Author's Note: Hope you guys don't mind this chapter, I decided to have a chapter dedicated to setting up who's gone to join the Gen Four cast at the Playa Des Losers, and will hopefully link up nicely with chapter 14 as we move onto the actual reunion between Ezekiel and the others.
Chapter Fifteen
"I hope they get here soon, I'm starting to get chills." Cody spoke out, looking towards where Sierra stood.
They were stood on the docks overlooking Lake Wawanakwa, several small islands dotted out throughout the lake, somewhere out in the distance would be Camp Wawanakwa and the surrounding islands where most of the Total Drama seasons had taken place, and where the current one was still filming.
A Boat was currently docked up next to where Cody and Sierra currently stood, it looked similar to the Boat of Losers from the original seasons, somewhat run down however this boat was easily capable of holding several people. There seemed to be two rooms on the boat, one for the drivers and one for the others to sit, with a small outdoor section for people to look out at the Lake.
All in all, It was a perfect size for them to traverse the Lake until they found the Playa Des Losers.
"They'll be here soon, I made sure to contact them as you were preparing the boat…" She responded, turning to smile at him, "You sure you can drive this thing? We could always get someone else to drive us all there?" She asked the tech geek, already knowing what his response was going to be.
Cody grinned confidently, "Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine."
"You know I can always ask B to come and drive the boat?" A voice called out from behind them.
Startled, Cody turned around quickly to see Dawn meditating on the edge of the boat. Her eyes closed in concentration, and yet he felt like she was looking directly towards him.
"H-How did you get here? I didn't even notice you arrive?" Cody asked her, confused and nervous about the moonchild's sudden appearance.
Dawn opened her eyes and grinned down towards the pair, "I used a shortcut." She responded, pointing upwards.
Sierra laughed, having heard Dawn use this before from her numerous viewings of Dawn's only season, whilst Cody stammered trying to make a response to her 'shortcuts'.
"Sorry Dawn, but I already tried to ask B and I never got a response from him. But Cody will do just fine, I have full belief in him." Sierra said, looking over towards Cody smiling at the mention of him.
Dawn shrugged in response, slightly disappointed that her friend wouldn't be able to make it, but in the end it didn't matter too much to her, she was only here for one reason anyway and she would see it through even if she had to go alone.
"B-But I-I…" Cody started before Dawn cut him off.
"You might wanna greet those who are arriving…" She smiled, pointing behind Cody to where a car was parking up.
When it stopped, the passenger door quickly opened up, Tyler jumping out of it attempting to land perfectly, only to slip and land painfully on the ground. Harold got out from the driver's side, shaking his head humorously at the jock's failed attempt at an entrance.
"Gosh Tyler, you really know how to make an entrance." Harold said jokingly towards the jock, who just groaned painfully in response. The geek offering a hand down to his friend who quickly accepted, pulling him off the ground.
"Guys!" Cody shouted while running towards them, happy to see some of his old friends again. "It's so good to see you two!"
"Sup man, stoked to be here." Tyler replied, offering a fist out to Cody who happily accepted.
"Good to see you too Codemeister." Harold added, happy to see his fellow Drama Brother once more.
"You too H-Bomb, too bad Justin and Trent couldn't show up, we could've doubled this trip up as a mini reunion for us." Cody joked, a little disappointed that the others couldn't make it.
"Yeah, too bad Trent was too busy, he seemed like he was up for it otherwise." Harold added to the others dismay, Trent would've been a good addition to the group that was forming to head to the resort.
"And Justin?" Sierra asked.
Harold just sighed, "Justin doesn't want any part in this, he really didn't care about what happened to the guy and is just out there doing his modelling thing."
"He's not coming, aw man…" A voice called out from nearby.
Everyone turned to see a large man walking towards them, waving happily to those who had already arrived. On top of his shoulders was Izzy, sitting contently as she gazed out towards the Lake, looking for where the resort could be so she could reunite with her friend, something Dawn quickly noticed as she watched the interactions from her spot on top of the boat.
"Owen, Izzy! Glad you could make it." Sierra said happily, running up to hug the pair, which Owen gladly accepted whilst Izzy leaped off of his shoulders and onto the ground next to Tyler.
Cody however frowned slightly, noticing somebody missing from their group. "So Noah actually isn't showing up…" He said dejectedly, hoping that one of his closest friends would've shown up in the end.
