"Aftermath Part 1: Back to Blain-sics" Total Drama All-Stars Improved episode 5
(Aftermath intro plays, as we cut to a familiar blonde woman in a bright red dress, and a man with graying black hair and a tuxedo)
"Hello everybody, and welcome back to Total Drama Aftermath! I'm your host, Blaineley, and this is Josh."
"Hoooo boy! I haven't hosted in so long, I think I might be rusty." Josh worried.
"Ha, I'm sure you'll clean up just fine! Besides, we are getting a ton of money from this!" Blaineley reaffirmed her co-host.
"Oh, you've got that right!" Josh remarked. "Anyways, Blaineley and I have taken over Geoff and Bridgette's positions as Aftermath hosts since the producers discovered that it'd be better for the ratings to have us here rather than some random teens who can't stop smooching!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Geoff sighed as he sat in the peanut gallery next to Bridgette. "This sucks…"
"Come on, Geoff, I'm sure it'll be fine. It was fun while it lasted anyway!" said Bridgette.
"It was fun watching you two argue, I'll admit," said Blaineley, "but whether you're hosting or not, we're gonna be bringing tons of juicy drama to the Aftermath!"
"At least that's all behind us!" Bridgette proclaimed before she and Geoff started kissing each other.
"And now, with all that aside," Blaineley explained, "It's time for our first interview! Ladies and gentlemen, the first person eliminated from Total Drama: All-Stars, it's Sierra!"
The audience clapped as Sierra walked onto the stage, although Cody cringed from the peanut gallery upon seeing her. This confused a nearby Noah, who asked the Geek, "Didn't you and Crazypants become buddies or whatever?"
"It's… A long story…" sighed Cody.
"Welcome to the show, Sierra! We're glad to have you here!" Josh greeted, extending his hand toward the Super-Fan.
"It's nice to be here, too, you guys!" Sierra responded, as she shook Josh's hand. "Oooh, and you've got all the other contestants that didn't make it! Y'know, I found it kinda weird that Dawn made it despite placing really low last season, but whatever."
"Well, I almost got into the season," Sam mentioned from the peanut gallery, "But I had to say no since Dakota was finally able to get the surgery she needed to return to normal and I wanted to be there with her to see it!"
Then, as if on cue, Dakota walked out from behind the stage and struck a pose, being greeted with applause from the viewers. "Hey everyone, Dakota Milton is back!" She appeared like how she used to when she first joined season 4, only now, she wore a light pink hoodie and had a lime green streak across her long blond hair. She walked up to the peanut gallery and sat next to Sam, kissing him briefly on the lips. "The surgery went well, although I do still have the superhuman strength I had as Dakotazoid, but I did put this green part on my hair to reference when I was a muta-"
Before she could finish, Blaineley cut her off by saying, "We're not interviewing you, honey!" She then pointed her thumb towards Sierra. "We're here to talk about this weirdo who probably doesn't even have a real tan!" Not amused, Dakota crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Well, I am partially Mexican, so that should explain it…" Sierra mentioned.
"Yuh-huh, sure. Anyways, how does it feel to be the first person off from the new season?" Blaineley asked.
"Well, it kinda sucked, but it was cool to see everyone that I've been documenting for so long on my fan websites, but my love for my wonderful Cody-kins seemed to have gotten the best of me…"
Cody stood up from his seat and interjected, "Um, correction, I think the word you're looking for is 'obsession'!"
"My IQ may be 184, but that is definitely not the term I was looking for!" cried Sierra.
"Oh yeah, that brings us to our next question," Josh started, "Why'd you regress back to being obsessed over Cody?"
"You see, Josh, it all happened after season 3." Sierra explained. "I thought Cody and I really had something special going on, but then he turned his back on me and said he hated me after everything we've been through!"
"THAT WAS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" Cody shouted. Everybody turned their heads towards him, causing him to get worried.
