Total Drama Bonanza
A Total Drama Fanfiction by StoryCrafter12
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fanfiction. Total Drama and all of its characters are property of Teletoon and Fresh TV. Please support the official release.
Warning: The following fanfiction contains dangerous stunts and challenges performed by fictional teenagers. Any attempts to replicate these stunts or challenges may result in one or more of the following: broken bones, lacerations, concussions, contusions, hair loss, teeth loss, brain loss, sanity loss, first-degree burns, second-degree burns, third-degree burns, fourth-degree burns, nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea, coma, death, and halitosis. You have been warned.
Author's Note: Chapter three has arrived, ladies and gentlemen! I would have had this up sooner, but real life obligations got in the way. The fact that this chapter turned out longer than both of the first two chapters combined didn't help either, but hopefully the end result is worth the wait.
I hope you all like it!
Day One, Part Three: Making a Splash
The thousand-foot cliff hadn't changed much in three years: it was still an incredibly steep bluff overlooking the lake, it still had the same painful-looking rocks jutting out of the water, and was still completely terrifying. Only two things were different: the odd mountain of garbage sitting some several yards from the lip of the cliff, and the six inflatable platforms floating in the water below. There were three large red stationary ones nearest the cliff, two mid-sized yellow ones moving back and forth some space away, and a small, fast moving green one a significant distance out on the lake.
The twenty-six campers, all dressed for swimming, took in all of this as they stood at the top of cliff, some calm and impassive while others shook with dread. Before them stood their host, smiling a wicked smile as he gestured out at the lake.
"Welcome to your first challenge, everyone," he said. "Since we came back to Camp Wawanakwa for this season, we thought it would be fitting to do a reprise of Total Drama's very first challenge… with a few twists thrown in to keep things interesting, of course.
"To start with, you may have noticed those platforms floating out in the lake. Your goal for this challenge will be to land on one of those targets to earn points for your team. Red gets ten points, yellow gets twenty-five, and that green one gets fifty! Also, I will allow no chickening out! Everyone on each team must make the dive, and the team that scores the most points wins!"
"Um, Chris?" Sam asked, raising a hand. "I know we've got quite a few athletic people this time around, but judging by the distances, I don't think even the best of us can jump as far as the yellow or green targets."
"Oh, you won't be jumping," Chris said with a chuckle. "And that's when the second set of new rules come in. See yonder junk pile over there?"
The teens turned their heads. As far as they could see, there wasn't anything special about the pile: just a tall mound of assorted odds and ends of various states of decay, like some giant had scooped it out of a dump and plopped it on the island.
"For the first part of this challenge," Chris continued, "each team will have fifteen minutes to gather as many supplies as possible from the junk pile. You must then use those supplies to build some sort of device capable of hurling your team as far out into the lake as you need to go.
"I call this challenge… Making a Splash!"
"Brilliant name, Chris," Topher called out, earning glances from the others. "Beautiful in its simplicity, it conveys all we need to know yet still scares us with the implications. Bravo!"
Confessional Cam: Making a Splash: the next big thing in sports for suicidal adrenalin junkies!
Jo: "I'm curious about something: is Topher's head up Chris's ass for the warmth, or is it just cozy in there?"
"And you'll all be happy to know," Chris went on, "that there are no man-eating sharks in the lake this time!"
A collective sigh of relief came from the assembled teens.
"Oh, thank God," Samey said. "Maybe this challenge won't be so bad after all."
"Yes, there are no sharks to worry about." Somehow, Chris's evil grin grew even wider. "Instead, while you gather your supplies…"
A thumping sound came up from down the hill, starting low and growing louder by the second. The teenagers looked, and the color drained from their faces as Chef Hatchet came out from the trees, grinning maniacally. He wore two hefty metallic gauntlets on each arm with wicked looking cannons mounted on top, each one extending a foot past his fists, all hooked up to a massive cage of green balls strapped to his back.
"You'll have to deal with Chef and his ultimate tennis ball launcher!"
Chef grinned and raised his right arm, a tennis ball blasting out of the barrel so fast that it was just a blur of bright green. The campers watched the ball fly over their heads, soar over the edge of the cliff and keep going until it struck a cruising gull, far off in the distance. A tiny, high-pitched scream echoed in the air as the bird spun downwards out of control, until Dave told Beardo to knock it off.
"Way to jinx it, Samey!" Amy snapped, cuffing her sister on the back of the head.
Chris watched with a grin as Chef climbed to the top of the junk pile, where he would have the perfect vantage point over his targets.
"Now then," Chris said, pulling a whistle from his pocket while the bird straightened out and flew off with an indignant squawk, "when I blow this whistle, Chef Hatchet will start shooting and your fifteen-minute supply-gathering window will begin. Three-two-one-go!"
Chris blew his whistle, its shrill cry making several campers jump. It all happened so fast that the teens barely had any time to react before Chef roared and opened fire.
Confessional Cam: Tennis ball gauntlets: the next big thing in sports-related fashion!
Shawn: "Note to self: when this is over, ask Chris more about Chef's tennis machine. With a little adjustment, it could have some serious zombie-killing potential."
Ella: "Oh, I hope that pour seagull is okay."
That Poor Seagull: (has a bandage on its wing and is squawking, with subtitles at the bottom of the screen) "Asshole!"
Chef: (still grinning) It's true what they say: revenge is a dish best served… with a tennis ball to the crotch!"
The Extreme Eagles and Wild Wolves screamed and ran for cover as the hail of tennis balls rained down upon them. Chef grinned and aimed each of his cannons at a single team, his projectiles slamming into faces, chests, guts and limbs. Sadly for him, it was not to last as the teenagers quickly ducked behind trees, rocks and any other form of protection.
"Okay, so does anyone have a plan?" Brick asked, he and B crouched behind a large rock as the hail of tennis balls died down. Jasmine had taken shelter behind a tree with Shawn clinging to a branch above her, Zoey was lying behind a log, while the pairs of Ella and Dawn, Topher and Sam, Amy and Samey and Leonard and Lightning all hid behind separate bushes.
"We need to figure out what we're going to build," Jasmine explained, "and focus just on grabbing the appropriate supplies. So, who's got an idea?"
"We could make hang gliders," Topher offered. "Just fly out on them, let go and fall onto the targets."
"Not a bad thought, but I don't think there's enough material there to make thirteen hang gliders." Zoey countered.
Jasmine nodded. "She's got a point. We need something we can use over and over again."
"We could toss a zip line out and just slide down onto the targets," Shawn suggested.
"We could build a ramp, find something with wheels and use it to launch ourselves off the cliff," Ella proposed.
"Giant slingshot made from women's underwear?" Lightning guessed.
"Siege catapult!" Leonard proclaimed.
The entire team turned to stare at him.
"Hey, it could work! You're looking at the man who single-handedly orchestrated the assault on the Goblin Fortress of DarkHallow! Without my catapults, we never would have toppled the tyrant Gilvros and ended the Orc/Goblin War!"
Amy scoffed. "Why don't you just use your 'wizard magic' to just levitate us to the targets?"
"A valid suggestion, but sadly I don't have nearly enough mana to perform thirteen telekinesis spells, especially given the size of some of our party members. No offence, Sir B."
B looked down at his own massive frame and shrugged.
