Author's Note
Only a few more episodes left, folks. I'm on schedule to start work on the season finale on Sunday, so it's safe to say that things are drawing to a close. I hope you're all looking forward to it!
But for now, on to the reviews.
Gage the Hedgehog: Thanks!
CVluvFoxy: Yup, Courtney was spared once again, ironically because of her biggest enemy. And yeah, Harold's on the right track with the notes...but you'll have to read on and find out what comes of it.
Silver Writer 0927: Well, sorry to disappoint with the Trent elimination. I hope you can still enjoy the rest of the season.
Tokusatsu-31st Century: Good to hear it; it was my intention to show that Trent can indeed get a little...intense, at times, just like in canon. He's driven, and he has strong emotions, and sometimes that comes back to bite him in the butt. He's a lot like Courtney in that sense, even if he isn't as obvious about it.
Animation Adventures: Yeah. Although Gwen will be understanding, Trent is probably gonna be hard on himself for pretty much completely failing to accomplish his goal. But sometimes these things just happen... Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed my re-use of the motorcycle hovercopter from canon as Trent's vehicle, and likewise with my use of B and Scarlett's bikes - you're right in that, to an extent, they symbolize which 'side' Harold and Noah are on this season. Oh, and thanks again for helping me figure out next season's cast.
P. T. Piranha: True, true. And to be honest, I wasn't really intentionally modeling Trent's behavior as a mirror to Zoey's from canon; I just kind of extrapolated on what we saw from Trent in canon in a way that fit the story and led to his elimination. And it's probably more my fault that you got lost a bit in the second half of the challenge, I could've done more to describe exactly where everyone was with respect to the blimp.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Thanks! And yeah, that's a big part of what Jasmine and Harold were thinking last week - Trent nearly hurt Jasmine in his pursuit of revenge, so it would be too risky to keep him around.
PizzaTheBomb: Is that so? Well, I'm glad I good live up to it. You're right in that Courtney's obnoxiousness does make for good comedy, though it's also what turns people off of her... Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed Jasmine's reactions to Trent's reckless revenge attempts, as well as the vehicle pairings in a general sense. I hope you enjoy what happens next!
The Prime Writer: Fair enough. And yeah, the way Trent was handled in canon TDA was just awful, as you said; I'm glad I was able to take the parts that would make him a more fleshed-out character and execute them in a much more realistic way. And your analysis of the others is good as well - Courtney is indeed returning more towards her initial state or elitism, while Harold...has some things to think about. I hope the path I've decided to put him on proves interesting. Regarding last week's cameo, while Sugar would have been a good choice as well I'm glad I chose Alejandro; they both have valid parallels to Heather, but I liked Alejandro's more. As for the future...well, it is certainly up in the air for everyone. And regarding Izzy and Fang, I will say that I do have a resolution in mind for their part of the story...but you'll have to wait and see what that is.
FilipinaPossible: Thanks! Courtney did certainly get lucky last week...but that doesn't mean she, or really anyone, are entirely safe this week.
Sarcasm Is A Habit: Yup, that was a fairly big hint that things weren't gonna go well for Trent last week. I'm glad you're enjoying the Final Four, and that you're looking forward with excitement to both the finale and next season. Oh, and the four episodes remaining I mentioned last week included episode 10.
moka evans: Fair enough. Sorry to disappoint you with Trent not getting as much use as you were hoping for. The intern getting hurled was a joke in canon, so I can't take credit for it. I am glad you enjoyed Harold so much last week, though; it's always nice to hear that I've written a character well. The same goes for the others - I'm glad you enjoyed the roles each of them had to play in the episode reaching its conclusion, and I hope the same holds true this week. And as for Alejandro's cameo...well, I'm glad I was able to deliver something worthwhile.
Glowing Insanity: Yeah, looks like it. Admittedly, Courtney was probably the more obvious choice to go home until Trent started acting as he did. And while I'm not entirely sure why you were expecting Amy instead of Alejandro, I'm glad the latter's inclusion helped make the episode so great for you. And as for your predicted scenarios...well, they're interesting, as such things always are for me. I hope you enjoy what happens this week!
ashDanLand: Good to hear it! I'm glad my version of the episode lived up to your love of its canon equivalent, and surpassed it in terms of the elimination. I, personally, was fine with Jo getting the boot there, but I can see why others might not be. So I'm happy I was able to improve that aspect for you, and that you loved Alejandro taking Heather's place as cameo as well. I hope you enjoy what happens with the Final Four!
Explorer of the Unknown: Ah, well, fair enough. I can't expect everyone to be perfectly happy about how Trent's elimination went down. But, as you said, there's still opportunity for Trent to see the error of his ways, as it were. And I hope that you enjoy how the massive knot of possibility unravels with this week's episode. It's astounding hos little is left in this season...
Guest: Well, revenge does odd things to a person's mind. But yeah, he's with Gwen now, so perhaps he'll be able to calm down. And you'll certainly see what leads from Harold's revelation, and how close your theories are to reality, so enjoy...
VIPGuest: Fair enough, I guess that's on me for not drawing more attention to it before recently. And Trent, I think, had shades of this sort of potential even in canon; it wasn't very noticeable most of the time, though. He's a surprisingly complex guy. And...I wouldn't exactly called it Total Friendship Island, even if friendship ended up being a pretty big theme this season.
FOWLKON: Yup. Even with Courtney so unpopular with the rest of the cast, it doesn't mean there can't be other, better people to vote off at a given moment. An interesting analysis regarding Harold's potential course of action with his newfound suspicion of Noah, as well as the remaining campers' possible mirrors from the canon season. And the outcome of this week's challenge too. I hope you enjoy what happens, and I look forward to seeing if/how your thoughts change afterward.
I. M. Poik: Yeah, looks like Harold and Jasmine weren't the only ones getting irritated by Trent's quest for revenge. And yeah, Jasmine 'getting in the way' so much was entirely coincidental in-story, not that Trent was willing to consider it. As for the villains, I've actually been trying to portray both Courtney and Noah as not outright and irredeemable villains; they both have mostly just been trying to save their own butts, as you said, and mostly haven't entirely been malicious (although Courtney has still been more malicious than Noah). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the episode this week, even taking the cameo into account. Izzy's rivalry with Fang will be resolved eventually, and though I didn't consider eliminating Trent in ninth place I did consider eliminating him in the ninth episode.
bruno14: Yup, and I'm glad you enjoyed last week's episode. Your prediction is interesting as always, though admittedly a little wide since you said you could see three out of the four remaining players going home. But still, I hope you enjoy what happens!
OMAC001: Haha, yeah. Every season has to have a gross-out challenge somewhere.
ZachSwag: Great to hear it! I hope you continue to enjoy these last few chapters.
DSX62415: Yup. Trent was far too focused on one particular method of ensuring Courtney's loss, and in doing so caused his own.
Alice Queen of Madness: Hah, I'm glad my choice for the Final Four has gone over so well with my reviewers. I'm sure we'll all get to see a bit of Gwen's reaction to what Trent did when we see them again in the finale, but you'll have to wait a few more weeks for that. And as for Harold and Noah...well, you'll have to read on and see for yourself.
graveexcitement: And you were right! Although they've been friends all season, some things just can't be ignored. Thank you for pointing out Noah's fatal flaw; I actually wasn't conscious of it when I was writing the events leading up to Harold realization, but I can definitely see it fitting in. And while I will agree that Noah could have explained things better to his team in Dodgebrawl, it probably wouldn't be enough - Heather wouldn't be satisfied unless he proved it, and the team in general wouldn't take that excuse after both Cody and Harold did so well in the challenge. But yeah, anyway, I'm glad you've enjoyed my interpretation of Noah so much! He's certainly not in as good of a position as he used to be in going into this week's episode, but as your own thoughts on the finale suggest there's a lot of different ways for things to go down. I hope you enjoy it regardless.
