SideshowJazz1: You're welcome. Sugar definitely throws a wrench in the Topjandro alliance's plans. Yeah, I hated her naming the rats after Cody, and since they're conjoined twins, I thought 'Blog plus Post' would be hilarious and clever. I'm also glad that I could make Duncan's bad boy arc better for you.
The Legendary Dragon Reaper: You're welcome. I think once she got rid of Al, she'd have found a way to use it so she could get rid of Gwen somehow.
Acosta perez jose ramiro: Thanks. I worked really hard to make that scene end respectfully.
WeirdAlfan101: Agreed about Duncan staying gone early. I wouldn't say Cody never got to do things in World Tour. He made a video for Japan (with Sierra), led his team through the mine field, and built his team a boat (in the shape of Gwen's head), and those are only a few examples.
AnonBrowser: Glad you enjoyed Duncan's elimination, and you're welcome for the mention. We'll see about that match between Amy and Sammy.
QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless: Yeah, he really needed an early elimination. Yeah, Sugar plus invincibility statue equals trouble.
That British Guy: True, and he wasn't arrested, so that's a bonus.
Critica7: Glad you enjoyed the chapter. We'll have to see how long Cody can last among the other major players. It pleases me that I have made someone else a fan of Topher. Guy deserves more fans, and he's one of several characters that could use some more.
StarHeart Specials: Thanks! It was important to me that Duncan and Gwen got a real breakup instead of that shoddy one canon gave them. As for Chris's wallet, how long it takes for Chris to notice depends on how he keeps track of his stuff. Interesting predictions, today we'll see if they get answered.
Phenomenal Ultra Instinct: Yeah, that's a thing I made sure of when I wrote his elimination. And yeah, I wanted to do their breakup justice. That's part of the reason why the breakup went as smoothly as it did. Courtney would've just been an irritating third wheel.
Knight: He is a good fighter...
Joel Connell: It's fine. All that matters is that you reviewed this time, and talked about what you missed. And yeah, a character as strategic as Heather should be given an equally strategic elimination. Thanks, it was important to me that the breakup was handled better. I can see why you would want a scene like that, but it didn't happen because a) it would've made Duncan's elimination more blatant, and b) it was important to me that Gwen come to that conclusion herself.
Derick Lindsey: Yeah, the Geoff-DJ-Duncan reunion was long overdue. Trust me, Topher's opponent will be unexpected. I'll be keeping your predictions in mind.
SilentSinger948: Yeah, I wanted to write a more respectful breakup for the characters, and the cheating had to be brought up. It was also important to me that Duncan didn't get arrested because even I thought that was a bit much. Sorry that Sugar finding the idol wasn't your favorite moment, but rest assured the statue will see its use at some point.
Star Saber21: I think it's a better breakup than the canon one. Yeah, Chris's wallet getting stolen is one of my favorite forms of Chris getting karma for all the stuff he pulled on the contestants over the years.
LovelyLuly: Even though I don't like Duncan that much, I found his arrest to be going way too far. Yeah, it was one of the things I wanted to improve from canon the most.
Magic Detective: Don't expect too big of a reaction. It's not going to be much of a plot line since I don't want to give Duncan too much attention after he's supposed to be eliminated, but there will be a couple small moments showing the aftermath. Believe me, I think he'd have an epic reaction to realizing that, but his reaction is going to be a bit subdued.
Guest: They probably would, but they haven't had a chance to interact since they're on different teams and the challenges don't provide much time to interact.
With the reviews out of the way, I'll give a friendly reminder that Cast Swap has a TVTropes page that is always looking for improvement, so go over and add to it if you can.
Now, let's box with some phobias!
Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, or anything within the franchise. I only own some shirts and a season one DVD.
Episode 7- Suckers Punched
"Last week on Total Drama All-Stars," Chris began to narrate over footage of the Fun Zone, "the campers were treated to a day in the Fun Zone." The contestants were shown dodging the attention of the larger mutants. "Where anything can happen, except fun."
Sugar's discovery of the invincibility statue inside the goat egg was replayed. "Sugar found the invincibility statue, but unfortunately, so did Topher." The wannabe host was shown watching Sugar from behind a boulder. A flash transitioned to Sierra fussing over Blog and Post, the conjoined mutant rats. "And Sierra adopted a new… uh, pet." Sugar was shown throwing the Vultures' last egg to Alejandro, who set it in the basket. "In the end, the Vultures got the victory."
Another flash showed Gwen meeting Duncan in front of the Mess Hall. "Gwen finally mustered up the guts to break up with Duncan. Just in time too because Duncan ended up being the Hamster to take the flush of the night." Duncan was displayed glaring at his former team, quickly cutting to the shot of him getting flushed.
Returning to real time, Chris sat in a lounge chair at season one's Playa des Losers with a cappuccino in hand. "Can the villains keep their lead? Will the heroes live up to their name?" Growing annoyed, he cupped a hand next to his mouth. "Will my breakfast get here before lunch?" He resumed his smile and concluded, "Find out right here on Total Drama All-Stars!"
(cue intro)
The episode started off on an eerie melody.
Alejandro was heard groaning, "Ugh, no… Would you get out of here?" The camera zoomed in on the spa hotel. A cut inside showed Alejandro dozing in his sleeping bag, only he was flinching every few seconds. "No, stay back! Don't touch her! Gah!" The charmer's eyes shot open, and he sat up in bed, panting heavily. Looking around, he sighed in relief. "It was all a dream."
"Geez… rough dream, Al?" Alejandro looked across the room to see Topher lounging on his own bed, watching him.
(Confessional- Alejandro)
Alejandro held a hand to his forehead. "Last night, I had a dream about my older, smarter, better-looking brother, Jose." Shuddering, he continued on. "He always calls me 'Al', and I hate it. More than mutant fire beetles and conditioners that don't detangle."
