Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait. I had an extremely busy end to the summer and fall. But I recently found myself with an abundance of free time so this will hopefully start getting semi-consistent updates again!
This chapter focuses more on one team this time, so bear with me. Everything will balance out eventually! Last team was pretty Oddball heavy, so it's someone else's turn!
Also, shoutout to StayOuttaMyShed because I'm totally borrowing heavily from the challenge from an RP he did earlier this summer. I had all the pre-merge challenges planned out but I had one hole to fill and it was this challenge. I struggled with what I wanted to do for a while but I finally decided to just do this because I thought it would be fun.
And here's a little A/N written about two weeks after the paragraph above this one. The challenge was not super fun, and it's kinda rushed. Sorry! This chapter is much shorter than usual because I'm just not vibing with the challenge, and rather than try and force through it and take more time for the sake of chapter length I'm just gonna breeze through it a bit so we can get to juicy bits, which all take place after the challenge.
Anyways, let's crack on with the story. Here we go!
"Why-hy-hyyyyyyyyyy," Owen sobbed, drenching his pillow in yet another onslaught of tears.
"Dude, you've been sobbing all night!" Lightning complained. The big jock had dark circles under his eyes as he lifted his head off his own pillow to glare at the distressed Oddball. "She's gone! Get over it! You didn't hear Lightning sobbing and whining when Shorty got voted off!"
"Seriously, man, just put a sock in it!" The camera panned out to show Duncan rubbing at his eyes. All the other boys looked exhausted, with heavy bags under their eyes. The only one who was relatively unbothered by the lack of sleep was Shawn, though he looked a little ashamed.
"I'm s-sorry," Owen blubbered, wiping at his eyes. "I'm trying to keep it together…but we had just gotten back together!"
"Look, man…" Beardo offered, a little awkward, "she's not gone forever, you'll hook up again after the show, right?"
Owen hiccuped, and wiped his eyes again. "But it's just so…sad!"
"Guys," Noah spoke up, "Let's just let him grieve," he began to usher the boys out, and missed the grateful look Owen shot him.
Once the other boys filed outside the trailer, they slumped around the picnic tables, yawning and moaning. The air was damp and grey, and it looked like the weather would be dreary and spooky all day.
"Alright," Duncan grunted, thumping his face down onto the picnic table, "wake me up when it's breakfast time."
"Lightning seconds that!" The big jock agreed, resting his elbow on the rough wood of the table and leaning his chin into his palm. "He needs some shut-eye so he can sha-nail this challenge!"
Noah, on the other hand, stood up and began to stretch. "I'm gonna go see if Chef will serve us breakfast early. I'm just going to feel awful if I only sleep for a couple of hours."
"Me too," Beardo agreed. "Maybe he'll give us some coffee!" The big lug stood up and began to follow Noah towards the Mess Hall.
A third boy got up to follow them, jogging to catch up to Beardo and then matching pace with him. "Pfft, that's some wishful thinking there, dude," Shawn told his fellow Pahkitew Islander.
"You never know," Beardo shrugged, his tone optimistic, "the meals here ain't been half bad so far."
"They haven't been half good either," Noah quipped.
"You're just too soft, Noah," Shawn chided the young man as they approached the Mess Hall.
"Yes yes, I've already heard all about how you were forced to scavenge for your own food on your season," Noah interrupted dully, "believe me, I'm glad we're not doing that, but it doesn't mean Chef's Midwestern Diner cuisine is any better."
"Sounds to me like you're just a sissy," Shawn retorted, clearly annoyed with being interrupted.
"Ooooooh, good one."
(Confessional: Shawn.)
"I don't really like Noah," Shawn admits, "he's pretty rude, and he put my buddy Owen through the ringer when he voted Izzy off of Team Alpha." He's quiet for a moment…"huh, though I guess I voted Izzy off too." He looks right at the camera, "awkward…"
(End Confessional: Shawn.)
"Forty seven," Jo grunted, pushing herself up and clapping her hands together. "Forty-eight! Forty-nine! Fifty!" She finished her final clap pushup and jumped to her feet, wiping sweat from her brow.
The rude woman was currently in the woods, and took in a deep breath of the damp morning air. "Whoo! Nothing like an early-morning workout!" She said aloud. She began to walk back towards camp, glaring at any birds that dared chirp happily. As she approached the rickety buildings, she heard a major rustle in a tree above her, and quickly looked up. She saw Jasmine reclining on a branch, popping some berries into her mouth, unaware of Jo's presence.
"Hey!" Jo barked up the tree, making Jasmine jump, "what are you doing up there?"
Jasmine repositioned herself on the branch so she could look down at the other girl. "What does is it look like I'm doing? I'm relaxing!"
Jo looked around, suspicious eyes peeled for anyone nearby. When she deemed the coast clear, she looked back up into the tree. "Just get down here, will ya? I actually need to talk to you about something."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. It was no big secret that Jo and Jasmine were not very fond of each other, but Jasmine still slipped down from the tree, shaking the ground a bit as her big feet smashed into the earth. "What's up?" Jasmine asked coldly.
Unfazed by her frosty tone, Jo walked up close to Jasmine and dropped her tone. "Look, you don't like me, and I don't like you, but we have a common problem."
Jasmine crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, peering down skeptically at Jo. "Oh? And what might that be?"
"The fact that out of eight people eliminated so far, only one has been from the First Generation." Jo whispered, her eyes narrowed. "It's no secret that the merge is probably soon, with almost half of us gone. What's to say that all those First Generation Campers won't stick together when the merge hits, and pick off the rest of us!"
Surprise flickered across the face of Jasmine, though she quickly masked the alarm with her normal calm expression. "Well, that's certainly a possibility, I guess…but what do you suggest we do about it?"
"I dunno yet," Jo said suspiciously, "I just want some people to be aware of this. If you guys lose again, Owen's gone, right?"
Jasmine nodded. "Yeah. He's a good chap, don't get me wrong…but I mean we don't have any other options."
"I getcha, I getcha…" Jo rubbed her chin. "I thought at first that I would be toast if Team Alpha were to lose again…but if I can get in Brightning's ear with this…maybe we can send Noah's ass home."
"Err, right. Fine with me, mate. But I have to ask, are you proposing a merge alliance if we all make it there?"
