"If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you'd be doomed. You'd be ruined as God. You'd be a stone. You'd never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You'd never love anyone, ever again. You'd never dare to." - Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
"Last time on Total Drama Sci-Fi Showdown..." Chris started as he was inside the Drama Dome beside the large colored hologram. "The two teams collected different colored orbs in a ruined city, hosted by the three special guests that were featured in the phobia challenge." The hologram showed full body portraits of Kelly, Lucina, and Ray.
"Lucina and Ray acted as the main obstacles for the teams to face, hounding them at every turn to stop them." He continued as the hologram now showed Lucina and Ray in their outfits from the last challenge.
"One by one, they fell. It got even more intense when the final red orb was spotted by Terrance and Nataline from the Cyan Protoss, and Sarah and Jane from the Silver Terminators." The hologram showed the debris with the red orb on top of it. "Both Nataline and Jane reached for the orb, but the former's hand claimed it first and secured the Cyan Protoss' victory."
The hologram now showed the elimination site as well as full body portraits of Cassie and Sarah. "With Sarah being desperate, she tried to sway the votes away from her and anyone from her alliance by causing turmoil on Jane's alliance. However, this didn't work, but Desmond made plans to put Cassie on the chopping by telling Lucina to pass on the vote plan to Marvin. Though the majority votes were for the ranch girl, Cassie's Invincibility Statue saved her and caused the rocker girl to take the fall."
Chris spread out his arms in a dramatic fashion. "We're getting close to the merge so the competition is getting heavier. Will the minority alliance within the Silver Terminators fall apart completely? Will Desmond manage to get Marvin on his side? What is Marvin's strategic plan? Can Tatiana make Terrance notice her and save him from Lucy's clutches? Can Cyrus still save himself from further elimination ceremonies? Find out now or in the next episodes of Total...Drama...Sci-fi Showdown!" He finished with a flashing smile.
(Cyan Protoss)
Tatiana and Terrance were walking alongside the mecha chocobo by the riverbank. The techie boy only had his right hand inside his hoodie pocket this time.
"Why can't you show it now?" Tatiana whine as she pointed at his hidden hand.
"Because it's not ready yet." Terrance adjusted his glasses. "Good thing Ray actually gave back the item."
"See? He can be nice too." Tatiana smiled.
"Actually, Jude was with me and his glare and the cracking of knuckles made Ray surrender it." Terrance explained.
"Oh." The gamer girl's eyes widened as she blinked.
"But don't worry about it. It didn't get violent." Terrance assured. "I can't wait for the next challenge."
"Me too. I hope we win again." Tatiana beamed. "We really owe one to Nataline."
"Hey, I helped with that." Terrance frowned. "I pulled Jane down to give her time you know."
"Yeah, I know." Tatiana giggled. "Nice support."
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, we didn't check out the door in the outpost. It should be unlocked by now."
"So that's what was missing." Tatiana snapped her fingers. "I felt like we were missing something when we left to talk a stroll."
"Maybe they opened it already." Terrance shrugged but Tatiana pulled his arm and headed back towards their outpost.
"Well I don't wanna miss it. Maybe it's treasure or money or something that will help us win the next challenge." Tatiana listed.
"Or maybe it's the path to Richard's bedroom." Terrance snickered.
"Who?" Tatiana tilted her head.
"Richard. You know, that guy who was the first boot." Terrance reminded her.
Tatiana just shrugged in response and Terrance groaned. The mecha chocobo squawked and nuzzled against the gamer girl to which she giggled and rubbed its head.
~Confessional~
Terrance: I hope my new invention works. Merge is near so I need to be really prepared to win the challenges there. I'll basically be facing off against eleven other people by then.
Tatiana: I didn't wanna make any moves yet since I figure that it's too early for that, so I'll just be friendly as always. But seriously, who's Richard again?
~End Confessional~
Jude, Lucy, Nelly, Nataline, and Cyrus all stood in front of the door which used to have three pixel cubes, now gone.
"I've stayed up all night wondering where this leads." Jude remarked.
"Yeah because I could hear you murmur late at night sometimes." Cyrus rolled his eyes.
"I wonder if it's all just one elaborate trap Chris set for us." Lucy narrowed her eyes at the door. "It's Chris after all."
"But it has to be something rewarding, right?" Nataline glanced at her. "We won three challenges, each of them making one cube disappear. Maybe it's a leisure room for relaxation."
"You think Chris will hand that freely?" Nelly scoffed. "Give me a break. He'll never do something that nice."
"See? Someone agrees with me." Lucy grinned.
"Well I'm opening it." Jude declared as he stepped forward and grabbed the knob. "It's just a door that leads somewhere. What harm can be done?"
"In case your thick Asian head forgot, we're in virtual reality." Nelly retorted. "Anything bad can happen in a whim."
"Nerds." Cyrus muttered under his breath which gave him a slap from Nelly. "Ow!" He rubbed his sore cheek as he backed away, scowling.
"Well it's whatever. Not like we're literally gonna die anyway." Lucy shrugged.
"Then by all means." Nataline motioned to Jude for him to open the door. The marksman gave one nod before opening the door.
The other side had nothing save for a long metal bridge lighted up by small cyan neon lights. Everywhere else is nothing but a dark void, and the only other thing left is a pedestal by the end of the bridge. Before the path is a sign with the message in digital form.
Jude began to read it aloud for everyone to hear. "Man desire what they envision, all secrets must be told. You seek the key for your ambitions but fate still has its hold." There was a pause.
"...Is that it?" Cyrus asked.
"Yep." Jude nodded as he turned to look at his teammates. "That's it."
"Man desire what they envision, all science must prevail." Nelly repeated.
"One shall rise with their ambitions, and make other kneel and hail." Nataline finished.
"Sounds like a cryptic message alright." Lucy affirmed.
"Sounds like we should avoid it." Jude glanced towards the pedestal over on the other side. "What if it's just really an elaborate trap?"
"Maybe Chris is screwing with us and if we go there, we'll be eliminated instantly." Cyrus shrugged.
"Then you go. You're expendable." Nelly gave an amused scoff. "Nobody cares if you get eliminated or not."
"Ugh. Fine then." Cyrus grunted in frustration as he stepped forward inside the room and walked on the bridge. As he stepped foot on the platform, the door suddenly closed and locked itself, leaving him alone inside. "What the hell?" He said in slight surprise.
Meanwhile, those outside looked shocked as well.
"Did he just get locked in?" Nataline asked as she reached for the knob and tried to turn it. Upon contact, an electric shock emanated from the door knob, shocking and prompting her to let go. "Gah!"
"Welp, he's stuck." Nelly shrugged indifferently as she walked away. "Guess we gotta tell Chris about this. Who knows, it might save us the trouble of having to sit someone out."
"Even if that's true, we don't know what he's doing in there." Lucy pointed out. "What if he really is getting benefits from that room?"
"Why are you so worried? It's Cyrus." Jude glanced back at the locked door. "It's not like he can use whatever's in there to steamroll us in the merge, assuming he makes it that far."
Lucy narrowed her eyes at the door then sighed. "Maybe you're right." They all walked away from the door and went to mind their own business.
~Confessional~
Lucy: I can't get this feeling off my chest that something good is about to happen to Cyrus.
Nataline: So will he really be there and miss the challenge? Not that I'm complaining, I'm just trying to clarify.
Jude: Cyrus not being present in the next challenge doesn't matter. I'm here, and so is basically everyone else who can pull their own weight. He really won't last much longer in this game.
Nelly: I do actually wonder what he's doing in there. I want to think that maybe it's a reward room, but now that Cyrus is locked in, I'm hoping it's a torture room of some sort. *she shrugs*
~End Confessional~
Cyrus walked to the middle of the room and stood in the pedestal.
"There's nothing in here." He grunted. "What a waste of time."
"Waste of time?" A monotonous feminine voice rang around the empty room and through the void beyond. "You are about to receive knowledge to assist you in this game and you call it a waste of time?"
"What? Who are you?" Cyrus whipped his head around but saw no one there.
"I go by many names in this reality, Cyrus. But you can call me Marietta." The voice answered in the same state of tone. "Now, what is it you would like to learn about? You have three questions to ask me. Use them wisely."
"This is interesting." Cyrus admitted as he began to think and tap his foot. "How about this, what is this next challenge about?"
"The next challenge will be about escaping a spaceship." Marietta answered simply. There was silence. Cyrus tapped his foot impatiently.
"Well is that it?" Cyrus asked impatiently.
"That is what the challenge is about." Marietta answered. "That is what you asked. Now you have only one question left."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Cyrus raised his arms in frustration. "I have to be specific?" He widened his eyes when he realized what he just said, or rather, asked.
"Yes." Marietta answered him again. "And now you have no more questions to ask. You already used up your three questions."
