Oh yeah, reply time
lordgemini- The reason Jacob was not given a choice was mainly due to host bias, Susan especially did not like him, so I guess by Total Drama standards it'd be considered an unfair elimination. And to be honest, I'm not sure if Abigail throwing would have stopped them from winning. They were miles ahead of everyone else and Jacob is still very good at what he does. I think you'll enjoy those two next season, though, big things planned.
Alright, final four, let's go!
Episode 14: Single-File Exit
Susan was once again on the phone. "Thanks again for checking in to let me know that," she said with a smile on her face. After a few seconds, she added in, "you know I meant the stuff, right? Not the kid. I don't really care how the kid is doing." Chef walked in on that line, causing him to be startled a bit. Susan caught his expression and shot him a dirty look. "Mind your own conversation," she yelled at him.
The host instantly went back to her phone call. "Oh, by the way, get this, one of the kids actually used the computer lab." There voice in the other line suddenly got so loud that it was almost audible from Chef's perspective. "Calm down, we blocked him out before he went digging any further, but to be honest, he's in so much hot water with the others you don't need to worry." She laughed. "You really got too worked up about that just now. Was it because of what that other girl was called on? I can't imagine that'll be your issue." Chef raised another eyebrow. "I gotta go," Susan said with a dead expression, "I keep getting weird looks."
Susan hung up the phone and looked over at Chef. "I know that look," Chef said with an eye roll. "It's a 'do you mind?' look. Yeah, I do. I have no idea what you're doing, and to me it just looks like you're back to messing with things you shouldn't be while you're hosting the show."
As Chef tried to have a fierce look on his face, Susan brushed it off easily. "Relax, Hatchet, I was simply catching up with an old colleague. If you want to meet her one day I'll let you, but you absolutely can't mention her again. That's my condition, yeah?" Chef didn't respond, but instead pointed up at the cameras that had entered. "Yeah, I got it."
"Last time, on Total Drama Cultivated Will," Susan opened, "we made it a date! The merged final six were broken into pairs to compete for a shared immunity, one they could only earn by a stunning performance judged by Hatchet, myself, and former contestant Claire." The opening clips were of Claire coming in on her entrance and Susan sharing with the group about the double elimination. "To no one's surprise, Abigail and Jacob dominated the game with a very standard and safe performance, while Carter and Peter failed to deliver to even our standards." The next clips were the boys' very terrible rendition of their movie they picked, followed by Jacob playing a sonata.
"Celine and Kris wrapped up the game by not only revealing to everyone their secret relationship, but also by having immunity handed to them by...half of the winning team. Thanks to that, the two lovebirds make it another day in the game, and another bicker-some duo was sent out of the game through Abigail's devious tactics." The final clips were of Celine and Kris's performance and Abigail and Jacob going to the Bus of Shame. "That brings us down to four. Will it be Carter? Celine? Kris? Peter? Anyone could win it 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.]
As Carter got up in the morning, he quickly left the room before Peter had a chance to wake up and try and scheme him into doing anything. He very quickly went down the stairs and left the building as he did every morning. As the sun still was coming up, he descended deep into the woods where the river was, and picked up a sharpened stick.
Carter was forced to rely on strength to hit a fish in the river, as his accuracy was definitely not there. "I have to figure out a way to take them out," he thought to himself. "Peter will surely come at me today and claim that teaming with him is my only option. That's true unless I trust myself to beat them both tomorrow." He sighed. "Tactical thinking was more Sharron's thing. I'm at a loss here."
He took the fish he had speared and began to cook it over a fire. "If I can win immunity tomorrow then there's no issue, but how can I possibly rely on that happening?" He kicked the ground as he waited for the fish to heat up. "I wonder what I'll have to do if I want to make it to the end?"
As he was talking, he heard footsteps behind him. "If you want to know what you have to do, why didn't you just ask me?" Carter adjusted his facial expression to a glare and shot it behind him, to see Peter standing there with an arrogant grin on his face. "Although, seeing you now makes me think you know what we need to do."
Carter grunted as he sat down. "I don't plan on teaming up with you," he said confidently, "but if I were to, who would you be voting off?" He took a bite into his fish sandwich and spit a bit of it out, coughing a few times.
Peter smiled as he watched Carter struggle with the breakfast. "Not a great cook, eh?" he teased, "well, that actually solidifies my decision. The limit's reached zero, and it's time for action. I'm actually not planning on getting rid of you today. Today, I'm going to eliminate Kris." He took a look at some of the broken fish pieces on the ground and gagged. "Sharron really did cook them better."
"We did no such thing," Carter lied bluntly, still choked up from coughing. "You saw one bit of lousy cooking and decided that you'd rather keep the girl who can easily beat me in the game? Even if my cooking was good enough, she'd still beat me, and you have no idea if today or tomorrow's challenge is cooking related."
