New challenge starting! Thanks for reviewing, Thunderstrike16, OmniPlanckInstant, yeezynight14, BluXRE, Piecesxoxo, SuperKitty4789, Bloodylilcorpse, TheProtecterOfHim and Nicky Haugh. Thank you all for lovely reviews, and I'm really glad you're enjoying the story, regardless of how you feel about the cast and eliminations.
I also want to address flamers. If you have a problem with the technicals – logic, grammar or spelling, say so in your reviews and I'll try to improve in future. If you are just sending insults. I will keep deleting anonymous reviews. If you are a user, I will report you. "You're bullshit. Also, I win" is not a review, which is why I deleted it.
As for the challenge...well, no one guessed correctly. Princess Pride and prehistoric were both good guesses, but I was thinking more mundane. It's more about...well, physical prowess. And cheers.
I wished it wasn't a free day, the next day. Sure, it was nice to socialize, but I felt like I was constantly watching for signs of Mike's other personality. I was always thinking about it, always wondering what was going on in his mind, where the other personalities were, what they were all thinking.
I didn't say a word about what Mike had told me to anyone. It wasn't my choice to give that information. I didn't even talk to Zoey about it. We'd made our agreement, and what was done, was done.
Sierra eagerly asked me if I wanted to join another sleepover night in our cabin, but to be honest, I just wanted the day to be over. Beth admitted that she didn't really feel like staying up all night and gossiping anyway, now that her best friend was gone. "I just wouldn't feel right to do that without Lindsay. I know it can't be helped that she's not here, but girly nights in were always something we did together. I don't want to do that kind of thing without her."
Zoey wasn't into the idea, either, so Sierra gave up the idea. "Maybe we could do it after the merge." she shrugged. "Then if Gwen's still here, we can invite her!"
"What about Heather?" I asked.
Sierra thought about it. She shrugged. "I don't like Heather, but as long as she's not mean to anyone else, she can join in if she wants."
I was actually pretty relieved when the day was over, the morning came, and Chris called us all out to the campground, with Scott back and looking tired.
"It's great to see you all looking so bright and active," Chris said cheerfully (most of us were looking like 'I don't wanna do this'), "Because today, we've got an action-packed challenge!"
I wondered if that was what I thought it meant.
"In Total Drama Action's last pre-merge challenge," (Yes!), "I pitted each team member against the other team's player in sports challenges, in accordance to who came in which place during drills. Since I've seen your physical skills, we're skipping that part and going straight to the one-on-ones. And since I don't want you to know who wins immediately and instead cause tension..." he grinned, "All of you, go back to your cabins. I'll call the worst two for each team for the first one-on-one. And by the way, when your challenge is done – you cannot tell your team the results, or your team is disqualified."
Us Heroes discussed what the challenges might be. "I think I'll be first." Beth admitted. "Last time, only Lindsay was before me, and you guys are all really fast and agile. I'm not."
We tried to tell Beth not to sell yourself short, but anyhow, Chris still called her to the beach...with Heather.
After our teammate was gone, I looked at the rest of the team. "That doesn't make sense to me." I frowned. "Heather's not the weakest Villain, is she?"
Zoey looked thoughtful. "I don't think she's the weakest. She's the least strong. The Villains don't have any majorly weak teammates. It was probably a toss-up between her and another Villain, and Chris wanted a rematch. They played badminton against each other last time."
When Beth returned, she looked run ragged. All she was allowed to tell us was that she and Heather had played tennis. Chris had used the time between the girls returning to call Mike and Scott, the next two.
Mike later on told us that the challenge was underwater diving, and I guessed that if he'd lost, it had to be close. The shark thing would make Scott pretty scared.
Sierra went down next, up against Gwen. I didn't hear what she'd done, though, because Chris called me down fourth. Considering there was six of each of us, that was okay. Third physically most skilled? Nice!
Chris called me to the same place where he'd put the ice during the capture the flag game. This time, it looked like an ice rink.
Duncan, my opponent, arrived before me.
"Nice of you to join us, Danni." Chris said. "As I was saying, your challenge is figure-skating. Each of you will perform a two-minute routine on skates, made up on the spot. Then Chef and I will each give you a score. Highest score wins it for their team. Got it?"
Did Chris rig this for the Heroes? First Scott had to dive underwater, and now I got a challenge that was made for a cheerleader. Duncan had some grace in him, but I was pretty sure I had a walkover.
Nope! I was totally wrong. Duncan went first, and although he didn't do anything really daring, he looked really good.
"Where did you learn to skate like that?" I spluttered.
Duncan laughed at me. "There's a pond that always freezes over near my house. Plus sometimes I've sneaked into the local skate rink without paying. Pretty much the only weak sport I have fun with."
Oh well. He didn't try to make any really difficult moves. I knew how to skate on the ice, and I wasn't too bad at it, although I didn't do it often. I outdid Duncan, managing to figure skate like a pro without a partner, spinning around, throwing in a few moves from long-ago ballet classes I took when I was about nine or ten. I even remembered to smile the whole time.