In the girls' room, Gwen flopped onto her bed, ready for the day. "I'm pretty much all alone now. When am I ever going to catch a break?"
The door to the girls' bedroom slammed open, allowing Sugar to enter. "Found it!" Her abrupt entrance startled Gwen into falling off her bed with a yelp.
"Ow!" The loner girl griped. Rubbing her head, she sat up to glance at Sugar. "Found what?"
"That book you've been looking high and low for? I found it." Sugar held up a familiar gray book, one that hadn't been seen since episode three of the season.
Gwen gasped sharply. "My diary!" She snatched it from Sugar, and flipped through the pages rapidly. "Where'd you find it?" She then looked at the outside covers. "And why is it covered in soot?"
(Confessional- Sugar)
"I stashed it in the fireplace at the kitchen," Sugar explained to the audience. "Since Chef has been bringing breakfast to us all at the loser cabin, I figured nobody would think to visit there all season."
"So, I reached up that there chimney, and there it was," Sugar relayed the false story to her teammate.
Holding her diary to her chest, Gwen gave the pageant queen a one-armed hug. "Thanks, Sugar. Nice to know there's some decency on this team." As Gwen hugged her, Sugar smirked deviously behind the girl's back.
Jasmine, Sammy, Cody, and Sierra all sat on the loser cabin's porch, eating their breakfast that Chef had delivered. To their surprise, it wasn't gruel like the past few mornings, but it did have something else wrong with it.
Sammy held up a piece of her toast warily. "Uh, I'm pretty sure that green toast is only supposed to exist in a kid's storybook."
Sierra, who cradled her pet rats, offered, "At least everything else looks okay." She picked up her two strips of bacon, and held them in front of the rats' faces. "Here you go, Blog and Post. A nutritious breakfast is important to starting a new day. Eat up!"
The rats sniffed at the bacon, and then took big bites of the meat, unintentionally sinking their teeth into Sierra's hand.
"Ow!" The blogger cried out, yanking her hand away as the rats ate the bacon. "That was very naughty! The day's just started and I think you've already lost your dessert privileges."
(Confessional- Sierra)
"Twins are a major handful," she informed the viewers, holding the rats in her lap while she made her confessional. "My little Cody Junior never gave me this much trouble by himself."
(Confessional- Cody)
The geek fiddled with Sierra's phone, which was now held together by duct tape and a wire antenna. "I think Sierra's trying to distract herself from being unable to use her phone. Once I get this fixed and back to her, she should be okay again." He tapped a few buttons, testing the device. "Right now, I'm just happy that she didn't name those rats after me."
Jasmine tried a bite of the toast, and immediately spat it out. Setting her plate aside, she stood up. "That's it. I'm going foraging. Whatever I find edible in the woods is bound to be kilometers better than this." She motioned to the plate.
Before she could go anywhere, Chris's voice came over the loudspeakers. "Good soon-to-be painful morning, everyone! Head to the Chrisseum, pronto! Today's challenge isn't going to hurt itself."
A short while later, everyone except Shawn, the camper serving exile, was walking through the woods. Sierra had woven a carrier to hold the rats, and even as they walked, the twin mutants were giving her problems.
"Ow! That's enough, you two!" Sierra tried to discipline them when one clawed at her hair. Sammy watched with a grimace as the other barfed in the blogger's face.
The camera panned ahead of her past Sugar and Gwen to the pair of Alejandro and Topher, the latter two looking back at Sugar before turning to each other.
"Are you absolutely certain that Sugar has the statue?" Alejandro whispered to his co-conspirator.
Topher nodded. "Yeah. I'm telling you we need to change our plans, and go after her first."
The charmer hummed thoughtfully. "If we aim to get the statue out of play, then we'll have to move cautiously. Flushing out the statue means the person with the next amount of votes will be eliminated instead of her."
"And it can't be either of us, so how do we do that?"
"I believe we'll have team up with Shawn and Gwen. If we can get one of them to vote with us, and then have the other figure out how Sugar's going to vote, we can use their vote to counteract hers and force a tie."
Topher sighed. "Which means we'll have to work together with who we were targeting in the first place. Have I ever mentioned how bad that statue is when it's not in our hand?"
Behind the pair, Gwen eyed them skeptically before turning towards Sugar. "Hey, listen. I'm super grateful you found my diary and all, but I might need your help with something else."
Sugar rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."
"Shawn overheard them planning to go after him or me next. Could you join us so we have the majority and vote one of them off instead?" pleaded Gwen.
Sugar huffed, "Sorry, no can do. A pageant winner never gets to the top by working together with others. You and that nut are on your own." Her word on the subject said, she sped up her walk.
Gwen reached a hand out to her. "But we really need…" She sighed when she realized she wouldn't get to speak further. A scream sounded out behind her, causing her to look up and see what the commotion was. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
An intern ran past her, his head being clawed at by Blog and Post. Sierra ran by moments later.
"Leave that intern's face alone," Sierra scolded the rats. Gwen grimaced.
"Shawn!" Chef called out, the scene flashing to Boney Island. The cook walked up to the gate that divided the Fun Zone from the rest of the island. "It's time to head back." He reached behind his back, retrieving a remote. "Hang on, I'll open the gate."
"No need!" answered Shawn. Chef looked up, and saw the conspiracy nut jump from a tall tree to the wall of logs. His foot landed on the exterior side of the wall, and he vaulted clear of it, somersaulting through the air. Dismounting perfectly, he turned to face Chef and pointed at himself cockily. "I can get myself out."
Chef muttered something under his breath, putting the remote back where he had grabbed it from, and then walked over to Shawn. "You're a real weird kid, you know that? Willingly going back in there."
Shawn shrugged. "I just wanted to examine the layout to see if the same method of containment could hold zombies. If we don't want them to spread, we've got to secure them in an unescapable area."
"Like I said, real weird kid." Chef rolled his eyes, marching past the boy and seizing him by the back of his orange vest. "Come on. The challenge is starting soon."
