Welcome back to our regularly scheduled program. Here's the reply!

lordgemini- All of those questions were written intentionally, and the confirmed characters for today will hint at that one question actually being revisited. Ben winning without knowing anything was actually super fun to write, because Abigail was so confident she could do it. We'll have to see if Peter can wriggle his way out of freezing Brenna up today.

Alright, here it is, the big chapter, just as promised.

Episode 10: Portal's Peak

Susan was again on the phone while Chef walked in to the control room. "Look, you know better than anyone that there's no such thing as a guarantee," Susan told the person on the other line. "I'm not the organization built off of lies and deception, I need confirmation that you can get that funding by the finale." She listened for a second before jumping in quickly. "I'm quite aware what I just said about guarantees, but I want that regardless." After a few seconds, Susan smiled. "Good. I think this will be a good opportunity for the both of us." She then remembered something. "Oh, did you hear? He should be on his way over right now." She laughed in response to what the other person said. "Don't give him too hard a time, we need him back. Alright, I'll see you." Once she hung up the phone, she turned to Chef with a smile on her face. "Funding secured for the finale," she said to the co-host. "It will be huge enough to put the both of us out there again."

"Well, as much as I hate the methods you use to get that funding...eh, we have it." The cook began checking some of the footage from last episode. "You oughta get those parts together for when they need to be shipped out," he reminded her, "also, you gotta start the episode."

"I was just getting to it," Susan said, for the first time not caught off guard by the cameras showing up. "Last time, on Total Drama Cultivated Will, we had a trivia day! That went well for some of the contestants, but others literally froze up." The first clips were of Sharron making a clean sweep over Carter in their round, and Brenna refusing to move after being intimidated by Peter. "Selected pairs faced off against each other to bring glory to their team, and let's just say we were not disappointed with any results we got." The next clips were Celine being unfazed by Nathan's taunt and firing it back at him, and Jacob losing out against the emotionless Kris. "In the end, thanks to Peter striking again, the Goldfish won the challenge, and Brenna herself, as we put her over there from now on. Also, the Parrots got rid of Nathan, putting them at a giant disadvantage for today's challenge."

The scene flipped back to the two hosts in the control room. "We're now diving into the top ten, and by tomorrow we'll have eight. Who will drop down today? What do we have planned? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!

Intro

[An instrumental began, and cameras began popping out in different places, the first being out of a painting in one of the school's hallways. Another camera emerged through a dormitory dresser, bringing some random articles of clothing along with it. A third camera popped out of the top of the school, where a bell would normally exist. The camera began flying around, and eventually entered the school itself through the front doors.]

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine

[In the main lobby of the school, Susan was seen frantically walking around the area, clipboard in hand, talking into a communication piece on her ear. She was barking orders loudly as she walked.]

You guys are on my mind

[The camera moved over to the art room, where Nala was seen designing a dress that was suspended from a hanger. She seemed very satisfied with her work, until Nathan had walked in the room. The boy scoffed at it before laughing violently and walking away, causing Nala to feel discouraged.]

You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see

[In a classroom, Peter had taken up almost the entire white board doing a math problem, and he was trying to explain it to Claire, who was evidently not paying attention. Instead, she focused exclusively on him, giving him a look of infatuation. Peter didn't notice this at all and continued explaining the math problem.]

I wanna be famous

[Carter was in the gym, using various punching bags, and as the camera settled on him, he gave out a good punch that launched the bag off of the chain. Carter only celebrated for a second, until an arrow whizzed by him, causing him to turn back and see Sharron, who was smirking at him. The two broke into a sprint after the arrow, and they were very close together as they did that.]

I wanna live close to the sun

[In a dark location. Brenna was conducting tests on some large contraption. She had notes littered all over the table. She appeared very worn out, until Ben ran up to her, out of breath, holding out a cupcake. Brenna accepted the gift and smiled at the boy.]

Go pack your bags, 'cause I've already won

[In the dormitories, Leo was on top of Nolan's bunk trying desperately to wake him up. There were tons of different pots and pans around him, and as Leo reached down to grab an even bigger pot, it proved to by too heavy and caused him to fall.]

Everything to prove, nothing in my way

[In the kitchen, Chef and Celine were in the middle of a cook-off, with Celine looking extremely composed as Chef scrambled around for things on his table. Kris watched the two from afar, and while it looked like she wasn't interested her eyes gave off something else.]

I'll get there one day, 'cause I wanna be famous

[Gianna was seen in the hallway talking on a tricked-out phone with someone, until the phone shocked her. She began tweaking it around a lot until it started working again, and continued talking with the person on the other line. As she walked through the halls, George had tried to stop her, but she ran right into him, and didn't stop walking even after he fell over.]

Na na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na

[In the band room, Abigail was messing around on a piano, with a trombone out next to her. Jacob approached her to try and say something, but was stopped by a bucket of water falling on his head, drenching him. Jacob flicked some water off of his head, visibly mad, as Abigail cackled to herself. The two then began fighting with each other.]

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

[The camera flew down a set of stairs, and an apple flew through various different doorways. Brenna caught the apple, bit out of it, and threw it back in. The bite mark showed that it was the same apple as it flew through many different locations. A small, worn-out sign behind her read 'Ingress Academy']

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous! *whistling*

[In the auditorium, Celine and Kris leaned close to each other, until one of Peter's markers dropped on top of Kris. The two swiftly turned back, Celine looking angry while Kris remained calm. The camera zoomed out to everyone, whistling the theme as Susan snapped her fingers, causing the lights to go out.]

