"Last time of Total Drama Level Up: More alliances and partnerships began to form as the players continued interacting with one another. Meanwhile, our final 30 had to compete in a simulation games themed challenge that tested their creativity and ability to work together. Of course, our old friend Scott saw to it that they had a hard time keeping their cities in one piece. Each team approached the challenge with a different strategy, but after a falling drill caused the Red Mushrooms to destroy a perfectly good replica of my face, they were sent to elimination, while the Blue Bombers tasted their first victory. Due to her part in dropping the drill and being 'a bad influence' to the viewers, Andrea saw to it that Mandy was the one to get sent packing. 29 players remain. What two contestants will be eliminated today? What alliances will shake things up? What genre will the players face today? Tune in for all of that and more, right now on TOTAL... DRAMA... LEVEL UP!"
*** Opening Credits ***
The inside of the girl's half to the Red Mushroom trailer was anything but quiet as Taylor was sobbing at her bed, Alice sitting next to her and trying to calm her down. Lee Lee and Xilier sat nearby, while Andrea sat on the other side of the room on her own bed.
"Sweetie, it's been three days since Mandy left," Alice calmly said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She wouldn't want you to be sad like this."
"I-it just really sucks that someone so nice had to go so soon," Taylor replied through cries, wiping them away on her arm. "And it's the second time in a row our team lost someone!"
"We only lost the last challenge because of a freak accident," Lee Lee pointed out, giving Taylor a smile. "We'll knock the next one out of the park for sure! Then we'll not only get to avoid the Gilded Chris ceremony, we'll also get to sleep in the winner's trailer!"
"B-But the next challenge is a double elimination."
"And we'll still do our best to win it," Xilier replied. "Now chin up, Mandy is gonna be rooting for us and wanting us to kick this next challenge's butt. Right Andrea?"
The girls looked at the lone girl sitting on the other side of the room, who had been busy eying Taylor suspiciously. She quickly snapped out of it and put on a small fake smile.
"Yes, we'll do great in this next challenge. Definitely."
Taylor, seeing the smiling faces of the other girls, suddenly perked up and gave a bright smile of her own. "You girls are right! I can't wait to win and get back to the other trailer."
While Taylor pulled Alice in for a tight hug, Lee Lee couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her teammate. "She recovered from that easily."
Xilier nodded, keeping her voice low. "She's had these mood swings since the first day. I'm honestly starting to get a little worried."
"Oh, those old things?" Taylor suddenly asked, surprising the other two girls as they didn't know they had been heard. "Yeah, I've had bad mood swings for a while now. Has it been noticeable?"
The three girls sitting around her exchanged looks of uncertainty, not knowing how to properly respond in fear of triggering a bad reaction. Finally, Alice cautiously spoke. "Just a tad. But we still think you're a good person and we don't mind it."
Taylor grinned from ear to ear and hugged Alice even tighter. "Glad to hear it!"
"You wanna talk about it?" Xilier asked, making Taylor shake her head.
"No. It's... a little personal," Taylor replied, looking at the ground awkwardly, then at Xilier. "At least, I don't want to talk about it now."
"I can understand that," Lee Lee said with a smile. "And you all understand too, right girls?"
Alice and Xilier nodded in response. Andrea had narrowed her eyes at Taylor but eventually also faked a nod when the others looked over at her.
*** Confessional: Taylor ***
"I'm so glad I got put on a team with such nice people. They're all so understanding and accepting!"
*** Confessional: Andrea ***
"That girl is a definite freak. With the vampire girl gone, she is potentially the worst influence remaining on the viewers. I need to take action as soon as possible. I cannot allow such behavior to continue on my team."
*** In the Winner's Trailer ***
Iris and Riley were laying on the massage tables as they enjoyed a relaxing massage in the spa room.
"Now THIS is the good life," Riley commented as she shot her alliance-mate a smile. "I wonder if Chris is gonna have this trailer up for sale after the season is over. I might just be interested in buying if I win this thing."
"It's definitely nice," Iris replied, a small grin of her own forming. "Still, I'm surprised you agreed to join me in here and let those other guys play video games."
Riley shrugged. "Eh, I hogged the living room the last two days, I figured it was only nice to give them tonight."
In the aforementioned living room, Aden and Lexi were playing video games on the couch while Trevor watched next to them, eating popcorn.
"Come on, pipsqueak, are you gonna come help me or do I have to finish off all these zombies on my own?" Lexi asked as the sound of zombie groans and gunfire came from the television.
"You're the one that ran into the horde like a madman. Not my fault that I actually plan out my moves strategically."
A wet, squishy sound effect played and Trevor chuckled. "Dude, you busted that thing's head open like a grape! Good stuff."
While the two continued their gaming, Trevor looked over at Lexi curiously. He elbowed Aden in the side and motioned over at her.
"Oh, uh, say Lexi," Aden said as he continued playing. "Trevor and I were thinking. You want to, uh, be in an alliance with us?"
Lexi looked down at him and smirked. "An alliance, huh? I guess that could be fun. Sure, why not? I'm in."
Trevor grinned deviously, downing another handful of popcorn while the other two kept playing their game.
*** Confessional: Trevor ***
"Lexi was an easy pick for a third alliance member. Her interest in Aden meant she would definitely agree to the offer. And I like her attitude, she seems like the kind of girl that really likes to mess with people. I respect that. She should make for an... interesting, partner."
*** Outside the trailers ***
Morning had come and most players were on their way to the craft services tent for breakfast. Kusa was walking along peacefully before noticing John slowly creeping along, bags under his eyes and yawning.
"Bad night of sleep?" Kusa asked. John quietly chuckled and shook his head.
"Not really, I've just never been much of a morning person. I'm used to staying up all night, playing video games or watching some subtitled anime."
"Why not just watch it English so you don't have to read the subtitles?"
John looked offended and opened his mouth to reply, when Deborah suddenly approached with an equally offended expression and spoke up.
"Do you have any idea how much they butcher from the original language when they translate it? You're getting the original experience when you watch is subbed. Dubs are never the way to go."
Kusa raised an eyebrow and glanced at John. He shrugged and smirked. "What she said."
"Interesting," Kusa replied. "Anyway, hopefully breakfast is enough to help you get going. It should be a challenge day, so whatever Chef gives us should be... interesting."
Inside the craft services tent, Chef had already began serving breakfast to the Red Mushrooms. Lincoln was the first to be given a plate, but he seemed shocked when he looked down and saw eggs, bacon, and toast, rather than unidentifiable gruel.
"Huh, guess it isn't a challenge day after all," Lukas said as he also received a plate with similarly good looking food.
"Oh, it's a challenge day alright," Chef said from behind the counter before giving Kyle his plate. "But today is a good day, so I'm giving you maggots a good breakfast to celebrate."
Ellie and Annara exchanged a look of uncertainty as Chef began to chuckle to himself.
"W-what makes today a good day?" Ellie asked nervously.
"Don't worry, you'll see." Chef began to laugh diabolically, unnerving most of the teens standing in the breakfast line.
*** Confessional: Ellie ***
"There's something really unsettling about seeing Chef laugh like that. Makes you wonder if he spiked the breakfast with something. He wouldn't do that... right?"
*** In the Crafts Services Tent ***
Most of the players had finished their breakfast and were conversing amongst each other. Lance impatiently drummed his fingers against the table and finally looked over at Chef.
