Chris was finally back to his regular self, happily strolling around through the fallen space station while whistling a happy little tune. He went to a certain room, tapping his fingers on a few buttons on a keypad that was next to the door, allowing it to open up suddenly. The host opened his eyes once he entered the room, staring at a podium in the dead center of a room. There was a spotlight on the podium, although there wasn't anything on it. He paused for a brief moment, soon rubbing his eyes and staring back at the podium blankly. Just seconds after that, he let out a howling scream that echoed throughout the entirety of the space station, cueing Chef, Amphitrite, and Poseidon to come running to the scene.
Each member of the hosting quartet gasped at the sight, with Chris turning back to look at them with fear in his eyes. "How could this have happened!? One day, everything is fine, the next day, the five million dollars are just gone!? Vanished!?"
"I-I don't know, I didn't see anybody on the cameras when I was doing my checks." Amphitrite gulped nervously as she approached the podium, taking a closer look at it to see if the briefcase with the money was hiding anywhere. Of course, it wasn't, only causing her to look back at the others with a pale expression.
"Man, this is messed up…I'm gonna find out who took the money and show them a thing or two about messing with us. You hear me, thief?" Chef punched his fist into his palm, a menacing grimace on his face. "I find you, and you're dead meat!"
"I just don't understand who could've done this…you don't think that it might've been one of the kids, do you?" Poseidon tapped his chin in thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No…that's ridiculous. They know that if we caught them, there would be severe consequences for something of this caliber. But, if it wasn't them, who could it have been?" The hosts paused in thought, each of them huddled in the room.
"Ahem," a throat was cleared from the doorway, immediately grabbing the attention of the hosts. There stood a boy, a briefcase in one hand while he had his other hand on the keypad to the door. He stood at six feet tall, with tanned skin that let people know he spent a lot of time outside. His eyes were grey, and they were fixed on the hosts with an expression that read "look at you fools." His hair was blonde in color, a decent length and curly at that, though it was mainly kept under a grey beanie. He was lean, yet toned at the same time, a swimmer's build to him. As far as his outfit went, he wore a medium-toned jean jacket, which he left unbuttoned over his white tee shirt. He had a gray duffel bag slung over his left shoulder, which rested against his back. To complete the fit, he had skinny jeans on that matched the color of his jacket, with rips in the knees. He had on black sneakers that looked as if he had been using them for the past few years without a single swap. "Hate to interrupt the freakout and everything…who am I kidding? I love to interrupt a freakout! I found this briefcase, and I dunno what it was, but I figured 'Hey! That looks like something I should have!' I'm sure you fellas understand. But with that out of the way…I kinda don't want you to follow me on my way out of here, so…"
The boy pressed a button on the keypad, effectively shutting the door and leaving the four hosts in the room. He chuckled to himself as he started walking away from the room. "What a bunch of morons…"
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 causing 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.
The final ten contestants sat in the cafeteria, each of them eating breakfast while they waited for Chris to inevitably ruin their peace and quiet. Jianne made sure to distance herself from Benjamin, tapping her fork against the table while glaring him down, though he was too nonchalant to quite notice this. Zachary kicked his feet up on one of the tables, landing them right in Nicolás' food, only causing the nerd to sigh before giving up his meal without a fight. Vicente and Dusty sat next to each other, playfully feeding each other cereal while Amelia rolled her eyes at them. Luna and Alexis were sitting at direct opposite sides of one of the tables, though they were both staring each other down intensely. Then, there was Natt, who was patiently waiting to see if Poseidon would be around so that he could ask him about the Father Time spiel.
Bonnie strolled into the cafeteria, hesitantly glancing over at Benjamin before shaking her head and looking over the rest of the contestants. "Hey, babes and studs…any of you guys seen the hosts? Kinda been waiting to find out what my daily duties are, but I haven't seen them at all."
"Huh? That's weird…no, we haven't seen them yet." Natt shrugged his shoulders loosely. "I figured you would've been the first to see them, considering that you also have your room in the space station, with the rest of them."
"Yeah, I dunno…I mean, maybe we don't have much to do today? I dunno what it is, but it just feels weird not being bossed around like a dog." Bonnie had a perverse smile on her face for a moment, thinking dirty thoughts to herself before everyone's solace was interrupted by the sound of pans clattering in the kitchen. Everyone looked over at the kitchen to see the source of the noise, only to see the mysterious boy from before standing there with a look of shock on his face.
"...Wowee, these pans sure are crammed in here…how am I supposed to make myself a hearty breakfast without making a mess if they're bursting from the drawer like that?" The boy laughed awkwardly, though everyone was still staring at him with curiosity in their minds. "...Oh! My manners seem to have slipped my mind. The name's Kenny Jackson!"
"K-Kenny Jackson!? The Kenny Jackson!?" Alexis stood up from her seat with an expression of pure excitement on her face.
"Who's Kenny Jackson?" Zachary yawned as he looked back over at Alexis, arguably the least interested in the whole situation. The girl rushed over to the actor, grabbing him by his shirt and shaking him violently.
"Kenny Jackson is the one and only traveling music man! No one has seen his face, since he records everything with a mask on, but he's super popular! Truly a one man boy band!" Alexis dropped Zachary to the floor, rushing over to Kenny and holding out a pen and pad to him. "C-can I please get your autograph, Mr. Jackson?"
"Sorry, dame…Kenny doesn't do autographs." The musician patted Alexis on the head, causing her to swoon. "You seem like a fan, so you should know that."
