Chapter 20 marks a milestone for this story. Only six more to go after this, not including the potential of the special. We are nearing the end game and things are really going to heat up!
OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla: Topher's big scene was the highlight of the chapter for me, it was very fun to write! Scarlett is someone you'd expect to last longer, so I understand why you'd be surprised at her leaving. Sometimes, things aren't always as they seem.
I do not own any of the characters or ideas presented in this story.
"Previously, on Total Drama Island." Chris began with a grin as he normally did. "The contestants got to experience first-hand what it's like to get hunted by a killer! Our own Chef took the role of crazed maniac looking to hunt some teens!"
"It didn't matter if they tried to run..." Cody and Izzy were shown walking through the woods. "Hide..." Scott was shown attempting to barricade the boys' cabin. "Or fight back." Finally, Sugar was shown attempting to beat Chef with her makeshift weapon. "In the end, all but Topher and Scarlett got caught."
"And in the biggest surprise to everyone, Topher managed to win immunity when the real killer showed up and he managed to convince him of a better life to choose." A swap over to the scene where Topher explained his rendition of a good horror scene played out, followed by the killer revealing he was moved by his speech. "Poetic, isn't it?"
The camera returned to Chris. "What exciting challenge awaits our campers today? Find out right now, right here! On Total, Drama, Island!"
(Intro)
After the intro, the episode went to the mess hall under the morning sun. Inside, all but Sugar looked upset at their breakfast, or what was called breakfast.
Jasmine attempted to pull her spoon out of the bowl but it was stuck to the greyish starchy mush. She ended up lifting the entire bowl with the spoon. "This can't be legal." she grimaced.
Topher had taken to just tapping at the table, rather than fighting the food. "Chris knows his loopholes and lawyer prattle. So, in some way, I guess that stuff would constitute as proper food."
She sighed. "I guess after weeks of stuff like this I should be used to it. No real use in complaining anymore." she attempted once again to free the spoon. "But I guess complaining sates the hunger."
"If you ain't gonna eat it, I will!" Sugar announced. Jasmine just passed the bowl over to her.
"It's fascinating you even manage to swallow the stuff without choking." Topher remarked.
"If it is meant to be eaten, I can eat it!" she claimed.
"I doubt this stuff was meant to be eaten."
On the other side of the mess hall, Cody sat next to Scott. They sat in complete silence and by their expressions, it wasn't clear who sat next to the other to begin with.
Eventually, Cody broke the silence. "So..." he trailed off unsure of what really to say.
While Scott had been used to confronting Cody before, he also was at a loss for words. "So what?"
The two continued to sit in awkward silence.
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Confessional
Scott - "With Scarlett gone and the immediate threat to our safety dealt with, we have no reason to work together anymore." Scott explained. "Which means he can rat me out. So, I need to find a way to get him out of here before it is too late."
Cody - "I think Scott wants me gone. I'm the only one who truly knows what happened between Scarlett and Sierra. I was hoping to get him to admit something or lie about some plan, but his silence tells me everything I need to know."
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Returning to the mess hall, Chris walked in with a smile. "Enjoying the breakfast, campers?" he asked the group.
"Yep!" Sugar responded with her face stuffed.
"Maybe you can talk to Chef about improving the food. We deserve something after lasting this long." Topher proposed.
"Maybe you are right." Chris thought out loud while pretending not to let on any more info.
"Really?" Topher beamed.
Chris nodded in response. "But we wouldn't want to just give out good food to anybody! So today's challenge will have you hunting for the reward of a great meal!"
"Are we eating what we catch?" Scott asked.
"Please tell me we are not." Topher looked sick at the idea.
"Nope, the reward will be a grand meal of anything you desire. Three courses, of course!"
Topher beamed once more. "Alright! Now we are talking!"
"If I win can I invite Tyler to join me?" Lindsay requested.
"No. What part of never-ever come back do you not understand?"
Jasmine peered between Izzy and Sugar. "I think you might be lacking that understanding as well."
Chris hushed her. He clapped his hands and smiled to regain his composure. "Meet me outside to draft which animal you will be hunting. And good luck, you'll need it!" he laughed.
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Confessional
Jasmine - "This can be quite fun. I haven't been able to show off my survival skills too much recently, so it will be nice to stretch the old legs."
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The campers now all stood on the dock in front of Chris. The host wore a pith helmet along with his usual clothes. "Each of you will take turns picking an animal out of this hat." he took off his helmet and flipped it upside down. "Some animals will be easier than others so pray you don't get unlucky."
Jasmine was the first to pick and smiled. "A frog doesn't sound too hard."
Lindsay was next. "Aww, a chipmunk? They are so cute!"
"A raccoon? not bad." Scott mused.
"I got a duck!" Sugar grinned.
