Nicky Haugh: Thank you as always.
Wacky620: Interesting prediction. We'll have to see if it's true.
WeirdAlfan101: Yeah, not a bad trade-off. Oh, I wouldn't trust Sugar's judgment in that case...
Critica7: Glad I improved it for you, but I will say that's a tad extreme for Chris. Shasmine isn't my piece of cake, but whatever works for you. Congrats, you just answered your own question why the survivalists would go after Cody.
Xtremexavier15: Thanks for your support on both.
Omni Spectator: That question cannot be answered due to potential spoilers.
QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless: Yeah, I get that. But still... it's Sugar.
Acosta perez jose ramiro: Very true, and she did so... yeah.
AnonBrowser: Yeah, I think we're all aware of that unspoken rule. I think I might've read that story of yours before. Great analysis of all the main villains, and how they're different yet similar to each other. So, you're rooting for Shawn then. And yeah, the next challenge is kind of up in the air, isn't it?
SideshowJazz1: Possibly. Chris may be his usual sadistic self not letting his interns eat, or he changed the challenge's end in order to keep Sugar around. The interpretation is up to you and the other readers. Did Chris say Courtney could skip the chocolate? Don't remember seeing that part, and I watched the episode fairly recently to write the chapter. Very true about the bird vomit, and thanks, Cody's sugar problem was fun to write into the episode.
Guest: Aw, don't be so pessimistic.
Phenomenal Ultra Instinct: Yeah, Sugar probably made a smart move with eliminating Jasmine.
That British Guy: That's fair.
SilentSinger948: Thanks for your compliments on the episode. Yeah, Jasmine got a good ending out of this all things considered.
Guest: We'll see about those finalists real soon.
The Legendary Dragon Reaper: Glad you approve of the episode. I wonder what you're thinking is going to happen.
Joel Connell: Glad you enjoyed the episode. Yeah, if Sugar wasn't around, Cody probably would win the sundae challenge with that sugar problem of his. Yes, soon the final two will be revealed!
With review responses out of the way, a friendly reminder that Cast Swap has a TVTropes page that is always looking for additions, so if you come up with a trope or a change that can be applied, then go ahead. Now, let's go treasure hunting with the final four!
Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, or anything within the franchise. I only own a Total Drama DVD and a few Total Drama shirts.
Episode 12- The Bold and the Booty-ful
"Last time on Total Drama All-Stars," Chris narrated over footage of the contestants racing and avoiding the Drama Machine's attacks, "the final five went on a slippery, saucy sundae shopping spree with extra 'are you nuts?'" The campers were shown gathering each ingredient for their ice cream while dodging the obstacle that came with said ingredients. Shawn's misfortune throughout the challenge was highlighted, featuring his collision with the ice cream snowman and tripping over the rock at the swamp.
"With no one else to take the attention away from her, Sugar was on everyone's target list," Chris said over footage of everyone glaring at the pageant queen and their attempts, mostly Jasmine's, to stop her from winning the challenge. "In the end, Sugar's stomach saved her from everyone's wrath, and not even Cody's ice cream craving stood a chance." Sugar finishing her sundae first was shown, followed by Cody's first confessional with an ice cream tub, and the other confessionals with added tubs quickly cut in afterward.
"Having the swing vote of the night, Sugar voted out Jasmine for being a threat to her chances at victory." Jasmine was displayed getting flushed down the giant toilet after her failed kiss with Shawn. At last, the recap footage came to an end, and Chris was onscreen with a nighttime backdrop. "Four players remain, but not for long."
A loud fart interrupted his intro, and Chris chuckled awkwardly, making it seem like the sound came from him. "Okay… who's going to the finale?" Another fart rang out, annoying the host. "And who's going to get a bacterial infection if someone doesn't stop using the Flush of Shame!"
The camera zoomed out to show the Sasquatchinakwa sitting on the giant toilet like a regular person on a normal-sized toilet, reading a newspaper as he did his business. The sasquatch growled at the host in response before returning his attention to his reading material.
"Seriously, bro, we put people in there!" Chris argued. Deciding to deal with it after his introduction speech, Chris faced the camera. "It's all or nothing time right here on Total Drama All-Stars!"
As the usual far shot of the island was shown, a third fart could be heard, followed by a disgusted groan of 'ewww' from Chris.
(cue intro)
For a change, Shawn wasn't hiding out in a tree or wandering the woods. He dejectedly hung out on the porch of the loser cabin, and Cody stood by, listening to the conspiracy nut vent.
"I can't believe Jasmine's gone. We just started showing our feelings for each other," Shawn told Cody.
"Yeah, that's a real shame. But in a game like this, it's kinda inevitable," Cody responded, sitting down beside him.
"I know. I wish it didn't have to happen on Sugar's terms, though." Shawn scowled across the way to the spa hotel, where he knew Sugar was enjoying her win. "Knowing that she got what she wanted makes losing this last challenge so much worse."
"Blame Chris. He's the one who switched up the challenge at the last minute."
(Confessional- Sugar)
"This was my best win on this show ever," Sugar gloated, gleefully kicking a leg and spreading her arms above her head in celebration. "I won a challenge by myself so I could get the fancy spa, I got rid of a big target in my game, and I got to eat ice cream!" Clutching her hands in excited fists, she grinned toothily at the camera. "Two more challenges, and that money is as good as mine! Once I win, I'm going to college to become a makeup person for famous animals!"