Jo tapped her chin. "It could work…and I don't think many people would suspect it since we've been yapping at each other like rabid chihuahuas all season." A sadistic grin morphed her mouth, "I'd say we should consider it. You, me, Lightning and Shawn could do a doozy on the rest of these nerds."
"Add Owen too, if we make it to the merge unscathed," Jasmine said. "That'd probably be the majority right there." An excited grin played at her lips too.
Jo slapped her hands together in glee. "All right, just try not to get eliminated!"
"Right back atcha," Jasmine shot back.
(Confessional: Jo.)
"Alright, potential merge alliance secured!" Jo said triumphantly, "Now I just have to make sure I actually make the merge! Fortunately, Lightning and Noah aren't as useless in challenges as I initially feared. There's probably only three or four more challenges until the merge, so we just have to not lose!"
(End Confessional: Jo.)
"Wow, it's pretty quiet in here now that Izzy's gone," Bridgette lamented, looking around the rather empty girls trailer.
It was true. With Jasmine and Jo out in the woods and Izzy somewhere at the Playa, that left just Gwen and the surfer in the trailer.
Gwen, who was just finishing dressing herself for the day, looked around the trailer too. "Fine by me," she grumbled, her tone and expression stormy.
Bridgette took note of this and sighed, rubbing at her cheek with a palm. "Are you still upset, Gwen?"
"Of course I'm still upset," Gwen responded curtly, "one of the people I was closest to now thinks I betrayed her and probably hates me. And the person responsible has a death-grip on my game until the merge hits!"
"I know," Bridgette said patiently, "but all hope isn't lost, right? If we lose again before them merge, we'll just cut Beardo. I doubt we'll lose again, the merge has to be soon."
Gwen shot her a depressed look. "Yeah, but what's to say Duncan wants to keep you over Beardo? He has the votes."
Bridgette paused at that. "Uhh…oh. I see what you mean."
Gwen just sighed miserably and walked out of the trailer, leaving Bridgette looking very nervous.
(Confessional: Bridgette.)
"What if Gwen is right?" Bridgette asks the camera, biting her lip in worry. "Duncan and I aren't exactly friends, and if he was willing to keep Beardo over Sammy, he probably will do the same when it comes to me." She gulps, "we just have to win every challenge until the merge, I guess. Darnit, I thought I would be safe when I got moved onto this team!"
(End Confessional: Bridgette.)
The camera cut to Duncan and Lightning, who were still passed out over one of the picnic tables outside. The lightness of the sky showed that some hours had passed since their initial awakening, but the sky was still gloomy and grey.
The door to the trailer opened, and a sad looking Owen emerged. He was about to heave a hefty sigh, but saw the two sleeping boys at the picnic table and covered his mouth. He quietly crept past them, and headed towards the Mess Hall. Once he arrived, he entered to see just Beardo, Noah, Shawn and Jo. Jo and Noah were sitting at the Alpha table in steely silence. Beardo shot his fellow fatty a wave, which Owen returned before plopping himself next to Shawn at the Oddball table.
"Hey, bud," Shawn greeted, giving Owen a sympathetic look. "How ya holding up?"
Owen finally released the sigh he had pent up. "I'm fine, I guess…I just really miss her."
"I know you do," Shawn told him kindly, "I was destroyed when Jasmine got eliminated back on Pahkitew Island…though I guess I was kinda relieved, too…not having to split the prize money with her and all…" he chuckled awkwardly, then quickly grew serious. "Uh, anyways, don't worry about it too much man. I know Izzy is rooting for you and wants you to keep fighting. I know you, me and Jazz can kick butt all the way to the merge, then dominate from there!"
"Yeah!" Owen looked a little cheered by Shawn's words. "We can still totally kick butt!"
"Now that's what I like to hear, mate!" Came a new voice from behind them. The two turned to see a smiling Jasmine looking down at the two. "Yesterday was just a hiccup. It was the first challenge we'd lost since the first day, and it's gonna be the last one, too!" She put an ebony fist down to them. "Go Team Oddball!"
Shawn and Owen happily added their own pasty hands to the knuckle-circle. "Go Team Oddball!" They echoed.
Meanwhile, Jo and Noah were both looking at the Oddball table with contempt.
"Yuck," Jo said, taking a sip of water from a ceramic mug, "look at all that froo-froo ga-ga team spirit."
"It's enough to make me puke," Noah agreed.
Jo smirked. "Yeah, we've been getting on just fine with thinly-veiled animosity."
Noah snorted, amused. "Thinly-veiled? That's pretty generous."
"Whatever," Jo waved him off, "but we're on a hot streak right now, so let's keep it up."
"I know, it would suck for you to go home so close to the merge if we lose again." Noah told her baldly, enjoying the way Jo's eyes narrowed at him.
"If I'm the one to go home," Jo corrected, her tone dangerously calm.
Noah just chuckled.
(Confessional: Noah.)
"Am I scared of Jo convincing Lightning to dump me should we lose another challenge?" Noah asks the camera rhetorically. He chuckles mirthlessly. "About as scared as I am about pissing off the Easter Bunny."
(End Confessional: Noah.)
The camera cut to Chris standing in front of the girls trailer. He stared into the camera, an evil smirk preying upon his lips. "Aww, look what we have here…" he said in a hushed voice.
The camera panned over to Lightning and Duncan, still sleeping outside on the picnic table. It was the normal wake-up time now, and Chris was ready to have some fun with the sleeping men.
"Should I make one of them pee themselves? That would be pretty hilarious." Chris whispered to himself. He pulled a mug of warm water out from behind his back and crept towards the table. "I think I'll give Harold some karmic justice by returning the favor many years later." He zoned in on Duncan.
The punk was snoring loudly, but the moment Chris got within five feet of him he said, "Do it and you're a dead man, McLean."
Chris froze, alarmed. He had been quite sure the punk was asleep, and quickly took a step back. When Duncan didn't do anything else after a couple seconds and continued to snore, Chris shook off his surprise and crept towards him once again.
The same thing happened, with a still snoring Duncan telling Chris to get lost, and now Chris was starting to get annoyed.
"Dude," the host whispered heatedly, "if you're awake just get up. Cut the crap." However, he received no response from Duncan. Tempted now to just dump the water on Duncan, Chris reached out to grab the punks hand from under his sleeping head.