An apple flew across the screen, through a portal, and landed perfectly in tact on the paper target. "Mark that down," Brenna told Ben excitedly, "for now, this is at least a partial success." She went over to the apple optimistically, while Ben scribbled something down in a notebook. Brenna poked the apple, picked it up, and broke off a piece. "There's...nothing wrong with it." She had a giant grin on her face. "We did it! The portal serum is stable!"

"I can't believe we actually managed it," Kris muttered as she put some more stuff through the active portal. All of it had easily made it out unscathed. "This is...exciting." Despite her words, her face did not give off any vibes of being excited.

"Now what?" Ben asked as he finished writing down the successful formula. "Can we really just take it to Susan and tell her what we did? That sounds very dangerous to me." He glanced around the room. "Well, maybe she won't be too mad."

Celine shook her head. "I think we should keep it under wraps a bit longer. We need to come back again and make sure this works a second time. Plus, what if these 'wrong hands' get it now? They'd be unstoppable with a successful portal gun."

At that moment the four of them froze as they heard footsteps on the floor above them. "No one's supposed to be here tonight!" Ben cried out nervously, searching for a place to hide. Brenna grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the hiding spot.

"We don't have time to think of hiding, we need to escape," Brenna told them. "If it's Susan, then so be it, she finds out. We can always explain ourselves later. We didn't have bad intentions." She stared at them all with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please trust me on this." After a few seconds of silence, everyone agreed.

The four of them began cleaning as much as they could, while Kris shot the portal gun up to the ceiling, creating an exit for them at the edge of the school. "We can escape here and get back to the dorms," she said dully. "They wouldn't chase us this far." The other three jumped through the portal, and once they were through, Kris jumped in as well.

The four of them made it safely to the outer edge of the school. "Well," Celine muttered as she sighed, exhausted from all of that chaos, "that was enough excitement for one night. Let's just get back and sleep on it. We did well."

As the four of them walked back to the dorms, Brenna couldn't help but think about the mess they had left behind. They also had no idea whether or not it was Susan who was about to enter. The four went in through the back entrance to the kitchen where they normally left from, but they were intercepted by someone that was already waiting for them. "Oh?" Peter said, standing in front of the four PIG members, "I wasn't aware you had friends in on this, Brenna."

The four of them knew that they'd have to go around him to get through, but Peter blocked the way. The mathematician frowned. "Kris, I thought we were on more trusting terms than this. That's upsetting. And Celine, this is really the first impression I got from you." He shook his head condescendingly. "And what do you think Carter's going to think when I tell him that even Ben was here causing this disruption?"

"What are you doing here?" Ben asked him, "and I knew it was you. You were the one who caused Brenna to freeze up during the trivia challenge earlier today, weren't you?" He glared right at Peter, who seemed unfazed by Ben's attempt at intimidation.

"I don't want to cause any trouble," Peter said with a sigh. "I simply was curious. Brenna freezing up was not my doing, I assure you. All I did was suggest to the hosts that someone was trespassing on school grounds." He let out an eccentric laugh. "Apologies, I am a bit of a stickler for the rules." He turned away from them. "Well, I tend to need a lot of sleep, since my body is so weak. I will be off to bed now. Sorry for the trouble."

Once he left the four started to head back to their rooms as well. "That could have been worse," Celine admitted, "I would have rather had Peter there than Carter. He would've chewed us out a lot more. Plus, now we know that it's the hosts who are currently in the basement, which means we're somewhat safe for now." She turned to Ben. "What did you mean about causing Brenna to freeze up during the challenge?"

Ben shook his head. "No...it's nothing. He's right, I don't think it was him. Carter trusts no one, but he trusts Peter." He put his finger to his chin. "Although, I do wonder why that's the case."

Once the four got to the dorm rooms, Kris and Celine noticed that Brenna was following them inside the room. "Oh, I forgot to mention," Brenna said to them, "I got teams swapped today, so all four of us are now on the same team. The Parrots have a pretty big disadvantage."

Brenna: "The last person I wanted to find out about the PIG was Peter. The others would look at me like I'm crazy if I just accused him right out of the bat, so I want to gather enough evidence so logic clearly shows he's the one that's the most dangerous." She shook her head. "I just realized. Nathan knew about the portals and said nothing, even when he got eliminated. I didn't think he'd actually keep his word on that."

Kris: She was heavily breathing against the side of the confessional wall. "Something very bad is going to happen tonight," she said nervously, trying to keep it together. "I need to be as ready as I can, or else I'm going to be nothing but dead weight."

Down in the basement lab, Susan was looking over all of the mess that was left behind. "Well, the culprit either escaped or is dead," she noted bluntly, checking out the portal in the ceiling. "Last time I checked that serum wasn't ready yet. There's like a ninety percent chance whoever went in there disintegrated instantly."

"So, I guess that's settled," Chef muttered nervously. "But how did Peter find out about down here? He was the exact person we were trying to keep away. I guess he really is a giant dork at the end of the day." As he spoke, he began cleaning up some of the mess the PIG made while they were down there.

Susan hit a button on the portal gun to close off the portal that was still on the ceiling, then went to put the gun back in the closet. But, when she did, she noticed something interesting on the desk. "Look at that," she said to Chef, pointing at the second copy of the blueprint for the gun that belonged to Brenna. "Someone had been actively working on the portal gun, but...they were just trying to fix it?"

