Sorry about the wait everyone, life decided to be a bitch and barely gave me any free time. Additionally, I'll be off on holiday soon and won't have free access to the internet or computer. I'll try and get as much of the next chapter done as I can, but don't expect another update until after the 17th.
AN: In this chapter, were going to have another mutation, the first challenge, and deciding the teams. BTW, big thanks to Johnathen, Dis Lexic and Ela le Hissy for their suggestions.
Also, the odd title will make sense once you read the story.
Ps: Kudos to anyone who saw the reference at the end of the last chapter.
So, without further ado…let's get started!
"Talking"
'Sound Effect'
'Thoughts'
"Distorted Voice"
"YELLING"
"CROWD YELLING"
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own TMNT or Total Drama.
Chapter 2: We're going on a Blood Hunt!
(Mutagen lab)
Not even five seconds after Chris' outburst, everybody burst out laughing. They knew it wasn't right, but considering that the man who had caused them so much misery had just been turned into, as he put it, 'a dirty skunk'? Could you really blame them?
Cody had dropped to his knees, and was now pounding the floor with no signs of calming down. Sierra likely would have taken advantage of this 'opportunity', if it weren't for the fact that she looked like she was about to join her 'boyfriend'. Trent, Tyler, Geoff and Leshawna were holding their stomachs in laughter, Owen, DJ, Justin and Harold were pretty much supporting each other. Hell, even Ezekiel had dropped his feral behaviour and was practically laughing himself to death with Izzy.
Everybody else reacted to the situation a little differently; Bridgette, Beth, Gwen and Noah were trying their best to hold it in (which resulted in near-constipated expressions), Lindsay was still cooing over how cute Chris looked and Heather, Alejandro, Eva, Duncan and Courtney were all sporting vindictive grins, taking pleasure in the hosts suffering.
Even Chef was busting a gut, even though he would likely receive another massive dock in pay for this. But personally, he couldn't care less; this was totally worth it!
With Chris still weeping like a baby and the contestants and cooker laughing themselves silly, nobody noticed that Jay was busy at the console again. Even when the Mutagen started lighting up the room with its glow, nobody even spared it a glance.
Finally, Chris managed to calm down a little and everybody managed to catch their breath. Chef was about to make a comment before a familiar 'whiiir, SNAP, hssssss' sound was heard. Everyone looked up just in time to see another vial of blood get sucked into the chamber, before the claw released the now-empty vial in a disposal bin and came to rest above the cast.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "Now what's he up to?! He's already turned me into a dirty skunk! I don't wanna be a skunk, the ladys don't love skunks!" Needless to say, Chris was not taking his makeover very well.
'Kssht' "Okay I'll admit, that stunt he just pulled knocked him up a few pages in my book!" Courtney exclaimed with a giddy smile, before her expression melted into a suspicious frown, "But what's he up to now?"
(End Confession Cam)
"Hey man, what gives?" Tyler asked in confusion. "Yeah, why're you refilling the tank?", Bridgette concurred, with the other teen's and Chef voicing their own confusion.
Jay pressed a couple more buttons before answering, "Well, a thought just occurred to me you see. Normally Chef over here is meant to keep you in line if any of you lose it, right mate?", he asked, receiving a nod from the still befuddled veteran. "Now, keeping twenty-two teens under control is usually a cinch for him, but twenty-two mutant teens? Probably not so cinchy."
The campers exchanged looks, realizing Jay did make a valid point but not seeing where he was going with it. Chef on the other hand, paled in realisation before the scientist grabbed a lever, and pulled.
'whiiir, snap!'
Almost instantly, the claw dropped from above and grabbed the veteran under his arms, before carrying him over to the pit above the tank. Chef had barely any time to yell before the claw let go, and he fell straight into the Mutagen.
While the grunts and yells of a now-mutating Chef were heard, everybody (including a now coherent Chris) turned to stare at Jay with a 'WTF' expression. The scientist noticed the looks, and simply rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish expression. "I know, I know, 'Why the bloody hell did I do that?'. Look, just wait for him to finish and I'll explain once he's out" he assured them.
