I know I didn't respond to chapter one reviews, but the reviews from chapter two were so good that I felt I had to respond to them, and since replying to them here seems like a popular method, I'll try that. Here we go!
WeirdAlfan101: Yes, I will be doing All-Stars in between the two seasons. I want to see how the outcomes of this season affect the events of All-Stars. Sorry, but I can't say who qualifies for it because that would be spoilers.
SideshowJazz1: Yes, Amy's gone, and I cannot answer as to whether she returns or not, because that would be spoilers. I know that the episodes are sticking close to the originals, but that's what happens when you're starting from the beginning. We will be straying from canon more over time.
StarHeart Specials: Thanks for the review, and you're welcome for ditching Amy. Like I told WeirdAlfan101, I do plan on writing All-Stars.
sdgeek: I'm glad that you like what I'm doing with Rodney. The canon cast basically ignored him or dismissed him about his love life, and I wanted that to get some attention. I'm also glad that you liked the scene with the beavers. I wasn't sure about it personally, but I'm glad someone liked it.
Fangren: Thanks for the review! Rodney voted for Amy because he is in love with Jasmine now, and he'll do what she says. If he was still in love with Amy, he would've voted for Sammy. I'm glad that you liked Dave's mirroring of Scott's idol hunt scene. I didn't really plan for it to go that way, and just sorta ran with it when I thought of it. I couldn't really think of anyone else to have the subplot with Fang so I settled with Sugar.
Madness is a State of Mind: Thanks for the review! I'm sorry that you're sad about Amy, but it was necessary. Nice to know you enjoyed the chapter, though.
SilentSinger948: Thanks for the review! Yeah, Leonard and Amy are annoying, each to their own degree, and yeah, some of the cast are aware of what goes on around them.
Now with reviews out of the way, onward to the episode!
Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, or anything in the franchise. I only own a DVD of season one.
Episode 3- Ice Ice Baby
"Previously on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, we learned that although our campers are here to win, they are all losers in one way or another. Really, really big losers. It was a psychological butt-kicking that quickly turned literal, then comical, and then hysterical." Chris chuckled. "But in the end, Amy got the biggest boot of all. Bye-bye!
"I love my job," Chris remarked to the camera when it flashed to him, and backed up so he could be in full view. "Stay tuned as more things blow up, more contestants throw up, and some even try to hook up right here on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"
(cue theme song)
Some bushes near the Mess Hall rustled as a mouse with an abnormally large brain scurried out into the open. A shadow appeared over the mutated creature, revealing the shadow to be a screeching eagle with its talons out for grabbing. The mouse's eyes glowed green, and shot a beam of green light at the bird. The bird froze on contact, and began getting slammed back and forth into the ground around the mouse, the mouse presumably using some form of psychic powers to control the bird's movements. After thrashing the bird thoroughly, the mouse carelessly tossed the bird aside, and continued towards the Mess Hall, getting in through a small hole in the door.
Inside the Mess Hall, the two teams sat at their respective tables. The Rats took the table nearest to the exit, and the Maggots took the table nearest to the kitchen.
Shawn put a spoonful of gruel in his mouth, and his eyes bulged in response. Coughing, he spat out the gruel. "Man! I thought the slop I have prepared for my bunker would be worse than this!"
"Do I even want to ask about the slop?" Dave asked from across the table.
(Confessional- Dave)
"So," Dave began to count on his fingers, "the beds suck, the cabins suck, the bathroom sucks, the wildlife sucks, and the food sucks. That's five-star material right there." He concluded, holding his hand up to the camera, despite the fact he only had four digits.
Scarlett lifted a scoop of food to her mouth, intending to eat it, but she paused at the sound of tinkering at work. Her eye twitching, she looked to her right. "Max, what are you doing?" The shot zoomed out, showing Max sitting next to her. Unlike everybody else in the Mess Hall, he had no bowl of gruel in sight.
"Working on a tool of evil." Max stated simply as he connected some things together. Looking up, he proudly gestured to the device that resembled a helmet with a bunch of wires and little bulbs attached to it, "This, my future minion, is a helmet of evil. It tampers with the wearer's brainwaves and brings out the evil within them. This island is crawling with creatures that would make good minions with their strange powers. I just put this on one of them and bam, Evil has a servant capable of taking over the world! Mwahahaha!" He cackled before calming down, "Though, it's not working right yet for some reason. I'll keep working on it until I've got it."
Scarlett scanned her eyes over the device, and noticed that a plug wasn't connected to an outlet. The object seemed well put together, but yet, the wannabe villain didn't seem to remember to plug the cord in. "You do that," Scarlett said at last, eating another spoonful of slop.
To Max's right, Jasmine and Sammy sat together. Jasmine seemed relaxed as she ate while Sammy had a sad expression on her face.
"I can't believe that I'm here, and Amy's not. Amy never leaves me alone." Sammy confessed to Jasmine.
A grin formed on Jasmine's face at Sammy's words. "You have me to thank for that. When you and Amy were in the bathroom after the challenge yesterday, I had a little talk with the team."
"Wait, so it was you that got her out instead of me? Thank you so much, Jasmine!" Sammy beamed gratefully, "You won't regret keeping me on the team."
"I already don't," Jasmine replied confidently, and continued to eat. "What we did was best for the team. Right, Rodney?" She glanced across the table at the country boy.
Rodney perked up from where he was stirring his food around his bowl. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Amy… vote… mutant shark… hearts…" He trailed off the longer he looked at Jasmine.
(Confessional- Rodney)
"It's too bad we had to vote Amy off," Rodney admitted in the outhouse. "She was my first girlfriend on the island, but then Jasmine came in and stole my heart away…" He held his hands to his heart, and sighed blissfully.
