Author's Note
Greetings loyal readers! Another update brings another chapter. Which was arguably a few days late... I don't have much to say for this one. The Awake-a-Thon is a pretty tedious challenge to write, especially when there's development to be written. But I've done what I could. Starting from this chapter, whenever I respond to reviews, the reviewer will be bolded, and when mentioning the teams, they'll look like this, just to clear up sloppiness. Now, let's continue to the reviews!
Gucci Mane LaFlare: Interesting predictions…
Sonic155: Really? I thought that looking through the cast, Geoff/Sammy will be the obvious choice.
Phenomenal Excelsior: Courtney and Sammy have an interesting dynamic with each other. Like you've stated already the former trying to help the latter with her self-esteem. And the latter possibly helping Courtney become a better person. And just to contradict your false statement, the Killer Bass won in Fangren's cliff-diving/hot tub making challenge. Just sayin'. Cameron will definitely be in a later season. Due to me wanting to follow the 'every first generation contestant competes in two season except the aftermath hosts'. Lucky for me, I've already decided how the aftermath hosts will be. But that won't be revealed until Total Jumbled Action.
ShadowJcreed: Yup, Katie and Sadie have different personalities in this fic, Katie being the more sensitive one and Sadie being more logical. Jo and Scarlett are your top picks? Interesting…
TDRoramie: Thank you! I hope we meet again soon.
Amazing Brayden: Judging by the previous updates, probably some time every week, haven't really decided on a date yet.
Stress2Impress: I've expected Jo to be one of your predictions but Topher? That's new.
Guest: No comment…
That One Guest: Yeah, Sammy and Courtney's interactions took up a lot of screen time from other campers. I'll attempt to fix that issue later on. Yep, Cameron going first wouldn't be a first pick to most people but with this cast, it was all I could do.
Critica7: This cast I admit, does give B a good chance of victory past the others. But I won't give too much information about the events of this season. Or series, for that matter.
AndrewNotCarranza: Wow, I was not expecting to see a review from you on here. Your RNG story is not bad. I've mentioned it because it was simply just an RNG story. Glad to see you didn't quit. And since we're doing these stories at relatively the same pace… it'll be fun to compare and contrast our stories!
The Awake-a-Thon participants stand as follows.
Screaming Gophers: B, Courtney, Geoff, Harold, Izzy, Lightning, Sadie, Sammy, Scarlett, Scott, and Sugar.
Killer Bass: Amy, Beth, Brick, Cody, Dakota, Jo, Katie, Sam, Topher, and Trent.
Don't fall asleep during your read. It's very tempting.
Episode 3 - The Big Sleep
"Last time, on Total Drama Island!" Chris began on the same shot used to start off the previous episode. "22 campers arrived and learned that they'll be spending the next eight weeks at a crusty old summer camp." clips of the promo picture, Chris explaining in various locations and Amy being terrified of the roach. "The campers were faced with their first challenge: jumping off a cliff into shark-infested waters! And while most campers took the plunge, one in particular was forced to wear the dreaded chicken hat." Cameron happily obliging to wear the chicken hat was shown, along with other clips of the campers on the cliff.
"At the campfire ceremony it all came down to two campers." the Killer Bass were shown sitting at the campfire to eliminate one of their own. "Brick, a cadet with presumed military experience expressed extreme leadership, but led his team to defeat." clips of him telling his teammates about his leadership were shown. "And Cameron managed to let his team know how expendable he is. From choosing to not jump and not being able to help his team push a crate. He was practically doomed from the start." Cameron's clips of him being excited about the chicken hat, not pushing a crate and Jo arguing for why he should leave was shown.
"In the end, the first camper voted off Total Drama Island, was Cameron. Proving that bubble boys and reality TV, don't really mix." clips of Cameron's departure played as the episode returned to Chris standing on the dock.
"Who will be voted off this week in the most, dramatic campfire ceremony yet?" he hyped up the audience as the music tensed up. 'Find out tonight," he pointed to the camera, "on Total, Drama, Island!"
(Transition to Theme Song)
[Many shots of the lights and hidden cameras popping out and turning on were shown. Mostly hurting the wildlife in the process. A cue card shifts the shot over to the dock. The camera immediately starts to fly by the 'Wawanakwa' sign, some buildings on the campgrounds, and Chris who's in a director's chair drinking coffee. The lyrics begin once the camera passes the host.]
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;
[The camera zips past some trees, going up the cliff that left us on a cliffhanger last episode. Peeking over to see two rings made of buoys arranged in the water below.]
You guys are on my mind!
[The viewpoint changes as if someone jumped off the cliff and into the lake; Cameron is shown in his bubble, observing the area with glee. As a fish swims by him, a fishing hook pierces and makes a big hole in his bubble, leaving Cameron to get out of the bubble and flail his arms in despair.]
Ya asked me what I wanted to be,
And now I think the answer is plain to see!
[The camera surfaces, showing B and Scarlett in a canoe, B was shown controlling the motorized fishing rod. Cameron suddenly surfaces barely hanging on to the canoe. As B awkwardly glances at him. The contraption malfunctions and Cameron's bubble flies high into the air.]
I wanna be… famous!
[The bubble hangs in the air momentarily before coming back down. A pan down reveals Jo punching a tied-up punching with extreme passion. Brick promptly jogs past her. Jo gets angered by this and attempts to catch up to the cadet. Only for the pierced bubble to drape over Jo's head. The camera zooms out to show Courtney and Scott watching the scene unfold, Scott laughs at Jo's misfortune and Courtney rolls her eyes at his behavior.]
I wanna live close to the sun!
[The camera goes to another part of camp, Sam and Dakota were sitting on an inflatable raft. Both on their respective favorite devices. Too pre-occupied with their devices, they don't notice quick enough and go over the edge.]
Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!
[At the bottom of the waterfall, Lightning was striking several different poses on a broken log, suspended over two rocks. During the middle of that, he missed Izzy flying in on a vine from off-screen. She promptly crashes into Lightning, and they're both sent off-screen.]
Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;
[The camera barely keeps up with Lightning and Izzy, panning rapidly to do so. They crash into the outhouse confessional, causing Sugar to unceremoniously fall out with her pants fall the way down, with a pixilation over the part of her body that can't be shown on television. The camera begins to pan to the window in the Main Lodge, Chef could be seen through it.]
I'll get there one day.
[The camera moves past the window. Chef was shown stirring a pot of something, pukeworthy green directly with his arm. He looked behind himself to show Harold and Cody tied up in chairs, sharing the nervous at what's about to come.]
'Cause I wanna be… famous!
[A pan left shows Topher holding a picture of something admiring it happily. He flips the picture over, revealing it to be Chris when he was in a teenage boy band. Holding a guitar proudly alongside three other people. The camera goes past another window and to the stairs near the docks. Katie and Sadie were shown to be admiring Trent who was tuning his guitar just a couple feet away.]
(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
[Just down the docks, Sammy and Geoff were shown lounging on lounge chairs, chatting it up. Amy defiantly flips the chair Sammy was sitting down, laughing hysterically. Sammy turns red awkwardly as Geoff gives Sammy a concerning look.]
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
[The camera quick-pans ahead stopping at a waving Beth. Beth backs up and begins to twirl her baton at a great rate speed. So much so, that it looks like it's about to catch on fire. She cluelessly throws the baton up into the air.]
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
[The time transitions from day to night as the baton stays in the air. As the baton comes down, the sparks from it turns into fireflies. The camera pans down to reveal Sam and Dakota sitting at the campfire, gazing in each other's eyes. They lean in for a kiss, only for it to be interrupted by a crazed Izzy popping up between them, wrapping her arms around them for a hug. The camera pulls out slowly revealing the rest of the cast, whistling the last few notes of the theme song with Chris watching by the side.]
(Transition to Episode)
A tiny drumbeat tune kicked off the episode. Chris walked in front of the cabins. Noticeably wearing shorts in place of his trousers, and holding a big red megaphone. He playfully blew the air horn into the megaphone, the camera cut inside a cabin to view the campers' reactions.
"Oww… gosh!" Harold exclaimed, banging his head on the bunk above him in response to Chris's wake up call.
"Hush up," Scott groggily shouted. "I'm trying to sleep."
"So was I." Harold countered angrily, rubbing his head in agony. "But Chris's air horn woke me up." Harold let out a groan of displeasure. "My mad skills only come out when I'm well-rested!"
"Shut it, Harold!" Scott yelled, now facing the camera to look down at the dweeb. Harold promptly ignored Scott's remark, poking his head out the window.
"What was all that for?" Harold asked the host. "It's seven in the morning!"
A bright flash took over the screen, skipping a couple minutes back to the common area. Most of the campers began to assemble themselves into the teams, despite their obvious lack of sleep.
"That was not a good night's sleep." Beth pointed out, floundering over to Dakota who was wearing some sunglasses to shield people from seeing her eyes. "What's with the glasses?"
Dakota had ignored to the girl, appearing to be looking ahead. Contradicting that statement, her snoring could be blatantly heard. Noticing that, Beth tapped her on the shoulder, jolting her awake.
"Huh?" Dakota shouted, whipping her head side-to-side. "Beth?"
"You were sleeping, Dakota. Sorry?" Beth said, lacking of a better answer. Cody had just arrived to the scene standing next to Dakota. "Hey Cody." Beth dully greeted.
"'Sup girls." he greeted. He waited for Dakota's reaction patiently, not getting one. "Um, hey Dakota. Fancy seeing you here." she said slyly, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Sure Cody." Dakota moaned, not wanting to deal with the boy's flirtatiousness.
"Morning! Hope you slept well." Chris greeted beside Izzy, Sugar and Harold. All three barely cognitive, ironically.
"Morning to you too Chris. I like those shorts." Topher complimented, despite his current tired state. "They really bring out the muscles in your calves." he flexed as he said 'muscles'.
"Thank you Topher." Chris winked, changing shots to show him walk by the campers, stopping at Scarlett "I hope you're all ready because you're next challenge begins, in exactly one minute!"
"Christopher? I'm certain that only one minute won't be enough time for all of us to consume something before we participate in today's challenge. Breakfast is the most essential meal of the period."
"Oh, there'll be breakfast Scarlett," Chris said slowly, possibly buildup for the rest of his speech. "right after you complete your 20-kilometer run, around the lake!" he pointed to his right excitedly.
"20-kilometers?" Lightning asked from behind Chris. "Sha-easy! Lightning won't break a sweat."
"Can we please eat breakfast first?" Beth begged, visibly exhausted from her lack of sleep.
"Yeah, my tummy's growling something funky." Sugar agreed, rubbing her stomach in hunger. A loud piercing fart rang through the air. Her present teammates groaned and waved their hands around her in disgust as the pageant queen took offense. "That wasn't me!" she defended.
"The communal washrooms are right there Sugar." Chris frowned, covering his nose in disgust.
Confessional: Sugar
"What? Farting ain't a crime!" the Screaming Gophers logo spun into view as she supported her actions, ending her sentence off proud. "It's a way of life!" she said, overjoyed.
The static cut to an area of flat terrain, a third of the remaining campers lined up in their starting positions. Chris stood nearby like a starter at a track-and-field meet. "Okay runners! On your marks," the camera focused on Lightning, Jo and Trent. "get set, go!" the three aforementioned took off first with great speed. Sam lagging behind terribly.
A skip forward moves to scene over to the blazing sun. A pan down reveals several campers still running ahead, no stamina lost. A group of people stayed behind and walked, contradicting the host's orders.
"Do you know how much longer?" Harold asked Amy, who stood right beside him.
"No, but it better not be long." Amy complained, hands on her side. "I've got a manicure planned with Dakota later."
"Cool." Harold smiles, "can I come?"
"Ew!" Amy blanched, backing away from the burger-wearing teen. "Gross! No way!" she ran off in while Harold paused and watched. As he did so, Lightning barged past him in an effort to beat everyone else. "Hey! Watch where you're going bro!"
"Sha-sorry!" Lightning yelled back. Harold crossed his arms defiantly after the uber jock's response.
