Chapter 19
Gwen yawned as light shined down from the window next to her seat in the First Class Economy. She squinted as she opened her eyes and cursed the sun for coming up in whatever time zone she was in. She sighed as the events from the last few days came back to her, spending more than half the night talking and laughing with her friends on Team Victory and her fellow Avatars.
'Oh right, DJ's moving back to Jamaica and we might not ever see him again.' Gwen sighed as she remembered.
'Treasure the short time you can spare with your friends child.' Andromeda whispered comfortingly. 'Just because he's going back to Jamaica doesn't mean you will not ever see him again.'
'Yeah, but it still sucks.' Gwen looked and saw a sleeping Elliot in the chair next to her.
Gwen didn't want to admit it but she looked pretty cute as she let out soft snores and a little bit of drool coming out of her mouth.
'Just like Alex.' Gwen had to suppress the urge to giggle.
She looked over and saw Dawn in the chair in front of her, looking like she was meditating rather than sleeping. Gwen could never tell if she was awake or not when Dawn was meditating. Her thoughts were cut off as she heard a familiar giggling sound and peeked over the back of her chair to see...
Sierra giving a sleeping Cody a foot massage.
'Oh boy.' Gwen shuddered. 'Bad idea to fall asleep in the same room as a stalker.'
She thought back to the challenge in Japan, Harold was the first one to go this season, apparently eliminating himself out of some sort of honour. Personally Gwen thought he was just getting carried away from being in Japan. As much as she hated to admit something wrong about a close friend of LeShawna's Harold had a bit of an ego she felt absolutely positive he was not the Avatar of Nebula.
"Uh...wha?! Sierra what are you doing?!"
Gwen peeked over her chair to see Cody had awoken and snatched his foot from Sierra's hands.
"Everyone loves a foot massage." Sierra replied like it was simple.
"Uh...yeah normally, but I don't like having my feet touched." Cody said nervously.
"Did you know there's a pressure point between the tarsal points that can temporarily paralyze the body?" Sierra said with a somewhat creepy grin.
"Um...cool but you can stop now..." She jammed her finger and poor Cody ended up paralyzed.
Duncan laughed from his seat, clearly enjoying the show with Cody and his stalker. Gwen shook her head, taking the moment to pity the poor guy.
'She's like a crazier version of what Cody was when I first met him.' Gwen thought. 'But at least he learned to try and respect boundaries...and didn't try to paralyze me in my sleep.'
She was shaken from her thoughts as the plane started shake, snacks and empty cans started rolling around as Heather woke up and tried to faster her safety belt.
"Wha..." Elliot looked around as the turbulence woke her up. "It's too early for bumper cars!"
"We got some nasty air bumps, lock your butts to a seat. Over!" Chef said through the intercom.
"You don't need to say 'Over'." Chris's voice replied.
"But I like saying it, over!" Chef replied before he turned the intercom off.
Dawn opened her eyes and quickly strapped herself in. "The rats are saying that the 'children' in the cockpit are playing!"
"Thanks for the update!" Gwen growled. "Makes a lot more sense."
The plane kept on shaking and once it felt like it want in a circle for it finally landed and even then the landing was crappy. Everyone went down to the exit with DJ being the first one out. He stopped when he saw there was no ramp or ladder but LeShawna bumped into him making him fall out. LeShawna followed suit as she was accidently pushed out by Bridgette who was pushed out by Lindsay and nearly everyone else who followed except the three Avatars who were behind Owen and saw the human pile.
"I'm alive!" Owen jumped out of the plane.
He landed on the rest of the cast, earning groans and cries as they struggled to get out from under him.
"Dog pile!" Elliot jumped out and landed top of Owen, squishing everyone else underneath him more.
Gwen jumped and landed on her feet a few feet from the pile and looked back up the plane. "Hey Dawn, we're-"She stopped when she felt a finger on her shoulder.
Turning around she saw Dawn sitting on a rock with her legs crossed.
"How do you do that?" Gwen asked, with puzzled look.
"I just took a shortcut." Dawn said simply with a smile.
Gwen sighed and shook her head, realizing she may never figure out just how Dawn does that. Maybe she has a Teleporting Method with her or something.
"Welcome to the Yukon!" Chris announced as he stood at the exit of the plane.
He gestured to the frozen land that they had landed in that was so cold almost nothing lived here. Gwen took the chance to use her Omni Glove to activate a Warming Method, the opposite of a Cooling Method that would keep her body warm at temperature preferable to the cold country they had landed in. Dawn made no effort but Gwen wouldn't be surprised if she even needed a Method to stay warm. Elliot pulled out her own Omni Glove which was decorated with silver lines and used her own Warming Method as Chris led them to the start of the challenge.
Gwen noticed that Chris was wearing a winter coat while everyone was freezing, while she and other Avatars were pretending to shiver.
"Um, hello! Where are our jackets?" Heather growled.
"Stupid Question." Elliot said.
"Relax, I ordered coats for everyone." Chris held his gloved hands up.
"Obvious lie." Elliot spoke up.
