"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Film Lot..." Chris began the recap, standing in a massive empty soundstage while Chef and the interns were moving things around with forklifts. "Puppets were the tools on the table, and the cast this time took a trip to a street that I cannot name! Thomas and Trixie took a surprise early out courtesy of the kids sending childish projectiles, while Beck just gave up! Even with their teammate giving up, the Award Winners won a second time in a row thanks to Toby! We were kinda waiting for him to leave before doing this challenge, but him and Athena rocked it with their puppet skills! Due to not having a freak on their team and also infighting courtesy of Jim and Klaas's fight to take over the team, the Munchers' safety streak came to an end! Despite setting up Melissa to vote for Nanashi, Jim's anger issues blew it, but the votes still turned up his way and the gambler was gone! Does Jim have a guardian angel? Will Athena's newfound confidence help out today? And just where are Trixie and Klaas? Find out right here, on Total, Drama, Reeeeeeevenge of the Film Lot!"
Intro Sequence:
Get ready, wake your psyche up, Tob! Get ready, dig your anger up, Tob! Get ready, wake your psyche up, Tob! Get ready!
Thundering rock music kicked in as a spotlight was cast on a zoetrope of all the remaining contestants. As the music sped up, so did the zoetrope, bringing to life each of the contestants as they danced in a seamless.
Coming down, could you fill your satisfaction?
A black grid background scrolling infinitely, a rubix cube with Jim's face on it was shown, before rotating between Vergil, King, and Nanashi's faces to switch to Kahlin's smirking face.
You're Tob, can't you feel your own frustration?
Now on a white background, 4 golden silhouettes were shown dancing behind scan lines, although these lines obscures their moves. They faded away, to which Delanie struck a pose with a hand on her hip, Beck just put his hands in his pocket, Toby hugged Luis, and Trina put both hands behind her back innocently.
Coming down, could you fill your satisfaction?
A domino chain of every contestant falling backward in alphabetical order now filled the screen, each contestant showing their typical reaction to peril. Thomas and Trixie's heads were on spinning ferris wheels in the corner, spinning as their heads acted as the gondolas while the film lot began to contort from the radiation in the background of all this.
You're Tob, what do you want to be?
The domino chain continued, with Luis being the final one to fall, being sling shotted directly into the contorted film lot, causing a massive explosion that opened up a kaleidoscope within the lot.
Now, I'm dressed in the atmosphere that I'm having fun with. I can hear you, I can see you.
The kaleidoscope blurred between sparkling yellows, magentas, and blues, with props from the various challenges flying by as Diamond mouthed along with the song. Melissa, Esteban, and Beck were doing sit ups in the back of this mess, although the kaleidoscope view made their bodies fly across the screen with each curl.
Now, I'm done sacrificing my own desires. I don't need you. I don't fear you.
Athena held Rhonda in her hands, before simply tossing her into a black void. Inside the void, Jack, Freddy, Kylie, and Lilac stood motionless around a red circle, facing away from it. Chris just stood in the center, her hands behind her back and carrying a massive grin.
Cryin' my life, cryin' my psyche, cryin' my heart in such commonplaces！
Now cutting to a shot of a massive arena filled with different elements, Thomas and Flynn clashed, with the former sucker punching the latter, before spores from Flaky interrupted their fight. Behind them, Beck stood on a towering plant, before Kahlin leapt up and smacked him with his drill.
Is that your ideal? Is that your mind? You give it all for nothing in return!
Panning past them, Bonnie laid on the ground after taking a heavy blow, before Klaas hurled a pair of dice the size of trucks at her. Jim swooped in front of her though, reaching for the orbs on his belt before throwing them at the dice.
The Tob is alive, the Tob is high, the Tob is staying frustrated, aren't you?
These orbs hitting the dice caused a huge explosion of smoke, from which Melissa came flying out at high speed, hurtling across the arena to a lone building where Toby stood holding his parasol in front of him and Trina for protection. It began to glow with energy as Melissa got closer and Toby lowered it to attack, showing Trina right behind the umbrella with a somber look on her face.
Is that your ideal? Is that your mind? Right now... your life is your own
After one last explosion of energy, Toby stood in front of Athena, Trina and Jim, shielding them from the explosion with his parasol. With the fight over, he lowered it and took a deep breath, before writing the words "your life is your own" in the air with his parasol before closing it.
Get ready, wake your psyche up, Tob! Get ready, dig your anger up, Tob! Get ready, wake your psyche up, Tob! Get ready!
Cutting back to the zoetrope of all the contestants, it continued to spin and have all the contestants dance as the rock outro played out, much faster than before. It soon came to a sudden stop though as the music cut out, with the camera panning out to show a confused Donna seeing the zoetrope stop. Maxine was beside her, snickering as she held up a power cord. The camera panned further out, showing the season logo on the table the zoetrope was on, before it all faded to black.
"You said they'd be around this area right?" Trixie asked Thomas as the episode began, with the two of them walking through the part of the forest set that had yet to thaw out.
Thomas nodded, walking in front of Trixie. "Yes. This is the third time you've asked now. Cease." Thomas answered, just looking mostly forward as they walked.
Trixie rolled her eyes, although she was looking all over the place as she walked. "Just seems odd we're walking out in the open like this. Like, are you sure this is how we should be doing this? Feels like we could get sniped any second." Trixie asked, growing worried.
"I know these people we're dealing with. This trio of brothers carry a sense of honor and all handle their fights in proper combat. We aren't their targets either, and they are fond of me, so they may even take a cordial approach." Thomas explained to her.
Trixie's eyes widened a little, more unnerved than worried now. "Seriously? You're friends with these guys and you're just gonna kill them like that? Yeesh, no honor among thieves huh? At least that's how I played it back home sometimes." Trixie remarked, raising an eyebrow.
"They have honor. I have a contract. Their personal feelings aside, their lives are forfeit to me." Thomas stated firmly.
"Yeah yeah, contracts blah, you don't even feel a little bad about killing people who probably wouldn't even hurt you? Just tell them to abandon this mission or else, if they respect you they'll probably do it." Trixie suggested.
"I stopped feeling bad about this sort of thing long ago. What do you think the challenge is going to be today? I wonder if the other three can handle it." Thomas segued out of the topic, his mind elsewhere.
Trixie groaned, then just went along with it. "Well no one came looking for us last night, so they must have at least gotten 2nd. Don't know if we'll get lucky again though. Flynn is probably trying to flip the votes against us while we're gone." Trixie guessed, although she wasn't happy with the topic change.
Thomas nodded, rubbing his chin for a moment. "That could be troubling for you. I do have a plan though. I'll brief you on it after we're done here." Thomas replied simply, then kept walking.
Trixie was waiting for him to say something else, but silence just followed. "Ohhhkay. Leave it to me to carry a conversation. Do you just not feel like talking about the murders you're about to commit? Could I at least get a weapon to protect myself here? Not a fan of being defenseless like last time with that business guy or whatever." Trixie asked him, currently just having her hands in her pockets.
Thomas reached into his shirt and pulled out some kind of gun with yellow markings on it and tossed it to Trixie. "There. Keep that hidden. And no, I usually do my missions solo. I never have someone questioning me on details that don't matter." Thomas answered, getting slightly annoyed.
Trixie snorted, shaking her head. "Nah, they matter, you're wild if you think this is just something normal. I mean, we're hunting down three guys and you want to ask me how our team is gonna do in some game? I couldn't care less about those three bozos right now. You make it seem like you're some cold-blooded killer with zero humanity." Trixie commented, disagreeing greatly.
"I am." Thomas responded bluntly.
Trixie wagged her finger though, chuckling. "You tell yourself that, but you're the one who wouldn't let those guys kill me. And you seemed to have fun on the road trip. This work has worn you down, but I know there's some kind of humanity in there. I mean, I steal stuff from people all the time and even here I'm just playing dirty, but I'm still gonna have some sympathy and care for people. We're all human, so are you dude." Trixie pointed out with a smirk.
Thomas didn't respond to that, staying silent for a bit until he saw a light in the distance. "That must be them. Let's get this done with." Thomas told Trixie, then just pulled out a small rod from his pocket and gripped it, completely hiding it within his clenched fist. Trixie sighed, then just followed.
Cutting to a shot of the two trailers, in the guys' trailer, Jim woke up and stretched, then let out a huge sigh of relief. He looked over at one of the other beds, watching Klaas get up in a much more grim mood than before. "Bummed your girlfriend is still gone huh?" Jim remarked, savoring his victory last night.
Klaas glared at Jim, clenching both fists. "No, bummed you are still here. Nanashi liked losing. I'm happy for her. But you just wanted to make me feel horrible, so you went for her instead of me huh?" Klaas questioned Jim.
Jim laughed, shaking his head. "No, we just knew Melissa would vote for a challenge liability. You were doing just fine with her, but you never repaired Nanashi's relationship with Melissa. So I came out on top." Jim taunted Klaas, hopping out of bed.
Klaas grumbled to himself, before just turning around. "I should have expected her to play by her own logic right to the end... bad play on my part. You won't get away with this though." Klaas threatened Jim, then left the trailer.
Kahlin had watched the two's little spout, clapping his hands. "Nice bluff Jim! You would have had me fooled!" Kahlin congratulated Jim, chuckling a little afterward as he hopped out of bed.
Jim looked Kahlin's way now, a little confused. "What are you talking about?" Jim asked him, feigning ignorance.
Kahlin continued to chuckle, having one hand on his hip. "Oh you know exactly what. You know Melissa didn't vote Nanashi. I did. After how Melissa yelled at you last night and now that Nanashi left, I don't think she's ever voting with you again." Kahlin told him cheekily, giving him a wink.
Jim looked around, seeing that Beck was still asleep while Toby and Flynn had already left, so no one else was around. "And why did you do that!? You feel sorry for me or something!? We aren't even close to friends, so I know you're plotting something!" Jim raised his voice, shaking a fist at Kahlin.
Kahlin shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. "Dunno, just seemed more fun to have you around! I've got a little rival of my own back home, and I kinda like what we have going on here. Besides, if anyone is taking you out of this game, it's gonna be me." Kahlin answered, giving Jim a playful elbow.
Jim went for a swift punch after Kahlin elbowed him, but the baseballer was of course ready for that and ducked out of the way. "Same ol' Jimmy, see you at breakfast!" Kahlin remarked, then jogged out of the trailer, leaving Jim both bothered and confused.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Jim-
Jim shivered, looking confused still. "Man does Kahlin crease me. He just saved my butt last night and it's just agonizing not knowing why. He's up to something, I just know it. But I don't know what..."
-End Confessional-
In the girls' trailer, Flaky woke up and rubbed her head, causing some dandruff to drift away. Her eyes right away darted to Bonnie's bunk, and a small smile appeared on her face when she saw that the ginger was still sleeping in it. "Thank g-goodness..." Flaky said to herself, then got dressed from beneath her sheets, slipping on her hoodie.
Trina woke up as well, taking a quick glance at everyone's bunks. "Oh no! Did Nanashi leave last night?" Trina let out, seeing that her bunk was empty.
Melissa was already awake, brushing her teeth in front of the sink when Trina and Flaky woke up. "Yep. Jim did some scheming and sent her packing just to mess with Klaas. Bonnie should have left last night, she's our actual liability. But of course we're stuck with team drama." Melissa complained, crumpling up a cup of water after rinsing her mouth out.
Trina wrote this down in her notebook, letting out a sigh. "I was fond of her ma'am, so I understand your frustration. Our team has better managed eliminating the weak links under Delanie's leadership, so perhaps she can give you some pointers to avoid scenarios such as these?" Trina advised.
Melissa shook her head right away, then pointed at herself. "I was the captain of my track team, I don't need to get feedback from an opposing team on how to run my own. I'm fine. Where is Delanie anyway?" Melissa asked, diverting the subject.
"Likely having breakfast with Beck ma'am. She's an early riser, just like any proper leader and movie star!" Trina answered, hopping out of bed to get dressed.
"Makes sense. It's why I get up early too. I'll go see if the other guys are getting breakfast. Later." Melissa said quickly, then put her toothbrush back in the cabinet and left the trailer in a hurry.
Trina smirked watching Melissa leave, then looked over to Athena as she woke up. She took a quick glance at the other bunks, seeing that Flaky and Bonnie were still in their beds. "Good morning ma'am!" Trina greeted Athena cheerfully.
