Six months since the last update.

I recently re-watched some of Ridonculous Race and regained an interest in Total Drama. For now, at least.

I wrote this entire chapter in three days :P

Ezekiel's POV

Izzy cuddles me as we watch the horror movie on the projector. But I'm not paying attention. I'm too busy thinking about the challenge ahead.

I can tell Izzy is deep in thought. She said she'd help Heather get eliminated. This is our last chance to do it. If she doesn't leave now, she'll have the majority of the votes for the next two ceremonies. Of course, Playa des Losers could vote her off, but there are so many ways that could go wrong.

My thoughts are interrupted when Lindsay screams her head off.

"Relax, it's just the end credits," Leshawna says.

"Glad that's over. I was about to pee myself," Noah says sarcastically.

"That can be arranged," Heather giggles beside him.

Noah's POV

The nine of us watch motionlessly as Chris and Chef pile suitcases onto the motorboat.

"Where are you guys going? Don't you have a show to host!?" Heather shouts.

Chris and Chef don't say anything. They just hop on the boat and speed away.

"This is weird," Geoff says. I give him a 4/10 for his acting skills.

I pick up the one backpack they left behind and take out the newspaper.

"Chris McLean has saucy affair with his assistant, Chef."

Geoff chuckles. "Are you trying to get the show off the air?"

"Gimme that," Heather scowls. "Escaped psycho killer on the loose."

She drops the newspaper and scoffs. "Like they actually expect us to believe that."

"Hey, where is everyone?" Geoff asks.

We look around. Everyone except me, Heather and Geoff has disappeared.

"Fine with me. More immunity for us," Heather says.

Izzy's POV

The six of us not-scummy contestants hide behind a big pine tree.

"So you guys all know the plan?" I say.

"No, you never told us," Leshawna reminds her.

"Oh yeah," Izzy giggled, winking at her. "So…uh…this challenge is obviously a set up by Chris so I was thinking, why don't we scare some of the meanies to give us an edge?"

"I don't get it," Lindsay says. "Oh wait, this is like how JD…"

She's interrupted when Leshawna shushes her.

"So here's how it will work – Courtney and Zeke will be on grabbing duty, Lindsay and Sadie will be on stalking duty, and me and Leshawna will be on screaming duty."

"Is this a plan to scare Heather, or to kidnap her?" Courtney asks sarcastically.

"Should Izzy really be leading this?" Leshawna says.

"Yeah, I don't like Courtney, but she's good at the explaining," Lindsay adds.

"Everyone shut up!" Izzy yells. "I'm your leader, and you're going to like it!"

"We know you're there, Izzy!" Heather yells back.

"Evacuate, evacuate," Izzy hisses. "We'll meet behind the washrooms."

Geoff's POV

Me and Noah watch as Heather storms back from the tree.

"Oh dear, the psycho fights another day," Noah chuckles.

"I don't know why you're laughing. They've obviously decided to gang up on us," Heather scowls.

"You. They've decided to gang up on you. You're obviously the target," Noah shrugs.

"It could be you. You've done some terrible things too," Heather shoots back.

"It's probably not me. Let's face it," I chuckle.

"It doesn't matter who they're after. We're not going down without a fight!" Heather exclaims. "I say we play them at their own game."

"You do that. I'm going to catch up on some reading," Noah says, walking off.

"What? You've gotta be kidding me!" Heather screams. "And where do you think you're going?"

I stop mid-way through walking.

"I'm getting a snack. No Chef means a free kitchen," I shrug.

Heather sighs, "Fine. I'm coming with you."

Sadie's POV

Me and Lindsay sneak back to the dock. Turns out 'stalking duty' just meant watching Geoff, Noah and Heather to make sure they didn't go anywhere.

"Hey, where are they?" Lindsay asks.

"I guess they got sick of waiting," I shrug. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"So what's the signal again?"

"We're meant to go 'ca-caw, ca-caw' like a bird. But there's no point in doing it now," I say. "I really hope we don't screw this up."

"Yeah, Heather is going down-down-down!" Lindsay agrees.

Leshawna's POV

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" I ask.

I'm standing in the girls' cabin, wearing a light-brown sweatsuit while Izzy stuffs my arms with socks and underwear.

"Sure it will. Heather's afraid of sumo wrestlers. It's the perfect plan," Izzy grins. "I would do it, but I don't really have the physique."

"It's not okay to say that!" I frown.

"Scare Heather now, lecture me on political correctness later," Izzy says with rolled eyes.