"I am telling the truth. They won't be ready for weeks but as soon as they arrive I'll be sure to hand them out." Chris continued.
"Your mother never taught you it was wrong to lie did she?" Elliot growled.
"M-Maybe we should huddle for warmth." Courtney suggested.
Cody instantly tried to huddle with Gwen with his classic 'charming' smirk. Gwen stopped him with one hand and Sierra grabbed him, earning a smirk. Izzy, Lindsay, and LeShawna instantly huddled with Alejandro while Courtney grabbed Duncan.
"Just work with me, Duncan!" Courtney exclaimed.
Duncan had no problems with doing as he was told this time. Ezekiel tried to huddle with Dawn but she pushed him back. "You're aura tells me you are not as cold as the rest of us because you are used to the cold from the winter where you live and your jacket and hat is keeping you warmer than most of us."
"Lucky you!" Elliot hugged Ezekiel who blushed.
Noah tried to huddle with Bridgette but she pushed him away. "I-I have a boyfriend!"
"You can cuddle me, buddy!" Owen hugged Noah and pressed the poor genius against his chest.
"I think everyone on Team C should be careful falling asleep around him." Elliot commented.
"You should have seen him at the Awake-A-Thon challenge in the first season." Gwen replied, shuddering at the memory.
"Little chilly without mittens, huh?" Chris laughed.
"Cocoa?" Chef came up and offered him a cup of hot cocoa.
"Don't mind if I do." Chris started to take a long sip in front of everyone.
As this happened Bridgette glanced and saw Alejandro wink at her which made her smile. Before Chris could finish his drink a snowball hit him in the face and knocked the cup into the snow.
"NO!" Owen screamed as he tried to drink what was left out of the snow.
"Who threw that?" Chris looked at everyone with a piercing glare.
Elliot was whistling the whole time as Owen licked the snow.
"That was a good cup of hot cocoa which was..." Chris started but was cut off, again.
This time it was Sierra who interrupted. "Your favourite drink."
"Ah, it's nice but wrong it's..."
"Second only to tomato juice."
"That's...not on the fan site. How did you..."Chris was really tired of getting interrupted.
"I went to your high school and interviewed all your teachers for the unauthorized biology I'm writing! They said-"
Chris quickly covered Sierra's mouth. "Okay! Okay! Moving on!"
"Aww!" Elliot groaned.
"Crossing the icy river in Canada's frozen tundra used to be easy, back when the river was frozen solid. But thanks to global warming(Owen lets out a fart) and Owen, Earth is finally becoming a lot more interesting. By which I mean...DEADLY!"
"How dare you make fun of Mother Earth's pain!" Dawn glared. "All the damage done to her eco system and children and you say it's interesting?!"
"Today's challenge is called Total Drama The Icicle!" Chris continued.
"Did you even take any classes in high school or did your teachers freak because of that mop of a hair style?" Elliot rolled her eyes.
"Nice!" Duncan laughed.
"Teams must make their way across this watery chasm by jumping from ice flow to ice flow. First team member to make it across must make their way to the dog sleds on the far shore and become the dog. Pulling it all the way to the finish line as you grab the rest of your team along the way at marked meeting points. Sleds are first come, first serve so you better move fast. Don't worry if you fall into the water we're legally required to save you so we have two divers downstream ready to pull you out."
"If they're not already frozen." Gwen muttered.
"You guys ready for some mad ice flow jumping cause this guy is kicking it into high gear!" Tyler said enthusiastically. "Whoo!"
"Whoever doesn't make it closes to the sled head straight to the finish line. That way we won't waste time stopping at every point." LeShawna whispered to Team Victory who nodded.
"What is the reward here for this challenge?" Heather asked.
"Did I say there was an award?" Chris asked.
"We already had one person eliminated, we're overdo." Heather replied.
"But only one person was eliminated while Chris let Duncan and Ezekiel stay on after Egypt." Dawn pointed out.
"It's got to be elimination; there are still enough of us left for Chris to cut before there's an award." Noah agreed.
"Yeah and we found that teams try harder during elimination challenges. So for this year there is no set routine, every challenge could end in elimination." Chris announced earning groans and insults. "That's the spirit. On your marks, get set, GO!"
Chef blew a horn and everyone started running.
"Whoo-hoo!" Elliot started jumping across the ice flows without concern of slipping off into the water.
'Where does she get the energy? It can't be from Lancelot.' Gwen started cautiously jumping on one ice flow to another.
'Like you were any different when you were younger, you just spent all that energy on any obstacle prepared by Kurt.' Andromeda commented.
Just as Gwen hopped onto another ice flow something happened that she had hoped/prayed would not happen during the challenge. Everything turned bright blue and everyone around her was frozen in time.
"A Dimension Seal Method has been cast!" The Star Necklace flared brightly.
"Who did it? Elliot? Dawn?" Gwen looked around.
"No one did." Lancelot replied from Elliot's earring. "It's just like in Egypt."
Ice flows somehow lifted themselves out of the water and floated in the air and bright white eyes opened up, staring down the humans in the river frozen in time.
