Disclaimer: I own nothing but the one OC.
Author's note: I'm begging you guys, please leave reviews. It helps me figure out what I suck at.
Alejandro hefted a rock. Chris had said that there were some barriers in place to keep the campers penned in, but what kind? If things got seriously bad, they'd have to escape. Best to know what they were facing.
He pretended that the rock was Heather's manipulative head and threw it as hard as he could. The rock didn't travel far before stopping in mid-air. A faint buzzing noise was heard.
Zoey's senses were sharp enough that she could smell the burned moss on the rock. "Chris put up...electrified fences? That seems a little much."
Courtney rolled her eyes. "When has Chris ever shown restraint?"
The indie girl shrugged. It was a moot point to argue.
A loudspeaker, which had gone unnoticed by everyone but Harold, crackled to life. "Campers, your stay in the Fun Zone starts now! See you in 12 hours, or whatever's left of you!"
Confessional
Geoff: He's been saying that since season 1, but it hasn't happened. Don't know why everyone's so worried, it's just a camping trip.
End of Confessional
The teens drifted apart from their teams. This was a golden chance to talk to some old friends and an even better chance to make some new ones. The most startling interaction by far came when Lightning walked over to Dawn.
"Yo, creepy girl, can I ask you a question?"
Try calling someone you barely know "creepy" and see what reaction you get. You can imagine the look on Dawn's face.
Lightning seemed to sense the social mistake and started to massage his neck awkwardly. "Uh, I mean, Dawn, can I ask you a question?"
She sighed. "We have some time, so why not. Brick, Zoey, could you give us some privacy, please?" After they left, she turned back to the uber-athlete expectantly.
"The sha-Lig-". He gritted his teeth in order to get the next part out. "I rewatched the tape from Revenge of the Island. I got sha-played by Scott. I'm sorry for voting you off. It didn't sit right with the sha-Lightning that you got the boot."
Dawn was startled. Lightning hadn't exactly presented himself as someone who thought about others' feelings, or about others at all, so hearing an apology started to change her perception of him. She noticed something else, as well. "Did you get made fun of for your first name as a kid?"
Lightning panicked. "How'd you know? Can you read my mind? Oh god, can you tell me how I'm gonna die?"
"No, I've noticed that you're using actual first-person pronouns now instead of 'Lightning' this and 'Lightning' that. And", as she started to blush, "I like the name Rudolph. It sounds nice."
"Dawn is my favorite time of day to train, so I like Dawn too. I wanted to ask you, what does the orange aura mean?"
Dawn smiled. "Orange is a good color. It means that you're courageous, considerate, and confident."
He thought about her words for a moment. "Sha-Lightning ain't used to being called 'considerate'. You're a good person, right? Can you help me?"
The two fell into a deep conversation. Alejandro watched from the sidelines, briefly reminiscing about his relationship with Heather. Those were good times, key word being were. He was weak. She made him even weaker. He wouldn't make that mistake again.
Courtney interrupted his train of thought by walking over. "If you're not too busy watching Lightning sha-score, I have a proposition."
Alejandro flashed the smile that had made him famous while holding his hands out in front of him. "From a tactical genius like you, I'm sure the proposition is worth my time. Please, proceed."
"We are the only two players on this team who can properly understand strategy. You already have an alliance with sha-moron; I want in. We bide our time and eliminate him when we can. With how strong we are, we can at least make it to the top 4."
The Spaniard pondered. He knew the CIT had a hatred for his ex matched only by his own and he knew that she was a formidable opponent. If he could use her to manipulate Gwen, and by extension Zoey, Brick, and Dawn, this game was his for the taking.
The problem was, Courtney knew this too.
Confessional
Courtney: Alejandro is too strong for his own good. As nice as he is to look at (sighs dreamily), he is a problem. I don't need any more problems in my way.
End of Confessional
Four hours had passed, and still nothing. No serial killers. No sasquatches or their Wawanakwa counterparts. No aggressive bears. The campers were starting to think that they were in the clear.