Confessional: Harold
"Lightning thinks he's all that. With his sports and his speed." Harold rambled in the confessional. "But once my mad skills kick in, he won't know what hit him!" he made some questionable grunts as he whacked the roll of toilet paper like knew karate.
A close-up of Sadie's blank expression was shown. Her face turned weirded out as she stopped her movement. The camera pulled out to show Izzy sitting in front of her, playing in the stream that Sadie stood in.
"Um, what're you doing?" sadie asked awkwardly, not wanting to interact with the redhead for long.
"Playing with my friends." Izzy answered, unaware of the uncomfort she's causing for Sadie.
Sadie looked around to see if anyone was present before answering. "Nobody's here Izzy."
"Sure there is!" Izzy beamed, bringing her hand out to count on her fingers. "There's Bob, Mary, Johnny, uhh Lily, and Phil! How could I forget about phil. He's such a wild one, yet he's so aloof! You get what I'm sayin'"
"Sure…" Sadie began to slowly go past Izzy. "I'll talk to you later, Izzy." the camera panned down to focus on the wild child.
"See ya Sadie!" Izzy waved cheerfully, she continued to play with her 'friends'. "That was just Sadie you guys. She's harmless." she paused for a brief moment as one of her friends 'spoke' to her. "No she's not a con artist, Phil."
The camera quick-panned a ways away from Izzy further up the line. Jo and Brick were shown jogging together side-by-side, other campers like Topher, B and Courtney passed them as they interacted.
"Jo, I've wanted to take the time to apologize to you personally about the events that occurred before the campfire ceremony." Brick stated. Jo raised her eyebrow, confused.
"Huh?" she said.
"I've shouldn't have been so snarky to you when I had elected myself as Project Manager." Brick placed a hand over his heart solemnly. "As a cadet, my job is to be companions with my teammates. Not enemies. Will you consider being lenient with my past actions?"
"Um sure. We're cool, I guess." Jo hesitated, taken aback from Brick's sudden gesture.
"Is there anything I can do to restore that balance?" Brick continued, fidgeting with his fingers. "I promise I'll comply." Jo immediately turned red.
"Wha- balance? I forgave you already-" Jo stuttered, stopping herself in time to modify her sentence. "Actually, there is one thing."
"Anything you want." Brick cracked a smile.
"A secret alliance." Jo told him bluntly.
"A secret alliance?" Brick repeated in confusion. "I'm not familiar with the term."
Jo spluttered in shock. "You're in the military! How do you not know? It's a pact!"
"Oh, a secret pact." Brick realized, turning skeptical almost instantly. "What's the purpose of this?"
"To make sure that we go far in the game." Jo explained devilishly. "If we can stick together during the vote. We can control the team."
"I don't appreciate all the dictatorship in this pact." Brick professed.
"Don't think of it as dictatorship." Jo began. "Think of it as creative suggestion."
"Okay I guess." Brick said uncertainly. "I'm still not really understanding you."
"Look, we avoid elimination by persuading our beloved teammates to vote each other off." Jo explained bluntly, not helping Brick's decision. "Politely."
"Um…" Brick looked up in thought. "fine. I'll try it out. But I can call it quits, any time I want. Fair?"
"Sure, Brick." Jo rolled her eyes, offering the cadet a handshake. Brick accepted without issue.
Confessional: Brick
"I didn't really feel like joining an alliance with Jo." Brick said in the outhouse. "But a promise is a promise. Part of the Cadet Code."
Confessional: Jo
"Getting Brick to join the alliance was harder than it should've been." Jo confessed bitterly. "But as long as he's in, we're good. Now the next part of the alliance has to be formed."
Around half of the campers have settled in the mess hall, waiting for the rest of them to complete their jog. All of them looked exhausted excluding the more athletic campers. (Lightning, Courtney, Scott)
The camera passed by a table full of campers, merging teams. At the end of the table beside geoff stood Chris, filing his nails and admiring them. Abruptly, Trent and Cody walked through the door, hauling Sam along with them.
"Uggh," Sam groaned. "A twenty-kilometer run plus no power-ups or speed boosts equals extreme tiredness and zero lives."
"Cameron's lucky he got booted last time." Trent began to Cody, who nodded in agreement. "He wouldn't survive doing this." as they moved out of the doorway. Dakota promptly arrived with Amy right behind her, looking extremely superior than she did that very morning.
"We're back!" Amy sang teasingly. "And looking better than ever too."
"I did it better." Dakota told the mean twin in a snobby fashion.
"You did not!" Amy countered with disbelief and shock.
"She kinda did." Sammy sided with Dakota, expressing herself to Courtney who giggled. Amy suddenly popped out-of-nowhere, becoming face-to-face with her younger sister.
"Nobody asked you Samey!" Amy argued, snarling with anger.
"Her name isn't Samey!" Courtney outbursted.
"How would you know?" Amy retaliated. "Have you seen her birth certificate?"
"No," Courtney admitted. "but she's told me that you only call me Samey for your own amusement."
"When did I say that?" Sammy asked in dubiety.
"You didn't. Lemme just help you out." Courtney whispered to her, shielding her mouth from view. She went to utter shock as soon as she looked at the door. Harold!" the Hispanic ran over to the door. The nerdy kid was shown clutching his chest in pain, struggling to breathe. "What took you so long? We just lost the challenge!"
"I think I'm having heart palpitations." Harold said in agony.
"Hold on, if they lost…" Geoff pondered out loud before turning ecstatic. "dudes! We just won the challenge!" the Gophers let that all sink in before erupting in various cheers.
"Woah there, hold your horses guys. That wasn't the challenge." Chris laughed, bursting their bubble while the Killer Bass began to smile in hope.
"Pardon?" Scarlett questioned. Chris ignored her, speeding over to an unusual purple curtain, used to shield the campers' surprise.
"Who's hungry!" Chris exclaimed, revealing the table full of various soul foods. To make it seem even better, the producers used special effects such as making the food glisten.
Confessional: Sugar
"I ain't seen a buffet table that appetizin' since…" she recalled. "My fourteenth birthday! It was amazin'!" she gushed over the blatant memory of her birthday food.
