So it looks like my plan to complete the first three chapters of this fic by the end of the week just barley succeeded. First, I want to address my reviewers:
ForteKham617: No need to apologize for a 'late' review; like chapter one, you posted the first review for the last chapter. I'm glad that you think that this premise is unique. And to answer what is wrong with Courtney: read this chapter for a very comprehensive answer.
zquest: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I'm glad you read the original fan-fic; it will make this chapter easier to understand. Interestingly enough, in my original plan for this story Sierra was a member of the Shipping Sailors, which meant that she and Cody were on the same team. However, for story reasons, I moved Sierra to the Fanon Fixers. But with that being said, every season of Total Drama features at least one team swap, so you just might get your wish. ;)
NerdyBarista: First off, I want to say that I'm so glad you reviewed both chapters. I love reading your reviews of other Total Drama fics, and was hoping you would look at this story. Anyway, it's even harder for me to separate my version of Viktoriya from ferguson's version, which is kind of weird since I created Viktoriya as an antagonist specifically for this story; but I love ferguson's interpretation of Viktoriya so much, even if she turned out way different then I intended! Pablo will indeed be sympathetic, but perhaps not as sympathetic as you think :O The moments you cited as 'great' just so happened to be my favorite moments from the first chapter
Incidentally, all those jokes that you called TDA bashing, were not so much making fun of season two (although it is by far the weakest season of Total Drama) but rather making fun of the fact that nobody likes Total Drama Action, to the point that even the creators barely acknowledge it. The various carvings of heads are game changers, but they aren't going to see use until much later in the story. I'm glad you thought the slot machine was a clever way to choose teams, since I mostly used it since I couldn't come up with a challenge to determine teams. Asking why Heather is one of Jerome's favorite contestants is an excellent question that will be answered in this chapter. And your predictions on who will win are….interesting.
Now on to the actual chapter!
Warning: This chapter is crazy long and features angsty drama, numerous fourth-wall breakings, and lots of hugging.
Episode 1, Part 3: Candy For Your Thoughts
After an hour of rehearsing, all three teams went to the theater to perform for the challenge. When they went into the theater, they found that the stage had been decorated to look like the cargo hold of the Total Drama Plane. Chef was there waiting for them.
"All right maggots, welcome to part one of the challenge. You will be performing for three judges" Chef explained. "Each judge will give you a score between 1 and 10. The first judge is myself. The second one is… Scott."
All of a sudden, Scott, who was still in the trauma chair, was wheeled onto the stage by a certain silent inventor. Scott's chair was modified, now sporting a TV screen.
"Wait a minute" Said Mike, "Why is Scott of all people a judge, when he can't even speak?"
"Well, Scott is a judge since his contract required him to be on this season of the show; but his pappy was not pleased at Chris, for putting Scott on a catapult with a mutated shark, and sued the show." Chef explained. "So since he can't be a contestant this season, he's gonna be a judge for some of the challenges. Also, while he still can't speak, Silent B here modified Scott's trauma chair to allow him to communicate via a TV screen."
"So, you hired B to help you with the show?" Asked Cameron.
"Yep" Confirmed Chef. "And the third judge will be doing his judging straight from prison via video chat, Chris Mclean."
Chef then opened a laptop, revealing a very different looking Chris Mclean. He had grown a beard, and his hair was incredibly messy. Every person in the room silently started at the strange looking host. Chris smirked and said "It's good to know that even without all my hair-gel and grooming products, I'm still as good-looking…"
Before Chris could finish his sentence, all of the contestants burst into laughter at Chris' ridiculous appearance. Chris rolled his eyes and muttered "I'm so glad I get to take a break from hosting this show and its annoying teens."
"All right maggots, enough laughing at not-so pretty boy!" Chef ordered the contestants. "It's time to start the challenge. And the first team to go will be the Fanon Fixers."
Then Helmet 798 got a minor case of writer's block and skipped ahead to the scene where the judges scored Harold's and Heather's performance.
"Well that was pretty good." Complimented Chef. "Scrawny boy did a shockingly good job acting like Cody, and Bossy Girl's tears were surprisingly convincing. I give them an eight."
The screen on Scott's trauma chair displayed an eight as well.
"Meh, it was decent, but they should have put more effort into making Harold looking like Cody; the same for Heather." Chris said honestly. "I give them a seven."
"The Fanon Fixers have earned a combined total of twenty-three points!" Chef declared. Every member of the Fanon Fixers cheered, and when Harold had stepped off the stage, Trent gave him a high-five.
"The Sue Crew, you're up!" Chef told the next team. Viktoriya, wearing the green pants and gray vest that Zoey gave her, went up on stage and started to pretend to cry. Shortly afterward, Cameron, dressed up like Cody, entered the scene.
