Nicky Haugh: Thank you!
Jhtm7izim: Yes, there do seem to be problems in paradise for Gwuncan. You'll have to wait and see who the main villain is.
SideshowJazz1: That's exactly the cast's line of thinking when it came to Scarlett's elimination. I am aware that the Heroes haven't had as much attention as the Villains. That's because they don't have someone like Courtney in their ranks, and by nature, heroes tend to have less chaotic personalities. Rest assured though, that's going to change soon. Like jhtm, you'll have to read to figure out who the main villain is going to be.
Xtremexavier15: Couldn't tell you. I'm not an expert with photoshop, but thanks for liking the chapter though.
AnonBrowser: To each their own about Alejandro's trick with the legs. As for the question about Shazmine, I cannot answer that due to spoilers.
Derick Lindsey: You'll get your answers regarding the immunity idol in time. Beardo's plot is something I came up with since he's the least dramatic of his fellow mergers, and because he's been placed in an all-star cast, he believes that things are bound to get hairy.
CosmicWarrior: Yeah, Gwen needs at least one person on the cast in her corner, and while Duncan is her boyfriend, he's not being very supportive about her issue.
Fear the Darkness Inside: Sorry to hear you feel that way. Hope it doesn't prevent you from enjoying the rest of All-Stars.
Xenvic: Duncan recognizing Big Ben because he was found there was unintentional on my part, though I could've recognized that subconsciously. In my time as a writer, I've discovered some of my more brilliant moments come without me realizing it.
Phenomenal Excelsior: Nice summary of what went down. I found it odd that after a few episodes in, Alejandro suddenly decided to go after Heather, so I wanted his intention to eliminate her clear from the beginning.
That British Guy: According to other reviewers, you're not alone there.
The Legendary Dragon Reaper: You have questions that I sadly cannot answer at this time. You may find an answer to at least one of your questions at the end of the chapter, though.
SilentSinger948: Yeah, I wanted to make sure everyone had a reason to be included in this season.
Joel Connell: Thank you for your review!
Fangren: As always, take your time. I found the blood drainage and the leg ruse unnecessary. Alejandro's a master manipulator. He could manipulate Heather into feeling guilty without that. Even if he didn't need to manipulate her when she already felt that way.
Sdgeek: I love that you love so much about the last chapter.
Okay, two important announcements- first, thank you to Cosmic Warrior for being Cast Swap's 200th review. This is the first time any of my projects have reached 200 reviews, and that's an amazing feeling. You all are amazing readers for taking the time to leave a comment.
My other announcement- Thanks to Magic Detective, Cast Swap now has a TVTropes page! I've taken a look at it, and it's off to a good start, but there's plenty that could be added to it.
With reviews answered and announcements made, let's get ready to play paintball- leech edition!
Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, or anything within the franchise. I only own a season one DVD and some shirts.
Episode 3- Saving Private Leechball
Once again, the episode opened with Chris's narration.
"Last time on Total Drama All-Stars," the host said over footage of Cody being flung into Alejandro, "our heroes and villains went digging for buried treasure." Various shots of both teams digging were shown. "And uncovered some nasty surprises." Cody was shown triggering the trap with Chef's laundry, Alejandro triggered the garbage bag trap, and Sugar was shown diving into the bee trap and closing the lid to avoid the swarm. "Sugar tried to sabotage the Hamsters' chances of winning, but the Heroic Hamsters were victorious." Heather and Scarlett's arguing appeared next, complete with leaning into each other's faces and Scarlett shoving Heather into the Vultures' moat. "Heather and Scarlett spent precious digging time arguing, and thanks to Topher's sneaky talking, Scarlett got the night's flush from her teammates." Topher was seen getting into Alejandro and Heather's ears, followed by Scarlett's descent into the Flush of Shame. "Twelve competitors remain. Which one of them will ride the sewer system next? Find out right now on Total Drama All-Stars!"
(cue intro)
Like the episode previous, the cameras decided to check in on the losing cabin first.
"Ugh, I'd almost forgotten about these crud-tacular cabins," Duncan complained.
The footage cut to inside the boys' side of the regular cabin. Alejandro was on the top bunk on the room's left side, and Topher resided underneath him. Strangely, Alejandro appeared to be slid into a blue sleeping bag.
"Tell me about it," Topher agreed, "after last night in the spa hotel, this seems like a total downgrade."
Alejandro sighed. "Let us hope it is our only visit."
Across the room, Duncan attempted to make himself comfortable on the top bunk. "Ow… what's in this mattress? Rocks?" Hopping down from the bed, he looked underneath. Reaching his hand up, he plucked something from the bed's underside. In his hand, he held a nail. "Nope. Just a bunch of extra nails."
(Confessional- Duncan)
"I still hate Alejandro. The dude made a lot of trouble on season three," said Duncan. "As for Chris's mini-me, he's not as bad I thought he'd be. Still, whoever wants to be like Chris is kinda messed up."
Alejandro glanced at his two roommates. "Well… goodnight, gentlemen." He curled up in his sleeping bag, zipping the zipper up under his chin. He let out a content sigh as he laid his head on his pillow.
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"After a year in that robot, I find it difficult to sleep if I'm all spread out." The charmer spread out his arms to make his point.
