The season's last aftermath has now arrived. Before I delve into that, it's time for me to respond to the review that came for Chapter 23 (the only one to come in before I posted this chapter).
Danicus Green: Your questions for this aftermath have been implemented after I got them through a PM. Without giving away a specific identity at the time, I did make it obvious in Chapter 10 how the donor was an OC with a confessional where Chef mentioned she was "someone who has never previously appeared on the show". Him acting more like a host was all foreshadowing an eventual takeover and played into his preparation for it, though the cook didn't initially expect Chris to get fired last chapter. Nice to see I pulled off an effective twist there and that you liked him facing trouble with the law, also it's completely understandable why you'd want McLean to be harmed enough to need the trauma chair. While Max has grown smarter after TDPI experiences, you won't find out who the winner is until Chapter 27.
Without further ado, let's continue!
A screen showed giant letters "T", "D", "G", and "S" in red as they appeared in that order prior to the word "Aftermath" flashing for a moment. It subsequently displayed short clips of Brick, Dakota, and Sam throughout the season, beginning with the kart race and finishing with the mountain sledding. After this, a curtain pulling back to show Cameron Wilkins and Rudolph "Lightning" Jackson, the finalists of season 4 who were about to host their last aftermath. Both were sitting in their own stools when unveiled. The former told audiences "Welcome viewers to the season's fourth and final aftermath! We don't know yet who will win, or what shall happen with Chris recently fired, but soon there will be interviews with the three players who went out since our most recent show."
"Each of our guests today sha-competed with us when we first entered the show. While none of them reached the merge there unlike us, they all showed big improvements with their most recent rankings! I must give them props." added his co-host.
"To start things off, please welcome our soldier-in-training who prides himself in upholding honor, the one and only Brick MacArthur!" Cameron stated.
Soon afterwards, the named contestant walked on screen to join them while the audience cheered. As he took a seat, Lightning asked "I'll begin with something on a certain sha-bitch: what do you see in Jo?"
"Look, I've been aware since season 4 that she isn't any saint, but it's not like I was blameless for the rivalry we used to have." replied the cadet. "The truth is I admire her strength, skills, and determination to go far in the contest, just wish it was done with less aggression."
"In that case, we assume you'd disapprove of your girlfriend scheming to get rid of other contestants." Mr. Wilkins added.
"You mean taking out Dawn and Blaineley?" inquired Mr. MacArthur. "While it didn't feel good to see the former leave as she's a friend of mine, part of me honestly felt flattered when learning how this was done to keep me around. As for the latter, I had no problem with that at all given how bothersome that former co-host of Celebrity Manhunt can be. Ratting out her photo swapping to prevent my possible downfall made it even better."
"It's more than those two." clarified Mr. Jackson. "Jo also orchestrated the sha-elimination of DJ upon realizing what he knew about her, and same with Ella. You might not have known it at the time when voting for them, but these ideas were formed with self-serving motives to prevent further exposure."
"OK I won't deny I agreed to vote with her once the teams were dissolved." the military boy admitted. "However, she assured me that threats can't stay in the game for too long or I would've left sooner. It looks like this point was proven right with Trent surviving the bottom two on the night I got eliminated. In any case, I hold no ill will against him or anybody else I voted for this season. Hopefully they don't resent me either."
"Our guitar player became a target because she knew he was and still is determined to eliminate her ASAP and probably noticed him trying to rope in Dakota and Sam for a vote. They only went for you because Jo had invincibility that night, though did feel bad about doing so." said the bubble boy. "She went on to singlehandedly ensure both lovebirds went out after they turned against her."
Brick subsequently inquired "Hold on, what prompted them to leave? All I knew is that the three made a deal to vote together pre-merge and I was invited to join them once the teams were no more."
"That came from learning about how Ms. Old Lady didn't sha-give Dave a nosebleed and a certain princess wanting justice for her boyfriend. Jo was indeed the one who did it." explained Lightning. "We've even got footage of her confessing to it."