Star Saber21: Thanks! And yeah, while Alejandro's numerous injuries and humiliation have been funny for us...well, it goes without saying that they weren't funny for him. But I guess that's just what makes it all so...funny?
link9753: That is, in part, what I've been going for with Noah's actions this season - although the others would have a basis to be angry with him, and to distrust him, he was ultimately acting out of self-preservation. Of course, his role in sending the notes isn't entirely out of the bag yet, so I won't say exactly how things play out for him. Especially since, as you said, any of the Final Four could reasonably make it to the finale. I hope you enjoy this week's chapter as much as you did last week's.
wifishark: Hmm, well, you'll see soon enough. I hope you enjoy how things play out!
StayOuttaMyShed: With 'soon' in this case being four hours after you left your review...sigh, I've been getting these out later and later it seems... But anyway, on to more substantive matters. I'm really happy you enjoyed how everything went down last week, between Courtney being Courtney and Alejandro being Alejandro, to Trent's increasingly reckless attempts to get rid of her leading to his own downfall, and of course to Harold's realization. And as for Trent being on the villains next season...well, it's an idea, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few more weeks to see the cast I've decided upon. And I do hope that you enjoy it regardless of whether or not Trent makes the cut.
And that, dear readers, is the reviews taken care of for the week. As I'm sure you all know by now, the poll in my profile will remain up for the time being, despite me admittedly forgetting that it exists a few times by now, 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.
This week the Final Four will become the Final Three. Who will they be? Read on and see.
Enjoy!
- Fangren
Episode 11 – Eat, Puke, and Be Wary
"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island!" The recap opened with a shot of Courtney making her first pass at the stolen zeppelin, throwing an egg from aback her jet engine-turned rocket; this was followed by the trio of mutant flying fire-breathing mountain goats appearing and breathing jets of fire at Noah's bird-bike. "An epic air battle turned into an epic fail when Jasmine got caught in the crossfire of Trent's quest for revenge," the survivalist was shown getting hit first by the musician's stray egg and then the smoke from the reward he'd won, "costing both of them their chance at winning." Trent's hovercraft was shown catching on to the mooring line of Jasmine's hot air balloon, causing it to light on fire while Jasmine hung on for dear life and the whole mess divebombed towards the lake.
"Courtney fought for control," the host continued over a clip of the young woman crashing into the zeppelin's gondola and struggling with Alejandro over the briefcase of prize money. "Harold and Noah fought with fire," he added over the scene of the two nerds leading the mountain goats around and using their flames to take out the zeppelin's engines before Noah realized that the wooden wing of his flying machine had caught fire as well. "And Trent fought with his friends as they decided to give him the Hurl," Chris finished as Trent was shown arguing with Jasmine and Harold at the campfire ceremony, then getting hurled into the night sky.
The recap ended there, the scene cutting to a close-up of a pair of identical purple kites flying in the sky. "We're down to the Final Four," Chris said as the shot cut to him and Chef standing on the Dock of Shame with the ends of the two kite's lines. "Who's goin' to the finals?" the host asked with a cheesy but excited tone, taking a pair of scissors out of his pocket. "And who's gonna be cut loose?" he asked, reaching over and cutting the line to Chef's kite, then laughing as it flew away. "Haha, yeah, like that."
Chef scowled angrily at him, but Chris ignored it. "Find out right now, 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 music was light and airy as the scene opened on a trio of pink birds singing together on a tree branch...until a mutant squirrel leaned out from behind the trunk and zapped them with its eye lasers. They were burnt to a crisp, and flew away as the squirrel laughed cruelly to the camera.
The camera quick-panned down to the ground, where Jasmine and Harold were standing at the base of the tree. The survivalist pulled a knot tight in a rope and held it up, revealing the loop she'd made. "And that's how you make a snare trap," she told her companion before holding another rope out to him. "Here, now you try."
Harold took it without question. "Thanks for all the survival tips, Jasmine," he said as he began to tie the same kind of knot that she'd just demonstrated. "But I gotta ask, why have you been making so many traps?" He motioned towards the camera, which pulled back to reveal no less than three snares lying around the ground.
"Oh, well, some of the larger mutants have been wandering closer to my sleeping tree recently," Jasmine explained with an almost embarrassed smile, "so I thought I'd lay down some...deterrents to keep them away?"
"I see," the shot zoomed back in on alpha nerd nodded in understanding, pulling his knot a little too taut and closing the loop around his wrist. As he undid his mistake, he said "Hey, uh, can I ask you a question?"
Jasmine, who had thrown the other end of her snare up over a higher branch and was now adjusting the rope, looked back at him and said "Sure, mate, just bark it out."
Harold nodded, but cleared his throat in a slightly nervous fashion before continuing. "Right. I just wanted to know if you're still onboard with us going to the finale together."
"Well yeah," Jasmine answered, not noticing the cheesy grin that immediately formed on Harold's face. "I mean," she snorted and smiled, "who else would I wanna go with? Of course, we still have two more challenges before then. I think we should get Courtney out next, she's more athletic than Noah and she's honestly had it coming for awhile now. Although," she brought her hand to her chin in thought, "Noah is a wily one. He's the one who found that invincibility statue, after all."
"Right, that reminds me," Harold perked up before looking around conspiratorially then drawing Jasmine in closer. "I have reason to believe that he's been the one sending notes all season," he whispered.
"No joke?" Jasmine asked in surprise.
"None at all," Harold said with a decisive nod. "I still need to gather some more proof, but I think I know just where to find it."
"Well okay then, that's one less thing to worry about," Jasmine smirked.
xxx
"It's pretty great that I still have Harold to count on even after everything that's happened," Jasmine told the confessional camera. "And not just because it's one less person I have to worry about trying to vote me off, either. Although...," she briefly brought a hand to her chin in thought before smiling sheepishly and pinching her fingers leaving a small gap between them, "is it bad that a small part of me thinks I could beat him easily in the final challenge. I mean," she lowered her hand and her expression became more defensive, "he's got brains, yeah, but he really doesn't have much in the way of physicality."
xxx
Noah opened the next confessional with an annoyed sigh. "Well, with Lover Boy out of the picture I'm down my number-one ally. And since I have no intention on playing third wheel to King of the Dorks and Queen of the Outback, that means I'm pretty much forced to go crawling back to...," he paused and shuddered and sighed again, "Courtney."
xxx
The music plodded slowly as the scene moved to Noah walking up towards the lone cabin, where Courtney was eating a bag of chips on the steps. She quickly noticed him and shot a glare his way. "What do you want?"
"Oh, uh, h-hey Courtney, fancy seeing you here," Noah opened with an awkward smile.
She sniffed haughtily. "Let me guess," she said. "With Trent gone, you need someone else to help you take out Harold and Jasmine, right?"
Noah seemed to deflate a little. "Yeah, you, uh, you got me," he admitted.
Courtney stared at him. "...fine," she said after a moment, looking away and reaching back into her bag of chips.
"...really? Just like that?" Noah asked in surprise.
"Hey, it's not like I'm forgiving everything you've done since the merge," she told him harshly, "and believe me, you have a lot to make up for. But so long as you do everything I say, then I'll help you get rid of the others."
Noah sighed again in light annoyance. "Yeah, probably should've seen that coming," he said dryly before noticing Courtney's renewed glare and quickly transitioning himself back into an awkward chuckle. "Haha, yeah, I'll just...see you at the challenge," he told her before scurrying off to the right.
Courtney watched him go, then made a haughty noise and resumed eating. It wasn't too long, however, before Harold walked up. "What is it now?" Courtney sighed in annoyance, looking up at the sky.
