Chris smirked to himself as he sat in front of a fireplace with a monocle covering his right eye. "My my, what a delightful place to have a season" he smirked to himself as he reached over to grab a snack, delicately eating them "well, I suppose I should give us a recap of last time on Total Drama Castle Chaos! Last week's challenge was rather simple, all they had to do was find some keycards… yet somehow a lot of them found a way to screw that up" it showed Strider tied up in a cell and Lester getting pelted with spaghetti. "But in the end we got our teams, some interns, and some sweet new digs!" It showed the groups unpacking after Max and Darla lead them around "but now it's a new day. And someone is going home today. The real question is, who will it be? Find out today on Total Drama Castle Chaos!"
/
Confessional: Olena
"I like the promise my team has" Olena had a slightly confident smile "Phoebi and Haden at least seem to be smart; Aaron and Xavier seem like the innocent helpful type; and I see Lucy, Strider, Dylan, and Vaughn will be my wild cards, but could have their uses. Rosalina…. Every team needs some easy fodder. Then there's Oscar. He may be the only one to really throw this team off with how he behaves. At the very least he'll be gunning for me no doubt. So I just need to find a potential group I can trust to help me lead." she sighed a little "This team is lucky they got me to take the leading role"
XXX
Confessional: Vincent
"I like the team I have" he smiled to himself "they all seem like rather kind people I have to say. It's nice seeing Lester has someone like Dan, and everyone else has a friend on the team too. It might just be the perfect chance for Violet to spread her wings and make some pals" he sighed a little "at the very least a guy can hope…"
XXX
It was very early in the morning as Vaughn was lying down on his stomach in his bed. It wasn't the most comfortable or anything, but it was nice to sleep in peace. He had some drool going down the corner of his mouth. He snored softly until someone started shoving bread against his lips. Vaughn slowly started groaning and squirming in his sleep before he slowly opened his eyes. He looked up to see Xavier smiling down at him with some bread.
"Xavier… what the hell?" The short ginger scowled a little.
Xavier smiled "last night I was too excited to be here! I started making some bread and I wanted you and Aaron to try some!"
Vaughn glared slightly before taking the bread and biting into it "happy?"
Xavier just continued to stare expectantly at him "did you like it? Was it good enough? Do you think I waited too long while making it? I want to know you like it before I make it every morning"
"Yes, it's more than fine!" Vaughn started biting into it again. Eventually, Xavier smiled and turned away to go and wake Aaron with more bread.
When Vaughn was sure Xavier wasn't looking he threw the bread over his shoulder and onto the sleeping Dylan. Dylan rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up, curiously looking at the bread that suddenly appeared.
Confessional: Dylan
Dylan was quietly eating the bread, smiling a little before giving the confessional camera a thumbs up and a nod.
XXX
Meanwhile, the Peasant girls room was pretty quiet this early in the morning. Excluding Claire who was playing a game on her portable console. Problem was, she kept almost everyone up all night because she forgot she didn't need the commentary for her games anymore.
"Ah, that was stupid! I totally hit that!" Claire groaned loudly. The bed next to her had Violet, who was taking to her commentary as well as she had taken to everything else that wasn't Vincent. The purple hair girl scowled as she tried covering her ears with the pillows, but it didn't really cover anything. She turned to the other girls to see Penny, Vivian, and Mina in a pretty similar situation. Julia, however, wasn't even in the room at this point and Haromnia was writing in her book.
Violet scowled as she stood up and walked over to Claire's bed, throwing the sheets off and grabbing her game console.
"Hey, that was mine!" Claire frowned and tried to grab it back. Violet, however, just held it further away from the gamer girl like she was punishing a small child.
"You. Kept. Us. Up. All. Night!" Violet walked away before placing it under her pillow. Claire sat at the edge of her bed, frowning over at her.
"Try and take this while I get my sleep back and I'll snap it in half" Violet murmured as she closed her eyes.
Claire gasped in shock at her statement before turning to the other girls for some support. However, all three of the annoyed girls were alreadly lying on their sides and getting back to sleep.
"If it helps, I found your gaming quite entertaining" Harmonia smiled sweetly at her before getting back to writing in her notes.
/
Most of the contestants were down in the large cafeteria room, eating their first servings of Chef's food. Vivian was standing in line, slowly walking forward and moving her tray forward only for Chef to drop a large blob of gray goo on it.
"Uh… will I die if I eat this?" the attractive young woman asked awkwardly. Chef quietly glared down at her before she finally got the message and skittered away.
"Yea, I would prefer if I got something that will help stimulate my brain. I know I'm naturally smart, but I would prefer to have something that keeps my brain growing" Phoebi smirked slightly at Chef as she held her tray expectantly.
Chef stared down at her before dropping a blob of gray goop into her hair "keep the line movin missy or else you can be the first to know what the Mystery Meet is for next week"
Phoebi quietly gulped and sped over to her team's table. Sitting right next to Lucy and across from Olena and Strider. Strider quietly glared over at the two as she ate, but Phoebi and Lucy could hardly care.
However, Olena noticed the conflict and frowned "is something the matter Strider?"
"I don't want to be on a team with these two! They can't take a joke and tied me up to get me eliminated".
"I don't remember that happening" Lucy mumbled, not looking up from her food.
"You totally did!" Strider yelled at them, just getting more annoyed when Olena put a hand on her shoulder.
"I would prefer our team working together as well as possible please. Conflict on our team will make things a lot harder to work around. Just imagine a challenge where you're stuck with either one of them. Are you just going to throw the challenge because you don't like them?" While Olena didn't look mad, Strider still felt intimidated by Olena's constant eye contact.
Strider quieted down, not wanting to challenge her. Lucy and Phoebi both had small smirks seeing Olena at work. Further down the table was where the rest of their team sat, with Oscar giving a small frown to Olena.
