Total Drama Cultivated Will Chapter 16: Final Exams, a total drama series fanfic

One last reply before the finale.

lordgemini- Firstly, thanks for reviewing on every chapter. It meant a lot and it was one of my main driving forces to keep me going. Susan is definitely not done yet on her plots, and she'll be a very pivotal character next season as well, but she'll have a very different role. Peter was actually a villain who I had developed before even Luna's berserk arc. He was submitted to an unfinished SYOC a very long time ago, so he's just been chilling there, doing his thing in the background. It was great finally using him at his full potential. Enjoy the finale!

It's all down to this now. Who's going to be our season four winner?

Episode 16: Final Exams

Susan stood outside of the school, Ingress Academy, that had served as the location for the entire season. As she stared at the outside of it, Chef walked up. "When are you gonna tell them that no one actually ever went to this school?" Susan shot him a shocked look. "I can put things together. There's no way students ever went here."

The host was surprised that Chef had actually figured that out. "It was our North American site," she told him, "from the PorTech section of the Switzerland lab." She shook her head. "After the incident, we moved here, leaving Europe behind. It worked out, too. Thanks to that new recruit we made incredible things, but alas, she only stuck around for a year, then left to do her own thing." She sighed. "That was one smart girl."

Chef noticed the dejected look that Susan had on her face. "I thought that was who you spoke with on the phone all the time. You mean she's actually dead?" The host nodded. "Huh. Well, if you were really that much of her friend, I suppose you could try and use the paycheck from this season to try and accomplish her goal in her stead. That'd be something."

"Not worth it," Susan shot back. "People don't feel more satisfied if you continue their work after they die, they just feel more dead." She turned to him. "When PorTech collapsed, I had to go and be like you, existing in the real world. Of course, remembering there's nothing to hide anymore was a lot easier for someone who left ages ago. But...thanks. It feels good to be back on my feet doing things again."

The cook let out a grunt. "Eh, not my place to be mopey," he said bluntly. "I sought you out because they wouldn't let me host after I flaked out on eight ninths of a season last time. So, they told me to find someone quickly, and I knew you'd be up for any challenge." He smiled. "You did good, but you still have one more challenge to do."

"I know, I know," Susan said. She let out a fresh exhale and looked up at the school again. "Alright, let's do this." She turned to the camera. "Last time, on Total Drama Cultivated Will, we finally did it. We put the cook in a cooking challenge. Unfortunately, someone was very uninterested in helping out." The opening clips were Celine effortlessly winning the first two rounds, as well as Chef lounging in the corner the entire time. "Celine managed to quickly sweep the two boys under the rug and took immunity in a nearly effortless round two. After that, she betrayed Peter, forcing him to have to execute time management he didn't have." The next clips were of Celine assigning crab meat and Peter scrambling with time.

"In the end, Peter's poor scheduling ended his dangerous and chaotic game, leaving two people who definitely deserve to go to a finale more. Who will win today? Will it be Celine, winner of multiple immunities and a reality show powerhouse? Or, will Carter stop her with his massive physical advantage and leadership capabilities? Find out right now, on the grand finale of 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.]

The sun rose up on the dorms, and things felt overall, way more peaceful. Birds could be heard chirping as the sun began to shine in each of the finalist's rooms. Celine woke up with a smile on her face. "It feels good to wake up and not fear a tiny gremlin trying to manipulate me as soon as I open that door." She shuddered. "Or, even worse, he knocks on the door and tries to manipulate me."

As she got ready for the morning, she let out a sigh. "If things were the way I wanted them to be, I would have been here with Kris. It could have been a fun finale. I guess my work isn't over yet." She opened the door, and walked through the now very empty hallways. "It's so different without everyone else here." She went all the way up the stairs to the rooftop, going through the computer lab.

On top of the dorms, she took a second to stare out as far as she could, taking in the view of the morning. The air was cool still, since the sun had not been up long enough to make things humid. "No one's going to be here to interrupt me this time, at least. Carter's probably in the woods again," the master chef said to herself. She simply continued to look out as far as she could. From what she could see, the school didn't appear to be in any weird arrangement.

Much to her surprise, there was a voice coming from behind her. They cleared their throat before coming closer. Celine turned back to see Carter standing there, with his usual scowl on his face. "I wanted to see if you wanted to eat breakfast this morning," he suggested in a monotone voice. "It could help with stress reduction."

"Are you actually stressed about this?" Celine asked him, trying to tell if he actually was from his demeanor. "You don't look that concerned about today. I figured you thought it would be an easy win either way yesterday's challenge went." Carter didn't respond to her question, and instead started walking down the stairs, presumably to the dining area.

After a few seconds, Celine realized that the skeptic was probably not coming back up to see if she was actually going to follow. With a long sigh, she stood up. "Alright, alright, I'm coming down. I guess I could use some mental help for today, it will probably get rough."

Celine: "Things are getting a lot closer to the end," she pointed out, "by the end of the day, I'll either have a million dollars or just a really okay experience on a reality show." She frowned. "I got so far. I really don't want that second option to come true. So, I guess I need to go all out today. No one's going to be in my way, not even..." she gulped, "Carter."

Carter: "The finale is something I expected to be at," he said with a shrug. "Especially when I noticed the competition and saw I was easily the strongest, I knew I had a clear shot as long as I didn't screw up anything major. The only two who could take me were on the other team, and I barely interacted with one of them, not sure if anyone did. The other...well, hopefully I'll see her today. Susan seemed to make it clear the eliminated contestants would at least be here to see it live."