The door out of the room clicked, signifying it to be unlocked again. Cyrus looked dumbfounded as Marietta gave a slight giggle.
"It is alright, Cyrus. Perhaps next time you visit, you would ask smarter questions. Farewell for now." Marietta said then there was silence. Cyrus tried calling out to her but no response came. He banged his fist on the pedestal in anger.
~Confessional~
Cyrus: Really? That's all I got? After winning three challenges and unlocking the door, this is what happens!? Ten bucks says my teammates are gonna give me hell for this. *he sighs*
~End Confessional~
(Silver Terminators)
Cassie was playing her guitar on a large rock by the riverbed just like she did last night. A couple of animals watched her play and Jane is seen walking to where she is but stopped and listened when she saw her play.
"So that's her hobby." Jane said quietly to herself as Cassie reached the near climax of the song. She watched the animals surround the ranch girl. "I wish I can play instruments." Sighing, she noticed that Cassie had reached the final notes of the song and stopped.
The ranch girl turned around and saw Jane standing there, giving her an awkward wave.
"Howdy, Jane. How long have ya been standing there?" Cassie asked as Jane joined her on the rock.
"Only to see the last few parts of the song. But it was impressive." Jane praised.
"Do ya play any instruments back home?" Cassie asked her as she patted her guitar.
"Not really. I've never been any good with them." Jane admitted. "I tried playing the piano, the violin, the harmonica, heck even the triangle. My music teacher told me to just give it up."
"Well shucks." Cassie frowned slightly. "That's too bad. Wanna try playing my guitar? It's old and a bit worn out but the tune is still alright." She handed her the guitar but Jane refused.
"It's alright." She chuckled. "I'll just stick to what I do best, being the greatest at survival and doing physical work in general."
"Ya wanna come over to my place when this is over? I remember there's a forest near our barn where it's usually off limits." Cassie suggested.
"You sure it's okay there? It could be watched by the government." Jane pointed out. Cassie only laughed.
"Naw, it's the plants and animals." The ranch girl assured. Jane smirked.
"Sounds like a challenge." Jane nodded.
"Right now I just wanted a break from this whole game." Cassie stared down at her guitar. "After Sarah's elimination, I kinda knew that merge would be coming soon. I guess I just wanted to relax for a change."
"I don't want to sound arrogant, but we are in a pretty good position with our alliance." Jane remarked.
"That's not what happened last night." Cassie pointed out and sighed. "I got the most votes. What happened?"
"I honestly don't know." Jane frowned. "Me and Phoebe voted for Sarah."
"I actually voted for Desmond. I thought we were gonna get him out." The ranch girl looked confused.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you that we changed votes." Jane snapped her fingers in realization. "But still, it doesn't add up. it should at least be a tie."
"Did Marvin tell you how he's gonna vote?" Cassie asked. "What if he didn't vote for Sarah too?"
"It's definitely a possibility but I can't believe it." Jane shook her head and looked out at the river. "Marvin not voting with us? That only means he either voted for you or Desmond."
"I'll go talk to him." Cassie stood up and looked back towards the outpost. "I gotta know why."
~Confessional~
Jane: Even though it's probably the only possibility left, it's unbelievable. Marvin has been a loyal ally and friend, right? What if he has a separate alliance? Wait, that's not possible. Who would he even talk to? This is pretty stressing. Now I know how Sarah feels.
Cassie: I gotta know who Marvin voted for. The best case scenario is that he voted for Desmond with me, but the worst case scenario is that he voted for me. I know that I should trust him because I consider this alliance my family and all.
~End Confessional~
Desmond met up with Marvin in the forest area. The latter was looking at a rather peculiar apple from the tree when the former approached him.
"Marvin, I wanted to thank you for last night." Desmond called out and Marvin turned around to face him.
"But Cassie still wasn't voted out. I did not suspect she would have an Invincibility Statue." Marvin shook his head. "Sooner or later they'll approach me and wonder about who I voted for."
"Tell them you voted for me." Desmond said simply.
"I'm going to lie to them?" Marvin narrowed his eyes at the other boy.
"You have to if you want to get far in this game." Desmond told him. "They'd vote for you too when the time comes. Don't act as if you guys are gonna be four winners at once."
"That's true." Marvin conceded. "I'm not much for lying to my friends but just this once."
"Of course." Desmond nodded. "And many more times to come." He added under his breath.
"I'll be going for now. I promised Phoebe we'd be walking together later." Marvin said as he turned to leave.
"Alright." Desmond left as well while grinning to himself.
~Confessional~
Desmond: Marvin makes for the perfect Felix substitute. It may take some work to gain his trust, but it will happen. It's not like I've been actually lying to him about everything I said. Jane and Cassie are challenge threats and need to be dealt with immediately. As for Arnold, well I expect his hopes to be crushed a little now that Sarah's gone so he should be harmless for now.
Marvin: Should I lie to them and tell them I voted for Desmond? Or tell them the truth that I voted for Cassie? And if I do tell them I voted for Cassie, do I lie and say that Desmond forced to or tell the truth that I had my own agenda? This game really is difficult.
~End Confessional~
Phoebe was going downstairs when she saw Arnold eating by himself in the dining area. The soccer player was currently eating mashed potatoes with a depressed look on his face.
"A-Arnold?" The doll faced girl tentatively called as she went over to him.
"Yeah?" Arnold answered absentmindedly.
"Are you s-still sad about last n-night?" She asked as she sat across from him and got her own bowl of mashed potatoes. "I'm s-sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" Arnold sighed. "You were just voting with your alliance. We plotted to vote out one of your own so of course you'd vote out one of ours."
"Y-Yeah but it's s-s-still really sad." Phoebe frowned. "I consider S-Sarah as a friend."
"Then why did it have to be her?" Arnold said, exasperated. "Why not Desmond?"
"It's because J-Jane said so. She's the l-leader of the alliance. I think." Phoebe said, unsure of the last part.
"Well I understand that voting with your alliance is a great sign of teamwork." He looked away. "I guess I'm just really bummed about this." He finished eating his mashed potatoes and stood up to leave.
"Y-You don't want to t-talk?" The doll faced girl asked as she continued eating her food.
"Sorry, I'm not my girlfriend." Arnold answered dismissively as he walked out of the outpost.
~Confessional~
Arnold: I know it isn't Phoebe's fault for following her alliance and voting off Sarah which is why I wanted to leave before I say any bad things to her. But without Sarah, our alliance is basically ruined. The team can't fully function without a captain after all.
Phoebe: I hope Arnold i-is going to be alright. W-We still need him to be our team's p-physical asset, but playing without Sarah by his s-side might really take a toll on him. I w-wonder if I'll feel the same if Marvin gets eliminated. W-W-Will he also get really sad if I get e-eliminated? I'll try even h-harder to make sure it d-doesn't happen!
~End Confessional~
Chris' hologram appeared in the living rooms of both outposts, addressing everyone inside.
"Attention, everyone! Your challenge is here." He announced. "Prepare all the assets you have and meet outside your own outposts. That's all." The hologram blinked out immediately, leaving the contestants mostly confused.
"What?" Jane blinked.
"The challenge is here? What does that mean?" Marvin asked no one in particular.
"It probably means it's right outside our door." Cassie thought aloud. "I'll go get my bodysuit." She ran up the stairs to change clothes.
"I wonder what the challenge is." Arnold said to himself as he opened the door. Outside their outpost were hordes of animals, most of them not present in the real world. Almost every of them had robotic limbs attached to them. "Uh...guys?" He tentatively called out. Phoebe curiously looked out as well then shrieked at the sight then immediately cowered under the desk in fear.
"Eeeeekk!" Marvin went over to the shrieking Phoebe to try to calm her down. An angry snarling growl could be heard from outside, making Phoebe shriek more.
"Calm down, Phoebe!" Marvin tried to hold her still. "Don't panic. Just calm down and think."
Jane rushed over to the back door to see if there was any way they could escape. Upon opening it, she was greeted by eight snarling wolves. Some of them have robotic legs or a robotic eye. They all slowly cornered her back inside the outpost as she cursed silently.
"We're trapped." She announced.
"Well, guess all that's left is to try and break out of here." Desmond sighed as he glanced at the front door then at the back door.
Meanwhile, the Cyan Protoss also began preparing.
"My chocobo is outside." Tatiana looked towards the door. "I have to go get it."
"Later." Nelly grabbed her plasma staff. "We need to wait for the others."
Jude went back downstairs holding a bow in his hand. A quiver containing a couple of arrows was strapped to his back.
"I got this for an asset." The marksman announced. "Wait, where's Nataline?"
"She said she was going to change clothes for a bit." Lucy answered.
"Attention. Surrender or die. Attention." A monotonous robotic voice came from outside their outpost.
