Hello, and welcome to this super late chapter. Full disclosure here, I totally blame Smash 3DS.
Disclaimer: Total Drama and it's characters are the Intellectual Property of the guys who created it (that I'm totally not lazy enough to look up). The Original characters on the other hand, they're my creation. I should also mention I don't own anything associated with the "sponsor" of the challenge.
Chris was standing inside the gym, talking to a couple of interns while there was something under a large sheet in the background. "Just make sure it's good to go when the challenge starts," Chris instructed and the interns went back to their work.
Chris noticed the camera and put on a big smile, raising his arms and saying, "Last time on Total Drama High School! We found out who was the most talented contestant, as they were given the option to perform in our Talent Show for a shot at immunity. Some talents were good, like Jennifer's singing and guitar playing or Joseph's drumming. Others, like Noah's reciting of Shakespeare or Izzy's chainsaw juggling, not so much. In the end, it was Jennifer who won immunity. Due to Noah admitting to his actions over the course of the season the day before, Joseph ended up being the prime target for elimination. Despite his attempt at getting Mikey eliminated, Joseph himself was eliminated, where he learned that Noah had betrayed him. But that was yesterday, and this is today! Will Noah still feel guilty? Will everyone turn against him now? And are Cody and Mikey back to normal? Find out right now on Total Drama High School!"
For the first time all season, everyone was sitting together and talking on the way to the school. "I can't believe my plan actually worked," Noah remarked, still amazed that Joseph had been eliminated.
"You still feeling guilty over betraying Joseph," Mikey asked.
Noah nodded, "A little bit. Though compared to the guilt I feel for helping vote out your friends, it's next to nothing."
Izzy rubbed her arm and said, "I should admit that I might have helped Joseph a couple of times. He claimed that people wanted to eliminate me and it would keep me safe."
Jennifer shrugged, "Joseph's gone and he's not coming back, so I think we should just leave all that drama surrounding him behind."
"I agree. Now that that snake is gone, we can all be at ease. Hell, I certainly feel better. I'll admit, I hated the way I treated you guys the past couple of days. But now that I know Joseph was behind it and he's gone, I think I've gotten my revenge," Cody added.
Bridgette shook her head and asked, "Something's been bugging me though. What could possibly drive him to do the things he did? Noah, you were the one person he trusted the most. Did he ever tell you why he had to try and control the game?"
"Unfortunately I don't know. The most I could get out of him was that he did have a reason. He wouldn't tell me what it was though. Said something about how we all have our secrets that we have to keep," the know-it-all replied with a shrug.
Mikey looked over and asked, "On the topic of Joseph telling you things, how exactly did he manage to get Megan eliminated? Four of us were going to vote together so the worst case scenario would be a tie. And nobody in our group voted differently, so it doesn't make any sense."
Noah shook his head and said, "Again, I don't know. I told him that his plan wouldn't work and all he said was that he would think of something. I mean, there's a very slight chance he could have shut off the camera, but I was one of the last ones to vote and I remember seeing the recording light on."
"Well is there anything about Joseph that you can tell us," Jennifer asked.
Noah shook his head and noted, "I've told you everything that I know. I mean, there was some trivial crap like a couple of times before challenges he would brag about how well he did in the subject. Actually, there is one thing."
"You've caught my interest. Do tell," Cody remarked.
"Well, one of his earlier plans involved bringing Geoff and Nicholas along with myself to the final four. He assumed the last challenges would be more intelligence based. He was going to bring Nicholas because he's more street smart than book smart and he was going to bring Geoff because, and I mean no offense when I say this, he isn't the smartest person out there. But when Nicholas was instantly eliminated, he was forced to change his strategy," the know-it-all relayed.
"How would he have been able to assure that though? I mean I know he manipulated people to get as far as he did, but getting four people to a point is even harder than two," Bridgette asked.
Noah shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. There was a time when Courtney was in our alliance, but Joseph was using her from the start. He never intended on bringing her to the end."
"So that's how he managed to get Trent eliminated," Jennifer said in realization.
"You got it. I still feel bad for helping him at times," Noah sighed.
"Hey don't feel that bad, we all helped him at one time or another without knowing what exactly we were doing," Mikey pointed out, "The most important thing is that it's over."
"You've got that right. My next step is making amends with everyone that was eliminated because of Joseph. It won't be easy, but I have to try," Noah replied.
Bus Confessional
Noah: You know, it was nice to have a normal conversation for once. This entire game, I've had to plan, either alongside Joseph or against him. But with him gone, there's a bit of peace. It'll be short lived though. I know I'm gone as soon as they get the chance.
The bus arrived at the school and Chef walked away, saying, "Wait here for Chris. I gotta take care of something."
"Do I want to know what he's doing," Mikey questioned.
"Doubt it," Jennifer said with a shake of her head.
"So anyone want to guess what today's challenge is," Cody asked.
Izzy jumped and said, "Maybe we'll be building giant death lasers!"
"What high school has a class that teaches that," Noah asked.
"It's electronics and stuff, right? And Chris loves making things dangerous," Izzy reasoned.
"She has a point actually," Bridgette noted.
"Morning contestants! Who's ready for a challenge," Chris asked as he walked forward.
Noah shook his head, "We don't have a choice in the matter, why ask us?"
Chris shrugged and said, "I thought a little casual conversation would be a good way to start the morning. Anyways, follow me." Chris led the group to the gym where shouting could be heard.
Chef shouted, "What do you mean it's not done yet?"
A male's voice replied, "Do I look like I know electrical wiring? I work on engines damn it!"
Opening the doors, Chris asked, "Is there a problem?" "
Grease monkey here don't know if it'll work," Chef gruffly replied as he pointed to the other person in the room.
The other person finally stood up, revealing himself to be Nicholas. He replied, "Look, I don't know much about wiring. Based on what little I do know, it looks like it'll work, whatever this thing is."
The contestants walked into the gym, looking at the large machine set up in the middle of the room. "Yeah, what is that thing Chris," Cody asked, looking at the contraption.
Chris smiled and said, "All part of the challenge, which I will explain right now! First of all, you all remember the challenge two days ago right? The sponsored one? Well, we got another sponsored challenge arranged!"
"That doesn't explain what that thing does," Noah commented.
"I'm getting to that. You see, today's challenge is based on the film Pacific Rim, which is about giant robots beating up giant monsters that come from a portal in the ocean. Doesn't make much sense, but it looks cool," Chris explained.
Mikey raised an eyebrow and asked, "Okay, as cool as that sounds, what does that have to do with school?"
Chris shook his head and said, "It doesn't. Today's challenge will be different because we have to test something we might use in an upcoming season. You see, the machine behind me is a Virtual Reality Machine. As you might see, there are headsets attached to the machine next to those beds. You lie down, put the headset on, and it will send your consciousness to the virtual world, in this case one inspired by Pacific Rim."
"Is that safe," Bridgette nervously asked.
"It should be. The Japanese company that made the machine did extensive testing before giving it to us," Chris assured the contestants.
Cody looked unconvinced, "I don't know, still seems a little risky. I mean, what if something goes wrong and our minds get stuck in the simulation? Or what if there's an unintended link that causes things to happen to our real bodies? Like if we died in the Virtual reality, would we die in real life as well?"
"Relax, this thing has been in development for years. All the kinks have been ironed out by now," Chris assured the contestants.
"I'm still a little cautious but I'll take your word for it," Jennifer noted.
"Big mistake," Noah muttered under his breath.
Izzy was bouncing up and down and said, "So what's the virtual challenge? What do we fight? I wanna know!"
