Well, here's the next chapter, as well as the first chapter of 2021. I tried to get this out before February, but oh well.
dumas: Yeah, out of the contestants eliminated so far, Geoff is definitely the one I miss the most. I'm looking forward to when I get to the first Aftermath so that I can write more of him, as well as Amy and Sammy. As for the tension between Emma and Gwen, I'm definitely looking forward to writing more of it as well.
MarkLevins: To be honest, I was worried about how the soccer challenge would come out because of how it was more action-heavy than the other two, so I'm glad you liked it!
Heck: I'm glad you like the story's version of Scott. So far, he's my favorite character to write for. He provides a great mixture of moments of manipulation and moments of comic relief.
I'm sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Last time on Total Drama Voyage. The teams were taken to Barcelona to compete against each other in a round-robin soccer tournament. With some previous contestants serving as cheerleaders." Footage is played of the teams, along with Amy and Sammy, arriving inside the soccer stadium. "Some contestants dropped the ball, while others kicked it to high gear." A clip of Harold swatting a soccer ball with his hand is shown, before a clip of Duncan scoring a goal on Kitty is played soon afterwards.
"...Really?" Chef's voice asked.
"Hey, who said you could interupt the recap?!" Chris cleared his throat. "Team Heather won the challenge, partially because of Alejandro and Mike's insane soccer skills" Various clips of plays from Mike and Alejandro are played "but also because of Scott's devious dealings with Al." A clip of Alejandro and Scott shaking hands outside of the locker room is played. "Owen failed to impress Emma as a leader or a player, resulting in him being benched." Footage of Emma lecturing Owen is shown. "But In the end, a strategy from Noah saved the Shortcakes from last place, and the Blades had to send someone home for the second time in a row." Various clips of the Shortcakes using traps around the field to their advantage is shown before a clip of Trent scoring a goal on DJ is shown.
"DJ was looking like the obvious choice, but in the end, it was the party boy Geoff who wound up taking the Boat of Losers. But hey, he'll be helping Amy and Samey with the aftermaths, so it's not a total loss." A clip of DJ wiping away tears in the confessional is played followed by Geoff givng his farewells to Bridgette, DJ, and Duncan before boarding the Boat of Losers alongside Amy and Sammy.
The camera cut to Chris on the skydeck, Chef standing next to him. "Will the Blades be able to pull themselves out of their losing streak in this in-tents challenge? Can Owen quit clowning around and prove to be a capable leader?"
"Can YOU drop it with the crappy puns?" Chef asked.
"Are you the host? No? Then you don't call the shots." Chris said . He then turned back to the camera. "Find out right here on Total! Drama! Voyage!"
Bridgette was weeping in one of the bedrooms. All the Blades agreed that given Geoff's elimination, she should get a bed tonight. And naturally, as DJ was still injured, he was in the other bedroom. Duncan, Zoey, and Leshawna were sitting in the living room of the cabin cruiser, all feeling pretty awkward hearing Bridgette crying.
"Why should I be the one to comfort her? I'm not exactly close with her you know." Duncan said.
"You ARE the team leader, string bean." Leshawna said. "And where I come from, a leader is expected to lend a shoulder for their brothers and sisters to cry on."
"What about you? You're the one who's actually friends with her."
"Boy, you crazy? It was my idea to vote of Geoff. There's no way she'll want to speak with me."
"You don't have to tell her that you know."
"And what if she asks? I ain't lying to her."
"Maybe we should just give her some space." Zoey suggested.
Leshawna turned to Zoey. "Girl, I'd agree with you normally, but..." Leshawna pointed to the clock. It was almost 1 AM. "I kinda need sleep right about now."
(Confessional: Scott)
"I gotta say, things worked out pretty well. One of Duncan and Zoey's pals are gone, AND since we still have DJ on the team, I still have a target for the next time I throw a challenge. Not to mention that this opens up the door to get Bridgette on my side. Everything's coming up Scottie."
Bridgette heard a knock on her door. "Who is it?"She half-heartedly asked.
Coming in the room was Scott. "Hey Bridgette. Um...how's it going?"
"What do you want?" Bridgette asked.
"Look, I'm...I'm sorry for what I said about Geoff a couple days ago. That wasn't cool of me."
"No. It wasn't."
Scott rubbed his head awkwardly. "Listen, I just wanted to let you know that if you need to talk with anybody, I'm willing to listen."
"You voted for Geoff, didn't you?" Bridgette asked.
Scott widened his eyes. "What makes you-?"
"Last night, you brought Leshawna outside to talk with her. Before, you talked with me and Leshawna about stopping a potential alliance between Duncan, Zoey, Geoff, and DJ. So you convinced Leshawna to vote off one of them too whittle down their numbers, right?" Despite the accusation, Bridgette's tone didn't sound angry. Either her sadness was overwhelming any anger, or she didn't hold any hard feelings against the rest of the team.
"Well, it was my idea to try and vote out DJ. But I couldn't convince Duncan." Scott answered.
Bridgette wiped some tears from her eyes. "Look Scott, I know that you're only pretending to offer me comfort because you want to make an alliance with me. But even if you were being sincere, I just want to be left alone right now, ok?"
"Listen, it's not about making an alliance with you." Scott said.
"Alright." Bridgette said. It was surprising to Scott that she believed it so quickly. But the next thing she said shocked him even further. "Then I guess you want me to get you back together with Courtney?'
If Scott had a drink, he would have spat it out. "Wh-what the...what are you...?"
"I mean, you tried to ask the same thing from Duncan a couple days ago. And it's kinda obvious that you're not over Courtney."
"I'm completely over her!" Scott yelled, his face beginning to turn red.
Bridgette took a look at Scott then chuckled. "I guess you would kinda get how I feel. In All-Stars when Courtney got eliminated, you still had feelings for her even after you broke up with her."
"I didn't miss her at all!" Scott lied.
"Oh. So you don't want me to help you reunite with Courtney?" Bridgette asked teasingly.
"I told you I...wait, you can do that?"
"Tell you what. Zoey's been pretty suspicous of you ever since Cody's elimination, and I can't blame her. Plus, I have to admit, you made a good point the other day that Duncan would try and vote me off. So if nothing fishy goes on for us in the next couple challenges, AND if we discuss with each other about who we're voting off for future elimination ceremonies, I'll talk with Courtney about meeting up with you sometime."
Scott blinked a few times. "Well...I mean...I guess I wouldn't hate it."
"Awesome. See ya tomorrow."
Scott left the room in a daze. "Did I just have my alliance hijacked from me?"
(Confessional: Bridgette)
"I don't know for sure if Scott is sabotaging us, but if there's anything Total Drama has taught me, it's that if you smell something fishy, you gotta nip it in the bud. If I can keep Scott in line, then there's less to worry about."
The camera cut to the skydeck of the S.S McLean. Sky had her legs wrapped around the railings of the boat, doing several upside down pull ups. "47...48...49..." She strained.
"Sky?" A voice asked. Sky noticed Heather walk up to her. "
"Urghh...Heather?" She asked. She did one last upside down pull up before bringing herself up on the skydeck. "What are you doing up? It's past midnight."
Heather crossed her arms. "Do you really think you're in any position to ask that? Seriously, we've barely seen you on anywhere on the yacht, you missed dinner, and now you're risking falling off the boat at 1 in the morning."
"I was doing exercises. I have to be in top shape to help the team out."
Heather raised an eyebrow before widening her eyes. She could get some use out of this. Heather put a hand on Sky's shoulder. "Listen Sky, it's great that you want to help us out, but if you overstrain yourself, you'll be too exhausted to help out."
Sky walked away, causing Heather's hand to brush off her. "Don't worry. I know how to pace myself without getting too tired." Soon, Sky's legs gave out, causing her to fall onto the skydeck.
"Even if YOU aren't tired, that doesn't mean your body isn't." Heather walked up to Sky and helped her stand up. "Come on, let's get you to bed."
"I told you, I..." Sky was interupted as Heather briefly let go, causing Sky to nearly collapse again before Heather caught her. Sky sighed. "Fine."
Heather helped Sky walk inside the yacht.
(Confessional: Heather)
"Sky is by far the easiest person I can gain the trust of. She wasn't on any of my seasons, AND she has her fair share of insecurities for me to help her out with. I'll just provide some support from time to time, and boom, I'll have a season runner-up as a pawn."
The sun began to rise up. Within the Shortcakes' cabin cruiser, Owen was up, bags under his eyes, writing on a sheet of paper. He then gae the sheet to someone who wouldn't have typically been in the Shortcakes' cabin cruiser, especially since her team won access to the yacht. Sierra. Next to her were sheets of papers
"Here's the report on B..." He weakly said.
Sierra took a look at it and read over it. "You sure you should rate his threat level as only a 6?"
"I mean...in Revenge he lost every challenge he participated in, and got voted out third."
"Yeah, but in both Episode 1 and 3, he nearly led his team to win. He WOULD have gotten his team to win in Episode 3 if it wasn't for Scott's sabotage."
"Oh yeah..." Owen said. He took the sheet of paper back, and began to rewrite it.
Sierra's phone started to vibrate. "Oh, it's almost 6. I better get out of here before the rest of your team wakes up."
