Author's Note: Firstly I just want to thank everyone who commented on the last chapter, honestly I thought I did poorly writing that scene with Lauren and Ezekiel (Laukiel? Scarkiel?) but everyone seems to like it, especially on AO3.

I've honestly really enjoyed writing these two so far, Ezekiel's been my favourite in the series for years and Lauren/Scary Girl has cemented her place in my top three partially because of writing this, it's honestly a toss up between the two and Dawn so writing this has been so much fun. Once again thank you to everyone for the support on this fic so far. =D

The chapter's title may be a little misleading at first, but just consider it the title for the events spanning the whole 'episode', by the end of the three-parter it'll make more sense.

On a side note the reboot is finally releasing in the UK, I've rewatched parts of the season for this fic so I could attempt at getting the characters right, but I'm happy I finally have an official version to support the creators with, we may not get another season otherwise if the numbers are low because of everyone seeing it when Italy released it.

Reviews

RFtheGreat: The more I rewatch the new season for this fic the more I see that too, and I'm sure that season two will have more to offer between them as well, just as long as they don't pull a Feral Zeke with Lauren… (I just got the joke with the divining rod as well XD)

It's just a shame that we'll likely never see them together in canon in any capacity, given how long has passed, at this point I'm just hoping that Ezekiel would show up at some point. =(

There's still a couple characters I'm deciding on bringing along or not, they'll be here soon so I want to know if you can guess them. Hint: They may have been mentioned before or tied to characters already going. As for Bridgette, I wanted at least one member of Team Victory there, and having it doubled up as Zeke's former crush will play a minor role in the near future. Bridgette kinda represents a part of his old life while Lauren is now part of his new life, it'll certainly be interesting when the time comes. =D

Chapter Fourteen

*Flashback*

Some time had passed since the guys left Ezekiel to comfort Lauren after their encounter with Chris McLean, Ripper and Zee were trying to relax by the pool while Damien was pacing back and forth. Caleb had long since left the area to train with Axel and Nichelle at the gym, not willing to deal with Ripper and his assumptions about what was going on in the lobby.

After several minutes of pacing around, Damien eventually stopped and turned to the others, glancing back anxiously towards the doors leading to the lobby where the two were currently talking.

"I think we should go check on them." Damien said, looking back at the others.

"Dude, why? They're gonna be just fine, Scary Girl isn't gonna hurt him or anything?" Ripper questioned him, confused as to why Damien didn't look happy.

"It's not that… It's just after what we heard from Chris, I can't help but see Lauren in a slightly different light." Damien began, glancing back towards the lobby once more.

"So what, you like her now or something?" Zee asked.

"Oh hell no!" Damien shouted, looking frightened. "I don't think I could ever like her like that, she really freaks me out sometimes. What I meant was that I do feel sorry for her, she's clearly been through some bad things to turn out how she has, they both have. I was just thinking, maybe I should try and be Lauren's friend as well, like I'm trying to be with Ezekiel." He explained, slowly calming himself down as he spoke.

"Oh that makes sense…" Zee replies, taking a drink of his soda as Ripper scoffs.

"Friends? With Scary Girl? Please, I can buy being friends with Ezekiel, he's not terrible to be around when you get past his feral issues, but HER! No chance…" Ripper argued.

"No one said you had to do anything, Ripper. Look, let's just check in on them and then we'll leave them to whatever they want, ok?" Damien pleaded.

"I'm cool with that." Zee said happily, turning to Ripper with a smile on his face, to which Ripper rolled his eyes in annoyance, eventually sighing in defeat.

"Fine… But only because it'll shut you up, I'm not about to be best friends with her or anything." He conceded.

"That's fine." Damien smiled, turning to walk over to the doors to the lobby, he listened in for a brief moment, half expecting to hear voices from within, when they heard nothing Damien moved for the doors handles, not realising what they were all about to walk in to.

"Hey guys, you've been in here a while, is everyth…" Damien started, opening the door back into the lobby to check on the pair, only to trail off when he saw Ezekiel and Lauren sitting on the couch making out.

"Oh my god…" Damien whispered in shock as Zee and Ripper poked their heads through the door.

"Huh… nice." Zee simply stated, taking a drink from his soda while Ripper started laughing at what he was witnessing, alerting the pair who promptly separated, beginning to blush bright red from embarrassment.

"See! I told you guys that something would happen!" Ripper shouted, smirking at the wide eyed Damien, while Zee just shrugged in response, a small smile on his face.