"Y-yeah…" The girl was a bit dejected, but even more convinced that this guy was the genuine article. The rest of the contestants were still confused with what was happening, and Kenny shrugged his shoulders before hopping the kitchen counter and standing before them with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, see, I was kinda in the middle of prepping a song down here, but I can't much do that now. Whenever I find a new group of people, it puts me in a weird state of…hm…how do I put this…ah! Permanent jet lag!" A piano started lightly playing in the background, causing the contestants to look around in confusion while Kenny tapped his feet. "What's wrong? Surely you guys know what jet lag is!"
"W-well…yeah, that's when you go into a different time zone. It messes up your sleep schedule and your inner clock." Nicolás shared his knowledge of the subject, soon getting a pat on the back from the mischievous boy.
"See, you're onto it, fella! Problem with me is that, well, it ain't the time zones that do it to me. It's the people! Everybody's so different, everyone wants an autograph, everyone loves me…I just wanna have a good time, traveling the world!" The piano started to get a little louder with a nice upbeat tune. Kenny had his briefcase in hand, which he held tightly in one hand.
"So, you're saying you wouldn't wanna stop anywhere and soak in the fame? Seems like kind of a waste of that type of popularity, to me." Amelia rolled her eyes at the boy, knowing well that she would rather take everything in stride and enjoy fans all over the world.
"Nah, nah…you just aren't getting it! I'm sure I've got a better way to lay this out for you so that everyone will understand…hm…I got it!" Kenny snapped his fingers, a grin on his face. His foot tapping was in rhythm with the piano at this point, and he soon slid over to Amelia, wrapping his free arm around her shoulder and gesturing to the window with his other hand, pointing out at the open sea. "Have you ever wanted to disappear and join a monastery, go out and preach on Manic Street?"
The boy sang in a joyful tune, most people seeing exactly why he was famous for this kind of thing. He let go of Amelia, jumping up on the table and looking down at everyone with that gleeful look on his face. "Who will I be when I wake up next to a stranger on a passenger plane? A passenger pla-a-ane!"
Kenny paused for a moment, the music still playing while he looked around at everyone, letting out a light chuckle. "Heh, come on folks…you're starting to get it now, right?" Blank stares were sent back to him from all except Alexis, who was about to explode from excitement. "Guess I'll have to spell it out for you…"
He jumped down from the table, standing in front of the doorway to the cafeteria and tapping his feet in tune again. "Permanent jet lag! Please take me back…please take me baaaaaaaaaack, whoa oh!"
Benjamin stood up from the table he was sitting at, clapping his hands to the tune of the song and bobbing his head from side to side. "I'm a stray dog sick! Please let me in!"
"Heck yeah, now you're getting the hang of it!" Kenny rushed over to Benjamin, patting him on the back while the simpleton kept on clapping and smiling. "Sing it with me now!"
"The mad key's tripping, singing vows before we exchange smoke rings!" Benjamin and Kenny sang together, with some of the other contestants mumbling in confusion for a brief moment before the singer jumped back on the table, soon pulling Benjamin up with him. The two wrapped one arm around the other, kicking their feet in unison. "Give me a pen, call me Mr. Benzedrine!"
Bonnie smirked at the two boys, soon jumping up to the table with them and getting a grin back from Kenny as she started singing along. "But don't let the doctor in, I wanna blow off steam, man! Call me Mrs. Benzedrine, but don't let the doctor-"
The three on the table faced everyone that was sitting down, all singing together now. "Don't let the doctor in!" The piano kept playing while Kenny hopped down from the table, smiling at each and every person in the room while Benjamin and Bonnie clapped their hands to the tune together.
"See, it's gotta be clear now? I know the message is getting to some of you?" The singer looked around, seeing that Natt was raising his hand out of curiosity. "How can I help you, Dracula?"
"I think I'm starting to understand what you're saying…but I'm still a little lost. What does that permanent jet lag feel like?" Natt scratched his chin in thought before Alexis jumped over to him, still looking as excited .as ever
"I know this one, I know it!" Alexis happily looked over at Kenny, who nodded his head at her before she started to jump up and down with glee. "It feels like fourteen carats, but no clarity! When I look at the man who would be king, the man who would be king!"
"That's exactly what it feels like!" Kenny danced over to the girl, kissing her on the cheek and causing her to coo and fall to the ground. "Come on, someone else hop in on this! I know you're all feeling it!"
Vicente stood from his seat, Dusty looking up at him while he snapped his fingers to the beat. "He goes to the desert, the same war his dad rehearsed! They came back with flags on coffins and said-"
Dusty jumped up after him, wrapping her hands around his waist to hug him while she started to sing. "'We won, oh, we won!'"
Jianne finally got up from her seat, her arms crossed while she lightly tapped her fought on the ground. "Permanent jet lag! Please take me back…please take me baaaaaaaaaaack, oo-oo-oo-oo-oh!"
Zachary got up this time, standing up on the table and pushing Benjamin and Bonnie off of it with a proud look on his face. "I'm a stray dog sick! Please let me in! The mad key's tripping, singing vows before we exchange smoke rings!"
Luna and Amelia got up together, swaying from side to side as they took lead of the group, with Kenny nodding his head at them, that grin of his still present. "Give me a pen, call me Mrs. Benzedrine! But don't let the doctor in, I wanna blow off steam, man!"
Natt plucked Nicolás up from his seat, bringing him to his feet so they could dance around and sing as well. "Call me Mr. Benzedrine! But don't let the doctor, don't let the doctor in!"
"Oh-oh-oh!" Kenny got in the middle of the group, all of which were now dancing and smiling along with the song. "Oh-oh-ohhhhhh!"
