Complete emptiness, a black screen, surely an omen that could only mean that an obnoxious trio was about to grace the stage. A guitar riff started to play while the letter "T" flew across the stage, something that had become a common occurrence on this type of show. It was followed by a clip from the very beginning of the show, where Caleb had met Fridge for the first time.
"'Hello, "Fridge!" My name's Caleb! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!'"
"'Oh, a football!'"
"'Huh?'"
"'Caleb! Are you okay?'"
"'Just peachy. But I need Mr. Muscles to realize that I'm not a football. He could prove...beneficial to us.'"
The clip finished up, and it was followed by the next of the quintet of letters, this one being the "D." This letter was followed by another clip from the show, this clip being from the episode where everyone was lost in the woods, and Clabe and Fridge had Yves cornered between them
"'Oh, come on…don't get all quiet on me, now! You were just talking louder than I've ever heard you talk before…bah, whatever. Here I am, just trying to be your friend and share in the laughs with you…oh, that's right. You don't do friends, isn't that right?'"
"'I was so sad when you didn't wanna be friends, so Friendleb told me I should try giving you a present! He gave me this one because…uh…oh! It was super special, made just for you!'"
"'W-what are you talking about?'"
"'Fridge, why don't you come back over here…we both wanna see how happy she is when she opens her present, don't we? Maybe you'll reconsider our offer…I mean, if you make it to the next challenge! Adios, Yves!"
With the second clip down, there were just a little over half to go. The next letter came to the screen, this one being the "S." As the letter left the screen, it was replaced by the next clip, this one being from the beach episode when he was facing off against Margaret in the volleyball portion of the challenge.
"'Welp, I sure hope I can do good enough to win this match! Go easy on me, will you?'"
"'You got it!'"
"What the hell!? Margaret, what was- ...Nice job…one to nothing, and I'm serving. So that's how it's going to be, huh? Well, if you wanna bitch out of our alliance, that's fine by me! I'll crush you, right here, right now!'"
Another clip down, another letter that got to pointlessly fly around the blank screen, this time it was the "I." The clip that followed this time was from the episode where everyone was dumped out of the plane to battle against the robots, where Caleb had landed near Brittany at the docks.
"'What's the matter with you? What, Bunny's shot has got you yearning for some deep thought or something like that?'"
"'What's wrong is that I lost.'"
"'That's a great joke, Caleb! "I lost!" Ha! You and I both know you would never admit defeat! Okay, you can't actually be serious about this, right? Just because those two aren't on your side anymore doesn't mean that you lost.'"
"'It's not them voting for me that I'm worried about. Mitzy was only trying to split up the alliance to weaken my game power. Haven't you realized that I've been in almost every single bottom two every single time our team lost a challenge? Not just then, but in the merge as well? My safety was only guaranteed before because I had the power of four people behind my vote…and even then, it was a close call. I don't have that barrier anymore. So again, I say…I lost.'"
We came back to the blank screen, and thus, the final of the five letters, the classic "A." This letter was followed by a clip from the most recent episode, where Caleb was actually in the process of being eliminated while he was speaking to Teddy.
"'So…guess that's it, huh? Gotta say, we only just started really getting to know each other, but…well, shit man. I can't believe they got one over on us like this.'"
"'They did indeed…they did indeed. Teddy, can I tell you something? You know…you're much better than them. I'm not much to talk, but if I could do this challenge over again, it'd be the same way. I'm glad we got to be all-...I'm glad we got to be friends. Something tells me that I just focused on all the wrong things while I was here. So…do me a favor, would ya? Beat those snots for me.'"
"'I'm glad I got a badass like you as part of the Teddy Bear Nation. You can expect some sick merch drops headed your way!'"
"'I look forward to it…but quit it with that swearing, would you? ...I'd hate to see my favorite YouTuber get demonetized.'"
The letters started coming together to form the classic "TDSI: A," like they always did before they ultimately fizzled out, and the guitar riff finally stopped playing.
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 opened up to the familiar aftermath stage, where the fans were cheering at the top of their lungs. It panned straight into the stage, specifically at the risers that were holding…quite the impressive amount of people. Vernon and Ivy sat together at the top left of them, the boy playing a tune on his guitar before Ivy struck a deep chord on her bizarre looking bass guitar that shook the risers. Margaret gritted her teeth at her, soon clenching her fist angrily before Daniel kissed her on the cheek, causing her to blush and smile like a schoolgirl. Max had her hand buried into a bag of cheesy snacks, but she realized that someone had cut a hole into the bottom of the bag and snuck the snacks away. When she moved the bag, she noticed CJ had moved his wheelchair so that he was close enough to her to do the deed…and his lips were covered in cheese dust. Buck sat down by himself, shriveled up in sadness before Larida scooted over to his side and gave him a big, comforting hug. Zane held his hands over his eyes while Rosalina attempted to show him all of the drawings that she had done of him and Buck kissing rather…passionately. Celeste watched Rosalina closely, her eyes sparkling a bit while she giggled at the drawings. Alice was at one of the far corners of the risers, crossing her arms and looking off to the side, still annoyed from what had happened so long ago. Mitzy sat down next to her, soon showing her that she had a comic in her hands titled, "Kat Kradle and Enviro-Girl." She didn't seem too interested, but she looked over it to humor her. Ronnie was doing curls with some dumbbells while raising an eyebrow at Awol, who seemed to be lost in thought while wandering around the back of the stage, trying to see where everything led to. Eventually, Franchesco grabbed the adventurous mailboy by the collar and brought him over to the risers, seating him down next to Larida and Buck.
