Author's Note
Here we are, at episode 10...only four more episodes left in the season, and a little over two left for me to write. I hope you're all getting more and more excited about the coming finale!
Now, for the reviews:
SilverWriter0927: Fair enough, I understand the excitement I just got annoyed at the result of it. I'm sorry to disappoint you with Zoey's elimination, and I do hope you enjoy the rest of the season no matter what its outcome is.
Gage the Hedgehog: Thanks!
Tokusatsu-31st Century: Yeah, things just don't look good for Courtney. But things can happen quickly in this series, so I hope to keep your curiosity on-edge.
Animation Adventures: Aye, I was hoping my explanation for Courtney's vote makes sense. Sure, Jasmine is a physical threat in theory, but that doesn't mean every challenge is gonna suit her so Courtney might get another chance to vote her off. I'm glad you enjoyed Zoey so much, and while eliminating her in parallel to Mike in canon wasn't really a big factor in my decision to do it, I'm happy with the poetry of it as well. I hope you enjoy how things proceed this week, I think it's a pretty logical route to go considering how things are and the weirdness of the challenge.
VIPGuest: Uhh, I'm pretty sure I've been hinting at it since episode one? Although last week was the first explicit mention of it as a crush, though.
Guest: Oh, uh, fair enough I guess. I'm not a fan of canon Zoey's portrayal either, though I've never gotten so heated up about it. I am glad you're enjoying pretty much all of the others, however. And as for Harold's crush on Jasmine...well, what comes of it depends on how Jasmine feels about Harold.
Sarcasm is a Habit: Thanks, and I hope you get well soon if you haven't already. I wouldn't really say that Courtney's gone to Cloudcuckooland, though; she hasn't really become that weird or out-of-touch with reality. Not like Izzy, anyway. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed last week's episode and I hope you enjoy this week's as well!
StayOuttaMyShed: Wow, thanks! I'm always to happy to hear when an episode becomes someone's favorite for the series. I'm glad I was able to pull off and include so much last week, and make Zoey's elimination episode so enjoyable for you. And a lot more like that is coming in these next few episodes, as plotlines start to unravel and end as everything approaches the finale. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you enjoyed your cruise.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Yup, pretty much. At this point in the game, everyone left is getting pretty focused and it's easy for some warning signs to slip through the cracks if no one is really looking out for them. Thanks for the review, as always!
BuckJohnson: Haha, yup, at the Final Five already. I'm glad you've enjoyed this season so much and I hope these last four episodes give it a suitable ending.
moka evans: Thanks! Yeah, things are getting darker on Wawanakwa, and don't look to change back anytime soon. Especially with Noah's notes still unresolved and Trent's potential trust issues. I'd say there's several paths for each of the Final Five to take right now, Noah included.
bruno14: Hmm, well, perhaps you're right that Zoey won't be in All-Stars, and perhaps not. We'll all just have to wait and see... And the same goes for who gets voted off this week, although I hope you'll enjoy the episode regardless of who it is.
ashDanLand: Oh, I see. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the Scarlett cameo at least, and I hope you won't be bored by this week's chapter.
PizzaTheBomb: Yeah, she was easily the best choice to take Duncan's place last week. And I'm glad this season's merge lived up the expectations of drama that come with such events. Now that it's everyone for themselves, relationships might grow...strained. I hope you enjoy what comes from it.
P. T. Piranha: Yup. Aside from Justin, I knew going in that I didn't want this season's villains to act too villainous early on - it's not a strategy they'd want to go to by default, but rather one they are somewhat forced into taking. And yeah, everyone that's still in the game has done enough to justify making it this far. I can agree with your sentiment that canon season 4 was a little too needlessly dark at times, but I think I've made a pretty good point to rectify that - a little darkness is good from time to time, but it needs to be done right.
ZachSwag: Fair enough. I knew I couldn't just leave things with only two notes from Noah, although I am dismayed to hear you feel that this story is getting a little boring. Other than that, interesting predictions and I hope you enjoy what happens next regardless of who gets eliminated and when.
OMAC001: That so? Well, I hope you enjoy the end of Courtney's time on the show this season, whenever it may happen.
Glowing Insanity: Yeah, although I can see myself topping it in terms of shear drama. There's a lot of truth in your assessment of Courtney;s current place in the game, although I can't say much else about her. I expect Noah was never utilized as an antagonist in canon because he's just not very malevolent, which takes away a lot of the cartoonish villainy that I think Fresh likes in their villains. I'll admit that Jasmine hasn't done much so far, but like you said that doesn't mean that'll always be true. As for Trent...well, not much I can say. Harold, on the other hand, certainly hasn't had as much antagonism directed his way like in canon TDI, like you said; but like Jasmine that doesn't necessarily mean he won't have a role to play going forward. And with Zoey, like you said she's had a good go, and I'm glad people have enjoyed what I've been able to do with her in the absence of a boyfriend.
GRAMMAR POLICE: I've been deleting your reviews because you're pretty blatantly a troll, so don't expect another answer from me.
DSX62415: Scarlett is still technically in the custody of the US Air Force at Area 51, on loan via Chris' military connections, so they ended up picking her up after the episode ended. It's nice to hear from another fan of Zoey this season, even given the circumstances, and i do hope you enjoy the rest of the series.
Alice Queen of Madness: ...well, I'm glad I was able to write her well enough for you to change your opinion of her, at least in the context of my story. I hope you enjoy the rest of the season!
I. M. Poik: Ah, I wouldn't get ahead of yourself regarding Scarlett's freedom - she was temporarily let go for the challenge, but that doesn't mean she's truly free. I'm a little disappointed to hear your opinion of Zoey. Still, your thoughts and predictions are as interesting to me as always, and I look forward to seeing if and how they change as we approach the finale.
CVluvFoxy: Thanks! I'm glad I've been able to make Courtney so entertaining for you, and Zoey as well. And yeah, Trent's season two portrayal in canon was just awful; it's not the jealousy, it's how...I don't know, over-the-top it ended up being. I'm glad you're enjoying the others as well, and I hope that continues as we head towards the finale.
graveexcitement: Fair enough. And I'm glad you liked what I did with her chart-making tendency here; I knew I wanted to do something with it as it is actually pretty in-character for her, but as you said it was played poorly in All-Stars - at least have Mal find the stupid thing and not just...turn up with it unexplained. I'm glad you're enjoying my portrayal of Noah, and as for your finale predictions...well, it's only a couple more weeks before you'll know for sure.
FOWLKON: Exactly. It doesn't change how she's been acting, or even the fact that she still voted out Zoey. Even with some focus on the notes, Courtney is in a rough spot - although it's 4 to 1, not 5 to 1 like you said. And yeah, Harold likes Jasmine...but whether or not she reciprocates has yet to be seen for certain in-story. Things are...going to get interesting, it's safe to say.
Star Saber21: Perhaps, perhaps. And yeah, Noah's safety comes at the expense of Zoey...and as for Courtney, well, she was never exactly safe to begin with.
link9753: Ah, sorry to disappoint you then. I'm glad you pointed out that Noah's been a fairly likable and not very villainous villain, as it is something I've been trying to portray with him - he's more a villain due to circumstance, rather than due to his inherent nature.
Explorer of the Unknown: Yup, Zoey's definitely grown both these past few episodes and throughout the season, I think, but I'm not surprised you weren't expecting her to make it to the finale. I think I could have given her a reason to make it that far, but I ultimately had other plans that I liked better. But at least she made a lot more friends, as you mentioned. Harold and Jasmine are certainly going to be a tough team to break up moving forward, but it's not like they're invincible. And while I wouldn't quite liken Noah to an owl, his notes have certainly been able to shift the flow of the game in his favor. But, as you said, Courtney and Trent are easily in the darkest places right now, at least internally, and things are certainly going to get heated because of it. I hope you enjoy what happens...
wifishark: Yup, it certainly seems that way with regards to their villainy. And as for whether one or both will return next season...well, there's only a few more weeks before you'll find out.
And with that, the reviews are out of the way for the week. As usual, the poll in my profile will remain up for the time being, and a TVTropes page for this series exists, and as per usual with such things, could always use more work. I thoroughly appreciate those who've already been working on it, and look forward to seeing what you all add next.
