Chris and Chef stood before the main entrance to the bubble, where yet another submarine was approaching them. It landed in front of them, and the door opened, allowing a set of stairs to descend from the submarine itself. Chris opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly, Amphitrite rushed up to the two of them, quickly shoving them off to the side. "Hey, what gives, lady?" The host grumbled as he tried to fight back against her, though she was oddly strong. "Can't you see I'm trying to do an intro, here?"
"Don't you remember the contract, McLean? There was a clause in it which stated that Poseidon could choose to host any episode he wishes to, and considering that you've been in charge of every episode up to this point, I'd say it's fair that he takes over for this one." Chris tried to speak out against her, though it was all in vain, as she continued to shove him and Chef away from the cameras. This left none other than Poseidon to stand before the submarine, smiling in amazement as the silhouette of a thin woman and a rather large man could be seen on the staircase. He couldn't help but squeal in excitement, turning away from the stairs to hide his joy.
"O-oh! Pardon me, audience, I just get...really easily excited when I get to see my ideas come to life! Ah, how does Chris usually do this? Oh, right! Ahem, last time on Total Drama: Lost City," Poseidon's voice was a bit shaky, though the shakiness was solely from the excitement he could hardly contain. "Things started off a bit odd when ol' Benjamin was nowhere to be seen in the male Sharks' room, though his pal, Damien, was quick to spot him just outside, staring at the lovely sea life! Dusty was given a not so warm welcome to her new team by Liz, who immediately threatened her to boot! It's such a shame to see them argue, I wish we could all get along with each other better! Anne kept on pestering Vicente about his love life, and Vicente pestered Zachary about him and his soda drinking habits, lots of pestering going on! Then, Chris called everyone for the challenge, this one being a barrage of circus acts that people had to compete against each other in! Amelia showed Tony that she doesn't mess around when it comes to playing hardball in this game, while Tony began trying to recruit Natt for an alliance! There were flops, there were magnificent performances, and man, there sure were a good deal of injuries! I feel so bad for Archie, being hit by your competition loving girlfriend must sting worse than one could imagine! In the end, Benjamin was reminded of his fear of the color red, and in a scared blitz, he tore the entire circus tent to shreds, sealing his fate from the competition. Ahh, I did rather enjoy that boy, sad to see him go! Well, we've got more action, or is it drama? Perhaps mystery or slice of life? Whatever it is, it's coming at you fast in this wacky challenge based on Eastern cartoons! This is Total Drama: Lost City!"
The camera hovered over an ocean, quickly descending beneath the water and happening upon Atlantis, zooming in on the wreck of the Chris space station, where the host himself was on his knees, sad that there was an asteroid in his face, while Poseidon patted him on the shoulder and Amphitrite sighed in annoyance.
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the camera quickly shifted over to the carnival zone in Atlantis, showing Natt and Anne on a large Ferris wheel, enjoying their time together until it suddenly fell out of place and rolled away.
"You guys are on my mind," down at the controls, Zachary and Amelia were revealed to be messing with them, laughing maniacally until Vicente came over and bonked both of them on the head with plastic baseball bats.
"You asked me what I wanted to be and I think the answer's plain to see," in one of the carnival tents, March and Luna watched Benjamin in awe as he rode a unicycle while bouncing on a trampoline, juggling bowling pins, and holding a torch with his teeth.
"I wanna be famous!" Tony tossed a frisbee at the wheel, causing Benjamin to fall on top of an unsuspecting Bonnie, and the torch to set his shirt on fire before the bowling pins landed on his head, which caused Liz to give him a thumbs up with an evil grin on her face.
"I wanna live close to the sun," out in the ocean, Alex was in his diving suit, trying to catch a sea monkey, but failing utterly, just like he had when it was a space monkey, while Dusty shook her head in disappointment, lassoing the creature back to them, but catching Jett instead.
"So pack your bags, cause I've already won," on the seafloor, Archie studied a squid closely until it shot ink all over his helmet's glass shield, which made Jianne giggle a little bit before wiping it off.
"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day," not too far from where the two were, Damien and Gretchen ran away from a massive shark, which knocked them off to the side, showing that it was swimming away from Flint, who was throwing rocks at it while Alexis chased after him.
"I wanna be famous!" The camera switched gears to show a submarine, with arcade-esque machines in it that Taylor and Crustacean were fighting over.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na," zooming into a "pod" of sorts near the arcade games, a virtual world that was full of immaculate fantasy aspects and monsters was shown.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" Nicolás, dressed as a knight, was running in fear as blasts of dark energy were tossed at the ground behind him, each blast destroying part of the ground.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" the camera revealed Thomas, in dark mage garb, as the source of the blasts, floating in the sky and laughing maniacally until Maggie, dressed as a witch, flew over to him on her broom and tackled him to the ground, making out with him before he blasted the camera with one of the energy balls.
Afterwards, the whole group was seen on a nautically themed aftermath stage, which Sebastian and Haley were at the center of, glaring at each other while all of the contestants, accompanied by Maggie, who was hugging Thomas tightly, whistled.
Tony, Natt, and Nicolás stood off to the side in the Crab boys' room, each of them watching while Archie and Flint argued with each other. "I don't even know why we're having this conversation right now, how is it at all acceptable to clip your toenails on my bed!?" Archie shoved the shorter boy back. "That's literally disgusting, dude!"
"I was just sharing a piece of my wonderful self with you, duh! I mean, you seem like the kind of guy that wishes he could be like me, so why aren't you grateful for what I've done?" Flint shrugged his shoulders, soon shaking his head at Archie. "Sometimes, I feel like you're actively working against me on this team."
Tony opened his mouth to say something, perhaps to try and calm down Archie, though he soon noticed Amelia peering in through the doorway. He let out a soft sigh, "Yeah, Arch, you let 'im know that crap ain't gonna fly around here!" Amelia flashed the conman a thumbs up before leaving the doorway. Natt shook his head at Tony and left the room, Nicolás soon following after him to pull himself out of the awkward situation.
