Authors Notes: I am not dead. I must obligatory say sorry for the nearly 11 month wait between chapters, and I can only hope this can be worth it. I have a goal of finishing this story by the end of the year, so hopefully you'll more soon. And for those who have stuck by this story despite this horrendous update schedule, I can't thank you enough.
Also, I know I said the next chapter would be an Alejandro focused endeavor, but for some reason I couldn't for the life of me write it. It will occur the chapter after this one, but to give some of y'all a taste, the opening scene of this chapter is a flashback of that one. It'll make sense eventually, I promise.
Also, check out the poll on my profile!... My fanfiction ( d o t ) net profile, that is. It'd be cool if AO3 added a poll option too, huh.
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT GIVE EMU LIPSTICK. TOTAL DRAMA (AND BY EXTENSION THIS FANFICTION) IS A FICTIONAL CARTOON-Y UNIVERSE AND DOES NOT ACCURATELY REFLECT EMU BIOLOGY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Somewhere, sometime in Toronto…
"Sanders, where is Alejandro?"
Sanders couldn't help but gulp, with the baritone in Chef's voice seemingly piercing her own heart. "I… I found him, don't worry."
She heard a clicking sound on the other end of the line, as if Chef's jaw unclenched itself, "Good, but, is he…"
"He's in stable condition and is willing to return to the hotel immediately." Sanders response was quick, but she hoped she didn't come off as too curt.
If she had, Chef didn't seem to care one way or the other, "Good, I'll tell pretty boy when he wakes up. Just make sure to stay with him until the extra security from the network arrive at the hotel." And with another click, the call ceased.
Sanders breathed a sigh of relief as she put the payphone back on the receiver. She took a moment to graze her right arm with her left hand. She felt goosebumps, and rightly so, she had just lied on the job. And without MacArthur goading her into it, no less.
She stepped out of the booth, teeth naturally chattering in the cold. She looked to the right to see Alejandro looking over towards her.
Sanders tried to project confidence, "I probably bought us a couple hours. You said José is close by, right."
Alejandro nodded, "Our family owns a property nearby… I just need to see him face to face, to make sure he's truthful." As he locked eyes with Sanders, she couldn't help be thankful of the darkness that shielded her flushed face towards him, "Thank you, Sanders. You don't know how much this means to me."
Sanders would curse herself later for her voice cracking as she said, "I actually think I might know. Let's go."
The shot slowly zoomed into the exterior of the Area Fifty-One compound from the previous episode as Chris began his narration, "Last time on Total Drama World Tour: Area Fifty-One. Plucked from space to zap your face!" The camera flashed white before showing Tyler getting zapped to a crisp by the laser, "Tyler got himself into a shocking situation, and in more ways than one!" The footage skipped backwards in time to him and Duncan talking on the bench, "His new alliance with Duncan got off to a rocky start over Owen, until the D-Man promised he'd prove to him that the big guy didn't actually team up with Heather to axe his girl."
"That kind of went nowhere…" Footage of Chris flying off on his jetpack was shown before cutting to Duncan talking to Owen before getting interrupted by Tyler and Noah," And after I had to relieve hosting duties to Chef in order to take care of some… business, Tyler got into a pretty intense conversation with Heather, who finally convinced him that she and Owen didn't team up to get rid of Lindsay but still having him be mad at Owen due to him not considering his feelings when he voted to for her over DJ." Heather and Tyler were shown having their heart-to-heart in the compound, with the jocks' holding a visage of determination.
The shot quickly cut back to Chris in the cockpit seated next to Chef. He had his arms crossed while mugging the camera with a shit-eating grin, "Too complicated for 'ya? Hope not, cuz' that was just the 'B-Plot' of the last episode! The real drama came when Noah and Gwen were trapped, where our favorite scheming bookworm finally spilled the beans over him throwing Owen under the bus to Tyler in order to save his skin." Noah was shown explaining to a seated Gwen on the pseudo-dentist chair his second gambit, "Unluckily for him though, Duncan, Cody and Owen were listening in on the whole thing!"
Footage of Cody storming over towards Noah was shown before being stopped by Gwen next to a flash cut of Duncan turning white as Gwen vowed to tell Courtney the truth about their kiss, "Chaos ensued, but I'll give the juicy bits. Duncan revealed he had lied to Courtney about Gwen kissing Noah because he chickened out telling her himself, Gwen promising Duncan that she'll tell Courtney about their relationship herself, and finally Owen realizing that his buddy betrayed him in order to save his own butt!" Owen's heartbroken face was shown before cutting to him darting off as Noah tried to talk to him.
"With Tyler winning it all for his team, Cody and Courtney went to plotting each other's elimination. Both went to Heather in order to get her onside to get rid of the other, and in the end the Queen Bee went with Courtney." Gwen was shown consoling Cody about his elimination whilst Sierra pleaded with Chef, groveling on her knees and grabbing his leg. "Eh, probably not her most strategic move, but she was pissed that Sierra left her hanging in the compound."
The camera flashed to Chef jerking the planes yoke in such a way that it caused the entire plane to flip upside down, with Chris's aviator hat nearly falling off, "Woah!" He saved it by putting his hand on his head, "Who's gonna blunder in the land down under? Find right here, right now, on Total!" The camera zoomed out with each word the host emphasized, revealing the Jumbo Jet in all its now one-hundred-eighty-degree glory, "Drama! World Tour!"
The opening shot of the episode began on a slow zoom into the Jumbo Jet flying in the air before flash cutting to the Cargo Hold.
