The asteroid belt: one of the most terrifying places to fly any sort of spaceship, but apparently not terrifying enough to ward off a reality television show host with a challenge on the brain. Chris stood atop one of the large space rocks, wearing his space suit and looking out at the span of others in front of him. Several paths lay out before him, each of them starting from the very one that he was standing on and ending at one far off in the distance. There was a teleporter set up at the start and the finish, and the host couldn't help but smirk at the dangerous challenge in front of him.
"Last time on Total Drama: Space Station," he started his intro with that gaze-grabbing voice of his, "The final four were left feeling more tense then ever when they realized that one of them wouldn't be able to make it past the night. Our two interns, Zachary and Amelia, couldn't stand doing the job that they applied for, and decided to call it quits and sabotage my challenge. They really thought I'd let them participate in the show if they caused a big ruckus! What a joke! Anyway, I finally remembered the scavenger hunt challenge that was due back before the merge, and decided to up the anty and let the final four face off against each other! The rules were simple: you get the most items out of the possible twenty-two, you win a sweet suite, yep, I did that, and get to stay in the game for the final three. The person who gets the least of the items is out-erroni! Tony got an early boost by finding one of the items before the challenge started, no shocker there, but Archie and Gretchen were quick to find their own items and tie things up. When March and Tony went looking for something else, they found themselves in a chase that led them to the basement, where the interns had stashed a whole wad of stolen loot. Oh, and then Amelia held them up at gunpoint. She insists that it only had blanks in it, but Gretchen and Archie showed up to stop her anyways, knocking both her and Zachary unconscious and saving the other two. Unfortunately for March, Tony seized the chaos and used it to snatch the rest of the items and secure his victory, which led her to lose the challenge and get the boot! Only one more person can leave before we reach our final two! Will it be Mr. Dark and Mysterious Archie? Loud and obnoxious Gretchen? Or maybe greedy, scummy Tony? There's only one way to find out, and that's by watching this exciting episode of Total Drama: Space Station!"
As the opening starts, the Chris space station is revealed and quickly zoomed into, showing cameras all over the corridors and traveling through them and reaching the captain's chambers, where Chris is shown. He shines an evil smirk before the camera zooms past, showing outside of glass in his room.
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the lyrics start while Alex is shown in his orange spacesuit, trying to befriend a space monkey, which, in its scaly, grotesque, but somehow still fluffy appearance, swims through the empty space away from him. Slightly to the left of him is Natt, in his black spacesuit, clapping unenthusiastically.
"You guys are on my mind," the camera pulls back inside, showing the cafeteria where Gretchen playing her guitar on top of one of the tables, while Jianne covers her ears, disapproving of the noise.
"You asked me what I wanted to be, now I think the answer's plain to see," Thomas is seen peering into the captain's chambers, before turning to smile and wave at the camera. The camera slides over quickly, showing Luna and Liz shaking hands while crossing their fingers behind their backs, each with a sneaky smile across their faces.
"I wanna be famous," Damien is seen on a stage, performing in his own little play, before the door to the room is opened by Benjamin, causing the former to stop what he was doing.
"I wanna live close to the sun," Dusty is by the pool, showing March, who is clearly mortified, pictures of some horses from back home.
"So, pack your bags, cause I've already won," Taylor is lounging by the pool as Nicolás jumps in, splashing water on her and causing her to start yelling at him.
"Everything to do, nothing in my way. I'll get there one day," Haley and Sebastian are seen together in the gym, both looking away from each other while whistling awkwardly.
"I wanna be famous," Vicente is seen on the other side of the gym being chased by several interns with cameras.
"Na na na na na na na na na," Chef is seen in the kitchen, inspecting the astronaut meals in their small packages, and opening one labeled, 'popcorn,' causing the room to fill up with popcorn and Anne, just outside the kitchen door, to laugh hysterically. Chef then bursts out of the room and starts to yell at an unsuspecting Flint, who then realizes that he has similar, 'popcorn,' bags in his hands.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous," Alexis is seen tinkering with a control panel, in the dark. The lights then flicker on and she gives a thumbs up before the camera pans over to Archie in the observation room, where the lights flicker off and he lets out an annoyed sigh.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous," Crustacean is seen in the same room, clipping a wire on a control panel and bringing the lights back on, before the camera pans up to show the galaxy, panning back down after to reveal Tony among the other contestants, showing them some fake watches with a huge smile on his face as they are all seen whistling in chairs with Chris in a room full of escape pods.
Tony woke up in his new suite, letting out a loud yawn as he did. The room was a shimmering gold color, and the bed was nothing short of what a king would sleep on. The mattress was huge, and the covers were a regal red color, with each of the pillows having different patterns of animals, from cheetahs to zebras. He rose from the bed with a grin on his face, walking off to the side and into a small room, which was a personal washroom. It was gold as well, from the toilet to the bathtub, and it suited him nicely. He walked up to the mirror, grabbing a brush and some toothpaste to shine up his smile for the big final three challenge. Afterwards, he flashed his conman's smile at the mirror, causing it to sparkle in the reflection. He walked back out to his room, tossing on his fabulous suit jacket and straightening his gold tie.
"This is a big day for you, buddy," he pepped himself up as he continued to get dressed, "Everything is banking on you winning this challenge, so don't screw it up!"
He turned to face another mirror, this one being mounted on the wall in the bedroom, and aimed finger guns at it. He winked at it, noticing that his style still didn't fail him.
"Who am I kidding? Me? Screw up a challenge? Bah, that's an Anne joke if I've ever heard one!"
He laughed to himself as he walked out of his room, stepping into an elevator before him and pressing a button on the wall inside, causing the doors to shut. Calm music played throughout the elevator, which he snapped his fingers to, enjoying the tune.