Duncan got a score of 6 from Chris and 8.5 from Chef. Both of them gave me 9s, so I had won.
We walked back together. "Good fight." I said brightly. "Never thought of you as the graceful type, but you looked pretty good out there."
Duncan met my eyes, looking slightly suspicious. "Where'd you learn to do that?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I took ballet classes when I was a kid, and I'm on the cheerleading squad at school. Guess you didn't watch last season. I'm not planning to mess with your team, okay, so stop looking all suspicious? I'm a Hero, remember? And why on earth would I sabotage you guys when my Lightning's on your team?"
I told my team as much as I was allowed to about the challenge, obviously omitting the performances, although judging by the smiles on my friends' faces, they knew I had to have won it.
Sierra told me that her match against Gwen was one-woman hockey. Meanwhile, Brick was absent, apparently playing against Alejandro. He returned from a...kayaking race...after Zoey, our last team member, left. And she was up against Lightning.
Brick looked really tired out. I felt sorry for him – I wouldn't have liked to go up against Alejandro in anything, although...to be fair, it might have been worse for me, being a girl. I'd seen Gwen come close to getting all girly over him. Heather was the only one who could resist him indefinitely.
Finally, ten minutes after Zoey's return from a makeshift bowling alley, apparently, Chris called us all down to the beach.
"Well, we tallied the results." our host announced. "And the winner is...undecided. We decided to go with our original tiebreaker..." As he spoke, some of the interns brought over the pompoms and things. Cheerleader stuff.
"But," Chris said, "It won't be so easy this time. Sadly, you're not allowed to cheer for me. You need to make up a cheer for someone on the other team, someone who you think deserves cheering."
Us Heroes went into a huddle. "I'm not cheering for Alejandro." Sierra hissed. "I have no respect for him."
"If we're playing that game, Scott's out, too." I whispered. "After last season, I don't respect him, either."
"If you don't mind, I can't cheer for Heather." Beth added softly. "Not after everything that happened with me and her."
"That leaves Duncan, Gwen and Lightning." Zoey surmised. "I think we should cheer for Duncan or Gwen, and take a vote."
The rest of us agreed. Beth and I voted for Gwen, but everyone else voted Duncan. I got the feeling Brick respected him for his strength even if he didn't follow rules, that Sierra still held a grudge against Gwen because Cody had a crush on her, that Zoey preferred Duncan for whatever reason, and Mike followed her because...well, the outcome didn't matter to him either way, so even if he did like Gwen better, he might as well vote with Zoey.
I choreographed a short cheer, having Zoey and Beth as flyers and Sierra and I as bases as far as the girls went. I had to do a bit of thinking to work the boys in, since I'd never seen any guy cheerleaders, but I managed it. After some practising, Sierra started writing a cheer with input from the rest of us.
"I know how to suck up." she said confidently. "I had to do it with Heather all the time in World Tour. Plus I never run out of compliments to give to Cody. Duncan's not so easy, but there's lots of Duncan fangirls at my school, anyway. He's tough, he's laid-back, he's hot, he's way too good for Courtney..." she giggled. "He's nothing to me, of course, but I can see the appeal."
It didn't matter, anyway. The Villains did a better cheer for...well, Sierra. It was surprisingly good. During our cheer, Duncan started looking a bit overwhelmed – he didn't exactly like having a bunch of Heroes singing his praises. We had lost.
Zoey and I talked on the cabin steps, while Mike was telling the rest of our teammates what he'd told me and Zoey. "I guess it's time to fulfill that promise." I said sadly.
"I don't want to do it either, you know." Zoey sighed. "But we promised we'd do it. And..." she managed a smile. "I'd rather do this than lose Mike to that other sneaky persona."
When I met Lightning that night, it turned out the Villains had talked about who won and lost their challenges. Heather and Alejandro had beaten Beth and Brick, respectively. Lightning had also won against Zoey, although he admitted that she was more of a match than he expected. "That girl's little, but she's tough!"
I was feeling very depressed that night. The vote was harder than it ever had been. I even dropped my marshmallow when Chris tossed me the very first one.
Names were called out, until only Beth and Mike were left. "And, well, before I announce the loser," Chris said, "I would like to make it known that the votes were totally unanimous. For some reason, everyone, including the loser themselves, felt that it was time to turf...Mike."
Our friend gave a sigh of relief, and stood up to go. "I'll miss you guys. Bye." He quickly kissed Zoey and whispered something to her (probably wishing her luck), and went to be flushed.
Yes, that was the favour Mike had wanted. He'd asked Zoey and I to vote him off, so he could call his psychiatrist on the mainland and request sessions to keep the new personality out of his mind. And to be fair, I couldn't blame him. What use was a million dollars if someone else was using your body to spend it?
What? Did you think I'd bring Mal in early, only to let him take over anyway? The last time I wrote something based on All-Stars, Mal was a major focus. Early into the planning stage, I decided I didn't want him in there.
How was the challenge? This was the first time I've made my own challenge that wasn't trivia, so I hope you liked it.