Like times before, various critters and insects were huddled together behind boxes and crates used to store challenge equipment under the harsh fluorescent light. But instead of watching a nervous Gwen pace around the room like they were for the past two days, they were now treated to a sleeping Sierra who, just hours ago, had been bawling her eyes out.
A few seconds later, a brief splash of rough turbulence awakened Sierra, "Huh, C-Cody…" She slowly sat upright, with tears beginning to well upon the realization where she is and what had happened, "Oh no…"
Before Sierra could launch herself into another bout of weeping, she heard a distinct rumbling from one of the boxes near the side of the room. The fangirl wiped her eyes and stood up, "Uh, hello? Is anyone there?"
She stood up and slowly peered around the room, unaware that a short pale boy was inching closer behind her.
"Excuse me, eh?"
"GAH!"
Sierra shrieked in surprise and reflexively spun around and slapped him, causing his world to immediately snap to black.
The shot cut to First Class, with the camera slowly panned to the left to the left to show that no one seemed to be in the compartment, asides from Tyler and Duncan, who were seated at the far end of the room across from each other on a pair of recliners, with no Owen or Noah in sight.
"Yikes," Tyler bit his lip, "So you, Cody and Owen heard what they were talking about the whole time?"
"Yup," Duncan nodded curtly, his arms crossed. "That geekwad spilled all of his bullshit to Gwen…" He gave the jock knowing frown, "That enough proof for you to get off of Owen's case? Dude's torn up enough after learning how much of a dick Noah is."
Tyler blinked, "Uh… I mean of course I feel bad for the guy… but –
"Oh come on!" Duncan growled.
Tyler's eyes wandered over to the clouds outside their window. "DJ really didn't want to be here. Guy was always complaining about being cursed and junk; why would Owen pick him to stay over Lindsay? Especially when he knew how much I missed her when she didn't even recognize me!"
The punk narrowed his eyes, frustration ebbing to the surface. The amount of stress and guilt he was under was immense and Tyler choosing to continue the feud with his good friend nearly caused him to be pushed over the edge.
Nearly.
"Look, man." Duncan sighed, "I'm not some stupid guidance counselor or whatever like Princess was; I can't force you to forgive Owen." Tyler returned his gaze to his ally, "But we need to get rid of Noah, and getting the big guy on our side is the only way of making sure that happens. If you keep giving him shit for what happened in Spain –
"France,"
"Whatever, if you keep giving him shit, that'll give Noah another opportunity to manipulate him and turn him against us." Tyler's eyes widened as he continued, "So, just, can you at least be sort of nice to him?"
Tyler took a few moments to take it all in before replying with a sigh of his own, "I mean… sure, I know Noah is way worse of a person than Owen, so yeah, I'll lay off of him." He paused, "But –
"Great," Duncan clasped his hands together, cutting the jock off, "I'll go find Owen before Noah does and let him know the plan."
"But I still wanted to ask you –
The punk hopped up from his seat and jogged off, leaving the still seated jock in the dust.
"About Gwen…"
(Confessional: Tyler)
He sits up with his arms loosely crossed with a look of unease, "I'm nervous." He held up his hands in defense, "Not about the Owen thing. If we're only working with him as a onetime thing, I get it." He began to rub the back of his neck, "Plus I know him and Duncan are really tight and stuff, and I know me being mad at him has been hard for the dude… and its not the only reason why I'm kind of worried about him right now…"
"Before we split up in the compound, Duncan told me he needed to go with Cody to talk to Gwen about something super important and that she was mad at him." He held up his arm and pointed towards the door, "But back there Duncan hardly even mentioned her when he explained the whole deal of her and Noah's conversation. It just… felt like he was leaving out stuff I guess…"
"I dunno," Tyler shrugged, "Maybe I just feel bummed cuz Cody got kicked off. Dude was like my last friend left here; it just sucks…" He gave a little wave to the camera, "Sorry bro…"
(End Confessional: Tyler)
(Confessional: Duncan)
"Obviously I didn't tell Tyler everything that happened," Duncan sat with a stern face, "With how much of a wuss he's being about Owen, telling him about Courtney and Gwen is the last thing I need to do if I want to ditch Noah. All I need to do is make sure we lose today in order to get rid of him for good, and then I can finally make things right with her…" He blinked, taking a few seconds before speaking again.
"Wait, did he say DJ was cursed?" He chuckled, "Oh man, and I thought Beth had it rough when she told me about hers back on the Island, but at least she didn't want to quit over it, damn."
(End Confessional: Duncan)
"Ugh, did they drink all the alcohol on this stupid plane last night?"
Heather was walking through the hallway the led to Chris's Quarters, pinching her nose while she did so. Ever since yesterday, the Queen Bee knew something was amiss, but her plans to sleuth after Cody's elimination were thwarted as Chef implemented his annoying curfew to take care of a "problem." That caused Heather's brain to go into overdrive of questions, so much so that she jetted out of economy as soon as the curfew was lifted to try to find some answers.
The camera quickly went downwards towards a pool of water on the floor, with the Heather's platform wedge diving directly into it, causing her to stumble, "Crap!" She quickly steadied herself from falling with a growl, "And what's with all this stupid water? Were the interns using a slip n' slide or something?"
She continued to grumble along the path, dodging pools of water as she did so for a few more minutes, "And what was Chris talking about in the desert… Alejandro...?"
"I thought you'd be angrier at those two for messing up this joint,"
Heather froze.