"Alright, this is what ACTUALLY happened..." he continued, as a flashback ensued. "When I befriended her towards the end of season 3, I wanted to try and make some sort of compromise with her so that I could still be friends with her without her stalking me, drugging me, or doing anything remotely creepy to me or my family. It seemed to be working well for a while, but then Sierra introduced me to her parents, who seemed a bit… Too permissive of her behavior. Heck, they even seemed to feel the same way towards Chris as Sierra felt towards me! So, I eventually told Sierra and her parents that I did not want to be in any sort of relationship with her and that I wanted her to stop being all creepy towards me. Well, that backfired, as Sierra threw a massive temper tantrum, her parents kicked me out, and Sierra went back to acting insanely creepy in the hopes that she could win me over."
End flashback. The hosts and peanut gallery were shocked by this, while Sierra was seething with anger. "Oh, you just don't get it!" whined Sierra, "You don't get all that I've gone through just to make you happy!"
"Do you think I was happy when you waltzed up to my window and staring snooping on me while I was playing Grand Larceny VII? No! I was terrified!" Cody shouted.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay! You're so ungrateful!" Sierra wailed.
"No, YOU'RE MESSED UP IN THE HEAD!" Cody screamed. Sierra gave him a blank expression.
Cody needed a few seconds to regain his composure. He took a deep breath in, and continued, "Sorry, what I mean to say is that I've talked to your psychiatrist that you were ordered to go to as a condition of your parole, and he said you've got quite a list of issues! Let's see here…" Cody said before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Sierra, the latter reading it and not seeming too surprised at its contents, given this was information she was already well aware of.
"Huh… I never really paid attention to that stuff." said Sierra.
"Looks like your parents didn't, either!" cried Cody. "And because they didn't pay attention to it, you've probably been arrested more times than DUNCAN at this point!"
"If that's true, then I'd be surprised." said a nearby Harold.
"It is, actually," Sierra pointed out, "I've been to prison one more time than Duncan!" The audience went "Ooooh!" in astonishment.
"Gosh, I don't feel safe…" Harold moaned. He then glanced at Leshawna, who was sitting next to him, and smiled as he said, "Oh, never mind, yeah I do. Perfectly safe around Leshawna!" Harold's love interest got a chuckle out of his remarks.
"You see, Sierra? There's nobody to blame but yourself!" Cody continued. "Sure, your parents aren't exactly innocent either, since they did seem to influence your behavior, but you were the one who's been stalking me for so long, so it's mostly on you!"
"Gosh, Cody, when you put it like that…" Sierra grunted.
"How about I put it like this, Sierra?" said Cody. "I'm not in love with you. I never have been, and I never will be. I know you have problems, but that's not an excuse for your actions, so what I want you to do is go get some help. Maybe even an intervention. Does that sound good to you?"
Sierra stared blankly at Cody for a lengthy moment. Her eyes appeared to have some sort of emptiness in them, which was a sight that nobody on the show could have ever imagined. Eventually, they became more relaxed than their usual constricted appearance. She finally let out a defeated sigh and said, "Yeah… that sounds good."
Blaineley stared for a moment before asking, "So, what's the scoop? Are we calling it here?"
"Sure. I'm gonna take Cody's advice and get some help."
Cody got up from his seat. A deep exhale came from his nose, and he slowly went over to his biggest fan. "Look, Sierra, I appreciate you offering to help, really. Not a lot of people are gonna want to stand up for me, but the way you acted was wrong. I just want you to see that." He placed his hands in hers. "You gotta do what's best for both of us now, ok?"
Sierra sighed loudly before saying, "Alright… I'm not only doing this for you. It's for me, and for everybody around us." The super-tall super-fan tried to hold back a tear, but she just couldn't. "Thank you, Cody."
Cody wiped the tear that was seeping through Sierra's eye. The girl looked into Cody's eyes with lament. He just nodded back, before they both softly smiled. Before anybody knew it, Sierra solemnly left the studio, with the entire venue just sitting in silence.
