"Last time on Total Drama Level Up: Not even a day into the competition, various alliances and rivalries began to form, with many players teaming up and others locking horns. The next day, the bombshell was dropped where the competitors found out that every other challenge will be a double elimination, effectively doubling their chance of going home during such challenges. Later, they were faced with a platforming challenge where they were tasked with rescuing a princess from the evil monster known as Chef. Despite some arguments had on their team during the challenge, the Red Mushrooms pulled ahead and were poised to score their second win in a row, but clumsy Liam's trip up cost them the challenge and allowed the Yellow Ghosts to seize victory instead. Guess it's no surprise that Liam was the one to take the Sling of Shame, along with bossy Piper who tired out her team to the point where they had no chance of winning. 30 competitors remain. What drama will continue to unfold? What new relationships will form? And who will be the next to ride the Sling of Shame? Tune in for THE most shocking elimination ceremony yet, right here on TOTAL... DRAMA... LEVEL UP!"
*** Opening Credits ***
"To the Yellow Ghosts!"
Glasses of soda were clanked together after Deborah had said this. Everyone on the Yellow Ghosts were sat around the table in the dinning room of the winner's trailer. In front of them were plates covered with ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and more. A celebratory feast in honor of their victory in the newest challenge. The teens were digging in to their well earned meal, taking the opportunity to chat up. John and Caleb laughed as they began talking about video games, Clara listening to them while she sat next to Caleb. Deborah and Annara had struck up a conversation with Kusa about his training, noting the fact that he was still in his uniform from day one. Morella was talking a mile a minute while Ellie reluctantly listened, occasionally glancing at her mouth to make sure some of Morella's food didn't come flying at her. That left Lance and Jacque, who were both once again surveying their team.
After he was done looking over Morella and Ellie, Jacque turned his attention to Lance. He cocked an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes as he tried to get a read on his teammate. As if feeling Jacque's eyes on him, Lance swung his head around, giving Jacque a wink when the two made eye contact.
*** Confessional: Jacque ***
"Usually I can read people pretty well. You gotta be good at it when you're a guy like me. But that Lance dude... he's tricky. I feel like me and him are similar, he's been doing the same reading our team thing that I've been doing. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it's a bad thing. Might make a good alliance partner. Might try to stab me in the back. Better keep my distance while I figure out what I should do about him."
*** Back at the dinning room ***
"Oh my gosh, you know what would be great right now?" Morella continued to say at a rapid fire pace, while Ellie sat next to her with a tiny smile. "Ice cream! We need to get some desert here stat. Hey, waiter, how long would it take to get us some ice cream?"
Ellie breathed a quick sigh of relief as Morella turned her attention to the elderly waiter. She hadn't been able to get a word in since her hyperactive teammate began talking. She glanced over at the Deborah, Kusa, and Annara group, who were now listening to Deborah talk about her job back home, giving them a look that said 'help me.' Annara was able to take notice of the look and cleared her throat.
"Hey guys, how about we check around the rest of the trailer?" she asked, standing up and gaining everyone's attention. "We should get the full winner's trailer experience while we can enjoy it."
"Aw, but the ice cream is on the way," Morella replied, motioning to the butler who was on his way to the kitchen.
"Well... I'm sure getting enough ice cream for all of us will take him a while, won't it?"
The butler looked back at Annara and simply nodded. He then disappeared into the kitchen.
"In that case, race you guys to the upstairs!" Morella took off in a flash, eager to see the bedrooms and claim one of her own.
"Lot of energy in that one," Lance mused as he stood up from his seat and stretched.
"Could come in handy in challenges," Kusa pointed out. "Plus, it's nice to see teammates with such high spirits. We wouldn't want someone depressing on our team bringing morale down."
Many others nodded in agreement. Ellie shyly tapped her fingers together as she looked down at her plate. "She's nice. I just wish she'd tone it down just a bit. It would be easier to carry a conversation."
"Give her a couple hours and she'll probably crash," Jacque said with a smile. "Maybe then she'll be easier to talk to."
Ellie chuckled and nodded. Deborah stood up and eyed the door to the trailer's spa.
"I think I'll go ahead and try out the spa. I could really use a massage after that challenge."
"Oh, I think I saw some games in the living room under the TV," Caleb said, nudging John beside him. "You in?"
"In a bit," John replied, standing and looking at the staircase. "I think I'll go relax on one of those beds first. A nap is calling my name right now."
Caleb shrugged. "Suit yourself. More gaming for me." He then looked to Clara and smiled. "How about you? Wanna be my player two?"
*** Confessional: Clara ***
"... Yes. Yes I do want to be your player two."
Clara bounced up and down and gave off a squee.
*** In the trailer ***
Deborah entered the spa room, while Caleb and Clara went to the living room. Kusa, Annara, John, and Ellie went upstairs to claim a bedroom. Morella could still be heard running around and giggling up there. An awkward silence was shared between Lance and Jacque until the former grinned and made his way over to the spa door.
"Yeah, I think a massage DOES sound good right about now. You getting one too, slick?"
Jacque simply shook his head, watching his teammate curiously. Lance shrugged. "Suit yourself."
*** Confessional: Lance ***
"Yeah, he's gonna be an interesting one. Nothing that I can't handle, though. For now, I need to focus on gaining some votes. With those double eliminations being a thing, it's only a matter of time until we vote someone off again."
*** In the spa ***
Deborah gave out a satisfied groan as a female intern massaged her back. She was lying down on a table, enjoying the relaxation.
"I could get used to this," she purred while the intern used her elbow to massage part of her back. Lance walked in, whistling as he looked around the room. Besides the massage beds, there was also a sauna and a hot tub.
