had to admit that she wasn't paying attention because she was too busy staring at Celine she'd be in big trouble. She remembered hearing about the kitchen. "Do you wanna go now?" Kris asked on a whim.

"Now?" Celine asked hesitantly. "Um, I'm sure we're okay when we normally go, but we'd get in a lot more trouble if we just waltzed in the kitchen mid-morning...right?" She paused. She really wanted to go, especially now that Kris was offering. "Chef likes me, right? I can't be kicked off or anything for that, right?" She paused again. "Okay."

The two of them snuck out of their room, and made their way to the back of the kitchen, where Chef was making preparations for breakfast. The instant Celine stepped foot into the room, they heard a shout. "I know you're in here!" the cook yelled. It was impossible to make a scene before anyone was at breakfast so Chef took this time to let loose. He rushed to the back entrance only to find the two girls standing there. Celine looked terrified while Kris didn't react at all. "Oh, it's you two."

"Who did you think it was?" Kris asked dully. She walked right past the burly man and pulled out a few pans from a drawer. "We're going to use these for some recreational cooking, if you don't mind." Chef was in shock as Kris ignored all his intimidating threats, but recovered once he saw how slow she was moving.

Chef watched the shorter girl for a second longer, as she struggled to even put the stove on. "...You have no idea how to work a stove, do you?" Chef asked, trying to save Kris from any further embarrassment.

"Yep," Kris replied bluntly. "I have no clue what I'm doing at all."

Celine stepped in to try and ease the tension. "Well, you've seen me do well before, so do you mind?" Chef stared down the master chef for a bit longer before conceding and walking away from them, grumbling the whole way back to the main area, leaving Kris and Celine in the back part alone. "Wow, thanks," Celine said, grabbing a few ingredients from the shelf. "The way you stood up to him was...wow." Kris was still staring blankly at the pans. "Do...you want help?"

Kris nodded fervently. "Yeah, I really have no clue what I'm doing. Could we start with something simple?" Celine nodded, getting out the ingredients for scrambled eggs. "If I'm about to crack this egg where I might get hurt, stop me." Celine laughed, but quickly stopped. It was still hard to tell whether or not Kris was joking.

Room 2B was quieter than normal. With Carter gone and Nolan asleep, only Ben and Peter were awake. "Thanks again for your help," Peter stammered, doodling on the white board he had the notes on previously. Those notes were now gone, and erased fully. "I think the longer Claire was around, the worse the shame of betrayal would have multiplied afterwards. But, after adding in a good night's sleep, I feel pretty good."

Ben tried to respond and make any amount of conversation. "Well," he said nervously, "I kinda just did it because I was concerned I would be going home instead. You know s-since I'm new and all." He peered out the window for a brief second. "This game is really stressful," he admitted. "I got lucky, but maybe I wasn't supposed to."

Peter hid a smirk behind his white board. Ben was now confiding in him too. "Well, you're here," Peter said to try and reencourage him. "Carter's a good leader, and you're definitely on his good side. I think he has a lot of expectation for you."

"D-don't say that!" Ben pleaded with the mathematician, "I don't want to disappoint him again, what if he like, I don't know, gets angry? We saw him punch through a wall!"

"Can't you do that too?" Peter asked. Ben hesitated with an answer. "Doubling our strength with one team member has to be one of the best things that has happened to us this game." Peter finally got up to leave. "Well, I wouldn't worry too much. After all, you're on his good side already. Just make sure you do your best." Peter left the room after that, feeling satisfied that he had distracted the pushover enough.

Peter: "Well, I've exposed myself to the screens now," he mused with a laugh. "But, no one still in the game still has a clue about me. It just felt good to finally add on that fraction of drama." He let out a hum. "I suppose I should shoot for another big threat next, but I still have some other plans I want to finalize. I guess for now I can play things as they go. No need to involve myself if I don't need to, lying about those chemicals was more than enough for now."

Abigail was meandering around aimlessly through the hallways, thinking about what had been going on. She was way in over her head, and now simple pranks have turned into another conversion project. Hopefully it would all be wrapped up soon. She paused when she heard an announcement from the speakers. "Attention everyone," Susan told them, "due to you making it through the first fourth of the competition, you have unlocked a third floor to the dorms. The elevator will take you up there now, and the stairways that have been blocked off are now open. More in the dorm will open the further you make it. That is all."