Peter put a hand to his chin for a second before sighing, sticking his hand out. "Okay, first of all, you absolutely did, you two were super predictable. I'm glad she went out before the merge, I might've had an issue otherwise. Second, let's think of other extracurricular classes. Cooking is the only one that still makes sense. Do you honestly think Susan would have us do a sewing challenge?"
The skeptic stared down at his feet, but Peter simply kept talking. "What are you planning to do? Those two are going to team up against you both today and tomorrow." He held up his own arms. "Quite frankly, I'm not strong enough to beat either of them. That's what they're banking on, and that means you're the biggest threat. You can team up with me, or you can end up falling, because if push comes to shove, I won't hesitate to make you take the fall before me."
Carter continued to shake his head. "You find me after the challenge. If I feel the need to make that happen, I will, but the same goes for me. I won't just give up because some tiny kid wants me to. Go find someone else to bother."
Peter looked down at his watch. "Actually, there is someone else I need to bother, so I'll be going. My elimination plans has a couple setup requirements that need to be put on that graph. And let me tell you, the slope is always negative." Cater stared at the boy, not really understanding what he meant by that. Peter made a deadpanned expression and sighed. "It means you three are going down."
Peter: He groaned and put his head up against the wall. "I could not have been forced to work with anyone more arrogant or stupid in my life! Carter may be able to put my head through a wall, but he won't have that chance anymore. That sports day was his first and last immunity. Once I sweep in for the win today, I cross him. My plan to the finale unfortunately requires me to face Celine, but I think I can manage her one on one."
Carter: He stomped his foot one time, putting a small dent in the confessional floor. "He's obviously going to shoot for immunity today and botch it up," he said while shaking his head. "I hate how confident he acts, because there's a lot of holes in that boy's plan." He paused with an angry look on his face before looking back up to the camera. "And, by the way, I am not interested in Sharron, that is a lie he chooses to believe. I will admit she did cook those fish much better than I did..."
Back in the dorms. Celine got up and stretched her arms. She looked around the room for a bit before noticing that Kris had already left for the morning. "She's usually a late sleeper," she said to herself before climbing out of bed. She let out a yawn before going out of the room to get breakfast. "Final four," she muttered to herself, "I guess it really does take a reality show genius to get this far without any other usable skills."
As she sauntered through the hallway, an announcement came over the speakers. "Good morning, final four," Susan's voice shouted, "you probably noticed by now that we open up a new section of the dorms every four students that are eliminated. We don't exactly have another floor for you, as we've opened up everything, but once the final two Parrots made their way home on the Bus of Shame we unlocked the roof access. You're free to explore it if you wish, but there isn't much there. That is all." Susan's voice came off the speakers, and Celine glanced upward at the ceiling, almost as if she were trying to see through to the roof.
On a whim, she decided to head up the stairs to try and get there. She entered the computer lab again, and went to the door in the back corner, which was not only unlocked, but also open already. She peered through the doorway, only to find a set of stairs leading upward. Celine took a deep breath before following the flight of stairs upwards.
When she got to the top, she was blinded by the still-rising sun. It took a few seconds for her eyes to get adjusted to outside. When they cleared up, she saw Kris already sitting out there, staring off into the distance from the top of the school. "I didn't know you'd already be up here," Celine said quietly, sitting down next the deadpan.
Kris merely let out a small huff. "We were supposed to go home yesterday," she said quietly. "I know her reasons were purely selfish, but Abigail giving us immunity probably saved us from going home. She wasn't concerned about Peter, which meant she would have voted for us." She solemnly looked up at Celine. Her face was red, most likely from tears. "They're going to come after us now, we're a threat."
Celine couldn't help but stare at her for a bit. Kris looked more troubled than she had in the rest of the competition at that moment. "Do you think we still made the right decision yesterday?" Celine asked her girlfriend, watching Kris look more and more upset by the second. "Please be honest with me."
The deadpan nodded her head. "I wanted it to happen just as much as you did. But now we're going to have to help each other out, or there's no shot at all." Kris grabbed onto Celine's hand and clenched it in her own. "I...I want to win, really badly." She looked up at Celine. "Do you know why I signed up?"
"You never mentioned it," Celine answered slowly. "I kind of figured that if you weren't going to say anything, then you didn't want to talk about it. So...I didn't ask." The sun got a little higher. It was very easy to see the school from how high up they were.
Kris nodded. "Well, I wanted to be open with you, you know..." she turned red for a second before taking a deep breath. "Honestly, it isn't super interesting. You told me what that bio you saw said about me. That's kind of what I ran with. I wanted to see if my defense mechanism for everything would be enough to take me to the end." She sighed. "It's not healthy at all, and the reason I did it was because I was bullied as a kid, but I'm in the final four now. You can't deny that it works."
Kris then looked over to the school. "Do you see that?" she said, pointing over at where the challenge would be. "Four straight lines. It's arranged today so whatever we do, it's completely on our own." She hesitated. "I've depended on you so much this game, I don't know if I'll be able to do this."