Confessional: Oscar
"She's already forcing her will onto members of the team. I would be more annoyed, but the more overbearing she is the more likely they'll turn on her. So I think I'll just be laid back and let her be her own worst enemy"
XXX
Vaughn yawned a bit as he smiled at his two new buddies "I hope you two slept well last night. I always have trouble sleeping in new places, I'm sure you know how it is. I would have slept better if I didn't mysteriously wake up" he side eyed Xavier who just smiled back.
Aaron nodded meekly "y-y-yea, I c-c-can understand zat... B-but I like it. It's nice to have a d-d-d-different kind of bed for once"
Xavier couldn't help but smile having two friends to talk to already "I completely agree! These beds are super comfy, and even more useful for jumping on"
"D-d-d-do you r-really still j-j-jump on ze bed?" Aaron whispered towards him.
"Oh, uh, no?" Xavier and Aaron shared eye contact for a few seconds before Xavier turned to quietly eat his sandwich. Quietly side-eyeing him every other moment.
"Right…. Anyways, I have faith in this team. Olena will be a strong leader no doubt and I'm excited to work under her" Vaughn smiled.
"S-s-s-she seems a l-little b-bossy for me" Aaron smiled bashfully as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"She's just trying to do the best she can. Our team has a few outliers besides us that can naturally be hard to handle. No offense to you Dylan" Vaugh smiled over at Dylan who had just been sitting there and quietly picking at his food. The goop slowly started crawling away from him as he nodded towards Vaughn.
Vaughn continued to smile at him "I like you Dylan. Not often you have someone who only talks when they need to"
Dylan just shrugged at him, not really sure if he should take that as a compliment.
Confessional: Vaughn
"Well well well. What an interesting team I've found myself on. I lucked out with Aaron and Xavier no doubt about that. But this whole team is basically a powder keg waiting to go off! I mean, breakfast isn't even over with and I've already thought about a million ways to get some of the team to go off on the others! Not to sound like that idiot Scott or anything but I really do feel like a kid in a candy store… that's on fire!" Vaughn snickered a bit to himself.
XXX
At the other team's table, things were much less intense. Everyone besides Mina were just sitting at their tables and chatting amicably. Excluding Julia who was basically the only one willing to test to see if the food was edible. She took one scoop into her mouth before she had to run off while covering her mouth. Most of the others just continued on with their conversation though.
"So that's why my sister and I wanted to compete. Honestly, I was a bit worried one of us might get turned down. I would feel pretty bad running around while Violet's stuck at home" Vincent smiled a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"You and your sister have quite the dynamic" Harmonia quietly mused "I do hope your relationship ends before you get to a Hapsburgean level of loving each other"
Vincent tilted his head slightly while Violet just glared at her "I would appreciate if people stopped trying to say lewd things towards my brother"
"Lewd your brother? Oh, I have no such intentions towards that Miss Violet. I merely enjoy examining people's behavior from time to time. And twins have always been a slight interest I must admit"
Violet silently stared at her "I'll… take that as a good thingt…"
Vivian lightly laughed to herself at the ongoing conversation before shutting up when Violet turned her anger towards her "s-sorry"
Claire was silently sitting away from the group, tapping the goop with her fingers to pass the time as she sighed.
Confessional: Claire
"This stinks" she held her head as she hunched forward "I have no connection to the outside world without that game console. I need to steal it back from her as soon as humanly possible. I seriously don't even know what to do with my hands at this point, and it's only just lunch!"
XXX
While their conversion was ongoing, Penny leaned back in her seat with an amused smile before turning towards Lester and Dan sitting at the end of the table "you two want in on this?"
"N-n-no, I think we'll be more t-than fine down here" Dan smiled weakly at her.
Penny shrugged off his nervousness and nodded at him before joining back in their current conversation, which was mostly Dino listing off his badges… again.
"You never do get tired of that stuff hu big guy?" Vincent smiled over at Dino, who just nodded back.
"It's what made me the man I am today!"
"I do hate to end this conversation of ours Dino, but has anyone seen our teammate with the bottomless stomach?" Harmonia asked rather politely.
The group slowly looked around before realizing Mina was gone "hu… I remember her leaving our room this morning" Penny mumbled quietly.
/
Chef was minding his own business in his large kitchen. He had the place all to himself as he chopped up some meat in the corner. He could hear something crawling around in his kitchen, so he turned around quickly, pointing his sharp knife towards the noise. He was expecting some large rat or something, but only found Mina munching on some extra slop. She slowly slurped it up before smiling at him "sup?"
"W-what are you doing in my kitchen!?" Chef yelled in anger as he stomped towards her. "You contestants should know by now that my kitchen is off limits!" To his surprise, Mina didn't seem too worried by his yelling. In fact, she was still smiling.
"Sorry…. I just wanted to see the Chef Hatchet at work! I mean, you make the greatest food on television. I almost drooled while waiting in line. The smell alone made me happy I signed up for this." she wiped her lips a bit as she went back to munching on her goop.
Chef quietly glared at her before slowly stepping back "Fine. You can watch. But if I hear even a peep from ya, I'm feeding you cat food for lunch tomorrow!"
Mina smiled up a bit and rubbed her belly "I'm sure even someone like you could make that taste delicious"
Chef pinched the bridge of his nose with a small groan "you kids seriously get weirder and weirder every season…"
/
Chris, while the contestants ate, was walking around the castle and looking at the tapestry on the walls "this place is crazy…. Almost looks like a real castle!"
"Yep. Mr. G wasted no expense!"
Chris jumped in surprise, quickly turning to just see Max smiling at him. "Oh… you. Well, actually, I was looking for you. Chef said he had no idea where this first challenge was going to be and my time is worth too much to waste it on looking for a ballroom"
"Oh, that's not hard to find at all!" Max smiled in amusement "it's here on the first floor, opposite of the tennis room"
"...there's a tennis room?" Chris deadpanned.
"Sure is. I can call your contestants over if you want"
"Hehe, no way kid. I never let interns do the part of the job I actually look forward to." Chris walked past her with a smug look.