"Sorry Dude, I tried to contact him myself but he was busy. Same with his girlfriend Emma and her sister Kitty, none of them were picking up so I couldn't ask him." Owen explained with Izzy nodding along, which Cody immediately picked up on.
"Wait, but Izzy said she spoke to him and he declined…" Cody said confused, looking towards Izzy for clarification, only to notice her smiling guiltily.
"Oh, about that…" She backed away slightly, Owen looking at her concerned while the others looked confused.
"She wanted to make it a surprise for you since we didn't know if the girls would be allowed, given they weren't on this stupid show…" A sarcastic voice spoke up as Noah walked out from around the corner of a nearby building, Emma and Kitty both showing up soon after, the latter looking extremely excited to see all of the old contestants.
"Oh my god oh my god, it's sooo cool to meet all of you!" Kitty shouted, her phone already out to take selfies with the others, which Sierra gladly accepted first.
Owen turned to Izzy, happy that his friends were here but saddened by Izzy blindsiding him. "You couldn't have let me in on this Iz?" He questioned her.
Izzy laughed guiltily, "Sorry Big O, we just wanted it to be a surprise for everyone, it helped to sell it if you weren't informed…" She explained, flashing him an apologetic smile. "Why do you think I was pretending that he was lying about her, I had to make it believable?" She giggled madly.
Cody just shrugged, "To be honest, we wouldn't have cared, technically Chris doesn't know we're going so we're all in the same boat." He responded to the pair, before looking towards Emma and Kitty, the latter taking selfies with Sierra, with Tyler and Harold being dragged into it as well.
"Nice to meet you, Emma is it? Noah told me a lot about you after that race you competed in." Cody said, extending a hand to her smiling, which she shook with a small smile on her face.
"Hopefully good things, right Noah?" Emma responded, looking towards her boyfriend who just smirked back.
"Come on Emma, when have I ever said anything bad about you. I save that for everything else." He replied, to which Emma chuckled, which turned into full blown laughter when Kitty grabbed Cody and dragged him into some selfies with her and Sierra, the Tech Geek looking displeased being dragged into this knowing what Sierra could be like.
"Alright Kit you can let go of him now." Emma eventually said after calming down, still smiling slightly at her younger sister. Kitty eventually complying, letting go of Cody with a huge smile on her face, satisfied with the photos she'd taken so far.
"So… Is this everyone?" Noah asked the others, looking around at the few people who had turned up.
"Not yet, we're still missing a few people." Sierra responded.
"Great…" Noah sighed, already dreading some of the potential nuisances he'd have to deal with. "Just tell me the Anti-Me and the Slippery Eel aren't gonna be here?" He asked Cody.
"Justin isn't gonna be here if that's what you're asking!" Izzy said, skipping over to Noah and grabbing him in a headlock.
"And I'm guessing by the 'Slippery Eel' you mean Alejandro?, because he's not showing up either." Dawn said from her position on the boat, causing the others to look up towards her whilst Noah and Harold muttered "Thank God" to themselves.
"And you are?" Emma asked, not having seen Dawn before, despite watching Total Drama after beginning to date Noah, both her and Kitty had only watched the first three seasons of the show, meaning this face was unfamiliar to either of them.
"Oh?" Dawn raised an eye in surprise, before realising the reason behind some people's lack of recognition. "Goodness I should introduce myself, I'm Dawn, I was on season four of the show." She explained, getting a small look of understanding from some of the others who had wanted nothing to do with the show after World Tour.
"Not to be rude here but, why are you here? I'd have thought no one from your season would want to see Ezekiel given he was already messed up when you guys showed up?" Harold questioned.
Sierra winced slightly at the mention of this, remembering her conversation with Cody about Dawn finding out from when they first found out about the video.
"Some of them. Dakota's already been in contact with Chef about curing him, there's doctors over at the Playa now treating him. Izzy and Dawn have asked about him as well…" She trailed off quickly, something Cody picked up on immediately as he realised what the problem was.
"You had to tell Dawn didn't you?" He asked her, receiving a sigh followed by a quiet nod. "How did she take it?"
"Horribly." She began bluntly. "She really tried to help him and the mutant animals after Revenge of the Island, and she feels incredibly guilty over him being stuck on Boney Island for so long, no one had even thought about him being stuck in the Fun Zone." She explained to him.