Owen nodded. "Thanks for helping me write these by the way Sierra."
"No problem. I was planning to update my dossiers on you guys anyway." Sierra stood up, and tip-toed her way out of the cabin. Kitty, Brody, and Dawn were sleeping on the floor, the latter in lotus position. Trent was sleeping on the couch, while Gwen, Emma, and Noah were sleeping in the two bedrooms, Noah and Emma sharing a bedroom.
"You're troubled." A voice said. Owen turned his head, and saw that it came from Dawn.
"You're awake...?" Owen asked.
Dawn nodded, still having her eyes closed. "You should get some sleep. Who knows how early the next challenge may occur?"
Owen didn't bother to protest. He was mostly done writing up on the opposing contestants anyway. He put his head on the table, and shut his eyes.
(Confessional: Dawn)
"Emma still doesn't truly understand how much stress she's putting Owen through. We're lucky that we've avoided last place so far, but if this keeps up, it'll only be a matter of time before we find ourselves on a losing streak."
"Owen. Owen, are you awake?" Gwen asked.
Owen opened his eyes, and saw that the Shortcakes were awake.
"Hi guys. What's up?"
"It's about all of these sheets." Kitty asked, holding some up.
"I only remember writing papers on our team, not the opponents." Emma said.
"Dude, did you stay up all night writing these?" Brody asked, holding some of the sheets of paper.
"I got some sleep ataround 5:30." Owen said.
"Dude, that's not reassuring. You only got three hours of sleep?" Trent asked.
Gwen turned to Emma. "Emma has something to tell you, right Emma?"
Emma sighed. "Owen, I get why you're pushing yourself so hard. I've been putting a lot of pressure on you the past couple days. But with what you did here...I'm really proud of you."
"What?!" Gwen yelled.
Owen smiled. "Really?"
Emma nodded. "I thought you weren't taking your role as a leader seriously, but now I know that I was wrong. To write all these notes on our opponents without me even telling you to really shows that you're taking the initiative."
Noah took a sigh of relief. He didn't want to have to be torn between his girlfriend and his best friend. Brody nodded in satisfaction, glad that the tension seemed to have went away. Kitty, Trent, and Dawn were still feeling pretty awkward at Emma taking the wrong lesson from this. Gwen's annoyance simply grew even larger.
Soon, Chris' voice spoke over the intercoms. "Heads up sailors, it'll be about two hours until we dock at our next destination, Paris France!"
Emma turned to Owen. "Get as much sleep as you can Owen. All your work will go to waste if you're too tired to lead."
"Right!" Owen saluted before passsing out on the floor seconds afterwards.
Two hours passed, and the contestants found themselves in the streets of Paris, standing in front of a venue. Chris walked up to them. "Welcome to Cirque d'Hiver, where we'll be hosting our next challenge."
"Cirque? As in circus?" Trent asked.
"No Trent. He meant the landform." Noah said sarcastically.
"For this challenge, each one of the teams will be putting on a show. Human cannonballs, unicycle riding, tightrope walking, whatever circus act your team assigns you." Chris said. "Three acts for each team, having as many or as few team members performing as possible. But each team member can only perform once."
"Does that mean it's possible for people to sit out on the challenge entirely?" Noah asked.
"Yup. However, the team leaders will be required to play a role."
"Sweet. About time I got to throw knives on this show." Duncan said.
"Sorry my man. The team leaders aren't going to be doing circus acts. They'll be the Ringmaster! Introuducing the performers, keeping the crowd excited during the intervals. You know, kinda like what I do as the host for the show." Chris said.
"Hopefully it'll mean we'll hear less from you for this challenge then." Gwen said.
Chris wasn't amused. "Ha ha. Anyway, come inside."
Chris went inside, most of the contestants following. As they walked, Leshawna tapped Scott on the shoulder. "Yo, farm boy?"
Scott turned his head, seeing Leshawna, Duncan, and Zoey behind him. "What is it?" Scott asked.
"We noticed that when you left Bridgette's room, she stopped crying." Zoey told him.
"Don't know how you got her to quit her blubbering, but thanks man. Didn't want to go through a challenge with barely any sleep again." Duncan said.
Scott widened his eyes, before shrugging. "Don't mention it." The four of them followed Chris like the rest of the contestants.
The contestants were led to a wide, ovular stage, littered with various circus props such as cannons, trampolines, a trapeze. More interesting however was that around the stage floated dozens of balloons of various colors. Inside each balloon was a card with a silhouette drawn on it. From bears, to bowling pins, to knives and of course, of several of the circus props that were around the stage.
"Welcome to the first phase of the challenge." Chris told them.
"What's with all the balloons?" DJ asked.
"Simple. The team leaders will run around the room, popping balloons, and grabbing three cards of their choice. The cards you get, decides the circus acts that your teammates can perform."
"Wait, so we don't get to pick for ourselves?" Sky asked.
"Nope. But if your leader gets a role that you think you're able to perform well, then you can ask them to pick you."
Chef came walking in, giving Owen, Duncan, and Heather bows, and quivers filled with arrows. "These are for popping balloons that are out of your reach. Hope you have a good aim."
Chris turned to the rest of the contestants. "The rest of you have five minutes to talk with your leader about what roles you think they should get. After that, sit back and watch the fun."
Heather walked up to her team. "Ok, so obviously Sky and Mike should perform. Thinking I'll get trapeze for the both of them to perform together."
"Works for me." Sky said. Mike nodded in agreement.
"I'm quite skilled at juggling, so perhaps that could be another card for you to get." Alejandro suggested.
Heather gave a suspicous look at Alejandro.
(Confessional: Heather)
"Alejandro wants an opportunity to show off so that the rest of the team value him as a member more. And that way, it'll be easier for him to convince them to vote me off. Still, to keep up this 'friendly leader' act, I can't just shoot it down immediately."
What do you guys think I should get for the third card?"
"Leave knife throwing to me. I've practiced the art of Shurikenjutsu for over a decade." Harold boasted .
"But wouldn't throwing stars be different from knives though?" Mike asked.
Harold got a bit offended. "Not all shurikens are the same. Yes, the hira-shuriken is shaped like a wheel, but the bo-shuriken are pointed pikes. A completely different shape from throwing stars. Gosh!"
"Ok, ok. I'll get knife throwing for you." Heather said. "B, Sierra. You guys have any acts you want to perform."
B shook his head. He was a builder, not a performer.
"Ooh, ooh! I ride a pretty mean unicycle." Sierra said.
"That's pretty much a staple of the circus!" Heather exclaimed.
"So is juggling though." Alejandro pointed out.
"True, but with unicycling, there's a lot more ways to add extra flair since her hands are freed up. We can have her plazy the kazoo, do a handstand, some fancy jumps. All whule combining with the unicycle ride."
Alejandro shrugged. He didn't really have a counter to that. "Fair enough."
The camera panned to the shortcakes huddled up. Owen gave out a loud yawn. "So, we can all agree that Dawn gets animal training, right?" Owen asked, he rubbed his eyes.
"I'll do it. But I absolutely refuse to use a whip, or to force any animals to go through flaming hoops." Dawn said.
"Well that's one down, but what about the other two?" Gwen asked.
"See if you can get a human cannonball Owen my dude. It'd be sick to be shot out of one." Brody said
Noah turned to Emma. "You're a gymnast too, right? Maybe we can have Owen get you a trapeze act."
"Hmm. It's risky. I'm nowhere close to a professional. But if it takes away an advantage from Team Heather, it's worth grabbing Owen."
Owen nodded. "Trapeze, animal, cannonball...got it..." Owen swayed a bit.
"Owen, you ok dude?" Trent asked.
"Huh? Oh, never better."
(Confessional: Kitty)
"It's pretty clear that Owen's still sleepy. And considering how he's gonna be the ringmaster...not the best combination."
"I'm telling you, I can do the tightrope walk." Bridgette said.
"Are you kidding me? You're the second clumsiest person on the team." Duncan replied.
"Who's the first?" Scott asked.
There was an awkward moment of silence before Bridgette decided to break it. "Listen, balance is one of the fundamentals of surfing. Do you honestly think I'd be as good a surfer as I am if I couldn't keep my balance?"
"Girl's got a point." Leshawna said.
"Besides, we don't have much time left to talk. We've only discussed one act so far." Zoey added.
Duncan groaned. "Fine. Zoey, you think you can do trapeze?"
"Probably, but Heather's team will definitely gun for that."
"She's right. We probably should have a few back-up acts in mind." DJ suggested.
"We haven't even finished going over our Plan A acts though." Scott said.
Soon enough, a horn was blown. "Time's up for discussion! Team leaders, get ready to pop some balloons!" Chris announced.
"Seriously?!" Leshawna complained. "Ugh. Guess you'll have to wing most of it string bean."
The rest of the contestants walked towards the seats, leaving only Owen, Duncan, and Heather. "Alright leaders, get ready to-"
"Mister McLean sir?" A voice asked. Chris noticed a short, chubby intern with glasses walk up to him, holding a letter.
Chris was annoyed by the interuption. "What is it?"
The intern gave Chris a letter. Chris read through it and widened his eyes. "Wait, what?!"
The contestants were curious. "What does the letter say?" Gwen asked.