Abigail wasted no time jumping up to the third floor to check it out, and was very delighted with what she saw. There were two large spaces on the third floor, the first being a full gym, equipped with treadmills, weight lifting setups, and other exercise gear. That part didn't interest her as much as the second room did, a proper lounge with a piano, a pool table, and several different game boards. "Oh, I could get used to this," she said with excitement. She peered around for a second to see who else was there. "He's definitely too occupied with something," she decided, hopping over to the piano.

The prankster had hardly had time to do anything music related the entire time, even though it was what she loved doing. She dove into her bag, and pulled out a folder, which had a few sonatas in it. She pulled one out to start working on it. They weren't for anything in particular, she just wanted a break. Eventually, she was stopped in her tracks by an all too familiar voice. "I'm sure you could put more emotion into that phrase," Jacob said with a dignified look.

"I'm sure you could put more emotion in that phrase!" Abigail mocked, trying to use her haughtiest and most obnoxious voice she could. "When will you ever give me a break? Do you realize how hard it is for me to escape you? Don't you have some alliance to tend to or whatnot?"

Jacob let out a gasp. "I have no such thing, and if I did, I would be managing it just fine! I just happened to be on my up here to practice my instrument. I take it your trombone is nowhere in sight."

Abigail nodded. "You got it, because unlike you, I'm here to win a million dollar competition. I just happened to have some down time." She pouted as she faced away from him, "which, I would've like to have had on my own. But, now you're here."

The band president gave her a smile despite the verbal barrage. "Well, if you so desire, I can find somewhere else to practice. After all, more people might show up and be too intimidated to recommend me to Sharron to be our leader." He faced his alleged friend. "You support me on that, right?" Abigail didn't even turn to face him, she simply shook her head. "Ah, clever. Well, I'll see you around." Jacob left, leaving Abigail in peace again to find some solace in her music.

Abigail: She had her head against the wall, while rummaging through the bag she always carried with her. "Five minutes," she insisted, "I need five minutes a day without him and somehow I can't manage that. Maybe I'm cursed, like he's eternally bound to me or something. That'd be freaky. And gross."

Jacob: "She has no reason to know about my alliance," Jacob insisted, "after all, we're friends, but this is a competition still. She seems very eager to play her own game, which I can respect her on." He smirked. "However, that means I'll destroy her too eventually. Nothing personal."

Finally, in a stroke of luck, Brenna had finally made it out of the school, and with a few hours to spare before she had to go back there. She clutched the blueprint copy closely against her, hoping to drop it off in her room before it was too late. On her way back, she heard a voice. "That's the situation I'm in," a very distinct British tone sounded, "he won't listen to a thing anymore, the boy's gone rogue. Even Jacob is more attentive."

Brenna hid as far back as she could, but she was curious to see who in fact she was talking to. Was she the person after the portal technology? It was unlikely, but she had to be sure, now that she was so involved in it. "If even sic'ing Abigail on him isn't even working at this point, then he's nothing more than a liability. I'd vote him off the next chance you get. You have the votes, right?" The response was a much deeper voice.

"That's the issue," Sharron mentioned, "Nala wants to spare him despite everything he's done, and Abigail still wants a chance for her...conversion or whatever it is. She claims it's worked before." She let out a sigh. "I can count on Brenna, and that's about it." Brenna was surprised to hear that Sharron trusted her that much, but she also felt bad because she was eavesdropping on her about that.

Carter tried to think of a viable solution, and while he sat in thought, Brenna used that chance to run back to the dorms, hoping she wouldn't get caught on her way. "Well, you are the leader. If you can't convince them to do the best option for the team, then tell them to. Make them do it."

Sharron paused again. That wasn't really the answer she was hoping to hear from him, but that was obviously the best he could come up with. "Well, thanks, I can try that," she said slowly. She was hoping dealing with Nathan as soon as possible, but winning was still a better option. "Alright, should we head back?"

Once everyone was back, Susan called everyone to the front of the dorms. "We'll be boarding the bus twice today before the challenge is over," Susan instructed them. "The second half of today's challenge requires us to go to a nearby town. You will all be on your best behavior, and you tell no one that you're competing on this show."