Confessional: Topher
"That buffet brought me to direct tears." Topher mused, wiping a tear off his face. "No offense Chris, but the food here looks like brown sludge. And the Chef, kinda on the freaky side of things."
A pan across the scene revealed all the dirty dishes left on the table, catchings all the moans and groans from the campers. On the left, Scarlett, Cody and Jo clutched their stomachs in utter pain. Trent kneeled in front of them while Sam was laid down next to Trent. On the right, Scott and Geoff sported unpleasant looks at the table of finished food. Sugar stood alongside them, what seemed to be gravy spread on her mouth like a goatee. Not fazed by the food she had just consumed.
Their 'supervisor', Chris promptly jumped on the table. Megaphone in hand. "Okay campers! Time for part two of your challenge!"
"But wasn't eatin' the third part." Sugar dumbfoundedly asked, licking the gravy off her lips happily.
"Is there any more cornbread left?" Geoff asked next, looking around the room for said cornbread.
"Can we go back to bed?" Scott was the last to speak, pointing outside the mess hall.
"Um, lemme think about that… no!" Chris smirked. "It's time for…" he raised his arms dramatically, "the Awake-a-Thon!"
"Dude what?" Geoff said.
"Don't worry," Chris hopped off the table, "this is an easy one. The team with the last camper standing wins invincibility!"
"If I'm not mistaken," Scarlett spoke up, adjusting her glasses, "you've coerced us to participate in a 20-kilometer lope around the lake, and tempted us with high-quality nourishment. All just for us to lose the ability of staying awake?"
"Correctamundo, Scar." Chris said, still through the mega phone despite Scarlett being right there.
"While I commend you credit for the devious scheme, I advise you to refrain from calling me other then my real name." Scarlett told him seriously.
"Sure," Chris scoffed, ignoring at genius's request, "move move move!" the campers compiled, dawdling out of the mess hall.
"How long do you think you'll last?" Cody said, walking up to Sam who had just got up.
"Without anymore firepower," Sam stumbled, "not much longer." he promptly fell down in exhaustion, startling Cody.
/
The following scene brought attention to the shining sun, apparently rising. A timer was beside it due to editing. It read, 11:59:55 in red as the view panned down to the campers sitting around at the fire pit. The time was clearly mistaken, since if the campers had really begun the challenge once they departed the mess hall. It would been nighttime when the camera was recording.
The camera passed across several Screaming Gophers, all visibly close to unconsciousness. "We are now twelve hours in, with all 21 campers still, wide awake." the camera stopped at Izzy who was doing the chicken dance strangely.
"It's already twelve hours?" Izzy asked, visible eye bags on her face showed. "Time really flies when you're havin' fun! Am I right Scott?" the wild child nudged the half-awake dirt farmer, jerking fully awake.
"Yeah sure Izzy." Scott snarled, scratching the back of his head. "Man I wish I could listen to some Kan'Ya East right now."
"You listen to Kan'ya too?" Geoff exclaimed, extending his hand for a high-five. Scott awkwardly looked around.
"Yeah, great." Scott said, accepting his gesture despite it being completely unenthusiastic.
Confessional: Scott
"The Whatever-a-Thon," Scott began, "was the most boring thing I've ever been a part of. But that's not on my mind right now. I need to stay clear of my teammates for now and stay low. Because these people are crazy!" he spread his arms in exasperation.
Jo was shown doing push-ups in the middle of the crowd. Not breaking a single sweat. "Ninety-nine… one hundred!" she promptly sat back up and dusted her hands, eyeing her surroundings with a smirk. The camera panned over to Brick, who was also doing push-ups away from her space. Another pan showed Dakota filing his nails tiredly. The third pan showed Trent yawning in oblivion. The last pan showed Cody attempting to flirt with Amy. Only for him to get shoved in the face by the mean twin. As the tech geek shrugged, a dinging sound played, indicating that Jo was about to focus all her attention to him.
The camera returned to Cody, looking up as he noticed Jo coming towards his way. "Hey, Jo." he said smoothly. "You can't resist the Codemeister, can you?"
"Calm down, 'Reject Row'." Jo told him, shooting his offer down immediately. "You want to win his show right?"
"Duh." Cody remarked in confusion. "Why else would I be here?"
"Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here!" Jo barked, pointing to herself indignantly. "You've seen our team, it's full of nerds."
"I guess," Cody looked at the teammates Jo referred to, "but there's also a lot of hotties." he eyed Katie pervertedly as she walked by in the foreground. Earning a punch from Jo. "Ow."
"Focus!" Jo said. "You see Brick-for-Brains over there?" she pointed over to Brick, who was now running in place determinedly.
"Yeah, what about him?" Cody asked.
"A secret alliance between me, you and Brick. Could seriously kick butt in this game." Jo clenched her fist in anticipation. "Brick's got brawn."
"I've got smarts." Cody added.
"And I've got both." she said arrogantly. "We can dominate this game. And, I'll take you guys to the final 3."
"Woah," Cody said in absolute awe. "the final 3. The final 3." his tone of voice became more excited with each sentence. "Woohoo-"
Jo promptly covered his mouth as he exclaimed. "Can it! You don't need to alert everyone about it. Hence why it's called a secret alliance. Brick!" Jo yelled for the cadet, who arrived not even five seconds after.
"Brick McArthur, reporting for duty!" the cadet announced, saluting Jo respectfully.
"Brick, meet our new alliance member. Cody." he motioned to the geek, Brick approached him giving a handshake.
"Welcome to the team, crony." Brick welcomed.
"Thanks, I guess?" Cody said, shocked at Brick's military background.
"Have you had any military experience before?" Brick inquired.
Cody held his chin. "Nope. But I've had experience with computer science. And girls." he added slyly.
Brick looked at him confusedly. "I'm not too sure if that'll be put to use but the more the merrier."
"Now that we done icebreakers," Jo started dully. "can we agree to stick together till the Final 3?" Brick nodded his head confidently while Cody was more suspicious.
"Okay... Final 3 it is." Cody rubbed the back of his neck.
/
The camera flashed over to Topher,checking himself out in a hand mirror.
