Chapter 21
The Total Drama Plane left New York right after the episode ended but this time it was going to take some time to reach their next destination according to Chris. Apparently the trip was so long that the Aftermath was taking place as the next episode meaning the trip to the next destination was going to be much longer than the usual ones. Looking around Gwen saw how Cody still looked guilty for what happened in New York while Dawn was meditating, Elliot was napping, and everyone was listening to Heather complain about the horrible condition of Economy Class.
"Stupid Economy Class Section! What's that smell?"
"Defeat?" Gwen asked.
"I can't believe you guys voted off Sierra instead of Heather." DJ commented. "Sure she was annoying but that's a little cold."
"DJ's got a point there guys." LeShawna nodded.
"We did vote for Heather, someone else ruined our chance to get rid of her." Courtney threw a nasty look at Gwen.
"Back off, Courtney! Sierra was useless anyway!" Heather replied.
Heather knew that she couldn't boss Gwen around and wouldn't tolerate her bossing around her friends either so she needed to stay on Gwen's good side for a while to make sure Gwen didn't decide to back out of the deal.
"Why not let Gwen and her friends speak up?" Courtney wasn't going to let up.
"I'm getting some food." Gwen stood up. "Anyone hungry?"
Courtney took this as a sign Gwen was ignoring her. "Are you listening to me? I'm talking to you!"
But Gwen simply walked out of the room, heading towards the cafe. She was in no mood to deal with Courtney today, especially when she was going to be stuck on the same team until one of them is eliminated or they reach the merge. When no one was looking she cast the Dimension Seal Method and time around her was frozen.
'Something wrong, child?' Andromeda asked.
"I just want some peace and quiet for a moment." Gwen sighed. "Courtney's going to drive me nuts."
"Got that right." Jimmy walked in, scrubbing the floor with his mop.
"Jimmy, been wondering where you've been." Gwen watched as he kept on mopping.
"I've been here and there." Jimmy shrugged. "Not much for me to do."
"Helping us out here seems not to be high on your list." Gwen shook her head. "Did you hear about the new Avatar?"
"You mean the Avatar of the Mouth of the Towering Mountain? Oh yeah, an Avatar with a spirit powerful enough to be a match for Carlos and Warhawk." Jimmy nodded. "Everyone's going to flip when they hear he's back."
"Why'd he vanish?" Gwen asked.
"Well, I suppose it started during the beginning of the Dark Ages just after the collapse of the Roman Empire,conflict in both the human world and the Spirit World was high back then with spirits and demons escaping to our world to gather numbers and power on their side forcing the good guys to either follow them here or create more Spirit Avatars. The things that happened in those days led to myth and legends of creatures like dragons because in some way they did exist. The Avatar of the Mouth of Towering Mountain was one of the leaders in a war against a Rogue Spirit Organization that had taken control of Europe and had in fact aided in the decline of the Roman Empire to destabilize the region to make it harder for the good guys to stop them while gathering forces on their side for a plan to make this world their own. Their leader had crafted a powerful Method that takes the Life Energy of an entire civilization but in exchange for the Life Energy he turned them into...Wraiths."
"You're joking, right?" Gwen asked with a surprised look. "Wraiths as in deceased humans who became spirits and merged with their own dead bodies?"
Wraiths were different from regular Spirits and even Demons, deceased beings who had become Spirits and merged with their own dead bodies creating a unique creature that was neither Spirit nor human that almost could never be destroyed. They couldn't be destroyed like regular Spirits and were much stronger. The only known way to kill them was to destroy the source of the Method that created them.
"Yep. A sick and twisted way of gaining immortality, becoming zombies with a brain who live as slaves as long as their master lived." Jimmy grimly nodded. "It was done to gain an army to fight against the Avatars with an abundance of Life Energy to increase their powers but luckily we pulled through with people like your first predecessor, mine, and even Carlos's predecessor there to stop them. After the war ended he vanished, some say he want to repair the damage brought to the Earth by the war."
"Sounds very powerful." Gwen commented.
"True, Gwen, I myself would have a hard time against his Spirit and the same can be said for Warhawk." Andromeda spoke up. "To think this Avatar is this close to you makes me nervous but glad that someone like him can help keep everyone safe."
"So why hasn't he shown himself?" Gwen asked.
"Possibly because even Nebula doesn't know who he is, the element of surprise works both ways." Jimmy's Spirit, Dionysus spoke from a glass bottle Jimmy was holding. "Nebula's trying to stay one step ahead of you and now there's an Avatar hidden from him and he can't do anything about it."
"Well, all this stuff is going to make things hard for me and the others on this show." Gwen sighed. "I just hope we can track down Nebula soon."
The Dimension Seal was dispelled and Gwen continued to go about the rest of the day as a normal contestant. She didn't want to consider that she might have jeopardized her friendship with some her friends by not voting for Heather. She thought LeShawna wouldn't mind but it seems she wasn't interested in mending any bridges with her and Bridgette any time soon. She was still set on spending time with DJ before one of them left and DJ moved back to Jamaica.