"Seriously, Flint, nobody wants to deal with someone being nasty! You either shape up or we're gonna toss you out of here, you got it?" Archie jammed his pointer finger into Flint's chest, only getting a glare back from the boy before the two of them stormed off in their separate ways. Tony could only sigh, holding his head.
Confessional
"Ugh...that lady is going to be the death of me, I swear. Think, Tony, what can you do to at least throw her for a loop…" Tony tapped his chin in thought, "I know Dusty and Luna won't go for an alliance with me...and Natt's clearly not working out. I can't have Archie and Flint in the same alliance, that won't work...and Nicolás...well, he's not much of a partner here. So there's just...Liz...right…" He groaned loudly, slamming his head against the wall. "And of course, she's mad at me right now! Dammit!"
Confessional End
Archie had left the room, and was now angrily pacing just outside of the Crabs' building. He scuffed the ground as he walked, his face even redder than it typically was. "Stupid Flint and his stupid antics...I seriously can't believe we just let him do this crap and he doesn't get any shit for it!"
"Ayo!" Jianne popped up behind the boy, waving her hand lightly as he kept on pacing. "What, you're too busy brooding to talk to me?" She shook her head at him, though he soon turned to face her.
"Sorry, just...you know, my team is being my team, as usual. I can never understand how they can be so chaotic, it makes no sense! It's just been a long...long morning already."
"Aw, sorry about that," Jianne moved towards the boy, placing her hands on his shoulders and rubbing them a bit before kissing him on the cheek. "Sorry about...you know, hitting you in the gut the other day."
"You've said sorry for that a million times already, it's fine, really." Archie rubbed the back of his neck, blushing a bit from the kiss. "Besides, it was an accident so...really, no big deal there."
"Well, I'm glad...we can totally get back to our normal routine of competitiveness again!" She grinned, clasping her hands together. "I totally gotta show you who's boss the next time a challenge rolls around!" Archie sighed after that comment, causing the grin to fade from Jianne's face. "What's the matter?"
"Well...it's just that I don't really feel like being super competitive with you...I mean, the last time, I got hurt. Yeah, it was an accident, that was fine, but you get so heated about these things, I just don't wanna deal with stuff like that constantly." He looked over his shoulder to see that she was pouting as she looked up at him, her arms firmly crossed. "What?"
"Being competitive is like my favorite thing, you can't just tell me not to be! That's not how this works! How are we supposed to have fun in our relationship if you won't let me spice it up with a little bit of competition here and there?"
Archie turned around, facing Jianne with a flabbergasted look upon his face. "How are we supposed to have fun in our relationship? Are you kidding me? All I'm saying is that I don't want to have to work against you every second of every day, how is that a bad thing?"
"You're just clearly not appreciating me for my extreme personality. I like to have fun, and my way of having fun involves me being very competitive and a free spirit." She yawned as she looked him up and down. "How do you have fun, again? Oh, right, you write poetry...everyone's favorite form of writing."
"I cannot believe you right now...if this is how you're going to be, I'm just gonna mind my own business. You can cool yourself off and we can talk later." Archie turned to start walking away, though Jianne quickly came up behind him again and incessantly tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm not doing this right now."
"If you don't want me to be like this, then why are you even dating me? This is who I am, and if you don't like that, well, it makes no sense why you would want to be together with me." Jianne's face was flushed with red as Archie stood still for a moment. He soon started walking away again.
"I don't know why I am," he mumbled, causing her to gasp as he kept on walking. "I seriously don't know…"
Confessional
"Whatever...I don't need him if he's just going to be a huge pansy about everything." Jianne refused to face the camera, and her face was still full of red. "It's fine...I don't care, whatever."
Confessional End
Liz was pacing back and forth in the Crab girls' room, scratching her chin in thought, while the only other person in the room, Luna, completely ignored her. "Tony wants to cheer for the other team, eh? Throw me into a pile of squids, eh? Well, I can show him not to mess with me like that!" Luna raised an eyebrow as she heard Liz's mumbles, her curiosity getting the best of her. "I just need to figure out a good way to get payback on him."
"Oh, dear, did I just hear somebody say my favorite word?" The model turned to look at the conniving scientist, "Payback is such a wonderful thing, and I deal in that quite a bit, you know." She hopped down from her bunk, mozying her way on over to Liz. "You're trying to get back at Tony for being such a poor excuse for a boyfriend, aren't you?"
"Easy there, I'm just trying to show him not to piss me off so much, I don't hate the guy. And why on Earth should I even take advice from you, anyways? As I seem to recall, the only thing you're good at is making other's lives miserable."
"Be that as it may, a big step in bringing on the misery is putting people in their place. For example, Tony is greedy, this we all know...I bet he values his possessions quite a lot. I mean, his tailored suits, perhaps you could...oh, I don't know, let them have a bit of a soak." Liz could see the excitement in Luna's eyes, and much to her own displeasure, a small grin cracked on her own face.
"That could be a good harmless way to go about this...you know, Luna, I was almost certain you were going to say something utterly stupid, butt you've surprised me. I guess there is a sliver of a brain in that hollow skull of yours!" Liz held her hand out towards Luna, who took it in her own with no hesitation, shaking it. "I wonder if the two of us can come up with more devious schemes together?"
"I'm quite certain we will! With us working together, the rest of the contestants are in for a whole lot of trouble." The two girls snickered to themselves, both of their snickers soon turning into evil laughter.
Confessional
"Nothing wrong with making an alliance with a former enemy...especially one who excels in simple forms of payback." Liz grinned at the camera, "Don't get me wrong, I looooove doing experiments on others, but it helps to not exhaust my resources. Besides, people who go against Luna tend to end up getting cut early from the competition. This alliance will only help ensure my own safety more."
