Total Drama: Clash of the Titans – Episode 2: Trojan Horsing Around
"Last time on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans, 16 legendary Total Drama contestants returned for the biggest season ever here in the Greek Islands! Courtney played hard but couldn't find any allies, except for her favorite dirt farming weasel Scott. Gwen and Cody had a little one on one time. Lightning and Sugar fought over their film tastes. Alejandro and Heather faked a break up. Owen found a way to be even grosser than expected with the help of a pit full of yogurt. And in the end, the maze challenge saw Mike and Zoey's chances blow up in their faces, literally. But after their eliminations, the love birds found they weren't out of the game forever! Hehe, twisty. Who will become team captains? Who'll be on each team? Which one of Mike or Zoey will officially depart? And how epic can this season get before the fans call it overrated for no reason other than to be contrarian? Find out all the answers right now on another exciting episode of Total Drama: Clash of the Titans!"
The sun rose over the vast Aegean Sea for the second time in the game. Only this time, the scene was set on Underworld Island as its inhabitants knew it colloquially. Mike and Zoey sat there in the sand, letting the waves roll over their bare feet together for what would undoubtedly be the last time they shared in the actual game. It was a pretty bleak situation for them both. In just a few hours, one would return to this desolate island while the other would, assuming there wasn't an even more convoluted twist in store, head over to the Playa or whatever cheap resort Chris rented out to house the losers this season. If it was just one of them in trouble, they could let the waves wash those fears away. But both were in danger, and one would have to eliminate the other. It almost never happened, a happy couple gunning for each other that is. But now Chris was basically forcing them to fight it out for a spot back in, which seemed so far, far away this at point. But the previous night was host to plenty of conversations about the game and how it should be handled.
Underworld Confessional
Mike sat in what looked like a throne, but was actually a rock that looked vaguely chair-like. It was ugly and uncomfortable, just like the rest of their living conditions out there in the Underworld. "So… I feel like I'm going to let Zoey advance and I'll fall on my sword." He let the words sink in. He... didn't know how to feel about it, but he didn't feel... bad exactly. "She said would should just fight it out and let the best player win, but come one, she's a total beast in challenges compared to me even with my personalities' skills. If one of us stands a chance at winning our way out of this dirt hole, it's her. I wanted to win this time because second place stings, even if you lose to your girlfriend who splits the million with you, but this is about us, not her or me alone. And what's best for us is Zoey moving on and crushing it."
(static)
"Last night was rough," Zoey said with a shiver. "It's totally cold out here, the food situation was basically zilch, and the bugs were awful. I can't imagine staying out here all season if it means getting back in, but if that's what we have to do… I mean, what one of us has to do, then so be it. I mean, Chris won't let us die, will he? If things get super bad, we'll get out alive just fine. But yeah, last night was tough. Mike said he wants to like, fall on sword for me which is super sweet and totally a Mike move, but I don't want him to just give up. Sure, he's not a god in challenges, but he's better than a few people. And with his personalities' skills, he should be able to pull out something out when he has to." She took a minute to think. "I just hate that we're in this spot to begin with. It's just feeling so unfair right now. We only lost because Sugar set off a bomb we didn't even know existed! It just went 'boom' in our faces and so did our dreams of making the final two again. But like… the more I think about it, the less I can blame her? She got third place last time, and in something she was supposed to be good at. That's gotta feel bad, so I understand why she did something so underhanded. Still, I want an apology for the gloating and showboating. That was just rude."
End Underworld Confessional
Mike and Zoey returned to their flimsy bungalow and threw a pile of wild figs and a smallish melon on the table. It wasn't much, but it was breakfast.
"So who do you think is gonna win this season?" Zoey asked, popping a fig in her mouth. "I mean… other than one of us."
Mike didn't smile at the optimism and just cut into the melon with a dull knife Chris had provided. "I mean, I assume the people who never made the finale before will probably want to team up and make sure one of them wins over someone who's already been there, so someone like Jasmine would be my guess."
"Yeah, Jasmine was super awesome on her season," Zoey replied. "She probably should have won, or at least made it to the final three over Sugar. She would have if not for that tree incident. Guess that's Sugar's signature move, huh?"
"What about Gwen and Sky? They seem like they could win this time."
"Well it would be cool to see someone go from 2nd place to 1st this season. And if that person is Gwen, I'll be stoked for her. She deserved to win too. Sky though? Ehhhhhh, I don't really know. She was a little… annoying on her season with the whole Dave thing. Not that Dave wasn't super nuts, but she led the poor guy on and left him to die at the hands of a robotic bear. That's pretty mean too."
"Yeah, I don't think she's got a good reputation," Mike added, biting into his piece of melon before handing a piece to Zoey. "She's too focused on winning. Say what you want about Lightning, but at least that guy bonds with the guys on some level. Not my kind of bonding obviously, but it worked once for him."
"And what about Cody? Any chance he takes it?"
Mike blinked. "I mean, I like the guy and I hope he gets far, but I don't see it. Which is super sad because he's so nice."
"Yeah, I feel bad about trash talking him yesterday. This kinda feels like karma for dissing the guy before we gave him a chance."
"Oh don't be silly," Mike said with a dismissive wave. "It's not karma. I bet everyone was thinking it."
And that awkwardness ended that conversation quickly. The lovers sat there in the bungalow, listening to the waves roll in.
"So..." said Mike. "Wonder when our challenge is gonna be?"
Zoey ate another fig. "Hopefully not for a while, because the longer it takes, the longer we can sit here together in paradise. Well, relative paradise. It sucks out here but it's prettier than where I live at least. And you're here too, so... Yeah, it's paradise."
The two tapped their fruits together and just enjoyed each others company. For as long as it lasted, this was paradise. And it wouldn't last long.
Back on the main island, a few players had woken up and made their way down to the bath house for a little morning shower. As usual, the water was cold. But it was Total Drama. What else should they have expected?
Heather stepped out of her shower stall with a turquoise towel wrapped around her body. It wasn't the best shower, but she could manage. After all, it was just nice to be clean after a day trudging through a dank mine and getting coated in yogurt of all things.
The stall next to her opened up and Beth walked out, her glasses all fogged up, and bumped right into the queen bee.
"Oof, sorry whoever that is!" the wannabee winced.
"Ugh, watch it," Heather sighed, taking a look in the mirror.
"Oh, hey, Heather," Beth grumbled. "Didn't know it was you..."
Heather looked down at the geeky girl. "Passive aggressive much?"
Beth wiped down her glasses on the towel and crossed her arms. "I just don't like you when you're mean and stuff. I heard you hit Owen yesterday which isn't cool. I thought you might have changed since you broke up with Alejandro and all, since he's totally a bad influence, but nope, you're still the queen of mean."
Heather didn't really have any words for Beth. She just stood there looking in the mirror.
Confessional
"Okay," Heather started awkwardly. "I haven't talked to Beth in years, so her coming up to me with all this drama is super weird. But I guess that's just part of this season. So many of us have super complex histories with each other that go way back, and it's hard to ignore that. Sure, someone like Gwen can be all like 'New season, who dis' but in the end, we all know each other. Except the Pahkitew people. They're total wildcards, which is both super dangerous and super useful for my game. And with Alejandro wanting me to tank my chances for him, which is already underway by total accident, I might be in danger if the teams get picked against my favor. But no matter. I'll figure out what to do like always."
(static)
"It's not that I hate Heather," Beth explained. "It's been less than day and it's too soon for her mean streak to come out. But hey, if she could redeem herself again this season, I'd welcome it with open arms. Would I be friends with her? Eh, not really. But I'm sure someone would."
End Confessional
Over on the men's side of the bath house, Alejandro and Cody brushed their teeth side by side as Duncan and Owen showered nearby in their own stalls.
"So, gentlemen," Alejandro asked between brushes. "How were the rooms? I assume you all slept well."
"Meh. It was fine," Duncan said, his wet mohawk peeking over the stall's wall like that one famous image of it swimming through Loch Ness. "Better than prison at least."
"I agree, the beds were quite lumpy," Alejandro said, then turning to Cody. "What about you, little one?"
Cody coughed up a glob of paste into the sink, not expecting Al to ask him anything. "Uh… I thought the beds were fine. I liked not having to share with anyone at least. Say what you want about the lumps, but being able to sleep without someone watching over you and snorting your skin flakes is a relief. Like Sierra."
"Or Owen," Duncan laughed. "Dude stunk up Economy more than enough."
Owen's voice reached out from the steam. "Hey, I wasn't that gassy! I mean, I was gassy but you guys really overestimated how gassy I was!"
"Say gassy again and you'll have more than gas to worry about," Duncan said half as a joke... but also half seriously because competing on three seasons with the guy made the delinquent more than traumatized by that familiar stench. Like, holy hell what a nightmare.
"Well I for one enjoyed our rooms," Alejandro stated plainly. "It's no Spa Hotel, but it outclasses turbulence and sharp, springy cabin mattresses by a mile."
"That we can agree on," Cody said. "Maybe the only thing we can agree on, but still, nice to know."
Confessional
Cody propped a leg up on the other and smiled as he reclined. "Yeah, this is a pretty nice place. Cool ocean breeze, nice rooms, some cool people… I just wish we could dump Duncan and Al soon. They're totally staring at me like a piece of meat so far, and they're a couple searing hot barbecues, heh."
(static)
"Cody seems like a worthy ally if I can earn his trust," Alejandro said. "I'm sure he's still bitter over the World Tour finale and how Heather and I absolutely crushed him, but no matter. I simply need to play nice and he'll be eating out of my hand by the time we hit the hay tonight." His confidence in his statement suddenly fell apart as he realized how… scandalous that phrasing sounded. "Uh, in a totally wholesome way, of course. Not that Cody's crazy fans would care about the difference."
End Confessional
Following the morning showers, everyone made their way to the courtyard in the housing complex for breakfast and morning announcements. Shawn however had slept outdoors in a tree and refused to shower as usual, so he was given a table all by himself to quarantine his stench.
"Okay. That is disgusting," Gwen said in a deadpan tone, her nose plugged with a couple fingers. "Please tell me you plan on showering like a normal person at least once this season."
"And risk the walkers getting a whiff of my natural musk? No way!" Shawn seemed almost offended by Gwen's remark, but he had to keep in mind that she was a normie who didn't understand the big-brained genius of Shawn's mind. "If I take a shower, it's just inviting a bunch of 'em to feast on my brain buffet. They can smell shampoo for miles, ya know. Yeah, they don't teach ya that in the movies."
"Uh, I didn't know that," Gwen said. "Nice to know. I guess."
Jasmine was the last to arrive on account of her shower taking so much longer to account for her massive frame, and she actually sat next to the stinky zombie nut without a flinch.
"Wow, you must really be used to that… aroma," Heather said, nearly gagging.
