Hello Avengeance fans and welcome to chapter 32 of TDAvengance! It's been a long time coming, but I've got a reason for that. I had a really hard time deciding on what the challenge was gonna be for this episode. I hope no one will be disappointed with what I chose, but I have a feeling that someone will. So, enjoy!
The camera points at Chris as he is seated in his trailer that is trailing the Total Drama Double-Decker and the pickup that's hauling the trailer.
"Last time on Total Drama Avengeance!" the Host started as the picture changed to show the events of the previous episode as Chris described them.
"We arrived at another famous American car racing track, Daytona International Speedway!" (Shows aerial shots of the racetrack)
"But unlike the challenge at Indy, the contestants weren't there to race cars…" (Shows all of the contestants standing on the track)
"This time, they were racing each other in a foot race! But, not just any foot race. A three-legged foot race on a 2 and a half mile obstacle course! Ha-ha!" (Shows all of the pairs getting their ankles cuffed together)
"At the beginning of the race, most of the interesting racing happened in the first three spots…" (Shows the pairs of Eva and Katie leading while the pairs of Justin and Trent, and Noah and B battled behind them)
"…while the last four pairs just seemed to stay in place. Way to take the fun out of the challenge guys…" (Shows the pairs of Dawn and Cody, Mike and Zoey, and Anne Maria and Brick taking a leisurely pace)
"Although, Ezekiel and Tyler were pretty entertaining. Ha-ha!" (Shows Ezekiel and Tyler in dead last, clumsily making their way through each obstacle)
"Coming down the homestretch, those two goofs would actually pass the pair of Mike and Zoey to get themselves out of the elimination position." (Shows Ezekiel carrying Tyler past Mike and Zoey)
"The Lovebirds would try to pass them back on the final obstacle…" (Shows Mike and Zoey climbing the wall after Tyler and Ezekiel)
"…But, after Mike lost his mind and a desperate move by Tyler and Zeke, Mike and Zoey were the last pair to finish and were the latest eliminations on Total Drama." (Shows Zoey crying and Mike consoling her)
The image changes back to Chris in his trailer.
"With those two being eliminated last episode, we are officially at the halfway mark of this season," the Host said excitedly. "We have our final 12 contestants, and we're finally getting away from the East Coast. That's right! Total Drama's headin' West! It's time to manifest destiny, here on…"
"Total…"
"Drama…"
"Avengeance!"
*Theme Song*
Bottom Deck (10:00 AM CST)
It was a Saturday morning in May. The weather outside of the Total Drama Double Decker Bus was warming up as the halfway point of Spring had just passed. And just how are the six contestants in the Bottom Deck spending their time on this beautiful, sunny morning?
"Zzzzzz…!"
Noah, B, and Cody were sprawled out on their respective bunks, snoring up a storm after their long-distance run the previous day. These guys had been like this since Mike and Zoey left. Right after the eliminated couple boarded the Copter of Shame, Noah, B, and Cody immediately lied down on their beds and instantly fell asleep.
That was 15 hours ago.
Meanwhile, Eva and Katie were sitting at a booth, in front of the Bottom Deck's TV. The newest pair of friends turned the TV on, lowered the volume and turned on closed captions, so they wouldn't wake the boys up and they could still enjoy their show. Speaking of their show, guess what they were watching.
"Oh! This is the episode where Fluttershy gets stepped on by nearly every pony in town!" Katie said in an excited, yet hushed voice.
"Oh, yeah! I remember this one," Eva replied, "Angel is such a jerk to Fluttershy in this episode."
"Angel is the white bunny, right?" Dawn asked, from her seat at the next booth.
"Yep," they answered.
The three ladies watched in silence for a few moments until Dawn broke the silence with a gasp.
"Did Angel just slap Fluttershy in the face?"
"Yep," Katie and Eva answered with a nod.
"That is a very rude bunny."
"Heh! Wait till you see the rest of the episode," Eva said, getting up from her seat.
"Where are you going, Eva?" Katie asked.
"Getting some breakfast while the stupid theme song plays," the Muscular Teen replied as she looked in the refrigerator.
"Aw… you don't like the theme song?" the Nice Girl asked with a playful tone.
"Nope! It's a little childish for my tastes. Plus, it gets annoying after a while, especially when you binge-watch episodes, like I tend to do. You'd think after three seasons, they would have changed it."