Chef chimed in. "That's not her being shady, all of you," he mentioned. Susan shot him a dirty look but he shrugged it off. "That's a network order. The show only airs to the other contestants until the season's over. So, no one knows who you are, and you're gonna keep it that way." He shrugged. "Even if you told 'em, without Chris I doubt they'd believe ya. So, stay quiet, got it?" Everyone nodded, it seemed reasonable enough.

"Good," Susan said confidently, "now that we solved that, let's head to the school for the first part of today." Everyone boarded the bus, and Susan saw them all off before heading back to the dorms to transport herself to the school.

Once the bus was moving, a few people were buzzing about the town. "I don't like the sound of moving around in public," Carter said to his team with a lack of confidence. "We'll stick out like a sore thumb. I'd rather not draw any attention to myself."

"Got something to hide?" Nolan asked, raising an eyebrow. "Eh, actually, I don't care. Goodnight." He dropped the subject instantly and put his head against the window, and he was out like a light.

"Claire would have loved to see the town, I bet," Peter said solemnly. "Did we make the right decision? Maybe she could have been helpful today." He shook his head. "No. We made the right choice...probably."

Kris patted the smaller boy on the shoulder. "We made the right move," she said. "But, I'm with Carter on this one. Being in town will stink. I am not a people person." She crossed her arms and slouched in her seat. "Maybe we won't be there long."

Over with the Parrots, the team was chattering a lot. "Do you really need to bring that with you?" Abigail asked with a groan, watching Jacob carry his trumpet case like a baby. The rest of the team was also unnerved by the high amount of care he took with it.

"If there is a chance for me to spread the joy of music, then I will," Jacob said confidently. "After all, even a smooth tune can soothe the tattered soul. Surely you agree, right?" Abigail rolled her eyes, regretting she had asked in the first place. "Also, if we're gone for too long it could be stolen."

Nala was listening closely at Jacob's words. "Calm a tattered soul..." she muttered to herself. "I think it's okay he brought it," she decided, watching the rest of her team, even Sharron, look at her with confusion. "I mean, the worst he can do with it is play music while we work on the challenge. At any rate it's only a benefit."

"You have no idea what he's capable of," Abigail conceded with another groan, "but, I guess I see your point." She realized Nala said that entire thing staring at Nathan, who was hardly paying attention to the conversation at hand.

Brenna continued to be extremely distant with her team, staring out the window as the rest of them argued about Jacob's motives. "Hey," Sharron said calmly, trying to get her attention. "You gotta stop beating yourself up over Ben. He's still in the game. If you want to talk to him, I'm not stopping you."

Brenna shook her head. "Ben's on the other team now. We could have moved someone who was less useful to the team, but I did nothing as he left. Plus, I'm sure Carter wouldn't allow me to speak with him. You've seen how protective he gets." She said the last part a bit more quietly, realizing that she was not supposed to know about the two of them talking all the time.

Sharron was a bit caught off guard by that statement. "I...don't know much about Carter," she lied, "but I'm sure if Ben wanted it he'd allow it. He doesn't look as cold as he used to." She took a second to peer over at him. The untrusting boy was sitting directly forward, not talking to anyone. "Well, maybe he does, but if it's really a problem, I can talk to him."

"Would he listen to you?" Brenna asked, trying to dodge any suspicion from the archer. She felt so guilty lying all the time like this, but it was the only way she could keep going. "I mean, he's your direct enemy."

The archer sighed. "Alright, I've spoken to him a few times, but that has to stay between us, okay?" Brenna nodded quickly. "So, I'm sure he'd be fine with it, and he'll definitely talk to me." Brenna gave off a smile. It was a reassuring to know someone had her back.

Sharron: "Brenna concerns me," she said as she twirled an arrow through her fingers. "She was so confident with Ben on the team, but for some reason once he left she's all mopey. Sure, it's probably a crush, but this feels like she's losing something else as well." She shrugged. "That's none of my business, though. I just hope everyone behaves themselves today."

Once everyone reached the school, Susan was already waiting for them, and everyone gathered in the main lobby. Just like the night before, the art room was front and center. "Not much of a walk today," Susan told them as she led them to the art room. Nala in particular was almost giddy with excitement.

The art room has two giant tables, one on each end, and the walls and counters were all lined with various art equipment and tools. "Today's challenge will test two aspects of your schooling. Your artistic prowess, and you finance skills. Part One will revolve around art. You're going to use whatever you find in here to create a sculpture of your team's mascot, either a Parrot or a Goldfish."