Jasmine shook her head. "Okay people, we've got to pick something soon or were not gonna have time to grab anything to build with!"
"Wait, I think Leonard might be onto something," Ella spoke up. Now the rest of the team (sans Leonard) gave her strange looks. "Just hear me out. I don't think a catapult would be such a bad idea. I mean, all we'd really need is a long piece of wood, something heavy to drop on one end and some kind of… thingy to balance it on."
"Fulcrum." Samey said.
"Gesundheit."
"Not bad, but how are we going to drop our counterweight with enough force to send us flying?" Brick wondered.
B rubbed his chin, then smiled and snapped his fingers.
"Wait," Dawn spoke up, "I sense B has a plan."
B nodded and picked up two small rocks and a twig. He balanced the twig on the one rock and placed the other rock on one end. On the other end, he set his elbow in the dirt, pointing his arm strait up. With his other hand he made a fist and placed it atop his arm, then made a show of dropping that fist onto the miniature catapult, flinging the pebble through the air and over the cliff.
"Oh, make a tower to drop our counterweight and give us more air time," Shawn said to Jasmine. "I think it could work."
"Yeah, it's simple to build, easy to use," Jasmine said, nodding and smiling. "I think we've got a winner." Her smile dropped and she shot a glare up at Shawn. "Also, don't talk to me. I'm still kinda pissed about earlier."
"I said I was sorry! How was I supposed to know that walking on a rotting roof repaired with plywood and poster board would be dangerous?"
"Okay!" Jasmine said with a clap, ignoring Shawn entirely. "Looks like we're doing a catapult!"
"Great, so we know what we're building," Sam said with a nod, "but how are we gonna get the stuff without getting pummeled by Chef?"
He slowly stuck his hand out from hiding, only to instantly withdraw it with a yelp when a tennis ball skimmed his fingertips.
"Leave that to me, Lord Sam," Leonard said, holding out his blue book from earlier. Where he had pulled it from, no one could say. "One force field spell coming right up!"
"Or!" Jasmine said quickly. "Or we could just find something big in the junk pile to use as a shield."
Leonard blinked at her, then rolled his eyes. "Well fine, if you want to do things the hard way."
Confessional Cam: We salute the veterans of the Orc/Goblin War.
Jasmine: "I've got mixed feelings about that Leonard bloke. I know his heart in the right place, but his obsession with 'magic' has me kind of worried."
Leonard: "I know the others are skeptical of my powers now, but once I get into the swing of things and show what I'm capable of at full strength, the others will see me for the valuable asset I am."
Amy: "I just know that freak in the bathrobe is going to screw things up for us sooner or later, and the second he does, he is out of here!"
"Alright then," Jasmine said, peering out from behind her tree, "Lightning, Brick, B, you three are the strongest guys we've got. I'll need you all to run out and draw Chef's attention so the rest of us can gather the supplies. Find something big and sturdy to use as a wall, and regroup with the rest of us. Think you can do that?"
"Run interference and play defense," Lightning, smacking his palm with his fist. "You can count on me, coach!"
"We won't let you guys down," Brick said, crouching down in a runners starting stance.
B gave a thumbs up, looking determined.
"Good on you," Jasmine nodded. She held up three fingers and started counting down. "Three… two… one… now!"
Lightning, Brick and B shot out from their hiding spots, fists in the air and screaming like mad men (or just fists in the air in B's case). Chef reacted instantly, unleash a barrage of tennis balls on the boys. To his surprise, however, they met the salvo head on rather than try to avoid it.
"Man, you think this hurts?" Lightning said tauntingly, even as a tennis ball smacked his forehead. "I know grade-schoolers that can throw harder than this!"
"Yeah!" Brick added, and made a show of trying to punch each ball out of the air. "And you know what else? Your cooking is so bad, you make the mess hall at boot camp look like a five-star restaurant!"
B smirked and stuck his thumbs in his ears, wiggling his fingers as he blew a raspberry.
Chef's eye twitched, and with a bellow of pure rage he swung the second barrel in their direction and opened fire. Brick screamed: "Serpentine!" and the three broke off running in random directions, tennis balls flying every which way as the cook kept up the assault in a blind fury.
"Whoa, that did the trick, all right," Jasmine said, watching from behind her tree. In a hushed voice she said to the rest of her team, "Okay Wolves, time to go. Remember, move quickly and quietly. Let's go, go, go!"
Meanwhile, the Extreme Eagles had much better luck with their hiding spot and were all able to take shelter behind a large bush. Coming up with a plan, however, hadn't gone nearly as smoothly.
"Okay, here's the plan," Jo said, tennis balls flying overhead, "me, Beardo, Sky and Rodney will take point, since we're the only ones who can either take a hit or dodge the tennis balls. The rest of you-"
"Excuse me," Anne Maria said, hands on her hips, "who said you were in charge?"
"Uh, I'm in charge because I'm the strongest player on this team. Therefor I'm the leader, and what I say goes!"
"I don't remember voting for you! Maybe I wanna be in charge!"
"Don't make me laugh," Max said haughtily. "If anyone deserves to lead this team, it should be our resident evil genius, me!"
Scott glanced between his three teammates, and his lips curled into an evil smile.
Confessional Cam: I get some bad vibes from this guy.
Scott: "My plan for this game is pretty simple: I'll sabotage my team to pick off the stronger competitors and lull the Wolves into a false sense of security. Then when they let their guard down and get cocky, I move in for the kill. But before I can do that, I'll need to sow the seeds of discontent among my own team. (grins) Lucky for me, that doesn't look like it will be too hard."
"Guys, we don't have time for this," Sky said, "Every second we waste fighting is a second less we'll have to gather supplies."
"Well now hold on," Scott said, "I think if we're going to work together properly as a team, we need a clear leader to follow." He smiled at Anne Maria. "I for one think the lovely Anne Maria would make a great team captain."
Anne Maria smiled back. "Thanks for the support, country boy."
Rodney glanced between Rodney and Anne Maria, shocked.
Country Boy? He thought, feeling a little bit of his heart breaking. But… but that's Anne Maria's pet name for me! I thought we had something special…
"Oh yeah?" Rodney spoke up, stepping up aside beside the girl from New Jersey. "I'm also behind Anne Maria, a hundred and ten percent! No, twenty! Fifty! Two-hun-"
"Okay, we get it!" Scott interrupted, earning a glare from the larger boy. "So, that's three votes for Anne Maria."
"Wait, we're voting now?" Cameron asked, blinking. "When did that happen?"
"Yeah, a-aren't we supposed to be coming up with a plan?" Dave asked.
"Not until we have a proper leader," Max said, jabbing a thumb into his chest. "I nominate myself, naturally."
"Guys, we don't have time for this," Sky insisted, trying to keep calm.
"I think one of Max's crazy inventions will help," Sugar said, ignoring Sky completely, "so I vote for the mad scientist!"
"Excuse me?!" Max turned to glare at the pageant queen. "I prefer the term 'evil genius,' thank you very much!"
"I'll vote for Max as well," Scarlett said. "I feel his unique intellect could offer an advantage to this challenge."
Sky closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. "Okay. Okay, fine. If we're voting for a leader, I'll pick Jo."
