Author's Note
Here we are once again dear readers, drawing ever closer to the finale! Next week will mark the end of the fourth quarter of the season's bulk, setting up for the final Aftermath and final two episodes. Episode 23 is...mostly finished, though since I still have the entire musical bit to get through I'll admit to being a bit nervous about being able to finish everything on Saturday.
But, as always, it will work out. For now, let's get to this week's reviews!
Elizabeth Fire Ice Heart: Thanks! Always nice to hear someone rooting for a contestant so much.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Thank you, as always. I hope you enjoy the rest of the season.
CVluvFoxy: Hey, glad you liked it more than the canon episode. And yeah, even I've felt that there are several ways this finale can turn out. Hopefully what I end up going with will be good.
Glowing Insanity: Glad I was able to keep things tense for you! And yeah, you're not the only one who was hoping for Ezekiel to go a little bit further - it was a tough decision to eliminate him.
DSX62415: Looks like I accomplished some major goals, then - I avoided anyone going feral, and Ezekiel is still better off than canon. I hope you enjoy these last few episodes.
PizzaTheBomb: Haha, I'm glad you like it so much! The last line of the bonus clip especially, I wasn't sure how well that would go over. Also super glad you enjoyed the song since I wasn't really certain about it, though I say that about all my original musical numbers. Interesting elimination predictions as always, but I won't spoil what happens next.
Animation Adventures: Yup, Zeke really did well this season, even more so than I expected despite having an inkling of an idea about him lasting this long pretty early on. I'm happy you enjoyed the flow of the challenge too, I made it a point to keep track of everyone's tranq balls so everything would be straight and there would be a reason for the bulk of them to keep changing hands. And yeah, you're absolutely right about me basically dropping the ball on Ella and Sugar's relationship - I should have shown it more, both in terms of Ella being friendly and Sugar hating/resenting in return. Unfortunately, I ended up paying more attention to their other relationships, in part because the idea of Sugar convincing Ella to vote for someone after Sugar's true colors were revealed hadn't occurred to me until later in the season. And as for what will become of Tyler and Ella in this season, and Staci in future seasons...I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and find out.
Guest: Yeah, I kinda feel bad too - as I tried to explain, it was a tough calling choosing to eliminate him in last week's episode. But I am glad I did so well with him, and I'm glad I made him one of your favorites in the story.
ljninja: Well, all I can say is that I'm glad you liked the chapter, and that I hope you enjoyed what's left of the season.
bruno14: Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy this week's episode.
FOWLKON: Glad you enjoyed Condor! It's one of my favorite canon songs too. Glad to know you're looking forward to that bit in Drumheller as well...
P. T. Piranha: I see, I see. I wouldn't call it a mercy elimination myself, but I can kinda see why you would. And yeah, things right now are pretty strategy-heavy, even moreso than the canon season I'd say. Canon was basically just one big power struggle between Heather and Alejandro from start to finish, where in this season we have Alejandro, Sugar, formerly Scott, and of course those who have been generally opposed to all villainous parties at one point or another. But like you said, it makes readers pay attention so they can follow what's going on with the vote which is a plus.
kaijudude1000: Haha, thanks for such a high rating. Looks like I've successfully made Sugar into a good villain this season.
Knifez: Thanks, glad to hear you were surprised and that you enjoyed how the challenge ended up. Regarding Tyler not being a target, I definitely agree that at the very least Alejandro would prefer him gone over Ezekiel for exactly the reason you listed - without Tyler to bridge the gap between them, Ella and Ezekiel would struggle to work together - and I did consider including a confessional to that effect, but ended up not finding room for it since I wanted to keep the suspense about who Sugar had asked Ella to vote for...which also allowed me to dither a bit on making the decision myself, which ended up just being what made the most sense to me. As for Sugar's vote, I felt it was high time she actually tried to get Ella out again, even if it wasn't strictly the most strategic option - she's not meant to be 100% logical all the time, after all. Which would then mean that Alejandro would have to vote for someone other than Tyler, as he would never knowingly waste his vote. And between Ella, Zeke, and either himself or Sugar, Ezekiel was the best option.
COME to think of it I can at least imagine a sequence where Sugar suggested Ella vote Tyler, but Ella tries to argue for voting Alejandro or Ezekiel instead, but Sugar says that voting Tyler would better show that Ella means it because Ella has legitimate reasons to vote for Al and Zeke (what with the 'break up' and the argument earlier in the episode). But hey, none of that occurred to me at the time, so even though it would've worked pretty well I decided to go with what I felt made more sense at the time. Maybe if I ever do a 'What If?' series of my own I could revisit this elimination.
I won't say anything about the finale right now, but I will say that I can see what you mean about this cast starting to get a little bit bland - though it's at a fairly good time, though, since everything is starting to wrap up. Also, like you I'm pretty excited to introduce the new cast, since it's a fairly...interesting mix of characters, to say the least.
mitchn: Thanks! Unfortunately, you shouldn't expect a Shuffled RR anytime in the near future since there's a lot of other things I'm going to have to do so I won't really have time for this series once Total Shuffled Pahkitew Island is over.
Ddynamo: Thank you, and like I've said eliminating Ezekiel last week was a tough decision. Also thanks for telling me about my labeling mistake; I've already gone back and corrected both chapters.
I. M. Poik: Well, glad you liked the episode even if you had to deal with your worst fear being realized. The ending to the challenge was meant to be hinted at a little bit by the baboon picking up the tranq ball, though I'll admit I deliberately didn't show the baboons in between to keep everyone in suspense. And yeah, we've got a pretty strong split in the Final Four, with many potential paths to the finale. It's...gonna be an interesting (and tough to write) next few episodes, that's for sure.
Explorer of the Unknown: Thanks! To be honest I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with Ezekiel coming in to the season, but I'm glad at how he turned out. I'm a little sad to see him go myself, but at least i think I can say I did him good.
OMAC001: Yup! Ella needed to see Sugar for who she is, that's for sure. I hope you enjoy what happens next!
wifishark: Yeah, I'm glad I was able to do so well with Zeke. And I'm glad you're keeping an open mind about the finale, I hope you enjoy it no matter what happens.
Star Saber21: Haha, yeah, you gotta watch out for those baboons. And yeah, Ezekiel's end was sad, but at least he had a good run. I hope you enjoy what happens this week!
StayOuttaMyShed: Whew, lots to say here I think...I'll start by saying that the review glitch was super freaking annoying on my end, since I like reading reviews as they come in but they weren't showing up on the website and the longer ones get cut-off in the e-mail alerts. But luckily it was fixed earlier in the week.
Regarding Ella, I guess all I can say is that different people enjoy different characters? So although you and a few others like Knifez are annoyed by Ella's quirks, others find her likable and rootable. I don't think there's anything wrong with either opinion, it's just a difference of it.