Chris smiled, "Excellent question Izzy! As I said before, the challenge is based on a movie where giant robots fight giant monsters. In this challenge, you will be piloting the robots and have to survive as long as possible. But in the movie, the robots required two people to pilot it. So you will randomly be placed into pairs upon entering the simulation. From there it will be up to the pair to figure out how to kill the monsters looking to kill them. Whichever pair lasts the longest will win immunity. In addition, each pair will have different robots, so one might be fast but weak while another is strong but slow. Lastly, while you're piloting the robot, some of your thoughts are shared mentally somehow. So your partner will know what your battle plan is before you even say it."
"Isn't that like an invasion of privacy or something," Mikey asked.
"If every single thought were sent to your partner for the challenge, yes. But there's some sort of filter in place to prevent unnecessary thoughts," Chris explained.
Nicholas popped his head up from where he was working and said, "Alright Chris, it should be good to go. Checked it over one last time and as far as I can tell its set. I still think Harold or someone else would have been better suited for this."
"Duly noted," Chris said as he gestured toward the machine, "Now the six of you, go strap yourselves in! Let's get this challenge started!"
"Good luck guys, I'll be keeping an eye on things from this side," Nicholas said with a wave as he took a seat near one of the control panels of the machine.
The six remaining contestants approached one of six beds that had a helmet resting on it. Putting their helmets on and making sure they were secure, they all laid down on their respective beds, ready to start the challenge. Once Chef checked over everyone and gave a nod to Chris, the host prepared to hit a button and said, "Starting the uplink now!" The six contestants fell into unconsciousness as the machine started up and transported them into the virtual world.
Restroom Confessional
Mikey: As a gamer, the concept of virtual reality is really exciting to me. I mean, what gamer wouldn't want to feel like you were racing on a Mario Kart track or fight swarms of aliens as Master Chief? So on one hand, this challenge excites me. On the other, I feel like we don't have the technology to make it possible yet, which is why this challenge worries me. I don't want to know what kinds of shortcuts were made to make the VR machine work.
Bridgette: I have a feeling this is going to be surreal. Luckily all we're doing is piloting robots. Imagine if we had to run around. I'm already clumsy enough on land, but in a virtual world where who knows how we'll move? I'm already thinking that this is going to be a bad idea.
Noah: Virtual Reality? I may very well enjoy this challenge. After all, while I may not be as vocal about it as Mikey, I am a gaming buff. And if this is but a sample of what is to come in future seasons, then I may actually grow to like competing on this asinine show.
Unknown location
One of the contestants woke up in a dark room. They tried to move around in the virtual space but felt their back was hooked on something. "Huh. So this is what virtual reality feels like. Feels a lot like the real world actually," the contestant mused.
"Noah? That you," a voice called out in the darkness.
Noah looked around for the source of the voice and asked, "Mikey? We're partnered for this challenge?"
Mikey answered back, "I guess so. Wish we could see or something though."
A robotic voice replied, "Gipsy Danger startup sequence initiated."
The lights in the cockpit turned on to reveal that Mikey and Noah were in a small room and they were both hooked on an apparatus that connected to the ceiling of the room. In front of them was a large window, presumably where the "eyes" of the robot was. Looking outside, they saw mainly the ocean, though a few buildings were off to the side. Within arms reach were a few screens that looked like they controlled the weapons systems.
"So," Noah remarked, interrupting Mikey's train of thought, "I guess you're going to throw the challenge so I can be eliminated and you get justice for Megan, right?"
Mikey smirked and replied, "Let me just say you are damn lucky that you got partnered with me. We're piloting a giant robot in a virtual world. No way in hell would I throw this challenge, it's too damn cool to."
"Wow, I really am lucky. I'm sure almost anyone else, except maybe Izzy, would throw the challenge," Noah noted.
Over a radio, a commanding voice said, "Gipsy, come in! Level 1 Kaiju reported to be headed for your direction."
"The hell's a Kaiju," Mikey asked.
"Sounds Japanese," Noah added.
The gamer raised an eyebrow and asked, "Maybe it's Japanese for monster?"
The know-it-all shrugged and said, "Doesn't matter. Sounds like we have to fight it. So how do we fight it?"
"A better question would be how do we move," Mikey asked in response.
"Both pilots must move in sync to control the Jaeger," the robotic voice from before said.
Mikey and Noah looked confused before the gamer shrugged, "No time like the present, eh Noah? Let's give it a shot, right foot first."
Both Mikey and Noah went to take a step with their right feet and the Jaeger moved its right foot forward. "Well it's a start," Noah remarked.
"Let's go fight some monsters," Mikey said with a fist pump as the two started to walk in sync out toward the ocean.
Another unknown location
Like with Noah and Mikey, the next two contestants had woken up in the dark cockpit of their Jaeger. "How the hell do I turn this thing on? I wanna blow some stuff up," someone shouted.
"Izzy, please calm down. The challenge may not have started yet, which is why it isn't working yet," the other contestant reassured.
"But Bridgette, I can finally blow stuff up and not get in trouble. Why wouldn't I want to start the challenge to start," Izzy replied.
"Cherno Alpha startup sequence initiated," the robotic voice from Gipsy said.
Izzy tried to jump but found she was restricted by her harness and said, "About time!"
Bridgette looked at the weapons display in front of her to see what weapons they had to use while Izzy tried to run forward to no avail. Izzy started grunting and Bridgette looked over to see Izzy running in place. "Come on, why won't this damn thing move," Izzy shouted as she kept running.
The robotic voice stated, "Pilots must move in unison to control the Jaeger."
Izzy looked at Bridgette and said, "Come on Bridgette! Let's go!"
"Well, let's give it a shot," Bridgette said as she tentatively took a step forward.
As Izzy moved her foot forward as well, the Jaeger took a big, lumbering step forward. Once the foot hit the ground, completing the step, Izzy gave a cheer, "Yes! It works!"
Over the radio in the cockpit, someone with a slight Australian accent said, "Cherno, come in! Level 1 Kaiju headed in your direction. Intercept and kill it."
"Kaiju? What does that mean," Bridgette asked.
"It's Japanese for monster. There's a whole genre of movies in Japan called Kaiju films. But more importantly, it means we found something to blow up! Let's go," Izzy shouted as she started to move forward. Bridgette got the hint and began to move forward as well, causing the Jaeger to move forward.
Third Jaeger
"All right Cody, any ideas how to start this thing up," Jennifer asked her partner.
Cody was looking around in the darkness and said, "This is a futuristic robot of some sort, so I've got one idea. Startup sequence, initiate!"
The robotic voice stated, "Striker Eureka startup sequence initiated."
The lights turned on and Jennifer said with slight surprise in her voice, "Wow, you knew exactly what to say. I'm impressed."
"I've watched a lot of sci-fi in my time. Both good and cheesy stuff. So I had a gut feeling it would work," Cody noted.
"Uh, okay, I guess? Sci-fi's not really my type of movie. So now what," the performing artist asked.
The tech geek looked around the cockpit and said, "Uh, I would say try moving, but I don't know how to."
"Both pilots must move in sync to operate the Jaeger," the robotic voice stated.
Jennifer said, "Well that's convenient. Should we give it a try?"
"No time like the present, right," Cody responded.
Jennifer nodded and the duo moved their left legs forward to try and take a step. The Jaeger moved with them as it took a step forward. They could hear the ocean shift underneath them as they stepped into the water. "Alright, so that works. Cool. What now," Cody asked.
A panicked voice over the radio shouted, "Striker come in! There- There's a level 1 Kaiju headed your way! Try- Try- Try not to des-destroy it too much. We- We need to- to learn how they- they- they like function and stuff."