Hearing that prompted the cadet's eyes to open wide with shock before saying "In other words, Ella and Max must've been telling the truth. It sounds like her anger in the paddle dueling tournament was justified, but please let me see this admission before anything else."
Both aftermath hosts were happy to comply and arranged for a TV to display clips of Jo privately admitting to being responsible for the rock toss. After this, it showed confessionals where she talked about plans to get rid of certain competitors while securing votes from others. Brick took a moment to process these. He followed up with "The wannabe villain doesn't sound so evil now, though I didn't think Jo had any side arrangements with him. Did anyone else in the game know of this?"
"No, she made sure they never had a clue, but he abandoned it to vote you off after the flag collecting challenge and that enraged her. Jo also has expressed regret for not eliminating him sooner." answered Cameron. "Perhaps you'd like to reconsider your relationship now after all we've shared."
The soldier was noticeably conflicted and pondered for a moment before saying "I'll have to get back to you later on what will happen for us. On one hand, I really don't like the underhandedness. At the same time, I appreciate having someone who had my back once the merge came around."
"Fair enough, now if you won immunity during your last challenge, then do you think you would've had a strong chance of sha-going to the finale?" Mr. Jackson questioned.
That got an answer of "Honestly yes. I was rather surprised by my own elimination after having a pretty good run, and I don't mean to brag here, but I felt pretty sure I'd at least make to the top four."
"Not too far off there." added the bubble boy. "I could see you doing well in the sledding and tag challenges. Hard to make a guess on that order of switches, though. I know I would've struggled there!"
"The Lightning would've sha-whopped both of your asses in those." his co-host bragged while speaking in the third person.
"Physical activities might be your specialty, but there's no way you'd have an easy time with the switches!" Cameron retorted with bitterness. "I can't imagine you finishing it in under an hour."
"Oh yeah, well what's the fastest you could solve the thing, brainiac?" inquired Lightning.
"Probably 25 to 30 minutes." Cameron estimated.
"Please gentlemen, let's not start a big debate." Brick urged, not wanting things to escalate further.
"OK we almost lost focus there." conceded Mr. Jackson.
"Getting back to you, how did it feel to win the first post-merge challenge?" asked Mr. Wilkins.
"Absolutely fantastic, and it gave me some nice confidence for the rest of the season!" replied the solider. "You guys should've seen the hilarious Stumpy recordings that got shown in the theater as a prize. Glad McLean didn't get to interfere with it."
"We already have, and they'll probably get publicly shown at the finale." Lightning added before the three shared a chuckle. "Do you think he's already figured out that was what you actually watched instead of deleted footage from our show?"
"Probably not, but a gut feeling tells me the guy would be absolutely infuriated upon discovering this and never forgive Chef for showing it to anyone." Brick surmised.
Cameron subsequently requested "We think the same, now please move over to the couch so we can speak with our next guest."
After the cadet obeyed, Lightning told the audiences "We'll now sha-speak with someone who initially came across as only a desperate attention hog, though has since shown herself to be much more than that. It's time to welcome Dakota!"
The crowd gave Ms. Milton applause as she walked on screen, took a seat, and thanked them with "Grateful to have such enthusiasm."
"I would imagine so." said the bubble boy before inquiring "To start, are you proud of what you accomplished this time around, especially compared to when we first were contestants?"
"By all means yes!" Dakota excitedly confirmed. "I had a far better run here in contrast to not even getting any wins in season 4."
"Can't blame you for feeling that way." Lightning added. "At the start of the current season, you mentioned wanting to use the winnings to repay your father for the expensive surgeries to cure your mutation. Did you ever sha-think of a backup plan for that?"
"The answer is no unless you count having Sam obtain it and using my half as reimbursement as we agreed to split it with one another upon winning, which of course won't happen when we're both eliminated." she admitted with a frown of sadness before sighing. "However, I'll come up with something else later."
"Not sure how things are with your mother, but she'd probably understand the situation and might be able to help out." Cameron speculated.