Confessional End
Suddenly, noise crackled from the speakers overhead in all the rooms. "Attention, denizens of Atlantis!" The contestants weren't used to hearing Poseidon instead of Chris, but the break from normality was quite a relief for them. "If you could all gather before the fallen space station, we'll debrief on today's big challenge!"
The group was quick to leave their rooms, the lot of them heading towards the space station, as they were instructed to. There, they were met by four people, two of which they didn't recognize, give for a few of them that had seen him on television. Poseidon and Amphitrite stepped towards the two teams, the former bearing an excited grin upon his face. "I'm glad you're all here! Today, we'll have Chris and Chef taking a break from their hosting duties, leaving Amphitrite and myself in charge of this challenge!"
"Ahh, talk about a major relief, am Ah right?" Alex nudged Anne on the shoulder, the latter holding up a box of headache pills.
"Yeah! Major relief for the next twenty-four hours, give or take some side effects!" The girl laughed at her own joke, getting a slight, yet awkward chuckle back from the explorer while Natt laughed wholeheartedly.
"Nice one, babe," Natt flashed a thumbs up to Anne, who blew a kiss back at him, while Alex, who was standing between the two of them, had a grossed out look on his face, soon backing up a bit and moving towards the rest of his team.
"Now, I'm sure you folks have noticed the two guests standing behind us, some of you may recognize them, some may not. Andrew, Ji-Soon, would you mind stepping forward?" Poseidon gestured to the two of them, both of which gladly took the steps to move forward. Andrew was a big guy, not so much in height as he was just rotund. He had pale skin, with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. His hair was long and unkempt, just like the full beard...which was sprouting from his neck, proudly. His outfit was quite simple, and one that was to be expected of a shut in, such as himself. He had a large, grey hoodie on, black shorts, and black sandals...but, the most important part of the ensemble sat on top of his head: a black fedora.
"Erk, honey, this place has like, zero substance whatsoever." Some people thought that he was talking to Ji-Soon, but he was quick to hold up his phone, revealing a virtual popstar on the screen. "Sigh, why can't everything be as kawaii as my Mitsuki? Tsk, tsk, nothing personal, kids, but you're certainly not sugoi in any way at all, not in the slightest." The crowd stared back at him, blank expressions on their faces.
"This is...that one guy who was in the Ridukeulous Race, right?" Gretchen scratched the back of her head, leaning over to Taylor, "Gotta say, he really doesn't look like much."
"Yeah, makes sense why he-" Andrew blared a loud air horn while Taylor tried to speak, shutting her up quite instantly. "What gives, lard-o?"
"No spoilers! Not everyone has read the manga, so they won't get the references!" Taylor rolled her eyes back at the boy. "Besides, me and my partner did amazingly in that season! In fact, we-" He blared his air horn to stop him from spoiling anything.
"You are so funny, Andrew!" Ji-Soon rushed over to the boy, wrapping her arms most of the way around him, although she was quickly shoved away by him.
"Sorry, m'lady, there is only one true love for me, and that's my Mitsuki!" He pulled his phone up to his face, placing his lips right on the screen before pulling them back, revealing a strand of saliva between him and the phone. Most of the contestants cringed at the sight, although Ji-Soon could only giggle at it. She was quite shorter than him, although her chaotic hairstyle added a few inches to her height. Her skin was incredibly pale, being almost a powder white color, likely due to an excessive amount of makeup. Her right eye was a deep blue color, while the left one was more of a neon green. Her face was also littered with black, diamond-shaped tattoos, one above her nose, and one above each eye, with two black lines dipping down from her eyes. Her hair was something out of fantasy...it was a gorgeous blue color, give for the right side of her parted bangs, which was white. Near the back of her head, there were two cone-like extrusions, each with a little spiraling strand of hair coming down from the tip of the cone. She had similar spiraling strands coming from in front of her ears and dipping down to dangle near her chest. Oddly, her ears were pointed, much like an elf's. She was wearing a gorgeous gown, one that was an ocean blue color for the most part, although there was a lighter blue band around her stomach, one further down on her thighs, and the bottom faded into lighter blues in a wave-like texture. The dress itself was a spaghetti strap, and there was a slit on the left side so her leg was exposed. Aside from the dress, she also wore a lilac-colored butterfly choker around her neck, with blue high heels to make her almost as tall as Andrew was.
"Hi-lo!" Ji-Soon bowed before the group, looking back up at them with quite the cutesy smile on her face. "I am the mighty Sea Elf Princess!"
"You're a sea elf princess? Wow, that's so cool! We could, like, get married and I would be a prince! No, a king!" Zachary rushed over to the girl, taking her hand in his and kissing the top of it, causing her to coo and blush a bright red color. "What do you say, Princess?"
"I-I'm not actually a princess! Sorry, sorry! I am wearing the cosplay right now, isn't it very convincing?" Ji-Soon giggled innocently, though she was a bit disheartened when Zachary groaned and walked back to her team. "Aw, I thought everyone would love this cosplay…"
"Psh, everyone knows that the Sea Elf Princess is actually part mermaid, your costume isn't convincing enough." Andrew rolled his eyes at Ji-Soon, causing her to whimper like a sad puppy.
"Now, we brought these two down here for a very special challenge that they would be perfect to judge! Amphitrite, if you would…" Poseidon gestured to his assistant, who quickly held up a clipboard with a graph on it.
"Our studies have shown that there is a growing appreciation for Japanese cartoons, commonly referred to as 'anime.' We figured it would be worth a shot to base a challenge around this, seeing as it could only possibly improve the ratings for the show, of course. The two teams will have to work together to create an opening scene for an anime, making it interesting enough to captivate the attention of our two resident...how do you say it, 'weaboos?'" Amphitrite cringed a little at the word, but moved on, nonetheless. "After they view your openings, they'll decide which one is more interesting, and declare that team the winner, saving them from elimination, of course."
