I made a new title graphic. You like?
I don't own Total Drama.
Review Replies (this is a huge section):
Knifez – glad you enjoyed it my dear! I hope you enjoy this chapter too. :)
Munchlax Jr – I'm glad you liked Dawn's sass! I got so excited when I thought of that line, I've been saving it up since like February. xD
The Pyromaniac Fire Queen – I couldn't vote Courtney out that soon. She's a CIT for goodness sakes! xD
FoxfaceFan1 – My intention is to finish this story, so unless I get hired to write the actual show or something absolutely cataclysmic occurs, I do eventually intend to finish this story.
Titans vs Gods – Hahaha, I'm a cruel person, creating the Camzy ship. XD But it provides comedic relief when Cameron is terrified for his life.
The Sarcasm Master – I always root for Noah too. XD I'm glad that you enjoy my story, and I'm really glad that my story made it onto your read list. I'm still working on fixing the slight OOC-ness of Bridgette.
Shiny – Everyone loves sassy!Dawn. xD
Screaming Gophers: Dawn, Alejandro, Noah, Cody, Trent, Zoey, Jo
Killer Bass: Duncan, LeShawna, Geoff, Gwen, Heather, Harold, Beth, Tyler, DJ
Thrashing Bears: Sadie, Cameron, Courtney, Scott, Lightning, Izzy, Bridgette, Mike
"Last time on Total Drama Island, the teens went on a canoe trip to Boney Island where they faced some pretty killer wildlife. Courtney thought she'd give Mike a hand with the ladies by dropping some hints about Mike's crush Zoey, but Zoey might already have moved on from Mike to Killer Bass member, DJ. Dawn and Cody struck up an unlikely friendship when Dawn consoled Cody over losing Dakota, and Cody stood up to Jo when Jo started picking on Dawn for getting them lost in the woods, which actually turned out to be a pretty good thing because the Gophers were first on the scene for part two of the challenge. Tyler overheard Heather blackmailing Harold and Beth stole a tiki idol from Boney Island. Things were looking up for the Bass when Beth lost her cursed idol in Anne Maria's hair, resulting in Anne Maria getting the boot when the Gophers ended up at the campfire ceremony that night. Things are still looking up for the Killer Bass, but now that Beth has her cursed idol back, is their luck about to run out? Find out today on Total Drama Island!"
Cue theme song.
The peaceful night at Camp Wawanakwa was not fated to bleed into a nice, peaceful day. Instead, it would come to a crashing halt as a sadistic television host and his sidekick flew over the three cabins, startling all the contestants awake with the obnoxiously loud roar of the bright red helicopter.
In the Killer Bass cabin, the helicopter's arrival startled awake a former juvenile delinquent who, upon hearing the sound of the helicopter overhead, had a flashback to his days running from the police and dove out of bed in a panic.
"Hit the deck! They're coming, man! They found us!" Duncan cried out in alarm as he scrambled out of his bed, grunting when he slipped on a piece of fabric that had carelessly tossed on the floor and hit the ground. Realizing where he was, he picked up the piece of fabric, but threw it away quickly with a look of disgust. "Oh, gross!"
"What's the matter, bro?" Geoff asked, rolling over to face his buddy from his bunk across the cabin.
"Dorkahontas." Duncan said simply, grabbing a nearby stick that was propped up against the bunk beds to use to pick up the garment. Carrying it towards the bunk under his – Harold's – he shoved the stick in the boy's face and dropped it onto the sleeping boy's face, startling him awake.
Sitting bolt upright in shock, Harold flailed his arms for a moment before he realized where he was. "Huh? What?"
"Stop leaving your dirty underwear on the floor." Duncan snapped, leaning down to pick up one of the several pieces of paper that had slid to the floor when Harold sat up. With a smirk, he grabbed two of the papers. "What's this?"
"Don't touch those!" Harold said, reaching up quickly to grab the papers from the punk's hand, but Duncan quickly stepped away, holding them well out of reach. Harold's face flushed red. "Don't! Those are private, GOSH!"
"Private, huh?" Duncan asked. "Well in that case. . ."
"Thanks." Harold said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Duncan smirked. "Finder's keepers!"
"But those are mine! Gosh!"
"And so is the dirty underwear that you keep leaving around the cabin!" Duncan said. "I'll give these back when you start picking up after yourself."
"That's not fair!" Harold said, frowning as he leaned over to gather the remaining papers, but Duncan was faster and grabbed two more pages. "Give those back!"
"Ah ah ah. Is that any way to treat the one who has your diary?" Duncan said, holding the pages up to taunt the boy.
"That's not my diary, GOSH! Do you even know how to read?" Harold retorted, rolling his eyes. "They're poems."
"Same difference." Duncan said, cruelly looking down at the pages in his hand.
"Curves of an angel
with a bodacious booty
a mortal goddess."
"Stop! That's private!" Harold said, diving for the poem in Duncan's hand, but the punk held out an arm to keep Harold back and kept the poems out of reach as he continued to read.
"Dark locks, dark beauty
the girl with smouldering eyes
Heaven graces Earth."
"Dude, those are some seriously whack poems!" Geoff said with a chuckle.
"Not that I am any kind of poetry connoisseur, but these are the worst poems I have ever heard." Duncan said with a tone of amusement.
"They don't even rhyme, dude!" Geoff laughed.
"They're Haikus, GOSH! They're not supposed to rhyme!" Harold said, taking a dive for the poems in Duncan's hand once more, but the punk punched the nerd in the gut, downing him. With a grunt, he fell to the cabin floor, clutching his stomach.
"High-what?" Geoff asked, giving Duncan props before he accepted one of the pages from the punk. After a moment, he and DJ began laughing together over what was written on the page. "Dude, this is so bad."
"Haikus." Harold repeated, still laying on the floor clutching his stomach in pain. "They're a huge part of Japanese culture, GOSH!"
Confessional
"What a dork." Duncan said with a smirk as he read the poem in his hands. "I mean come on – a 'booty as luscious as an apple'? Bahahaha!"
Static.
