"Welcome back to Total Drama," Chris said to the cameras when the episode resumed. "I have here with me two teams of teens ready to have their hard work inspected and insulted!"
He was in the middle of a wide-open field, where the two statues constructed by the contestants stood on either side of him covered in large blankets. Nearby, their respective teams were sitting on overturned logs. On the left was Team Maskwak, with Shawn sitting on the far left, followed by Beardo, Leonard, Ella, Dave, Sky and Sugar at the opposite end. On the other side was Team Kinosewak, with Max sitting on the far right and Scarlett, Rodney, Topher, Amy, Sammy, and Jasmine sitting next to him in that order. None of the campers looked particularly confident in their work.
"We'll flip a coin to see who gets their statue examined first. Heads for Maskwak, tails for Kinosewak." Chris produced a coin - which, of course, sported his own head on it - and tossed it into the air. Each pair of eyes watched it closely as it flew up, down and back into the host's hand. He slapped it on the back of his other hand and revealed it, showing it to be-
"Heads!" Chris declared, and pointed to the camera's left. "Maskwak goes first!"
The team in question tensed further, and shifted their gaze to the intern approaching their bear. In one swift motion the blanket was removed, showing their furry monstrosity in all its sword-wielding glory.
Jasmine let out a low whistle when her eyes landed on the weapon. "Where'd you pick up a thing like that?"
"Heh, we can't go sharing all of our secrets with you that easily," Leonard said with pride in his voice.
"You make it sound like we didn't find it by accident," Dave said with a smirk, causing Leonard to quickly deflate.
"Still though," said Topher, his face full of fake awe. "You guys did good work on making it look diseased. I'm guessing… rabies?"
Amy and Max snorted at the jab while the Bears shot annoyed glares their way. Chris quickly shushed them and approached the statue, making a show of examining it thoroughly even though he must have known what it looked like already. He muttered to himself different scathing criticisms, such as 'Clearly the work of amateurs' and 'I could've done this with my eyes sewn shut', causing the Bears' glares to shift his way.
Unperturbed, he nodded in satisfaction after a few moments of looking at it from all angles. "I can see a lot of effort went into this. I mean, it looks like crud-" The sword then chose that exact moment to unstick itself from the hands and clang onto the ground, prompting some of the Salmons to laugh harder, "-and it's definitely not put together well at all. But, I have come to a decision. Before I reveal all, however, let's take a look at what the Salmons rigged up."
A different intern dramatically unveiled the Salmons' wooden fish, painted in the weirdest yellows and greens imaginable. Team Maskwak as a whole cringed at the sight of it. "It's makin' my eyes hurt," Sugar said, looking away. "Probably means we got this in the bag!"
Sammy, having been responsible for the painting, pouted and hung her head. Amy saw this and cast her glare at Sugar in response.
"She's right," Chris said, approaching the fish statue. "It's definitely an eyesore. Almost like this was the only paint in the whole junkyard!"
Scarlett snapped a finger. "I knew it!" she said in a whisper.
The host made another unnecessary showing of examining the salmon, which grated on its creators' nerves. After a few moments of inspection, Leonard suddenly gasped and pointed at the base. "Hey, that's the shield I found! You thief, you stole it from me!"
Topher chuckled. "I did no such thing! You basically gave it to me."
"But- But- You tricked me to-"
He was interrupted by Chris's airhorn. "Simmer down, Dragonboy! No talking while I work!" Leonard could only cross his arms in a huff while Topher smirked at him.
It only took a few moments longer for him to complete the task. He hummed, and took an extra second to knock on the lower, wooden portion of the body, followed by the head made of metal. That was when one of the nails bending a piece in place flew off, nearly hitting Chris in the eye, and causing that portion of the head to open up. Startled and yelping, Chris shot an unimpressed glare at the Salmons, most of whom looked thoroughly embarrassed.
Chris returned to the center of the area, shaking his head in disappointment. "For shame! These both suck! Couldn't you lot have done a better job?"
"We might've been able to, if we were given decent parts!" Sky shouted at him.
"And you weren't, so no use crying about it." Chris put on his plastic smile once more. "But with that said, one statue sucks less than the other! And we've got some more things to cover before the episode wraps up, so let's get to it! The winner of Pahkitew Island's first challenge is…"
Both teams leaned forward and paid close attention. Jasmine's eyebrows were furrowed in determination; Ella was nervously bobbing her leg up and down; Max, despite his best efforts to appear bold, was chewing on his fingernails in anxiety; and Shawn slowly but surely dropped his head to his chest as he fell asleep once more.
After a suitably agonizing period of time had passed, Chris loudly declared,
"Team Pimâpotew Kinosewak!"
Seven contestants cheered loudly, while seven others groaned in irritation. Max pumped both of his arms repeatedly while Scarlett proudly nodded as if having expected this outcome. Rodney pulled Topher into a one-sided hug, the latter being squeezed a little too hard. Sammy and Amy hollered happily and shared a high-five, then offered high-fives to Jasmine who accepted them.
Conversely, all of the Bears groaned, except for Shawn who jolted upright at the noise and looked around in a panic. Sugar crossed her arms and glared hatefully at the statue. "That fish ain't even that good," she muttered.
"Congrats to the winners, and to the losers, you should've tried harder!" Chris said in a sing-song voice. This prompted the Salmons to cheer louder and the Bears to groan harder, though they were quickly shushed. "For this season of Total Drama, we intend on introducing a few new special rules for our players. First on the list: rewards!"
