Episode Eight: How Much Can You Take?
Episode Eight! Yay! And the correct answer to the Q of the Week was…Skyla! Yay! PokemonMasterRed75 got it right! Thanks for reading guys! Remember to review!
TDU Train, Conductor's Room
"Last time on Total Drama Universe," Chris began. "Contestants had to go to Walmart, yes, Walmart, to participate in a challenge in the dark, avoiding the evil butcher. When only a few contestants remained, Tails turned on Angel almost killing her. Strange choice, bro. Or was it really his choice? Prior to the challenge, Tails had an interesting encounter with his robotic counterpart. Who will fly high? Who will hit Brock Bottom? Yes, I just insulted Brock. Deal with it! Right here, right now, on Total…Drama…Universe!"
(Theme Song. FISHY FISHY)
First Class, Tails' Room
Sonic, Angel, and Melaney were all sitting in Tails' room, waiting for the small fox to wake up. It had been two hours since he had almost killed Angel, and they still hadn't figured out why.
"I don't understand," Sonic said. He watched Tails' chest rise and fall with every deep breath he took. His best friend, his brother, had come so close to killing the person he loved. Something wasn't right about that.
"It doesn't make sense," Melaney said. "He's killed a few others before, but never someone he's cared about that much. He was even friends with Sheldon, and when he died that was an accident. Just…why?"
Angel watched Tails closely, not listening to the others. He had left her confused, scared, and worried all at the same time. She had never seen him act like that before, to anybody. It frustrated her. A lot.
Bathroom Confessional
(Angel)
"I've had a few people try to kill me before…okay, a lot of people try to kill me before. But never someone who actually cared about me…ugh, I don't get it! Why would he try to kill me? I haven't done anything…have I?"
First Class, Tails' Room
Tails opened his eyes, just enough so that his blue irises could be seen. He was able to see Melaney and Sonic sitting in front of him as his vision came in to focus, and feel Angel's icy presence on the other side of the bed. "What…happened?" he groaned, still half asleep.
Sonic and Melaney exchanged uneasy glances, then looked at Angel. She shrugged, her arms crossed. Sonic looked back at Tails. "We…think it might be better to wait for you to be fully awake before we talk."
Tails nodded sleepily. He turned and look at Angel, noticing her negative mood. "Are you okay?" he asked, tiredly.
"I'm fine," she replied emotionlessly. She looked at Sonic and Melaney. "I need to be…somewhere else." She stood up and walked out of the room, shutting the door a little harder than she meant to.
She groaned and leaned up against the wall. Why, why, why? The question pounded in her head over and over. It was like listening to a three year old try to carry a conversation.
Starfire happened to be going down the hall, a basket of laundry in her arms. She looked at Angel. "Is something the matter?" she asked.
"No, everything's peachy," Angel mumbled.
"Oh," Starfire said. "Well that is wonderful to hear!"
Angel rolled her eyes. "That was sarcasm, genius."
"Oh," Starfire said again. "Then what is the problem?"
"Good question," Angel said. "What exactly IS the problem?! I know he wouldn't try to kill me for no reason, so what did I do that set him off so badly?! Or does it have to do with something that happened the other night?! And he's in there now, awake, and he acts like nothing's happened? I don't understand!" she kicked the wall across from her, leaving a small dent in it.
Starfire offered the laundry basket to her. "Would you like to discuss it over laundry?"
Angel sighed. "No thanks. I'm going to my room." She walked away, leaving Starfire alone.
Loser Class, Team X
"This is stupid," Amy growled, hammer in her hands. "We've lost twice in a row, we lost two players last challenge, and we haven't eaten anything in the past twenty four hours! What is wrong with this place?!"
"I'm just glad that Heather's gone," Mike said, trying to stay positive. "At least we know she can't be a threat anymore."
"But that also means that one of our most powerful players is gone," Georgia countered. "We're just going to end up losing more challenges until none of us are left!"
Mike sighed, giving up. He looked out the window. "Things would be a whole lot better if Zoey was here…" his thoughts were interrupted when Chris burst in to the room.
