Author's Note:
Wow. First off, let me thank everyone for trusting your characters to me. I very much enjoyed reading about them all and I had A LOT of fun writing them! They were all great! I thought it would be easy to pick one to kick off first, but as it turns out, it's very hard! I developed your characters to the best of my ability with the information you gave me. I looked over the applications you sent a billion times, so if I add something you don't think is right, chances are it wasn't on the application so I had to use my imagination.
Disclaimer: I do not guarantee anyone's safety nor immunity. If something bad happens to the character, it isn't because I hate them! I own neither Total Drama nor the characters. You lovely readers let me borrow them :)
Good luck remembering names!
Chris McLean was standing on the familiar dock of Camp Wawanakwa with his signature grin, looking much less distressed than the last time he was recorded. Unlike before, he once again had his usual crowd of interns surrounding him.
"Welcome to Total Drama Final Chance!" he said. "As you know, this season may be the last chance to keep Total Drama airing." Here, he leaned in closer to the camera. "But what you might not know is, it's totally good for the ratings. Turns out, you viewers at home just can't get enough of me! Not that I could blame you.
"But Total Drama isn't out of the water yet," continued the host. "To keep this face on screen, this is going to have to be the most dramatic, nasty, and offensive season so far! So, we're bringing twenty-four brand new contestants to compete for $1,000,000."
Chef walked up at that moment, wearing his signature hat and, of course, looking miserable.
"Great. Pretty Boy gets another season," he muttered.
Annoyed at having the spotlight moved from him, Chris irritably said, "Yes?"
"First boat's late," replied Chef.
"What?!" Chris exclaimed. "Get the other one then! Nothing can go wrong! My show depends on this!"
"Whatever," Chef said, walking away. Once he was gone, Chris looked back at the camera, realizing that it caught everything that just happened, and sighed.
"Having a rough time, Uncle Chris?" one of the interns, a girl with flaming red hair that was clearly dyed, asked with a smirk. Unlike the other three interns, who were hard at work attending to the host, she didn't seem to be in a hurry to do anything. She had an extremely amused look on her face at Chris's panic.
Chris, on the other hand, didn't look nearly as amused. His face grew red as he glared at the girl, which only seemed to make her grin even more. "Not in the mood, Kate!" he yelled.
(Confessional Cam)
Kate: *holding up camera to her face and grinning* Okay, so Dad decided it was time I *makes mocking deep voice* "had quality time" with Uncle Chris. Sooo, of course Uncle McLame's solution is to put me in charge of the confession cam on his dumb show *rolls her eyes*. So I entertained myself by messing with the boat. Though I had some help.
Chef Hatchet: *shrugs* It's the seventh season. Pretty Boy had it coming.
After a minute, a boat pulled up to the dock. Chris sighed.
"It's about time!"
On board were six very uncomfortable and cramped looking teenagers. As soon as the boat came to a halt, they practically fell over each other trying to get off.
"And our first team has arrived!" Chris said with a smile. "Anais, how's it going?" he held out a hand to the youngest looking teen, a small blonde girl with wide green eyes who had happened to fall on top of the pile of contestants.
"I'm great!" Anais said excitedly as she pulled herself up. "I can't believe I'm actually here! It's so—"
"Terrible!" a voice near the bottom of the pile interrupted. Before Chris could continue, a surprisingly strong, very tattooed girl threw the contestants off of her and glared at the host. "Um, what the hell?"
"Stacy," Chris said. "How's the leg?"
In response, she flipped him off before angrily puffing hair out of her eyes. She looked like the exact opposite of the white dress wearing Anais. Her hair was cut in a boy's cut and she wore a ripped up crop top with black shorts and boots. She leaned over and adjusted one of her boots, revealing the fake leg under it for a half second.
Stacy wasn't the only one irritated at being thrown off the boat. An African Canadian girl was close behind, angrily dusting off her expensive looking clothes.
"Unbelievable!" she shrieked at the boy next to her. "Those heels are worth more than your life!"
"Heels?" the boy asked blankly. "Why would you pay for heels? Don't you have your own?"
"The shoes, you idiot!" she yelled.
"Jasmine, Jace," Chris interrupted before Jasmine could maim the confused boy. "Save the drama for later. We have eighteen more of you."
Hearing the voice of the host, Jasmine whipped her head around. Immediately, her expression changed from angry to excited.
"Oh my gosh!" she cried. "Chris McLean! I am such a huge fan!"
"So is the most of North America," Chris cheerily replied. "How was the ride from California, Jace?"
"AWESOME!" Jace said happily. He was a big-chested male that was a good head above the others, wearing a Padres jersey. "I'm so psyched to be here!"
"So we're from the same state," Stacy muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Great."
"Alright! California!" Jace held out his hand for a high five, which Stacy pretended not to see.
