Reply Time!
lordgemini- Angie definitely has more planned down the road. Next few episodes aren't really her shining points just yet. And yes, I agree, writing Luna and Norm right now actually feels super odd, like it's some sort of odd crack ship. But, alas, it is real.
I've changed each chapter name a bit, not this one. This one's too good to not reuse.
Episode 9: Water We Doing?
The episode opened as Chris and Chef were in a boat above the dock. The water levels were all the way past where the cabins normally were. They could be seen in the background suspended by boats as well. "Normal day today," Chris said as he ignored his surroundings, "but first, let's talk about last time, on Total Drama Karon Island. We sent our contestants to a virtual land of death, where they fought each other to the death!" He chuckled as the first clips played of Kara being dusted and Norm's useless power. "We watched everyone try their best, but in the end, Jonathan proved that love prevails, or sinister blackmail, depending on how you look at it." Clips played of Jonathan ordering Ethan to take out Luna and the two reluctantly teaming up.
"Ethan and Paul learned more about the idols, and the person getting closer to finding it than them," Chris said as clips played of Paul trying to find the paper. "Thanks to that, Ethan completed Jonathan's outrageous blackmail request and sent Alexa into the sky." The camera switched back to the two hosts on the boat. "Who's getting sent into the sky today? Why are my socks getting slightly wet? Find out all that today, on Total! Drama! Karon Island!"
Opening Sequence
[Various cameras and other director equipment come popping out of various points on the island. Firstly, it appears out of a large tree, then out of a hole at the entrance to the mines, and finally, shooting all the way from the top of The Chasm.]
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine,
[The camera zooms all the way up at the top of Mount Karon. Kara is at the top, observing something as Kayla jumps off of the cliff and starts flying downward, opening up a parachute at the very last second.]
You guys are on my mind,
[The camera moves to the beach, where Gretchen falls off of the rocky cliff and lands face first into the water, still splashing around happily anyway. Nearby, Juan is relaxing in the water as Hannah pops up next to him, evidently annoying him.]
You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see,
[Near the beach, the fourth boat is still wrecked and crashed into a rock. Helio lifts the boat out of the water to move it, all while Daniel is still on it, shocked at the boy's strength. Meanwhile, Madison emerges from the boat wreckage as well, and Jonathan offers his hand to help, which she takes begrudgingly.]
I wanna be famous!
[Further into the woods, Paul is narrowly racing against Sarah in a race. The pessimist trips over Sheldon and crashes to the ground, upset over his loss because of it. Flora rushes over to check on the safety of both the boys.]
I wanna live close to the sun,
[At the base of Mount Karon, Randall is decked out in climbing gear, excited to start moving up the mountain. Next to him, Alexa, looks significantly disinterested, sleeping on a log instead of watching.]
Go pack your bags cause I've already won,
[In the forest, Chad is screaming and jumping around to different trees, while Angie stands in the middle of all of it, covering her ears and getting increasingly more agitated.]
Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day,
[As Chad makes more noises, Ethan and Norm watch from a tree in the distance, before both of them exchange an understanding nod. Next to them lies an empty poison bottle.]
Cause I wanna be famous!
[In the dining tent, Chef and Luna are conversing rather calmly, before a strike of lightning crashes down on the tent. Chef runs out, but Luna appears unfazed by it, instead calmly glancing upward.]
Na na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na!
[The camera moves to the dock, where Luna appears out of nowhere, spooking Paul and Kayla. The two glare at her, the former giving up on caring much faster than the latter.]
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous! I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!
[The camera drops down to the mines, where Kara is lurking, and she presses a button that launches out a ball of fire. The fire reveals some sort of odd structure inside the mine, bursting into a big glow that transitions to the fire.]
I wanna be famous *whistling*
[Everyone is circled up at the fire. In the middle of all of it, Jonathan leans in toward Madison, who jumps backward, accidentally landing in Ethan's lap, where she is even more freaked out. Above them is the sign that reads 'Total Drama Karon Island'.]
"Well, I'm not really planning on saying it's a good morning," Paul remarked as he opened the door to his cabin, only to find that they were put way above the water. "Didn't this happen already? Is Chris losing his touch this early into the season?" He checked below him, where he noticed there was a much higher water level compared to the last time it was done.
Kara emerged from her end of the cabins. "This isn't right, we did a flood already, did they forget?" She inspected the surroundings a bit more. "Darn, and I really wanted to get a look into it today. I guess I'll have to wait to do some more exploring." She sighed. "At least we can try and predict the challenge. The only difference last time is that there's no rain."
The curious girl wandered back inside the cabin, where Luna was quietly meditating on her bed. "Hey, I don't mean to disturb you," Kara said politely to Luna, "but I think we need to talk about our little team-up we're doing." Luna raised an eyebrow and opened one of her eyes to acknowledge Kara. "Why'd you vote with the guys? I thought we were gonna be a team that voted together."
"We were going to be a team that discovered the island's secrets," Luna clarified. "But, I can see where a miscommunication may spread. My apologies." She let out a sigh. "If you wish, we can vote together in the future." Kara looked much more pleased at that, but not as pleased as someone else. All the Bunnies could hear cheering from the other team's cabins. "Someone sounds enthralled by the water over there," the psychic said plainly.
Over with the Hens, someone was indeed very excited. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh yeah!" Sarah cheered, doing a small celebration dance. She peered out her window to find a set of swimming lanes and starting blocks held up on rafts. It was unmistakable what today could be, and it delighted the swimmer. "Oh my gosh, we so have this in the bag!"
Sarah: "A swim meet? That's awesome! I just need to make the lineup, and then I can take charge today. There's literally no way we can lose!" She smirked. "I only know one person who's sometimes faster than me- Sandra Hillbrart, and she isn't here right now!"
The boys' side of the cabin was reacting quite differently. "Oh my gosh, we're floating again," Jonathan mumbled to himself as he got out of bed. He noticed everyone else was already awake. "Does anyone know who got the boot? I went to bed early after I totally won us that challenge yesterday."
Juan glanced out the window. "Sarah looks happy," he noted. "Anyway, I heard that it was Alexa who got sent out of here. That's pretty odd to me, I thought she'd go further." Everyone looked at Juan oddly. "I mean, that's like, our fifth elimination that went completely astray. Listen, I trust you all, would you like to work together and figure out this mystery?"
Jonathan was the first to speak up. "Juan, that sounds like an amazing idea," he said cheerfully. "I'd love to help you track down this shady person so we can eliminate them quickly." He turned to the other two with a smirk. "You two should definitely join too. That way we can watch out for each other if we ever lose. It's a win-win."
Norm suspiciously glanced at Ethan, who was remaining pretty silent on all of that. "Yeah," Ethan eventually spoke up. "That sounds like a decent enough idea. I'll help. Norm, are you in?" Norm, now the last to agree, hesitated, but then nodded. "Alright, it's decided. We try and take down this secret mastermind. I'm glad we're all committed to this." The buzzer then went off outside. "And...it's challenge time."
Ethan: "Uh, yeah, no, I will be doing no such thing," he clarified, "mainly because the secret mastermind is me. I'm stuck with Jonathan's blackmail so much that I can't even drop my own suspicion."
Jonathan: "Uh, yeah, no, I will be doing no such thing," he clarified. "Finding out that my little pawn is doing all that could get him eliminated, which I will do eventually, once I rid the game of the people who I need gone. Like Norm."
Norm: "Yeah, I'm not doing that," he clarified. "I don't know why those other two agreed, they know who it is. Plus, once they learn I'm in on it, I'm out just as soon. Need to protect myself too."
Juan: He was smiling with a determined look on his face. "That went really well. I can't wait to see what our little team can do!"
Both teams gathered outside, where the makeshift pool was now floating between the two cabins. Chris was eagerly waiting as they all made their way to the cabin porches, which is as far as they could go without getting wet. "Hello, all," Chris told them, "we're going to be doing some improvising again today, a tsunami seems to have hit last night, so we're on super high water levels right now. Hopefully they'll be fixed by tonight."
Kara was ready to pounce on the questions now. "That's odd, I don't remember an earthquake hitting. Did we miss that? Wouldn't a flood be higher water levels?" Kara continued to ask questions, which began annoying Chris. He gestured to Chef, who blasted her with the tennis ball cannon. Kara got knocked into the water instead, having to swim her way back to the cabin she was in.
"Thank you, Chef," Chris said graciously. The cook let out a short huff. "Now, as Kara is demonstrating today, we're going to be revisiting our first land challenge- a race. But, with our tsunami putting us out of order a bit, we've adapted to a water challenge that is very much racing too. Today is the official Total Drama Swim Meet!"
Sarah cheered, super excited to be doing her thing, but other people were a bit more confused by the instruction. "Meat?" Helio asked blankly. "Me good at meat. Me get meat from river near farm at home." He looked very confident in his abilities, but got a lot of blank stares since he missed the mark entirely. A couple others did look interested in some meat, mainly Randall.
Chris deadpanned at the strongman. "Helio, Randall, it's a swim meet. M-e-e-t, not m-e-a-t." Even the simple explanation was too much for some. Helio still looked completely lost. Chris groaned. "Big swim race," he said plainly. Helio finally understood what Chris meant, and seemed to nod, satisfied with that answer.
Other people were not as satisfied with such a basic explanation. Sarah raised her hand excitedly. "Excuse me? Which events are we doing? How are we splitting up players? Are we going by youth league with age group gaps or having more than two people to earn points at once? How much chlorine is in this water, or is it salt? What's the tension of the lane lines?"
The host seemed to grow weary of the swimmer's questions too, and with another signal, Chef blasted Sarah into the water too. Sarah looked much happier to be there compared to Kara. "Thank you, Chef, again." He turned to everyone else. "We will be doing seven races. First team to four points wins, so we also might end up only doing four races. I don't care to look up much about swimming, so however you need to get across is cool with me." Sarah frowned.
Sarah: "That's hardly authentic for a ruleset," she complained. "But, it doesn't matter. I can reign this crazy team in for a win today! Just you wait!"
"One last rule," Chris added. "You can't send someone out a second time until everyone races. Hens, that means you get one person who can go twice. Bunnies..." he looked at the team and the seven people left. "Eh, sorry." He shrugged. "Whatever. First race is starting soon! Pick your first swimmers for the day!"
The Hens were quick to pick and order. "I'm going first," Angie told them. "Rules say everyone has to go once, so Sarah can go last no matter where else she goes." She sighed. "Counting on you big time today." Sarah gave the hothead a salute. "...Right, okay. Here goes nothing." Angie walked over to the starting blocks for the first round.
Once again, to no one's surprise, the Bunnies' debate for who was first was heated between only two people. "Obviously, I'm going first, you people need me." Paul tried to interject, but a coy smile appeared on Kayla's face. "Nuh-uh, Paul." She got up close to him. "If you wanna impress that girl, you should go after me, alright?" Paul's face reddened as he looked back at Flora, but he still backed down. "That's right. Now, watch me win!"
Angie and Kayla threw themselves into the water for the first race of the day. The two briefly glanced at each other before the race started. "I hope you love losing," Kayla taunted the hothead, "because I'm taking you down so easily!" It was hard to believe that in comparison to Kayla, Angie was by far the more calm and collected of the two. The hothead merely rolled her eyes at the brat.
"Go" Chris yelled out, letting both girls dive off the blocks to start their race. Neither of them were super fast in the water, but both were swimming with everything they had in them. Kara watched anxiously with the rest of the Bunnies as she watched the neck-and-neck race. "It could be anyone's race still!" Chris called out. "They're about halfway done!"
The race didn't get any more split apart as the two girls kept at each other's pace for the whole time, and right at the end, Angie was out-touched by the brat, and the Bouncing Bunnies got their first point. Angie looked furious that she lost the race, while Kayla held a smug smirk and got out of the water. "That was quick to lose our lead," Jonathan complained to the team. "Let me go next, I'll get us a point."
"Hold on," Ethan called out, stopping the brutal lover. He watched the Bunnies carefully, noticing who they were sending to the starting block. "Paul's going up," he told the team. "We can stop their best athlete by sending ours in too." He turned to the swimmer. "Sarah, I think this one has to be you."
"Me?" Sarah asked hesitantly. She let out a nervous laugh as she saw Paul. "I don't think you understand how this is going to go. Paul is way taller than me. Even if his technique is abhorrent, which I'm sure it is, he could still beat me. He'll have a giant edge!" She sighed. "Taller people are naturally faster. I could probably beat anyone else."
Jonathan shook his head. "Not a shot. You really haven't done much except vote for me on a night I was immune," he told her hostilely. "You better get in the water and prove you aren't useless." Sarah looked extremely offended at what Jonathan said, but the boy's words seem to have gotten to her. She threw off her clothes to reveal she has had a swimsuit underneath it the whole time.
The two were up at the starting blocks, and Paul glanced over to see his competition. "You're getting your day one wish," he told her, "we get to race. Too bad I don't really have a shot." Chris blew the air horn to start the race, and Sarah's unnatural reaction time had her in the water far before Paul. When they emerged to the surface to start swimming, Sarah was already way ahead.
As the boys were watching Sarah crush it, Jonathan began to look nervous. "She's actually really doing well," he muttered. He turned to the other three Hen boys. "New proposal," Jonathan said. "We throw today. If we go to another elimination, we might be able to get some clues on who's pulling all the strings." He turned to Juan. "That's the whole point of this, right?"
Juan sighed. "Agreed, but I don't want to risk it. We're still down a player for them, and need I remind you, while it was my doing, last time we threw, things did not go as planned for either party." Jonathan and Ethan glanced at each other. "Think about the overall consequences to something like this."
Jonathan sighed. "Fine, you can try to win, but I have a different plan for today." They all looked over at the pool, where Sarah had won by a landslide. Paul looked upset at his defeat. Jonathan turned to Ethan. "Your plan is to lose today. I don't care what you do, but we need to lose again today."
Ethan glanced over to where Sarah was coming back from. "Yeah, you forget we've got a nearly Olympic-level swimmer on our team. I don't think losing's an option for us today. What do you want me to do if that's impossible?"
Sarah returned to the team, not even out of breath from her race. In fact, she looked even more refreshed with the exception of the growing anger on her face. "I am not useless!" She yelled at Jonathan, slapping him in the face as she walked off from them, feeling just a bit more vindicated than before.
"Well, I wasn't sure before. but now I am," Jonathan told Ethan. "I want her gone today. We throw, we get rid of her." Ethan looked daunted by the task he was given as Juan and Helio went up to race each other for the third round.
"You realize how impossible that is, right?" Ethan asked, "no way I can make us lose! I am not throwing one more challenge!" Jonathan smirked as he held the camera in his hand again. Ethan groaned as he let out a sigh of defeat. He would not have another option.
Jonathan: "That'll be fun to watch," he said coyly. "He's concerned about figuring out how to lose, when he should be concerned about the vote. I'm not voting Sarah, I'm going to be working on his little nerd friend Norm. Three should be enough to get a tie that Sarah wins for free."
The third race was about to begin. Juan gulped a bit as Helio's entire aura was so close to the smaller boy. "I fast," Helio taunted Juan, who still looked mortified. "I fast, I strong." Juan took a deep breath and narrowed his focus, trying to ignore the hulking heap of muscle standing next to him.
"Go!" Chris yelled, as the air horn went off to start the third race. Helio, as planned was miles ahead of Juan right from the start, and things for the Spaniard were looking very bleak. Chris yawned. "Another blowout? Let's make this more interesting. Send out the sharks!" He laughed to himself as Chef turned a wheel. Under the water, a bunch of sharks emerged from a pipe below.
Juan shrieked. "Oh, no! I can't go down like that!" He tried to swim, but the sharks were closing in on him. "Someone help!" Helio stopped to see Juan in distress, and turned back at the same lightning speed that he got ahead of him. Helio grabbed one of the sharks by the head, crushing its skull instantly. As the shark fell, it began sparking, eventually exploding.
"My robots!" Chris yelled in distress, upset at Helio was completely dismantling the robotic fleet. Seeing that he had been given a chance to get a head, Juan slipped out of the chaos and got himself over to the finish line just as Helio had finished taking out all of the robots. "Juan schemes his way to a point!" Chris called out. "The Hens now lead it two-one! Who's up for race four?"
Jonathan groaned. "I'm so sick of this," he said angrily. "Juan seriously beat Helio?" He grumbled to himself. "I'll do this myself." With an angry look on his face, he threw himself into the water before anyone could stop him. With the Bunnies, Randall saw no one was volunteering and took it upon himself to take the lead on the team for a potential win.
Randall looked excited to be in the water to race. "I hope you're ready to lose!" He said excitedly to Jonathan, pumping himself up as he got ready to swim. To his surprise, Jonathan didn't react at all, like that was exactly what he wanted. "Hey, what's the deal?" He narrowed his eyes. "Are you...trying to lose today?"
"That's the idea," Jonathan told him. "Here's the deal: I have two people that I would like to go home instantly, and neither of them are on your team. So, yes, that's what I'm doing, and if you tell anyone about it, I'll change course to you instead." Randall nodded nervously. "Good, now get out there and take me down." The air horn went off, and the boys swam to the other side.
The race was not very close. Jonathan's speed was slowed greatly since Randall himself was not very fast in the water. But, as promised, Randall took the win, putting the Bunnies at a tied score again with the Hens. Jonathan smirked to himself as he returned to his team, who was not very happy. "Welcome back," Norm told him in an agitated tone. "A lot of talk but then you can't pull your weight either."
Jonathan's eye twitched a bit at Norm's comment. "I'm not going to take that from you," he told him boldly. Jonathan grabbed Norm and pushed him in the direction of the pool. "If you think you're going to do any better, prove me wrong!" Norm tried to go back, but realizing someone had to go before Sarah could go again, he sighed and went over to his starting block.
Luna nervously watched the antisocial genius approach the pool. Kara put a hand on her shoulder, shocking the psychic. "Sorry," Kara pleaded. "I sort of thought you had the prediction thing on and you knew I was coming." She sighed. "Anyway, Norm is their weakest swimmer, so we want to put you in against him, since you're not psychically awesome."
The psychic sighed. "I am actually much more able than-" She glanced over at Norm again. "Actually, I'll do it. I'll do everything I can to earn us a point." She made her way to the pool too. "I hope this is what you wanted," she said quietly to herself as she ran into Norm at the front. "Um, good luck," she said anxiously to Norm as the two met their gazes.
Even Norm looked a bit put off by who he had to race against, but the genius tried his hardest not to let it get to him. "Uhm, yeah, you too," he responded awkwardly. The air horn went off, and only one of them dove into the water. Norm had started swimming, a bit surprised at what he had seen, or rather what he hadn't. Luna was still standing at the far edge of the pool, seeming to be making a decision of some sort. "Luna, what are you doing?" Norm asked, now stopped in the water.
Luna glanced up at the Hens, noticing the turmoil that was going on. "I've made my decision," the psychic decided, teleporting all the way to the other end of the pool, snatching the victory from the genius in an instant. The Bunnies all looked very content with the stunt Luna had pulled, putting them ahead of the Hens again. "That was what you wanted, right?" She asked Norm.
Norm nodded slowly, realizing her plan as well. Meanwhile, Sarah was not too thrilled with that one. "Chris, that has to be cheating!" She complained. "You can't teleport! That's not- she wasn't even in the water! This is hardly an authentic swim meet!" Her anger from dealing with Jonathan seemed to come back as the team had lost their lead over the Bunnies.
Chris shook his head. "Sarah, I believe I said, 'however you need to get across is cool with me'. I don't remember banning teleportation, so I guess I didn't. Luna gets the point!" The Bunnies looked excited at that result. "The Bouncing Bunnies now have three points! Their win is only one race away, the Hens need two. Send in your next racers for the day!"
The Bunnies were only down to Kara and Flora who had not gone yet. "I can do it," Kara told Flora. "You've earned a break for leading us so well. Plus, it doesn't matter who goes seventh, since we either win here or anyone loses to Sarah." The pacifist looked pleased at the curious girl's kinda offer. Kara walked over to the starting blocks, trying to see under the water and see what was happening.
Jonathan looked at Ethan. "All of us have gone, so it's you, don't blow this." He narrowed his eyes at the anti-villain. "You know what to do here." Ethan rolled his eyes at the brutal lover. "Come on, go ahead and lose us the challenge. You're only the last one to go. Hope the blame doesn't fall to you." Ethan looked angry at Jonathan's condescending tone, but went to the pool anyway without any other choice.
Ethan: "I need four votes to send Sarah home," Ethan pointed out. "That should be really easy with the boys alliance. That means that someone won't vote with me, and we all know who that is." He groaned. "That means I need a fourth vote from somewhere else...Angie." He groaned. "Not who I wanted to try and persuade at all."
The sixth race was now about to start. Ethan and Kara were ready to go. "Bunnies, this is your chance to win," Chris reminded them. Kara had a fierce look on her face, turning to see Ethan, who was not as excited to be there. "Ready...go!" The air horn went off and the two were off. Ethan took an early lead, but through his pacing eventually fell behind from the curious girl.
The race was continuously close. Ethan was a faster swimmer than Kara, but couldn't let that be the case. Kara eventually made it to the other end just before Ethan. "Did you actually try?" Kara asked the anti-villain. Ethan shrugged, leaving the curious girl even more confused than before.
Chris rang the air horn one last time. "That does it! Race six ends the day with the Bouncing Bunnies earning their victory!" The Bouncing Bunnies looked very excited to win another one. "You're all safe tonight. Hens, you must be used to sucking this much, I'll see you at elimination later." As the Hens seemed upset at their loss, some of them at least, a dark storm cloud came over the island. "Another one?" Chris asked, surprised. "Everyone, get on my boat, we're going to the dining facility."
The group boated to the dining facility, where once everyone was in, Chris promptly shut all the doors and windows. "Looks like hail," he said bluntly. "I'd like to avoid lawsuits, so we'll all be in here a bit." He looked around. "Um...except for Chef, hopefully he's doing okay out there." A few people looked concerned. "Don't worry, he signed a different kind of waiver, so he can't sue me."
The Bunnies all grouped up to discuss their win on the challenge. "All of you did so well today," Flora congratulated the team. "I'm glad we made it just in time, if Sarah got to go a second time would have lost for sure." She turned to Paul and Kayla. "You two resolved your differences rather quickly today, thank you for that. If I might ask, how did that happen?"
Paul suddenly looked rather nervous. "Simple," Kayla interjected, leaving the pessimist in fear of what she might say to her. "I just told Paul he was our best shot against Sarah and he agreed." Flora smiled at that. "You owe me big time," the brat muttered to Paul, causing the pessimist to roll his eyes, knowing that no act from Kayla is truly selfless.
Over at the Hens, things were a bit more tense. A lively discussion was going on about the day. "As much as I hate to admit it, since I roped myself into that group today," Angie opened up with, "I think we should take a look at who didn't get us points today. Juan got one, and so did Sarah." Juan also looked pleased to be mentioned. "That leaves the four of us who didn't."
"Does it?" Ethan asked her. Angie looked surprised to hear him speak up. "Maybe the fault came from the lineup. Sarah wanted to craft a perfect lineup but was thrown off by the 'lack of authenticity' the challenge had." He sighed. "I vouched the first day that we keep Hannah because there might be a challenge that needed her, and there wasn't. That's on me. But, if we use that logic again, I think the choice is simple." He looked to Jonathan for approval, but he was nowhere to be seen, neither was Sarah.
Chris entered the main part of the dining facility again. "Me again," Chris announced. "Looks like the hail is gone, so it's time for all of you to get out of here so Chef and I can have dinner." Chef entered the dining facility with some food in his hand, but most notably, he was dry. Most people left, uncaring about that, but someone stuck around, walking right up to the host. "Kara. Something I can help you with?"
"You're not getting that past me," she said defiantly. "First of all, the doors are open and all that water from an hour ago is gone, all while Chef was missing. Now he's back and dry, all while there was a sudden cloud at the end of the challenge?" She shook her head. "That's all very suspicious, and all way too specific for it to be random weather."
