(The Ex-Files)
I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I last updated it.
Fritz Electroscreech: Saying that Sierra will go insane implies that she wasn't already, which she is. I wouldn't say that she'll go feral like Ezekiel, I never liked that arc to begin with, but I will say that she doesn't handle the whole Gwody thing well. As for the loony bin, well we'll just have to wait and see.
Romeoaifesili: Glad to see there's another fellow Gwody shipper among us. Of course Sierra was going to be pissed about it, it was never going to be any other way. I wholeheartedly agree that the lack of Gwody fics is a crime, though if you want to find some really good ones, I would recommend you check out TheWriterFormerlyKnownAsNixon. He's got a bunch of really good Gwody fics. As for your other question, I haven't really decided whether or not I'm gonna go into the other Aftermaths, but I do plan to show some reactions to it. Also regarding Trent, I do have something in mind for that, but as for what it is, you're just gonna have to wait and see for now.
PG.182227: Thanks, I'm glad to see you like it.
Ellismskd24: Don't worry, I never intended for Sierra to last very long. I was never very fond of her to be honest.
SuperSonicHeroes: Glad to see you agree with my thoughts on Owen. Yeah, he's definitely one of the best characters in the entire series, if not the best. But yeah, it's time to give some of the other characters a chance to shine. As for Sierra, her reaction was always going to be like that. It was never any question about it. I honestly do think she's worse than Courtney in that regard for one big reason: She's a strong competitor, but she's also insane. As for Courtney getting her head in the game, you're just gonna have to wait and see.
Cody Fanatic: That's my policy on Owen, and yes I am joking, or at least half joking. Glad to see you liked the Gwody action. And yeah, I'm not a fan of Sierra either.
Ariana Ford: Yeah that's the idea, Alejandro took advantage of Courtney's rather fragile state of mind and tried to use it, but Gwen quickly put a stop to that. I will be addressing that again later on, so bear with me for the time being. As for Sierra, of course they weren't an actual couple, but she doesn't see that. As for Duncan dumping Courtney, that's not the end of them. You'll see what I mean in the next few chapters.
OmnipotentUIJudgeOfCharacterOG: First of all, I love your profile name. Second, I'm glad to see you agree with my thoughts on DJ and Bridgette. As for Alejandro manipulating him, I had established in chapter 2 that DJ is giving him the benefit of the doubt for now, mainly out of gratitude for helping him with his animal curse. But yeah, Alejandro cursing like that was pretty funny. I look forward to seeing what you think of the rest of this fic.
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As always, Chris started off the episode with a recap of the previous one "Last time on Total Drama World Tour: Greece, a place that was actually broken before we got there. It was here we learned that Alejandro might not be as perfect as he'd like us to believe, unless perfection means being a hardcore klutz. Duncan swore he wouldn't spill the beans about Cody and Gwen, but then Alejandro went ahead and did it anyway, putting both Courtney and Sierra on the warpath and sending them out for Gwen's blood. Thoughts? Oh yeah, and Cody punched Duncan square in the face, which was awesome. Seriously, I had no idea that the geek had such a killer right hook going for him. In the end, Team Amazon won the day, and Owen made the ultimate sacrifice to keep his friends in the game. Noble yes, but noble doesn't win a million bucks. Not in this game anyway. As a result, now everyone was free to marinate in awkward soup at least one more challenge. The question remains, who's gonna get knocked out of orbit this week? Get ready to believe, right here on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
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The night was anything but calm as the plane continued flying to its next destination, and the tension in the air was suffocating.
"Next on my list…" still radiating pure and unbridled fury, Courtney sat in her seat in the first class area, scribbling furiously "Pummel Duncan… rip out both his eyebrow rings… wash my socks…" and then she broke down crying again.
"The cradle will fall, and down will come Gwen!" Sierra on the other hand, she was making a paper cutout of Gwen, which she subsequently bit the head off of.
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(Confessional- Cody)
"This… could be going a lot better." Cody let out a sigh "Courtney and Sierra have both been out for blood since all the chaos in Greece yesterday, and they've basically isolated Gwen from the rest of the team for one reason or another. I'm pretty sure Courtney is just using her like some kind of scapegoat because she needs something to take her anger out on, but Sierra… And people say I was creepy with her back at Camp Wawanakwa. Which I was, more or less, but she cranks that up to the extreme, and not in a good way!"
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(Confessional- Courtney)
"GOD DAMMIT!" Courtney let out a scream of frustration "Duncan is so going down! I can't believe that I ever trusted that ungrateful juvenile son of a bitch! How dare he discard me like a piece of Chef's cooking so callously!" then she took a breath "But at least I still have my own self respect…" and then she broke down crying again.
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Meanwhile, in economy class…
"I'm not kidding when I say this." Tyler glanced back at where Duncan was covering his eye and crotch with ice packs, then turned back to DJ, Alejandro and Noah "The guy is a hardcore jerk with a capital G."
"You mean J." DJ pointed out.
"Whatever! I'd never just up and dump my Lindsay the way he hurt Courtney, the guy deserves two kicks straight to the-"
"Woah hold on a second man, don't be like that. First off, there's no such thing as a good way to break up with someone. Whenever that happens, someone is always gonna get hurt. Just take a look at what happened to Gwen and Trent."
"Well yeah, but she dumped him, and then went behind his back and straight up told his team to vote him off."
