Chris was laying in his bed, all cozy underneath his many blankets, and fast asleep. He had been out for a couple days since the incident, though all of the others had already woken since. Poseidon entered the room, bringing a silver tray in with him. On top of the tray, there was a washcloth and a bowl of warm water. He sat on the edge of Chris's bed, soaking the washcloth in the water before lightly tapping it against Chris's brow. He let out a soft sigh, "Oh, Chris, I do so hope you're alright. Heaven knows how difficult it would be to run this show without you."
Poseidon continued to pat the host with the washcloth, hardly noticing that his eyes had shot open. It wasn't until Chris slapped his hand away that he realized he was actually awake. "Dude…what are you doing in my bed with me? Seriously, you have got to learn a thing or two about boundaries!" The host groaned before pulling himself up to his feet, cracking his back while he stood. "So, anyways, last time on Total Drama: Lost City…" he scratched at his chin, as if completely unsure of what it was that actually went down during the previous challenge. "Last time on Total Drama: Lost City…er…I'm drawing a blank here! What happened in the last episode?"
Chris turned to Poseidon, who had a look of utter shock on his face. "You don't remember what happened last episode? That whale came and swallowed everyone up! In fact, I do believe the only reason that you all made it out was thanks to young Zachary! He did seem pretty beat up, and I could've sworn I heard some of the others chanting 'thank Zachary!' It was really odd, but that's all I know about the episode…the footage got sent out before I could really look at it."
"What!? Well, who sent it out then?" Poseidon could only shrug to the question, ushering in an annoyed sigh from the host. "Ugh, if it wasn't you, it must've been Amphitrite. Of course, leave it to the assistant to make such a dumb mistake. You know, you should really look into getting someone more competent."
Poseidon stood from the bed, staring down at Chris with a look of rage that he had never shown to anyone before. "Now, Chris, I know that you're upset about the episode getting mailed out, but that doesn't give you any excuse to blame my assistant…or insult her. I have been lenient with your nasty attitude towards the contestants and myself, but I will not tolerate you slandering her." Chris gulped nervously from the intensity of his conspirer, and, soon enough, Poseidon shook his head, regaining the calm look that he usually had about him. "Oh, dear…I'm truly sorry about that. I don't know what just came over me."
"T-that's fine, just cut the show to the intro…" Chris sat back down on his bed, absolutely terrified out of his mind.
The camera hovered over an ocean, quickly descending beneath the water and happening upon Atlantis, zooming in on the wreck of the Chris space station, where the host himself was on his knees, sad that there was an asteroid in his face, while Poseidon patted him on the shoulder and Amphitrite sighed in annoyance.
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the camera quickly shifted over to the carnival zone in Atlantis, showing Natt and Anne on a large Ferris wheel, enjoying their time together until it suddenly fell out of place and rolled away.
"You guys are on my mind," down at the controls, Zachary and Amelia were revealed to be messing with them, laughing maniacally until Vicente came over and bonked both of them on the head with plastic baseball bats.
"You asked me what I wanted to be and I think the answer's plain to see," in one of the carnival tents, March and Luna watched Benjamin in awe as he rode a unicycle while bouncing on a trampoline, juggling bowling pins, and holding a torch with his teeth.
"I wanna be famous!" Tony tossed a frisbee at the wheel, causing Benjamin to fall on top of an unsuspecting Bonnie, and the torch to set his shirt on fire before the bowling pins landed on his head, which caused Liz to give him a thumbs up with an evil grin on her face.
"I wanna live close to the sun," out in the ocean, Alex was in his diving suit, trying to catch a sea monkey, but failing utterly, just like he had when it was a space monkey, while Dusty shook her head in disappointment, lassoing the creature back to them, but catching Jett instead.
"So pack your bags, cause I've already won," on the seafloor, Archie studied a squid closely until it shot ink all over his helmet's glass shield, which made Jianne giggle a little bit before wiping it off.
"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day," not too far from where the two were, Damien and Gretchen ran away from a massive shark, which knocked them off to the side, showing that it was swimming away from Flint, who was throwing rocks at it while Alexis chased after him.
"I wanna be famous!" The camera switched gears to show a submarine, with arcade-esque machines in it that Taylor and Crustacean were fighting over.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na," zooming into a "pod" of sorts near the arcade games, a virtual world that was full of immaculate fantasy aspects and monsters was shown.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" Nicolás, dressed as a knight, was running in fear as blasts of dark energy were tossed at the ground behind him, each blast destroying part of the ground.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" the camera revealed Thomas, in dark mage garb, as the source of the blasts, floating in the sky and laughing maniacally until Maggie, dressed as a witch, flew over to him on her broom and tackled him to the ground, making out with him before he blasted the camera with one of the energy balls.
Afterwards, the whole group was seen on a nautically themed aftermath stage, which Sebastian and Haley were at the center of, glaring at each other while all of the contestants, accompanied by Maggie, who was hugging Thomas tightly, whistled.
Zachary was slowly walking the halls of the Sharks' building, rubbing his forehead as if he had a massive migraine. He trudged his way to the bathroom, using the sink that was there to splash water on his face. He looked up at his face in the mirror, disappointed to see just how exhausted he seemed to be. "Ugh…that must've been some crazy cast party, the other day." The star smirked as he shot finger guns at his reflection…before suddenly screaming due to seeing Alexis' reflection in the mirror as well. "Ack! Don't sneak up on me like that, you're gonna give me a heart attack!"
"Uh…sorry? Me and some of the others just wanted to check and see how you were doing…considering you wiped out pretty bad the other day. And I could've sworn I saw you sleepwalking at some point, though I could've been mistaken." Alexis thought back to the previous night, when she was getting ready to go to bed. She was more exhausted than she typically was, but, considering all that had happened, that made some sort of sense.