The camera shifted over to the hosts' couch to show that all of Maggie, Sunny, and Capone were seated there, each waving at the camera with unique, yet somehow similar smiles on their faces. "Welcome back to our happy little show, everybody! I'm Sunny, your magnificent Sunshine!" Sunny pointed up at the ceiling and a spotlight started to shine down…right into Capone's eye. He screeched in pain and covered his face with his hands until the light was gone.
"Gah…I'm Capone, the only host that actually matters!" Capone snapped his fingers and a bucket toppled over on a beam above the stage, dumping three dozen raw eggs all over Sunny. The idol gasped at the ridiculous prank while the body builder snickered to himself…before Maggie pressed a button on a remote, which caused a boxing glove to fly out of the guest's chair and strike him right in the nuts.
"Aaaaaaand I'm Maggie! I know, you all must've missed us so much, right? Well, kuku, we may be on our last episode of the aftermath, but that still leaves us with some good time to be entertaining all of you!" The crowd couldn't help but let out a massive "aw" as they realized that this would be the last aftermath, to which Maggie waved them off. "I know, I know, it's quite sad and all, but it's really not the end of the world! We've still got two more episodes of the whole season after this…and a whole 'nother season coming some time after! So, nothing to worry about!"
"Y-yeah…" Capone groaned while he held his hands over his poor, sore privates. "While we're still around, we've got five more interviews to get through. We've got time for one before we have to cut to our first commercial break, so let's get right into it…this lady is pretty quiet, the kind that really likes to just keep to themselves nowadays. Who could blame her, when she's done enough to burn every bridge she ever built? Let's bring Yves to the stage!"
The audience clapped lightly while Yves made her way to the stage, but she refused to look at anyone, despite the glares she was getting from a good deal of the others. She also managed to ignore the eyes of death that Maggie had directed at her as she started to walk to the center of the stage, plopping down into the guest's chair, which she immediately realized was as hard as a rock. She shot up in immediate pain from landing on it, glaring at Capone, who clearly thought this was hilarious. Then, for the first time ever, Maggie seemed to give Capone a high five! …The sight of that made Sunny sick to her stomach. "You must think you're so funny…"
"Yeah, kinda." Capone shrugged with a grin on his face before Sunny shoved him aside.
"Capicola, remember that buddy said not to interrupt her when Yves came to the stage! She's got a lot to talk about with this one, right buddy?" The two hosts looked over to the third that completed the triad, seeing a malevolent aura flowing from her. They heard her iconic laugh, but her mouth didn't seem to be moving at all. Not only that, but her eyelids were so wide open that her eyes appeared to be dry while they stared dead at Yves, whose heart was beating faster than a cheetah could run.
"Yeeeees…hello, Yves!" Yves tried to make a break for it to go to the risers, but a metallic arm shot out from the chair behind her and strapped her in tight. She did try to struggle to break free, but it seemed to be of no use. That metallic arm was far too strong for her to simply flee from its clutches. "Yves…sweet, sweet Yves…the taste of your name in my mouth is that of leftover coffee grounds, you know that? I don't like you…I can't even tolerate you…and do you know why?" Maggie's mouth curved into a horrific smile while Yves winced and closed her eyes tightly, fearing for the worst. "...Because you wouldn't come hang out with me!"
"H…huh?" Yves opened her eyes to see that Maggie now had tears in her eyes and was whimpering like a puppy. The dancer had to do a triple take to confirm that she was indeed seeing what she thought she was seeing, and when she knew that her eyes weren't mistaken, it only led to a whole heap of confusion. "I…I don't understand what-"
"You and I were gonna be such good friends! You could've helped me with all of my experiments…my delicious…experiments…" Maggie started to drool as she thought about all her research, but she soon shook her head and went back to whimpering. "You pretend like you think they're inhumane, but you do the same things to other people! You experiment with people…because you're a sociopath!"
"A sociopath!? I don't know what-" Maggie placed a finger over Yves' mouth, effectively hushing her up so that she couldn't continue to deny it.
"You manipulate people into believing things that aren't true to make sure that it has people feeling different sorts of ways. You want a sense of normality and control that you can't attain by letting people be themselves, so you make sure that you shift them to fit that perfect world! I'm right! You know I'm right! But you…you wouldn't come hang out with me last season! Right when you lost, I had to go to Cali-Tokyo so we never crossed paths, not once! It's not fair!" Maggie stomped on the ground annoyedly while Capone and Sunny watched her with confusion abundant on their faces.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, but I wasn't doing any of that for myself…I did what I did for Buck." Yves looked over her shoulder at Buck, who refused to look back at her as he buried his face into Larida's shoulder. The mother looked quite furious with Yves, but she didn't say anything, as she just sat there consoling Buck. "Certain things had to be manipulated so that he wouldn't get unfairly removed from the game."
"You don't see a thing wrong with that, do you? The man is clearly messed up in the head and you made it so that he couldn't get the help he needed. No, you kept him around to keep him on edge for as long as you could and made sure to screw over everybody else that you could manage along the way." Zane snapped at the girl, who glared at him, but she knew he was right deep down. "I said I wasn't going to get further involved with this, but you crossed several lines that no one should mess around with."