"It's challenge time!"
Capitol Ruins, Stage
"Welcome to the Capitol," Chris announced to the competitors. "Or…what's left of it, anyway."
Angel shivered as she stared at the stage, which had a large circular object under a tarp on it. She never wanted to come back here again, no matter what the prize was. She looked over at Tails, who was staring at her. "It'll be okay," he mouthed.
Bathroom Confessional
(Tails)
"I still don't remember what happened last night. I haven't heard anything from the Tails Doll today, and Angel's totally blanking me. Grr…why'd it have to be me?!"
Capitol Ruins, Stage
Angel quickly shifted her glance away from him and down to the ground. She wasn't as upset as she was a few hours ago, but she was still lost. It was almost depressing for her to think about.
"Today you'll be put through horrible challenges that only a few of you will make through," Chris said. "I like to call it: The Ten Second Challenge," the contestants were silent, which annoyed him as usual. "You know, you could show a little emotion."
"So could you," Shadow mumbled.
Chris growled. "Anyway," he ripped the tarp off the object, revealing a large wheel with many different challenges written on it. "This is a wheel that'll choose your fate. Whichever challenge you draw you have to endure for at least ten seconds. Each challenge you put up with will score your team one point. Now who's up first?"
Cilan shrugged, then walked up to the wheel. "As a science connoisseur I-"
"Just spin the wheel already!" Knuckles exclaimed.
Cilan let out a quick scream, then spun the wheel. After a few turns, it finally landed on an image of an arm with salt and ice covering it. "Uh…what is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh God," Angel mumbled.
"Ah, the ice and salt challenge," Chris said with an evil smirk. "Here's what's gonna happen. One of the contestants on the other team is going to sprinkle salt on your arm, then hold an ice cube to it for ten seconds. If you chicken out of the challenge, you'll have to do exercises with Chef. Unless ya know, you die or something."
"Um, who's the contestant on the other team going to be?" Cilan asked nervously.
Chris turned and looked at Angel, a smirk still plastered on his face.
Angel pretended not to catch on. "What're you staring at?"
Chef walked up behind her, handing the icy hedgehog a salt shaker. Angel rolled her eyes, then took it. She walked up to Cilan and started pouring the salt on.
"Aah!" Cilan screamed.
"That's just the salt, you idiot!" Angel snapped. She formed an ice cube in her hands, making it extra cold. "This is stupid," she mumbled. She rubbed the ice over Cilan's arm, making him scream in pain. Ten seconds passed, then twenty, then thirty. After a while it became obvious that Chris was dragging out the time. "Can you just say that it's been a minute already and let me let go of this wimp?!" Angel asked.
"Fine," Chris mumbled. Angel let go of Cilan's arm and looked down at her gloved hand, soaked in blood. Cilan passed out at the sight.
"Ew," Angel mumbled. She walked off the stage and stood next to Sonic. "Here, have some Jason Griffith blood," she said, running his arm with her hand. He sighed and said nothing.
"And that's one point for Team X!" Chris announced as the X's cheered. "Who's next?"
"Me," Raven said emotionlessly. She floated on stage and used her demonic powers to spin the wheel. It landed on an image of a black ghost and musical notes.
"Raven," Chris said. "You're challenge is to listen to the high-pitched theme song of Laven-"
"Just give me the headphones!" she shouted in a terrifying demonic voice. Chris quickly grabbed a pair and handed them to her. She put them on and stood still for the ten seconds, then twenty, then thirty. She seemed to be…enjoying it.
"All right, that's enough!" Chris shouted. Raven used her powers to remove the headphones.
"That…was awesome," Raven said with a small smile. The others watched in horror as she flew off the stage.
"Okay," Chris said awkwardly. "One point for Team Y…who's up next?"
For the next few hours the contestants had to face multiple harsh challenges, a few failures along the way. The score was very close and a few contestants were left, Tails among them.
Chris rolled his eyes and pointed to his watch. "C'mon Tails, we've only got a half-hour show here."
Tails timidly walked up on stage and spun the wheel. After it went around a few times, it finally stopped on an image of a raindrop.