Once Celine was down in the dining area, Carter looked up to acknowledge that he saw her. There was already a large assortment of food there, with Chef not to be seen. "Did you do this?" he asked her, looking around at all the food. Celine shook her head. "Well, then I suppose Chef had some respect for us getting this far."

"Don't get me wrong," Celine defended herself, putting her hands up, "I wouldn't have excluded you just because you're my opponent. I mean, all things considered, you were pretty good to me and you led the team well." She let out a sigh. "If only we knew about Peter sooner. We could have had such a powerful team."

"I actually have my doubts on that," Carter admitted. "The kid's craftiness got us a few wins. Do we honestly want to believe that Gianna or Nolan were better alternatives to the smartest kid in the game?" Celine shook her head. "Right. But, that doesn't matter anymore. He isn't here. Maybe you wouldn't be if something else happened."

Celine nodded, understanding the skeptic's perspective. "I can't argue when you put it like that. Thanks to all that, it's the two of us that are a few hours away from a million bucks." She took a bit of some of Chef's prepared breakfast. "So, if you beat me, what are you going to do with the money?"

"Go," Carter said bluntly. "I'm going to go as far away as possible, leaving this place behind. This whole region just reeks of bad memories, so I'll move south and make a new start." Celine looked shocked at that response, but Carter seemed to have effortlessly said that. "What about you?" he asked in between bites.

The master Chef thought about it for a second. "I always wanted to open up my own restaurant, but I feel like with my talents I might not need all of that money. I guess I could go to culinary school, but what if that's a waste?" She played with the fork on her plate. "Do you think it's a waste?"

Carter shrugged. "I'm not the right person to ask about that," he admitted, "haven't gone to school since eight grade, I started working and earning money instead. If you think it will help even a little though, I'd take the shot." He looked right at her. "Does that make sense?"

Celine had to think up a response to such a loaded question, but couldn't say anything, because Susan's voice echoed over all of them. "Good morning, finalists," she greeted them in a chipper tone. "Head to the bus when you're ready, and go to the gymnasium once you reach the school. We will be waiting for you there."

"I guess that's all the time we have," Carter said as he stood up and stretched out his legs to get ready. As they walked out, he turned to her. "Oh, by the way, you were part of that portal meddling group? What did you do all that for?"

Celine chuckled. "I don't know, it just seemed interesting, I guess. But, it all worked out, probably." The both boarded the bus and silently prepared themselves for the final challenge, neither of the two saying another word to each other until the got off the bus. "Good luck," Celine said quietly.

The skeptic let out a grunt and a nod and returned the sentiment. "Right, good luck. To be honest, you'll probably need it against me." He confidently walked ahead of her to the gymnasium.

Carter: "I'm not nervous about any part of this finale," he admitted with a grin. "I've ruled out any chance that it's another cooking challenge, so she has no clear advantage. It will come down to who thinks the quickest." He paused. "Well, assuming it's not a popularity vote. That might be tough."

Celine: She had a very nervous look on her face. "I'm not into guys so I never really noticed until today, but...wow, that guy is giant." She sighed. "If it's anything strength related, I'm done for. I'm banking on a popularity contest, but what are the odds of that?"

As the two entered the gymnasium, they found a lot of, well, nothing. Susan and Chef were standing in the middle, with the cook holding the grey case that probably had the money in it. "Welcome, finalists," Susan said to the two of them. "Today will likely be one of the more difficult days you've had in your life so far. It will be very grueling, and odds are you will be hurt. We can't let you win for free."

As the two exchanged nervous looks, Chef intervened. "Calm down, shady lady," he told them, "both of ya will get two helpers for the finale, and you can do what you want with them.

"Speaking of other people," Carter pointed out, "where are they? I don't see anybody here yet." He and Celine looked to the side where there was an empty set of bleachers, and an open door nearby.

Susan stepped forward. "Your potential helpers are coming in right now," she explained, "Gianna, George, Leo, Claire, Nala, Nathan, Nolan, Brenna, Ben, Abigail, Jacob, Kris, and Peter." The thirteen names that were called filed into the bleachers. "Well, eliminated? What do you think of the finalists?"

"About what I expected," Nathan said with a shrug. "Was it not obvious from the start that the strongest were going to make the finale? I only lost because some people got a teensy bit sensitive." He let out a huff and leaned back into the bleachers with his hood up.

Leo was the next to complain. "I don't get it!" he shouted out. "Why are those mean bullies there instead of me? I helped out the team and won stuff!" He pouted. "No one wanted me in an alliance because I would have taken over, and they were scared of that."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Claire teased the smaller boy. "I picked to flirt with Peter over you, so you should let that sink in before you open your freakishly small mouth again." Leo pouted again and the two began to bicker.

Carter finally raised his hand. "Hey, Susan!" he called out, "you seem to be missing a member of the cast here. Where is she?" He had a more fiery look in his eye than normal and stared at the host with an intense glare.

Susan sighed and pulled out her clipboard. "Unfortunately, due to logistic restrictions, Sharron has been barred from attending the finale." Carter was fuming at this point. "While I can't really explain it here, trust me, I'm just as mad about it as you are." Carter didn't budge from his stance. "Fine, do you want to pick the helpers first?"