Celine tightened her grip on Kris's hand before pulling her into a hug. "You don't get it yet, do you?" she said with a laugh. "You've been excelling at this game for the entire time without me. I've just been standing by. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about." Kris sighed and stood up. "Come on, let's get something to eat. I'm sure you'll feel better if you eat something." She winked. "If you want, I'll make it for you."
Kris smiled. "Okay, if you're offering. Um, I'll be down in a bit then. I don't want to disturb you while you're cooking." Celine nodded and began heading down the stairs. The deadpan sat on the roof a bit longer, staring out at the open air.
Kris: "I guess the final four is nothing to scoff at," she admitted, "but I'm definitely in the worst spot. Carter's the strongest physically, Peter's the smartest, and Celine is the best with her hands. That leaves me, and I guess I can handle tough situations better than them, but that's also kind of a lie." She shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it now."
Celine: "Do I think I can win?" she asked. "Well, I made it this far, I don't see why I couldn't. Kris has been a huge help to me, I'm glad I met her, Ben and Brenna too. Hopefully I can win it all, or at least get rid of Peter. I feel awful still for being the reason those two are gone."
As Kris began walking down the stairs, she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Peter sitting behind one of the computers. The mathematician still had not noticed her in the room yet, so she tried sneaking away through the back row. Kris shimmied her way through the back, and right as she was about to exit the room, Peter spoke up. "For someone who keeps up such a strong appearance, you're terrible at moving around," he said without looking back to her.
The deadpan let out a small groan before turning in his direction. "Do you need something?" she asked bluntly with a frown on her face. "I need to be somewhere, and that requires you to not be around."
She began to walk out the door before Peter stopped her. "Oh, that's right, the tall girl was planning on cooking for you." Kris reddened as he said it so casually. "You two were really loud up on that roof by the way. I wasn't going to go up there, but I heard you as I came in from this morning and just got so intrigued." He laughed again before returning to a normal face. "Oh, and by the way, I spoke to Carter. You're gone if you don't vote for him tonight."
"I don't have time for this at such an early time," Kris mumbled. "I plan on enjoying my breakfast, and you can make all the empty threats you want, but between everything I've seen, you haven't acted on a single one."
"Too true," Peter admitted, "I guess you have time to forget about Ben, too. That was your fault, and to think you'd out yourselves the very next episode. How low is that?" He snickered. "Everyone calls me the bad guy because I subtracted a few bad apples from the game." He scoffed. "I'm sick of you people treating me like I'm trash for playing the game." He then smirked at the deadpan. "But, that won't be an issue today, right?" He pointed out to the rooftop stairs. "You said it's all individual today. No one to save you, and no one to keep you safe." He walked out the door ahead of her. "Enjoy your breakfast. Maybe you'll think about your friends then."
Kris couldn't help but stare as he left the room with an arrogant smirk on his face. "Maybe he's right," she said quietly to herself. "I've been just as bad as he has..." she slowly made her way down to the kitchen, praying Celine was ready for her.
Peter: "The idea is solid," he said analytically. "If I win immunity, Carter goes. If Carter wins immunity, Kris goes, and if Kris wins immunity, Carter goes. If Celine wins today, I need to weigh my options. I kind of want to drop Kris before Celine has another chance at fixing her. I think my last speech did her in. We'll have to see what happens today."
After another hour, Susan had called everyone over to the lobby. "Get ready for today's challenge," Susan instructed them, "it will be nothing like the others. More will be explained when we arrive. Now, onto the bus." She clapped twice, and the four of them slowly made their way onto the thing that would drive them to the school.
Once they made it to the school, the four of them stepped off the bus, heading over to inside the main lobby of the school. "This is odd," Peter said slowly, tugging at his collar, "did the air conditioning break down? It is awfully hot in here."
Susan adjusted her glasses and grabbed onto her clipboard. "The building is exactly as it is supposed to be," she explained, "but before I want address something else. The building is now fully operational again, and this challenge, besides its already dangerous nature, is going to feature the use of portals." Everyone gasped. "Thanks to Brenna's notes from her meddling and some...outside sources, the portal guns are now officially ready for usage." She snapped her fingers as Chef came with a cart of four portal guns.
Celine went over first to pick one up. "This could be really dangerous," she said slowly, "especially with people like him running around." The master chef pointed over at Peter. "How are you so confident about this?"
Susan sighed. "We already took that into account. Your prototypes are highly restricted, and you won't be able to go more than five feet from your original location." She gestured to ahead of them, where there were four distinct hallways. "We have set up today's challenge in an interesting way. Not only will we not allow you to help anyone else or sabotage anyone else, you are going to be physically unable to. Today you run this challenge by yourself completely."
