Finally, after an immense hiatus, JoMo's back in town again! Apologies for the long break between updates. Schoolwork has been a massive factor, with projects taking up a phenomenal amount of time. The next will be up much quicker. Anyway, please enjoy!
Seth and Shawn are seen shoving past Ezekiel to start the day.
"Get out of my way, loser," Seth says rudely.
"I was here first, eh!" Ezekiel was understandably mad.
Just then, both boys almost jumped out of their skin due a booming voice.
"Can't you stop bullying people for a moment?" Ted growled angrily. The farm giant had not gotten mad throughout his stay, but this time was the final straw. "You already got rid of Izzy, so stop bothering Ezekiel. It's immature, in case your puny brains did not get it!"
Ted's bellow caused everyone to freeze for a moment. They had been truly stunned by this outburst. Cody's show of coolness in front of Chastity became a show of shock, but Danny couldn't have cared more. The thundering tone got Noah to look up from his book, not that he cared though, because Lindsay's "melons" hovered over the top of his head.
"So, we just like to get into your face. Whatcha goin' to do?" Seth threatened.
It was a terrible decision. Ted grabbed Seth's throat and pulled him close, before the others broke it up.
As Seth fearfully retreated, Ted comforted Ezekiel, while the others looked on in shock. Shawn looked towards Ginger, but her upset face offered no comfort.
Confessional Cam
Seth- Ted's the sacrificial lamb if we lose again today.
Ted- I don't really talk much due to my height, so it must have shocked everyone. I'm glad to let Seth know that he won't be having it easy.
Ezekiel- I shoo'd learn how to sit down for myself moor. Was that right?
The dreaded air horn soon blew, signaling the start of another challenge.
When the campers got to the meeting grounds however, there was not a soul in sight. It was not until 10 minutes later when Chris and Chef made their "grand" entrances. Chris was adorned in a red plumber's suit, portraying the protagonist of the Super Mario Brothers series, while Chef came out in a Princess Peach dress to complement the host's attire.
"Today we're going to do a video game challenge! The 17 of you will participate in a bevy of video games until one team is left standing!"
"Oh, how exciting," Noah commented, silently confident that he was going to dominate his competition, as was Kate.
"This isn't such a bad idea after all…" Allison said, but was quickly interrupted by Seth.
"Oh great, now we all have to watch those nerds battle amongst each other for the title of the biggest dork. And how's Harold doing back at Playa Des Losers? Tearing out strands of his ugly hair, saying 'No, I can't show them my mad skills at Mario…"
Instead of being upset, Allison smiled as she saw a large shadow creep over the antagonist. Seth turned around to see Ted.
"You never learn, do you?"
Seth flinched and cringed to hide his fear.
"All right, your first challenge is based on Mario Kart Double Dash. For people like Bridgette who haven't played the game…"
"What makes you think that I haven't played Mario Kart?" Bridgette interrupted Chris, but had more than enough reason to do so.
"I'm sorry that you had to react this way, but I meant it. Haha! Cut it out already, you're wasting the greatest plumber and TV show host Chris McLean's time,"
"Or the poorest portrayal of an Italian plumber ever," Bridgette responded.
McLean's jaw dropped. He didn't expect himself to be outclassed by Bridgette, of all people.
"As I was saying, for losers who haven't played the game, you will form 8 teams of 2, with each team getting a kart. From each pair, one contestant will drive while the other will shoot projectiles from the vehicle. You will take 3 laps round this circuit. The top 4 pairs will advance, while it's farewell for the bottom 4."
"Wait, isn't eight times two sixteen? There are 17 of us here," Jared questioned.
"Good question, because your mentor is out of this challenge… for good!"
Bridgette felt guilty over the outburst, but still glared at the satisfied McLean.
"Anyway, the pairings are as follows…"
"For the Screaming Jays, we have…
Ted & Ginger,
DJ & Ezekiel,
Gwen & Shawn
And finally,
Heather & Seth!"
The pairs of Ted & Ginger and DJ & Ezekiel were happy with the arrangement, but it was no happy trails for the others.
