Replies, fused together:

lordgemini- Regrettably, Flora's big crippling weakness is that she is super willing to give up her game for people she cares about, which makes her a balanced character, because as you said, it's hard to just vote her out. I think you'll be surprised by how the challenge turns out today, the aftermath is very different this time around.

Big chapter today, the plot finally thickens again!

Episode 13: Converging Paint Lines

Chris stood at the edge of the beach, where Chef was nearby, priming paintball guns again. Chris grinned as he opened up the episode. "Last time, on Total Drama Karon Island, we blew a hole in the side of Mount Karon, it was awesome! I might do it again!" The opening clips were of Kara and Jonathan barely escaping the mine in the morning, and everyone staring up at the steep cliff they'd have to climb. "It was a fun day for me to watch as Angie took back control of her team from Jonathan, who's whole game plan had been figured out by Norm." Clips played of Angie forcing Jonathan to tie Norm to himself, and Norm calling Jonathan out. "The Bunnies had a fun day too, meeting former teammate Randall, who somehow made it here after being eliminated, which we did again." Clips played of Randall popping out of the mountain and scaling it instantly.

"Due to some quick handiwork from Norm, some quick scheming from Jonathan, and some quick injury for Ethan and Kayla, the Happy Hens got a win with their four member small team, sending the Bouncing Bunnies to their elimination, where Kayla made sure of Paul's elimination." Clips played of Norm crafting a bungee cord, Ethan pulling Kayla off the mountain, and Jonathan dropping the rope to send them both down, as well as Paul getting denied a marshmallow. "But, in a twist of fate, Flora accepted Paul's relationship offer, sacrificing herself instead to the Launch of Shame." The final clips that played were of Flora and Paul hugging and Flora getting launched off of the island. "We are down to nine! Which annoying kid is going to take the Launch of Shame today? Find out right now, 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'.]

Everyone was awake in the Bunny campsite already, well, nearly everyone. Kayla made it outside before promptly falling back asleep on a rock, still with some bruises on her arms from the incident the day before. As she drifted off, she caught sight of Paul returning to the campsite, looking dejected. "You're...not supposed...to be here..." she said bitterly and sleepily before dozing off again.

Paul grunted as he glared at the brat, who had already fallen asleep again. He still had the paper with the idol riddles in his hand. "You can ignore her," Kara admitted as she approached the pessimist. Paul quickly threw his paper into his pocket to dodge the curious girl's antics. "You looked bummed about Flora. I am too." She sighed. "I wouldn't have voted for you if I knew that was going to be what happened."

Paul took a small relief breath once he realized that Kara had not seen the paper. "That doesn't really help, you know," he told the curious girl. "Regardless of what your plan was or not, you contributed to Flora leaving." He sighed. "Whatever. You're surprisingly nothing like your sister. It's kind of weird that you two seem close but I haven't seen the two of you really ever interact here."

Kara's eyes widened for a second before shaking her head. "We're similar in more ways than you think. We're both risk takers, I'm just far more cautious about any time I'm not taking risks." Seeking an out to the conversation, she poked her head around the area. "Anyway...have you seen Luna? I wanted to catch up with her about something important."

Paul shrugged. "Our team wild card, who for some reason chose you two over me and Helio last night, is currently at the beach skipping rocks, so she claims." He scoffed. "What a weirdo." Kara smiled thankfully at the pessimist, who clearly was tired of her conversation. With a light grin, she went over to the beach in enough time to avoid whatever Paul had to say next.

As Kara made it to the beach, what Paul told her was exactly what was going on. The psychic was skipping rocks, not very well, but still trying her best at it. Each rock would make it a few times before plopping into the water. Next to her, Norm was relaxing, nearly falling asleep. "Morning, Luna," the curious girl said to the psychic, before looking down at Norm. "Is he doing okay?"

"Morning, teammate," Luna said dully as she tried skipping another rock, failing again. "He's doing fine!" she gushed. "He does this big act of not caring about anything, but..." she paused. "Actually that's normally true. But, I can tell what he does care about, and it's super sweet to see." She gave Kara a warm smile. "What can I do for you this morning?"

Kara grinned as she stepped over Norm to sit next to Luna. "I wanted to thank you, since you finally voted with us last night." Luna nodded silently, trying not to let Kara read into her at all. "I know our small partnership has had it's bumps, but yesterday we almost got a giant threat out, and we got super close to figuring out this island's mystery." She glanced down at a rock in Luna's pile. "Do you mind if I try?"

"Of course not," Luna answered, handing Kara a rock. "You're probably much better at this than me. I don't use any powers on the rocks, it makes me feel a bit more normal," she admitted. "Of course, on this island, we can only get so far, due to the dome we found yesterday." Kara skipped a rock, doing quite well. Each skip made a bunch of ripples in the water. Eventually, the rock hit something off in the distance, and with a clang, plopped right into the water. Kara smirked.

Kara: "So that pretty much confirms it," she pointed out. "The entire island is surrounded by a giant dome that Chris can spawn in natural disasters with. That means I need to think of disasters we haven't had yet. We've done thunder, flood, tsunami, tornado, maybe even heat wave..." she sighed. "Maybe we've done a lot already."

