Campers were running frantically about Camp Wawanakwa, each of them desperate to find a path that led to the cliff at the center of the island. They all knew that Chris was sure to have something devious planned for them once they reached their destination, but they also kept in mind the consequences they would face if their teams ended up losing the first challenge. Nobody was ready to leave the island just yet—not before they had a chance to settle down and reap some rewards.
The campers of the two teams were running amok; very few of them were trying to find the cliff in groups, and both teams were almost completely split up. Chris sat on the sidelines in a black director's chair, snickering and pointing at the various befuddled teenagers.
"I mean, I know that we made the pathways more complicated and all, but I still can't believe that none of them can find the mountain," he laughed, clutching his gut, "It's freaking huge!"
"You mean like your ego?" an intern questioned mockingly. She had brown eyes, long, brunette hair with various purple bows clipped in it, a purple shirt, purple shoes, and jeans; a rebellious, devil-may-care expression plastered upon her face.
"Ha-ha. Very funny, Sam," Chris responded sarcastically to his reckless personal assistant, "Now go and fetch me another chilled mocha latte, slave."
Sam rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the conceited host, who snidely mirrored her actions back to her and topped off the insult with a wink and a grin. Nonetheless, the girl moodily pivoted on her heel and sauntered away.
"Personal assistants: hate 'em, but can't live without 'em," Chris sighed, looking after her. Diverting his glance back to the contestants, he noticed that a great deal of them were still running around aimlessly, looking like chickens with their heads cut off. Once again, Chris sighed. Suddenly, his face contorted into an evil smirk, and he snatched a megaphone from behind his chair.
"Remember, kiddies, teamwork is key!" Chris shouted into the megaphone, "In fact, I have a little song for you to remember, 'What's gonna work? Te-e-e-e-eamwork!'" He sang completely off-key, snickering the whole way through.
The campers all rolled their eyes and groaned in unison, even so, they began to separate into groups.
"Chris, did you just quote the Wonder Pets?" Sam asked disbelievingly, almost dropping the chilled latte she was holding out to Chris. Chris remained silent, his smug grin descending into a frown, and snatched the drink from Sam, who was crying from laughing so hard.
The Spitting Eagle campers were much more organized than the Irritable Elk so far: Kimmi, Fiorella and Jinx had opted to look for a path as a group, and were currently walking towards the Spitting Eagles' girl cabin to look for more of their teammates. Suddenly, a loud rustling noise sounded from somewhere near the cabin.
"Hey, isn't that Jovanne?" Kimmi asked, pointing a slim finger towards a berry bush near the right side of the cabin. Sure enough, Jovanne had the upper half of her body immersed in the bush, she appeared to be stuck. Fiorella burst into a fit of giggles at seeing the girl struggle —and fail— to get out of the immense plant.
"Um, you okay, Jovanne?" Jinx asked with concern, taking a hold of Fiorella and attempting to muffle her laughter by placing a hand over the girl's mouth.
"Does Jovanne look okay to you, Hex-girl?" Jovanne retorted in an exasperated tone, wiggling her bottom in the air in a desperate attempt to free herself. This sent Fiorella over the edge. She quickly sunk to the ground in a fit of silent laughter, soon to be joined by Kimmi.
"It's Jinx, actually," she corrected, beginning to laugh a bit herself, "Do you need some help?"
"… Ja," Jovanne admitted in defeat. Jinx, Kimmi and Fiorella quickly strode up to the girl and began separating the branches of the bush in order to find Jovanne's arms. Finally, Fiorella spotted one of Jovanne's arms. Jovanne's sleeve was caught on a particularly sharp branch, it was sure to rip.
"Um, Jovanne?" Fiorella questioned, biting her lower lip, "How much do you like this shirt?"
Jovanne shrugged to the best of her ability and nonchalantly spoke, "Is good shirt, I suppose. Why do you ask?"
"'Cause it's about to be destroyed," Fiorella mumbled under her breath. Before Jovanne could react, Fiorella grabbed the girl's hand and pulled with all her might. Kimmi and Jinx jumped back out of surprise as Jovanne came tumbling out of the brush—missing one sleeve. She quickly captured Fiorella in a tight embrace.