Calming herself down, she became more thoughtful. "I'm really going to have a hard time reaching the final two. Those yahoos are breathing down my neck, and if I don't win a challenge before the finale, I'm as toast as a pig under a summer sun. Gwen's mad at me for her dumb diary, Shawn's mad at me for voting off his new girly-friend, and the geek that follows Gwen around… I got nothing, I just know he's mad too." Shaking her head, she smiled confidently. "No matter, I'm sure I can keep my behind safe a little longer. In fact, I'm so confident that I'll win I've began drafting my winning speech."
Pulling out a piece of paper, she cleared her throat and began reading it. "Ahem. My fellow competitors… in your face! This money is mine, not yours, and I ain't sharing squat!" After a moment of silence, she tucked the paper in her blouse. "That's all I got so far, but I think it'll be the best this show has ever seen."
(Confessional- Gwen)
Gwen sighed in relief. "I thought for sure I was going to be voted off. I've made it no secret that I'm pissed off at Sugar for what she did to me this season, and I figured that she would choose to vote for me since I've been so vocal."
Looking to the side, she continued to speak. "I'm so close to reaching the final two again. Season two, I got out so early on, and while I did better on season three, it still wasn't that close to getting this far. I guess I owe some of being able to reach this point to Cody. Without him being a solid ally, I wouldn't have had anybody in my corner, and I could've easily been picked off when the merge hit." She smiled as she thought of the geek himself. "Cody and I have never worked together this long before, and getting that chance has been amazing. Being in an alliance with him has let me see more of him than just the little brother I've always thought of him as." Holding up her hands, she said, "Don't get this twisted. I'm not interested in him romantically, and I never will. I've just come to appreciate him and his support through all the drama going on a lot more than I have in the past."
Getting serious, she leaned forward and stared into the camera. "I've come so far, and I can't mess this up. I already got so close to achieving my goal once, and I'm not going to let it slip away again."
(Confessional- Shawn)
"Jasmine being gone sucks," Shawn admitted right away, "And it's only been a few hours since she got sent down the Flush of Shame. Sugar better watch out, because she's pretty much a zombie in my eyes now, and I've got to slay her like I will when the real zombies come." Pausing as he mused over his words. "Um, that sounds wrong. Can I start over?"
(Confessional- Cody)
"Being in a final four with Gwen is the coolest," Cody beamed. "I thought I just got lucky last time I reached this point, but reaching the final four a second time is making me really think I've got what it takes to win. Just think, me winning could be a victory for geeks everywhere. In the event I do win, I'm going to use the money to further my band's career, and fund my game I'm making to put on Mist."
(Confessional- Shawn)
"When I win the money, I'm putting it towards building my dream zombie bunker. In fact, I've got the schematics right here." Shawn pulled out a clipboard containing a series of blueprints. "Check it out- entrance chamber with eye scan entry here, here, and here, oh and also here." He pointed to various points on the top page, then pulled the page off the stack to show the next one. "The master bedroom with blood-proof bedspread and weaponized pillows." Another page came off the stack. "And just in case, this is the panic room. And this is the panic room inside the panic room." He pulled another page off. "Can't be too careful."
A strange rap tune began to play in the background when the static transitioned to a shot of the spa hotel the following morning.
A cut inside showed Sugar dressed in a whole new outfit. Her blue jeans were replaced with pink ones, and her pink blouse was swapped with a white one. A pink and white ball cap was twisted backwards on her head, and she had a golden cowbell on a gold chain around her neck.
"Sugar Silo," she rapped as she romped around on the dining room table, "I'm wicked sweet with a tasty beat. Churning like milk from a jersey cow, I'm the queen of craptry and you all should bow!" As she attempted, rather horribly, to rap, the butler was seen putting earplugs in his ears with his usual indifferent, professional expression on his face as he stood by with a boombox. When Sugar began singing about how she was the queen, she stomped around on the table in blissful ignorance, not realizing she was nearing the edge. She made a misstep, and went crashing to the floor. "Ow!"
"Achoo!" Shawn sneezed as he sat at a table in the mess hall with a bowl of slop in front of him.
"Excuse you," Gwen said, poking at her slop while Shawn wiped his nose on his sleeve.
"Thanks. That kinda came out of nowhere," Shawn replied.
Cody gave a clueless shrug, a bowl of slop also in front of him. "Maybe you're allergic to that loud music coming from the spa hotel." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the window that wasn't broken, where they had a view of the hotel. "Sounds like something you'd hear at one of Geoff's ragers."
Rolling her eyes, Gwen said, "Please. Geoff has better taste in music than that."
(Confessional- Sugar)
Still wearing her rap outfit, Sugar pointed an accusatory finger at the camera. "Y'all better not air that fall, ya hear me?"
After the static, the cameras cut back to the three campers in the cafeteria when they heard the loudspeaker ring to life. Sugar's music having gone silent in the background.
"Good morning, final four! Gather at the dock, pronto-roonio! It's crunch time, and by that, I mean you're about to get crushed," Chris stated when the loudspeakers were shown, a brown bird briefly passing by in the background.
Reluctantly, the campers made their way to the docks.
In a close-up, Cody grinned at Gwen. "Today's the day!"
Gwen smiled back. "Yeah, today's the day we finally get rid of Sugar. She's had it coming for a while now."
"Oh yeah, and once she's gone, we can boot Shawn and take each other to the finale," said Cody. Realizing how close they were to Shawn, he sheepishly added. "No offense."
Shawn shrugged. "None taken. This is a game, and with how tight you two are, I wouldn't expect any less. If anything, I need to start thinking about who I want to take now that Jasmine's not in the game anymore." Putting a finger to his chin, he started to think about it.