Back at the Hen cabin, things were very tense. "You didn't get rid of Kara like I told you too," Jonathan chastised Ethan, even though he later had learned that he picked the wrong target. "I told you very clearly that if you slip up once, I expose you to everyone else!" He held up his camera threateningly. "I have decided that I might give you one more chance."

Ethan stared silently at Jonathan. "Then do it," he said quietly. Jonathan didn't understand exactly what he meant. "Do it!" Ethan called out louder. "Do you really think I care? You've done nothing but complain and whine since Madison left, which was because of your actions in the first place!" Jonathan looked really angered by that. "Plus, I still think you're bluffing. You know there's too much time before the finale. Even if you get rid of me, you'll never make it to the end without my help!"

Once again silence filled the room. "Maybe you're right," Jonathan admitted, much to Ethan's shock. "That's why you get another shot. Succeed today, and I'll spare you. If not, then business as usual." He smirked. "This one ought to be fun for you. I want you to eliminate Norm for me." Ethan gasped. "You were right, I've played so badly I couldn't get him, so now it's your turn."

"I'm not doing that," Ethan called out. "I will not lose a challenge just to keep up with your game, and even if we do lose today, Angie hates you, Norm hates you, and I'm not exactly your biggest fan either." He got up and got ready to walk out. "Your days are more numbered than you think. I won't be your weapon any longer." With that, he walked out of the cabin.

The argument was over, and just in time for Chris to blare his voice over the speakers. "Everyone, come outside now, we have a fun surprise for you in your campsite!" Jonathan listened to the announcement and hesitantly walked out the door. He could see a lot of other people doing the same thing. No one looked very excited for the surprise.

Once all nine campers were back, Chris grinned. "Congratulations!" he said with a wide grin. Above them, Chef was in a balloon, and blasted tons of confetti down over top of them. Everyone looked concerned. Paul took a few steps back from the drop zone to make sure none of the confetti hit him. "What's your deal, guys?" Chris asked sinisterly, "don't you like confetti?"

Angie scoffed. "Even if we weren't going to be poisoned or whatever by this stuff, I typically hate confetti, so, yeah, we don't trust you for a second." Everyone around her seemed to agree with that idea.

Chris laughed. "Oh, wow, this is funny. Well, this is not for your certain doom, that will come later. I got confetti because you all merged!" That finally got some reactions. "Drop your nicey-nice teams and get ready to rumble for yourselves today! Your friends just became your enemies." Kayla glanced over to Helio, who had a determined look on his face. The brat gulped, realizing he was now a threat.

Chris then got everyone's attention again. "As a reminder, there is one more idol out there. I'd find it fast, because all of you have made a lot of enemies." He laughed as everyone hostilely looked at each other with glares. "Alright, everyone with me, we're going to the woods for our first challenge, and you better bring your all today!"

Angie: "Making the merge is no shock to me," she pointed out. "But, I am happy to be on my own. Ever since Sarah was booted I've been so sick of the team, and now they'll probably kill each other instead."

Ethan: "Well, here I am," he said with a sigh. "I said my strategy would get me to the merge, but I never wanted to do it this much. I have to find a way to get Jonathan off my back, but not until after the elimination today..."

Helio: He looked extremely proud of himself. "Me strongest player," he reminded everyone. "With big strength, me win money."

Jonathan: "It's about time," he said with a smirk. "I've opened up a whole world of possibilities. If I ever feel threatened, I throw out Ethan and Norm at the same time. They're all in the final nine, and I'm sitting here at the final seven."

Kara: "The merge?" She laughed. "I sort of forgot that this was a thing. I've been so busy solving secrets that I forgot about the money I might get! My strategy's been going well so far, I might have to keep it up though."

Kayla: "Well, luckily other than some bruises, I didn't die from falling off a mountain. Which is good. Helio is now my enemy, and I can't really be bothered any more than I am with Paul. I'm in a good spot once my threats are in order."

Luna: "The merge is upon us," she said eerily. "I can team up with Norm much better today, which is nice, but I also need to decide what happens to my team. Will we stick together or not? Only I know what happens."

Norm: "I did better than I thought I would," he admitted. "I guess I got on Angie's good side quick, and that made things pretty easy for me. But, now I'm against a lot of people that I rather would not be against. Here goes nothing."

Paul: "Finally!" he said in relief. "No more making nice with Kayla. No more trying to bring the team that voted off Flora together. I can go against all of them and win, just you wait!"

The merged nine made it to the woods. When they arrived, they noticed how the place was converted. Rocks and trees were stationed all over the place to be properly set up for the challenge. "Welcome to your first merge challenge and your third paintball challenge of the season!" Chris announced. "This one is very simple. This is a battle royale-styled match, where only one player can win a round. If you win a round, you're safe from elimination."

Everyone was quietly looking over the terrain. While the edged of the woods were full of cover and blocking devices, the middle was pretty open. "Just to clarify something," Norm questioned as he continued looking around. "You just said winner of a round gets immunity. How many rounds are we playing?"