Next, Chris walked over to the last two boys, who had managed to stay out of the way of the drama of their teammates. "Eric," he said to the first, a tall boy in a muscle shirt and ripped jeans. "What do you think about your team?"
The boy arched an eyebrow at the others—now Jace was hugging Jasmine while she squealed angrily—and shrugged. "Could be strong competitors if they work together."
"And you, Shang," Chris said to the last contestant, a handsome Asian boy with spiked hair, bright pink pants, and a blue blazer that exposed a tattoo on his left arm. "How's it feel to finally get out of South Korea?"
"Fantastic," Shang said with a small smile. "Nothing could be worse than Korea."
"Wouldn't count on it," chirped Chris, grinning.
(Confessional Cam)
Shang: *raises an eyebrow at the camera* you want me to talk to you…? *Kate's voice is heard from behind the camera* "Not me, idiot! The audience!" *Shang sighs and speaks to the camera in a deadpan voice* Hello, my name is Shang Hae-Yuom and I am here because Korea sucks. *looks at Kate* Are we done here?
Jace: *camera only shows his mouth* This is so AWESOME! I love Total Drama! *Kate's voice is heard* "Hey, idiot! It's a camera, not a microphone!"
Anais: *smiling at camera* I am very excited to be here. So far my team sounds awesome! Though I'm kind of worried about Jace… He doesn't exactly make the wisest decisions…
It wasn't long until the next boat showed up, and a new set of equally uncomfortable teenagers piled off.
"There's my little ratings boosters," said Chris cheerfully. "Who's going to be the first to introduce themselves on national television?"
"That would be me," A fair skinned boy walked toward the camera with a charming smile. His hair was light brown and loosely pulled into a ponytail. Turning to the camera, he said, "My name is Corvus Arquebus and I am from San Antonio, Texas."
"Not so we could tell," the girl beside him said with a smirk. "With the belt buckle and cowboy hat."
"I could say the same to you," Corvus chipped back, referring to her accent. "Where are you from, Belgium?"
"Amsterdam." The girl was still smirking, sarcastically adding, "But real close, cowboy."
"Corvus, Dilara," Chris said. "Making fast friends, I see."
"I think so," said Corvus, grinning at Dilara.
"Oh yeah, best friends for life." Dilara was still sarcastic, but her green eyes were bright in a way that suggested she was sarcastic with everyone. She flicked her dark purple bangs out of her eyes and walked off.
Beside her there stood a blond boy who wasn't exactly short, but appeared to be from the way he quietly hunched his shoulders over in an effort not to be seen. Chris on seeing him immediately grinned and drew the camera's attention over to the boy.
"How you doing, Con?" he greeted. "Enjoying having people all over the world watching you?"
The boy's blue eyes widened in horror, as if that thought hadn't occurred to him when he auditioned for a reality show.
"I—I…" he stammered quietly. "I think I'm going to be sick." With that, he quickly moved out of the camera's light. He attempted to hide behind the closest contestant, but since the boy was a good half foot shorter than him, it wasn't terribly effective. Chris rolled his eyes and moved on to him.
"Levi Lupo," he said to him. "How's civilization treating you?"
Levi, a boy with long, unruly hair who was dressed in what looked like a real wolf pelt, sneered at Chris, exposing surprisingly sharp teeth. Even the cheerful host looked backed up on seeing them.
"I wouldn't exactly call this civilization," Levi said slowly. All of the contestants took at least two steps away from him in pure terror. The wild boy saw this and grinned, enjoying their fear. "But wild is my forte," he finished before walking off. Everyone moved to give him at least three feet of room.
"Um… is it too late to trade teams?" one of the two remaining girls whispered, shooting worried looks toward the wolf boy. She had a small rosy face with bright blue eyes and curly blonde hair. When Levi walked past her, she pulled her light blue cardigan more tightly around her.
"Yes, it is, Clementine," said Chris. He walked over to her and patted her hear, which was easy to do with her being so much shorter than everyone. She gritted her teeth, clearly angered by the gesture.
"Now, Clem," he continued, bending over to talk because of her height. "Do you remember the papers you signed to be on this show?"
"Yes. Chris." She spoke slowly, as if just barely containing her anger. Her hands were in tight little fists at her side.
"And you remember what they said?"
"That you are not liable if I get injured while competing," Clementine rehearsed, having gone over it several times already.
"Because…?" Chris pushed.
She began to grind her teeth back and forth angrily. "Because of my height."
"Good!" Chris said, patting her head again. "Now go meet the others."
Clementine waited until he turned around to flip him off.
"Alright!" Chris continued, apparently not noticing the fact that he was flipped off for the second time in less than ten minutes. "Our last contestant for the second team is North Michigan!" He gestured to a girl with long scarlet hair pulled into a black Nightwing cap.
"Whoa! Nice hat!" Jace called over from the other team, who until then hadn't said much to the second team. North didn't seem to mind though, and grinned over at him.
"I know, right?" she said.