"I wish we could've kept her around," Topher spoke up from his seat next to Rodney, across from Sammy. "Her bad attitude would've been good for ratings, and maybe a showmance too."
"Showmance?" Sammy repeated, her tone giving off a sense of worry.
"A showmance is a relationship on TV played up for drama and ratings. It works every time," Topher answered, casually waving his hand. At this, Rodney gave him a curious glance.
Over at the Rats' table, Beardo scooped up a spoonful of gruel with two little antenna poking out of it. Beardo didn't notice, but when he put in his mouth, he began to choke. Clutching his throat, he got to his feet, and stood away from the table, gagging.
"Hang on, Beardo!" Sky called out, rushing up behind Beardo and giving him a hefty whack on his back. The force was enough to make him spit out whatever he was choking on. A little beetle flew out among bits of gruel, and bounced onto the floor.
Wiping his brow, Beardo said, "Phew! Thanks for the save there, Sky."
The rest of his team stared at him in shock. "Did you just-?" Sky stammered, her eyes wide.
"Afro guy can talk?!" Sugar exclaimed, blown away by the revelation.
"Of course I can talk," Beardo replied in a calm tone, acting as if he had been talking the whole time. "Got to thank someone who saves your life, you know?" Ella seemingly paid no attention to his words, instead walking over to the beetle that he had coughed up, and picking it up in her hands.
"Poor little beetle, did you end up in Beardo's breakfast by accident?" She cooed to the insect, soothingly running her finger across its back.
Dave pointed a finger at the insect. "I could've eaten that?!" He stared at his bowl, and shoved it away with a grimace. "Suddenly, I'm not so hungry anymore…"
"I'll take it!" Sugar immediately offered, and snatched up the bowl before anyone could object. She chugged the bowl's contents into her mouth.
At the other table, the mouse from earlier turned up on the tabletop, catching Scarlett's attention. "Fascinating," she said as she adjusted her glasses, "the effects of the toxic waste has apparently increased the size of this rodent's cranium, and gave it increased intelligence. I have to examine this." Scarlett observed, reaching out to pick up the mouse.
Before she could, the mouse rose a few inches into the air above the table and its eyes began to glow. Retracting her outstretched hand, she gave a small gasp of shock.
From the outside of the Mess Hall, a racket could be heard inside the building along with several screams from the campers. Eventually, the majority of them, but not all, ran outside to a safe distance from the building. Moments after they left the premises, a refrigerator flew out the door and crashed into the ground.
The campers bent over, gasping for breath when they heard a gravelly scream, and turned their heads. The scene panned over a few feet, showing Max flying into the ground, heels over his head and his homemade helmet in his hands.
"Attention, players!" Chris' voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "Please head to the looming tragedy that is Mount Looming Tragedy!" A dark mountain with ominous clouds circling around it was shown over the treetops. "Your race begins now!" To underline his order, he blared his air horn over the loudspeakers.
"Let's move, Maggots!" Jasmine commanded, and the teams started running past the Mess Hall. Of the group, Max was lagging behind at a noticeable gap.
One by one, the campers reached the base of the mountain, which itself was on top of a hill. Each camper panted as they reached their destination.
"A simple run like that?" Topher weakly stated, "not a good first challenge of the day, Chris."
Dave was the last to appear on the scene, and he walked over to a bush a few feet down from the others. Collapsing onto his knees, he barfed into the bush.
Shawn shook his head as Dave wiped his mouth with a sanitized cloth. "Dude, you need to exercise more." A whistle caught the teens' attention.
"Okay, mutant food, on with the challenge!" Chris gleefully declared, standing with Chef Hatchet near a jeep. "Part one is an uphill battle." The host gestured to the mountain. "You have to climb all the way up to that cliff. First team to reach the top gets advantage in part two. You can climb with your hands, or with whatever you find in the pile," he explained, and pointed to a pile of random junk a few feet away. "Don't worry, this junkyard doesn't have a dog; it has a giant, mutant beetle!"
Said mutant beetle poked its head out from behind the pile, hissing as its red eyes glowed. This appearance prompted gasps of fright from some of the campers. Ella stared at the beetle with a thoughtful gaze.
Chris chuckled at the contestants' reactions. "This guy is a bit of a hoarder. His estate is full of useful crud and disgusting crud."
As if to prove Chris' point, the beetle hauled a toilet out of the junk pile, and threw it at the contestants. Jasmine, Rodney, Sammy, Sky, and Shawn all ducked to avoid the toilet flying over their heads.
"That is," Chris continued to explain, "if you can get near it!" He then signaled to Chef, who was now on top of the mountain and blowing a horn. Chris pumped a fist, and exclaimed, "It is on!"
Taking that as their cue to begin the challenge, both teams dashed forward to get started.
"Go, Maggots, go!" Jasmine rallied her team.
Max whined pitifully as he tried to reach a ledge. "Curse this mountain and its lack of short handholds!"
"You can do it, Max!" Sammy called down from up above. As she returned to her task, her hand slipped when she attempted to grab a handhold, and she began to scream.
The tanned arm of Jasmine reached down, and hauled her up.
Sammy sighed in relief at Jasmine's save. "Thanks so much!"
"Any time, mate!" Jasmine replied, tipping her hat in acknowledgement.
Sky hummed in thought, watching the two girls. "That was nice of her."
"And risky," Shawn added, climbing up past Sky a few feet away. "A move like that could put her in the arm's reach of the undead."
The gymnast gave him a weird look. "Haven't you been saying the last couple days that zombies can't climb?"