Chris grinned evilly at the cast as he and Chef began handing out paintball guns. "There will be eight rounds," Chris told them, earning a few gasps from everyone. "That's right, that means that there won't be a vote tonight, we're eliminating whoever sucks the most today. I hope you're ready to bring your A-game, because you'll need it today!"

Kara raised her hand. "Okay...so it's a sudden death round, that's pretty intense." She grinned at Chris. "Speaking of tense, what's the disaster today?" Luna let out a dejected sigh as she heard Kara press her luck. Chris rolled his eyes as he put a deadpan stare on the curious girl. "I mean, you know, what are you going to do to make this scarier?"

"Scarier?" Chris asked with a laugh. "Kara, I hope you're as good a shot as you are blind to the money you'll lose." He sighed. "You're delusional." He shook off the odd interaction and pointed to the clearing. "Okay, let's do this. The nine of you, get into the clearing, and get ready for an all-out battle for your lives!" The final nine exchanged glances with each other before going to the clearing for their challenge.

Everyone had fierce looks on their faces as the final nine set themselves up. "Remember, only one of you can get immunity this round," Chris reminded them, "so you better make it count, because then you don't have to fight for the rest of the day." He rang the air horn to start the challenge. "Go!" Chris yelled out, which tensed up everyone who wanted that win.

Kayla was the first to make a move. "Hiya!" She called out, startling Norm, who she had managed to sneak up on. Norm did not have the time to react, and took the hit to the face that she had ready. "Nothing personal," the brat said with a cocky smirk. "Just gonna make sure I win right now, because I'm far too good for this." Kayla ducked down quickly as she saw a shot flying toward her.

The paintball she dodged hit the rock she was covering behind. Paul stood there with an angered look on his face. "I'm going to wipe that smug grin off of your face," the pessimist said with a similar smirk on his face. He took three shots which Kayla dodged and escaped from. "Darn," Paul complained, but then he noticed Helio hiding behind a tree very poorly. "You're an enemy now, I guess," Paul concluded.

The pessimist redirected his aim at Helio, and with no one else around, he took the time to line up the shot. His patience paid off, as the shot caught Helio off guard and knocked him out of the round by hitting him. But, Kayla reappeared from the back corner, firing another shot at the pessimist, which hit him since he didn't have time to dodge. "You're making this too easy for me!" Kayla taunted. Paul had no choice but to just grumble and walk off.

Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the arena, two separate battles were happening. Kara and Ethan were in a heated fight, both playing way more carefully than they needed to, while Angie and Luna were fighting a few feet over, their fight more aggressive and spontaneous. Between the two duos, Jonathan watched as he had relative safety. "Let's stir this up," he said with a smirk, pointing at Kara and firing, knocking her out of the round.

Ethan turned to see where the shot had come from. "Of course it's you," the anti-villain said with an eye roll. "You better get off my back! I already betrayed you, and you clearly aren't doing anything about it, so how about you just go away!" Ethan shot multiple shots as he tried to hit Jonathan, but the brutal lover blocked them all with a piece of wood he found on the ground.

"I still need you to get rid of Norm, that's why I haven't done anything," Jonathan reminded him. "That means you need to do my dirty work, so you need to keep going through more rounds until you take him out yourself!" He shot a few rounds at Ethan. "Does that make sense?" Ethan dodged the shots as he thought about what Jonathan said. He let out a dejected sigh, before turning his blaster on himself and opening fire. "That's more like it."

He turned to the next duo, but things were too late over there too. Angie and Luna had just fired two shots that hit each other, knocking them out of the round too. Jonathan looked around until Kayla popped out from a tree. "Ha!" Jonathan taunted as he laughed evilly and fired a shot at Kayla quickly. The brat dodged it with ease, and mocking his laugh, fired a shot right at Jonathan, who didn't react in time.

The brat cheered as she spiked her paintball gun into the ground like a football. "Kayla wins round one!" Chris announced. "That means she's safe from elimination tonight, in the final eight, and is done fighting for the day!" Everyone else groaned as they knew that meant they had another round to play. "Only seven spots left for the million bucks, who wants it?"

Kayla: "And that's how it's done," she said with an arrogant smirk. "I told you I am the perfect aggressive player, but honestly, I'm probably just the perfect player."

The next round's eight remaining players set themselves up in the woods, everyone a bit more tense since they had not won that first round. "Ready?" Chris asked as everyone found their positions. "Round two starts...now!" This time, with no Kayla to instigate instant havoc, no one moved. Everyone seemed to be waiting for some sort of declaration from someone else.

Eventually, someone got bored. "Alright, I'm out of my already minimal patience," Angie complained as she started taking shots at Helio. The strongman picked up a boulder and blocked all of her shots with it, using the massive rock to cover himself up. Angie took a few more shots, but they were blocked too. Eventually, Helio smashed the boulder he was holding, and with a single shot, surprised Angie and got her out. "No way..." the hothead growled as she sulked off for the round.

Paul was the next person to try something. He took a shot at Luna, but the psychic teleported away from it. "Well, I guess that skill that's been helping my team win is now my worst nightmare," Paul griped as Luna continued teleporting around. "Nice trick," Paul pointed out as he began watching where Luna moved to. The pessimist fired a shot at Norm this time, which the antisocial genius didn't notice.

"Norm!" Luna called out as she teleported over to try and aid him, and in the process, got herself out instead. Paul then ran up to Norm and tried to hit him, which worked out for him. Norm saw the paintball flying at him, and in one last effort, shot his gun at Paul, the two knocking each other out of the competition's second round. "Sorry..." the psychic said apologetically to Norm as they both walked off.

Meanwhile, Jonathan and Ethan were fighting each other. "You really must be stupid," Jonathan taunted as he threw himself behind a tree to dodge a shot. "You know that even if I get eliminated today I'm outing you, right?" He watched as two more shots whizzed by him. "Time for you to make a decision, are you going to get Norm out today?"

Ethan emerged from his hiding spot and quickly flew up a tree. Jonathan tried to catch him on the way up but missed the shots. The anti-villain flew out from the tree and barely missed shooting Jonathan in the back. He crashed onto the ground after that. "Yeah...I'll do your stupid blackmail today," he agreed. "You want Norm out? You've got it." He tried to get back up, but before he had the chance, Kara and Jonathan both joint fired on him, putting him out of the round.

The curious girl and Jonathan quickly drew shots at each other, but Jonathan emerged victorious from that. Once Kara was out of the picture, that left three in the round. Helio came rushing at the pessimist, but Paul was fast enough to keep away from him. Helio's shots were not very accurate, so once Paul found an opening, he let it rip on the strongman, putting him out of the challenge. "Sorry, you're a threat to me now too," Paul told him.

That left Jonathan and Paul. "Let's settle this properly," Paul called out to the brutal lover boy. "We'll draw on the count of-" without warning, Jonathan opened fire on the pessimist, putting him out of the challenge. Jonathan had an evil smirk on his face as he knew he was safe now.

"Jonathan wins the second round!" Chris called out. Jonathan looked very content with his win, while many of the former Hens were not happy to see their least favorite team member immune for the night. "That means we only have six spots left for tomorrow now. You're running out of chances to win this!" All the people who hadn't won yet were beginning to get nervous.

Jonathan: "Of course that brat agreed to get rid of Norm, he's not really loyal to him," Jonathan said with a smirk. "Now that I'm immune, I might as well work on my plan of action once Norm is out of here."

Ethan: "Hopefully Jonathan bought that," the anti-villain said carefully. "Norm and I knew this day was coming. I just hope he can carry out his end of the deal here."

The clearing was reset, and the seven remaining challenge participants got themselves ready to go. "Kayla and Jonathan are immune and are no longer fighting," Chris reminded them, "so one of you needs to win a round quickly, or else you're getting flung into the sky tonight!" No one seemed to appreciate the desperation Chris was creating. The air horn rang to start the round. "Go!"

Without hesitation, Paul rushed for Helio, the strongman not being able to make a quick enough reaction, and once the pessimist was close enough, he fired and knocked out Helio instantly. "You were great on my team," Paul admitted, "but I'm not going easy on you, especially you, who will dominate any psychical challenge that exists." Paul ran off to try and find some other people to hit.

As Kara and Luna teamed up with each other, they encountered Angie and began squaring off with her. Ethan rushed around until he found Norm and pointed his gun at him. "Sorry about this," he said with hesitation in his voice. "but I'm taking you out today." He winked at the antisocial genius, who winked back. Norm took a shot at the anti-villain, who dodged it and promptly hit Norm square in the chest.

Ethan decided to head into the main combat between the girls, and entered in a burst of energy. He let out a bunch of shots, which one ended up hitting Kara. Luna managed to get away, and Angie stuck around to try and eliminate the anti-villain. "Alright, if Jonathan's immune, it might as well be you," she said with a shrug, letting a ton of shots loose as she ducked behind a rock. Ethan tried dodging the shots, but he was hit by one of them.

Luna rushed Paul, attempting the same random teleporting strategy from the round before. Paul tried watching the psychic, who was moving slower than last time. "Please," Paul said with a laugh, "you did this last time and it failed. It's pointless to-" As he was ready to fire in a random spot again, Luna started firing shots between each movement, forcing Paul to dodge as he watched.

The psychic finally appeared right behind Paul, who hadn't seen her coming. "I never try the same trick twice," she admitted. "That would be stupid." She opened the blaster right onto Paul at point blank, putting him out of the round. "Looks like this one is finally looking my way, there's just one to go." Luna quickly vanished behind a few obstacles to try and get some cover and catch her breath.

Angie eventually found the psychic, still out of breath. "I know that whatever you do has to have a limit," Angie told her, "so let's just end this." With a quick shot, Luna tried moving out of the way, but failed, and got hit in the leg, putting her out of the competition. "Hello, final eight," Angie said with a confident grin.

"Game over!" Chris announced. "Round three ends with Angie as the winner!" Nobody seemed too upset with the hothead's victory, except for Luna, who seemed upset that she was so close. "There are now only five rounds to go, and six of you to play! Who's going to make it, and who's going to fail?"

Angie: "Luna's unnerved me from day one," she said bluntly. "I've always found her ability to do that stuff odd. I'd love to ask Flora what it was like teleporting with her on the aqua-stacle course. But, she's gone, and I'm here. Let's make this count."

Round four was now set up to go, and now a third of the group for today was no longer fighting. "I hope you six remember what you're fighting for!" Chris called out, his taunts seeming to get to most of the people still in the game. "Remember, once this is over, we'll have half our people moving on, and you do not want to be in the second half of this!"

The air horn rang, and the game was started. Paul rushed through the woods, finding Ethan watching over everything silently. "Hey, you," he asked the anti-villain, "I could have shot you, but I didn't, so how about you and me team up and escape from the real threat in front of us?" The two watched as Helio moved slowly, looking for someone to try and hit.

Ethan thought silently about his options. He glanced to his west, where Norm was trying to hold off Kara for as long as he could. "Fine," he said eventually. "You can win this round, I have something else I need to do." Paul looked very unopposed by the free win that he was offered. The two rushed for Helio on either side, Paul taking his right and Ethan taking his left.

Helio noticed the two approaching him. "Me not losing without fight," he told them with fierceness. The other two boys were a bit daunted, but held up their plan. Paul started scattering shots around Helio, who tried moving around to dodge. As soon as he tried dodging, Ethan fired a shot at him. Helio managed to get one more shot off himself, hitting the anti-villain, putting them both out of the round.

Paul ran into the bushes to hide while Kara had successfully trapped Norm in a corner. "It's over for you," Kara told him as Norm fired some shots at her. The curious girl had been using a tree branch as a shield, stopping anything from hitting her. Norm tried getting out, but Kara got closer, preventing him from doing anything else. "Okay, no way I can miss from here."

Kara launched a shot at Norm, but another shot caught it and the two exploded in the air. Kara turned back to see Luna approaching her. "Sorry, but I cannot let you hit him!" Luna told her, pointing the blaster at Kara. All three of them were now locked in a standoff. While no one was paying attention, Paul shot a shot from the bushes and hit Norm. Luna seemed to think it was someone else, and made the shot at Kara, putting her out of the round too.

"So glad you could do that for me," Paul said with a smirk as he walked out from his hiding spot. Luna had suddenly realized her mistake and Kara wasn't the one who had hit Norm. "You won one, I won one, let's settle this score here." The two former Bunnies instantly drew their blasters and fired, but Paul was just a little bit faster, hitting the psychic before her shot landed. "And that's me safe," Paul said in relief.

Chris quickly looked over the footage in slow motion. "Yep, he's right, Paul's shot hit just before Luna's which means she's off to round five! Paul wins round four, and we're suddenly halfway full on our final eight roster. Who wants this more than the others?"

Paul: "Now, I'm safe, and if either Luna or Helio can drop today, I'm in really good shape. Maybe Norm too." He laughed. "Sorry if I'm being rash today, Flora, but I don't want to throw away this chance you gave me."

Only five players were left on the field now, everyone getting more and more nervous. "Four more spots!" Chris reminded them, "but I think you five already know that at this point." He laughed as he rang the air horn. "Okay, start hurting each other. Go!"

"I can't believe I'm still in this mess," Kara complained as she began looking for people to hit. As she moved, she encountered Norm and Luna, who were talking with each other, pretty distracted from everything else. "Maybe I wait for my opportunity," the curious girl said patiently as she climbed a tree and took position under cover from everything else.

Meanwhile, Ethan and Helio found each other relatively quickly. "You me have score settle," Helio said to Ethan as the two each gripped their blasters. Ethan quickly pieced together what he meant by that. "We go now." Helio launched a few shots at Ethan, who was quick enough to fall back and dodge everything. Ethan also rushed up a tree to take cover from the strongman.

Helio grabbed both ends of the tree with his arms, planting himself on the ground firmly. "I don't think I like where this is going," Ethan said slowly. Helio began thrusting himself upward, trying to uproot the whole tree. Ethan quickly jumped onto a new tree just before Helio ripped that tree out. He hurled the whole thing at Ethan, who dodged the giant object, and while Helio was picking up his blaster again, he took the shot. "Sorry, I can't afford to lose today," he told Helio. He jumped down from the tree he was in and shot himself in the shoulder. "But, I have to afford to lose this round." He walked off, trying to see Norm on his way out.

Kara was still positioned in the tree. She took aim at Luna first, and after finding the perfect shot, let it out, hitting the psychic on the back. "Wait, what?" Luna asked in shock, surprised to see she didn't notice the curious girl. Norm ran off. "I didn't even hear the buzzer go off."

Norm hid behind a rock while he recovered his energy, and Kara did not give him any time to rest. "You better not say anything about us getting distracted," Norm warned her as he readied his shot. "You better remember that you're down here with us too, so you're just as bad."

Kara appeared right above him and took three shots. The second and third both hit Norm, putting him out of the round. "Yeah, I might not be amazing at this," she admitted, "but you're out and I'm not. Once I find Ethan and Helio, I get to move onto the final eight."

Chris's voice came over the speakers. "Actually, Kara, you get to move on now, they're both out already." Kara seemed really surprised to hear that. "Yup, that means Kara wins round five, and we're down to four super big-time losers who have to try their best to not lose this challenge, because they are running out of chances!" Kara grinned as she left the woods.

Kara: "A win's a win," she said with a smug grin. "I'm super happy Kayla and I made it this far. I was worried she made too many enemies, but it looks like that won't be the case...until she starts talking to the Hens, probably."

The sixth round was now upon the four remaining players as they walked back out to the clearing. "This is the fight of your lives," Chris reminded them, "so that means the four of you should start playing like it is! You've all shown some pretty decent stuff, but one of you stops doing that today!" He rang the air horn. "Hope you don't fail miserably this time. Go!"

With only four people left, things were getting tense. Ethan rushed for Norm while Luna made a break for Helio. The psychic arrived with the strongman, a confident grin on her face. "You no beat me," Helio assured Luna, as he took a shot right for the center of her. Luna teleported away to his left, stunning the strongman. "What? How you-" The strongman was, even more than normal, at a loss for words.

Shaking his head, Helio picked up two huge rocks and threw them toward Luna. "You have to hit me with the paintball!" She reminded him as one of the boulders narrowly missed her. "I don't think you win anything if you kill me with one of those!" Helio ignored the girl's warning and hurled another rock at her. Luna sighed. "Fine, let's wrap this up then." The psychic teleported right behind Helio and took a clean shot, knocking him out of the round. "Apologies, I wished to had played with you longer."

Meanwhile, Norm was holding off Ethan quite well. He watched the anti-villain's movement patterns carefully and sidestepped all of his shots. "You're really just going to betray me like this?" Norm called out with a wink. "I thought we were going to the end together!" He glanced around to see if anyone else was watching as he stifled a laugh. "This is ridiculous..."

Ethan took another shot at Norm, the antisocial genius recognizing his movements and dodging them easily. "I wish this isn't how it had to go, but you've figured out by now what happens if I don't do this." He pointed the gun right at Norm. Norm tried to take a shot at Ethan, but nothing came out. "And...well, you also forgot to reload between rounds." Ethan fired the gun at Norm, putting him out of the round as well.

Things came down to the anti-villain and the psychic. Luna attempted to teleport randomly, but Ethan managed to predict one of her landing locations. The psychic narrowly dodged his shot, having learned her lesson from Paul's encounters. "I've come too close to winning too many times today to give up!" She took a shot at Ethan, but to her surprise, he let himself get hit by it. "You...what?"

Chris sighed. "Well, that beginning was good, but that ending was just so...sad." He shrugged it off. "Well, it doesn't matter, because one of the culprits pf that terrible ending is out now. Luna wins round six!" The psychic sighed in relief as she had finally escaped the clutches of elimination. "That leaves three of you. Which one of you is going to make it out of there?"

Luna: "I am quite happy that I'm moving on," she said graciously, "but I am worried for Norm. Hopefully he'll make it out of this challenge."

Jonathan: "He's...actually doing it," Jonathan said with a surprised look. "But, that doesn't matter. I was never sparing Ethan today. Today, he finally gets everything that he deserves, and that's nothing good."

Before they knew it, there were three. Ethan, Norm, and Helio exchanged nervous glances as they went into battle this time. Norm double checked to make sure his paintball gun was loaded. "Well, there's two rounds left," Chris told them. "Two of you will see tomorrow, one of you will not." He yawned. "Doesn't matter to me though, let's make this one quick." He rang the air horn. "Go!"

Just like that, round seven had started. Unlike before, when two battles broke out, no one moved. "So...are we just going to stand here, or what?" Norm asked the other two. All three boys were in defensive positions, ready to shoot someone if they shot at them. "Alright, here goes nothing I guess," the antisocial genius said with a sigh. He shot a bullet at Ethan, who narrowly dodged it and fired back. "And, here we go."

Norm avoided Ethan's shot as the anti-villain went for a tree. Helio turned his focus on Norm, who was doing the same. The two unloaded a bunch of shots on each other, but neither managed to hit the other. While they were engaged in battle, Ethan landed a shot on Helio, putting him out of the round. He dropped down from the tree and pointed his gun at Norm. "Okay, time to end this," he said.

Norm sighed. "You have taken out Helio every single time without fail. If you go there, you can beat him." He shook his head. "Jonathan isn't here right now. We can figure this out." Ethan did not budge. Norm sighed. "Alright, only because I think I can do it." He lowered his blaster. "I'll take it from here. Maybe Jonathan will save you, and by proxy, me."

Ethan sighed. "I'm sorry this is how today had to go." He aimed right at Norm's leg. "But I needed to take this chance of both of us making it." He pulled the trigger, and eliminated Norm from the round. "And that's a win for me...finally," Ethan said with a sigh.

Chris rang the air horn. "Round seven is over! Ethan wins it, and that puts Norm and Helio in the bottom two for the night." Both Norm and Helio looked very nervous about that. "Everyone, follow me to the top of Mount Karon, we have an elimination to do with one of these kids." Everyone followed Chris up to the top of the island, unsure which of their cast-mates would be leaving.

Ethan: "I really hope Norm can pull this off," he said nervously. "I wanted to take the hit for him, but sending him to Helio is what Jonathan would have preferred. We both needed safety through the end of this elimination, and thanks to our performance today, we got it."

ELIMINATION XII, MERGE

Everyone stood in a crowd as Helio and Norm had paintball guns in their hand. "It's down to you two," Chris said as he approached the two remaining players. "This one's gonna be a little bit different. Since we've had enough hiding and running from both of you today, or in Helio's case, smashing, this is going to be a quick draw challenge." He stationed each boy ten paces apart.

The other seven safe people all watched in suspense as the two fiddled with the blasters. "When I count down from three, the two of you take your shot as quick as you can," Chris explained. "You each only have one paintball, so you could bank on your opponent missing if you want and then just take the shot for free." Neither person looked interested in that. "Yeah, didn't think so. Well, let's rip this band-aid off."

Chris began counting down, each contestant now having the blaster at their side, ready to go. "Three." Norm took some deep breaths nervously, while Helio stood as stoically as he had all season, not a single thought going through his brain. "Two." Luna looked super anxious as Kara tried to calm her down, while Ethan also watched nervously. "One." Jonathan had his fingers crossed, hoping for the result he wanted. "Fire!" The two each took their shot, and a winner was crowned...

...

...

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...

...

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...Helio's shot had whizzed by Norm, hitting Chef in the arm, while Norm landed his right in the middle of Helio's chest. Luna looked relieved, as did Ethan, while Jonathan looked upset by that result. "That does it!" Chris announced. "Norm takes round eight, making him the final member of the final eight." Chris turned to Helio. "Sorry, man, you gotta go."

The strongman smiled. "It okay. Me happy to go far. Made lots of friends, more friend than on farm, me know that." He smiled at Paul, who was equally sad and relieved to see Helio go. The strongman got onto the Launch of Shame and nodded. Chris hit the button to launch him, but it didn't go. With a sigh, Chef turned a lever that amped the launchpad's power, and with the second attempt, Helio was launched into the sky and out of the game.

Before anyone could leave, Jonathan called out to everyone. "Hey, wait up, everyone!" he yelled. "I have something important to share." He turned to Angie. "You didn't believe me at the paintball challenge because I didn't have evidence, so here it is, I have evidence!" He pulled out the camera. Ethan froze in place, trying to keep his composure.

The hothead rolled her eyes. "Look at you, carrying on your fallen teammate's task. Juan would be proud." She pointed to the camera. "Okay, wow me." As she looked around, everyone else had stayed to see this too. "Wow everyone, I guess," she told him.

Jonathan showed off everything he had. "Day two. Ethan's shot set the net trap off that captured Chad, as seen by the singular stray shot in a different direction from a lot of other shots. Ethan then framed Chad for failing that night, when he was the one who took him out." Not everyone was convinced yet. "And, Ethan's been working both teams with Norm to control the game, and I have voice recordings of proof!"

Jonathan began playing the voice clips. The first was from the mine challenge. Everyone since Hannah has effectively been my fault. That one started getting some attention from people. The next one came from the same conversation. I wasn't trying to be the hero. Ethan gasped at that specific one, an anger forming in his eyes. Finally, from the climbing challenge. I've been working with Ethan since the start. The final clip belonged to Norm.

Jonathan turned to everyone. "It's undeniable," he said. "Ethan and Norm are our secret little controllers. I gathered real evidence since no one believed me when I said it over a week ago!" He looked at the former Bunnies. "I know you all had your interactions with at least one of them!" Luna and Paul looked really guilty while Kara seemed so confused about the whole thing. "Take it from their teammate. They're bad news."

Everyone then turned to Ethan to hear an explanation from him. Ethan sighed. "Well, the evidence certainly points in my direction," he concluded. "A couple voice lines taken out of context and a paintball shot picture from a challenge that was quite some time ago. But, that's evidence." He laughed. "I've done nothing. Anything I have done has been because Jonathan's been telling me to." He looked right at Angie. "That's why I always listened to him."

Angie hesitated. She didn't know who to believe between the two. "That's so odd," Jonathan said condescendingly. "Why on Earth would I throw you under the bus at the most crucial point in the game if I was using you?" Silence. It seemed like everyone had made their choices. Jonathan's eyes finally landed on Luna. "Well? What do you plan on doing?"

Jonathan: "Wow, that honestly could not have gone better!" he said gleefully. "Only one of us can get immunity now. I'll make sure that Ethan goes down now. He'll pay for taking everything from me!"

Ethan: "And, now I'm running damage control after all that work I put in," he said with a sigh. "I'll prove them all wrong! I am a hero! I'll take down Jonathan, who if we all haven't forgotten, assaulted Madison a few days ago! I'll avenge her. Whatever it takes." he sighed. "Immunity, that's what it takes. I need it bad."

Norm sat in the boys' cabin alone as they listened to the conversations from everyone outside. "I just...I can't believe that he's been using people on this team!" Kara said in disbelief. "I can't believe I didn't catch that..." She turned to Kayla. "Remember the mountain challenge? It was him who pushed you off, and I heard Norm made the cord to do it. They probably cooked that up together."

Paul shook his head. "I'm not buying it right now," he said to them. "Wasn't Jonathan always a little weird? And he found the first idol without any issue. I think he's hiding something big too. Flora would want us to hear all sides of the story."

Kayla laughed hysterically at the pessimist's words. "Oh, 'Flora this', 'Flora that', 'Flora made such a sacrifice to keep you in!'," she mocked. "Paul, are you serious? You weren't there to watch me fall. Yeah, Jonathan's weird, but you had quite the funny look on your face as Jonathan called out some Bunnies. What do you know that we don't?"

Paul scoffed. "I'm not sharing that with you. I listened to Ethan's vote suggestion one time to save myself. I don't think that's a bad thing, and he had information I wanted, so I took it. You can't know what I'm hiding, but I do know Jonathan knows the same thing and he won't tell you either." He turned to the other person with them. "Hen girl, what do you know?"

Angie shrugged. "They've been at each other's throats since day one. They could both be lying, or both of them could be telling the truth. I'm playing my game, and I'm not getting involved in this whole mess." She turned to the girls' cabin. "Luna's been real quiet since the elimination though. I can't imagine what she's thinking about now that Norm is confirmed to be working with him...did she know?"

Jonathan smiled at the chaotic campsite environment as he made his way back, Ethan trailing behind him slowly. As Jonathan turned to head to the cabins, something appeared in front of him. "I don't recall giving you a pass today," the mysterious figure said to him. "Paul's still here. I told you yesterday that I wanted him gone, and you failed then, and you failed now."

Ethan stepped forward to see the mysterious figure, who instantly was perplexed but also rapidly sheathed its swords upon seeing Ethan approach. "You...have an aura of sadness on you. I like that." It snickered at the anti-villain. "Something terrible must have happened to you." It turned back to Jonathan. "Care to explain what happened today?"

"You don't run my game," Jonathan told it. "I run my own game." He turned to Ethan. "By the way, this is the cave demon I was talking about." The mysterious figure snickered again at the brutal lover calling it a cave demon. "You should shove off on trying to control eliminations here. I don't want to have to report you to Chef or Chris and tell them about the thing I've been seeing."

The figure was silent. "Fine," it eventually said. "Take your win and be happy with it. Maybe I'll just go after you instead. I'll find someone who will want to work with me." It paused. "Anyone except the girl who asked me too many questions." It turned to Ethan. "Maybe you would want to lose that sadness? Care for a pact of blood?"

Ethan was not terrified at all by the mysterious figure. He sat in silence as he listened to its offer. "No," he told it. "I want to do this one myself." He walked off from the scene and went back to the cabins, the mysterious figure vanishing quickly after. "That was...odd." Ethan said to himself as he thought about what he just saw. "Odd indeed."

The camera panned out to Chris and Chef watching from the control room. "Our mysterious figure has almost finished making its round!" he said excitedly. "Who else will it visit? How will Jonathan and Ethan play their games now? What will everyone decide?" The mysterious figure then arrived in the control room. "And will our friend here not try and butt their head into the votes?" he added angrily. The mysterious figure hung its head. "Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Karon Island!"

Vote Confessionals:

No vote (Sudden Death Elimination)

Eliminated- Helio

Remaining Campers:

Merge: Angie, Ethan, Jonathan, Kara, Kayla, Luna, Norm, Paul

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

Helio is out! Trying to put Helio in a more active role is very difficult. He is a physical tank, sure, but other than that, he really is a joke character that can't be justified leaving early. I thought he got a little bit more time to shine this time around, especially in the turf war challenge and the mine challenge. But, this is where his run ends. Let's talk changes!

- Jonathan originally wants Luna gone here because of her closeness with Norm. But...why wouldn't he just go for Norm again? This day is also built around whether or not Jonathan keeps his promise to expose Ethan. In the original, Ethan didn't break his word the challenge prior, so it was still blackmail season.

- The beginning rounds are very similar, but the final three rounds all have different winners. The ending round winners before was Norm, Luna, Ethan, where here it was Luna, Ethan, Norm. Slight differences that changed based on who Jonathan wanted gone.

- The exposition happens! This time the camp is a bit more torn instead of blindly trusting Jonathan, and specific people are in specific spots in that debate for reasons I need them to be in later.

- The mysterious figure conversation is a bit different, and Ethan meets it tonight, where before, only Jonathan had seen it still. We also see a small interaction with the mysterious figure and Chris at the end. For those who have read Power Peak, this is getting fixed here instead of at that final five challenge.

I'm sure I forgot something but I'm still happy with how this challenge went. This is with the third episode in terms of word count, simply because I made each round way more interesting than last time. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this episode in the reviews! I'll see you next time!