"Guys! Do you m-mind eh!" Ezekiel shouted over to them, glaring furiously at Ripper in particular.

"Sorry man, we just wanted to see if you two were okay." Damien apologised, "We'll leave you guys alone now, right Ripper." Damien said, glaring at the Alpha Male who just shrugged.

"Fine by me. This is too funny though!" Ripper laughed, leaving the room.

Zee and Damien shot the pair one last apologetic look before leaving as well, leaving Ezekiel and Lauren sat there, still completely embarrassed from being seen like that.

Ripper was already standing back by the pool, grinning mischievously at the stunned duo of Damien and Zee.

"Well Well Well, look who was right all along!" Ripper bragged, taking a prideful stance.

"Dude… please tell me you're not going to tell people, just let them have this…" Damien deadpanned, glaring at the Alpha Male who smirked back.

"Oh I am definitely telling everyone about this!" Ripper laughed, already running off towards the gym where several of the other contestants were. Damien beginning to chase after him, screaming at him to stop, Zee walked after them at a much more leisurely pace, still drinking his soda, leaving the pool area empty, and Ezekiel and Lauren completely unaware of what Ripper was doing.

Eventually Ripper burst through the doors to the gym, looking slightly tired however the shit-eating grin had yet to leave his face. Inside most of the other contestants had turned at the sight of the Alpha Male bursting through the doors, looking extremely confused. Axel immediately glared at Ripper whilst Caleb just facepalmed.

"Oh god, what do you want now Ripper?" Caleb asked him, beginning to get irritated with him.

"Oh nothing Caleb, just to tell you I was right about those two!" Ripper boasted, just as Damien ran into the room after him, his eyes widening slightly after hearing what Ripper was doing.

"Right? About what?" He replied confused.

"Ezekiel and Scary Girl of course!" Ripper continued as Damien attempted to shush him.

"Ripper stop it!" Damien cried out, only for Ripper to shove him away.

"Wait, what about those two?" Wayne asked Ripper, everyone else looking at him and Damien curiously. Even Axel, although she looked away quickly when Damien glanced at her.

"Oh nothing…" Ripper started, his grin becoming wider. "Just that Damien, Zee and I can confirm what you had told us the other day."

"Wasn't that a misunderstanding though?" Raj asked, looking at Wayne for confirmation.

"Yah bro, we just walked in and assumed something was going on." Wayne agreed, raising an eyebrow towards Ripper.

"You guys were right the first time!" Ripper smirked, ignoring Damien's cries for him to stop. "We walked in on them making out in the lobby."

"Not this again…" Caleb muttered to himself, not willing to entertain Ripper's theory again. Axel just rolled her eyes and continued to do her routine whilst Nichelle and the Hockey Duo all widened their eyes in disbelief.

"Wait, Damien is this legit?" Nichelle asked him, more likely to believe it if he confirmed it.

"What? N-No!" Damien shouted, stuttering slightly at his lie, which Ripper immediately picked up on.

"Come on man, you can't lie to them like that." Ripper said to Damien, still grinning mischievously.

"So it is true?" Raj asked him.

"Must be man?" Wayne responded before Damien or Ripper could say anything, before grinning excitedly for both Ezekiel and Lauren as he realised what this meant. "Aw man, I knew those two liked each other!"

"Guys, come on now, are you actually believing Ripper on this?" Damien said as Zee walked into the gym.

"Yeah man, we both saw it, no point in lying." Zee responded to Damien, placing a hand on his shoulder. "They won't care anyway if everyone here knows."

"See! Zee was there! I was right!" Ripper bragged, going up to Caleb specifically. "If you still don't believe me you can always go ask them yourself." He told the bodybuilder, who paled slightly at the thought of being practically alone with the Scary Girl.

"Nah I'm good, I believe you." Caleb responded weakly, turning away to grab some weights, noticing Axel glaring in the direction of where the two were but choosing not to say anything.

"I've got to see if this is true, come on Rajie let's go congratulate our man eh!" Wayne shouted, dragging Raj out of the gym, the other Hockey Bro laughing slightly in response.

"You know what, I'm curious to see if Ripper's right about this, I'm gonna go check this out. Sorry Axel, I'll come back and finish our training later okay." Nichelle said, waving apologetically at Axel who just grunted in response, before walking out after the Hockey Bros, Zee following her.

"You two sure you're not going to go?" Ripper asked Caleb and Axel, ignoring the groans coming from Damien, the latter not believing that Ezekiel or Lauren would take this well and that they'll end up taking it out on him.

