Chapter 7: I Love You, I Love You Knots
Reviews:
dm4487: Yeah, Amy is one of the characters that I would consider unredeemable. See also: Jo, Sugar, Scarlett, Dave, and of course Chris. As for Duncan, he could hook up with anyone. Or no one. You'll just have to wait and see.
DSX62415: There may be returning campers later this season. As for the bear thing, yeah, that sounds like a very Eva thing to do.
Phenomenal Ultra Instinct: Thanks for the kind words. And Amy getting axed is a good reason to cheer. Sammy is on a team of outcasts, both past and present. They'll take care of their own as best they can. Max has been a blast to write. Unfortunately, I need a villain for the Moose, and Jo just won't cut it, so you'll have to wait for Aiden to fall. I needed rules to establish what Dawn can and cannot do. Heck yeah, I just teased Scottney. I figure I can do a better job than All-Stars, don't you? Scott's helpfulness can be attributed to there being four teams, and thus he can't afford to lose challenges strategically because he'd risk taking out his whole team before the merge. I made Zoey an artist character because I don't know anything about indie culture of the mid-2000s. Yes, Gwen and Zoey will likely be friends. And there are soon to be 46.
Gucci Mane LaFlare: Don't insult Heather like that. A less athletic Jo, maybe.
AndrewNotCarranza: Well, thanks! 52 characters is admittedly highly ambitious, but I am trying my best. My bias has come into play, but Dave is an obvious weak link, and the other eliminated campers so far have been campers who pissed off their teammates. I just had to arrange the teams right, and I instantly get the eliminations I want. I shall try to ensure the rest lives up to your excitement.
QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless: I have a villain for the Bass team already, and it's Scarlett. Sugar, unfortunately, would have just been in the way. I might have returning campers, though, so this might not be the last we see of Sugar. Second favorite character? Wow, even my favorite villain (Scott) is only #5 on my character ranking. And I thought Sugar, as well as Scarlett for that matter, failed to live up to her full potential. If Sugar was in a season with more legitimate power players, that would be interesting. Like I said before, the idea of Heather reading Amy's diary was borrowed from AndrewNotCarranza. I thought it was clever, because by reading Amy's diary, she made an ally and sealed an enemy's doom, unlike canon, where she just pointlessly made a lot of enemies. Glad you liked the idea of Ella and Beardo making the theme song; that seems to have been a well-liked move on my part.
QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless again: Max has been so much fun to write. I'm going to miss him when he gets eliminated. You're probably the only one to ever be sad to see Amy go, and I couldn't make her stick around even if I wanted to. Especially not if it meant losing Izzy or Cameron. Duncan and Courtney are incompatible. That's not my opinion, that's just fact. I think I can write Scottney better than canon. I just need to remember to pace it better and to make it clearer why they're attracted to each other. When Ezekiel gets eliminated, it won't be because of sexist remarks. Eva is often written as superhumanly strong, and I guess she is here to have wrestled a bear long enough for her team to get back up the tree, but she's no Superman, at least not in this story. You won't see her perform feats of titanic strength here. Thanks!
perfectlove990: Romance is hard to write, but I'll do my best. And no, I'm only doing one 52-episode season.
Me: Umm...no.
Me again: Staci hadn't had time to grate on her team enough to get voted out over the guy who cost the Badgers the challenge. If the Badgers had been forced to put up with Staci for more than just half a day, she probably would have been voted out.
Teams:
Gophers: B, Beardo, Beth, Brick, Dawn, Duncan, Ella, Heather, Jasmine, Leonard, Max, Sammy
Bass: Courtney, DJ, Ezekiel, Lindsay, Mike, Rodney, Sam, Scarlett, Scott, Topher, Tyler
Moose: Aiden, Anne Maria, Cameron, Cody, Eva, Harold, Izzy, Jo, LeShawna, Lightning, Noah, Owen, Shawn
Badgers: Alejandro, Bridgette, Geoff, Gwen, Justin, Katie, Sadie, Sierra, Sky, Trent, Zoey
The episode opened on the Gopher team eating breakfast. "Thanks for standing up for me last night," Sammy said to her teammates. "I was sure I would be the one going home."
"Why would you think that?" Beth asked.
"Well, Amy's the pretty one, the one that everyone likes..." Sammy began, but Brick cut her off.
"First off, you're the pretty one, not Amy. I don't care if you're identical twins. Second, maybe everyone likes Amy where you live, but none of us like her."
Dawn added, "We all know what it's like to be bullied. Maybe not to the extent of your relationship with Amy, but we have all had problems with bullying before.