"Last chance, if you take one more step I'm going to -/bleep bleep bleep/-" what came out of Duncan's mouth was so horrific, graphic and gruesome that it had to be edited completely out. The raw footage was permanently destroyed, and an unparalleled look of pure horror washed over Chris's face. The mug slipped from his grasp and shattered on the cold dirt, which woke the two boys. When Duncan jerked awake, Chris let out a silent scream, Beth-style, and sprinted away. He was out of sight before the two boys were fully awake.
"What the heck was that sha-noise?!" Lightning exclaimed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Duncan noticed the shattered ceramic on the ground, but seemed too tired to care. "Don't know," he yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Don't care. Let's see if food's up."
(Confessional: Duncan.)
A groggy Duncan has his arms crossed, looking up at the cieling of the Confessional. "I had the weirdest dream that I was guarding a bunch of cookies from an army of lizard men that had Chris's face. For whatever reason, I knew I had to do whatever it took to keep those cookies safe." He shakes his head. "This places really messes with your brain."
(End Confessional: Duncan.)
The campers were all finishing up some food in the Mess Hall when, like many days before, Chris walked into the Mess Hall, his signature smile lighting up his aging face.
"Good morning, campers," the host greeted, having fully recovered from his Duncan-scare, "I hope you're ready for today's challenge!"
The remaining ten campers voiced their agreement with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"Good!" Chris grinned, "now, if you'll follow me to the site of your next challenge, that would be fine and dandy!"
Chairs scraped wood as ten people stood up to follow Chris out the door.
"This better not be another re-hash challenge," Gwen said as they followed Chris out into the gloomy air.
"Nah it won't be," Bridgette guessed, "no way they're that lazy."
"We are in fact not that lazy," Chris confirmed, looking a little annoyed at Gwen's accusation. "This is a purely original challenge, thank you very much!"
"Pfft, he sure is defensive," Lightning muttered to Noah, who smirked and nodded.
After a few more minutes of traipsing though the woods, they arrived at the site of the challenge.
Beardo let out a long, low whistle as he took in what he was seeing. "Dayum."
The challenge site looked quite complicated. There were three platforms built high in the air: One purple, one gold, and one orange. A ladder led up to each platform. There was a balance beam that connected the platform to another platform. On the far side of the platform was an enormous pile of junk. Each platform had its own identical junk pile.
"What the heck is this, mate?" Jasmine asked, looking up at the platforms in awe. "Those suckers have to be at least thirty feet in the air!"
"Thirty-five, to be exact," Chris corrected smugly. "Here's how the challenge works . You will all climb the ladders and stand up on your corresponding platform. Your objective? Create something cool and artistic with the junk. Doesn't sound too hard, right?"
"Not too hard at all!" Bridgette said optimistically.
"Well, it is hard!" Chris laughed, "Because you have to follow a very specific set of rules. 1: You can only have one person on the junk side at a time. That means that everyone but one person must stay on the initial platform while one person crosses over, gathers supplies, and brings them back. Only when that person returns to the initial platform may someone else head over. Is that clear?"
Everyone voiced their understanding.
"Good. You will all be harnessed in to avoid serious injury from plummeting thirty-five feet. However, you're still gonna really want to avoid falling on the balance beam because if you do fall, you're eliminated from the challenge and cannot gather any more supplies or assist in the building of your creation."
Shawn gasped. "Damn, that's harsh."
"It is," Chris agreed. "You'll all have two hours to create the coolest thing you can. It can be whatever you want: A sculpture, a piece of equipment, whatever your heart desires. Your junk piles all are identical." He winked at the camera, "Gotta love them ACME Junkpiles!" Turning back to the campers, he clapped his hands. "Alright you guys, get a-climbing!"
(Confessional: Jo.)
"Huh, I actually feel confident about this challenge!" Jo smirks, "Noah may be a weakling, but the guy can cross a balance beam. Plus, his brains might help us assemble something cool. And Lightning could probably bring the whole junk pile across in one go." She punches her palm. "We might just have this one in the bag."
(End Confessional: Jo.)
(Confessional: Beardo.)
Beardo gulps, "Balance and I ain't exactly friends…"
(End Confessional: Beardo.)
"Oh, and one more thing," Chris added as the campers climbed their ladders. "Once you cross the balance beam, everyone else on your team must cross before you can go again. Can't have the fatties and the weaklings getting a free pass on this challenge."
"Hey!" Owen said, offended, "who're you calling fat?!"
"You, mate," Jasmine said lightly. The tall girl had reached the top of the platform, and reached down to yank Owen up onto it.
"I'm only 269 pounds," Owen protested, "that's like 25 pounds less than I did five years ago!"
"Still a fatty!" Lightning taunted from the Alpha platform. He yelped when he was elbowed in the ribs by Noah, who shot him an annoyed look. "What? He is!"
"Doesn't mean you can be a jerk about it," Noah told him pointedly, "now focus on the challenge."
"Alright, your two hours starts…now!" Chris announced, pulling out an airhorn and giving it a quick blast.
Team Nuclear huddled together as an urgent tune began to play. "Alright team," Bridgette said, "what are we making?"
"Who knows?" Duncan pointed out, "we don't know what we have to work with. I'll head over and take a quick scope, then report back."
"No, I should go," Gwen argued, "I'm the most creative person on this team, after all."
Duncan opened his mouth to complain, but Bridgette spoke up before he could spit it out. "I agree," the surfer said, "let us know what you think!"
Gwen ran over to the balance beam and harnessed herself in. She quickly made her way across and began to rummage through the junk, being careful to avoid cutting herself on any jagged metal that lay in the pile.
"Doesn't look like there'll be any paints in here," Gwen murmured to herself, "though now that I think about it it went pretty badly for me last time I tried to paint on this show…" She paused when she found a particularly twisted piece of metal, and an idea seemed to strike her. "That's it!"
The camera then flashed to the Oddballs. "What should we make, guys?" Owen asked the two. Currently Shawn was up on Jasmine's shoulders and peering through some binoculars at the junk pile. The survivalist began to relay what he was seeing back to his teammates.
"Lots of twisted metal. Cans and bottles, styrofoam pieces, rubber gaskets, PVC pipe."
Owen tapped his double chin with a finger, "PVC pipe? You think we could come up with some big sculpture of Chris?"