"Ice Spirits!" Dawn gasped.
Ice Spirits were a type of Elemental Spirits that associated with winter, gaining their power from ice hence the term Ice Spirits.
"Cool, I didn't think we'd run into any of them." Elliot grinned.
"Something's wrong. Ice Spirits are usually reclusive are only active during winter storms and blizzards." Luna spoke up. "They hide from the sight of humans and Avatars."
The Ice Spirits chose to explain themselves by firing shards of ice down upon the humans.
"Crap!" Gwen shouted as she jumped and grabbed the frozen smiling Lindsay out of the way of a sharp shard of ice.
Elliot knocked the frozen LeShawna out of the way and jumped before a shard could skewer her.
"This is not acceptable; Spirits of Nature are rarely malicious." Dawn held out her hand that had her silver bracelet. "Heavenly Spheres Protect."
The frozen humans were engulfed by shining spheres resembling the moon that protected them from harm and lifted them out of the way.
"That saves us trouble." Gwen smirked.
Dawn could be very scary when she wanted to be as Gwen found out in the last few weeks.
"Now, spirits of nature why have you appeared and why do you attack us without provocation?" Dawn looked up at the Ice Spirits floating above them.
They chose to answer her questions by lifting more ice into the air and hurling the shards at the Avatars.
"If they won't listen to reason..." Gwen held out her Omni gloved hand and summoned her katana. "Let's see if this new idea works out."
She activated a Method on her Omni Glove as she summoned Andromeda's power, channeling them both through her sword.
"Spectral Volt!" Gwen pointed her sword up.
From her sword came a bolt of pure white lightning that blasted the shards to bits and flew past the Ice Spirits, seemingly scaring them as they flew back into the river. Gwen watched as they vanished into the river, obviously retreating.
"Chickens!" Elliot shouted.
"Don't be so mean, Elliot. It was good that Gwen chose to scare them off but I want to know why Spirits of Nature would attack us and the others." Dawn floated onto the ice flow Gwen stood on. "Some of them are sentient enough to actually choose to attack but it's rare for them to do something like this."
"I heard of stories of ice spirits resembling Yetis on Mount Everest, and some resembling woman who would freeze people in blizzards, or freeze men that they seduce in Japanese legends. This however is different." Gwen's katana vanished in a flash of light. "No blizzard, no snowstorm, they obviously didn't care about being seen on camera and didn't seem bothered that Spirit Avatars were here. Think they're ticked off because the tundra is melting?"
"I don't believe they would become this aggressive over that, even if they are unhappy about it." Dawn shook her head.
"Nebula? He could have brainwashed them to attack us." Elliot pointed out.
"But how? At what point in time would the Avatar of the Stalker in the Stars have the time to set up a Method to brainwash those Ice Spirits?" Dawn asked.
"Maybe the Avatar's not one of the cast but maybe someone working for Chris." Gwen pointed out. "They'd know where we're going and have time to set up whatever trap they want."
"There is that." Dawn nodded.
"If so then you either have an easier or harder time." Andromeda spoke up. "The host has plenty of interns on the plane and can get much more anytime he wants in any location he chooses to go. But he has plenty of interns and workers on the plane and at any location he sat up for this competition."
"So, things just got a little more complicated." Gwen frowned. "Let's get everyone back to their spots and get on with this challenge. And while we're at it find out who keeps casting the Dimension Seal whenever there is about to be an attack."
As they moved the contestants back to their previous conditions they also searched for any seals or symbols that could explain the attack but found nothing.
'Does this guy have to be good at covering all of his tracks?' Gwen mentally groaned.
'Nebula has avoided being hunted for centuries, child. It's no surprise he is able to keep all of his tracks hidden. However these two attacks tell me he wants you, Dawn, and Elliot removed.' Andromeda replied. 'You are obviously a threat to him...especially since you were able to combine a Method with my powers and channel it through your sword, very impressive. The training is going very well for you.'
'Thanks.' Gwen smirked as she stood on the same ice float she was on before the attack.
It was easy to cancel the Dimension Seal Method and everything was back to normal with the time flow restored. Gwen was about to hop to the next ice flow when she heard a cracking noise.
"Uh oh!" She looked down and saw the flow beneath her was cracking in half. 'Just my luck!'
She screamed as it split apart beneath her and left her just barely hanging onto the two pieces that kept her from falling into the ice cold river.
"Hang on Gwen!" She looked up and saw Cody running back to her.
Unfortunately Cody ended up jumping onto the same float as Owen and slipped and bumped into each other. A polar tried to get them to slip down into its mouth but Sierra threw a block of ice at its head, knocking it out. Unfortunately the weight change caused their end to fall towards the water. Cody screamed but a hand grabbed him and pulled him out while Owen slipped in.
"Come on! We got a race to win!" Elliot laughed as tossed Cody onto the next flow.
Sierra glared and chased after them.
Xxx
Confessional: Sierra
"She had better keep away from Cody, there's only room for one Number One Dedicated Cody Fan on this show and that's ME!"