"I don't care if they're together, that still isn't gonna make me like the Zombie…" Axel growled angrily, before turning away from the others.

Meanwhile Caleb just sighed in defeat, "Fine… I'll go… But you better not have lied to us Ripper." Caleb said, glaring at the Alpha Male.

"Trust me dude, I'm speaking the truth about this." Ripper replied, grinning.

Caleb sighed, putting the weights back down, before following Ripper out of the gym and back towards the lobby where the others were going to be posturing the new couple. Leaving a sulking Damien and a brooding Axel behind.

"Wow, what happened next?" Chase asked, amused by Ripper and Zee's recount of what happened during the day before he had arrived at the Playa. The trio were sat in one of the lounges in the resort, the others either in the gym once again or outside.

Ripper laughed, "That's the best part man, we caught them again! Wayne and Raj burst into the room and saw the same thing we did not ten minutes before, Nichelle and Zee showed up just in time to pacify Scary Girl before she could seriously hurt them. The nerds didn't even see it coming."

Zee sighed, "It wasn't cool of us to interrupt them you know…"

"Yeah but they were cool with it in the end, I think it was just Scary Girl who was slightly ticked off at being interrupted so many times." Ripper replied, still laughing to himself.

Chase nervously laughed alongside him, "To be fair man, Scary Girl isn't exactly someone we should be pissing off, remember what she did to that bear?"

"That was awesome though man, besides she did apologise afterwards for attempting to hurt them." Zee attempted to calm the mood down.

"Yeah, after she threatened to scalp them!" Ripper responded, looking both annoyed and afraid at the thought of it.

"Wait, who did what?" MK asked them, having walked into the lounge just in time to hear what Ripper had said.

"Oh hey MK, it was nothing, just Lauren threatening the Hockey Bros after they walked in on her making out with Ezekiel." Zee replied, smiling and waving at the thief.

MK's eyes widened slightly, having been left out of the loop for the last couple of days after the video had been released.

"Wait, was THAT why everyone was teasing them on the way to the docks last night? I saw the looks Wayne and Raj were giving them but…" She trailed off, realising what had led to this happening. "Oh my god I caused this didn't I…" MK said in shock.

"Yeah MK, you messed up big time." Replied Ripper, smirking in the process. "Not the first time your sneakiness has landed you in some deep shit this season huh?" He continued, rubbing it in.

"Oh shut it Ripper, how you lasted so long into the season is beyond anyone's belief…" MK said, glaring at the Alpha Male.

"Guys guys, can we just calm down a moment and get back to the juicy part of Ripper's story…" Chase said, holding his arms out towards the arguing pair, trying to diffuse the tension slightly.

MK sighed reluctantly, "Fine… Let's hear it…"

Ripper started to ramble on once more, talking about how shocked the pair were about everyone bursting into the lobby and quickly being discovered so soon after they kissed for the first time. Wayne and Raj teasing their new friend the whole time, whilst Nichelle was able to keep Lauren from maiming them by somehow getting her distracted by her 'normal interests', having noticed the make up bag and her skull having been long forgotten on the table.

Chase, Zee and even MK listened intently, if not somewhat unnecessary for Zee since he'd been present for most of this, they all listened as Ripper recapped for MK and Chase what had happened with Chris McLean, with Chase filling in the parts about them finding out during his last challenge on the island.

Eventually Ripper was able to make it to when Chase was eliminated, however one large question was still hovering about what Ripper had said about what took place in the Gym earlier that day.

"Wait… So Damien was just suddenly fine with them despite his anxiety over them being mad?" Chase asked Ripper.

Ripper opened his mouth to reply, only to realise himself that he didn't know about that, he had been one of the last to arrive at the docks for Chase's elimination, therefore he may have missed something.

Before Ripper could embarrass himself too much, Zee spoke up with a large smile on his face.

"Oh that, yeah that was all a misunderstanding man…" He spoke happily.

"Wait really?" The others responded, slightly confused.

"Yeah, we were the first ones on the Dock last night, and Zeke and Lauren arrived soon after…" Zee started, opening another can of soda as he prepared to start his own story.

*Flashback, Shortly before Chase's Elimination*

Damien sighed to himself, standing alone with his arms folded at the end of the dock, no one else had arrived yet, and the next eliminated contestant was due to arrive soon. But this was at the back of Damien's mind…

He was wondering how he was going to apologise to Ezekiel and Lauren for their relationship being exposed to the others, he said he wouldn't tell anyone and yet minutes later everyone currently at the Playa Des Losers already knew about it, and who knows how long they had spent posturing the pair once they'd found out.

