The lights were completely dim in a rather large room that had been previously undiscovered by the show's contestants, and it was a bit difficult to make out what exactly was happening in the room. A spotlight flickered on, aimed right at the center of some sort of stage where Dana was standing, all by herself. She was dressed rather oddly compared to her typical post-apocalyptic nutjob gear, with her current outfit being a black tuxedo with a white dress shirt and a blue bow tie. Her hair was slicked back to give her the appearance of some game show host, and she grinned at the camera, her teeth sparkling like how one of those hosts' teeth would. "Aaron, I don't see why you're so insistent on hiding from the camera. Chris has Chef doing these things all the time!"
"Miss Dana, I really don't zhink zhat zhis is a good idea at all. Imagine what vill happen vhen zhose contestants see me? Caleb's words are going to be…quite harsh." Aaron gulped nervously, but he couldn't be seen, as he was hiding backstage somewhere. Dana shook her head towards his general direction, and he sighed, stepping out into the open to reveal that he was wearing a sparkly red dress like how one of the lovely assistants from these shows would. His face matched the color of the dress from sheer embarrassment. "I just look silly."
"You look fiiiiiiine." Dana held back her laughter as best as she could, getting a slight glare back from Aaron. "Oh, don't be so prude, you only have to wear the dang thing for today! Besides, it's not like the contestants are here to gawk at you yet!" Aaron sighed slightly, but as he did, the rest of the lights illuminated the stage, revealing that the six contestants were each placed in booths with their names on the front of said booths. Each of them laughed at the co-host, whose face went even brighter red than before. "Ok, I guess they are here already, but it's not the end of the world!"
"I just hope my vater doesn't see zhis." Aaron grumbled as he walked over to where Dana was standing and crossed her arms like a pouting child. Dana kept holding back her laughter, but it eventually became too much for her to bear, and she burst out into a laughter fit unlike any other, rolling around on the ground while screeching like a hyena. "Ugh…zhe last time on Total Drama: Scrap Island, seven contestants vere brought out to zhe ginormous desert in zhe middle of zhe island for a bout of excavational skill. Zhe goal vas to dig up fossils in order to piece togezher a dinosaur from an age long past…a dinosaur fit to rule over all zhe ozher dinosaurs, at zhat! Fridge kept screwing zhings up for Teddy at first vhen he shattered many of zhe bones vith his pickaxes, and Bunny told him he should put zhat sort of help to use by assisting Caleb…who pawned him off on Brittany. Teddy's mutant powers shifted gears for everyone vhen a spark from his body brought all zhe fossils to life, and Dana changed zhe challenge to a duel between zhe bones! In zhe end, despite Calvin appearing to have zhe best dinosaur, he was beaten by Caleb's powerful defense tactics, and Fridge was eliminated for causing everyone too much strife! Vith only six contestants left, it's impossible to tell vhich may fall! Ve vill find out, right now, on Total Drama: Scrap Island!"
The camera suddenly flew into the sky, being struck by a massive chunk of debris and knocking it back to the ground, only to be picked up by a cute, blue and silver striped robot with one wheel that it used to move.
"Dear mom and dad, I'm doing fine," the robot pointed the camera at Theodore at a cafeteria table, pounding down energy drinks like a champ, his eyes twitching from the caffeine while Larida looked concerned for his health.
"You guys are on my mind," at a nearby table, Ronnie was arm wrestling Mitchell, winning easily and slamming him straight through the table, causing Celeste to run over and start screaming at the powerhouse.
"You asked me what I wanted to be and I think the answer's plain to see," the robot wheeled its way out of the cafeteria, showing a junkyard with Vernon scribbling something down in silence and Ivy looking over his shoulder to peek at it, until Blaster popped out of one of the garbage piles, scaring him and making his papers fly off into the sky.
"I wanna be famous!" Vernon ran after his papers, leaving Ivy behind in confusion, eventually passing by Margaret and Daniel as they were making out while surrounded by four intense looking mafia thugs, one who spotted the camera and chased after it.
"I wanna live close to the sun," the robot wheeled away from the mafia goon, passing by Zane and Bunny, the latter who was bugging the boy by holding a mic up to his face, which he tried to shove away.
"So pack your bags, cause I've already won," Fridge carried Caleb on his shoulders across from Aaron, who had Dana on his own shoulders, the two up top slapping at each other as the robot passed by.
"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day," as the robot continued to roll around, it finally made its way out of the junkyard and to the remnants of Cali-Tokyo, where Buck was attempting to profess his love to Yves, who was all flustered by the gesture.
"I wanna be famous!" Nearby, atop a pile of rubble, Brittany was making fun of Valerie, who let out a sigh and pushed her off the pile and onto the ground.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na," near the pile, there were some barrels of toxic waste, which inspired Mitzy, who scribbled something down on a blank sheet while Alice was absolutely appalled by the sight.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" CJ was being chased by a massive and terrifying robot with six legs and two clawed arms, which then noticed the robot with the camera and chased after it, causing it to drop the camera.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" The camera feed cut to the aftermath stage, showing Calvin trying to kiss Max, who, out of embarrassment, belched right in his face.
The two were soon shoved aside by Capone, who rolled his eyes at them, while Sunny, next to him, waved happily to the camera with a huge smile on her face. Maggie popped up between the two of them, an acoustic guitar around her back, hugging them both tightly and snickering while the camera panned out to show the whole cast sitting in the risers, with the little robot sitting next to Caleb, and Franchesco standing off to the side with a glare fixed on Maggie.
The camera cut back to the stage, where Aaron's eyebrow was twitching as each of the contestants laughed at him still. Even Dana was still rolling around on the ground in her howl of laughter, which only added insult to injury. "I cannot believe I am letting myself be ridiculed by all of you." The co-host groaned and walked over to a podium on the far left of the stage, while all the booths that the contestants were standing in were more to the right of the stage. "Miss Dana, vould you kindly go to your podium so I can get on vith zhe explanation?"
Aaron looked back at the host, but she was holding her finger up to him as she continued to cackle horrendously. "J-just one second, Aaron, I…pffffffft! You just look so silly, I can't help myself! Bwahaha!" The prodigy managed to pull herself up off of the floor and slowly fumbled over to the podium that was in the center of the stage, holding her sides all the way. "Okay…okay…I think I'm good now."