Heather smirked as Seth despaired, while it was awkward between Gwen and Shawn.
"For the Killer Ospreys,
Noah and Lindsay,
Cody and Chastity,
Danny and Allison,
And Kate and Jared!"
The Ospreys were of course more pleased with the team arrangements. Naturally, Cody was over the moon, while Danny was despondent.
Confession Cam
Kate- Now I don't speak much, but I'm absolutely stoked they're doing a video game challenge!
Noah- Woo. Good one, McLean. It's a video game challenge. Really?
Heather- Wow, I have to participate in a video game challenge with all these dorks. However, it's another story being paired up with that goof. Revenge's a dish served cold, Seth.
Ezekiel- Pardon me fur asking, butwoot's Mario Kart, eh?
After getting into the karts and deciding their roles, they were good to go.
"3…2…1… Go!"
The karts chugged along at a deplorable pace, before speeding off when the competitors stepped on the ignition. Well, most did, but Danny and Allison bombed big time at the starting line, after hitting the ignition a bit early.
"Come on, Danny," Allison said. "I know you're bummed that the girl of your dreams is not teaming with you, but you've to get your head in the game."
"I just find it unfair. Why must Cody approach Chastity when he already knows I like her?"
"Guess it's the hormones. Keep your head up… and look out for the oil slick!"
Danny quickly swerved. He picked up speed as his kart slid past the oil slick, completing a power slide. Nevertheless, the driver of the kart knew he had a long way to go. He and Allison were still dead last.
(Cody and Chastity)
Meanwhile, the best buddies were firmly in contention for first place, rivaled by only Noah and Lindsay.
"Are you all right with the driving, Chastity?"
"That's very sweet of you, Cody, but I can handle this well"
"My pleasure,"
"Um… how's life at home?" Cody, face flushed was awkwardly trying to begin a conversation with the goddess in front of him.
"I'm fine, I…"
Suddenly, the kart jerked from a red shell, stunning the duo. As expected, Noah and Lindsay got ahead of them, but neither the bookworm nor the blonde attacked them.
Given the personalities in the next kart, the attack was hardly surprising. Seth and Heather too passed them, with Heather daring them to bring it on.
Their glee was short lived as Cody hurled a red shell at the antagonizing cart, retaking second place from them.
"Item boxes: right when you need them,"
(Seth and Heather)
Antagonists, both former and current, argued as their kart flipped, karma for what the pair did to Cody and Chastity seconds ago.
"Could you have better driving skills?" Heather hollered.
"It was you that put me in this dumb position in the first place! Anyway, my driving single-handedly carried this mediocre kart from sixth to second!"
"Single-handedly? You benefited from the Triple Mushroom boost that I utilized!"
"Cut it out! All right, we both put in effort!"
"The last time you put in significant effort was when you stole my diary,"
Under such a cacophony, it was a miracle that the kart managed to maintain fourth position, now behind Gwen and Shawn as well.
(Gwen and Shawn)
"Man, those two could make an occupation out of quarreling," Shawn said.
"What did you expect? Heather is a spoilt brat. And don't think you can divert the question. You know what I'm talking about,"
"What?"
"Unfortunately you couldn't smell my cooking from barely inches away. I was talking about Ginger. Tell me something that I don't know,"
"Nothing, really. We're just friends. Just friends, nothing more than that…"
(Flashback… Two days ago)
It was before the start of the Phobia Factor challenge. As all loyal viewers of Total Drama Next knew by now, Danielle had slapped Seth and quit his alliance. This opened up an opportunity for Shawn to be alone. Thus he went out with Ginger for a stroll. Or it seemed like one.
"Oh my goth glucose, I love you so much," Shawn cooed, gently stroking the goth understudy's hair.
"You're such a smooth talker, but that's why I adore you, my sexy spice." His companion returned the gesture.
Before you knew it, their tongues were entangled in furious passion. That's right, they were making out.
After ten minutes, they broke apart.