"This place is nice," he remarked while getting down on a table next to Deborah's. She curiously looked over while another intern came out to massage him. He flashed her a grin. "Sup?"
"Hi... Lance, was it?"
"Eeyup," he replied as the masseuse began rubbing his back. "And you're Deborah, correct?"
"Yes," she confirmed, turning away so that she could focus on her massage.
"Hey, we did a great job out there today, eh? We really smoked those other two teams."
"Technically we only won because one of Mushroom members slipped," Deborah pointed out. "Not that I'm complaining, this place is great, but we kind of lucked out there."
Lance rolled his eyes, but continued on. "Yeah, that whole double elimination situation really heats things up, don't it? Guess we should have saw it coming with such a big cast and all. Gonna make surviving all the more difficult."
He looked over with a raised eyebrow to see if she would take the bait, but there was no response. Lance then let out a fake sigh. "It's gonna start getting serious soon enough, what with all the alliances forming and people fighting."
Deborah sighed. "I'm not worried about alliances. It's nothing I can't handle."
"Yeah, but it's easier taking on the opposition when you have numbers on your side," Lance said with a grin, ready to seal the deal. "I was actually thinking that you and I could start an alliance. Maybe add the animal girl or the kung fu dude."
"Annara and Kusa," Deborah corrected. "And I'll think about it."
Lance was annoyed that it wasn't a yes, but it was better than nothing. His fake smile stayed strong. "Cool, cool. Take your time, just wanted to know if you were interested."
*** Confessional: Deborah ***
"I don't really know anyone here very well yet, so I can't trust anyone yet either. Annara seems like a nice girl. Morella too, when you get past the hyper. Kusa and Ellie also seem like good people. And Lance was kind enough during his alliance offer. Honestly, just about everyone on my team seems like good people. But I've seen this show. I know some of them could be putting on an act. So for now, I'm staying away from alliances. At least until I know I can trust someone."
*** In winner's trailer living room ***
The loud sounds of video games were blasting from the entertainment center as Caleb and Clara sat on the couch with controllers in hand. Caleb was definitely into the game, leaning forward and mashing away at the buttons in joy, while Clara seemed to only be half into it. The other half was distracted.
"Aw man, this place is the best," he said, almost having to yell over the loud gunfire and explosions coming from the game. "I hope we keep winning challenges. I don't ever want to leave."
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," she replied, not loud enough for Caleb to actually hear her over the sounds blasting from their gaming. "Say, Caleb... you think you'd ever wanna... I don't know... go out some time?"
"Go outside?" Caleb replied, confused. "Why would we do that when all the fun is inside?"
"I mean would you want to go out on a date?" Clara said, raising her voice a bit.
"What's the date? I think it's the 10th or something."
"No, I mean would you wanna go steady with me?" Clara replied, getting a bit frustrated.
"Yeah, that's right, we gotta go nice and steady on this level," Caleb yelled over the sound effects, grinning as he held his controller in anticipation. "Can't slip up or the aliens will shoot us to bits."
Clara sighed and decided to give up for the time being. She returned her gaze to the television and pretended like she hadn't asked anything.
*** Confessional: Caleb ***
"You know, back home some people would tell me I could be kind of clueless sometimes due to my homeschooled upbringing, but I think I'm fitting in great here! John and I have been talking about video games and stuff since we got here, and Clara seems like a really good friend. Maybe I'll eventually end up finding a girl that's romantically interested in me. What are the odds of that?"
*** In the food tent ***
A few days had passed and the players were lined up holding trays as Chef served a fresh pile of revolting brown slop to the lot of them. Aden had sat down at the Blue Bombers table and was trying his best to scoop out a single bite from the sticky substance.
"Enjoying breakfast there, short stuff?" Lexi asked as she plopped down next to him with a smirk.
"This... stuff, whatever it is, doesn't want to be eaten," he replied as the spoon began sinking into the disgusting brown mush. "I don't think it's even MEANT to be eaten. Not by humans at least."
Lexi shrugged and tossed away her spoon in favor of picking up the plate and taking a bite out of the food by holding it up to her face. "Eh, I've had worse. No need to be such a sissy over it. Here, have a bite."
Lexi held her plate up to Aden's face, where he politely tried to push it away. On his other side, Trevor was watching in amusement.
"Made a lady friend, did ya?"
"She's been bugging me since the day we got here," Aden whispered to him after finally getting her to put the plate away. "It's super weird."
"Maybe she like you," Trevor replied, grinning and nudging Aden.
"I don't know about that... you think so?"
Trevor took a look at her and grinned. "It's possible. Still, like you or not, I think we just found the third member of our alliance."
Elsewhere at the table, Billy, Riley, Iris, and Rowley were exchanging stories.
"So then I knocked that sucker out of the park and won us the game," Billy bragged. "5th home run I scored that season. Crowd went nuts."
"Niiice, dude," Rowley complimented before forcing down a bite of Chef's gruel. "You should go pro one day."
"That's the plan. At least, it's the plan after this show. Right now I'm just focused on having a good time."
"And you know what would make for a REALLY good time?" Riley asked the others, grinning. "Winning our first stay at the winner's trailer!"
"I've heard the others mention something about a spa," Iris added. "That would be nice. I really hope we can win the next challenge."
While the four continued to talk on their end of the table, and Lexi continued to bug Aden on the other end with Trevor watching in amusement, this left Ryan, Rowen, and Garrett in the middle of the table. Garrett was silently chowing down on the food, while Ryan couldn't even remove a single bite with his spoon. Rowan was watching the others at each end of the table, arms folded and eyes narrowed.