"But I didn't even get to design a gate that the zombies couldn't open themselves!" The boy protested while being dragged away.
A short time later, the contestants that weren't exiled were gathered in the same location that the fourth season finale took place in.
Chris greeted the contestants. "Welcome to the Camp Wawanakwa Coliseum!" Notably, he was standing in a standard elevated boxing ring with elastic ropes
"Wait, boxing? Are you serious?" Sammy asked, seeing the ring. Beside her, Cody gulped.
"We're going to be fighting?" The geek added.
(Confessional- Cody)
"Drama Brothers, if you see this- dedicate one of our songs to me if I don't make it out of the ring without entering a coma," Cody said.
"Hey, Shawn, find any evidence of zombies in the Fun Zone?" Chris teased upon seeing Chef and Shawn return.
"Don't even joke about that," Shawn sternly told Chris, walking over to join the others.
Chef leaned in to whisper to Chris while pointing to the conspiracy nut, "That kid jumped the fence separating the mutants from the rest of the island." Chris looked at Shawn in surprise.
Shawn joined Gwen and Sugar. "Status update?"
Gwen motioned to Sugar beside her. "She refused." He frowned at that, and then turned to pay attention to Chris. After a moment, he cast a leery eye at the pageant queen.
Enthusiastically, Chris raised his arms. "Greetings, players! The recipe for today's disaster is a hearty helping of season one's No Pain, No Gain challenge with a pinch of Phobia Factor for extra zing."
"Ooh, does it have some horseradish?" Sugar inquired, licking her lips.
Chris pointed at her while walking over to something. "One, horseradish is gross. Two, get ready to sink your soon-to-be-missing teeth into the Wheel of Misfortune!" He arrived at his destination, and the camera zoomed out to show a wooden wheel divided into eight sections with a differently colored silhouette picture taped in each one. At the top of the wheel was a pink silhouette of a familiar mutant, clockwise to that was the silhouette of a dark blue shark, an orange bear, a light blue unfamiliar person, a brown familiar figure, a red familiar figure that resembled one of the contestants, a gray familiar figure, and a purple silhouette of a familiar recurring character.
"Rules are simple," the host continued to explain, "Spin the wheel, and go a full two minutes with whatever the wheel lands on. Win the match, and earn your team a point." As he explained, Chef reappeared, wearing the pink dress he wore during elimination ceremonies in season two. "Fights will be judged impartially by Chef and myself. First team to win three battles is the champ."
Cody and Sammy were paying attention when they saw Sierra step forward with her rats back in the carrier.
"But who's going to watch Blog and Post while I fight?" Sierra inquired.
Chris leveled a flat look at her. "No one, if they value their lives." Growing excited again, he raised a finger. "Let's get ready to pum-mel!"
"Wait a cotton picking minute, what about my rewards from the last challenge?" Interrupted Sugar, who glared at the host.
He stared at her with a blank look before sighing. "I was hoping you'd forgotten about that, but for being MVP in the last challenge, you don't have to box and the Vultures get a point."
The scoreboard above the stadium dinged as a point was added to the villains' score. The team of five cheered while Sugar boasted, "You're welcome!"
"Since the heroes lost yesterday, they go first. Who's rumble ready?" Chris pointed the question at the Hamsters.
Sierra raised her hand. "I'll go! That way I can look after my babies for the rest of the challenge once I'm done." Removing the carrier and the rats, she shoved them into Cody's arms. "Here Cody, it's about time you be their daddy like you said you'd be."
(Confessional- Cody)
"Um, I'm pretty sure I didn't sign up for this," the geek remarked in a confessional, the carrier with Sierra's rats around his neck. One of them stretched up and sunk its teeth into his chin. "Ouch! Let go!"
Once Sierra spun the wheel, Chris sent Chef a wink over Sierra's shoulder, which the man in the dress returned before tapping a pedal at the bottom of the wheel with his foot. The wheel slowed down and the ticker stopped on the picture of the pink silhouette.
The blogger gasped, instantly recognizing it. "No way! I'd never fight my sweetie pet!"
Chris grinned, eager to correct her. "Oh, you're not fighting your pet. You're fighting your pet's mother!"
A hatch in the boxing ring opened, and a large, two-headed rat emerged from below, wearing boxing gloves on its forepaws.
Sierra gulped once she saw her opponent. "I'm not afraid of a few heads and a lot of teeth… and a bunch of claws." As she lost her nerves, Chef came over and outfitted her with a pair of boxing gloves similar to the ones her opponent wore. The man knew she wasn't going to move on her own, so he picked her up and threw her into the ring. When she landed in the ring, the rats' actual mother roared in her face. That was apparently the snapback that Sierra needed. She glared in return. "Bring it on, garbage breath!"
Jumping in close, she threw several punches that connected, but unfortunately did nothing as the mother rat did not flinch at the hits. Sierra noticed she wasn't having any effect, and looked her enemy in the eye, only to find them smirking deviously at her. The blogger giggled awkwardly.
The camera cut away to Jasmine and Sammy, and both girls winced away in shock, the latter going as far as covering her eyes with her hands while sounds of a scuffle ensued. There were yelps of pain from Sierra a few moments after one another. When the cameras returned to her, she had a black eye. She panted heavily, only for the mother rat to knock her out of the ring with one final uppercut.
"Ooh, that's going to hurt badly," Jasmine commented, cringing as she watched Sierra fly up into the air from the punch. The camera pulled back to show while she and Sammy watched their third female teammate, the mother rat took Blog and Post away from Cody, along with the carrier. Cody barely had time to react before Sierra landed on top of him.
The purple-haired girl groaned, sitting on top of her friend. "I'm pretty sure that's not how adoption works."
(Confessional- Sierra)
She blew her nose into a tissue. "It's not fair! Why is it whenever I try to adopt a baby animal, their mother always takes them back?"