"Alright, that seems simple enough," Carter decided. "But, what about the second part needs us to go into town? That doesn't make much sense." He scanned the room for any sign of an answer, just in case no one answered it for him.

"Part Two," Chef explained, "you're gonna sell your sculpture. There so happens to be a flea market going on today. You're gonna take your team and try and make more money off of your sculpture than the other team."

"And, to clarify," Susan added in, "any money you make today goes directly to the show's budget. You don't get to keep that." A few people frowned at the realization they wouldn't actually make money on the challenge today. The highest sale will win the challenge, so Part One is important. A bad sculpture will not sell well, or at all."

"You have three hours to make something half-decent," Chef told them, and immediately started leaving the room. "Your time starts now. Do your best, I guess." The cook closed the door and took Susan with him, leaving both teams stranded in the art room to make something good.

Nala instantly jumped in for the Parrots. "Sharron, I'd like to lead today," she requested immediately. "I hope that my art skills will lead everyone in the right direction. I think I'm the most experienced here."

Sharron nodded. She had no clue what to do about any of this, so it would be better to leave it to someone who did. "Sure, go for it." Jacob gaped as soon as he heard her let that slide. "No complaints. She knows what she's doing. You don't."

Nala began running around the room, grabbing different items that she might need. "This has to be a good texture..." she felt the piece she had in her hand. "Oh, never mind, that's bad." The rest of her team watched in surprise as they saw a completely different side of Nala.

Nala: She was still bouncing up and down excitedly in the closet. "This is sooo my challenge!" she cheered with excitement. "I just have to imagine I'm designing a parrot dress or something, which I've done before. I just have to remember I can't wear it, but that's okay. This is going to be awesome!"

The Goldfish were at more of a standstill. "Is anyone here artistically inclined?" Carter asked, hoping that one of them would respond, but their side of the room was met with a very awkward silence. "Okay, well, we just have to make a fish. That can't be hard."

Celine returned to them with a two-liter soda bottle. "This could probably work," she suggested. "We can carve it out some and add on features, but this could be a solid base."

The rest of the team dispersed to try and find something they could help out with. It was a team effort since they had no one who could actually spearhead the project with the same skill as Nala. Nolan was able to produce some beads to use for scales, and Kris came back with some puffballs for eyes.

"This is going...better than expected," Carter said as he began carving out the bottle to make a proper fish frame. But, he was not very good at designing, and his fish didn't look very good at all. "Oh man."

Peter picked up what Carter had done. "Well, we can always try something else," he said, "actually, we don't have that kind of time if we want to paint as well. We can work with this." He wasn't confident in those words, but he said them.

Celine got to work on beading the fish to try and give it scales. "Should we go with an all-yellow paint job?" she asked, "I mean, people might like a multi-colored thing more. I don't know, maybe I'm just thinking about the presentation too much."

"Is that too dangerous?" Nolan countered, "what if Susan and Chef disqualify us for making it not goldfish-enough?" He was concerned the most about this project, because if it failed it meant he'd be in danger again.

After many rounds of suggestions and actions, the team eventually finalized their project. It looked like a first grader had done it, between Carter's poor frame, the occasional stain on the all-gold color scheme, and the eyes looking so different than the rest of the fish. "There's no way anyone buys this," Kris lamented, "not anyone with a brain at least."

"Then keep your guard up when we get to town," Carter decided. "Find the stupidest-looking people you can and sell this to them. If even they don't buy it...then I'm going to feel insulted."

Peter: "I want to win today," he admitted, "I do, but I don't want it to look good. The last thing this team needs is confidence. Plus, if I lose, I simply subtract Nolan out of our team. He continues to irk me with that time he noticed me while he was sleeping. He's either lying to us or simply not useful at all. I could take either path on him and still win."

The Parrots were kicking it into high gear. "We need more feathers on the tail," Nala told Jacob and Abigail, who were once again forced against their will to work together, "but I love those colors, you really are making it shine!" She smiled at them. "Which one of you picked them?"

"They did," the two of them said without looking up, pointing at each other. "No, you did!" They then said while staring each other down. Nala backed off before the sculpture got knocked over.

"I assure you I did not pick that assortment," Jacob defended calmly. "Had I been given the option, I would have chosen school colors. But, if you really did not do this, then who did?"

