Final eight! Let's get to that reply!
lordgemini- Glad you liked the chapter! My reasoning for Brenna eliminating herself regardless was because she was pretty much driven up the wall in guilt, so it was more of a personal choice that she made. Also, I did want to clarify for you, Celine and Claire are different characters, Celine is the one still in the game.
Alright, let's see who loses today.
Episode 11: Summoned to Injury Duty
The control felt brighter, and so did the basement, now that things with the portals had finally come to a close. "Things did not go as planned yesterday," Susan reflected, adjusting her sunglasses as she went over footage. She then picked up the notebook that was lying next to her. "This still doesn't seem like Brenna's handwriting," she mused, "I think she had allies in the game."
"Who do you think she brought with her?" Chef asked nonchalantly, "You think he brought Peter? He was the one who was able to get to the control room first." He went through some footage. "Actually, it looks like that was a stroke of luck instead."
Susan shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore," she insisted, "we can finish off hosting the show, then we can get back to selling these portal guns, and they'll be fully functional now, thanks to Brenna's contributions, assuming it actually works."
The host flipped her head around to see that the cameras had arrived. "Ah, they're here," she said. "Last time, on Total Drama Cultivated Will, we went a bit off the rails. With a massive theft incident allegedly happening in my basement, we might have set off a giant portal chain reaction, throwing the school into chaos." The first clips were the four PIG members escaping the basement and Peter telling them that he sent the hosts to check it out. "To run from our problems, we had a camping challenge that was actually going well for a lot of people." The next clips were Kris and Celine hooking up, and Carter and Ben sitting down to talk. "But, things got bad when the problem came back to us, forcing a collapse of the school and making us go back to save it."
"Once we were in there, the children still managed to find time to fight." The next clips were Kris shoving Peter through a portal and Abigail and Jacob bickering with Sharron. "But, in the end, despite Sharron's flight through the night sky, Peter got lucky and shut down the portal system. In a weird turn of events, Brenna eliminate herself, leaving people with a lot of questions, and a lot of plans." The final clips were Brenna leaving the building, and Peter realizing how lucky he got. Half the cast is gone, but we need to lose more. Find out what happens today 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.]
Ben woke up far before everyone else. It was hard for him to sleep the night before because of everything that happened, which made him extremely tired. He looked around and saw that Carter had already left again, but Peter was still asleep. He rummaged through the room quickly before he found an envelope inside of his own pillow. "This has to be it," he said to himself. He pulled it open and began reading.
Ben,
If you're reading this, it means I'm off the show. The PIG became more than a past time for me, it became my source of friends and encouragement, and it wasn't until you were gone that I actually realized that. I wanted to thank you for that. At least for now we can rest easy knowing that there won't be much issue regarding that basement for now. And, I'm sorry for taking credit last night, I wanted to protect you three. I roped you into this, so I needed to be the one to take the hit, that was only logical.
The PIG dialogue is essentially closed now, but I think people are going to try and reopen it. It was hazy to me before, but now that there's nothing else to hide, you need to watch out for Peter. He's been behind a few eliminations already, including Claire and Nolan, and I think he has more planned. Whatever you do, do NOT let him get involved with anything about the PIG or what was in the basement. He was definitely the wrong hands that Susan mentioned the night I went alone.
Tonight I will vote myself off regardless of who is going, even if it is Peter. I don't want the rest of you to have to carry the burden of this secret any longer, so hopefully me leaving will alleviate the others of punishment. This might not be the smartest choice for everyone, but I think I've had more than enough time on this show. I need to go.
One more thing. Here's my number. Call me once the show's over, if you want that.
-Brenna
Ben stared at the note for a while blankly, trying to figure out what to do next. He quickly turned around to see if Peter was still sleeping, which he was. Ben tore off the portion of the note with Brenna's phone number, and put in his pocket. "I need to burn this before he sees it," he determined, heading up to the fireplace in the lounge to delete the rest of the note.
Ben: "What a messed up night," he said, "but Peter was going to be eliminated last night, why didn't she just let that happen?" He sighed. "She must have felt so guilty about doing that to us. At least now I have confidence we need to turn on Peter, and though my evidence is burned now, I think someone will believe me. Hopefully."
Carter sat in the usual spot in the woods, except that he was by himself today. Even Sharron wasn't there. He pulled out some breakfast that he took from the dining area and began eating it, enjoying the silence he had for once. He found himself consistently bothered by yesterday's events. He didn't necessarily care about the school falling into chaos. He had dealt with odd scenarios before, and while that was the weirdest one, he recognized how much weirder that night could have gone.
Not only that, but he had shared his most personal event with Ben, someone who was for sure a decent kid, but could also turn on him at any second, just like the rest of them. It was a dangerous move to have more than one person he was sticking close to, but every day, Ben looked like the more stable option compared to Peter, and if Ben was on the track Carter thought he was on, it would be a good decision to have him as an ally.
"Did I make the right decision?" he muttered to himself. The prior night, he had put his vote down for Celine, under the idea that it would be a strategic victory, but it seemed the entire team had other ideas. Brenna, who was new to him, voted herself off despite being relatively open with her opposition to Peter, and it seemed Kris at least felt the same way.