"Is this our challenge? To fight robots?" Terrance narrowed his eyes as he opened the door to reveal what could be a legion of humanoid machines, each with different varieties of weapons. "What the heck is this!?" He cursed as his eyes widened at the sight. Tatiana went to go peek out as well and gasped when she saw the army.
"We're gonna fight this!?" The gamer girl backed up a bit.
"Jude, you better have enough arrows." Cyrus snickered.
"Shut up." Jude rolled his eyes.
Nataline ran downstairs to meet them. She now wore a black long sleeved top with white sleeves lined in red, and a long red light skirt and brown leather boots. Her hair is pulled back with a red leather headband.
"What are you wearing?" Jude asked as she joined them downstairs.
"It looks cute." Tatiana beamed. "I wish I had a change of wardrobe with me."
"I tried counting the days and weeks we've been in here and I figured that it's more or less Independence Day from where I'm from." Nataline explained. "I believe so, at least. So I decided to change clothes, and it's also a good thing since it's lighter."
"Of course it's better. Who plays this game wearing heels?" Lucy gave an amused scoff.
"I didn't really know it'd be this physical based." Nataline defended.
"We can talk about that later." Terrance interrupted. "There's still an army of robots outside."
"We can go around the back to avoid them." Jude suggested.
"I just saw from the bedroom window that there are a few out in the back guarding it." Nataline told him. "We can try and break through there."
"Whatever works, I guess." Cyrus shrugged.
~Confessional~
Desmond: Alright so our resistance didn't go so well. By the time Cassie made it downstairs, Arnold and Jane have been taken down. It was a pretty quick struggle that didn't last long, but it's not like we were going to win it anyway.
Phoebe: I didn't k-know what happened next. I h-heard screaming and growled and a-all those horrible sounds, and t-then I felt myself get bitten and I d-disappeared. It was s-scary. *she shivered in fear*
Terrance: I didn't even get to remove my hand from my hoodie pocket when this robot grabbed my wrist and hurled me to the rest of its army. I didn't even feel any pain when I got shot multiple times, or was it because of the adrenaline?
Lucy: *her right eye faintly glowed red* Well that sucked. I tried hiding in the bathroom to see if I can let the army pass by me by the time they took out Jude from inside. Nope, they're pretty thorough. But what was the challenge in all that anyway? It's not like the other team did any better, I'm sure.
~End Confessional~
Jane, Desmond, and Cassie all woke up to find themselves locked in a cell, the bars made of electricity. Cassie sat up first and looked around at their surroundings. The floor was made of metal as well as the walls, lighted up by small white lights that shone brightly to illuminate the entire hallway before them. She could see no one else outside.
"What happened?" Jane groaned as she sat up as well.
"This isn't our outpost." Desmond noted as he looked around as well.
"I remember trying to fight off the creatures." Cassie recalled. "I got overwhelmed and felt my avatar vanish."
"And what? We spawned here?" Desmond stood up and stretched a bit. "What if this is our challenge?"
"But Chris didn't explain any of this." Jane pointed out to him. "This isn't fair."
"But the other team definitely doesn't know what to do either." Desmond noted to himself.
Chris' hologram appeared in front of them and chuckled. "So how was the challenge? Pretty challenging, right?"
"Yeah, very funny." Jane rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "So what's the actual challenge?"
"I'm glad you asked." Chris smirked. "Your challenge is to escape this spaceship by going to the east hanger. First you need to find the rest of your team because I will not be counting your win if not everybody is present."
"Is the respawn thing gonna apply?" Cassie asked.
"Yes, there is a chance you will die during this challenge. You will respawn here, where you awoke. Other members of your team will respawn where they awoke. Any more questions?"
They glanced at each other but said nothing.
"Good. Then you can begin." The hologram disappeared.
"This is bad. We have to make sure nobody dies or we start again from square one." Desmond remarked to them.
"Maybe that's why Chris made us bring our assets and all." Cassie glanced down at her bodysuit. "It will help us win the challenge, y'all."
"Then let's go." Jane said as she looked outside. The electric bars suddenly turned off on its own, making the path clear for them.
Nataline and Tatiana awoke in a similar cell, with the mecha chocobo right outside. The Chris hologram disappeared and the electric bars died down.
"I'll go find the others while you go ahead and find the hanger." Nataline told the gamer girl.
"Wait, shouldn't I be the one to find the others since I have a mount?" Tatiana pointed out.
"You can't ferry everyone to the hanger. It's better if you go ahead and guard it from the enemy team." The noble girl explained.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense." Tatiana realized as she ran out of the cell and immediately got on her mount. "Then I'll see you there!" She exclaimed as she rode ahead down the hallway. Nataline saw her go before running down the other end of the hallway, her new clothes making her faster than before.
Nataline ran down another corridor to see Lucy get cornered by Arnold.
"Sorry, it's just part of the game." Arnold muttered as he went to kick the soft spoken girl. Lucy rolled away in time to barely avoid it.
"So you're getting violent now, is that it? I guess Ray is rubbing off on you." Lucy had an evil smirk on her face.
"Shut it. You don't know anything." Arnold grunted angrily as he went for another kick, this time catching her by the side which made her tumble along the steel floor.
"Hey! Stop that right now!" Nataline yelled as she went over to Lucy. She glared at Arnold. "You're hurting girls now? That's dishonorable, even for you."
"I wanna see you get your loved one voted off, then we'll see if what I'm doing is dishonorable." Arnold glared back at her as he stalked towards them. "They voted off Sarah."
"And you're taking it out on Lucy?" Nataline backed up along with Lucy. She saw that there was a small circular opening beside them, just big enough for only both of them to duck inside.
"I can't afford to lose this." Arnold said, almost desperately. "I can't afford to let the other alliance get the better of me."
"Well we want to win too, so it sucks to be you." Lucy countered with a sneer as she saw the opening as well. She nodded towards Nataline who glanced at her and nodded back. "I hope they vote you out when you lose." She laughed.
"I said we're not losing this!" Arnold said angrily as he charged at them, aiming to tackle them both to the ground. Nataline and Lucy immediately went sideways and towards the opening. It was dark inside, so they wouldn't know where they would end up. Lucy went first, easily ducking in and going down, her screams echoing out. Nataline followed her down, just barely avoiding Arnold's hand about to grab her ankle.
~Confessional~
Lucy: Arnold has gone pretty unstable now, huh? Do jocks really get this riled up when they lose in a game?
~End Confessional~
Cyrus and Jude were down in another hallway, running away from what looks to be a group of miniature four legged machines, equipped with blaster guns atop their heads. They managed to keep avoiding the few shots fired at them.
"Isn't it about time you used whatever it is you got back at the secret room?" Jude glanced towards Cyrus as the two turned left. They saw more of the machines in that direction and immediately turned back to go the other way.
"The AI was an ass." Cyrus grunted. "I had the chance to ask three questions and it tricked me."
"Sounds to me like you just asked the wrong ones." Jude sighed with a shake of his head as they ducked in a room. "Now quiet." He ordered as they hid in the darkness, listening to the machines pass them by in swarms.
"I did ask about the challenge." Cyrus whispered when they couldn't hear any more machines passing by. "It only said that it'll be in a spaceship. That's it."
"Then you should have been more specific." Jude groaned in disappointment as he went out to peek at the hallway before going back the way they came. Cyrus trailed behind him.
"Whatever. It's not like we'll be prepared for it anyway." Cyrus rolled his eyes. "And it was you guys who pushed me in there." He reminded.
"Well we didn't know what it contained." Jude shrugged. "The least you could do was make use of it but nope, you still sucked at it." He suddenly turned a corner and a trap activated from the floor. A beam of electricity show down at the marksman and instantly made his avatar disappeared after only a moment of screaming.
"Well that just happened." Cyrus sighed as her went around the trap and continued on.
Marvin hid inside a room, clutching an injured left arm as he waited for the spaceship guards to pass by him. He breathed slowly and silently to not attract any attention to himself as he stayed there.
"This isn't looking good." He muttered to himself. "The guards are heavily guarding the east hanger. What to do..." He thought to himself.
Suddenly, he heard a loud girly scream coming from the end of the hallway. He widened his eyes as he went out to peek down the hall where it came from.
"That sounded like Phoebe." He realized as he went out of hiding and ran to where the sound came from, still gripping his injured arm.
The doll faced girl was cornered in the dead end of the hallway by a six foot tall terminator-like robot with an automatic rifle in its hand. It glared down at the smaller girl with red robotic eyes as it aimed.
"E-Eeek!" She squealed in fear as she cowered in the corner of the hallway, curling herself up as a means of self defense.
"Over here!" Marvin shouted as he repeatedly tapped his knuckle on the metal wall. That made little sound, however, and ended up hurting his own hand. "Ow." He muttered in pain as he realized how stupid that move was. The terminator took no notice of him as it let out a burst of bullets towards Phoebe. "No!" He saw Phoebe's avatar disappeared after a few rounds caught her.
