Trigger Warning: just some blood and topic of death… or something like that. Idk, best to be safe than sorry lol
Chris was currently tapping the ground that Mina had crawled through, trying to peer into the darkness "well… I'm not sure if I really want to know where she came from" he murmured before looking back to the camera.
"Hello and welcome back to Castle Chaos! Our last challenge was a doozy and a half, to put it simply. As both of our teams had to make themselves some SPOOKY movies…" it shows the tower falling down on the camera crew for the Peasants and then shows Lester kissing Penny "but both teams did horrendously!" Chris snickered "but, thanks to Lester's quick thinking with his teammate, the Jesters won! But, Mina chose to take the day off and got herself booted for taking so long. Oh well," He laughs again "who will be leaving next? And will Olena luck out again? Find out today on Total Drama Castle Chaos!"
Intro plays
The contestants, instead of doing anything really special today, were all hanging out together in the same place they had their dance competition earlier in the season. And while everyone seemed to slowly start disliking each other, it actually looked like most of the remaining contestants were having fun just enjoying their Halloween party.
Aaron and Xavier were smiling at each other as they drank some punch over at an edge of the room. Aaron was currently wearing a black suit jacket over a white shirt and a green crossover tie. He also wears black dress pants accessorized with a black belt and black dress shoes. While Xavier was just dressed up like Chef Boyardee.
However, above them and in the rafters, Rosalina was sneakily crawling around with a mistletoe tied to the end of a long piece of string. Rosalina was dressed up in a blue Japanese schoolgirl outfit with a yellow handkerchief at the collar. She had both ponytails pulled back into one longer one, and at the top of her head, she had a small crown.
Confessional: Rosalina
Rosalina wiped away a small amount of drool from the side of her cheek "man… it's almost like they want me to ship them! I mean seriously! Did you see how cute their costumes are!? How could I not want to see that!?"
XXX
Rosalina moved part of the ceiling as she slowly lowered the string until it was dangling right over their heads.
"So yea, Germany is very cold zis time of year" Aaron smiled, drinking a cup of the punch before seeing the mistletoe slowly descend towards them "Isn't ze Mizetltoe a Christmas zing?"
Xavier just smiled at the mistletoe "I don't know, I think it's more of a Christmas thing" Xavier chuckled, still leaning forwards slightly.
Aaron almost immediately started backing up with a bright blush before lightly pulling the mistletoe down "a-and v-v-v-ve're good nov"
Xavier just chuckled a bit as he leaned back "oh yea fair enough." Both of them just stood there for a moment, with Aaron feeling far more awkward than Xavier when suddenly Rosalina slammed down on top of them both.
"You… pulled the string a little too hard" Rosalina murmured weakly.
Not far away from them, Haden was leaning on the crafts table while watching their fiasco. He rolled his eyes a bit. For his outfit is double-breasted and pinstripe, thin, grey stripes over a black uniform. His pants match his uniform design, black with a pinstripe design.
"What kind of costume are you even wearing?"
Haden lazily turned towards the voice, already expecting it to be the Irish thorn in his side, Vaughn. Vaughn's costume was pretty simple as well, with him wearing white baggy pants that went down to red crocks. Besides that, he had on a white and red jacket that mostly only covered his arms and shoulders. Under the vest, he had a black wife beater.
"The interns gave everyone costumes. I just got stuck with the last one. Yours is also just amazing"
Haden can feel Vaughn rolling his eyes "thanks, I'm glad you realized mine is cooler"
"Yea. I especially love the crocks" Haden smirked.
"Oh yeah, thanks. I like yours. You really pull off the dated British cop look"
"Why thank you. I was worried it might just be too subtle for you-"
The screen slowly moved to the right to show Penny and Violet just watching them both argue. "I wonder if they ever don't argue Penny murmured while nibbling on some baby carrots. Penny was wearing a white blazer jacket with a popped collar, a white shirt with a red grunge skull design, dark blue jeans, and white platform shoes with a black sole.
"I think they genuinely just get excited to argue whenever they see each other" Violet mused back to her sort-of friend "also… Why are you dressed up like a little girl getting ready for softball?"
Penny frowned "Were you just waiting to call me a child at any costume I picked!?"
"Maaaaaaaybe" Violet smirked at her.
Penny crossed her arms "you didn't even pick a real costume"
Violet smiled as she pointed out the black cut-out paper she had on her shirt "what do you mean? I'm hole punch, Violet. That's original right there"
"Right, super original" Penny rolled her eyes but had a slightly amused smile.
"Do I hear people comparing costumes?" They both hear the usual polite tone of Harmonia. They look towards her seeing her wear knee-high stockings trimmed in ladder lace, dark red mary janes with a thick heel held on her feet by three grey buckles, a white lace headband, and a silver, Gunmetal plated ring.
Penny and Violet seemed genuinely a bit impressed by her costume "you really put a lot of effort into that costume… but I don't really get the stuff on your fingers" Penny walked around the costume to get a good look at it.
"Oh, it's nothing important to share. Just a little thing I added" she giggled softly as she moved a few fingers over her lips to try and copy some pose.