Regarding Staci, I'll admit that I wish I did more with her, and at least made her angrier or more disagreeable to getting captured (at least until she was properly worn out first). I think that when I was writing the chapter two weeks ago, I just cared more about setting up the elimination - Staci getting captured was just a necessary triviality that i didn't want to focus on more than I needed to.
Regarding the ending to the challenge and what Ezekiel did, I will admit that it wasn't until late into the chapter that I made the final decision between eliminating him or Tyler. Had I decided to go with Tyler, I would have just had Ezekiel win the challenge straight-up. But I didn't, and figured that the scene of him taking out Alejandro would at least be a cool scene even if it didn't mean much (though it did factor into the votes being split). And about the miscommunication being an ass-pull, well, pretty much anything that wasn't eliminating Alejandro or possibly Sugar would've required an ass-pull of some degree. I had hoped it would be believable that Tyler and Zeke would just assume they were on the same page without having some extended scene to address it, but I guess I wasn't entirely right.
Regarding Alejandro and the decision to stop considering him for elimination, it wasn't entirely due to the song but I will admit that the song was basically the deciding factor. Remember, I write each chapter in a week, with nearly all the work being done in three or four days - I don't really have time to dither when I have multiple options. The girls were never considered for reasons I don't want to go into right now, and an Alejandro elimination would require a bigger focus on his interactions with Ella and Sugar in order to wrap everything up in a satisfying way. Contrast that with Tyler and Ezekiel, whose eliminations could both have followed reasonably from the events of last week. So since I was still debating Tyler and Ezekiel and wanted to do a shuffled version of Condor anyway, Alejandro was the first boy to be dismissed as an elimination choice.
The song...yeah, honestly, I see why you didn't like it. I know it's not one of my better works, and in fact while I was writing it at one point I tried to scrap it and start over, only to hate the second version more than the first. And so with only limited time to write, I figured that the first version wasn't awful at least.
And honestly, yeah, a lot of what you would have described is how the 'Tyler gets 5th place' would go down. Like I told Knifez, maybe one day I'll do some kind of alternate look at how things could have gone differently or something. But until then...well, I hope you'll find at least some kind of enjoyment in these last few episodes, at least.
And one last thing? Thanks for the critique. It does help me to be a better writer (most of the time, anyway), and it also gives me a better insight into what my reviewers like. Although I will admit that at this point, I pretty much assume that no matter what I decide with something big that I'll get some big critique about it from somebody.
Joel Connell: Hey, no worries about the late review. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! And yeah, you're definitely not alone in your hope that Ezekiel would make it to the Final Four, but ultimately I just decided against it. I will say that I'm looking forward to the second casts' introduction, and the third's introduction by default as well. Only five more weeks after today...
And wow, that's finally out of the way...sorry it's taken so long to get the chapter out. Like always the TVTropes page for this series could always use more work, and I greatly appreciate the effort everyone has put into it so far and I look forward to what you all add next. Also like always, here are the remaining contestants in case you need a refresher:
Boys - Alejandro, Tyler
Girls - Ella, Sugar
And thus we arrive in the land of moai and condors! Enjoy.
- Fangren
Episode 22 – Rapa Phooey!
"Last time, on Total Drama World Tour!" Chris opened, the recap beginning with a pan across the Serengeti ending in the castmates reacting with shock. "Africa! Come for the safari, stay for the near-death experience!" The host adopted a vaguely 'African' accent for the next line, as clips of the baboons, rhino, and lion were shown.
"Here we played a few rounds of the world's favorite game," he said over portions of Ella and Ezekiel getting hit by soccer balls. "And then, we went on a wild Staci hunt!" The wolfish young woman was shown popping out of a bush and narrowing her eyes at the camera, then Tyler and Ezekiel were shown charging in for their part of the so-called 'paintball massacre'. "'cept nobody told Alejandro it was open season on him!" Chris chuckled as the charmer was shown first getting tackled by Sugar, and then getting shot by Ezekiel. "Ouch!"
"Unfortunately for everybody, the person who actually won the challenge wasn't really a person," the host said over the clip of Staci getting knocked out, and the baboon snickering from the acacia branches while the rest of the cast looked shocked.
"And after a load of deception and miscommunication," Sugar was shown talking to Ella, Alejandro was shown overhearing them, and Tyler and Ezekiel were shown looking at each other with shock and dread, "Alejandro managed to get the homeschooled hero Ezekiel voted out, with the unwitting help of his ex Ella." The sobbing princess tried to console Ezekiel after the announcement of his elimination but was rebuffed, and Ezekiel was shown taking the Drop of Shame.
"Talk about harsh, eh!" Chris joked over one final shot of the remaining cast – Ella distraught, Tyler depressed, Sugar angry, and Alejandro smirking confidently.
The recap ended and the scene flashed to the cockpit. "Can it get any wilder?" Chris asked the camera. "Oh yeah it can!" he danced, the grand title tune of the season beginning unusually early. "It's Final Four time, right here on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
The camera zoomed out as usual, the final shot showing another airplane flying across in the far distance.
xxx
(Fade to Opening Theme)
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;
You guys are on my mind!
Ya asked me what I wanted to be,
And now I think the answer is plain to see!
I wanna be...famous!
I wanna live close to the sun!
Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!
Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;
I'll get there one day.
'Cause I wanna be...famous!
(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
(Fade to Episode)
xxx
A dramatic riff played over the usual opening shot of the plane in flight, and the scene cut inside to economy class as Alejandro stretched his arms up above his head and sighed happily.
"You know, despite being in loser class again I'm feeling quite comfortable," he said, the camera zooming out to show Sugar sitting nearby and Tyler and Ella on the opposite wall, the singer hugging her knees and looking quite glum.
"Speak fer yerself," Sugar said sharply. "Ella should be gone right now and you know it!"
"I disagree," Alejandro replied with an almost mocking smile. "Ezekiel was a much bigger threat to my game than Ella will ever be. Besides, I thought you'd enjoy seeing her so depressed?"
The shot quickly changed to the other pair, Tyler glaring silently but diverting his attention to Ella when she sniffed pathetically.
"Well sure," Sugar admitted as the camera moved back to her, "but I'd like her being gone even more."
"Well then," Ella said abruptly, drawing everyone's attention again as she stood up from her seat, eyes still looking downward, "if that's how it is, then I may as well just leave right now."
The eyes of Sugar and Alejandro followed her as she walked towards the door, and Tyler put out a hand too late to stop her. "Wait...," he said before hanging his head.
xxx
"Ella's been pretty messed up since Tanzania," he told the confessional camera. "Only problem is, I don't know what I can do to fix this. If I had magic powers, I could just, like, bring Zeke back or get rid of Al and Sugar, or even just make them stop being jerks. But I don't! I'm just me."
He sighed, then looked at the camera again. "And even if I could make everything better, then what? Would she finally fall in love with me? Do I even want her to? I know I want her to be happy, but I don't wanna, like, force her to go out with me if she really doesn't want to. But I don't know if I'll be happy if things keep going the way they have been..."