"Archie and Gretchen, Gretchen and Archie," he mumbled to himself, "I wonder which one of those suckers is gonna go next. If it were up to me...hm...I'd send Archie home! I've got some history with that Gretchen, anyways."
The elevator suddenly stopped, and the door opened, revealing the basement which he had been held up at gunpoint in not even four days ago. He whistled as he stepped out into the massive room, allowing the elevator to closed behind him.
"Besides," he continued to speak to himself, "What does a poet want with five million big ones? What's he gonna use it for, huh? Setting up a lame little coffee shop where everyone can have a fun open mic night? Talk about lame!"
He started ascending the stairs to the main floor, each one creaking as he stepped on them. He approached the door to the hallway, clearing his throat before doing anything else. Finally, he swung the door open, bursting out into the hallway with the gusto that he carried with him wherever he went.
"Wake up, galaxy!" he shouted, his brimming with excitement, "Tony's here to steal the show!"
Confessional
"We're in the final three now," Tony started, filing down his nails to make sure they were as pristine as the rest of him, "It's not gonna be a cakewalk to get to the finale from here on out. And, it's an outside challenge! We could be going anywhere in this galaxy, and we don't have a clue where! We've been to Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, Europa, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. I guess the next place to go could be Saturn...heheh, thinking about it's already got my mind going wild! Whatever it may be, I'm gonna make sure that I win. No matter what."
Confessional End
Meanwhile, in his own shabby room, Archie sat on his bed, scribbling things down in his poetry journal. It had become quite full since he arrived on the station, and he knew he was going to need another one soon enough. He used the pen that Jianne gave to him, making sure to be extremely careful with it as he did so. He had about three blank pages left to scrawl anything down on, but rather than being upset about it, it brought him a great joy. He had originally had many macabre things to share from it, but now? He had poems about friends, about adventure, and about uncertainty of what was to come next. What he was writing now was one of the latter, showing his wonder for what was to come.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat, setting the pen down gently beside him, "Out of twenty-two, there were three
Among the three, there was me
I toss and turn for all to see
Waiting for the right moment to show them all
To let them know they've helped so much
But I can't help letting a strange sense crawl over me
It itches like a mosquito bite, the thought tormenting me over and over again
Will I make to the end?
What will become of me if I do?
Surely a wonder such as this will be answered soon."
He tapped his chin in thought, closing the book and setting it next to the pen. He let out a slight chuckle, standing from his seat on his bed and cracking his knuckles.
"I guess it could be a little better," he started with a smile on his face, "Though, usually March would be here to tell me that it's 'great' or that it's 'super cool.' I still can't believe she's out...it seems so...unreal."
He lost his smile as he stared at the wall blankly, thinking back on all the time the two had spent together during their journey through the season. He sighed, becoming more stressed than ever before. Winning the game was never really something he was worried about, but since he had come so far and made so many friends along the way, he couldn't bear the thought of letting them down and losing while Tony was still around.
"There's just us three now, then," he continued to tap his chin in thought, "Well, not that there's much to worry about. I know that me and Gretchen both want Tony gone, no matter what it takes. The question is...what's the next challenge going to be? Is there anyway for us to even beat him? If only you guys were here to answer that for me..."
He sighed again, heading to the door of his room and opening it, stepping out and leaving both his book and pen behind. It took him a second to adjust to the change in brightness, considering how dark his room truly was, but after he did, he started to walk down the hall and towards the stairs to the lobby. He looked at all the empty rooms as he passed them by, finding it hard to even glance at March's. He was the last person in his hall, though thinking about it, Gretchen was in hers as well, due to Tony winning the previous challenge.
"I guess the only to find out what the future holds is to charge in headfirst," he mumbled to himself, the smile crawling back onto his face, "I guess that's what March would be thinking if she was still in...heh. What a goofball."
Confessional
"I'm the sole member of the Guppies in a Penguins' world," Archie chuckled to himself, thinking back to when everyone was on a team, "I never understood those names. I mean, what do guppies and penguins have to do with space, anyway? Doesn't really make sense, does it? Maybe Chris was drunk when he picked them out or something, but I guess we'll never know. Eh, thinking about how his mind works makes my own ache, so I'll leave that be."
Confessional End
Gretchen had been awake for a while, but rather than staying in her room, she wandered all the way back to the cafeteria once again, spending her morning playing some experimental songs of hers while Chef worked in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready for the final three. She sat on top of the table, strumming away on her guitar and humming to herself while the co-host listened in. She wasn't sure what words she should use, but the tune sounded nice to her.
"You sure do know how to play," Chef commented as he stirred the slop in one of the larger pots, "What do you call that song, anyway?"
"I dunno yet," she said with a sigh, stopping her playing for a moment, "I haven't really thought of words, just that melody."
"So you need some sort of inspiration, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, some of our other artistic people have got people that they draw inspiration from, but I've been so focused on working and competing that I never had the time to bother with any of that romance stuff."
"Eh? I thought you were dating that Taylor girl."
"Huh? Taylor?"
"Yeah, she was talking about you after she lost, saying something about you being attractive or whatever. I just figured that you guys knew each other before the show and were dating."
"Oh...no, actually. I've never even really had a chance to talk to her. She seemed cool, though, always ready to party and what not. Oh, and her tattoos were always kinda cool. I never knew she was interested in me."
"I dunno, just what I heard from her by herself. Maybe you should try talking to her when the show's over."
"I guess, but that still leaves me with a lotta time to worry about inspiration. I mean, the shows not over for another week, right?"
"Oh, someone's pretty certain that she'll make it into the finale."