"It's not a big deal." Chris put the note in his pocket. "Basically, next challenge will be here as well, so you can tour around Paris after the challenge if you want."
(Confessional: Sierra)
"There's no way Chris would would be so startled if THAT was all the letter said. There's more to it."
"Anyway, begin!"
Duncan and Heather immediately ran towards a balloon floating by the trapeze, Owen sluggishly following. In the balloon was a card that depicted the silhouette of a trapeze.
Heather and Duncan stopped running when they reached the trapeze. "Oh no you don't, jailbird. This one's mine!" Heather said.
"We'll see toots." Duncan shot back. Heather and Duncan both pulled an arrow out of their quiver, but Duncan readied his arrow before Heather did.
"Looks like I was quicker." Duncan said as he was aiming. He let the arrow fly true, popping the baloon.
"Oh yeah!" Duncan cheered.
"Nice aim Duncan." Heather said. Duncan suddenly realized that Heather moved underneath where the balloon was, catching the card as it fell.
"And Team Heather gets the trapeze act!" Chris declared.
"What? But Duncan popped the balloon!" DJ protested.
"Yes. But I got the card." Heather pointed out. "And Chris said that the cards we get determines the circus acts we perform."
"Heather's right on the money." Chris said.
Heather gave a smug smile at Duncan before running off to find another balloon to pop. Duncan gritted his teeth and ran in the direction of the tightrope.
Owen finally reached the trapeze only to see that the balloon was popped already. "Ugh...I was too slow..." Owen said while panting.
"You didn't even run towards it!" Emma yelled at Owen from the seats.
"Easy there Emma. Owen's barely gotten any sleep." Trent pointed out.
"He should still give it his all though." Emma countered.
"Wonder if that would be enough for you." Gwen muttered.
Emma raised an eyebrow and turned to Gwen. "What's THAT supposed to mean exactly?"
Noah put a hand on Emma's shoulder. "Guys, this isn't gonna help us win the challenge."
Emma sighed. "Just try harder next time Owen." She called out.
Owen nodded, and sluggishly ran towards the cannon to pop the balloon there. Emma and Gwen exchanged brief glares before turning their heads away from each other. Alejandro took note of this and smirked.
(Confessional: Alejandro)
"This is going even better than I was hoping. Not only is Emma putting too much pressure on Owen, but Gwen is beginning to butt heads with her. If I just gave a little nudge, the Strawberry Shortcakes would destroy themselves. Unfortunately, I'm not well known for being trustworthy. Perhaps I can get someone else to make that push for me."
Duncan caught the card after popping the balloon by the tightrope. "And the Killer Blades have gotten the tightrope walk!" Chris announced.
The camera cut to Owen poking the balloon by the cannon with an arrow, picking up the card after it fell. "And the Shortcakes have gotten the human cannonball act! Each team has one act chosen!"
"Better add it up for me!" Heather bragged. She was by a giant dart board, picking up a card on the ground after popping a balloon.
"And Team Heather's gotten the knife throwing act!"
"Crap. Gotta catch up." Duncan said. He readied an arrow, and quickly popped the first balloon in sight, running up to it. "Hmm...this could work out." Duncan picked up the card.
"And the Killer Blades have gotten the clown act!"
Owen scanned through several of the balloons around him before he saw a balloon that had a card with a bear silhouette on it. It was floating above a large fish tank. "That must be the animal training act." He said to himself. Owen began to sluggishly run towards it.
"Go for it Owen!" Kitty cheered.
Duncan turned to Owen's direction. "Hate to do it to the big guy, but I can't let him get an advantage." Duncan ran towards the shark tank, quickly passing Owen.
"Duncan?" Owen asked.
"Sorry Owen! That act's all mine!" Duncan reached the fish tank, readied an arrow, and fired it.
"No!" Emma yelled.
Suddenly, a figure leaped out of the fish tank, and bit the arrow in two before it could pop the balloon. A familiar looking shark.
"Fang?!" Zoey asked in shock.
"Aughhhh! Shark!" Brody yelled in terror.
Scott simply sat down, his eyes wide with terror.
Fang leapt from the fish tank, and tackled Duncan to the ground.
"Get off me, fish breath!" Duncan yelled, using an arrow to push back Fang.
"And the Strawberry Shortcakes has gotten the animal training act!" Chris announced.
"Huh?" Duncan reacted. In the moment when he was distracted, Fang swatted away the arrow, and began to maul Duncan.
Owen was in the fish tank, watching awkwardly. "Shouldn't we help him?" He asked.
"Hey, if you wanna be Fang's dinner, be my guest." Chris said.
Eventually, a couple of tranquilizer darts were shot into Fang, causing him to pass out. Duncan stood up with cuts and bruises all over him, along with a black-eye and messed up mohawk. "Ughhh...I hate sharks." He said in a daze.
(Confessional: Scott)
Scott took a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad it wasn't me this time."
The camera cut to all three leaders holding up three cards, Duncan had some bandages over his face. Chris walked by them. "So, it looks like all of the circus acts have been decided. The Strawberry Shortcakes will perform the human cannonball act, the animal show, and the fire dance. The Killer Blades will perform the tightrope walk, the aerial hoops, and the clown performance. And Team Heather will be performing the knife throwing act, unicycle act, and the trapeze act."
Heather smiled in satisfaction. She was the only one to get every act that the team planned for.
"You guys have 6 hours to practice. Then, it's showtime! Feel free to use any props in the venue for practice." Chris walked off.
"Alright, we have until night time to practice everyone." Emma said to the Shortcakes. "Owen, it's clear that you're tired, so get some sleep. Then, in a few hours, I'll wake you up and help you practice in speaking to the audience."
"Got it!" Owen said.
"Umm...shouldn't we go over who'll be performing each act?" Gwen asked.
"Well, we already discussed human cannonball and animal training. But who's going to do the fire dance?" Dawn asked.
Kitty shrugged and raised her hand. "I could do it."
"Have you done it before?" Trent asked.
"Not really. But me and Emma both have some slammin' dance moves."
"Alright. Then me and Kit will do the fire dance." Emma said.
"It sounds pretty dangerous to do without experience." Trent brought up.
"So are half of the things Chris makes us do." Noah pointed out.
"Good point."
The camera panned to the Killer Blades. "You ok Duncan?" Zoey asked.
"That overgrown guppy didn't bite half as hard as the bear from Greece did." Duncan said.
"Sure thing tough guy." Leshawna said, not impressed.
"So, who's gonna be doing which act?" DJ asked.
"Bridgette will do tightrope walking, Zoey will do the aerial hoops, Scott will be the clown." Duncan said.
"Why do I have to be the clown?" Scott asked.
"It came down between you and Leshawna, and you'd fit the role more."
"Wait, what about me?" DJ asked.
"DJ, you're still in crutches." Bridgette told him.
"It's fine ya'll. My legs are practically back to normal." DJ claimed.
Leshawna walked up to DJ, and took away a crutch. DJ immediately fell to the ground. "You sure about that?"
"It does add to the comedy though." Scott said.
"Scot!" Zoey and Bridgette scolded.
"Chris DID say that multiple people could perform for one act." Leshawna pointed out.
DJ looked at Duncan with a puppy-eye look. Duncan rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. You can perform with Scott."
"Whoo-hoo!" DJ cheered.
The camera panned to Team Heather. "So, we're assigning roles based off what we agreed on, right?" Heather asked. The team nodded. "Great! Then let's get to practicing. Do your best everyone!"
Sky and Mike began to walk towards the trapeze. "So, how long have you been a gymnast?" Sky asked.
"Well...if we're talking about me specifically, since the end of All-Stars."
"So, about a year?" Sky asked.
"Yeah. I got the skills of all my alternate personalities after taking down Mal. One of them was a gymnast."
Sky raised an eyebrow. "So, you were just given your gymnast skills?"
"Pretty much." Mike said. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around. "Alejandro?"
"Sky, can I talk with Mike in private?" Alejandro requested.
"Go ahead. I'll practice while I wait." Sky continued to head towards the trapeze.
"What's up Alejandro?" Mike asked.
"It's just that I've noticed that Emma's been pushing the butter donkey far beyond his limitations."
"You mean Owen?"
Alejandro nodded. "From the looks of things, the stress she's been putting him under has caused him to barely get any sleep."
"Now that you mention it, you're right. That seems to be the case. But... don't you hate Owen?"
"I freely admit, I'm not a fan of how grotesque and idiotic he can be. Still, to be so afraid of somebody who you're supposed to be leading...dislike Owen or not, I can't help but take pity on him, you know? Sometimes I feel like somebody should talk to Emma about it, but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable being involved with another team's affairs."
Mike nodded. "Yeah, I get what you mean. Still, why are you telling me this?"
"No special reason. I just felt like getting it off my chest, you know? With Heather and I fighting against each other, you're pretty much the closest person to a confidant I have in the competition."
"Oh. Well, I'm glad to listen to you."
Alejandro nodded. "Thank you Mike. If I told this to anyone else, they'd probably mock me for being soft." Alejandro walked off.
(Confessional: Mike)
"You know, out of all people in the show to reveal a soft side to me, Alejandro was the last person I would expect. Still, he might have a point. I'm not even on the Shortcakes' team, and I still noticed Emma pushing Owen too hard. Maybe I should talk with somebody about it? I dunno...it's not really my business, but..."