Lindsay didn't seem to care; she probably forgot the whole thing. Duncan didn't seem to care a whole lot about it but Courtney was making a big deal out of it. Cody was voting off Sierra anyway so he didn't care about it so as long as Sierra wasn't massaging his feet in his sleep or stealing his underwear. It was going to be a long trip.
Xxx
"Mind your own business Crazy In Training!" Elliot growled. "Bug me about it one more time and I'll glue your hair to the wing!"
Elliot was talking to Ezekiel and Courtney was bugging them again.
"You cannot talk with the other team, he could steal secrets!" Courtney exclaimed.
"Who I talk to on this plane is none of your business and that's the end of it!" Elliot snapped.
"Yeah, that's the end of it." Gwen walked back into the Economy Class. "What's going on?"
"Your friend is fraternizing with the other team!" Courtney said.
"Yeah, that's why I came onto this show. I came onto this plane so I could tick off the team nutcase by making friends." Elliot said sarcastically.
"We're not even at the next location yet; Courtney and we're sharing the same class here so there's no reason why we shouldn't talk to the other team rather than spending the whole trip in awkward silence." Gwen spoke up, not in the mood for another fight.
"We can't talk to the other team, it undermines our effectiveness!" Courtney reasoned. "Our team is barely functional and I'm trying to keep us together. I know how a team..."
"Don't give me that CIT crap again! You're barely functional yourself, all you do is shout, shout, and shout and guess what? You still lose! There's no planning involved and you never accept another person's advice even when it's a good idea!" Elliot cut her off. "You claim to be a leader but to be honest you suck at leading or even planning!"
Courtney gasped but then glared angrily. "Take that back!"
"No! You are not my boss nor are you my team's leader so stop bugging me!" Elliot shouted. "Gwen, you known her longer get her to leave me alone!"
"Tell her to stop fraternizing with the enemy or she'll be the next person who leaves!"
Both Courtney and Elliot were looking at Gwen to solve the problem.
"...So no one wants breakfast or any kind of snack?" Gwen looked around the rest of the class. "No cravings for disgusting and stale food?"
"She does have a point, Courtney. You keep on fighting with everyone on your team for who's in charge and you're not keen on accepting ideas." Bridgette pointed out. "We could hear you fighting back in Japan."
"That was a onetime thing, we get along fine." Heather replied. "No one's fighting here except these two."
"Yeah, why is her talking to Ezekiel such a big deal, it's not like she's the only person on this team who hangs out with the other teams." Duncan shrugged.
"What?" Heather and Courtney said at the same time.
"Okay, I'll be going for some delicious disgusting stale food." Gwen turned around and started walking out.
"You have been hanging out with them behind our backs?" Heather stood up.
"So what? She and her friends brought us some nice food and hung out the other night, it's no big deal!" LeShawna said.
"No wonder this has been happening, you're encouraging your friends to hang out with the other teams!" Courtney exclaimed.
"She's our friend, Courtney, like you're my friend!" Bridgette defended.
"Being on different teams means no interactions! It only causes distractions!" Courtney replied.
"Yeah, and shouting at everyone, that requires complete focus and allows us to win any and all challenges. Hey, tell me just how well did we do on the last challenge?" Elliot asked rhetorically. "Gwen, come on, you go ahead and tell this counsellor wannabee that she has no say in what anyone does around here."
Gwen stopped and turned around. "Like that's going to make a difference but I'll go ahead and humor you. You're not the leader Courtney, I'm not sure we even need a leader since every time someone decides to play leader it leads to fights and makes us lose. Plus, I promised that I'd hang out with my friends, especially DJ since I don't want what's possibly my last memory of him to be competing against him for money."
"Last memory?" Duncan asked, with a raised eyebrow.
DJ suddenly had a guilty look on his face, feeling that he was responsible for all the fighting. Gwen sighed looking at both teams. "Deej?"
"It's all right, Gwen." DJ nodded.
Gwen nodded. "DJ's moving back to Jamaica when this is over."
The rest of Team Amazon who didn't already know, Heather, Duncan, Courtney, and Cody were surprised and speechless.
"He and his mom lost their home when those families on their show sued them for all the food that put them in the hospital leaving them with only a pair of clothes to wear and a bus to live in." Gwen explained. "In fact said bus was trashed in the canyon and DJ's mom is hanging out in Playa Des Losers. They don't have any more Canadian money but still have money that's used in Jamaica thanks to a trust fund left by DJ's grandma, enough to get them plane tickets and get them a nice house. So until we're kicked off and this season is over, I plan on spending any time I can with my friend and anyone else is welcome to come along and if you have a problem with that, deal with it."
Gwen sat down and thankfully Courtney didn't push the issue. It was quiet for the next few days but thankfully the silence did not last forever.
"Thanks, Gwen. You and the all the rest of you guys." DJ smiled. "I just wish I wasn't stuck with this animal mangling curse."
"Curse, shmurse!" LeShawna rolled her eyes. "The more you believe that trash the more power it has over you."