"Heh, you know it! There's no way I'm letting Tony slip into the finale, not after all the crap he's pulled this season!"
"Well, that's nice to be sure of yourself and all, but keep in mind that anybody could win this game. Even someone like him."
"Yeah, I know, I know! But I'm gonna take him down tonight, I swear it!"
She hopped up from the table, carrying her guitar with her as she walked up to the kitchen and eyeing the slop that Chef was working on. She rolled her eyes at it, though she had pretty much grown immune to the awful taste by now.
"Hey, Chef."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for letting me come to you with my problems and all that jazz. It means a lot to me."
"You got it, girl."
Confessional
"Woohoo, let's go!" Gretchen cheered for herself, excited to be in the top three. "My blood's pumping like no tomorrow, I can't wait to see how this whole thing pans out! Obviously, I can't let Tony win this challenge, or he'll for sure be in the finale! I need to make sure I'm my best today! That means I need to be sharp, I need to be tough, I need to-"
She was cut off by her stomach grumbling loudly, and her face suddenly went extremely pale. She quickly rose from her seat, hunching over the confessional toilet and vomiting in it, falling to the floor soon after.
"Uh oh...that can't be good..."
Confessional End
Some time had passed since everyone had woken up, and now they were all in the cafeteria, with Archie and Tony both looking over at the sickly Gretchen with curiosity on their faces. She continued to vomit, being more pale than before as she held her head over a trash can.
"Uh...what happened to her?" Tony asked Chef, who stood in the kitchen, watching in disgust.
"Man, I dunno!" the co-host snapped at the conman, "She probably just has stress sickness from making it this far. It's a competition, after all."
"Pfft, getting sick on a challenge day will do you no good, Gretch! You're practically begging to lose tonight!"
"Shut the hell up," Gretchen hissed, barely able to look over at him as he insulted her.
Tony snickered, grabbing his food from Chef and making his way over to one of the open tables, while Archie, on the other hand, decided that maybe it wouldn't be the best idea to eat the slop. After seeing Gretchen, at least, it seemed like avoiding it would at least keep him healthy for the challenge. He walked over to his own table, one which he used to share with March, usually. It wasn't long until the somewhat peaceful atmosphere of the room was interrupted by Chris barging in on the group, wearing the cheesy grin that he always had on.
"Well, good morning final three!" the host greeted them, though only Tony and Archie looked over at him, with Gretchen still burying her head in a trash can. "How's it feel to still be here knowing that the other nineteen of you just weren't good enough? Do you feel like winners?"
"I don't think all of us deserve to feel like winners," Archie mumbled, gesturing to Tony, who simply rolled his eyes in response.
"Now that I think about it, you all got to this point using different strategies, didn't you? Some of you played the game straight and did your best, some of you made huge friend groups to ensure you made it far, and some of you used the oh-so honorable art of blackmail to get here. Whatever the case may be, you three have proven to be the best of the best, and you should be happy...at least, that's what I would say if it weren't for the fact that one of you will be leaving tonight!"
The boys gasped, each of them widening their eyes, though they knew that this was coming, Gretchen tried to join in on the shocked reaction, bus was unable to be heard over the sound of her own retching in the trash.
"Ok, seriously, what's up with her?"
"We don't know," Tony replied, "Chef said she might have stress sickness or something like that."
"Yikes, sounds like a total bummer...but nothing bad enough to keep me from including her from tonight's challenge! All three of you will be facing off in one of the most timeless ways to prove you're better than somebody else...a race!"
Tony's expression suddenly went from being cocky to worried in a matter of seconds, while Archie gained the smugness that his enemy had just lost.
"Ha!" Archie laughed at the look on Tony's face, "A race! You can't possibly expect to get far in something like that! Gretchen and I'll totally smoke you in this one, Tony!"
"Ah, but it isn't as simple as that," Chris continued, "You see, it would be really easy to get Tony out of here in a regular race, but this needs to be fair, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...you're race is going to be in an area that requires you to take your time! One misstep, and you could find yourself hurdling off course and that would be no good! Especially since we would get in a lot of trouble if one of you got lost in the vacuum of space, haha!"
"Where is it?" Tony asked, suddenly intrigued by what Chris was saying.
"That is the part that everyone wants to know, isn't it? Well, dudes and dudette, your final three challenge, the dangerous race that I'm currently hyping up for you is...on the Asteroid Belt!"
"The asteroid belt!?" Tony and Archie shouted together in unison, suddenly being more worried than ever about what was going to come their way.
"You heard me right! It's a dangerous place to hold a race, and there's no possible way for any one of you to have any sort of advantage there! We've also made a bunch of different paths for you to take, with different dangers lurking on them. These dangers could range from...oh, I dunno, maybe something silly like a banana peel that you could slip on, a puddle of mud that get's your space boots dirty, a buttload of TNT, a bunch of gag candles that you have to ignore-"
"Hang on a minute," Tony interrupted Chris again, "What was that second last thing you said there?"
"Oh! The dynamite, of course! We really want this challenge to be an explosive one, in more than one way! But don't you worry! We've set up an array of teleporters around every possible step along the way. If you fall, you'll fall into one of them, but a warning: they send you all the way back to the beginning of the course! Like a said, you really don't want to slip up or make any mistakes while you're doing this challenge!"
"You're a lunatic," Archie shot a glare to Chris, though it didn't affect him.
"I know, aren't I the best? Anyway, why don't you all finish up your breakfast and come on down to the dock room with your spacesuits? We'll take you straight on over to the racecourse and get things ready to go!"
Chris turned to leave the room, but suddenly, he remembered something incredibly important, and turned back, the grin on his face being even more devious than before.
"I almost forgot to tell all of you what the fun reward for this challenge will be!"