"Like how Total Drama changed its theme song?" Katie sarcastically asked with a slyly raised brow.
"I hate this show's theme song too. Not only does it sound stupid, it doesn't make much sense anymore."
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.
"'I Wanna Be Famous'? I mean, it makes sense if it's for a season full of new contestants, but using it for a season with returning contestants, especially ones like Duncan, Owen, and Heather, it just doesn't make any sense to me."
"Huh…I never thought about it like that before," Katie said. "Yeah, that song doesn't really make any sense anymore, especially after this season with us in the Final 12."
"Exactly," Eva said as she returned to her seat with a bowl of cereal.
"I never took you for the analytical type, Eva," Dawn stated.
"Heh…I have my moments," the Muscular Teen said with a shrug. "Anyway, let's all shut up and watch this show."
With that, the three ladies resumed watching the show, which was just returning from a commercial break.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Dawn - "I'm so happy to see Eva and Katie getting along. It just goes to show that even people who seem the most different from each other can become friends once they find a common ground, no matter how little that common ground may seem."
*Static*
Top Deck (10:30 AM CST)
A majority of the contestants seated on the Top Deck were still sleeping. Anne Maria, Ezekiel, Tyler, and Trent were all sound asleep in their uncomfortable chairs. However, the previous night, after running roughly 4 kilometers, those chairs could have been cinderblocks and they would have looked like king-sized mattresses to these six contestants.
The only two contestants that were awake were Justin and Brick, who were in the middle of a conversation.
"…So, we have an agreement?" Justin asked.
"Well…if Anne Maria trusts you, then I guess I can too…"
With that, the two contestants shook hands.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Justin - "Another one for my alliance! Yes! Now it's my five allies against Noah, Katie, and Ezekiel. This competition is all mine, baby!" *He winks at the camera*
*Static*
Somewhere in Oklahoma (11:30 AM CST)
The Total Drama Double Decker Bus and Chris's Trailer were stopped in a nearly empty field. Chris opened the door to his trailer and walked out with a loudspeaker in his hand.
"Yeah, I know what you're all asking," he said to the camera as it followed his movements. "'Chris, don't you usually make some sort of announcement before you and the contestants get to the next destination?' Yes, little Jimmy, I do usually do that. But, since I'm such a nice guy, I thought that I'd let the contestants rest until we got to our destination, especially after having such a grueling challenge yesterday. Then, wait to give them that announcement once we got there."
The Host stopped in front of the Double Decker and lifted the loudspeaker to his face with his thumb right above the button to activate it.
"But, as you can see, we're here now. So, time to make an announcement!"
Chris pressed the button, which caused the machine to squeal to life.
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bac-ey contestants!" he shouted into the loudspeaker.
Several startled shrieks and cries could be heard from the inside of the bus.
"It's time for your next challenge!"
Now, several annoyed groans and moans were heard from the bus.
"So, shower up, grab a snack, and meet me outside in 30 minutes!"
"Yeah…" "Alright…" Whatever…" "Would you stop speaking into that loudspeaker already?!"
The Host lowers the loudspeaker and nuzzles it.
"I loooove this thing. Ha-ha!"
30 Minutes Later
The 12 remaining contestants gathered outside of the bus and in front of the TV show Host and his co-host.
"Final 12! Welcome to…wherever we are!" Chris exclaimed.
"Wow…I feel so welcome…" Katie droned.
"My thoughts exactly," Noah said, smiling to his girlfriend.
"I had a feeling," she replied with her own smile and a wink, making her boyfriend to chuckle, and Chris glare.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Chris - *Pretends to barf*
*Static*
Somewhere in Oklahoma
"Anyway," Chris continued, "Today, it doesn't matter where we are, because, once again, the challenge today will be taking place in-"
"OH! OH! THE VIRTUAL REALITY MACHINE!" Cody jubilantly exclaimed, attracting everyone's attention.
"Uhh…yes, Cody. Today's challenge will be in the TDVR Machine! However, before we strap you in those chairs, I'll explain the challenge."
"Great. Now, could you do us all a favor, and try not to forget any details that would be important to know," Noah interjected, "Like last time."
"Oh, don't worry, A-Noah-yance. This challenge is so self-explanatory, that even you could understand it. Ha-ha!"
"Ha-ha-ha!" Justin laughed along, "Good one, Chris!"