Carter smiled at the opportunity of being by himself, while the other three didn't look surprised, but were still annoyed. Susan snapped her fingers again to get everyone's attention. "Celine, you will take the hallway furthest to the left, then Peter, then Kris, and Carter, yours will be furthest to the right." She then turned to them all. "Every school is supposed to be a safe place for learning. But of course, as we've seen, accidents happen. One of the most practiced protocols in a school is of course a fire drill." She walked over to a fire alarm. "So..."
Susan yanked down on the fire alarm, setting it off and making the school start to blare with a piercing noise. The host grabbed a megaphone to continue her talk. "Today you will be the force to put out these fires within the school. You clear three rooms and you have immunity, as long as you do it first. Good luck!" She picked up an airhorn and blew it to send them off, but with the fire alarm blaring it was barely audible.
Carter: "Unlike the others," he groaned, "I'm actually looking forward to this. This seems like an easy win for me, since I work the best on my own out of everyone. But, I don't want to get complacent. I have a feeling that this won't be as much of a walk in the park as I'm hoping."
Carter was the first person to enter the first room. When he got in, he was greeted with tons of fire sprawling all over the place, and the room he was in now was significantly hotter than the lobby. "A fire extinguisher, probably," he muttered to himself. "They likely keep one of those in every classroom." He put his portal gun on the table next to him and began to search for the item he wanted.
The skeptic made very decent progress in the room to try and find something, but after opening up the last cabinet, he realized that there was not one in there. He looked back over to the table, where the portal gun was laying. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered, picking up the portal gun. He looked around for something to show him how to use it, but was left without any help. "This challenge suddenly got a lot harder."
Eventually, he found an 'X' on the top of the ceiling. "That's my only option left," he said with a grimace on his face. He shot the portal gun up to it, and a fire extinguisher dropped down from exactly where the 'X' was. "Of course." He picked up the fire extinguisher, pulled the pin out, and began quickly moving around the room, putting out the fire.
Once everything was out, he jumped as a door opened behind him. "Congratulations on completing your first trial," Susan's voice said through an automated message. "This one was easy, the next two will be tougher both physically and mentally. You're currently in second."
"Second?" Carter asked as he put down the extinguisher to move to the next room. "Who could have possibly gotten ahead of me? I moved as fast as I could." He let out a grunt before deciding to ignore it and move on to the next room.
At the same time, when Celine entered the room, she quickly found the 'X' on the top of the ceiling. "Wow, that was quick," she said to herself, "maybe I am some sort of reality genius." She grabbed the extinguisher from the portal, and pulled out the pin. "This thing is heavy," she said to herself, I just need to be able to get everything out."
Celine took a bit longer to put the fire out, but still did it relatively quickly. Her time before that though was more than enough for a lead. "Congratulations on completing your first trial," Susan's automated voice sounded again, "This one was easy, the next two will be tougher both physically and mentally. You are currently in first."
"Alright!" Celine said with a cheer. "I feel like I actually have a chance!" She picked up the fire extinguisher, but quickly put it down. "Clever, they only gave me enough to put the fire out, so I need to find another one later." She ran through the open door into the next room.
Celine: "I've never actually tried so hard in a challenge before," she admitted, "I didn't want to feel like I was using some complex strategy, but now that I'm in the lead, I kind of want to stay there. That shouldn't be hard, right?" She laughed nervously. "With Carter on my tail, it probably will be."
Kris entered the first room, and instantly froze. "Oh man," she muttered, "that's a lot of fire." Her eyes began to fill with panic. "I'm okay," she slowly said to herself. "It can't hurt me, I'm okay..." She kept muttering 'I'm okay' as she made her way around the room, trying to find something that could lead her to the next place.
"I...I probably need to use this thing," she said, holding the portal gun in her hands. She could feel the gun shaking in her hands as she held it. At that point, she took a step back and took a deep breath. "That isn't me," she said to herself. "I'm immune to danger, unshaken by fear. That's exactly who I need to be, I need to be cold and unfeeling, just like I always am."
Kris then grasped the portal gun more firmly, before looking around for a sort of clue. She, like Carter, went through every single cabinet and tabletop to try and find something, but everything was empty, and the flames were only getting hotter. "I need to get out of here, I need to get out of here...everything looks red...like that...that's it!" Kris found the 'X' and shot the portal gun up to it, which dropped down the fire extinguisher. "Yes!" Kris very quickly pulled out the pin and began spraying chaotically.
"I gotta get out of here!" She shouted as she shot quickly around to each of the fire's bases. Despite how small she was, she had more than enough adrenaline to move at Carter's speed. Once everything was out, the door on the other end opened.
"Congratulations on completing your first trial," Susan's automated voice sounded again, "This one was easy, the next two will be tougher both physically and mentally. You are currently in fourth."
Kris sighed. "That's not good," she said to herself, "but it isn't an instant elimination. Maybe I should take a few seconds here to catch my breath, just in case the next room is actually that much harder.
Peter's trip through the first trial was easy for him. As he entered, he quickly noted the 'X' on the top of the ceiling. "That's obviously something, but maybe there's something else..." Peter took the time to search around for some sort of clue that might be able to help him get ahead of everyone else. Once he had gone around the room and found nothing, he groaned.