"I really need to find somewhere to keep my poetry that Duncan won't find it." Harold said with an aggravated sigh.
LeShawna sat bolt upright and bashed her head off the top bunk, yet again. You'd think she'd be used to these frequent rude awakenings by now and would have stopped her habit of sitting bolt upright when startled awake, but no. She was still bashing her head off the top bunk with every loud sound that Chris caused in order to wake them all up before challenges.
"Oooh!" LeShawna said, her hand flying to the part of her head that she had just bashed against the top bunk. "That dude is really starting to get on my last nerve!"
"Ugh, whatever." Heather said with a yawn. "He just loves ruining our mornings!" Then she turned to the bunk across from hers. "Beth, go warm up the showers for me. Now! And remember -"
"Not too hot this time, I know." Beth said with a sigh of defeat.
Confessional
"I never thought being popular would be this much work." Beth said with a tired sigh. "Between doing things for Heather and helping DJ look after Bunny, I hardly have time for myself anymore!"
Harold let himself out of the stall in the communal washrooms and was disappointed to find three of his least favourite people in front of him. Duncan, Geoff and DJ were all kind of jerks to him. They were still laughing over the poems they had stolen from him that morning to the point that they were quoting them between fits of hysterical laughter.
Well just wait until one of them felt strongly enough for a girl to write her a poem expressing his feelings!
Not that Harold had made the mistake of thinking Duncan capable of having feelings for anyone but himself. DJ and Geoff were pretty bro-ey too. To be quite honest, he wasn't sure if the three of them had the combined intelligence to write a poem at all, let alone one of the cultural calibre that Harold's own Haikus had. They were just dumb jerks, and they were clearly intimidated by Harold's intelligence and mad skills.
And obviously none of them had the culture and class that Harold himself had.
"Oh hey Dorkahontas." Duncan said with a smirk. "Find any more 'luscious booties' to write bad poetry about?"
"Like a Raven's wing
you make my heart soar higher
than ever before."
Geoff read in a dramatic and theatrical but still mocking tone before the trio began to roar with laughter, Duncan slapping DJ on the shoulder while Geoff clutched his gut from laughing so hard.
"That's not funny." Harold said, his face heating up again as a blush began to spread across his cheeks as it had that morning. "GOSH!"
As he made his way over to the sink to wash his hands, he tried to ignore the trio who were laughing at the words that he felt so intimately. You didn't just take a person's poetry and broadcast it to the world! That was cruel and unusual punishment!
A click drew the boys' attention temporarily to the stalls once more, where Tyler was exiting one of the stalls. He halted with a deer in headlights expression the moment he caught sight of Harold, and stared for a moment.
"Oh look Dorkahontas, you're already stopping traffic with your horrific poetry!" Duncan sneered before Tyler bolted.
Confessional
"I overheard Heather and Harold talking about Harold being a traitor to the team!" Tyler said, looking nervous. "I don't know who I can trust to talk to about this! I gotta tell someone! I'm really bad at keeping secrets!"
"Give those back!" Harold cried out, diving for the poems yet again while the punk was somewhat distracted, but Duncan shoved him to the ground once more.
"Learn your place, dweeb." Duncan snapped. "And stop leaving your dirty underwear everywhere or you'll never see your diary pages again!"
"They're not diary pages." Harold said with a sigh of defeat as the trio of jerks left him alone in the washroom, laying on the floor.
Pushing his hands out in front of him to stand up, one of the floorboards beneath him shifted and creaked. A curious expression on his face, Harold took a quick peek at the stalls and, satisfied that he didn't see any feet under the stall doors, pried up the loose floorboard, discovering a small cavern just beneath the bathroom floor.
"Awesome." Harold said to himself, grabbing a paper from his pocket and shoving it down into the hole before putting the floorboard back down on top of it, perfectly hiding his new poems.
His haikus were safe.
A long line of girls stood outside the communal washrooms, all doing the traditional "I really have to pee" dance as they waited for their chance to use the washroom.
"What's the hold-up?" Bridgette asked from further back in the line.
"Heather needs her private time." Beth said, holding her breath to keep herself from peeing her pants.
"How long is Queenie gonna be in there?" LeShawna asked impatiently. "I've got urgent business!"
"She could still be awhile." Beth answered.
"That's it." Gwen said, succumbing to desperation and leaving the lineup. "I'm going lumberjack style."
Suddenly the nearest loudspeaker crackled to life and Chris's voice could be heard across the campground. "I hope you're ready for the most challenging challenge yet! Breakfast in three minutes at the campfire pit! Be ready to bring your A game!"
"Um, Heather?" Beth asked urgently, knocking on the bathroom door to get the Queen Bee's attention.
"Can you come in here and lotion my back?" Heather asked from within, before impatiently adding. "It's peeling."
Beth sighed as she submitted to Heather's whims once more.
"Are you ready for today's extreme max impact challenge?!" Chris demanded, standing in front of the teens with a grin.
"EXTREME!" Tyler returned Chris's battle cry, raising his arm to show just how pumped he was.
"Incoming!" Chris said, tossing cans of beans towards the contestants.
Tyler's can hit him in the forehead and knocked him to the ground. Mike gasped before doing a pirouette and catching the can that had been thrown in his direction. Zoey's cat-like reflexes had her block the can with the back of her hand to prevent it from hitting her in the stomach.
"Ow!" Zoey exclaimed, rubbing the red mark on the back of her wrist.
Trent reached out and managed to catch the can that Chris had tossed at Gwen's face, and he exchanged a reluctant smile with her.
Confessional
"Does it make me an idiot if I still think there is a chance for Gwen and I?" Trent asked the confessional cam with a sigh. "I mean, a guy can hope."
"This is breakfast." Chris said, tossing a can to the remaining contestants.
"No. Breakfast is crepes. Croissants. Even Chef's yucky burnt eggs." Heather corrected, looking down at the can of beans in her hands with a look of disgust.
"Today's challenge is about survival! We're going hunting!" Chris said, raising a gun above his head.
Dawn gasped with horror. "You can't be serious! You are an evil, wretched man!"