"That's not her fault though, Chris was the one who turned her sanctuary into his own personal playground, you even told me how dangerous it was in there." Cody said angrily, although entirely at Chris McLean and not Sierra or Dawn.
"I know…" She said quietly
Meanwhile Cody and Dawn were in a similar situation, remembering their conversation from that same day, about how Dawn was hurting from what had happened, and Cody's attempt at helping her out.
After a while, her phone began to ring nearby, she picked it up, seeing Cody's number flash up, before answering.
"Hello?" She greeted shakily, still hurt.
"Dawn, is that you? Are you okay?" Cody responded.
"I-I'm fine… Is this about that video?" She asked him.
"Yeah, look first off, I'm sorry about earlier, Sierra wasn't trying to upset you…" He said to her, sounding concerned about the moonchild.
"I-It's okay Cody, I understand that, It's just… I could have done more to help him…" Dawn replied, tearing up once more.
"Well you still can Dawn, it's okay." Cody said softly.
"How?" Dawn questioned.
"Look, nothing's guaranteed yet, but Sierra's looking at convincing Chef to let us see him at the Playa, we didn't want to say anything just yet in case it doesn't end up happening, but I don't like hearing you sound so sad, and I doubt Sierra would either." Cody explained.
"W-What if it doesn't work?" Dawn asked him.
"I suppose we could always go to the farm where he grew up, I mean Sierra knows where that is." He responded.
"But isn't that invasive?" She questioned.
"It is, but this is Sierra we're talking about, besides his family would understand, we're his friends after all…" Cody reassured her.
"O-Okay." Dawn smiled slightly, feeling slightly better.
"Look, don't worry too much about it Dawn, none of this is your fault, if it is then every single one of us on the show is to blame as well, we all could've tried to look for him after All Stars, and I doubt you'd want any of our auras to be so gloomy." Cody responded, joking with his last sentence.
Dawn giggled slightly, accepting that last comment as fact. "True, thank you Cody." She said, feeling much better.
Dawn sighed to herself, beginning to explain to the others about why she was there, "After my season the producers had to quarantine all of the wildlife that had been affected by the Toxic Waste Chris had put all over the island. When Cameron had split the million dollars that he won thirteen ways, I used my share to help fund a sanctuary on Boney Island for the mutants, wanting them to live in peace after what that vile man did to them. But they had turned it into what they called 'The Fun Zone' for the All Stars Season, and when Wawanakwa had sunk Ezekiel had been trapped there. Even if it was only indirectly I still feel like it's my fault he ended up stuck there until one of the new contestants had freed him, so I want to apologise to him personally." She stated, beginning to sob towards the end of her explanation.
Izzy had already leapt up onto the boat where Dawn was sitting, feeling just as bad for what had happened to Ezekiel. She sat next to the moonchild and let her cry onto her shoulder, comforting Dawn while the others looked up, feeling bad for her, especially Harold who'd asked the question in the first place.
While Dawn had explained her reasoning for joining the group, no one else had noticed a taxi dropping off two more former contestants, which led to Tyler and Noah being surprised when Geoff slung his arms around both of their shoulders.
"Sup guys." Geoff greeted the two before noticing Dawn and Izzy up on the boat. "What happened to her?" He asked them, looking at Dawn.
"She's blaming herself for Ezekiel being stuck on Boney Island for so long, but really it was Chris using her sanctuary for his twisted challenges." Cody explained, before smiling slightly at the sight of both him and the approaching Bridgette. "It's good to see you two." He said happily to the pair.
Bridgette smiled in response, "Good to see you too Cody." She said, looking around to see who else had shown up, looking slightly disappointed to see none of her close friends had shown up.
"I would've thought maybe DJ would've shown up considering how nice he was to everyone, including Ezekiel." Bridgette asked, Geoff nodding along in agreement, sad that one of his best friends hadn't made it.
"I asked the big guy, but he was adamant about never coming back near the show, even though it was just the resort…" Cody explained, also looking a bit sad. "He may have made it otherwise but the poor guy's still traumatised from what happened the last time he'd competed."
"Bummer man…" Geoff responded sadly, "Too bad Duncan couldn't make it either, since the poor guy is still in prison." He continued, getting a couple of scowls from Harold, Cody and Bridgette.