Shawn nodded at her. "Yeah, but imagine if she had done that close to the ground instead of way up here."
"…I guess that's fair." Sky concluded, and continued climbing along with the conspiracy nut.
Not too far behind Sky and Shawn, Dave struggled to make progress.
"Eugh, I'm getting all kinds of sweaty today," he complained with a whimper in his voice. "I'm going to need a nice, hot shower after this challenge."
"You may need one, but I won't." Topher spoke up, coming up to Dave's level.
Dave gave Topher a perplexed look. "How are you not sweaty by now?"
"Want to know my secret? It's a little combination of two things called muscle and lucky handholds, two things of which you don't have. Might want to work on that." Topher confessed cockily.
"Oi, Topher!" Jasmine shouted, the view returning to her and Sammy. "Stop talking to the other team, and climb!"
Topher called back, "On it!" Jasmine continued up with Sammy after that, and Topher leaned close to Dave. "Seriously though, work on that muscle. You're not going to pick up any chicks without it." He grabbed another handhold, and made his way further up the mountain.
Dave seemed to take Topher's comments seriously, as he put a finger to his chin. "Work on that muscle…"
Sugar attempted to file her nails with the tooth she got from Fang as she sat on a boulder near the mountain.
"Hey, Sugar?" Chris asked as the camera zoomed out to show him standing next to her. "Aren't you going to do the challenge?"
"Right after that run you made us do? Heck no!" Sugar retorted, giving him a scalding glare with one eye. She continued to file. "Give me a few minutes. We have a few minutes break between sessions of a pageant to get ready for the next one."
The camera panned over, and showed Ella standing at the base of the mountain, wondering how she was going to get up to the top. She glanced to her right, and Beardo came sliding down to the ground.
"I think this might be game over for me," Beardo huffed, punctuating his statement with a game over sound effect.
"Don't give up, Beardo." Ella encouraged as she put a hand on his shoulder, and pointed to the right. "Look! Some members of the other team might be onto something."
Scarlett kneeled next to the junk pile, scribbling something in the dirt with a stick and occasionally looking at the junk pile. Max sat a few feet away from her, watching her like an impatient child.
"Hope they have a plan for that beetle, otherwise they're toast," Beardo remarked.
Up on the mountain, Sky moved to another handhold, but as she did so, her foot accidentally knocked a few rocks astray. "Oops!" She yelped sincerely, looking down as the rocks fell.
Jasmine happened to glance up at the noise, and cried out, "Avalanche!" She and Sammy screamed as the rocks pushed them off their current perch.
"Ava-what?" Topher inquired, only for the two girls to crash into him, and then the three of them hit Rodney on the way down too.
The four Maggots groaned in pain as they laid on the ground at the base of the mountain, not too far from where Sugar was sitting.
Sugar paused in her nail filing, and looked up. "Someone sounds hurt," she observed as she glanced around, her lips forming a gleeful smile. "Was it Ella that got hurt?"
Scarlett attempted to walk up to the junk pile to retrieve something, but a stream of fire got in her way, forcing her to retreat. The source of the fire happened to be the beetle.
"Whoa! Fire too? I wasn't being literal when I said they were going to be toast," Beardo stated, watching the encounter with wide eyes.
"Whether you were being literal or not, we must help them! They could get hurt!" Ella declared, running over to assist.
Beardo lifted a hand up to stop her, but the act failed. "Ella, don't!"
Running over to the junk pile, Ella cast a disapproving scowl the beetle's way. "Excuse me, but that was very rude. I know you're supposed to guard the pile, but that's no excuse to spit fire at people." She waved a scolding finger at the beetle.
The beetle hissed warningly.
Max got to his feet, and walked over to Ella. "Did you really think being polite would work? You must show dominance if you want someone to obey you. Watch!" He marched over to the pile, putting his fists on his hips. "Listen, you reject of an insect! I command you to stand down, and let us take your things!"
As the beetle sent out another warning hiss, his eyes glowed. Max noticed this, and his pupils shrunk in fright.
"Um, please?" He added weakly, putting on a strained smile.
The beetle spewed fire at Max's feet, forcing him to jump away. The beetle curled into a ball, and started rolling after Max, who ran away.
"Stop! Your evil master commands it!" The wannabe villain shouted as he ran. Scarlett had an odd smile on her face while Ella watched with concern, and Beardo hesitantly walked over to join them.
Rodney groaned, getting to his feet with Topher while Jasmine helped Sammy up. "What hit me?"
"We did," Sammy answered ashamedly. "Now we're back to square one!"
"And unless we can somehow climb like crazy monkeys," Topher noted while glancing up at the competition still climbing, "it looks like we're hosed."
Jasmine looked over to the junk, and raised an eyebrow. "Say, what's Scarlett up to?"
Scarlett appeared to be attempting to pry some sort of tarp out of the pile, but her lack of physical strength wouldn't allow the tarp to budge.
"You think she figured out a way to get up to the top fast enough?" Sammy asked.
"Let's hope so. She might be our only shot. Come on." Jasmine motioned for her teammates to follow, and they went over to the pile.
Max's cries of pain from being pummeled by the beetle went ignored by his team as they helped Scarlett do whatever she had planned. Meanwhile, Beardo dug through the pile for something to use while Ella appeared reluctant to make a choice to do anything.
Up at the top of the mountain, Chef stood surrounded by huge blocks of ice. Below him, Shawn was pretty close to the top. Chef's walkie-talkie crackled to life, and Chef lifted it to his ear.
"You know what to do! Ice them!" Chris' voice cackled, causing Chef to grin deviously.