The teams have been dissolved, leaving the players as such:
Girls: Courtney, Jasmine
Boys: Harold, Noah, Trent
Get ready for some action in the air, dear readers, and enjoy.
- Fangren
Episode 10 – Up, Up, And Away In My Pitiful Balloon
"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island! The players went on a smash-and-grab graffiti race," Chris began, the opening shot of the island shifting to clips of Jasmine finding a key and giving it to Harold, then Noah getting thrown out from under the kitchen table with a key of his own.
"Trent started gunning for Courtney to avenge his girl Gwen," the musician was shown talking to Noah and Harold, then glaring and muttering angrily from the roof of the former Maggot cabin, then glaring as Courtney drove off in her go-kart and telling something to Zoey. "Which caused Zoey to go to Courtney to try and get the two to make up," several short clips of Zoey's repeated attempts to talk to Courtney were shown in quick succession, followed by a string of short clips showing Courtney growing more and more annoyed. "But between that and Noah trying to to knock Courtney out of the game himself," the host added over shots of Noah and Courtney arguing, and each throwing spray paint cans at the other to knock their former teammate off a monument, "all it really did was give Courtney the drive to win immunity and the night's sole vote." The ex-CIT was shown tagging the third and actual final landmark, then pumping her fist in excitement a little while later.
"And after a bit of last-minute funny business by note-maker Noah," the schemer was shown planting his note, and Courtney was found reading it then crushing it angrily in her fist, "it was Zoey who got voted off the island. Too bad, so sad," the host said over Zoey's last goodbyes to her teammates, and inevitable hurling.
The recap ended, putting the scene at the Hurl of Shame with the smiling host watching as a pair of interns – one southeast Asian male on the dock and one white female in the bucket itself – polished the siege weapon. "Missed a spot," he taunted them before facing the camera and raising his arms. "We're down to our Final Five competitors, and you'll never guess who's next to ride the Hurl of Shame." With a sly grin he pointed over to the side, the camera panning over to show Chef Hatchet standing by the catapult's lever. He pulled it, flinging the female intern into the air with a scream.
Chris laughed as the other intern glared at him. "Told ya," the host told Chef, the male intern walking off in disgust as the series' capstone theme began a reprise. "What?" Chef shrugged mischievously for the camera. "Catapults are expensive. I need to get my money's worth! But someone else will be flung before the day is over. Find out who, right here, on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"
xxx
(Fade to Opening Theme)
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;
You guys are on my mind!
Ya asked me what I wanted to be,
And now I think the answer is plain to see!
I wanna be...famous!
I wanna live close to the sun!
Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!
Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;
I'll get there one day.
'Cause I wanna be...famous!
(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
(Fade to Episode)
xxx
The scene faded in to Trent, sitting on a stump in the woods playing his guitar. After a few seconds of emotional solo, he launched into rather mournful lyrics. "I'll never forget when we had fu~un, and I'll never forget what she has do~one, to you...to uu~uu~uus, oh!" As he finished his wail, he started to strum faster leading in to the next line. "Courtney, why did you do this? Courtney, why did you take your knife, and stab it in her back... You're not gonna get away, and I'm not ever gonna cut you any...slack?"
He trailed off awkwardly at the end, neither the chord nor the lyrics blending smoothly with what had come before. He frowned, then scratched the side of his head. "Hmm, still needs some work...I wonder if I can fit the number nine anywhere? Nine notes? Nine beats? There's gotta be something..." He began to slowly play through the chords again, unaware that while he'd been thinking a massive shadow had been moving across the ground.
A few seconds after it finally fell over him he perked up in confusion, then looked around. The background music finally rose up dramatically as he stood up in surprise, his eyes wide and his jaw agape. "Whoa, don't see one of those everyday," he commented as he watched whatever was casting the shadow move across the sky. "Guess that means I should get back to camp...and hopefully give Courtney what's coming to her."
As the shadow moved off of him, he slung his guitar over his back and headed off to the left where the shadow had gone.
/
Another dramatic tune played as the scene cut to a zoomed-out shot of the wreckage of the old Maggot cabin, the other members of the Final Five standing outside as Trent and the shadow approached. A few muttered 'whoa's rose up from the campers, and the shot finally zoomed out enough to reveal the object casting the shadow: a large white zeppelin, which came to a floating halt above the cabins.
"Hmph," Courtney scoffed and walked a few steps to the side, "it's not that exciting. It's just a blimp."
As if in response an anchor suddenly dropped down between Courtney and the other campers, landing partially on the ex-CIT's foot and thus causing her to bend over and yell in pain.
"Actually," Harold corrected with smug matter-of-factness as he walked past the young woman and the ship's gondola lowered into view behind them, "it's rigid internal structure marks it as a zeppelin, named after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who-"
He, in turn, was cut off when a gangway slammed down on top of him, earning a groan from the dweeb and yet another dramatic riff in the music.
"You're both wrong," Chris McLean corrected, the shot cutting outward to show him and Chef standing in the doorway the gangway led up to as a grandiose tune played. Courtney was still struggling with the anchor, but Trent, Noah, and Jasmine were watching the host warily. "It's the McLean Mobile Air Command Center! Where I will recline in luxury," the music shifted into something more aristocratic, "while you compete in today's challenge: an aerial obstacle course!" He disembarked when he finished.
"An aerial obstacle course," Noah repeated dryly. "What, are you gonna give us all wings or something?"
"With all the toxic waste, that probably isn't too far out of the question," Jasmine told him.
"Mmm-hmm," Chris said noncommittally as Chef walked to to join him. "And here to demonstrate, put your hands together for Total Drama classic contender, Alejandro!" He motioned back up to the gondola door as the arch-villain himself stepped forward with a cold and haughty look as an ominous Latin riff played.
"No way," Courtney said as she finally freed her foot, the others watching warily as the riff faded in to the three-time player's personal leitmotif and he walked down the gangway. He stepped uncaringly on the spot where Harold lay, eliciting a light bone-cracking sound, a groan, and a twitch from the boy's feet which were sticking out from under the metal walkway.
"Well...never thought I'd get to meet you," Jasmine said.
"If only all of us could be so blessed, señorita," Alejandro told her with a handsome smile.
Noah snorted. "Please. Who'd be blessed to meet the biggest snake in the game?"
Alejandro glared at him, but the camera quickly panned to the host. "Alejandro will now demonstrate the aerial challenge, while wearing a jetpack." The charmer raised an eyebrow, then gasped as Chef slammed a jetpack onto his back to another dramatic riff.
"Qué?" Alejandro said, the shot pulling back as Chef pressed a button on a remote, activating the jetpack and forcing the young man wearing it into the air. The four unpinned campers watched him fly off with wary faces, and the shot quickly cut to Alejandro's screaming face. The music became fast-paced and hectic as he was shown approaching an elevated ring of fire, then flying through it and several others in a row...then circling around off-screen and flying back behind them. The camera cut in close to the jetpack's flames as they began to sputter and smoke, and with a gasp Alejandro began to descend.
"Everyone, just be cool," Chris told the campers as they watched the failing demo, Harold once again standing among them. "There's a parachute built in to it!"
Alejandro crashed down moments later, landing face-first in the ground. Only then did the parachute deploy, and float uselessly down to cover the fallen young man. "Malditos incompetentes...!" he groaned in pain.
Chris laughed. "Best challenge ev-er!"
"Uhh, this seems a little more unsafe than usual," Jasmine said warily, prodding Alejandro's parachute-covered legs with her foot.
"No, it's way more unsafe!" Chris corrected with another laugh. "Did I mention you'll also be attacked by flying mutant fire-breathing goats?"
"What." Noah said flatly as the camera panned across the shocked and horrified faces of the campers.
"Gosh," Harold said, "when you say stuff like that really makes a guy wonder why he's even on this show."
"Well then, how about a little reminder?" the host said slyly, reaching down behind him, picking up a suitcase, and opening it dramatically to the Final Five. It was full of money, and an angelic chorus rose up as Chris continued. "The ultimate Total Drama prize, one! Million! Dollars!" The camera zoomed in with each word, but when it stopped the chorus did as well and a gust of wind blew a few bills off the top of the stack. "...give or take," the host said quickly.
