Hola everyone! Tatiana here with an update! In this chapter, two teams are formed and the campers meet their first challenge. Enjoy.
AN: I haven't decided if I want to do a "dear reviewers" section. Should I?
Taking the camera away from his face, Chris McClean smiled.
"Great photo campers! Oops. It looks like some of you are a little camera shy." He held the digital camera to the teens; like they could see it from the dock. Candy squinted and tried to see her photo.
"Oh… my… goodness! Is my makeup all right? Do I have something in my teeth?" The blonde-haired airhead was starting to hyperventilate. Chris laughed.
"No. I see two people that are hiding. Clyde, Amaryllis; you know who you are." All of the teens looked to the shy sixteen-and-a-half-year-old girl and the sixteen-year-old outcast. Amaryllis was timidly behind Serinity and Erin while only Clyde's head was peeking out from behind Maverick and Geoffrey.
"C'mon campers. Let's see some tenacity!"
Cyel groaned.
"Get out here and take a good picture, you spineless weirdo!" The rich boy in the long-sleeved dark red shirt snapped at Clyde. Clyde's head started to sink down between his shoulders. "The sooner you show your pasty face and horrid appearance, the sooner I can get away from you people!"
Alecia, Geoffrey and Jared stepped out of their places and stared down Cyel.
"Not cool, dude!" Alecia folded her arms and narrowed her brown eyes. "Why you gotta be like that? It's just a picture."
"JUST a picture?!" Cyel repeated, his sea blue eyes blazing with animosity. "I am Cyel Draconis Highloathe! I have a reputation to protect!"
"Yeah, but you don't have to put people down for it. Bugger off" Jared's mouth creased with a frown. Cyel scoffed and folded his arms.
"Just TAKE THE PICTURE!" The spoiled brat hollered to Chris. The TV host was just sitting back, watching the drama unfold with a smile on his face.
Snickering, Chris looked to Clyde and Amaryllis.
"C'mon guys; before Cyel has another meltdown." That got a laugh out of some of the campers as Cyel glared. Taking tiny steps out from behind their human-shields, Clyde and Amaryllis gave another weak smile for the camera.
Click.
"Oh. It's gonna be a good summer… I just know it." The man smiled at the nearest camera.
Herding the 22 campers to the middle of the camp, Chris gathered them at the steps of the mess hall. Clearing his throat at the 11 boys and 11 girls, the TV host grinned.
"All righty campers, I have to introduce you to a few people." Then Chris pointed at one of the cameras. "This is the camera crew. They are the ultimate privacy- invading machines. Kinda like obnoxious commandos with cameras and a will that cannot be broken."
The campers gave the crew a weary glance over. "Over there is the Outhouse. Some of you may recognize that poop shack from the first Total Drama Island-"
"Duh! We've all seen those awesome Outhouse Confessions!" Roland commented. Chris glared but cleared his throat.
"Good. Then I don't have to repeat myself. Now, I have a very special person that is DYING to meet you all." Chris laid a hand on the doorknob of the mess hall and twisted it. "Please allow me to introduce, Chef Hatchet!" Swinging the door open, a tall, burly black man with a gap in his front teeth, cook's apron and small chef's hat and a menacing powerhouse glare.
Sam, Alecia, Roland, Yuko, Geoffrey, Nathan and Mathias cheered.
"Hello kiddies!" Hatchet gave them all a crazy military grin.
"Woo! It's Master Chief Chef Hatchet!" Mathias cheered as he began moving up to the mess hall. Walking up the steps, the boy saluted the infamous chef. "Chef Hatchet… It's an honor."
With the tiniest of smirks, Chef Hatchet returned the salute. Then Alecia walked up the steps, smile over her face.
"Chef Hatchet, I'm a big fan." She turned her left arm to the big chef and showed him a tattoo just like his. "Thanks for taking the edge off of Chris's lame jokes, plexi-glass smile and mediocre hosting." Knowing Chris to be watching and frowning, Alecia made a fist with her hand to which Hatchet gratefully pounded his.
"All right. Clear the steps." Chris shooed Mathias and Alecia off of the mess hall's steps. Shooting Alecia a glare, Chris cleaned his face and looked into the nearest camera. "It looks like Master Chef has a groupie." The camera cut to Alecia as she gave the bull horns and let her tongue roll out of her mouth.
