Episode 6: Raymond, Ai Hardly Knew Ya
Remaining Campers:
Team Rome: Patrick, Leroy, Vivian, Stella
Team Athens: Jenn, Ai, Ben, Phillip, Raymond
"Last time on Total Drama: The Mentorship: Things got really explosive around the island! Someone started to make strategic alliances (the cameras flashed to Patrick and Phillip working together), and in a fluff fest, some feelings started to surface (the cameras then flashed to Ai and Ben's confrontation and then to Leroy and Vivian hugging). In the end, it was our well-rounded hopeless romantic Crystal who was voted off thanks to Patrick's alliances. Who will be voted off next? What happened to the loot that the campers took from the last challenge? Will Heather ever return from being shot into the sky? Find out all this and more, on TOTAL. DRAMA. THE MENTORSHIP!" Chris said, as a shark fin was seen swimming around the fixed up dock in a menacing manner. The cameras then flashed to the opening credits.
Vivian and Stella were sitting on the steps of their part of the Team Rome cabin. Stella was looking nervous.
Stella: I seriously hope that we don't lose another challenge this week. I mean, I knowthat I'd be voted off next. At our team meeting this morning, Patrick praised Leroy and Vivian for their efforts with keeping the team together. But there were no praises for me.
Vivian was holding a flower and plucking at its petals. "He loves me… He loves me not… He loves me… He loves me not… He loves me!" she said as she held up the last petal. "I just knew it!"
"What do you even see in Leroy? I mean, I think that he's manipulated us into getting rid of Crystal. She was right; we're going to lose without her." Stella said, pushing her glasses up.
Vivian gasped. "How can you say that? Leroy and Patrick said that she would have dominated and won after the merge. I think we did the right thing."
"You don't always have to agree with everything Leroy says, you know…"
"I don't always agree with Leroy!" Vivian said, standing up, giving a fierce glare at Stella.
"Yes you do. You told me just yesterday that you don't like pine trees because the pinecones always drop on your head, but when Leroy said that he loved pine trees, you immediately said how much you loved them too." Stella countered, and returning the glare.
The two girls then growled at each other. "Hey I can see Team Athens's boat returning!" Leroy called out as he stepped onto the cabin porch.
"Good for them." Stella grumbled. "I hope they enjoyed that week off."
"Don't be so jealous Stella. Just think, at least we at least discussed strategy. They probably didn't even think of the game." Patrick said, joining them on the porch.
"I suppose you're right." Stella agreed. She had to admit that Patrick had a point.
"Attention all campers, meet me at the dock at 1000 hours." came Chris's voice on the speaker system. Team Rome looked at each other and shrugged in confusion. "That means at 10 am. Which is in two minutes."
The fancy cruise ship sailed by the fixed up dock, and Team Athens excitedly got on the deck as the loading ramp was lowered down.
Ai: That was a really refreshing break we had. I feel totally recharged. Plus, I got to re-read the entire Larry Hopper and the Chamber of Snakesseries! But, in order to avoid Phillip, I ended up having to hang out in the gym with Raymond. Turns out that Raymond is way nicer than he appears.
Ben: I was hoping that while we were away from the game, Ai and I could talk about, you know, stuff. But then she spent almost the whole time in the gym! With Raymond! –he pauses, looking grumpy– What? I'm not jealous. T-totally not!
"Welcome back Team Athens. I hope you didn't let strategy fly out the window completely. 'Cause you're just in time for today's challenge." Chris said, and as Team Athens came down from the ship, he handed out strange looking badges to Team Rome and then a different set to Team Athens. Ai's face immediately lit up.
"Star Trek commbadges!" she said excitedly.
Stella rolled her eyes.
Stella: I tried to watch Star Trek: The Animated Series once when I was a kid. I learned that it was the most expensive Saturday morning cartoon made back in the 70s. Turned out to be the most plot-lacking cartoon ever. And half the men wore pink! Pink!
Ai: Okay, I don't want to fangirl but I can't help it. A Star Trek themed challenge! Eeeee!
"Calm down Ai. Save that energy for the challenge." Raymond said with a wink. He was fully aware of her love of Star Trek, since she talked about it in the gym a few times.
"Today's challenge is in tribute to the space movie challenge and my love of Star Trek. Team Athens will be representing the Federation and Team Rome will be representing the Klingons. Hence why your badges are different." Chris said, as Chef then brought out a box.