Chef snickered. "Someone not only found your work under your nose, but also determined that it wasn't worth stealing, so they used your materials to try and improve it." Susan smacked him in the back of the head. "Hey, just pointing it out."

"Whatever," Susan said with a slightly distressed tone. "We need to focus on reversing the damage. If we have another challenge in town I can pawn off some money to grab more materials. For all we know that portal gun could be even more deadly than it already was." She began to start injecting several vials into the portal serum.

Chef shook his head. "You didn't even consider that it might work now." He tossed her the notebook left behind by Ben. "According to this, their most recent test was a success. They got it working." Susan gasped as she accidentally put a third injection into what was the working portal serum.

"Shoot," she muttered, trying to take back what she put in. "Well, there's at least some sort of recipe, so we can work it out." Susan began running around the room frantically, trying to reverse what she had just done. "I just didn't think they'd finish it and leave it here anyway." She pulled out a vial from her suit jacket. "Alright, this should fix it." She put a drop in, and the portal serum reacted accordingly, going back to what it was a while ago.

Susan and Chef let out a sigh. "I didn't think it'd get this urgent so quickly," Susan said with a laugh, before accidentally putting in all of the vial's contents into the portal serum. "Oh no..." Within seconds, the serum reacted again, and the giant jar it was being held in exploded. Everything in the lab began teleporting random places, including the door to the control room. "That's not good," she muttered.

The portal serum then splashed on the control panel of the room, and the two hosts could instantly start feeling themselves shift around. "We're no longer safe anywhere near the school," Chef yelled, "we gotta get out of here, and now!" The two ran up the stairs, but they ended up on the second floor instead of near the lobby. "Getting out of here will be tough." The second floor hallway then teleported to the lobby. "Or not." The two quickly got out of the school and began running to the dorms. "So what now?"

"Don't worry," Susan insisted, "I always have a failsafe. I think it'll be time for a night challenge. We just gotta show them that absolutely nothing is wrong, and they'll believe us."

Back at the dorms, Jacob was laying down alone in his room. He had just conducted his second successful elimination on the team, and now stood at the top of it. He looked around to his empty room, satisfied with the work that he had done. "Everything is as it should be," he said proudly to himself. "Naturally, within days I took power simply off of pure talent and skill. Anyone who denies that will surely pay the same price."

"Maybe I'll grab a snack," he said to himself, getting ready to leave his room. As he grabbed onto the doorknob, he jolted back from a giant electric shock that had pierced him as he grabbed it. On the other side of the door, he could hear cackling, which narrowed down the culprit fairly quickly. He grabbed onto a rubber piece of one of his instrument cleaners and used it to throw open the door. "What is the meaning of this?" he shouted at her, "you're very much testing my patience!"

Abigail smirked at the agitated boy. "Oh, come on, you enjoy it when it happens to you!" she said in a much more cheerful tone than she normally dealt with him in. "You looked so sad when Nathan was my target so I figured I should bring you back into it!" She began to skip away. "If you want your 'vengeance'," she taunted, mimicking his voice on the word 'vengeance', "you'll have to catch me first!"

Instead of pursuing her further, Jacob took a deep breath, turned around, and went back into his room. "I have far more important things to be doing," he told himself, "I have no need to chase her down a hallway when I can destroy her tomorrow by getting the adequate amount of sleep." The band president climbed into his bed, smiled at the emptiness of his room, and turned off the light.

Just as he closed his eyes, an announcement shot the boy back awake. "You are all being summoned to a night challenge," Susan instructed them, "you need to meet us down at the lobby as soon as you can, and make sure everyone is down here quickly." She paused for a second. "It's urgent, so hurry up." Jacob let out a groan and began to meander his way down to the first floor.

Jacob: "Since we've known each other for as long as I can remember," Jacob explained, "it's only natural that I've been a victim of that girl's violent excuse for pranks." He shook his head. "She never spoke to me about why she does that kind of thing, but it's very clear that she's always fond of the person she does it to." He put his hand up to his chin. "Surely not..." he pondered before shaking his head. "Ah, it is unlikely."

The nine remaining contestants gathered in the lobby within minutes. "How perfect," Susan said with a hasty tone. "Let us board the bus. Tonight's challenge will not be at the school, so I will be boarding the bus with you, as will Chef." A few people started murmuring. "Once we get moving, I can explain the challenge to you further."

Once everyone got on, the bus sped off from the dorm area as fast as it could, going in the same direction that it had on the flea market day. "Mind telling us what's going on now?" Carter questioned to the host, narrowing his eyes, "and why we are leaving the show's campus this late at night?"

"Chill, boy," Susan shot back at him, not appreciating his curtness. "Tonight's challenge is a camping trip. We will be going to a remote campground and evaluating how your teams do in an environment very different from what you are used to."

After the commotion from the announcement died down, Chef cleared his throat. "You'll be evaluated in terms of a shelter, a fire, and adequate food. Please work as a team, but we're not necessarily grading your teamwork at this point." After some silence, he sat down to converse with Susan. "I just wanna say that my control over them is much better than yours."

"They trust you more," Susan retorted in a bitter tone. "You've been a host longer, that's all. Truth be told, I think some of them know why we're actually out here, but I don't want to go back there until I'm certain that the...event, has died down." She shuddered as she thought about what could possibly be going on at the school.

Chef looked at Susan intently. "About that," he said quietly, making sure none of the cast would overhear him. "How long do you think it's gonna last, actually?" Susan began to open her mouth, but Chef cut her off instantly. "Don't give me some fake answer. Give me an actual time."