(Confessional: Alejandro)
"Gossip is quite the useful tool when you want to stir up the pot."
Kitty and Emma were both holding batons that had their ends set on fire. Kitty was holding two smaller ones in each of her hands, while Emma was holding a single large one in both of them. "Ready Emma?" Kitty asked.
Emma nodded. They started to dance while spinning around the burning batons. Kitty moved energetically, running as she danced, twirling both of her batons at high speeds. She frequently would toss batons up in the air and catch them, and even mixed in a few break dancing moves whenever her hands were empty. The way Emma danced was more stationary and serene. She spun, swung, and thrusted her baton as if she was practicing martial arts, repeating motions in succession at a steady pace before gradually speeding them up.
"Augh!" Kitty yelled as she dropped one of her batons.
Emma stopped spinning her long baton and turned to Kitty in concern. "Did you burn yourself?!" Kitty nodded.
Gwen, who was watching from the sidelines since she didn't have an act, walked up to the sisters. "Maybe you should sit this out." Gwen suggested.
"No. It's...it's fine." She winced.
Emma turned to Kitty. "Are you sure?" Kitty nodded. "Alright. Fine."
Gwen raised an eyebrow.
(Confessional: Gwen)
"Huh. Maybe I misjudged Emma."
"Hey!" Brody called out. Gwen and the sisters turned to Brody, who was by the human canon. "Either of you guys know where the cannonballs are?"
"No. But why would you want cannonballs?" Kitty asked.
"What else? For the performance. It's not as cool if I don't fire with some cannonballs.
"That...would probably kill you." Gwen said.
"Me and Geoff get that a lot." Brody said. He walked off, continuing his search for cannonballs.
Bridgette was on one of the elevated platforms that connected to the tightrope. She took a deep breath and began to walk.
"Careful. Careful!" DJ called out in worry.
"You know, that's probably more distracting than helpful." Leshawna told DJ.
All the Killer Blades, sans Zoey who was practicing on the aerial hoops, were watching Bridgette practice on the tightrope. In case she fell, one of them could catch her. Bridgette asked Chris if there could be a safety net for practice, but apparently, the show used up too much of the budget for there to be one. Bridgette didn't buy that for a second. Odds are, Chris just wanted there to be to be a higher chance of pain.
Brody walked towards the Blades. "Brody? What are you doing here?" DJ asked.
"I'm looking for cannonballs. A couple years ago, me and Geoff talked about how sick it would be to ride on a cannonball while it was being fired. Now, I can finally live out the dream!"
Bridgette felt an irk of annoyance, but continued to walk on the tightrope. She was moving slowly, but surprisingly she wasn't wobbling or tripping over herself. "Looks like she was right about surfing helping her keep her balance." Duncan said.
Brody took a look at the Blades. "Hey, wait a sec. Where is Geoff anyway?"
"You just noticed?!" Bridgette yelled. That was a mistake. She missed her footing and began to wobble.
"Bridgette!" DJ and Leshawna yelled in concern.
"Looks like you spoke too soon." Scott said to Duncan, who nodded in agreement.
Bridgette slipped off the rope and started to fall, but thankfully, Leshawna ran up and caught her. "I got you girl." Leshawna told her.
Bridgette was catching her breath. "Thank...thanks Leshawna."
The other Blades as well as Brody ran up to them. "Whoa! Bridgette, are you ok?"
Bridgette frowned and got out of Leshawna's arms. "I'm fine Brody. Anyway to answer your question, Geoff got voted off last night because of deciding to be launched from the spring trap last challenge."
Brody looked a bit disappointed. "Oh. Bummer." Brody then began to brighten up. "But if THAT'S why he got eliminated, I'm sure the bro found it worth it."
"Shouldn't you be looking for cannonballs?"
"Oh yeah! Thanks for the reminder!" Brody walked off.
Zoey ran up the rest of the Blades. "I saw Bridgette fall! Bridgette, are you alright?!"
"This is why I was against getting human tightrope for you." Duncan told Bridgette.
"Duncan, you saw me. I was doing fine until I got distracted." Bridgette argued.
"Yeah, and if you get distracted and fall during the challenge, we won't be able to catch you." Duncan turned to Leshawna. "You think you can handle the balancing act? You out logrolled some champion bear back in Season 1."
"Maybe, but I dunno if log rolling will help me balance on rope." Leshawna replied.
"Umm, hello? I never agreed to drop out you know." Bridgette pointed out.
"Well last I checked, you're not the leader." Duncan said.
Bridgette crossed her arms. "Oh, so you're pulling that card now?"
"Ok, then how about we get the rest of the team's opinion?" Duncan turned to the rest of the Blades. "Who here honestly thinks that Bridgette is the best call for the tight rope?"
Bridgette turned to DJ and Leshawna for support, but they were standing in awkward silence. "Seriously guys? I fell once."
"I mean, you were always known for being a little clumsy." DJ pointed out.
Bridgette turned to Duncan angrily. "This isn't fair! You're letting DJ perform and he's still injured!"
"Yeah, and last I checked, DJ isn't gonna be performing hundreds of feet up in the air." Duncan shot back.
Zoey got in between the two. "Listen. We're still in practice, and it hasn't even been one hour yet. Let's give it some time before making any calls on replacing people."
Duncan and Bridgette both glared at each other. "Whatever." Duncan said before walking away.
The camera panned over to Mike and Sky, who were on the trapeze platform. "Whoa. Talk about tension." Mike said.
"We can't let ourselves get distracted by the other teams. You ready?" Sky asked Mike.
Mike nodded. He leapt towards the horizontal bar, wrapped his legs around it, and began to swing around. Sky jumped afterwards, grabbing onto Mike's hands , and then jumped off from them to grab the other bar. Mike then leapt off from the bar he was hanging from to grab onto Sky's legs and then swung to the platform at the opposite end, flipping in the air as he landed.
"Alright! So far so good!" Mike cheered.
Sky swung off from the bar she was hanging from and joined Mike on the platform with a somewhat rough landing. "We still have to keep practicing so we can flair things up. We're not the only gymnastics act." Sky pointed to the aerial hoops, Mike turning to that direction. There, Zoey was hanging from one of three aerial hoops with her legs. She spun the hoop around a few times while hanging from it before leaping off it to grab one of the other ones.
"Way to go Zoey!"
"Thanks Mike!" Zoey yelled out.
"It's great to support her and all, but don't forget that we need to impress the judges more than she does." Sky told Mike.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to throw a challenge for Zoey's sake."
Sky mentally let out a sigh of relief. She then took a look at Zoey continuing to swing and spin off multiple hoops. "She's gonna be tough to beat Mike. You might have been given raw talent, but she must have been honing hers for years."
"Actually, Zoey kinda just got that out of the blue." Mike answered.
Sky widened her eyes. "What? How?!"
Sierra popped up next to the two. "It was when Chef broke the necklace that Mike gave her. It caused her to completely go Commando. She learned to control herself, but the athletic abilities she got from it stuck around."
"How did you get up here so fast?" Mike asked.
Sierra didn't answer, quickly leaping downwards to practice her unicycle riding.
(Confessional: Sky)
"Mike getting his skills from one of his multiple personalities is one thing? But Zoey getting angry enough suddenly lets her have the skills of a pro?"
"Anyway, I have a question. Is it just me, or is Emma really putting the presure on Owen?" Mike asked. Sky's odd look made Mike think that he shouldn't have brought it up. "Nevermind. Can't get distracted with-"
"No, you're right." Sky said. "I talked with Owen a bit afte rthe last challenge, and he was feeling really down." Sky and Mike took a look at Owen, who was sleeping. Apparently, he was up all night making notes for the Shortcakes because of the pressure Emma's placed on him. "I know he's on the other team, but it feels wrong to just watch it happen."
Mike nodded. "Think we should talk to Emma about it?"
"Maybe...I dunno. For now, we should focus on practice."
Mike nodded. He then leapt towards a trapeze bar, wrapped a single leg around it, and swung himself towards the other one. Sky was stunned.
The camera cut to Harold, who did a few karate poses before throwing three knives. All of them fell to the ground before hitting the knife board.
B raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"I was just getting warmed up!" Harold insisted as he picked up one of the knives. "Hya-cha!" Harold winded up before thrusting his arm. He quickly realized he was throwing air. "Where'd the knife go?
"YOWWWWW!" Harold and B turned their heads behind them seeing that the knife landed in Scott's left leg. He and DJ were currently in clown get-ups.
"What happened?!" DJ asked.
Harold was feeling incredibly guilty. B was holding back his laughter. Chris wasn't bothering to hold back his laughter. "Man, I love the circus." He said.
Duncan walked up to Scott. "Great. We're just getting ALL the luck recently." He said, annoyed.
"Needs us to take you to a hospital dude?" Chris asked.
Scott widened his eyes. This is it. His opportunity to throw the game for the team a third time in a row. And nobody would blame him for it. "I...I don't know if I..." He then took a look at DJ, who was still in crutches.
"Dude, if you need me to perform for you, I can do it." DJ told Scott.