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Folks, you'll have cameras and editing equipment at the ready, so just do the best job you can, alright?" Poseidon waved to the two teams, soon turning to walk away with the judges and Amphitrite.
Confessional
"A challenge where we have to make an anime opening? Er...can't say I've ever imagined this would be something we have to do, but we'll make something great, I'm sure." Alexis smiled nervously, "I...I hope."
"Now, I know a thing or two about anime, and I'm not just saying that because I watched it to impress some girl." Flint had his arms crossed and his chin tipped up with a cheeky grin on his face. "Everyone knows there is a distinct feature of anime openings, and that's-"
Confessional End
"-That the openings are always rockin' and upbeat, unlike the endings, which are more slow paced and solemn." Flint continued to grin proudly as he spoke to his team, all of which were looking at him as if he was some sort of mega nerd, including Nicolás, ironically. He groaned, rubbing his brow with his hand. "Look, I know, I'm a dweeb or whatever for this, but I'm telling you, if you guys listen to me, just for this challenge, we'll crush it, no doubt."
"I guess we can let the ubernerd take control of this show horse for now," Luna rolled her eyes at him before leaning over to Liz, "Let's just pray he doesn't ride the damn thing into a wall." The scientist snickered at the comment, gaining some attention from Tony, who was entirely confused that she was standing next to the girl that was supposedly her rival. He snuck over to the two of them, pulling her aside with a concerned look on his face.
"Hey, you alright in the head and all that? I see you're standing next to Luna...usually you say 'her very presence makes me want to vomit.'" Liz sighed, stepping back a bit from the boy.
"Is there something wrong with me aiming to mend some of my relationships with the rest of the cast? I've simply decided that Luna and I have a lot more to agree about than I initially thought, and because of this, I will be socializing with her more." She tapped Tony's nose with her finger before turning back to return to Luna. "Don't miss me too much, you'll give yourself a headache." Tony groaned to himself as his girlfriend went right back to Luna, and the two started chit chatting like a pair of best friends.
Confessional
"What on Earth is going on here? It's like some sort of tornado came through Atlantis and turned her brain upside down." Tony scratched his chin, a worried look on his face. "She's up to something shifty...I know Liz well enough to see that much. The only thing I'm wondering is what that could be…"
Confessional End
"Anime opening, anime opening...does anybody on this team even watch anime?" Vicente looked around at his team, sighing as none of them raised their hands at the question. "Come on, not a single one of you has?"
"Well, I mean, I've seen some of the mainstream stuff, like 'Sailor America' and all that, but when you get into the weird ones like 'Why Shouldn't My Mom Stab My Best Friend in the Foot?' that's when I kinda tune out of all that." Damien rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, "You know, I made that name up just now, but I wouldn't be shocked if there was actually a real anime called that."
"Well, there is. They're still in the middle of making the second season, but the first season was pretty critically acclaimed for being a masterpiece of its time." The Sharks looked over to see that it was none other than Anne who had said that. She quickly covered her mouth while everyone stared at her, waiting for an explanation. "U-uh, I'm not some sort of weaboo or anything, I just like to watch the comedy ones! Y-yeah! All that parody stuff that makes you go 'har har har!'" Anne chuckled nervously, though her team still kept staring her down, some of them stifling chuckles and grins. "Would you guys cut that out? This is all just a big misunderstanding!"
"You like anime, don't you, Anne?" Taylor leaned towards the girl, a massive smirk across her face. Anne gulped nervously and backed up a bit, looking around to see that the smirk was contagious, and the rest of her team was wearing one as well.
"Aw, beans…" The comedian sighed, looking down at her own feet. "Yeah, I guess I do...but don't get me wrong, I'm nothing like those two that're judging this challenge. I bet they have shelves lined with figurines and stuff…" Taylor kept on smirking at Anne, causing her to sigh again. "F-fine, I do have one shelf with figurines on it...just from my favorite anime, 'Kyoto Ghost!' Well, it was my favorite until they botched everything after the first season."
"Ah'm kinda shocked you didn't say some sorta pun, like, Ah dunno, Anne-ime, or something." Alex shrugged his shoulders as Anne looked over at him, pulling a button from her pocket and pressing it, causing it to emit a loud "boo" noise. "Oh, come on, that is totally a joke that you would make!"
"Yeah, just leave the comedy act to me, funny guy." Anne pointed at herself proudly, "It's what makes me so special!"
"Oh, you're special alright," Jianne grumbled before Gretchen slapped her on the back of the head. "Ow, uncalled for, Rick Astley!"
Confessional
"I've been watching anime since I was...I dunno, probably about five or something. I've seen hundreds of them, and I definitely know which ones are worth watching and which ones are hot garbage!" Anne took pride in this for a moment before blushing and rubbing her arm awkwardly. "Yeah...I'm a total geek…"
Confessional End
Flint paced back and forth while his team sat down in the grass, waiting for him to say something. He looked over at all of them, eventually snapping his fingers and gaining a smirk on his face. "I got it! So, our anime has gotta be something cool...what about if we do something where it's martial artists that have to fight off demons and stuff? Since I'm kind of the head of the challenge, I'll sit it out and help prepare everyone. Let's see here...Amelia, Luna, Liz, and Dusty, you four can be the martial artists. That just leaves Tony, Nicolás, Natt, and Archie as the demons."
"Aren't you just making all of the girls the heroes and the boys the villains? That's so bland," Archie sighed as he stood from his seat. "Besides, everybody knows that a crowd goes nuts for demon ladies. If anything, it should be the other way around. We need someone relatable as the protagonist, anyways."
"Bah! Surely you aren't suggesting that you, the guy who has a sad story for every occasion, is the most relatable main character we got! If anything, it would be Dusty! She's the relatively normal girl stuck with a whole bunch of crazies around her. No offense, guys," Flint chuckled nervously as he looked over at the rest of the team, each of them glaring back at him except Dusty.