(Confessional Cam)
North: There will probably be people obsessed with the cash on this show, but not me! I'm here because it sounds fun! But a million wouldn't be bad either…
Clementine: *fumes at the camera* everyone always assumes I'm fragile because I'm small, but I'm- *is interrupted by Kate* "Hold on! Let me lower the tripod!" *Clementine shrieks in frustration*
Dilara: People may think I'm mean with my constant sarcasm, but I'm really not… I'm not mean unless you annoy me, I guess. *shrugs*
Corvus: I think my team has a good chance. True, not all of them are terribly athletic, but I think we'll get along just fine.
"And here is the third boat!" Chris called as the next boat pulled up to the dock. However, unlike the previous boats, this one didn't seem to want to slow down.
"Um, Chris?" Anais asked tentatively. "Is that supposed to—?"
She was interrupted by a thunderous crash when the boat was thrown into the dock. Several of the contestants gasped and hurried away from the creaky dock, but Chris didn't seem to notice.
"What took you so long?" he demanded of the six teenagers that more or less landed on the dock.
"You mean that wasn't fast enough for you?!" an Asian girl said in disbelief as she desperately tried to scan her skateboard for damage.
"Was the captain drunk?" another girl asked, leaning onto the boy next to her for support as she tried to yank her foot out of the wood. Electric green hair was sticking out in every direction from the fall and her black Johnny Cash shirt was soaked.
Before Chris could give her an answer (or, more likely, evade the question) the sixth contestant stumbled off the boat with a dazed grin on his face and an empty tube of superglue in his hand.
"That. Was. Awesome!" he declared, and began whooping to himself, clearly not noticing the angry group of contestants next to him.
"You mean to tell me, you superglued the captain's foot to the gas pedal?!" the third girl of the team, a pissed off looking African American, exclaimed.
"Well, yeah!" the boy said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Can I kill him?" another boy asked while he rung out his dark green jacket. His black hair was soaked from being splashed by the water, and his gray eyes made it look like he wasn't going to wait for an answer.
"No, Shawn, you can't," Chris said without looking at the boy, focusing instead on the prankster. The host grinned. "Now that is how you bring in ratings, Aaron!" he said excitedly.
"Yes, sir!" Aaron said, throwing his hand up in a salute. But his enthusiasm drained a little when he realized that the empty superglue tube didn't come off his hand. "Aw man! Not again!"
"You certainly know how to handle yourself," the green-haired girl giggled.
"What, this?" the prankster gestured at the tube stuck to his hand, eager to show off. "This is nothing! I can handle anything! As long as there isn't anything Asian related…"
"Um… excuse me?" the Asian girl said, whipping her head around. The hood of the sweatshirt which she had been wearing flew off her head. "What's wrong with being Asian?"
"Oh, nothing, just they kind of creep me…" Aaron stopped cold when he saw the girl. "Oh no."
"Seriously?" Shang said from where he stood with his team. He sounded vaguely irritated, as opposed to the girl, who was furious.
"You've got a lot of nerve, bud—" the girl stopped mid-sentence. She had poked him hard in the chest to get her point across, and now her finger was stuck to his shirt.
"Hands to yourself, Gabriella," Chris teased, very clearly enjoying her predicament.
"You gotta be kidding me!" both Aaron and Gabriella said at once. Gabriella was trying desperately, but could not seem to get her finger unstuck.
"Ah, young love," sighed the host, before turning to the girl with green hair, who was leaning against the same boy as before. "Speaking of young love, how is the happy couple doing, Estelle and Ricky?"
The boy, Ricky, grew bright red at the tease, but Estelle didn't seem to notice. She laughed and playfully punched the host on his shoulder.
"It's soooo funny!" she said. "I didn't even know Ricky had signed up! We're best friends! Right, Ricky?"
"Yeah… best friends," Ricky said quietly, blushing even more.
"Well, just remember to keep up the drama," Chris said. "We don't call this Total Best Friends Forever."
Once they walked off to the side, Chris looked to the last contestant of the team: the African American girl.
"And last but not least," he said, "Taya."
"Is that a racist thing, Chris?" Taya questioned irritably. "Introducing the black girl last?"
"No," said Chris. "But thank you for the concern. And the lawsuit you threatened if I didn't take you." Off to the side, he muttered, "As if I didn't have enough…"
(Confessional Cam)
Taya: I am here because I feel that there is a lack of black people in Total Drama. I already know that Aaron kid and I won't get along. I hate racists, even if it's not towards me.
Gabriella: *pushing her foot against Aaron's face and trying to pull her finger off his shirt* what kind of idiot superglue did you use?!
Aaron: *offended look* I only use the high quality glue, of course!
Gabriella: *shrieks in frustration* Once I have both of my hands, I'm going to strangle you! *Kate giggles from behind the camera* "Oh, my God! This is too good!"