Scott then took a look Bridgette, who was still walking back and forth on the tightrope. Her argument with Duncan after nearly dying seemed to motivate her, as she was moving faster. He then took a glance at Emma and Kitty from the other team. Kitty's right hand was burnt, but she was still practicing her fire dance. "I...I think I'll keep going."
"Seriously?" DJ asked.
Chris walked up to Scott. "You got guts dude." He grabbed the knife in Scott's leg and pulled it out.
"Yaaaughhhh! Warn me next time!" Scott yelled.
(Confessional: Scott)
"If I play the injured routine while two other members are soldiering on, the team might vote me off for the same reason I nearly got them to vote off DJ. Too much of a risk."
Several hours passed, and it was almost time to perform. Brody was repeatedly firing himself from the human cannon, having failed to find any cannonballs. Owen was no awake, and watching Emma and Kitty practice their dancing. After waking up, Owen decided to give advice for how the two of them could flair up their performance. "Annnnnnndddddddd now!" Owen yelled.
Kitty tossed her two small batons to Emma, while Emma tossed her larger one to Kitty. Kitty caught the baton Emma threw, but Emma missed the ones Kitty threw. "Crap!" She yelled.
"It's all good Emma." Owen told her.
"But we have only have about 40 minutes left, and I keep missing the exchange!"
"Don't worry about it. Worst case scenario, we just won't include that part."
"You sure? It was a good idea of yours to make things more flashy." Kitty said.
"Well sure, but if it has to be cut, then so be it." Owen said.
Gwen smiled from the seats. Despite how much pressure Emma's been placing on Owen, he didn't hold anything against her.
"No offense Owen, but you're far too lax about this." Emma said. "We're trying to win, and to do that, we have to put in everything we got. Taking away things to make the act more exciting isn't going to help us."
"Well yeah, but if we mess up, that'll hurt our chances even more." Owen replied.
"Which is why you should be taking this more seriously, not scrapping the idea entirely."
Gwen groaned in annoyance. "Of course you would try to backseat lead, even when Owen was trying to help you."
Emma turned to Gwen. "Correct me I'm wrong, but I don't think I was talking to you, was I?"
Kitty and Owen were feeling pretty awkward. "Guys, let's just tone it down a bit." Kitty said.
"I wasn't the one starting a fight." Emma said.
"Yeah, you were being an ungrateful, unbearably bossy little-" Gwne began to say.
"Enough!" Owen yelled. This took Emma, Gwen, and Kitty by surprise. "Listen guys. We're a team. Just like a variety of different foods on a plate. We're all different from each other. Heck, some of us are like peas and mashed potatoes where they don't want to be touching each other. But that's not what matters in the long term. Because we all get chewed up by the mouth, sent down the esophagus, and dissolved into the stomach before eventually coming out as-" Owen was interrupted by a fart. "Exactly! The point is, we need to put our differences aside and work as a team."
Emma and Gwen both felt a little bit guilty.
"Are you serious?!" Duncan yelled. Everyone turned their heads, seeing Duncan argue with Bridgette. She was in Zoey's arms, apparently having been caught again after falling. "Did you seriously fall intentionally?"
"I'm sorry, but I told you already! I was trying to make the performance more exciting!" Bridgette responded.
"Yeah, hate to break it to you, but falling off isn't going to help us out much." Duncan turned around. "Where's Leshawna? We're having her take your role."
Bridgette got out of Zoey's arms. "You know, being chosen as the leader doesn't mean you should just write off everything a teammate says."
Zoey was uncomfortable with the tension building up again. "Duncan, we have less than an hour before it's time to perform. You can't seriously expect that to be enough time for Leshawna to practice."
Duncan realized the logic and facepalmed. "Crap! Ok, fine. But you better not mess it up for us." Duncan walked off.
Bridgette stomped on the ground. "Ugh! How does Geoff put up with that jerk?!"
"You don't get along with Duncan, huh?" Zoey asked.
"You have to ask? Look, I'm not gonna be an arbiter for who Geoff can and can't hang out with. But Duncan's a selfish jerk who voted Geoff off three times! And now we get to add 'bossy' to the list. He's been trying to take me out of the challenge at every opportunity."
"I get why you feel that way. But I think he's worried about you."
Bridgette grunted. "I doubt it."
"I'm telling you, it's fine!" A voice yelled. Bridgette and Zoey turned their heads, seeing Sky yelling at Mike on the trapeze platforms. Sky was holding onto her right leg in pain.
"Whoa, calm down. I was just saying that-" Mike began to say.
"That what?! That I'm just so far below you that I should just act as your sidekick?"
"That's not what I said! I just think that you're taking unnecessary risks."
"Yeah. Coming from the guy who's been showing off 'his' skills the entire practice." Sky responded.
"Guys? Seriously, now's not the time to argue." Heather yelled from below.
Sky sighed. "Whatever. I'm getting some water."
Sky climbed down from the platform, and headed off the stage, going to the restroom. Heather followed her. "Hey, is everything alright?"
"No. Turns out that over a decade of blood, sweat, and tears to hone my gymnast skills means literally nothing compared to someone who gets them at the press of a button."
"Wait, is THAT why you're mad at Mike?" Heather asked.
"Him and his girlfriend Zoey. Finding out how they got their skills is just a slap in the face as someone who's spent their whole life trying to be a professional gymnast."
(Confessional: Heather)
"I wanted to tell Sky to suck it up and just work with Mike. But that wouldn't exactly earn me any nice points."
"Look, I understand why you're so frustrated. But you and Mike are part of a team. And that should be our top priority."
"I get that. But it's so frustrating to work with someone who rubs in their unnatural talent in my face." Sky replied.
"Listen Sky. I get that you've been frustrated because you don't think you've been helping the team as much as you could have. But right now, working with Mike, regardless of your personal feelings about him, is how you can help us out the most."
Sky took a deep breath. "Yeah...you're right Heather."
Chris's voice played over the intercoms. "Attention contestants! You have half an hour left of practice before it's dress up time! Then, it's time to perform!"
Heather put a hand on Sky's shoulder. "Go kick some butt out there."
Sky nodded, and ran back to the stage.
(Confessional: Gwen)
"After what Owen said along with seeing two blow ups between teams in a row, I figured it was probably for the best if I store my rant towards Emma for later. I don't like her, but one of the things I learned from the other seasons is that in-fighting right before a challenge is just asking for trouble."
Eventually, it was time. Owen, Duncan, and Heather were standing in the stage, all in red ringleader outfits and wearing a black tophat. Duncan and Heather didn't exactly looked pleased with their new threads. Chris, Chef, and a mime were sitting in front row seats, various score panels next to them. Gwen, Trent, Noah, Leshawna, Alejandro, and B were also seated due since they weren't performing. Notably, Trent was sitting as far away from the mime as possible. The lights were heavilly dimmed before a spotlight shined onto the three team leaders.
"It's opening night!" Chris announced.
"With barely anyone here." Heather pointed out.
Chris ignored Heather's comment. "The three of us will give scores for each of the three performances. Highest combined score wins, lowest is sending someone home. Also, for the contestants in the audience, even if it's not your team, give an applause if an act does a good job. No harm in being a good sport."
"I barely do applause even if it's my own team." Noah said.
"Applause for good acts, or you're eliminated."
"Why?"
Chris didn't answer the question. "The order will be first act from the Shortcakes, first act from the Blades, first act from Team Heather, second act from the Shortcakes, and so on. So Owen, you're up first."
Duncan and Heather moved back as Owen enthusiastically stepped closer to the front. "Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! We're all stoked to be performing for you!"
"Speak for yourself." Duncan muttered.
"Now, let's start this challenge off with a bang! I'd like to introduce to you all, Brody, the human cannonball!"
Another spotlight flashed up, revealing Brody inside a human cannon. "'Sup dudes?"
Gwen, Noah and Trent clapped. Might as well support the team.
"The lighter has already been set. For the first act, the fearless Brody will be fired out of the cannon and hit a bullseye on this target!" Owen pointed to a large target board attached high up on one of the walls in the building. "Ready...set...fire!"
For several seconds, nothing happened. "Um...you did ready the cannon, right Brody?" Owen asked.
"Yeah. Maybe it just sets off later than we-" Before Brody finished speaking, he was fired out of the cannon at high speeds, and painfully hit the wall, missing the target by a good few feet. "thought..." Brody said with a few chipped teeth. He slowly slid off the wall and landed on the ground.
"I appreciate the pain and all, but..." Chris held up a score card. "Can't give you higher than a 5 on this one."
Chef and the mime both gave a '4'. "Amateur hour." Chef said while shaking his head. "Maybe you should have overseen practice more instead of catching some Z's tubby."
Owen slumped in disappointment and walked out of the spotlight. Duncan walked into the spotlight next. "Everyone, put your hands together for the tightrope walker, Bridgette." He notably had less enthusiasm than Owen did.
Gwen and Leshawna both clapped. "Whoo! Go Bridgette!" Leshawna cheered.
Noah took a glance at Gwen, but shrugged. Different team or not, it made sense that Gwen would want to support a friend. She was lucky that Emma wasn't in the seats to see it though.
A spotlight shined on a tightrope that connected two elevated platforms, Bridgette standing on one of them while carrying a long pole in her arms.