He held his head in his hands. "Why'd I have to fall in love with her to begin with?" he groaned. "I mean, I do love her, right? Or do I just think I do because I've always gone for the hot ones, like her? Man, why is this all so complicated all of a sudden?" He banged his head on the counter, then sat up straight and looked considerably more determined.
"But you know what, even though I have no idea what to do, I'm still gonna try," he told the camera. "I just gotta trust my instincts, just like I always do."
xxx
A sad tune began to play as the shot panned on to Ella, sitting alone in the cargo hold and singing to herself. "Why am I heeeeere? When all I've done is cause others pain? Why am I heeeeere? I don't deserve to be in this game..."
As she sang her mournful song, the silhouette of Staci looked out from behind a stack of crates in the background; she quickly slid back into hiding, however, upon hearing the sound of footsteps nearby.
"There you are!" Tyler said, entering the shot and jogging over to Ella. "I've been looking all over!"
"Why?" Ella asked. "I thought you'd be mad at me for voting for your best friend."
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not meeting her eyes. "Look, I'm not gonna say that I'm happy about it, but it doesn't feel right being mad either. Especially since you're already beating yourself up about it. Why'd you come out here anyway?"
"Oh, well," Ella told him sadly, "I just thought I'd be better off staying away from everyone so I don't make a fool out of myself again."
"Don't say that," Tyler told her with an anxious look. "Nobody thinks you're a fool. Well," he considered absentmindedly, "I guess Al and Sugar do, but I don't. Because...you're not." He put an awkward amount of emphasis on his last statement.
Ella looked at him briefly, then hung her head and sighed again. "Thank you, but I am. Alejandro had me completely fooled, and even after I found out I still let Sugar fool me too! I'm just a joke..."
"No, you're not," Tyler told her.
"Yes I am!" she replied with an unexpected fierceness. "I shouldn't even be here, the only reason I'm even in this season is because I got on the bus with everyone else like a fool, and then got lucky when the final cast was decided. And with how I've been playing, I don't deserve to be in the Final Four..."
"Oh...," Tyler said, giving her and awkwardly worried look as he held out a hand, hesitant to place it on her shoulder.
/
The scene flashed back to Sugar and Alejandro, still in economy class together.
"Hmph," Sugar snorted, "those two sure have been gone an awful long time. Whaddaya think they're talkin' about?"
"Who knows?" Alejandro shrugged cockily. "Not that it matters, of course. So long as the two of us stick together, the best they can do right now is force a tie!"
"And how do I know you won't just stab me in the back?" Sugar asked gruffly. "It ain't the first time you've sweet-talked a pretty girl into workin' with you before dumpin' her."
"Well, it's not as if you have any choice in the matter," Alejandro said with another cocky shrug, to which Sugar promptly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulled him close, and brandished her fist menacingly.
"Don't make me remind you that I ain't one to mess with," she told him, the camera zooming in as their faces became close.
"But of course!" Alejandro said with a quick and placating smile. "What I meant was that neither of us have a choice here. Neither Tyler nor Ella will be willing to work with us anymore, so unless we stick together they'll just pick one of us off."
Sugar pursed her lips as she stared at him for a moment, then let him go. "Fine," she told him. "But you'd better vote fer Ella next time, got it?"
"Got it," Alejandro smiled.
xxx
"Unless, of course, either Ella or myself win invincibility today," Alejandro told the confessional camera with a sly smile, "in which case it might just be Sugar who goes home."
xxx
"Attention passengers," Chris announced over the loudspeaker as the plane was shown beginning to descend, "please prepare for landing!"
The scene cut inside the cockpit as the host hung up the microphone and looked at Chef. "C'mon, just let me fly it once!" he pleaded to the unflinching pilot. "What can it hurt? It's technically my plane, y'know."
He reached over for the controls, but Chef quickly turned to stop him and the two grown men engaged in a slap-fight. A dramatic tune played as the jet was shown wobbling and losing altitude dramatically, cries of "Oww, my pinkie!" and "Hey!" coming from Chris and Chef inside.
The camera moved to ground-level at an island beach, a moai statue prominently in the foreground as the plane rapidly descended towards it and the camera. "Oh no! Waaaa!" Chris screamed as the plane flew forward, clipping the moai statue with its wing as it swung stage right and knocking the giant head over.
"Gosh darn it!" Chef swore from off-screen.
/
Seagulls were crying off-camera as the scene flashed forward, showing Alejandro and Sugar walking up to the fallen statue.
"Another piece of world heritage destroyed," the charmer lamented.
"Yeah, well, that ain't the only thing that's gonna be destroyed today," Sugar told him. "Assumin' she survived the landin', of course," she added, looking around the beach.
"I doubt either of our fellow contestants would have perished now," Alejandro commented, looking around as well. "Case in point..."
It was then that Tyler walked up to them with a scowl on his face. "What, did the head thingy try to be nice to you guys so you knocked it over?"
"It was like that when we got here," Alejandro said calmly. "Also, you should work on your insulting accusations. And speaking of things that are pathetic," he added, looking around as Tyler's scowl deepened and Sugar stifled a chuckle, "where's Ella? I don't see her."
Tyler's scowl promptly faded into a look of confusion, and he turned around scratched his head. "Wait, really? I thought she was right behind me!"
"I'm here," Ella said with a light sigh as she crested the dune the group was standing on. "I'm just...not feeling as high-spirited as usual, that's all."
"Good," Sugar grunted. "Your 'high spirits' were a high annoyance," she said, causing Ella to flinch.
"I don't feel quite the same way," Alejandro admitted, "but it's for the better if you don't get your hopes up since you will be eliminated today."
Tyler scowled, but gave the singer a worried look when she just sighed again.
xxx
"Alejandro has a good point," Ella admitted sadly. "Why bother trying to win when I know I don't deserve it? Maybe I should just give up now and save everyone else the trouble..."
xxx
Several more moai statues were shown dotting another stretch of beach, seagulls crying as the camera panned rightward to the four tired contestants climbing up the side of a steeper hill.
"'Iorana!" Chris greeted from off-screen once they'd reached the top, startling the four with his appearance. He had once again appropriated a local costume, now nearly naked except for a small leather loincloth, furry shinguards, and a three-tiered feather headdress in blue, red, and green. He also wore a necklace of what looked like small pebbles and a curved bone in the middle of it, and had white lines running across his cheeks and down his bare chest.
"Dude, you've been working out," Tyler commented in an odd sort of disbelief that caused a frown to briefly cross Chris' face.
"And welcome to Easter Island," he continued, resuming his usual demeanor. "Aka, Rapa Nui! The place is old," he explained. "These dudes were carved so long ago," he gestured over his shoulder at another moai, "no one even remembers why anymore! Ten bucks says it started as a dare," he said with a cheeky smile.