Shawn: If there's one thing my brother taught me, it's observation. But it doesn't take a genius to see Aaron's a goner if we lose. I just have to make sure no one gets too friendly with him.
Shortly later, the last boat pulled up (though it had to steer out of the way of the busted third boat). The last team carefully got off onto the dock, trying not to step on any broken wood.
"And our last team is here!" Chris said, sounding relieved that so far nothing too horrible had happened. "Who wants to—?"
Before he could finish, a boy walked up to introduce himself. He had black spiky hair with light blue eyes, and wore a crisp black buttoned shirt with blue jeans.
"It's a pleasure to be here, Chris," he said politely, even going so far as to shake Chris's hand and surprise the host (after all, Chris was not used to contestants being happy to see him).
"And you, Mark Tanner," Chris said with a smile, once he was able to pull himself out of it. "How is the youngest member of the Miami PD?"
"You're in the Miami PD?" the girl next to him repeated in surprise. She had shoulder-length brown hair with cyan tips. Her head was covered only with big white headphones that matched her white music tank-top and black docks with music notes on the side. "Is that even possible?"
"Not technically, Bree," Chris answered for the young officer. "Which is why I said, youngest." The mocking tone that Chris tended to use may have driven off other contestants, but it only made Bree grin.
"You are just as ridiculing as you were in Total Drama Island!" she said excitedly, as if it were a good thing. "I can't believe the producers want to shut you down!"
"I know, right?" Chris said, but looked eager to change the subject. Pushing her to the side, he quickly moved on to the closest contestant. "Lilith, anything you want to say to the audience?"
The girl looked genuinely surprised that the host knew her name. A shapely girl with a bedraggled appearance, she wore a red jacket over a yellow tank top and a tattered yellow skirt over gray jeans. She brought up her gloved hands to her face to brush the light red hair out of her eyes.
"Um, no thanks," she quickly said before moving to the side.
"Well, she's about as talkative as I expected," Chris remarked when she passed him. Shrugging his shoulders, he moved on to the last girl of the team. "Anything from you, Raven?"
The girl shrugged. Her hair was as black as her tank top, and her jeans as blue as her eyes. She didn't exactly seem shy, more like generally annoyed at conversation.
"Well…" she began. "My name is Raven parker and… I'm from Miami too."
"Alright, another contestant from Florida!" Mark said, holding up his hand for a high five that Raven returned with a sly grin.
"Is 'Miami' a place in Canada?" one of the male contestants asked Bree. "I am from Japan and have not heard of this place?"
Bree laughed. "It's in the States, dude."
"Oh, look!" Gabriella shouted from where the third team stood. She still had not managed to remove her hand from Aaron's shirt, but her free hand was wrapped around his throat. "Another Asian! That's terrific, isn't it?"
"Help me," Aaron whimpered over to his teammates, none of whom looked in the mood to do anything for him as the squeezed the water from their clothes.
"Speaking of Japan," Chris said, trying to keep the attention on himself. He looked at the new Asian contestant. "How was the ride, Takayuki?"
"A bit rocky," said the boy with a smile, "But I very much enjoyed the challenge of taking over when the pilot passed out from the one too many beers he had."
"You sent a drunk pilot to fly a contestant across the Pacific?" Bree said in horror. "That's horrible!"
"And illegal," Mark added.
"Shhh!" Chris shouted. "No using the 'I' word on this show!" Once again eager to change the subject, he grabbed the last contestant by the shoulder and threw him in front of the camera. He was a startled looking boy wearing a plaid green shirt and dark jeans. "Mason! You're the last camper! Say something that won't get me in trouble!"
"Um…" Mason said, caught off guard at first by the host. "I'm from Florida too."
"Alright!" Mark whooped, clamping his hands on Raven and Mason's shoulders at once. "Team Florida!" Mason and Raven exchanged looks for a second, shrugged, and both whooped with the Miami PD boy.
(Confessional Cam)
Mark: Yeah, usually I'm pretty cool and collective… It was pretty exciting to see so many of my teammates were from Florida though.
Mason: *he grins slyly at camera* I'm going to win this competition. So finding some monkey-brained contestants as 'friends' is first on my list. Scoot over, Heather, Alejandro, and Scott. There's a new sheriff in town. *thinks about what he said and laughs* you know, besides the actual sheriff. *looks past camera at Kate* you'll keep this our little secret, won't you? *he winks, and Kate's voice is heard* "Um, can you hurry up? I'm running out of battery on this thing."
Bree: I'm excited to be here! My teammates sound really cool and I even saw Mason has a cello! I can't wait to get to know them!
"Okay, teams," Chris said. "Now that you've gotten a chance to get to know each other… some more closely than others…" here he looked over at Gabriella, whose entire hand was stuck to Aaron's shirt at this point. "It's challenge time!"
"Challenge?" Bree asked, confused. "What about our bags?"