"Cabins are right behind you. The right cabin is for the ladies… and Alecia." That got him a grimace from Alecia as the other campers giggled. "The left is for the dudes. Unpack and ge tcomfortable, campers. For some of you, this camp will be your home for the next few weeks. After you unpack, get into your swimming suits and meet back here. Your first challenge awaits."
The 22 teens dissipated, going to their collective cabins with their stuff.
The girls and boys separated and went into their cabins. Upon entering their little wooden houses, the girls were appalled by the living arrangements. Three windows, creaky floors and eleven lumpy bunks with itchy brown blankets.
"Well, this is cheap." Fiona stated, growling a little. "I was promised something NOT infested with bedbugs."
Serinity followed the wannabe model.
"Whoa." She gasped. "There's no privacy at all." Filing into the cabin, the girls assessed their surroundings.
Yuko hopped through the doorway on one foot.
"Cool! Psycho lumberjack-chic!" The crazy oriental darted around the room, taking in the smells, sights and sounds. "You know I saw this movie about a camp just like this one, with kids just like us that were stranded on an island just like this but with a psycho lumberjack-killer-dude! All of them but the preppy pretty girl and the happy chubby guy survived."
Amaryllis frowned and hugged herself.
"Camp Wanawanaka isn't like that… is it?" Just then the window slammed open and Sam stuck her head in, making Amaryllis yelp in surprise. "Oh! Don't DO that!"
Sam snickered and rested her elbows on the window frame. "I'm the scariest thing within sixty miles." The blue-haired climbed through the window. "But Cyel might prove me wrong."
"He's not scary, he's just mean." Christina growled, opening her suit case next to a bottom bunk. "Boys…"
"But the other guys are kinda cute!" Candy chimed in, blinking those big blue eyes cluelessly. "That Maverick guy's cute like a potato sack!" Whatever that meant.
Erin plopped down on the bunk above Amaryllis and watched the other girls quietly, while Arianna sat in her bunk listening.
"And that Junpei… What's with that kimono? I though he was a girl." Fiona questioned setting her hula bobble doll on the nightstand. Halona shrugged.
"Perhaps he is one but I doubt it." Halona returned, glancing out the window at the nearby forest.
"Maybe." Alecia said, scratching her head, fussing her black hair a bit.
"I still think he's so handsome that he keeps that kimono." Yuko chimed. Candy nodded.
"I agree with Yuko. I wonder if he'll let me see what he has under that robe…" The blonde-haired curvy cutie wondered.
"Head over there and find out. The boy's cabin is just fifty feet from this one." Sam spoke, tossing her duffle bag on the bottom bunk next to the window. Sam snickered, leaning on the window and looking over to the boys' cabin. As she did, she spotted Dominic watching the girl's cabin.
Meanwhile in the boys' cabin...
"Uh… That girl with the blue hair is looking this way." Dominic peeped, his eyes getting wide with nervousness. The other boys stopped unpacking/wrestling/dressing into their bathing suits.
"So?" Geoffrey was unpacking on his bunk.
Dominic looked at the boys with a concerned look on his face.
"Shouldn't we… like, do something?" He questioned.
"Like what, Dom?" Mathias returned. "We can't stop the girls from looking over here. Girls will be girls."
"… I don't like it." Dominic returned, mulling his bottom lip. "What if they try to talk to us?"
That got the room kinda quiet.
"Oh! You guys have NO spines!" Cyel groaned, getting him glares again. "They're JUST girls! It's not like we should care!"
Damon looked up from his bags to the spoiled rich kid. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I signed up to meet new people and get some new friends. I don't mind some of those friends to be girls." The boy with the toussled hair voiced. Most of the other boys nodded. "So I'm gonna care what they think about me."
Cyel scoffed.
"To make friends, eh? You have NO life." The brunette stuck up his nose. Again, glares.
"Hey everybody! Look at me!" It was Yuko. All of the campers outside looked and saw the crazy seventeen-year-old halfway up the speaker pole in the middle of the two cabins.
Just then the door to the girls' cabin swung open and Fiona and Sam stepped out in their bathing suits. "What in the world?" Fiona called in her red bikini top with white bottoms. Sam was in a strapless polka dotted bikini top and black bikini boy-shorts.
The other campers HAD to stop and watch as the nutty girl reached the top. Standing on top of the two-foot-wide pole, Yuko threw her hands in the air.