"Hey, not that I don't appreciate the good breakfast or anything, but where's Chris? If it's a challenge day, you would think he'd be here by now."
Chef began to chuckle once again, stepping out from the kitchen and rolling out a TV with him. The teens watched curiously, while Chef smirked at them.
"Pretty boy is a little tied up at the moment, so I'M the host for today." Some contestants gasped, while others nervously glanced at each other, sweat dropping down from their foreheads. "Now don't get your panties in a knot or nothing, I ain't part of the challenge itself. I'm just taking over as host while Chris can't do it. That guy is the one who'll brief you on the challenge."
Chef motioned to the tent entrance where a purple cloud of smoke suddenly went off. The others coughed and fanned away the smoke until it finally let up, revealing Leonard to be standing at the entrance, still dressed in the same wizard outfit he wore in the previous season.
"Greetings newcomers to Total Drama," the scrawny nerd yelled. "It is I, Total Drama veteran, Grand Wizard Leonard!"
Andrea's eye twitched as she glared at the veteran, who joined Chef next to the TV.
"I come bringing you news of your next challenge! Today, you will compete in what I would consider to be the greatest of video game genres. I speak, of course, about RPGs!"
"How are rocket-propelled grenades a video game genre?" Ryan asked, making some of his fellow competitors chuckle.
"No, my friend," Leonard replied. "Role-playing games!"
"Ain't those the ones where the kids with stupid spiky hair walk around carrying ridiculously big swords and they have to take turns fighting with the enemies?" Trevor asked.
"RPGs come in a wide variety of games," Leonard said. "That is but one type of scenario you could expect from them."
"Well what kind of challenge is this gonna be?" Riley asked with a raised eyebrow. "The kind of RPG where we're all taking turns fighting as a team against huge enemies? The kind where we catch animals in balls and make them fight for our own amusement?"
"Animal rights activists wouldn't let us go forward with that one," Chef grumbled.
"Your challenge will be in multiple parts," Leonard explained. "First, you must assemble a team worthy of setting off on a dangerous quest. You'll face a wide variety of enemies during your challenge, so it's important to make your team a varied and fierce one. You should also appoint a leader to command you in battle."
"Oh, I am all over that," Zane said with a smirk. "I've got a lot of RPG experience under my belt."
The other members of his team either smiled or shrugged in indifference. Over at the Yellow Ghosts, John was quick to raise his hand.
"Guys, I can totally do this. It's my favorite genre."
"Well I ain't going to object," Lance replied, slapping his teammate on the back. "I sure as heck don't know anything about these kind of games."
Riley looked back at the two boys that had volunteered for their teams, then smiled at her own. "Everyone alright with me leading this one?"
Iris nodded, while the others shrugged or said nothing.
"I don't think anyone else here is much of a gamer besides you and me," Aden said, looking over his teammates. "And I'm not much of an RPG kind of guy. You go ahead."
After some final murmurs amongst the three teams, Leonard clapped his hands and smiled. "Has everyone decided upon a leader?" Zane, John, and Riley stepped forward and nodded. "Excellent! The three of you will be responsible for assigning roles to your comrades. Once you've completed your team, you will all set out on a quest to complete one of the most classic goals there is in video games."
"What, are we rescuing another princess?" Billy asked with a chuckle.
"Yes, actually." Leonard turned to the television and pressed a button on the side to turn it on. "Behold, the fair maiden that you must save. The beautiful Princess McLean!"
It was a sight that had to be seen to be believed. On the TV was Chris, tied up by his wrists and standing atop a large prop castle. His attire, however, was drastically different. He wore a pink dress, pink slippers, and pointy pink princess hat. His scowling face was adorned with lipstick and eyeliner, and his fingernails were painted bright pink. The tent had erupted into laughter, with normally stoic players like Andrea and Kyle even laughing at the sight. Chef was laughing the hardest, brought to tears as he pointed at the TV. Chris fumed and glared at the camera.
"It isn't funny! And you left the two-way mike on, so I can hear you!"
"I know ya can, dummy! I wanted you to hear these kids laughing at you!"
"Chef, not that I don't appreciate seeing... this," Kusa said as he tried to calm himself down from the laughing. "But aren't you usually the one to do the dress up bits?"
"McLean lost himself a high stakes bet," Chef proudly replied, grinning at the television. "This is his punishment. This here's why ya don't gamble, kids."
*** Confessional: Jacque ***
"You know, unless you're really good at it."
*** In the Crafts Services Tent ***
Leonard chuckled once more at Chris before turning to the three team captains. "Now then, the three of you will be choosing roles for your allies for your upcoming journey. You'll find an assortment of marvelous costumes and weapons in front of your trailers. Once you've created your ideal team, meet me back here and the quest will begin!"
The team leaders nodded and led the rest of their team back to the trailers to begin planning. Riley's team was the first to arrive and the gamer girl wasted no time in inspecting her squad.
"Alright, if we're gonna rock this challenge, I need to play on your strengths." Riley eyed Garrett first and rubbed her chin in thought. "Garrett is our strongest team member, so I think we should work with that."
Riley rummaged through a box of prop weapons, eventually pulling out a pair of gloves with metal covering the knuckles. "This should do nicely."
She tossed the gloves to Garrett, who put them on with a smirk. She then looked at Billy and took a wooden bat from the props. "Since Billy is our baseball guy, I think it's only natural that we give him a weapon he's comfortable with."
"Nice." Billy looked over his bat and gave it a swing. He nodded in approval and Riley moved on to her next teammates.
"We're gonna need some 'magic' users. Gotta cover our bases if they throw some weird enemies at us." Riley tossed a water gun at Rowan, a taser to Trevor, and a blowtorch to Ryan. "You guys alright with doing that?"
"As long as this thing doesn't end up burning off my eyebrows or something, sure," Ryan said as he carefully inspected his blowtorch. Rowan shrugged while Trevor grinned and nodded.
"What should I do?" Iris asked as she nervously watched Garret air boxing with his gloves on and Billy swinging his bat. "I'm not much of a fighter"
Riley tapped her chin in thought before snapping her fingers and handing her a staff. "You could be our healer! If people take damage, they're gonna need to recover. You can be in charge of that."
"And what about us?" Lexi asked, scooting Aden forward.
"Aden should work with his gadget making skills," Riley replied, tossing a wrench at the aforementioned engineer. "So he can do that. Lexi, how are you with a bow and arrows?"
Lexi shrugged. "Pretty good. Not the best, but I can get the job done."
"Sounds good enough to me." Riley tossed her a bow, then turned to Rowley. "You're last. Anything in particular that you wanna do?"
"From these weapons? Not really." Rowley grinned, then pointed a thumb at the trailers. "Buuuuut, I might have a few fun little tricks in my room if you're ok with me using that stuff."
"Go for it, dude!" Riley patted him on the back, then looked around at everyone trying out their weapons. "Alright, guys, time to talk costumes!"
While the Bombers began to move to the outfits hanging next to their trailer, Lukas was inspecting a strange arm cannon that Zane had placed on his hand. "What's the deal with this thing? Is it my weapon or are you just giving it to me because it looks cool?"
"I think the Bombers had to use something like this in their first challenge," Zane replied, stepping back and looking at the device now attached to his arm. "Give it a try."