(Confessional- Shawn)
"I just planned on taking Jasmine to the end with me. I was always so sure that we would make it that I never gave any thought to a plan B," admitted Shawn. Groaning, he smacked his forehead in his hand. "Stupid!"
A short few minutes later, the final four, Sugar having quickly changed out of her rap attire into her normal clothes, watched as the Boat of Losers backed up against the dock. On board was Chris, dressed in his pirate outfit from season one's treasure hunt and season two's pirate movie challenge. In the background, Chris's jaunty Newfoundland theme could be heard.
"Ahoy, mateys! Come to me, faithful bird!" Chris greeted, hopping out of the boat. The camera panned to show Chef coming out of the boat's cabin, wearing a parrot outfit. "Oh come on, stop frowning," Chris teased upon noting Chef's annoyed scowl, "You look great, and you know it." When Chef's face didn't change, Chris tried another tactic. "Hey, if you don't wanna be here… hey! That isn't what I was going to say!" Chef didn't bother listening further, and drove the Boat of Losers away.
Sighing, Chris turned towards the final four, who were staring at him in confusion, as the sea shanty tune changed into a tender melody. "Sorry. Chef just hasn't had much to do lately. I tried to get him more involved by having him put on the costume, but you can see how that worked out."
Sugar raised a hand. "I thought it was hilarious."
"Yeah, thanks," said Chris, not really caring about the support. "Anyway, in tribute to season one's treasure hunt…"
Remembering that challenge, Gwen put her face in her hands. "Oh no…"
"I've come up with a special challenge," Chris continued despite Gwen's bad reaction, "Your mission- to retrieve one of four valuable pieces of pirate loot stashed somewhere on the island.
Shawn scoffed, crossing his arms. "What could possibly be of value around what used to be a crappy summer camp?"
"Plenty, if you know what you're looking for!" Chris shot back, putting emphasis on the pirate accent.
(Confessional- Gwen)
"Chris's idea of valuable is pretty skewed. He's such an egomaniac that his most prized possession is himself."
"To determine who searches for what," Chris elaborated, walking past the final four and showing off a row of small treasure chests on a table they hadn't noticed before on the other end of the dock. "Each player will choose one of four treasure chests. Arrgh! Sugar, as the winner of the last challenge, you get to pick first."
Sugar approached the table, and opened the third one from the left. When she didn't see anything, she peeked in closer to get a better look, only for a red boxing glove with a card depicting a jewel to sock her in the face.
"Perfect, you must bring me the McLean Diamond, which could be found on or near the abandoned pirate ship, which happens to be guarded by your old pal, Fang!" Chris explained over a shot of Sugar sitting on the dock and rubbing her head.
Hearing the shark's name, Sugar huffed indignantly. "Him again? Didn't he learn the last time not to tussle with a farm girl like me?"
Shawn walked past her, and went to the chest to the immediate left of the one Sugar opened. Upon touching it, he was given an electric shock that made him yelp in pain. Clutching his hand, he watched as the chest popped open to display a card bearing a red footprint.
"Excellent! Shawn, you must bring me the Sasquatchinakwa!" Chris declared.
(Confessional- Shawn)
"Better to deal with a sasquatch than a mutated shark," Shawn said in a quick confessional. "I think…"
The next to claim a chest, Gwen approached the leftmost chest and a blast of black blew in her face when she opened it. She started to sneeze as the cloud cleared.
"Achoo! Pepper? Achoo!" Gwen sneezed again as the chest revealed a card depicting a stamp of Chris's face.
"Gwen, you'll be visiting my lovely cottage," Chris started to explain.
"Mansion," Shawn interrupted to correct.
"Cottage," Chris insisted with a frown before resuming his smile, "And bring back the most valuable portrait of myself intact." He made the last condition sternly clear, sending a warning glare to the loner.
Rising to her feet, Sugar protested, "So she gets to visit your house, and I have to deal with that stupid shark? That ain't fair! I'm calling this fixed!"
"Nothing's fair in pirate," Chris shrugged cheekily.
"I guess the last chest is for me then," deduced Cody, who stepped forward. Warily, he stared at the box. "What's in it?"
"Nice try, but the choice isn't official until you see for yourself," Chris replied with a knowing smile.
Rolling his eyes at his attempt to get out of a nasty surprise thwarted, Cody opened the chest and reached inside. A loud snapping sound rang out, and he pulled his hand out to reveal it had been bitten by a snapping turtle. "Agh! Get off!" Cody waved his arm back and forth furiously.
Shawn rushed forward, and pried the turtle off the geek's arm, tossing the turtle into the lake before it could bite him too.
With the turtle gone, Cody's treasure chest revealed a card displaying an image of a Gilded Chris award from season two.
"Cody, you must bring me the long-lost original Gilded Chris statuette," informed Chris.
"Where will I find it?" Cody asked.
"If I knew where it was, it wouldn't be long-lost, now would it?"
Cody sighed. "Fair point."
(Confessional- Cody)
"Everybody else has an idea of where they can find their things, but I don't know where I'm supposed to find mine," Cody told the camera, putting his head in his hands. "This is going to be a lot trickier to get rid of Sugar than I thought."
(Confessional- Sugar)
"Now that I know where my treasure's gonna be, I can tail the others and sabotage 'em so they have trouble getting theirs while I snag mine without any problems," Sugar stated with a grin, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "Immunity, here I come!"
