Episode 10: All Aboard the Cannonball Express

Remaining Campers:

Ai, Ben, Hana, Phillip, Vivian, Leroy, Stella

Chef was standing on the dock, looking pretty annoyed. "Last time on Total Drama: Chris had the maggots go through a series of wedding-themed scavenger hunts. Big Mouth Bookworm showed her nice side, and Gothic Musician was brought back to the game. In the end it was the actor who took the Whirlpool. Like I even care. So stay tuned for my special challenge on Total Drama: The Mentorship." Fang then peeked out of the water, licking his lips. The cameras then flashed to the opening credits.

Hana and Ai were sleeping peacefully in their cabin, with Tomato the dog curled up in Ai's arms. In the next room, Ben was seen sleeping among piles of dirty laundry. A roach crawled between the piles, dragging a smelly sock back to a small fort it was making. Just then, there was a sound of horrible feedback, which caused the roach to run into its fort to hide. "LISTEN UP MAGGOTS! GET YOUR SLEEPIN' BUTTS DOWN TO THE DOCK!" came Chef's voice.

The campers jumped out of their beds and groaned, but otherwise, no one was moving exceptionally fast now that the initial shock was over.

"I MEAN NOW SOLDIERS! NOW!"

Phillip: -he looks like a zombie- I thought Christopher McLean was an evil warlock with the morning alarm. But Chef Hatchet is worse than any dragon a prince charming may have to face.

Stella: I don't know what everyone's complaining about. I mean, I've been up since five this morning, reading my manga. Fun fact about me: when I was learning how to read, I learned to read manga first before basic fairytales. It probably also explains why for my first choice of a Halloween costume I went as a psycho swordsman, and that probably explains why I was never part of the popular crowd.

The campers were lined up on the dock, while Chef, whom was dressed in a military outfit, marched back and forth in front of them.

Stella: Is this going to be a tribute challenge to Basic Straining? I hope not! I'm not cut out for military life! I mean, sure I read all about the Navy in Six Piece but even they go on more fun adventures than what we have in real life.

"Before any of you ask me, Chris isn't here. So I'm the one giving out the challenge today." Chef ranted.

"Oh goodie…" Leroy muttered under his breath.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Chef roared in Leroy's face.

"Uh… Nothing…?" Leroy whimpered back.

"AND YOU WILL SAY NOTHING UNTIL I GIVE PERMISSION!" Chef replied with some of his spit landing on Leroy's face. "Today's challenge is really a very simple one. You will work in pairings to make your own model railway from the top of the cliff, down the haunted forest, through the bat cave, and down to the cabins. First pairing to do so will win immunity."

None of the campers looked happy about this. They were fully aware by now that the haunted forest was home to bears and the Sasquatch, and that there were vampire bats in the bat cave. It was also going to be a long way up to the cliff.

An intern then walked up to Chef with a trolley full of big boxes. "Alright, Big Mouth Bookworm and Quiet Horse Guy, you're Team A." He then tossed them a large box, which nearly caused Ai to topple back into the water, until Ben managed to catch her. She gave a small blush and smiled her appreciation.

"Creepy Girl and Simple Dude, you're Team B." Chef then tossed Vivian and Leroy a box. "Prince Charming and Gothic Musician, you're Team C." Phillip caught the box, but stumbled back and fell into the water. Hana looked over the dock and blinked, wondering where Phillip had disappeared too. He should have surfaced right away. Then suddenly he was flying out of the water, with his box soaked and starting to crumble in places. Fang then surfaced and waved menacingly at the onlookers before he went back under the water again.

"What about me? I don't have a partner!" Stella then spoke up to Chef. He then tossed her a box, but it landed at her feet.

"In war, sometimes there are some missions you have to handle alone." Chef replied. "NOW GO GET STARTED! MOVE, MAGGOTS, MOVE!" Everyone ran out of the dock, except for Stella, who struggled to single-handedly drag her box up the hill.

Ai and Ben were the first to make it up to the top of the cliff. "Do you want to lay the track pieces, or should I?" Ai asked as she tried to open the box.

"You can lay the pieces, but I hope that we have enough to get us where we need to go." Ben replied. He watched, but made no motion to help Ai open the box. Ai growled as the tape refused to peel off and finally she resorted to digging around in her bra until she pulled out what appeared to be a box cutter. Ben blinked in surprise, but didn't say a word. Finally, with the cutter, Ai was able to open the box and then she gave a shriek of joy.

Ai: -she is holding up a blue model train with a smiling face on it- Do you know what this is? This is a Timmy the Steam Train! The whole box was full of various trains from that show! I used to love watching that show as a kid! It brings back many happy memories.

Ben then pulled out a green train that had a round center, with red stripes. "Hehe… awesome. I found the green caterpillar with red stripes! He can be the back engine! It'll help Timmy go faster." Ben handed Ai some pieces of blue track, which she started to put together.

Ai: -she rummaged through the box on her lap- we also had the character known as Duck -she held up a rubber duck with wheels- and the galloping sausage -she held up a sausage with horse legs on wheels- but unfortunately these two didn't have any motor power of their own. So looks like Timmy and the caterpillar will have to do.