"Putting aside the whole number nine thing, he was sabotaging his team's challenges. It's one thing to decide that a girl is more important to you than winning, and it's another to screw over your friends. Gwen probably didn't handle it as well as she could've, but she understood that what Trent was doing was wrong. But getting back to the point, Duncan did the best thing that he could've if he wasn't happy with Courtney."
"But… they work so well together. People love them more than Geoff and Bridgette, or even me and Lindsay. Just look at the fan blogs."
"Yeah, if you wanna see millions of people thinking you're gay over one stupid thing you did while you were asleep." Noah pointed out dryly, earning a few odd looks.
"Oh. That. Right."
"And it's not like he's missing out, you saw what she was doing to him. Didn't you hear her going on about his 47 flaws that need correcting, and then there's all the crap last season about the 32 page letter. You don't try to change someone you're in a relationship with, not like that anyway."
"I thought you said you'd never had a girlfriend before." DJ pointed out.
"I've seen so much drama from the dumpster fire romances on this show, that I learned what not to do in a relationship through process of elimination. The way I see, Duncan was dodging a bullet."
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(Confessional- Alejandro)
"Problem: Duncan is a strong player." Alejandro frowned in thought "As DJ said, quite possibly the strongest player in this entire show. Solution: Courtney is volatile, and she has been left quite vulnerable by Duncan breaking up with her. She can throw the Amazons off their game, and in turn throw Duncan off his game as well. All she needs is a little push."
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(Confessional- Noah)
"As much as I love to watch relationship drama on this show, and yes I'm being sarcastic, it does raise some concerns." Noah frowned in thought "Now that Owen is gone, I lost a vote I could count on. Sure I'm on decent terms with DJ, but I still can't say I've secured his vote. Then there's the fact that Alejandro still has Tyler, so that makes Duncan the wild card, even more than before really. I'm gonna have to be careful with this."
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Meanwhile, in first class…
'Just great, a pariah among lunatics…' Gwen (with a few bruises and a bandage covering her nose, following her scuffles in the last chapter) glanced over at where Sierra and Courtney were both doing their own psychotic things, and she let out a sigh as she went back to drawing in her sketchbook.
"You okay?"
Gwen looked over to see Cody sit down in front of her with two milkshakes in hand, one of which she accepted "Half of my own team is gunning for me, one of them because she's a stalker and the other because she sees me as a scapegoat for her own issues. All things considered… I've been a lot worse." it was then that they felt the plane shaking violently "Like when we're not on a flying deathtrap that's probably about to kill us!"
"Attention passengers, please remain calm. Our autopilot is testing some equipment, and there are some snacks in the common area if you don't believe me and want a last meal."
"...Screw it, might as well die with a full stomach."
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A few minutes later, in the common area…
"So this is supposed to be our last meal?" Noah glanced at the bowl of fruit in front of him, and he let out a sigh "I miss Owen…"
It was at this moment that Duncan made his way into the room and glanced over at Gwen "Well you look like shit."
"And you look like you just came straight out of the big place up there." Gwen noted dryly.
"Fair enough. But this show hasn't killed me yet, and I sure as hell don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."
"Oh trust me you bastard." Courtney took the chance to round on Duncan "The show isn't going to be what kills you, that much I can guarantee!"
"Hate to break it to you, but threats like that don't mean that much to me anymore."
"Yeah well…" she gritted her teeth, tears brimming in her eyes, but she said nothing and turned away from him.
"It's tragic, truly." Alejandro put a hand on her shoulder, earning a dark glare in response "Please forgive me, I'm simply heartbroken on your behalf. Perhaps a little bit of payback would help to ease your wounded soul?"
"Do you have something in mind?"
"As a matter of fact I do. How would Duncan like it if you flirted with someone?"
"...I think I get what you're saying." Courtney's expression turned from one of anger into one of twisted glee "Duncan is going to lose it! It's basic breakup math! The more mad Duncan gets the more jealous he looks, then the more likely he's gonna come crawling back to me and begging for my forgiveness, and the more vindicated I am! The only question is, who…?" she scanned the room, until she fell on her target.
"Seriously dude." DJ was in the middle of wiping some banana off of Tyler's face "You might wanna work on the whole coordination thing."
"There we go… You know DJ is super cute, and those huge muscles of his just make me want to melt into his arms!" she said this in an obnoxiously loud way as she latched onto DJ's arms in a very noticeable way "Yeah that's right, you're so fit and strong DJ!" she was promptly met with a thumbs up from Alejandro, right before the lights went out, and a loud fart was heard.
"...Oh the nostalgia." Noah let out a sigh "It's times like these I really miss Owen." this was almost immediately followed by the plane taking a nose dive, leaving everyone to scream in pure unholy terror "And it's times like these I almost miss Izzy!" then the plane suddenly levelled out before hitting the ground with a loud crashing noise "It still feels weird to not hear Owen scream like a maniac over his fear of flying."
"Yeah, they were super cool, right DJ?" Courtney latched onto his arm and gave what was meant to be a big sultry smile.
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(Confessional- DJ)
"Okay, something about this seems really wrong." DJ frowned in thought "I'm pretty sure that that was the nicest Courtney has been to me since, well since ever. She was looking at Duncan as she did it to, so…" he paused, and then he let out a sigh "Don't tell me…"
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Outside the plane…
It wasn't long before Chris gathered everyone outside the plane "Alright guys, welcome to the coolest and extraterrestrial-ist place in the world, none other than Area 52!"
"Area 52? Seriously?" Gwen shared a look with Duncan, and they rolled their eyes "Area 51 is where they keep all the cool alien stuff. What, is this show so broke that you have to come up with a face location now?" she dealt Duncan a quick fist bump.