That's when he saw the machine turn back to face him, the gun now by its hip and aimed right at him. It fired a single round but the boy managed to duck for cover and run down the hallway. "I'm sorry Phoebe." He said softly to himself. He turned a corner and accidentally activated the trap by the floor, sending a steel cage falling from the ceiling and down on him. "What?" He whipped his head back and forth to find a way out but couldn't. He heard the terminator draw closer to him and turned back to see it already near him, stalking towards him.
"Haaa!" Came Cassie's yell as she tackled into the machine from down another hallway, slamming it against the wall and making a loud metallic crunch in the process. The terminator dropped its gun which Jane picked up and began firing at its head, hitting its eyes and its AI in the process. Cassie regained her balance as she dusted herself off of any parts. "We're here now, y'all." She announced with a grin.
"Great timing." Marvin sighed in relief.
"We heard Phoebe's scream. Where is she?" Jane asked as Cassie gripped two bars of the cage and used the strength of the bodysuit to pry it open just enough for Marvin to slip through.
"She got shot down." Marvin answered regrettably. "This machine was after her and shot her before I could do anything about it."
"But she'll respawn anyway, right?" Cassie pointed out. "She'll be alright."
"Will she?" Jane had a few doubts on her mind. "No offense but this is Phoebe we're talking about. We should at least get someone to go find her."
"I'll go. I have to make up for it." Marvin offered.
"No." Jane shook her head. "I'll go. You're not physically fit enough to handle this plus it looks like you have an injured arm." She motioned towards his left arm. "Stay with Cassie and keep going. We'll meet you at the hanger." And with that, she took off down the hallway they had just come from.
~Confessional~
Marvin: That was honestly was stupid of me to try and get its attention by tapping my knuckle on the wall. Maybe I'm just not good when it comes to split second decisions. Still, I failed in protecting Phoebe. I hope she can forgive me. *he rubs the back of his head*
~End Confessional~
Nelly and Terrance were nearing the east hanger as they went through another room to enter another hallway, seeing a terminator patrol the area.
"Take this!" Nelly made a short battle cry as she drove her plasma staff upwards, connecting it with the robot's neck and pushing it clean off the head.
"Nice one." Terrance praised as he opened the door to another room and checked to see if it was clear before entering it. Nelly followed him inside after making sure nobody was following them.
"Stop making me do all the work and use whatever it is you're hiding there!" Nelly complained as she pointed at his right hand. "What happens if I get pinned down or something?"
"Then I'll use it." Terrance simply said. "But for now, no one sees what I've got." He declared as he opened the other door that connected to a different room. To their surprise, it was one of the doors leading to the east hanger.
"We're here." Nelly exclaimed as she rushed forth ahead of him. They both saw Tatiana guarding the only space craft there. It seemed to have room for all team members inside.
"You guys made it!" The gamer girl cheered as she rode over to them.
"Did anyone from the other team pass by here already?" Terrance asked as he adjusted his glasses.
"Nope. It's just you guys." Tatiana answered with a smile. "Are you proud of me, Terrance?"She placed her hands on her hips proudly but then held on to the reins again when she started to fall to the side.
"Why is this too easy?" Nelly smirked arrogantly as she made her way over to the space craft to gaze upon it more.
"Don't jinx it." Terrance warned her.
"Come on, we all have assets here." Nelly pointed out. "Well maybe we don't know what you have there but it's probably still an asset."
Another door leading to the hanger opened and Cassie and Marvin entered from it.
"They're here already." Marvin exclaimed as they saw the three members of the Cyan Protoss ahead of them.
"Ah! Intruders!" Tatiana said in alarm and her chocobo squawked at the two newcomers angrily.
"Here I come, y'all." Cassie grinned as she charged forward at them, her bodysuit glowing a faint green color and leaving a light trail of neon. Tatiana met her halfway by ordering her mecha chocobo to charge in as well, and both of them clashed in the middle.
"Gahh!" Tatiana screamed out followed by a squawk from her chocobo as Cassie pushed through with her attack, tackling the creature upwards and puncturing its neck. It flew along with its rider, crashing down on the floor and crushing Tatiana under its defeated form. "Argh! I'm stuck!" She cried out as she desperately tried to push off the chocobo.
"Yeehaw!" Cassie cheered as she spun her hat in the air.
"Tatiana!" Terrance rushed over to try and help her get out while Nelly stood in between them and Cassie.
"That didn't work out well." Nelly rolled her eyes. "Time for me to take you out instead."
"Well we'll find out now." Cassie grinned as she delivered a fast yet strong kick towards the other girl. Nelly swiftly blocked it with her plasma staff, but she was pushed back a bit by the force. "Not bad." She praised.
"Oh yeah? Well take this!" Nelly shouted as she swung her weapon at her, catching her by the gut before it got grabbed. "Hey, let go!" She protested as she tugged at it.
"Alright." Cassie shrugged before letting go of the plasma staff, the tugging force knocking back Nelly instead. Cassie took this chance to charge her again and tackle her against the space craft, forcing her avatar to flicker out.
"Good job, Cassie." Marvin went his way over to the space craft. However, Terrance blocked his path.
"Not so fast." He glared at him. A slashing sound was heard for a moment, followed by Marvin's avatar disappearing. Cassie widened her eyes when she saw Terrance standing there, a psionic blade attached to his right arm, activated by a small skeletal-looking gauntlet with complex wires connected everywhere.
"Well I'll be." The ranch girl tipped her hat forward as she narrowed her eyes at the techie boy.
~Confessional~
Terrance: Let's see how smug she'll be when she gets sliced down.
Cassie: Yeehaw! Now the real fun starts!
~End Confessional~
Nataline and Lucy fell down on what looks like a shoot leading to the waste area. They landed on a large pile of garbage, cushioning their fall and burying them a bit in the pile. With some struggling, they managed to get out and looked at their surroundings.
"Where are we?" Nataline moaned in slight pain as she squinted her eyes to get a better look around.
"I'm pretty sure that judging solely on the smell around here, we're in the dump site of this ship." Lucy answered with a scowl as she took in the scent and recoiled.
"And this dress is new too." Nataline sighed as they both started walking around.
"I don't care. Right now, we need to find an exit immediately." Lucy declared as she started to look around, her red eye glowing a bit.
"You've gotten much bolder ever since the phobia challenge." Nataline pointed out to her. "Are you alright?"
"Alright? I've never felt so alive!" Lucy exclaimed with a hearty laugh. "I can talk better and I'm even more useful at challenges now. Don't you want that?"
"Of course I want that. I just thought that maybe it's taking a toll on you." Nataline frowned a bit as they both held their noses to avoid the stench of the place.
"Don't worry about me. Just focus on winning." Lucy told her as she found the exit in the short distance.
"Right. That's important too." Nataline agreed with a half nod. She was about to follow Lucy into the exit when she saw something glowing amidst a small pile of cans and plastic. It was a small tube-like container that glowed a neon blue. Inside contained an emblem in the form of a pin. It is a big 'L' with a cross behind it, adorned with three roses at the bottom part of the emblem.
"Hey. What are you doing?" Lucy called out to her when she realized the noble girl wasn't following her anymore.
"Hold on, I think I found something." Nataline reached down to pick up the container. Unlike the rest of the garbage, it didn't smell bad. Rather, it smelled a bit like mint. She opened the container and got the emblem. After inspecting it a bit, her eyes widened. "The Louise family symbol. It's here! But why?" She continued to stare at it as Lucy joined her and looked at it as well.
"It's just a piece of metal. If it impresses you so much then take it so we can go already." Lucy urged as she shook her head.
"But I can't just wear it, I'm not the proper heir yet." Nataline frowned.
"What does that even mean?" Lucy raised her eyebrow.
"Oh...it's nothing." The noble girl laughed lightly. "I just thought that I might get judged for wearing it."
"It's your last name, right? You definitely have the right to wear that thing. They can't tell you what to do. What are you, their slave? Wear it like you own it." Lucy scoffed as she began walking back at the exit.
Nataline glanced at Lucy then at the pin. "A slave, huh?" She muttered quietly to herself.
~Confessional~
Nataline: *she is wearing the pin on the right side of her dress* Does it look nice? I've always dreamed to wear the family symbol on my dress. I believed that I wasn't worthy of it, but now I feel a sense of confidence after I put it on. It's weird but I like it. *she smiles*
~End Confessional~
Desmond met up with Arnold along one hallway and decided to travel together to reach the hanger. They slid past enemy guards to go from room to room. After a few corrider turns, they saw two other people ahead of them.
"Is that Jude and Cyrus?" Arnold asked his partner.
Desmond nodded. "Seems like it, yeah."
Cyrus glanced behind him to see them. "Hey, it's the other team." He warned to Jude.
