Reply time!

lordgemini- Angie voted for Juan based on her accusation she made in the cave. Since no one approached her, she stuck with her own gut about the vote. 'm really liking adding the mysterious figure more and making them actually part of the season instead of a gimmick I forgot about until the last minute. Enjoy the episode today!

We're down to ten, who won't make the final nine?

Episode 12: Scaled Up to Mountain Size

Chris and Chef were in the control room, playing with various things on panels. "We'll start that in about twenty minutes," Chris explained as Chef wrote that time down on a note nearby. "Here we go." He turned to the camera with excitement. "Last time, on Total Drama Karon Island, we sent eleven kids into a very dangerous mine to switch off a switch for, well, nothing!" The opening clips were of Angie poking at the cave walls and dirt spilling out, as well as Kara and Norm falling through sinkholes in the ground. "But, there's no day without progress! Paul learned he cannot beat our local demon in a fight to the death, and Luna learned, probably three days ago, that Norm was going to ask her out, which she accepted." The next clips played of Norm and Luna hugging, along with Paul defending Flora from the mysterious figure.

"In the end, the combined four brain cells between Helio and Kayla, all of them Kayla's, got the Bunnies a win when Helio thought of a great way to solve a puzzle: brute forcing it." Clips played of Helio solving the puzzle, much to Kayla's amazement. "Seeking a win, Jonathan tried to get Norm out while getting Ethan distracted with Juan, but since Angie got suspicious on the one wrong day, Juan got the Launch of Shame in a very cryptic exit." Clips played of Angie accusing Juan and Juan being launched out of the game without sharing what he learned. "Who is next to fall? Who will win it all? Find out soon, 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 rose like normal, where the Bunny girls were very lively already. Luna sleepily opened her eyes, noticing someone in front of her. "Oh hey, I saw you coming," she muttered aimlessly, not even seeing who it was. As she gained a bit more consciousness, she noticed it was Kara, with Kayla and Flora also in the cabin to greet her. "Oh, good morning to all of you."

"Well, we heard yesterday that your day separated from us was pretty eventful," Kara told her. "Honestly, we were all a bit surprised, but good for you!" She laughed. "To think you lying on the truth challenge would actually work out properly for you." She grinned. "Now you can tell us all you know about that thing that Paul ran into yesterday. Are you sure you know nothing?"

Flora stepped in to pull Kara back from the barely awake psychic. "Kara, give Luna some space please," she suggested. Kara obeyed and took a few steps back. "Luna, we would like you to know that the team approves of this. You don't need to be worried about having cross-team interactions with us. Besides, as fun as the team has been, we are likely to split soon."

As the other three were talking excitedly, everything was interrupted by a loud grunt from Kayla. "Yeesh, what's with you people?" she asked cynically. "You know we gotta stop being friends soon, right? She made an ally, that's what Norm is." She got up. "Just something to think about. While you three celebrate, I'm finding that other idol...that has no clues leading to it for some reason." With a defeated sigh, Kayla left the cabin.

Kayla: "Are those people serious?" she asked with a harsh tone. "They're not even allies, they're just happy for each other! Am I the only one with enough street smarts to see how that will end?" She groaned. "It doesn't matter. We win today, or I take care of Paul once and for all. No other options."

Meanwhile, things were very hostile at the Hen cabins. Jonathan was yelling, throwing his stuff from his bed all over the room. "Where is it?" he asked in desperation, but also in anger. Eventually, he ran out of places to look. He thought for a second before turning to Ethan and Norm. "It's obvious that one of you took it!" he accused the two of them viciously.

Ethan and Norm were watching in silence for most of the time as Jonathan was strewing his belongings about. "I'm not so sure it's obvious," Norm told him in a much calmer manner. "You've got to be more clear. What exactly do you think we took?" Jonathan examined the looks of both the antisocial genius and the anti-villain, but only saw confusion in both.

"Oh, don't play dumb, you too!" Jonathan fired back angrily. "The paper that was under my pillow!" he yelled. Again, his outburst was met with silence. "One of you took my paper I found that had the riddles for finding the idols! One of you has it!" He continued looking, but to no avail.

Ethan cleared his throat. "Woah, woah, woah, did you just say you had a piece of paper that led to the idols?" he asked. "That's like, seriously unfair. At least now we know how you found that first one." He laughed. "Honestly, I thought it was dumb luck, but I guess that brain does do something!" He laughed again, causing Jonathan to scream in frustration.

"I found that paper, which means I get to use it! I know one of you is lying." He grunted as he stood up and walked to the door. "I remember what it said generally, so I'm going to look anyway. You can keep it, it won't matter once I use it on whoever took it!" He slammed the door on his way out. "I'll make sure they pay for stealing it." He walked out from the campsite and toward the cave area from yesterday.

As Jonathan entered the cave, he glanced back a bunch of times to see if he was followed. Much to his happiness, he was not. "Perfect. Caves are cold, this has to be it, because I found the damp idol already..." He sighed. "I have to find this fast, now that someone else knows where this is." As he looked around, he heard footsteps. Gasping, Jonathan ducked behind a wall as someone walked out of the cave.

The mysterious figure walked out, but was not wearing their cloak this time. Jonathan was finally able to get a good look at them. The figure had dark black hair and wore an all black outfit, including gloves and a scarf. Their swords were in sheathes along each of their legs. "Alright, let's scare some children," it told itself, throwing the cloak around themselves. In shock, Jonathan lost awareness of his surroundings, and a sinkhole opened below him. The yell caught the figure's attention. "You're kidding me..." it complained.

The figure followed the trace to the sinkhole that opened up. Jonathan was lying at the bottom of it. "Oh, it's you," the figure said with an excited grin. "I thought you were that girl who asked too many questions." It pulled out a sword to arm itself. "You also been getting quite too comfortable for my liking." Throwing down a sword that landed right next to Jonathan's head, it jumped down the sinkhole. "You've been doing a mighty fine job running the game. But, I had an encounter I was not thrilled with yesterday. I want to pick your target today."

Jonathan looked much more in fear before, but he tried to not let it show through. "You can't tell me what to do," Jonathan said defiantly. "I'm carving my own way through this game!" He had a determined look on his face, but it vanished when the figure threw the other sword on the other side of the arrogant lover's head. "Okay! Fine!" Jonathan relented. "Who did you have in mind?"

The figure danced around it at first. "Carving your own way," it said mockingly. "Sure, with someone else's weapon as your own. But, results are results, that other person's weapon is quite strong." It sighed. "One of the Bunnies fought me yesterday, the whole experience between the lack of resolve and that girl dropping in left a sour taste in my mouth. Take care of it."

"That barely explains anything!" Jonathan argued. "Do you want someone out or not? You have to give me names or else it won't happen!" The figure vanished before Jonathan had a chance to fight back. "Ugh, who are they talking about? Anyone could have been the fighter or dropper!" He got up and started his walk out. As he did, he noticed the mysterious figure jumping with someone else out front.

"Come on, tell me something!" Kara complained as she fearlessly stood in front of the figure. For the first time, the mysterious figure didn't appear frightening, it was almost...annoyed with the curious girl's persistence. "Ever since Randall told us about you I've been dying to know more! Well, not right after, a bit after that happened."

The figure took a swing at Kara, a warning shot that grazed past her. Kara instantly shut up. "It's not safe here," it warned her. "In this place, disaster is imminent. You know that." Kara looked more excited hearing the mysterious figure speak of the disasters. "Earthquake." On that cue, the figure leapt into a tree and darted off. On cue, and earthquake started.

"Oh, they've got to know something!" Kara shouted as she ran back from the cave. Rocks and giant chunks from Mount Karon started to collapse down near the entrance. Jonathan had to run out as quickly as he could, narrowly missing a rock falling onto him. Kara noticed him as they both made it behind some trees. "Jonathan?" she asked, surprised to see him there too.

The two watched the earthquake finish up, revealing that a part of Mount Karon had completely collapsed, making a perfectly flat upward surface. Jonathan was about to say something, but the speakers had cut him off. "Attention, campers," Chris called out. "We have a challenge at the base of Mount Karon, near the former cave entrance. Don't bring anything you do not want to break." He paused for a second. "You have to bring yourselves. You'll just break anyway."

Kara: "That mysterious figure called out the earthquake before it even happened!" she analyzed. "Does that mean Chris and Chef aren't controlling them, or does the mysterious figure work for them?" She sighed. "That sucks, I was hoping it'd be one of us."

Jonathan: "Kayla could be either...Helio is a fighter, but did the figure not like the fighter because they were good? Or because they were bad? Flora is a bad fighter." he groaned. "Kara is the dropper, I think. Maybe I go after her."

The final ten gathered outside where Kara and Jonathan were. All of them were pretty surprised to see the change in scenery from just a day ago. "So...this just happened, like, right now?" Angie asked, inspecting the damage. "That's crazy, it even caved in the mine entrance."

Chris was waiting for them with six backpacks in front of him. "Today's challenge is very, very simple. Without leaving the zone from which the earthquake has just caved in part of Mount Karon, you need to make it to the top." Everyone looked pretty daunted by that task. "Not to worry, I have three bags of climbing gear, good for one person to use for each team!"

Kayla smirked. "And I was stupid for getting rid of Pencil. You got rid of Randall and now we have a mountain climbing challenge!" Paul looked upset at her taunts, but they were right. "I mean, how unlucky is that? Now we're gonna lose and it'll be all because of you!" Kayla's taunts were very much getting to Paul.

"Ahem," Chris said to grab everyone else's attention. "Just saying Randall may have helped a bit, but in order to win this challenge, you will ring the bell at the top of the mountain. Once everyone has rang it once, your team wins, meaning everyone needs to be up at the top at some point in the challenge to win." Chris snickered. "And, because I am not nice, I added some...traps along the way up."

Everyone glanced up to watch a small explosive go off in the middle of the mountain. A bit higher, they noticed some angry animals, one of them slipping on some artificial ice, causing it to fall all the way down. Chris laughed as that happened. "Oh, wow, imagine if that was one of you. It could be soon!" No one else seemed to find that funny. "Alright, now it's your turn to get injured. Remember, once you're at the top, ring the bell, that'll mark you as a finish." He rang the air horn. "Ready...go!"

The Hens seemed to have most of this planning taken care of already. Angie swiped all three bags for the team. "This is super easy for us," she said excitedly. "Our small numbers are really going to pay off." She opened up one of the climbing packs and pulled out a long rope. She tossed the rope over to Norm and Jonathan. "You two tie each other together, Ethan and I will fly solo on this."

Jonathan looked really upset by the order from the hothead, and even looking at Norm, the genius also seemed to have his own concerns about that arrangement. "Yeah, not going to happen," Jonathan protested. "I'm in charge, and I decided that I'll go keep an eye on Ethan this challenge while you and Norm climb the lame mountain."

To his surprise, Angie burst out laughing. Then, she snapped to a venomous look. "You're in charge? The one who blew it yesterday big time? On top of that, we're down two members because of your complete ineptness at socializing!" She glared at him. "Your leadership cost us the game last challenge, and I am not letting you do that to the four of us left." She threw the rest of the open climbing bag at Jonathan. "You and Norm climb. Now!" No one else was brave enough to argue with Angie.

Angie: "Jonathan's getting really mean for some reason," she pointed out. "So, to take control, I have to be meaner, which luckily, I am really, really good at."

"Alright," Kayla called the Bunnies, "obviously we have some above-average physical threats here." She shot a glance over to Helio. "So, those of us who can should give away the climbing packs. I'll go by myself." She turned to her sister, who looked terrified to be going up the mountain. "Kara." No response at all. "Uh...Earth to scaredy-cat?"

The curious girl was staring at the cliff they had to scale, completely stopped in her tracks. "This is no aquastacle-course wall," she said nervously. She quickly grabbed one of the climbing packs for herself. "Y-you all go ahead of me," she insisted as she tightly gripped the climbing bag in her hands. "I-I can totally catch up with all of you a bit later."

Helio wasted no time helping out the team as he walked away from the bags and grabbed a rock on the wall, preparing himself to climb up with just his raw strength. Paul grabbed the final two bags, handing one of them to Flora. As he did, he was stopped by Luna. "Apologies," she said sheepishly, "but if it's not too much trouble, I would like a bag for this one."

Paul looked at the bag he was planning on using for himself. "Luna, to be fair, you could just teleport up right? That's not such a big deal." Luna hesitated for a second, but Paul caught the odd look Flora was giving him. "You know, I'll let you have it." Luna sighed as she got the climbing bag, leaving Paul to fend for himself instead. The two started to climb together as Luna went off on her own too.

Kayla was doing quite well considering that she didn't have a climbing bag. She dodged a set of falling rocks, only for them to hit Helio, who was already right below her. "Dang, he's fast..." the brat muttered. Then, an idea popped into her head. "Hey, meathead!" she called out below him. Helio looked up. "You know the teams are gonna be merging soon, wanna pair up at the merge?"

A larger rock came falling down at the two of them. Kayla dodged the rock by shimmying to the side of the mountain a bit, while Helio took the hit head on. To her surprise, Helio looked unfazed as the rock shattered in his fist. He finally was able to respond to Kayla once the barrage of rocks stopped. "What merge?" he asked, very confused at that.

Kayla hesitated. "Do- do you mean like, 'what merge' like you don't plan on being my ally, or like, 'what is the merge'? With you I might not actually know." Instead of being able to get a response, Kayla was hit by something larger, a metal cage that fell on top of her. The brat was knocked off her spot and sent back down to the bottom, now trapped inside the cage. "Okay, this just got a lot harder."

Kara watched as her sister just plummeted down a few feet, hitting the ground with a thud. "Oh no," she said as she began to freeze up again. "Okay, I can do this, I can do this." She took a deep breath, and with one arm move, she grabbed a lose rock that fell off, almost knocking her down too. Kara clutched onto her rope, keeping her from going anywhere. "Okay, I can definitely not do this."

"There is nothing to fear, Kara!" Luna assured the curious girl as she climbed. The psychic seemed to have no problem dodging the many obstacles that were falling down at her. Luna noticed Kara still frozen. "You know," the psychic said a bit slyly, "I'm sure you can get a view from the top that we can't normally get at the nightly elimination ceremonies."

The curious girl thought of what Luna was implying. "Maybe the shield is visible from up there or something..." she thought. She confidently grabbed onto a new rock, this one working for her. "Oh, yeah, I'm so getting up there now! That's all I needed!" The psychic smirked as she saw the success of her efforts, Kara now scaling the mountain with little issue.

Luna: "Getting mainly Bunnies to the merge would be ideal," she noted, "so that means all of us have to at least be able to climb today. Otherwise, we run the risk of the Hens ganging up on us."

Nearby, Norm, who by Angie's orders, was strapped to Jonathan, let out a small sigh of boredom. Jonathan was working pretty hard with his climbing gear to get to the top, but he was still being weighed down with the antisocial genius on his back. "You know, you could help a little bit," Jonathan complained as he got himself up a little higher. The two were only about a third up the mountain.

Norm glanced upward to see a bunch of rocks coming down. "Duck now," Norm suggested. Jonathan instinctively got lower, letting the rocks miss him. One of them hit Norm, but that was not his issue. "You're welcome," Norm told him bluntly. He narrowed his eyes at the brutal lover. "Now, to business. Every chance you get, you vote for me. What's your big idea doing that?"

"Well, do you not consider yourself a threat?" Jonathan told him bluntly. "You're overly arrogant and you are also working with Ethan, which makes you even more dangerous to me. You also probably stole the idol riddles!" Jonathan huffed as he got up a bit higher. "Overall, I really just don't like you. We're definitely merging soon, and I want you gone before that, but we have to win today."

Norm snickered. "Flattery won't get you anywhere with me," he said between laughs. "But, you're right. You wouldn't survive a vote today, and I think you know that if you want me gone before the merge, you better hurry up. Ethan won't do your dirty work forever." Another rock fell toward the duo as Jonathan halted in his tracks. "Step to the left," Norm warned.

Jonathan dodged the rock before turning his head back to look at the genius. "Oh, thought I wouldn't catch on?" Norm asked condescendingly. "I've been working with Ethan since the start, and I knew that something was up the instant you two pretended to make up for Juan and all of the sudden my vote suggestions were being ignored." He smirked. "But, I didn't hear it from him, you're just way too obvious about it." He looked up again. "Rock." Jonathan kept quiet for a lot of the climb after that.

A bit further up, Paul was doing quite fine, even without his climbing gear he wanted. He looked down briefly. "Flora, are you doing okay down there?" he asked with concern. He had heard a slight knock a few feet higher. "Careful," he warned the pacifist, "I think we're coming up on a trap here!" He took his time to make it a few feet to his right so that he could avoid the trap.

Flora smiled up at the pessimist. "I'm doing quite fine, the climbing gear is very useful." She pulled herself up a little further, but slipped on a patch of ice. "Ah!" Flora screamed as she began to fall. Paul took it upon himself to slide down the mountain and catch her arm so he could stop her descent. Flora took a few deep breaths before calming down. "That was quite scary," she admitted. "Thank you."

Paul made sure that she really was okay, and then the two began climbing up further. Paul stayed closer to Flora's pace this time to make sure that something like that wouldn't happen again. As they made it up to where Paul was initially, the knocking came back. "Uhhhh, a little help in here?" someone had asked, "I think I got stuck."

Paul glanced around at where everyone was. Luna and Kara were a bit above them now, Flora was right next to him, and Helio was nearly at the top. Kayla was way below them. He then noticed Norm and Jonathan below him, Ethan below them, and even further down, Angie seemed to be struggling. "Who...is that?" Paul asked. "It doesn't sound like that...demon thing."

Flora approached the rock the voice was coming out of. "Well, we are in no position to just let this person continue to be in pain," she reminded Paul. "It is definitely in our best interest to help them out. Paul nodded, finding a solid foothold so he could use both of his hands to get the rock off of its current location. What the two of them saw was shocking. "Randall?" Flora asked in shock. "What are you...how..."

Randall laughed as he managed to pull himself out from the tight crevice he was stuck in. "Oh, wow, I've been asking for help for like...a whole ten minutes!" he said. "Imagine my luck that one of the rocks Chef is hurling down is right on where I was!" He chuckled. "Sorry, I don't think that answered your question. I'm back because...well, did you really think I was going to miss a climbing challenge?"

Randall flew out of the wall and began scaling the mountain, much to the surprise of a lot of other people who were now seeing him too. "Randall here?" Helio asked in shock as even he was passed, the mountain man very much showing his extreme prowess with mountain climbing. Helio was now only a few feet away from the top now, but also a bit more confused than he was a second ago.

Paul: "Well, this one's on me," he admitted. "I gave Kayla grief for booting Sheldon, I better be ready to take more taunting now that we've all seen what he could have done...or...did? Is he back?" He scratched his head. "What is he doing here?"

At the top of Mount Karon, Chris and Chef were waiting patiently, well, maybe not as patient as they needed to be. Chef was busy throwing rocks down the mountain, a whole stack of them right next to him, while Chris yawned. "They're taking a long time," Chef muttered to himself. Just then, a set of hands made it up the mountain, pulling themselves up.

"We'll have to rescue them if it takes too-" Chris paused in his tracks as he saw the person who made it up the mountain. "Uh...dude?" Chris asked Randall, who had now fully gotten himself to the top of the mountain. "What are you doing here?" He saw the Launch of Shame just a few feet away. "I didn't forget something, right? I could have sworn I sent you out of here."

Randall laughed as he put an arm around the now very confused host. "Oh, come on, Chris," the mountain man said excitedly, "you didn't really think that I couldn't smell a mountain climbing challenge from a mile away? I wouldn't miss this for the world, and look around, I won it!" He beamed proudly as even Chef was pausing to see the commotion. "I would have been good today."

Chris scowled once he finally got his bearings and took in what exactly was happening. "Okay, dude, I think I gotta make this clear." He pointed to the Launch of Shame. "That meant you were out of the game, you can't just come back. You didn't actually expect me to believe that you really are here just to do this challenge?" Randall stared blankly at him. That was exactly what he had meant.

Chef being distracted allowed some people to finally make it up. Helio was the first to get himself to the top and then ring the bell, and Paul followed shortly after. "Oh, good," the pessimist noted as he pulled Flora up, then walked over to the bell to ring it. "Chris looks just as confused as us. Do we know what he's doing here or not?" Flora also rang the bell.

Jonathan and Norm were the next two to make it up the mountain. "I agree with Paul," Jonathan complained as he unstrapped the ropes connecting him and Norm. The brutal lover let out a deep sigh in relief as Norm finally made it off of his back. "He's not back, right? You specifically promised that no one would be coming back. No funny business, remember?"

"Crap," Paul noted as he saw the two Hens making their way up. "Half their team is here." He turned to see Flora and Helio up there with him. "Well, I guess half our team is here too." He took a look down to explore who was left. Kara and Luna were struggling on the left side, while Kayla was still near the halfway mark, recovering from her first trap encounter.

Just as he finished checking, someone else made it to the top. "Let's make that Hen count three fourths," Ethan called out, making it to the top while also ringing the bell. "Wow, that path I took really stank if so many people beat me up here." He ran to the edge to check on their final member. "Angie!" Ethan called out to the hothead. "How are you doing?"

The hothead grumbled as she struggled with the ropes, which appeared in a more complex shape than normal. "Yeah, I've got some bad news," Angie told them as she pulled on one of the ropes. "I have no clue how, but this thing got tangled, I can't get any higher without fully unstrapping myself or going down a bunch to fix it. Either way, it's going to take some time."

As Angie struggled, Kara and Luna were finally arriving at the top. "One to go for them too," Jonathan muttered with anxiety. "I really need this win today, that mysterious figure will ruin me if I lose..." He turned to Norm. "Alright, time to prove yourself, brainiac," he told him. "I need you to take the climbing gear we've got up here and make a bungee cord. I've got an idea."

Norm blinked a few times. "You're really giving me an order?" The antisocial genius sighed. "Fine, but only because we need to win this challenge before our numbers dwindle past the point of no return." Norm began tying together some ropes and thinning some spaces out in an attempt to make it more stretchy. Eventually, he had figured it out. "Here, but there's no way I dive for the team, that's suicide."

Jonathan smiled. "Thank you Norm, maybe I was too harsh on you." He held the rope in his hands with a dark smirk on his face. "And, don't worry, Norm, you won't be the one taking the dive." He threw the rope around Ethan. "Make sure you hit Kayla off or else we're going to lose." Ethan looked shocked that Jonathan was actually going to do it, but to the other boys' shock, Jonathan pushed Ethan off the top of the mountain to take the dive.

As the Hens were busy trying to take drastic measures, Kara finally got a good glance at the sky above them. From the top of Mount Karon, an odd grid-like pattern could be seen surrounding the island. "It really is a dome," the curious girl muttered to herself. "The whole shield incident yesterday...it was for nothing! They unleashed that tornado on their own!" Luna grinned as she saw that Kara had gotten it figured out.

Ethan plummeted further and further down the mountain, still surprised Jonathan had actually pushed him. He whizzed past Angie, who was still struggling a little bit to get the ropes untangled. He glanced up at Angie, then focused down on Kayla. "Well, I might as well get a win for the day," he decided reluctantly. He made it all the way down to the brat. "Sorry about this," he said genuinely as he grabbed her hands and pulled them off of the rock she was on.

Kayla flew off the mountain face but they both ended up suspended in the air about halfway up. "Seriously?" she asked, surprised to see the anti-villain. "You? I haven't seen you do a thing this whole game and now you're making a big play? Let go of me!" Both of them glanced up to see Jonathan with the other end of the rope and the same smirk on his face. "You're kidding..."

Jonathan laughed one more time as he let go of the rope, sending both of them down the other half and putting them at the start again. Neither of them was really able to get up from their positions on the ground, both in a lot of pain. Angie finally got to the top, ringing the bell as soon as she could. "That's four rings from the Hens!" Chris announced. "In a very intense ending, the Happy Hens take the win! Bunnies, we'll see you tonight to make six people five." He glanced over at Randall. "Or...seven."

Norm: "I made a bungee cord because I didn't want to lose," he said bluntly. "I didn't make it because Jonathan was planning that. If I knew, we would have lost the challenge, and that would have been okay too."

Kayla: "What a pest!" she called out, looking very injured. "At least he's as beat up as me now, which isn't a lot, but I'm still glad he's not walking out of this one unscathed. Tonight, I take out Paul."

In the infirmary, the two campers who went down the mountain were resting and recovering. Kayla had a scowl on her face as she washed off another cut from a rock. "How on Earth did you think that was a good idea?" she shot at Ethan, who looked miserable as well as injured. "Now you're hurt, I'm hurt, and you can't seem to tell me why you did it!"

Ethan sighed as he wrapped up a bandage around his left leg. "I wish I could tell you in a way you'd understand," he admitted. "My position in the game has been far from what I wanted it to be, and I let Jonathan control me today." He sighed again, turning to Kayla. "I'm sorry. I could have ignored you. Angie likely would have won anyway, so at least you wouldn't be here. This just adds to the list of terrible things I've done."

"Oh, great, the pity party," Kayla said with a scoff. "Don't act like you're a terrible human being. You've done nothing of note on this island, and even if you did, who cares? I've been ruthless with my team and they kept me around." She got up. "I have to go vote." She had a sinister grin on her face. "I'll continue to be ruthless, that's how I work. And once Paul's out of the picture, it'll be perfect!"

Ethan watched as Kayla left, probably too early as she had a bit of a limp still. Her words echoed well with him, a smile appearing on his face. But, that joy was quickly interrupted. "There you are," Jonathan taunted, swinging around the excess rope from the challenge. "I've got a good target for you. Some demon in a cave wants me to get rid of the person who made him mad, so I need you to boot Kara today."

"Demon in a cave?" Ethan asked in confusion. "You sound like you're the one who hit their head falling down a mountain they were pushed off of." He shook his head. "Can't do that tonight. I have too many injuries to do anything, and at this point, you've crossed the line. I'm not getting your votes anymore. Do whatever you want. I can't imagine people will stick by your side after today."

Jonathan paused for a second, before slamming his fist against the bed Ethan was resting on. "Ha! Imagine that! You actually think you're safe if you do that?" He pulled out the camera from his pocket. "I have this, your actions against Kayla, and a map to the sole vote idol. You literally can't beat me." He left the infirmary. "Make Kara go today, or you're done for." Jonathan looked much angrier than normal as he said that. Ethan mindlessly watched him leave before lying down again with a yawn.

Jonathan: "That's fine," he said with a nervous twitch. "It's not like I'll be threatened any more than I was today. That demon might work for Chris, but it's just a person, and it isn't allowed to kill me." He gulped. "Probably."

Ethan: "I wish I had more energy to tell him off," he admitted, "but I'll just let tonight run its course. I made it to the next day. That's all I can do now. Hopefully without hurting anyone else. I'm done taking orders. I'm helping people now."

ELIMINATION XI, BOUNCING BUNNIES

The seven Bunnies hiked up to the top of Mount Karon on the regular path this time, with Randall leading the charge, everyone a bit confused to why he was still here all the way to now. Once they got there, they took their seats. Up front was Helio, Randall, Paul, and Flora, while the back row was Kayla, Kara, and Luna. Chris approached them with only five marshmallows left on the plate.

Everyone's hands shot up as Chris and Chef arrived. "Put them down," Chris told them, "I can answer this. Even though he showed up magically today, Randall is going back with whoever all of you voted for tonight." That seemed to ease everyone's worries. "As a reminder, since this is the winning team, no marshmallow means no safety, and trust me, you all really want what I've got here this time."

The Bunnies all looked a bit more tense as Chris said that. "Here we go. Helio, you're safe." The strongman looked happy to get his marshmallow. "Also safe tonight, is Luna." The psychic equally looked content to be in the game still. There were only three marshmallows left. "Flora, you're safe too." The pacifist gladly took her safety symbol, but gasped once she realized what that meant.

Paul and Kayla glared at each other, each of them having venom in their eyes. "Oh...this one is pretty intense!" Chris said with a laugh. "Neither of you did anything wrong today, but you two have been accumulating hate towards yourselves all season." Neither of the two budged from their determined looks. "One of you drops tonight, and the person taking the Launch of Shame with Randall is...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Paul!" Flora let out another gasp as Kayla sighed in relief, catching her marshmallow. Kara and Luna looked at each other with a grin as well. "Paul, you've been fun for sure, but it looks like you've officially overstayed your welcome." He snickered. "You know, Flora, if you voted tonight, you could have caused a tiebreaker, maybe saving him."

Flora had a sad look in her eyes. "I...I can't believe they voted you off..." she said with sadness in her voice as she turned to Paul. "I'm sorry, I should have voted, it could have helped you!" She shook her head. "There has to be something I can do to help you!" She hesitated for a second before adding, "...because...I like you too, Paul. I want us to be together."

Paul laughed lightly. "Just my luck," he said shaking his head. "The instant that I find someone who means something to me, I have to go away from her." Paul put his hands on Flora's shoulders. "Don't be sorry, you stuck to your own morals, and that's something that no one else here can really say they've done up to now."

"You're wrong," Flora told him. "You don't have to go away from me." She pulled him into a hug, which Paul happily returned. "Maybe I can go away from you." Paul quickly figured out what that meant and tried to stop her. "After all, you're much better at this game than me." She turned to Chris. "Chris, I would like to take the Launch of Shame in Paul's place."

Paul tried to resist, but Flora was already on her way over. Chris shrugged. "Honestly, I don't care who, I just need someone on that platform in like, a minute, so speed this up please." Flora nodded as she rushed over to the Launch of Shame, where Randall was already waiting for her.

"I'll make sure I win for you!" Paul called out. Flora giggled at Paul's newfound determination. With a yawn, Chris hit the button, sending Flora out of the game instead of the person who was voted off. Paul felt the presence of someone else behind him. "What do you want?" he shot bitterly at Kayla.

The brat snickered. "Oh, don't be so sad, you're still here, aren't you? I should be the one who's upset, I got the votes and it still didn't work out!" She had a devious smirk on her face. "Consider yourself lucky tonight, because I'm keeping that momentum up for as long as I need to until you're gone! Nothing will change that!" Paul rolled his eyes at the brat's taunts.

Paul: "What an annoying little-" he slammed his hand into the confessional wall before stopping and thinking. "Actually, I'll let Kayla have this one." He pulled out the piece of paper that had the idol riddles on it. "After all, I still have the upper hand against her."

Jonathan looked furious as he returned from the vote results. "He really didn't do anything!" he said angrily. "I guess that means I have a job to do tomorrow!" He walked back through the woods when a sword flew past him and stuck in a tree to his left. "No, not now!" he called out. The mysterious figure appeared in front of him in an instant. "Look, I'm sure there's an explanation for-"

"Explanation?" The figure asked, confused. "I don't control this game, that's your issue. I was actually planning on letting you off the hook." Despite the nice words, the figure's tone was still terrifying and dark. "You did your work to eliminate Paul like I wanted, what happened after was out of your control."

Jonathan paused for a second. He had been chasing the complete wrong target all day. "Paul..." he muttered to himself. Before he could get figured out he grinned. "Right, I did put a lot of effort into that, you're right." He laughed. "Glad that's water under the bridge. I have a rather large day tomorrow, so I'll be off." Surprisingly, the mysterious figure actually let him go. Jonathan grinned darkly and pulled out his camera. "Someone else is going to have quite the day too."

He scrolled through his evidence, and landed on his most recent one that he had gotten that day. I've been working with Ethan since the start! a voice clip from Norm repeated. "Well, no sense in not taking down two birds with one stone," he said with a laugh. "They'll pay for taking everything I loved away from me!"

The screen panned out to see Chris watching this in the control room. "Oh, he's super mad!" Chris laughed. "We're down to only nine! What will our mysterious figure do next? Why was I so insistent that they wanted those marshmallows? What's Kayla's next move? Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Karon Island!"

Vote Confessionals:

Flora: "I can't tell if people I care about are in danger...I really don't know what to do...I think..."

Helio: "Mean girl climb mountain bad. She go."

Kara: "I won't let this chance slip. Paul has to go."

Kayla: "Paul is so out of here, and I know that for a fact!"

Luna: "Apologies Paul, but with no stars to dictate my vote I choose to vote with Kara tonight."

Paul: "I'm voting Kayla. She stank in the challenge today too, obviously that's gotta count for something."

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

Eliminated: Flora (Volunteer)

Team Standings:

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

Happy Hens: Angie, Ethan, Jonathan, Norm

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

And we're officially down to nine! Flora is another character than since her inception has gained popularity due to other fics she's been in like Sakamannano and Hollywood. She also has a tendency to do very well unless something like this happens to her. But, I'm really happy with how her re-write characterization was, her taking on a leadership role was good for her. Let's talk changes!

- After much deliberation, I let Randall come back again. I felt like that was too fun to let go of.

- The mysterious figure now leaves his desired person ambiguous until after elimination. I felt like him going "I want Paul gone" was stupid, and he also had no reason before to want that, which is why Paul fought him last chapter.

- Paul no longer shoves Kayla off the mountain first, I had her get hit by a trap at the beginning, which put her down there. Simply felt like Flora would not forgive an act like that so easily.

-Jonathan causes Ethan and Kayla's injuries this time. Again, working on more villainous Jonathan so that worked out well.

-Norm accuses Jonathan of the blackmail! This is a new thing I wanted to do, since this is sort of a Norm episode that reminds us he is pretty smart still.

I don't have much else for this one. This challenge was really short, which I think this was one of the shortest episodes back in the first version too, simply because this is like, half a challenge for anywhere else. But, as always, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of this week's update! See you soon!