"That was nice," Ginger quipped, "But we would be so dead if others knew,"
"No worries, all I need is you,"
"Cheesy comment, but I'll take it,"
After that, the lovebirds walked hand in hand to the challenge location.
"That'd better be the case," Gwen warned. Shawn just drove on, slightly gulping at the thought of the rendezvous being public knowledge.
(Ezekiel and DJ)
"Woo-hoo, so this is how Mario Kart is like!" Ezekiel cheered as he hit Seth and Heather's kart, condemning the antagonists to fifth.
"Calm down, little buddy, we've not finished yet. And you just attacked my girlfriend's kart," DJ replied.
"Sorry about that,"
"Never had a chance to play video games?"
"Afraid not, my parents believed modern technology would scupper my development, so they barred video games,"
"I'm not an expert either, my mother had to single handedly raise the family and had no money left for video games. That's why I want to win this for her,"
"Heather's so lucky to have a boyfriend like you. By the way, what do you see in Heather?"
"I believe Heather is a nice girl deep down. Color me shocked when I learnt she was crushing on me, but I came to accept it when I saw that she was like any other human, vulnerable and wanting to be loved,"
"That's cool, I hope this couple lasts for a long time,"
"Thanks buddy, you've grown in leaps and bounds since TDI!"
(Noah and Lindsay)
"I like this, even though I favor throwing projectiles," Noah quipped. "But I never expected you to be such a good shot,"
The couple were in first, a position they rarely relinquished, only on occasion to Cody and Chastity.
"This may be out of right field, but I do play video games. Daddy has the resources for them,"
Noah promptly realized her mistake, but didn't bother to correct it now that he respected her.
"So what type of games do you play?"
"Rhetorical question," Noah thought.
"Modern Warfare 2,"
"What?" Noah's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets. This caused him to err and skid through an oil slick.
"Whoops, sorry Noah,"
"It's all right," Noah said, smiling. It was something that he did more often than in TDI.
(Overview)
The circuit was still rife with drama, as all the karts were into the home stretch. Noah and Lindsay's happiness was short lived, for they were hit with a devastating blue shell, pushing them back down to third.
Cody and Chastity were now leading, but second place was taken by surprisingly enough, Danny and Allison. They had fought their way from the tail end with a combination of a Golden Mushroom boost and luck. This meant three Osprey karts were in front, with Gwen and Shawn the best Jay performers in fourth.
"Get off our backs, please," Cody said. "We all will advance for finishing first and second respectively,"
"It won't be fair competition then," the prankster replied as he kept a close tab on the leading kart.
"Danny may be right on this issue. We're here to do our best," Chastity said.
"Oh well,"
"Bug off, Danny!" The usually collected Cody began to feel the heat. He tried to derail the redhead's momentum by using a bevy of banana peels, but Danny suavely dodged them.
As the two karts continued exchanging projectiles, disaster struck.
From Ted and Ginger's kart, a blue shell appeared and homed in on the leaders.
"BOOM!" The two karts were launched up by the impact as Noah and Lindsay regained first place.
There would be worse to come. As both drivers blamed one another for the loss, they became easy targets for red shells and whatnot. This was enough to drop them to sixth and seventh with precious few feet to go. Even as they gained some valuable Mushroom boosts, it was going to be an uphill task.
An upset Cody attempted to channel his frustration into strength as he worked the ignition. Well, that was until it gave way and split into two.
"Curse Chris and his lousy karts," Cody lamented as he and Chastity failed to complete. "And Danny too,"
Nevertheless, Danny and Allison were still hopeful of a positive finish, being locked with Seth and Heather in a fourth-place battle.
Danny used all his might to keep within touching distance of Heather, before attempting a huge power slide right at the end.
Just then, a siren sounded.
"That's the end of round one! Here are the standings.
In first, we have Noah and Lindsay!
In second, we have surprisingly Ezekiel and DJ.
In third, we have Gwen and Shawn.
And for the fourth and final spot…
Seth and Heather!"
Danny got out of his kart despondently.