"Sorry for interrupting," Harold opened, "but I wanted to ask you a few questions about why you voted for Zoey back then."
"...what kind of questions?" Courtney asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Important ones," Harold answered, puffed up with self-assurance. "Ones that could change the very fabric of the game as we know it!" he added dramatically.
His closed eyes did not see the sly smile that formed on Courtney's face. "Okay, tell you what. I'll answer your questions, but you have to help me in return."
Harold's face fell, but he quickly steeled himself. "Very well," he declared. "I'll pay your steep price, for the sake of knowledge!" he said, striking a rather dramatic pose.
Though taken aback by his mannerisms, Courtney quickly put her sly smile back on. "Then ask away," she told him.
"Right," he nodded. "First, I wanna know if you had considered voting for someone else before you found that note that made you wanna vote Zoey."
Courtney was taken aback yet again, but quickly shifted into a thoughtful look. "Oh, well, if it hadn't been for that stupid forgery I might have voted for Noah instead. But I don't get what-"
"Yes," Harold cut her off with a victorious fist-pump. "That makes perfect sense!" Courtney just looked at him in wary confusion.
xxx
"If Noah found out that Courtney wanted to vote him off back then," Harold explained to the outhouse camera, "then he'd have the perfect motive to change her mind by sending an anonymous note! And then for the other two...," he paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "perhaps he went after Justin because I said I was worried about him taking over the team. But I'm not really sure what the thing with Leonard was about, but I guess it's still plausible for Noah to have both reason and opportunity to send all three notes. Now I just have to decide what to do about it..."
xxx
"Okay, that was weird," Courtney said, her hands on her hips as she looked towards the outhouse door. "But what isn't with Harold?" she shrugged at the camera. "I can only guess that he thinks Noah is the one who made that note, which..." she paused to think for a moment, "actually makes a whole lot of sense. I guess I'll add messing with me to the list of things he has to make up for, but other than that it doesn't really matter." she said, crossing her arms and smirking. "Both of them are at my beck and call now, which means that I'm finally back on top where I belong. Jasmine's going home, and none of the others are going to get in my way."
xxx
"Challenge time!" Chris called out in an almost sing-song voice as the scene cut to him, Chef, and the Final Four standing just outside the communal bathrooms. "And since you've been abused so flagrantly," he said, walking past the wary four, "today's challenge is a super safe fun challenge!" The campers began to smile and cheer in genuine excitement.
"Get ready for bubbles, flowers, and cotton can-" Chris continued, walking further away...and stepping in something unseen that caused him to yelp in shock and pain before being lifted into the air. The camera cut outward to show that he'd been caught in a snare trap attached to a tall pole that flung him in a high arc...and down through the roof of the bathroom.
The Final Four cringed in sympathy and disgust. "Uh-oh," Jasmine winced, "that was my snare that just threw Chris into the dunny..."
The music became ominously deep as Chef raced to the bathroom door and opened it, quickly getting faced with the smells and noises coming from within. "Woo-eee!" he said, waving his hand in front of his face in disgust. "I need five interns and a fire hose! ASAP!" he called off-camera. "We'll get you outta there soon," he told the host.
Chris coughed and nearly wretched. "Those ungrateful puppets just crossed the line!" he said from within the depths of the building. He took a breath, then continued with "Remember your nasty challenges, Chef?" he asked, the shot quickly cutting to the Final Four as they shared a nervous look. "The ones that got the red lights?" he added as the music rose dramatically. "Yeah, the light just turned green," he finished harshly.
Chef grinned, closed the door, and turned around. "I'll bring the pain," he said, punching his open palm and cackling evilly as lightning flashed, thunder cracked, and the music became higher and darker.
The Final Four gasped and cowered and turned their eyes skyward...only to see a bright sun and an almost cloudless sky. Though Chef kept laughing their fear soon gave way to annoyance, and the shot cut over to show that the ominous effects had been created by a trio of interns – a short young white woman with a high black ponytail switching a stagelight on and off, a young white man with long bangs waving a piece of sheet metal, and a young man of southeast Asian descent pulling a rope than raised and lowered a tarp above Chef.
After a few seconds, Chef finally lowered his arms and stopped laughing. "Okay, cool it," he told the interns.
/
The scene flashed ahead to a clearing in the woods, where each of the campers was standing behind what appeared to be portable kitchens made mostly of wood. "Listen up, dirtbags," Chef said as he approached from the right, the camera zooming slowly in as he walked past Jasmine, and then Noah, and then Courtney, and then Harold. "I'm gonna push you until you break. Then I'll take the filthy little broken bits and give 'em another good breakin'!" He mimed snapping something in two with his hands as he finally reached the end of the line.
"No wimps are gonna make it to my finale," he said solemnly before turning around to face Harold and roaring "Do you understand?" Harold gulped and nodded nervously. "First challenge," Chef continued, "the cook-off!"
"Cooking," Noah repeated dryly. "This better not be another challenge where we do your job for you," he said before getting hit with a frying pan and toppling over with a grunt of pain.
"Shut it, or I'll shut it!" Chef told him, catching the frying pan as it spun back on the rebound. "Bring in the TD classic competitor!" he called to the left, and the camera cut backward and panned over to show none other than gentle giant DJ, blindfolded and bound by rope to a hand truck being wheeled in by a short, fat, and bespectacled east Asian male intern.
"Whoa, that's DJ," Harold said in mild awe.
Chef removed the boy's blindfold to reveal a look of panic in his eyes. "No," he moaned and squealed, "not here! Dawn told us it was doomed! I vowed never to come back here!"
"Your contract disagrees, dough-boy," Chef told him, holding up an official-looking stack of paper. "You slime buckets are gonna cook somethin' tasty," he looked back and told the campers, "and this bag of mush will be the judge," he dropped the contract to thumb at DJ. "You've got twenty minutes to make a tasty lunch with whatever you find on the island," he turned the rest of his body away from DJ, and the camera moved to get Harold back in the shot. "I believe in eating locally," he admitted proudly as a few light notes played in the background. "Ready?" he asked the contestants with his usual harsh expression.
"Umm, excuse me," Courtney tentatively raised her hand, "will we have anything in the way of...non-local seasonings?"
Chef just ran over to her with two frying pans in hand, shouted "Get cookin'!", and banged the pans together. Courtney flinched and yelped, then ran off with Harold right behind her as the music turned dark and tense.
/
Another flash shifted the scene into some part of the woods, where a three-eyed bear was casually scratching its back against a tree until it heard the panting and footfalls of someone approaching and ducked behind a large bush.
"Hah," Jasmine laughed as she finally entered the scene and stopped to catch her breath and look around. "A foraging challenge? Seriously, they might as well just hand the victory to me. I'm not gonna be beaten when it comes to finding food out here," she said as she started walking forward again.
She soon came upon a tree with several small glowing mushrooms growing out of the side. "See," she smiled, "already found something." She reached out to grab them, but stopped partway and frowned. "Actually, on second thought, those are probably poisonous. No matter," she told herself, turning around and walking away. She quickly came upon what looked like a blueberry bush, but when she reached out to pick some a green tendril shot out and slapped her hand away, and the bush hissed at her.
"Okay...," she said, rubbing her hurting hand, "maybe foraging in a forest full of mutants won't be so easy after all..."
/
The music trilled tensely as the shot cut to another close-up of small, glowing green mushroom growing on the bark of a tree. This time, however, they were soon scooped up by a hand that the camera cut outward to identify as Harold's. "Cool," he said as he looked at his gains, "these will make an excellent base for any number of dishes. Now if only I could find some kind of grain," he said, standing up straight and looking around.
He saw Noah approaching and stiffened up. "Hey, good buddy, how's it goin'?" Noah greeted with a smirk..