Not that Lauren would've tolerated it for too long, surely the Scary Girl would have a way of getting them to back off…

Damien looked over in the direction of where Camp Wawanakwa was in the distance, his thoughts briefly wandering over to his friends still competing for the million dollars. He wondered how Priya and Millie were handling the competition, and how they would've handled this ongoing situation had they been here sooner.

Not that he wanted either of them here, he wished all the best for his friends, and hoped one of them would win the prize money.

He heard footsteps approaching, one of them more mechanical, and turned around to see Zee approaching, slowly sipping on another drink as he waved at Damien with his free hand.

"What's up man?" Zee said once he'd finished his drink.

"Oh, hey Zee…" Damien responded.

"Is this about what happened earlier with the others?" Zee asked him.

"What? N-No, I just miss Priya that's all… Yeah!" Damien smiled nervously, looking around anxiously for Ezekiel and Lauren, hoping they weren't coming after him, instead trying to deflect from said thoughts, a lie Zee quickly picked up on.

"Dude, I know it's about them…" Zee started, placing an arm on Damien's shoulder. "If you're worried about what Ripper did, they're fine with it. They know it was him dude, Lauren doesn't even care anyway…"

"Wait, really?" Damien responded, confused.

"Dude, we're talking about the girl who gushed over blood openly and tried to chase several people down with a jackhammer… Does Lauren really think she cares what we think about her relationship?" Zee told him, smiling slightly, knowing Damien will understand where he's coming from.

"Now that you mention it…" Damien eventually said, beginning to rub his arm from embarrassment.

"Trust me man, Lauren and Zeke are happy, they wouldn't want you being so negative about this… If anything, you being upset about this will make people think you actually liked her."

Before Damien could respond to that, a high pitched voice interrupted them, "Wait, Damien likes who?"

Both Damien and Zee look back towards the resort to see Ezekiel and Lauren approaching them happily. The Scary Girl looked completely at ease sitting on top of Ezekel's shoulders, wearing his toque and exposing the purple highlights in Ezekiel's wig. The Feral Homeschooler waved at the pair at the end of the dock, trying his best to not let his new girlfriend fall.

"Looking good guys!" Zee called out, smiling.

"T-Thanks eh." Ezekiel replied, crouching down slightly once he was close to them to allow Lauren to climb off his shoulders, the Scary Girl managing to leap off without accidentally hurting him.

"So… who does Damien like then?" Lauren asked sweetly, getting a little too close to the man in question, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Priya! It's Priya!" Damien screamed out, almost stumbling backwards into the water. The others laughing slightly as Lauren just grinned at him, stepping back now that she had scared him and rejoining Ezekiel, beginning to hold hands with him, something that Damien immediately noticed.

"So wait, are you two official now?" Damien had to ask, curious about what happened while he was alone.

"Yep! Shortly after you left and before we got ambushed by the others!" Lauren announced gleefully, hugging the Feral Homeschooler who blushed slightly at the contact.

"Too bad Ripper had to spoil it, s-sending everyone straight to us eh…" Ezekiel replied, looking slightly downcast at what happened, only smiling once more when Lauren looked at him.

"Oh that… eh, it doesn't bother me, let them think what they want!" Lauren said, shrugging slightly at the thought of the others.

"Wait, so you're not mad at us?" Damien had to ask, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

Lauren just giggled madly in response, while Ezekiel started to respond to Damien's question, "Mad at you? For w-walking in on us? Nah, you're good eh, it's like Lauren said, let people t-think what they want, as long as you ain't gonna try and b-break us apart." Ezekiel responded.

Damien had to chuckle slightly at that one, "Nah man, I'm happy for you two." Damien said, smiling happily at the two of them, "Besides, I wouldn't want to risk death for something like that, Lauren already had a jackhammer on me, why would I risk worse…" He continued jokingly, glancing at her in particular when she laughed in response.

"See Damien, we're all friends here… You didn't need to worry so much about messing up." Zee butted back into the conversation, smiling at the trio whilst opening another can of soda.

"Yeah, friend…" Lauren continued ominously, breaking away from her hug with Ezekiel to step forward once more towards Damien, who instinctively backed away from the Scary Girl, the result ending in Damien stumbling backwards off the dock and into the waters, the quartet all laughing once they realised what had just happened.