The singer climbed on top of the table, still holding his briefcase while all the contestants stared up at him. All the boys were on the left side, clapping their hands for him and singing together. "Ba-ba-ba-ba-benzedrine, my my my benzedrine. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-benzedrine, ahhh!"
He looked over to the girls, which were on the right side. He snapped at them with his free hand, cueing them to take a turn at singing. "Ba-ba-ba-ba-benzedrine, my my my benzedrine. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-benzedrine, ahhh!"
"You guys still want a little more from me, huh? I don't know…I think we covered it all…except…" Kenny grinned as he saw that no one was looking at the door to the outside, continuing to snap his fingers while tapping his foot. "Only one book really matters, the rest of the proof is on the television, the…woo!" He jumped off of the table, soon being caught by the group, who set him delicately on the ground before they all bunched up together to sing again.
"Call me Mr. Benzedrine! But don't let the doctor in, I wanna blow off steam, man! Call me Mr. Benzedrine! But don't let the doctor…don't let the doctor i-in!" The group continued to dance and sing about while Kenny waltzed out through the door, not a single one of them seeing him go. "Have you ever wanted to disappear?" Each contestant, and the intern gestured to the door together, hoping that Kenny would be there, only to see that he was gone from the scene.
"...Well, that was just plain weird. I honestly had no clue what we were even singing about that whole time." Jianne rubbed the back of her neck while she sat back down at the table.
"I-I can't believe he's gone, just like that! He really is the one and only Kenny Jackson! Ah…I'm never washing this cheek ever again!" Alexis rubbed the cheek that Kenny had kissed, blushing intensely while Amelia shook her head at her in disappointment. Meanwhile, the hosts were still stuck in the room from before, Chef slamming his fist against the door, trying to break free.
"Dammit! That boy played us like a fiddle! Anyone else have any bright ideas?" The co-host looked back at the other three to see that Chris was holding a radio up to the air, trying to get good reception on it. "...Man, what are you doing?"
"I'm just testing something…let me see here…" The radio finally emitted a feedback noise, causing Chris to grin at it before speaking into it, his voice echoing throughout all of Atlantis. "Attention divers! We're having a change of plans for today's challenge! We've got a handsome intruder in Atlantis that snatched up the money and locked us up! If you don't wanna be eliminated tonight, you'd better catch that boy!"
Just after that announcement, Chris's voice cut from the speakers, with his reception fading from him. Kenny winced as he walked outside, having heard the announcement. "...Well, there ain't no way that those goons are gonna catch me after that snazzy number. Seriously, I bet they're still starstruck from that performance!" The singer chuckled before glancing over his shoulder to see that all ten of the contestants were barreling out through the door, each running straight for him. "C-crap on a cracker!" He started running away as fast as he could, taking a detour through the circus sanction of Atlantis, which they followed him into.
Confessional
"See, I was a little worried this would've happened if I stopped to get a snack…but damn it, I can't just go and ignore my needs! Can't much be self-sufficient on an empty stomach, can you?" Kenny rubbed his gut with his hand, smirking devilishly at the camera.
"He…fooled me! That wasn't Kenny Jackson at all! It was just some bozo that was pretending to be Kenny Jackson so he could dupe us!" Alexis clenched her fist tightly with fire burning in her eyes. "For this, you will pay!"
Confessional End
The contestants ventured into the main circus tent, which had been repaired after Benjamin destroyed it many days ago. Thankfully, it was green in color this time around, so he had nothing to fear as long as he remained blissfully unaware of what Dusty's true hair color was. Natt was up in the audience seats, looking around to see if he was hiding in any of them, only for his search to come up empty. "Hm…this guy's pretty good. The tent's basically just one big, open area, but we can't see him anywhere."
"Yeah, tell me about it…I've been looking so hard, too!" Natt looked over his shoulder to see Kenny shrugging his shoulders and sighing. The dull boy tried to grab him, only to be shoved back, which caused him to trip over the seats and stumble back to the ground. The rest of the contestants looked over at the seats, seeing Kenny standing up there and laughing down at them. "Come on, fellas! We just had a grand old time and now you're chasing after me like a bunch of savages!"
"You lied to us! You said you were famous, but you're actually just some weirdo that's trying to steal the money so we can't win it at the end of the season!" Amelia hissed her words at the boy, causing him to reel back and gasp in shock.
"I…I must say, I'm hurt by your harsh words. Oh, woe is me…I've been called a weirdo by a group of clowns. Could I ever sink lower than this?" Kenny fake sobbed while Amelia gritted her teeth at him. Alexis pointed dead at him with the rage of a million fire ants in her soul, soon running at him like a locomotive on steroids. He sighed as he saw her coming, leaping right over her head and grabbing onto a trapeze bar with his free hand, soon swinging all the way up to the platform near the ceiling and looking down at everyone while shaking his head. "I really do appreciate the adoration that I'm getting from all of you, but I kinda wanna leave, and you're really making it hard to do that."
"Why are you trying to snatch up that money, anyways? It belongs to one of us, not you!" Zachary ran over to the ladder below the platform, starting to climb it while glaring at the boy who was all the way at the top.
"Hm, that's really a good question. Not sure how I'm supposed to answer it, if I'm being honest. Oh, that's right!" Kenny snapped his fingers as Zachary finally got to the top of the platform, The singer wrapped his ankles around the trapeze bar and swung away from him to another platform on the opposite side of the tent. "I saw a briefcase that had five million smackaroos in it, and I decided that it was something that I needed. That makes sense, right?"
"Ooo, he's got a point there. I would definitely just take the money if I saw it laying around." Benjamin nodded his head in agreement to Kenny's statement until Jianne bonked him on the back of the head with her fist.