"Talk about a boring room," he said to himself, shooting the portal gun up to the 'X'. Once the fire extinguisher fell, he began analyzing it. "Perhaps I could find some angles that would let me conserve this thing and bring it with me to the next room. Peter pulled out the pin and aimed at a chunk of fire in the corner. He used as little as possible to put out the fire.
Peter continued that monotonous process throughout the entire room, trying his absolute hardest to save some of the extinguisher for later. Eventually, he sprayed out the last set of fire. "Finally," he muttered, "and this thing is still extremely heavy. It's got to have a ton left in it." He lugged the extinguisher up to the door that had opened.
Susan's voice sounded off as he got into the doorway. "Congratulations on completing your first trial. This one was easy, the next two will be tougher both physically and mentally. You are currently in third."
"That's no good," Peter said to himself. "Odds are those two are ahead of me, Kris is easily a lost cause though. I need to catch up." He smirked as he lugged the extinguisher to the next room. "Good thing I'll have a bit of an advantage."
In first place, Celine busted into the second trial. "Wow," Celine muttered, "they were not kidding when they said it would be harder." Celine looked around the room, trying to make something out of all of it. The area looked to be two classrooms separated by a giant gap. On the closest wall there were five levers, and there were corresponding lights on the other wall by the exit door. The most notable part of this room was that there was no fire in it at all.
"Shouldn't this room be up in flames?" Celine asked herself, quickly checking cabinets to try and find a clue on the right combination of levers. There was no indication for the portal gun to be shot anywhere, which left Celine confused, trying to find the way to get the door open. She let out a sigh as they were all once again empty.
Celine took a step back, but then slipped to the ground. "What was that?" she asked, before realizing that she had slipped on a loose piece of flooring. "I guess I should have tried looking down first." She pulled a piece of paper from under the floor and got the lever combination. Once she put it in correctly, the door opened. "Awesome!"
Right as she was about to head to the exit, a wall of fire emerged from the gap in the floor, blocking her exit. "You have to be kidding me," she groaned, "maybe there's something in the cabinets now that the door is open." She went through and checked, but once again found nothing. "Wait a minute, that's what this is for." Celine grabbed the portal gun and aimed it at the other side of the room.
The master chef jumped through the portal, and the other side of the wall was still up in flames, but the door was open. She entered through the door and Susan's voice came through. "Congratulations on completing the second trial. You have one more to go until you are finished. It will be harder. You are currently in third."
"Third?" Celine asked herself as she ran through the doorway, "I must be really close with them still, I can't imagine they got so much further ahead." She kept running to the third trial, and got ready.
Carter, who had been in second, slid into the second room. "No flames," he quickly noticed, "but the door's closed. I probably need to open it with those lights." He took a step back and stomped his foot. "Ugh, everything here was supposed to be just some test, now I'm in these rooms doing riddles!" The stomp of his foot shook the floor a bit, revealing the paper with the combination.
Carter smiled as he grabbed it. "Sometimes being clueless can help, I guess," he said with a grin. He quickly ran over and put the combination in, and the door opened, but much like Celine's room, the fire shot up as he went to cross.
The skeptic looked at the fire for a second, before realizing the door was still open. "I don't have time for this," he said with a grunt, grabbing the portal gun and running straight at the flame. "I'll do this myself!" He took a big jump, putting himself through the fire and making it out relatively unscathed.
After taking a few seconds to cool off from the jump, he walked through the doorway and was greeting by another automated message. "Congratulations on completing the second trial. You have one more to go until you are finished. It will be harder. You are currently in second."
"Well, I guess the same person is ahead of me," he said aloud as he walked through to the third trial. "Here's hoping it's Kris, and it probably is. That girl is real impressive at these kinds of challenges."
"There is no way Kris is doing as good as I am," Peter said confidently as he entered the second room. "Odds are she was the one behind me as I left the first room." He took a look around the second trial room. "No flames, so bringing this thing was useless..." He put down the fire extinguisher, but it tipped over. "No!" he shouted as it began to roll.
The fire extinguisher rolled over the floor tile with the combination as Peter ran to chase it, and while the tile did get peeled up enough for him to see it, the fire extinguisher fell down into the pit. "No..." Peter said with a groan, "that was my ticket to first place!" He turned around and saw what he had revealed with that incident. "Well, it wasn't all bad I suppose."
Once he put in the proper combination, the door opened, and he began to walk toward the exit, but like the other two rooms, fire shot up from the pit. However, unlike the other two rooms, the place he had dropped the fire extinguisher was not spouting flames, and was an easy walk over. "I suppose I did get myself an advantage anyway," he said with a smirk.
Peter jumped over the gap that he gave himself in the fire and with his portal gun, he went into the third room. Susan's voice was there to greet him at the doorway. "Congratulations on completing the second trial. You have one more to go until you are finished. It will be harder. You are currently in first."