"...it's going productively, if you must know," Harold answered with a hint of wariness.
"Cool," Noah said. "So, I was wondering, what are your thoughts on the vote?"
"Well unless something happens I'm gonna vote for Courtney," Harold answered.
"Right, right," Noah nodded. "See, I've been doing some thinking, and I wonder if we shouldn't vote off Jasmine instead."
"Uh, why would I do that?" the alpha nerd asked with growing anger.
"Whoa, relax," the schemer said, waving his hands defensively. "Nothing against your girl, it's just that she's gonna be tough to beat in the finale. If we get rid of her now it'll make things easier for us in the long run."
"Maybe for you," Harold retorted, "but I have no reason to be afraid of going up against her." He turned his nose up and walked away, leaving Noah to scowl.
The shot quickly cut back to Harold, however, to show him looking back with a sly smile...before slamming headfirst into what the camera quickly zoomed out to reveal was a giant two-headed mutant rabbit. It roared at him, he screamed, and the music turned deep and ominous as he turned back and ran for his life.
/
The scene flashed to the communal bathrooms, where the female intern was now leaning against a pipe by herself with a cup of coffee in hand. "Helloooo~o?" Chris asked from inside the building. "Someone give me a hand! I'm almost free!" The intern just looked at her nails and whistled. "Uh-oh, oh no!" the host said in sudden alarm, the shot cutting in to the shocked intern as she listened to her boss slip on something and fall into something watery again.
"Whyyyyy?" he began to cry, earning a smiled from the braces-wearing intern. "Oh wh-h-hyyyy?"
She took a sip of coffee.
/
Another flash took the focus back to the woods, the camera stationed right behind a tree and catching Noah running past from the left with a pair of laser squirrels gnawing on his head, then Harold running by in the opposite direction pursued by the giant two-headed rabbit, and then Jasmine from the left again struggling with the attacking vines of an uprooted bush.
The camera panned up the tree trunk to Courtney, clinging to a branch with a bird's nest in it an watching the scene unfold down below. She snorted disdainfully, saying "Serves them right," before reaching out and grabbing the three eggs in the nearby nest. The shot zoomed out as she looked up, noticing the pair of bluebirds glaring at her.
She smiled sheepishly at them, but they quickly started to peck at her face and hands.
/
The scene returned to the portable outdoor kitchens with a close-up of Courtney, now covered in scratches and cuts and bruises, cracking one of the eggs she'd collected into a frying pan. "Let's see," she mused as she cracked another two eggs without looking at their contents, "an omelet would probably be best...but I'll need some kind of filling..."
She rubbed her thin in thought, and quickly noticed Harold at his station a little ways in front of her. He had a fairly large bowl glowing green mushrooms on his counter, and as the camera cut in closer and he threw a few onto his frying pan Courtney suddenly popped up next to him. He gave out a startled yell.
"Hey, can I use some of these?" she asked smoothly, pointing at his mushrooms.
"Uhh...," Harold began hesitantly.
"You did agree to do what I told you, remember?" she reminded him sternly.
He sighed and hung his head. "Fine," he relented.
"Thanks," Courtney grinned, scooping up two handfuls of mushrooms – about half the bowl – and darting off.
Harold sighed, and threw a few more of the remaining mushrooms into the pan.
A calm, lilting tune played as the shot cut to a close-up of a bottle of oil, the camera moving back to show it in the hands of Noah. With a pile of what looked like various plant parts on his counter and a smile on his face he spurted some oil into his pan.
It flamed up seconds later, earning a panicked gasp from Noah and a tense turn in the background music. Frantically, he picked up the pan by its handle and moved it under the faucet, turned the water on, and screamed again when it just made the grease fire flare up even worse. He quickly tossed the pan away entirely, and it exploded into a fireball just off-screen. The southeast Asian male intern promptly ran by carrying a boom bike, all of him scorched and flaming and yelling.
Noah winced in sheepish sympathy. "Yeah, maybe I'll just make a salad," he said.
xxx
"Yeah, so I'm not exactly a master chef," Noah confessed. "I figured that even weeds must be edible if you fry 'em up, but I probably should've kept in mind the possibility of a grease fire. Whoops."
xxx
The static cut away to Jasmine, standing with a pile of red and blue berries and a pan at the ready. "Alright, these shouldn't be poisonous but you never know with these mutants," she said as she scooped up a handful and looked at them more closely. She dumped them into the pan with an expectant cringe, but they merely sizzled. "Okay, they should be good for the tart," she said with a smile.
A pan to the left put the focus back on Courtney as she hastily diced the mushrooms she'd taken from Harold, then gasped at a small plume of smoke start to rise from the eggs she was cooking. She quickly used a spatula to move them around a bit, then let out a sigh of relief as the smoke stopped.
Next, the camera pulled back to show Harold in the foreground, then re-focused in on him. "Now that I don't have as many mushrooms, I should probably add something else to the quiche," he said as he idly stirred his pan of quiche filling. He looked up and away and rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then smiled and snapped his fingers in realization. He quickly ducked down behind his counter and came back up with a three-eyed mutant frog in hand, and squeezed it so that a disgusting-looking pink slime spurted out of its mouth and in to the pan.
From there, a quick-pan back to the right showed Noah again as he calmly washed a pale carrot-like root in his sink, the rest of his gathered greens now in a bowl. He turned off the water, turned back to his bowl, and winced as a vine shot out of it and struck him in the gut, causing him to drop the root into the bowl. "Stupid mutant vegetables," he said bitterly, batting the vine back with a wooden spoon.
xxx
"I'll admit it," Jasmine told the confessional camera with a joking snort, "I don't really have a lot of experience with actually cooking food. But it's hard to go wrong with berries, and I don't think the others will have anything spectacular either."
xxx
A lilting tune was playing as once again the static cut away to Jasmine, who was now pouring her cooked fruit mixture into a tart crust. She happily spread it out evenly with a wooden spoon, but as she turned her back on it to look at the others the shot zoomed in and the music turned ominous as it began to bubble slightly.
The music soon turned almost angelic, however, as the scene cut over to Harold as his oven dinged. With a pair of blue oven mitts over his hands he quickly bent down and took out his quiche. The shot cut in for a close-up of the dish, putting a radiant gold-and-orange background behind it to emphasize its rather picturesque quality – a few greenish spots in the crust, but otherwise a perfect unburnt brown.
The shot cut to Courtney staring in Harold's direction. She sniffed haughtily, then used a spatula to slide her finished omelet onto a plate. The camera cut to its overhead close-up, and a flatter version of the angelic tune that had accompanied Harold's creation played as the slightly-burned egg dish was shown against the same radiant backdrop. The perspective returned to a frontal view as Courtney looked down at her dish, went silent for a second, then shrugged.
/
"Three, two, one," Chef counted down as the scene faded forward to him standing at the ready with a nervous DJ still bound at his side, "spatulas down. Well, dish it up cupcakes! Move! Move! Move!" he commanded, and the camera zoomed out as the Final Four scrambled in to a line with their dishes in hand.
The music turned tense as the shot zoomed back in on DJ, Harold stepping up to him first. "Today, I present before you a quiche," the dweeb said, flourishing and bowing dramatically as he presented his dish to the bound giant.
"Mmm," DJ smiled, taking a whiff.
"...made from the finest toxic mushrooms and with a hint of frog," Harold finished, looking up with an expectant grin.
DJ yelped in alarm.
"Next!" Chef ordered.
Noah was next, the tense tune playing again as he stepped up and presented his bowl of greens...with a few larger black things scattered throughout almost like croutons. "How about a nice salad, big guy?" he asked with an almost nervous smirk.
The 'croutons' promptly stood up, revealing themselves as spiders as they crawled out of the bowl and on to DJ. The unwilling judge shuddered in fear.