"Oh, finally!" Tony cheered, excited to hear about the prize he could be getting.
"Most of our rewards have had nothing to do with the competition up til' now! The reward for whoever comes in first...is that they'll be able to choose who tags along with them to the finale of the season! That's right! Only one person needs to finish this race to decide the loser of this episode! Now then...you'd best get ready! Don't wanna keep the viewing world waiting!"
The host left the room, cackling all the way and leaving the three contestants feeling more threatened by each other than ever.
Confessional
"I don't know what Tony's plan is," Archie started, looking determined to win, "But he can't win this challenge! He doesn't deserve to be here, he didn't earn it. He stole a spot in the final three, and when I win tonight, he won't be here any longer."
"Eh, blackmail and bribery is quite powerful in a game like this," Tony smirked as he spoke, "I mean, you can say that I don't deserve this, but I really am just playing the game how it was meant to be played. I'm gonna win tonight, and then, Archie's saying bye bye."
"Ugh," Gretchen groaned, holding her hands over her stomach, "I'm not gonna be able to win this thing...I just gotta hope that Archie can finish the race before Tony does. Of course he can, though...right?"
Confessional End
Back in his special room, Tony snapped into his golden space suit, looking at himself in the mirror with a confident mile before tossing his helmet on and heading on out of the room. Archie had his black suit on, with his helmet next to him on his bed while he looked at the remaining free space in his journal, hoping that he would be able to use it before he had to leave the station. He sighed, placing the helmet on his head and leaving his room as well. Then, there was Gretchen, who struggled to put her yellow suit on. The look on her face was pained, and she still felt incredibly nauseous, but at this point, there wasn't anything she could do to stop it. She put her helmet on, barfing in her own mouth immediately after, but forcing herself to swallow it back down before steeping out of her room. The three each walked their way towards the dock with nothing but hope that they would move forward. Gretchen and Archie were the first to join up with each other, meeting each other on their way down the stairs to the lobby, while Tony met them in the lobby. They didn't say a word to each other, but they all walked to the massive doors that led to the dock, glancing between each other before pushing them open together.
There, they saw Chris, who was standing over by the teleporter in his own space suit, which just barely managed to hide his cheesy grin as the group approached him. Gretchen's stomach continued to gurgle, but she didn't let it slow her down as she kept on walking. Finally, the three of them stood before the teleporter, each unsure of what they should do or say for that matter. Someone eventually broke the awkward silence that the room was left in.
"So, I know you guys don't really care for me and all," Tony started, breaking his usual cocky tone, "But good luck. You're gonna need it."
"I can't tell if you're trying to be nice, or if you're just saying that you're gonna beat us easily," Gretchen grumbled.
"Ah, come on Gretch! You know it was the second thing!"
"Of course. Why should I expect any sportsmanship from you."
"All that's left between me and the finale is this teleporter...sorry, but no amount of friendship is gonna make me give up my chances for this money."
"So may the best man win," Archie spoke up, causing Tony to roll his eyes.
"Well, you three ready?" Chris asked, growing impatient with their blabbering. "We don't have all day, you know! I'm a busy man."
"Yeah, we're ready," the three said in unison, each glancing between each other again.
"Great! Let's go on to the other side, then!"
Chris was the first to step through the teleporter, immediately disappearing from sight while the other three each took a deep breath. Finally, Tony took a step through, being followed by Archie, and then Gretchen. Upon going through, they noticed the racecourse that was set up for them, noting that each of the asteroids in question were held together by chains, but not right up next to each other. There was some good jumping distance between each of the rocks, but it was manageable, especially since the gravity wasn't anything like Earth's. The platform that they stood on was quite large, and when they looked around it, they noticed that it was none other than Space Monkey Island, which brought a strange reminiscence to Tony, who had been on this very island before. A glance above the island showed a teleporter about ten feet up, the one that Chris mentioned to them before.
"Isn't this exciting?" Chris asked the group enthusiastically, but they didn't share the same enthusiasm.
"Yep," Archie said sarcastically, "Totally doesn't look like a death trap and a court case waiting to happen."
"That's what our producers thought, but the guy who designed our teleporters said it would be alright."
"Oh yeah?" Tony scoffed, "And who was that? John Teleporter?"
"Uh, I think his name was Harry Jett or something. I dunno, but when I saw him, I felt like I had seen him before. Anyway, we've got a challenge to get to, and I'm sure the fans don't wanna listen to us talking like a bunch of idiots this whole time, so let's get right to it! Racers! Stand at the edge of the island and get ready to hop to the first asteroid! Remember, you can take any path that you want!"
The three did as instructed, getting as close to the edge as they could before assuming their running positions. Gretchen gagged again, causing Archie to worry for her while Tony thought of it as a source of outside help from someone.
"Alright! On your marks...get set...and...in any second...I'll say the final word...the one to start this race...and get the ball rolling..."
"Ah, man!" Tony griped, "Just say it!"
"Fine, fine! And...go!"
With the last word leaving the host's mouth, the three contestants started off, with both Tony and Archie taking an early lead on two different paths while Gretchen trudged behind, taking her own path rather slowly as her stomach grumbled in agony. The path that Archie took had a lot of small asteroids for him to jump to and from, with each of them not being much larger than he himself. He hopped from rock to rock cautiously, trying to keep his footing and notice any of the booby traps that Chris had laid out ahead of time so he could avoid them. Suddenly, he slipped on one of the asteroids, starting to fall off of it before he caught on with one of his hands. In a situation like this, even seeing the teleporter below him couldn't shake the discomfort he felt by dangling on an asteroid in the void of space.
"Oh, man," he sighed in relief, though he continued to exhale loudly, "That was a close one..."