Focus shifted from the boys' side of the cabin to the girls' side, where none of the three remaining females appeared to be close to turning in for the night.
"Nice going, arguing with Scarlett the whole time. Now we're stuck here," Sugar could be heard snapping.
Inside the cabin, Sugar was laying on a bottom bunk on the room's right hand side. Heather stood beside the bed, scowling at her.
"I wouldn't have needed to argue if everyone just did what I told them to do. I'm the one with the most experience on this team," Heather replied.
Sugar rolled her eyes as the camera panned up to the bed above Sugar, where Gwen was attempting to sleep. "So what? It's like I said, we don't need a plan for digging." The longer Sugar spoke, the more irritated Gwen got.
"And it's like I've been saying, it's everyone's fault for not working together as a team!" The loner sat up as the camera pulled back to show all three girls in the same frame. "Now cram it! I'm trying to sleep."
(Confessional- Gwen)
She gasped to herself. "Did that sound villainous? I- I didn't mean to sound harsh, but ooh! Bunking with the bickersons is driving me bonkers."
An owl began hooting as the camera shifted away from the loser cabin. The camera panned to a tree where Jasmine seemed to have set up for the night. The owl continued to hoot until it heard a cough.
"Um, could you do that somewhere that's not here?" Jasmine politely, but firmly requested as she was shown sitting on the same branch as the owl. The owl seemed to get the message, nodding its head and flying off to find a different perch.
A cut inside the spa hotel showed Sammy entering the girls' bedroom, wearing a blue top and pink shorts that acted as her pajamas. Once she entered, a camera click and flash went off. Sammy flinched at it.
"Augh! Sierra!" She complained just like the day before.
The camera panned over to Sierra, who was sitting on her chosen bed, clicking away at her phone. "Sorry, Sammy! But since Scarlett's gone, I need to step up my info-gathering game before your other friends get voted off." She did her usual little giggle, continuing to type.
Sammy frowned, walking over to the bed beside Sierra's. "Fine, but from now on, no more pictures of me in my pajamas, or before breakfast and after dinner."
Whether Sierra would follow that request or not went unanswered as the scene cut to the boys' room the next door over. Beardo flopped onto a bed, wearing a stained shirt much like his usual one.
"Now this is what I picture life being once I become a famous DJ," he said.
Cody was shown sitting on the bed to the right of Beardo's. "It's not that different for me. My band, the Drama Brothers, we stay in places like this all the time." The geek glanced out the window. "I'm more concerned about Shawn. I get he's a survival expert, but Boney Island's a rough place."
Perhaps Cody had a point about Boney Island. Over there, a group of bears surrounded a tree riddled with claw marks. One bear held an axe, and another had a bottle of ketchup. They growled as one of the cameras stationed on the island panned up the tree, to where Shawn sat on an extended branch with a squirrel.
"I've never seen animals more aggressive than these guys," the conspiracy nut thought out loud, glancing down at the predators. "Good thing I don't plan on moving from here for a while." The squirrel also on the branch threw an acorn at him, but it bounced off his forehead harmlessly. Shawn gave the rodent an annoyed look of disapproval.
Back at camp, Gwen and Heather were shown to have fallen asleep later in the evening. Once the camera showed the slumbering Sugar, the pageant queen cracked one eye open, darting a look above her and then across the room. She smirked deviously, and then got out of bed, revealing her pink nightgown with a tiara printed on it. She quietly tiptoed across the cabin to a stack of bags, opening a backpack.
Reaching her arm in, she rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a book she might not be familiar with, but the audience would.
Gwen's diary.
"Nobody tells me to cram it," she whispered as background music turned sinister. "Time for some sabotage- pageant style."
The next morning at the spa hotel, the teammates not exiled to Boney Island all sat down for a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast with a side of orange juice. Even Jasmine, who spends her nights in trees, came in to join her team to eat.
"These eggs are fantastic," commented Sammy. "Amy would kill to have some. Good thing she isn't here."
"I've never had maple bacon before," Beardo said, holding up a few pieces of indicated bacon. "And I never want to eat any other kind of bacon again."
Jasmine poked at her eggs. "I hope Shawn's alright. When we went there to look for Lindsay last season, the place looked pretty bare-boned. I'd be surprised if he managed to find anything to eat."
Cody put his chin between his thumb and index finger, thinking to himself. "So if he can't find any breakfast, maybe we should bring breakfast to him?"
Sierra clapped her hands together. "Oh, Cody! How thoughtful!"
The loudspeakers outside whirred to life. "Attention, campers! Forest recon in five, over!"
The two teams were dressed for the day, walking through the woods to Chris's indicated meeting point. The Hamsters took up the front of the group while the Vultures took the rear. While they were walking, Heather took Gwen aside.
"Listen," the queen bee said with a false smile, "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. You're right. Teamwork is key. Apology accepted?" She held up a hand for a handshake.
Gwen appeared taken by surprise at the prospect of Heather apologizing, but gladly took it. "Wow, sure."
(Confessional- Heather)
"Teamwork?" Heather pretended to gag. "Don't make me barf." A sinister grin appeared over the gagging expression. "I'm still going to take control."