Susan smiled nervously. "...I don't know." Chef simply planted his hand on his forehead and sighed.

Near the back of the bus, Carter and Sharron were discussing the camping trip they both thought they were going on. "Something still feels very wrong," Carter said skeptically. "Everyone on my team looks beyond nervous. Sure, Peter's probably never seen grass before and Celine is definitely more of an inside person, but still." He pointed to Kris. "Even she looks nervous. Can't you see it?"

Sharron made an effort to see what he meant about Kris, but found nothing. "Yeah...I don't see it," she said with a shrug. "Look, night challenges happen all the time. I don't see much of an issue with this. Sorry."

Carter shook his head. "That's fine, but I'm not letting my guard down. We were brought here for a reason, and I'm going to be ready for it, regardless of what it is." He looked at Sharron with a bit of desperation. "If one person would believe me, it'd be you, right?"

"Whatever that reason is," Sharron admitted, "it will probably be for a challenge, so I don't think trying to prep me up for that is a very good strategy." She winked at him. "But, you do you. My team's at half of yours anyway, so I need all the help I can get." She paused. "Speaking of that...watch out for Brenna. She's been acting a little off lately. She took it real hard when Ben left."

"I haven't noticed that," Carter told her, "actually, she seems very okay now. I guess that's because she's with Ben again, but even then, she's getting along really well with Celine and Kris already." He sighed. "It's a very...busy team over here."

The bus eventually came to a stop. "We're here," Chef told them all, "we're currently at the highest point in the town, you've got a whole view of everything. Shame it's at night, so you won't see any of that until the morning, but suck it up, and get moving!" Everyone began clambering off the bus.

Sharron sighed, grabbed her bow and quiver, and stood up. "Well, I'm off to go manage an old married couple," she said with a laugh. "You try not to lose too badly to me tonight, yeah?"

Sharron: "Alright, I'll admit it," she said passively, "Earlier in the season, I had a bit of a crush on Carter. I mean, have you seen the guy? He's ripped, that's for one thing. But, I don't anymore, and I think that's a good thing. After all, who knows where life will take me? I might never even see him again after this season, so I might as well just grab the million and dip."

The Parrots grouped up faster due to their low size. After a few minutes of silence, Jacob cleared his throat. "Attention, ladies," he greeted them, causing the two girls to gag. "We are going to need an excellent performance to usurp those Goldfish, and I am the only one qualified to bring it to you. Luckily, all of our strengths are in separate portions of this challenge, so simply splitting up is all it will take."

"He makes a good point," Sharron admitted, nodding her head, "plus, we can then spend some time without him. I can cook for us and gather food." She turned to Abigail. "Do you want to start making the fire? I bet with your...experience, you're very good at that."

"Not quite," Jacob interjected, waving his finger. "In order to maximize all of our strengths, we need to also eliminate the weaknesses. No weakness, not ever." His eyes were bright with excitement from finally leading. "Sharron, if you insist on acquiring food, so be it, but know you rest in my hands if it flops." Sharron grumbled and went off to go hunting. "Abigail, I demand that you build the shelter. Sharron's logic was flawed in thinking fire would be beneficial for anyone but me."

Abigail also grumbled. "Okay, but you owe me for this. I don't want to make you mad or anything, but you realize that building a shelter means I have access to lots of stuff, and you're going to be hurt a lot if that happens." Jacob gasped. "Or, I can just do the fire and you can build the shelter all by yourself. Otherwise, it might be wrong."

"An...excellent point," Jacob said nervously. "I propose a change to the agenda, and Abigail can now make the fire. I will..." he stared off into the woods, "make the shelter. Alone." He wandered off, leaving Abigail to start gathering nearby sticks.

Abigail: "Oh, he makes it too easy!" she snickered, digging through her bag to find something good for him. "Now I have the easiest job. The one advantage I have from knowing him is knowing exactly what I need to say to get what I want." She let out a playful sigh. "I haven't had this much fun messing with anyone in a while. Sharron was right! I-" she paused and thought about what she was saying. "Hold on...no, not likely."

The Goldfish were having more trouble deciding roles. "Obviously we should be in pairs for this," Carter explained, "and I think it's very clear who the groups will be. Celine and Kris, you'll cook, I can build a shelter with Peter, so Ben and Brenna can get the fire going."

"Excuse me," Peter interjected, "would it be perhaps smarter for you and I to do the acquisition of food? I take it you could gather quite well, and I am not a terrible cook. Besides, I'm sure Kris and Celine would be much better off in a shelter."

The two girls blushed next to each other, but it was hard to tell due to the dark. "I'm not sure what you're implying," Celine insisted, "but I am quite literally the official best chef in the game. I can cook something good with anything out here. I'm cooking. End of story."

"So be it," Peter mumbled. "I simply thought I might've been able to help you out. I suppose not." He turned to Carter. "We can make the shelter. I guess those assignments are fine."

Carter narrowed his eyes at the mathematician. For the first time in the game, he had done an action that he disagreed with. "Of course they're fine," he told Peter. "Alright, let's get to it, we should have this done quickly if we want good sleep for whatever tonight brings us."

Once everyone had dispersed, Brenna got two rocks and started trying to beat them together. "There is a proper angle that gets sparks to come out of these stones," she insisted as she starter hitting them harder. "I can't seem to find it though. Maybe there's a better way."