"So yeah, that's what happened before you guys all showed up at the dock for the elimination…" Damien finished, having told the same story Zee was telling to the others inside the resort to some of the others outside by the pool.

Ezekiel and Lauren were sitting side by side in their deckchairs, whilst Damien and Nichelle were sitting by the bar in the pool. Wayne and Raj were both sat at the edge of the pool, enthralled by Damien's story.

"Awww you guys are so cute together eh." Wayne gushed slightly, looking over teasingly towards Ezekiel and Lauren, the former blushing and pulling his toque over his eyes while the latter grinned back at him.

"Please stop teasing me eh, you've been doing it ever since you found out…" Ezekiel muttered quietly towards Wayne, Lauren giggling whilst Wayne just grinned and gave a thumbs up towards him.

"Sorry dude, it's just too much fun to tease you! If it helps I'm doing the same thing to Rajie when Bowie gets here!" Wayne replied happily, Raj groaning when he realised he was next.

"Come on man, do you have to…" Raj started to say, before the last couple of words sunk in, "Wait… what do you mean, 'When Bowie gets here…', you don't think he'll win?" He asked Wayne, looking slightly hurt at the implication that Wayne thought Bowie would be eliminated.

"What? Of course not bro, Bowie's gonna win the whole thing and then come here to celebrate with the rest of us!" Wayne replied to Raj, putting an arm around his best friend's shoulder.

"Personally I'm hoping Priya wins, she deserves it the most out of who's left and it at least means that her parents might get off her back." Damien says, responding indirectly to Wayne's comment.

"Wait, why is her p-parents 'on her back'?" Ezekiel asks, having not met Priya yet so he didn't really understand her situation.

"Her parents are huge reality show fans and have been training her since birth to try and win one, when the first season for this came out they switched full attention to Total Drama and pushed her to prepare for the competition over the last five years." Damien explained to him.

"Wow eh, s-seems a little harsh for them to d-decide for her…" Ezekiel responded.

"It really is, girl just wants to go to med school and yet she's on here humiliating herself on National Television." Damien stated.

"It's International actually, Total Drama is seen all over the world." Nichelle responded, checking her nails absentmindedly.

"Why did you join anyway Nichelle? Surely a movie star like yourself wouldn't need the money?" Damien asked her, the others nodding in agreement.

Nichelle sighed, "It was exposure on both sides, my agent wanted me to expand into TV and the executives at Total Drama wanted some famous young star to help promote interest into the revival season, given it had been off the air for a few years." She explained to the others.

"I suppose it worked right?" Raj asked the others.

"Totally, well… apart from that obstacle course challenge…" Wayne replied sheepishly, Nichelle wincing slightly at the reminder of her failure that got her eliminated.

"At least I'm training to improve for next time okay…" Nichelle said, rubbing her arm in embarrassment. "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 said, trying to encourage Nichelle, who smiled slightly at him in response.

Unbeknownst to everyone by the pool, a figure could be seen ducking behind the bushes near to where Ezekiel and Lauren were currently sitting. When they saw an opportunity, they rushed out, heading straight towards Ezekiel with a huge grin on their face.

They all noticed them quickly, but before anyone could say or do anything, Ezekiel was tackled by the figure, knocking the chair he was on over and sending them tumbling to the ground, the others gasping as Lauren stood up in concern for her boyfriend, prepared to deal with the intruder, only to gasp as well when she finally recognised who said intruder was.

"Heya Zeke, long time no see!" Izzy said happily to him, grinning crazily at the Feral Homeschooler as the others looked at the pair in shock.

End Chapter

Author's Note: So… Here they are!

Originally this chapter was going to be longer, however midway through writing this I thought it would be better to get introduced properly to all of the characters going to the Playa Des Losers, you already know some of them (Sierra, Cody, Dawn, Izzy etc.) but next chapter will introduce everyone else who hasn't been mentioned just yet.

I hope people liked my mini-explanation for Priya's new backstory, given that she couldn't have trained for Total Drama since birth if season one only took place five years before instead of fifteen, so for the first thirteen years of her life in this fic I just generalised it to include other reality shows as well (think shows like what Leshawna and Tyler competed on in the TDA special or the Ridonculous Race).

Just a warning as well, I won't be able to update for a while as I'm away from August 1st to the 14th. I may be able to get Chapter 15 out before then but I'm going to add this warning in here just in case I can't release it in time.

On a final note we've also hit 50k words on both sites! Yay! :D