"Helpful hint," Chris added at the end, "Think fast, and work even faster because two of you are going home today."
"Whoa, sudden death for the final two?" Gwen clarified with raised eyebrows that her fellow campers seemed to share.
"Whoever comes back last, or empty-handed, will be sent directly to the Flush of Shame. Whoever brings back their loot first wins a guaranteed spot in the finale, and gets to select which of the remaining two walks the plank into the big john tonight," Chris explained further. "All clear? On your marks…" Losing steam on his pirate persona, Chris slumped his shoulders and instead pulled out his favored air horn. "Aw just go…" He pressed the horn, signaling for the challenge to begin.
A flash cut forward showed Shawn kneeling in the woods next to some very large footprints.
"The Sasquatchinakwa's tracks," he murmured, "a moving target is more difficult than a stationary one, but it's nothing I can't handle." Shawn's face lit up with a confident grin that turned into an annoyed frown when he heard the loudspeaker whir to life.
"Shawn is zeroing in on the yeti," Chris announced, "but bringing him back might be a bit harder, especially-!" The loudspeaker was knocked out of commission by a rock that Shawn threw at it.
"That ought to keep him quiet," Shawn remarked, climbing a tree to check if he could spot the purple sasquatch.
Another flash showed Gwen running down the beach to the former Playa des Losers.
"One valuable portrait coming up," she boasted. Then she frowned thoughtfully. "But, I have to figure out which one is the most valuable. I guess this isn't going to be as easy as I initially thought."
When she arrived at the dock and climbed the wooden staircase leading up to the resort's door, Chris felt the need to update her progress.
"Gwen has reached my cottage," the host stated on the area's loudspeaker. "Don't break anything," he warned with an edge in his tone.
"I won't," she promised, not really looking for the direction the sound came from, "who do you think I am? Shawn?" Opening the door, she stepped into the front hall, and gasped. "Whoa!"
The camera zoomed out to show the first hallway decorated with artwork upon artwork of Chris, from vases with Chris's face painted on them, to busts of Chris's head that resembled the invincibility statue and full body busts in white marble instead of brown wood, to various paintings that in some way portrayed Chris, some of them even resembling famous art pieces.
Gwen slumped her shoulders, all confidence sucked out of her. "Yeah, this is going to be harder than I expected. At least it's narrowed down to the paintings."
The camera changed angles, showing her back as she ventured inside the cottage-mansion, and panned down the wooden staircase, where Sugar emerged from underneath the dock with a menacing grin. A pause symbol appeared over Sugar's form.
In the monitor room back at the spa hotel, Chris flinched.
"Whoa! Where'd she come from?" The host wondered out loud, and jabbed his thumb at her when he faced the camera. "That girl is just freaky. What is Sugar up to now? Will anyone survive? You stick around and find out. I'm gonna go get some popcorn. Here on Total Drama All-Stars!" Chris hurried out of the room, not wanting to miss much of the action.
When the show faded back in from commercial, Gwen was wandering a hallway of the Playa and passing art piece after art piece of Chris with an assessing glance.
"How am I supposed to know which one is the most valuable?" She mused to herself, and stopped in her stride. "Think, Gwen, think. If you really valued a portrait of yourself, where would you keep it?" Gwen stayed silent for a moment. "I would hang it up in a room where I could enjoy myself, like a lounge." Realizing the room she needed to look for, she took off at a run.
The next shot showed a portrait of Chris smiling while wearing a black shirt opposed to his usual one, but his tiny pouch necklace ever present and his hands folded in his lap. The camera zoomed out to show the portrait hanging above a fireplace in a room where two tall, chairs that matched Chris's regular shirt sat with a short coffee table in the middle.
Gwen ran into the room, and stopped in front of the fireplace. She pumped her fists. "Yes! I think this is it!" Starting to look around, she formed a plan. "I just need to get a stool or something to-!"
"To lose this challenge!" Sugar interrupted, rushing at Gwen.
Gwen barely had any time to react before the pageant queen tackled her into a nearby door that was forced open by Sugar's attack, revealing a luxurious bathroom with blue and white tones.
"Ow! What the heck, Sugar?!" Gwen snapped as Sugar got off her, and attempted to get back on her feet.
"Good luck trying to get that painting when you're stuck in this here bathroom," Sugar taunted before slamming the door shut.
Struggling to her feet, Gwen hurried over to the door and attempted to twist the knob, only to find it jammed. Noticing this, Gwen pounded on the door. "Sugar! Let me out!"
On the other side of the door, one of the tall chairs from the lounge was shoved in front of it. For extra measure, Sugar lifted the coffee table onto the chair.
"Don't worry. Chris or somebody will let you out of there eventually. Maybe after you lose the challenge by default." Grinning maliciously, Sugar waved a farewell even though Gwen obviously couldn't see it. "See ya! I'm off to fetch the diamond from that dumb shark." Laughing to herself, she jogged away.
Gwen pounded on the door more. "Sugar! You can't do this! Sugar!"
(Confessional- Gwen)
"One of the last places I'd want to be trapped in is Chris's bathroom!" Gwen snapped, harshly glaring at the camera. After a moment, she blinked as if a revelation came to mind, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "Wow, that's something I never thought I'd say."
Shawn crawled along a tree branch, and observed something out of the camera's frame. "Well, he hasn't shrunken at all."
The camera panned down and to the left to show Sasquatchinakwa, dressed up in an apron and a chef's hat, stealing a nest full of eggs out of a tree.