Chef's gruff voice snapped her back to reality and she realized she was standing right in front of the door to the hosts' quarters. The door was ever so slightly ajar, so she quickly pivoted around and put her ear near the opening as the voices went on.
"I was at first," A voice she recognized as Chris's continued, "I love this hot tub! But those lovebirds have been ratings dynamos ever since London, so I think in my infinite host-ly generosity that I'll let it slide."
"Or is it that you knew you could just force me to do the grunt work fixing this place up?"
"Probably that, actually."
Heather rolled her eyes and muttered, "Get to the point, losers." Who the hell was using Chris's Quarters last night?
After around thirty seconds of silence, she heard Chef let out a loud sigh, "I don't know why she couldn't of just worked things out with Trent. Girl is smart enough to know punk and stringbean are just using her…"
"Duncan and Noah…" Heather repeated quietly to herself. And if Chef mentioned Trent, then that must mean he was talking about Gwen!
"Who cares?" She heard Chris scoff followed by a snap of his fingers, "By the way, you called Sanders to follow up about Alejandro, right?"
Heather's chest tightened.
"Yeah… she got him back to the hotel just fine."
"How's his mental health though?" For the first time Heather heard genuine concern slip into the hosts voice.
"She told me he has calmed down…" She could practically hear Chef grimace, "I don't know…"
"Well, crazy or not, the network will get more security 'round the hotel. Can't risk the dude going AWOL again," All of the concern in his voice vanished, "And speaking of crazy, could you imagine how insane Tyler would've gotten if he had found out that the D-man and Cody tried to team up to get rid of Noah," The host chuckled.
"Kid does have an unwavering code of honor…" Chef muttered. "He'd make a damn good marine if he didn't fall over himself all the damn time…"
In spite of the troubling information regarding Alejandro, Heather couldn't help but smirk. The hosts had just unwittingly laid out a perfect plan of attack to pry Tyler away from Duncan…
"You said damn twice, dude."
"Don't 'dude' me, boy!"
Heather felt from her position Chef beginning to lumber over towards the exit so she began to sprint off, nearly slipping on a stray puddle of hot-tub water once more.
Chef poked his head out of the exit before craning back to ask, "You hear something, Chris?"
"Nope. With how high up we are my hearing is shot with my ears popping all the time."
"Didn't I tell you to chew gum when that happens?"
"And I told you that I can't risk these pearly whites getting stained at any cost."
"Ugh…"
Confessional: Heather
"This is perfect!" Heather smirked, jerking her thumb to the side, "Despite lucking it out last time, those Team Chris losers are hanging by a thread ever since Greece, and even more so after yesterday when Owen found out that Noah lied about him to trick Tyler. The only thing that's keeping those morons treading water is Tyler being goaded into some dumb partnership with Duncan…
"But once I tell Tyler that Duncan was scheming with Cody to be 'unsportsmanlike'and bring down his team in order to get rid of Noah, I can tear him away from that gutter-punk and bring him totally into my control." She mugs confidently towards the camera, and the confessional looks like it is about to conclude until her demeanor changes in her face.
"Still, things aren't adding up. Chris and Chef were talking about two people breaking in and using their stupid hot-tub. I know Weird Goth Girl was one of them, but the last is a toss-up between Duncan and Noah.
"If it's Duncan then my suspicions from the Gemmi Awards were true and she's falling for him… but that would mean that he and Courtney –
She stopped midsentence, "No, I don't want to get my hopes up too high yet. If it's Noah, then that means that she actually does have feelings for that nerdling which is, ew, gross." She gave a shockingly sympathetic look to the camera, "Sorry Cody. Even you would be a better match for Weird Goth Girl than that sarcastic twerp."
She clasped her hands together, "Okay, just need to focus on prying Tyler away from Duncan and figure out which guy Gwen is hooking up with. Who cares what Alejandro is even doing with whoever this Sanders girl is? Right?" The camera pauses on her suddenly bewildered expression before cutting out.
End Confessional: Heather
"Can you pass the milk?"
"Huh?"
Gwen blinked before slowly raising her gaze towards the person sitting across from her, "Sorry, what was that?"
Noah, who was tiredly propping his head up with his elbows, used his left one to gesture to the object of interest, "Milk, please."
"Oh, right, sorry…" Gwen yawned before passing it to their companion.
Thirty minutes ago, both had been jolted awake to an irate Chef and Chris and thrown out of their quarters soaking wet with just two spare white t-shirts and gym shorts (if Gwen wasn't exhausted, she'd probably laugh at Noah wearing anything remotely related to fitness.)
Not wanting to confront their respective teams just yet, the duo had decided to have cold cereal in the dining area so they could plan their next move...
Plan their next move if they weren't trying to skirt around the subject of coming clean and apologizing to Owen and Courtney, that is.
"Where do you think we're heading to next?"
"This flight feels like its' taking forever; maybe somewhere back in Europe?"
Gwen recalled past destinations on that continent and smiled, "The London challenge was nice; we hooked up Heather to that torture rack."
Noah snickered, "Excellent. Owen and I didn't even convince Tyler to –"
The moment those words left his lips, he closed his eyes and swore under his breath, leaving Gwen a bit off guard. He pinched his forehead with his thumb and forefinger and sighed, "Yeah, jokingly reminisce about two people I screwed over. That's what I should be doing right now…"
Gwen's eyes widened for a split-second before closing her own with a sigh, "It's not just you; Courtney and I were the ones who forced Heather to do it…"
Both of them simply stared awkwardly at each other, uncertain of what to do or say next. Luckily (or unluckily for them) someone was about to make their next moves apparent.