"It's all right, everyone loses sometimes," Allison reassured.
Danny just shook his head.
(Ospreys)
"What happened, guys, you were leading out there!" Bridgette questioned worryingly.
"Says the person who got eliminated before the start," Cody fired back.
"Hey watch it!" Jared warned.
"Anyway, my experience didn't turn out too well. I thought Kate was a great partner, but all she did was ramble about how she holds all the time trial records in Sonic The Hedgehog,"
"Hey, you missed most of the valuable item boxes," Kate answered.
All was not well among the Osprey camp, even though the team members were much kinder than Heather and Seth in the Jays team.
The host then led the 8 remaining combatants into a room.
"Congratulations for making it here. This is because you will be playing… Mario Party!"
"Hooray, it's Mario Party! I wonder how many brain cells I'm going to lose today,"
"I will ensure that you lose this mouth of yours when we fail," Heather chided sternly.
"All right, I'll shut up,"
Confessional Cam
Seth- I'm being humble to Heather, or I'll get kicked off otherwise. Next time, it'll be a different story though.
"Back to the game, you 8 will be playing minigames from the 8-player Mario Party 7. Eventually, one by one all of you will be eliminated until one; one contestant remains or two, both Noah and Lindsay are eliminated. In addition, since this is a virtual reality machine, all of you will be actually participating in the game,"
"Thanks for the information," Noah said, knowing that his chances had virtually gone up in smoke.
"You're welcome. The first game will be Track and Yield, a game involving surviving on a massive treadmill by leaping over hurdles. On your mark, get set, go!"
The treadmill and the hurdles did not intimidate at first, but soon they found out why this game was harder than it looked.
"Ah, my beautiful looks!" Lindsay screamed as she used her finger to touch a gleaming hurdle. It was too late when she found out it was electric.
"No sweat," Seth mocked Lindsay as he just posed on the treadmill. It was a bad strategy though; when the next electric hurdle came around he lacked preparation and was promptly shocked. The increasing velocity of the treadmill meant that the anaconda lover was the first to go.
As a flap at the side regurgitated Seth, the rest continued, ignoring the sulking kid. However, Seth then drew attention to himself by copying Noah's running pose. This proved to be annoying enough for the egghead to be electrocuted, and eventually lose.
"Noah!" Lindsay cried.
"Don't worry about me, focus on the game!
Finally, the last stretch of extremely fast-moving hurdles took both Gwen and Heather. The two rivals were jostling for position so much that both of them were simultaneously eliminated.
"You!" The feeling of disrespect was mutual.
Finally, a vociferous beep signaled the end of the game. For those remaining, namely Shawn, DJ, Ezekiel and Lindsay, it felt like an eternity.
"I warned you it was not that straightforward. Now for a more straightforward game, let's play Shock Absorbers. Punch the flashing buttons to stop current flow from these buttons. However, when all 3 flash, duck for cover. Do you understand, Lindsay?"
Chris expected her to return with a foolish remark, but instead she said, "Yes I understand, Chip, but I think you don't,"
The others laughed and an embarrassed Chris could not wait to start the challenge.
The challenge started and the competitors could feel the cackling of the electric current just beside and above themselves. Nevertheless, like the previous challenge, the going was easy, but it got progressively tougher.
"Momma!" DJ screamed as he got electrocuted 20 seconds into the game. This was considered a massive achievement already, but the remaining three were still going. There were some close calls with Lindsay, but she was miraculously able to survive the tough challenge, as was Ezekiel and Shawn.
"The lack of eliminations was surprising. Anyway, the next challenge you will be participating is Grin and Bar It. It is your typical jump rope challenge. Ready, get set, go!"
The panting teenagers strained as they avoided the rope. Even the early going now proved tough for the exhausted trio. This was no dainty game at the playground.
"I will win this for my team!"
"I won't be forgotten, eh!"
"Shut up and concentrate on the challenge!"
As the rope went faster and faster, weary legs could not endure the torment any longer. The next swivel resulted in all three contestants being taken out.