Carter let out a huff before conceding to the host. "Fine, but only because you clearly don't have a role in this." He looked at the crowd. "I was going to pick Ben and Sharron, but apparently that's out the window." He tried to find someone who acted attentive. Jacob was looking over sheet music, Gianna was on the phone, and Leo had now fallen off the top row of the bleachers, with Claire refusing to help him back up. "I guess I'll take Ben and Abigail."

Ben got up and jumped down. He looked eager to get back to helping out his friend. Abigail leaped off her seat and threw her arm around the skeptic. "Aww, someone missed me! I knew you actually liked me. Well, not as much as her. You're bad at hiding things." Carter shoved her off of his arm as he blushed.

Celine was next, and observed who was left carefully. As she peered up, she saw Kris shaking her head, indicating she didn't want to be part of the finale. "Um, I guess Brenna." The logician stepped down gracefully and gave a smile to her former investigation team member. "And...Nala, do you want to help?"

Nala seemed surprised at the notion, but jumped down with a smile. "Thanks!" she said with a curtsey of her skirt. "You won't regret it!" She walked over to Celine and Brenna, standing next to them.

Celine: "They're odd choices for sure," she admitted, "but I figured we were never going to beat Carter in a physical task anyway, especially when he has Ben too. So, I went for the two who I thought would work the best in a team setting. Although, I'm not sure why Kris didn't want to participate."

Carter: "Abigail is a second-rate choice," he admitted, "in order of strength, she's still behind Sharron, Celine, and Nathan, but with two of those choices out and one of them...less than desirable, it was all I had. I've brute-forced my way to this finale, there's no reason to stop now."

The two finalists and their helpers then went over to Susan, who was waiting at a monitor for them. "Like I said, this challenge is the cultivation of all of your skill, and dare I say, willpower. In the past two weeks, you've overcome tactics, sports, extracurriculars, and even chemistry." The host shuddered at the events of the chemistry challenge. "You even were involved in quite the incident halfway through our season."

"But, that ends today," she went on. "You will be racing through a four part gauntlet, and each will highlight a certain portion of our season." The monitor switched to a screen showing giant books. "Your first room will be the audiobook reading room. You didn't think we'd forget about a crucial subject, right? In this room, finalists will read five pages of a book to their helpers, who will have to write down what you say. Score at least eight percent accuracy to move on to the next sector." Carter and his team looked uneasy at that part.

The monitor flipped to outside near the sports arena. "Up next, the most critical portion of physical education: the mile run. However, this mile will have more than your few surprises along the way. Stay vigilant." Celine and her team seemed more concerned with that one.

Next, the monitor showed a chemistry lab. "You will be using a computer program in the third section to get a robot from one location to the other." Both teams seemed okay with that at first, before Susan added on, "oh, and this section of the finale is a portal section. Your robot will need to go through at least one portal to make it." They both seemed concerned at that.

"Finally," Susan said as she switched the screen to a long stretch of cloth. "Sewing is still an important part of today's world. You will be sewing two pieces of fabric together right over the finish line. Once you get over that finish line, you get a million dollars, as long as you finish first." Once again, both teams did not like the sound of that challenge at all. "You'll have a few minutes to strategize, but then we go right into that final challenge.

Carter huddled his team up. "Get advantages where we can," he told them with fierce determination. "I don't want to lose because you two held me back, and that's the reason I picked you two, because you won't. Let's just power through and win this."

Celine huddled up her team. "Luckily it isn't a sprint," she told them, "it's more of a marathon. That means if we pace ourselves properly we'll win. We can make strategies once we get to each zone, but teamwork is our weapon. Let's use it to win!"

"Alright, line up!" Susan told them. "Once you six go out those doors, the final challenge is well under way. You put everything into this moment, see what it's willing to give back. Ready!" Carter and Celine gave one more look at each other before hearing a "Go!"

As the faster group, Carter, Ben, and Abigail reached the first zone before Celine's team. "We already have a lead," Carter said, pointing over to the notebooks in the room. "I'll get reading. How fast can you all write?"

"I got this one," Abigail assured him. "Back in school I was awesome at music dictation." Both Carter and Ben shot her an odd look. "I only took music theory because my director begged me to after seeing Jacob sign up. I am the only one who can contain him." She flicked a pencil into her hand. "Anyway, let me clutch this for ya!"

"Whatever," Carter muttered, before quickly looking over. "That was not part of it." He then took another deep breath and began reading the passage, which Abigail was writing down at quite the fervent speed.

Just as they were getting started, Celine entered. "Over there!" she called out to them. "Trade off by paragraph in case you get slowed down. I'll take a large breath between each one!" Nala and Brenna quickly sat down and began to write as Celine began speaking.

Very quickly, both teams realized the difficulty in this challenge. With both finalists speaking at the same time in different spots, their voices were overlapping a lot. It made it very tough to hear in the room, and it was actually quite the disturbance for the writers. "There was never this much distraction in theory..." Abigail complained with a sigh as she tried to make out Carter's voice in the chaos.

Meanwhile, Nala appeared equally stressed out. Brenna managed to keep her cool despite the chaos. "This is tough," the cosplayer admitted, "but we can get through it, I'm sure of it!" Her positivity was like a beacon, and Celine sped up her pace a bit. Around the halfway mark, both of them were at the same spot.

"Man," Carter said as Abigail caught up to his words, "who would have thought Blender's Game would be so demanding in page count? Is Celine reading off the same thing?" He peered over to see that she was in fact reading the same book. "She's reading faster. No way am I going to lose because she knows how to read faster than I do."