"Oh, no need to worry about them." Chris laughed his trademark villain laugh. Those who had seen the show before instantly recognized it and groaned. "Chef, bring the buzzers!"
Chef, taking as much time as possible, tossed buzzers to each team. One landed awkwardly in the unsuspecting Anais's hand; one was caught easily by Corvus; one hit Aaron's shirt and got stuck; and the last one was caught by Takayuki.
"Your first challenge is simple," explained the host. "You will be playing a game of Hot and Cold with your team's buzzers. When you are close to the finish, the buzzer will vibrate like so." Grinning, he pressed a button on a remote the contestants hadn't seen him holding. The buzzer on Aaron's shirt shocked both him and Gabriella. They both shouted in pain.
"What the hell is in that buzzer?!" demanded Gabriella.
"Love and affection," Chris said sweetly before continuing. "Anyway, the buzzer will give that small little vibration whenever the team is near the finish. The first buzzer to make it will win the challenge and…" He paused for dramatic effect before saying, "Winner gets to choose who is booted off."
There was an audible gasp from the teams.
"That's right," Chris said, though no one had said anything. "Winner gets to pick who gets the boot… from any of the four teams. So…" he paused once more. "Go!"
The teams rushed off.
(Confessional Cam)
Shawn: Seriously? That's all Chris has got? Man, he really is losing his touch.
Bree: The challenge seems easy… but I've watched Total Drama long enough to know nothing is that simple.
TEAM 1- Anais, Shang, Stacy, Jace, Jasmine, Eric
Anais frowned at her teammates. Five minutes had passed already, but they were making little to no progress. Stacy had her headphones in and a look on her face that warned people to leave her alone, Jace was doing some sort of stretches which had caused him to fall three times already, Jasmine and Shang just started fighting over which way to go, and Eric was checking the surrounding forest for "clues." Anais couldn't stand it anymore.
"Um… guys?" she tried. No one even acknowledged that she spoke. She tried louder. "Guys?"
No one responded.
"Guys!" she shouted. Finally, her team turned around. Stacy even pulled out one of her headphones.
"Yes?" Jasmine asked, irritated at being interrupted.
"Well," said Anais, "Shouldn't we be trying to find the finish?"
Jasmine scoffed. "What do you think we're doing?"
"Not much of anything, actually," Eric admitted. "She's right. We should get going." There were some mumbles of agreeance.
But Jasmine wasn't satisfied. "And where exactly should we go? We need strategy, people!"
"Here!" Anais pulled a coin out of her pocket. "Heads, we go left. Tails, right." Nobody argued, so she flipped the coin, catching it in her palm. The head end was facing up.
"Alright! So we go left!"
The team shrugged and followed Anais's lead as she walked off, but Jasmine made sure to drag her feet as much as possible.
(Confessional Cam)
Jasmine: Seriously? Flip a coin? How old is she?
Anais: I didn't expect everyone to listen to me like they did! I think I'll really like this team!
TEAM 2- Corvus, Dilara, Levi, Clementine, Con, North
The second team had more luck beginning than the first one. They quickly agreed on a direction to take, so they were already far into the forest by the time the first team began.
"Maybe we should talk about who to vote off," Dilara said after a while of relative silence. "You know, in case we get to the finish first."
"That's a good idea," North agreed. "We should go for the strongest player."
"Gabriella looked pretty strong when Aaron pissed her off," Clementine said.
"That's true." North shivered. "I'd hate to be him right now."
"I don't think kicking Gabriella off would help," Corvus said. "I can't imagine their team will do very good with them constantly fighting."
"That's true too!" North readily nodded her head. Most of the team mumbled their approval or nodded (in the case of Con, who did not talk much).
"Good call, Cowboy," Dilara said, sounding actually impressed at his foresight despite her sarcastic tone. She narrowed her eyes a little at him. "What do your parents do for a living?"
Corvus grinned, his chest rising in a way that showed this was a subject he enjoyed talking about. "Best government officials in San Antonio."
"Seriously?" North asked. When he proudly confirmed it, she laughed. "That's crazy!"
"Well, who do we vote off instead?" Dilara asked, not so discreetly trying to bring the conversation back to the task at hand. She looked over at Con, who up until then had not said anything. "Any suggestions, Con?"
The shy boy shrugged a little, obviously uncomfortable with being brought into it. "Whoever you guys want, I guess," he said. "I don't really have anyone in mind."
"Fair enough," said Dilara. She turned to face the other silent teammate, and her smile sunk. "Er… Do you have any suggestions… Levi?"
On hearing his name, Levi stopped from where he was walking ahead of the team. All of the girls and Con froze in their spots, though the wild boy was several feet away still. Levi turned around slowly, as if he could feel how tense everyone became around him and wanted to soak in it as long as possible. He looked all of his teammates in the eye until they looked away (or averted his eyes completely) before grinning a fierce grin that could terrify an axe murderer.
"Whoever you want," he said and started walking again, clearly satisfied with the response.
