Here it is, folks, the final story in the Karonverse. Everything will be wrapped up by the end of this, so stay tuned for what will be the most shocking season yet! Have fun reading, and remember to review! That helps me out a lot to stay motivated and push things out faster!
Episode 1: Return to Sender, Part I
SWITZERLAND, NINE YEARS AGO
Dr. Susan Hazel let out a yawn as she placed her sunglasses down, revealing her light brown eyes that went with the rest of her sleeping attire. Her eyes were a tad bloodshot as well, likely from a lack of sleep. Most of her movements as she got ready for bed were slow, and she let out a few painful moans as she got into bed for the evening. As she turned off her light, the only visible thing in the room was the clock that read: 3:13am.
"Only two hours until I need to wake up again," she muttered to herself as she situated herself in the bed. "This is not what I ever expected to be doing, but I suppose that no one expects jobs like this to come up, even more so that they're real." She finally had the chance to close her eyes, and a look of relief fell on her face as she began to drift to sleep.
Suddenly, she was shot awake by her phone, which was set to the loudest volume, specifically for situations like this. "You have got to be kidding me," she complained as she rolled to the other side of the bed and switched on the nightstand. She grabbed the phone and took a deep breath as she answered it. "What?" she asked bluntly.
A male associate on the other end was speaking. "Dr. Hazel, we wanted to let you know there's been a breach in your laboratory," he explained. "The perpetrator has managed to escape through all of our facility's security measures." Dr. Hazel seemed to be quite shocked hearing that fact. "That being said, tomorrow morning we will be having a discussion about your actions under the president's radar, because whatever security you installed yourself had managed to catch them." He waited a few seconds, but heard nothing in response. "Hello?" he asked, trying to get something out of Susan.
"You can meet with me in an hour," she told him firmly. "I would like to go see this guy for myself." She hung up the phone and got out of bed with a groan. "I should make coffee before I head out," she muttered to herself as she put on her coat, "I have a feeling that this is another day where sleeping is a luxury."
After what was relatively a quiet drive, Susan made it to a large lab facility, and she pulled a set of credentials out of her briefcase. As she approached the door, she flashed them to the guards, who opened the doors for her. She briskly walked through the darkened hallways to her personal laboratory. She pushed open the door to see a shadowy figure sitting in the middle of a cage that had come up from the floor.
Susan snickered as she turned on the light. "You're lucky you chose today to rob us," she taunted to the person, "one of our guys quit a few days ago, and had he found you, I'm certain he could have snapped you in half. I mean, he had the last name 'Hatchet'. What did you expect?" Susan walked over to the cage to get a look at the person inside it, but was shocked at what she saw. "A...kid?"
The person sitting in the cage had long blonde hair, blue eyes and wore a full black leather outfit, including gloves. "What?" she shot at the scientist with a bitter tone, "You weren't expecting someone like me, yeah?" She pouted. "And by the way, I'm not a kid, I'm sixteen, and I probably could take anyone in this nerd land in a fight."
Susan was perplexed at the girl sitting in the cage. Not only had she managed to get through national-level security, she also didn't budge at all when she was caught. Was it out of fear, or did she know this situation would happen? "What's your name?" Susan asked the girl, "and where are you from? That accent of yours almost sounds...American?"
"New York, to be dead on," the blonde girl snarked. "I'm sure you'll search me up anyway, so I might as well save you the trouble. My name's Micah. Micah Ranka." She shrugged. "I wasn't expecting a barbaric cage to exist in some fancy place like this."
Dr. Hazel chuckled. "Well, that's precisely why I put it in," she explained. Micah gasped when she heard Susan was the one who installed it herself. "Yeah, you got me in a lot of trouble by getting caught in one of my traps." She paused for a second. "Actually, odds are I'm fired tomorrow." She rummaged around her desk as Micah continued to sit quietly in the cage.
Eventually, Susan pulled out a few boxes, and went over to the caged girl. "How'd you get here, anyway?" she asked her as she continued grabbing various documents from around the room. "You said you're from North America, this is Europe."
"I flew out here," Micah answered bluntly. "The money I could have made from a heist would have been enough to easily get me home with tons to spare." She sighed. "That's why I'm so calm. I'm a criminal overlord back there, so odds are I'll be executed once you're done with me here, that means there's nothing else I can really do." She let out a sigh. "And I had such a great dream to shoot for as well."
Susan couldn't help but seem upset. "Tell me about your dream," Susan insisted. Micah had a shocked look on her face as she heard that line. "If I like it, maybe I'll get you out of here. I'm going to be fired anyway, so I'd rather that happen on my terms and not theirs." She pulled up a chair and unlocked the cage, allowing the girl to sit properly. "So, what is it?"
"A-an orphanage," Micah said slowly. Susan seemed interested, but also confused to why some crime lord wanted to run an orphanage. "B-but not just any rickety orphanage. I wanted to get kids off the street and not find them homes, but teach them how to live." She sighed. "I never had anyone to look out for me, so I didn't want the other kids I see to go through the same thing. If they knew how to fight and survive...maybe..." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now, though."
Susan stood up from her seat. "Why not?" she asked, "because you're giving up? That doesn't sound like something I'd teach to the homeless." Micah lifted her head up. "I have a meeting in half an hour but..." she looked at the boxes she filled with all her documents. "I think I'll be a bit late for that. I'll have to tell them I'm out of town. Maybe...New York?"
Micah gasped when she heard that. "You're not actually thinking..." her confidence seemed to shoot up instantly. "You won't regret it. But, we should go somewhere that's different. I have a new eleven year old holding down the base right now. I can tell him we're moving and he'll get us there. He's a really arrogant kid, but he's good at what he does." She smiled. "Are you sure about this, though?"