Once Abigail was ready, Carter sped up his pace. Both Celine and Carter were going at the same speed, and once the two were hearing each other speaking, they looked each other in the eye for a brief second, before each group trying to outpace the other. Celine was now going too fast for Carter, but it also seemed like Nala and Brenna were far behind.

Within a few seconds, Abigail slammed down the paper. "That's good enough!" she shouted, putting it into the scanner before Carter finished reading. The skeptic had a look of shock as she simply stood up and stopped listening. "I'm sure that's at least eighty percent, just as requested."

Carter stared intently at the scanner before it read off 81%. "Lucky guess," Carter said with a snarl to the prankster. "Don't ever screw around like that. This is the finale. I can't afford to lose because you mess something up." Abigail sighed and nodded, showing she understood. They then ran out to go and try to do the next section.

Meanwhile, Celine had just finished reading once they left. "We lost our lead, but that's okay. We still have next round to try and catch up to them, except...it's the mile." The master chef sighed. "This is suddenly becoming very difficult." The scanner read off 89%. "Awesome, let's keep moving!"

Abigail: "I don't know what his problem is," she complained as she twirled a pencil in her hand. "He wanted brute force and that was the best I could do." She snickered to herself. "He's probably still mad about Sharron not being here. It'd be her instead of me here, I bet."

Celine: "I'm a little behind," she admitted, "but we're now coming up on Carter's best leg. I just need to not lose too much of a lead here, and I'm home free." She sighed. "That's going to be tougher than I thought."

Carter was able to keep his small advantage when they reached the track. "Get over there," he told Abigail and Ben, "I need you on controls to keep these traps out of my way. If you do that, this should be a huge advantage for us."

"Just remember that we need to work together a bit," Ben reminded him. "I know you want a giant lead, but if you go too fast there's no way we'll be able to detect a trap in time to deactivate it. Celine's not as fast but she has Brenna on her side. She's really good at that kind of thing."

Abigail scoffed. "Don't listen to him, this is like a whole trap control panel!" She began pressing buttons spontaneously. "Ben, you work on saving the angry dude, I want to dunk on Celine a bit." Her face lit up as she spammed as many buttons as she could.

Just as Carter was going, Celine and her helpers had gotten to the track. "Stop him, quick!" Celine pleaded to the helpers as they ran over to the control panel. "We have to not lose our chance at winning here!"

Brenna sat across from Ben, and began carefully examining what her role was going to be. "It seems I will assist in disarming traps," she explained to the master chef. "Nala will be responsible for trying to slow down Carter."

"Oh, that's going to be tough," Nala said nervously as she poked the buttons, hesitating on every move. "But I can do it." She leaned over to Brenna. "Are you okay with this? Going against Ben and all that?"

The logician shot her a smile. "There's nothing to be upset at. After all, we're not really competing. We're helping people who have a common goal. I don't see a reason to be upset." Ben nodded in agreement as he hit a button that retracted a flamethrower near Carter, who was halfway done his first lap.

Celine tried pushing herself a little harder, in a desperate attempt to catch up to the skeptic, but things were looking bad. She was dodging a barrage of dodgeballs as she tried to round a corner. "Sorry about that, kinda!" Abigail taunted as she kept mashing any button she could find. "I'm kinda of just hitting things, so if you get hurt that'll be on me!"

"Try not to sound so excited about that," Celine muttered as she ducked under a bar that had shot out from a wall. Celine was now done her first lap as well, and Carter was nearing the end of his second. "He's almost a quarter of a mile ahead of me," she said to herself. "Brenna, anything you can do about this?"

Brenna adjusted her glasses. "I've been finding the most tactical advantage I can create," she explained, hitting three buttons at the same time. Right as Carter was crossing over to start his third lap, the part of the track he was on changed to an oil field, causing him to slip and crash. Then, Brenna hit another button as a spring shot Carter into the wall.

The skeptic crashed hard into the face of the wall, and took a second to absorb all the pain. With a grunt, he got up and continued running, realizing he didn't have time to go and complain about it. "Ben, make sure everything is clear, I'm going to pick up the pace a bit!"

The boy let out a sigh as he began quickening his pace on the control panel. "You're asking a lot," he insisted, "but I'm going to try." He hit two buttons that pulled back a barrier that was in his way, as well as clearing out another oil slick that Brenna had spawned. At this rate, Carter was now rounding the final turn to finish his third lap just as Celine was finishing her second.

Carter smiled as he saw his lead, until he got an incoming message from Abigail. "Hey, I have wood planks on standby," she told him, "but you're really close to Celine still." She bounced up and down, really excited to let this one go.

"Let it rip anyway!" Carter ordered, skidding to a quick halt. As he caught his breath, Abigail hit the button and multiple wood planks came swinging down at the two finalists. Since he stopped to concentrate, Carter was able to smash through them, and Celine ended up getting his by one. "That's what I'm looking for," he said with a smirk, starting to accelerate again. He was now done his third lap, starting his last one.

"We're too far behind," Celine said in defeat, "Nala, Brenna, can you do anything?" Her voice sounded desperate as she picked herself off the ground and now started his third lap. After a bit of silence she asked again. "Hey, are you two listening? Anything?"

Nala's voice came in to respond. "Um, move three feet to your right and keep running. If you want a lead, that will probably do it." With a shrug, Celine shifted her position, and as she rounded the corner, she felt herself slip, falling through the bottom of the track. She had entered a portal, one that had spit her out right at the end of her third lap.