He watched as the water flowed next to him. It didn't stop at all, not for anything, and just like the show, which was continuing again even after a horrendous night, it was not goin anywhere. He stood up with a grunt, and began walking back. "I need to figure out what his deal is," Carter decided, thinking about last night's vote. "But where on Earth does Peter go in the mornings?"
As Abigail walked up the stairwell, an announcement came over the PA system. "Good morning, final eight," Susan told them, "as promised, more of the dormitory would open up as we progressed in the competition. For reaching the top half of competitors, a computer lab is now available at your disposal. Please note that we have blocked several websites that would allow you outside contact or access to anything you should not have. That is all."
Abigail watched as Peter flew up the stairs behind her to try and get into the lab. "What a dork," she said playfully. She finally went up to the third floor, the place with the lounge. As she stopped outside its entrance, she could hear a trumpet playing a very difficult piece that she recognized. The prankster sighed and shook her head before reaching into her bag and pulling out a water balloon, then opening the door.
The prankster waited for the boy with the trumpet to say something first. What he said would completely determine whether or not a water balloon got thrown in his face. "Ah, what an unexpected surprise," Jacob mused, "I do think we performed wonderfully last night. What about you?"
Abigail grumbled as she put her water balloon away. It wasn't too mean, so she let it slide. "Cut the courtesies," she said bluntly, "I have business to do with you, and it needs to be fast." Jacob raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Oh?" he said with a haughty tone, "I didn't think you would be coming to me after insisting that voting for Nathan was the last time you would team up with me." He chuckled. "But do humor me, I'm interested in anything that I can use to my advantage."
The band president was swiftly met with a water balloon to the face, causing him to wretch back and scramble for a towel. "Good, now you're actually listening," Abigail replied with a giggle. "I need you help. I didn't realize it until last night, but Sharron outdoes us in every department. We will lose any challenge to her, regardless of what it is."
Jacob smirked. "Of course she does," he said cockily, "that is why Susan made the rash decision of making her a 'leader'." He chuckled at the phrasing. "But, you're right, a temporary alliance should be in order so we can both ensure as much safety as possible. It's purely strategic." Abigail nodded back quietly. "Of course, if you're ever interested in a more permanent teaming up, I could consider."
"Barf," the prankster replied. "Look, I got what I needed, and your very presence in the room is messing with my mojo, so I gotta go. You should watch yourself. There may or may not be a bear trap in your bed." Abigail skipped out of the room, leaving Jacob very concerned about his own room.
Abigail: "Things are getting dangerous," she said hesitantly, "with last night, I have become very aware that I'm not in an awesome spot. I can fix this by making sure that the one person who will never betray me stays like that. Purely strategic."
Peter entered the computer lab, and cracked his knuckles. "They should have given this to us first," he complained to no one, beginning to try and log in. Once he was in, he sat and blankly stared at the screen. He had infinite knowledge at his fingertips, but no one to really start with.
Eventually, an idea came to his head. "There had to be something up with that group," he muttered, "I need to factor in as much detail as possible." He began looking up anything he could related to portal technology, but everything he found was either blocked or just theories. "Maybe the head scientist would know something." He then looked up the name of their host. "There's something." He read through what he was able to find.
Dr. Susan Hazel, now retired, served for 30 years at Ingress Academy as the school's guidance counselor and behavioral manager. Through her service, the success of the school was taken to an all time high, and grades skyrocketed because of her methods. Currently, there are no interviews or sources with concrete data to be used.
Peter frowned for a second, as that was the only paragraph he found useful. "That can't be right," he said to himself, "she was a scientist in Switzerland." He recalled back to the first day, she introduced herself as a guidance counselor. "Thirty years...she doesn't look over forty, there's no way she did that for such a long time." He sat with the paragraph in front of him.
Eventually, another idea popped into his head. "There's a database that should be able to locate any school in the country," he said confidently, "so if I look it up, I should at least be referred to a website or something." He typed in the name, 'Ingress Academy' into the search bar.
No Results. Try searching something else.
The mathematician furrowed his brow. He went back to the main search engine and tried something there, and a website appeared. "There's something," he said, quickly clicking on it. It gave him a list of founders for multiple schools, and eventually tried Ingress Academy again.
Founder: Micah Ranka, deceased.
"Susan probably knew her," Peter lamented, "I bet if I asked I could get something out of her, but then she'll know." As soon as he said that, the computer in front of him shut off. "That's odd," he said, trying to click back to where he was. "But, I guess that's all I can do. Without this Micah person being alive, I can't get that portal technology and use it to my advantage in time for the show to be over."
Peter slouched back in the chair for a second. "Well, it is as they say, when something is subtracted from you, you fight back by adding double what was taken." He popped up and left the room. "I suppose I need to make a move on that blackmail."
Peter: "That was a bust, unfortunately," he complained, putting his palm on his face. "I was hoping I could use some insider information to have some portal technology delivered here in secret to try and control it myself, but without the original seller being alive there's not really any hope of me finding another way on these restricted computers." He chuckled. "Shame. I could have been one of the most dangerous players in this game's history, but I suppose all of the greats used the old tactics because they actually worked."