"Really? Wow, maybe your right!" DJ smiled, happy that maybe if he stopped believing he'd stop hurting animals.
The plane started shaking, making anyone who was standing or not wearing their seat belts fall over like Gwen, Courtney, and Elliot.
"Now what?!" Heather groaned as she strapped herself in.
"Turbulence!" Chris shouted over the intercom.
Everyone in the Economy Class screamed as they grabbed onto their seats and held on for their lives.
"This is no turbulence, the rats say..." Dawn didn't get the chance to finish because the hole that they had covered up before they reached Egypt ripped open.
"Oh crap!" Gwen shouted as grabbed her seat and held on.
Anything not bolted down was sucked out through the hole but luckily none of the contestants were sucked out. Everyone was screaming as they held on for dear life until LeShawna reached for and sent a large crate at the hole, covering it up and thankfully saving everyone else. A seagull had flown in and landed on DJ's lap who gasped in horror.
"Go! Go!" DJ whispered desperately. "You're not safe with me!"
LeShawna rolled her eyes.
Looking out the window Elliot gasped when she saw mountains. "Wow! You got to see this!"
Gwen walked over and took a peak outside. "Wow, those are beautiful."
Cody was curious and took a look out his own window. "Aren't those the alps?"
Chris's voice came over the loud speaker again but this time he was speaking with a German accent. "Achtung my viener schnitzels!"
"I never thought he'd sound worse with his own accent." Elliot groaned.
"In preparation for landing please unbuckle your seatbelts and head to the cargo hold." Chris said, his voice returning to normal.
The cast had all assembled in the cargo hold like Chris said and waited for whatever Chris had in store form this time.
"Now what?" LeShawna asked.
The floor opened up beneath them as if answering LeShawna's question and they all fell towards the ground screaming.
"TEAM LOBOTOMY DOES IT AGAIN!" Elliot screamed.
Luckily they landed in a huge pile of snow that softened their landing or at least most of it. Gwen was stuck trying to get out of a large pile of snow and saw Cody buried face first. Rolling eyes she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him out.
"AH!" Cody gasped for air. "I'm alive!"
"You're welcome." Gwen let go and continued to push her way out of the pile.
She stopped she felt her boots brush against something and saw a Mohawk sticking out of the snow. Smirking Gwen wiped the snow to see Duncan groaning.
"Never thought a big tough guy like you could be beat by snow." Gwen joked.
"Oh, ha ha." Duncan sat up and wiped snow off his shirt. "Nice to know someone's having fun."
"Snowball!" Gwen and Duncan looked up in time as snow balls hit them in the face and knocked them down.
Wiping the snow off they saw Elliot getting ready to throw another one at them. "Did I interrupt something?"
Cody grimaced but Gwen and Duncan smirked as they made their own snowballs.
"Is that how you want to play it?" Duncan laughed and threw his snow ball.
It became a big snow ball fight with Duncan, Gwen, and Elliot throwing snow balls at each other. Cody ducked under one but was hit in the chest by another.
"Come on! Don't stand there like a snow man!" Elliot laughed and jumped out of the way of snow ball that Gwen threw.
Duncan ran after her but tripped on something fell over. The lump he tripped over groaned and sat up revealing that it was a snow covered Courtney. Gwen and Elliot laughed at the way she looked but she didn't find it funny.
"Who kicked me?" Courtney wiped the snow from her eyes.
"Whoops, sorry." Duncan stood up and helped Courtney get out of the snow.
"Why thank you, Duncan. Such a nice boyfriend you are, my nice boyfriend." Courtney said, glaring Gwen who shrugged and walked away.
Gwen stopped when saw Dawn sitting on a frozen log with a seagull on her shoulders.
"Let me guess, you took a short cut?" Gwen dryly asked.
"Hm?" Dawn turned to face Gwen. "Oh no, I can't take a short cut while falling. I just landed in a softer spot."
Gwen looked around and saw no sign of how she landed, no body imprints or holes in the snow bank.
"I'll just take your word for it." Gwen sighed.
Dawn giggled slightly.
"Hi, Darrel!" Gwen looked to her left and saw Lindsay talking to Tyler.
"It's me, Tyler!" Tyler had enough of Lindsay forgetting his name. "Season one, you and I were together!"
"You must have me confused with someone else. The only guy I remember being with on this show was Tyler and he's never coming back." Lindsay replied sadly.
Tyler just stared at her, unable to believe that Lindsay couldn't remember that he was Tyler! Gwen shook her head as Lindsay walked away but Gwen decided to help get Tyler out of the snow. Tyler looked up and saw Gwen offering her hand which he took, he didn't care which team she was on at the moment.
"Hard to get her to remember your name, huh?" Gwen asked.
"No kidding, at least she remembers a Tyler." Tyler optimistically said but sighed sadly. "I just wish that she remembered I am that Tyler."
Gwen looked down and saw her Star Necklace flash, the sign that Andromeda heard the wish. Deciding that helping Tyler with Lindsay was a good thing to do Gwen decided to allow Tyler's wish to come true.