Hana and Phillip finally made it up to the top of the cliff, although by now the box was no longer able to handle the weight of the model trains and tracks. The stack of track pieces fell at Phillip's feet, along with what appeared to be a model of a New York City subway train. "A silver chariot for our ride to marshmallows!" he said, flipping a switch on the model. It started to splutter and spit water out.

"This… is a… ccchhhhhh bound… zzzzccccchhhhh train." came an automated voice.

"Phillip, I think you may have broken it." Hana said, sounding disappointed.

"Of course it is not broken! If it were broken, it could not talk." Phillip said triumphantly, as he assembled the nine other cars that would be attached to the head car. As he attached the other cars, Hana rolled her eyes and set to work to dry the track pieces as she attached them together.

Leroy and Vivian finally climbed up to the cliff top. Ai and Ben were already taking a good lead, already at the slope leading down the cliff with their blue track. Leroy ripped open his box, and quickly dumped out the pieces. A model monorail dumped out on top of the track pieces. Vivian picked it up and frowned. "What's the matter?" Leroy asked her.

"This looks like the monorail they use to get people directly to Disneyland from Anaheim." she replied darkly.

"Oh, hey, yeah, you're right. I remember riding this on a summer vacation a few years ago. Hehe… good times." Leroy said, clearly flashing back to a fond memory. Stella had finally arrived at the top of the cliff, panting from exhaustion of having to drag her box alone. She then squinted at Vivian, noticing that she was angry about something.

Stella: I still say that Vivian is hiding a secret. Popular girls and secrets don't mix, especially with me. The popular girls tried to humiliate me, until I learned some secrets and told the entire class. Even us anime girls have the right to be powerful!

Vivian was not sharing the same sentiment as Leroy. "I never went there." She was staring intently at the monorail model, gripping it tighter. "I always wanted to go there but noooooo my parents would never take me!" She then stomped her foot. "It's not fair since all the other kids at my school at some point or another got to go, except me!" At that moment, her eyes glowed blue and the monorail model lifted out of her hands, and floated above her. Everyone else by this point had been looking at her during her outburst, but was now in a state of shock at the sight of her somehow levitating the model.

Stella: I knew it! I knew she had something! I only guessed right that it was ESP powers, based on the fact that she seemed to work better with her mind. Heh, and mom and dad thought that me watching anime sixteen hours a day was unhealthy. It totally put me at an edge.

"Woah, wait a minute Vivi. Are you a psychic or something?" Leroy asked, his eyes still glued to the levitating monorail.

Vivian then shook her head and the monorail landed gently back into her hands. "I- I uh… Well, I have a gift. I thought it was just aura powers, like what my mentor Dawn has."

"Well that looked more like ESP to me." Ai said. "And I'd suggest that you learn how to control it and quick."

Leroy patted Vivian on the shoulder. "It doesn't matter to me if you have powers or not. I like you either way. We should start building our tracks, though. If just so we can win and stay safe together."

Ai, Ben, Hana and Phillip went back to working on the challenge, with Ai and Ben taking the lead. Stella then walked past Vivian with her box and whispered: "I always knew you were hiding something."

Vivian: What is with that girl? I don't understand Stella at all.

Stella was now opening her box, and groaned at the sight of the model.

Stella: The Pretty Pony Express? Are they kidding me? This should be given to that quiet guy who's name I don't even know. Why couldn't I get the Monstermon Golden City train model? At least that takes you to Perfume City in nine seconds!

Stella started to put the track pieces together, and found more wagons to attach to the locomotive. She was surprised that one of them had a cover on it. She flipped a switch on it, which opened the cover and a small cannon came out. She gave a confused look until the next thing she pulled out of the box was a remote control. Upon pushing one button, the cannon began to make a whirring noise. She grinned and quickly powered it off. She couldn't let the others know she had an advantage that quickly.

A little bit later, Ai ran back up the cliff side, panting. "Okay, we have a problem." she told Ben.

"What's up?"

"I just laid out the last of the track. I only got up to the bat cave. We're going to have to take Timmy and the green caterpillar with red stripes to that point and then remove old track to get through the cave and back to camp." Ai said, finally catching her breath. "So one of us will have to stay here and remove the track when the trains finish."

Ben shrugged. "I guess I'll take a turn at track laying."

Stella, whom had her back to the others, smirked. She knew she was going to win thanks to the cannon. And she knew just when to use it. Her remote also doubled as a controller for the Pretty Pony Express, so as she laid track, she kept the train moving. Stella was now closing in on the lead.

Vivian and Leroy had left their model train to go lay track down the rest of the way, although they had to stop at the entrance to the bat cave, and make sure that the vampire bats weren't awake yet. The bats were hanging from the ceiling, and since it was daytime, they were asleep. Vivian ran ahead to finish laying the track, and got it to the base of camp before she finally ran out of tracks. She returned to Leroy and then they both nodded, making their run back up the cliff slope to reunite with their model. Once there, they flipped the switch powering the monorail. It spluttered and let out a cough of black smoke. Leroy rolled his eyes. "Figures that it's defective."