Sighing, Shawn stood up and grabbed a nearby vine. "That zombie bunker isn't going to win itself. Hey, yeti!" Shawn called out, getting the Sasquatchinakwa's attention. When the hairy creature faced him, Shawn swung down and snatched the nest from his hands. "How about we take this to-go, okay?" The yeti made a face at him that Shawn didn't like, and began chasing the conspiracy nut in a raged pursuit.
A flash forward showed Cody standing at the entrance of the island's mine.
"Ezekiel did hoard a lot of stuff down there from the party," he considered. "It might be a long shot, but what other leads do I have for long-lost?" Without further options, he jumped down into one of Ezekiel's many escape holes.
With Gwen trapped, Sugar felt confident enough to go find her item. Hopping across some rocks, she arrived at an unfinished pirate ship set, and climbed some stairs to the deck.
"Sugar has finally reached her pirate loot zone," Chris updated, startling Sugar. "The heat is on! I hope my loud voice isn't getting Fang's attention!"
"Would you hush up?" Sugar hissed up at the loudspeaker.
"They're called loudspeakers, sister! Deal with it!" Chris retorted, blatantly keeping his volume up.
Fang soon emerged from the one of the restrooms on deck, a flushing sound heard behind him. The shark smiled at his opponent.
Sugar pointed a finger at him. "I don't have time to deal with you. Tell me where the diamond is, and I'll deal with your fishy rear some other time."
The answer wasn't quite what Sugar was expecting. Widening his smile to a toothy grin, Fang revealed that the diamond she was looking for was stuck between his teeth. Sugar's jaw dropped, stunned.
(Confessional- Sugar)
"It's in his mouth?" She exclaimed, throwing her arms above her head. "Of course it's in his mouth! What was I thinking?" Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at the camera. "You know what? Last time, I got out because of a stupid diamond. This time, it ain't going to be another diamond that does me in. I swear it!"
Reaching down to the floor, Sugar pulled up a rope lasso into view. "Luckily, I know a thing or two about lassoing stuff from my chores back home on the farm." Pointing at the lasso, she beamed, "My talent for lassoing stuff got me five pageant wins in a row when I was seven."
A cut forward showed Sugar standing on the mast of the ship set while Fang lounged below on a towel with sunglasses over his eyes. Slowly, Sugar lowered the lasso with the intention of using it to pull the diamond out of Fang's mouth. Being up as far as she was, she misjudged the distance down she needed to lower it, and instead looped Fang's nose. The rope tightening around his snout disturbed and angered Fang, who proceeded to yank down the lasso with a claw, and Sugar went crashing through the floor. Fang got up from where he was lounging, and tossed a treasure chest and some cannonballs down on her. Sugar hollered in pain from the impact of both the crash and the stuff she was being bombarded with.
(Confessional- Sugar)
"So much for plan A," she said with the treasure chest Fang had thrown on her around her head, "time for plan two!"
Cody returned to the cavern that had served as Ezekiel's lair, only to find it had been picked clean. The pit of toxic waste was gone, so was the table from the one-hundredth episode celebration along with the snacks, and even the cage that Ezekiel had trapped most of the contestants in had disappeared.
"It's all gone? I came all the way down here for nothing!" Cody griped, glancing around the empty cavern. "Oh man, I've probably lost a lot of time to find that statue." Beginning to pace, he started thinking rapidly. "Got to think of another place it could possibly be. Think of that picture on the card. Where could it be?" He stopped in his tracks. "Wait… I've seen that statue before."
A shimmering transition switched the image of Cody to memories of the past. With a white edge around the footage, Cody recalled sleeping in a room in the spa hotel with his male teammates. The camera panned from Cody asleep in bed to the fireplace in the bedroom, where on the mantle stood a Gilded Chris statuette. A flash transition brought the episode back to the present.
"The spa hotel!" Cody gasped, pacing again. "It'd be the last place I'd look because Chris claimed it was long-lost. He said that Sugar would have to get past Fang to get her diamond, Shawn had to bring back an actual creature, and Gwen had to find his most valuable painting, which means she had a chance of getting the wrong one. My challenge was about misdirection!" Gasping as his train of thought came to its conclusion, he realized, "I need to get back to camp!"
Back at Chris's cottage-mansion, Gwen had given up on getting out of the bathroom through the door, and opted to try getting out through the window instead. Realizing she was trying to escape a second floor bathroom, she successfully pulled herself up onto the roof with some labored grunts. Safely on the roof, she panted heavily from exertion.
"Finally out of there," she said in between breaths and peered over the roof's edge, "now I need to find a way down." Glancing around the roof, she muttered, "There should be a balcony or something I can drop down to. Less distance down to one of those than the ground." Carefully, she got to her feet and started to explore the roof.
A flash transition returned the attention to Shawn, who was still being chased by the Sasquatchinakwa.
"Come on," Shawn jeered at his pursuer. "You wanted to make something with these eggs right? Like eggs benedict, or deviled eggs?"
The screen cut into four corners, the upper left displaying the chase. The upper right corner showed Cody running through the tunnels, the bottom left had Gwen stalking across the Playa's roof, and the bottom right corner viewed Sugar trying to come up with another plan to deal with Fang.
"Shawn is leading his loot to the dock," Chris announced, making everyone else look up from what they were doing to listen. "So if you haven't found yours yet, you might want to think about doing so right now!"
After his announcement, the four-way feed turned to black, and the viewing point changed position to reveal that Chris had used a remote to turn off the main screen in the monitor room.