"Far from it, this really is Area 52, and that's Area 51 right there. You know, behind that giant glowing mountain over there. All of us are standing just inside the border, well that is to say, all of us except for Duncan."
"Wait what-" Duncan was cut off by a laser beam from behind.
"I've gotta thank the colonel for that one later. Take notes guys, it helps to have friends in these kinds of places." and that prompted Courtney to burst out laughing obnoxiously loud while she clung onto one of DJ's giant biceps.
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(Confessional- Duncan)
"Seriosuly, she's flirting with DJ?" Duncan scowled as he coughed up some smoke "I knew she hated me, but I had no idea she hated me that much. I mean seriously, flirting with one of my best friends is just (bleeped) up."
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(Confessional- DJ)
"Like I thought, she's flirting with me to get back at Duncan." DJ frowned at the thought "That means she's going onto the third stage: Desperation. She's trying to make Duncan jealous and using me to do it, but still… It's just wrong. I know that she's hurting from the breakup and all, but the fact is that Duncan is one of my closest friends, and I'm not gonna do that to him. The next time I see Courtney, she and I are gonna have a serious talk. Momma once said to me that when you have a friend who's going through a tough time, you don't just tell them what they want to hear. You tell them what they need to hear."
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Back to the instructions on the challenge…
"Alright space cases, listen up." Chris guided their attention to a monitor showing the details of the challenge "The 51 is the most tightly protected military base on the planet, which is why the challenge I have planned for you tonight is going to be so much fun. Fun for me anyway. The first part is for you guys to break into Area 51 without getting shot, gassed, plasma ray-ed or otherwise killed in any way. The place is guarded by elite black ops soldiers, so if anyone does get all exploded in there, their untimely but hilarious demise will be blamed on a freak accident involving weather balloons. For the second part, each team must find a genuine functioning alien artifact inside the infamous black box warehouse of Area 51. The place is full of broken alien junk, but you guys need to find something alien that still works. But you're still gonna have to be careful, because the warehouse is loaded with booby traps. For the third part, once you have your working artifacts, you're gonna have to bring them back to Area 52 intact. The first team back will fly first class to our next destination, while the last team back faces elimination. And word to the wise, you do not want to get caught over there. Rumor has it that trespassers get a solid wipe to the memories, and are transferred to an alien colony where they either becomes slaves for the aliens, or food. You have until dawn to get this challenge done, now go!" and that prompted the teams to scatter onto different paths "Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun."
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On the right path, with Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot…
It wasn't long before the group was making their way towards the base, and Duncan was quick to take charge "Okay, we should split up and scout for points of entry."
"Agreed. Tyler mi amigo, you'll be with me." Alejandro wasted no time in grabbing Tyler by the arm and dragged him with him before he could respond.
Seizing the opportunity, Noah pulled DJ back a fair distance from the others "So are we gonna bring up the elephant in the room at some point?"
"What are you talking about?" DJ raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think? I'm talking about the fact that Courtney has spent most of the night drooling over you like my lab drools over a ribeye steak."
"Oh. You mean that."
"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to notice. It raises the question though, what do you plan to do about it?"
"There's not a lot I can do about it. I know what she's doing, she's using me because she's trying to make Duncan jealous."
"You picked up on that?"
"It's not that hard, I've been around Courtney long enough to know what she's about. Plus I know a few things about the five stages of heartbreak, and right now she's at the third one, which is about bargaining and desperation."
"Two words that the average person would never associate with Courtney. So her version of it is supposed to be what exactly?"
"She's flirting with me to try and spite Duncan, maybe get him to take her back. Duncan is one of my best friends, there's no way I'm gonna do that to him."
"So what then, you gonna let her down easy?"
"I wish it were that simple, but it's not. Even if I did fend her off, what's to stop her from doing the same thing with other guys like you or Tyler? She doesn't handle things like losing rejection very well."
"I've noticed." his tone was dry "You're not gonna tell her to get lost either."
"No, that's not in my nature. The next time I see Courtney, she and I are gonna have a serious talk. Momma once said to me that when you have a friend who's going through a tough time, you don't just tell them what they want to hear. You tell them what they need to hear."
"Huh. Well let me know how that goes."
"Hey guys get over here, you've gotta see this!" this was when Duncan called the two of them over to where he and the others were hiding behind a rock, where they had a clear view of the blackbox warehouse on the other side of a security fence, and they they saw a bunny hopping its way past them.
"Oh yeah, the animal rights people are gonna love this."
"I don't know guys, I think it's safe to cross." Tyler commented.
"Hold that thought. 3… 2… 1…" and this was followed by the bunny getting fried to a crisp by a laser, which caused DJ to let out a high pitched squeal "There's no way in hell this challenge is legal."
"And that's part of what makes me an expect." Duncan gathered them all around "Now shut up and listen, I've got a plan."
"There's a shocker."
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Meanwhile, with Team Amazon…
"You know it's kind of weird." Cody glanced across the rocky landscape at the blackbox warehouse in the distance, his expression somewhat dull "When you spend a fair amount of your teenage years binging all sorts of anime, comic books and sci-fi stuff, seeing the real thing kind of loses its luster."
"We've gotta go in there either way, so-" Gwen cut herself short as her expression turned dry and she shot an annoyed look at Cody "Really, you're gonna do that now?"
"Do what?"
"I can feel your hands on my leg."
"Whatever you're feeling on your leg, it isn't me."