"Yikes, I could use a touch-up." he told himself, touching his eye bags. He stood up to go to the communal washrooms. As he passed by Chris to get there, he gave the host finger pistols. "Lookin' good Chris!" Chris mimicked the fanboy with a chuckle.
"I like that kid." Chris commented.
The camera cut to the washroom door, the view cut inside as Topher did so. He went straight to mirror, adjusting his hair first. A noise of the toilet flushing was heard just as Trent walked in the door. Sammy punctually left the stall and locked eyes with Trent.
"Hey," Trent started an interaction. "Samey, right?"
Um, no. It's Sammy." Samy corrected awkwardly.
Trent went into a state of shock, embarrassing himself in front of the cheerleader. "Oops, sorry. Your sister calls you that a lot so I-"
"I understand." Sammy cracked smile. "It's happened before."
"Unfortunately." Trent muttered, "the way your sister treats you is horrible."
"Well," Sammy chuckled lightly, "it's not her fault. She's the pretty one."
"You guys look exactly the same! Except for the mole on her cheek." Trent told Sammy. "As far as I'm concerned, you're both the pretty one."
Samm began to blush and tilt her head. "Thanks, Trent."
"Ah, don't sweat it." Trent smiled as well. His eyes following the cheerleader as she left the washroom.
"Well well well." the fanboy began off-screen, now tending to his eyes. "Now little Trent's got a girly buddy."
"What? No I don't." trent directed a apprehensive look towards Topher. "She's just an… acquaintance."
"No person gives an 'acquaintance' that type of look." Topher chortled, turning to face the guitarist. "You brought a guitar right? Play her a song. Ooh! Even better! Write her one! That'll for sure bring the ratings up!"
Trent looked irritated with Topher's input. "I don't care about ratings. Plus, I wanna focus on winning the show."
"This show's just one big popularity contest." Topher said. "Sooner or later, you're gonna need some allies."
"So you're saying I should date Sammy, just for her vote in the competition?" Trent asked in disbelief, crossing his arms. "That's low bro."
"I didn't say that." Topher replied, attempting to convince the young man. "All I'm saying is that, you gotta do what you can Trent."
"Whatever man," Trent gave Topher one more annoyed look before leaving the washroom. "I'm outta here." Topher promptly smirked.
"Ratings, gold." the camera zoomed in on his face as he looked around expectantly.
/
A new scene began with a longshot of the island at night. The fire pit illuminating a small area in the island. The timer saying around a full day. The camera cut closer to reveal several campers either close to falling asleep, or actually doing so. When the camera cut to a full shot of the Gophers sitting on one side of the area. Their scoreboard read '8'. The camera panned to the Bass, and their scoreboard read '9'.
The shot moved to Scott, who was tiredly whittling a block of wood. Next the shot moved to Harold and Scarlett, the former peacefully asleep while the latter bluntly yawned.
"I've been hit with a severe case of fatigue." Scarlett told her teammates.
"Relax genius, we're all tired." Scott rolled his eyes.
"Not me!" Lightning outbursts, doing jumping jacks at a fast rate of speed. "Lighting will be up the longest."
"Oh please, you'll just wear yourself out quicker." Courtney told him nonchalantly. "Save the little energy you have and sit down."
"Contrary." Scarlett contradicted. "One of the most reliable strategies to keep awake for a long period of time is to remain active. So technically, Lightning's got a good chance of staying up."
"See?" the uber-jock crossed his arms indignantly. "The Lightning is never wrong!"
"Arguably." Courtney rolled her eyes. Beside her sat Sammy, who was barely awake. "You okay Sammy?"
"Hm, yeah." Sammy said, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I'm alright."
"Sammy," Scarlett shot a 'concerned' look towards Sammy. Which was believable for the 'naive'. "you seem exceedingly enervated. It's excusable for you to disengage from the challenge."
Sammy yawned once more before laying down. "Really? Thanks Scarlett." she turned away from the group and began to doze. Earning a tick down from '8' to '7'.
"You're a good leader." Courtney crept up onto Scarlett. "Like the way you just calmly agreed to let Sammy fall asleep was really courteous of you."
"Thank you Courtney. But letting our teammate fall asleep was just me being a 'nice' civilian." Scarlett quoted. "Personally, I don't understand as to why you're being so pleasant towards Sammy. Well, other than her vote of course."
"Her vote?" Courtney bugged her eyes. "What do you mean her vote."
"You know exactly what I mean, Courtney." Scarlett smirked undoubtedly. "I can comprehend that you are aware of how this game works. One vote equals a lot. So with Sammy wrapped around your finger, it won't take too long for you two to start picking people off."
Courtney chuckled indecisively. "Um, you've got the wrong idea. Me and Sammy are simply friends with no intention of , 'using her for her vote'."
"Alright Courtney, when all chaos breaks loose don't return wailing to myself." Scarlett told her, the Hispanic turning around to the lens with a cautious look.
Confessional: Courtney
"As a future class president, I take full responsibility of saying that Sammy is just a friend." Courtney told the outhouse camera professionally. "Intentions of her being in an alliance with me would've only occurred when the second half of my polarizing personality came out. And I'm planning on leaving that personality, out of the competition."
Confessional: Scarlett
"Courtney is an interesting individual, on one hand she's the polite, class president, type-A student that most people adore. And on the other hand she's a bit, indecisive." Scarlett said slowly. "Which arises an issue that I might have to directly handle with down the road…" she crossed her arms and rubbed her chin.
The focus moved over to Katie, who looked tremendously exhausted from the challenge. A fair skinned hand tapped her shoulder lightly, which got her attention and formed a big grin on her face.
"Katie!" Sadie exclaimed, squealing loudly as she was reunited with her best friend. Groans and complaints were heard from their fellow campers due to their reunion.
"Put a sock in it!" Jo yelled off-screen. The BFFFLs compiled, squealing in a very hushed tone.
"Ohmygosh Sadie!" Katie cried, moving over to make room for Sadie. "It's been like forever since I last saw you!"
"Oh I know!" Sadie eagerly nodded her head. "Chris should've never separated us."
"Yeah! He's such a meanie for that!" Katie looked at her fair-skinned friend with worry in her eyes. "You're not like, replacing me with somebody on your team right?"