"Okay, I guess we better head down to the dock to see who wins this," Chris decided.
At last, Gwen found a balcony she could hop down to from the roof safely. Once on the balcony, she opened the sliding door, and found herself in what appeared to be a guest bedroom.
"Please don't let Sugar have blocked this too," she pleaded under her breath when she reached the door to the room and tried the knob. When she was able to successfully turn it and pull the door open, she broke into a wide grin. "Yes!" Running through the halls, she returned to the lounge where she had found the portrait she was set on bringing back to Chris. Using the remaining chair that Sugar hadn't shoved to block the bathroom, she reached up and removed the portrait from where it hung. "Nice art skill," she praised the painting, "but the subject matter could use a little work." Hopping off the chair, she made a run for the exit.
Somehow, the Sasquatchinakwa cornered Shawn in a tree and climbed up to confront him. Attempting to prolong the inevitable fight, Shawn carried the nest out on a branch.
"We don't have that far left to go," Shawn attempted to persuade the yeti as it joined him on the branch. "Just follow me to Chris, and I'll give you these eggs back."
The Sasquatchinakwa reached out to try and snatch the eggs, but froze when they both heard a snapping sound. Looking below them, they only stared for a few seconds before the branch cracked off the tree completely and sent them falling. The branch landed on a slope, followed by the Sasquatchinakwa, the nest, and then Shawn on top of it.
"Ugh, eggs on my butt? Seriously?" The conspiracy nut griped. He recoiled when he realized that he was on top of the Sasquatchinakwa, who began to roar in fury, only to stop when it noticed that the branch was beginning to slide. For once, both were in full agreement when they began to shriek as the branch slid down the slope.
Sugar finally figured out a new plan for dealing with Fang. Gathering a bucket of fish, she rigged a trap exactly like the one that Fang had caught her in the previous season with a slice of pizza. Putting the fish in the lasso's loop, she climbed back up the mast and called out, "Hey, sharky! Someone delivered a bunch of fish for you!"
Fang came at the call, and just like when it happened with Sugar, the trap caught Fang's claws.
Up in the crow's nest, Sugar cheered, "Boom! You just got Sugar'd!" Climbing down with the surprising speed of a squirrel, she forced open the shark's mouth to snag the diamond. "Come to mama, you stupid rock," she sneered, reaching for it. With her attention mostly on the diamond, she didn't notice Fang glare.
At last, Cody reached camp, and he burst into the spa hotel. Given his extended stay in the better cabin, he ran to the bedroom he had seen the statuette in and plucked it off the mantle. "Gotcha," he said with a grin, and hurried out.
Still riding the branch down the slope, Shawn and the yeti continued to yell. Having been waiting at the meeting area for several minutes, Chris noticed them coming in time to step back and let them ride past. At the last moment, Shawn jumped off while the Sasquatchinakwa crashed into a nearby tree and the crushed eggs ran down his head.
"Well, I can't say I care for how you did it," Chris remarked to Shawn, "but, you did do it. Shawn wins!"
"Yeah!" Shawn pumped his fists in the air.
"Seriously?" The sound of Cody caused the host and the challenge's winner to look off to the side. Zooming out, the camera showed Cody joining the other two men with his Gilded Chris statue in hand. "Aw man, and I was so close too."
"Just be glad you figured out the trick to your hunt," Chris told him, taking the statuette by the legs and waving it at him. "Otherwise, you'd have probably been down in that mine all day. Really, bro, the mine?"
Cody scratched at his hair. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," defended the geek.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Gwen raced into view, the camera pulling back further to fit her into the shot.
"Gwen, you're third to arrive," Chris declared, causing all three contestants to cheer, only for Chris to raise a hand to halt the celebration. "Hold on. The trick for your hunt was to pick out my most valuable painting out of all the paintings I've got, and I've got a lot. Mind if I see it?"
"Uh, sure?" Gwen held up the painting for the host to examine.
Chris took a moment to look at it. "Mmhmm, I thought so. This isn't my most valuable painting."
"What?" Gwen, Shawn, and Cody all exclaimed.
"But-but, people usually put their most prized portraits over the fireplace. That's where I found this one," Gwen protested frantically.
"See, that's where you went wrong. I'm not most people. I'm Chris McLean, and I keep my most prized painting where I can wake up to it every morning," Chris replied as Gwen lowered the painting in defeat. "If Sugar comes back with her correct loot, you'll be the one automatically taking the flush. But, if she comes back empty-handed, then she's the one getting flushed by default." Chris looked at his watch. "What's taking her so long anyway?"
"Go on. Spit her out," Chef grunted off-screen, earning the attention of Chris and the campers.
They all stared in disbelief as Chef, no longer wearing the parrot costume, walked Fang over to them. Fang's cheeks were bulging enormously. Annoyed by Chef's order, Fang grudgingly opened his jaws and spat out a drool-coated pageant queen.
"Eww," everyone shuddered as Sugar plopped down on the ground in a pool of saliva.
"About time, you overgrown guppy," Sugar complained, standing up and swiping the gross liquid off her body. "You might've gotten a taste of Sugar, but I got your dumb rock." Reaching somewhere on her person, she pulled out the diamond she had been ordered to retrieve.
Stepping away from Sugar, Chris said, "That has to be one of the most disgusting finishes I've ever seen, but since Gwen brought back the wrong loot, you're safe from forcibly taking the Flush of Shame."
"Yes! Sugar holla!" Boasting, she pumped both fists.