"Do we get uniforms?" Ai asked excitedly.
"You're in luck, Ai. Each member of the team will be taking a different job on your ship's bridge. The color shirt you wear will designate what job you will have, at least for the Federation side. Klingons aren't that fancy so one uniform-fits-all for you."
Jenn walked over to the box. "Ai, what color represents leadership?"
"The gold ones, since this is the original series style." Ai said. Jenn then picked out a golden dress that went down as far as her thigh. "It also represents the navigation and helm people. Blue represents science and medical. Red is engineering, communication, and everything else."
"Well, Star Trek expert, you're gonna be getting the blue since you're going to be my science person." Jenn said, tossing Ai a blue dress. Ben and Raymond were then tossed gold shirts, and then Phillip was tossed a red shirt. "What's this?" Jenn asked as she found a pair of prosthetic ear pieces that looked rather elf-ish.
"Those are Vulcan ears. They are incredibly smart, but also known for their sarcasm." Ai said. She winked at Jenn. "You should use them; you'd be the perfect Vulcan."
Jenn rolled her eyes but, for the sake of keeping Ai happy, she put them on.
Once everyone was in uniform, Chris then returned from his change and was wearing a gold variation of his usual clothes. "Now, because everyone here except Ai is a novice at understanding the Star Trek universe, I'm going to have to train you cadets. And so meet me over at the Fun-and-Games center for your first challenge!"
At the brand new Fun-and-Games center, a familiar sight greeted the campers. "Is that the Vomit Comet?" Jenn asked.
"Indeed it is. Because of the lack of CGI back in the 60s, the actors had to do all sorts of crazy stunts… without stunt doubles! But since I can't have more lawyers going down my back, I figure that the Vomit Comet is the best way to safely train you guys. The team who's total time score is the highest wins a reward for the next challenge. Team Athens, you're up first!"
Jenn immediately made her way to the front of the line, and climbed up into the machine.
Jenn: Unlike Courtney, I knew better than to make me and Ai go last in line. I'd hate to be the last person in Team Rome to go. Hehehe… watch that be Patrick.
Jenn was then closed in and spun around… And around… There were the sounds of gagging, to which Patrick started to laugh at. "That's pathetic, if she vomits first thing!"
Chris stopped the machine, and Jenn did not vomit. "And the time on that is 40 seconds! Nicely done!"
But Jenn didn't answer, she just walked over by the others and then she puked, which landed all over Patrick's shoes. "Oh, how original." Patrick muttered as he backed off and then had to go get his shoes cleaned.
Ai was now going… and going… and going… and going… and going… Finally, Chris got tired of waiting, and it was revealed that Ai was reading a book while in the machine. "That's a whole minute!" Chris said, completely surprised at her timing and lack of vomit.
"Was it? I don't feel any woozy." Ai said as she stood up. "Oh, now I do…" she groaned before stumbling off of the steps. Phillip and Ben both ran to catch her but it was Raymond, who was next on line, who caught her safely. "Thanks Raymond!" she said.
Ben: I'm still not jealous… No, I'm totally okay with this… No jealousy from me… Not… a bit.
Phillip: Oh! I should have known it! That sneaky black knight Raymond stole my Ai's heart! How did I not see it?
Ai: Is it just me or are Phillip and Ben acting strangely?
Raymond got into the vomit comet next, barely getting in because of his muscular build. He went around a few times, but it was not long before he was vomiting. Chris stopped the machine and his timer. "Ten seconds. Compared to your female companions, that's lame."
Ben groaned as he was next to go in, with all the vomit. And then he was spun around, but it wasn't long before he was vomiting also. "Fifteen seconds." Phillip then went up the platform and then wiped down the area where he would be standing, since he didn't want to get covered in vomit. He spun around for 40 seconds before he finally vomited.
"And with that, Team Athens total time is… 165 seconds! A pretty high score to beat. Team Rome, you just need 166 seconds to win the reward! Go!"
None of Team Rome wanted to go, but Leroy then gave a look of determination. "I'll go first then. Wish me luck guys." he said.
"Good luck, Leroy!" Vivian said, the two of them blushing and smiling at each other.
Leroy: I know Patrick was mad about me having feelings for Vivian but I can't help it, she's special to me.
Leroy went into the Vomit Comet, and wasn't spinning for more than ten seconds before the stench of vomit overcame him and he began to throw up. Chris stopped the timer. "Twelve seconds… A weak start."
