(A/N: sorry this update took so long. Funny story, actually. See, one day after coming back from my friend's house- I had brought my laptop with me for the night- I got home, and attempted to start it up. Instead, I received an ominous message: ERROR: 2100 HDDO FAILED TO INITIALIZE HARDDRIVE. So, after about an hour of panicking, I told my dad about the problem. My dad works for the police force, so he told me he would have their top tech man take a look at it. I was put on a waiting list for a few days, and finally the tech guy took my computer for the day. Turns out, the hard drive just came loose on the drive back from my friend's house. This technician's expert had all this complicated gear ready to fix my laptop…. And all he had to do was open it up and pop the hard drive back in place. So, if you were wondering what was taking so long, there you go. But I digress- on with the show, eh?)
"Last time on Beyond the Set:
What WOULD have been a relaxing day off turned into a mad scramble to stop the monster that was terrorizing the film lot: ROBOT CTHULHU! I offered the campers a reward in exchange for stopping the rouge machine, but everyone ended up in the infirmary instead. As for Cthulhu, not really sure what happened to him."
(The camera pans out, showcasing the city near the film lot- which is now in flames. Chris side-steps as a flaming car flies by, narrowly missing the host.)
"But enough of the past! Well, actually, not enough of the past- not for today's challenge at least! Join us for a time-warping extravaganza and watch another contestant get the boot here on:
CAMP TV:
BEYOND THE SET!"
(Theme Song)
The contestants were in the craft's and services tent, eating cold shrimp ramen for breakfast.
"Of all of the flavors," Justin huffed, "this jerk picks shrimp."
"Yeah," Izzy laughed, "WHERE'S THE BEEF! Thanks Wendy's, give me my free stuff please!"
"I don't think that's at all how it works," Duncan told Izzy.
The redhead frowned, picked up her bowl of ramen, and flung it across the room. The bowl hit Duncan square in the face, and the contents spilled all over him.
"WOOOO! TEN POINTS!" Izzy cheered.
CONFESSIONAL: Duncan
"Forget Cody and Heather. Crazy girl needs to go."
(End Confessional)
CONFESSIONAL: Heather
"Everything's been working well so far. I just need to stick to my plan, which has worked so far. If I can get Duncan out today, I'll be set. But right now, I just need to win over an alliance from Gwen. I already have Cody agreeing to help me- with both of the helping me in the final five, I'd win this game for sure."
(End Confessional)
CONFESSIONAL: Justin
"Cody and Heather are the only two things standing in my way right now. I take them both down, and then I'm good. I'm sure I can get Gwen to agree on helping me, I'm good enough friends with her… and I don't think Duncan would try anything yet."
(End Confessional)
CONFESSIONAL: Duncan
"I have everyone right where I want them. Justin trusts me, so I have a secure alliance there- at least until I knife him in the back, heh heh heh. Once Cody and Heather are out of the way, I think it's high time I have my perfect movie ending for this movie based season- I ride off into the sunset with my money, AND Gwen. No one can stop me!"
(End Confessional)
CONFESSIONAL: Cody
"Well, I made it farther than last season. I just hope the whole thing with Duncan blows over soon so I can get back to being friends with Justin again. I'm not one for drama, myself. I mean, I doubt I would ever win, but maybe I could make it to the final four!"
(End Confessional)
CONFESSIONAL: Izzy
"BOOM BOOM!"
(End Confessional)
While everyone continued eating their breakfasts, Chris walked into the tent, without the usual ominous smirk on his face.
"Hey campers," he greeted, "how's it hanging?"
"Awful," Justin frowned, looking at his ramen.
"That's what I like to hear," Chris said, "now then, let's get to today's challenge."
"Can't we finish eating in peace?" Gwen asked.
Chris glared at Gwen.
"Gwen," he started, "Tweek asked me that very same question this morning. Do you know what my answer was?"
"I don't ca-"
"I put him in a shark tank," Chris snapped, "be thankful I have to make sure you all stay alive, otherwise that's where you'd be headed. I'm in no mood for your shenanigans, tom-foolery, humdingery, hogwash, or anything remotely among those lines."