Ben grabbed the rocks out of her hands. "Here, um, let me try." Brenna handed over the two stones, and on the first strike, Ben got sparks to fly out of it. "Okay, we're s close already!" he shouted, "We just need to find a way to sustain it."

Deeper into the woods, Sharron waited patiently with her bow drawn, trying to find a source of food for them overnight. Thanks to the amount she had hunted in the past, she could feel as if her night vision was a bit better than most. Eventually, she heard a movement from a nearby bush, and shifted her aim in that direction. She listened to the rustling a bit longer, before closing one eye and beginning to line up the shot. The instant whatever it was got out of the bush, she was going to shoot it.

But, at the last second, the entire bush shifted, and Carter's head popped out of it, holding a squirrel that he had already hunted down. He noticed Sharron aiming the bow right at him. "You can put that away," he said with his hands in the air. "They planted food around here, you don't actually have to kill anything."

"That's a shame," Sharron lamented, "I actually was looking forward to doing something I'm good at." She sighed. "This is the first challenge I've actually got something in my skill set, and they're taking that away from me."

Carter laughed. "You're telling me. I went to school until I started working, then I never ended up going back. Money pays more than actual schooling, you know?" He put the squirrel down and let it scamper off, before pulling out a burger. "I'm not on food, so you can have this. This was...attached to the squirrel. Don't ask me how they found the time to do that." The two laughed before Sharron got up and left. "Where are you going?"

"To think," she said. "As soon as I talked about how I need to do more things in my skill set, it got me thinking- what else is there to actually do on this show that I'm good at? Susan put me in charge for a reason, but I suppose there weren't many better options." She waved. "See ya at the end of the challenge, I guess."

Carter shook his head and sighed as she left. "I should probably go find Peter."

"Finding food was surprisingly easy," Kris muttered, "I didn't think they'd just leave them on the tails of animals, but how did they get that set up so quickly?" Celine cocked her head in confusion. "Do you really think they had a night challenge right on the night we get caught messing with portal stuff?"

Celine shook her head. "I actually think this is a normal challenge," she decided. "I mean, that stuff was not safe to travel through, despite the number of times Susan made it through out of luck. She probably assumes that we died going through that thing. After all, we left pretty much everything down there."

Kris began working on getting the fire bigger so they could properly cook on it. "I have no idea where anyone else is," she said in a defeated tone. "And, to top it off, it's getting darker." Once the fire was going strong, she handed the food over to Celine. "Alright, that's the most I can do. Hopefully someone else comes back so it's not just us eating the food." She shrugged. "Although, you're a very good cook, maybe I wouldn't mind."

The master chef laughed. "Well, that's reassuring," she commented. She watched as Kris maintained her dull expression as she fanned the flames of the fire. Celine put some of the meat they got from the animals over the flame and looked up. "...The stars are really pretty tonight," she said awkwardly, trying to keep the conversation going.

"...Yep," was all Kris had to offer back. She continued to blankly stare into the fire, occasionally checking to see if anyone else was nearby. She couldn't even see where the other team went.

Celine continued to watch Kris intently, and after a minute or so of silence, Celine broke the stillness in the air. "Kris," she said slowly, "I need to tell you something, and I think if I wait any longer, it's going to start eating at me, so I have to tell you now."

Kris instantly stopped what she was doing. "Like...to me?" she asked to get confirmation. Celine nodded her head. Kris made a guess in her head about what she was about to say to her, and nodded her head. "Okay, well, I'll listen."

The cook let out a sigh as she looked right into Kris's dark blue eyes. "This might be hard to hear, but...I like you, a lot. Like, at first I just thought you were a really interesting person, but I can see how much you care about people and how strong you stay whenever there's danger and...I can't help but feel in awe when looking at you." She immediately stopped. "I'm sorry, that's probably not what you wanted to hear from me..."

Kris's face flushed a harsh shade of red that was covered up by the darkness of the night. "Um...I'm not very good in these kinds of situations," she twiddled with her thumbs. "I've been this stoic, emotionless mess for as long as I can remember, so conveying feelings has never really been a strong suit for me." She took a deep breath. "But, my mother always taught me that actions speak louder than words, so..."

In an instant, she reached over to Celine and grabbed onto her face, bringing it into hers. The two of them shared a passionate kiss under the stars and by the fire, holding it for what felt like a lifetime. Eventually, Kris pulled away and looked up. "Did it work?"

Celine covered her face with her hands. It looked like she was about to cry. "I...I didn't think you actually felt that way back..." she said joyfully. "I'm so excited, I could be eliminated right now and not care."

"We can't do that," Kris said. "I want to win this game still, but I want to win it with you. There's not really anything I want to do with the money, I was more here for the experience. But, now that we're...now that we're together, I feel like I have a proper purpose. We have to stick together." Celine nodded. "But, that also means that we might need to keep this quiet. I know how much you hate the strategy part of this game, but we're sitting ducks like that."

Celine sighed. "No...I agree, that's the smart move. I just wish that wasn't the case. It could be worse, we could be on different teams, or there could have been someone trying to sabotage our relationship, you know?" Ironically, standing behind a tree right behind them, Peter scribbled something on his white board before erasing it. He couldn't see it in the dark.

Peter: "Good for them," he said happily. "No seriously, they deserve that happiness. I might be pulling out all the stops to win this game, but I'm not a monster." He chuckled. "But...now that they're together, I do need to hinder them as much as possible, so I will be confronting them with blackmail after this challenge." He laughed again. "I take it things are about to take an interesting turn."