Jasmine took a deep whiff. "Yep. I don't smell a bit of it. Perks of living with the guy for a whole year, I guess."
"That's real dedication," Beth sighed dreamily. "I wish my boyfriend had been that close with me."
Sugar shot Beth an odd look. "Wait, you broke up with your totally fake but actually not fake boyfriend Brady? But y'all were a match made in heaven."
"Well that was a while ago," Beth told her fellow farm girl. "Turns out he and I just weren't the best fit so we just drifted apart. It's sad and I still miss him, but in the end, I know things will work out as long as I keep my hope alive and never stop believing in the power of love! Plus the single life is super good for self-reflection."
"I wish I had a boyfriend like him," Sugar sighed. "Me and the Wizard tried it out but you won't believe what he did."
Beth gasped. "What happened?!"
Sugar's lip quivered. "Turns out... he was a fraud. Wasn't even a real wizard at all. Just some loser in a rag, and then he started datin' his childhood crush Tabby or whatever her name was and forgot all about me! Scummy faux fur Wizard, tryin' to get one up on me."
"That's awful," Beth said, laying a hand on Sugar's shoulder to comfort her in what only those two saw as a heart string-tugging moment. "You'll find a good boyfriend eventually. You're a really funny girl, Sugar. And you love farm animals as much as your own family, so what's not to love?"
Sky almost fell out of her seat across from the two farm girls.
Confessional
Sky pinched her brow and sighed. "So let me get this straight… Sugar, the girl who bullies people, farts the skin off robot bears, eats like a pig, and sings the worst country-rap fusion of all time deserves sympathetic dating advice, but I don't? I'm just confused. And I know I sound whiny, so you don't have to tell me about it! I know I am! I'm just stressed right now, okay? Team selection day is a big make or break episode..."
(static)
"Man, that Beth girl knows her stuff," Sugar said, flipping through another book to see if she could read it. Nope. It got tossed. "If a below average looker like her can land a hottie, I can land a whole net full of 'em in no time. I just gotta find the right man for me, pull out the stops, and boom, Sugar's got herself a fancy new boyfriend to hang with this season. They might think I'm some dumb hick with no game, but I'm a fan and everyone knows every Total Drama winner was in a showmance in their winnin' season. Owen had Izzy, Duncan had Courtney, Heather had Al, Cam had… I don't know, also Izzy? Maybe that big fly thing? Did that count? I guess so. He skipped this season so who cares. Then Zoey had Mike and Shawn had Jasmine. Five outta six ain't all, but it's close enough and the math adds up. If you wanna win, you gotta get some tail out here."
End Confessional
"Food time!" Chef shouted, entering the courtyard with a cart covered in bowls, fourteen to be exact. Each was filled with a goopy, off-white paste and gave off a faint dairy smell. "I hope y'all like gruel, because it's all we got out here in the field."
"Hell yeah!" Scott cheered. "An All-Stars classic!"
Courtney shuddered. "Don't praise this stuff. It's gross."
"Says you, Sundae Queen. This is the kind of food Pappy used to make when I was a kid. It's the Army special."
"That would explain why you're like this today then, wouldn't it?" Courtney shot back with a snide little smirk. All Scott could do was sneer back.
"Sick burn," Chef said, plopping a bowl in front of each player. "But y'all better rush. Chris wants everyone at the temple in twenty minutes so chop chop, brats. We got some teams to pick."
Everyone scarfed down their gruel fast and made their way towards that mysterious temple atop the mountain. The few front runners in the past challenge were nervous to find out who actually won. For some of them, not having the night to strategize about team picks was a pet peeve. Courtney in particular had a chart in mind and everything.
On the walk up, Cody casually strolled up to Gwen and saw she was looking tired and glum. "So uh, I saw you were a little down this morning and didn't eat much. You holding up?"
Gwen sighed. "I'm just upset about Mike and Zoey going home right away. I've actually remained pretty good friends with them outside the game so it was just sad, especially when we could have lost two of the biggest jerks here instead." She shot Lightning and Sugar an annoyed side-eye as they themselves exchanged annoyed side-eyes.
"Well at least you're safe," Cody argued with a glimmer of hope to his voice. "And you still have me and Owen as friends, right? It's not like you're all alone or anything. Not that being alone isn't totally your thing."
Gwen smiled. "You know, maybe you're right. It's not the end of the world or anything. I've just really broken out of my shell in the past couple years and I'm feeling a lot of new feelings this time around. I guess that's just… a sign of growing up?"
Cody shrugged. "Or hormones subsiding, but hey, as long as you're okay with how you feel, it's cool."
Confessional
Gwen rubbed her eyes and blinked away the blur. "So last night was tough. I didn't really sleep much because my whole game plan was to work with Mike and Zoey this season. I know it's stupid to put all my eggs in one basket before an elimination ceremony even happens, but I didn't think there was any way those two were going home first, even in a sudden death challenge. And it's weird because the Gwen that played in the first three seasons wouldn't really care. She'd probably be happy the sappy lovey-dovey couple with all the PDA was out first. But now that I have more friends in the TD community, it's… tougher this time when they go home. I know a lot of people will think I sound crazy, but it's just how I feel right now. It's like my cold, gothy interior is melting away and I don't know how to deal with it. But you know what? That's enough moping for one day. We have a challenge to get to, so I have to put away the tissues, strap on my big girl panties, and get to work. Game time."
End Confessional
The top fourteen entered the temple at the island's peak and were greeted with a marvelous sight. A large circular arena sat dead center under an open roof. Banners of red and blue fluttered down from the pearly pillars that held up the structure. On the far side of the arena, a wide stairway led up to the elimination area, which looked like a small amphitheater with four rows stretching around a small, circular center with a podium in the middle. In the center of the rows, a small tunnel led to a voting booth housed under the temple.
But the most interesting element of the temple were the 16 bust statues of the players lined up around the upper rim of the arena, each standing at 10 feet tall on a wide base to overlook the remaining contestants as they walked in every morning and night.
"Holy crap!" Lightning gasped, pointing at the massive chest and head staring down at him. "Lightning's statue's sha-gorgeous!"
"And just as brainless," Scott grumbled.
"I like my smile," Beth said, pointing to her own statue. "And they even got my neck moles right too!"
Duncan shook his head, impressed with the work that went into them but still finding the statues a little silly. "I guess this is where the budget went, huh? I'm surprised Chris didn't build one of himself."
"Or that he didn't make them out of like foam or something," Sky added. "This is pretty cool though. It's exactly the kind of thing I wish they'd do for all the Olympic athletes."
"So does the winner get to take their statue home?" Sugar asked nobody in particular. "Because I'd love to stick this puppy in my backyard and show it off."
"That's not a bad idea, Sugar," Heather said as she slyly admired her statue from afar. "We need to ask Chris about that. These things really radiate power."
"Ask me what?" came the host, walking up from the voting area tunnel and joining the players in the arena. "For these statues after the season is over? You know, maybe I can swing for that provided you can get it home yourself. Or not. We'll see."
"YES!" Owen cheered. "I could sell this thing online and finally pay off that cheese cellar upgrade!"
Chris smirked. "Surprised you're still paying for that thing, Owen. Didn't seem like a good investment in the first place, but you do you. Anyways, it's time to begin Day 2 of Total Drama: Clash of the Titans. As you all know, yesterday was a mess. It was a photo finish and we had to go to the tapes, and after looking at all angles to make sure we have it right, I'd like to announce the identities of our two team captains this season."
Heather, Alejandro, Scott, Courtney, Shawn, Sky, and Jasmine leaned in for the reveal.
"For the women, it was super close, but in the end, one of you finished just ahead of the others. And that woman is… Courtney!"
The CIT jumped and cheered. "Yes! Immunity is mine!"
Heather, Sky, and Jasmine looked pretty peeved at Courtney's unflattering celebration. But whatever. They were still in the game and her immunity was only for one elimination so it didn't matter.
Shawn rolled his eyes. "Okay, but what about the dudes?"
"For the men," Chris continued. "It was even closer. But by an inch, the team captain from the men is… Scott!"
Scott's eyes went wide and a happy gasp escaped his lips. "Really? I won?! Hell to the yeah!"
Nobody else seemed particularly pleased with Scott's victory except for Courtney, who was mostly celebrating her own win but was also glad an ally had power as well.
Confessional
"And now my plan can go into action!" Courtney exclaimed. "Time to clean out the trash around here!"
(static)
Scott kicked back and laughed. "Oh man, the looks on their faces when I pulled out the win were priceless. Those chumps thought they could scapegoat me as an early boot, but they're living in my world now, so they better start kissing this butt ASAP."
End Confessional
"Alright," Chris began. "Scott, stand to my right. Courtney, to my left." Once the two captains gleefully took their spots, he continued. "Here's how it works. Courtney, since you crossed the line before Scott, you get to pick first. Then Scott will go. Then the people you picked will get to pick another teammate. We'll go until each team has seven players, split as evenly along the gender lines as possible."
Courtney nearly lost it. "Uh, what?! You mean I don't get to pick my whole team? I only get one person? Are you kidding me?! How is that-"
"Them's the rules," Chris said with a careless shrug. "Now pick! We have a lot of business to get to today and your yammering only wastes time."
Courtney grumbled to herself, but she wasn't about to blow up even further. Anyways, the obvious choice was obvious.
"Jasmine."
The Aussie smiled and joined Courtney by her side. "Good pick, mate. Let's crush this together."
Scott looked at the remaining players and knew who he wanted as well. The plan was to collect the newbies, right? That's what Courtney wanted, so he was going to contribute. "Zombie boy."
"And Shawn joins Scott's team," Chris announced before turning to a disappointed Jasmine. "Alright Jasmine, to keep things even, you gotta pick a dude."
"Well I wanted Shawn, but… If we're keeping the team strong, give me Lightning."
"Sha-nice!" The mega jock pumped a fist and jogged over to Courtney's side. "Third in the draft!"
Shawn's turn. And he had to pick a girl. Easy choice. "Sky!"
Scott and Courtney smiled to themselves. The plan was coming together...
"Lightning, pick another dude. Sky pick another chick."
Lighting surveyed the rest and saw one guy he really cared to work with. "I pick Duncan!"
Courtney cursed under the breath as the bad boy casually joined their group. She wanted to guarantee a majority before they started adding the fodder, but there was still one new schooler up for grabs: Sugar. All she needed to do was make sure someone on her team picked her, but common sense told her that pick would be unpopular.
"Gwen," Sky said, pointing to the goth. "I don't know you well yet, but you seem cool."
Now it was back to Duncan. "Eh, give us Owen."
And back to Gwen. "Uh, I guess I'll pick... Cody."
Two more teammates joined their teams, leaving just Beth, Alejandro, Heather, and Sugar left up for grabs. Three villains… and Beth. Quite a motley crew.