As the host walked down the long alleyway, with the only light being the sunshine outside the windows. On one side of the hall were old knight armor that hadn't been touched in who knows how long. As he walked he could almost hear something moving behind him. He moved quickly to try and catch it but everything looked the exact same. Chris scowled as he picked at his ear, not sure if what he heard was just him finally going off the deep end. He was about to turn when he heard clanking in the halls beyond him. He turned around quickly, expecting nothing again only for all the armor to be turned and facing towards him.
Chris took a slight step back before slowly bringing back his composure and laughing snidely "hehe, nice one Chef. I'm not gonna get scared that easily"
When the host never got a response he kept up his confident smile before running past them, eventually getting to the tennis room. He panted and hunched over when he finally got out of their range "I almost miss the islands…"
Chris slowly pulled out a waki taki "yea, uh, contestants. Report to the ballroom please. Your first real challenge is about to commence."
Chris rubbed his face in exasperation "I hate when the joke is on the host"
/
After a while, both teams arrived at the ballroom, standing in their groups as they looked around this new room. Inside it had white marble floors and a ceiling that looked like it would go on forever. The entire room just screamed fancy.
"Well contestants, nice of you to all get here so fast. I expected it to take at least another hour" Chris smiled a bit at them, appreciating this group's actual punctuality.
"Well, we paid attention during the tour. It can't take that long to just walk here" Claire shrugged.
"Yea, only an idiot could get lost after an hour-long tour" Olena scoffed.
"Right. Yea. you can all shut up now" Chris rolled his eyes "anyways, your first challenge is pretty simple. All you have to do is do some nice, professional slow dancing with a partner. Think of it as like how old European royals had galas like this. Yea, that probably fits our theme."
All the contestants immediately looked at each other "do we really have to do that for a first challenge?" Lucy growled lowly.
"Yes, you do! And lucky you, you all get to do it with a partner! Go on, just think of this like a prom" Chris smirked as he backed up slightly. Everyone awkwardly looked at each other. The silence was only broken when Dino bowed towards Vivian.
"Excuse me mrs. Chan, but I would like to be your partner please. I promise to not disappoint, I won three separate dance based badges. I'm also surprisingly light on my feet"
Violet blushed slightly and backed up a bit "oh, uh, sorry. But… Harmonia really wanted to do it with me. She was, uh, talking all about fancy old dancing routines?"
Haromina tilted her head slightly before showing a faint smirk as she nodded along with her "that is correct. I am sorry mr. boyscout. But there are plenty of other fine girls on the team who would most definitely enjoy your company"
Dino naturally looked dejected, but nodded "I understand, I didn't mean to try and sound like I was forcing that idea on you. I wish you both best of luck in the challenge" Dino walked away dejectedly.
Lester leaned against the wall quietly "m-man, I always get picked last f-f-for this stuff" he looked down sadly before noticing someone else walk up to him. Lester raised his head with a small smile before seeing it's just Dan.
"Oh, h-h-hey there. Too many girls want to dance with you?" Lester teased a little as he pushed up his glasses.
"Actually, uh, I don't want to screw this up too bad. Can we just partner up for this?" Dan smiled bashfully.
"Oh, sure" the small geek shrugged "I never get chosen for these kinds of things"
Dan smiled and grabbed his hand "I promise to not make this weird"
Lester just smiled a little "hey, if you do I-I-I will only make it worse"
/
Meanwhile, all Peasants had moved to make teams pretty quickly, with Olean took Strider, Oscar went with Aaron, Xavier grabbed Vaughn before he knew what was happening, and Dylan just shrugged and took Rosalina. Leaving just three members on their team left. Phoebi, Haden, and Lucy.
"This doesn't make sense, why would Chris split us into duos when we start off with odd numbers!?" Lucy growled in annoyance, mostly because of the people she would have to team up with.
"Well, he likely didn't plan anything out. Just look at the first challenge. He has no clue what he's doing. As to be expected really" Haden smirked to himself "but you two seem to really be close, I simply couldn't dream of getting in your way. So, I'll take the bullet and sit out"
"What do you mean getting in our way? What are you trying to get at?" Phoebi scowled.
Haden just turned to Chirs "sir, I'm sure you're aware of our number difference but assuming one person from our team sits out, I will understand being the one to do that"
"Yea, sure, whatever Oliver. How about you Jesters, you got someone to sit out?"
Julia quietly raised her hand and nodded towards Chris.
"Wait, we had the option to sit out?" Violet quickly asked as she turned away from her partner, who was just a bored Mina looking down at the ground.
"Well then Julia, you and Haden just get to enjoy the professional dancing. Now, Chef, if you would be so kind as to play us a beat?" Chris smirked as he ignored Violet.
Chef smiled as he walked in, dressed in DJ attire. He walked over to a small elevated part of the floor before he cracked his knuckles and neck. He pressed a button on a stand, causing a large DJ stand to come up from the ground.
"They're really putting everything into this" Vincent mused as he stared in awe at the large stand.
Chef got up to the top of it and placed a DJ disk down. He smirked and started playing it, only for some classical music to play.
Lucy groaned loudly as she put her hands on Phoebi's waist "I already hate this challenge"
"Don't act like I love this either. I could be dancing with anyone else if I wanted to" Phoebi looked away with a slight blush.
Everyone continued to dance for a moment, all of them doing rather well, even though Penny was annoyed she had to stand on Vincent's shoes to actually dance with him.
"You're doing pretty well" Vincent smiled down at her.
"Yea, sure. You don't have to patronize me" Penny mumbled.
"Oh come on, you're great at this!" Vincent continued to smile down at her. Penny eventually relented and smiled back "t-thanks"
Penny awkwardly looked away as Vincent held her close. She looked towards Dan and Lester. They were both dancing pretty awkwardly, as would be expected from people like them. However, Dan took one misstep and suddenly, they both fell down into a sudden pit. They both screamed in surprise as they fell.