Ben dropped off the firewood with Brenna and went off to go find more. Neither of them knew about Celine and Kris officially becoming an item, so this was the first test for them. Ben wandered off to go and get more wood for the fire. "This is incredible," he muttered as he walked around, "it's like everything was preset for us to find." He eventually stopped and found Carter leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked the skeptic.

Carter sat the pushover down next to him. "Have you ever wondered if you made a crucially wrong decision?" he asked. Ben nodded. "Of course, it's only natural. Well, for a while now, I haven't. Everything I've ever done for the past couple years, I've done with absolute certainty. But now, someone is causing me to look at them more suspiciously, like I've messed up on trusting someone, the one thing I pride myself on never doing."

"It probably happens," Ben said sadly. "When I got moved over here, I was certain that I was going to just curl up into a ball and embrace elimination. But, that didn't happen. People showed me that there's reasons to keep going in this game." He looked up at his leader. "Why is it that you don't trust people?"

Carter sighed. "I was sixteen," he opened with. "I came home from my second job of the day, exhausted and bruised up. I was expecting a peaceful night of helping my mother cook dinner and helping my brother with his homework. It was always busy for me, but I was okay with that." He grimaced, like the memory was painful to him to bring up. "My mother had been having an affair right under her kids' noses. We were both shocked at the news, and my dad wasn't going to be home for three months, he would never find out."

"That sounds awful," Ben mentioned sadly. "I, I wish I had something to relate to you on that, but I don't. I really have no idea how much it must have hurt." Carter appreciated the empathy Ben was displaying.

"It got worse," Carter explained, "I dropped out of school to start working toward buying my own apartment as soon as I could leave the house. That's why I'm here. If I get that money, that makes my life a lot easier to get away from. I'm from Chicago right now, but once I win, I'm going to California, somewhere where I could never be found." Ben couldn't help but just watch him.

Ben: "I don't want to say it to him," he muttered, "because I think it'd be a bit rude, but I don't think Carter's truly okay with his life plan. I know that must have been a bad experience, but if you've spent this long doing something, is that truly a dream, or is it a grudge he can't let go of? I hope he can figure that out, since I'm not sure how much I can actually help."

"You don't have to go through that alone," Ben reassured him. "You have people here that will help you out. We might not let you win, but we're going to make sure you get yourself situated." He smiled. "It's good to trust people. I learned a lot from this season because of that."

Carter smiled. "Thank you. That...that helps." After a few minutes, Peter had approached them. "What are you doing here?" he asked the mathematician. "You don't appear to be carrying anything shelter related."

The two boys noticed that the rest of the team was behind him as well. "I could ask you the same," he mused, "but now's not the time. I actually had some stuff with me, but I put it back. I take it we won't be on this mountain much longer." He waved his hand. "Come with me. You might want to take a look at this."

The team walked over to the edge of the mountain. Chef was right, there was a giant view, and while the school should not have been visible, there were sparks flying out from all around it, and portals shooting off in every direction onto the school walls. "What happened here?" Ben muttered as he watched in horror of what happened.

Brenna stared at the chaos happening below her, and began to panic. She saw the hosts tents neatly set up a few feet away. "We need to get Susan, now," she decided firmly, sprinting over there as fast as she could. "She's the only one who can stop this."

The six of them ran over to the host tents, and now even the Parrots were starting to head over to see what was going on. "Susan," Brenna said as she got their attention, "the school has fallen into chaos from portals, and it looks to be rearranging on its own."

Susan quickly got up and peered over the mountain's edge. "Wow, that expanded a lot more than I thought it would." She then stared at Brenna. "But, how do you know about that with such confidence?"

Brenna looked at the other members of the PIG, and eventually decided to spare them. "I was the one who broke into the basement to work on the portal gun." There were a few gasps, and Peter snapped his fingers, now that his blackmail was gone. "I've been trying to stabilize it. At first, I was just curious, but then you mentioned that it could be dangerous, and I wanted to fix it as quickly as I could." She looked right into the hosts eyes, piercing her gaze through the sunglasses. "We need to go back and stop this. Now."

Chef got up too. "She's right, we gotta go. There should be a reset button at in the basement of the school, that'll stop the school from rearranging. But, if there's portals being created too, we gotta find that...and break it."

"Break it?" Susan asked him, "Have you lost your mind? That portal gun is our key to financial safety and connections beyond your wildest dreams. I cannot afford to just lose all that material!" Susan let out a huff. "We can stop the rearrangement and then quarantine off the basement. I can come back there on my own to resolve it."

"No chance," Chef countered, "you may be a scientist, but while you have this role, you are a host before you are anything else. No school means no show, and these kids could sue for a lot more than that material cost." He started gathering up stuff. "Every moment we spend chatting is a moment we lose. Challenge change, we're stopping this outbreak!"

Brenna: Her face is filled with fierceness. "I did feel a little bad for not crediting the rest of the PIG on our hard work," she admitted, "but I wanted to protect them. I could probably be eliminated by default tonight, but the others can be safe still. I don't want them to suffer because of me."

Within ten minutes, the group had safely navigated down the mountain and now faced the outside of the school. "Remember, once you go in there, you've basically entered a maze. Stay in groups of three, and we should be good to go." Chef pointed inside. "Whatever you do, don't get separated."