After Heather continued onward, Gwen was then approached by Sugar.
"So, I wasn't in the whole bickering thing, but if working together gets me a night in that spa hotel, count me in," Sugar said, holding her fist up. "Deal?"
Seeing that the fist wasn't going to slug her in the face, Gwen hesitantly accepted the fist with a bump from her own. "Uh… sure."
(Confessional- Sugar)
"Classic pageant tactic. Make friends with the person you sabotage so they don't suspect it's you playing them. As a bonus, I get Duncan on my side too because-" The pageant queen stated.
(Confessional- Heather)
"Wherever Gwen goes," Heather continued.
(Confessional- Sugar)
"Duncan will follow," Sugar finished.
(Confessional- Gwen)
In contrast to the happy goth that accepted both of the other young women's deals, this goth had the face of someone very experienced with the game. "Yeah, I know they're both trying to play me, and I love it." She pumped her fists in a perky, almost un-Gwen like way. "Finally I have a little power around here. Go, Team Gwen!"
Gwen and the two girls that just attempted to align with her continued on their way. The camera panned to the guys walking ahead of them, where Duncan was shown specifically glancing back at Gwen. He sighed.
"Something being a pain in your neck?" Topher inquired, noticing Duncan's dismay.
"It's Gwen," Duncan replied, lifting his head to look Topher in the eye. "Ever since we got here, she's been a bit distant. First she was sulking over Courtney not being here, and now she's trying to make an alliance with the other girls."
Alejandro raised a hand. "Maybe we should do the same thing. Those three might not be on the same page, but I bet the three of us are. If we lose, we could take one of the girls out and gain the majority."
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"It's obvious that Heather and Sugar are trying to lure Gwen into an alliance. If I can get Duncan and Topher in an alliance, we can take Heather out first, and then she and I could begin a relationship with a clean slate," Alejandro reasoned in the secrecy of the confessional. He realized he had said too much, and attempted to backtrack. "If I was still in love with her, that is."
The confessional's static transition switched the scene over to Chris, who was once again wearing his army helmet from the series' military-themed challenges.
"At ease, soldiers," he said, saluting the contestants as they arrived at the meeting point. "Let's all welcome back exiled Hamster, Shawn!" At the survivalist's name, Chef drove up in a jeep with Shawn in the passenger seat. He looked a little roughed up, but not as badly as he could've been.
"Hey, Shawn, how was exile?" Sammy asked with concern.
Shawn clambered out of the jeep. "Nothing I couldn't handle. Though, I guess I am kinda hungry." He rubbed his growling stomach. "Spent a lot of the night on the run. Didn't have time to stop and grab a bite."
Jasmine, Beardo, and Cody all stepped forward, each bearing a bit of their team's breakfast. Jasmine had a slice of toast, Beardo some bacon, and Cody an egg.
"Lucky for you, we thought of that. Here," Jasmine handed over the toast.
"Thanks!" Shawn accepted the toast, and swallowed it one bite.
Sammy waited while her teammates gave Shawn the food, a piece of bacon in her hand. Behind her, Sierra held up her phone and snapped a picture.
"Really? Now?" Sammy snapped, a bit annoyed.
Sierra quickly typed on her phone. "Come on. Helping a teammate gain strength for a challenge is great blog material."
(Confessional- Sammy)
"Sierra is a nice girl," Sammy began her confession, "but she really needs to know when she is and when she isn't supposed to take a picture."
Once Shawn had finished his quick meal, Chris began to address the teams. "Welcome to today's experiment with your pain thresholds." The monitor was rolled behind him as he chuckled, making Duncan, Heather, and Sugar all glance at each other nervously. "Get ready for an ingenious twist on the war movie challenge from season two." As he spoke, the monitor displayed another area of the woods. "There are two weapon caches in the heart of this forest." Two crates were shown on the screen, one tall and one short. "The big one is filled with state of the art paintball weaponry, and the little one has a bunch of cruddy, old paintball slingshots. Whoever gets there first gets their pick, and then you've got to pick off the competition.
Most of the Vultures seemed pleased by the challenge's layout, while a majority of the Hamsters were uneasy.
"So, how do we win?" Beardo wondered.
Chris answered, "You get one point for each person you splatter. First team to six points wins, and one of the losers will get a dishonorable discharge tonight Flush of Shame style." He pointed finger guns at the contestants.
Topher rolled his eyes. "Paintball, not very original. Got anything better than that?"
At that, Chris frowned. "Oh yeah… that. One of the conditions of my parole is that I can't be around or use hard projectiles like paintballs, so instead you'll be using leeches!" Chef walked up beside him, and held up a squirming leech from a bucket he had been carrying. While the contestants didn't agree on a whole lot, they all agreed in muttered disgust that the leeches were gross.
(Confessional- Heather)
She held out her hands in incredulity. "Leeches? Chris is really making us earn the million this year." Folding her arms over her chest, she muttered, "Jerk."
"As winners of yesterday's challenge," Chris added, "the heroes get a full minute head-start."
The Hamsters cheered for their advantage, to the dismay of the villains.
"Ready… set!" Chris counted down as Chef fired off a leech from a small, purple hand gun. The leech landed on Topher, horrifying the wannabe host as he struggled to pry it off.