"C'mon Owen," Jasmine sighed, "that's…" she paused for a second, "actually a pretty good idea…what do you think, babe?"
Shawn lowered his binoculars and hopped off Jasmine's shoulders. "Good enough for me," he said as he strapped himself in. "I'll get first load." He began to run across the platform.
"Look at him go," Jasmine gushed.
"He is amazing!" Owen agreed with equal gusto. Jasmine shot him a weird look.
Shawn began to expertly stack metal and PVC pipe in his arms, using his feet to kick up and lift stuff higher onto the pile.
"Don't fall!" Owen warned him, as Shawn began to jog back across the beam.
Shawn just chuckled. "No shot, bud! There's no way I lose my balance and fall into a pack of flesh guzzlers!" Sure enough, he made it back to the platform, and deposited a bunch of stuff.
"Nice work, babe," Jasmine said happily. "You two start blocking out the body! I'll go grab some more supplies!"
"Sounds good!" Owen and Shawn gave her a thumbs up.
The camera cut over to Team Alpha, who currently just had a ridiculous amount of stuff deposited onto their mat by a smirking Lightning.
"There's too much stuff here!" Jo complained. The jockette was currently knee deep in twisted crud. "Did you bring the whole damn pile over here?"
"Lightning tried, but there's still a little bit left," Lightning responded, craning his neck to look back at the original pile.
Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're not going to have any space to put something together."
"Fine," Lightning said, annoyed at his teammates lack of enthusiasm for his athletic feats. He began to hurl random junk over the side of the platform onto the ground below. "Let's clear some space!"
Noah and Jo shared an exasperated look.
(Confessional: Noah.)
"Lightning may have gotten a little better socially, but his brainpower has not improved all that much." Noah rolled his eyes.
(End Confessional: Noah.)
"So I think we should make a replica of our team's logo," Gwen explained to her team. "It should be pretty easy to emulate an explosion with all this twisted crap."
"Sounds good to me," Bridgette agreed, "who's next to cross the tightrope?"
"I'll go," Beardo said, "I'll look for some orange paints or spray paint or something."
"I already looked," Gwen told him, frowning. "But the rusty metal should be close enough to orange. I'm hoping Chris will understand."
"Yeah, because if there's one thing Chris Mclean is known for, it's his understanding," Duncan said sarcastically."
Gwen shot him an annoyed look, but kept quiet. Beardo cleared his throat awkwardly. "Alright," he rasped, "time to go!" He jogged over to the edge and harnessed himself. Slowly but surely, he began to edge himself across the beam.
"You got this, man!" Duncan called encouragingly, looking a little nervous for the tubby beatboxer. "Slow and steady!"
"Not too slow, though…" Bridgette said nervously, "we are on a time crunch."
Beardo made it across successfully and began scooping up various pieces of metal. He hummed a triumphant tune to himself as he positioned himself on the edge and began to shimmy across. Unfortunately for him, he made it about halfway before he began to wobble, making the three other Nuclears gasp.
Beardo began to trill out an alarm as he swayed more and more viciously.
"Ditch the load!" Gwen hollered, "save yourself!"
Beardo quickly tossed his materials over his shoulder, managing to get some of it back onto the platform. Bridgette, Duncan and Gwen cheered at his quick thinking, but their cheers quickly turned to gasps when Beardo's foot slipped off the beam, mostly due to his momentum from flinging the metal, and he was sent plummeting off the beam. Beardo continued make an alarm noise even after the harnessed caught him and left him suspended in air.
"And Beardo slips off the beam!" Chris narrated, "Team Nuclear is down to three members."
Duncan rubbed his face with a hand, "Damn," he cursed, "ah well, we'll be okay."
"I'm going next," Bridgette said quickly, "let's go!"
Over with the Oddballs, their rough-cut Chris sculpture was coming along pretty decently. Owen had just returned with a bunch of thin wire that they were going to use for some hair.
"I"ll start making the hair," Owen said.
"I'm next," Jasmine said, fluidly extracting Owen from the harness and putting it on herself. "Alright, what do we need you reckon?"
"Just more lumber for the body," Shawn told his girlfriend, tapping his chin with his finger as he surveyed everything that the team had brought over so far.
Jasmine nodded and began to jog across the beam.
"So, how are you holding up, buddy?" Shawn asked Owen.
"Okay, I guess," Owen told him, a little glum. "I sure miss Izzy, but at least the game helps distract me from her. I don't wanna go home yet, so we can't lose!" He giggled, "it's pretty good motivation!"
"Yeah, no way we lose again before the merge," Shawn said confidently, "and absolute worst case scenario, you get to go hang with Izzy again if we do!"
Owen let out an excited gasp. "Oh my gosh, you're right!" He began to work with more verve, "wow, so it's kinda win-win! That's so exciting!"
Shawn chuckled, glad he had been able to lift his friends spirits. "I guess it is."
The camera did a quick cut to Team Alpha, and it was clear things were really starting to go downhill. In order to clear enough space to actually start working on something, Lightning had thrown a bunch of junk off the platform. This now left them without much material to work with, and Jo was starting to lose it.
"Stop throwing stuff off!" She snapped at Lightning. Her arm darted out and caught Lightning's wrist, preventing him from throwing a pipe off the side. "We have enough space, doofus! We need to start planning!"
"She's right," Noah said, also looking a little worried. "We have to figure out something to come up with and we have to do it fast."
"Any bright ideas?" Jo asked the bookworm, "you're supposed to be the brainiac!"
"Arts and crafts aren't my forte," Noah deadpanned, and Jo smacked her forehead with her hand.
"Ahhhh!" The Alpha trio were startled by a scream from off-camera, and the camera quickly adjusted to show Brigette hanging from the beam from her hands, her load of materials already spinning to the ground below.
"I hate how clumsy I am!" Bridgette shouted in terror, clinging to the beam for dear life.
"It's okay, Bridgette!" Gwen called to her teammate, "you're harnessed in!"
"Do you think you can pull yourself up?" Duncan called to her.
Bridgette looked up at the beam. Unfortunately for her, her arms were stretched out to the max, making it extremely difficult to successfully pull herself up. Despite this, she tried her best, pushing her triceps and chest muscles to the max in an effort to lift herself up. She got about halfway before her arms gave out, and the force of her body's inertia ripped her fingers from the beam, sending her falling.