"Or not...," Noah told him with a sheepish laugh before groaning and walking away.
He was replaced by Courtney, who watched her secret ally leave with an odd smile before holding up what she'd made so DJ could get a better look. "Well I've just made a simple mushroom omelet," she said proudly.
The spiders now gone, DJ looked at the dish warily. "Looks a little burned if you ask me," he said, immediately earning an annoyed scowl from Courtney. "Where'd you get the eggs from?"
"Oh, uh, from some bird's nest," Courtney answered, taken slightly aback by the question.
DJ looked at her in horror. "You stole some poor bird's babies?" he squeaked.
Courtney just gaped, taken aback even more. "Next!" Chef hollered, and Jasmine pulled Courtney away before stepping up herself.
"It's my first time making one," she explained as DJ raised a wary eyebrow at her tart, which was now bubbling quickly and ominously, "but I can guarantee my wildberry tart won't hurt you."
The music spiked dramatically just then, and the bubbling tart erupt in a massive pillar of flame that made both Jasmine and DJ gasp in shock.
"...or not...," Jasmine said meekly before DJ started to scream.
"Mooommaaaaa!' he wailed, bursting his arms free of their bonds with ease and quickly untying his legs. He ran off with his arms raised in utter terror, leaving behind a wide-eyed Chef.
"Welp, looks like we just lost our taste-tester," he said, his expression returning to his usual gruff glare. "Rule change!" he called out as he looked back towards the campers. "You've gotta eat all of your own weird grub."
"Urrgh...," Courtney and Noah said in disgust, while Harold gave an excited "Yes!" and Jasmine just gave a silent, shocked look at her tart – no longer flaming, but with a considerably blacker top.
"You hurl, you lose," Chef told them before the camera panned back his way. "Who's got guts of steel and who's gonna blast a barf bomb?" He asked it. "It's a throw-up throw-down, when we come back. On Total! Drama! Revenge of the Island!" An ominous chanting rose up in the background as he said the title with a grin.
(Fade to Commercial and Back)
"Alright, con-pest-ants," Chef said with a light snicker as the camera slowly zoomed in from a long-distance shot of him standing behind the campers, who were now seated along on side of a wooden table with their dishes in front of them, "it's time to eat the disgusting crud you cooked up before the break!"
The shot zoomed in on Noah's salad, which still had a few spiders crawling in it. "Whoever finishes their meal first, without spewing," Chef continued as the camera panned up to Noah's nervous face, "wins the challenge." He looked over at Courtney, who was also looking nervous. Chef laughed, and added "Man, this is gonna be nasty," as the ex-CIT looked down at her omelet and prodded it with a fork. It quivered oddly, and she gave it a look of disgust.
At the other side of the table, Harold looked excitedly down at his quiche while Jasmine cautiously prodded the charred top of her tart. "Well, it's not bubbling anymore, so that's probably a good sign," she said.
She looked at Harold, and he nodded his agreement. "Whatever reaction caused that flare-up must've run out of chemical fuel, if you ask me," he said. "I'm pretty glad I didn't use any berries in my quiche. I seriously doubt the mushrooms and frog juice will have the same effect."
"Uhh, yeah," Jasmine said, eying his quiche warily, "though you might still have other problems with it."
Harold raised a brow in confusion, but before he could say anything both he and Jasmine looked to the side. "Three, two, one," Chef counted down, the camera moving back to the middle to better show him standing between Courtney and Harold. At the end of his countdown he blew an airhorn, then yelled "Eat it!"
Courtney went first, cutting off a bit of her omelet, sticking it in her mouth, gagging, and forcing it down with a shudder.
Next was Noah, who began to cough soon after his first forkful of salad. He hacked up one of the same kind of spiders that had put off DJ, and glared at it as it scuttled away. "Seriously, were you in the pipes or something and got in when I washed everything?"
The shot cut to Harold and Jasmine next, just as the dweeb was putting his first piece of quiche in his mouth. His eyes promptly popped open.
xxx
"Okay," he admitted sickly to the outhouse camera, "the frog was a mistake."
xxx
The music ramped up dramatically as Harold turned and vomited on the ground next to him, forcing Jasmine to pause as she ate to watch with concern. Harold's vomiting in turn caused Courtney to vomit, and even Noah as well. The music leveled off as quickly as it had arisen, and the footage skipped ahead to Jasmine finishing off the rest of her tart.
"Not bad," she said after her last swallow, wiping the last few crumbs from her mouth. "I guess what happened earlier was all just for show."
She burped out a small fire, but the music rolled up to a victorious tune nonetheless. "Challenge is over!" Chef declared, leaning over and raising the tall girl's arm. "Jasmine wins!"
The other three were shown groaning at the other end of the table with the remains of their dishes, and Harold put a hand over his mouth as he wretched again.
"That's why she doesn't have to wear one of these tracking collars," Chef continued immediately, the background score becoming slow and mysterious as he showed off the three metal collars hanging loosely on his left arm. A drum was struck as he threw each one in turn, and the shot cut back over to reveal that they'd locked around the necks of Noah, Courtney, and Harold.
"Challenge part two," Chef told them. "I give you...'Dork Hunter'!" With an eager look on his face, he motioned to the GPS map he was now holding. A dramatic riff played as the camera zoomed in, showing something like a topographic map centered on the Dock of Shame. "The challenge is simple," he explained as the riff transitioned into a low underlying score and four red icons bearing the faint faces of the remaining campers appeared on the screen, "you're the dorks, I'm the hunter." A larger icon bearing Chef's faced appeared to the left of the four, and the map screen started panning upward with a dotted red arrow marking the way. "You run off into the woods, I hunt you down. First dork to the flagpole wins." The pan stopped a little ways after, and a large red circled 'X' started flashing on the screen.
"Pray that you make it," the hulking man said, the camera finally cutting from the map back to him – and the bazooka he was now carrying, "before the Dork Hunter blasts you into a whole new dimension of pain!" The shot suddenly moved in for a close-up as he held up a can bearing his face on the label, along with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with a fiery background. A calm, infomercial-like jingle started to play as he said "Rocket-Propelled Spaghetti Cannon. Featuring my own special recipe," he loaded the can into the bazooka, "Chef Hatchet's In-Your-Face Extra Spicy Spaghetti." The shot cut back outward to show that he was now in the driver's seat of the show's jeep. "Dinner is served...in your face!" he said, becoming suddenly aggressive again and firing the cannon.
A massive ball of spaghetti and meat sauce shot forward, the four campers barely ducking in time. It hit the long-banged intern as he mowed the common area, sending him flying backward into a rock formation. "Aww! Aww! It burns!" he cried out in pain, pinned to the rock by sizzling-hot pasta.
Chef cackled in delight. "Spicy! You got twenty minutes to run, hide, and say your prayers," he said over a shot of the Final Four, who nervously turned from the intern to their tormentor. "Now move out!" he commanded, following up with another shot from his cannon that forced the campers to scream and scatter into the woods – Jasmine taking a path further into the woods while Courtney followed the boys down a way closer to the camera. A third shot of pasta landed on a rock separating the two paths, and Chef giggled.
/
The drama left the music as the scene flashed to the back of the communal outhouse, where all three male interns – including the one with long bangs – were now standing around.
"What's taking those interns so long?" Chris asked angrily, still stuck within the bathroom. The fat intern and southeast Asian intern snicked, but their companion – down on one knee in front of a pipe – quickly shushed them. "There's no way they coulda forgot about me!" Chris yelled. "I OWN THEM!"
As he roared, the banged intern raised a connecting hose out of the ground and hooked it to the pipe, and the southeast Asian intern opened the valve. After a few seconds of gurgling, Chris cried out in alarm. "More sewage?!" He took a deep breath, then screamed "HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPP!" as the music rose sharply.