Penny jumped in surprise, quickly looking around just to see Chris laughing to himself "yea, sorry kiddos. I may have forgotten to mention that this wasn't just dancing. We would never make it that simple! One misstep and you'll get eliminated, along with a nice little punishment for some extra fun"
Claire smiled a bit "oh shoot, this'll be like that dance dance game!" Claire started dancing a little faster with a small, confident smirk "I finished that whole game on one stream"
Dino smiled seeing how fast she was going and just went along with her. A few steps away Violet and Mina were dancing together, and it was very sloppy and slow. As they stepped to the rhythm Mina stepped on her foot by accident.
"What the hell, watch where you're stepping!" Violet growled while glaring down at her.
"Sorry… rhythm was never my thing…. I've never danced with a pretty girl before anyways" Mina quietly mumbled to herself as she totally stopped once she started getting yelled at. Violet scowle\\ shock went straight through their bodies, electricuting them. Violet's hair poofed up while Mina just coughed out some smoke
"I… think I'm medium rare now…" Mina groaned and collapsed on the ground.
"And another two are for our Jesters! Let's see if any of these kids actually know how to dance after the break"
/
"I'm sure you understand this Strider, but I would appreciate it if you took this challenge seriously. I promise to keep you from being eliminated until the merge if you cooperate" Olena didn't even look at Strider as she spoke, rather choosing to watch the others and make sure they weren't screwing up ther challenge for them.
"Look, I'm sorry about annoying those other two. I know when to prank and not to. I just thought the first challenge we could have some fun!"
"This game is not about fun," Olena surmised. "Hey, Rosalina, stop focusing on Vaughn and Xavier! You have a partner to stare at!"
Rosalina immediately snapped back to her partner "yes ma'am!"
Olena smirked a bit before turning back to her own partner "see Strider? This is what a well oiled machine like our team can be like if we all just follow my lead." her expression became colder "I would recommend you choose to follow my lead like them"
Strider started sweating a little as she shook her head "I-I-I have no intentions of messing with our team's chemistry…"
"Good. I will choose to believe you. So please don't disappoint me"
Strider meekly smiled and slowly nodded. As Olena confidently stated that, her team continued to dance well to the music, while the Jesters slowly started improving on their forms. Harmonia smiled softly at Vivian as she led their dance "you're quite quick on your feet Vivian. I haven't had such an impressive dance partner in a long while"
"O-oh, thanks Harmonia. I doubt I'm that good though"
"Nonsense, you are quite the dancer. Back in the day I'm sure you'd be the bell of the ball. Though I do wonder why you turned down the invitation to dance with Dino. He seems like a delightful young man"
Vivian sighed a little "he seems nice, but can I be honest with you?"
Harmonia's smile grew slightly as she nodded courteously "of course dear. I always found so much fun in helping the problems of others back at my school"
"I came here to be normal. Y'know, hang out with people my age and have some fun. I don't really want Dino… simping after me this whole season. I know that's presumptive and all, but most guys who are nice to me are nice to me for obvious reasons"
"Oh, of course. You being so attractive, it only makes sense that it would be like that for you. I have no problem helping you with this problem of yours"
Vivian smiled at her "that's very kind of you. But really, don't worry so much about Dino. I'm sure he's just trying to be nice" as she spoke, Dino tripped and knocked him and Claire down on the ground. Seconds later they both have a red liquid drop from the ceiling and cover them.
"Ugh, what is this!?" Claire groaned as she tried shaking it off.
"Don't worry, it's just colored water. Or not. I just got here so I can't verify this" Chris snickered "but you're both out. Leaving only two groups left for the Jesters!"
Claire and Dino just sighed and went to sit with the rest of the losers on their team. Violet sat far away from the rest of them, keeping her head down on her knees as she sighed in annoyance. Claire sat down next to Lester, who quickly started scooting away seeing her still dripping with the red liquid.
"This isn't going well" Penny murmured to Vincent "not a single one of the Peasants has gone down yet. We need to think of a way to at least get a few of them"
Vincent quietly shook his head "we don't need to cheat. Harmonia and Vivian are doing wonderfuly and I have no doubt you and I could keep this going" he smiled warmly down at her.
"Fine. fine" Penny sighed "I don't want a target on my back anyways..."
The groups continued to slowly dance. Not much happening for a while as they really got the hang of things.
"I see this is getting more boring than even I originally thought" Chris yawned before turning back to Chef "speed it up big guy, we can't let them get too comfy!"
Chef smirked back at Chris as he flipped a switch on his DJ stand. Suddenly the music became much faster "remember to try and keep up with the beat kiddos!"
Almost immediately after he said that, Rosalina and Dylan got hit by two engines that were launched by a catapult at the side of the ballroom. Right once they got out Olean looked to the others "just keep up a good pace. No need to panic about it speeding up so minisqualy"
Xavier, hearing her voice, quickly turned to look over at the team's unofficial leader. However, the moment he turned to look he ended up tripping and falling onto the ground after Vaughn extended a leg out in front of him "woah, careful there Xavier" Vaughn warned his friend. However, since he was looking down at his partner he didn't see a large hammer coming down from the ceiling and basically turning him into a floor pancake.
Phoebi and Lucy, on the other hand, were still doing rather well. However, Phoebi was staring a bit too much at Lucy to notice Xavier on the ground, resulting in both her and Lucy to trip over him and fall on each other on the ground. Lucy rubbed her head, just groaning in annoyance while Phoebi started becoming a blushing mess at their proximity. Olena groaned just watching the chaos forming around her team.
"Guess just yelling at your teammates isn't a good strategy. Who would've guessed that" Oscar taunted as he twirled Aaron around.
"C-c-c-can you not spin me so fast" Aaron murmured weakly as Oscar continued to spin him while smiling over at Olena.