Xxx
Gwen was trying to keep herself from slipping into the river when she felt someone grab and pull her up. They both jumped onto the next flow and Gwen looked to see the person who saved her was...
"Ezekiel?"
"Hey, that was close eh?" Ezekiel asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"You helped me?"Gwen asked, surprised that the prairie boy would do such a thing.
"Well yeah, you and your friends helped me and I thought friends do nice things for each other...we are friends now right?" Ezekiel asked nervously.
Gwen smiled. "Sure. But we better not fall behind from our teams."
"Oh yeah!" Ezekiel nodded and turned around. "Follow me! I know how to get across."
Gwen looked back and saw that Owen was still in the very cold river while Cody was gone. Gwen would have considered rescuing Owen but she saw that he had peed in the river so she changed her mind. No way was she going near him in the water ever again. Gwen and Ezekiel made to the other just as their teams took off their sleds.
Team Victory made to the sled first with DJ pulling the sled and LeShawna resting comfortingly. Heather was whipping Courtney to move faster with Duncan in the back.
"Guys wait!" Gwen called.
"Wait for me!" Ezekiel called out to his team.
But they were too late as the teams were out of earshot.
"Great. Now I have to get to one of the flags." Gwen groaned.
"Oh, LeShawna told us to head to the finish line instead of waiting." Ezekiel spoke up. "Why not do the same, eh?"
Gwen looked at him for a moment before shrugging. "Thanks."
"He looks happy to have a friend." Both of them turned around and saw Dawn sitting on a rock with...a baby seal.
"How did you get here?" Ezekiel asked.
"I/She took a shortcut." Dawn and Gwen said at the same time.
"Shortcut?" Ezekiel looked confused.
"Don't ask." Gwen rolled her eyes. "Hey, Dawn, where's Elliot?"
"I have no idea." Dawn shrugged. "Perhaps Ezekiel would like to journey with us to the finish line."
"Really?" Ezekiel asked, sounding almost hopeful.
"Why not? Maybe you can show us this 'shortcut'?" Gwen shrugged.
"Splendid." Dawn hopped off the rock and set the baby seal down. "Go back to your mommy now."
The baby seal hopped back into the river as the three contestants started their journey to the finish line. No one saw the polar bear's head come out of the water and started swimming after the baby seal. Lucky the seal's mother came out of the water and tackled the polar bear. Ezekiel looked around and saw another flag and...
"Is that Bridgette trying to kiss Alejandro, eh?!"
Gwen and Dawn looked up ahead to see a flag and saw Bridgette lean into kiss Alejandro. The Spanish boy took off running leaving her to kiss the pole with her eyes closed
"Bridgette!" Gwen shouted.
Bridgette opened her eyes and saw she was about to kiss the pole gasping and jumping back.
"What the hell was that?" Gwen asked as they walked over. "Please don't tell me you weren't about to cheat on Geoff on live TV."
"N-no I-I..." Bridgette stuttered.
"It looked like it. I thought you're not supposed to kiss another boy when you got one, eh?" Ezekiel asked.
"Bridgette, your aura seems to highly scared, confused, and anxious." Dawn sadly shook her head. "You really were about to kiss him when he ran off."
"I'm sorry!" Bridgette cried and fell to her knees. "It's just that I slipped and fell on him on an ice flow...it was an accident but he...He gave me his shirt to keep warm and he was so..."
"Oh Bridgette." Gwen sighed and knelt down in front of her. "Why would you do this? You've been with Geoff for over a year now and suddenly you get flustered around the new guy like that?"
"I know!" Bridgette cried. "I didn't mean to but he was just so..."
"Come on, we already went through something like that with Justin but I thought you'd be above that." Gwen put both hands on her shoulders. "What will Geoff think when he sees this?"
"Oh my God! You're right!" Bridgette exclaimed with wide eyes. "He's going to be heartbroken!"
"I think so, eh." Ezekiel nodded.
That was when Chris appeared and he actually sounded concerned for a second. "Oh dear, what happened here?"
"I tried to kissed Alejandro and almost ki-"
"This sounds very heartfelt; I bet it would be an amazing song." Chris grinned and the song bell rang.
"No!" Bridgette gasped.
"Leave her alone, Chris!" Gwen growled.
That was when Team Amazon's sled made it to the meeting point.
"Gwen! Dawn!" Elliot waved on the sled, sitting behind Heather. "We've been looking all over for you."
"Hello backup singers!" Chris greeted, earning groans from the team.
"Crap! I thought you forgotten the music challenge this time." Heather said.
"You and me both." Duncan scowled.
"As if! It's my favourite part!" Chris laughed as music started playing.
"Just sing backup, Duncan!" Courtney said, making Duncan glare at her.
As much as Bridgette hated to sing she was the one who started.
Bridgette: The strings of my heart are a tangled mess
Gwen, Dawn and Ezekiel: Oh mess
Bridgette: Its beating so hard it jumped out of my chest
Heather, Courtney, and Elliot: Oh chest
Bridgette: I tried to fit two men in my soul
Sierra, Duncan, and Cody: Oh soul
Bridgette: I almost got stuck to pole!