Sadie gasped. "Katie! I would never! Nobody will be as nice as you." she tightly hugged Katie to banish that thought from her head. "But… my team is pretty cool. Except for Scott, he's pretty weird."
"Yeah, he was chopping wood earlier." Katie told Sadie. "So weird."
"So," Sadie began excitedly, "how's your team?"
"Um, they're… okay?" Katie struggled for a good description of her team, causing Sadie to become suspicious.
"Aw Katie!" Sadie whined. "Who hurt you?"
"Nobody, it's just that their not like you!" Katie hugged Sadie, returning the favor.
"Well, whatever happens." Sadie sighed. "I'll never forget you." the scene looked like it was about to switch over, only for Chris to put a stop to that abruptly.
"Congratulations campers!" the camera cut over to the host. "You've made it to the 24-hour mark. Time to take things up a notch!" Chef promptly arrived, decked out in a pink sheep costume, harp in hand. Chris unveiled a cluster of books beside him. "Fairy Tales!"
"Hah, amateur." Scarlett boasted. Chris pulled out one of the books and opened them to begin reading.
"Ahem," Chris coughed, Chef passed his finger through the harp, glaring at Chris. "Once, upon a time." Chris read the book slowly and calmly. "There was… inside this boring kingdom..." as Chef played the harp while glaring at somebody off-screen, Beth was shown to be yawning. "...a boring village. And inside this boring, sleepy village… filled with, very boring children." Geoff was just barely trying to stay awake, almost failing. And Dakota was shown to be slowly closing her eyes to doze off.
A ripple effect transitioned the scene over to the harp Chef played on a lone trail. A little tune played as one-by-one sheep began to hop over the harp. By the third sheep, it was Chef had hoped over the harp. Stopping mid-way as a fart rang in the air. The camera returned to the present time, showing Dakota being jolted awake by Sam's unnoticed gas. Dakota inched away as Sam just kept snoring.
B, Scarlett and Scott watched nearby. The 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' tune began to play, all 3 campers looking at Chef in confusion. The camera panned up to the shining moon, only to Chef to pleap past the camera. Oddly wearing a tutu. Glitter was released from his body as he made sudden and composed movement. Lightning, Geoff and Sadie watched with interest. Chef's glitter was tossed at them, causing the trio to go into a drowsy state. As Chef moved across the area, he began to repeat the process to several other campers, such as Dakota and Amy. Amy had already arranged the stumps to fix herself a comfortable sleeping arrangement. A small chipmunk promptly jumped on top of her, quickly moving away as she recoiled in disgust.
"Ugh, ew! I hate the outdoors!" she complained, crossing her arms with defiance. The scene faded into the forty-hour mark through the challenge. Silhouettes of different campers were shown, sleeping or not. Lightning was noticeably running in the place. Not breaking a sweat.
Confessional: Lightning
"Lightning thought that if you keep movin', you don't get tired. But even though Lightning did get tired, I was in the zone!" Lightning pounded his fists together to emphasize his subtle point.
The camera returned to the Killer Bass, the scoreboard read '5'. From their team; Jo, Katie, Brick, Cody and Trent. The camera moved over to the Gophers, where they had '6' marked on their scoreboard; Scarlett, B, Geoff, Lightning, Courtney and Sadie remained awake. Although one of them had began to look more tired than the others.
"I beg for your mere attention, fellow Gophers." Scarlett approached her teammates respectfully. "My sleep deprivation levels are inefficiently high at this moment. So I ask of you, will you please allow me to regain my cognitive levels by getting some well-needed rest."
"Yeah, G." Geoff replied, looking at his teammates for support. "We'll hold down the fort for you. I'm a party animal dude!"
"Yeah, the Lightning ain't going nowhere!" Lightning reassured.
Scarlett smiled gratefully at her teammates. "I appreciate the permission." she told them before dozing off. The scoreboard ticking down to '5'.
B was shown attempting to talk to Geoff, once Geoff attention was gotten, B pointing behind himself and mimed somebody sleeping. "You wanna head to bed bro?" B nodded. "A'ight man. Catch ya later." he waved, the silent boy trotted off calmly, causing the party boy to scratch his head.
Confessional: Geoff
"Is it just me or like, does that B dude like, never talk?" Geoff marveled in curiosity.
The focus moved over to Courtney and Sadie were shown sitting close together by the fire pit, Katie followed suit soon after.
"Hi Katie." Courtney greeted in a drowsy fashion. Katie was still energetic as before.
"Hi Courtney!" Katie waved. "Sadie! Isn't this challenge so fun!"
"Yeah totally!" Sadie agreed. "This challenge reminds me of the sleepovers back at home?"
"Those sleepovers were so fun! Courtney, I wish you could come too!" Katie told her.
"Me?" Courtney cringed in disbelief. "We just met each other!"
"Yeah but you seem really fun!" Sadie squealed.
"Like really fun!" Katie concurred.
Courtney promptly got up uncomfortably. "Okay, you guys are starting to creep me out."
"How?" Sadie asked genuinely. "We just wanna party!"
Geoff slid up to his teammates. "Did somebody say party?"
"We did!" Sadie cried, raising Katie's hand along with her own. "We wanna party!"
"Then you're gonna get one!" Geoff took off his hat and began to twirl it in the air. The BFFFLs began to enliven the scene along with Geoff. Courtney turned around and left, pursing her lips.
"Weird." she muttered. The cheers of Geoff, Katie and Sadie had clearly angered the other contestants, voicing their anger promptly.
"Shut up!" the now-awaken Amy yelled. "I'm trying to sleep."
"Can it, Twin #1!" Jo yelled at her. "If you stay awake, maybe Chris puts a point back on our team."
"I respectfully disagree." Brick spoke up. "I believe that Amy should fall back asleep. A dishonest win. Isn't a win."
"Dude, who cares? If he doesn't notice that's Chris's fault." Trent gave his input. "Amy, stay up."
"Perhaps you guys have forgotten all the cameras situated at this island." Brick informed them, yawning while doing so. "Who knows what Chris could do if we cheat in the challenge."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Trent admitted.