(Confessional Cam)
Dilara: *whispering* Levi seriously scares me. Is it possible to vote him off?
Corvus: *he has a thoughtful look on his face* Clearly, Levi scares everyone on the team. They'll want to vote him off as soon as possible… But I may be able to help him out. After all, a wild animal is one thing, but a loyal one is a different story completely.
Levi: In a wolf pack, there is always one alpha male. As long as they understand who the alpha male of this pack is, we'll get along fine. *grins in a way that shows his sharp teeth*
TEAM 3- Aaron, Gabriella, Taya, Estelle, Ricky, Shawn
"Which way should we go?" Estelle asked her teammates.
"I saw Team 1 go left," Taya offered. "So, right?"
"Sounds good to me," said Shawn, though he truly did not look like he much cared either way. He leisurely adjusted the green bandana on his arm as he did so.
"Sounds great!" Gabriella said a little bit too aggressively for the statement to be truthful. She yanked her arm forward and stormed far ahead of the rest of the team, dragging Aaron alongside her in the process.
The prankster let out an oomph of surprise, then gulped nervously. "Uh… Shouldn't we wait for the rest of the team?" he asked as he trotted to keep up with the skater girl. She pretended not to hear him and walked even faster.
"Should we get them to come back?" Estelle asked Ricky. "They do have the buzzer, after all."
Ricky looked thoughtfully at the two and shook his head. "I'm not sure we should get involved in that."
Estelle laughed loudly, playfully punching him on the arm. "I still can't believe you actually auditioned for this show! When were you planning on telling me, you big jerk?"
(Confessional Cam)
Estelle: Ricky's been my best friend for forever! I'm so glad he's here! We can be like a killer dynamic duo!
Ricky: *looks around to make sure no one is around* I… uh… *sighs* I only auditioned because I knew Estelle was. I hope I can… maybe even tell her how I feel about her… *Kate's voice is heard* "So you auditioned for a reality show because you can't tell the girl you like her? Seriously?" *Ricky blushes bright red*
Aaron: Okay, the superglue prank wasn't the height of my career… Or admitting on live television that Asians creep me out… *flinches as the camera zooms out to show an angry Gabriella* Sorry…
TEAM 4- Mark, Bree, Mason, Raven, Lilith, Takayuki
The fourth team wasted no time with getting started. Within minutes after the start of the challenge, they had made more process than all three of the other teams. So it wasn't too surprising when their buzzer was the first to vibrate.
Takayuki was the one holding the buzzer. When he felt the light buzz in the palm of his hand, he called to the others to stop.
"The buzzer vibrated," he explained.
"Really?" asked Bree, surprised. "I thought the buzzers shocked people. Is ours defective?"
Takayuki shook his head. "I do not think so. It must buzz more the closer we get to the end."
"Then let's hope we keep going the right way," said Mark. The team agreed and began to move again.
"Um, Takayuki?" Bree said, catching up to him as they walked. "Are you sure you're okay with holding the buzzer? I mean, after seeing what it did to Aaron and Gabriella…"
"I am happy to help my team," Takayuki reassured with a smile.
(Confessional Cam)
Takayuki: I will always help my team to the best of my ability. No matter what, I will play fair and work hard.
Bree: I really have a good feeling about this team. The guys all seem pretty honest. I just wish the girls talked a little more. It feels kind of awkward not having any girls to talk to.
Mason: Bree is obviously really interested in making friends. Luckily, Raven and Lilith don't talk much, so she'll have to find friends elsewhere. And I know just the person to "help" her. *gives a charmingly evil smile*
TEAM 2- Corvus, Dilara, Levi, Clementine, Con, North
"Has it buzzed yet?" Dilara asked impatiently.
"I'll tell you when it does," Corvus said through gritted teeth, desperately trying not to lose his temper. She must have asked a hundred times, as if the answer would change since the last few seconds she asked.
"But we've been walking for almost a half hour now!" she insisted. "You must have broken it or something!"
"Or maybe we're going the wrong way?" North sighed as she yanked her hair through her hair tie. It was the height of the afternoon and all of their hair and faces were dripping with sweat.
"We should turn back," Clementine said. She was yanking at the tight blue jeans she wore in an effort to stop the sweat from dripping down her legs.
"You want to tell him that?" Dilara hissed, gesturing towards Levi, who was far ahead.
Corvus opened his mouth to suggest that they do just that, when he felt something in the palm of his hand. He looked down toward the buzzer, which had just barely vibrated.
"Did it buzz?" Dilara asked, seeing Corvus look at it.
"I think so," he said.
"You think so?" she repeated. "Well, that's reassuring! Give it to me!" Snatching the buzzer out of his hand, she stormed the opposite way in frustration. North raised an eyebrow at Corvus, who just shrugged in the universal what-are-you-going-to-do gesture.