"No," Gwen and Cody both moaned miserably. Shawn, unsure of how to celebrate, awkwardly patted Cody on the shoulder while Chef led Fang away before the land shark could attempt to eat Sugar again.
"I'll take this," Chris held up the Gilded Chris statuette then nabbed the painting from Gwen, "this too." He sent a look at Sugar and the diamond covered in liquid filth, and cringed. "Someone… clean off the McLean Diamond and bring it back to my cottage." Facing Shawn, he said, "Shawn, you've got an important decision to make. I'll see you all tonight at the Dock of Shame."
Chris sauntered off with his stuff, sans the diamond, and left the final four all looking at each other, unsure of how the evening was going to go.
The final night of the season came around, and instead of everyone reporting to the bonfire ceremony, everyone stood down by the Flush of Shame, Shawn standing beside Chris and Chef as the challenge's winner. Gwen, as the automatic loser, was already in the giant toilet and waiting to be sent home.
"Good luck, Cody! Shawn, thanks for being a good teammate. Sugar, drop dead!" Gwen hollered from inside the toilet.
"Thanks! With any luck, I won't be following you soon," Cody replied with a comforting smile.
"Sorry it ended this way," Shawn added, waving her farewell.
Sugar, on the other hand, said nothing and rolled her eyes.
Smiling at Gwen's obvious animosity for Sugar, Chris pressed the button to activate the toilet.
Gwen screamed as she spun around and down the drain.
Once Gwen's screams faded, Chris addressed the three remaining players, specifically Shawn. "Who to flush next? It all depends on who you want to battle in the finale. Cody, or Sugar?"
(Confessional- Shawn)
"To be honest, I could probably beat either of them," he admitted in a night confessional. "Cody isn't as athletic as I am, and while Sugar is strong physically, she isn't strong in other ways. There's also the question of do I want to go to the finale with someone I can tolerate, or do I go to the finale with someone I know everyone hates? The show has voted for its winner before, so I could bring Sugar and win that way, but there hasn't been voting for a winner for a couple seasons. That very well could've been a one-time deal. I've got to make sure I decide right."
"Taking all the possible factors of the finale into account, plus gameplay over the past few weeks," Shawn stated over Chris yawning and checking his watch, "I've decided that I want to compete against Cody. Sorry, Sugar."
"Are you kidding me? This is total bull!" Sugar snapped, a scowl on her face. "I worked hard to reach the finale! More than this twig!" She poked Cody in the arm for emphasis.
Cody put a hand over his arm in protest. "Hey!"
"Chef, you mind?" Chris gestured to his friend and assistant. Chef nodded, and marched forward.
"Hey, lemme go!" Sugar yelled. "Get your mitts off me!"
Shawn and Cody watched as Chef carried the struggling Sugar over to the giant toilet, and threw her in with a big splash as a result. Before she could attempt to climb back out, Chris activated the toilet for the second time of the night. Sugar went down with a garbled scream.
"Thanks for picking me," Cody said gratefully to Shawn once the Flush of Shame quieted. "For a moment there, I thought I was done for."
Shawn confidently folded his arms over his chest, and smirked at his opponent. "Better to go up against you than someone we both know would try something under-handed to win."
"We have our finalists," Chris announced as Chef stood beside him, "Who will rule victorious, and who will win the roughest, toughest million dollar challenge ever? Tune in to find out next time on the season finale of Total Drama All-Stars!"
(cue end credits)
(Bonus Clip)
Like several contestants before her, Gwen washed up on shore with the tide. Laying on the sand, she coughed up water. Unfortunately, she laid there too long because another tide came in, and deposited Sugar on top of her.
Both of them hacking out water, Gwen shoved Sugar off. "Of course they'd send you right after me. You deserve it."
"Do not! I should be there, not on this dumpy beach with you. Besides, it ain't my fault you got duped by my smarty social play," Sugar shot back, for once not paying attention to her running mascara.
"Well, you shouldn't have gone around invading other people's privacy," Gwen snapped, her glare hardening.
"You're the one that brought your personal stuff on the show. That's your own dang fault."
"Agh, shut up! Will you ever shut up?!" With a roar, Gwen tackled the other girl and they began to wrestle on the beach. They bickered back and forth as they rolled around and tugged on each other's hair.
"There! Over there!" A female, familiar voice yelled out.
"Gwen, stop! It's not worth it!" A masculine one called.
"Perhaps they'd both calm down with a bowl of dragon fruit soup," another masculine, raspy voice suggested.
"Not the time, Leonard," the girl replied in what sounded like annoyance.
It was only when the two girls were pulled apart that they noticed they had company. Gwen realized hands in camouflage sleeves were holding her back. Catching her breath from the fight, she discovered that Sugar was being similarly held back by a pair of tanned arms in a gray top over a white polo shirt. Standing to the side of the scene was a skinny boy in what looked like a green wizard's outfit with a fake gray beard.
"Courtney?" Gwen asked, and then looked at the owner of the arms restraining her. "Trent?"
"Yeah," Trent confirmed with a calming smile, "you okay?"
"I will be," Gwen answered, growing angry again and thrusting a finger in Sugar's direction, "once she is thrown to the piranhas, or sharks, or whatever they've got around here."
"I'd like to see you try," Sugar huffed against Courtney's hold. "Would you let go of me?"
"Not until the both of you are calm enough to have a decent conversation like normal people," Courtney replied, straining to keep Sugar reigned in. "Look, we need to hurry back home and we can't do that with the two of you going at each other's throats."