"Yo, Owen!" Duncan dashed into the dining area, causing Noah and Gwen to standup, turning in shock. The punk skidded to a halt upon seeing the duo, "Pasty?" He looked down at the shirt she was wearing and blinked. "Uh…"
Gwen looked down and realizing the only thing she was wearing was a small t-shirt and shorts, covered her chest with crossed arms, "Duncan, what are you doing here?"
The punk was about to answer, but he paused and glanced at Noah standing next to her and glared towards him, "Looking for Owen. Tyler and I haven't seen him all morning."
Noah's eyes widened, "He's not in First Class?"
"Have you seen him, Gwen?" Duncan didn't even bother to respond to the bookworm and averted his gaze back to the goth.
"We haven't." She shook her head, "But this is bad; we'll help you look."
"We?" Duncan grunted as he raised an eyebrow pointedly at Noah, "Don't you think he's done enough damage?"
Before Noah could fire back, Gwen stepped forward, "He's still another set of eyes; do you want to find Owen or not?"
"He probably ran off so he wouldn't have to see him."
This time, Gwen couldn't stop Noah. He took a few steps passed the goth and gave the punk a death glare, "Says the person who's stringing Courtney along like that eel did to Tyler."
Duncan grit his teeth, "This isn't like that."
"That's right, you're stringing him along too."
The punks nostrils flared with rage and he yelled, "Why you little! –
"YAWARG!…uh,"
Before Duncan could jump at the chance to remind Noah of how much Harold feared the punk, the door to the kitchen in the dining area swung open accompanied by a loud yawn. A large boy they knew all too well groggily lumbered towards them, yawning, "I-Izzy? What time is it? Mr. Coconut isn't back from Candyland right?"
The other three paused, watching intently as the rotund blonde rubbed his eyes, revealing to them remnants of chocolate ice cream around his mouth. Eventually he ceased rubbing and slowly blinked his eyes open, realizing where he was and saw the other three in the dining area with their jaws dropped.
"Uh… hi guys…" The blonde lowered his head sheepishly toward his shoes.
Noah swallowed the lump in his throat, "Owen, I –
"All competitors please move to the dining area to prep for landing!"
Before the bookworm could finish, he cursed as Chris cut him off over the intercom, "Seriously, now!?"
Duncan shoved past Noah (a little harder than he meant to causing him to get knocked to the floor) and approached his friend with an uncharacteristic look of concern, "Dude, we need to talk. Let's just –
"Oh, Owen!"
This time, it was the punks turn to get cut off. Sierra had pushed passed him and ran over towards Owen, giving him a giant hug that could rival one of his own, "I heard what happened and I'm so sorry!"
Owen's mouth was at first agape, as was Noah, Gwen and Duncan's, but as he saw the rest of the competitors file into the dining area he swallowed, "Wow, uh, thanks Sierra. Yeah yesterday wasn't such a good one for Big-O, haha…"
The teens who had just arrived: Courtney, Heather, and Tyler, took notice and began to approach the five-some. Hearing them, Sierra pivoted around and glared, "Tyler and Noah are jerks." She glanced back at the blonde with a friendly face, "If you want we can wait at the corner until Chris starts the challenge?"
Tyler and Noah stood bug-eyed at Sierra's mention of their names, while Duncan continued to fume. Gwen just stood there, her exhausted brain trying to play catchup on what was going on while the comparatively more well-rested Courtney and Heather looked on curiously. Owen, seeing all eyes on him gulped and nervously turned to Sierra, "Sure! Uh, that can be cool!"
Courtney's expression hardened as she watched Sierra lead him away.
(Confessional: Courtney)
She stands up with an annoyed expression, her hands on her hips, "Great! One of the reasons I went behind Gwen's back to dump Cody was because I was hoping Sierra would be less distracted." She holds her arms up in exasperation, "But if she's going to transfer her obsession from him onto Owen of all people then we'll be right back to square one! Ugh!...
She composes herself by pinching her brim of her nose, "The bright side is that after Noah's lies to Owen and Tyler were exposed, Team Chris is probably screwed for today's challenge no matter how much Sierra drags us down. Which will be a perfect opportunity to mend my partnership with Gwen. I gave her space the whole morning and last night, so unless Noah hasn't further infected her mind with more of his nonsense, she should be able to understand better where I was coming from."
"Or she's come to her senses and has dumped that scrawny, sarcastic, little twerp. That would be most preferable."
(End Confessional: Courtney)
(Confessional: Heather)
She sits with a look of bemusement, "Owen and Sierra? Ha! No chance," She holds her hand up before placing it on her chin, "She's up to something…"
(End Confessional: Heather)
The static from the last confessional gave way to Chris and Chef seated next to each other in the cockpit of the Jumbo Jet, with emergency sirens blazing as the latter fiddled with the controls.
"Uh oh,"
"'Uh oh' funny or 'uh oh' we're all gonna die?" Chris glanced at his co-host with a hint of fear in his breath.
"The landing gear won't come down."
"How does that happen!?"
The scene immediately cut to a disheveled Ezekiel repeatedly getting poked by one of the wheels of the plane trying to position itself to land, "Oof! Ouch! Harshness, eh! Why'd she tell me this spoo't was a good place to sleep? Yowch!"