"Ezekiel, there's no point in Hiding!" Viktoriya snapped, accurately reenacting the fic. "I know you're here, stop hiding."
Cameron stepped closer to Viktoriya, sweating up a storm. He opened up his mouth and 'said' "Uhhhh….I don't th-think….uhhh…that Zeke will ever…uh..ev-ever…" Cameron stopped speaking for a second, before whispering to Viktoriya, "What's my line again?"
"WHAT?!" Viktoriya shouted angrily. "YOU FORGOT YOUR LINES!? PATHETIC!"
Confessional:
Cameron: I've read about stage fright before, but I never thought I would experience it. But it kind of makes sense. I've never performed before a large group of people before. I just wish that Viktoriya was more understanding.
"Somebody get me a real actor up here!" Viktoriya demanded! "I will not fail a challenge because of someone elses' incompetence!" After hearing this, Cameron ran off the stage crying, which caused Mike and Zoey to glare at Viktoriya.
"Well, that sucked." Chef said flatly. "Zero points."
Scott also gave the performance zero points.
"I will give you guys credit for managing to recreate Cody's and Courtney's outfits." Said Chris. "But the performance was awful. Two points."
"The Sue Crew, not surprisingly, only earns a measly two points."
After hearing this, Viktoriya yelled "NOOO! This can't be happening!", feeling simultaneously angry and sad.
"Now let's see if the Shipping Sailors can take the lead." Said Chef, beckoning Cody and Courtney to come up on stage. Courtney stepped up on stage, and cried up a storm before Cody showed up.
"What are you doing here?" Courtney asked annoyingly at Cody, accurately reenacting the story.
"Looking for you, I guess." Cody responded. "Heather made me come down here."
"How did you find me?" Courtney asked, continuing to emulate dialogue from 'Candy For Your Thoughts.'
"I often come down here to hide from Sierra." Cody said. "Not to mention I heard you crying…."
"I was not crying!" Courtney snapped, "I just would rather spend time with the rats, than with those two backstabbers!" Courtney said, referring to Duncan and Gwen. "Why would I be crying?!"
"Uhh, because those two backstabbers were your boyfriend and friend, and they cheated on you behind your back?" Cody said, staying in character.
Courtney looked at Cody for a second before bursting into more tears and wailing louder than before. Cody stood there waiting for Courtney to say her next lines, but instead Courtney just continued sobbing. 'Oh crap!' Cody thought to himself, 'This isn't acting, Courtney's cries are genuine! What should I do?!'
Cody put his hand on Courtney's shoulder, and asked her "Are you all right Courtney?"
"How can I be all right?!" Courtney said between her sobs. "My best friend betrayed me, my boyfriend broke my heart, and then I fell for another man, who also broke my heart! And worse of all, everyone hates me!" Courtney then continued to weep loudly.
Cody sighed and told Courtney "Look Court, things are gonna be fine. I've had my heart broken too, but I survived. I know you can pull through. And if you ever need someone to talk to about your problems, I'll be there for you. You are not alone Courtney."
All of a sudden, Courtney pulled Cody into a hug, smiling, and told him, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Courtney then kissed Cody on the cheek, and said "You're so kind, thank you!" Courtney then let the last of her tears run down her cheeks before realizing she was still on stage.
Both Cody and Courtney looked at the silent audience, waiting for a response. All of a sudden, almost everyone in the audience said "Awww!" at the heartwarming moment (Viktoriya was too busy being mad at herself for losing the challenge for her team to pay attention).
"That was…SO heartwarming and beautiful!" Chef Hatchet said with tears in his eyes. "Who gives a crap that you didn't follow the story accurately? I give you ten points!" Chef then blew his nose on his apron.
The screen on Scott's trauma chair displayed a ten as well.
"Now THAT's what you call Total Drama!" Chris said with excitement. "Ten points!"
"With a perfect score of thirty points, the Shipping Sailors win the first half of the competition!" Chef announced.
"All right Cody!" Tyler said with excitement. "Great job!"
"Awww! Cody, that was soooo sweet!" Lindsay said.
"That was a bit too sappy for my tastes." Jo said honestly, "But good job with winning the challenge!"
"That acting was top-notch!" Justin said complimenting Cody and Courtney.
Confessionals:
Cody: (His face is bright red) So…. Courtney… She did a good job... (Cody uses his fingers to make quotation marks) ..."acting". Yeah….
*Static*
Courtney: Of course I was only acting! Why would I fall for Cody? Because he's super nice and would treat me better than Duncan or Alejandro did? (She smiles for a few seconds, before frowning.) Nope, not interested in him at all.
Chef looked at the camera and told the viewers at home, "What will the next challenge be? What kind of reward will the Shipping Sailors received for winning this half of the challenge? Find out after a break for lunch and for commercials." The screen fades to black.