"Almost there…" Shawn grunted under his breath.
Chef held an ice block over the edge of the summit, and dropped it. Shawn only had a moment to look up before the block slammed into his face, and he lost hold of the mountain. Sky watched as her teammate fell past her, and so did Dave, who appeared to be following Sky's path to the top. Chef then turned his attention to Sky and Dave, beginning to drop blocks down their area.
Sky yelped, pressing close to the ledge she was on. "I guess being small has its advantages sometimes!"
Dave dodged the first few, and laughed. "Ha! Easy as pi-!" He, however, failed to dodge the last of the volley.
"It looks like it's just me left," Sky said, watching Dave fall and wincing when his impact with the ground was heard. "Unless…" Her eyes trailed off to the side.
Sugar continued to file her nails as she sat, but froze when she heard a voice.
"Hey, Sugar! You might want to come up here!" The gymnast shouted. "I think there's a tiara up here for whoever gets up here first! They'll be queen of the mountain!"
Sugar's face lit up. "A tiara? Queen of the mountain? Why, that has my name written all over it!" She stood, and walked past the recovering Shawn and Dave, and began her climb.
Chef threw down another block, this time aimed for Sugar. The pageant queen made no attempt to dodge. It hit her in the face, broke into pieces, and she scowled.
"Hey, watch it! You're gonna smudge my makeup!" The pageant queen hollered, punching a block and breaking it into pieces before it could hit her.
Sky watched in surprised awe at Sugar's display.
(Confessional- Sky)
"If you want someone to be a team player, you have to get them properly motivated," Sky commented in the outhouse. She glanced off to the side. "That said, I hope Sugar doesn't get too mad that I lied to her."
Shawn and Dave finally got back on their feet, and turned to check the other team's progress.
"Now, attach that pole there," Scarlett directed as her teammates built something with a mattress, a tarp, and some big lighter. "Samey, are those knots secure?"
Sammy held up some rope tied into a knot. "I think so?"
"Jasmine, check Sammy's work," Scarlett decided, and turned, pointing to Rodney and Topher. "You two, finish fastening the burner."
Dave and Shawn exchanged puzzled looks, shrugged, and started the climb again.
On the other side of the junk pile, the beetle had Max in a headlock, and was punching him with a boxing glove.
"I ordered you- to stop- punching- me! Dang it!" Max barked as best as he could while beaten up.
"I want to be nice," Beardo told Ella as they stood off to the side, watching. Though, Ella seemed to be thinking of something rather than watching attentively like Beardo. "But, he's part of the other team, and I don't want that thing coming after me."
Ella murmured to herself. "Upset beetle, lost baby beetle, oh!" Everything clicked into place for her, and she brought out the little beetle she had found and Beardo choked on earlier. "Could you be family?"
The little beetle emitted a squeak, catching the larger beetle's attention. The larger beetle dropped Max. The baby beetle jumped from Ella's hands, and skittered over. Picking up the little beetle, the larger one patted its back, and the little one burped a spark of fire.
A smile appeared on the father beetle's face, and he retreated back behind the pile.
"Wasn't that just wonderful?" Ella cooed to Beardo.
Beardo shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that was nice."
"You couldn't have figured that out ages ago?!" Max's shrill voice exclaimed off-screen, causing the two Rats to flinch.
While that happened, the rest of the Maggots completed construction of their project. It appeared to be a mattress attached to the burner, and rope tied a tarp to the burner.
"Uh, if we were building a hot air balloon, wouldn't the bath tub have worked better?" Rodney inquired.
Scarlett walked over, adjusting her glasses. "While for practicality purposes, the tub would've been the better choice, but seeing as we're racing against the other team, we required less weight and more speed."
Max grumbled, walking over while rubbing his back. "Couldn't you have finished the stupid project after you helped your leader?"
Ignoring Max, Scarlett commanded, "Everybody on the mattress!"
"Evil does not-!" Max's comment was cut off by Jasmine grabbing his arm.
"Just get on!" She ordered, tugging him on and shoving him onto Rodney's lap.
"Everybody, please do not fall off otherwise this will have been for naught," Scarlett requested as she fiddled with a knob on the burner.
Fire appeared in the burner, and the sheet above it began to fill with hot air. Slowly, the sheet turned into a balloon, and the mattress began to rise.
"It's working!" Sammy cheered.
Topher grinned at Dave, Shawn, and Sugar as they passed them up. "Looks like Team Maggot is making a comeback!" The three opposing team members gawked at the Maggots' ride.
Chef turned his attention to the Maggots, and readied to strike them down when someone appeared on the mountaintop.
"I made it! I got here first!" Sky exclaimed, jumping up and down with happily raised fists.
"Look out above!" Jasmine's voice rang out, and Sky and Chef whirled to face the direction her voice came from.
The Maggots' makeshift balloon appeared over the mountain's lip, and Scarlett reached up to the burner again. Twisting the knob a bit, the burner cut its fire, and the whole balloon just dropped down onto the mountaintop.
Unfortunately for Chef, that meant right on top of him. Sky winced at the landing.
"Scarlett, you did it! We won the challenge!" Sammy cried out, the team having rolled off either side of the mattress due to the Chef sized lump underneath.
Scarlett raised her head from where she was laying on top of Rodney. "Naturally," she simply said, and then glanced down at Rodney, who was giving her the same look that Rodney gave Jasmine and Amy the day before. "Um, something the matter?"
Rodney stared at the fellow redhead, imagining her surrounded by hearts and cherubs.
(Confessional- Rodney)
"Jasmine is strong, but Scarlett? She's really smart… maybe she can be the brain to my brawn." Rodney mused, holding up an arm and showing off his thick muscle.