She patted Tyler on the shoulder. "Give her some time. She'll figure it out."
As she patted him on the shoulder Andromeda released her power into Gwen and transferred it to Tyler.
'So how does the wish come true?' Gwen asked.
'It's a little tricky, but he needs to physically touch her for my powers to work.' Andromeda replied. 'She may not remember most things but the brain records all memories subconsciously, her memories of Tyler just need to be found.'
'I still say good luck.'
That was when Chris finally made his appearance, wearing sun glasses and a helmet while being propelled through the air with a silent fan and a parachute strapped to his back.
"I bet I could hit him." Elliot started making a snow ball but Dawn grabbed her arm.
"Please don't." Dawn asked, making Elliot groan and drop the snow ball.
"Guten tag und willkommen in Deustland, AKA Germany." Chris whispered but the mountain slightly shook. "We're in avalanche territory so you might want to keep it down."
"What?! There's a sale at the Khaki Barn?! AAAHH!" Lindsay let out a scream but Tyler and Cody quickly covered her mouth.
The moment that Tyler's hand touch Lindsay Andromeda's power transferred from him to her, intent on fulfilling Tyler's wish. Lindsay didn't realize it but she felt dizzy for a second as if she was starting to remember something. Meanwhile after the mountain stopped shaking Chris continued the start of the challenge with a familiar bell sound.
"Welcome to today's challenge: Avoid the Song-alanche. To avoid a potentially fatal tumble down the mountain and such a suck-tacular climb back up, you better keep the singing nice and not loud."
German music started playing and the mountain shook slightly.
Noah put his hand on Owen's mouth.
Noah: Keep it down, so I can win the loot!
Owen: Try, I will. But I still got to fart! No toot!
Noah and Heather hushed him before he caused an avalanche.
Heather: Toot on, but you're still out of luck. You suck the lemon chuck.
Heather held up her hand as she turned away and walked from them and into Gwen.
Gwen: Wait till you're voted out for being such a lout!
Courtney danced up to them and pointed her finger at Heather's nose.
Courtney: I'll dance a jig when Chris shoves you out the plane!
Alejandro was looking directly at LeShawna as he sang.
Alejandro: When you don't hold back and lead the pack, truly there is nothing stopping you, you, you.
Leshawna: Swimming in your eyes, it's butterflies, and suddenly there's nothing I can't do.
LeShawna fell back and Alejandro caught her as she stared at the camera. "Sorry, Harold."
Meanwhile Lindsay was staring at Tyler and Andromeda's powers had gone to work.
'Do you know that Tyler is here?' A voice whispered in Lindsay's mind.
'Tyler's here! Where? Where?' Lindsay looked around eagerly.
'Do you know where Tyler is?'
'Ummm, he's not here because I would have seen him.' Lindsay thought, not freaking out that voice in her head was talking to her.
'But do you remember what he looked like?'
"Oh, he...uh...' Lindsay then remembered what Tyler wore a red track suit, a red and white headband, brown hair and he... Lindsay stared at Tyler, squinting her eyes.
Lindsay: Wait, something's itching in my brain!
She suddenly remembered that Tyler had been in the game all along as a smile appeared on her face.
Someone's back in the game! My former flame!
Tyler looked up surprised as Lindsay walked over to him with a big smile.
And Tyler's your name!
She reached and grabbed him in a tight hug and spun around, happy that she had found him.
You're Tyler just the same! Oh, Tyler, Tyler, Tyler, Tyler back you came.
"You remember me?" Tyler asked, a huge smile breaking out in his face." Ha! She remembers me!"
'Oh crap!' Gwen realized that granting that wish may backfire on them just now as Tyler jumped into the air.
"YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!" Tyler shouted happily into the sky, forgetting the fact that loud noises would set off an avalanche.
'Why did I have to be the good guy?' Gwen thought as everyone ended up in a pile of snow after falling down the mountain.
'Wishes are never simple.' Andromeda replied but Gwen could sense amusement in her voice.
Chris was laughing hysterically as he flew overhead. "Awesome!"
"Whoo-hoo!" Izzy's head poked out of the snow. "That was as fun as the snow ball!"
"I know!" Elliot laughed.
Heather glared at Alejandro as he helped LeShawna out of the snow.
Xxx
Confessional: Heather
"Alejandro flirting with LeShawna? I would throw up but he's not even worth the puke! Did you hear him back there? Even his something is up to something!" Heather groaned.
Xxx
After the avalanche was over the cast had to walk back up the mountain. Elliot, Duncan, and Izzy threw snowballs around, having a little fun. Heather ducked under a snowball and glared at Elliot as she threw snowballs at a few people, namely Heather, Courtney, Alejandro and but threw some at their friends for the fun of it.
"Great news guys! Tyler's back!" Lindsay said, running up to her team.
LeShawna already knew but pretended to act surprised. "What? Girl, no way!"
Meanwhile Elliot mumbled something about her brain cells committing suicide.