"For instance, Leonard has been a victim of a fair amount of bullying just for being a nerd."
Leonard nodded. "Seer Dawn speaks the truth."
"Both Ella and Max are frequently teased and made fun of for being 'childish.'"
Max affirmed, "When I take over the world, those fools shall eat their words! Words that shall taste like Red Bull! Which tastes disgusting."
Duncan looked at him. "Dude, I love Red Bull."
Max replied, "Then you have no taste."
"Heather faced a tremendous amount of bullying in middle school just because she was a late bloomer. Beth also faces a fair amount of bullying for not being conventionally attractive. Beardo, as an openly gay member of the inner city community, has been victim to a great amount of verbal and physical abuse, which resulted in his social anxiety," Dawn continued.
Beardo looked at her, confused. "Wait, how did you know about me being gay?" Then a look of realization replaced his quizzical frown. "Oh, right. The aura thing."
Dawn continued, "Duncan was bullied a lot in juvenile detention, Jasmine and B have both been ostracized because they intimidate others, and Brick was victim to a lot of bullying because of his bladder control issues."
"Hey, I haven't wet my pants in almost a year!" Brick said, then hastily covered his mouth and turned red.
"In my case, my empathic abilities tend to scare people, to the point of keeping me from having any friends. I have tried to avoid bringing up people's auras in conversation at times, but it's easier said than done. I have been harassed and ostracized to the extreme. I'm usually able to handle it, but after seeing just how cruel Amy is...I just needed to let out some bottled-up emotions."
Dawn's teammates all responded along the lines of, "Think nothing of it." "We know how you felt." "I've cried myself to sleep at night more times than I can count." B patted her shoulder comfortingly.
Dawn then looked back at Sammy. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make this about me. Back to the point, we all know how you feel."
"We just wanted to let you know you're among friends," Jasmine said.
"Thank you," Sammy replied.
Confessional: Sammy
"My teammates are really pretty nice, even Heather and Duncan. Now that Amy's gone, I feel so free!"
End confessional
The camera then panned over to show the other teams. "Now I know why 'gruel' rhymes with 'cruel,' Sam commented.
"I don't know what you're complaining about," Scott said. "This stuff tastes great!"
"Yeah," Brick said nostalgically. "Tastes just like the food back at the academy."
The two of them received disbelieving looks from most of their fellow campers, before everyone's attending was caught by Rodney choking on something. Everyone began to panic.
"Does anyone know what to do when someone is choking?" Scott asked frantically.
"I do!" Bridgette shouted, and quickly directed DJ on performing the Heimlich maneuver. Once a walnut launched out of his throat, DJ dropped the farm boy.
"Are you okay?" Bridgette asked, afraid.
Rodney looked at her dreamily. "I am now..."
Confessional: Rodney
"Bridgette saved my life! It must be a sign! But wait? What'll I tell Scarlett?"
End confessional
All of a sudden, Chris came in. "Report to the campfire pit in five minutes for your challenge!"
At the campfire pit, Chris set the four teams on benches. "Your challenge today is a twist on the classic game of Truth or Dare," he said. "Or as I call it, Truth or Scare! When it's your team's turn, Dakota will spin the randomizer," he gestured to Dakota, who was standing at the bar of what looked like an electronic slot machine, "which will choose a camper," the randomizer landed on Duncan, "and assign them either a Truth, or a Scare." The second slot landed on a picture of red flames. "Also, you all have to wear these." Several interns passed collars to the campers, who put them on. Chris then pressed a button, and the collars locked around the necks of the campers. "Tell the truth, or complete your Scare, and you get a point." Chef wheeled out a scoreboard, which showed the Bass at one point, and the three other teams at zero. "Fail to tell the truth, or complete your Scare, which may be embarrassing, painful, or gross, and this happens!" He pressed the buttons on four remotes, and all the campers received a painful shock from the collars. "Oh, and the Bass get an extra point because they won the last round."
Mike gasped, hunched over, and became Chester. "You could've waited 'til after he failed!"
Chris shrugged. "I just wanted to see you all in pain."
Chester started fuming. "Kids these days, no respect at all."
"O-kay. Anyway, first team to ten wins! Duncan has gotten a Scare. Let's see what he has to do to avoid getting his team shocked." He drew a card, and read, "You must...drink an entire bottle of hot sauce!"
Duncan looked at him nonchalantly, and grabbed the bottle. He raised it to his lips, and started chugging. When he was done, he set the bottle down, empty. "Give me a hard one next time, okay?" The Gophers' counter went up to 1.