The scene quickly cut back to the dining hall. Thankfully, before all the commotion, Noah and Gwen had a chance to change into their normal attire before Chris began to address both teams lined up, "Today's forecast: clear skies with temperatures of fifty degrees Celsius or say… three-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. And today's landing is gonna be more like a non-landing flyby," The host turned around and threw open one of the planes door to the shock of the seven teens. The jet was currently speeding by close to earth, and the speed in which they were going making the ground look like an orange clay. "Jump, drop and roll! Let's go, go, go!"
Courtney and Noah were the first to jump off (the latter due to Duncan shoving him off) and The C.I.T managed to spot the landing with a tuck n' roll while the bookworm fell flat on his ass, "At least I got it over with…"
As Noah struggled to his feet, Courtney was dusting herself off with a haughty laugh, "Don't think Duncan didn't tell me what you're trying to pull,"
He glanced back, feigning innocence, "And what would that be, honey?"
"Whatever your deal with Gwen is." Courtney scoffed, twirling her finger at him,
"Didn't you get in trouble in Greece for policing who she hung out with?" Noah laughed.
"That was before your stunt with Owen and Tyler," Courtney squinted, "Now I have all the right in the world to question your association with her." She crossed her arms, "Gwen is smarter than you think. Sooner or later she'll come to the realization that she came to with Trent and be done with you. I'm just going to help that scenario come sooner rather than later."
Noah squinted back; he didn't know how to respond in order to reveal too much. Luckily, the sky had saved him. He pointed above her, "If you're done with your hilarious posturing, we both should be concerned about why the Jumbo Jet is flying off without anyone else jumping off."
Courtney pivoted around and gasped, seeing the Jumbo Jet was soaring away from them at an incredible clip. "Oh come on!"
Back in the air, what causing the holdup became apparent. Owen was blocking the exit-way, positively petrified at jumping.
"Owen, dude. Kind of busting my chops here," Chris tapped his watch.
"I-I'm sorry but this is just crazy!" Owen huffed and puffed.
"We're gonna have to fly around and try again!" Chef blared over the intercom. Everyone in the plane felt it lurch leftward sharply before it rocketed towards the ground for another attempt.
Duncan softened his unibrow and tried to approach his large friend, but was once again beaten by a certain purple haired girl that got to him first, and accidentally getting knocked over by her in the process. "Are you okay, Owen?" She put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"I don't know!? Usually whenever we had to do something like this I had Izzy or Noah beside me! But now…" His eyes wandered over Sierra's shoulder towards Tyler, who had bent down to help Duncan stand up. Once the jock had risen to his feet, he turned to the blonde. They locked eyes.
Owen shook his head, breaking his gaze from Tyler, and turned to Sierra, "But now… we gotta go!" He finally came to his senses and jumped off, not realizing Sierra was still hanging onto him as he did so. Both of them hit the ground rolling, as well as most of the other contestants behind them.
Duncan couldn't help but glare at Sierra's purple ponytale before his face slammed into the dirt.
After a white flash, the two teams were shown standing in a lineup. With the light blue sky contrasting beautifully on the orange and brown dirt they were on, it looked to be around mid-day local time. The team emblems were quickly edited above the seven teens as Chris began to explain the challenge in a poor Australian accent, "G'day mate and welcome to Australia!" He tipped his new Outback hat upwards before returning to his normal voice, "I call today's challenge: The Marathon of Death."
After another white flash, the camera panned across the Australian skyline, with various rock formations and bushes on the large orange plain, "Part one is an emu race all the way into the blue mountains." Another flash led the camera to pan downwards from a particularly tall rocky cliff, "I'm not saying the trip will be dangerous exactly, but with venomous snakes, killer scorpions, and the very real possibility of sunstroke, I hope you all have your affairs in order."
As Chris was explaining the challenge, Noah tried to steal a glance towards Owen, only to have his eyes met by a glaring Duncan. Tyler saw this and nudged Duncan's shoulder, "Come on dude, pay attention. I want to win this."
Owen must've heard this, as Noah heard his old friend sigh sadly to himself as Chris went on, "Whoever reaches majestic Hanging Rock first will earn a distinct advantage in the second half of the challenge. And yes, I said emu." Chris turned to the side and called out, "Bring 'em in, boys!"
Two disgruntled looking interns walked into frame from the left bringing along a dozen or so emus along by ropes attached to their mouths. Tyler's eyes widened as one of them began to peck one of the interns heads as Chris went on, "No saddles, after all its supposed to be a challenge. Now… go!"
And with that, the interns released the barrage of flightless birds onto the poor contestants.
In the matter of seconds, the eight remaining players all leapt at the chance to snag an emu for the long trek, causing a miniature dustbowl of sorts with various rocks, sand, and even feathers flying around. At least, all except one remaining player…
Until this point, everything had been going Tyler's way.
Sure, he was still mad at Owen and Noah (and was somewhat suspicious of Duncan) but he was flying high after winning for his team back in Nevada. But now he was up against a bunch of feathery, squawking, weird looking… things that were trying to peck the crap out of him!
"Ugh!" Heather had been tossed to the ground near Tyler after a failed attempt to mount one.
Seeing her on the ground snapped Tyler out of his shock, "Oh, darn! You alright?" He offered a hand to help her up.
Heather looked up with a glare, about to chew out whoever offered her sympathy, but widened her eyes when she realized it was Tyler. "Thanks," She accepted his hand and pulled herself up.
"No problem," The jock tensed as Courtney past by the both of them chasing another emu. He shivered unconsciously before glancing back at Heather, trying to put his fear out of his mind, "Can I ask you something?"
Heather, who was dusting some stray feathers off of her, blinked, "Sure."
"Why'd you girls boot Cody?"