"You're a really weird one" Violet mumbled quietly. However, she got even quieter seeing Lester strut towards the group of girls.
Violet audibly groaned, Penny just silently glared at him with a small blush of embarrassment, and Harmonia just continued to smile at him and his costume choice.
Lester was actually dressed up rather interesting for once. To start, he had a black beanie on his head, and then further down he had on a green jacket that wasn't zipped up and went down to his legs. Under the jacket, he had a purple shirt and dnd 20sided die necklaces. And past those, he simply had on torn blue jeans and black boots.
"I see you went with a cool-looking costume" Harmonia smiled towards the short geek.
Lester smiled "I heard women got totally hot and bothered over Dungeons and Dragons so I added the necklaces" he gave Penny a 'subtle' wink.
Penny just looked even more annoyed by him before Harmonia raised her hand up "Lester if I noticed correctly I believe Vivian was looking this way. Wouldn't you like to show off your quaint little costume?"
Lester perked up slightly "oh, I see she's finally dropping a zero for a hero" he rubbed his chin as he walked towards her.
Penny let out a sigh of relief like she had been holding it in since Lester appeared "thanks"
"It was my pleasure," Harmonia smiled.
Confessional: Harmonia
"Lester is a rather easy way to gain brownie points with those other two. But at the same time making himself a target can't help but worry me. If only I could find a way to…" Harmonia giggled softly "of course. Darla"
XXX
Olena was quietly sitting by herself, not one for major festivities like this. Mostly because no one ever invited her to them, but that part doesn't matter.
Olena had just chosen the first costume that was given to her. Her costume was simple more or less, wearing a military-themed hat with a seal on the cap. She had a professional-looking black jacket over her shoulders, with a red band tied to it. However, the most striking part of the costume was the bandages covering her right eye.
Olena started to smile a little as Rosalina walked over to her with her usual infectious grin. "Hey, Lena!" Rosalina waved over at her "I love your costume!.. What is it though?"
"Truthfully I didn't really hear them say" Olena rubbed her arm "I like yours too…
"Thanks! I ignored what they suggested and dressed up lime Shiro from No Game No Life, I started walking it before we came here. I check every anime to make sure I'm not missing a yaoi arc or something" Rosalina started to elaborate on animes that had it, and how she was gonna show it to Olena once the season was over.
"That anime title almost totally encapsulates what you're like" Olena sighed and looked over to Phoebi, who was in a classic old-fashioned mad scientist costume.
"Phoebi, it's a party. Can't you just do anything but annoy us?" Olena asked dryly.
"I just wanted to get out my snark early" she smirked.
"Somehow I think you got invited to even fewer parties than me" Olena murmured grouchily.
Phoebi stays quiet for a moment before walking away "you two better just not ruin this for everyone else" she murmured.
Phoebi silently went back to drinking. Choosing to just spend her time staring over at Vivian. Vivian looked rather uncomfortable, pulling at her costume a bit to try and cover more skin. She was wearing a simple short white dress that went up and around her neck but didn't go down much further than her thighs. Around her neck, she had on a very puffy pink… thing.
Dan was awkwardly standing next to her in a Frankenstein costume, however, his skin wasn't green and he didn't have a bolt in his neck. He was smiling bashfully at her "you look… uh, good in that?"
Vivian blushed faintly, seeing as that was basically the only time Dan complimented her looks "well, thanks. I was worried I couldn't pull off her classy style but I think it looks pretty good… for what it feels like"
Dan just smiled a bit more at her. He was about to say something else when almost everyone's attention was drawn to the doors.
"Took those two long enough" the awkward duo looked over to Lucy, who was simply wearing a brown blazer with a long green dress that went down to her dress shoes.
At the doorway stood Dino and Julia. However, they were both wearing matching costumes. Dino's costume was a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up. The ends of the sleeves were green, along with a long line of green going downwards. Besides that, he had on his sash and blue shorts.
Next to him was Julia, who was dressed basically the exact same but instead of green, it was a more purple color.
"Oh you two look so good together" Vivian smiled at Julia.
"S-shut up, I didn't plan to even come until he ran towards me with two costumes in his hand" Julia had a faint blush as she looked away from everyone else.
"Dang, I didn't realize Dino knew how to play the game so well" Lester rubbed his chin while standing behind Vivian to get… You could say it was a nice view.
While all of the contestants were mingling amongst each other, Darla and Maxine were just hanging out in a corner.
"I'm kinda happy we got invited" Maxine murmured with a giddy grin.
Darla shrugged "easily the best party I've been to"
For their costumes, they swapped each other with what they usually wore. With Maxine basically stretching out Darla's shirt and yoga pants. While Maxine's shirt and shorts drooped down on Darla. They even did each other's hair to match the other.
However, as they all mingled the lights went out. And suddenly they could hear some movement until suddenly, a voice spoke up "looks like everyone is here and accounted for!"
"V-Vat the hell waz zat!?" Aaron's voice spoke in the darkness.
"I-I think something crawled against my leg!" Vivian's voice spoke up next.
"Oops… I thought that was Harmonia's" Lester's voice came next.
After a few more moments of chaos, the lights came back on and they could see all of them were still there, except for the two interns.