Dakota span the randomizer again. Chris narrated as the wheels revealed their results, "Now, we have Ezekiel," Ezekiel gasped, and began to look very nervous, "Doing a Scare!" He then sighed in relief. Chris took a card. "Pick your nose, and eat it!"
Ezekiel stuck a finger in his nose, looked at it, and stuck it in his mouth. Most of the other campers looked incredibly grossed out. Scott patted him on the back.
"Gross," said Chris. "Hopefully we'll get some campers to actually have trouble. Next is...Justin! Doing a...Truth!" The second slot showed a halo. "And, just so we know you're telling the truth, I have a guest star to introduce."
A chicken strutted up to the campfire pit, and up to Justin. "Meet Clucky, the truth-seeking chicken!" Chris introduced. Tyler fainted at the sight. "He's gonna be out for the entire challenge, isn't he. Ah, well, she's former CIA, and runs her own law firm, Buck, Buck, and B'gawk. If you have a secret, this poultry polygraph will find it out."
He read from a card, "Out of all your fellow campers, who do you think is most attractive?"
Justin considered for a moment, then said, "Alejandro."
Katie and Sadie looked shocked. "You're not, like, gay, are you?" Katie asked.
"No, I am straight," Justin said. "But Chris didn't ask, 'who are you most attracted to,' he asked, 'who do you think is most attractive.' And besides me, the most attractive camper here is Alejandro."
Noah deadpanned, "You're totally gay for yourself. Don't even bother denying it." Owen laughed at Noah's barb.
Confessional: Justin
"And choosing a most attractive girl would damage my hold over the girls on my team."
End confessional
Clucky looked at him with narrowed eyes, but eventually nodded. "And Clucky calls Truth!" Chris announced, letting the Badgers' scoreboard rise to 1.
Dakota spun the slots again, and they showed a picture of Cameron, and flames. "Cameron, your Scare is...drink an entire jug of mineral water!"
Cameron crossed his arms confidently. "Sounds feasible."
"In one minute or less."
Cameron lost the confident look. "Less feasible."
Chef handed the jug to Cameron, who buckled under the weight. But he lifted the jug to his lips, and started to chug as quickly as possible. Lightning, who was sitting next to him, held up the jug to help Cameron chug faster. Eventually, Cameron downed the whole jug.
"Wow, I didn't think you could do it," Chris said. "And with five seconds to spare. We need some harder scares."
Next was Leonard, doing a Truth. "Why do you think your magic hasn't been doing anything?"
Leonard looked confused. "You mean, you haven't figured it out?"
Now it was Chris's turn to look confused. "Figured what out?"
Leonard shook his head. "Figures. To answer your question, my magic hasn't been doing anything because I'm not a wizard. I've just been roleplaying this entire time."
He looked at the faces of all of the others. Harold was the only one who didn't look surprised. "You mean none of you caught on to my acting? You all thought I was delusional?" he asked, offended.
Sammy answered, "Well, you're just a really good actor."
He paused, and said, "Well, thank you, I guess?"
Heather then said, "Wait, but that still makes no sense! Why would you roleplay all this time and not tell anyone? Did you want to be voted out first?"
Leonard took off his hat. "Honestly, I don't have any skills that translate to a competition like this. I can't strategize, I'm not that good at socializing, and I'm not athletic. But I figured, if I roleplayed throughout my run here, I would at least be a memorable early boot, and I would even be able to show off my acting skill. Plus, I just like doing it."
Duncan gave him a look. "Isn't that embarrassing?"
Leonard shook his head. "This isn't embarrassing. My goth phase, now that was embarrassing."
Confessional: Jasmine
"So Leonard isn't delusional after all. I'm honestly surprised, but I guess his acting is just that good."
Confessional: Gwen
"Goth phase?"
End confessional
Chris looked at him, and said, "I don't think we really need Clucky to tell us that he's telling the truth." The Gophers' counter rose to 2.
"Next is...Rodney! Doing a Truth!"
Chris pulled out another card. "Out of every girl on this island, who do you find most attractive?"
Scott and Rodney both paled.
Confessional: Rodney
"I wanna say Bridgette, but I can't hurt Scarlett like that! I have to pick someone ridiculous, so they know I'm joking."
End confessional
Rodney started fidgeting uncomfortably. "Uh...uh...uh..."
Anne Maria ventured, "Well, it's obviously me. What kinda guy could resist this? I mean, I'm the total package, right here."
Rodney seized on this lifeline. "Yeah! Anne Maria!"