Bridgette took a breath, and began to walk across the tightrope. As she walked, she swung the pole she was holding in circles. Eventually, she made it across the other end of the platform before turning around, and walking to the other end.
"Girl's not bad at balancing, but..." Chef whispered.
"Yeah. Nothing really fancy about this performance." Chris replied.
Duncan looked at the tightrope act. He doubted that Bridgette's basic tightrope walking would net them a good score, but at least she wasn't falling.
As Bridgette was about to reach the end of the tightrope a second time, she began to wobble. "Bridgette!" Leshawna, Gwen, Trent, and Owen all yelled in concern. Bridgette was looking closer and closer to falling. Duncan mentally cursed Bridgette for convincing him to keep her on the act.
Suddenly, Bridgette smiled. She threw the pole she was holding up into the air, and let herself fall. She immediately grabbed the tightrope with her hand and puller herself upwards from the other end of it, putting herself back on the tightrope and catching the pole she threw.
All of the contestants watching were taken aback. Bridgette then steadily walked towards the end of the platform, and gave a bow.
Duncan was silent for a while before shaking it off. "Bridgette everybody!"
All the seated contestants all gave an enthusiastic applause. "Not bad Bridgette. Pretty standard at first, but great way to make things suspenseful." Chris complimented. "I'll give you a...7."
Chef gave a score of a 7 as well, while the mime gave an 8. Bridgette walked up to Duncan while holding the pole, smirking. "Well?"
Duncan rolled his eyes. "Alright. You're not as much of a klutz as I thought."
"Thanks Duncan." Bridgette turned around to head to the seats, accidentally hitting Duncan in the head with the pole she was holding.
Heather stepped up in front. "Introducing the knife thrower Harold." She quickly said.
(Confessional: Heather)
"Playing nice is one thing, but I'm not gonna be anybody's hype woman."
The camera cut to Harold, holding a knife as he eyed the target board several meters away from him. For a good 10 seconds or so, nothing happened. "HYA!" Harold suddenly yelled.
A knife suddenly was in the target board, a couple inches away from the bulls eye.
"Did you even see...?" Gwen whispered to Leshawna, who shook her head. B's eyes were wide in shock. He saw Harold practice, and Harold was nowhere near this good.
Harold reached into his pockets and pulled out six more knives, three in each hand. "Hya! Hya! Wha-cha!" Harold threw more and more knives at the target board, each one hitting close to the center.
With one knife left, Harold turned around, throwing the knife without even looking at the target board. It hit it dead in the center.
Everyone was silent, before giving a rowdy applause for Harold.
"WHOA! Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting the knives to even reach the board. You're full of surprises Harold." Chris complimented. He held out a card giving an '8'. Chef and the mime both gave Harold a 9.
"Boo-yah!" Harold said.
(Confessional: Harold)
Harold was repeatedly tossing a knife in the air while talking. "There's an old saying for times like this. Pressure makes diamonds." Harold missed the catch for one toss, causing the knife to fall and stab Harold in the foot. Harold's eyes widened in pain.
Owen walked back into the spotlight. "You're way behind Owen. Hopefully your second act will make up for it."
"Oh, you know it!" Owen exclaimed. Despite how low of a score his team currently had, he was pretty upbeat. "Coming up next is the girl who can see through your soul. The one who's shrouded with mystery. The one who's attunement to animals surpass even I, the Naturalist."
"Not a high bar." Noah said.
"Introuducing the animal tamer, Dawn!"
A spotlight shined on Dawn, wearing a blue gown. She was holding a conductor's wand. Various animals were walked up near her, and organized themselves. Multiple bears, seals, lions, monkeys, Fang the shark, and Sasquatchanakwa. Most of them were holding various instruments. Piccolos, flutes, drums, french horns, oboes, violins, cellos. However, Sasquatchanakwa wasn't carrying any instrument. The animals were all in tuxedos.
Dawn bowed. "Greetings everyone. For my performance, I will be conducting a small portion of a renowned symphony, Symphony Number 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Played of course by these majestic creatures."
"Oh, you even got all dressed up for the act. Bonus." Chris said.
Duncan walked up to Owen. "Where did she even get the fancy clothes?" He whispered. Owen shrugged.
Dawn gestured with her baton. "Alright everyone. And one, two-"
Multiple of the animals began to play on their instruments in D minor, albeit slightly off key. It started soft and quiet, but somewhat majestic. As time went on, more instruments became involved and the music got louder. "Whoa...she seriously DID teach them to play Beethoven." Gwen said.
"Yeah. Ode to Joy from the sounds of it." Trent said.
"Still, how come the sasquatch isn't playing anything?"
The music began to quiet down a bit before the sasquatch opened his mouth. "O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!"
Everyone watching, from the seated contestants, to the judges, to the ringmasters, widened their eyes, and dropped their jaws in shock as they listened to Sasquatchanakwa sing in German. "Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen, und freudenvollere!"
(Confessional: Heather)
"Winning the challenge might be harder than I thought."
"Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muß er wohnen." Sasquatchanakwa finished. The animals soon stopped playing on their instruments.
Dawn face the judges and audience and gave a bow.
Soon, everyone seated as well as the judges gave an enthusiastic applause. "I'll admit. Not what I was expecting to see from an animal show. But I'm pleasantly surprised." Chris said. He and Chef both gave the performance an 9 while the mime gave Dawn a 10.
"Whoooo-hoooo!" Owen cheered. "That was Dawn everybody! Let's give her and her critter friends another round of applause!"
Another round of applause came, Dawn bowing once again as she walked towards the seats to watch the rest of the acts. Brody quickly went up to her.
"How did you do that?!" He asked in amazement.
"Oh. Animals are very fast learners. Most of the ones have seen and listened to humans play instruments for years. Sasquatchanakwa was also a great teacher for them. Apparently, he already had a music career."
"I can confirm that." Trent said.
Duncan walked up in the spotlight once again. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think we all need a bit of a breather after that last act."
"Breather?" Chris asked. "You don't get to decide-"
"So while the next act gets themselves prepped up, here's something to keep you entertained." Duncan interrupted. "The Dingaling Brothers!"
Scott, dressed in an orange clown suit, clown hair, face paint, and wearing a red rubber nose, enthusiastically ran up to the stage. "Hey all! Scott here!" Scott hated this. He hated this with every fiber of his being. But he couldn't do badly intentionally or else the Blades would vote him off.
Fang heard Scott's voice as he was walking off with the other animals, and turned his head. There, he saw his nemesis.
DJ walked up on-stage with his crutches. He was dressed similarly, but his suit was purple instead of orange. "And I'm Devon Joseph!" He waved to the audience with both of his hands only to collapse on the ground seconds afterwards.
Alejandro realized what was going on. Duncan was acting as if this was an interlude to whatever act Heather would show next. This not only would lower expectations for Duncan's act considering what preceded it, but also would subconsciously lead the judges to have higher expectations for Team Heather's second act.
"Clever move delinquent." He whispered.
B turned to Alejandro, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"It's nothing important. Don't worry about it."
DJ slowly stood up with his crutches. "So, Scottie. What're we gonna do?"
"We're gonna-" Scott never got to finish that sentence. He was tackled to the ground by Fang, who proceeded to beat and maul him. "AUGH! NO! STOP IT! PLEASE STOP IT! GYAAAHHH! WAGHHHHH!"
"Scott!" DJ raised up one of his crutches. "I got ya man!" DJ tried to swing it at Fang, but missed, hitting Scott square in the face. "Oops." Fang turned to DJ and glared at him. DJ chuckled nervously. "You wouldn't hit a guy in crutches, would you?" The mutated shark simply punched DJ in the face.
Chris and Chef were laughing it up. Alejandro, Noah, Duncan, and Heather were also pretty amused.
Fang turned around and saw that the injured Scott was trying to crawl away. Fang let out a roar and started punching Scott repeatedly before he was hit in the head by one of DJ's crutches, passing out soon after.
DJ was panting, with a black eye. "Well, I thought I had a FISHY feeling about today!"
Chris and Chef's laughter ceased immediately.
Duncan knew that it was time to quit while they were ahead. "The Dingaling Brothers everybody!" Duncan announced. DJ collapsed onto the floor.
"Pain is always a good thing to see." Chris said as he gave a 9.
"Same here. And the other clown shown guts." Chef gave a 10.
The mime, who was mostly horrified, gave a score of 5.
(Confessional: DJ)
"The plan was originally just gonna be some pie throwing and seltzer water spraying. But, things worked out in the end I guess."
(Confessional: Scott)
Scott was dazed, had a black eye, and had scratches all over him. His uniform was also looking pretty torn. "My favorite color is seven..."
The camera cut to Sierra riding in circles on her unicycle while playing a trumpet. She occasionally made short jumps off her unicycle before continuing to pedal. Soon, she stopped cycling and posed on her unicycle.
Chris, Chef, and the mime all looked at each other, shrugged, and each gave Sierra a 7. "Pretty impressive, though nothing groundbreaking." Chris said.
Sierra nodded, and pedaled her way to the audience seats. Heather walked up on stage. "And that was Sierra." She then immediately walked off.
"We're down to the final acts for each of the teams. The Strawberry Shortcakes currently have 41 points. The Killer Blades have 46 points. And Team Heather is in the lead with 47."