The next scene appears at the Craft Services Tent, where the twenty-four contestants were grabbing a bite to eat before the next part of the challenge. DJ made some delicious roast beef sandwiches, with a hint of DJ's secret sauce.
Pablo was eating his sandwich rather quickly. "I've never eaten a sandwich before. It's sooooo good!" Pablo continued to wolf down the sandwich.
Mike chuckled and said, "Hey Pablo, you should eat a little slower. It will help you appreciate that sandwich, especially since you only get one."
Mike was proven wrong when DJ came to their table, and said "Actually, I heard that Pablo here doesn't usually get a lot to eat, so I made him another sandwich." DJ then gave Pablo another plate with another roast beef sandwich on it.
Pablo then gave DJ a huge grin and said "Thank you so much!"
But not everybody was feeling so great during the lunch break. Gwen was looking pretty sad, which did not go unnoticed by Bridgette. "Are you OK Gwen?" The surfer girl asked her friend.
"I'm fine…" Gwen said. "But between reading that fan-fiction and seeing Courtney crying on stage, I feel so guilty for what I did to her!" Gwen sighed before continuing. "It reminded me of how bad I felt when I first kissed Duncan. At first I felt super guilty, but after a while I stopped feeling bad about it. Should I still feel terrible for what I did over a year ago?"
Bridgette didn't know what to say, so instead she gave her friend a hug and told her "Things will be fine."
At another table, Jerome was praising Harold and Heather for their performance. "Seriously, I'm glad to be on this team. Especially with my two favorite competitors!"
"Heather is one of your favorite competitors?" Trent asked. "Why? I thought you hated villainous contestants."
"Well I didn't always like Heather." Jerome explained. "Back in season one, she MADE ME SO ANGRY THAT I WANTED TO SMASH MY TELEVISION TO BITS!"
Harold, Heather, and Trent were shocked by his sudden rage filled outburst. Jerome than calmed down and continued talking. "But in season three, Heather changed. She comforted Courtney when her heart was broken. She helped Sierra when she got seriously injured. But most of all, she took out Alejandro by giving him a taste of his own medicine! Seriously, that moment when you kicked Alejandro where it hurts and sent him down the volcano was the greatest moment in Total Drama history! Seriously Heather! You Rock!"
Heather smiled at Jerome's compliment.
Confessional:
Heather: It's nice to have a teammate who actually appreciates me for once. Especially if it's a cute guy like Jerome. (After a beat, Heather frowns) Did I just say that aloud?
Not all of the Fanon Fixers were getting along though. Leshawna was sitting next to Anne Maria, who was applying tons of hairspray to herself.
"Girl, you better stop polluting the air!" Leshawna told the Jersey Shore Reject. "Some of us are trying to eat!"
"And some of us are tryin' to do important things," Anne Maria retorted. "Like lookin' fabulous."
"What would you know about importance?" Leshawna asked Anne Maria sarcastically. "If you're so important, why didn't you get a single line of dialogue in the first two chapters?"
After this statement, a small slap fight ensued between Leshawna and Anne Maria.
At yet another table, Tyler was enjoying his sandwich. "All right! Time to take sandwich eating to the extreme!" Tyler scarfed down his sandwich, which led to him accidently biting his tongue. "AGHH!"
"Silly Tyler!" Izzy told the klutzy jock. "You should never bite down on a plain tongue; you should season it first!" Izzy then put salt and pepper on her tongue before biting it. "Ouch! HaHaHa! That's a tasty tongue!"
Chef Hatchet entered the tent and announced "Finish up your lunches; it's time for the second-half of the 'Candy For Your Thoughts' challenge."
Chef led the contestants to a truck labeled: Total Drama World Tour. "One of the many great features of 'Candy For Your Thoughts' are all the original songs." Chef explained. "For the next part of the challenge, you will be performing one of the songs for me, Scott, and Chris. In this truck are all the instruments we used to make the music for World Tour. After getting some musical instruments, each team will have an hour to pick a song and practice it."
"All right!" Harold said, excited to show off his keyboard playing skills.
Chef continued to explain the challenge. "Since the Shipping Sailors won the first challenge, they get first pick of the instruments. The Fanon Fixers will get to pick some stuff next. And the Sue Crew will get whatever is left over."
After saying this, Chef allowed the Shipping Sailors to enter the back of the truck to grab instruments for the challenge.
"Hey, this keyboard is really high quality!" Cody said, admiring a Yamaha Keyboard. "Let's take it for the challenge."
"Good idea Cody!" Justin said, knowing firsthand Cody's keyboard playing skills.
Courtney picked up an acoustic guitar and played a few notes to test sound quality. "This is a solid guitar. I can play it for the challenge!"