Confessional: Olena
"Well, I guess I exaggerated how well this team would work together. I mean, it's the first challenge and all, but this is such a bad first impression"
XXX
Confessional: Phoebi
Phoebi was still blushing as she covered her cheeks "j-jeez, Lucy fell right on top of me…" she looked at the camera before realizing she was blushing "I'm so embarrassed that I embarrassed myself in front of everyone. Y-yea, that's it"
XXX
And with those three down, it was down to the final four for both teams. Chris yawned and leaned against the wall "you're all sure doing well… I wish this room had a good gimmick" as Chris leaned back he hit a hidden button that was camouflaged into the wall, causing several parts of the floor to collapse, dropping Oscar, Aaron, Harmonia, and Vivian into the ground below.
"Oh hey, now we're cooking. I wonder which team will drop next!" Chris smirked.
The floor continued to drop under the last four contestants. Vincent danced around the obstacles pretty easily, slowly moving as he smiled down at Penny. Meanwhile, Olena was doing everything in her power to avoid the falling floor. She was practically dragging Strider along when she took one wrong step and dropped into the hole.
Vincent continued to dance before dipping Penny down with a smile. Penny quietly stared up to him, blushing a bit out of embarrassment.
Confessional: Vincent
Vincent smiled somewhat confidently "me and Violet used to get taught how to dance at a sophisticated school. I guess Violet was wrong thinking those would never come in handy!"
XXX
Chris, to the side, smiled and raised his hands "and the Jesters won today's challenge! I'll see you all at the elimination ceremony to the ri-"
Chris was cut off when Max snuck up behind him and started whispering "wait, seriously?" Chris deadpanned as he turend towards her. Maxine just nodded. Chris slammed the button on the wall again, raising everyone up. Vincent slowly put Penny down as they both looked confused over at the host.
"Ok. so. Change of plans then. Jesters won the first of TWO challenges. So, Peasants, you guys have another shot of not being this season's first big loosers. I hope you don't waste it"
"And what is this challenge exactly?" Phoebi deadpanned "is it another challenge you pulled right out of your ass?"
Lucy snickered a bit next to her, getting a larger smile from Phoebi.
"Hahaha, very funny. But it's hard even for people like you to ruin a challenge like this. Chef! Take the kiddos down to the kitchen, their next challenge is making a big meal for a "special" guest!"
"Well, this sucks." Violet grumbled a bit as she moved to stand inbetween Vincent and Penny.
"Yea, we worked so hard for this tooooooo" Lester whined as he lowered his head.
Olena, on the other hand, had a small smile on his face "alright people, this is our chance to not screw everything up again. If we work hard enough I don't doubt we will start back up our winning streak"
"You mean if you don't screw it up with your leadership right?" Oscar grumbled as he rolled his eyes in response to her 'speech'.
"We really don't need that negativity Oscar. We get more than enough of that as is" Strider quickly snapped back as she side eyed Phoebi and Lucy.
"I'm really glad I'm not on their team" Claire smiled as she lightly nudged Julia. Julia just nodded a bit, only smiling a little bit.
"Get going maggots!" Chef yelled at them just standing around, kicking most of them into high gear as they started running.
/
Once the teams were down into the kitchen, both stood on opposite ends as Chef stood menacingly in front of them "well well well. Looks like I'm in charge of the second round here. You all better understand the situation you found yourselves in" Chef snickered as he chopped a piece of meat on the table next to him.
"C-can we ask what the challenge is?" Lester murmured weakly.
"Quite you!" Chef yelled at the short contestant, quickly getting him to quiet down "but, your challenge is making a nice meal for Chris's boss. Screw this up and we can very easily make your lives miserable"
"Things can get worse?" Phoebi snarked.
"A whole lot worse!" Chef barked as he slammed his knife down on the table "now get to work!"
Both teams didn't have the balls to challenge Chef any further and quickly went to their cooking stations. Olena pretty quickly stood up to her group and put on a chef hat "alright team, this is our chance to make a comeback. Vaughn, you-"
Oscar just raised his hand as she spoke. Olena sighed but pointed at him "speak up Oscar"
"Yea, uh, Xavier literally woke up all us guys with bread he made. Maybe you should let him lead us for this? I'm sure we'll get a lot more done then"
"Oh yea, that's actually a pretty good point" Xavier nods "I didn't even think of that"
"Uh, counter point" Lucy quickly raised her finger "Xavier tripped up hard in our first round. Can we really trust him to handle leading us?"
"That's a good point too" Xavier rubbed his chin.
"I-I-I-I don't zink y-you vere supposed to agree with her on zat'' Aaron whispered towards his friend.
"Ok, how about this. Xav, you get to be the assistant Chef. Sound fair to everyone?"
Everyone seemed more than satisfied as they nodded "great. Now, for best team dynamics we need everyone to partner up with someone they know they can work with. So just use teams from the last round, Haden will just have to partner up with Vaughn and Strider. Xavier, anything they should make in particular?"
Xavier smiled a bit as he puffed his chest confidently "well, Vaughn, you brought up you're Irish. Do you know how to make Soda Bread?"
Vaughn smiled and nodded "yes sir Xavier sir! I know how to make it, mom used to make it all the time for me when I was younger"
"Great!" Xavier smiled "Lucy, you and Phoebi can try making some salad. I know you two argue a bit but I have no doubt you two can totally handle it!" Phoebi and Lucy both rolled their eyes to some degree but nodded.
"Then, you last four" he turned to Dylan, Rosalina, Aaron, and Oscar "you guys get to work on the main course of a potroast! Think you can handle it? Just kidding, I know you guys got this! Let's do this!" Everyone seemed to get pretty excited from Xavier's speech as they started getting into their groups and getting ready.
"I hate to admit it, but you did quite well leading them" Olena pat Xavier's back.
"Oh, thanks. I'm just lucky I know what I'm talking about. You're a good leader though Olena. Our team is lucky to have you" Xavier smiled up at her. Olena stared back at him, not quite sure how to take that.
"Well… I'm happy you trust me…"
/
On the other team, they all just kinda looked at each other "so, uh, who should do what?" Dan asked as he looked at the others expectantly. He was standing on the other side of Dino and away from most of the girls.