Celine and Kris used their morning time to do some morning cooking. Chef had let them in earlier and was cooking breakfast in the other room. Kris had taken a bite out of what appeared to be a pancake, but the top of one end was charred black, while the other was visibly undercooked. "This one stayed in one piece," Kris muttered dully, "that has to be some sort of sign that I'm improving."
Meanwhile, next to her, Celine was cooking the same meal, but without a spatula. She was flipping the pancakes purely by tossing it around with the pan. "I think you're overshooting at first, then overcorrecting after you burn an end. Try balancing out your time on each side a bit more." She grabbed a piece of Kris's pancake and ate it. "I mean, sure, the outside's a bit charred, but your taste is there, you nailed the batter."
"I guess that's something," the deadpan concluded, trying again after tossing the pancake on top of three more that were very much worse than the one she just ate.
After a few minutes of silence, another set of footsteps entered the kitchen. The new couple turned to see Peter standing there with a yawn. "Um, do you mind?" Celine asked in a bit of a harsh tone, "we kinda got permission to do this, so your 'rule stickling' has no business here."
Peter yawned again. "Sorry, I must have stumbled in. I'm just so exhausted from last night, you know, with all that messy portal stuff." The two stared at him, to see what else he could possibly have to say. "Listen, I suppose I have a bit of a confession to make. When I was gathering shelter materials last night, I could not help but overhear your conversation that you two had."
Celine instantly turned red, but kept a serious expression on her face. To the surprise of the other two, Kris kept her stoic face perfectly and continued to blankly stare at Peter. "Whatever you heard," Celine countered, "doesn't concern you. I can't imagine what your antisocial mind is up to, but you're going in the wrong direction here."
The mathematician frowned. "Huh, I wanted to take this up with you nicely, but that might not be an option." He turned to face Celine directly. This was the first time the master chef had seen Peter not hesitate at all when speaking. "Last night, Carter voted for you. He'll do it again too, if he has the chance." He looked at Kris then. "I said I owed you one from you helping me with Claire, this is it. Do with that information what you will."
"I'm not sure how this whole interaction really concerns me," Kris stated blankly. "I helped you with Claire, sure, but it's not like I had any other person I was going to vote for. Consider your debt paid, but this doesn't really matter to me." Celine continued to watch in shock as Kris effortlessly lied through her teeth about their relationship.
Peter nodded. "I understand that it really doesn't concern you," he lied, "but you should know I have this horrible habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, so it may be important for you to come to me for advice more often." He gave them a wink. "Anyway, I'll be off then. Enjoy cooking, and congratulations."
As soon as he walked out of the room, there was an awkward silence. Kris went right back to attempting to make pancakes like nothing had happened. "Did you hear him?" Celine said hesitantly, "Carter's targeting me, and he definitely wants us to vote for Carter."
"It's not a terrible idea," Kris responded, "I mean, he's a danger once we merge, which could be any day now." She flipped the new pancake, which actually had some color on it. "Hey, this one isn't as burnt." Despite her bored expression, she seemed proud of this one.
Celine shook her head. "I haven't even been thinking about the merge..." She turned right to Kris again. "I can't believe how okay you are about this. Peter's blackmailing us for votes and you had the gall to say it didn't concern you..." She sniffled a little. "W-what about last night?"
Kris sighed. "Yeah, I'm nervous about that," she admitted, despite her face not showing that, "but it's not like we can just give away our relationship. Peter now controls us for a bit, and maybe we deal with that. He won't make it far into the merge acting like that. I'm sure Abigail would be more than willing to help us out. She seems like a nice enough person."
"I'll take your word for it," Celine muttered. "But, it couldn't help to at least look a little scared when you lie about me getting voted off not mattering to you." Kris quickly put down the pancake and embraced Celine, who could feel the deadpan's heavy breathing on her. "Oh...I'm sorry, I didn't realize how concerned you actually were." Kris nodded. "Okay, we can do this."
Kris: "Obviously Peter knows," Kris said with a shrug. "Big deal, he's the weakest contestant left. I doubt he'll win a single immunity, so we can vote him off as quickly as possible. This isn't a problem." She took a deep breath, shaking her head. "This...isn't...a problem..."
Peter: "Kris looked terrified," he said with a chuckle. "That's the most scared I've seen her all season. It's safe to assume I have those votes for whenever I need them, but I still want to win. I'm okay taking Carter to the merge as long as Sharron's there to be competition." He put a hand to his chin. "Although I haven't considered what to do once one of them is subtracted from the mix. Huh."
Celine: She had her head down in her hands. "This is finally the part I hate the most about reality shows. Now I have to put our happiness aside and keep trying to stay in the game. I know Kris wants to win just as much as I do, but at some point we'll have to go up against each other. I really don't want that."
Sharron was out in the woods, with arrows in all of the trees surrounding her. "Finally feels good to actually be out here again," she said, breathing in the fresh air. She loaded up another arrow, and shot it in a tree that already had many arrows in it. She landed it right in between three that had made up a triangle with their shape.