"...Wait what?" Gwen looked down and found a large lizard latched onto leg, which prompted all of those present to take off running and screaming with the lizard chasing them, until the ground beneath it suddenly exploded and sent it flying.
"You've gotta be kidding, since when do lizards fly?"
"Since we just ran straight into a freaking mine field!" and that caused everyone else to freeze in place.
"Just great, way to lead New Heather." Sierra spat at her from where she was clinging to Cody's head, drawing a few disturbed looks.
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(Confessional)
"New Heather?!" Gwen was left mortified by this, but then the horror quickly melted away and was replaced by rage "Okay, I'm about as done with this shit as a person can get."
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Meanwhile, with team men…
"Okay, so remember the plan." Duncan gathered the others around behind a large boulder and gestured to the rock he was holding "You gotta throw the rock and then run in the opposite direction."
"And you're forgetting that I'm not exactly athletically gifted." Noah pointed out dryly, only to be grabbed by DJ and slung onto his shoulder "A strangely familiar feeling. At least this time it won't end with me getting shoved into a locker."
"Depends on how this challenge goes, now move it!"
"Right!" Alejandro went first as he threw his rock in one direction, leaving it to be obliterated by a laser while he dove behind a rock in another direction.
"Next!"
"Right!" DJ threw a rock that got vaporized almost instantly, allowing him and Noah to take refuge behind another boulder.
"Don't just stand there jockstrap, get moving!"
"Right!" with a mighty roar, Tyler took off running, but he forgot to throw the rock and ended up getting lasered along with it, the force of the ensuing explosion.
"Well that's just perfect.
Tyler crashlanded on the other side of the fence with a loud scream, and when he regained his sense of awareness he glanced over at the others "Hey, how did you guys get over there?"
"We didn't."
"Then what do you-" Tyler paused when he noticed a large metal tube rise up from the ground and over his head "Aw crapbaskets." and then he got sucked into the tube, which disappeared shortly after.
"Tyler hang on!" DJ threw Noah to the ground and prepared to take off running towards the fence, only to be held back by Duncan grabbing the back of his shirt "What the heck are you doing man? We have to save him!"
"And what, risk getting your face fried off by an electric fence?" Duncan let out a snort and pointed to the opening in the fence a few meters away, which they promptly entered through with ease.
"Why would they have an opening like that in the fence to begin with?"
"Seems like an intentional design flaw, but I'm not complaining. Now let's get moving, we've got work to do."
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Meanwhile, with Team Amazon…
"Well this is just freaking perfect." Gwen scowled as she looked around "Now what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"Why don't you make out with the minefield's boyfriend?" Sierra spat at her.
"Are you seriously doing that now? You know what screw it, I've had more than enough of your bullshit!" this was followed by a chime going off "The same with that bullshit!"
"Okay, how about I give you a choice then?" this was when Chris flew onto the scene via a jetpack.
"Where the heck did you get a jetpack?" asked Cody, only to be ignored.
"What would you guys rather do, sing a minute long musical number or tap dance your way through a minefield?"
"...Fine, if you want a song, then I'll give you one." Gwen gave a smirk that wiped the grin right off of Chris' face, and then she started to sing "Making trouble is easy to do, but making you love me is painful-"
"Stop stop, for the love of god stop!" Chris let out a groan "Fine, I'll let you out of it for this one, but at some point I'm gonna make you sing two in one episode to make up for it." and then he flew off before the lasers could blast him.
"Why didn't I think of that ten episodes ago?"
"Because some of us actually like singing." Courtney pointed out, only to be silenced by the pissed off glare she was getting from Gwen.
"And some one us hate being made into a freaking scapegoat because of your own screwed up head not being able to accept when your boyfriend dumps you!"
"What, you think Duncan breaking up with me is my fault?! Why would you think that?"
"Why the hell do you think? You think you're in the middle of Grand Theft Mohawk because of one thing Alejandro said, and then you try and tear me apart like you're a cat and I'm a freaking scratching post!"
"Kind of a weird analogy, but she's not wrong." Cody frowned in thought for a moment, but then his face lit up as he started digging into his pockets.
"Seriously, he dumped you because you're such a goddamn control freak and keep trying to turn him into something he isn't! Between the list of 47 things you wanted to change about him and that freaking 32 page letter, I'm surprised he didn't dump you sooner!" that was more than enough to leave Courtney in a stunned silence, though it did little to quell her anger, if the look on her face was any indication.
"Yeah, as if you didn't want him to yourself." Sierra grumbled "Then when you realized that you couldn't have him you had to go for my Codykins-"
"And don't even get me started on you!" Gwen then took the chance to round on Sierra "You're even worse than she is you freaking lunatic! You act like you love Cody like he's some kind of ancient greek god, but all you do is harass him!"
"At least I appreciate him! At least I could see right from the start the pure, caring and gentle soul that he is! All you did was act like he was some kind of pest, and then you just come in and steal him out from under me like-"
"HE WAS NEVER YOURS!" Gwen's tone was filled with pure, unbridled fury "All you've done to him this whole time is make his life a living hell! You've done nothing but harass him and basically molest him, you've almost gotten him killed on more than one occasion, you steal his freaking underwear-"
"And she weaved them into a basket for me." Cody muttered as he dug some candy out of his pocket.