"That's the Chinese Water Torture challenge," Chris said with an evil smirk. Tails flinched.
"Yes…" the voice in his head whispered.
Bathroom Confessional
(Tails)
"That dream…the blood…"
Capitol Ruins, Stage
Tails sat down in the wooden chair on the stage, his heart thumping in his chest as Chef strapped him down in it. "Today is just not your day, Tails," the voice in his head laughed evilly. "You've left your girlfriend feeling scared and betrayed, and no one will tell you what happened. I'm inside you, and there's nothing you can do about it. Now Chris has given me the perfect chance to take over…"
Tails was shaking in the chair as he watched the first drop come at him, landing on his forehead. The water was freezing, but he refused to scream or move. Another drop. And another. The constant dripping made him feel like there was a hole slowly being drilled in to his head, causing his breathing to become more and more ragged. Then the familiar rhythm of the sound came flooding back to him…
Drip, drop. Drip, drop.
Tails tried to move him head, but he was strapped down too tightly in the chair. The water was dripping down his face and made him feel like he was drowning. He needed a towel, something that would give him even a second's worth of relief from the torture.
Drip, drop. Drip, drop.
His heart was racing faster than ever. He tried to close his eyes, but that only heightened the impression of drowning. It had to have been ten seconds by now. It just had to be.
Drip, drop. Drip-
"No!" Tails screamed in misery. Frantic and starting to be driven insane, he thrashed his way out of the restraints and away from the chair. He tried to wipe the sweat and water from his face as a dizzying feeling came over him. He almost crashed to the ground but Sonic caught him at the last second.
"Tails? Buddy?" Sonic asked, trying to bring the small fox back to his senses. Tails was breathing heavily, shaking and having the same scared look in his eyes from the other night. Sonic was surprised when he buried his face in to the hedgehog's shoulder.
"Sonic, I want to get out of here," Tails sobbed. "I feel sick…"
Sonic nodded. "Let's get going then, bud," he put his arm around his little brother and the two began to walk back to the train, despite Chris saying that he didn't pass the ten second mark and that they couldn't just walk away from the challenge.
"Screw you, Chris," Morgan said to the host. She and Melaney followed the two others back to the train, totally ignoring him.
Jessie walked up behind Angel with a horrible smirk on her face. "I don't understand you," she said in a mocking tone. "Why would you go out with someone like him? Don't you think that it's a bit strange that he can't even handle ten seconds of water?"
Angel growled, trying to hold her temper in. She walked forward, but Jessie followed her.
"And that weird behavior," she went on. "What did he do last night? Try to kill you? If he truly liked you, he wouldn't do that. I'll bet he's using you to get to the million, that's all."
"Shut up!" Angel snapped. "I don't remember asking you for your opinion!"
"Ooh, and let's not forget the fact that he's got two tails instead of one…"
That pushed Angel straight off the edge.
"Rrgh!" Angel quickly spun around and grabbed Jessie by the neck, pinning her against the tree with her arm. The Team Rocket member was twice as tall as her, but Angel was so furious that size was the last thing on her mind. She put pressure on Jessie's neck with her arm, then flew slightly up in to the air so she was only inches away from her face. "NOW YOU LISTEN HERE YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A VILLIAN!" she yelled. "I don't care if he almost killed me last night, HE IS NOT USING ME, GOT IT?! I'd go to the ends of the earth to make him happy, and you all know that! And don't you even DARE MAKE FUN OF HIM FOR HIS TWO TAILS! YOU'RE NOT SO PERFECT YOURSELF! I wouldn't be surprised if you and your pathetic partners went blasting off again and never came back! I hope that when you die it's the most painful thing that you've EVER had to put up with! NOW IF YOU EVER DIS HIM AGAIN, I'LL STRANGLE YOU UNTIL YOUR FACE IS AS BLUE AS SONIC'S FUR, UNDERSTAND?!"
Jessie nodded nervously, unable to speak. Angel dropped her on the ground, then flew back to the train in angry silence.
"Whoa," James and Meowth said at the same time. Jessie glared at them.