"Owen, who do you want?" Chris asked.
Putting a finger to his chin, Owen thought it out. Alejandro and Heather were both really mean to him in the past. He didn't know Sugar but she was pretty mean yesterday too. So for the sake of rewarding niceness…
"Come on over, Beth!"
Beth squealed, clapped, and joined Courtney's team, the leader of which let out another curse under her breath.
Great, she thought. Another enemy to worry about.
Cody was left with three unappealing choices. Alejandro and Heather were stronger players though, so he couldn't help but go with…
"Heather, I guess?"
"About time someone realized the best choice here," the queen of mean sighed, approaching her team with her hands on her hips.
"And it's back to Beth," said Chris. "Keep in mind, your pick here will not only decide the final member of your team, but the other team as well. Sugar or Alejandro? Who's it gonna be?"
Beth didn't even need to think about it. "Obviously my fellow farmie Sugar!"
"Good choice!" Sugar huffed loudly and proudly. "No idea what took y'all so long."
"And that means I'm last?" Alejandro grumbled as he joined Scott's team. "Que vergonzoso."
Both teams were finally complete and it was time for Chris to see what he was working with.
"Alright… so on Courtney's team, we have Courtney, Jasmine, Lightning, Duncan, Owen, Beth, and Sugar. On Scott's team, we have Scott, Shawn, Sky, Gwen, Cody, Heather, and Alejandro."
Confessional
"This couldn't have gone better," Heather said. "Well apart from being picked almost last, but this team is pretty stacked. Plus Shawn and Sky can be scooped up, Alejandro and I can keep up the facade and vote together behind the scenes, Cody actually tolerates me so he should be easy to get on our side, and where Cody goes, Gwen follows. That leaves Scott immune, but not for long, so all we have to do is choose which side we want to work with and crush the rest without mercy."
(static)
Shawn let out a sad little sniffle. "Man, getting separated from Jasmine blows. We had all these plans to kick butt together and now they're gone. For now at least, because as long as both of us make the merge, we can still own this season. I just hope we make it there in one piece and not a bunch of scattered, munched on parts, because we're outnumbered on both teams. Sooooo yeah, not good."
(static)
Courtney let out a massive sigh of relief. "Okaaaay, that looked bad for a minute, but it all works out! Jasmine, Sugar, and Lightning are going to feel like they're outnumbered with no allies and will be looking for a chance to have power, and yours truly will be offering herself up on a silver platter as their beacon of hope. It's brilliant! I just need to make sure those three stick together, which might be tricky since they're all low-key crazy, but we'll make do."
(static)
"This is a solid bunch," said Duncan. "Not as solid as that other team, but I've been on worse teams in the past. Having Courtney around is gonna be fun at least. It's always a blast to push CI-Touchy's buttons. And we have some obvious fodder to kick out right away, so yeah, I think I'm set for a sweet season, win or lose."
(static)
Scott let out a loud, guttural groan. "Ugh, this sucks! I was so close to getting four new schoolers but then Beth just had to take Sugar. Well, one team had to get the short end of the stick, so it's not like I didn't half expect it. But at least we have zombies-for-brains and Ms. Olympics, so I should be able to wrangle them to my side. But the others? That might be tough. But if there's anyone who can corral some numbers as well as he corrals chickens, it's ol' Scotty Boy."
End Confessional
"Now it's time for the best part of picking teams: coming up with sick new team names," Chris continued. "You're all legends, so it's only fair that we ditch the pre-made team names and let you guys get creative. You have five minutes. Begin."
"Team Lightning!" shouted you know who.
"Uh, no," Duncan said. "We're not going with something lame. We have to come up with something badass."
"And that's a badass name," Lightning said. "Wasn't there some god who shot lightning? See, it's totally in line with the theme!"
"You mean Zeus?" Beth asked. "Well, he was the god of thunder, but I think it might be sacrilege to name a team after him. If he gets angry, he might smite us all with the Team Victory curse."
"Okay then, Mythology Expert, what you have in mind?" Courtney asked, not trying to sound rude but failing miserably.
Beth looked somewhat offended, but not in an angry manner. Just more of a confused manner. "Uh, I only took a couple classes on it, but I'm thinking..."
"How about Team Pantheon?" Jasmine suggested. "You know, since we're all members of the Total Drama hall of fame and stuff?"
"Ooh, I like that one," Owen said. "I vote for Jasmine's idea!"
"I was thinking something like The Argonauts since we're all on a quest for riches, but Jasmine's idea is really epic too," Beth said, flashing a toothy smile to the Aussie.
"Anyone opposed to Team Pantheon?" Jasmine asked the group. With no opposition, it was settled.
"No complaints here," Courtney said. "Better name than whatever Scott's team is probably coming up with anyways."
Over on said team, things were a little more hectic. Okay, way more hectic.
"The Zombie Slayers!" Shawn yelled. "Come on, it's epic!"
"For the fifth time, no!" Scott groaned. "We're going with Team Badasses United."
"Uh, since when?" Heather argued back. "We never agreed on that name. You literally just threw it out ten seconds ago! Just because you're the captain doesn't give you naming privileges."
"What about Team Olympus?" Sky asked hesitantly. "It's cool, it's on-theme, it's… something."
"But it's too basic," Alejandro said. "And quite cliché as well. I suggest a name like Team-"
"Like The Zombie Slayers!" Shawn interrupted. "Come on guys, just roll with it!"
"I like Team Olympus," Cody said.
Unfortunately nobody cared about his opinion.
"We're not naming ourselves Zombie Slayers," Gwen said. "I love horror stuff too, but like… it's still really dumb."
"Maybe for a normie like you who isn't prepped for the biter apocalypse," Shawn growled back. "Gotta start training early before-"
Alejandro put a finger up. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, a good name would be Team Titans as it describes most of us."
Cody's geek senses tingled. "Did you say Teen Titans?"
"No, he didn't," Scott hissed. "Keep your lame nerd shit out of here."
Cody crossed his arms like some angsty YouTube commentator. "Hey, that show is a classic! We should be honored to name our team after them!"
And then a whistle blew.
"Time's up!" shouted Chris. "Courtney, whatcha got?"
Courtney cleared her throat. "Well, Chris, after deliberation, we've decided on Team Pantheon."
Chris nodded. "Nice choice. And props for keeping it on-theme. Your team is officially... Team Pantheon!"
Thanks to the power of editing, a small blue icon flashed over Team Pantheon. Inside was a buff silhouette in a toga flexing their arms.
"And Scott's team, what have you decided on?"
Scott froze up. "Uhhhhhhhhh…"
Shawn knew it was his time to shine and smirked devilishly. "The Zombie Slayers!"
The other six erupted in rage. "WHAT?!"
Chris blinked. "Uh… Okay then. Weird choice, but as of now you're officially... The Zombie Slayers!"
Thanks to the power of editing (again), a small red icon flashed above The Zombie Slayers. Inside was a cartoony picture of a zombie's head with its skull cracked open like an egg.
"Wow, nice going, Shawn," Heather hissed.
"You won't regret it," Shawn said proudly. "I just warded off all that bad Greek zombie juju! If we get invaded by lurkers, you're gonna thank me!"
"Yeah, by voting you off for giving us a weak name," Alejandro said, staring down at Shawn from his superior height. "What is with me and getting stuck on teams with stupid names on this show?"
"Well you can vote him out later, Al," Chris said. "We have business to attend to, like the first challenge of the day. Which interestingly enough won't be played by any of you!"
And just like that, everyone shut up, forgot about the tension, and listened.
"I'd like to welcome back a couple familiar faces. Come on in!"
Everyone looked to the temple's entrance and saw two figures walk in. It was Mike and Zoey, looking tired and ragged and dirty. A collection of shocked gasps erupted through the temple.
Gwen suddenly came back to life. "Wait, was yesterday not an actual elimination?!"
"Oh, no we're still out," Zoey sighed. "But there is some good news."
"Yep," Chris said. "This season, just because you get eliminated once doesn't mean you're out for good. We invested a lot in you guys, so we aren't letting you leave that easily, hehe. So as I was saying, once you're voted out, you'll get on Charon's Ferry of Shame to head across the River Styx... where the Underworld will be waiting for you. There isn't much there and it's gonna be hard, but if you can suck it up like Mike and Zoey have for the past few hours, you'll compete in a one on one challenge here in the temple's arena, to stay alive in the game. The winner returns to the Underworld to fight another day. The loser is out for good. At some point, the winner of a challenge will return to the main game as if they'd never left and will be back in the running for the money."
Nobody really had the ability to describe their feelings at that point. This was a totally new twist and none of them had experience with it. On one hand, it was nice to know there was a kind of safety net in case you screwed up a challenge or got utterly blindsided strategically. But on the other hand, someone coming back in was a scary thought, especially with all the bad blood that would exist after every single elimination. It was both freeing and terrifying.
"But we're already behind schedule, so we better move along." Chris motioned for the 14 active players to head over to the elimination amphitheater to watch the do-or-die challenge, and for Mike and Zoey to take their spots on opposite ends of the battle arena. "But before we begin, I'd like to clarify a little question mark from yesterday's opener. Remember the Pendant of Zeus? Yeah, I won't tell you what it does, but just to keep you interested, it relates to this twist. Find it, and you'll know what I mean."
"Whatever happens, just remember it's just a game," Mike said to Zoey, giving her one last kiss. "Go out there and crush it."
Zoey smiled, but couldn't help but feel saddened at Mike's defeated tone. She could sense he was done and wouldn't put in much effort, and as much as she hated it, she knew he was right. Even if Zoey had won before, she won by dominating challenges to the finals. Mike wasn't a slouch, but in a twist requiring challenge ability, she was clearly the one who needed to advance.
With the pair ready for the challenge, Chris began the set up. "For the Underworld twist, we've gone to the most renowned epic in Greek Mythology: Homer's The Odyssey. In the story, the war hero Odysseus has to find his way home after a fierce battle with the Trojans, and like the losers this season, he was faced with a barrage of obstacles on his way back. This time, we're going back a little ways to the Battle of Troy itself in a classic Achilles Heel shoot out! Behind each of you, you'll find a bow and several tranquilizing arrows. Don't worry, they won't hurt the target, just incapacitate it for a couple hours."
"And who's playing Achilles?" Zoey asked nervously, hoping for something other than a bear, a yeti, or worst of all… Chef.
"Glad you asked, Zoey," Chris said with a light snicker. "Because we had a lot of people we wanted to play this season, we decided to relegate a few of them to cameo roles. This episode's special guest, playing the mythological hero Achilles, is… Tyler!"
"Awwwww yeah!" shouted Tyler, bouncing into the arena from the voting area tunnel with a pep in his step. The fail-prone jock was decked out in a full suit of battle armor, barring a very open weak spot on his right heel. "Stoked to be back, man! Where's Lindsay at?"