Dr. Hazel nodded. "Of course. This is important. I can be outside support if you want it, but you need a source of money, right?" Micah nodded. "Great. I will be that for you. You need to make this happen." Susan turned and grabbed what appeared to be some sort of green blaster. "I do want this though. It's a prototype I've been working on."
PRESENT DAY, LONDON
"You wanted to see me?" A British girl asked politely to a man sitting at a desk. The girl was above average height with a slim body, and she carried multiple things on the back of her black outfit. "Are you finally giving me an assignment? That would mean the world to me."
"I am," the man said coldly. "But, I'm afraid this will be quite the ask of you, Agent M. We're asking you to go overseas, to Canada. I believe you're familiar with its environment." Agent M let out a small sigh. "You'll meet up with Agent D at the border and she will take you to your location and fill you in on details. Have you two ever met in person?"
Agent M shook her head. "No, we never had the opportunity to encounter each other." She walked over to the window to take a look out over London, probably the last time she would be seeing it for a while. "Could I trouble you to at least give me a rundown of what I'm doing? I don't want to go all the way across continents only to be displeased with the mission."
"You ask a lot," the man said with a sigh. "It's a large mission, which is why we're entrusting two agents to it. Agent D recently received a promotion, so she will be your senior for this task. You'll be investigating an area that we suspect may house some wanted criminal overlords. The information leaked to us is sketchy, and one of the names we were given was extremely suspect. However, you're only going to gather information." Agent M nodded. "Once you gathered all of your info, phone us immediately so we can forward what we need to."
"Understood," Agent M said with a polite bow, before walking out of the room elegantly. She peered down at the paperwork describing the site she was going to. "Surely they aren't there...it would be too much of a coincidence."
PRODUCER STUDIO, CANADA
Two people were sitting outside in a waiting lounge as a secretary wildly addressed various papers on his desk next to them. The first person waiting let out a yawn and adjusted her brown tie on her matching suit, then proceeded to adjust her sunglasses. She turned to the person next to him. "So you've been working with these guys for..."
"Almost a decade now," the second person, a man, answered. He was wearing a chef's hat and apron, and had a scowl on his face the whole time. "Before you ask me that ridiculous question again, no, Susan, I don't notice them doing that. You'd think in ten years that I would."
"That's not what I meant," Susan Hazel countered. "I didn't intend to critique your perception abilities. But seriously, they absolutely make you wait out here longer every time we go. This is almost up to half an hour!" She impatiently tapped her foot on the ground. "These meetings are never my thing. Before I got this job, I skipped out on the last meeting I needed to. PorTech was going to fire me anyway, so I saved them the effort."
Chef groaned beside her as she occasionally rambled about one thing or another. After a few more minutes, the phone rang at the secretary's desk. "Hello?" He waited to get the instructions from the other line. "Yes, right away." He hung up the phone and stood up. "Mr. Hatchet, Dr. Hazel, Producer Dr. Jonathan Kablar will see you now regarding...Flower Peak? Am I getting that right?"
"Close enough," Chef muttered as he stood up with a groan. He and Susan walked into the room behind the secretary's desk, where a man in a black suit was waiting for them. "Kablar," Chef greeted the man formally with a light wave. "Always a pleasure to see you."
Dr. Kablar smiled at the cook before exchanging a much more neutral glace to the novice host beside him. "I've read through your proposal for the season, and concept-wise, we love it. We think Dr. Hazel's contributions will be a fine grand finale for this long-running show." He flipped through the proposal on the desk before clearing his throat. "Of course, there are some logistic concerns that we would like to share with you first."
"Fire away," Susan said in a lackadaisical manner, leaning back in her seat a bit. She lowered her sunglasses. "I can't imagine that we don't have an answer waiting for you on anything you ask."
"I dearly hope that's the case," Kablar responded with a weary look. He flipped to the first page. "Firstly, the location. McLean sold that before the submarine season, which contributed greatly to that show's budget. How on Earth did you procure it again? When we made an attempt no response came at all." He tilted his confused face toward Chef, who shook his head, indicating he did not have an answer.
Both of the men then turned to Susan, who had a slightly tense look on her face, hidden behind her shades. "I happen to personally know the new owner," she explained formally. "I was just as shocked to hear they had taken possession of it. They technically still own the island, but we have full permissions to use anything we need to." She smirked, hoping the answer was satisfactory enough.
"Right," Kablar responded slowly. He sighed and put the papers down. "Dr. Hazel, we have to make a difficult decision. While your connections and knowledge are crucial for this season be a success, we simply cannot afford another catastrophe such as last season." Susan raised an eyebrow at the producer as he shook his head solemnly. "We will allow you to remain part of the team, but you will not be hosting."
Chef cleared his throat to step into the dialogue. "All right," he said, "I get where you're comin' from here, we definitely allowed some things to be out of proportion, well, she did." Susan flipped her hair away from Chef as he said that last part. "But, with the season starting in two weeks, how do you expect to get a new host within that time?" Kablar simply turned to Chef and stared at him. "You don't mean..."
Kablar smiled at the cook. "It's about time, isn't it?" he asked. "You are, at this point, the most senior member of the staff. You of all people know how to make this show work. Is it not an easy choice?" He and Susan both stared at Chef, who relented eventually and nodded his head. "It will be a wonder to have you on board with us," Kablar said with a grin, "Host Hatchet."
KARON ISLAND, TWO WEEKS LATER
A large boat docked on the edge of Karon Island, the site of the show a whole four seasons ago. Chef and Susan stepped off of the boat, grabbing their stuff with them. Once they gave the signal, they waved to the driver, and the boat departed from the island. "We should take a look around to see what is still intact from the last time we were here," Chef told his co-host. "And while we're at it, you can tell me about this owner."