"Courtney's right," Trent added, looking at Gwen with sincere eyes. "Look, I know you're upset and you have every right to be, but now isn't the time or place for that."
"And why not?" Gwen asked, trying not to lash out at the musician she was on friendly terms with.
"Because that nice gentleman in the sweater vest says so," Leonard answered, getting all four other young adults to look at him. "The three of us were sent on this quest to rescue you, and bring you back to our base. According to the fortunes he's read, something terrible is about to happen back on the island you were just teleported from, and we all need to be there to help contain the damage. I was supposed to be partnered with the savage that has green skin on this quest, but the healers stated he was in no condition to travel."
"Gentleman in the sweater vest?" Gwen repeated, her fighting instinct having vanished during Leonard's info dump. "You mean Noah?" Trent felt the instinct disappear too, for he released her from his grip. Gwen glanced between Leonard, Courtney, and Trent. "What's going on?"
"Leonard has that mostly right," Trent admitted, sighing. "Noah found out something really bad about the finale Chris has planned, and has been trying really hard to get through to Chris to stop him. So far, Chris has been ignoring all the warnings coming from us, and we couldn't even get on the island in person to tell him because since the season's being filmed, going there could be seen as interference with the show and that would be a breach of our contracts and we could get sued."
"I would know," Courtney said, Sugar having stopped resisting when Leonard started talking. "I've looked over the contracts dozens of times once Noah told me to try and find a loophole, but I've found nothing. They're solid."
"So, what's happening now?" Sugar asked, raising an eyebrow as Courtney finally released her. "If you're still rounding us up, you must've found a way, right?"
"Not exactly," Courtney said, rubbing the back of her neck. "We were going to round you guys up even without the dangerous plans, and breaking the contract is our absolute last resort. Noah thinks if we time it right so we get there after the winner is crowned, we technically wouldn't be interfering with the show's production."
"And you think that will work?" Gwen checked.
Courtney bit her lip. "It's a bit flimsy, but it might work."
"And now that we've got you both," Leonard joined in, "we can access the story's final quest." Turning around, he marched up the beach. "Follow my allies, we shall leave Jamaican soil and return to our Canadian land."
Gwen, Courtney, Sugar, and Trent followed him.
"Jamaica, is that where we are?" Gwen glanced at Trent.
Trent nodded. "Yeah, the Flush of Shame's piping is wonky as all heck." Trent chuckled, amused by how ridiculous it all was. "Why?"
"Then I'm glad I wasn't shocked by an eel like last time," Gwen looked down at the bay they were leaving. "Though, I wish Sugar was."
Sugar- 3rd
Gwen- 4th
Jasmine- 5th
Alejandro- 6th
Topher- 7th
Sierra- 8th
Sammy- 9th
Duncan- 10th
Heather- 11th
Beardo- 12th
Scarlett- 13th
Owen- 14th
Gwen and Sugar, last two eliminated. Cody and Shawn, final two. What results, right? In my original elimination draft, Sugar was always slated to be eliminated in 3rd place. Gwen was a bit different. She was originally supposed to be eliminated where Sierra was, and Sierra was going to take fourth again as a sacrifice for Cody. Like Topher in ROTI, I realized that I had favoritism issues with Sierra, and upon reflecting, remembered that Cody and Gwen have worked together a few short times. Interested in further exploring Gwen and Cody as a team, I switched Gwen and Sierra's eliminations around. With Gwen being eliminated at the same point she was in canon, I decided to take a different route to that ending than Gwen using bear poop to fix a mistake on Chris's painting. I feel that since Gwen is canonically an artist type, she would know not to rub a painting. Plus, seeing all the artwork Chris stashed in the spa hotel after it blew up and it not going kablooey here, I decided upon the idea that she grabbed the wrong painting. For Sugar's elimination, it might not be as poetic as her losing a talent competition, showing she has no talent, but I thought it would be fun for her to ultimately lose because of a diamond again with the added bonus of finally losing a match to Fang.
When I rewatched the challenge for writing this, I realized that it wasn't as simple as each item being in a different location. Each item came with an additional trick- the Sasquatchinakwa was a moving treasure, and Fang was an active guard preventing whoever was assigned the McLean Diamond from getting it. To that effect, when I came up with Gwen's new ending, her trick was about chance and thinking like Chris instead of a normal person. For Cody, having seen the Gilded Chris in the background in episodes before, I figured that Chris tacked on the 'long-lost' part to misguide the person it was assigned to because it would've been so easy to just walk into the spa hotel and find it there then report back to him.
Trent and Courtney were selected as Gwen's escorts because Trent was Gwen's first boyfriend in the show (still should be her boyfriend too, dang it), and if Cody had been eliminated, Trent would've been there to represent the Drama Brothers. Courtney has her newly repaired friendship with Gwen, and would've just been a tag-along if Cody had been eliminated instead of Gwen. Ezekiel and Leonard were paired together in the event Sugar or Shawn were eliminated, Sugar being infatuated with Leonard and vice versa, and Ezekiel would've been there as a means of reconciling Shawn with his zombie obsession. But, I doubt that even in the cartoon Ezekiel would've been healed so quickly after his capture, so I just left him unfit to travel. Jamaica was selected as the final pick-up location because the challenge was based around retrieving treasure, and World Tour's first challenge in the Jamaica episode was to find a treasure in the bay that Gwen and Sugar washed up on.
So yeah, a more speedy update compared to recent uploads. I wanted to get this one done because I know for a fact that I'll probably be spending the next two weeks screaming about DuckTales too much to focus on writing. Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome!