Bienvenidos amigos, que ondas? That's me using my Spanish Seal of Biliteracy (minor flex) to say whazzup to all y'all out there, we're here for Episode 8!
This is the most I've written a while man. I was able to finish Episode 6, crank out the Aftermath, and start writing this new one all in a week. Insane progress for me.
Chapter-ly reminder to please go vote on the poll on my page, you can make 10 whole choices and your decisions will impact the cast of the next season, so PLEASE help a brother out.
Without further ado, let's go to Spain! Absolutely baffling they never went here in WT or RR in canon.
CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine
"Well, I'm screwed." Jasmine complained, staring sadly at the camera. "With Dave gone, I just lost the only person I know on this team, and I already know Brick and Sam are bound together." She held up her hands, looking at the left. "I could either go buddy up to Ezekiel and hope to beat one of them in a tie breaker." She raised her right hand. "Or I could make nice with Brick and Sam to save my arse for another ceremony. But then I'm almost certainly gone." She dropped both her hands, hanging her head. "Crikey Dave, you put me in a real pickle mate."
END CONFESSIONAL
Jasmine returned to Loser Class, where Brick and Ezekiel were attempting to sleep, although it appeared restless for the latter. Sam propped himself up against where the bench met the plane wall, tapping away on his GameBoy.
"What're you looking at mate?" Jasmine inquired, looking at the starer.
"Nothing, geez." Scott scoffed, slouching against the plane wall. "Always getting accused of stuff."
"For good reason." Trent prodded. "I saw your season man, she's not wrong to think you're up to something."
"No one was talking to you Elvis." Scott sneered, getting up. "Screw this." He walked off towards the cargo hold.
"Huh, no fight?" Sky asked, perplexed. "I was expecting you two to get into a shoving match or something."
"Gosh, that would've been horrible." Lindsay cried out. "I hate when teammates fight."
"Yea, that was weird." Trent absentmindedly added, looking over towards where Scott had disappeared.
"It wouldn't have been wise for Scott to entertain your comment." Dawn explained, not opening her eyes from her meditation.
"How so?" Trent asked the moonchild.
"Scott's hostility towards you wouldn't bode well for him if he continued to put so much energy towards it." Dawn continued, still not opening her eyes. "If he was to redirect that energy, he could play a better game, and therefore help our team extraordinarly well."
"Are we talking about the same Scott?" Sam laughed, also not taking his eyes off his game. "I don't wanna be rude, but that guy is a level 20 expert when it comes to being not helpful."
"Trust me, I know Scott's true feelings." Dawn assured. "He may not want to admit it, but he doesn't want to play such a dirty game this time around."
"And we're just supposed to believe you?" Trent cocked an eyebrow.
"Dawn doesn't lie bro." Sam pointed out.
"That I don't." Dawn stated.
"Alright then." Trent retreated, stretching his arms out in front of him. "I just don't think Scott of all people is against trying to mess with my head."
"I think you should just trust Dawn on this one, Elvis." Sammy teased.
"Okay, cool." Trent smiled, reclining back.
CONFESSIONAL: Dawn
"Trent's volatility towards Gwen is putting him on high alert." Dawn explained to the camera in her lotus position. "Scott isn't doing anything unusual or particularly malicious, at least not that I can foresee, but..." she trailed off, tapping her fingers on her thigh. "That's besides the point. I must assist Trent with confronting his inner demons before they swallow him!"
END CONFESSIONAL
First Class, as always, was a display of utter tranquility. Owen had tied himself down to a recliner like he normally did to avoid his fear of flying from being too damaging, and Noah had curled up beside him with a book.
Gwen sat a ways away, staring a hole through Noah. She mentally kept checking off things she couldn't stand about him. His nasally voice. His snarky attitude. His stupid fashion sense. The way he got Leshawna eliminated.
"Man, you good girl?" Lightning asked as he took the seat across from Gwen.
Gwen snapped out of her fixation quickly. "Yea, yea I'm cool." She sat herself up to look at Lightning. "What's up?"
"Nothin', Lightning just saw you staring into space and got concerned." Lightning brushed off as he cracked open a protein shake.
"Well thanks." Gwen said. "But you don't have to check up on me, I can handle myself."
"As long as you're on Lightning's team, the Lightning has to check up on you." Lightning pressed. "Plus, Lightning thinks he owes you one for helping him with his workout today."
"Oh yea, what'd you have in mind?" Gwen asked.
"Lightning voted for Ella last time." Lightning told her, throwing the rest of his shake down his throat.
"Really?" Gwen asked.
"Lightning ain't gonna lie." Lightning answered. "Lightning wants to play a fair game and win it this time. Lightning can NOT have a losing finals record, he's gotta be at least neutral."
"Hey, I'm right there with you." Gwen chuckled, cracking a smile. "Did anyone ask you about the vote last time."
"Lightning said he owed you one, not more than one." Lightning said lightheartedly.
Gwen held her hands up in defense. "Fair enough."
As the two laughed lightly, Courtney walked over, standing in the aisle between the two. "Excuse me Lightning, would you mind moving for a second?"
"Sha-got you." Lightning answered, going to grab a few refills of his shake.
Courtney replaced Lightning across from Gwen and collected herself. "Good evening Gwen."
"Hey Courtney." Gwen replied suspiciously, raising her eyebrows towards the CIT.
"How are you doing?" Courtney asked.
"Could be better." Gwen shrugged. "You?"
"Pleasant, thank you." Courtney answered.
"Any reason in particular you came to talk to me?" Gwen questioned.
"I can't just talk to my old friend?" Courtney retorted.
"You're talking to me like a lawyer." Gwen snickered.
"Fine." Courtney rolled her eyes. "I wanted to talk to you about Duncan."
Gwen's jaw dropped, but she quickly recollected herself. "What about him?"
"Well, are you two still going out?" Courtney asked, insecurity creeping into her voice.
"Ew, no." Gwen laughed. "I dumped that scuzzball after Pahkitew Island came out."
"Really?" Courtney gasped. "What happened?"
"Eh, Duncan being Duncan I guess." Gwen lamented. "I think he couldn't stave off all those fans coming up and throwing themselves at him."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Courtney added.
"And when I told him that I didn't want to move so fast because of how we started, he just started drifting." Gwen explained.
"Wow." Courtney said. "That's brutal."
"Yea, well." Gwen sighed. "I don't know what I should've expected."
"Something better than that!" Courtney snapped. "God, I thought I trained him better."
"Next time you should send him to a harder boot camp." Gwen snickered.
"Or even get him thrown back in juvie." Courtney giggled.
"Haha!" Gwen laughed. "While you're at it, send him to fashion school too. What is up with that same skull shirt?"
"I know right?" Courtney agreed. "Like yuck, change it up a little bit."
"Speaking of change, did Bridgette tell you?" Gwen asked giddily.
"Tell me what?" Courtney inquired.
"Duncan dyed his mohawk RED." Gwen told Courtney, acting as though the world stopped.
"Shut UP!" Courtney gasped.
"Yea, it's so bad." Gwen snorted.
"I can't believe that punk." Courtney facepalmed, laughing along with Gwen.
The two laughed for a minute before Gwen's face slowly morphed into a frown.
"What's with the frown?" Courtney asked, picking Gwen's head up.
"It's nothing." Gwen answered.
"Are you sure?" Courtney continued. "I won't hold anything against you. At least not until the teams merge."
"Yea, I'm good." Gwen replied. "I think I'm gonna get some sleep, if that's cool."
"Of course." Courtney sat back up, a little flustered. "Goodnight Gwen, good to chat."
"Same."
Gwen sunk deeper into her seat as she watched Courtney walk back towards her seat across the aisle from Noah and Owen. She cursed lightly under her breath, throwing a blanket over herself and attempting to drift off to slumber.
CONFESSIONAL: Gwen
"Stupid." Gwen facepalmed. "Why didn't I just say sorry to Courtney then? I had a golden opportunity!" Gwen sighed, putting her knees up and placing her head in between them. "Right when we start to poke fun at Duncan and get friendly-ish, I wimp out. Damnit, damnit, damnit!"
END CONFESSIONAL
Night turned to day and the passengers of the Total Drama Jumbo Jet began to stir.
The cafeteria featured two early risers, Gwen and Jasmine, both looking rather weary and glum, as well as the ever chipper Owen and a mundane looking Scott. Owen put down his two plates across from Gwen and Jasmine, who were both idly picking at and stirring their food. Scott took the other table, silently furious.
Owen licked his lips, grabbing two forks. "Mm-mmm! This is delicious!"
"Glad you think so." Jasmine tiredly chuckled, flicking a morsel of eggs aside.
"C'mon, it can't be that bad." Owen said between bites. "Foraging for food sounds WAY worse."
"At least that stuff was fresh." Jasmine replied, holding up a rather gray looking pancake, sticking her tongue out in disgust.
"Maybe Chef just used too much flour." Owen cheerily explained.
"Sure." Gwen dryly chimed in, her eyebrows furrowing deeply as she examined her fruit salad.
"Men still on your mind mate?" Jasmine nudged Gwen.
"Some different ones, but yea." Gwen answered, shoving a chunk of strawberry in her mouth.
"What's wrong Gwen?" Owen asked.
Gwen glared at him quickly before dropping it. "Just upset about Leshawna going home."
"Me too." Owen frowned. "I miss her a lot." He sighed, before returning to his food.
Ella strolled in, taking a seat beside Owen with a crepe and cup of tea.
"Good morning friends." Ella cooed, taking a sip from her mug.
"G'day Ella." Jasmine greeted. "How've you been?"
"Oh, alright I suppose." Ella wistfully responded. "The World Tour has been fun and I'm glad that Chris doesn't seem to hate me anymore, though I do wish our team could be more pleasant to one another."
"Whaddya talkin' about?" Owen asked with his mouth stuffed. "Everyone's been super cool so far! I'm loving the team, WOOHOO!"
"That's makes one of you and two of us." Gwen quipped, sharing a smile with Ella.
Owen looked at Gwen perplexed. "Really? But everyone's so nice!"
"Don't worry about it." Gwen told her fellow finalist. "It's not worth it."
"If you say so." Owen cheesily smiled, pouring the rest of his food down his gullet.
Scott looked over at the other table, sneering and taking another spoonful of his gruel. He threw his spoon down into his bowl, putting his elbow on the table and resting his head in his palm. He slowly felt his eyes closing, shooting his eyelids open in an effort to stay awake, but couldn't help himself from slowly nodding off.
A smaller contestant silently sat across from Scott with a plate of tofu and hash browns. "Good morning Scott."
Scott shot awake, flinging his spoon across the cafeteria, blinking rapidly. Once his vision adjusted, he made eye contact with the blonde sitting across from him. "What do you want Nature Princess?" he snidely asked.
"Nothing, just came to sit with you." Dawn replied. "Is that a problem?"
"Normally it would be." Scott started. "But it's not worth the energy."
"I foresaw that." Dawn said, creeping Scott out. "I wanted to ask you how you're feeling."
"Meh." Scott brushed off. "Why do you care?"
"You don't seem like yourself." Dawn told him.
"How do you figure?" Scott inquired.
"Your problems with Trent." Dawn answered. "The old Scott would have broken Trent's guitar or made it seem like he was causing us to lose challenges. Instead, you're picking meaningless fights and even choosing to not respond when confronted."
"So what?" Scott asked.
"So?" Dawn shot back, surprisingly loud for her diminutive frame and timid nature. "Your aura suggests something is off, as does your behavior! What's wrong?"
"I don't think you'd wanna know." Scott sighed, shoving another dry spoonful of gruel into his mouth.
"Scott, do I seem like someone who wouldn't care about a teammate's emotional well being?" Dawn asked, looking at Scott incredulously.
Scott looked at Dawn for a minute, biting his tongue, and internally rolling his eyes. "I don't think I had the best strategy last time." he finally admitted. "Happy?"
"Yes." Dawn answered. "But why does your previous strategy affect your mood this time?"
"Everyone says my strategy was the worst of all the TD villains." Scott whined. "Even Sugar gets more praise as a villain, it sucks!" He put his spoon down, glaring over to the side. "And everybody's right."
"Pardon?" Dawn gasped.
"They're right!" Scott shouted, frowning. "I could've and should've been booted so many times. I should've went home instead of Sam. I should've went home instead of B. I should've went home instead of you." He looked at Dawn apologetically. "I scraped by on luck and that gimmicky idol. It was dumb."
"I won't deny the strange choices there." Dawn teased.
"It just bothers me that that's all people know me for, okay?" Scott spat, sulking into his seat. "I can be useful and cunning not just for my own gain."
"I understand." Dawn said sympathetically. "You don't have to be so abrasive though. It won't help you get far."
Scott looked at Dawn curiously. "What makes you so sure?"
"I can read auras Scott." Dawn reminded the dirt farmer. "Do you really think I don't know how everyone else thinks?"
Scott wanted to retaliate, but the words failed to come to him. "Fair enough. I guess, thanks?"
"You're welcome." Dawn smiled.
"But wait a sec." Scott continued, ignoring Dawn's smile. "I thought you hated me for, like, a lot of reasons. Why are you helping me?"
"Hatred is poisonous to your chi." Dawn explained. "Besides, your fate with Fang at the end of our finale was enough karmic justice for Mother Earth to be pleased, as well as I."
Scott raised an eyebrow, but was apparently too weirded out to give it more thought. "Whatever, one less person wanting me dead ain't the worst thing in the world."
"I never wanted you dead, honest!" Dawn looked taken aback. "I just thought your treacherous ways deserved karma, and you received that and plenty more."
"Don't remind me." Scott grumbled.
Dawn and Scott settled into an amicable silence as they ate and the cafeteria filled up beside them. The intercom quickly crackled to life, startling everyone in the plane who was yet to stir to life.
"GOOD MORNING CONTESTANTS!" Chris boomed through the speakers. "PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE CAFETERIA AS WE PREPARE FOR LANDING."
"Great, another wonderful challenge." Scott deadpanned, quickly scooping the rest of his gruel into his mouth.
"Do not feel so downtrodden." Dawn instructed. "Today will be a good day."
"I'll believe it when I see it." Scott muttered, watching as the cafeteria filled up.
The camera flashed outside to show the 16 remaining contestants clumped together in their respective teams, with Chris standing front and center in a sharp red polo and black pants, with a gold-notched belt wrapped around his waist.
"Woah, Chris cleaning up nice?" Courtney asked. "Color me impressed."
"Thank you Courtney." Chris responded. "I was expecting some rude or snide comment. Actually a bit surprised I heard something nice first. Almost makes me wanna go easy you guys. Hehe, almost."
"I hate when he says something like that." Trent shuddered, earning a nod from Sammy.
"Bienvenidos a la locacion del reto de hoy." Chris grinned, thoroughly satisfied by the confused looks he was receiving. "Tenemos un gran bipartido en la tienda, comenzando en el festival de la Tomatina."
"Since when do you speak Spanish?" An annoyed Gwen asked.
"Those were words?" A shocked Lindsay chimed in. "I thought he was just saying a bunch of letters really fast."
"He was welcoming us to the location of today's challenge, and saying we have a great two-parter in store." Courtney explained, sensing a lot of confusion. "I speak the language guys, this should not be surprising."
"You told us you spoke Cambodian when you applied." Chris pointed out. "Why is it now Spanish?"
"It's always been Spanish, dunce." Courtney replied. "My mom's from Chile, hello?"
"Whatever, Courtney's right." Chris brushed off. "Today's challenge is a two part adventure through Spain, and we've got a special twist." Chris grinned, amused at the inquisitive reaction of several contestants. "The first round will be an eliminator, but not in the standard sense. That's all the information I feel like delving out right now, we need to get to Bunol, stat."
"Figures he won't help us." Scott grumbled.
"I'm just glad he picked out an actual unique location." Noah added. "I mean, seriously, re-using New Zealand is just lazy writing."
"You keep running your lip Noah, and I'll bring back Alejandro." Chris threatened. Noah quickly shut up, scowling at the host.
"That's better." Chris said. "Now let's get moving, I don't have all day."
CONFESSIONAL: Noah
"Big whoop." Noah rolled his eyes. "Chris won't actually bring back Alejandro, everyone would just vote him out immediately." He paused, looking at the camera. "Right?"
END CONFESSIONAL
"Here we are!" Chris boomed through a megaphone. The megaphone was actually necessary, as the background was a mess of flying red streaks and screaming.
"Why are we here?" Sam screamed. "I thought all of our challenges were private!"
"Meh." Chris replied. "Producers thought it would be a lot more fun if we had a challenge where we could let the TD fans get involved."
"By throwing tomatoes at each other?" Jasmine asked. "Seems pretty dumb mate."
"That's where you're wrong, Jasmine of the Amazon." Chris smirked at an irritated Jasmine. "These fans only want to help out with a challenge, get the opportunity to be up and close and personal with you savages, and get a smidge of camera time."
"Sierra's not back, right?" Noah shuddered.
"Nope!" Chris affirmed. "She couldn't afford the time to come out here. Darn shame that."
Courtney, Gwen, and Noah all breathed a sigh of relief.
"What you all are seeing right now is the Tomatina Festival." Chris explained, gesturing back towards the action in the background. "This is a sacred festival de las personas de Espana, so you need to be sure you don't interrupt their festivities."
"They gather in a festival to throw tomatoes at each other?" Lindsay asked. "Tomatoes are good for masking bad smells, but why else?"
"I don't know, pure entertainment, who cares." Chris dismissively told her.