"I hate being interrupted, but I so love seeing him yell at you…you do kinda deserve it after everything you did! All he wanted to do was help you out, don't you remember that?" Maggie leaned towards Yves with a grin on her face, the dancer only looking down as much as she could. "Clearly you do understand! Thanks for your input, Waney Zaney!" Zane sat back down in his seat, returning to his own devices. "Now, we've gotta ask you some stuff from the fans…I wonder if your brain can handle it, kuku! Our first question for you, lovely lady, is from Phoenix Writer GPH! 'Let's be honest, you did a lot of people dirty this season. Who can expect their apology first?'"
"...I don't know. I'm not going to answer that." Yves looked up to see that Maggie was staring at her with an expression of pure annoyance. "I just need time to myself…that's what I need right now. Not that anyone will want to speak to me regardless of an apology."
"That answer…was lame! You better have a much more interesting answer for your next question, or I'll make you eat your own toenails!" Maggie snickered like a doofus while Yves just gulped down her nervousness. "Next question is from…LordGemini! 'What's your favorite music to dance to?' Is it songs about manipulation? I looooooove songs about manipulation! They're great!"
"...Classical music is the most interesting for me to dance to, just based on how each song flows and the creativity and fluidity that you can move your body with. It's far better than dancing to anything modern where songs are all incredibly fast and the beats don't make for a good dance rhythm." Yves was suddenly freed from the chair, but as she stood up, a pool opened around her, with her standing on a platform. Maggie pressed a button on her remote, turning on some classical music.
"Well! You'd better get ready to dance, Yves! That platform's gonna start shifting places and your feet have got to move on cue if you don't wanna get soaked!" Yves worriedly started dancing to the music, hopping from moving platform to moving platform while Maggie cackled like the total maniac that she was. This left Capone and Sunny to glance between each other, both incredibly nervous.
"U…uh…well, while buddy has her fun with Yves, why don't we go ahead and cut to commercial break? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Everyone, we'll be right back after this brief break…and hopefully we'll find that there is nothing dangerous in that water!" Sunny clasped her hands together while smiling nervously as the camera panned out from the stage, the audience lightly clapping while they chattered among themselves.
The camera cut to commercial break, this commercial starting off in a rather intense looking kitchen. There were flames everywhere, and in the center of the flames stood one man. He wasn't incredibly tall, and he was definitely a bit on the stocky side of things. His skin was as pale as they came, while his hair was a glistening platinum blonde that was done up in a man bun. He had a rather large beard, but it looked to be very well kept, but somehow not as well kept as his elegant handlebar mustache. His crystal blue eyes stared at the camera intensely, the fierce gaze matched by his stance, which had him crossing his arms across his chest. He wore a white chef's shirt with the sleeves rolled all the way up, black dress pants that were free of all stains and dust, and black shoes to match. "So, you think you've got what it takes to prepare fine cuisine? Fat chance."
The flames grew brighter before fizzling out to show just how exquisite the kitchen was, with equipment that surely was only ever seen in five star restaurants. "I'm Rolf Dusset, renowned food critic that has only ever given out one true five star rating. Many chefs have come to me to test their mettle and see if they can appease me, but they all fall short of what it takes to truly prepare a five star dish! I invite all fine chefs of the world to come to my office in the heart of Germany…show me that you have what it takes to earn the five stars, and you'll receive funding for your own fine dining restaurant. Fail, and you'll never find a job cooking in any establishment ever again. Can you do it? Probably not…"
The camera zoomed right in on Rolf's face, showing that he was sneering something fierce at it. "Well, what'll it be? Will you risk it all to attain what you need to be set in your luxurious life as a prime chef? Or will you crumble like the many before you? I await all of you…" The camera started to pan out from the man until it was completely enveloped in flames.
The camera shifted back to the aftermath stage, panning in to reveal that a now soaking wet Yves was sitting on the bench, shivering like crazy. Larida was still upset with her, but she offered her a sweater regardless of her disappointment, though it was denied as Yves just stared on ahead at Maggie, who stuck her tongue out at her and waved. Capone cracked his knuckles as he stood up from his seat, grinning while Sunny sighed to herself. "Welcome back, everybody! You're probably wondering why I'm getting up like I own the show…and to that, I say…I do own the show!"
"You don't own the show, you just own these next few minutes of the show." Sunny glared at Capone, but he seemed to ignore her entirely as he flexed his biceps in front of the fans, all of which were a bit confused about what was going on.
"We decided it would be best if we split the interviewing responsibilities up between the three of us in between the commercial breaks. So now that Maggie already got her turn, it's Caperfect's time to shine!" The audience shrugged and went along with this, lightly clapping while Capone kissed his own bicep. "Now now, I know that you all are gonna dread having to see me leave the stage when my interviews are over and done with, so I'll make sure to have them last a nice amount of time! Are you guys ready for the next contestant, or should I say ex-contestant?"
The audience cheered loudly as they started to hear some loud thuds behind the stage door, immediately knowing who would be next to grace the stage. "Oh yeah! This next fella is larger than life…literally! With biceps bigger than an elephant's trunk, you have to wonder what kind of 'protein powder' this dude is actually putting in his pre-workout! He's large, he's not in charge, but let's give it up for him anyways! Come on out here, Fridge!"
The doors to the stage swung wide open, allowing Fridge to duck under the door before stepping out so that everyone could see him. As he began waving to the crowd, Capone snickered to himself, reaching for a remote in his pocket and pressing a button that brought up a double-barreled cannon from the floor. The first barrel shot a load of tar at the muscular boy, while the second coated him in a fine layer of feathers that could hardly be seen through. He blinked a couple times, his eyes easily appearing to be the only thing that anyone could make out on his face. Nonetheless, he still sat down in the guest's chair, despite it being a tight fit for him. For the most part, he seemed unaffected by the nasty prank that had been pulled on him. "Not even gonna throw a tantrum about that one, eh? Mad respect, but I can prank way harder than that!"