"Did they even have dares back then?" Tyler asked in confusion.
"Probably," Chris shrugged before continuing. "Today, you, our Final Four, are going on a highly traditional Easter Island egg hunt," he explained as the shot panned across the four teens.
"Ooh, are they gonna be chocolate Easter eggs?" Sugar asked eagerly.
"Uhh, no, I'm talkin' the old school kind of eggs," he replied, "the kind that come from birds, y'know those flying things with feathers and talons and vicious kill-you-in-a-second beaks?" The contestants gasped to varying degrees.
"Speaking of which," Chris said with a sly smile, bending over to pick up a quartet of feathered headdresses, "traditional feather Rapa Nui headdresses! Wear 'em with pride, chickens!"
He tossed them all the hands of the contestants at the same time – blue for Ella, green for Tyler, purple for Alejandro, and red for Sugar.
/
The footage skipped forward a little ways to show Chris leading the Final Four, now wearing their headdresses, past a few more stone heads that seemed to have rather...unusual shapes.
"Hidden in these head things are a bunch of colored eggs that match the color of your...head thing," the host told them.
"I can see you've maintained your high standard of research," Alejandro said dryly.
"Your challenge," Chris continued, "to find three eggs in your color. Then make a break for the massive underground cavern system and book it all the way to the highest point of the island." The camera panned away from the host as he gave his explanation, showing a nearby cave entrance first before quick-panning upwards to another cave on top of a high hill.
"Reach the top with all three eggs to begin the second part of today's challenge," the host explained as the shot cut back to him and the Final Four.
"What happens if we drop an egg?" Tyler asked.
"You'll have to come all the way back here for a replacement," Chris answered, causing Alejandro to quickly raise his hand. "And no," Chris said in anticipation of the next question, "you can not take a back-up egg." Alejandro lowered his hand in annoyance. "First to the top gets a big advantage in part two," the host said, the shot zooming out to show the backs of the contestants. "Now, scramble!"
At his command, the four turn and ran towards the stone heads.
/
A tense challenge tune was playing as Alejandro and Sugar ran up to two of the giant heads and paused to look up at them.
"These look disturbingly familiar...," Alejandro commented, the camera panning up to show that the two they were standing in front of had been carved to look like Geoff and Staci in her original appearance.
Sugar raised an eyebrow and scratched her head, then gasped and continued looking on to the right. "Well I'll be," she commented in shock as the camera panned across statues that looked like Beardo, Shawn, and Ezekiel, "it's everyone we've voted out!"
With a few grunts of effort Alejandro began climbing up a statue of Geoff, while Sugar did the same with Staci. Luckily for the pageant queen the non-wolfish chatterbox was much lower to the ground, so it wasn't long before she managed to reach inside the statue's wide grin and pull out an egg.
"Ooh, I got one!" she said with delight, before seeing its blue color and scowling. "Aww, never mind," she said. "Who was blue again?" she asked Alejandro, now hanging from Geoff's ear.
"Ella, I believe," Alejandro answered absentmindedly, looking back upon hearing the sound of an egg cracking on the ground.
The shot cut to the smashed blue egg, then up to a smug-looking Sugar standing over it. "Oops!" she chuckled. "Looks like somebody's gonna have to look a little harder."
"Just hope she doesn't have the same idea," Alejandro told her before turning his attention back to Geoff's head.
Sugar, meanwhile, had moved on to Scott's head and was looking it over. "C'mon, Scott, I know you gotta be hidin' somethin',"she grunted, kicking the base of the statue.
"I don't think I can say the same for Geoff," Alejandro commented, pulling out what looked like a framed photograph of Bridgette out of the surfer's ear. He causally tossed it aside, then looked up and smiled. "Then again...," he said softly, pulling a purple egg out from Geoff's hat.
The shot cut to Sierra's statue where a green egg had replaced one of her earrings, then panned down to Tyler as he climbed it. "Almost...there..." he grunted, stretching an arm out and grabbing the egg. "Got it!" he called out in excitement, nearly fumbling the egg. He managed to save it, but ended up falling off the stone head as a result – he landed on his back with an "Oof!", but the egg was still intact.
He stood up, then dashed off to the left; the camera cut to follow him to the base of Dawn's statue, where Ella was sitting with her head in her hands. "Look at what I found! Only two left." Tyler said with an excited and proud sniff. "What about you, how many have you got so far?"
"None," Ella sighed. "But I haven't really been looking. I just don't see the point."
"Uhh, the point is to find eggs first so one of us gets the advantage in the next challenge," Tyler explained to her in mild confusion. "I mean, I know you're feeling down on yourself, but you can still try to beat Al and Sugar, right?"
Ella sighed again. "I guess, but-"
"Great!" Tyler cut her off. "Now c'mon, I know just where to look next!" He grabbed her by the wrist and ran off, forcing her to stand and follow.
/
The footage skipped ahead to show the pair arriving at the head of none other than Ezekiel, his stone visage smiling confidently. "See?" Tyler told Ella as they looked up at the head. "Zeke's gotta have an egg for one of us!"
"Well, I suppose it might be appropriate," Ella said uncertainly before Tyler cut her off again by thrusting his egg into her hands.
"Here, hold this," he told her, eyes locked on his friend's statue. Ignoring Ella's murmurs of protest he rubbed his hands together then jumped on to the stone head, and quickly shimmied up to nose-level.
"Okay man, tell me you have something," the jock told the statue, shoving his left arm up the closest nostril. After rooting around for a few seconds he grinned, then pulled out a green egg. "Awesome!" he cheered, tucking the egg in his sweatsuit and shifting himself over to the other side of stone-Ezekiel's nose. "And now the other one," he grunted, shoving his right arm up the other nostril.
The camera cut back to Ella looking at the green egg she'd been given, the grunts of Tyler's search coming down from above. The singer smiled softly and rubbed it a little, then gasped sharply when Tyler suddenly fell behind her.
"Oh no, Tyler!" she said, rushing to the jock's side. "Are you alright?"
"Totally!" Tyler answered somewhat shakily before he triumphantly raised up two eggs – one green, the other blue.
xxx
"Even if Ella's ready to call it quits," Tyler confessed with a few bruises and scrapes on his face and hands, "I'm not. I'll just keep going forward for the both of us until Ella realizes that she should be in the game too!"
xxx
"It's very sweet of Tyler to help me with the challenge," Ella said in the next confessional, "even though he shouldn't be wasting his time on me." She sighed again. "I really regret not paying more attention to him after everything he's said and done for me...but I also don't want to make the mistake again of falling in love with someone over how romantic they've been after what happened with Alejandro."
xxx
The evil smirk of Scarlett's stoney rendition was shown next, a purple egg tucked just behind her right ear. Alejandro was currently trying to reach it, but the position of her hair and the egg he was trying to hold on to was making it difficult.