Gwen, Dawn, Elliot, Courtney, and Heather: She almost got stuck! She made a duck! She got luck! Stuck to a pole!
Bridgette: I fell for every little thing he said
Gwen, Dawn and Ezekiel: Oh said
Bridgette: And when I closed my eyes he jumped on a sled!
Heather, Courtney, and Elliot: Oh sled!
Bridgette: He moved on! And I'm stuck in this place
Sierra, Duncan, and Cody: Oh place
Bridgette: With cold tears running down my face!
Gwen, Dawn, Elliot, Courtney, and Heather: She almost got stuck! She made a duck! She got luck! Stuck to a pole!
Everyone except Bridgette: Stuck, stuck, stuck, stuck to a pole!
Chris clapped his hands as they finished. "Very nice, now be gone all of you."
Gwen moved to get on the back of Team Amazon's sled but she noticed how Courtney was panting a lot.
Xxx
Confessional: Gwen
"Even though Courtney's been after me since the second season I can't help but pity her and if she's exhausted we might lose."
Xxx
"Here." Gwen started unhooking Courtney's harness.
"What are you doing?" Heather said.
"She's exhausted, Heather; we can't win if the person pulling the sled is too tired." Gwen replied, taking the harness off. "I'll pull, go and get some rest."
"You are so nice, Gwenny!" Elliot laughed.
Courtney got onto the sled, gasping for breath and massaging her back. She didn't want to admit but she was grateful that Gwen took her place. Gwen quickly put the harness on as they settled in. 'Good thing I got plenty of experience from this.'
WHIP!
"AH!" Gwen shouted as she spun around and saw Heather holding up a whip.
"Get moving, Goth Girl!" Heather got ready to use it again.
"NO YOU DON'T!" Elliot grabbed the whip and jumped on Heather.
The young girl started beating up the Queen Bee as Gwen started running, pulling the sled. To her surprise though Duncan ran up behind and started pulling sled to help her.
"Duncan?" Gwen asked, looking behind her.
"DUNCAN!" Courtney shouted, not happy that her 'boyfriend' was at the front with Gwen.
"Relax, I'm helping her out. You want to win?" Duncan shrugged as the sled moved a little faster.
Bridgette and Ezekiel had taken the chance to run towards the finish line, following LeShawna's instructions.
Xxx
Confessional: Courtney
"Even though we have been having some problems lately Duncan is still my boyfriend and he never helped me when Heather was whipping me. He's just trying to tick me off by helping Gwen again!"
Xxx
Gwen and Duncan pulled the sled down the trail of flag points up the large hill and they could see the finish line at the bottom.
"And it looks like Team Amazon will arrive in first!" Chris announced out loud.
"Come on, Gwen! You can do it!" Elliot shouted out.
"Look! One of the other teams is catching up!" Sierra pointed behind them.
"FASTER!" Heather and Courtney shouted.
"Try helping!" Gwen panted a little.
Team Victory was catching up with DJ who had been blinded by tears with Lindsay and LeShawna on the sled. But thanks to Duncan helping Team Amazon stayed ahead by a few inches. Gwen let a shout as she pulled harder, trying to get her sled over the finish line first.
"Wait for us!" Ezekiel shouted as he and Bridgette tried to catch up with their team.
"Come on!" LeShawna shouted. "Hurry!"
But as Bridgette ran down the hill she tripped and fell on Ezekiel and they both started rolling down the hill. As they rolled they started picking up snow, wrapping themselves into a big snowball.
"Oh s... " Duncan started.
"SNOWBALL!" Elliot and Lindsay shouted.
Team C came barreling down the hill with Noah telling Owen to lean forward.
"Guys...SNOWBALL!" Tyler shouted distracting them.
They looked behind them to see the big snowball rolling right up behind them.
"THE MOUNTAIN IS ALIVE!" Izzy screamed as the snowball slammed into their sled, swallowing them up and heading for the finish line.
"HURRY!" Everyone on their team shouted to the people pulling the sleds.
"What? What's going on?" DJ looked around blindly while Duncan and Gwen pulled harder.
'Sorry about this!' Gwen thought and accessed a bit of Spirit Energy from Andromeda to increase her strength.
She and Duncan pulled their sled over the finish line just as the snow ball swallowed up Team Victory's sled. Gwen ripped the harness off her and jumped out of the way as the snow ball ate Team Amazon's sled and kept on rolling. She could hear the screams from the other teams as it kept rolling.
"Wow...THAT WAS AWESOME! Please say we got that on film!" Chris laughed.
"You're talking about the show while they could be in danger?!" Gwen growled.
"We better help!" Dawn said, appearing out of nowhere behind Gwen.
"AH!" Gwen spun around."Please stop doing that!"
They chased after the snow ball. Gwen glanced at Dawn and whispered. "I don't suppose we could try a method without being seen, can we?"
"Not without a Dimension Seal and that would take a few seconds of very open and loud work to get up." Dawn whispered back before she saw where the snow ball was going. "Oh my!"