"Geoff, we've been over this! It doesn't matter if it was to Chris, he shouldn't have committed arson just to prove a point." Bridgette replied, getting slightly annoyed.
"Plus after everything he did to Gwen and Courtney, he kinda deserves it not gonna lie." Cody continued, Harold nodding along in agreement.
"Aw come on guys, aren't you being a bit too hard on the guy, I mean I went to see him a few months ago with Izzy and the guy seemed genuinely regretful about the whole thing." Owen intervened, trying to diffuse the growing tension.
Bridgette sighed softly before glancing at Owen, "Even if that's the case, he still shouldn't have done what he did in the first place, he ruined his life over that whole thing…" She said, backing down slightly.
Emma and Noah glanced at each other slightly, before Noah turned to Cody and Sierra once more. "So, how many more are we waiting on?" He asked the pair.
"Just a couple more people." Cody responded as Sierra started texting on her phone, trying to reach those who hadn't arrived yet.
Geoff looked around at the others, eventually spotting Emma and Kitty, "Hey I know you two! You were on the Ridonculous Race weren't you?" He said, smiling at the familiar faces.
"Hey Geoff!" Kitty smiled back, sliding up next to both him and Bridgette for another selfie as Noah rolled his eyes.
"Funny how he remembered they were on the Race but not me and Owen…" He muttered to himself, rolling his eyes.
Unfortunately for him, Geoff overheard his comments. "Wait… you guys competed as well and didn't tell me!" He asked, completely shocked as everyone else looked confused. Noah and Emma both facepalming at the Party Dude's lack of awareness.
"Um yeah, I met Emma on there, we're currently dating…" Noah responded.
"Oh, cool…" Geoff said whilst smiling, before his eyes began to widen. "Wait a minute, if they're here… Aw man! I could've brought my best bud Brody along with us…" He shouted, looking completely heartbroken, completely unaware of Bridgette rolling her eyes slightly from nearby.
When she noticed Tyler looking at her oddly she hurried to explain, "Sorry, I don't have a problem with the guy, it's just that Geoff tends to be a lot more reckless when he's around, and it's gotten them into plenty of trouble." She explained quietly to the jock, shrugging nervously.
Sierra soon got off the phone and turned back to the others, "They're almost here, we'll be able to set off soon." She said smiling, the others cheering slightly, with even Dawn looking up to celebrate.
After a couple more minutes the sound of a limousine could be heard approaching, parking up nearby to where the cast had assembled. The doors opened and three figures stepped out, Dawn beginning to smile widely as she finally recognised some familiar faces from her season.
"Corporal Brick McArthur reporting for duty!" Brick shouted, saluting towards the others at the dock, the two he'd arrived with giggling at the sight.
"Brick dude, can you tone it down a little." Sam responded, before looking back down at his game only to grin, "Sweet, Highscore!"
"Sam! Come on, let's go greet the others." Dakota said to him playfully, gently dragging him along.
To some people Dakota's restored appearance wasn't much of a surprise, however some of them hadn't seen her since before her family had funded the cure for her mutation, she had almost been completely restored to her appearance prior to her time on Revenge of the Island.
There were some differences, her eyes remained red and her hair had green strands littered throughout her otherwise blonde curls. Her body was a bit more muscular as well, not in part due to her retaining her strength from her time as Dakotazoid, alluding to what the doctors and Chef had told Ezekiel when he had started his own treatment back at the Playa.
"Hello friends, it's good to see you." Dawn called over to them from her position on the boat, Izzy still sitting with her even after the moonchild had calmed down.
"Hey Dawn." Sam and Brick both shouted back up to her, the latter saluting once more towards her while Dakota just opted to wave, the three of them all happy that they weren't the only ones from their season to show up.
"As much as Harold messed up asking this last time to Dawn…" Emma started, ignoring the irritated "HEY!" being sent over from Harold. "I may as well ask the same question to you guys as well, why exactly are you guys here?" She asked the three former Revenge of the Island contestants.
"My family funded the cure for the mutations Ezekiel suffered in the mines. I've come to see if it's working, and more importantly to let Ezekiel know that he wasn't the only one who suffered because of Chris's negligence. Sam decided to tag along when we realised this doubled up as a mini reunion." Dakota explained.