As Jasmine and Sammy helped their teammates back to their feet, Chris turned his attention to the villains. "That's no point for the heroes. Villain time! Come on up, Topher!"
"This isn't part of some sneaky plan to make sure I never become your successor as host, is it?" Topher raised a brow at the man.
"Just spin the wheel, dude," Chris replied flatly.
Topher spun the wheel, and it stopped on the brown silhouette.
"Hey, that looks like-"
The host nodded. "Yep! For your fight, you'll be facing… Chef Hatchet!" The camera cut to Chef, still in his dress, putting on a pair of boxing gloves.
Topher looked at Chef, and then glanced at Chris. "But, I'm not afraid of Chef."
"True," Chris conceded, "but you've had some, um, beef with how he does things around here, and let's just say the feeling is mutual."
Sammy looked up at Jasmine beside her. "Should we be concerned about who we're fighting against? Sierra and Topher both got really personal opponents."
Cody, who had been standing next to her, tapped his chin. "You might be onto something. Now that I think about it, the odds for the worst possible outcome should be really low."
In the ring, Topher stood before Chef, wearing matching gloves to Chef's. "Come on, Chef. You have to know all those things I said about you weren't serious. Once I run the show, of course I wouldn't get rid of you. Who'd do all the heavy lifting?"
The cook smirked. "I'm going to enjoy this."
When he raised an arm, Topher reacted by putting up both of his gloves in front of his face. "Watch the hair!"
Against a bright yellow backdrop, Chef's hits to Topher were shown. The wannabe host was punched in the gut, then in the butt, and Chef finished with a left hook that sent Topher flying into the ropes, which launched him back toward Chef, who used both fists to pound him into the floor.
"Time's up!" Chris announced. "No point for the villains either. The score is still 1-0, Vultures. Hamsters, might be time to tie things up!"
"I guess I'll give it a shot. After fighting Scarlett, how bad can my opponent be?" Sammy stated, moving past Chris to the Wheel of Misfortune and giving it a spin.
(Confessional- Sammy)
"When Cody mentioned the odds, I had a bad feeling about who I was going to be fighting," she said cryptically.
The wheel eventually landed on the red silhouette.
Seeing the results, Sammy slouched in resignation. "Of course…"
From below the ring came none other than-
"I'm back, losers!" shouted the obnoxious voice of Sammy's twin, Amy, who still had the black blotches all over her visible skin. Only her hair was back to normal length since she lost it in the mine the previous season. "I'll beat Samey so bad, the producers will want me to replace her as an all-star!"
Cody and Sierra flinched while Jasmine facepalmed in annoyance. "Dingo's teeth…"
"Amy," Sammy groaned, throwing her head back irritably.
Chris grinned, seeing the tension the bad twin brought. "Ooh, we might be seeing a cat fight in the boxing ring. Does Samey have what it takes to beat her older sister by seventeen seconds?"
"Hours-," Amy snappishly corrected.
"Minutes-," Sammy replied, correcting both.
"Or will the big sister shove the little sister down again? Find out after the break right here on Total Drama All-Stars!" Chris finished his speech, letting the footage fade to black.
When the show returned, the match bell rang and Sammy was in the ring with her sister. Both twins were wearing boxing gloves.
"The show must be rigged or something," Amy taunted, "because there's no way you'd stay past the first episode otherwise."
Sammy glared at her twin. "And yet, who was eliminated during our team's first elimination last time?"
(Confessional- Sammy)
"Ever since we got home last year, Amy's been insisting that I cheated somehow," Sammy told the viewing audience. "Anyone with eyes or ears or both can tell I got as far as I did fair and square. It's like she's so thick-headed she can't imagine that I could possibly do better than her at something. I've gotten better at ignoring all her jabs and accusations since I've got friends now, but she's still a real pain sometimes."
When the footage returned to the fight, the twins were already throwing punches at each other. After a hit, Sammy would yelp then retort with a punch of her own, making Amy shriek.
"Wow, this fight is so good!" Chris cheered from the sidelines. He put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if we can get these two in the ring on one of those pay-per-view matches."
"What did I even do to make you hate me this much?" Sammy asked, dodging a punch and throwing one back. "Seriously, what?"
"You were born, that's what!" Amy shouted.
Sammy scowled at her sister. "You don't even remember that. Come on, give me a real answer."
"Fine, you want an answer besides the truth? Remember the show we did with our class in second grade? The one with the stars?"
Sammy slugged her. "Yeah, what about it?"
"You were cast as star number one, and I was made star number two. You know how insulting that was? I'm the first twin, always have been in everything, and then I get made the second star? No way!" Amy threw another punch.
"Really?" Sammy gawked at her. "That's what you've been hating me for since we were seven?"
"There's more. I talked to aunt Mildred afterwards, and she said I should've been star number one, not you! She told me that it was just the beginning of you hogging the spotlight, and to not let it happen!"
The younger twin couldn't help but groan. "Aunt Mildred is crazy, Amy, or have you not noticed everything she's done the past several years?"
"Well, even if she's a total psycho, she was right about one thing. I'm the number one twin, and as long as I can do anything about it, it'll always be Amy before Samey."
Hearing her loathed nickname again, Sammy felt her eye twitch. "My name is Sammy!" Rearing her arm back, she socked her sister in the face.
The force was rough enough that Amy actually stumbled onto her back. "Ow, my eye!"
Chris raised his arms grandly as a bell dinged. "And Samey wins a point. The score is one all."
Sammy pointed a gloved hand at the host. "Don't make me punch you too, Chris."
"Fine," Chris corrected, rolling his eyes. "Sammy wins a point. Happy?"
"Yes." Shedding her gloves, she climbed out of the ring and was met by cheers from her team.
(Confessional- Sammy)
The good twin sighed contently. "That felt so good. If I can vent like that on this show regularly, I'd be open to coming back again some time."