Any further comments were forgotten as Chef's mutation finished up, the campers gulping when they noticed two, sharp, pointy additions to his roaring head.
When the chamber released its contents into the disposal pit, the cooker simply laid still on the grate, still disoriented from the mutation. As the Mutagen that still covered him began to flow away, Chef finally came to his senses and opened his eyes with a groggy groan.
"Urgh, oh man. I don't feel so good." he groaned, looking around for a moment. His eyes then strayed down to himself before widening in horror. "Oh no…" he whispered, before shooting to his feet.
Correction; before shooting to his HOOVES!
His body had gained a few more feet in height and somehow was even more ripped than before, with his skin being covered in reddish-brown fur. His legs had become triple-jointed and his feet were replaced with cloven hooves, while his arms had lengthened until they were longer than his legs and his hands were now tridactyl with ragged, keratin fingernails. But the biggest change, was his head! His mouth had stretched forward into a bovine snout, his ears had curled into leaf shapes and moved closer to the top of his head, and two big, cruel-looking horns were sprouting from his temples.
"WHAT'VE YA DONE TO ME, YA CRAZY FOOL?!" the cooker cried in shock, which quickly turned to rage. Steam bursting from his flaring nostrils and foam pouring from his bared teeth, Chef stomped over and grabbed Jay by his shirt before lifting him up, drawing an arm back in preparation.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "Oh boy. Nice knowin ya Jay-dude, short as it was!" Tyler proclaimed, giving a mock salute to the camera.
(End Confession Cam)
Before he could throw a punch though, the panicked scientist raised his arms and yelled, "Whoa, whoa, steady on mate! I get that you're pissed but at least let me explain before you cave my head in!" Thankfully, the cooker was still sane enough to register the request, and simply glared at the nervous brit before unceremoniously dropping him. Jay rose to his feet, dusted himself off and looked up to Chef, who had been joined by Chris in glaring daggers at him.
Jay grinned sheepishly, "Okay, three reasons why I mutated you both. Number one: Chris deserved it and the producers approved it." He explained, holding his phone up.
The phone was showing a message...
DEAR MR HUNTER,
WE, THE PRODUCERS OF TOTAL DRAMA, HEREBY GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO EXPOSE THE CAST OF TOTAL DRAMA AND BY EXTENSION IT'S HOSTS, TO YOUR MUTAGEN FORMULA.
OUR ONLY REQUEST IS THAT YOU ENSURE THAT MR MCLEAN'S MUTATION INVOLVES AN ANIMAL THAT WIL HELP IN CURBING HIS RATHER LARGE EGO.
YOURS SINCERELY, THE PRODUCERS.
Chris snatched the phone and peered at the message closely, before slowly looking up in a deadpan. "Well, I guess I'm the goat…or in this case, the skunk" he muttered. Jay and Chef briefly smirked, before the former continued. "Number two: like I said earlier, even if Chef is a former army veteran, I doubt he can coralle twenty-two mutants when he's just one, normal man, hmm?" The cooker glared for a moment before reluctantly nodding, "…Yeah, guess you gotta point brat. Don't mean I gotta like it though" he acridly muttered.
"And finally, number 3: need I remind you of the other breakthrough I made?" asked Jay, his question drawing looks of realisation from the skunk and bull before…
'Slap!' 'Slap!'
…They both face-palmed, drawing skewed looks from the campers.
Jay gave the two mutants a moment to wallow in embarrassment before clearing his throat, "Anyway, I believe it's time to move on, don't you Chris?" he prodded, earning widened eyes and a thankful nod from Chris. "Oh yeah, thanks!" he said, before turning to the teens, "Anyway campers, with all that behind us, I think it's time to reveal your first challenge!"
"What? What do you mean 'our first challenge'?" Eva cried, throwing her arms up in indignation. "We're not even in teams yet!"
"You'd better not be planning to kick one of us off straight away, you enfermo! (1)" Alejandro growled in agreement.
