Author's Notes: Well, I'm finally back from my senior trip to Europe and I'm ready to get back to story updating. Just saw the new season of Total Drama World Tour and, needless to say, I'm a little upset that Duncan left so early. However, the music was kind of catchy and I'm looking forward to see if Courtney and Gwen will learn to get along later in the season (since they are on the same team). I feel sorry for Cody though…hehe, he's on the team that has a girl gender symbol to represent it. Things are really looking good for those Noah/Cody shippers. Joking, joking…
About my upcoming Total Drama story. It will be a crossover with How to Train Your Dragon and the main ship will be Courtney/Harold. It's a ship that I haven't found in any Total Drama story so far which is odd because fans come up with tons of crack ships and I would think that after all the interactions between the two, some fan would be crazy enough to try to write a shipping story about them. *sigh* Looks like I'll have to be that crazy fan. Three guesses on who Duncan will play. His part is going to make the cross-over a challenge to do (though one that I will enjoy).
As always, here's some review replies:
CarmdillaD: Congrats on getting the DVD! I love all the deleted scenes (I even had Duncan say one of the lines from the deleted scene in the last chapter), particularly that one. It does remind me of the Duncan/Courtney cuddling scene. I'm glad you loved those lines from the last chapter. Those lines were some of my favorite ones to write in the story.
FavingFreak: I love adding in details from the show because it's a fun challenge trying to see where it would fit in perfectly. I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story so much because of it. Thank you for the compliment about keeping the character's dialogues accurate to their personalities. It's really quite a challenge to do and I really appreciate the comment.
That's it for now! Please enjoy!
Courtney let out a stunned cry as Duncan was ripped from their tender embrace and dragged into the darkness by an unseen force.
"DUNCAN!"
The female spider's horrified shout instantly caught the attention of her companions. Bunneh and Molotov stopped what they were doing and jumped into action. They had been watching Courtney and Duncan in delight as the teen couple had been only seconds away from kissing and had seen the strange shadow being drag the mohawked tarantula away by his own shadow.
"COURTNEEEEEY!" Duncan's fading scream echoed throughout the Canadian forest as he was dragged through its dark depths. Though he could seen nothing physically grabbing his legs, Duncan could still feel iron-strong claws gripping onto him.
"Quick, jump on!" Molotov ordered, lowering himself so that Courtney could quickly climb onto his back. As soon as the brown and purple tarantula was secure, the massive bear was off after his Bratka.
Bunneh was ahead, already hopping after Heather's evil minion. However, the rabbit was tiring very quickly. "Hold on…*huff*…little buddy…*huff*…oh, I got a cramp…" Bunneh panted, gulping up big breaths of air. "Help is on the way! ACK!" As he ran by, Molotov scooped Bunneh up with his snout and tossed onto his back along to ride along with Courtney.
"We're coming, Duncan!" Courtney shouted, holding on for dear life to the fur on Molotov's head. She could faintly see Duncan up ahead- his blue eyes were wide with fear as he desperately tried to cling to the ground with all free legs.
The shadow creature clutching the shadow of his leg soared over a large spider web between two trees. Though the shadow being was able to go through it, Duncan hung on to the sticky threads for dear life. He was ripped from the shadow creature's grip and sent flying backwards, straight onto Molotov's back.
"YES!" Bunneh and Courtney loudly cheered and hugged a very surprised Duncan that had landed between them.
The shadow creature noticed that his claws were empty of a hostage and whirled back around, charging towards the four friends with blank eyes narrowed and an angry snarl on his black face.
Molotov backed away slowly with the others trembling in fear on his back as the dark creature swiftly approached.
Suddenly, a beam of light burst through the leafy foliage of some bushes and fell upon the shadow creature's backside. The demonic being withered and wormed around in pain, and let out a high-pitched shriek before dissolving into harmless shreds of black mist.
Staring into the empty space that was once before the shadow creature with eyes wide with amazement, the four friends instantly turned their heads towards the bushes. The bushes shook as the source of the sudden beam of light stepped out into the open
Duncan and Courtney's jaws dropped in shock as they stared at their surprise savior.
"Chef?"
The big, loud, intimidating chef and lackey of the Total Drama series stepped out of the bushes with a flashlight in his hand and expression of deep annoyance on his face.
"Who else were you expecting? Marie Laveau?" Chef nonchalantly answered, not at all fazed at the fact that two tarantulas had just talked to him. The grizzled chef placed his hands on his hips and fixed his angry black, beady eyes on the four animals.
