Hello everyone, ultimateTORINOR is finally back with another update (and to say that I am not dead)! I'm really, really sorry for the long wait, but we can all put that behind us...until you realize that it's probably going to be another long wait for the next chapter.
...I'm sorry, everyone, I really don't know what else to say. I hope you're all right with the slow procession of things, but I can see if you're not.
Anyway, I'll not waste your time any longer up here. I don't own Total Drama Island, and I'll see you at the bottom!
All of these events are on Day One…
Somewhere…
Owen, as if some voice in his head had been bothering him to get up, jerked awake suddenly, a look of terror on his face.
However, it wasn't long before that look disappeared, as he clutched his head in pain.
"Great galloping gumdrops, where am I?"
"Lik not supposed to tell you that."
The lovable oaf screamed, and shrank away from the direction of the strange voice; in the process of doing that, he found out that he was in a small cell of some sort.
"Please don't eat me!"
A giant silhouette of a man, only being visible from the light of a torch across the way, came up to the bars and peered in.
"Lik told that that what we going to do…but you don't want that…so we can't do it now…it wrong…"
At those innocent words, the lovable oaf confined in the cell breathed a gigantic sigh of relief.
"Lik! Is the prisoner awake?"
The giant of a man Lik turned to face the source of the new voice. "Yes, Lord Crump, he woke up a minute ago. "But, he said he don't want to be eated!"
The new voice condescendingly answered.
"Lik, the whole point of our evil scheme is to eat them when they don't want us to."
The giant scratched his head. "Otherwise it not evil?"
"Otherwise, it's not evil."
Another man, one that was significantly smaller in stature than the giant Lik, now approached the bars of the cruelly small (in Owen's case) cell.
"It's time I got another look at the prisoner…is he afraid, Lik? Is he afraid of death at the hands of a boiling pot?"
The giant took one look at the lovable oaf's cowering form and silent scream of terror, and then glanced down at his significantly smarter superior.
"He looks really frightened, Lord Crump. Like I am when the lights are off!"
The smaller man sighed, and took out a ring of keys from his pocket, beginning the process to unlock the cell door.
"Yes, Lik, the rest of the men and I are well aware of your darkness phobia."
And, suddenly, the cell door swung open, leaving no trace of the protective barrier that separated the lovable oaf from the vicious cannibals.
The shorter Lord Crump grinned savagely.
"Hello, my deliciously plump friend, I believe that now-"
However, the rest of his obviously evil speech was cut off as Owen did what he always did when e was scared and in the open…run away screaming in terror.
The lovable oaf immediately bowled over the shorter man, but then found out that his terror-filled run was going to be cut significantly shorter than what he had planned.
Because a significantly larger (even for Owen) Lik stood in the door, and didn't even budge when the scared teen ran straight into him, which instead sent Owen to the floor, effectively stunning him.
Lord Crump, after shakily getting up and dusting off his expensive attire, glared viciously at Lik, who looked utterly confused at the turn of events.
"Get him up to the cooking chamber! I will be there shortly!"
Owen protested with all of the strength he could muster (which wasn't much at the moment), but it proved to be futile as Lik effortlessly hoisted him over his shoulder and carried the unfortunate teen away down the corridor, Owen's continuous scream of terror the only thing lingering behind.
Lord Crump was about to follow after he regained his composure, however, something caught his eye in the dim torchlight, as he was about to leave.
Upon bending down to closely examine to object that had so enraptured him, the small but intelligent cannibal saw that it was a shard of some sort of crystal or rock.
And, as he picked up the artifact, Lord Crump felt a surge (or was it more of a shock?) of power run through his body.
My word, the intelligent cannibal thought to himself, it appears that the boy has more to him than meets the eye…
"The boy", at that exact moment was currently hanging by his ankles above a gigantic pot of boiling water, screaming like a banshee.
Actually, he was more like extremely overweight banshee.
"I'm too young to die and be eaten! For the love of everything good and tasty, get me down!"