Athena rubbed one eye, before grabbing Rhonda and getting out of bed. "Oh. Good morning. How are you?" Athena greeted Trina back as she began to get dressed.
"I'm doing lovely ma'am, especially after yesterday's win! Toby was amazing out there!" Trina answered, swooning slightly.
Athena nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah, he really helped me yesterday too. I wish we were on the same team." Athena agreed with her.
Trina giggled, then pointed at herself. "Mhmm, you two would be a great duo! Although ma'am, I'm sure you know Toby and I are dating. So any of his friends are also my friends, I noticed you two talk a lot, so if you ever need anything, you've always got another friend on the Award Winners!" Trina offered, holding a hand out to shake.
Athena shook Trina's hand, still smiling. "Another friend? Thanks. Toby is really sweet, so I'm glad you're the one dating him..." Athena commented, before hugging Trina.
Trina was a little surprised by the hug, but of course returned it. "You... don't have a lot of friends do you ma'am? You seem to bring up friends a lot." Trina noted.
Athena nodded, before breaking the hug. "Correct. My strict mother never really allowed for much friendship. And people didn't like me either. I didn't really get why, but Toby opened me up to why last night. I should just be more open with people..." Athena still spoke in a stoic manner, although now she was gesturing while talking.
Trina gave a thumbs up, giggling a little. "Great to hear ma'am! I... never had much friends either. My father was also really strict. I was buried in so much paperwork that socializing outside of politics was never really a luxury. Jocks and bullies always picked on me too since they knew I'd do their homework. Although I was always open with the few people I did talk to, so I've stayed all cheery!" Trina explained, pointing at herself with her thumb.
"That's how you do it? Did Toby help you too?" Athena asked her.
Trina nodded, blushing a little. "He taught me to stand up for myself more. To not let people take advantage of you. Since you're more than just a vote in an alliance or a stepping stone for others. It's something I always platformed for, but I never really acted on it." Trina stated, putting her hands behind her back.
Athena paused for a bit after that, before just nodding. "He really is helpful, thanks friend." Athena thanked Trina, then began to walk past her.
"Now I'll go say hi to Luis!" Rhonda exclaimed as Athena went to the trailer door, soon leaving.
-Confessional: Victorious Award Winners: Trina-
Trina was writing in her notepad, looking impressed. "Athena has really come out of her shell as of late! Good for her! I know her and Toby are really good friends, so I just had to properly get to know Athena since it'd be a little awkward if she didn't really know her best friend's girlfriend. I will say though, I'm still a bit upset that Nanashi left. I was really hoping someone widely regarded as a loser would have been able to merge. Athena is another great marketable social outcast, but Nanashi was sweet too. Jim still being here worries me too. A good for nothing jerk and bully doesn't deserve to win the million dollars! It's why all the other jerks are long gone, they just naturally get what's coming to them! Hopefully Melissa can deal with him soon, she's at least a fair person, even if she is a jock..."
-End Confessional-
Inside of the craft services tent, Delanie and Beck were eating together when Melissa came and sat down next to them. "Hey guys. Mind if I sit with you today?" Melissa asked them as she set her tray down.
"Well you already set your tray down, not like we'd ask you to leave." Beck joked, with him and Melissa both chuckling.
Delanie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're always welcome at Counselor Debbie's table! We're all about togetherness and friendship here!" Delanie exclaimed in agreement.
Melissa smirked, pointing to Delanie. "No more Counselor Carter huh? Did he get fired or something?" Melissa asked, relieved in this persona change.
Delanie nodded her head, gesturing to the tent exit with her thumb. "Yeah, he quit not too long ago, so I stepped in! An attitude change was needed for team morale, and we seem to be doing way better now that his strict behavior is gone!" Delanie answered, with Beck just smiling as she talked.
"I was the one behind the firing. Took it up with HR." Beck added, winking at Delanie.
Melissa chuckled, smiling at Beck. "Well that's good to hear. My team has an infighting problem, and both of the culprits are still here, so I don't think it's going away any time soon. You guys got any advice?" Melissa asked them.
Delanie shrugged her shoulders, although Beck thought for a moment. "Just get them in one place to quash it with them. That's what my dad does whenever my cousins start rough housing with each other. Talk it out and bury the hatchet. This is all just a game, it can't be anything that serious." Beck advised, then took a bite of the massive blue sausage on his tray.
"Huh. That's what I usually do with my girls on the track team, I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. I guess I just assumed since we're competing for a bunch of money, they'd be mature enough to not let pettiness get in the way of our team's performance." Melissa took the advice, sighing afterward.
Beck shrugged, finishing chewing. "Some people are just like that. Don't really get it. My ex and one of my friends got really petty with each other and wrecked a bunch of school plays because of it. So I just don't let stuff like that get to me." Beck reasoned casually.
"Did you ever sort it out with them at least?" Melissa asked Beck.
Beck shook his head, resting his head on his palm. "Nope. Just broke up with my ex and told her it'd stay that way until she sorted things out. Maybe when I get back to school things will be different." Beck answered, not really caring.
Delanie smirked, then pointed at herself. "Not like it'd matter anyway, Beck and I are a happy couple! Right babe?" Delanie added cheerfully.
"Yep." Beck quickly responded.
Melissa looked between the two of them, unsure of what else to say, so she just took a bite of her giant blue sausage, focusing on it instead of the couple.
Klaas was sitting by himself, moping a little as he ate his sausage. He rolled the dice that Nanashi had gotten him for Christmas, just seeing what the results were for the fun of it. That was until Trina walked up to him, noticing he was alone. "Hello sir... are you doing alright?" Trina asked him.
Klaas looked up at her, resting his head on his palm. "Not really doing great. What do you want?" Klaas asked her back, a little suspicious.
Trina pulled out her notepad, already taking notes on what she saw. "I know we haven't talked much sir, but I noticed that Nanashi was gone this morning, so I had a feeling you maybe needed someone to talk to? The rest of the team voted her out I imagine, so I didn't think they'd be there for you." Trina explained, wearing a comforting smile.
Klaas looked further down the table, seeing Jim and Bonnie chatting together over breakfast while Kahlin went over to sit with Melissa. "You'd be right then. I want to do something to get revenge for Nanashi, but... I feel like she wouldn't want to see me do that. It's weird, I'd normally be on my feet wiggling my way into booting one of them, but I just can't." Klaas told Trina sorrily.
Trina sat down next to Klaas, putting a hand on his. "Hey, I think that's a good thing sir. Maybe Nanashi rubbed off on you in a good way? I kinda feel that way about Toby, so I can understand your pain here." Trina replied, looking at the bright side.
Klaas nodded, not pulling his hand away. "Yeah, you're right. I'll keep playing how she'd have played then. I'll see where lady luck takes me and play the hand I've got." Klaas agreed with her.
Klaas then threw the dice onto the table again, revealing two sixes. "And I might just know where to go from here~ Thanks Trina." Klaas added, giving her a small smirk.
Trina gave an excited thumbs up, before getting off the seat and hurrying off to go sit with Toby. "No problem sir! Best of luck!" Trina took the thanks as she left.
Shortly after Trina left though, the loudspeakers turned on throughout the film lot. "Good morning castmates! It's challenge time! Meet me at soundstage 33 in 10 for today's super action packed and oh so painful challenge! Double the hurt and double the stakes this time!" Chris announced.
"Double the stakes? Pff, only way there's double stakes is if two people are leaving aye." Flynn remarked as he got up from his seat.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Klaas-
Klaas held his gift dice close to his chest, having a confident look. "Luck decided that I'm still in the game over Nanashi for a reason. I'll win for the both of us, and I won't take Jim's takeover of the team lying down! Melissa still doesn't like him, so that's my starting point for setting things right. I won't try to change her vote, but I just need to find out who she's targeting and swing others her way."
-End Confessional-
In soundstage 33, 12 of the contestants had gathered in their teams, with the Critics only having 3 out of 5 of their members. "Oy, you lassies seen Trixie or Thomas?" Flynn asked Flaky and Athena as he entered.
Flaky shook her head, looking around nervously. "N-No... I hope they s-show up soon, we h-have the least players w-with them gone..." Flaky answered, growing more worried with each minute they weren't there.
"Oh well. We know who eliminate if they don't arrive." Athena commented, not as worried as Flaky.
Flynn smirked from beneath his beard, nodding his head. "Glad we're on the same page lass." Flynn commented with his hands on his hips.
The soundstage looked not to be one for filming, rather one for storage. With clothes, props, and tech spilling out of crates, along with toxic waste barrels stacked on top of each other. "What's today's genre? Custodian movies?" Kahlin joked, seeing all the boxes and barrels.
Chris then dropped into the soundstage from above on a rope, wearing a Batman mask and cape along with his normal attire. "Wrong! Today's genre is superheroes!" Chris announced as he landed.
"Didn't you guys already do superheroes in Action sir?" Trina pointed out right away.
"Zip. It. Times have changed, and so has the superhero genre! What was once simple action packed films about saving damsels in distress have morphed into universe building, campy joking, and creatively bankrupt films that sell even better than their counterparts from long ago!" Chris explained, making Delanie chuckle.
"Tell me about it..." Delanie remarked, which made Beck chuckle a little as well.
With the introduction of the genre out of the way, Chris then raised an eyebrow as he looked over the cast. "Uhh, Critics! Looks like you're missing some people!" Chris called their absence to attention.
"We haven't seen them since last challenge." Athena responded.
"Not a trace to be found!" Rhonda added.
Chris scratched his chin, then snapped his fingers and looked to Chef as he entered the soundstage. "Trixie and Thomas are missing, get the interns to start looking for them, I'll leave the second part of the challenge up to you." Chris commanded.
Chef nodded, with Chris giving his attention back to the three Critics as Chef left. "Since you're down two people, today's challenge is gonna be pretty rough! But for part 1, you guys should be able to handle yourself!" Chris informed them, only really bothering Flaky.
"So what's part 1 then?" Bonnie asked, since he implied it would be easy.
Chris gestured to the crates and barrels, walking closer to them. "You probably wondered why I called you to the storage room! That's because you'll be making your superhero identities and costumes with whatever you can find in here! Most of the stuff we left here has been exposed to radiation for quite some time, so be careful with what you grab! Although it should lead to some... interesting action!" Chris explained the first part of the challenge to them.
"Action? We'll be fighting with these costumes? With the radiation involved, isn't that unsafe sir?" Trina questioned Chris, raising a hand.
Chris gave her a deadpan look, crossing his arms. "Do you know what show you're on? The more dangerous the better! So get to making your superhero outfits! You have a half hour, then meet me in soundstage 37 once you're done!" Chris declared, then walked out of the storage soundstage to leave the contestants to their own devices.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Flaky-
Flaky rubbed her hands together, grinning as she looked at the camera. "T-Trixie and T-Thomas may be gone... b-but I know e-exactly what to d-do here! I've watched s-so many d-different Shonen anime, t-this is right at h-home for me!"
-End Confessional-
Melissa walked through the storage soundstage by herself, tapping a finger on her chin as she eyed the racks of old costumes. Kahlin wasn't far behind her, walking with his hands in his pockets and looking through the occasional crate. "So, what are you going for?" Kahlin asked her.
Melissa looked back at Kahlin, having a somewhat lost expression. "I really don't watch much superhero movies. So I don't have a clue where to begin. Do you?" Melissa asked him back.
Kahlin shrugged, then walked over to one of the crates and opened it up, finding a large power drill in it. "I sort of have an idea. The same little shop I get my baseball cards at had some comics, so I snuck a peek at them from time to time! Haven't seen many superheroes use drills as their gimmick, so that's what I'm going with." Kahlin explained his idea, detaching the drill bit and battery from the frame of the power drill.
Melissa watched him do this, putting her hands on her hips. "So you know a decent bit about comics? Phew, I was worried I'd completely fail this part! What do you think would fit me best then?" Melissa asked for advice, a bit relieved now.
Kahlin walked over to a rack of old costumes, flipping through them swiftly. "Well you run fast, so you'd be the Flash right?" Kahlin figured as he flipped through the costumes.
Melissa joined him in looking, nodding her head. "Oh I know the Flash, that's one of the big ones. Yeah, I guess that's a bit obvious." Melissa replied a little sheepishly.