"Thank you so much, hippie-girl! You have saved the life of Jovanne, ja!" the girl thanked gratefully. Suddenly, she spotted a baggy, green sleeve dangling off of a single branch. Her thankful expression turned to one of disdain, and she threw Fiorella backward.
"Jovanne needs no more of your help," she huffed angrily, pointing at the three puzzled girls, and stomped away with her nose in the air.
Kimmi, Fiorella and Jinx glanced sideways at each other, expressionless at first, but then totally lost it in a hysterical fit of laughter.
"Come on," Kimmi laughed, gesturing over to their other teammates, "Let's go find the guys."
The trio walked over to the Spitting Eagles' boy cabin, and much to their pleasure, almost their whole team was crowding around outside of it. Wyatt, Grant and Jay were huddled together in front of what looked to be a gravel path while Dosko and Emma were currently grinning and trotting over to Kimmi, Fiorella and Jinx.
"We found the path!" Emma whispered excitedly, hugging BooBoo and looking happier than any of the campers had seen her so far. Dosko nodded along and pointed at the three boys standing next to the gray gravel. He spontaneously grabbed Emma's hand and pulled her toward the group.
"Come on, let's hurry!" he shouted back. Emma's face flushed to a deep rouge and her eyes widened, but she stumbled along with him nonetheless. Jinx's jaw dropped.
"Did you just see what I just saw?" she asked disbelievingly. Kimmi and Fiorella nodded.
"Awww, emo love!" Kimmi sighed sweetly. Fiorella rolled her eyes, and the girls met up with the group.
"Hello, ladies!" Wyatt said, tipping his hat to the three newcomers, his gaze hovering on Fiorella. She looked away, her face reddening slightly, and frowned.
"Hey, Wyatt!" Kimmi and Jinx said in unison.
"Hey, Kim, I think our team found the path, let's go give these two some privacy," Jinx winked at Fiorella, who was currently personifying the meaning of the phrase 'if looks could kill.' Kimmi and Jinx giggled and began walking up the path with the rest of the group, leaving only Wyatt and Fiorella.
"Something bothering you?" Wyatt asked her, a concerned look on his face. Fiorella's eyes darted to his face quickly, and then promptly looked away.
"Um… your… hat…?" She replied, grimacing, as if she had said the first thing that came to mind. Wyatt flashed her a crooked grin and removed his hat.
"My hat is bothering you?" He chuckled, "Okay, I guess I can take it off. I'm not wearing it for the challenge anyway."
Fiorella scrambled for something to say in reply, when suddenly, she saw his hair. It was all jet black, save one streak of silvery gray hair towards the front that stood out.
"What happened?" Fiorella blurted out, pointing to the gray streak. Wyatt's hand quickly flew up to his hair.
"Oh, um, that?" He said nervously, "It's kind of… uh…"
"Spit it out," Fiorella smiled, relieved that all of the attention was no longer on her.
"I know, it's ugly. I was, uh, struck by lightening… when I was little," Wyatt revealed. Fiorella stood, silent, staring at him for a few more moments, "Yeah, I know, it's weird and you probably don't believe me and it's really embarrass—"
"I think it's really cool," Fiorella cut him off with a slight smile, "You shouldn't be ashamed of it." Wyatt grinned at her and placed his hat on the deck of the boy's cabin.
"Come on," he said to Fiorella, gesturing toward the path, "After you."
"Watch where you are walking, purple girl!" Jovanne shouted at Reina. Reina shrunk away from the intimidating girl and quickly backed away.
"I'm sorry, Jovanne, I just—" Reina began to mumble an apology.
"Jovanne does not wish to hear any more ramblings, just do not walk into Jovanne, ja?" she spat, interrupting Reina.
"Ja—I mean, yes!" the timid girl trailed off.
"Good, ja. Now where are those others from Jovanne's team…?" she asked herself, surveying the campsite but seeing only Irritable Elk campers.
'They must've found a trail and left us behind!' Reina realized sadly. Suddenly, a figure loomed over her, casting a shadow over her. She jumped a bit and whipped around to face the figure.