Lik, at the controls, was attempting to calm him down.
"Death be quick in the pot. There are only a few screams, nothing more."
Unsurprisingly, that set off the lovable oaf to scream at an even more hysteric level.
Lord Crump entered the cooking chamber, Owen's shard in hand and an anticipating gleam in his black eyes.
The small but intelligent man cringed at the incessant shouting coming from the lovable oaf.
"Quiet, you fool!"
Owen, despite his predicament, stopped his shouting and crying in terror, but tears continued to run down (or, in this upside down case, up) his face.
Lord Crump leaned over the railing, and stared the lovable oaf straight in the eyes.
"Now, before you take the plunge, boy, I need to ask you one simple question…"
Owen docilely nodded.
Crump nodded back approvingly, but before he could open his mouth again, Lik had excitedly interrupted.
"Boss, can Lik ask the question this time! Lik never do it!"
The intelligent cannibal sighed. "Lik, you asked the question last time. It's my turn this time.
"Oh. Lik forgot."
"You usually do, my friend. You usually do."
Owen, who by this point was very curious to what the question might be, could hardly contain himself.
However, the lovable oaf didn't have to wait long, as Lord Crump turned back to face him and the giant boiling pot of water and horrible death directly below, a strange expectant smile now plastered on his face.
"Ahem. As you were the sole audience in this…what did you think of our performances?"
Owen looked justifiably shocked at this question, and a tiny (but hopeful) smile had emerged.
"You mean…you're not cannibals?"
Lord Crump looked positively shocked at that question. "Good heavens, no! Lik and I are simply actors!"
The giant man fiddled with the controls for a moment, bringing the lovable oaf back to safety and away from certain death.
"Lik good actor."
Lord Crump smiled genially at his large friend. "You certainly are, my most excellent cohort!"
Owen, after landing painfully on the floor after being released from his shackles, sat up and laughed in relief.
"Great Gatsby, that's good news! I thought I was going to be boiled alive!"
Both small and large actor smiled at this statement.
"So, we…convincing?"
Owen laughed again. "I was going to have a heart attack!"
Lord Crump smiled and raised his arms up triumphantly. "That sounds positively deadly…wonderful! Oh, what a joyous day!"
Owen's stomach grumbled loudly, stopping all celebration for a moment.
The lovable oaf chuckled weakly. "I don't suppose you have any…food?"
Lord Crump nodded at his newfound friend. "Certainly, my friend, we have plenty of food stored up here and there!
"But where are my manners? I don't believe we've been properly introduced! I, as our script might have suggested, am Crump, world-famous actor extraordinaire!"
The smaller man suddenly pointed at the large and friendly giant beside him. "And that's Lik, who I found some years ago stranded out in the middle of nowhere! He's not quite right in the head, but he does make a fine traveling companion…not to mention that he's quite the actor himself!"
Lik cackled happily. "Lik good actor!"
"I'm Owen!" the lovable oaf exclaimed excitedly.
Crump smiled good-naturedly, and held out his hand to shake the large teen's hand, but Owen disregarded the hand and suddenly hugged the small actor, as if he couldn't hold it in any longer.
"You don't know how glad I am to see that you both aren't vicious, man-eating, cannibals!"
Crump attempted to return the hug, but quickly found out that there was no way his small and skinny arms could cover the teen's massive frame.
"I'm glad you're glad, Owen! But, there's one thing that we both want to ask you before we eat…"
Owen immediately set Crump down, and the smaller actor winced slightly before opening his mouth again. "Well, it's quite lonely on the road to Nabudis and the mighty King Lucien…just the two of us…and we were wondering if you'd like to join our little troupe of actors!"
The lovable oaf shouted excitedly, "This is going to be awesome!"
Lik cheered happily. "Lik go make good meal for buddy Owen!"
Crump and Owen watched as the giant man sprinted out of the cooking chamber excitedly, hollering to no one in particular as he went.
Suddenly, an apologetic look appeared on the smaller actor's face.