"Alright, that tears it," she whispered quietly enough for only those two to hear. "We need to make an alliance."
Garrett and Ryan looked up from their food and exchanged a confused glance.
"What was that?" Ryan asked, eyebrow raised.
"The three of us need to make an alliance," Rowan repeated, glaring at Riley as she began talking to Rowley about video games. "Everyone else on this team are getting too chummy for my taste. It's going to leave us as the odd men out when it comes time for elimination."
Garrett looked over at the other end where Trevor and Lexi were sharing a laugh over Aden dropping some of the slop on his lap. "They DO seem to be getting comfy into their little groups."
"Which is why we need to make an alliance of our own to fight back before it's too late. I mean, what if we went to the elimination ceremony tonight? They'd almost certainly vote for one of us if we didn't do something about it."
Ryan nodded his head in agreement, grinning at Rowan. "Yeah, an alliance is just the thing we need. We could call it The Beautiful People's Alliance, what with me being the best looking guy on the team, you being the best looking girl on the team, and Garrett here being the strongest dude of the team."
Rowan smiled and nodded her head in approval, but Garrett didn't seem convinced. "Not sure if I dig that name. Still, I guess an alliance couldn't hurt. Anything that helps my chance at winning that money."
"So we're agreed," Rowan said. "The Beautiful People's Alliance is in motion."
Garrett and Ryan nodded, returning to their meal and trying not to make themselves look suspicious to their fellow teammates.
*** Confessional: Garrett ***
"Ryan and Rowan wouldn't exactly be my first picks for alliance partners. Kinda too full of themselves if ya ask me. Still, an alliance isn't a bad idea. It would definitely beat sitting around waiting to get voted off like a sitting duck."
*** In the food tent ***
Meanwhile, at the Red Mushroom table, Andrea sat at one end and silently watched the others while eating her food. Zane sat next to her and looked up curiously.
"You thinking about adding someone into the alliance or something?"
Andrea was indeed looking over the others for this very reason. Her eyes rested on Alice, who was having a conversation with Mandy.
"You bought a whip to fight vampires with? Shouldn't you have bought a stake or some garlic?"
"Psh, those old cliches?" Mandy asked after fighting down a bite from the slop. "Nah, a whip is where it's at! One day I'm gonna go down to Transylvania and whip those monsters out of existence once and for all."
Alice was confused but smiled. "Well, uh, I hope that goes well for you."
The two continued eating and Andrea slowly nodded at Zane. "The goth could be a contender. Then again, she could be hiding something that would make her a poor influence for the viewers. I'll be keeping my eye on her."
Elsewhere at the table, Lincoln had to stop himself from barfing after taking a bite out of his food. He scooted the plate away from him with one hand and held his mouth with the other. Lukas eyed the plate curiously.
"Ya gonna eat that?"
"N-no, it's all yours." Lincoln quickly handed the plate to Lukas, then sighed as his stomach growled. "What's the deal with this gunk, anyway? Chef was making us actual food the past few days. Now he's feeding us this funky crap."
"It's probably a challenge day," Xilier replied. "I bet Chris is having us eat this to get in some extra torture on us before the challenge even starts."
"It actually isn't half bad," Lukas said as he downed another bite from the gruel. "You guys are just lightweights."
"If it IS a challenge day, I wonder what genre we have to do," Taylor wondered out loud, giggling to herself. "I would love a challenge based on that dancing game at the arcades. I'm a pro at that thing."
"I'm hoping we get to do a fighting game challenge soon, myself," Lee Lee added, before looking over at Kyle, who was trying and failing to remove a bite from his meal. "How about you, money bags? Any game genre you're looking forward too?"
With the eyes of his teammates on him, Kyle looked up from his meal and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, um, I don't play video games. I partake in more sophisticated hobbies, like horseback riding."
Zane shook his head. "Dude has money for days and doesn't even spend any of it on games. Where's the justice?"
"Amen to that," Lincoln added. "When I win the money, I'm gonna make me a dream man cave and pack it full of video games. And maybe a pool table. And a jacuzzi."
As Lincoln was trying to think of more things he would buy with the prize money, Chris entered the tent, smiling at all the teens before him.
"Morning, players! Who's ready for another challenge? Only a single elimination tonight, so it's not so bad if you don't win. Still, I'm guessing you all want a shot at the food in the winner's trailer after today's lunch."
The contestants looked down at their plate in disgust. John poked at his serving of mush, causing the food to growl at him.
"Everybody follow me and we'll get this show on the road!"
The teens filed out and followed Chris to a large building. The inside was rather empty, save for one huge pile of junk in the middle. It was a grab bag of random things, everything from wood to buckets of glitter scattered throughout the pile. Around the big hill of stuff were three large circle on the floor, each colored for a different team.
"Alright, guys, today's challenge is going to test your creativity as a team." Chris motioned to the pile of supplies and grinned at the contestants. "The genre of the day is simulation games! In these kind of games, players simulate various different things, from running a civilization, to flying, to just living life. This particular challenge will focus on your team building a city."
Everyone looked at the pile of junk, then at their team circles.
"As you've probably gathered, you'll be making your city out of the supplies from the large pile of junk you see over there," Chris continued. "You will build your city inside your respective team's circle. The team with the best city at the end of the challenge wins. The team with the worst city sends someone packing."
"How long do we have to build the city?" Annara asked.
"Three hours," Chris replied. "More than enough time to build some nice stuff. Of course, it isn't going to be as easy as just building a city. You're going to have to deal with some... natural disasters, so to speak."
At that, Chris motioned behind him where Scott came into view. He smirked at the teens as they all watched him nervously.