"Finally…ahem, contestants, you may have realized somewhere along zhe line zhat me und Miss Dana are dressed up for a classic game show. Of course, most people our age don't vatch game shows, zhey're more of a zhing for parents und grandparents to be zatching on zheir vay to fall asleep on zhe couch. Zhen zhey do zhat obnoxious snore zhat you can hear all zhe vay from your room. It gives me headaches, aye…" Aaron sighed as he rubbed his brow with his hands before reaching down to the podium and slapping a button on it, causing a spotlight to light up the back of the stage with a game show-like logo that read "Are You Smarter than a Prodigy?"
"Vell, zhis challenge vill be entirely based on a game show like zhose! You'll each tak turns answering trivia questions…but you von't be judged on vhether or not you can answer zhe questions. You vill only be awarded points if you are able to answer zhe questions faster zhan Miss Dana!" Aaron grabbed a platter and revealed that it had six stacks of cards on it while Dana grinned at the contestants. "I have split apart questions for each of you, and you vill only be asked questions from your own unique pile!"
"Our cards are in separate piles? Let me guess, you did that as some sort of handicap for the…less than gifted?" Caleb snickered as he glanced over at Teddy, who was making sparks fly from his fingertips while he stood in his booth. The chess player looked back to Aaron to see him nodding.
"It vould be a bit tricky if everyone was given zhe same difficulty questions, considering some of you are just so much smarter zhan zhe others. For instance, Caleb has been given zhe most difficult questions in zhe game, as his IQ is ranked at one-hundred seventy-five. For zhose of you who are vell versed in zhat terminology, zhat means he is exceptionally gifted vith his intelligence." Aaron's comments brought an enormous grin to Caleb's face.
"Wait a minute, how did you guys find out about our IQ levels? I don't remember taking any test or anything like that." Brittany narrowed her eyes at the co-host, who grabbed a pointer stick from his podium and gestured to the back wall, which now had a picture of the application that the contestants had filled out.
"You may not remember, but vhen ve had zhe new contestants apply, ve also had zhe old contestants fill out more modern applications. In zhose, ve sprinkled enough random knowledge questions to gauge zhis score. Caleb vas zhe highest of all zhe contestants, but everyone zhat is still in zhe game vas in zhe top half of scores, vith Teddy being just on zhe border at one-hundred twenty-two." Teddy gasped at this statement, but before he was able to speak, Aaron cut him off. "Relax…you are still considered above average intelligence by zhe standards of zhe IQ test."
Confessional
"I sort of remember the re-application process…and I do recall some of those questions being on there. If we're being completely honest, I wasn't paying much attention when I was filling it out, what with all the videos I was editing at the time, heheh…" Teddy rubbed the back of his neck while sweating and grinning nervously. "I swear, that's not just me trying to make an excuse for why my score was lower than the other five!"
"It really would've been interesting to see how Fridge would have fared in a challenge like this…you've gotta wonder what sort of questions he would've ended up with." Bunny tapped her chin in thought before smirking at the camera. "'What color is the sky?' I bet that would've been on there."
Confessional End
"Now, zhe challenge vill be split up into two periods, the first running up to a brief break time zhat you vill be provided vith to recuperate. Ve vill also be asking all of zhe period's questions to each of you at once. For example, if Calvin is zhe first one to go, he vill be given all five of his questions in order before ve move onto, oh, I don't know, Valerie." Aaron grabbed one of the stacks of cards from the platter and shuffled them into his hands. "As you've seen, zhe cards have been shuffled, so no one knows zhe order zhey vill be in."
"And the winner of the challenge gets immunity, right? Can't be too hard to get a couple of questions answered before Dana does…" Valerie glanced over at Dana, who stuck her tongue out at her in response.
"Not quite…zhis challenge is not one zhat ve vill need a vinner for, really. In fact, zhe only zhing zhat ve are paying attention to is zhe loser of zhe little guessing game!" The contestants looked between each other for a brief moment, each fearing what exactly this may have meant for them. "Zhat's right, whoever manages to get zhe lowest score out of everyone…vill be eliminated tonight, no voting at all!" For the first time ever, Aaron said something that struck fear in the hearts of the contestants. This made him feel pretty good, considering how they were just laughing at him for the dress he was forced to wear. "Do any of you have any questions before ve get right into it?"
Aaron looked over the contestants to see that each of them was completely silent. "Marvelous! Vithout further ado, let's play…Are You Smarter than a Prodigy!" The co-host clapped his hands and cued some fancy game show tune to start playing.
Confessional
"This is definitely gonna be a tough challenge to beat…I'm well aware that Agent Starshine is much smarter than your typical fourteen year old. At least the questions will be sort of geared towards each of our intelligence levels, so Agent Davidson won't just up and win without anyone else having any chance whatsoever." Calvin let out a sigh and glanced at the floor. "Still though…the threat of sudden death elimination isn't something that anyone wants to deal with."
"Ah…a chance to show that I'm smarter than that little brat has finally presented itself! You better fucking believe that I'm not going to go easy on her in this little bout of wits, no no! That's right, Dana, I'm gonna show everyone who really owns the biggest brain on this island!" Caleb stood atop the confessional toilet in a proud stance, but he lost his balance and fell down to the floor with a thud.
Confessional End
As the music started to fade, Aaron continued to shuffle the pile of cards that was in his hands already, just for good measure. "Alright, zhe first contestant zhat vill be performing in zhis challenge vill be…Valerie!" The spotlight that was currently on the center of the stage shuffled over to Valerie, while another spotlight stayed lit up on Dana, and a third kept Aaron in the loop. "Valerie, as I said, you vill be given five questions in zhis round, each geared towards your IQ level. You need to answer zhem before Miss Dana does in order to get a point. Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Valerie rolled her eyes and lounged back in her booth while Dana cracked her knuckles and got ready for the questions to be answered.