Geoff had been having a nice conversation with Harold where the two thought back fondly to the first season before a rare worry crossed his mind. "I think Chris, like, forgot about us."
Zoey looked around the Fun Zone. Her senses that had been reinvigorated by Commando Zoey were starting to reactivate. "Not likely. Pretty boy has too much riding on this show. This is intentional, meant to play on our fears."
She turned to her team. "Wombats, breathing exercises on three. Keep those heart rates nice and low."
Dawn ignored her friend because she had just taught Lightning how to meditate. He had a tender side to him, once you got past the compulsive bragging. He had told her that his dad was one of the greatest athletes Canada had ever produced and that he simply couldn't live up. She remembered how his dad had bet his four championship rings on the ROTI finale. The constant self-affirmation was a cry for help, more than anything. He felt he had to do something to escape his dad's inescapable shadow. She gently helped Lightning figure this out, and the two had been sitting in silence for a while, reflecting.
Harold felt something stirring in the woods. A sense that not even Commando Zoey could have activated was telling him that something was off. Darkness had fallen. If Chris was going to do something to actually make this a challenge, now was the time to strike.
Things went south quickly.
"Oh nononononono… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Harold jolted instinctively. He knew the voice. It was his fair maiden Leshawna screaming in mortal agony.
A chorus of voices started yelling with her. Harold's heart was beating so quickly he couldn't pick out all the voices, but he definitely also heard Gwen, Izzy, Noah… and Bridgette?
They were yelling in pain, simultaneously begging for help and crying for someone to leave them. The group of campers in the Fun Zone gasped and huddled. This didn't sound like a challenge to most.
Geoff was freaking out. "Dudes, my Bridge is out there! Screw the game, I gotta do something!" He turned to the others looking for backup. Finding none, he implored them. "Listen to the screams! No way those aren't real."
Courtney rocked back on her heels, thinking. Her eyes narrowed in understanding, before returning to the shocked look everyone else shared. "Geoff's right, we gotta save them! Quick, everyone look for blind spots on the fence."
The campers started to disperse to the winds, but Courtney managed to pull Alejandro and Harold aside first. "Those voices aren't real."
Harold was just as nervous as Geoff, so he had a hard time accepting this. "No way. That's Leshawna and I'm saving her, with or without you guys!"
Courtney stamped her foot in frustration. "Harold, THINK! Why is Bridgette screaming and not James? She's not even on this season. Why do the sounds repeat every 30 seconds?"
As addled as he was, Harold had to pause to listen. After 30 seconds, he had to admit she was right. The phrases that the others were yelling were repetitive. Same pitch, same pauses in between words, same beats per minute.
Alejandro spoke up, with hatred dripping from his words. "Chris. This is the challenge. We still have a lot of time too. We have to stay calm."
"No, we have to get Geoff to leave. Remember what Chris said? If anyone leaves the Fun Zone, they'll earn a disadvantage for their team. Whatever that penalty is has to be something big."
Harold looked uneasily at the two. "Geoff is my friend. You're playing on one of his biggest fears. That's not cool at all."
"Listen, little man, we need to win one way or another. If we can hurt the Wombats, our job gets that much easier." Alejandro stated flatly. For him, this was a simple business matter. Nothing to get worked up about.
"That's against the warrior code! What if we heard Heather scream-"
The Spaniard saw red. "Don't fucking say that name, esa puta", he snarled. "You want to help our enemies? Fine. You're gone in the morning, 'mano."
Both Harold and Courtney had flinched at Alejandro's ferocity, but even the outburst wasn't enough to deter Harold. With a final "whatever", the nerd ran off to alert his new found buddy.
Confessional
Alejandro: She kicked me off the side of a fucking volcano, ignored me for a year while I developed permanent scars and burns, and then broke up with me when money got in the way. She deserves everything she gets.
Courtney (grinning): I think the most overpowered camper in TD history has a weakness.