A second voice, one that sounded vaguely British, then said over the radio, "What my associate is trying to say is he wants remains to study. I have no idea why, as their skin isn't going to give us an advantage in this war. Anyways, good luck in vanquishing your opponent."
The radio went dead and Jennifer and Cody looked at each other. "Well, guess we know what we have to do," Jennifer noted.
Cody nodded, "I guess we do. Shall we get started?" Jennifer nodded and the two started to move in unison to move their Jaeger.
Restroom Confessional
Cody: You know, I'm glad that I was paired up with Jennifer. Except for maybe Bridgette, it would be too difficult to work with the others. I'm still kind of upset with Noah, and by extension Izzy, and after how I treated him, I think things would have been too awkward with Mikey. I wonder if anyone else lucked out with their partners?
Izzy: I'm so pumped that Bridgette and I got our robot working! I'm ready to kick some ass! (Izzy looks around for a second) I just realized, we're in a simulation of the confession booth in the simulation of the robot. That's pretty freaking cool.
Jennifer: I'm feeling pretty good about this challenge. Even though Cody was angry with everyone the past couple of days, he seems to be moving past that, which is nice. I don't want to say his anger was justified, but I could see where he was coming from with it.
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
The duo moved their Jaeger through the ocean, headed in the general direction they were told to move in. "Hold on Gipsy," the voice that gave them the orders to engage said, "It's noticed you. Wait for it to attack. If you go after it while it's submerged, it will have the upper hand."
Mikey nodded and said, "Let's do this." He raised his arms, his fists clenched and held in front of him as if he were boxing. After a moment the gamer looked to Noah and said, "Well? We have to do this together remember?"
"Right, my mistake," Noah replied as he got into a similar position, causing the fists of their Jaeger to come into view.
There was silence until a blip appeared on the radar in front of the duo. Suddenly, something quickly emerged from the ocean, causing water to splash everywhere. When water finally stopped falling, the pair got a glimpse as to what they were fighting. It was a large, serpentine creature, with what looked like black scales lining its body. It let out a high-pitched roar as its mouth opened to reveal several razor sharp teeth.
"If I didn't know this was all fake, I would be scared out of my mind," Mikey muttered.
Noah merely nodded before shaking his head, "Look alive, it's coming this way!"
The gamer squinted and replied, "How the hell is it walking? It's a snake!"
The monster lashed out at Gipsy Danger, wrapping around the torso of the giant robot and trying to bite through the hull. "Alright we need an idea," Noah remarked.
Mikey shrugged, "How about we just try to rip it apart? You know, grab it with both hands and pull?"
Noah looked at the screens in front of him and said, "Well even if we wanted to use our weapons, that would risk tearing ourselves apart as well. I say we go for it."
The snake-like beast continued to wrap around Gipsy, moving around periodically to try and bite the hull elsewhere. Mikey and Noah moved their arms until they appeared to be grabbing something around their abdomens, Gipsy's arms moving with them. They reached toward their chest, grabbing the monster trying to kill them.
Though it took a moment to coordinate, Mikey and Noah were able to grab their target. Looking at each other and nodding, the two began to move their fists apart from each other, causing the snake-like creature to shriek in pain. It tried to bring its head around to bite at one of the arms pulling at it, but it couldn't reach. It continued to shriek as its skin began to tear until finally it got pulled in two, a blue substance exploding outwards from within its body. The monster's shrieking momentarily increasing in intensity before becoming silent, finally dead.
The commanding voice that gave Mikey and Noah their orders could be heard over the radio, "Good work Gipsy. And it's fortunate we added the radiation shielding to the hull. That Kaiju blood is giving off serious radioactivity levels. Now that you managed to kill a Kaiju the difficult way, you two are authorized to use the arm controllers."
"Is that what this weird sleeve thing that looks like it attaches to our arms does," Mikey asked.
"Correct Soldier. You attach that to your arm and have the part on the end go around your hand. That will give you complete control over whatever arm you're going to be controlling," the radio replied.
"And why," Noah asked in an annoyed tone, "Didn't you have us do that from the start?"
The voice said, "I told you, we had to make sure you two soldiers would work well enough. Now get suited up, readings are showing a Level 2 Kaiju beginning to emerge from the Breach." Noah and Mikey nodded and began getting ready.
Restroom Confessional
Mikey: Noah's a good partner for this challenge. Not in the regard that he's trying, but with how he's thinking. Since we have to work together to win, it helps that we tend to think along the same lines. It's hard to explain, but it's the gamer mentality that we share I think. After facing down all sorts of bosses in different games, it's led me to think creatively when approaching combat and I think he thinks along the same lines.
Cherno Alpha (Bridgette and Izzy)
"Step on the brakes Cherno! That Kaiju's nearby. Don't want it to get the drop on ya, so let it come to you," the slightly Australian voice said over the radio.
Bridgette stopped moving, which in turn caused the Jaeger to stop. Izzy, however, had no intention of stopping and tried to keep moving. After a few moments of this, she looked over and said, "Bridgette! Why did you stop?"
"You heard him Izzy, we need to wait for it to come to us," the surfer replied.
"But that's boring! We could just as easily run up to it and kick the crap out of it," Izzy whined.
Bridgette shook her head and said, "Please Izzy. Just until we get a little more used to this, alright."
The crazy girl sighed and said, "Oh alright. But only because we aren't used to this."
"Thank you," Bridgette responded, a small smile on her face.
At that moment, the Kaiju decided to launch its attack, emerging from the ocean with a roar. It was a large, otter-like creature, with sharp fins on the underside of its arms. When it roared, small fangs could be seen in its mouth.
"What is that thing," Bridgette screamed.
Izzy shouted, "Get ahold of yourself Bridgette, we gotta kill that thing to win!"
Bridgette either didn't hear her or was too in shock at the monster to properly respond as she screamed, "What do I do? I'm gonna die!"
"Bridgette! It's not real," Izzy shouted, breaking through to Bridgette.
Shaking her head, the surfer replied, "Sorry, lost my cool for a second there. Thanks Izzy."
"No problem," Izzy said before a large grin formed on her face, "Now let's kill this monster! Let's punch the hell out of it!"
The two started to move in unison once more, approaching the Kaiju. The monster did little to stop their approach, instead opting to observe what they were doing. Cherno kept walking forward, rearing its fist back before delivering a mighty punch to the monster's jaw. The monster fell backwards into the water and all was quiet for a moment before the monster leapt out of the ocean, letting loose a mighty roar.
The Kaiju quickly closed the gap, intending to retaliate, but it was met with another punch. The large otter-like creature staggered backwards and then attempted to charge again, and was met with the same result as before. Once again, it tried charging forward, but this time Cherno slammed its fists together, catching the Kaiju between them, splattering blood and other internal organs in the ocean. The corpse fell into the water, sinking below the waves.
"Not bad Cherno. Maybe there's hope for you two cadets yet. Anyways, you two have proven you work well together, you're now authorized to use the controllers in the cockpit to have greater control over your half of the Jaeger," the Australian said over the radio.
"Should we go back to the base," Bridgette asked.
The man on the radio replied, "Negative Cherno. Wait where you are for further instructions. Readings suggest a Level 2 Kaiju's emerging from the breach, so we need to figure out where it's going."
"Woohoo! More things to kill with this sweet ass robot," Izzy cheered with a fist pump as Bridgette looked at her, a conflicted look on her face.