"Yeah, can you believe it?!" Lindsay ran off to tell everyone else.
Owen was struggling to get up the mountain and almost collapsed until he sniffed something. "What? I smell..." Owen jumped up and ran past everyone else up the mountain. "Food!"
He made it to the top and gasped in joy. The others made it up and saw what made him so happy: a large pile of meat and a meat grinder.
"It's beautiful!" Owen ran towards the pile and started eating.
"Woah! Easy Tiger!" Chris stopped him and waited for the cast to assemble before explaining. "Don't think of this as raw meat, think of it as raw building materials. Over fifteen hundred species of sausage call Germany 'home', hence the theme of our most efficient challenge yet..."
"SHUT UP AND STUFF!" Chef came out and yelled in a German accent.
"Danke Chef. Each team must make a giant German sausage by shoveling meat into the grinder, push it down, and grind the mixture out into an oversized sausage casing, without losing a finger or toe."
"I'm sorry, sausages? This is the most disgusting challenge yet!" Heather exclaimed disgusted.
"Oh come on! This a walk in the park compared to some of the other challenges!" Elliot scoffed.
"And how do you know?" Heather asked, not sounding harsh and remembering her alliance with Gwen.
"I've watched the reruns." Elliot shrugged.
"I'm sorry but Heather's right, this is disgusting." Bridgette said, covering her nose. "I'm a vegetarian, there's no way I am touching meat!"
"I can't do that either." DJ shook his head.
"Nor me." Dawn crossed her arms and looked away.
"Come on, guys, aren't you tired of being stuck in the Economy Class?" LeShawna exclaimed. "We'll get through this, easy!"
"This would be easier if a certain someone hadn't smashed the meat grinder we won." Alejandro glared at Owen.
The reason the plane was shaking earlier was not actually turbulence but Owen trying to prove he was no longer afraid of flying by trying to ballet dance in the first class. He ended up tumbling up and down first class, shaking the plane and in the process he smashed the meat grinder Team C had won in New York.
"Meaning you all will have to shovel fast or risk getting stuck with an incomplete sausage which will be a lot harder to ride down the hill."
"Can we expect one at the end of this "salmonella" challenge?" LeShawna asked.
"Mmm... salmonella!" Owen licked his lips.
"There will be prizes for those who make it out alive and there will be a punishment for one sorry loser on the team who makes it last." Chris grinned evilly.
Chef blew an alphorn signaling the start of the challenge.
Heather was the one shoveling meat into the grinder while Courtney and Cody were shoveling the meat up to them.
"Forget it; shoveling meat into a grinder is dangerous! I'm a valuable teammate!" Heather complained.
"Yeah, you sure helped in keeping us from losing in New York!" Courtney retorted.
Gwen was at the bottom, watching as only a minimal amount of meat came out of the grinder.
"This is taking too long!" Elliot groaned. "Let me shovel the meat!"
"No Elliot!" Gwen and Dawn said at the same time.
Elliot crossed her arms and pouted but there was no way in Hell that Gwen and Dawn were letting her near the meat grinder. Gwen sighed and grabbed a shovel to help Heather shovel the rest of the meat faster, Dawn and Elliot cranked the grinder together Courtney was shoving all the meat they had into the grinder.
"Lass yacking, more packing!" Courtney said.
"Can you at least get your boyfriend to help?" Heather pointed at the edge of the mountain.
Courtney looked to see Duncan making a meat sculpture of Courtney.
"Duncan, what are you doing?!"
"Just having some fun." Duncan shrugged. "Don't you like it?"
"That's for the challenge, not for your amusement!" Courtney shouted.
Duncan scowled and knocked 'Meat Courtney' over the edge.
"No!" Heather and Courtney shouted.
"If only that was the real thing." Elliot sighed.
"Now we have almost no meat left!" Courtney screeched.
Cody was holding up the back of the sausage as Izzy walked by carrying Noah and saw the small sausage.
"Ha! Cody's got a tiny sausage!" Noah laughed.
"At least my team has a sausage!" Cody replied.
Everyone looked at Team C's meat grinder and saw that their sausage was gone, replaced by a huge and bloated Owen. "Oh, so spicy!"
"Did he just consume a whole freaking pile of raw meat?" Elliot covered her mouth, afraid she might barf.
"Looks like it." Gwen winced.
"What are the odds he gets a heart attack in the next few seconds?" Elliot asked.
"I have an idea." Alejandro said, his voice straining to hold back his anger. "We can ride Owen down the hill."
"No way! That's cheating!" Courtney protested.
"Owen is stuffed with meat; I say he's fit for sausage duty." Chris replied.
Courtney growled in frustration as the two teams finished and went down the hill while all that Team Amazon made was a sloppy and skinny mess and put the blame on one person. "Way to lose the challenge, Duncan!"
"Not my fault you have no sense of humor." Duncan shrugged. "You want to move, jump on it!"
"Well, we've already lost, might as well look like idiots as a bonus." Gwen shrugged.
The entire team except Dawn jumped on the meat pile and flattened it out.