"That's dumb." Scott remarked. Dawn flicked him on the back of the neck, causing him to yelp. "I-i mean, that's weird." Dawn flicked him again. "I mean interesting!"
"Yes Scott, it is." Chris said, peering over at the dirt farmer. "Anyways, your challenge is to face the brunt of this festival head on and search the streets for the Golden Tomato. I should warn you, it'll be hard to find. And with all those tomatoes flying around, good luck with visibility. Also should probably avoid getting hit by any tomatoes, I hear the Spanish throw hard." Chris laughed devilishly. "This game is great."
"That's all?" Sky stepped forward.
"You're running into a festival where a bunch of riled up teenage Total Drama fans are aggressively pelting one another with tomatoes with the goal in mind of finding a small, golden one." Chris reiterated. "How does that sound simple?"
"It just doesn't sound that painful." Sky answered.
"Oh don't worry, there will be time for pain." Chris grinned.
"Pardon my interruption Chris, but how is this an elimination round?" Ella timidly asked. "If there is one Golden Tomato, would the winning team be sent to eliminate someone?"
"I'm glad you asked Ella." Chris responded. "This will not be an elimination round in the standard sense. Instead, the team who finds the Golden Tomato will instantly earn First Class privileges and will get to skip out on competing in round two. You win this round, you survive another episode and get some early R&R."
Murmurs of excitement rang out through the contestants.
"Wait a minute, how is that fair?" Sammy questioned.
"When has this show ever been fair?" Chris asked back. "And it's totally fair, thank you very much. That Golden Tomato is gonna be basically impossible to find, so I'm not worried."
The murmurs died down and Chris looked over the contestants once more.
"Any more questions?" Chris asked to the contestants, who all either shook their head or looked indifferent. "Good, then get going!" Chris blew his airhorn as the teams raced off.
"Sha-Lightning!" Lightning cried out as he entered the edge of the tomato throwing frenzy. He took one step into the madness, instantly being pelted with a whole heap of tomatoes. The uber jock was starstruck, being laid out on his back in a daze.
"Yea, not the best idea he's ever had." Noah noted as Lightning laid groggily as he feet.
Owen looked at the carnage and began licking his lips. "Is this a challenge or a dream?"
Gwen pinched him on one of his stomach rolls, causing the big boy to jump. "Challenge."
Owen's stomach rumbled loudly. "My tummy disagrees."
Gwen rolled her eyes and Ella chuckled at Owen's humor.
"Do you have a plan Courtney?" Ella innocently asked the CIT, who was currently surveying the scene.
The scene displayed in front of Team Omega was reminiscent of a war. Tomatoes soared through the air, creating the constant illusion of a red rainbow. People ran around screaming, cheering, and jeering as they threw their weapons, slipping and stumbling over the tomato-streaked ground. The tan buildings in the background did nothing to help unblur the chaos, making it impossible for Courtney to detect anything.
"No." Courtney groaned. "I can't see anything in this haze."
"Yikes!" Sky added as Team Inferno arrived next to Team Omega.
"I can hardly see a thing!" Scott complained, putting his hand parallel with his eyebrows to block out the sun.
"Leave it to Chris to make us do a scavenger hunt with no visibility." Trent scoffed. "Figures."
"Don't be so grouchy." Sammy jabbed the musician in the ribs. "It won't take too long."
"Then we need to get moving." Sky asserted, walking towards the fray where Lightning was still slowly regaining his footing.
"Wait." Lindsay said delicately, grabbing Sky's arm. "Shouldn't we like, talk strategy first or something?"
"Lindsay the strategic mind?" Scott laughed. "This I gotta see." He earned another flick from Dawn. "Gah! I was being nice!" Dawn flicked him again.
"Sure." Sky smiled, although the smile was clearly strained. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, maybe we could run in a straight line like, really fast, and avoid getting hit!" Lindsay beamed as the her theme song played in the back. "If we're all running together, it'll be, like, totes impossible for them to hit us, and then we can make it to the other side easy peasy!"
Dawn, Scott, and Sky all shared a bewildered look, then looked back at Lindsay who was still cheerily smiling back.
"Lindsay, you do realize this is about finding a Golden Tomato, right?" Trent asked. "Getting to the other side of the fight won't really help us."
"But what if Chris hid the tomato inside one of the buildings?" Lindsay rebuked.
"That's actually a really good point." Sky admitted, keeping her bewildered look fixed on Lindsay. "How'd you think of that Lindsay?"
"Just seems like something Chris would do." Lindsay shrugged. "And I'm, like, super good at finding hidden stuff."
Team Inferno, minus Scott, all looked at one another and shared a nod. Scott looked towards Lindsay inquisitively, as if he was trying to read his mind, but he eventually dropped it and shared the nod.
"Good plan Lindsay." Trent commended.
"Let's get going now, please." Sky urged impatiently. "I don't want to surrender a lead."
The rest of Team Inferno jogged into the storm as the camera refocused from Team Inferno in the foreground to Team Chaos in the background, where Jasmine was similarly observing the carnage.
"Crikey." The Aussie groaned. "Not a good way to approach this."
"Everything alright Jasmine?" Ezekiel piped up.
"Not exactly Zeke." Jasmine admitted. Although she was fine with telling Ezekiel about her nerves regarding the challenge, she was far less interested in telling him the truth about her feelings regarding the game. She knew that, one way or another, she was probably not going to survive on the team much longer without a stroke of luck, and that was not helping her confidence one bit.
"I can't see anything." Ezekiel whined.
"It doesn't look like we need to run directly into the line of fire." Brick noted, as the angle Team Chaos had chosen was on the left side of the Tomatina festival. "Why would Chris put the Golden Tomato in the center of the battlefield? It would be illogical."
"Nice thought Brick!" Sam beamed. "We just gotta go through this stealthily, like in Alloy Cog Liquid, hehe." Sam chuckled, flopping to the ground and slowly slithering his way towards the left side of the Tomatina festival goers.
The rest of Team Chaos looked at one another and shrugged, crouching down and tip toing behind Sam.
CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine
"I gotta say, Sam's an interesting bugger." Jasmine told the camera. "It's actually crazy, but I dare to say that he's been the most valuable member of the team so far. If only it wasn't for Brick, Sam would make a great ally."
END CONFESSIONAL
Sam had successfully slithered all the way to behind the onslaught of tomato throwers, slipping behind a food vendor's cart undetected. The rest of Team Chaos simply snuck quickly into frame, detailing to the camera how absurd Sam was.
Sam popped up from behind the cart and did a once over of his surroundings. Although he couldn't see beyond the throwers in front of him, he was able to gather that the Golden Tomato wasn't at the top of the tomatoes strewn about in the barrels by the throwers, and that it wasn't actively being thrown, at least by anyone on their side.
"Nothing in these carts." Jasmine grumbled, flipping the lid down on the cart furthest to their right near where they entered.
"Jasmine, can you see anything on the other side of the field?" Sam asked, back to lying on the ground on his stomach.
Jasmine peered over to the other side, causing her eyes to bulge out of her head as she did so. Her height provided her with a more advantageous view, and thus she was able to see past most of the tomatoes being thrown. "Looks like the same setup as over here."
"Perfect, I have a plan." Sam grinned, standing up.
Ezekiel and Jasmine shared a look. "You do?" Ezekiel asked.
"Yup!" Sam quickly answered. "It looks like all these throwers have barrels where they keep their inventory. Brick and I will check the barrels on this side." Sam said, turning his attention to Ezekiel and Jasmine. "Jasmine and Zeke, you guys go do the same with the barrels and carts on the other side. Cool?"
"Great plan soldier." Brick clapped Sam's shoulder, standing beside him and looking towards their two non-generation two teammates. "Any objections?"
"None from me, eh." Ezekiel retreated, putting his hands in the air.
Jasmine internally grumbled at her lack of being in control. "Works for me." She sighed, jogging into the battle. "C'mon Ezekiel!"
Ezekiel quickly ran after the Amazonian as Brick and Sam began searching the barrels around them. Jasmine cast a sideways glance at Ezekiel, who was feebly attempting to keep up with the much larger and faster woman.
"You're fast." Ezekiel wheezed, stumbling over his feet.
"Guess us women aren't that weak, huh?" Jasmine teased.
"Definitely not!" Ezekiel answered. "I still can't believe I said that, eh."
"Eh well, everyone makes mistakes." Jasmine replied.
"Not gonna make any of those, promise." Ezekiel said, managing to pull ahead of Jasmine on pure adrenaline.
Jasmine noticed this, furrowing her brows.
CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine
"On second thought, an alliance with Ezekiel might be the better option." Jasmine pondered, rubbing her cheek. "He's timid, and is in desperate need of someone to save his butt. That first season blunder is still haunting him, I reckon. Sam might have just saved my bacon." Jasmine smiled as the camera cut to static.
END CONFESSIONAL
Courtney watched as Ezekiel and Jasmine ran across midfield, along with Team Inferno sprinting through the center, stopping when Scott got beamed by two different tomatoes, allowing Dawn and Sky to hoist him to his feet and continue towards the other end of the field near the buildings in the background.
"Crap!" Courtney yelled, kicking at the dirt in front of her.
"What's wrong?" Ella inquired.
"What's wrong is that the other teams got a head start while Smart-ning here took a nap!" Courtney snapped, kicking the still recuperating Lightning in the shin.
"Lightning's gonna win the Super Bowl! Sha-bam!" Lightning groggily declared, standing up before succumbing to the head rush, falling right back over.
"Just leave him here." Noah told the CIT. "He'll do more harm than good."
"What makes you so sure?" Gwen spat.
"You're right, I trust Lightning, who's IQ rivals that of Stephen Hawking, with searching for a tiny Golden Tomato." Noah sarcastically answered, earning a glare from Gwen.
"It's no worries guys!" Owen smiled, wrapping Gwen and Noah in a rib-crushing hug. "Lightning helped so much last challenge, he even won MVP! We owe it to him to carry him this time around."
"You make a good point Owen." Gwen eventually sighed, releasing herself from the hug.
"Can't... breathe..." Noah gasped, wrenching his head out of Owen's grip and rapidly breathing to catch his breath. "Thanks for almost killing me again dude!"
"Sorry." Owen sheepishly smiled. "Those first couple times weren't on purpose! Swearsies!"
"Whatever." Noah grumbled, brushing himself clean.
"It looks like Team Chaos is taking the sides and Team Inferno is going for the buildings." Gwen observed.
"So that leaves us with the middle?" Courtney asked, annoyance seeping from her voice. "Wonderful."
"Any ideas your majesty?" Noah assholishly smiled at the CIT.
"I guess just go into the frenzy and hope that the tomato gets thrown by one of the fans or something." Courtney grumbled. "Owen!"
Owen, who had moved to the edge of the fight and was licking the ground in front of him, whipped his head over to look at Courtney. "Yea?"
"Can you be a human shield for us?" Courtney asked.
"That's a big ask." Gwen noted.
"Not like there's much else we can do." Courtney reminded the goth.
"No problem!" Owen smiled as Team Omega sans Lightning filled in behind him. "Let's do this!"
As Owen ran in, the tomatoes stopped being thrown on their side for a brief moment, as several festival attendants looked over and gasped. Owen and the rest of Team Omega looked confused, but nonetheless they started scanning the ground in front of them.
"OH EM GEEEEE!" A young female voice screamed.
"NO WAY!" A second female voice shrieked.
"IT'S OWEN!" A high-pitched male voice shouted.
"EL ES TAN SEXY!" Another unidentifiable voice yelled.
In a flash, Team Omega was left in a daze as a whirlwind of fans surrounded Owen, begging for pictures and autographs. Owen, never one to be mean or rude to someone, allowed himself to get swept away as more and more people ditched their tomatoes and ran up to the season one winner.
"Hey, get back here!" Courtney demanded. Unfortunately, Owen had already garnered a crowd ten times the circumference of his own girth and it was rapidly expanding, so Courtney's words just reflected off.
"At least we can see now." Ella optimistically added. "Things could always be worse."
"That's assuming the Golden Tomato hasn't been thrown and squashed by now." Noah griped, slipping on tomato streaks.
"Stay positive." Gwen snapped, walking over to Ella. "Being able to see is going to be super helpful."
"Ella and Gwen are right. Let's check the field to see if the tomato is just lying around here." Courtney instructed.
Courtney, Ella, and Gwen went off towards where Owen was carted away by the fans while Noah went the opposite way, being joined by a still woozy Lightning.
"Feeling any better captain my captain?" Noah asked the uber jock.
"Lightning feels like when he got struck by lightning." Lightning groaned, rubbing his head. "Sha-dang is Lightning glad Cameron ain't back."
"I understand, bookworms and jocks are natural enemies." Noah said. "Amazing Tyler never tried to kill me."
"Who's Tyler?" Lightning asked.
"The guy who gets the least play out of all TD guys in history." Noah laughed. "Anyways, how do you feel about our teammates?"
"Uh, Lightning doesn't know what you mean." Lightning replied.
"Well, do you like our teammates?" Noah continued, trying to sound innocent.
"Well, Lightning thinks Goth Girl is pretty cool, she reminds him of Creepy Girl!" Lightning answered. "Tubby's okay, Lightning thinks he needs to get into the gym though."
"Not an unpopular opinion." Noah quipped.
"Lightning doesn't really like Singer Girl, and Bossy Girl ain't too nice either." Lightning listed off. "You're okay, uh..."
"Noah." Noah finished.
"Yea! You ain't bad Noah." Lightning told the bookworm. "Could gain some weight though, Lightning will hook you up with his diet and training program."
"Excellent." Noah drawled, continuing to comb the ground for the Golden Tomato.
CONFESSIONAL: Noah
The bookworm drummed his fingers along his thigh. "So, Lightning doesn't like Courtney or Ella, interesting." Noah's brows furrowed, as though he was analyzing a giant blueprint. "The real question is who to dump next. Gwen seems like the easy choice, I think she's onto me about the whole Leshawna thing." Noah tugged at his shirt collar. "This is a lot easier in theory than in practice."
END CONFESSIONAL
Team Inferno arrived at the tan buildings at the far edge of the building missing Scott, who had taken a beating from a few tomatoes and insisted that he'd be back 'in a country jiffy'. That country jiffy appeared more like jam however, as he'd still not returned from center field. The rest of the team inspected the buildings in front of them. There were six in total, all approximately the same size and shape, with small alleyways between each that had fire escapes leading up to the roof.
"Now what Lindsay?" Sky demanded.
"Search the buildings, duh." Lindsay sunnily answered. "Even I know that."
Sky flustered and facepalmed, but resigned herself to her duty nonetheless, taking the building furthest to the right. Sammy and Trent split off to take the two other buildings on the right, leaving Dawn and Lindsay at the starting line.
"Which one do you want Dana?" Lindsay asked the moonchild.
"Oh, take your pick Lindsay." Dawn smiled, snapping back from looking towards the battle and towards Lindsay once more. "I'll be there shortly."
"Okay!" Lindsay simply replied, going towards the leftmost building.
Scott finally managed to drag himself through center field and out of the chaos, coated in red streaks and having two tomatoes covering his eyes.
"Did I win Pappy?" Scott groggily groaned as his head thudded into the ground.
"I'm not your Pappy." Dawn drawled in the same tone she used to accuse Scott of shooting Sam with a seagull, picking the dirt farmer off the ground and uncovering his eyes.
"Thanks." Scott said as regained his bearings. "Where's everyone else?"
"They split up to go search for the Golden Tomato." Dawn explained. "I suggest you being searching as well."
"Don't you mean we?" Scott asked, a small amount of sadness edging into his voice.
"Your aura suggests that you need this challenge to yourself." Dawn said, gliding off towards the left building closest to the center.
"Ah, okay!" Scott replied, trying to sound confident, although it was noticeably strained. "I'll catch you later!"
"Bye Scott." Dawn concluded, entering the building and letting the door shut behind her.
Scott skulked towards the trash cans in the alley directly between the two buildings closest to the center, kicking the cans over and shoving his hands in his pockets. He examined the spilled contents, looking for any speckles of gold, but found nothing.
"Ah man." Scott sighed, kicking over another trash can and rifling through the contents. A fleck of brown caught Scott's eye, snapping him out of his dreariness. He examined the object, which looked exactly like the Invincibility Idol of his debut season.
"Another free pass for Scotty-boy." Scott snickered, flipping the Idol around in his hand. The Idol landed upside down in his hand, prompting Scott to examine the underside of the head.
"Chris McLean Invincibility Statue replica, made in China, property of Total Drama?" Scott read off, growing angry after noticing no Chris McLean seal of authenticity. Scott chucked the head towards a dumpster and strolled further down the alley.
CONFESSIONAL: Scott
"Dawn being so nice to me is starting to throw me off my game." Scott admitted. "I mean, consoling me for my issues with my Total Drama status? Making sure I'm saying nice stuff? Telling me my 'aura' suggests it would be better for me to go solo this challenge, which leads to me finding a fake immunity idol? It's just..." Scott trailed off. "Strange. I'll stay close to that little psychic, havin' another ally or two never hurt the Scott-ster! HAHAHAHA!" Scott immediately finished laughing, looking up at the vent overhead and the toilet beneath him expecting something to attack him. He breathed a sigh of relief before opening the door, getting clocked with the fake Chris head he'd just found.
END CONFESSIONAL
The camera cut back to a wide shot of the fray to show that the Tomatina festival had largely concluded, with only a few throwers left remaining. Those throwers were quickly dropping like flies to either gawk at the members of Team Omega minus Ella or to dance to music that was being loudly blasted through the town center.