"I hope you'll forgive us for scaring you, Owen. We found you next to this abandoned structure that is our current home for the next few days, and we couldn't resist attempting a new play idea!"
Owen laughed again. "Don't worry, I get scared all the time! Except when I'm eating, of course!"
Crump laughed an easy and relieved laugh along with his new traveling partner, and then glanced at the shard in his hand. "That reminds me…I found this in the cell we put you in…is this yours?"
Owen glanced at the shard for a moment, and then snapped his fingers in recognition.
"I remember that thing! Of course it's mine! It was given to me by this really weird voice in the ceiling…who probably was a little messed up upstairs if you know what I mean…"
Crump nodded and dropped the shard into the waiting teen's hands, and turned away.
"Take some time to explore this place, Owen! Lik has a good, strong voice, so you'll know when the food is prepared!"
Owen nodded jovially at the smaller actor's back and watched him go. Well, his first few hours in this…new world…didn't go as badly as one could've thought (especially since it was Owen we're talking about), but it would be nice to know what to do.
Maybe this King Lucien would help clear things up…
The lovable oaf glanced at the shard that had chosen him in the secret cave on Wawanakwa Island.
As he did so, he heard a voice in his head, and the shard's voice said the exact same words that had haunted his dreams…
Rip…Tear…Kill…Rip…Tear…Kill…
Owen glanced away hurriedly from his shard, which was dark brown in color, and put it in his pants pocket.
He didn't want to look at it any longer than he had to…because, truth was, and Owen was scared of this tiny shard resting in his pants pocket…
He was more scared of it than he was of flying in a plane.
And that was certainly saying something.
"Get up, you lazy layabout, get up!"
Cody, still in a deep and shard-induced slumber, didn't budge until the speaker kicked him swiftly in the stomach.
And, as the gap-toothed teen opened his eyes wide and sucked in a breath, he saw that the offender was smirking viciously.
"Well, well, look who's finally awake. I'm going to have to use that technique more often!"
Cody glared up at smirking figure, and in that quick glance the technology-whiz saw that it was actually a red headed and tan skinned teenage girl around his age was the kicking culprit.
On closer inspection, the tech whiz noted that she was wearing armor of some sort, and she definitely wore a look of "hard to get" on her face.
Well, he thought, Let's see if the women here are as susceptible to the Code-ster as the girls back home…
"Do you work out at all? Because that kick was really-"
Cody was cut off as the teen girl yanked him to his feet in one deft motion, pulling out a long and wicked blade from seemingly nowhere.
The tech-whiz obviously froze instantly.
The teen girl eyes had flared the color of her hair, and had a hateful glare on her face.
Unfortunately for our friend Cody, it was directed right at him.
"One more word…just one more…and I'll cut your throat. Do you understand?"
Cody gulped and nodded, completely certain that she would keep to her word.
The teen girl nodded and withdrew her blade. "Good. Now, if you can just stay silent for the rest of your miserable existence…I think we'll get along just fine." The tech-whiz nodded again, relieved that she had put her deadly weapon away.
"Where are you supposed to be right now?"
Cody honestly didn't know how to answer that question, since he didn't even know where he was in the first place.
And since he couldn't talk (under the threat of death), the tech-whiz simply shrugged in response.
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?"
Another shrug.
"Stop doing that!"
Cody nodded to her rage-filled request.
"All right…you can talk…but only to answer my questions!"
Cody nodded again. "All right."
"Do you really not know where you are right now?"
Cody looked around, and saw beautiful paintings adorning the walls, statues of the same guy littering the ground, fancy tiled floors with even fancier carpets, and stained glass windows that depicted such beautiful scenes that he couldn't bear to look on them for more than a few moments, for fear that he would break down and weep.
"I wish I knew where I was…this place is beautiful…"
The red headed teen girl smirked slightly. "You're in the Royal Palace of King Lucien."
The tech-whiz blinked at this statement, but heard a small voice belonging to his shard in his head.