"There you are," Carter said, entering the area. Sharron turned her head to see the skeptic walking her way. "I had a question for you." He stared right at her, clearly wanting this answer with haste.
Sharron took a second to return the look, trying to figure out exactly what he meant. "I'm not very good at deciding what I need to do, so I want you to evaluate this. Last night, I voted Celine, as she's currently the biggest threat on my team, and we're merging any day now. But, Peter continues to be more and more suspicious. I feel like I put my trust in the wrong person." Carter watched as Sharron pondered the information.
"What?" Sharron asked, "you want me to tell you how to do your game? Isn't that the exact issue you're having right now?" She shook her head. "You're confusing, but I guess I can try to help. Peter is definitely not all he appears. There's a reason he's kept himself on your good side, and it is either to use you, or to hide behind you. Once you figure that out, you'll know what to do."
Carter nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks." He got up almost as quickly as he arrived. "Well, you're busy it seems. I can leave you alone if that's what you want." He watched her for a second longer, but Sharron had already gone back to loading another arrow for target practice. Seeing that he wasn't even noticed anymore, Carter decided to head back to the dorms.
Once Carter left, Sharron shot a few more arrows. "I have a clear mind now," she said, "this is for the best. I am the most skilled player left in the game, and there's no reason for anyone to be in my way." It almost sounded like a meditation chant.
A few seconds later, an announcement killed her focus. "Attention, final eight, it is time for you to go and meet up at the dorms. We'll be doing another outside day while the school continues to revert itself back to normal. Prepare for the outdoor weather however you see fit."
Sharron grinned as she heard the announcement and began collecting all her arrows. "Another challenge built for me? I like how that sounds." She quickened her pace and got ready to meet up with her team.
At the dorms, everyone gathered in front of Susan and Chef. "As you heard," Susan explained, "the school isn't quite ready yet. Due to last night's events, we made a hectic stop on everything there, so not everything is ready to go. That being said, Chef and I left our tent up at the mountain from last night, so today's challenge will be to take it down and return it."
Sharron raised her hand. "That's...it? Like, we're taking down a tent and bringing it back here?" Susan nodded. "Okay, that seems easy enough, but is that really necessary for everyone to do, and as a challenge?"
Chef stepped in to spare Susan, who was nervously reacting to the questions being tossed at her. "You're allowed to fight each other on the way back, so if you have the tent now, you might not at the end of the challenge. Tough enough yet?"
Sharron twirled an arrow in her hand. "Yeah, I guess." She readied a few rope arrows as the challenge continued to be explained, while Abigail and Jacob looked at her, confused to what she was doing.
Susan opened to doors. "Okay, no time to waste. We can hike up there normally, the challenge will start once we reach the top of the mountain. You can use the time walking up to strategize with your team."
Ben: "Something doesn't feel right," he said nervously. "Everyone seems on edge more than usual. Even me, now that I know Peter is actually a giant threat. Maybe I can throw the challenge today and convince everyone to vote him out. Yeah, that'll work."
The walk up the hill was tiring, and for most of them, strategizing was out of the question, and they just needed to make it up the mountain before they could even think about the challenge. "This is exhausting," Jacob complained, trying to keep his hair in tact. "I have no reason to suffer this dreadful climb. After all, we took a bus here last night. We have no reason to do this other than intentional exhaustion."
Abigail was managing much better than him, but still looked tired. "We're fine," she reaffirmed him, "you're just out of shape because grass is a foreign concept to you." She pulled a water balloon out of her backpack and bit into it, drinking the water from inside. "If you actually did marching band with us instead of hiding inside doing only classical, you'd know that this is nothing. Even the heat is nothing compared to the heat of AstroTurf reflecting off of one hundred instruments in the middle of July."
Jacob scoffed. "You know very well that I have no reason to partake in such childish activities. My future hinges on the very fact that I- Ah!" He was promptly interrupted by a water balloon smashing down on his head. "How many of those do you have?"
"Enough," Abigail said with a smile. "If you're gonna be grumpy about the stuff I like to do, then I have to fight back. After all, you wouldn't want to see me sad, would you?" Jacob hesitated for a quick answer. "That's right, now keep walking."
As everyone got near the top of the mountain, they were all exhausted. "Man, we must have really fallen back," Celine muttered, trying to cover herself from the heat. "I don't see Carter anywhere, or the hosts."
Kris glanced around. "You're right, Sharron is missing too. I would have expected they are already up there, waiting for us, but how did Susan get there without using a portal? She's not in as great a shape as the rest of them."
On cue, Susan came running from the top of the mountain. "There you are. You six, there's an emergency. After we went ahead, we were all attacked by vicious animals at the top of the mountain. Chef is alright, but only because Carter and Sharron came to our aid. You need to help them, now!"
Everyone began to turn into a more panicked state. "Let's hurry up!" Ben shouted, "we need to make sure they're okay!" Everyone sped off, except for Jacob, who stood there, almost agitated.
"What's your deal today?" Abigail yelled, "get your head in the game, our leader's in danger!" She grabbed his arm before he had a chance to react, and the two trailed behind the others.