The snow ball flew off of a cliff and arched through the air, cameras following it. Noah stuck his head out as he came out onto the top, the ball slowly rotating instead of quickly rolling now. He spat out some snow. "Aw great, now I'll be sick all month-huh? How'd we stop? Wait, we're not stopping we're..." The ball began its descent...and Noah let out a high pitched scream.
"Ayyyyyeeee!" He squeaked and buried himself back into the ball's depths right before it landed on the flat area near where the plane was parked. The ball shattered, shooting snow up into the air and in all directions.
Gwen and Dawn had been given a ride by some of the interns on snowmobiles to reach the crash site. The snow began to settle as a figure stumbled out of the haze...
"LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" Elliot held both arms up, grinning like she had just won a prize.
"Derrrrr..." Cody stumbled past her, now unfrozen but in great pain. He collapsed face first into the snow as the other shuffled out into the open, groaning and limping.
"Zombies!" Chris gasped.
"Damn!" Chef reached behind his snowmobile.
"They're not zombies you morons-" Gwen started before Chef held up his patented deadly water gun.
"SUCK IT!" He then blasted the contestants back in a massive stream of thankfully hot water. It sent them all flying right into the open aft hatch of the plane, and out of the immediate cold.
"Hah! I hated Dead Snow!" Chef chuckled.
"Blasphemy!" Chris objected, glaring at his assistant.
"So...who won?" One intern asked.
"Well, Gwen managed to pull Team Amazon past the finish line first. Unfortunately the snow ball managed to get Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot and Team Victory across at the same time. So I guess this is a draw!" Chris declared. "Man, I hate those. Means I either have both teams vote someone off or let them continue on."
"You can always flip a coin." Chef suggested.
"I guess so. I think I'll make this an award challenge, just to save the time." Chris smirked. "It'd make things more interesting with what happened today."
Xxx
Confessional: Sierra
"Bridgette's popularity will suffer a hu-ACHOO! Sorry, got a bit of a cold, but Bridgette tried to kiss Alejandro on live TV, cheating on her boyfriend and then nearly got eve-ACHOO! Killed.
Xxx
Team Amazon was back in the first class with all of them except for Gwen, Dawn, and Elliot having a towel around them while they were shivering and sneezing. Dawn was at the bar, mixing ingredients together while Gwen and Elliot were drinking some warm cocoa.
"Wow, this is pretty good!" Gwen smiled, taking sip. "Feels nice after a cold day."
"B-B-Bite m-ACHOO!" Heather sneezed.
"You might want to turn the witch switch back to off, Heather. It's not healthy for you while having a nasty cold." Gwen smirked. "By the way, where's the thank you I should get for winning and not putting up with you in the Economy class. I don't think it's comfortable down there for someone who's sick."
"Please, Gwen, it's not nice to taunt others." Dawn reprimanded. "Luckily I have a perfect remedy for everyone's cold."
She held up a bowl of some green substance. Everybody felt queasy from looking at it, but Elliot actually walked up and took a spoonful into her mouth...
"AwgoditsawfulI'mdying!" She babbled, clutching her throat as she fell over, making Dawn sigh before the girl leaped back to her feet. "Just kidding! It's good."
Hesitantly, everybody else took a spoon and began to ingest some of Dawn's remedy. At first it felt fine...
"GWUAGGGHHH!" Everybody doubled over, beginning to throw up.
"Weeeeeak." Elliot held both thumbs down. "Weak stomachs! Fail!"
Xxx
Confessional: Duncan
"What the (BLEEP) is in that stuff?!BLAGH" (Duncan throws up on the camera)
Xxx
Confessional: Heather
"Gwen's friends are crazy! One of them enjoys being stuck in a snowball and the other makes poisonous-BLAGH!" (Heather throws up on the camera)
Xxx
Confessional: Courtney
"Next time I'll brew my own remedy to co-BLAGH!" (Courtney throws up on the camera)
Xxx
Confessional: Tyler
"Well, I totally rocked it today! I saved everyone's lives with my bare fingers. Everyone's gonna know who Tyler is now! (lets out a cheer) Mission accomplished."
(Lindsay sticks her head in and immediately covers her nose.)
"Ew, what's that smell, Noah?!" (She runs out and Tyler sighs)
Xxx
Confessional: LeShawna
"Bridgette is one of my friends but she is lucky Chris made it an a-ACHOO! Award challenge. She tried to kiss the new guy on live TV!"
Xxx
Confessional: DJ
"First a seagull, then a panda, and now a baby seal! The curse made us lose and made me hurt another animal! I was so positive they'd kick me if not for Bridgette and Zeke's-ACHOO...snowball."
Xxx
Confessional: Alejandro
"My plans to get rid of Bridgette may have failed but no doubt her friendship with the others has been damaged. Of course they prove more challenging than I thought but one by one they will fall down. Ha-ACHOO!"
Xxx
Confessional: Ezekiel
"I feel a little happy that no one's blaming me for losing toda-ACHOO!, even if Bridgette is in trouble. Maybe if I help her she might see that I didn't mean the whole sexist thing, eh."