"Ah, that's great to hear," Peter gloated to no one. "That means that if I keep up this pace, I shouldn't have a problem with immunity. Goodbye, Kris." He chuckled to himself as he walked over to the third room.
Kris was not doing nearly as well. She was very much on her toes the instant she walked in the room, and while it was a relief, she looked overly cautious at the giant gap in the middle of the rooms. She clutched her portal gun tightly and aimlessly walked around the room for a while. After checking every cabinet, she found nothing, and sat in the corner with a shrug. "I think it's worthless for me to keep going at this point."
The deadpan slumped against the cabinets, staring at the floor. After a few minutes, she noticed that one of the tiles on the floor was different than all the others. "Just my luck," she muttered, "I guess I'll keep going." She peeled up the floor tile, grabbing the paper with the combination on it. Once she pulled the levers correctly, the door opened. "Great," she said dully.
Once she began walking forward, the fire spouted up again through the gap. Kris shot back, completely caught off guard by the new fire with her. "That is not what I needed to see," she said hesitantly, "I missed this room when it wasn't hot." She took a deep breath. "Okay, time to think this through." She picked up the portal gun and shot it across, jumping through to the other side.
The door was still open, so Kris took that chance to run across to the doorway where Susan's voice greeted her. "Congratulations on completing the second trial. You have one more to go until you are finished. It will be harder. You are currently in fourth." Kris simply let out a sigh as she made her way to the final trial.
Kris: "I really do not want to give up," she said blandly, "especially after everything I did to get here. But, winning this challenge is unrealistic, and Peter speaking with me today was not a coincidence. When people speak with him or get near him, they get eliminated. Hopefully it isn't too late for me."
Peter entered the final room with a confident smirk, but that quickly changed once he saw the inside. "I certainly don't remember these rooms in any quadrant of the school," he said with an appalled look. The entire space was not as much a classroom as it was a long bridge with a gap in the middle that was filled with fire at the bottom. To the left of the bridge was a scale, one side holding multiple weights on it.
The mathematician took out the portal gun. "In order to subtract from the gap's depth," he hypothesized, "one must add to its contribution." He shot a portal from one end of the scale to the other, causing the weights to land on the other side of the scale. The gap rose up, and as it hit the right height, the door opened up. However, the weights were too heavy, causing the previously sunken middle part to keep rising, and the door shut itself again. "So there's a correct weight. I need it."
He began scouring what little there was to see in the room. Without cabinets, he was forced to resort to only the floors and walls. "Surely I must do more than simply guess the correct answer. I need to find a way that balances this scale perfectly." He pondered what to do for a second, before resetting the room's portals. He then took the weights and teleported them over to him, and began sorting. "The things I do for a million dollars."
Peter's low strength meant that each weight was a struggle for him to sort, but eventually he got it all done. "Alright, let's get this done quickly." He transported both equal stacks of the weights over to the scales again, and the bridge completed itself at normal height, opening the door. With nothing else left to do, Peter ran for the door...
Currently in second, Carter barged into the room, displeased with what he saw. "Another ridiculous puzzle," he complained, "maybe I can brute force my way out of this one as well." He noticed the weights on the scale by the bridge. He reached over as far as he could and put some weight onto the empty side of the scale. He noticed that it moved a bit.
"This better work," he said angrily, pushing down on that end of the scale with all his might. The middle section of the bridge eventually rose up, and the door opened for a quick second until like Peter's, the door shut once the middle section rose up too much. "I could time that out..."
Carter watched for a few times as he opened and closed the door from different heights, eventually counting the seconds it took to completely close the door. "Oh yeah, I can ignore whatever puzzle they want me to do here and just run as fast as I can." He put up the bridge as high as possible, and then jumped up to it while it was lowering. He quickly let go of the scale, and began to run for the door.
Just as he was getting there, the door began to close itself again. Carter picked up the pace, looking concerned on whether or not he'd make it. He left his portal gun on the other end, so he would be stranded if he messed this up. Right as the door was about to slam shut, he slid under it, barely making it out...
Celine got in the room, and unlike the other two, she was not caught off guard at all by what was happening. "Okay, this is doable," she said confidently, quickly taking out the portal gun and bringing the weights over to her. She watched as the scale balanced out, but the bridge did not rise. "Okay, so I do need to balance these out," she analyzed.
The master chef made quick work of dividing up the weights and putting them back, and watched in amazement as the bridge's middle section rose up in front of her. "That went really quick," she said to herself, "maybe I did something wrong?" She walked slowly across the bridge, checking for traps or to see if the door ever closed.
"Okay, I think I did it," she said with a smile, going through the final doorway. "I hope Kris or I won, because otherwise we might be in really big trouble if we can only pick one of the boys." With that she left the final room...