"I still don't think she'll fall for it."

"Well duh. We're not finished yet," Izzy says. "I brought weapons too."

She rummages through the suitcase and pulls out a sword and a mace.

"Where did you…"

"Chef's quarters. I picked the lock," Izzy interrupts. "I was going to bring a chainsaw but I guess Chef needed it today."

"Well, I guess these could scare her," I shrug.

"And the finishing touch…" She takes out a mask and places it on my face. I look in the mirror and see squinty eyes and a man bun.

"This feels wrong," I sigh.

"Again – lecture me later," Izzy giggles.

Courtney's POV

I walk past the elimination stumps with Ezekiel.

Our job was supposed to be grabbing Geoff and Noah so that Heather would be left alone, but now we can't find any of them.

"This plan is a disaster," I groan.

"Well, it's just getting started," Zeke says optimistically. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"I hope they're not planning to scare us," Courtney sighs. "I don't like to admit it but…I get scared pretty easily."

"Courtney, we all know that," Zeke smirks, and I give him a playful punch in the arm.

Suddenly, Zeke stops dead.

"What?"

"Hide," he mouths, and we duck behind a large rock.

I take a peek and see Chef marching along in his psycho-killer costume.

"Why is he going to the boys' cabin?" Zeke whispers.

"I dunno. Maybe someone's in there," I shrug.

Noah's POV

This challenge is pretty stupid and I'd rather just get it over with.

Right on cue. Chef bursts through the cabin door and howls at me.

"Ooh, so scary," I say, not looking up from my book.

He turns on the chainsaw, and I just laugh.

"Yeah, like you're really gonna use that thing on me. Murdering a teenager on reality TV isn't a good look, buddy."

Chef turns off the chainsaw and groans, "Fine. Just come with me."

Heather's POV

Me and Geoff sit on the floor in the kitchen as we scoff all the brownies that were left on the counter.

"Mmm…so good," I moan in delight.

"Some things are worth breaking a diet," Geoff agrees. "Do you think the others will find us?"

"Please, they couldn't find their way out of a plastic bag," I scoff. "We should totally try to scare them back, though."

"Maybe," Geoff muses. "But we're gonna have to do it right. Costumes, weapons, the whole sha-bang."

"I have a much simpler plan," I grin.

Ezekiel's POV

We're still hiding behind the rock when Chef walks back out of the cabin, looking defeated. Noah follows behind, swinging his arms without a care in the world.

"What the…" Courtney says with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't even want to know," I sigh, shaking my head.

We both get up and dust ourselves down.

"Where should we look next?" I ask.

"We could try the girls cabin," Courtney suggests.

Just then, the girls' cabin door opens. We hide behind the rock again, but we stand up again when we see who it is.

Leshawna is wearing an Asian man mask and her shirt is stuffed with socks, and Izzy is wearing a wolf mask and carrying a mace.

"Woah. I thought Leshawna was naked for a sec," I say, blushing.

"No luck finding them?" Leshawna sighs.

"We just saw Noah," Courtney says. "He was with Ch-I mean, he was walking with some guy with a chainsaw. I don't think they saw us."

"Probably just someone in a costume," Leshawna shrugs. "What about Heather and Geoff?"

"No dice," Courtney sighs. "We'll just have to keep looking. We're better off sticking together anyway."

Lindsay's POV

"Sadie?"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure that was your name," I say.

"Yeah, that's right," Sadie says.

"Yay," I squeal.

"Just be quiet. Heather could be anywhere."

"Oh yeah, sure," I nod.

Just then, I notice a lighting-up sign. A big red arrow that says 'FREE MANICURES'.

Oh my gosh. I totally need one of those. My nails have been getting chipped all summer. This is my chance!

Geoff's POV

"Haha, she totally fell for it," I whisper as me and Heather hide behind a tree.

"I didn't put that there. It must have been Chris," Heather whispers back as we move on to the next tree.

I turn on my flashlight but Heather covers it.

"Not yet. Wait until she notices Lindsay is gone," Heather hisses. "It may take a while."

Lindsay's POV

"I am so getting some deep red polish. But pink is totally your colour," I say.

Sadie doesn't answer me.

"Oh yeah. Quiet. I forgot," I add.

Why would they have manicures in the middle of the forest? Actually that would be nice. Nature is very relaxing and so are manicures so they kind of go together.

But I've been walking for a while. Do I keep going in this direction? I haven't seen any more signs.

I'm out of the forest. There's a big man in a mask standing there.