"Well, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I could totally be the protagernist! We could totally call the anime Cowgirl BoopBeep!" Dusty grinned widely at her name suggestion, though her grin soon faded as she saw her team cringing around her. "Fine, whatever. At least I thought it was a good name. Y'all are too critical."
"You know, Flint, I don't think you're taking this challenge seriously enough. You clearly don't have what it takes to lead this thing, and if we listen to you, we're going to lose. We need to work together to get a solid plan." Archie looked back over at his team, "Now, if we put all our heads together here, we could probably figure out something that works."
"Archie, my man, I got this. I've seen enough of these shows to know how to handle a silly little intro sequence. Why don't you just sit your butt back down and let me do my thing?" Flint patted Archie on the back, only causing the boy to twitch angrily before shoving his teammate back.
"You know, if one person is just going to take control of the challenge anyways, why don't I do it? Ask what my team thinks about it? Psh, why would I? I wanna be the boss, I wanna be in charge!" Archie glared at Flint, clearly mocking him. "You're benched, Flint, I'm the new captain, now." He stepped towards the rest of his team, leaving Flint standing behind him with a look of utter shock plastered on his face. "Scrap the martial arts crap, we're gonna do something people can actually relate to, a slice of life story. Nicolás, Amelia, you two are gonna be the leads while the others are the background characters."
"Aha, the lead role for me, of course!" Amelia stood from her seat, smirking back at the other girls, all of which rolled their eyes at her. "Now, what exactly is a slice of life anime? I don't think I'm all too familiar with the concept."
"W-well, um, something like that is usually a wholesome story between the main characters falling in love and stuff." Nicolás twiddled his thumbs before noticing a look of absolute disgust on Amelia's face. "Hey, no need to lower my self esteem even more."
"Archie, are you certain that's such a good plan? I mean, clearly Amelia and Nicolás would be a really...odd couple. And I don't really think that either of them will be able to act the part right." Natt tried to calmly suggest a change, but he could tell from the angry look on Archie's face that he wasn't having it. "Fine, fine, forget I said anything…"
"Wonderful, it seems that we are all in agreement." Archie cracked his knuckles as he glanced over at a large crate, one which was full of costumes and props. He dug around in it a bit before tossing a dress to Amelia and a regular school boy uniform to Nicolás. "The two of you can get dressed in these, everybody else, you can pick from the scraps. This opening is going to be quite poetic, so we'll need to set the right tone with a slower song to it."
"A slower song!?" Flint stomped his feet in disagreement, "You can't use a slow song for an opening, the slow songs are for the endings! I literally just told you guys this not ten minutes ago!"
"Meh, maybe a slow song wouldn't make sense for your opening...but for my opening, it will be just fine. Clearly my opinion is the only one that matters, anyways. Isn't that right, Flint?" Archie leered at the boy, who was quick to shut his trap. "Now, as I said, you two get in costume and the rest of you...just pick something that isn't too tacky."
Confessional
"I'm tired of people like Flint just running around and bossing everybody else around like it's nobody's business. Seriously, who does that guy think he is?" Archie groaned and crossed his arms as he glared into the camera. "Either way, when my plan wins the challenge for us, that'll show him that he needs to treat his teammates with some decency. Psh, I seriously can't stand that guy sometimes."
"We're doomed...we are so doomed! Mister Gloomy McGloomerson is taking over and everything is gonna go down the drain from there." Flint rubbed his brow in his stress, "Ugh, whatever, if he wants to lead our team down the path of failure, I won't stop him."
Confessional End
Anne sat criss-cross applesauce in the grass with the rest of her team in a circle around her. She scratched at her chin in thought. "Well, if I'm the only one here who has any idea what would be good for an anime challenge, this is gonna be quite some work. I mean, do you guys have a preference as to what genre we roll with? Action and parody are usually the most entertaining, so I don't think we should venture far off from those two categories."
"Well, if you're gonna be the leader this time around, we should probably stick with a parody, right? It only makes sense, considering you're all about humor and stuff." Gretchen gave a supportive smile to Anne, who beamed at her comment.
"That's right, I've seen just about every parody anime out there! I know what makes for some good laughs, and what ends up flopping miserably. I'd say, for the sake of us, we should do a parody of something like a high school drama. You know, have a super bangin' intro where we show off all the cast in hilarious situations. There'll be the main group of five which can be...hm...let's have Alex, Damien, Gretchen, Taylor, and Alexis be the main five. You guys would be an interesting group, at least."
"Yes, main character status!" Taylor cheered loudly before pulling Gretchen in for a huge hug. "We're gonna be the best main characters that any damn anime has ever seen!"
"H-heh, you mean all five of us, right?" Gretchen chuckled awkwardly.
"Oh...right, the five of us. Totally, that's definitely what I meant!"
"I've never thought about being a main character in an anime before...I guess it could be a cool way to practice some different types of acting." Damien smirked while Alex patted him on the back.
"Alright, I guess I can go along with this," Alexis blushed and rubbed her arm nervously. "I'm basically the main character of an anime back where I'm from, anyways. It's not like this will be much different."
"Well, now that that's all out of the way-" Anne was quickly cut off by Zachary.
"Hang on a minute, if those five are gonna be the main characters, what does that leave for me!?" Zachary pouted in protest, "Come on, I'm actually an actor! You've gotta have something good for me!"
"Of course I do! You're obviously the rich exchange student that only came to the school to mock everybody else for being poor and having no class!" Anne leaned forward to pat Zachary on the head, bringing a grin to his face.
"Well, I am pretty classy, if I do say so myself. I'll totally go for that!"