"Villain time! Who's up for a round?" Chris asked the eviler of the two teams.
Alejandro stepped forward. "I'll put us back in the lead."
As she watched the charmer spin the wheel, Gwen quipped to Shawn, "I hope he gets Heather." The conspiracy nut actually chuckled at her joke.
Having heard that comment, Alejandro's confident smile turned into a concerned frown as he returned his attention to the wheel.
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"There's only one person I'd rather fight less than Heather, and that person is," he cryptically stated.
The wheel stopped on the blue silhouette, and it was a silhouette that he appeared familiar with.
His eyes went wide. "No! It can't be…" Almost hesitantly, he faced the boxing ring.
A puff of smoke appeared in the ring, and when it dissipated, it revealed a young adult man with the same skin tone and brown hair as Alejandro himself, the only difference being he had gray eyes. The young man also had a similar style of dress to Alejandro, wearing a blue shirt over a gray one, gray slacks, black boots, and a bull head necklace exactly like the one Alejandro wore.
Alejandro's teammates gasped when they saw him.
The charmer's eyes narrowed. "Jose."
Chris held up two fingers eagerly. "Two siblings fights back-to-back? I love this show!"
A cut forward had Alejandro, boxing gloves at the ready, in the ring with his older brother. When the bell rang for the match to begin, Alejandro's elder brother immediately started with the verbal taunts.
"Beunos dias, Al," Jose greeted, "you look tired and in need of exfoliation."
"I exfoliate once a week," Alejandro shot back, "and the only thing I'm tired of is you!"
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"I knew my dream was a sign!" The charmer exclaimed. "My whole life, Jose has been better than me at everything- academics, sports, and yes, even personal grooming. Well, not this time!" A moment after making his vow, he realized something. "Now that I speak of this out loud, this sounds almost exactly like Sammy and her…"
"Enough with the touching family reunion! Start punching each other," demanded Chris, who had grown annoyed by the lack of action.
He got his wish, for the Burromuerto brothers began throwing swings at one another. Each punch that connected, however, had an interesting pattern.
Shawn was the first to pick up on it. "Why are they only doing body hits? Every other fight has had at least one punch to the face."
(Confessional- Alejandro)
The charmer smiled into a hand mirror. "It is the family code," he said, answering Shawn's inquiry. "Not the face."
(Confessional- Jose)
Alejandro's brother unintentionally copied his posture, mirror and all. "Never the face."
Chris began to watch with interest once more. "Ooh, this is going to be so close!"
Jose dodged another hit from Alejandro, and began to taunt, "Your technique is almost as embarrassing as the way your girlfriend with the unattractive personality burned you on national television."
The camera zoomed in on Alejandro's face, catching his reaction to the insult. His eyes narrowed, his teeth gnashed, and a growl built up in his throat.
Apparently, Jose said the worst thing he could've to his younger brother. That was a really bad idea on his part.
As Jose began to chuckle, Alejandro rocketed forward, punching him in the stomach. "That's for calling me 'Al'!" He jumped around behind his brother, delivering a fist to the butt. "That's for always hogging the bathroom mirror!"
The heroes all stared in stunned horror as he threw another punch off-screen, calling out, "And for swapping my soap with a urinal cake!" The footage cut back to him, winding up his arms. "And this is for calling any aspect of Heather unattractive!"
Jose was already beginning to sway on his feet, but Alejandro came at him with both fists at once. He was thrown back into the ropes, which threw him back to the center of the ring. The force was too much, and he fell on his face right in front of his younger sibling, who took a knee and raised a gloved fist in victory as the bell rang.
"Whoa! The villains get a point," Chris declared, blown away by the final move. "And now we all know how Alejandro really feels about Heather."
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"Heather, I know you're watching." The charmer made a phone gesture with his hand. "Call me!"
"The score is now two to one, Villainous Vultures!" Chris announced. "Cody, Jasmine, one of you are next for the Heroic Hamsters."
Cody raised a hand in protest. "Wait, what's even the point of spinning the wheel? The game is clearly rigged."
Everyone turned towards him, murmuring in shock.
"Think about it- Sierra goes up against Blog and Post's mother, Topher faces Chef, and both Alejandro and Sammy face siblings that they hate. The odds are way too low for these match-ups to be random!" Cody explained, counting on his fingers.
Gwen considered his words for a moment. "It does sound a little rigged."
Sugar snorted, glaring at Chris. "More like totally fixed."
Seeing his ploy was exposed, the host compromised, "How about this? I guarantee that the next spinner will have a non-specific-to-their-personal-terror opponent. Okay?" He gave a nod to Chef, who grumpily backed away from the wheel.
Cody stepped forward, inclined to prove his point. He gave the wheel a spin. "Just watch. It'll be what I'm most afraid of."
The wheel stopped on the darker blue shark silhouette. "Or it'll be what Sugar's most afraid of."
The geek gasped. "What?"
Shawn glanced at Sugar. "You're afraid of sharks?"
The pageant queen snorted again. "Sharks? Please. The only shark I have a problem with is that Fang feller, and I'm not even afraid of him. He's just annoying as all heck."
Fang rose out from under the ring, wearing boxing gloves and shark-sized mouth guards that protected his precious teeth.
"You mean I have to fight him?" Cody clarified, groaning afterward and looking skyward. "Me and my big mouth."
"That's right! Fang is back to beat the snot out of you guys. He's been itching to do that for a while now," Chris cheerfully informed the cast.
Once Cody was gloved up and in the arena, the bell rang to start the match. Once it began, the geek laughed hesitantly as he stared down his opponent. "At least I'm fighting someone else's fear instead of my own, right?"
In swift succession, Fang hit Cody twice, then knocked him back into the ropes, which forced him back the shark's way. Fang simply held out one arm, easily clotheslining the hero, who crashed outside of the ring that time.
Thankfully, Sammy acted as a cushion.