Harold and the others grinned in stupefied awe. "Okay, I'm not wondering anymore," Harold said. "Now I remember what I'm fighting for!" He snorted and giggled, then added "Hey, that rhymed!"
Trent sighed dreamily. "Man, I can't wait to win and split the money with Gwen..."
Jasmine snorted and elbowed him in the side with a smile. "Good luck with that, mate. You're gonna need it." She laughed a bit, but the music became light and ominous as the camera zoomed in on Trent's frown.
xxx
"What was that supposed to mean?" Trent asked the confessional. "Does she not think I can do it? Does she not want me to do it? I thought she was supporting me and Gwen being together..." He looked troubled for a moment, then sighed. "Well, whatever. I just gotta focus on making sure Courtney loses this time, and then maybe I can be happy again."
xxx
"Now, to perform your aerial feats," Chris said after handing the suitcase over to Chef, "you'll first have to construct your very own flying machines!"
"Sweet," Harold grinned, the shot focusing in on him and Noah.
"Let me guess," Noah said, "building flying machines totally suits your 'mad skills'."
"Uh-huh," Harold nodded. "Plus, since I'm probably gonna build my machine, like, super fast, I can use the extra time to figure out who's been sending notes to everyone."
Noah's brow shot up in surprise. "Notes?"
"You know, the ones that were sent to Leonard, Justin, and Courtney," Harold explained.
"Oh, those," Noah said with an awkward smile. "Sorry, they slipped my mind because they didn't seem that important."
"Gosh, Noah, of course they're important!" Harold frowned. "I mean, somebody had to have sent them, and whoever did was probably one of us. We should probably try and figure out who it was so they can't cause any more trouble."
"Riiiiight," Noah said slowly and dryly.
xxx
"Yeah, okay, I was kinda hoping the others would ignore the notes for a little while longer," Noah admitted to the outhouse camera. "But now that Detective Harold's on the case, I can at least try and throw him off a little bit. Good thing I already burned all my handiwork, though. Getting caught with those might not be a good idea."
xxx
"Hmm...," Harold said, rubbing his soul patch in thought, "who could it be? Well, aside from me, of course. And Jasmine, too. My sweet Australian amazon's not really the type. And even when I do unmask the culprit, then what? As her friend it's my duty to avenge Zoey's elimination, but I also still need to help Trent avenge Gwen's elimination. So I guess I'm hoping the note-maker is Courtney, just to make things easier," he admitted with a mild shrug.
xxx
"Uggh, another challenge I have to win," Courtney griped to the camera. "I'm seriously gonna have to put some more effort into making an alliance, even if I don't like any of the others. Then maybe if I lose I can still vote someone else out."
xxx
"Alright," Jasmine thought aloud, one arm crossed in front of her as she tapped her chin in thought, "I can't go too strong or I'll just intimidate the others. Still," she smiled, "there's no reason I can't try to-"
xxx
"-kick some butt-" Courtney said aggressively.
xxx
"-win the challenge-" Trent said with a cool and confident smile.
xxx
"-outlast the others-" Harold raised a finger and declared.
xxx
"And get a hold of that cool, cool, million," Noah finished with a smirk.
xxx
The static finally cut away to show massive piles of junk and garbage, the camera panning to the left as Chris – wearing yellow rubber gloves and standing next to a garbage bag – said "Welcome to your one-stop shop for flying machine parts: the dump!" The shot pan stopped once the host and campers were in view, and the shot zoomed in on Chris. "Revolting, aaaand reasonably priced," he added, picking up the fly-ridden bag of trash at his feet and holding it out to the disgusted campers. "Each player will pick a card representing their mode of flight," he continued as the shot panned across the wary faces of Harold, Trent, Jasmine, Courtney, and Noah.
"Pick 'em like your nose, losers!" the host said making a noise of disgust as he held the bag open.
Harold walked up first, reaching into the bag and pulling a card out of the slime. "An airplane?" he said as the perspective quickly changed to show a silhouette of an old-fashioned biplane. "Wicked! Time to show off everything I learned at Flighty Steve's Aeronautics Camp," Harold told the host with a grin before walking away.
Trent was next, and cringed as he reached in and grabbed his card. "A helicopter?" he said in disbelief as a silhouette of the machine in question was briefly shown on the card he'd drawn. "It's cool and all, but how am I supposed to build one?" he wondered before moving on.
Third was Jasmine, who picked her card without hesitation. "A hot air balloon, eh?" she said as her card's image was shown. "Not too bad. Not too fast, either, but at least I won't have to worry about fitting inside a cockpit."
Next came Courtney, who hesitated a bit before sticking her hand into the bag and shuddered a bit once she did. "A rocket?!" she exclaimed as her card was shown to bear the image of a classic rocket shape. "Seriously? Do you want me to get blown up?" she asked the host, who shrugged mischievously. Courtney walked off muttering angrily under her breath, and Noah rolled his eyes as he walked up behind her.
"Okay, what kind of contraption do I get stuck with?" he asked with a smirk as he reached in, felt around, and grabbed a card. "Jetpack? Hang glider?" He finally looked at his card, and his face immediately fell. "...bird?" he asked as his card was revealed to hold the silhouette of a condor on it. "You know I was kidding when I was talking about you giving us wings," he told the host, who merely smiled impishly until Noah walked off in disgust.
Chris dropped the bag and turned to the campers, now gathered on the other side of him. "The first camper to show me their finished flying machine wins an advantage," he said, the camera panning rightward on to Chef, who was holding a small device with a Chris McLean face sticker on the side. "A McLean-brand Smoke Machine!" the host said, a calm jingle rising up as Chef silently motioned at the machine in his hands, holding it up and displaying it proudly. "Use it as a smokescreen, smoke bees out of your attic, or just create spooky ambiance. Check it!"
At the command Chef turned the machine on, and a stream out at the campers, making them cough.
"Sweet, right?" Chris asked them as the music turned tense. "First to finish their contraptions wins that smokey bad boy. Okay campers, prepare to get your dump on...now!"
The campers scattered, with Harold and Trent and Noah headed off to the right while Jasmine, and Courtney after a moment's hesitation, went left. The focus moved to Harold as Trent caught up with him, the musician holding out his card and asking "Hey, I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to build a helicopter, do you? I'm not really sure what I should be looking for."
Harold nodded. "Yeah, you did kind of get a difficult one. I'd say that if you can't find a proper rotor, maybe look for a really big fan instead, probably about 1.8 meters in diameter will work. Just make sure you hook it up to a good engine, otherwise you'll be going nowhere."
"Thanks, man," Trent smiled. "Good luck with your plane!"
As the musician ran off ahead, Noah came up and took his place. "Want any help with your bird?" Harold asked.
"What could you possibly suggest that'll make this any more doable?" Noah asked dryly.
"Well, you could always try building a set of wings for yourself out of feathers and wax," Harold said.
"Yeah, I'll pass," Noah told him. "They did that last season, and it didn't look like my type of thing."
"So how else are you gonna build a bird?" Harold asked.
Noah shrugged. "Ehh, this place is filled with enough crap that I'm bound to think of something."
/
The music became slow, plodding, and thoughtful as the scene cut to Courtney throwing things out of the junk pile she was searching through, then rubbing her chin in annoyance. "How am I supposed to build a rocket?" she asked herself as she stood up and looked around. "What do I need...well, fuel, obviously, and a propulsion system. What was it that the boys used to lift that couch when we had to climb Mount Looming Tragedy? Maybe I should go ask Noah...and if he doesn't wanna help, then I can just see to it that he has his own share of troubles." The camera zoomed out as she started to walk back to the right, catching her step absentmindedly off a broken washing machine and fall forward down the side of the junk pile with a startled yelp.
/
Another cut took the scene to Jasmine, who was still walking through the dump with her eyes moving from it to her card and back again. "Alright then, this should be straightforward. First, I'm gonna need a basket, or something else that I can ride in – preferably something light." She stopped and looked in front of her, and a short but dramatically triumphant tune played as the camera zoomed out to reveal a wheelchair in a nearby heap.