"Is everyone ok?" Olena moved towards her tram to make sure they were all ok.
"We should huddle up as well" Harmonia decided as both teams got together.
"Looks like we're all fine… but what was that voice?" Haden looked around the area when suddenly a stage popped up from the ground.
All of the contestants quickly turned to face the stage. Naturally looking nervous at the situation. After a few moments, a Raccoon plush jumps from under the ground and seemingly smiles at the group. The plush looked rather weird, however, as half of its body was black, and the other was white.
"That's one weird toy," Violet murmured.
"Oh, I'm no toy" the plus suddenly moved and gleamed one of its eyes at them "I'm 100% real baby!"
"It can talk!?" Xavier tried to walk back in shock but ended up tripping.
Everyone was beginning to look skeptical or nervous about the toy. With the one exception of Dan, "that thing's kinda cute… for a toy"
"You've got weird tastes buddy" Julia crossed her arms.
"Can we cut out the small talk?" Haden asked, obviously tired of the toy already "what do you want and why did Chris choose to make a doll to give us a challenge?"
"I'm not a doll, I'm not a doll!" The plus yelled angrily "say that one more time and you're going to be our victim!"
"What does he mean by the victim?" Dino muttered nervously while moving to quietly stand in front of Julia.
"I'm glad you asked! I welcome you all to a most exciting game of Dangling Rontas!"
"…is he even speaking English?" Lucy whispered to Olena and Rosalina, who just shrugged.
"The name of the game doesn't matter!" The Raccoon angrily announced, "what does matter is that some or all of you are going to die!"
"D-d-d-die!?" The color immediately left Lester's face as his legs started shaking.
"Now we're cooking! Yes, death! In the next 24 hours, you will find two bodies and will then be sent to a trial to discuss who did the deed! And yes, the ones who made the bodies will be among you!"
"Are the bodies going to be fake or…?" Violet raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, they'll be as real as Lester's virginity alright!"
"Damn, that's pretty real," Phoebi smirked in amusement.
"None of this is funny!" Lester practically screeched.
"Puhuhuhu, it's pretty funny" the raccoon held its fake lips as it kept laughing at them. "But, I gave the announcements I needed to share. Just be aware that if you try to leave…" its eyes began to glow "there will be major reproductions…"
That sent a chill up most of their spines as the doors to the party room suddenly slammed open.
"Have a wonderful day, contestants!" As suddenly as it appeared it was gone once again. All of them looked at each other before slowly leaving the party room in small groups.
/
The groups of friends all chose to mostly stick together. Only splitting up when they had to go to the bathroom or something else.
Dan quietly looked over at Vivian, seeing as both of them had chosen to hide this out together in one of the many rooms on the higher floors.
"So… do you think this is just a challenge Chris is making us do?" Dan tapped his fingers together awkwardly.
"Well, as long as we avoid some of the others, maybe we won't be in danger?" Vivian tried to not look nervous "at the very least I trust that you wouldn't do anything to me…"
Dan smiled "s-surprisingly I f-feel the same. Kinda surprised myself by not hiding with Lester or Dino"
"Don't even get started with him" Vivian murmured in annoyance.
"He has started becoming… a bit of a handful" Dan nodded as he rubbed his neck "I'm kinda wondering if his behavior is why he was bullied so much back at his school"
Vivian quietly looked towards him for a moment "Dan… is it a little too personal to ask… why you were so scared of women? It's alright if you don't want to share. I get it"
Dan flinched slightly at the mention of his fear. Slowly moving his hand towards his scar "right… my fear… I've never really talked to someone about it…"
"I'm here if you want to" Vivian smiled softly.
Dan just held one of his hands on the scars on his face for a moment before continuing "well… I used to date a girl named Alexis… you might know her as the streamer Blackheart"
"I've… never been one for streaming sorry" she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well, I'd call that lucky" he murmured. "Everyone seems to think she's just the most innocent little girl around. But when I chose to break up with her… she had her little goons come to her aid… they nearly beat me to death" he clutched his fists as he looked down, obviously scared just thinking about it "she always loved using me as a toy to throw around. I-I don't know why I even considered dating her to begin with"
Vivian frowned sadly. She moved her hand to his shoulder "I'm sorry to hear that Dan… if there's anything I can do to help-"
Vivian was cut off by Dan hugging her "y-you were the f-first w-woman to try and help me get over my fear… y-you even endangered your life to save me… s-so really, thank you" Dan had a small smile on his face.
Vivian smiled and hugged him back. They spend a few moments like that until Vivian pulled back slightly, just to move her face closer to his. Dan's eyes widened in shock before the cameras hard cut to Dan lying at the bottom of a tall flight of stairs.
Lester was the first one on the Jesters to run over to Dan's body "oh, well, I guess we found the first body everyone!" Lester didn't seem too distraught at the news. After a few moments, the anti-Lester squad came over to check it out.
"Oh, well that's not so bad" Harmonia mused "I was worried Vivian or Julia was gone already"
"I'm not dead" Dan deadpanned as he raised his head "I just… fell down some stairs"
"Ah, missed out" Lester snapped his fingers before walking off.