Harold sprinted as fast as he could to the other side of the penned-in area. He met Zoey first, who was looking up in the air suspiciously. "Zoey, where's Geoff? I need to tell him something big, now!"
She looked curiously at Harold, before deciding that whatever the nerd wanted couldn't hurt. "Last I saw, he was over there", she said, while pointing behind her left shoulder. Harold hurried in that direction calling Geoff's name before finding him.
He could smell burning flesh, meaning only one thing. Geoff had tried to ignore the electric fence but the electric fence had not ignored him. The party boy had serious burns on his hands which looked like they could become serious injuries if left untreated. He was still climbing frantically, calling for his Bridge to stay calm all the while. Harold, in an out of body experience, noticed that the voices seemed to get louder and faster the closer Geoff got to the top of the fence. He had to act fast, or his buddy was a goner.
"Geoff, STOP! The voices aren't real! They're just recordings being played by Chris, the IDIOT!"
Geoff had just crested the top of the fence. He glanced back at Harold, seemingly ignoring the news. He had gotten this far. Nothing, come hell or high water, was stopping him.
There was a moment where it looked like Geoff had reconsidered. Harold looked at him hopefully. Instead, Geoff tumbled over the fence and onto the ground below. Immediately, the once-hidden speakers began to blare an alarm. The other campers in the Fun Zone, as well as the campers who had competed at the roller coaster earlier in the day, jerked involuntarily. The demonic host himself came over the speakers to announce the final results.
"And with a mental mistake from Geoff, the Malicious Muskrats win again! Wombats, meet at the beach for an elimination ceremony in twenty minutes!"
As the campers reunited with their teams outside the cabins, Courtney made sure to tell the other Muskrats what Harold had done. He had made the inexcusable mistake of trying to help a friend. Noah's eyes narrowed in disdain.
"Dude, you can't be doing that. If you want any chance at that money, you have to ignore friends."
"Don't listen to him, string bean", Leshawna said. "You did the right thing, even if that poor simple boy Geoff didn't listen."
Izzy was in a world of her own. Her vision was completely distracting her from whatever was going on. Geoff was hurt, that was true, but she didn't think that she had anything to do with it. What could that part of the dream mean?
Lightning stayed silent. Dawn had said that he needed to learn to be more empathetic, so he was trying to put himself in Harold's shoes. He realized that both options were bad ones but Harold had chosen the option that almost certainly made the game harder for himself. This empathy stuff was hard.
Meanwhile, the Wombats were assembling on the beach for their second elimination in as many challenges. Gwen had stayed true to her word. They had not won the challenge, so there was no reason to hear Heather out. Even though the Queen Bee had helped save her life earlier in the day, it didn't make up for years of emotional abuse. Not even close.
Confessional
Heather: This has to be Geoff. Right? (cringing nervously) Right?
Gwen: Between a rock and a Heather place. (She sighs, before marking a picture off camera)
Geoff: I let the team down, dudes. Simple as that. (looks at his heavily bandaged hands) At least this will give me more time to recover.
Brick: Going AWOL is one of the biggest crimes a cadet can commit. Simple choice tonight.
End of Confessional
Chris looked at the forlorn campers sitting in front of him with poorly contained glee. "Wombats, I didn't expect to see you guys back here so soon. Two challenges dropped in a row? Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"Shut it McLean", Gwen grumbled. "Just give us the damn medals already."
"You know Gwen, I really have no idea why the fans like you. So full of negativity. Anyway, if you get a gold medal, you're safe for another week. If you get lowly silver, it's a one way ticket down the oversized toilet right over there. The following campers are safe. Gwen. Zoey. Brick. And James.
Heather, people hate you with a PASSION. It means great ratings, though, so I'm not gonna step in. Geoff, you fell for a Vietnam-era mind game, my man, losing your team the challenge in the process.
And the final medal goes to
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Heather! Wow, you guys can not let her keep getting away with this."