"Hey!" Topher yelped in complaint.
The Hamsters took off at a run when the timer displaying their minute advantage began ticking down. All six members cheered as they gained ground against their opponents.
"Well, that's just great," Heather nagged, "they've got two people completely at home in the woods on their side. We're hosed."
"Maybe they'd be slowed down if they still had that Owen feller," Sugar spoke up.
"Maybe if we had just worked together as a team, we'd be the ones with a head start," Gwen pointed out.
Duncan walked over, joining the conversation. "Gwen's right. We all probably hate each other's guts, but we do all have the same enemy- them. So, let's put all the crap we have against each other aside for the challenge, and deal with it after we win the next advantage."
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Alejandro agreed, helping pluck the leech off Topher's forehead. He flicked the leech to the ground.
With less than five seconds left on the timer, Chef cocked his leech pistol as Chris announced, "Villains, you're up in three… two… one!" Chef shot a second leech into the air. Like the first, it landed on Topher, except in his hair this time.
"Oh come on!" Topher griped dramatically.
Chris shared a chuckle with Chef, high-fiving the cook as the Vultures jogged away to make up for lost time.
"This run better be less than a mile," Cody commented as he ran through the woods with his team.
As he followed his teammates, Beardo panted from the back of the group. "Can we slow down a bit? I'm not in the greatest shape, you know?"
(Confessional- Beardo)
In the outhouse, the human soundboard looked much less exhausted than when he was running. "I made the right choice not running that carriage back and forth, but I didn't even get a chance to jump. The only real thing I've done to help my team is find puzzle pieces. People usually have a purpose on a team, like team captain or something, but what's my purpose?"
"Does anyone know where the heart of the forest is, exactly?" Sierra asked when Beardo's confessional was over.
Jasmine and Shawn, leading the pack, immediately came to a stop, both proclaiming, "I'll go get a better look!" Both of them stared at each other, then pointing to themselves as they said, "No, I'll go look!" They pointed at each other, getting rather annoyed by the gag, "Stop saying what I'm saying!"
The rest of the team stopped as the two nature experts had done. Beardo leaned over, panting as Cody scratched his head awkwardly. "This is kinda weird."
"I know. They've never done something like this before," Sammy agreed. She walked over to her two friends, who were starting to growl. "Calm down," she attempted to mediate, "Shawn, you just came back from exile. Let Jasmine go check."
Shawn huffed, turning away. "Fine."
Jasmine stood upright from when she was bent over, almost butting heads with Shawn. "I'll be right back." She jumped up into a pair of nearby trees, bouncing off their branches in a rapid ascent. The rest of the team, sans an irritated Shawn, watched the tall explorer in awe.
(Confessional- Sammy)
"In places like the woods, Shawn and Jasmine both want to take the lead. Whatever's happening to them didn't happen when we went hiking earlier this year, so maybe the competition is getting to them?" Sammy considered the events that just went down.
Up on a high branch, Jasmine scanned the area for a moment before pointing in a direction. "There!"
Jumping down from her perch, she joined her team as they ran down a path. Not too long after, the villains arrived at where they had stopped.
"Okay, they're heading left," Gwen said, pointing. "If we go right, we may be able to cut them off."
Heather gave her a thumbs-up. "Great idea." She and the team went down the path next to the one the heroes had taken.
"Go Vultures!" Alejandro chanted as they went.
"Let's do it!" Topher added.
On the Hamsters' path, Beardo continued to lag behind the rest of his team. Ahead of him, Sierra pointed to something as she ran. "We're almost there!"
"Great, because I'm almost out of steam," Beardo remarked.
Cody chuckled. "Heh, almost sounds like that online gaming site called Mist."
(Confessional- Cody)
"I've played a few games on that website. When I win, I want to use some of the money to fund the creation of my own game on there," the geek explained. "I also want to use the money to help the band. We could really use it." Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his neck.
The heroes ran into the clearing with the crates, the smaller one being closer than the bigger one.
"Grab the big crate!" Jasmine commanded.
"Thanks for the tip," the voice of Duncan replied, causing Jasmine to look over and see Duncan knock her over with his elbow. Jasmine fell to the ground, leaving Shawn and Sammy to trip over her long legs.
Cody, Sierra, and Beardo managed to stop in time before they joined the pile of fallen teammates while the villains ran for the big crate.
"Where did they come from?" Beardo queried to his teammates, breathing hard.
Heather blew a raspberry while Topher declared, "The villains have the upper hand!"
The fallen heroes rose to their feet. Sammy led her team to the small crate. "Come on. We can still get the small crate." She popped the lid off the smaller box, pulling out a bucket full of leeches. "Ew… I didn't think paintball could get this disgusting."
The rest of the team picked out supplies from the crate, including slingshots. Shawn snatched another leech bucket, but held it at arm's length.
"They're like little wiggling zombies," he stated, pausing to think about his comment. "Or maybe vampires, since they suck blood. Still bad either way."
At the bigger crate, the Vultures cheered at getting the bigger prize since they had been dealt a bad hand earlier.