"Why didn't you back me up?!" she exploded.
"You kinda did deserve what you got," James said, avoiding eye contact.
"It was kinda stupid too," Meowth said as he stared at the ground. "You picked the worst day to put down the two of them."
Jessie growled at the two of them. "Forget it! When I win the million, I don't want the two of you to have any part of it!" She then stormed away in to the ruins of the Capitol, the three of them all hurt deep inside.
Hospital Car, Room 3
Angel, Sonic, Melaney and Morgan were all in the Hospital Car with Tails, who was sleeping. Morgan was sitting in one of the chairs, fidgeting with a stick that she had found in the woods outside the Capitol. She twirled it around in her hands.
"I still can't figure out what's up with him," Sonic said as he watched over Tails. "Even I could've lasted ten seconds of that. He's been really jumpy too." He looked at Melaney, who still had the tranquillizer gun in her hands. "He's not going to attack anyone again, you know."
"How do you know?" Melaney asked. "You don't. A secret agent is always prepared."
Sonic rolled his eyes and looked at Angel. "You're awfully quiet."
"So?" she asked.
Sonic shrugged, then stood up. He made eye contact with Melaney and Morgan, then said, "I think we better get back to the challenge." The two of him got his message and the trio left Angel and Tails alone.
Angel sat down in the chair next to Tails' bed, rubbing his arm, lost in thought. She wanted to help him so badly, whatever was going on, but she couldn't. She began to consider the possibilities of what happened. There was the events of the other night…nothing else came to mind. She had no other clues to go on.
While she was thinking, Tails had been stirring in his sleep. He was sweating again, this time much more than before. He was shaking again, on top of that talking in his sleep. Angel's eyes widened when she heard him say the words 'blood' and 'kill'…
Then her own name.
Angel instinctively pulled her hand away from her arm, wanting to turn and run to the door. But her heart told her to stay and help him. She turned back to look at him, only to see that he was staring back at her with the same soulless look that he had at Walmart. Instead of backing away in fear, she put her hands on his shoulders. "Tails, I know you don't want to do this," she said sternly. "I don't know what's going on with you, but I will say this: If you kill me, I will never stop caring about you. I always will, even if one of us is gone. So do whatever you need."
He stared at her for a second and said nothing. Then out of nowhere he punched her in the face and sent her flying in to a wall. She stood up slowly.
"Go ahead, Tails," she said weakly. "You can kick me and punch me as much as you want, but I'm not going to fight back. I won't hurt you simply to protect myself."
He growled and ignored what she said, then kicked her to the ground again. He lashed her multiple times with his tails until her face was bleeding. The emerald on her arm sent hot searing pain throughout her body with every hit. She did nothing to protect herself, letting him pound and stomp her in to the ground. She looked up when the beating had stopped momentarily, only to see that he had come back to her with a knife.
This time Angel had to move out of the way. She rolled to one side just before he could stab her, but within a split second he was after her again. He tried to stab her in the face again, but she caught his hands with her own, both of them struggling for power over one another. "C'mon Tails, is that all you got? If you really want to kill me just do it!" She could feel her energy slowly draining away as she tried to fight off the knife in his hand. "It's almost over, Tails!" she cried. "Soon you'll have your way."
Outside of the room, Sonic, Melaney, and Morgan were waiting. They hadn't really gone back to the challenge. Who would want to?
Sonic's eyes widened when he heard a loud crash in the room. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked. He slammed the door open only to see Tails trying to stab Angel with a knife on the floor in the corner of the room. "What?! Tails, stop!" He rushed over to him, but Tails matched his speed with his own. He kicked Sonic away, still fighting with Angel for power. Melaney attempted to shoot him, but she missed until she was out of ammo. "Now what do we do?!"
Unsure what to do, Morgan pointed the stick in her hands at Tails. To everyone's surprise a beam of light shot out of it and hit him square in the back. Angel took her chance while he was stunned and knocked the knife out of his hands. He recovered seconds later and smacked Angel with his tails again. She grabbed his arm and pressed him up against the wall, then applied cold pressure on his neck. He slowly sank to the ground, then fell asleep.