"Alright, in zhat case, let's get zhis show on zhe road. Ahem, Valerie, your first question is going to be…'Your friend, a caterpillar, entered a cocoon a week ago, und today, zhey came out as a beautiful butterfly. However, your other friend, another caterpillar, entered zheir cocoon at zhe same time, but came out three days later as a moth. Zhe only difference between vhat zhe two did is zhat zhe now-butterfly cocooned in a tree chile zhe now-moth cocooned in someone's attic. Vhy did zhe two of zhem turn out as different creatures?'"
"...Well, if the only difference between the two was the setting, then the setting's obviously the reason that the two ended up being different, obviously." Valerie rolled her eyes again, but she was a bit shocked to hear the noise of a buzzer sounding off to tell her that she was wrong. "Eh…? But you said that was the only difference between what the two did."
"Between what the two did, yes, but not between the two in general." Dana tapped her forehead with her finger, getting a glare back from Valerie. "The answer to this question is that the two caterpillars were different breeds."
"Miss Dana is right!" Aaron clapped while a dinging bell sounded, the noise of which made Valerie even more annoyed than before. "Let's move onto zhe second question, yes? 'Sally valks to school everyday instead of taking zhe bus. Zhe journey to school takes her ten minutes. Tom valks home from school everyday, und his journey only takes him six minutes. One day, zhey switch zhings up und Tom valks to school vhile Sally valks from school. How long does it take each of zhem?'"
"It takes Tom ten minutes to walk to school and Sally…wait a minute, this is another trick question! It takes Tom six minutes and it takes Sally ten minutes, the same as it normally would!" Valerie seemed to be getting onto Aaron's tricks, which only brought a grin to the co-host's face as the bell dinged for a correct answer. "Ha! You can't keep fooling me with silly trick questions!"
"Vell done, Valerie. But I should varn you zhat not every question vill be a trick question, zhey do vary." Aaron grabbed the next question card from his pile. "Question number three is just a basic math equation. 'If x is seven, zhe answer is forty-two. If x is six, zhe answer is zhirty. If x is five, zhe answer is twenty! What is zhe answer if x is four?'"
"Y-you said if x is…its…uh…" Valerie knocked her fists against her head while she tried to think of an answer. Meanwhile, Dana was stroking her chin as she closed her eyes and thought hard to herself, trying to come up with the question. "I-is it ten?" The buzzer sounded off again, getting another groan from Valerie when Dana finally opened her eyes.
"The equation in question is a pretty simple one, but enough to stump someone if they think too hard. It's x squared minus x equals y. Therefore, when x is four, the y would be twelve." Dana smiled at her own brilliance while the bell dinged, and Valerie shot a death glare to her. "I believe you were the first one to get cocky, saying it wouldn't be too difficult, right?"
"Right…" Valerie mumbled something under her breath, but nobody could quite hear it.
"Only two more questions remain. Your point total at zhe moment is sitting at one." Aaron grabbed the next card from his stack and gave it a look over. "Next up, 'Jim Junior's middle name is Jim, und his last name is Jim. His mother's name is Carrie, und her middle name is Jane. His dad's middle name is Jim. Vhat is his vater's full name?'"
"How am I supposed to answer that if all I know is his middle name!? Jim Junior's dad could be…Jim Jim Jim?" Valerie winced while she waited for that annoying buzzer to sound again, but she was met with a bell dinging, a sound which brought her some brief relief. Dana clapped her hands lightly, but she was still grinning all cocky like.
"Very good, very good. Ve only have one more question for you before ve go ahead and move on to zhe next contestant, so let's get on vith it!" Aaron grabbed the fifth question card and set the pile back onto his platter before clearing his throat. "Valerie, your final question in zhis round is…'Vhat is zhe largest breed of domesticated dog?' Zhis one is tough, so don't fret if you can't-"
"Easy, Tibetan Mastiff." Valerie looked relaxed once again as she answered the question as quickly as she could, with the bell dinging soon after to signal another correct answer. Jaws dropped in astonishment at the speed of the answer, but she didn't seem impressed to know that.
Confessional
"I get compared to a lot of dogs back home, go figure. There was this one dog show nerd that compared me to the Tibetan Mastiff because of my weight, so…yeah." Valerie groaned and slouched forward.
Confessional End
Aaron grabbed the second stack of cards from his platter and began to shuffle them like how he had done with Valerie's pile. "Next up in line for some intense questioning, ve have Calvin! Calvin, as I just did vith Valerie, you vill be given your five questions all in a row, just try your best to answer zhem before Miss Dana does, alright?" Calvin nodded back at the co-host, who reached for the first card from the pile. "Ve found zhat you did best vith zhe history questions in zhe application, so a majority of your questions are based in history. Unluckily for you, Miss Dana also excels vhen it comes to history. First one, 'Vhat vas zhe last mainland state to join zhe United States?'"
"Well, that's not hard at all, it was-" Calvin went to answer, but before he could, Dana jumped right in, seeming quite excited by the history bit.
"Arizona!" The bell dinged, and Calvin was a bit shocked that the host snatched the question right from under his nose, though he applauded her answering so quickly nevertheless.
Confessional
"Before my mecha-loving phase, I went through a history nerd phase! I still remember everything from each of my phases, so this is definitely gonna be tough for Calvin. To be honest, I didn't expect Valerie to get three of hers right…maybe my brain isn't working at full capacity right now?" Dana grabbed a mug from off to the side, taking a big swig from it. "This tea is sure to boost my awareness! I'll make sure none of the others score that high!"
Confessional End
"Miss Dana hasn't lost her touch, zhat is for certain. Ve vill move onto zhe next question now." Aaron grabbed at the next card and looked at it closely. "'Vhat four regions piece together to make up zhe United Kingdom?'"
"Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and, of course, the amazing England!" Calvin answered faster this time, and the bell dinged to let everyone know that he got it right. He did "serve her majesty's secret service," so it made sense that he would answer so quickly. Dana chuckled at the boy and clapped lightly for him.
"Very good, very good indeed. You now have one point under your belt, vhich is definitely better zhan zero. You still have three more questions to try and gain points from, zhough!" Aaron fumbled around and snatched up the next card from the pile. "Question number three, 'Vhich political party has only had four presidents in United States history?'"
"More questions about the states, huh? Let's see…political parties…presidents…" Calvin racked his brain, but before he had time to answer, Dana jumped back in.
