I love how creative the contestants had to get in this challenge. I was really looking forward to writing it. Thanks for reviewing, AnonBrowser, lordgemini and OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla.
By the time I landed the zeppelin, the final five had already gathered. "Hey, campers." I greeted them. "The reason I've been flying gives you a hint for your challenge today – building your own flying devices and doing a little aerial obstacle course. And today, our classic competitor with the demo by jet pack is…Heather!"
Everyone let out a gasp as Heather stepped out of the zeppelin, giving everyone the same critical look she'd greeted me with.
"Wow!" Zoey said, more in awe than fear. "You're the Heather?"
Heather spoke in very superior tones. "Sorry, I have this policy of not talking to losers."
Zoey looked surprised and said "Oh, I'm not a loser…you know, unless everybody else thinks I am."
I let out a giggle. "Zoey, you've watched Total Drama. You should know Heather by now. How did you think that would go?" Not for nothing had the producers' label for her been "The Indie Chick". She looked so obviously alternative. I mean, it suited her, but no one as conventionally cool as Heather was going to appreciate her sense of style.
"Anyway," I went on, "Heather is going to show you how to do the course I have in store for you." I handed Heather my jet pack and motioned. That took about five seconds, considering how dangerous it got.
"But, of course," I went on, "That's only the second part of the course. First, you'll be making your own flying machines. Oh, and also, you'll be attacked by mutant fire-breathing goats if you're not careful."
That drew a gasp from everyone. "Um," Zoey ventured, "This challenge seems kinda unsafe."
I gave a sigh. "More than kinda. The producers made me, as usual. Remember the million dollars that you currently have a twenty percent chance of getting? If you don't go home today, it's twenty-five percent."
So no one quit. I took everyone to the dump to pick out their building pieces and got them all to pick their flying machine to build. "Obviously," I said, "You might have to get a bit creative with the composition of your machine, but as long as it flies and the motor works like whatever you choose, it counts."
I personally thought Jo's was the easiest. She got a hot air balloon. And don't think I missed that she was trying to push Cameron around now, instead of Lightning. She made him build her hot air balloon before he could start on his own machine – a rocket. I mean, I thought the rocket was the hardest machine myself, but Cameron seemed pleased to get that. I guessed he was the only one left on the show capable of making one.
Lightning was very excited to get a helicopter. I didn't think he'd grasped how hard it was. I mean, it was designed in the Renaissance and they had no idea how to keep something like that to stay up back then. What chance would a teenager have? Especially an all brawn, no brain guy like Lightning?
Zoey was more pessimistic when she got an aeroplane. However, if she did it right, she'd probably have one of the most comfortable and fast rides. A small plane wouldn't be as hard as she seemed to think.
Scott was the last to pick, and he got…yeah, a bird. He was pretty disgusted. "I want another card."
"None left!" I told him brightly. "Better get building, bird boy. I'm pretty sure you've already got one person gunning for you after the other day, so you better work fast."
I watched the cameras while they were working, so I was able to rewind and prove that Jo had basically forced Cameron into an alliance. The mics had proved that. He also made her hot air balloon, which is why I conveniently didn't give her the smoke machine that was the advantage, and only arrived back to give it to Cameron when he'd finished his rocket. Of course, Jo took it off him in seconds, explaining that "Someone might try to scam it from you."
I made sure to walk past her just so I could whisper "Just don't push him too far – he's so skinny he could snap any time." While the words were jokey, I meant it. Cameron was sweet-natured and not very street smart, but somehow, spending almost three weeks getting pushed around was bound to get to a point where he was pushed too far. And hell, even I'd told him that he had to stand up to Jo to get her respect.
Everyone had managed a passable flying machine. Scott had just ended up with detachable wings, but they actually worked. Lightning put together what he called a "hover-copter". Okay, I could accept it was enough like a helicopter to count. Zoey had found an engine, a cockpit and a propeller quickly, and once she found wheels, her plane looked flimsy but functional, and Cameron's construction of Jo's hot-air balloon was almost as good as his rocket.
Everything was open-air, of course. No one was able to build an indoor part, which is why I had to warn them about the fire-breathing goats that were hanging around.
And speaking of hanging around, I was in the zeppelin at the time, looking at the cameras on the monitors in there as everyone was trash-talking each other. Chef was with me, and Heather had been hanging around too, looking over my shoulder. Or so I thought.
"Huh, looks like just about everyone's being mean this round," I remarked. "Looks like I picked the right classic contestant, right?" When I didn't get an answer and realized Heather was no longer where I'd last seen her, I looked around, only to feel a sharp push. Yeah, I'd been standing too close to the edge of the opening. It was a good thing we were flying low, but I screamed out of shock, anyway,
Behind my scream, I could dimly hear a yell of "Yeah, the right classic contestant – to take this season's million!"
Chef and I both landed on a landfill mattress, so neither of us were hurt – well, just a bit bruised. But I lay there for a moment, stunned.
"Um, Toni!" Cameron's voice brought me back to reality. "Heather's stolen your zeppelin."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I shouldn't have taken my eyes off her."
"And my million dollars!" added Jo.
"Which means we're cancelling the aerial obstacle course." I told her. "Everyone, your new challenge is to get to the zeppelin, and either land it or bring it down, whichever comes first. You five are responsible for making sure one of you gets the million dollars, and I'll be keeping it somewhere out of bounds from now on so this doesn't happen again." (Although, to be fair, Heather was my second-to-last classic competitor and I was not expecting DJ of all people to try and steal the money).
What was the whole challenge like? Crazy. It turned out Cameron had already been pushed too far and had planted an explosive in the smoke machine that ended up breaking Jo's hot air balloon. Scott managed to knock Zoey out of her plane entirely, but she managed to use her aggression to make a mutant goat listen to her, and it carried her through the rest of the challenge. Lightning was the only one to make it to Heather, but they just fought. Cameron was the one responsible for bringing it down, and he lost his rocket in the process.
The campfire ceremony was more boring. I'd already sent Heather off to the mainland, without properly saying goodbye. I was soon reading the votes. "All right. Cameron, you have immunity." I tossed him a marshmallow. "Scott, Zoey, you two are staying. And tonight's hurl is…well, probably I'm the one who's saddest about this. Jo, you're out."
Jo's blue eyes blazed. "I deserve to win this!" She stabbed a finger at Cameron. "You traitor! You backstabber!" Chef started pulling her away.
Cameron smiled and said triumphantly "I learned from the best."
"You-" Jo stopped her tirade, and then suddenly smiled back. "You know, you're right! Good technique, kid. But you!" Then she turned on Lightning. "You're an idiot! You couldn't even tell I was a girl!"
"You're what?" Yep, ten episodes in and Lightning still couldn't see through the short hair and grey sweats.
When Jo was finally in the catapult, I smiled at her sympathetically. "I didn't really expect this, but I think I'll miss you. Who am I going to go running with now?"
"Yeah, well…" Jo looked a bit like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to say it. Finally, she just said "Just do it alone, Pony. If you're so desperate for my company, you guys have my contact details post-season."
And with that, the final four only had one girl left.
And unfortunately, it's the girl who was lucky in love. I absolutely loved writing Jo and Toni bonding over their active lifestyle, but Jo had to go sometime, and here was always the perfect place. We'll see.
