Author's Notes

Hi all, clem here!

Thank you so much for the continued reviews and support, it means a lot, especially for an AU with a premise that's quite out there and not one most people would like. So it means a lot to have quite a nice little fanbase for it ^^

I wrote this chapter this time. Blasted through this one quickly in like a day session. Pretty proud of it and hope you guys enjoy it!

Guest - Awh I'm glad you enjoyed the little surprises. I always like a few twists put into stories. Yeah, it was a tough decision to put Mike into the deceased but can't always use throwaway characters lol I'm sure we will see more of B soon.

Aztec - Dwayne is a cinnamon bun yes. Love him and he's definitely the heart of the team. B won't be the last of the characters you see either make cameos or a supporting role! I actually like that idea on the notepad of stuff they did being under it. Hope you don't mind I use that ^^

lordgemini - Yeah sorry about the anti-climactic areas. It happens but thank you for the feedback! Hopefully, we can keep a consistent tone and try to make things much better if we experiment more with two storylines at once.

TDZ A2C6

Dwayne and Leonard were on their way back to the infirmary.

"I'm so glad we finally got those bolts for Scarlett," Dwayne said.

"Indeed, will we be given a reward for delivering the quest item back to the witch?" Leonard asked.

"I told you before son, she isn't a witch, she's a friend" Dwayne reiterated.

"A grand wizard like myself knows a witch when he sees one."

"Well my boy, even a grand wizard can be wrong sometimes" Dwayne smiled and looked at the bolts. "These must be very important for us to go this far for them."

Leonard grabbed them and had a look "ooo…this means an even bigger reward! Like gold pieces or a special ring or-"

"Seeing her happy would be a good reward" Dwayne smiled.

"Oh?" Leonard blinked.

"We've been having so much trouble at times due to all this, it would be nice to see someone smiling wouldn't it?" He looked at Leonard. "Like you with the kids, they were smiling too"

Leonard put his hand to his chin. "Indeed… Anything that will purify the witch is always a good thing. It brings me great strength when any positive energy comes from others."

Dwayne smiled. "I can tell that translates to you also agreeing and enjoying other's happiness. You have a good heart, Leonard."

"Ahh!" Suddenly Leonard jumped.

Dwayne froze due to his scream. "W-what is it!"

Leonard pointed to a black cat on a tree. "A cursed cat!"

Dwayne blinked. "Cursed? Haha, that's just a black cat! Nothing wrong with that… awww it's cute" He smiled.

"A black cat is a sign of bad luck… we can't risk being near it. Quickly let's go" He started to run.

"Wait we can't leave it up there!" He watched as Leonard disappeared. "Uh.. uh…" he then realised. "He has my bolts! gah!" He looked up at the tree and then in the direction Leonard disappeared. He ran on the spot in indecisiveness.

Bolts… Cat… Bolts… Cat… Gah! I can get more bolts! The cat needs saving!

Dwayne looked up at the cat.

"Mew…" The cat meowed. It was a middle-aged looking black cat with blue eyes and a white ahoge. It struggled a bit as it stayed on the tree.

"Now how did you get up there buddy…" He made some tsk-tsk noises but to no avail. "hm…"

"mew…"

Dwayne frowned and looked around. "Hey, can someone help me get this cat!" People simply walked past. no one was acknowledging him.

Dwayne frowned.

No one wants to bother...

He pouted a bit and looked up at the tree.

"Mew…"

He stared determined at the tree.

Alright… I'll do it myself.

He walked up to the tree and stared at it.

Ok… so how am I going to do this… Last time I tried to climb a tree I got stuck while a squirrel thing took my food…

He started springing his legs up and down.

Alright… let's do this!

He sprung up and grabbed onto the trunk and started climbing up.

"mew..!" The cat jumped a bit as Dwayne collided with the tree. It looked down at Dwayne who was climbing up.

Dwayne had the tip of his tongue sticking out as he climbed up the trunk. He slithered through the branches and leaves until he reached the cat. "Hey, there little fella." He smiled.

The cat curiously looked at him.

Dwayne grabbed the cat with both hands. "There you gah!" He had nothing grabbing on the trunk and proceeded to fall down from the tree with the cat.

"GahH!" He fell to the ground, straight on his stomach while the cat landed on top of him.

The cat hissed as it landed.

"Ghh! Claws clawsss!" He could feel the cat's claws digging into his back. He clenched his fists and shook the cat off.