Jacob: "Of course only someone as talented as me could have seen this coming," he said angrily. "This is the actual challenge, we're to care for the alleged leader to prove our strength without them, no doubt before the merge hits." He scoffed. "That said, how come I was not the one attacked by animals? Do my conquests over my team mean nothing to those hosts? Unbelievable."
Once they got to the top of the mountain, Carter and Sharron were unconscious and laying on the ground. The two had been separated out, and both leaders were laying on opposite sides of the peak. "It would be smartest to break off by teams," Susan advised, "you probably know your own members better than anyone else."
Ben raised his hand. "We should have equal people on both ends. I was a Parrot before, so I can help Sharron out with Abigail and Jacob. That makes the most sense, doesn't it?" After seeing Susan's disapproving face and Kris and Celine silently begging for him to come back, he shook his head. "On second thought, you're the host, you know best..." He began analyzing the scene for what needed to be done.
"Chef, have you tried calling for help?" Celine said, trying to make sense of everything. "We need to get them professionals, we can only do so much." Chef shook his head. "What do you mean, no? Like, you haven't tried, or you can't?" She turned again to see that Chef was walking away. "Alright, I guess it's just us."
Over with the Parrots, Sharron was now in between Abigail and Jacob, who were making a list of things to do. "We can split this easily," Abigail noted, "I'll go purify some water to clean the wounds. You go into my bag and start cleaning off what's there with the water balloon water. Then we can see how bad the cuts actually are."
Jacob nodded in agreement. "We need to be absolutely ready for it. I don't want to see any member of my team in this kind of state anymore." He pulled out the water balloons as Abigail ran off, and began popping them over the bloodied areas. "This will hurt a lot, probably," he said to the unconscious leader, "but it's your fault for not letting me get mauled by animals."
Once Abigail got back, they took a look around. "Besides head trauma, I'm not actually seeing too many cuts." She pulled out a few band-aids from her bag. "This will be easier than we think." She started to put the band-aids on, and tried sitting Sharron up. "Hopefully Carter's doing okay too. These had to be some nasty animals to knock him out."
The Goldfish were in more of a scramble, but Ben was taking charge. Peter had returned from a scouting he had done. "No signs of the animals," he said as he got back, "so we're probably okay to treat him in this location. Excellent thinking on that."
Ben tore off one of his sleeves and used it as a wrap for Carter's leg, which halted the bleeding relatively quickly. Kris stabilized his head while Celine cleaned off more of the wounds. "There has to be a reason this happened," Celine muttered, "but what kind of things were able to knock out these two?"
Within a few seconds, both team leaders woke up from their consciousness at the same time. Sharron peered around to see Jacob staring over her. "Can I help you?" she asked, as Jacob backed away startled from the sudden movement of his victim.
Carter also woke up and sat up. Kris quickly backed away from his head, almost causing him to land on the ground again. "What's this sleeve doing wrapped around me? You're gonna cut the circulation out of my arm..."
Susan and Chef walked forward. "Fantastic job, both teams," she said. Everyone turned to see Susan carrying two vials of the sleeping gas she had in the first episode. "It's clear that both teams were very capable without their leaders. That will be good to know." She turned to the Goldfish. "Ben, for having Peter check the scene for safety and at least attempting to make a call, your team will win advantage for part two." Everyone stared blankly.
Ben: "You have to be kidding me," he complained. "Am I really that nice of a person? If I had known that was a challenge, I would have easily thrown and made sure we lost so we could get rid of Peter, but now that's not an option."
Kris: "That is not how you do something like that," she said with wide eyes, breathing heavily. "You do not do two high-stress challenges in a row like that. At least no one was actually in danger that time."
Abigail: She chuckled. "I should have figured that was fake blood when there were hardly any cuts on Sharron. She probably got those from being in the woods all the time." She laughed again. "But wow, I didn't realize Jacob and I actually did work so well together. Maybe she wasn't a total nut for doing that after all." She paused. "I mean, I still hate him."
"So...what is the second part?" Celine asked, trying to ease everyone away from the giant shock. Carter and Sharron were still trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
Susan laughed. "This is fun to see all of your confused expressions." She tossed Carter the tent that they had originally went up the mountain for. "There's your advantage. I've already explained this, haven't I?" There was a air of silence as Susan looked at all of them. "I mean it, you all were there, you know what to do. See you at the bottom of the mountain."
A golf cart rolled up and picked up the two hosts, driving them back to the dorms. The three Parrots stared at the Goldfish for a few seconds in dead silence before chaos broke out. Abigail rummaged through her bag. "This is the last one I've got," she said, holding up the final water balloon. "I better make it count." She beamed it at Peter, who was already struggling to catch up with his own team. "Boom! Haha!"
With Peter all the way back, it came down to the other seven to scramble for the tent bag. Carter was currently gunning it down the mountain, but Sharron was catching up. Eventually, she pulled out a rope arrow and shot it right in front of Carter's legs. Despite his best efforts to jump over it, Carter still tripped and dropped the tent bag.
