From CIT to All Star

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Total Drama has returned for its fifth season, and now contestants from both generations have been brought back to compete. She didn't just come back for the money though. This time she wants to win it the right way. But with a new threat hiding among one of the other contestants, that may be easier said than done. Sequel to A BFG's World Tour and A Dramatic Ridonculous Race.

13. The Final Wreck-Ening

(The Final Wreck-Ening)

Spectacular Webhead 11: Yep, and I doubt anyone will disagree when I say she earned it.

Ellismskd24: True, but even when he looks unassuming, Mal does have a few more tricks up his sleeve.

OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla (ch 10): Yep, I strived to make sure the final five couldn't be predicted easily. Heather was never meant to win, but she left a mark in the game.

OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla (ch 11): Mike's trials are meant for him to undergo a series of emotional obstacles he has to overcome in order to press on and free himself. Mal being exposed was bound to happen eventually, though his actions left their emotional mark on some of the others, such as Brick. I'm glad to see you enjoyed this episode, so thanks. Mal was bound to use the second Invincibility Statue at some point, and from a logical standpoint it would make sense for him to eliminate a former finalist. Besides, DJ had his time to shine, and he even got the girl too. Speaking of which, I loved giving Dawn a chance to shine here. Mal is capable of feeling guilt and remorse, but he's too dead set on his goals to change any of it.

OmniIBIBUltraInstinctGodzilla (ch 12): Don't worry about it, I'm just glad to get feedback at all. I figured that since we're so close to the end of the story, it was time to recap on everything that happened up to this point, mainly with Courtney since she's the main character. Mike has now overcome five of the seven mental trials he needs to finish. Mal went through another bit of punishment in this chapter, but he still managed to win in the end, despite Courtney managing to get her artifact too. Dawn did say that she learned a few things about art from Gwen, and I'll admit I took a bit of inspiration from Lion King when I decided to have her use mud and fruit to fix the painting. The references are always fun to do. Brick may not have won, but he played a strong game and left with pride. Mal probably would've seen Dawn as a threat to himself with her aura reading abilities, but yeah, his confidence would have to be soaring after everything he endured so far. I doubt many will disagree when I say that Brick and Dawn deserved to make it to the final four. But with them out of the picture, Courtney is the only on left that can stop Mal from winning the million. Whatever happens, she won't be in for an easy fight.

Gman5846: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Courtney vs Mal was something I had planned from the beginning, and you'll see how things go from here on out.

Magic Detective: Yep, everything is coming down to this. Chris suffering at the sight of couples in love is hilarious, so I'll be sure to include some of that.

SuperSonicHeroes: Yeah, I think it's safe to say the two of them fighting it out was pretty much inevitable, but I'm glad you enjoyed it regardless. Mal might have gone through his fair share of comical abuse, but he's still a force to be wreckoned with, as proven here. Fang seemed like the ideal opponent for Courtney to face here, and show how far she's come in terms of her character development. I also did my best to do justice for both Brick and Dawn, and I'd say making it all the way to the final four is respectable.

Theboiishere12345: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I know what you mean, it's kind of bittersweet for me too, because I've really enjoyed doing this series. I do plan on doing an alternate ending, but you'll see what I have planned in due time.

Frosty Wolf (ch 11): Yeah, it's always a shame to get rid of a lovable character like DJ, but he played his part and played it well. Also you're right, the part about Mal stepping on Dawn's head was meant to be off screen. You'll see who goes next soon enough, and that is a good point regarding Dawn sharing too much.

Frosty Wolf (ch 12): You did put forth a good guess regarding eliminations, but it was bound to happen eventually. Mike getting back control of his body will happen in the finale, and you'll see how that pans out when the time comes.

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Starting with the recap…

In typical fashion, Chris (now clad in his blue tuxedo from Total Drama Action) started off the new episode with a recap of the previous one on the Dock of Shame, with Chef standing by his side holding holding a certain briefcase "This season on Total Drama All Stars: 14 veteran competitors agreed to return to take one last shot at winning our grand prize of one million dollars, and your favorite Heroes and Villains were forced to battle it out for supremacy in our most painful, but in the end it was the betrayals that cut the deepest. Brick got the drop on Jo and ended their previous rivalry for good, Alejandro got the drop on Cody and earned Gwen's ire, DJ and Dawn found themselves in it for the romance instead of money, as disgusting as that was, and Mike left his best friends and teammates in the lurch over and over again. Or was all of that actually the work of Mal, Mike's evil hidden personality? When all was said and done, Mal wound up taking the win in the penultimate challenge and chose Courtney to be his final opponent, leaving Brick and Dawn to take the final ride in the Flush of Shame. Now we're at the moment of truth. After enduring 12 killer challenges, we've narrowed it down to our final two players. Who will take home our million dollar prize?"

"Right over here." Chef held up the case in question… only for it to open upside down and all of the money to fall out "Uh… oops."

"Seriously dude? Forget it, just pick it up. Now the question remains, who's going to take the win for themselves? Is it going to be Courtney, the cranky know it all CIT that's been hell bent on redemption? Or will it be the evil genius formerly known as Mike? There's only one way to find out, and it's to tune in and watch right here and right now, on the epic, action packed grand finale of Total! Drama! All Stars!"

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(intro)

Shots of four brand new spotlights popping out, following by the camera zooming through the camp, past the spa hotel and crappy cabin, up to the top of the thousand foot cliff, and then down into the lake below

Dear mom and dad I'm doing fine

You guys are on my mind

Underneath the lake, Anne Maria (also holding onto a can of hairspray) and Courtney are both tugging back and forth on a treasure chest, which opens to reveal Cody inside, along with Mr Coconut and a McLean Brand Invincibility Statue floating out of it and to the surface, while Duncan is lounging in a canoe.

You asked me what I wanted to be

And now I think the answer is plain to see

In a nearby forest, Jo is jogging through and passes a clearing where DJ and Dawn both sit on the ground meditating, hand in hand and surrounded by several animals.

I wanna be famous

Over at a certain river, Heather and Alejandro are riding in a canoe and glaring at each other until the canoe goes over a waterfall, with Alejandro gracefully leaping out onto dry land, but Heather goes over with the canoe. Down below, Brick is standing on a cracked log doing push ups until Heather lands on his back, causing the log to give out and make both of them fall.

I wanna live close to the sun

Go pack your bags cause I've already won

Scott watches Heather and Brick fall and laughs, until Fang comes out of the confessional and starts chasing him.

Everything to prove, nothing in my way

I'll get there one day

Pan over to where Chef is just relaxing in a lounge chair in front of the spa hotel watching all of the chaos unfolding on a monitor, only look over and scowl as he saw Mike and Zoey sitting on the beach gazing longingly at each other… only for the moment to be ruined by Mike letting out a gasp, followed by a bang of his hair coming down and covering one eye, a malicious smirk spreading across his face.

Cause I wanna be famous!

Gwen is sitting at the Dock of Shame and pulls Cody out of the water, the two of them staring into each other's eyes, only for the moment to be ruined by Chris dropping a bear onto the dock with a helicopter.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na.

Pan over to the lake where all 14 contestants (Alejandro, Anne Maria, Brick, Cody, Courtney, Dawn, DJ, Duncan, Gwen, Heather, Jo, Mike, Scott, Zoey) are standing on a series of poorly built platforms holding jousting sticks and all preparing to fight.

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

The teams clash, with Brick and Jo taking each other out, Zoey shoving Scott back, Anne Maria pushing Dawn back, Mike going up against Alejandro, Duncan and DJ pushing each other back, Alejandro pushing Cody back, finally Gwen and Heather pushing each other back.

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

The scene changes to night at the campfire ceremony, with Zoey looking concerned and reaching out towards Mike (with the bang down over one eye), who has his back turned to her, with her attempt to reach out to him being interrupted by Chris popping up in between them.

(Whistling tune as the song ends)

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Another day came, but the morning was far from calm throughout Wawanakwa.

"Well this feels kind of anticlimactic." Courtney let out a yawn as she pulled herself out of her bed in the Loser Cabin "I'm really in the final two… I spent so long dreaming of this, I started to think it was never going to happen. But I guess crazier things have happened, right?" she was met with silence and looked around at the otherwise empty cabin "Right, nobody else here… I'm really the only one left… I guess this is what people means when they say that it's lonely at the top."

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(Confessional- Courtney)

"I think I already put it the best I could." Courtney gave a shrug "I spent so long trying to fight my way to the top, but now that I'm in the finale for real… I don't know what to say. I don't think there's a lot I can say about this season that hasn't been said by everyone else. I have to be out of my freaking mind to have wanted to come back to this show. I will admit that it had its perks, like getting to be around people from the first few seasons that I could call my friends… and the likes of Heather and Alejandro, and I have to say that it was good to get to know some of the newer contestants like Brick and Dawn, and even the likes of Anne Maria to a lesser extent. I'm not going to sugar coat any of this right now… I've made a lot of mistakes, monumental ones… I was so obsessed with winning and proving I was the best, that I ended up turning myself into a Villain. But I worked my hardest to make up for all of that, and I like to think that win or lose, I'll be able to walk off this island with my head held high. Of course I'm not going down without a fight either, not if it means that someone like Mal is going to get his hands on the million."

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(Confessional- Mal)

"This is it, no turning back now. Not that I had that option to begin with." Mal took a breath and steeled himself as he looked directly at the camera "I'd say that I want Potenza to edit this out, but I know he won't, and… honestly, this is probably gonna be the last thing I say in here, so I might as well get this out of my system I'm not gonna lie, I've done a lot of screwed up stuff, with or without this show. Too much to ever really begin to make up for it. I knew going into it that this was how it'd turn out… but that doesn't get rid of the guilt, or suppress it anywhere near as much as I would've liked to believe. So I guess what I want to say is, I'm sorry. To the people I screwed over, and the ones I actually hurt. And Brick, if you're listening… thanks for making my time on the island bearable, whether you meant it or not. In another life, if things turned out a bit differently, I like to think I could've called you a real friend. I'm being real when I say this, you have what it takes to go places. Just keep that bright head of yours in the clouds, and strong feet on the ground, and you'll do fine." he paused to collect himself and took a breath "Well that's all I wanted to say, and all you're gonna get out of me either way. I've got more important things to do than sit around in an outhouse that smells like someon farted and died in here. Which they did for all I know. I've got one more opponent to defeat before I can collect my winnings. That's all I have to say, now it's go time. This is Mal, signing off."

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Meanwhile, inside the mindscape…

"We finally made it." Manitoba led Mike and the rest of the personalities towards the door at the bottom of the giant tower with Mal's face on the top of it "Here we are mates, welcome to the Tower of Mal."

"So this is the place huh?" Mike looked up at the face of Mal looming over them at the top of the tower "That does seem about right for Mal."

"Don't this seem a little weird though?" asked Vito "Why ain't this place guarded by bouncers or guard dogs or an ugly cat or something?"

"We are talking about Mal here. For all we know, he probably figured that we would never get this far… Or he already has something else stopping us from getting in." Mike then plucked a note off the door and showed it to the others "Like the sixth mental barrier. The sixth mental barrier that you have to overcome is focused on insight, and is blocked by what people know as illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. So the question is, what is the manifestation of separation within your mind?"

"What in the dangnabit does that mean?" asked Chester.

"I… I think I'm starting to understand." Mike let Chester off his back, then turned to face the other personalities "The note says that the greatest illusion is separation. Like in that episode of Avatar the Last Airbender, that guru says that things we think are separate and different are really on and the same. I think that applies to all of us too. The five of us, six if you count Mal. All of us share a single mind, but we live within it like if we're divided. Whether we realize it or not, we're all connected. Everything within our mind and body is connected. Whatever we thought had separated us, it's just another illusion. All of us are one, we're all just different parts of the same whole." it was then that Mike felt a wave of blue energy wash over him, and he turned back to the door and let a single fist fly towards it, causing it to shatter and allowing them to venture inside "Yes, we finally made it! Nothing can stop us now!"

"Um, you might wanna rethink that mate." Manitoba jerked a thumb upwards… showing how ridiculously high the tower went "You were saying?"

"...I really have to stop saying stuff like that."

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Meanwhile, in the real world…

"Good morning finalists! Meet me in the clearing in the forest and get ready to diet! Wait sorry, that was a typo. Get ready to die!"

"Yep, that's gonna be a tone setter." Mal rolled his eyes as he made his way through the forest, only to stop when he noticed Courtney coming up behind him "Real talk for a second, he's really only been to prison once?"

"My lawyers have been looking into that for ages." Courtney told him dryly "They've had about as much luck with that as his real age."

"That oughta be fun. So it's time for the moment of truth then." Mal gave a smirk as he started to walk away, only to stop and notice Courtney not moving "You coming or what?"

"Not yet. There's something I want to know before I go into this."

"If this is about Mike being stuck in our head, save your breath. Zoey gave me that whole thing already, and I don't need anyone else bitching at me about it."

"Not that. I want to understand why. Why did you choose me to be your opponent?"

"You mean aside from the fact that the Moonchild gets too close for comfort with what I've got going on in my head?" there was a pause, and then Mal let out a sigh "In all seriousness, a big part of it was because of what you said to me after the regatta challenge."

"How I tried to blackmail you into behaving?"

"No. Well yeah that part was kind of ballsy, but the other thing. The one where you said that we were kind of alike. I brushed it off at first, but then I got to thinking… and I realized you weren't wrong. You came back onto this show because you wanted to redeem yourself in the eyes of the world. I took over Mike's body for the game because I wanted to redeem myself in the eyes of the only person who's opinion means anything to me."

"And did a lot of horrible things in the name of it." Courtney was met with a loud scoff.

"Get real Mocha, you don't know the first thing about the horrible things I've done before I even came out on this island." Mal's face fell slightly as he turned away from Courtney and looked up at the sun rising above them "I already know how redemption would work out for me. The things I've done, the pain I've caused… there's no going back. It's too late for me to ever really redeem myself for all my actions, and the hell I put Mike through because of it. So right now there's only one thing I can really do to ever begin to make up for it." he turned back to Courtney as his gaze hardened I'll do whatever I have to do to make sure that can happen. So consider this to be a fair warning. Don't get in my way. Whatever may happen in the final challenge, I'm not holding back."

"Yeah, well… neither will I." Courtney crossed her arms as her own gaze hardened "Whatever challenge may be waiting for us today, I'm coming at you with everything I've got."

"Is that right?" Mal eyed her for a moment, then gave a smirk of approval "I wouldn't expect anything less. That's how I know I was right to pick you as an opponent."

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(Confessional)

"I know what I said, but it's easier said than done." Courtney breathed a sigh "Mike is still in there, at least as far as I know, and based on what Dawn has told me, but I can't let the thought of that distract me. Whatever may happen, I can't let Mal get the better of me. Not after all that he's done. Duncan, DJ, Gwen, and everyone else that lost because of him… I'll bring home that million one way or another."

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A few moments later, in the forest clearing…

"About time you guys showed up." Chris drew the attention of Courtney and Mal as they arrived at the forest clearing "First off, allow me to congratulate you both for making it to the finale of our All Star season. It's something that you'll regret for the rest of your lives, which is more than likely going to be rather short, considering that the final challenge of the season is so vicious, so brutal and so savage… that our lawyers said we had to change it."

"But you didn't change a damn thing did you?" Mal guessed dryly.

"Well we did as far as those legal windbags know. Come on man, give me one already." he then turned to Chef and held up his hand for a high five, only to receive nothing "Dude?"

"People gonna die." was all Chef said.

"Yeah, those people."

"...Well that's reassuring." Mal cast a glance over at Courtney "Again about him only going to jail once."

"I already told you what I know." Courtney told him flatly.

"That doesn't inspire confidence!"

"Anyway combatants, time to choose your weapons." Chris directed their attention to where a curtain was being drawn back to show a wall mounted with numerous types of weapons "So now you have to take your pick. What will it be? Meatball bazooka, blow and blunt-tipped arrows, a leech gun, a slingshot or- Why the hell is there an oven mitt there?!"

"Oops." Chef snatched the oven mitt and gave a sheepish grin "There was an extra hook and I needed the space."

"Right." so Courtney went first and picked a leech gun, with Mal taking his pick of the meatball cannon.

"Good choices, those definitely oughta bring the hurt." Chris shoved the wall of weapons off to the side and directed everyone's attention to the assortment of balloons "Now that you've picked your weapons you'll need them to pop these balloons, each of them containing on of the All Stars that were previously flushed over the course of the season."

"Seriously? They can they even breath in there?"

"How the hell should I know? Go ahead and ask our classic competitor Owen, he was the one who filled them."

"Wait, Owen?"

Sure enough, Owen sat off to the side of the area surrounded by empty cans of beans and a box of balloons "Hey Courtney! Congrats on making it to the finale!"

"Wait, what are you doing here? Chris said he didn't want anybody from that race coming back to the show."

"He didn't, made me and Noah and a bunch of others sign contracts to make sure of it. But after I showed up looking for the giant pancakes I kinda got into trouble with the products for violating it, so Chris had me help out with this and I got a clean slate. But it's not all bad, these double deep friend beans really hit the trick. Check it out." then a balloon started inflating behind him, only for it to pop and explode in a very loud fashion "Mommy…"

"Oh god, I feel that one burning my eyes." Mal cringed and rubbed his face at the stench, then looked over to see Courtney totally unaffected "How the hell are you okay with that?"

"I've spent three seasons around him." Courtney told him dryly "At this point most of us have built up a tolerance to it."

"...That sounds pretty freaking convenient."

"Conveient, but also true." Chris pulled off the gas mask he was wearing over his face and turned to face Courtney and Mal "The two of you have 30 seconds, any All Stars that you shoot down will become your helpers in the final challenge. Now GO!" he blew on an airhorn,

"All I need to hear." Mal gave a smirk as he started firing the meatball cannon at the balloons, only to miss them entirely "Dammit!"

"Keep calm, stay focused…" Courtney took a breath and took one shot after another, the first leech popping the balloon holding Zoey, then Duncan (with visible bandages across his torso), and finally Dawn.

"(Bleep)!"

"Nice shot, Courtney's already picked up Zoey, Duncan and Dawn." Chris gave a smirk "Hey quick word to the wise Mal, if I were you then I'd start trying."

"Give me a minute Potenza, you'll see what happens when I get serious. As for you Mocha, why don't you take five?" Mal shot a meatball at Courtney, only for her to leap out of the way, but it gave him enough time to shoot down the two balloons holding Heather and Alejandro, and lastly the one holding DJ, leaving them to hit the ground with loud thuds right as another air horn sounded.

"Time's up!" Chris made the call, then turned over to the intern "Go ahead and pull the other flushees down already."

"Yes sir." the intern went over to pull the balloons down with a hook, only for a strong wind to blow through the clearing and sent the balloons flying away from the island.

"...Oh yeah, now that I think about it we probably should've tied them down." Chris then looked down to see his cell phone ringing "Huh, it's the lawyers. You know what, I think I'm gonna let that one go to voicemail. Alright then, time to get started."

"So… we're just gonna straight up ignore the fact that the others probably floated off into space or something?" Duncan shared a look with DJ as he pulled himself to his feet "Alright, worse was happened on this crap sack of a show."

"You know a really big part of me wants to argue with that." DJ let out a sigh "But the rest of me knows that I really can't, this show is pretty much designed to try and kill us.

"Case and point. Speaking of lives on the line." Duncan turned back over to Courtney and shot her a smirk "Sup princess, you miss me?"

"Right, I was crying my eys out at seeing you in a giant toilet?" Courtney rolled her eyes, then shot forward and pulled Duncan into a tight hug, and then she proceeded to smack up upside the head "If you ever try to throw yourself at a psychopath like that again, I swear I'll stuff you in the giant toilet myself!"

"Hey I can live with that, so long as you're in there with me."

"We'll see how this goes." then she pulled him into another tight hug "I did miss you."

"Same. Nice work on making it to the finale, I knew you had it in you. So you wanna make out now?"

"Tempting, but save it for after the challenge."

"Fine, but you're just depriving yourself of it longer." Duncan then cast a look at Mal, and his gaze hardened "Don't let him get an inch over you."

"Trust me, I don't plan on it."

"Alright enough with the lovey dovey crap, it's challenge time!" Chris proceeded to ruin the moment "DJ, Heather and Alejandro, the three of you will be helping Mal/Mike. Duncan, Zoey and Dawn will be helping out Courtney as needed. However, the six of you are here as helpers only, which means that you can't win." he received no reaction from Heather or Alejandro, and that left him uneasy "That means no money." still nothing "You get no money and plenty of pain instead." still nothing, so he broke out the megaphone "Heather! Can you hear me?! Did Owen's gas finally deprive you of oxygen?!"

"Yes Chris, they can hear you all the way in Mexico!" Heather shoved the megaphone out of her face, then gave a smile "As it just so happens, Alejandro and I are fine with the rules being as they are."

"...Wait a minute." Chris let out a horrified gasp "Don't tell me… are you two… dating?!"

"Hey trust me, it wasn't pretty to see on our end either." Duncan noted dryly, reiving a few nods of agreement from the others.

"What in the hell is happening?!"

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(Confessional)

"It really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise." Heather gave a shrug from where she sat on Alejandro's lap "The two of us don't want the money anymore."

"And really it came down to a bit of common sense." Alejandro tightened the hold of his arm wrapped around Heather's waist "The money was only getting the way of our happiness, all of those on this show can agree to that testament."

"Really us being eliminated was a blessing, because then we could finally be together."

"And together the two of us are truly happy."

"That's what I was going to say."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"I knew you know." the two of them leaned in for a kiss, until…

"GET OUT!" the voice of Chris rang through as he banged on the door "That is by far the most disgusting thing that has EVER happened in there!"

"Well (bleep) you too McLean!" Heather then shot a smirk at the camera "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I was robbed!"

"WE were robbed." came the correction from Alejandro.

"But if us acting like a Disney couple can make Chris suffer in any way, then it's almost worth being eliminated."

"They say the truth hurts, and in this case it does its job well."

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A few moments later, on the way to the final challenge…

"Alright Mal, Courtney, listen and listen good." Chris got the attention of everyone as they were driven in a jeep and pulled in carts by some of the interns, until the point came where they finally arrived at their destination "This season, I decided to come up with something really dangerous- I mean special, for the two of you."

"Prety sure anyone with half a brain cell knows what you meant." Mal noted dryly "Also sure that excludes about ⅓ of the contestants from both generations."

"Only one season and you know me so well. Now then, allow me to introduce the two of you to the final challenge of Total Drama All Stars: the Moats of Doom!" he drew everyone's attention to a four level stone structure that loomed over the landscape, earning a series of gasps from most of those present "Each level of the moats has a sliver of safe-ish ground, where you'll find an array of tools meant to help you survive the insane dangers that await you in each moat. The first moat at ground level is filled with toxic waste. You might wanna avoid falling in, unless you want to go to prom looking like something out of Fullmetal Alchemis. The second moat is filled to the brim with boiling hot lava! To shake things up a little bit, the third moat is full of nothing but plain old swamp water, but what lies beneath will definitely kill you. In case it wasn't clear, I'm talking about Fang." he was met with more gasps.

"I never thought I'd say this…" DJ muttered "But floating away in a balloon to god only knows where doesn't really sound too bad right about now."

"Mal, Courtney, if the two of you manage to survive all three of the moats then you'll have to say goodbye to your helpers and go it alone as you storm the castle. You'll have to take your life in your hands, more than normal I mean, as you fight your way past the mad king, the role of which is being played by Chef. If you manage to get past him and find the strength to pull out the Sword of Victory from the stone beneath him, then you are the true All Star of Total Drama, and the winner of one million dollars! Subject to all applicable taxes and other offsets as are required by law." Chris then turned back to see how shocked and horrified the others looked "So what do you think, excited?"

"You know, this might just be the massive amount of brain damage I've taken over the course of the season." Mal gave a smirk "But I actually am excited."

"Finally, someone who gets it!"

"Yep, there was bound to be one of those eventually." Courtney let out a sigh, then turned her gaze towards Duncan and the rest of her helpers "So, I'm guessing the rest of you are about as ready for this as I am?"

"Personally I think it looks kickass." Duncan gave a smirk, only to be met with a few looks from the others "What, I stand by it."

"Yeah sure, with you it makes sense."

"If I could just say one thing." Zoey was quick to speak up "Let's try not to hurt Mal too bad, for all we know Mike is still in there. I mean he has to be, right?"

"To be totally honest Zoey, I don't know what to tell you." Duncan let out a sigh "I mentioned to you before that for all we know, Mike might be an alternate and Mal is the real deal. Either way, I don't see Mike popping back out anytime soon."

"So then… he's really gone?" Zoey's face fell and tears began streaming down her face, until she was suddenly pulled into a hug.

"Don't give up hope yet." Dawn released Zoey from the hug and gripped her by the shoulders "I am unable to see everything, but enough is clear to me to know that all this time, Mike has been fighting his way through his mind to regain control of his body, to get back to us. But even more importantly to him, to get back to you."

"He's… really still in there?" Zoey was met with a nice and gave a small smile, but it faded as her gaze hardened "Well then, if that is the case, there's only one thing to go. Get Courtney out there so she can crush Mal and win this thing!"

"Bold claims, now let's see if she can back them up." Chris then turned to the camera "One has to wonder though, is Mal really Mal, or is Mal still Mike? Maybe Mike was always Mal. This is milk." he pulled a glass of milk out and downed it in a few gulps "All puns aside, will anyone be able to survive the final challenge? If the answer is yes, then will our winner turn out to be a king or queen? There's only one way to find out, and it's to tune in when we come back, right here on Total! Drama! All Stars!"

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On commercial break later…

"Looks like it's go time." Mal gave a smirk and turned to where Courtney was lined up with her helpers "May the best man win."

"You're being surprisingly professional." Courtney eyed him evenly from the other side of the first moat "I figured you'd be saying something about needing all the luck I can get."

"Don't think the thought didn't cross my mind, but I like a challenge. Victory doesn't mean a damn thing if I can't be pushed to the limit."

"Just wait and see, you'll get the challenge of a lifetime." Courtney then turned to Duncan and the rest of her helpers "Are you guys ready for this?"

"Ready as we can be." Duncan gave a smirk, then looked over to where Dawn sat in her typical meditative position "But apparently she's doing some freaky aura reading thing, something about asking the animals for help with what she called an urgent matter."

"Fair enough I guess. Zoey?"

"Yeah, I… I'm ready…" Zoey took a shuddering breath as she pulled off her necklace and stowed it into her pocket "Sorry. Let's do this."

"Good, because I can see Chris pulling out his megaphone, and that never ends well."

"On your mark… get set… GO!" the sound of an airhorn came through megaphone, sending both parties running towards the moats and the start of the final challenge.

"Here's the first one." Courtney came to a stop when she reached the first moat "It's too wide, I doubt even I would be able to jump across it, and frankly I'm not too keen to put that theory to the test."

"Maybe we can try and use these as stilts." Zoey grabbed a nearby set of poles and handed one of them to Courtney as she dipped the other one into the waste… only to pull it back up and see that the bottom part had been almost completely dissolved "Oh yeah, toxic waste. Something like this wouldn't last for more than a second. Unless maybe you'd be able to launch one of these into the walls like a makeshift harpoon."

"Even if I did there's no way I'd be able to pull myself across. Unless…" Courtney frowned in thought, and then she cast a quick look over at Duncan "Any chance you have your pocket knife with you?"

"Ask a stupid question." Duncan held up the knife in question "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking you're gonna have to put your carving skills to good use."

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Meanwhile, with the evil team…

"Like hell I'm getting anywhere near that stuff." Heather recoiled at the sight of the toxic waste and promptly shot a glare at Mal "You try and use me as a human raft or anything of the sort, I'm shoving you into that moat face first."

"Oh don't think the thought didn't cross my mind." Mal gave a smirk, but frowned as he glanced down at the moat, then cast a look over at DJ "No way I'd be able to jump across. Any chance you have enough muscle in that physique to throw me across?"

"Even if I tried, there's no way to be sure you'd get all the way." DJ told him "It's way too big of a risk."

"I hate it when other people are right, especially when it means I'm wrong. Plus even if I tried the human raft thing, neither of you would last long enough to get me anywhere." he ignored the dirty looks DJ and Heather sent his way "In that case go find Alejandro and help him gather a few materials."

"Actually, I believe I've already procured a way for you to get across." Alejandro made his way back over to the group with a large pole in hand "Tell me, have you ever had any experience with pole vaulting?"

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Meanwhile, with the good team…

"Let's just hope this works." Courtney held up both poles in her hands "They won't last long in the toxic waste so I'm only going to have one shot at this."

"Do what you gotta do Princess, we can figure out our own way." Duncan told her "Go and kick his ass."

"That's my plan. I'll see you on the other side." so Courtney took a breath and charged forward, jumping across the moat until she was about halfway, then stuck the longer pole into the waste and used it as a stilt, before leaping over towards the other side and embedding the remaining pole into the wall of the moats, using it to pull herself over onto solid ground, after which she breathed a sigh of relief "That was close."

"Don't just stand around woman, keep moving!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Courtney braced herself and immediately made a beeline for the ladder leading to the next level.

"This just in, Courtney has officially crossed the first moat and is in the lead! I repeat, Courtney is winning!"

"Normally I hate reduncancies like that, but in this case I'm willing to make an exception."

"Give me a minute and I'll fix that." Mal gritted his teeth as he charged forward and used his own pole to vault himself across the moat, barely managing to get his feet on the ground and was left wobbling over the moat, but he managed to will himself to fall forward "Ow…"

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Meanwhile, with the good helpers…

"Oh thank goodness." Zoey breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Mal making it safely over the first moat "He's okay…"

"That's not really a good thing for us." Duncan pointed out dryly "He's not Mike, you gotta keep that in mind if you don't wanna end up face first in a pool of lava."

"Yeah, yeah I know that… I do… so how are we supposed to get across to help Courtney?"

"I'm thinking, not like we can catapult ourselves across, unless…" Duncan frowned in thought, and then an idea came to him as he looked over at Dawn "Any chance you got something up that freaky sleeve that can help us?"

"As a matter of fact…" Dawn let out a low whistle, and a mutant goat with wings flew onto the scene "Does this meet your needs?"

"Yeah pretty much. Quick question though, if you can summon those things whenever the hell you want, why didn't you just get one for Courtney to ride over the first moat?"

"I did consider that possibility, but I looked over her aura and I could sense that she wanted to make it on her own power."

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Meanwhile, with the evil team…

"Okay note to self, never pole vaulte again." Mal let out a loud groan as he pulled himself to his feet, then began climbing up to the second level "Cause that (bleep) sucked."

"Hey genius, you're forgetting something!" Heather called out to him "How the hell are the rest of us supposed to get across?"

"To quote Tobey Maguire, I missed the part where that's my problem. Figure it out and meet me up there when you do."

"Such big anger for a little man." Alejandro gave a shrug as he and Heather walked away from the scene.

DJ on the other hand made his way over to where Dawn was meditating "So I figure this might be a bad time, but about the others…"

"You don't need to worry." Dawn assured him "I've contacted some local wildlife that will see to our friends being safely cared for. But for now, I fear we have other concerns."

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Meanwhile, on the second level…

"Welcome to level two, all tied and so far no one's died. YAWN."

"In a perfect world, that'd be you." Mal rolled his eyes as he pulled himself up onto the second level and picked up a rock, looking down in the direction of Chris "I wonder if I'm too far to be able to pull a Bullseye with this thing." he then looked over to see Courtney climb up the other ladder "Gonna have to wait, other priorities right now." he was about to advance, only to stop and grip his head, a smirk spreading across his face "Looks like things are… finally getting to the good part…"

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Meanwhile, inside the mindscape…

"Oh thank god, we finally made it." Mike breathed a sigh of relief as he and the rest of his personalities made it to the top of the tower staircase, finding a large door with Mal's face on it waiting for them "This is it, we're here aren't we?"

"Yep, behind there is gonna be the last trial." Manitoba glanced over at Mike "This is gonna be it mate, are you ready to face it?"

"I've already dealt with six of them so far… I've come too far to turn back now, and I have people waiting for me on the outside. I'm ready." Mike took a breath and stepped towards the door, blue energy coating his arm as he let a fist fly forward, knocking down the door with a single blow, allowing the five of them to venture inside.

Waiting inside was Mal, sitting on a throne at the end of the room, shooting a smirk towards the five of them, at Mike in particular "I was wondering when the rest of you were gonna show up, and it sure as hell took you long enough."

"What the- What are you doing up here?"

"What, did you think I was gonna put something like a reset button in here? Because I tried that, and it wouldn't take without giving you a massive brain tumor."

"Wait, what? No forget about that, if you're in here then are we… I mean the body-"

"Nope, the real me is still working out there to get your hands on a million dollars. To make a long story short, right now my entire personality is being split into two beings, a physical form and a mental form that resides in here. Ever since you hit your head with that big ass rock, I've been in here keeping control over everything while the real one is getting shit done out there on your behalf."

"Oh. Huh. Well it ends here, because we're here to get my body back!"

"Not so fast homeboy, you've still got one more mental barrier you have to break through if you want to get back control."

"I've already overcome six of them, one more isn't going to mean much." Mike's gaze hardened as he took a few steps forward "This is the last one right? No tricks, turnarounds or trying to mess with me?"

"No tricks, once you manage to get past this mental barrier the body is gonna be yours to do with as you see fit. Not only that, but you're gonna have complete control and access to the skills that come with each of your other personalities."

"Really? Mike seemed a bit taken aback by this revelation, but he quickly steeled himself "I'm ready, I'll do whatever it takes to take my body back from you."

"Fine, but remember that you were warned. The seventh and final mental barrier that you have to break through is known to deal with pure mental energy, and is blocked by attachments to other figments within the mind. So tell me Mike, what is it that attaches you to the rest this world that lies within your mind?"

"What attaches me to my own mind? To this whole world?" Mike paused and looked around, his gaze falling on Mal, and then turning to look at the other personalities "It's not just one thing. It's all of you. When I was a little kid, and my dad was still… you know, I kept retreating into my mind to try and escape it, to find some kind of solace. Not just with him, but with everything bad that kept happening to me in my life. But over time, it became more than just a place for me to run away to. It became to the five of you. The first real friends I've ever had."

"Good. Now you have to let these attachments go. You have to let them flow away, forgotten to the deepest recesses of your mind."

"I have to- Wait, what?!" Mike quickly rounded his gaze back on Mal "What do you mean I have to let them go? Why would I do that? They're a part of me!"

"You'll have to learn to let go of your other personalities, or you won't be able to let the mental and physical energy flow in from the rest of your body and mind."

"But it doesn't make sense! Why would I choose some kind of awesome power over literal parts of me, and how could it be a bad thing that I'm attached to her? And wasn't that supposed to be a good thing like three trials ago?"

"Remember the rule of Equivalent Exchange. You can't get something without losing something else in return, or five of something else in this case."

"But I…"

"You have to learn to let go."

"I… I can't." Mike hardened his gaze as he looked Mal dead in the eye "I can't let go of the others. I spent so long trying to control my other personalities and keep them in check, there's no way I can just give them up now. Besides, even if I did, they're still a part of me, so it's not like I can just up and make them vanish."

"Actually you can, but based on that passionate attempt at the Talk no Jutsu, I'm guessing that the others haven't told you."

"Told me what?"

"I won't deny that you've made a lot of strides since I trapped you in here, but even your skills are gonna end up being wasted. If you can't combine with your other parts, you don't stand a chance against what comes next. It's a real shame, you would've blown through it no problem if that were the case."

"So you're saying that whatever comes after this, me and the others have to face it head on? Why would I have to let go of them if that's the case."

"That ain't what he means mate." Manitoba took a step forward "Like I said, I got a good look at when Mal was setting most of these up, so I know what he's talking about. If you wanna get the strength to get through this last trial, we gotta combine into one so that I can pass my strength onto you, and do the same with each of the others.

"Merge with you? Wait, what does that even mean?"

"I'm getting there. You gotta let each of us place a hand on you so that we can transfer all of it into you. Everything about you will stay intact, but the rest of us will… evaporate.

"Wait, what?" Mike looked at the others, then back at Manitoba But if we do this merge thing, then… what will happen to all of you?"

"What part of evaporating don't ya get?" a tense silence overtook the room.

The silence lasted for a few moments, until Mike finally spoke again "I won't do it. If doing this merge thing means I have to get rid of you guys, then I say it's not worth it. You're some of my first friends, parts of me… I can't give that up… I can't…"

"Hey yo, no need to get all teary about it and stuff." Vito was the first of them to speak up as he put a hand on Mike's chest "Don't think of it like getting rid of us for good, we ain't gonna go that easy."

"Vito…"

"He's right mate, we're all gonna still be part of you in a way." Manitoba placed his own hand onto Mike's chest "You said it yourself, we already are parts of you."

"Manitoba…"

"If it means to stop Mal, then I say is worth it." Svetlana put a hand on his chest "That much we can all agree on…"

"Svetlana…"

"Alright ladies, enough of the blubbering. Just get on with it before the rest of us realize what we're doing." Chester was the last one to put a hand forth on Mike's chest "So are we doing this or not you ninnies?"

"But… I can't just…" Mike looked around at his other personalities as tears began streaming down his face "The four of you… five of you… have been a part of my life for so long… and for a lot of that, you were my only real reason to keep, well, living… It can't just… end like this, can it?"

"We know it's hard mate, but it's for the best, and you know it too." Manitoba gave him a small smile "And it's just like Vito said, it doesn't have to be like you're getting rid of the four of us for good. Who knows? Maybe one day, when the time is right, the four of us can pop back up and see how you're getting on. But it is goodbye. For now at least."

"But…" Mike's tears continued to flow as he looked around "If there is a way to bring the four of you back, I swear I'll find it."

"We figured as much. For now, just go and wreck his shit." Manitoba gave a nod, with the others doing the same, and then they were all engulfed in white columns of light, which then combined into a massive flash.

When it was over, Manitoba and the other personalities were gone, with Mike being the only one of them still standing, and he looked down at his own hands as they pulsated with white energy, before his gaze hardened and he looked up at Mal "Is that it? Have I broken the seventh mental barrier?"

"Yes and no." Mal gave a shrug "You learned to let go of four of them, and now their abilities are yours to do with as you see fit. There's one more personality you'll have to contend with though, and you're looking right at him."

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think you're going to merge with me so willingly."

"Your intuition is better already. If you want me to merge with you, then you're gonna have to beat me in a straight up fight, right here and right now."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you." Mike wiped away whatever tear streaks were left on his face "Then let's get this over with."

"I thought you'd never ask." Mal gave a smirk as he pulled himself to his feet, and then he gave a simple wave of his hand, overtaking the two of them in a white flash.

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Meanwhile, in the real world…

"Aw crap, I should've seen this coming." Chris let out a groan as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket "McLean here. Yeah it's true, I should've known better. We just forgot to tie down the balloons." he was handed a coffee cup by one of the interns and took a sip amidst the screaming on the other end "I actually had my optometrist test that, and it turns out that my hindsight is actually really bad." once the screaming started up again, he let his cell phone fall into the moat of toxic waste "Oops, looks like my hand slipped. Now to pray to the love of god I'm not liable for whatever happens to them."

"For the record, pretty sure you are." DJ made his way over to him with Dawn perched on one of his shoulders "We all read over the contracts pretty thoroughly."

"Yeah yeah whatever, I've got other problems to deal with, like balloons full of Owen and losers to track down."

"I've actually taken care of that already." Dawn told him "I was able to get into contact some of the wildlife on the island and the surrounding waters, and they ensured that those in the balloons would be found and rescued. Also transportation is on its way to collect them, but you should know that many of them are outraged and wish great bodily harm on you."

"Not really anything new for me, but at least I dodged a major legal bullet. Never thought I'd say this, but thank you creepy aura reader."

"Amen to that." DJ looked over at Dawn and gave her a small smile, right before he was pulled into a brief and gentle kiss, much to the disgust of Chris.

"And the moment's ruined. Also, aren't you two supposed to be helping the finalists get across the moats?"

"We've got a little bit in the works on that."

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Meanwhile, with the finalists in question…

"Okay, take it easy…" Courtney tried to steady herself as she slowly inched her way across the lava moat using a ladder as a makeshift bridge "Just a little further and then-"

"And win the million? Wouldn't count on it."

Courtney looked back to see Mal inching onto the ladder behind her "Dammit!"

"You didn't think it was actually going to be that easy did you?" Mal gave a smirk as he inched a bit further along the ladder… only to suddenly find himself being hoisted into the air by the back of his shirt "Okay, what's this now?"

"A little something called payback!" as it turns out, it was Duncan and Zoey riding the mutant fire goat, which had snatched Mal with its jaw, and Duncan took the chance to tackle Mal to the ground, only to immediately be kicked off and sent hurtling back to the first level, where he hit the ground with a loud thud "(Bleep)!"

"Keep in mind Duncey, I don't have to beat you again. I just need you to stay out of my way long enough for me to win."

"Duncan!" Courtney tried to inch her way back over to help him, only for the ladder to start burning from exposure to the lava, forcing her to run to the other side before it ended up burning away completely.

"And there goes my way over the lava. (Bleep)."

"You're gonna lose a lot more than that you weasel!" Zoey leapt off the fire goat as she pounced at Mal and pinned him to the ground with her fist clocked back… only to freeze as she locked eyes with him and slowly lowered her arm "I… I can't do it. I can't hurt Mike… even if he's not in control, it's his body, and… I can't do it…"

"That's one big reason why you should be glad you didn't make the finale. You don't have the stomach to finish the job." Mal grabbed Zoey by the wrist and took the chance to throw her down to the first level, leaving her to land on top of Duncan "That's two pains in my ass out of the way."

"Be that as it may, you're still stuck over there and I'm going up!" Courtney shot a certain finger gesture at Mal as she climbed up the ladder to the third level.

"Huh, she's definitely a feisty one. No wonder Duncan is into her. Now let's see what the sadist gave me to work with." Mal glanced around his side of the moat… and was less than impressed by what he found to work with "A pogo stick? Are you for real?"

"Keep in mind that not all of the items to be found were tested for safety."

"Meaning none of them."

"See that's what I like about you Mal, you GET me. But yeah, each one of them is a death trap that's just waiting to- Wait I'm getting a call from my lawyers, I think they're gonna want me to reword that."

"It's official, this is gonna suck." and yet thanks to the lack of other options, Mal proceeded to get onto the pogo stick and start bouncing.

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Meanwhile, inside the mindscape…

"Not very original to be honest." Mike took a look around and was fairly nonplussed at the sight of the familiar landscape that now surrounded him and Mal "Isn't this basically a recreation of Wawanakwa? If you can make it look like anything, then why this?"

"More for your sake than anything else." Mal gave a shrug "I figured that if I'm out there trying to get your hands on the million, you might as well feel like you're doing a final challenge in your own right."

"Wait, I'm in the finale?"

"Yep, but you're not getting back out there just yet. There's one last thing you have to do before that, assuming you've got what it takes."

"...I've already gained and lost a lot since I've been trapped in here. I've come way too far to just give up now. I don't want to fight, but if that's what it takes to stop you, then I will." Mike took a breath and dropped into a combat stance, readying himself for the fight to come.

"Now see, that's what I'm talking about." Mal gave a wide smirk of approval as he cracked his knuckles "And a quick word of advice, don't drop your guard and remember what you learned in those martial arts classes."

"Those were your idea, you were the one that signed up for them."

"But it was under your name and you had to take something from them." Mal dropped into his own stance, blue energy spiking around him "But this isn't a game, and this isn't a little training exercise either. You make one slip up, give me one reason to think you're holding back, and I will run you through."

"I don't expect anything less from you."

"Nor should you." and so Mal burst towards Mike at blinding speed with an elbow aimed at his face.

Mike was quick to weave around the strike that came, as well as the one that followed, and he did a series of flips back to gain some distance, pausing to process this as he did so "How did I just- Wasn't that… Yeah, it was Svetlana's skill…"

"It's like I told you before. with your other personalities merged into you, it allows you to use their skills as you see fit, like Svetlana's athletic skills or… whatever the hell Chester had going for him."

"That… is definitely a lot to take in…" Mike shook off these feelings and put his focus back towards Mal "I don't really understand how this works, but I can tell that you're already way more powerful than I could've handled on my own. You're definitely serious too, but that really shouldn't be a surprise with you, and that means one thing…"

"That if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you don't stand a chance."

"I'm not going to let my hands kill anyone ever again… But I also know that I'm going to take this seriously." Mike dropped back into a stance as is body was surrounded by a wave of blue energy.

"Good, looks like the merge really did boost your powers to a whole new level. Now to see if you know how to use them properly." Mal gave a malicious smirk as he got back into his own stance, energy shooting up even higher and surrounding him in a white column.

"Woah…" Mike was pushed back a short distance by the force of the energy "I have to be honest with you, if I thought you were going all out from the beginning then you probably would've ripped me apart for sure… but I know better than that with you by now. You love a challenge too much to just let go for an easy win."

"That much is true. Why do you think I picked Courtney as an opponent instead of some pathetic sad sack who can't back up their talk?"

"Like who?"

"Like… actually most of the people I'm thinking of didn't make it to the final five, but the point still stands!" Mal suddenly blitzed out of view.

"Stay calm, keep an eye out for his moves…" Mike cast his glance around the area until he was able to catch sight of Mal, and once he did he whipped around to stop Mal from attacking him from behind, catching Mal in a power struggle that sent out a powerful shockwave, though it came to an end when Mike elbowed Mal directly in the jaw.

Mal countered by landing a fist in Mike's jaw and sending him skidding backwards.

Only slightly fazed by this, Mike recovered in time to trade a series of even blows with Mal as their power struggle came to an end.

Mal quickly broke away and leapt back a fair distance, blue energy spreading along one of his arms "Didn't think we could go this far did you? But remember, this mind is our world and we can make whatever the hell we want of it! Like THIS!" he unleashed a wave of blue energy from the palm of his hand.

"Well when you put it like that… I guess it's only fair to try my hand at it!" Mike summoned a ball of energy in his own hand and hurtled it towards Mal's blast, both attacks cancelling out and sending both of them crashing to the ground, with Mike using his enhanced level of athletiticsm to rebound and land safely.

Mal on the other hand used a small burst of energy to stop himself and launch himself back into the air, both arms held out in front of him "Take a wild guess what this one is?"

"You're trying to do the Special Beam Cannon aren't you?"

"That thought did cross my mind, but after spending so much time fighting my way through a season of Total Drama, I figured why not take a page out of that book. In this case, a quick little homage to Chef. Case and point, MEATBALL CANNON!" Mal summoned his own replica of Chef's cannon and fired a large flaming meatball down towards Mike.

"Please work please work please work!" Mike braced himself as an idea came to him, and he did the only thing he could do, use his advanced agility to dodge the meatball as it collided with the ground in a sizable explosion, leaving a gigantic hole from the impact, causing Mike to sweat considerably "Woah… if that thing had hit me then… I don't know what would've happened to me. There's no doubt about it now. He really is attacking like he means to kill me… This is for real…"

"It's like I told you before, if you don't plan to attack me like you mean to rip me to shreds, then you don't have a chance in hell of winning!" Mal let out a roar as he launched himself down towards Mike at full speed.

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Meanwhile, in the real world…

"Well that's all kinds of nauseating." Duncan rolled his eyes as he saw Heather and Alejandro ride over the first moat on a log being used as a makeshift boat, with DJ using a pole to steer it towards the other side "You're seriously going along with this?"

"As far as I can tell, what they have going is genuine." DJ gave a shrug "Plus we all needed to get to the other side anyway, so I figured why not?"

"Fair enough I guess. Alright enough small talk, I'm getting up there so I can get my hands on that son of a-" Duncan cut himself short as he winced from the pain in his ribs "Dammit!"

"You alright man?"

"I tried fighting him off up there, the only thing is my body still feels like a sack of raw meat. I hate to admit it, but I don't think I'd be able to beat him on my own."

"What about you Zoey, you okay?"

"Just a little bit of swelling." Zoey gestured to the giant bruise on her wrist "And I landed on my ankle, so it might be sprained. I tried to fight Mal but… I couldn't bring myself to hurt him, if it meant hurting Mike."

"A sad tale but we are not on the same team, so we must leave you." Alejandro gave a shrug as he and Heather made their way up the ladder to the second level.

"Do all the Villains have to be such jerks?"

"You've seen the show, you know the answer to that by now." Duncan told her dryly.

"You don't have to worry about that with me." DJ took it upon himself to sling both of their arms over his shoulder "Different teams doesn't mean we turn our backs on each other, at least not in my case anyway."

"Way to come through in the clutch big guy. Any chance you got a way for us to get back up there? No chance in hell I'm letting Courtney take on that sadistic (bleep) on her own."

"Personally no, but I think someone else can help us out."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I believe he means me." this was when Dawn flew her way onto the scene on the back of her own mutant fire goat, allowing DJ to get on and helping Zoey and Duncan back onto theirs "You do speak the truth Duncan, we have to keep going, especially if we aim to help Mike get control of himself again."

"What are you talking about?" asked Zoey.

"The hold Mal has over Mike's body and mind is a powerful one, and it's clouded so I'm not able to see every detail, but from what I've been able to gather Mike is fighting to regain control of his mind, but in order to for him to reemerge fully, someone has to defeat him out here so Mike can reclaim his body."

"So in short, whatever's going on in his head, someone has to beat the ever loving crap out of him out here?" asked Duncan.

"To put it in crass yet simple terms, yes."

"In that case, put these things into overdrive so we can get the hell up there."

"Then I advise all of you to hold on." Dawn gripped the horns of her fire goat, and then both of them took off hurtling up the side of the moats towards the third level.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." Duncan gave a smirk of approval, but then his gaze turned hard as he tightened his grip on the goat "We're coming Courtney, just make sure to kick his ass until I get there."

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Meanwhile, with the showdown in the mindscape…

"It's like I told you before, if you don't plan to attack me like you mean to rip me to shreds, then you don't have a chance in hell of winning!" Mal let out a roar as he launched himself down towards Mike at full speed.

"Trust me, I don't expect anything less from you right now." Mike spun around and managed to meet Mal's assault with a fist of his own, the force of the collision shaking the ground around them, fist meeting over and over again over the span of a few moments.

"Good, looks like you're honing Vito's enhanced strength pretty well. You can throw a punch, now let's see if you can take one!" Mal broke off from their clash by dealing Mike a swift yet painful blow to the gut.

Mike recoiled slightly at the impact, but managed to recover enough to slam his foot into Mal's jawline, sending staggering backwards while Mike did a series of backflips throughout the forest area in order to gain some distance, wiping some blood from his face as he did so "Not going to bother to question just how I'm bleeding or anything that's really happening right now."

"Nor should you, the only thing you really need to understand is that the only limits to what we can do in here are the limits to our imagination."

"Fair enough I guess." Mike looked up at Mal, and his gaze softened slightly "You know there is a big part of me that still doesn't want to have to fight you."

"But the rest of you knows that I'm not giving you the choice here."

"Yeah… I know… and as much as it does hurt me, I'll do whatever it takes… to make sure that no one else has to get hurt…"

"Big words. Now show me that you can back them up." Mal suddenly shot towards Mike and grabbed hold of him by the throat, his entire form increasing in size as he did so "Well how about it, you like what you see?"

"How did… How are you doing this?!"

"It's like I told you before, the only limits to what we can do in here are the limits to our own imaginations. I've spent years traipsing through his mindscape, discovering everything that it has to offer, both good and bad. Unless you can push yourself to match that, this little workout of ours ends here!" and then Mal tightened his giant hold on Mike, causing him to scream in pain and agony "It should go without saying, but if I manage to crush you here then you're gone for good, and the body will be mine to control forever. Everything you've gone through will have been for nothing. So what are you going to do to prevent that?"

"There's only one thing… I can do… and it's THIS!" Mike let out a roar as he summoned a blue lasso made of energy (ala Manitoba) in one arm and used it to latch onto Mal's neck and tighten the hold, causing Mal to cry out in pain and force him to release Mike, allowing him to charge in for his own attack.

That is to say, he would've if Mal hadn't backhanded Mike hard enough to send him crashing to the ground "So you've got Manitoba's moves too, complete with the lasso. But you still aren't paying attention to what I myself am doing."

"Give me a minute and see if you can still say that after this!" Mike used his new lasso to pull himself back into the air and tried to land a spin kick aimed at Mal's face, only to be caught by one of Mal's giant fist and have his other arm twisted downwards, causing him to scream in pain, though he did attempt to use the lasso to free himself. Attempt being the key word.

As it turns out, Mal managed to grab the lasso in question and used it hurl Mike away and send him flying away "You realize that if I wanted to, I could've bashed your skull into paste with one shot. Here I thought you were learning something."

"Just give me a minute… and you'll see just what I've learned!" Mike landed on the ground and tried to charge forward, only to be met with Mal's knee hitting his face, sending him hurtling into the air and then crashing to the ground.

"You were saying?"

"D-Dammit…" Mike forced himself back to his feet, coughing up a fair amount of blood, and he tried to latch onto Mal with his lasso out of desperation.

Mal managed to grab the lasso without any effort, and he used it to yank Mike into the air "See, that's just pathetic."

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Meanwhile, in the real world…

"There we go." Courtney breathed a small sigh of relief as she climbed up the ladder onto the next level, her gaze falling on a shark fin poking out of the murky swamp water "And again, I shouldn't be surprised by anything that Chris does."

"You'd think you'd learn by now, but in any event, Courtney has made it to level three! Mal on the other hand, he'd better spring into action, literally!"

"Wait, what?" Courtney's gaze turned over to where Mal was bouncing on the pogo stick to gain some more height "Oh. Crapbaskets."

"Get ready… because here… I come!" once he gained enough height, Mal bounced over the lava moat, letting the pogo stick fall into the moat as he pounced at Courtney.

"I'm ready as I can be." bracing herself, Courteny ducked down in anticipation of Mal's attack and let him fall, positioning her legs so that she could kick him in the chest, and his momentum sending him hurtling into the swamp water with a loud splash, providing Courtney with a chance to get back on her feet "I have to be honest, I wasn't sure that was going to work."

A moment passed before Mal dragged himself out of the swamp water, letting a small coughing fit out before levelling a glare at Courtney "Part of me is grudgingly impressed by that maneuver of yours. The rest of me wants to smash your face into the ground for it."

"That's assuming you can. Come and me with all of your tricks, and in return I'll show you what a counselor can do."

"Hm. Now you're talking like someone who gets it." Mal gave a smirk of approval as he cracked his knuckles, then promptly charged forward.

"There's a lot I get that I didn't use to." Courtney managed maneuver around Mal's first attack and land a sharp jab to his side, but ended up receiving an uppercut to the jaw in return that sent her staggering backwards, cringing as she wiped the blood from her lip "Though I have to admit, that did hurt. A lot."

"This is the only chance I'm giving you to walk away now. You could save yourself from any embarrassment over me kicking your ass, becuase I know what you are."

"Is that what you think?" Courtney let out a chuckle as she readied herself "Here's a little news flash for you. No you haven't, not by a long shot. We're not playing by your rules Mal, not this time. Just come and me and you'll see what I can really do."

"Bold claims princess. Let's see if you can back them up!" Mal picked up a rock sitting on the edge of the swamp and hurled it forward.

"(Bleep)!" Courtney was forced to leap out of the way to avoid the rock, leaving it to hit the swamp with a loud crash, only to be grabbed by the neck by Mal and slammed into the ground, though she quickly managed to free herself of Mal's grip and stuck him in the face just as she received her own blow to the jaw, sending both of them staggering backwards.

"Not too shabby. Let's see if you can keep it up." Mal regained his bearings and launched his own assault by dealing Courtney a swift blow to the stomach, and then aiming a kick towards her temple.

Courtney managed to leap over this kick and aimed an elbow at the base of Mal's skull, only for it to miss, but she grabbed Mal by the throat and slammed his face into the ground, holding him in an armlock "How's that for keeping it up? Is the so-called big bad holding out on me, or are you just full of it?"

"No wonder you and Duncan connected so well. You're both so freaking arrogant!" Mal gritted his teeth and managed to manueuver himself around enough under Courtney's grip to land a stretch kick to her face, stunning her long enough to free himself, and then he landed a swift spin kick that sent her crashing to the ground on the edge of the moat as he limped towards her "You know, it only makes sense… Duncan wasn't smart enough to stay out of my way… why should his princess be any different?"

"There's one thing… you don't know about me…" Courtney's hand shot out and grabbed Mal by the shirt, using it to pull herself up and slam her foot into his groin, leaving him to fall to his knees as she pulled herself back to her feet and spat out some blood "This princess is willing to get her hands dirty."

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Meanwhile, with the battle in the mindscape…

"D-Dammit…" Mike forced himself back to his feet, coughing up a fair amount of blood, and he tried to latch onto Mal with his lasso out of desperation.

Mal managed to grab the lasso without any effort, and he used it to yank Mike into the air "See, that's just pathetic." he launched a giant fist forward and struck.

Mike acted on instinct and made his own move at the last second, their fists landing on each other in the same instant, sending blood spraying into the air around them as a result of their clash, with Mike being pushed a short distance away.

"Not a bad jab, but not good enough…" Mal staggered back slightly and wiped the blood from his face, then took the chance to return back to his nirmal size and slowly make his way over towards Mike "I hope you don't think that this is where I'm going to stop. You're just the first bug I have to crush. Once you're out of the way, the body will be mine forever to do with as I see fit. Everyone feared and respected me, and the ones who stood against me were crushed. As soon as I get full control back, I'm going to pick up where I left off. If your friends or your woman try to get in my way, I'll grind them into dust under my heel. One. By. One. And you can fade out of existence knowing that you failed them." he spat out some blood to the side, then ascended into the air above Mike "To be honest, I really did expect more from you. You're Mike, the original personality, the one who's faced adversity and suffering every day. The one who was tortured both at home and at school, but managed to endure it, even with help… You're the one who had the mental power to create me and the others. But one wouldn't know any of that with the way you're just lying down and dying likea dog here!" he summoned another meatball cannon over his shoulder and readied it "And just so you know, once I finish you for good, I'm going to start by winning the million dollars, and if your girlfriend Zoey gets in my way… I'll run her through like a hot knife through butter. It won't be swift." and then he fired a flaming meatball out of the cannon he held, sending it hurtling down towards Mike at horrific speed.

"I won't… let it end… like this…" mustering what strength he could, Mike pulled himself back to his feet, one arm hangling limp at his side, and he managed to grab the flaming meatball with his remaining arm, gritting his teeth from the strain "After everything we've been through… I'd never guess… it would come down to this… but given that it's you… it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise…" then slowly but surely, he managed to inch his way forward, pushing the meatball along with him as he did so "Zoey… Duncan… Courtney… DJ… Dawn… Brick… all of them… they've all pushed themselves trying to stop you… all because they wanted to help bring me back… Even now, Courtney is out there fighting to beat you… She understands, all of them do, that you need to be stopped… no matter what it takes… I should understand that too, so why… Why can't I bring myself to stand up to you… if it means protecting them?"

"It's like I told you before, if you want to gain access to your full potential, then you have to let go of your attachments to your other selves. But we both know you're too sentimental to really do that. And to be honest, that makes you even more disappointing."

"Disappointing huh… I've thought that about myself… too many times to count… But true as that may be… it's clear to me…" Mike's voice softened to the point where both of them were barely able to hear it over the sound of the flaming meatball "I think I know what my biggest mistake was here. Even after the loss of my other personalities, I had went into this fight, still desperately clinging to the idea that I could do this without having to lose you… losing my first true friend… but it's holding me back, and if I let that continue, it's going to hurt everyone I care about on the outside… So that's it… for the sake of the others… for Zoey, and all my friends… and for myself… I'm officially done with holding back!" Mike let out a roar as his other arm suddenly shot up and grabbbed hold of his blue lasso, using it to latch onto the meatball and hurl it back towards Mal, hitting him dead on and engulfing him in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, Mal was back on the ground, his clothes singed and torn and his body covered in charred blood, and he shot a smirk at Mike "Well what do you know… looks to me like someone is finally getting serious."

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Meanwhile, in the real world…

"There's one thing… you don't know about me…" Courtney's hand shot out and grabbed Mal by the shirt, using it to pull herself up and slam her foot into his groin, leaving him to fall to his knees as she pulled herself back to her feet and spat out some blood "This princess is willing to get her hands dirty."

"Yeah well… I'll give you that one…" Mal leaned over into the water and proceeded to puke, then slowly pulled himself back to his feet as he steeled himself "But I'm not down for the count yet… not by a long shot."

"Not like it's going to matter, because it's over. After everything you've done, you don't deserve to win the million."

"You're right, I don't… but that doesn't mean you've stopped me… not yet…" Mal dropped back into his stance "Because I've still got plenty of fight in me. The question is, will you be able to keep up?"

"Why don't you come at me and find out?"

"In that case, to quote Barney Stinson, challenge accepted!" Mal's smirk widened as he charged towards Courtney at full speed, meeting her in a quick clash that he won, sending her staggering backwards as he rushed towards her, the two of them grappling in a power struggle "And to use a quote by Peter Cullen, one shall stand…"

"And one shall fall!" Courtney broke off from the struggle and dealt Mal a roundhouse kick to the chest, sending him hurtling back into the swamp "That's twice I've knocked you into the shark tank. Literally in this case."

"It's also the last time that's gonna happen." Mal once again dragged himself out and spat out some swamp water, and he quickly began pushing Courtney back "You're strong in your own right, I'll give you that. But I'm working with a lot more than you here. I have access to every one of Mike's latent talents, along with his strength, speed and agility."

"Yeah well, quality over quantity in my case!" Courtney leapt under Mal's next grab attempt and attempted to tackle him to the ground, only to get thrown over his shoulder, forcing her to stop at the edge. She then attempted to launch her own series of punches, only for Mal to dodge them with ease.

"Add the skills that I myself add to the cocktail, and you've got an unstoppable force in the hands of someone who actually knows how to use it." Mal eventually found an opening to strike by grabbing Courtney's forearm and using his other arm to deal a swift blow to her stomach, causing her to hunch over "Of course there's one key difference that I've developed over the course of this season. A ridiculously high tolerance for pain. Too bad the same can't be said for you!" he then slammed his fist into her gut in the same spot, HARD, causing her to gasp and fall to her knees from the impact "And that's how we end this."

"Not… yet…" Courtney coughed up a fair amount of blood and slowly pulled herself back to her feet, her eyes blazing with determination "I'm not… giving up… yet…"

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Meanwhile, inside the mindscape…

When the smoke cleared, Mal was back on the ground, his clothes singed and torn and his body covered in charred blood, and he shot a smirk at Mike "Well what do you know… looks to me like someone is finally getting serious."

"You got that right." Mike got back into a stance with his lasso in hand "I hope you're ready for this Mal, because this is what you asked form. Me coming at you with every ounce of strength I have."

"Fine by me Mike. Let's just see how far being serious can get you without me doing all of the hard stuff for you."

"Trust me, you will!" Mike readied himself, then burst upwards into the air.

Mal charged downwards to meet Mike in the middle and prepared to fire another meatball from his cannon, only to suddenly find it being yanked out of his grip "What the-"

"I'm not letting you use that thing again." Mike let the cannon fade out of existence and quickly slammed his elbow into Mal's side, then latched onto his leg with the lasso and hurled him into the ground below.

"Not a bad strategy. Too bad it won't do much good." Mal rebounded and skidded to a halt as he hit the ground, preventing a violent impact, just in time to dodge Mike's next attack aimed at him and summon another weapon, this time a leech gun, and fired a volley at him.

"The same to you!" Mike used his lasso to deflect the energy leeches, sending them crashing into the landscape around him.

"Looks like someone is finally coming into his own. Fine then, let's see how this one works out for you." Mal summoned a bow and arrow and promptly fired the latter forward.

Rather than choose to deflect this time, Mike chose to leap out of the way of the arrow, which gave Mal the chance to close the distance and land a brutal punch to Mike's gut. Despite reeling from this, Mike recovered enough to counter Mal's attack with a violent headbutt, which sent him staggering backwards in pain.

"Well what do you know…" Mal spat out some blood and gave a smirk of approval "Looks like you finally have your spirit back… I was wondering when I'd see that fire in your eyes… this is what I wanted to see all along… Now show me you can make the most of it." and on that note, he let a fist fly forward, catching Mike by surprise and landing a painful blow to the face.

Mike was sent reeling backwards, but regained his composure by grabbing Mal's arm and snap it with one swift move, causing Mal to scream in pain, but Mike quickly followed up with a kick to the side that sent him hurtling backwards.

Fortunately for Mal, he managed to stop himself and recover, and with a loud scream he snapped his arm back into place "You're… You're gonna pay for that one…"

"I wouldn't… be so sure…" Mike was left panting heavily by this point "I think we both know that… that we're running on fumes by now… we've been fighting it out for… I don't really know how long… and I don't have a lot left in me… So I think it's safe to say… I'm gonna have to finish this, and fast…"

"You know, you always did have… a habit of lying to yourself…" Mal let out a snarl "I didn't think you'd be so arrogant though, and that's coming from me. Do you really think you have a chance of beating me when I'm serious?"

"If nothing else, I'll be damned if I don't try."

"Fine, then there's only one thing left for me to do. And that's rip through you, along with every last bit of hope you've got left."

"That's not going to happen… not until I beat you first!" Mike launched himself forward with a burst of speed as his knee slammed into Mal's jaw.

Mal was quick to retaliate by creating a sword in his hand and slashing at Mike's chest, which left a gaping wound.

Mike struck Mal with a fist to the face.

Mal retaliate with a fist to Mike's gut, resulting in the two of them clashing once again.

The clash broke off when Mike ducked underneath a fist aimed at his face, only to find his own blow blocked by Mal's wrist, prompting him to thrust his knee forward, only for Mal to step back and dodge it, to which Mike used his enhanced agility to leap over Mal's head, land behind his back and launch a surprise kick to the spine and elbow to the head.

Mal recovered and whipped around in time to slam both of his knees into Mike's face, then leapt back to gain some distance "I hope you're ready, this attack comes especially from the wave of torture one of the challenges put me through!" he waved his hand and summoned several objects around Mike, which took on a very familiar form, if peculiar.

"...Snapping turtles?"

"You would not believe the amount of hell these things put me through. Now you get to share my pain!" and then Mal waved his hand again, causing all of the snapping turtles to close in on Mike simultaneously.

Mike was forced to withstand the assault from the snapping turtles that closed in on him from every direction, but eventually he managed to withstand every bite and snap from them until they vanished in puffs of smoke, and he shot a defiant glare at Mal "I'm not going to lie… that really did hurt. A lot. But I'm not giving up here… I'm not stopping until I win. I've come too far to give up now, and I can't afford to slow down at a time like this."

"Big talk, but I dare you to try and back it up!" Mal launched himself towards Mike, receiving a furious blow to the gut and countering with a swift kick to the chin.

Mike in turn dealt an elbow to the side of Mal's jaw, only to receive a powerful elbow to the face in turn, but he managed to throw Mal over his shoulders and towards the ground.

Mal flipped through the air and landed on his feet, summoning another meatball cannon hoisted over his shoulder "You'd better get ready Mike… because this is it… this attack comes with every last ounce of strength I have… and I'll use it to rip through you…"

"Believe me, I know…" Mike readied his lasso in one hand, his form radiating with lots of blue energy "I never expected it to end any other way… now let's do this… I'm going to win, and get out of here and back to Zoey, and to my friends… and if I have to go through you to do that… I will…"

"Then PROVE IT!" Mal let out a roar and fired one final blazing meatball from the cannon, sending it hurtling towards Mike at blinding speeds.

Mike on the other hand proceeded to catch the flaming meatball in his hands, resulting in a struggle for him to control it, which he quickly wound up on the losing side of as it pushed him further and further back "It's too much… I can't…"

"MIKE!"

"Is that… Zoey…?" the sound of the familiar voice drew Mike's gaze above him, where he saw a face flash in front of him, the smiling face of a young woman with red hair and a pair of kind brown eyes, causing his gaze to harden "Zoey… you wouldn't give up… and you don't want me to give up, I know it… I spent so much of my life alone, with literally no one I could call my friend that wasn't in my head… and it left me feeling broken… but then I met everyone on Total Drama, especially her… and for the first time I could remember… I felt at peace… and I felt happy… You gave me a reason to want to keep going… so I can't give up… I won't let you or anyone else down… I want to win… I NEED TO WIN!" and so with a mighty roar, he latched onto the meatball with his lasso and hurled it directly back at Mal, engulfing him in a powerful explosion of red and yellow and sending Mal slamming directly into the ground. Mike on the other hand dropped his lasso as the energy around him subsided, and he slowly limped his way forward.

Mal slowly pulled himself out of the giant smoking crater, more of his clothes having been burned off and he was covered in wounds and burn marks "I'm not done… I've still got… one more trick up my sleeve…" and he summoned a sword in one hand.

"I figured you would… but this is it…" Mike summoned a sword of his own in one hand "It's over…"

"Yeah, you're right… so let's end it…" so the two of them let out simultaneous roars and charged at each other, thrusting their blades forward until they clashed… and it ended with Mal's blade being snapped in two and evaporating, as Mike's drive through his chest, causing him to fall forward and land on Mike's shoulder, and he let out a bitter chuckle "So that's it… I guess you pass… your final test…"

"I passed huh… I guess that confirms it…" Mike de-materialized the sword in his hand and gently lowered Mal to the ground "I want you to be honest with me. You… did this to help me, didn't you? The mental trials… fighting you like this… egging me on the whole time… you were trying to train me…?"

"Shit, took you long enough… seriously, I was wondering how much I was gonna have to ham it up… with that over the top cliche crap… before you got the picture…" Mal spat out some blood and gave him a smirk "It took me a lot of searching in the mindscape… once I gave you control back last time… but I found what I needed to set all this up… the mental trials, the merging of the personalities… and so I decided to put you through it all as a test… and use it as a way to see if you had what it took… to do what has to be done…"

"To win no matter the cost?"

"No… to stand up for what you know is right… no matter what you have to do, or how hard it might be… and break through the soft edge holding you back…"

"But… why though…? You still haven't answered me that."

"To make sure you could do it… and stand on your own…" Mal's expression became pained as he began flicking in an out of existence "Even without me around holding your hand…"

"What? But you-"

"Mike… you know what I've done. The things I've done, the pain I've caused… it's like I said to Courtney… there's no going back… it's too late for me… I thought that if I were in charge, I could make sure no one ever crossed you… and instead I turned you into a pariah… and made myself into a monster… so the only thing I could think of doing to atone… was make sure that you could take care of yourself… even when me and the others are gone…"

"But that doesn't mean I want to just get rid of you… All of my personalities, including you, especially you… You're a part of me…"

"Yeah. We are. We're parts of you that you don't need anymore. You created me and the others because you wanted friends, people you can trust and who will protect you. But look around you now. You've got those people out in the real world already, and they're waiting for you to finish this."