"A thorn in my side as always, I see," Alejandro remarked under his breath, stretching out his arm enough to just barely brush the egg with his fingertips. Unfortunately, this only served to unbalance the egg; it wobbled a bit, then fell forward. Alejandro stuck an arm out to catch it, but the spin it had acquired in falling caused it to tumble out of his grasp and crack on the stone below.
"No...!" he groaned, jumping down to the ground. He huffed, then scratched his chin in thought. "This would be much easier if both my hands were free...if only I had a basket, or something similar."
"Too bad you got nowhere to put yer eggs," Sugar commented as she climbed down to the base of Blaineley's statue, then tried to shove a red egg down her blouse, another just visible tucked in there. "Though I don't got much room left myself," she added, finally cramming the second egg away.
Alejandro shuddered. "Yes...although," he suddenly looked thoughtful, "you have given me an idea..." To a triumphant tune he casually tossed his lone purple egg into the air, whipped off his shirt, tied it into a makeshift bag, and caught his egg in it as it came back down.
xxx
"I'm not usually one for using such quality clothing for such unintended purposes," Alejandro told the confessional camera, still bare-chested and holding his shirt-pack, "but I can't afford to drop any more eggs. Winning invincibility is crucial at this stage of the game, so sacrifices must be made.."
xxx
The scene moved back to Ella, sitting on another rock and cradling five eggs on her lap – three green, and two blue.
"Are you sure you're alright up there?" she called out in concern, the camera zooming out just in time to show Tyler falling from Lightning's statue, a blue egg clearly clutched in his hands. "Oh no, not again," Ella lamented. "You really don't need to do this for me, especially not when you keep hurting yourself."
"Like I keep saying, don't worry!" Tyler said with a reassuring, if bruised and battered, smile as he got back on his feet. "Sure I've fallen off every head thingy, but I haven't dropped a single egg! That's, like, a personal best! Plus, now we both get to go to the next part of the challenge."
"I suppose," Ella said uncertainly as he traded the blue egg he'd just gotten for the three green ones Ella was holding. "But I really don't feel right having you help me so much. It just makes me think I don't deserve to be here even more!"
Tyler stared blankly for a moment, then his face fell. "Oh..." he remained that way for a few more seconds, then put on a look of steely determination. "Well you know what? You are here. Sure, maybe you've screwed up a few times, and yeah, you might not have gotten here without a lot of help from the others, but you still made it to the Final Four in a competition to win a million bucks! You gotta at least try to keep going, otherwise not only will the others feel worse, but you'll also regret it for the rest of your life. And I don't know about you, but I am not gonna do either of those things. So come on!"
"But-" Ella tried to say in protest before, in a few quick motions, Tyler stuffed his three eggs into his tracksuit, grabbed Ella by the hand, and dragged her off towards the cave at a run forcing her to awkwardly try to hold her three eggs in the turned-up hem of her skirt. "Tyler, I really don't feel comfortable running like this!" she cried as he led her into the nearby cave.
/
The scene flashed to the beach near where the plane had landed. Chef and a pair of interns were now trying to move the knocked-over moai back upright, with Chef pulling on a rope in front while the interns pushed from behind.
Chef groaned and grunted in exertion, but paused when the host's voice came in over a walkie-talkie in his pocket. "This is King of all Chrisdom seeking Bitty Baby, over!" Chris said as a dramatic tune rapidly rose in the background. Chef let go of his rope to pull out the communicator, and as the music peaked the moai head fell back over onto the two interns that had been trying to push it.
"When you're done slackin', think you can give me a hand?" Chris asked.
/
A flash took the focus back to Tyler and Ella, who were no longer holding hands but were looking rather tired as they trekked uphill through the underground cavern system.
"Listen," Ella panted, "I really do appreciate that you're trying to cheer me up, but I'm just going to slow you down." The far-off sound of something stone shifting echoed through the tunnel, but neither teen took notice. "I don't want you to hurt your chances just because you're in love with me!"
"Huh?" Tyler said, looking back in confusion before hearing something approaching, looking forward again, and panicking. "Look out!" he shouted, grabbing Ella and pulling her into a nook in the side of the tunnel just as a large spherical boulder barreled down the slope.
The two leaned out with shock on their faces after the boulder left, and the camera cut to Alejandro and Sugar, who had also found three eggs each and started their journey through the caverns. They quickly spotted the approaching boulder, screamed, and ducked into crannies on opposite sides of the tunnel.
"Don't tell me we gotta deal with those now, too!" Sugar exclaimed, the two villains poking their heads back out into the open.
/
The scene flashed to the cave's exit at the highest point of the island, where a cackling Chris watched as Chef pushed another large, spherical boulder into the caverns. He sighed mirthfully as the camera cut in for a close-up, then as the grand title theme began to play he told it "We've got tons more fun, literally," he motioned to a nearby pile of similar boulders, "right after this, on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
(Fade to Commercial and Back)
The episode resumed with another shot of the pile of boulders, a tense tune playing as Chris began to speak. "Welcome back to Total Drama World Tour," he greeted as the shot panned back over to him and Chef. "We're here on beautiful Rapa Nui," the camera zoomed in on Chef as he got ready to push another stone sphere, "where somebody is about to go splat-splat! Wait for it...," the host said with an eager smile.
/
"So, uh," Tyler said somewhat awkwardly as the focus returned to him and Ella, "what was that you said before that boulder nearly crushed us?"
Ella took a breath. "I...I know that you love me and all, and even though I used to think I'd love to have a prince who helped me as much as you have, I realize now that I really don't," she explained as a sad tune played. "You're getting hurt and holding yourself back because of me, and I haven't done anything in return. I'm just...a joke."
"Oh," Tyler said blankly, and they spent the next couple seconds in silence before Tyler stopped and turned towards her. "Look," he sighed, "this is hard to admit, and you might not have even noticed, but I screw things up, like, all the time. In challenges, voting, other girls, heck, even sports! But even though I keep failing, I always keep trying. Because if you don't try, then you can never win."
He paused, and the camera switched perspectives to show Ella looking at him rather blankly.
Tyler scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, once again unaware of the sound of something move towards him. "Look, I think where I'm going with this is that if you think you're a joke, then I'm a joke too. And that means we should stick together and give whatever help we can to each other, no matter how we feel about each other, so that maybe we won't be jokes. Am I making sense?"
"I...think so," Ella told him with a concerned look behind him, "but we should really move right now!"
"Huh?" Tyler said, raising an eyebrow and looking behind him at the stone ball that was rapidly approaching them. "Oh no!" he shouted in alarm, quickly shoving Ella to the side. She was able to brace herself against the wall of the tunnel in such a way that she escaped getting run down without harming her eggs, but Tyler wasn't as lucky.
The boulder ran right over him, leaving him behind in a roughly jock-shaped impression on the ground. Naturally, all of his eggs had been crushed.
"Oh no!" Ella cried in concern, hurrying over to his side. "This is just what I was afraid of! This never would've happened if you hadn't been trying to cheer me up."
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Tyler said, pulling himself out of the ground with a grunt. "I'm the one who decided not to save myself, this is on me. You go on ahead and win this part of the challenge, I'll grab some more eggs and catch up."
"But-" Ella tried to say.
"Just go!" Tyler told her sternly. "If you don't, Al or Sugar will win and get the advantage. We have to help each other, remember?"
The two looked at each other for a moment, and Ella nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best," she said before turning and darting away.
/
The music turned dramatic again as the scene flashed back to Alejandro and Sugar further back in the tunnel.
"Why can't there be an escalator if we're goin' uphill all the way?" Sugar panted, lagging behind her 'partner'.
"Why would there be an escalator in an ancient cavern?" Alejandro asked looking back with a bewildered expression.
"I don't know," Sugar shot back, "why would there be a buncha giant stone mystery heads around here? This island is weird!"
Alejandro paused for a moment, then said "A fair point, in a way." He paused again and noticed the sound that was coming closer. "Quick, hide! Another boulder is coming!" he warned the tired pageant queen. But while he himself was able to get out of the stone ball's path without issue, Sugar was not. She tripped and stumbled into the wall, getting out of the way of the boulder but in doing so she crushed the trio of eggs held precariously in her blouse.
"Aww dang it!" she cursed, stepping away from the wall once the threat had passed and wiping the yolk off her clothes. "Now I gotta go back and do this all over again!"
"In that case, I bid you good luck," Alejandro told her. "I, of course, will go on ahead." He turned to continue forward, then heard the sound of footsteps and smiled. "Though it seems you're not alone in your predicament," he told Sugar just as Tyler ran determinedly past them.
Sugar just huffed in annoyance.
xxx
"Let me see...," Alejandro considered in the restroom confessional, still without his shirt. "If Tyler and Sugar have been forced to restart the challenge, then the only competition left for this part is Ella. She'll be tragically easy to beat, of course," he admitted. He paused for a breath, then put on what seemed like a look of genuine remorse. "Truly, I wish things could have turned out differently between us...but she decided to turn her back on me after Sweden, and for that she will be crushed. I have no other choice!"
xxx
The static cut away to the beach, the shot focusing on the stone heads of Beardo and Shawn, while Sugar attempted to search the crevices of the beatboxer's hair.
"Aww dude," Tyler said as he ran past in panic, "this place is like empty!"
"Well duh," Sugar told him irately. "I reckon we already found or broke most of the eggs." She finally pulled something from Beardo's stone 'hair', which turned out to be an airhorn that promptly blew and knocked her off her perch.
"Okay, dude," Tyler said as he was shown shimmying up the statue of DJ, "I'm sorry I voted you out, so please have an egg for me." He reached into the gentle giant's open mouth, rooted around, and excitedly pulled out a green egg. He whooped in excitement, jumped off the head, and landed with a rock between his legs – but at least the egg was okay.
"Aww, crud!" Sugar remarked, now clinging to Sammy's head and watching Tyler run past with an eager smile on his face. "I better hurry," she told herself, forcing her arm into the stone cheerleader's ear with enough for a few bits of stone to crumble away from it, and eventually pulled out one of her red egg. "Yes, still in the game!" she said, sliding back down to ground level.
The camera pulled back to show Tyler climbing Dawn's head nearby just as a piercing cry and a large winged shadow passing overhead caught the two teens' attention.
"What was that?" Tyler asked, looking up in shock and alarm.
"I don't know," Sugar said with rising panic of her own as the perspective turned upwards to show a large condor soaring overhead looking down at the two, "but it ain't no turkey!"
"Oh no, what if these eggs," Tyler said in panic, looking at the green egg he'd put in his tracksuit, "are its eggs?"
He looked back at the condor, which screeched and dived towards them.
"RUN!" Sugar and Tyler screamed together, the jock sliding back down to the ground and taking off with the pageant queen towards the cave, the condor screeching and swooping right behind them.
/
The scene flashed back to the tunnels, where Alejandro was running with a smile on his face. "Well well well, fancy meeting you here, chica!" he taunted as he came up alongside Ella, who was going at a slower pace and gasped when she saw her former crush.
"What do you want?" she asked him in annoyance.
"To win, of course," Alejandro answered immediately. "And with only you as my competition right now, I'd say I have it in the bag!" He sped up, and easily passed Ella.
Ella gulped, and with her eggs cradled in her arms she did her best to speed up as well. "You...you won't beat me," she told him, unable to hide her uncertainty.
"Please," Alejandro chuckled, "we both know you don't really believe that."
"ELLA, RUN!" the panicked voice of Tyler suddenly came from behind them, surprising both singer and charmer.
"Huh, he caught up sooner than I expected," Alejandro thought aloud as he and Ella turned to look back down the tunnel.
A dramatic tune played as Tyler and Sugar were shown running towards them, holding three appropriately-colored eggs each but more importantly with the giant condor flying and screeching right behind them.
"A giant condor!" Alejandro yelled in shock, turning to run alongside Ella.
Back outside the higher cave exit, Chris was measuring parts of a giant stone Chef head as the man himself prepared to push it.
"Dude," the host said as he moved his tape measure around, "we gotta get back to boulders."
A quartet of screaming voices caught the attention of both men, the camera zooming out just as Alejandro ran out of the cave, followed by Ella, then Tyler, then Sugar. The four stopped together just past Chef.
"Man, you guys are really competing!" Chris commented with a happy smile.
He was answered by several frantic and disjointed pleas which, overall, asked that the cave be closed off. Chef promptly complied, pushing the statue of his head over to block the cave entrance.
Moments later the condor crashed into it with a painful crunch, its feet and a few feathers jutting out between a few gaps.
"Oh man, so close!" Chris lamented as he looked back at the blocked cave. "Way to ruin the fun! We may as well move on to the next challenge," he said, turning back to the contestants and bending down to pick something up. "Since Alejandro was the first one out," he said before tossing the wary charmer an umpire's mask.
"I have to play...baseball?" Alejandro asked uncertainly.
"Thankfully no," Chris replied as the background music built up its tension. "You must climb this rock pillar all the way up to...," he explained, the camera showing Alejandro and Ella looking behind them before panning up a tall, thin, and craggy pillar with a large bird's nest at the very top.
"A giant condor nest?" Alejandro said in horror as the music peaked and the shot zoomed in on the nest.
"You already know they can get pret-ty crabby," Chris explained. "But did you know female condors are even bigger than the dude birds?"
The four contestants were shown looking at him with blank shock before a loud screech turned their attention upwards, where a large condor silhouette was looking down at them. "She's huge!" Tyler commented in horror.
"Yup, twelve-foot wingspan," the host said matter-of-factly.
"That's like...two Alejandros wide...," Alejandro said, awe and fear still on his face.
"See, she's kinda peeved 'cause you guys stole her eggs," Chris told the cast.