"Uh…" Heather eyes widened, not expecting to be thrown that question. Did she really want to reveal that she double-crossed the geek? Also, why on earth would Tyler bring this up now. Wait…
"Are you just asking me to stall because you're scared of these stupid birds?"
"No!" Tyler crossed his arms, "Uh, I mean, I kind of am, I guess, but –" he eventually sighed, "Alright, you caught me. They're just like chickens only their nose thingamajigs look so much sharper!"
"Yeah, there beaks are pretty sharp," Heather rolled her eyes, "But the difference between the two of them is that these ugly bird-brains were born to be subservient."
"Subservice what?"
"Just take charge. Try to lead the emu." Heather tried to speak confidently, despite the few remaining feathers and emu droppings in her hair. An idea crossed her mind, and she inadvertently smirked, "And believe me, your team needs a leader."
"Really?" Tyler laughed, "We smoked you guys yesterday."
"In spite of only you being the only competent one on your whole team," Heather pointed to the side. The camera quickly panned towards Owen helplessly trying to catch an emu before falling to the ground with exhaustion while Duncan tripped Noah into a large pile of emu droppings, causing the punk to laugh hysterically.
Tyler winced, "Darn, you're right! We're totally uncoordinated…" His gaze shifted to the nearby emu who had bucked Heather off of him, watching the spectacle from afar like he and Heather were. His gaze hardened, "I totally need to conquer this fear in order for us to have a chance at winning this…" The jock took a deep breath in, and before Heather could even reply to him, he started to walk over towards the emu, albeit sheepishly. "Hey dude! I'm Tyler I could really use your help and stuff."
Heather face-palmed.
The emu looked perplexed at why this weird red track-suited Canadian was speaking to him, but let Tyler continue. "Basically, my team and I need to get to this mountain. But it's super far away y'know? Could I get on your back and have you take me there?" As Tyler was explaining himself, the emu slowly walked over and began to nudge at his trackpants with his beak. The jock jumped back, "Woah, dude! I have a girlfriend!"
"That emu is either extremely confused, or wants whatever you have in your pocket." Heather walked over as the emu kept trying to peck near Tyler's crouch.
"My pockets but… oh!" As realization struck, Tyler dove into his pockets before emerging with a lipstick capsule, "Do you want this?"
The emu nodded its' head, and Tyler smiled, "Uh, sure dude! It's strawberry flavored." He tossed a strawberry lipstick and the emu caught it in its mouth and started sucking on it.
Heather blinked, "How did you get that?"
"DJ gave it to me after Lindsay left; he said she left it in First Class," Tyler explained, smiling brightly at his feathered friend, "I guess Eddy likes it?"
"You've given it a name?"
"Huh, I guess I just did." Tyler chuckled before approaching the bird once more. Eddy had dropped the capsule, sucking the lipstick dry and leaving a comical red smudge across his beak, "Yikes, you really downed that whole thing huh. I hope Lindsay won't get mad… But, uh, I'm glad you liked it!" He started to pause and awkwardly scratch the back of his neck. The emu cocked his head while Heather looked on with intrigue as Tyler continued, "I gotta be honest Eddy, I'm really worried about my team right now. Owen kicked off my girlfriend, Noah lied to me about why he did it, and Duncan, well…" Heather's eyes widened at the mention of the delinquent, hoping he'd continue on. To her disappointment, Tyler shook his head, "The point is, I think I'm the only person who has my head on straight, Eddy. And I need you in order to help the others on my team to win."
The emu seemed to blink at Tyler for a moment, before slowly inching closer to him. Tyler at first closed his eyes and winced back, only to open them to find Eddy lowering himself down to the ground. After a curt nod from the bird, Tyler got the message and grinned, "Alright! Thanks dude!"
Heather stared as Tyler mounted Eddy, dumbfounded at how he was able to conquer the same emu that was giving her so much trouble beforehand, and moreover able to get over his fear in a matter of seconds. Alejandro may have been onto something with him…
"Hey," Tyler rode on Eddy back towards Heather, "Thanks for helping me get my mojo back."
Heather shrugged her shoulders, "You're the last halfway decent player left in the game right now, so no worries."
Tyler chuckled, "I haven't forgotten how mean you were towards Lindsay; I'm still going to go all out. But may the best leader win."
"Of course," Heather smiled. As Tyler turned Eddy in order to make his leave, she quickly added, "And about Cody," Tyler turned his head back quick, "It's kind of a long story. But you might want to ask Duncan about what they did together yesterday though."
"Huh –
"Good luck!" Heather sprinted off towards the Amazons, leaving the jock in the dust once more.
Confessional: Heather
She sits up triumphantly, "Tyler's so full of himself now that he won in Area Fifty-One. And after I planted that seed about Duncan, hopefully he'll push back against him sooner rather than later. If I can get that partnership to blow up, my team will win and hopefully Noah will get booted for eliminating Alejandro!" She paused, her mouth a gape, "I mean, not like I care about that! Or whatever he's doing with this Sanders girl, or… ugh!" She whips her hair to the side as the camera cuts to static.
End Confessional: Heather
Confessional: Tyler
Tyler massages his chin in thought, "Gotta admit, even though I appreciate her helping me out with the whole Owen thing yesterday, Heather being so nice to me feels pretty creepy. Alejandro warned me about what she was trying with DJ, so I have to make sure it doesn't happen to me." He chuckles, "Still, it's nice to be taken seriously for once… And I'm seriously gonna have our team win today!" He jerks his thumb to his chest, and the confessional looked like it was just about to end. He pauses however, and asks to the camera, "Uh, Lindsay? That lipstick you bought in Paris was okay for Eddy to use, right?"