Restroom Confessional
Bridgette: I'm honestly worried that Izzy's getting almost too into this challenge. I mean, she's talking about killing things! I get that it's not real and maybe getting into character makes it more fun, but this is Izzy we're talking about. She's been extreme in the past and I worry that she doesn't always know the difference between real and fake.
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
The duo kept moving forward at a brisk pace through the ocean, waiting to find the Kaiju they had to fight. "Hey, uh Striker? You should probably, um stop moving," the more nervous of two people from earlier chimed in.
The British man added, "To put it simply, we want you to keep the advantage here. Let the Kaiju come to you instead of the other way around."
Cody looked at Jennifer and nodded before he stopped moving, bringing their Jaeger to a stop. Their radar showed a blip a moment before the Kaiju revealed itself. It stood on two legs above the ocean and could be best described as resembling a velociraptor with a very short tail. It also had fins on its arms so that it could move through the ocean with ease. It roared as it began to approach the Jaeger in front of it.
"Okay, I noticed we were moving really quickly for a giant robot weighing several thousand tons, so we're probably the fast but weak one Chris mentioned," Cody noted.
"So what's the plan," his performing artist co-pilot asked.
Cody got into a boxing stance and replied, "Lots of quick strikes to weaken it and then we try to kill it."
Jennifer followed his lead and shrugged, "I don't have any better plan. Let's do it."
The Kaiju roared again and charged, but since Cody and Jennifer were in sync, they were able to counter the charge, launching several small punches in a short combo of sorts. The velociraptor was knocked back before it roared and tried again. This time, Jennifer's timing was slightly off and she failed to hit the monster, letting it get in a bite. They quickly recovered and executed another short punch combo.
"Alright, I got an idea. If I recall correctly, velociraptors had somewhat weak skulls. So if we focus our attacks there, we might be able to kill it quickly," Cody suggested.
Jennifer nodded, "It's worth a shot."
The two ran forward, aiming their fists at the skull of the Kaiju, striking it several times in succession. For the last strike, they raised their fists over their heads and did an overhead strike, slamming their fists into the skull of the monster, a loud cracking and squelching accompanying the strike. It let out a bloodcurdling cry as it was knocked into the ocean, its bright blue blood leaking staining the water's surface.
"Aw man, why'd you have to kill it," one of the two from earlier remarked, "There was so much we could learn if we had access to it to experiment on."
"And keep a living monster that wants to kill us in our base? Have you lost what little sanity you had left," the other man retorted over the radio.
"Just because I want to learn what makes these things tick does not mean I'm insane," the first one shouted back, "There's more to these things than numbers you know!"
The second man replied, "Numbers that have allowed us to predict both when the Kaiju show up and where they're headed."
"What's going on in here," someone with a slightly gruff voice suddenly asked before saying, "Actually, on second thought, I don't care. Stop arguing and keep the pilots informed on the Kaiju. That's more important than anything else at this point. That is an order."
"Y-yes sir," the two bickering men responded.
The third man could be heard walking away, muttering, "The crap I have to deal with."
"Uh, so we're good right," Cody asked.
"Yes," the slightly British man replied, "You've proven you two work well as a team."
The more nervous man said, "The large arms hanging to your side should now be enabled. Slip your arm into it to give you greater control over your half of your Jaeger."
"And I would do it quickly if I were you. According to our sensors a level 2 Kaiju is emerging from the breach," the British man concluded.
Restroom Confessional
Jennifer: I'm impressed with Cody. Maybe it's because he's played video games or maybe it's because he said he watched a lot of cheesy sci-fi, but he's a natural at this. The way he can think on his feet and improvise is making me feel confident that we stand a real chance of winning this challenge.
Chris and Chef were sitting in reclining chairs in the auditorium, watching the action of the challenge unfold on screens attached to the VR machine and eating some popcorn. Despite his utmost reluctance, Nicholas was also present. "So," Nicholas asked, kicking at the ground as he looked at the unconscious forms of the 6 remaining competitors, "Are there going to be VR challenges in future seasons?"
"Yep! That's the plan at least. I think they're pretty sweet," Chris replied.
The mechanic looked back at the machine and responded, "And you're absolutely sure that thing is safe? I mean, it still doesn't even seem possible."
The host waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "You worry too much. The company that made this did testing on it for years to make sure it worked. Believe me when I say there's nothing to worry about."
"That's exactly what makes me worry," Nicholas muttered under his breath.
Restroom Confessional
Nicholas: Are non contestants allowed to use this? Wait, I don't care, I have to get this off my chest. I'll be honest, I'm worried for everyone left in the contest. Chris has been known to cut corners several times, and I wouldn't be surprised if today were no exception.
Chris grinned at the camera, "Hey Total Drama Fans! I'm adding this message in post production because we thought we would have enough time to show the full challenge in one episode. As it turns out, the challenge ran longer than expected, so we had to cut out much of the second wave of fights. However, we're adding the final blows in each match so you can still see the action! Enjoy!"
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
"Please tell me you got a lock on him," Noah noted as he tracked the Kaiju's movement on one of the radars in the cockpit.
"Give me just a second…and got it. The projected path of the Kaiju is on screen," Mikey said as he moved his arm outward, fingers oustretched.
The know it all started a timer and said, "Prepare to fire in 3. 2. 1. Now!"
"Plasma Cannon fire," the gamer yelled as a large concentrated blast of plasma fired out of one of the Jaeger's hands, intercepting the Kaiju and blowing a chunk of his face off, killing it.
"Well done Gipsy," the official over the radio said, "Return to base to refuel and prepare for the next Kaiju to come out of the breach. Our calculations give us a couple of hours at most."
Cherno Alpha (Bridgette and Izzy)
"It's coming closer," Bridgette yelled as the Kaiju moved around Cherno's legs, trying its hardest to trip up the Jaeger.
"Don't worry, I've got a plan! It'll leap up to attack us sooner rather than later and then it'll die," Izzy happily cackled. Sure enough, the Kaiju leapt out of the ocean in front of the Jaeger. Izzy grinned menacingly as she started the attack, yelling, "Bridgette, swing your fist now! Electric circuit, activate!"
The surfer began swinging her arm but instinctively shouted, "Wait, what?"
"I sure hope this thing is insulated," the crazy girl cackled as the fists swinging together began to cackle with electricity. There was a solid impact as the Kaiju was caught between the two fists and it promptly screeched in pain as the electricity fried it, using its own wet body as a conductor.
Its horribly charred corpse fell into the ocean as the Australian man over the radio said, "Not bad Cherno. You cadets may stand a chance yet. Return to base to resupply and prepare for the next Kaiju.
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
The Kaiju the duo were facing roared loudly, some of the tentacles in front of its face swaying. This Kaiju in particular looked like something straight out of H.P. Lovecraft, and both teens were anxious to kill it quickly.
"Are the cannons powered up," Cody yelled, using his half of the Jaeger to block a strike from the Kaiju.
Jennifer looked to a monitor in front of her and replied, "Almost. Just a few more seconds."
The tech geek replied, "All right, let's back up and bait this guy in."
The pair backed up as the cannons got fully charged. The Kaiju moved in as a response to the slight retreat its opponent made. Spreading their arms, the chest portion of the Jaeger opened to reveal about a half dozen giant cannon barrels, which promptly opened fire with a barrage of cannon fire. The shells, specifically made to kill Kaiju, struck the monster repeatedly, blowing large chunks of the monster off of its body. The beast, with its body full of holes, fell into the ocean, defeated.
"Splendid job Striker. Nice and efficient," the British man guiding the two noted.
The other man noted, "I still wish you could have saved something for us to study."
The British man replied, "Oh quiet you. Striker, return to base to refuel. We're not done here yet."