"Fat chance of me ever doing that! The competition is the most fun part of it! I wanna earn that money!" The egoist rushed to the other ladder, climbing up to the top platform while Kenny swung back to the middle of the ten, dangling there while taunting both Jianne and Zachary.
"You know, from my perspective, I totally earned this. I mean, I bided my time, I've been here just as long as all of you have, and not one of you saw me before today. I'd say my sneakiness alone proves that this money belongs to me, no?" The singer chuckled to himself while Jianne and Zachary jumped off their respective platforms, aiming to grab onto him while he was hanging there, only for him to swing to the side. The two contestants collided in the air, soon falling down into a pool of mud, which they hadn't noticed before hand. "Oops! Forgot to tell you guys to watch where you're walking…these random mud pools must've gotten put there by a real nutcase."
Kenny started laughing boastfully while swinging side to side on the trapeze, picking up more speed with each and every swing of his. "You know, I would love to play circus games with you guys for the rest of my life, but I heard there's a ferris wheel around here! Super romantic thing, really…I figured I could watch the open ocean up there!" Finally, the singer swung off of the trapeze, going right over everyone's heads and landing outside of the circus tent. "Again, I don't wanna deal with any of you chasing me, soooooo…" The boy plucked up one of the tie downs for the tent, the rest of them soon popping up to follow in suit. The tent came crashing down on top of all the contestants, getting them stuck while Kenny cackled to himself and ran off to the ferris wheel.
One by one, the contestants started to crawl out from underneath the wreckage of the circus tent, each of them annoyed that they were being duped this easily. "Ugh! This guy is making us all look like a bunch of fools!" Luna's face was red with anger as she started running after the boy, with Nicolás soon following after her. "I'm going to be the one to nab him, and then we'll dunk him in a mud pool and see how he likes it."
"Usually, I would be more of one to disagree with you, but you're totally onto something, here! Let's get him!" The nerd felt a lot more confident about chasing after the guy, considering how foolish he was making everyone look. The other contestants followed them in suit, with Jianne and Zachary still covered head to toe in mud from the pool.
Confessional
"Man, ferris wheels are actually really neat. If only I had myself some cotton candy to go with this moment and really fulfill the circus day vibes. Oh, wait…" Kenny lifted one arm from behind his back, revealing that he had a large cone full of pink and blue cotton candy, soon taking a fulfilling bite from it. "Mm mm mm! Gotta love that sugary goodness!"
"It's one thing to trick me into falling into a mud puddle, but making me have to crash into Zachary before hand? That there is where I draw the line, Kenny…if that even is your real name!" Jianne slammed her fists down on her lap, still covered in mud.
"Blech…I think some of that mud got in my mouth…it's such an awful taste…" Zachary carefully reached into his mouth, pulling something out and revealing that it was just a strand of blue hair. "...Oh, nevermind. It was just Jianne's hair. That explains why it tastes so bad."
Confessional End
Kenny hopped right onto the ferris wheel, watching as the angry mob chased him towards it. He snickered to himself, soon pressing the button to turn the ferris wheel on, causing it to start spinning and carry him to the top. "Sorry, fellas! We can totally continue these wacky charades later, but I really wanna enjoy this ferris wheel! Give me like three minutes and you can go back to chasing me!"
"Ugh! I'm so tired of this guy and his high and mighty attitude!" Dusty grumbled to herself, grabbing her lasso from her side before swinging it around in circles to get some good momentum on it. She then sent it flying towards the boy, who was grinning back down at her. He slid to the side ever so slightly, causing the lasso to catch on a loose bolt in the seat that he was in. "Woah, nelly!" Almost immediately, the force of the ferris wheel tugged Dusty along, picking her up from the ground as she held onto her lasso.
"Dusty! Hang on, mamacita, I'm coming!" Vicente rushed over to the ferris wheel, hopping into one of the seats to go chase after his girlfriend. As the wheel spun a good deal, she was eventually dangling right over him, and he held his arms open wide for her. "Dusty, let go! I'll catch you!"
Dusty looked down towards Vicente, seeing just how high up she was and her face going pale. "I-I dunno about that, Vicho! I don't wanna fall and become a cowgirl splat on the ground!"
"Trust me!" Vicente kept shouting up to her, still right beneath her. She gulped nervously, her grip eventually slipping from the rope, causing her to fall. She screamed all the way, shutting her eyes tightly. It wasn't long before she fell down into Vicente's arms, and she soon opened her eyes to stare up at him. "That's for rescuing me from that fish, before!" The boy chuckled, with Dusty leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, causing him to blush brightly.
"Aw, would you look at that? I told you guys that ferris wheels were super romantic! Really warms my heart to see couples all happy like this." Kenny sniffled to himself, pretending to be touched by the scene while everyone went back to glaring at him.
"Well, he's just an idiot! We'll wait for him at the bottom of the ferris wheel, and when he gets down here-" Luna was interrupted by Alexis, who had fire coming out of her ears and mouth.
"I'll tear him limb from limb!" The boy band lover spoke fiercely, causing Kenny to gulp while he looked down at her. He glanced around at his surroundings, soon smirking as he noticed something in the distance.
"You know, on second thought, ferris wheels are super lame. I think I'm just gonna get off of this one now, I'm bored!" The crowd gasped while Kenny jumped off of his seat, watching as he landed on top of a prize tent, bouncing off of it and safely landing on the ground. He looked back at the others, waving at them before he started running back through the eccentric gardens, which Amphitrite herself had put together.