"Oh, I just didn't get upset because I thought about how my grandma mentioned people getting tarred and feathered a whole bunch of times before…she said it was mostly politicians, so I guess I'm the mayor now, right?" Capone blinked at Fridge with a look of confusion on his face while the muscular boy laughed at him. "Heheh! You look pretty funny with your nose all scrunched up like that! As mayor, I pardon you!"
"Uh…that's great and all, but I don't need to be pardoned! The only person that needs to be pardoned at all is Wendy!" Capone rubbed his hands together deviously as he awaited the boy to fall into his perfect trap.
"Uh…I don't think I know her. Who's Wendy?" Fridge tilted his head to the side while Capone's mouth stretched out into an enormous smirk.
"When deez bean bags hit you in the balls!" Capone pressed another button on his remote, causing two bean bags to fall from the ceiling and land right on Fridge's private area, but when they hit, it seemed to have no effect on the boy. "Ack! He survived my most powerful prank! You win this round, big guy!"
"Rounds? I didn't know we were boxing, I didn't even bring my gloves. It's okay, I can just use my fists if you want." Fridge happily held his fists up as he rose from his chair and towered over Capone, who backed away slightly as his heart started to race.
"U-uh…no need for all of that, we'll just keep the interview going and make sure nothing bad happens to my face or body in general!" Fridge sat right back down, still smiling innocently while Capone let out an exasperated breath. "Phew…alright, Fridge, how does it feel to be eliminated? You had to have seen this coming, considering how imbecilic you are."
"I don't really know what that word means, but sure! It's not too bad being eliminated…I think being in that game makes it really easy to get upset with people, and I don't like being upset with people. I'd rather just make a bunch of friends!" Fridge clapped his hands together, accidentally getting them stuck shut by the tar that was there. "Oops…"
"Well, that's pretty much the exact answer that I expected from you, big guy. Okay, let's get a move on to your viewer questions!" Capone flexed his muscles in a few different poses before revealing the question cards in his hands. "Now, you've got your first one coming at you from BadLuckAE. 'What's the heaviest thing you've ever lifted?' Ronnie mentioned that he'd seen you lifting some pretty heavy stuff, but we just have to know what the answer is!"
"Oh, the heaviest thing I've lifted? Friendleb told me that I should say 'your mother' if anyone ever asked me this, so…your mother!" Fridge happily clapped his hands together while Capone's eyes shot wide open and his jaw dropped. "But the actual answer…I think I picked my dad's car up once. It was in the way of my big weights in the garage, so I had to move it."
"A…a car. You lifted…a car…" Capone looked up at Fridge to see that the boy looked too sure of himself to be lying about this. He glanced over at Ronnie, who was on the benches, shrugging as the answer really did sound like something he may have lifted in the past. "R-right, a car, sounds reasonable enough. Okay, the next question is from LordGemini! 'If Caleb apologizes, would you forgive him?'"
"Oh, I've already forgiven Friendleb…I forgave everyone for everything that happened on the show! I can't bring myself to stay mad at everyone when I know that they were just doing what they did because they wanted to win. Dad told me it might be like this before I came here." Fridge smiled brightly, his pearly white shining through the tar and feathers. "No hard feelings, I'd rather just have friends."
"You could probably make everybody your bitch with the strength you've got in your arsenal, but who am I to judge you for what you do with your power." Capone shrugged before he moved on to the next card in the pile. "Okay, here's one from…MTDN. Last one before the next interview, too. 'Have you ever eaten a cactus? And if not then can you try? It's really tasty, I swear.' Luckily, I have a cactus prepared for this very moment!" Capone snickered as he held up a cactus on a plate, holding it out to Fridge.
"I've never eaten one, but it sounds tasty enough! Oh…but…uh…" Fridge gestured to his hands that were still stuck together, which got Capone to move it closer to his face. He opened his wide maw, taking a bite out of it, which was really just him pulling the whole thing into the jaws of life before he clamped them shut and chewed down on the cactus. Capone was absolutely astounded that the boy wasn't even flinching from the horrible act. He swallowed down every last bit of that cactus, smiling soon after. "Not very tasty, but veggies make you grow big and strong!"
"Y-you're already big and strong, you untameable beast…everyone, let's give it up for…this terrifying creature, Fridge…" Capone gestured to Fridge, who attempted to get up from the seat, but the tar had gotten his bottom stuck to the cushion. He kept pulling up off the floor until the chair was ripped right off of the ground. Fridge blushed bright enough for the red to be seen past the tar on his cheeks, and he scuttled away with the chair still plastered to his rear, sitting down next to the risers. "Gah…Franchesco, can you bring out another chair? The elephant man up and took the last one with his ass's iron grip."
Franchesco sighed and rushed backstage before coming out with a chair in his hands. "I hate taking orders from you, you know that? You're lucky that Sunny told me to play nice while I was here, or I'd teach you a lesson or three about being a punk."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, buddy! Just put the chair down so I can pull out the next guest, would ya?" Capone snapped his fingers at Franchesco, who sat the chair down in the spot that the last one was in before running back to his spot guarding the door. Capone went to say something again, but he was suddenly shoved aside by someone else. "Hey, what gives!?"