Jasmine smiled and pulled it down. "Okay, not exactly what I had in mind, but it should work. Next up is something to heat the air with...it'll probably be the hardest thing to find out here to be honest." She looked around a bit, and all of a sudden seemed to notice something off to the left – the camera panned over it as the dramatically triumphant tune played again, revealing a propane burner unit lying on another pile nearby. "Well, that's pretty convenient," Jasmine said with another smirk as she wheeled the wheelchair over and put the burner on the seat. "Now all I need is something to use as the balloon...," she said, looking around again with a hopeful expression.
The camera panned around the junkyard, revealing nothing notable in sight as a much flatter and more depressed version of the earlier tune played. "Well, I guess two out of three isn't too bad," Jasmine shrugged.
/
The shot moved next to Trent, also still looking for the parts to his machine. "Okay...engine, rotor, and I guess something to sit in, too," he repeated to himself. "Hmm...I wonder if nine rotor blades would be too much?" he wondered, tapping his chin and looking upward and in doing so allowing himself to trip over something and hit the ground. Though he groaned in pain, he quickly smiled when he realized what he'd fallen over: an old motorcycle.
"Whoa, sweet!" Trent said, standing up and getting the motorcycle back upright. "I guess I have my engine and seat now. Still need a rotor, though," he said, looking around again, "and some way to hook 'em up. I wonder if it would still count if I put it under instead of over?" he pondered as he began to walk around again.
Soon enough he tripped and fell again, and again the camera zoomed out from his annoyed expression to show that he'd stumbled over something useful: in this case, a giant fan. "I guess I'll find out," he smiled and he stood once more and adopted a more serious expression. "And hopefully fast enough to make sure Courtney doesn't get her hands on that smoke machine." he added as he picked up the fan.
/
The scene moved back to Courtney creeping through the junk piles. She stopped suddenly at the edge of one, a look of mild surprise on her face as the camera panned rightward onto Jasmine as she tied the burner she'd found onto the back of the wheelchair.
"Not who I was hoping for," Courtney whispered to herself, smiling slyly as the shot moved back to her peeking out from behind an old refrigerator, "but maybe I can get something from her." She hurried out into the open as Jasmine began to open up a parachute pack, but the survivalist quickly noticed.
"Oh," she said flatly, "what do you want?"
"Just...looking for parts for my rocket," Courtney answered with a nervous laugh that ended in a sigh. "Actually, look, I'm gonna be straight with you: I wanna form an alliance." Jasmine raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, think about it," the ex-CIT pleaded, "once the guys get rid of me you'll be the next on the chopping block. No way they keep around someone as strong as you."
"Yeah, I know," Jasmine said as she pulled more of the parachute out.
"You do?" Courtney perked up hopefully. "So...you'll join my alliance?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Jasmine told her while unfolding the parachute. "Even if they do try and get rid of me later on, I'm still gonna stick by my friends for as long as possible."
Courtney made an indignant noise. "Well, fine then. I hope you like losing," she told the survivalist, who was now mostly buried under the parachute.
"I don't plan to," Jasmine told her. "And don't think about untying anything to get back at me," she added sharply, the camera cutting to Courtney's hands freezing right before touching the ropes. The shot pulled out to show the young woman blushing in embarrassment before sniffing haughtily and walking away.
"As if I would...," she shot at her opponent.
/
A flash took the scene back to Trent, grunting in effort as he picked up his scavenged motorcycle and put it on top of the giant fan. He adjusted it a little bit, then stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Okay, now I just gotta hook it all together...," he said with a pleased grin.
/
Yet another flash moved the scene to a close-up of Harold, who appeared to be sitting down in something and fiddling with a grimy screwdriver. The camera zoomed out, revealing that he was sitting on a massive cobbled-together tricycle – the one that silent tinkerer B had built in the show's first season – trying to mount a plane propeller on the front.
A soft clanking above and behind him caught his and the camera's attention, both looking over to see the top of a high junk pile as a small tin can started falling and the hole mass began to shift. The music peaked dramatically as Harold threw his arms up defensively and cried "Junk slide!", but after a few seconds of nothing the music calmed back down and he opened his eyes in confusion.
"Relax, Chicken Little, it's just me," Noah said, climbing around the top of the junk pile and sliding down its side with a light bicycle – also built in the first season, though by Scarlett rather than B – under his arms.
Harold stood up, blinked, and grinned. "Looking for parts for your bird, I assume?"
"Asking obvious questions, I assume?" Noah replied before glancing at Harold's creation. "Nice plane, by the way. Don't they usually have wings?"
"I was just about to go look for some," Harold said.
"Cool," Noah said dryly. "By the way, how's that investigation of yours coming along? Figure out who the nefarious note-passer is yet?"
"I haven't had time yet, gosh," the dweeb replied. "But I'm gonna think about it while I go look for the last few parts I need."
"You do that," the schemer smirked. "I've got a bird to build myself, so I'll see you around." He gave his former teammate a finger pistol, then walked away. Once he spotted Harold walking away as well, he let out his breath.
And then slammed right into Courtney. Both former Rats fell backward onto their butts, and rubbed their faces in annoyance.
"Would it kill you to watch where you're going?" Noah griped.
"The same goes for you," Courtney replied, standing up and only then noticing who she'd bumped into. "Oh! Noah! Just who I was looking for."
"If it was just so you could knock me over, can I leave?" Noah asked dryly.
Courtney leveled an annoyed look at him, then stuck an arm out to keep him from walking past her. "Look. I know we haven't seen...eye to eye lately, but I do still think we should be allies. I mean, the others are obviously gonna go after you next if they can't go after me, so why not team up now and try to turn them against each other?"
"Because Trent hates your guts and Harold and Jasmine are too good of friends with him to go against that," Noah replied. "So in other words, I don't think we can turn them against each other so long as you're around." He lifted Courtney's arm out of his way and walked off, leaving Courtney to gape in frustration and disbelief.
"You could at least tell me how to build a rocket!" she called after him, getting nothing in reply. She growled and stomped her foot, then stormed back the way Noah had came, coming across Harold's half-finished plane along the way but paying it no heed. The perspective moved behind her as she passed it, and she stopped to angrily kick a stray toaster at the junk pile behind it...causing it to shudder and collapse, partially burying the modified motortrike.
Though startled, Courtney shrugged it off and took another step forward...only to quickly stop again, the camera cutting in close as she looked back toward the pile. Her brow rose up along with a dramatic theme, and she quickly adopted a dark and sly grin. "Hellooooooo, rocket..."
/
The score fell back as the footage flashed forward to Harold, now walking contentedly with his eyes closed and a pair of surfboards under his arms. He reached the spot where he'd been working before, opened his eyes, and gasped. "My plane!" he exclaimed, running over to his half-buried creation, throwing the surfboards on the ground, and trying to pull it out.
"Oh, was that yours? Sorry," came the mocking voice of Courtney, the shot cutting over to her smiling slyly down at him. "I had to move some clutter aside so I could work on my new rocket," she added, the camera pulling back dramatically to show her standing on top of a massive jet engine, mounting an armchair on the top of it.
Harold just scowled up at her and grit his teeth.
/
"Okay, just about...done," Noah said with a confident smirk, adjusting something off-camera then wiping the sweat from his brow. "You want a bird, McLean? I'll give you one," he declared, a triumphant tune playing as the camera zoomed out to reveal his creation: the base was still recognizable as the bike he'd scavenged, but he'd affixed what appeared to be the head of a swan boat to the front of it and bird-like wooden wings to either side, currently folded upward.
"Alright, time to see what this thing can do," he said as he got on. However, before he could start pedaling, a whooping cheer got his attention, and with a gasp he looked skyward.
"Yeah!" Trent cheered in excitement as he rose up over a pile of garbage on the back of his motorcycle-based hovercraft to a more intense dramatic tune.
"Crap...," Noah muttered in annoyance before the shot cut back to the musician flying quickly through the air.
He looked around with a grin on his face, then angled his craft downward after apparently spotting something. The shot cut outward to reveal that something as Chris, who was watching the musician with a grin on his face and a megaphone in hand.
"Hey man, how do you like it?" Trent asked the host.
"Looks good, dude!" the host replied. Trent beamed but as he began to descend he seemed to lose control of the craft and ended up crashing into the nearest junk pile. Chris winced, then laughed as Trent was shown groaning, his hover-copter's engine and fan shutting down. "Okay," Chris announced through his megaphone as yet another victorious theme began to play, "we have a winner! Trent finishes first, and gets a smoke machine!"