Xxx
Gwen cast the Dimension Seal Method as the interns worked to clean up the mess all the sick members of Team Amazon left after trying Dawn's remedy. "You couldn't let them try and get better the old fashioned way? What the hell is in that stuff?"
"Herbal ingredients that are good for digestion and makes you healthy." Dawn said.
"She used to make it a lot for me when I was younger." Elliot smiled. "It's a little hard to get used to but you adapt."
"Before you vomit your lungs and heart out." Gwen commented while looking at the rest of Team Amazon. "I think they need to try it a few more times."
"Seems so. The ingredients strengthen your stomach but it also causes you to vomit everything unhealthy."
"Does that include unhealthy food?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"...Oh that too." Dawn giggled nervously.
"All right, onto the topic of the Ice Spirits, why would they attack us?" Gwen sat down, not minding the fact that everything was frozen in time. "Now, we know that Ice Spirits and any spirit powered by an element are Spirits of Nature like Luna."
"Except Luna's element is derived from the moon itself that helps with all of Earth's ecosystems." Dawn pointed out. "So this means she's a stronger Nature Spirit."
"Right and almost all powerful Nature Spirits almost have no form of sentience, having only basic animal instincts, following its nature. Ice Spirits bring winter, creating snow and ice along with blizzards and snowstorms and are strongest during winter. The strongest elemental spirits are seen as the incarnations of the weather itself but when winter ends the spirits usually fall into a deep sleep until the next season." Gwen continued.
"So the strongest elemental spirits are almost never self aware?" Elliot asked. "I don't get it. Are they not natural born spirits like Andromeda and Luna?"
"I was born from the belief and intense emotions of wishing upon a star, hearing wishes are easy for me but I was also created from the intense and positive emotions of these people. Being able to grant wishes to good people requires intelligence so I can tell what is good and what is wrong." Andromeda explained to her. "But simply making it snow does not require much in the way of intellect or free will. They are like machines in some ways, doing what they were 'programmed' for when created and nothing else unless under certain circumstances."
"So...what could have set them off to attack us?" Gwen asked.
"...there are some instances when a spirit of a similar nature but greater power can...control lesser spirits." Lancelot proposed. "Perhaps a more powerful spirit chose to set those weaklings upon us?"
"But you said that stronger spirits are less sentient." Elliot pointed out.
"Not all of them. For every type of spirit there has to be a spirit that is sentient, capable of directing spirits of the same type as itself." Lancelot replied.
"You are speaking of seeking an audience with the Messenger of Winter, Jack Frost." Andromeda said. "He is quite the troublemaker at times, taking joy in causing weather to inconvenience people. But he is usually harmless unless you personally offend him...and he doesn't offend easily, fortunately for many people."
"So would he be offended by me requesting to talk with him?" Gwen inquired.
"If you can find him, you can ask him that." Luna answered. "And he'd probably be asleep unless he's in a region that has winter year round. And usually he takes joy in messing with North Americans."
"But how can we find him? There are a dozen countries that snow all year around, we don't know that Nebula will not do anything while we're gone." Elliot said. "Any training trip we take is done when we put up Surveillance Methods to monitor the health of everyone on the plane."
"So we do not go looking for him. We seek an audience with him through the Ice Spirits here in the Yukon." Luna replied. "Word of three Spirit Avatars being attacked by Ice Spirits is something serious, he will come."
"You think he'll hear from the same Ice Spirits that attacked us?" Gwen asked.
"Possibly, but I know how to send a message." Andromeda replied. "A Special Method of mine, Messenger Comet. It will travel across the world until it finds him and delivers our message. It is a variant of Galaxy Storm but not made to destroy."
"How fast?"
"It will take a full week to travel around the world, as Luna stated the Messenger of Winter could be anywhere in the world, even if it's country with snow. We'll have to be patient."
"All right, show me how to master the Method." Gwen stood up.
Thirty minutes later a stream of light shot out of the plane, not leaving any damage as it streaked across the sky like a shooting star.
"Now all we can do is wait." Gwen sighed.
She dispelled the Dimension Seal Method and decided to speak to a certain someone.
Xxx
Bridgette was alone in the cargo section of the plane, sitting against a crate and trying to wipe a few tears from her eyes. She had done something horrible today, she tried to cheat on her boyfriend on live TV, accidently kissing Alejandro when she fell on him, and when she tried to kiss him she almost ended up stuck to a pole and had to sing about it!
"The rest of your team not happy with you, Bridge?"
Bridgette looked up and saw Gwen walk into the room.
"Oh, hi Gwen." Bridgette rubbed her eyes. "LeShawna wasn't happy with me for making us lose and she was even less happy when she found out what happened between me and Alejandro, but she didn't believe me I told her he was evil! Only DJ and Ezekiel seem to be nice to me now."
Gwen sat down next to Bridgette. "You should feel this way you know? You fell for a stranger who was good looking, charming, and didn't seem remember you had a boyfriend until I shouted at you."
"Yeah...thanks for stopping me." Bridgette sighed.