"Wow, nice work Nala," Celine praised the cosplayer. "It isn't perfect, but it already feels like I have a shot again." She kept pressing onward, starting her final lap just as Carter was halfway done his last lap. The two experienced a relatively easy run after that, with both groups of helpers consistently spawning and resetting various traps before they could get anything done with them.

Carter was still the first one to make it across the finish line, and he bent over, placing his hands on his knees as he caught his breath for a few seconds. After that, he was ready to go again. "Alright, let's do this third challenge," he told his helpers, as they all got up and headed to the chemistry lab for the third challenge.

Celine made it shortly after the first three had left, clearly more exhausted than Carter when he finished. Brenna made her way over to her friend. "With all due respect," Brenna pointed out, "the next challenge is not physically demanding. You can recover while you do that."

"You're right," Celine said with a determined look as they began to jog over to the chemistry lab. "We're not out of this at all." She pushed forward, her two helpers following right behind her.

Brenna: "I find that Celine has a much greater chance of winning than she thinks," she analyzed. "Those first two challenges very much went in Carter's favor based on what he was able to do. But, these last two require intelligence and dexterity, and we have that distinct advantage."

Nala: "Did you see that?" she said excitedly as she swung her legs back and forth along the floor of the confessional. "I totally helped Celine out big time! I'm glad she appreciates me much more than my old team did. None of us even made it to the final four..."

The chemistry lab was set up now for the finale. It was divided in half, and each half had a wall separating one side of the half from the other, essentially putting each group in a quarter of the room. There was a control panel with four basic directions set up, as well as another panel to remotely control a portal gun. The other end had a robot over a cliff, and a portal gun handing from the ceiling, which was visible from the control end through a window.

Once Carter, Ben, and Abigail made it in, Ben took the lead. "We won't have a lot of time to be ahead still," he told them, "so we need to think this through as quickly as possible. I'll try and do what I can, I have the most experience with portal guns."

As Carter stepped near the control panel, he jumped back as Susan's voice echoed through the control area. "Welcome, Carter and company. Your challenge is simple. The robot can only move forwards and backwards, and can only turn left and right. It can't jump, and it is built so delicately that if it falls even a foot, it collapses on itself." The skeptic grunted at that last fact. "You need to direct the portal gun to have the robot escape from the cliff, pick up a key, and unlock your pathway into the final room."

"That's annoying," Carter stated bluntly. He took a second to look at the situation. "So if we want that door to unlock, we have to get the robot to grab the key from the back? But it's against the wall?" He put his hands on his head. "This does not make sense at all."

Ben continued to analyze the situation. "The portal gun is essentially free use, besides the fact that we're stuck controlling it from the other side of a window. We could transport the key, but I think we should prioritize getting the robot down safely." He observed the thing that was standing on top of the cliff. "Or...do we think she's bluffing on its true durability?"

The skeptic was the first to make that attempt. He instantly walked forward and pressed the forward direction for the robot. It rolled off the ledge, and as it hit the ground in front of the door, shattered instantly. It was quickly replaced by an identical robot. "These things were meant to be mass produced," Susan's voice sounded again. "They break instantly."

Once that was cleared up, Ben began directing the portal gun. "We have a little bit of room for error, but I think the first thing we do is we move the key out of the corner and put it in a spot that's still out of the way, but accessible." Carter and Abigail both watched as he punched away at the controls, making the mounted portal gun move around. "This is so hard to do without a scope..."

Eventually, Ben took a step back. "This should do it." He fired up the portals, and one shot directly underneath the key, while another appeared above a spot in front of the door. The key was now facing right in front of the lock it needed to open. "Perfect." He began maneuvering the portal gun again to set up the robot to be transported. "This is only two moves, so it shouldn't be too hard, but I don't want to reset the room again."

Very carefully, Ben reprogrammed the portal gun to shift to the right spot. Abigail, who was now getting impatient, began inching closer and closer to where ben was working. Carter hastily grabbed the prankster's wrist and pulled her back. "Don't even think about it," he threatened her with a stern look on his face.

"Aww, you're no fun," Abigail said with a light cackle, "I'm still gonna tell Sharron you grabbed my arm." As much as the joke did not amuse Carter, he took a deep breath and simply stepped back. He knew what happened last time he got too mad at the bubbly girl.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Ben took a deep breath. "Okay, I think I got it set up." He pushed a final button, and the portal gun shot two more portals. One appeared right behind the key, and the other appeared at the edge of the cliff, directly in front of the robot. "Carter, I'll leave this to you now. You just need to send that thing through."

Carter stepped up to the more simple robot control panel and pushed the robot forward. It went through the portal, but there was a small error in the calculations. It still appeared right behind the key, but facing the wrong way. "I just need to turn it," he said calmly, "there's no reason to be stressed." He used the turning buttons to make it face the right way, and simply pushed forward. The robot picked up the key and slid it into the key slot. "Now what?" Carter asked, "it's in."

Abigail stared at it, before forcing the robot to turn. She jumped in front of both of them, and the robot, instead of fully turning, only turned the key. "I win again!" she shouted with a loud cheer, as the door behind them opened up. "I told you I could do it!" Carter was once again not thrilled with how it turned out, but reluctantly moved forward anyway to the final portion of the challenge. "Hopefully we're still in the lead," the prankster noted.