Get out of there…Cody…get out now…before it's too late…
Cody summoned what was left of his confidence (which was left in tatters after the little knife incident), and glanced around the corridor they were currently in.
"Is there an exit to this palace anywhere? Because I just found out that I…have…to go…"
The teen girl laughed for a moment, and then grinned savagely. "But…you only just got here…I could take you around to see the sights…and I'm sure King Lucien would be quite happy to see someone like you!"
Cody began to nervously back away, stuttering incoherently.
Finally, he gave up on the subtlety, and just turned on his heel and ran like there was a killer after him.
Which, in the tech-whiz's case, was probably somewhat true.
Cody did his best to block out the snarling and the vicious pounding of feet behind him, and tried to find anything that even faintly resembled a door to freedom from this apparently evil palace.
Turning a random corner, the tech whiz felt his heart sink as he faced a stained glass window in the distance with, oddly, no doors on either side of the corridor.
It was a dead end.
Cody raced on, however, as he definitely, under any circumstances, could not stop.
He hoped that he could come up with a plan, but he felt his hopes dim and then finally die as he neared the stained glass window, noticing that an expanse forest used to lay below, but someone had obviously not liked some of the trees there.
On an unrelated note, there was nothing to help him fight off this predator viciously chasing him.
Hearing soft footfalls on the carpet behind him, Cody turned, and found himself no more than twenty feet away from his pursuer, who by this point in the chase was grinning savagely and twirling her wicked blade around expertly.
She laughed, a cruel sound that seemed to echo in the tech whiz's ears long after it had faded from the plane of reality.
"There's nowhere left to run…"
Cody racked his brains more furiously than he ever had before, hoping for some inspiration to magically hit him.
No such magic was forthcoming, unfortunately for the tech whiz.
The cornered teen looked at his red headed and quite frankly scary pursuer, and then at the stained glass window.
She seemed to catch his glance at the window, for she cocked her head to the side quizzically, her blade pausing in mid-twirl.
"What are you planning, assassin?"
The last word caught Cody completely off guard. "I am not an assassin!"
The blade began spinning once again, and slowly the red headed teen girl crept forward, an anticipating smile emerging once again on her face.
"Denial will do you no good…"
Cody, in a panic to avoid the deadly blade, turned on his heel with one obvious goal in mind…run.
However, as soon as she saw the tech whiz even motion slightly towards retreating, the red head sprinted towards him, with only one thought racing through her brain…personally end the threat.
As she ran toward the threat that was Cody, the red headed soldier pocketed her blade in one clean motion, and then leapt for the tech whiz, whose face by now was a picture of pure horror.
However, the red head teen girl forgot how close they actually were to the stained glass window.
And, as the vicious tackle began, both victim and predator noted, at the exact same time, that their combined momentum would carry them not to the waiting carpet that represented safety, but instead through the window that represented almost certain death.
And as their combined momentum sent them clear through the glass (which wasn't as tough as you might think), the two teens realized that they had just crossed the point of no return.
And then they began to fall.
"Assassin, if we're both going to die, I'm going to have the pleasure of ending your life personally!"
Cody, locked in a dead man's hold, simply stared back at her, and uttered one simple word in response.
"…Why?"
This simple question left the red headed teen girl dumbfounded for a moment, and then their fall was immediately slowed as they both hit tree branch after tree branch, before finally hitting the ground hard.
And, the two of them simply lay there for a few hours, unmoving.
No one found them, and oddly, no one found the smashed window, or even complained about the draft that had seemingly intensified from yesterday.
It was almost as if the entire world was standing still, waiting to see what had become of the two of them.
And slowly, just as the Bright Orb in the Sky was beginning to set, Cody began to stir, as if in answer.
Groaning softly, the tech whiz opened his eyes slowly, as if he didn't expect to ever open them again. He then tested out both arms and both legs, and was relieved to find that they still all worked.