Sharron took the opportunity to walk over to Nathan while everyone else was busy. The insolent was moping in the corner like normal. "You're allowed to be active in your help," she told him with a hint of attitude, "rather than doing things like dumping the feathers while those two weren't looking. Now they're fighting because of you."

"They would have done it anyway," Nathan retorted with a huff. "Why'd you let her lead? She's going to try and make me do stuff, and she's going to act all nice about it." He scoffed. "If that girl pities me one more time, I'm going to end her game."

Sharron rolled her eyes. It would be hard to get anywhere with him being reasonable. "You need to understand that not everyone who's nice to you is trying to pity you. Maybe she just wants you to have a friend..." she paused. That was pitying. "Alright, she might be, but you need to not get so upset over it. Aren't you supposed to be some tough guy? How does something like that bother you?"

Nathan turned away from her. "It's reasons you wouldn't understand, and reasons I'm not getting into with you." Sharron didn't press on any further. If she wanted to try and keep the boy under control, she'd have to play by his rules. She got up to try and leave before being cut off. "You don't treat me differently than anyone else," he told her. "I like that."

"Not my intention," Sharron responded hastily. "But if you want to win so badly so you can prove something, you need to actually get up and help. You can only survive so long by pretending to be an apex predator." She left him there to think as Nala and the other three team members put the finishing touches on the parrot sculpture.

Nathan: "I dislike how much Sharron is able to read into me," he said with a huff, as he leaned against the confessional wall. "But, she spoke to me like a person and not an animal, so she can have my respect as long as she leads." He rolled his eyes. "But that brat better know where she's sticking her nose. Nala, I mean. People like her tick me off, the kind that would back down from a fight before it was actually over. She'll learn the hard way that I won't tolerate that."

"Time is up!" Susan called out, entering the room again. "The bus is ready to take you into town, so please be ready to sell your prized possessions." The two teams got on the bus, and each leader carried their sculpture, Sharron looking much prouder than Carter did.

The bus ride to town was exciting. No one really knew what to expect, but they haven't seen civilization for quite some time. "This is going to be interesting," Brenna said to Ben, who had finally met up with her. "But, we won't really know until we get there." The two both glanced up at the windows, which were still boarded up to prevent them from seeing outside.

"Do you think Susan's really going to teleport us to town?" he asked. "I thought she said it was too dangerous for anyone else to use the portals. She's putting herself at risk already."

"We've been using those portals for a while already," Brenna reminded him. "That's the whole reason the windows were boarded up in the first place. I think Susan lied to Chef about needing to stabilize them. Her blueprints for the portal gun are the only thing that's really that dangerous." She quickly clasped her hands over her mouth, realizing no one knew about her having the blueprints.

Ben sighed. "Should we go back tonight? If you're so interested in those blueprints...I wouldn't mind going with you to grab them. I mean, yeah, it's really dark down there but I've done it before. If you think you can make a positive change you should go for it."

Brenna smiled to try and hide her guilt. "Ben, I wish you were as confident about yourself as you are about me. I don't think we should go back just yet. Maybe one more night of waiting, just to try and sit on it."

"I don't want to wait!" Ben told her. "I mean, when I got sent over here, I instantly saw you felt detached." Brenna gasped. She didn't think he was paying that much attention. "We should go with Celine and Kris tonight. Even if we find nothing, it'll make you feel better." Brenna eventually relented. "Good. Let's do our best not to get voted off until then."

Over at the back of the bus, Carter and Sharron saw the two chatting away. They couldn't make out what they were saying, but Brenna already looked a million times brighter. "That seemed to work," Carter said. "Even my guy's a bit more confident it seems. A solid mutual trade.".

Sharron rolled her eyes. "It wasn't a trade deal," she reminded him. "I did this because I knew you'd be fine with it. You're allowed to let your guard down every once in a while."

"I can't," Carter told her with a snappy tone. "If I drop my guard, I get betrayed, then I'm eliminated, then I'm regretting my actions forever. I don't let any chance slip me by." He paused for a second. "But I'll consider allowing it more frequently. Brenna doesn't seem like the shady type."

"That's not what I- never mind." Sharron had given up. She turned to check on the rest of the team, while Carter really didn't notice what he did wrong, but he did notice Sharron was angry. She then turned back at the sight of what the Goldfish made. "Is that...your fish?"