Lukas looked over at the Bombers and grinned as he noticed Garrett turned around and looking through the clothes. He took aim at him and fired off a tennis ball, nailing Garrett in the back. He held the cannon behind his back and whistled nonchalantly when Garret snapped his head around and tried to find the culprit.
"I like it." Lukas grinned at his arm cannon and gave Zane an approving thumbs up. Zane then noticed Kyle looking through the props hesitantly.
"You seeing something that catches your eye?"
"Not particularly," Kyle mumbled in response before sighing. "I'm skilled in fencing, but I highly doubt it'll prove useful in whatever nonsense Chris is having us fight."
"Well, you don't got much going for ya in the strength department," Zane said before receiving a glare from the rich kid. "No offense. So how about this?"
Zane took a metal shield from the props and handed it to Kyle. He glanced at the shield, then at Zane before shrugging and lifting his new 'weapon' up.
"We're gonna need a sword to go with that shield," Zane continued as he took a blunt metal sword from the prop pile. "Doesn't look like this thing is gonna be doing any slicing, though."
"I guess even Chris has to draw the line somewhere," Alice said. "Giving us sharp objects to swing around must be that line."
"But stuff like blowtorches are apparently A OK," Lee Lee added, giggling as Ryan accidentally blasted his blowtorch briefly, making him jump.
"Lee Lee, Alice, which of you wanna rock the sword?" Zane asked, holding the sword out for whomever wanted it. Alice was the one to reach out.
"I may as well. Could be fun!" Alice smiled, with Lee Lee doing the same as she eyed the props.
"I was thinking something quick and vicious. I don't think I'd work well with a big bulky weapon."
Zane looked over the remaining weapons, eventually coming to a pair of nunchaku. He tossed them over to the survivalist and smirked. "Something like that?"
She grinned and eagerly nodded. Andrea then cleared her throat and looked down at her alliance-mate. "What do you need me to do?"
The team captain thought over his options, sorting through the props as he did so. "Well, you could be one of our heaviest hitters, so you need something that could really dish out some punishment."
Eventually, Zane came across a large mallet. He gave it a small swing, then handed it to Andrea. She looked over her weapon, then nodded.
"Alright, I'm gonna need a magic user and a support person to heal and give us buffs and stuff," Zane continued, tossing Taylor a cane and Lincoln a wand. "You guys up for that?"
"Sounds like a plan," Lincoln replied, sharing a grin with Taylor.
"Yeah, sounds like it'll be fun," she agreed.
"Awesome. That just leaves Xilier." Zane looked back to see Xilier sorting through the weapons they had to choose from. She picked up one that resembled a large key, but Zane was quick to shoot that one down.
"Nah, we need to give you something good. Something that can hit from a distance or up close."
After a bit of searching, Zane found a large chain. He wrapped most of it around his hand, leaving a bit left free to swing around. He held on to bottom of the chain and whipped it at a table, creating a small dent. Xilier, impressed, gladly took the chain and wrapped it around her own hand.
"Looks like we're all set! Let's suit up, people."
With Zane leading his team to the costumes, it was now John's turn to assign roles to his teammates. Kusa was the first person he stood before.
"Alright, man, since you have actual fighting experience, I'll let you go ahead and pick out a weapon that you feel most comfortable with. Would be pretty stupid of me to make you do something else if you see something you can use well."
Kusa looked over the weapons before quickly spotting a long bo staff. He swung the weapon around a few times, before setting it down and grinning. "I think this will suite me just fine."
"Great," John replied with a thumbs up. "Anyone else have any preferences?"
"I've always fancied myself an 'in the shadows' kind of fighter," Lance replied. "Not much of an up close and personal guy."
"A ninja type class, eh?" John looked through the props before coming to a few smoke balls and what appeared to be a wooden toy katana. "Well, Chris didn't leave us anything sharp, so no shuriken or kunai, but this should do."
Just as John finished handing the items to Lance, Morella suddenly emerged from the props wearing what appeared to be a flamethrower. "Hey guys, look what I found!"
Her teammates hit the deck and looked up at her in shock.
"Watch where you're pointing that thing," Jacque yelled from his cover. "You're gonna hurt someone."
"Whoops. My bad. Didn't mean to spook ya." Morella cheerfully hummed before taking the flamethrower off and skipping over to John. "Hey, you think that would make for a good thing to use in the challenge?"
"Sure, sure, you can use it. Just, you know, don't hit any of us with it."
Morella giggled. "I would never do that, silly."
*** Confessional: John ***
"Geez, they won't give us swords, but a FLAMETHROWER? It's a good thing we don't have any crazy people here to mess with these weapons."
*** Confessional: Trevor ***
Trevor was sitting in his chair, holding his taser. He giggled to himself while he turned the device on and thrust it forward a few times as if he was practicing shocking someone with it.
*** In front of the trailers ****
Once the Yellow Ghosts had gotten back up and dusted themselves off, John then turned to Annara. "Alright, so you're really talented at dealing with animals, right? I almost guarantee that he's going to be throwing bears or sharks or whatever else at us, so it would be good if we had you ready to get them off our backs."
John handed her a flute, which she inspected curiously. "I suppose I can do that, but what good will this do me when we're dealing with enemies that aren't animals?"
"Or if there are no animal enemies at all," Jacque added while John gave him a paintball gun.
"Nah, Chris loves throwing big dangerous animals at us too much to not use them in a challenge like this," John replied. "And besides, nothing keeps morale high like a catchy tune! So there's something to do when we aren't dealing with them."
Jacque shrugged and began to inspect his new weapon while John came to a stop at Caleb.
"Anything in particular that you'd want to do?"
Caleb scratched his chin in thought, then shrugged. "Not really, man. Anything that'll help out the team."
"Well, we could use a really big heavy hitter." John rummaged through the props, eventually pulling out a heavy ball at the end of a chain. "Think you can handle this thing?"
"Sure," Caleb replied, taking the weapon from John and slowly swinging it to accurately hit a cockroach that was crawling in front of one of the trailers. "This thing is slow as heck, though."
"Yeah, we're probably gonna need someone to watch your back since you'll leave yourself open for attack so easy," John said, before looking over his teammates. "Who would make a good partner for you to-"
"I'll do it," Clara quickly replied with a smile and stepping forward. John smiled and did a quick search through the weapon before bringing back a small baton with a button on it.
"I think this thing will be perfect for you to keep stuff at bay while he does his thing." John pressed the button, making the baton turn on and surge with electricity. "Heck, you could even use this to stun enemies and leave them open for his attack."
"Sounds awesome," she gleefully replied before taking the stun baton. When John returned to the props, he found a first aid kit and looked back at Deborah and Ellie.
"Would either of you like to be a healer? Gotta have one of those on an RPG team."
"I-I have some medical experience," Ellie quietly replied while stepping forward. "And since I don't really fight very well, it would be something more comfortable for me to do."
"Sounds like a perfect fit, then," John replied before handing her some brass knuckles to go with her first aid kit. "Still, it's nice for the healer to have a weapon on standby so they're not defenseless if they get targeted. Hopefully you won't have to worry about it while we're keeping an eye out for enemies."
Ellie silently nodded, allowing John to move on to his final teammate. "And last, but certainly not least, there's Deborah. What weapon suits your fancy? And before you ask, we're all out of books that off the enemy when you write their name down."