"I saw what happened to him in the mines myself and for the longest time I wondered if I should've done more to help the poor guy, I didn't know it was him at the time so I prioritise my fellow competitors so we could all escape the mines with our lives, but now I have a chance to help the soldier out. I unknowingly left a man behind and I'm not gonna let that happen again." Brick added, gaining some nods and cheers from the others at his declaration.
"Well said." Dawn replied, smiling widely at the Soldier.
Noah glanced over towards Sierra, who had expected him to ask after they'd arrived. "That's the last of them Noah, we can go now guys! Everyone on the boat!" She said, shouting the last part to everyone else, a small ramp on the side leading onto the boat which Izzy had missed earlier.
All thirteen of the contestants who were waiting by the boat quickly climbed onto the boat, most of them joining Izzy and Dawn on the outside, whilst Cody and Sierra headed into the interior ready to start up the boat.
After getting the engine running, Sierra quickly ran back out to hoist the ramp up, Izzy joining her gleefully. They had just about been able to get it onto the boat when it began to move, the fifteen former contestants from both Total Drama and the Ridonculous Race finally setting sail towards the Playa Des Losers.
'Hang on a little longer Ezekiel, we'll all be there soon…' Dawn thought to herself, having moved up to the front of the boat to gaze out towards Lake Wawanakwa, and the various islands dotting the large mass of water.
Shortly after the boat had set sail, the contestants had quickly split off into three separate groups, each of them taking a different section of the boat. The first group had sat within the second room, consisting of Noah, Owen, Emma, Kitty and Geoff.
The five former Ridonculous Race competitors gathered around the small sitting room, the three former Total Drama contestants catching up with each other, whilst giving Emma and Kitty some information about everyone else on board the boat so that they'd be able to talk to them easier, the girls being the odd ones out due to not previously being on Total Drama.
"Ah, so this Ezekiel guy is pretty weird then?" Emma asked, writing notes down on the person they're all heading to the Playa to see.
"I mean he doesn't sound THAT bad!" Kitty grinned, before frowning slightly, looking deep in thought, "Well, apart from those comments you said he made."
"That was an accident, dude didn't know any better at the time." Geoff commented, having been the person who had tried to diffuse the tension with those sexist comments way back in the first season.
"Well, what about his friendship with that girl?" Emma questioned.
"Who do you mean?" Geoff responded.
"She means the one from the video, I showed the girls it, she's on about the one they've been calling 'Scary Girl' on all of the promos for the season." Noah said, rolling his eyes towards Geoff.
"Oh… her…" Geoff grinned nervously, "Yeah I'm not sure about that one dudes, she seems a little scary."
"Wow… shocker…" Noah deadpanned, causing Emma to giggle.
"Aw come on guys, I'm sure she's not THAT bad…" Owen said to the others, although he himself didn't look entirely convinced by his own statement.
"To be fair to her, she did seem to be helping Ezekiel in that clip, after all, if the audio was right she DID say that she was just sticking up for him when fighting that other girl." Kitty responded, defending Lauren's actions in the video.
Noah just sighed, "I guess we'll find out when we get there…"
The second group, consisting of Cody, Sierra, Bridgette, Harold and Tyler were all sitting within the control room of the boat. Cody sat in the driver's seat steering the boat across Lake Wawanakwa, with Sierra sat next to him and the others sitting nearby the door.
Bridgette turned to Tyler, curious about something. "I should've asked this earlier Tyler, but I'm surprised you didn't bring Lindsay along, do you know why she didn't come along?"
Tyler looked at her for a moment, before sighing deeply, to which the others looked at him with slight pity, knowing the relationship he had on the show with the blonde.
"She doesn't remember Ezekiel for a start, so she was confused about this whole thing when I messaged her." Sierra started, "Hell she doesn't seem to remember quite a few of us, Tyler included."
"Yeah… I didn't want to break up with Linds, however when you have a long distance relationship with somebody who forgets who you are after a while it gets really difficult to stay committed." Tyler continued, Harold placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort the jock.
"I tried asking Beth about this as well, since she's still close to Lindsay, but she declined to go, she never really gave a reason for it either?" Sierra commented once more, looking slightly confused as to why Beth had ghosted her.
"I mean, you did invade her privacy multiple times back when you were still completely obsessed with everyone on the show…" Cody deadpanned, knowing all too well what that entailed, given who Sierra's affection was mainly for.