Izzy ran over to a drum set yelling "Let me play the drums! Izzy loves banging on the drums!" She then started banging one of the cymbals over and over, causing all of her teammates to cover their ears.
"If we allow you to play the drums, will you stop doing that?!" Jo yelled over the racket Izzy was making.
"Sure thing!" Izzy said in a perky voice.
"All right Sailors, you're time is up!" Chef told the team. The Shipping Sailors left with the keyboard, acoustic guitar, and drum set. The Fanon Fixers entered the truck.
The Fanon Fixers didn't grab much (since Harold already had a keyboard and Trent had his guitar) but Harold did grab an extra keyboard, Jerome grabbed a tenor saxophone, and Heather grabbed a tambourine.
By the time the Sue Crew were allowed in the truck, most of the good instruments were taken.
"Oh great!" Said Pablo. "There's only a few instruments left!"
Viktoriya noticed a violin sitting in a corner and said "But there are enough for victory Pablo. I am a virtuoso violin player!"
Duncan noticed an electric guitar shaped like the continent of Australia. "And I can play this, although it is rather tacky looking."
Gwen noticed a snare drum. "I can play this drum for the challenge."
Pablo then noticed a pair of castanets on the ground. "I've seen these before; they can add a Latin flair to any song we play."
"A Latin flair, huh?" remarked Cameron. "Maybe we can perform Alejandro's song from the fic: 'One By One They All Will Fall.'"
"That's a good idea Cam!" Zoey said, complimenting her friend. "And Mike can play Alejandro!"
"Who me?" Mike asked, surprised. "Why?"
"Well you two look similar." Zoey said. "The both of you are tan, muscular, and handsome!"
Mike smiled at his girlfriend's compliment. "Well, when you say it like that, I'm in!"
"Wait!" Zoey said suddenly, "I remember seeing a red shirt in the wardrobe department that looked a lot like Alejandro's. Follow me!"
With that, the Sue Crew left the truck with a winning plan.
Meanwhile, the Shipping Sailors were trying to choose a song to perform.
"What if we did Alejandro's song, 'One By One They All Will Fall?'" Suggested Justin. "I do look a lot like Al and I'm a pretty good singer, so I could it."
"Not a bad idea Justin!" Jo told her teammate.
Confessional:
Justin: The last time I competed, I barely did any work, and I only got up to seventh place. If I want to win this competition, I'll have to pull my weight.
At the mention of Alejandro's name, Courtney's face fell. Cody noticed this and asked the C.I.T., "Hey Court, you all right?"
"I'm fine Cody." Courtney responded unconvincingly.
"Are you sure, you look pretty down…."
"I said I was fine Cody!" Courtney said, frustrated at the geek. She forced a smile on her face and picked up the acoustic guitar, playing some Spanish sounding riffs. "Will this work for the chord progression?"
"Yeah Courtney, that sounds great!" Justin said, complimenting Courtney.
As the Shipping Sailors worked on the music, the Sue Crew went to the wardrobe department, to look for that red shirt. Mike found it quickly, and put it on.
"Well, what do you think?" Mike asked his teammates. "Do I look like Al?"
"Kind of…" Duncan said. "But something seems missing."
"Oh wait!" Mike said suddenly. "Alejandro has the top of his shirt unbuttoned." Mike then unbuttoned the first three buttons of this red shirt, which caused his alternate personality Vito to take over.
Vito walked up to Viktoriya and said "Hey toots! If ya lookin' for a real man, then the Vito is ready to be found!"
Zoey looked really ticked off. But before Vito could do anything else, he slapped himself and said aloud in Mike's voice, "Back off Vito! This body belongs to me, and as long as I'm in control, the only girl I'm dating is Zoey!"
"OK, OK Mikey" Vito said. "Sheesh!" Mike then buttoned up his shirt, and took full control of his body.
Confessional:
Pablo: So Mike still has his multiple personality disorder. Interesting…
An Hour later, all three teams reported to the theater, where they would be performing the songs.
The first team to go was the Fanon Fixers, who decided to perform the song: 'Gotta Tell the Girl', which in the original fan-fic was performed by Owen, Noah, and Cody. So for the challenge, Owen, Noah, and Harold did the singing. Harold also played two keyboards; one sounding like a piano and the other sounding like the string section of an orchestra. Trent provided extra chording with his guitar, Heather kept the beat going with that tambourine, and Jerome provided a decent sounding saxophone solo. The three judges were impressed.
"That was impressive." Chef told the team. "It's a shame that the readers at home couldn't hear that song, because it was catchy. Scrawny boy did a good job with both his singing and his playing of two different keyboards. I give that performance a nine!"
Scott gave the performance a score of eight.
"That was a wicked sax solo bro!" Chris said, complimenting Jerome. "I too will give that performance a nine."
"The Fanon Fixers earn twenty-six points." Chef announced. "The next team to perform will be the Shipping Sailors."