"Now which one of you maggots was messing with voodoo?" He growled.
Bunneh and Courtney immediately tossed Duncan onto the ground in front of Chef to fend for him self.
Now that he was quite a bit shorter (and more squishable) since the last time he'd seen the vicious chef, Duncan now realized that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to have gotten on Chef's bad side all those times on the show.
"Hehehe…" Duncan gave a nervous chuckle, sinking low to the ground and ever so slightly edging away from Chef's ever-so-large foot. The poor tarantula withered underneath the large man's frosty glare.
"Sooo…I have ever mentioned how absolutely delicious I think your scrambled eggs are?"
"LeShawna, I know what you're trying to do."
Back at the hotel, fellow Total Drama contestants Gwen and LeShawna were walking back to their rooms after just coming up from dinner in the cafeteria. The two close friends were talking as they walked down the long, carpeted hallway.
LeShawna pulled an innocent look. "Girl, I don't know what you're talking about."
Gwen gave a forlorn sigh, but kept going. "You're trying to get me and Trent back together."
"No I'm not!" LeShawna argued, eyes darting back and forth nervously.
"I really appreciate the gesture," Gwen continued, ignoring LeShawna's protest, "But Trent and I are over. It's better that way, for both of us."
"But you two were great together!" LeShawna blurted out. The plump black girl placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder. Her dark eyes were full of sympathy. "Plus you really liked Trent…and you still do. Guitar boy feels the same way, I'm sure of it."
The teal-streaked Goth shook her head. "It's clear that it's not going to work out." Gwen sadly admitted. "Trent can't trust me to be faithful to him! And I can't trust him to be himself when he's all obsessed like he was on the show! Sometime's it's as if our personalities are too different to ever work out as a couple."
A smirk crossed LeShawna's face. "Be careful, girl, you two are starting to sound like Duncan and Courtney."
Gwen was less than amused. "And look how they turned out!"
"They're still together." LeShawna weakly pointed out.
"For how long?" Gwen sharply replied. It was true that after Total Drama Action, many of the contestants were holding bets to when Courtney and Duncan finally had enough of each other. "It's better that we broke up when we did. I don't want to have to fight to make a relationship work."
Gwen grew silent afraid that, signaling that the conversation was off. However, the proud city girl wouldn't let it die without dishing out her best friend one last word of advice.
"Well, my momma always did say that there are some things that are worth fighting for."
If Gwen had wanted to reply back, she lost her chance the moment she and LeShawna came upon a rather interesting sight.
"Sorry Bridge, but I can't get it open!" It was Geoff and he looked like he was in the process trying to break the handle off one of the hotel doors.
"Keep trying!" Bridgette was urging him on. "Duncan was your best friend. Didn't he teach you any delinquent tricks or something?"
"Breaking-and-entering a locked hotel room never really showed up in any of our conversations, Bridge." Geoff paused, thought for a second, and added, "Except that one time…but instead of a hotel it was a casino…that was a good story…"
LeShawna thought this was a good time to butt in. "What are you two doing?" She demanded, stepping up and eyeing the two with suspicion.
The two blondes jumped in surprise and turned in unison to face Gwen and LeShawna.
"Nothing!" Bridgette instantly said, looking quite guilty.
"Breaking into Courtney's room." Geoff breezily replied. Bridgette punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! What? It's just Gwen and she's cool, right Gwen?" Geoff turned his puppy-like eyes to Gwen.
"Courtney's not my favorite person in the world, but I'm still a little concerned about why you two are breaking into her room. Especially you, Bridgette!" Gwen never imagined Bridgette would ever willingly do something like this.
"I don't think Courtney's at her aunt's." Bridgette said. "I think Harold's right and that Courtney is in trouble."
"Kay now you're starting to sound crazy!" LeShawna said, "And why do you even care about Ms. Crazy-in-Training anyway?"
Bridgette's olive eyes flashed with unusual anger. "Because she's my best friend! I know that none of you really like her, but none of you got to know her like I did before she got voted off in season one."
Yes, Bridgette knew that Courtney was assertive, bossy, obsessively competitive, and sometimes brutally honest, but she was also a good leader for their team. Courtney had also been a very kind and forgiving towards Bridgette- listening to her trouble with Geoff and not holding a grudge even after Bridgette had broken Courtney's precious violin.
"Court's a nice chick." confirmed Geoff. He had gotten along quite well with Courtney himself. "If my man Dunk and his girl are in trouble, then I'm there." Geoff threw up his hands and unleashed a party cry. "Killer Bass for life, dude! WHOO!"