Chris simply raised his hands, his signature smug grin being just as annoying on his new face as his old one. "Not at all, my good man! This is simply a…mini-challenge, should we say. Each of you has to work on your own to complete it and once it's over we'll get around to sorting the teams, but for now…" he gave Jay a look "…Mr Hunter, if you would?" The scientist twisted a knob on his console and every panel on the DNA storage machine opened, revealing that every single slot was empty. Not a single vial of blood anywhere. "As you can see" Chris picked up, gesturing to the machine "Chef has taken every single Vial out of the DNA machine, and hidden them all over the island." Chef strolled up with a large display board, which showed a map of the entire island. "Your task, is to scour the island and retrieve at least one of those Vials. If you find a Vial within two hours, your allowed to look for more until times up. If not, you'll lose the challenge. The consequences of which, will be revealed later on."
Spying a couple of suspicious smirks, Jay decided to speak up "Also, while contestants are allowed to swap or give away Vials if both parties consent to it, they are not allowed to take them by force or any similar means. Understand?" he explained, arching an eyebrow. The campers nodded in agreement, some more reluctantly than others.
Chris clapped his paws, "Well, now that that's settled, hop to it campers!" On cue, Chef pulled out a whistle and blew 'fweeeeeet'. The contestants rushed out the door, Owen getting stuck for a moment before the others managed to tackle him the rest of the way out, and began their search.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' Gwen sat on the toilet seat, muttering, "Great! Not even here a day and we're already thrown into a challenge!" She sighed, before smirking, "Well, at least it's not that bad. All we gotta do is find one vial of blood out of several somewhere, it could be worse" she reasoned with a shrug.
'Kssht' "Hmph! If they expect me to go running all over the place, looking for blood of all things, they can think again!" Heather haughtily sniffed with a superior smirk. "I'll just wait until one of these other losers finds one, then take it! So-what if they said it can't be done, how are they gonna know?"
'Kssht' Chris leaned against the wall of the Confession Stand, watching a recording of Heather's confession on a tablet held by his tail. "…So-what if they said it can't be done, how are they gonna know?" When the video ended, Chris simply shook his head before looking into the camera with a sly grin. "You'd think these guys would've learned by now."
(End Confession Cam)
(Mess hall, 1 hour 43 minutes remaining)
Owen had dashed straight for the mess hall, both for the challenge and to see if he could find something to eat. "Now..." he muttered "…if I were a vial of animal blood, where would I be?" he looked around him, before his eyes strayed to the kitchen. Grinning, he entered.
He scoured the entire kitchen, looking in the cupboards, under the tables, inside the pots and pans, before reaching the last place to look…the fridge. Under normal circumstances, even Owen knew it was a bad idea to raid Chef's fridge. However, these weren't normal circumstances. The oaf practically ripped the door off the fridge, and beheld the culinary wonders that Chef and Chris usually hoarded to themselves.
The challenge all but forgotten, the oaf dived right in, eating everything he could get his hands on. Roasted ham, spicy chicken wings, pepperoni pizza, spaghetti bolognaise: all of it was consumed.
Lost in his euphoria, Owen absent-mindedly reached out to grab a turkey leg, but accidently reached too far. Instead of feeling the meaty texture he expected, all he felt was cold, hard glass. Owen opened his eyes in confusion, and looked at his hand. There, clutched between his still grubby fingers, was a Vial! The oaf stared in surprise, his jaw dropping and spilling some of the uneaten food still in his mouth. That surprise only last for a couple of seconds before…
"YES! I FOUND ONE! WHOOOOHOOOOOO!" Owen cheered in jubilation, holding his prize in the air. As he walked out of the mess hall still grinning, he felt like nothing could dampen his mood…right up until he suddenly walked right into a large mass of muscle. "DAAAAW! That hurt! What the heck was that?" he questioned shaking his head, then his eyes looked up… 'gulp' …before his heart promptly stopped in terror and sweat started pouring from him in bucket-loads. Then again, who could blame him, considering he was currently staring into the face of an enraged bull dressed in chefs clothing.
"MOOOOOOOO!" "AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!"