"Are you at least ok?" Penny was the only one to try and help Dan up.
"I've been better…" Dan sighed as he got up.
Confessional: Vivian
Vivian was slapping her forehead over and over again "stupid stupid stupid. I ruined our bonding moment because I just had to kiss him on the cheek" she groaned as she rubbed her forehead "I-I wasn't just me that thought that was a good movie moment, right?"
XXX
Confessional: Dan
"I… may have overreacted a little bit there…" Dan chuckled meekly "I-I just wasn't expecting that is all. I mean, it was just a peck on the cheek…" he rubbed his cheek as he continued to blush.
XXX
While they were trying to understand what happened to Dan, Julia was walking around a hall all by herself. For some reason, Dino had run off and told her to wait for him to give her a cue.
Julia looked down a long thin hall, raising her eyebrow at a door with a small drawing of Julia at the top. "Uhu…" Julia murmured before walking towards the door. She could see a small bright red blotch on the doorknob. She slowly opened the door and became face to face with what looked like Dino lying on the ground with a splurt of red coming from the body.
"W-what?" Julia's eyes widened. She couldn't get any words out after the immediate shock as she quickly ran from the room. She was running on fumes as she tried to find anyone who was around.
Julia couldn't find anyone besides Lester, begrudgingly running towards him "Lester, Lester, you need to follow me!"
"Eh? Do I really have to?" Lester scratched his chin a bit before smirking "or are you just wanting some lone time with Mr. L?"
Julia growled at him before dragging him along to the room she found Dino in "h-holy crap" Lester held his head looking over at Dino "he totally lost his survival badge!"
Julia punched him in the arm "that's not funny!"
Before Lester could respond, the intercoms went off "sorry to interrupt everyone but the two bodies have been discovered! Everyone get ready for trial time!"
"The second body?" Lester wondered.
"Trial?" Julia looked even more nervous.
/
The Vaughn crew were on the other side of the castle, Aaron was just poking the body's side "this doesn't feel too fake to me…"
The body belonged to none other than Phoebi. However, the boys didn't seem quite as distraught or worried about her.
"Xavier, maybe try waking her up? That's probably worth something" Vaughn shrugged.
Xavier smiled as he got up from examining her body "on it!" Xavier ran out of the room as the others came in.
Confessional: Aaron
"Normally, I feel like zis situation vould be scaring me to no end. But since it vas just Phoebi… I guess the situation hasn't really hit me yet. Still weird to zink Phoebi is just… gone"
XXX
"Well, obviously the raccoon said we were going to a trial right?" Haden speaks up after seeing the body.
"Yea, it said that" Olena nodded.
"Well, then obviously we're finding out who did this." Haden rubbed his chin as he started to observe the body.
Rosalina had a weak smile as she looked over at Lucy "so, if you say you didn't do this I'd believe you!"
Lucy glared at her "of course I didn't kill her!"
"She'd be the one to do it if you think about it…" Vaughn smirked as he scratched his cheek.
While they were starting to question each other, Haden leaned down towards the body. As he examined her further he could see there was bludgeoning all around the body, but most noticeably around the head.
"Hm… at least cause of death is obvious" Haden murmured. His eyes wandered down as he noticed a white powder on her shoulder. "That's rather curious…"
As he leaned closer to it, he could hear the door slam open again as Xavier came in and flung a bucket of water on the body. Getting Aaron and Haden wet in the process.
"Xavier you absolutely dunce! You just ruined our body!" Haden glared at the baker.
"Vaughn… wanted me to wake it up…" Xavier looked over at Vaughn, who was whistling to himself.
Confessional: Haden
The detective was trying to dry off his cap "Xavier may very well have ruined this whole investigation. But, as a master detective. Even I can solve this with just the bludgeoning." His smirk stayed on his face as he plopped his soggy hat on his head "but we can wait for the trial now can't we?"
XXX
Confessional: Xavier
Xavier had a slightly embarrassed smile on his face "well, not my brightest move granted. BUT, I think this could really be my challenge to do good in! I mean, sure, Haden's a detective and all, but I'm gonna bake up a real threat here!"
XXX
Confessional: Penny
"It really feels like Chris hung us up to dry…" Penny murmured looking down "we haven't seen him since… before the party, and I'm starting to worry that the intruder just took care of him and the interns… and is now just having fun with us" Penny started to slowly hold herself.
XXX
Back over with the Jesters, the whole team got a good look at the body. Seeing some small burns all along the body with one presumably final blow to the head. Penny and Vivian had chosen to comfort Julia, who still seemed shaken about Dino's lifeless body just lying there.
Dan rubbed his neck looking at the burn marks "I have no idea who would do this… Dino didn't do anything to anyone"
"I would expect Lester to go before him honestly" Violet was looking around the room to see if the murder weapon was magically left behind.
"Please. I can think of ten people who want you dead Violet" Lester rolled his eyes.
Violet glared at Lester as she looked through a cabinet.
"Now now you two" Harmonia raised her hands "you can save your anger for the next time that raccoon wants a body. We should currently focus on the body before us"
"How encouraging…" Dan murmured.
Julia pushed Vivian and Penny away "I'm gonna go find who did this and I'll make sure they regret it" she growled.