"Now that's more like it!" Duncan said, nodding with approval at the weapon in Chris's hand.
"Isn't that a paintball gun?" Harold asked.
"Why yes Harold, it is." Chris said, lowering the gun and shooting Harold in the chest at close range.
Harold dropped to the ground, struggling to catch his breath after the wind had been knocked out of him.
Duncan laughed at the dork's plight. "Gotta get me one of those!"
"So we won't be killing anything?" Bridgette confirmed, exchanging a concerned look with rival team member Dawn.
"Negatory." Chris said. "This is paintball deer hunt!"
"Are we going to be shooting deer with the paintballs?" Dawn asked suspiciously.
"No." Chris said, rolling his eyes. "Just other campers dressed up like deer. Happy now?"
"Quite." Dawn said with a nod, backing down.
"I'll announce the teams once we get into the woods, so finish brekky!" Chris said.
"You don't seriously expect me to eat this, do you?" Heather asked, dropping the can of baked beans on the ground with a look of disgust.
The three teams, now assembled in the woods in front of a wall where several guns were hanging, waited for Chris to begin explaining the game.
"And now for the team breakdowns: Harold, LeShawna, Tyler and Beth, locked and loaded with orange paint." Chris said, handing the aforementioned team members each a gun as he called their name. "Zoey, Alejandro and Cody will be shooting with gopher green paint, and Bridgette, Mike, Izzy and Scott will be shooting with bear purple paint."
"Awesome." Harold said, looking down at the weapon in his hands with an interested grin.
"What? Dorkahontas gets a gun and I don't?" Duncan asked in irritation.
"Hunters also get these snazzy orange glasses and wicked camo caps!" Chris said as he handed each hunter a set. Then he turned to the remaining campers with a pleased grin. "The rest of you are now deer. Here are your antlers, noses and little white tails."
"Yeah right! I am NOT wearing that." Heather said, her arms crossed over her chest.
"There is no way that I'm a deer." Duncan said, glaring at the host, who only smirked and slapped a set on antlers onto the boy's head.
"Take these off and your team is toast." Chris said with a smirk.
Duncan turned to glare at the nearest rival team member, Scott. "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing. . ." Scott said, before adding in a low voice, "Bambi."
"You'd better be a good shot, sharkbait." Duncan sneered, getting in Scott's face.
"Oh don't worry," Scott replied with a smirk. "I am."
"Deer get a two minute head start to find a hiding place!" Chris announced. "Ready, set, go!"
"This may be the lamest thing I have ever done in my life." Gwen said in her signature monotone to her teammates, as the five of them were walking in a large pack.
"At least we get a head start, bra." Geoff said, putting an arm around the goth girl as they walked into the forest.
"Don't touch me." Gwen said, shrugging off the party boy's arm and twisting it up his back.
"Ouch! Chill bra!" Geoff said, holding up his free hand in a signal of surrender. Gwen gave him an annoyed look and released the boy.
"I don't know about ya'll, but I am out of here." DJ said, before getting down on all fours and bounding off into the undergrowth, leaving his teammates in a stunned silence.
"I'm waiting right here." Heather said, sitting down on a nearby rock, her arms crossed over her chest. "Then Beth and Harold can find me and protect me."
"Dorkahontas, huh? I didn't take him for your type." Duncan smirked, getting a fist bump from Gwen.
"Ew, disgusting!" Heather said, making a face at the idea. "He owes me a favour and I want to collect before he gets voted off and I lose my chance."
"Sure, sure." Duncan said in a tone that suggested he didn't believe the queen bee.
"Dude, I think we found our bodacious booty." Geoff said to Duncan, resulting in the two cracking up as the trio made their way deeper into the woods.
"DJ was probably onto something." Gwen said, breaking away from the shrinking group.
"Where you going, bra?" Geoff called after the goth girl.
"Away."
"Why?" Geoff asked. "You're welcome to come chill with us if you want to!"
"I'd rather not."
"Now our trio's down to two." Geoff said with a sigh of disappointment.
"Pasty's right, bro." Duncan said, nudging Geoff in the ribs. "This is probably one of those challenges where safety isn't in numbers."
Confessional
"You know, I'm kind of starting to get the feeling that Gwen doesn't like me." Geoff said, mildly disappointed. Then he brightened and smiled again. "Nah, I'm just imagining it! Bra's totally chill."
"Hey Mike, Scott and I were thinking of teaming up and hunting together. After all, three heads are better than one, right?" Bridgette asked with a smile at her friend.
Mike looked mildly uncomfortable at the blonde's suggestion. Glancing around at the other hunters quickly, Mike shrugged noncommittally.
"What's up, Mike?" Bridgette asked, concerned.
"Time's up! Time to get your hunting game on!" Chris announced, releasing the teens.
"I – uh – have an idea!" Mike announced desperately, sprinting towards the treeline with his paintball gun in hand. "I'll see you guys later!"
"Oh. Okay." Bridgette said, looking mildly disappointed.
Confessional
"I had to get away from Bridgette. I just need some space to figure things out." Mike said, as though he was trying to convince the confessional camera that he wasn't a bad person for ditching his friend. "I'm just not sure if the Bridgette I know is the real Bridgette. Because I'm starting to think she's not as nice as I thought when I first met her, and if she isn't, then I don't know if I still want to be friends with her."
"We should work in teams." Beth said. "Because, after all, two heads are better than one, right?"
"I like the way you think, girl." LeShawna said with a nod.
"That seems like a good plan." Harold agreed. "That way we'll be twice as alert and we'll double our chances of finding the other teams' deer. What do you think, Tyler?"
When the uber-nerd said his name, the jock in the red track suit began to panic. His doe-brown eyes went wider than before, and he quickly drew a big breath. "Uhhh. . . I think, actually, we'll cover more ground separately!"
And without another word, Tyler sprinted off into the woods and didn't look back.
Confessional
Alejandro sat in the confessional, smirking. "Well that was peculiar. Tyler seems as though he has something on his mind. I must find out what's going on there and use it."