The beep then signaled the conclusion of hopefully, what was the last round.
"No need to fret, I knew something like that would happen, so we have our slow-motion camera to help decide the winner,"
The footage slowly played, and soon the winner was evident.
"The winners of today's challenge are
…
…
…
The Screaming Jays!"
The Jays, including a reluctant Seth, cheered as Noah helped a disappointed Lindsay up.
"It's all right, you did your best,"
Lindsay looked over and saw the rest of the Ospreys put on earplugs.
"Why are they doing that, Noah?"
"You'll see!"
Just then, Kate came back from the washroom.
"Oh, we lost? That's sad, because I once broke 6 Mario Party 7 minigame records in a day. I hold the female record for Rainbow Road on Mario Kart Nintendo 64 too. In addition, I also wrote a novel about getting to Level 12 of Dragon Assassin…"
"All right, TMI," Allison said, visibly annoyed. "We lost the first round by a hair's breadth, but I don't ramble about failing like you did all this time,"
"Excuse me, miss, but I do have an opinion on how I was eliminated," Cody said.
"Enough with the quarreling already!" Chastity said, but it was to no avail.
"ENOUGH OF THE QUARRELING ALREADY!" Bridgette shouted in annoyance.
Crickets chirped as everyone set their eyes on her.
"Whoops, I'm sorry,"
Confessional Cam
Noah- There's a plethora of people I could vote off today, but I choose Danny. The feud with Cody has reached its breaking point, and I don't intend for my friend to go so soon.
Kate- I'm so disheartened that I was one of the first few booted from this challenge. Nevertheless, I think one person who really should have done better was Bridgette. Arguing with Chris doesn't get you anywhere. Sorry surfer girl.
But anyways, I'm sure Mr. Cameraman would like to know more about my gaming forays.
(After 10 minutes…)
Jared- Come on, I need to make a confessional.
Kate- Whoops, looked like I went on for too long.
Jared- For me, it was crystal clear that I was going to vote Kate from the start. Why? Her earlier confessional just proves my point.
"Ospreys, you know the drill by now. One of you will not be joining the rest of your team after tonight. There are 8 marshmallows on this plate, and these people will survive this elimination…
Noah and Lindsay, naturally for doing the best in the challenge,"
Lindsay and Noah simply smiled as they got their treats, having expected this from the get-go.
"Marshmallows also go to…
Allison,
Jared,
Chastity, and I'm afraid you still have to settle things between Cody and Danny, because they're here to stay."
The boys continued to glare daggers at each other, even after earning their treats.
"Kate, Bridgette, it has come down to you two. Both have ample reason to leave tonight. Surfer girl here insulted yours truly before the challenge even began, causing her elimination from the challenge. Kate went on to spout a slew of needless information following her early dismissal. Both of you deserve to go, but this one goes to…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Kate,"
"What?" Jared questioned as Kate pumped her fist.
Bridgette just got ready to pack her belongings, but Chris opened his mouth once more.
"Just kidding. Bridgette's the one that is staying tonight,"
"I'm sorry, Ospreys for ranting on after my loss in the challenge. People react differently to failure, and I guessed I took it badly,"
"Bye Kate," most Ospreys said.
"I guessed I overreacted too, sorry about that," Jared said. "Say hello to Keely for me,"
"I will,"
Just like that, notepad with her, the writer of TDN walked down the Dock of Shame and into the Boat Of Losers.
Screaming Jays- Gwen, Heather, Ezekiel, Seth, Shawn, Ginger, Ted, DJ
Killer Ospreys- Jared, Noah, Lindsay, Bridgette, Cody, Chastity, Danny, Allison
Eliminated- Katie, Ken, Duncan, Keely, Harold, Izzy, Danielle, Kate
Sorry to totaldramaemma for eliminating Kate. She was not going to figure in the plot much.
Note: I don't own any of the video games utilized in this chapter. They are property of Nintendo.
Once again, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies for being this late in updating. Stay tuned for the next episode of Total…Drama…Next!