Amy blew her untidy hair back up. "As if I would stay up anyways. I do what I want. If you wanna boss around someone, boss Samey. But she's bad at like everything, so it'd be no use!"
"Then why do you boss her around?" Trent asked in confusion and annoyance. Geoff and his ex-partygoers joined the conversation bluntly.
"Yeah, why do you do that?" Geoff said, scratching his head. "It's majorly harsh."
Amy sat up for the future argument. "Because she's my sister. If you guys had a sister, you guys would do the same."
"I have four younger brothers." Geoff revealed, waving at the camera. "Miss you guys! But I never boss them around. Even though they can be really annoying."
"Same. Well, I don't have siblings," Trent said. "But even if I did, that's still pretty cold."
Amy scoffed. "As if I care what you think." the scene faded back to the shot of the island. The eighty-five hour mark being reached. By now morning had reached, the camera cut to a still sleeping Harold. The camera panned up to show Courtney and Geoff sitting side by side, both awake.
"That's cute." Courtney cooed, pointing ahead. Katie and Sadie were shown sleeping together side-by-side. "They fell asleep together."
"Sure, that's cute." Geoff said, woozy from his lack of sleep. "Right. Hey can I get a coffee dude?" geoff asked somebody off-screen. Chris walked up to the campers, holding a cup of coffee.
"What is the matter with you people?" he took a sip of his coffee tauntingly. "Come on, fall asleep already!"
"HEEE-YAH!" Courtney screeched, lunging at Chris. Only for the adult to duck and let the Hispanic fall.
"Nice try Courtney," he chuckled as Geoff, Jo and Brick arrived at Chris, being only ones awake during the challenge. "Alright, you four stay with me, the rest of you go and get a shower for Heaven's sake! You stink!"
Katie and Sadie had just woken up, as Scott, Beth, B, and Topher ran past them in hopes of reaching the washroom first. They both had just woken up, attempting to follow the crowd.
Chris took another sip of his cfe before addressing the four remaining campers. "I didn't want it to come to this. I said that to Chef Hatchet last night. I said Chef, I don't want it to come to this." he rambled. "But darn it, these campers are tough! So, I've come up with the most boring, sleep-inducing activity I could find."
Confessional: Jo
"Listening to this guy ramble on?" she scowled at the camera.
Confessional: Geoff
"Doing math homework on the can?" the party boy guessed.
"The history of Canada," Chris revealed, holding the red book. He promptly opened it, revealing a pop-up beaver. "a pop-up book. Chapter One, The Beaver. National symbol, and a 'damn' fine hat." the four campers groaned in displeasure at host's lame attempt at a joke.
The point-of-view switched over to a secluded forested area, he camera panned over to a beaver tail. It slapped a log innocently as it looked at the camera. An alligator sharply jumped at it, mouth wide open with sharp teeth. The beaver side-stepped it, avoiding obvious death.
The camera returned to the reading. By now, Chris himself had gotten tired, barely keeping awake as he droned on. "... which of course, was the precursor for the discussions," Courtney was shown to have fallen asleep, sucking her thumb in the process. Brick had also fallen asleep, yet in a more odd position. He sat up straight, catching up on rest he had missed. "leading to the War of 1812."
Jo blinked in utter exhaustion. Noticing that only her and Geoff remained in the competition. "And then there was two…" she smirked. The scoreboard updated to show the teams tied at one apiece.
"Tiem for a bathroom break." Chris pointed over to the communal washrooms. "Any takers?" Jo looked at Geoff expectantly, only for the young man to let her down.
"Sorry, I've already took a leak back there." Geoff motioned behind them near the back of the ceremonial area.
"Humph," Jo huffed. "well, I can hold it."
"Need I say how many chapters are left." he waved the book playfully, Jo bugging out her eyes, but standing up regardless. "You've got five minutes. As long as you don't mind a lil' company." he winked.
"Whatever, but come in that stall and your spine is mine!" Jo clenched her fist as she turned towards the camera. The cameraman nodded the camera instead of his personal head. Geoff lowered his head in exhaustion and sighed,
"It's just a party, man." he told himself, on the brink of taking a nap.
/
"Um, Jo?" the cameraman asked, directly in front of the stall. "You alright in here?" the promptly opened the door, revealing a snoring Jo, pants not even fully down and using the roll of toilet paper as a pillow.
To waste time, Chris quietly tapped the oil drum he leaned on. Receiving a note from presumably the cameraman about Jo. "And we have news!" he read excitedly. "It looks like Jo's taken a dive on the can. Which means," he rose the note in the air. "the official winner of the Awake-a-Thon is…" Geoff promptly fell to the floor in exhaustion.
"Geoff!" he rose the tired boy's arm as he slept. The Gopher's scoreboard began to flash rapidly and ding with each flash. "The Screaming Gophers win!"
A flash skipped ahead to a blank shot of the Killer Bass's cabin. The shot cut inside to Jo, Brick and Cody sitting in the room. Jo on the bottom bunk alone and Brick and Cody across the room, sharing a bunk bed to sit on.
"Okay guys, we need to figure out who we should vote off." Jo advised. "Any suggestions?"
"Why are we in the girls' side of the cabin? The male side was perfectly fine to my knowledge." Brick looked towards Cody.
"Dude, I love being in here. It smells like fruit and," the camera cut for a close-up of Cody's perverted expression. "girly bits. Speaking of girls, where are they?"
"At the Main Lodge, it's dinner." Jo answered, earning shocked looks from her alliance mates.
"It's dinner already?" Cody gaped. "I'm starving!"
"Okay we're getting off track!" Jo shouted, gaining their attention again. "Who should we vote for?"
"Well, if I had to chose… I'd pick Topher." Brick confessed. "He's unnecessarily snobby and not much for a team player."
"C'mon Brick, he's one of the dudes. Plus, he;'s Chris's favorite. He might get us a few wins." Cody explained.
Jo looked at the tech geek in surprise. "Hm, I like how you think 'Toothless'." Cody began to fiddle with his teeth after the rude remark. "Got any more ideas?"
"Well, we could vote for Beth." he said. "She's not much of a help towards the team. Plus she's ugly."