Celine, Brenna, and Nala entered shortly after the time Carter had tested out Susan's bluff. "Welcome, Celine and company," Susan's voice greeted them with the exact same monologue. "Your challenge is simple. The robot can only move forwards and backwards, and can only turn left and right. It can't jump, and it is built so delicately that if it falls even a foot, it collapses on itself. You need to direct the portal gun to have the robot escape from the cliff, pick up a key, and unlock your pathway into the final room."

Brenna took a second to look over the setup of the room, before turning to Celine. "I can make this safe," she offered, "we could get it on the first try, probably not be any more behind than we are, and make a good push in the final room, or I can make it fast. That might not be as safe in terms of guaranteed success. Choice is yours."

The master Chef thought about it for a second. "Odds are if we keep saying we'll catch up in the next challenge, we never will. I mean it's the third one and we haven't done that yet." She nodded and looked back at Brenna. "Make it fast."

"Understood," the logician said with a confident smirk. "This is what I risked my entire game for, so I have a very good understanding of everything we're working with. Other than that, it is a simple logic puzzle with multiple solutions." She moved much faster than Ben did on the control panel. "We should line everything up by creating three portals that work at the same time. As long as they don't tie to each other incorrectly, there should be no issue."

Nala couldn't help but watch in amazement as Brenna confidently moved through the control panel like it was something she had seen before. "You're really good at that," the cosplayer pointed out. "How did you manage to understand it so well so quickly?"

"This is what I did instead of sleeping while I was on the show," Brenna admitted. "I spent my nights reading up on stuff I stole from Dr. Hazel's basement in the school, all so I could make sure everyone could be safe." She gave them both a sheepish smile. "Regrettably, I still put everyone in danger from doing that, but it is nice to see my work partially being used."

After some time, Brenna closed her eyes and hit a button, shooting three portals out into the room. "Due to the proximity of these, we might not get this on the first try, but it's only a matter of reactivating the same algorithm if we fail." She stepped back and gestured to Celine, signaling that she wanted her to complete it. "If this worked, we just need to push the robot forward to unlock the door. It's even programmed to turn once we're set in."

"Wow," Celine said with a surprised look on her face. "I guess all your hard work really was worth it. Thank you so much." She walked up to the robot's panel and hit the forward arrow, and watched as the robot entered through a portal, and instantly connected with the key the same time it came out of the other in front of the door. Not letting go, she pushed it all the way to the door, where Brenna's programming allowed the key to turn and unlock the door. "Great!"

Brenna let out a sigh of relief as she watched the door unlock. "I'm glad that worked," she said, "but more importantly, I have my doubts that the boys and Abigail did that any faster than we did." They ran out the door to the final challenge, hoping their lead was now existent.

Celine: "I have to hand it to Brenna," she admitted, "it almost felt like we were along for the ride with the whole portal thing. I didn't know she didn't sleep while she was doing that. I guess that's why she looked so down in the dumps. Anyone who didn't sleep that long would be."

Carter: "Despite my lack of ability to do anything with my hands," he said, "sewing is something I can at least complete. I'm not out of it, even if we aren't winning when we come out the other side of that door."

The two finalists reached the end of the hallway, where they saw two stretches of separated fabric. One end was green, the other blue. As both groups reached the starting point of the final challenge at the same time, they realized that they were tied up. "Darn," Ben said with a sad look. "Sorry, Carter, I guess I wasn't fast enough."

Susan's voice echoed over all of the commotion. "Well, this is convenient," She told them as she appeared before them in person. "Since you're all tied up anyway, not only does it render everything before this useless, but also gives me time to explain this to both of you at the same time." She pointed to the helpers first. "You guys are done. Good work, thanks for not ruining the finale, I guess."

The four helpers gave the finalists a wave and stepped away from them. "Good luck to both of you!" Nala called out, "we'll be waiting in the gym to see who wins!" With that, they all went down the hallway and disappeared from sight.

Susan turned to the finalists. "Carter, stand on the blue fabric, Celine on the green." Both finalists went over to their respective colors. "Sewing is a critical aspect of schooling because despite how technology has improved, it has managed to keep sneaking its way back into the curriculum. You two will have to sew your fabric together all the way down this hallway and into the gymnasium, where the finish line and a million dollars await you." Both finalists looked excited to be reminded about the money.

"We have portals installed at various checkpoints, and they will send you back if the work is not deemed good enough, so don't even think about slacking off." The finalists rolled their eyes. "No machines, just a needle and thread. First one over the finish line wins it all. Don't mess this up. Oh, and you'll have to thread your own needle." Carter frowned at that part. "Okay, any questions?" Neither finalist raised their hands. "Then I wish you two the best of luck. Go!"

Celine used her much better dexterity to instantly thread the needle, and set up her thread so it would not be tangled by anything. "If I don't have a machine, she said to herself, "I need to be the machine, meaning I don't make mistakes because my setup is perfect." Despite being ready to go, she took time to make sure everything around her was set up for success.

Carter, meanwhile, fumbled a lot with the needle and thread he had in his hands. "I just need to get this through," he said, "I can be the machine they didn't give me after that, but this is always a struggle with bigger hands." Even as Celine was starting to carefully move, he was still getting his needle threaded. "C'mon, there's no way I can lose now..."

After enough time, Celine was now ten feet ahead in the likely two-hundred foot hallway, not to mention the gym ahead of them as well. Carter finally got the thread through and tied it on. "No time to waste," he told himself, quickly starting to make up the ground he had lost, "I need to get moving!" After a few minutes, Celine reached the thirty foot mark. The portal in front of her disappeared, as to indicate that they were satisfied with what she had done so far.