Susan let out a groan as she picked up her stuff and the two began to venture deeper into the island. "There's nothing to tell," she said, "the person I was on the phone with all last season, that's the owner. She does a ton of charity work, and most of her paycheck is funded by the government. She was thriftier than people thought she would be, and jumped on the chance to buy and trick out the island." The two reached a stop right at the eastern edge of The Chasm. "That's all there is."
Chef nodded for a second before whipping his head around to the co-host. "What do you mean by...tricked out?" he asked sternly. Just as he said that, a few geysers of water sprouted out from the bottom of The Chasm, erupting all the way to the top of it where Chef and Susan were standing. Within a few seconds, the entire crevice was filled.
The new host did nothing but sternly stare at Susan with a doubtful look. "The producers are excited to see what the technological advances I made were," she explained bluntly. "It's part of the reason they accepted this place with so little information." She gestured toward the cave entrance to the mines. "Come on, that was just a party trick. There's much more for you to see underground.
The two descended below the surface, and Susan pushed back a wall that revealed a fully-functioning control room. "It's slightly modeled after last season," she admitted, "but the main part of this is that I repurposed the Disaster Dome to ensure complete safety. Basically what we've got is an impenetrable security system. No one's getting onto this island without clearance."
Chef skeptically stared at the layout of the old Disaster Dome. "So, you'll riddle me this, then," Chef responded, "what's the deal with locking this place down? There's nothing that comes in this area anyway. That was the appeal McLean and I saw with this." After thinking about what she could have meant for a few seconds, Chef merely sighed. "Please tell me there's no elaborate scheme going on again."
Susan let out a chuckle. "I wish there was one, but I'm not the one who put in that security. That was the owner's doing." She opened up another screen that showed the entire layout of the island. "Basically, the gimmick for this season is that we're breaking out all the high tech we've got. So, that means that we're breaking down each island into a few sectors."
She first pointed at the area they were just at, which included The Chasm and the beach. "In homage to the first time you were here, I've kept this section as a natural disaster sector. Instead of a bulky dome, the materials to make this happen are all wired underground. And, it can set up in seconds." Chef looked very satisfied at the advances he saw there.
"That place will be what I'm calling the Lightning Zone." Chef looked much more uneasy at this part of the island, which included the cabins and eating area. "I've tricked out the place to not only attract any natural lightning that strikes the island, but it also has portions I can electrify at will. Besides electricity, there's also a lot of light technology here. A night challenge could be done in the middle of the day, and vise versa." Chef seemed calmer now.
Susan then circled the middle of the diagram. "Mount Karon has been fully remodeled. Consider it an area of wind and ice. We catered the weather to make it extremely potent, so blizzards are definitely available if you want it. We can extend the distance too, so if you wan the whole island covered in snow, it can be done."
Chef shot an odd look at Susan. She had just said something in a way he did not like. "What did you mean by 'we'?" He asked her sternly. "You seemed to say it without fail like it made sense to you."
The co-host laughed nervously before shrugging the look off. "Hatchet, I worked with the producers for ages on this before you got involved. Why do you think out meeting two weeks ago was so short? All the discussion was nearly over." She scoffed. "You don't need to be so paranoid. I already got demoted, so there's no reason to think I'd do anything else."
Chef sighed. "Fine, I guess I don't have to harp on you so much about it." He stood up and checked his watch. "Alright, that boat should be here within twenty minutes. We gotta go and greet the cast we got." He smiled. "These kids are gonna fight harder than anyone else will, so I'm very excited to see what happens."
A LARGE BOAT, ONE MILE AWAY FROM KARON ISLAND
A massive cruise ship approached Karon Island. At the very front, a medium-sized boy stood there with a scowl on his face. He had gelled black hair that met up at the middle, with beady dark blue eyes and a dark blue polo shirt. He wore khaki pants and brown shoes, and continued to stare directly forward at their destination, which was now barely in sight. "Karon Island," he muttered to himself bitterly. "I have terrible memories of this place. Is it really worth all the trouble of coming back?"
Next to him, a slightly taller blonde girl excitedly put her hands on her shoulders. She wore black leggings and a grey sweatshirt, with a black puffy vest over it. She lifted one of her hands off the boy's shoulder to take a selfie of the two of them. "C'mon, Juan," the girl complained, "you can't be sad already! I bought this outfit specifically for this season, and you don't get to ruin it for me by being a giant downer!" She ran to the railing where Juan stood and snapped a picture of the sky intersecting with the ocean.
"I have no idea how you're managing to stay so optimistic, Hannah," Juan retorted in the same bitter tone. "If you don't remember, last time we competed, we thought that was it, and I went all out. I ended up losing early and now everyone knows my game plan." He kicked a leaf that had landed under the railing, his eyes slowly drifting in its direction as it was left behind. "How do you plan on beating fifteen other people?"
Hannah shrugged, maintaining a positive smile. "I don't know yet," she admitted, "but maybe we don't have to think about it right now." She pointed to the upper deck of the cruise ship, where a couple yells and screams of excitement could be heard. "One of them sound like the new kids. I actually don't think that anyone here is too focused on the past of anything." She paused and studied Juan's disapproving look. "Well, not completely...focused?" She sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm trying to help, you're being such a meanie about this!"
The black-haired boy adjusted his polo shirt. "I'm sorry," he relented, stepping away from the railing and having more of a sad look on his face. "I guess I can at least wait until we're there and settled in. There's no point in rushing something like that." He grabbed her hand, causing Hannah to smile a lot. "Come on, let's get you some nice pictures of a dolphin or something else stupid."
"Aww," Hannah replied, excited to hear that Juan was willing to give the season a chance. She then quickly turned her head to him and pouted after processing everything he said. "Hold on! Dolphins aren't stupid! You take that back!" She playfully punched his arm, to which Juan merely rolled his eyes as they went to the side of the ship.