"Darn it!" Bridgette pouted, hanging suspended. "Sorry Gwen!"
"All good, girl!" Gwen hollered back. She turned to give Duncan frosty look. "Guess it's up to you and me."
"I'm confident," Duncan shot back, just as frosty. As they chatted, Bridgette was lowered to the ground and removed from the harness. With a press of a button, the harness was raised back up to them.
Back with the Alphas, things had devolved even further, something that the Oddballs had taken notice of now that Jo was shouting at Lightning and Noah.
"Man," Owen commented, a hand over his eyes to block out the sun as he peered at the Alpha platform. "They're really screaming at each other!"
"And Nuclear has lost two members," Shawn pointed out.
"And our sculpture of Chris is looking pretty solid!" Jasmine added. "I reckon this one's in the bag, boys!"
"Woohoo!" Owen pumped his fist.
(Confessional: Owen.)
"It's kinda crazy how much better your team works if you just like each other!" Owen remarks, "Jasmine, Shawn and I are the best of buds, and you can really tell in challenges! We just work flawlessly with each other!" He taps his goiter-like chin and snaps his fingers. "We can be called Survivalists Cubed!" He giggles, "get it? Because theres three of us!"
(End Confessional: Owen.)
"Alright, I'm going next," Duncan said, walking over to the harness and beginning to put it on.
"Hold on!" Gwen said, jogging over and yanking the harness out of Duncan's hand. This surprised the punk, and he shot her a look that was half inquisitive, half annoyed.
"What's wrong?" He said impatiently, giving a gentle tug on the harness. Gwen did not let go.
"Do you even know what you have to get?" Gwen asked him.
"Twisted, rusty metal," Duncan drawled, "it's not exactly rocket science."
"No," Gwen rolled her eyes, "I need you to get a base for the sculpture. I'm not going to be strong enough to bring it across myself."
"We can get that later," Duncan protested, "we need more metal for you to arrange. You're the one that wanted to play artist!"
While the two were bickering hey had unknowingly caught the attention of the platform next to them.
"Look at those babies squabbling," Jo noted, peering over at them.
"Stop rubbernecking and help us here!" Noah snapped.
Jo surveyed the minimal supplies they had left and the angry Noah and Lightning. "I dunno what you expect me to do. We have nothing here!"
"So you're just giving up?" Noah asked her incredulously. "You know what happens if we lose, right?"
Jo chose to ignore that, keeping her attention on Team Nuclear's platform. "Hmm…" When Gwen and Duncan began an earnest tug-of-war with the harness, her face lit up in a a mischievous grin. She quickly scowled and grabbed a long, thin metal pipe from the ground. "You two blew the challenge!" She yelled at Lightning and Noah. "And now I have to go home because of it? You guys suck!" She turned and, in a fit of anger, conveniently hurled the pipe in the direction of the bickering Gwen and Duncan.
From the sidelines, Bridgette gasped. "Gwen, Duncan, look out!" But she was too far away for her words to pierce through their arguing.
The pipe caught them both in the shoulder. Since it was a thin pipe and was hurled sideways like bolas, it didn't hurt much, but it was enough to surprise them both and knock them sideways. Unfortunately for them, they were right at the edge of the platform by the harness, and they both screamed as their feet lost contact with solid ground. On the fortunate side, however, was the fact that each of them were holding onto the harness, and they were spared an injury-inducing fall to the earth.
"Get us down, get us down!" Gwen yelled, in a panic as her arm started to wobble. Duncan looked a little more comfortable hanging from one arm, but nodded enthusiastically to Gwen's claims all the same.
"Whoa!" Chris quickly lowered the harness, and Duncan and Gwen dropped to the ground, unharmed. "You guys okay?"
Up on the Team Alpha platform, Noah and Lightning were gawping at the smirking Jo.
"Did you mean to do that?" Noah asked the jockette, peering down the platform at the Nuclear duo.
"Of course not," Jo said, unconvincing and apathetic. "Do you think they're out of the challenge now?"
"What do you mean?" Lightning asked.
A lightbulb went off in Noah's head. "No way," he said, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "If you pull this off…I tip my hat to you."
Jo gave him a wolfish grin. "Guess we'll just have to see…"
Back down with the Nuclear's, Bridgette embraced Gwen in a tight hug.
"Oh my gosh!" The surfer exclaimed, "that was so scary! Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine," Duncan said impatiently. "I just wanna know what the hell happened!"
"Jo threw a pipe at you guys!" Beardo explained, his anxious face shining with sweat. "She knocked you two off the platform!"
"Well what to do we do now that we're all off?" Gwen asked, looking confused.
"I'll tell you what happens, Gwennie!" Chris exclaimed, walking over to the four. "I admit I hadn't accounted for the possibility of a whole team getting wrecked like that…so I guess you guys just lose!"
Team Nuclear gasped.
"How is that fair?" Duncan snapped. "Jo obviously targeted us with the pipe! That's sabotage!"
"Yeah!" Gwen agreed, "total bull!"
"Hmmm…hold on a sec, kiddos." Chris said, rubbing his stubble thoughtfully. He strapped himself into the harness, then used his remote control to zoom himself up to Team Alpha.
"Ahh! Flying host-man!" Lightning screamed, winding his fist back as if to swat the host back down to earth.
"Easy, Brightning," Jo laughed, catching the jock in the crook of his elbow and pushing his arm down. "What's up, Chris?"
"Jo, Jo, Jo…did you purposefully yeet that pipe at Gwuncan?" Chris asked, as if he were a parent scolding a small child.
Jo inspected her fingernails. "All I'm gonna say is it was pretty unwise for them to both be squabbling near the edge like that, especially when they're the last two members up for their team." Her normal vicious smile returned full force. "Who knows what could happen."
Chris considered that. "Well, I guess I never said it was against the rules to throw stuff at your opponents…and it makes for pretty good TV…" He smiled, "alright! Fair enough!" He whipped out a megaphone from who-knows-where. "Team Nuclear!" He bellowed, startling the crap out of the Oddballs, who were still busy working on their sculpture. "Since you lost all your members, you're disqualified from the challenge, and as such will be facing elimination tonight!"
Bridgette, Gwen and Beardo groaned.