"Thanks Sky," Jo said, looking smug. "I knew you'd recognize that I'm the obvious choice to lead."
Beardo ran a hand through his dreadlocks as he looked between the three candidates, then pointed to Jo with a 'ding!'
"Three to three," Sky said, looking up at Dakota, Cameron, Dave and Mike. "What do you guys think?"
"Anne Maria," Dakota said, "since she's the only one of you with any sense of style."
"How does that help in a challenge like this?" Mike asked. "I'm with Scarlett and Sugar, I think Max can build something good we can use."
"Well, Jo does seem to be the leader type," Cameron said, "so I'll cast my vote for her."
Everyone looked at Dave.
"What, me?" he asked.
"You're the deciding vote, String Bean," Jo said, glaring. "Who's it gonna be?"
"And hurry it up," Anne Maria said, also glaring, "before the other team gets all the good junk!"
"Yes, minion," Max said, (you guessed it) glaring. "Hurry and pick me so that I might lead our team to victory against those worthless Wild Wolves!"
"I-I-I don't know!" Dave stammered, shrinking under the expectant looks his team was giving him. "I don't know who'd be the best leader, I just met you all a few hours ago!"
"Dave, just please pick someone so we can get on with the challenge," Sky said, all but pleading.
"Yeah, but choose carefully," Scott said with a smirk. "This is an important decision, and you don't wanna be responsible for making the wrong choice."
"I-I don't… I just…" Dave looked around in desperation, and noticed something peculiar. "Wait, why isn't Chef shooting at us?"
The other Eagles blinked and glanced up. Sure enough, there were no tennis balls flying over the brush. Jo glanced up from behind her team's cover and saw Chef firing wildly at a scrambling Brick, B and Lightning, while the rest of the Wolves filing out from their hiding spots, crouched low.
"The Wolves are on the move!" Jo said. "Forget the voting! Everyone, grab as many supplies as you can while the other team has Chef distracted!"
"Wait!" Dave said. "What's the plan?"
"Figure out who's in charge and what we're building after we get our materials, that's the plan! Let's move, people!"
The Eagles ran out from behind the bush, Anne Maria, Jo, and Max all glaring at one another while Scott chuckled under his breath.
Confessional Cam: Well, still not as bad as the American voting process.
Scott: (laughing) "Oh man, that went even better than I hoped! At this rate there's no way we'll win the challenge! And then either the wannabe-Snooki, the jock girl or Dr. Evil will be on the chopping block for delaying us with their petty rivalry. (rubs his hands together) Oh, I hope the rest of the game will be this easy!"
Dave: "Oh, I can't believe the others put me on the spot like that! I really don't do well under pressure… I just hope the others won't think less of me for it."
Sky: (sighs) "So much for our Cold War pact…"
"That plank looks nice and sturdy," Jasmine said, pointing to a long, intact wooden board jutting out from the junk pile. "Topher, Sam, help me get that out. Ella, Dawn, you ladies find us something to balance the board on-"
"Fulcrum," Samey said again.
"Gesundheit. Samey, you and the rest gather materials to build us our tower. We need beams, a ladder, and stuff to hold it all together. Last thing we'll grab is something big to use as a counterweight. And remember to stay quiet!"
The team split it into three groups while Brick, B and Lightning continued to draw Chef's fire. Jasmine, Topher and Sam ascended the mountain of garbage and began to work the lumber free.
"So, what happened on the girl's side earlier?" Sam asked Jasmine. "We heard a sound like something breaking, and then a scream."
A slight blush crept over Jasmine's cheeks as she frowned. "Your roommate fell through our ceiling and landed… on me."
Sam chuckled. "Seriously? Oh man, talk about awkward."
"Yeah. Well... I suppose I can't be too mad at the bloke. After all, it's not his fault Chris is too cheap to actually fix the roof."
"Hey, don't dis the Chris man!" Topher said, glaring at Jasmine. "He probably just needed the money to afford all of these super-cool and brilliant challenges."
"Yeah, because a pile of garbage is so expensive," Sam remarked dryly.
They got the board loose and slowly pulled it free, careful not to disturbed the garbage around it. Sam and Topher carried the board down to the bottom while Jasmine looked to the others. "How are we doing, guys?"
"Dawn and I found something we can use," Ella said as she and the moonchild hefted up an old recliner, the upholstery torn and bleeding stuffing.
"I found us a wheelbarrow so we can move everything," Amy said, proudly holding a wheelbarrow by its handles. Samey opened her mouth top say something, than thought better of it and looked away with a sigh.
"This ladder will make an excellent addition to our wizard's tower," Leonard said. He, Shawn and Zoey grunted with effort as they lifted a large metal ladder at the base of the junk mountain. They started to move it, unaware that some rope had coiled around the ladder's bottom rung, the other end tangled around an engine block. The teens walked until the rope went taught and yanked the ladder from their grips, causing it to fall with a clatter.
Startled by the noise, Chef looked over and saw the rest of the other teenagers gathering their supplies. Still keeping a gun trained on B, Lightning and Brick, Chef growled and raised the other cannon to open fire on the rest of the Wild Wolves, who screamed and ran back for cover.
"Gah! We could really use that wall, guys!" Zoey called out, arms thrown over her head in a feeble defense.
"We need a little more time," Brick replied as he and the others scaled the garbage heap, still searching desperately.
Amy heard all of this and glanced over at her sister, the two of them bringing up the rear of the fleeing teens, and gave her an evil smile.
"Samey shield, activate!" She said and threw her foot out, tripping Samey who went down with a cry. Sensing wounded prey, Chef grinned and concentrated all of his fire on the downed twin. Samey tried to crawl away, but couldn't move under the endless barrage of tennis balls smacking her skin, and settled for curling up into a tight ball.
"Hang on, cheerleader!" Lightning called out, and tossed more garbage away from the pile. "Gotta be something here we can use!"
"I see something!" Brick said, pointing upwards. Not too far ahead was a large piece of metal siding, the kind found on sheds and mobile homes, several feet wide and taller than Jasmine.
"Sha-bingo!" Lightning said. He and the other boys reached the hunk of metal and wedged their fingers underneath it. "On three, men! One! Two! Three!"
With simultaneous grunts of effort, B, Brick and Lightning lifted the piece of siding, leaning it up against their bodies to support it. They made their way down the mountain as quickly as possible, making their way over to Samey and plopping the makeshift wall down in front of her. Lightning held up the wall as Brick waved the rest of the team over and B helped the battered cheerleader to her feet.
"Man, that was close," Sam said, being the last one of the team to make it behind the new cover. He smirked triumphantly as he felt the tennis balls smack harmlessly against the metal barrier. "Good job with this wall, guys."
"And way to take one for the team, Samey," Shawn said, patting the cheerleader on the back. She winced in pain, and Shawn cringed. "Oops. Er, sorry about that."
"No problem… Samey muttered, shooting a sidelong glare at her sister, who scoffed and looked away. Dawn saw all of this, a look of concern on her face.
Confessional Cam: Not very sister-like, if you ask me.
Samey: (examines some the bruises starting to form on her limbs and winces.) "Okay, I know Amy was just doing what was best for the team and giving everyone time to get to cover, but did she have to trip me? She couldn't just tell me her plan to get Chef's attention and then let me run in circles or something?