/
The shot cut to a close-up of a few lavender-colored tulips, which were promptly covered by a stream of vomit. "Yeah," Harold said, clutching his stomach as he stood back up and wiped the puke from his mouth, "the frog was definitely a mistake. Still," he added, straightening up with a wary look on his face, "I should probably get going before Chef comes and finds me."
He kept moving in a silence that was broken moments later by a flash and buzz from the woods in the background, which was followed by a pained yelp from a familiar voice. Perking his eyebrow in curious confusion, Harold turned and crept towards where the flash had come from.
The camera cut to show him stepping through a bush, then panned to the left to show Courtney frowning angrily at her tracking collar. She paused hesitantly, then grabbed it, only to receive an electric shock that made her yelp again.
"Yeah, something tells me that isn't gonna work," Noah said dryly, attracting Courtney's attention to her right as he walked over. "But hey, they say third time's the charm," he added with a dry smile that earned a frown from his ally.
"Hah hah," Courtney told him before the sound of a third, longer jolt from off-screen got their attention. They turned wide eyes to their left as Harold walked up, ending a screamed pain.
He quickly noticed their incredulous looks. "What? I wanted to know if all the collars worked the same way. You should touch yours to be sure."
"Yeah, not gonna happen," Noah told him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna leave before Chef drops in for some one-stop shopping."
He turned to leave the way he came and Harold did as well, but both were stopped in their tracks when Courtney grabbed their arms and gave them a sharp "Wait!" She let go of them as they turned back towards them with annoyance and curiosity on their faces, and she continued. "Instead, how about you two smart guys put your heads together and figure out a way to remove these tracking collars?" She looked to Harold, who had raised a brow at her, and then to Noah, whose expression was more dull disbelief. "And...then we can slip them onto one of the mutants," Courtney quickly continued, "so that Chef goes after it instead of us."
"That would help us out," Harold pondered. "And be really funny, too."
"Yeah," Noah countered, "too bad it requires us to A," he ticked off a finger on his left hand, "get these shock collars off without touching them, and B," he ticked off another finger, "put them onto something that probably wants to kill us. And both of those rank pretty high up on the list of things I really don't wanna do today."
He turned to leave again, only for Courtney to immediately pull him back. "Oh no, you're helping me," she told him sharply. "Because I can think of a lot of things worse for you if you don't."
Noah stared for a moment, then groaned in annoyance.
/
"Seriously, did Chef not realize who he was up against when he decided to give us this challenge?" Jasmine asked herself, a broad smile on her face as she walked through the woods at a rather casual pace. "I mean, this is my specialty. Even if I'd lost the cooking challenge I'd still ace this. But hey, I'm not gonna complain about finally getting an easy win." She paused to examine the trunk of a tree, then the leaves of a bush next to it before moving on with a snort of laughter.
"I can just imagine the look on his face when he gets to the flag to intercept me only to find that I already got there," she continued. "Though he'll probably go after the others first, just because they're easier targets. But hopefully not too much easier, right? I don't wanna get too cocky and have him find me immediately after taking out the others," she added with a short laugh and an expectant look behind her that fell away when she saw nobody there. "...right," she reminded herself, "Harold's off somewhere else. I guess I didn't realize it before, but I've been getting kind of used to having him and the others around. I mean," she snorted another laugh, "here I am talking to myself because of it."
Her laughter trailed off again as she continued a few more seconds in silence. She paused at another tree, and reached up to grab the vines hanging from it. "Hard to believe there's only four of us left...," she said with a hint of sadness.
/
The music turned tense as the scene flashed back to Courtney, Noah, and Harold now walking together in another part of the forest.
"Have you two come up with something yet?" Courtney asked in a mildly annoyed tone.
"Gosh, it's not like we can just snap our fingers and make an electromagnetic pulse appear out of thin air," Harold told her as the shot cut in for a close-up. "Although it would be pretty cool if we could," he added before snapping his fingers, then looking disappointed as nothing happened.
"Yeah, unless we get some actual tools," Noah chimed in as the camera panned up to him, "I don't think we're gonna get these collars off any time soon. Maybe Bubble-Boy could've done it, but this just isn't my specialty."
"Well...don't expect you two can just get out of helping me because of it," Courtney told him, the shot moving to her as she lifted a low-hanging branch out of the way then lingering as she moved past.
"Didn't think I could," Noah said, a hand already raised to keep the branch aloft. "Though I don't get why Wonder Boy agreed to help you in the first place." He briefly looked back at the nerd walking behind him and fiddling with a small twig. Upon hearing the nickname Harold looked up, which allowed him to see the low-hanging branch snap back down and hit him in the face.
He quickly brushed off the slight pain, however, and said "I could say the same for you. I know I'm just repaying a favor, but I'm surprised you decided to take Courtney's side after everything that's happened."
"Really," Noah deadpanned. "Even though you basically told me that you weren't on my side and didn't wanna vote out Jasmine."
"Are you still on that?" Harold replied in annoyed disbelief. "Why would I wanna vote her off? We have a bond of solid trust and love between us."
Noah and Courtney shared a look of their own disbelief.
xxx
"Yeah, I think I'm just gonna get started on my next note," Noah told the outhouse camera, already holding a pencil and piece of paper. "Let's see," he said in thought, tapping the eraser end of the pencil against his chin, "what to write? I'll probably have to get Romeo to realize his girl isn't in love with him and get mad enough to vote her off. Maybe set up some kind of...secret meeting between them? Give him a fake love letter to get his expectations up," he began to write, "and then...send something to Jasmine so she misunderstands?" He stopped writing, and scratched his temple with his pencil. "Hmm. This might be tricky."
xxx
The static cut away to a close-up of Noah looking thoughtful, and the camera quickly panned back to the left to show Harold grinning darkly. "What's the matter," he asked in an accusatory tone, "trying to figure out what to write-"
He was cut off when a large spaghetti blast shot past him accompanied by a solitary deep note in the background music. It was accompanied by another as the perspective moved behind the three, who quickly looked back in wide-eyed shock. "He found us!" Harold cried out, a second shot flying past the three as the perspective returned to its usual side-on position and the music ramped in to a tense challenge theme.
The three turned and fled screaming, but the camera lingered in place long enough to see Chef arrive on his jeep, firing off two more wild shots from his cannon while cackling madly. "Better run, kiddies! The Dork Hunter has arrived! Aaaa-hahaha-haaaaa!"
The shot quick-panned back to the three still running for their lives through the forest, dodging errant spaghetti blasts. "Okay, can we scatter now?" Noah asked.
Another pasta-ball sailed right by Courtney, close enough to make her yelp in shock. "No! You two need to cover me!" she shot back angrily at the boys.
Noah and Harold looked at each other in alarm. "Uh, come again?" Harold asked before Courtney suddenly grabbed him and Noah by the collars, whirled them around, and crouched down behind the human wall they formed. They were promptly hit directly by a spaghetti blast and cried out in pain, with Harold adding an anguished "It burns!"
"Suck it up and keep moving," Courtney told them harshly, standing up and pulling them by the arms so they were forced to keep running behind her. The three soon came upon a large tree that had fallen across the path, which Courtney easily leaped over – but Harold and Noah, still carrying painfully spicy pasta on their shirts, stumbled and got caught on top of it.
A combination of Courtney pulling them from one side and a pasta ball hitting their butts from the other was enough to force the two boys over the log, and the three soon got back to their feet. Another saucy projectile sailed over their heads as they ran off.
The music leveled off slightly as the camera panned back a little to the left, showing Chef coming to a stop right before the tree preventing further progress in his jeep. He stood up, glared angrily in the direction his prey had gone, and growled. "Nobody gets away from me."