"Meh, she didn't have too much drama to pick apart anyway," Blaineley complained, "But our next interviewee might have some-!" Before she could introduce them, however, her cell phone started ringing, so she picked it up and answered her caller.
"Hello, Blaineley O'Halloran speaking." she said. "Uh-huh, yes… oh, I see…" Eventually, she hung up and explained, "Well everyone, it looks like Owen is still on the island, so… how about we interview him via teleconference!"
"Hey hey, sounds like a plan to me!" Josh agreed. "Hey, can someone turn the projector on?"
"I got it!" Geoff proclaimed. He pulled out a remote and turned on the projector, "But first, some highlights for That's Gonna Leave A Mark!"
What followed was a compilation of the contestants getting hurt, including Tyler getting bounced around the mechanical butt platforms, Scott hustling through the woods while holding a leech machine gun before tripping over a tree root, Zoey landing on top of Brick, and all of the Heroic Hamsters getting attacked by angry crabs, much to everyone except Bridgette's enjoyment.
"Geoff, I thought we said we wouldn't do this if we were hosting…" Bridgette said worriedly.
"No, no, Josh and I are just fine with it. Pain is great for ratings anyway!" Blaineley mentioned.
"Oh, you mean like when Chris pushed you out of his plane and you got maimed after falling from cruising altitude?" Noah asked from the peanut gallery. Everyone laughed at this, but Blaineley glared at him and just said, "Uh, sure, whatever, Noah. Anyways, our next interview is with Owen, where is he?"
Meanwhile, back at Camp Wawanakwa, Owen was cleaning one of the communal bathrooms until his smartphone started vibrating. Geoff was video calling him from the studio, so Owen answered and was projected up on the big screen for everybody to see. "Owen! What is up, my man?" Geoff said from the other end.
"Oh, hey, Geoff!" Owen answered. "I'm kinda busy with something, so you think we can- oh, who are all you guys?" Owen asked, looking around at the large audience on his screen.
"This is the Aftermath show, Owen. We're interviewing you this time." said Blaineley.
"Oh, really? That's awesome! What's up, everybody? It's me, Owen!" he said as the whole crowd cheered for him. "Noah!!!" He called as he spotted his best friend. "I miss you, buddy! I wish I could be there with you right now!"
Noah just smirked. "It's all good in the hood, ol' chum."
"Wait, where's Izzy?" Owen realized. "I don't see her there."
"Oh, she's on the run from the police, per usual." Josh explained.
Blaineley laughed. "Funny thing, just last week, she threw stones into a minefield claiming to be someone named 'Explosivo', but I don't think the cops were having any of that. But anyways, Owen! Nice to have you here!"
"So, tell us, how's interning been for you?" Josh then asked.
"Oh, I'd say it rules!" Owen cheered. "Sure, a lot of my coworkers are still in the ICU, but they seemed nice while they were here!"
"Good to hear, Big O!" Blaineley said with a wink. "Anyways, we've got the juice that there's been some drama brewing between you and Chris… As we can gather, you destroyed a lot of his expensive equipment in the last challenge, leading to you being the fourth boot! How'd that feel?"
"Well, I didn't mean to break Chris' stuff, but he's still pretty mad at me," Owen explained.
"OWEN? WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO IN THERE?" Chris shouted from outside the door.
"What? Uh, talk show hosts!" Owen answered panickedly, before facepalming. "Doh! Why did I say that?"
Upon hearing this, Chris could be heard gasping from outside, and barged in, snatching Owen's phone with no hesitation. The host held up the phone so his face was displayed on the projector in the studio. "Greetings, my loyal fans! Chris McLean coming at you LIVE from the Camp Wawanakwa communal bathroom!" he said as the audience applauded.