"Rewards? They aren't new!" Max called out to the host.
"Ah, but rewards for every challenge are, aren't they?" This caused several of them to murmur in awe and wonder. "It's nothing too spectacular… but after each challenge, the winners get to ask for one item off of Chef Hatchet's secret menu to have for dinner!"
The contestants groaned at that. "That's the reward?" Jasmine asked him. "We'd have a better time scrounging for the food ourselves!"
"Hey!" shouted Chef Hatchet, leaning against one of the trees off-screen. "You twerps realize I'm an actual chef, don't you? What, you think I serve gruel to everyone on the island too?"
Everyone looked at each other in thought, before all nodding in agreement. 'Yeah, pretty much,' was the general consensus. Chef grumbled loudly at that and walked off in a huff.
"Anywho," Chris said, bringing the attention back to him, "lunch will be served once we're done here. Kineosewak, you'll have to place your order before you leave so that you can have it for tonight. The orders have to be submitted before 1:00pm, otherwise you'll miss your chance. Maskwak, not only will you have to survive whatever yummy goodness Chef wants to feed you, you also have to vote for someone tonight."
The seven members of Maskwak donned uneasy looks as they eyed each other warily.
-DAVE-
"Juuust great," Dave moans, his head in one hand. "Day one losers, right here. Not gonna lie, I thought we did pretty alright, even if our bear ended up looking diseased. That said…" He sits up and crosses his arms. "I've already got someone in mind for voting off. And I'm guessing the others do too."
-SKY-
"I thought we had this in the bag, but I guess I was wrong," Sky sighs, her head in both of her hands. "Now everyone's going to think I'm responsible! I guess they wouldn't be wrong…" She raises her head up and clenches her fists after a moment of sulking. "Wait, no! I can still stay in. I just need to get three people on my side! And I think I have an idea of who to talk to…"
-END-
A short while later, Team Kinosewak entered the Main Lodge of the island, located not too far away from their cabins. It was still as run down and summer-campy as it had been in seasons prior, with the same tables, same stump-seats, and same giant moose antlers over the same fireplace. The window to the kitchen was as large as ever, and standing behind it was Chef Hatchet, a cooking knife in one hand and a scowl on his face. "You get the usual Total Drama Special for lunch," he told them, motioning to the plates on the counter. "You'll get the reward food for dinner."
Most of the Salmons hesitated, unsure of how easy the meal would be to swallow and digest. Jasmine, not as petrified, took the initiative and stepped forward with her plate. "Lay it on, Hatchet," she said with confidence.
Chef snorted and dumped a weird looking beige paste with various bits of meat sticking out of it onto her plate. Jasmine, who was used to eating what she could get her hands on, was visibly flinching at the sight of it. Despite that, she moved on, allowing for the rest of her team to slowly come up.
Rodney and Topher accepted theirs' without question, though they grimaced all the same. Scarlett took hers with much more trepidation than either of them, and inhaled deeply as she walked away. "Hopefully this will be better than my mother's cooking."
Sammy frowned when she heard that. "Is her cooking that bad?"
"It's that bad," Scarlett said.
-SCARLETT-
"I should point out, I'm actually quite a picky eater," Scarlett explains. "I can barely stomach food that I'm not fond of. We're fortunate that we'll be receiving proper meals this evening, but for every other time we have to eat Chef's slop, I'll likely be the last person to finish. It's difficult for me to admit this, but the obligatory eating challenge for this season will without a doubt give me the most trouble."
-END-
Approaching the counter, Max actually gagged at the sight of his gruel as it splattered on his plate. "Umm. Am I able to swap my lunch with my dinner?" he asked Chef hopefully.
Chef's response was to glower even harder than he was already.
Max got the hint. "I'll take that as a no." He scurried along without any more fuss.
Finally, the twins stopped at the counter together, and Chef plopped servings in both of their bowls. He then looked around the mess hall suspiciously, before scooping another bit onto what was already given to them. "You don't tell a soul, and we're all good," Chef whispered to them.
Sammy looked at her pile of mush in worry, while Amy's face scrunched in disgust. "Yuck. Any chance we could get double the reward food instead, later?"
Chef shook his head. "Missy, I'm willin' to bend the rules, not break them. You'll take what you're given and you'll enjoy it."
Amy continued to stare at him, and opened her mouth to speak, but Sammy covered it before she could utter a sound. "That we'll do," she said to the cook. "We'll go enjoy this food right now, right Amy?"
The older sister glared at the younger, but with a giant roll of her eyes she conceded and went to the Salmons' table. Sammy looked up at the taller man and with an awkward smile said, "Uh, thank you," and took off after Amy.
Chef scoffed lightly, but didn't say anything after them, and prepared to serve the other team as they came through the door.
Team Maskwak were all silence and frowns, and only spared a few seconds to recoil at their food before taking it to their table. That was, everyone except for Sugar, who greedily licked her lips at the sight of it. "I always wanted to try this," she said to Chef. "You always make it so fancy lookin'!"
"You know what this is, don't you?" Chef asked her incredulously.
"Not a bit! But it looks like cookie dough!" Without another word she turned around and waltzed back to her table.
Chef simply shook his head as he watched her go. "Good god, kids these days."
While Team Kinosewak talked with each other amicably, the tension was thick at Team Maskwak's table. Half the team kept their eyes on their gruel, while the others looked at each other in worry or apprehension.