"Aww, you on your period?" Duncan asked.
Minutes later, Chris and the cast watched as Duncan was dropped into a shark tank by Chef.
"Anyone else have anything to say?" Chris demanded, "No? Good. Now, the reason I'm not in that great of a mood is simple. It seems we're behind on ratings."
"Wait a second," Justin asked, "We're LOSING the reality show ratings battle?"
"Yeah," Chris snapped, "we're getting smashed by Rainbow Pony Rehab Center."
"Hey," Cody exclaimed, "I LOVE THAT SHOW!"
Chris snapped his fingers, and Chef appeared behind Cody.
"Uh, hi Chef," Cody chuckled nervously.
Moments later, Cody too was in the shark tank.
"Now then," Chris continued, "unless anyone else wants to take a dip, I suggest we get on with the challenge. Any objections?"
The four contestants left shook their heads.
"Good," Chris nodded, "pull 'em out, Chef."
Chef reached in to the shark tank, and managed to grab a hold of the two boys. He yanked them out of the water, the two coughing and spluttering. He tossed them to the side, the turned to Chris.
"Want me to grab Tweek?" Chef asked.
"….Nah," Chris shrugged, "it would cost less money to hire another intern."
"It doesn't cost anything to pull him out of a tank-" Chef started.
"This should show you how very little I care," Chris sighed, "now let's move on to the challenge. First things first, we'll need to split you into groups. So, for team one, it'll be Izzy and Justin. Team two is Gwen and Cody- Team three will be Duncan and Heather."
Heather looked at Duncan, and a smile formed on her face.
CONFESSIONAL: Heather
"PERFECT! Now all I need to do is throw today's challenge, and Duncan will be sent home!"
(End Confessional)
"Now then," Chris said, "today's challenge will be based off of the movie Back to the Future. Each team will be given a car to modify, and then drive off of a ramp. Your objective is to modify the car so that you can the most distance you possibly can- whoever manages to get their car the farthest earns an advantage for their team in the second part of the challenge. Three cars are parked just next to the cast trailers, and I'm sure you can find some junk lying around camp to modify it with. Now, get going!"
The three teams ran to the cast trailers, where three beaten up sedans were waiting.
"They aren't even DeLorean's!" Cody huffed.
"What?" Duncan asked.
"That was the kind of car in Back to the Future," Cody explained.
"Wow, NERD!" Duncan exclaimed, snickering.
"At least Cody has an IQ above three," Gwen snapped, "seriously, leave him alone, you troll."
"If you say so," Duncan smiled, "why don't you ditch that dork you have there and hook up with me, eh?"
"Are you referring to me or Geoff?" Cody asked, "I mean, just wondering whether or not I should be formulating a comeback."
"Both of you," Duncan smirked.
"HEY!" Cody exclaimed, "I'M NOT A DORK! I'm way more awesome than you could ever be! For your information, I've managed to clear Mass Effect 1 and 2 TWICE with EVERY side mission done and a perfect paragon score on insane mode!"
"That actually is pretty impressive," Justin nodded, "not that I would know, but-"
"Whatever," Duncan smirked, "Renegade is where it's at."
"Figures," Cody huffed, "you probably didn't beat the game on hard mode, though."
"No," Duncan smiled, "but you know what I did do? I. Killed. Garrus."
"YOU MONSTER!" Justin exclaimed.
"Um, what's going on here?" Heather asked.
"I don't know," Gwen sighed, "I don't want to know."
"How could you kill Garrus?" Justin demanded, "He's the coolest character in the history of everything!"
"Calm down, Justin," Cody said, "Duncan's just upset his audtition for Canadian Icon didn't go anywhere."
Duncan's eyes opened wide.
"You know about that?" the punk demanded.
"Yep," Cody smiled.
"You better shut up now," Duncan said, raising his fists, "or you're going to get hurt."
Duncan took a step toward Cody, but Justin got in the way.
"Back off," Justin snapped, "the only person about to get hurt here is you."
Duncan raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"Justin," he said, "just move."
"Make me," Justin hissed.
The two glared at each other for a while, until at last Duncan backed away.