The three Parrots broke off and entered first. "This is surely easier than we think, no?" Jacob boasted, sliding to the left hallway of the first floor. "We need to simply go down these stairs and reset a control room that is sitting as a duck for us." The three charged downstairs, but somehow ended up on the roof of the school. "Well, that was unexpected."

Sharron tried to find a way down from the roof, but the portal they had just used had disappeared. "We are not getting trapped up here this early," she proclaimed with confidence. She tied a rope onto an arrow, and shot it around a pipe. "We repel down, and try again, this shouldn't be hard." Sharron nearly slid all the way down the rope, but Abigail and especially Jacob took longer to get there.

Abigail pointed upstairs. "We should try going up. Last time we went down and it was the opposite direction, so we should try that." The other two nodded and tried going up the stairs, but they ended up in the cafeteria this time. "Well, we could've been outside again," Abigail said optimistically. "Alright, let's try another spot."

Brenna and Ben had rushed out with intensity, with Carter trailing them. "So you two have been going out at night to try and mess with Susan's stuff?" he asked them sternly, "look, I appreciate that you were trying to help, but I don't think I can save either of you if you get eliminated." The three of them came up to a portal. "Where's this one going to take us?"

"It's all luck," Brenna admitted sheepishly. "Since we have no idea how the locations are generating we can't just find a pattern. "We just have to be the group who gets through the portal to the basement first. There could be multiple, or there could be none." She pointed at a door. "Into this classroom, we can try and see if there's anything to help us."

The three burst through the door, but what looked like a science room on the outside actually turned out to be the art room. "We found another portal," Ben lamented, "but now we're not where we think we should be." Suddenly, they felt the room shake, and then they felt it moving. "What's going on?" he cried out.

"The room is moving," Brenna said firmly. "If we stay here, we might have a different exit than just the hallway. I say we wait it out." With not much else of a choice, the three of them waited it out, until they felt the room come to a complete stop. "Through the door!" Brenna shouted. The three left the room, but were now back in the science room. "One step forward, two steps back," Brenna said with a sigh.

The third group was doing about just as well as the first two. "Assuming it's random," Celine decided, "we should keep going through the first portal we see. That gives us the most chances to actually find the room we're looking for." Just as she said that, one opened up. "Like that one, let's go through!" The three of them jumped through, but it put them in what appeared to be a music classroom. "Nope, keep looking."

"That's disappointing," Peter lamented in his eccentric tone. "But, this is quite the stressful situation. I mean, we could be going through a portal to our deaths, and it would be to the fault of Brenna and her friends." He stopped before letting out a laugh. "Oh, sorry, I forgot that included you two." Kris and Celine glared at the boy. "Anyway, this is a shame. I would love to contact a loved one and tell them what is happening. Must be nice."

Kris pointed out another portal. "Go through it," she said to Peter. "We're not following." She shoved the boy through the portal, and it closed up shortly after. "Sorry about that," she told Celine, "I know Chef ordered us to not get separated, but I could not stand him."

Celine gave her a peck on the cheek. "No, I would have done the same thing." The two laughed as another portal opened up near them. "Quickly, we need to go through it!" The two jumped through the portal, to find themselves in a crammed vent. "I hope one opens up here," she said, "because this is not where I want to be stuck at."

Back with the Parrots, the entire cafeteria began to shift. "We're moving again," Sharron called out, "this is our chance." They watched as the cafeteria took an aerial path to move to the other side, so an opening was now present in the doorway, leading right to outside.

"I see it," Jacob called out, "the cellar!" The three watched as another building shifted around the side of the school, but the opening looked very much like the bottom of a stairwell.

Abigail smacked the band president on the back of the head. "Don't call it a 'cellar'," she told him, "speak like you're from this century at least." She saw the giant gap between the basement and them. "How on earth are we going to get in there?"

"We're going to separate," Sharron decided. She pulled out her bow again, and loaded the roped arrow again. "I'm getting in that room to take the win. You two wait here and...try not to kill each other." Sharron jumped out of the airborne cafeteria, turned back, and shot the bow into the floor of the moving building. From there, she swung back, and then leapt forward to get to the entrance to the basement.

"Woah," Abigail said in awe, "Sharron's really awesome. She's incredible at that, and also going to clearly beat me in anything physical." She sighed and turned to Jacob. "We have a problem."

Down in the basement, Sharron landed with a tumble, sliding a bit as she hit the ground. "Not how I wanted to get in," she mumbled to herself, "but I feel a lot better now that I'm using my skills to my advantage." She found the control room, whose door was still missing. "Perfect, now I just have to-" She was cut off as she felt the entire room start to shift downward instead of the sideways movement it was doing. "It's moving mid-shift?"

"Not quite," someone else had said to her. Peter stepped out of the control room, dusting off his hands. "It's not moving again, so much as it is moving back. I've stopped the catastrophe." He chuckled. "I was um, removed from my group forcibly."

Within a few seconds, the two hosts made it down the stairs, which now properly led to the basement. "Excellent work, Peter," Susan said, "we're safe for now." She went over to a PA system in the control room. "Everyone, please meet downstairs once the school is done moving. The...challenge is over."

Once everyone was gathered, a few people noticed as Sharron looked disappointed in herself, while Peter looked pleased. "Well, I can't say I wanted to make this our challenge for the night," Susan lamented, "but we actually handled that portion of it rather quickly. So, tonight, since it appears the main culprit is a member of the Goldfish, they're up for elimination. Parrots, we also feel bad. There's three of you."