"But Duncan's fine." Gwen reasoned. "We all saw him last night."
"Bridge said that that isn't Duncan." Geoff said with a shrug. "He's really Justin. I thought that high-five felt a little weak…"
"What? Are you two insane?" LeShawna yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Even Lindsay can tell the difference between Duncan and Justin!"
"Not with voodoo magic." Geoff happily put in, quoting Harold.
LeShawna and Gwen shared an uncomfortable glance at each other. Both shared the secret knowledge of all the voodoo stuff that LeShawna's granny had sent from New Orleans to help enhance LeShawna's chances of winning the show. However, LeShawna had never used the stuff and it was all safe and sound in Gwen's room.
Wasn't it?
"Okay," Gwen said, growing a bit nervous, "let's just say that hypothetically Heather did manage to get hold of some voodoo magic…"
"Hypothetically, of course!" LeShawna hastily reminded, sounding as nervous as Gwen was. If all this bunch of craziness was true, the two friends did not want the others to find out that Heather had gotten the voodoo stuff from Gwen and LeShawna.
"…what do you want us to do to help?" Gwen finished.
Three minutes later….
A high-pitched, shrilly scream could be heard just before the door of Courtney's hotel room burst open as LeShawna, Gwen, and Bridgette came charging through, holding up a screaming Geoff between them. They had used the party boy as an effective battering ram.
"Thanks honey!" Bridgette chirped, leaning forward to give her boyfriend a peck on the cheek.
The pained expression on Geoff's face melted into happiness. "No problem, babe! Anything for you." He let out a shriek of pain when all three girls dropped him to the ground to examine the room.
"You know, I always imagined Courtney's room being a tad bit more organized." Gwen remarked, glancing around. The room was a mess with random items and clothing thrown all around.
"Looks like a tornado went through here," commented LeShawna, picking up a broken mirror that was lying on the floor, "or a fight."
A gasp came from Bridgette. "Courtney couldn't have left. Her suitcase is still here on the bed." The surfer girl pointed to the suitcase propped open on the bed. There was only one item left inside it- one of Courtney's purple shirts.
Bridgette picked up the shirt and clutched it close to her chest, feeling overwhelmed with worry for her friend.
"If Courtney isn't here," Bridgette said, turning to face her friends with distress pooled into her olive eyes, "Then where could she be?"
"You know," Courtney said to Duncan as they followed Chef into the mess hall of Camp Wawanakwa with Bunneh and Molotov, "if someone had told me that I'd be happy to see this place again before this all happened, I'd personally escort them to the nearest mental institution."
"If someone had told me that I'd be glad to see Chef again," Duncan joked, "I'd had punched them in the face."
"ENOUGH CHATTERING! Don't make me bring my fly swatter on your hairy spider butts!" Chef warned as stormed into the kitchen.
When he was gone, Duncan turned to Courtney and asked, "Okay, so why did I agree to this again?"
"The million dollar ceremony is tomorrow night and we only have one day to get there, and it's roughly about fifty miles walking distance from where we are right now." Courtney bluntly replied.
"Well, I say we just hijack some car and take to the hills." Bunneh said, leaning against Molotov's stout leg. "I may have left the show early, but I saw plenty of that psycho enough to know that one wrong move, and you'll end up in the boiling pot!'
"Or the boat house." Courtney added, shooting Duncan a sideways smile.
"All in all, not my worst punishment." Duncan put in, returning her smile. The two had dreamy expressions on their faces as they remembered that one night in the boathouse.
The moment was ruined when Chef came thundering in with a large pot of something boiling in his arms. He slammed the pot down on the table in front of the animals.
"You four's pathetic scream of terror interrupted my gumbo dinner. If you two had had the common decency to call before arriving," Chef growled, fixing the tarantula couple with a frightening glare. "I would have had time to fix up a gruel dish more suitable to your taste!"
With no further words, Chef slammed three bowls down on the table and began pouring hot, delicious-looking gumbo into them. He slid the first bowl over to Duncan and Courtney, along with a single spoon, and slid the others to Bunneh and Molotov.
"This isn't my vomit is, it?" Duncan questioned, pointing a leg at the steaming gumbo. Chef ignored the question.
At the sight of the single spoon, Courtney shot Chef an irritated glance. "Only one spoon? We have to share? Can't you have the courtesy of giving another spoon?"