Justin, Cody, Izzy, and Courtney entered the stage. Izzy provided a steady beat with the drums, Courtney provided Spanish-sounding guitar riffs, Cody provided extra chording with his keyboard, and Justin, now dressed up like Alejandro, started singing. The song started off sounding great, but as Courtney saw 'Alejandro' singing about his manipulative tactics, painful memories reappeared in Courtney's mind.
All of a sudden, Courtney burst into tears, and ran off the stage. Immediately, Cody stopped playing keyboard and followed Courtney off the stage. A few seconds later, Justin ran off the stage to find Courtney and Cody.
Everyone in the audience gasped at what happened. Jo face palmed in disappointment at her team. The three judges were about to give the performance a bad score.
But all of a sudden Tyler leaped on the stage! He quickly removed his head-band, messed with his hair to make it look like Alejandro's, and unzipped his red tracksuit, revealing a white T-shirt underneath. In a matter of seconds, Tyler managed to replicate Alejandro's appearance. Thinking on his feet, Tyler started to improvise a song:
"I'm Alejandro, and I've been naughty
I'm evil enough to cause even the most haughty,
To break down and burst into tears,
I can fulfill every single one of your fears!
This was all planned, I'm not lying, oh no!
Now check out this super rad keyboard solo!"
Confessional:
Tyler: So there I was, trying to win the challenge for my team. My lyrics managed to impress the judges. Now all I needed to do was play a decent keyboard solo. I searched my mind, trying as hard as possible to remember what I learned during my piano lessons….
Tyler went up to the keyboard that Cody was playing before he ran off to comfort Courtney. Tyler brought down his fingers to play a G-chord. However, he brought them down too hard, and ended up breaking the keyboard in half.
Confessional:
Tyler ….only to remember that the only thing I learned from my piano lessons was that my fingers were super strong.[1]
"You almost saved the performance boy," Chef told the jock. ", but not quite. Four points."
Scott gave the performance zero points.
"Those were some awesome lyrics Tyler." Chris said. "But between most of the performers abandoning the stage and that pitiful excuse of a keyboard solo, I can only give you five points."
"The Shipping Sailors earn a measly nine points." Said Chef. "Next!"
"Wait, wait!" Izzy said. "Izzy hasn't done her drum solo yet!"
Izzy started playing a drum solo, but something unexpected happened when she finished: her drum set blew up! This sent parts of the drum set flying. The bass drum ended up crashing into Tyler, and the snare drum and symbol ended up smashing Chef in the face.
"Ouch!" Chef yelled in pain. "On second thought, the Shipping Sailors only get five points, because I've decided to change my score and give that performance zero points!"
Jo ran up on the stage and asked Izzy "What on earth happened?!"
"I put gun powder in that drum set so I could end my performance with a bang!" Izzy explained. "HaHaHa!" [2]
"You put explosives in that drum set?!" Jo exclaimed in disbelief. "Who does that?!"
"You're right, Who does that!" Izzy told Jo.
Jo frowned at Izzy. "That's what I asked you Izzy! Who does that?"
"You just said the answer!" Izzy responded.
"What?!"
"The answer is: Who does that!"
"No Izzy!" Yelled Jo. "That's the question I'm asking you! WHO DOES THAT?!"
"Correct Jo!" Izzy said. "Who does that!"
"AGHHH!" Jo screamed in frustration.
While Jo was arguing with Izzy, Courtney was in the girl's trailer, crying her eyes out. She was sobbing so loud, she didn't hear Cody approaching her.
"Courtney," Cody said with concern, ", what's wrong?"
Courtney sniffled a bit before replying in a weak voice "Alejandro…"
"Eh, what?"
"Alejandro!" Courtney screamed. "I worked so hard for our relationship. I did everything I could do to please him, and how did he repay me?!"
Flashback:
Courtney entered a hospital room, and found Alejandro lying down, still badly hurt from the volcano incident. Al looked up and saw the C.I.T. watching over him. "What are you doing here?" Alejandro asked Courtney.
"I wanted to see how you were holding up, since that's what a good girlfriend…"
Courtney was cut off by a nasty laugh from Alejandro. "HeHeHeHe! You are so dense Courtney! Didn't you watch the show? I was just using you. I never cared about you, much less considered you my girlfriend!"
Tears started to swell in Courtney's eyes. "B-ut…B-but...But what about all the things I did to help you win?"
"What about them?" Alejandro responded nastily. "The fact you helped me win the competition doesn't change the fact that I don't have feelings for you. My heart belongs to Heather."
End Flashback
"Alejandro broke my heart to pieces right after Duncan did! I've been trying to forget the way that Alejandro hurt me but…but…" Courtney burst into a new wave of tears.