"I know, I know. I'm a comedy genius," the Host boasted, making almost everyone roll their eyes.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Eva and Katie - Katie - "You know which pony Chris reminds me of?"
Eva - "Trixie?"
Katie - "Exactly! They're both so show-offy, and egomaniacal. You'd think they were related somehow."
Eva - *She snickers for a few seconds* "You know what would be funny? If we started calling Chris, 'Trixie', just out of nowhere."
Katie - *She gasps* "That would be hilarious!" *She chuckles a bit* "And him not knowing why we call him that will make it even funnier!"
Eva and Katie - *They continue laughing with each other*
*Static*
Somewhere in Oklahoma
"Getting back on track…Ha! 'Track'! You'll get why that's funny in a minute. Anyway, today's virtual reality challenge is based on another video game. A game, which I'm sure all of you have either played or heard of before."
"Oh! Oh! Can I guess it?" Cody asked.
"Hmm…" Chris pondered before answering with a shrug, "Sure. Why not? In fact, let's make it a quick game of 20 Questions, but with half of the questions. Go!"
"Oh! I love 20 Questions! Hmm… is it a Nintendo game?"
"Yep!" Chris answered.
"Does it star Mario?"
"Correct again!"
"Awesome! Is it a sports title?"
"Hmm…" the Host hesitated before looking over to Chef, who was nodding his head. "The judges say, 'yes.'"
"Is it Mario Golf?" Cody continued asking.
"Nope!"
"Mario Tennis?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Mario Super Strikers?"
"Nega-tive."
"Is it Mario Kart?" Trent asked.
"Trent got it! Today, you all will be racing each other in Mario Kart!"
"What?! Kart racing isn't a sport!" Cody argued.
"What?! Yeah, it is!" Trent counter-argued. "Auto racing takes a ton of skill, endurance, and-"
"Sitting on your butt for hours, driving a car around a track?" the Tech Geek interrupted.
"…I was gonna say, 'strength,'" the Guitarist said.
"How strong do you need to be to turn a steering wheel to the left, and step on a couple pedals?!"
"It's a lot harder than it looks on TV, dude! Trust me, I've driven one!" [1]
At this point, Cody and Trent were getting in each other's faces. The rest of the contestants looked on in shock, awe, or amazement. That is, until Chris interjected himself in-between the two arguing friends.
"Girls! Girls! You're both pretty," the Host told them in a condescending tone, "But, try as you might, you'll never be a beautiful as me. Now, shut your pie-holes and let me finish explaining the challenge!" [2]
"Yeah, guys!" Justin said, putting his arms around Cody and Trent's shoulders, "We're supposed to friends here! Drama Bros for life, remember?"
The bickering bandmates glared at each other for a few moments before agreeing with Justin.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Justin - "Phew! That was close! The last thing I need is a wrench being thrown into my alliance plan. Well, if it happens again, I could probably get Eva to straighten them out. She is Ironwoman after all." *Justin chuckles at his own joke* "Chris isn't the only funny one on this show."
*Static*
Somewhere in Oklahoma
"As I was saying, today you 12 will be racing each other in Mario Kart. Mario Kart Wii, to be exact," the Host explained. "Mario Kart Wii is the most recent home-console installment of the Mario Kart series of video games. Also, it's the first Mario Kart game to feature 12 karts racing at once, so it is more than appropriate for today's challenge! You all will race through one 150cc Grand Prix, made up of four of, what I think are, the most challenging tracks in the game. The goal of the challenge, obviously, is to win."
"Whoa…Didn't see that coming," Noah commented sarcastically.
"As most of you probably already know," Chris continued, ignoring the interruption, "After each race in the Grand Prix, you receive an amount of points which correlates with how well you finish. First place gets 15 points, second place gets 12, third gets 10, fourth gets 8, and it goes down by a point after that with 12th getting 0 points. So, try not to finish last. Ha-ha! Oh! That reminds me. We made a slight modification to the functionality of the game."
"That doesn't sound good at all…" Katie commented.
"Normally in Mario Kart, if you fall off the track, Lakitu, that nerdy looking guy on the cloud, picks you up and brings you back on the track. Well, in this challenge, if you fall off the track, you're out of the race, and you will be scored in the last available position. So, if you fall off the track and all of the other 11 drivers are still on-track, then you finish last! Ha-ha!"
"I knew it wouldn't sound good."