Topher grinned when he saw his. "Beaver, the national animal."
"Oh, I got deer! Yes!" Izzy cheered.
Cody looked unsure at his. "Bear?"
Chris shrugged. "Sorry dude. That was the only one left. Wouldn't want to be you." he laughed.
"How am I supposed to catch a bear?" he said mostly to himself in disbelief.
"Luckily for you, you'll all have sixty seconds in the boat house to grab some equipment to help."
"Please tell me there is a bear trap in there." he prayed.
"Remember, unharmed." Chris pointed out. "After you are done catching your prey, you will deliver it to the bonfire ceremony, where a cage is set up to house them. Oh, and one more thing. The last person to retrieve their animal gets a special reward."
"What kind of reward?" Sugar got excited at the news.
"You'll get to clean the communal washrooms!" he revealed.
The news sent a wave of disgust throughout the group. "Eh, no thanks." she stepped away.
"I guess that gives good motivation to catch it quickly." Topher looked nervous at the prospect of being forced to clean the disgusting washrooms.
"Okay campers, with proper reward and punishment in mind are you ready to begin?" Chris asked the group while raising his arm. "Go!" he cut threw the air and quickly pulled out a stopwatch and clicked it. "Times ticking."
The group suddenly made a mad dash to the boat house. Izzy began grabbing random things and throwing them outside; the rules never stated they couldn't search crates and boxes after sixty seconds if it was outside the boathouse.
Topher found a bucket and net and quickly grabbed the two. He was pushed aside by Sugar and tripped. He dropped the bucket and it fell down to cover his head. "Gross, there is something wet in here!" his voice echoed.
Cody did indeed see a bear trap hanged up on the wall but he remember what Chris said and sighed as he looked through a crate for something less damaging.
Sugar saw a tin of duck food and grabbed it quickly. She also grabbed a rather large net before leaving the boat house.
Scott noticed a bat in the corner and grabbed it. "This will work." he smiled.
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Confessional
Scott - "I used to use a bat to bash rodents back home with Papi. Raccoons are just bigger rodents, so it'll be pretty easy. I doubt Chris will mind a few bruises on it."
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Chris called time and the remained campers finished up their search and came out. Lindsay left empty-handed and Chris questioned as to why. "I was looking for a leash or carrying cage but couldn't find any." she replied.
Chris just shook his head and turned to the others. "Alright, your eight hours start now. Good luck and happy hunting."
Izzy started by searching the crates she had piled onto the dock. Cody walked over to join her. "Looking for anything specific?" he asked as dodged an empty bucket getting tossed by his head.
She gasped loudly and pulled out a tranquillizer gun. "Whoa check it out! A real gun!" she pointed at Cody and he flinched. "Bam bam!"
"I think it's just a tranquillizer." he carefully reached out and used a single finger to slowly point the barrel downwards.
"Still, I can't wait to shoot this thing! It'll make bagging a deer a sinch!" she raised it and mimicked shooting again.
In view of them, Sugar was eating out of her now open tin of duck feed. She heard Izzy fake shooting and came closer to inspect what was happening. She dropped her net as she ran up to look at the tranquillizer. "Oh, can I have that? I've always wanted to shoot a duck!"
"It's mine!" Izzy hissed at her.
Sugar reached out and grabbed it. "Give it to me! I wanna use it!"
The two girls began to fight and bicker over who got to use the gun. Cody did the smart thing and began to back away slowly. "Be careful!" he called out. "You might-"
Before Cody was able to finish his sentence, the two girls accidentally set off the trigger of the gun and a dart was fired into the poor boy's foot.
"Oh, that's not good." Izzy let her guard down and Sugar snatched the weapon from her.
"Ha! I win!" she stuck her tongue out to mock her defeat and ran off with the gun, giddy with her new toy.
"It's fine." he managed to slur, his words barely recognizable. He wobbled and leaned forward to remove the dart from his foot. Instead, he slumped forward and fell to the dock with a thump.
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Confessional
Izzy - "If Cody doesn't participate in the challenge, he'll be forced to clean up the bathroom! Looks like it's a job for none other than Izzy to save the day!" she proclaimed in the third person.
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Returning to the dock, Izzy ignored her spoils from the boathouse and picked Cody up over her shoulder. "Come on, we've got a challenge to win!" she began to run with the half-conscious, completely numb boy.
The camera cut to show the sun in the sky signalling some time had passed since the beginning of the challenge. The camera panned down to show Jasmine walking close to a muddy pond. "Hmm, this looks like a good place to set up." she said out loud as she began to prepare a few traps to catch her prey. A ribbit caught her attention. She turned over to see a small green frog looking up at her. "Just you wait. I got a little planning to do first." she told it.
It only croaked in response.