"Let's rock!" Duncan approached the crate, punching the side of it. The entire container broke open to reveal, a cannon along with several high-grade paintball guns modified to shoot leeches.
Duncan, Topher, Heather, and Sugar all immediately cried, "I'll take the cannon!" They gave each other a stink-eye, shouting, "No, I'll take the cannon!"
Gwen walked over to them. "We'll use it as a team! We just discussed a few minutes ago that we need to work together, or we'll lose another player and another advantage."
"She does have a point," Alejandro agreed.
The four trying to claim the cannon glanced at each other, huffing a simultaneous, "Fine."
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"This is perfect. With Heather focused on trying to earn Gwen's favor by being a team player, she won't see my setting up her elimination coming."
"Glad we're in agreement." Gwen smiled at the attempt to cooperate. "Let's start doing that then. Fire the cannon!"
Topher ran over to the cannon, taking control of it. "On it!" He pulled the rope trigger, launching a ball of leeches. Out of frame, a boom microphone fell to the ground as the team winced. An intern came into the picture, coated in leeches, and collapsed in front of them.
(Confessional- Gwen)
She chuckled embarrassingly. "Whoops… being in charge of a bunch of villains is harder than it looks."
A cut showed Chris watching Gwen's confessional from the monitor room. As she looked away from the camera, the host paused the video to address the camera filming him.
"Tell me about it," he chuckled. "The villains are off to quite the start, but which team will make it to the finish? Find out when we come back on Total Drama All-Stars!" On a far shot of the island, the footage faded to commercial.
When the show returned, the Hamsters were wandering the woods with their new gear. Since having stopped to get their gear, Beardo appeared less winded.
Sammy sighed. "Of course the villains get machine gun launchers while we get slingshots. We'll never beat them now."
Cody tried to cheer her up with a smile. "Sure we can," he began to say.
"As long as we're stealthy and score first," he and Sierra finished together, high-fiving at the synchronized thinking.
"She does bring up a good point though," Beardo spoke up. "How can we go about doing that? They have a cannon, guys, a cannon!"
Shawn scoffed. "If Jasmine didn't try to argue with me about who was going to look for the forest's heart, we would have it instead."
Jasmine jabbed her finger at him. "Don't you start. You're just as guilty as I am."
"Um, guys?" Sammy cut in meekly, not wanting to get in the middle of the argument. "Shouldn't we figure out how to beat the villains?"
Shawn pointed at himself with his thumb. "Leave that to me. With all the prep I've done for the zombie apocalypse, creating a strategy for beating them should be easy."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "We're dealing with living people. Your training won't work in a war scenario like this one."
"Excuse you." Shawn frowned up at her. "Fighting zombies is a war scenario. My training would totally work."
"Zombies aren't real, Shawn! And even if they were, they can't think, not like the people we're actually dealing with right now!"
"They are real! You're just blind to the conspiracy the government is trying to cover up!"
Sammy stepped between them, pushing them away from each other as they got heatedly closer. "Stop it! Fighting isn't helping."
"He/she started it!" The two arguing heroes glared over the cheerleader's head.
"Well, I'm ending it." Sammy glanced at the two of them. "Look, you guys probably have your own ideas about how we should do this. That's fine, but we need a solid plan we can all work with."
Cody shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't we just do what Sierra and I came up with? The villains' guns are bigger than our slingshots, so they can't move around as easily as we can. Plus they've got the cannon. As long as they have that, they're sitting loons."
"Yeah, we're less likely to be spotted if we split up too." Sierra added, "It might be a good idea for you two to have some time apart to cool off anyway."
Shawn and Jasmine turned their backs on each other. "Fine," they said at the same time, tossing a look at each other upon the realization they spoke at the same time again.
(Confessional- Jasmine)
"I never realized until today how annoying Shawn's talk about zombies can be. Zombie this, zombie that," Jasmine said, making motions back and forth with her hands to emphasize her point. "He always finds a way to bring zombies into discussion, and tactics for fighting them aren't going to help us win the challenge."
(Confessional- Shawn)
The conspiracy nut snorted at the beginning of his confession. "Zombies aren't real. Hah! We'll see what's real after I win us the challenge with everything I've learned."
Elsewhere in the woods, the Vultures struggled to move their new cannon with them. It took the combined effort of four team members to move it.
When they stopped to take a break, Gwen suggested, "We're easy targets like this. Maybe we should ditch the cannon."
Topher nodded. "Yeah, this thing isn't as much of an advantage as it is a disadvantage." He gave the cannon a light kick with his foot.
"We're also too exposed as a group together like this," Alejandro advised, his gun strapped to his back. "We need to split up into pairs."
"Great idea!" Sugar smiled, taking Gwen's arm to the goth's surprise. "I'll go with Gwen."
Heather came over, tugging on Gwen's other arm. "No, I'll go with Gwen."
"Hey, she's my girl!" Duncan butted in. "If anyone's going with Gwen, it's me."
As the three started arguing who should team up with Gwen, none of them realized just how much attention they were attracting from their opponents.
A leech flew onto the scene, attaching itself to Topher's coiffed hair. "Seriously, again?" He started attempting to pry it off.