Up at the upper deck, where the shouting was happening just a second ago, a black-haired girl was standing on top of a diving board, wearing a brown one-piece. She studied over the pool deck with her green eyes, trying to mentally calculate something. "Alright," she eventually concluded. She pointed down at the boy at the bottom of the diving board. "You're gonna be in for quite the shocker this time! Check this out!" After getting a running start, the girl leapt off of the diving board and splashed with an unnaturally large splash upon landing in the water. Water hit the boy at the bottom of the diving board, as well as a second boy who was sitting by the pool, fully clothed.
The clothed boy, wearing brown khaki pants and a maroon polo shirt, wretched back at the water landing on him. He let out a giant disgusted grunt, before glaring down at the diver, who was now in the pool. He stared at her with soulless black eyes. "Do you have any idea how much time I spent ironing these?" He complained to her, "I knew you'd mess with me at some point, but I would never have guessed you would stoop lower than doing it prior to the competition commencing!" He brushed some water out of his brown hair. "I'll destroy you for that, Abigail."
The other boy, who was also clothed, turned to Abigail, who had a satisfied smirk in the water. He wore a neon yellow tank top and bright red shorts, and short brown hair. He had blue eyes that were covered by his sunglasses and also covered a bit by the red hat he wore backwards. "Yo, lady," the boy shouted, his clothes clearly wet from being in the pool with them, "who's the unfun broski?" He snickered. "You got 'em good for sure, but by the looks of it he ain't playin' with ya!" He stuck a hand out to help the girl out of the pool. "Name's Chad, by the way, the two-episode wonder broski."
Abigail accepted the offer from Chad and let him pull her out of the pool. "You flatter me with your words," Abigail responded to him, "but your dive a few minutes ago still takes the cake for sure." She looked over at the wet angry boy. "Jacob is an...acquaintance of mine, I guess. We're definitely not friends, that's for sure, but I guess I've tolerated him the longest." She let out an exasperated sigh that was building up the whole time Jacob was talking.
Chad frowned as he listened to Abigail explain the complex relationship she had with Jacob. But, within seconds, he widened his eyes and pointed to him subtly. "I know you can't eye 'em now since you're all lookin' at me," he told her, "but I just nailed some cold stares from the angry dude. Man is crazy jealous to have a champ like me talkin' to ya." Abigail's face turned red and she silently looked away from the persona man. Chad quickly assessed the situation, and sighed. He took off his hat and sunglasses, looking at Abigail through sincere eyes. "Alright," he said, in a much less excited tone, "I can tell this is difficult for you. I won't lay into it more than I already have."
The prankster smiled back. "Thanks for that," she said gratefully, "I have a lot to figure out in that department for sure." She then frowned again. "But I don't like when you get all serious and stuff. Put the hat back on and dive into the water fully clothed again if you really wanna cheer me up!" Chad happily obliged, letting out a giant shout as he threw himself off of the diving board, landing in a spot that also was able to splash Jacob.
The band president wretched backward, stumbling into the wall of the ship behind him. Beside him, someone else was staring at the two of them with a spiteful glare. Jacob turned his head to see a girl with dirty blonde hair that also had a headband in it, narrowing her hazel eyes at the two buffoons in the pool. She wore a bright orange tube top and jeans with sneakers. "What, you have something to say to me?" the girl complained.
Jacob merely chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, no, nothing such as that," he mentioned. He continued to stare at her. "It's simply that I recognize you from when I was competing, but you were so insignificant I have forgotten your name." His trademark condescending smirk arose onto his face, and satisfaction with what he said as it stumped the girl.
The girl in orange was appalled at the statement she heard, dropping her jaw and letting out a gasp. "How could you forget me?" she cried out. "I was too important, you just weren't around to see it!" She let out a huff. "Since you're too stupid to remember, I'll throw you a bone this one time. My name's Claire. Forget it again, and it won't be pretty. I don't plan on holding back this time around." She stopped leaning on the wall and began walking away. "Well, I'm off to find some losers that I can work with. Enjoy scowling."
Jacob scoffed as Claire went to the inside of the boat. After a few seconds of silence, he turned back at the sound of Chad's boisterous screams, and narrowed his eyes again. "I'm perfectly fine sitting here and scowling," he told himself before grabbing a nearby towel. "But I suppose it couldn't hurt to stand back some more distance from that imbecile, and Abigail."
The inside of the cruise ship was just as nice as the outside. There were red carpets lining every floor, and there were booths and tables all over the inside for people to sit in. In addition, there were sixteen small rooms that the contestants were also able to rest in. Art and fish sculptures lined every wall, and there was a bar in the middle for various refreshments.
Sitting at the bar by himself was a boy with buzzed blonde hair. He had a scowl on his face, equipped with a few light scar on it. He had a tight-fitting light blue shirt and camouflage pants, with green boots. He grunted and put a glass of water down, staring directly at it with beady blue eyes. "This was a mistake," he muttered to himself, "How dumb do I have to be to believe that she's being held here? I should never have convinced myself of that..."
"Hey, Carter," someone behind the skeptic said as she plopped herself at the bar as well. The person running it handed her a glass of water. "Chips, also," she asked directly and bluntly. The girl had long dirty blonde hair that was very dark. Her short stature let her grey shoes swing around as she sat up on the stool, and she wore a blue top with black leggings. The bartender handed her the bag of chips. "Thanks," she responded just as dully. She turned to Carter again. "I said 'hi'," she pointed out. "Least you could do is acknowledge it."
Carter let out a groan and turned to face the girl. "Hello, Kris," he said to her in a distraught tone, but not as monotone as Kris normally spoke. "I'm sorry, there's a lot going on right now, so I would rather be left alone." He took another sip of water, turning away from her, but Kris did not budge.
The short girl loudly opened her chip bag before taking a few bites. "Hate to say it," she replied blandly, "but I don't plan on going away. Celine wants me to be...an empath, I think." She struggled at the word, like it was almost a different language to her. "Anyway, you clearly do not want to talk, so the best thing is for me to do that." She paused. "Well, I guess you noticed Celine isn't here already. She decided that one reality TV season was enough for her." Kris sighed. "Quite honestly, it was enough for me too."