He looked back up at the platform above him, pulling himself up slowly and getting on top of the asteroid. Once he did, he noticed that there was a bundle of TNT in front of hi, and his eyes went wide.
"Oh, crap."
It blew up, sending him flying into the previous asteroid before he slipped and feel down into one of the teleporters below, dropping from it onto the surface of the island, where Chris was eagerly waiting. The host leered at the boy, which annoyed him greatly as he got up.
"Having a little bit of trouble out there, fella?" Chris jeered.
"I'm doing just fine, thank you," Archie returned in his agitated tone, "Just a little bump in the road, is all."
"Hm, well I hope this doesn't kill your time, because it looks like Tony is making some good progress where he is, don't you think?"
"Eh?"
Archie looked off into the distance, noticing that Tony was indeed doing pretty well. The path that he had chosen to take was full of asteroids of varying sizes, each one of them incredibly different than the last. It helped to be take one's time, but Tony know that he couldn't waste the lead that he had. He hopped from asteroid to asteroid, huffing intensely from the amount of activity that he was doing, but trying to ignore it as he pressed on.
"Come on, Tony," he talked himself up as he ran, "You can do this. Liz is totally cheering you on right now, and when you get to see her again, she'll be stoked to see the wads of cash you're gonna win. Wait a minute, do I really talk to myself like that this often? Jeez, maybe I need some friends. Bah, competition first, friends later!"
He hopped from the asteroid he was standing on onto the next one, immediately noticing what appeared to be a slick of oil all over it. His feet were quick to start slipping, and he found it hard to keep his balance, so he stopped moving for a second, thinking about what he should do to not fall behind.
"Hm...think, think. If I'm gonna keep slipping and sliding around on this here rock, what can I do to use this to my advantage..."
He continued to think to himself, looking over his shoulder to see how the others were doing at this point. Gretchen was closer than Archie was, considering that he had to start all over again, but still, it would be a minute or two before her sickly self could reach him. Suddenly, a thought came to mind, one which would definitely help him out in this situation, albeit very risky in practice.
"...Momentum!"
He smirked under his helmet, and started running towards the end of the large asteroid. Doing so caused the oil to really slick up on his boots, and he eventually stopped running, allowing himself to slide with the oil like a fish swimming down stream, leaping at the very last second and flying through the empty space, landing on an asteroid that had two or three others in between it and the one he was just on. Looking back, he couldn't help but feel even more cocky about the progress he had just made, and he raised his fists in the air, gleefully.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! Woohoo!"
Meanwhile, Gretchen struggled to keep herself on the move while her stomach argued with her. Her path wasn't a simple one, either. All of the asteroids that she had to jump on seemed to move around, making it difficult for to her to just leap through all willy nilly like Tony did. She stood on one and looked toward the next, which was moving up and down at a consistent rate, making it hard for her to just jump over to it. As she continued to think about what to do, Archie, who was on the path next to her, leapt past where she was, looking back at her and worrying about her health.
"Are you okay?" he asked, stopping on one of the asteroids.
"I'm fine," she replied, though she gagged immediately after, "Just focus on the challenge. I'm sure you could probably overtake Tony if you kept going on ahead."
"But you're clearly sick! I think you should just wait back on the island until one of us wins. Let's be real here, if anyone is a shoe-in for the finale, it's you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, come on, Gretchen. Tony would definitely choose to get me out of here, not you! Even if you two only had a fake friendship, it's still something. He probably still retains a little bit of it after all the times you defended him from everybody else."
"You think so?"
"I know so! Not that it's a great thing to have, but still...don't worry about making it to the end. I'll take it from here, okay?"
"Okay..."
Archie continued on, leaving Gretchen behind on her hazardous path as he braved his own. It was nice, what he said to her, but it made her feel worse about the whole situation. She knew that she could do a lot better than this, but her stomach was holding her back. It was odd to her. She had a strong stomach for the most part, so why would something like this happen? Was it the stress, like Chef had said? Or maybe somebody was involved with it. Either way, she felt useless, being stuck behind everybody. She pumped herself up, getting ready to make the jump before her, but when she did, she slipped, and fell into one of the teleporters below, ending up back on the island with Chris.
"'Sup Gretchen," the host greets the contestant with a slight chuckle, "How's the tummy ache?"
"Grrr," she grumbled as she pulled herself to her feet, "Horrible, thanks for asking..."
"I guess it just goes to show: you can't try to befriend the co-host without some backlash."
"Well, I- hang on a minute, what did you say?"
"Oh, come on. I totally know that you've been trying to get close with Chef. So, naturally, when I saw him bringing some of the craft services food back for you, I had to make it a little...volatile."
"You...poisoned me!?"
"Okay, calm down, it'll only last for a couple of hours. Besides, you don't actually think that either of those two will choose to eliminate you, do you?"
"I don't want to have a free ride to the finale, I want to actually earn it!"
"Woe is me, woe is me! Most people would beg to have an opportunity like this, and you're over here like, 'Oh that jerk poisoned me! I wanna actually compete!' Boohoo. Take a tip from me and just take what you can get-"
The host was cut off by Gretchen grabbing him by the shoulders, standing close enough for him to see the anger in her eyes. Her face, which was exceedingly pale before, was now red with rage, and it scared him enough to make him start nervously sweating.
"You think this is funny, huh?" she asked squeezing onto his shoulders even tighter.
"Uh, well, I mean, yeah!" he replied, trying to remain confident, "A little bit of barf can make for a good show and all-"
"You coulda pulled this crap any other day, but you chose today!? All because I liked spending time with Chef!?"
"Okay, I can see that you're angry, so what if I just reconfigure one of the teleporters and have it take you ahead of the others, yeah? We'd be even then, right?"