Kahlin then found what he was looking for, a simple red Flash suit with the classic lightning bolt logo on the chest. "Found it! There were some more obscure picks I could have gone with, but I don't think they would have a Whizzer or Black Racer costume haha!" Kahlin exclaimed, then tossed the suit to Melissa.
Melissa caught the bodysuit, looking it over. "Thanks Kahlin, huge help there. But can I ask you something?" Melissa thanked him, looking away for a moment.
Kahlin raised an eyebrow, grabbing a white jacket as she asked this. "Yeah, shoot. What's up?" Kahlin humored the question.
Melissa hesitated, then took a quick breath before asking. "What do I do about Jim and Klaas? The two are going to keep being a problem for the team. I just want one of them to get eliminated at this point so we can all move on, but I don't want us to lose either! Throwing isn't sportsmanlike, and I'd hate to be the one to drag the team down! I'm used to being the heart of the team, but as captain right now, I feel like I have no control!" Melissa vented to him.
Kahlin began to dig through the crate he found his drill in, looking for more drill parts while she vented. "Up to you really, you're the captain! But if I were in your place, I'd probably just try and mediate both sides. I mean, Klaas just lost Nanashi, so he's probably hurting real bad. Maybe just tell Jimmy to cool it?" Kahlin suggested.
"Jimmy? Okay... I guess I can try that. I just want to handle this as smoothly as possible. Beck suggested gathering them and having them hash it out, but I feel like that'd turn into a big argument like when they started arguing yesterday." Melissa went the suggestion, putting the bodysuit on over her normal clothes.
"Just what I call him for fun. He's kinda cute when he gets all flustered from it! But good luck with that. Kinda glad you turned down my captain proposal over ping pong. I would not want to be in charge right now!" Kahlin joked, laughing a little as he then pulled out industrial sized drill bits. "These must be from when they constructed this place, perfect!" Kahlin exclaimed as he then walked off.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Melissa-
Melissa sighed, now wearing her Flash outfit. "Beck is telling me one thing, Kahlin is giving me another. I really don't know which one would work better. Beck's idea would just be ripping the band aid off, but they might kick me off just to get me out of their hair. Like, what did Nanashi even do to deserve going? Jim could have just booted Klaas and be done with, I'd be done with it! Did he think I'd still go for her even after I told him off? Ugh... I'm no good at reading this strategy stuff..."
-End Confessional-
Toby was doing some digging through one of the crates, currently wearing an orange yukata minus the waistband, that part seemed to be missing, so he just tied it together. Kahlin was passing by with a small box of supplies for his costume, mostly consisting of drill bits and electronics. "Oh hello Kahlin, what are you putting together?" Toby asked him curiously.
"Yeah! It looks pretty pawmplicated!" Luis added, eyeing the supplies.
Kahlin chuckled, showing Toby his box. "My theme is going to be drills! Haven't thought of a name yet, but maybe something related to tops or whatever else spins!" Kahlin answered, holding up one of the drill bits.
"That's purrty creative! Can't wait to see how it comes out!" Luis complimented him, tipping his hat.
"What are you going with? Samurai?" Luis asked Toby, taking note of his attire.
Toby rubbed the back of his head, shrugging. "Ah, I just thought this looked nice, I haven't quite thought of anything yet, I'm... not one for combat." Toby replied sheepishly.
That was until Socrates tugged on his yukata, catching his attention. "Hmm? What is it Socrates?" Toby asked his rat friend.
The rat jumped off of his shoulder, then scurried across one of the crates and stopped at one next to a stack of barrels. "Seems like your rat found something for you. When did you get that anyway?" Kahlin asked Toby, now walking closer to see what it was.
Toby went to the crate Socrates picked out, then opened and found a bunch of rainy weather apparel, glowing from the radiation. "We met during the hunting challenge, he didn't seem fit for the harsh radioactive woods. Hmm... wearing this would surely give me a disease, but..." Toby began, trailing off when Socrates then crawled onto a gray parasol glowing pink from the radiation.
Toby grabbed the parasol, and Socrates hopped back onto his shoulder. "You and Mary Poppins have a lot in common, I'd say it's a good fit." Kahlin commented as Toby opened up the parasol to make sure it wasn't broken.
Toby closed it back up once he saw there wasn't any holes in it. "I suppose so. Something more protective than offensive is more my style too, I wouldn't want to hurt anyone during the challenge." Toby agreed, now holding the parasol in his left hand while carrying Luis in the right.
Luis looked him over now that he had the parasol, giving a thumbs up. "Just as harmless as always, guess your rat knows you well! How are things going with Trina by the way? Any closer to second base yet? Or are you two still on first?" Kahlin asked him.
"Bases? What? I don't get it." Toby asked, tilting his head.
"Right, more innocent than my granny. First base is kissing, second is feeling each other. Bonnie can explain the others to you." Kahlin jokingly explained bases to Toby.
Toby still looked a little confused, but he seemed to get it. "Yeah... we haven't gotten to first base yet then. We're just dating. I've been cheering her up more, protecting her, I think I'm doing a good job at this boyfriend thing? I'm ace, so I'm new to this." Toby replied.
Kahlin blinked, stunned for a moment before just shaking it off. "Guess we've got different definitions then. What has she done for you then? Beck is pretty protected right now, has she swayed Delanie to vote for him instead of you?" Kahlin asked him.
Toby thought for a moment, unable to really think of anything off the top of his head. "She's hugged me a few times, it felt nice. But she shouldn't have to do anything for me, I'm her boyfriend. My mom taught me that a good man always makes sure his love is safe and happy." Toby answered happily.
"So you're still next in line if you lose?" Kahlin reiterated with a smirk.
Toby paused, and Luis waved to Kahlin. "I think that's it for nyow! We'll see you in the challenge! Toby has to go help his girlfriend!" Luis told Kahlin, with Toby walking away after that.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Kahlin-
Kahlin was now in costume, wearing a black t shirt with a white spiral drawn on it to match a drill head. He had a white jacket on top of that, leaving the middle open. He had fitting a drill bit as a glove on his right hand as well, with the battery serving as a cuff. "I thought something was up when Trina scampered off when I saw the two. Now, she may love him truly, but let's be real. There's a million dollars here, she doesn't want to break her alliance with Delanie and Beck just to save her boyfriend. But Toby leaving gets in the way of Beck leaving, so I can't really let that slide. Guess I'll have to pay Trina a visit later!"
-End Confessional-
Flaky was gathering materials for her costume, using one of the smaller crates to hold all her stuff. She saw Bonnie pilfering through the racks of old costumes, then grew curious. "H-Hey Bonnie... w-what are you looking for?" Flaky asked her curiously.
"Something skimpy to show off in. You know how fanservice works in these shows, someone has to be the sexual one. I don't really have the body for it, but... I think I can pull it off, Delanie is the only other one I can see doing it." Bonnie answered, tossing aside every modest costume.
Flaky blushed a little hearing this, but was able to kill it fairly fast. "Oh... b-but most s-superhero movies t-these days d-don't really do t-that." Flaky rebutted.
Bonnie nodded, then grinned as she pulled out a dark purple bodysuit. "I know that. I'm talking superhero anime. People like Mt. Lady and Midnight? Infinitely hotter than Captain Marvel or the Scarlet Witch." Bonnie replied, grabbing a pair of scissors from a basket of supplies.
"Y-You watch My Hero?" Flaky asked, her eyes lighting up in interest.
Bonnie nodded, cutting a boob window into the bodysuit. "Of course I have. I catch most of the mainstream stuff, and the babes are something else. You?" Bonnie answered, snickering at the window she made.
Flaky looked down at her small crate, then at Bonnie again. "It's m-my favorite. Mineta is m-my husbando, he's so c-cute... and... umm... I'm b-basing my costume off of K-Komori. I c-couldn't find a red mushroom c-cap, so I w-went with purple, like Mineta." Flaky answered, putting a purple mushroom cap on her head, littered with white spots on the top.
Bonnie's smirk grew as Flaky said this, although her dead eyes just stared down at Flaky unchanging. "Nice to hear you have taste. I didn't think you'd be into the perv. Why him?" Bonnie asked her, now the curious one.
"R-Relatability. Not going f-further..." Flaky admitted, getting embarrassed.
"Hmm... guess we got that in common. Quick question, have you been ogling Delanie too?" Bonnie questioned Flaky.
Flaky was caught off guard by this, taking a step back. "W-What!? H-How did you s-see!? It's j-just her f-figure, and umm... t-that's it!" Flaky let out, shocked.
Bonnie chuckled, shaking her head. "Nah. I didn't see. But you just admitted it freely. Guess I've gotta teach you the ways of perving. Rule one, always deny. You lose the moment you start trying to reason. I'm sure you'll figure it out as we go. Wish we had Kylie here for practice but oh well. I've gotta go finish my costume, I'll catch you in a bit." Bonnie explained to Flaky, then walked off with her bodysuit and scissors.
Flaky waved meekly, unsure of what to make off the offer. "S-See you soon!" Flaky just called to her as she walked away, now covering her face with her mushroom cap to hide her red face.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Flaky-
Flaky had taken her hat off, now dressed in a purple mage robe with a gold trim and white spots all over it. It was far oversized though, with her hands not even visible. She raised one hand to gesture, but the robe arm just flopped with it. "So... B-Bonnie and I have s-some shared interests... I d-didn't want to tell h-her because she's b-been getting better, b-but I was kinda into t-that kiss w-we had... she d-didn't seemed grossed out w-with me though. T-That was nice..."
-End Confessional-
A montage then ensued of the rest of the contestants putting together their outfits, with cheesy training rock music playing as they all gathered up supplies and garments for their costumes.
Jim had come across some smoke bombs, along with various other explosives in one crate. After looting the crate for its contents, he made sure to hide it behind the barrels so no one else could get the explosives.
Klaas was walking around somewhat aimlessly, shaking his gift dice in his hand as he walked. That was until he saw a pair of large foam dice in one crate, which caught his gears turning right away.
Flynn had donned a gray pirate outfit to separate his persona from his normal self, with a hook on his left hand. He pulled out a flamethrower from one of the crates, grinning widely beneath his beard as he looked it over.
Trina was currently wearing a red and blue jester hat as she dug through the crates, gasping with delight as she pulled out a pair of wings with back straps. She slid them on, noticing they didn't have much functionality, sighing.
Delanie had already found a yellow overdesigned MCU style body suit, now wearing it as she dug through all the crates for something to work with.
Beck just lazily walked around on his own with his hands in his pockets. He really wasn't finding anything that he liked.
Athena found a shirt with the British flag on it from the rack of old clothes, instantly taking a liking to it. Rhonda seemed to like it as well.
Jim now had on purple pants instead of shorts, a purple shirt with a radioactive logo on it, along with purple gloves, sunglasses, and a purple face mask for protection. He had stuffed the pockets with his explosives, having some the hoops outside of his pants as well.
Klaas now had a pair of large foam dice wrapped around his waist, wearing a red formal outfit along with a red mask over his face. To finish off the outfit, he stuck a red flower into his hair.
Flynn tested out his flamethrower, laughing a little as flames still shot out of it. He turned it off, very pleased as he looked back and forth between his hook and his flamethrower.
Trina fixed cannons on the ends of her wings now, with her pulling on the right strap she was wearing to keep the wings on. The right cannon fired as she did this, shooting out a small beam of life. Being used like this, the wings now glowed purple from the radiation.
Delanie put on a yellow visor, looking over her form happily. She struck a heroic pose, which was followed by her fist growing massive for a moment as she struck this pose.
Beck put on a blue face mask.
Athena now had on a blue skirt to complete her outfit, then grabbed a golden scepter from one of the crates, glowing bright green from the radiation. "Ow. That burns." she commented as she held the scepter.
Over in the frozen part of the woods in the outdoor set, Trixie and Thomas approached the cave that the family of wolves had resided in during the hunting challenge. Inside, three brothers were sharing hot chocolate with their weapons at their sides. "We just have to wait for evening to fall and we strike, got it?" one of the brothers stated.
"Yeah, no way the challenge goes into the night. This contract is as good as ours." another brother agreed.
Thomas stopped once he was able to eavesdrop on them, now pulling a pistol out of his pocket. "Woah. Have you had that with you this whole time?" Trixie whispered as the two took cover behind a bush that faced the cavern entrance.
Thomas nodded his head. "Concealed carry. Now to pick them off." Thomas answered, cocking the gun before taking aim by poking his gun out from the side of the bush.
"This still seems wrong... they're your fans, you could literally talk them into leaving." Trixie reasoned again, still not liking the plan.
"Could. Then they'd just come back. There's two kinds of missions. Successful ones, and ones that leave witnesses." Thomas told her as he closed one eye while aiming.
The three brothers just continued to chat, unaware of their idol taking aim at them just 150 feet away. "The security here is awful honestly, you think McLean would know how much danger-"
BAM.
The two brothers right away looked in the direction the bullet had come from, not even bothering to check on their fallen brother as his head had been ruptured. "That might be the security..." the shorter of the brothers whispered, only a hint of sorrow in his voice.
Thomas then just stood up from the bush, prompting the two brothers to unsheathe katanas. "Hmph. Sticking to tradition as always. Impractical." Thomas commented dully.
"You! Weib!? The Oxford Offer!? What are you doing here!?" one of the brothers let out, shocked to see him.
"You're going after a contract my agency is going for. So you sealed your fate." Thomas told them, pointing his pistol at them.
The two brothers shared a look, now walking closer to Thomas while holding their katanas in combat stances. "We didn't-"
"Don't pretend you didn't know. Who sent you?" Thomas asked them both.
"We can't tell you that. We-" one of the brothers began, but was quickly cut off.
"I have no use for you then." Thomas stated bluntly, then took a shot at one of the brothers.
Said brother sidestepped as soon as he saw Thomas's finger go for the trigger, with both now charging for Thomas. "Vengeance for Victor shall be delivered." he said coldly.
Thomas tossed his pistol aside, now reaching into his shirt from behind and pulling out a pair of metal nunchucks. "I'll humor your tradition." Thomas replied as he began to spin them.
Trixie remained behind the bush, not daring to show her face while they fought. One brother charged in first and swung his katana, with Thomas right away deflecting it with the chain of the nunchucks and then pushing him away in time to block the other one.
Thomas was going on the defensive, just parrying their strikes with his nunchucks and carrying the same cold look on his face as he did so. "It seems you can't apply pressure without your other partner. You all fail as assassins." Thomas criticized them mid fight as he hit them both in the hip with a single swing.
"You took a cheap shot! That's dishonorable, especially among fellow assassins!" the taller brother protested, going for an overhead swing.
"You aren't my peers. So your point is mute." Thomas rebutted, again easily blocking the overhead strike and then swinging his nunchucks down to stop the thrust from the other brother.
As the brothers continued to push Thomas back, Trixie got increasingly worried, gripping the stun gun she had been given tightly. When she saw Thomas's foot pass the bush she was hiding behind, she quickly stood up. "Here's a cheap shot!" she let out as she fired the stun gun.
Several bolts shot out, although her aim wasn't the best, so she managed to get all three of the assassins due to her trigger happy shots. "Trixie..." Thomas let out after being electrocuted, before falling to the ground like the brothers.
Trixie panicked as she saw him fall, then looked to the brothers who also feel after being electrocuted. Both had their katanas still, but Trixie wouldn't dare get close to them to try and take them. "What do I do!?" Trixie let out, seeing the brothers already start to recover from the stun gun.
Not getting a response from Thomas, Trixie just picked up the pistol he had tossed aside, then quickly shot the other two brothers before they could stand up. She fired multiple times into each, unable to cover her ears as they yelled in pain.
Thomas soon recovered, sitting up and looking at the two fresh bodies near him. "You did it. Well done. I'll let Brava and Nikolai know you finished them off." Thomas congratulated her, before taking the pistol from her and firing a few more rounds into them just to be safe.
Trixie was dumbfounded, looking back and forth between him and the dead brothers. "Well done!? Is this a game to you!?" Trixie let out.
"No. Just business. And you did well." Thomas complimented her again.
Trixie scowled, then just tossed him the stun gun. "Ugh, let's just head back to the film lot. Hopefully the challenge didn't already start..." Trixie groveled, not wanting to dive further into what just happened.
"If it did, we should be able to at least contribute in part 2. We'll be fine." Thomas stated.
Trixie shook her head, crossing her arms. "No, we deserted the team, just like Jack did. We're no better than him, and he got booted partly for stunts like that. You know what? I don't care if I get booted at this point, I won't snitch, don't worry about that. I'll still get my slice of the contract from your stupid mission. And if I'm gone, at least I don't have to kill anyone..." Trixie told him grumpily, marching on ahead.
Now in Soundstage 37, the twelve fresh superhero contestants stood in one of the larger soundstages, due to there being a large square steel arena in the center about 10 feet tall with a glass dome over it. Chris was still just wearing his Batman mask, having his hands behind his back. "Great! Seems you all got into the spirit of the challenge! All of you..."
"...except Beck." Chris quickly took note of the boy's lackluster 'costume'.
"It's just playing dress up, not like it matters." Beck quipped, shrugging while having his hands in his pockets.
Chris frowned at first, but then just laughed as he remembered what the challenge was. "Oh you're sorely mistaken! But I'll let today's special guests tell you why that is! Say hello to Arin, Sam, and Mitzy!" Chris welcomed the Nerd Herd in, the trio waving to the teams as they entered through the side entrance.
Mitzy's eyes right away lit up as she saw the costumed contestants, whipping out her sketchpad and doodling her favorites. "Got some new character ideas?" Arin asked Mitzy.
Mitzy excitedly nodded, drawing Kahlin's first. "You know it! Thank you for having us Chris!" Mitzy exclaimed, giving her thanks to Chris.
Chris nodded, a little annoyed by their enthusiasm. "Right. Well, go ahead and explain the challenge you guys came up with!" Chris directed them.
Sam stepped forward, gesturing to the arena behind them. "If you've seen any superhero anime or recent movie, the coolest parts are always the showdowns between heroes and villains, usually in arenas from tournament arcs or conveniently large rooms!" Sam began to explain the challenge, with the TV screen above the entrance showing the interior of the arena.
Inside at the moment were several white circular platforms floating on water, larger ones being in the center. On two ends of the arena were cages, with cardboard cutouts of Chris's face on top. "There will be three battles, each in arenas designed by Arin, Mitzy, and me! First is Mitzy's the Aqua Arena! Half of two teams will duke it out for the W in each arena, and whoever wins the most is the epic winner, and whoever loses the most has to boot out two people tonight!" Sam explained the challenge.
That last part caused more worry to form among some, while others got more determined. "A double elimination? Really?" Melissa asked, growing tense.
Chris nodded his head, having his hands behind his back. "Yeah, we've already burned through more than half of the episodes we had scheduled and we still haven't merged, so we'll be speeding things up today!" Chris answered bluntly.
"You get used to it. Last season, like every other day was a double boot!" Mitzy remarked, with Arin giggling and nodding in agreement.
Arin looked over the teams, then the roster that Chris had given them. "Okay! So, you all submitted your hero names, so we'll be going off that for the matchmaking! In the Aqua Arena, the first match will be between Quanta-Lady and Starcutter against Captain Verner and Miss England!" Arin announced.
Delanie stepped forward, fixing something on her wrists to make sure it was secure. Trina adjusted her red tie as she stepped forward, glad to be partnered with Delanie. Flynn and Athena stepped forward, seeing their competition and not being too bothered. "Aye lassies, what be the rules for this 'ere showdown?" Flynn asked.
"Great question!" Arin told them, before gesturing to the screen again. "Both teams will start at their respective cages on opposite ends of the arena! Whichever team gets all their opponents in the cage first or has more standing when the 10 minute timer ends is the winner! Use your powers or whatever you can to get your opponents in the cage, anything is fair game as long as it isn't lethal!" Arin explained the rules of the fight.
"S-So just like the J-Joint Training B-Battle arc in My Hero..." Flaky right away caught on.
"Yup! Glad some of you recognize it! Arin got me into it recently, and it sounded like a pretty sweet challenge too!" Mitzy confirmed happily.
Sam nodded in agreement. "I'm more of a fan of the fighting game spinoffs, but Dakota had fun during our watch parties! I probably would have done an Arkham Nights challenge, but this is awesome too!" Sam stated, with the trio then high-fiving.
With the pairs decided, Chris opened the door to the arena, allowing the contestants to enter. "Quanta-Lady, Starcutter, Captain Verner, and Miss England! Take your positions! Everyone else can watch the battle in the stands!" Chris ordered, letting the four fighters go in.
-Confessional: Victorious Award Winners: Delanie-
Delanie had both hands on her hips, smiling proudly before pointing at herself with one thumb. "I, the great and mighty Quanta-Lady shall be making quite the splash in the aqua arena for our first match! Starcutter may or may not be helpful, but my might alone should score us an easy victory!"
-End Confessional-
The Aqua Arena was filled with lights, shining down on the four combatants as they stood on opposite ends, facing each other. "Do we have a strategy ma'am?" Trina asked Delanie, double checking her wings while she waited for the fight to start.
"Quanta-Lady does not normally strategize. When you're the #1 hero in the nation, you don't need anything more than sidekicks! But you will do fine as my sidekick." Delanie boasted proudly.
"So what do you want me to do ma'am?" Trina asked, for once not taking notes.
Delanie thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I'll do the fighting, you deal with taking them to the cage since you have your wings. If I try to carry them I might fall in the water." Delanie ordered, to which Trina dutifully nodded.
Flynn and Athena saw them planning, so the former turned to the latter. "I have my flamethrower for range and my hook for up close combat, what do you have?" Flynn asked Athena.
"This shirt is weird, I can shoot the British flag at people. I guess that's range. I can probably handle transporting them. I can make the British flag appear beneath me too, kinda like a flying carpet." Athena went over her abilities, making a flag appear below her to show what she meant.
Flynn nodded, giving a wink since he couldn't give a thumbs-up. "Sounds good lassie, back me up and take 'em to the cage once I've toasted 'em." Flynn directed, to which Athena nodded in agreement to the plan.
"Okay heroes! Your 10 minutes start now! Give it your all! PLUS ULTRA!" Arin started the challenge over the intercom, prompting the four to begin to make their way to the center platform.
Delanie and Flynn hopped from platform to platform, while Athena flew overhead on one of her flags and Trina flew behind Delanie with her wings. "Stay careful lassie, we ain't knowin' their abilities!" Flynn warned Athena as he jumped.
Athena nodded, keeping a safe distance from the Award Winner pair. That was until a beam of light struck her out of the air right after Flynn gave the warning. Athena was able to make another flag to catch her fall before she fell into the water, now much more on guard after that. "They have range too." Athena warned Flynn, who only heard the shing sound from the arrow of light.
Flynn soon landed on the center platform, giving Delanie a fierce look as she too landed on the center platform. It was only 25 feet in diameter, rocking a little as it floated on the water. "Just 'cuz you're a lassie doesn't mean I'll take it easy on ye!" Flynn declared, firing up his flamethrower and taking aim.
Delanie smirked, rearing her fist back. "Right back at ya! Eat this!" Delanie let out, then threw out a punch from 20 feet away.
Thanks to her quantum suit, Delanie's arm stretched and her fist grew, letting her punch freely from a safe distance. Before it could reach Flynn though, a British flag appeared in front of him and deflected the punch. "Not so fast." Athena said plainly, descending to Flynn's side.
With her punch deflected, Flynn now pulled the trigger on his flamethrower, letting out a stream of flames at Delanie. "Starcutter! Cover me!" Delanie called out as she recoiled her arm back to normal proportions.
Trina nodded, flapping her wings above the center platform at the moment. She began to laugh maniacally, before splitting in half and vanishing into thin air, leaving a black hole in her stead.
This began to pull in everything around it, catching the flames and pulling them upwards, leaving Delanie unharmed. This began to pull the three heroes towards the black hole though, forcing Delanie to grip the edge of the platform while Flynn and Athena held each other. "That's enough Starcutter!" Delanie shouted, growing her fists to get a tighter grip.
Trina seemed to be able to hear this, as the blue half and red half of her jester hat came back together, before she appeared beneath it. She looked extremely exhausted from that move though, descending to one of the smaller platforms. "Missy England, now!" Flynn shouted.
Athena saw the opening and took it, firing a British flag at the descending Trina. It knocked her out of the air, with her wings unable to get going in time before she fell into the water. "I'll hold big fist here off, you go get the jester!" Flynn ordered, taking aim with his flamethrower again.
