Chapter 19: Film Lot Escapade
Courtney's Resistance made it to the abandoned film lot, and that's when Courtney said, "Alright, Chris! Show yourself! We've found you!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," a mysterious voice said.
"Who is that?" Courtney asked.
"I'm your worst nightmare," the voice continued. The person walked out into the open and revealed herself to be the network executive. "I thought your adolescent brains would tire you out much, much sooner. But since they didn't…" She transformed herself into a dragon.
"Oh, no," Courtney said helplessly. "What are we going to do now?"
"Don't worry, Courtney," Duncan said, "We'll be able to beat her."
"It looks like there are a ton of enemies around…" Harold said, "There's no way that storming them is a good idea."
"So, what?" Heather asked, "You want us to act like docile little ragdolls?"
"No," Harold said, "That's not what I mean. I mean that we should let them come to us, and then get rid of them as they arrive."
"Harold's right," Courtney said, "We want to leave ourselves as uninjured as possible."
Courtney decided that she should bring eighteen people with her, which meant that five were made to stay behind. Those five were Ezekiel, who everyone agreed would be more of a hindrance than a help especially if they intended to keep him alive, Alejandro, who was outclassed by Katie and Sadie in almost every way, and Leshawna, Lindsay, and Beth because they had less experience in the battlefield and Courtney did not want to risk getting them killed.
Cody and Gwen were happy that Sierra and Trent were there to help their part again, staying to the west. Eva, Noah, Tyler, and Harold took the position that was next to them. Justin, Owen, and Izzy stood slightly to their east. On the other side of the battlefield, Courtney and Duncan were in front, followed by Katie and Sadie, with Geoff, Bridgette, and DJ in the back. Heather stayed in the center.
Harold's strategy soon proved effective, as there were many soldiers taken down by the group. Courtney tried to kill most of the enemies, which Duncan and Geoff were slightly annoyed by, but encouraged nonetheless. Katie and Sadie did help when there were too many for Courtney to handle by herself.
On the other side of the battlefield, Noah was trying not to do anything, because he was so far ahead of the people around him. Eva and Harold were getting close, but Tyler, who had not helped with the last battle, needed some help. Likewise, Cody and Gwen let Sierra and Trent work harder this time. Sierra was scared because her stone that kept her in dragon form was about to break.
Owen was a popular target, partly because Izzy's axe was so terrifying and nobody wanted to attack someone as hot as Justin, and partly because he, unlike them, was slow. The two of them tried to keep Owen protected, and it was wholly unclear whether they were both concerned about his health and safety, or were having some sort of perverse competition.
Courtney found herself quickly surrounded by powerful and incredibly fast swordfighters. Duncan was able to finish off one of them. Katie took another, and Sadie took a third. Katie did not kill her opponent, but rather missed. Geoff finished him off, but there was still one more left. Heather decided to do Courtney a favor and shoot an arrow at him.
There was one group of people Noah made an exception for: the mages. They always seemed to get into long pointless fights with Gwen and Harold, or failing that, going over to attack and attempt to kill Owen. Of course, Trent, Cody, Sierra, and Eva did help out. In those cases, Noah would be needed, along with Harold and Gwen, to heal their wounds, and often, one of them would be left without healing. Typically, it was Eva, as she had the useful ability to fly to where Bridgette or DJ could reach her.
Soon all of the enemies had fallen except for the network executive herself. Before any of them attacked her, they all made sure they were in as good shape as they could be. Courtney was the first to attack her. She asked, "Where is Chris?"
"You really think I'd tell the likes of you?" the network executive asked.
"If you don't," Courtney threatened, "I'll have to kill you."
"I will kill you first," the network executive said ominously. She almost managed to, but Courtney was just as able to do damage to her.
Duncan decided not to attack her because he could not hurt her nearly as much as she could hurt him. Owen was not so cautious. She looked at him and said solemnly, "Our ratings man…"
"Me?" Owen asked.
"Yeah…" responded the network executive.
"No," Owen corrected, "No one likes me."
"Plenty of people like you," the network executive commented.
"All of them like someone else better," Owen said.
"Well, in that case," the network executive said, "I don't have to feel bad about killing you."
"NOAH!" Owen scolded, not actually expecting him to hear, "Why did you tell me the fandom statistics?" Owen was not killed, but he was stricken twice, which would have killed anyone with lower defenses. On the bright side, he had managed to do significant damage to the network executive.
Another person who was less than cautious was Heather. She attacked the network executive without a moment's hesitation. The network executive attempted to strike a deal with her, "Let's just talk. Girl to girl."
"No," Heather simply replied.
"You could be a great villain," the network executive flattered her.
"Forget it," said Heather strongly, "I tried it and realized it wasn't my thing."