"We really just need someone to take a lead here" Penny spoke up, however no one turned to her.
"I think it would be fair if Julia led us. She did sit out in the last round" Harmonia mused as she side eyed the other girl.
"I'm not much of a leader" Julia waved her hands "I think we should use someone like Vincent instead. He's pretty capable and won us that last round."
"Our best shot of winning is by following my brother, I don't doubt that" Violet nodded a bit.
"Well, d-d-d-do we have an objection to Vincent leading?" Lester murmured as he looked down.
None of the others spoke up, being more than fine with Julia's line of thinking. Soon the group turned to Vincent, who just smiled and nodded "well, I'm hoping I don't disappoint you guys. I watched mom and the maids work on dinner from time to time, so I hope I remember some of the recipes they used"
"W-we're counting on you Vincent" Lester murmured.
Vincent smiled bashfully but nodded "we got this guys! Let's go show those Peasans what's up!"
Confessional: Lester
"So Vincent takes over the leading role. Eh, not like I can really complain about that honestly. Guy's pretty chill all things considered. Hell, the whole team seems really relaxed and kind…. Besides Dan" he leaned back in his seat as he tapped his chin. "He's so paranoid of girls he can't even stand by them without shaking a little. I hope I can help his problem before it costs us a win..."
XXX
The team split up into their own groups without Vincent having to tell them who to work with. Lester went to the end of the table and just looked down as he started working on Vincent's burgers when Dan walked up to him with a warm smile "hey man, guess I can help you on burgers then"
"O-o-oh, s-s-sorry Dan. b-but Julia wanted to w-work with me… a-and girls never want to do things with me." Dan frowned a little, but Lester just smiled more reassuringly at him "B-But Claire and Vivian seem to be open too"
Dan flinched a bit as he slowly turned towards Claire stirring a bowl like there was no tomorrow and Vivian cutting some potatoes "a-are you sure I can't just join you?"
"L-l-look Dan, I appreciate your company, b-b-but we need to have f-friends on the team or we're getting out fast. T-The team is f-full of girls"
Dan breathed in slowly "I-I can do it, don't worry... " he smiled weakly and gave a shaky thumbs up to his smaller friend "I-I-I appreciate you trying to help me get over my fear"
"No problem big guy" Lester turned him and lightly pushed him towards Vivian "n-now get in there big guy"
Dan stumbled towards her, and immediately looked down as he rubbed his hands together "u-um, I'm helping you now…"
Vivian looked over to him and gave a small warm smile "just start peeling there Daniel" she pointed her peeler at a pile of potatoes. Dan just quietly nodded and started peeling. Vivian quietly looked over at him, tilting her head a little.
/
While both teams started getting to work on their meals, Chris was standing outside of the castle's drawbridge with Darla and Maxine next to him. Chris sighed as he looked down at his watch "is he going to take all day?"
"Realx Chris. You know Mr. G as well as we do" Max yawned a bit before burping and giggling to herself "that was a good one!"
Chris waved in front of his face "that's disgusting! I had three seasons with Owen and one with Sugar, I don't need this"
"Is mr. host being a big bad baby?" Darla smirked mockingly at him.
"Oh shut up!" Chris snapped "I haven't hosted in years and I'm stuck with thunder thighs and the Queen of Sasse for the entire time"
"Thunder thighs… that's a good name for you Max" Darla smirked towards her fellow intern.
"Hm, you think so? That's not such a bad idea" Maxine smiled a bit as she looked into the sky.
Chris was just slowly rubbing his temple in exasperation when he noticed a helicopter slowly descend in front of them. Mr G slowly walked out of it and pulled down his shades with a small smile "I hope everything is in order McLean"
"Yea, yea. Chef has them working on their meal. I hope you're happy to be interrupting our challenge by the way"
"I am. Mostly because I'm paying for everything. So remember that next time I come in for a surprise challenge" he smirked as he walked past Chris, quickly being accompanied by his two interns. Leaving behind a furious Chris "I am too excited to send someone flying tonight…"
/
Back in the kitchen, both teams were working rather quickly, with Olena barking at her team while Xavier and Vincent quietly cheered them on.
"You're doing great Penny and Violet!" Vincent smiled at the two cooking some chicken on a grill.
Penny blushed a little and nodded her head, the image of Vincent dipping her quickly going back to the front of her mind "y-yea, uh, thanks." Violet side eyed her a bit seeing her blush but didn't say anything.
Oscar leaned back on his table as he stretched his arms "man, this stuff can be exhausting hu? Nice to take a break"
Dylan was sitting down on the ground next to Rosalina as they munched on some snacks. Olena walked over with a cold stare towards them "what are you three doing?"
"We finished" Dylan stated simply as he slowly munched on one of Rosalina's snacks.
"Yea, yea, yea. And it looked totally delicious!" Rosalina licked her lips as she smiled excitedly.
Olena rubbed her forehead and shook her head slowly "seriously? If you're done you should all go and help others finish first. Just look at Aaron" she pointed over to Aaron who was quietly doing most of the work for Phoebi and Lucy as they tried putting out the fire from their attempted meal.
"If we all crowd the last two groups it'll just make its own problem. Besides, Vaughn's group has it" Oscar waved his hand dismissively as he leaned back on the table.
"Oscar, you are a cancer on this team. I knew you would be, but somehow you did it faster than I thought" Olena growled quietly at him. Rosalina and Dylan could very easily see the argument forming and slowly slinked away.
"I don't know what you mean. I haven't even done anything" Oscar smirked smugly at her, slowly leaning up to face her.
"I won't even waste my time on a lost cause such as you. If we ever lose, everyone will know you're our weakest link. If you really wish to be taken out that fast I have no reason to argue with you"
"Keep telling yourself whatever you want" Olena stared him down for a few moments before slowly walking away and going up to Xavier "so, are we almost done then?"