"What?! Dude, no, it was him!' Tyler frantically tried to tell the bird, pointing wildly at the host.
"So you have to try to shimmy up to the nest, and give 'em back," Chris continued, "in the order in which you arrived here. Of course, Momma's got a whole lot more eggs up there," the shot cut to the mother condor perched angrily on the edge of her nest, "so, she's bound to be a tad protective."
The mother condor let loose a screech that shook the camera.
"...gracias," Alejandro said, putting his umpire's mask on. "The giant condor has been known to peck the eyeballs of predators," he explained, pointing at his own eyes behind his protective gear.
"Aww, but I like my eyeballs!" Sugar lamented.
"Deposit all three eggs and you win," Chris explained. "And if nobody makes it, we'll try it again! It's gonna be that much fun."
Alejandro sighed, then adjusted the pack he'd made out of his shirt that had his three purple eggs nestled inside. "Let's get this over with," he said before taking a step forward.
"Oh," Chris interrupted, causing the charmer to flinch, "and one more thing."
"Increíble," Alejandro muttered, "what else could you-"
He was answered by the familiar ding and icon that signaled a musical number. "It's for you own protection," Chris told them. "Keeps the birds calm. I'm lying," he said with a mischievous smirk, "or I'm not! You choose!"
~/~
[A Latin melody identical to what had been used a few times in the past as Alejandro's leitmotif began to play, and the mother condor screeched again from atop its nest.]
"I'm tall, I'm tanned, I'm young, I'm handsome!"
[Alejandro opened, the camera flashing in sequence from a close-up of his tapping feet, to his swaying hips, to his waggling butt, and lastly to a sideview of his flirtatious eyes and smirk.]
"I'm coming to bring back your wee ones! So hush my sweet, condor let me win this one please!"
[The condor was shown bobbing and bouncing in enjoyment of the music as Alejandro steadily climbed up the rock spire. He reached the top of the nest, and the condor screeched at him.]
"So try, attack me! But, I won protection! I don't feel that pecking, so, save your objections!"
[Alejandro paused for a few beats in confidence, and the condor pecked him to no avail. As the mother bird continued its fruitless assault Alejandro started placing the purple eggs he was carrying into the nest – first one, then another.]
"Hush now condor, let me in the Final Three!"
[Alejandro told it as he held out the third egg he'd brought. He was answered by a wing sweep that knocked him clear off the pillar.
"Aww, no!" he groaned on his back on the ground, just before the third egg splattered on his face.
"Next!" Chris said, popping into view on the right.]
"Iiiii, oh Ii~ii~ii, think that you're a lovely condor, a lovely condor."
[Ella sang next, looking upwards while struggling to both climb the pillar and keep her three blue eggs balanced.]
"Whyyyy, oh whyy~yy~yy, don't you let me come, up yonder?"
[She added as she grabbed the next handhold, the shot panning up to the nest to show the condor enjoying the song again.]
"It's just meeee, i~it's just me~ee. I'm not a threat, and I, haven't given you back your eggs ye~et!"
[Ella sang as she finally managed to pull herself up to the nest level. She quickly put the first two eggs into the nest under the stern gaze of their mother, but the moment she ended her line the camera cut to a close-up of her foot as the rock below it broke away a bit, causing her to slip and fall from the pillar. The mother condor watched her fall with an expression of what looked like genuine disappointment, and winced at the sound of the singing princess hitting the ground.
The shot immediately cut down to show Ella facedown on the ground, but with the last blue egg held above in both hands, intact and shaking just a little bit.
"Good news!" Chris told her as the camera panned to the left just a little bit to show him standing over her. "You can have another chance later, but first..." He looked back to the left, and the song continued over a shot of Tyler's determined face.]
"Yeah, come on now, I'm not close to givin' up yet!"
[Tyler called up forcefully towards the nest, climbing steadily with his three green eggs bulging inside his tracksuit.]
"I don't care about your threat; and I won't, break a swe~eat!"
[He reached the top, and began to place eggs in the nest just as the two before him had. The mother condor, though still bobbing to the beat, seemed to be displeased nonetheless.]
"I'm doin' extreme! So, let me in to the Final Three~e~e!"
[He was answered by a sudden and swift headbutt that knocked him off the pillar right before he managed to place the third egg in the nest. As he fell, he lamented "Aww, man! I was so close too!"
The camera stuck to Sugar as he fell past her, and Chris called out "Sugar?" in an expectant and impish tone.]
"Iiiii, oh Ii~ii~ii, oh I really hate this climbin', but I'm gonna rhyme with expert timin'."
[The pageant queen sang confidently, not missing a beat even at the thud of Tyler's landing.]
"Aaaaaand, I~i'm gonna win. I'll be here to stay; I'll find a way; so let me here ya say...!"
[She reached the nest and immediately locked glares with the condor, all the while continuing to sing. She placed two red-colored eggs in the nest before pausing to take a deep breath, and...]
"Sugar Hollaaaaaaa!"
[Sugar held the note long and high, causing both the condor, and the four people listening on the ground, to wince in pain. The shot cut back to the condor as it screeched in retaliation, then headbutted Sugar and battered her with its wings until she was hanging onto the top of the spire with only one hand, the other still holding the last red egg.
The song's music did not stop, however, only transitioning to a slightly more complex instrumental sequence.
"Darn it Sugar, why'd you have to go and do that for?" Chris called out in annoyance as the camera cut to him with his hands covering his ears.
Another sharp and sudden and very furious screech as the shot zoomed out caused everyone to gasp, then look skyward – another condor was circling above them, and the camera cut in close to show it had a few noticeable lumps on its very angry head.
"Aww man, and now the male's back too?!" Chris cried, gripping his head in shock and fear.
"And it's coming right for us!" Tyler exclaimed in panic, pointing at it with his right hand while he cradled the last green egg with his left.
"No, it's headed for Sugar!" Alejandro countered, wide-eyed as he followed the off-screen condor's path.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" the pageant queen yelled, the camera violently jerking back upwards to show her still hanging on for dear life with the mother condor watching her closely; a quick-pan up and to the left showed the father watching as well.
The camera cut to Ella's face as the shock and horror drained away, replaced by mute determination. She got to her feet with the blue egg in one hand, quickly ran to Tyler and grabbed the green egg from him before he could react, then started climbing the pillar again.]
"Iiiii, oh Ii~ii~ii, oh I know that you're angry, know that you're angry..."
[She sang, immediately gaining the attention of both condors and Sugar.]
"Iiiii, and Ii~ii~ii, can really only say, that we're sorry..."
[She continued, climbing steadily. The shot briefly cut over to Sugar, who took her chance to put the final red egg in her blouse then grab hold of the edge of the rock pillar's top with her now-free hand. She pulled herself up, then put the egg inside the nest while the mother condor was looking down at Ella.]
"Condors, oh co~ondors, oh we don't want your chicks; it's just, a misunderstanding that we'd like to fi~i~ix!"