"Which leaves Vicente, Jianne, and myself. Vicente, you absolutely have to be the teacher that is so tired of this group of kids, but also, you have to be a total simp for the hot history teacher, which would be Jianne in this case. And Jianne, your character has to be a simp for Vicente, too! But neither of you guys know about that, so when you see each other in the opening, you'll both act super serious before hiding behind a wall and squealing in joy."
"Well, that sounds kinda cheesy, but I guess it would be pretty funny." Jianne rolled her eyes at the comedian before looking over at Vicente. "So, I guess we're gonna simp for each other, then?"
"I guess so," Vicente mumbled, although he was hardly paying attention to her. Instead, he had his eyes focused on Dusty, who was wearing some tomboyish school uniform as she tried to get ready for the recording of the opening. "Ahh...curse those Sharks for snatching Dusty from us."
"What was that?" Anne leaned towards Vicente with an enormous grin on her face, though he quickly shoved her away from him. "Ahem, anyways, with me as the last character, I think I'll be the principal that tries to act like a cool kid, but is clearly out of her element. It's the perfect role for myself!" She jumped up from the grass excitedly, looking at her team proudly. "Is everybody clear on what we're gonna be doing, here?"
"Sure, the idea is solid, but Ah am wondering what we'll call this anime? Ah mean, it has to have some sort of name with a ring to it, right?" Alex posed the question for Anne, who scratched her chin some more before clapping her hands together.
"I know exactly what we'll call it! It's gonna be The Wild Life of Suko P!" The comedian snickered at the reference that she had made. "Well, now that we've got that all down, let's each figure out our costumes with that crate over there! Oh, guys, this is gonna be so much fun!"
Confessional
"It's nice to see Anne enjoying herself here, even if she's one of those weird weeaboos that the internet tells you all about." Alex rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Either way, with how pumped she is, and how surprisingly well she's got this planned, we're sure to win this challenge in a landslide!"
"It's still annoying that we lost Dusty to the other team and all, but at least we still got a pretty good group...man, what's gotten into me?" Vicente chuckled as he rubbed his forehead, "Here I am, practically fawning over this girl. Ah, Vicente, this is really new for you, but you know...I don't mind it too much. I just hope I can actually tell her at some point." He reached into his pocket, pulling the handkerchief out from it. It was the same one she had used to wipe his face in the squid challenge. "Heh...I guess we'll see."
Confessional End
Some time had passed, and the teams had put together, at least, what they believed to be captivating anime openings. Andrew and Ji-Soon sat next to each other in the grass while Amphitrite pushed a projector screen in front of the two of them, albeit Ji-Soon was the only one paying attention, considering that Andrew was too busy cooing at his phone. "Ahem, the challenge is coming to a close, so we will get to the showings of these openings post haste. We flipped a coin before the challenge started, and it landed on tails...so the Crabs will be displaying their opening first. Archie, you seem to be in charge of this whole thing, so why don't you come and tell us a little about your anime."
Amphitrite stepped out of the way, allowing Archie to take her place by the projector. He looked back at his team, specifically glaring at Flint, who stuck his tongue out at him in response. The rest of his team gave him nervous smiles, though Amelia had more of an angry look on her face. "So, we did a slice of life anime for our opening...yeah. It's called Kimyōna Kappuru, which means-"
"The Strange Couple, please, that's some really beginner Japanese you got going on. If you wanted to roll with a good name for something like that, it should've been something like Wāmu Ya Tori Ga Aisuru Koto Ga Dekireba. It means if worms and birds could love, which is a way better name than your effort-lacking one." Andrew raised his chin in a matter of fact way, only causing Archie to grit his teeth at him.
"Right...well, it's about two people that are practically polar opposites, but they still end up loving each other anyw-"
"Seen it a million times. Anata Wa Watashi O Aishiteimasu!?, Kataomoide Wanai, and Mom, Just Because My Girlfriend is a Slug Doesn't Mean You Can Make Fun of Her. They all did that concept already, plus hundreds more."
"Would you just let me present the damn thing already?" Archie clenched his fists as he shouted over at Andrew, causing Ji-Soon to gasp while the boy simply scoffed at him. "Whatever, you guys get the premise, I'm just gonna play the stupid thing and get it out of the way already." Archie clicked a button on a remote, causing the screen to light up before he shuffled over to his team again, mumbling to himself. "Stupid weeaboo and his stupid anime, I'll show him…"
As the screen lit up, solemn piano music started to play, that which might be heard in a melancholy movie of sorts. Andrew and Ji-Soon glanced between each other, both of them with confused looks on their faces. Flint nudged Archie with his elbow. "Heh, told you an opening needs to be upbeat if you wanna captivate an audience."
"Would you just shut your mouth already?" Archie slapped Flint on the back of the head, successfully getting the boy to growl back at him like an angry dog. The opening went on, revealing Amelia and Nicolás standing back to back, each looking up at the sky with boring looks on their faces. They glanced towards the camera, a single teardrop falling from Amelia's eye before she vanished into thin air. "I don't see how this wouldn't captivate them anyways...it's clearly deeper than anything you could've come up with."
Flint rolled his eyes and kept on watching the screen, which was now showing the background characters, each of which were just sitting at desks in a classroom while Nicolás looked out a window. The camera panned over to the window, revealing that he was staring down at Amelia, who was outside with an umbrella in hand, despite the fact that it was sunny out and there wasn't a single drop of rain. Archie smirked, though Flint was still entirely confused. "I don't get it...why the umbrella in pure sunlight?"
"It's a metaphor for living in someone's shadow, obviously. Don't you know anything about poetry?" Flint murmured to himself as Archie lectured him, but they both kept watching as the cast assembled for one final shot, which eventually panned up to the sky, revealing that there were stars all around. "Well, that was that. What'd you two think of it?"
"A-ahm...how do I put this in a way that will make some sense…" Ji-Soon nervously glanced over to Andrew, looking for some help in this situation.