"And the worst part is that the rest of us spent this whole time standing around doing nothing while you just molested him, and when he tried to vote you off you acted like a self-righteous (bleep) about it! At least when Cody was annoying me back at Wawanakwa he accepted that I wasn't into him, and he never freaking molested me-"
"GWEN!" this was when Cody finally snapped her out of her angry tirade, his hands full of a large number of candies "As much as I appreciate you standing up for me, we are still in the middle of a minefield, and a challenge. We need to find a way out of here, and luckily I think I just found it." to provie his point, he started throwing down pieces of candy to cause explosions in the ground, allowing them to start running through the minefield.
"Gotta give it to you Cody, pretty smart idea." Gwen breathed a sigh of relief "Sacrificing your candy to set off the mines and let us get through without getting our faces blown off."
"Thank me while we run, cause we don't wanna die!"
"Yeah, fair point."
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(Confessional- Cody)
"Well that… happened I guess." Cody gave a shrug "I don't think I've ever seen Gwen get that angry before, even at Heather. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad she stood up for me with the whole Sierra thing, but the way she tore into her… All of the stress over the past few days must be getting to her. Maybe… Maybe she needs some time alone."
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(Confessional- Gwen)
"Okay, maybe I didn't handle that as well as I could've." Gwen breathed a sigh "But can you blame me? You can only deal with the crap on this show for so long before you just snap, and based on what those two have put he through for the past two days alone, it was either lash out at them or basically turn into Jack from the Shining. I'm not sure if I made the right call about that to be honest."
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Outside the blackbox warehouse…
"Okay the guards are gone, we can slip in here." Cody held the door open and let Gwen and the others slip inside the warehouse, and then he slipped in himself "Looks like we beat the other team here."
"Not by enough to make a difference dude." this was when Noah showed up on the scene and made his way into the warehouse, with DJ, Duncan and Alejandro following behind him.
"Yeah, I probably should've seen that coming."
"You said it yourself, I'm snarky and full of myself, but I'm not stupid."
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Meanwhile, with the host with the most…
"Looks like things are getting interesting?" Chris watched the entire scene taking place from his quarters on the plane, a bowl of popcorn in hand as he turned to the camera "Will our two groups of amateur alien hunters be able to make it out of the mysterious black box with their butts intact, and where the heck is Tyler? Find out when we come back, right here on Total! Drama! World Tour!" and then the plane got fried by a passing UFO "OW!"
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Meanwhile, in the blackbox warehouse…
"There goes a few of them." DJ poked his head around a corner and watched as two armored soldiers passed by without seeing him "Okay they're gone, looks like we're in the clear."
"And that means the two of us are all alone." Courtney wrapped her arms around one of his giant biceps and gave a sultry smirk "Which means that there's no one around except for us." she then looked around, only to see that Duncan was looking in another direction, causing her to scowl at him "Dammit."
"Courtney this is serious, we've got a big problem on our hands. These guys snagged Tyler right out from under us, sucked him into a big tube and took him into the base. I have no idea where he is now."
"Aw, you poor thing." Courtney tightened her grip on his bicep as she raised her voice loud enough so it would attract everyone's attention "You wanna go somewhere quiet and talk about that?"
"I wanna focus on finding my frie
nd before anything else, and that includes the challenge. I'm not leaving a man behind."
"Attention passengers, welcome to the blackbox warehouse! Finding an alien artifact in here that still works in here is gonna be a little bit like finding a needle in a haystack, a haystack armed with a Black Ops security system, which I set off when I hacked into this PA. Yeah, that one is totally on me." then the alarm sounded, and that was enough to send everyone running away screaming in different directions.
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With the BFG and the CIT…
"I see them over there." DJ poked his head around a corner and saw a few soldiers run past his location, only for something to hit him in the back of the head "Ow!"
As it turns out, it was Courtney digging through some random bin for alien artifacts, only to come across a metal disk "Great, some more broken crap." she threw it away, only for it to turn on and fly away after she did "Oh for god's sake, would it kill them to put labels on these stupid boxes?!"
"Courtney!"
"What do you want you-" Courtney was cut off by DJ pulling her into a tight hug, taking her by surprise, but somehow calming her down at the same time "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What I have to do to help you. You and I need to talk." he took a breath, and began "Things have been pretty intense this season. We've got most of our old friends here with us, and even a few new friends."
Courtney said nothing.
"There's been a lot of drama this season, especially with relationships. First Lindsay finally gets to remember Tyler after all this time, then Cody and Gwen become a thing."
"It was… pretty surprising to say the least."
"Then then there's you and Duncan." this caused her to tense, and then he heard a low growl ring through his ears "He never wanted to hurt you you know. Even after all of the fights you guys have had, all the yelling and screaming, all the kicks to his nether region, you guys always found a way to get back together. Truth be told, I always saw you guys as an inspiration. Duncan is one of my closest friends, and despite everything, I always saw you as a friend too. But the truth is, your relationship was never an easy one, especially during season two. Then came that 32 page letter. We all thought that at that point, it was hard to tell if you really cared about Duncan, or only about the person you wanted to turn him into." the growling got louder "Maybe he ended things because he wanted to break your heart, before you could break his."
"GOD DAMMIT!" Courtne's frustration reached its boiling point as she kicked DJ in the shin to free him from his embrace "Just what the hell are you getting at right now?"
"I'm telling you what you need to hear." his calm tone was making Courtney even angier by the second.
"Will you do the world a favor and shut the hell up already?! Everything you're saying is making me want to hurl! Say whatever you like about me, it doesn't change the fact that Duncan is just a worthless juvenile ogre, and I don't want anything to do with him! Frankly, I wish I never even met him!"