When Kris made it through to the end, she simply sighed. "This is unreal," she said to herself. "How do they expect me to be in the right mindset with that alarm blaring the whole time? I feel like I could explode any second!" She took a few seconds to catch her breath, but it did little to actually keep her calmer.
She stared at the weights on the scales for a while, before guessing at random and putting a few on the other side with the portal gun. When she did, the bridge's middle section rose up a bit, but it wasn't enough to open the door, it actually overshot a little bit. Kris then got onto the middle and moved the weights on the scales manually. Once it did that, the door was open.
"That wasn't so bad," she admitted. "Okay, game face, that was the last trial." She took a deep breath again, and was able to return to her standard stoic and emotionless expression, before calmly walking out the door...
The final four were gathered out by the entrance to the school again, where Susan was waiting for them. The fire alarm had been shut off, and all the portal guns were being wheeled away by Chef as Susan talked. "Well, it was certainly interesting to watch you all," she admitted. "Celine kept her cool, Carter ignored the puzzles, Peter got weighed down, and Kris...did her best." The deadpan simply sighed.
Susan held up an eraser right at that moment. "Fourth place today went to Kris, so she won't win immunity." Kris didn't react that time. "Third place, and also not getting immunity was Peter." Peter snapped his fingers in disappointment.
The host looked at the last two. "You both had very different approaches," she said, "but there was only one winner today, and that was...Celine!" She tossed Celine the one eraser she had in her hand. "You're safe for today, and have earned yourself a place in the final three." Celine smiled for a second, but couldn't help but notice Kris did not react the same way.
"Voting will be in a few hours," Susan told them, "return to the dorms on the bus, and I will call you when it is time to vote." She went back into the school, and the four could see her going down into the basement. As the four left the building to get onto the bus, they watched the school rearrange itself back to the default setup.
One the bus ride back, Celine put her arm around Kris. "Were you okay in there?" she asked quietly. Kris shook her head. "It's okay now, you're safe, and the challenge is over. There's nothing else to worry about." Kris simply nodded slowly, but she clearly was not ready to talk about anything yet. The two sat in silence for the rest of the ride.
When everyone made it back to the dorms, Peter encountered Carter sitting in the dining area alone, eating dinner. Peter walked forward and sat across from him, earning a glare from the skeptic. "That's not very nice," Peter gloated. "Well? Do you plan on helping me out tonight?"
Carter simply grunted. "What I do doesn't concern you," he told him firmly. "I decided that you don't get to know which way I vote tonight. You made good points this morning, but I doubt you have a contingency plan for variables you don't have."
Peter smirked. "Actually most of the basic formulas have variables that need to be solved for. Of course I have a plan for it, and I'll tell you." He gestured upstairs where the girls were. "All I need to do it to go up there and tell them that I'm voting for Carter. If they want a free win, they'd do the same. Kris is in too much of a panic to think things through, so I'll easily turn my vote in whatever direction I need to."
The skeptic frowned. "I knew Kris lost today for a reason. That challenge would have been easy for her otherwise." He sighed. "Alright, you can count me in, but that only gets you a tie. You're not safe yet."
"I wouldn't be too sure," Peter gloated, "with that allegedly emotionless girl trying to figure out how she's feeling, I can split this vote easily, and I'm so confident in that plan that I'm telling you it. You can't stop it." He stood up. "Thanks for your help!" He quickly began running up the stairs.
Carter sighed. "I hope they don't mess her up too much," he admitted, "I'd like this insect gone as soon as possible." Susan's voice then announced everyone to go vote, so he stood up with a groan and began walking to the confessional to vote.
Peter: "I have about three backup plans tonight," he said with a confident smirk. "There's an extremely low chance I go home tonight, but I can't rule it out. My conversation with Kris this morning went perfectly, and she isn't ready to fight back yet."
Celine: "Winning is nice and all," she pointed out, "but it's hard to be happy when you're also trying to keep your significant other in the game as well." She smiled. "But, the public thinks I'm a reality show genius, and the worst case scenario is a tiebreaker, but Peter is nothing compared to-
Suddenly, Kris rushed into the confessional, out of breath. "Celine, we need to talk about the vote," she said with a desperate look on his face. "Peter is blindsiding Carter, it's a chance we could take..." Celine had to think about that decision for a while.
At the voting Susan approached the four with two erasers in her hand. Celine already held hers tightly in one hand. "You four have gone through a lot," she admitted, tossing the erasers between her hands, "and I'm quite surprised with how this vote turned out." She picked up the first eraser. "If you don't get one of these, you are instantly sent to the Bus of Shame and we'll see you in two days so you can watch the finale, because you will not be in it."
Carter, Peter, and Kris all stared at each other with mixed expressions. Peter appeared arrogant, Carter was angry, and Kris looked extremely nervous. "The first one safe, with no votes," Susan said, "...is Peter." Everyone gasped as Peter smirked and caught the eraser. "Look, you guys voted, not me."