Confessional
"This guy is really crafty, I have to hand it to him…still, it was super impressive to see Vicente catching Dusty on that ferris wheel." Natt loosely clapped his hands for his former teammate's bravado.
"That was the most frightening experience I ever did sit through, but of course my Vicho would be able to catch me. Such a sweetheart, that little rascal!" Dusty rested her head with her hands on either side of her chin, blushing and smiling at the camera.
Confessional End
The hosts continued sitting in the room, each of them on the floor in waiting. Chris looked down at his watch, narrowing his eyes at it as he noticed how long it had been since he gave that announcement about the intruder. "Ugh…it's already been an hour and those kids still haven't caught that guy? Seriously, talk about a real lack of reliability."
"Oh, Chris, it isn't all that bad…I'm sure that we'll have them coming here in no time with good news about the money. We can deal with the intrude properly then." Poseidon undid his suit jacket, leaving just his dress shirt underneath. "Now, if only it weren't so very hot in this room…it's like a sauna."
"Ah, you see, that's kind of the thing about this room. Back when we had the space station built, we built this room in mind with several defense mechanisms, though since the crash, they haven't been working exactly as they should." Chris pulled his shirt off as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. "When the room is opened, it's supposed to start getting really hot over time, so that you can't just stay in here forever and ogle the money."
"That's unfortunate to hear…just how hot does the room end up being?" Amphitrite was sweating as well, undoing her vest while panting from the heat.
"...Oh, nothing too horrible…just like a hundred degrees or something like that." Chris whistled nervously while Poseidon and Amphitrite shared a worried glance between each other.
"...Surely you mean one hundred degrees fahrenheit, right?" Poseidon laughed nervously as he unbuttoned his dress shirt and slid it off, leaving him completely shirtless, though he was still heating up like crazy. He got no answer from Chris, who continued to whistle until Chef, who was already down to just his boxers, grabbed him and shook him like a madman.
"HOW HOT IS IT GONNA GET IN HERE, MCLEAN!?" Chris's eyes rolled around as he was shaken until Chef finally set him down on the ground again.
"Look, it's just gonna get pretty hot. If I were you guys, I would try not to move around that much…it'll only make things worse for all of us." The host group all laid down on the ground, each of them down to only their underwear while sweating enough to form a pool of sweat in the room. "B-besides…before long, the snow machine should be kicking on, and it'll make it all better?"
"The what!?" The other three hosts snapped up from the floor, freaking out at the words that Chris had said until the ceiling opened up and dumped an enormous pile of snow over each of them.
"See? The heat doesn't seem so bad now, does it?" Chris's muffled voice came from under the blanket of snow, ushering in a joint groan from the other three hosts.
Back at the gardens, the contestants were wandering the marble streets, looking at the intricate arches of plants and the beautiful statues that had no doubt been carved by hand. Natt approached one of the statues, running his hand along the surface of it before pulling it back. "Man…they really did put a lot of effort and money into making this place as nice as it could be. This craftsmanship couldn't have been cheap."
"Bah, who cares about craftsmanship? Right now, we've got a capital a Asshole to be catching!" Zachary shoved the statue aside with one hand, only for Natt to catch it before it fell to the ground. He tipped it back up so that it wasn't in danger of falling, soon glaring at the actor who had little to no regard about what he did to everything around him.
"I still don't really understand what's going on…I mean, we don't know who this guy is, or what he does." Nicolás adjusted his glasses as he looked through the streets, trying to pick the guy out from the elaborate garden. "First thing you know, he's doing a whole song and dance about jet lag, next minute, he's going around making us all look dumb and stealing the money from the competition."
"Man, I don't know if that's the actual order of those two things happening." The group heard Kenny's voice further down the path, and they all looked over to see him standing on top of a water fountain. It was incredibly tall, and they weren't really sure how he got up there in the first place. "And, no offense, but do you really need to know anything about who I am or what it is that I do?"
"There you are, you fraud!" Alexis stampeded towards the water fountain, slipping on a slick of water that Kenny had laid down on the ground so that it would be hard to walk around there. He chuckled to himself as he saw her fall to the ground, crouching down at the top of the fountain and smirking at everyone.
"I like to think of myself as more of a poet. Just the kind of poet that weaves words in speech rather than on a page." The contestants looked up at him with absolutely no sense of what it was that he was saying to them, only to get a groan back from him. "Come on now, I'm not being that confusing…I just know you guys are gonna make me do another musical number to explain myself, aren't you?"
"I mean, you really don't have to do that. You could just come down here so we can get our money and beat the crap out of you while we're at it!" Luna shook her fist at the boy as she shouted at him, though he only shook his head at them.
"Meh, kinda too late. I'm really feeling sing songy today, you know? And a one, and a two…" Kenny snapped his fingers, soon causing a guitar to start playing a rather intense tune and startling the contestants who didn't see anyone around them playing any guitar at all. "I got my stitches stitched, I got my fixes fixed and, in my aching head, I got my kisses slit. Our gossip lips stuttered every word I said. I said." The rest of the group started approaching the fountain, Alexis scrambling to her feet to join them while they carefully walked through the water slick. "I got your love letters, corrected the grammar and sent them back. It's true, romance is dead. I shot it in the chest and in the head."