Jenn started to laugh, which caused Patrick to turn around and glare at her. "I'm sure my performance will out-do yours! I'm not as fragile as you are."
"Ha! As if!" Jenn laughed. "Thanks to Ai, we got a very secure placement."
Patrick then realized that Jenn was right. Ai gave her team 60 seconds. He then looked and saw that Ai was helping Raymond clean up the vomit he got on his shirt. Then he saw Phillip's jealous expression, and like that everything fell into place. It was going to be rather easy to manipulate Phillip this time.
Meantime, Vivian had taken her turn. Once she was inside the ride, she closed her eyes and allowed her aura powers to kick in, this time with the intent to hold in any vomit and stay for a minute, or maybe longer. She felt herself spinning around… and round… and round… Until the minute was up and Chris gave Team Rome the 60 seconds, much to Jenn's surprise.
Stella went after that, but she had a weaker stomach and vomited after only ten seconds. Patrick was last to go, as Jenn suspected. He was determined to go past 40 seconds, but, his stomach had other plans. He ended up vomiting after about 20 seconds.
"And with that, Team Rome has… 102 seconds! Team Athens wins the reward!" Chris said, doing the math on a pad.
Team Athens high-fived each other. "So what exactly did we win?" Ben asked.
"You've won a special enhancement for the next challenge. Time for a lunch break and then we'll start the last part of the challenge." Chris said, as Chef arrived with his "chili".
Jenn: Ugh, does Chef do that on purpose? Make disgusting things out of garbage and then try to pass it off as food? Or is he just that bad?
After finishing lunch, Phillip was waiting on line to use the bathroom. Patrick then walked up behind him. "Phillip, my prince charming friend, we need to talk."
"What about, Sir Roman?" Phillip asked, surprised to see Patrick.
"It's about Ai, and about Raymond, whom she seems to be crushing on heavily." Patrick said. Now he was aware that this was not true, but Phillip was completely blinded with jealousy.
"Oh yes, that horrible black knight has stolen her away! I am yet to think of a way to get back at him." Phillip said, clenching his fists.
"I think the fastest way to get rid of him is to… not win today." Patrick said darkly.
Phillip was confused. "But… that is not right, because then you Romans will win. And if Ai catches me, she will certainly never forgive me if I caused a problem."
"What exactly are you doing for the bridge crew?" Patrick asked, referencing Phillip's shirt color and the upcoming challenge.
"I am going to be the Engineer! Ai gave it to me specifically, she claims it a very important job." Phillip said with pride.
Patrick: It was more likely she wanted Phillip out of her way.
"Oh that's wonderful Phillip. It only makes your job so much easier. This is what I want you to do, and then your, uh, black knight, will be gone forever!" Patrick leaned in and whispered his plan to Phillip, who looked uncomfortable but nodded his head weakly in agreement.
"Welcome campers to the simulation room." Chris said, after everyone had followed him to a new facility. It was a simple room with green walls and various chairs, five chairs on half of the room, four on the others. Chef, then dressed in a Klingon uniform, started to hand out what looked like old-fashioned 3D glasses. "Put on these glasses, and don't take them off until the challenge is over. This is the where the bridges of the U.S.S. Athens-Enterprise and a Klingon warbird will be simulated once you all get into place. Each team must divide up and take the various jobs associated with a starship, namely a Captain, a first officer who can have a second job, a science officer, an engineer, and a navigator. Team Athens, since you have someone extra, you can have a helmsman to help with tactical stuff. You're gonna need it against the powerful Klingons who have a cloaking device."
Ai started fangirl squealing. "You must have captured every single detail about the show!" Jenn cleared her throat, bringing the bubbly Ai back to reality. "Ehehe, sorry, just got carried away."
"I can tell, first officer Ai." Jenn muttered as the teams respectively made their way to their seats on the 'bridge'. With their glasses on, the room suddenly turned into a star ship bridge, where Jenn was seated in the captain's chair, Ben and Raymond at the helm station before her. Ai was seated at her right side, at the science station. Phillip was behind her on the left, apart from the others, at the engineering station.
On the warbird, Patrick was seated in the captain's chair, Leroy to his right, as both first officer and navigator, Vivian to his left, as a science officer, and Stella was beside Vivian, serving as the engineer.
On the viewscreen, Chris appeared before the Federation side. "Greetings U.S.S. Athens-Enterprise, you're mission is to destroy that warbird within 5 minutes."