"The Whig party, and the presidents were William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore." Dana's answer was rewarded by a ding from the bell, and Calvin applauded her again. The two were definitely fierce combatants when it came to all things history.
"Very nice, Miss Dana. Moving on to zhe fourth question, let's see here…" Aaron grabbed at his fourth card and gave it a good look before reading it aloud. "'Vhich person vas zhe liberator of Spanish South America?'"
"Oh, that was…wait…who was it again?" Calvin raised his finger to his chin as he thought, but, again, Dana was just a bit too quick for him to keep up with.
"Simón Bolívar!" It was another correct answer, as the dinging bell proclaimed, and Calvin was starting to sweat nervously as he worried what would happen if he were to miss the next question. No one wanted to only snatch up one point from the first round, after all.
"Alright, Calvin, you are still at one point, but you do have one more question before we move on to zhe next contestant. Zhat question is…'Who are zhe current three most wanted criminals, in order from least to most wanted?'"
"Haha! I know that one!" Dana smirked with profound confidence before she began to answer the question. "Number three would be Scarlett Phever, number two is Jay Harett, and number one is only known by an alias, that being Mr. History." Dana kept smirking, but the smirk was wiped from her face when the buzzer sounded, a sound she was unfamiliar with. "H-huh?"
"You would've been right…if you were answering that question a couple months ago. As Jay Harett was taken into captivity, he's no longer a wanted criminal. Now, the three most wanted criminals would be Father Time, though his name is currently unknown, Scarlett Phever, and then, Mr. History." Calvin was now the one smirking with an almighty confidence, and the dinging bell proved that that confidence had some ground to it. "I can go down the list, I could even mention the most dangerous criminals currently in captivity at the top three, those being Vaughn Byrne, Paula Donnoley, and Jay Harett at number one!"
"W-we try not to mention the name of that first one…I'm sure I'll get an earful from our sponsors later about it." Dana looked a bit nervous at hearing the first of the three names, though Calvin wasn't sure why. He shrugged it off, though, pleased with getting at least one other question right.
"In any case, Calvin has gotten two points from zhe first round, so Valerie is still in zhe lead for zhe time being. Regardless, good job, Calvin. Ve vill be moving onto our next contestant, Teddy, in just a brief moment now." Aaron set down Calvin's cards and started shuffling the next stack while a look of uncertainty grew on Teddy's face.
Confessional
"That was definitely a lot more difficult than I anticipated it to be…Agent Starshine really knows her history." Calvin smirked a little bit, though he didn't look directly into the camera. "I will admit, this is probably the most fun I have had on the show in a good while. I just wish Agent BroBot was around to enjoy the fun with me."
Confessional End
Teddy gulped nervously as the spotlight shifted to him from Calvin, and he looked over to see Dana waving innocently at him. "Teddy, are you ready for zhe five questions ve have in store for you? As ve did vith Calvin, your questions are geared towards zhe knowledge level you displayed vhen you answered zhe questions in zhe re-application…vhich vas interestingly all economic based questions."
"W-what can I say? I'm a regular economologist!" Teddy let out a loose chuckle, but by the strange looks he was getting from the others, he realized that that definitely was not the word he wanted to say. "R-right, can we just get on with the questions? I gotta impress the fans with my vast knowledge on the economy!"
"Yes, very vell, ve vill go onto your first question of zhe five." Aaron grabbed the first question card from the shuffled pile, and read it quite closely. "Vhile Miss Dana excels in most subjects, zhis is a subject zhat I am quite vell versed in, not to toot my own horn. Ahem, anyway…'A "blank" market is vhat you get vhen zhe value of commodities, such as stocks and assets, are consistently declining.'"
"BEAR!" Teddy slammed his fist down on the edge of his booth, the bell dinging shortly after he spoke his answer. The others were definitely surprised to hear him answer so quickly, considering they would never have expected any sort of economic intelligence from him. He looked a bit nervous, but still kept chuckling through it. "I-I learned that because it's a bear fact!"
"A bear fact?" Dana had a look of suspicion on her face, thinking that Teddy was just making nonsense up.
"I mean, it's not about bears or anything, but it has the word bear in it. Since I rep the Teddy Bear Nation, I wanted to know any sort of random fact I could figure out about bears! That just so happened to be something that I discovered along the way." Teddy grinned from ear to ear, and Dana and Aaron shrugged their shoulders while the co-host grabbed at the next question card.
"Okay, ve vill move on to your next question…zhough I don't zhink it vill be about bears, so it von't be as easy as zhat one vas for you. 'Zhis is something zhat occurs vhen where is a horrible, dramatic downturn in zhe economy. Unemployment rates vill rise, zhe value of money vill fall, stock markets vill crash. Vhat is zhis?'" Aaron looked to the boy for an answer, but he seemed ready to jump the gun again.
"A depression!" Teddy answered, and of course, the answer was correct, the bell declared it so. Dana looked at him in disbelief that he had gotten two in a row, and she had yet to get a single one before him. "I knew that one because it's hashtag relatable. Can we display the number to the mental health hotline for all my homies, homettes, and homenbeans that might need it, just in case?" Teddy pointed below him, and the number flashed on the screen, though to everyone who was standing with him, he just looked like he was pointing to nothing.
"R-right…let's just move onto zhe next question, ja?" Aaron looked back down to his stack of cards and grabbed another one, reading it over closely. "'As of zhe most recent census of zhe vorld, vhich country has zhe highest GNI, or gross national income?' Vell, Teddy, vhat do you zhink it may be, hm?" The co-host looked back over to see the YouTuber's jaw dropped to the floor.
"I-I-I don't know that! What do you think I am, some sort of super genius?" Teddy crossed his arms and glared at Aaron. "And, is it just me, or are these questions not based on our IQ levels at all? It seems like you just picked questions based on things we did kind of okay wi-"
"The answer would be Liechtenstein. Most people would assume it to be the US, but we actually fall to sixth place in that list. Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, and Luxemburg all jump higher than us." Dana let out a sigh of relief when the bell dinged, knowing that she at least got one question before Teddy did.