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
The two males were standing in their Jaeger, which was currently refueling back at the base they launched from. Apparently the virtual reality simulation only went so far, as they were unable to leave the cockpit of the robot.
"Geez, this sucks. A whole virtual world we could interact with and we're stuck in here," Mikey muttered.
Noah shrugged, "Chris did say this was a test of the VR system. Since it's a test, the program for it is probably incomplete."
"Yeah," Mikey sighed. It was silent for a minute or two before the gamer asked, "Noah, can I ask you something?"
"You can ask, but I can't guarantee an answer," the know-it-all replied.
"Did you vote for Megan? You know, back when she was eliminated," Mikey asked somewhat quietly, as if he didn't want to know the answer.
Noah looked over at his co-pilot and responded, "No. I voted for Joseph. I wanted to put a little pressure on him, hoping it would make him slip up."
"Look alive Gipsy," the commanding officer suddenly shouted over the radio, "The newest Kaiju somehow got the drop on us, he's just outside the city. If you don't stop it, a lot of innocent people are going to die."
"Let's do this," Mikey said with a somewhat renewed confidence. Noah didn't say anything but prepared all the same.
Restroom Confessional
Noah: I wasn't lying when I said I voted for Joseph the other day. What struck me as odd is that Joseph's name wasn't called at the end with everyone else who got votes. I wonder if that had anything to do with the final result? Hmm.
Cherno Alpha (Bridgette and Izzy)
The two girls were resting up in their cockpit, waiting for the signal to move out once more. "Hey Izzy," Bridgette asked, "How did you know that electric attack wasn't going to fry us too?"
Izzy shrugged, "I didn't."
"What!? Then why did you try it," the surfer asked in confusion.
"I just assumed that we would be fine. It'd be pretty crazy to use an electric weapon in the ocean if you couldn't be immune to it," the crazy girl reasoned. Bridgette simply stared, taken aback that Izzy used serious logic when making a decision.
They were interrupted by the Australian given them orders, who said over the radio, "Alright Cherno, you're all resupplied, and just in time too. Another Kaiju's been spotted about 20 miles from here. Go take it out."
Izzy saluted with the hand not controlling the Jaeger and said, "Aye Aye Captain!"
Restroom Confessional
Izzy: Man this is fun! I get to let loose and be myself and I don't cause any sort of property damage. It's win-win! I hope the others are having a good time too, they all deserve it after everything we've been through.
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
The two teens were idly waiting about, bored ever since they got back to their base. Cody was the first to initiate conversation, asking, "Hey, so what do we do if Noah wins immunity?"
Jennifer wasn't paying a ton of attention and remarked, "Huh?"
"If Noah somehow wins immunity. Hypothetically it could happen, depending on who he got paired up with. If he can't be voted out, what should we do? Not just the two of us, but everyone," the tech geek replied.
"I don't know. Maybe just let everyone decide on their vote by themselves or something? Honestly I'm friends with pretty much everyone else so I would probably vote randomly," the performing artist answered.
Cody looked to be lost in thought and merely muttered, "Hmm."
The radio in the cockpit suddenly crackled with life as the British man from before said, "Striker, as per my calculations another Kaiju has emerged from the breach. It's heading in your direction, you know what to do."
"And if it's not too much trouble, can you try and salvage some of it's body parts? I seriously think if I research them I can do all kinds of things, like developing more effective weapons or something," the other, more nervous person commented.
"Protecting people first, salvaging body parts second," the British man noted.
Cody nodded to Jennifer and said, "Let's go kill a Kaiju."
Restroom Confessional
Cody: I seriously don't know what to do if Noah wins immunity. I kind of just figured he would lose this challenge. Well, guess I'll just hope he loses the challenge. And if he doesn't, I'll figure things out from there, I guess.
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
The duo stopped moving at the coordinates where the Kaiju was projected to be. "I don't get it, there's nothing here," Mikey said looking outside the cockpit after glancing at the radar.
Noah sighed, "Think for a second. If it snuck up on their sensors, there's 2 likely scenarios. Either the monster can turn invisible or it can move extremely fast, so fast it can't be picked up on radar."
The gamer looked over to Noah and asked, "So what do we do?"
"You know, considering you're a gamer you really aren't thinking about this like a video game," Noah dryly commented.
"What's that supposed to mean," Mikey asked, a tone of annoyance in his voice.
The know it all responded, "You're thinking about this as if it's real life. Take a step back and think about this from the perspective of a video game."
Mikey closed his eyes and began to think things over, 'Let's see. We can't see the monster but it's supposed to be here. So like Noah said, it's either invisible or really fast. But we have some type of body heat sensor. So if it were moving slowly but invisible, we would see it. That means…'
Mikey snapped his finger and exclaimed, "Got it! It must be moving really fast. We have heat sensors that picked up the last two Kaiju, so for it not to pick up this one, it must be moving so fast the scanner can't pick it up."
"Okay, that's step one. Now-," Noah was cut off as something hit the Jaeger from behind, almost tipping it into the ocean.
"Well looks like we found our monster," Mikey noted as the two sized up their target.
It was a slim, bipedal reptilian creature, with thin arms. What it appeared to lack in physical strength, it more than made up for in speed, as evidenced by how it quickly darted back and forth in front of the teens. Mikey quickly raised his arm controlling part of the Jaeger and yelled, "Plasma Cannon Fire!"
Since the cannon hadn't been used lately, it quickly discharged a blast of plasma energy directly at the monster. When it was about to make an impact, the Kaiju sidestepped out of the way. "What…," Noah muttered in shock.
"Plasma Cannon Triple Fire," the gamer yelled as the cannon fired three blasts quickly, with each blast being next to another one so as to not have three blasts behind each other. As they were about to hit, the monster quickly weaved between them, causing another failed impact.
"What the hell!? What the actual hell," Mikey yelled in anger.
"Calm down Mikey! We need to think of another way to do this, since it clearly isn't working," Noah shouted back. The gamer glared outward at the monster, which waited for their next move. Noah was thinking out loud, "Let's see, if it can barely dodge the blasts we fire at it, in theory we'll hit it if the blasts are a little bigger. So how do we do that?"
Mikey was silent for a moment before he asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Well any battle strategy you think of I know as well, so yes, in a sense I am. And that's so crazy, it just might work," the know it all replied.
"Let's do it," the gamer simply affirmed with a nod. The Jaeger moved slightly, its left leg moving in front of the right and both of its arms being moved behind it until they rested in a famous fictional fighting pose. "Plasma Cannon," Mikey started to say.
"Charge Commence," Noah finished the statement as both hands started to glow with plasma, the close proximity of the two hands causing the ball of plasma to expand. Noah and Mikey shared a glance and a nod before they thrust their hands forward.
As the large ball of plasma was fired from the Jaeger's hands, Mikey yelled, "HADOUKEN!" The giant ball of plasma approached the Kaiju, and like before, it attempted to sidestep at the last second. However, since the plasma ball was more than twice the size of the other ones, the Kaiju was still severely hit by the ball, a huge chunk of its torso being completely obliterated. The monster wailed in pain once before it fell into the ocean, defeated.
"Excellent job Gypsy," the commander said over the radio, "But you're not done yet. It seems that Kaiju was meant to distract you while another got closer to the city. Return at once and destroy it."
Restroom Confessional
Mikey: I might have gotten a little angry back there, but it wasn't completely unjustified. Most action games I've played don't require you to think outside the box, so when something that would logically make sense didn't work, I got frustrated. But every gamer's gotten frustrated at a game before, so it's not like I'm alone.