Brick and Sam were shown bobbing for tomatoes on the left side, stationing themselves at the halfway point. Neither man had had any luck, and they both had looks of perplexion and annoyance on their faces.
In the background, Lindsay sulked out of the leftmost building and went down the alley between that building and it's neighbor to the right. Dawn was shown climbing on the roof of the left-center building, examining the other rooftops but not having any luck. Scott had just emerged out of the alley and went towards the alley between the left-center building and it's left neighbor, also empty handed and scowling slightly.
Team Omega was swept up by the incensed teenage fans who were all crowding them for their autographs. Some, like Lightning and Owen, refused to turn a fan down, whether due to arrogance or kindness all the same. Courtney signed a few autographs and posed for a couple pictures, but attempted to politely decline any further comers. Unfortunately, since it was Courtney, it came out ruder than she was anticipating. Gwen had icily told most fans to kick rocks, or at least that's how it was poorly dubbed for the TV release. Noah mostly ignored anyone asking for his picture or autograph, though he did take a small handful to appease the persistent fans. Ella walked around the field mostly uninterrupted, sad over the lack of attention but still happy to help the team. She also came up with nothing.
The camera panned once more towards the right side of the field. In the background, Sky leapt from one rooftop to another, stony determination on her face as she scaled down to the highest level containing a window on the fire escape, tucking herself into a ball and throwing herself through a window. Sammy and Trent emerged from their buildings, shaking their heads at one another. They both went down the remaining two alleys to soldier on in their quest.
Ezekiel and Jasmine had spilled over a few barrels of tomatoes, not finding anything yet.
"You'd think a bright Golden Tomato would be super easy to find, eh?" Ezekiel noted, scanning the contents of the two barrels Jasmine had just tipped over.
"Yea, but this seems pretty tame compared to Chris' normal challenges." Jasmine said as helped Ezekiel pan through another barrel of tomatoes.
"Nah, not really." Ezekiel retorted. "I think he just went really hard on you guys, yo."
"You don't say." Jasmine deadpanned. "Maybe it was part of his contract to be ludicrous."
"Doesn't sound too wrong." Ezekiel added, squashing some tomatoes. "He seemed pretty alright in the first couple seasons. I wonder what happened."
"Money and fame probably." Jasmine explained. "It's almost like something with Heather winning a million dollars broke his sanity, and he just became demented."
"Or maybe it was Al-eh-andro getting burnt by the volcano." Ezekiel added. "Chris looked pretty evil in that extra clip, eh?"
"You can say that again." Jasmine chuckled, tipping over another barrel. The two Chaosians shared a laugh as they sifted through more tomatoes, having no luck.
The silence caused Jasmine's nerves to perk back up again. She gnashed her teeth, took a deep breath, and stood upright to face Ezekiel.
"Zeke, can I ask you something?" Jasmine asked.
"Sure. What's up yo?" Ezekiel replied warmly.
"It's about our standing on the team." Jasmine stated, causing Ezekiel to nervously pale.
"What about it?" Ezekiel shakily asked.
"Well, the way I see you, it's either you or I gettin' the boot next." Jasmine told the prairie boy. "I don't know why, but I have a sneaking suspicion they'll choose me." Jasmine picked up two barrels, smashing them together. "Can't really guess why, but so be it."
"So, what do you want me to do?" Ezekiel inquired, his voice timid.
"Simple." Jasmine dropped another barrel in front of her with a thud. "Team up with me for the next vote. If they vote me like I think, then I can beat one of them in a tiebreaker, yea?"
"But what if they vote me?" Ezekiel asked.
"I don't think they will." Jasmine brushed aside. "Besides, even if they do, at least then you'll have a chance to take one of them down instead of instantly taking the drop. I'd take those odds any day."
Ezekiel pondered her words for a minute before shrugging and continuing to paw through tomatoes on the ground. "I guess it's not an awful option, eh."
"That's what I like to hear mate." Jasmine clapped the prairie boy on his shoulders, startling him. "Let's find this stupid tomato."
"Yea!" The two high fived and went back to sifting through the tomatoes on the ground.
CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine
"Score!" Jasmine pumped her fist in the air. "Now all I've gotta do is beat Brick or Sam in a tiebreaker, and I have all the team power!" Jasmine wiped non-existent sweat from her brow. "Phew, it feels nice to not dread the next elimination ceremony."
END CONFESSIONAL
CONFESSIONAL: Ezekiel
"First Amy, now Jasmine?" Ezekiel asked to the camera. "Looks like the third cast girls can't get enough of the Zeke." Ezekiel cockily smiled, pulling out the gold chain from TDI that he still had. The chain had seen better days, as the gold had stained and started to chip in some places from lack of upkeep. "Maybe I'll be able to holla at Sugar, yo."
END CONFESSIONAL
Scott sighed as he went down another alley, ensuring to Lindsay that he was okay and telling her to go check another building. He knocked over some more trash cans and flipped over a cardboard box, disappointed at his rotten luck in finding anything useful.
"How goes it?" Sky called out as she scurried down the fire escape to Scott's right.
"Fantastic." Scott lied, pawing through a nearby dumpster. "Almost makes me miss being tormented by Fang."
"God, don't tell me you're going to be mopey too." Sky said as she landed with a tuck and roll. "We cannot afford to be slowed down."
"Says who?" Scott spat, ripping through a trash bag. "We're all tied right now, we're fine."
"That's not fine Scott!" Sky yelled. "We need to be soaring ahead of them!"
"Who cares?" Scott sneered at the gymnast. "What's your deal?"
"I'm tired of being slowed down by useless supporters!" Sky shouted, poking Scott in the chest. "First Beardo, then Leonard, then Topher, then Dave, and now you? You actually placed well in your season!"
"Woah, woah, back up. Supporters?" Scott repeated.
"Teammates, whatever." Sky corrected, rolling her eyes. "You get the gist."
"I don't know that I do." Scott drawled.
"Well sorry." Sky replied, drawing out the second syllable as she picked through yet another trash can. "Excuse me for wanting our team to be super dominant."
"You gotta lay off with the sport talk." Scott warned as he strolled further down the alley.
"Why's that?" Sky hotly retorted. "In case you didn't notice, this attitude brought me all the way to the finals last time."
"Yea, you keep mentioning." Scott rolled his eyes.
"I keep mentioning because it's important for our team." Sky insisted, stalking up behind Scott. Scott sensed her presence, getting up and going face to face with the season five finalist.
"And you think you're the boss of this team, huh?" Scott snidely asked.
"I placed the highest, it's only logical." Sky smugly responded.
"Maybe, but you didn't exactly need to strategize in your season." Scott pointed out. "I mean c'mon, Dakota could've won that season!" Unseen to the squabbling pair, Dawn leaned out the window of the building on the left, flinging a pea at Scott, smacking him sharply in the back of the neck. "Gah! I was kidding! But not about your season being a freebie."
"Uh, hello, robot island ring any bells?" Sky aggressively asked. "That was way harder than anything you ever had to deal with."
"The mutant shark with a boner for me?" Scott retorted. "You try spending the season throwing challenges and then picking off easy competition in the merge only to get screwed out of the finale and put in a trauma chair by a shark just because you took his freakin' tooth!"
"You're not better than me!" Sky screamed, getting in Scott's face.
"When did I say I was?!" A confused and slightly frightened Scott asked.
"That's the whole thing you're doing right now!" Sky protested. "You're getting all in my head and distracting me from succeeding!"
"Calm it sissy." Scott seethed, pushing Sky lightly back. "I was calmly searching for this stupid Golden Tomato." Scott poked Sky in the chest. "You came up to me, getting all hot and bothered that I was taking my time searching. Then you went off on this whole spiel about not being useless. You got issues."
"My issues." Sky fought, pushing Scott a little harder than he'd pushed her. "Is with people who refuse to live up to their full potential. I need to maximize that potential, and using the nice girl approach didn't work last time, so now you're getting mean girl. And you not being cooperative with my leadership is strongly extinguishing your potential greatness."
"Don't tell me what I can and can't be." Scott scoffed. "I don't need your 'encouragement', thanks." Scott turned around to walk off.
Sky, still enraged, shoved Scott in the back, knocking him over into the garbage. "Fine! Screw me for trying to help you, idiot!" Sky stormed off back down the alley.
"I'm gonna kill her." Scott grumbled as he picked himself up from the rubble. He dusted himself off and was about to continue deeper into the alley before he noticed a glint catching his eye.
"Oh-ho, what do we have here." Scott grinned, sifting through the trash covering the glint. "Hell yea!" Scott cheered, holding up his prize of the Golden Tomato. He walked out of the alley, reuniting with Dawn and Lindsay, flipping the Golden Tomato in his hands.