(Confessional Cam)
Dilara: *sighing sadly* Okay, I may have let my temper get the better of me… This is our first challenge and it looks like we're already going to lose unless another team manages to do worse! *bitterly laughs* If only.
Corvus: Sometimes you just have to back up and let someone else take control. I'm not about to fight her over the privilege of being zapped if we ever do get close to the end.
TEAM 3- Aaron, Gabriella, Taya, Estelle, Ricky, Shawn
"So… Gabriella…" Aaron said between pants. Keeping up with the skater girl had proven to be a difficult task. "I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot."
"That tends to happen when you insult a person's entire heritage," Gabriella replied, not bothering to slow down or glance at him.
"I mean, it's nothing personal!" the boy continued. "It's just this weird phobia I've had for as long as I can remember… Like clowns!"
In two seconds, Gabriella had him pinned to the ground. Her dark eyes flared angrily. "Did you just compare Asians to clowns?!"
"NO! I just meant, it's like how people are scared of clowns!"
"I heard you the first time!" Gabriella sneered.
"That's not what I meant either!" Aaron panicked. "What I meant to say was it's like—"
"I think I know exactly what you meant," Gabriella interrupted, yanking herself—and Aaron, in the process—up to her feet. "I can't spend another second near you!"
She pulled her hand as hard as she could to get it unstuck, but only managed to pull Aaron by his shirt. The prankster hadn't expected the force and tripped, just barely able to keep his balance.
"Hold still!" Gabriella shrieked, planting her black converse against his shoulder to brace herself as she pulled her hand.
"You already tried that!" Aaron reminded her.
"I don't care! I am sick and tired—" Before she could finish, her hand without warning came unstuck from the shirt, bright pink from the force she used. She sighed in relief. "Oh, thank… Oh no."
She stopped mid-sentence because she discovered a new problem. Now her shoe was stuck.
"Great, now what?" said Aaron, looking almost as exasperated as her.
(Confessional Cam):
Aaron- *now shirtless* Mom always said my honesty was going to get me in trouble one day… Guess today's the day. *looks sheepishly at camera* Hi, mom…
Gabriella- *holding up her shoe with Aaron's white t-shirt and the buzzer on the end* Can I just emphasize how much I hate that boy?
"There you two are! Where have you…" Taya trailed off as she took in the two of them. "Actually… I really don't want to know."
Gabriella jabbed a finger over at Aaron. "It was all his—AH!" Once again, she was interrupted. This time, it was by the buzzer attached to her shoe almost electrifying her.
"It buzzed!" Estelle said excitedly, unintentionally being insensitive. "That must mean we're really close!"
"Today is just not your day, is it?" Taya said, helping Gabriella back to her feet.
TEAM 1- Anais, Shang, Stacy, Jace, Jasmine, Eric
Jace was bored.
It was nearing five o'clock. His teammates had long ago cut any attempts at conversation, too hot and miserable to do anything other than their zombie-like walk forward. For a while, Jace had been charging ahead just for fun, but every time he did, he somehow managed to get hurt. Eventually Anais politely told him to just walk with them.
So he was bored.
Next to him was Stacy, still listening to her music. Despite the ever-present look of utter boredom on her face, her good leg and body were all muscle, so walking for hours was nothing.
"Hey," Jace tried. When she didn't respond, he tried again while waving his hand in front of her face. Stacy glared at him with her bright green eyes, but slowly pulled her headphones out.
"What," she said, not bothering to make the word sound like a question.
Jace smiled, clearly not noticing the pissed off look on her face. "I was just wanting to say, you walk really good for someone with a fake leg."
Stacy froze where she stood, but the others were far enough behind that they didn't run into her. "What did you say?" she asked slowly.
The boy shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "You know, just that I thought we'd have to wait up for you because you only have one actual leg is all."
Stacy's hands curled into fists as the rest of the team caught up. Taking a look at the two of them, they realized something was happening, and kept their distance while they watched.
"So you expected me to be a cripple, huh?" Stacy said too calmly.
"Well… yeah, actually," Jace grinned, not seeming to understand just in how much trouble he was. That was all Stacy needed to hear. She threw herself against him, slamming him into a tree.
Immediately, the team flew into action. Eric ran over and unsuccessfully tried to pull Stacy back, while Jasmine yelled something about how they needed to focus on the challenge (while keeping out of the fight zone, of course). Then Anais did something.
She put herself between them.
Stacy was surprised for a second, but then returned to her furious expression.
"Move it, freshman," she growled.
Anais swallowed nervously, but stood her ground. Stacy's anger was turned to her.
"Fine," she said. "If you won't, I will." And with that, she forcefully shoved the girl out of her way. Anais didn't expect the strength of the impact, and tripped backwards. Just as Stacy was about to go back to her attempted murder of Jace, she heard a scream that stopped her and the team dead in their tracks. They looked over where Anais had just been.