"Isn't that what the trial is for?" Harmonia asked politely.
"Who cares about that? Someone in this castle is sick enough to kill someone as innocent as Dino? They're gonna pay!"
The team looked amongst each other before Harmonia sighed "I shall accompany her. The rest of you may continue the investigation without me"
Julia looked a little annoyed by this, but Harmonia usually kept quiet so she didn't say anything as the two of them walked off.
The rest of the evening was spent looking for any clues either of the teams could find. Some of them were luckier than others, with Violet managing to find a giant hammer in one of the bathrooms which were tipped with blood. Dan also managed to find a lighter hidden under a carpet lying next to Dino.
The Peasants had some similar luck, with Haden managing to find some more white powder on the doorknob to the room along with Rosalina finding a wrench hidden under some garbage she was rummaging through.
However, later in the evening, everyone heard a small, odd tune of a bell ringing three times "I think that's enough investigation for now! Everyone report to the elevator of despair to begin the ULTIMATE TRIAL!"
The intercom cut off as everyone nervously looked amongst each other.
/
Eventually, everyone made it to the elevator, looking at each other with suspicion as it slowly descended. The elevator shook a bit but it was mostly an easy descent. When they reached the bottom the elevator doors opened and welcomed them to a wide-open area. Inside was a grand judge stand and before it, were many smaller stands with a green or pink symbol on them. On both sides, a portrait of Dino and Phoebi faced each other.
"Did they really have to add those?" Julia asked angrily.
"This isn't the time to be pissy over spilled milk" Vaughn had his hands behind his head as he walked over "we just gotta find what did this and deal with it"
"Do we even know what happens if we guess the victims wrong?" Olena whispered to the closest person.
"I think if you guess wrong you all die" she hears a whisper back.
"Why do you think that?"
"Because I'll make sure of it!"
Olena jumped realizing she had been talking to the raccoon. He quickly ran to his stand, putting on a fake judge wig "order in the court! Our trial is about to begin!"
All of the former contestants slowly made their way to the stands and looked amongst each other. "Ah, now we're looking like a real trial! So, here are your rules! You have an undisclosed amount of time to find a killer, or two if there is even more than one killer! Besides that, have at it!"
The raccoon suddenly got quiet as he patiently waited for everyone to start. "So… how do we even do this?" Vivian wondered aloud.
"I'm guessing we just go over the evidence until it makes sense?" Penny shrugged "I feel like we didn't get all that much for proof"
"Well, if we're done making random suggestions, how about we talk about when people were alone. Sound fair?" Haden rolled his eyes at how the investigation was going so far.
"Vell, veren't ve all togezer for most of ze evening before ze murders?" Aaron crossed his arms.
"I'm pretty sure that's just the case for most of us" Vaughn smirks a bit "If I remember right Haden chose to be by himself, same goes for Lucy"
"And for our side…" Dan looks over at Julia "Lester and she were the only ones who were by themselves for most of it"
"Dang, we already got our first suspects. I was expecting a harder investigation" Violet smirked smugly to herself.
Haden shook his head "don't jump too far ahead of yourselves. While it's true we have no alibi. There are still groups of people that we're just duos. They could've easily parted ways for a moment just to commit their crimes. And that's not even to mention people who may have gone to the bathroom for a rather long time"
"I really don't know why Vaughn had to mention that last part…" Xavier murmured with a blush.
"Why did you bring that up just to make us chase after our tails!?" Violet groaned loudly.
Haden smirked "just wanted to get the ball rolling"
"Straight back to square one…" Rosalina murmured.
"Well, we can always look at why someone would kill someone right?" Xavier raised his hand to garner some attention "I mean, plenty of reasons why someone on our team would kill Phoebi"
"He has a point" Aaron nods "I mean, zere's Lucy, Olena, and Rosalina vho all fit into suspects"
"W-what? Rosalina and I would never kill someone!" Olena looked a little angry, which was more than what she usually showed "I mean can you imagine Rosalina killing someone?"
"And I wouldn't kill Phoebi" Lucy crossed her arms "basically a waste of effort to even consider being near her"
"Thinking you wouldn't murder someone doesn't make you innocent" Violet states dryly, resting her shoulders on her stand "I mean, besides Lester I can't imagine anyone over here killing someone."
"Well, I could see someone on our side having a reason as to why…" Harmonia murmured while looking at the others "Julia, may I ask where you were?"
"I thought that we set up that not having an alibi didn't mean anything?" Julia glared slightly at Harmonia.
"Please do just answer the question." Harmonia moved her hands to have her continue.
"I was just walking around, waiting for Dino to show me some surprise he really wanted to show me" Julia shrugged "that's all that happened"
Almost all of the Jesters looked more suspicious of her.
"So… you just walked around for a while and no one saw you…?" Dan raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yes, that's what happened. Is that a problem?" Julia just raised an eyebrow back at him.
"No… not really…" Dan awkwardly looked away from her.
Confessional: Julia
"I can't believe they think I would kill Dino…" she grumbled with her arms crossed "why would I ever hurt Dino? That doesn't make any sense!"