A chorus of the four loser's disappointed moans rose up over the dump. "Who will fly high?" Chris asked the camera as it cut back to him and Trent, the musician trying unsteadily to dismount his bike. "Who will crash and burn?" the host added before Trent fell over onto his back with a groan and part of the garbage pile collapsed on top of him. "Literally," Chris said impishly, finally lowering his megaphone as the mystery-invoking tune that usually opened the elimination theme began to play in the background. "And how many Gemmies will I win for this episode? Find out when we return, on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"
(Fade to Commercial and Back)
The episode resumed on a long-distance shot of the Final Five and their flying machines: Noah with his bird-bike, Trent with his hover-copter, Harold with his aerotrike, Jasmine with her wheelchair-hot air balloon inflated and moored to a stake in the ground, and Courtney's massive engine-rocket.
Some deep strings opened the background music as the shot zoomed in on the boys. "Congratulations on winning," Harold told Trent. "I bet that smoke machine is gonna be super useful."
"Thanks, man," Trent replied. "I couldn't have done it without your advice." Harold smiled and rubbed his nose proudly.
"So I bet you're locking forward to smoking Courtney with that thing, aren't ya?" Noah asked.
"You know it," Trent told him. "She's still gotta pay for voting out Gwen," he said, angrily punching his palm. "...and Zoey too, I guess," he added as an afterthought, slightly surprising both other boys. "Hey, listen," the musician whispered, motioning for Noah and Harold to lean in closer. "How about we form a guy's alliance, just the three of us? That way we can make sure to get rid of Courtney." he asked.
"Hey, there's an idea," Noah smirked. "Count me in."
"Sweet," Trent laughed. "What about you, Harold?" he turned his head and asked the dweeb, who was now frowning in concern.
"Sorry, but I just don't see the point," Harold whispered. "I mean, weren't we all gonna vote for her anyway?"
"Yeah, but this makes it official," Trent told him. "Plus, if she doesn't lose today, we'll still stick together and make sure none of us decide to work with her."
Noah snorted. "Like any of us would. You two have girls to avenge, and let's just say I haven't been on her good side these past few challenges."
"So what do you say, man?" Trent asked his friend, giving him an expectant smile.
Harold just looked at him nervously.
xxx
"What am I supposed to do in this situation?" Harold asked the outhouse camera, his arms spread in wild desperation. "If I don't join, I'll be betraying my friend! But if I do join Trent's alliance and Courtney wins, then I'll have to vote for Jasmine! How could I ever vote for the woman I'm in love with? Even if it's probably the better strategy..."
xxx
Before Harold could answer Trent's question the boys' attention was drawn upward as Chris' voice came down from the distant zeppelin. "Players!" he announced, the camera panning across the flaming hoops of the aerial obstacle course as the music became tensely anticipatory. "Prepare to be challenged, in the Obstacle Course of Doooooom!"
The shot cut inside the mobile command center as Chris paused to laugh, his favored red megaphone in hand with Chef and Alejandro behind him – his assistant smiling and the arch-villain looking backward in mild annoyance. His perspective showed the million-dollar briefcase standing next to several open crates of golden statuettes in the shape of a slender woman holding up an old television set, but his gaze quickly zoomed in on the prize money. It gleamed tantalizingly, and a dark smile formed on his face as the background music spiked ominously.
/
"So," Courtney said as the scene cut back to her and Jasmine on the ground, "do you really expect that little balloon of yours to compete with my rocket?" She patted the side of the massive modified jet engine proudly.
Jasmine snorted. "Yours might look fast, but that doesn't mean it is fast. I mean, how do you even know it'll work?"
Courtney looked taken aback for a moment, but quickly retorted with "Well, how do you know yours will work?"
"Because in case you haven't noticed, it already is," Jasmine replied, motioning to her balloon which was still floating a few feet off the ground and tethered to a stake to keep it from floating away.
"Oh...," Courtney said blankly before quickly regaining her haughty composure. "Well, I'm still gonna win."
Jasmine snorted again and smirked. "Yeah, well, good luck with that."
As both girls turned their attentions to their machines with smiles on their faces, the music turned ominous and the camera panned over to Trent, who was watching them with a single raised eyebrow.
/
The shot cut back outside the blimp as it slowly flew forward. "Well, there could stand to be a little more hate between Jasmine and Courtney," Chris said as the scene moved to him and Chef inside, "but with Trent alone I'm smelling another Gemmie!" he added with ever-increasing giddiness while, unknown to both men, Alejandro walked over with one of the awards in his hands.
With a dark grin he raised the golden statuette, the camera zooming in on it and staying put as he swung it down hard, hitting both Chef and Chris in the back of their heads, felling both with two cries of "Oof!" and a metallic clang.
The camera cut back to a ways outside the gondola, its door now open. Seconds later Chris was kicked screaming out into the open air, followed shortly by Chef, and the camera zoomed in as Alejandro leaned out of the doorway. "You can have your Gemmie," he called downward. "I'll take the million dollars!" He held up the briefcase of prize money, then turned around and slammed the door behind him.
A long-distance shot of a garbage pile showed Chris and Chef falling just beyond it, the camera quickly cutting over to a close-up of the fallen host. "Unnnh, I think I sprained my stubble," he groaned, Chef visibly lying on top of him.
"Uhh, Chris?" Harold spoke up, the shot zooming out as he ran up to the fallen men. "Alejandro totally just stole your Mobile Air Command Center."
"Whatever," the host said uncaringly. "Got it at the Air Force garage sale."
Courtney arrived next, slamming Harold out of the way. "He also stole the million dollars!" she said frantically.
"Whatever," Chris repeated. "Not my million bucks."
"And all your precious Gemmies," Noah added, walking up on the other side of Chris and Chef.
Chris's eyes popped open in panic. "My Gemmies?" he asked in concern before picking himself up from under Chef, the background music becoming dramatic once more. "Cancel the Obstacle Course of Doom," the host declared, "your new challenge is, to STOP THAT ZEPPELIN!"
"DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO STOP ME!" Alejandro called down at them, the camera cutting to a long-distance shot of the zeppelin and then to its open door where the charmer was standing with two of the Gemmies. "IN FACT, I'LL BE SO KIND AS TO RETURN THESE!" he added before throwing the statuettes out of the plane one after the other. The camera followed them for a bit as they spun through the air, then cut down to Chris running forward with his arms outstretched.
"I've got you, my preciouses!" he called out in concern, the camera pulling backward as he went behind a junk pile at around the same time as his two awards...and based on the ensuing clonks, groan, and cloud of dust, got hit on the head by both and fell to the ground. The dramatic music ended there.
xxx
"Honestly, who does Alejandro think he is?" Jasmine asked the outhouse camera, hands on her hips in aggravations. "He makes himself out to be one of the game's strongest competitors, but he's basically just a more talented version of Justin. That's probably why he stolen the zeppelin, he knows he can't get the million any other way."
xxx
"Get your flying machines airborne and shoot down that zeppelin!" Chris commanded, now holding both of the awards that had been thrown but also sporting a few bruises on his forehead. "Aim for the engines. Here's your ammo," he looked to the side as Chef walked up holding, of all thing, a wicker basket full of blue eggs, "flying mutant fire-breathing mountain goat eggs!"
The campers looked surprised. "But goats don't lay eggs," Harold corrected in confusion, "they're mammals!"
"Goats don't breathe fire, either. Unless they live here!" Chris smiled. "Thank you, toxic waste," he laughed, causing Noah and Courtney to share an incredulous look. "Whoever takes down Alejandro gets immunity," the host continued. "Oh, and look out for the flying mutant fire-breathing mountain goats. They are super ticked for some reason!" He looked at Chef, who whistled nonchalantly.
/
The footage flashed back a trio of mutant goats nesting on a cliff side amongst some barbed wire and waste barrels. They didn't react when Chef suddenly dropped down in front of them by a rope around his waist, carrying a wicker basket in one arm and an airhorn in the other, but when the horn was sounded they bleated in panic and flew off, leaving their eggs behind. Chef grinned, tossed the airhorn away, and picked up an egg with a snicker.