"Um, hi, Chris!" Blaineley remarked. "Nice to see you, I guess… Aaaanyways, how've things been with Owen recently?"
"Agh, talk about a klutz, man! He was somehow able to destroy every bit of equipment I threw at him, and even the elimination device! Now I have to spoil the next season!"
"Ah, yes, the Cannon of Shame! Let me guess, some crazy 'circus' theme for next time?" Josh asked.
"Sorry, dude, can't let any more leaks get out. You don't want me out of a job, do ya, Joshy?"
"Oh, no, no! Not at all!" Josh responded before winking at Blaineley.
"I certainly do." Blaineley muttered under her breath.
Chris had an unamused face. "Yeah, don't think I can't hear you, Mildred."
Blaineley went pale at the mention of her real name, before almost immediately getting her mojo back when the camera panned right over to her co-host.
"Uh, what happened while I was in Costa Rica?" Josh asked, as unaware of the context since he hadn't been on TV for a while.
"Nothing, Josh. Just… host things." Blaineley said in a slight nervous tone.
"Really? Because that was not what I heard." Chris said, holding up his phone, showing the recording of Geoff's Russian musical number, "Her Real Name Isn't Blaineley".
Geoff and Bridgette stopped making out and smiled. "Whoo! Good times, man." Geoff said fondly.
Blaineley gave Chris an angry glare, prompting the latter to awkwardly smile and stop playing the humiliating song. Josh cleared his throat and started, "Um, yeah, alright. Anyways, Owen, who on your team are you rooting for to win?"
"Honestly, I dunno! All of them are pretty cool!" said Owen. "I guess I'll go with Tyler! You know, since we've been buddies for a while now, but I'd be happy with any of my teamies winning!"
"Wonderful, Owen," Chris said sarcastically, "Now get back to cleaning or you're not eating tonight!"
This threat instantly caused Owen to panic. "Sir, yes sir!" he cried out worriedly. "Thanks for having me here, Blaineley!" Owen then hung up his phone, and the audience applauded.
"Well, everybody… that was certainly… interesting." Blaineley said, slightly gritting her teeth at having to revisit her humiliation from the third season. "But let's pick up the pace! Next up, the dirt farmer with one of the show's most devious minds, it's Scott!
Scott walked out from behind the stage and sat down, but was instantly booed by the audience, especially the second generation cast. B even held a sign saying, "Get off the stage!"
"Talk about a warm welcome…" Scott remarked.
"Sure. Anyways, welcome, Scott!" said Blaineley. "How'd it feel getting out so early after wrecking most of the competition last season?"
"Humph, now I know how a lot of my targets felt when I got them booted last time…" Scott began, "But I never realized Jo would end up using my own tricks against me. She was even assisted by one of my earliest victims!"
"Ah, yes, Dawn Abara…" Josh mentioned, as he brought up a graphic of her on the screen, switching it to more graphics of her with Cameron. "It seems her romance with Cameron has taken the fandom by storm recently, and it's kinda thanks to you, since, of course, you read Cam's notebook!" Josh then played the clip of Cameron and Dawn's first kiss, which got an "Awwwww!" out of the viewers.
"Okay, just so you all know, that was completely unintentional." said Scott. "I wanted to humiliate the kid, not get him together with that psychic weirdo. For the love of dirt, she called me a coward!"
"Was she wrong, though?" Sam remarked snidely, which made the crowd laugh in response.
"Oh, shut up, you quarter-pounder! You don't know half of what I've been through!" Scott retorted. However, B soon took the opportunity to throw a tomato at the devious farm boy, getting a laugh from the audience. B then crossed his arms and nodded his head.
"It's always funny until you're the punchline…" Scott muttered as he got up from his seat. "You know, at first, I thought my life was a tragedy. Now I realize it's just a comedy, and a really unfunny one at that." He moaned, trudging back to the offscreen set.
"Poor kid… Well, moving forward, I think we only have one last V.I.P. to bring on out here before we sign off!" Josh said, placing his hands on his face.