"Yes ma'am! Just have to wait on group one, and Aaron's group is also almost done. I think we'll be able to pull this off" Xavier held his hand up for a high five towards her.
Olena just stared at his hand like this was a totally foreign gesture before awkwardly high-fiving him back "yes, good. I have faith you will execute this all to your best ability"
"Two minutes left, maggots!" Chef called into the kitchen from outside.
Vaughn, Oscar, and Aaron all quickly handed Xavier their meals "we're good to go"
Meanwhile, the Jesters were starting to rush. Lester and Julia finished since they basically worked in peace and quiet. The same went with Dan and VIvian, as Dan scraped the last of their potatoes when he scraped part of his finger. However, he didn't really notice the blood and just kept going. Vivian looked up from the one she was working on to see his bleeding finger and jumped a little "D-dan, don't panic but you're bleeding a little. Let me go get a bandaid"
"Oh, I am?" He looked down to it before shrugging "I really don't need you to get me one. It'll heal on its own"
As he spoke Vivian just ignored what he was saying and started grabbing a bandaid from a broom closet and started applying the bandaid. "I don't think Chris will like his meal having blood in it" It was Dan's turn to ignore everything she said, as he shut his eyes tightly. He felt his chest beating faster and faster, like he was about to have a heartattack.
He slowly opened his eyes to see Dino and Lester giving him two thumbs up, which didn't make him feel remotely better. Dan started breathing in slowly as he shook a little bit at her proximity.
"Hey, Dan, are you ok? Do you not do well with blood?" Dan looked to the side, realizing Vivian had already finished what she was doing.
"O-oh, u-u-uh, yea. Sure" Dan quickly went back to peeling his potato to try and forget what had happened.
Both teams finished up the last pieces before hearing a large buzzer sound "time's up!" Chef called as he slammed the door open "Jesters! You're up first!"
"Who wants to carry it out?" Claire asked as she looked at their four piece meal.
"Well, Vincent was our head chef, and Harmonia is basically dressed as a maid" Dino spoke up with a smile.
Harmonia smiled sweetly as she closed her eyes "please never call my attire "maid-like". My attire is nothing akin to that of a maids and I would rather you understand that. But I will be happy to help show off our traditional American meal"
"Yea, I'm fine with that" Vincent nodded as he grabbed the meals and put them on a cart. Harmonia and him grabbed the back of the cart and started pushing it out of the kitchen. The rest of their team followed behind them when they noticed Mr G sitting at the head of a large table.
"Who…. who's he?" Claire spoke up before anyone else could. "Did we get a really, really, really old intern as well?"
"He's the producer, so maybe don't jump to make fun of him so fast" Darla smirked over at her. Claire slowly zipped her lips shut.
"Well contestants, what do you have for me?" Mr G smirked fainlty as he rested his chin on his hands.
Vincent smiled as he stepped forward. Harmonia started placing down the plates of food "well, we went for something rather simple for you. Some burgers, mashed potatoes, chicken, and a nice beef stew."
Mr G hummed a bit in approval at the meal's presentation. He slowly bit into the burger before pulling back "four out of ten"
The team stared at him for a moment before finally speaking up "why the hell is it only a four!?" Violet finally spoke up as she raised her fist "Vincent was the head chef, no way it's below average!"
"Yea, we worked really hard on that food. How could we have possibly failed it?" Claire nodded a bit in annoyance "Cookin Mama, I got the world's fastest speedrun on stream. That's at least worth a seven"
"Well, first off one of you bit into every meal besides the stew…. And the stew most likely had some slurps in it. You should feel lucky" Mr G held up his burger to show several small bite marks.
Every single one of the Jesters turned to Mina, who just chuckled meekly "I…. got a little hungry. That's all" their stares slowly became more and more annoyed.
"Yea, well, next team please!" Mr G clapped his hands together as Chef and Max quickly cleaned the table for him.
Back in the kitchen, Xavier and Olena grabbed onto the sides of a cart, putting all their food onto it and pushed it out like the team before them. However, as they pushed Xavier tripped over something on the ground, accidentally pushing the cart forward and sending it flying into Dino and running him over.
Dino groaned from under the cart as two of the meals slammed on the ground, falling apart. Mina discretely picked up the meals and hid them in her shirt for later.
"Well, so far you're not selling me much on it" The producer stated dryly. Olena quickly ran out and grabbed the two trays that weren't destroyed from the baker's clumsiness.
"Sorry for that sir. Just a small mishap in the kitchen. But please, try this!" Olena set out the bread and salads, not really having much else of a choice.
"This is it? This is what you'd get as a entee for a normal restaurant." Mr G scoffed, taking a small bite out of his bread before spitting out a pink chunk "and this bread…. I don't even know what you did with it but I still need to get my stomach pumped" He starts standing up.
"Christopher, your Jesters win this challenge. Now I will get going now"
"Oh, really? Leaving so soon? That's such a shame" Chris feigned sadness "well, we'll sure miss you but goodbye"
Mr G just nodded and started walking off with Max and Darla still following behind him. Chris smiled at the two teams "well, you amused me with how much he hated your meals, so Peasants, for the first elimination I'll be nice and let you talk shop. I'm sure you all have plenty of people to target. Your team is a total mess. In an hour, meet me at the back of the castle and by the cemetery"
"C-Cemetary?" Aaron whispered in confusion to Vaughn. Vaughn just shrugged a bit, not really having much of an answer.
/
Xavier was sitting in the guy's room. He tripped up twice and both times he cost them a win. He just sighed a bit
Confessional: Xavier
"I won't be surprised if I get eliminated honestly" he had a disappointed look on his face "I knew I would get clumsy and fail the team, I just didn't expect to get out so soon too"
XXX
Confessional: Olena
Olena sighed a bit "I didn't want to be the team who lost a contestant first, but we will always be able to get past this next time around. I just need to get enough people behind voting out Oscar and we can all continue on to our deserved winning streak"
XXX
Confessional: Strider
"I have a good deal going on here, I didn't cost us the challenge so It's probably just Xavier or Oscar. But, to be totally sure, It's about time I started making myself a safety net" she tapped her temple with a small smirk as if she had a genius plan brewing.