[Ella managed to reach the top again, the shot zooming out to show Sugar next to her and both condors watching her on the nest and alternating their bobbing to the music. Ella locked eyes with the birds as she pulled herself up to a standing position, then placed the two eggs she had carried with the rest of the multi-colored clutch. The condors looked down at them all in surprise, then shared a happy look.
It quickly turned to surprise, along with Ella's and Sugar's, when they noticed the eggs trembling.
A sudden and solitary guitar pluck put an end to the main melody just as the eggs hatched all at once into a large number of cute little condor chicks that immediately looked up at their parents and squeaked needfully.]
"Yes! Congratulations condors, on yoouur new fa-mi-lyyyy~!"
[Ella finished with a triumphant pose, the music ending with a rapid strum.]
~/~
"And congratulations to Sugar for winning the challenge!" Chris announced as the shot cut back to the ground.
"Whoa, what?!" Tyler said in shock. "But Ella just saved our butts!"
"Maybe," Chris conceded, "but Sugar was the first one to return all her eggs, so! By the time Ella calmed down the birdies, the challenge was technically over."
Sugar immediately turned a smug grin towards Ella, but the singer just shrugged. "I don't care. I did the right thing, and now we're all safe. That matters more to me."
The pageant queen looked stunned for a moment as Ella climbed down and out of sight, then scowled. "You just gotta take this away from me, don'tcha?" Sugar muttered as she climbed down as well.
/
The plane was shown flying high over the moai statues as Chris announced "And, it's time to vote!"
The scene immediately flashed to a close-up of the host in the elimination chamber as he read through the four stamped passports. A few dramatic notes played as he smiled, and the shot zoomed out to show the four contestants waiting expectantly in the stands.
"The first person to be nominated for the Drop of Shame is...Alejandro!" the host announced as the music became tense, and the fully-clothed charmer was shown hanging his head in acceptance. "Next vote, Ella...," the camera cut to the princess and the jock, the former also hanging her head as Tyler put a hand on her shoulder.
"Next vote, Alejandro...," Chris continued, the shot zooming out to show Ella and Alejandro locking gazes in a split screen – the young man's narrow and forceful, and young woman's with just a spark of defiance. "And the fourth and final vote goes to...Ella!"
The two sides of the split screen shifted to show a nervous Tyler and an excited Sugar, who took over the whole scene as she stood and raised her arms in triumph. "Yes!" she cheered. "Bring on the tiebreaker!"
Alejandro rolled his eyes in amusement, then confidently stood as well.
xxx
"I'm a little disappointed that it has to come to this," Alejandro confessed, "but I wasn't about to not vote with Sugar for this. Besides, Ella was going to be defeated by my hands eventually."
xxx
"Well, let's get this over with," Ella said sadly as the scene cut back to the elimination chamber as sombre ending music played, standing up to leave the seating area. "What's our tiebreaker, Chris?" she asked as she and Alejandro stepped forward, side by side.
"As much fun as it would be two see you two ex-lovebirds go at it in a tiebreaker," Chris answered with an impish smile, "you're all still in the Final Four, it was just a reward challenge!" he announced with glee.
"WHAT?!" Sugar yelled angrily by the other three looked shocked. "You mean she's gettin' off again?!"
"Sugar!" Chris replied with a hint of nervousness as he tossed the pointless votes away. "Because you won, your prize awaits you in first class. And, as usual, you can bring the loser of your choice."
The pageant queen grunted in displeasure and folded her arms. "Well, I ain't gonna give it to either of those two," she said with a glare at Ella and Tyler, "so I guess Alejandro's comin' with me."
"I appreciate your decision," Alejandro told her with his usual charming smile. "It's been far too long since I've enjoyed the comforts of first class."
"Well duh," Sugar told him, "it's the same fer me too. Besides, maybe this way we might finally figure out how to get things to go our way again," she added with another glare at Ella that caused the girl to hang her head.
xxx
"Well, how to get things to go my way again," Sugar corrected in the restroom confessional, "but still."
xxx
Ella opened the next confessional with a sigh. "I guess I'm still here, at least until the next vote anyway," she said sadly. She took a breath, and forced a smile. "I'll admit that I completely messed up in the challenge today, but I've decided that since I'm here, I may as well at least try to do what I can. Today, that was saving Sugar and everyone else from a couple of giant condors who only wanted their babies back. And tomorrow...," she paused a moment and looked down, "tomorrow I'll do my best to help Tyler win the competition. It's only fair, after all."
xxx
The static cut away to the cockpit, Chris trying to reach for the control again but getting his hand slapped away by Chef. "Oww!" the host whined, the series' capstone theme beginning as he turned his attention to the camera. "Come back next time, for more spills, chills, and planet-endangering thrills right here, on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
The shot zoomed out as usual, and a resounding slap was heard and followed by another "Oww...!" from Chris.
The camera lingered on the plane for a longer than usual, the grandiose music used for the title drop fading first into something more ominous and then into silence as the shot rotated below the jet, then rapidly fell away back to Rapa Nui.
It panned over to the condor nest, the larger mother vomiting up a meal for the many chicks while the slightly smaller male watched the plane fly overhead. Once the mother's task was complete she turned her attention planeward as well, then shared a nod with her mate.
The male spread his massive wings, then took off as the female once again turned back to her needy chicks.
(Fade to Credits)
Author's Note - Post Script
And thus ends the final reward challenge of the season. The Final Four stand as they are, with Ella still doubting herself; Tyler a little bit frustrated with things; Sugar outright angry; and Alejandro...once again thinking he's on top. I hope everyone followed everything okay, and that it all made as much sense to you as it does in my head.
This week's song is, of course, a version of 'Condor' that is both Shuffled and extended! I bet you were all surprised by that. The plan I originally had way back when was that Ella would be the last to sing and thus win the challenge, bu as she's already gotten two wins in this quarter I figured it would be better to give someone else a chance. And thus, Sugar manages to just scrape by with the win while the condor was distracted, but Ella still gets a bit of musical glory.
I'm a bit tired right now, after having answered all the reviews and done some last-minute edits to smooth out a few things. I hope everyone enjoys it, and I know that many of you will let me know how you felt.
The Final Three will be decided by this time next week, so be prepared!
- Fangren
Appendix: TSWT Eliminated Contestants
Staci - (RETURNED)
Beardo - (18th Place)
Lightning - (17th Place)
Dawn - (Quit Unofficially | RETURNED)
Bridgette - (16th Place)
Geoff - (15th Place)
Scott - (14th Place | Disqualified)
Scarlett - (13th Place)
Sierra - (12th Place)
DJ - (11th Place)
Shawn - (10th Place)
Staci - (9th Place)
Sammy - (8th Place)
Blaineley - (Tied for 7th Place)
Dawn - (Tied for 7th Place)
Ezekiel - (5th Place)