"Right on, Josh!" Blaineley said in a fake nice tone. "We're gonna jump back in the elimination order to everyone's favorite-not-so-favorite Type-A C.I.T.! Here's Courtney!" The studio watched in complete silence as the familiar counselor in training nervously peeked out from behind the curtains. She hesitantly rambled onto the set, where hundreds of pairs of eyes followed her, and much whispering and chatter from the audience could be heard.
"I'm shocked people even want to see you again after what happened in episode two." Katie told her.
"Yeah, I mean, Gwen did steal your boyfriend, but fighting her and hurting her hand? That's a little bit…" Sadie replied, looking for a word that wouldn't sound too condescending.
"Impolite?" Trent spoke up, hoping he could help defuse the situation.
"Hey, are any of you hosting? Uh, no, didn't think so!" Blaineley huffed in a sassy voice.
"Okay, keep it cool, now! Just take the gloves off, Sugar Ray." Josh said, trying to cool his co-host's jets.
"Ummm… hello, everyone." Courtney said curtley. Nobody made a sound, only glares and inaudible whispers could be heard amongst the crowd. The girl took a deep breath and sighed. "I'll just go ahead and admit that I've made some… mistakes… yeah. But I'm working on trying to improve myself for all of you."
"You are, are you? Even after what Gwen did with your precious Dunkie?" Blaineley asked in a somewhat rude tone.
"Meh, I'm past that now. Duncan wasn't really my type anyway." Courtney said calmly. "He's a bad boy, I knew it couldn't last forever."
"Oh really? Let's test that hypothesis then, shall we?" Blaineley said forebodingly. She then turned on the projector and played several clips and fancams of Gwen and Duncan kissing each other, with the crowd going, "oooooh!" in lament. Blaineley then asked Courtney, "Your blood must be boiling now, huh?"
Courtney said nothing and shrugged.
"I don't think it's working, Blain. Maybe we should"- Josh muttered, before being cut off by his co-host.
"Oh, come on!" Blaineley whined. "How is this not getting to you? Under normal circumstances, you'd be shouting and cursing 'til the cows came home!"
"True, but that'd be as stupid as it would be pointless, so I guess it doesn't affect me as much as you think it would." Courtney explained.
Blaineley was seething with rage, as a key player for the drama on the show had changed into being calm and collected, which was far from the easily-angered short-fuse she used to be. Josh noticed this and told her, "Alright, let's just chill out, why don't we? We don't wanna do anything we'll regret now, yeah?"
"Well, I'm regretting the fact that Courtney can't be herself and give us the dirt we need for our ratings!" Blaineley snapped.
"If you want someone with drama attached to them, you might as well go with, oh, I don't know, Scott?" Courtney pointed out.
"Ugh, whatevs." Blaineley groaned. "Scott! Get back up here!" she shouted.
Scott rushed back up to the stage, saying, "Looks like you guys couldn't get enough of me, huh?"
"Just do something for the drama, Dirt Boy!" Blaineley shouted.
Scott was pretty unsure about this. "Ugh, I dunno what else I can…" But soon he was interrupted, and he stepped on a rope, screaming as a hook on the end of the line latched onto his waistband, yanking him up on top of the set by his underwear, leaving him dangling upside-down in the air with a wedgie. Scott's face flushed entirely red as he looked on at the audience full of fans. The entire venue was dying of laughter at his predicament, except for Courtney and the other ex-contestants.
"Now that's more like it!" Blaineley exclaimed. "You're a natural!"
"You can't seriously be enjoying his pain, can you?" Courtney asked.
Blaineley just grunted. "Of course I do!" She said with cynicism. "Their pain equals our gain! Am I right, people?" The crowd cheered once more in response.
Harold looked rather mad and shouted, "Gosh, I'm surprised you and Chris didn't hook up! You're perfect for each other!"