XXX
Olena was walking through the halls when she suddenly got knocked over. She groaned and looked up to see Strider smiling down at her "hey, Olena! Since we lost and I didn't cost us the challenge, I was wondering if we could form an alliance and vote for Oscar? He didn't cost us the challenge but he will one day. Does this sound fair to you?"
Olena stared up at her, slowly catching up with what she was trying to get across "um…. That sounds fair to me. You were an asset to the team today"
"Great, I'll go get the others on our side" Strider smiled as she started running off again. Olena slowly raised herself back up only for her to get a tap on the shoulder. The person behind her stood in the dark so she could only see a wide smirk.
"What now?" The team leader asked dryly.
"I don't think you want to talk much, so I'll make this quick and simple if you follow me to a different room"
"Is everyone on this team pulling out secret alliances or something?" Olena raised her hands in annoyance.
"Well, it's like an alliance. But it's a lot more beneficial for the both of us. I even know who cost us that last challenge if you're keen on listening to a humbled weak man such as myself" He smirked the entire time he spoke.
Olena sighed but nodded "fine. Lead the way" Haden's smirk grew and he nodded, quickly turning to lead her towards another room.
/
After a while, the Peasants were sitting on stumps by the cemetery. Phoebi was sitting right next to a gravestone so she quietly scooted closer to the others.
"Well Peasants, you're our first losers of the season. That must be nice hu?" Chris snickered a bit as some of the peasants rolled their eyes.
"Keep it going Chris, we don't have all day" Phoebi grumbled.
"Zip it, I was getting to it. So, this season we'll be flinging whatever Chef has left in his kitchen instead of marshmallows. Sound good?" Chris could hear crickets "great! Rosalina, think fast! You and Dylan are safe!"
Chef grabbed a pot and flung two spoonfuls of fudge at the two. Rosalina widened her mouth and gulped it down, she rubbed her belly and smiled at the taste. While Dylan just silently took the fudge to the face and fell on his back.
"Same goes for Phoebi, Lucy, Vuahgn and Olena. You're also safe!" Vaughn held up his hand and caught the fudge in his grip before licking it off his palm "hu, not bad" meanwhile the other four ducked out of the way in time to not get a face full of it.
"Just leaving us with our big three losers. Xavier, you tripped up twice and failed at the one challenge your team expected you to carry in; Oscar, you're kinda lazy, and your arguinging with Olena is already somewhat of a pain; and Strider, well, your first impressions haven't been so great. But somehow, Xavier is safe" Chef threw the fudge at Xavier, who was too surprised to react as he got flung off his seat by the fudge.
"What? He's safe and I'm in the bottom two?" Oscar looked confused as he pointed to himself.
"Not my problem to know why" Chris smiled and shrugged "but one of you two is going home. Now, tonight's big loser is….
….
...
…
...
…
…
…
…
…
….
….
….
…
Strider, you're out girl"
"What!? Why am I out!?" Strider stood up, frowning deeply "I didn't do anything!"
"Not true" Haden held up a finger with a small smirk "after we failed the challenge a few of us went to look at what happened, and we found some evidence pointing at you. Exhibit A, the left behind was food coloring. Something a prankster like you would do. And exhibit B" he held up a tripwire "Another example like this of something a prankster would do. Must I go on?"
"I didn't use either of those! You saw me while we were baking the bread! And how do we know you didn't set me up!?"
"Oh, yea. He got me and Braniac here to go with him to investigate." Lucy pointed offhandedly over at Phoebi "he didn't touch anything and showed us everything before he touched stuff"
Strider was fuming, she was clutching her fist in anger. She was so angry she couldn't even get anything out. She started running at Haden when a coffin came out from under the ground, encasing her in it "let me out of here! Let me get him!" Strider yelled from inside the coffin before it sank into the ground. Seconds later it came back out from under the ground, but miles away as it shot Strider far into the distance.
Confessional: Haden
"Well, my original plan was to just stay in the back for most of the season, but I think I just found myself quite the gig. This team is totally dysfunctional. Any idiot would've noticed that by now. So obviously I realized this by the halfway point of the first challenge. But now, I just found myself in a potential job as Olena's crony. Olena is an honest enough person, just wanting to lead as well as she can. Like Courtney but maybe less pathetic. But if I can help expose people and be her secret police. Hey. free pass to the merge for me" He flashed his shit eating grin to the camera "I don't expect half the people watching this to get that though. But I also don't want to repeat myself. Oh well. I guess you can just pretend you understand my whole plan"
XXX
Confessional: Vaughn
"I guess I owe that detective kid one. I honestly didn't know who I wanted to eliminate. Xavier woke me up early this morning so I wouldn't have minded that. But I also know Olena was getting close to Strider strategically. So either way I won that elimination. Let's see…. Now that she's gone, maybe I should target Phoebi or Haden. Both seem pretty smart. Or, well, the girl claims to be smart so better safe than sorry there"
XXX
Chris paused the screen and leaned back in his seat "oh, how nice. We already have a team full of backstabbers. While the Jesters… really just get along. I wonder which team could possibly do better" The host snickered "but we had our first loser go. Can't say I'll miss Strider all too much though. But come back to see if our Peasants lose a second time in a row on Total Drama Castle Chaos!"
Votes:
Strider: Haden, Olena, Vaugh, Phoebi, Lucy, Aaron, Rosalina, Dylan
Oscar: Xavier, Strider
Xavier: Oscar
AN: I feel like this chapter was better than the last two, but that probably means it sucks lol. But yea, out first out is Strider the local prankster. A lot of the premerge has changed since I first started planning honestly, but Strider has almost always been my first out. I just didn't have much use for her, but hey, there's always next season for her at least.
22nd: Strider