"You all recognize Scott, right?" Chris said, patting Scott on the back. "This backstabbing, scheming jerk turned lovable goofball has taken a lot of punishment on the show, especially from a certain mutated shark. In this challenge, HE is going to be the one dishing out the damage."
"I'm going to be making sure you newbies have a hard time keeping a stable city," Scott explained. "You'll be minding your business, building a nice little fire department or something, then WHAM, I come in with a baseball bat and knock that sucker down."
Chris and Scott chuckled as they watched the contestant look around nervously.
"Finding a way to deal with Scott destroying your city is part of the challenge," Chris continued. "Do what you need to do to keep him at bay, just figure out a way to stop him from totally trashing the joint. And since I see some of you eying him funny, you have to BUILD a way to deal with him, you can't just fight him one on one."
Garrett, Lukas, and Kusa were indeed looking over Scott and thinking over ways to personally deal with him. Scott chuckled.
"Yeah, it ain't that easy," he added. "Any of you lay your hands on me and it's an instant DQ for the team."
"Alright, get ready people, it's show time!" Chris clapped his hands, signaling the players to get ready in their team circles. When everyone was in position and ready to go, Chris blew his air horn and the teens dove into the pile of junk, grabbing anything they could.
Things started out with Garrett, Kusa, Lukas, Billy, and Jacque grabbing as much wood as they could carry. Lukas and Garrett locked eyes for one instant and tried to one up the other by carrying more wood than the other.
"Stop showing off and get the supplies back to our circle," Xilier said, slapping Lukas upside the head. He nodded and ran off, making Garrett run off as well.
As the other competitors gathered around the pile, they started grabbing at different tools to help with construction. Deborah found a hammer and box of nails, Xilier grabbed a saw and some duct tape, and Iris found a drill and a second box of nails. Trevor looked around the pile and began giggling wickedly as he picked out a chainsaw and took it back to his team's circle.
"Aren't you a little nervous about giving us all these dangerous tools?" Riley asked. "Someone could get messed up."
Chris shrugged. "Just try not to hurt yourselves too badly. Gonna be hard not getting voted off if you accidentally chop off your hand!"
Chris chuckled, disturbing some of the teens as the rushed to grab more supplies. Ryan, Lee Lee, and Morella brought back some paint and brushes to their circles. Rowan carried back one of the buckets of glitter, which got Rowley to raise an eyebrow.
"Glitter? Seriously?"
"You got a problem with it?" Rowan asked in an annoyed tone.
"I had an art teacher once that put it best," Rowley replied. "He said that glitter is like the vomit of art. Seriously, glitter sucks, dude."
"Shut up and go get some supplies."
Rowley shrugged and rushed over to the pile. Clara was helping Caleb carry back some Christmas tree lights. Andrea found a box of mousetraps and decided it could potentially work as a way to keep Scott away. She wasn't the only one thinking of how to keep away Scott, as Aden was curiously eying some spotlights within the pile. Lexi noticed this and rushed over to see what he was doing.
"Why are ya standing there instead of grabbing supplies ya bloody idiot?"
"I think I might see a way to deal with Scott," Aden explained. "Mind helping me carry back these lights?"
Lexi shrugged and picked up as many as she could carry. Aden followed closely behind, carrying two of his own. At the pile, Ellie had overheard their conversation and was looking around for her own team's way to deal with Scott.
"What can we use?" she whispered to herself as she rummaged through the junk. Eventually, she came upon a huge tub of super glue. She shrugged and grabbed it, running back to her team's circle. While people finished grabbing some bits and pieces from the pile, Zane carrying pipes and Annara hauling some sheets of metal, Aden had returned and gathered some wire, hurrying back and dumping them in the circle just in time before Chris blew the air horn again.
"Alright, players, your time to gather supplies is up," he said with a smile. "Time to start building! Remember, keep an eye out for Scott, or else your work will be for nothing. You have three hours. Have fun!"
Chris left to go get some lunch, leaving the players with only Scott to watch them. He smirked and quietly sneaked off, giving the teens some quiet time to plan.
"So... how we doing this?" John asked his team.
"I'm thinking we should have one or two people watching out for Scott and dealing with him," Deborah replied, looking around at the others. "Anyone want to do that?"
"I found this glue, thought he might get stuck in it if I covered the perimeter with the stuff," Ellie quietly said, holding up the tub of sticky substance.
Annara shrugged. "I suppose I could try to whip something up to deal with him if he makes it past that."
The others nodded and the two girls began work, laying down the glue in preparation.
"Guess the rest of us should split up the work so we have a bunch of different buildings to make the city as big as we can," Lance said, looking around at their supplies. "Maybe two people to a building at a time?"
"We'll have to cut down some of this wood before we begin," Caleb said, holding up a huge plank. "Some of this stuff is way too long."
"Way ahead of you," Kusa replied, holding up a similar long plank. He crashed his head into the center, breaking it in two. Garrett, seeing this from his team's circle, picked up one of their planks and prepared to do the same before Riley plucked the wood from his hands.
"You're more useful to us without a concussion," she said with a chuckle. "We have a chainsaw, remember?"
While Garrett grumbled something about not needing the chainsaw, Aden began inspecting the lights he had gathered. Trevor stood behind him, smiling.
"Watcha up to there, buddy?"
"With the supplies I have, I should be able to create a defense against Scott," he explained. "I'm really good with these kind of things. It's gonna be tough to do on my own, though. Mind lending me a hand?"
Trevor slapped his alliance-mate on the back and laughed. "No problemo! And hey, we can have Lexi help us out too."
Just as Aden was about to object, the aforementioned Brit approached them. "Someone say my name?"
"Aden here was just saying how he'd like you to help us out on our Scott defense!"