"Hell no! I'm gonna run my ass over there and win this damn thing, fair and square! But you? I know exactly what I'm gonna have you do while you wait for us to finish!"
Chris gulped as a wicked smile formed on Gretchen's face. She then hopped down to one of the teleporters, grabbing the base of it and pulling it with her through another one of them before ending up right back on the island. Then, laying the portal down flat underneath the portal in the sky, she snickered to herself, leaving her host incredibly confused. She grabbed him by the arm, tugging him over to where she was before shoving him into the teleporter on the ground, causing him to go through the one above and fall back into it, getting faster with each loop he did.
"Let's see who has a 'tummy ache' after you're done in there," she said with a grin, "But for now, I've got a challenge to win!"
Gretchen was quick to turn away from the host, leaping onto one of the asteroids and leaving the now screaming host behind her.
Confessional
"Was I cruel to him?" Gretchen chuckled, "Maybe, but he freaking poisoned me! That's gotta be against some sort of law or something! He can deal with a little teleporter whiplash while we do the challenge."
"Augh," Chris groaned while holding his woozy head before ultimately throwing up on the camera. "Not...cool...dude..."
Confessional End
Archie had started making better progress than his last run through, this time having chose an entirely different path to take. This time, he was able to spot the explosives around him as he hopped from asteroid to asteroid, even jumping off to the side and avoiding some of them entirely. Tony, who still had the lead on everyone, was using the oil slicks to his advantage as they came, slipping and sliding his way to the end of them before leaping off of the asteroids and getting farther ahead. He snickered to himself, thinking about the lead he had and how the end of the race couldn't be much farther. Meanwhile, Gretchen was still far behind the two of them, though her stomach hurt a lot less now. She carefully made her way through the new path that she had chosen, trying not to screw up and hit any of the road bumps that Chris had set, lest she face the same fate as the host.
"Stupid Chris and his stupid show," she grumbled to herself, jumping to an asteroid in the process, "I can't believe he actually poisoned me! What a...a...jerk!"
She landed on the next asteroid, immediately noticing that one of the slime aliens from before was standing upon it with a malicious look on its face. She stopped in her tracks, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes as it neared her, trying to sound menacing.
"You are in the dead end now, non-friend!" it said, punching its fist into the palm of its other hand, "There is no the way you'll get past me without telling me how to find Big Blue!"
As it got even closer to her, she suddenly grabbed it, throwing it down below into one of the teleporters and sending it all the way back to the island, where it was forced to endure the same vicious cycle that Chris was currently dealing with.
"Bwah! What is this obnoxious the contraption!?"
"Ahhhhhhh!" Chris screamed before barfing, causing the barf to go through the teleporter and land on the alien's face. "I'm so gonna yell at her later for this!"
As the two dealt with that, Tony finally landed at the end of the paths, where the was only one single line of asteroids leading to the finish. He grinned as he noticed the finish line and the teleporter it had.
"Well, would you look at that?" he let out a cocky laugh, "It seems that I was able to make it all the way here anyways! So much for those two trying to stop me! Now, the only thing that's left for me to do is to pass these last few asteroids and make my way home!"
He started to walk towards the next asteroid, but then, out of nowhere, he heard something behind him. It sounded like a set of footsteps, and that aggravated him greatly. He turned around to see the boy in the black space suit standing there, breathing heavily from the amount of energy it took to make it this far.
"Archie," Tony grumbled, "What a pleasant surprise! It looks like we're both almost at the end of this race!"
"Indeed," Archie replied, clenching his fist in anger, "We are."
"What's a matter, Arch? You seem tense."
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that you robbed so many people to make your way here. You're a real piece of work, you know that?"
"No need to be so cold, buddy! Sure, I may have tricked Vicente into saving the wrong person, convinced the entire team to vote Flint off despite Benjamin being an idiot, snapped a video of Crustacean talking mad shit, helped Thomas get rid of Damien by pinning Spunk on him, backstabbed Benjamin just when he thought he was free of me, tricked Flint into sabotaging Anne, and made off with all the loot and got March out of here, but it was nothing personal!"
"Oh, yeah? Nothing personal? It seems like everything you did was pretty damn personal to me, you did everything to get rid of the people that you had a problem with and make sure that you got ahead in the game. Now, tell me, how is that not personal?"
"Tsk, tsk. You're a real goofball, Arch! It wasn't personal because...I simply didn't care! It didn't bring me joy, it didn't make me sad! I felt absolutely nothing when each of them lost, and you know why? Because...it was all business, baby!"
"You son of a bitch..."
"Well, what are you gonna do? From where I'm standing, it looks like I've got a little bit of ground on ya! Not to mention that Gretchen isn't even close to us...I think it's pretty clear what's gonna happen now."
"And what would that be?"
"Simple, really. I'm gonna mosey my ass all the way over to the finish line and get my place in the finale. Nobody can stop me! And when I do...you're gonna be joining the rest of your 'friends.'"
"You say friends like it's some sort of joke."
"Come on, Arch! You know that all the friends from these shows forget about each other eventually, right? You can't really expect to have these people forever, can you?"
"That's a crock of shit."
"How do ya figure?"
"The only reason you think that is because you couldn't possibly have any friends! Everybody hates you, and you don't care! You live in this fantasy world where you don't need anyone but yourself, but it's bullshit!"
"I'm getting kinda bored with this chit chat, Arch. I think I'm just gonna go, now. Have fun leaving the station, buddy!"
Tony cackled, turning to leap from the asteroid that he was standing on, but before he could, he felt someone grab his arm and tug him back. Turning around again, he noticed that it was Archie, who was more angry than ever at the comments he made. His cocky conman's smirk faded from his face, and he was left with a blank, serious face instead.