"Is Liechtenstein even real? That sounds like a German breakfast sausage, if you ask me." Aaron narrowed his brow at the boy for insulting his culture. "Er…sorry, I meant…uh…next question?"
"Yes, zhat vould be a good idea. Your next question vould be, 'vhich country, out of zhe entire world, has zhe largest economy?'" Aaron placed the pile of cards back down on the platter after grabbing just one more from it, since the question he had just asked was the fourth for Teddy.
"Uh…duh, it's obviously Liechtenstiebel or whatever you just said. It's funny that you asked me the same question twice in a row, though." Teddy had a bit of a cocky grin on his face, but he was met with the sound of the buzzer to signal he was wrong. "What!? But you just said that Liechtenstein had the highest GNI, right?"
"Yes, the largest GNI, but not the largest economy. That honor actually does fall to the US, to no surprise there. China is sitting in second place, currently." Dana's answer was succeeded by a ding from the bell, causing her points versus Teddy's to be the same number. "You had a strong start, but it looks like I'm about to overcome you very shortly." The YouTuber began to sweat nervously as Aaron took a look over the final card.
"Okay, ve have just one more question for you before you are done for zhis round. Zhis question is zhe simplest of all so far, so you shouldn't struggle much vith it." Aaron cleared his throat, "'Vhich simple principle is zhe very foundation of basic economics?'"
"The…principle of Economic High School?" Teddy winced as he waited for a noise to follow his answer, only to be disappointed when it was the sound of the buzzer. He was wrong again, and the thought of being wrong three times made him feel quite upset, as he shrunk down in his seat.
"That principle would actually be the law of supply and demand. We could get into the specifics, but if there was no want or need for anything, money and economy wouldn't have a purpose." Dana pointed to the bell, which dinged right on cue.
"Teddy, your turn is up for zhis round, ve vill be moving onto Brittany in just a brief moment here. You scored a two point total, so just try a bit harder in zhe second round, ja?" Teddy sighed and shrunk down ever further into the booth that he was in, soon being mostly out of sight except for the electrifying tips of his hairs, which just barely peeked out above the top. "Brittany, do you think you're ready?"
"Psh, I'm always ready, isn't that obvious?" Brittany smiled with those sparkly teeth of hers, "By the way, what's the theme of my questions? I just wanna prepare myself ahead of time to make this kid cry over her defeat." Dana rolled her eyes at Brittany before looking back over to Aaron, who was busy shuffling the stack of cards that had been picked for Brittany.
"Your subject? Ah yes, vell, as ve have vith everyone, your subject vas gathered from what you performed zhe best on in zhe re-application, zhat being questions science, curiously." Aaron shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed the first card from the stack. "Now, to get zhings started, your first question vill be…'Vhich category of metals are zhe most reactive metals in zhe periodic table, und what happens vhen zhese metals come in contact vith vater?'"
"The most…that's the alkali metals…but as far as what happens when they touch water…it's…hang on, I know this one!" Brittany knocked against her forehead while she thought hard about the answer, but it took too long, and Dana was getting irritated with her.
"The alkali metals all react so intensely and vigorously when in contact with water that they can actually cause an explosion." A dinging bell sounded at Dana's answer, and Brittany quickly groaned and slammed her fists down on the edge of her booth.
"Come on, I got the first part of it right before she got the rest of it, that's gotta count for at least half a point or something, right?" Brittany started whining, and the two hosts glanced between each other before mutually shrugging their shoulders.
"Alright, you can take zhe half point for zhat, I suppose." A bell dinged again, and Brittany was rewarded with the half point that she had asked for, getting some groans from the three contestants that had previously had their turns done. "But no more half points after zhis, you must get zhe whole answer before Miss Dana to get a point. Your second question is, 'In zhe solar system, only one singular planet spins clockvise. Vhich planet is zhis?'"
"Oh, that's an easy one, it's Venus!" Brittany smirked as she heard the bell ding, "Yeah, you're definitely gonna have to try a bit harder with these questions if you actually wanna stump me. Guess I'm just too smart for Dana, eh?"
"Need I remind you that you only got half the point on the first question on a technicality? Did you want us to take the half point back?" Brittany immediately hushed up with her over-the-top bragging, but her eyebrow twitched to show that she was peeved about this.
"Ahem, moving on…ve still have another three questions for you, if you zhink you'll be able to get zhe full points for zhem." Caleb snickered as he noticed Brittany getting red in the face from their teasing.
Confessional
"Brittany's great, but it's always fun to see people getting all worked up like that." Caleb continued to snicker while leaning back in the seat. "Huh? What do you fucking mean that's what people think about me when I have one of my tantrums!? You motherfucker, say that to my face!"
Confessional End
"Onto question number three," Aaron grabbed a hold of the next card and began to read it over. "'It's a vell known fact zhat zhe pressure of Neptune's atmosphere can cause it to rain diamonds, but where are two other planets zhat are able to do zhe same. Vhich planets are zhese?'"
"Uranus and Saturn!" Brittany jumped to the answer as quickly as she could, getting a ding from the bell and smirking as she did. "Another answer in my pocket. Watch me be the first to get each question right!"
"On a technicality!" Dana butted in again, getting another glare back from Brittany. The two girls seemed to be pretty peeved, and Aaron just wanted to lower the tension in any way that he could.
"U-uh…let's just go onto zhe next question. No need for all zhis anger and glaring, it should be over soon enough." Aaron chuckled nervously as he grabbed for the next card, though the glaring from the two girls didn't seem to subside in the slightest. "'Zhe chain of events zhat leads up to zhe inevitable failure of a nuclear reactor is known as vhat?'"
"The butterfly effect?" Brittany blurted her answer out, but it was followed up by a buzzing sound, which caused her to pout with her lip. "Hey, my answer was technically right in some way or another, give me another half point for it!"
"First of all, no, we said no more half points. Secondly, it's the meltdown…I would've expected a 'scientist' of your caliber to understand something simple like that, Brittany." Dana stuck her tongue out at the faux-rich girl, who glared back at her while the bell dinged.
"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind keeping quiet while the adults are talking, that'd be great." Dana gritted her teeth, exactly the kind of reaction that Brittany was hoping for while Aaron frantically grabbed at card number five, gulping nervously before speaking up.