"Come on!" Elliot hopped on. "Let's go!"
"This is a travesty, riding down a hill on the remains of perhaps hundreds of poor dead animals." Dawn sniffed as she got on.
As the other teams piled onto their sausage and Owen Team Amazon took off down the hill. As the teams went down Chris called out to them.
"Forgot to mention watch out for the rabid mountain goats! They're super deadly!" Chris chuckled. "We brought them in special."
'Rabid goats? This just gets better and better.' Gwen thought sarcastically.
They slid over the edge and down the hill at top speed. They went down the hill fast until they came upon a slant that sent them into the air.
"Oh oh!" Elliot gulped as they fell off the meat board.
They hit the hill and rolled and bounced down the hill until they reached the room where the other teams were waiting. Chris had somehow made it to the bottom before them and was now on the platform the final team made it. The platform had four sets of dance mats with three mats and two positioned side by side and the third behind them.
When Chris was done laughing at everyone's predicament he started the next part of the challenge. "Congrats on coming first Team Chris is Reallllllllyyyyy Hot!"
"Did we win?" Owen asked as he dizzily stood up.
"Welcome, everyone to part zwei of today's challenge!" Chris announced. "Members from each time must learn and perform a traditional German dance on this platform. Oh, and the mats are rigged to deliver a hilarious and painful jolt every time one of you missteps or when I need a laugh. The last team standing wins!"
"Where's the reward?" LeShawna demanded.
"Patience, mein flower." Chris replied. "First we need to decide who competes for which team. It'll be two from Team Victory and three from Team Amazon and Team Chris because we only have eight mats."
"I'm out!" Duncan raised his hand.
"No thanks!" Gwen replied.
Both of them were not fans of singing and were definitely not going to go through the trauma of dancing.
"Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot was the first here so they win the reward."
Chef tossed heavy steel hats at Noah, Alejandro and Owen.
"These weigh a ton!" Noah struggled to hold the hat as it was so heavy his arms were weighed down closely to the ground.
"Yes they do! And for Team Victory," Chef threw furry hats at LeShawna and Bridgette.
"Ooh, those are all the rage in Paris!" Lindsay wished she had gotten one of those hats.
"And in last place, Team Amazon!" Chef tossed lightweight green German hats at Heather, Elliot, and Cody. "And Team Amazon, for coming in last place one of you will have to wear penalty hosen!"
Cody looked terrified as Chris held it out.
Xxx
Confessional: Cody
"I don't know what to do this but I'd do anything to keep Gwen from seeing me in a German bikini."
Xxx
Luckily for Cody Lady Luck was on his side.
"Dude, hate to be you right now!" Duncan laughed as he patted Cody on the shoulder. "You'll look even more of a geek than you do now!"
"Well, I thought about having Cody wear it but since Duncan automatically assumed Cody would...Congratulations Duncan!" Chris threw hosen at Duncan.
"Oh Hell no!" Duncan threw it on the ground. "I am not wearing that!"
"Sorry, rules are rules!" Chris laughed.
Chef grabbed Duncan from behind.
"Let go of me!"
Xxx
Two minutes later...
'Andromeda, I know you taught me about emotional control and everything but I am finding it very hard to do that.' Gwen thought as she literally struggled to keep herself from laughing.
All of the chosen contestants were now on the mats consisting of Heather, Cody, Elliot, Bridgette, LeShawna, Alejandro, Noah, and Owen. The rest were watching on the side lines and Duncan was now wearing the hosen with a very angry look on his face, feeling humiliated for wearing it on Live TV. Duncan glared at anyone who dared to laugh so Gwen had to cover her mouth to hide her smile. Cody had a relieved look on his face, very glad that he didn't have to wear it.
"Bet you're really happy not be wearing the hosen?" Noah whispered to Cody.
"You have no idea." Cody shuddered.
The alphorn was blown by Chef, cutting off anymore talking. "That's German for shut up! Now follow my lead and no gets hurt! Yet."
German music started playing as Chef showed them the dance. "Right knee up, left arm swings. Stop, hop, slap your thighs. Kick your butt, jump, and clap!"
Everyone followed his moves, some were doing better like Heather and Elliot doing fine while Bridgette stumbled to keep up. LeShawna danced her usual dance earning a laugh from Heather.
Alejandro noticed this and put a hand on LeShawna's shoulder. "Ignore those who do not know fabulous dancing when they see it. Truly, you are fabulous, you mustn't hold back any longer!"
"You're right, candy apple! Clear the way! This dance train is leaving the station!" LeShawna started dancing again.
Alejandro turned to Heather. "I am disappointed, Heather, you are above petty teasing."
Xxx
Confessional: Heather
"No I'm not! I would like to smack that arrogant jerk in those..."
Xxx
Confessional: LeShawna
"Strong sexy check bones! I can dance already, but with his encouragement, I just went from Janet to Beyonce!" She started dancing again but she lost her balance and fell off the toilet. "Whoa!"