"Oh em gee, I did it!" Sammy exclaimed delightedly from behind some bushes. Her delight turned to horror. The cheerleader ran from her hiding place, crying 'Eek!' as she attempted to flee from the rapid-fire leeches being shot at her.
Duncan, Gwen, Heather, and Alejandro shot rounds at the retreating cheerleader. After a few moments of firing, they stopped.
"She got away," Alejandro said, lowering his gun. "If she's here, the others are bound to be close by."
Heather smirked. "Her mistake then. Come on, let's get 'em!" She turned to follow Sammy's direction, but gasped at something.
A leech flew into contact with her hairline. "My hair," the queen bee screamed, following Topher's attempt to pull the bloodsucking creature off.
Cody gave a little laugh and a wave before running off, leeches hitting where he had just been standing.
"You little twerp! What is wrong with you?" Heather shouted at the fleeing geek.
"That's two points for the heroes, and zilch for the villains!" Chris announced over the loudspeaker.
Gwen frowned at the score. "Duncan, you're with me. Alejandro, you go with Sugar." She and Duncan headed deeper into the woods, leaving their remaining teammates with the eliminated ones.
"I'd do better if I went by myself," Alejandro huffed.
Sugar slung an arm around him. "Nonsense, Al! We'll make a great team." She didn't notice the sigh that passed through Alejandro's lips.
Duncan and Gwen arrived in the last area they saw Cody, their guns poised to fire.
"Maybe once you shoot Cody with a leech, he'll get the hint you're not into him," Duncan quipped as they searched around.
Gwen glanced at her boyfriend. "You really think I'd go that far to tell Cody I'm not interested?"
"Kinda," Duncan admitted, staying cautious. "The pipsqueak's a pest. He's been after you since we first came to the island."
The loner lowered her gun. "Hey, Cody's not a pest! An annoying little brother maybe, but he's not that bad."
A doorbell sound rang out, making the pair flinch. A brown bush that almost looked like hair sprang up, revealing Beardo with his slingshot. "Ding dong! The villains are down!" He shot a leech at Gwen.
Gwen jumped to one side, and fired a round at the human soundboard. Beardo let out yelps with each hit.
The camera panned to him, showing the leeches framed around his face, swelling with his blood.
He groaned, then collapsed behind the bushes.
(Confessional- Beardo)
"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to make a witty line before firing," Beardo admitted, tearing a leech off and dropping it into a bucket at his feet. "Or making noise beforehand."
Duncan continued looking around for opposing players. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a bit of purple hiding behind a tree.
"The villains score a point, but the heroes are still in the lead with two!" Chris updated the score.
Attempting to use Chris's announcement as cover for any noise, Sierra prepared her slingshot. "If I can get Gwen or Duncan, Cody will be so proud of me," she whispered as she aimed her weapon. Though she had prior experience of using a slingshot from the African safari challenge, the squirming leech in her grasp made it difficult to fire an accurate shot. "Oops," the blogger griped as she let the leech fly, believing to have misfired.
The leech bounced off a nearby rock, off a corner where a tree branch met the tree trunk, then finally a squirrel that had been about to eat an acorn. It moved fast, but Duncan was faster. The punk dove between Gwen, who had her back turned to the leech, and the leech.
"Noooo," he cried as the footage slowed down with editing to capture the moment.
When the footage resumed regular speed, Gwen gasped upon turning around to see Duncan on the ground with a leech stuck to his butt.
"Duncan!" She nearly screamed.
From her firing post, Sierra pumped her fist. "Yay! Looks like I didn't miss the shot after all." She turned her attention back to her successful hit, only to see Gwen glaring at her harshly. "Um… no hard feelings?"
Gwen responded by firing a round at her.
"Hehe! They feel like kisses," Sierra said deliriously, falling over as she was drained of blood.
"The villains score again, but the heroes still lead three points to two!" Chris reported in an update.
Once she was sure Sierra was down, Gwen dropped her weapon to kneel beside her boyfriend. "Wow," she said, "I can't believe you just took a leech for me."
Duncan rolled over onto his butt, squishing the leech that was stuck to him. "Well, I'm not a pest, or an annoying little brother," he replied, attempting to make light of their previous conversation.
While they shared a look, a leech hit Gwen's forehead. She gave a startled yelp.
Behind some bushes, Jasmine smirked. "Maybe next time, don't have a moment in the field, okay?"
Elsewhere, Alejandro and Sugar patrolled another part of the woods.
Chris announced, "It's four to two, heroes! Two more points, and the Hamsters win!"
"Great," Alejandro sarcastically said, "now it's up to the two of us."
"Yeah, isn't that great?" Sugar commented, either missing or ignoring the sarcasm in his tone.
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"Once again, it falls to me to earn my team's victory. But with Sugar slowing me down, victory is looking less likely by the minute," the arch villain stated.
A knocking sound came from outside. "Hey, Al? You almost done in there?" Sugar's voice asked, muffled by the wall between herself and the camera. Alejandro visibly cringed at 'Al'. "We got goody-goody heroes to track down."
Returning his gaze to the camera, Alejandro whispered, "Perhaps I ought to start planning on voting out Heather."
Alejandro glanced around as the frame panned to Sugar walking behind him. "You know, I don't get why you're even looking down here where we are. You should be looking up in the trees. Shawn sleeps up there all the gosh darn time anyway."