Deborah chuckled and eyed the remaining weapons curiously. "I don't know. I think the other teams have some magic users on them. Want me to cover that?"
"Nah," John replied, shaking his head. "I'll cover that stuff. Just go with a weapon that you're feeling."
After a bit of looking, Deborah eventually came upon a shovel underneath some fake swords. She gave it a swing, then smiled. "Actually, I think this thing could be pretty useful."
"Alright, looks like everyone's equipped and ready to go! Now it's time to get us some outfits."
The Yellow Ghosts followed their leader to the clothes, making it so that everyone was now creating their costume.
*** Confessional: Rowan ***
"By far the worst challenge yet. Not because it was the most dangerous or anything, no no no, it was the outfits. Some of these people have absolutely no fashion sense. It was pretty hard resisting the urge to vomit."
*** Outside the Crafts Services Tent ***
The three teams had gathered where Leonard had requested and all stood before the wizard in various different colorful outfits. First was the Blue Bombers. Garret wore a black and red jacket over a black shirt and blue jeans. Billy wore a blue and yellow striped shirt, a red baseball cap, blue shorts, and a backpack. Rowan looked around at the others in disgust, wearing a short red and black dress, white leggings, and tall brown shoes. Trevor was shirtless and had painted himself in strange brown markings all across his body, from his face all the way down to his feet. He also wore brown shorts and black sneakers. Ryan wore a sleeveless red jacket over a long sleeved black shirt. He wore a strange pair of shorts colored red, tan, and blue in odd patterns, and red shoes. Iris wore what appeared to be a pink genie outfit, with gold jewelry and curved purple slippers. Lexi had chosen a set of black and gold armor that covered everything from the waist, her feet, and most of her right leg. It also came with a matching headpiece. Aden's outfit was all red, with the shoes, cargo shorts, and tucked in shirt all the same dark shade of red. He also worse suspenders. Rowley was wearing a blue jacket, green and white stripped pants, brown boots, red gloves, and a large pointy brown hat. Last was Riley, dressed in a white baseball cap with a ball pattern on it, a sleeveless black jacket over a white shirt, blue shorts, and a red bag hanging from her shoulder.
"An excellent team, Riley."
"Thanks, Leonard," Riley replied, flashing a smile back at her teammates. "We're ready to kick some butt!"
Leonard nodded and moved on to the Red Mushrooms. Lukas wore a black leather jacket with ripped sleeves, green pants, and brown boots. Kyle was dressed like a knight, wearing armored boots and a helmet, chainmail, green shoulder pads, and a white tunic with a picture of the sun on it. Alice's outfit was simple, a blue, gold lined Japanese styled dress and a pair of large brown boots. Lee Lee was dressed like a warrior, wearing a viking-like helmet with curved horns, armor that consisted of heavy leather and furs, large boots, and protective metal on her shoulder. Andrea's outfit consisted of a simple blue jumpsuit with 'TD' printed on the back in yellow letters and a silver belt. Taylor's outfits was one of the most normal, wearing just a green zipped up jacket with yellow stripes, and a black skirt. Lincoln wore a plain brown shirt and brown pants, but also a yellow and blue cape with matching hat. Xilier wore some sort of white military looking dress with black patterns and a red stripe down the shoulders. She also wore leggins and black and white shoes, similar to her dress. Finally there was Zane, who wore a large black coat with purple markings and gold lining, white pants, and tall black boots.
"Interesting," Leonard mused as he looked over the team. "I predict splendid things from the lot of you in this challenge!"
"We won't disappoint," Zane confidently replied with a smirk. Leonard then moved on to the final team.
The Yellow Mushroom's outfits were just as varied and outlandish as the other two teams. Kusa's outfit consisted of a trench coat, black pants, some sort of armored shirt, and sunglasses. Lance's face was mostly covered due to his black ninja mask and headdress. He also wore a sleeveless black shirt, dark blue jeans, black boots, and a purple scarf. Morella was wearing a short blue dress with red stripes down her sides and arms, similarly blue leggins with a red stripe, brown gloves, large brown boots, and a red bandana in her hair. Annara's outfit consisted of a red dress, red boots, purple shoulder pads, and a purple sash around her waist. Jacque was in what appeared to be black space armor, with red and white stripes down the arms. Caleb's outfit was completely purple and cyan, with his shoes and sleeveless shirt being purple, while his pants and the armor around his neck were cyan. Clara wore a sort of female ninja outfit, with a short purple kimono on top of a plain black shirt and leggings, held in place by a large pink bow. Her shoes and arm warmers were the same shade of purple. Ellie's outfit consisted of a purple blouse, yellow corset, orange belt, point brown shoes, and long red skirt with white frills. Deborah wore a blue bodysuit, brown sandals, and tan leg and arm warmers, with a similar looking veil around her chest. John was last, wearing a green shirt beneath a blue tunic, brown boots, a white headband, and an orange ascot.
"Marvelous," Leonard exclaimed, patting John on the shoulder. "Just like the other teams, your team looks fierce."
"Difference is, we're gonna be the team that wins," John replied, eying the other two teams. Zane and Riley shot him a glare which was quickly interrupted by a clap of the hands from Leonard.
"Now that all the teams have been assembled, it is time for you all to begin your quest!" Leonard continued to talk as he passed maps of the film lot out to each team captain. "You will begin here and must follow the path provided to you on these maps. You will face various different enemies on your path to the end that will put your skills to the test. When you reach the castle where the fair maiden awaits you, you simply have to be the first team to free the princess to win. Be warned, however, because your mightiest foe of all will be protecting the castle!"
"Chef's mystery meat?" Lincoln asked with a chuckle, barely able to avoid a flying spatula thrown by the large black man in response.
"That will remain a secret until you reach the castle," Leonard continued. "Now then, be off with you! May good luck aid you on your quest!"
The players took this as the nerd's way of starting the challenge and all took off with their leaders at the front. When they eventually came to a path that led three separate directions, each team ended up going down a different one. Zane acknowledged this with a quick look back.
"Looks like each team gets a different path. That's good for us, since they can't take advantage of getting past enemies we've already beaten."
"Lets just hope that each path is the same length," Lee Lee added. "They better not have given us the short end of the stick here."
"It doesn't matter how long the path might be," Taylor said with a smile. "I'm sure we'll kick its butt no matter what!"
Meanwhile, the Blue Bombers had come to the first wave of enemies. Various copies of the Chris promo bots seen in Pahkitew Island marched at the team with glowing red eyes. The players had spread out, taking care of the robots as well as they could.
"Didn't Shawn destroy all of these things last season?" Billy asked as he pulverized one with his bat. "What's the deal?"
"Dude had to do promo work for this season I guess," Garrett replied as he pummeled another robot with the aid of his gloves. "That means more robots."
Ryan, shaking as one Chris bot started to get close, nervously blasted it with his blowtorch. Unfortunately for him, this did little other than melt the head down to the horrifying endoskeleton. Rowan blasted it with water, shorting out the circuits and causing it to collapse just as it was about to reach Ryan.
"These things ain't so tough." Trevor took his taser to the face of one of the robots, causing a similar reaction that Rowan's water caused.
"Still, I can't help but think that we could do something with one of these," Aden said while Iris nervously stood behind him. "Can anyone give me a hand?"