"That was such a snooze fest, dude. I mean, you've got piano in the intro, that's a couple points taken off right there, but no one had any expression other than bleh, so you better knock off even more points for that. The umbrella thing was a completely misplaced metaphor. I don't know why you used a poetry theme for an anime when poetry, outside of haiku, is entirely boring. All in all, I wouldn't even watch this if my honey suggested it to me." Andrew shook his head at Archie.
"Yeah...this was kinda suck." Ji-Soon weakly agreed with him. "I wanted to fall asleep when it was on...so maybe is a better plot for a lullaby song?"
"Well, Archie, looks like your leadership was totally bunk," Flint patted him on the back, though his hand was slapped away by him quickly.
Confessional
"Archie's a goner after this," Tony sulked in the confessional. "I should've known from the very start that Amelia was up to something like this...Right now, I can only hope that the other team manages to botch their opening more than we did. I mean, I think Anne spearheaded the challenge for them, so maybe it's just a minute and a half of unfunny puns?"
Confessional End
Anne hurriedly rushed in front of the projector, waving at the judges nervously. They still looked a bit sour from the opening that the Crabs had done. "Uh, hey folks! I know that the last opening was kinda...sad and slow, but I can totally make it up to you with this next one! For our genre, we chose a parody anime! You know, we thought that would be something fun!"
"A parody anime?" Andrew leaned forward with a grin on his face. "Parody anime tend to be the biggest hidden gems of the anime world. Do tell us more, I'm already intrigued by the genre alone!"
"Yes, yes! I too really enjoy the parody animes, they make me do a laugh a whole lot!" Ji-Soon clapped her hands together excitedly. "Is it one in a high school? Those are always the best ones!"
"Well, yes, actually!" Anne beamed, relaxing quite a bit as she saw the anticipation on their faces. "It's based around five main high school kids, with some other goofy characters showing up every now and then. We call it, The Wild Life of Suko P! Suko being played by our star anime boy, Alex, of course!" Anne gestured over to Alex, who aimed finger guns back at her with a grin on his face.
"That name's got a real nice ring to it, it's something I could totally see myself getting into. Hell, it would make for a good date night to binge it with my Mitsu." Andrew was practically salivating at the idea, much to Archie's displeasure. He was already thinking to himself about how bad the situation was for him. "No more talking, we totally have to watch this thing right away! Play it, play it!"
"Alright, alright! I'll play it, don't you worry!" Anne giggled before pressing the button on the remote, causing the screen to light up again. She quickly rushed back to her team, giving all of them high fives when she reached them. An upbeat rock beat started playing while the title flashed on the screen in light blue bubble letters. This quickly transitioned to show Alex in his classroom, clutching his pencil tightly in his hand while Alexis, Damien, Taylor, and Gretchen were being loud and obnoxious around him. The pencil soon snapped, and he stood up from his desk turning around to shout at them only for them all to jump up to the ceiling and cling to it.
The camera swung out into the hallway, showing that Vicente and Jianne were currently walking down it, staring at each other with the most intense looks imaginable on their faces. Once they passed by each other, they rushed to turn a corner, each of them blushing and squealing out of pure joy from having passed each other by. Andrew chuckled to himself, and the girl in his phone could be heard clapping her hands while Ji-Soon's jaw dropped from the plot she was being exposed to. "It looks like they're liking it a whole lot," Alex patted Anne on the back with a smile, "Nice one, you wackadoo!"
"Why, thank you, leading lady!" Alex was a bit taken aback by Anne's joke, but he shrugged it off and kept on watching. The scene transitioned to show Anne, dressed up as a school principal, using a skateboard to grind down the stair rails, though she fell off of it and tumbled to the bottom of the stairs, where the main five students were all laughing at her.
"Oh, oh, here comes my big scene!" Zachary piped up in excitement as the scene shifted again, showing him walking through the hallway while Taylor begrudgingly rolled out a red carpet for him. At the end of the carpet, there stood Alex, who was annoyed to see Zachary. The two glared each other down before the scene did one last transition to show the whole cast basically wrestling with each other in the classroom, much to the disappointment of Jianne and Vicente. The opening came to a close, and Andrew and Ji-Soon both stood from their seats, applauding loudly.
"Bravo, bravo, encore, encore!" Andrew shouted excitedly, something that nobody had expected from him after how obnoxious he was being earlier. "There is so much substance, so much emotion, you can really tell that this would be an amazing two part series!"
"Yes! I was thinking the same thing! I really love the idea of this one, it seems like it would be the biggest funny anime of the year!" Ji-Soon rushed over to Anne and hoisted her up into the air with a big hug. "Good job, funny lady!"
"Aw, thanks, you two...but it really was the effort of all of this that helped make this opening so well." Anne smiled back at her team, all of which were smiling back at her, give for Jianne, who was glaring at Archie.
"Well, then, I think it is quite clear who the winners of this challenge are. The Atomic Sharks!" Poseidon had come back to the group with Amphitrite, a nervous smile on his face. "Unfortunately, that means you must eliminate somebody tonight, Cosmic Crabs."
"Oh, don't you worry," Amelia grinned back at Poseidon, "I have quite a fitting idea for who to vote for tonight. Don't you agree, team?" She looked back at her team, being met with either looks of agreement, or some nervous ones.
"Right," Tony mumbled, sighing as he looked over at Archie, who was glaring back at Jianne. "I just wish this could've played out a bit differently…"
Confessional
"Tony will no longer have any allies after tonight, fully disabling whatever threat he may have been to me before now. It's such a shame to see the mighty fall, but tv needs a new face to fear, and who else fits that role besides moi?" Amelia laughed maniacally for a moment, soon stopping and narrowing her brow. "But my work isn't done...he's a clever boy, I can't take my eyes off him...not even for a second. Oh, Tony...our game has only just begun."