(Confession Cam)
Chef sat on the toilet chuckling to himself, a piece of Owen's shirt stuck to one of his horns. "I might not have been too happy about this new look at first" he said, plucking off the scrap of torn shirt, "…But I gotta admit, its growing on me, Heh heh!"
(End Confession Cam)
(Cabins, 1 hour 27 minutes remaining)
Cody had been looking under one of the bunks, and had just managed to find a Vial hidden in a hole in the floorboards when…
"Codykins, look what I found!" 'THUNK' "OOOWWW!"
A sudden shout caused him to jerk his head up and bang it on the bed. Hissing in pain and rubbing his head, Cody pulled out from under the bed and looked to the speaker. He wasn't surprised by their identity, as much as he tried he could never forget the sound of Sierra's voice. What did surprise him though, was the handful of Vials she was clutching in her hands.
"How the heck did you find that many so quick?" he asked, prompting a wide grin from the fan-girl. "Oh, I have my ways Codykins!" she answered, conveniently forgetting to mention that she'd swiped some of them from the other campers.
(The Docks, 1 hour 11 minutes remaining)
Leshawna hadn't had a clue where to start looking at first, until she had a flashback to the hide and seek challenge from the first season. So, she combed over every inch of the docks, gaining some additional hands in the form of DJ, Harold and Eva. After nearly twenty minutes had gone by, there was still no sign of any Vials. Everybody was about to give up, when Harold's eye caught something glinting in the sunlight. When he turned to get a better look, his face lit up.
"Hey guys?" he called, but nobody listened to him, still busy searching. "Guys?" he tried again, still nothing. Harold sighed in annoyance and took a deep breath. "GOSH! GUYS!" he yelled, startling the others. Eva's surprise however, quickly turned to annoyance. "What?! What is it, ya twig?!" she 'asked', prompting Harold to break a nervous sweat and point out to sea. "You guys see that?" Following the nerd's finger, their eyes landed on a buoy floating in the bay. Strapped to the buoy, were four Vials!
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "Man! Its times like this tend to you forget: despite how annoying he is, Harold can be pretty useful sometimes" DJ muttered in pleasant surprise.
(End Confession Cam)
After a moment, Eva spoke up, "So, who's gonna go get them?" There was an exchange of looks, before Leshawna heaved a sigh of annoyance "Alright fine, I'll do it ya turkeys. Jeez, it's like the cliff jumping all over again." With that, she jumped in. The others watched as the sassy girl made her way to the buoy, cheering her on. As Leshawna finally reached her target, DJ noticed something approaching from the corner of his eyes. He turned to get a better look before paling in horror, nudging the others and pointing it out. They promptly joined him in paling when they caught sight of the distinctive shape of a shark's fin, heading straight for Leshawna!
Leshawna however hadn't noticed the threat, currently too occupied with grabbing the Vials. When she got them loose, and turned around to show the others, her victorious glee turned to confusion at the sight of them yelling and pointing at something.
"LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!" "SWIM LESHAWNA, SWIM!" "MOVE IT OR LOSE IT! LITERALLY!"
Following the direction of their fingers, she finally saw the fast approaching danger, and jumped off the buoy like it was burning hot, "OH SHIT!" Quickly stuffing the Vials in the pockets, she shot for the docks like a bullet, with the fin right on her tail! She paddled and paddled, going as fast as her fatigued arms would let her, all the while the shark only seemed to get closer and closer! Just when it seemed like the hungry fish was about to get her, Leshawna swam close enough to the docks for DJ and Eva to reach over and pull her up out of the water and out of the shark's reach.
For what seemed like hours everybody just stood in silence, Leshawna nearly falling over before Harold caught her. Then, the sassy girl's lips started to twitch upwards in a smile, a faint chuckle escaping her mouth. That chuckle soon became more distinct before growing into full on laughter, which proved to be contagious. Within minutes everyone, even the normally stoic Eva, was practically dying of laughter, Leshawna and Harold supporting each other while Eva pounded her fist on a guffawing DJ's chest. After a moment, it seemed like the group was starting to come down from their adrenaline high. That was promptly postponed when Leshawna remembered something and reached into her pocket, pulling all four Vial, completely undamaged. The laughter instantly returned.