After standing up slowly, Cody realized that he had been extremely lucky on the fall down; had his fall not been broken by small number of trees by the palace walls, it most certainly wouldn't have gone this well for him.
But, then the tech whiz realized that he was in an entirely new world, with no previous knowledge other than 'it was suffering'.
Probably not one of his more thought out moves, but…he had always wanted to make a difference in the world…
Only problem was, Cody had no idea where he was right now, had no idea who anybody was, and that he was reasonably sure that the someone was in the castle that he had so hastily left.
Looking in no particular direction, Cody decided that the first order of business was to get away from here as fast as he could, if the…really weird… voice in his head was any indication.
However, before he could take more than a couple steps in safety's direction, a voice belonging to the very same person who was responsible for them falling out of the window spoke up.
"Assassin…"
Cody turned to face the voice, and found the red headed teen girl lying merely a few feet from him.
Branches were stuck in her vibrant hair, and her green eyes that were occasionally flared up with anger now reflected pain.
This was probably because she had not been so lucky on the way down as Cody had been; her leg twisted in a very awkward and obviously very painful way.
Cody, while trying to remain unafraid, couldn't help but shake slightly as he remembered the spinning blade and wicked smile.
"Are you hurt?"
The teen girl shrugged slightly, and she struggled to answer through the obvious discomfort her leg was bringing her.
"I think my leg is broken…"
Her green eyes pierced Cody's teal ones. "I'm hurt…I'm not going to be able to move without help…"
The tech whiz, however, was not about to trust his would-be murderer so easily. "What about your sword?"
The teen girl nodded to an area a few feet from where she lay. "Broke after the fall."
Cody nodded slowly, and walked towards her cautiously, ready to immediately jump away if she did try anything, even with her apparently broken leg.
However, the red head teen girl simply looked impatient that he was taking so long in her time of need.
Cody, after battling the horrific images of him being mercilessly killed by an obviously unstable teen, finally reached the red haired teen girl and held out a hand for her to take.
"I'm Cody."
The red haired girl said nothing, but she slowly accepted his hand up; Cody was faintly surprised to find that, even in her armor, he could quite easily lift her off the forest floor.
The teen girl soldier winced mightily, and leaned heavily on the tech whiz's shoulder for support.
Cody, after seeing her legitimate pained look up close, scanned the partly decimated forest for any sign of refuge.
"…There's a hut not too far from here…and the forest is deadly at night…"
The red headed female soldier pointed at a spot nearly straight ahead of them through the trees.
The tech whiz certainly was hesitant to trust the person who had wanted him dead merely hours ago, but the approaching darkness and the word 'deadly' set him in a swift walk.
On the way to where the young soldier had pointed, however, he might as well try to make conversation.
"So, what's your story?"
The red haired, armor wearing girl stared at him for a moment.
"I am a loyal soldier of King Lucien. I am a loyal soldier who fell injured…and lost my weapon… while pursuing a target, who most likely was a threat to my liege."
She turned her face away from him as they slowly struggled along.
"I know…I know the price for such failure…and when the time is right…I shall return to the castle and accept my punishment."
Cody, understandably, could think of nothing to say after this.
Thankfully, the uneasy silence between the two…traveling companions…was broken when the promised hut appeared right in front of them.
The teen girl glanced at the tech whiz for a moment. "We can rest here for the night."
Cody nodded, and opened the door, ushering his "charge" inside.
The hut, as the tech whiz quickly discovered, was nothing like his home back in the old world, having one simple bed, a table, and a chair.
The teen girl nodded wearily towards the bed. "I really need to sleep."
Cody faithfully directed her onto the bed, and then took a seat on the lone chair.
"I need some answers…and you're going to give them to me."
The red haired teen girl looked at the tech whiz for a short moment, and then laughed mockingly.
"Why would I help an enemy of my liege?"
Cody uncharacteristically hardened his gaze significantly. "Because if you don't, I'm going to leave you here…and you'll never get back to the palace for your 'punishment'."