Cherno Alpha (Bridgette and Izzy)
The duo was currently staring down their Kaiju, a large bipedal, shark-swordfish hybrid. In addition to many sharp teeth and the claws on its hands, a large horn also jutted out from the top of the Kaiju's skull. "D-Do you have a plan Izzy? I'm hesitant to use the electric fists again because it could tear right through us with its claws or horn," Bridgette asked.
Izzy quickly nodded and said, "Oh yeah, I've got a great plan! We'll just use our chest cannon!"
The surfer blinked, "This thing has a chest cannon? I didn't see that on the screens when looking at our weapon systems."
"Who said I was talking about the robot," Izzy asked, her head tilted to the side.
Bridgette raised an eyebrow and said, "Then what are you talking about?"
Izzy grinned and replied, "I'm talking about our boobs silly!"
Bridgette facepalmed, "Okay, two things wrong with that plan. One, the robot doesn't have boobs. And two, even if it did…"
Izzy was looking at a screen, listening but not paying attention to Bridgette and prompted, "And even if it did what?" After a second with no response, the crazy girl turned and said, "What's the matter Bridge-"
Izzy's voice caught in her throat at the sight in front of her. Bridgette's eyes were wide with both shock and fear. Her pupils, nearly impossible to see due to how much they shrunk, were looking down at her abdomen. There both girls could see the horn of the monster, piercing Bridgette's stomach, her harness and suit stained red with blood. Behind the surfer girl, the horn extended to the back of the Jaeger, where there was a large hole in the hull.
Somehow when they were debating their plan, they failed to notice the Kaiju slip behind them. The horn suddenly pulled to the side of the cockpit, tearing through the metal and pulling Bridgette with it. Somehow the horn could cut through the metal hull of a hulking robot monstrosity but couldn't tear the flesh of a human. With a final, forceful tug, the monster tore the horn back outside the hull, ripping Bridgette from the harnesses holding her in place.
Once her body was outside the robot, the Kaiju reached a clawed hand upward and ripped Bridgette off of the horn, before promptly crushing what was left in its fist, a small explosion of pixelated polygons accompanying Bridgette's virtual death.
Izzy was taken aback at what had happened and how real it all looked that she couldn't react to the monster turning its attention to her. Shortly after there was another explosion of pixelated polygons before the Jaeger itself exploded in a large fireball.
Gasping as the simulation ended and Izzy woke back up, she quickly looked around, trying to remember where she was and remind herself that the whole thing wasn't real. She looked over to another nearby bed and saw Bridgette had already awoken, her legs drawn up to her chest as she was still somewhat shaken up by the whole ordeal.
Chris walked over and said, "I saw what happened on a screen we had hooked up. Is this thing cool or what?"
"Cool? COOL? This damn thing looked so real that we might be traumatized by what happened," Izzy shouted.
Chris raised his hands in defense and said, "Hey, calm down, it wasn't too bad. There are some horror movies that looked more real than that. But for future reference I'll see if the simulations can be programmed to appear slightly less real."
Izzy narrowed her eyes at Chris before turning back to Bridgette and saying, "Are you okay Bridge?"
The surfer shakily answered, "I-I think so. I just need a little time to remind myself it wasn't real."
Restroom Confessional
Bridgette: It was actually kind of weird. It looked so real, but all it didn't really hurt all that much. Just felt like a harder than normal pinch. I mean, that was probably done by the company that made the machine, and I'm glad it was, but it was still weird to have that happen but not feel pain.
Chris: I'll be honest, not a big fan of deaths resulting in the pixel explosions. Sure, it might work for some things like video games, but if we ever do a challenge based on something like a Zombie apocalypse, we'll have to change things. I'll talk to the guys making the simulations and see if we can change that on a case by case basis.
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
The duo were staring down their opponent, their fists raised in a battle stance. The monster in question looked like a giant crustacean of some sort, with what appeared to be hard armor. "Okay we need a plan. Any ideas Jennifer," Cody asked, looking to his co-pilot.
Jennifer looked surprised and asked, "You're asking me? I don't know, the cannons worked well last time, why not try that again?"
The tech geek nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense. We need to see what that armor can handle."
They moved their arms to the side, moving the Jaeger's with them. Once the Jaeger's arms were spread, the chest opened revealing the cannons once more. A barrage of shells collided with the Kaiju, breaking chunks of its armor.
"Alright, direct hit! And it looks like the cannon fire destroyed the-," Cody started to cheer before noticing the armor starting to reform.
Jennifer looked over at Cody and asked, "Is that supposed to happen?"
The tech geek shook his head and said, "Nope. Well good to know, now we can plan around it. So I'll ask again, got any ideas?"
"Do you think we're quick enough to get some attacks in after breaking the armor? Like use the cannons up close and then throw some quick punches," the performing artist suggested.
"It's worth a shot, though I'm worried about having the cannon fire detonating in close proximity to us. Not sure how that would damage us," Cody noted before shrugging, "Eh, to hell with it. We're not gonna win otherwise, right?"
Jennifer nodded, "Yeah, let's do it!"
Advancing on the crab-like creature, the duo readied their cannons once more. When they were extremely close, they spread their arms and fired, striking the Kaiju at close range. The force of the impacts pushed them backwards slightly and dealt some minor damage, but they were still ready to keep up the offensive. Rushing forwards, they punched were the armor was destroyed, leaving sizable marks on the Kaiju. Before they could land any finishing blows, the armor began to reform.
"We need to keep up the offensive, let's use the cannons again," Cody yelled, preparing to use the weapon.
"R-Right," Jennifer said, trying to keep up with the tech geek. The pair spread the arms controlling the robot, simultaneously yelling, "FIRE!" Another barrage of cannon fire hit the Kaiju, after which they leapt back in and kept punching repeatedly. The armor reformed yet again and they were forced to back off.
"I got an idea," Jennifer shouted, as it looked like Cody was getting increasingly frustrated, "What if we do two quick bursts of cannon fire? Maybe the second set can kill it if it loses its armor?"
"We might overload the system and be vulnerable or even worse be unprepared for another Kaiju if it shows up, but it's worth a shot," Cody stated with a nod.
The two got ready to use the cannons again and once the ammo was loaded for 2 barrages, they opened fire, the first salvo shattering the armor of the Kaiju like before. Shortly after the first barrage, the second began, more cannonballs being launched at the Kaiju. These were finally being successful, as the cannonballs were blasting large holes into the Kaiju where it was missing its armor. It appeared to be frail without the armor, as it went down with only a couple of hits, wailing the entire time.
"We- We did it," Jennifer cheered.
"A little wasteful with the cannon ammunition if you ask me," the British man said over the radio.
"I'd rather they waste ammo than get killed," the nervous man butted in, before adding, "Hey, see if you can grab some of that armor for me."
"Always with the Kaiju parts. I swear-," the British man was cut off as they lost the signal for a moment.
When it came back, the nervous man shouted, "Striker, return to base immediately! There's a Kaiju attacking! The other one might have been a distraction!"
"Hurry let's go," Cody yelled as Jennifer nodded, the two moving into action.
Restroom Confessional
Jennifer: I hope Cody doesn't think I'm dragging him down. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about whatever this challenge is based on. I'm trying my best but I'm worried it's not good enough.
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
The duo had made it back into the city to see the Kaiju that was attacking. It was a quadruped monster with a tail that was separated into finger-like segments. "Noah, how much energy do we have left in the plasma cannons," Mikey asked as the Kaiju stared down the Jaeger, eager to see what it would do.