"Hold the groans! Maybe if two of your members hadn't have spent minutes acting like toddlers this wouldn't have happened!" He chuckled.
"Aw man!" Shawn whined, "and our sculpture was looking so good!"
(Confessional: Noah.)
"Wow, that was some dastardly quick thinking by Jo," Noah says, smirking his usual smirk. "And it totally saved her butt, too. We had no shot of winning that challenge and Lighting and I would have kicked her to the curb." He nods his head in respect. "Not bad, Jo, not bad…"
(End Confessional: Noah.)
Once all the contestants had been lowered from their platform, Duncan stormed up to Jo, who was still looking very pleased with herself.
"What the hell is your problem?" He shouted, getting in her face. "You could have seriously hurt us!"
Jo just laughed in his face. "But you weren't hurt! Besides, thats what you get for backstabbing me when I was on Team Nuclear, Dun-crybaby!" She turned her back on him and began to head back towards camp. "Smell ya later, y'know, if you survive the elimination ceremony! Hahaha!" Her mocking laughter followed her back to camp. Noah and Lightning walked after her, both ignoring the steaming mad Duncan.
"That bitch," the punk swore, "I'll get her for that!" He stormed off in the opposite direction, leaving Gwen, Bridgette and Beardo behind.
"This sucks," Gwen lamented, "my idea was so cool, too."
Bridgette reached out and rubbed Gwen's back. "It'll be okay," she said glumly.
Beardo just watched the two awkwardly, and slipped out to head back to camp. Comforting pretty girls like Gwen and Bridgette wasn't really his forte, and he knew Duncan wanted to be alone right now.
Bridgette realized that her and Gwen were now alone and let a sad sigh escape her lips. "Do you think Duncan will want to vote me out over Beardo?" She asked her.
Gwen was silent for a second, but eventually answered, "yeah, I think he will."
The blonde hung her head. "And I thought I was going to be so safe on this team too…"
"I'm sorry that Duncan is such an ass," Gwen apologized. "I can't stand even being on the same island as him. You have my word, the moment we hit the merge I'm gunning for him hardcore."
Bridgette didn't think that's truly what Gwen wanted, but didn't have the guts to say it to her after how the goth had reacted last time they talked about Duncan. So instead, she just gave her friend a warm smile.
(Confessional: Bridgette.)
Bridgette dabs at the corner of her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie. "Darn it!" She curses, "I really wanted to do better in this game this time around. I have the worst average placing out of all the girls in Total Drama History that have played more than once!" She fans her eyes, "I was really hoping this would be my season to shine! Of course Gwen and Duncan's relationship has gone to ruins and I end up getting caught in the middle!" She stops fanning her eyes and crosses her arms, a flash of irritation appearing on her face. "And the worst part is, I know that both Gwen and Duncan are unhappy with the way things are between them! They want to be friends, but they're both too stubborn to realize it! Granted, this game doesn't help things…" Suddenly, the irritation is gone, replaced by one of surprised realization. "Wait a second…I have an idea!"
(End Confessional: Bridgette.)
"I'm gonna go back to camp, maybe grab a beer at the Tucke Shoppe or something," Gwen sighed, "you wanna come?"
"Err, go on," Bridgette told her, "I'm gonna take a quick walk to clear my head. I'll catch up with you soon."
Gwen looked at her, a little puzzled. "Don't you hate being in the woods by yourself?"
"I'm not sixteen anymore, Gwen," Bridgette said with a teasing smile, "I can handle a little stroll in the daytime. Like I said, I'll meet up with you soon."
"Okay, see you later," Gwen waved her friend goodbye.
Once Gwen was out of sight, Bridgette turned around and made a bee-line in the same direction Duncan had stormed off in. After a few minutes of light jogging, she found the punk by a stream, skipping rocks across the water.
"Duncan!" She called, making the punk jump. When he saw who it was, he scowled.
"What do you want?"
"We need to talk," Bridgette told him, walking up to him with her hands in her hoodie pockets.
"About?"
"The vote tonight. You're voting for me, right?"
Duncan gave the surfer an appraising look. "I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet…" he said evasively.
"Cut the crap, Duncan. I know you too well," she scolded.
Duncan was silent for a second, but eventually nodded his head. "Yeah. You and I don't get along so well, and Gwen's a vote in my corner for now and so is Beardo. It just makes sense for my game."
"I get it," Bridgette told him, "but I'm here to offer you a deal."
That got Duncan's unibrow to lift up his forehead. Not once had he every heard Bridgette talk strategy. "What can you offer me?" He asked, his voice more incredulous than skeptical.
"Not much in the way of the game, I'm afraid," Bridgette told him honestly. "I'm not promising to ally with you or even vote with you at all. Nothing like that."
Duncan's incredulous one was quickly replaced with one of boredom and annoyance. "Oh." He said flatly. "Well then what the hell is the point?"
"Because the deal I'm offering helps you out, not your game," Bridgette clarified. "If you keep me tonight, I'm going to do my damnedest to patch things up between you and Gwen."
Now that took Duncan off-guard. "What? Patch things up with Gwen?" He said quickly, "I don't want that." Unknowingly, he had spit that out way quicker than he would've liked.
Bridgette rolled her eyes right to his face. "Duncan, how long have we known each other? I know you and I know Gwen, so stop this tough guy apathy crap, okay?"
Duncan ground his teeth for a moment, choosing his next words very carefully. "What makes you think you can help the situation?" He finally asked.
"Gwen and I are great friends. I know how she ticks and I'm pretty confident I can help patch up the situation between you guys. It might not be best for your game, but I know you want it, and I know she wants it too. You guys can still be friends." Bridgette took her hands out of her hoodie pockets and crossed her arms. "Its your call. If I'm still on this island come tomorrow morning, the deal is on. If not, so be it. It's your call."
With her bit said, she turned on her heel and began to walk back towards camp.
"Bridgette, wait!" Duncan called after her, conflicting evident on his face. But Bridgette did not heed his words, and kept on walking until she disappeared. Duncan slapped his face, "ugh…"
(Confessional: Duncan.)
"Damnit, who knew Bridgette could drive such a hard bargain?!" Duncan gripes, leaning against the side of the Confessional with a scowl. "I seriously don't know what to do…on one hand, I like Beardo and he's valuable to me in the game. On the other hand, Gwen is…Gwen."