Eventually, Dave sighed and leaned on the table. "So, what are we gonna do?"
Shawn rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What is there to do? We gotta vote for someone."
"I'd really rather if we didn't," Ella said, perhaps taking this development the hardest.
"You don't have a choice, princess," Shawn said. "Someone has to go, regardless of how you feel about it."
Ella only frowned deeper. Sky, who was sitting next to her, put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know it sucks, Ella, but he's right. That's how the game's played. And if we don't want this to happen again, we're going to have to try harder and win next time."
"But they've got like, two powerhouses," Beardo said, poking at his meal with his fork. "How're we supposed to win against that?"
"Through hard work and determination?" Leonard offered with an awkward smile.
"That's more along the lines of something people say when they have no answer," Dave replied.
And as it turned out, no one else had any other answer. "Well…" Sky said slowly after a moment. "We'll figure something out. I know we will."
Silence reigned between them for a spell, except for the sounds coming from Sugar as she shovelled the gruel into her mouth. She looked to her left at Dave, who was doing everything in his power to not stare at her in horror. "You gonna finish that?" she asked when she noticed he wasn't digging in.
Dave was about to reply, when the two of them witnessed a fly break out of his gruel, buzz around for a few moments and head out the front door. Dave stared after it, before sighing in contempt. "Nnnope. Go wild." He pushed the food towards her and left the table.
"Oh yeah! Come to mama!" Seemingly not caring for there being a live insect in the meal, Sugar practically inhaled Dave's portion.
Leonard, on her other side, gagged at the sight. He covered his mouth and sped out the door.
"Yeah, I've lost my appetite," Shawn mumbled, following suit.
The remaining Bears watched them go, and continued their meals with even more hesitance. Aside from Sugar, of course, who grabbed Leonard's and Shawn's plates.
Lunch came and went, and the Salmons were shown the secret menu - which included actual, nutritious and delicious meals, such as steaks, salads, breakfasts, and so on. Still somewhat expecting the worst, the seven winners nonetheless ordered their favorites and exited the main lodge when they were done.
"So… what happens now?" Sammy asked her team as they trekked back to the cabin.
"Yeah, that's a good question," Amy said. "Is there anything here we can do for fun?"
"Probably not," Rodney answered. "If there was, I think they'd tell us about it by now."
"The big guy's right," Topher added. "It's doubtful that they'd actually want us to have fun here."
"I don't know about the rest of you," Scarlett said, "but I intend on spending the rest of the afternoon in peace and quiet."
"Oh, that sounds like a good idea," Max agreed. "After that whole skydiving thing earlier I could really use a nap." The two of them went on ahead of the group without further discussion, though Scarlett was clearly glaring at Max as they did so, not that Max even noticed.
Amy hummed, and slid up to Topher. "Hey, you still wanna hear the rest of that story?" she asked him hopefully.
Topher hummed as well and looked at his wrist, as if reading the time on a watch that wasn't there. "Hmm, yes, I think I've got some time to spare. Sure, I'd love to hear it."
Laughing behind her hand, Amy said, "You're so funny!" The two of them set off in another direction on their own.
Sammy watched after them, and when they were out of earshot she sighed in exasperation. Jasmine sent her a curious glance. "You alright, sheila?"
"I…" Sammy started, though she seemed visibly torn on what to say.
-SAMMY-
"Amy doesn't have the best track record with boys… And Topher seems kinda… fishy, at times. But maybe I shouldn't do anything about this one yet. I'll keep an eye out, for sure, just in case. But if she's happy, then who am I to take that happiness away? Right?"
-END-
"Yeah, I'm okay," Sammy said after a moment. "Just… not quite sure what to do right now."
Jasmine sent a glance at Amy's retreating form and nodded in understanding. "Ah, I get'cha. You wanna hang out with me then? We can go exploring this island and see if there's anything worth seeing."
"Ooh, really? That sounds fun," Sammy said in agreement, and the two headed off in yet another direction.
This left only Rodney, standing in the middle of the path back to the cabins. He looked in every direction the others walked off in, and rubbed his neck in thought. "Maybe I could go for a nap too…"
Meanwhile, several of the Bears had gone off on their own after finishing (or not finishing) lunch, though only a few ended up back at their cabin - which, as per her words, had been decorated in dirty glitter by Sugar. The rest found themselves heading towards a cave later on in the afternoon…
"Okay then," Sky said with a large sigh, seemingly psyching herself up. She looked outside the cave entrance and, deeming it safe, walked back in. "Thanks for meeting up with me guys," she said to the others inside.
"No problem," Dave said, standing off to the side and making sure not to touch any part of the cave he didn't have to. "Though I can guess as to why we're here."
"Yeah," Beardo said, somewhat quietly. Unlike Dave, he had no worries about sitting on the germ-infested floors. "Me too."
Sky looked at each of them, her eyes pausing on Ella who hadn't said a word yet. She stared at the ground in deep thought, swinging her legs back and forth slowly from the rock outcropping she was sitting on.
When it was evident the singer wasn't going to say anything, Sky took another deep breath and said, "I know we only just started this game, but it won't be long until we're nearing the end. And if we want to stay until the end, we're going to need to get rid of our weakest link. That's how teams thrive, you know? They can only run as fast as the slowest person."
Dave nodded in agreement, Beardo doing so only a few moments after. Ella continued to remain quiet, not looking at anyone.
"So we need to get rid of the person slowing us down," Dave surmised. "Did you have someone in mind?"
Sky nodded. "I do."