"That's nothing but a big fat lie, and you know that as well as I do."
"Dammit DJ, what the hell do you want from me?"
"You wanna know what I want?" DJ stood tall and looked down at her, his gaze hard and never wavering as he looked her dead in the eye "I want you to let it out."
Courtney's expression turned from rage to one akin to a dear caught in headlights, with some sadness seeping through.
"All of the anger, the sadness and the pain, all of the negative emotions that are burning inside of you. You have to let it go, because if you don't then it's going to destory not only you, but quite possibly everyone around you."
Courtney said nothing, she just gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as tears began brimming in her eyes.
"Whether it be from true grief or something as simple as a breakup, the road to healing has to start from there." DJ calmly turned around and walked out of the hiding place, just as he could hear Courtney start crying uncontrollably, and he let out a sigh "I promise that I'll be there for you soon, if to do nothing else but pick up the pieces. But right now, my friend is in trouble and my team needs me." and with that, he made his way out of the area, leaving Courtney to let out her emotional pain alone.
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Meanwhile, with a certain jock…
Tyler slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a small metal room strapped to a chair, and then the realization quickly dawned on him "Oh no, there is no way you're gonna fatten me up to feed your race of probe happy aliens! Are you?" this was answered with lots of sharp equipment dropping down from the ceiling of the room.
"Initiating G8751 Protocol: Large."
"Wait what-" Tyler found a large metal dome covering his head "Oh crap, it's the memory wiper thing Chris told me about! If I have to remember only one thing from my life then please, let it be Lindsay! I love you babe, and I always will!"
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Meanwhile, outside the metal box…
"Come on, where the hell do we-" Noah and Alejandro were searching through the warehouse for an artifact, only for the former to take notice of the loud screaming coming from the box "I think we just found Tyler. Hold on, I'll have you out of there in a minute. Probably." he started analying the keypad next to the door.
"Noah there's no time for that, we need to find an artifact." Alejandro pointed out.
"Well I think we know where your loyalties lie."
"Of course I'm concerned about our dear amigo." note the eye twitch as he said this "But it's not as if one is going to just fall out of the sky." this was followed by a glowing box falling off the roof of the metal room housing Tyler, and into Alejandro's hands "I stand corrected."
"Does it work though?"
"We can only hope so." this was followed by the box unleashing two beams of electricity, which then morphed into alien creatures.
"And we're gonna get probed now, just freaking perfect." Noah's dry expression didn't waver at the sight of aliens, until he saw one of them hold out a finger to him, causing his dry gaze to melt away as he touched the finger with his own "Note to self, go back and rewatch ET when I get thrown out of the plane." but then the tender moment was cut short when the alien's gentle smile melted away into a sadistic grin "Aw crapbaskets." and then he started getting eletrocuted by the alien.
Alejandro didn't have any time to react before the other alien latched onto his face and started to electrocute him as well, causing him to scream in pain.
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Meanwhile, with a certain fandom couple…
"Wait, I see a few of them." Gwen poked her head out from behind a crate as she saw a few black op soldiers pass by them "Okay they're gone, let's go. Lucky for us they're about as good at their job as Stormtroopers." she was met with a raised eyebrow from Cody "My little brother is a huge fan of Star Wars, and my mom used to make me watch the movies with him. Anyway come on, we've gotta go." she was about to bolt out of their hiding place, only to stop when she noticed how downcast he looked "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I guess, it's just…" Cody let out a sigh "Look don't get me wrong, that kiss we had in the confessional was amazing, like a dream come true. But was it worth it? I mean look at what you had to go through the past few days alone. Courtney tore into you because she needed some kind of scapegoat to take her anger out on, then Sierra tore into you because she's delusional, and she even called you the New Heather! I don't blame you for tearing into them the way you did back in the mine field. Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever seen you that angry."
"Can you blame me? You can only deal with the crap on this show for so long before you just snap, and based on what those two have put he through for the past two days alone, it was either lash out at them or basically turn into Jack from the Shining." she let out a cough "Speaking of which, I don't suppose you have a lozenge on you?" she was handed a lozenge, which she got down in one solid gulp "Thanks."
"Sure. Anyway, you don't deserve to have everyone tear into you like that, so if you've changed your mind about the whole thing then-" he was silenced by Gwen planting her lips against his, causing his leg to pump up "Was that a yes or a no?"
"It was my way of trying to make you shut the hell up." Gwen let out a sigh as she pulled him into a hug "Why don't we just… let things happen? Let it happen naturally. No insane pressure, no crazy planning, and most importantly, no petnames like pookums or anything. How does that sound to you?"
"And that's one of the reasons why I like you so much. You're one thing almost every other girl I've ever met isn't. You're real." he leaned in for another kiss, only to stop when something caught his eye "Aw crapbaskets."
As it turns out, Duncan was standing a few feet away from them holding an alien disc in his hands, his expression incredibly dull "This is nowhere near as funny the second time."
"Whatever, try not to get eliminated too soon." Gwen shot him a smirk as she took Cody by the hand and took off running.
"...Well that happened." Duncan glanced over at the camera "Say whatever you want, I still say it makes more sense than Harold and Leshawna." it was then that a sniffling noise got his attention, and he glanced over to see Courtney lying against a crate, her expression downcast, her arms wrapped tightly around herself "Aw shit."