"V-ve're on zhe last question, zhen you two von't have to worry about each other until zhe next round, alright?" Aaron weakly smiled while the two girls each crossed their arms and looked away from each other. "Aye…'Zhe Sun is zhe most massive zhing in our solar system, not to much shock or surprise, but vhat is zhe percentage of mass zhat zhe Sun makes up in zhe solar system exactly?'" The boy asked the question, only to be answered by complete and utter silence from the two girls. "Um…girls? Zhe last question? Aren't either of you going to try?"
"Oh! Uh…yeah, it's like…ninety-eight percent, right?" Brittany didn't seem to be sure of her answer from the sound of her voice, and the answer eventually received a buzzing noise. "Huh? Was it ninety-nine?" Another buzzing noise, causing some frustration for the snobby girl. "Ninety-nine point one, then!" Again, the buzzer sounded.
"Is it…ninety-nine point…eight six?" Dana had to think long and hard about the answer, but it was eventually rewarded with a ding, which caused her to raise her fists in victory while Brittany grumbled to herself. "I knew it was eight something, but that was definitely a bit trickier to remember than some of the other answers."
"Yeah, yeah, keep bragging about your infinite wisdom, no one cares." Brittany hissed her words at Dana, who went back to glaring at her.
"Hang on a minute, were you not just saying that this was too easy like two minutes ago!?" The girls started going at it again, and Aaron sheepishly hid behind his podium while he waited for their bickering to come to a close.
Confessional
"Aye, I really vish Miss Dana hadn't put me in charge of zhis challenge…she knew zhat it was definitely going to make a couple people cranky." Aaron whimpered to himself as he looked towards the ground. "It vouldn't be as bad if I vasn't stuck in zhis dress. Vhy do I have to vear zhe dress?"
Confessional End
Brittany and Dana had finally simmered down, but they weren't so much as looking at each other with how angry they were over their previous bickering. Aaron rubbed his temple while hunching forward on his podium, grabbing at the fifth stack of cards before starting to shuffle it up, just as he had done with the previous piles. "Vell, ve only have two contestants left in zhe first round, ja? Let's move onto Bunny und see if she vill perform any better zhan zhe previous contestants."
"Psh, come on, Aaron! You know me and my big brain are good for beating anybody in a mental matchup!" Bunny knocked on her forehead, but it seemed to make a sort of echoey noise as if her skull was hollow. She blushed a bright red color and tucked her hands back down in her booth. "J-just start asking me questions."
"Right. Bunny, your questions are geared towards a subject zhat ve have no doubt in our minds you know quite vell. Considering you scored zhe highest vith all questions dealing vith Hollywood actors, famous figures, and similar, many of your questions vill be based on such people." Bunny perked up with a cheerful smile upon hearing the topic of her questions. This was something she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she could get right. "Of course, Miss Dana had a blogger phase in zhe past, so she is vell aware about zhe gossip and happenings of famous people. Zhis should be an interesting one."
"Not to mention the fact that I've met a good deal of famous people." Dana shrugged her shoulders with a cheesy grin on her face. "Guess that's one of the perks of being an important CEO, even famous people wanna meet you. Though…a good percentage of them did just wanna see if they could get money out of friendship with me."
"See, that's why I don't feel bad about writing the things I write about famous people. They just aren't good people, so why should we be good people to them?" Bunny shook her head and Dana smiled slightly at her, though Caleb slammed his fist down on his podium.
"Oh, no! Don't you two go bonding over mutual interests, that just spells out disaster for me!" Caleb huffed a big puff from his nostrils, and the two girls rolled their eyes at him.
"Ve vill go ahead vith our first question for you two. Ahem, 'Popular singer, Michael Yuble, vas renowned for his soothing singing voice and many Christmas song covers over zhe years until he vas accused of somezhing zhat brought controversy to zhe singer. Vhat vas zhis controversy over?'" Aaron set the first card down, looking up to see that Bunny was licking her lips and rubbing her hands together. "E-er…I take it you already know zhe answer, Bunny?"
"Of course I do! I've read hundreds of articles about the domestic abuse accusations, do you take me for a fool? Even if the accusations were one hundred percent false, it still provided me with a good deal of entertainment." The bell dinged for Bunny's first correct answer, though Aaron was a bit appalled at how she could find something like that amusing. "Don't look at me like that, I told you my stance on famous people! They think they all deserve praise for every little thing, a little shade being thrown their way doesn't hurt too much."
"Say vhat you vill, it still isn't a pretty subject. Let's just move on…I don't zhink I'll be enjoying zhis bit very much." Aaron sighed and grabbed card number two from the shuffled pile. "'Famous metal band, System Going Down, has been split up for quite a few years now, much to fans dismay. According to interviews and many articles, vhat vas zhe reason for zhe split?'"
"They split due to a political disagreement between the lead singer and the drummer. Once the two found out they were both voting for different candidates, it spiraled out into an argument that they have yet to recover from." Dana wagged her finger back and forth while the bell dinged, and Bunny nodded her head in agreement. "They did release two singles recently, but there is no sign that the band will get back together permanently."
"Very good, Miss Dana. Onto question number three, now." Aaron grabbed the next card from the pile, clearing his throat before going to read it. "'Vhich famous pilot is known for suddenly disappearing vhile attempting to fly across zhe vorld, somezhing zhat is zhought to be a conspiracy?'"
"Emily Airhead. The conspiracy in question is that no one wanted a female pilot to fly across the world before a male pilot did, so they shot her plane down while she was trying to make the journey." Bunny rattled off her fun facts about conspiracies while the bell dinged, and Dana listened in with a smile on her face. Caleb shook his head at the two of them, hating the fact that they were bonding more than anything else.
"Anozher point for Bunny, and zhere are only two questions left in zhis segment…zhankfully." Aaron sighed again before taking hold of the fourth question card. "'Russell Browl is known for a whle heapload of controversies, but none more famous zhan zhe time he vas deported from vhich country?'"
"Japan, of course!" Bunny was happy to say the answer, as evident by the huge grin on her face. The bell dinged to reward her with her third point, and the smile on Dana's face started to fade a bit. "When it comes to celebrities getting kicked out of Japan, I'm probably the most in the know. I'm from there, after all."