"Cody," Sierra gasped as she knelt next to her friend. "Are you okay?"
The geek moaned painfully, laying on top of Sammy. "I feel like my spleen was shoved up into my head…"
(Confessional- Sierra)
"I feel so bad for Cody," the blogger stated sympathetically then turned her expression into one of fury. "Fang better hope we don't cross paths again real soon, because if we do, I'm taking that mammal fish tail down!" She pounded a fist into an open palm.
"Time's up and Fang wins," Chris announced, "no point for the heroes. Shawn, Gwen, who's going next?"
Shawn sighed, raising his hand. "I'll go. You've probably got a zombie for me, so let's get that dispatched and over with."
He spun the wheel, and it landed on the orange bear silhouette. "Nope, no zombie here. Just a big bear," the host corrected him.
"A bear?" Shawn repeated, his eyes going wide. "But-but I haven't trained to fight bears!"
A bear appeared in the ring, and Cody, who was recovering from his fight, immediately snapped alert. "Gahahahah!" He screamed.
Jasmine looked down at him. "What's wrong?"
Sierra took it upon herself to explain. "Season one, paintball deer hunt challenge. He got mauled by a bear because it followed his chip crumbs. It became his new worst fear, right above failing to defuse a time bomb."
(Confessional- Shawn)
"You know, I'm starting to wish Cody didn't say anything about the challenge being rigged," the conspiracy nut stated in a nonchalantly bitter tone.
After Shawn was in the ring, the bear growled at him. Shawn considered it a slight grace that the bear's claws were covered with gloves so it couldn't properly maul him.
"Look, you don't want to fight me. I'm not the one that's afraid of you, and I stink, like haven't showered for three weeks stink." Shawn tried to reason.
"Ew!" Several contestants cringed.
"Dude, when this challenge is finished, shower. Thoroughly. Several times," Topher said with a glare.
"And I don't think stinking is going to stop the bear," Jasmine pointed out. "Bears like to dig through garbage, after all."
Shawn looked between the cast and the bear, and uttered one word. The word had to be censored.
The starting bell rang, and that was the bear's signal to move. With a roar, it raised a gloved paw at Shawn.
The camera cut away as there was the sound of Shawn's signature scream rang out followed by several punches. The heroes winced when the camera cut back to the ring, where the bear delivered one final punch that sent Shawn spinning like a mini tornado until he collapsed on the floor. The conspiracy nut groaned as his eyes spun around, images of zombie heads chirping like birds and circling around his head. The bell rang, signaling the end of the match.
"That was fast. It's still two to one, and the Vultures are in the lead," the host updated.
Sammy pumped her fists. "Come on, Jasmine! You can do it!"
Jasmine walked over to the wheel. "Let's just see what I'm fighting before we start cheering, alright?" Reaching out, she gave the wheel a spin.
(Confessional- Jasmine)
"There's not much I can't fight. I'd like to see them try and find an opponent that I can't handle," Jasmine said confidently, pointing at herself with her thumb.
Unbeknownst to Jasmine, Chef rigged for the wheel to stop on the purple silhouette.
"Jasmine, looks like you get the Sasquatchinakwa!" Chris revealed.
The explorer blinked in surprise. "That's something I haven't fought before." She heard the stage whir, and looked over to see the hairy creature appear with boxing gloves ready.
"We were originally going to have Larry for you," Chris informed her, "but he was a little too big for the ring to handle before it collapsed, so we settled for something more similar to your size."
Jasmine looked at the host, and then adjusted her hat as she frowned at Sasquatchinakwa. "Bring it on."
Sammy pumped her fists again. "Jasmine, Jasmine, she can win. I know she can because together we've been through thick and thin," she chanted.
Jasmine put on her gloves and entered the arena. When on the same level as Sasquatchinakwa, she was up to his chin, hat included. The bell dinged, and the match was on. Whenever one of the two fighters swung, the other dodged. There were times both swung, and their fists met in the space between.
"Whoa, she's good," Sugar whistled.
"Try punching faster! He can't counter your punches if you make them quicker than his," Sammy suggested.
Jasmine got hit in the stomach, and her eyes steeled with determination. Seemingly taking Sammy's advice, she sped up her swings. She managed to get a few blows in, and each one enraged Sasquatchinakwa.
"Come on, come on, knock her out," Alejandro muttered. "We need this win."
Sasquatchinakwa managed to hit Jasmine a second time, and aimed for a third. When he went in for it, Jasmine dodged by jumping up. The moment was caught in slow-motion, focusing first on Jasmine's determined frown before panning over to the sasquatch's shocked face. Jasmine reared an arm back, and slugged him directly in the face.
Sasquatchinakwa stumbled back, a dazed look on his face, and fell onto his back. Jasmine watched with tense preparedness, waiting for him to recover, but he laid still. The bell rang again, and the explorer allowed herself to smile.
"Jasmine scores another point for the Heroic Hamsters," updated Chris.
"Bangin'," Jasmine smiled, taking off the gloves and hopping out of the ring. Her teammates cheered, crowding around her.
"Well, well, the score is tied and there's only one person left that hasn't fought yet." Chris said.
Gwen sighed. "I know. I'm up." She began to walk over.
As she walked past Chris, the host explained, "If Gwen doesn't win the match, I'll let the Hamsters attempt to steal the point by letting one of them go again except they get to pick their opponent from the wheel. And if they don't get the point either, the same chance will be given to the Vultures. After that, we'll spin randomly until someone wins."
Gwen spun the wheel, and it landed on the gray familiar silhouette. Unfortunately for Gwen, she recognized the shape.
"Courtney!" the loner shrieked in panic.
Courtney rose up into the ring, and pointed a glove at Chris. "I thought I made my point the first time. I am not getting involved with the show again until my stress levels go back down!"
Chris began to chuckle. "Oh man, I've been looking forward to this match all day- er, I mean, how random!"