"I think I'll be handling this next interview, thank you very much." Capone glared at Margaret, who had taken a spot in the center of the room. Before he was able to say anything in protest, he felt a hand fall upon his shoulder, the hand belonging to none other than the Capone from the Devil's Fourth. The show's host saw that not only was the enormous man standing behind him, but so were Lucky, Bugsy, and Ma. Each of them smiled wicked smiles at him, which was enough to convince him to take a seat while Margaret looked out towards the audience. "A lesson has got to be taught to our next guest…a little lesson about what happens when you hide important information from me."
There was some worried murmuring in the crowd as Margaret slid some rubber gloves onto her hands, tipping her head down a bit before flashing a grin to the audience. "Well? Let's start the show! This next guest is a rotten son of a bitch that went and put a whole lot of innocent people in danger because he didn't want to cause a panic! Calvin, get your pansy ass out here before I drag you out by your tongue!" Max got nervous where she was sitting and Daniel shot up from his seat and rushed over to Margaret. "Danny, baby, can't you see I'm doing some official business here?"
"Margaret, I know you're worried about everything that happened with Blaster and pissed about the whole Jay thing, but look around you…you've got all these other friends that look like they're going to cry." Margaret humored Daniel by looking towards her castmates, frowning as she saw just how terrified most of them were. "Please…I know you want Calvin to pay for hiding that from everybody, but this…it's just too much."
"Come on, Daniel! We ain't had a proper head to crack in so long, now we finally get one and you're trying to ruin it for us!" Lucky stomped towards Margaret's boyfriend, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and glaring at him through his sunglasses. "You know, I promised I wouldn't do nothing to hurts ya, but with you getting in the way of my fun…well, that promise just might have to be broken!" The gangster lifted his fist to swing at Daniel, but Margaret caught it in her hand and squeezed down hard on it, ringing out some loud cracks. The other three gangsters gasped as Lucky dropped Daniel and crumbled to the ground.
"I made myself very clear about what would happen if you ever tried something like this, didn't I? I'll let you off with the broken fingers for now, but if I ever catch you trying to pull something like that again, it'll mean a cold, watery grave for you." Margaret glared holes through Lucky's chest, and he whimpered as he scurried off stage. She looked back at Daniel, who just appeared to be a bit disappointed. "Alright, alright, I get it…I'll take it easy on the guy. This is the only favor you're getting from me, though…don't count on any preferable treatment just because you're my boyfriend."
"Wouldn't want you to expend all your favors on me anyways…thanks, Marge." Daniel hugged Margaret tightly before she dipped him down and kissed him as if she was the knight to his princess. He blushed as she set him back up on his feet, slapping him on the tush before sending him off to join the sidelines again. It was then that Calvin finally made his way to the stage, staring down at the floor all the way until he reached the guest's chair. He sat down and looked at Margaret. The tension between the stare the two shared was enough to crush a concrete bridge. "Calvin…welcome to the show."
"Keep the chit chat to a minimum, Diablo. I was given orders to keep all the business about Harett to myself and Agent Coil. Strict orders from the higher ups." Calvin showed a badge to Margaret, but this one was an official badge, unlike the others that he had shown before. Margaret only recognized it from seeing it on agency cronies that she…well, we'll keep that dirty work out of this.
"You…when did you manage to weasel your way into an agency, wannabe?" Calvin didn't answer this question, which caused a vein to flare up in Margaret's forehead, though she didn't press the issue any further. "Speaking of Blaster…she had better be truly safe and sound at home. If anything happened to her, so help me I will break the promise that I just made."
"She's fine. Superior Agent Abadi made sure that she returned to her home in Australia, but she's lost all recollection of the agency. She won't be in any danger from this point on, so you don't need to worry about her. You can always go visit her, if you'd like." Calvin pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Margaret, who snatched it from his hand as quickly as she could. "That's the address…she'll be there. As I said, you're free to check it out."
"Right…good…Ma!" Margaret shouted over to the one female gangster of the bunch, who rushed over. She placed the paper in her underling's hands. "Go ahead and make sure she's doing alright…let her know that she's always welcome as a member of the family, should she have nowhere else to turn to."
"Yes, of course, Madame." Ma nodded her head over and over before rushing off of the stage, leaving just Bugsy, the smallest of the gangsters, and Capone, the largest. The two awkwardly looked between each other, not really used to being the only ones left in one spot at a given time before.
"I've got questions for you from the viewers, Calvin. Try not to omit any info from your answers, eh?" Margaret walked over to where the agent was sitting, standing right in front of him with some cards in her hands. "Here's one from another goody-two-shoes, LittleRedline. 'I'm so truly sorry for your loss. How have you been holding up since the loss of such a wonderful agent?' I think she's talking about the empty tuna can that you befriended."
"Don't talk about him in such a foul manner, Agent BroBot was one of the best agent partners anyone could've ever asked for. To answer the question, I've been doing better…moving on and realizing that things can't change from how they happened is something that I still haven't gotten used to. But, such is the life of an agent…you just can't have everything be perfect." Calvin looked down at his picture of BroBot, smiling at it.
"Uck…you disgust me, with your chanting about the agents and such. Someday you'll realize that you guys are a part of the problem. You think you're so righteous in everything you do…just get out of my sight." Margaret turned away from Calvin, and he got up from his seat to go sit next to Max. She hugged him tightly, leering at the mob boss the entire time. "Capfaker, you can go back to whatever it was you were doing before."
Margaret stood at the side of the risers to cool off while Daniel looked between her and Calvin, having an internal dilemma, considering he was dating one and the other was his best friend. Capone, not the mobster one, got up from where the gangsters had moved him to, and was grumbling to himself. "Man, can't do anything fun, gotta sit here and deal with people stealing my spotlight…and it's time for another commercial break! Dammit, Margaret, you stole my time to shine! Ugh…whatever, we'll be back for Sunshine's bit next…" Capone sighed and looked down at the floor while the camera panned out from the stage.