"Uh, she's not playing?" Chris said, clearly fed up with Tyler already. "Didn't you literally have to kiss her goodbye when you boarded the plane to get here?"
Tyler blinked. "Oh, right… Hehe, silly me I guess. But man she should have been on this season! She's one of the best of the best!" He pointed his sword towards one particular member of the peanut gallery. "I mean, you let Cody play. If he can make it in, so can she."
Cody didn't even give Tyler the time of day. He just gazed off to the side as a few chuckles boiled up around him. The jokes were funny the first zero times, and they weren't funny now. It wasn't his fault he got cast on the season. What was he supposed to do? Say no to a chance at the biggest prize in TD history, whatever amount it was? Nope.
"Okay okay, we get it, Cody's a bad casting choice," Chris said, conking Tyler in the helmet with a fist. "You've got a role to play, and it starts in five seconds. Mike and Zoey, take aim with those tranq-arrows, aim steady, and nail that heel!"
The host quickly retreated, leaving Tyler alone in the middle of the arena with both challengers readying their arrows.
"W-wait up, Chris!" Tyler stammered, struggling to get his bearings straight. "I thought I was like a guest judge or something! You never said I was walking target practice, dude!"
"I know! Funny right?" Chris said with a classic McLean smile. "Open fire!"
Zoey took aim and fired right for that exposed heel. Tyler shrieked and dodged it without much grace, falling on his face and scrambling along the ground as his armor clinked and clanged against the soil. All the while, Mike readied his shot and missed by at least a couple feet. Zoey strung another arrow and missed by a hair, her arrow boinking against Tyler's armor coated thigh.
As shots rained down on the poor guest, the peanut gallery casually watched the show play out.
"I wish I could play in this one," said a cocky Scott. "My skills with a bow are killer."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Well if you were competing in this one, you would already be eliminated, so be careful what you wish for. On that note, I hope Zoey pulls it out."
"You really want her to stick around when she's a legit challenge beast?" Beth asked from across the amphitheater. "What if you have to beat her to get back in?"
Gwen bit her lip. "Well, yeah, but… That's a good point. I still want Zoey to win this though. Just maybe not the one before I get voted off."
"Well Lightning think she's got it locked down," Lightning scoffed. "Mike ain't even sha-tryin' to win. Look."
It was true, Mike was not only taking longer to string his arrows. He was also aiming way off course of Tyler's running path while Zoey kept missing by inches.
"Huh, I guess he's falling on his sword for her," Duncan said. "Simp move, but hey, if he wants to throw it, it's his choice."
Mike looked at Zoey across the field. He saw her laser-focused on Tyler's heel and knew this was her chance to land the shot. So he gave her a nod, smiled, and let her arrow fly.
Tyler collapsed as soon as the arrow made contact. He was out cold in seconds and it was over.
Chris stood up, confused. "And... just like that, Zoey stays in the game, eliminating her boyfriend. Oh, the irony. Oh, the drama. Oh, the… pointless challenge because Mikey McQuitterpants decided to lay down his weapon and take a spill on it."
Mike just ignored Chris and ran to meet Zoey in the middle of the arena, nearly tripping over Tyler's body.
"I told you to try your best," Zoey said, a little miffed that she won in such an undignified and honestly unfair way. "But I guess… This was your best in a way if you were aiming to let me win."
Mike gave her a kiss. "Exactly. And you need to crush it. You know you can. And I know you will. Give 'em hell."
"Nah, I'll give 'em Underworld," Zoey giggled like the dork she was at her core before losing her confidence a bit. "You know, because it's Greek themed and stuff."
Mike laughed along with her until Chris rudely interrupted. "Ahem, Mike, I believe you have a date with elimination."
"Oh yeah, I was about to ask if I had to ride the creepy boat thingy again," he said.
Chris rolled his eyes. "Well, it is the elimination device this season, but only for going to the Underworld as of now. So we'll have Chef boat you over to the Playa."
And then Mike noticed the giant bust of himself sitting at the far end of the arena. "Got it. And uh... Can I take that home with me? Think of it as a consolation prize!"
Chris pulled out his trusty remote. "No."
With the push of a button, the statue suddenly started shaking and exploded into hundreds of fragments, pelting the peanut gallery with pebbles and leaving Mike speechless and horrified.
"Yeah," Chris said. "After every official departure, I get to blow one of your minds. Literally. Anyways, the walk of shame is all yours, Mike. Zoey, feel free to take a trip back with Charon to the Underworld. Your journeys are going separate ways, as if you're worlds apart."
Mike and Zoey shared one hug and a kiss.
"Win it," he told her.
"You know I will," she told him. "Go eat some food for me, you big dork."
And with that, both All-Stars finalists left the arena feeling incredibly sad but incredibly passionate about their connection. It would still exist stronger than ever, even across the sea. Gwen waved them both goodbye, but couldn't tell if they saw her or not. But she liked to think they did.
With that business out of the way, Chris called the 14 players back to the arena where Tyler's body still laid there, the flop of a jock fast asleep with the arrow still sticking out of his heel.
"With Mike officially gone and Zoey going back into the Underworld to await a challenger, I say it's time to give her one. That's right, it's time for your first challenge as teams this season. And it's a big one. Because I'm feeling particularly Trojan-y today, we'll be paying homage to the most iconic part of the war: the Trojan Horse."
"Oh I love horses," Beth squealed. "I used to brush mine every day until we had to sell them to some ranch in Alberta, but I know all about equine care! This is totally my thing!"
Sugar perked up at Beth's little excited burst. As a fellow horse lover, she shared the excitement. "Yeah! Bring on the ponies!"
"Well there won't be any real horses, Beth," Chris said. "So don't get your hopes up. But you will be building horses today, so I hope you came prepared to hammer some nails. Down by the beach, you'll find a massive pile of wooden parts and supplies, along with a few surprises that will help your Trojan Horses really pop. Each team needs to construct a horse big enough to fit your entire team inside, and the team with the best design according to myself, Chef, and guest judge Tyler here..."
Chris kicked Tyler's armored potato of a body, causing the downed guest to groan in his sleep.
"...Wins the challenge and sends the other team back here to vote someone off tonight. Keep in mind, the horses have to fit all of you inside at once to be accurate to the myth. If it's not big enough to house your whole team, it's an automatic loss."
"And if neither horse is big enough?" Heather asked.
"Well then I guess it's coming down to the judges then, but I guess I can punish you in other ways. Any other questions?"
Cody raised a hand, casting a nervous look at Sugar. "How can we be sure the other team won't just take all the supplies or sabotage our horse?"
Chris smirked. "You can't. Anything is fair game as long as it doesn't involve hurting me."
"I like that," Sugar snorted, casting a competitive glare at The Zombie Slayers. "Y'all about to get served, suckers!"
Gwen balled her fists, but didn't let that energy loose. She'd save it for the challenge.
"If that's all the questions you have, then off you go! You have until sundown to complete your horses before we judge your work."
The 14 teens made a run for the beach. The game seemed to finally begin and it was going to be a brutal battle to the finish.
Confessional
Lightning rolled his eyes. "The Lightning doesn't know much about building horses outta wood. After yesterday's bottom tier performance, he needs to prove he's still got it before he ends up picked last in the marshmallow draft.. or whatever we get for safety this season. So you bet he's gonna sha-bring his muscle to this challenge, full stop!"
(static)
"So I think we have an advantage," Jasmine said. "Sure, the other team has a lot of people who can build stuff, but I'm a certified shelter expert. I've even been cast on a few of those survival reality shows where they just throw random strangers into the woods together, like that one where we were blindfolded for the whole week in the Bush. I don't think it ever aired, probably because my partner got eaten by a croc three days in, but it's still valuable experience. Anyways, building a giant horse and a shelter ain't that different I reckon. Both are made of wood and house people inside, so… yeah, basically the same thing with different shapes I reckon."
End Confessional
Upon reaching the sandy beach, The Zombie Slayers huddled up next to the massive pile of wooden pieces to plan out their approach.
"Alright, so who has building experience?" Alejandro asked the team.
"I built my own zombie-proof bunker and a ton of traps," Shawn said.
Scott rolled his eyes. "I built a few fences and chicken coops back on the farm."
"And I built Gwen's face," Cody said with a light chuckle, much to Gwen's delight.
"Yeah that was pretty impressive," said the goth with a polite smile.
"Then it's settled," Alejandro said. "Cody, Shawn, and Scott will be our builders. The rest of us need to collect the proper supplies and let them do the hammering."
Over on Team Pantheon, it was… less organized.
"I say I should be the leader here," Jasmine said, drawing a model horse in the sand with an… interesting look. "I can hammer twenty nails a minute and I build a lot of stuff outta wood back home."
"Well yeah," Courtney said. "But I was a CIT who built plenty of woodland shelters too in preparation for summer camp outings. Clearly I'm just as qualified."
"And you're also immune if we lose," Duncan pointed out, poking her in the back with a stick. "I feel like you're just trying to get some easy points with the team."
Courtney gasped and glared at her ex. "Excuse me, but I'm trying to get us a win. Not me. Us."
"Well it's a win-win either way for you," Duncan argued back. "If we win, you get the glory of leading us to it, and if we lose, you get off scot-free and someone else gets punished for your mistakes. Not happening, toots. Now let Jasmine deal with the planning. She's the best builder we have."
Courtney raised a finger to protest. "Well..." And then she looked around at the rest of the team. Lightning looked annoyed, Beth and Owen looked confused, and Sugar just looked bored. "Alright, fine. Jasmine can lead. But if we lose, don't blame me."
"Uh, we can't," Sugar said. "You're literally invincible. Like a porky-pine made outta steel wool."
"And you can stop bringing that up," Courtney stressed, grabbing a piece of wood from the pile. "Now let's go build us a horse!"
Duncan rolled his eyes and looked at Jasmine's rather... unique design for tips on what to grab. He wasn't sure if he should say anything, but figured Jasmine's mind was set.
Confessional
"What do you know?" Duncan asked rhetorically. "CI-Toots is already trying to take over the team. Go figure. It sucks being on her team, but on the other hand, it is fun to have some petty arguments with her here and there. Gwen on the other hand… Yeah, I might actually want to try and fix that mess. Watching myself on All-Stars was brutal, man. I came off like some desperate, pussy-seeking loser, which I'm not for the record. When I get the chance, I need to see how she feels about me. Just to bury the hatchet once and for all."
(static)
Courtney rolled her eyes as she read through the Iliad in her lap. "Duncan is such a pig sometimes. It's why he's going home if we lose by the way, so he better hope and pray that horse is the best horse that's ever horsed. I just need to make sure Sugar, Jasmine, and Lightning are on the same page during the challenge, then it's bye bye bad boy."