/
"Honestly, what am I even doing reminiscing like this?" Jasmine asked herself as the scene flashed back to her, still walking through the woods but now carrying several vines looped over her left shoulder. "I should just focus on winning the challenge," she said while absentmindedly tying the vines into snares.
She stopped in her tracks suddenly, and the perspective moved behind her to show a checkered flag sticking out of a small hill with an alarm light on top. "Oh. Well," Jasmine chuckled awkwardly, "okay then, I guess that's that. Although," she said, her expression becoming troubled as she walked closer to the finish flag and looked around, "where is everyone? I mean, I knew this was gonna be easy, but I never thought it'd be this easy." She paused and frowned. "Is it really okay for me to just win like this? I mean...I don't wanna lose but I don't wanna completely dominate the others so they wanna vote me out even more."
"Like," she walked over to a nearby tree and rest an arm on it while she stared off with concern and worry on her face, "what if the others are all together? I wouldn't put it past Courtney to try and turn everyone against me, and if Noah's really the one who's been sending those notes then he'd probably go along with it. Could they really turn Harold against me?"
She put a hand on her temple. "And am I more worried about losing his friendship because of it, or about him voting for me if I lose the next challenge?" She closed her eyes, and shook her head, and took a breath. "You know what?" she told herself, standing up firmly. "No. I'm not gonna get myself worked up about what might happen when I can just go look for them and see for myself."
She adjusted the vine-snares she was carrying, then turned around and headed back into the woods.
/
The scene flashed to a close-up of Chef's GPS map, showing only his own blinking icon. "Now where the heck did those three get to?" he grumbled, the shot cutting back to show him sitting in his jeep in a different part of the woods. He scrolled the map around with his finger, then stopped and smiled. "Hah! Those fools didn't even think to split up," he said, the shot cutting back to the screen to show Courtney, Noah, and Harold to Chef's south.
"Better sneak up on foot," he said with a sneaky snicker as he hopped out of the jeep, the pasta cannon strapped to his back. "I'll bag all three before they know what hit 'em, and then I'll take out the tall one too," he said, chuckling darkly as he walked off into the woods.
The shot lingered on his jeep and the music turned eerie, and Jasmine leaned out from the shadowy forest background with a smirk on her face.
/
Another flash took the scene back to Harold, Noah, and Courtney as they collapsed to the ground out of breath.
"Okay," Noah said, "I'm pretty sure we lost him. Can we please split up already?"
"No," Courtney replied, pushing herself back to her feet. "We're sticking together until one of us wins the challenge and that's final."
Noah snorted and began to stand up as well while Courtney cautiously moved on rightward. "Yeah, more like until she wins the challenge, right?" he told Harold under his breath, the nerd already on his feet to his right.
"Don't get chummy with me," Harold replied with a sharpness that startled Noah. "I know what you did!"
"Did what, exactly?" Noah asked with a raised eyebrow as he brushed some dirt and a stray spaghetti noodle off his shirt. "You're gonna have to be more specific."
"I'm talking about the notes," Harold said, turning around and thrusting a finger at Noah's chest. "And don't bother trying to deny it, I have proof."
"Gah!" Noah exclaimed, reeling in shock. "How did you...what possible proof could you have?"
"Well, your statement just now was enough of a confession as-is," Harold answered with a smug smile. "But I also learned from Courtney that she was planning on eliminating you at first instead of Zoey, meaning you had every reason to change her mind. And isn't it convenient that after I told you how worried I was about Justin-"
"Okay, okay, enough already," Noah griped, throwing up his hands and walking past his accuser. "I'll admit I wrote the stupid notes, are you happy?"
"A little," Harold admitted as he started to walk forward again as well. "Although I would like to hear an apology for all the trouble you've caused."
"Yeah, that would require me being sorry about wanting to stay in the game," Noah said, looking back over his shoulder at Harold. "And guess what Sherlock, that isn't gonna happen!"
He promptly bumped into Courtney, and looked forward into her disapproving glare. "Would you two geniuses keep it down?" she hissed at the boys before focusing on Noah. "We can talk about you tricking me later," she told him, earning an almost sheepish smile that quickly turned into an annoyed scowl the moment she turned her back again. "Now come on," she said, waving for them to keep following, "we shouldn't be too far from the finish and I think we're in the clear."
A spaghetti shot hit the side of a tree right in front of her, shocking all three campers and causing the dramatic background score to resume. "Guess again, suckas!" Chef cried out, drawing the camera's attention to the tree branch he was standing in. He descended into a cackle as the three teens looked his way, and fired another shot.
Courtney yelped and grabbed Noah, forcing him up in to the path of the second pasta-blast so that it hit the top of his face and head. "Aaaagh! Seriously?!" the schemer screamed, clawing at the sizzling saucy pasta. "That wasn't even gonna hit us!"
"Like I was gonna take the chance," Courtney said, crouching with her human shield under the next blast, then tossing him to the side and grabbing Harold to intercept a third.
It hit him at waist level, causing him to holler in pain. "Aw-haw, my meatballs...!"
"Alright, just keep covering me while I go find the flag," Courtney said, letting go of Harold and standing back up.
"Yeah, how about you cover yourself for a change," Noah said angrily, wiping the remaining sauce away from his face as he stood up and started running
Courtney gasped indignantly. "Hey! You two said you were gonna do what I said!" Another shot sailing overhead forced her to start running as well.
"I changed my mind!" Noah called back to her as spaghetti blasts continued to sail through the air.
She gaped in shock as Harold, now free from his latest dish of pasta as well, started running along behind her. "Hey! Don't forget that you need me Noah!" she yelled angrily.
"No, we need each other!" Noah yelled back, shocking Courtney enough for her to slow down, and Harold to pass her.
"Hey!" she called after him. "Not you too!" Harold looked back over his shoulder, then determinedly looked forward again.
Courtney gasped in indignation yet again. "YOU OWE ME, HAROLD!" she roared just before taking a spaghetti shot to the back that launched her forward and plastered her against a tree.
Chef ran past cackling in glee, loading another can of ammo into his bazooka and firing the first shot off. "You can run, dorks, but you can't hide!"
The shot quick-panned to the right onto Noah and Harold, now running side-by-side for their lives into a more vine-filled section of forest. "Where's that stupid finish?" Noah cried. "We can't run like this forever!"
"We're done for!" Harold exclaimed dramatically before something above caught their attention, and the camera panned up to show Jasmine standing on a tall branch, vine in her hand and smirk on her face.
"Think again, boys!" she said, swinging down on her vine as a brilliantly heroic theme took over the background music. She whizzed past a pair of spaghetti blasts and landed a strong flying kick on Chef that knocked him back a few yards.
"I knew you'd come save me!" Harold gushed in utter adoration while Noah watched with wide-eyed, gaping shock.
Jasmine smiled proudly and rubbed her nose. "Glad I didn't disappoint," she told him.
"Oh really?" Chef retorted, the music suddenly turning dark again as Jasmine looked back over to him standing up. "'Cause the way I see it she's about to disappoint you in a whole new way!" He leveled his cannon in their direction, but the camera panned over to show Jasmine still smirking.
"I told you to think again, didn't I?" she quipped before tugging hard on the vine she'd swung in on.
Chef paused and raised his head in confusion, then noticed the vines in the bushes and trees around him start to shake. "What the?" was all he said before they all lashed out and coiled around him to form a tight cocoon, snapping all but one of the vines in the process. The final vine, leading into a bush in the background, was in turn suddenly and swiftly pulled to the right, whipping the trapped and screaming Chef forward. Jasmine quickly rolled out of his way, and when the last vine finally snapped Chef was sent hurtling down the path
The shot cut to Harold and Noah as they screamed and tried to flee, only to have the Chef-cocoon slam into them from behind. The camera zoomed in as they rolled forward together, only to zoom back out a moment later as they came to a stop...right by the finish flag, with Chef lying on top of Harold and Noah. The two boys gasped as soon as they noticed it and began to try and scramble out from under the heavy hunter...only for Jasmine to dash forward from the left, leap over them, roll forward as she landed, and spring back up and grab the flagpole with a smile on her face. The siren on top of it immediately began to flash and spin and sound for all to hear.