Carter continued to silently sulk. "Uh, Ben's doing well," she added. Carter raised an eyebrow at the boy's name being mentioned. "He and Brenna are together now. They're doing a thing with someone, but they're not telling anyone yet. Who knows what it's about, but they promised to tell me at some point." She shrugged. "They're the only other people from our group I spoke to besides Celine." Carter let out a groan. "That's all I have, if you're going to keep sulking, that's all I can do."
The skeptic sighed. "Thanks for trying, at least," he said in a slightly grateful tone. "It's good to hear Ben's doing well. I don't know if it means anything now, but I did want to apologize to you for eliminating you last year." He shook his head. "It's not what I'm upset about, but I thought you should at least know."
Kris gave an apathetic shrug, showing she really did not care about that. "Meh, it doesn't matter now," she said, "plus, not like it was all your fault. We let Peter trick us." She took a glance around the rest of the inside lounge. "Can I trust you enough to make sure we don't let that happen again?" Carter responded with a firm nod. "Thanks, that's reassuring." A loud ruckus was heard with tons of laughter from a table nearby. "That sounds annoying," Kris muttered. "I think I'll stay here where it's peaceful."
Over at the table, four contestants were in a booth, all of them with various drinks in front of them. The first one took a large swig of whatever he had in his drink. He was still laughing about whatever he had just said. "So anyway," he said, pulling his black scarf to the side, "he looks at me and goes, 'if that was really all a dream, why didn't I win it anyway?'!" The boy had dark black hair and wore a black sweatshirt with matching tight sweatpants. He had two swords that sat next to him on the seat.
Laughter ensued as the boy finished that last line. "Sometimes I doubt the things you say, Quaoar," a girl piped up. She wore a yellow sleeveless top with denim shorts, and had long red hair that was in a ponytail, "but after being on a team with him for a while, that's absolutely the thing he would have been concerned about. Ethan was kind of a nutcase."
The second boy at the table let out an annoyed groan. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered to them. The boy in question had dark blue eyes with brown hair that was covered up by his red hoodie. He also wore jeans and dark green sneakers. "You people get overworked at the most boring things. If you want interesting experiences, none of them are in the comfort of your home." He put emphasis on the word 'comfort', making it almost sound like he was mocking them.
"Nathan, you better listen to what Sarah says anyway," the second girl mentioned. She wore a pink sundress with matching sandals and a large straw hat over her light brown hair. "Come to think of it, I was hoping we'd see you in a comforting home setting, but you couldn't make it? I think that's what Nala said..." Nathan cringed at the sound of the cosplayer's name, remembering his time last season. The girl turned to Quaoar and Sarah. "We had this party for all the Cultivated Will folks," she mentioned. "Sadly, my business was already underwater by then..." She quickly perked up again. "Anyway, Nathan was the only one who couldn't get an invite. Nala said she couldn't get your address anywhere to send one."
"Gianna, was it?" Nathan asked, not really sure who this person he competed with was. Gianna nodded, and Nathan continued. "Right, Gianna, that's not really your concern why I didn't go. You people find pleasure in different things than I do, dumber things if I can add that." He sighed. "Don't pry into my personal life. After all, it's going to happen to all of us here anyway, so what's the point in spilling now?" Gianna winced when he said that last sentence, while Quaoar merely raised an eyebrow.
Gianna reeled back her stance as she was berated by the insolent's words. "Geez, you really don't hold back do you?" she complained, "I know I was barely around last season but I was there enough to know you're a total jerk-face who thinks they're so skilled that no one will vote them off." She scoffed. "News flash, that isn't how the game works."
Quaoar raised an eyebrow at the claims Gianna have put in Nathan's mouth. He finally seemed interested in a conversation. "So you're good, then?" he asked the insolent with anticipation. "That's reassuring. I was hoping coming back would be a total waste. You better not let me down." He chuckled. "Maybe if you ask nice I'll think about going easy on you." Nathan rolled his eyes at the sword master's taunts. He had enough of this table, and stood up with a grunt.
Over at the edge of the ship was a set of cabins for each of the contestants. One of them was sealed shut, with a boy standing outside of it. "Okay, I'm not losing this time," he said with fierce determination in his dark blue eyes. He had short black hair and wore a grey sweater vest and black pants. "Open!" he called out, grabbing at the handle. "This is worse than Nolan's sleeping skills." He grunted as he pulled on the door harder, but it hilariously did not budge. The boy eventually lost his grip, flying back to the wall with a sigh. "Not again..."
Another well dressed boy approached him after he landed on the ground. This one had messy black hair and a white button down shirt that had some dry-erase marker stains on it. He also wore khaki pants and glasses. The kid with glasses turned down to see the boy on the floor. "You lack physical stamina to an extent that cannot be marked on any graph," the glasses boy muttered. "Leo, right? We were on the same team."
Leo quickly stood up at the sound of his name. It quickly clicked who the bossy weakling was speaking to. "Yeah, I know you!" he said to the boy with glasses. "You're that mean kid! Preston or something like that, right?" He took a few steps back, and while his words didn't convey it, his actions showed how terrified he was. "I know what you did last season. I'm too great to be manipulated like that, so watch yourself!"
The boy with glasses stared at Leo for a bit before letting out a chuckle. "Oh, Peter's the name, by the way, not Preston," he first corrected. Peter proceeded to let out a sigh. "I suppose that was me, the alleged villain. I apologize for getting rid of Claire, truly. She was definitely never on a track to manipulate all of you if left unchecked." He chuckled. "But, that won't work this time. I need to figure out something different quickly, easier said than done for sure." He glanced at the door Leo was trying so hard to pry open. "What's in here?"