End Confessional
As Team Pantheon got off to a rocky start, The Zombie Slayers were making solid time. They already had four legs in the works courtesy of Shawn and Cody's good teamwork while Scott worked on constructing a big ol' rib cage out of whatever pieces his team handed him.
Heather and Alejandro on the other hand were ready to put phase two of Operation Breakup in effect.
Out of nowhere, Heather started screaming like a banshee when Alejandro walked by with a large plank. "OWWWWWWWW! You big jerk! Watch it!"
All eyes on the beach zeroed on the source of the the scream and caught Heather holding one foot and jumping with the other. Alejandro held the plank higher and feigned concern.
"Oh, my apologies, Heather," he said, seeming… oddly remorseful? "I truly did not mean to injure your foot like that." And then he winked to the nearest camera. Cheeky bastard.
Heather had to play along and went for the sucker punch right away. "Oh right, like you didn't drop that log on my toes out of spite, you ass! Now I'm glad I threw out your soccer trophies!"
Alejandro let out a convincing fake gasp and tried to force a couple tears out, but settled for getting choked up. "How dare you remind me of that trauma! I'll never be the same without my poor trophies. For your information, I sometimes hear their sad voices calling out to me in dreams from whatever junk yard you tossed them in. I shall never forgive you for that heinous act!"
"Well suck it up, loser," Heather said, brushing past her 'ex-boyfriend' with the rudest flair and returning to the wood pile for more pieces.
Alejandro sniffed super dramatically and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I will avenge those trophies one day, Heather. One day I shall avenge them!"
Sky watched the whole procession with the rest of the cast. Nobody really dwelled on it because one, it wasn't their business, and two, it was Al and Heather. But for some odd reason, she couldn't get it out of her head.
Confessional
"You know, hearing that argument really brought me back to a dark place," Sky sighed, covering her face. "I... don't really want to talk about right now. But it think it's for the best that I steer clear of those two until one of them is gone. Or both. Yeah, both is good."
End Confessional
After that weird Aleheather drama had died down, Sugar and Beth made their way to the pile of wooden pieces to collect something Jasmine could use for their horse's "special feature" that would supposedly win them the challenge. Upon searching through the pile, Sugar pulled out a bucket of sparkly pink glitter and nearly peed herself from the hype.
"I found glitter!" she yelled. "I'm gonna glam this horse up big time!"
Beth pulled out her own bucket of green glitter and got just as hyped. "Oh my gosh, it's gonna be the cutest Trojan Horse of all time! And our glitter matches our ouftits!"
Both girls squealed in delight as Owen walked by, looking for more pieces upon Jasmine's request. While scouring through the pile, he found a box of old, stole donuts and inhaled them all with a goofy little giggle. Sugar's eyes drifted away from the sparkly pool to the big guy, and her mind suddenly hatched an idea. Leaning in close to Beth, she whispered in her ear... a little secret.
"Psst, I gotta tell you somethin' girl to girl."
Beth nodded and listened in.
"Remember how I said I wanted to find a boyfriend out here? Well I think I got one in mind."
"Who? Owen? Oh, he's a good choice. Super loyal, really confident, and he's a winner too so his good luck could rub off."
The sound of wretching off screen drew their eyes to the OG yet again, who had just vomited up all the donuts onto the wood pile and stood there watching with a green, queasy face. "Ugh, stale donuts make Owen's tummy go rumbly. Sorry for whoever needs those pieces. I'm just gonna... lay down for a bit."
He face-planted into the pile and giggled.
Sugar blinked. "Well everyone's got some flaws. I mean, except me obviously. He's a bit of a fixer-upper though, I gotta admit."
Confessional
Sugar tapped her chin. "I just gotta find a way to get Owen on my side. I don't really like him that way, but a man who can eat like that is a man worth keepin' around. I just want a boyfriend for the show, that's all. Nobody said I have to date him after the season, right? As if I'd give up a stack of cash for some dumb guy."
(static)
Owen let out a burp and groaned. "Okay, next time, don't eat the stale woodpile donuts. It's just not worth it." His face flashed green like a stop light and his cheeks filled with vomit just before the camera cut away.
End Confessional
Back on The Zombie Slayers, the horse was coming together rather nicely. It wasn't a very creative design, but Scott's experience with chickens led him to brainstorm something special: a pair of wooden wings to convert the Trojan Horse into a Trojan Pegasus.
"Looking good, my man," Cody said, hammering another piece of the head in place as he stood precariously on a wobbly ladder a couple dozen feet off the ground. "We just need to finish those wings, get the rib cage covered, and we should be done."
Scott wiped his hands clean and looked at one of the wings he made. "Sounds great if you ask me. And good thing I have all these calluses on my hands or they'd have enough splinters to fool a horny porcupine into a mating frenzy."
Cody raised an eyebrow, unsure how to respond. "Uh… interesting metaphor. Sounds cool."
Meanwhile, Shawn took a hand saw and cut a whole in the bottom of the rib cage so that his team could enter the frame. Feeling unnerved by just one hole, he went around back and cut another right where the groin would be. Looking at the camera, he gave some helpful advice. "The most important thing when crafting a zombie-proof structure is making sure you have multiple exits. That way if one exit becomes an entry point for the undead horde, you still have other ways to escape just in case. Sure, the horse is a weird design for a survival bunker, but it's still worth zombie-proofing so all these crazy people have a place to go when the inevitable horde arrives."
"Uh, did you give my horse an asshole?" Scott growled, the camera zooming out to catch him standing slightly to Shawn's right.
Standing stoically, Shawn smirked and said "Safety first!"
On the other side of the beach, Team Pantheon had completed most of the horse pretty quickly thanks to Jasmine's quick hammering and strong upper body allowing her to hold pieces in place and nail them down like a machine. All the others had to do was just find the right pieces, hand her the supplies, and watch the magic happen. But after completing the body and the legs with a few visible holes, all that remained was the head. And that's where things got a little trickier. While Scott's wing design was easy to make, Jasmine's idea was incredibly complex, so much so that Duncan and Lightning tried to talk her out of it. But Jasmine felt confident enough to press on, knowing it could be the deciding factor.
While Jasmine gathered the pieces for her unique design, the rest of the team took a quick rest break. And that's when Duncan saw Gwen heading for the bathroom. Feeling like this was his chance to have a chat, he said he needed to take a leak and followed her back to their housing complex where he waited outside for his ex-girlfriend to return.
When Gwen left the bathroom and passed by, she stopped in her tracks and sighed. "Okay, what is it? I know you're not going this way to pee."
Duncan rubbed the back of his head and tried to think of exactly what to say. "Well, I just wanted to talk about us and-"
"Well it's the past," Gwen said. "And right now, the past is the last thing I want to think about. It's a new season and-"
"I know, a new start. But I just wanted to tie up any loose ends real quick. That cool?"
Gwen paused. Duncan paused. They blinked.
"Okay," she said, tapping her foot. "What is it?"
Duncan didn't really do apologies and junk, so he couldn't really think about how to phrase it. "Uh, well… I just hope you don't think I'm some desperate loser after what happened in All-Stars. I want to move on from that crap. Prison made me think about stuff I did back then, and… Yeah. It wasn't cool."
Gwen raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Well a lot of stuff happened in All-Stars. Stuff I'd love to forget."
"Not the whole arrest thing. Or the Mal stuff. Or when you barfed in my face when I had those huge lips. I'm talking about our relationship and how… And how you shot me down out of nowhere."
Gwen's smile faded and she suddenly got serious. But it wasn't a scary serious. It was just… serious. And nervous. Very nervous. "Wait, you don't want to get back together, do you?"
"I mean… Do you?"
"N-no, Duncan. I don't. We've tried it and it clearly didn't work out." She sighed. "And if anything, it just caused us a lot of pain and the rush of dopamine we got wasn't worth it. I'm down to be friends, but only friends this time. We're both adults, so we can both be mature about it this time and set some boundaries."
Duncan perked up. "But there was still a rush, right?"
"Yeah, but… It still wasn't worth losing a friend and the game over." Gwen started walking back to the beach and Duncan followed behind. "Us getting together was a stir of the moment thing and it cost both of us a lot. I don't want to relive that. Ever. Sorry, Duncan. But the rush is over."
The delinquent sighed. "Yeah, I get it. But I wasn't here to ask you out again. I just wanted to know if you and I are still on good terms. Not even from a game perspective. Just two people who can be chill with each other being here without making it awkward if we end up at the merge together and have to align."
"Oh, of course," Gwen said. "But you have to promise me you'll stop making all those dumb jokes about Cody and I, okay? They're not funny and he doesn't like them. Not that I like the guy as more than a friend, but I'm not going to stand by and let his self-esteem crumble like Mike's statue."
Duncan smirked. "I mean, they kind of are funny."
Gwen snorted back with a chuckle. "No they're not, Dummy."
For a brief second the two felt that spark, that connection that pulled them together for that kiss on the plane. But times had changed. Gwen walked on ahead and Duncan was okay with that. After another minute of playful banter, the two reached the beach and returned to their teams. Hatchet: buried.
But their little rendezvous didn't go unseen. Courtney and Cody saw them return to the beach laughing with each other and both of them gasped.
Confessional
"There's only one thing this can mean," Courtney said, gripping her hair. "It's so obvious! Duncan and Gwen are plotting against me! Why else would they be walking off and chatting like that? I've seen all the proof I need to put Duncan at the top of the hit list and-"
Her foot stepped in something wet and she looked down to see a pile of vomit. She nearly added to the mix herself. "Oh my god! Who the hell vomited in here!?"
(static)
Anxiously looking at the pile of vomit on the floor, Cody stammered out his words. "W-why would Duncan and Gwen be hanging out like that? It makes no sense. She was pissed with him yesterday and now it's like they got replaced by time traveling clones from World Tour. Man, I just don't get those two sometimes, I swear... Also, can we get someone in here to clean this mess up? It's so gross!"
(static)
Chef mopped up the library's floor with a peeved expression. "The things I do for a paycheck..."
End Confessional
When Gwen returned, Cody was painting the horse's body with some buckets of paint he'd found in the pile of supplies, with the help of Shawn and Sky who were busy on the other end of the wooden animal. Noticing the wary expression on Cody's face, Gwen knew exactly what was up.
"Cody, I can read you like an open book. Nothing is happening with me and Duncan. Nada. We're just friends."
Cody stopped painting and looked Gwen in the eye. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure," she replied with a roll of the eyes. "Duncan is a cool guy but we both know it wouldn't work out. Especially in this game with all this drama hanging over our heads like a guillotine."