"Sadly, I was 13 when a drunk driver swerved from roads onto the streets and hit my mom along with my 16-year-old sister while they were in the middle of a walk, killing both immediately upon impact. Not to boast, but she came from an even richer family than her husband, which is saying quite a lot." Ms. Milton informed them. "My parents otherwise would've split all the expenses evenly without any qualms. As hard as the double loss was for my dad and me, our shared grief ended up bringing us closer than before."
Hearing that prompted various audience members to go "Aww" in sympathy before Mr. Jackson added "Sorry to hear about that. You would've made them proud for sure."
"I know what it's like to lose a parent and grow closer to the remaining one." his co-host replied empathetically. "Part of the reason my own mother kept me confined to a bubble prior to season 4 was because my father was a police officer who got shot to death while trying to stop a bank robber. She was paranoid of something like that happening to me as well. While the bubble was going overboard, I can't blame her for being worried. We did bond more with him gone."
"Wait a moment, why didn't you sha-bring this up when we spoke with Rodney in the first aftermath?" Lightning asked the bubble boy. "He could've used the comfort of knowing another contestant had a similar loss."
Cameron explained "Because I felt it would've detracted from the topic of his tendency to easily become attracted to females and how spending more time around males could've contributed to that."
"Well, you could've at some point talked with him on the side about it." the jock suggested before returning his focus to the current interviewee with "Getting back to you, how much toxic waste did you touch when exploring that mine?"
Dakota estimated "Hmm, maybe 10 liters' worth. It's hard to give an exact amount though I know it had been a large quantity. A degree of contact was inevitable when I had to enter the most dangerous parts. As soon as that was over and I needed medical care for this, I knew I had to prioritize my well-being even when it meant less camera time. You might say it was a wakeup call of some sort."
"Is there anything you miss about being a mutant? If so, do you wish you could transform into the Dakotazoid and back at will?" asked Cameron.
"Only the badass super strength it came with." she answered. "Even then, that's not enough to make me wish I could take back the form since the large size made it uncomfortably difficult to fit not only into buildings but also clothes. What I will say is that the experience gave me a better understanding of how Bruce Banner feels when turning into the Hulk."
"Yeah, the Lightning remembers how your speech was affected in a similar way to his when not in human form." added Mr. Jackson, speaking in the third person. "How difficult was it to book all the surgeries needed?"
"In some cases, very tough! There weren't many surgeons qualified to manage my case without lethal outcomes, plus it did require multiple operations for how complex the endeavor was." Ms. Milton replied. "I thankfully regained my ability to talk normally before anything else. That was quite a big priority for me."
"Would you say it was easier than the post-operation recoveries?" asked Cameron.
"Most certainly. I was bedridden for at least a week after each operation!" Dakota affirmed. "On the other hand, speech retraining lessons could take place anywhere I wanted."
Lightning's next words were "Not very surprising. On another note, was there anything aside from wanting to do a favor for your friend Ella that made you decide to talk Dave into turning their friendship into a romance? Of all the competitors from this season, you seemed to be the most eager for them to become a couple given your 'gentle little push of encouragement' after the paintball dodging challenge."
She explained "Like our germ-hater, I know what it's like to have a traumatic experience on the show courtesy of Chris and be at one's lowest afterwards. When you feel undesirable afterwards and find someone kindhearted who values you regardless of what happened plus knows that deep down there is good within you, that person is worth holding onto. Instinct told me he would otherwise regret staying just friends after it was obvious her season 6 crush on him had turned into a mutual attraction. Either way, I knew I would've regretted not giving a certain gaming enthusiast a chance once I began returning his affections even when hesitant at first. Sam continuing to love me without being irked at all by my mutation proved to me he's an absolute keeper. You might hear more from him on that later."
"That wouldn't be shocking in the least. One last thing for now: how much do you regret prioritizing fame and camera time during the fourth season?" inquired the bubble boy.