The marksman turned back as well. "You guys?"
"Yeah, us guys." Arnold said darkly before blindly charging at the boy. Jude got caught off guard and was knocked back into a wall.
"Hey what the- Fine." Desmond conceded before pushing down Cyrus, the other boy offering little resistance to stop him.
"Tsk." Jude got up and pushed Arnold back, making the soccer player stagger a bit before he regained balance and knee'd him in the gut. "Gah!"
"Sorry but I really can't lose right now." Arnold apologized with no hint of sympathy as he kicked him, his foot connecting with the other boy's head. The force was enough to send his avatar flickering out along with a short grunt of pain. He turned around to see Desmond tackle Cyrus against the wall and forced his avatar to disappear as well.
"We got them out. This should buy us time." Desmond remarked. "Still, that's kind of unlike you to do that so suddenly."
"We just lost our alliance leader, what did you expect?" Arnold grunted with a roll of his eyes as he started jogging down the hall.
"For you to calm down and think this through calmly." Desmond guessed as he jogged alongside him. "If you do something reckless, you'll get eliminated."
"Sarah didn't do anything reckless and she got eliminated!" Arnold countered a bit too loudly. "It isn't fair!"
"This game has its unique perks. Don't get victimized by it is all I'm saying." Desmond sighed Arnold jogged ahead of him.
"Then you should stay alert too. We're in the minority now for sure." Arnold called out as the door by the end of the hallway slid open and he passed through.
"We'll see about that." Desmond muttered to himself as he gave a cunning smirk.
~Confessional~
Desmond: Arnold doesn't know that I have a secret alliance with Marvin and possibly Phoebe as well. Even if we do lose, I'm not gonna be the one on the chopping block, no."
Arnold: I realized that I always relied on Sarah to make this alliance work. Now that she's gone, I have to make sure I don't leave. I may not be good strategically, but I'm strong and skilled. I'll definitely overpower the other team and then overpower them all in the merge!
~End Confessional~
Jane found Marvin and Phoebe running away from a single spaceship guard armed with only a blaster handgun. Phoebe ran ahead while Marvin was behind her, trying to body block the shots fired.
"Over here!" Jane called out to them as she took out her assault rifle and aimed it at the guard.
"J-Jane?" Phoebe whipped her head to see her teammate standing there with her own gun.
"You made it." Marvin said in relief as they changed course to run towards where she is. Jane fired a few burst shots at the guard, catching him in the arms which caused him to get off balanced.
"Hurry and get behind me." Jane ordered. "I'll handle this." She moved forward to fire a few more rounds at the guard, this time knocking him back and fall over dead.
"The hanger is this way." Marvin pointed in another direction and grabbed Phoebe's hand so that they could run alongside each other.
"O-Okay." Phoebe nodded as she tried to keep up.
"Wait, why are you here?" Jane asked him. "Weren't you with Cassie?"
"I was struck down by Terrance." Marvin explained. "It seems even he has an asset now."
"What?" Jane's eyes widened. "How can this be? How can the other team have so many assets?"
"I've thought about that and I assume that they create their own assets." Marvin deduced as they rounded a corner and saw one more spaceship guard.
"Eeek! More of t-them." Phoebe said in fear as Jane stepped forward again to unleash a barrage of bullets at the guard, once again making quick work of him.
"Got him." She announced as they ran past the dead guard. "And if what you say is true, that means that sooner or later all of them will have one."
"I don't think so." Marvin shook his head. "We're near the merge so I'm assuming that they'll be separated by then. I don't even think they're unified."
"They aren't." Jane affirmed. "Terrance and Nataline hate each other, and all of them hate Cyrus."
"W-What does that m-mean?" Phoebe asked, trying to be a part of the conversation.
"It means that we can use their differences to our advantage, I hope." Marvin told her as they neared the hanger.
"You hope?" Jane raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not all too confident about our chances of winning them over to be honest." Marvin admitted with a sigh. "Who would we even get on our side?"
"Tatiana for sure." Jane said with certainty in her voice. "She and I used to be in one alliance. Terrance can be won over if ever he can talk to girls and understand them better now."
"Then w-we'll be fine?" Phoebe looked up at Jane.
"Of course." She assured the doll faced girl. They now stood in front of the door where Marvin and Cassie originally went through. "But first, let's go win this challenge." They both nodded as she opened the door.
~Confessional~
Jane: Tatiana and Terrance can still be valuable allies for me. They know how to survive well in this game and are open-minded. As for Nataline, her performance during Red Sith eliminations are a bit sketchy at most so I'll think about it for a while.
~End Confessional~
Marvin, Phoebe, and Jane entered the east hanger just in time to see Cassie jump back to where they are. Her bodysuit had numerous slashes marks on them and parts of her skin are seen.
"Howdy, y'all." The rancher girl greeted. She was panting hard and was already sweating.
"What happened to you?" Jane asked with concern.
"That boy Terrance is giving a good fight." Cassie motioned her head towards the techie boy, who stood a few good meters away from them. He also panted hard and his psionic blade was flickering in and out.
"O-Oh no. What should w-we do?" Phoebe asked with a hint of anxiety in her tone. Marvin wrapped one arm around her and gave her a smile.
"We'll think of something." He tried to assure her.
"I just thought of one." Jane smirked as she pointed her assault rifle at Terrance.
"Oh look, if it isn't Jane." Terrance adjusted his glasses as he prepared to charge again. "You think that gun will harm me?"
"I know it will." Jane said confidently. "That blade won't deflect everything." She began unleashing a barrage of bullets towards him. Some of them missed, with others almost making contact if not for Terrance using his psionic blade to disintegrate some of them. However, a few did catch him in the body, making him fall to the ground in pain.
"Argh!" Terrance grunted as he struggled to get up but saw that his avatar was quickly fading away. "Not now..." He vanished from the spot he was in.
"Terrance! No!" Tatiana screamed as she desperately tried to get out of her mecha chocobo's crushed body, still to no avail.
"Well ya look at that. We won." Cassie tipped her hat forward to Jane who was busy checking her gun's magazine only to find that it was empty.
"Yeah, which is good since I don't have any more bullets." Jane sighed as she tossed the assault rifle aside. "Let's get inside already."
"What a-about Tatiana?" Phoebe motioned towards the gamer girl.
"She can't really do anything in that state. It's better to just leave her be." Marvin shrugged as he proceeded to walk towards the spacecraft.
"Works for me. I'm not one to beat someone who is down." Jane agreed as she followed him there.
Nataline and Lucy started running down the hall while carefully avoiding the laser traps set up on the floor. They watched their steps but maneuvered quickly and efficiently.
"We must be near." Lucy remarked as she saw more laser traps on the ground when they rounded a corner. "These traps are getting harder and harder."
"Over there." Nataline pointed at the room down the hall. "We can take a detour there."
"It's worth a try." Lucy agreed as she took the lead and began brisk walking towards it. Nataline followed closely behind as she entered the room after her.
Inside the room there are what looks to be like unfinished steel humanoids resembling terminators. Some lack a complete face, others lack limbs. A complex machinery is busy doing its work on manufacturing it, unaware of the visitors inside. What truly caught their attention though is that ahead of them are both Arnold and Desmond, the former picking up a flat glowing red disk from the floor.
"It's the other team." Nataline gasped.
"It's you guys again." Arnold groaned as he saw who it was.
"You've encountered them earlier?" Desmond asked.
"Yeah. They ducked down a thin tube to escape." The soccer player sniffed the air and recoiled a bit. "And anyone can guess where they landed." He smirked.
"Yeah, we landed in your house, where else?" Lucy countered as her red eye glowed.
"You talk big but you are aware that we're stronger than you both combined, right?" Desmond gave a side smirk.
"Don't look down on me." Lucy growled as she ran forward, her fist raised. "I'll knock you down grab whatever it is you got." She pointed at the item Arnold is holding, who placed it in his pocket.
"I'll handle this." Desmond told Arnold. "You run faster. Go to the hanger to ensure your safety."
"Got it." Arnold immediately began to turn around and dash for the exit of the room.
"Wait!" Nataline moved to chase him but Desmond blocked her path. Just then, Lucy was already very close to the boy and delivered a punch to his jaw. With a grunt, he staggered back but regained his balance easily.
"That kinda stung." Desmond muttered. "Look, I'm afraid to hurt girls."
"Good, maybe then we'll get a challenge." Lucy smirked as she spun around to deliver a kick to his gut. Desmond was caught off guard and fell backwards this time.
"Oof." He said in pain as he fell to the ground.
"Good job, now let's go." Nataline urged as she began running again.
"I'd rather stay behind and show this guy why nobody messes with me." Lucy said darkly as she stepped forward slowly towards Desmond, who was standing up now.
"But we have a challenge to win!" Nataline insisted.
"Then you go ahead!" Lucy shot back while glaring at her. "I'll follow you shortly."
Nataline just blinked and then sighed to herself as she turned around and ran after Arnold.
~Confessional~
Lucy: Nobody messes with me. That's what everyone should learn. *her red eye glows brighter* The other Lucy would allow herself to be trampled like that, but not me. Never me!
~End Confessional~
Arnold saw the door leading to the hanger and opened it and ran inside. He scanned the area to find Jane standing by the landing pad of the spacecraft.
"Hurry!" Jane urged the soccer player. "And where's Desmond?"
"He's holding off Lucy and Nataline." He answered as he ran up to her. "He told me to go ahead and protect this thing. Says it might be important." He presented the red disk from his pocket to her.
"What is this?" Jane asked.
"I don't know but it kept saying 'incompatible' when me and Desmond each took a turn in touching it." Arnold shrugged. "He said it's important because he thinks it's an asset."
"It might be." Jane inspected the device before taking it from him.
"COMPATIBLE! COMPATIBLE!" The device suddenly alarmed as it glowed brightly.
"What the-" Jane was interrupted when the device suddenly dismantled itself from the inside out. It's form became that of thin and flexible wires that crawled along her arm and then across her body.
"Jane!" Arnold tried to get the wires out but it held on tight to her skin.
"What's happening over there?" Tatiana stuck her neck out to try and get a better look at the scene.
"Aaahhh!" Jane screamed as she tried to use her other hand to stop it from spreading but only succeeded in making it spread faster all over her body. The wires then liquefied itself, searing her entire body in hot melted metal as Arnold saw that it slowly sunk into her system. She kept screaming as she was on her knees now, not bothering to open her eyes to see what was happening to her.
"Jane? Jane!" Arnold called out to her as he held both of her shoulders and shook them. The girl slowly opened her eyes while breathing heavily, still feeling the heat from the melted metal. She looked at herself and found out that it was completely gone. The device isn't in her hand anymore and the wires aren't around her. "Are you alright?" The soccer player asked.
"No of course not! God that hurts." Jane gritted her teeth as she slowly stood up. "Let's just get inside, and don't bring any more suspicious items. What the hell was Desmond thinking anyway?" She staggered towards the inside of the spacecraft.
Arnold simply shrugged. He glanced towards the door of the hanger, which opened to reveal Nataline running through it. "Why are you here? Where's Desmond?" He glared at her.
"Lucy is keeping him company. I'm sure she'll come through these doors instead of him, though." Nataline smirked. Seeing Tatiana pinned down by her chocobo, her face became that of concern. "Tatiana? What happened to you?"
"I got defeated by Cassie. Avenge me!" The gamer girl exclaimed with a pout. "She defeated Nelly and Terrance too."
"Guess we now know which team is the strongest." Arnold said with a wide grin. "You lose. Just surrender already."
"It's not yet over." Nataline shot back. She was about to say something again when the other door opened and Nelly, Jude, and Cyrus bursted through it.
"We can still make it." Nelly told her teammates as she slowly twirled her plasma staff.
"Give it to me, I'll take them out." Jude said as he ran forward and held out his palm.
"No! It's mine!" She insisted as she lagged behind.
"It's obviously too heavy for you so just give it to him." Cyrus pointed out to her as he ran ahead of her now.
"Well I'm not giving it up!" Nelly scowled.
"Stop fighting!" Nataline interrupted. "Just stop them!"
All three of them nodded and charged towards Arnold. The soccer player started running back inside the spacecraft and called out to his team.
"They're right outside. We have to stall them until Desmond comes." He told them all. Jane and Cassie nodded and immediately went out to meet with the Cyan Protoss team.
"Howdy, Nelly. Out for another round?" The rancher girl tipped her hat forward as she regarded the nerd.
Nelly looked her up and down to see her torn bodysuit. "Aw, did Terrance give you a hard time? I'll just have to finish what he started."
Nataline wanted to use this opportunity to tackle down Cassie while she's distracted but Jane got in her way. "Going somewhere, old teammate?" Jane smirked.
"That line didn't sound so good to the ears." Nataline pointed out.
"Yeah, that's true." Jane admitted. "But anyways, you won't get past me."
"You don't have an asset with you so I think our chances are equal." Nataline noted.
"We'll see about that." Jane gritted her teeth and ran towards her to punch her in the gut. To her surprise, her entire right arm formed into a sharp long blade. Nataline was surprised as well and froze her in place as the blade connected with her abdomen.
"Gahh..." The noble girl said in both shock and pain.
"Whoa." Jane widened her eyes at her own attack. In that moment, Nataline's avatar disappeared. "This is pretty cool."
"Nataline!" Jude saw the scene and ran towards where they are. Jane whipped her head back to him and could only look on in shock as the marksman tackled her hard to the ground. Instead of her avatar disappearing, her entire being turned into a puddle of liquid metal. "What the heck!?"
"Jane?" Cassie looked to see her friend become a puddle of liquid metal on the ground. She turned her attention back to Nelly and Cyrus before blocking a blow from the nerd's staff and kicking the emo boy aside. "Y'all don't stand a chance." She told them as she got the plasma staff from Nelly and snapped it in half with her knee.
"No! My weapon!" Nelly yelled out in anger. "You...You bitch!" She gave a battle cry and punched Cassie in the face, only for the other girl to duck and delivered a kick to her chest. The nerd was sent flying upwards and hit the ceiling, promptly making her avatar flickered out.
"Well that's a loss." Cyrus sighed as he backed off a bit.
"Aren't ya gonna avenge your teammate?" Cassie tilted her head.
"Not worth the beating." Cyrus deadpanned.
Desmond went through the door and immediately scanned the area for his teammates. "Is everyone here?"
"Yeah, we're just waiting up on you." Arnold called out from the landing pad of the spacecraft as he waved to his teammate. Cassie took this as a cue to retreat back to the spacecraft as well.
"But Jane got defeated y'all." The rancher girl pointed to the puddle of liquid metal as Desmond reached the landing pad, only to see that it started to form into Jane's silhouette.
"Is that-?" Arnold pointed at the metal forming and it remade itself to be Jane's avatar.
"Ah!" Jane gasped as she opened her eyes and looked at her body. "Hey, I'm back." She now looked all around her. "And I'm still in the hanger."
"We can figure this out later. Hurry up!" Desmond urged. Jane turned towards her teammates and nodded before joining them on the spacecraft, the landing pad closing just after she entered.
"Nooo!" Tatiana cried out as she watched the spacecraft close up entirely and fly away.
"Well we lost." Cyrus shrugged.
"Why aren't you sad or pissed or anything?" Tatiana pouted.
"Because it's not worth thinking of. I already know who is going home tonight." The emo boy said distantly as he began walking away.
"And just like that, the Silver Terminators won the challenge!" Chris announced through the speakers. "Cyan Protoss, I will see you in an hour for your elimination ceremony."
(Silver Terminators)
The team headed back to their respective outpost, clearly tired and worn out from the challenge. Cassie lagged behind so she can walk alongside Jane, who seemed to be staring at her right arm intently while moving her fingers slowly.
"What are ya doing back here?" The rancher girl asked while also looking at her friend's arm. "Ya seem focused on something."
"Earlier I defeated Nataline by punching her, but then my arm turned into this steel blade and I stabbed her instead. It's weird." Jane told her. "I don't remember doing it but it felt so real and my mind felt like it did that on purpose."
"Ya also turned into a gray puddle after Jude tackled you." Cassie remarked.
"Yeah which makes it even weirder. I felt unconscious for a moment but I knew that I became a puddle. Afterwards, I kinda willed myself to stand up." Jane tried to remember while looking up.
"Which ya did." Cassie nodded. "How did ya do that anyway? Is it a special item or something?"
"A special item..." Jane thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "That's it! It was the device that Arnold gave me." She realized.
"A device?" The rancher girl tilted her head to the side in confusion.
"When I held it, it suddenly glowed and said 'compatible'. Before I knew it, it dissolved into these metal wires and coiled around my body before turning into hot liquid and then disappearing slowly." Jane remembered. "Wait, what if it became a part of my body?"
"Ya mean you're metal now?" Cassie made a face.
"Could be." Jane shrugged.
"That's pretty cool. It has no chance of it breaking if it's in your body." Cassie thought aloud.
"Speaking of things that break, how's the suit?" She pointed towards the bodysuit her friend is wearing.
"I felt the power go out when we got on the vehicle." Cassie frowned as she tugged at the cloth. "Seems like it's broken now."
"W-What's broken now?" Phoebe asked meekly as she caught up with her friends.
"My suit, Phoebe." Cassie answered her with a sigh. "Terrance and me fought hard and his strikes cut through my suit."
"Yikes." Phoebe frowned. "T-That means you can't use it anymore r-right?"
"Sadly, yeah." Cassie sighed. "Sorry y'all."
"No problem. I got my metal self now." Jane smirked. "I hope I can get the hang of controlling this by tomorrow."
"J-Jane is metal now? Like a r-r-robot?" Phoebe asked, almost fearfully.
"Hey, don't worry about it so much." Jane crouched down in front of the doll faced girl. "I'm still me. I'm just an asset in itself."
"O-Okay, I trust you." Phoebe gave a small smile. "I just d-don't like robots much but y-you're an exemption because you're m-my friend."
"You're my friend too. Both of you." Jane smiled and hugged her. "Oh and Marvin too."
"Marvin, huh." Cassie glanced over at the front of the group where she saw Marvin conversing with Desmond.
~Confessional~
Cassie: I didn't get the chance to talk to Marvin about the votes last night. I wanna believe that the guy is on our side, but I see him talk to Desmond sometimes and I don't know what I should think about it. Maybe it's nothin'.
Jane: With this new asset I basically have an edge in the merge, which is near now that I think about it. People will obviously target me for having it so I better plan carefully.
~End Confessional~
Desmond and Marvin were walking side by side, talking with one another in hushed tones. They stopped when Arnold called them and jog up towards them.
"Hey so I just wanna say that we played a good game there." The soccer player beamed.
"Why does it feel like you'll have a completely different reaction if we lost?" Desmond sighed and shook his head.
"Don't spoil the moment." Arnold frowned. "I just wanna thank you guys for your hard work. I mean, we won thanks to a team effort."
"It was always about team effort." Desmond looked ahead. "We just don't usually work as well as the other team."
"To be fair, the other team's assets are much more versatile." Marvin remarked. "But now we can see that Tatiana's mount isn't going to help much anymore."
"It doesn't have to help them anymore. Merge is coming up." Desmond reminded him. "After their elimination ceremony, we'll be half the cast."
"Actually I was gonna talk to you guys about that too." Arnold interjected. "I say us guys should work together to eliminate the girls."
"Marvin is loyal to his alliance because Phoebe is there." Desmond glanced at Marvin for a moment, who seemed to be in thought.
"Oh right." Arnold remembered. "But that just leaves the two of us then."
"It does." Desmond confirmed. "We'll need more allies and the only way to do that is to talk with those of the other team."
"Are you both talking about strategy in front of me?" Marvin asked as he glanced at both of them.
"No we aren't. Anyways, gotta go take a shower." Arnold chuckled a bit nervously as he jogged ahead of them and went inside the outpost.
"We're going to have to eliminate him fast." Desmond told Marvin.
"Why?" The other boy asked.
"He's pretty loud and desperate. It will ruin our long term plans." Desmond said simply.
"That makes sense." Marvin nodded. "We'll see how the game will go then."
"Yes since we're in a good spot for now." Desmond agreed. "We observe and vote the way others do, but don't forget our main targets."
~Confessional~
Desmond: Arnold is just become more of a nuisance ever since we were plunged into the minority. Without Shane, I'm forced to trust in Marvin to be my aide which is risky since he could still be a hundred percent loyal to his alliance. I need to tread carefully now.
Marvin: Desmond raises a good point, but I should remember that my alliance is with Phoebe. If Phoebe is in danger of being eliminated then I should do what I can to help her out, no matter who it is I have to betray to do it.
~End Confessional~
(Cyan Protoss)
Cyrus sat on a large rock near the outpost to think when he was approached by Lucy.
"So, have you given up on trying to survive this game?" She asked him with a smirk.
"Shut up." The emo boy sighed.
"You're not gonna win this game and that's a fact you have to accept." Lucy told him bluntly. "You might as well vote for yourself."
"Maybe I will." Cyrus rolled his eyes. "Look if you're just here to bug me then you can just piss off right now because I'm trying to think and gather inspiration before I leave, alright?" He said, exasperated.
"Actually, I'm not here to just berate you and gloat." Lucy said in a serious tone as her red eye gleamed a bit.
"Then what do you want?" Cyrus raised his eyebrow in wonder.
"A chance for you to redeem yourself." Lucy said simply. "I have a target in mind and I want you to vote for her."
"I'm listening, even though I know it's useless." Cyrus sighed.
"I want you to vote for Nataline tonight." Lucy told him with an evil grin.
"Nataline?" Cyrus narrowed his eyes at her.
"That's right. You don't have any objections, right? Just think about how prideful she was in this game. Think of how she treated you. Now vote for her, and watch as her face becomes that of confusion and terror when she realizes she can't even reach the merge." Lucy urged him as she held his shoulder and gave a squeeze.
"...I'll do it." Cyrus said finally. "I hope it works."
"Trust me, it will." Lucy gave a short laugh as she turned and walked away.
~Confessional~
Cyrus: Vote out Nataline, huh? I guess my last stand could be to vote for someone I don't like. Although I'm curious why she didn't wanna go for Jude instead? Oh right, they're lovers. Typical emotions.
~End Confessional~
Terrance and Tatiana were at the back of the outpost, sitting down with a few tools splayed out in front of them. In front of them was Terrance's gauntlet that erected a psionic blade during the challenge. Leaning against the wall was Tatiana's mecha chocobo, still in its heavily damaged form.
"It's still in the experimental stage so of course it's gonna be a bit buggy." Terrance told the gamer girl. "And yet it failed me in a critical moment."
"I don't think you would have survived those bullets either way." Tatiana pointed out. "And let's look on the bright side! You destroyed Cassie's bodysuit!" She exclaimed and clapped. This made Terrance smile a bit.
"Yeah, that was pretty cool." He said while he adjusted some screws on the gauntlet.
"What about my chocobo? Can it still be fixed?" Tatiana asked sadly as she glanced at her broken mount.
"It can." Terrance looked over his shoulder at the chocobo as well. "But I'll work on this first."
"Okay." Tatiana nodded as she helped out with the repairs on the gauntlet.
~Confessional~
Tatiana: I'm pretty bummed out that my loyal pet got defeated and ...destroyed like that, but hey Terrance said it can still be fixed so that's good news for me! *she beamed*
~End Confessional~
Terrance looked extremely focused on what he was doing, adjusting the wires and repairing a few loose ends on the gauntlet. Tatiana helped in a minor scale, constantly glancing back at her mecha chocobo with a frown.
"I'm gonna go get some water." She announced before standing up and leaving Terrance alone for a while. The techie boy didn't even respond due to his concentration.
The gamer girl went along the side of the outpost and saw Lucy walk up to her from the front. The other girl had an evil grin on her face and her red eye gleamed in the darkness.
"Tatiana." Lucy regarded the gamer girl in an even tone.
"Lucy?" Tatiana hitched a breath when she saw her there. The other girl moved forward a bit.
"Let's talk about the votes." Lucy said with a hint of a sinister tone. "You'll definitely want to hear my offer."
"Why should I? You're not even yourself!" Tatiana exclaimed, backing up a bit. Lucy only stepped forward to close the distance a bit.
"That may be true in your eyes but that isn't important right now." Lucy gave a knowing smirk. "You like Terrance, right?"
"That's right. I even told you about it." Tatiana remembered. "Why?"
"And I'm guessing that he does not know about it yet, right?" Lucy gave a sinister grin.
"Well yeah but..." Tatiana widened her eyes. "Wait, are you going to tell him!? Please don't tell him!" She pleaded.
"Then maybe you'd like to listen to what I have to say." Lucy walked closer to the gamer girl. "I want you to vote off Nataline tonight."
"What!?" Tatiana gasped. "I can't do that. She's my friend."
"Then I suppose you can go find out Terrance's reaction when I tell him about your feelings." Lucy started to walk past her but she blocked her path and held out her two hands.
"Wait wait wait! Can't we talk about this first?" The gamer girl begged.
"This is the only offer I'll make. Vote for Nataline or your secret comes out. I will know whether you did vote for her or not." Lucy laughed as she walked in the other direction.
"But that's..." Tatiana wanted to say something else but decided to think to herself instead.
Nelly, Nataline, and Jude were inside the outpost eating dinner. Nelly finished first and leaned back into her chair and just stared at the ceiling.
"So it's voting time again." The nerd sighed to herself.
"Who will you vote for?" Jude asked casually.
"We're obviously voting for Cyrus." Nataline said as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "It's really time for him to go."
"Yeah his attitude is annoying." Nelly rolled her eyes.
"If I'm going to be honest, so is yours." Nataline told her bluntly.
"Excuse me?" Nelly looked angry. "Well I don't like your attitude either. Terrance and Cyrus agrees with me."
"But I'm not a target tonight, Cyrus is." Nataline reminded her.
"Hey guys-" Jude tried to say.
"You act all high and mighty just because you're rich md have a high social status. But in this game, we're all on equal footing." Nelly shot back while pointed at the other girl with an accusing finger.