"How many celebrities have gotten kicked out of…you know vhat? I don't want to know, let's just move on to question number five." Aaron grabbed the final card from Bunny's pile and held it up to his face. He noticed that Dana seemed a bit…well, off, in comparison to how she was beforehand. He tried to shrug it off, "'Vhich reality TV star is known as only being famous for an adult film zhat leaked vith her in it?'"
Dana raised her finger as if she was about to answer the question, but Bunny was just a bit faster than her. "That was Kim Carsmashin, obviously. It's the only way someone like her, who lacks any personality or talent, could become famous." The blogger smirked when the bell dinged again, giving her the fourth point, and causing her to be the first of the contestants with four points under their belt. "That wasn't so bad."
"Right…" Aaron frowned slightly as he noticed Dana sighing, but he couldn't really say anything about it. "Caleb, you're zhe only contestant who has yet to compete in zhe first round, so ve vill be starting vith you very shortly."
Confessional
"I'm really…not doing so hot with this challenge, huh? I thought that the most anyone would get right in the first round would be two, but I seem to be getting my butt handed to me by a good deal of people." Dana sighed while she rested her head against the wall. "Am I losing touch with the smarts that I thought I had?"
"Knowing how things are going with the others, I have no doubt that I'll crush Dana in this round. I mean, it's a fucking intelligence test…we all know I'm the smartest damn cookie in the oven." Caleb pointed up with his finger while he grinned an evil grin.
Confessional End
Aaron still seemed worried, as Dana was just kind of slouching in her own booth while Caleb looked as ready as he ever would be. "Um…Caleb, your questions are going to be zhe most difficult out of all zhe contestants, considering you are zhe smartest of zhe lot. Are you ready for us to start firing zhem your way?"
"Are you wearing a sparkly dress right now?" Caleb taunted the co-host, who leered at him while he snickered. "Well, then you know my answer! Of course I'm ready!"
"Right…Miss Dana, are you ready?" Aaron looked over to the host again, and she just loosely nodded her head while she sat there in dismay. "Okay…vell, zhe first question ve have for you is, 'Vithout using a calculator, vhat is sixteen percent of ten zhousand nine hundred eighty-seven rounded to zhe tenth place?'"
"One thousand seven hundred fifty-seven point nine. I thought you said these questions were going to be difficult, Aaron?" Aaron took in a deep breath, preparing himself for another round of Brittany-like attitude as the bell dinged to signify a correct answer from Caleb. Dana sighed ever so slightly, but didn't really move or flinch from where she was seated.
"Vell done, Caleb…but please, spare us of zhe attitude. Ve had enough of zhat already." The co-host grabbed the second card in the pile, getting himself prepared to read it. "'How many digits lie between zhe zhird digit of pi and zhe second time zhe sequence of "three, one, four" occur?'"
Caleb tapped at his chin for a brief second, thinking long and hard about the answer to the question. Aaron smiled slightly, seeing how the boy was pretty stumped, which gave Dana a good chance to swoop in and grab the answer, but when he looked at her, she didn't seem like she was too invested in answering. "I've got it. It's two thousand one hundred seventeen. You almost got me there, but I remember seeing that fact somewhere a couple of Pi Days ago." Caleb was back to grinning and stroking his ego as the bell dinged a second time.
"Right again…I'll have to stop taking it so easy on you, since it seems you know a good deal about math already." Aaron grabbed the third card, smiling slightly as he saw that it had nothing to do with math. "Question number three shouldn't be so simple for you. 'Heterocephalus glaber is zhe scientific name for vhich creature?'" Again, Caleb had to think pretty hard about the answer to this, but Dana still didn't seem like she was even trying. While the chess player thought to himself, Aaron rushed over to his host and leaned down to her. "Miss Dana? Vhat is wrong vith you? You aren't trying to answer any of zhe questions…"
"Why bother…? He's probably gonna get them all right or whatever, anyways…" Dana sighed again, glancing up to Aaron to reveal that her eyes looked a lot more tired than they typically did, and her skin was…exceedingly pale. It was to the point that it was almost snow white.
"...Miss Dana, are you wearing makeup all over your face?" Aaron went to press his index finger against Dana's cheek, and when he pulled it back, he saw a smudge of white, powdery makeup leftover on his finger. "Zhat is…quite unlike you. Vhen did you even find zhe time to put all zhat foundation on?"
"When did you find all the time to get up in my business, Heinz?" Dana rolled her eyes and looked away from Aaron, startling him greatly, as he had never seen her like this. He shuffled back to his podium and waited for someone to answer the question when Caleb finally snapped his fingers.
"That would be a naked mole rat! Interesting choice for animal trivia, but I won't complain about the free point." Caleb snickered again, the bell ringing out soon after. The sound of the snickering and the bell seemed to get to the co-host, but he simply took a deep breath and got ready to ask the next question.
"Zhat's three points for Caleb…vith only two more questions to go." Bunny seemed annoyed at the fact that Caleb was getting each of his questions right. "Your next question is going to be, 'Zhe great ship, zhe Titanic, took roughly three years to build, but vhere vas it zhat construction began for zhis massive ship?'"
"You really think a question like that is gonna stump me? I'm from Ireland, moron! They built that damn ship in Belfast, adoy." Caleb shook his head at Aaron in disapproval as the bell dinged to award him with point number four, leaving only room for one more question…and one more point to be awarded. "You'd better make this last one actually difficult if you want Dana to get any points."
"For zhe record, Miss Dana is leagues smarter zhan you are! You're so cocky and arrogant, it's no wonder zhat half of zhe cast hates you! A baby vith an ego bigger zhan a skyscraper, zhat's vhat everyone zhinks of you as!" Caleb was a bit shocked to hear Aaron spewing such anger at him, as were the other five contestants. Before this, they had only known of him as the wimpy side attraction of the hosts. "Vhatever, your last question is, 'Is a Pterodactyl a dinosaur or a bird?'"
"Well…that's a trick question, since it's neither. It's a pterosaur, which is basically just a fancy way of saying a flying lizard." The bell dinged and gave the fifth point to Caleb, and Dana slunk down in her booth so that she couldn't be seen by anyone. Aaron sighed quite loudly while rubbing his temple again.