"Exactly! Sure, Scott was really mean, but this? This is lower than the battery on my GameGuy Advance! And it's dead!" Sam yelled, shocked at what was going on.
"It shouldn't matter!" Blaineley snapped. "This is the kind of action that'll send out ratings through the roof! Totally worth it, yeah?" The audience responded with thunderous applause. "Besides, I thought your honey was all about living the lavish life people like me have!"
"Well, yeah, I do wanna get my name out there," Dakota explained, "But Sam showed me that there's more important stuff in life, like video games!"
"Absolutely! Once I got Dakota into gaming, her life's gotten almost as good as when I came into the picture!" Sam remarked. The crowd went, "aaaww!" Dakota then leaned in to kiss Sam on the cheek, making him blush.
"Okay," Scott squeaked, the blood was starting to rush to his head, "I'm glad less people hate me… sort of… but please get me down! My cranberries are being chafed!"
Courtney then stood up and went over to hoist the farmer down, but the rope slipped out of her hands when she pulled, and she gasped. He screamed as he dropped right to the floor, landing onstage with an "oof!" This garnered one more big laugh out of the public.
"Oh…" Courtney said sheepishly.
"Woah! Uh… Thanks?" Scott said in a confused tone as he brushed himself off.
"Eh, don't mention it." Courtney responded before sitting back down.
Blaineley had finally reached her boiling point from what had happened, and leapt off the couch she and Josh were sitting on. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" she screamed, causing everyone in the audience to stare at her. "Courtney, you were responsible for so much drama during your prime! What. Happened? Why have you changed this much?"
"I told you earlier, Blaineley, I've been working on my behavior to make sure I don't have any more… erm… incidents." Courtney began to scold her. "My therapist said improving may not happen overnight, but it's always good to start somewhere!"
"Oh, right. So you just happen to be all hunky-dory now!?"
"Yes." The CIT responded as she turned away and crossed her arms.
There was then a small silence, until Josh broke it by signing off, "Well, since we've interviewed all four of our guests thus far, I say we just call it here, how about that? This'll be pretty interesting to see what happens next on the Total Drama Aftermath!"
(Off the air)
The cameras went off and Josh went to console his co-hostess. Courtney left the main set and out onto the back. Scott followed her.
"Hey…" He said, rubbing the back of his head, the law girl looked back at him.
"Um, hi." She replied.
"Erm, thanks for helping me get back on the ground back there."
"Yeah, no worries." She stood there awkwardly, from what she had heard Scott wasn't exactly the nicest guy around, some even went as far to say he was a rural Alejandro (minus the womanizing tendencies). However, she hadn't properly met Scott yet, so she wasn't sure what to think.
"No, I should worry, nobody's ever helped me on purpose before. And it's a good thing too, I feel like I have a rash." Scott winced as he scratched his area. "Welp, I'm gonna go look for something to eat, see ya." and he waddled off with his baggy jeans and underwear.
After he left, Courtney just stood there. She felt a tad bit sad for Scott, and to an extent, sympathetic, due to what she had gone through after Total Drama World Tour. Before she knew it, the memories started flooding back to her. A flashback began, bringing her back to the events of last season, and how she drove Duncan to concede after arguing with Gwen for a long period of time. Then came the worst of it. Her and Gwen making Duncan come back. When Duncan kissed Gwen. The very moment she was absolutely devastated after she found out. How all she wanted after that was to seek vengeance against the other girl.
Sorrow slowly began to form in her eyes. It was at that very moment that Courtney started to realize why everything was happening, Another flashback came on, showcasing her poor attitude throughout the second season. Clips played of her mistreating most of her fellow competitors, including Harold, Lindsay, Beth, and especially Duncan. More scenes followed, such as Chris reading off the rules that gave her unfair advantages, her complaining about winning and wanting prizes, and how after the show's conclusion aired, she mainly just dragged Duncan away.