"On it," Rowley yelled as he approached one of the robots, yielding a large bag. He reached into the bag and took out a banana peel. He expertly tossed it, causing the robot to slip. Garrett and Trevor kept it pinned down so Aden could get at it with his wrench, while Billy kept the other robots at bay. Aden opened up a hatch in the back of the Chris bot and began messing with the wires.
"So what are ya gonna do to it?" Garrett asked with a raised eyebrow. The engineer finished a bit of tinkering, then closed the door to the robot and tightened it shut.
"Stand back and see." Aden motioned for the guys to move, allowing the Chris robot to stand up. His eyes had changed to blue and it looked over the few remaining enemy robots. "Chris bot, attack!"
Doing as it was told, Aden's modified Chris bot began attacking the hostile ones, ripping limbs away and pulling out wires to cease their movement. By the time the Chris bots realized that they were being destroyed by one of their own, Billy, Garrett, and Trevor were able to make short work of them.
"That was wicked," Lexi yelled, giving the smaller nerd an impressed pat on the back. "Way to go, short stuff."
Suddenly, the friendly Chris bot began to twitch and stutter. Just as Aden went to inspect it, the machine self-destructed, blowing itself to smithereens. The others sighed and Riley motioned for them to continue on their path.
*** Confessional: Aden ***
Aden shrugged. "I never said my inventions were perfect."
*** On the film lot ***
The Red Mushrooms were also seen dealing with their set of Chris bots, though they appeared to be finishing up. Andrea was pounding one of the robot's face in, Alice pummeled one with the blunt sword, and Xilier pulled the head off of one after having wrapped the chain around its neck. Zane supervised, giving directions where they were needed.
"I wonder how the other teams are doing," Lincoln commented to Taylor, who shrugged. Over with the Yellow Ghosts, all that remained of the Chris bots were multiple blazing piles of metal and oil lying on the ground, a few charred robotic limbs scattered here and there. Morella stood nearby with the flamethrower, grinning at her work.
"Now THAT was fun," she happily yelled before joining the rest of her team that were cautiously watching nearby. "Where to next?"
"The map says we need to continue north," John replied, running off with his team behind him. "Although we should be running into our next set of enemies right about..."
On cue, the next enemy jumped out from behind the nearest building before John could finish. It was a brown bear that let off a mighty roar before starring down the teens. While the initial roar startled most of them, they were quick to look over at Annara.
"Do your thing quick," Deborah yelled while everyone began cautiously stepping back from the beast. Annara worked quickly and tried using her flute, although she was only able to make a high pitched unpleasant note so bad that the bear collapsed while holding its ears in pain.
*** Confessional: Annara ***
"I never said I was good with a flute."
*** On the film lot ***
Annara tossed away the flute and instead rushed over to the bear. She pet behind the creature's ears in a comforting manor and spoke in a soothing voice. "It's ok, big guy. I'm sorry that I hurt your ears with that crappy flute playing. It won't happen again, I promise."
The bear smiled and gave off a happy roar. Annara smiled back and was about to leave to join her team that was already moving past them, when the bear ran around her and knelt down.
"Does he... want you to ride it?" Ellie asked curiously, raising her eyebrows in shock when Annara got on the bear without problem and it ran over to join her team.
"I guess he likes me," she replied with a smile, patting her new friend on the head. "I think I'll call him Snuffles."
"Welcome to the party, Snuffles," Kusa said, going to give the bear a pet only for it to snarl at him.
"Looks like he only likes when she tries to pet him," Caleb pointed out, Kusa having nervously stepped away from the creature.
"Well, we need to get moving," John yelled, pulling out the map and looking forward. "This way!"
While the Ghosts continued on, the Mushrooms could be seen running away from their bear. Zane clenched the map in his hand and looked back nervously.
"Chef complains about animal rights activists not allowing them to do stuff and then throws a bear at us? What bullcrap is that?"
Trailing at the end of the pack was Kyle, who was even slower than usual thanks to the heavy set of armor. When the bear was in mid lunge and ready to chomp at him, he quickly pulled his shield up in fear, causing the bear to crash into it. The impact caused the beast to pass out, much to the relief of the others.
"Whoa," Xilier whispered, impressed. "Way to go, Kyle!"
"Huh?" The rich kid looked down at the passed out bear, then looked over at his shield. He grinned, then shot a cocky glance at Lee Lee. "Yes, I suppose that WAS a good showing, wasn't it? Thankfully, my quick thinking was able to save us from becoming dinner."
Lee Lee glared at her rival, clenching her weapon in hand while looking ahead at their path. "Zane, how far till the next enemy?"
Zane looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then down at his map curiously. "Very close. The bear chased us down the path quite a bit. Why?"
"This one's all mine." She pulled up her nunchaku, twirling them around and striking a pose. Kyle scoffed and rolled his eyes.
*** Confessional: Lee Lee ***
"I wasn't about to let money bags one up me in the challenge. I don't care what they have to throw at us, I can take it!"
*** On the movie lot ***
The rest of the Mushrooms watched nervously as Lee Lee fought against two wooly beavers imported straight from Boney Island. She was only barely able to jump out of the way in time when one lunged and attempted to take a bite out of her. While it was disorientated, she took the opportunity to knock it out with her nunchaku, but one still remained.
"You sure you don't want any help?" Alice yelled out to her. She quickly shook her head and avoided an attack from the remaining beaver.
"I got this. Watch and learn!" Lee Lee stood her ground, taking a deep breath while the beaver turned and began running at her. Once she saw the right moment, she hit the beast in just the right way that made it also pass out. Her teammates clapped for her, with Zane immediately looking down at the map. Kyle narrowed his eyes at the girl, who smiled and shrugged once she noticed.
"Well, if Kyle and Lee Lee are done with their pissing contest, we really need to get back to the challenge." Zane double checked the map then pointed to the east. "Full steam ahead, people!"
While they left to continue their challenge, the Bombers were seen dealing with a horde of giant blind gophers. Lexi, firing an arrow with a boxing glove attached to the end, knocked one gopher out, while Rowley temporarily blinded one with shaving scream to set up a knock out by Garrett.
"I think Chris is gonna get a bunch of angry letters after this challenge," Billy commented as he looked over the passed out bodies of the gophers, some with bruises covering their body.
"Surely we have to be close to the end by now," Ryan whined, looking over at Riley pleadingly. "How much longer?"
With another check of the map, Riley winced and looked at the others reluctantly. "We actually only just made it halfway there."
The others groaned, Ryan and Rowan especially distraught over the news.
"Well, time's a wasting," Trevor commented. "We gotta move!"
After that, a short montage played of the three teams going through various enemy types. The Red Mushrooms ran into some nasty looking rattlesnake seagulls that had to be shot out of the air by Lukas and Lincoln. A large brutish man with a chainsaw tried to intimidate the team, but caught Taylor in a bad mood and faced the consequences. Lee Lee was nearly blasted by a fire breathing plant, but was saved by Kyle and his shield. Just as the rich kid was about to be chomped by the very same plant while he shot her a smug grin, she snapped it with her weapon, shooting him a grin of her own.