Kenny had a bit more of a devilish grin than before as he stood up tall and pointed to his own chest with the hand that wasn't holding the briefcase. "And if you wanna go down in history, then I'm your prince! Because they've got me in a bad way, I've never seen a heart I couldn't break!" He then pointed down at the rest of the group, that grin twisting even more than before. "It was never about the songs, it was competition! Make the biggest scene…make the biggest…"
Kenny jumped down from the top of the water fountain, slamming down and causing the water to splash out from it. Each of the contestants was covered in water, and Kenny used the distraction to hop out of the fountain and start running through the streets. They gave chase to him, determined to catch the crafty song weaving trickster. "Which came first, the music or the misery? We're high fashion, we're last chances!" The singer grabbed onto a tree branch, swingin around in a loop and jumping off, causing him to land behind the group, who all skidded to a halt. "Which came first, the music or the misery? We're high fashion, we're last chances!"
"Ugh! You really are a pain in the a-" Jianne was interrupted by Kenny waving his finger at her with a cocky smile on his face.
"Language!" Jianne growled behind her teeth, soon running full speed at Kenny before slipping on the water that was all around him and going flying into the water fountain. "Man, you guys really don't pick up on these things quickly. I mean, you all saw me splash that water everywhere, remember?"
"Get him!" Dusty shouted, cueing the rest of the contestants to start barreling towards Kenny. The singer sighed before turning to run again, shaking his head all the while.
"This always happens…sing for everyone, and they still wanna chase you down for stealing something. Figures." Kenny took a turn down a path that was really tight with bushes on both sides of him. He was able to make it through with ease, though the angry mob had a bit more difficulty with it because they kept bumping into each other. "I'm casually obsessed and I've forgiven death. I am indifferent, yet, I am a total wreck."
Kenny pushed through all the bushes, turning around to taunt the group while they struggled to make it through. He fanned himself off with the briefcase of money, only making them angrier than before. "I'm every cliché, but I simply do it best."
When the contestants finally started making it all the way out on the other side, Kenny climbed a tree, jumping from branch to branch on many different trees while his pursuers ran through the streets in the same direction. "And if you wanna go down in history, then I'm your prince!" He flashed a smirk to the group, his teeth shining while he winked at him. "It was never about the songs, it was competition! Make the biggest scene…make the biggest…"
Kenny jumped down from the tree, landing perfectly in the middle of a field, stopping to taunt the group again. As they stepped onto the field, they became entangled by a mass of vines that was along the ground. He snickered to himself while they tried their best to pry themselves free. "Which came first, the music or the misery? We're high fashion, we're last chances!" He walked closer to them, and they started swinging their arms at him to try and grab him, though he was just out of reach. "Which came first, the music or the misery? We're high fashion, we're last chances!"
The singer laughed to himself while he watched the group struggling to break free from their vine prison. "Man, this really has been a fun chase scene and all, but it's not gonna stay fun if you don't even come close to getting me! Seriously, if you keep getting yourselves caught like this, I'm gonna start feeling like a bad guy, and I really don't wanna deal with that whole moral dilemma, you know?"
"Maybe just let us catch you, then?" Nicolás suggested the option to the boy with a smile, only for him to flick him in the nose.
"Nah, I think I 'm good as far as getting caught goes. See you guys later, though!" Kenny turned to start heading towards the exit of the bubble, which was quite a good deal away from him. He had an annoyed look on his face, but he was purposefully hiding it from the contestants. He started singing to himself, but softer than before. "I went to sleep a poet, and I woke up a fraud. To calm my nerves, I'll beat it 'fore I think 'bout it too long."
Kenny came to a skidding halt before reaching the exit, turning back to look at the gardens with that look on his face. It was almost as if he was confused about something, but he couldn't quite put his own finger on it. "Which came first…the music or the misery? We're hi-i-igh fashion…we're la-a-ast chanceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!" He slung his briefcase over his shoulder, shaking off the expression before turning to head right to the exit. "Which came first, the music or the misery? We're high fashion, we're last chances! Both came first, the music and the misery! We're high fashion, we're last chances!"
Confessional
"You know, it does leave a rather crappy feeling on the brain to see these people tripping over themselves and all that. I don't have anything against them, I'm just doing what's gotta be done." Kenny shrugged his shoulders, ignoring how pitiful it was to see the contestants like that. "In any case, I'll be feeling a whole lot better about this whole mess when I'm out of it."
Confessional End
Back in the room from before, the hosts were sitting down in the snow, though there was less of it than before. The heat was still kicking up, so the snow was melting. They still stayed in their underwear, that being the only way to keep their temperature at some sort of equilibrium. "Chris, man…when we get out of here, I am so gonna whoop you something fierce." Chef shook his fist at Chris, who didn't seem to really be threatened by him in the slightest.
"Sure, go ahead and say that, but I never anticipated any of this stuff being used against us. It was more so for the shady folks, like Thomas." Chris sighed, slouching down to get covered in as much snow as he could. "Really though, we should probably be thankful that the third mechanism hasn't turned on yet."
"...Should I even ask what the third mechanism is, Chris?" Poseidon raised a wary eyebrow at the host, who shrugged his shoulders and slouched even further down into the snow. "...Alright, I'll bite. Tell me."
"Oh, it's nothing too horrible…you know, just…" Chris's expression suddenly got really intense as he narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows. "...The bees." Chef, Amphitrite, and Poseidon all glanced between each other for a moment before all of them suddenly started screaming. They got up from the ground, each slamming their fists all over the door in hopes to break it down, though it was of no use.
"For the love of god, somebody save us from this madman's prison of torture!" Amphitrite hollered out in fear, only for the door to suddenly open, causing all three of them to topple down to the ground. She slowly started to push herself off of the ground, looking down to see that she was laying on top of Bonnie, who hadn't expected anyone to fall on her when she opened the door for them. "Oh, Bonnie! Thank you, thank you!"