Carter gripped the sculpture tightly. "It is an attempt at one," he admitted. "I am not very artsy, but I think I can get by just fine without that. As long as I make it through today there won't be any other issues."

"Well, good luck," Sharron told him as the bus finally stopped. "And, if there's ever a musical season, you might be better off not signing up for that. Just...some advice."

Carter shrugged. "I would do just fine in a musical season, I could probably merge at least." Sharron let out a sigh and shook her head in doubt.

Once everyone got off the bus, there was an aura of excitement. The town itself wasn't fantastic, just a bunch of standard buildings, and they were off to the side anyway, where the flea market was. But that didn't matter to most of them, since this was the first civilization that they had seen for the past week. "This is exciting!" Abigail gushed, "I never thought a flea market could be this cute!"

"Flea markets are far below my level of artistic talent," Jacob muttered to himself. "I'd rather be playing with elementary band students. At least they have seen art before."

Susan gathered everyone by two empty tents that faced across from each other. Each had the logo of their team over it, but that was the only indication that these weren't just everyday townspeople. "You have two hours before the event closes for the day," Susan told them. "Chef will be here to watch you. Remember, you're not just trying to sell your item, you're trying to sell it for more than the other team. But, selling your item for low is still better than not at all."

Chef perked up when he saw Susan instantly start walking away from all of them. "Hey, where are you-" he gave up. He wasn't allowed to just leave those kids alone. "Alright, you heard her. Two hours, so don't waste any time!" He stayed in the general area, but the market was now theirs to try and just sell one item.

The two groups started off basic. Every once in a while, they'd ask someone to come take a look at it, but with no real reason to buy, no one was going to purchase either sculpture. "This isn't getting us anywhere," Nala lamented, "why aren't they accepting it? I think it looks really good!"

"We might just not be giving our buys enough of a reason to go through with the sale," Brenna suggested. She tried to look around and figure something out. "Everyone here is probably looking for cheap furniture or art. We need to be able to convince them that what they are buying is something they need, not just something they want."

Jacob let out a haughty scoff. "Is that all?" he asked condescendingly, "well then, allow me to take over." He grabbed the parrot sculpture and walked over to an unsuspecting person. "Hi there," he said in as calm a tone as he could. "I couldn't help but notice that lovely table you have there." He held up the parrot. "Perhaps you'd be interested in a centerpiece? Something to compliment the distinguished aura of that table."

The man stared a Jacob in a frightened tone before backing away a few steps. "Oh, please, you'd be in such good care with our lovely bird. After all, if someone as graceful as I were to like it, then there's no reason a lower member of society like yourself wouldn't want it." The man glared at Jacob and shoved him aside after that remark.

"Okay then," Sharron said with a groan. "Jacob, you're not allowed back out there. You stay here, and stay quiet." She sighed. "We need another idea. We almost had that guy until Jacob ticked him off. We need to keep that...menacing tone with us."

Nala's eyes lit up. "I know someone who would be perfect for that job! She ran over to Nathan, who was still standing off in the corner. "Nathan, I'd love it if you would be able to use your...talents...to help us out! I'm sure everyone would appreciate you."

Nathan stared at Nala with a fire in his eyes. He was mad. Sharron quickly intercepted him to try and stop a rampage. "What she meant to say," Sharron added to try and correct Nala, "was use your unnerving stare and get us a customer before we stuff you on the bus for good." Nathan was still silently glaring at Nala. "Yeah, like that, just go do it out there!"

Nathan eventually stopped staring down the cosplayer with a burning hatred, and walked out of the tent to try and make someone buy the sculpture. Eventually, he heard someone behind him, and it wasn't anyone he was expecting. "Heya," the voice said to him. Nathan shot his head back to see a person clearly speaking to him.

The girl behind him had an extremely muscular build, and she wore a leather jacket with black fingerless gloves and ripped jeans. The girl's blonde hair was miraculously straight despite the rest of her appearance, which made her looked tattered and bruised up. "You're here?" Nathan said hesitantly, "M-"

"Don't say my name," the girl replied back at him. "I'm pretty sure I'm wanted in this town. I don't really keep track of that. Anyway, Nat, I like your bird, that's cute. You trying to sell it?" Nathan dropped any aggression that he kept on his face and nodded, almost like a child. "Look, if you're out of time and you need a customer, I'll be around."