"After the final race, all of the points you got from all four races are tallied, and you get ranked in the order of how many points you have. For this challenge, the top 6 in the rankings at the end of the Grand Prix will be riding in luxury to our next destination. The bottom 6, along with having to ride on the Top Deck, are up for elimination! Now, before you all get strapped in, are there any questions?"
Brick raised his hand.
"Yes, Brick?"
"This might be a nit-pick, but…why are we doing a Mario Kart challenge in Oklahoma?" the Cadet asked.
"Let me answer your question with a few questions of my own," Chris replied. "What's the last letter in 'Mario'?"
"Uhh…'O'…"
"And what's the first letter in 'Kart'?"
"…'K'…"
"And what's the two-letter abbreviation of Oklahoma?"
"OK…wait…"
Cody raised his hand.
"Yes, Cody?"
"Will we get to pick between the different kart options."
"Nope. All of you will be driving the standard karts with standard wheels, so it will be an even playing field. So, all that matters is how good you are at driving and how lucky you get with the items. Ha-ha!"
There was a small pause.
"Well, if that's all the questions, it's time to do some Kartin'! Get in those chairs, contestants!"
With that, the 12 contestants, including a confused Brick, walked to the TDVR Machine.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Brick - "I feel like…I just got trolled…"
*Static*
Noah - "If I know Chris as well as I think I do, and I do, unfortunately, then this Grand Prix is gonna be as torturous as possible. Can't wait…"
*Static*
Cody - "This should be easy for me! I've got Mario Kart Wii back home, and I've played through it countless times. No sweat!"
*Static*
Mushroom Gorge
The camera views showed off different areas of the first track. The track seemed to be in a canyon area, with a mountain right next to it. Throughout the track, there were giant mushrooms that looked big enough for the karts to drive on top of. There was a mushroom that bridged a gap in the track that was right after the second turn. There were even more mushrooms in a cave that went through the mountain that was just to the left of the start/finish line of the track. It seems that the drivers would have to drive on top of those mushrooms to make it back around since there was a bottomless pit in the cave under the tops of the mushrooms.
Confession Cam
*Static*
Noah - "First track of the Troll Cup Grand Prix: Mushroom Gorge."
*Static*
Start/Finish Line
The karts were lined up behind the starting line. They were lined up in the same way that they finished the last challenge. Cody started in 1st, Dawn 2nd, Eva 3rd, Katie 4th, B 5th, Noah 6th, Justin 7th, Trent 8th, Anne Maria 9th, Brick 10th, Ezekiel 11th, and Tyler 12th.
"Aw man! Why did I have to be last?!" Tyler questioned in slight annoyance.
Soon enough, Lakitu flew down on his cloud, holding the starting lights for the race and counting down with his fingers. Those of the contestants that had some experience with the Mario Kart games knew when to start mashing the gas to get a boost from the get-go. As soon as Lakitu said to go, those contestants who timed the gas correctly left the others behind, like they were shot out of cannons.
"What the?!" Justin asked with his mouth agape. "How did they do that?!"
The contestants that got the boost were Cody, Katie, B, Noah, Trent, and Brick. Tyler would have gotten a boost too, but he hit the gas too early and burned out his engine.
"Gah! Darn it! Every time!" he exclaimed before starting to accelerate.
The six that got the boost were already in the second turn of the track, about to see what items they got from the first set of item boxes.
Cody, who was in 1st, got to see his item before anyone else did. It was displayed on a screen in the cockpit of his kart.
"A banana! Sweet! I can use that to defend myself from shells!" the Tech Geek shouted gleefully.
Behind him was Katie, who had gotten a green shell.
"Awesome!" she exclaimed.
In third, B got three bananas. He showed his happiness with a smirk on his face.
Noah got three red shells.
"One for each of them," he said with a smile of his own.
Trent received a mushroom.
"Hmm…I'll save this for the right time," he said to himself.
Since there were only 5 item boxes in the first turn, Brick didn't get any items.
"Hopefully, those guys in front of me take each other out with their items," he said.
Behind him, Dawn made her way around the first turn. She didn't get an item either.
Eva didn't get an item either in 8th place.
"Tch! Who needs items?" she said.
Justin, meanwhile, got an item after hitting a box that had respawned right as he drove through it.
"Hello…what's this," he asked, looking at a yellow star with eyes on his cockpit screen. He pressed the item button next to the screen to see what it did.