"And what about that reward we got? Some sort of special enhancement?" Jenn asked.
"Your reward is a special enhancement to the shield to make it stronger and more resistant to phasers. You're going to need that because the warbird could attack from anywhere thanks to cloaking. Good luck! McLean out!"
The viewscreen now showed the warbird floating menacingly in front of them. Jenn pushed up her glasses. "Let's get this over with then."
Meantime, on the warbird, Chef had just finished giving similar instructions to Team Rome, and warning them about the enhanced shields that Athens had won. Patrick was biting his lip. If Phillip didn't keep his end of the bargain, any chances of victory would be lost. He knew nothing of Star Trek. And Jenn would laugh at him again over their victory, for the third time in a row. Patrick wasn't sure why but that bothered him greatly. He wanted Jenn to be in awe of him.
"Patrick, the Athens' ship is raising enhanced shielding. There's no way we can overcome that with just the simple, er, phaser power." Vivian said, reading the science station computer.
"If I can divert the power from the cloaking device into the phasers, we might have a chance." Stella quickly put in.
"No! We're not going to lose our one advantage. Leroy, prepare for a game of cat and mouse." Patrick replied.
"I'll do my best. I have to figure out what these buttons are though." Leroy said, referring to the fact that his panel had multiple red buttons that all looked similar.
Leroy: Dude, I think it's safe to say that most of us know nothingabout Star Trek. I mean, I don't even know what a Klingon is! So you expect me to somehow know what these buttons do?! Couldn't Chef have provided us with an instruction manual or something?
Leroy nervously pushed one button.
On the Athens-Enterprise, Ai raised an eyebrow. "Captain, the Roman warbird is going around erratically. They just went sideways at an alarming speed."
"Highly illogical." Jenn replied. "Follow after them, navigator."
Ben was lucky enough that his panel was similar to a GameBoy Color, so he was able to easily navigate. Raymond, however, was not having such luck. "I can't figure out what these dials are for."
Ai walked over and the two worked well together to figure out how to use the helm for better navigation and for setting up tactical. Seeing Ai smile and laugh with Raymond from the corner of his eye caused Ben to sulk. Phillip meantime was starting to look pale.
Phillip: I now face a problem. I can either stay loyal to my team and allow that black knight Raymond to continue to steal my Ai away, or I can do what my fellow Roman told me to do and have Raymond voted off.
"The Roman warbird is coming within sight now, Jenn." Ben muttered. "Should we fire at them?"
"I agree, let's take them down while they are vulnerable. A simple phaser beam should do it." Jenn said, as Raymond fired the phaser. Although his aim was good, the warbird at last second went into cloaking and managed to move away.
"Haha! Nicely done Leroy!" Patrick said, getting quite excited.
Patrick: Things are going so good! They can't find us, and all we have to do now is wait on Phillip.
"Shouldn't we fire at them? Maybe it will weaken the shield they have?" Vivian asked.
"Er, oh yes, fire when ready." Patrick said, trying to regain composure. The warbird then reappeared and shot at the Athens-Enterprise, but it apart from a bumpy ride, nothing seemed to have happened.
Jenn growled at the surprise attack. "Oh, it is on!" she whispered darkly.
"Captain, we have trouble!" Ai cried out from the helm station, as she was still next to Raymond.
"What is it?"
"Enhanced shields are dropping… Now normal shield is dropping… We wouldn't survive very long without either." Ai said.
"How could this have happened? I didn't think we were…" Then Jenn stopped talking, her eyes narrowed. "Sabotage!" she cried out.
Everyone looked at her. "Sabotage?" Phillip asked, sounding very uncomfortable. "W-whatever do you mean?"
"We weren't hit that bad. Therefore, it is logical to assume that someone with access to shields and controls did something to weaken it." Jenn said, standing up, her fists clenched.
"Well, certainly it is not I, fair Jennifer, for I have not touched any of my controls at Engineering." Phillip said, hoping no one would have noticed how nervous he was a few moments ago.
"Then that means, the only other person…" Ben said, turning to Raymond, as did the rest of the team.
Raymond gulped. "But… But…"
Just then, another shot from the warbird was fired, and with that, the simulation ended, as the Athens-Enterprise was destroyed. Everyone took off their glasses, and Team Rome was cheering their come-from-behind victory.