The cat sprung off and landed nearby. It simply sat there and licked itself.

"Ghh…" He popped his head up and stared at the cat. "You're welcome bud." He shook his head and got up. "Wow I'm surprised I didn't break my back"

He looked down at the cat. "Well enjoy yourself ok!" He smiled and started walking off.

"Mew…" The cat followed behind.

"Oh?" He looked back at the cat. "Oh hey, you want to follow?"

"Mew!" The cat nodded.

"Wait.. you understand me?" He blinked.

The cat purred.

"I'll take that as a yes," He smiled. "Hmmm what should I name you… Eh I'll just call you 'Cat' for now until I think of something, let's go Cat!" he continued his walk as the cat followed.

meanwhile, Leonard was running really fast, not really sure where he was going. He just kept running through random paths, alleyways and turning many, many times. He dashed and suddenly tripped over.

"Gh! Ack! Cursed floor!" He popped his head up and saw the infirmary. "Was this the place Sir Dwayne was talking about?" He got up.

"Hmmm," He knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" A male voice was heard.

"I am the grand wizard Leonard of Aendrikard! I am here with bolts secured by me and Sir Dwayne." He shouted.

"Erm…" There was a pause for a second. "Alright." The door slowly opened and the first thing Leonard saw was a large forehead. He then looked down to see Noah's face. "Oh, it's you! Noah."

"Wait… you're that weird guy that thinks he's a wizard right?" Noah blinked.

Leonard gasps a little and jumps back. "Thinks? I AM a wizard!" He got out his spellbook. "See I even have spells."

Noah blinked. "I'm guessing.. your power is doing spells right?"

"Ah yes, sir Dwayne did say you were smart," Leonard smirked. "Now, here you go, I come with the items which you require." He handed over the bag of bolts.

Noah took them. "Uh… thanks. Do you want to come inside?"

Leonard pondered for a moment. "Hmmm, that sounds good. Are the rest of the people inside?"

Noah nodded.

"Great!" Leonard smiled and then walked past Noah to get inside.

"Him of all people…" Noah grumbled quietly to himself.

Leonard stepped into the main room and saw Trent there just chilling and tapping his thighs like a drum.

"Ah, you must be Trent. The man of ninely." He smiled.

Trent frowned a little. "Can you please not bring up the nine stuff. It's way past me now and just a bad part of my life."

"Oh." Leonard blinked. "My apologies, I'll be sure to use a spell to remove such mentions from my vocabulary."

Trent smiled. "Thank you. So you must be Leonard. I remember seeing you a couple of times on TV and the final island." He let out his hand. "Nice to meet you properly."

"Likewise" he shook hands with him. "So this is where the witch resides…" He squinted his eyes with unease.

"If by witch you mean Scarlett then she is on our side," Noah said as he walked into the room. "Don't worry about her. We have bigger things to worry about."

"Like what?" Leonard asked.

"Like finding a way out of here of course" Noah frowned.

"Why would you want to leave this place?" Leonard questioned. "It's great! We get to have powers, we can fight monsters and explore an entirely new realm!" He smiled like a child as he said it.

Noah crossed his arms. "Well. I personally don't want to. I want to see my friends and as much as I hate to say." He sighed." I... I do miss my family as well."

"Hmmm well, I'll help you!" Leonard smiled. "This place may be great but I don't want to see you guys unhappy either. Unhappiness is never great for the energy around the universe. We need a good amount of positivity."

"Wow, I miss judged you a bit Leonard. Honestly, I thought you were a little delusional." Trent said.

"Ah. I get told that a lot. No worries." Leonard smiled. "I too have my friend Tammy that I want to see again. She will be exhilarated to see me adventuring. Now, what's the plan to get out?"

"Well take a seat," Noah said. "This will take a while…"

Meanwhile, Dwayne was walking with the cat still.

"He really went and ran eh cat?" Dwayne said to the cat.

"Mew."

"I guess we should head back to the infirmary, maybe we can scout out Leonard." he continued to stroll along.

His stomach suddenly grumbled. "oh! Yeah, it's been a while since I've eaten" He chuckled. "I should go get something…" He went through his pockets. "Oh yeah… No money hm."

Dwayne sat down on a nearby step and thought. "Hmmm, maybe I should go straight back for now."

"Mew"

"huh." He looked at the cat. "Oh? Is something wrong fella? You hungry too?"