/
"Alright," Jasmine said over a close-up of her buckling herself in to her wheelchair, the music becoming low but tense. "Everything's secured," she said, tugging on a few ropes as the camera zoomed out, "so it's time to take to the skies!" She hooked a foot around her mooring rope and used the leverage to pull herself close enough to grab it and unhook its terminal loop from the stake in the ground. Her craft now untethered, she pulled the chain connected to the heat source mounted on a barrel in the back – the flame turned on, and the balloon ascended along with the music.
The camera panned over to Courtney, who was watching nervously from the seat of her engine-rocket.. The shot cut in closer as the background score reached a tenser part, and she frantically started pulling her lone control stick back and forth. "C'mon," she griped, "work already!" She stamped her foot in frustration, and to her surprise the engine seemed to splutter to life a bit...only to die out in seconds. "On, come on!" Courtney growled angrily, unbuckling herself from her seat and stamping towards the back of the engine.
A series of sharp notes were struck as the shot cut over to Trent on the back of the motorcycle part of his contraption, looking over his shoulder and laughing. "Alright," he said, moving his smoke machine onto his lap, "time for me to go up and Courtney to go down. Nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-one-go!" he counted down rapidly, ending with a rev of the bike's engine that got the fan started. Quickly but shakily he rose up, the music picking up its pace as the scene cut to him rising over the crest of a junk pile and moving off towards the distant hot air balloon in pursuit of the even more distant zeppelin.
The next cut put the focus on the figurehead of Noah's contraption, then his pedaling feet, and then on the whole picture as he pumped his legs and built up speed. The sound of an approaching engine caused him to look backwards just in time to see Harold come up next to him in his aerotrike.
"Hey Noah," Harold called out with a jovial grin as his creation started lifting off the ground, "eat my dust!"
"EAT MINE!" Courtney roared as she suddenly tore past them atop her rocket, blowing both to the side.
Though the force of her ascent had knocked his plane back to the ground, Harold quickly managed to achieve lift again and sped into the air. Noah, however, was still ground bound. He grunted in irritation, then looked forward. The perspective moved behind him to show a piece of sheet metal lying on the ground at enough of an angle to form a ramp, and Noah grinned. "Alright, time for this little birdie...," he hit the ramp and launched into the air, then flipped a switch on his handlebars to lower his wings and start gliding, "to leave the nest!" He whooped and cheered in excitement as he started pedaling again, causing the wooden wings to flap and take him higher into the air.
The shot cut to Harold as he flew through the sky, only for Noah to suddenly fly up over him, and swoop further on upward with a passing taunt of "Thanks for the slipstream, Ace!" and a short laugh. Harold gasped, but his expression quickly faded into a competitive smirk as he pulled a short lever sticking out under the handlebars and sped up.
A quick-pan moved the scene to the zeppelin, but the shot quickly cut to Courtney as she narrowed her eyes and grabbed an egg from somewhere next to her. "Take this!" she shouted, throwing the egg at the errant airship as she zoomed past.
It bounced uselessly off the side of the zeppelin's balloon, and as she went by the gondola below the camera zoomed in through the window to show Alejandro watching with a dark grin. "Ah, how they try their hardest to stop me. Pitiful, really," he said before laughing.
Back outside, Courtney narrowed her eyes into a glare as she looked back over her shoulder. "Great," she said, "now I have to turn this stupid thing around..." She flew just off-camera and did just that, reappearing moments later flying in the opposite direction. The shot followed her for a few seconds before quick-panning ahead to the tail of the zeppelin, where Trent was hovering just behind.
Trent looked ahead in close-up towards the sound of the approaching jet engine and perked up. "Courtney's coming," he said to himself while blindly picking up one of his eggs, "maybe I can knock her off..." He grinned, then threw the egg to his right, towards the path of Courtney's rocket.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him Jasmine's balloon had risen up between him and his intended target, and so the egg hit the side of the survivalist's wheelchair instead. "Hey, watch where you're throwing those things!" she immediately scolded.
"Aww man, why'd you have to get in the way?" Trent replied, seemingly unaware of her remark as he looked around with wide, frantic eyes.
"Excuse me?" Jasmine asked in growing outrage, but the roar of a jet engine had directed Trent's attention downward and so he tilted his hovercraft into a dive, blowing past Harold and Noah as they ascended and causing both of their crafts to spin end-over-end.
"Gosh!" Harold yelled once he and Noah had leveled out, shaking a fist angrily in the direction Trent had gone.
"Thanks for that!" Noah shouted bitterly at around the same time. The camera focused in on him as he grumbled, then started pumping his legs and thus flapping his bird's wings. "This stupid thing is hard to enough to fly as it is," he added under his breath as he ascended to one of the zeppelin's rear engines. He pulled out an egg and threw it at it, but the egg merely splattered into shell and yoke that quickly slid off.
"Wow, what great ammo," he said dryly, already idly holding another egg. He sniffed it, then recoiled in disgust. "I guess it goes with the smell," he added before an angry bleating got his attention.
A drumroll led into a more ominous tune as a pair of mutant goats were shown flying nearby, quickly joined by a third. They opened their mouths and breathed three streams of fire at him, forcing him to dip down under them. "Yeah, not gonna get any closer to those in this plywood bird," he said with wide, panicked eyes. "Hey!" he called out to them. "Why don't you go burn that instead!" he said, pointing towards the zeppelin. To his surprise, the goat flew past him in the direction he'd indicated.
The shot cut inside to Alejandro standing at the wheel of the airship, gasping as the mountain goats flew up in front of the windshield. "What are those things?" he said in disbelieving horror before gritting his teeth and gripping firmly the spokes of the steering wheel.
Another cut took the scene back outside to the rear of the zeppelin, where Harold and Jasmine were flying alongside each other. Close-ups were shown of each throwing an egg in turn, but both projectiles bounced off harmlessly.
"Okay, the eggs are worthless," Jasmine said. "We're gonna have to find another way to bring this thing down."
"Hmm...," Harold said, rubbing his chin in thought before raising a finger in realization. "A-ha! If we can't do it from outside, we'll just have to do it from inside instead!"
"Harold, you're a genius!" Jasmine beamed, causing the dweeb to grin proudly and blush faintly. "Alright, I'll take the side door, you go around and see if there's any other entry points. Okay?"
"Of course, I'll be as bold and daring as you want me, my sweet," he said with a close-eyed flourish. When he opened them, however, he realized that Jasmine had already gone ahead, paused for a moment in startled embarrassment, then gasped and accelerated forward towards the head of the zeppelin.
A few deeper notes were struck as the camera followed him past Jasmine, then panned down to show Trent looking around anxiously. "Okay, I just gotta figure out how to keep Courtney from winning this thing." he told himself. "That's all that matters." The sound of the jet engine him in the background caused him to turn his attention to his left, and the camera to zoom under the zeppelin's gondola to show Courtney zooming back to the front of the airship for another pass.
"Awesome," Trent smiled, reaching down for another egg but pausing as he brushed his hand against the smoke machine he'd won. He stared at it for a moment, then palmed his face. "Of course! How could I be so stupid?" He picked it up and pointed it behind him, and once he heard the engine approaching he turned it on. His aim was off, unfortunately, and the engine-rocket just blew threw the smokescreen while Courtney laughed mockingly. Trent frowned and pointed the smoke machine forward with one hand while accelerating his hovercraft upward with the other, but rather than catch Courtney in the stream he only ended up blowing smoke at Jasmine.
"What's your deal?" she coughed, waving away the cloud that had enveloped her until it finally shut off at the source and dissipated.
"What's your deal getting in the way again?" Trent replied angrily.
"What are you talking about?" Jasmine asked, but he'd already spotted Courtney circling back around on the other side of the airship and had turned around to intercept her.
/
A flash took the scene back to the front of the zeppelin, where the three mutant goats were still harassing it with angry bleats and the occasional burst of fire breath. "Malditas cabras...," Alejandro swore as the shot cut inside the gondola and in a fit of anger he spun the wheel to the side, stopped it, and spun it back the other way. The music picked up dramatically as the camera cut back to the open air, the zeppelin suddenly moving up and down. The goats quickly scattered, and the shot panned down to show Harold swooping and swerving as the massive balloon moved into his path from one side and Courtney sped past on the other. He nearly ended up colliding with Trent as well, who'd come up from below the airship with a rather desperate look on his face and an egg in his hand.