Carter and Kris watched each other intently. "You can cease with the staring contest," Susan told them, "because to be completely honest, it's a little scary, and that also is not your tiebreaker challenge."
Everyone gasped again except for Peter. "Wow," he said, "I cannot believe how well that worked." He laughed to himself. "Carter, the guy who can't be manipulated, got manipulated, and Kris's panic actually put Carter in the tiebreaker instead of me." He laughed again. "Sorry, Susan, carry on."
Carter and Kris stepped forward, and Chef handed them each a portal gun. "Your ranges have been upgraded to ten feet, and your job is to put one of ya on that bus." He pointed out to the Bus of Shame. "You gotta use this thing, so make it count." He took them both outside, leaving Celine and Peter to watch from the window. "Go!"
Carter took the initiative, and pulled open the door to the bus, shooting a portal inside. "Finally, tactical combat," he said with a smile. "We finally are doing something worth my time." He charged right at Kris, who looked overall despondent to the entire situation.
Kris was able to dodge any advances from Carter, but she quickly noticed he was not shooting. Kris took the chance to see if Carter would dodge anything, so she took a few shots, and while she did relocate a few trees and bushes, it wasn't enough to hit Carter, who was definitely trying to win. "I really need this win," Kris begged, "but I take it you're not going to let that happen."
"You're right about that," Carter claimed, still simply aiming and not doing more than that. "We're both at fault for being in this tiebreaker, so I'm not going to feel bad if I keep myself in the game. Nothing personal, but if it makes you feel better you would've been someone I wanted to go to the finale with."
Kris shook her head. "Doesn't make me feel better. My ideal finale is only with Celine." She kept trying to hit Carter, but her lack of focus made dodging a breeze for the skeptic.
Carter chuckled. "Well I'm glad you found your happiness," he admitted, "to be honest I'd consider myself a little jealous." He then finally took the shot. "But you've already found your finale with Celine, my finale is with that money." His shot connected, putting Kris right on the bus.
"Time's up!" Chef called. "Carter is safe for tonight." He tossed the final eraser Carter's way, as the bus ran away. Celine gasped and ran forward to try and catch up with the bus, but the bus was long gone before she even got to the road. The master chef shed a few tears as she watched it leave.
Peter: "Things went exactly as planned today," he said, scribbling on his white board. "Tomorrow is a challenge I can face when I get there, but I'm certain that I've got this in the bag. Thirteen down, one to go."
Carter: "Peter just eliminated Kris, who compared to everyone else, was the only one he might be able to contest physically." He smirked. "He may regret that. That boy hasn't won a single challenge, or even gotten close. Eliminating the only one he could beat was a serious mistake. It'll be a good finale with Celine, I guess."
Chef had come into the control room, wheeling in the cart with the portal guns on it. "I'm glad they didn't break those things," he said as he hung the four devices up on the wall. "That means we can use them again tomorrow."
"Huh?" Susan asked, "we're not using them tomorrow." Chef grumbled. "And before you say something about how I need to plan things out sooner," she handed him a slip of paper. "That's all the logistics for the last two challenges. Does that meet your expectations?"
Chef grumbled. "Yeah, whatever. I just hope you know what you're doing with this..." he looked at the paper closer. "Really? That's the plan for that?" Susan glared at him. "No, no, you're the host, I got that."
"You sure do," Susan said with a smirk on her face. "We're down to three now!" she told the camera, "and one of them is going to be eliminated before the finale, which means the other two are going? Who will those people be? Find out next time on Total! Drama! Cultivated Will!"
Teams:
Merge: Carter, Celine, Peter
Eliminated: Gianna, George, Leo, Claire, Nala, Nolan, Nathan, Brenna, Sharron, Ben, Abigail, Jacob, Kris
Kris is one of the characters I bounced around a lot for the finale, but I eventually decided against it when making the newer plotlines. And her elimination is one of the sadder ones, as she and Celine never get to say goodbye. You can thank Peter for that one.
Hopefully next chapter comes out a bit faster, I'm planning to have this story done by September, so that means I'll have to pick up the pace if I want to get it done on time! I think that will be possible though, the next two chapters are going to be a bit easier to handle.
This was by far one of the harder chapters to write, not only because it's my first time writing 10k words with only four characters, but also the challenge had events happening at the same time, and I tried my best to convey that. Hopefully it went over well. Next chapter will be much smoother, and I'm really excited for how it is going to turn out.
Kris is currently an intern on Total Drama: The Next Generation by Dramaboss64, and she competed on Total Drama: Welcome to Horrorville by TheUnchartedHallow, which she did really well on. That one is a supernatural fic that is very well done, but I will put down a warning that it is rated M, but I don't think there's too much to warrant that high a rating.
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 Randall and Kris. There's only two left to reveal, and the final three have not been revealed for it at all. How many of them are actually going to be there?
Anyway, put down your review telling me what you thought of this chapter or who you're rooting for in the final three! Any Peter fans out there? Probably not. Well, I'll see you next time!