-SKY-
With a huff, Sky says, "Sugar's the best option we have. Everyone else managed to help out with something and didn't almost stab us. It's for the good of the team… and for our safety, too."
-BEARDO-
"I don't see anything wrong with voting off Sugar," Beardo tells the camera. "I just really hope this don't come back to bite us in the butt somehow." He chuckles lightly. "But I mean, what are the chances of that?"
-ELLA-
Ella sits on the outhouse seat, one leg crossed over the other and her head in a hand. "This sucks," she says sombrely. "I don't want to vote anyone out. They're all so cool! I know Sugar hasn't been the most… sportsmanlike, but no one deserves to go home so early! But… I don't know what else to do. I still want to keep playing too, so I'm not going to vote for myself. And yeah, I knew this was going to come up at some point but I wasn't expecting it so soon! I…" She sighs heavily. "I suppose there's just nothing I can do about it."
-END-
"So we're all in agreement?" Sky asked, looking over her teammates. "We'll all vote for Sugar. Sound good?"
"No objections here," Dave replied immediately. "Not after what happened earlier."
"Same," Beardo said, though he sounded less sure.
The three of them looked at Ella, who still had not spoken a word. She looked up at them when she felt their eyes on her.
"Ella?" Sky prompted.
The girl in question moaned in displeasure, and rubbed at her face. "This is something we have to do, isn't it? We have no choice."
"Unfortunately, yeah," Dave said. "This is what you signed up for when you auditioned. It wasn't just going to be fun and games the whole time."
"I know, I know, you guys don't have to keep reminding me," Ella whined. After a few more moments of stewing over it, she sighed in agitation and barely nodded her head. "Okay. Fine. I'll do it."
Sky sighed as well, in a mixture of relief and resignation. "Thank you. All of you. I promise, this'll help us big time."
The four Bears began to file out of the cave, with Dave and Beardo leaving first. "You think there's a chance we can score some fruit from these trees?" Beardo asked, looking upwards.
"As long as it's washed before we eat it," Dave said. "Not having lunch was probably a mistake."
Sky came out shortly after, but she stopped and looked back into their meeting area. "Will you be okay?" she asked the last person yet to leave.
"I will be," Ella told her, not looking up from the ground. "Eventually."
Sky seemed torn, and looked like she wanted to say more. But in the end she sighed and followed after the boys.
Ella spent a few moments longer in the cave, lost in quiet thought, before groaning in frustration, hopping off the rock and heading for the exit on her own.
"It's for the good of the team," Ella mumbled to herself. "We need to win next time, and she needs to go for us to do that. But… it doesn't exactly make me feel any-"
"Hey, Jasmine, check out this cave over-"
"Oof!"
Ella collided with someone, which was partially her fault since she had kept her head down. But it was also Sammy's fault for just blindly turning the corner of a mysterious cave. The blonde yelped and fell to the ground, though Ella was lucky enough to stay standing.
"Oh gosh," Ella said in surprise, and held a hand out. "I'm sorry about that. Are you okay?"
"Uh," Sammy started shaking her head and looked back up. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine! More surprised than anything." She took Ella's hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. She took a second to brush the dirt off her clothes, and when she stopped she stared at the singer. "Um… Ellen, is it?"
Despite her earlier funk, Ella snorted behind a hand. "Ella, actually."
Sammy winced. "Oops! I'm sorry. I have trouble with my own teammates' names as it is."
"It's all good, no worries. And you're… Hm." She put her hand to her cheek in thought. "I have a 50% chance of getting this right but I'm scared I'll say the wrong name."
Sammy merely laughed at that. "It's okay! It always happens, to both me and my sister." She smiled sweetly at the slightly taller girl. "I'm Sammy. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise!" Ella replied. The bad mood from earlier had all but vanished. She looked up and past Sammy and gave the other newcomer a wave. "And you're… Jasmine, right?"
"Got it in one," Jasmine replied, tipping her hat to her. "What're you doing all the way out here, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Ohh, you know," Ella said, her smile waning. "Important team discussions like… who to vote for, and so on."
Both Salmons cringed. "Ahh. Apologies, then. Didn't mean to make it sound like I was rubbing it in," Jasmine said.
"It's fine. Voting for someone is… not fun." Ella let out a sigh, and proceeded on ahead. "Anyways, I'm… gonna take my leave now. I've got some thinking to do. I'll see you guys again later, I guess." She suddenly paused, and turned around in almost a menacing way. "As enemies," she added in a low hiss, pointing to them dramatically.
The sudden shift in tone startled Sammy and Jasmine, and they looked at their opponent in surprise.
But then Ella's smile returned and she waved at them. "Okay, byeee!" she said cheerfully, and she practically skipped out of the area. With her back turned to the two of them, however, the bright smile on her face quickly fell away into the anxious frown from before.
Jasmine let out a laugh of disbelief as she entered the cave. "She's a character, that one."
"Yeah," Sammy said, who chose to watch Ella as she got smaller down the path. "She really is."
The afternoon passed by, and soon dinner time arrived. As was promised to them, the Salmons received their reward meals, and it was every bit as edible as they were led to believe. And because the food was so surprisingly good, some members of the team wasted no time in shouting its praises.
"Mm, mm!" Topher loudly moaned as he bit into some Belgian waffles. "These waffles are out of this world! My compliments to the chef!"
"As is this burger and fries combo!" Max heartily agreed. Whether he knew what Topher was purposefully doing was a mystery. "Much better than the drivel we had earlier!"