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Jasmine - "In all honesty, I think I could have just grabbed the thing with my bare hands. But, I wanted to test my skills so I will. I can have a little fun now and again, can't I?"
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The next scene showed Lindsay as she walked through the trees with her head looking to the sky. "Hello? Chipmonk? Are you there?" she called out.
She continued to walk until she reached the base of a tree. As she did, a small nut fell past her. She looked up to see where it came from and another hit her on her forehead. She rubbed her head in pain and found the culprits. A few squirrels were looking down at her and one could swear they were pointing and laughing. "Oh hey, chipmunks!" she grinned as she forgot her pain.
She reached her hands into the air, forming a cup. "Can one of you jump down into my hands? I need to hunt one of you to win!" she asked the squirrels.
They looked more confused than anything and one threw a nut down at her.
"Ow!" it bounced off her head. "Rude!" she frowned. She stopped to think. "What would Tyler do? Think!" she tapped her head with both of her closed fists. "Oh, I know!"
She stepped away from the tree before running full force into it and jumping at the last second. She manage to get her arms around it and used her momentum to attempt to climb.
Elsewhere, Sugar was busy eating her duck feed as she looked around the beach. Her gun was tucked precariously under her arm. "Where are those stinking ducks?" she looked around. "I thought they loved the water!"
Her journey in looking for them continued down the beach until she saw one standing on a rock. "Hah! Got you!" she grinned. She threw some duck feed at it to distract it.
Before she was able to ready and aim her gun, the duck flew away, likely due to the duck feed being thrown into its face.
"Drat!" she stomped her foot. She aimed into the sky and fired at it several times, each shot going nowhere close to its mark.
A flash brought Topher into focus as he walked around holding the net and bucket he retrieved from the boat house. "What was I thinking?" he slapped his forehead in distress. "A net and bucket? How am I supposed to catch a beaver with just this!"
He eventually reached a dam where a few beavers sat on top, patting away at the wood with their tails.
"Hey, let's make this easy." he told them. "I don't want to clean the bathroom and I also don't want to get my hair dirty."
The beavers looked at him as he spoke but the second he stopped they returned to hitting the wood.
He readied his net. "I guess we do this the hard way." he tossed it forward but with no real practice, it didn't do much other than cover the beaver's home. They turned once more to look at him before moving out of the open. He attempted to follow them but they rid within gaps in the dam. "Oh come on." he groaned.
Another scene change showed Izzy carrying Cody nearby a bunch of berry bushes. "Oh, you hungry?" she asked the half-conscious boy. "These are safe to eat! I think." she dropped her guard and looked concerned for a second but she quickly recovered. She began to pick and eat a few while also tossing them at his face. Each just bounced off and he moaned something unintelligible. "Great thinking!" she agreed with him. "We can attract a bear with these!"
Another attempt at speech escaped his lips, trying to protest her plans. But She continued gathering the berries and he wasn't able to stop her.
A return to Lindsay showed her sitting on a branch with her legs wrapped around it for support. "Okay, now what?" she asked herself. As she did, a squirrel hopped down from a branch above her and bounced off her head. She tried to reach up to grab it but it was too quick and scurried to the end of the branch.
It began to mock her and make faces at her.
"Oh, now you are going to get it!" she looked determined to catch the annoying animal. She attempted to stand on the branch and was actually quite successful. She managed to keep her balance as she walked down to the end where the squirrel sat. "Come with me now!" she demanded in a loud commanding tone.
The squirrel was stunned for a second and almost felt as if had needed to do what it was told. Instead, it waved at her and hopped to another nearby branch. She looked baffled but soon realized her predicament as the branch she stood on began to creak and crack. "Oh no. she gulped before a scream escaped her lips as she fell to the ground.
A bush broke her fall but she still looked worse for wear. A curious visitor hopped on over on top of her stomach and looked down at her dazed eyes. She blinked before realizing it was a chipmunk. "Oh, hello little guy." she cooed at its adorable face. "Aren't you just the cutest thing!" she reached out to grab it and it let her. She brought it forward and nuzzled it against her face.
She heard laughter above and looked up to see the squirrels taunting her. She turned to look at the chipmunk before back at the squirrels. "Wait a second, you're a chipmunk!" she beamed. It nodded to confirm her statement. "Silly me."
The camera returned to Sugar as she continued her journey. She had moved more inland, attempting her best at following the duck that eluded her before. A few birds in the trees above began to sing and distract her. "Will you knock it off?" she shouted and they suddenly stopped.
She eventually pushed back a few shrubs to find the same duck from before pecking at the base of a tree. A sinister grin appeared on her face. "I'm not gonna make the same mistake this time!" she whispered to herself as she readied her gun instead of attempting to use the feed. "Time for the element of surprise!" she said a tad too loudly. The duck perked its head up and she began to fire.