(End Confessional: Duncan.)
(Confessional: Bridgette.)
Bridgette gives the camera a stressed look. "I hope I did enough to sway Duncan's mind. He's so tough, though. He just has to decide whats more important to him this time around on the game. His friends, or the money…"
(End Confessional: Bridgette.)
Jo, Owen and Jasmine were playing pool in the Rec Center. Jo was still very smug from her dodge-a-bullet-performance in the challenge, something that Jasmine noticed quickly.
"So what the hell happened in the challenge today?" Jasmine asked her rival. "Beardo and Bridgette falling I get, but Gwen and Duncan too? And why do you look so bloody pleased with yourself?"
"Things weren't looking so good for us, sine Lightning brought basically the whole junk pile over to our side in one go," Jo began to explain.
"That guy sure is strong!" Owen said, his tone admiring.
Jo shot him an annoyed look, but continued her story. "So it looked like we were gonna get dead last. And it would be a small miracle if I survived an elimination ceremony with how up each others butts Noah and Lightning are. So I made an executive decision." She chuckled darkly. "I hurled a pipe at those two lovebirds while they were by the edge, and it cleaned 'em right off the platform!"
Jasmine whistled. "That's pretty messed up."
"Yeah!" Owen didn't look too happy either, "those guys are my friends! They could've been seriously hurt by that fall!"
"I'm glad they weren't," Jo said honestly, "I swear I wouldn't have done it if they weren't playing tug-of-war with the harness…but I had to do what I had to do."
Jasmine and Owen didn't look too convinced by the jockettes words, and the pool game continued on in awkward silence.
A sigh escaped Noah's lips as he re-read the same sentence for the sixth time. The bookworm was currently lying down on his bed in the boy's trailer, reading one of his many books. Unfortunately for him, he was having trouble focusing on the book due to one very severe problem.
Beardo entered the trailer just as Noah let out another massive sigh. Beardo gave him a curious look. "Everything okay, man?"
"I'm fine," Noah said quickly, used to dismissing his own issues.
"You don't sound fine," Beardo pressed, "I ain't gonna push you, but you seem like the kinda guy that don't open up much. It might be good to get stuff off your chest." Having said that, Beardo went over to his bunk and began rummaging through his suitcase, looking for something.
Noah eyed the bushy-haired man, mulling over his options. On one hand, he hated talking about mushy feelings talk, but his problem with Owen was really getting to him. On the other hand, Beardo was probably the most removed from the situation, and could offer the most unbiased opinion. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Beardo found what he was looking for, grabbed it, then headed out of the trailer. When the door closed, Noah let out another sigh.
A quick time-lapse of the sky showed the sun sink lower and lower until it disappeared from the horizon entirely. The moon shone brightly in the sky, and the camera panned down to the elimination area. Chris was stood next to a merry fire, and was stoking it with a fire poker with a bored look on his face.
"I called these guys like two minutes ago," He grumbled to no one, "Where the heck are they?!"
As if on cue, footsteps could be heard off-screen, and Chris's face lit up as the four members of Team Nuclear walked on screen. The mood of the team was obviously very somber, and all of Duncan, Gwen, Beardo and Bridgette had stoic, unreadable expressions on their faces.
"Welcome welcome, Team Nuclear," Chris greeted, "how was dinner?"
"It was fine," Gwen said simply, "can we just get on with this?"
Chris smirked, "a little testy tonight, eh Gwen?"
Gwen just rolled her eyes and sat down on a stump, choosing to ignore the host.
"Heh-heh-heh," Chris revealed the tray of marshmallows, with just three marshmallows on it. "Alright, you guys know the drill. Three marshmallows, three symbols of safety, three campers that will remain here another day. If you do not receive a marshmallow, you must snag your luggage, walk the Dock of Shame, board the Boat of Losers, and get the heck off this island!"
"Yeah, we know how it works, you spaz!" Bridgette exclaimed, an unusually surly note in her voice.
Chris just laughed for a solid four or five seconds. Once he was done amusing himself, he finally picked up the first marshmallow. "The first marshmallow goes to…Gwen."
Gwen nodded, reaching out and catching the marshmallow in her pale hands. Instead of chewing into it, she flicked it into the fire with a sour look at Duncan.
"Also safe is…Duncan!"
Duncan nodded, catching his as well. He popped it into his mouth and chomped it down in one bite.
"That just leaves our two B's," Chris narrated, "and not that weird, boredline-serial killer looking fat boy mute inventor guy from Revenge of the Island. Bridgette, Beardo, one of you have spent your last night on Total Drama Generations…"
Beardo and Bridgette exchanged a glance. Beardo seemed pretty laid-back, while Bridgette seemed glum.
"The final marshmallow goes to…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
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Bridgette!"
Bridgette gasped, nearly missing the marshmallow as it was tossed to her. She quickly turned to Beardo, who seemed a little surprised.
"Wow!" He rasped, "I'll be honest, I'm a little blindsided."
"I'm sorry, man," Duncan apologized, his tone sincere, "you'll understand eventually, I hope…"
Beardo's face broke out into a grin. "No worries, man! I thought I was gone last time we lost, so these extra couple of days have been a real treat!"
Duncan looked perplexed, as did the rest of the team. "You mean you're not mad you're eliminated?"
"Naw, not really," Beardo shrugged. "I came back to make some friends and really experience Total Drama. I know I'm not some big game player like the rest of y'all." He made a couple of blub blub sounds, like he were suddenly underwater. "I'm a small fish in a big pond, and I'm cool with that." His face lit up in a smile, "but thank y'all for being some awesome teammates! This has been one of the best experiences of my life!"
Beardo's emotional words had a powerful effect on his teammates, and Bridgette wiped her eyes as she walked up to the chubby boy. "I'm gonna miss you, hon," she said, wrapping him in a big hug.
"Me, too, man," Duncan said, walking up to the hugging duo and clapping Beardo on the back.
Beardo laughed and returned the hug. "The fact that people are gonna miss me at all is a victory in itself." The two separated from their hug.
Duncan offered the beatboxer a fist bump, but Beardo waved his hand and brought the punk in for a bro-hug. "Bring it in, bro. No hard feelings."
Duncan looked a little uncomfortable, but awkwardly returned the hug.