"Okay," the punk said, nodding, "I see how it is. You'll get yours, buddy, I promise you that."
As Duncan turned to walk away, Izzy yelled out, "DONE!"
Justin spun around, and saw his partner has built some sort of rocket on the back of their car.
"Izzy," he said, "how did you do that?"
"What, doesn't everyone know this stuff?" the redhead asked, "It's just like disarming a bomb, except in reverse."
"I'm pretty sure no one here knows anything like that except you," Justin frowned.
"Whatever," Izzy scoffed, "let's get going. We have a challenge to win!"
While everyone had been arguing, Heather had also made adjustments to her car's engine.
CONFESSIONAL: Heather
"Well, now that that's over with, there's no way this car will work now. But, there is something a bit disturbing… Justin was willing to go up to bat for Cody just now. Maybe it was just a heat of the moment thing, and they'll go back to hating each other in a bit… but I need to make sure they don't start talking to each other again. Then they'll KNOW it's me, and I'll be eliminated next."
(End Confessional)
Once Heather, Duncan, Justin and Izzy had gone, Gwen and Cody looked over their car.
"It's not much, but it'll have to do," Gwen sighed.
"We haven't made any modifications yet!" Cody exclaimed.
"I know," Gwen sighed, "we'll have to take our chances."
A while later, Chris had all of the cars lined up in front of the ramp.
"Okay," Chris said, "Gwen and Cody, you guys are up first."
Gwen and Cody drove the car off the ramp- they gained good air time, but not a whole lot of distance. Chris sent Justin and Izzy next- their car flew past Gwen and Cody's, and nearly crash landed.
Justin opened up his car door, and threw up on the ground.
"Never… again," he groaned.
"WOOOO!" Izzy cheered, "WOW! That was FUN, huh guys?"
"It looks like Izzy and Justin are the winners," Chris said, "unless Duncan and Heather do better?"
"We'll see," Heather said, a smile appearing on her face.
The two got in the car, and Duncan attempted to start the engine- it sounded good for a moment, but died away quickly.
"C'mon," Duncan groaned, "C'MON!"
He tried several times to get the engine to start, but nothing happened.
"Well, with that display of failure, I think it's clear that Izzy and Justin win the advantage," Chris nodded, "so, follow me!"
Chris led the six competitors to an arena, where he had three wooden chests in plain sight.
"This time," Chris said, "we'll be doing a battle of the ages!"
"This never happened in Back to the Future," Cody huffed.
"No," Chris agreed, "but I thought it would be fun to watch you guys hurt each other for a while. Since Justin and Izzy won the last challenge, they get the most advanced gear out of everyone!"
Chris gestured to one of the chests, which Izzy yanked open. Inside were two silver robot costumes, strikingly similar to War-Machine from Iron-man.
"Gwen and Cody, the runners-up, you get cowboy costumes!" Chris said, gesturing to a second chest.
Gwen opened it. Inside were the costumes, and two six-shooters.
"Are these real?" Gwen gasped.
"Well, yeah," Chris said, "the missiles on the robot suit are, I figured you needed a fighting chance."
"Outta my way," Duncan said, hurrying over to the last chest, "gear or not, I'm winning this challenge."
When Duncan opened the chest, however, there was nothing inside.
"It's empty!" the punk cried out.
"Yep," Chris smiled, "nothing for you, loser. Now gear up so we can start the show!"
Once everyone was suited up, Chris walked to the center of the arena.
"Now listen," Chris told everyone, "remember what I said about that whole ratings thing. Don't let me down here. DESTROY EACH OTHER! Just give me some good TV! Now, FIGHT!"
As the battle began, the host rushed out of the arena.
For Duncan, things ended as quickly as it started- Justin immediately used his robot suit to blast him out of the arena.
"Heh," Justin smirked, "THAT was for Garrus, you jerk."
"No way," Gwen said, backing up, "I'm not firing a REAL gun at you guys."
Gwen, however, was immediately taken out by a blast from Izzy.
"Whoops, sorry," the redhead frowned, "just for the challenge!"
Izzy turned around to see who was next, but only Cody remained- Heather had apparently snuck out of the arena, hoping to avoid injury.