Aden sheepishly smiled at Lexi, who grinned deviously. "Did he now?"
As the three talked about their defense plan, Billy picked up a block of wood and inspected it. "So what do you guys think, work on one building at a time so we can make it as solid as possible?"
"Wouldn't that make it worse for us if Scott is able to destroy the thing?" Ryan asked.
"It would be harder for him to do so if we're all working on it," Billy replied before pointing his thumb back at Aden, Trevor, and Lexi. "Plus, they're working on a way to deal with him over there."
"Big guy here could keep an eye out for Scott while we wait for them to finish whatever they're doing," Riley said while patting Garrett on the back. "I don't think Scott would risk coming at us if he sees Garrett guarding the place with a chainsaw."
Garrett grinned and nodded his head enthusiastically. "Now THAT is my kind of plan."
"W-wouldn't it be better for him to help with the building since he's so strong?" Iris hesitantly asked.
"That's why he's only guarding until Aden finishes his contraption," Billy explained. "Now let's get building!"
The others nodded and picked up some supplies to prepare the building. Rowan was about to pick up the bucket of glitter before seeing Rowley nodding his head in disapproval.
"What?"
"No glitter," he replied.
"I can use glitter if I want to," she snapped back, picking up her bucket. Ryan was walking by and notice the bucket, making him stop.
"Oh, uh, why don't we hold out on that stuff," Ryan said. "We're gonna make a town hall. I don't really think glitter works for that."
Ryan walked off and Rowan glared at Rowley before dropping her bucket and instead picked up a plank of wood. She stormed off and Rowley followed behind with the drill.
*** Confessional: Rowley ***
"Seriously, though, glitter sucks."
*** At the challenge site ***
The Red Mushrooms were hard at work preparing their city for building. Alice and Mandy were planning out a layout for their city, while the others began cutting wood and talking amongst themselves. Lukas and Xilier were planting mousetraps around the perimeter of the team's circle, eventually bumping into each other once they had covered the entire thing.
"You really think these things will keep Scott away?" he said after placing the last trap on the floor. "I mean, the dude can be dumb, but not dumb enough to step on one of these when they're in plain sight."
"They should at least make him cautious around us," Xilier replied, before holding up a bucket of oil. "Plus, if he gets close enough, we can toss some of this at him. Should make him slip and fall on to the things."
Lukas smirked. "That's horrible, yet hilarious. I didn't take you as the kind of girl that could come up with a plan like that."
"I guess you underestimate me," she replied with a smirk of her own. Lukas heard a chuckle come from behind him and looked back to see Lincoln grinning at the two of them. He picked up a mousetrap and tossed it at Lincoln, who was only barely able to dodge it in time.
"How high should we build these things?" Lee Lee asked elsewhere in the circle. "The higher we build them, the tougher it'll be to protect it from Scott."
"Ah, but Chris is a guy that likes to be wowed," Taylor replied. "We need to build stuff that blows the other two teams out of the park! Bigger is better."
"Well, you're definitely right about Chris wanting to be wowed," Alice replied, looking around at their supplies. "But we can't risk making it too unstable. How about one large skyscraper in the middle and some smaller building surrounding it?"
"I think that would look good," Zane said as he sawed a piece of wood in half. "Still, I think we need some kind of monument to make the city stand out."
Mandy grinned and raised her hand. "How about a big statue of Chris's face?"
Kyle scoffed. "That's too obvious. He'd most likely take points off for trying to suck up to him."
Andrea, tapping her chin in thought, looked around at their materials and nodded. "Actually, that would be perfect. Chris is easy to please when you appeal to his ego. We could make it work with the materials we have."
Alice smiled, patting Mandy on the back. "Looks like we're agreed, then. A big skyscraper, some buildings to surround it, and a statue of Chris's face. Let's get to building!"
The Red Mushrooms cheered and quickly got to work on their construction.
*** Confessional: Alice ***
"It's good to have a team unified and agreeing on what to do. Things are looking good for us in this challenge. Winner's trailer, here we come!"
*** At the challenge site ***
Building was underway for all three teams. Wielding a crowbar, Scott decided to target the Blue Bombers first. He ran at their building being constructed, but was quickly ran off by Garrett and his chainsaw. Defeated, he instead looked at the Red Mushrooms and grinned.
"Mousetraps? Really" He laughed, carefully stepping up to the circle. "How stupid do you think I am?"
Noticing the farm boy, Xilier nodded at Lukas and splashed some oil at Scott. As expected, the ginger slipped and landed on multiple mousetraps. He screamed in agony and ran off to remove them. The members of the team laughed and Lukas exchanged a fist bump with Xilier before returning to their work.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Ghosts were all divided into pairs to work on different things. Annara and Ellie were still laying down glue to trap Scott, while the others worked on buildings. Clara was quick to pair up with Caleb and the two were happily talking, Kusa and Jacque were similarly striking up a conversation as they made their building, and Lance was making sure Morella didn't accidentally do something dangerous with the hammer. This left John and Deborah to construct the fourth building in awkward silence.
"So, uh, how you enjoying the competition so far?" John finally asked to break the silence.
"Hmm?" Deborah looked up from her work and blinked. "Oh, the contest. It's ok so far, I suppose. I think we have a pretty solid team and I'd be lying if I didn't say that staying in the winner's trailer was the most relaxed I've been in ages. Hopefully we can make it two wins in a row."
"Yeah, it would be pretty sweet," John replied. "But everyone's gonna be gunning for it hard now that we're all down a person. It'll be tough, but I think we have it in us. We'll do the impossible!"
Deborah chuckled. "And see the invisible?"