"Whoa!" the Model shouted.
Once he pressed the item button, his speed picked up suddenly and his body and kart started shining a bright rainbow hue as he continued to drive. The sudden acceleration took him by surprise. So much so that he drove into the back of Eva's kart, causing her to do a barrel roll in the air before landing on all four wheels in the same place where the contact was made.
"Sorry, Evaaaaa!" Justin yelled back at her as he continued to speed away.
Once she got her wits about her, Eva glared angrily at where Justin just was, before getting back on the gas.
Meanwhile, Anne Maria, who passed Eva in the third turn, got her item.
"Three mushrooms? What da heck do dose do?"
She pressed the button to find out. When she did, she got an extreme burst of speed from it.
"Ahhh!" the Jersey Girl screamed from the sudden increase in velocity. She could barely control her kart, so she had to go straight from the third turn. Meaning, her kart got launched onto a red mushroom, which bounced her up high. After, she landed on a green mushroom, which didn't make her bounce, and then drove onto another bouncy mushroom, which led her into the cave. She was so caught up in the sudden speed that she got, that she didn't notice that she had passed Justin and Dawn to put herself in 7th.
Meanwhile, Tyler, who had gotten a golden mushroom, rocketed his way into the cave, past Eva, Justin, and Dawn before the mushroom disappeared.
"Yes!" he exclaimed, taking 8th place.
Dawn had gotten a Blooper, which she deployed immediately, despite not knowing what it did. She was surprised to see that Bloopers reappeared in front of every other racer in front of her and squirted ink all over them.
"Gah! I can't see!" Anne Maria shouted, right after bouncing off the first red mushroom in the cave. Since she couldn't see, she couldn't aim for the next mushroom and fell off the track, making her the first victim of the "Off-Track-Out-Of-Race" modification.
"Oops…" Dawn said bashfully as she made her way through the cave, right behind Tyler.
Behind her, Eva caught back up to Justin using the mushroom shortcut right before the cave opening. She managed to get triple green shells from an item box located on top of the green mushroom. When she pressed the button, the shells started circling her kart. As she bounced on the cave mushrooms, she pressed the button again, and one of the shells darted out from the front of her kart and into the bottomless pit of the cave.
"Hmm…" she sounded with a smirk on her face. The Muscular Teen looked ahead and saw Justin bouncing right in front of her, heading towards the cave exit. "Payback time…" she whispered.
Up Front (Lap 2 | Running Order: Cody, Katie, B, Noah, Trent, Brick, Tyler, Dawn, Justin, Eva, Ezekiel, Anne Maria)
Meanwhile, the top 6 positions had not changed much. All six had started their second lap already. Cody was still in 1st, with Katie still right behind him. Cody managed to stop Katie's green shell with his banana like he planned. In fact, every time Katie got an item to hit Cody with, he managed to get an item to counter it.
Behind them, B, whose bananas blocked all of Noah's red shells, were fighting for position. Noah managed to catch up to B with a mushroom, which also helped get the Blooper ink out of his vision. At the moment, they both went through the first set of item boxes again and got their items. This time, Noah got triple bananas, but B got triple green shells. The Bookworm deployed the bananas as soon as he could, and while getting just enough ahead of B, cut in front of the Silent Genius, causing him to run into the trail of bananas. This made B's kart spin out in the middle of the second turn.
"See ya!" Noah taunted, looking back at his partner from the last challenge.
While B gathered speed again, Trent and Brick drove past him, putting him in 6th.
"Grr…" B growled as he activated his green shells, causing them to start circling his kart as he drove.
Back Half of Field
Further behind, another racer that had triple green shells had her eyes set on her target. Eva still had two shells left after firing her test shot in the cave. After exiting the cave and rounding the last turn on the course before coming back to the Start/Finish Line, the Muscular Teen aimed for Justin, who was directly in front of her.
However, right before the shell was about to make contact with his kart, the Male Model activated his own shells, three red ones. They circled around his kart for a second before one of them collided with Eva's green shell.
"What the…?!" Justin yelled out, hearing the cracking collision between the two shells right behind him.
He looked back to see Eva giving him a death glare.
"Gah! Eva, wait! We're supposed to be allies! Remember?"
"Yeah, but allies don't attack each other!" she shouted in reply while shooting another shell at her target.