Moving through the undergrowth, Zoey had her gun raised and was scoping out a small clearing through the sight when she caught a flash of white. There was movement, and another flash of white as she followed her target, pausing a moment when she saw DJ standing on all fours, antlers atop his head and a fluffy white tail strapped to his pants.
Waiting him through the scope for a moment, Zoey had her finger on the trigger and was about to shoot.
But when DJ leaned down and started grazing, the redhead paused, making a confused face as she lowered her gun momentarily, regarding the other teen with a look of bewilderment as she tried to affirm that she wasn't just seeing things.
Her stunned expression remained for a moment as she witnessed DJ take another bite of grass, her mouth agape.
Taking a deep breath, Zoey shook her head, trying to distract herself from DJ's strange behaviour and raising her gun, regarding the teenage male through the cope once again. Lining up her shot once more, she paused.
"Oh but he's so cute." she whispered to herself, using the scope of her gun to check out DJ's muscular shoulders and generally attractive physique.
He really was attractive, Zoey thought as she lowered her gun once more. Definitely more attractive than at least half of the guys at her high school, and he was nice too! The guys that she'd been to school with were all humongous jerks who liked to street race down main street every Friday night, and they weren't always friendly to those who weren't into it. Ah, small town charm.
"Focus, Zoey!" the redhead whispered to herself, raising her gun yet again and lining up a shot with the scope.
But she still didn't fire. Instead, she leaned forward, trying to get as close as she could to her target to ensure the most accurate shot.
CRACK!
She stepped on a twig and snapped it in half, immediately getting DJ's attention. Holding her breath and keeping absolutely still, she prayed he wouldn't bolt, but alas he did, bounding on all fours off into the woods. She fired a few shots after him, but he was moving too fast for her, and had disappeared into the undergrowth by the time her paintballs exploded against the treeline.
"Darn." Zoey said to herself, secretly glad that she hadn't actually shot her new crush.
Gwen was almost caught off-guard when she saw a head of brown hair with a camouflage hat atop it. Catching her breath, she ducked behind a tree as fast as she could. Keeping perfectly still, she stood with her eyes closed, hardly breathing in the hopes that the hunter she'd seen hadn't noticed her and would just pass her by.
After a moment, she heard footsteps getting uncomfortably close to her hiding spot, and with her breath in her throat, she slid down the trunk of the tree and began to crawl, prone, through the bushes and towards safety.
Risking a glance, she paused and peeked out through the undergrowth at the hunter who was nearby, but all she could see was tan arms and a blue shirt. Not wanting to get too close, she continued on her way through the bushes trying to escape the hunter.
What she didn't expect was to come face to face with a nesting duck.
A very angry, hostile and violent mama duck.
The bird made a frightening hissing sound, and lunged for Gwen's face with a quack. Gwen gritted her teeth to bear the pain as the duck lunged at her face a second time, and then a third, her attempts to back up only slamming her body into the trunk of a nearby bush.
"Screw this." Gwen said quietly, getting to her feet and sprinting off into the woods, desperate to escape the hissing duck.
But not without attracting the attention of the nearby hunter, and initiating a pursuit through the forest.
Bridgette turned to her ginger-haired boyfriend. "Do you think Mike has been acting kind of weird lately?"
"Dunno." Scott said with a shrug. "Sure. Why?"
"I'm just wondering if. . ." Bridgette trailed off.
"Wondering what?" Scott prompted the girl.
"Nothing important."
"You can tell me anything. You know that, right?" Scott said with a gentle smile at the girl.
"It's not really my place to tell. . ." Bridgette said, rubbing her arm awkwardly and offering her boyfriend a smile.
"I won't tell anyone. You can trust me." Scott said with a smile, before pausing and looking slightly disappointed. "But if you don't think you can trust me with the secret, that's okay."
"Oh, I trust you completely!" Bridgette assured the ginger haired teen. "It's just not my secret to tell. You understand, right?"
Scott sighed sadly. "Yeah, I get it."
Bridgette took one look at the devastated look on Scott's face and caved. "Fine, but you have to promise me that you'll never tell another soul about this."
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Scott said, crossing his fingers behind his back.
"Okay." Bridgette said, hesitating for a moment and biting her lip. "Mike has multiple personality disorder. He's been acting weird around me lately, and I was wondering if maybe it's just another of his personalities."
"Could be." Scott said, uncrossing his fingers behind his back.
Confessional
"Interesting." Scott said with a smirk. "Very interesting."
After Tyler had gone off on his own, the rest of the Bass had agreed that teaming up was probably not the best option and had all gone their separate ways to cover the most ground in the woods.
"Gosh, there is a lot of ground to cover in these woods." Harold commented to himself as he continued down a trail. He could have sworn that he'd seen the same tree with the fork in it an hour ago, but Camp Wawanakwa was a pretty dilapidated place with an unknown history, so he wouldn't have been surprised if there were several trees with forks stuck in them.
"What took you so long?" Heather asked in a tone of annoyance, glaring at the uber-geek.
"I was supposed to come and find you?" Harold asked in confusion, giving the queen bee a blank look.
"Well obviously." Heather snapped, looking extremely displeased. Glancing around, her frown lines deepened. "Where's Beth?"
Harold's mouth was hanging agape as he shrugged. "Probably hunting."
"Ugh, idiot!" Heather rolled her eyes. "Well we'll have to make do without her for now."
"Why? What are we doing?"
"I'm staying right here. You're going to get me some berries."
"But I'm supposed to be hunting-" Harold began to protest.
"Now!" Heather demanded, shooting the uber-geek a death glare.
Harold sighed in defeat. "Okay."
Tyler lined up his shot. The dark haired musician was perfectly in his sights. He had a clear shot. Taking a deep breath, his index finger resting on the trigger, he prepared to fire.
But when he pulled the trigger, it didn't shoot.
Bewildered, Tyler pulled at the trigger again, but still no paintballs fired. He tried to rattle the trigger but nothing was firing. Shaking the gun, he tried to force the trigger to go, but still nothing happened.
Suddenly, there were several splat!s, and Trent bolted, fleeing from the purple paint that was flying around the clearing as Izzy swung in on a vine, lighting up the trees as she called out some gleeful war cries. Swinging back and forth in the clearing, Izzy continued to light up all the trees just for fun.