The camera cut away from the stage to transfer over to what seemed to be a rather regular metro station, though it was flooded entirely with construction workers that were wearing protective equipment. Each hard hat, every vest, they were all labeled with the Starshine Industries emblem, signifying the connection to the show's host. The foreman of the group was a rather plain, yet rugged looking man that approached the camera with a clipboard in his hands. "As…uh…as you can see behind me, we've been tasked with getting these stations properly put up all around the world. We've got 'em here in America, up in Canada, down in Australia, hell, you name a country and we've probably got a station being built. The difficult part is gonna be the trains themselves, but the tech team supposedly has that bit covered."
The camera panned to the side to show a group of geeky looking women standing around some sort of bullet train that seemed to be far more advanced than anything anyone had ever seen before. The one of the women, presumably the head of this project, approached the camera with a smile on her face. "We hadn't had a whole lot of opportunity to work on anything with a jet engines outside of planes since Miss Starshine had her obsession with the mechs, so building these sky trains is something we're all quite excited to do. Getting such an extensive, heavy piece of equipment on a controlled path through the sky at an altitude where it won't crash into a plane or some other air vehicle is a bit of a task, but no task is too great for me and my team. We're just curious as to why these are being used for that reality show…"
The woman shrugged before heading back to her team and getting right back to work on the train. It was then that a logo flashed on the screen, one that said "Total Drama: Air Aboard!" However, as the logo sat there, it suddenly diffused into two similar looking, yet still different logos. The one on the left of the screen read, "Total Drama: Dana's Air Aboard!" The one on the right of the screen was, "Total Drama: Chris's Air Aboard!" The logos sat there and twinkled for a brief moment before the camera faded out.
The view cut back to the aftermath stage, with Fridge finally having pried himself out of that chair…though the cushion was still stuck to his bottom. He sat on the actual risers, but everyone was keeping their distance to avoid the stickiness. Calvin sat with Max, the two holding each other's hands while glaring at Margaret, who was filing her nails down with a knife. Capone was back on the host's couch, sitting next to a giddy Maggie while Sunny pushed herself up from the couch and headed for the center of the stage, beaming with a smile. "Welcome back, everybody! Now that Capastrami and buddy buddy have gone, that just leaves me, your one and only Sunshine!"
Again, Sunny pointed to the ceiling, beckoning a beam of light to come down and burn Capone's retinas. Maggie giggled to herself like a giddy school girl before the idol finally clapped and turned the light off. "Now, I do have two interviews to get through, but I thought it would be fitting if we actually brought them out at the same time! Does that sound fair to everyone? I think it's a pretty sick deal!" The fans went utterly ballistic for Sunny, which annoyed Capone to no end while Maggie just playfully clapped along to the fun.
"I knew everybody was gonna like that idea! It's fun to keep things fresh and bright, even with the Aftermaths coming to an end!" Sunny did a little twirl before all the lights in the building shut off, only the spotlight around her flickering up after a few moments. "Our next guests…you could really drone on and on about them for hours, you know? One of them used to be rich, but we discovered that she lost all access to her fortune after some time, not sure what that reason is. The other one is well known around these parts as an egotistical leprechaun with a temper like an angry bull. The two of them worked together for their entire time on the show, not letting anything get in the way of their friendship, or their alliance, for that matter! Put your hands together and give a warm, sunny welcome to Brittany and Caleb!"
An eruption of cheers sounded out from the crowd as the door to the aftermath stage opened to allow the duo to stumble out into the open. Brittany was glad to have all eyes on her, and she started blowing kisses out to the crowd, while Caleb simply adjusted his glasses and made his way to the impromptu guest chair, sitting down as quickly as he could. Of course, Brittany did march over to join him, but not before she really let all the crowd's affection soak in. The two were forced to share the same chair, but with Caleb being as small as he was, it wasn't like they were pressed for room. Sunny approached the two of them, and was about to say something until Rosalina rushed up from behind Caleb and picked him up by his scarf with a glimmer in her eyes. "Gah! Who the fuck is this bitch!?"
"Me? Oh, I'm Rosalina, but that's not important, Shota-San! Your one true mate is sitting right there on the risers, and you need to confess your feelings for him before my heart explodes! I can't take the wait!" Rosalina pointed at Fridge on the risers, only getting a confused stare back from Caleb. "Don't you look at me like that, you know how badly you want his tar-covered lips to meet yours! And then, they'll get stuck together, and you'll have to kiss each other until the end of time! It's so…romantic!"
"Put me down, lady!" Caleb struggled to break free from Rosalina's clutches before Brittany finally pried him out of her arms. The fujoshi huffed and puffed until she turned blue in the face and passed out from expending too much oxygen. Franchesco groaned and marched over to put her back on the risers, making sure that she ended up near Larida, who, of course, made sure that she wasn't going to fall over in her sleep or anything. "Jesus fuck, you guys have got some literal crazies here, don't you."
"We like to think of it as a nice little loving family." Sunny smiled at Caleb as he sat back down next to Brittany, dusting himself off with a few swipes from his hands. "So…Caleb, you pretty much owned the game while you were in. It probably stings pretty bad to have lost when you were so close to the finish, right? I'd imagine it would."