Cody put his hand on Courtney's shoulder and tried to comfort her. "You don't have to feel alone Court. You aren't the only one who has been hurt by Al. Me, Bridgette, Leshawna, and DJ. We will be here for you, because we know how you feel."
"No you don't!" Yelled Courtney. "None of you got hurt while you were already broken! I am the only one here who was used and manipulated at the lowest point of their life!"
"You're wrong about that." Said another voice.
That voice belonged to Justin, who had just entered the room. Courtney frowned at Justin's statement, and asked him "What are you talking about?"
Justin responded, "When I was competing in season two, I started getting frequently injured. My dashing good-looks were being diminished, and I felt absolutely miserable. Without my good-looks, I couldn't strategize, so I started to take an interest in you Courtney, and your smarts. Eventually I started to fall in love with you, and I did whatever it took to make a woman as smart and beautiful as you happy. And how did you respond? By manipulating me, stealing immunity from me, pushing me off of a tower, and then getting me voted off."
Courtney let Justin's words sink in. Courtney slowly came to a realization that she did some wicked things starting in season two. "Geez Justin, I'm really sorry for hurting you like that, both physically and mentally."
Justin gave Courtney a small smile. "I forgive you Courtney. Besides, my life didn't end because you broke my heart. I moved on. I recovered both physically and mentally. I became great friends with Trent, Cody, and Harold, and we managed to find success as a pop band."
Justin then looked Courtney in the eyes and said "Don't let your broken heart ruin your life. Courtney, you're a beautiful, strong, and smart woman, and I know you have what it takes to move on."
Courtney started to cry a few tears of joy as she pulled in Justin for a hug. "Thank you Justin."
Cody smiled at his friend successfully cheering Courtney up. He then looked at his smart phone to find out the time. "Oh man, it's quarter to six. It's almost time for dinner."
Justin asked Courtney "Do you want us to grab you dinner and bring it back here? I understand if you want to be alone for a while."
Courtney smiled at Justin and responded "No thanks. I need to see the others."
Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Sue Crew pulled off an excellent performance for the three judges. The combination of Mike's convincing performance as Alejandro, Viktoriya's high quality tango-style violin playing, Duncan's rocking punk guitar riffs, Gwen's steady drum playing, and Pablo's authentic Latin rhythms from the castanets, led to all three judges giving them a perfect score.
"And with a perfect score of thirty, the Sue Crew win the first challenge!" Chef announced. All of the members of the Sue Crew cheered at their victory. Zoey jumped up on stage and hugged Mike. Duncan and Gwen shared a brief kiss. Cameron got on the stage and gave Pablo a high-five.
"And for winning the challenge," Chef continued, ", the Sue Crew wins the prize that every team who wins this season will get: a night away from the film lot! You can go into town and grab a bite to eat, go to the video arcade, watch a movie, or whatever teenagers do nowadays."
"All right!" Said Mike. "There's this new restaurant in town I've been meaning to take Zoey to."
Chef then turned to the remaining members of the Shipping Sailors. "And you are the losers of this here challenge. The Shipping Sailors will be sending one of their teammates home!"
At the confirmation of their failure, Lindsay, Tyler, Izzy, and Jo sighed. Pablo noticed how sad they looked and asked Chef "Can the Shipping Sailors come too?"
"What?" Asked Chef.
"Can the Shipping Sailors come with us into town?" Pablo said, repeating his question.
"Well…. OK." Chef told the Brazilian. "But only after their elimination ceremony."
"Wow Pedro! That is soooo nice!" Lindsay said with excitement. "I can go to the mall!"
"Thanks for allowing us to come with ya dude!" Tyler told Pablo.
Confessional:
Pablo: So everybody on the Shipping Sailors really appreciates me for allowing them to come with us into town. If I keep this up, I could become the most liked contestant on the show! Woo-hoo!
"All right ya'll." Chef Hatchet told the twenty-one contestants in the theater. "It's time for you to grab supper. And the Shipping Sailors, report back here in an hour to vote off one of your members."
Everybody left the theater to go to the craft services tent. DJ made everybody lasagna for dinner. However a few contestants (Mike, Zoey, Lindsay, and Tyler) decided not to eat the lasagna since they were planning to eat out later on.
Five minutes after everybody grabbed their meal, Courtney entered the craft services tent. When Bridgette saw her friend, she got up from her seat and hugged her. "Courtney! I was so worried about you! Are you OK?"
Courtney gave the surfer a smile. "I am now." Courtney pointed her finger at Cody and Justin and said, "Thanks to these two." After that, Courtney stood on top of one of the tables and said "Everybody listen up!" Everybody stopped talking among themselves and paid attention to the C.I.T.