Even though Sharron was able to pick it up, Celine had caught up to her in that time. "Toss it back!" Jacob demanded. "We can escape this chaos!" Sharron reluctantly threw the tent bag over Celine's head. Celine jumped for it, but it was too high up. Then, to no one's surprise, the tent bag collided with Jacob, sending him to the ground.
"Thanks," Kris said as she picked up the bag and started walking away. She handed it over to Carter again, who then darted off. Jacob was now on the ground, but Ben helped him up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jacob sneered. "If you think I'll take your commoner pity, you're wrong. I'm much to high in station to accept help from the enemy." He stood up himself. "What do you think you're playing at?"
"I need that bag," Ben insisted, "because I need to lose. We need to eliminate someone on our team, so I'm helping you out." Jacob was about to relent, but Ben turned and saw Peter was finally catching up. "I mean...take that!"
The band president scoffed. "How dare you make a mockery of me like that! I'll destroy you!" He lost focus and began chasing Ben around instead of the tent bag. Peter sighed as he walked by them calmly.
Sharron and Carter were still competing up front alone for the bag. "I need this more than you," Sharron told him sternly, "so give up so I can have my peace of mind. I'm in a very dangerous spot on my team, and with the merge around the corner, we can fight however you'd like, but you want me in it."
"Actually," Carter countered, "I don't. I need to not have any distr- any competition at the merge, so every victory is easy." He smirked. "It isn't hard to stay in the game if you win every single immunity."
Sharron shook her head. "How lucky do you consider yourself?" Then, she stopped running. "Actually, I really need to think about that. Abigail is a big social threat. Maybe I should let you run off."
Carter shrugged, and kept running with the tent bag, the dormitories now in sight. Sharron smirked as she loaded an arrow into her bow, and aimed. She followed the course of Carter, then fired, hoping to shoot the bag out of his hands.
The skeptic stopped right in the middle of his run, letting the arrow whiz by him. "That was close," Carter commented, "that's why I never let my guard down. You think it's gonna be easy just to trick me like that? The whole reason I'm here is so I'm never deceived again." Carter ran off, and Sharron stayed where she was. There was no chance she was going to catch up in time.
Abigail and Jacob had both finally met up with Sharron. "Did...you get him?" Jacob asked, out of breath, holding his hands on his knees and crouching over. "Did you?"
Sharron smiled nervously. "I...didn't. I hate to say it, but we totally lost this one, and I don't think we're going to get a pity win today." The other two frowned. "Yeah, this is probably gonna be an easy elimination." She patted Jacob on the back. "Ya had a good run." The other two exchanged looked behind her.
Sharron: "And I was so close to winning today," she said with a groan, leaning her head against the confessional wall. "At the very least, I'm in the merge. Considering Abigail's voting history, there's no chance she doesn't vote for Jacob tonight, so if I need to stay in the game, I do that. I would have loved to get rid of a bigger threat tonight like Carter, but that's no longer an option."
Jacob: "Arrogant twerp," he noted, smirking as he smugly leaned back against the wall. "She has no idea about what's going to happen tonight, and that kind of betrayal will really put her in her place." He raised his fist in the air. "Glory to the team of Jacob Ferdinand Nearson!"
Abigail: "And now, I pretty much am the deciding factor in who goes home. Putting Jacob in his place is soooo tempting, but I have to look at the bigger picture. Probably."
Back at the dorms, the Goldfish had finally all made it. "Well done, that advantage served you well," Susan noted. "The Goldfish have immunity tonight, and will be safe from elimination. Parrots, you're up again." The three remaining Parrots frowned at what they had left, which was a very small team.
"Drat," Ben said to himself, walking away from the group. "There has to be a way I can convince someone." He noticed Carter walking off in the opposite direction. Peter shot a quick glance to Ben, but Ben ignored it, and followed Carter in pursuit.
Carter sat down alone in the eating area, quietly filling up for the night, but when he was about to leave, Ben sat down. "Hey, you got a minute?" he asked hastily, trying to make sure Peter wasn't coming. Carter nodded in between bites. "Do you remember last night, when Brenna said there was a note?" Carter nodded again. "Truth be told, I was one of the people involved with her, but I think you knew that. Anyway, she also said to watch out for Peter."
Carter shook his head. "He's a tactical genius, and it's true I've heard his name tossed around a lot recently, and not in a good way. Could you go on? This might be useful to me."
Ben looked at Carter intently. "Claire wasn't making him uncomfortable, she left because he deemed her a threat, and he made a deal with Kris. Nolan got targeted because he saw Peter do something that I'm not sure of, and he even made Brenna freeze up during the trivia game." Carter was not very captivated by this. "He's not just some smart kid. He's treating us all like numbers, and these are just the pieces I've put together."
The skeptic listened to Ben's words carefully. "So it's true then," he said slowly. "That kid really has had me under his thumb, despite what I had thought. He played honestly until he no longer needed to. Who knows what other dirt he has on the others. What about Celine? How did she seem today? Kris?"
Ben shook his head. "While you were unconscious, I thought it was a real emergency, so I offered to help the Parrots, but Celine and Kris really didn't want me to, and Peter was alone in the basement last night too. They took him out of their group. Whatever their issue is, they don't want any part of him." He sighed. "It might be too late."