Glancing at one of the monitors in front of him, the know it all replied, "I'll be honest, we've got maybe 2 shots left. If we're really lucky we could get 3."
"So we have to make this count, is what you're saying," the gamer noted, turning to his co-pilot.
"That's what it seems like. And unfortunately in order to devise a plan we would have to go on the offensive. We might be at the end of the line," Noah lamented.
Mikey looked back outside, the gears turning in his head, "Then we go down fighting. Let's charge it, firing the cannon as we get close. Maybe that can give us the distraction we need to finish it off. Or at the very least, give us an opening to strike."
Noah raised an eyebrow before sighing, "We're outgunned and outmatched. But it's better than nothing I suppose."
Moving forward, Mikey charged up the cannon, waiting until they were at a close proximity to fire. The Kaiju tilted its head, curious as to what the metal monstrosity was going to do. When they were only several hundred feet away, Mikey grinned and shouted, "Fire!" A blast was discharged from the cannon but the Kaiju quickly moved out of the way, almost making it out without harm.
The tail of the monster had been cut off by the intense blast of plasma. Behind where the Kaiju was, a building got hit by the remnants of the plasma. "Bad news Mikey," Noah said looking up from a console, "That shot drained more than I thought it would. We're out."
Before Mikey could respond, the entire robot shook as the Kaiju grabbed it in its talons that were present on its back legs. The Kaiju spread its front legs to reveal a pair of wings and it started to carry the gigantic robot into the sky. "That's not good," Mikey stated.
Restroom Confessional
Noah: So we're being carried into the sky, our cannon's out of ammo and if we lose this challenge I'm going home. Well it was a nice run while it lasted.
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
Upon returning to the city, the duo were met with a large, slimy beast. While in posture it resembled a gorilla, it had smooth scales like a reptile and odd little tentacles on the back of its head. "I'm not gonna lie Jennifer, the odds are against us. According to this, we've got what looks like 2 uses of the cannons left. And that thing's skin looks just as tough as the last one. So should we do what we did last time," Cody asked.
Jennifer bit her lip and said, "I don't really know much about this sort of thing, so I'll let you make that call."
The tech geek nodded, "Let's do it then." The Jaeger approached the Kaiju, who waited for his opponent to make the first move. When the Jaeger was in range, they spread their arms, the cannons revealing themselves. At this moment, the Kaiju reacted, it seeming to charge with some type of energy.
Cody pointed his arm outward at the Kaiju, shouting, "FIRE!" The cannonballs started to fly at the same moment that the Kaiju released a pulse of something. As the pulse hit the Jaeger, the lights shut off and the cannonballs stopped firing. The few cannonballs that did get fired either dealt some glancing blows or missed completely.
"What happened," Jennifer cried out in near darkness, only being illuminated by emergency lights.
Cody looked around and said, "I don't know. Maybe that thing can send off electromagnetic pulses? Which is horribly unfair I might add, as now we can't do anything."
The performing artist asked, "So what do we do now?"
"Now? I'm not sure what we can do without power. But no matter what way we look at it, it doesn't look good for us," the tech geek replied.
Restroom Confessional
Cody: Well I guess we're out of the challenge. Not like we can kill our Kaiju, and since the win condition is round based, even if we waited around for a while, we wouldn't necessarily win.
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
As their Jaeger was being pulled into the sky, Mikey was quickly looking through menus and submenus, trying to find anything they could use to their advantage. Nearby, Noah resigned himself to losing, muttering, "Why are you still looking? We don't have any weapons left and even if we did, a fall from this height would probably kill us anyway. Might as well enjoy the view."
Mikey looked over and said, "I don't believe you. You were so adamant about eliminating Joseph, no matter the odds and this is what gets you down?"
"I'm just being realistic. I always knew there was a chance to beat Joseph, as slim as it was. But this? This is a no-win scenario. Our best bet is to hope we made it farther than the others. And even if we manage to kill it, which is gonna be hard enough on its own, we fall and probably die," the know it all grimly replied.
"We'll just have to find out then, won't we," the gamer replied, a smirk on his face.
Noah looked over, an eyebrow raised, "What are you talking about?"
Mikey pressed a button on the screen in front of him and said, "Time to tip the scales!" Suddenly a blade emerged from the top of one of the robot's wrists.
"…How long have we had that," Noah asked.
"Hell if I know," Mikey said with a shout as he swung his arm, cutting the Kaiju holding them in half. As it let out a shriek as it died, the Jaeger began to fall.
"Bright idea genius. Now we're gonna fall to our death," Noah groaned.
The gamer looked at the screens in front of him and said, "We were at the edge of the atmosphere. We've got a little bit of time to come up with a plan." Mikey looked out the cockpit to see the ground far below them and thought, 'At least I hope we do.'
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
The large Kaiju that shut the duo down was currently circling around the deactivated mech, not unlike how a wolf circles his prey. Inside the cockpit, Cody fiddled around with the harness and was able to release himself from the control mechanism of the robot.
"Cody, what're you doing," Jennifer asked, still stuck in her harness.
Cody looked back, "I'm going to see if I can figure out if we can get us started back up."
"Well don't just leave me here," the performing artist cried out, "We're a team. Maybe I can help."
Cody looked to be thinking it over for a moment before he started heading back to Jennifer, "You're right. Even if we can't do anything to fix this, I can't leave you behind."
The tech geek released his partner from her harness and the pair made their way to a doorway at the back of the cockpit. "What the? The door won't open. And this is the only exit. Aside from the emergency ladder leading to the top of the robot," Cody noted as they approached.
Jennifer looked at the hatch at the top of the cockpit and suggested, "Maybe past the hatch up there's a way down?"
"Maybe," Cody muttered before he headed over to a nearby cabinet, opening it and tossing something to Jennifer, "Here, take this."
"What is it," the performing artist asked, looking at the small gun-like object in her hands.
The tech geek closed the cabinet and said, "It's a flare gun. If there's no way out but up, we might as well use what we've got to fight that thing."
The pair climbed up the ladder out of the cockpit, where a hatch on top of the robot's head resided. Stepping on top of the head of the robot, the tech geek helped his partner up. "Well, here goes nothing," Cody said as he held his arm out, execution-style, and prepared to fire.
Jennifer held her arm up too and said, "I'm right here with you."
Cody nodded and the two fired their flare guns, striking the Kaiju in the face. It shrieked in pain for a moment before letting loose a loud roar at the two who stood up to him. The only thing Cody could think of at the moment was, 'I've made a horrible mistake.'
Gipsy Danger (Noah and Mikey)
As their Jaeger plummeted back toward the ground, Mikey was struggling to think of something that could help their predicament. "Face it Mikey, we're going to die," Noah muttered, already accepting his fate.
The gamer glanced at a button and read, "Chest exhaust vent." Shrugging, he hit the button and an exhaust vent opened on the chest of the Jaeger, expelling heat and pushing them more upright.
The button shorted out shortly afterwards and Mikey said, "Well I've done about all I can do. Hang on tight Noah."
As the ground rapidly approached, Noah sarcastically retorted, "Oh yeah, like I would want to not hang on to something as we crash toward the ground."
Mikey was about to reply but he was cut off by the Jaeger colliding with the ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust and smoke.
Striker Eureka (Cody and Jennifer)
"Yep, this was a bad idea. Get back inside Jennifer! I'll try and distract it," Cody shouted as he loaded another flare in his gun and fired while Jennifer retreated inside the Jaeger.
After the flare made contact, distracting the Kaiju momentarily, Cody hopped back inside the Jaeger as well. "Cody, what do we do," Jennifer asked.