"Yeah, it freaking blows! I can't believe I got outdone by Valerie, of all people." Caleb practically had to spit the girl's name out of his mouth, as he was so irritated by her that he didn't even want to talk about her. "And now Teddy is the only thing standing between her and that annoying rabbit getting this money."
"Yeah, we can pretty much just kiss the cash goodbye, there's no way that nincompoop is gonna be able to beat either of them." Caleb glared at Brittany, who rolled her eyes and softly sighed. "Sorry, I forgot that you and him are all buddy buddy now. I think you could do better with your friends, but who am I to judge?"
"I think that the guy's got a fairly good shot at the money…all the idols have been used up at this point, so no one could possibly have any other tricks up their sleeves. Since these shows have a history of letting the winner of whatever the final three challenge pick who goes to the finale with them, all he needs to do is not lose the next challenge to make it to the finale." Caleb tapped his forehead while smiling that strategic smile of his. "It may be a one in three chance, but those odds are better than nothing."
"Glad to see that you're in full support of your favorite YouTuber. Which reminds me, I had a guest question for you that I think is pretty fitting to ask!" Sunny pulled a card from her back pocket. "It's from MTDN! 'Have you already bought a limited edition Teddy Bear Nation merch scarf? It would really suit you.' You know, since you already wear that checkered scarf of yours all the time."
"I did look at the selection a little while ago, but everything's a bit too bright and colorful like me. I like the calm white and black of the chess board, which is why I tend to let my outfits remain black and white." Caleb shrugged his shoulders while frowning slightly. "I definitely wanna support the guy in some way, but I just can't see myself wearing anything that looks like a unicorn threw it up."
"I guess that makes sense as much as an answer for that needs. Who knows, though? Maybe he'll make you a special black and white one for the friendship you two formed during the last moments you had." Sunny smiled as she reached into her other back pocket and pulled out another card. "Now I've got a fan question for you, Brittany! This one is from BadLuckAE, and it's actually really not a question. 'I'm not making a question for you, I'm here just to say that you deserved the W.'"
"H-huh!? I don't think someone has ever said they wanted me to win the money before! What do I do with this…why do I feel all warm and stupid inside?" Brittany blushed brightly before glaring at Sunny and pointed at her menacingly. "W-what did you do to me to make me feel this way!? I don't like it!"
"Local castout reveals that she doesn't know what love and affection feels like. Truly a heartbreaking tale." Sunny nodded and grabbed another card from the Caleb pocket. "Here's another question for you, Caleb. It's from Nobody245. 'Looking back on it now, what do you think cost you the game this season and how will you improve next season?' I'm sure everybody wants to know what the king of strategy is thinking now."
"Good question…I think the amount of allies I was trying to handle all at once proved to be a bit too much for me. I could've very well stuck with Brittany and Fridge and flew under the radar for the most part, but when I got Margaret and eventually Bunny involved, we just ended up destroying each other from the inside." Caleb waved his finger in a manner that showed he knew what he was talking about. "Next time around, should there be an alliance, it'll be smaller with more room to focus on what is happening around us than what's happening on the inside."
"We expected some over the top answer about strategy from you, so good job on meeting our expectations. Alright Brittany, we're going for you again!" Sunny grabbed her next question card for the girl, who leaned up in anticipation. "It's from Alexneushoorn. 'Why did your family exclude you from their riches? I'd love to know.' I do believe we've gotten a lot of people wondering all about this."
"Well…that's actually…you see, the thing is that…I kinda was bragging all the time about how rich and successful I was, and I guess daddy didn't like my attitude, so him and mom cast me out and said I need to actually earn some success before I can have such luxuries. I still think it's a load of horse crap." Brittany grumbled to herself and crossed her arms while Caleb stifled a chuckle. She glared at him, but the glare didn't last forever, as she just sighed. "Is that good enough for you?"
"Yep, perfectly fine for me! Now, this is a question that has been asked by the fans constantly, so we won't put one single person to this question. The whole fanbase wants to know, from the both of you…when are you two just gonna buckle your pants up and admit the fact that you both wanna date each other? How long do we have to wait for this fateful love story?" Sunny grinned at the two of them, both of which blushed immediately.
"W-woah, wait a minute, you wanna date me!? This has gotta be some sort of a joke, I gave up on any of that dating crap because of all the jabs at my stature!" Caleb looked up to Brittany, who nervously rubbed her arm and stared down to the floor. "Brittany? Why are you-"
"Yes, okay, yes, fine! I admit it! I've been head over heels for you for a long time now, I don't give a damn how tall you are or whatever, you're the only person that's ever stood by my side in anything and I've never felt like I've gotten the attention or anything from anyone else ever!" Brittany covered her eyes and just blushed harder while Caleb stared up at her in a completely lost gaze. "You can think I'm as needy and whiny as you want, I'm sorry for-"
Caleb got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around Brittany in a tight embrace. The two sat there in their hug for a brief moment while the crowd cheered for them, and Sunny even clapped her hands lightly. "I knew you guys were gonna do something cute and sappy like this…do the fans feel satisfied?" Sunny looked over to the crowd with a grin while they kept on cheering like ballistic animals. Brittany got up from her seat, holding Caleb as he continued to hug her, both of them still blushing intensely. They made their way quickly to the benches while Sunny sat herself back down on the host's couch. "Well, there you have it! The last of the aftermath interviews! We all had a good time, but after this last commercial break, we'll be ending things off! We'll be right back, everybody!"