"Yes!" she cheered and pumped a fist as a drumroll transitioned the background music into a victory theme. "I rocked that challenge!"
"And my world," Harold added dreamily, earning a groan from Noah. The shot cut to the edge of the clearing to show Courtney stumbling up, and leaning against a tree with a scowl on her face.
"Urrgghh...fine, Jasmine wins immunity," Chef admitted reluctantly as he squirmed against his bonds. "Now would somebody get me outta this thing?"
/
A handful of drumbeats marked the transition to the marshmallow ceremony, the Final Four assembled on the front row of seats with Courtney furthest left, then Noah, then Harold, and lastly Jasmine furthest right. And although enough time had passed for the torches that ringed the area to be lit, Chef stood alone in front of the oil drum podium with his usual hazmat suit-strongbox ensemble.
"Elimination time, dorks!" he told the campers. "One of you is going home tonight, except for Jasmine, who has immunity." The shot cut to Courtney, crossing her arms and scowling at Noah, who met her gaze with a neutral look. A pan over showed Harold and Jasmine sharing an happy smile.
"Congratulations on winning," Harold told her. "You earned it."
"Thanks," Jasmine replied. "And sorry about letting you get hit by Chef.
"Zip it," the man in question interrupted, drawing the campers attention back to him as he held up four note cards. "Now to the votes," he said, looking down at the cards as the music turned tense and trilling. "We got one vote for Noah..."
"What?" the schemer replied in sudden, wide-eyed shock.
Courtney gave him a haughty smile. "Sorry, Noah," she said in an oily voice. "But you see, I don't need you to succeed in this game. In fact, I don't need anyone!"
"Would y'all shut up and let me read the votes?" Chef barked, the camera immediately cutting back to him. When no reply came, he cleared his throat and looked back at the ballots. "Now let's see...second vote goes to Harold."
The shot cut back to the Final Four, first showing Harold looking unperturbed before panning to Noah pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation, then looking at Courtney with a look of deep annoyance and hatred. "You're an idiot, you know that right?" he told her, earning nothing but a disdainful huff in response.
"What did I just say?" Chef interrupted again, angrier this time. The shot cut back to him, and he relaxed his posture and looked back at the ballots. "Third vote goes to Courtney...," he announced, causing her to gasp in shock. "And the final vote goes to..."
The tension increased in the music as Chef purposely drew out his pause, and the camera cut from worried Courtney, to annoyed Noah, to confident Harold, and finally back to Chef.
"Courtney," he read.
"WHAT?!" she asked, standing up in sheer shock.
"Congratulations Princess, you just voted yourself out," Noah told her in a scathing tone.
"But...but..b-b-but Harold, you owed me a favor! For the information I gave you, remember?" she told the dweeb in desperation that quickly faded into rage. "That means not voting for me!"
"Hey, I more than paid that back by helping you in the challenge," Harold replied with anger of his own. "If anyone owes a favor here, it's you."
Courtney just gaped at him in outrage before the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom was thrown her way; she caught in instinctively, but fumbled it from hand to hand when it scorched her until she finally let it drop onto the ground.
xxx
"I can't believe it!" Courtney told the outhouse camera, gaping in blank-eyed shock. "Those little rats! I...everything I've done...," she slowed down, became quieter, and her mouth fell into an expression of anguished horror as she looked at her trembling hands, "...it was all for nothing..."
xxx
"Yeah, I don't really have any qualms about voting Courtney out even though I did promise to help her," Harold calmly confessed. "I mean, you saw how she was acting. She totally crossed the line, and she's pretty much had this coming for a long time anyway."
xxx
Jasmine opened the next confessional with a jovial snort. "Okay, so maybe my win was a little too flashy. But who cares? It was fun, and so was watching Courtney's elimination. If I've got a bigger target on my back now then I'll just deal with it."
xxx
Noah began his spot with a long, deep, and thoroughly annoyed sigh. "And there goes my last chance of getting into the Final Two. Thanks a bunch, Court."
xxx
The music turned sombre as the static cut away to the Hurl of Shame, Courtney sitting indignantly in the bucket with Chef grinning cockily next to her and the Final Three watching a little way up the dock.
"I've been waiting to be the Hurl Master of this game," Chef said eagerly.
"And you're gonna keep waiting," Chef said, descending to the dock on his jetpack to the shock of Chef and Courtney.
"Chris?!" the Final Three said together in shock.
"Yup," the host replied with his handle on the catapult's lever, "I'm the Hurl Master around here! You see Courtney," he addressed the loser, "the Hurl of Shame is both shameful, and painful. And right now, I can't think of anything that fits that more for you than the knowledge that you brought this on yourself when you decided to have your pal Gwen voted out."
Courtney's face fell into an expression of anxious defense. "That-"
She was launched into the night before she could finish her sentence, her words fading into a scream.
"Chris, good to have ya back, man," Chef told the host, walking over with a slice of glowing green quiche on a plate. "I even saved you some quiche," he said, putting a hand on the smaller man's shoulder and smiling.
"Chef, you are the man," Chris grinned, wiggling his finger in anticipation before swiping the quiche and shoving it into his mouth in one piece. He gulped it down quickly...but quickly wretched and vomited into a hole in the dock because of it.
Chef smirked. "You are the Hurl Master, hehe," he said as the series' capstone theme began to play.
"Who will be Hurled next," Chris said sickly, holding his stomach and looking distressed. "How much are they gonna hurl before we hurl them? And when will I stop hurling?" he asked, putting a hand over his bulging mouth before bending over and puking again. "Find out next time,' he stood back up and said, "on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"
The sound of him vomiting again was heard over the final long-distance shot of the island.
(Fade to Credits)
Author's Note - Post Script
And thus, as so many of you expected, Courtney falls - and to her own anger and arrogance to boot. In case you're a little confused as to what exactly everyone's reasoning with the vote was, here's a more in-depth in-story behind-the-scenes explanation: Harold, Jasmine, and especially Noah were expecting Noah and Courtney to put their differences aside and vote for Harold, while Harold and Jasmine voted for Courtney as she was the bigger threat. In that case it would be a tiebreaker, and with Courtney and Harold being who they are they would both be confident in their win.
Courtney, however, had other ideas. Angry at Noah for abandoning her while having the nerve to suggest that she needs him and not just the other way around, on top of every other slight he's dealt her over the season, led to her voting for him instead of Harold to send a message. And since she was under the impression that Harold would be guilted/intimidated into voting for Noah instead of her, she was fully expecting a 2-1-1 split in the vote with Noah going home. But, of course, Harold was having none of that, and stuck with the plan he and Jasmine had already created and voted out Courtney. And thus, as Noah said, Courtney effectively voted herself off.
And then, of course, Harold finally revealed Noah as the note-sender...only for it to basically go flat. Courtney had other priorities at the time; Jasmine wasn't around; and though surprised Noah didn't really cave to Harold's anger or anything. Of course, that's not to say this revelation won't have other effects in the game...
And that's that. Jasmine got a dominating win in a challenge that was heavily tilted in her favor even considering the fact that she sent Chris flying into a bathroom...but hey, that's a consequence of me not wanting to significantly change the challenge. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, including the cook-off portion of things.
Let me know what you thought, and what you're expecting in the episodes to come!
- 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)
Courtney - (4th Place)