"Hey again, short stuff," Gambit smirked at her, a devilish gleam in his eyes.
"Um… hi?" she squeaked.
"So I was just thinking, since my team doesn't have a clue what's going on, we might as well look for the trail together," Gambit proposed, but to Reina, it sounded much more like a command.
"Won't your team kind of, uh, hate you for helping someone from the other team?" Reina asked apprehensively, attempting to get out of the situation.
Gambit's grin widened at Reina's nervous demeanor, "Nah, they won't care. This is really because you're scared of me, right?" he asked, leaning closer to her, "Don't be scared of me, I don't bite… unless you want me to."
"That's enough, you're scaring her!" Kaeezs yelled, pushing Gambit away from the frightened girl. He glared at Gambit for a moment, and quickly took Reina's hand in his own, practically dragging her up to the rest of the Spitting Eagles, "Come on, the rest of the team is waiting for us."
"Last time I checked, she has a say in what she does, you don't own her, pretty boy!" Gambit spat, angrily grabbing one of Kaeezs' shoulders and turning him around.
"I'm sure that she'd much rather hang with her own team than some criminal," Kaeezs said, pushing Reina behind him.
"Oh, a criminal? Is that all I am?" Gambit glared menacingly at Kaeezs, taking a dangerous step closer to the boy.
Kaeezs' jaw clenched, "You heard me," he spat, balling his fist and inching toward Gambit.
Confession Cam
"Oh my GOD! They were fighting over me! I was so scared they were going to hurt each other!" Reina cried.
End Confession Cam
"STOP!" Reina shouted. Both boys stared at her in confusion and ceased their fighting, "I don't want to walk with either of you now, and don't you dare follow me." She spun on her heel and stomped toward the trail, and once she got up to the other campers, was immediately embraced by Jinx. Gambit glared at Kaeezs, but Kaeezs only glanced at him quickly before deciding to ignore him and run after his teammates.
Confession Cam
"I was so close to getting her to talk to me, and then he jumps in and screws it all up!" Gambit fumed, slamming his fist on the wall beside him, "I'm freaking sick of him already."
End Confession Cam
"Come on guys, settle down! The other team's going to beat us!" Jacob shouted over the sounds of confusion. Gambit was steaming on the outskirts of the group, hands jammed in his pockets; Yami and Luna were quietly conversing while petting Kitsune; Alika was standing alone; Paige and Gale were talking about his circus act; and Jeltsje was blasting techno music that Todd and Aqua were doing the robot to—everybody had stopped trying. Suddenly, a loud whistle sounded from next to Jacob, and Nick pounded his fist into the air.
"I've spotted the other team going that-a-way! Autobots, assemble and chase them!" Nick rallied, getting a head start. Everybody became quiet, and—almost as if a king had spoken—all at once every one of the irritable Elk followed him. Jacob stared in awe after them, and Paige sauntered up to him.
"So, this leadership thing isn't going too well for you, huh?" she joked, pointing at Nick and the gaggle of teens that were following him.
"How did he—what did—what the heck just happened?" Jacob stuttered.
"I'd say that that was a classic case of you getting owned," Paige said seriously, leaning her elbow on his shoulder.
"But why did they listen to him and not me?" he questioned, baffled.
"There's more to being a king than getting your way all of the time, young Simba," she quoted in a deep voice. Jacob glanced sideways at her and smirked.
"You're crazy, you know that?" he chuckled. Paige ruffled his hair playfully.
"Yeah, I like to think of myself as an interesting person," she answered honestly, "Now come on, we're gonna be left behind!" Jacob smiled to himself for a moment, then ran to catch up to her.
Confession Cam
"Interesting is a complete understatement," Jacob trailed off, "she doesn't give herself nearly enough credit…"
End Confession Cam
Up at the top of the mountain, Chris was sitting in a director's chair, a latte in one hand and a dusty pair of binoculars in the other. He leaned forward intently, straining his eyes to see which team was in the lead.