"HA! Take that you oxygen-producing freaks!" Izzy cried out, letting go of the vine-mid air and catching onto another one that was hanging nearby, swinging off in Trent's direction. "You're next, Trent!"
Tyler lowered his paintball gun again and put his face close to it to inspect it.
"Haha! I've got you now!" Alejandro said, suddenly appearing in the clearing, pointing his gun at Tyler and looking through the scope. After a second, he lowered his gun. "You're not a deer. My apologies, amigo."
"Oh man, you scared me for a moment there!" Tyler said with a grin, standing up. "I thought I was a total goner!"
"No worries, no harm was done." Alejandro said kindly.
Tyler relaxed his grip on his gun. "Have you shot anyone yet?"
"Not yet." Alejandro said.
"Me either." Tyler said with a sigh, lowering his gun to rest against his thigh. "I think my gun's jammed. It won't fire."
"That's a shame, amigo." Alejandro said with a frown. "Would you like me to take a look?"
"Sure." Tyler said with a shrug, surrendering his weapon to the rival team's hunter.
Alejandro hooked his own gun over his shoulder and turned Tyler's gun over in his hands, regarding it with an interested expression. With a small almost-victorious smile, Alejandro discovered the problem. "You seem to have left the safety on."
"Oh, really? Thanks dude!" Tyler said with a grateful grin. "Thanks for helping me! You are one cool dude!"
"Anything for a friend." Alejandro said, handing the gun back towards the hunter it belonged to.
"I totally owe you, one, dude!" Tyler said with a grin. Unfortunately, as Tyler accepted the gun, Alejandro accidentally touched the trigger and fired a paintball right into Tyler's thigh.
The jock cried out in agony as he dropped to the ground. "OW! Charlie horse!"
"Are you alright?" Alejandro asked, feigning concern to cover his amusement. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for it to go off. Is there anything I can do?"
"Oh no, I'm good." Tyler assured him, not suspecting a thing as he got to his feet, observing the orange paint splatter on his thigh. "I'm used to getting hit by stuff. I play a lot of full contact sports, you know."
"I still feel terrible. This is all my fault, I shouldn't have taken the safety off until the gun was safely in your hands." Alejandro said, looking apologetic.
"Nah, man, it's all good." Tyler said, getting to his feet and grinning to show Alejandro that he was fine. "I recover really quickly."
"Well, I wish you the best of luck in the competition." Alejandro said, dipping his head to the other boy before disappearing into the forest with his paintball gun.
Cameron was moving through the woods, terrified that he was going to get shot by some person or other.
Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps – fast moving footsteps coming towards him. His heart racing and his eyes wide with fear, he pressed his body up against a tree to hide from whoever it was that was coming through the woods in his direction.
The individual didn't notice him as they sprinted past as fast as they possibly could, weaving in and out of the trees. Cameron held his breath as he glanced after the runner after they went by him, and saw another deer – Trent – sprinting as fast as he could.
Not hearing any other sounds from the direction that Trent had just come, Cameron turned back to lean against the tree and was confronted with a rather terrifying sight.
"Boo!" Izzy said, giggling playfully as she hung upside down from a vine in a manner that quite reminded Cameron of Spiderman. Or at least, it would have, had the girl's sudden appearance not scared the poor bubble boy half to death.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Cameron shrieked, collapsing momentarily against the side of the tree, clutching his chest because of how fast his heart was now beating. But it only took a moment before he was able to regain enough of a response from his brain before he scrambled to his feet and took off running from the ginger haired psycho hosebeast.
"Hahaha!" Izzy cried out gleefully as she swung closer to the tree then used her legs like a spring to push off, gaining momentum as she swung to another vine, abandoning her former prey – Trent – in order to pursue her teammate Cameron instead. Giggling maniacally, she fired a few paintballs in the direction that Cameron was running as she swung after him. "Izzy loves to chase! Haha!"
As Alejandro made his way through the woods, trying to locate some of his targets, he spied movement through the trees. Narrowing his eyes, he raised his gun and hastily moved forward to investigate, making sure to stay out of sight.
Glancing from his hiding place, Alejandro was disappointed to see another hunter – Tyler , again– instead of a deer. Lowering his paintball gun, he regarded the other teen with a bewildered expression.
Tyler had halted in his tracks and suddenly pressed himself against a tree as though to hide. Tyler peeked out from behind the tree to check on his target, and Alejandro was even more confused by what he saw. Tyler was supposed to be a hunter – so why was he hiding?"
"What is he doing?" Alejandro said to himself aloud as he watched the teen in the red jogging suit.
But before Alejandro had time to ponder what in the world Tyler was doing, he got something of an answer.
"What is taking so long?!" Heather's voice snapped, and Alejandro saw a few flashes of white above the undergrowth – Heather's antlers – as the queen bee moved closer to her target.
Alejandro smirked with satisfaction as he realized that Heather was indeed a deer for the duration of the game. "How very interesting."
"I'm collecting berries like you told me to -" Harold's voice responded, but he was cut off by the sound of a slap of flesh against flesh and then small thuds of many tiny objects – presumably the berries he'd been collecting for Heather – hit the ground. "Gosh."
"Did you find Beth yet?" Heather snapped again.
"No, I've been looking for berries for you like you told me." Harold's voice responded again.
"Shut it, dweeb!"
But instead of firing at the raven haired beauty – who he didn't have a clear shot of, so would have been a mistake to do so anyway, Alejandro was distracted by Tyler, who was looking increasingly distressed as Harold and Heather neared his hiding spot.
"Heather-" Harold's voice began, but he wasn't permitted to finish his sentence.
"Shut up!" Heather snapped, and the antlers halted in place for a moment. "Don't you remember our little agreement?"
Alejandro couldn't resist the smirk that temporarily graced his attractive face at the threat in Heather's tone. But it vanished completely when Tyler interrupted Harold and Heather's conversation by tripping on a tree root and stumbling into the clearing.