Chris blew an airhorn over the field from atop one of the buildings, causing everyone still searching to look up towards him. The remaining Tomatina Festival guests scattered, leaving Lightning and Owen in a giddy daze.
"What just happened?" Owen asked Noah.
"Team Inferno wins the first challenge and earns First Class privileges!" Chris announced through a speaker. "Scott earns another MVP for being the one to claim the prize."
Team Inferno cheered for Scott, including a begrudging Sky and Trent, both happy they'd won the challenge, but upset at who'd won it for them. The other two teams sulked or scowled at the winners as they gathered in center field while Team Inferno made their way back to First Class.
"As for the losers, we have to get underway with parte numero dos de su challenge!" Chris grinned.
"You couldn't translate all that beforehand?" Courtney chided.
"It's all the Spanish I know, zip it!" Chris commanded, with Courtney obliging. "Much better. Follow me to decide which one of you is throwing someone out the plane."
CONFESSIONAL: Sky
"Scott's getting under my skin." Sky admitted. "He's trying to win the game, and he's playing fairly, so I'm not super angry but..." She paused, looking for the right words. "It's like our team doesn't even care about trying hard! Scott's fine-ish, but Dawn and Lindsay are weak, and Sammy's not that much better. Trent's also okay but none of them are like Shawn or even Dave." Sky complained, lamenting on her former team. "Even Sugar seemed more useful!" Sky slammed her hands onto her knees. "Deep breaths Sky, deep breaths. Being angry at those who haven't achieved greatness achieves nothing." She took one more deep breath. "Ah, much better."
END CONFESSIONAL
"The second part of this mucho loco challenge takes place here, in La Plaza de Toros de las Ventas!" Chris greeted the two teams, standing in the center of a giant cathedral. He was dressed sharply in a green suit with golden sequins and tight black pants, along with a black matador cap and red shoes.
"Nice tux Chris, you look like a million bucks!" Owen smiled, shooting the host the finger guns.
"Thanks, Owen my man, I try." Chris shot the finger guns back. "Anyways, here's the challenge you guys are gonna compete in. As some of you may know, Spain's illustrious history includes a long lineage of the country's second favorite sport, bullfighting."
"We're gonna fight bulls?!" Ezekiel shrieked, cowering behind Jasmine.
"Calm yourself mate, he's not gonna make us fight bulls." Jasmine lightly noogied the homeschooler. "You're not, right?"
"Nah." Chris brushed off. "For some reason, renting animals is super hard nowadays, and the only bulls we have in stock are those castrated ones." Owen turned green and started gagging, a rare sight for the big boy. "We're still gonna do some bullfighting though!"
"How are we going to bullfight without bulls?" Noah raised an eye.
"Simple." Chris pulled a coin from his pocket. "Lightning, heads or tails?" Chris asked as he threw the coin high in the air.
"Sha-heads! Team Lightning is always on top, sha-woo!" Lightning boasted to the annoyance of his teammates, save Owen. The coin clattered back down to the ground, landing on tails.
"Well, tough for you." Chris observed the result. "Looks like Team Chaos gets to be the matadors, heads up!" Chris threw matador hats at the Team Chaos members.
"Sha-whoops." Lightning scratched the back of his neck, receiving a glare from Courtney.
"As for you, thanks to Lightning, you get to be the bulls." Chris grinned devilishly, throwing hats similar to the one Owen wore in the season one finale at Team Omega.
"So, what, we're just trying to kill our opponents?" Noah asked dryly. "Because I think Your Amazon-nesty will take a while without weapons."
"Jesus Noah, morbid." Chris shuddered. "No, you're going to face off in five bullfighting matches, whoever wins gets purgatory status and the losers will be sending someone home tonight. Any questions?"
"Yea, why five fights?" Courtney spoke up. "There's six of us and four of them, that doesn't make much sense."
"Well, we were gonna do six fights, cuz we thought Team Chaos would win part one." Chris said, turning towards Team Chaos. "Guess they just weren't that motivated, even though they're already down two players."
"Hey, we tried!" Sam protested. "You just didn't put the Golden Tomato where we searched."
"Astute observation Samuel." Chris smirked, earning a glare from the game guy. "Unfortunately, that's not my problem. Now, if there are no more questions."
No one raised their hand or spoke up in protest.
"Good!" Chris smiled. "Hmm, let's get..." Chris trailed off, tapping his chin. "Jasmine and Owen."
"Figures he picks the two biggest people to go against each other, eh mate?" Jasmine asked the lovable lug.
"Yea!" Owen laughed. "Don't expect me to go easy on ya!"
"Wouldn't want it any other way." Jasmine smirked.
The camera flashed down to a low shot of Jasmine's ankles in the foreground with Owen in his bull head in the background, kicking up dirt as he scraped the ground with his foot.
"Rules are as follows:" Chris stated. "The bull gets three chances to take down the matador. If the matador lands a strike that knocks the bull down, the matador gets a point. If the bull tackles and pins the matador for three seconds, the bull gets the point. If no one has earned a point after three bull runs, I declare the round a draw and we move on to the next pair. Savvy?"
"Bring it on baby!" Owen called out, intensity flaring in his eyes.
Jasmine ripped the red flag from her side and waved it in front of her. "Bring it on."
An incensed Owen scuffed his feet in the dirt once more and took off for the Amazon. She nimbly dodged the first one, kicking Owen in the shin as he went by. Owen didn't totally whiff though, as he was able to strike Jasmine's hitting arm.
"Holy mackerel that smarts!" Owen hopped up and down on his good leg, rubbing the other one which was rapidly bruising.
"You pack a good hit." Jasmine smiled fiercely, shaking off her hitting arm.
Owen took another run at it, though his body went faster than his legs could carry him, causing him to trip on nothing and roll over Jasmine's feet. She yelped as her feet were crushed, hitting the deck at Owen regained his footing. She hit the ground hard, cracking her chin on the dirt.
"Oh gosh, are you alright?" Owen asked, keeping his distance as Jasmine regained her footing.
"Yea, yea." Jasmine brushed herself clean and massaged her chin. "You got my feet somethin' fierce though mate." The camera panned in to show Jasmine's feet cartoonishly throbbing in her boots.
"Sorry!" Owen called out.
"Don't be sorry Owen, you gotta win this!" Courtney yelled.
"Owen, go Kevin mode!" Noah called out to his big boy, who nodded in approval.
"What's Kevin mode?" Jasmine nervously asked, trying to inch away from Owen.
"Oh you'll see." Owen darkly chuckled, scuffing his feet on the ground.
With a scream of "Fight!" from Owen, he charged Jasmine once again. She tried to brace for Owen's impact, but as Owen kept running, she wasn't certain what to do. She stuck her arms out in front of her, getting ready to stuff Owen in his efforts. Owen, just before colliding with Jasmine's lengthy and muscular arms, tucked into a cannonball. Jasmine was caught way off guard as Owen plowed through her and stirring up a cloud of dust in his wake. The dust cleared and Owen was sitting on Jasmine's chest, laughing childishly.
"One, two, three!" Chris counted through his megaphone. "1-0 to Team Omega thanks to Kevin Owen!"
"What the?" Jasmine was helped back up by Brick and Ezekiel, looking shell-shocked.
"Wonderful job Owen!" Ella beamed.
"Yea buddy, you did great." Noah added.
"Aww, I couldn't have done it without your help!" Owen cheerily said as he wrapped Ella and Noah under his arms.
"As much as I love a hug, I think dear Noah is choking." Ella pointed out, as Noah writhed for air under Owen's arm.
"Whoops, sorry buddy!" Owen apologized, wiping sweat from Noah's brow.
"Twice today." Noah said flatly, slightly glaring at Owen, who just sheepishly smiled in return.
"Moving on." Chris interrupted. "I wanna see the battle of the weak males, Ezekiel and Noah!"
"Hey, I'm not weak!" Ezekiel protested, putting his matador hat on atop his toque.
"He's saying that because we were both the first men voted off from our teams in our first two seasons homeschool." Noah explained, grumpily sliding the bull hat on his head.
"Oh, I guess that's better." Ezekiel said.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Noah told him, getting pitifully into position.
Noah did as much charging as he can do, running weakly at Ezekiel, who's timidity was clear. Both men flailed feebly at the other, making no contact with their opposition as Noah passed.
"Seriously?" Gwen asked from the sidelines.
"I'm not a fighter, thank you." Noah snapped.
"C'mon Zeke, give him hell!" Jasmine encouraged.
"How?" Ezekiel asked.
"Use some farm mojo dude!" Sam shouted.
Ezekiel nodded, looking more confident as Noah took off once more. Noah took off somehow even weaker than the first time as Ezekiel prepared himself. When Noah got there and started essentially miming at Ezekiel, Ezekiel kicked at the bookworm's heel, causing him to trip over his footing and skid to a halt on the dirt.