"So, you wanna do things the hard way, eh?" he cracked his knuckles in between his words, "I ain't much of a fighter, but if this is the way you wanna do it...then let's rumble!"
Archie raise his own fists, though he wasn't in any sort of fear or sadness. This time, he was full of anger, and the one man who caused all of it stood before him. Not wasting a second of his own time, he rushed forward, swinging a right hook to Tony's side, though the conman grabbed his hand and twisted it, causing him to let out a pained shout. He was then thrown to the ground, and Tony attempted to stomp on his chest, but he quickly rolled out of the way, causing his foot to hit the ground. The poet hopped up from the ground, shaking his sore hand off before running back over to Tony and tackling him to the ground. Now, sitting atop his enemy, he swung a punch to his helmet, forgetting just how tough it was and hurting his own hand even more. Tony used this to turn things around, rolling to the top of the scuffle and grabbing Archie's left arm, pinning it to his back.
"I'm gonna win this challenge, and you can't stop me!" Tony shouted, breathing heavily, "Don't make this any harder than it has to be!"
"Bite me!" Archie shouted back, rolling around on the ground and freeing his arm before shoving Tony off of him.
The two, now both a fair distance away from each other, rose to their feet, each already feeling the soreness from getting into a fight in such a dangerous place. They charged over to each other again, each trying to force the other to the ground, but finding that neither of them was particularly stronger than the other. Meanwhile, Gretchen was starting to get closer to where the two were, just being able to barely spot them in the distance. She squinted her eyes at them, but she had a hard time figuring out exactly what was going on over there.
"What are those two up to?" she asked herself, hopping on to the next asteroid before her.
As she continued hopping and getting closer to them, she could make out what was happening a little better than before, and her eyes widened in worry. She felt invigorated suddenly, and her legs filled up with a strength that she didn't have before. She started hopping from rock to rock, a lot faster than before, not letting a single trap throw her off or mess her up.
"I gotta help him," she said to herself, her breath growing heavy in worry, "I gotta!"
Back on the rock that the two boys were dueling on, each of them was growing tired from the fight. Their arms were sore and their legs were week, not to mention that they were both gasping for air in their suits. Tony slowly trudged over to Archie, having just a tad more strength in his body than his opponent, and he placed his hands on his shoulders, pulling him closer.
"Come on, man," the conman said, barely able to breathe in between his words, "Don't make me do this..."
"What are you talking about?" Archie asked, being unable to fight back as he took his deep breaths. "You're not enjoying this?"
"I told you before...it's nothing personal. It's all...business."
Tony delivered a slow, but still painful knee to Archie's stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. Though he was in a tremendous amount of pain, the poet managed to look up at the conman's face, noticing that he didn't have an angry expression in the slightest. In fact, more than anything, he looked...upset.
"I'm sorry, Arch," Tony continued, forming a fist with his left hand. "I need to win this...I have to."
He raised the fist, looking down at the pained Archie before him and feeling himself struggle to actually do anything. The poet couldn't fight back, and Tony could've easily ended the fight right then and there if he really wanted to, so why was it so difficult? Why did he struggle to throw that last punch? As the two remained still on their battleground, Gretchen suddenly hopped over to the asteroid, panting as she landed.
"Tony, let him go!" she pleaded, starting to run towards them.
"Eh?" Tony turned his head to face her, noticing that there was a small oil slick in front of her, "Woah, Gretchen, watch out!"
"What are you-"
Gretchen words were cut off by a startled scream once she slipped on the oil slick, which sent her flying to the end of the asteroid, out of control. She slipped right off of it, barely grabbing onto the chain that held it to the next one. Upon looking down, she noticed that there was a lack of teleporters below these asteroids; perhaps Chris had assumed that the last part was free of danger, and they wouldn't need it. She clung onto the chain with one hand, her face full of fear and tears as she couldn't stop herself from looking down.
"Crap, crap, crap!"
"Hang on, Gretch, I'm coming!" Tony called out to her, suddenly releasing his grip on Archie and letting him fall to the ground.
He started rushing over to her, stopping at the end of the asteroid and noticing that she was at the middle of the chain, too far to just reach out and grab her hand. He started to panic, unsure of what he should do in this situation.
"Okay, okay, just give me a second here! I need to think...think..."
"Ah!" Gretchen yelped as her hand started to slip, "I don't think I can hold on much longer!"
"Uh...uh..."
Tony was sweating nervously, looking around for any sort of hint as to what he could to do help the girl. Archie was still sore on the ground, but he was just barely able to glance over and see what was happening, immediately being overcome by fear as he saw her dangling on the chain. Suddenly, something came to Tony's mind, and he rushed over to Archie, pulling him up from the ground.
"Arch, buddy, I need your help!" he pleaded, something that Archie never thought he would see, "I know we're both beat up pretty bad right now, but I need you for this. I'm gonna grab you by the legs and swing you over to her, you're tall enough to reach if we do that. You just need to hold on to her. Please...help me."
"...Okay," Archie replied, nodding in agreement.
Tony sighed in relief, suddenly grabbing Archie by the legs and pulling him along to the end of the asteroid.
"Just don't look down, both of yas!" Tony shout as he held Archie over the ledge, swinging him back and forth to gain momentum.
Seconds ticked by at an alarming rate, and Gretchen could feel herself slipping even more than before. She was absolutely terrified, and before long, she lost all of remaining grip on the chain, starting to descend into the void of space. She started screaming in fear, until Archie grabbed onto her, and Tony pulled the two of them back up onto the rock, immediately collapsing afterwards. They were all exhausted, and the only one of them that had any strength left in their body was Gretchen. As they all lay flat on the asteroid, she started to chuckle a little.