When this next flashback concluded, Courtney's eyes were noticeably beginning to water. Against her own will, she went into even deeper thought, and realized that she never really acted as great as she thought back even when she first came onto the show. One final flashback occurred to her, of her time back at Camp Wawanakwa. It came to her how she bossed everybody around on the island, disliked people like Geoff and Harold simply because of their abilities in the game, getting angry at Heather for criticizing her leadership, throwing gruel at Gwen without apologizing, believing Lindsay was some sort of spy because she was in a relationship with Tyler, berating Ezekiel and Noah simply because they told her to stop complaining about her fraudulent elimination, and even threatening Owen, Tyler, DJ, and Cody with leaving them to fall to their deaths from an intern's hot air balloon if they didn't give her the million-dollar case, among other actions.
Once the final recall was finished, Courtney dropped to the ground, putting her face in her hands. She was now full-on sobbing. She had been angered, furious at the prospect of being screwed out of the million-dollar prize because of a relationship. As she looked back on things, the scenes flashed from every time Duncan tormented him, to when even Courtney started picking on the Dweeb, to her first heartbreaking elimination, and to Harold rigging the votes.
Up until then, she realized she never considered how Harold felt, she had treated him poorly for simply existing, doubting he had any talent or use in physical challenges, she could now clearly see why he did what he did. Of course, it wasn't right, but Courtney wasn't as innocent as she thought she was. And, of course, neither was Duncan, which was the main reason it all had to happen in the first place. Not to mention none of her friends aside from Duncan ever even contacted her. In fact, the only friend she had ever since the show started was Bridgette.
After a couple of minutes, her crying softened, and she wiped her tears away. "Yeah," She sniffled, "I really screwed up." She slowly locked herself up, and then went off to the backrooms.
Meanwhile, the peanut gallery had gone outside to look around the film lot.
"Man, I had so many great memories from this place." Harold said triumphantly, as Leshawna cringed upon thinking about what happened to her throughout her time in the second and third seasons, and said, "A lot of the memories I had here involved when people hated me…"
"I wish I'd competed here instead, then I wouldn't have become a mutant." Dakota lamented, while admiring the scenery.
"Hey, at least you have your boxing career!" Sam told Dakota with a smile, his girlfriend looked at him and grinned. "Yeah, you really loved coming to those." They hugged tightly.
"Yeah, yeah, we get it." Eva scoffed, interrupting the moment. "I can't believe I got scammed out of two seasons, now I gotta sit with her." she said, looking over as the shot panned over to Staci chatting with Katie and Sadie.
"And that's how my great great great great great great twice removed cousin Isaac saved Easter."
Katie and Sadie were a bit bit skeptical, but managed to still smile at the imaginative girl's tall tales.
"Wow, that was interesting!" Katie swooned.
"I totally agree! Easter is fun!" Sadie proclaimed.
"Aw, thanks, you guys," Staci beamed, "You two are the only people who like my stories!"
"Let me tell you, it's not pleasant putting up with her crap for hours at a time. Even if her stories are true, it gets annoying really quick!" Eva complained.
Staci did not pick up on what Eva was saying however, and told her, "Did I ever tell you that my great great great great great great great great great great grandfather Johnathan invented forks? Yah, before him, people ate with their hands all the time and it grossed other people out a lot."
Leshawna shook her head. "Mm, mm, mm. If that girl had a dollar for every lie she told, she wouldn't need this show."
Dakota then spoke. "Well, I mainly just came here for fame, it didn't quite go how I wanted, but I got my wish." She held up a poster for one of her fights as 'The Dakotazoid', where she was holding some lady in a red outfit and blonde hair while prowling around a city.
"That's awesome!" Harold said, amazed. "You made it all the way to the championship?"
"Yup! I personally coached her!" Sam boasted, Dakota simply looked at her girthy boyfriend.
"I can tell we're gonna get along just fine!" Harold said proudly.