"Dude, you gotta like, try and hit him!" Owen told his scrawny friend.
"Really? Thanks!" Noah deadpanned. He put pressure down on his kicked ankle, wincing as he did.
"Good job soldier!" Brick called out.
"Thanks, eh!" Ezekiel beamed. "I got you this time."
"I'm sure you do." Noah rolled his eyes.
Noah took off a third time, the hardest he'd run so far that challenge. He ran at Ezekiel with a closed fist and swung towards the homeschooler, who caught his punch and wrestled Noah to the ground. Ezekiel put Noah into a chokehold with Noah's own arm, squeezing the life out of him. Noah flailed his feet desperately to free himself from the hold, but eventually submitted, getting Ezekiel to release the hold.
"Zeke the, uh..." Chris stopped, thinking of a snappy nickname. "Zekestroyer. Yea, yea that works. Zeke the Zekestroyer levels the playing field for Team Chaos."
"Weak effort." Courtney chided as Noah returned to the Team Omega sideline, gasping for air.
"Whatever, like we'll lose with Lightning." Noah jerked his finger towards Lightning, who was practicing bolting towards Owen, who posed as the matador.
"You better hope that's right." Gwen warned. "Cuz I don't see anyone else who failed that pitifully."
"Speaking of pity, I want Courtney and Sam!" Chris boomed.
"Uh, Chris, how are either of us pitiful?" Sam asked as entered the field.
"Everyone thinks you're a punching bag, everyone thinks Courtney is an emotional punching bag, kinda makes sense to me." Chris shrugged.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you." Courtney warned the gamer.
"That makes two of us, hehe." Sam chuckled, getting into a crane pose.
Courtney and Noah shot one another a perplexed look at Courtney took her position and hat.
"This'll be easy." Courtney taunted.
"I was thinking the same thing." Sam grinned, staring daggers at Courtney.
He ushered the bring it hand signal, causing Courtney to lunge towards him. Courtney took three large strides and leapt in the air, angling her body like a torpedo heading straight for Sam's lower body. Sam kept his gaze locked on Courtney, his smirk never leaving his face. As she was about to collide with him, he sent a vicious knee to her jaw with his raised leg, instantly sending Courtney's body ricocheting back. As she flew back, Sam jumped with his other leg, kicking her square in the face as he smacked to the Earth on his stomach.
Sam gingerly rose to his feet, wiping the dirt off his face and looked over at Courtney. Courtney was absolutely blasted and disoriented, unable to stand up without collapsing. Ella and Owen eventually went to her aid, helping her off the field, where she fell to the ground once again.
"Alright, yea, Sam absolute OWNED Courtney, Team Chaos pulls ahead, 2-1." Chris announced, looking very unamused but also happy at the same time.
"Fatality." Sam said seriously.
Noah diagnosed Courtney's symptoms, noting that she didn't have a concussion, but was severely dazed.
CONFESSIONAL: Courtney
The CIT sat slack jaw and leaning against the back of the confessional toilet, rubbing her head with her left hand. "Did I did it good Duncan?" She asked the camera, before slipping off the toilet and falling forward onto the floor.
END CONFESSIONAL
Chef came down with a cart and med-evac'd Courtney, leaving Team Omega without their de facto leader.
"Oh dear oh my." Ella sighed, watching as Courtney left.
"Well, with that incredible display of violence from Sam, I think that brings up our next set of competitors: Brick and Ella!" Chris continued, ushering both teens forward.
"Uh, Chris?" Brick asked the host. "I don't feel entirely comfortable with facing off against a lady."
"Nor do I." Ella chimed in. "Violence is not the answer, despite what some may think."
"Of course you two both don't want to fight." Chris pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why do you two insist on making my job hard?"
"My apologies Chris, but there must be another way to settle this. How about a guitar battle?" Ella suggested, Brick nodding along with her suggestion.
"Nope, don't care, you two are fighting." Chris declared.
"But we decline to fight!" Brick protested.
"And I decline your declination." Chris chided. "Now fight!"
Ella reluctantly took her spot against Brick, who looked equally reluctant and uncomfortable.
"Good luck Brick!" Ella called out to her adversary.
"Same to you ma'am." Brick saluted.
Ella delicately ran across the field towards Brick, who stood defensively anticipating her arrival. When the two met in the center, Brick made no motion as Ella lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
"What was that?!" Lightning shouted from the sideline.
"You've gotta take her down yo!" Ezekiel shouted to Brick.
Ella ran back across with a little more pep in her step, though it didn't result in much. Ella kicked Brick lightly in the calf who didn't even react to the blow as both bull and matador reset their positions.
"C'mon Brick, get her mate!" Jasmine urged.
"Hit him hard Ella!" Gwen demanded.
"I can't!" Ella insisted. "I don't want to hurt him."
"I refuse to hit a woman." Brick declared.
Ella ran at him once more and lightly pushed his chest. What she didn't anticipate was that soldier Brick would have a muscle-ridden chest, and she ended up shoving herself to the ground on accident.
"Alright, stop the fight." Chris said, blowing his airhorn. "You two are both massive disappointments. You had so much potential! Off my field, now."
Brick marched off while Ella sulked over to the Team Omega sideline.
"Wait a second, who even won that?" Noah asked the host.
"Ella, who cares, I need another fight after that horrible display." Chris rubbed his temples.
"That's no fair!" Jasmine cried.
"Deal!" Chris snapped. "I care about the drama, and those two provided zilch."
Brick and Ella both shied away awkwardly at Chris' insults.
"Our final matchup of the day will be Gwen versus Sam." Chris decreed, shoving Sam into the center.
"Man, why do I have to go again?" Sam whined, putting his matador hat back on.
"And why do I have to go instead of Lightning?" Gwen protested. "He's built for this challenge."
"Sha-yea!" Lightning piped up.
"Shut it!" Chris commanded. "Lightning was never gonna compete, he's too big of an asset." Chris whirled over from Gwen and Lightning to Sam. "And you have to go again because you sent Courtney to the medbay dude. That's insane and since you definitely provided the biggest shock, we have to have you go again."
"Oh, alright." Sam smiled.
Gwen took her position and bitterly glared at Sam, who took his crane position once more with a smirk. Gwen charged at him and waited for Sam to go for the kick once more. Her assumption paid off, as Sam kicked while Gwen slid under his legs, driving an elbow into the back of his planted leg.
"Ow!" Sam shouted, rubbing his sore leg. "Health moderate."
Gwen said nothing, quickly running towards Sam again before he had a proper chance to recoup. He quickly executed a jump jump duck punch combo that Gwen easily avoided, delivering a swift kick to his stomach and another killer elbow to the back of his neck.
"Health low." Sam moaned as he got back to his feet. He quickly shook off his grogginess and got back in the crane position, ready to level Gwen once more.
Gwen charged once more, readying herself for the same attack as the first run. Sam predicted this though, sprawling himself out right when Gwen started to slide. Sam looked like he was going to crush Gwen underneath him, and would've if it wasn't for Gwen's quick thinking.
Seeing an out, Gwen shot a balled fist up as she slid through Sam's legs safely on the other side. She wasn't aware of where she hit or the fact she'd won until she saw the grimaces and looks of horror from all the male contestants and Chris, all of whom were covering their crotch.
"Health depleted." Sam croaked from the ground, thudding his head back down with vigor.
"Yea, Gwen and Team Omega win." Chris announced, looking properly terrified. "Gotta say, winning with a shot to the cojones is pretty weak, but whatever." Chris swirled over to a still incapacitated Sam and the rest of Team Chaos. "Looks like you suckers are saying goodbye to ANOTHER player. Man, sucks to suck."
Team Chaos looked at one another nervously, and then back at the writhing Sam.
CONFESSIONAL: Gwen
"Sorry Sam, but that's just how it had to go down." Gwen smirked, blowing her bangs out of her face.
END CONFESSIONAL
CONFESSIONAL: Sam
Sam's eyes were screwed tight. "I won one, but at what cost?" Sam asked the camera, his voice still extremely high pitched.
END CONFESSIONAL
"Team Chaos, dudes, what's up with the suckyness?" Chris asked from the host lectern, standings with his dwindling number of barf bags.
The orange Spanish sky shone brightly through the open jet door and appeared to put the members of Team Chaos in a spotlight.
The Peanut Gallery held Scott on the far left, followed by a smirking Dawn, idle Lindsay, festering Sky, smiling Sammy, and a bored Trent. The bottom row had Owen with his buddy Noah, Ella and Gwen sandwiching a heavily taped Courtney to ensure she didn't hurt herself, and Lightning.
"Peanut Gallery, any guesses or ganders?" Chris called to the safe players. "Let's see, raise your hands if you think Jasmine's outta here!"
Jasmine squirmed in her seat as Scott, Trent, Noah, and Ella raised their hands. Scott's hand did not go unpunished by Dawn, who flicked him in the upper rib of his raised arm.