Owen walked up in the spotlight. "Everyone. Before I show our final act, I want to thank you guys for coming here. Everyone on my team gave it their all, and I bet that's the case with the other two teams too."
"He's really playing up the showmanship." Gwen observed.
"You should see how he gets whenever he comes to Game Night." Noah said.
Backstage, Emma and Kitty were about to walk into position. "Hey, wait up."
They turned around and saw Sky walk up to them. "Oh! Sky, right?" Kitty asked.
Sky turned to Emma. "I really think that you should stop being so hard on Owen."
Emma frowned. "Why do you care? You're not even on our team."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's ok to constantly crush someone with pressure. Especially when he's your leader."
Emma crossed her arms. "I'd also say that it's not ok to constantly yell at your partner for having talent, but you don't see me poking into your team's business."
"Excuse me?!" Sky asked, offended.
"Ok, tiem out." Kitty said. Kitty knew that getting into a heated argument right before performing was the last thing that they should do. "Let's talk about this AFTER the challenge."
Emma and Sky gave quick glares at each other before Emma walked onto the stage with Kitty.
"Our final act is also the most dangerous one. Two sisters will be dancing the tango with fire itself. Everybody, put your hands together for our fire dancers! Emma and Kitty!"
A spotlight shined on Emma and Kitty, the former holding her long baton, the latter holding her two shorter ones. Owen walked up to the two and got out a lighter. He lit both of the ends, the fire enveloping the sides of each baton, before walking out of the spotlight. Just like in practice, the sisters danced skillfully, but in notably different manners. Kitty danced energetically, spinning her flaming batons while running around the stage and striking various poses. Emma danced in slow, serene movements, twirling and thrusting the baton like a bo staff.
"Huh. Those two got some moves." Leshawna noted.
"Did you know that they could fire dance?" Gwen asked Noah. Noah didn't respond. He was simply staring at Emma in a love-struck daze.
As Emma was dancing, her movements started to slow down rather than speed up. Only Kitty and Owen took notice of this since they were with her at practice. However, neither commented on it.
(Confessional: Emma)
"I was starting to let what Gwen and Sky said to me get in my head. I tried to push those thoughts out since letting myself get distracted by emotions would only throw off my game. Easier said than done though. Luckilly, someone helped give me a push."
Owen silently gave Emma a thumbs up. Emma took notice of this and smiled. She then started to speed up her motions, just like how she did in practice. Kitty smiled when she saw that Emma was focused again, and went back to her movements.
Eventually, Emma and Kitty turned to each other, and nodded. They tossed their flaming batons in the air, each sister going to grab the one thrown by the other. Soon, Emma had the two smaller batons while Kitty had the longer one, impressing the audience. Their speed didn't change. Kitty was still dancing energetically, while Emma was more stationary. However, with the different batons, the movements themselves were much more different. Kitty repeatedly jumped in the air, doing various spins with her flaming baton. Meanwhile, Emma juggled the two smaller batons. Eventually, Kitty put the baton on the ground and vaulted off it, flipping in the air. At the same time, Emma eventually flipped into the air and caught the two smaller batons.
There was a pause before another loud applause came form the audience and judges. "That was spectacular fire dancing there girls." Chris said. "Dangerous, full of variety, and a lot of flair. Your act gets a 10 from me." Chef and the mime nodded, and both gave 10's as well. "This makes the first perfect score of the challenge!" Chris declared.
"Alright!" Kitty exclaimed. She and Emma high-fived.
"Whoooo-hooooo!" Owen ran up to the two sisters and gave them both a slightly painful hug. "Give it up to Emma and Kitty!" Kitty got out her phone and took a selfie of the three of them.
Another round of applause came before Owen put the two down. "That was the last performance from us Shortcakes for the night! We hope you enjoyed the show!" Owen gave a bow, Kitty doing so as well. Emma rolled her eyes before joining in, though she hid a smile.
(Confessional: Alejandro)
"Well...I guess the plan to sow discord within the Shortcakes didn't work out this challenge. No matter. There's always the future."
The camera cut to Zoey doing various spins and flips while hanging from one of three aerial hoops. She that started to leap towards another hoop, swinging off of it when she grabbed it, and then leaping towards the third one soon after.
"It's not bad, but it's kinda plain so far." Chris said to Chef, who nodded in agreement.
Eventually, Zoey seemingly let herself fall off the hoop. However, Zoey grabbed the bottom of the hoop at the last second, keeping her grip. She pulled herself up to the top of the hoop and then leapt towards another one, only to shoot just a bit too much to the left. Once again, she was about to fall. Just like before however, before she fell, she grabbed onto the bottom of the hoop at the last second. This time by wrapping one of her legs around it. She then repeatedly spun around while hanging from the hoop with just her legs, and continued to leap off and grab onto aerial hoops like before, but using her legs to grab on instead of her hands.
"Spicing things up a bit. Not bad." Chris said.
Once again, Zoey swung herself to the top of the hoop. She was looking pretty tired. She stood on top of the hoop and gave a bow, to the applause of the audience.
"Not bad, but didn't exactly blow my socks off. I'm gonna give you a-" Chris began to say.
Suddenly Zoey closed her eyes and lost her balance. She fell off the hoop.
Many of the audience gasped in worry. "Zoey!" Gwen yelled in concern.
Suddenly, Zoey's eyes shot open, Zoey smirking. She grabbed the bottom of the hoop once again. Not with her hands or legs, but with her chin and neck, to the shock of the audience and judges. She did various flips on the hoop while holding onto it with her chin. She then slowly descended while spinning the hoop before jumping off it and landing onto the ground.
The audience was silent for a while before bursting into applause. Zoey gave a bow as Duncan walked up to her. "And that was the red lemur, Zoey!"
"Red lemur?" Zoey whispered.
"Shut up. I'm not big on this showman act." Duncan whispered back while maintaining a forced smile.
"It started off pretty vanilla, but you definitely spiced things up as time went on. The times you faked nearly falling to your death was a good touch, though Bridgette doing the same thing in her act kinda softens it's impact. I'll give you a...7." Chris said as he held out the scorecard.
"The girl gets a 9 from me. Been a while since I've seen movements like that." Chef said. The mime gave a 10.
"That puts your total score to 72!" Chris announced.
"Alright!" Duncan and Zoey cheered and high-fived each other. The rest of the Blades, minus Scott who was still dazed from his beating, cheered as well. The Shortcakes were a bit on edge. The Blades were ahead of them, so they had to pray that Team Heather's final act doesn't net them many points.
Mike and Sky began to get up the trapeze platform. "We can't get careless. Zoey's gonna be tough to beat." Mike whispered to her while climbing.
"You want to say that I can't get careless, don't you?" Sky asked bitterly.
Mike frowned in annoyance. "Look, this is seriously-"
"I know. I know. Not the time. Sorry."
Duncan and Zoey left, Heather now walking into the spotlight. She had more enthusiasm than usual, likely because the challenge was finally almost over. "Well, we saved our best act for last. The gymnasts Mike and Sky are going to be doing a trapeze act!"
A spotlight shined on Mike and Sky, who were now on top of one of the platforms.
Everyone watched in anticipation, especially the Shortcakes and Team Heather. This last act would decide which team would be voting a teammate off.
Mike leapt towards the bar, wrapped his legs around it, and swung around. Sky jumped, grabbed onto Mike's hands , and then jumped off from them to grab the other bar. Mike then leapt off from the bar he was hanging from to grab onto Sky's legs and then swung off of them, flipping in the air before landing on the other platform. Sky then swung off the trapeze bar she was hanging onto and joined Mike on the platform.
'She's not trying so hard to compete with Mike now.' Heather noted.
This time, Sky leapt towards the bar, hanging onto it with her hands. Mike jumped to grab onto her legs and swung off them, flipping in the air before hanging onto the other trapeze bar with his legs. Sky swung off the bar she was holding onto and grabbed Mike's hands before swinging off them to land on the other platform. Mike then swung off the bar and landed on the platform as well.
"Impressive, but a bit predictable so far." Chris whispered.
Once again, Mike leapt from the platform and grabbed onto the trapeze bar. He swung for a bit before Sky leapt towards the trapeze bar as well. Rather than grabbing onto Mike's legs however, Mike let go just as Sky was about to reach the trapeze bar, briefly falling. Sky grabbed onto the trapeze bar and Mike grabbed onto her legs before he hit the groumd.
"Huh. Spoke too soon."
Sky swung on the trapeze bar a few times, Mike letting go and flipping into the air before grabbing onto the second trapeze bar with his legs. Sky swung off her trapeze bar and grabbed onto Mike's hands. Once again, Sky swung off them, this time soaring high up into the air, doing multiple flips as she did so. And just like before, Mike soon let go of his trapeze bar and began to fall. Immediately afterwards, Sky grabbed onto the trapeze bar, and Mike grabbed onto her legs before he hit the ground.
(Confessional: Sky)
"It's frustrating to be notably behind somebody as a gymnast, especially in this case when Mike himself didn't work for it. But it's not right to drag down the whole team because of that."
The camera cut to Mike and Sky swinging from two different trapeze bars. "Ready?" Mike asked.
"Ready." Sky answered.