"Yeah, I-" John stopped and went wide eyed. "What a minute. What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I said 'do the impossible,'" John replied. "Then you said 'see the invisible.' That's a line from a song in one of my favorite animes."
Deborah shrugged. "Well, yeah. You said you liked anime on the first day. Thought you would appreciate the reference."
John chuckled. "You watch anime too?"
"Yes. Is that weird?"
John was quick to shake his head. "No no no, I didn't mean it like that. It's just, it's cool to have another anime fan on the team. Caleb's appreciation of the Japanese culture only seems to extend to their video games, so I was starting to worry that I was the only full blown Otaku on the cast. I can hardly believe we have another anime fan here."
Deborah chuckled. "Well, believe it."
While the two shared a laugh, they didn't notice Scott sneaking up on their building. He quickly smashed their work to pieces with a bat, then ran off with a laugh. He didn't get far as he ended up stepping in the glue and getting stuck in place. He looked back to see the members of the Yellow Ghosts glaring at him for destroying part of their work. Some had planks of wood in hand.
"Technically if we hit him with the supplies it counts as part of defenses we built," Jacque pointed out.
The others grinned and began approaching Scott, who started to scream in terror.
*** Confessional: Scott ***
Scott was covered with bruises and glaring at the camera. "Chris told me that I'D be doing the damage for this gig. What is it with the new guys and violence? Are people still mad at me over season four? Need I remind these people that I already had to be stuck in a trauma chair for months? Seriously, I think I've had enough karma."
*** At the challenge site ***
While the Blue Bombers were finishing up their second building, Aden was standing on Trevor's shoulders, fiddling with a wire and connecting it to a spotlight. The light flicked on and Aden motioned for Trevor to let him down.
"That should finish it," Aden said as he looked around at his work. The perimeter of the circle were being lit up by various spotlights, giving off bright yellow circles of light on the floor.
"What exactly did you do?" Lexi asked, steeping towards one of the lights.
"Don't step in it," Aden yelled, barely pulling her back in time. "I fixed them to activate when someone steps into the light. Once Scott falls for it, he gets hit with the trap."
"Does it really work?" Trevor asked skeptically as he looked at the lights. "We didn't have much to work with."
"Well I want to get building, so let's find out," Garrett said, tossing down his chainsaw and spotting Scott nearby, planning his next move. "Yo Scott! I heard that Courtney and Duncan are going out again. How does it feel to lose your girl to a convict?"
Scott gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. Seeing that he no longer had a chainsaw, he charged at Garrett, running under one of Aden's spotlights. Once he entered the light, it turned from yellow to red and a log swung down suddenly and knocked Scott away.
"... How did you get that to work?" Iris asked as the teens gaped at Scott groaning in pain on the floor.
"Eh, I make stuff like this back home all the time," he replied, before looking up at Garrett. "I don't think he's coming over here anytime soon. You're clear for building."
"Was that thing about Courtney true?" Billy asked. "I don't really keep up with the celebrity gossip."
"Nah, I'm pretty sure that dude is still in jail," Garrett replied before picking up his chainsaw. "Now enough yapping and let's get building!"
Over at the Yellow Mushrooms, everyone was working hard to make as many buildings as they could. The buildings weren't anything special, simple piece of wood attached to resemble skyscrapers of different designs. Annara and Ellie were using the sheet metal to put up protective walls now that Scott would be wary of the glue.
"How much time is left?" Ellie asked.
"About an hour, I think," Annara replied before pouting. "Would it have killed Chris to leave us a clock or something in here for us to keep up with the time?"
"That would have required money and caring for his competitors," Kusa said nearby with a chuckle. "This is Chris McLean we're talking about here."
"Good point," Annara replied. "Still, I kind of wish-"
Annara was cut off by the sound of Scott running straight into a sheet of metal just as Ellie had sat it up. He fell back and groaned, while Ellie peeked out from being the wall and looked down at him worriedly.
"Whoops. Sorry, Scott."
"Ugh," was the veteran's pained response.
Meanwhile, the Red Mushrooms were surrounding their huge skyscraper with smaller buildings. The skyscraper wasn't very stable, with the top swaying back and forth slightly, so Mandy was up on a ladder with the drill, trying to make the top less wobbly. While the rest of the group made buildings, Andrea was finishing the carving of Chris's head. Once she had it complete, she wiped away the sweat on her forehead and stepped back.
"Finally done," she announced, getting approving thumbs up from her team. "Chris better like this stupid thing."
The wooden Chris face was a perfect replica of the real deal. A spitting image of the host's face. It truly was impressive, which made it all the more unfortunate when Scott fired a toilet plunger arrow while the team wasn't looking, hitting Mandy and knocking the drill out of her hand. The tool dropped down and landed violently on the statue, causing a huge crack to appear down the middle of Chris's face.
"Scott, ya big jerk, that was SO uncool," Mandy yelled from her ladder while the aforementioned ginger ran off, laughing. Andrea was fuming as she stared at her work, now cracked.
Zane whistled. "That's a shame. Didn't that take you like two hours to finish?"
Andrea didn't reply. She glared up at Mandy, who was coming down from her ladder. Taylor looked distraught and on the verge of tears.
"Chris is going to hate it now that it's ruined," she said, blowing her nose on Kyle's shirt as she began to cry. "We're gonna lose for sure."
"Not necessarily," Lincoln replied while a disgusted Kyle tried to wipe snot off of his shirt with sandpaper. "We could just cover it up and block it so he doesn't see it. Pretend like it isn't there. The rest of our city might be good enough to at least keep us from elimination."
Taylor perked up and beamed as she grabbed a nearby tarp and threw it over the Chris head. "Hey, you're right, Lincoln. We can still win this thing." She then looked back at Kyle, who was glaring at her. "Something wrong, Kyle?"
*** Confessional: Kyle ***
"I absolutely HATE these plebeians. After I've won this show, I'll see to it that none of them work in show business again!"
*** At the challenge site ***
Chris had finally returned to the building as the players put the finishing touches on their cities. Some competitors were painting and decorating their building. Clara and Caleb wrapped one of their buildings with Christmas tree lights, while Rowan was even able to glitter their shopping mall when Rowley wasn't looking. Scott made some last ditch attempts to mess with the Yellow Ghosts and Red Mushrooms, but they were prepared are didn't let him do any damage. He knew better than to try attacking the Blue Bombers after a second attempt at bypassing Aden's security got him tasered.
"Alright, players, put down your saws and your brushes," Chris yelled. "Time is up!"
The teens did as they were told and dropped their tools. The Yellow Ghosts and Blue Bombers stood at the edge of their circle, while the Red Mushrooms gathered around the tarp covered Chris head, blocking it from the host's view.
"Alright, let's see what you guys got for me." Chris, joined by Scott, first looked at the Yellow Ghost's city. Their city was by far the largest, with at least twelve buildings scattered throughout the city. Most were simple skyscrapers simply painted different colors and decorated with lights , but they also had a round sports dome and a small school building made out of the broken pieces of wood from John and Deborah's original building.
"Not bad," Chris commented and he looked over the city. "Not great, but not bad."
He walked over to the Blue Bombers next. Aden made sure to turn off the light activated booby traps for the inspection, but Scott still chose to stand outside the circle. Although their city had the least amount of buildings, it also had the most detail. First there was the town hall, expertly crafted to resemble one you would see in an actual city. It even had a tiny wooden Mayor standing on the steps. There was a large skyscraper that held the offices, a school twice the size as the one in the Ghost's city, a hospital with a wooden helicopter on the roof, and finally the mall. It was just as well detailed as the others, but Chris cringed a bit looking at it.
"Overall, great detail in this city," he said. "But that glitter on the mall... bleh."
Rowley shot a smug smile at Rowan, who just glared back with folded arms in response.
"And now, the Blue Bombers." Chris walked over to the final team, many of whom smiled sheepishly at him. Their city's most notable feature was a huge skyscraper in the center of the circle. It was easily the largest thing built by any of the teams. Surrounding the monster building were about eight smaller skyscrapers, each painted a different color and designed slightly different.
"I'm digging the huge skyscraper," Chris said, smirking at the team. "But overall the city is a little bland. Could have used more variety in the types of buildings."
Chris began to walk away where he noticed a bit of blue behind Kyle. It dawned on him that the members of the team were standing around in a circle and were stood close together. He raised an eyebrow and looked over the teens.
"What are you guys standing around?"
"We have no idea what you're talking about," Lee Lee replied, the others nodding in agreement. Chris looked over at Scott, who shook his head.
"Step aside, people, ya can't hide anything from me." Chris nudged Kyle out of the way and found the large blue tarp. He removed the tarp, uncovering the wooden Chris head. His eyes lit up for a moment at the monument, but they soon narrowed as he noticed the large crack running down the middle of the wooden face. There was a long silence as he stared at the crack. He then cleared his throat and turned to face the others.
"Alright, well, the Blue Bombers win the challenge for having the most detailed city," he announced, making the aforementioned team jump and cheer in response. "Meanwhile, your losers are the Red Mushrooms for destroying a perfectly good replica of my beautiful face. Yellow Ghosts, you can rest easy tonight."
Scott chuckled, earning him glares from the members of the Red Mushrooms. Chris stuck his nose up and walked away. "I'll see you face destroyers at the Gilded Joystick Ceremony tonight."
Scott and Chris left, slowly followed by the players. Defeated, many of the Red Mushrooms grumbled, or in Taylor's case, began to sob.
"Two challenges in a row my team has failed," Kyle complained, shaking his head at the ground. "Absolutely pathetic."
"Oh yeah, because you did SO much during this thing," Lee Lee shot back, poking him accusingly in the side. "Ya know, you run your mouth a lot for someone who does so little."
"Woman, you touch me again and you'll face the consequences," Kyle threatened, getting a good laugh out of Lee Lee. She poked him in the face, almost starting a slap fight between the two. Xilier had to get between the two to stop the confrontation. Meanwhile, Mandy was mumbling to herself behind them.
"That dirty farm boy cost us the game," Mandy said as she glared at the veteran walking with Chris. "I bet he's a vampire sympathizer."
"There there," Alice replied, patting her on the back. "We couldn't do anything about it. We'll just bounce back and win the next one."
While the two walked off, Andrea couldn't take her eyes off of Mandy. Zane took notice of this and nudged her.
"Do I even need to ask who we're voting off tonight?"
"Not only did vampire hunter girl cost us the challenge by dropping that drill," Andre replied, "She's also a freak. One of the worst influences on the viewers here out of everybody on the cast. We'll be doing the audience a favor."
Zane shrugged. "If you say so."
*** Outside the trailers ***
"So what do ya say, are ya in?"
Xilier was sitting in front of Lukas and Lincoln, both of whom were smiling. She thought over Lukas's offer, then nodded. "Sure, I'm down with being in an alliance with you guys. Sounds like it could be fun."
"Yeah, I got a good feeling about it," Lincoln replied, giggling to himself as he looked from her to Lukas. Lukas punched him in the shoulder, making him wince and hold it in pain.
"I'm thinking we can make final three if we play our cards right," Lukas continued. "Of course, we gotta decide on who we vote off tonight."
Nearby, Andrea and Zane were watching the trio talk. Andrea nodded and Zane walked over to talk business with the alliance.
*** Gilded Joystick Ceremony ***
The ten members of the Red Mushrooms gathered at the elimination ceremony. As always, Chris was present in his tux and Chef wore his traumatizing dress, holding a plate with the nine gilded joysticks on it.
"Let this be a lesson to the lot of you that you do NOT mess with the image of you handsome host without being ready to face the consequences of your actions," Chris said, narrowing his eyes at the teens as he held the first few symbols of immunity in his hand. "Now then, Gilded Joysticks go to... Alice!"
The goth smiled and caught her joystick as it was tossed to her.
"Lukas, Taylor, Xilier, Zane, Andrea, Lincoln..."
Joysticks were thrown out to everyone, leaving only three players left without one.
"And Lee Lee! You all are safe."
She smirked and caught her symbol of immunity, sticking her tongue out at Kyle. He appeared to be more annoyed than anything. Mandy was nervous about her name not being called but was able to relax when she saw who she was in the bottom two with.
"Oh come on, I didn't even do anything this time," Kyle complained, before Chris hushed him.
"Alright, players, one last Gilded Joystick remains," the host said as he held the small statue up. "Who's going home tonight, rich boy Kyle, or vampire slayer Mandy?"
The bottom two glared at each other, then at Chris. Andrea was staring at Mandy, while Lee Lee stared at Kyle.
"The final joystick of the night goes to...
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... Kyle!"
The wealthy boy sighed in relief and happily took his Gilded Joystick. Lee Lee, Alice, and Mandy all seemed stunned.
"Is this a joke?" Lee Lee yelled.
"Mandy is one of the nicest people here," Alice added. "Why her?"
"Aw crap, now how am I supposed to afford moving to Europe to slay vampires?" Mandy sighed and crossed her arms. "This bites."
Lincoln chuckled at that, but stopped when Mandy shot him a glare. "Pun not intended?"
Mandy looked down at the ground in defeat, but confidently stood up to take her elimination well. She high fived her teammates as she walked by, following Chef to the Sling of Shame.
"It's been fun guys, try not to become blood suckers!"
With her final words, Chef put Mandy into the giant slingshot. He brought the elastic back and released, shooting Mandy through the air as she whooped and screamed from the adrenaline rush. Andrea smiled victoriously.
"One freak down," she whispered to herself.
"Alright party people, head on back to your trailer," Chris yelled, having Chef shoo away the teens. "Try not to be here again for the third time in a row next time."
After a chuckle, Chris smiled for the camera. "Another one bites the dust here on the show. Will Andrea's crusade to get rid of those she deems 'bad influences' continue to happen on her team? What will become of the other alliances throughout the cast? And who will be the next player to face their game over on the Sling of Shame? Tune in next week for all of that and probably more, right here on TOTAL... DRAMA... LEVEL UP!"
Votes:
Lee Lee: Kyle
Kyle: Lee Lee, Alice, Mandy, Taylor
Mandy: Andrea, Zane, Lukas, Lincoln, Xilier
Remaining Contestants:
Red Mushrooms: (Andrea, Zane), (Lukas, Lincoln, Xilier), Kyle, Alice, Taylor, Lee Lee
Blue Bombers: (Trevor, Aden), (Riley, Iris), (Rowan, Garrett, Ryan), Billy, Rowley, Lexi
Yellow Ghosts: Kusa, Lance, Deborah, Annara, Morella, Jacque, John, Caleb, Ellie, Clara
30th: Mandy
31st: Liam
32nd: Piper
33rd: Nathan
Author's Note:
Remember back in December when I said this chapter wouldn't take nearly as long and would possibly be out before the end of 2014? Good times, gooood times. Seriously, though, sorry about the delay. You know how life gets in the way of writing sometimes. Also, the writing bug seems to be really biased to Total Drama Underdogs whenever it bites me. With the story being so close to finishing, it's exited to see me finish it. Curse you writing bug and your bias. Still, we got yet another long chapter here. Even without this author's note, it's over 9000 words. Yeah, over 9000. There's an old meme I could make John or Deborah reference at some point if I ever feel like making you guys cringe. Seriously, though, if the chapters keep coming out this long every time, who knows how long the story will be when it finishes? I'm excited just thinking about it.
Sorry about Mandy. She was a fun character and I feel like a good amount of readers liked her. I also liked her, but I felt like it was time for the villains to start doing their stuff and eliminating characters they would want gone. Notice that I say villains. Plural. Andrea isn't the only character that's going to be making some waves in the coming chapters. Still, it might be a bummer for some people to see Mandy go so early, but take comfort in knowing that I plan on making her one of the most vocal characters during the aftermath.
Today's genre was simulation games. A lot of stuff falls under that genre, and yet I have little experience in it outside of Animal Crossing. You'll come to learn that I'm a very big Nintendo guy as the references keep piling up in future genres. Anyway, yeah, no real references to be had here outside of the title and challenge, but the next one should be able to fit quite a few references. I think I'll start telling you guys the next genre in these author's notes as a preview of things to come in the next chapter. Next up is one of the big ones, RPGs. That should be a fun chapter.
One last thing. A few days ago I wrote a short story for a guy per his request since no one else would write the thing for him even after promising it, and it was pretty fun to write, so I'm putting it up here. I'll be uploading it after I upload this chapter. It's a short CodyxEva thing. Sound like a crack ship? Well, it kind of is I guess. Go read it anyway, ya might like it. After writing it, I'm thinking about doing more short one-shot stuff. We'll see where my writing goes from here. Until next time, see you guys later.