The geek went back to painting, a little sad but feeling at ease. "I just don't get what you saw in him. I mean, sure you both like the same movies and have the same style, but…"
"And that's all it takes," Gwen said. "It's not like we're soulmates or something. It's just… attraction. And the heart wants what it wants. My heart wants a broody bad boy with some edge and a heart of gold. His heart wants a quiet, snarky goth chick with a passion for writing and art. It's just how things shake out. But it's not a big deal. You're still jealous though, aren't you?"
Cody finished painting his part of the horse and dropped his brush in the can of paint. "I mean, maybe… I don't know. I know we're not a thing and never will be, and that's cool, but I just don't want you to make the same mistakes again with that guy and have it cost you another chance at the win. I want to go to the finale with you this time. For real. But if Duncan's getting involved..."
"And you shouldn't worry about it. We're on different teams with different goals. Nothing will happen between Duncan and I. I swear on my life."
It wasn't the best answer he could have heard at that time. The best answer would have been "Cody, you're so hot and I want to date you after we make final two, and even if we don't." But it was enough to calm his nerves for the day. "Okay, then. Sorry for being all paranoid and stuff." Cody grabbed the can and moved on to the next area. "I just... struggle with this stuff."
"It's cool," Gwen said, taking a brush of her own and following her friend. "Like I said, all that stuff is in the past. New game, remember?"
"Right. New game. We're cool."
Cool-er, really. But not totally cool. The past, at its core, was hard to kill.
As Gwen joined the rest of The Zombie Slayers in painting their creation, Courtney was going to town on the strategizing across the beach.
"So… you wanna vote for Duncan if we lose?" asked Sugar as she hammered together what looked like a giant wooden wig. "Because..."
"Because," Courtney added, "he's plotting with the other team and trying to get all the old school players together to knock out you guys one by one."
Sugar blinked. "Buuuuut aren't you old school too?"
Courtney shook her head. "Technically, but not anymore. I'm not working with Duncan, Beth, or Owen this time. I want to help the newbies take control and get some revenge on the people who wronged me if I get the chance."
Sugar blinked again. "Well I love a plan of cold, calculated vengeance myself, so I guess count ol' Sugar in on it."
Courtney smiled, shook Sugar's hand, wiped her own hand off on her shirt because holy crap Sugar's hand was sticky for some reason, and made her way over to Lightning.
"Yo, su'p, bossy chart girl?" Lightning hummed, pounding away at what looked like another wooden hairdo.
"Don't call me that! And... we need to talk," she said, leaning in close. "Duncan is plotting with Gwen. I think they're trying to get all the newer players voted out early and I don't want that. At all. I want you to vote for Duncan tonight if we lose. Do that, and it gives you control of the team. You'll be like, the star quarterback or whatever."
"For Duncan?" Lightning pondered. "Lightning's gonna think on it. Though being the star quarterback does sound sha-wfully tempting."
"Well… think long and hard because it could be the difference between winning and going home before the merge, if not tonight if we don't win this challenge."
Courtney left Lightning to ponder his strategy and walked over to Jasmine, who was constructing some weird mushroom looking thing out of spare wood. "Jasmine, got a minute?"
The Aussie looked over the top of the mushroom thing. "What's up?"
"I think Duncan is plotting against us with the other team," Courtney stated, making her case with the gusto and confidence of a lawyer. "There's no doubt in my mind that he and Gwen are trying to unite the old schoolers against the new players, and I don't want that to happen to you guys, so we need to get on the same page fast."
Jasmine raised a brow. "Okay, but aren't you-"
"Yeah, I'm old school too, but I don't have friends on that side of the game anymore. I know none of them want to work with me, so I want to work with you and Sugar and Lightning and Shawn and Sky and all the other people who haven't gotten a chance to make names for themselves on this show. Duncan's played four times and made the merge every time he plays. He's had his time to shine. So have Gwen and Heather and Owen and all the others who've hogged the spotlight."
Jasmine glared down at Courtney like an eagle eyeing a little, pathetic mouse. "And you haven't?"
Courtney gulped. Jasmine sure was intimidating, like a goddess in the flesh, but she had to keep her cool. "Uh, well consider it as using me like a stepping stone for your game then. You make the merge without all these past relationships to deal with, you have control of everything, and then you can vote me off when my mission is complete if I don't win immunity. You see what I'm going for here?"
"I do," Jasmine said sternly. "But I just don't trust you a lick yet. But if you want to prove yourself to me, I guess we'll see what happens if we lose."
Courtney nodded. "And you won't regret it. Remember, just vote Duncan if we lose and you'll see I'm trustworthy."
And with that Courtney went back to building. Checkmate, Duncan.
Confessional
"Okay, I think I have it locked down," said Courtney. "Sugar, Lightning, and Jasmine know the plan, so if we lose and have to go right to the elimination ceremony, we should have four votes locked on Duncan and he doesn't even expect it. As long as nobody gets cold feet or plays an idol, we are solid as a rock."
(static)
"That Courtney is just a wily dingo in human form," Jasmine scoffed. "I don't like her coming to me and telling me where the votes are going, but if it means staying in the game, I'll play along for now. But if she screws me, she's gonna get it big time from me."
End Confessional
Over on The Zombie Slayers, Alejandro and Heather were putting the finishing touches on their painting zone side by side when Al gave Heather a little wink. Heather found it to be a little pretentious and wanted to knock him upside his gorgeous, perfectly symmetrical face, but whatever. A plan's a plan. She stealthily dabbed her brush on her top and let out a horrifying groan.
"Look what you did! My top is ruined!"
Once again, all eyes shot to the couple and it was performance time yet again.
"It was an accident," Alejandro said nervously, reaching to wipe the paint off her top. "Let me-"
Heather smacked that hand away with fury. "Don't touch me, you loser! Do you even know how expensive this thing was?"
"Uh..."
Heather paused. Turns out it was a super cheap top, but nobody else needed to know that. "Well it cost a lot so you're paying to have it cleaned! Now get out of my sight!"
Alejandro scrambled off as Gwen approached the queen bee, offering up a weird, confused look.
"Uh, are you okay?" the goth girl asked. "You seem really intense. And more than usual, which is saying a lot."
Heather cooled down and sighed. "I'm just really fed up with Alejandro. When we broke up, it was really ugly and I didn't think we'd end up on the season together, let alone on the same team. Stupid jerk..."
"I can't say I'm surprised," Gwen deadpanned. "But if you want to talk about boy drama with someone, keep it away from me." And with that, she walked away, but not before Heather stopped her.
"W-wait, you are taking my side, right? You agree Alejandro's a total skeeze?"
Gwen blinked. "Uh, I really don't care. It's not my business."
Heather narrowed her eyes. "But between the two of us, you do think I'm in the right, correct?"
"I mean, I still don't care, but I don't even have the full story. To me it just sounds like you're being a huge bitch to him for something I don't know about, so… Nope, still not my business. Just my two cents."
Confessional
"This totally blows," Heather mumbled to herself. "Stupid Alejandro didn't even think twice about this plan. How was blowing up my social game supposed to help both of us? I can't believe I'm actually going through with it for that man. Sure, he thought I could get back into people's good graces, but apparently nobody cares. Once again, Al has overthought something for no reason and made it worse. When I get the chance, I need to have a stern talking with that handsome prick."
(static)
"So the plan might need to change," said Alejandro. "It appears I'm not gaining much sympathy and Heather is not winning anybody's trust back, so consider Phase Two a failure. However, as long as we don't lose this challenge, we should have time to reform our strategy and make the best of a bad situation. And let's be honest, there's no way we're losing. It's basically impossible at this point as long as we operate at full strength."
(static)
Gwen blinked. "Yeah, those two need to go. Now. I don't know what's up, but they're just really annoying me today. Not exactly out of the ordinary, but this time? Yeah it's a pain."
End Confessional
The sun neared the horizon as both teams put the finishing touches on their Trojan Horses, just in time for Chris, Chef, and a groggy Tyler to arrive on the scene for the judging process. First up: The Zombie Slayers.
As team captain, Scott did the showcasing for the design. "Feast your eyes on this beauty," he said, using both hands to gesture to the giant wooden Pegasus his team had thrown together in the last few hours. It was about 30 feet tall from hooves to ears and painted a bright, pearly white. The legs themselves were a little short and stubby, but only so The Zombie Slayers could reach the hatch underneath to crawl inside without needing a ladder. A few parts of the body were full of holes as the nailing job was a little rushed and uneven, and the head lacked dimension, being a flat piece of wood cut to look vaguely like a horse head. But the best part of the design was easily the set of wooden wings, made from several planks nailed to a long piece of wood and cut to look more like feathers.
After taking some notes along with the other two judges, Chris slapped the leg. "Alright, now let's see how many campers you can fit in this bad boy."
"Oh, did you see the entrance through the butt?" Shawn asked.
Chris glared at the zombie nut. "No. Now get inside."
Shawn let out a sad "Awww" and climbed inside, followed by Scott, Gwen, Cody, Sky, and lastly, Alejandro and Heather who shoved and pushed to get in before each other. The horse shook a little bit and nearly tipped over, but ultimately stood sturdy.
With the inspection done, it was thought time.
"Okay," Chris said, checking his notes. "I love the wings, so props to whoever came up with that idea."
"Me!" Scott cheered from inside the body, leaving a lasting echo.
"The paint was an interesting touch, but could have been a little more evenly coated. But still, solid work all around."
Inside the horse, everyone rolled their eyes. It wasn't like there was that much paint to go around.
"I give it an 8/10. Chef, any thoughts?"
Chef crossed his arms. "The thing looks like a fifth grader slapped it together and if the Greeks made this, they'd have lost the war. But it ain't bad for the time ya had. Eh, 6/10."
"And our guest judge, what do you think of The Zombie Slayers' Trojan Horse?"
Tyler rubbed his head and nearly dosed off as a bit of drool fell from his lip, which Chef wiped up. "Uh… It's uh… I like the… It's not… I guess… seven?"
Chris cringed. "Yeah, maybe we should've gone with a lower dose on those arrows. But I'll count that seven as your score. With a combined total of 21, The Zombie Slayers have a solid lead that might be tough to beat."
"Aww yeah!" Shawn shouted, poking his head out the horse's rear window. "That's what I'm talking about! But here's the hole I was talking about! Isn't it just the best idea ever?!"
Chris glared up at Shawn's head. "Don't make me dock points, Shawn. That thing will probably have to be censored for TV anyways."
Shawn sunk back inside the butt with a frown as the judges left to see what Team Pantheon had cooked up for them. Along the way, Tyler tripped over a plank and face-planted into the sand.
"Chef, would you please carry our guest from here on out?" Chris asked politely. "Or just get him a wheelchair. I don't care."
Team Pantheon had watched carefully as the judges evaluated the other team's horse. The score of 21 was a tough one to beat, but it could be done.
Upon arriving at that end of the beach, Chris saw the other horse had been covered with a huge patchwork sheet to add to the surprise factor.
"Gentlemen," Jasmine said with one hand on the tarp. "I'd like to offer this horse as a gift… to the Kings of Troy!" She yanked the sheet off and revealed their creation as the rest of the team watched with anxious eyes.
The horse itself was a little smaller than the one The Zombie Slayers had made, standing at only 25 feet tall. The legs were a little thinner and the body was less bulky, and covered in splotches of glitter courtesy of Sugar and Beth. And just like the last horse, it was nailed together haphazardly leaving little gaps everywhere. But there wasn't a butt hole this time, so that was nice.
But the main attraction was at the peak of the horse's figure. Three heads sat upon the body, side by side, each showing off one of the judges in all their hastily made wooden glory. Well, not exactly glory, as the pieces used to create each head were pretty angular and made them look like abstract art from some cruddy low-budget museum. Chris, Chef, and Tyler looked up at the strange Cerberus horse-human hybrid design and their jaws dropped. Tyler's however, was already dropped and leaking saliva which pooled on his chest as Chef held him like a baby. But he still looked a little more emotive than before.
"Um… Care to explain, Jasmine?" a confused Chris asked the Aussie
Jasmine nodded. "Yeah, so basically the story of the Trojan Horse, as Beth told me earlier, was that the horse was given as a gift to the Trojans as a way of getting into the city in disguise. So I thought to myself 'Ya know, if I was making this bad boy as a gift for someone, I'd wanna make it super appealing to 'em so they'd be more likely to take it inside' and then it hit me: appeal right to you guys as the judges. And so this design was born. Nobody complained, so I assume everyone's happy with it."
Duncan tugged at his collar. Courtney whistled to herself all casual like. Lightning gave the three heads a strange, uncomfortable glance.
"Uh huh," Chris said, taking some quick notes. "Well I guess crawl inside and see how it holds."
Jasmine opened the hatch on the bottom of the horse's belly and pulled herself inside, then offered a hand for the rest of the team one by one. Owen nearly collapsed the floor when he got inside, but other than that, it held up under everyone's weight, apart from some light creaking.
"Okay," Chris began. "First of all, the body sucks. The glitter is hideous, the scrawny legs are creepy and wonky, and the nail work is super patchy."
A collective gasp rang out from inside the body.
"However," he continued. "I love the heads you made! Way better than that flat, 2-D garbage Team Zombie Killer or whatever came up with."
Scott rolled his eyes on the other side of the beach. "No need to rub it in."
"And," said Chris. "I applaud you for actually fitting all that weight inside the horse without breaking it. Somehow."
"Is that a dig at my weight?!" Sugar shouted, her voice only escaping out the hole in the belly.
"Nah, it's a dig at Owen," Chris said, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, to keep it short, the horse is an eyesore, but the heads are badass. 7/10!"
Chef flipped through his notes and hummed. "Well, I can't say I like the glitter. Looks like some Barbie fanatics got to it and vandalized in in the middle of the night. But you guys nailed my little chef's hat, even if it looks like something they'll censor for TV. And for that… Eh, 7/10."
"That's 14 points out of 30," Chris recapped. "Tyler, they need a score of 7 to tie and 8 to win. Whatcha got for 'em?"
Tyler rubbed his eyes and looked up at the horse with three heads. "Uh… I don't… I… That's… heads… three of em?"
Chris clapped once. "And there you have it. Tyler gives it a three, which means despite the epic heads idea, The Zombie Slayers win!"
Courtney immediately fell out of the horse and protested as the winning team celebrated in the distance. "Uh, no! Chris, Tyler can't even speak straight right now and he was clearly talking about the number of heads, not our actual score. I demand a recount!"
"Yeah!" Sugar said, falling head first out of the hole on top of Courtney, crushing her and stifling her scream of panic. "We was robbed!"
"Sorry guys, all scores are final," Chris said with a shrug. "You have about an hour before the elimination ceremony, so you better be ready to send an unlucky loser packing. And just for the memo, Courtney has captain's immunity for this vote only, so you can't vote for her. So don't even try. We don't need another Action situation here, got it?"
One by one, all members of Team Pantheon bitterly dropped out of the hole. Thankfully Courtney had crawled out of harm's way before Owen decided to plop down, but she was still feeling good about the vote despite her bruised… everything.
Confessional
"Well, we lost," Jasmine sighed, taking her hat off and putting it over her chest. "It sucks, but I guess it was gonna happen eventually. I only have an hour, so I need to check in with some people and make sure Courtney was tellin' me the truth. I can't risk going off just her word right now."
(static)
"This blows," Duncan growled, punching the seat. "We only lost because Tyler was high! I mean, we probably deserved to lose for that trainwreck design, but still, we could have had it won with that appeal to vanity. It worked before at least. But yeah, I need to start doing some talking about this vote because it's hard to pin the loss on anyone in particular this time. I guess Sugar and Beth's glitter cost us some points, but the whole thing was a freaky mess to begin with, so… Tough call."
End Confessional
As the minutes crept by, last minute planning was going down. Duncan, Beth, and Owen met up behind the bath house to talk about where their votes should be placed. It wasn't an easy choice, but getting on the same page was super important.
"So I think Sugar should go," Duncan said. "It's not like she's super useful, and she's just gross and weird. Two pretty good reasons to kick her off if you ask me."
Beth shook her head. "Nope, I refuse to vote for Sugar! She and I have a sisterly bond and I can't stab her in the back!"
Owen nodded along and played with his belly. "Yeah, I like having another big eater around so I can feel less self-conscious about this gut of mine. Sorry."
Duncan rolled his eyes. "Okay then who do we vote for if we can't vote out Sugar? Because I think us original Islanders should stick together this round, and with Courtney immune, we can probably get her on board to get a four vote majority without breaking a sweat."
"Well it's either Jasmine or Lightning," Beth said nervously. "But they're our two strongest physical players… So should we get rid of them this early?"
"But what about that Underworld thing?" Owen pointed out. "If we send a really tough person there early, we can weaken them so they won't be all dominant later, right?"
Duncan shot a finger pistol Owen's way and smirked. "That's exactly what I was thinking! Yeah, Jasmine and Lightning are useful... but they're also huge threats. I actually know Lightning from All-Stars, even if it was just for two episodes, so I feel like he could be someone we could work with down the road. But Jasmine? Don't even know her. I say we take her out tonight and prove we came to win."
"Whoa whoa whoa," protested Beth. "But Jasmine basically did all the work today? Without her, we wouldn't have even gotten close to winning."
"True," Duncan said admittedly. "But she's also connected to Shawn and Sky on the other team, so if we take her to the merge, she'll just jump in with those two and run things like a prison warden. It's too dangerous to let her go far."
Owen and Beth didn't feel right about it, but they didn't really have a choice. So they nodded along with the plan and shook on it.
"Awesome," said Duncan. "I'll go let Courtney in on the vote. Other than that, we need to keep it on the down low just in case Jasmine has an invincibility statue or something."
Confessional
Beth sighed and closed the Iliad after reading a couple passages. "I hate having to take Jasmine out like this. It's sooooo not fair, but it's the game I guess. And I know Duncan doesn't want me to tell anyone, but I don't want Sugar to feel left out, so… I think I should tell her what's going to happen. Just so she's not all shocked and stuff."
End Confessional
"So it's settled," Jasmine said, fist bumping Lightning as Sugar sat off to the side. "Duncan's going home as long as Courtney keeps her word, wherever she is right now. I know we're all super different and some of us don't get along..." She clearly looked Sugar in the eye when she said that line, and Sugar just rolled hers. "But it's for the best that we don't fracture right now with all eight old schoolers still here."
"Duncan's going sha-home," Lightning snorted. "Serves him right for votin' Lightning out last time. I think. He never told the Lightning what happened, but I'm just gonna assume that's what happened because it makes tonight's vote that much easier to stomach."
"Alright then," Jasmine said. "I'm gonna wash up real quick before the ceremony. See ya then." And with that, she was gone, and so was Lightning, who decided to go for a last minute jog through the nearby woods. That left Sugar all alone… but not for long.
Beth stumbled out of the bushes a few seconds later, out of breath. "Sugar! We need to talk!"
Sugar stood up and picked at her teeth with a nail. "What's up? Heard my name goin' around?"
"No," Beth panted. "Duncan wanted to vote you out but Owen and I wouldn't let him."
The pageant queen smirked and gave her friend a pat on the back. "Well I'm mighty thankful for that. Who did y'all decide to vote for?"
Beth revealed the name with a bit of melancholy. "It's... Jasmine. It's not what I want, but it's what has to happen. Courtney, Owen, Duncan, and I are putting our votes on her. I just wanted to let you in on the plan so you wouldn't be totally blindsided tonight."
Sugar blinked. "Wait? You guys are voting for Jasmine tonight?"
"Yeah, but you can vote however you want. We already have four votes if Duncan gets Courtney… But I don't know why she wouldn't vote with us. She did butt heads with Jasmine a little bit today and we kinda want to keep our Island people in. Sorry. But I just wanted you to know so you wouldn't be surprised."
Sugar nodded along with what Beth said. "Hmmm, I see. Well thanks for tellin' ol' Sugar, partner."
"No problem," Beth said, her breath finally back to normal. "We should totally meet up in my room tonight and talk more about our animals though."
"Sounds like a plan," Sugar said, a smile slowly growing on her face. "See ya after the ceremony!"
The two went their separate ways as Sugar's smile grew wider and wider until it was all but devilish.
Confessional
"Well gosh darn, I didn't see that one coming!" Sugar exclaimed, almost laughing from the shock. "So they wanna vote out Jasmine? And we wanna vote out Duncan? But here's the little thing I got in mind: I'm actually a swing vote! Jasmine doesn't like me and made it quite clear, and Duncan's never really spoken to me and isn't on my side of the game. So either way, I get rid of someone I don't need. And if Courtney really is trying to be all double agent Jim Bondy on us new schoolers and lying to our faces, Beth might have just given me an out tonight. It's a tough call, but either way, someone's gonna be shocked tonight, that's for darn sure!"
End Confessional
With only a couple minutes left before the ceremony, Duncan finally found Courtney hanging out in her room, far away from any last minute strategy talk.
"What do you want?" Courtney asked snobbishly. "Here to stir up more crap?"
"Uh, no," said Duncan with a devious little grin. "Unless you want me to. But no, I'm here to get your vote on board with us."
Courtney didn't budge. "Define 'us' please."
"Myself, Beth, and Owen are voting out Jasmine tonight and we need your vote to give us the majority. We're doing an old school thing for this round and this round only just so we all get by, and Jasmine's easily the biggest threat and needs to be weakened out there on Dumb Twist Island or whatever it's called."
Courtney smiled. "Alright, you have my vote. Jasmine it is." She closed the door in Duncan's face, leaving the bad boy stunned but still somewhat confident. It wasn't unlike Courtney to just take information and run, and she clearly had some issues to work out, so Duncan wasn't that scared about losing her vote. She had no reason to jump ship anyways, so it was all going to go according to plan.
As the seven members of Team Pantheon took their seats in the amphitheater, several of them had clear smiles of anticipation on their bright, young faces. Whatever happened, it was going to wipe a few of those smiles clean off.
"Okay everyone," Chris said. "It's time to cast your votes. This season, you'll vote by walking down that little passageway to the voting confessional, where you'll find a series of coins with a face of a teammate on each of them. Drop the coin of the person you want voted out into the Greek urn, and make your way back to your seat. Any questions? Nope? Then get to voting!"
Voting Confessional
Jasmine dropped Duncan's gold coin into the slot and smiled. "Sorry, but it's where the numbers are. Old school's gotta go."
(static)
"Sucks it has to be you," Duncan said, dropping Jasmine's coin into the urn. "I'd rather vote out Sugar, but Beth and Owen wouldn't budge."
End Voting Confessional
"You've all cast your votes," Chris announced, pulling out a plate of food. "Instead of marshmallows, your safety will be symbolized on-theme by Greek style lamb kabobs!"
A certain jock let out a loud whoop. "Sha-woo! Protein for the Lightning!"
On the other hand, Beth gasped. "But lambs are so cute though!"
"And delicious," Chris said, raising one kabob over his head. "Because she has immunity tonight, the first kabob goes to Courtney."
Courtney caught her meaty stick and took a deep whiff, but nearly gagged. "Ugh, how long were these out?"
"I don't know," Chris said. "But I do know the next kabob goes to… Beth!"
Beth caught her kabob and kept it at arm's length. She couldn't even bear the thought of some cute little lamb getting killed to make these.
"Sugar is also safe," the host said. "And so is Owen! Eat up you two... because I know you will."
Both big eaters stuffed their kabobs down their throats and pulled the sticks out, clean and meatless.
"Also safe is… Lightning!"
"Sha-catch!" the jock cheered, catching his kabob in midair.
"That leaves two losers left in contention for a date with the Underworld."
Duncan and Jasmine both looked nervous. Duncan didn't even expect to be in the bottom two, and neither did Jasmine. Why? Because they were two of the strongest players there! But alas, everyone was a strong player in some way, shape, or form this season. Well, not Cody. But most of them anyways.
"And the last kabob goes to..."
…
…
...
…
…
...
…
…
...
…
…
...
…
…
...
…
…
"Duncan!"
The delinquent let out a bated breath and caught his kabob as Jasmine's jaw dropped to the floor, along with Courtney's and Lightning's.
"What?! How?! Why?!" The Aussie leapt up and looked at the remaining six Pantheon members. "Courtney, did you lie to my face?!"
Courtney went numb. So numb she couldn't even react properly to that utter blindside nor answer the question.
"What? Courtney lied?" Duncan asked, tossing his kabob to Owen who inhaled it just the same. "Why are you blaming her? She voted with us."
"No, she told me and Lightning and Sugar she was voting you out tonight!" Jasmine said, her rage boiling more by the second. And then she pointed a finger right at the CIT. "Care to explain?!"
Beth cowered in the middle of the chaos, feeling like this was somehow her fault…
"Wait, you tried to get me voted out?" gasped an offended Duncan. "What's your problem? I thought we were cool."
Courtney was still numb. She just looked Jasmine and Duncan in their eyes and raised a finger. "I… don't know what happened."
"You flipped on us!" Lightning scolded her. "You got our hopes up and dashed 'em, you weasel. Sha-flippin' weasel girl!"
Beth scooted far away from the action and nobody even noticed.
"You could have just told me I was going home!" Jasmine growled, glaring down at a terrified and confused Courtney. "You didn't have to blindside me!"
"I… I didn't," Courtney stammered. "I voted for Duncan, I swear!"
"Oh, nice try," the Aussie scoffed. "Don't even think about shiftin' the blame on this one."
"So you did vote for me?!" Duncan growled.
"Yeah, but something happened!" Courtney argued, not sure how to defend herself but willing to fight for her life in the game. "I don't know, but someone flipped or just voted wrong! I just don't know! Stop yelling at me!"
"Well you screwed me," Jasmine hissed. "And you can bet when I get back in this game, you're gonna get it from me. Chris, just take me to the bloody ferry. I don't even want to be here right now."
"Well she screwed me too!" Duncan argued. "And I have to live with her for another day!"
"Well that sucks for you," Jasmine argued back. "Still being able to play the game is sooooo tough, huh?"
Chris suddenly popped up between the two vote getters. "Okay, I love the drama here, but it's a half hour show after all and we need to get moving. Jasmine, Charon's Ferry of Shame awaits on the beach. You know the drill."
"Yeah, I'm done here," she growled, pushing her way past Chris, past Duncan, past the rest, and towards the temple's archway. "But don't count on gettin' rid of me that easily."
As Jasmine stormed out, the six remaining players on Team Pantheon sat there in agonizing dread. That blow up was not expected. Not one bit. Duncan was steaming from rage. Courtney was mortified that her big plan had already unraveled and put her on the bottom. Lightning felt awkward and isolated with no idea what was coming next. Owen was just scared from all the yelling. Beth felt totlly responsible and looked at Sugar, who seemed… oddly chill about the whole thing.
Confessional
"And that's how it's done," Sugar bragged, doing her makeup in the library as a cloud of powder formed around her. "Good thing Beth let me in on that little secret, because man oh man, revenge is sweet! Jasmine never did me much harm, but Shawn? Oh he wasn't gonna get away with beatin' me last time. And this is a warnin' shot across his bow… Or is it the stern? I can't remember. I don't really do boat stuff. But yeah, I did that. All by myself. And now Courtney's on the outs with no friends, so my position on this here team just got way better! It's a full on Sugarin' going on and I'm livin' for it!"
(static)
Courtney just stared into the camera, her lip trembling. "Um… that wasn't the plan."
(static)
"Courtney tried to take me out," Duncan said, still flustered but relieved he was still there to give the confessional in the first place. "If she's telling the truth and did vote for me, that means one of Sugar or Lightning flipped their votes to keep me around. Feels good to be wanted around here, man. I'll have to make it up to them later. But still, Courtney's dead in the water. I didn't even think we had beef but apparently there's one more hatchet I have to bury. And I know exactly where I'm gonna bury it..."
End Confessional
Across the waves of the Aegean Sea, Zoey sat outside the Underworld's bungalow, watching the stars in all their glory. Without Mike it didn't have the same charm, but she knew he was out there somewhere watching them just the same. And then she turned and saw the approaching figure in the darkness. It caused her to jump from surprise, but when the most recent boot entered the lamp light, she was both relieved and terrified.
"Jasmine?! You got voted out?"
Jasmine stood there furiously looking down at poor little Zoey. "Yeah, I did. And I need some sleep."
"What happened?" Zoey asked, following the Aussie into the bungalow. "I thought you'd be a shoo-in to make the merge."
"Courtney happened," Jasmine sighed, removing her hat and plopping down on the cot which was clearly too small for her. "That lying snake decided to spin me some kooky story about voting out Duncan, then blindsided me and tried to shake the blame. What a joke..."
Zoey gasped. "That's awful. Sorry to hear it went down like that."
"How do you think I feel about it?" Jasmine asked in a deadpan tone. "I just know I'm gonna be going hard or going home tomorrow. Sorry if I have to kick your arse to get back in, but I'm hungry for revenge and CIT's on the menu."
Zoey gulped. "Um... Okay then. Sleep tight."
"Thanks. You too. And for the record, I think you're gnarly."
Zoey stood over the giant woman, knowing well enough she was going to be tough to beat tomorrow. But she promised Mike she'd win this season at all costs. And if she had to give it her all to defeat a total beast and respectable competitor like Jasmine, she would do it. This wasn't about making friends anymore. It was about survival.
Voting Confessionals
Jasmine dropped Duncan's gold coin into the slot and smiled. "Sorry, but it's where the numbers are. Old school's gotta go."
"Sucks it has to be you," Duncan said, dropping Jasmine's coin into the urn. "I'd rather vote out Sugar, but Beth and Owen wouldn't budge."
Beth cast her vote for Jasmine. "I hate this, but we agreed on a plan and I hope Courtney comes through."
Lightning casually put Duncan's coin in the urn. "It's what you get for ending the Lightning's dream early in All-Stars. Sha-bam!"
Courtney happily voted for Duncan. "I love it when plan comes together. Enjoy the Underworld, Bad Boy."
Owen picked up the coin with Jasmine's face on it and dropped it in the slot. "This blows, but this twist is so brutal, man. If you don't go home now, we'll never beat you down the road. Sorry."
Sugar held both Jasmine's and Duncan's coins, one in each hand. "It's my choice who goes, and I trust Beth way more than I trust Courtney or Jasmine. Thanks for the heads up, partner." She dropped Jasmine's coin in the urn, sealing her fate.
Eliminated: Mike
In the Underworld: Zoey, Jasmine
Remaining:
Team Pantheon: Beth, Courtney, Duncan, Lightning, Owen, Sugar
The Zombie Slayers: Alejandro, Cody, Gwen, Heather, Scott, Shawn, Sky
Reasoning for Elimination: So Mike is officially out. There's not much to do with the guy other than to be a stepping stone for Zoey's story, so I saw no reason to keep him around, especially when his girlfriend is a lot better in challenges and will be more of a threat to return. I know some people expected Mal to return after some potential foreshadowing, but nah, that was just a red herring. I hope nobody is too disappointed in Mike basically giving Zoey the win, but it is what it is and I couldn't see a situation where they actively try and beat each other rather than plan out a best course of action as a team. On the other hand, Jasmine's boot might be… controversial to say the least since a very unpopular character screwed over one of the big fan favorites here. Thankfully she still has a shot to get back in if she can beat Zoey, which will be a battle if anything. But that's the fun of the Underworld. Nobody's out until they're totally out. :)
A/N: While I wasn't a huge fan of either challenge this episode, I wanted to focus on the character interactions above all else and really develop some connections, set up some arcs we didn't get to see much of in the premiere, and dial down the wacky antics for a more down to Earth episode. Whether that succeeded or not isn't up to me, but I'm fine with how it turned out and hope people are still invested. My goal with this season was to have a more character-driven, strategy-driven All-Star season as opposed to one with tons of comedy and easy eliminations, hence Jasmine being voted out due to a combo of character dynamics and strategic plays despite being Pantheon's MVP in the challenge. I don't want it to feel like anyone's totally safe, and hopefully this set the tone after a predictable Zoke boot last time.
Anyways, that's Episode 2. The next one's got a lot more action, more character dynamics will be introduced, and we'll have two of my favorite challenges this season. Hope you enjoyed, and take care!