Nathan sighed and took a few steps closer to her. "Thank you. But, you need to go, they can't know anyone knows about us being here." The girl shrugged and began to leave. "But...thank you. You have no idea how close I am to losing it today."

"Well, don't lose the game, yeah? And don't give up either." the girl said back, handing him some money. "I'll buy your stupid bird, but you owe me. This thing's nasty. I'll probably use it for the fire tonight." Nathan couldn't help but laugh.

"We're running out of time!" Celine panicked, trying to find someone. She stepped out into the crowd and tried to ask around. "Hi!" she said to a little girl, "we made a fish for a game we're playing, do you want to buy it?" The girl took one look at the fish and ran off crying. "Yeah, I think we deserved that."

After Celine's failure, Peter took a look at the fish. "D-do you mind if I try?" he offered to Carter. Carter, who had pretty much given up hope for their fish at this point, simply nodded while staring at the wall. "Thanks, I'll do my best." Peter left the tent and started to move around, while Nolan silently followed him out.

Peter eventually found someone, a small boy, and Nolan parked himself behind a set of boxes to watch what he did. Peter went right up to them and held the fish up to their face. "Hello!" he greeted him excitedly. "Can I tell you the story behind this fish?" The boy nodded in excitement. "You need to know that this is a special fish from the golden rivers of...Laron. There are no other fish in this area, so even if you don't want it, you can sell it for a huge amount!"

Nolan continued to watch as Peter fabricated the entire tale toward the small child, and within minutes, the child was hooked. He took out a large sum of cash and gave it to Peter, who willingly handed over the fish. Nolan knew that he would be back soon, so he quickly bolted off back to the tent.

Once he got back to the tent, the girl in the leather jacket came over to the child. "What is that?" she asked him. "How much did you pay for that?" The boy showed her his empty pockets. "Well, it's your money. C'mon Logan, we gotta get back before the sun goes down, yeah?"

"Sorry, Miss Micah," the boy responded politely. He looked up to see the older girl in much more thought than normal. "Are you okay, Miss Micah?"

Micah shook her head. "I'm fine," she lied. She was concerned about Nathan. "Let's go, I got the parts from that woman in the suit. If we stay here longer they'll target us."

Once the flea market had closed. Susan returned to them as Chef was still waiting around, looking very bored. "So...you both sold your pieces. Good. I had a fruitful day as well for the show, so no need to worry about me." She had a stack of cash in each hand. "Now the Parrots got...forty bucks for their parrot, which is decent. It certainly wasn't worth that much." Nala frowned at the remark.

"Now, the Goldfish...I saw your fish, and I wasn't really impressed, but somehow you pulled it off, earning...two-hundred dollars. Well, that's a win for the Goldfish." The Goldfish all cheered, and Carter and Ben went over to praise Peter for his hard work. Meanwhile, Nolan stared down the mathematician, knowing what to do next.

The Parrots also looked upset. "It was a collective failure today," Sharron admitted. "All of us could have done our jobs better. Tonight, we should just vote like normal." A few of them nodded, but Nathan did not. He was much calmer than earlier, but he still had a job to do.

Nathan: "Today went a lot more different than I would've expected," he admitted, "personally, I mean. She's at least smart, so she wouldn't blab about anything she shouldn't on screen. But, speaking of smart...I have someone to find, and it needs to be quick.

Nolan: "I can't believe Peter just...manipulated some little kid!" he said, wide awake and in shock. "I bet he wanted us to eliminate Claire because he thought she was a threat, and he's under Carter's thumb too. This is really bad. I need to do something about it. Too bad we won today."

Back at the dorms, Brenna was the first one back, as she had hurried herself to go and check on her copy of the blueprints. As she scrambled to unlock the door, she was interrupted by someone behind her. "If you're trying to steal something," Nathan's voice said condescendingly, "you'll need to be faster and better than that." He handed her the copy of the blueprints.

"No, it's not what you think!" Brenna protested nervously. "I'm not stealing, I'm just trying to help out Miss Hazel, well, Dr. Hazel. If that thing is unstable for too long it could cause some sort of...portal eruption, and the entire area could be scrambled to the point of no return!" Nathan smiled in delight as Brenna squirmed to defend herself. "What do you want?"

Nathan smiled. "Now you're speaking my language. I need a favor from you, just one, and only one time. You do that, I'll take this secret to the grave with me." Despite the tone he used to get to this point, the insolent's words felt very genuine to Brenna. The logician nodded silently. "Good. Now, just one thing."