Morgan looked at the stick in her hands. "What the heck?"
Angel knelt down and picked Tails up in her arms. She looked up at Morgan. "Isn't it obvious? You're a wizard or whatever. That stick thing is a wand. You were good at Quidditch. And you just shot down my boyfriend. How could you not know?"
Bathroom Confessional
(Morgan)
"I'M A WIZARD?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOW COULD I NOT KNOW?!"
Hospital Car, Room 3
The three watched as Angel carried Tails out of the room and down the hall. "Wait!" Morgan called out. Angel stopped and looked at her. "What do you mean I'm a wizard? Does that-"
"Look, I don't know," Angel said tiredly. "My whole life has been filled with smart people that don't believe in your kind. In fact the only person on this entire show who would know anything about that kind of stuff is Joey, and he's never coming back. Ever." She turned to walk away, but Morgan stopped her again.
"But people do come back to this show, right?" Morgan asked.
"Ask Chris," Angel answered. She then walked off again, and this time no one stopped her.
First Class, Tails' Room
Angel placed Tails on the bed and waited for him to wake up. A few minutes later, he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Hi," he said weakly.
"Hi," Angel replied, sitting down in a chair next to the bed. "Listen, I need to talk to you about how you've been acting lately."
He sat up and looked at her. "What do you mean? Did I do something?"
"Um, kinda," Angel said, looking down at the floor. "Ever since the night you woke up screaming, you've done some really crazy things."
"Like?"
Angel sighed. "You tried to kill me."
"WHAT?!"
"Twice."
"B-But how?!" Tails exclaimed, standing up and pacing around the room. "Why would I do something like that? I don't have any reason to try to kill you-" he walked over to her and took her hands in his. "You know I care about you A LOT and I wouldn't want to do that, right? I never even want to see a scratch on you, and here you are with you face bleeding," Angel touched her face and looked at her hand as he went on, "A-And you mean the world to me! If you were gone I wouldn't be able to move on without you. You know that, don't you?"
"Of course I do," Angel said, hugging him. "And I can say the same. It's just when you tried to hurt me it scared me a lot and I couldn't figure out why you would do that…that's why I was being so cold toward you this morning, because I was really confused. I'm sorry." She hugged him closer.
"It's me who should be apologizing," Tails said in a softer voice. "I did try to murder you, after all." He buried his face in to her shoulder. "You smell like mint," he said, which made Angel let out a small laugh. "Or maybe I've been knocked out so many times the past few days that my senses are all messed up."
Angel smiled and looked in to his eyes. "C'mon. We better go outside and see what's happening with the challenge."
"Are we winning?" Tails asked hopefully.
"Probably not," Angel answered as they walked out the door of the train. "Like a quarter of our team walked out on Chris and I kinda lost my temper."
"Who'd you stomp out this time?" Tails questioned with a teasing smirk.
"You'll…see when we get out there."
Capitol Ruins, Stage
"It's about time you little rats showed up!" Eggman exclaimed as Tails and Angel approached the stage. "There score is tied and neither of you have made any contribution to the challenge whatsoever!"
"Oh, and have you, Egghead?!" Tails shot back.
"Yes, actually," Eggman said. "I had to snort a very rubbery item up my nose, if you catch my drift."
"Ew," Tails said.
Angel scoffed. "Big deal. With huge snout like that, you'd do better at that challenge then Pinocchio and Squidward combined!" Sonic was doubled over with laughter at that statement. Angel smirked mockingly at Eggman. "Now if you'll excuse me, Mr. Baldy McNosehair, I've got myself a challenge to win." She walked on to the stage and spun the wheel, which landed on an image of a flame.
"Stand engulfed in flames for ten seconds," Chris said.
Angel glared at him. "Do you not know what happened here on this very stage or something?"
"Oh trust me," Chris said with an evil smile. "I know."
Angel rolled her eyes. "So who's gonna be the one to turn me in to a puddle?"