"Jesus!" Eric exclaimed, carefully stepping over to investigate. "You knocked her all the way down the mountain!"
Meanwhile, Anais was screaming and holding on to the buzzer for dear life, her white dress getting caught and torn as she plummeted down the steep hill. After what felt to her like an hour, she finally came to a halt at the bottom.
"Well… I'm alive…" she said shakily. But apparently she spoke too soon, because as soon as she said it, the buzzer vibrated so hard that she threw it away with a scream.
"The buzzer…" she murmured. "Does that mean I'm at the finish?" Slowly, she moved ahead to where she threw the buzzer. She pushed past the trees to get to it, then stopped dead, eyes widening.
"Mother of…"
Not a moment later, Team 4 burst into the clearing. Takayuki was the first, as he was the one with the buzzer, and the rest of his team soon followed before staring in wide-eyed wonder at the sight ahead.
Mason was the first to speak. "Holy sh—"
TEAM 3- Aaron, Gabriella, Taya, Estelle, Ricky, Shawn
"What was that?" Shawn asked, referring to the blood-curdling scream they just heard.
"I don't know…" muttered Gabriella, who was trying not to show her nerves.
"Maybe we should check it out," Estelle suggested. "It sounded serious."
"Only because we're headed that way anyway," Taya said. So the team agreed and began to jog towards the sound of the noise.
TEAM 1- Shang, Stacy, Jace, Jasmine, Eric
"We need to go after her!" Eric declared, pulling out a rope and tying it around a large tree.
"Go after her?" Jasmine repeated in horror. "And how do you suggest we do that? I am not falling after her."
"We'll use rope to get down!" barked Eric, who was annoyed with the team's general principle of every man for himself. "Besides, she has the buzzer! Do you want to win or not?"
Jasmine paused for a second, and sighed. If there was one thing that could motivate her, it was winning. "Fine."
So one by one, Eric helped the team carefully scale down the mountain, so within ten minutes, everyone had more or less made it to the bottom.
"Anais!" Eric called. "Are you okay?"
An excited voice answered. "Guys, I'm over here! You have to see this!"
TEAM 2- Corvus, Dilara, Levi, Clementine, Con, North
"I'm telling you!" Dilara said. "The scream came from somewhere around here!"
"We've been following you for hours!" snapped Clementine. "All because of that stupid scream! It probably didn't even mean anything!"
"I know it did!" Dilara insisted. "I just know it!"
"Maybe we should check behind the clearing," Corvus suggested.
"No, I'm telling you, it's this…"
Just as she was about to walk the other way, they heard a voice.
"Are you guys coming or what?!"
Yes, it was none other than the voice of Chris McLean. The team whipped around and saw the long limousine-style golf cart from season 2, with all of the other teams in it looking bored and irritated. Chris, in the driver's seat, was the most irritated one of all.
"The challenge has been over for hours!" he exclaimed. "How did you manage to get so lost, you didn't hear the announcement?"
"There was an announcement?" Dilara asked, crestfallen.
"YES!" Chris shouted. "And, by the way, this is totally NOT good for ratings!" Still looking angry, he turned to Team 1, pointing at Anais. "Anais, you're the one that won the challenge. Which means you're the one that decides who goes home."
"What?!" Anais shrieked.
(Confessional Cam)
Anais- I don't want to send anyone home! This is the worst reward possible!
"Hurry up!" Chris said irritably. "Before the ratings drop any more!"
"I… uh…" Anais sighed, dropping her head in shame. "I pick Jace."
All of the teams let out a combination of a gasp in surprise and a sigh of relief. Her team looked at her questionably, though they didn't exactly look like they were angry.
(Confessional Cam)
Shang- Honestly, I'm surprised she didn't pick Stacy.
Stacy- *shrugs* I'm surprised she didn't pick me…
Anais- I felt really bad for it… But Jace is a danger to himself and the team. He'd probably leave in a body bag if he stayed any longer!
"You heard the lady, Jace," Chris said. "Get a move on."
"Okay!" Jace said cheerfully, as if he either didn't really mind being kicked off or it hadn't yet sunk in that he was. "Bye, guys!" He waved at Jasmine and Stacy, high-fived the guys, and even gave Anais a hug. As soon as he was off and Team 2 was on, Chris drove as fast as the gold cart would allow.
"So what was at the finish line?" Dilara whispered to Estelle, not wanting to upset Chris any more.
"Oh! You should have seen it!" Estelle gushed excitedly. "It was—"
Before she could actually say it, the cart arrived at the finish line to answer the question for her. Dilara and all of Team 2's eyes widened.
"Mother of God…" North muttered. Corvus even took off his hat.
Because at the finish line was none other than the McLean airplane from season 3.
"That's right!" Chris grinned. "If I'm going down, I'm going down with a bang!"
Author's Note:
So the chapters will be long, obviously, since I'll have to fit an episode's worth into each one. Let me know what you guys think! Love ya!