Chris sighed. "I don't know, feels really random to me. Look, I didn't check the deets on this place when I got it. We're clearly in a flood zone, but other than that we've had no real odd occurrences." Kara didn't seem pleased with that answer. "Alright, Kara, listen, I have to get up a mountain for an elimination soon. If you're going to keep this up, I can just eliminate you instead of whoever they pick." Kara sighed and walked off. It wasn't worth elimination.
Kara: "I've never seen him so defensive," she pointed out. "Something is controlling the weather on this island, and I will figure it out."
ELIMINATION VIII, HAPPY HENS
The six Happy Hens made it to the top of Mount Karon, where at the end of the night, they would become five. Chris and Chef were waiting for them with five marshmallows. "Well, this is no fun," Chris told them. "Two Hen losses, two Bunny losses, two Hen losses, and right when the Bunnies needed to lose a second time, you stole their thunder! Once race away from getting to use your ace in the hole a second time, and you lost."
Juan sighed. "I think we had a misguided direction today," he admitted. "Some of us had plans, while other people had plans, and those plans could only come out with one of them being right. I don't know if we made the right one, but we'll have to see after the vote what direction the team goes in." He looked to his alleged alliance members for support, but none of them were looking his way.
Chris frowned. "Juan, you seem so optimistic. That optimism makes me sad you don't have the same pain as the rest of your team." He sighed. "But, I guess they decided you're worth keeping." He tossed Juan the first marshmallow. "You're safe still." Juan looked pleased to have his safety. "Next marshmallow goes to Angie." Angie also looked relieved, but not surprised, to still be in the game.
All of the sudden there were only three marshmallows to go. "Running out quick now," Chris told them, "your team is getting to half its original size tonight. Jonathan, you'll still be on that team." Jonathan smirked as he caught his marshmallow. "That leaves three of you. The final loss, Ethan, the almost final loss, Norm, and Sarah, the failed leader."
Sarah raised her hand with a huff. "That swim meet was hardly authentic. It was barely a real one. Who taught you how to improvise such an easy challenge?" The swimmer continued to look offended by Chris's words.
Chris sighed. "Oh, I really don't want to hear it, Sarah," Chris told her. He held up the next marshmallow. "Ethan, you're safe too." Jonathan inspected the two in the bottom two, and had a dark grin on his face like that was exactly what he wanted. "Norm, people seem out to get you, and thanks to voting checks, you know who it is, don't you?" Norm nodded. "Sarah, this ought to be a shock to you. Your first votes." Sarah looked disappointed. "But, sadly I can only launch one of you, and tonight, that person is...
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..."Sarah! Swimming wasn't enough to save you out of a trip into the sky!" A ton of mixed reactions came from the team. Angie and Juan looked saddened by the result, Sarah seemed really upset, Ethan looked totally indifferent, Norm seemed relieved, but the most interesting one of all was Jonathan, who was totally confused by how the vote went down. Someone had crossed him.
Jonathan: "That...that makes no sense. Where was the tiebreaker? I got Angie and Sarah's votes for Norm!"
Ethan: "Once again, having the final word proves perfect," he said with a smirk. "Sharing that Sarah can't possibly be any more useful in the dining facility means Angie dropped her. And, Jonathan can't be mad. This is exactly what he wanted."
Sarah sighed as she went over to the Launch of Shame. "Sorry I stank today, everyone," she said. "I should have focused on getting the team together rather than my own ego." She looked really apologetic, unaware that half the team was planning to lose the challenge anyway. "Maybe in the future I can-" Her speech was cut off as Chris sent her off into the sky as everyone else watched her leave.
Chris yawned. "Yeah, not much time for speeches," he admitted. "Half hour show where half the day was stuck in a flood, so we gotta wrap this day up. Go home, everyone." Everyone started going back to their natural night routine. Half the Hens returned to the cabins, while Ethan and Norm went to the confessional to check votes. Unknowingly to them, Juan turned around and followed them a bit behind to check as well.
As Jonathan made it back to the cabins, he saw Paul outside the cabin, looking up at Randall, who slept on the roof. "That's the second time the Hens threw a challenge," he told Paul excitedly. Jonathan grumbled as he hid behind a tree. "I mean, we're pretty much set now that they're down to half their size!" The mountain man was excitedly reporting all of this to Paul, who seemed apathetic.