The scene faded back to Courtney pacing the now empty stage, pondering. "How can I get my reputation back?" She asked herself. "All I'm asking is to clear my name. Let everybody see who I need to be." She spent a while wandering through the halls of the studio thinking to herself until she heard some sort of squishy noise.
"What the-? Is that…" Courtney turned a corner to find Geoff and Bridgette making out, as they always do.
"Of course, of course." said Courtney, unsurprised.
The two lovebirds turned around and saw her standing right there.
"Oh, hey Courtney! Didn't expect you to show up!" Bridgette greeted.
"Hi, Bridgette, nice to see you." said Courtney, before sighing. "Look, I could really use some… Advice, I guess is the best way to put it. And, you were one of the few people I was close with"
"Sure!" Bridgette chirped. "What's on your mind?"
"So, uh, I guess after my interview today, I've really gotten it through my head that I've… Made some mistakes." Courtney explained. "And I was wondering, since you're one of the only people who actually seems to be cool with me, you and Geoff haven't always seen eye-to-eye with each other on a lot of things, I wanted some advice on how I could be a better person."
"Hmm… Well, first of all, it's good to know that you've realized that what you did was wrong." Bridgette stated.
"Oh, yeah, my therapist told me that's one of the first steps towards improving."
"Well, I think I might have some things to say to you." Bridgette told the CIT. "When Geoff and I disagree on something, I'd tell him that I notice we're upset and I'd leave for a few minutes to cool off. Then, once I'm calm, I'd come back and talk things through with him."
"Yeah, it works better than I thought it would!" Geoff mentioned.
"That does seem like a good strategy…" Courtney pondered.
"Yeah, and didn't you do something sorta like that with Gwen after your fight?" Geoff then queried
"I did! It wasn't exactly like how you and Geoff settle things, but it still worked really well and I was able to make amends with her!"
"That's great, Courtney!" Bridgette enthused. "I'm glad you two were able to sort everything out!"
"Of course, but even if Gwen and I are ok now, I'm still worried about my image with the rest of them…" worried Courtney, turning her head back to where the stage was.
"Well, you can't get everyone to forgive you. That shouldn't be too surprising." Bridgette explained. "But what you can do is try and improve yourself for the people you may not have known too well. That way, they can accept the kind of person you've grown to be!"
Courtney stared off for a second, until she realized, "Huh… That actually sounds like a good idea… Maybe I could try and get to know some of the others here a bit more."
"Awesome!" Bridgette beamed. "Well, Geoff and I are gonna head out now. It was nice talking with ya, Courtney!"
"Same, same. See you guys later." Courtney said as Geoff and Bridgette left the studio. She eventually followed suit, and once she got outside, she gave a sigh of relief and told herself, "Maybe this won't be so bad…" before walking off into the distance.
NOTES FROM AUTHOR: Ok, yes, I know we released the next chapter before this, but I originally didn't plan to do these Aftermaths. Eventually, we decided to do them to develop the characters that got eliminated as well as shine the light on the ones who weren't competing, and I think that was a good choice on our part.
As for the character interactions in this episode, Blaineley and Josh hosting was the idea of one of my co-authors, but I think it was a good one since neither of them got too much development even if Blaineley competed in two episodes of World Tour. For Sierra's backstory, I decided it'd be a good idea to explain why she relapsed into being an over-obsessive stalker in episode 1 to satisfy any of her fans who are reading this, as well as to satisfy the people like me who hate her so that she could have somewhat of a redemption by learning from her mistakes. Similarly, I continued Courtney's redemption arc this episode by having her acting differently than she normally does, which is my way of showing that she's matured after making amends with Gwen. I plan to show some more of this in future Aftermaths, so stay tuned for that! Also, Dakota getting surgery off-screen was my idea. Just felt like clarifying that.
Thanks for reading this episode, and I hope you enjoy what I've got in store!