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Elliot had already mastered the lesson Chef had taught them, dancing as good as Alejandro and Noah while Bridgette still had some trouble along with Cody. Gwen narrowed her eyes when she saw Alejandro talking to LeShawna and how her friend was happy around him.
'It seems that he has moved onto another victim.' Andromeda commented.
She was not the only one who noticed as Alejandro's teammate Noah confronted him about it. "What's with you and LeShawna? Giving the enemy a pep talk? Not cool, I thought we agreed no more helping."
"Very perceptive my brilliant teammate and I apologize for breaking my promise. I am working an angle that will benefit our team." Alejandro explained.
"Guys, I don't feel so hot!" Owen groaned, putting hands on his stomach.
"That's because you chugged a whole pile of meat down your throat, you're lucky you're not feeling heartburn." Elliot commented.
"Perfect time to test this baby out." Chris held out a remote and pressed a button.
Owen was instantly electrocuted by the rigged shockers and let out a loud burp. "Ooh, it smells like cook sausage! Cool!"
"Did you even chew that meat?" Elliot covered her nose.
Heather whispered to LeShawna next to her. "One girl to another, watch out for Alejandro! He's not what he seems!"
"Ha!" LeShawna laughed and stopped dancing. "You're jealous he's paying attention to all this!" She gestured to her body.
"What? I hate that guy! As if!" Heather had stopped dancing and ended up getting shocked by Chris.
"She's actually right, LeShawna. I never thought I'd agree with Heather but she may be right this time." Bridgette whispered.
"You too, Bridge? Oh come on now, you may have gone Gaga over him but anyone who can't stand Heather can't be that bad! Now focus on the game girl!"
Bridgette sighed sadly but focused on dancing.
'Why do you have to be so stubborn?' Gwen rubbed her head.
"Challenge Time!" Chris announced, shocking all eight of them. "Please stand on one of the eight mats so we can get started!"
As the competition was about to start Chef pushed a button and the dance mats were lifted in the air at a high altitude so things would be more interesting.
The challenge started Noah vs. LeShawna, Elliot vs. Bridgette, Owen vs. Heather, and Alejandro vs. Cody.
Owen and Heather started slapping each other while Elliot blocked all of Bridgette's attacks easily not entirely because Elliot was trained as a Spirit Avatar but also Bridgette was little clumsy as she danced. Elliot easily knocked Bridgette off balance and she fell off the platform and into the snow. LeShawna was constantly getting shocked so much she got angry and knocked Noah off the platform. He landed face first in the snow and groaned.
Cody was easily defeated by Alejandro and he landed harshly in the snow. Owen and Heather were the only ones left and they showed no signs of quitting...Until Owen was shocked and puked out the whole meat sausage he ate earlier. Heather looked very disturbed by what she saw and stood back as far as she could and luckily she didn't need to do anything as Owen groaned and fell off the platform.
Heather, Alejandro, Elliot and LeShawna were left in the challenge stood on two dance platforms with Heather paired against LeShawna and Elliot against Alejandro.
"Come on, Elly! Don't let the pretty boy fool you!" Gwen cheered.
"You can do it, LeShawna eh!" Ezekiel cheered.
"I'm not going anywhere!" LeShawna grinned.
"That's it! Seize the day!" Alejandro cheered.
"She's not even on your team!" Heather said furiously.
In her anger she slapped LeShawna across the face. LeShawna growled, that last action making her snap.
"I'm going to seize you!" LeShawna slapped Heather hard enough she was knocked off the platform but LeShawna was not done with her yet. "You've had this coming for three seasons!"
"LeShawna don't!" Dawn ran up to stop her.
Dawn tried to pull LeShawna away from Heather, not wanting anything to happen. But then LeShawna accidently twisted around while aiming a back handed blow at Heather-
SLAP!
Dawn gasped and fell back.
"Oh no, Dawn!" Gwen ran onto the stage.
LeShawna stopped as she realized what she had just done.
Gwen rushed to her friend's aid. "Dawn!"
"Oh my god!" LeShawna clapped her hands to her mouth and ran to help Dawn up. "Dawn I am so sorry! I-I swear I didn't mean to!"
Dawn's right cheek was swelling, and her eyes were watering a bit. Gwen rounded on LeShawna while DJ and Bridgette ran up and helped Dawn to remain on balance. "What the hell was that about?!"
"I-It was an accident! I was just trying to..." LeShawna stuttered. "Heather got me so mad and..."
"Yeah, I know! She gets everybody mad but what else is new?!" Gwen shouted, angered that LeShawna would lose her temper like that. "Since when do you lose it so bad you hit someone who's trying to break up the fight?!"
"It's all right..." Dawn rubbed her cheek. "I'm fine."
"Oh dear." Bridgette pushed the hand away to look at the swelling cheek. "You need some ice on that right now."
"Deej, can you and Bridge get Dawn some help?" Gwen asked, turning back to them.
"Sure." DJ nodded, picking Dawn up and taking her back to the plane for help.
"Gwen, you know me, I'd never do something like that on purpose." LeShawna said as Gwen turned around to face her with a dark glare. "Heather just got me so mad by spewing her usual crap. You know what she's like."