"Y-you guys," she started, in between her laughter, "You saved me..."
"Eh," Tony mumbled, "Don't worry about it."
"You'd do the same," Archie mentioned.
She rose to her feet while the other two stayed on the ground, looking down at them with a confused look on her face.
"Aren't you two gonna try and make it to the end?"
"Can't do it...too weak," Tony let out a slight laugh, "Go on ahead, bud."
"Yeah...I need a nap," Archie added, laughing a little as well.
"You guys...but then I'll win. I can only bring one person to the finale with me..."
"Yeah, it's your call," Tony continued, letting out an exhausted sigh, "Do what you will, Gretch."
The girl felt a smile forming on her face, nodding to both of the boys before hopping to the next asteroid in line. They were left along, each of them laying on the ground in their exhaustion. Archie turned over to Tony, still a little confused about everything.
"So, was that just business?" the poet asked, receiving a chuckle from Tony.
"You got me, Arch," he replied, resting his head on his arms, "I guess that one was personal."
"Heh, who would've thought you could care about something other than money?"
"Hey, lay off. I slipped this one time, don't expect me to be super friendly from here on out."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
The two sat in silence for a moment, but before long, they found themselves laughing together as Gretchen finally crossed the finish line, going through the teleporter to be greeted by Chef and an incredibly dizzy Chris.
"And the winner," Chris started, slurring his speech, "Is Gretchen! You get to pick who loses...but just let Chef handle it...I need to lay down."
Suddenly, Chris crashed to the ground, falling asleep once he hit the floor, causing both Chef and Gretchen to laugh together.
Confessional
"This was a day and a half," Tony started, holding an ice pack on his right shoulder, "I never thought that this challenge would end like that...but I can't say I'm upset about the outcome. I'm just glad that Gretchen's okay..."
"Tony's got a soft side, after all," Archie noted, revealing that he had his own ice pack on his stomach, "I'm still pissed about that fight...but at least he did the right thing in the end."
Confessional End
When the time came, the two boys found themselves both standing before Gretchen in the escape pod room, each of them wearing their space suits, unsure of what to expect from her. She glanced between the two of them, with Chef standing off to the side and waiting for her to make her decision.
"This has been bugging me since I passed the finish line," Gretchen started, her face full of sadness rather than any hint of victory, "You both helped me out a lot today. I mean, seriously. I would've probably died if you guys didn't catch me at the end there. But, after putting a lot of thought into this, I've decided that the person I'm bringing to the finale with me is..."
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"...Archie."
Tony let out a sigh, though he wasn't shocked by the result. He looked over at Archie, patting him on the back lightly as the poet took his helmet off.
"I guess the best man gets to go forward," the conman said, trying to keep his cocky tone, but failing to do so, "I really had this coming, didn't I?"
"Hey," Archie returned the pat on the back, "At least you proved yourself wrong about one thing."
"Aw, man. Don't go telling everyone, they're gonna think I'm a changed man or some crap."
"Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me."
"...But probably not with the cameras," Gretchen added, giggling ever so slightly.
Tony let out a chuckle of his own, turning around to make his way over to the escape pod...until he was suddenly pulled into a hug from Gretchen, which shocked him.
"...Thanks, Tony. I mean it."
"Yeah, yeah. Enough with the wholesome crap already."
Gretchen let go of him, and he continued to walk to the escape pod, waving at them without looking back.
"I'll be watching the finale with great interest...good luck, you two."
Without another word, the boy stepped into the escape pod, strapping himself into his seat before Chef pulled the lever next to it, closing the hatch and causing it to shoot out away from the station, leaving the final two with their co-host. Chef then approached the two, placing a hand on both of their shoulders with a grin on his face.
"Well, folks," the co-host started, carrying an impressive hosting voice of his own, "You've been sticking along for a long time, but we're finally at the end of things! Next week, you'll watch Archie and Gretchen go toe-to-toe in the grand finale of one of our most exciting seasons yet! What will happen at the end of things? Find out, next time, on Total Drama: Space Station!"
Author Notes:
*And that's that! We're down to the final two of this incredibly fun to write season! Tune in next week for the finale showdown between Archie and Gretchen: Galaxy Wide Battle!
*I know, it's up a day early! Truth is...I'm very impatient, lol. Also, both this episode and elimination are my favorites/saddest, so I really wanted to see what everyone thinks.
*Placements: 22nd - Taylor; 21st - Nicolás; 20th - Vicente; 19th - Haley; 18th - Crustacean; 17th - Sebastian; 16th - Damien; 15th - Benjamin; 14th - Jianne; 13th - Dusty; 12th/11th - Luna and Liz; 10th - Natt; 9th - Alex; 8th/7th - Alexis and Thomas; 6th - Anne; 5th - Flint; 4th - March; 3rd - Tony
Review Responses:
Attackin2 - Yup, she definitely needed some sort of karma for that, even if it came really late in the game. She was fun to use, but it is a crappy thing to do to anybody. Poor Damien.
Nobody245 - I would've loved to skip the third place antagonist curse for Tony, he really was an awesome character to have along for this ride, but his elimination has been planned out for a very long time. I had him leave on the highest note possible, playing more on the fact that he can care, and maybe he's not all about business. Thank you for sending him in, he was really great to use.
In the Pod...
Tony was incredibly tired from the amount of energy he had used in that last challenge, and as such, he was fast asleep, snoring and dreaming about how pissed Liz was going to be when she saw him without the money. Maybe she wouldn't care, but it still left him feeling slightly sour. In any case, knowing that he helped someone for a change felt good, but would he do it again? Who knows?