The arch villain froze at his teammate's observation. "The trees?" He rolled his eyes skyward.
The camera panned up a tree until it came to a branch where Shawn, his slingshot locked and loaded, stood. His eyes widened.
"Oh man," the conspiracy nut panicked. "My position's been compromised." In his fretful state, he accidentally fired his leech. "No!"
Somehow, the camera followed directly behind the leech in its flight path. As it neared Alejandro, who appeared to get bigger and bigger in the shot, he gasped and ducked out of frame. A blur of pink and blue clothes and white skin were briefly shown before the camera angle changed to the usual side view.
The scene zoomed out to show the leech had attached to Sugar's midsection, whereas Alejandro had dropped to his hands and knees.
Sugar scowled at the little bloodsucker. "Don't you dare touch my belly fat!"
While Sugar was occupied, Alejandro grasped his gun and fired some rounds up at Shawn.
Shawn ducked and jumped before running across his branch, leaping to a lower one. He then leaped from that branch down to the ground, where he tucked and rolled into a run.
"Stop!" Alejandro called after the retreating hero. He began to chase him. "Surrender!"
"I'll never surrender to anybody!" Shawn shot back. Alejandro fired more leeches at him, but he weaved away from every one.
As they ran past some bushes, Jasmine emerged behind the shrubbery. She sent a skeptical look in their direction. "What is he doing?"
Alejandro pursued Shawn, occasionally dodging a leech that the conspiracy nut fired back at him with his slingshot. Something about the woods struck his mind. "This is starting to look familiar…" He gasped, realizing the reason why. "Ay no…"
The chase reached a familiar clearing. Heather and Topher were nowhere to be seen, but something was still there.
Alejandro tried to stop him, constantly firing his ammunition. Once he was close enough, Shawn made a dive. One of the flying leeches came really close to making contact with his hairy chin, the moment emphasized in slow motion.
Due to constantly using his ammo, Alejandro was surprised to see no more leeches come out of his gun, the weapon instead making a clicking sound.
"Game over," Shawn said, making Alejandro look up from his clicking weapon. The arch villain inhaled sharply.
Shawn pulled the cord of the cannon.
With how big of a shot the cannon made, it wasn't possible for Alejandro to avoid it.
In seconds, leeches were attached all over his body, from his head to his chest to his legs. Growing weak, Alejandro dropped his gun as he fell onto his back.
Shawn pumped his fist. "Yeah!"
"This just in- with a score of six to three, the Hamsters win! And because of some surprising developments!" Chris declared.
The latter bit of his announcement had Shawn scratching his head. "Wait, what does he mean by that?"
A fading transition shifted to the evening, where the season's third ceremony was about to begin. For the second time in a row, the Hamsters occupied the Peanut Gallery while the Vultures were seated at the bonfire for a second time.
"Welcome back, Villainous Vultures," Chris greeted the losing team. "Second elimination in a row. Way to lose. Now, time to cut someone loose. It's voting time!"
Gwen glared at Heather. "Decided to steal my diary again, huh? You haven't grown up since the first season at all, have you?"
Heather raised an eyebrow at the accusation. "What are you talking about? I haven't touched it at all since the talent show."
"A likely story."
(Confessional- Heather)
Heather appeared indignant when the footage began. "She's accusing me of stealing her diary again. You know, if she didn't want it to be stolen in the first place, she should've just left it at home like a normal person!"
Sierra leaned over to Cody, asking him, "Who do you think is going home? My money's on Alejandro."
"Unless he can convince them," Cody replied, beginning a thought that he and Sierra finished together, "to cut Heather!" They shared another high-five.
(Confessional- Cody)
Cody rubbed the back of his head. "When Sierra first joined the show, I couldn't really connect with her since she was doing a lot of weird things. Now that we've been friends for a while, we tend to think alike about a lot. Who would've thought one of my biggest fans could become one of my best friends?"
Chef arrived with the marshmallows at the time Chris announced, "The votes are in! But, before I announce our loser du jour, I need a volunteer for exile on Boney Island." Chris took the plate from Chef.
Sierra eagerly waved her hand. "Ooh! Me! Me!" All her teammates looked at her, surprised to hear her voluntarily spend time away from Cody. "I'll do it!"
(Confessional- Sierra)
"While I'm here, I'm hoping to get info on Boney Island for my blogs. What better way to get there than to volunteer for exile instead of waiting for a challenge to take us there?" The blogger explained, an excited smile on her face.
"Okay," Chris agreed slowly, equally surprised as anybody else.
Chef escorted Sierra away, Cody and Sammy both wishing her luck.
"Alrighty then, onwards and flush-wards." Chris resumed the ceremony, taking a marshmallow off his plate. "The following villains are safe- Gwen!"
Gwen smiled, happy that she wasn't being voted off when she had led the team.
"Topher!"
The wannabe host grinned, but dropped the happy expression when he grew annoyed at the marshmallow bouncing off the exact spot on his forehead that kept getting hit with leeches.
"Duncan!"
Chris flicked a marshmallow in the punk's direction, and picked up the second to last treat.
"And Sugar!"