End Confessional: Tyler
Confessional: Eddy
Eddy, his beak smudged with the remnants red lipstick, darted his eyes around the confessional. He starts to squawk before pecking at the camera, causing it to break and the footage to snap to static.
End Confessional: Eddy
"Thank you for not breaking my neck," Noah deadpanned to the emu he was riding. The bird glanced upwards towards him and squawked, spraying saliva on his face in the process. "Perfect."
At the outset of the challenge, Noah made it paramount for him to get some one-on-one time with Owen to explain himself. Unfortunately, Duncan seemed to be tethered to the blonde at every turn, and once the punk tripped him into a pile of emu dung, Noah decided that he'd be better off getting a bird of his own so he could at least have a fighting chance in getting near Owen.
And, with a little help from some of animal skills honed by taking care of his family's golden retriever back home, it didn't take a while for him to finally mount one.
"Nice, you got one." Noah turned his head towards the new voice, only to see Tyler ride up near him with his own.
Noah quirked his brow, ignoring why Tyler's emus beak was smudged red, "I'm surprised you're acting civil towards me."
"Huh?"
"You're not acting as angry like yesterday."
"Oh…" Tyler frowned, "I am still mad at you, dude. But we got a challenge to win. That means we all have to stay focused."
Noah couldn't help himself but snort, "I'd be more concerned about your new partner in crime over there staying focused." He gestured towards Duncan nonchalantly talking with Owen, with the latter looking damn near exhausted.
Tyler sighed, "Yeah, it's just like she said…"
"She?"
The jock blinked, "Uh, nothing! We, uh, gotta help Duncan and Owen out so… let's go! Come on Eddy!" Tyler pointed and Eddy squawked affirmatively before galloping off.
As the jock darted off, Noah narrowed his eyes and repeated. "She…" He quickly shook his head before guiding his emu towards Tyler, who was already trying to get the other two to get going. "Come on guys, what's the holdup?"
Duncan feigned innocence, "Don't look at me, I'm just helping the big guy try to get a bird to ride."
Owen lay flat on his back on the ground, breathing heavily, "Hehe… pretty colors…"
Tyler frowned once more, and Noah could see him gripping Eddy's harness tightly (wait, did he name his?), "Come on guys, the girls all probably have an emu each right now."
Duncan scoffed, "Doubt it. That Sierra chick is probably bawling her eyes out since Cody got canned and –
"We need a new plan," Tyler cut the punk off, causing raised eyebrows from both him and the bookworm. The jock turned towards Noah, "Can you help Owen grab an emu while I get one for Duncan?"
Noah's eyes widened, and he peered over Tyler's shoulder towards Owen. The blonde seemed to hear Tyler's approach and sat up, and their eyes locked. Noah closed his eyes and swallowed, "Sure."
"Hold it," Duncan growled, "Who says Owen even wants to be around him right now. Besides –
"I don't care what Owen wants right now, dude!" Tyler held his arms up high, clearly exasperated, "I just want us to focus on winning the challenge! Can't we just settle this personal junk when we beat Heather and the girls?" Noah's brow rose on Tyler's mention of Heather while Eddy squawked affirmatively, nodding his head. "See, even Eddy wants to win more than you guys right now. And he just became a part of the team!"
"Oooh you named your Emu?" Owen perked up and approached the jocks emu, arm outstretched "Hey Eddy! My name is Owen and – yowch!" Eddy pecked at the big guy, causing him to stagger back.
Tyler couldn't help but glare at the blonde, "Are you even listening?"
Owen froze, "I – uh… well…"
"Come on Duncan," Tyler led his emu to turn abruptly towards Duncan, "I'll have Eddy vouch for you so you can get an Emu in no time."
Duncan blinked, still taken aback by the jocks newfound confidence and how he apparently already nabbed (and named?) an emu. He quickly glanced at Noah, who offered him a look of smugness in return. They both knew that he couldn't drag this out any longer or Tyler would just get angrier at him dawdling, "Let's get this over with…"
Tyler grinned, "Awesome, let's go Eddy!"
The bird squawked affirmatively and galloped away to a small herd of Emu in the distance, with Duncan jogging along behind them.
Seeing the punk getting more or less ordered around by Tyler gave Noah a particular grand dose of schadenfreude. Watching Total Drama Island after he was booted and Total Drama Action on the sidelines, he was well aware of Duncan being the dominant voice in the alliances he was in, so seeing him eventual buckle to Tyler was satisfying to say the least.
However, that satisfaction turned to dread once he remembered that he and Owen were now alone, with the blonde currently looking at him warily.
After disembarking off his own emu Noah stepped forward, and noticing him clutching the arm that Eddy pecked asked, "Are you hurt?"
"Eh, just a little…" Owen chuckled, "Man, Eddy can pack quite a punch!... er, peck, I guess." He stopped rubbing his arm with his hand, revealing a light red mark on his arm, "What is…" He sniffed it, "Strawberry?"
"He has lipstick on his emu… whether Tyler put it on himself or he just found it on him I have no idea."
"Huh, cool."
"Yup…"
A beat of awkward silence passed, and Noah knew he had to address the inevitable soon, "Owen, I'm so sorry for how everything turned out."