Chris turned to Brock. "I believe you have a Fire-type, Brock?" Brock released one of the Poke Balls, only to have a golden nine-tailed fox come out. It had beautiful red ruby eyes and a very elegant appearance.
Angel gasped. "Ninetales?!" As soon as the Pokemon caught sight of her, it ran over, propped its forepaws on her shoulders, then licked the scrapes and cuts on her face. Ruby eyes met sapphires and emeralds as the two of them were reunited. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
Ninetales nodded its head silently, then looked at Brock as if asking a question.
"You see Ninetales," Brock said. "We're kind of in the middle of a challenge right now, and the only way for us to win is if you use Flamethrower on Angel for ten seconds."
Ninetales glared at Chris, who flinched back. "Okay, okay, just do the challenge already!" he exclaimed. The Pokemon licked Angel's Cyan Emerald, then backed up. It let out a huge beam of fire out of its mouth, which hit Angel with full force. She expected to feel burning pain, but she felt nothing. She looked at the emerald on her arm. Ninetales had temporarily transferred its Flash Fire Ability to her. Ten seconds passed, and Angel stepped off the stage unharmed. Ninetales followed her.
"That…was not much fun to watch," Chris mumbled. "Okay. X's, you've got one more chance to win this thing. If you can beat this last challenge, you win. But if you lose, one of you is going home. Who's taking the bullet?"
"I say Jessie should," Bianca said. "She's the only one who hasn't done a challenge!"
"But Jess isn't here!" Meowth said.
"Then we'll vote her off," Trip said.
You've got twenty seconds to make you decision," Chris said, getting annoyed.
"Who's it going to be?" Mike asked.
"I've had enough challenges for today," Stephan said.
"Ten seconds."
"It's no use!" Silver said. "We should just give up now and vote Jessie off."
"But she could be helpful!" James countered.
"Five seconds."
"No she couldn't!" Georgia exclaimed. "All she does is cause certain people to lose their tempers!"
Tails turned to Angel. "You exploded on Jessie?" She nodded.
"TIMES UP!" Chris shouted. "Team Y wins the challenge…for the third time in a row." The Y's cheered for joy while Chris continued. "Team X, head to the Elimination Room, blah, blah, blah."
Elimination Room, Team X
"Okay," Chris said. "I don't think it's even worth making cupcakes for this. You all voted for the same person. Literally. Even the person who's being thrown off voted for themselves."
"I'm sick of this stupid place. You guys don't even care about stealing Pikachu anymore! I give up. I'm leaving Team Rocket, and going full time Jessalina!" Jessie said to James and Meowth.
"What?!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Jessie, no!" James said, tears in his eyes.
"So, as obvious as it is, Jessie, you're gone." Chris said. Chef walked up behind her and picked her up, then threw her off the train.
"NO!" James screamed again. He shoved Chef out of the way and jumped off the train himself, leaving the others staring in awe.
"Uh, we weren't really prepared to have two thrown off today…" Chris said awkwardly. "Oh well. Viewers just eat this type of stuff up." He turned to the camera. "That's two more contestants gone! What other surprises do we have in store? How much can we torture these people? Find out next time on Total…Drama…Universe!"
TDU Train, Storage Room
Hiding in the Storage Room of the train was a familiar red fox, who had been stealing food for the past week from Loser Class. He climbed through the hatch on top of the car and jumped on to the next one. "I…JOEY…WILL…NOT…LOSE…SO…EASILY!"
Episode Eight's done! Yay! Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been really busy with school and stuff. So if I don't update for a while, don't think that I've given up on this. I WILL NOT GIVE UP THAT EASILY XD So…yeah. Hmm, lot going on in this chapter. I don't want to give anything away though ;) Oh yeah, and I just finished my first short story, Out In The Snow. It's super short, so please read and review it! So Q of the Week: What's your opinion on Angel? Now the last time I asked this was on Chapter Eight of Sonic, Pokemon, and the Hunger Games, so I thought I'd ask it now. There's no wrong answer, so say whatever you like! Has your opinion changed as these stories have progressed? Or have your feelings stayed the same? Please tell me in the review! Thanks so much!