"Whatever, we lost the challenge, I lost my girlfriend, and I'm probably leaving tonight...who gives a damn?" Archie looked away from the camera. "I don't...why would I?"
Confessional End
The Crabs gathered back at the giant fish bowl, tension at an all time high with all that had happened during the challenge. Amelia smirked at Tony, who could only look away nervously. Archie and Flint were practically at each other's throats, the poet glaring at the speedster as he did a gesture with his finger across his neck. Dusty and Natt sat back, watching in disgust while Luna and Liz chatted together as if they had never had any sour feelings towards each other to begin with. And then there was Nicolás, who was trying his best to stay out of the spotlight while his chaotic team went after each other. Poseidon watched from where he was standing at the podium, with Amphitrite holding the platter that had eight bags of fish flakes on it.
"A-ahem, folks! I'm sorry, I do know losing can be quite a bitter feeling, b-but unfortunately, we have to go on with the elimination ceremony." The man cleared his throat as he pulled a stack of ballots from his tux pocket, looking them over with the saddened look on his face getting even sadder than it already was. "Well, it really is unfortunate to have to do this, but alas, it is part of the show. Each of you went and voted for a member of your team to get eliminated, someone who perhaps didn't try their hardest during the challenge today. Here, I hold the results of the voting...I'll begin calling out the names of the people who're safe in just a second here. You'll get a bag of fish flakes when your name is called, but for the diver that isn't called, well, you must unfortunately take a trip down the Water Slide of Shame to catch the Submarine of Losers, which will...you know, take you away from Atlantis. The first of you that's safe for the night is...Nicolás."
"Phew," the nerdy boy wiped some sweat from his brow, catching the bag of fish flakes that Amphitrite tossed his way. "Y-you never know who a team like this will gun for."
"A team like this?" Luna sneered at the boy, flicking him on the back of the head.
"Yeah, what's that supposed to mean?" Liz crossed her eyes and glared holes into the boy's soul.
"Y-you know, I think I preferred when you two didn't like each other." Nicolás mumbled his words as quietly as he could, though the girls still heard him, and both slapped him on the neck. "Fine! I'll just keep my mouth shut!"
"Moving on...we also have Natt and Dusty safe for the night." Poseidon tossed the next two bags of flakes out to the two contestants, both of which hardly seemed eager to catch them as they were still more appalled by the display that Luna and Liz were putting on. "And...Luna and Liz."
"Well, of course!" Luna caught her bag of flakes as it flew towards her. "I wouldn't expect anything less...actually, I take that back. I could totally expect less from this team."
"Agreed, they tend to have terrible judgement, and decision making for that matter. Cough cough, Tony." Liz stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend, who rolled his eyes, but didn't look back at her.
"And, finally, Amelia and Tony...you two are both safe." Poseidon tossed out the sixth and seventh bag of flakes to the two schemers, the former seeming as if she knew she would be safe, while the latter let out a long sigh of relief. This only left Flint and Archie, both of which were still staring each other down like they were getting ready to fight. "Archie...Flint...the two of you, well, you're both great at the game and all, but today just wasn't your best day. Archie, you took Flint's competitiveness as a reason to commandeer the whole challenge...and I think some of that anger had to do with Jianne...maybe he reminded you a bit of-"
"Shut it, old man," Archie shifted his glare over to Poseidon, who shrunk back where he stood. Amphitrite seemed ready to skewer the boy with her pen then and there, but Poseidon waved her back.
"Right, apologies. And Flint, I get that you and Archie have two very different ideologies for how your team should handle challenges, but badgering him non-stop is no way to go about these disagreements. Unfortunately, tonight will be the last night for one of you down here in Atlantis. The last bag of flakes goes to…"
Tension grew more and more as Poseidon stayed silent, and the two boys were currently forehead to forehead, gritting their teeth as they waited for him to say the final verdict. Amelia smirked as she checked her nails and glanced over at Tony, who was crossing his fingers and hoping for the best.
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"...Flint." Poseidon tossed the final bag of fish flakes to the athletic boy, who caught it with one hand and backed up from Archie, waving at him with his other hand.
"Tata, Archie, tata!" Flint took a scoop of the fish flakes and shoved them in his mouth, soon coughing them up, due to the horrendous taste. Archie stood from his seat, rolling his eyes as he started walking towards the hole that led to the water slide.
"I should've known that this team was gonna get like this from the very beginning...it's kinda pathetic. Go ahead, keep him, I don't need this...I just need time away from all of this chaos." The poet refused to even turn back to his team before jumping into the water slide and disappearing from their sight. Poseidon let out a sigh, rubbing his brow anxiously.
"Well, there you have it. Archie cracked from all the competitiveness around him...it's sad to see it. Hopefully the Crabs can recover from this loss, but the only way to find out is next time, on Total Drama: Lost City!"
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The Crabs had all returned to their respective rooms, each of them beat from the challenge that had taken place...that, and the loss they suffered. Natt, Nicolás, and Flint were already in their respective bunks, each of them drifting off to sleep while Tony was rummaging through a crate under his bed, one that had all his clothing in it. He pulled a suit from the crate, witnessing in horror as he noticed that it had shrunk several sizes. He gritted his teeth and clenched the suit tightly in his fists. "Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz!"
Author's Notes:
*And one of the finalists from the previous season has fallen to the chaotic mess that is the Cosmic Crabs. It's probably for the best, if he was stuck around any longer, things surely would've ended up even worse for the poor guy. Hope you guys enjoyed Poseidon hosting this one, also I hope everyone liked our guest weeaboos, Ji-Soon and Andrew. Special thanks to Grape Escape for allowing me to have Andrew in this episode!
*Votes: Archie - Amelia, Liz, Luna, Flint; Flint - Archie, Dusty, Natt; Amelia - Tony, Nicolás
*Placements: 22nd - Crustacean; 21st - Thomas; 20th - March; 19th - Benjamin; 18th - Archie