"It's definitely better than lunch," Sammy said, munching happily on her plate of nachos. "If only we could use the secret menu for every meal."
"If only," Max agreed.
All this talk of how good the food was only heightened the Bears' desire to win, though it made eating gruel again twice as difficult.
"Stop staring at the food and eat," Sky admonished, pointing at Dave's and Shawn's plates. "You two didn't eat lunch and your performance will go down if you don't have something in your guts."
"But… But who knows what's in here?" Dave tried to argue.
Shawn stared at his food for a few moments longer, but in the end he shrugged and stuck a large portion in his mouth. "Hm… You know," he said behind a mouthful, "I've had worse."
Dave glared at him and muttered, "Traitor," but he too eventually gave in and worked through the meal. He gagged at nearly every swallow, but he eventually managed to finish.
Otherwise, dinner went by uneventfully. Once it was clear that some of the Salmons were trying to rile up their competition, they were shushed by their teammates and settled down.
As everyone finished their meals, they left on their own rather than as teams. Sugar and Leonard just so happened to leave together, and the southerner elbowed the nerd in the stomach.
"Say, who're you votin' for tonight?" she asked him.
Leonard made a show of rubbing his chin. "Hmm. I haven't really given it much thought. What about you?"
"Oh, I've been thinkin' 'bout this since morning. I definitely think we need to go after Sky sooner rather than later."
"Really?" Leonard asked, a bit too loudly. Luckily they were alone on the trail. "Huh. I'll be honest, I didn't see that coming."
"Yep. She may seem all nice and junk, but she's already out here, formin' alliances against us. I think she needs to be taken down a peg, if you know what I mean. Besides, her whole 'Team Leader' bit was the reason we lost! If we wanna keep that from happenin', we're gonna have to do some cleanin' up."
Leonard frowned somewhat. "Ah… Maybe."
-LEONARD-
"Sky's pretty cool. She seems like a really good leader, and she helped get the bale of hay off my legs. Which… happened because Sugar left me under there." He scratches his head in thought. "I mean, sure, we didn't win today, but you can't just assume it was because of the captain's leadership. Give it another few days and if things don't improve, we'll mutiny. But for now, I think we'll be fine. Besides, every good adventuring party works better together when everyone's on the same page! I say, if we just work out our differences now, we'll be smooth sailing from here!"
-SUGAR-
"Sky's full of bull, I just know it," Sugar says, a stern look in her eye. "She thinks she's able to get away with it, but I see through her lies. Her alliance with that Dave feller ain't gonna save her from bein' voted out tonight! I'll see to that."
-END-
"So you're gonna help me get rid of her, right?" Sugar asked with an expectant grin.
Leonard stopped short in his walking. "Wait, what?"
"Yeah! I'd do it myself, but I can't, so I need all the help I can get. And you're gonna help me! Right?"
"Uhhh." Leonard very clearly did not know how to respond to this. "I… Well… I guess I'll-"
"Perfect!" she replied, apparently not realizing he wasn't done talking. "I got someone else in mind I gotta talk to! Don't let me down!"
Sugar took off, leaving a flabbergasted Leonard all alone. "…think about it," he finished lamely, before sighing.
In another part of the forest, Ella was walking alone, deep in thought. The vote that evening still weighed heavily on her mind, and she needed some time to clear her head. All of a sudden, however, a hand reached out from behind a tree, grabbed her by the collar, and hauled her behind it.
"What the-" Ella started, but another hand covered her mouth to keep her from speaking.
"Shut your pie hole a second!" came Sugar's voice. She stuck her head out from behind the tree, looking to see if anyone was watching them, then turned back to Ella. "I'll make this quick - I need you to vote for Sky tonight. You'll do it right?"
"Mmm?!" Ella tried to ask behind Sugar's hand.
"Yeah, I know. She's a problem just waitin' to happen." Sugar smirked and tossed her hair in a confident manner. "But don't you worry. Once she's gone, you can bet your buns we'll start winnin' every challenge. Trust me on that."
Ella stopped her meager struggling to stare at Sugar with wide eyes.
"It's Sky's fault we lost anyway," the country girl continued. "Tryin' to give us orders like she's the one in charge. Well she ain't in charge of me!" She looked Ella hard in the eyes, causing the singer to squirm. "So, you're in, ain't'cha? We just need one more vote to beat her alliance with Dave!"
Ella raised a brow at that, but otherwise didn't react to it. After thinking it over some more, she merely said, "Mmm." She noticeably did not move her head as she did so.
That said, Sugar apparently took that noise as confirmation. "Perfect! We're gonna get her good!" She removed her hand, allowing Ella to actually breathe properly again. "This'll be easier than milkin' ol' Bessie. We're gonna have this team runnin' properly in no time flat!" Before Ella could get a word in, Sugar took off, seemingly not caring about the singer now that she believed she had her vote.
Ella watched her go, a look of pure bafflement on her face.
-SUGAR-
"Three votes to Sky's two!" Sugar happily declares, her fists raised in victory. "I don't even gotta worry 'bout the rest of the guys on the team, they'll probably just vote for… I dunno, Shawn or someone. He seems like a good target. But this is great! Once Sky's out of the picture, I'll be the one runnin' this pageant!"
-ELLA-
Ella begins the confessional counting on her fingers. "The glitter, the sword, basically kidnapping me, making it pretty hard for me to breathe, assuming I said I'd vote for her…" With an annoyed huff Ella crosses her arms. "This decision just became a lot easier for me."