"Mew" The cat stared at Dwayne and then ran off.

"Hey!" Dwayne shouted but it was too late, the cat was gone. "Well, another person running from me. Not my day today." He looked down a bit.

Dwayne sat there for a moment and just daydreamed a bit. He was thinking of Junior and his wife. His old life and his house. All the memories he had with them. He sighed.

I miss them. But I can't get too down now. If I'm too sad then I'll never be truly motivated to leave

"YOU FOUL THING!" Shouting was heard in the distance.

"Huh?" Dwayne snapped out of it and saw the cat run to him with a burger in its mouth. "Uh cat, why do you have a burger in your mouth?"

"Mew" the cat placed the burger by him.

"Eh…" He thought for a moment. "I mean… it's a gift." He picked up the burger and ripped off the part that was in its mouth and gave it to the cat. "There, you can have your part. Thank you so much cat, you're very smart!" He smiled as he bit into it.

"Ohh that's good!" Dwayne smiled as he watched the cat eat its piece.

"mewww~" The cat looked happy as it was eating.

"So how did you get this?" He looked at the cat curiously.

"mew…"

"Hm? what is it?"

"Hey! There's the cat! oi! Mate! That's my burger!" An overweight purple man in a greased up shirt was angrily glaring at Dwayne.

"Oh wait… is this yours?" He stood up.

"Yes." The man frowned and got closed. He pulled up his sleeves. "This must be your plan eh?"

"N-no erm, I just got this ok? I don't mean a-any harm." Dwayne was shaking as the man approached.

The cat hid behind Dwayne.

The man walked right to Dwayne and pulls his shirt. "So… how does it taste? Good? Does stealing make things taste better to you?" He glared, Dwayne could smell his disgusting breath.

"I-i-i'm sorry, you can have the rest if you wa-"

"I don't want it. I want a new one. and you're going to get me one." The man interrupted.

Dwayne blinked. "I-i-i have no money pal… I'm sorry there's nothing I can do. I-i can go back to where I currently live and get money there and come back. How does that sound?"

"Not good enough." He glared and gritted his teeth.

Dwayne chuckled nervously. "Well uh… I uh... " He gave a little wave and then suddenly slipped out of his shirt. He was suddenly shirtless. "Let's go cat!" He ran off with the cat following him.

"H-hey! Come back here!" The man threw the shirt on the ground and followed.

Dwayne was running through alleyways. He glanced back to see the guy constantly following him. "AAhh! It was just a burger!" Dwayne shouted. "I'm sorry ok!"

"Get back here you!" The man growled.

The duo went into an alleyway with a lot of fruit baskets.

Maybe I could… Nah the guy didn't do anything wrong per se. I couldn't hurt him...

The cat was running alongside Dwayne. "Mew mew!"

Dwayne started breathing heavily. "W-what is it"

"Mew!" The cat ran ahead and knocked a small basket of apples over.

"Cat what are you- ah!" Dwayne saw a bunch of apples rolling to him and he swooped out the way.

"Grr!" The man suddenly flopped over as he tripped over the onslaught of apples. "Gah! I'll get you for this old man!" The man angrily shouted.

"S-sorry! I'll pay you back next time!" Dwayne shouted as he ran off. "ghh.."

His breathing was getting hard now and as soon as he got out of sight he slowed down and sat by a wall. The cat noticed and stopped.

"Cc-cat.." Dwayne whispered.

"Mew..?" The cat walked to him.

"P-please… Don't steal things… it's not nice ok?" He continued to breathe heavy. "And… I appreciate the help back there but… I don't want anyone hurt ok?"

The cat looked a little guilty and nodded.

"T-thank you…" Dwayne looked at a nearby sign. "O-oh we are nearby now, that's good" He smiled.

Dwayne spent a few minutes sitting there to gain back his breath and then he continued on with the cat.

"You know Cat, you're great, I hope you stick around. You make a good companion." He smiled at the cat as he continued to the infirmary.

Moments pass and he saw the infirmary in the distance. "Oh! There it is Cat! Let's go" he ran towards the infirmary and opened the door.

"Mewmmew!" The cat followed along.

"Hey, guys!" He walked in and saw Leonard, Noah and Trent discussing stuff. while sitting in different parts of the main room. "Oh, Leonard! There you are."

"Hello there Sir Dwayne!" Leonard happily said.

"You can still call me Dwayne ok?" Dwayne smiled.