For the Yellow Ghosts, when facing a fresh wave of Chris bots, Caleb used his weapon to take some down with ease, while Clara shocked anything and everything that dared to approach him while he fought. When going up against a horde of ninjas, Lance blinded many of them with a smoke ball, while Jacque incapacitated them with the paintball gun. Any ninjas that avoided the paint were knocked out quickly by Kusa and his bo staff. A pair of interns dressed like goblins might have been obstacles, but they ran away as soon as they saw Annara riding Snuffles.
The Blue Bombers stood their ground against Sasquatchanakwa. The beast threw a barrel at them, which Billy knocked back with his bat, crashing it into the beast and knocking it out. Rowan combated fire from a flying goat with her water gun, distracting it long enough for Lexi to shoot it out of the sky. Ryan and Trevor fought back to back to hold off small laser shooting cat robots, long enough for Aden to tinker with a defeated one and use it against them like he had done for the Chris bots.
Last were the team medics, who healed up the others where it was needed. Iris applied a bandage to a cut Ryan took while in battle. Alice was knocked to the ground by one enemy, suffering a bruise, prompting Taylor to apply a bag of ice to it so it could recover. Ellie noticed Deborah looking exhausted, giving her a bottle of water while she caught her breath. After a lot of fighting and frustration, the Red Mushrooms were the first ones to make it to the castle.
"Yo princess, we're here to rescue you," Lukas yelled, chuckling when the host shot a glare down at him.
"Marvelous! Well done on making it here first, Red Mushrooms." Leonard walked out from behind the castle, slowly approaching the team. "Now you only have to get past one more foe and Princess McLean is yours for the taking!"
"And that foe would be?" Zane asked with a raised eyebrow.
Leonard chuckled. He raised his arms in what appeared to be an attempt at intimidation. "Me!"
There was a silence, followed by laughter. Even Chris laughed from the top of the castle.
"Yeah, I'm sure they're sooo scared of you," Chris snickered.
"As they should be." Leonard smirked, then pointed at the ground in front of the Red Mushrooms. "Lightning bolt!"
On cue, a lightning bolt struck the ground exactly where he had pointed. The others jumped back in shock, some gasping. Leonard chuckled and pointed again. "Fire ball!"
A fire ball shot out from the sky and hurtled towards the team. They were only barely able to jump out of the way in time.
"How is he doing that?" Alice asked, looking up at where the fire ball had come from. Only faintly visible, but still distinguishable was Chef, piloting some strange machine.
"Water canon!" Chef pressed a button on the machine, making it shoot a blast of water that successfully washed away half of the team. Those that weren't looked on in disbelief. "Who among you can defeat the wizard? Have at you!"
Zane nodded and began directing his team in an attack. While they were occupied, the Yellow Ghosts also made it into the final area. Snuffles roared at Leonard, which got curious glances from everyone.
"Is she riding a freaking bear?" Andrea yelled, being distracted long enough for Leonard to blow her away with a strong wind.
"Interesting," Leonard commented, rubbing his chin in thought. "That could be problematic. Whistle!"
Chef pulled a lever, causing an ear busting screech to play from the machine. The bear yelped and quickly ran away as fast as it could, Annara falling off just as it did so.
"Snuffles, come back!" Annara looked on sadly as her companion ran off into the distance. She glared back at Leonard and cracked her knuckles. "We're taking this wizard down, big time."
"You may try your best, mortals," Leonard yelled, pointing at them with a smile. "Magic missile!"
Chef fired some sort of large firework straight at the Ghosts, causing a colorful explosion when it hit. Thankfully, they had jumped out of the way in time and charged at Leonard with their weapons raised. As they did so, the Blue Bombers finally joined the fray, looking on in shock as they watched Leonard command the attacks at the two different teams without taking a single scratch.
"This just got interesting," Rowley said with a chuckle, some of the others nodding in agreement.
"No time to waste," Riley added, pointing directly at the wizard. "Attack!"
With all three teams now targeting him, Leonard's job had become significantly more difficult, but he and Chef were more than up to the task. When Lukas, Jacque, and Lexi tried to attack with projectiles, Chef was able to summon some sort of force field around him making the projectiles useless. Kusa and Lance worked together to try and get in close for an attack while he wasn't looking, but were shocked away with a lightning bolt just as they were about to reach him. Ryan suffered a hit from a fire ball, setting his outfit ablaze. Thankfully for him, Rowan was able to extinguish the flame in time.
"This is impossible," Xilier grumbled as she watched Lincoln unsuccessfully try to combat Leonard with the cheap magic props he had brought, nearly getting a freeze ray to the face for his efforts. Even Morella was washed away before she could even get near Leonard with her weapon. "How are we ever gonna touch him when three teams at once can't put a scratch on him?"
Zane scratched his head, looking from Leonard to the castle. Chris watched the fight in half amusement and half boredom. Suddenly, an idea clicked and Zane snapped his fingers. "Of course! It's so simple. We win by not fighting Leonard."
"Uh, isn't the whole point beating him?" Andrea asked skeptically.
"No, the point is making it past him. Dealing with him, as he described it. He never said we had to defeat him." Zane chuckled and looked around at his remaining teammates. "If we can slip by him while he's busy with the other two teams, we can totally get Chris while no one is even looking!"
Xilier and Andrea thought for a bit, then smiled as they realized the plan would work.
"You two help me gather up the others. Once we see a chance to slip by, we're taking it."
While the three of them began filing out to retrieve the rest of their team, the Bombers and Ghosts continued to try and put a dent in Leonard's defenses. Unfortunately for them, it was no use.
"This is way harder than it should be," Deborah yelled as she protected her face from a small fire ball with her shovel. She tried chucking it at Leonard, but the force field quickly stopped it. "We can't even touch him."
"Anything you can build that can get past him?" Trevor asked Aden, who shrugged.
"Unless you can get me up to that machine Chef is piloting, I got nothing."
As the other two teams tried to plan out a course of action, Leonard saw it as an opportunity to attack, making both team enter battle mode. Zane saw this as the perfect opportunity and motioned for his now gathered team to follow him behind Leonard. Chris noticed them doing it and smirked.
"Clever strategy," he whispered to the camera.
"Almost there," Lee Lee whispered. "We just need to keep it quiet."
"Fire ball!" Leonard had Chef shoot a ball of fire straight at the Bombers. Thankfully for them, Billy was more than ready for the task. He stood his ground and struck the ball with a mighty swing, sending it flying away. Unfortunately for the Mushrooms, it flew right past them, scorching off part of Taylor's sleeve. She yelped and fell down before glaring back intensely at the others.
"They nearly burnt off my arm," Taylor yelled practically at the top of her lungs, easily alerting the other teams to their location. Leonard was too busy shooting attacks to take notice, but Riley and John saw as Alice and Xilier pulled a fuming Taylor away.
"Oh crap," Zane mumbled before motioning for the others. "We gotta move fast. Go!"
The team ran around to the back of the castle, making the other two captains go wide eyed.
"Guys, the Ghosts are climbing the tower," John yelled, flailing his arms. "We need to do something quick!"
"I have an idea," Morella said in a perky tone. "Albeit, it's a kind of dangerous one, but-"
"Just do it," Lance interrupted, pushing her out of the way when Leonard nearly nailed her with a freeze blast. She nodded and quickly ran over to the castle with flame thrower in hand.
"Uh, what's little miss hyper doing down there?" Chris yelled, trying to squirm out of the ropes binding his hands as Morella approached the castle.
Morella didn't answer and simply blasted the prop castle with her flamethrower. Being made of wood, it quickly caught fire and soon began to tremble. Inside, where the Ghosts were climbing a staircase to the top, bits of fire could be seen spreading to their location.
"The lunatics set the freaking thing on fire?" Zane yelled. "Are they trying to kill us?"
"Guys, get out of here before the fire gets bad," Alice said, dropping her weapon and pulling out a pocket knife. "I'll get Chris down."
"You sure about that?" Lee Lee asked, which Alice nodded in response to.
"You heard the girl, we need to move." Andrea motioned for the others to run and they did as they were told. Alice continued up the stairs, covering her mouth and nose as the fire kept spreading.
"Well, that's a little unorthodox," Lexi mused as she watched the castle burn. While she was looking off at the fire, she didn't notice Leonard shoot one of the magic missiles at her, knocking her away and sending her bow skidding across the floor and landing near the other team. Jacque watched in shock as the Mushrooms, minus Alice, exited the tower.
"Aw crap, one of them is still in there. They're gonna still win the challenge."
Noticing the bow near them, Lance smirked and dropped his wooden katana. "No they're not."
Taking out a pocket knife of his own, Lance placed it in the bow like it was an arrow, and took aim at the rope Chris was attached to. "Chris better hope my aim is still good."
After a quick wind check, Lance fired the knife, sending it flying through the air. Chris, seeing the approaching weapon, gave off a high pitched scream and closed his eyes in fear. Alice had just reached the top when his knife connected with the rope, slicing through it and making Chris land on the floor with a thump.
"Wh... what just happened?" Alice asked, confused. She went over to help Chris up when the tower finally gave in, sending both falling to the ground. Leonard, noticing the challenge was over, motioned for Chef to turn off the machine. He briefly left to review the tape while the others rushed to make sure Alice was ok, some sighing in relief when it was found that she only suffered a few cuts and bruises.
"I'm fine too by the way," Chris grumbled as he emerged from the debris, throwing his pointy hat to the ground. "Thanks for checking."
"It appears we have a winner," Leonard yelled. "While the Red Mushrooms fought hard and were the ones to slip by me and reach the tower, the challenge was still to free Chris. And since he was freed from his binds with Lance's knife... your winners are the Yellow Ghosts!"
The aforementioned team jumped for joy, exchanging high fives and yelling. Zane looked ready to throttle someone.
"WHAT?" he yelled. "Alice risked her life to win us the challenge."
"A valiant effort indeed, but unfortunately she was not able to reach Chris first," Leonard sadly replied. "I apologize, but my ruling still stands."
Alice sighed. "Maybe next time. Come on guys, we should get ready for the vote."
Most of the Red Mushrooms followed Alice away from the challenge site, with only Andrea and a fuming Zane left behind. Andrea shook her head at the ground and sighed.
"Well, since we didn't win, I believe we should vote off-"
"Taylor," Zane interrupted. "We're voting for Taylor and that's final."
Zane stormed off, saying nothing else. Andrea stared at him in a mix of confusion and pleasant surprise.
*** Confessional: Andrea ***
"I didn't even have to tell him and he was already on board with voting off the freak!" She crossed her arms and smiled victoriously. "I knew I picked the right alliance member. Thankfully for us, the alliance led by Lukas should be willing to vote with us again. For now, at least. Sooner or later Zane and I will need to work on weakening them, but that's a problem for another day."
*** Confessional: Zane ***
"For the record, I understand that Taylor can't help it when it comes to her mood swings, and obviously I feel bad for her. But at the end of the day this is a game, and when she starts effecting our performance in challenges, that's when it becomes a problem. Sorry, Taylor. We need to cut you loose."
*** Outside the trailers ***
As two of the teams prepared to vote off one of their own, the Blue Bomber guys sat on the steps of their trailer, striking up a conversation. Rowan, noticing Ryan and Garrett amongst the group, began walking over to talk strategy with them. She came to a stop when she noticed a random pie laying on the ground.
"... what's with the pie?"
"Oh that thing?" Rowley replied, fighting back a chuckle and having to shush Trevor. "It was there when we got here. Chef must have planted it. We would have tried it out, but who knows what that dude might have put in it. Better safe than sorry, right?"
Rowan eyed the boys suspiciously, then looked back down at the pie. She scoffed and flipped her hair. "Oh please. You really think I'm stupid enough to fall for-"
Before she could finish, Rowan ended up stepping on a tripwire, activating a spring underneath the pie and shooting it straight into her face. The guys broke out into laughter while she wiped pieces of pie from her face, nearly shaking with anger.
"Told you guys it would work like a charm," Rowley said proudly, before revealing a towel behind his back and handing it to Rowan. "No hard feelings, eh? We're just having some fun and junk."
Rowan simply growled in response. Taking that as a sign of her wanting to be left alone, all of the guys walked off, with the exceptions of Garrett and Ryan. Ryan rushed up to help Rowan clean herself off while Garrett was still laughing.
"It's... NOT... funny," she hissed, shooting a glare at her alliance-mate.
"It was a little funny," he replied, wiping away a tear. "Come on, don't you have a sense of humor?"
Rowan paused for a moment, then smirked. "Yes. Yes, I DO have a sense of humor. And you know what will be just hilarious? Rowley's face when we get that brat voted off."
"But... people actually like him," Ryan said, puzzled.
"All the more reason to get rid of him now while we can. He bad mouthed me in the last challenge, too. He's starting to get on my nerves and we need to make an example of what happens when people cross the Beautiful People's Alliance."
Garrett couldn't help but cringe at hearing that.
*** Confessional: Garrett ***
"Yeah... still not crazy about that name."
*** Outside the trailers ***
"Well, if you think he needs to go, I won't object." Ryan gave her a smirk before looking over at Garrett on the stairs. "You still with us too?"
Garrett shrugged. "Don't see why not. Guess the dude should have known better than to pull a prank on someone right before a vote off."
"Then we're agreed," Rowan said with a nod. "We give Rowley the boot."
The trio walked off, Rowan still getting bits of pie out of her hair. Unbeknownst to them, an eavesdropper was listening in on them. Trevor walked out from behind the trailer, rubbing his chin in thought.
*** Confessional: Trevor ***
"Another alliance on my team, eh? One that will surely try to oppose my alliance and I at some point?" Trevor rubbed his hands together with a sinister smirk. "Interesting. Tonight's elimination ceremony should send a fun little message."
*** Gilded Joystick Ceremony ***
The Blue Bombers and Red Mushrooms stood beside the stage for the elimination ceremony, looking around nervously as they tried to figure out which two would be leaving them soon. Chris barged out on stage, seemingly in a hurry to finish the voting.
"If we could have it my way, we would never bring up this day ever again," the host grumbled before putting on a smile. "But now I get to blow off steam by watching you guys squirm, knowing two of you are losing their shot at a million bucks! It's always good to end the day on a high note. Red Mushrooms, since you all apparently love voting each other off so much, why don't you go first?"
Irritated about being there for the third time in a row, the Mushrooms shot the host a glare before taking their seats and quickly casting their votes. When Chef walked out with the Gilded Joysticks wearing his usual outfit, he gave the host a smirk before handing him the first symbol of immunity.