"I know,"
"I was desperate," he continued, his head tilting downwards, "After we lost in Greece, Tyler sat me down and told me that he and Duncan were going to both vote for me. If I had done nothing, I would have gone to a tiebreaker." He rose his head towards Owens, "So I had to tell Tyler something, anything, in order for him to somehow switch his vote. I knew he wouldn't turn on Duncan; it's why I lied to him about you and Heather making an alliance to get rid of Lindsay in France."
Owen scratched the back of his neck, "No, I literally know. I overheard you talk to Gwen about it from that thingy Cody fixed, remember? Haha…"
Noah froze, "Oh yeah, right…"
Owen began to rub his arm awkwardly, "Uh, sorry for running away the first time you tried to talk to me about it… and for hiding in the kitchen all morning –
"That's nothing you need to apologize for."
"And, uh, I guess I kind of get why you did it but... I just don't know why you couldn't have told me about Duncan and Gwen smooching! And – and, when you brought up to Tyler all that stuff about what happened last season about me being sneaky to convince him I got rid of Lindsay on purpose…" Owen bit his lip, "He knows I only did all that stuff because of the cheese cellar, right?"
Noah sighed, "According to Tyler, Alejandro told him that you confided in him during the Amazon challenge that your parents lied about the bankruptcy; that they made up the cheese cellar in order for you to get back in Total Drama Action."
Owen widened his eyes, "Holy Halibut! But – but – but,"
"I knew that was a lie from the start," Noah quickly interjected.
He staggered back, "Not good old Al! It couldn't be!?" He shook his head quickly, "Maybe Tyler misheard him?"
"Alejandro was bad news, Owen. The whole reason I blackmailed Duncan in the first place was to kick him off." Realization struck him, and his eyes widened, "H-have you talked to anyone about the kiss?"
Owen's face looked like it just was smacked by Chef's Memoir all those months ago back on the film lot, "All last night after we won, Duncan kept asking me to keep everything about him and Gwen a secret. And I have been! But, uh… Sierra, who's been super nice to me lately, haha, but, uh, she's been asking questions and stuff…" He shut his eyes and breathed in heavily, "She also told me that you really hurt me. T-that I should stick up for myself more and –
"Owen…"
The big guy turned around, scratching the back of his neck while taking a few paces away, "Uh, I know it's important to talk stuff out, but right now, Tyler is super mad at me still about Lindsay and if we keep talking about this we won't be able to get an emu for me to ride and – and – plus we need to keep an eye out for Izzy – cuz maybe the military brought her here somehow and I can apologize – and, and –
Noah took a step forward and clutched Owen's arm, causing him to cease speaking. This scenario felt eerily familiar to him; it felt like when he bumped into Tyler before he had walked in on Duncan and Gwen's kiss. The jock felt bad that he had voted for him, and was nervously speaking to justify himself and needed to be calmed down. Even despite his alliance with Alejandro, he felt guilty in having to vote off his friend…
Things were now in reverse. Noah was very clearly in the wrong. He had hurt his friend with a bold-faced lie. Yet it wasn't himself trying to nervously apologize or justify himself to the point where he was stringing run on sentences together; it was Owen. The person he wronged. Anger, while still present in Owen's reaction, was subservient to the fear in his voice.
Fear that the trust he had put in Noah was gone forever after his betrayal.
Fear that he had ruined his friendship forever with Tyler after choosing DJ over Lindsay.
But most importantly, it was the fear that Owen once he rejoined Total Drama Action as a mole for Chris: that he was a bad person.
Noah gulped, "This isn't your fault Owen. This is all mine. No matter what Tyler or anyone else says, this isn't your fault."
Owen blinked at him, "Uh, okay…"
And with that, Noah was crushed.
Because in his eyes, he knew Owen didn't believe him.
"Guys?"
Both Noah and Owen turned their heads to see Tyler on Eddy, with Duncan riding on another emu close behind. Strangely, another emu that wasn't being ridden by anyone was close by the both of them. "Uh, we saw from a distance you two were just talking so Eddy brought one for you to ride Owen." Eddy cocked his head towards the unmounted emu and squawked, with the other emu nodding in affirmation before trotting over towards Owen.
Owen blinked before scurrying away from Noah to mount the emu, "Oh, uh, thanks Tyler! I, uh, we were going to, but we, uh, we –
"It's fine, man." Tyler turned around on Eddy. "Alright, now that we all have an emu, let's all beat the girls!" His eyes widened, "Uh, not like in a sexist Zeke way or anything, but, like, uh –
"We get it, jock squawk." Duncan grunted, going past Tyler on his own emu and started to gallop off in the direction the jock was facing.
Tyler shook his head, "Errr… right, let's get going."
Noah could only stare on as Duncan, Tyler and then even Owen took their leave. He closed his eyes and sighed. He had said his peace towards Owen, and there was nothing he could do now. The only solace he could find in this situation is that Sierra of all people seemed to be giving him the most comfort; assuring him that what Noah did and what Tyler thought wasn't his fault. But still he feared that Owen was struggling to believe her as well…
The bookworm nudged his emu to gallop after his team, deeper into the Australian wilds.
Authors Notes: I am currently at a Barnes and Nobles café with less than five hours of sleep as I finish typing this, lol. The next chapter will at least be double the length of this one, as it will include the bulk of the challenge, the elimination, and... a song! Yup, no pesky producer phone calls to interrupt it this time!
So what do you think? What's with Sierra's new attitude? Is Tyler right in being mad at Owen for choosing DJ over Lindsay? And am I the first human on earth to write something even vaguely Alejandro/Sanders related?
Oh, and how will Noah and Gwen go from here? I guess, that's pretty important too, lol.
Have a good one! :D
-ewisko