The members of the PIG exchanged uneasy glances while the Parrots let out a sigh of relief. "Well," Chef said, "let's do this elimination quickly, and the rest of you can try and get whatever sleep you think you'll be able to get."

Peter: "How annoying," he complained, "I was this close to multiplying my chances of making it to the merge, and now this happens. I literally won the challenge, and my performance up at the campground was rather stellar too." He grunted. "I guess I can let tonight run its course. I actually don't feel too concerned."

Sharron: "Tonight stank," she said with a groan. "I did my absolute best, and utilized all my skills, but I still ended up losing to that runt! At least we got a pity win today, that'll keep me in the game a little bit longer."

Carter: "I have no idea how I'm going to be voting tonight," he admitted, "The best bet might be someone like Celine who's decent at challenges, since the merge is coming up. Or, I can go against everything I've done up to this point, and vote Peter. This is hard."

The six Goldfish groggily made their way into the lobby of the dorms, exhausted from the big challenge the night had brought them. "We want to once again thank you for your help on this...issue," Susan said in defeat, carrying the five erasers in her hand. Even she looked exhausted. "But, we've all voted, so it's time to send one of you home, then-" she yawned, "then go to bed."

"Anyone who doesn't get a Chef Hatchet-styled eraser has to go home instantly on the Bus of Shame, with no chance of returning to the competition." Susan tossed out the first two erasers, missing both of the people she intended to throw them to. "Carter and Kris, you two are safe." The skeptic and the deadpan got their erasers.

"Ben and Brenna, you two are also safe." Ben grabbed his, excited to still be in the game, while Brenna simply held hers and stared at it, trying to figure out something about the eraser. It was then when she noticed that there were only two left.

Susan held up the final eraser. "Peter, you're in danger, since you've been in a lot of wrong places at wrong times. But, you've also won your team this challenge, not that it means anything. Celine, you've been pretty dominant in challenges, maybe that is why people are targeting you." Peter genuinely looked shocked that he was in the bottom two, and Celine looked terrified, secretly holding hands with Kris as she waited in anticipation.

"Alright, no more tension," Susan said with a yawn, "I'm exhausted. Tonight, one of you goes home, and doesn't make it to the top half of competitors. That loser tonight is...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Pe-"

"Wait!" someone called out, standing up urgently. Everyone turned to see Brenna standing up with a dismissive look on her face. "I ought to be the one who's eliminated," she declared. "It was my doing that put us here in the first place, so I have to pay the price. That's only logical."

Ben stood up. "No, you can't leave! You have to stick around and fight. I don't want you to leave." He stared into her eyes. "I...I don't know what I'm going to do with myself if you do."

Brenna walked forward. "I'm sorry, but I've made my decision." She turned back to Ben. "I left you a note somewhere in your room. Please find it and read it. I'm sure everything will make sense." She turned to Susan. "I'm certain of this. I'm ready to go."

"If you say so," Susan said with a shrug. "Bus is that way." Brenna walked out of the room, with a proud smile on her face, while the rest of the Goldfish seemed surprised at the results of the elimination, Peter especially.

Peter: "Woah," he said with a shocked expression. "I was almost out of there for multiplying my complacency. I have to make sure I add on even more tactics now. I need votes, and I know exactly where to get them. I'll have to thank Brenna later for taking herself out even though she almost fully read off my name."

Celine: "Tonight's honestly been wonderful," she said with a dreamy expression. "I'm with the girl of my dreams, and we've both made it to the top eight. But, I barely made it tonight, and that makes me upset, because now..." she groaned, "I'm actually going to have to use strategy if I want to win this game."

"I was pretty surprised by that nerdy girl," Chef said as he reviewed footage with Susan in the control room. "I didn't think she had that kind of integrity." He flipped a few switches in an attempt to restore power to the control room.

"And Peter almost was out," Susan added on, "I'll have to thank her later for saving our show's source of drama." She looked at Chef. "Hatchet, I'm sorry I did all this behind your back. I'm planning on halting the portal research until this show's over. You were right, I'm a host first."

Chef smiled. "Well, at least you're learning," he said, picking up the notebook that Ben had written in from the basement. "Although, I didn't think someone like Brenna would have handwriting this messy." He looked up. "Cameras are here."

"Right," Susan said. "We've officially lost half of the cast, but we need to lose seven more before someone gets a million dollars. Who is going to make it to the end? Who will drop next? Find out next time on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!"

Teams:

Screeching Parrots: Abigail, Jacob, Sharron

Swift Goldfish: Ben, Carter, Celine, Kris, Peter

Eliminated: Gianna, George, Leo, Claire, Nala, Nolan, Nathan, Brenna

Honestly, I think Brenna's elimination was much more symbolic than it was a surprise. This was the grand conclusion to what I would consider the main character of the first half of the story. Like I promised, the PIG plotline would wrap up early, and now we will shift to more of a traditional Total Drama season, but the school will still shift around. I also got started on a plotline that will be big next season, you'll have to wait and see what that actually was.

Yeah, big chapter. Krisline is official, and now Peter knows about them. Plus, we learned Carter's backstory tonight, and Ben became a much more involved character. What note did Brenna leave for him? We'll find out next time.

Now that we are over halfway done the season, I want to announce two characters per update that will be competing in next season, Total Drama Power Peak. The two I'm confirming for this week are Quaoar and Claire.

Anyway, what did you think? This was one of my biggest plot pushing chapters ever, and I really like how it turned out. Let me know what you thought in the reviews, and I will reply if you leave one! See you next time!