As the Maggots got to their feet, Chris flew up to the top with his jetpack. "Slow your roll, Not-Amy, I say who wins," the host reminded.
Sky held a hand to her chest, sighing in relief.
"The Maggots, thanks to Scarlett!" Chris declared.
The Maggots started to cheer once more, except for Max, who turned away in a huff.
"See how I do that better?" The host rhetorically asked with a smug grin.
"I thought the first person up here won the challenge for their team," Sky confessed, gesturing to herself.
Shawn and Dave arrived, and Shawn shrugged at Sky's admission. "Can't win them all, except the apocalypse. It's imperative to win that."
Chris explained, "First team to the top wins, that means your whole team, and you're missing a few members." Sky seemed to sulk at that.
Setting a hand on her shoulder, Dave attempted to cheer her up by saying, "At least this way if we lose, we know who to vote for."
"Who to vote for what?" Sugar piped up, finally reaching the mountain top. Grunting in effort, she pulled herself up to the platform. "Elimination? I hope it's Ella."
Chris landed on the mountain, and removed his helmet and jetpack. "Speaking of elimination, which team will have to face it? Find out after the break!" The show faded out on Chris' smile.
When the show tuned back in, an ice machine was making snow, and the campers were shown to be standing on an icy field surrounded by a snowy background. Standing in their respective teams, the campers shivered in the cold that the ice machine generated. Jasmine clutched the Maggots' flag as she attempted to keep warm, and Shawn held the Rats' flag.
"Greetings, ice teens!" Chris greeted as he and Chef drove up on a snowmobile, wearing parkas. "Cold enough for ya?" he joked upon seeing them all shivering and their teeth chattering. "I'll take that as a yes," he decided as he dismounted the vehicle. "Time for part two of today's challenge- Capture the Snow Fort! To win, you have to either demo the enemy's fort." Gesturing to his left, the cameras showed a poorly made snow fort that appeared bumpy and weak-walled. "Or capture the flag, and bring it back to your own fort." When Chris gestured to his right, the cameras displayed a strongly-built castle made of snow. "The Maggots won the first part, so they get first dibs on the forts."
Sammy glanced up at the unofficial team captain. "W-we're cho-oosing the castle, r-right?"
"Might be a ba-bad call," Topher argued, "if I know Chris as well as I do, o-odds are it looks nice on the o-outside, but a mess on th-the inside."
"Would he re-really do that?" Rodney spoke up, looking at Topher, who nodded due to wanting to save his warm breath.
Jasmine set her face in a determined expression. "We'll ju-ust have to deal with it. We'll take the castle." She started walking over with the flag, and the rest of her team followed.
A cut to moments later showed the Maggots inside their fort, no longer shivering. Also in the fort with them were a pile of large snowballs and a shovel sticking into the ground.
"Structurally stable," Scarlett noted as she glanced around. "This is better than I predicted it would be. Excellent selection, Jasmine."
(Confessional- Max)
"That fort would make an excellent evil lair!" Max laughed sinisterly before adding an afterthought, "it could use a furnace to keep warm though."
Inside the Rats' fort, which was the same as the Maggots' but with worse walls, Beardo whistled as his team got a look around.
"Man," he breathed, "this place looks so bad, even a snowman wouldn't want to live here."
"I don't know, I think it looks rather cozy," Ella replied with a smile.
Sugar snorted under her breath. "Of course she'd be the only one to like this dump."
"Listen up, players!" Chris called through a megaphone. Outside the two forts, Chris sat in a lawn chair next to a fire under a shady umbrella. Chef carried a chair over, and joined him, sitting down as well. "Use the shovel in each fort to fire your collection of mystery snowballs, which you can fire at each other's forts."
Max gleefully rubbed his hands together as he approached the shovel in the Maggots' fort. "A weapon, perfect! With this, we can menace that terrible team." He gave it a practice pull and launch.
In the Rats' fort, Ella cupped her hands around her mouth to raise her voice. "Why exactly are they called mystery snowballs?"
"Because they inflict major damage, thanks to the secret weapon hidden inside each ball," Chris continued to explain. "But some will damage you," he added as a ball in the Maggots' fort seemed to hiss and move, "so choose wisely. Each team has to elect a captain to command and conquer, starting now!"
Jasmine put her hands on her hips, standing tall and assertive. "Alright, here's how it's going to work. Sammy, Topher, and I will go and get the flag from the other team's fort. Scarlett, Rodney, Max, you three stay here, and defend ours while you attack with the snowballs."
At Jasmine's order, Rodney frowned. "Uh… Jasmine, before we do anything there's something I've got to-!"
Max scoffed, walking up to the center of the group. "Now hold on! I do not take orders from the likes of you!" He jabbed his finger at Jasmine, causing her to glare at him. "I have a better plan!"
"Let's hear it then," Scarlett responded, folding her arms skeptically.
"The tall one, the mean one's clone, and the kiss-up one will go and distract the other team from destroying our fort. Meanwhile, sidekick and the henchman will attack with the snowballs, and defend our flag," Max stated, pointing at everyone and not even bothering with names.
Scarlett merely hummed in understanding. "And what will you be doing?"
In response, Max held up the helmet he had been working on earlier that morning at breakfast. "Completing this, of course! I took some tools from that junk pile, and am going to use them to finish my Helmet of Evil. Once it's complete, I will be unstoppable!"
The genius redhead stared at him flatly for a few moments, and gazed up at Jasmine. "Let's go with your plan."