(she thinks about it for a minute, then sighs.) No. No, of course she couldn't."
Dawn: "Amy told us that her sister purposely stayed behind to buy the rest of us time to get away, but I'm not entirely sure I believe that. The whole time her aura was an ugly, pulsating red and black, and whenever she so much as looks at Samey, her negative emotions only seem to get stronger…"
Amy: "I don't know what Samey's problem is. Thanks to my brilliant plan, now the rest of team won't think she's completely useless! (scoffs) The ingratitude of my sister, I swear…"
"Alright, let's finish gathering our supplies," Jasmine said, directing B, Brick and Lightning over to the metal wall. "Wolves, let's move!"
The three of them picked up the wall and walked with it, the rest of the team staying safely behind it as they gathered up their dropped items. Seeing that the Wolves were too well-protected, Chef growled and turned his attention to the Extreme Eagles, whom were running around in a frenzy. The large cook cackled manically as he swung his guns around and fired. The first volley smacked into Max's rear as he bent over to examine a metal oil drum. The would-be evil genius cried out as the impact sent him tumbling over the barrel, his shouts alerting the rest of the team to the attack.
"Scatter!" Jo screamed and ran back towards the bush with several pieces of timber tucked under one arm, taking several tennis balls to the back in the process. With no clear direction, the rest of the Eagles ran about like chickens with their heads cut off, some dropping their goods in a mad dash for cover, others desperately holding on to what they had.
"How many tennis balls does he have, anyway?!" Dave demanded, trying his best to curl up behind a rusting car door with a broken windshield. "Seriously, he's been firing on full-auto for like ten minutes now!"
Cameron, who was lugging a tool box loaded with a hammer and dozens of nails, yelped as he took a ball to the back of the knee.
"Gah! Charlie horse!" He screamed, dropping to the dirt and throwing his arms over his head as several tennis balls rained down upon him. "Cameron's down! Cameron's down!"
"Hang on!" A female voice replied.
Cameron dared a quick glance up just in time to see Sky sprinting towards him, plucking a long pipe from the wreckage as she ran. Eyes narrowing, she placed herself in front of the smaller boy and started to swinging, managing to knock several tennis balls away as the rest pelted her body.
"Can you walk, Cameron?!" She half-asked, half-screamed as she held back the barrage. Cameron tried to lift himself up, only to cry out and fall as agony shot up his leg, forcing him back down. "Guess that's a no! Ow, ow, ah! I could really use some help here!"
"I gotcha!" Cameron heard a deep male's voice say, right before he was hoisted up and thrown over someone's shoulder. Cameron found himself upside down, the world bouncing and wobbling for a few seconds, until he was lifted again and laid down in the dirt. He shut his eyes tight until everything stopped spinning and his stomach quit doing backflips. When he opened them again, he found that he was safely behind the bush, staring up at a concerned Rodney.
"You okay, buddy?" Rodney asked.
It took Cameron a minute to respond, the small boy panting as he stared straight up with unblinking eyes. When he did speak, the words came out in a tiny whisper: "I want my bubble."
Back out in the open, the rest of the team wasn't doing so hot. Sky was trying in vain to deflect Chef's barrage to give the others time to make it to safety, and collecting dozens of welts and bruises for her trouble. Dakota refused to budge from inside a door-less refrigerator, hands protectively over her blond locks as she screamed "Not the hair, not the hair!" over and over. Rodney charged back out the second he spotted the panicking Anne Maria and had picked up a large tractor tire to use as a shield – a valiant effort, were it not for the large hole in the center that left Rodney's chest a huge target.
"This is seriously not cool!" Mike screamed as he ran, clutching a plastic canister full of gasoline and a large metal chain in his hands. A tennis ball caught him in the kidney, and he screamed and fell to his knees. "Argh, dammit!"
Mike took a shuddering breath, and his back straightened. His lips curled back into a snarl, his brow furrowed, and his eyes went flat and hard as he whirled around towards the mountain of crap.
"You think you're so tough up there, asshole!?" He screamed, jabbing a finger at Chef. He spun the chain in his hand in a fast circle, deflecting an assault of balls as he stomped forward. "Come down here and fight me like a man, you pathetic excuse for a cook!"
"Don't antagonize him further, you idiot!" Scarlett hissed, darting out from a behind an old-school telephone booth and grabbing Mike's shoulders.
"Get off of me, you crazy bitch!" Mike shouted, thrashing as Scarlett pulled him to safety.
"Yaaah!" Sugar hollered as she ran, a bucket of some sort of purple powder swinging from one closed fist as Chef's projectiles smacked into her. "My fat only makes me a bigger target!"
She looked around wildly and spotted Beardo kneeling behind a washing machine, a large pink band clutched in his hands as he glanced over the appliance up towards Chef. "You there! Funny noise guy!"
Beardo turned around, and barely had time to utter the "surprised" sound effect from Metal Gear Solid before Sugar grabbed him by the collar and dragged him along in the path of the tennis balls, all while screaming: "Shield me with your girth!"
"You ignoramus!" Max shouted up at Chef, popping up from behind his barrel armed with a MacGyvered slingshot that was loaded with a crumpled soda can. "You will rue the day you dared to assault my hieny! I shall rain my vengeance upon you in a never-ending storm of – OW!" He screamed and was knocked to his back by a tennis ball to the forehead. "Gah! Excuse me, but I am trying to engage in witty banter over – ow, ow, ow! Will you stop that?!"
Scott took in all of this from his hiding place inside an old oven, and couldn't keep the grin off of his face.
"Oh yeah," he whispered to himself. "This is going to be way too easy."
Confessional Cam: This ain't your momma's tennis.
Sky: (bruises adorn the entire front half of her body) "That… really could have gone better."
Max: (face is spotted with large welts, the largest being in the dead-center of his forehead) "That big oaf in a chef's apron may think he has bested me, but he has merely won the battle, not the war! I swear on all that is evil that I will destroy Chef Hatchet and all that he holds dear! I shall reduce him to a sniveling wreck of a man, cowering at my feet for mercy! People shall speak his name only in fearful whispers when describing the total domination I am truly capable of-"
(We're just going to cut out there, as he goes on for quite a while.)
Jo: "Well, as expected, most of my team turned out to be completely worthless under pressure! See, if we had just picked me as leader, we wouldn't have a discipline problem like this!"
Mike: "Man, things were pretty crazy out there. It was so hectic, I don't even remember most of it: I know I was running for the bush, caught a tennis ball to the back, and the next thing I know Scarlett's got me hidden behind a phone booth with her. I've gotta remember to thank her."
Scarlett: "Mike exhibited a rather sudden change in demeanor when threatened. (rubs her chin) Most peculiar…"
Cameron: (eyes wide and trembling) "That… was the single most terrifying the thing I have ever experienced in my life."
Rodney: (a mess of purple bruises decorate his chest and stomach) "Ha! Now that I've heroically saved my love Anne Maria from Chef, she'll forget all about that little weasel Scott! Our love will prevail!"
The sharp sound of Chris's air horn brought the chaos to a standstill.
"Attention all campers!" He shouted. "Your fifteen minute collection period is over! Please return to your meeting places with whatever you hold in your hand, and do not pick up anything else!"
The two teams gathered together to take inventory on what they had gathered. In addition to the sheet-metal shield, the Wild Wolves had a large wooden plank, an old recliner, a ladder, several yards of rope, some scaffolding parts, a dozen rolls of duct tape, and a rusty dryer with a missing door.
"All right," Jasmine said with a smile, "looks like we've got everything we need right here! Nice work, everybody!"
The Wolves cheered and exchanged high fives and handshakes.
Over with the Extreme Eagles, their pile consisted of a heap of lumber, a hammer and nails, a metal pipe, a few coils of rope, a giant rubber band, a tractor tire bigger than Cameron, a large metal barrel, some gasoline, a chain, a book of matches, a motorcycle engine, a blowtorch and welding mask, a dirty lawn chair, a busted computer and a bucket that turned out to be full of purple glitter.
"Okay, this officially blows," Jo said, breaking the awkward silence.
Chris stepped between the two groups, looking at their findings. "Wild Wolves, you were nice and organized, with a clear goal in mind," he said to them with a smile. "Good job!"
He turned the other team, and his smile became a frown. "Extreme Eagles, you guys were a chaotic mess, and your pile looks like the junk mountain threw up."
"Oh, shut up," Anne Maria said with a glare.
"Now that you have your tools," Chris announced to everyone. "You may begin building your devices and launching your teammates. Remember, everyone must take the dive! Chef and I will be down in the lake observing the jumps and recording your scores. Highest score wins, and the losing team sends someone packing!"
Confessional Cam: Didn't he just explain that all twenty minutes ago?
Jasmine: (smiling proudly) "Setting up the catapult itself was pretty easy, all we had to do was put the chair upside down and balance the plank on it. And after that we all worked together to build a tower to drop that dryer onto it. The whole team came together like a well-oiled machine."
Dave: (looking frazzled) "At first Jo, Anne Maria and Max started arguing again about who should lead and tried to make me pick one of them. I suggested that we split into three sub-teams and each build our own launcher. That way if one of them failed, we'd still have two to fall back on. That makes sense… right?"
"All set down there?" Jasmine called from the top of her team's rickety scaffolding tower, held together with duct tape. She and Lightning were on the top platform with the dryer resting near the edge, wrapped with rope. Directly below was one end of the makeshift catapult, sticking up in the air. Samey was standing on the other end, having been "volunteered" by Amy to take the first jump, while the rest of the team stood a fair distance away.
"As I'll ever be," Samey replied, looking over the edge of the cliff as though she were staring down a firing squad.
Jasmine nodded at Lightning. "On three then. One… two… three!"
The two grunted and pushed the dryer off the platform. It slammed down on the end of the catapult with a thud, sending Samey flying through the air and over the cliff, her blond hair whipping behind her as she screamed and flailed. The rest of the team ran up to the edge just in time to see Samey splash down far below, in the path of the moving yellow targets, but missing them both completely.
"Of course," Amy said, rolling her eyes as Chris and Chef maneuvered their small boat over to her sister. "I just knew Samey would screw things up."
"Nah, our timing's just off," Jasmine noted, grabbing the rope at her feet. "Lightning, help me haul this up. Someone else, get on the catapult."
After a moment's debate while Jasmine and Lightning pulled the dryer back up, it was decided that Ella would go next.
"Ready when you are!" The princess said, her eyes shut tight as she stood on the catapult. The dryer came down and Ella was pinwheeling through the air, screaming as she fell. Once again the team ran up to watch, Sam counting under his breath until he saw the splash.
"Another miss?" Topher asked, throwing his arms up. "Man, we're never gonna win at this rate!"
"No worries, dude," Sam said, turning back to the group with a smile. "I've think I've got this figured out! Quick, someone else get on. Jasmine, Lightning, wait for my signal."
The athlete and the Aussie shrugged at each before pulling the dryer up again. This time it was Dawn that volunteered to go. Sam held up his hand as he watched the middle platforms closely.
"Wait for it… wait for it…" The targets reached the end of their path and started moving back the way they came, and Sam brought his arm down. "Now!"
Down the dryer came, and up went Dawn. The moonchild screamed as she arced through the air and came back down, landing directly on one of yellow targets.
"Bull's eye!" Sam said, the rest of his team cheering as Dawn bounced off the target and landed in the lake.
"That's twenty-five points for the Wolves!" The amplified voice of Chris echoed up to them.
"Nice work, soldier!" Brick said, slapping Sam on the back.
"How did you do that?" Zoey asked him.
Sam chuckled. "If there's one thing I've learned from years of gaming, it's that you don't aim where your target is, aim where it's going to be. Now, let's win this thing!"
As the Wolves scrambled to launch another teammate, Jo looked over at them and growled.
"The Wolves are pulling ahead of us!" She said as she and Sky pulled the rubber band back farther, a nervous-looking Beardo walking with them. The three of them had haphazardly pieced the rubber loop and timber together into a giant slingshot. Beardo was now standing inside, pressing himself against the band. "Let's get a move on, people!"
"Uh, it's not a race, Jo," Sky pointed out. "All that matters is who has the most points at the end."
"She's right, slow and methodical will win this challenge," Cameron said, kneeling on the ground a few feet away. He tapped the complex mathematics he had scribbled in the dirt with the stick he had used as a pen. "Now, I need a baseline to complete these calculations, so launch away."
"Way ahead of you, egghead." Jo nodded at Cameron, then looked to Beardo. "Ready, beard boy?"
The African-Canadian boy peered up over the edge of the cliff, and saw the looong drop to the water below. His pupils shrunk and he opened his mouth-
"Great! On three, Sky. One… three!"
They let go, and Beardo shot forward like a bullet from a gun. He screamed a perfectly ordinary, human scream of pure terror as he was flung out over the lake and disappeared from sight. A splash was heard a few seconds later.
"Grr! We missed!" Jo said, stomping the ground. Cameron quickly sprinted over to the edge just in time to see Beardo surface, sputtering and splashing.
"Hmm… it looks like he landed about thirty meters out…" Cameron counted off on his fingers, then smiled. "Okay, I've got what I need! Just give me a few minutes to check my math, and this challenge is in the bag!"
He ran back over to his dirt diagrams, right as Topher screamed: "NO WAIT I CHANGED MY-" and went flying, landing on a yellow target.
"The Wolves are up to fifty!" Chris announced as Chef hauled Topher onto the boat with the others. "And the Eagles had better step up their game if they want a chance of winning!"
Over with Anne Maria's group, Dave (who had decided that Jo and Max's inventions were way too dangerous) was staring slack-jawed at the device they had come up with.
"A tire swing?" he asked as Rodney finished tying the rope around a tire, the other end secured to a branch on the tree closest to the edge they could find. "That was your big idea?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Anna Maria asked, crossing her arms. "We got one at the lake my family goes to every summer, and we get some pretty big air from that."
"Makes sense to me," Scott said with a shrug and a smile.
"Yeah, but big enough air to actually hit those targets?" Dave asked.
"Guess we'll find out," Anne Maria shrugged. "Hell, I'll even go first. Gimme a push, Rod."
She climbed up into the swing facing the lake, standing on the bottom of the tire while holding tightly onto the top. From behind Rodney gave her a hard push, sending her forward. The rest of Anne Maria's group watched for a few minutes as she swung back and forth, going higher and higher each time. When she couldn't make herself go any higher, she took a deep breath, waited until the tire swung back forward, and jumped off right as it started to come up.