"Tyler?" Harold asked in confusion.
"Oh – uh – hey guys!" Tyler said quickly, and Alejandro could hear the nervousness in his voice as he spoke to his teammates. "I – uh – good to – uh – good luck!"
And without another word, Tyler sprinted off in the other direction, vanishing from sight.
Confessional
"Heather and Harold have a 'little' arrangement?" Alejandro asked the confessional camera, looking intrigued. "Tyler seems rather nervous, almost as though he knows something he shouldn't. Perhaps Heather and Harold are secretly dating?" Alejandro made a face at his own suggestion. "That manipulative minx would never – ahh, no, no, no. Patience."
Fleeing from the angry mama duck and a rival team's hunter, Gwen dodged behind trees as she made her way through the forest as the occasional paintball splattered against the trees around her. Someone was aiming for her and from the glimpses of purple paint she kept catching out of the corner of her eyes as she ran, she was willing to wager that it was a Thrashing Bear on her tail.
Running as fast as she can, she veered right and hurried down a short path, trying to minimize the sound she was making crashing through the bushes in a desperate bid to escape.
After several feet, the splatter of paint against the trees began to get fainter. Still desperate to not get shot, she quickly ditched the path and continued into the forest, relieved that the shots were growing fainter.
Still intent to put some distance between her and her hunter, she burst into a clearing and suddenly her world came to a crashing halt.
Or at least her body did. Her foot catching on a raised root, Gwen's body twisted off course and she hit the ground with a painful thud! Struggling to catch her breath, which had been forcibly taken from her, she put her hands on the ground, her head still reeling.
"Aw crap!" Gwen said to herself when she tried to move into a sitting position and pain shot up her leg.
"Two hours of sneaking around in the woods and I haven't shot a darned thing. What kind of messed up person actually does this for fun?" LeShawna said aloud to herself as she made her way through the forest with her gun that was still fully loaded with Bass orange paint.
The signature click-clack sound of a spray paint bottle being shaken suddenly caught her attention, and she halted in place, peering through the bushes at the perpetrator of the sound.
Squinting, she found the other person was standing too far away for her to see them clearly. Eyeing them through the scope didn't help much.
With a shrug, she lined up her shot and fired, hitting her target, who cried out angrily at being shot. With a sigh, she approached the person and was disappointed to find she'd shot one of her own teammates.
"I knew I shouldda gone to the optometrist before I came out here!" LeShawna said. "Heh, sorry about that."
"What the hell?" Duncan replied, angered that he'd been shot and by one of his own teammates at that. "You did that on purpose!"
"You're crazy." LeShawna said, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. "Look, I said I was sorry. Don't be giving me that stink-eye!"
"You shot me – you're lucky I don't have one of those things too."
"Do you want to start something, white boy?" LeShawna asked, getting up in his face.
"What if I do?" He asked, not backing down either.
"Bring it! I'll show you what's what." LeShawna said.
"Whatever." Duncan said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "I'm out of here."
And with that, he turned and stalked off into the brush, with LeShawna calling after him. "Yeah, that's right! You walk away, tough guy!"
He'd hesitated to stop when the paint firing stopped, because he didn't trust that Izzy wasn't being sneaky, but after he heard the redhead's war cries growing fainter, indicating that she'd gone in the other direction, he let himself slow back down to a walk.
And it was a good thing he was walking, or else he might have tripped over the pretty goth girl that was sitting up against a tree, just out of plain sight at the edge of a clearing.
"Ow, watch it!" Gwen said, grimacing as she moved her leg away from the musician's path.
"Oh, hey, didn't see you there." Trent said with a small smile. Glancing down at the leaves in her hair and then noticing that she had taken off one of her knee-high boots, he frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine." Gwen said with a nod. "But I fell and I think I twisted my ankle."
"Do you want me to help you get back to camp?" Trent offered, holding out his hand to the goth girl. "The challenge should be over soon. If we get started now, we'll have lots of time to get back."
"Okay." Gwen said with a nod. "Thanks for helping me."
"Oh, no problem. I'd do it for anyone." Trent responded.
Confessional
"Stupid stupid stupid!" Trent said, hitting himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand each time he said 'stupid'.
"Where have you been?!" Heather irritated tone snapped, getting the bookworm's attention. Peeking out from his hiding place where he remained with his book, he saw Heather standing over Beth with her hands on her hips, glaring down her nose at the girl. Harold stood with the duo too, a few paces behind Heather.
"I've been hunting." Beth told the queen bee, who snorted angrily.
"You were supposed to come and find me!" Heather told the girl. "Hello, alliance anyone?"
"Actually-" Harold began.
"Zip it, dweeb!" Heather cut him off, before snapping her fingers impatiently. "Come on, let's go."
"Okay." Beth and Harold sighed in defeated unison.
Noah was momentarily startled when someone opened fire on the trio, but relief flooded him as he realized that the paint hitting the three campers was green, so it had to have come from a gopher gun.
"Who's there?!" Heather cried out angrily, her dark eyes scanning the treeline for the culprit.
"Gracias, chika." Alejandro said with a smirk as he stepped out of the forest after having covered all three of the Bass in a reasonable amount of green paint. As Alejandro did a dramatic sweeping bow, Noah couldn't help feeling like he was watching an eel. There was just something about the Latino male that he didn't trust.
"Ugh! You!" Heather groaned, losing her temper over the attractive Latino male before her. Extending her hand to her teammates, she snapped an order. "Beth, give me your gun! Now!"
"Adios, chika!" Alejandro called smugly as he vanished into the treeline before Heather had the chance to snatch the gun from Beth's hands.
Hat atop his head, Mike made his way through the woods with his gun, trying to find his target. He'd seen them take off into the woods and he'd chased after them, but then they'd just up and vanished. Retracing his steps, he'd managed to find the spot where his target had veered off the trail and gone their own way.
Unfortunately, his time spent searching the woods was also time he'd spent pondering his friendship with Bridgette and Bridgette's character in general. He really wasn't sure if she was the nice, caring person he'd initially thought her to be. After what Scott had said to him the other day – it was enough to make him wonder.