Once everybody had calmed down they turned back towards the water, the shark still floating a few feet away from the dock, glaring at them. The sassy girl gave the shark a smug smirk, "HA! Sorry pal, but you won't be takin a bite outta this luscious booty anytime soon!" she taunted, waving her rear end at the predator. She was so caught up in her taunting, she didn't notice the sound of something rising out of the water, nor the gasps from the rest of the group. It was only when she opened her eyes and noticed DJ, Eva and Harold, gawping in shock and disbelief at something behind her, did she finally turn around. Her once-smug expression was quickly replaced with dumb-confusion.
The shark, which a moment ago had been floating in the lake, was now eye-level and barely two feet away from her, still glaring daggers. Leshawna's first reaction would normally have been scream and run away, but her confusion as to how the shark had gotten out of the lake had trumped it. The sassy girl's eyes strayed down, and her silent question was answered.
Instead of having the spade like tail of a normal shark, this shark was supporting itself on four long tentacles, while another four swayed in the air around it menacingly.
This was no ordinary shark, this was a Sharktopus! (2)
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' Jay sat before the camera, a sheepish yet proud smile on his face. "Ah, the Sharktopus. One of my finest achievements yet!" he announced proudly, before he turned serious. "No need to worry too much, he only eats fish and any seagull that comes to close. He just likes to give people a good fright…unless they make the mistake of taunting him." Jay confessed nervously, "If they do, well…heaven help them."
(End Confession Cam) and
Leshawna only had the time to open her mouth, before the Sharktopus roared and grabbed her by the waist! The sassy girl screamed in terror as the tentacles tossed her around flayed all over the place, shaking her like a rag-doll Her friends stared in shock, before Harold finally came to his senses and started trying to push DJ forward. "What're you waiting for, 'Dorkahontas'?! Get in there and save her!" The gentle giant stared at the nerd, dumbfound. "You trippin or something man?! There aint no way I'm getting in there! How about you get in there?!" DJ flipped around Harold and tried to push him forward, much to the nerd protest. "No way dude, I'm wearing glasses; you don't get in the water with glasses on, everybody knows that!" Harold responded. The two of them were so busy arguing, they didn't notice a coherent and annoyed Eva reaching behind their heads before…
'Clonk!' "OOOOOWWW!" "OOOOOWWW!"
Leaving the boys rubbing their heads, Eva stalked towards the Sharktopus, cracking her knuckles. Pausing for a moment, she threw a glare at DJ and Harold, causing them to snap to attention. "You two idiots just stay outta my way! I got this~!" With that, she leaped forward with a primal yell, the resulting carnage drawing silent stares from the two males. "Jeez, it's like watching a shark frenzy." The nerd commented, drawing an agreeing nod from the gentle giant, "Yeah; totally horrific, yet ya just can't turn away."
'CHOMP!'
The duo winced at the distinctive sound of a bite. DJ hissed in phantom pain "Oooh, that's gonna leave a mark." Harold could only nod his own agreement "Yeah…on the Sharktopus!"
(The Woods, 37 minutes remaining)
With only a short time left, most of the campers had managed to find at least one Vial.
Gwen had scaled a tree to get a birds-eye view and conveniently found a Vial in the tree itself. Duncan had found his while rooting around in a bear's cave, but hadn't noticed that the bear had returned until he tried to leave (he would later vehemently deny that he' screamed like a girl when he saw that growling maw in his face). Geoff and Bridgette found a small collection while they were scouring the beach. Even Izzy had a small handful to herself, though nobody wanted to know how and where she'd found them.
Presently, the unlikely trio of Courtney, Noah and Ezekiel were trekking through the woods, the feral boy leading the group and tracking Chefs scent. Believe it or not, Ezekiel actually made a very good bloodhound, having already found a decent pile of Vials for him and his 'team'.
Speaking of which, the feral boy suddenly turned round and barked at Noah and Courtney, before bounding through some nearby bushes and out of sight. Noah sighed in frustration, "I'll go see what got his attention, you stay here and guard the Vials." Without giving the CIT and time to respond, Noah ran off after Ezekiel.