The six Parrots were up at the dorm lobby for elimination again, and things felt tense overall. Abigail and Jacob sat next to each other, but they were not speaking. Nathan sat as far away from Nala as he could, a dark smirk on his face. Sharron sat in the middle with a frown, and Brenna sat to the side, scared and dejected.

"This is quite the sight," Susan told them as she came in with five erasers that would keep them in the game. "First of all, you loss today was unlucky, it was not a failure. But, that doesn't matter now. You're here, and someone is leaving." She tossed out the first eraser. "But, it won't be Brenna." Brenna didn't even look up as she got hit in the head by the small Chef Hatchet-styled eraser.

"Abigail, Sharron." The prankster and the archer both caught their erasers, the former tossing hers at Jacob and blowing a raspberry, much to the band president's chagrin. "Nathan." The insolent smirked as he got his, knowing that he wasn't going to fail at this point. "Now we're down to two. Nala, you failed on the design portion. Sure, it was miles better than the Goldfish, but they still won. Jacob, your rhetoric today seemed to bit you hard." Nala looked petrified while Jacob was not concerned at all. "Tonight's loser is...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...no one, yet. We have a tie." A few gasps were heard around. "That's right, you two are up to bat in a head-to-head challenge. Don't fail this, because you go to the bus if you fail."

"This is my chance to knock out another peg to my leader role," Jacob announced, "I won't lose in a single thing you put me in!" Nala had nothing to say, still in shock she was here in the first place.

Susan opened her hand to reveal that there were no erasers at all in her hand. "The final eraser is in the third floor lounge. The first one between you two to bring it back to me will get to stay in the game. Go!" The two bolted off to try and save themselves.

"How annoying," Abigail lamented. "That boy act so much like an annoying puppy, he probably can sniff something out like one too. But, how did we get only three votes?"

"It doesn't matter," Sharron decided. "The most we can do now is wait."

The wait was not long, as someone had emerged from the stairwell with an eraser in their hand. They were out of breath, but they collapsed right in front of Susan, depositing it in her hands. "How foolish," Jacob said, "hiding it in the piano was giving me the win."

Nala came back seconds later. "No...no..." was all she had to say. She didn't look back at everyone as she left. "Bye, I guess I overstepped, Nathan. Maybe you can forgive me."

Nathan: "Yeah, I asked for Brenna's vote, what of it?" he asked with a smirk. "I dealt with that annoying pest once and for all. You're beyond knowing why I hate people who pity me, but seeing Mi- her today, reminded me of something she said once. 'If you give up, consider yourself dead.' If you treat me like that and you're that much weaker, of course I'm going to bite back."

"What a day," Susan said as she plopped into the control room's chair. "I'm exhausted, and those people from The Underground were just as annoying as you said they'd be."

"Will you can it for a second?" Chef retorted. "The cameras are here, you gonna tell them what you did with them too, or are ya gonna keep quiet?" Susan groaned as she spun around in her chair to do the outro.

The host adjusted her sunglasses. "We are down to eleven. Who will reach the top ten? Who will reach the top five? Find out all of this on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!" She spun around again. "Alright, we're done. I'm exhausted."

Teams:

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

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

Eliminated: Gianna, George, Leo, Claire, Nala

Nala is officially out of the game, and with the way tensions were rising between her and Nathan, I think a lot of people may have seen this coming. Especially after today, Nathan is very much more an important character.

Speaking of that, today we learned a bit about Micah and The Underground, which are terms that this season, I will reference, but not define. That is because there is another season coming, another 16-episode season after this, featuring 8 Cultivated Will returnees, and 7 Karon returnees. The returnees for Karon will be based on performance, specifically poorer performances (Chad is back), and the CW returnees are based off of plot necessity. I don't have a confirmed cast just yet but it's coming together.

Nala's elimination was meant to put us in her shoes a bit, because it will be a very long time before you find out why Nathan hates people pitying him, and she's also left in the dark. But, with everyone involved in something, we have to cut someone big each time.

What did you think? Did you like today's challenge? I based off of the show Flea Market Flip, but without the flip, so just the...flea market. That's a nasty name for something that's such a good concept. Huh. Anyway, let me know what you thought in the reviews, and I will see you next time!