"You enjoy wearing the dress for once?"
"Shut up," Chris snapped before swiping the Gilded Joystick from him and clearing his throat. "Alright, so Zane, even if your team didn't win, you did a solid job leading them today. You win the first Gilded Joystick."
The aforementioned teen nodded and happily took his gilded reward.
"Alice, you stepped up big time when it came down to the wire. Second Gilded Joystick coming at ya!"
The goth smiled and caught her Gilded Joystick. Chris then took multiple joysticks from the plate and tossed them more quickly.
"Lukas, Andrea, Lincoln, Lee Lee, and Xilier also get joysticks."
Once all seven teens had taken their immunity symbols, everyone looked at Taylor and Kyle. Taylor was nervously biting her nails, while Kyle seemed genuinely stunned.
"B-But I actually contributed quite a bit today!"
Chris shrugged. "Eh, it's pretty much tradition for you to be in the bottom two at this point. You're safe, though, so you can relax."
With Chris saying it so suddenly and nonchalantly, a shocked Kyle fumbled with his Gilded Joystick and nearly dropped it. The others covered their ears and shut their eyes as they turned away from Taylor, expecting a loud and intense reaction. To their surprise she simply sighed and got up with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess I kinda dropped the ball today. No surprise there."
"You're... not mad?" Lincoln asked.
She shrugged. "Nah. You guys take care of yourselves! I wasn't here long, but I had a blast for what little time I spent."
Taylor calmly allowed Chef to shoot her through the sky with the Sling of Shame, prompting the Mushrooms to leave the stands and allowing the Bombers to take their place. Chris grinned and watched eagerly as they voted.
"No one person on your team messed up the challenge today, so this should be interesting." Chris read from an envelope before taking a few Gilded Joysticks from Chef. "Riley, you obviously get a Gilded Joystick for your leadership skills. Garrett and Billy also get one for beating the living crap out of a bunch of the stuff we threw at you!"
The aforementioned three smiled and exchanged high fives. Chris took another three and tossed them out. "Lexi, Iris, and Aden, you all rocked it today too."
Iris sighed in relief while Lexi patted Aden hard on the back. When they had their joysticks in hand, Chris took two more from the batch.
"And of course we can't forget about Ryan and Trevor. You both are also safe."
Rowan gasped, looking shocked at the remaining Gilded Joystick with Chris. Rowley also went wide eyed, but didn't seem too distressed as he looked over at the other person in the bottom two with him. Behind them, Trevor chuckled and watched intently.
"You two have had a couple of confrontations, haven't ya?" Chris chuckled. "Well, neither of you did particularly bad at the challenge or anything, but Rowley has apparently gotten under some skins with his pranks, while Rowan isn't exactly what I'd call pleasant. Both of you wanna stay, but there can only be one!"
The two looked at each other, Rowan glaring and Rowley nervously trying to keep a smile. They both looked back to Chris, who held the final piece of immunity in his hand.
"The final Gilded Joystick of the night goes to...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
... Rowan!"
Rowan sighed, but quickly recovered into a grin as she caught her joystick. Dejected, Rowley sunk into his seat and frowned. Some of the others on the team, Billy especially, were shocked.
"Rowley, you lit up our hearts with your jokes, and now you get to light up the night sky as you fly through it after being shot out of a slingshot!" Chris chuckled and waved goodbye while Chef dragged the eliminated contestant off. "Bon voyage!"
He simply sighed and gave a meek wave goodbye to his friends before Chef stuck him into the Sling of Shame and fired him through the night sky, his screams trailing as he flew. Rowan looked down at her Gilded Joystick and clenched it tight. Trevor, amused by noticing this, grinned even wider.
*** Confessional: Trevor ***
"Sure, I COULD have asked the others to vote off Rowan tonight, but where's the fun in that? It's much more fun to simply send a message. Besides, she was right about one thing. Rowley was too well liked for his own good. That could prove troublesome in the future, so best to get him out of the way now rather than later. She just needs to understand who calls the shots on this team. If she gets too big for her britches..." Trevor's cocky grin turned into an intense glare. "There WILL be consequences."
Votes:
Lee Lee: Kyle
Kyle: Lee Lee, Taylor, Alice
Taylor: Zane, Andrea, Lukas, Lincoln, Xilier
Rowan: Rowley, Billy, Riley, Iris
Rowley: Rowan, Ryan, Garrett, Trevor, Aden, Lexi
Remaining Contestants:
Red Mushrooms: (Andrea, Zane), (Lukas, Lincoln, Xilier), Alice, Lee Lee, Kyle
Blue Bombers: (Trevor, Aden, Lexi), (Riley, Iris), (Rowan, Ryan, Garrett), Billy
Yellow Ghosts: Annara, Ellie, Caleb, Lance, Jacque, Clara, John, Morella, Deborah, Kusa
28th: Rowley
29th: Taylor
30th: Mandy
31st: Liam
32nd: Piper
33rd: Nathan
Author's Note:
I really hope you guys enjoyed this one. It was a long one, but also a really fun one to write. I'm trying to start focusing on characters who need more screen time and development. Zane was mentioned in multiple reviews last chapter as a character that didn't seem to be doing much, so he was a focal point this chapter. I'll try similar things with others in the coming chapters. Also, for those of you who read these, remember in the platformer AN where I said I didn't want to crowd the chapter with too many references because there were too many great platformers to reference and it could become cluttered? I fear I did exactly that this chapter. See, every single outfit the players wore for the challenge was a reference to an actual RPG character. Looking back on it, I went too overboard. I mean, who is even going to recognize all of those? Hey, there's a fun challenge for you guys. How many of those RPG character outfits can you recognize from my vague descriptions? Winner gets a cookie. I'll fax it to you later, we'll buff out the details. I'll include the answers in the AN next chapter.
Oh, what's that? I took like two months to get the chapter out again? Yeaaaah, I really need to fix that. You know the drill, schoolwork piling up, real life distractions coming into play (HOLY SHIT MEWTWO IS IN SMASH BROS AGAIN, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH), etc. This is actually my last week of school for the semester, so if I somehow take this long again next time, feel free to call up the mafia or something to beat me up for being a lazy shit. As for what the next chapter will be, the genre will be Strategy games, more specifically those of the MOBA variety (League of Legends, Dota, etc).
Now then, on to the chapter itself. It was fun to write, as I said earlier. I didn't really have a pre-planned person for the vet cameo, so I went with Leonard when he was suggested multiple times in the reviews. I thought he made for a fun final battle at the end of the challenge. Rowley being eliminated somewhat early probably isn't too big a surprise, but Taylor might be for some readers. I feel like her character type is something you'd have to make a main character of a season if she's gonna last, and that just wasn't in the plans this time. If these characters returned for a second season, I'm sure she'd be a big contender for "underdeveloped character that gets the Beth/Cody treatment." I'll explore her character a bit more in the aftermath.
Speaking of which, that is where I'll leave you off on this chapter. The aftermaths. I've decided that I will do an aftermath chapter after every five regular chapters. This will divide the story up into five bits, with the finale following at the end. My question for you guys is who should be host? Would you all have a preference? Geoff and Bridgette? Blaineley? Topher? A new host(s) every aftermath? I'm all ears. Until next time, which should hopefully be much sooner than this was, see ya.