Courtney scowled and stomped her foot, growling to herself.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "Great, just great!" Courtney griped in frustration. "Not only do I have to resort to working a smart-mouthed bookworm and a dog in human skin, but they end up sticking ME on guard duty!"
(End Confession Cam)
The CIT sat down on a tree stump grumbling, completely unaware that she was being watched.
Suddenly the bushes started rustling, Courtney's head snapping in their direction. "Noah, is that you?" she called nervously. The bushes ceased rustling, filling the clearing with silence, before they parted to reveal none other than Alejandro.
The two stared at each other in surprise before Alejandro's face melted into a suave smile, while Courtney's twisted into an ugly sneer. "Oh, Courtney. Fancy meeting you here." He greeted pleasantly, getting nothing but a glare in return, "Oh, it's you." Courtney responded, still glaring daggers at the Latino teen, "What the hell do you want, you scheming rat?" Alejandro clutched at his heart and mock-gasped in shock. "Courtney, how could you?! How could you possibly compare me to a RAT of all things?!" he cried. Courtney's response was more glaring, this time in deadpan. "Very easily, 'Ale'…" she answered, "…now buzz off! I'm waiting for that smug bookworm Noah and the home-schooled missing-link to get back, so I really don't want to deal with you right now!"
Dropping the charade, Alejandro's smile returned, stretching a tad wider when he spied the sizeable sack next to the CIT. "Noah and Ezekiel eh? Must be hard for you, having to work with a smart mouth that barely does anything physical, and someone who can barely be classified as human." He said. Courtney raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but ultimately just rolled her eyes and answered, "Like you wouldn't believe. Between Noah being no help at all and Ezekiel being a mangy, slobbering idiot, I'm star to think I'm the only one actually trying to win this! Not to mention…"
The Latino teen nodded along, encouraging the CIT to continue her rant. Eventually she got so caught up in it, she became completely oblivious to her surroundings.
Which made it all too easy for Heather to sneak out of the bushes, grab the sack of Vials, and take off with them.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "I have an alliance going with mi amore Heather." Alejandro explained, "The plan we made is simple: find a lone contestant who's either not that bright or is easily distracted, one of us gets their attention and the other sneaks up and swipes away any Vials they have. Simple, but effective."
(End Confession Cam)
Once Heather was out sight, Alejandro smirked and turned to the still-ranting CIT. "Well I'd love to stay and listen my dear, but I must get back to my own search. For now though, I bid you adieu and good luck." With that and a quick wave, he turned on his heel and walked away into the bushes. Slightly panting from her tirade, Courtney just snorted and upturned her nose at Alejandro's departure, not even realising she'd been had.
A few minutes later, Noah and Ezekiel returned, the latter panting away and the former clutching three more Vials in his hands. "Great news, Ezekiel hit the jackpot this time." He said with a grin, which quickly vanished when he noticed what was missing. "Er, Courtney?" He asked. The CIT, who hadn't heard him the first time he spoke, whirled around. "What?!" She snapped irritably, then she noticed the Vials Noah was holding and her expression became a lot more pleasant. "Oh, you found a group this time. Great work guys!" She congratulated with a smile. Instead of being smug though, Noah was looking all over the clearing, clearly distressed. After yet another sweep round the clearing, he turned towards the confused girl with a twitchy smile. "Uh Courtney, do you mind if I ask you something?" After getting a nod of consent, Noah steeled himself and calmly asked, "Where's the sack with the other Vials in it?"
Courtney raised an eyebrow, the bookworms question making her even more confused. "What do you mean 'where's the sack?'?" The CIT asked back, turning to reach down beside herself. "It's right he…" she cut herself, finally noticing the sack's absence. Courtney twisted around, looking all over for it, "W-what the hell! Where is it!" Then she froze, as realisation dawned on her.