The pageant queen blinked as the marshmallow got caught in her hair. She reached up and pulled it out.
The camera shifted to Alejandro and Heather, the only two without a symbol of immunity.
"Heather, Alejandro, you're on the edge. Heather for being a pain in the butt, and Alejandro for failing to take out Shawn before he got you," Chris summarized.
Alejandro folded his arms over his chest. "I'll only say that Shawn appears to be a formidable enemy."
Tossing away the plate, Chris taunted them with the marshmallow in his hand. "And tonight's flushee is…"
Heather and Alejandro both shot Chris a desperate look. The queen bee scowled hard. Alejandro frowned, wishing to hear the final result.
"…Nobody!"
The two villains sighed in relief.
"What?" Duncan and Gwen asked.
"Huh?" Sugar and Topher chorused.
Chris walked over, pulling another marshmallow from one of his shirt pockets. He tossed Alejandro and Heather each a marshmallow.
"We had a lot of juicy stuff today, and I'm not ready to see it come to an end just yet," the host explained. "A Vulture acted more like a hero, and things are getting villainous on the Hamsters. To preserve that drama, we're doing a little reshuffling. So pack your bags and switch your teams, Duncan and Shawn."
Every camper present gasped in shock.
Shawn stood up from the peanut gallery. "Me? Why do I have to be a villain?"
"And why do I have to be a lame-o hero?" Duncan demanded.
"Because Duncan sacrificed himself for his girlfriend hero-style, and Jasmine and Shawn got into a very un-hero-style argument. Since Shawn fired the first shot, he's the one that's switching," Chris explained then ordered, "Now move it!"
Sighing, Duncan rose from his seat. "It was fun while it lasted." He planted a kiss on Gwen's cheek, walking over to the peanut gallery. Behind him, Gwen inhaled softly, touching her hand to the cheek Duncan had kissed.
He and Shawn met mid-way between the bonfire and the peanut gallery. "Uh, good luck with being a villain," the punk said awkwardly.
Shawn scratched his neck. "You too, with being a hero and everything."
The two males shared a short nod, and then went to their new teams.
Duncan sat down in the peanut gallery, sitting where Shawn had been moments before. Jasmine, Sammy, and Beardo all gave him uneasy glances while Cody downright glowered at him.
Shawn sat in Duncan's previous seat. Beside him, Gwen averted her gaze, choosing instead to look at the hand she had used to touch her cheek.
(Confessional- Gwen)
"Something was different about that kiss Duncan gave me," Gwen admitted. "All the times he did it before, I felt a good feeling in my chest, but this time I didn't feel anything. It's like… like the spark is gone."
Chris chuckled, standing on the Dock of Shame. "Today was full of surprises, huh? Tune in next time for more sweet, sweet mayhem on Total Drama All-Stars!"
(cue end credits)
Scarlett- 13th
Owen- 14th
Surprise! The non-elimination happened early! For the same reasons Chris explained, there's so much going on with the cast that I can't cut anybody without cutting their story short. And because there's no elimination, that means no bonus clip.
Plot developments! Mal's canon plot of breaking things/sabotage seemed like something Sugar would do. Since Heather and Gwen hate each other's guts, she figured if she were to steal Gwen's diary, Gwen would automatically accuse Heather, and then tried to befriend her to stay off Gwen's radar. As for Jasmine and Shawn having a fight, I needed something to make them mad at each other since they were on good terms for their whole run last season, like canon's Shawn hitting Jasmine with the dueling stick. In a challenge requiring strategy, I thought they would have different ideas. Jasmine getting annoyed with Shawn's zombie obsession was a natural progression of their plot, to me at least. Sure, she thought it was cute when they first met, but after knowing each other for a while, I could see it getting on her nerves. I know it got on mine.
Duncan and Shawn swapping teams was decided because of three reasons. The first reason is I want to fix Duncan's hero story so that it doesn't run too long and doesn't end with him getting arrested. The second reason is with Shawn on another team, he can't patch things up with Jasmine as easily and quickly that way. The third reason is because we never got a proper guy-guy team swap. We got Izzy-Katie in Island, Izzy-Sierra in World Tour, Jo-Scott in Revenge of the Island, Duncan-Courtney in All-Stars, and Max-Sky in Pahkitew Island, but none of them involved two boys.
Instead of treating the cannon as dead weight or using it for friendly fire, I wanted it to play a role in the challenge's ending. That's how we got Shawn becoming victorious over Alejandro.
Thank you once again to Magic Detective for creating a TVTropes page for Cast Swap, and to those who have worked on it so far. Keep it up, there's lots that can be added to the page.
Now, it's time for a serious talk. Let me remind everyone that plagiarism is Not Cool. This year I have experienced two instances of plagiarism with my fanfiction, the second of which I discovered one or two weeks ago. I'm not naming names, but I already handled the first one and am dealing with the second. Needless to say, I am furious that this even happened and that the second instance managed to get so far in plagiarizing my work without being caught. If you find another story that looks like it's plagiarizing the work of another fanfic writer you might have already read, let the original writer know. Some of my friends have experienced this, and I made sure to inform them as soon as I found out. Seriously guys, plagiarism is Not Cool.
Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome!