Replies, kinda sorta halfway done:

lordgemini- Interesting you mentioned the math in the Hens. This actually is correct, and we'll see if that affects anything later. And yes, the shadowy figure will be making more appearances from here on out and having a much more significant presence. They always felt underutilized to me in this season.

Episode 10! This is a 21 episode season so we're getting there!

Episode 10: Splat and Attack

Clips instantly began to play of the tidal wave coming over the island in the cover of night a Chris began narrating last episode's highlights. "Last time, on Total Drama Karon Island," the host opened, "we had a good old fashioned swim meet, safe for vegetarians!" The first clips that played were of Sarah's excitement at the challenge and Helio being lost on what a swim meet was. "Sarah took the lead for her team, which ended so well for her and the others." Clips played of Sarah beating Paul and fighting with Jonathan. "With the Bunnies, Kayla had some fun teasing Paul about his crush, who still has not gotten a clue yet." Clips played of Kayla getting to go first as a result of their argument, and Flora trying to find out how they got along during the challenge.

"Sarah's bubbly yet harsh leadership caused Jonathan to turn on her, and so he sicked his little blackmail pawn on the swimmer, causing the Hens to throw their second challenge." Clips played of Luna teleporting past Norm, Ethan throwing the challenge, and Angie being persuaded. "In the end for the Hens, the throw was successful, and Ethan did his job, which was apparently not what Jonathan wanted." Clips played of Jonathan's anger post-elimination and Sarah being launched. "Finally, Randall met our chaos causing friend! Wow, I hope he's back soon." Chris laughed. The camera swapped to him on the dock. The island looked safe, for now. "Who will be hurt the most today? How many kids can I explode? None, I think." He frowned. "But, find out what happens today on Total! Drama! Karon Island!

Opening Sequence

[Various cameras and other director equipment come popping out of various points on the island. Firstly, it appears out of a large tree, then out of a hole at the entrance to the mines, and finally, shooting all the way from the top of The Chasm.]

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine,

[The camera zooms all the way up at the top of Mount Karon. Kara is at the top, observing something as Kayla jumps off of the cliff and starts flying downward, opening up a parachute at the very last second.]

You guys are on my mind,

[The camera moves to the beach, where Gretchen falls off of the rocky cliff and lands face first into the water, still splashing around happily anyway. Nearby, Juan is relaxing in the water as Hannah pops up next to him, evidently annoying him.]

You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see,

[Near the beach, the fourth boat is still wrecked and crashed into a rock. Helio lifts the boat out of the water to move it, all while Daniel is still on it, shocked at the boy's strength. Meanwhile, Madison emerges from the boat wreckage as well, and Jonathan offers his hand to help, which she takes begrudgingly.]

I wanna be famous!

[Further into the woods, Paul is narrowly racing against Sarah in a race. The pessimist trips over Sheldon and crashes to the ground, upset over his loss because of it. Flora rushes over to check on the safety of both the boys.]

I wanna live close to the sun,

[At the base of Mount Karon, Randall is decked out in climbing gear, excited to start moving up the mountain. Next to him, Alexa, looks significantly disinterested, sleeping on a log instead of watching.]

Go pack your bags cause I've already won,

[In the forest, Chad is screaming and jumping around to different trees, while Angie stands in the middle of all of it, covering her ears and getting increasingly more agitated.]

Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day,

[As Chad makes more noises, Ethan and Norm watch from a tree in the distance, before both of them exchange an understanding nod. Next to them lies an empty poison bottle.]

Cause I wanna be famous!

[In the dining tent, Chef and Luna are conversing rather calmly, before a strike of lightning crashes down on the tent. Chef runs out, but Luna appears unfazed by it, instead calmly glancing upward.]

Na na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na!

[The camera moves to the dock, where Luna appears out of nowhere, spooking Paul and Kayla. The two glare at her, the former giving up on caring much faster than the latter.]

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

[The camera drops down to the mines, where Kara is lurking, and she presses a button that launches out a ball of fire. The fire reveals some sort of odd structure inside the mine, bursting into a big glow that transitions to the fire.]

I wanna be famous *whistling*

[Everyone is circled up at the fire. In the middle of all of it, Jonathan leans in toward Madison, who jumps backward, accidentally landing in Ethan's lap, where she is even more freaked out. Above them is the sign that reads 'Total Drama Karon Island'.]

The sun came up over the campsites. Things were bright and cheery again, the water was all gone, and for the first time in a while, imminent doom did not seem to be approaching the island. Angie woke up with a loud yawn, stretching out her arms. "Ugh, what a good sleep," she said to herself. She barely opened up her eyes yet for the day. "Morning, deadbeats," she joked.

Angie finally woke up fully, and looked around her cabin. "Sarah? Are you somewhere being annoying?" She blinked a few times. "Oh, that's right...I voted her off. It's just me in her now, huh?" Now spooked a little at the emptiness of the girls' side of the Hen cabin, the hothead quickly got out of bed. "Well, that's odd."

Angie: "Gretchen's gone, which was sad. Hannah's gone, which is awesome. Madison's gone, that's a shame, and now Sarah is gone. That just leaves me as the only girl on the Happy Hens, and you better believe I am not happy about it."

Things were still tough on the boys' side, to no one's surprise. Juan sat on his bed patiently, waiting for everyone else to finally wake up. Eventually, Norm opened his eyes, marking everyone in there as awake now. "So, I checked the votes," Juan stated, breaking the tense silence in the room. "Weird findings. Sarah, out of nowhere, voted for Norm." He narrowed his eyes on one specific person. "And, so did you, Jonathan."

Jonathan was still thinking about what he had seen the night before, not really paying attention until his name was said. "Well, I'm innocent," he affirmed. "I was tricked by a third party, so that shouldn't happen again. It happened while we were out in the hail storm." He sighed. "I fear I might stop being helpful. I can't share anything else, or else they said they'd pick the four of us off one by one."

Juan sighed. "That is...terrible to hear," he admitted skeptically. "Angie voted with us, which was odd too. Do you think she may be the secret mastermind running the game?" He shrugged. "It's a thought. None of us have really interacted with her."

Ethan shook his head. "I can't imagine it was. She wasn't even trying to throw. My guess is that she just got tired of Sarah's bad leadership, like the rest of us did." He stood out of his bed. "It couldn't hurt to check the other team's votes if they lose. I think we should try and get a strong win today." He yawned. "I know it's early, but maybe that means we go talk to Angie about a plan of action today."

"That's a smart move," Norm agreed. "Let's all be on the same page for once. All of us." He made a specific glance over at Jonathan. "If this alliance wants to make it to the merge, we have to all be in on it." Three of the boys got up to head over to Angie's side, but there was one person who stuck around after everyone else had already left the cabin.

Ethan waited patiently for everyone to leave. "You all go ahead, I'll catch up in a second, just grabbing something." Once the room was empty, he began searching around Jonathan's bunk. His first thing he wanted to find was definitely not there. "Looks like he took that camera with him," the anti-villain muttered. He then lifted up the pillow, and found something else, a small piece of paper with writing on it. "What's this?" He read what was on the paper, ending with a light chuckle. "Paul, we're back in business."

Juan: "Is it just me," he asked, "or am I really the only one of us who's actively looking for clues on this secret person?" He sighed. "The other three are constantly sidestepping our main goal. Maybe Hannah would have at least listened. Maybe it was a bad move to vote her off." He paused for a second before laughing to himself. "...nah."

While the Hens were having a meeting for once, the Bunnies were doing the same, but about atopic very different from strategy. "Then, he scaled a tree in an instant!" Randall exclaimed, reciting the events from the night before. "He flew across the night sky, and threw a whole tree branch at me! It was pretty intense, but I got through it no sweat!"

The rest of the team was very silent as Randall continued his story. All of them were getting the same impression, but eventually Kayla was the one to speak up about it. "Okay...I'm confused. Is this like, some legend you tell your hiking friends, or like, what exactly are you trying to tell us? That the grim reaper-looking thing just appeared here in front of you?"

"For once, I agree with the less enjoyable twin," Paul said in agreement. "I was with you last night, and that so didn't happen. Plus, I think we would have heard if there was a giant tree branch that landed on the roof of the cabin that we were in." Helio nodded, even though he wasn't really following any logic besides he didn't hear it. "Cool story, but very not real."

Kara shook her head. "Even I'm a bit skeptical. I love a good mystery, but this one seems bogus." She stood up, excited to move on with the day. "Speaking of bogus, Luna, I have a place that I think we might want to take a look at." The psychic seemed interested in what the curious girl was thinking about. But. before Kara ad another chance to do anything, a paintball whizzed passed her, narrowly missing and hitting a tree. "Woah!"

The commotion caused all the Hens to emerge too, and sure enough, Chris was waiting for them, with a paintball gun in his hand. "Not so fast, mystery lady," Chris interjected. "Before you go anywhere, you're gonna come with me. All of you are! It's challenge time! Everyone follow me into the clearing in the woods, where the Bunnies won the first paintball challenge."

"First paintball challenge?" Flora asked hesitantly. "I hope we're not doing paintball again, I really do not want to have to shoot anyone so violently." With a shudder, the pacifist followed everyone else into the woods to get ready for the challenge.

As the cast caught up with Chris, they found a giant paint barrel next to him, as well as a large assortment of water-gun-looking weapons. "Today is more than just our average paintball challenge," Chris told them. "Today will be an all out turf war!" He shot a paintball at the ground, and to everyone's surprise, the shot exploded into a much larger area. "We have a special twist on today's challenge. To win today, the clearing has to have the most ground covered in your team's paint, blue for the Bunnies, and yellow for the Hens."

Angie sighed. "Well, that's annoying. I was hoping I could get a redemption trying to hit some of these people from last challenge." She eyed up some of the weapons behind Chris. "...Is that one a bucket?"

"Yes, and it's really okay," Chris told her. "In addition to stopping the other team from covering more ground than you by covering up their paint, you can shoot them to put them out of the challenge! Once you're hit by a regular paintball, you're out of the challenge. But, the challenge ends once a whole team is out. So, if you are losing, you might wanna hold on to that last enemy before you take them out."

"So, it's like real-life Paintoon?" Juan asked. Chris did not seem to understand what he meant by that. "You know, Paintoon, the game on the Swii X?" A couple people were understanding now. "Chris, it's one of the most popular video games, with the squids and-" He sighed. "Never mind."

Chris shrugged. "Clearly great minds think alike," he boasted, "but if the feds get on my back, I know how to get them off, so don't worry." He pointed north. "Bunnies, your base is up there, Hens, you're south." He gestured to the other direction for the Hens. "You have two minutes to get to your base and create a gameplan before the game begins. Pick your weapons too!"

Flora: She seemed a bit more excited. "I can at least help out today," she said excitedly. "Last challenge I was worthless, but now I can cover ground the whole time. I'll be able to pay Paul back for all his help!"

On the way to the Hens' base, Jonathan found Ethan. "You look like you have a really solid plan in that head," he told him mockingly. "So, you're going to tell me what your master plan is to get us a win today, because we either win or you lose."

"Obviously they can afford a more aggressive playstyle with more people," Ethan told him bluntly, "so we just need to be faster. Take more people out through guerilla tactics and then have two people hanging back to cover ground. It's the most simple strategy on the planet." He shook his head. "You're lucky you have evidence, or else I think you would have been gone ages ago."

Jonathan held his tongue, but looked visibly angry at the remark he had heard. The hens then arrived at the base. "Look at that weaponry," Angie said in awe, checking out their set. She grabbed a machine gun. "I want this one..." She tossed a sniper to Ethan, a bucket to Jonathan, some sort of paint roller to Juan, and then sent Norm the mop. "This is what you're getting, be okay with it." She turned to them. "We need a plan, and fast."

"I've got a super good one," Jonathan remarked first before anyone had a chance to speak. "You, me, and Ethan can go out to the field and start taking people out. Then, the two of them stay here and guard the base, while covering the area around it. If we take them all out quick enough they won't be able to do anything. Short and simple." Ethan glared at the brutal lover.

Norm shrugged. "I hate to admit it, but that's probably our best option. I surprisingly don't see any giant inherent flaws in that plan. It's not like Juan and I are going to do anything with a paint roller and a mop. I guess ours are more 'cover ground' tools than weapons."

"Hold on," Ethan argued, "doesn't that seem too simple? I mean, if the Bunnies take the same strategy, they outnumber us, and that means that anyone that goes out to hunt is going to be swarmed and lose." He narrowed his eyes at Jonathan. "And, if I could be so blunt, who died and made you leader?" Angie groaned. To her, this is the first they've fought for days.

Now the whole base was tense as time was running out for a plan. "Sarah did, metaphorically," he reminded them. "Honestly, the plan works. I think you need to stop being so skeptical. After all, you wouldn't want me saying something that you wouldn't like." Norm raised an eyebrow upon hearing that. Ethan, on the other hand, stayed quiet, picking up his sniper instead to do that plan. "Alright, let's go do my strategy!" Angie and Ethan followed him out.

Ethan: "My strategy," he corrected. "Luckily, I have a plan up my sleeve now. Jonathan sent me out there to keep an eye on me, but now I'm going to get another step ahead of him. Here's hoping I run into the right people."

Paul made it first to the Bunnies' base, grabbing one of two regular-styled guns. He tossed Flora the other one. "Alright, team, here's the plan today," he told them. "We strike first, and we strike fast. Twinsies and Psychic, you three go out hunting for Hens. Realistically, we can do it with Kara and Luna, but Kayla can play with them too if she wants." Kayla didn't appreciate the joke. "Mountain man and giant man, you get covering the ground, while Flora and I guard." He threw them the mop and roller.

Kayla grabbed the machine gun as Luna took the bucket and Kara took the sniper. "I really like your plan," Flora told the pessimist. "I hope I'm able to help you out a lot more today!" She turned to him. "Is there a reason I was the only one who didn't get a fun nickname?"

Paul was caught off guard by that question. "Um...I...couldn't think of one?" Kayla burst out laughing from that remark, earning her a glare from Paul. The buzzer for the challenge then rang, putting the team back in focus. "Alright. That's our cue! Get going!" The Bunnies, except for Paul and Flora, and deserted the base, getting ready to fulfil their roles in the challenge.

As the Bunnies got to their area, that ended up leaving Paul and Flora at the base alone. "I hope we can find a way to succeed today!" Flora told the pessimist as she began covering tons of ground around the base. Paul was doing the same. The pacifist glanced over at Paul another time. "By the way..." Flora added, "I've noticed that...you constantly set the groups so I am with you."

Paul hesitated. "Well, to be honest, other than Kayla, who's too unstable to really have anyone but Kara team up with her, I think I'm the most aggressive person on the team. That makes you, the kindest and most empathetic person my perfect counter for challenges. It lets us create unique situational solutions that no one else can." He shrugged. "And, since you refuse to fight, someone has to protect you."

"Sort of what I expected," Flora admitted. "I'm sorry if that was a difficult question to answer," she insisted. "Luna said something to me a few days ago that I haven't been able to put out of my mind. During the ring hunt." Paul seemed interested, and stopped spraying paint around to listen to what she had to say. "Something about figuring out your true motives. I feel like you maybe aren't fully explaining. Sorry, that sounded mean, I take it-"

"No, don't apologize," Paul cut her off. He let out a loud groan as he began angrily spraying paint around again. "Ugh, darn that ridiculous psychic!" He sighed. "Yeah, I've been prepping responses like that ever since Kayla started snickering like an idiot every time I spoke to you. You're better off not dealing with me, I'll probably keep lying to you..." The pessimist got very quiet for a while.

Flora shook her head, going over to Paul to try and comfort him. "Making plans like that in the event of failure is planning to fail. I think you would ease a lot of your burdens if you were honest about it." She sighed. "You know, one time, I was trying to clean up my parents' house while they were away as a surprise, and I ended up knocking over a vase." She looked mortified as she recalled that. "Oh, it's awful, probably the worst thing I've ever done! But, I shared with my parents when they returned, and they were okay with it."

Paul had to blink a few times to make sure he had actually heard that story correctly. "Wait, the worst thing you've ever done is break a vase and it was while you were trying to help someone?" Flora nodded. "Wow. You really are the true essence of kindness." The pacifist smiled gently at Paul. "I guess...that's probably why I like you so much." He took a deep exhale after that. "...Nope, feels worse now."

Somehow, Flora looked surprised. "You...really?" Paul nodded, looking like he was going to die of embarrassment. "Wow, I can't say that was what I thought it was." She laughed to herself. "Sometimes I can be pretty unaware of my surroundings, I guess." She looked at Paul. "Truly, you are such a talented individual, maybe one of the most that I've seen. But, I need time to think about it. Is that okay?"

The response seemed to get Paul to loosen up a bit. "Um...yeah, of course." Things at the base were back to being extremely awkward and quiet. Paul tried his best to change the subject as he got back to spraying paint around the base. "Well, I wonder how some of our frontline people are doing with their secret weapons we sent them with."

Paul: "I had about one hundred ways in my head in which that failed," he said seriously. "So...a not total failure is pretty much a win for me. At least I know she'll be nice about it once she says no in a day or two..."

Flora: She had a big smile on her face. "This is the first time anyone has said something like that to me. I hope I didn't say something wrong. I just didn't know what to say at all. Hopefully he's doing okay."

The frontline Hens were out toward the middle of the clearing. "Okay," Angie told them, "I seriously do not care what you people do with your day. I'm going off by myself." The hothead darted off in search of anyone else, and eventually, she found Luna. "Hey, creepy girl." Luna popped her head back to meet Angie's gaze. "Oh, wow, that's super creepy," the hothead admitted.

Luna took her bucket and tried hitting Angie, but she was way too fast to be hit by such a slow weapon. Luckily, Luna was getting a ton of ground covered while she was dodging. "Alright, time to end this," Angie said smugly as she began firing shots at Luna. In a final panic, Luna pulled a few weird-looking paintballs out of the bucket. "What the-"

The paint exploded in a huge bomb, forcing Angie to retreat before getting hit by any of it. The paint covered a ton of ground, but also hit Luna. The psychic looked upset to be the first one out. "Luna is out of the challenge!" Chris announced. Angie was still trying to re-cover everything Luna's paint bomb had covered, which was very tedious to do.

From nearby, Jonathan and Ethan had seen all of it. "That's not good," Ethan analyzed. "They have paint bombs. We need to detonate those from far away. I guess that's where I come in." He loaded up a shot and quickly found Randall, and without hesitation took him out. No paint was spilled for the Hens at all, but it meant that they had one more down.

"Bad move," Jonathan noted as they then spotted Helio running their way, likely to avenge his friend. "Here he comes!" Helio dodged the first few shots from the boys, and used his roller to block a few also. "He's a giant wall, we'll never get through him!" Jonathan's eyes lit up. "So we'll lose...and Norm can go and Ethan will be exposed...prefect."

Helio was not stopping. He swung his roller, throwing paint in their direction as he did. Ethan dodged behind a tree. "You're not helping at all!" he complained to Jonathan, who was watching with a smirk on his face. "Seriously? Fine, I can do this myself!" Ethan ran out, taking a few more shots at Helio. The strong man uprooted a tree and blocked his shots before throwing it in Ethan's direction. "I've fought scarier people than you!" He taunted.

"Big finish then," Helio decided. He grabbed two smaller trees and hurled them to cut off Ethan's escape. Ethan was backed into a corner as Helio approached slowly with the roller. "Eat paint stick." He swung down the roller, but Ethan narrowly dodged, scaling the tree behind him as high as he could. He descended off of it, firing a shot as Helio threw the roller at him.

The roller flew through the air as Ethan's shot got just underneath it. Without either of them able to block anymore, both attacks connected. Helio got hit by the singular shot and the roller smacked Ethan in the face, throwing him way back and making him slam into a tree. "In a very cool fight, Randall, Ethan, and Helio are all out of the challenge!" Chris called out.

The anti-villain took some deep breaths, shuddering as he felt the paint on his face. "Ugh, that's so...gross...I'm gonna be sick." He shot a glare at Jonathan. "Thanks for nothing. You know the person you want gone can't go if we lose, right?" Jonathan nodded. "Speaking of which, Helio is a monster. Why not him? That seems like the smartest option by far."

Jonathan laughed hysterically. "Oh...but it's not your option, is it?" His condescending tone made Ethan glare even more. "Well, you're out, so you're useless now. See you around." With an evil wave, Jonathan pushed Ethan out of the way and continued trekking toward the Bunnies' base.

Once both of them left, Angie appeared again, assessing the damage. "Wow, this is a lot of blue," the hothead complained. "Those boys can't do anything right..." She began spraying paint all over the place, trying to undo all of Randall and Helio's work. "Hopefully this fixes things."

Jonathan: "Am I throwing this challenge too?" he asked causally. "Yeah. I decided that Ethan is making himself less and less useful as the days go on, so with his occasional mutiny, I'm thinking of getting rid of Norm and then finding the sole vote idol to take him out."

Kayla and Kara had successfully slipped by the main conflicts happening in the middle and reached the base of the Hens that Juan and Norm were guarding. "It's a simple play," Kayla told her sister, "I take out the dork on the left, you grab the one on the right, we blow up their paint so they can't use it, we win the challenge." She grabbed her machine gun and got ready to shoot the boys.

"Twins," Norm called out bluntly as he and Juan took a defensive position for the fort. The siege ended up going very well for the Bunnies. Kayla's multitude of shots ended up spraying paint all over the base for her team, and also ended up hitting Juan in the process. Norm sighed. "Well, I can't let you leave like this." He took his mop and chucked it at Kayla in a similar sense that Helio had done. The mop hit Kayla, knocking the gun out of her hand.

Kara gritted her teeth as she took cover behind a rock. Norm rushed for the machine gun and picked it up. "Hey, you can't do that!" the curious girl called out. Norm began shooting at Kara with a much better weapon, and despite her multiple attempts to save herself, she got it. "Ha! That's my color, no way friendly fire counts!" Norm shrugged nonchalantly as he looked up.

The crackle of the speakers got all their attention. "Kayla, Juan, and Kara are all out. That leaves three left on the Hens and two left on the Bunnies!" Chris announced to everyone, letting them know that only five people remained in the game. "Better start getting some ground covered, we'll be tallying those scores once a team is fully out of the challenge."

"It looks like friendly fire counted," Norm told her with an arrogant smirk. "Shame. I was hoping to keep you hostage but that didn't seem to work." He began to walk away when he heard a beeping sound. Norm stopped in his tracks. "...What is that?" he asked. He traced the source of the beeping to the rock where Kara was and went over to it. There was a small blue ball sitting in front of him. "Oh no."

Kara smirked, her face covered in her own team's blue paint. "That's right, it's a paint bomb. I might be out, but now so are you!" Before Norm even had a chance to get away, the ball exploded, and blue paint went all over the Hen's base. Some of the paint hit Norm too, putting him out of the game. "Sorry, that's how I roll. Never underestimate me!" Norm gritted his teeth at the loss.

Norm: He angrily smacked his head, annoyed with himself. "Don't follow suspicious beeping noises," he told himself, "that's rule number one to living in a war."

Angie finally met up with Jonathan toward the middle of the clearing. "Finally found you again," Jonathan told her. "We had a huge run in with Helio and Randall. I took them both out though," he lied. Another announcement came over the speakers announcing Norm's defeat too. "Looks like it's down to us," he said. "If I've been counting right, then only Paul and Flora are left."

Angie smirked. "That means realistically, only Paul is left. Flora's not a fighter." She started running in the direction of the base. "Come on, if we get the jump on them we'll have a huge advantage over them." She continually moved stealthily behind the occasional rock and tree. Meanwhile, Jonathan let out a heavy sigh, walking in Angie's direction too, but making no effort to keep himself hidden.

Jonathan's presence was the first thing that the remaining Bunnies noticed. "Paul, it's Jonathan!" Flora called out, getting both of their attention. Paul shot a few shots at the brutal lover, but he ducked behind a rock. Paul gestured for her to go. "Alright, be safe!" Flora ran off, trying to escape the combat completely. Angie noticed her and pursued her without Jonathan knowing.

The pessimist took a few more shots at Jonathan, who had been aiming exclusively for Paul at this point. Paul was more than skilled enough to dodge the bucket's attacks. Meanwhile, an announcement had just come over the speakers, stopping both of them in their tracks. "Flora is out now!" Chris told them, "that means that it's two Hens to one Bunny!" Jonathan sighed, before throwing the bucket of his own paint on him. "Sorry, one Hen also. Jonathan's out too."

By thee time Angie had returned to the base, Jonathan was nowhere to be seen. "Looks like it's down to us," Paul told the hothead. He shot a warning shot that went past her head. Angie began spraying a ton of shots all over the place. Not one of them was even close to hitting Paul. "Sucks that you're the last one," Paul told her, "because you're a pretty lousy shot."

Angie snickered. "Oh, am I?" Paul suddenly glanced around and realized that the entire Bunny base was now covered in Hen paint. Angie had distracted the pessimist with poor shooting as an excuse to cover all the ground. Paul was almost too shocked to move. Angie sprayed out another set of shots. Two of them missed, but the third one hit Paul with a heavy force and put him on the ground.

"Time's up!" Chris announced. "Paul is out, which means there are no more Bunnies left in the game." On the side, Kara smirked, knowing the result of the Hen base. "While both teams somehow successfully infiltrated and painted up the other team's base, that left the middle clearing, which means that since they were the last ones to paint over it, the Happy Hens win!" Angie laughed to herself, knowing that was her doing. The rest of the Hens were happy, except Jonathan, who looked upset that they had lost.

"You seriously saved us today, Angie," Juan told her at dinner. "If you didn't stumble upon the clearing and cover that earlier in the game, then we would have been in huge trouble." He turned to Jonathan. "You too. Taking down Helio like that is now small feat." Jonathan smiled at the undeserved praise. "I'm glad we have a shot to recover, we'd be in a bad spot if we were down to four."

Jonathan nodded. "For sure. I'm glad all of us are able to get through another day." He still looked really angry at something, most likely due to the fact that he can't vote Norm out. He glanced over at the rest of the team. Norm had been keeping to himself, studying the table, while Ethan had been listening in on the conversation that was going on with the Bunnies.

"This stinks," Randall admitted, eating more of his slop compared to everyone else. "We had such a big lead, and then it just all went downhill today." He shook his head. "I really hate this part, but someone has to go." He sighed. "I'm sorry, everyone, I really thought I'd be able to do my part better today, but I got sniped."

Luna sighed. "Me as well. I thought our paint bomb strategy was excellent, and seeing Kara's results, it was clearly a smart decision." Kara smiled at that. "But, if I was more careful, maybe I could have stopped Angie at the very beginning instead of having her take out half of our team."

Kayla groaned loudly to get all of their attention. "Blah, blah, blah," she complained. "All I'm hearing from you two is, 'I stank in the challenge today I don't wanna go home so I'm trying to play nice." She stood up. "I'm not taking that heat from any of you tonight, especially you!" She pointed at Paul. "You basically sent Flora out to die out there. I'm surprised she even has the gall to sit next to you."

"Kayla, that is not how we resolve our differences on this team," Flora said sternly. The slight raise in tone frightened everyone, including the pacifist. "Oh dear...I'm so sorry..." Flora got up to excuse herself. Kayla, now feeling guilty, got up and followed her out to try and patch things up. Everyone else was leaving around that time as well. Things had taken a very interesting turn.

Paul was ready to walk out, but someone had stopped him again. "Hey," Ethan said nonchalantly. "I've been doing some digging, and I have something you might recognize." He pulled out the piece of paper he had stolen from Jonathan's bunk that morning. "I don't strike Jonathan as the poet type, so I'm assuming these riddles weren't written by him."

The pessimist took the paper and read over it. "That's it, this is definitely the idol clues." He read them over again. "We were in a swamp the day before that idol was played, so that means that he got the one from the damp location." He sighed. "That means our next spot is somewhere cold, which makes no sense for an island in the middle of the summer. It could be anywhere."

"I have a few theories," Ethan told him, "but none of them really strong enough to act on." He smiled. "You should keep that paper. You found it first, so it should belong to you." Paul seemed to appreciate that gesture. "But, first things first, you have to save yourself tonight. I think your team is going to go after you. You did drop the ball at the end there against our team's expert anger controller."

Paul groaned. "Yeah, I totally forgot about that," he said. "I don't even know if it's doable. I could have Randall and Helio easily, but the girls are pretty tight-knit." He sighed. "I need four votes to keep myself safe. Flora would vote with me, but she never votes ever." He shrugged. "Honestly, my best bet might to be to hedge my bets against Kayla in a tiebreaker."

That was not the response Ethan was hoping for. He took a deep breath. "How desperately do you need a fourth vote?" Paul seemed confused by the question. "I mean, you only need more than three if people are all voting in chunks. You should keep Kayla around, use her as a scapegoat when you need to. If you split their vote and target someone else who did poorly today, you'll be safe. I can work Luna and get her vote for whoever you want."

Paul thought about that option only very briefly. "That...works. Can you really guarantee Luna's vote?" Ethan nodded. "Being in the bottom again isn't really what I had planned, but I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Thanks." He narrowed his eyes. "With that in mind...what is your plan here? You claim to not want an alliance, and you have asked for nothing in return, even telling me about and letting me keep the idol clues.

Ethan sighed. "Put it this way. You're not the one paying, but I can assure you I am getting my reward in another way." He shrugged. "Plus, I read the paper, I'm as close to you are on the sole vote idol, you're just the holder of the paper." He gave the pessimist a wave. "See you tomorrow, maybe. Hope your day doesn't stink as much as this one." He left the dining facility and made his way back to their cabins.

Ethan: "Even being completely honest, I feel terrible dealing with Paul like this," he admitted. "But, I need people gone, or else I'm the one who pays for it. I just hope Norm takes care of things on his end before Paul realizes that he could just target Kara or someone."

ELIMINATION IX, BOUNCING BUNNIES

The seven remaining Bunnies got to the top of Mount Karon and sat by the fire. The front row was all the boys, Randall, Helio, and Paul, while the backrow had the girls, Kayla, Kara, Luna, and Flora. Chris and Chef approached the others with only six marshmallows. "Somehow, the lot of you lost to the ever-dysfunctional Hens, well, really Angie kinda wiped the floor with all of you."

Chris held up the first marshmallow. "Pretty much all of you dropped the ball today. Helio, you messed up the one thing you have to do, win fights. Twins, pretty poor on your end too. Randall and Luna...I have nothing to say, you all sucked the most. Then, Paul and Flora, you two seemed more distracted with something else than the actual challenge." He tossed out the first marshmallow. "Flora, hopefully you can get these kids back on track, you're safe." Flora seemed happy to get her marshmallow.

Chris held up two more. "Next people safe, Luna and Kara." The curious girl and the psychic got their marshmallows thrown to them, Kara's being hurled a bit faster at her out of spite. "Kayla, you're safe too." Randall and Helio seemed shocked to see Kayla take her safety. Even Kayla looked a bit surprised to get her marshmallow this early in the process.

The three boys up front were now all sitting without a marshmallow. "Yes, it's always a shock," Chris told them. "Paul, you were too busy taunting Angie to make a good play today. Helio and Randall, you two were taken down by Ethan in a manner humiliating for someone of your respective sizes." Both boys seemed upset about that. Chris tossed out the next marshmallow. "Helio, you're safe." The strongman looked happy to stay. "That makes tonight's loser...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Randall." Paul seemed relieved to get his marshmallow. Flora, behind him, looked equally relieved. Randall turned to Paul and quietly frowned, realizing he had been lied to. "Well, I'll miss you," Chris admitted. "You seemed to get hurt slightly more than the rest of your team, so I need someone else to traumatize for ratings." He pointed to his left. "Launch of Shame is that way."

Randall sighed. "That really stinks. But, at least I did pretty well. Sorry I did poorly today." He walked over and sat down on the launch pad. "Alright, do it." Chris hit the button and launched Randall. Instead of a scream, the mountain man could be heard clearly. "This thing is awesome! Not a ton of altitude though." Eventually, he flew out of sight.

Chris seemed almost shocked at that comment. "I knew he was weird, but wow," the host mused. He turned to Chef. "Chef, for our remaining eliminations, turn up the max launch height on that thing." The cook gave an understanding nod as he instantly began working on the elimination device. "Alright, that's all I got, get out of here." The six remaining Bunnies went back to camp.

On the way back, Paul stopped outside the cabin, just in the woods, to pull out the paper. "Somewhere cold," he muttered to himself. "What, do I need to wait until January or something to find this thing?" He shook his head. "Eh, no worries." As he walked back, something zipped by him. "Huh?" The pessimist quickly put the paper back in his pocket and looked around cautiously.

"Is someone there?" Paul asked out loud. "Kayla, if that's you, I won't hesitate to throw a rock at you." He waited around, but there was silence. As soon as he took a step to go back, something zipped by him again. Then, multiple sharp pieces of wood flew around him, sticking into nearby trees. "What's going on?" he asked angrily. "Whatever this is, it isn't funny."

Then, the figure appeared in front of Paul, spooking the pessimist. "How sad," it said to Paul, who was inching away. "I was so saddened to hear you didn't think I was real. Of course I'm real, and I'm here to cause all the chaos I want." It rushed behind Paul, slicing down a smaller tree in a hit with something gleaming from its cloak. The tree feel right in front of Paul. The pessimist eventually ran off, escaping the figure. "He's fun," the figure said. "Maybe I'll come back tomorrow for him."

Paul: "Woah, Randall was telling the truth?" he said with a surprised look. "I guess that's on me. Now I almost feel bad for getting rid of him. Well, it wasn't entirely my idea."

Chris laughed as he watched the whole thing go down. "And our mysterious chaos causer claims another victim!" he cheered. "This guys deserves a spot on this season, I should have had him instead of the nerd from the Bunnies. Who will the figure spook next? Will Jonathan slip up? What will Paul do now that the idol riddles are back with him? Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Karon Island!

Vote Confessionals:

Flora: "Even if Paul is in danger...maybe I should...no, I have to be myself. I won't do it."

Helio: "I want friend stay, but Purple say he go. Randall go."

Kara: "Paul messed up, so this could finally be our chance. Thanks, Angie."

Kayla: "Please, let this be the night. I know I'm in danger, but Paul is too."

Luna: "Randall has outstayed his welcome. That is all."

Paul: "Randall stank today, that means he could go and save me in this game. Nothing personal."

Randall: "I'm voting Kayla. Her outburst at dinner was uncalled for."

Total: Randall (3), Paul (2), Kayla (1), no vote (1)

Eliminated: Randall

Team Standings:

Bouncing Bunnies: Flora, Helio, Kara, Kayla, Luna, Paul

Happy Hens: Angie, Ethan, Jonathan, Juan, Norm

Eliminated: Gretchen, Chad, Sheldon, Daniel, Hannah, Madison, Alexa, Sarah, Randall

We lose Randall now. Honestly, I tried to give him as much as I could. I moved a lot of the early Daniel dialogue to him, but it wasn't enough to redeem him. I think Power Peak and Submerged treat him way better, which is okay, this just isn't his season. Alright, changelog time!

- I finally advance the idol plot line. This is a new thing for the rewrite that I really like. The sole-vote idol is super powerful and should have people actively hunting it.

- Our mysterious figure torments Paul! They weren't even in this episode last time! They'll keep showing up more, I want them to be a more integral part of this season.

-I changed some of the people doing certain things in the challenge. Angie got more time to shine, so did Helio. Also, painting Jonathan in a more villainous light here makes him stand out as the true antagonist.

-Took out the final Luna/Norm conversation. It didn't feel necessary considering next chapter's events.

Very much looking forward to next episode. It is very much a very Bouncing Bunny heavy focused episode so they'll get a lot of screen time for sure. After that, we'll be at the top ten! This is coming along quicker than I thought it would! Please leave a review letting me know what you thought of these new changes! I'll see you next week!