Noah and Ezekiel watched with bated breath; they were no shamans, but they could guess what was going to happen next. Surprisingly though, Courtney just sat still, completely rigid and blank faced. Not so much as a twitching eye. Noah edged forward, "Uh, C-Courtney? Are you…" He didn't get the chance to finish before…
"THAT SCHEMING RAAAAAAAT!" Courtney roared in fury, causing Ezekiel to yelp in fear and jump into Noah's arms, both of them shaking in fear as Mt. Courtney finally erupted.
(Jay's laboratory)
Time had finally run out, and all of the teens had been called back to the lab.
Everyone had found a Vial somewhere; Trent found his while searching around the cliffs, before having to run away from an escaped mutant mountain goat. Justin's was being guarded by crocodiles who, surprise surprise, gave it up after one smile! Beth collected a few from a crate in the boathouse, and gave some of them up to Lindsay (whose method of searching consisted of literally 'looking' for the Vials). Tyler was lucky enough to find his Vial right before time ran out, almost as if someone had deliberately left it for him to find.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' Chris sat in the Confession stand, snickering mischievously.
(End Confession Cam)
While some of the campers were proudly showing off their finds, others weren't so enthusiastic.
Owen was barely coherent, covered head to toe in huge bruises and one or two puncture marks, clutching a slightly cracked Vial in his hands. Leshawna was shivering and rocking on the floor, still shook up from her encounter with the Sharktopus. Harold was patting her on the back to calm her down, while DJ was glancing nervously at Eva, who was leaning against the wall with a victorious grin and donning a new shark-fin hat and octopus-tentacle belt. Last but not least, Courtney and Noah were glaring daggers at the smug couple of Alejandro and Heather, the latter tauntingly waving the sack of pilfered Vials.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "Sheesh!" Cody exclaimed, "The worst that happened to me was a bump on the head! What the heck happened to those guys!"
'Kssht' "I was shocked when I saw Leshawna shaking like a leaf." Gwen said, looking a little worried. "I tried asking her what happened, but all I could get out of her was something about teeth and tentacles!"
'Kssht' Bridgette sighed and rubbed her nose, "Courtney just told me what Heather and Alejandro pulled; Figures."
'Kssht' Jay glared into the camera and spoke through gritted teeth. "Do you have any idea how much damage that psychopath did to my Sharktopus?!" He seethed. "It going to be a nightmare trying to fix him up! And even then, he'll still be traumatised from what happened!"
(End Confession Cam)
Chris grinned as he took in the various states of the contestants, his tail swinging in amusement. "Wow! Gotta say guys, I didn't think the first challenge was gonna be that entertaining! Nice work people!"
His response was a series of dirty looks and chuckles, but he continued on regardless. "But before we move on to the next part of the day, we have a few 'issues' to address." Some of the campers started to get nervous, wondering what he was up to now. "Uh, Chris?" Trent called out, "When you say 'issues', what do you mean exactly?"
"Glad you asked, dude!" Chris replied, throwing a finger to Jay. On cue, the Brit pulled a remote from his pocket and pushed a button, causing a large flat-screen to lower from the rafters and flicker on. The first scene showed Sierra, sneaking up on the other campers and stealing their Vials when they weren't looking. Jay then pushed another button, and the screen changed to show Heather and Alejandro swiping the sack of Vials from Courtney. The three guilty campers froze, dear-in-the-headlights expressions plastered on their faces.
Once the recording was over, Jay pressed a final button to send the screen back up, then pocketed the remote and gave the guilty party a look of disbelief. "Did you lot honestly forget that there's cameras all over the bloody island? I've heard of selective memory loss, but this is ridiculous!" He exclaimed, incredulous.
Chris snickered at his co-host's griping, before clapping his hands to draw the attention back towards himself. "Regardless…" he said, "…as punishment for failing to stick to the rules, all stolen Vials will now be confiscated."
With that, Chef marched up to Heather, who snapped out of her shock and tried backing up, before he promptly snatched the sack straight out of her hands. Ignoring the Queen Bee's angered rant, he continued over to the still-frozen Sierra.
Oddly though, he only took away most of Sierra's Vials. Once he did though, he put them in the sack with others before handing the sack to a couple of interns. "Don't break a single one of them, got it?" Jay called over, getting a nod of acknowledgement from the interns, who then took the elevator to the second floor.