Courtney took a deep breath, before speaking. "I have just realized that over the last several seasons of this show, I have done some despicable things. So now I feel a need to apologize to all of you. Lindsay, I'm sorry for all the times I insulted you and called you an idiot. Tyler, I should have never used you to make Duncan jealous, especially since you were in a relationship with Lindsay. And I'm also very sorry for throwing you off the plane, even though you were injured."
"Awwww, I forgive you Cathy!" Lindsay responded.
"Uhh, that's Courtney babe." Tyler said, correcting his girlfriend. "Also, I forgive you too Court!"
Courtney then turned her attention to Cody. "And Cody, I'm sorry for how I treated you in the World Tour Finale. I should have never cheered for Alejandro when he threw you to those sharks."
Cody smiled and responded with a warm tone "I forgive you Courtney."
Courtney then turned to Gwen. "And Gwen, I owe you the biggest apology. I'm sorry for antagonizing you for dating Duncan. My heart was broken, but I never should have taken it out on you."
Gwen walked up to Courtney, and said "I'll accept your apology, if you accept mine."
"Huh?" Asked Courtney, slightly confused.
"I'm the one who should be apologizing." Gwen told the C.I.T. "I'm sorry that I kissed Duncan when you two were dating. I'm sorry that I never told you about it. And most of all, I'm sorry for not apologizing when I should've, which was back when I betrayed you. Can you forgive me?"
Courtney once again started shedding some tears of joy. "Of course!" Courtney then pulled Gwen in for a hug and asked "Can we be friends again?"
Gwen was shocked at the gesture, but replied "Of course we can!"
DJ had just emerged from the kitchen, wondering what the racket was. When the Jamaican teen saw Gwen and Courtney hugging and rekindling their friendship, he cried at the heartwarming moment.
Confessional:
Jo: What is up with all the hugging in this chapter? I thought we were here to compete, not share body heat. (After a beat, Jo frowns) Also what was up with my last line, 'share body heat'?! Seriously! Helmet 798 needs to learn better dialogue!
*Static*
Helmet 798: I wrote that line because it rhymed. Also, I don 't need your criticism Jo!
Courtney then went up to her ex-boyfriend. "And finally, Duncan. I am so sorry for all the times I've hurt you, and for trying to change who you were. Can you forgive me?"
Duncan rolled his eyes at Courtney, and in an uninterested voice said "Whatever."
Gwen looked ticked off at her boy-friend's indifference to Courtney's apology. She dragged him outside by the ear, saying "We need to talk. Privately."
Gwen brought Duncan to a secluded place and let go of his ear. "Owww!" Duncan said, "What's wrong with you, my ear hurts!"
"What's wrong with me?" Gwen said indignantly. "What's wrong with you!? Courtney poured her heart out, sincerely apologized to you, and you don't even respond?!"
"What did you expect me to do?" Duncan snapped. "Forgive her? Just because she said she was sorry. Courtney saying that she is sorry doesn't take back all the times she kicked me where it hurts, or all the times that she antagonized you from season three."
Gwen frowned at Duncan. "Why do you have problem forgiving people Duncan?"
"I dunno." Duncan replied. "I prefer to hold on to grudges, I guess."
Gwen sighed, and said "We need to talk about this issue Duncan. Let's do that tonight. We can talk about our relationship over coffee."
"Aww, do we have to?" Duncan asked in an annoyed voice. "I wanted to cuddle up with you and watch a horror movie tonight."
Gwen frowned. "Yes we have to!"
Duncan rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath "Bossy little…"
"What?!" Gwen asked.
"Nothing!" Duncan instantly replied.
The Shipping Sailors headed back to the theater for their first elimination ceremony. Chef was up on stage with a plate of marshmallows. "You all know the drill. If ya don't receive a marshmallow then you'll be receiving a ride to the Playa De Losers via the Lame-O-Sine.
The first marshmallow goes to… Cody.
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Justin gets the second marshmallow.
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Jo and Lindsay are safe too."
The three contestants left were Izzy, Courtney, and Tyler.
"All three of ya have a good reason to be eliminated." Chef said, prolonging this chapter longer than it needs to be. "Courtney, you abandoned your team. Tyler, you blew your attempt to save the challenge for your team. Izzy, you blew up your drum set and injured a teammate…."
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After another long pause, Chef announced that "Tyler gets the penultimate marshmallow…" Courtney looked incredibly nervous, while Izzy looked incredibly silly.
"And the final marshmallow of the night goes to…
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Courtney!" The C.I.T. grinned and caught the final marshmallow.
Chef Hatchet addressed the crazy red-head. "Izzy, you are the first contestant to be eliminated this season." Under his breath, Chef added, "Good riddance."
Izzy smiled. "Well, Izzy may not have won the prize money…"
All of a sudden, Izzy grabbed Scott, still in his trauma chair and announced "..But at least I got this cool T.V. set!" Izzy then ran outside, with Scott in tow, and hopped in the Lame-o-sine.