-CHRIS-
The host himself sits in the confessional with one leg crossed over the other. "Does anyone else find it weird that Sugar is playing her hand so early after saying she'd wait a while? No? Just me? How odd!"
-END-
With no other major interactions happening throughout the evening, Chris eventually called for Team Maskwak to head to the elimination ceremony on the western part of the island. Compared to the ceremony area on Wawanakwa, this one was a bit more rundown, with its seats consisting of overturned barrels and logs instead of just tree stumps, and the campfire being significantly smaller than the previous one. What was more, the contestants had to cross over a natural rock bridge leading to the small peninsula that held the ceremony. Several of them found it nerve-wracking, but when it was obvious the bridge wouldn't collapse on them, they all pressed onwards.
The seven members of Maskwak sat and waited for the host, the majority looking nervous and skittish. In the back sat Beardo, Shawn, Sugar and Leonard, while the front had Dave, Sky, and then Ella. Sky looked to her left and right, at Ella and Dave, and received nods of confirmation from the both of them, easing the tense look on Sky's face somewhat.
Chris walked in shortly after, followed by Chef Hatchet, and the host bid everyone go and cast their votes. They did so, some with more confidence than others, but in roughly 20 minutes everyone was back and waiting for the results.
"The votes have been tallied." Chris stood by the campfire, a plate of six marshmallows sitting in one hand. "And we have come to a decision. As you all know, six people will be walking out of here safe, while the remaining person becomes Pahkitew Island's first official loser.
"Now, before we begin, does anyone have any questions?"
"Yes, actually," Scarlett replied. "Why are we here?"
The members of Team Maskwak all looked behind them, where the seven members of Team Kinosewak were currently located. Seated in the peanut gallery box from season five, Jasmine, Topher, and Rodney were in the back, while in the front was Amy, Sammy, Max and Scarlett, whose hand was raised in question. The box had Kinosewak's salmon logo on the front, and it looked significantly more beaten and battered than since its last appearance. The oddest thing, however, was the second peanut gallery box sitting to the right of it, this one devoid of both occupants and any discerning features on its exterior.
"And what's with the extra seats?" Scarlett continued, jerking her thumb to the side. "Surely there must be some significance behind it all."
"You're here to witness who gets the most votes," Chris replied nonchalantly. "I should have thought that was obvious."
Scarlett frowned at the older man. "Was it? I had no idea," she said sarcastically.
"As for question two, all in good time, brah." Chris cleared his throat. "Alright, let's kick this season off! The following people received no votes: Beardo!"
"Aw yeah!" he cried, and caught his marshmallow after only fumbling a little bit. He immediately popped the treat in his mouth and savored it. "Mmm, safety never tasted so sweet."
Chris continued. "Shawn! Dave! Leonard! And Ella!" The four of them smiled happily as their names were called, and only Leonard had trouble catching the marshmallow thrown at him.
Once the treats were caught, Chris looked at those remaining. "And this leaves only two people."
Having already come to this conclusion earlier, Sky steeled herself for what came next. Sugar, on the other hand, looked visibly startled, confused, and then only slightly worried, in that order. "Wait, hold up, what?"
"Sky," Chris started, ignoring the southerner. "Some people have come to believe that you're at fault for the team losing. With the way you tried to take control, I'm not all that surprised."
The athlete crossed her arms and stared daggers at him. "Well, someone had to step up…"
He ignored this and moved on. "Sugar! You caused your team some trouble with that whole glitter stunt, and nearly decapitated some of them with that rusty sword. Because of this, some of these guys want you out of here for their own safety. Can't say I blame 'em!"
Sugar sputtered, looking between the host and the rest of her team. "You ain't serious right now, are you?" Chris nodded happily, his smile never vanishing. The pageant queen then loudly scoffed in anger, and turned to the rest of the team. "Well excuse me that some of y'all are so touchy!"
"This might come as a surprise," Dave said to her in an unimpressed tone, "but I like having my head where it is, thank you very much."
"You can't blame me for that!" Sugar shot back.
"We literally can't blame anyone else!"
"Silence, children!" Chris yelled at them, to which they did. "Only one of these leading ladies will be considered the loser! And it comes as no shock that this person is…"
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"Sugar!"
"NO!" screamed Sugar, leaping from her seat. The marshmallow flew from Chris' grasp towards Sky, and Sugar did everything in her power to intercept it by jumping at it. However, as Sky had the superior speed and reflexes, she managed to snag it out of the air before it could be stolen, which caused Sugar to fall flat on her face.
"Sorry, Sugar," Chris said in a mocking tone, "but this treat is too sweet for you." He chuckled. "Ha. See what I did there?"
From the peanut gallery, Sammy waved her hand back and forth. "Eh. It was alright."
"So, what?" Sugar asked, standing up and turning to face her team. "That's it? Y'all can't handle a little rough housing, so you're tossing me out like yesterday's leftovers? Bunch'a no good traitors y'all turned out to be!" She was very close to fully crying, but her anger was more prominent than any sadness.
"I'm sorry, Sugar," Sky said, standing and slowly approaching her. "But this is just how it had to be."
Sky attempted to reach out to her, but Sugar swatted the hand away. "Don't try that talk with me, Missy, you ain't sorry! This is just what you wanted, wasn't it?! Get rid of the only threat in your way so you can win the money for yourself, is that it?!"