Leo stood up with a huff. "Some girl has been asleep in there for ages, so I don't know who it is, but I will make sure they pay for that." He proceeded to sit back down against the wall as Peter glanced in through the window. The girl was wearing jeans with a sleeveless black top, her long brown hair staying in nearly perfect condition even though she was asleep for ages.
As Peter peered inside, someone else approached them. Also wearing jeans he wore a grey puffy jacket and a green beanie with long brown hair. "What's the fuss?" he asked the two of them, "Something happen to her in there?"
Leo pointed at the beanie-wearing boy accusingly. "You need to tell me who you are!" he shouted at him, "and why this girl won't wake up! I want to know now so I don't have to learn your names later!" He had more fire in his voice than when he was speaking to Peter, who at the moment, rolled his eyes at Leo's antics.
Peter eventually stepped in. "You two are from Karon, correct?" he asked politely. The beanie-wearing boy answered with a nod. "That would make you...Randall, and the girl in there is Alexa, correct?" Randall nodded. "Wonderful to meet you. I have quite the reputation here already but I don't think that should subtract from our friendship."
Randall hesitantly shook the boy's hand. "Right, Alexa is my girlfriend, so naturally you can see why I'm concerned there are two boys outside her door while she is trying to sleep." He had a slightly more intimidating tone to him now. Leo instantly got up and ran to another part of the ship, while Peter held his ground firmly. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to scare you, just wanted to make some things clear."
The mathematician laughed. "Oh, don't worry about him, I don't see him getting very far anyway, so we'll have more than enough time to advance our friendship on our own." He gave the mountain man a wave and walked to go find where Leo ran off to.
As the smaller boy left, Alexa groggily opened the door. Despite just waking up, her hair was perfect still. "Those kids are causing such a ruckus," she said with a yawn. She peered out the window where the island was now in sight. "We're almost here..." she said to herself. "I don't plan on going down without a fight this time." Her tone seemed much more passionate than it did in the past. Randall raised an eyebrow at the sound of her new attitude.
One by one, people looked out at the windows or to the ends of the ship outside to see the island was nearly there. Out on the deck, Claire leaned over the edge and took a deep breath. "Alright. Time to make them pay for underestimating me."
BEACH, KARON ISLAND
"Boat's here," Chef said dully to Susan, who was tinkering on a computer in the back. "Put the freaky tech away, let them think this season is normal for at least a day. We don't have any sniffers this time around, but that doesn't mean one of them won't become one." Susan rolled her eyes but eventually obeyed, putting her computer in a backpack as the boat docked on the island.
Everyone began climbing off with their stuff, to which some people looked more excited to be there than others. Hannah was already snapping photos and selfies, Carter had a visible glare directed right at Susan, and Juan simply looked angry to be existing at the same time as any of them. "Everyone looks so scary," Chef said to them with a light laugh. "Guess a few seasons of McLean and a season of her will do that to ya." He gestured over to Susan, who was not amused by the comment.
Chef stepped forward once everyone was off. "Alright, everyone, listen up," he told them calmly, "there's been a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes since we've seen each other last. All you need to know is that Susan and I have swapped roles. I am now your official host, Susan will get me a coffee or something now." Carter looked very surprised at that statement, while a few people such as Abigail and Gianna clapped respectfully. "I take it you all introduced yourselves?" A few of them nodded, while others shook their heads. "Whatever, we're going on a tour for the young kids. Let's go."
After departing from the beach, the cast first made their way over to the cabins. The first one was very reminiscent of the first time they were on the island, four bunks in a room, separated by gender. The second cabin also had a familiar gimmick attached to it. "I think you've all seen this concept before," Chef told them as some of the contestants looked expectantly at the high quality cabin. "For those losers who were just at the school, it will probably still be a downgrade to the facilities there, but I don't expect to hear any complaining." A few of the Cultivated Will people nodded obediently.
Next, the group went to the entrance to the mines. "Karon folks will remember a few challenges happening in here. That will still happen, but we plan on utilizing much of this for behind-the-scenes work. That means if we don't have a challenge, you aren't down there. You all saw Kara finally pay the price for breaking the rules two seasons ago." A few people nodded, while others such as Leo and Jacob had no clue what the cook was talking about. "So, I mean it, Susan has that place rigged with traps, so don't go in there."
The cast then migrated to the dining tent, which had something cooking in it. "You know my schtick here. I cook, you eat, don't complain or I come swinging." He quickly moved away from the dining tent as the rest of the group followed him. Chef led everyone finally back to the beach. "That's all that's really new here. Everything not disaster-related it still around, the mountain, and I think McLean called it The Chasm, the real big ravine to the west." Some of the Karon kids nodded to confirm that was right. "Any questions?"
Jacob raised his hand with a fierce but similarly condescending look. "Would care to explain any updates to gameplay mechanics?" he asked politely, "Surely there will be new things in an attempt to throw us off." Abigail rolled her eyes as he began to speak which Jacob saw and responded with a satisfied smirk. He then turned back to Chef to wait for an answer.
Chef sighed. "Yes, there are a few new things. First, Karon folks, we're bringing back some of your gimmicks. Vote checking is once again in place for all who wish to use it. Votes will always be public, so be careful about what you say when voting." A few people murmured at the powerful vote check returning. "Second, there is an idol somewhere on this island. It isn't a standard sole-vote idol like we had in the past. We saved that tension thing for the season where people knew what they were doing. This is your standard run-of-the-mill immunity idol. Play it, and all the votes against you are gone." Even more talking came out of that.
"I need that idol," Claire said to herself, looking around to maybe find a potential target to use it against. She then raised her hand. "Will we ever be given hints to where this idol is located?" Chef shook his head as Juan rolled his eyes, annoyed at these new kids asking so many questions. "Okay, thought I'd at least ask."