"Listen, we should-" Jude tried again.
"And you're just a lowly commoner who thinks she can tango with those out of her league." Nataline retorted.
"Wait a minute. What did you say?" Jude interjected firmly as he banged a palm on the table to get their attention. "Lowly commoner?"
Nataline's eyes widened. "It's not what you think. I just lost my temper." She reasoned.
"I came from a poor family and we barely get by." Jude said softly. "There are some people who even look down on us because of that condition we're in. But we didn't choose it. It only happened after mom died." He sighed sadly then glared at Nataline. "To hear a rich girl say that is pretty insulting."
"I told you she's that prideful!" Nelly accused with a victorious smirk.
"Jude, you're my friend. I don't think of you like that." Nataline tried to assure him but to no avail. The marksman stood up and quietly went upstairs to the boys' bedroom.
"You're screwed now. Maybe he'll vote for you tonight." Nelly laughed haughtily.
"Nonsense. The plan is to vote for Cyrus. I talked to Lucy about it earlier." Nataline insisted.
"I think I'm going to like this elimination ceremony." Nelly continued to laugh. Nataline just rolled her eyes.
~Confessional~
Nelly: Maybe I should vote for Nataline tonight and see where this goes. I mean, she's technically useless to me since the teams will obviously dissolve tomorrow when we hit merge. I just don't see why we should keep her.
Jude: I thought that maybe I was overthinking this, but now I know that Nataline does think of us as nothing more than 'lowly commoners'. At least Cyrus doesn't insult us about our lifestyle. Damn, this vote is gonna be hard.
Nataline: Why do I get the strange feeling that I should be careful of tonight's elimination? Surely Jude and Nelly aren't thinking of voting me out right? And even if they do, the rest of them will vote for Cyrus. Well maybe not Terrance since he hates me, but still. Perhaps I should show Nelly what happens when she messes with a Louise girl.
~End Confessional~
(Elimination Ceremony)
The Cyan Protoss team arrived at the elimination site and sat down at the center seats and saw the Silver Terminators arrive after them to sit at the sidelines. Chris was at the center and in front of the losing team, holding six space food containers.
"After tonight, both teams will have even number of members." Chris remarked. "That means that both teams were pretty much equal." He added with a snicker.
"Not that it would matter because merge is coming." Nelly rolled her eyes.
"I was saving it as a surprise." Chris glared at the nerd. "Party pooper." Nelly just scoffed.
"Anyone who watches this series knows this already." Terrance voiced out.
"Yeah but what about the first-timers?" Chris whined before shaking his head. "Well nevermind. First things first, the votes." He grinned sadistically. "If I call your name and hand you a space food container then you're safe."
"Jude." The marksman caught his container with a neutral look.
"Lucy." The red eyed girl caught hers with a sinister grin that nobody seemed to notice.
"Terrance." The techie boy got his.
"Tatiana." The gamer girl smiled and sighed as she got hers.
"Nataline, Nelly, and Cyrus." Chris glanced at the three contestants he mentioned. "All of you received at least one vote. In fact, only one of you received more than one vote. And the people who are safe are...
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... Nelly and Cyrus!" He announced and passed on the last two containers at the said people.
"W...What?" Nataline said in disbelief.
"Nataline, you have received the most votes and therefore have lost your chance to win the million." Chris told the noble girl.
"Wait! That can't be! Maybe you miscounted." Nataline said, almost desperately and in tears.
"I didn't miscount. Those were the votes." Chris affirmed.
"But I- I just can't leave! Not when I'm so close to merge!" Nataline stood up and glanced at all her teammates. "Why me? Where did I ever go wrong?" She asked them softly yet angrily. Nobody answered her and some even looked away.
"Any last words you want to tell Nataline before she gets beamed away?" Chris asked the Cyan Protoss. Tatiana fidgeted in her seat, looking troubled. "Tatiana?" The host regarded the gamer girl. She then sprang up and showed her Invincibility Statue.
"I use my Statue on Nataline!" She exclaimed as she shoved it in Chris' hands, who had to step back to avoid losing balance.
"Okay okay, geez." The host grumbled as he took the Invincibility Statue. "And by the power vested in the Invincibility Statue, I hereby declare that Nataline is safe from elimination!"
"What?" Nataline said in disbelief once more, wiping away her tears.
"What!?" Nelly exclaimed in anger and shock. "That's not fair!"
"It is fair to me. And I made the rules, remember?" Chris smirked. "So now we're faced with a tiebreaker since both Nelly and Cyrus only received one vote each."
"I'm ready to beat up this emo kid." Nelly said arrogantly.
"Sorry but that's not happening." Cyrus narrowed his eyes at her.
"There will be no dueling." Chris clarified. "The tiebreaker challenge is actually something so simple. You just have to guess what colored ball this is." He took out something from his pocket but refused to show what it is to the two of them. "It's either cyan or silver, make your choice. If you get it right then you stay. That simple." He explained.
"Silver!" Nelly called.
"Fine, so mine is cyan." Cyrus sighed.
"And the colored ball is..." Chris paused for dramatic effect.
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..."Cyan!" He announced as he opened his palm to reveal a small cyan colored plastic ball inside.
"No!" Nelly screamed.
"Yes!" Cyrus cheered but then went back to not grinning at all. "I mean, meh."
"Nelly, you are the 13th place loser for tonight." Chris announced. "Despite being the one to spoil about the merge, you're not gonna be in it." He added with a victorious smirk.
"This is so unfair!" Nelly seethed in anger as she stomped her foot in the ground. "I hate games of chance!"
"Well apparently it hates you too." Cyrus shrugged.
"Why you-!" Nelly was about to strangle Cyrus when a beam of light suddenly shone down on the nerd and took her avatar away from the virtual world.
"Well that was dramatic and satisfying." Chris chuckled. "That's all for tonight, folks. You may get back to your outpost." He said dismissively.
The Silver Terminators left the site first followed by the Cyan Protoss. Nataline panted a bit as she wiped the last of her tears away, still shocked by the events as Tatiana held her wrist and tried to comfort her. Lucy shared a glance with Terrance, who only sighed in response. Jude looked surprised by the results but kept quiet while Cyrus was grinning from ear to ear.
~Votes~
Nataline: I vote for Nelly. I know that it's not gonna make much difference but I want her to feel what it's like being on the final two with Cyrus. *she smirks*
Terrance: I vote for Nataline, at last. Yes I know that I strayed from this goal a bit but now I'm definitely gonna have her eliminated tonight.
Jude: I vote for Cyrus. I really hated what Nataline said but she can't be as bad as Cyrus. Maybe she'll apologize for it tomorrow.
Lucy: My vote goes to Nataline, just as I planned it. And of course, I know that she's going to be eliminated tonight. *her red eye glows and she laughs*
Nelly: After what Nataline said back there, I'm totally voting for her. I know Cyrus is going home but I wanna vote for her for satisfaction. *she shrugs*
Cyrus: I'm gonna trust Lucy on this and vote for Nataline. Can't say I'm all too happy about my chances of staying though.
Tatiana: I really like Nataline as a friend but I don't want Terrance to know that I like him yet. I'm so so so sorry Nataline. I really am. *she frowns and grips her hat in her hand in frustration*
~Eliminated~
(24th place) Richard - The Maestro
(23rd place) Delilah - The Serpent
(22nd place) Felix - The Prankster
(21st place) Harvey - The Chill Guy
(20th place) Betty - The Phone Addict
(19th place) Nicholas - The Detective
(18th place) Wesley - The Blue Blood
(17th place) Valerie - The Energetic Flirt
(16th place) Shane - The Lone Wolf
(15th place) Ivy - The Distant Cloud
(14th place) Sarah - The Rocker Girl
(13th place) Nelly - The Arrogant Nerd
Chris can be seen standing alone at the elimination site, giving his trademark smile to the camera.
"That was a dramatic way to end a night." He remarked. "The last Invincibility Statue was used and on top of that was a tiebreaker! Things are surely going to get interesting from here. Is Tatiana safe now that her Statue has been used? Does Nataline feel safe knowing that the majority of her team voted for her? Where does Marvin's loyalties lie? And what will Jane do with her new asset? Find out next time on Total...Drama...Sci-fi Showdown!" He exclaimed with his arms spread as the camera turned off.
And there goes Nelly, the final pre-merge boot. As a character, she was meant to have a colorful personality that will somehow keep things lively in both her team and in the game itself. Her arrogant nature brought her many enemies but her talents got her some friends too. She may look like she was set for the merge but I felt like the merge spotlight isn't for her. She played a long game and I'm proud of how her character has been written. Sorry to all the Nelly fans out there, but this is the end of the road for her. Please review and tell me what you think of the merge cast now and I'll see you guys next time. :) XBloodLegendX