"Yeah!" Anne Maria cheered, a big smile on her face as she soared through the air. A smile that vanished in a heartbeat when the ground beneath her vanished, replaced by a lake that was a long, long way below. "Oh, shiiiii…!"
Her extra-long curse went on for a few seconds until it was cut off with an "Oomph!" followed by a bounce and a splash.
"Anne Maria scores the first ten points for the Extreme Eagles!" Chris reported, and her group cheered.
"I knew my baby wouldn't let me down!" Rodney said, throwing his arms around Dave and Dakota. As they celebrated, none of them noticed Scott look around to make sure no one was watching before loosening the knot around the tire.
"Yup, we sure are lucky Anne Maria had such a good idea," he said loudly when he was done. "So, who wants to go next?"
After a brief discussion, it was Dakota that found herself standing in the tire next, right as Leonard went flying through the air with a cry of: "Excelsior!" before splashing down in the water.
"Well, loyal Dakota fans," the fame-monger said, striking a provocative pose and looking directly at the nearest camera, "here I go, ready to make a potentially deadly thousand-foot drop, all to lead my team to our first victory!"
"Uh, excuse me," Dave spoke up, looking perplexed. "How can you have loyal fans if this is just the first episode? That hasn't even aired yet?"
"As if a nobody like you would understand. Rodney, if you would?"
The country boy nodded and gave the swing a shove. Like the girl who went before, Dakota went back and forth, higher and higher, then took a deep breath and jumped during the upswing. She screamed as she flew through the air, landing smack-dab on another red target.
"Ten more points for the Eagles!" Chris said.
The words had barely left his mouth when Zoey came sailing through the air with a terrified shriek of: "I REGRET EVERYTHING!" She landed on the very edge of the yellow target.
"And another twenty-five for the Wolves!"
Over with the final group, Max was putting the finishing touches on his brilliant invention. He set down the blowtorch and hammer, pulled his welding mask up and grinned.
"Behold, minions!" Max said with a grand gesture. "This is what you get when you put your faith in a genius of my caliber!"
Mike and Scarlett took a step back, each wearing matching proud smiles. Under Max's directions, the three had shaped the metal barrel into an honest-to-God miniature rocket. Max had torched and pounded the barrel into the proper shape as well as installing the propulsion system, Mike had chained the lawn chair to the top to make a seat for the pilot, and Scarlett had used some spare wood and loose wiring from the computer to make control levers for their vessel.
"I gotta say Max, I thought you were cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs when you told us to build a rocket," Mike said, wiping the sweat from his brow, "but you really delivered."
"Indeed," Scarlett said with a nod, adjusting her glasses. "You've proven yourself to be quite the leader."
"Good job, teammates!" Sugar said with a smile, throwing her arms around Mike and Scarlett's shoulders. "I knew we could do it if we worked together!"
"'Work together?'" Mike repeated with a raised brow and a frown. "You didn't do anything but sit on a rock and eat strange berries!"
Sugar frowned at him. "Excuse me," she threw a hand towards the mess of purple sparkles on the ship's hull, "but our rocket didn't glitter itself!"
"Enough bickering, minions!" Max said, tying some ropes around the rocket. "We must now discuss our plans for winning this petty competition."
"Okay then," Sugar said as she walked up to Max, throwing a glare over her shoulder at Mike and Scarlett, "since someone seems to think I haven't done anything to help out, I'll drive this contraption."
Max rolled his eyes. "Very well, just stay out of my way." He turned to the others and passed the ropes to them, keeping one for himself. "Now, here's the plan: the three of us will strap ourselves to the rocket whilst the large one pilots us out to the farthest target, at which time we will all undo our bindings, dropping us straight onto two-hundred points for Team Eagle, all but securing our victory!"
"Hmm…" Scarlett rubbed her chin as she stared out the rapidly-moving flotation device. "If we maintain this altitude and relative position, based on the comparative speed of the target and falling speed of roughly one hundred feet per second, I'd estimate we should jump when-"
"Hey Maxie!" Sugar called from her chair on the rocket, looking down at the four wooden levers, two on each side of her. "Which of these lever thingies turns this doohickey on?!"
"The switch on the far left!" Max replied, not even bothering to look back. "But don't pull it until I give the code word!"
"What's that?"
"Pomegranate! You were saying, Scarlett?"
"I was just thinking that we should make our jumps when the green target-"
She was cut off again, this time by the sound of an engine sputtering to life.
Eyes widening, the three whirled around to see the rocket rumbling, Sugar sitting atop with her hand on the far left lever, pulling it back.
"What are you doing, you fool?!" Max demanded as Mike and Scarlett yelped and backed away.
"You said 'pomegranate!'" Sugar replied, yelling to be heard over the engine.
"I was just telling you the code word, you stupid bi-"
His curse was cut short when fire bloomed from the end of the rocket. Their ship shot forward like the bullet from a gun, skipping across the ground and out over the cliff, Sugar screaming and hanging onto her chair for dear life the whole time. Max, Scarlett and Mike stared dumbfounded as their ship took off, none of them remembering they were still holding the ropes tied to the craft until it was too late.
"Waaaaaah!" The three screamed as the cords went taught and dragged them forward. None of them had a chance to let go before they left the cliff as well, flailing around behind the zooming rocket like streamers on a bicycle's handlebars.
"How do I steer this thing?!" Sugar screamed, desperately working the two levers on either side of her back and forth, making the rocket whip up and down and left and right and every which way, leaving a twisting trail of black smoke in its wake.
The campers still on the cliff, as well as those on the boat in the lake below, watched in astounded fascination as the ship twisted through the air above, barely able to hear the screams of its four passengers over the roar of the engine.
"That is not something you see every day," was all Chris had to say on the subject.
"Sugar!" Max cried, pointing desperately towards the far right lever as the g-forces peeled back his lips and eyelids. "Brake! Hit the brake!"
"What?!" Sugar replied, looking over her shoulder with a hand cupped around her ear. "What was that?!"
"BRAKE!" Max screamed. Sugar followed his jabbing finger towards the final lever.
"Break this? If you say so!" Sugar grabbed the wooden board with both hands and twisted, breaking it with a loud crack! She held the shattered lever up for the mortified Max. "Now what?!"
"AAAAAAHHH!"
"Keep screaming? Okey-dokey! YAAAAHH!"
Sugar went back to clawing at the control levers and making the rocket flail in all directions, her passengers hanging on for dear life as they were hurled and tossed around. After several seconds of this, the rocket found itself back near the top of the thousand foot-cliff, just above ground level. It looked as though the vessel would continue straight and fly over the island itself, but a jerk of the switch from Sugar sent the ship into a hard right turn, sending it straight for the campers still standing on the cliff.
The Eagles, being closest, didn't even have time to widen their eyes in shock before the speeding rocket slammed into them. Dave and Scott found themselves pinned between Rodney and the nose of the aircraft, while Jo, Sky and Cameron tried to dodge, only to smack into and subsequently get carried off by Max, Scarlett and Mike.