She was just about to enter the girl's room, but she suddenly stopped herself upon seeing Zachary trudging through the hallway. She tapped at her chin in question, having noted that the way he was walking was…well, just a bit out of the ordinary. His head was hanging down, looking towards the floor, and he seemed to be sliding his feet forth rather than raising them to take a step. "Zachary? What are you up to, trying to go outside this late?" The boy didn't answer her, of course, for he was dead asleep. He simply opened the front door to the Sharks' building, and let himself out.
Alexis couldn't help but trail behind him, trying to see what it was that he was trying to get at. After a decent bit of walking, she saw him head directly for the space station, which was odd to her, considering all that was done in there was meetings and executive business. Once he entered through the mouth, she tried to continue following him, but it was to no avail. He seemed to disappear when he went inside, and she had no choice but to return back to her bedroom and forget about all of that happening.
She shook her head, trying to move past that and not confuse Zachary too much. "Ah, that doesn't matter…how are you feeling?"
"Well…I think I'm fine or whatever…except for the fact that I look like I haven't gotten a wink of beauty sleep in weeks! I mean, look at these bags!" The actor pointed directly at his eyelids, which, to be fair, were pretty droopy. "I'm absolutely ruined if I go out looking like this! This simply won't do, not one bit! I need a touch-up! Aha! That's indeed what I need!" Alexis couldn't even squeeze a word in while the boy was ranting about his own looks. He reached into his pocket, somehow pulling out a makeup kit.
He set the kit down on the sink, opening it up to reveal that there was just a large powder puff within it. He grabbed it and slapped it firmly against his face, soon pulling it away to reveal that he looked much more…alive. In fact, he was glowing, thanks to all the makeup. No bags in sight, no blemishes, nothing. He looked…well, in short: perfect. "Well, you're still yourself, at least. It's nice to know you're okay…I guess." Alexis continued to mumble to herself before leaving the room.
Zachary glanced back to the mirror, but all he could see was the tired image of himself from before. He gasped at the sight of it, trying to wipe the reflection away with his hands. "You! Why do you still look like that!? Surely all the work I just put into my amazing makeup hasn't failed me, so why are you there instead of perfect ol' me!"
"Maybe it's because I'm your inner guilt, Zachary." The reflection spoke back to the boy, startling him so much that he fell right onto his rear. "Maybe you shouldn't have used that orb for your own benefit so much. All it did was make you hurt a lot of people. Don't you feel bad about that?"
"Feel bad? The only thing I'm feeling right now is a.) terrified because my reflection is talking to me, and b.) an intense craving for nachos unlike any other time in my life! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go satisfy this craving! You'd better be gone by the next time I go to the bathroom! Harumph!" Zachary quickly pulled himself back up to his feet, marching right out of the bathroom and leaving his reflection behind.
Confessional
"All this hubbub about guilt and whatever, can't my reflection tell that Hollywood is a cutthroat game? It's gonna take a lot for me to realize the errors of my ways, and a hallucination doesn't phase me one little bit!" Zachary crossed his arms and tilted his chin up like a self-entitled baby.
Confessional End
Taylor and Gretchen were sitting behind the Sharks' building, with the rocker playing a softer than usual tune on her guitar. The adrenaline junkie gave her girlfriend loving googly eyes while she played. "I always loved listening to rock music on my boombox…really gets the blood pumping! But it's so much nicer to hear it live, being played by a pretty girl, of course."
"You know, I always thought I could deal without the flattery since most people thought I was a bit too obnoxious, but it really is so nice to hear it from you." Gretchen chuckled slightly, setting her guitar aside before leaning in to kiss Taylor. The two of them held their kiss for a moment, until, out of nowhere, Flint poked up in between them, shoving them both aside. "Gah! Flint!? What the- what are you doing here?"
"Huh? Oh! Well, since everybody was talking about how they really don't remember anything about what went down the other day, I figured that I could do a little bit of detective work! You know, snoop around to see if I can find everyone's memory!" Flint snickered before proudly pointing to himself. "You ladies can start calling my the Brain Detective! Yeah, heh, that sounds super cool!"
"You know what I think would be super cool? If I took your arms and shoved-" Taylor soon cut herself off before saying something too aggressive upon noticing the look that Gretchen was giving her. "Er…I mean, it would be cool if you could do your detective work somewhere else! Me and Gretch can stick around here for a bit and look for clues!"
"Aha! You two are gonna be my Wattson! Well, Wattsons, I suppose!" Flint jumped up and clapped his hands together before turning to face the two of them. "Well, I'll be on my way, then! Just make sure you let me know if you find anything! I'm sure this mystery is gonna be more wild than anything I've ever encountered in my five minutes of detecting! Detectiving? Bah, whatever it's called! I'm off!" And, just like that, the crazy speedster bolted off into the distance, soon leaping right into a bush to look for more clues.
Taylor let out a sigh, having almost lost her cool yet again. Gretchen patted her on the shoulder, shining a smile to her. "I know it must've been hard not to throttle him right then and there…I'm proud of you for staying calm, though."
"Yeah, thanks…sometimes I just can't help it, you know? Some people run around like a chicken that needs to get its beak stuck shut." Taylor stood from the ground, offering her hand to Gretchen, who happily took it to pull herself up. "You know, I never did like Alex and his need to be right all the time, but the guy definitely knew what he was talking about sometimes. It's just a shame that he had to leave for…er…why did he end up leaving, again?"
"Uh…I don't really remember exactly. I think he was injured during the challenge and he just ended up going because of that?" Gretchen scratched her head, the whole day being foggy. "You know, I think it was actually Zachary that convinced him to head home. Telling him he needed to take some time to heal or something…I do remember him talking to him at the water slide or something. Eh, it's all too messy in my head."