(Confessional- Scarlett)
Scarlett sent an uninterested glance at the camera as she examined her fingernails on one of her hands. "Max is a fool. Anyone can see that. If we were alone, I would've encouraged his dumb behavior to make himself more of a target, but he's doing that on his own."
Shawn and Sky began to speak at the same time, saying the same words, "Here's what we're going to do-!" They paused when they noticed this, and glanced at each other. "Uh…"
(Confessional- Sky)
"I'm not entirely confident about Shawn leading the team for the challenge, considering his obsession with zombies, but I have to let him try leading us so I don't look like I want to dominate the position. If this works out, I can feel more confident about letting someone else take the lead, and if it doesn't, I have reason to not let him the next time."
The gymnast cleared her throat. "Erm ehem, Shawn, you want to take this one?" She offered, gesturing with her hand.
"Um, thanks." Shawn acknowledged before turning to the rest of the team. "Okay, this is just like how the zombie apocalypse is going to be, but with the zombies flinging snowballs. We're going to need our best fighters on the attack so Sky, Dave, and I will go get the flag. Beardo, Ella, Sugar, you guys stay and defend home base. Got it?"
Dave timidly raised a hand. "Actually, can I swap with someone…"
"And, go!" Chris declared outside, surprising the team into action.
"Come on, let's go!" Shawn exclaimed, running out into the open with Sky and Dave on his heel.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" Dave muttered in worry.
The sun beat down on the area, and Chris and Chef sat next to their warm fire with coconut drinks in their hands. Apparently at some point, the two got warm enough to discard their winter wear.
After taking a sip, Chris said, "Hurry up! My ice is melting, and so will your forts if the sun gets much higher."
"Impatience doesn't suit you well, Chris!" Topher jeered, running alongside Jasmine and Sammy.
The junior Chris was so focused on making a verbal jab at the host that he forgot he was running on ice, and slipped. He fell onto his butt with a yelp, and started sliding across the ice.
"Great, now my butt's probably going to bruise," he complained as he slid past Jasmine and Sammy. Way out in front of his teammates, he slowed to a stop on the ice, and the ice cracked underneath him. With a frightened cry, he fell into the freezing cold water, and popped back up to the surface, encased in an ice cube.
Chef cackled at the sight while Chris chuckled.
"Forgot to tell you," the host called out, "No Man's Land is more like No Man's Water!"
Inside the Rats' fort, Beardo and Ella looked over the pile of snowballs their team had.
"Which one do we throw first?" Ella asked Beardo, looking to him for guidance.
Beardo scratched his beard, thinking as he looked the pile over. "I dunno, but some of them give that 'dun dun dun' feel to me. Ya know?"
Ella clapped happily. "Oh, you rhymed!"
Off to the side, Sugar snorted at her. "Wasn't that hard of one," she mumbled, obviously irritated. The pageant queen took out Fang's tooth again, and tried to file her nails again.
(Confessional- Sugar)
Sugar huffed in the outhouse. "I know her angle. She's complimenting every little thing noisemaker guy does so he won't vote her off. I know that trick. I used it in a few of my early pageants, and won them after that. Other gals tried to do it to me in a couple, but I didn't fall for it, and I'm not falling for it now."
Beardo picked up a snowball, and put it on the shovel's handle. "Let's try this one," he decided. "It looks solid." Pulling the handle back, he launched it through the window as Ella watched on, partially concerned for the other team.
Outside, Jasmine and Sammy approached their frozen teammate, not even noticing the snowball soaring overhead.
The snowball hit the pillar of the Maggots' fort closest to the camera, and Rodney poked his head out to look. He pulled his head back in, and faced Scarlett. "It looks like they hit our left pillar."
"It appears they have not finished assessing their correct trajectory," Scarlett assumed while taking a snowball into her hands. "Unfortunately for them, I have already found ours." Loading the snowball onto the shovel, she reeled back, and let it fly.
The snowball soared over the heads of the campers outside, and homed in on the Rats' fort.
"Incoming~!" Ella warned in a high-pitched sing-song tone, and she and Beardo dove for cover.
Sugar didn't pay attention to Ella's warning, and continued to file. The snowball beaned her in the forehead, and her body recoiled back, the back of her head hitting the flag post, and her body fell to the floor.
"Did that hit? I think it hit." Rodney inquired, unsure of what he saw.
Scarlett shrugged. "It went through the window so I'd likely say we hit the bullseye of the target so-to speak."
Ella approached her fallen teammate. "Sugar, are you okay?"
The pageant queen rubbed her head with one of her hands. "Ooh, my achin' brain…"
Outside, Jasmine and Sammy had reached Topher, and Jasmine was motioning Sammy along.
"Go get the flag," she told her teammate, and proceeded to reach out and grab the sides of Topher's block. "I have to get Topher."
"You want me to get the flag?" Sammy asked, nervous. She glanced down, and started twiddling her fingers in circles with each other. "I don't know…"
"Just go, Sammy! You can do it!" The Outback explorer grunted, and attempted to heave the block out of the water.
Sammy peered over her shoulder in the direction of their enemy's post. "Okay." Turning on her heel, she began to carefully walk across the ice towards the Rats' fort.
Back in the Rats' fort, Ella returned to helping Beardo fire snowballs, and they stopped what they were doing when a particularly large snowball landed next to them. The snowball exploded, and the giant beetle guarding the junk pile in the first part of the challenge hissed at them while raising its two foremost legs menacingly.
"Whoa! It's just us!" Beardo stated, attempting to placate the mutant insect. He pointed at Ella. "Remember? She reunited you with your baby." The camera shifted over to Ella, and she waved a friendly greeting to the beetle.