"Look out!" Jasmine screamed, the rest of her team jumping out of the way milliseconds before the screeching rocket barreled through their catapult and tower, smashing both to splinters. Jasmine, Lightning and Sam all jumped right off the cliff without thinking, but missed landing on any red targets.
Meanwhile, the rocket now carrying the entire Extreme Eagles team continued to twist and turn, the nine teenagers screaming at the top of their lungs in panic. Unable to handle the increased weight, original three riders all lost their grips on their ropes, sending Max, Jo, Sky, Mike, Cameron and Scarlett flying in random directions. Five of them roughly smacked the water, while Cameron, through sheer dumb luck, hit a red target, bouncing off it and slamming face-first into the rocky face of the cliff.
"… Ouch…" he muttered, voice muffled by stone.
The rocket kept up its mad flight for about thirty more seconds, until the exhaust flames abruptly petered out as the engine went dead. With no propulsion, the ship then went into a freefall. The remaining four passengers somehow found the lung capacity to keep screaming as they spiraled out of control, slamming into a red target with so force that they popped it and dragged it down with them beneath the waves.
A stunned silence settled over the lake, broken only by the sputtering coughs of the campers as they surfaced from the water one by one.
"Game over!" Chris shouted through his megaphone as the Chef turned the boat towards the nearest floating teenager to begin the rescue process. "I repeat, the challenge is over!"
"Huh?" Zoey blinked at the host, then pointed up towards the cliff, where the rest of her team was staring down at the scene in the lake below. "But the rest of our team hasn't gone yet."
"Doesn't matter! All of the Extreme Eagles have technically made their jumps, and they only managed to score seventy points compared to your team's seventy-five! Therefore, I declare the Wild Wolves the winners of today's challenge!"
It took a few seconds for the news to sink it, but when it did the Wolves burst into wild cheers while the Eagles sulked and swore.
"Now before I tell the Wolves what they've won, I have a quick change to the rules," Chris continued. "Since you guys adamantly refused to eat Chef's grub, from now on each winning team will win a day's worth of food to be shared between them, while the losers will be stuck foraging for wild fruits and plants until the next challenge."
Chris paused to let this sink in, watching as the Wolves got happier while the Eagles got angrier still. "When you get back to camp, you'll find each side to contain a mini-fridge, small cabinet and cooking utensils. Eagles, yours will be barren, and the Wolves will have a nice selection of groceries to enjoy. In addition, in keeping with Total Drama tradition, their prize for winning today is a brand new hot tub, which is theirs to enjoy for the rest of the contest!"
The Wolves' cheers grew even louder, as did the Eagles' swearing.
"Enjoy, Wild Wolves. As for the Extreme Eagles, I'll see you guys at the bonfire tonight!"
"What happened?!" An accent-laden voice asked. Everyone turned to see that Sugar had finally surfaced and was looking around expectantly. "Did we win?!"
Confessional Cam: Eh… Not exactly, Sugar.
Cameron: (now with cuts and bruises all over the front half of his body) "Okay, I take it back: that was the single most terrifying thing I have ever experienced in my life!"
Jo: (shaking with rage) "I cannot believe we lost because of that fat-ass, blond, inbred hillbilly (whoa, that is so getting bleeped!)"
Scarlett: (glaring at the camera with her arms crossed) "Of all the idiotic, reckless, foolhardy, senseless, irresponsible-"
Max: (unusually calm) "After giving it some thought, I've decided to spare Chef Hatchet of my wrath and instead focus it all on that the FAT MORON WITH THE BRAIN THE SIZE OF A BLUEBERRY!"
Dave: (eyes wide and unblinking) "I knew from watching this show that I'd be doing some crazy and dangerous stuff all for a chance at a million dollars. Even so, getting ran over by a rocket ship was not something I saw coming…"
Scarlett: "-unwise, careless, inconsiderate, moronic-"
Mike: (throwing his arms up) "Seriously, Sugar?! I think we need to call those dictionary guys over a Merriam-Webster, because we need a whole new word to describe how stupid that was!"
Beardo: (frowns, imitates the growl of a large dog and holds up a picture of Sugar for the camera before tearing it in half)
Scarlett: "-biggest dumbass I have ever had the misfortune of knowing!"
Sugar: (hands on her hips, frowning) "Hey, Max said to go when he said the code word, and then he said it! Not my fault the midget gives bad instructions!"
Scott: "Well, that may not have gone… entirely like I planned, (smirks) but at least now it's obvious who's out of here. (chuckles and waves to the camera) Bye-bye, Sugar."
Night had fallen at Camp Wawanakwa, and for the first time in three years, the island played host to an elimination ceremony.
The thirteen Extreme Eagles, now dressed in their normal clothes but still bearing scars from the day's events, sat on the stumps in front of the bonfire pit, which was lit with a roaring fire that provided a warm and gentle relief from the cool night air. Tensions were high, silent pleas for safety were made, and furious glares were being exchanged. Mostly between Sugar… anyone else, really.
Chris McLean stood up at his podium, grinning at the teenagers, relishing in their unease and anger. In his hand he held a plate of twelve marshmallows.
"Welcome to the first elimination ceremony of the season," he said, "and I have to say, in all my years of hosting Total Drama, I have never seen a failure as spectacular as what happened out there today! I mean, that was just flat-out awful, the worst performance I have ever seen. You guys make last season's Team Victory look like grand champions! If defeat was cake, you guys just bought the whole bakery! You-"
"Will you get on with it?!" Jo snapped. Chris frowned.
"Just kill all my fun, why don't you. Very well then. You all know the rules: if I call your name, come up to receive your marshmallow. The camper who doesn't get one has been voted off Total Drama Bonanza, must walk down the Dock of Shame and take the Boat of Losers outta here!"
"Wait, if we already know the rules," Dave spoke up, "then why did you need to explain them?"
"What part of 'love the sound of my own glorious voice' do you not get? Now then, the following campers are safe: Cameron."
The bubble-boy gasped, running up and grabbing his marshmallow with a big smile.
"Sky."
Sky smiled and collected her treat, exchanging a high five with Cameron.
"Dakota."
"As if there was ever any doubt," Dakota said with a smirk, taking a single marshmallow from the platter.
"Beardo."
The large teen took his sweet with a grin, imitating Final Fantasy's victory fanfare.
"Rodney."
"All right!" he said, eagerly snatching his marshmallow and popping it in his mouth.
"Scott."
"Thank you my good man," Scott said with a grin. He took his token of victory and stood with the others, unaware of the glare he was getting from Rodney.
"Scarlett."
"Exquisite," she said, taking a marshmallow for herself.
"Dave."
The boy let out a sigh of relief as he took his prize.
Chris beamed at the remaining four teens: Anne Maria, Jo and Max were each giving Sugar a glare that could peel paint, which Sugar returned with a snarl.
"And now we get to the ones most responsible for today's loss. Anne Maria, Jo and Max split up the team with a petty argument, Max built the rocket that caused the disaster, and Sugar… was Sugar. You all made some big mistakes, and one of you is about to pay for it.
"And that person is…"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"… Sugar."
Sugar eye's widened. "W-what?!"
"Ha!" Max said, sharing a satisfied smirk with Anne Maria and Jo as the three of them got up to collect their marshmallows. "This is what you get for ruining my brilliant plan, you ignoramus!"