"What?!" Sky asked in confusion. "No! I did this for the good of the team, not for myself!"
-SKY-
"Well, at least, not for myself right now. It will be for myself near the end. Ah, but don't tell anyone I said that!"
-END-
"But you have to understand, I never meant you any ill will!" Sky said desperately.
"Oh, because that makes me feel so much better!" Sugar replied, throwing her hands in the air. "Don't mean me any 'ill will' but you don't hesitate to get rid'a me when you get the chance!"
"Maybe if you had stopped to think about what you were doing during the challenge, you wouldn't be eliminated right now!" Dave called out to her.
Sugar took one second to look at Dave, and her eyes widened as a thought came over her. "Wait, who else voted for me?! Huh?! Answer me!"
She cast her gaze over the rest of the team: Leonard rapidly shook his head no, while Shawn held his impassive glare at her. Beardo almost immediately averted his eyes with her, and Ella's lip quivered as she lowered her head in apparent shame.
"You!" Sugar shouted, and made a beeline for the singer, shoving Sky out of her way. The athlete kept her footing and attempted to hold her back from doing anything reckless, but when that was proving ineffective, Dave joined in with her. They managed to stop her, but only barely. "What the heck did you do?! You said you were gonna vote with me, not for me! You lied to me, you rotten swine!"
Despite her clearly overworked nerves, Ella managed to speak with a clear voice. "I didn't actually say yes," she explained, still not looking at her teammate. "You just thought I did!"
Sugar actually stopped struggling against her captors at that. "Tell me you're joking." Ella could only shake her head.
"Oof," Rodney said quietly from the peanut gallery. "She's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, is she?"
"You can say that again," Topher said. "But you gotta admit, letting us come here to witness this was one of Chris' better decisions."
"It is entertaining, yes," Scarlett agreed. "This is undoubtedly the best way to spend the evening."
"Watching people argue is entertaining?" Sammy asked her worriedly.
"What? It isn't for you?" asked the brainiac. The blonde didn't reply to that.
"Alright, alright, you kids cut it out," Chef said impatiently. He walked up to them and forcibly separated Sky and Dave from Sugar. "There's more we gotta go over before the episode ends-"
"Forget that!" Sugar said, turning back around and shoving Sky again as she retreated away from the elimination ceremony. "This pageant is a sham! I shouldn't'a never bothered comin' here in the first place!"
"Why, Sugar," Chris said, his voice in that mocking pleasantness he always used to rile up his victims, "wherever do you think you're going?"
"Home! Where else?! I ain't got no more reason to be here!"
"But of course you do," Chris continued.
And then he dropped a bombshell.
"No one actually said you were eliminated."
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"WHAT?!" came the collective cries of 14 teenagers.
-SKY-
"Sugar's not going home?!" Sky shouts in a panic. "But, wait, why?! And what does that mean for us?!"
-JASMINE-
"What in the- You can't just pull a move like that outta nowhere!" Jasmine complains. "Give us a warning or something, at the very least!"
-MAX-
"Wait, is that gonna happen for us too?" Max asks in utter confusion. "I… I don't know what's happening anymore."
-TOPHER-
Topher howls with laughter, his hands clutching his stomach and his foot stomping the floor. "Wow! You outdid yourself with that one, McLean. I don't think anyone saw that coming!"
-ELLA-
Ella sits with her knees against her chest, her eyes wide and a look of fear on her face. Slowly, she turns to the camera and says, "I think I just made a huge mistake."
-END-
"That's right!" Chris answers everyone's questions happily. "Remember when I said earlier we'd be introducing special new rules to the show? The reward meal was the first one. The second one is that not every elimination ceremony… will have an elimination."
"But… wait!" Shawn said, standing up from his stump. "Why did you wait to say this until after you told us who got the most votes? Wouldn't it make more sense to know beforehand?"
"You'd think so," Chris replied. "But I mean… C'mon! Did you guys see that?" He gestured to Sugar and Sky, both of whom were still staring with mouths agape. "What better way to get everything out in the open before knowing if someone's going home or not?"
"Wait, hang on," Amy said, her brow knitted together in befuddlement. "I'm confused. What's the point of this exactly?"
"It's for the sole purposes of drama," Scarlett explained, having already recovered from her initial shock and quickly deducing the answer. "This particular level of drama won't be happening again, now that we're aware of this new rule. But just the mere fact that we won't know if the eliminated contestant is actually eliminated until after the marshmallows have been distributed means the entire team dynamic and hierarchy can shift in a single night. For instance, if a trusted team member is blindsided by everyone else and voted off, tensions will be high for the rest of the time they're still on that team."
"And it might affect their performances later on, yeah?" Sammy added. "'Cuz now arguments might break out in the middle of a challenge, or something."
"Potentially, yes."
"Ohh," Amy said, nodding. "Okay, I get it now. I think."
"They've got the right of it," Chris said. "As Scarlett said, things might get a little tense on the team if the guys you thought were your friends voted for you behind your back, only for you to stay in the game. And that tension is what we're counting on!" The host chuckled darkly, rubbing his hands together like the devil he was. "Ooh, this is gonna be so good for ratings!
"But don't get me wrong! There still will be eliminations, they just won't be every single day in a row. And don't bother trying to deduce a pattern! Because there isn't one."