The teen soldier smirked again. "I wouldn't make too much noise during the night…I was able to hear some of the screams from the palace some nights if I listened closely enough…"
She turned over, and the tech whiz stared at her back, wondering if she was joking.
Somehow, this teen girl resting in front of him didn't seem like the "great sense of humor" type.
"Will you at least tell me your name?"
She turned back to face him, eyes still closed. "…Leliana…"
Her ragged breathing eased then, and Cody realized that she just drifted off to sleep, leaving him alone in a strange world…with still no answers.
Not to mention, he had been literally thrown out of a window, and now was currently trapped in a small hut with a teen girl who probably wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
At this moment, Cody reached into his pocket and took out his shard for the first time, and amazingly the sacred object had survived the fall.
After running his hand over the smooth surface, Cody felt that his shard felt strangely…empty.
Almost like it was missing something.
Sighing, the tech whiz put his shard on the table.
That would be a mystery for another day.
After glancing at the floor with a slightly distasteful look on his face, Cody half-heartedly glanced at the already occupied bed, but very quickly thought better of it.
Sighing, he tried to ease back in the chair…only to fall over backwards painfully, hitting his head and breaking the chair in the process.
"Ow…"
Suddenly, a vicious howl sounded not too far from the pair's hut, and Cody froze instantly amidst the wreckage of the chair.
Perhaps the floor wasn't a bad place to sleep after all.
Before he, too, drifted off into an uneasy slumber, the tech whiz found himself staring at Leliana's face.
At that moment, there was certain innocence to her, a quite surprised at the sight of the teen girl, who had viciously pursued him with a drawn sword, was now breathing easy.
Cody had one last thought before he let the darkness of sleep overcome him finally.
This world is really, really weird…
Geoff, unlike most of his Total Drama cohorts, awoke peacefully, as if it was another day back in the old world.
Opening his eyes, the party guy noticed, if the open sky was any indication, that he was no longer in the cave that he was last night.
Which could only mean one thing…
"New world, baby! Geoff is pumped to be here, man!"
Glancing around at his surroundings, which turned out to be a grassy little island surrounded by water, Geoff unfortunately found out that he was, in fact, alone on his little island.
Falling to his knees in agony, the party guy cried out in anguish.
"I'm alone! Why would you do this to me, weird voice in the sky! C'mon, it's me, Geoff, one of the Chosen Ones? The people who are supposed to save the world and all that? What's with all the solitude, man?"
The party guy, as if to only follow along with the trend of the story, heard a voice in his head suddenly.
Geoff…you'll see some of you're friends some enough…but is that exactly what you want?
Geoff, after thinking about the strange question posed for about a quarter of a second, answered.
"Heck yeah!"
…I shall grant your wish, Chosen One. Take me out of your pocket and step into the water.
Geoff, being the person he was, immediately did as the mysterious-talking-shard-that-he-had-just-met-a few-moments-ago said, and jumped-for Geoff never stepped-into the water.
As soon as his body came in contact with the liquid, the party animal noticed that something was terribly, terribly wrong. He found that it was getting harder and harder to move his limbs around. Finally, Geoff realized that he could no longer move, as he was now encompassed in a now frozen body of water.
Uh, dude, he thought to his ever-present shard, I'm stuck.
You wanted to meet your friends, Chosen One. I merely gave you the means to do so.
That's great and all, man, but…can I change my answer?
The shard was silent for a moment.
I'm…truly sorry…
And then it said no more, leaving Geoff to fend for himself inside the ice.
If Geoff could have been capable of screaming at that moment, it's safe to say that he probably would have.
Well, how was it? I doubt it was worth this long of a wait, but at least it's something, right? I'd appreciate it immensely if you'd review, as always!
Now, onto other business...
School is really picking up, so updates will be sporadic, at best. Those of you who also read TDNC, this will probably apply, as well (although, it's getting there).
The next chapter will also take a longer time...as it's my goal to introduce every other character by the end of the next chapter! Wish me luck!
Thanks everyone, and until next time!
-ult