She caught the medal and looked around at her teammates. James was still queasy from the roller coaster so he wasn't looking at anyone, Brick and Zoey looked blankly at her, but Gwen stared at her with pure contempt. Heather sniffed and turned as if to ignore her, but she started to tear up during the turn. James was the only one who noticed and he made a mental note to bring it up at their next moonlight conversation. His attention was then immediately diverted to throwing up for the fifth time.
Geoff walked to the toilet resignedly. His teammates followed to see him off. The party boy turned to apologize. "I'm sorry guys, I didn't think. Harold even tried to warn me. Definitely a bummer." His face lightened into a grin, before continuing. "James, dude, you said first day we had to party sometime, and I'm not letting you forget that, bra."
After the comically large flush, the Wombats started to walk back to the loser's cabin before Brick realized something. "Geoff said Harold tried to warn him, right?"
Zoey paused. "He asked me in the woods where Geoff was, and that he had something urgent to tell Geoff. His team seemed pissed at him, too."
Gwen chimed in, saying "If we can figure out from Harold who was mad at him, we might be able to figure out who has an alliance and who doesn't."
Dawn looked from teammate to teammate, before sighing. "Lightning's in an alliance with some people. He didn't want people to know but it might help us out in the long run."
Zoey looked at her friend carefully. "Do you really think you can trust him? You remember what he was like on Revenge and on All-Stars, right?"
"He's changed, Zoey. I'm getting good things from his aura. Please trust me."
The campers automatically looked towards James, who because of his calm handling of the first challenge was unconsciously recognized as the leader. The "leader" was in no condition to lead but he just nodded towards Zoey. "You guys know these other campers better than I do. Do what you think is right."
Heather tapped her chin thoughtfully, adding that "Harold was probably threatened by someone. I heard yelling coming from their-"
Gwen stared her down. Heather closed her mouth and retreated slightly. The goth smiled at the complete flip of behavior before trying to conclude the meeting. "Courtney wouldn't dare lie to me. I think that I can talk to her and figure out what the Muskrats are doing. Everybody, get some sleep. We need to be at our best for whatever Chris throws at us tomorrow."
Unseen to them, Chris was just wrapping up the show on the beach.
"Taken out by his own challenge, ouch! The Woeful Wombats are on a losing streak going into our next challenge which is going to be the most painful yet. Who'll get injured? Who'll require emergency therapy when they leave the island? And who'll walk away with the win? Next time, on
TOTAL
DRAMA
SEND-OFF!"
Teams: Woeful Wombats (James, Heather, Gwen, Zoey, Dawn, Brick, Geoff, Dakotazoid)
Malicious Muskrats (Alejandro, Izzy, Lightning, Harold, Noah, Leshawna, Courtney)
Voter (who they voted for): James (Geoff), Heather (Geoff), Gwen (Heather), Zoey (Geoff), Dawn (Geoff), Brick (Geoff), Geoff (Heather)
Geoff- 5 votes
Heather- 2 votes
James was lacing up his shoes quietly. It was 1 in the morning again, and this was his determined meeting time with Heather. She'd basically put up a wall to him after the last night, and he wanted to see if he could figure out what the hell was going on in her head. Sneaking out of the guy's cabin was a breeze. Brick was a heavy sleeper, and Geoff was gone. The other girls didn't seem to be awake either. He followed the trail that he had followed a few days ago, not noticing the footprints below.
As he came to the top of the cliff, he saw Heather, but something was off. Her body was rigid, as if slightly confused. She was glaring at something that James couldn't quite see with an expression that radiated pure hatred. James stepped into the moonlight before he saw what was making her uncomfortable.
"I need to talk to both of you right now. Also, hey, James, are you trying to flirt with her? Bold choice, but I trust you."
James shook his head in amusement. "Hi Iz, fancy seeing you here."
Author's Note: Please leave reviews. If there's something you hate, something you love, something you're indifferent about, let me know. I'm always willing to adapt and take criticism.