The CEO's assistant hugged Bonnie close to her chest, overwhelmed with the joy of escaping the money room. The intern blinked twice, realizing that Amphitrite was only in her underwear and suddenly getting the biggest nosebleed in the world.
Confessional
Bonnie stared dead at the camera with an euphoric smile on her face, drops of blood still falling to the ground from her nose. "...Milf boobies…"
Confessional End
Back at the gardens, the contestants had just about come to terms with the fact that the boy was going to get away no matter what. Natt sighed as he shifted his gaze to the ground, seeing his feet completely tangle and somehow wrapped around Vicente's feet. "...Hm…I dunno if your girlfriend is gonna be too keen about us playing footsies right near her."
"Haha, very funny." Vicente rolled his eyes at Natt, soon stepping down on his foot so that he pinched his toes, causing him to wince a little. "In any case, this is such a pain…all of us are just going to lose this challenge because some guy came in and snatched up the money. Guess that's it for the season, then…what a total rip."
"As if I'm going to let him just get away with all of that money! I'm gonna break my way out of these vines and shove him right up Zach's ass!" Jianne shouted at the top of her lungs, causing Zachary, who was right next to her, to widen his eyes in fear.
"P-please don't do that!" The actor pleaded with the egoist, who quite literally paid him no mind as she kept trying to break free from her viney prison.
"It's useless, Jianne…we've gotten too stuck, and if you keep struggling, we're just going to get even more stuck." Amelia crossed her arms, standing still in the vines at this point. "They should have better security measures than this if people like this Kenny Jackson are just going to be weaseling around like they own the place."
"Kenny Jackson owns this place? Well, it's no wonder that he's trying to take the money! We're all invading the sanctity of his home!" Benjamin chuckled innocently, only for Nicolás to facepalm at his pure stupidity.
"Ben, I promise you that someday we'll sit down together and I will teach you how to not take everything so seriously." The nerd tried to speak in a passive tone, though it was really hard for him to not sound annoyed.
"This is just stupid…incredibly stupid. How could we have all fallen for this?" Luna rolled her eyes, her gaze eventually landing on Alexis, who was slouched down, almost as if she had fallen asleep while standing up. "...Really? You're choosing this moment to take a nap? You really are a piece of work, you know that?"
Everyone turned to face Alexis at this point, just seeing her sway around. Dusty raised an eyebrow at her, entirely confused as to what she was doing. "Er…Alexis? I'm not sure what yer trying to do, but it's kinda freaky, just seeing ya wobbling there like that…"
"...That…" Alexis suddenly clenched her fists and looked up at the sky, fire spewing from her mouth in the most intense rage that anyone had ever seen. "FRAUD!" The vines around the girls ankles snapped entirely, and she burst off into the distance at mach speeds, leaving the other contestants behind and utterly startled by the display of raw power.
Confessional
"...Maybe it was a bad move to get on Alexis' bad side. I had no idea that she was a fire breathing demon from hell." Luna sweat nervously as she shrunk down in her seat. "...S-surely being like this has got to be a one time thing for her…"
Alexis huffed and puffed, a picture of Kenny's face taped to the wall. She grabbed a plastic knife, soon stabbing it so many times that it was impossible to discern what it was anymore. "Prepare to feel my wrath, fraudster!"
Confessional End
Kenny whistled to himself as he walked closer and closer to the exit of the bubble, soon setting the briefcase, as well as his duffel bag, down on the grass. "Almost forgot I wasn't wearing my wetsuit, silly me. Better get that on before I get crushed by the pressure…hehe, what a fitting metaphor." He shook his head, soon unzipping the duffel bag and pulling out his light grey wetsuit. He shook it out, soon sliding one leg into it before hearing a sudden noise behind him. It sounded like a lot of rustling, oddly. "Hm?"
Kenny turned around to see Alexis barreling at him at full speed, his eyes widening at the sight. "I'm going to skin you alive, you fraud!"
"Ack! Too spicy for my tastes!" The singer tried to grab the briefcase from the ground so he could make a run for it, but the second he tried moving his feet, he tripped over his own wetsuit, slamming against the ground hard. He flipped over to face behind him, where Alexis was leaping after him like some sort of monster. "D-don't hurt me! You want the money? You can have it back!" He tossed the briefcase towards the girl, though she slapped it aside, sending it flying backwards before she tackled him, breathing heavily as she stared him down. "You're crazy, girl! What more do you want from me!?"
"You…impersonating…lying…fraud…nobody messes with me and pretends to be one of my favorite musicians and gets away with it! I'm going to-"
"Alexis, please, calm down!" Poseidon cut the girl off, standing behind her with the other hosts, the contestants, and Bonnie, who was being carried by Amphitrite as her nosebleed had practically incapacitated her. The girl grumbled to herself, soon crawling off of Kenny, but grabbing him by his shirt and dragging him towards the group.
"I got him…now the game can keep going, and he can be punished for his insolent wrongdoing!"
"Jeez, you really are intense about the whole Kenny Jackson thing…like, you got me, that ain't me." The boy shrugged his shoulders, only for her to punch him in the back of the head before tossing him to Poseidon. He tried to get up from the ground, though as he was rubbing his aching head, Chef came over and picked him up with one hand. "Haha…you know what's really funny about all of this is that I can explain everything if you just give me a few minutes!"
Chris walked up to the boy, looking him up and down with a curious expression on his face. He tapped at his chin in thought, trying to remember if he had seen him anywhere prior to this. "I don't think I've met you…what did you say your name was?"
"My name? Hehe, well, that's an easy one! Nunya!" Nunya beamed with an excited smile, which soon shifted to a glare of resentment. "Nunya Damn Business."