Once they reached the edge of the pit, they started taking the Vials out of the sack and holding them out. Jay, who had sat down at his console again, scanned each Vial with the claw to identify which was which, before placing them in their slots in the storage chamber.
"Hey wait a minute, what gives?!" Heather objected, gesturing to the two Vials Sierra was still holding. "How come the crazy fan girl gets some?!" Said 'crazy fan girl' certainly wasn't complaining, if her giddy expression was anything to go by.
"Because, while most of Sierra's Vials were taken from others, those two she found herself." Chris replied with a shrug. "Couple that with the fact that we're only confiscating stolen Vials, she gets to keep them."
Then his eyes strayed to Alejandro. "Speaking of which…" he prodded.
The Latino boy dropped his shocked facade and rolled his eyes. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out another Vial, drawing gasps from the others and a look of betrayal from Heather.
(Confession Cam)
'Kssht' "Call it insurance." Alejandro said, balancing the Vial on his finger. "I figured something like this would happen, so I made sure to find one Vial before meeting up with Heather."
'Kssht' "Figures, not even his own girlfriend is safe from his schemes!" Courtney huffed.
(End Confession Cam)
"No!" Heather cried, grabbing her boyfriend by his collar. "How could you?! WHY would you?!" She demanded.
Alejandro shrugged and gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry mi amore, but you know that's how things on this show work." His smile turned a tad vindictive, "Besides, consider it payback for kneeing me in the cojones last season."
There was a mixture of expressions at that: some were looks of pity for Heather, others were looks of respect or contempt for Alejandro.
Chef then cleared his throat, caught everyone's attention and directed it to Chris. "Now that the challenge is over, it's time to reveal what the rewards and penalties are." Chris said. He nodded at Jay, who turned to face the cast.
"The way it works is simple mates. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some of you already figured it out" he explained, pressing a couple more buttons. In response, the claw lowered down from above, clutching a Vial in it's pincers. Taking the Vial, Jay held it up and showed it to the campers. "Now be honest, who here only managed to find one Vial?" He asked.
Reluctantly, most of the campers raised their hands, the only exceptions being Beth, Lindsey, Geoff, Bridgette and Justin. The Brit nodded before continuing, "Alright, those of you that raised your hands, take out your Vial please."
Once everybody had their Vials out, Jay's expression turned serious.
"You see, when the producers started making this season, they couldn't decide what to turn you into. So, they came up with another idea." Jay looked each of the campers in the eyes, noting the realisation dawning on the more observant members. "What your holding in your hands, is the DNA that you will soon be spliced with!"
The cast stared at the Vials in hands, filled with a mixture of anticipation and horror. In a few hours, minutes for some, the blood in these Vials would be part of their own DNA!
The scientist handed his Vial back to the Claw, which promptly returned it to the storage chamber, then put on a sheepish grin. "The good news is…" he called, getting everyone's attention, "… those who found more than one Vial, can choose which they get spliced with. The bad news is…" he trailed off again, his face turning sour as he eyed a certain Queen Bee. Heather gulped, remembering that thanks to Alejandro, she was the only one with no Vials at all. Jay just gave an apologetic look. "Sorry love, but as penalty for failing to actually find any Vials of your own, not only will your 'other half' be selected at random from the storage chamber, but…" His next words caused Heather's blood to run cold.
"You will be the first to mutate"
1) Spanish for sicko.
2) Not an original idea of mine. Try searching up Sharktopus, he's got three movies about him.
AN: Sorry for the wait guys, things have been pretty hectic around here lately.
Anyway, while I will be working on the next chapter, my upcoming cruise means I won't be able to post anything until I get back, which will be a fortnight from now.
While I'm gone though, be sure to keep sending in requests for mutations, if you're interested there's a poll on my profile page for Alejandro's mutant form.
A) A Leopard: to symbolise him on the outside.
B) A Rat: to symbolise on the inside.
C) A Fox: both of the above.
PS: kudos to anyone who caught the references in this chapter.
Until next time, cheerio!