The duck ran like the wind, dodging several shots. It eventually took off into the sky once more.
Sugar continued firing until she ran out of darts. "Aw, shoot!" she threw the gun onto the ground in frustration.
Suddenly, an eagle, three squirrels, and two song birds fell from the trees and onto the ground, all hit by darts and all paralyzed. "None of you are helping!" she roared at them with her fists balled.
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Confessional
Sugar - "That duck is a pesky critter. I need to use all of my brains if I want to catch it!"
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Returning to Topher, he looked disgusted at what he had to do. "Remind yourself what happens if you don't do this." he had to tell himself. To get a better view of the dam and beavers he was forced to get down on his hands and knees on the bank of the water. Mud stained his skin and clothes and he winced at the feeling. A small hole was near the side of the dam and he crawled through the mud and water to peer inside.
A few beavers rested inside, uncaring to his presence. He attempted to do his best to see if there were any other exits. Upon seeing none, he came up with a plan. He backed off and set the net in front of the hole and filled the bucket with water. He placed it on top to weigh it down so it wouldn't get pushed downstream.
He stood up and looked down at himself. His arms and legs were caked in mud and soaked with dirty water. "Chris?" he shouted up to the sky. "Can we get that shower reward to come back? I really need it."
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Confessional
Topher - "Okay, wallowing around in the mud all day was something I didn't plan for. If Scarlett is watching this, I just know she'd be laughing at my misery."
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A flash showed Scott walking quietly through the woods patting the baseball bat into his palm. "Come here, rodent." he said out loud. "I just want to talk." he chuckled to himself.
A rustling caught his attention and he saw a raccoon pop its head out of a bush. "Hey there, little guy." he smiled and walked close, hiding the bat from it. His grin turned evil as he swung the bat down at the bush.
The raccoon jumped out and scurried away. Scott gave chase, swinging wildly. All of his attempts missed and he didn't notice the raccoon leading him to a tree. It ran straight up while he smashed face first into it.
He fell to the ground with a thump. A pair of boots approached him and he looked up to see Lindsay standing above him looking confused. "I thought we weren't allowed to hurt the animals." she had noticed his attempts to hit it with a bat.
He quickly got up and brushed some dirt and leaves off himself. "I wasn't going to hurt it. We were playing, that's all." he lied.
"Oh." she nodded along, pretending to understand but clearly not. He rolled his eyes.
He noticed that she had already caught her animal and looked shocked. "How'd you do that so fast?"
"I don't know I think we had like a special bond or something."
He weighed his bat in his hands as he thought for a second. An evil grin took his face. "Say, Lindsay, I have an idea."
"What is it?"
"You want to win, right?"
She nodded quickly. "One-hundred percent! I promised Tyler!"
"Well, if you win this challenge you're going to put a target on your back."
"Can't we just take it off?" she was obvious to the exspression.
He couldn't help but deadpan. "I mean the others will want to eliminate you."
"But if I win then they won't be able to." she reasoned.
Scott continued his annoyed look. "Only for now, but if they think you are too strong they will try to get rid of you in the future! Which is where my plan comes in. How about you help me win this challenge and I'll take all the heat for you. Then, when no one is looking, you'll be able to win the money." Scott explained his plan in detail. "You throw a challenge now to win one later, make sense?"
"Not really. If I wanted to win why would I lose?"
He frowned. "You won't be losing, we will be winning." he tried to re-explain. "How about I take the immunity, and you get that fancy dinner. I don't really care for it anyway."
The promise of reward piqued her interest. "Okay!" she finally agreed.
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Confessional
Scott - "Like talking to a brick wall. But at least this wall is gullible." he snickered.
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Somewhere, deep in the woods, Izzy peaked her head out of some bushes, watching a grazing stag. "This is our chance." she whispered to Cody who was laid down in the foliage. "The masterful hunter Elizabeth is about to catch her prey. Keep an eye out for me, dear." she spoke with a British accent.
Cody remained silent.
She rolled out of the bush and behind a rock. The deer lifted its head and looked around trying to see what made the noise. When it didn't see something, it began to graze again.
Izzy continued her stealthy mission and quickly ran behind a tree. Again, the deer tried to see what was happening but was blind to her presence.
She was now close and crouched down a rock behind it, ready to pounce. "Ha ha!" she roared in laughter as she jumped onto its back.
The deer let out a yell of shock and confusion as it tried to buck her off. The crazy redhead kept her grip firm and wrapped her arms around its neck so it wasn't able to. She began to make sounds attempting to mimick one a deer would actually make. The deer eventually gave up and allowed her to successfully mount it.
"Hey Cody!" she called out. "I got it!"
She placed her hands on its horns and steered it back to where she left him. She hopped off and grabbed him while the deer stood still obediently.