(Confessional- Gwen)
"I can't fight Courtney," Gwen declared anxiously, "I won't!"
Gwen had been given her boxing gloves and forcibly placed in the arena. "No way," Gwen insisted.
"For once, I agree with her. You can't get me to throw a single punch," Courtney said.
Chris cast a skeptic eye at the girls. "Yeah, I kinda figured this would happen. So, as a bit of extra incentive…"
At the cue, Chef brought in the monitor.
"What's that for?" asked Courtney.
Wordlessly, Chris held up a remote. He turned on the TV, and a montage played of Duncan and Gwen's many kisses shared. One from them on the beach, one from them on the plane, one from them in the Area 51 storage, one from the yacht the first generation of contestants were on in last season's first episode, and a clip of them kissing on what looked like a website. Each kiss only appeared to anger Courtney further.
"Heeeey," Sierra spoke up, "that's a video from my Gwuncan blog!"
"That's right! The producers found it. Awesome, huh?" Chris commented.
Courtney was fuming by the end of the montage. Gwen could see it clearly on her face, and tried to talk her down.
"Courtney, remember your stress," she tried to remind her.
"To heck with my stress levels!" Courtney snapped, raising a gloved fist and punching Gwen, who blocked the blow and then a second with her gloves. "That's for kissing my boyfriend!"
Whatever reluctance she had about fighting Courtney vanished at the first strike. Gwen threw a punch back. "That's for not accepting my apology even after I gave it a hundred times!"
Topher called out, "Give it to her good, Gwen!"
(Confessional- Topher)
"I've been waiting for this confrontation between them for a while, and I got a front row seat for it, watching it play out live." Topher beamed. "That was totally worth getting my butt kicked by Chef."
Two minutes later, both girls were roughed up. Each had bits of hair standing up on end, bruises on their cheeks and waists, and a black eye. The bell rang, signaling the time had run out.
"Okay, time's up!" Chris said from off-screen.
Glaring at each other, the girls simultaneously shouted, "We're not done!"
"I only came back on this show to make things right with you," Gwen told the control freak. Courtney took advantage of the moment to hit her in the eye again. "Ow!"
Courtney was about to raise her fist again, but faltered. "I-I know. I've been watching."
"You-you have?" Gwen asked.
The two girls collapsed down onto their knees.
"Even though my doctor said I shouldn't compete because of my stress, I watched to see what I was missing, and… I saw how sincere you were about wanting to apologize. I didn't see it before, but maybe I saw it this time because I was so far away from you and figured you weren't just putting on an act."
"Oh. Well, now that you're here, I just want to say that I'm really sorry, again, for putting you through all of that."
"I accept your apology."
"So, friends?"
"Friends."
At long last, the girls shared a hug to a tender melody.
"Aw…" Sammy and Sierra cooed.
Chris sniffled and actually shed a tear. Wiping it away, he continued his hosting job. "Gwen managed to last in the ring for two minutes. That earns her a point, making the score three to two. Villains win again!"
The Villainous Vultures cheered, sharing high fives. A pan over to the Heroic Hamsters showed them groaning at their second loss in a row.
A fading transition cut the challenge's end to the bonfire ceremony. Sugar sat on the bottom bench of the peanut gallery next to Alejandro and Topher while Gwen and Shawn took the upper row. Meanwhile, the heroes sat in a single row on the stumps. Sierra sat on the far left end, next to Cody, Jasmine, and Sammy on the right end.
"This is really tough," Sammy whispered to Jasmine. "I don't know who to vote for."
"Go with your gut," Jasmine advised her.
(Confessional- Jasmine)
"It has to be Cody or Sierra. Neither of them won their matches whereas Sammy and I succeeded with ours." The explorer shrugged her shoulders. "And I might be biased since I'm closer friends with Sammy than with them."
"Okay," Chris called for the cast's attention, "before we send another player to the sewers, I have a wee announcement to make."
"The merge has arrived," Sugar hissed to Alejandro, who frowned. The camera panned to Alejandro's left, where Topher was watching them with pursed lips.
(Confessional- Topher)
"I think Sugar doesn't understand how the game works," the wannabe host commented. "Why would Chris tell us after the challenge when he usually does it right before the challenge? It makes no sense!" He spread his arms out to show how incredulous he found Sugar's idea.
"Tonight," Chris began to say, "the winners get to choose which player is eliminated from the losers' team." The heroes gasped together. "Hold that gasp. And the losers are the choosers of which winner goes to Boney Island. And, the teams are not merging. Now you may gasp."
That time, all the contestants inhaled sharply in a four way cut that showed all of them. Gwen and Shawn were in the upper left corner; Sugar, Alejandro, and Topher were in the upper right; Jasmine and Sammy were framed in the bottom right; and Cody and Sierra were in the bottom left corner.
The host smiled, clearly enjoying the drama his announcement had brought on. "Now, who's going home tonight?"
The Villainous Vultures whispered quickly for a few moments.
"Let me do it," Topher could be heard saying during the tail end of the conversation. "Show off my hosting skills." The others fell silent as Topher stood up from his seat. "By a vote of three to two, we have chosen… to eliminate…"
Cody and Sierra, still having a black eye from her fight with Blog and Post's mother, stared at the villains anxiously. Jasmine frowned at the villains, sending them a sharp look. Sammy's eyes widened.
The camera zoomed in on Topher's composed face. "…Sammy."
"What?" Sammy shrieked in shock, the camera zooming out to capture the reactions of her and her teammates. "Why me?"
Topher shrugged casually. "You're the one on your team that's gotten the furthest in the game. You were just the most logical threat to vote off."
Chris raised a finger to interject. "Before Sammy takes the Flush of Shame, which villain is going to take exile on Boney Island? Heroes?"
Almost immediately on the same page, Sierra, Cody, and Jasmine all pointed while saying, "Alejandro!"
The charmer raised an eyebrow at their decision.