"Dude, watch where you're going!" the musician said as the two corrected their flight paths and started moving side-by-side in front of, and just below, the airship.
"Hey, it's not my fault the zeppelin suddenly jerked around like that," Harold retorted.
Trent sighed. "Yeah, sorry for snapping at you. I'm just so stressed because I haven't been able to stop Courtney at all. I guess you haven't been having much luck with that either?"
"Why would I even be trying?" Harold asked in confusion.
"Uhh, do you not want Courtney to lose?" Trent replied with irritation.
"Of course," Harold said, "but I can do that by winning before she does."
"Fat chance with her zipping around like that," the musician argued. "Once she figures something out she'll be too fast for us to stop! That' why we have to take her out now!"
"But you just said you haven't been having any luck with that!" the dweeb said.
"Yeah, because I've been the only one trying," Trent said with a hint of anger. "You've been trying to win, Noah's off who knows where, and Jasmine keeps getting in my way!" He looked away irritably as he said the survivalist's name.
"Hey, what's your problem with Jasmine?" Harold asked accusingly. "First the guy's alliance, and now this? I thought we were all supposed to be friends!"
"So did I," Trent answered, "but between how she's been talking and how she keeps conveniently stopping me from taking out Courtney, I'm starting to doubt that she's really on my side here."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Harold cried in outrage. "Just because some of us aren't obsessing over it doesn't mean we all don't want Courtney gone!"
"Oh, so now I'm obsessed, am I?" Trent replied. "Thanks for the support," he added bitterly before swerving back around. Harold watched him go for a moment, then huffed and angled his plane upwards.
/
Another flash took the focus over to the side of the gondola, with Jasmine's balloon floating just outside the door. "Okay, just gotta get this open," she told herself as she reached out and grabbed the door handle. "Nice and slowly now," she said with a hint of nervousness, smiling when something clicked and the door silently swung inward. With her left hand on one of the balloon's ropes she unbuckled herself with her right, and hesitantly stood up as the background music became more and more dramatic.
The camera quick-panned down and towards the left, landing on Trent as he looked back over his shoulder with a scowl. "Stupid...some friend he is," he muttered, the shot zooming out to show the distracted musician heading towards Jasmine's balloon as she slowly stepped into the open doorway. His path headed underneath her chair...which would have been a clear route for him, had it not been for the balloon's mooring line that was still dangling freely.
The loop at the end of the rope hooked onto the front of Trent's motorcycle as he passed by, causing the entire balloon to jerk out from under Jasmine, in turn causing her to slip and fall backward into open sky with a startled and terrified scream that cause Trent to gasp and slow down. The survivalist just barely managed to grab hold of one of the legs of her former seat as she fell past it, but all the jostling had caused the flame of her creation's burner unit to move closer to the bottom edge of the balloon, causing it to ignite.
"Trent," Jasmine gasped as she hung on her dear life, "what have you done?!"
"I...I...," Trent babbled in panic. "Me? What were you doing?"
"NOT THIS!" Jasmine yelled. "NOT HANGING FROM A BURNING HOT AIR BALLOON!"
Trent gaped, but before he could say anything more the giant fan of his hovercraft started to sputter and spurt out smoke. "Aww man, I don't think this thing can handle the drag of the balloon!" he exclaimed. "We're going down!"
"YOU THINK?!" Jasmine roared before the entire tangled-up and burning mess began to slow and descend, its two captive riders screaming along with it...
/
The music became even tenser and more dramatic as the scene flashed to Noah flying his bird-bike along the top of the zeppelin, his legs pumping and breathing heaving and hair streaming backward in the wind. "This is easily the most insane thing I've ever had to do," he told himself. "Seriously, how are any of us supposed to take down a zeppelin with a couple eggs?" He was momentarily distracted by Courtney's engine-rocket zooming by in the background, but he quickly turned his eyes forward again. "Well, at least I'm not the only one still up here," he said.
He was startled again by a sudden jet of flame shooting up in the background, and he looked in shock as Harold flew up past the edge of the zeppelin screaming between another two jets of fire. "Go away! I don't have any more of your eggs!" he yelled as the three mutant goats flew up after him.
"Great," Noah said in shock and disbelief, "now those things are back!" He fell silent for a moment, then his eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Wait! The goats!" he exclaimed, turning his bird around to fly after Harold's pursuers.
The shot cut over to Courtney, still flying around on her rocket. "Okay, this time for sure I'm gonna get it," she told herself as she circled around, the perspective moving over her shoulder to show the front of the zeppelin moving back into view.
A sudden sputter and puff of smoke from her engine quickly got her attention. "Oh no," she said in alarm, "not now!" She frantically moved her control stick but it didn't seem to have any effect, and the musical score became even sharper as the shot zoomed out and the old jet engine began to fall apart at the seams. Courtney screamed as a few small explosions propelled her, her seat, and one of the top panels of the engine casing forward towards the zeppelin, through its glass windshield and into the gondola – and Alejandro, who was screaming and steering fruitlessly at the helm.
They tumbled a few feet across the floor, landing face-to-face with Courtney on top. Though startled, the young woman quickly kneed Alejandro between the legs then scrambled up. Looking around, she spotted the million dollar briefcase sitting against a wall further back in the room.
"Yes!" she cheered, holding the case high above her head as a triumphant tune played...and promptly petered out as Alejandro's arm reached into the close-up and tried to pull it away from her. "Hey! How did-" she asked in disbelief as the shot zoomed out to show the two playing tug-of-war over the prize money.
Alejandro cut her off with a chuckle. "Please, señorita, after having it happen so often on this show I've learned how to take such blows in stride. Now if you wouldn't mind, this," he tugged hard on the case, forcing her to stumble a step forward before tanking it out of her hands entirely, "belongs to me!" He thrust the case right back at her, knocking her to the ground.
"In what way?" Courtney replied with indignant anger, still sitting on her butt. "You never even made a finale!"
"So what?!" Alejandro replied. "After all the pain and humiliation I've been forced to endure on this show, I deserve the money more than anyone!" He stepped over and past her, and the camera zoomed in as she gasped, then growled in anger.
"Well too bad," Courtney said as she got to her feet, springing forward and getting her hands on the case just as he reached the helm again, forcing him to turn around and renew their struggle. "This is my season, and my million dollars!" The music rose up violently and dramatically once again as they battled over the briefcase, but a sudden jolt caused both to stumble and slam against the helm as the zeppelin began to dive.
They gasped in panic and confusion, and the shot cut outside to one of the front engines, now on fire with the three mountain goats flying to the right along the diving airship. The camera quick-panned over to the rear port-side engine where Noah was waiting, his gaze held backwards as he pedaled hard to flap in place.
"They're coming!" Harold called out to him, suddenly flying past.
Noah nodded as his fellow nerd swooped off-screen, then looked back in the direction of the approaching bleating. "Is that all you petting zoo rejects have got?!" he yelled before speeding up and diving away before three jets of fire streamed towards his former position, two of them hitting the engine and igniting it.
The camera cut over to a view of the starboard rear as first Harold, then Noah, then the goats flew around the tail and back up towards the front of the airship. "Alright, this is the last one!" Noah called out as the two boys reached the rear starboard engine.
"Roger," Harold replied as the two began to slow down enough to stay by the engine. "You mutants will never be able to catch the Red Harold!" the dweeb looked back and boasted, immediately screaming and swerving out of the way of a jet of fire-breath.
The shot cut back inside the zeppelin's gondola as the whole ship lurched yet again, the bumping and sharp tilting causing Courtney and the briefcase to tumble over and out of the broken windshield.
She recovered from her impact-induced daze in freefall, and quickly realized the million dollar briefcase was falling in front of her. "Yes!" she said, reaching out to grab it...only for Chris to promptly fly up with his jetpack and grab it by the handle instead.
"A million bucks, finders keepers!" he said in mocking sing-song before zipping upwards to the sound of an explosion and yet another dramatic rise in the background music.
Courtney gasped indignantly, then furrowed her brow in annoyance. "Oh, he's good," she said.