Chef grunted. "Great, that should cover everything around here, so Susan's gonna put you kids into teams now." Susan stepped forward with an eager but sophisticated smirk on her face. She took out what appeared to be an upgraded version of the portal gun and shot two portals to the left and right of the herd of kids. The Karon cast looked visibly concerned while the Cultivated Will cast looked more annoyed than anything.
"No need to fret, this has now been approved for actual usage," she assured them. "I've had some help from former contestants Brenna and Ben. They made sure it won't be unstable like the ones we used for all of last season." The kids looked a bit more relived, but Susan took that chance to randomly blast all of them to different locations, sending them to either the right or left of the main group, where the two initial portals were shot.
Once the chaos cleared up, Chef stepped forward to analyze what went down. "There's the teams, I guess," he said. "Team names this season are going to have an elemental theme, both as a nod to the first season finale we had here and to hint at what to expect this season." He looked to the first group, over to the right. "Alright, Claire, Chad, Leo, Peter, Alexa, Quaoar, Abigail, and Randall, you eight are the Surging Ravens." He tossed them a banner that Chad caught, with a bright yellow bird appearing on the front.
"Crazy stuff bro," Chad muttered as he grabbed the banned and presented it to everyone. "Does this mean you plan on zappin' us with lightning and stuff or are we gonna be chill for a bit?"
Chef completely ignored the personality faker's question and turned to the other side. "Jacob, Juan, Hannah, Kris, Gianna, Nathan, Carter, and Sarah, you eight are the Molten Chickens." He tossed them a banner that Carter reached for, but was snatched out of the air by Jacob. The banner, as Jacob rolled it out, showed a dark red bird, the color of lava. "Does that settle things?" Everyone nodded. "Great, you have an hour to unpack and meet back at the beach. Plan on getting wet." This was met by a few groans.
CABIN AREA, KARON ISLAND
"Chef obviously refused to tell us who was going to initially get the good cabin," Carter lamented, as the sixteen contestants stared at the two cabins, everyone obviously much more interested in the nicer building. "Luckily for all of you, I don't care," he picked up his stuff with a grunt and began to move into the woods.
Sarah quickly hustled to where he was going to. "Hold on!" she called out to him, getting him to stop walking. "We should take this unpacking time to get to know each other, that would make out team stronger, wouldn't it?" Carter rolled his eyes at her and kept moving.
"I'm with him on that," Nathan retorted to the swimmer. "Obviously it would be stupid to move into a place we might not even see tonight, but I sure am not going to sit and talk about my feelings with a bunch of people I just met." He dropped his stuff at a nearby tree. "I'm going to check this place out. It's my first time here and I don't plan on letting this hour go to waste." He walked off in the same direction Carter did, trying not to attract too much attention to himself on that.
Meanwhile, the Surging Ravens are having equal trouble getting along. In an attempt to break the silence, Claire made her way over to Quaoar. "So...I hear you're really strong," she says in an admiring tone. Raising an eyebrow, she draws her own attention over to his arms. "You definitely look it." She grinned. "I wonder if you'd be able to protect someone weak and helpless like me..." she gave a puppy dog look to the sword master, who only shot back a deadpan expression.
Randall noticed quickly what the flirt was up to, and walked over to Quaoar as well to try and clear things up. "It's good to see you and finally compete together," he told the black-haired boy. "I was just hosting the aftermath show when you competed." Quaoar returned that notion with a simple nod. "Oh, I was meaning to ask, since something just now reminded me of this. How is Iris doing?"
"She's great," Quaoar responded to the mountain man, "super excited to not be competing, out of everyone she trusts the new host the least." Claire quickly put the pieces together that this was not a person she could use as a target, frowned, and wandered away. "Thanks for that," Quaoar muttered quietly so only Randall could hear it. Randall responded with a cheerful smile.
Claire made her way to Chad, only to realize he was deep in a conversation with Abigail already. "Anyway, then I was like, 'broski, if you make that jump it's gonna skewer ya!" He laughed in between sentences. "But he did it anyway! Went to the hospital afterward, but he said it was totally worth it!" He and Abigail both laughed at the same time. Chad quickly noticed that there was someone staring at them. "Uh...Ab, you've got an observer to your five o'clock."
Abigail peered behind her to see if anyone was there, quickly catching sight of Jacob behind them, staring intently. As she turned forward, she found that Claire was also standing nearby with a hint of jealousy on her face. "You've got a friend behind you as well." She waved over to the flirt. "You can come talk with us if you want!"
Claire let out a huff and turned her head. "No, I don't want to associate myself with a band kid." She flipped her hair and stepped away from them. Abigail muttered something under her breath, upset Jacob has brought the band kid stigma to this show as well.
Peter chuckled. "That's no way to speak to your teammates," he noted. "If I am being honest, I think you deserve a fresh start. You were a little condescending last time, but things such as that should be as important as imaginary numbers."
Claire scoffed. "You wanna hear imaginary? Everything that poured outta your mouth just now." She pointed at Peter and got all of the Ravens' attention. "Team, this guy is a big time threat. He will use small victories and wipe everyone out. He did it last time, he'll do it again. No fresh starts." It got a few of the Karon people talking maybe unaware of what Peter had done last season. As Claire left, she turned back to Chad and watched him talk with Abigail longer. "He'd be perfect, as long as he steps away from...her." She then scanned the area for other targets, finding people missing. "Hey, where's that thug who's not worth my time?"
MINE ENTRANCE, KARON ISLAND
Nathan parked himself behind a tree, where he watched Carter drop some stuff and keep walking further away from the cabins. He inconspicuously followed Carter until the skeptic had stopped at the entrance to the mines. "I don't plan on letting this go," he muttered to himself, and prepared to go into the mines.