"Whoa!" the Model exclaimed, steering his kart out of the shell's path. "It was a mistake!"
"You're freakin' right it was a mistake! But, it won't be a mistake when I get you back!"
With that, they both bounced off of the first mandatory mushroom on the course and drove through the third turn.
Meanwhile, in 11th place, Ezekiel was making his way through the first turn, hitting an item box in the process. The roulette of items stopped on an image of a lightning bolt.
"Huh? What does that do, eh?" he asked, looking at his item. He pressed the button under it, and suddenly a dark cloud appeared in the sky, accompanied by the sound of thunder. Then the darkness disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.
"Huh…Nothing seems different…" the Homeschooled Prairie-Boy said as he looked at his surroundings.
Up Front
Unbeknownst to Ezekiel, the lightning did do something. In fact, it caused another one of the racers to fall out of the race.
The front half of the field was inside the cave of mushrooms at the time when the lightning struck. Normally, if lightning struck and you were inside of a cave, you would not get hit. However, Mario Kart Wii doesn't play by normal rules, especially when played on Total Drama.
Cody and Katie were in first and second places, respectively, and near the end of the cave when the lightning struck. They were able to safely reach the next turn, despite their kart and themselves being less than half their normal size.
Trent, Brick, and Noah, who was in 5th after being hit by Trent's red shell and passed twice, were traversing over the bouncing mushrooms on the right side of the cave. When the lightning struck, Trent and Brick were on the second green mushroom when they spun out and shrunk. Noah, however, was in the process of bouncing off of the last red mushroom before the pair of green non-bouncy mushrooms. Since he couldn't have control over his kart while bouncing, he and his kart continued in the direction that they were driving; namely, not towards the green mushrooms.
"HOW DOES LIGHTNING STrike in a caaaaaaaaaave…!?" Noah was heard saying as he fell into the abyss.
Trent and Brick recovered from their spinning by getting on the brakes. They both skidded to a stop right at the edge of the second green mushroom.
They both breathed sighs of relief before starting to back up on the mushroom. Once they were far enough away from the edge, they both attempted to perform standing mini-turbo boosts to get to a high enough speed to make it to the next mushroom. However, before they could get their boosts, a normal-sized B drove his kart over both Brick and Trent, squishing them into pancake-like versions of themselves, interrupting their turbo boosting attempt in the process. Before they could fully recover, Brick and Trent were passed up by Tyler and Dawn.
(Final Lap | Running Order: Cody, Katie, B, Tyler, Dawn, Trent, Brick, Justin, Eva, Ezekiel, Noah, Anne Maria)
Meanwhile, Cody had crossed the Start/Finish Line once again, with Katie still on his tail. They entered the third turn and were heading towards the second set of item boxes on the track. Before they got to the speed ramp leading to the shortcut to the entrance of the cave, the two leaders got an alert in their cockpits.
"Huh? What could that be?" Cody asked, looking back to see what his kart was alerting him of. And what he saw was the worst possible thing that a race leader in Mario Kart could see coming after them.
"A blue shell! Oh crap!" the Tech Geek exclaimed with eyes wide open. He looked back at the entrance of the cave and remembered that there was a boost panel that led to the bouncing mushroom inside. He realized that if he continued driving at this rate, that the blue shell would most likely make contact with him while he was in midair, propelling him even higher in the air before falling back down to the track. However, with the mushrooms situated how they were inside the cave, if the shell caught him in midair, then he would most likely be in-between the mushrooms, jumping over a gap, which would lead to him falling down into the abyss.
With the rule modification in mind, Cody knew that he couldn't take that chance. So, he did what he believed to be the smart thing to do and got on the brakes, coming to a dead stop right before the boost panel.
Seeing this, Katie thought that she could use this to her advantage.
"I'll just pass Cody right as the blue shell explodes on him. Then I'll get the easy win!" she said to herself, just as the aforementioned shell passed overhead.
She drove her kart as far from Cody's as she could while staying on the racing surface. The track was pretty wide, so she thought that she could easily get by the explosion, even with Cody stopped smack-dab in the middle of the track.
Once the shell caught up to the leader, it circled around briefly before diving right into Cody and his kart, causing a huge explosion on the track. An explosion that was bigger than Katie had anticipated. Even though she was at the very edge of the racing surface, the explosion radius was just big enough to nick her kart, sending her spinning towards the boost panel and onto the first red mushroom. Since she was out-of-control, she couldn't turn her kart towards the next mushroom, so Katie and her kart bounced off the mushroom and straight into the abyss between the two routes.
"AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh….!" She screamed as she dropped into the darkness.
"Whoops…Sorry!" Cody yelled into the abyss before continuing to drive again. "I wonder who shot that shell…" he wondered out loud.
Back of the Field
Ezekiel drove into the second turn after hitting the first set of item blocks. He pressed the item button immediately after it stopped and saw a blue shell with wings jettison from his kart and speed through the air.
"Huh… I wonder what that does," he said to himself as he continued driving along.
Ahead of him going towards the entrance of the cave, Eva had gotten triple mushrooms and sped past Justin.
She turned back to look at Justin and shout.
"This isn't over!"
"Gulp…" Justin said nervously.
Using the remainder of her mushrooms, the Muscular Teen rocketed past Brick and Tyler, who were battling for 5th place.
Start/Finish Line
Cody rounded the last couple turns outside the exit of the cave, with B right on his tail in second. He tried as hard as he could, but with no items to help, B had to settle for second as Cody crossed the finish line in first position.
Behind them, Dawn and Trent battled for 3rd, which Trent was able to win by getting a draft boost from Dawn's kart and slingshoting past her before the finish line.
Eva was able to hold off Tyler and Brick for 5th, with Tyler inching out Brick by a nose for 6th.
Justin crossed the line by himself in 8th, and last on the track to cross the finish line was Ezekiel in 9th.
The other three were scored in the order of when they fell off the track, with Katie finishing 10th, Noah 11th, and Anne Maria in 12th.
With the first race of the Grand Prix in the books, here is how the standings looked:
Cody - 15 pts
B - 12 pts
Trent - 10 pts
Dawn - 8 pts
Eva - 7 pts
Tyler - 6 pts
Brick - 5 pts
Justin - 4 pts
Ezekiel - 3 pts
Katie - 2 pts
Noah - 1 pt
Anne Maria - 0 pts
At that moment, the contestants were released from their Virtual Reality.
Somewhere in Oklahoma
After the 12 contestants got out of their chairs, they were met with a slightly ticked off Host.
"Uhh…what's up, Chris? I thought the challenge was a Grand Prix of four races, not one," Trent inquired.
"Oh, it is," Chris answered, "But, I had to pull you guys out before the second race started to tell you how TERRIBLE some of you guys were!"
Some of the contestants flinched at the unexpected rise in volume from the Host's voice.
"I mean, it looked like half of you had never played a Mario Kart game before!"
"Uhh…actually, I haven't," Dawn raised her hand and said.
"Yeah, neither have I," Ezekiel said.
"I don't play video games," Justin quipped, "they're bad for my perfect, blue eyes."
"Same, except without the wimpy excuse." Eva chimed in.
That was when Chris came to a realization.
"Ooooh! So that's why you guys weren't drifting and tricking and stuff."
"Hey! I may look beautiful with all dis makeup on, but I am NOT a trick!" Anne Maria yelled, somewhat irritated. [3]
After hearing that, Chef smacked his head and Chris gave the contestants an incredulous look before looking at the camera.
"Well…I guess it's time for a short tutorial," he said, "Don't you guys go anywhere! We'll be right back to the action, right after the break!"
References
[1] - This is reminiscent of arguments I've had with many of my friends in the past who disagree with me when I said that auto racing was a sport. Using Cody to represent my friends and Trent to represent myself is a bit of an inside joke. But, I'm curious, what do you guys think? Is auto racing a sport, or not? And why do you think so? Leave your answer in your review.
[2] - The first half of Chris's line here is from another one of LittleKuriboh's videos. It's also a line from the movie "Megamind". I felt that the quote was perfect for this situation.
[3] - If you don't know street slang, then you probably won't get this joke. Let's just say that a "trick" is slang for a woman that is... not very respectable. I'll just leave it at that. If you're still curious, you can look it up on your own.
Elimination Order (Since I forgot to do it after the last elimination) : Jo, Trent, Beth, Staci, Sam, Scott, Sadie, Bridgette, Dakota, Brick, Geoff, Mike and Zoey
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the first half of this episode. I've already started working on the next chapter, so hopefully that'll be uploaded sooner than this one was. Now, I need to get back to looking for summer jobs and amateur voice acting. See ya in the next challenge!