"How'd you manage that?" Cody attempted to say but the words came out in a slurred mess.
Izzy appeared to have understood him anyway. "I showed him who's boss." she claimed. "Also I speak deer and asked him if we could ride him."
"You speak deer?" Cody grunted as he was thrown across the back of the deer.
She nodded. "Of course! I also speak chipmunk, whale, dolphin, iguana, and Spanish."
She got back up on the deer and patted its side. With a verbal command, it began to trot towards the campground.
A flash took the scene back to Lindsay and Scott. Lindsay stopped and pointed to a grey tail poking out of a bush. "That's a raccoon, right?"
Scott nodded and readied his bat. "Sure is."
He attempted to walk forward but a surprisingly strong hand stopped him. "You can't do that!"
"Do what?"
"Use a bat! That would hurt it!"
He shrugged. "So?"
"That's not nice!" she chastised him.
"You got a better idea?" he challenged her.
"No. But I can try talking to it." she passed over the chipmunk to him. "Here, hold her for me."
"Her?" he looked down at the chipmunk. The creature that looked pacified when it was with Lindsay immediately growled in his hands and bit his thumb. "Ow!"
Lindsay approached the bush and leaned down next to it. "Hi, there!"
The raccoon turned around to look at her with confusion.
"Would you like to come with me?" she asked while reaching forwards and picking it up.
It looked less than enthused to be grabbed and began to verbally complain while trying to scratch her.
She held it at arm's length so it wouldn't scratch her face. "Here, I got it!" she told Scott.
The two traded animals. The chipmunk returned to being friendly while the raccoon continued to try to scratch and bite. It escaped Scott's grasp and latched onto his face as it began to claw at his hair.
Scott screamed and ran around in a panic. "You're going the wrong way!" Lindsay told him. "Or I think so, at least. Do you know the way back?"
Scott answered by still screaming.
Returning with Sugar had her once again, staring down the duck that was unaware she was there. "I've got you this time." she snickered.
Instead of attempting to shoot the duck, she decided to set a trap instead. It was simple since she didn't have the tools to create one properly. She was on a small cliff side, about a few feet high. Below, was a pile of duck feed. On top with her, was a large rock she was planning to drop on its head to stun it. She let out a whistle.
The duck looked confused at the sound and walked on over. It saw the food laying on the ground and began to peck at it.
"Stay still you stupid bird!" she whispered as she pushed the rock over the cliff. She stood with a small as she heard a thud. "That outta get him!" she leaned over the cliff to see what had happened.
To her annoyance, the rock had missed its target. The duck still pecked away at the duck feed but stopped as she leaned over to look at her. It quacked before flying away.
Her gun wasn't ready so she quickly tried to pick it up and shoot but she fumbled and dropped it off the cliff. She reached forward to try to grab it only to trip and fall of the cliff as well.
The scene flashed over to the campground. Both Scott and Lindsay ran up to the empty cage set up to hold their animals. Lindsay opened up the door for Scott who had to pry the raccoon off of his face and throw it in. Lindsay smiled and gently let the chipmunk into after.
"Yay, we did it!" she cheered at their victory.
Scott looked around to notice Chris was messing. "Hello? Chris? I won." he claimed loudly.
The loudspeakers buzzed alive beside them. "Yeah, I know." Chris's voice was heard. "With an official winner, there is no reason for anyone else to continue hunting. Unless you don't want to clean the washrooms." he laughed.
"So, I get the reward, right Sean?" Lindsay asked.
He shrugged. "Knock yourself out."
"Yay!"
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Confessional
Lindsay - "It's been like, so long since I've eaten real food. All the food here isn't good for my diet. They say you shouldn't eat grey slop more than once a week, you know."
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A large table had been set up next to the cage with Lindsay sitting at it with giddy excitement. Chef brought out a cart of dishes and began to set them out. He revealed the first to be a freshly grilled lobster and she couldn't help but squeal in delight.
Scott stood nearby with a hint of jealousy at the food.
"Look at this stuff!" she pointed to a dish of meat. "It looks so fancy! What is it?"
"Fillet Mingon with a truffle sauce." Chef proudly told her.
"You know it has to be good, I can't even pronounce the names of half this stuff!" she grinned ear to ear.
Scott looked to the ground to avoid looking at the food. "It doesn't look that good." he lied, trying to hide his jealousy the best he could.
A loud cheer brought their attention to a stampeding deer with Izzy riding on its back. She pulled on its antlers and it suddenly stopped in front of the cage. Izzy used its antlers to brace but Cody wasn't able to grab onto anything and hit the ground.
"Oh no, what happened to Carl?" Lindsay looked concerned over his health.