Vivian then had a blank look on her face, followed by a smile. "Leroy, I have an idea."

Ai and Ben were making good progress and were halfway through the forest. Ben then heard the sound of someone behind them and saw Stella catching up. "Ai, Stella is right on our tail!"

Stella then gave a wave to them when Ai turned back, and then she pushed a button on her remote. The cannon aimed, and blasted at the blue track, covering it with confetti and streamers, so when the Timmy model ran over it, slipping and stalling, and eventually tumbled off the track.

Ai: Stella is like a big black weasel. Since when did the Pretty Pony Express have a party cannon?

Stella was now taking the lead, until suddenly she was overtaken by Leroy and Vivian. Vivian's eyes were glowing blue and she was using her powers to give the train momentum. The monorail had picked up intense speed along the slope of the cliff, and Vivian managed to maintain that speed.

Stella gasped as they overtook her. Then she remembered her party cannon. She aimed the cannon at the track ahead of the monorail and blasted confetti and streamers. Vivian saw this and stopped using her power to keep the monorail moving. She instead levitated and flung back the confetti at Stella, who returned fire from the cannon. Most of this confetti landed on Ai and Ben's track, so very soon the two fell far behind.

Hana and Phillip had finally given up trying to dry up the NYC subway train model. Phillip had started to lay some track and just reached the haunted woods when a bear walked into his pathway. "Get out of my way, bear! I must win this challenge so I may impress my beloved Ai!" he shouted at it. The bear just shrugged and went on its way.

Hana then proceeded to make her way down the hill by manually moving the model. She sighed. "There's no way we can win now…"

Leroy watched helplessly as the two girls kept at it. Stella was blasting what seemed to be a never ending amount of confetti, Vivian's powers knocking it away. They were all now at the bat cave. Stella pushed the button to unleash another attack but her cannon was now out of power. "You have got to be kidding me!" Stella cried out.

Vivian, on her part, looked very worn out. This overuse of her power was making her slow down, but she was still determined to keep going and win. However, as they entered the mouth of the cave, they were immediately attacked and chased by the vampire bats, who were screeching loudly at the intrusion. The bats were soon going after Stella too, and the three had to run away. The three campers ran past Ai and Ben, and soon the vampire bats were after them too.

Hana and Phillip by now had made it to the bat cave with no problems, and they found the cave was empty. They shrugged and kept moving. It wasn't long before they were back in the camp grounds.

"And Team B wins reward!" Chef said, sounding proud. "I expected that since I had that special monorail…"

Hana then cleared her throat. "Um, Chef, we're Team C, with the NYC subway model."

Chef paused, looking surprised. He then coughed. "Right… Team C wins, even with unreliable service of a New York City train… Blah blah blah, rest of the teams have to vote someone off."

Hana and Phillip jumped up and down for joy. "Do you think my fair lovely Ai will be impressed?" Phillip asked Hana, causing her to frown and look unhappy.

At the campfire ceremony, everyone except Hana and Phillip looked bitten up and paler than usual.

Ben: I'm pretty sure those vampire bats drained us of about six pints of blood. Why we couldn't hold the elimination ceremony in the infirmary and get blood transfusions, I don't know.

"Alright, no whining or complainin'. I'm missing my crime drama for this." Chef muttered as he tossed marshmallows to Hana and Phillip. He then tossed one to Ben. Ai, Leroy, Vivian and Stella looked at each other. Then Leroy was tossed a marshmallow. Ai was then tossed a marshmallow and smiled. Vivian and Stella glared at each other.

"Apparently, no one likes Creepy Girl or Blonde very much. In fact, this person was eliminated by only one vote." Chef said, as he held up the last marshmallow.

Vivian and Stella continued to glare at each other, the cameras taking turns to do close-ups on them, then zooming in further to their eyes.

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Finally, Vivian was tossed a marshmallow. "Yes! In your face, Stella! Everyone likes me better!"

"Ugh, this is totally not fair! You're the one abusing your ESP powers! I fought fairly!" Stella complained.

Chef, not wanting to miss anymore of his show, picked up Stella, carried her to the docks and held her up above the Whirlpool. "I'm warning you guys! Vivian is crazy! She's like Zabrina from Monstermon! She used her psychic powers to turn everyone into… Yaaaaaaaah!" Chef finally tossed Stella into the Whirlpool.

"And Creepy Girl stays on the island to compete another day. Tune in next time when I go on vacation and to find out what happened to Chris. On TOTAL. DRAMA. THE MENTORSHIP." Chef announced as he walked back along the docks to get back to his trailer. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten outta bed today…" he mumbled to himself as he walked past the campers.

Ben returned to his room, after getting himself checked out at the infirmary. He was surprised to find that the messy laundry and piles of junk were all neat and clean and organized. "What happened?" he muttered aloud.

"I cleaned it up for you!" Ai said cheerfully, as she stepped out from a closet. "I came in here to talk to you but found this place looking like a dump, so I did you a favor. After all, I can't stand messy people. Anyway, now I'm too tired to talk. Good night." Ai said as she walked past him.

Ben sighed. He was starting to develop a hunch that Ai was not done with standards and strict control.