As soon as he took a step, Susan Hazel herself stepped out to intercept him. "Not even on this island for an hour and you are already at it," she said with a sigh. "Did you not just have four delinquents on your team who broke the rules last season? You let two of them to the final four." Nathan was shocked to see Susan catch Carter, and kept himself hidden.
Carter did not budge at the co-host's taunts. "I don't have to go in," he said boldly, "I'm actually looking for answers from you, so this makes things easier." He stared her right in the eyes, his gaze seeming to pierce through Susan's sunglasses. "I'm only going to ask you one time. Where is Sharron?" He had no fear as he looked the former scientist in the eyes and held his ground.
Susan made a lamenting sigh. "If I knew where she was, I would have shared that information. Truth be told, I have a hunch, but I don't want it to be true." Carter didn't need words to get across that he wanted Susan to elaborate, he merely held the stare. "And, unfortunately, I can't share what I think I know, because if it's true, then it will happen." She sighed again. "I hope this is the last time we have to have a conversation like this."
The skeptic shook his head. "You know that's not an answer I wanted. Sharron left on an allegedly unanimous vote while in good standing with at least one other member of her three person team. After that, she did not attend the finale, and now on a season that seems to be giving many people a second chance, a predicted top player who didn't merge is not only not here, but I am." He tightened his gaze. "I won't ask again. Where...is...Sharron?"
The co-host gave a nervous laugh. "You don't understand how much trouble you could be putting me in right now. If you want to talk about it later, I may be able to arrange that for you, but as of now, stay in the game so I can make that happen. Like all things, I assume the truth will eventually reveal itself." She adjusted her sunglasses. "Now, you may want to get in a swimsuit, your challenge is in twenty minutes now and you still need to get back."
Carter, unsatisfied with the responses Susan gave, let out a small growl, but did give up for now and went back into the woods. Susan did not turn back into the mines, however. She spoke out loud. "And, Mr. Verity, you know nothing escapes my eyes. I've been fired from a job for being too good at catching people where they shouldn't be. I would head back as well if I were you, and if I don't see you again, I'll consider keeping this quiet from Host Hatchet." Nathan quickly bolted out from where he was hiding and got ready for the challenge as well.
CABIN AREA, KARON ISLAND
Back with the Molten Chickens, Gianna wandered over to Sarah. I heard you are quite the talented swimmer," she said with flair and confidence. "Trying for the Olympic team this year, right?" Sarah nodded slowly. "Amazing. You and I should enter a partnership." She laughed. "You know, they actually call me-"
Gianna's monologue was cut off by Sarah, who knew exactly where this was going. "Hollywood's Shadow, yeah, I watched you guys last season." Gianna's face became red with embarrassment. "I would love some sort of sponsorship if that opportunity was real, so I have a couple questions." Gianna's face lit up now. "How is your...partnership business doing?"
The connection specialist frowned at that question. "Well...it's...um..." she sighed, "Okay, it...it failed big time. I did get a couple real deals but when I started scamming the business collapsed. I had to work at my dad's mechanic shop all summer to pay off that lawsuit." She grabbed onto her hair as she thought about it. "I had...dirty, sweaty oil on me all day, it was so greasy and disgusting!" She sniffled a bit as Sarah now felt bad and put a hand around her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
The opportunity did not last long, as an announcement came over the speakers. "Alright, losers, your hour's up, you've got five minutes to be at the beach for our first challenge! Get ready to bring it!" Chef clicked off the speakers as people began shuffling over slowly.
Juan and Hannah stared up at the speaker for a bit longer as they all began to head over. Hannah pumped her fist and walked at a brisker pace to make it over. Juan on the other hand simply let out a dejected sigh. "Let the misery begin."
Current Teams:
Surging Ravens: Abigail, Alexa, Chad, Claire, Leo, Peter, Quaoar, Randall
Molten Chickens: Carter, Gianna, Hannah, Jacob, Juan, Kris, Nathan, Sarah
Eliminated: N/A
Our first chapter has come to an end. Like all of my first episodes, this will be a two-parter. As you can see, there was no gimmick for the teams this time around, they were randomly generated (aka I designed them based on who I need for plot's sake). The team names do have a reference but it's missing a part to it right now, maybe you'll get it.
I wanted to also discuss some of the cast choices, specifically, who is not back. Here's some of those reasonings.
Ben and Brenna: The two ended their arcs in really great spots in CW, Brenna especially kinda stealing the spotlight for the whole first half. With their happy ending in mind, I decided that they are best left alone for this season that'll shake lots of things up.
Celine: Again, this was strictly the fact that spots were so limited, and because of another absent member of the CW cast, I needed the finalist I brought over to be Carter. She didn't win but had a satisfying end to her arc.
Nala: Another close consider, but with such a limited number of slots, it just couldn't happen. You'll hear from her in the special and maybe in the story. She was mentioned once already.
Sharron: Yeah, I know exactly what I'm doing with this one. She's already been mentioned, her whereabouts will be answered eventually.
Helio: When picking my "worst performers", Helio came to mind as he hasn't been in the game since the first episode of Karon's merge, but that's exactly it, he merged. No one from Karon here has merged, even the ones who also made it to Submerged.
Daniel: I kinda just kept the gimmick of him being relentlessly forgettable, he performed worse than some like Randall and Hannah, but Daniel has no plot built behind him, so that kinda puts him out of a spot in such a limited cast.
Hopefully that clears some stuff up. I think this is the strongest cast I have from a narrative standpoint, and you may have noticed that the story itself is more narrative driven. No intros, no closers, no opening sequence, no confessionals, we are just playing the game in a fully fleshed out story this time around. Like all seasons with vote checking, I will still include voting confessionals at the end when applicable.
Let me know what you thought about today in the reviews! Feedback is always appreciated, and I'm sure some of you are excited to see your favorite Karon cast members again. Let me know your current favorites, and I will still do review replies! See you next time!