Carter reached the same point only a few seconds later, and was sent back to the beginning. "You're kidding," he muttered to himself, but still didn't even stop. "That's fine," he decided. "I'll go over everything twice if I have to, I'm fast enough for it!" He kept moving at his same pace, and when Celine hit the forty-five foot mark, Carter made it through the first checkpoint fifteen feet back. "It's not over at all!"

Celine began to look nervous. "He's caught up already," she said with a nervous look. "Can I afford to keep going at a snail's pace even if he goes over everything twice?" She kept pressing on, and at this point, sped up the pace a little bit. As she reached the sixty foot portal check, it also vanished, even with her updated pace. "Yes!"

However, at the same time, Carter had just returned from being at the portal for the second time, and this time it vanished. He was officially caught up from his rocky start. "You have got to be kidding me," Celine said, "I guess I need to keep that pace." She still worked slower than Carter all the way to the end of the ninety foot checkpoint, where the gymnasium entrance was. Carter had maintained the exact same pace as well. With thirty more feet to go, they were still tied up, after everything.

"I have to hand it to you," Carter said as he slipped past her, "you've been doing real great at keeping up with me at this point." He went up to the finish line and got sent back again to make up for his overly quick pace.

"You too," Celine said with a smile, "I was nervous at first, but competing with you today has actually been a lot of fun!" The two didn't talk after that, continuing to try and barely outdo the other.

Up at the bleachers, everyone was back, except of course for Sharron, and they were anxiously watching the conclusion. "Still don't have the gall to cheer for your girlfriend?" Peter taunted to Kris, who was simply staring at the two of them with a dull expression.

"And mess up something for her maybe?" Kris shot back, "you have to be a bigger idiot than I thought. How about you stay quiet and think about how badly you screwed up your game?" Peter did not like the words he heard back, and simply turned away from the deadpan.

Abigail elbowed Jacob in the shoulder. "Hey, look interested, they're here, so you have to cheer for Carter. C'mon." She elbowed him again, this time attaching something that looked electric onto her elbow.

The thing collided with Jacob's side, causing him to wretch back at the impact. "How dare you!" he shouted at her. "You'll regret that action, along with all your other ones! I have no need to root for Carter, I don't care who wins." He smirked. "On the contrary, I think I will vote for Celine." The prankster frowned. "Aww, is someone upset that I'm not doing what she asks?" Abigail turned away after he said that, trying to hide the blush on her face from him. As she did that Jacob also turned away and smacked his own forehead. "Stupid thing to say," he muttered to himself.

"They're coming!" Leo shouted, pointing over to the finalists, both with the portals sitting in front of the finish line. Carter trying to keep his pace up and pass Celine a second time to get there before her.

The two continued sewing as fast as they could, but one of them had messed up. Right at the finish line, one of the portals had vanished, and the other one had not, sending them back to go fix something. It was an extremely close race up to that moment, but the person who had crossed the finish line first was...

...

Celine. Carter was the one who got sent back through the portal. Taking a loud sigh, Celine pretty much face planted on the floor, exhausted from all of that mess. "I...I won!" she cheered, "I really am a reality TV master! Yes!"

Kris then shoved Peter out of the way, causing the mathematician to also face plant onto the floor, but from three bleachers in the air. "You did it!" Kris cheered with a smile on her face, bringing the master chef in for a passionate kiss. "I'm...I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you," Celine said with a smile, finally standing up. "I couldn't have made it here without help from everyone. Abigail, you guys really saved us in the final six there." Abigail gave her a thumbs up and a goofy grin, while Jacob sneered at the winner. "Brenna, Nala, you two were excellent, I can't thank you enough." She turned to Kris. "I...I feel bad, I don't know what to say to you."

The deadpan shrugged. "Then say nothing. Savor the moment, I guess. You're the only one in this room who knows what it feels like to be a winner." She grabbed onto Celine's hand, and the two continued just looking into each other's eyes.

Carter, who had just walked back in from the gym, sighed. "All that for nothing," he muttered, "I guess there was no real way to brute force my way into that one. It was a sewing challenge, after all." He watched as everyone crowded around Celine, happy to see her win. "I suppose that's what it looks like to be a winner."

"That's not true," Ben said, walking over to him. "You won in a couple of ways too." Carter gave him a disproving look, which caused Ben to wave his arms around. "That's not what I meant," he said, "I just meant that you look like you're more of a person than you were at the beginning of all this." He looked around to see if anyone else was listening. "Do you still have that unnatural hatred for your mother?"

Carter was shocked to hear such a blunt statement come out of the pushover's mouth. "I regret giving you any confidence just for that," he said with a chuckle. "Don't get me wrong, I still don't like her, but I suppose I do feel like I'm not grasping onto it still."

"That's the thing I mean," Ben said. "Plus, as much as you don't want to admit it, I bet it feels nice right now not having Sharron here to rub a second place in your face." He gave him a sheepish smile. Despite the last thing he said, Ben was certain that would be the one to make Carter mad.

But, the skeptic laughed it off as well. "I guess you're right. I can't feel bad about that. Well, I better go congratulate Celine. I'm sure if anyone wants to rub it in it would be her." The two made their way over to the big crowd of people.

Carter: "A lot of hard work, but not monetary gain," he said with a shrug. "I expected to be more upset about this, but I guess not even I'm someone I can expect to do something. Oh well, I did get close."

Celine: "It really hasn't sank in yet," she admitted, "that I'm a Total Drama winner now. I bet the press will be all over my family again. At least the money's enough to both open a restaurant and maybe also hire a bodyguard." She laughed, before jumping up. "Oh, I need that money-"

Everyone was now gathered over at the front of the Bus of Shame, which would be their ticket home. "Congratulations, Celine," Susan told the master chef. "You're the winner of Total Drama Cultivated Will, and a million dollars. Try not to spend that all in one place." She handed the case over to her as people applauded.

As everyone staggered onto the bus, Chef went over to the host. "See?" Susan gloated to the cook, "these last two episodes have been a breeze, and I hardly needed you." Chef rolled his eyes. "You have nothing to say?"

"You still have a show to close out," Chef told her bluntly. "You ain't perfect yet, but I will admit that you stepped it up for the end of this. Thanks for taking something seriously." He made his way onto the bus as well.

Susan turned to the camera. "Well, we have our winner! Congratulations to Celine, and that marks the ending. Where do we go from here? We're not sure yet, location scouting has been tough. But, until then, I'm Susan Hazel, and this has been Total, Drama, Cultivated Will!"

Congratulations to Celine! I'm sure her money will be well spent...in the alternate ending dimension.

Let's tune in for the ACTUAL ending.

...

Carter. Celine was the one who got sent back through the portal. Carter watched in shock as she was the one who went back, and a smile grew on his face when he realized what that meant. He had crossed the finish line, putting him in first place at the end of the final challenge. He had won. "I'd say as expected," he pointed out, "but I can't say I wasn't nervous just now."

"Yeah!" Ben cheered from the bleachers, coming down with Brenna to congratulate him. "I knew you'd be able to do it, but you really took it risky on that final challenge."

Brenna shook the skeptic's hand. "It was incredible to watch. For the one day you were my team leader, I can see the clear talent." She chuckled nervously. "Oh, and...sorry about throwing you into a wall. I was simply following orders."

"No reason to be sorry about that," Carter admitted, "I would have done the same thing to you had our positions been swapped." He paused for a second. "Actually, I don't think I would have figured it out in time." The three laughed at that, as Brenna began explaining the methods she used to figure that out.

Celine stood up groggily from the ninety foot mark. Kris had already made her way over to her, and helped her up. "This bites," Celine muttered, "I guess I'm never going to get to open that restaurant any time soon."

Kris pulled her into a hug. "Don't feel bad about this," she assured her. "You basically went up against someone with the skillset of a marine and you were inches away from beating him. Even if you had slowed down to make your line better he would have passed you."

The master Chef smiled. "Well, I guess there was one good thing that came out of this. If I didn't sign up for this show, I wouldn't have met you." Kris smiled at Celine as the two kissed.

Carter: "Winning was something I expected from the start," he admitted, "but it was because I thought I was unstoppable. I guess I learned a lot about myself too, but I can finally pursue a new future with this money, and have some to spare. Abigail said she wanted compensation for being, 'mortally wounded by a dodgeball five episodes ago'. I'll think about it. I just wish Sharron was here to see this."

Celine: "I guess double finalist has less of a ring than double winner," she admitted, "but it does feel good to not hate reality TV with a passion anymore. Although, I won't lie and say I won't enjoy not having the press all over me. It will be nice to have some peace and quiet."

Everyone was now gathered over at the front of the Bus of Shame, which would be their ticket home. "Congratulations, Carter," Susan told the skeptic. "You're the winner of Total Drama Cultivated Will, and a million dollars. Try not to spend that all in one place." She handed the case over to him as people applauded.

Susan turned to the camera. "Well, we have our winner! Congratulations to Carter, and that marks the ending. Where do we go from here? We're not sure yet, location scouting has been tough. But, until then, I'm Susan Hazel, and this has been Total, Drama, Cultivated Will!"

Teams:

Winner: Carter (Celine alternate)

Eliminated: Gianna, George, Leo, Claire, Nala, Nolan, Nathan, Brenna, Sharron, Ben, Abigail, Jacob, Kris, Peter, Celine (Carter alternate)

And there it finally is. Carter is the canon winner of Cultivated Will, balancing the winner gender ratio of the Karon series. There will not be a special for this season, we'll jump right into the next one. But, Power Peak will be the same length, with a bonus episode 17 as a special/final wrap up.

While we're here, I'll talk about what's next. My absolute final story will be Total Drama Power Peak. It's going to still be structured by episode, but the goal is to have a much more narrative feel to it, especially with the backstories and reveals that will be happening. We'll dig into the past lives of characters like Quaoar, Nathan, and even Susan Hazel herself. It'll be very exciting, I'm sure, and you'll definitely want to stay invested in it, especially if you're a fan of the original Karon cast.

I think this season overall was very strong. I chose to do the two season mini-series as an extension to the Karon universe rather than a whole shuffled series, because that would have been too hard to manage for sure. I think that Fiery Passion had stronger plotlines, but the writing this season was easily stronger. Even so, Power Peak will blow them both away, I think I learned a lot about detailing things out this season.

One last thing, Leo recently made a small cameo in the very popular fic, Total Drama Tyranny of the Masses, which will have its finale next week!

Anyway, what did you think of the finale? Did the person you wanted to win come out on top? What are you excited for next season? Let me know in the reviews, and I will catch you all at the beginning of Total Drama Power Peak!