"The Spitting Eagles are still in the lead, but man, are the Irritable Elk catching up fast!" Chris exclaimed, chucking his empty coffee cup over his shoulder, "This race is going to be one for the books, my friends."
Finally, the Spitting Eagles burst out of the forest, panting and out of breath; the Irritable Elk not too far behind them. Chris jumped up from his chair to go and greet them, and Sam delightedly stole his seat.
"Congrats, Spitting Eagles!" Chris praised, "You beat the Irritable Elk in a race up this steep, treacherous mountain. Unfortunately, that really doesn't have much to do with today's actual challenge."
"What?" both groups shouted in unison.
"You're not telling me that I just ran my butt off for nothing, right?" Aqua pleaded.
"Au contraire, little lady," Chris answered with a smile and a wink, "That's exactly what I'm telling you. The only advantage that the Spitting Eagles get is that they get to choose between two options in today's challenge. Speaking of that, today's challenge is definitely gonna be a fun one: each team will receive one gigantic hang-glider, and then each team will then jump off of the mountain—all together— and whichever team gets the furthest away from the mountain wins!"
"Oh, that sounds kind of fun, actually," Jeltsje said, relieved.
"Not done, chicky," Chris smirked, "the difficult part is that each team will either have weights on their hang-glider, or have random objects thrown at them while they're gliding. I'll show you what you'll be dealing with: here are the weights," Chris pulled out two, tiny steel weights that were shaped like his head out of his pockets, "Their shape is a bit metaphorical, actually. Think of it as a reminder that I'll always be there to weigh you down."
"Or, they could be a symbol of just how thick your skull really is," Todd jeered. Sam giggled and ran over to him.
"Nice!" she complimented while high-fiving him. Chris' smile twitched slightly, but he acted as if he hadn't heard them.
"Anyway," he continued, pulling out what looked to be plastic Easter eggs out of his pockets, "these are what will be thrown at you if you don't take the weights. Now, they may look—"
"Okay, you don't even have to finish that sentence, we'll take that," Jay interjected. Sam winced and hectically waved her arms, futilely attempting to signal danger.
"Yeah, the Spitting Eagles will most definitely be taking the Easter egg thingies!" Fiorella continued. Chris' personal assistant facepalmed and rolled her eyes.
Despite Sam's warnings, Chris was met with a team of excited shouts and heckles, and a sly, "I-know-something-you-don't-know" smirk spread across his face.
"Okay, whatever you guys say," he grinned wickedly. Chris snapped his fingers and two interns ran haphazardly toward him.
"Y-yes, Mr. Maclean?" the male intern stuttered nervously as the female intern behind him rolled her turquoise eyes.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Beowulf? Call me sir or don't call me at all," Chris replied, signaling for the intern to 'talk to the hand.'
The female intern nudged the male's arm encouragingly and smiled. "Come on, stand up to him! You can do it!" she whispered hurriedly. The male intern paused for a moment and composed himself.
"Um, sir, my name is Ben, not… Beowulf… I don't really know where you got that from… and, uh—" the intern was suddenly interrupted by his companion.
"Why are we here exactly?" she asked Chris impatiently.
"I'm getting to it, dudes," Chris tutted, and then turned to the campers, "Victims, I would like you to meet Ben and Ming-Ming. They're the ones who will control your fate in this challenge, because they will not only be throwing things at the Spitting Eagles, but they will also be tying the weights onto the Irritable Elk's hang-glider. So get to it, interns!" Chris handed a bucket of weights shaped like his perfectly sculpted face to both of the interns and pushed them toward a hang glider that looked as if it could barely support itself, let alone eleven campers. It barely even resembled a hang glider! It looked to be crafted from rotting wood that had been scavenged from the beach nearby, and the wooden beams were held together with nothing more than rusty nails, and in some cases, merely a staple or two, and the fabric on top of it was torn and displayed very noticeable gashes. Ming-Ming tip-toed over to the hang glider and carefully hung all of the weights on it, and waited intently for the entire contraption to fall apart. When it didn't, Ming-Ming slapped the bar of the hang-glider triumphantly, causing an entire piece of wood to come loose.