"Nicely done soldiers." Chef said, giving a look of pride to his team. He held out his hand and Chris grudgingly gave him what appeared to be a ten dollar bill.
"Well well well, Team Athens appears to have lost their winning streak. And cost me ten bucks in the process. Looks like I'll be seeing you at the campfire ceremony tonight." Chris said.
Raymond: I know who's going. There's no question. Everyone thinks that I ruined the game today, but I know I didn't do anything! It must have been Phillip! -he sighs- Only Ai believes me.
Ai: I've tried convincing my team that Raymond couldn't have done it, the only one with that much control over the shields was Phillip. But everyone somehow thinks I'm making stuff up as I go.
Raymond was sitting away from the others at dinner time. Despite the usual impression he gave of being an uncaring, overbearing, and stupid muscle jock, he did have a kind heart and it was breaking. Ai then sat next to him. "Hey, cheer up. I've talked to the others. At least I got them thinking about how Phillip had the ultimate control. That could be on your side."
"That sounds promising. Thanks for your efforts, Ai. I wish very much that you go far in this game." Raymond said, before he got up and walked off. Ai wanted to help more but she couldn't think of anything to say. So she reached into her shirt (bra) and took out a small book on friendship advice…
"Welcome back Team Athens. Thought you were actually going to win this time, huh? Well, time to cast your votes. Who's it going to be?" Chris asked, tauntingly.
Jenn, Ben and Phillip looked at Raymond. Ai was still trying to read her small book so she could find something to say that would cheer Raymond up. But nothing was coming to mind.
"Wow! This is quite the shocker. Huh… I see…" Chris said, clearly in an effort to stall and annoy the campers. Without Heather to complain, no one was bothering to stop him.
"Instead of me just reading the votes, how about I air some dirty laundry?" Chris then motioned for Chef to come in, and he was rolling a TV with a VCR.
Everyone gasped in shock. "But I thought those were private?" Ben asked.
"In this day in age, nothing is private!" Chris said. "And so let's hear what some of you had to say."
Ben: I'm voting for Raymond. Not because I'm jealous of him! No… certainly not that… but for what I think he did today in the challenge. Which totally doesn't involve jealousy over him and Ai… Oh, who am I kidding, I'm voting for him solely out of jealousy.
Jenn: Raymond. Plain and simple. He messed up today. And I always nip my problems in the bud.
Raymond: I vote for Phillip, simply because he's a jerk and I think he's framing me!
Phillip: I vote for that black knight known as Raymond. He is stealing my precious Ai away!
Ai: I'm voting for Phillip. Not a surprise here, I vote for him every timewe come here. Quite frankly, I've had enough of the nonsense of everyone on this island. I'm surrounded by jerks! I can't think of one person here who makes me happy! I mean really! I mean, I guessmy team is alright, but clearly they are all below my standards. So, yeah, Phillip gets my vote since he's the most below my standards.
Everyone was now glaring at Ai. She bit her lip nervously. "Ehehe, guys, why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm below your standards?" Ben asked, sounding hurt.
"I didn't mean it like that…" Ai said, starting to panic.
"Then just what did you mean? You have a lot of explaining to do!" Jenn snapped.
"Can we just get the elimination over with?" Ai asked, tugging at the collar of her shirt. "Please?"
"Hehe, I don't know, I'm rather enjoying this." Chris said, eating some popcorn with Chef. They were interrupted by Owen, though, who was desperate for some popcorn.
"Okay, okay, so quite clearly, no need for marshmallows tonight. Raymond, seems you're not wanted. So get going." Chris said, as he tried to push the hungry Owen away.
Raymond looked hurt. No one went near him except Ai. Eva, his mentor, just rolled her eyes and went back to listening to her mp3. She didn't bother much with Raymond, since he was a soft heart and she couldn't toughen him up.
"I know you didn't mean to be hurtful towards the others Ai." Raymond said. "I still think you're my friend."
"Thanks… I think I just messed up whatever chances I had at winning." Ai said quietly.
"That's okay Ai. You're a brave girl. You'll win! I just know it." Raymond said as they hugged.
Raymond jumped into the whirlpool, and Ai started to cry. When she turned away from the whirlpool, her team was glaring at her like a pack of angry wolves. She knew she was in trouble…
"Will Ai manage to win back her teammates? Will Heather ever come back to the island? Find out all this and more next time on TOTAL. DRAMA. THE MENTORSHIP!" Chris said, as the cameras switched to the closing credits.