"You're so foolish," the network executive responded scornfully. Heather shot an arrow which did a lot of damage, but then she was hurt as well. Harold, Bridgette and Noah healed Heather, Courtney, and Owen respectively. Sierra realized that there was an opening for her as well. The battle was slightly less uneven, but Sierra's stone was weaker, not to mention at the breaking point. Attacking the network executive would completely exhaust her ability to transform until given a new stone.
"I never expected to see a fellow dragon," said the network executive.
"Move," Sierra demanded.
"I will not," responded the network executive.
"In that case, I'll burn you up," Sierra said.
"Not if I burn you up first!" the network executive threatened.
"Just you try!" she said viciously. The good news is that the network executive was close to dead. The bad news is that so was Sierra. However, Gwen was right behind to make it better.
The network executive decided to ruin Duncan's plans by attacking him from afar. He said, "Alright, tell us where McLean is… now."
"You want to see Chris…" she said pensively, "…Well, I'm sorry, I can't tell you."
"Okay," Duncan said, "When you change your mind, tell me and I won't stab you." She hurt Duncan considerably, which DJ took care of. Gwen offered to attack her, but Cody was afraid she would die. But somehow, being near him made her more resistant to the blow, and being near Trent made it easier for her to avoid the attack.
"Someone as young and impulsive as you shouldn't be fighting someone as dangerous as me!" the network executive said menacingly. Gwen almost got her to the point of not being able to fight. And she didn't even get hurt, thanks to Trent.
Harold decided to get the last blow in. "Monica Swift?" he asked, recognizing her for the first time.
She turned to him in anger and asked, "What. Did. You. Call. Me?"
"Monica Swift," Harold repeated, "Only the most corrupt and famous network executive east of Vancouver."
"No one calls me Monica and gets away with it, Squealing Monk," she said angrily.
"I was polite enough to call you by your name!" Harold said, "Gosh!" Before she could do anything about him calling her that, he hit her with a bit of light magic that took her out of commission. "No… it can't be… I die to a bunch of kids." Harold managed to grab her stone, which he would hand to Sierra later. She fell to the ground, and turned back into her human shape. She was crying.
"Listen," Courtney said, "We'll let you live if you tell us where Chris is."
"No!" she hissed. "I'd rather die here than be a traitor to one of our biggest cash cow hosts… sure, I said things to him about it being cancelled, but if it were under my power I'd never…"
"Who are you?" Courtney asked.
"My name is…Monica Swift. The world knows my name, but none may use it besides me" she said.
"Why?" Courtney asked.
"No one talks about me personally. They always mean the network… including all of its executives," she continued.
"And why are you working for Chris?" Courtney asked.
"I'm… I'm doing everything I can to save the network. McLean-hosted programs were what kept us afloat. If he loses to a bunch of kids… then the network… will… die…" Monica continued.
"But what about the world?" Courtney asked, "Isn't the world more important than a silly network? And hey, we could come up with new programming…"
"You'd… you'd do that…" she said. "Fine… I'll leave that… to you." She drew her last breath.
"Well, that was helpful. That old crone didn't even tell us where Chris was," Duncan said.
"DUNCAN!" Courtney snapped. "She died!"
"Yeah, because we killed her," Duncan said, "And isn't the point to find Chris?"
"Yes," Courtney said, "We have to. For the sake of the world, we have to find and beat Chris."
Author's Note: Goodies for this chapter include alternate battle dialogue (Ezekiel fights Network Executive), alternate versions of the beginning and ending dialogue (Duncan died; Harold died; Heather died; both Harold and Heather died), Courtney and Duncan's Support (Level A), Alejandro and Lindsay's Support (Level A), Alejandro and Heather's Support (Level B), Alejandro and Owen's Support (Level C), Sadie and Justin's Support (Level B), Geoff and Duncan's Support (Level A), Noah and Eva's Support (Level A), Noah and Owen's Support (Levels C-A), Cody and Harold's Support (Level A), Tyler and Lindsay's Support (Level A), Harold and Heather's Support (Level B), Harold and Beth's Support (Level B), Leshawna and Lindsay's Support (Level B), Eva and Izzy's Support (Level C), Heather and Beth's Support (Level B), Lindsay and Beth's Support (Level A), Justin and Beth's Support (Level B), Justin and Owen's Support (Level C), and Owen and Izzy's Support (Level C-B)
Edit: I apologize for not including this note earlier, but I forgot. Anyway, the "game" of Total Drama Emblem would feature a bonus on subsequent runs to the first one that would allow a spared Blaineley to become playable on Endgame IF all the other units are in the party and alive and at least one paired ending is coming. Should I write this version or the "first run" version without her? If I write the version with Blaineley, I would have to canonize at least one pairing, which, given the structure of the story, would most likely be Courtney/Duncan. If there are objections to that but people still want to see Blaineley in the main story, Gwen/Trent would not conflict with the narrative, and neither would the less controversial Geoff/Bridgette or the non-romantic Noah/Eva. If I write the version without Blaineley, I will not canonize any paired endings.