"Uh oh," Cody groaned.
"Sorry Cody," Justin said, "for the challenge, after all."
But when Justin fired a blast, Cody was able to dodge.
"WHAT?" Justin cried.
"YES!" Cody exclaimed, "HURRY FOR NERDY REFLEXES!"
When Cody turned around, however, Izzy literally kicked him out of the arena.
"We won!" Izzy exclaimed.
All of a sudden, Chris' voice came over the intercom.
"We?" Chris asked, "I'm sorry, did I say BOTH of you would be working together for shared immunity? No, just that you would be working together for an advantage in this part of the challenge. This ain't over yet!"
Justin and Izzy turned and looked at each other.
"Well, you heard him," Izzy chuckled.
The redhead charged at Justin, who managed to sidestep.
Justin launched a blast at Izzy, sending the girl flying backwards.
"Seriously," Justin murmured, "how did Chris manage to get a hold of these?"
Justin looked up, and saw Izzy lunge towards him. She managed to land a kick to Justin's face, knocking him to the ground. Izzy attempted to fire a shot at Justin, but he kicked her feet out from under her. Justin quickly stood up, and backed away. He fired two shots at Izzy. She managed to roll away and doge the first one, but got hit by the second. By the time Izzy got to her feet again, she was launched backwards by another shot from Justin.
"Sorry," he said, "well, actually, no I'm not. I have no sympathy for anyone who isn't a Bowie fan."
Before Justin could launch the final shot, however, two lions appeared at both ends of the arena.
"What the-" Justin gasped.
"Yeah, figured I could make things a little more interesting," Chris said, chuckling, "get 'em!"
The two lions lunged at Justin, who took off running. One of the lions pounced on Izzy, who was too dazed to do much of anything except get mauled by a lion.
Justin attempted to run to the exit of the arena, but the lion managed to catch up and pounce on him first.
"Wow," Chris laughed, "I'm starting to like the idea of every episode ending up with the entire cast in the infirmary."
A while later, Izzy and Justin managed to escape from the arena.
"Back so soon?" Chris asked, "I was enjoying watching you guys get mauled by kittens!"
"THOSE," Justin growled, "WERE FREAKING LIONS."
"Yes," Chris said, "your grasp of the obvious is truly inspirational."
"And now you're quoting Mass Effect?" Justin asked, "You sir, are the best host ever."
"Really?" Chris asked, "Well, when you put it like that, I have no choice but to reward you with immunity from tonight's elimination."
Justin raised his fist in triumph.
"Now then, I'll let you guys have a small break before our next elimination ceremony. Be there in an hour!" Chris called.
A while later, Heather met Gwen outside of the girl's trailer.
"Hey Gwen," Heather said, "can we talk?"
Finally the time came for the elimination ceremony. Once everyone had voted, Chris stood onstage, smiling proudly.
"Okay," he said, "the first award goes to Justin, being that he has immunity. Also receiving awards tonight will be Izzy, Gwen, and Heather."
Everyone turned and looked at Duncan and Cody.
"The final award goes to…" Chris began, "…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"… Cody!"
Cody caught his trophy, smiling brightly.
"Sweet!" the geek cried.
Duncan rose to his feet, scowling at everyone.
"Fine!" he exclaimed, "I didn't want to be here, anyway! I hope you all get eaten by a shark, or something!"
With that, Duncan stormed off.
"Finally," Chris said, "can't tell you how glad I am that he's gone. Good job, guys, go get some sleep."
Once all of the remaining contestants had left, Chris turned back to the camera.
"Well, folks, there you have it- the final five! But did Heather really manage to rope Gwen into an alliance? Are things fixed with Cody and Justin? Who will go home next? And who will be one step closer to victory? Why is a show about ponies easting sunshine dust ahead of us in ratings? Find out next time on:
CAMP TV:
BEYOND THE SET!"
(A/N: Hm, the ending feels…. Abrupt. Whatever. I'm kind of tired, and I just wanted to get this chapter out there. And plus, it gives time for suspense to build up- next episode it's more or less revealed who voted for who, and it'll probably come as a shock to most of you how Duncan was really sent home. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll update as soon as I can!)