The pessimist yawned. "Well, that's interesting I guess," Paul said bluntly. "But, that mean we only have to be way more careful." Randall was not following that logic. "Randall, what do you know about a team that constantly throws when they actually try?" He sighed. "Nothing. We have no clue what the Hens can do when they decide not to throw." He yawned again. "That's tomorrow's problem. I'm going to bed."
"That's a shame, Randall," Jonathan whispered to himself. "Thought you'd last longer. Looks like we need a win tomorrow." Suddenly, something whisked by Jonathan, scaling the tree. "It's that thing again..." he said, still very off-put by his last interaction with the odd figure. The figure descended from the tree onto the roof where Randall was. "Huh, thought it was after me."
Randall took a few steps back as he saw the figure, now not moving. This is the first time Jonathan had seen it standing still. It was dressed in a black cloak, that was all he could see. Randall could see much more. "Woah, are you like some sort of shadow person?" he asked. "That's not right. I'm not that dehydrated that I'm seeing them."
The figure seemed agitated at Randall's aloof response. "You should regret your choice of words soon!" the figure's deep threatening voice sounded. "Know I'll terrorize all of them to get to you if I need to." Randall was a bit more frightened now. The figure then drew a sharp sword from its cloak. "Chaos is falling upon this island, or rather, I am." The figure jumped back to the top of the tree in one jump, slicing the top of it off and sending it to the roof of the Bunny cabin. Randall screamed as he quickly got off the roof. Jonathan decided that it was time to leave as well.
Randall: "What was that thing?" he asked nervously. "I wonder if anyone else heard. Maybe there's other people who have seen him and can help me stop him."
Jonathan: "This mysterious figure is causing chaos," he pointed out. "If I was a hero, I'd try and stop it." He laughed. "But, unfortunately for the others, I'm so not."
Chris and Chef were inside their odd room again, watching the footage. "That thing is so cool," Chris said in awe as he saw the damage the figure had created. Chef nodded in agreement. "What chaos will the mysterious figure cause next? Is Randall done for, or can he pull through? What did Juan find out? Find out next time, on Total Drama! Karon Island!"
Vote Confessionals:
Angie: "Ethan brought up a convincing point. Sarah can't do any better. Sorry."
Ethan: "There goes Sarah. I'm sorry about this one."
Jonathan: "Let's see what happens. Norm."
Juan: "Sarah, the boys have decided this is how you go down. Sorry."
Norm: "You have to go, Sarah. Sucks, but that's the way it is."
Sarah: "This is so annoying. I guess I'm voting Norm with Jonathan to keep myself safe."
Total: Sarah (4), Norm (2)
Eliminated: Sarah
Team Standings:
Bouncing Bunnies: Flora, Helio, Kara, Kayla, Luna, Paul, Randall
Happy Hens: Angie, Ethan, Jonathan, Juan, Norm
Eliminated: Gretchen, Chad, Sheldon, Daniel, Hannah, Madison, Alexa, Sarah
The funniest chapter title ends here. This turned out to be a harder episode to write, because it's so...repetitive. After the Sarah/Paul race everything goes slower. But, hopefully these few changes from the original made things a bit better:
- A few extra scenes of the Bunnies. This will continue to be a theme, they have always suffered in screen time.
- Angie's vote didn't just appear, instead Ethan got it while Jonathan was getting Sarah's. Thinking things through.
- The mysterious figure messed with Randall too! They're going to appear more before the final reveal and cause more chaos to more people. It was so interesting and I'm mad I left them only with Jonathan the first time around.
Other than that, I don't have much on this one. It took a bit longer for me to finish this one, which if this all goes to plan, you won't notice when this gets updated at the regular time, since this chapter, along with every other one so far, has been written before the initial release. Hopefully the next few are a bit faster. These challenges are quicker so I'll be finding a few ways to expand them.
Let me know what you thought of this week's changes! I think things are going in a nice direction, just keeping track of everything I've changed is my biggest challenge now! Please leave a review, and I'll see you next week!