Carter also sighed. "So there it is. I spend my time here trying to trust no one and use nobody, and I trust the one person I shouldn't." He put his head on the table. "I need to go think about this. Thank you for this information. I won't let it go to waste."
As he got up and left, Ben sat there alone for a few seconds, before he gasped at the sound of another voice. "I can't believe you would sell me out like that," Peter said as he sat down right next to Ben. "What if I manage to convince Carter that you were wrong? Then you disappointed both of the team leaders in the game. That's impressive, no one's managed to do that except for you."
"You're going to pay for everyone you've gotten rid of!" Ben said with vigor and confidence. "I'm not going to let you do anything to me or my friends! Claire, Nolan, and Brenna, I'll make sure they didn't lose in vain!"
Peter snickered. "How heroic. You'd fit in well at my school's Dungeons and Dragons club. But, am I really the bad one?" Ben raised an eyebrow. "Claire was manipulative and going to betray me, she admitted it herself. Nolan could hear things in his sleep, a talent he did not reveal to anyone, and Brenna was breaking rules consistently every single night." He smirked. "Your confidence has turned into arrogance. I'm not the villain here. You are."
Peter: He groaned. "I was hoping to intimidate him into not spilling to Carter, but it's too late now. I really need to win the rest of these team challenges." He smirked. "But, when you have yet to reveal your strategy, everything becomes easier." He laughed. "I've borrowed from past greats, but now it is time to add my own variable to the equation. The way to completely annihilate a hero is to multiply their weaknesses until it can't be determined."
Ben: "Peter doesn't scare me," he said confidently. "Kris and Celine are on my side, and so is Carter. We can easily outdo him in a vote, and odds are he can't win every merge challenge. He's as good as done...I think."
Celine and Kris were hanging out in 2A, now that pretty much anywhere else was dangerous. The two were relaxing together on Kris's bed. "It's been a while with just us in here, huh?" Celine pointed out. "I mean, even that first girl was a handful. Hollywood's Shadow, or something like that?"
Kris couldn't help letting out a laugh. "I wonder if her business has gotten any better since then. We did kind of expose her on international TV." She turned to Celine. "Speaking of that. What was your time like on that other show you were on? The cooking one."
Celine sighed. "It was...really fun, actually. We were all just excited to cook at first, and that was awesome. Even in the days off we would cook different snacks and whatever for each other. It was super fun." She sighed. "But, then things got intense. The money got closer, and no one wanted to disappoint their parents, so people changed. They became almost violent."
"It's a cooking show, though," Kris mentioned. "Not to sound rude, but how strategic can you be when you just want to cook the best?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, it just doesn't make sense to me."
The master chef shrugged. "Maybe that's why I won. It didn't make sense to me either, so I just kept cooking my best, and it got me to the end. Now I'm here, and I'm glad I met you, but I'm not to keen on most of the others. Everyone else has already turned sour."
Kris smiled at Celine. "Then we keep doing our thing," she said. "Maybe we stick to Peter for now because we have to, but whenever we're ready to move on, we can. If you want to announce us, I'm...I'm okay with it."
"We can't do that yet," Celine said. "I hate to even think about using strategy instead of just trying to do my best, but Peter's got us locked in for now. Maybe we can let it out, but I don't want to lose you, and well, we're at least not going to be betrayed by him for now."
The deadpan nodded. "Okay, then we just wait. Whatever happens, I know we can make it through together." The two brought each other in for a kiss before hearing a loud bang nearby. "What was that?"
Sharron, who had been alone in 1A, had just watched her entire wall be blown out. The outside was now perfectly visible. Sharron quickly scrambled out of her bunk to see a business card lying on the floor. The archer picked it up, and read it, before hearing a knock on her door. "Shoot, they're gonna see the hole," she panicked, trying to cover it up with a blanket.
Before she had a chance, the door opened, and Sharron began to jump to conclusions. "Abigail, hold on, I didn't-" she paused when she realized that it wasn't Abigail at the door, but rather Susan Hazel herself.
"I have a master key," Susan said, holding a phone in her hands, along with the key she used to unlock the door. "Anyway, I have a phone call for you, and you have to realize that it's important if I'm actually letting you take it, but the decision is still yours." She tossed the phone to Sharron, who looked at it for a second before picking up.
Sharron hesitated before speaking. "Hello?" She listened for a while, since the person on the other line had quite a lot to say. "I don't really see how that's relevant..." Sharron listened for a bit longer. "Of course, but it's a lot to consider. Not exactly the path I had in mind for myself." After a few more seconds, the other line hung up. "What a bother," she complained.
Susan shrugged. "As long as the issue's out of my hands now," she said nonchalantly. "Anyway, I'm about to summon the other two from your team to elimination, so you might just want to come with me."
"Right," Sharron said slowly. "Elimination. Not like there will be much suspense, we pretty much know who's going anyway." She grabbed the bow off of her bed and began to walk down to the lobby.
The dorm lobby felt very empty with only the three Parrots there, waiting for some sort of answer to what had happened to one of them tonight. Sharron sat on the end, twirling an arrow with quite the bored expression. Jacob and Abigail kept trying to side-eye each other, like one of them was going to snap at the other if they broke some unspoken silence.