Her answer was "Quite a lot. I knew I wouldn't repeat that mistake when returning to compete again, especially when I found what I really wanted in the first place: somebody who genuinely loves me for who I am. My initial thinking was that becoming a huge celebrity would bring on lots of admiring fans who'd happily fulfill that wish, though given the many harsh reactions I got from viewers and the press for becoming Dakotazoid along with already finding a suitable candidate on the show, those don't mean nearly as much to me as before. To any fans watching this who wish they were with me: as flattering as that is, I happily am taken and have no interest in ending my current relationship."
"Nice to know. That's all the sha-time we have for your solo bit, so please move to the couch and we'll bring in the last guest." requested the narcissistic jock.
After she did just that, the bubble boy told the audience "The third and final guest of the day is happily dating her. Please put your hands together for Sam!"
The crowd cheered for him as he walked onto the stage. He thanked them with "I appreciate the warm welcome there."
"First things first: you previously sha-failed twice to make the merge. Do you think reaching it this time increases your chances of surviving to that point again in a future season?" Mr. Jackson inquired.
"Not to brag, but yes I do." affirmed the gamer. "More experience on the show has helped me improve my competition skills. As nice as it would be to one day reach the finals, I wouldn't necessarily say that will follow for me. I regardless am proud of having by far my best season here!"
"Can't say we blame you for feeling that way." added Cameron before inquiring "What video games would you say helped you on your journey through Total Drama?"
"Playing Mario Kart games gave me a chance to develop racing skills that came in handy for the kart challenge and—to a lesser extent—that mountain sledding challenge. The slippery race against a big penguin for a star from Super Mario 64 gave me a better idea of what to do for the latter. Back in season 4 when we had that scavenger hunt, experience with item collection to fully complete levels from the Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot series also proved useful. To an extent, gathering rings from special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog provided me with a sense of what to expect when I tried to keep ahold of flags, but I overestimated exactly how much." Sam answered with a chuckle at the end. "There's also Wii Sports and its baseball component for when we had to hit balls as far as possible, Call of Duty as well as Halo also helped me form skills for dodging paintballs and shooting targets with darts even when Nerf N-Strike offered better preparation for shots in the dark, the level layout of the original Donkey Kong game showed me just how to rescue Lindsay from that yeti until I underestimated how strong it was, Pitfall! helped out with the rope swinging, and Wipeout: The Game prepared me for each of the obstacle course challenges from seasons 4, 5, and 7. In short, I'm certain being a gamer helped me become a better contestant."
Not expecting to hear all of this, Lightning followed up with "It looks like I sha-underestimated the benefits those could serve. My apologies for that. Do you foresee those skills helping you in other parts of life?"
That got an affirmation of "Yes; my Mario Kart skills came in handy for practice driving before I got my driver's license, believe it or not. I also became somewhat more athletic than before thanks to my time spent on Wii Sports."
"I hope you realize these aren't the same thing as real life driving or sports." Mr. Wilkins remarked.
"Yeah, gaming shouldn't be relied on as a substitute." his co-host added in agreement.
"Of course, no need to worry about that." Sam assured them.
"How did you first become so interested in video games?" asked Cameron.
Sam explained "My brother, an even bigger gamer than I am, introduced them to me when we were kids. I was 6 and he was 7 at the time. We bonded quite often when playing those! The first time I remember was a day when a couple of his friends came over to our house and invited me to join as a fourth member for one of the Mario Party installments. After that, we started a gaming club and formed friendships with its members. I'm still in touch with some of them today."
A surprised Lightning asked "Seriously, someone even more avid than you? That speaks sha-volumes about his passion!"
"No joke. He could defeat anyone who went up against him. I sometimes came close myself, but never quite won." the gaming nut responded.
"Maybe someday that'll change." surmised the bubble boy.
With a frown of sadness, Sam sighed before stating "It's too late for that; after being successfully treated twice for childhood leukemia, a third case of it killed him at age 11."
After various audience members said "Aww" to show their sympathy, sha-jock continued with "Sorry about that, man. This couldn't have been sha-easy for you or anyone else in your family."