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(Confessional)
"I know what you guys are thinking." Duncan rolled his eyes "You're thinking that whether or not I leave her is gonna decide if I still like her or some crap like that. I'm not playing that stupid game for the feminists. I'm a free man, and I like it! No more having to listen to her nag me every 10 seconds, no more listening to her acting like a freaking masochist, no more having her kick me where the sun doesn't shine, no more getting my ass sued for a million bucks… No more getting to feel her smooth skin… No more getting to smell the scent of her shampoo… No more kissing her on the neck… (bleep)!" he ended up punching the camera in frustration as he let out a loud string of cursing, and once he was done he let out a sigh "Well that's one way to get rid of the footage I guess."
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Back with the best TD couple…
Courtney barely had time to register what was happening before she found herself being hoisted onto Duncan's back and carried toward the exit of the warehouse "What are you doing?"
"The hell if I know." Duncan gave a shrug "Seriously, I can't think of a single reason why I'm doing this. It doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. I dumped you plain and simple, so why the hell am I going out of my way for you like this when I have a challenge to win, and a million big ones on the line. It's stupid, it doesn't make any sense. You're an overachieving self-rightehous control freak that kept trying to change me into some kind of puppet for you. I knew damn well what I was doing when I dumped you and why I did it, which begs the obvious question: Why the hell am I doing this?"
"...Well? Why are you then?"
Duncan paused, then gave a shrug "I guess just because I want to."
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Meanwhile, with the rest of the men…
"Okay, should be somewhere around here." DJ (covered in green goo) made his way through the warehouse with a large pod-like object slung over his shoulder, only to stop when he took notice of Noah running around with an alien on his face, and Alejandro trying to pry an alien off his face "I get the feeling I missed a lot while I was gone. Did you guys find Tyler in here?"
Alejandro simply pointed to the large metal box.
"Okay good, and I found an artifact. Just let me get these things off of you and Noah, then we can get Tyler, find Duncan and get the heck out of here." he set down the pod and went over to where Noah, in which he hoisted him up by the vest he wore, pressed him against a nearby crate, then used his physical strength to rip the alien right off of him, causing it to dissolve into a puddle of goo in the process.
Now free of the alien's clutches but covered in goo, Noah slid back down to the ground and spat some of it out of his mouth "Well at least this time, being hoisted off my feet didn't end in me getting shoved into a locker."
"Yeah, you don't have to worry about that with me." DJ then went over to Alejandro and tried to pry the alien off of his face, only for it to shock both of them and send him stumbling back into the metal box, causing the door to open with a cloud of mist, and letting Tyler step out, leaving the others to look at him in awe "Uh… Tyler?"
Sure enough, Tyler was standing before them, only he now had a clown makeover spread across his face, complete with a green mullet "What? Oh god they did it, the aliens stole my memories and styled my hair!"
"And gave you a mullet and made you look like the Joker." Noah pointed out dryly, only to be met with a loud scream.
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Meanwhile, with the host with the most…
"Like the Joker? Seriously?" Chris could only burst out laughing from where him and Chef were watching everything unfold from his quarters on the plane, and he quickly pulled out his military phone "Thanks again for that colonel, I can see why that mullet is top secret!" and then he broke into another laughing fit.
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Meanwhile, with team men…
"Easy brother, just calm down." DJ tried to calm Tyler down from his hysterical fit "I'm pretty sure these guys didn't steal your memories or anything."
"But they did DJ, they totally did!" Tyler broke down crying in a comical fashion "I totally even remember your name!"
"But you just-"
"Or Noah's name or Al's name or the Total Drama plane or Duncan's name, or the way that I had used Duncan's toothbrush to clean my lucky gitch or Lindsay or-" Tyler cut himself short when the realization finally dawned on him "Oh wait, I remember Lindsay… Yeah, I remember all of you guys! They didn't steal my memories-" he was cut off again by an alien disc slamming into his face, sending him crashing through a crate and to the ground with a loud thud.
As it turns out, Duncan was standing over him, his eyes blazing with rage as he let Courtney off his back and grabbed Tyler by the front of his tracksuit "What the hell was that line about my toothbrush?"
"Oh… I guess I never told you about that."
"Can we do this after we win amigos?" Alejandro finished prying the alien off its face, allowing him to throw it into a box that Noah was carrying "There, this should be able to satisfy Chris and his twisted needs."
"You sure we can keep that thing contained though?" asked DJ.
"In all fairness, we don't have many other options."
"We do have the pod thing I found, and I know it works. It shocked me, then it opened up and popped out what looked like a clone of me, only it had green eyes and looked really angry. But then Sierra showed up looking for Cody, saw my clone, got mad that it wasn't Cody and then she squeezed it so hard it sort of… popped, and covered me in all of this."
"...Okay then. But it's likely too big for us to carry back, especially if we have to pass through the mine field again."
"I… guess you have a point." DJ let out a sigh as he set the pod down "We'd better get going, for all we know the other team probably has an artifact already."
"Agreed, now vamanos!" and so the five of them took off in the directions of the exit, with the alien in the box being held by Tyler.
What they didn't notice was that Courtney had stayed behind in silence during their discussion, and she took notice of was the glowing box on the ground that had been left behind "This could work."
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Meanwhile, with the rest of Team Amazon…
"CODY!" in typical fashion, Sierra latched onto Cody the minute she saw him "Are you okay sweetie? Did that mean goth girl hurt you?" she was met with two pissed off looks from the others "What?"
"She didn't do anything to me." Cody struggled to free himself from his embrace "Nothing that I won't remember for the rest of my life anyway. We didn't find any artifacs though… at least, none that didn't try to kill us."