"Hm…I don't think his name is actually Nunya." Benjamin leaned down to whisper to Nicolás, who let out the most pained sigh that anyone could ever imagine hearing.
"Yeah, very funny. You know, we could just toss you out to the sharks if you don't want us to give you a ride back to wherever your home is." Chris crossed his arms, turning his back to the boy, whose eyes went wide from the threat.
"Alright, I see the game that you're playing at, old man. My name is…Jett Ozark." The boy shifted his glance a little bit, a nervous smile on his face while Chris looked back over his shoulder at him. "Honest! Problem is, at least for you, when you try to ship me away you'll find that I'm a package with no destination! Home's the only word I don't know the meaning of, heh."
Chris turned around again, giving the boy one more good lookover. "You know, I kinda like this pesky rascal. He's got enough clichés and witty comebacks to make a nice addition to our cast here, don't you think so, Chef?"
"What!?" Everyone was astonished to hear what Chris had to say, including Jett, who was staring at the man like he was crazy.
"Yeah, I said what I said. I've got another season planned after this one, and I think adding in as many interesting faces as we can scoop up will boost the ratings. Jett, how would you feel about tagging along for a chance to win some prize money, rather than have to go through all the trouble to steal it?" Chris held his hand out to the boy for him to shake it, only for him to slap it away.
"Yeah, thanks, but I think I'm all good on that hullabaloo. Seriously, tying me down to one place for weeks? Months even? I'd rather be bound by the wrists and forced to drink down buckets of grease drippings from the nearest WcDonald's." Jett turned his nose up at Chris, only for Chef to stare him down with an evil look.
"Aw, well that's a sure shame to hear. I was really hoping we could get a whole bunch of faces around with us, considering that we'll be traveling the world, not stopping in any one place for more than a week at a time." Chris sighed and shrugged his shoulders while Jett's expression was replaced with a declaration of want. "We'll, I guess we can just drop you off at whatever bus stop you think is most convenient for you."
"You know, actually…I think I was just being a bit stubborn for a moment there, one of my few flaws, I must admit." Jett chuckled awkwardly, getting Chef to finally stop glaring him down. "I'd actually love to tag along for your season thingy, sounds like a total blast!"
"C-Chris you can't actually be serious about this boy being allowed to compete next time around!" Poseidon stood before the show's host, who simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "B-but…he just tried to steal the money and all that!"
"Yeah, but you gotta admit, he's an entertaining lil' fella. Besides, if I'm gonna keep the rest of my gang of psychopaths around, I think that stealing is the least of my worries." Chris snickered evilly while Poseidon gave him a disapproving head shake.
"So…Chris. Since I caught him, that means I'm safe from elimination and that we have to vote to eliminate somebody else, right?" Alexis had a grin on her face as she glanced over at Luna before she shook it off and looked back to Chris inquisitively. "Er…I mean, that's what you were saying before, right?"
"Huh? Nah, we aren't gonna do any of that nonsense." The crowd gasped once again, still somehow startled by Chris's antics and quirks every time he did something like this. "I just said all that so you guys would catch the guy and free us from the money room so we could avoid…the bees." The hosts shuddered as Chris mentioned the insects, while the contestants had no idea what he was talking about.
"If that's the case then what are we going to do for the elimination ceremony tonight?" Luna piped up from the shocked atmosphere with a question.
"Hm…" Chris scratched his chin for a brief moment, soon grinning as he looked over at Jett, whose eyes went wide again.
Confessional
"Dang, first day in my new digs and I'm already getting kicked out? Hehe…I think I'm gonna have a fun time with all these fellas." Jett brushed his nose with his thumb, grinning at the camera all the while.
Confessional End
The group met back at the fish bowl, where each of the contestants was glaring at Jett, who was staring back at them while standing on the other side of the Water Slide of Shame. Chris stood behind him with a grin on his face, while the other three hosts were silently judging him by the podium that they usually stood at. "Well, Jett…anything you wanna say to your new co-competitors before we send you off to the wonderful land that all the losers go to?"
"Hm…yeah, I think I've got a few words for everybody. Ahem…it was a sincere pleasure to have you all chasing me around like a bunch of crazy fools earlier. Maybe we do it again sometime?" Jett grinned at the group, only for Chris to shove him forward, right into the water slide. He went tumbling all the way down, landing in the Submarine of Losers, which carried him away from Atlantis.
"Man, I already miss that spunky little dude…oh well!" Chris shrugged his shoulders before turning to face the camera. "We'll get more of that guy next season! As far as things here go, we got a challenge that all the environmentalists are going to love queued up for the next episode of Total…Drama…Lost City!"
Author's Notes:
*I'm pretty sure that nobody remembered, but Jett actually was around in the very first episode of the show! Yep, the guy who was sneaking around on the submarine who was super thrilled about showing up to Atlantis! He, along with Bonnie, will be making their gameplay debut in the sequel to this season, so he just had to have an ep!
*Also, putting it out there again…next episode is an Aftermath! You'll get to ask questions to a whole bunch of people…Tony, Liz, Flint, Gretchen, March, Damien, and even Jett! It'll be a fun one to write!
*Songs Used: 20 Dollar Nose Bleed (Fall Out Boy); The Music or the Misery (Fall Out Boy)
*Placements: No Placement - Sebastian, Haley, Jett; 22nd - Crustacean; 21st - Thomas; 20th - Archie; 19th - Anne; 18th - Alex; 17th - Taylor; 16th/15th - Liz/Tony; 14th - Flint; 13th - Gretchen; 12th - March; 11th - Damien