"And I apologised after my therapy sessions." She grinned nervously. "Although I guess I shouldn't expect everyone to forgive me, Cameron still hasn't after what happened in All Stars." She frowned, remembering how crazy she had gotten, in what was ultimately the wake up call she needed.
"At least you're improving now Sierra, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere near you otherwise, I'd be too scared." Cody responded, making finger gun gestures towards the Uber Fan and grinning slightly.
Tyler looked over towards Harold, thinking of a similar question to what Bridgette asked him before. "Hey Harold, come to think of it, you never mentioned Leshawna?" He asked the geek.
"I mean we do still speak to each other, but she's currently not in Canada at the moment so I knew she wasn't going to be able to make it here, I'm sure she would've liked to see everyone again. Well… except for Heather or Alejandro, but they aren't here either." Harold rambled on.
The final group, consisting of Izzy, Dawn, Dakota, Sam and Brick had stuck to staying on the outside of the boat, Dawn having resumed her meditation after returning to the back of the boat where the others had remained, while the others from her season were getting to know Izzy, not really having a chance to get to know her beforehand.
"So wait, you and Chef still spar regularly?" Sam asked the redhead, who nodded enthusiastically.
"Yep Yep, every few weeks, helps him to destress after all the stuff McLean puts him through, also the day care he worked at in between seasons which is perfectly understandable, children can be such little monsters." Izzy rambled on.
"Heh, cool…" Sam commented, looking back down at his game whilst chuckling at Izzy's comments.
"So wait, who wins more between the two of you?" Brick asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
Before Izzy could respond, someone else cut her off, "Izzy doesn't like to admit it, but Chef usually wins, although she takes pride in putting up a fight every time." Dawn said.
Izzy turned to growl at the moonchild, "STOP READING MY AURA!" She screamed at her.
"So… what about if we sparred?" Dakota asked.
"Oh, you… definitely, I mean I have more experience in combat but you're just so much stronger because of the toxic waste, I would get my ass kicked…" Izzy began to ramble once more, the four Revenge of the Island contestants sharing a few laughs from this, although Dakota looked as though she wanted to comment further.
"Hey! I fought professionally during my time as Dakotazoid!" Dakota eventually shouted at her when she realised.
"It's true!" Sam nodded in agreement, "She was a pretty capable fighter, that experience didn't just go away when she turned back to normal."
"Well… What about Chef?" Dakota asked again. "Could I win against him?"
Izzy laughed slightly, finding the thought of that scenario extremely amusing. "I don't think so, but the thought of that happening is extremely tempting, if we see him while we're at the Playa I might ask him." She said, grinning crazily towards the ex-mutant.
Brick just sighed hearing all of the talking about people having competitive sparring against each other, "All of this fighting talk is making me wish Jo was here…" Brick muttered softly to himself.
"Yes, because after all this time your Aura still shows that you feel a need to be dominated." Dawn replied, grinning innocently even when Brick turned to glare at her.
"Please stop saying that Dawn, I told you back on the island I'm large and in charge!" Brick said, slightly irritated.
"You still like her though don't you?" She asked him, to which Brick just stuttered nervously, getting a small giggle out of the moonchild.
After a while of sailing throughout Lake Wawanakwa, Cody could see the first signs of civilization on one of the islands, quickly noticing the Playa Des Losers in the distance, he quickly alerted the others in the room with him.
"Guys, I can see the resort in the distance, we're almost there." Cody shouted happily, the others in the room quickly getting up and running over to the windows, being careful to not block Cody's view, lest they risk him unintentionally crashing them into one of the other nearby islands.
"OMG he's right. Tyler! Harold! Please go tell the others!" Sierra shouted, asking the pair for their assistance which they quickly complied, running into the other room where voices could be faintly heard through the walls.
Outside Izzy could see the island rapidly approaching, she knew that her friend was somewhere within the resort, and she could also hear Tyler opening the door and informing the others at the back of the boat.
She wasn't overly concerned about the others at the moment, at this point all that mattered to the crazy girl was seeing her friend again after so many years. Glancing back to see everyone beginning to gather at the back of the boat, as well as noticing that the boat was beginning to slow down, being almost side by side to the shores of the Playa Des Losers resort as Cody turned the boat, preparing to dock the boat next to where the eliminated contestants would wait for the losers to arrive via the Drone of Despair.