"He got shot by Sugar. Dang ol' tranquillizer. He still can't move!" Izzy answered with a snap of her fingers.
"Can you help me up?" he managed to say.
She righted him and patted him down. He still had mud and twigs in his hair and his clothes were stained with dirt and sweat. "Good as new!" Izzy then opened the gate to the cage and commanded something to the deer in a made-up language and it trotted in. Izzy wiped off her own brow. "Now, time for Elizabeth and Cody to find themselves a bear!" the British accent returned.
"Or we can go to sleep." Cody suggested through his half-numb mouth.
"Nope! It's bear hunting time!" she picked him up. "And maybe if we are lucky it'll let us ride it too!" she laughed as she ran away.
Scott couldn't help but chuckle at the nerd's misfortune.
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Confessional
Scott - "That is why I hate Izzy. If I didn't hate Cody too, I'd probably feel bad for him. I know I wouldn't want to be in his shoes!"
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Returning from the confessional showed Jasmine who was still working on setting up traps and snares. The frog hopped over to her and looked up at her in curiosity. She took off her hat and used it to fan herself as she looked at her work. "Almost done, don't you worry!" she told the frog. "Just wait by the pond, it won't take long."
The frog turned around and did as she said.
Topher had the opposite luck. His clothes were soaked in water and caked in mud. His hair was dirty and he looked uncomfortable and in pain. "Alright come on out!" he shouted at the dam. He gave it a swift kick but nothing happened. "I've been at this for what feels like hours! Please just come on out!"
The only exit was still covered with the net. By the sound of his complaints, he had tried everything to get the beavers to come out of the dam and into the net.
He sighed as he approached the dam once more. "You leave me no choice!" he began to rip apart the dam the best he could, throwing sticks and branches left and right. The whole pile of wood began to shake as it lost its structural integrity. "Oh no." he gulped as it collapsed forward and on top of him.
With the dam falling, a rush of muddy water followed as well. He managed to poke his head out of the remnants of wood and spit up a ton of water. The beavers approached him, now fairly angry at the destruction of their home. He noticed their angry expressions. "Can we talk about this?" he chuckled nervously. The beavers turned away and began battering him with their tails.
The scene cut back to Jasmine right after, as she smiled at her handiwork. "There, now we are ready."
Several snares had been set up to catch her prey A classic tripwire that would drop a bucket on a specific spot, a lasso which would quickly wrap around if it was tugged in any way, a small pit covered in legs that would get your leg stuck, and a manual release net. The frog croaked at her as she admired her work. "Yeah, maybe I went a bit overboard." she admitted. "But it was fun, nonetheless."
Jasmine pulled on a rope allowing the net to fall on top of the frog. The net however was designed for larger animals and the frog had an easy time jumping through one of its many holes. It then triggered the lasso trap but it hopped out of it before it could do anything. It landed on the tarp trap but wasn't heavy enough to fall through.
Jasmine sighed. "I guess most of these would have been better for catching an emu."
She crouched down and scooped up the frog into her hands. "Come on little fella, we're going for a walk." she grabbed the bucket she had set up and put some water and mud in it before allowing the frog to jump in. "That should keep you from drying out."
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Confessional
Jasmine - "It was nice to just do my own thing for once. I guess the reward would have been nice but I don't feel like I'm in threat of going home. After this though, I've got to be more diligent. I'm not about to let that money get away from me."
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Izzy had brought Cody outside the mouth of a cave. "Take a look over there." she pointed to it. "I bet we can find a bear there!"
"Can we please not?" Cody asked. "I'll clean the washroom!"
"No way! The masterful hunter Elizabeth won't let a friend lose!" she spoke in the British accent once more.
"Losing is better than being mauled." he worried.
She revealed some berries that she had hidden in her clothes from earlier. She leapt forward and planted them outside the cave, making sure to squish a couple so the aroma could carry further.
She returned to his side. "Now we wait."
Sugar continued her attempts to catch the duck that eluded her. She began with a trap which would go off when the duck would walk on a certain spot. She baited it with the duck feed and it came over. It pecked at the feed once more but didn't set off the trap. Dumbfounded that it didn't work, she charged and the duck flew off. The trap ended up setting itself off and got her stuck in a rope.
After, she tried to create a mimicry of the duck using a rock. She used makeup to paint a duck face onto it. "This one will work for sure!" she looked sure of her plan.
She placed the fake duck and began to make quacking sounds to attract the real one. The real one did show up and looked at the fake duck. Sugar aimed and fired but her shot hit the rock instead and bounced back, going through her hair and just barely missing her.
She tried once more with sneaking up on it. The duck looked distracted and she took aim. A click sounded out from the weapon. She was out of ammo. "Dang it!" she threw the gun to the ground. The duck once more flew off at the sudden sound.
XXXXXX
Confessional
Sugar - "I hate that stupid bird!"
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Jasmine arrived at the cage and let her frog hop on it. She noticed that Lindsay was eating away. "Congrats Lindsay, you deserve the win."
"Oh, I didn't win, Scott did." Lindsay revealed. "He let me keep the prize!" she said as she took a bite out of a fresh salad.
"Did he now?" she turned suspiciously to eye the boy.
"What? Can't I be nice for once?" he feigned innocence. "Her boyfriend got voted out."
"I guess you do have a point." she admitted. "But I've got my eye on you."
Jasmine leaned over to whisper into Lindsay's ear. "Can we talk in private?"
"Can it wait?" she pouted.
Jasmine looked once more at her grand banquet. "Guess it wouldn't be fair to pull you away from this. Just talk to me another time, okay?"
Lindsay nodded. "Okay!"
XXXXXX
Confessional
Jasmine - "I don't trust Scott and I don't feel comfortable with him trying to act all friendly with Lindsay. No offence to her but she isn't that keen on deception."
XXXXXX
Topher returned to the campsite battered and bruised. Noteably, he was empty-handed.
"Where's your animal?" Scott noticed and taunted him.
"I don't want to talk about it." he grit his teeth as he stomped past.
Scott shrugged since he didn't really care but Topher suddenly turned around. "It was horrible! The stupid beavers built their dam in a muddy area, they were resitant to everything I tried, and they beat the hell out of me! Look at me! I'm barely T.V. presentable right now!" he gestured to himself.
Scott snickered. "You got beat up by beavers?"
"They are devilish little creatures!" Topher tried to defend his shame.
"By the way, I have a question to ask you." Scott quickly changed the topic.
Another flash showed Izzy and Cody still waiting for the bear to show up. Cody had fallen asleep while Izzy tossed leftover berries into his hair as a game to pass the time.
She heard steps and jolted upright. "Wake up!" she shook him awake. He was still groggy from the tranquillizer and was slow to move. He at least found he was able to somewhat move now.
The two looked as the footsteps approached. Izzy's expression grew wilder with every passing second while Cody's only grew more worried. Eventually, the culmination of their efforts crashed down around them. "What are these?" Sugar walked over to the pile of berries. "Man, I'm hungry! Hunting takes a lot of work out of a gal!"
She began eating from the pile and Izzy jumped out of her cover. "Hey! Those are for a bear, not you!"
"I'll start acting like a bear if you don't let me eat!" Sugar retorted.
The two began another small fight but Cody was glad to see Sugar was now unarmed. A growl caught his attention and all colour left his face. He turned around the best he could to see a grizzly bear standing above him. "Uh, girls?" he tried to get their attention.
The two continued to argue until Cody screamed. They both finally noticed the annoyed bear. "Okay, we should run." Izzy decided.
The bear looked at Cody and reached a claw down to pick out some berries that were stuck in his hair and began to eat them. He was too frozen in shock to move.
Izzy attempted to distract the bear by throwing a ton of berries at it. It mostly just looked annoyed and growled at her. Izzy swooped in and grabbed Cody before running along with Sugar away. The bear decided not to give chase and went to the remainder berries instead.
The camera changed to show the sky and it panned down with Chris standing in front of the group. Lindsay was separated from the others with a content smile. She was absolutely stuffed from the meal. "Alright, I'm kind of disappointed in you all." Chris told them."Three people failed to catch their animals. Three! It's not much of a punishment if it's divided three ways!"
"At least It'll be easier." Topher sighed in relief.
"It will only be easier if you survive tonight's elimination." Chris reminded him. "If you really want to avoid cleaning-"
"Honestly thinking about voting myself out." Topher interrupted him. "But what fun would that be?" he managed a smile while turning to the camera.
"Clean up and get ready for tonight. One of you will be saying goodbye forever!"
XXXXXX
Confessional
Scott - "I can only think of one person who deserves my vote."
XXXXXX
The scene flashed forward to the darkened evening sky. The contestants gathered around the campfire ceremony. Scott and Lindsay looked rather content from the day's passing, but the others shared a mixture of fear and uncertainty.
"Alright everyone, today was a tough one. Turns out, none of you would actually survive in the wild." Chris ridiculed them. "But some of you would survive this challenge. That someone is Scott!"
With his immunity, Scott felt smug as he retrieved his symbol of safety.
"Next up is Lindsay, who got to enjoy our awesome reward!"
"It was like so good!" she smiled.
"After her, Jasmine, who spent too much time trying to catch a single frog."
She looked slightly embarrassed as he called her out.
"Not a lot of marshmallows left." Chris pointed to the three that remained. "Since Izzy actually managed to catch her animal as well, I'll give her this next one."
He looked between the three losers and the two marshmallows he had. "Topher." he shook his head. "Did you vote for yourself?"
Being refreshed from his day, he managed a smile and brushed his hair. "Chris, would I ever have done such a thing?"
Chris tossed him the marshmallow. "I guess not, since you're also safe." he turned to the final two. "One marshmallow left. Who will the loser be? Sugar, who already lost once, or Cody, who spent most of the challenge unable to move?"
"Can I just add it was her fault?" Cody pointed to Sugar,
"Suit it, traitor!" she snapped at him.
"Must I remind you two, whoever doesn't get this marshmallow will never come back. They will board the boat of losers and leave. Forever." Chris reiterated the main point. "The final marshmallow of tonight goes to-"
Sugar glanced suspiciously at all the others sitting around her with their safety in their hands.
Cody met Scott's gaze. The schemer gave him a grin.
"Sugar."
Cody sighed at the news and hung his head low.
"Aw, cheer up buddy! At least you don't need to clean the bathrooms!" Izzy reminded him.
Topher gulped from the sidelines, being reminded about his punishment.
Cody gave her a smile. "I guess that's something. Who needed a hundred grand anyway." he chuckled nervously at his own joke.
Cody struggled to stand and nearly lost his balance as he got up. He tried to walk but instantly tripped into Jasmine. The large Australian managed to catch him and he let out a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, legs are still a bit numb."
Izzy got up and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, I'll help you to the dock." she offered.
Scott got up as well and helped prop the boy up between Izzy and himself. "I'll help too." he offered.
Scott and Izzy supported Cody as he made his small trek down to the dock. Once at the boat, he managed to board it himself without falling over.
Izzy waved with wild abandon. "Goodbye partner, you were the best teammate, detective, spy, hunter, a girl could ask for!" she saluted him.
Scott grinned as he waved him off. "So long, partner." he taunted.
Cody looked Scott in the eyes. He reached his hand up and pretended to zip his lips. "Best of luck Scott, you'll need it."
Scott grinned knowing that Cody had kept his promise of secrecy, and wasn't about to spill the beans since he was leaving.
Izzy continued to wave, unaware of the promise between them. "Bye! If you're lucky you might meet Samey again! Ooo! Wouldn't that be romantic." she winked.
Cody gave her a slight chuckle. "Yeah, maybe I will."
Izzy pulled Scott into an embrace. "If you ever get lonely with your best friend missing, you could always come visit me." she teased.
He pushed her off. "I thought I've told you not to touch me."
Izzy laughed in response. "You can't tell me off that easily, oh Scotty boy!"
A flash showed the inside of the communal washroom as a mop head was splashed into a bucket. The person using it was revealed to be Topher as he muttered something under his breath.
"Hey, don't hog all the water!" Sugar complained as she splashed her own mop into the same bucket.
"We both have to clean it. It doesn't matter who gets more water. Besides, there are taps over there." Topher pointed out. Sugar pouted at being told what to do and retaliated by rubbing her mob head on his leg. "Hey!" he shouted as his pants got soaked with the dirty water. "That's disgusting!" he winced.
Sugar smiled. "Maybe if you kept to your side of the washroom that wouldn't have happened."
Topher grumbled but instantly conceded, not wanting to get any dirtier. The camera cut to the outside of the communal washrooms as the sounds of the two working away still echoed. "We need a new national animal." Topher said before the episode faded out to black.
Cody finally bites the dust. His involvement with Scott kept him around a lot longer than he likely should have made it. I will say, if he didn't help Scott with his plans, he wouldn't have made merge. So why now? No real reason to keep him around other then tension between Scott and him. It also would make sense for Scott to try to tie up loose ends.
His treatment was akin to World Tour where a similar event happened. However, this time, it's Izzy helping him move around instead of Sierra. I also have him slowly recovering throughout the episode as the tranquillizer would be wearing off. The bear was also and elude to his elimination to Island and was signaling his eventually elimination in this episode.
Overall, I enjoyed writing the relationship between Izzy and Cody. The two make a good pair and were able to help each other a lot, even before Izzy was eliminated the first time. There are still some things that are left to be said in the coming special regarding the eliminated contestants.
Reviews are appreciated if you want to discuss the chapter or find mistakes.
Votes:
Cody: 3 (Scott, Lindsay, Topher)
Sugar: 2 (Cody, Izzy)
Izzy: 2 (Jasmine, Sugar)
Elimination Order:
22nd - Dakota
21st - Sam
20th - Amy
Returned- Sugar
19th - Justin
18th - B
Returned - Izzy
17th - Leonard
16th - Anne Maria
15th - Max
14th - Noah
13th - Sierra
12th - Sammy
11th - Beardo
10th- Eva
9th - Tyler
8th - Scarlett
7th - Cody
-Jawa