"Is he doing the manicures?" I ask, looking back at Sadie. "Sadie? Where are you? Oh no, she must have got lost."

"Excuse me," I say, going up to the man. "Are you doing the manicures?"

The man is holding a chainsaw. He turns it on and runs to me.

I scream my head off and run away.

Noah's POV

Me and Chris piss ourselves laughing as Lindsay runs screaming into the tent.

Chris wipes a tear from his eye, "Okay, I wasn't expecting Noah levels of calm, but that was something else."

"Who's the next target?" I ask, looking to the cameras.

"Dunno," Chris replies. "Everyone seems more concerned with scaring each other than the psycho killer with the chainsaw. But I'm not complaining."

He presses a couple of keys to show a camera following Sadie.

"Lindsay! Lindsay, where are you!?" she cries.

"Any second now," Chris chuckles.

Just then, Heather and Geoff turn on their flashlights and roar at her. They're both wearing those mullet wigs.

Sadie lets out a deafening scream and runs off, but they chase after her.

"Ah! Is there a mute button on this thing!?" I groan, blocking my ears.

"I got it," Chris says, pressing a button.

I let out a sigh of relief, only to block my ears again as Sadie comes running into the tent.

"It's okay, bra, you're safe," Chris says. "Seriously, stop screaming."

Lindsay slaps Sadie across the face.

"Ouch! Thanks," Sadie says, rubbing her cheek.

"We were gonna get Chef to scare you, but it looks like Heather and Geoff beat you to it," Chris chuckles.

"Wait, what?" Sadie says, looking behind her as Heather and Geoff take off their wigs. "No!"

"And since they found the hideout too, they're also out of the challenge."

"I can live with that," Heather shrugs.

"That leaves Courtney, Leshawna, Izzy and Ezekiel," Chris announces. "But they're sticking together pretty tight."

The four of them enter the Mess Hall to continue their futile quest of finding Heather.

Leshawna's POV

Me and Courtney enter the kitchen.

"Look, there's crumbs all over the floor," Courtney points out.

"They've been here," I say. "Maybe they're hiding somewhere."

I open one of the cupboards when the lights go out.

"God damn it," I groan.

"Oooh! I'm a scary ghost!" I hear Izzy scream from outside.

"Not helping, Izzy!" I shout as I feel the walls.

"I've got the door!" Zeke exclaims. There's a blast of light and he screams when he sees Chef wielding his chainsaw.

"Relax, Zeke, he's not going to use it," Courtney says as Zeke walks backwards.

"Get out of here, eh. I'll buy you some time," Zeke says. He runs around Chef and darts out the door, and Chef chases after him.

Ezekiel's POV

Chris just explained the challenge to me and I take a look around at the eliminated contestants.

"You got Heather?" I ask.

"Actually, me and Geoff got Sadie. Chef didn't even get a chance at her," Heather smirks.

"Shoot," I groan, slapping myself on the forehead.

Sadie is sitting on the ground, looking absolutely defeated. We screwed up.

Courtney's POV

Me and Leshawna sigh in relief as we go out the back door of the Mess Hall.

"Where's Izzy?" Leshawna asks.

"I guess she went out the front," I shrug. "Izzy, get over here!"

The two of us run to the front of the Mess Hall. Izzy is kneeling down, wolf mask on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Leshawna asks irritably.

"My man, Ezekiel," Izzy sighs. "He sacrificed himself so we could carry on. He's a fallen hero."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get Heather before someone else does," I say, rolling my eyes.

"Oh Courtney, so disrespectful," Izzy says, getting back up and putting on her mask.

"Where have we not looked yet?" Leshawna asks.

"The boat house, the Dock of Shame…she could be anywhere by now," I sigh. "I hope Sadie didn't make the signal while we were in the Mess Hall."

"We should be good as long as we stick together," Izzy says, then she points ahead. "Look! A psycho killer!"

Me and Leshawna look up. There's a large figure in the distance, but I can only make out an outline.

"It's j-just Chef, right?" I stutter.

"Maybe, but let's get out of here," Leshawna says.

The figure turns its head.

"Shit, he sees us!" I scream.

Sadie's POV

And the real psycho killer with a chainsaw is on the loose. A bit earlier than scheduled but whatever.

Everyone runs out the tent, and I'm about to go after them when I look back and see Noah still lounging on his chair.

"You're just gonna stay here? One of them could get killed!" I shout at him.

"I'm not gonna catch up, so who cares?" Noah shrugs.