"Yeah, I guess it's whatever…as long as he's okay, right?" The rocker nodded to the question, and Taylor stretched her arms out. "Well, this was fun and all, but we should probably scatter before Sherlock comes back to bother us some more, eh?"
"Heh, you said it. You don't wanna hear him going on for the next twenty minutes about how he found some mystical orb or something that let's him control people's minds!" The two girls snickered at the obvious joke, soon walking together back to their room. Meanwhile, Flint kept digging around in the bush, sifting through the dirt to see if he could find anything of use to his "investigation."
"Come on, every big mystery has some clue hidden in the bushes somewhere, that's always how it happens! Aha, what have we here?" Flint pulled a light blue shard, something that seemed to be made of glass or something. He studied it closely for a moment before shrugging and tossing it over his shoulder. "Guess there really are no clues here…what a bummer."
Confessional
"Bah, so what if my investigation is going poorly at the moment? All investigations start out pretty bad, haven't you seen any detective show ever?" Flint had a cheesy grin on his face, one that showed just how confident he was in his skill. "There's always a low point of hope before something is suddenly found out! I'll get to it eventually, I know I will!"
Confessional End
Amelia was sitting in her room, humming a tune while she scribbled something down in her notebook. Of course, it was an entry detailing just how much she despised Tony and how clever he could end up being. "Hmph, that useless conman is gonna topple one of these days, it's just a matter of when at this point! He thinks that he's got some even footing with me with that recording he got, but I know well enough that I'll be in charge of things again soon enough. Of course, it won't be too difficult to get Liz under my thumb, just like how Luna is."
"What're ya writing in that there book?" Dusty asked upon entering the room, causing Amelia to suddenly squeak before hiding her journal in a lock box and locking it with the key. She tucked the key into her back pocket and glared at the cowgirl. "Golly, leave it to Ms. Hollywood to overreact every time somebody asks her a simple question."
"Oh, Dusty, darling, it's more so a matter of you country bumpkins not knowing when to keep your muddy noses out of important people's business!" Dusty was taken aback by the nastiness of this comment, and quickly left the room in a huff. "Hmph, if you can't take the heat, then why step into my kitchen?" Amelia laughed a pompous laugh before tucking her lockbox under her bed. "Ah, they should start calling me Amelia Ramsey! Haha, that's a good one!"
Amelia soon left the room as well, chuckling to herself all the way and leaving the room seemingly empty…until Liz walked out of the closet, where she was doing more of her science experiments. She had goggles on, which she pulled off and tossed back into the closet before shutting it. "Well, well, well, someone is hiding a diary under lock and key? That should be quite interesting to get a look at…ah, Liz, you musn't! It's rude to look through other people's possessions!" The scientist tried to maintain her composure, but it was too hard. She snickered at her own falsities. "Bah, when have I ever let morals stop me?"
She quickly rushed over to Amelia's bunk, reaching under it to grab at the lockbox. She pulled it close to her face to study the mechanism behind the lock itself. "Hm…I suppose I could replicate a key to this little thing, that wouldn't take me all too long to complete. It's just a matter of not getting caught doing it."
As Liz continued to pry into the business that wasn't her own, the loud speakers suddenly flickered up. "Attention all remaining divers! It's time for your next big challenge! That's right, I need all of you to meet me in the cafeteria in ten minutes for further instruction!"
"Peh, leave it to Chris to interrupt me while I'm in the middle of important matters. No matter, I'll just put this where I'll have easy access to it later!" Liz snickered to herself as she took the lockbox to her closet, setting it down on her experiment table before shutting the closet tightly. "Heh, that'll be fun to get back to after the challenge is all over and done with!"
Confessional
"Come on, you can't seriously be upset with me for wanting to pry a little bit here or there! It's so much fun! Have you never just taken someone's journal and looked to see what their inner thoughts are? It's hilarious!" Liz was smiling widely, not seeing a single issue with anything she was doing.
Confessional End
Ten minutes had passed and, sure enough, each of the contestants made their way to the cafeteria, where Chris was waiting for them. He had a cast list in his hands, which he was reading over while snickering like a schoolgirl, though none of the contestants knew why, exactly. "Ah, now that all of you have made it, I guess we can unveil the big challenge for today! Today, we'll be doing a staple in Total Drama history: an acting challenge!"
"Aw, sweet!" Damien cheered, being much more excited than he typically was until he saw that people were staring at him like he was some sort of freak. "I-I mean, cool, I guess. Haha…ah…"
"So, what you're saying is that you're basically giving the win right to me?" Amelia smirked confidently, though the smirk soon switched to a glare when Zachary got up in her face.
"Haha! You must be insane if you think that you could beat me in an acting challenge! You and your wimpy team stand no chance against me!" The actor boasted his skill, though Amelia soon slapped him across the face, causing some of his makeup to come off on her hand. "Ack! You're ruining my makeup!" He was quick to pull his powder puff out again, fixing the error that she had caused. "Much better!"
"Leave it to the actors to get all rowdy when they find out what the challenge is all about, typical." Chris rolled his eyes at the two of them before looking back to his list. "Moving on…this challenge is all about staying in character! Each of you will be given a character to play! Some of them may seem simple, others may seem difficult, I mostly just picked people to be things I thought would be funny. The challenge starts for everyone once they get their role, just keep that in mind! The last team with members still in character will win the challenge! Oh! Almost forgot! You can only involve people that are still in the game in your antics! That's right, leave me out of this, folks! With the rules out of the way, let's show you all the cast list!"
Chris slammed the list down on the table behind him, ushering the two teams to swarm over to the table with loads of curiosity. There was some murmuring in the crowd before some voices piped up louder than others. "EH!? Chris, why do I have to be myself!? Can't I be something cool and unique, like everybody else?" Flint whined as he stomped towards the host, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"And Flint is already out for the count! Come on, you know you think very highly of yourself!" The host snickered while the Crabs glared at Flint for his mess up.
"Doh! I should've known you would try to do something slimy like this, you reality tv bastard! Whatever! This gives me more time to look around for clues! Flint Holmes, away!" With those final words, the boy bolted out of the cafeteria to continue his great clue hunt.
"Oh, how wonderful! It seems that I'll be a nanny! Now, which one of you chipper little crumpets is in need of Nanny Luna?" Luna looked over the list some more to see that there was indeed a role for a toddler, though, as she saw the naw, her face went pale. "O-oh my!"
"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" A loud cry could be heard from the group of contestants, shifting Luna's attention straight to the source. She was even more taking aback than before to see that Damien had somehow already changed his outfit so that he was wearing a diaper and a bib that said "it's a boy" on it. He had a rattle in his left hand, and he was shaking it violently.
"Oh, dear child, don't you cry! Just come to Nanny Luna, she'll take care of all you problems!" Luna held out her arms, soon realizing that this was the biggest mistake that she could've made, as Damien leapt right into them, causing them both to fall to the floor with a loud thud.
Confessional
"This baby is one big task for Nanny Luna, but no matter! I've never let a toddler get the best of me before, and I surely won't start now!" Luna had a cheeky grin, though she was clearly straining herself as she was still cradling Damien in her arms.
Confessional End
Dusty was standing still, suddenly wearing a black gown that went all the way down to her feet. Her hands were clasped together in prayer and her eyes were shut tight. "Oh, holy father up in heaven, your marvel of a creation that this world is will never cease to amaze me." As she stood there, praying, Vicente stumbled over to her, boasting a fully grown, yet entirely fake beard, an eyepatch over his right eye, and a worn, blue coat. She opened her eyes to see the boy, smiling politely at him. "Ah, good sir Vicente, it's good to see you back from your most recent excursion in perfect health."
"Aye, I thought I was a sure goner when those waves came crashing in, but it's nothing that me and my crew can't handle." He smirked as he leaned towards the girl who was doing the nun cosplay. "Perhaps you could give me a kiss to welcome me back from the journey?"
Dusty could only giggle behind her hand, much to Vicente's confusion. "Oh, sir, you know us nun's can't be engaging in such things. It's a pleasure to see you, but I must return to my prayers now." She nodded to the boy, soon kneeling down in front of the table with the cast list on it to continue praying. Vicente let out a cracky sigh, grumbling as he shuffled away from her.
Confessional
"I didn't anticipate such modesty coming from Dusty…aye, it's something I'll just have to put up with for now. Surely this challenge won't go on forever." Vicente had a pipe in his mouth, which he took a big inhale from before choking on it.
Confessional End
Jianne was walking through the crowd of contestants with her hands tucked into her pockets and a pair of sunglasses on, despite that they were inside. She winked at all of the girls as she passed them by, whistling at a couple of them to make them uncomfortable as well. "Come on, ladies, which one of you beauties wants to come chill with the one and only: Seabass?" She wasn't paying attention to where she was going when she suddenly bumped into someone, causing her to stumble to the ground. "Hey, watch where you're going!"
"Eh? Oh, sorry about that!" The person she had bumped into was none other than Natt, although he was dressed up as famous Swedish idol, Sunshine. He was really committed to his role, though Jianne could tell it was almost impossible for him to hold the smile on his face.
"Y-you better stay out of my way, or I'm gonna…I'm gonna…bahaha!" She couldn't help herself, and burst out into obnoxious laughter. Natt tried to hold his smile as best as he could, though the laughter soon caused it to fade back into his regular dull look. "I'm sorry, dude, but you look ridiculous like that!"
Chris popped up in between the two of them, grinning just as evilly as he had when Flint got himself outed earlier. "Natt, you know your sister has much more expression than that! Besides, you're not being as flirty as she would be! And Jianne, Sebastian's hands are a gender-neutral gift. If he got knocked down by someone, he would knock 'em out, not laugh at them! Both of you guys are out of this one!"
"You know, I would usually be more upset about something like this, but it was totally worth it!" Jianne pulled her phone out of her pocket, quickly snapping a picture of Natt, snickering as she saved it. "That's just damn hilarious!"
"If I'm out, does that mean I can take this ridiculous outfit off?" Natt looked to Chris for an answer, getting a shrug back from him. "That's a good enough answer for me."
Confessional
"Man, I'm so sending this picture to Anne!" Jianne snickered as she sent the picture out, soon showing it to the camera. "Look how ridiculous he is!"
Natt sighed as he sat in the confessional, his phone soon buzzing. He grabbed it from his pocket, looking over what message he got and blushing as he saw it. "U-uh…nothing, it says nothing."
Confessional End
In the corner of the room, there stood a lone boy. His hair was slicked back and he had a toothy grin on his face. In his hand, there was a prop butterfly knife that he was spinning around. "Heh…that Chris McLean thinks he's all safe, but he's got no idea that I'm after him. I love my job…nothing beats being a top tier assassin." Nicolás cackled to himself like a maniac, not noticing that Alexis was sneaking up behind him.
"Hey, buddy, you seen any hamburgers around here?" Even though it was just a simple question, Nicolás couldn't help but squeal out of fright, jumping up to the ceiling and holding onto it as tightly as he could. Alexis looked up to him with confusion while Chris shuffled to stand right next to her. He shook his head at the nerdy boy, clearly disappointed with his brief performance.
"Nicolás, there's no way that Thomas would ever let somebody scare him that easily. Sorry, buddy, you're out of this already…which means that the Crabs are down by three people while the Sharks only have one out! Better start getting your act together Crabs!" The host laughed at his cleverness for a moment before the nerd fell down to the floor in front of him. "Can we get a nurse over here or something?"
"Oh, oh! Momma always told me I would make a really good nurse! I got the looks that keep the patients stone-hearted! …Or was it stone hard? I don't remember!" Liz bumbled her way over to the group, wearing a blonde wig to cover up her naturally black hair. She also had a tank top on, much unlike what she usually wore. "Come here, little boy! Nurse Liz will make you all better!"
"Woah, woah, woah, missy!" Taylor quickly scuttled over to Liz, a razor in her hand and a big smile on her face. "Little Blondie, you could definitely use a cut to that gorgeous head of hair, don't you think? I say you should let me have a jab at it, I'll make you sparkle and shine brighter than a star in the sky."
"Ah! No, I don't want no one touching my hair!" Liz was quick to scurry away in fear, holding her hands over her hair as if she was trying to protect it, though Taylor chased right after her.
"Oh, no you don't, missy! Imma get my hands on that hair whether you want me to or not, you hear me!?" Alexis and Chris shared an awkward glance between each other before they each returned to their devices.
Confessional
"Thomas was already a hard enough role for me to play…why did Alexis have to come up out of nowhere like that and startle me?" Nicolás was holding an ice pack on his bruised forehead, cringing at just how painful it was. "Urk, jumping up to the ceiling was a mistake…"
Confessional End
In the center of the room, there was a single chair, though there were two people on it. First, there was Zachary, wearing the most cliché old lady gown that anyone had ever seen in their entire life. In his lap, however, there was Amelia, who was wearing a catsuit and purring quite loudly, although her face had an expression of hate plastered on it. "Yes, yes, that's a good little Fishbones! Stay in momma's lap and never leave me! I just wish that Tammy, Tuna, Whiskers, Buford, and Heathcliff were here with us, but that's alright! Momma will give all her love and adoration to you!"
"Meowwww," Amelia uttered the cat noise, though she sincerely looked like she was about to go feral on Zachary.
"Let's go ladies, get a move on!" Tony shouted at the duo in the chair through a megaphone, wearing a tracksuit that was clearly far too small for someone of his build. "How are you supposed to get anything done if you're sitting down all day long?"
Chris snuck up behind Tony, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head at him. "I appreciate the effort you put into bringing out the megaphone and all, but everybody knows that a substitute gym teacher would rather be sitting down eating cheese puffs than actually telling his students to do something. Sorry, buddy, you're donezo."
"Aw, come on, man! I made myself look the part perfectly, too! This is a load of crap, I tell ya!" Tony continued to grumble, tossing the megaphone off to the side as he walked over to join the other contestants that were out of the game already, most of which were on the Crabs. Chris sighed, seeing just how poorly that specific team was doing, though something suddenly caught his eye.
"I'm sure it won't be so bad if I just have one bite of this…" Alexis was huddled in the corner with a chicken sandwich in her hands, which she took a bite from. Chris snickered as he walked up to her, patting her on the back and spooking her. "A-ah, Chris! I didn't see you there! H-how long have you been watching me?"
"Long enough to see you failing your role, Alexis! Come on, you know that you're supposed to be a hamburger thief, not a chicken sandwich thief. Though, I guess I can thank you for evening things up a little bit. Crabs are now down four members while the Sharks are down two!" The host continued to snicker to himself while Alexis sighed in defeat.
Confessional
"So much for an easy challenge," Alexis sighed once more before taking another bite from the chicken sandwich from before. "Mm, this thing is pretty good though, I can't lie."
Confessional End
Luna was cradling Damien to the best of her ability, her face red from how much she was exerting to keep a hold on him. He had a binkie in his mouth, which he was sucking on while staying silent for the time being, much to her delight. She could feel herself start to stumble under his weight, but right before she could fully fall, someone swooped in from out of nowhere, helping her up. She looked to see who her savior was, confused to find out it was Gretchen, though she was dressed up like a princess. "Gretchen? Whatever could you be doing helping a simple nanny, like I?"
"That's Bisney Princess Gretchen! Why would I let my servants and helping hands crumble under the burdens of their jobs when I could give them a hand to show the audience how sweet and relatable I am? Teehee!" Gretchen placed a kiss upon Damien's cheek, only causing him to blush brightly. "And, of course, a Bisney Princess is sure to make even a baby blush!"
"You really are quite amazing, Princess Gretchen! Thank you for helping a poor nanny with this little rascal! He can really be a handful at times, isn't that right, baby Damien?" Luna pinched his cheek playfully, though she pinched far harder than she was trying to, causing him to suddenly wail out in pain and try to shove her away. "Oh, come on, baby Damien! Now is no time to cry! Sh sh sh!" She kept trying to calm him down, but his tantrum throwing skills were intense enough to avoid falling for her lulling. "Hey! I said shut up, you stupid baby!"
Damien gasped at the sudden outburst from his caretaker, furrowing his brow and spitting out the binkie. "What kind of nanny are you? You're supposed to care for the babies that you're in charge of, not yell at them like they're some sort of disobedient school kid! I hope my parents get a refund for your services! And you know I'm gonna be giving you a one star rating on Kelp!"
"And I'm going to be giving both of you one star ratings for poor acting!" Chris showed his obnoxious smile among the two of them, causing them both to groan. "Oh, I know! You got caught failing to play your roles and somehow it's all my fault! That's what you're thinking right now, isn't it? Well, no matter what you're thinking right now, it doesn't matter! Both of you are out of the game!"
"Just great! This is all your fault, Damien! You shouldn't have been throwing that outburst!" Luna hissed her words at the boy as they started walking to the other failed contestants.
"Oh, sure, let's blame it on me for being upset when you pinched my cheek like a chimpanzee trying to keep a banana to itself! You really are a piece of work, you know that?" The two continued to bicker, much to Chris's pleasure.
"Well, just like that, we are down to just a few contestants left on each team! The Crabs have got Amelia, Liz, and Dusty still going strong, while the Sharks are leading with Vicente, Gretchen, Taylor, and Zachary!" The host looked over at the remaining seven, eager to see who the next to drop out of the contest would be.
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"Leave it to Damien to ruin something so simple! Ugh, now my team has only three more people…well, it's Amelia and Liz. I'm sure they'll do fine. But Dusty…" Luna snickered, thinking about Dusty dressed up as a nun. "Yeah, there's no way that she's gonna be able to keep that guise going for much longer."
"Of course, screwed over by Luna…yet again." Damien crossed his arms and looked off to the side. "I'm sure the other members of the team can win this challenge…I mean, we have the lead in people. This was my field of the expertise, though! It just sucks that I couldn't stay in longer than this!"
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Flint was still outside, searching around for all the clues that he could possibly find, but it seemed like his searches were coming up dry. "Come on, there has got to be some sort of clue around here as to what happened the other day! If you need to know, detective spirits, I'm at a low point right now!" The boy frantically dug around in the grass, eventually finding another shard that was similar to the one that he had found earlier.
"Ugh, more of these things? How am I supposed to find anything useful if all I keep coming across is someone's broken bottle from the last bar fight they were in?" Flint tossed the shard away, continuing to groan loudly as he dug around some more, eventually coming upon another one of those blue shards. "What the- now, who is it that keeps going and laying these around? Sheesh, don't they know it's dangerous to just throw glass wherever you want?"
The speedster tossed the shard away, just as he had with the first, causing it to land right the other one had. The two shards, sitting in the dirt near each other, started to make a humming noise, which, of course, caught Flint's attention. He hurried over to where they were, staring down at them in amazement as they started to glow. "Huh, well I'll be…this is like some sort of mini-game where I gotta collect all the shards to make something super cool out of them!"
He scooped the two shards up and shoved them into his pocket, snickering in a delighted manner as he returned to looking around in the grass. "Huh, suddenly, I can't remember why I was out here in the first place? Doing some detective work or something? Eh, who cares, obviously it wasn't that important! Now, time to collect all of these little trinkets!"
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"Now, I am in a bit of a pickle because I can't quite remember where I tossed that first shard that I happened upon. I'm sure I can find it again after a good search, but…man, that really is gonna take a while, isn't it?" Flint groaned and tilted his head back. "Man, playing these mini-games is super hard…this reward had better be worth it or I'm gonna demand a refund! And there's no way that I'm gonna settle for two dollars in store credit! I learned my lesson from last time!"
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Gretchen found herself dancing across the cafeteria with a charming smile on her face. She picked a broom up from the corner of the room and was sweeping up the dust that had collected over time, whistling a soft tune like a real princess would. "La la la la, singing and I'm cleaning, I'm singing and I'm clinging, every Bisney Princess likes to sing and clean! I do a little sweeping and a little bit of mopping, dust up the ceiling and the room is shining! I'm singing and I'm cleaning without a care in the world!"
Vicente watched over Gretchen as she continued to dance about the room, scratching at his fake beard. He soon shifted his gaze over to Dusty, who was still praying by the cafeteria table, in complete silence. He sighed, walking over to where she was and seating himself down next to her. "Aye, you know, sister, there's better things in life than abstaining from romantic attachments. I know, you all have to be modest and whatnot, but I do think engaging in a bit of romance would do you good."
"Is that so, sir? I'd love to indulge you, but I've made a solemn promise to my heavenly father, that which I can't break for anyone. I sincerely apologize, but this is just my job as a sister of the faith." Dusty hadn't even opened her eyes to look at her boyfriend, she continued to kneel there in prayer. Vicente groaned out of annoyance, leaning in a bit closer to her.
"Come on, Dusty, I'm sure Chris won't mind if it's just a little kiss. Besides, how would he be able to notice it? It's not like he's got super sight or whatever." Vicente hardly noticed that Chris was standing behind him with a grin on his face.
"Maybe not super sight, but I do totally have super hearing! Vicente, you just broke character, which means that you're out of the challenge!" The host smirked as the reality tv pro got up from his seat, glaring at him. "Hey, don't hate me for reinforcing the rules. I've been quite the stickler to everyone, I'm sure they'll all tell you the same thing."
"Oh, yeah, sure. Ugh, whatever, it's fine…Dusty is going to win at this point. Have you seen how determined she is to hold out to the end?" Vicente patted Dusty on the head, causing her to smile slightly, but nothing more. "I'll catch up with you later."
Sure enough, Vicente walked over to join the other contestants that had gotten out already, leaving just Amelia, Zachary, Taylor, Liz, Dusty, and Gretchen on the performing floor. Chris looked at all of them, scratching his chin and wondering which of them would be the next to fall from the competition. In the huddle of losers, Jianne was still pointing at Natt and laughing. "H-hey, Natt? What was it that Anne texted you? I'm sure she made fun of you a good deal for that, right?"
"She, uh…she said something, alright." Natt continued to blush and look away from everyone, trying to keep the message a secret. "Besides, you're making fun of me when you had to dress up as Sebastian. That must've hurt your ego a little bit, right?"
"Psh, I may hate his guts, but you should know that there is nothing I won't do to win a challenge, even if it means dressing up like a complete scumbag." Jianne snickered to herself for a moment, "At least I wasn't cosplaying as my sister."
"Aw, man! Natt had to dress up as his sister and I totally missed it!" Tony snapped his fingers in his disappointment. "Jianne, please tell me you got a picture of that or something?"
"Oh, you know it! Everybody that wants to see Natt dressed up like an idol, come here!" Soon enough, many of the contestants shuffled over to peek at the picture that Jianne had on her phone. For the most part, it was just others that had already lost the challenge, up until they noticed one person out of the ordinary. "Eh? Gretchen, aren't you still in the game? What are you doing over here?"
"A-ah! Well, I was competing and all…but, man, I hate wearing heeld shoes like that! Talk about feet pain! Besides, why would I dance and sing about nonsense when I could see Natt dressed up as a girl?" The rockstar chuckled and leaned in to get a better look at the picture while Chris shook his head at her.
"Alright, for the first time during this whole challenge, the Crabs actually have one more person left out on the floor than the Sharks! Who will pull through for their team? Will it be the nun, bimbo, and kitty? Or maybe the crazy cat lady and hairdresser will take home the win!" The contestants soon turned their attention back to the floor, watching the action unfold.
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"Ugh, once this is over, I'm gonna have to get a full body scrub! Zach has been petting me this whole time, it's revolting!" Amelia shuddered at the thought of staying in Zachary's lap for any longer than she had to. "If it weren't for the fact that I had to show him just how better I am than him at this, I wouldn't be doing this any longer!"
"Amelia is such a big crybaby! I mean, I'm sure she's probably been in the confessional to complain about me and my acting a couple of times." Zach laughed it off, looking as proud of himself as ever. "I'm just so dedicated to the part, I don't care how dumb I look while doing it! I'm the ultimate actor!"
"Wowee, I ain't never had to hold my accent in for this long before. It actually kinda hurts to talk like a city slicker. Ah, well, it's gotta be just about over now." Dusty had a nervous look on her face, unsure of just how long the others would be able to keep this charade up for. "R-right?"
"Bah, being stupid really does get tiring after a while…I wonder how people like Flint can just live like this." Liz stared blankly at the camera before getting a concerned look on her face. "Er…that's not harsh to say, is it? Eh, probably not."
"You know, acting challenges are kind of lame, but at least Chris gave me a role where I can be a little outlandish! I mean, chasing people around with a razor because I wanna cut their hair? This is loads of fun!" Taylor was bouncing up and down in her seat like she was running on five energy drinks.
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Taylor continued to chase Liz around the room, flailing her razor around like some sort of madwoman, despite how frequently Liz was telling her to go away. "Aw, come on honey, just let me get at that mane of yours! I'll keep you looking spiffy, I promise!"
"If you touch my hair my whole look will be ruined! Sorry, lady, you're gonna have to go to some other beautiful blondie to get your perfect cut or whatever done!" Liz started bolting towards Dusty, leaping up onto the table in an attempt to throw Taylor off of her trail.
"Oh, dear, what have we here?" Dusty turned around to see Taylor running straight at her at the speed of a cheetah. "Great buckets of gravy, what in tarnation are ya doin', ya coot? Oops!" The cowgirl covered her mouth, turning slightly to see Chris standing right next to her, boasting that grin of his. "Aw, consarnit! Sure, let all of them others keep talking like their regular selves, but its an issue when I can't keep my beautiful country voice in."
"Come on, Dusty, don't be such a sourpuss because you lost the challenge. Try not to think of it like you just ruined your team's chances of winning this challenge!" Chris mocked the cowgirl as she started walking back towards the other contestants that were out already. Vicente smiled at her brightly, putting his arm around her shoulders when she sat next to him.
"Hey, there, you did way better than so many of the others. Plus, I think you looked hot as a nun." He tried to cheer his girlfriend up as best as he could.
"Ya think so?" She turned to smile back at him. "Well, I s'pose I can make up for that kiss that I told ya no about earlier then, can't I?" Vicente blushed as Dusty leaned towards him, placing her lips against his and holding him close. The kiss lasted for a while, and when she finally let go of him, he was wobbling with a goofy smile on his face. "Heh, I'll take it that was more than enough to make up fer it."
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"I am one lucky amigo!" Vicente grinned like a goofball, having a hard time controlling just how happy he was to be dating Dusty.
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Chris watched over the contestants closely as they continued to act in their roles, all too delighted with the nonsensical actions of those that were still in. Taylor, of course, was chasing Liz around with her razor, causing the faux-bimbo to shriek in horror as she ran away. Meanwhile, Amelia was purring loudly while Zachary pet her hair gently, trying her best not to completely freak out. The others, who were all out at this point, were standing by Chris, watching the scene unfold. "Man, if they keep this up, we're gonna be here all night!"
"Yeah, you got that right…but I know my Taylor. She's not one to give up on a challenge, especially one as easy as this one!" Gretchen cupped her hands around her mouth to project out to her girlfriend. "You got this, Tay! Show those chumps who's the better actress!"
"You sure are confident in her skill, considering that Amelia could just fall asleep in Zach's lap and call it a night." Luna snickered to herself, getting a glare back from Gretchen.
"Yeah, and not to mention that Liz is still in it to win it! She may not really be dumb or blonde, but I'll be damned if she doesn't play one like a champ!" Tony turned to face the four that were still competing, "Go Liz, go Liz, go- huh?" The conman was shocked to see Liz walking towards him, dragging the blonde wig behind her, which she soon tossed to Chris. "Babe, what are you doing?"
"Eh, I've had enough of being dumb for a while. It was fun and all, but I can only imagine that I'll be expected to scream when Taylor inevitably catches up to me and cuts my hair. Sorry, guys, I'm not going to blow out my esophagus to win a challenge…I'm sure Amelia has this in the bag though." The scientist pulled a chair forward, taking a seat down in it right in between Tony and Luna.
"Well, that just leaves Amelia, Zachary, and Taylor! Sharks have got two people left to the Crabs' one, I wonder which team will drop out first!" Chris tossed the wig off to the side, soon dusting his hands off while boasting a cheesy grin.
"And I wonder whose hair I'm gonna get to cut next, honey!" Taylor rushed over to the host, her razor buzzing in her hand. "Blondie is out of here, so I'm gonna have to find some luscious locks to work my magic on! Hmmm…" The adrenaline junkie tapped her chin in thought before glancing up to see the perfect head of hair on Chris himself. She couldn't help but lick her lips at the sight, causing him to gasp in fear.
"Wait, no, Taylor!" Gretchen tried to jump forward and stop Taylor from making a horrible mistake, but it was of no use. Her girlfriend swiftly ran the razor over Chris's luxurious mane, shredding it up beyond repair. All the acting was cut to the halt, and everyone's jaws dropped at the sight of what she had done. "T-Taylor…I don't think you should've done that…"
"Oh, what's the matter, pumpkin? It's just a little shave! Everybody needs to get their hair cut every once in a while, ain't that right, muscles?" Taylor glanced over to see that Chris was fuming with rage, though she was a bit unsure why.
"Taylor! Do you know how difficult it is for me to keep my hair as gorgeous as it is!? You've absolutely ruined one of my most defining features!" The host stomped his feet on the ground, crossing his arms firmly. "I told everybody at the beginning of the challenges that you could only play your antics around people that were still in the game!"
"But I was just playing the role that you gave me! I mean, overbearing, right? We gotta break the rules to put in that extra oomph! Is that so wrong?"
"Is that so- yes! Yes it is! I'm so angry right now, I don't even know what to do about this! You…ugh, you broke the challenge's rules and you violated the sanctity of my haircut! Taylor, I didn't want to have to do this, but you know what? I've had it! You're eliminated!" The Sharks all gasped at Chris's announcement, Gretchen soon rushing in between him and Taylor angrily.
"Chris, that's so unfair! You can't just ban her from the game for doing a good job at the role that you gave her to play!" The rockstar fought adamantly against his decision, but it was to no avail.
"If you wanna fight with me about it, I suppose I could eliminate you as well." Gretchen was quick to quiet herself up, knowing there was nothing that she could do against the utter bully of a host that Chris was.
Confessional
"I seriously cannot believe him! Ugh, she didn't even do the challenge wrong, she literally just did what he told her to!" Gretchen slammed her fist against the wall, looking down at the floor in silence. A brief moment passed, and she sniffled slightly. "That just…isn't fair…"
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The Sharks met back in the elimination fish bowl, with Taylor standing right in front of the Water Slide of Shame. Chris stood off to the side wearing a red beret with that angry look still fixed on his face. "Well, fellas…I gotta say, this was so much more fun than that last season!" Taylor boasted a proud smile, as she always did in the face of adversity. "I mean, look how far I've come! From first out to thirteen episodes in? I'd say that's a pretty big w. Not to mention that I picked up a super hot babe along the way!"
Gretchen blushed brightly as Taylor rushed over to her, pulling her in for a deep kiss before pulling back and standing close to the slide again. "Now, as much fun as this was, momma's about to go on the wildest booze cruise of her life!" The girl pulled out an unmarked, glass bottle from her jacket, chugging down all of the clear liquid that was in it before unleashing a ground-shaking belch. "Woohoo, losers! Look at me go!"
Taylor attempted to walk backwards into the slide, but her pants got caught on the edge of it, causing her to flip backwards. Sure enough, her pants were torn right off her, and she was stuck in the slide, upside down with her rear exposed. "Gah, I knew this was a bad day to go commando! Let me just squeeze by here…there we go!" With a bit of effort, she managed to free herself from where she was stuck, falling all the way down into the Submarine of Losers, and leaving all of her team blushing from the sight that they had just seen.
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"Hm, I honestly didn't expect Taylor to be leaving this time around. Can't say she and I ever really clicked with each other, but whatever." Liz rubbed her hands together eagerly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a diary that I would like to pry into!"
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Liz was back in her closet, tinkering around on her desk to make the key that would fit Amelia's lockbox. She had been working for quite some time, considering all the stains from sweat and soot that were on her lab coat. Eventually, she managed to forge up a key, and a smirk was brought to her rascally little face. She shoved it into the keyhole, twisting it and unlocking it to open it. Of course, she grabbed the journal right after, opening it and reading throughout the pages with a grin on her face.
As she read from page to page, she felt the smile fading from her face and fixing into a frown. "What on Earth…? She's trying to use me and Luna to get rid of Tony? Well, that's just obnoxious! Obviously, I'm going to-"
"You're going to do what, dear?" Liz gasped and hid the book behind her back, turning to see that Amelia was standing in the doorway of the closet. "You're acting awfully sneaky right now…I don't suppose you have anything to do with the disappearance of my journal, do you?"
"Er…no, I haven't seen it. It must've been Dusty, I could've sworn I heard her talking about how much she despises the rest of the team." Liz chuckled awkwardly, though her chuckle vanished as Amelia took a step towards her.
"Come, now, Liz. You and I both know that Dusty would never steal anything from anybody else down here. Besides, your scrawny figure isn't good for hiding things that you're holding behind your back." Amelia swiftly snatched the book back from her scientist teammate. "I'm sure the others on the team are going to have a lot of mixed feelings once they hear about how you've been stealing stuff from others."
"Yeah, well, they're gonna be even more upset when they hear about how you're using everybody! I'll just tell them about your journal, and if you don't show them the pages, you'll be done for!" Liz smirked at her genius idea, though Amelia was clearly unphased by the threat.
"We'll just see about that, little scientist. We'll just see…" And, like that, Amelia turned away from her teammate and left the closet.
Author's Notes:
*Another member of the Sharks bites the dust in the classic acting challenge of the season! Taylor was a lot of fun for this season, and I hope all of you enjoyed her just as much as I did. Well, she definitely made an impression as she took her exit, didn't she?
*Now, since we are on episode 14 next, that means it will be an Aftermath. You're all welcome to send in questions for Benjamin, Archie, Anne, Alex, or Taylor! I will try to pick as many as I can!
*Placements: 22nd - Crustacean; 21st - Thomas; 20th - March; 19th - Benjamin; 18th - Archie; 17th - Anne; 16th - Alex; 15th - Taylor