"Aw, that's too bad. I guess we'll have to vote someone off." Sierra started glaring daggers in the direction of Gwen, earning a dirty look from her in return "That's such a shame, it's going to be so tragic."
"Hey guys." this was when Courtney showed up on the scene with the glowing box in hand, her demeanor looking exhausted but triumphant "I have no idea what is, but it's intact." this earned a scowl from Sierra "What?"
"Nevermind that, we can save it for first class, now let's go!" Gwen barked at them, which quickly prompted all of them to take off running.
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Meanwhile, with team men…
By this point, the group was making their way back in the direction of the plane the plane by going through the minefield, with Noah being hoisted onto DJ's back "The one time I actually like being lifted up like a sack of meat by a jock."
"Come on you guys, we've gotta get going!" Tyler glanced back at the others from where he was leading the charg back to the plane, the alien stuffed into the box in his arms "We didn't get this far in the competition because we're a bunch of wimps, it's because we know how to stay one step ahead of the-" he was cut off when the ground beneath him suddenly exploded, sending him flying through the air screaming at the top of his lungs.
"...You know in hindsight, letting Tyler be the one to hold the fragile alien cargo might not have been the best idea." Noah was met with pissed off looks from Duncan and Alejandro "Glare at me all you want, neither of you objected before now."
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Meanwhile, at the plane…
Around this time, Chris was sitting by the plane reading a newspaper, only for a loud crash to get his attention, and he looked up to see Tyler get faceplanted into the ground "I'm gonna be honest, I'm surprised it took him this long to get blown up by something."
"Why is the purple meatball playing the piano?" Tyler let out a groan as he dropped the scorched box in front of Chris, revealing the gooey remains of the alien.
"So you guys went with a former alien lifeform huh? Pretty impressive find. Too bad it isn't still intact, or you guys would've won."
"What?!" this was when Alejandro and the rest of the team arrived, and he let out a snarl of pure rage over the loss.
"Yeah, looks like you guys just lost, because here comes Team Amazon."
"God dammit, you mean the guys beat us?" this was when Gwen and the others showed up with the glowing box in hand.
"Yeah but their artifact got destroyed when Tyler kind of exploded, so that means the Amazons win again!" this was met with cheers from Gwen and Cody, angry growling from Sierra, and no reaction from Courtney, which left many others fairly disturbed.
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About an hour passed, and the plane was flying to its next destination.
Cody glance down at the slice of pizza in his hand, then glanced over at Gwen "Are you sure you're gonna be okay though?"
"I'm not made out of glass, I'm gonna be fine. As long as I don't have to be alone with either of them anyway." Gwen glanced over at where Courtney was brooding to herself on the sofa, then jerked a thumb over to where Sierra was eating the heads off of other Gwen cutouts "And just like that, Izzy has been replaced."
"At least Izzy wasn't out for blood from anyone but Chef."
"Fair point." Gwen let out a sigh, then gently gripped Cody's hand as she gave a small smile "At least I have you here to keep me sane."
"I feel the same way." he returned the smile with one of his own.
"Attention all players and brooding crazy chicks, the time has come for us to throw some guy out of the plane at a few hundred feet."
"So who do you think is gonna go?"
"Kind of hard to say." Gwen gave a shrug "If I had to guess though, I'd say Tyler. He did end up destroying their artifact."
"Duncan and DJ though, they left their teams to do… whatever it was they did."
"Duncan watched us make out again, and DJ did something with Courtney. I'm not really sure what though, but it must have been pretty big to make her act like that."
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Meanwhile, in the elimination room…
"Well this is a hardcore disappointment with my name on it." Chris' frown deepend as he looked around at the team sitting before him "Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot… I'm not gonna lie guys, there was definitely not a lot of teamwork going on tonight. Tyler, you really had to waste time on a new hairdo? Not cool. DJ and Duncan, blowing off your teammates so you can mess around with Duncan's ex? Also not cool. Alejandro and Noah, wasting your time and ours on a double date with a bunch of aliens? Hysterical."
"You know what's gonna be hysterical?" Tyler (wearing his arm in a cast and having his head wrapped in bandages) bolted to his feet "Seeing the look on Duncan's face when you tell him that he's outie!"
"Hate to break it to you Tyler, actually no I don't, but nobody is outie tonight, because this was a reward challenge only. No elimination, not for tonight at least." this claim was met with a few sighs of relief, as well as a few groans "Yep, all of you are safe, at least for now. As we speak, the members of Team Amazon are enjoying the benefits of their reward in the form of an American buffet of burgers, fries and pizza galor. You know, classic American cuisine." and then the groans came back "Yeah, so American that it hurts. How are the remaining 9 competitors gonna be hurting next? Find out next time, right here on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
A/N:
This chapter isn't quite as eventful as the last few, given that I made it into a reward challenge, but given that we've had two elimination episodes in a row, I figured it was about time for it. Plus I kind of needed it to be a reward challenge so I don't screw up what I have planned for the next chapter.
While this chapter doesn't progress much from an elimination standpoint, it does do a fair amount for character development. For starters, I decided to have Courtney flirt with DJ instead, for the sake of getting back at Duncan, only for DJ to call her out on it, and get her to let out all of the pain and anger she's feeling. Plus I got to show that even after the breakup, Duncan still does have feelings for Courtney, even if he won't admit it.
Elimination order:
Duncan (returns)
Ezekiel
Harold
Bridgette
Leshawna
Lindsay
Izzy
Heather
Owen