Just then the speakers in the middle of the camp squealed with feedback, making all of the campers flinch. Yuko lost his balance and promptly fell fifteen feet to the ground. The seventeen-year-old landed in a heap of pain-laced groans. Fiona, Cyel, Sam, Alecia, Roland, Candy, Nathan, Christina and Mathias roared with laughter. Geoffrey, Junpei, Amaryllis and Serinity rushed to see if Yuko was all right.
"Hey campers!" It was Chris McClean's voice over the speakers. "Get into your swimsuits and get to the mess hall ASAP. Your first challenge waits." The feed cut and all was silent again.
The laughing campers wiped their eyes as Junpei helped Yuko to her feet. The seventeen-year-old nutcase was all right and laughed off her fall.
Just then Erin, Arianna and Halona walked out in their bathing suits. Erin was in her regular clothing. Arianna was in a black swim shirt with dark purple sleeves and black bikini bottoms. Halona was in a strapless polka dotted top with the left with side purple with green dots and the right side green with purple dots and green and purple striped bottoms.
The boys looked on, staring at the girls like they were all aliens. Leave it to Roland to break the silence.
"Lookin' GOOD ladies!" He cheered. "Especially you Sunshine!" That made Halona frown even more.
Alecia laughed as the other girls scoffed, growled and/or turned their noses up.
"You have NO shame, boy-O!" The black-haired rocker called to the blonde-with-red-tips-haired flirt then looked to the other boys. "You guys better put him on a chain before he gets himself hurt!" She got a smack on the arm from Fiona.
"Don't encourage him!" The wannabe model scolded. Alecia rolled her eyes at Fiona.
"He's making a fool of himself. How can I NOT encourage that?" She gestured. Then she whistled, gesturing for the girls. "Yo, c'mon! We gotta get going!"
"Here we come!" Candy jogged cluelessly to them, in a jaw-dropping baby blue bikini with white hearts on it.
"Comin'!" Christina followed Candy in a cameo bikini top, short cut off jean shorts.
Sam, Yuko and Serinity followed. Shrugging, Alecia started walking toward the mess hall with the rest of the girls following her. The boys exchanged glances before making their way to the mess hall
Not even five minuets later, all bathing suit-clad campers were standing in front of the mess hall. Chris McClean was standing there and smiled when he saw that all teens were present and accounted for.
"Now that I have you all here, let's talk your first challenge." The TV host looked over the crowd of teens. "To participate legitimately in challenges, the twenty-two of you will be split into two teams of eleven." Chris rolled his eyes, the technicalities part of his job boring him. "Each teen is randomly chosen so as to not to have bias teams and unfair challenges and so I don't get any HATE mail saying I'm sexist or partial-!" He looked squarely at the nearest camera, glared and pointed his finger threateningly. "-yadda, yadda, yadda. Let's get to that!"
Clapping his hands he eyed the first campers. "Mathias, Halona, please stand in two groups." Following their instructions the readhead twins stood in two groups. All right. Mathias represents the Tasmanian Devils and Halona represents the Electric Eels." Chris held up two fingers. "Two teams respectively. Now, when I call your name, you are a Tasmanian Devil. Sam"
Following suit, the blue-haired joined Mathias.
"Yuko… you're a devil." Chris gestured. Yuko ninja-rolled toward the Devils team. "Serinity, Fiona and Roland you are now Tasmanian Devils." Alecia and Cyel snickered. "Arianna, Nathan and Junpei, Maverick and Christina, you are all devils." The campers walked to their team's side. Chris looked at the other campers.
"Alecia, Candy, Erin, Cyel, Geoffrey, Clyde, Amaryllis, Dominic, Jared and Damon; please join Halona. You are all the Electric Eels."
Chris walked down the steps of the mess hall and looked between the two groups.
"Take a good, long look at the teens facing you, campers, for they are now "the other team"." The man said seriously. The boys and girls eyed each other; some with competitive glares, others with unsure glances. "For the rest of the summer, the Devils and the Eels will stand until we run out of campers to have teams, but you all filled out wavers so what do I care?" Giving a jovial laugh, Chris shrugged as the other campers stared at him with wide eyes. "Now, we've come to the time to introduce your first challenge."
Then, to everyone's horror, the man tossed his thumb toward the HUGE cliff across the island.
"You see that GINORMOUS cliff?" It was a rhetorical question since it was one of the most obvious landmarks of the island. The campers murmured in agreement.
The TV host rocked back on his heels. "And as far as I'm concerned, you are not an official Wanawanaka camper until you jump off that really, really big, pointy mountain over there."