The baby beetle hopped up onto the adult beetle's head, and waved a leg at her. At the same time, Sugar snapped out of her daze, and happened to glance up to see the interaction.
"We're your friends," Beardo continued, and walked over to point out the window. "Those are the guys that launched you at us. They're the ones you should hiss at." The two beetles jumped out the window, and started to scurry back towards where they came from.
Ella joined Beardo at the window, frowning. "I don't think that was a very nice thing to do."
"In this game, you've got to make tough choices. Come on." Beardo went back to the shovel, and Ella reluctantly followed.
Shawn, Sky, and Dave were out on the ice, but seemed to be going nowhere as they ducked under snowballs being fired from both sides.
"This is hopeless!" Dave cried out. "With all these snowballs being thrown around, we're sitting ducks out here!"
"We're not sitting ducks," Sky argued. "We just have to find a way across, and quick. They've got one of them coming over here, and she's closer to her goal than we are." Sky pointed at Sammy, who indeed was moving closer to them.
"Maybe we should do the same, but aim lower," Shawn suggested.
Dave raised a questioning brow. "Aim lower? What do you mean by that?"
Shawn grabbed a fistful of Dave's sweater vest, and tugged him close. "I mean this." He pushed Dave down onto his belly, and grabbed the back of Dave's sweater vest with both hands. "Go get that flag!"
"What're you doing- aaaaaah!" The neat freak screamed as Shawn threw him across the ice.
"Good luck, Dave!" Sky called after him.
Dave slid past a confused Sammy, past Jasmine, who had finally gotten Topher out of the water, and into the Maggots' fort.
"Incoming!" Rodney exclaimed, raising a foot so Dave wouldn't collide with it. Scarlett had been loading another snowball onto the shovel when Dave slid right past her.
"One final touch, and my diabolical invention will- ouch!" Max deviously proclaimed as he tinkered with his helmet, but was interrupted by Dave crashing into him.
Dave rose to his feet, rubbing the side of his face that had hit Max. "Ow… the flag!" He gasped, seeing it a few feet away.
Scarlett's eyes went wide. "We can't let him leave the premises with that, or we lose. Rodney, stop him!"
"I'm on it!" Rodney declared, pointing a finger skyward before hurrying over.
The neat freak was about to reach out, and grab the flag, but was pulled back. Rodney had caught him just in time, and wrapped his arms around him.
"Hey, let me go! I don't know where you've been!" Dave shrieked, struggling to get out of Rodney's hold.
The country boy gave a proud smile. "Sorry, but you're not getting our flag."
"Ah, perfect timing!" Max's voice spoke up off-screen, causing the two boys to look over in his direction. Max stood in front of the beetle, who had just arrived, with his helmet in hand. "You will make the perfect minion now. Put this on!" Max thrust the helmet at the beetle.
The insect hissed, and spewed fire at Max. The wannabe villain dropped his helmet on the ground, and ran away from the beetle, calling 'Mommy!' as it gave chase. He caught sight of Rodney and Dave, and pursued them too. Rodney released Dave, and the three boys ran around, screaming and trying not to get hit by the flames. The fort started to melt slightly, and Scarlett poked her head out from behind the pile of snowballs yet to be used.
The genius redhead watched the attack for a few moments, and then spotted Max's helmet on the ground where he had left it. While the beetle's attention wasn't on her, she raced over to scoop up the helmet. She looked it over like she had done at breakfast, and noticed that while the construction of the device had been improved, Max still hadn't plugged a cord in. Plugging it in herself, she smiled as the red light on top turned on, signaling the helmet was functional. Spinning on her heel, she ran back to the boys.
The beetle stood in one spot, spinning around and around, spitting fire at the panicking boys. In his attack, the beetle failed to notice Scarlett sneaking up on him, and planting the helmet on. The reaction was instantaneous. The attack ceased, and the mutant insect stood rigid, its eyes glowing an even brighter red.
Scarlett smirked at the result. "Excellent," she said before gaining a more professional look. "I am your master. Attack the other fort! Burn it into nothing!" She ordered, pointing out the entrance.
The beetle obeyed, ambling out of the fort while Rodney, Dave, and Max all stopped panicking to watch in shock.
In the Rats' fort, Beardo held the team flag above his head while Sammy tried to reach for it.
"Come on, please! I need to get your flag!" Sammy pleaded.
Sugar laughed as she stood back to watch the show, "Hah, fat chance of that happening!"
"Oh dear, mister beetle is coming back," Ella fretted beside Sugar, causing the pageant queen to glance at her staring out the window. "Something's different about him, though."
The viewpoint shifted outside, and the beetle stopped a few feet away. He drew in a deep breath, and released a huge breath of flame. Almost immediately, the weak fort melted like ice cream in a microwave. When he was finished, there was nothing left of the fort but the contestants out in the exposed open, and water at their feet.
Shawn and Sky reached where Jasmine was with Topher, and the three not-frozen campers gasped in shock.
"Uh, can we rewind a sec? What just happened?" Beardo spoke up, lowering the flag from above his head and looking around at the others in confusion.
"What just happened was the Maggots won!" Chris declared, him and Chef walking over. The pair were once again dressed in their winter wear, and the hulk of a cook held a tray of steaming mugs in his hands. The rest of the campers not at the fort came over, with Jasmine pushing Topher's ice block across the ice. "And here's their reward, McLean brand hot chocolate- scald your senses with chocolatey goodness."
The Maggots pumped their fists, and cheered. The Rats slouched, and groaned in defeat.
While no one paid attention to the beetle, Scarlett discreetly removed the helmet from the insect's head. As he came back to his senses, he blinked around him confusingly.