XXX
"I don't want to be that guy…" Lester starts "but, uh, what if either one of these was a suicide?"
"That is the dumbest shit I've ever heard" Violet rolled her eyes "why would Dino burn himself and then hit himself over the head?"
"It was a suggestion!" Lester cried as he angrily held up his fists "you're not making any suggestions!"
"Well here's a suggestion for ya. The killer was obviously not Lester looking back at the evidence" Violet smirked a bit.
"Wasn't expecting you to be the first one to defend him" Haden smirked a bit.
"Well, Mr. detective. You must not have paid attention to either body" Violet smirked a bit more "both bodies were covered in bruises and near our investigation, I found a bloodied hammer. And there's no way in hell Lester is strong enough to beat Dino or Phoebi down with it. The same would go for a bat"
"Hey that's not a bad way to start picking someone more specific" Olena nods "not many of us are potentially strong enough to beat someone to death"
"Vell, Xavier, and I are on ze… weak side of zings if we have to share" Aaron flexed his arm a little to show that muscle was about the last thing you'd find on him.
"Believe me I don't think anyone was going to suggest you and the baker boy" Harmonia rolled her eyes "the only strong people around here would be Vaughn and Penny. Which makes these things easier"
"And wasn't Vaughn's lighter found at the scene of Dino's crime?" Penny wondered, quickly trying to get any of that heat off of her.
Suddenly Vaughn's stand is pushed to the center of everyone else, however, he didn't look too nervous "you guys think I did this?" he had a wide smirk on his face "I didn't think you guys would find me out so fast!"
Everyone stared at Vaughn for a moment "wait… is he admitting already?" Violet looked even more skeptically at him.
"Yep, I am. I mean my lighter was there and everything" Vaughn sighed "I can't believe I was found out so easily…"
"Vaughn, are you feeling ok?" Aaron wondered aloud.
"Never better, why?" Vaughn smirked back at his friend.
"Well, he admitted. Isn't that all we need?" Lester smiled a bit "we did it! We can just get out of here!"
"I'm not rushing this vote just because Lester wants to be done with it" Harmonia frowned "and I do not trust him one bit. I mean, no one would straight admit to a crime when the raccoon is talking about punishments"
Vaughn looked down dejectedly "fine… maybe I'm not the killer. Ruin my fun is that what you want? So can we convict me now?" Vaughn was looking smugger.
Confessional: Lucy
"This just sucks. We don't have enough proof one way or another to guarantee without a doubt one of us did something. And the way Vaughn was acting, it's way too suspicious. But, we have the detective. Maybe our side of the aisle should start focusing on the more pressing issue…"
XXX
Vaughn's stand moves back to its original spot.
"Ok Peasants. We've spent more than enough time on the Dino situation" Lucy raised her fist "but even if Phoebi sucked we gotta focus on our victim"
Haden smiled "glad to hear we're going back to working independently. We've been far too worried over Dino. Now, do we have any good leads or will I have to just do this all on my own?"
"I found a wrench!" Rosalina called forward while raising her wrench in the air.
"Well… that's a good murder weapon, to say the least…" Olena scratched her cheek, trying to not stand close enough to Rosalina to smell the blood.
"Not a bad find" Haden smiled "meanwhile I found some rather weird white powder. Now, can anyone tell me who here works with white powders often?"
Both teams just stayed quiet for a while "is it… Vivian's makeup?" Lester quietly suggested.
"Not a bad guess" Haden wagged his finger "but no." he points at Xavier, "I think it was baker boy's baking powder! Or flower. Plenty of options"
Xavier looked surprised as his stand slowly moved to the middle "me!? Why would I do something like that!?"
"I don't think the why matters. Just the who" Lucy crossed her arms "though even I'd admit I don't know if he's that much stronger than Phoebi"
"He could've drugged her!" Rosalina perked up "he could've had a muffin with poisons that would basically burn her insides and then beat on her!"
"This is sounding like a solid bet…" Olena murmured while observing Xavier shaking in fear.
"Hold on a second, if all your proof is zat white powder zen you can guess it could be someone like Penny with lifting chalk to hold up ze hammer" Aaron stated sternly.
"Yea, Xavier is basically the most innocent guy here, I can't see him going all out with the evil scheme" Dan waved his hand dismissively.
"I see we're really not going to get anywhere here today hu?" Vaughn asked sarcastically.
"Well it's our turn to question" Harmonia smiled "and I would like to make our main suspect… Julia" Julia's stand slowly moved to the center.
"What? We've gone over this, why would I kill Dino?"
"Jealousy… maybe even just misplaced jealousy?" Harmonia pondered aloud.
Julia's expression immediately became angrier as she stared at Harmonia "what are you getting at?"
"Well, Julia. You tell me. How do you feel about Dino?" Harmonia leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands.
"He's an associate. That's all" Julia looked away from Harmonia's eyes, making Harmonia just smirk further.
"You didn't really think Dino liked you back did you? I mean, he's never really shown interest in you, right? He always calls you a friend after all" Harmonia's smirk slowly grew "but your lust for him was just too strong and you couldn't handle it. That surprise you said he was setting up was just you trying to make an excuse for why you weren't with him. Maybe you asked him out and he turned you down hard and you just couldn't take it. There's plenty of reasons now aren't there?"
Julia was blankly staring at her for a moment.
"Hey… that was a little hard…" Penny mumbled with a small frown.
"It doesn't matter how hard we go" Harmonia never turned to her. "What matters is that we find who killed Dino"
"I wouldn't do that" Julia clutched her fists but besides that, she looked normal "I don't give two shits about what the boy scout or anyone else thinks about me. I just hang out with him because everyone here needs allies. Happy?"
"More than happy. Even if we have no new lead now. A shame" Harmonia sighed sadly.
"So back around the circle we go" Vaughn spun his finger in a circle.
"Not necessarily" Xavier stood up straight, trying to look more confident "The one who killed Dino was trying to frame Vaughn. Now, shouldn't we think why?"
"Well, wouldn't you blame a murder on someone else?" Haden stated dryly "probably didn't matter who they framed. He was just the easiest"
"But someone had to have gotten his lighter" Xavier smiled as he raised his finger "and Vaughn was just too quick to admit he did it, so maybe Vaughn made a deal with someone for his lighter"
"Who would gain anything from that?" Olena didn't look all too convinced.
"Well… maybe this is a challenge from Chris" Vivian murmured while looking down.
"But what about the bodies?" Rosalina countered "Phoebi felt just as real as she usually is when pushing me away!"
"Maybe he found a way to make bodies more realistic" Dan shrugged "it has been a while since those old seasons, and that Mr. G guy is super-rich. Wouldn't be impossible for them to have bought something better"
"That's possible…" Haden nods "but what does this have to do with Vaughn giving someone the lighter?"
Xavier raised his finger towards him "objection! Let me finish! I'm on a total role!"
Haden stared at him before rolling his eyes "go on then"
Xavier smiled confidently "and so, I believe those who were the killers have given information the rest of us don't know. Why else would one of us take a target on our back?"
"Hm… he either offered something special or he gave someone the possibility to have an advantage for doing this…" Harmonia pondered "or maybe… it's the team who solves a murder first wins"
"And Vaughn was trying to screw us over by guessing wrong" Violet smiled smugly.
"And I'm going to solve this no problem!" Xavier pointed his hand upwards "Because it's obviously…. Uh…" Xavier looked around nervously.
Dan slapped his forehead at how quickly he dropped his confidence, before being followed by Lester, then the rest of the contestants.
"Come on I was doing good guys!" Xavier had a small blush on his face "freaking uh…. I'll guess Haden!"
"What!?" Haden looked shocked "why would you guess me!?"
Xavier shrugged slightly "I don't know, Vaughn would never be the type to admit anything, I mean he basically told me to lie before so him lying here would make more sense than what he did. And since you're still the guy who was our biggest wild card uh…. I guess you're good enough of a guess for me"
Vaughn shrugged "sounds fair to me. I mean the guy did ask to borrow the lighter"
"And you decide to say that now!?" Julia asked angrily "you could've gone earlier and kept all of this to a simple few minutes!"
Vaughn sighed "I wanted to keep it a secret but Haden threatened me to play along and play the killer. I didn't want to do it, but I just didn't want to make my friend Haden look like the bad guy…"
"No need to ham it up" Olena murmured.
"I'm good to vote" Lester smirked.
"You guys can't vote yet" Haden scowled "there's hardly any proof beyond Xavier just feeling something tickle his brain"
"Yea, but this game is getting boring" Harmonia shrugged.
"Gotta agree with her" Penny nods.
"And if Xavier was wrong, well, we don't actually know the rules… but if we lose we can always vote Lester" surprisingly, it was Vivian who said that. But it didn't seem to be an unpopular stance as everyone seems to nod.
"The hot ones are always the meanest…." Lester sighed.
"Well, if you're all REALLY done with your inquisition we can get to the fun part… It's VOTING TIME!" The Raccoon slams down a hammer, as a small screen, appeared on all of their stands.
It takes a few moments, but eventually, a slot machine appeared on the screens, as Haden's face appeared in all three slots. Seconds later, the Jester stands started floating upwards, with holes appearing where they were floating too. Leaving the Peasants behind.
After a few moments, the Phoebi sign disappeared and Phoebi slammed down where it was. "Did… did we win?" Rosalina smiled while looking around in confusion.
She slowly got up with a groan "what idiot failed the challenge?" she mumbled.
"Vait, ve lost? But I zought Xavier solved ze mystery?"
"That wasn't the challenge you clods" Haden looked seriously angry, even if he was managing to keep his voice steady. He points at Vaughn "and thanks for ratting me out you moron! We could've won if you didn't go talking!"
"Wait, what was the challenge?" Olena raised her hands, trying to get Haden to slow down.
"The challenge was for whichever killer to get away with the crime. So since everyone found me out, we lost!" Haden was just getting more annoyed.
"More like you lost man. Was so obvious" Vaughn smirked as he looked away, obviously loving this.
"Wait… s-so we lost because I found out it was you?" Xavier looked around at the others "y-you know I didn't mean that right? Haden didn't tell any of us how would I know!?"