(Confessional- Alejandro)
"I am to take exile tonight? I suppose that is a fair trade considering I was one of the votes to eliminate Sammy," he admitted. "Her story of sibling rivalry is a little too alike to my own. She had to leave before I could develop sympathy for her."
Everyone accompanied Chris and Sammy down to the Flush of Shame. Chef took Alejandro off to Boney Island in the Boat of Losers, and Sammy climbed into the giant toilet.
"Jasmine, Shawn, it's up to you guys," Sammy told her friends. "And please, make up soon. For me, okay?"
Jasmine gave her a nod of respect. "We'll try."
"Watch out for zombies in case they've infested the sewers," Shawn added, raising a finger. The explorer scowled in annoyance at him through the corner of her eye.
Chris prepared for the inevitable, and opened his umbrella. "Hold your breath," he teased while pressing the button on his remote.
"Aaaaaaaah!" Sammy screamed, going down the drain.
This time, everyone readied themselves for the backsplash, tensing their shoulders.
Once the backsplash was finished, Chris tossed the umbrella aside.
"Big sisters, former competitors, and surprising twists. Can we top it? You better believe we can. Next time on Total Drama All-Stars!"
(cue end credits)
(Bonus Clip)
Sammy's scream echoed through the pipes until it spat her out onto a cold metal floor.
"Ow!" The cheerleader rubbed her sore backside. "A cushion or something would've been nice." She let her gaze drift upwards, and she began to look around. "Where am I?" Getting to her feet, she walked out of frame.
The next frame showed her walking up to a giant, metal, circular device that seemed to hold a blue wall. "What's this?" She reached out to touch it.
"Don't touch that!" A masculine voice called out in a sharp whisper as a pair of red-sleeved arms shot out from behind a shelf of assorted objects, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her back.
Sammy yelped as she once again disappeared from the camera's sight. The footage cut to around the other side of the shelf, where a slender arm in a blue sleeve had a hand over Sammy's mouth.
"Quiet," a warm, mature voice warned her. "We get caught in here, and we'll be in huge trouble."
Sammy blinked when she noticed who was talking to her, and once the hand was removed, she pointed at the figures. "Hey, you're-?"
Bridgette and Tyler nodded once they pulled their hands and arms away from her.
"Yep, that's us. I'm Bridgette, and this is Tyler," introduced Bridgette.
"Hey, you can't just go around poking stuff in here," scolded Tyler, pointing a finger at the cheerleader. "All this stuff is crazy bonkers. You don't know whatever you touch is going to do. Take it from me."
Sammy grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't know." She looked around for a second time. "Where are we, anyway?"
"One of the storage units in Area 51," Bridgette answered.
"Area 5- oh em gee!" Sammy's eyes widened in horror. "What're we gonna do?"
Tyler lifted his hands calmly. "Don't worry. It'll be okay. Noah hacked the computers in this place so we could sneak in. He's awesome with computers like that."
Bridgette bobbed her head in agreement. "Definitely, but that's why we gotta move fast before-."
A siren began to blare, and the room started to flash red.
Bridgette sighed. "That happens."
There was the sound of boots clanking against the metal floors, frightening all three former players.
"We have to move. Let's go!" Tyler grabbed Sammy by the wrist, and hurried her away from the scene with Bridgette on their heels.
Sammy- 9th
Duncan- 10th
Heather- 11th
Beardo- 12th
Scarlett- 13th
Owen- 14th
Sammy wasn't meant to go any further than this. I recognize that she didn't have as much focus in All-Stars compared to Revenge of the Island, but that was exactly the point. After being in the spotlight for so long, it was time she take a step back and be in a more supportive role. Though, she did serve a purpose in acting as a mediator between Jasmine and Shawn, encouraging them to sort out their problems. Ultimately, the conflict was between Jasmine and Shawn, and it's important that even though Sammy is their friend, they need to reconcile without her present.
Instead of using seven out of eight phobias on the wheel, the eighth was used since there weren't two contestants that went head-to-head this time. The opponents for Sierra, Alejandro, Sammy, and Gwen were obvious. Blog and Post needed to be returned to the Fun Zone, Alejandro and Sammy had their sibling rivalries, and Courtney, the whole reason Gwen came back, was needed to reconcile their plot. Unlike canon, I intend for the mended relationship to stick. I thought Alejandro and Sammy's similar situations were interesting to note in the narrative, and it helped serve a purpose later on when explaining why Alejandro voted Sammy off. Additionally, if you caught onto Alejandro's nightmare in the beginning, let's just say it was extra fuel to fire up his ultimate smackdown on Jose. I intended to include a joke where Topher asks Alejandro if he had a sister that he could date, but it sadly ended up not fitting in.
The other four matches needed some figuring out. I needed a challenge for Jasmine since claustrophobia is difficult to physically represent, and then came to mind the Sasquatchinakwa. Consider it an early appearance compared to the final four challenge, which makes that appearance later on seem less random. Since you can't really box with a time bomb, Cody's fear needed to be something else. That's when I remembered him being mauled by the bear, and his later reactions to other bears. Also, I would like to clarify that I arranged for Shawn to fight Cody's bear before I remembered that happened in Fangren's version of All-Stars. Fang was Sugar's phobia, but since she wasn't fighting and Shawn's phobia, which would've just been a person in a zombie costume, would've been underwhelming, Cody got to fight Fang. Finally, Topher and his phobia. I had a tough time thinking of something or someone he could fight, and then I realized this was the perfect opportunity to continue his little conflict with Chef, which gave the cook a bit more to do in the season.
Area 51 was selected for the episode's bonus clip location because there's a lot of creepy stuff in there, which is perfect for the phobia episode theme. Bridgette and Tyler were chosen to pick Sammy up because with Jasmine and Shawn still in the game, Sammy needed a warm presence (Bridgette), and Tyler served as a guide since he's been there before.
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