"There's gotta be some mistake!" Sugar cried, shooting a glare at the host. "I demand a recount!"
"Recount?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've got twelve votes against you, babe."
"You can't get rid of me!" Sugar now turned her glare towards her teammates. "I'm a pageant queen! I was Lil' Miss Roadkill for five years straight! You need me!"
"Oh, what ever will we do without Lil' Miss Roadkill?" Scarlett asked sardonically.
"We need you like we need you like we need a poison oak rash," Dakota added with a frown.
"The team has spoken," Chris said with a smirk, jerking a thumb towards the dock, "and the Dock of Shame awaits."
Sugar sputtered angrily for several seconds, then screamed through gritted teeth and stomped the ground. "Fine! You wanna kick off the best player on this team, go ahead! Ya'll just signed your own… uh… One of them paper thingies that says somebody died, what are they…?"
"Um, a death certificate?" Cameron guessed.
"Yeah, one of them things!"
Sugar stormed past them towards the Dock of Shame as Chef pulled up in the Boat of Losers, her belongings already on board. Before she boarded, she turned back towards her former team, snorted loudly, and spat a loogie in their direction. "I'll look forward to watching this team crash and burn without me!"
With that she stepped onto the boat and Chef pulled away. The remaining twelve Eagles watched in silence as the craft sailed away and disappeared from sight.
"Well, glad that's over with," Jo said. "Seriously, a bucket of glitter? In what way was that supposed to help us?"
"And did you see the way she dressed?" Anne Maria asked, sticking a tongue out. "Those shoes with that top? Blech!"
"Not to mention her complete inability to follow the most basic instructions," Max said, crossing his arms. "I mean, she actually broke the brake lever on my rocket! Her stupidity was whole reason we were defeated today."
"Not the whole reason."
The three turned to see Sky giving them a hard look, her hands on her hips. The rest of the team had fallen in behind her, waiting to see the ensuing confrontation.
"What are you talking about?" Anne Maria demanded.
"What happened with Sugar was a big part of why we lost," Sky replied, "but that mess only happened because the three of you couldn't swallow your pride and work together! We spent all of our time bickering while the Wolves came up with a clear plan and followed through with it!"
"Yeah but-" Jo started.
"You can't-" Anne Maria began.
"I would've-" Max tried to say.
"No!" Sky cut all three of them off. "I don't want to hear any excuses. Anne Maria, Jo, I told you both earlier that the Wolves would cream us if you two kept fighting, and look what happened! Max, this goes for you too: if you three keep arguing like immature children, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you three will be the next ones to go!"
Silence reigned over the bonfire. The rest of the Eagles, standing a safe distance back, looked between the panting Sky and the stunned group of would-be team leaders, each of whom looked ready to throttle the athlete. It was the kind of conflict a sane person would stay far, far away from.
"I have something to say," Cameron said, stepping forward.
Everyone turned to stare at him. Cameron flinched under the gaze of so many people, but took a deep breath and continued. "I for one think that Sky should be our leader."
Sky blinked. "Me?"
"Her?!" Anne Maria, Jo and Max asked.
"Why not?" Cameron shrugged. "The three of you are never going to stop jockeying for the position of leadership, and as evidenced by the way she just confronted you, Sky has the best interest of the team in mind. This way we can have a captain who will actually lead the team while keeping the three of you in line."
"I'm actually okay with that," Dave said, nodding.
"His reasoning is sound," Scarlett said.
"I wouldn't mind Sky being in charge," Dakota said with a shrug, "as long as I still get to flaunt what I've got."
"Now wait just one second," Jo said, only to be cut off by Cameron.
"All in favor of Sky being our leader, say aye!"
"Aye!" Cameron, Dakota, Mike, Dave, Scarlett and Beardo said. Well, Beardo just made the sound of a bell ringing, but the intention was there.
"I still stand buy you, Anne Maria!" Rodney declared, hands over his heart. "My eternal loyalty is yours!"
"And I'm not getting mixed up in this mess," Scott said point blank.
"Well then, assuming Max, Jo and Anne Maria vote for themselves," Cameron said, indicating the stammering trio, "looks like the team has spoken. Congratulations, Sky."
The athletic teen, who had been frozen in stunned silence throughout the impromptu election, blushed at the sound of her own name. "I… I, uh…"
"Eh, whatever," Anna Maria said with a huff. "I hear leadership is really stressful anyways, and I don't need any stress breakouts."
"Well wait-"
"I'll submit to your rule for now," Max said with a defiant glare, "but don't think that you'll be able to control my evil genius!"
"I'm not gonna-"
"As much as I hate to admit it, Shortstack over there has a point," Jo said with a sigh, glancing at Cameron. "I said I'd get along with Jersey Shore girl, and because I didn't keep my word, we lost. So, if the rest of the team is for it, then I guess you're our leader now."
"I…" Sky trailed off as the Extreme Eagles looked expectantly in her direction. She let out a sharp exhale, running a hand through her black hair. "Wow. Okay, this is not how I envisioned this going.
"Uh… well, thank you for making me a leader, I guess. I promise I'll do the best I can to lead us to victory. The Wild Wolves may have gotten lucky today, but that luck has just ran out." Her lips curled into a confident smile as she found her momentum. "Starting tomorrow, we're gonna dominate this game! Camp Wawanakwa won't know what hit it! Bring it in, team!"
She her hand out, palm down, and waited for the others to gather around her and do the same. "One! Two! Three! Extreme Eagles!"
"Extreme Eagles!" The others cheered, and the whole team threw their hands up.
"Now let's get some sleep," Sky said, heading back to the Eagles' cabin. "We've gotta be well-rested for tomorrow."
The rest of the team followed behind at various paces. Bringing up the rear was Scott, who was looking between Sky, Anne Maria, Max and Jo, doing his best not to break out in a mad cackle.
Oh, you all have no idea how easy you've just made this for me, Scott thought with a wicked grin. This game is mine.
Chris McLean, who had stood at his podium watching the whole scenario play out, whistled. "Man, talk about drama. And it's only the first day of the season! I hope the rest of the contest is as intense as this, hahaha!"
Chris turned back to the nearest camera with a grand gesture. "And with that, the first day of Total Drama Bonanza comes to a close! The Dock of Shame has claimed victim number one, and twenty-four more will follow before the season is out. Will the Wild Wolves claim another victory on day two, or will the Extreme Eagles come out on top under the new leadership of Sky?
"Find out next time on Total! Drama! Bonanza!"
End of Day One
And with that, day one comes to a close. Was the elimination obvious? Probably. But then again, Total Drama has never exactly been subtle about who gets kicked off first.
My reasoning in voting off Sugar is that, in my personal opinion, she was a complete failure as an antagonist. Sure, she was good for a few laughs in PI, but for the most part she was just an annoying and gross elimination-Houdini who only made it as far as she did through dumb luck rather than the strategy of previous villains. Between Scott, Jo, Scarlett, Amy, and a few others I won't spoil, I am not starved for choices in antagonists for this fanfiction, and I have big plans for all of them. So Sugar gets the boot. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Next time on Total Drama Bonanza: It's time for a game of truth or dare the likes of which the contestants have never played! Get ready for anger, tears, embarrassment, and pain. Lots and lots of pain.
Stay tuned!
- StoryCrafter12