Athena nodded and rode off on one of her flags to go get Trina, while Delanie was quick enough this time to extend her fist and smack the flamethrower out of his hand. Without the British protection, Flynn couldn't easily take his shot this time, scrambling to grab his flamethrower after that punch. "What's the matter? Can't fight without your toy?" Delanie taunted Flynn as she now ran towards him with an enlarged fist, ready to strike.
While picking up his flamethrower with his other hand, the hook on Flynn's other hand jutted out like a lightsaber, quickly parrying Delanie's punch. "Wouldn't say that!" Flynn replied cheekily, then began to push her back.
Delanie had a whole other arm though, enlarging her left fist and letting the right go back to normal size as she threw a punch with that instead. "Got a one and a two for you!" Delanie laughed as she hit him in the stomach.
The punch knocked Flynn back, hitting one of the smaller platforms closer to his own cage rather rough. He sat up on it, struggling to think of a way to immobilize Delanie as she charged towards him. "Argh... might need Athena here sooner..." he mumbled to himself as he held his hook up.
Athena had flown over to the spot Trina had fell into the water, hopping off of her flag and onto the nearest platform, waiting for her to surface. One of the small platforms near her turned dark purple, with an aura emanating from it, catching her attention. "Huh. Is that part of the arena?" she wondered, as the aura disappeared and reappeared on another platform.
This aura jumped from platform to platform in seconds, then stopping on the one Athena was standing on. Before she could react, Trina flew out of the platform with a warped laugh knocking Athena onto another platform, firing several arrows of light at Athena as she was off guard.
Athena put out a British flag to protect herself, but it only took a couple arrows to make it vanish, leaving Athena to be freely pelted. "Sorry ma'am, but our team can't face elimination!" Trina apologized, soon descending after pelting Athena to unconsciousness.
Trina struggled to pick Athena up, but an extended arm and enlarged fist soon reached over and picked the Brit up. "Good work separating them! They're a good duo together, but we curb stomp them individually! Just what to expect from higher ranking heroes!" Delanie declared, gesturing to an unconscious Flynn in her other arm.
The two hurried over to their cage, tossing the two Critics inside before they could wake up. "Aaaaand a decisive win from Quanta-Lady and Starcutter! In just three minutes as well!" Mitzy narrated once the two closed the cage, making a little jingle play.
Delanie had her hands on her hips proudly, smiling at the stands, while Trina still looked exhausted. "This hat really drains you..." Trina commented tiredly.
"Don't know how much radiation it was exposed to in order to do... whatever you did during that fight, but we won, so it doesn't matter!" Delanie remarked, patting Trina on the back.
-Confessional: Victorious Award Winners: Trina-
Trina had taken her jester hat off, rubbing the back of her head. She had bags under her eyes, rubbing one of them. "I hope our win is enough to avoid elimination tonight. Maybe I'm just tired from the stress of it all? Chris just said the merge is coming up, and I don't know if I'm ready. I never thought I'd make it this far honestly, just taking every chance I have to get myself further, but everyone else left is so much better at this game than I am, I feel like I won't be able to slip by in the merge like I have been right now. Or maybe it's just the hat..."
-End Confessional-
The four contestants soon returned to the stands, where Toby consoled the tired Trina and Delanie high-fived Beck as she sat down next to him. Flaky had a worried look as Flynn and Athena sat down, saddened by their defeat. "I'll t-try to make it up f-for us during my fight..." Flaky told them, although she wasn't sure of it on her own.
With the first match done, Mitzy walked over to the stands, looking over the roster. "I hope you all enjoyed that first match, because our second arena is gonna be even cooler than the first! Take it away Sam!" Mitzy announced, pointing to the booth with the intercom next to the arena, where she had been narrating earlier.
Sam was inside, and with a few lever flips and button presses, the interior of the arena morphed from an bright platform filled pool to a lava filled hellscape with obsidian platforms linked by thinner bridges. "Woah! How did you do that!?" Flynn let out, now fully awake after witnessing that.
Chris had his hands behind his back, chuckling as he asked this. Heloise now stepped out of the booth, glad to have her efforts recognized. "Heloise and I have been working on technology that can make just about any artificial environment! It's isolated to our arena here, but as you can see, it's working perfectly!" Chris explained.
"You mean I have been working on the tech, just like everything else. The nerds here gave more effort designing these arenas than you did. I do enjoy Sam's arena more than Mitzy's though." Heloise corrected Chris.
Arin looked over the heroes in the stands, then the names on the roster. "Speaking of Sam's arena. It's time for Gyrofoe, Flashette, ParaSoul, and Super Beck to take their positions in the Blaze Arena!" Arin announced, excited for this one in particular.
Kahlin got a big grin, seeing that he was up against Beck, while Melissa felt pretty confident about this matchup. Toby and Luis shared a worried look as they got up, while Beck just got up from the stands with his hands in his pockets and strolled down to the entrance of the arena.
-Confessional: Victorious Award Winners: Beck-
Beck sighed with relief, sitting with his arms crossed. "Glad to be up against Beck and Melissa. Bonnie would probably try and grope me, while Jim and Klaas are being tryhards right now. Probably won't win, but whatever."
-End Confessional-
The two pairs were soon situated in the Blaze Arena, now on their obsidian platforms with the same cages as last time resting on them. Kahlin and Melissa stood on one end, staring at the Award Winner pair at the opposite side from afar. The bridges linking the platforms were gridlike, thin bridges connecting a bunch of different squares. "What's the game plan captain?" Kahlin asked Melissa, adjusting his Blue Jays hat.
Melissa furrowed her brow, trying to think of a plan. "Without knowing their powers, this could be tricky. Beck we need to be careful of. His name Super Beck makes me think that mask he has gives him powers like Superman." Melissa guessed.
"99% sure it's just a mask with no abilities. If we gang up on Toby, Beck goes down just as easily afterward." Kahlin suggested.
"Focus our efforts on one person? Sounds good to me. I'll handle getting to them to the cage and maybe distracting them with my speed, you can hold your own in a fight right?" Melissa asked Kahlin.
Kahlin held up his right arm, clenching his right fist beneath the large drill bit on a cone connected to the battery cuff on his arm. It whirred, spinning for a moment. "You know it." Kahlin assured her with a wink.
Toby looked over the boiling environment around them, flinching when he noticed a bubble of lava pop near their platform, creating a small splash. "I think it'd be best for you to stay here Socrates. I wouldn't want you to burn." Toby told his rat, prompting Socrates to scurry down his body and hop into the Award Winners' cage.
Beck watched this questioningly, raising an eyebrow at Toby as he leaned against their cage. "You find new ways to weird me out every day you know that?" Beck remarked while Toby now made sure Luis's top hat was on securely.
"Just having fun! No need to be a sourpuss! So... what's the gameplan Becky boy? Toby can protect us with his parasol, so you can just use whatever wonderous ability you got out there! Toby's parasol works on psychic energy, but he's too happy to really make it work as anything besides defense." Luis asked Beck, with Toby holding up his parasol in his left hand.
Beck shrugged, not invested at all in the puppetry. "I just grabbed the mask for the costume. Doesn't really have any abilities. I guess I can kick Kahlin or something from behind the parasol." Beck replied casually.
Toby and Luis shared a worried look, with Luis laughing a little nervously. "That's a joke right? You just wanna keep your powers a secret so the enemy won't know what hit 'em! Well it's time to take the cat out of the bag here and at least tell us, so we can work with it!" Luis took Beck's words as sarcasm.
"Yeah, lightning bolts shoot from my finger tips and this mask has laser vision. There. We're ready." Beck responded dully.
As soon as he said that, Sam's voice came over the intercom. "Alright, it's time to level up and get round 2 started! Your 10 minutes start now, kick some butt heroes!" Sam started the second fight, a loud buzzer playing to indicate that as well.
Toby sighed when he heard the buzzer start the fight, and Beck right away took off to head to the center platform. "Don't worry Toby, even if Beck doesn't have powers, all that matters is that we do our best! Whatever happens in the fight, we'll make it out okay!" Luis assured Toby. Toby nodded, then gripped his parasol as he followed after Beck.
Melissa's suit thanks to the radiation allowed her to zip right to the center platform, leaving Kahlin to run normally down the thin obsidian bridges to catch up with her. "Watch your balance while you're running, I don't think Chris safety tested that lava!" Kahlin warned Melissa as he ran after her.
Beck stepped onto the center platform after that, bracing himself to be hit as Melissa zoomed over to him. He held out a leg to trip her, although she easily jumped over this and delivered a swift slap across the face. "Too slow!" Melissa shouted as she zipped by him.
Toby caught up to Beck, arriving shortly after Kahlin now showed up on the center platform. "Let's see what you got brella boy, because I've got an appointment with Beck here!" Kahlin called to them as he rushed towards the pair.
Toby had just helped Beck regain his balance from the speedy slap when Kahlin declared his intent, so he opened up his parasol right away to protect them both. "Now is the time to use your powers Beck!" Toby told him, while he himself fired little bits of pink energy from the tip of his parasol at Kahlin.
These bits of energy were harmless though, with Kahlin easily deflecting the first one, while the third hit him in the chest and didn't phase him at all, making him feel better in fact. "Hey that felt nice! Thanks for that! Now hand over Beck and this might be a lot less painful!" Kahlin thanked Toby, before thrusting his drill arm directly into the parasol.
A layer of pink psychic energy protected the parasol from the drill rush, making it feel as though it was completely solid to the drill. Kahlin's strength still caused Toby to be pushed back as he just kept pushing the drill, while Toby dig his heels in the obsidian to try and hold his ground while shielding Beck. "Oh uh, like I said, I got nothing." Beck just told Toby casually, standing behind him.
The pressure Kahlin was applying on Toby's parasol only grew, with him kicking it with his drill shoes as well for good measure. Toby now used his other hand to hold the parasol as well, wrapping the puppet around the handle as he needed both hands. "Come on Beck! I need you to do something here! I can't hold him off much longer!" Toby begged Beck as the two were slowly being pushed toward the lava.
He wouldn't need to though, as Melissa rushed in from behind and used both hands to deliver swift neck chops to the two Award Winners, catching them entirely off guard. Beck's mask was knocked off as he fell over, and Toby dropped his parasol and Luis from the sheer force the speed had created. "Woah! And a sudden sucker hit from behind turns the tides of the fight!" Mitzy narrated.
Kahlin of course gunned for Beck after that, pinning him to the ground and holding his drill above him. "What the heck are you doing!? Chris said non-lethal!" Beck yelled as Kahlin was about to thrust his drill arm into his face.
Just before he made contact though, Kahlin just stopped, then began to laugh. "Oh I know! Just wanted to give you a little scare! Shoulda prepared for the fight better!" Kahlin taunted Beck, although the actor didn't find it funny at all.
Toby sat up, putting his right hand on his neck as he recovered from the neck chop. That's when he noticed his hand was empty, causing his eyes to dart around wildly as he looked for where he dropped Luis. The puppet dangled off their platform, as did his parasol. "Luis! I got you buddy!" Toby called to the puppet as he hurried over to grab it before anything could happen.
Melissa was faster though, scooping Toby up and zooming over to their cage. "NO NO NO WAIT! I have to grab Luis!" Toby pleaded as he struggled, but his weak constitution of course stood no chance against the trained athlete.
It didn't matter either, as the puppet was set ablaze by being so close to the lava, causing Toby to scream as he watched it to burn. He just closed his eyes after that, a blubbering mess as Melissa tossed him into the cage. "Jeez, it's just a puppet, get a hold of yourself." Melissa told him in annoyance, before zooming away to go get Beck.
Once Melissa was back, Kahlin got up off of Beck, letting Melissa pick him up and carry him to their cage. Beck didn't put up much of a fight at all. "And that settles it! The Mutant Movie Munchers take this round thanks to Flashette's quick moves and Gyrofoe's pressure! And in just 2 minutes! You guys are ending these fast!" Arin declared.
Melissa and Kahlin high fived, while Beck rolled his eyes as Toby continued to sob as he watched from afar as Luis was reduced to nothing but a pile of charred felt. "Dude can you knock it off already? You can just buy another one." Beck told, very annoyed with the crying.
"S-Shut up Beck..." Toby muttered, curling up and burying his head in his knees.
-Confessional: Victorious Award Winners: Beck-
Beck rolled his eyes, twirling a finger near his head. "Spaz."
-End Confessional-
The four combatants returned to the stands, with Toby arriving last, Socrates miserly perched on his shoulder, lugging his parasol on his other shoulder. "Now each time has a win! Except for the Critics! If they win their next fight, then we'll go to sudden death! Otherwise, they'll be sending two people home!" Chris narrated, laughing as the four sat down.
Athena saw that Luis was missing and gasped right away. "Toby..." she began to console him, moving to sit with him.
"Not now Athena, we'll talk later... I n-need some time to cool off..." Toby told her, wiping the tears from his face.
Kahlin took some pity of the situation, while Melissa and Beck just didn't get it. Flaky gulped nervously, seeing who she was up against. "Okay! High Roller, Doom Fume, and The Vixen, you're up against Shibo Boshi on the Dusk Arena! Arin put this one together!" Mitzy announced, with Sam flipping some levers and and pushing some buttons to change the environment.
The lava was drained from the arena, and all the lights quickly turned off in the dome. A maze of wooden panels appeared, each 8 feet tall just like the arena walls. The cages were in the same spot, and Arin now unlocked the side doors on the arena once the maze panels were finished coming into place. "Alright heroes, time for your third showdown! Let's get this ball rolling!" Arin directed the four of them.
Jim and Klaas didn't even acknowledge each other as they headed into the arena, while Bonnie just gave Flaky a pat on the back. "Not gonna go easy or anything, they'd vote me out for that, but good luck out there." Bonnie told Flaky, before hurrying to catch up with Jim and Klaas.
Arin closed the side entrance facing the stands, then tossed the key to Flaky. "You can let yourself in on the other side entrance, have no fear hero! Your fate is in your hands!" Arin encouraged her.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Flaky-
Flaky was sweating nervously, adjusting her hat in the confessional. "B-But are my h-hands reliable? I mean... in b-bed and... nope! K-Keep your head in the g-game Flaky! J-Jim and Klaas v-voted me out the f-first time, now comes the p-payback!"
-End Confessional-
In the Dusk Arena, both teams were in place now, next to their respective cages. Flaky paced back and forth anxiously, while Jim and Klaas gave each other stone cold looks. "Are you two gonna make out or can we plan something now." Bonnie asked the two of them.
"Not like it'd matter, you'd side with Jim no matter what I suggest. I know you two are allied." Klaas told her bitterly.
Jim rolled his eyes, although it couldn't be seen from beneath his shades. "Cool. Glad we got that out of the way. We're in a 3v1 here, so let's just play it safe. It's Flaky anyway, easy catch. I'll take the lead and gas her, you two do whatever you can to catch her. We're all stronger than her, so once she's in our grasp it's over." Jim laid out their game plan.
Bonnie nodded, giving a thumbs up. "Fine by me, wouldn't mind carrying Flaky for a bit myself~" Bonnie remarked.
"Still don't get it, but alright. Let's make this quick." Jim was numb to Bonnie's remarks at this point.
"Alright heroes! Round 3! Your ten minutes start now, go PLUS ULTRA!" Arin shouted into the intercom, starting the battle.
Rather than jumping from platform to platform or crossing bridges, those gapes were now wooden panels, dividing up the arena into one big symmetrical maze. The three Munchers had split up, each looking for the lone Critic in this maze. Jim was making his way to the center, mostly hugging the paths that took the straightest route possible.
At the center of this maze was a more open area, where Flaky had already made her way to, looking around in the darkness as she reached into the pockets on the inside of her robe and then began to throw out spawn and seeds onto the ground with one hand. She pulled out a toy water gun, spraying liquid fertilizer from it with her other hand. "G-Grow... my shroomies..." Flaky whispered to herself.
Once she had filled the open area enough, Flaky began to go down the pathways closer to the Munchers' side of the maze, repeating the pattern of spreading spawn and seed, then fertilizing it. "Any sign of her yet!?" Klaas called out from the other side of a wooden panel.
"Not yet! She might hovering around the center! We don't know her power, but it can't do much for her worthlessness, so just rush her as soon as you see her!" Jim responded, sticking to the game plan.
Flaky clenched her water gun tightly, grinding her teeth in anger as she couldn't respond to their words. The darkness of the arena, combined with the shade from her mushroom cap left the upper part of her face obscured to black, but some tears streamed down to the visible half as those words made her recall her first elimination.
13 episodes ago...
"Nanashi."
Nanashi looked a little confused, but she still accepted the Gilded Chris nonetheless. "Huh. Well I guess I'll take another day to hang out with you guys! Guess that means you guys like me!" Nanashi exclaimed, catching her award as it was tossed to her.
Flaky lowered her legs from hugging them, but she didn't just take this loss in silence though. "P-Please... not so s-soon! This was my c-chance! I t-thought I could turn t-things around for once! M-Make some friends even!" Flaky began to beg, looking towards Chris.
"Lame-o-sine is that way!" Chris replied, completely ignoring her pleas.
Flaky didn't stop though, standing up from her seat and looking at her ex-teammates. "This... t-this isn't fair! All my life, n-no one would give me t-the time of day, so I've just b-been interning. For Interning S-Steve's Intern Camp, for summer c-camps, and for all of C-Chris's shows! My d-dad, everyone at s-school, C-Chris, they all ignore m-me! But the m-moment I get a chance to c-change that, I'm eliminated. Guess I r-really am worthless..." Flaky rambled a bit, sighing afterward.
"Yup, you are! Now to the lame-o-sine, we're on a schedule here!" Chris demanded, pointing to the Walk of Shame.
Flaky began to tear up as she stepped out of the bleachers, getting only awkward looks from the rest of her former teammates for a moment. "At least you're still hot." Bonnie told Flaky, not really helping the situation.
Flaky began to walk past the stage Chris was standing on, stopping for a moment and looking at Chris again. "C-Can I at least go b-back to being an intern?" Flaky requested, just a shred of hope in her voice still.
Chris shook his head. "Nope, said it yourself, you're worthless! Now why would I want a worthless intern?" Chris turned her down right away.
Flaky held back her tears after this and walked down the Walk of Shame, then got in the Lame-o-sine and closed the door. Once she was in, she just pulled out her Gameguy Advanced. "Guess t-this is all I have left now..." Flaky said to herself as she turned it on and the Lame-o-sine drove away as she did so.
"I'm n-not worthless..." Flaky whispered to herself, continuing to bitterly grip her water gun and she spread her seeds and spawn.
Two minutes had already passed, and none of the three Munchers had found Flaky yet. "This is garbage, she gets a whole maze to hide in, she's just going to wait us out!" Jim complained.
Bonnie had reconvened with him, having crossed paths during their search. "Maybe they chose this arena in case of a 3v1 like this. Gives her a fighting chance? But if she waits us out, we win this by default with our numbers." Bonnie told him.
Jim furrowed his brows, not a fan of winning like that. "Lame, but I guess a win is a win. I know we won't both be able to make it through a double elimination, so if Flaky wants to just hide for 10 minutes, I'm all for it. She probably knows she can't take us on. You keep searching, I'll head to the center again to see if she'll head through." Jim ordered, then ran off.
Bonnie watched him leave, then jogged off in her own way. She was a bit disappointed the darkness hid her lewd outfit, and she definitely wasn't a fan of having to attack Flaky. "Just surrender please, it'll be easier that way..." Bonnie muttered as she jogged through the maze.
Klaas walked around on his own still, holding his pair of oversized dice by string in one hand. "Just one of these should knock her out if I'm lucky. She won't know what hit her..." Klaas whispered to himself as he looked around.
Klaas turned a corner, heading back to their base to see if Flaky was trying a sneak attack. He only made it a few feet before he felt something itchy on his leg. "Huh?" he looked down, noticing a bump near his ankle.
Klaas lifted up his pant leg a little, gasping when he saw a mushroom growing on it. These began to rapidly spread, growing all over his body up from his leg. "What the heck!? Did Chris let mutant mold grow in this place!?" Klaas let out as he began to pluck the mushrooms off.
Mushrooms had sprouted up from the ground now, of varying species and size. They each were growing several inches, thanks to the fertilizer Flaky had sprayed on them. "That'd be mutant mushrooms~" Flaky said to Klaas, stepping out into the same corridor of panels as him, just 40 feet away from the gambler.
Flaky now had a wicked grin on her face, laughing as she watched Klaas pluck the mushrooms off of herself. "You! That's your gimmick, mushrooms? We'll see how that suits you in combat!" Klaas shouted at her, now running at her and preparing to swing his dice.
Flaky wasn't remotely scared though, just standing still with her robed arms at her sides as Klaas ran at her. He didn't even make it halfway before collapsing to his knees, now coughing repeatedly. "Conocybe filaris! One of my many of my mushies growing here! You're feeling all kinds of abdominal pain now, but don't worry, you won't be hurting for very long!" Flaky explained to Klaas, looking down at him.
"C-Crap... gotta w-warn the others..." Klaas stammered, trying to pull himself to his feet. He was unable to do so, soon passing out from the mycotoxins.
Flaky snickered as he passed out, then kneeled down and grabbed his legs, beginning to drag him away to head to her cage. "One down, maybe the others already knocked themselves out without me even being there~ Would hate to miss it, but I'll find them, I know my shroomies already have!" Flaky said to herself, then began to happily hum as she dragged Klaas away.
Klaas's initial yelling had alerted Bonnie and Jim to Flaky's location, and the two Munchers soon arrived on the scene. "Poisoning us huh? I've got something noxious for you too!" Jim yelled at Flaky, before reaching for the bombs on his legs and throwing them at Flaky.
Flaky winced, dropped Klaas's legs and holding her arms in front of her face as the explosives hit her, letting out a bunch of tear gas. "My mushrooms will stop you, I'd get in my cage if you don't want to be throwing up tonight!" Flaky advised, still keeping a pained smile as she began to succumb to the tear gas.
Bonnie pulled out a fishnet from her boots and threw it at Flaky, but she stepped back and avoided it, covering her mouth as she began to cough. "I'm not feeling... good Jim..." Bonnie let out, now coughing like Klaas had from all the poisonous mushrooms starting to grow on them and all around.
Jim hadn't begun to cough though, just simply plucking the mushrooms off himself. His face mask had protected him from both the tear gas and the mycotoxins, staring proudly from beneath the shades as Flaky fell. "A bit rough, but any measures that get the job done work." Jim stated as he walked over to Flaky.
Flaky watched him walk over, growing furious as she saw his face mask keeping him safe from her mushrooms. "You... you prepared for this!? No! This was supposed to be my payback!" Flaky let out, stumbling towards Jim.
Jim caught her before she fell flat on her face, still coughing from the tear gas. "Melissa was worried about you being on another team, but I never saw it. You aren't completely useless though, this was pretty crafty." Jim told her, wrapping his arms around the gamer to carry her to the Munchers' cage.
Flaky fumbled her hands onto his shoulders, trying to maintain balance. "No... this... isn't over..." Flaky let out, gasping for air.
"Sorry, it's over." Jim responded half-heartedly as he began to carry her through the tear gas and mushroom filled maze.
"FOR YOU!" Flaky then yelled, using this position to grab his face mask and rip it off, falling out of his grasp from the shock and landing on her back.
Jim now breathed in the tear gas he sent out, and now the mycotoxins from the mushrooms growing on him seeped into his lungs instantly for how long he'd already been exposed to them. "Y-You little-" was all he could let out before he too passed out from it all.
Flaky tossed aside the face mask, then seemed to be right back to normal, laughing at the three unconscious Munchers. "Haha, that worked! You all really thought some tear gas would stop me? Chris made us work in radioactive dumps for a whole summer, tear gas is nothing!" Flaky boasted, before going back to business to drag them to her cage.
At around the 8 minute mark of the match, Flaky placed Bonnie gently into their cage, being the last of the Munchers she brought over. "Woah! Overcoming the numbers disadvantage, Shibo Boshi has won entirely on her own!" Sam announced, shocking just about everyone watching the match.
Flaky pumped both fists in the air excitedly, giddy with excitement. "Yes! I did it! Yatta yo!" Flaky cheered for herself.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Flaky-
Flaky hugged her mushroom cap, smiling at the camera. "I've had that whole fight planned out in my head for quite some time! As Shibo Boshi, I feel like I could do anything! It doesn't matter if I can't lift weight or run super fast. My shroomies and I pulled through! I h-hope Jim and Klaas w-won't be too mad at m-me though..."