Clucky looked at him, and squawked accusingly.
"Sorry, Rodney, but Clucky says you're lying," Chris said.
"That's bogus!" Anne Maria said angrily. "Tell your chicken to get her eyes checked!"
"As a punishment for lying," Chris began, then pressed the button to shock the Bass team. "Next, Gwen! Doing a Scare!"
He pulled out a card. "Listen to 'London Bridge' by Fergie all the way through without touching the headphones or making a sound." Gwen's eyes went wide.
She did do it, and the exaggerated facial expressions of pain she made were definitely a sight to behold.
"And Gwen gets the Badgers the point! Next is...Lightning! Doing a...Truth!" Chris called. He drew a card. "What is your real name?"
Lightning looked extremely embarrassed. "Rudolph. My sha-name is Rudolph Jackson."
Jo laughed out loud at this. "Rudolph? No wonder you don't use your real name."
Sky frowned at her. "Hey, it's not that bad."
Chris said, "Well, yeah, it kinda is. But Clucky says you're telling the truth, so you get the point. Next...B! Doing a...Truth!" He took a card. "What is your real name?"
B looked extremely nervous, and stayed silent.
"Hey, it can't be that bad. My real name is Hector. Yours can't be worse than that," Beardo offered.
B took a deep breath, and wrote something on a nearby piece of cardboard. He then revealed what he had written: "Beverly."
Jo laughed loudly. "Beverly? That's even worse than Rudolph or Hector!"
Chris laughed. "Majorly humiliating, bro. But you didn't give a verbal response, so you don't get the point!"
The Gophers all protested loudly at this. Dawn said, "But B never talks! Just look at his aura!"
Chris said, "I don't care. My show, my rules." He pressed a button, shocking the Gophers. "Next is...Tyler! Doing a...truth!" He took a card. "What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?"
Clucky strutted over to Tyler, who screamed, curled up into a fetal position, and started shaking.
Chris waited for several seconds, then said, "I don't think we're getting anywhere with this." He pressed the button on the remote, and shocked the Bass team. "This isn't going very fast, so, on to the lightning round!"
A fast-paced tune started playing in the background. "Beautify a bear!" Chris said, then the camera shifted to show Sierra putting makeup on the bear. The Badgers' counter went up to 3.
"What is your most embarrassing memory?" Cameron answered, "My mom made me wear a diaper until I was eleven." Moose: 3.
"Who is your least favorite teammate?" B sighed, and the Gophers got shocked.
"Who is your favorite teammate aside from Scott?" Rodney started babbling, making no sense. The Bass got shocked.
"You must take this live tarantula, and..." Chris looked up to see that Geoff had eaten the tarantula. "All you had to do was pet it!" Geoff, nonplussed, asked, "Do I still get the point?" Chris rolled his eyes, and gave the Moose their point.
"Grab a wolf by the ears!" Aiden complied, and the camera showed Aiden bruised and battered, with the wolf's ears in his hands.
"Eat a live worm!" Sammy made a grossed-out face, but forced the worm down. The Gophers' score went up to 3.
"What is your most traumatizing memory?" Courtney thought for a moment, then answered, "The time my teacher showed my preschool class Jurassic Park." The Bass's score went up to 3.
"What do you think your role in the season will be?" Alejandro answered, "The heartthrob, I'm sure."
The montage continued, with some campers succeeding in their truths or scares, some failing, and notably B, Rodney, and Tyler never getting a truth question right.
Eventually, the Badgers had nine points, the Moose eight, and the Gophers and the Bass had five. Dakota spun the slots, showing Max and a halo. Chris took a card, and asked, "Why do you have purple hair?"
Max began, "Well, I didn't always have purple hair. Originally, I had brown hair. Also, I had really obnoxious neighbors, who played loud music all the time. Now, these obnoxious neighbors had a dalmatian, which they were very proud of. So, as revenge, I built a device to turn the dog's fur blue. Just so you know, it takes six hours to have an effect. I went to the dog park to use the machine on the dog, but I must have missed, because the next morning, the dog was still black and white. So I tested it on myself, and it turned my hair purple." Clucky looked at him, then nodded.
"Wait, what did the person walking the dog when you tried to turn it blue look like?" Sierra demanded.
Max thought for a moment. "She was tall, and had a long brown ponytail."
Sierra gave him a death glare, and stood up. "That was me! YOU turned my hair purple!" She stormed over to Max and punched him in the gut.
Chris shouted at her, "Go sit down, Sierra!"