"Oh, well I'll try to remember this time" Leonard replied.

"Thank you" Dwayne smiled and looked at the group. "So I guess you got the bolts right?"

"Indeed I did thank you." Scarlett walked in from her workroom, she had a bit of messy hair from all the work.

"Oh, Scarlett! How's the guitar going?" Trent asked.

"Very good should be another day." She smirked and then looked at Leonard. "Leonard. Hello."

"Witch!" He shouted and stood up in a wizard stance.

She rolled her eyes.

"Leonard, remember what we discussed. she's fine." Dwayne tried to calm him down.

"Hmmm" Leonard looked very sceptical. "Fine. but I still sense dark energy around you. So I'll keep an eye on you." He pointed his finger at her and squinted his eyes.

"Fair enough." She stated. She then looked at the whole gang. "Now that everyone is here. I can finally discuss the next steps."

"The next steps?" Dwayne questioned.

She nodded. "Indeed. We can't just go barging into the castle walls or anything to get Staci. Especially with our skill levels, we'll all die."

"So we train, correct?" Trent asked.

"Yes. But training won't give us a win. We could have all the training in the world but we lack the defence and equipment."

"Let me guess. You want us to get moooooree items and materials for said equipment right…?" Noah snarkily said.

She simply ignored his attitude. "Yes, we need more equipment. You'll thank me later."

"Oh, so we're going on more shop runs? I don't think I'm allowed to go to a specific area now. Uh, I may have stolen a burger." Dwayne admitted.

"You… stole a burger?" Noah raised his eyebrow.

"Well, not me, the cat here." He looked down at the cat by him.

"I was going to ask, what's with the cat?" Noah asked.

"Ahh! it's the dark cat!" Leonard shouted as he jumped back and hid behind Noah.

"Dude it's just a cat," Trent said.

"It's a dark cat… One with so much bad luck." Leonard said with malice in his voice.

"Hey this cat actually got me out of the stealing situation" He smiled and picked it up. "It saved me and got me to here so I'd say it's my lucky charm." He started stroking it. Purrs could be heard coming from it.

"Does it have a name?" Trent asked.

"No, it doesn't. I thought I'd ask you guys as it's like our pet now." Dwayne smiled as he put the cat down.

"It's not my pet. foul beast" Leonard angrily stated.

"Do we know it's sex?" Noah frowned.

"Uh, I didn't check. It felt weird to check to be honest" Dwayne chuckled.

"I guess we could just give it a unisex name." Trent blinked.

"I could just check right now," Scarlett stated as she approached and picked up the cat. "This cat sure doesn't mind being picked up."

"I know! It's like the friendliest cat I've ever met! Plus it feels like it understands me when I speak to it" Dwayne smiled.

"That's… interesting" She smirked a bit as she looked. "She's female."

"You aren't going to name it after your wife are you?" Noah frowned at Dwayne.

"Of course not!" Dwayne chuckled. "I got a better name actually" He smiled.

"Oh? What is it?" Trent asked.

"Perdi" Dwayne smiled. "It's a short form of perditus which means 'lost' since this cat was lost. I thought it was a fitting name!" He smiled even more brightly.

"You know Latin?" Noah blinked.

"Oh, I only know a few words from the documentaries." He smiled.

"You and your documentaries…" Noah frowned. "Eh. We can call it Perdi. I don't really care what you call her tbh."

Trent nodded and smiled. "I love the name. Hi there Perdi."

"Mew"

"Perdi the foul beast!" Leonard shouted.

Dwayne looked at Leonard worried.

"I'm sure he will get used to it," Trent reassured him.

"I hope so" Dwayne looked down sadly.

"Anyway." Scarlett interrupted. "I have a job for you guys. A few jobs actually." She smirked.

"Wait wait. So what are we actually doing to infiltrate Staci's" Noah blinked.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked. I wasn't only making that guitar in there. I was also coming up with a plan" She smirked, even more, she looked a bit too excited to be planning this.

"The witch's smirk scares me" Leonard stated.

"She does that," Trent said reassuringly.

"Give me a moment." She walked off.

"What do you think the plan is…?" Trent asked.

"No idea. If I knew, I would say." Noah replied.

"I hope it isn't too hard, I don't think my body can take more of all this" Dwayne nervously chuckled.

"Oo I hope we get to fight beasts!" Leonard said excitedly.