"Uh, whoops," she looked at the ground, then back at the broken hang-glider, "I guess I'll just put this back… here… and... ta-da?" She looked back at the hang-glider, the bar wedged precariously back into its position, and shrugged, deciding it was up to par.
"Chop, chop, interns, we don't have all day here!" Chris yelled impatiently.
"Sir, yes, sir! Both hang-gliders are in tip-top shape, sir!" Ming-Ming saluted with mock reverence.
"Okay, then, Easter egg thingies at the ready, other intern?" Chris questioned. Ben appeared holding a large bucket of the eggs and nodded, "Well then, Irritable Elk, set yourselves up on that weighted hang-glider that looks like it's going to fall apart any second now, and Spitting Eagles, you all hang onto that equally decrepit hang-glider!"
The Irritable Elk all shuffled nervously toward their flying death machine, wary to put any pressure on the device.
Gale cautiously approached the bar, and firmly shook it, "Chris, this is never going to hold all of us, are you trying to kill us?"
"Too bad, kiddies, you're all on contract and I'm sure you could all use a million buck-a-roonies," Chris whipped out his megaphone and instructed everyone to grab hold of their hang-gliders, "Now, on 'go' everyone push off, and remember, whoever's hang-glider goes the furthest out wins… Aaaand GO!"
Campers from both teams frantically ran and pushed off of the ground. The Irritable Elk's hang-glider steadily sinking closer and closer to the ocean due to the added weight, and the bar shifting unsteadily.
"Guys, I don't think this is gonna hold for much longer," Jacob yelled nervously. As if on cue, the wooden bar snapped in two, leaving the campers struggling to hold on to the remains of their hang-glider and plummeting into the waves. The campers landed with a huge splash, and as they surfaced, clung to the shattered pieces of wood as if they were lifeboats.
"Well, that was disappointing," Luna admitted, helping Alika next to her.
"Ughhh, this is so freaking frustrating!" Aqua spat, rubbing salt water from her eyes.
The Spitting Eagles campers weren't faring much better, as they realized exactly what the catch to their choice had been.
"Okay, the Elk are sinking, and we're still soaring like eagles, guys!" Dosko shouted excitedly.
Grant rolled his eyes, but smiled, "Dude, I don't think you could've possibly used a lamer pun right there."
"Hey!" Kimmi yelled, pointing toward Ben, "Here come our little eggies!" An egg suddenly came soaring up, crashing through the delicate cloth of the glider.
"Um, that was weird," Jay noted. Suddenly, an egg ricocheted off his face, knocking him into the water, "Was that freaking made of concrete or something?" he yelled angrily from below, trying to stay afloat. All at once, in a hail of concrete-filled Easter eggs, campers were knocked one by one off of their hang-glider, and finally the entire thing fell to pieces, crashing into the ocean.
"That'll teach them, thinking they can get off easy…" Chris said maniacally as he watched all of the campers swim to the shore, "Anyway, despite sustaining major injuries, it would seem as if the Spitting Eagles have won the challenge!"
The Spitting Eagles all celebrated half-heartedly, examining their bruises, and the Irritable Elk were infuriated.
"Our thingy was like, destined to fall apart from the start, man! That's unfair!" Jeltsje complained, crossing her arms. Her teammates all agreed furiously.
"Well, take it up with the interns, guys, not my bag," Chris smiled devilishly, "Anyway, despite the fact that one of you will be heading home, at least you all know you're free of bone fractures!" Chris turned away from the campers and faced the camera, "So this is where you, my dear viewers, come in. In a poll, you will vote for who you most want to stay, NOT who you want to leave! Now, remember to join us next time for more fun on Total Drama Island: The Next Victims!"
Hey guys (is there anybody still out there?), long time no see I found this buried amongst other files on my computer and decided I should probably at least attempt to finish this, haha! So if anyone even still cares, I'll have a poll up on my page, and you can all vote for your favorite Irritable Elk campers! Thanks for reading, peeps!
I dedicate this chapter to my lovely friend Sami, it's her birthday/Christmas/Halloween/Easter/Fourth of July/Kwanzaa present, haha :3