Just as the Lame-o-sine drove off, Chef ran outside and yelled at the driver "Come back here! Crazy girl just kidnapped one of my judges!"
The Shipping Sailors looked shocked at this development for about five seconds. But then Tyler said "Hey Justin, Cody, and Courtney! Did you hear that our team is allowed to go down town tonight?"
"But we lost, right?" Cody asked.
"Yeah, but the Sue Crew won the right to go into the city tonight. And that Pablo kid invited our team to go out with him!" Tyler responded excitedly.
"Sounds like fun!" Said Cody. "I'm going to the arcade!"
Courtney then turned to Justin and said "Hey, do you want to go out to eat?"
Justin looked a little surprised and said. "Courtney, are you asking me out?"
"Well yeah!" Courtney said. "Even after apologizing for what I did to you in season two, I still feel guilty for utterly rejecting your feelings. The least I can do is take you out on a date."
Justin smiled and said "Well then I would love to go out with you!"
The Shipping Sailors left the theater and joined the Sue Crew in the 'winner's-sine' (Which was a long, clean, and white limousine; the polar opposite of the lame-o-sone) . The vehicle then took the teens out of the film lot and into the city.
Mike and Zoey went to an Italian restaurant to celebrate their team's victory. Bridgette, Lindsay, and a reluctant Tyler went to the mall for a shopping spree. Cameron, Cody, and Pablo went to an Arcade in the same mall to play some video games. Pablo was ecstatic since it was his first time playing video games. Justin and Courtney went to an Indian restaurant. Gwen and Duncan went to a coffee shop to talk about their relationship. Viktoriya and Jo both went to a gym to work out.
Outside of Duncan and Gwen, everybody who went had a great time, and thought that just maybe this season of Total Drama wouldn't be so bad. They were dead wrong.
Notes:
[1] For those of you who don't remember, Tyler's words here are a call back to the World Tour Episode "Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better", where Tyler claims that his fingers are so strong that during his first piano lesson he broke the piano.
[2] Izzy blowing up her drum set is a reference to Keith Moon, drummer for 'The Who', who did the same thing when he played the song "My Generation" live on TV. That is why Izzy kept on saying "[The] Who does that!"
Also, Izzy and Jo's argument is a bit I borrowed from the Animaniacs episode "Woodstock Slappy" (And that bit was an homage to the very famous "Who's On First" sketch by Abbot and Costello; so that's a reference within a reference.)
Elimination Order: Izzy
Remaining Contestants:
The Fanon Fixers: Anne Maria, Heather, Harold, Jerome, Leshawna, Noah, Owen, Sierra, Trent.
The Sue Crew: Bridgette, Cameron, Duncan, Gwen, Mike, Pablo, Viktoriya, Zoey.
The Shipping Sailors: Cody, Courtney, Jo, Justin, Lindsay, Tyler.
Wow, almost seven thousand words. That was pretty much what I was expecting for this chapter, since I needed to get a lot of content packed in this chapter, since I don't want to divide an episode into a greater amount of parts than three.
I will admit that the challenges weren't as exciting as they could be. I was planning on recording all the songs from this chapter with my musical keyboard, so you could hear them, but since I wrote all of these chapters on vacation, I didn't have access to my keyboard. I probably will still record the songs, so you can better understand this fic.
But I'm still proud of this chapter. I'm glad to finally write out many of these moments, since several of them (such as Cody and Courtney's little "performance", Scott & Chris as judges, Courtney being miserable because of Alejandro, and Justin pointing out Courtney doing something similar to him) were among the earliest ideas I originally had for this story several months ago. In fact, I wrote the first draft of Justin's speech to Courtney way back in January or February in my notebook.
Also, I have to bring up the fact that NerdyBarista's prediction (that the Sue Crew would win and the Shipping Sailors would lose) was the opposite when applied to the first challenge, but it perfectly described the second part of the challenge, down to Courtney's emotions leading the Sailors to failure.
And if you're wondering, Courtney and Justin will not be a couple in this story, but since a major theme for this episode is Courtney's redemption, I thought she should have done a complete 180; from cruelly manipulating Justin feelings to genuinely caring about Justin's feelings.
And finally, if you haven't read "Candy For Your Thoughts" yet, you need to. It's an excellent story with big laughs, tons of drama, clever original songs, and great character development. It was the story that got me into Total Drama Fan-Fiction, which means if it didn't exist, neither would this story.
Brief Sneak Peak of Episode Two: On episode two of Total Drama Fan-Fiction Theater, we play the theme song for the first time! And each team must compete in a challenge based off of Crack Pairings! Will the current couples survive? Will new friendships form? And will Helmet 798 go against his original plans and reveal the main antagonist early? Tune in next time to find out.