Beardo released the hug, gave finger guns to Gwen, then turned to grab his luggage. "I'll be rooting for you guys from home! Team Nuclear all the way! Someone say goodbye to Jo for me, too."
"Will do!" Bridgette called.
All three members waved Beardo down the dock. The beatboxer hummed a funeral dirge as he approached the boat, though the big smile on his face kind of ruined the effect. He clambered clumsily onto the Boat after tossing his luggage in, then turned to wave one last wave to his old team.
The boat sped off, taking Beardo with it.
Chris turned to the remaining members of Team Nuclear. "Three left, looks like you OG's are sticking together, eh? I have to say I'm a bit surprised. After the Sammy elimination, I thought you were a goner, Bridgette."
"Me too," Bridgette admitted. She shot Duncan a grateful look. "Looks like I have some work to do, though?"
"Work to do?" Gwen repeated, "what do you mean?"
"I'll tell you later," Bridgette said evasively. "I'm tired, though. Let's get to bed."
"Sounds good to me," Duncan said quickly, walking past the two girls onto the path back towards camp. The camera followed him as he walked, leaving the two girls behind. The punk rubbed his face with a hand, "I hope I made the right call," he grumbled to himself.
"Wait up!" Came a voice, and Duncan stopped to see Bridgette running up to him.
Duncan rolled his eyes. "What do you want?" He looked around, "where's Gwen?"
"She ran to the bathroom," Bridgette said quickly. "I just wanted to say thanks, for taking the deal."
"Whatever," Duncan said, "just work your magic, Malibu."
Bridgette put her hands on her hips, "that's not how this is going to work, Duncan. You're gonna have to put in a lot of work if you wanna be friends with her again. I can help, but it won't work if you're just going to be a stubborn jackass the whole time."
Duncan mulled that over. He figured he had already committed to the deal by voting off Beardo, and there was no turning back now. "Fine, I'll try not to be stubborn or a jackass," he relented. "Let's talk tomorrow, okay? Voting off Beardo really bummed me out. I'm just gonna go to bed."
Bridgette gave Duncan's arm a sympathetic rub. "Okay, sounds good. Have a goodnight."
Duncan nodded and walked off back towards camp.
"What were you two talking about?" Came voice from behind the surfer.
"Just thanking him for keeping me," Bridgette lied. "I was pretty shocked."
"Yeah, I was pretty shocked too when he came to me and said we were voting for Beardo," Gwen admitted, "not that I was complaining though."
"Maybe he did it to try and make up for having you vote off Sammy," Bridgette suggested, shrugging her shoulders.
That idea seemed to take Gwen off guard, and surprise flickered across her face. "You think?" She pondered it for a moment, "nah. He probably has some scheme as to why keeping you is better."
Bridgette bit back a giggle, "who knows with him, I guess…"
"Tell me about it." Gwen rolled her eyes, but then reached out and gave Bridgette a quick hug. "I'm glad you're still here though. Having to deal with him and this whole game without you would've sucked big time."
"I'm glad to be here too," Bridgette agreed before letting out a large yawn. "I'm pooped, though. Let's get some rest."
"Sounds good."
Boat of Losers Clip:
Beardo hummed a happy tune as the boat sailed across the water. He seemed at peace, as a comfortable smile rested on his face. He pulled out his wallet and looked at the faded picture of him and his girlfriend.
"She's gonna be so proud of me!" Beardo said, rubbing his thumb affectionately over the photo. "I can't wait to see her"
"You got a ways to wait, Tubbo!" Chef barked from the drivers seat.
"What do you mean?" Beardo asked, confused.
"You got a stay at the Playa Des Losers, Aftermaths to appear on, among other things! Heck, you might not even be done with the game!"
Beardo's jaw dropped. "The Playa? A what-er-math? Huh!?"
Voting Confessionals:
Beardo: Love ya girl, but Duncan and Gwen got a thing going on, and I ain't harshing those vibes. I vote for Bridgette.
Bridgette: I vote for Beardo, but I'm not sure it matters much!
Duncan: Ugh, sometimes I really hate myself. I can't believe I'm getting suckered into this. I vote for Beardo. Sorry, dude.
Gwen: I don't know what game Duncan's playing, but for now I'm not questioning it. I vote for Beardo.
Votes:
Beardo - 3 votes (Bridgette, Duncan, Gwen).
Bridgette - 1 vote (Beardo).
Team Alpha: Lightning, Noah, Jo.
Team Oddball: Jasmine, Shawn, Owen.
Team Nuclear: Gwen, Duncan, Bridgette.
Eliminated: Anne Maria, Brick, Scott, Sky, Rodney, Zoey, Sammy, Izzy, Beardo.
Reasoning for Elimination:
I think it's possible that people might be bummed by Beardo's pre-merge exit, but he was never ever gonna merge in this story. The fact of the matter is, he's not some big game player, and he was dead correct when he said that he was a small fish in a big pond, strategically. But for him, he wouldn't have had his trip be any other way. He made friends, had a blast, won a couple of challenges, and had a 'surprising' elimination. I don't know how suspenseful it was for you the viewers, but this wasn't really intended to be some big shock. Originally, Beardo and Sammy had their eliminations switched, with Beardo going as the 7th person eliminated, and Sammy going in this chapter. But I switched it, becuase it would be a better blindside against Sammy and make Beardo really happy because he was saved. I had a lot of fun writing for him, but I think he's leaving at the perfect time.
Welp, took a while, but it's finally done! Beardo bites the bullet, and we're officially halfway through the original eighteen competitors!
I know this chapter was heavy on the Team Nuclear stuff, the Gwuncan/Bridgette drama especially. But that's just how it's gotta be! We'll see Beardo at the aftermath. Next chapter is Rest Day, but it's gonna be way less fluffy and a little more strategic, competitive, and serious than the previous two rest days have been. I would like to have it up before the New Year, but no promises!
Remember to vote on the poll! It's very very important! I'll leave you guys with a couple questions before I head out.
- Who would you predict is the next person to go home?
- Will Bridgette be able to patch the rift between Gwen and Duncan, or will their stubbornness be too difficult to overcome?
- Will Noah and Owen make up in the competition, or will Noah drag his feet too long and have to do it through the Aftermath.
Alright, happy holidays, everyone! I'll see you guys soon-ish...hopefully...