The shot cut back to a head-on shot of the fallen zeppelin, all four of its engines flaming and smoking, then zoom-cut to Noah watching the crash over his shoulder. "Alright, we actually pulled off that crazy plan!" he cheered in excitement before looking to the side and screaming as the shot zoomed out to reveal that the right wing of his bird-bike was on fire as well.
His scream continued as his craft started diving into a tailspin, but with the accompaniment of a suddenly victorious tune Harold flew past the falling craft in his aerotrike, scooping Noah away from danger. "Don't worry, buddy, I've got you covered," Harold said, the shot cutting in to show the boy he'd rescued sitting awkwardly on his lap.
Despite the circumstances, Noah couldn't help but snort and grin and put an arm around his savior's neck. "Thanks, Ace. Looks like I don't have to save my own butt for once."
The two laughed, but the shot quickly cut down to water level where Jasmine and Trent were treading water, watching the zeppelin crash into the lake in the distance. "Man, I hope the guys are okay," Trent said in concern.
Jasmine glared at him. "Oh, just go away," she snarled, forcibly dunking him into the lake then swimming away. He resurfaced quickly, but his look of confusion quickly turned to terror as the camera followed his look to the side, revealing Fang looking up out of the water with a menacing grin. Trent yelled and began to swim away, the mutant gave chase, Courtney fell into the water nearby, and the shot zoomed up and over back to Noah and Harold flying against the sunset sky towards Wawanakwa, the mutant goats bleating rather peacefully a little ways behind them.
/
The footage immediately skipped forward to the campfire ceremony, a few deep notes signaling the shift in the music towards the usual elimination repertoire. The Final Five were all sitting in the front row, with Noah on the far left, followed by Harold, Jasmine, Courtney, and a rather irritated Trent. The two nerds were already holding marshmallows.
"Elimination time!" Chris began from off-screen. "Noah, Harold, the two of you took down the zeppelin together so you're both safe," he continued as the camera slowly panned away from the campers, "but the rest of you are on the chopping block." The scene finally moved onto the two adults, Chris standing at his podium with a tray of two marshmallows with Chef standing nearby in his hazmat suit, displaying the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom in its open box for all to see.
"Regular marshmallow means you're safe," Chris reminded everyone. "Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom means you're out. Aaaand, probably mutated." Another round of deep notes led into a trill as the shot cut back to the campers still on the chopping block. "The next person safe is...Jasmine," the host said, tossing a marshmallow to the delighted survivalist, though her joy quickly turned into anger as she turned her head to her left, the camera panning along to focus better on Courtney and Trent.
"And with three votes against," Chris announced, the shot cutting back to him and Chef as the tension rose in the music, "the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom goes to..."
As he lingered the music became more and more ominous, the camera cutting to and zooming towards Courtney and Trent as they leveled harsh glares at one another. Each was shown in turn in close-up as they looked back towards the host, Courtney biting her lip while Trent quickly closed his eyes and started tapping his lucky rabbit's foot to his forehead, his own lips muttering numbers in sequence.
"Trent," the handsome host finally said.
"Nine," Trent finally said as well a moment later, opening his eyes and quickly ducking under the irradiated treat. He sat back up and looked over at the other in shock as the music reached its sombre yet reverent farewell piece. "Guys, what's the deal? I thought we were gonna vote out Courtney?"
He motioned to the girl in question, who smiled smugly, caught the marshmallow tossed her way and popped it into her mouth, then gave the musician a short, finger-wiggling wave.
"The deal is that your obsession with revenge nearly got me seriously hurt," Jasmine scolded him. "Don't get me wrong, I don't like what Courtney's done either, but your recklessness went too far. I should've listened to Zoey when she warned me that something bad might happen with you."
Gaping, Trent turned to Harold and Noah for confirmation. And while the schemer himself gaped slightly in surprise, the dweeb nodded solemnly before opening his eyes and giving Trent a stern look.
Trent scowled. "Some friend you turned out to be," he said bitterly.
"Hey," Harold replied, "you're not the only person out here that I have a bond with, okay? And just because I recognize that you went too far doesn't mean I don't think of you as a friend."
Trent rolled his eyes as he turned to walk away. "Pfft, whatever man," he said before getting abruptly grabbed by Chef and dragged away with a startled yelp.
/
The scene flashed to the docks, Trent already loaded into the Hurl of Shame. "Any final words to your fellow competitors?" Chris asked him.
"Not really," Trent replied with a surly expression, not causing the host to so much as flinch. "I'm coming, Gwen!" he shouted as he was hurled into the night, the words fading into the distance as he did.
The shot cut to the Final Four watching from the shore, then to a close-up of Harold as he hung his head and sighed.
xxx
"Well, there goes another friend," Harold told the outhouse camera, giving the wall-mounted roll of toilet paper a halfhearted spin. "And to make matters worse, I never even got to go through with my investigation of the notes. It had to have been someone who would want Courtney to vote out Zoey, but I just don't see who..."
He trailed off there, his eyes suddenly going wide in realization. The camera rapidly zoomed into them, and faded from that shot into a series of faded bits of earlier footage...
/
Noah's brow shot up in surprise. "Notes?"
/
"Oh, those," Noah said with an awkward smile. "Sorry, they slipped my mind because they didn't seem that important."
/
Noah snorted. "Let's just say I haven't been on her good side these past few challenges."
/
Despite the circumstances, Noah couldn't help but snort and grin and put an arm around his savior's neck. "Thanks, Ace. Looks like I don't have to save my own butt for once."
/
The music rapidly rose into something high, ominous, and eerie, as the shot zoomed back out to show Harold gasping in the outhouse confessional. "Noah..." he whispered as the music peaked, then cut back into silence.
xxx
The capstone theme began immediately as the scene returned to the Dock of Shame, Chris standing alone by the season's catapult. "And then there were four," he told the camera. "Will Courtney ever get her hands on the million? Or will Jasmine crush her in front of millions? Will Harold expose the source of the notes? Or will Noah write him into a corner? Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"
(Fade to Credits)
Author's Note - Post Script
And thus, Trent proves his own downfall. For although the others are certainly angry at Courtney for her hand in eliminating Gwen and Zoey, she never caused (or nearly caused) serious injury with her recklessness. And although Jasmine was doing something risky, she had little reason to expect anyone to do what Trent did and in fact would have pulled it off without a hitch had he not been distracted, and as such she is completely justified in her anger. And with Harold's devotion and Courtney knowing an opportunity when she sees one, Trent's fate was sealed. I hope I didn't disappoint any Trent fans too bad.
I also hope you liked my choices for the flying machines. Although the rocket would be more suitable for Harold on the face of things, I decided that I didn't want things to go as close to canon as that would imply - so instead of the smart guy getting basically an auto-win by flying the jet engine into the zeppelin, Courtney's subpar engineering skills meant I could have her ride fall apart, leading her to crash into the gondola as Lightning did in canon. From there, giving Trent the helicopter was obvious (even if I only wanted to use the hovercopter as a fall-back plan in case I couldn't come up with a more original design, which is sadly what happened), and likewise with Jasmine and the balloon and Harold with the plane. And Noah getting the bird was, of course, primarily for comic effect. And, of course, as i wanted to incorporate elements and references to the unique happenings of the Shuffledverse, I decided to include B and Scarlett's bikes from season one into the designs of the airplane and 'bird'. I hope you liked them.
Let's see...not much else to say, other than that I'm glad I decided to include the scene of Harold's epiphany regarding the notes. I knew I wanted to lead up to something like that all chapter, but while the more formal investigation was my first idea I just never had the time to really go anywhere with it directly.
Anyway, let me know what you thought of the chapter! I'm eager as always to know what I did right, what I did wrong, and what you're all hoping and/or predicting for the future.
See you all next time!
- Fangren
Appendix: TSROTI Eliminated Contestants
Cody - (13th Place)
Izzy - (RETURNED | Formerly AWOL)
Leonard - (12th Place)
Justin - (11th Place)
Lindsay - (10th Place)
Cameron - (9th Place)
Izzy - (Tied for 7th Place | Mutated, but captured)
Gwen - (Tied for 7th Place)
Zoey - (6th Place)
Trent - (5th Place)