She came back with a rolled-up piece of A3 paper. "Come." she walked over to one of the tables in the main room and pushed everything currently on the table straight to the ground. "There.. no mess." She laid the sheet on the paper and rolled it open.

It was a map of the town. with really detailed written descriptions of the castle itself, however, the castle didn't have a good visual map.

The guys walked over.

"Oh, a map," Noah said. "Why is the castle so hardly detailed? it looks like its missing rooms."

"Because it is from this map. A lot of the castle is very secretive so I don't know all the parts of it. Sadly you guys will have to go in there blind. However, I do know a few good entrances." She pointed at the map itself.

"And what entrance are we using?" Noah asked.

She smirked a bit. "You'll have to use the castle waste pipe."

"Did you just say… the waste pipe?" Trent asked.

She nodded. "The waste pipe connects directly to the dungeon in the castle. You can enter the rest of the castle from there though you'll stink a lot. This is why I need to acquire a few items for both infiltration and preventing your detection through all 5 senses."

"Oh so like a special perfume or something?" Dwayne questioned.

"Something like that yes, I don't know the details which is why I need these next jobs done. It requires finding information on specific types of items from vendors around the city." She responded.

"What does the witch need? Perhaps I already have such details in memory" Leonard asked.

She giggled a little. "I doubt it. I'll need details on an invisibility potion, something that takes away smells even if it's temporary, ideas on a material which is both lightweight but also strong because you'll be swimming in sludge and too heavy materials will prevent you guys from swimming."

"Erm…" Leonard spoke up a bit.

"Yes, Leonard?"

"I… I don't know how to swim."

'

"Really?" Noah frowned.

"I just never learnt really.." He said as he looked down.

"How did you expect to get through the Total Drama seasons if you couldn't swim?" He grumbled.

"I… I don't know ok? It's a weakness of mine, we all have them!" Leonard said.

"Yes, bu-"

"Guys, guys. Can we drop this? We can help him later" Trent smiled at Leonard. "It's fine ok man? Not everyone knows."

Leonard smiled at him.

She sighed. "Well. Another job then. Find a swimming teacher."

He nodded. "Ooo time to acquire a new power!"

"Is there anything else?" Dwayne said.

"No that's the essentials but it wouldn't hurt to learn other survival skills while you're out there. Plus Noah. Actually being able to use your powers would also be great" She quipped.

"Point taken." He said bluntly.

"Sounds good then" Trent smiled. "We can do that, just getting the information right?"

"Correct, recipes. Locations, all that. We don't need the stuff, we need to know where to find the stuff." She smirked. "As much as we are eager to get out. we really need a concrete plan so we succeed the first time."

"That's fair," Noah stated.

"This is very exciting," Dwayne said happily.

"Any questions?" She yawned. "Please be quick… I'm getting tired."

Silence from the room.

"I'll take that as a no then."

She suddenly yawned again. "Alright, I'm going to bed. she smiled tiredly. "Night guys." She trotted off.

Trent blinked "Long day tomorrow huh?"

"I feel there isn't going to be many casual days for a while," Noah stated before going to bed.

"Night then Noah," Said Dwayne. "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"Yeah yeah…" Noah closed his eyes.

Dwayne walked over to his bed and snuggled in. Perdi walked over and laid on top of him. "Hey there Perdi, you sleeping on me tonight?"

"mew…" she yawned.

"I don't mind" He smiled.

Leonard watched the cat. "That cat feels like bad news…"

"It'll be fine, she's just a cat ok?" Trent spoke.

"I'll… I'll try. For Sir Dwayne." He walked over to Dwayne. "H-hey."

"Oh hi, there son. Is there something wrong?"

"C-can I pet.. the cat?" Leonard nervously said.

"Of course!" He smiled.

Leonard was shaking a bit. He timidly raised his arm and placed his hand on the cat. He started stroking it. "Hey… this isn't so bad actually."

Perdi enjoyed the stroking, she purred and closed her eyes with each stroke.

Leonard smiled. "There there.." he stopped. "So the beast is now an ally" He smiled. "A worthy party member" He smirked and walked off.

Dwayne thought to himself.

He's a strange one. But I like him.

"Night dudes," Trent said before he went to sleep.

"Night!" Dwayne smiled as the room went dark and silent. He was alone with his thoughts.

Today was fun. Let's make tomorrow even better!

Let's hope nothing goes wrong… And I really hope I don't find that scary man again…

For now… let's get that idol!