Perhaps it had been a mistake to trust her, but it was too late now. She already knew his deepest, darkest secret and if she intended to use that against him – to manipulate and blackmail him with that knowledge, he couldn't stop her now.
Or maybe he hadn't made a mistake. He really wasn't sure when it came to Bridgette. She seemed like a nice, sweet girl, but lately he was having some doubts. Maybe that was the real her after all, and the game was just getting to her?
Or something?
Ugh, not knowing where he stood with her was almost as frustrating as having huge gaps in his memory from when his alternates took control.
"Nice and easy, there we go." A male voice from ahead prompted Mike to resurface from his thoughts, and he lowered into a crouch as he approached the area. Peering through the trees, he almost dropped his gun when he saw Trent and Gwen walking side by side, Trent's arm around Gwen's waist.
Bridgette had told him that Gwen liked him, and now she was with Trent? Just like Bridgette had told him that Zoey was with Trent and then she was flirting with DJ.
Did she just get her lovers crossed, or had she give him false information on purpose?
Just what exactly was Bridgette playing at?
The hiss of spray paint filled the forest as Duncan spray painted a skull on yet another of the trees in the woods of Camp Wawanakwa.
"Isn't your own team playing with orange paint?" Courtney's voice asked as the CIT regarded the punk from several feet away, her hands on her hips.
"I'm flattered you care enough to know what colour paint my team is using." Duncan said with a smirk.
Courtney rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Well I'm heading back. This stupid game must be almost over by now."
"You're going the wrong way." Duncan told the girl in a very matter-of-fact manner as she made to continue in the direction he'd come from.
"Um excuse me?" Courtney replied, almost offended that he would doubt her judgement. "I was a CIT, remember? I have a natural sense of direction. Camp is this way."
Courtney pointed past Duncan, but he shook his head. "No, it's that way."
Both teens rolled their eyes in annoyance at one another and moved to continue on in the direction they were intending to head when they collided, somehow managing to tangle up both sets of antlers.
"Very funny." Courtney said, struggling with her antlers. "Now let me go."
"Hey princess, this isn't my idea of fun either."
"Great, Duncan." Courtney said, clearly annoyed by their predicament.
Confessional
"Sure, we could have taken those lame-o antler hats off but miss counsellor-in-training would probably go blab to Chris and have us both disqualified." Duncan said. "And hey, I kinda liked it."
"Now what?!" Courtney asked in annoyance as the duo continued to struggle to free their antlers.
"Wanna make out?" Duncan asked with a smile.
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you."
The soft spoken voice scared Noah half to death. "Ah! Oh, it's just you."
"I foresee misfortune down this path." Dawn told him, falling into step beside him.
"Good for you." Noah said, the disinterest in his tone apparent.
"I would not advise following this trail-"
"Then don't." Noah said sharply.
Dawn shrugged. "Suit yourself."
And without another word, she vanished into the undergrowth and was gone.
It crossed his mind for about half a second that perhaps he oughtn't have been so stubborn and should have actually listened to her, as Scott appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on him. But then he heard a second paintball gun firing in the woods near to where Dawn had vanished and he suspected that despite her 'predictions', she had not fared any better than he had.
"Okay, I'm hit!" Noah said as Scott continued to fire paintballs at him, exploding against his body one after another and drenching him in purple paint. "You can stop now!"
But it wasn't until one of the paintballs struck Noah in a very sensitive place that made him gasp for breath and drop to his knees that Scott chuckled with amusement and ceased his onslaught against the bookworm.
Suddenly a nearby loudspeaker crackled to life.
"Attention human-wildlife and hunters, please report back to camp! It's time to show your hides and tally up the scores."
"Swinging on vines. Twisting your ankle. Shooting yourself in the thigh. Tut tut tut. Do you know what I see here?" Chris asked, walking in front of the teens – several of which were drenched in paint. "I see a very undisciplined group. I see a disgraceful mess. I see a massive waste of paint product! And I have to say . . . that was awesome!" The whole group let out a unified sigh of relief. "When you guys opened fire on your own team, wicked TV guys!"
"Hey, where are Duncan and Courtney?" Harold asked, but a nearby Sadie nudged him in the ribs and pointed to the approaching pair, who were still locked together by their antlers.
"Oh, this is too much." Gwen said with a smirk.
"Duncan, you sly dog you." Cody said with a chuckle of amusement.
"What can I say? The girl can't keep her antlers off me." Duncan said, smirking with amusement. He wasn't prepared for Courtney to aim a kick at his family jewels for said offence, and was unable to block in time. His voice got high pitched and his eyes began to water. "Can't even bend over."
"Easy Courtney." Chris said. "Our medical tent is really only equipped for one and Gwen's ankle is pretty messed up."
"The nurse said it wasn't that bad!" Gwen said, looking alarmed by Chris's statement.
"There you go." Bridgette said as she and Duncan's teammate Geoff helped the duo untangled their antlers.
"Hmph." Courtney said, turning her back to Duncan with an annoyed expression. Glancing at her teammate, she smiled. "Thanks Bridgette."
"Anytime." The surfer said with a smile.
"Well, since five members of the Killer Bass are dripping in paint, and most of them aren't even deer, I think we know who we'll be seeing at the campfire ceremony tonight." Chris said.
"What's the matter, amigo?" Alejandro asked Tyler, who was shifty-eyed and looked extremely nervous. "You seem like you have something on your mind – would you like to get it off your chest?"
"I don't know dude." Tyler said, shrugging with poorly feigned nonchalance.
"I helped you fix your gun. You could consider it owing me one?"
"Since only one member of the Thrashing Bears is covered in paint and it's their own team's paint, I declare them the winners of this challenge." Chris said, evoking cheers from the Bears team. "You're off to a hunting camp shindig! Bass, I'll see you at the campfire ceremony."
"Harold's a traitor to our team!" Tyler blurted out. "I overheard it with my own ears!"
"Say what now?" LeShawna asked, rounding on the uber-dweeb.
"I'm not! I swear!" Harold said, holding up his hands in surrender.