Most of the teens groaned. "Oh, right! Like on the first Total Drama Island when you had all of the campers jump off into the… shark-infested waters… about a hundred feet… below." Sam recalled as her throat continued to tighten.
"Awesome!" Yuko threw her hands in the air. "Sharks AND a hundred foot drop!"
Chris chuckled.
"Oh, it's not a one-hundred-foot drop, campers." He rolled his eyes. But then he turned around to the cliff. "It's a lot bigger. From here it looks smaller, but don't worry, you'll have a chance to scream twice before you hit the water." Turning back around to the squirming teens. "So let's get to it! Day light's a' burnin'!"
Morning faded into afternoon, even past lunch when the campers could see the summit of the cliff. Fiona, Erin, Alecia, Roland, Sam and Yuko made it to the top without being too breathless.
"Oh! I wasn't planning on hiking in a bikini. I've got the biggest wedgie!" Fiona complained.
The other campers were surprised to see the host up here before them.
And how did you get up here so fast, McClean?" Alecia smirked. "Or do all second-rate television hosts have the ability to fly AND suck all the coolness out of what they're hosting?"
McClean simply smiled at the teen. "That would be vampires, my dear and no; THIS first-rate TV host has some perks." Then he tossed his thumb over his shoulder. "I took the chair lift."
"You have a chair lift?!" Cyel came plugging up the hill, his gangly frame not used to such rigorous activity. Huffing and puffing, he stuck a finger in Chris's face. "Why didn't you tell me about the chair lift?!"
Again, Chris smiled.
"C'mon Cyel; we don't call this camp for nothing. You gotta work for it." The man was thoroughly enjoying this. He saw the other teens climbing the hill. "C'mon campers! The sooner you get up here, the sooner your challenge starts."
Finally the last breathless camper plopped down on the dirt of the top of the cliff.
"Awesome. Everyone's here." Chris smiled. "Now the objective of this challenge is to jump off of this cliff and land in the safe zone, marked by buoys below." The campers peeked over the edge and saw the ring of floating buoys. "Once you have splashed down, a boat will swing by and pick you up, dropping you off on dry land and total safety." They all saw a grimy tub boat anchored just to the side. Then Chris gave one of his "there's-gonna-be-pain-for-you-and-that's-good-for-my-soul" laughs. "Why the ring of buoys? Let me answer that this way: You might want to avoid anything outside the safe zone. On the last TDI, we had two man-eating sharks circling the safe zone, but now we added a giant killer squid! So there are sharks and a squid waiting for anyone to jump outside of the safe zone."
They all gulped. Chris just laughed again.
"Team points will be understood as this: The team who has the most jumpers inside the safe zone will win. The team with the most successful jumpers will be declared the winner of the day and are immune to the dreaded Campfire Ceremony." The man wiggled his fingers menacingly. "The losing team will see me after dark where which you will have to vote someone off of the island. Are we clear on the points thing?" The campers nodded. "Super! Now as an added prize, to whichever that team wins this challenge a Jacuzzi will go, courtesy of the Sizzling Springs Sauna and Spa to soak their tired muscles in. This Jacuzzi will be the winning team's for the rest of the summer, providing hours of relaxing bubbles and possible social gathering…"
Good. And are we clear on the objective of this challenge?" The teens nodded. Then a shy camper spoke up.
"Um, Chris?" It was Arianna. "If we land outside of the safe zone… the boat will pick us up, right?"
Excellent question, Arianna and yes, the boat will pick you up." Then his face shadowed with a mischievous look. "But I would recommend getting into the safe zone. You see, the boat has been having some mechanical issues and it may not get to a jumper out of the buoys in time. Squid chow and shark chum if you know what I mean."
The teen gulped hard. Chris laughed again.
"Let's kick this puppy off!" He cheered. "I'll need two volunteers from each team. Junpei, Geoffrey, please." Didn't he just say volunteers? As Junpei of the Tasmanian Devils and Geoffrey of the Electric Eels stepped up, Chris held two straws in his fist. "The team who draws the short straw goes first. Go."
Geoffrey grabbed a straw while Junpei went for the longest looking one. Pulling out their draws, it was Junpei who had pulled the shortest.
"Ah! I wanted the long one!" Junpei complained. Geoffrey gave a relieved sigh.
"All right. Let's see if these Tasmanian' Devils can swim. Who's first?" Chris smiled at the teens.
So? Hmmmm? Tell me what you think! Please review and thanks for reading!
-Tatiana.