This makes my blood boil. "What's the matter with you!?" I yell at him.

"Mm-hm," he mutters in response as he keeps gazing at the screens.

I run out of the tent. Everyone else has gone out of my sight, but you won't see me giving up.

Izzy's POV

I'm running. I'm screaming. I'm screaming. I'm running.

I can hear the other campers now. Yelling 'That's the reeeal psycho killer with a chainsaw' over and over.

I look back. The real killer is on my trail.

Dang it. I thought separating from Courtney and Leshawna would give me a chance.

You know what, psycho? Bring it on!

I stop dead in my tracks, turn around, and let out my loudest howl.

"AWOOOOOOOO!"

The psycho freezes. He gazes at me for a couple of seconds, then he falls to the ground. Unconscious.

"You're ok!" Zeke exclaims as he runs over to give me a hug. The rest of the campers join in as soon as they catch up, including Heather. I guess even she doesn't want anyone to die on this show.

"That…was wicked!" Chris says as he brings his hands to his knees. "Everyone report to the campfire pit so I can announce the results!"

Lindsay's POV

I sit on a chopped-down tree trunk next to Sadie, who looks kind of sad.

"Why are you so sad?" I whisper to her.

"Sooo…this challenge didn't go 100% to plan," Chris annunciates. "Some of you didn't even face a killer, and some of you tried scaring the other campers…man do you guys make good TV."

"It's obvious to everyone that Izzy wins invincibility."

"Yay! Go me!" Izzy cheers as she sits on Zee's lap.

"And sadly, it's equally unanimous that Sadie walk the Dock of Shame…"

"No!" I scream, then Kyle shushes me.

"…since she was the only one that screamed and bolted without the killer even being there. I don't even know where Heather and Geoff got those wigs."

Sadie sighs and gets up from her dead tree, but someone shouts, "Wait!"

Heather's POV

I roll my eyes as Courtney stands up.

"I'll go instead!"

She sighs, "Most of you know by now that Heather is blackmailing me and Ezekiel. If I go, the rest of you might actually have a chance."

"Courtney," Zeke gasps, looking over at her.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Courtney?" Chris asks.

"Yes. I'll…I'll take one for the team," she sighs.

One day they're going to study Total Drama in English class and kids will be forced to write long-ass essays about Courtney's 'character development'.

"Then it's settled," Chris says. "Courtney and Sadie will be walking the Dock of Shame tonight."

"What? I said 'instead of her!" Courtney protests.

"Yeah, but you don't make the rules around here," Chris smirks. "Now get out of my sight."

"Don't do this, Courtney," Sadie pleads.

"It'll be fine. 4 against 3 is still better than 5 against 3," Courtney shrugs.

Courtney is too wrapped up in her own 'big hero move' to see how stupid this plan is. We're only going to have two more proper vote-offs this season.

After that there's the loser vote. Shit! I forgot all about that. I doubt they're going to make the same stupid move as last time.

Surely they'll vote Noah over me. At least I can say I didn't sexually harass anyone. Unless you count Trent in season 1, but who even remembers that?

Oh well, it's just one obstacle of many. And I've got no shortage of tricks up my sleeve.

Courtney's POV

Our boat pulls up at Playa Des Losers. Even though it's dark I can make out a figure on the dock.

"Nice one," Duncan scowls as he sits cross-legged in his swimming shorts.

"I did what I had to," I frown as I step off the boat.

"You just had to have the moral high-ground," he continues. "Hi, I'm Courtney and I is better than thou."

"See you later, Courtney," Sadie says awkwardly, and I wave her off.

"At least now the others have a chance. Geoff still has a penalty vote," I point out.

"It's not about that," Duncan says. "I just don't know you anymore. What happened to the old Courtney? The girl who wanted to win no matter what?"

"Look, I've just learned that winning isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"What do you mean?"

I look around. There are cameras on the dock, but they never bother airing stuff from the Playa so maybe it will be fine.

"I became a Wall Street lawyer. Like I always wanted. I defended corporations on their shady business practices, and their tax evasion and…most of the time they were guilty and I knew it, but I was always able to convince the jury otherwise. I got severe depression and my blood pressure turned to shit, but I was too scared to quit."

"Woah, I'm sorry," Duncan replies.

"I'm happy I got this second chance. I wanted to be the good guy for once. And I'm so done with lying. That's why I went along with Heather's blackmail."

"I get it, totally," Duncan shrugs. "Being the bad guy is only fun for so long."

We look at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"If you're waiting for me to kiss you," Duncan says as he stands up on the dock. "I don't think this is the right time."