"Zhat vill be all for zhe first round of questions, ve vill meet back in here in just a few moments to get on vith zhe second round…aye aye…" Aaron groaned and walked off stage from his podium, leaving the contestants on stage while Dana started sliding along the floor to follow him off the stage.
Confessional
"I can't be having Caleb winning another challenge, it'll make that ego that Aaron mentioned even worse than before. That's why I just pulled a little sneaky!" Bunny snickered while she held up Caleb's pile of cards, revealing that she had swapped them for cards which had the answers listed as things that were quite clearly not the actual answers to the asked questions. "He won't be able to get any of these right, so he won't be able to get any more points! I know, I'm quite the devious rabbit, aren't I? I'm just sick of him! And I don't want to use my trump card until things are looking bleak for myself!"
Confessional End
Aaron finally came back to the stage, although Dana wasn't with him. The contestants were a bit confused to see him alone, and they all looked at him in question. "I know, you're all vondering vhere Miss Dana has gone. Vell, she's…currently not fit to perform. As such, I shall let you know zhat ve have decided zhe challenge is done." The contestants gasped, and Aaron waved them to quiet down. "It's no matter, since it vas planned to be a duel between zhe two lowest placing contestants to see who vould get zhe sudden death points to save zhemselves from elimination. In lieu of zhis, ve vill be voting, but zhe top four contestants vill be giving immunity…leaving Teddy and Calvin as zhe only contestants you can vote for."
Confessional
"Somezhing is seriously wrong vith Miss Dana, und I intend to find out vhat zhat somezhing is. Ve're lucky zhat zhis challenge had Teddy and Calvin in zhe bottom two anyways…it's not like someone else vould have been eliminated." Aaron sighed, but he was finally back in his regular clothes, in comparison to the dress that he was wearing prior.
"I have to vote between that stud and Calvin…? Well…it's gonna be difficult if I have to face off against Teddy in the finale. I'm sorry, my love!" Valerie started to sob in an over the top manner while she marked her vote down.
"We have to choose between eliminating Calvin and Teddy? Well, as much as I can't stand the electro-head, he's not really good at any of these challenges…Calvin is far more of a threat than him. Sorry, not sorry." Brittany shrugged while marking her vote down.
Confessional End
The contestants met back at the Colosseum of Shame, where Calvin and Teddy were the only two seated on the benches. As for the other four, they stood over at the podium, with Aaron, who was holding up a platter with only one bag of rations on it. "Calvin, Teddy, zhe two of you only managed to score two points each in today's challenge, vhich has placed you at zhe bottom two for elimination. Calvin, you're a physical threat and you're no fool…not to mention zhe whole Jay zhing. It's safe to say zhat some people have it out for you."
"Hmph, let them do whatever they want. I know my intentions, and those were simply to protect my fellow agents. I don't need them to like me as long as they're alive and well." Calvin looked away from the co-host, seemingly unbothered by being in the bottom two.
"Teddy, you can be…vell, quite annoying around zhe ozher contestants, and you definitely haven't been zhe nicest person in zhe game. Vell, zhe bar isn't very high vith zhe remaining six. Not only zhat, but you're…interesting mutation may be a cause for vorry for zhose who may have to face off against you one-on-one."
"It's not my fault I was given this awesome power…and if it helps, I really don't even know how to use it." Teddy smiled awkwardly while rubbing his arm and accidentally causing a spark to fly towards Calvin and give him a jolt. "Ah! Sorry!"
"Gentlemen, for zhese reasons, zhe contestant zhat vill be leaving tonight is…" Aaron shook the bag of rations in his hands, taunting Teddy greatly, though Calvin still looked null to this whole thing.
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"...Calvin. Teddy, you are still safe…for now." Aaron tossed the bag of rations to the zappy boy, who went to catch it, but, in doing so, shocked it with his electricity and caused it to turn to a pile of ash. Calvin got up from the bench, still seeming to be unphased, even though he was eliminated. "Calvin, do you have any last vords for your fellow contestants?"
"Nothing comes to mind…once we got to the final eight, I knew it was anyone's game. In any case, good luck, agents. Remember to watch your backs…there's always some looming danger around here, that much is true." Calvin left it at that, and he took his steps forward to jump onto the Trampoline of Losers, which bounced him away from the island.
Confessional
"You know, I've noticed something…every single time anyone tries to sabotage Caleb, things switch up and suddenly favor him. Margaret cheats to make him lose in the beach challenge, but everyone goes after her instead because of said cheating. Mitzy destroys his alliance, but Yves has to kill Calvin's robot friend and make everyone want to get rid of her instead. I send Fridge to 'help' him, but he outsmarts me and manages to win immunity. And today, I swap his cards for fakes, but the challenge gets called. Every. Single. Time. Guess my trump card isn't going to work either…" Bunny grabbed the photos she took of Caleb kissing her before, though she had photoshopped Dana in her place. "It definitely would've grossed Dana out enough for him to get rid of her, but knowing his luck, I'd get eliminated instead. It seems that the only way to beat Caleb is by playing the game fair and square. Well then…bring it on!" The blogger clenched her fist tightly with a look of fury on her face.
Confessional End
Author's Notes:
*And the mighty Calvin finally takes his fall! I'm pretty sure that most of you knew that he was doomed for a little while now, with his plot pretty much finishing up after the death of BroBot a few episodes ago. The big thing that remains for him is facing Margaret's rage over the whole Jay thing…let's hope she doesn't rip him to shreds when he shows up in the aftermath, eh?Anywho, hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you all next episode!
*Votes: Calvin - Caleb, Bunny, Brittany, Teddy; Teddy - Calvin, Valerie
*Placements: No Placement - Chris, Ivy; 22nd - Daniel; 21st - Larida; 20th - Mitchell; 19th - Alice; 18th - Blaster; 17th - Max; 16th - CJ; 15th - Ronnie; 14th - Celeste; 13th - Zane; 12th - Buck; 11th - Margaret; 10th - Vernon; 9th - Mitzy; 8th - Yves; 7th - Fridge; 6th - Calvin