-End Confessional-
Flaky soon returned to the stands, tipping her mushroom cap to Flynn and Athena, who applauded her victory. Bonnie, Jim, and Klaas all returned in a miserable heap after that, still plucking the mushrooms off themselves while they had mostly recovered from their coughing and abdominal pain. "So! That's 1 win and 1 loss for each team across the three rounds! Which means we went in one big circle!" Chris told the teams, a bit frustrated with this fact.
That was until the entrance to the soundstage opened, and Chef walked inside, with Thomas and Trixie right behind him. "Found 'em both asleep in their trailers, guess they didn't get the message!" Chef told Chris, as the two Critic deserters rejoined their team in the stands.
"There goes our number advantage..." Delanie muttered.
"Are we winning? And what's with the goofy costumes?" Trixie asked them as she sat down.
"It's all tied up, and we're doing superhero stuff." Athena answered simply, while Flynn and Flaky gave Trixie scornful looks.
Chris nodded to confirm what Athena said. "Correct! The score is tied up, and since you two flaked on the challenge, you don't get to make costumes for yourselves! Which will probably make you both dead weight in the final round of our challenge. The three way sudden death round!" Chris declared, smirking at Trixie and Thomas.
"Great..." Trixie mumbled, soon cursing under her breath and shooting a brief glare at Thomas.
"Okay Sam, pull up our final arena!" Mitzy told Sam excitedly.
Sam this time flipped a few extra levers in the booth, prompting the mushroom ridden panel maze to shift back into the ground. Fresh wooden panels to their place, albeit much more sparsely, serving as just tall walls that weren't connected to one another. "Okay! Say hello to the Frost Arena!" Arin introduced the final arena of the challenge.
Icicles jutted out of the ground, with the entire surface of the arena being covered in ice. The icicles were about 5 feet tall, and were rather wide as well, serving as walls in their own way. There were three cages in this arena spaced out evenly, with the Munchers and Award Winners closer to corners while the Critics' cage was in the center against the opposing wall. "Everyone take your positions at your respective cages, all members take part in this free for all! Same rules as before, if all your members are caught, you lose, and whichever team is last standing or has the most members left when the timer ends wins! Remember, you have a double elimination at stake people!" Chris explained to the teams, before opening up the side entrance of the arena for easier access.
"Double!?" Trixie let out, her mind racing right off the bat as soon as she heard this.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Trixie-
Trixie slammed a fist on the vanity, her anger very visible. "I'm this close to just dumping Thomas at this point. But I know what happens if I do that! I can't believe he just does what he does so casually, and he gets me involved and has me... finish off some brothers we could have talked things out with! I'm a con artist, sometimes a thief, I'm not cut out for the crap Thomas has me do! I hate this, and now if we lose, I'm probably getting booted for deserting the team! I have to make sure we win this, because I'm dead if Thomas and I get booted in this double, literally."
-End Confessional-
In the Frost Arena, the mostly even teams had now taken their positions by their cages. The three Munchers who faced Flaky had now gotten the mushrooms off themselves and were mostly back to tip top shape. "We're out in the open, sorta. Flaky can't do any trickery this time." Klaas stated, still a little embarrassed from how that fight went.
Jim nodded, more angry than embarrassed. "For once I can agree with you on something, Flaky needs to go." Jim agreed with Klaas.
Kahlin chuckled, crossing his arms. "She was that bad huh? Well Toby and Beck aren't threats at all, so if we just wipe out Delanie and Trina quickly, we'll score ourselves some easy safety!" Kahlin suggested.
"We're not ganging up on one team. This is a free for all. We divide and conquer here. We dispatch of Flaky first, then we go from there and watch each others' backs." Melissa stated firmly.
Delanie crackled her knuckles, ready for this showdown. "Same as last time, you cover me Starcutter! Super Beck, ParaSoul, just try to avoid being captured. I know neither of you are capable of much right now, so leave the hard work to us." Delanie laid out the gameplan.
Toby shook his head though, dried tears covering his face. "No. I'm helping. Leave Gyrofoe and Flashette to me. Super Beck, you just guard our cage." Toby stated just as firmly, gripping his parasol with both hands while Socrates sat perched in his yukata pocket.
The pink aura emanating from his parasol had grown much larger compared to last time, which Trina and Delanie both noticed. "Sounds good sir! I'm still a little tuckered out after our first match, so hopefully this helps make up for it!" Trina went with the idea, while Beck just shrugged in ambivalence and leaned against their cage.
Flaky had already gotten to work, throwing out seed and spawn around their base. "Make sure to sanitize yourself~ It'll last long enough for my mushrooms to not affect you." Flaky told her team with a wink as she pulled some sanitizing wipes out of her robe, handing them to the others.
"Is that how you did it during your fight lassie?" Flynn asked her as he began to rub the alcohol wipes on himself.
Flaky nodded, wiping herself as well. "Of course! My shroomies love me, but I gotta stay prepared if I don't want them to love me a lil' too much~" Flaky answered, snickering afterward.
"Since when did you get all creepy?" Trixie remarked, noting Flaky's demeanor change.
"Well she did win our only round for us..." Athena informed Trixie.
Flaky nodded, giggling as she walked up to Trixie. "Mhmm! So for this fight, you and Thomas will be guarding the cage and not leaving this area! The shrooms should keep anyone that comes near at bay, so you can just drag them into the cage once they fall flat! Heehee!" Flaky ordered them, continuing to giggle.
"Will do." Thomas agreed to the plan dutifully, while Trixie was still skeptical.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Trixie-
Trixie facepalmed, shaking her head. "One day. I leave Flaky alone for one day and she becomes this super confident leader and planner, obsessed with mushrooms! Even Jack had his fears sorta grounded, except the spiral one. She's getting wayyy too into the challenge here, and if we lose, she's probably too sure of herself for me to take advantage of it. I just need to know who got into her ear so I can take of them once I deal with her and Flynn."
-End Confessional-
"Okay heroes, the last showdown is now among us! Your ten minutes begin now, give it your all!" Mitzy announced over the intercom, seeing that the teams were all ready.
"And go PLUS ULTRA!" all three of the Nerd Herd cheered in unison.
The three teams all went in, except for Beck, Flaky, Thomas, and Trixie staying behind at their bases. "Crap, we're being targeted!" Flaky let out right away, seeing Kahlin and Melissa heading towards them.
"I got your back here, you just wear 'em out for me!" Kahlin told Melissa, revving up his drill arm as it began to pick up speed spinning.
Melissa nodded and began to zoom close, making Flaky brace for impact as she reached into her robe. Flynn and Athena had already left the base, so she couldn't count on any British shields. "Slow down there Flashette! Gotta stop and smell the shroomies~" Flaky shouted as she pulled out her water gun, albeit this one was green.
Melissa reared her hand to deliver a slap as she went in, but Flaky took aim with her water gun and fired quickly since Melissa was just coming straight at her. "GAH!" Melissa let out as she was sprayed by spores, making her close her eyes so said spores wouldn't get in them.
"What was that?" Trixie asked, watching from a safe distance with Thomas.
Flaky snickered, continuing to spray spores out as Melissa reeled from the shot. "My little shroomies make spores to reproduce and defend themselves, so I collected some after my last fight, now I'll be defending myself!" Flaky answered fiendishly.
Melissa backed away a safe distance from the shroom girl, then opened her eyes again to assess the situation, but not before slipping on the ice and falling on her rear. "Ugh... she's making a toxic barrier of that stuff. Got a plan to break through?" Melissa asked Kahlin as he caught up with her.
Kahlin looked over the barrier of spores and now mushrooms sprouting up around the Critics' cage, protecting the three within it. "We ignore Flaky. We just need to not have the most people caught. If you can zip in and get Thomas or Trixie, that'll go a long way." Kahlin suggested.
"I'll still breathe all the stuff in though, you sure that'll work?" Melissa asked him.
Kahlin nodded his head, winking at her. "Sure am! You're fast enough to make it out of there before the effects kick in!" Kahlin assured her confidently.
Melissa thought for a moment, and his plan seemed to click fully. "Alright, sounds foolproof enough to me, I'll give it a go!" Melissa agreed to it as she stood up, before sprinting off again.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Kahlin-
Kahlin chuckled, sharpening his drill boots with his drill arm. "Situations like this are a lot like baseball. Flaky is the designated hitter, and she's been on fire lately. Do you give it all you got and try to strike her out? Of course not, you just walk her and move on, not worth trying there! Trixie and Thomas are the 2nd and 3rd hitters, the ones you can actually deal with and have to strike out if you want to win. At least that's how I see it!"
-End Confessional-
Delanie and Trina had made their move toward the Munchers' base, with the former being followed by the latter like last time. Klaas, Bonnie, and Jim were running towards them, although an idea popped into Bonnie's head and she separated from her group fairly quickly, taking cover behind one of the wooden panels before sneaking away.
"2 on 2 it looks like, you gas them, I'll deliver the blows!" Klaas directed Jim.
"Not if I get to them first, but let's put our feud aside for this fight!" Jim responded, before grabbing some dark purple capsules from inside his jacket and throwing them forward.
The capsules hit the ice in front of Delanie, causing a fiery explosion that sent ice shards flying everywhere. A pink capsule hit the ground soon after, creating a smokescreen around the two Award Winners. "Hrrgh! These ones might be a bit tougher! Keep them at bay Starcutter!" Delanie let out, with Trina staying out of the smokescreen and soaring up.
"You won't be laying a finger on Quanta-Lady!" Trina shouted, firing arrows of light from her wing cannons into the smoke to dissipate it.
Delanie began to swing an enlarged fist wildly, hitting anyone that would dare get close. "Thanks for the cover Jim." Klaas thanked Jim quietly as he began to swing his dice.
Jim gave a nod of acknowledgement, but was soon struck by one of the light arrows and fell backwards. Klaas threw his two large dice at Delanie, them wrapping around her enlarged fist by the rope. She couldn't see them until it was too late, and her own strength caused her to swing the dice right into her face since she was already spinning around.
Delanie fell backwards, hitting her head on the ice as she recoiled from the blow. She began to pull the dice off her fist, but a figure in the smoke already began to move towards her. "Aye lassie, miss me?" Flynn remarked, holding his hook close to her face as he wrapped an arm around her to take her away.
"HEY! We got her first!" Klaas yelled when he saw Flynn arrive to take Delanie.
Delanie of course tried to punch Klaas in the face, but a British flag intercepted the punch, keeping Flynn safe as he carried her away. "Oh. We'll give you an honorable mention then." Athena commented as she too emerged from the now vanishing smoke.
Jim threw a tear gas bomb at Athena right away, but she again deflected it with a British flag. Letting the gas instead spew his direction. His face mask protected him, but he right away looked to Klaas. "Quick! Get outta here! You ain't gonna last long with this stuff!" Jim warned Klaas.
Klaas was already leaving though, chasing after Flynn and Athena as he grabbed another pair of oversized dice from his belt. "Get back here!" Klaas called to the pair as he chased them.
Athena and Flynn scaled one of the icicles jutting out of the ground, with Athena shooting one of her British flags vertically from beneath their feet to act as an elevator for her and Flynn. "Great improvisin' lassie, we can back up Flaky and the others if they need it!" Flynn praised Athena's support.
They didn't make it all the way up though, as Trina descended in front of them, aiming her cannons directly at them. "I'll be taking my partner back, thank you very much sir and ma'am." Trina stated, glaring at the two.
"Athena, brace yerself!" Flynn shouted, still holding off the struggling Delanie.
"Unhand me now! This is a disgrace to the number one hero!" Delanie cried out.
Since they weren't handing her over, Trina flew up laughing like a maniac, before splitting in half and vanishing, leaving another black hole behind. Athena and Klaas right away knew what it was and hopped off their flag, sliding back down the icicle they had just scaled. "A black hole!? How can she do that!?" Klaas let out, also stopping in his tracks.
When he saw Athena and Flynn sliding tomorrows them though, he got a grin and began to swing his oversized dice. "Smoke 'em Jim!" Klaas called to his partner.
Before they could even reach the ground ice, Jim threw two tear gas bombs, one high and one low at the Critic pair. Athena was able to block the low one with a flag, but she couldn't make a second flag in time to block the high bomb, which burst right on their heads and drowned them in tear gas.
Flynn dropped Delanie as he began to cough and tear up, with Athena doing the same. Klaas used this opportunity to swing one of his dice at them, holding the other one as he did so. The rope wrapped around the pair, tying them up by the dice. "Bingo! Lucky catch!" Klaas exclaimed as the cough pair fell over tied up.