The two of them jumped off the trapeze bars and swung towards each other. The two of them grabbed hands in mid-air before spinning as they fell. Mike grabbed onto a trapeze bar with his legs and swung the two of them onto a trapeze platform.
Heather walked up in the spotlight. "And that was our final act! Everyone give a round of applause to Mike and Sky!" Mike and Sky both gave a bow to the applause of the audience and judges.
"Impressive, thrilling, and a surprising amount of variety. You guys get a 9 from me." Chris said. Chef and the Mime also gave 9's.
Harold stood up. "That puts Team Heather's total score at 74. We win!" All of Team Heather began to cheer.
The Strawberry Shortcakes were predictably saddened. They got last place. Brody figured that he would be getting the boot considering how he scored the lowest.
"Hold your horses there contestants. We haven't tallied the total scores yet." Chris said.
"Que?" Alejandro asked.
"But all team did three acts." Sky pointed out.
"Yeah. You did. But now we have to score the ringleaders." Chef said.
"WHAT?" Owen, Duncan, and Heather all reacted.
"That's right. We'll be judging and scoring you guys both on how you managed your team and your showmanship." Chris said. "And I gotta say Owen. You were off to a pretty rough start. You slept through half of practice, and when you did wake up, only looked at how Emma and Kitty were practicing. Which led to Brody's unfortunate cannon issues." Owen slumped in disappointment.
"Lighten up tubby. There's positives for you too." Chef said. "You were compassionate with lawyer girl's screw ups. You took the initiative to stop a fight between your team mates."
"And of course, you were the only one of the leaders to give it their all as a presenter." Chris said. "You din't have the charisma of yours truly, but come on, who does?" Chef and the mime rolled their eyes. "Anyway Owen, you get a 7." Chris said.
"6 from me." Chef said. The mime gave a 7.
Brody was doing the math on his fingers. "That brings our score up to 91!" He exclaimed.
Chris turned to Duncan. "Duncan. Still trying to hide how soft you are, huh?"
"What are you talking about McLean?" Duncan asked.
"You knew about DJ and Bridgette's weaknessses and tried to put them out of danger. But despite that, you decided to let them perform, thinking about their perspective."
"But don't give yourself too much credit, mohawk." Chef said. "You were the only team leader to deliverately stir up conflict, repeatedly getting in surfer girl's grill about her screw-ups. Now, don't get me wrong. Sometimes a leader needs to be firm with a subordinate, so good on you for that. But trying to get Leshawna to do the act instead when you had less than an hour of practice left? Boy, that's asking for disaster."
"Your showmanship was also...forced. But hey, at least you tried. I'll give you a...5." Chris said.
"4 from me." Chef said. The mime gave a 6.
"That means we have 87 points." Bridgette said. "We're behind the Shortcakes now."
"And now Heather. You did a surprisingly good job sorting out the little tiff between Sky and Mike." Chef said.
"But that's where our positives end. You didn't watch over any practices, you didn't give any advice for what to do, and you barely even tried when you were introducing most of the acts." Chris added. "You get a 3 from me."
"I'm giving you a 5." Chef said. The mime gave a 4.
"Wait a minute...that means..." Harold began to say.
"Yup. Team Heather's total score comes up to 86. Lower than the Blades' and Shortcakes' score. Shortcakes, enjoy your time on the yacht. While still docked of course. We aren't leaving Paris yet after all."
"WHOOOO-HOOOOO!" Owen exclaimed. All of the Shortcakes cheered as well.
"Hey, Owen?" Emma asked.
Owen turned to Emma, slightly afraid. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for taking initative as a leader."
Owen took a sigh of relief and gave Emma a thumbs up.
"Team Heather, I'll see you at elimination." Chris said.
The teams began to leave the venue. Heather walked up to Sky. "Hey, Sky. Wait up."
"Oh. What is it Heather?" Sky asked.
"It's about the vote-"
"Don't worry. I won't vote for you. If it weren't for you, I'd probably have messed up the act with Mike."
Heather smiled. "So, I'm thinking that the two of us together try to vote off Alejandro. He'll definitely use my score to try and convince the team to vote me off."
Sky nodded. "It would be a good move to get rid of Alejandro sooner rather than later considering how he plans on betraying you. But still, that's only two votes against him. Well, three counting your leader vote."
"Don't worry. I can at least make it be a tie."
"Really?"
Heather nodded. "But only if you're comfortable with it. Sierra is crazy about getting more info from you. So if you talk her into voting with us in exchange for an interview. we'll have half the votes right here."
Sky thought it over. "I mean...I guess it can work but..."
"I understand if you're not comfortable with it." Heather said. She then wrapped her arms around Sky, to her shock. "I know we didn't know each other very long, but...it was great to know you."
Sky didn't know what to say. Of all people, Heather was the first person on her team to befriend her. "I'll...I'll do it." Sky said.
Heather broke the hug and looked at Sky in shock. "Seriously?"
Sky nodded. "Getting you in a tiebreaker with Alejandro is your best bet at getting him eliminated. I'll help you if I can."
"Sky...thank you." Heather said.
(Confessional: Heather)
Heather smirked at the camera. "Hook. Line. And sinker."
The camera cut to Team Heather all sitting on stools on the deck of their cabin cruiser. "Sailors. I have on this plate 6 pieces of shrimp. When there's only 7 of you. The contestant who does not get a shrimp will be forced to board the Boat of Losers and leave the competition. For good. Any questions?"
Sierra raised her hand. "What's with all the security for the S.S McLean?" She pointed to the dock. In front of the yacht were several security guards.
"Since we're actually docked for a night, I figured we might as well keep the yacht protected." Chris answered.
"Does this have anything to do with the letter you got this challenge?" Harold asked.
"Not really. Anyway, we're going off subject." Chris picked up a piece of shrimp. "Beverly, you're safe." Chris tossed a piece of shrimp at B, who caught it. "Harold, Sierra. You two are safe as well."
He tossed the two pieces of shrimp at the contestants. Harold missed the catch, and the shrimp fell into the ocean. "Gosh!" Harold yelled.
"...Mike."
Chris tossed the piece of shrimp at Mike who caught it. "You can have mine." Mike held the piece of shrimp to Harold.
"Thanks." Harold said, taking the shrimp and eating it.
"Two pieces of shrimp. Three contestants. One of you is going home." None of the three looked particularly worried.
"The next contestant who's safe is...
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Heather caught the piece of shrimp. Alejandro and Mike were both pretty shocked. Sky smiled. Heather must have convinced Harold or B to vote with them.
"The final piece of shrimp is going to...
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Alejandro."
"What?!" Sky asked in shock.
Alejandro sighed in relief as he caught his shrimp.
"Sorry Sky. You're eliminated." Chris said. Chef drove by the cabin cruiser in the Boat of Losers.
"But me, Sieera, and Heather voted for Alejandro! Even if everyone else voted for me, it would be a tie!" Sky pointed out.
"Umm...Heather convinced B and I to vote for you." Harold said.
Sky widened her eyes in shock and turned to Heather. "Wait...you seriously...?"
Heather shrugged. "Sorry Sky. Betting it all on a tiebreaker challenge would be too risky. And I didn't really have any justification to get them to vote off Alejandro. So I told them that anything you could do, Mike could do better."
"Yeah. Alejandro's evil, but he's too useful to the team right now." Harold said. "No offense Sky."
Sierra raised an eyebrow. "Wait, then why did you get me and Sky to vote for Alejandro?" Harold and B were surprised at this.
"To divert as many possible votes away from her as possible." Alejandro said. "Well played Heather. "
Sky clenched her fists. "I...I thought I could count on you!"
"Look, I wanted to keep you around for longer. But because of Chris, I was in a bad situation where I needed a scapegoat. You were the only one I could get." The odd thing was that Heather didn't sound particularly condescending when saying this. Talking about betrayal and manipulation just came natural to her.
Sky fought back tears. She couldn't believe how badly Heather played her. But more than that. She couldn't believe she viewed Heather as a friend. Still, she wasn't going to throw a tantrum over it. "Fine. I guess that's what happens when I'm not careful." Sky walked off the cabin cruiser and got onto the Boat of Losers. Chef then drove off.
"And there goes our only representation from Pahkitew Island...eh. Not like many will care." Chris said. "Is Heather all out of people to be eliminated in her place? Will the building tension within each of the teams explode? And who's getting voted off next? Find out next time on Total! Drama! Voyage!"
Votes:
Sky (4): Heather (leader vote), Harold, B
Alejandro (2): Sierra, Sky
Heather (2): Alejandro, Mike
Strawberry Shortcakes: Owen, Noah, Gwen, Trent, Dawn, Emma, Kitty, Brody
Killer Blades: Duncan, Zoey, Bridgette, DJ, Leshawna, Scott
Team Heather: Heather, B, Harold, Alejandro, Sierra, Mike
Rankings
24th: Justin
23rd: Cody
22nd: Geoff
21st: Sky
Whoo. Finally done. I have a feeling that a lot of people weren't expecting Sky to be eliminated so soon. However, she was never meant to go very far. Her personal insecurities about being inferior to Mike, and being secluded from the other contestants ultimately made her an easy target for Heather. I will say though that it feels kinda weird to have the only Pahkitew Island contestant eliminated already, lol.
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Have a great day everybody!