She knew she couldn't wait any longer to see her friend again, and prepared to dive off the boat and onto the shores, she quickly glanced once more at the others who were preparing to disembark themselves as Cody started to dock up, and leaped off the boat and onto the sand nearby, ignoring the shouts from those who had noticed her.
"Izzy! What are you doing! Wait for us!" Owen shouted over to the crazy girl, who had already brushed herself off and began to sprint off towards the resort.
"Just leave her be big guy, at least this way whoever else is here will have a warning about the rest of us walking through the doors." Noah responded, placing a hand on Owen's shoulder.
Ignoring the cries from the others, Izzy quickly ran up the steps towards the entrance to the resort, diving into the bushes to the right to try and get towards the pool area where she could hear voices. She crawled through them, peeking out when she could to see if she was going the right way.
Eventually she found another clearing in the bushes, peeking out to see several of the new contestants around the pool bar talking, Izzy glanced at each of them, quickly noticing her old friend sitting in one of the deck chairs next to the girl she'd seen him comfort in that video.
Izzy ducked back down after a moment, not wanting to be seen by any of them until the right opportunity, she listened in closely, taking in the conversations that were being had by the others.
"At least I'm training to improve for next time okay…" she heard Nichelle say. "Maybe then I won't need my stunt double Jerry to always cover my action scenes."
"Hey you're improving massively already, I've seen your training sessions with Axel, you're doing great Nichelle!" Wayne responded, trying to encourage Nichelle.
Izzy dared to peek out again, noticing everyone looking away from where she was, completely distracted with each other. Finally seeing her opportunity to make an entrance, Izzy leaped out from the bushes, rushing straight towards Ezekiel with a huge grin on her face.
Everyone quickly noticed her approaching, but before anyone could say or do anything, Izzy dived towards Ezekiel and tackled him, knocking the chair he was on over and sending them tumbling to the ground. She could hear the others gasp, and heard the chair next to her move as Lauren stood up, prepared to deal with the intruder, only to hear her gasp as well when she finally recognised who the intruder was.
Looking down at her old friend, Izzy grinned crazily, extremely happy to see her friend for the first time in years, "Heya Zeke, long time no see!" She said happily to the wide eyed homeschooler, completely unaware of the looks of shock from the others watching them.
End Chapter
Author's Note: Now here they are… =)
Hope the twist with Noah got some people as well, I originally wasn't going to include him, but honestly the interactions he can have is just too good to pass up, and with MK having a similar personality in regards to the sarcasm, I just had to include him, and since I hinted about him being with Emma, I decided to throw her and Kitty into the mix as well, giving us fifteen characters in total, making sixteen old contestants counting Ezekiel to go with the sixteen we were introduced to in the reboot.
There were some other difficult choices to make in regards to who made it and who didn't, so I thought it'd be best to explain why those characters didn't make it into the fic in the end. Rest assured that just because someone hasn't appeared now it doesn't mean that they won't be mentioned or appear in a future chapter/if a sequel to this fic was ever made.
Anne Maria: She was a major consideration, however any interaction from her can easily be done with Bridgette plus Anne Maria is even less likely to forgive him compared to Bridgette.
All Stars Merged Cast: Already established in Chapter 13, none of them want to see someone who tried to murder them back in All Stars.
B: As stated in the chapter, B was a consideration, but apart from being the guy to man the boat there wasn't really anything I could do with him so I gave the job to Cody instead.
Beth & Lindsay: I came close to adding them because of their brief friendship during the Island special, however given how long ago that would've been Lindsay most likely forgot she was even friends with Ezekiel.
Eva: Ultimately cut because she doesn't have a reason to be there, she hates Ezekiel after all because of his comments back in season one, the only reason she'd have gone was because of Izzy, which isn't enough to have her around.
Heather: It was very tempting because she'd have gone for purely selfish reasons (revenge for the money that Ezekiel burned in World Tour) but the interactions with the new cast would've been hilarious.
Pahkitew Island Cast: I thought about it at first when I first established the idea of old contestants appearing, however ultimately none of them have a reason to be there. Ella and Shawn were the main considerations though given Ella's forgiving nature and Shawn having good chemistry with both Axel and Ezekiel (for two very different reasons).