Several of the others complained, but as they did Sky finally caught up to the present and closed her still-hanging mouth. She swallowed thickly, and slowly took a hesitant, scared glance towards Sugar. To her further surprise, the pageant queen's expression was unreadable and neutral, as if nothing had happened in the last five minutes. She was looking past Sky, seemingly lost in thought, only to lock eyes with her after a second. Sky froze, but Sugar then took a large breath and released it.
"I… apologize."
That was what caused Sky the most shock of all. "You… what? You do?"
Sugar cleared her throat several times. "That… tantrum was… uncalled for." Her stilted speech confused Sky further, as well as several of the other campers. But Sugar gave them no time to think it over as she slowly walked back to her seat and sat right back down.
There was a heavy silence surrounding them, but it was swiftly broken by Chris. "Rrright. So!" He turned towards the cameras. "There you have it! Our first big game changer: non-elimination challenges that you won't know about until after someone is eliminated! You can just taste the drama that'll come out of this! Who'll be up on the chopping block next? Who's gonna become the target for everyone's anger? I can't wait to find out! So tune in next time for more delicious betrayal, right here, on Total… Drama… Paaahkitew Island!"
VOTES
Beardo: Sugar
Dave: Sugar
Ella: Sugar
Leonard: Sky
Shawn: Sugar
Sky: Sugar
Sugar: Sky
Sugar (5), Sky (2)
TEAMS AND MEMBERS
Waneyihtam Maskwak: Beardo, Dave, Ella, Leonard, Shawn, Sky, Sugar.
Pimâpotew Kinosewak: Amy, Jasmine, Max, Rodney, Sammy, Scarlett, Topher.
Epilogue
Night had fallen over the island, and the vast majority of campers were tucked away in their rooms. In the Maskwak boy's room, everyone save Shawn was asleep, as his addiction to horror movies refused to allow him a restful slumber. Every creak of the beds, the floors, the walls and so on caused him to look around in a panic, though he would always just sigh in agitation and lie back down.
In the girl's room however, no one was sleeping. The current two occupants, Sky and Ella, were lying in their shared bunk beds, unable to rest. Sky stared up at the top bunk's bottom, while Ella was face down in her pillow in worry.
Neither said anything for the longest time, until Ella pushed herself up off the pillow. "Sky?"
"Mhm?" came her reply.
"Did…" Ella paused. "Did we do the right thing today?"
Sky didn't answer immediately, but when she did, it was a quiet, "I don't know."
Ella took a moment to think that over, before flopping back down into the pillow.
All was quiet for another while, and Sky's eyes were slowly beginning to close as sleep crept up on her. But that was when the sound of heavy footfalls was heard from outside, climbing up the rickety stairs and over towards the girls' room. Sky's eyes shot open, and she hastily turned to the side to make it seem like she was asleep.
Sugar opened the door, not caring about the noise, and stared at the girls on her right for a solid minute. She audibly sighed, long and loud, before making her way to her bed, changing into her nightgown, and hopping under the covers. Sky released a quiet breath, and did everything in her power to actually fall asleep now.
And she did, eventually. As did Ella, though it took her far longer. But after both girls had passed out from exhaustion, Sugar remained awake. She stared at the bunk above her, anger clear on her face. She glanced over to the other girls, narrowed her eyes, and flipped onto her side and away from them.
-SUGAR-
"They'll get what's comin' to 'em," Sugar mutters darkly. "Maybe not yet… but they will at some point. Mark my words. You don't mess with Sugar and think you can get away with it. No one ever did, and no one. Ever. Will."
-END-
Day one completed! Very happy to finally get this one out, because we get introduced to some brand new rules! Well they're not totally brand new per se, but they weren't present in the original Pahkitew Island. The first rule is a simple rebranding of the take-out dinners from canon, where instead of some greasy food from some sponsoring fast food restaurants, it's actually healthy meals cooked up by Chef Hatchet (who, I should point out, is a legitimate chef who purposefully cooks like crap for everyone). It isn't a very flashy reward but it was never meant to be.
The really important one is rule #2. The main reason I wanted to introduce non-elimination rounds was so I can get the most out of characters that might have been kicked off the show too soon, before anything interesting happened with them. Basically I'm trying to save myself from having a Staci or a Beardo situation, you know? That said, I wanted to do this in a more interesting way - rather than tell the cast up front that there won't be an elimination that night, they'll instead go through the process of voting for someone and having that person know they got the most votes, only for them to stick around anyway. Now they'll know they were everyone's target, and things will get crazy awkward from here on out. You can kinda compare it to how the Ridonculous Race did it where they didn't announce non-eliminations until after the last person reached the end of that challenge, but they weren't voting someone off then, were they?
And this brings us to our first 'eliminated' contestant, Sugar. In canon she's ridiculously talented, to an absurd level. She's not very smart but she still manages to make her way to the final three, which really to me just feels like incredibly dumb luck on her end. So while I've decided to keep her tendency to make strategic plays, I've also made her just a bit more rash than in canon, which means she ended up jumping at the first chance to get someone she didn't like eliminated, and not really think too far ahead of that. While she was correct in believing that Sky and Dave were teaming up for the vote, she never stopped to think that Sky would try and get even more votes than that. What was more she firmly believed that everyone else was in the same boat as her and thought Sky needed to go, and was blind to the fact that everyone was gunning for her. That said, she may have learned her lesson at this point. Or maybe she hasn't. She's kind of dense at times.
But yes! Those are two of the new rules added to this particular game! I wonder how they'll play out in the future… I'm excited to find out! Leave a review if you'd like, the more positive things said about the story the more I'm motivated to write! See y'all next time!