"I couldn't dumbass. If either killer could tell everyone it wouldn't be a real challenge. We both only got to tell one person. And considering the people on the other team… I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't-"
/
Haden was cut off by Harmonia and Penny walking away from everyone else "thanks for the assistance Penny"
"It's fine" the short girl shrugged a little "I'm just happy Xavier was right honestly"
"I must say that powder wasn't a half-bad little twist. I can see this alliance going places indeed" Harmonia smiled while petting her hair like a small child.
/
"Y-you guys won't hold this against me… right?" Xavier smiled nervously at the rest of the team. Olena awkwardly looked away, Rosalina was just smiling like a friend to him, Phoebi and Haden were staring him down, and Vaughn was just smiling in amusement. Aaron was the only one who seemed as nervous as he was. Lucy just had her head down on the stand, she had stopped paying attention for a while now.
"Well, looks like you all found your killer! Or, well, one of them! Puhuhuhuhuhu"
"Yea yea Chris we get it. Now can we just vote?" Lucy raised her head to stare at the Raccoon.
"Fine, fine! Voting today will be the same as it was in the voting for the killer so get crackin at it!"
All of the contestants clicked the screens, Xavier just drooping a little at where he was expecting this vote to go.
It takes a few moments but another slot machine appeared on the screen. After it rolled through each of the Peasants it landed on Xavier for all three slots.
"I knew it…" Xavier sighed dejectedly.
"It's none other than our Ultimate Baker Xavier! It's Punishment Time!" the Raccoon smiled as he jumped onto the red button over and over again.
"W-wait, punishment?" Xavier's color left his face, looking around nervously before suddenly a metallic claw grabbed him by his torso, dragging him away from everyone else and through a door that seemed to just appear.
Behind the Raccoon, a screen turned on as some ominous music played in the background. It showed Xavier being raised high over the forests around the castle by a helicopter. On the screen, it suddenly displayed the words "Xavier's Punishment: Honey the Pooh"
Xavier is flown over the forest before suddenly being let go and landing hard on his face. He rubbed his head, awkwardly looking around for where he was until suddenly the helicopter came back around, opening a latch on the bottom to have a pile of honey drop on top of him.
Xavier smiled a little as he licked his finger before he looked up to see that suddenly a bunch of bears had surrounded him, smelling the honey. Xavier nervously looked at the camera before suddenly all the bears jumped him. The screen cut out.
Most of the Peasants seemed shocked by Xavier's punishment.
"Is… this how we're going to be eliminated now?" Lucy nervously spoke up, being fully up by now.
"Nope!" To the group's surprise, Chris was the one to say that, as he walked through the doors Xavier disappeared through.
"So you did do this!" Phoebi scowled "could've just appeared instead of giving us that stupid raccoon!"
"Oh, that wasn't me" Chris smirked, "in fact, that was a random guest put on our order by G Man!"
"Guest?" the group looked at each other before the raccoon lowered its head as an average-looking tan teenager came from behind the raccoon. He had slicked-back black hair and He wears a blue Hawaiian shirt with khaki shorts.
"I was glad to help Chris!" The boy saluted a little at him "I've always wanted to assist a host such as yourself."
"Well, thanks, Tim!" Chris smiled before clicking a button to have the Peasants' stands float up "enjoy the rest of the night campers!"
The Peasants floated up, naturally dejected.
/
It cuts to later in the night. Julia was walking around by herself when Dino smiled and walked over to her, waiving with his usual wide grin.
Julia smiled a little and waved back at him, before remembering what Harmonia said about 'friends'. Julia stopped walking but Dino still came up to her.
"Hey, Julia! Wanna go out and camp again tonight?"
Julia looked away and faked a cough into her hand "I'm sorry… but I'm just really tired. And sick. I think I'm just gonna go to bed"
Dino looked disappointed but nodded with a smaller grin "well, maybe next time. If you feel worse tomorrow just call for me, I didn't win my first aid badge doing anything!"
Julia chuckled slightly before stone-faced him again the moment she realized she was laughing "later Dino" she walked past him with a small frown.
Dino frowned, looking confused. But he walked off in a different direction. Passing past a Harmonia who had a small smirk on her face. "The friend zone is one of the scariest things known to man" she mused before following after Julia.
Chris sighed contently from down under the ground "well, looks like some relationships have been tested today! Will Dan ever really get over that fear of his? Will Julia ever even ask Dino out? And will Haden and Vaughn just kiss already!? Wait, wrong notes" Chris threw a card over his shoulder "I meant to say how will Aaron deal without Xavier around? Find out next time on Total Drama Castle Chaos!"
AN: Well, I don't know how well I pulled off the Danganronpa themed challenge, but the references were honestly pretty fun. Was fair that Xavier would go now honestly, I feel like he had a fun dynamic with Aaron and Vaughn, but that couldn't carry him on forever. Also, if anyone was curious, this oc who showed up was an oc that will be competing in Legends, as I wanted to spice it up with some newbies. The rest of them will be appearing from here as well.
Eliminations:
22nd- Strider
21st- Claire
20th- Dylan
19th- Vincent
18th- Oscar
17th- Mina
16th- Xavier