"It wasn't and still isn't at all." replied the gamer. "The night before he died, something 10-year-old me promised was that I'd strive to take his place as the most skilled gamer in town. To this day, I've never been entirely sure why that final bout was deadlier than the first two, and neither are our parents."
"The effects of it and other types of cancer aren't always easy to understand." added Cameron. "Whatever the reason might have been, I also give my condolences."
Sam thanked him with "I very much appreciate that. We were often looking for new people to expand our club, which I continued after his death. Something told me I could've found more fellow gaming enthusiasts on this show, prompting me to sign up. While that hasn't exactly happened, I still am glad to have made friends here, and you surely can figure out which of them means the most to me."
"A very respectable goal." Lightning added.
"Agreed, and on another note, Ella mentioned during the last aftermath getting tips from you on approaching romance with someone still feeling low after trauma and how it helped her with dating Dave. While I quickly figured out that these were based your experience with Dakota, would you mind elaborating on what your recommendations were?" asked the bubble boy.
His answer was "It'll be long, but I'd be happy to share. For one thing, you need lots of patience. Somebody at their lowest point can take quite a while to bounce back. There's a good chance they'll feel vulnerable at times. You must also show that you're willing to stick through emotional highs and lows. To be clear, I'm not suggesting this is a free pass for mistreating anyone, just that their moods can fluctuate and that you shouldn't ditch someone solely because you don't like any of their less cheerful moments. Furthermore, show explicitly not only how you believe in their potential, but that they have good reason to believe in themselves. A bruised ego doesn't need to be hurt any more than it already was. Additionally, to avoid seeming pushy, it can help to let them initiate some things or at least show interest before you mention them. They can often have worries, and even when unfounded, try not to act dismissive towards these since that could easily make you come off as callous. Instead, it helps to ask what initially makes them think in certain ways. This is a more effective way to make them feel validated, and you should be sure to truly listen to their response. You definitely can acknowledge a bad feeling exists whether you agree with it or not."
Neither of the aftermath hosts expected him to say that much, and their jaws had dropped in shock. After a moment of silence, Mr. Jackson spoke up with "That has to be the most profound thing I've ever sha-heard you say. Why didn't you publicly show such a side sooner?"
"Well, not many folks have requested my input for things like this in the past, so I wasn't sure when to bring it up." Sam explained. "You simply had to ask me before and I gladly would've said it."
"One last thing out of curiosity, did you pick up on all of these during your relationship or were you going off of somebody else's advice?" Cameron inquired.
"A mixture of the two. The patience and bouncing back parts were things I learned during with my lovely lady while the rest was based on dating tips my gaming friends gave me prior to the start of season four, which did help." replied the gamer. "It also has proven to be useful for a new friend of mine and her beloved germaphobe."
"Now that all of your solo inquiries have received responses, it's time for you to join the others on the couch over there." Lightning added while pointing to said couch, and Sam obeyed.
"Before we share joint questions with today's guests, let's turn our attention to the players from this season's previous three aftermaths." Mr. Wilkins announced.
"Here's what we'll sha-ask you today: how far do you think Brick, Dakota, and Sam would've gone in the contest without help from Jo? Remember that she made voting deals with each of them before they knew of her darker plans." Lightning questioned.
"Since I barely know any of them, it's hard for me to judge." Sugar confessed.
"Hmm, they probably wouldn't make the merge, especially when her boyfriend was saved from what looked like an otherwise unavoidable elimination in the bike race by exposing Blaineley's raid." Justin speculated. "Remember none of them got to that point in their debut season."
"I'd say the furthest they could go unaided is somewhere between the second and third aftermaths, but I never doubted the trio would all go beyond the first one." answered Rodney.
Anne Maria replied with "Some point past the first aftermath, and maybe the second, but I don't think the third. I was twice teammates with one of them, who I knew firsthand had skills."
Eva gave a response of "Most likely around the second aftermath, I don't know about making the merge."
Beardo estimated "Maybe a bit past the merge, but I don't know about getting quite as far as they did."