Eventually, Susan and Chef came into the room. But, Susan only carried two erasers with her. "Well, you three have been here a lot," Susan admitted, as the three Parrots rolled their eyes. "Despite everything, you could never amount to more than one win in a row. Sad." She held up the two erasers. "But, you all did make it to the top half of the cast, which I guess is impressive. But, only two of you will keep going like that."
Susan held up the first eraser. "There was a clear loser tonight, so the first person to get this got no votes against them, and actually has not gotten a single vote against her the entire season so far." She turned to Abigail and tossed her the eraser. "Abigail, you've done fantastic. Great work." Abigail smiled after hearing that. It was nice to know that everyone liked her at least a bit.
With one out of the way, it was already down to the final two. "To be honest," Susan mentioned, "I don't think this is a shock to anyone. Jacob, you should know at this point why you're here. If you don't, then...wow." Jacob blinked a few times. It was apparent he wasn't recognizing why. "And, Sharron, a step in Jacob's way at all times, not to mention your secretive morning trips."
"I literally go out to chat with Carter," Sharron said with a shrug. Abigail and Jacob actually looked shocked at this. "I don't see the big deal. You two scream at each other all the time, so I'm not actually suspicious of you, but it is quite odd you two spend so much time together also."
The two other Parrots looked at each other for a second before turning to Sharron. "That's not true!" they both shouted at the same time. "Stop that!" they then simultaneously yelled at each other.
Susan laughed. "Well, I don't want to be rude, but I'd like to speed this up. As you recall," she went on, holding up the last eraser. "You don't get this, then you're off to the Bus of Shame, never to be seen again. We clear?" The two nodded impatiently. "Good, because tonight is a little odd. The votes are unanimous."
"Unanimous?" Abigail said in a confused tone. She narrowed her eyes and swapped over to Jacob. "There is no way you screwed up that badly and messed with the votes."
Jacob scoffed as he fought back. "Not a chance. If anything, I find it odd that despite the fact that we were supposed to team up, you would still blindside your only friend in the competition!"
Abigail let out a venomous laugh. "Oh, that's rich. How many times do I gotta tell you we aren't friends? I'm surprised you have the gall to keep talking after you went behind my back and-"
"Ahem," Sharron interrupted them, forcing the two to turn in her direction. "Well, to be honest, I wasn't expecting it either, but...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...I didn't think you two would team up against me." The two gasped. "Yeah, if they're unanimous against me, that's correct. I'm out of here." Susan nodded, confirming that's how the votes went. "So, while that would have been entertaining, no, there was no vote issue, it's all on me." She picked up her bow and quiver, and walked out of the lobby with a high head. "See you!"
Abigail sprung out of her chair to go say goodbye to her leader. "But...why did you vote yourself off? Did something come up?" She looked genuinely concerned. "Please don't leave me here with him..."
Sharron gave her a warm smile. "C'mon, you know what I said. He can be converted. I trust you to do that." She walked out. "Speaking of trust, why I did that is classified, so that's all I can tell you." She threw her bow on her back and got on the bus without looking back.
Jacob smirked once Abigail came back. "Dr. Hazel," he stated condescendingly, "now that our 'official' leader is out, I suppose the role opens up." He beamed. "Considering my performance, you will have no doubt in your mind about whether you made the right decision choosing me."
Susan shook her head. "No, that won't be happening." Jacob's jaw hit the floor. "Leaders were a one-time thing, so if your team voted off your leader, you will have to make do without one." Abigail cackled at Jacob's misfortune.
Susan entered the control room, and started to start messing with final touches on the school. "Good thing we're back online now," she told Chef, who seemed exhausted after the past two days. "Hey, thanks to that we can finish the season a day earlier. Hopefully Micah can get us that funding at the new finale date. I'll tell her which tunnels to use."
Chef shook his head. "I'm tired," he complained, "so do what you need to. Although, seeing that boy not get to be official leader was pretty funny." He chuckled. "That was the kid's whole dream, and ya shattered it."
Susan shrugged. "I'm kind of an expert at destroying things at this point." She turned to the cameras. "We're down to seven, and things could not be more intense! Find out who goes out next time, on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!"
Teams:
Screeching Parrots: Abigail, Jacob
Swift Goldfish: Ben, Carter, Celine, Kris, Peter
Eliminated: Gianna, George, Leo, Claire, Nala, Nolan, Nathan, Brenna, Sharron
Sharron is the first of two leaders to fall! If you're interested, you can also find Sharron competing in Total Drama: Lost in Time by TheUnchartedHallow, and in Total Drama Towering Fortress by MorbidGinger. I encourage you to check those out, they're still in progress but both are very good!
Once again, we hit another plot heavy episode, and this will set the course for the rest of the season. At this point, no new plot lines are really going to be introduced, which makes sense, there's only five episodes left.
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 Alexa and Gianna.
If you enjoyed the chapter today, don't forget to leave a review! Seeing your feedback really helps me in terms of motivation, which means fast chapter uploads for you! Thanks, and I'll see you next time!