As the camera began to pan out to signal the transition to the next commercial, it took a sudden stop. It then directed its focus to the door to the stage, which was pushed open to allow some charismatic whistling to flow in. The hosts and the guests each took a look to the side to see what was going on, only for a boy to come out onto the stage. This boy wasn't incredibly tall, but by no means was he a shrimp. He was the type of toned that someone who just started going to the gym a month ago would be, a decent bit of muscle but nothing eye popping. His skin was espresso toned, and it was complemented by his deep brown eyes. His hair was black…chaotically frizzy, but it wasn't super long or anything like that. He had a bit of a smug smirk on his face, and that only ticked off Capone, who immediately saw him as competition. He was wearing a red football jersey that had white trim on it…what was most notable about the jersey was that the name "Jackson," along with the number thirteen were displayed on the back of it. Dark brown cargo shorts, black cleats, and white active socks completed the boy's attire. Some people in the audience were aware of who he was, and there were some mixed murmurs. "Pretty nice place here…I hear we got a little competition going on?"
"Who is this clown? No one comes in and interrupts my show out of the blue like that! I'll twist you up like a pretzel!" Capone got up from his seat, but Maggie tugged on his shirt, causing him to shift his annoyed glance to her. "What!? Can't you see I'm busy about to school this poser?"
"Yeah, about that…he's actually another one of the new contestants for the next season, kuku!" Capone and Sunny gasped, apparently having been under the impression that they were going to be the only two debutees for the upcoming season. "Eh? You guys are staring at me like this is blasphemy…did you really think that you'd be the only ones to join the show next season? Kshshsh! You already knew about Rosalina, but there's also Ivy…and now George! A proper season with twenty-five contestants!"
"This is quite the shocking revelation indeed…so, George, why don't you tell us a little more about yourself." Sunny looked over to the new boy, though she had a hint of suspicion in her eyes. He shrugged his shoulders as he approached the guest's chair, plopping himself down in it and cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, just make yourself at home, I guess."
"I was invited, shouldn't I at least be comfortable while I'm here? Some host you are, complaining about me sitting down." George taunted the idol, clearly aggravating her. With now two of the three aftermath hosts entirely annoyed by him, it seemed like things were pretty bleak for him. "Anyways…I play football, just like my dad. I'm sure some of you know him. He's pretty great, but there's no need for me to get into all that. I'm here because I'm gonna show the world that I can be just as much a spontaneous legend as him. That's right, all eyes on me, lines for autographs that cover whole blocks, the whole shebang."
"He's going to make quite an interesting addition to the cast, that's for sure." Maggie stuck her tongue out at the other two hosts, both of which still weren't buying it. "We did try to get his cousin, but pops said he was too busy being a legend in the making and gave us this kid instead." George's expression soured as his cousin was mentioned, and he could only roll his eyes. "In any case, we'll be able to see all that he has to offer when we do finally get to the next season of the show. As for right now…I'm sure you two know exactly what's gonna happen!"
"That's right…we're finito! No more! Canceled!" Capone cried some fake tears before shaking his head and flashing his iconic grin to the audience. "Not per se, but this is the last Aftermath of the season, so you won't be seeing much of us until the next season starts. In hindsight, it was pretty great, but I'd probably swap out my co-hosts if I could do it all over again. They only hold me back."
"It's cute that you think Sunny or Maggie hold you back…we all know you're just around to be the show's punching bag." Franchesco teased the boy from where he stood off to the side of the stage before finally heading to the center of the stage to join everyone else. "I'm kinda glad it's over…word has it that I'll be getting myself a little bit bigger of a role in the show for the next season. Something about a conductor? I'd have to look back at the text."
"It'll be awesome to have you doing something other than guarding doors the entire time, you really do deserve much more than that." Sunny got up from her seat and pointed up to the ceiling, causing lights to shine down on her and her alone while she donned a yellow and blue striped helmet with a black visor that covered her eyes entirely. "This ray of sunshine is really looking forward to being able to compete against the others…it's been wonderful to host and all, but that's not a full use of my potential!"
"While I myself will not be here for the next season, I do hope it goes well for all of you!" Maggie was the next to shoot up from her seat, and her statement shook Sunny to the core. The idol's jaw dropped out of complete confusion. "Yup, I'll be down and out, but I'm sure the fans will see me meddling in someone else's business…kukuku! Anyyyway! It's been a pleasure to be hosting this with my darling Sunshine…and Caprawn, I guess. Heh…prawn…not as tasty as a shrimp and far less important. Oh well. Folks, thanks for joining us for this lovely little aftermath segment, and we'll see all of you soon!" The camera began to pan away from the stage again, with all of the former contestants and others being seen on the sidelines, waving to the audience for the last time before the screen cut to black.
Author's Notes:
*Only two episodes left in this season now with all of the aftermaths out of the way. It's been a long ride, but I'm excited to say that we're finally getting to the end of things. And yes, we'll be seeing George as an addition to this cast…so we've got all of Sunny, Ivy, Capone, George, and Rosalina jumping in on the competition when the next season rolls around. Anywho, hope you all enjoyed and let me know who you think is gonna make that finale!
*Capone Nicknames: Caposer, Capissbaby, Cappuccino, Capterpiller, Capansy, Crapone, Capunchingbag, Capieceofcrap, Caplinko, Capuke, Caportapotty, Caprick, Capuchin, Caprincess, Capole Dancer, Cappy, Capless, Captain Obvious, Capwned, Capoindexter, Capointless, Capetty Thief, Capepperoni, Capalooze, Capervert, Capinhead, Caprawn, Caperfect, Capfaker, Capastrami
*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; 5th - Brittany; 4th - Caleb