"Oh, please," I sigh, rolling my eyes. "But can you stay? I don't want to be alone right now."

"Okay," Duncan shrugs. He sits back down on the dock, then he leans over and awkwardly wraps his arms around me.

"You give the worst hugs ever," I giggle.

"I wasn't held a lot as a child," he says, and we both laugh.

Sadie's POV

The receptionist gives me my room key and I head for the elevator.

I notice someone walking over from the corner of my eye.

"Hi, Sadie," Bridgette says, giving me a wave.

"Hi, Bridgette," I reply with a smile.

"I'm sorry you got eliminated. You were one of my favourites to win," she says.

"Thanks," I respond, and the lift opens.

We both get inside, and after it closes she says, "Room 203."

"What?"

"Room 203."

"What about room 203?"

"I think you know."

"Floor 2!" the elevator announces.

I sigh, "You do know. You're a mind reader."

"Not really," Bridgette giggles. "Good luck."

I can hear moaning coming from room 201. Are there any couples in the Playa right now?

Here we are, room 203.

I take a deep breath and knock on the door.

Ten seconds pass, and no answer.

Maybe she's not there.

Maybe I shouldn't do this.

Maybe it's time we both moved on.

I turn to walk away when the door swings wide open.

"Is that roooom service?" Katie says in a slurred voice.

I turn to face her.

"Woah," she says with wide eyes. "Wooooah!"

"Yeah, I'm…I'm here," I say awkwardly, scratching my neck.

"Aw, I knew iiiiit," she says in the same slurred tone. She reaches out to hug me but she misses and falls on the ground.

"Are you okay?" I gasp, helping her up.

"I am now," she grins. "Saaaadie."

"Are you drunk?" I ask.

"No," she sighs. "They don't have alcohol here. But they have the next best thing."

She's about to fall over again but I catch her and bring her to her bed. I notice several pill bottles on her bedside table.

"Huh?" I pick one of them up and read the label. "Prozac?"

Katie sits up and giggles nervously.

"Where did you get this?" I ask angrily.

Katie starts howling with laughter, "The medical staff here will believe anything."

"Katie," I sigh, sitting down on the bed beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's a looooong story," Katie says, falling into my arms. "That's a lie. It's a very short story. Noah was lying to me. He used me. It was all fake."

"What!?"

"Yeah. And now I know how you feel."

"No, I was being stupid," I say. I can feel a tear coming along. "If you really wanted that job in Korea, you should have taken it."

"That job feels so dumb and stupid," Katie sighs. "Our friend…uh…friendliness is what matters the most."

"Aw," I squeeze her tighter, but my eyes pop open when I hear a faint scream. "Trent! Oh, Trent!"

"Is that…"

"Yes. It took long enough," Katie giggles.

Votes – N/A

Eliminated – Justin, Tyler, Bridgette, Beth, DJ, Gwen, Izzy, Duncan, Cody, Katie, Eva, Harold, Trent, Owen, Duncan (again), Sadie, Courtney

Remaining – Ezekiel, Geoff, Heather, Izzy, Leshawna, Lindsay, Noah

It's a double elimination! Yeah…the opposition didn't stand much of a chance. Heather and Geoff just had more targets to choose from.

So let's start with Sadie.

She is a character who I've never seen explored much in competition fics. So I decided to make her and Katie fall out so they could be on different teams and have two separate plots.

At the beginning I just really liked having Sadie interact with different people on the Bass. First Tyler, then Ezekiel, and later Courtney.

Then she went through her phase where she became uncertain about being mad at Katie and took it out on Courtney. (Some people understandably found this annoying and I did try to end it as soon as I could)

And in the merge she became one of the key swing votes after Courtney got blackmailed.

Overall, I think I did as much as I could with a character that had very little canon to go on.

And moving onto Courtney…

I think I just summed up Courtney's overall arc pretty well.

The Courtney here was the Courtney who had already gone on to achieve everything that an A-Type could want, only to realise that it sucked.

That's not to say that Courtney wasn't up for playing the game. One thing I like is writing relationships between characters who barely interacted in canon, or indeed much in fanon. I had a lot of fun writing her alliance turned friendships with Ezekiel and Sadie.

Courtney volunteering to leave in this chapter was a very last-minute decision, but I do think there was some build-up with Courtney refusing to vote Duncan a couple episodes ago. If you're not happy about it, that's what reviews are for.

Fav and follow if you haven't already and I will see you next time :)