"Oh come on!" Scott complained. "I can't have opinions?"
Dawn said nothing and continued smirking as Scott grumbled something profane and rubbed his ribs. He was flicked again by Dawn.
"Interesting." Chris said as he looked at the former Toxic Rats. "Anyways, throw your hands in the air for Sam!"
Lightning was the only one to raise his hand.
"Not cool man." Sam said from the bleachers.
"Not the Lightning's fault you didn't root for him in the finale." Lightning scoffed. "You get what you sha-get."
"Ezekiel anybody?" Chris asked as he pointed towards the homeschooler.
Ezekiel pulled his toque over his eyes once more to obscure his vision, missing out on Lindsay, Sky, Sammy, Owen, Ella, and Gwen raising their hands.
"Man, not a lot of confidence in the homeschooler." Chris noted. "Dawn, you didn't raise your hand. You think Brick's taking the drop?"
"I refuse to support a flawed system." Dawn stated with a huff.
"Whatever, Courtney?"
"Haha! Yea Dunky?" Courtney laughed, flailing herself around in her seat.
"Yea, she's pretty messed up." Chris squinted at the CIT before turning back towards Team Chaos. "Enough dilly-dallying, one of you needs to get off my plane!"
Chris let the tension soak in among the Team Chaos members, enjoying the nervousness that permeated their faces. "First barf bag goes to... Ezekiel."
The homeschooler caught the bag and then immediately dropped it, pulling his toque back to normal level and breathing a sigh of relief.
"Other dude with no votes...
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... Sam!"
Sam watched as the bag sailed past him. "Hehe, level up!"
"Yea, yea, congrats." Chris dismissed, looking mad at Sam for daring to interrupt his favorite part of the day.
"You both racked up a couple votes, and for good reason. The question is, who screwed up worst according to their peers?" Chris narrated, loving the suspense he was expertly building up.
Brick and Jasmine eyed one another nervously, and then looked back towards the barf bag desperately.
"The final barf bag goes to...
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neither of you!"
Both contestants gasped, but then nodded. Chris laughed as the rest of the Peanut Gallery aside from Dawn looked shocked. Dawn merely looked bored.
"Real shocker that after a 3-2 vote it becomes a 2-2 tie huh?" Chris rhetorically asked Brick and Jasmine. "Here's how the tiebreaker is gonna go down." Chris began, tossing each competitor a red pepper.
"Can I get one of those Chris?" Owen asked, licking his lips.
"Oh, you're not gonna wanna eat this pepper Owen." Chris ominously warned the big guy.
"I don't like the sound of this." Jasmine whispered to Brick, who nodded in agreement.
"These peppers are super duper hot, like millions on that heat chart. They're Burromuerto special ghost peppers." Chris grinned as he said the last few words.
"Burromuerto, now why does that sound familiar." Owen pondered as he rubbed his second and third chins.
"Alejandro's family makes these?" Noah scoffed. "Go figure."
"It's his aunt, actually." Chris informed the bookworm. "For your tiebreaker challenge, you each must eat this ghost pepper. The first of you two to show no signs of struggling with the heat wins. The loser has a date with a parachute and 30,000 feet."
"Will we get milk for the burns?" Brick asked, looking rather pale.
"Once one of you has won, I'll give you both milk." Chris replied. "The loser just has to drink theirs while parachuting to safety." Chris rubbed his hands together. "Now, go!"
On go, both Brick and Jasmine shoved the pepper down their throat. Brick swallowed first, dancing on his feet as he dealt with the lava his tongue was now engulfed in. He had saliva, snot, and tears dripping from his orifices and looked like he was going to collapse. Jasmine swallowed hers slower but looked much better than Brick, only sweating and turning slightly red.
"No licking your clothes to cool down, FYI." Chris told the contestants as Jasmine was about to lick her jacket.
The camera cut rapidly between Brick and Jasmine, showing how they were both desperately trying to reduce the heat and win the tiebreaker. Eventually, one tongue went back into it's mouth and their face cleared up. They took a deep breath and turned towards Chris.
"Done."
"Looks like we have our winner...
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... Jasmine!" Chris threw the barf bag away and gave her a bottle of milk instead, which she instantly chugged and threw out the plane.
"Sorry Brick." Jasmine said, sympathy in her voice.
Brick, who'd just finished wiping his tear-streaked face, stood up and saluted. "You played a good game Sarge, that I cannot deny."
Jasmine saluted back as Brick strapped into his parachute.
"Goodbye dude! I'll see you around!" Sam called out from the bleachers, also saluting but doing so very poorly.
"Good luck soldier." Brick told him, turning to face the exit.
"From the Army to the Air Force, eh?" Chris joked as he came behind Brick. "Safe landings!" Chris shoved Brick out the plane, sending the cadet screaming down to Earth.
"Ah, I just gifted some Spanish kid a parachuting Army guy." Chris smiled as he closed the door up. "You're all dismissed, go get some rest, you're gonna need it."
The teens slowly filed out of the elimination area, with Team Chaos leaving last. Jasmine, in particular, took the exit last, smiling broadly as she did so.
CONFESSIONAL: Jasmine
"Phew, I did it!" Jasmine pumped her fist in the air. "Brick, sorry you had to go down like that. You were a valiant competitor, and I'm gonna miss ya." Jasmine frowned, though it quickly was replaced with a giddy smile. "But I won't miss you too much, cuz now I got all the power!" She pumped her fist in the air once more. "Don't get me wrong, losing three members of the first five eliminations is pretty rough, but we got this. I know we do." Jasmine smiled confidently into the camera.
Chris burst through the confessional with a wide cheesy grin on his face, startling Jasmine and sending her scrambling to the edge of the bathroom.
"And that concludes another epic episode of Total Drama folks! Will Courtney be affected long term by a nasty head injury? Will Gwen murder Noah? And who's going home next?" Chris narrated, jabbing his finger towards the Aussie. "My money's on her." He whispered as Jasmine shot him a dirty look. "Find out next time right here on Total! Drama! World Touuuuuuuuuuuuuurrr! Volume 2!"
END CONFESSIONAL
Voting Confessionals:
"As much as I believe my performance is deserving of the drop today, I'm voting for Jasmine." Brick narrated, stamping Jasmine's passport. "She's been very strong so far, but I don't want to vote for Ezekiel or Sam. Sorry Jas."
"Jasmine told me to vote for Brick." Ezekiel bluntly told the camera as he stamped Brick's passport.
"Normally I would want to boot Sam, as he seems weaker." Jasmine explained, stamping Brick's passport. "But Brick has been botching these challenges thus far and Sam's been killin' it. No reason to dump Sam now."
Sam stamped Jasmine's passport. "I thought Jasmine's effort today was kinda weak man. And she didn't really give me props for my strategy. Nothing personal Jasmine, but I choose you!"
FINAL TABULATION:
Brick: 2 votes (Ezekiel, Jasmine) [Lost tiebreaker]
Jasmine: 2 votes (Brick, Sam) [Won tiebreaker]
Chaos: Ezekiel, Jasmine, Sam
Inferno: Dawn, Lindsay, Sammy, Scott, Sky, Trent
Omega: Courtney, Ella, Gwen, Lightning, Noah, Owen
Eliminated: Dakota, Amy, Leshawna, Dave, Brick
Reasoning: Poor Brick. I, like many others, seem to struggle with Brick's character mostly because there's so many more interesting characters to explore. Brick's pretty cut and dry when it comes to what to do with him which makes him a real easy candidate to get shafted before the merge, which is what I did here. I kept extending Brick's run to be honest. Originally, he was gonna go second, but then I realized that I'd actually have to write Amy for more than 3 episodes and that prospect disgusted me. Then he was gonna go third before I came up with the Leshawna scheme, and he was gonna go in Dave's spot until I decided fuck Dave, #AllMyHomiesHateDave. So here Brick fell. I could've had him go later but I have better ideas going forward that I didn't want to rush, so leaving Brick as background fodder didn't seem necessary. Sorry Brick, you might be missed.
God I need to rewrite the first two chapters. I'm debating on rewriting chapter three if only to make it flow more cohesively with the writing style I'm slowly but surely becoming accustomed to, which is like, actually solid and not just fast paced messy garbage.
I'm gonna tentatively say right now to hold off on any expectations of a new chapter after this one for a bit, I really need the first viewing experience people have with my fic to be positive and not a steaming pile of shit.
Also I'm thinking I might add references in the A/N at the end, like Knifez did in DI. I think it's pretty funny and helps explain some funny references that may have been missed (such as the reference to Courtney originally being South Asian before being retcon'd to Hispanic or the blatant Kevin Owens reference with Owen). Lmk what y'all would think of that.
Blah blah blah, vote my poll please I'm begging you on my hands and knees bent over backwards will do anything for votes and same for reviews yadda yadda.
Until next time, shuppyer out.