(Confessional- Scarlett)
The redhead sat in the confessional with the helmet situated in her lap. "I was essential in today's victory. I came up with our plan to win the advantage, and I used that mutant insect as a pawn. Of course I wouldn't have managed the second victory without this contraption of Max's." She held up the helmet, and observed it. "While Max is a moron, he does have the makings of a potential inventor."
(Confessional- Topher)
Topher opened up his confessional with a sneeze. "Achoo! Ugh, thanks to being stuck in that ice, I have a cold. I have to get rid of this, and fast. A future TV host can't be sick on TV. I'm going to need a lot of that hot chocolate."
Shawn, Sky, and Dave sat on the porch of their cabin as Sugar stood before them. Beardo and Ella were nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know about y'all, but I think Ella needs to take a hike," Sugar said to them.
"Why her?" Dave asked.
"Because she's a nonsense," Sugar promptly replied.
"…You mean a nuisance?" Dave clarified slowly.
Sugar pointed at him. "That too," she added, "and she's the whole reason we lost."
Both Shawn and Sky became more alert, but Sky was the one to speak up. "She was? How do you know that?"
"Because I saw her," the pageant queen confidently stated. "When that beetle thing showed up, she did her little song thing, and swayed it to go to the other team's fort. If she hadn't done that, that bug wouldn't have come back and melted ours."
Tapping his chin, Shawn nodded along with Sugar's explanation. "That does make a bit of sense. Ella likes to sing a lot."
"It's all true, and afro guy was in on it too."
(Confessional- Sugar)
Sugar giggled to herself. "That totally wasn't true. It was afro guy that told the bug to beat it, and Ella did nothing. Man, I'm so good at lying, I should try and find a way to make that a talent for a pageant!"
At the campfire later that evening, the team was seated, and Chris had the ceremony going.
"Back at the ceremony already? I thought after you voted out your wizard pal, you'd be golden, but I guess not." The host chuckled as the team donned looks of dismay. Sugar, in particular, was offended by the mention of Leonard's elimination, and glared at the host. "The following Rats are safe…
"Shawn!" The conspiracy nut brightened up considerably as he caught a marshmallow.
"Sky!" The gymnast had to reach up high to catch her treat.
"Dave!" He attempted to catch it in his hands, but it ended up landing in his mouth.
"Sugar!" Unlike Dave, she intended to catch it in her mouth, and eagerly began to chew. "Which leaves Beardo and Ella," Chris summarized, causing the bottom two to appear taken aback by the revelation. "The Marshmallow of Toxic Loserdom goes to…"
Beardo began to sweat, and Ella clutched her hands together, clinging to hope.
Shawn watched on, his expression set in a stoic form. Dave and Sky watched intently, both curious to know what the outcome was going to be. Sugar smiled darkly, almost as if she knew what the outcome was going to be.
"…Ella!" Chris finally exclaimed.
"Oh…" Ella sighed softly, lowering her head. Without knowing it, she unintentionally ducked under her marshmallow. "I thought I was doing so well."
Chris tutted at her. "Apparently not. Maybe this will serve as a lesson for you, there is such a thing as too nice in this game."
"It's better to be kind than mean, Chris," Ella responded as she stood up, and turned to face her former team. "So long, everyone. I'll treasure our time together. And, if you don't mind, I have one more song I'd like to sing. I didn't get to do much of that here."
"Uh, what?" Chris interrupted, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Huh?!" Sugar uttered, surprised as much as Chris.
A little tune began to play as Ella started to sing, "My time on the show is finished and done, but that's not to say I didn't have fun. I'll do my best not to cry, but now is the time to say goodbye."
"Hey, I didn't okay a musical bit. Knock it off!" Chris shouted at her.
"I came onto Total Drama, and gave it my best! I gave it as much effort as the rest." Ella gestured to her former teammates. "So long, everyone. I hope you all have fun. I want you to know," she continued to sing as birds came out of nowhere, and surrounded her, "I had a lot of fun in the snow!"
Chef had gotten out of his hazmat suit, and Chris angrily pointed at Ella. Getting the order, Chef ran at the girl.
"You all were nice, and a bit of spice." Ella sang, the birds lifting her up as Chef rushed her. Chef missed, and ended up colliding face first with one of the stump seats, to the shock of the remaining Rats.
The birds flew Ella down the dock, and set her in the catapult's bucket.
"I'll do my best not to die," the girl continued as Chris ran down to the dock with a scowl on his face. "Because now I have to say goodbye-yyyyeeee!" The song ended with Chris pulling the lever, and the fairytale princess was flung into the night sky, along with the birds.
With Ella gone, Chris' scowl faded, and he appeared happier. "That's enough of that. Geez, it'd have been annoying if she sang more than she did. Tune in next time for more mutant mayhem and hilarious pain on Total Drama: Revenge of the Island!"
Ella- 12th
Amy- 13th
Leonard- 14th
This episode was not my best work. I couldn't find a smoother way to eliminate Ella anywhere else, so the whole climax of this episode and onward feels a little forced. Ella's thing is singing, and she hasn't gotten much of a chance to do that here, so I at least wanted to give her the sing-song goodbye she had in canon. Because she didn't have the same experiences as she did in her canon season, her goodbye song is a bit different. With the cast swap, she got the shortest end of the stick if you catch my drift. She couldn't get to episode six because she would win the second half of that episode very easily by singing to Sasquatchinakwa, and I feel the intensity of the season's second half would shatter her innocence, one of her most prominent traits.
I aim to have the next episode up next week, but if it doesn't happen, expect it the week after, and that will set the pattern of episode updates for the future.
Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome!