Chris found himself in the fetal position in his bedroom, sucking on his thumb while shaking tremendously. Chef, Amphitrite, and Poseidon each watched over him, mixed looks of pity and shame on their faces. "G-ghosts…no more ghosts, I can't handle the ghosts…" The host continued to shamefully suck on his thumb, recalling the "horrific" events of the previous episode, where his own ghostly ancestor haunted him briefly. "Call a medium, call a priest, call someone that can get rid of the ghosts!"
"Man, he really is still shaken up from that bit of haunting back in the day." Chef shook his head at the host, turning to walk out of the bedroom with the CEO and his assistant following in suit. "Kinda kills all the plans we had for the challenge today. Thanks, Pansy McLean."
"Now, now, I'm sure we can come up with something on the spot…we'll just have to postpone the trench challenge to next week." Poseidon shut the door as the group left the room, soon turning to face Amphitrite. "Amphitrite, would you mind getting in contact with one of the former contestants? I'm sure we can get a good challenge out of them!"
"Already on it." Amphitrite glanced over her clipboard, checking the list to see which contestants would be available. After deciding on one, she reached into her pocket, grabbing her cell phone and calling someone on it. "Hello, is a Mr. Webb there? Yes, we were actually wondering…" The assistant's voice trailed off as she took her conversation into the other room, leaving Poseidon alone with the show's co-host.
"Well, now that we're getting that all settled, how about we kick off the episode!" Poseidon turned to face the camera, a gleeful grin forming from his lips. "Last time, on Total Drama: Lost City, things were gearing up for a really exciting, yet dangerous challenge on the fallen pirate ship of Captain Jack McLean, Chris's ancestor! The host himself would've taken care of the challenge, but Bonnie seemed to have other plans…that were rather perverse. She kept referring to my assistant as a 'total mommy' and I'm still not quite sure what she meant by that. Regardless, the intern donned the garb of a true pirate and led her crew to pillage the spooky ship! Amelia was as blunt as ever, taking a necklace from the skeleton of the captain himself and unleashing some sort of ghost onto the ship! Of course, he turned out to be rather harmless…and pathetic. Dusty could attest to that, though she and the captain did end up being all buddy buddy later on. Gretchen and Alexis seemed to put their differences aside for a brief moment, but this was all for naught, as Alexis ended up accidentally taking Gretchen's treasure from her so that she was left with a sad sack of silver coins. Damien was looking to be the winner of the challenge, up until Dusty arrived on scene with a bust of the captain made entirely of diamond, outshining everyone both figuratively and literally! In the end, Alexis inadvertently caused our previous season's winner to lose the challenge. Though, Gretchen made sure to warn everyone about the former before leaving the stage…and, of course, the ghost ship of Captain Jack passed by Atlantis, with the ghost himself mentioning how disappointed he was in Chris, bringing us to where we are now! We'll have a guest coming around for tonight's challenge, but it's bound to be just as cool as our original plan, if not cooler! Find out who, right now, on Total Drama: Lost City!"
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.
Nicolás sat on his bed, tinkering away at his glasses and pulling out the broken lens carefully with a pair of tweezers. He mumbled to himself as he picked it apart, a bit concerned as far as seeing things without a lens. "Man, Zach is a total jerk sometimes…I don't have the kind of money to replace these lenses just laying around." He finally pried the last little piece of shattered glass out of the frame, letting out a sigh as he set it down on the nightstand near his bed. "I guess I'll just have to go around with only one working eye for now…"
"Like a cyclops!" Benjamin jumped down from his own bunk, slamming down on the floor in front of Nicolás and towering over him. He covered his left eye with his hand, wearing a cheesy grin on his face. "Then you can go around and eat sailors for stopping on your island, and then get stabbed in the eye by the sailors so they can escape the island! Oh, then your dad is gonna get mad at everyone and try to shipwreck them in the middle of the ocean! Then, the sailors will come across a forking path that leads to two different-"
"Hang on a moment, Benjamin…are you just describing the plot of 'The Odyssey' to me?" Nicolás looked up at the less than intelligent boy, who pondered this question for a moment, not really sure if he knew the answer to it. "You know, nevermind that…I don't wanna break your brain or anything." The nerdy boy stood up from his bed, sighing as he put his glasses on with one lens. "Looking at everything in two different ways is gonna give me such a headache."
"You can see things twice at once and they look different? That's like some sort of a superpower!" Benjamin pulled his hand down from his face, gushing at the fact that Nicolás was capable of such a feat. The nerd was a bit put off by this admiration, cocking an eyebrow at the boy in question. "What? Why don't you look super excited that you have a superpower?"
"I don't know if I would call it a superpower, it's more of a detriment…besides, it's the glasses that change what I'm seeing. My eyesight just isn't really great as is." Nicolás started heading for the doorway, only for Benjamin to rush to block him off before snatching his glasses from his face. "Ah! Benjamin! I need those to see!"
"You're telling me that these are the reasons you have super vision powers? I have to see what that's like!" The bulky numbskull placed the glasses on his own head, which was a bit too big for them, and without much effort, they snapped in two, each piece falling to the ground, with the only remaining lens breaking apart. "Oh man…that was super lame, I didn't feel any super vision powers at all. I was just kinda dizzy for a second there."
Nicolás crumbled to the floor as his glasses broke, only seeing the fuzzy image of them shattered on the ground. "Benjamin…those were the only reasons I could do anything…and you broke them." The nerd grabbed each piece of his glasses, frowning as he could hardly identify them. "You broke them, and I won't be able to see anything at all…"
"Uh, yeah you can. Just use your eyes, duh!" Benjamin pointed to his own eyes, giggling innocently as he had no real idea what it was that he had done. He soon patted the boy on the head, leaving the room while whistling nonchalantly.
Confessional
"Well, this is just great…I guess that's what I get for not being assertive enough." Nicolás sighed as he dropped the pieces of his glasses, trying to land them into the garbage can, only for them to comedically hit the rim and bounce onto the floor. "Ah…how am I supposed to compete in this show if I can't see anything?"
"Nicolás is so silly! Everybody can use their eyes to see! The only thing that some people can't do is read!" Benjamin looked over the note that Tony had given him, still trying to identify what the name on it was. "Hm…lemon? No, there's no one here that's named lemon. Consider me puzzled! But, I'll keep on trying my best to read it!"
Confessional End
March hummed to herself as she brushed her hair in the girls' restroom, not a care in the world. Since Gretchen and Alexis had finally been separated, there was nothing keeping her up super late at night, so she was able to get a good night's rest without having to worry about the bickering. "Ah, nothing like feeling well rested on the start of a beautiful new day."
"I'd say!" Amelia interrupted the girl's humming, standing in the middle of the doorway while checking her fingernails. March was a bit startled, having not seen her there at first. "Oh, my deepest apologies, was I interrupting something important?"
"...Nothing at all, just brushing my hair." March narrowed her eyes at the girl before looking back at the mirror and continuing to brush her hair. "Were you waiting to use the mirror? I'm almost done, sorry…this hair can really be a mess at times."
"Nope, I don't need that mirror…I have my own that I brought with me." Amelia slightly smiled at March for a brief moment before the room went entirely silent, a tense atmosphere about it. "So, I take it that you've watched the episodes since your first elimination, yes?"
"...Maybe I did, I can't really remember. I wasn't super invested or anything, I had my artwork to continue on!" March turned away from the mirror to look Amelia in the eyes. "Why do you ask? Was there…I don't know, anything super important that happened in one of the episodes that I should know about?"
"Oh, not that I can think of…I was just a bit curious. That's all." Amelia went back to smiling before turning to leave the restroom. She stopped before she quite left, glancing back over her shoulder at the girl. "Though…if you were to have watched the show, that would be fun. It helps to have someone who knows everything that's going on around here already. I sure do love to talk about all the mischief that some people have been up to."
"Right, some people. Now that I think about it, I think I did see someone causing some mischief." March tapped her chin in thought briefly while Amelia glared back at her. The artist snapped her fingers, a smirk popping up on her face. "That's right! Zachary was doing a whole lot of nonsense around with some sort of crystal ball! I honestly think he was under some sort of hypnosis or something like that, but I guess we won't find out now. I can't really remember anybody else being shifty or anything, though."
"Well, I can't say I much remember anything about a crystal ball, but it's interesting to hear that's all you found. I'm sure there have been others up to no good around here." The actress giggled lightly before turning her head back to look away from March. "Well, if you remember anything else at all, I would love to know about it. Ciao." With that, Amelia left March alone in the room, the artist letting out a soft sigh after she was gone.
Confessional
"I know that Amelia doesn't want anyone knowing about all the nonsense she's been up to, playing this game like she's some sort of ringleader. It's even more despicable than the stuff Tony pulled last season…at least he has a heart in that cold exterior of his." March shook her head at the camera with a soft frown on her face. "Amelia's got nothing but a black hole where her heart should be."
Confessional End
Amphitrite and Poseidon stood near the entrance to the bubble, watching closely as a curious vehicle started approaching the scene. It looked like…well, a car of sorts. It definitely cost whoever bought it a fortune, at least a couple hundred thousand dollars…probably even more, considering it had been modified so that it could drive through the water. It was entirely black in color, give for a single word in white lettering on the hood: cool. There was a darkened dome over where the seats would be, covering whoever it was that sat within the vehicle. Soon enough, the car drove into the bubble, parking right in front of the CEO and his assistant. From under the dome, they could hear loud bass bumping inside.
Slowly but surely, the dome started to retract into the car, a fine mist rising up from the inside of the car, still covering whoever was inside. Then, the driver's side door opened up, a leg stepping out and touching the ground. The leg was wearing black, leather pants, with some gold embroidery that read "Too Cool For You" running up from the ankle to the hip. On the base of the leg, there was a jet black boot, those which had silvery spikes at the toes. The rest of the body soon came out of the car, standing up at nearly the same height as Poseidon, who was tall to begin with. The man in question had a black leather jacket on, one which had spikes on the shoulders and was unzipped to reveal a white tee underneath. He lifted one arm up, reaching towards his wrist with his other hand to tug down his black fingerless gloves, letting the leather snap against his skin, making a satisfying sound. He cracked his knuckles, one by one, staring down at his hands through his jet black sunglasses. Once he was done, he looked towards the two that had invited him to the scene. He had a black goatee upon his chin, and he rocked it like no one else could ever dream to. That, and his black hair that formed a small pompadour made him look like the coolest thing to ever come from the fifties.
"Yo, ladies…where's all the cool that Atlantis has to offer? All I'm seeing is a less than snazzy wreck, ya dig?" The boy reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a comb and combing his pompadour back so that it puffed back up with more volume than before. "And I don't see a party around, seriously, you're lacking all the elements that make the scene jumpin'."
"Evander…thanks for being so willing to come here on such short notice. I know, you really must be a really busy man nowadays." Poseidon reached his hand out to shake Evander's, though it was soon slapped away. The CEO rubbed his hand in pain, the slap hurt more than expected. Amphitrite, on the other hand, was clutching a pen tightly in her hands, so tight that it snapped in two.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm always down to make an appearance and bless the show with my cool. Speaking of cool, you think any of the contestants are cool enough to stand up to me? That's what I'm gonna be judging these posers on." Evander tucked the comb back into his pocket, brushing past the two while pressing a button on his keyfob, which was also in his pocket. The dome on his car came up and closed again, locking the advanced vehicle down and turning the music off.
"Well, I'm not sure if they quite meet your standards for cool, but some of them are quite interesting. Now, we kinda have a system around here…the winner of the challenge gets a reward, the loser of the challenge gets eliminated. I suppose you can decide what the prize will be, since you're helping us out and all." Poseidon followed the boy as he started walking the streets of Atlantis, judging everything he saw greatly.
"Yeah, sure, fine. Give the winner a coupon for a free pair of glasses from the guy who does my shades…that's a prize anyone would go crazy for." Evander crossed his arms, staring dead ahead at the fallen space station while his shades slipped down just a small bit, showing his emerald green eyes behind them. "Yo, now that there is pretty cool. Must've spent all the cool in the whole place on that little addition there, huh?"
"The space station? It just crashed here at the end of the previous season…surely the natural beauty of Atlantis is cooler than that modern piece of technological garbage." Amphitrite glared at the boy as he shook his head, turning to face her for a brief moment.
"Listen, lady, you may be hot, but your brain ain't too sharp if you're seriously thinking that this dump is cool. It doesn't matter, I'm gonna make it cool, whether you like my work or not." Evander shifted his gaze to Poseidon, flicking his shades back up with one hand to cover his eyes entirely again. "You, old dude, come with me and let's get ready to rock this place, ya dig?" Poseidon nodded in response, following the cool guy as he started towards the space station, leaving Amphitrite to her own devices.
Confessional
"Not to self, I must be more selective with the contestants that I choose to come down to Atlantis. Seriously, this is one of the greatest finds of the century, and he just brushes it off like it's nothing." Amphitrite rubbed her forehead with her hand, letting out an annoyed sigh before looking back to the camera. "No matter, he's only here for this one challenge…we won't have to worry about him wanting to make everything 'cooler' after today. So long as he doesn't lay another hand on Sir, there will be no issues. That slap was almost enough to make me send him right back to the hole he came from."
Confessional End
It wasn't long before Evander was all set with his prep for the challenge, and he took to grabbing Chris's megaphone. "Man, this megaphone is pretty cool…I always wanted to use it when I was still in the show." He flicked the switch on the megaphone, aiming it towards the cabins and leaning towards it. "Yo, ladies! Get up and at 'em! Last one to make it out here is a total dweeb!" It only took a brief moment for the final twelve to make their way out of their cabins, with March being the very last person to come outside. "Man, guess Little Miss Lavender Highlights is the daily dweeb."
"Little Miss what?" March covered the lavender in her hair, blushing a bit from embarrassment for reasons she didn't even know. Evander looked over the group, shaking his head at every single one of them. He walked back and forth, utterly disappointed, soon stopping in front of Natt.
"Ponytails ain't it, chief…and that red and green scrunchie makes you look like a total pansy." The cool guy flicked Natt on the nose, getting a dull glare back from the boy while he continued down the line. He stopped in front of Vicente this time, sighing as he saw the fedora on his head. "Better jot this down in the journal that I know you're keeping…fedoras are reserved for mobsters. They look tacky on everyone else." The reality TV pro crossed his arms while Evander kept going, finally coming to a stop at the last person in the line: Nicolás. He let out a chuckle, shaking his head at him. "Man, don't even get me started on you…what, do you let your mom pick your clothes for you each morning? I bet you're wearing tighty whities underneath all this."
Nicolás turned bright red, looking down at the grass in shame while Evander went back to the center of the group, staring back at all of them. "Alright, I'm already disappointed by all of you, so odds are, you can only impress me with whatever you do from here on out."
"Well, I didn't expect to get roasted by a former contestant first thing in the morning." Zachary leaned back a bit, soon falling back onto his rear and getting the guest's disapproval directed to him.
"Bet you didn't expect someone to point out that you look like you're gearing up to play tennis at a private park, either." Zachary gasped, hurt by the remark. "In any case, I wanna get this show on the road so I don't have to stay in this dump all day. Long story short, Chris is acting like a real chump right now, so the other old folks around here decided to bring me around to take command for the day. I'm sure he had a decent challenge planned out for the day, but let's be real, nothing he does is really cool. That's while we'll be having a challenge to see which of you posers can be cool enough to impress me!"
"A contest to be cool? Well, obviously some of us will have an easier time doing that than the other dorks around here." Jianne snickered as she looked back at the other contestants, her ego shining like always. Evander pointed dead at her, a small grin flashing on his mug.
"See? That's the kind of attitude I'm looking for! You gotta know that you're better than a bunch of dweebs to really be cool!" The former contestant reached over to the girl, giving her a fist bump before returning to the center of attention. "Unfortunately for you, girly, this challenge ain't just gonna be taken downtown by attitude alone, there's more to it than that! Being cool is about three key factors: the way you dress, the way you talk, and the way you walk!" Evander held up his hand, counting the three things on his hand. "You can have the walk and the talk, but if you ain't got style, then you ain't cool. Same goes for any of these categories, they all work in sync to make the cool really come out and pop!"
"So yer telling us that we gotta go and change our whole gittup if we wanna be cool enough to win yer little challenge?" Dusty raised her hand in question, only for Evander to sigh at her.
"Two little tips for ya, Bessie. One, cowgirls and cowboys aren't cool, they're tacky. Two, don't raise your hand to ask a question, just ask the question in the middle of me talking if you really wanna shine." The man patted Dusty on the head, only getting a glare back from her. "Now, I'm gonna give you guys a cool amount of time to reform your entire state of being, maybe two hours…yeah…wait, no! Two hours, and one minute! Always cool to have something not exactly on the hour. It's what we call being fashionably late. After you're all set, I'll be judging how cool you really are, and if you're worthy of winning today's big prize." Evander held the coupon that he mentioned high in the air, a grin on his face. "This coupon will net you a free pair of glasses from Lens Master Leopold…dude's name is wacky, but he knows his way around eye coverings."
"Glasses? Free?" Nicolás gulped nervously, looking up from the ground with more interest than he had before. Luna, who was standing right next to him, rolled her eyes at him.
"I wouldn't be super worried about winning that or anything, Nicky. We all know that you're the least cool person in all of Atlantis, with your doe eyes." Luna giggled behind the palm of her hand, with Nicolás ignoring her entirely. He had an intriguing look on his face, one that was full of determination. The look even caught the attention of the show's guest, though he soon shook his head and went back to ignoring the nerdy boy.
"Alright, you all know the specs, so go on and get yourselves in the cool zone so we can get on with this act, ya dig?" Evander turned around to head back to a lawn chair, which he had conveniently placed on the grass, though he stopped to look back at the group for a brief moment. "Right, almost forgot. The coolest one of you posers is getting this coupon, but the least cool of all…" He pointed his thumb down to the ground, a menacing look hiding behind his shades. "...Ya get chopped."
Confessional
"The grand prize is a free pair of glasses…I need to win that! I don't care how much of a…a…a dick I have to be, I'm gonna win those glasses no matter what!" Nicolás stood up taller than before, no longer slouching like he was insignificant. That determined look was still shining on his face. "I'm sorry, everybody…I need this."
"Little Nicky is putting on some false bravado that he thinks will help him ace this challenge, peh. We all know that he's going to end up flopping like a fish on deck." Luna continued to snicker like a conniving little rat. "He can't even see without those huge, pathetic glasses of his…how would he be able to tell if he looks cool or not?"
Confessional End
Natt sat alone in his bunk room, while most of the other boys were outside, working on the walking and talking bit of the challenge. He had taken the scrunchie out of his hair, much to his displeasure, allowing his long hair to shag down messily. He sighed, tucking the scrunchie into his back pocket. "Sorry, Anne…I'll put that back on as soon as this challenge is over." As he started to pull his hand out of his back pocket, he felt something else in there. He grabbed it, pulling it out and looking over it, identifying it as that business card that he found on the wreckage of Captain Jack's ship.
"...Right, I had almost forgotten about this thing. Father Time…" Natt scratched at his chin, still unsure where he had heard that name from before. "Man, why am I drawing a blank on this? I know that I've heard of Father Time before…was it in school? …No, I think it was in my own studies. But when…what was I looking into when I found it?" The boy tapped his knuckles against his forehead, eventually sighing as he came up with no answer. He tucked the card right back into his pocket, heading over to the closet to try and get himself dressed in a cooler manner.
Of course, he took his necklace off, another thing that annoyed him to do, but he didn't want to lose at this point. He popped his vest off as well, leaving him in just his black shirt and pants. "Urk…I can't believe I'm seriously about to do this." With another sigh, the dull boy reached for each of his shoulders, tearing the sleeves of his shirt clean off. He grabbed a permanent marker from on top of a dresser, shaking it up a bit. "Well…here goes nothing…"
While the boy began to defile his pale arms with the marker, there was more commotion just outside the building. Damien was pacing back and forth, trying his best to get that "cool guy walk" down while Zachary laughed obnoxiously at him. "Man, you wouldn't know how to get that walk right if I came by and stepped on your feet while doing it. You sort of look like an ostrich that just had its knees popped the wrong way."
"Dude, shush! This stuff is already hard enough to do without you being…well, a backseat actor. Why don't you just focus on getting your own act on point?" Damien continued to pace, each step being adjusted in the slightest manner so that he could try and make himself look cooler. "Hm…what if I tossed in a little snapping action with this stuff?" He turned around again, snapping his fingers as he walked that line back towards Zachary.
"Dude…that is absolutely the lamest thing I have ever seen you do." The actor shook his head at the theater boy, walking towards him and shoving him aside. "You gotta do it like this." With a bit of swagger, Zachary started to walk a straight line, one hand in his pocket while the other dangled loosely at his side. Vicente, who was close to the duo, watched as the actor tried to show off his walk. He looked down at his own feet, thinking for a moment.
"Maybe Zachary is onto something, but what if I did a little bit of this?" Vicente tucked both of his hands into the pockets of his vest, walking in a straight line with rather wide strides in comparison to what the others were doing. As he passed by Benjamin, he nodded his head slightly. "Sup, payaso?"
"Payaso? Listen here, buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but I'm not a Mexican form of currency!" Benjamin crossed his arms, furious with the "insult" that Vicente had thrown at him, which had only made the reality TV pro a bit confused.
Confessional
"Benjamin is…well, a dunce. Nice guy, for the most part, but, man, nothing really seems to click in that brain of his." Vicente chuckled to himself as he thought about the simpleton. "Kinda makes you wonder how he ended up getting returned to the game, right?"
"Man, Zachary is still just as annoying as he was when we were on the same team…what's his issue?" Damien rubbed the back of his neck, hating talking bad about people, but growing severely tired with Zachary's attitude. "Always trying to put people in their place for no good reason whatsoever."
Confessional End
While the bulk of the guys were outside, working on their walk, the majority of the girls were in their rooms, trying to pick out whichever outfit would work the best for the part they were playing. Amelia stood in front of a mirror, holding up two different outfits to herself to size them up and see if they fit the bill that she was trying to pay. "Hm…white top with black bottom, or black top with blue bottom. Luna, what do you think looks coolest?"
"Huh?" Luna glanced over from her bed, where she was slipping into an outfit that was entirely black and red. I would go with the black and blue…the top would definitely look better on you."
"Why, thank you! Er…why are you dressing up like a lolita?" Amelia blushed a bit, seeing Luna in the cutesy dress that she was wearing. "I mean, it looks fine on you, but I'm not sure if it's…cool, or anything similar to that."
"Well, that's just because I'm naturally a cutie! It's not easy to make any old look cool when you're cute enough to make people coo at the very sight of you." Luna tied a red ribbon into her hair, really assimilating into that cutesy look, and only making Amelia blush more. The actress shook her head, soon heading to the restroom to get changed into her new outfit, while Alexis stared at Luna judgingly. "What do you want, queenie?"
"Nothing, you just look…ridiculous, to be frank. You know, I do have extra clothes than you can wear if you're trying to look cooler." Alexis was simply offering a helpful suggestion to Luna, though the model only seemed to grow annoyed with this, her face turning red with anger. "What?"
"Gretchen really wasn't kidding about you, you are a nasty little bird! Huff." Luna got up from her bed, soon heading outside of the cabin so that she could work on the rest of her ensemble. Alexis shrugged her shoulders, not seeing why the model got so offended so easily. As far as her own look went, she was wearing a crop leather jacket, an old one at that. It was a bit tattered, but she felt that added to the cool look. Her shirt was dark purple in color, and she had on black shorts that stopped midway at her thighs.
"I guess I shouldn't be offering anyone my help if all they're going to do is complain about me like I'm trying to sabotage or doubt them." Alexis sighed, ready to leave the room when she suddenly noticed March out of the corner of her eye. She had to stop and do a double take, even going as far as to take her glasses off, wiping the lenses off, and putting them back on. "March…what on Earth are you wearing?"
"Hm? What do you mean?" March was wearing a lilac colored dress, which dropped to her knees with the skirt, and had spaghetti straps over her shoulders. She had a blue, crop jacket on, which she left unzipped so that the dress could still be seen. She looked stunningly gorgeous in the outfit, but as far as cool went, she may have been lacking in that department. "This outfit is pretty cool, no?"
"Well, I-" Alexis started to speak, but soon remembered how things went the last person she tried to give advice to. "Well…if you think it's cool, then it's probably good enough for the challenge." The accident prone luckfest of a girl flashed a thumbs up to March before leaving the room to head outside and get to practicing the other parts of her game plan. March giggled innocently, slipping her feet into lilac colored heels that matched the rest of her ensemble. She followed after Alexis as Jianne passed her to enter the room.
Jianne, much like Alexis, had to do a double take at the girl's outfit, but didn't care enough to say anything to her about it. "Alright, whatever, she clearly wants to lose the challenge." The egoist messed up her hair a whole bunch, allowing her bangs to cover one half of her face while leaving the other half exposed to the light. She checked herself out in the mirror, winking at the sight. "Damn, I really am hot shit."
"And ya…and ya…and yaaaaaaaaa…darnit!" Dusty was standing in the doorway, flustered with how much trouble she was having with fixing her accent problem. "How am I s'posed to drop my accent? It sounds too forced if I try to speak in a more northern accent!"
"Hm, well…I guess you don't have to ace each of the three parts of being cool. So long as someone out there fails in every aspect, you'd probably be good." Jianne shrugged her shoulders, heading over to face the cowgirl with a grin. "See, then you've got me, who's already the coolest person in all of Atlantis. I hardly need to worry about changing a thing about my look, my talk, or my walk. This challenge is basically a free win in my pocket."
"Yer always so confident…someone oughtta knock ya down a few pegs." Dusty glared at the girl, though Jianne simply shrugged back at her. "Always acting like ya don't have a care in the world about a dang thing…don't ya ever feel rotten 'bout that?"
"I dunno, don't you ever feel rotten from all the mud you play around in, ponygirl?" Dusty's glare got more intense while Jianne shoved her aside with a hip bump, soon walking through the door. "I'm gonna go outside and chill…nothing says cool like not giving a damn about the challenge you're about to compete in."
Confessional
"Man, that Jianne and her ego are always getting on my nerves, y'hear?" Dusty spat in a bucket, soon covering her mouth with her hand and blushing. "Darnit! I can't stop myself from being the way I am, there ain't nothing wrong with me! Someone ought to shove their boot up that "cool" guy's kiester, I say."
"Gotta love it when you have a natural advantage in the competition, heh." Jianne dusted her knuckles off on her jacket, a grin on her face. "Bet you can't think of a single person other than myself that might win this challenge. That's right, because there aren't any that even stand close to my level of badassery."
Confessional End
Nicolás grumbled to himself as he shuffled around in the boys' rooms. Now that Natt had gone outside, it left him alone in the room to work on his appearance. "I may not be able to see what I'm putting on, but I'm sure gonna be way cooler than any of those…dorks." The nerdy boy shuddered as he said the word, soon shaking his head. "No, Nicolás…you may not like being called a…dork…but you need to desensitize yourself to the word. Dork…dork…dork…" He continued to repeat the word, over and over again, just to make it so that it wouldn't make him cringe every time he thought about it.
"...Yeah, everyone out there is a bunch of dorks. Can't believe a king like me is getting stuck competing against these losers." Nicolás slicked his hair back with some gel that he got from Zachary's things. He glanced over at the mirror in the corner of the room, aiming finger guns at it with a cocky grin. "Ayy, check out the total stud muffin there. You always wake up looking that good, guy?" He couldn't really see what he was looking at, and his line of sight was actually missing the mirror by a few inches.
"...I think I got the nasty attitude down…all that's left is picking out the outfit. Curse Benjamin for breaking my only other glasses lens! I'm gonna have to trust my blurry vision to choose the right things, here." The boy rummaged around through his dresser, struggling to pull open the drawers as he couldn't quite find the handles. After some amount of effort, he managed to pry them open, pulling different articles of clothing out, one by one. "Man…I sure hope I don't- I mean…no way am I gonna mess this up! I'm the genuine article when it comes to cool…and my drip is no exception."
With a nervous gulp, the nerdy boy started to dress himself up in the clothes that he had pulled from the dresser, not bothering to look back towards the mirror. Somehow, a bird flew around outside and perched itself on the window sill. It looked in through the glass to see what the boy was putting on himself, its eyes widening before it burst out into a riot of tweeting laughter. Outside, Natt finally let himself be seen by the rest of the guys. He was still wearing his black pants, black shoes, and black, now sleeveless, shirt. The only key differences in his ensemble from before were that he was wearing a dollar store pair of black sunglasses, and he had drawn a bunch of dragon patterned tattoos on his arms with the permanent marker that he had found.
"Natt…dude…what did you do to yourself?" Damien couldn't help but stare at the boy in disbelief, never before expecting him to ever change his appearance so drastically. "Seriously, you look like you walked into a kindergarten class with a bunch of crayons and told them to go wild."
"Man, it looks that bad?" Natt looked down at his arms, not seeing exactly what it was that Damien was so put off by. "I thought I did a pretty good job with them, but should I wash them off?"
"Yeah, I mean…maybe try to scrub them off, but I don't know…if you did them in permanent marker, it might just end up looking like you couldn't get the hair dye off your skin after a shower." Natt sighed at Damien's comment, leaning down in defeat while Benjamin strolled over to the two of them.
"Oh, Natt! You totally should've asked March to do that for you, she's really great with all the art and stuff!" Damien winced as March's name was mentioned, with Natt looking over to Benjamin. "Yeah, this one time, I had her draw a bee on my back…you know, for Benjamin! Oh, it might still be on my back!" The large goofball ripped his shirt off, showing off his bare chest before turning around to reveal an elegant looking bee drawn on his back. "Is it there, is it there?"
"Uh…yeah, it's still there." Natt scratched his chin, not so sure that the drawing in question was really cool or anything by any means. "I think March has a bit of an issue with making things cool…usually everything she draws ends up being too pretty. Super talented and everything, but cool? Not so much."
"Psh," Benjamin turned back around to roll his eyes at Natt. "You're just saying that because she's not an edgelord like you that wears all black all the time." Both Damien and Natt's eyes went wide in disbelief while Benjamin happily frolicked away from the two of them.
Confessional
"Jeez, Ben really can be super unhinged at times…I'll make note that we still have to do some work on knowing when we should say things and when to keep our mouths shut." Damien sighed, feeling bad for Natt, who had gotten roasted for no reason, whatsoever.
"Edgelord…I don't know if I've ever been called that before." Natt scratched his chin, not much emotion on his face. "...I guess, sometimes, I can come off as kinda edgy."
Confessional End
Evander kicked back in the lawn chair, glancing about through his phone and just so happening to see that the time rolled around to be the closing of the grace period he gave the gang. He stood from the chair, swinging his foot back to knock it back a great distance. "Alright, posers! I know that I ain't gonna get anything great out of you, but the time to impress me is now. All of you, get lined up and ready for me to judge you and your 'coolness.'" The former contestant started towards the divers, each of the eleven of them that were there lining up to be judged by him. Wait…eleven? There were supposed to be twelve of them…odd.
The first contestant in line was Jianne, who had a disinterested scowl on her face. Evander looked her up and down, tipping his shades down to get a better look at her. "Alright, lady, looks like you know a thing or two about how to dress, but that ain't everything in this game. Why don't you show me that walk of yours, 'less you're too chicken to perform."
"Hmph, as if." Jianne shoved the man aside, practically walking through him like a set of bar doors. She had one hand tucked into her left pocket, with the other hanging by her side. As she made a turn to face the guy again, she flipped her hair like a stereotypical punk kid in a nineties movie. "That good enough for you, or is it not leathery enough for your gimp ass?" The other contestants gasped as they heard Jianne insult the man, though Evander seemed to have a much different reaction to her.
"You got the spunk, and you walk with style. Hard to believe the first person in line is already killing in every category." Evander gave the girl a fist bump, soon moving on to the next person in the line, which was Zachary. He had switched up his outfit a bit, taking on the look of some sort of rapper for a group of kids. He had a black baseball cap on, which was tipped down and tilted to the side. Over his white polo, he had tossed on a dark blue button down shirt, which was oversized on him. Each button of the shirt was undone to show his polo underneath. "Hm…well, your outfit definitely comes from one of the generations of cool. Can you walk and talk to back up that style?"
"Ay man, I be talking about gabagool all night, you know what I'm-" Evander was quick to place his hand over Zachary's mouth, a vein popping in his forehead.
"I think I've heard quite enough of your talking already, fool…just move along with the walking already." Zachary gulped nervously as Evander pulled his hand back from his face, soon starting to walk in the manner that he was showing to Damien previously. It was similar to Jianne, though a bit more careless, with his steps taking up a wider space. Once he was finished, he came to a stop in front of Evander again, who was eyeing him down intensely. "The style works, and the walk ain't bad…but that stereotyping of yours ain't giving you any points in the cool department."
Zachary sighed while Evander moved onto the next contestant, this one being Natt, who still had those childish scribbles all over his arms. The cool guy stifled a chuckle upon seeing them, soon clearing his throat and pretending that he wasn't laughing at him in the first place. "Man, lose the tats and you woulda aced the looks. Gonna have to knock you on that…why don't you show me that cool guy walk of yours, eh?"
"Yeah, whatever, I guess," Natt scoffed at the guy, walking past him and making sure to scuff his shoe in the process. He had his arms crossed as he walked, and his tired eyes managed to make it look as if he was looking down on everybody indiscriminately. He turned back to the guest, stepping right back to him and scuffing his shoe again. "We done yet? Kinda gotta be literally anywhere else right now."
"Heh, I'm liking that nasty attitude of yours, guy! Too bad you looked like an angry suburban mother with the way you were crossing your arms there." Evander flicked Natt on the chest, passing onto the next contestant. "First person to only really score anything in the talking department, and lowest score at the moment. Now, what have you got for me…uh…what are you wearing, lady?"
The guest cocked an eyebrow at Luna, who was standing before him in her lolita outfit. She had a pouty look on her face, annoyed with how quickly he had disapproved of her outfit. "Hating on me just cause I'm not wearing last night's steak dinner as an outfit? Typical street crap." Luna snapped her fingers in Evander's face, soon strutting past him as if she was walking down a catwalk. Again, this only got a confused look from the judge of all things cool. She eventually turned back after striking a pose at the end of the catwalk. "How's that? Good enough for you, big boy?"
"Er…well, you're spunky and fierce, but you walk like a girl playing runway and you dress like you're trying to get someone to catch a case. Same as the last guy, you're only getting points on the talk." Evander waved Luna off before moving over to the next contestant, leaving her disheartened. Next in line was Benjamin, who was entirely shirtless, still. He was only wearing his blue jeans and his red sneakers, so he did look somewhat threatening…if you were in prison with him, at least. "Alright, Nipples McGee, what's with the getup?"
"Oh, this? I just ripped my shirt off to show everyone my sick tats! It's on my back!" Benjamin spun around quickly, showing the bee drawing on his back. Evander cocked an eyebrow at him, just as confused as he was with the last two people he had judged.
"...Alright, so you've already disappointed me in the fit and the talk…talk about a lack of tact, man. Just get your walk over with so I can fail you a third time and move onto the next contestant, capiche?" Evander stepped back a bit, sighing as he waited for Benjamin to walk. When the doofus took his first step, everyone found themselves astounded. He had the stride of a man that was about to tell his boss to go eff himself before quitting and heading to his ex-boss's house to meet up with his wife. It was odd how everyone came to that conclusion, but nonetheless, that was what came to mind. He came full circle, stopping right back where he started and giddily smiling at the guest. "Man…that was the coolest stride I've seen in a good long while. Seriously, you walk like you don't give a damn…I like that. Keep your mouth shut and toss an old shirt on and you're cool as can be."
Benjamin snickered to himself while Evander moved on to judge the next contestant, this one being Vicente. The reality TV pro simply ditched the fedora that he typically wore, but he still had the rest of his average outfit on. He looked like a sort of messy gentleman, a look that he honestly rocked well. "Alright, fedora kid, you don't look half bad when you aren't having bad taste in hats, ya dig?"
"Someone with a pompadour is really judging my style choices? That's funny." Vicente smirked at the judge, who was a bit taken aback, as well as impressed by the sudden shift in attitude.
"Not bad, not bad, now how about you-" Vicente wasted no time listening to the man, walking right past him in the middle of his sentence. Evander gasped, watching this boy walk with both hands dug into his pockets with a clear disregard for his superiors was on par with Jianne and her levels of cool. The egoist glared at Vicente as she noticed just how impressed Evander was by him. The pro came back to a stop in front of the judge, staring at him with lazy eyes. "Damn, you definitely know a thing or two about acting cool…I'm impressed, guy."
"Yeah, whatever, man." Vicente scoffed at him again, soon getting a kiss on the cheek from Dusty, who was standing right next to him. This caused him to go bright red, which made Evander lose some of the approval that he previously had towards him.
"And there goes all the cool, right out the window. Cool guys don't blush when they get a peck on the cheek. Back down to second place for you, guy." Evander walked past the boy, getting ready to judge Dusty, who was glaring at him.
"Eh…it's worth it." Vicente continued to blush as he rubbed his cheek with his hand. Dusty kept on glaring at Evander, who was looking her up and down. She had changed attire quite a bit from her normal getup. She was wearing a black tee, which she tied the bottom of into a knot to keep it more like a crop top, while she was wearing black skinny jeans that were…rather tight on her. They seemed like they could rip at any given moment. Finally, she had black boots on, which went right up to her knees.
"Alright, all black, maybe a bit much, but it ain't a bad look on you…'pardner.' You think you can manage a few words without yeehawing it up?" Evander teased the girl, who got red in the face out of anger.
"Now, listen here, ya little rascal! If it weren't for the fact that I ain't got my lasso on me, I'd wrangle ya up somethin' fierce, y'hear?" Dusty continued glaring at the man, who was chuckling at how easy she was provoked. "Consarnit…whatever, just let me do my walk!" The cowgirl started to walk through the grass, both of her hands firmly grasping her pants as if there was a big belt buckle on them. She couldn't help but walk with that southern stride of hers. She eventually came back to the man, who couldn't help but laugh at how miserable she was at this. "Stop laughing!"
"Maybe I would if you weren't so 'giterdone!' Bwahaha! Seriously, you're only getting any points in your outfit, nothing else in that silly cowgirl arsenal worked in your favor." Evander moved on to stand before Amelia, who was wearing that black, long-sleeved shirt of hers with her dark blue pants that had tears at the knees. He looked her up and down, shrugging his shoulders at the ensemble. "It's not the worst outfit I've seen today, but nothing about it really speaks to me on any level of cool. Just…average."
"Well, maybe it's just your eyes that aren't cool, ever think about that?" Evander nodded at the nasty tone in Amelia's voice, showing much approval for the talk she did. He backed up a bit, allowing her to start her walk, which was extraordinarily…plain. Seriously, much like her outfit, there wasn't much to be gained from watching her walk the walk. It didn't strike any chord with Evander, who simply shrugged his shoulders at the sight. "Seriously? Whatever, I don't need to impress you."
"That talk is your strong suit, but nothing else is doing you any justice. Guess that leaves you sitting pretty low on the cool standings." Evander shrugged once more, leaving an angry Amelia to move on to Damien, who was still dressed up as he normally dressed, though he had his hands tucked into the pockets of his blazer. "Looking like your typical high school jock, gives somewhat of a cool vibe, nothing to write home about, though. Better than the last girl, anyways."
"Really? Dang, I thought it wasn't that bad…oh, I mean…uh, whatever man, I don't care." Damien tried to regain a sort of cool vibe with his talking, though it was obvious that Evander was plenty displeased with him as things were. "Ah, crud…okay, I'll just move onto the walk, sorry, sorry." The theater kid started walking in step, having practiced almost entirely on the walk, and nothing else. He was able to maintain a look of disinterest as well as a vibe of importance with each step he took. Evander stroked his goatee as he watched him walking back. "Was that alright?"
"You know man, you got the right sway when you walk, even if your outfit is plain and your talk is sappy. Guess you're sitting right at that same bar with some of the others…still a little better than the last chick, though." Evander patted the boy on the shoulder, ignoring Amelia as she glared at him. The judge pressed along to the next contestant in line, which was March in her elegant look. He had to double take, much like everyone else who had seen her beforehand. "Yo, lady…I told you to dress up like you're cool and you're all dressed up like you're on your way to the homecoming dance. What gives?"
"Huh? You said to dress up cool, so I did!" March pointed to her dress with one hand and her jacket with the other. "See? Lilac dress, blue jacket…both of those are cool colors!" The artist smiled sweetly and innocently while the judge just sat there in disbelief. "Look, I'm an artist, I think I know which colors are cool and which colors are warm."
"March," Alexis, who was the last contestant in line, leaned over to the artist, a concerned look on her face. "You do realize he meant cool as in…like, cool things, not cool colors. The kind of cool that you go tell all your friends about, not the kind of cool that you use in painting."
"Oh…oh!" March blushed from the sudden realization, feeling like a total ditz. "A-Alexis, you saw me before, why didn't you tell me to change back then."
"Oh, don't go pinning your lack of situational awareness on me!" March was taken aback by Alexis' snappy attitude, though Alexis herself didn't even mean to come off that snappy.
"Alright, do your walk already, artsy girl. I'm disappointed with everything you've done so far, so you'd better pull off a miracle with this last portion if you don't wanna lose." March gulped, feeling threatened by Evander's bluntness. She started to walk forward, though her heel got stuck in the dirt, and she fell forward onto her face. The man shook his head at her in disappointment. "Wow…literal fail after fail after fail. Maybe spend less time in school and spend more time learning how to be cool if you really wanna stand the test of style, ya dig?"
Evander moved on to Alexis, leaving March down in the dirt. Alexis definitely had some style with the outfit she was wearing, and she had her arms crossed with her chin turned up to the man as he looked her over. "You know, you definitely show some cool style, girl. Not to mention I know you got the talk down pat, with how you made sure to put that artsy dweeb in her place. Show me your walk, kid."
"Certainly," Alexis stepped past the man, ignoring March as she glared at her from the ground. The artist tried to dust herself off before getting back up to her feet, looking back at the other contestants to see that not one of them was worried about her in the slightest. She let out a soft sigh, sure that she had failed. Alexis finished her walk, which was nothing to write home about, but not as bad as some of the others.
"...Eh, that's all I really got for you. Nothing crazy cool or anything like that." Evander shrugged his shoulders, heading back to the center of the group before looking back at Jianne with a grin. "Well, one of you definitely showed that you're cooler than the rest of these cats. The winner is gonna be-"
The door to the boy's cabin suddenly burst open, a shadowy figure standing in the doorway. "'Sorry, am I late?' That's what I'd ask if I gave a damn. Who cares what you dorks think? I'll be as late to the party as I please." The voice sounded a lot like Nicolás, a revelation that shocked Natt greatly. The nerdy boy stepped out into the light, revealing the outfit he was wearing. A yellow tee shirt, which was turned backwards, and a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. On his hands, he was wearing black, leather gloves, much like Evander's. As far as his pants situation went, blue jeans that sagged enough to show off his tighty whities. His black sneakers had the laces untied, but his aura showed that he just didn't care what anybody thought about him.
He started to walk towards the group, bumping into Luna hard enough to knock her down into the dirt. "Whoops! Better watch where you're standing while I'm walking here, dweeb!" Nicolás came to a stop in front of everyone, staring off into the distance without a care in the world while everyone's jaws had dropped. Slowly, but surely, Evander began to clap for the boy.
"The sass…the walk…the utter disregard for what anybody thinks…it's perfect. This nerd is the coolest kid around here…his outfit is shabby, but it really shows that he doesn't give a good damn about who's watching him." Evander held the coupon out to the boy, who struggled to grab it from him, due to the lack of glasses, though he did eventually get his hands on it. Everyone was still astonished by the sight, and Evander was still impressed. "You win, guy…artsy girl, you're out of here…and I'm out of here. This show only gets so much Evander time. Peace out, dweebs!"
With those parting words, Evander headed back for his amphibious car, getting into it before driving out of the bubble and vanishing from everyone's sight.
Confessional
"Damn it! I was supposed to win this challenge!" Jianne slammed her fist against the wall, rage in her face. "Mark my words, Nick…you're gonna get yours for stealing my spotlight. I promise you that."
"Thank goodness I only knocked over Luna…I was worried that I might've bumped into March or something…it sucks that she's leaving, though." Nicolás seemed a bit ashamed of how he had acted in the challenge, though the coupon in his hands reminded him that he merely did what he had to do. "Sweet, free glasses, here I come!"
Confessional End
The contestants met back in the fish bowl, with Poseidon and Amphitrite standing next to the podium while March stood before the Water Slide of Shame. "March, it's sad to say, but it looks like you're due to leave Atlantis already…again. I suppose you really don't have much shelf life down here."
"I wouldn't say that…'' March glanced over her shoulder, glaring at Alexis, who rolled her eyes at her. "I would just say that some people just want to watch others fail. Hmph…adios, Atlantis!" With that, March jumped into the water slide, sliding all the way down to the Submarine of Losers for the second time…and marking the second contestant that Alexis "got eliminated."
"Well, we're getting closer and closer to the final stretch of contestants, with only eleven of them left in the game at this point!" Poseidon clasped his hands together, smiling at the camera. "Who will be the next diver to rise from the ocean? Will Chris be back to normal soon? Find out, next time, on Total Drama: Lost City!"
Author's Notes:
*Gasp! What do you mean one of the returnees is getting eliminated so early after just coming back? I know, I know, it's wild. Last season, the returnees made deep runs after their comebacks, but it won't always necessarily be like that. This time around, March came back just to add some tension with some of the others, her getting fourth was already huge in SS. In any case, it was fun to have her back for a brief moment.
*Placements: 22nd - Crustacean; 21st - Thomas; 20th - Archie; 19th - Anne; 18th - Alex; 17th - Taylor; 16th/15th - Liz/Tony; 14th - Flint; 13th - Gretchen; 12th - March