"Beth… I like it." Jo smirked in thought. "But only he three of us won't do the job. We need at least three other people to do the job right."
"I could try and convince Trent." Cody said, pointing behind him.
"I can definitely force Amy too." Jo told them with an evil look. "Brick?"
The cadet eyed the two sheepishly. "Companions, I'm not exactly restful with attempting to backdoor my own teammate. My drill sergeant didn't mention that in the Cadet Code."
"Oh forget your stupid Cadet Code." Jo groaned. "This, is a different type of war. A type of war which requires backstabbing one another. It's useful in battle, trust me." Jo began to walk off with Cody out of the cabin, leaving Brick in his thoughts.
/
The producers skipped onwards to the campfire ceremony. Chris walked up to the losing team holding a plate of nine marshmallows on it. He approached a scowling Amy, setting the plate down on the stump in front of her.
"You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only nine marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow." he smiled at the Bass who all sported tired looks.
"The camper who does not receive a marshmallow," the camera panned across the Bass. "must immediately return to the Dock of Shame, catch the Boat of Losers, and leave. And you can never come back. Ever."
"The first marshmallow goes to Dakota." the rich girl smiled and walked up to claim her safety treat. "Sam," the gamer also cracked a smile, walking off-screen with a noticeable blush towards Dakota. "Topher!"
"Naturally." he boasted, excitedly yet tiredly claiming a marshmallow.
"Trent." the guitarist made no expression as he stood up.
"Katie." the BFFFL squealed in delight.
"Jo." the jock-ette simply smirked.
"Brick." he winked at the dog tag wearing male, who didn't look particularly happy.
"Cody." the geek hurried off-screen.
"Campers," he faced Amy and Beth. "this is the final marshmallow of the evening." he motioned to the small white fluffy object. Amy looked at it in extreme worry, but clearly attempting to cover her up true emotion. Beth had the same reaction as Amy, but cowering behind her knees since she curled up in a ball. Alternating between the bottom two, the host and the final marshmallow.
"Amy." the host revealed, Beth gasped in shock and horror. Now facing her ex-teammates in distraught.
"Beth, the Dock of Shame, awaits." Chris reminded her.
"Well, I guess it was fun while it lasted. I guess…" she sulked, following Chris's orders and making her away down to dock. Once Beth became off-screen, Chris faced the Bass.
"Have a good night's sleep tonight." he wished them well. "You're safe."
Confessional: Jo
"Looks like Bricky Boy stuck to the plan." he pounded her fist into her palm. "As soon as he gets uncomfortable with doing this every now and then. This game will be too easy!"
"Bye Beth!" Katie and Dakota waved from the fire pit. The only two people to genuinely care about 'The Wannabe'. Beth waved back happily, to know that she was at least cared about by two people. The camera focused on the two girls saying bye to her.
"I miss her already." Katie whimpered. While Dakota got over er sadness quick.
"Better her than me." she walked away to the group bluntly, the Malaysian female just blinked at the camera.
Beth boarded the Boat of Losers when the camera re-focused on her. The boat sped off into the night as the camera cut closer on her.
"I still have no idea how I got the boot." Beth confessed to the camera. Becoming more confused than anything. "Maybe my team didn't really like me that much. But why?" she asked once more. The scee switched over to the nine Killer Bass huddled around the fire. Roasting their claimed marshmallows.
"To the Killer Bass!" Trent exclaimed, despite losing two challenges in a row. "And to not losing next week's challenge!" the campers got closer as they united as a group.
/
The focus went back to the beaver tail-slapping log. The camera pulled out to show the beaver minding its business on top of a dam. Abruptly, Chef Hatchet hopped a top the dam with his tutu still on, startling the poor beaver to jump off. He pranced on the dam before hopping off innocently, not knowing the camera was placed there. Once Chef pranced elsewhere, the beaver surfaced, scratching its head in confusion.
Author's Note
As you can probably tell from my writing in this episode, that the Awake-a-Thon is not my favorite challenge to interpret. Being honest, I enjoyed writing the running and eating scenes more than the actual Awake-a-Thon itself but hey, that's just me. I even cut out the part where they're at the 51-hour mark. Finding out about Justin cheating in canon. The only reason the removed that part out was because I simply couldn't really add well-thought out interactions with the remaining awake campers. It would've felt way too forced if I had done it. So I hope that you guys aren't too peeved.
Not too much development was written here. Scarlett attempted to mess with Courtney's head. Which will be important down the line. I'm not gonna toss it away like rubbish. I'm sure I've reduced the over-bearing amount of Sammy/Courtney interactions, so I hope that satisfies you. As was expected, Jo was the one to form an alliance, but I think the two choices might have been… questionable. In my eyes, brick wa an obvious pick to fill in a spot. Their interactions were most certainly spectacular in Revenge of the Island, but I wanna put my own little mix into it by having it here. As for Cody, not only is he not as naive as previous alliance members. But he's somewhat heroic. Contradicting from Jo's true personality. So it's practically inevitable that they'll clash. Or I will I take a different path down the alliance road? Well, I ain't telling!
Some TrentxSammy vibes also appeared in this chapter. But although it was very brief, I enjoyed writing it so much. Even though Trent's kind of a hard character to knock down. I'll let you decide on that one. One quick thing I've wanted to mention. I'm aware that I haven't really been dividing up the screen time fairly to other campers. But there's one camper that I'm mainly referring to, B. Due to the fact that he's forgettable at times since he doesn't speak or what. But before go guys go crazy in the reviews about it, I just wanted you guys to know, that I know.
As for Beth's elimination. It was simply because out of the whole cast, she's the most expendable out of all 22 of them. Including Cameron. Heck, the only reason Cameron was first boot over Beth was because that it was easier to write Cameron's elimination last episode. Plus, I see Beth more as a second boot than a first boot.
And to end this long-winded Author's Note, the update schedule will simply be every week. I know that sounds irresponsible but school + writing = a very tough time. So hopefully later in the season, I'll decide on a specific date.
And with that, I'm signing off.
See y'all next chapter!
Checkmate King
TJI Elimination Order
Cameron - (22nd Place)
Beth - (21st Place)