The tech geek sighed, "There's not much we can do. We can't fight back and that thing is mad. The best we can do is hold out here and hope we can buy enough time to win."
A pounding on the sides of the Jaeger showed that the Kaiju was angry and looking to destroy them. As more dents were formed in the sides of the Jaeger, Cody gave the slightest of smiles and said, "Well, let's hope we won. See you on the other side Jennifer."
The performing artist was about to reply when the Kaiju crushed the cockpit of the Jaeger, causing an explosion.
Both of the scenes were being played at the same time for Chris, Chef and the rest of the people watching. Interestingly enough, the crash of Gipsy and explosion of Striker occurred at the same time. Nothing much could be made out through the smoke but the pixelated polygons representing someone dying were present in both scenes.
Looking over to where the unconscious bodies of the four still in the challenge lay, Noah and Cody woke up at the same time and removed the helmet for the VR machine. After a few moments, Jennifer woke up as well.
Looking back to the screens, the smoke around Gipsy finally cleared and Mikey could still be seen, though he appeared to be weak and he was severely bleeding out. A few moments later, he fell limp and exploded into a bunch of pixelated polygons.
After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and stretched, taking off the VR helmet. Looking at the rest of the contestants standing around, he asked, "Did I win?"
"Indeed you did," Chris said as he walked up to the group, "Your team survived the longest, by just a few seconds. So Noah and Mikey have immunity! I'm tired and want to finish up for the day, so elimination's in ten minutes."
As Chris and a few of the others walked away, Bridgette walked up to Mikey. The gamer noticed the conflicted look on Bridgette's face and said, "You're probably upset Noah won the challenge, aren't you?"
"A little bit yeah," the surfer replied.
Mikey looked to the side and said, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I had the chance to throw the challenge, but I was too excited about the whole thing to actually do it."
Bridgette had the smallest of smiles on her face and said, "I don't blame you. But that doesn't change the fact that we have to eliminate someone else now."
"Just vote for someone you won't want to go up against in the finale or something," Mikey suggested before shrugging, "Or your partner if they cost you the challenge. I don't know who your partner was but that's a valid reason."
"I guess," Bridgette quietly said before walking away to place her vote.
Restroom Confessional
Mikey: The only person I can vote for at this point is Izzy. The fact she helped take down Joseph aside, she and I have never been on really good terms this entire season.
Noah: I can't vote for Izzy, she's my friend, as odd as it sounds. But it also doesn't feel right voting for any of the others, considering the things I've done. But if I have to make a vote, I may as well vote for Jennifer. No offense, but I'm the least familiar with you.
Jennifer: I don't know what to do. I don't want to vote for Cody, Izzy or Bridgette. Am I allowed to throw my vote away? I guess I'll vote for Noah. I know it won't count, but I don't really care. I can't vote for any of the others.
The final six were sitting in the auditorium, waiting for Chris. The host walked right up to the podium and said, "Let's get this done with. You know the drill by now. No pass, you're eliminated! No second chances! Passes go to immunity winners Noah and Mikey. A pass also goes to Bridgette. And one more for Jennifer."
The four safe contestants all moved to the side, leaving Cody and Izzy. Chris looked at the two, a grin on his face, "Cody, after your girlfriend was eliminated, you turned into an asshole. Could you be eliminated because your fellow contestants are still angry at you? And Izzy, you've managed to annoy people on several occasions and cause chaos almost anywhere you go. You've managed to avoid elimination by the skin of your teeth several times now. Has your luck finally run out? The final pass goes to…"
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"Cody. I'm sorry Izzy, but you've been eliminated," Chris said as the tech geek let out a sigh of relief. Izzy didn't seem to be too disappointed however, as the crazy girl got up and said, "Yeah, I kind of saw my luck was starting to run out. I'm glad I got as far as I did though. And I would be happy if any of you win. Good luck guys!" Izzy waved to the final five as she departed the auditorium.
"Not to interrupt," Chris interrupted, "But part of the deal for this challenge involved us being able to show you guys the actual movie Pacific Rim. We're setting it up in the meeting room in the library. You know, the one with the couches. And the bus won't be coming until after the movie ends, so you may as well watch it." Chris watched as the group of five contestants left the room before he pulled out a walkie talkie and said, "All right Chef, everything's going according to plan."
Bus Confessional
Izzy: I had a great time. I made it all the way to the final five and for once I didn't have to get back into the competition due to reasons. I don't care who wins at this point. I just hope they have a blast with the last four challenges. I saw the list and oh man, they're pretty intense.
As the movie was getting close to ending, a transparent gas was being pumped into the room with the final five. By the time the movie ended, it knocked all five of the contestants out cold. The door opened and two people in gas masks looked at the five and nodded to each other before one walked in and closed the door. The other person took off his mask to reveal it was Chris, who said, "After a successful test of the virtual reality machine and a kickass challenge, it's resident crazy girl Izzy who goes home. Now with only five contestants left, the competition is bound to get more intense from here! Will Noah luck out and get immunity again? Will Jennifer be forced to make a tough decision and vote for one of her friends? And just what are we planning, knocking all the contestants unconscious? Find out the answers to all these questions, as well as the most dramatic elimination yet! Next time on Total Drama High School!"
Votes
Izzy (3) – Mikey, Bridgette, Cody
Jennifer (1) – Noah
Cody (1) – Izzy
Noah (1) – Jennifer (Didn't Count)
Eliminated: Leshawna, Alexander, DJ, Rebecca, William, Ezekiel, Julie, Heather, Trent, Jessie, Danny, Gwen, Courtney, Nicholas, Geoff, Emily, Megan, Joseph, Izzy
Contestants Remaining: Bridgette, Cody, Jennifer, Mikey, Noah (5 Remaining)
Fun Fact!
Izzy was a really fun character to write for, as I could basically do whatever I wanted and it would be believable. On the other hand, it also made her harder to write for as the cast list decreased and each person became more important. I tried to give her some more depth by hinting at personal insecurities, which I'll probably revisit in the future, but otherwise she became almost too one-note for me. If it weren't for other eliminations having to happen at a certain point, she would probably have been eliminated sometime after the merge but before the final 8. It was simply her time to leave.
So yeah, about that 6+ month gap since the last update. I can explain. It can basically be summed up with a few words: Work sucks; Smash Bros is really, really distracting. That about sums it up. When I was working during the summer, I had significantly less time to write, so this huge ass chapter basically happened from September until now, when I was at school (Ignoring all of October. Smash distracted me. Like a lot.)
Now you may have noticed that this chapter is long as hell. I had a lot of fun writing it. Maybe because I love the hell out of Pacific Rim. It was basically exactly what it was advertising itself as. It had flashy action, a decent plot (it wasn't a masterpiece but it made at least some sense) and it was clear a lot of love was put into it by those involved. The 3 Jaegers as well as a few of the Kaiju involved and the supporting characters in the simulation were straight from the movie, but with enough of a twist that if you decide to watch it, you haven't been spoiled.
Speaking of which, Virtual Reality challenges are a thing (since that totally hasn't been done before) and if I ever finish this fic, they'll pop up in the (planned) sequel. And those will be even more fun than this one was(like a Walking Dead-inspired challenge, for example). But that is for another day.
Speaking of another day, I hope to get the next chapter done much sooner. Without something like a job holding me up, the next one should hopefully get done relatively soonish. It definitely won't be another 6+ months, I can promise you that. I think that about covers everything for this Author's Note. Please review and enjoy the next chapter, whenever it happens. Until Next Time!
Next Time: With the final 5 in detention, they'll have to rely on old allies to break them out and earn them a spot in the final four.