"Mal, I…" Mike looked him in the eye with tears streaming down his face, but he tried to force on a smile "Despite everything you did, I… I never hated you… and I always wanted to call you a friend… I always will… I promise…"

"That's nice… but like I said, I'm a part of you that you don't need anymore. This is your time now… so get out there and make the most of it…" and with that, Mal gave a genuine smile, before he was suddenly engulfed in a powerful surge of energy that morphed into a white light, and when it subsided, he was gone.

"Goodbye Mal… my friend…" Mike sat in the crater alone, letting his tears of grief cascade down his face for a few moments. Eventually he wiped them away and looked down at himself, feeling the blue and white energy washing over him one last time "I guess that's it… the mental barriers are broken… so that means I'm back in control, and I can do whatever I want with my mind, is that right?" he received no response, nor did he expect to, but he tried it out regardless by waving his hand, causing the destroyed landscape to return to the usual appearance of the mindscape, albeit with one big difference, in the form of five statues of Mal, Manitoba, Svetlana, Vito and Chester all lined up in front of him, to which Mike gave a sad smile "Thank you guys, for everything that you've done for me… Just keep watching over me… It's my time now, and I'm going to make the most of it. I promise. And the first thing I'm going to do is finish what me and Mal started, and win that million!" and on that note, he disappeared from the mindscape with a quick blue flash, leaving the statues behind.

Underneath the statues of Mal and the others was a plaque, and on it read:

Mal, Manitoba Smith, Svetlana, Vito and Chester

My first friends

Forever part of me

And there it would remain.

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At the same time, in the real world…

"Not… yet…" Courtney coughed up a fair amount of blood and slowly pulled herself back to her feet, her eyes blazing with determination "I'm not… giving up… yet…"

"You did a good job to get so far, I'll give you that much. And you're holding up a lot better than your little boytoy did." Mal coughed up a fair amount of blood "But the fact is… this fight is over now… and I win…" he slowly moved forward and prepared to deal Courtney one final strike… only to stop and begin clutching his head in pain, but rather than get angry, a smile began to spread across his face "So… it's time then… time to end this…"

"Took the words… right out of my mouth!" Courtney readied herself into a stance and closed in on Mal as she let a fist fly, which he blocked, but she quickly broke through and landed a swift elbow to his face, followed by a few weak yet swift punches to his face and jaw that sent him staggering further and further back towards the ege of the marsh water, and eventually she went in to end it with one final uppercut to Mal's jaw, sending him hurtling into the air towards the moat.

"What do you know… guess you can back up your talk after all…" Mal looked at Courtney and gave a small smile "Well played Miss Counselor… well played…" and those were the last words he uttered before he hit the water with a loud splash.

"Yes… I won…" Courtney let out a long sigh of relief and moved to cross the moat, but her strength finally gave out and she fell towards the moat, only to be caught by an arm wrapping around her waist.

As it turns out, that arm belonged to Duncan, who then took Courtney into his arms as he shot her a smirk "Not too shabby Princess."

"Thanks… but Mal is still in there…"

"Yeah I caught a glimpse of it, but I doubt that-" Duncan didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say before Fang rose up from the water, snarling at them "Nevermind."

Fortunately for them, Fang's attempt to pounce on them was stopped by a fist bursting out of the water and uppercuting him, sending him flying hard enough to knock a tooth out, courtesy of none other than Mike as he rose up from the water "Huh, looks like I have Vito's strength out in the real world too. Good to know. Are you guys alright?"

"You gotta be (bleep) kidding me." Duncan set Courtney down behind him and readied himself as Mike drew closer, and the mutant fire goats floated up onto the scene "I don't know which one you're supposed to be, but I've got no problems with kicking your ass all the way back into the toxic waste."

"I'd say to take it easy Duncan, but given everything Mal probably did, I can't blame you for being suspicious. But it's me, Mike."

"Is it really…?" Zoey leapt off the back of her goat and, slowly and hesitantly, made her way towards Mike "Is it really you Mike? Because if this is another one of your tricks Mal-"

"It's me Zoey. It's really me. And I promise you, from now on I'm never going to leave your side again." he reached for her, only for her to pull away.

"I… I wish I could believe you. I want to, really… but can I…?"

"I'd like it if you did." Mike suddenly pulled her in close and wrapped her in a tight hug "I know that things have been… crazy, to say the least. I don't blame you for not trusting me. But it really is me this time.", the same me that gave you that necklace when I was on the Hurl of Shame last year."

"In that case… I'm going to need some proof." Zoey took a breath and pulled Mike in close as the two of them locked lips in a heated kiss, only pulling away after a moment "Okay, I think I'm convinced now."

"I'm glad. And I promise, I'm never leaving you again."

"You had me at Mal being gone for good."

"I don't blame you for thinking that. I can't even begin to tell you guys how sorry I am for everything that Mal did when he was in control." Mike's face fell as he took a look around at the others, particularly Duncan and Courtney when he saw how hurt they were "But after everything that's happened… I don't know if they'll ever trust me again."

"They will. It's probably going to take some time.

"Hey." this was when Duncan made his way over to the two of them… and shot Mike a playful smirk "Not gonna lie, you hit hard for being so scrawny."

"...Or not very much time at all."

"I guess not." Mike looked ahead as the others crowded around him "I can't tell you how good it feels to be in control of my own body again. I also can't tell you all how sorry I am for all of the things that Mal did while he was in control. I don't know how to make it up to you, but-"

"Hey don't worry about it man." DJ pulled Mike into a quick hug, with the others following not long after.

"That… actually is pretty relieving. And as weird as this sounds, there's one person I really have to thank." Mike turned his attention over to Courtney "You probably won't hear this too often, but thanks for beating the crap out of me so I could get back my body."

"To be honest, it's not really that weird." Courtney gave a shrug "At least in comparison to all the other things we've had to do on this show."

"Maybe, but it was still pretty hot to see you go to town on him like that." Duncan shot another smirk at her as he put an arm around her waist.

"There is one thing we can agree on at the moment." a short distance away, Alejandro wrapped his arms around Heather and held her close to him "And that is that love truly is quite the fine thing."

"Oh that is IT!" this was when Chris flew onto the scene on his jetpack "This is the finale of the season for crying out loud! It's supposed to be about pain and betrayal, and pain! Not hugs and kissing and mushy crap! PAIN!"

"Then for once, it will be your pain." Alejandro dipped Heather and leaned down for a heartfelt kiss, with Mike and Zoey sharing their own kiss, along with DJ and Dawn.

Duncan on the other hand looked over at Courtney "So… you wanna make out?"

"...Okay." Courtney gave a shrug, and then the two of them started making out.

"You know what, that's it, new rules!" Chris then proceeded to ruin the moment "As of now, anyone who pulls the sword out of the stone wins the million dollars, finalist or not!"

"Anyone you say?" Alejandro promptly dropped Heather and tried to run for the moat, only to hit the ground with a loud thud "What the-"

"Like hell that's going to happen!" Heather let out a snarl as she held onto Alejandro's leg "That money is mine!"

"Now we're talking, this is much better." Chris gave a smirk of approval as he flew his way up to the top level of the moat.

"Right, the million bucks is still a thing." Duncan looked down at Courtney "I'm half expecting you to kick me in the crotch and take off running."

"The first thing depends on whether or not you root for me to win." Courtney shot him a playful smirk, but still took off into the moat and swam towards the other side.

"Oh yeah, the prize money." Zoey looked over at Mike "Looks like it's still game on for you right now."

"Yep." Mike let out a chuckle "I'd better go get my money then, wish me luck!" and then he took off swimming towards the other side, towards where Heather and Alejandro were wrestling with each other and landing in the swamp.

"Hold it you two!" DJ made his way over to the two of them "Money or no money, I'm rooting for Courtey to win this, and I'm not letting you through."

"Is that a fact?" Alejandro shot him a smirk "Do you truly believe that you have what it takes to defeat me amigo?"

"I did it once, I'm prepared to do it again."

"So you claim, but pray tell, how do you plan to do that without the help of your young seal companion?"

"How about with me?" this was when Mike suddenly landed on Alejandro's shoulders, still holding onto Fang's tooth "Check it out, now I have all of the skills my other personalities had, and that includes Svetlana. Here, hold this for me would you?" and then he did a summersault over to the other side of the moat "Later you guys!"

"Why am I holding this?" Alejandro received his answer when he looked over and saw Fang snarling at him "Oh. Crapbaskets." and then he began swimming away screaming in terror, with Fang chasing after him.

"Ha, sucks to be him right now!" Heather barked out a laugh and began swimming towards the ladder leading up to the final level… only for a rock to be thrown at her head that left her to sink underwater.

"Oops, my hand slipped." Duncan gave a smirk as he held up another rock, which earned him a raised eyebrow from DJ "What? People have been waiting to see someone do that for the past five seasons.

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The time had come for the final leg of the final challenge.

"Come on, almost there, just a little further…" Courtney reached the top of the ladder leading up to the final level, only to be forced to duck to avoid the oncoming barrage of meatballs Chef was firing at her, but she soon found an opening and moved to hide behind a nearby rock.

"Crap, crap, crap!" Mike was forced to maneuver around to avoid being hit by the meatballs as he took off running towards the stone with the sword in it.

"Well what do we have here?" Chris flew onto the scene to observe the scene taking place "It looks to me like we have some impressive maneuvers from both Mike and Courtney. We also have some equally unimpressive shooting from Chef." that little comment earned him a blast to the face from the meatball cannon "Hey!"

"Oh I'll say Chris, if you ask me Chef couldn't hit the blind side of a- Crap!" Mike's new smart mouth forced him to go on the evasive to avoid the oncoming blast of meatballs "Why did Mal have to be so ridiculously overconfident?!"

"Well I'm not complaining, considering it just gave me an opening." seeing that Chef was now distracted, Courtney took the chance to slip over to the stone and grab hold of the sword, and as she pulled on it with all the strength she could… it slid out from the stone, shining in the light of the sun as she held it up triumphantly "I… I did it… I DID IT! I FINALLY WON!"

"Yeah we get it, we heard you the first time." Chris rolled his eyes as he made his way over to her with the case in hand "But it doesn't matter, because it's true. Courtney wins Total Drama All Stars, and our million dollar grand prize.

"I DID IT! I REALLY DID IT!"

"Way to go Courtney, congratulations on-" Mike didn't get the chance to finish before a giant meatball splattered all over his face and knocked him to the ground "Ow!"

"Stuff like this makes me really love this job." Chef let out a chuckle as he held up his meatball cannon, earning a few "What? I was just cleaning it and it went off."

"You know what? I don't even mind." Mike gave a shrug as he pulled himself back to his feet and wiped the meatball off his face "This is nothing compared to the ones on fire that Mal kept shooting at me."

"...What?"

"You had to be there."

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(Final confessional- Courtney)

"Honestly, I… I don't even know what to say." Courtney let out a long sigh "I spent so long dreaming of this moment, where the million is finally mine, but now that it's here… It's like this giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders, especially knowing that I did it the right way this time. I guess now it's time to see where the road takes me next. And to those of you out there who supported me all this time… thank you."

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(Final confessional- Mike)

"Well honestly, this is really bittersweet… more bitter for me to be honest. I didn't get the money in the end, and I lost… well a lot more than you guys will probably understand. But I do have my body back, and I get to be with Zoey and all of my friends again. And honestly, I'm happy with the way things turned out. For the first time in a really long time, I feel… at peace. Whatever happens next, I know this much: It's my time now, and I'm going to make the most of it."

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Now for the immediate aftermath…

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Duncan gave a smirk as he made his way over to Courtney, with DJ trailing close behind him "Way to kick some ass Princess."

"Honestly, it's… a lot to take in but… at least I'm not having people booing me for once, so I'll take it." Courtney gave a smile of pride, only for it to be drowned out by the sound of bleeting in the distance "What the-"

"I got this one." Chris pulled out a set of binoculars and looked through them to see a group of mutant flying goats coming towards them carrying numerous passengers, all of them cheering and/or glaring "What do you know Courtney, looks like every dog has her day, and saves me a crapload in legal fees. Your former All Stars are all coming here to greet the winner."

"Actually I believe they're coming to do more than that." Dawn told him "A good number of them are clouded with anger towards you."

"What? What the hell did I do to make them pissed at me?"

"Where do I even start?" the mutant goats touched down, with the other All Stars (Scott, Anne Maria, Jo, Cody, Gwen, Brick) mounted on the back, but Gwen quickly hopped off and slowly made her way over to Chris with a large metal club in hand "Too many to list, but I'll be damned if I don't try.

"Uh, Gwen? What are you doing with that?"

"Let's see here… Buried alive twice. Having my diary read out loud for all the entire (bleep) world to hear. Vilified for a stupid love triangle that never even panned out. Being forced to go through dozens of challenges that almost blew my (bleep) face off or ripped me to shreds, and now you stuff me in a balloon full of Owen farts and let me fly off into space! I am so (bleep) DONE with your (bleep). You've had this coming for five seasons you little (bleep)!" and so with a savage scream, she charged at Chris and began beating the ever loving crap out of him off screen, while everyone else either watched with glee or cringed (other examples being Dawn choosing to cover DJ's eyes, Brick covering his own eyes, etc).

Cody on the other hand looked over at the others and only had this to say "We almost die at sea in balloons filled with noxious fumes, and the first thing we do when we get back to dry land is beat the ever loving crap out of the guy that put us there. God I love that woman."

"If she's kicking McLean's ass, I have no complaints." Anne Maria gave a shrug, with Scott, Jo, Heather and Alejandro all nodding in agreement.

On the other side of the final level, Mike was leaning against the edge looking out towards the landscape of Wawanakwa, with Zoey by his side "You know, it's kind of ironic. In a lot of ways, Mal represented the parts of myself that I was the most scared of."

"And he ended up… sacrificing himself for you. They all did." Zoey gripped Mike's hand for reassurance "Do you think they're really… you know… gone?"

"Honestly? No. Even after that whole crazy merge thing happened, I can still feel all of them somewhere inside my head, circulating around."

"But what about Mal? Do you think he's still around in there?"

"It's hard to say. I saw it this time… but I also saw it last time too. I don't know, how does that old saying go? Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear. Knowing how stubborn he can be, he probably will be back at some point."

"If he does show up, we'll be ready, because we'll face him together. Speaking of which, sorry you lost the challenge in the end."

"Honestly? I'm not. I have Mal to thank for even getting as far as I did, so it doesn't really feel right to win it and not have him around. Plus now I have my body back, and I have you back, so I call this a personal win." and then he and Zoey embraced in a tight hug "Oh yeah, definitely a huge win."

"Pipe down maggots, I'm on the (bleep) phone!" Chef barked at everyone as he leapt down from his tower and pulled out a phone "McLean's phone. No this is Hatchet, he's a little… busy at the moment." he looked over to where Gwen was still savagely beating yup Chris "I'll just pass the message onto him. Uh huh. Uh huh. Alright, he'll be thrilled to hear that, the same goes with the maggots. Yep I know what I said." and then he hung up "Good news for him, good news for the rest of you. The producers are all giddy over the finale, and now they wanna go straight into the next season."

"Yeah, no." was Duncan's dry input "I think I speak for everyone when I say that we're pretty much done with this dumpster fire of a show after this."

"Didn't say you were gonna be there. The higher ups want there to be an all new cast, so the rest of you are done." there was a pause, and then lots of cheering from the All Stars.

"Yes! Freedom!" he caught Cody in a high five and pulled Courtney into a heated kiss… only for any celebrating to be cut short when the ground began shaking and steam began to emit from the stone "Okay, what the hell is going on now?"

"How should I know? This one ain't me."

"I have bad feeling I know." Cody looked over at Chef "Just out of curiosity, what did you use to make these moats?"

"Chris said to use a fracking machine."

"Oh god."

"Dude, I'm pretty sure that can't be said on TV." DJ muttered.

"No, a fracking machine is a hydraulic drill. You can't use something like that on an island as small as this, it's dangerous!"

"Wait, what?" Gwen broke off from her assault on Chris and looked at Cody "What's going to happen?"

"Well if you use it carelessly, it could-" Cody was cut short by water spouting up from the hole in the stonel ike a geyser "-cause the island to sink like the Titanic."

And that was enough to make everyone present start panicking.

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It wasn't an exaggeration on Cody's part either. All over the island geysers began erupting, from the Flush of Shame to the outhouse confessional, to the abandoned mine, to various holes all over the island, even flooding the mess hall and the Spa Hotel in the process, with the animals and interns all running for their lives… until the moment came when the island itself finally went under with one massive splash, leaving debris floating in its wake.

Fortunately everyone made it out safely, some making it onto the debris in question, with others such as Heather and Alejandro emerging from the water, unharmed but setting "We've been cheated out of a million bucks for the second (bleep) time! I hate this show!"

"Well it could be worse senorita." Alejandro gave his typical charming smirk "After all, while we may not have the money, we have the greatest consolation prize of all, in the form of each other."

"Great, that's just perfect." Heather rolled her eyes, albeit with a small smile that she tried and failed to hide… but it quickly faded when the two of them noticed Fang glaring at them, and they promptly began swimming away screaming in terror.

"Ha! About time it happened to someone else!" Scott burst out laughing at the sight… only to immediately notice Fang's gaze land on him "Oh come on!" and then he joined the others in swimming away in terror.

All the while, Duncan and a few others (Courtney, Mike, Zoey, DJ, Dawn, Gwen and Cody) were riding on the roof of the loser cabin, and the former burst out laughing "Okay I've gotta admit, that was pretty freaking awesome."

"I'm very tempted to push you in." Courtney told him dryly as she held onto the brief case with the million, with the others nodding in agreement.

"What? It's just a joke."

"It's a crappy one, even by your standards." Courntey rolled her eyes, then looked around at the lake "It's hard to wrap my head around. This island had a huge impact on all of our lives, and now it's just… gone."

"I ain't gonna miss it, or being on this dumpster fire of a show. Frankly I pity the new suckers they want to bring in next season."

"Hey I'm not complaining, I'm just making a point."

"I know what you're saying Courtney, and frankly I agree. Plus all things considered, I don't think being on this show was a bad thing." DJ looked over at the others "Don't get me wrong, we all had a lot of ups and downs during our time on the show. A lot of downs. And we've met some people that we probably would be better off not knowing."

"I know exactly what you mean." Gwen looked down at Heather and Alejandro still being chased through the water by Fang, while Mike, Zoey and Dawn settled their gaze on Scott in particular.

"But think about all that we've gained from it too. I've made some of the best friends I'm gonna have in life." DJ looked around at all the others "Not to mention the other stuff."

"Like people that turned out to be more than friends." Gwen looked over at Cody, and the two of them shared a small smile as their hands intertwined "People we even love."

"Yeah." DJ looked over at Dawn, with Duncan and Courtney sharing a look of their own, the same with Mike and Zoey "And sure we've gone through hell in one way or another, but we saw just how far we were willing to go to get what we wanted."

"Some more than others." Courtney looked over at Heather and Alejandro, then down at her own hands still clutching the briefcase.

"In relation to that, we saw how far we were willing to be pushed for the sake of sticking to our principles." DJ looked down at himself, then over to where Brick was saluting him while holding onto a piece of driftwood, and he briefly returned the salute "Plus when you think about it, a lot of our lives changed for the better thanks to the time we spent on this show. Was it the best way for us to spend or teenage years? Probably not. But was it worth it? I don't know about the rest of you, but I wouldn't change it for anything."

"Very well put DJ." it was then that Chris (heavily bruised and bloody from Gwen attacking him earlier) got everyone's attention as he floated by on top of the confessional, then turned towards the camera to sign off "Well in the meantime, that's the end of our very first All Star season. But you don't have to worry, because we'll be back soon with a brand new cast, along with a brand new island too. Until that day comes, I'm your beloved and handsome host Chris McLean, and this has been Total! Drama! All Stars!" it was then that the sound of honking got everyone's attention "What the-"

"You guys need a ride?" it was then that a large yacht came cruising onto the scene, with two very familiar blonds standing at the stern "The more the merrier!"

"Geoff? Bridgette? Hey guys!" DJ stood up and waved to them, with everyone else doing the same "What are you doing out here?"

"We were on our way back from our honeymoon, then we noticed the island sinking and rushed over to help." Bridgette told him "We're just glad everyone is safe. Also congratulations on the big win Courtney."

"Safe being the operative word here." Duncan pointed out dryly "But frankly we're settling for not being dead."

"Works for all of us too bro." Geoff caught Duncan in a fist bump and pulled him and DJ onto the yacht with them "Anyway we were gonna do this later, but since you guys are already here, we figured why not invite all the people from every season for a big kickass yacht party?"

"Now you're speaking my language."

"Are we picking up everyone else?" asked Cody.

"No need, they're already here." Bridgette pointed to where everyone else from the first three seasons (Ezekiel, Noah, Tyler, Justin, Trent, Beth, Eva, Katie, Sadie, Harold, Lindsay, Sierra, Izzy and Leshawna) and from Revenge of the Island (Staci, Dakota, B, Sam, Cameron and Lightning) were all partying the day away "So to put it like my hubby would, it's party time, so get on up here already!"

"Works for me." once a hook was thrown down, Courtney and the others began climbing up onto the yacht, only for her to pause once she reached the deck "Huh."

"What's the matter?" asked Mike.

"I'm not sure, I just can't shake this feeling we forgot something."

"Like what?"

The answer soon came in the form of the Boat of Losers passing by with all of the animals from the island on board, with Owen being towed behind them on water skis "Hey mom check it out, I'm water skiing!" and then he wiped out as soon as he said this, but he wasn't deterred in the slightest as he rose back up and spat out some water "That was AWESOME!"

A/N:

This is it everybody, we've finally reached the end. The end of the season, the end of Wawanakwa… and the end of this trilogy, excluding the alternate ending, so I'll save the heartfelt ending speech for that.

In the meantime, I think it's time I address one or two things: Specifically, how I chose to end the Mike and Mal arc, with the former losing all his personalities in the process. I will admit that when I began to plan this out, I was nervous as to how my readers would react, especially given how infamous that is. Of course I always knew I would get rid of the reset button, that part is a given. And yes, I'm aware that it's not probable, if possible, for MPD to be cured realistically. But the thing to keep in mind is that this is Total Drama, it's never been realistic. I always thought that this could work if done properly, so I did my best to make Mike's journey a trial, or an actual series of trials as seen throughout this story, and giving up the first friends he ever had as the final test, so he could move forward, complete with an awesome final showdown between him and Mal in the mindscape, and a heartfelt sendoff to him and the other personalities, while also leaving it a bit open ended to the possibility of their return someday.

Oh, and in regards to that final battle between Mike and Mal in the mindscape that may or may not have been (totally was) heavily inspired by Dragon Ball fights, but with my own twists to keep it original. The way I see it, if one of them can create an entire prison world and evil guard tower in the mind, and another can create a shield with a wave of his hand, then I don't think what I've included is too much of a stretch. Plus the fight was a lot of fun to write, and you have to admit, it was pretty cool.

Elimination Order:

Scott- 14th

Jo- 13th

Anne Maria- 12th

Cody- 11th

Duncan- 10th

Zoey- 9th

Alejandro- 8th

Gwen- 7th

Heather- 6th

DJ- 5th

Brick- 4th

Dawn- 3rd

Mike- runner up/ alternate winner

Courtney- winner/ alternate runner up