Chef only narrowed his eyes and let out a warning growl that quickly shut the teen girl up. To Courtney's surprise, Duncan pushed the spoon over to her side of the bowl.
"Here, you use it."
Courtney felt touched by such a gentleman-like gesture. "Thank you, Duncan! That was so..."
Duncan then plunged his entire head into the bowl and began to noisily slurp up the delicious Louisiana dish, making loud smacking and chewing sounds as he ate.
"…absolutely disgusting." Courtney finished, watching Duncan eat his gumbo like an animal with an appalled expression on her face. Molotov and Bunneh were eating in the same manner.
Duncan lifted his head from the gumbo, chewing on a piece of sausage. "Wanna try some?" he asked with a full mouth.
Courtney sighed and tossed her spoon to the ground. "I just lost my appetite."
"So what's the deal with you and delinquent as creepy-crawlies?" Chef asked.
"Heather and Justin used voodoo magic to change Duncan into a tarantula in order to steal his million dollars." Courtney explained while her companions ate. "I got turned into one after I kissed him."
Chef barked out a laugh. "HA! You kissed a spider! Who in their right mind kisses something as disgusting as that?"
"Oh shut up!" Courtney was getting very tired of hearing everybody's reactions to the kissing part of the story. "Stuff happened and we ended up here in the middle of the forest and have been searching for you ever since so that you can help us!"
"What are you doing all alone here anyway?" Duncan asked, wiping away the last remains of gumbo from his face.
"Working on getting ready for next season of course." Chef said, going up to one of the mess hall windows. He pulled up the blinds to reveal a giant jumbo jet parked in the middle of the camp grounds. On the side of the jet was a half-way painted portrait of Chris' face.
"As tempting as it is to remain as tarantulas and escape another season of random crap, can you just help us change back already so I can get my million?" Duncan asked, glaring at the idea of Chris making them go through another stupid season.
"Is that all you selfish maggots care about is that money?" Chef snarled, "Dig a little deeper inside yourselves and tell me the truth…is the money the really the reason why you want to change back to human?"
Duncan and Courtney turned and silently stared at each other for a couple of meaningful seconds before turning back and saying….
"Yeah, it's all about the money." Duncan said without much concern.
"Same here." Agreed Courtney.
"All about the greens!" Bunneh added, jumping up. Molotov whacked him on the back of the head.
Chef shrugged. "Oh well, I tried." He didn't really sound like he cared either way. "I think I might have something that will help you blunder heads out." Chef reached behind his back and pulled out a large, red book and slammed it down on the table so that Duncan and Courtney could read the title.
Duncan made a face and scowled. "Aw, that's just the stupid fairy tale book that Chris used in that stupid challenge!"
"BE QUIET FOOL!" Chef ordered as he grabbed the book and started to flip through the pages. "Now back in the war, I ran into some voodoo myself. Spent days fighting my way through the jungle as a rat…."
Flashback…
Deep in the jungles out east, a large, well-muscled and scarred, brown rat viciously battled head-to-head with a vicious twenty-foot long anaconda as a storm raged overhead. The rat punched the giant snake in the snout and let out a war-cry.
"YOU AIN'T GOING TO GET A PIECE OF ME, MAGGOT!"
End of flashback…
"But lucky I remembered the first rule of magic that my dear momma read to me in fairy tales."
"Which is…" Courtney urged.
Chef put on a pair of reading glasses and read from the fairy tale book.
"A kiss from a princess always breaks the spell…THE END!" he slammed the book shut.
"Well then, who the hell did you kiss?" Duncan demanded.
"Madonna, the Princess of Pop." Chef said, earning a joke drum roll. "But that's another story." He added, tossing the fairy tale book aside.
"Then we're completely screwed." Courtney moaned. "It's impossible for us to be able to find a princess by tonight, let along convince her to kiss Duncan!"
To both Duncan and Courtney's surprise, Chef began to unleash a dark, evil chuckle. "Oh, I think I know one." A chill went though Duncan and Courtney at the look on Chef's face.
"Who?" Duncan dared to ask.
Letting out a gleeful cackle, Chef pulled out something from behind his back. The tarantula couple let out gasps of horror.
"It can't be!" Courtney shrieked, holding her face as she stared at horrid object.
"Noo!" Duncan's blue eyes were wide fear. "Anything but that man! Anything!"
It was a Princess Beth doll.
Muewahaha….bet you didn't see that coming, did ya? Special thanks to me sister for giving me the idea to put in a funny flashback of Chef as a rat in the story. Please Read and Review!