"Oh yeah, blame me for beating up her friend!" Heather rubbed her red cheek as she got up. "Last time I try to do something nice!"
"It doesn't matter." Gwen walked past her, not even glancing at her. "And by the way, you just lost the challenge for your team by 'seizing the day'. Nicely done by the way."
"Gwen..." LeShawna started.
"Save it, I don't want to see you near Dawn or Elliot as long as that bruise on Dawn's cheek isn't one hundred percent healed." Gwen brushed her off.
Gwen walked off the stage with Heather behind her rubbing her sore cheek leaving a saddened LeShawna. While this happened Alejandro had fallen off the dance platform leaving Elliot the survivor and winner. Team Amazon had won today's challenge.
"Team Amazon, fresh baked strudel awaits you in First Class." Chris announced earning some cheers from Team Amazon.
"Can I get out of this stupid thing now?!" Duncan demanded, sick of wearing the hosen.
"I'm going to go check on Dawn." Elliot took off back to the plane. "Tell your friend if I see her come near Dawn I'll slap her teeth out, see how she likes it!"
LeShawna looked down at the ground when she heard what Elliot said. It was obvious both Elliot and Gwen were angry with her for what happened with Dawn and they weren't planning on forgiving her anytime soon. Gwen just wanted it to be over so she could go and check on Dawn. As if things were not bad enough everything turned blue and everyone was frozen signalling that a Dimension Seal had been cast.
"Oh come on! I'm not in the mood for this!" Gwen snapped.
"Peace, child, I come not to fight but to speak." The man who spoke seemed to melt out of the surrounding snow.
And where he stepped, frost would form on any solid ground or the wooden platform, only to melt moments after he stepped away. He wore a blue fur coat that looked to be made of snow and icicles over a black shirt, white pants, and black boots. He had blue pale skin, white blue hair with a crown made of pure ice framing pointed ears. His eyes were a bright blue and in his left hand was a long walking stick. His body was glowing brightly with a clear light blue aura showing that not only was he a very powerful Spirit but the showing his identity.
"Messenger of the Winter, Jack Frost." Andromeda spoke.
"Ah, so that Messenger Comet was indeed the work of you, Andromeda, Heaven's Star." Jack Frost bowed gracefully. "I had heard rumors you had returned with a new Avatar for some time but never would I have imagined that she would appear in my territory not once but twice."
"Your territory?"
"Anywhere that winter rules," Jack Frost tapped his walking stick on the ground twice, causing a snow man to spring out of the ground. "And as you can plainly see, winter is strong here, therefore I am." He smiled pleasantly. "So, what is it that forces the Avatar of Andromeda to send a messenger comet all over the world just to find an old icicle like me in the North Pole?"
"I think you already know what I need to talk about," Gwen said. "Apparently every Avatar out there knows from what I've seen."
"Ah yes...the Marauder." Jack sighed. "I don't involve myself in Avatar affairs, not since the old days. But I still keep my ears to the ground and have been rewarded for my curiosity. I heard you say that fellow ice spirits attacked you in the Yukon, and suspect that it was the work of the Stalker in the Stars, one of few who would dare turn my fellow ice beings to follow their will."
"So you would believe that your friends can be controlled?" Gwen asked.
"Aye, their only instinct is to bring winter when winter must come. They cannot fight anything that controls them unless I or another stronger ice spirit were to intervene." Jack Frost nodded. "Now, you seek the Stalker in the Stars because of his connection to the Marauder, correct?"
"You know a way to find him?" Gwen was hopeful.
"Had I a way, I'd have told you by now. But unfortunately I do not, but I do know of your situation. Travelling all over the world to exotic places; who knows what else you will run into along the way?" Jack chuckled. "I offer this as a deal. I will monitor your trips, and when you monitor into my territory again I shall be on a lookout for anything that dares to control my ice brethren...and punish them accordingly if you don't get your hands on them first. It would be easier for you to not have to get your hands dirty, especially with your current social pressures."
"See Andromeda? There had to be some spirit that understands the modern teen," Gwen smiled, tapping her necklace.
'Ha ha-focus.' Andromeda said abruptly.
"You definitely have the qualities that Andromeda seeks in her avatars," Jack chuckled. "I wish you luck...and try not to cause too much noise around here. These mountains are rather sensitive, but it's rather funny to see an unfortunate looney cause an avalanche."
"I'll keep that in mind," Gwen sighed.
"But one last thing...if the Marauder does appear in my territory...he usually melts my ice far too fast for me to ever be of help." Jack sighed. "I'm afraid I will not be of much help to you, should he appear. I'd delegate that duty to your...fiery friend."
"...you know of Carlos?"
"And of his partner. Warhawk and I usually don't get on. Opposite do not always attract," Jack Frost shrugged. "...please don't bring them near me." With that he was gone in a gust of snowy wind.
"He's more pleasant than most spirits I come across." Gwen commented and sighed. "Now back to the show."