"Don't thank me, the fact you tried is just as bad. Now you know how I felt when you and the others were mad at me for what happened with Trent. Everyone glaring at you for a misunderstanding even if you never meant any harm." Gwen pointed out. "Besides, this is not worst of it."
"What's the worst of it?" Bridgette timidly asked.
"If you get kicked off what happens?"
"...The Aftermath!" Bridgette gasped both hands on her face. "I'll be up on stage and Geoff will be...Oh God! I can't face him like that!"
"You'll have to face him eventually." Gwen pointed out. "There's no way he won't find out about this."
"Oh no! No, no, no." Bridgette's hands went through her hair as she started to panic. "What should I do, Gwen?!"
"What makes you think I know?" Gwen shrugged. "I voted myself off last time because Trent sabotaged his team more than once. What do you think you should do?"
Bridgette didn't answer; she had no idea what she could do to make up for what trying to cheat on Geoff.
"I don't know...Maybe I should have been kicked off. Oh Gwen, I wish I knew what I am supposed to do!" Bridgette cried.
Only Gwen noticed the Star Necklace flash brightly as Bridgette cried her eyes out.
'Andromeda, are you...' Gwen thought.
'A wish is a wish; you have the option of letting me help.' Andromeda replied.
Looking at the crying Bridgette Gwen nodded and allowed Andromeda's power to flow through her. Gwen put her hand Bridgette's shoulder, allowing Andromeda's power to touch the surfer. Bridgette's vision started to blur and she felt very tired, letting out a small yawn as she leaned against the wall and fell asleep.
'What will happen?' Gwen asked.
'She wished to understand what she should do to solve her problem.' Andromeda replied.
'And you told her?'
'No, but I offered a way to help her find out.'
Xxx
"Where-where am I?" Bridgette opened her eyes to find herself on..."Total Drama Island!"
She was standing on the dock, seeing the rest of the cast in front of her just as someone stepped off the boat.
"That's me!" Bridgette gasped.
She was looking at herself as she walked off the boat with her board, exactly how she did when she arrived on the island. The scene shifted, now showing the Awake-A-Thon Challenge and she saw herself cuddling with Geoff. She smiled at the memory as the scene shifted to show the challenge where she had dissect that blow fish and feed it to Geoff, risking his health with the poisonous fish. He ate it and was okay, saying that he trusted which made her heart flutter.
Then the area shifted to the day she was voted off the show and Geoff stepped up, saying that he would miss her and that he never voted her off. She was so happy and they tried to kiss, even though a skunk sprayed her at the time. They became a couple after they were reunited and have been together ever since that day. Even when Geoff went mad with power and his popularity went so high that Bridgette had fight of 'Geoff stalkers' they still made it through.
She watched the memories continued until she saw the unwanted ending: herself and Alejandro standing at the poll as she leaned into to kiss him.
"NO! STOP!" She shouted but her other self never heard her.
"Why stop something that already happened?" Bridgette turned and saw Geoff standing behind her.
"Geoff!"
Geoff didn't have his usual smile; it was replaced by a scowl as he stared at her, the same look he gave Heather a few times. "She seems pretty happy."
"Geoff, I am so sorry!" Bridgette put her hands over her heart. "I didn't mean to!"
"Really, she looks like she wants to." Geoff pointed at the other Bridgette.
She and Alejandro seemed frozen in time just as they leaned into kiss each other. Bridgette turned away from the scene, unable to stand looking at herself in that moment.
"Geoff, please believe me, he tricked me! He was just so..."
"So what? Handsome? Good looking? Charming? You want to jump him?" Geoff asked.
"NO!"
"Your mouth says no, but your other self's mouth..." Bridgette turned and saw Alejandro smirking at her. "You'd be surprised by how much one can say without speaking."
"Get away from me!" Bridgette spat. "Stay away from me!"
"Oh, that's not what you said before. If I remember it was 'I-I have a boyfriend!' Alejandro said, sounding as nervous as she was when she said it. "Don't sound so loyal when you say it like that."
"Shut up! You tricked me!"
"Wasn't too hard." Alejandro grinned.
Bridgette shouted and punched Alejandro in the face, his form cracking apart and shattering into pieces. Bridgette watched as the Yukon vanished and she was floating in a blue void. She looked around, trying to understand where she was and how she could get out.
"Are you sorry?" A female voice whispered.
"Wha-Who said that?" Bridgette looked around.
The voice sounded like a woman with a slight French accent, but had a regal tone like she was some sort of Queen or some sort of nobility.
"Are you sorry for what happened?"
"...Yes."
"What is it you want?"
"I...I want to apologize to Geoff! I want to look him in the eye and say I am sorry!" Bridgette cried.
"Is that your wish?"
"Yes." Bridgette whispered, a tear falling down her face. "It's what I wish more than ever."
"Now you know what you believe you should do, child. The decision of what you should from this point on is yours alone."
Bridgette suddenly felt tired again fell into a peaceful and dreamless sleep as a bright light flashed above. Before her eyes closed, she thought she was staring at a bright shining star.