Tyler sighed with relief and turned to Alejandro. "Thanks dude, now I feel a lot better."
"Any time, amigo." Alejandro said with a grin.
"I wasn't! I swear!" Harold said.
"Just how do you know that he's a traitor?" LeShawna asked, rounding on the jock.
"I overheard him talking to Heather about it!" Tyler said.
"I was telling him not to do it again!" Heather quickly said, glaring Alejandro, who was standing beside Tyler smirking.
"You knew, Queenie?" LeShawna rounded on Heather.
"Yes, and I was handling it." Heather snapped.
Confessional
"That handsome jerk!" Heather ranted, clearly ticked off that Alejandro had messed up her alliance. "This is all his fault! How dare he mess with my plans? He is SO going down!"
"I mean, seriously? Opening fire on our own team?" Heather asked, looking around at her teammates as they sat in front of the fire. "It's like you're trying to lose!"
"There are only eight marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper-"
"Who does not receive a marshmallow must immediately return to the dock of shame, catch the boat of loser and leave. Can't we just get this over with?" Gwen asked, cutting off Chris to go through the elimination spiel at double the speed.
"Fine, whatever. Spoil the moment." Chris said, annoyed as he began calling names and tossing marshmallows out to the teens. "Geoff. DJ."
The two teenage males caught their marshmallows with ease and looked relieved.
"LeShawna."
One more camper saved.
"Duncan."
One less camper at risk.
"Beth."
The farm girl caught her marshmallow with a look of relief.
"Heather, Tyler, Harold and Gwen, you are our bottom four. Two of you received votes tonight – but which two? Harold, you betrayed your team. Gwen, you twisted your ankle pretty badly and could be more of a burden than a help in future challenges-"
"Gee, thanks for pointing that out." The goth said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Heather, you have been keeping some pretty big secrets from your team. And Tyler, you spilled the beans on the whole shebang. Each one of you deserves to go home tonight."
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"Gwen, you are safe."
The goth sighed with relief.
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"Tyler, you are safe."
The jock caught his marshmallow with a look of relief.
"Heather and Harold, you are our bottom two tonight. But the one going home tonight is. . ."
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"Harold. Heather, you are safe."
Heather stood up as she caught her marshmallow, incensed by her teammates' having voted for her.
"You are all lucky! Very lucky!" Heather snapped, glaring at her teammates accusingly, trying to determine which of the lot had voted for her.
"Harold, get your things and make your way to the dock of shame. You'll find the boat of losers waiting for you there."
Harold sighed with defeat. "Okay."
As Harold packed his possessions, Tyler walked into the cabin. The rest of the teens were at the mess hall, but Tyler wanted to talk to Harold and apologize for spilling his secret.
"I gotta say, thank you for telling everyone the truth." Harold said, dipping his head in gratitude.
"What?" Tyler asked in confusion.
"Heather was forcing me to go against my moral code and made me do and say things I didn't feel was right. She told me that everyone would vote me off if they knew – she was right, but I made the mistake of sacrificing my honour for money. I'm so ashamed."
"It's cool, dude. Sorry for ratting you out. I'm not good with secrets. To the extreme."
"It's okay. You have helped preserve my honour." Harold said with a smile. "I thought I was being honourable when I let Sadie out of the freezer after she got locked in, but in the end it still affected my moral compass negatively."
"Wait, that's all you did to betray the team?"
"Yeah. Didn't you know?"
"Dude, that's not betraying your team. That's helping out a person in need. Doesn't matter if they're on the other team or not, dude."
"I should have known that Heather was manipulating me." Harold said with a sigh. "I should go."
"Sorry about everything, dude!"
"Me too." Harold said with a smile. "And for the record, I hope you win."
"Thanks dude, me too."
And with that, the dweeb was gone from the cabin, on his way to the dock of shame.
The Votes:
"LeShawna shot me and we lost. She should be the one kicked off tonight." Duncan said, still angry about getting shot. "I vote for miss ghetto
Static.
"Sure, Harold betrayed our team but Heather kept it a secret from everyone. Plus she's probably the bossiest, nastiest person in the game. I vote for her." Gwen said.
Static.
"I vote for myself. I let Heather compromise my honour. I should go home." Harold said.
Static.
"That scrawny punk white boy had the nerve to threaten me and get all up in my face, but I vote for Heather. She should have told the team when she found out that Harold was a traitor."
Static.
"I vote for Harold. Dude is a traitor – Tyler said so himself." Geoff said.
Static.
"Heather told me to vote for Harold." Beth said. "But what I don't get is why she let Harold be in the alliance if he's a traitor to the team."
Static.
"I feel bad for being the one to rat him out to the team, but he's a traitor, so I vote for Harold." Tyler said.
Static.
"Ugh, Tyler is so going down for this. Messing up my alliance – who does he think he is?!" Heather asked, angrily. "Now I have to cover my own butt by for voting for Harold. While he's still of use to me! Urgh!"
Static.
"I don't know, man. Betraying your own team is pretty whack." DJ said. "I guess I vote for Harold."
Votes:
LeShawna: 1
Heather: 2
Harold: 6
Eliminated so far:
37th: Katie
36th: Staci
35th: Sierra
34th: Sam
33rd: Eva
32nd: Owen
31st: B
30th/29th: Lindsay & Ezekiel
28th: Justin
27th: Brick
26th: Dakota
25th: Anne Maria
24th: Harold
Still in the Game:
Screaming Gophers: Dawn, Alejandro, Noah, Cody, Trent, Zoey, Jo
Killer Bass: Duncan, LeShawna, Geoff, Gwen, Heather, Beth, Tyler, DJ
Thrashing Bears: Sadie, Cameron, Courtney, Scott, Lightning, Izzy, Bridgette, Mike
Constructive criticism always appreciated! Please review!
I'm also going to be rewriting the Loser Chronicles because I don't like its current direction. It won't affect the main storyline but it's just something that those who are following both TDIR and TDIR: the Loser Chronicles should be aware of.
Also, guess who's going paintballing this weekend? Yeah, you guessed it. This girl! XD Wish me luck!