After taking a moment to think, Dawn admitted "While I'm not an oracle and can't give exact placements for such hypotheticals, I always did foresee them doing better than before. Each aura had shown improved skills when returning this time around."
"Some point past the merge, except maybe Brick given the bike thing Justin brought up." Dave stated.
"Only the soldier would've gotten past the second aftermath, and I would've survived the bike race instead of him had it not been for his girlfriend." Blaineley replied with bitterness.
"Most definitely beyond the second aftermath, but not sure how far after the merge." said DJ.
Ella finished it off with "They'd make the merge for sure, though maybe not quite as far as what we saw."
"Thank you all for your input." Cameron stated before shifting his focus on the day's guests with "Now with that out of the way, it's time the three of you to jointly give some answers."
"We'll wrap the show once you've finished all of these." Lightning added.
"To start, how do each of you feel about Chris getting fired last episode and potentially going back to jail?" inquired the bubble boy.
"Quite satisfied; he had this coming for a very long time!" Brick replied.
"Ecstatic as it's well-deserved for that cold-hearted bastard!" Dakota answered.
"Disappointed I went out before his overdue dismissal, but very glad the guy is gone!" Sam responded.
"Not very surprising as none of us like him." remarked Mr. Jackson. "If you had the chance to meet our season's sha-donor before the finale, then what would you say?"
"I'd eagerly thank her for giving the necessary funds and getting rid of an evil host." stated the cadet.
"My reaction would be pretty much the same." Ms. Milton added in agreement.
"Yeah, I also echo that." said her boyfriend.
Cameron asked "Jo currently has a reason to target each of her three remaining opponents. Who do you think she'll go after next and why?"
Mr. MacArthur guessed "Instinct tells me this will be Max based on the wishes he was already out."
The sole female guest of the day speculated "Maybe Trent with how much the guy has been determined to get Jo out of the game, which I'm sure is at least partially to avenge DJ."
After that, the gamer surmised "It could be Leshawna when she overall appears to be more of a threat than either of the remaining dudes."
"Time will sha-tell which one of you is correct. We just have one final question for you three now: with Chef recently taking over as host, do you think he'll go with whatever his old boss planned for the remaining challenges?" Mr. Jackson inquired.
"Probably not." replied the solider. "Our cook didn't seem as enthusiastic about danger or extremes."
Dakota gave a response of "Very doubtful with his concerns of going overboard, especially with a crown attorney supervising the season."
Sam finished it off with "Like the others, I can't foresee that happening when the law would eventually catch up to him like it did with McLean."
"That concludes are show for the day." Cameron proclaimed. "However, to celebrate Chris no longer being host, we brought lots of treats! Everyone is free to dig in."
Lightning subsequently brought out a crate and opened it to pull out bags filled with an assortment of chips, crackers, popcorn, and pretzels. Each of the fourteen competitors who were eliminated this season didn't hesitate to grab handfuls of food. While chewing on popcorn, the athletic co-host of the aftermaths wrapped things up with "We now have sha-gotten through our last aftermath of season 7. You'll next see these contestants along with bubble boy and me at the finale. It won't be much longer until a winner takes the money!"
As soon as he finished saying this, a curtain closed in front of him and everyone else.
With the fourth aftermath done, we just have three more chapters that will follow. I've already decided who goes out during Chapter 25 and which contestant will be eliminated within Chapter 26. Both competitors along with the aftermath hosts and the eliminated players of this season will show up again for the finale. To anybody who wonders what Danicus Green submitted for the interviewees here, I'll tell you now it was what Brick saw within Jo, whether Dakota misses her mutant form, and which games Sam believed were helpful for competing on Total Drama.
Elimination Order:
Sugar (18th place), Justin (17th place), Rodney (16th place), Anne Maria (15th place), Eva (14th place), Beardo (13th place), Dawn (12th place), Dave (11th place), Blaineley (10th place), DJ (9th place), Ella (8th place), Brick (7th place), Dakota (6th place), Sam (5th place)
Remaining Players:
Jo, Leshawna, Max, Trent
Chapter posted: January 16, 2023.