Sierra looked at Max, and said, "You're lucky purple hair looks good on me."
Topher nodded. "It really does." Lindsay looked at him, puzzled.
Confessional: Topher
"What? Just because I'm bitter at Sierra doesn't mean I don't still find her attractive."
End confessional
"Next is...Mike! Doing a...Truth!" Chris took a card, and asked, "Mike, what's the real story with your 'characters?'"
Mike took a deep breath. "I...have Multiple Personality Disorder. I can't really control them that well. Chester, Svetlana, Vito, they're three of my other personalities."
DJ asked him, "So, why didn't you tell anyone?"
Mike answered, "I didn't want to just be 'the MPD guy.' I wanted to establish my own identity here, and if I told everyone I had MPD, I knew that would be my defining characteristic for my time here."
DJ put his arm around Mike's shoulders. "Dude, we know you're not just 'the MPD guy.' You've got hopes, and dreams, and fears, just like the rest of us. You might have MPD, but you're more than that."
Mike looked relieved. "Thanks, dude. I needed to hear that." Aiden stared silently at Mike.
Confessional: Aiden
"Multiple Personality Disorder? That's just another word for 'unpredictable.' I know who I need to get rid of, as soon as possible."
End confessional
"And Clucky calls truth!" Chris said. "Next is...Trent! Doing a...scare!" He took a card. "Kiss a person next to you."
Trent shrugged, and turned to Gwen, who was next to him. "It's for a point."
Gwen nodded, and the two kissed.
Confessional: Gwen
"I'll be honest, I kinda enjoyed that kiss."
End confessional
"And the Badgers win the challenge!" Chris announced. "Now, the Moose get second place, but we need a tiebreaker to decide the loser."
He turned to Dakota, who spun the slots, which showed the Gophers on one side and the Bass on the other. It stopped on Leonard and Tyler.
Tyler shouted, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can't handle doing a Truth challenge! Not with that chicken!"
Chris laughed. "Silly Tyler. There are no Truths in the tiebreaker challenge! Only scares!" Upon hearing that, Tyler looked surprised, then looked at Leonard, and grinned maliciously. Leonard began to look nervous.
Chris gave both of them a bag. "To win the tiebreaker, you have to open your bag, which contain the remotes, and shock the other team. Aaaaaaaand...GO!"
Leonard desperately tried to untie the knots, but couldn't get them open fast enough. Tyler easily snapped the cord holding his bag shut, pulled out the remote, and pressed the button, with a smug look on his face the entire time. The Gophers got shocked painfully.
"And the Bass win the tiebreaker! Gophers, I will see you at elimination." The Gophers groaned. Leonard held up his wizard staff, and shouted, "Time reversal spell!"
Chris stared at him blankly, and his shoulders sagged. "Yeah, I knew that wouldn't work."
At the campfire ceremony, Chris thought aloud, "Will every team have a two-challenge losing streak for the entire game? I hope not. But anyway, I have eleven marshmallows, and if you do not get a marshmallow, you must walk the Dock of Shame, board the Boat of Losers, and never come back. Ever."
"The people who are safe are...Jasmine! Dawn! Brick! Heather! Ella! Max! Samey! Beth! Duncan! Hector!"
"Funny," Beardo remarked, in a monotone voice.
"Leonard, you are on the chopping block for losing the tiebreaker, and Beverly, you are on the chopping block for not getting a single Truth right. Leonard..."
"You will not be receiving this marshmallow. Sorry, dude. You're going home."
Leonard sighed. "Well, at least I wasn't first out." He then walked down the Dock of Shame onto the Boat of Losers. The boat sailed away with him on it. Chris then turned back to the campers.
"The rest of you are safe. For tonight."
Reasons for elimination: Leonard is quite possibly the worst at competing in the entirety of Total Drama. He obviously wasn't going to last long. Sure, B could have been blamed for the loss, but who would be wiser to keep: a highly athletic genius, or someone whose only skill is acting? Besides, I have plans for B.
Thoughts on Leonard? He's a little bit funny, but aside from that, he's a bad character. He should have been the first one voted off in PI. However, I will say I did see some hints in canon that Leonard is actually acting, not genuinely delusional.
I have an upcoming original challenge based around Capture the Flag, and I could use recommendations for the episode title.
Please review! Reviews are the only way for me to know if you're reading!
Elimination order:
52: Dave, the Germaphobe
51: Staci, the Compulsive Liar
50: Dakota, the Fame-monger
49: Sugar, the Pageant Queen
48: Amy, the Evil Twin
47: Leonard, the LARPer