Jim rushed over to the two, still protected from the gas. "You stay back, I'll take these two back to our cage. You take care of Delanie!" Jim ordered, picking up Flynn and Athena.
Delanie was free though, and quickly unwrapped the pair of dice around her fist, throwing them back at Klaas. Trina soon reappeared and her block hole vanished, but she looked like she was barely awake as she descended. "You're safe ma'am, phew..." Trina let out, letting herself just slide down the icicle to regroup with Delanie.
Jim had already run off with the Critic pair, leaving Klaas at the mercy of the Award Winners. "I'm not going down that easi-" Klaas began, having caught the dice Delanie threw back at him.
He was cut off by a light arrow to the face, knocking him over, followed by Delanie sprinting at him and enlarging her fist to hold him entirely, scooping him up. "Crud... we lost one for catching two. Not the worst play." Klaas muttered, turning his head to see Jim heading back to their base.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Klaas-
Klaas rubbed the back of his head, letting out a sigh. "I kinda had a feeling our little partnership was just for the challenge. Not that I want to be friends with Jim or anything, god knows that's never happening after yesterday, but it would have been nice if he at least threw a bomb back at them or something to give me a fighting chance."
-End Confessional-
Delanie dropped Klaas into their cage, wiping her hands off afterward while Trina took a seat in front of their cage. "That went well! Nice backup Starcutter, that would have gone sour if it weren't for your black hole!" Delanie praised Trina.
"Thanks... I think I'll stay guarding the cage though ma'am, I can barely feel anything..." Trina accepted the praise, closing her eyes from exhaustion.
"And just like that, the Award Winners have now captured one member of the Munchers! Meanwhile, the Munchers have already gotten 3 captures! There's still 7 minutes left to go people!" Mitzy narrated excitedly.
"Three? Wait... where's Super Beck!?" Delanie let out, realizing that their guard was missing.
Bonnie was waiting for Jim at their base when he dropped off Flynn and Athena, smirking at him. "Woah, how did you get him so fast?" Jim asked her.
Bonnie just shrugged. "He didn't put up much of a fight." Bonnie answered, with Beck just sitting in the Munchers' cage without a care.
"A catch is a catch I guess." Jim conceded, not questioning it further.
Over at the Critics' base, Melissa had zoomed in to grab Thomas first, her eyes already watering as soon as she set foot in the fungus perimeter. "This won't be as easy as you think." Thomas stated as Melissa went for him.
Melissa went for a super speed neck chop like she had done previously, but Thomas just stepped aside and her a hand out, lining it up with the trajectory of her sprint. He ran right into it, falling over from the sudden stop. "Ouch. She is fast." Thomas remarked as he shook the hand she ran into.
"Grab her! Get her in the cage before she recovers!" Flaky yelled, pointing at Melissa as she tried to pull herself back to her feet on the mushroom ridden ice.
Mushrooms already started to grow on Melissa as Trixie ran over to grab her, but that didn't stop the athlete. She coughed as she stood, and when Trixie went to grab her arm, Melissa grabbed it instead and bolted to leave the barrier. "G-Got her!" Melissa called to Kahlin, who was still watching from outside the barrier.
Kahlin clapped at this as Jim arrived on the scene, grunting when he saw all the mushrooms. "You let her set up!?" Jim let out angrily.
"Relax, Melissa can get in and out of there just fine, sorta." Kahlin assured Jim.
Just as Melissa exited the barrier with Trixie, a huge ball of pink energy was flung at her, bursting on impact with the ice next to her. "Was that Trina? What else does she have in her arsenal!?" Jim let out, on alert immediately.
Flaky ran over to Melissa, who had stumbled from the fall, with Trixie getting back on her feet. "We can still save this! They're all gathered here, let's just nab them all! The shroomies will get to them soon enough!" Flaky ordered to Thomas and Trixie as she ran.
The source of the blast soon descended upon them, being Toby with his parasol in true Mary Poppins fashion, floating down to the ice. "So now that thing packs a punch huh?" Melissa remarked as he landed.
"We're kinda in the middle of a fight here, or do you want to just be captured for fun?" Kahlin told him, before Jim quickly throwing a tear gas bomb his way.
Toby held out his parasol in front of him, deflecting the tear gas bomb with ease, it bouncing right off the top. "Not for fun, you're going down! You and Flashette specifically!" Toby replied to Kahlin, before closing the parasol with one click.
Kahlin chuckled, seeing this change in demeanor. "So Flaky isn't the only one in the zone here it seems. Bring it!" Kahlin beckoned Toby with his other hand.
Toby glared at Kahlin, the tip of his closed parasol glowing bright pink with sparks of energy flying off it. "Have at you!" Toby yelled as he swung at the air.
A wave of energy was launched at the Munchers, knocking Kahlin and Jim off their feet right away. "Much stronger than last fight, hrrk... that energy felt good last time." Kahlin commented as he stood back up.
Flaky was geeking out as she watched the interaction, before remembering her objective. "Okay Trixie, Thomas, he's going for Flashette and Gyrofoe, so focus on getting Doom Fume's mask! Once he loses that, this match is as good as ours!" Flaky ordered the two.
Thomas nodded and sprinted out of the barrier, while Trixie walked away from the coughing Melissa. "Not to be a downer, but I really don't stand a chance here." Trixie reminded Flaky.
"Fine, just get Melissa into the cage then." Flaky ordered her instead, prompting Trixie to begin to drag the downed Athlete.
"Ugh... I can't fight back... sorry team..." Melissa said to herself between coughs, mushrooms having grown all over her suit now.
An energy shot to Trixie freed Melissa from her grasp though, while the thief tumbled and slid on the ice as she recoiled from the shot. "What was that for!?" Trixie yelled at Toby, who had his parasol aimed at her.
"She's mine to put away! Not yours!" Toby shouted back, before running over to the pair, going around the barrier.
Flaky tried to intercept Toby, but he just thrusted the parasol into her stomach, quickly winding the mushroom girl. "Ow! T-That hurts..." Flaky let out, snapping out of her persona for a moment.
Toby heard this and also paused, looking down at her. "Sorry, are you alright?" Toby asked her worriedly.
"Now I am!" Flaky switched right back, shooting spores right at Toby.
He closed his eyes and stumbled back from this, to which Kahlin ran in and drove his drill right at Toby's parasol, knocking it out of his hand. "Got him!" Kahlin exclaimed
As soon as the parasol left his hands, Toby shrieked wildly, energy flying from both the parasol and Socrates in his pocket, blasting away everyone near him. He then picked his parasol back up, taking several deep breaths. "I can't lose, I WON'T lose! It's n-not an option!" Toby declared fiercely, his voice trembling a bit and betraying that fierceness as tears still seeped through his eyes.
"Okay King..." Jim muttered, standing back up from the blast and getting out bombs to throw.
Flaky shot out her spores and Jim threw actual explosives this time, but Toby just opened up his parasol and protected himself from both. "Stay out of this!" Toby yelled to both of them, before running past Flaky and over to Melissa.
Delanie now arrived on the scene, with Trina lagging behind her. "You all must be worn down now, hope you don't mind some knockout steals by Quanta-Lady and Starcutter!" Delanie greeted them cheekily.
"Crap, not these two again..." Jim muttered, now readying bombs to throw at them instead of Toby.
"3 minutes left everyone!" Arin announced over the intercom.
Trixie retreated and went after Jim with Thomas, while Flaky and Jim both prepared for Delanie and Trina's onslaught. Kahlin on the other hand ran after Toby before he could freely drag Melissa away.
-Confessional: Mutant Movie Munchers: Kahlin-
Kahlin adjusted his hat, although he still looked spotless. "Toby really depended on Luis for support huh? He's gone completely off the rails now that the puppet is out of the picture. But he's angry with me right now, when there's someone else he should really be angry with..."
-End Confessional-
Unlike the Critics in the area or Jim, Delanie wasn't prepped to deal with the mushroom ice patch, so as soon as she enlarged her fist to attack, the effects immediately kicked in, with mushrooms growing all over it. "Wait what the heck is this!?" she cried out immediately.
"Quanta-Lady... don't get too close!" Trina warned Delanie, although her voice was strained from her tiredness.
Jim didn't even bother aiming at Delanie, letting the mushrooms take care of her, instead focusing his efforts on the winged jester. "And I'll need you to get close!" Jim shouted as he threw his bombs.
Trina was able to shoot one of the bombs with her wing cannon, but the other bomb hit her head on, exploding and sending her flying out of control as the wings burst into flames. "No! I need to protect Quanta-Lady!" Trina cried out as her wings went their own way.
She nosedived in a spiral, crash landing in one of the icicles, sending a bunch of shards flying through the general vicinity. "Sweet! Another catch for the Munchers!" Jim celebrated.
It was short lived though, as Thomas snuck up behind him and removed his face mask, allowing him to quickly succumb to the effects of the mushrooms like last time, falling down besides Delanie.
Flaky snickered, watching them both fall. "Shroomtastic! Let's get them both into the cage." Flaky told Trixie as she caught up with them, and the two girls began to drag Delanie and Jim to the Critics' cage.
Toby had begun to drag Melissa away when Kahlin caught up to him, revved drill at the ready. "Set her down Toby! I don't want to hurt you, I know you're hurting right now!" Kahlin tried to reason.
As soon as he saw him, Toby's parasol glowed with energy as he began to charge once more. Socrates raised a paw from his pocket, adding to that energy. "You were perfectly fine hurting Luis, and now he's gone! Because of YOU! You deserve to pay!" Toby yelled, before slashing at the air, creating another wave to knock Kahlin back.
Kahlin kept a smile though, standing back up. "That was just part of the challenge! We weren't trying to hurt you! Y'know, for someone who preached about forgiveness yesterday, you're acting pretty vengeful! And whatever happened to telling Kylie that it was just a game? What if I told you it was just a puppet? You gotta practice what you preach Toby!" Kahlin prodded him.
"He was more than just a puppet! He was my best friend, and you took him! You deserve the same fate as him for that!" Toby yelled, charging up even more energy than before on the tip of his parasol.
Kahlin's eyes widened as he saw just how much energy Toby was charging. "Woah, I wasn't the one who took him, neither was Melissa, you're blaming the wrong person here! Listen to yourself, is this how Luis would have wanted you to act?" Kahlin tried to reason again.
"LUIS IS GONE!" Toby yelled in response, his energy ball now the size of a car.
"Maybe so! But we aren't the ones to blame! Who left you vulnerable? Who has done nothing to help you ever? Right in that fight! You had to protect him and Luis because of his laziness!" Kahlin asked Toby, already holding both arms in front of himself to brace for the attack.
Toby was thinking of what else to say, but then it clicked with him what Kahlin meant. "BECK!" Toby screamed, but in his anger launched the ball of energy.
Toby gasped as he realized his mistake, covering his mouth. "I... went all out..." Toby muttered, immediately regretting using that much.
The energy collided with Kahlin, and he held up his drill arm to try and counter it. "S-So much anger in this, yeah, Beck screwed me over too! I feel you there!" Kahlin told Toby as his drill grinded against the ball, which was pushing him back from how strong it was. Sparks flew out of the battery cuff powering Kahlin's drill, overwhelmed by the energy.
Toby thought quick and ran over, before smacking the energy ball with his parasol, changing its trajectory. "T-There!" he let out, taking several deep breaths after all that.
Flaky and Trixie had just dragged Jim and Delanie into their cage when Toby did this, sending the energy hurtling right towards them. "Eeeeep!" was all Flaky could let out before the pink ball of energy hit their base, causing an explosion bigger than any other seen on the show, sending everyone in it flying.
"One minute left!" Sam announced, with the round almost over now.
Only Kahlin and Toby were left standing at this point, with all the Critics unconscious after they landed, and Jim and Delanie still in their cage. Melissa and Trina were out of commission as well, the former still a coughing mess and the latter exhausted and bruised from her crash landing. "Nice fighting everyone! Now it's time to get you all in the cages!" Bonnie congratulated everyone, waltzing over to the destroyed Critics' base.
"Did... you just watch the entire fight?" Kahlin asked her, raising an eyebrow.
Bonnie nodded, skipping over to Flaky and picking her up gently. "Yeah. All I had to work with was nets, didn't make souped up mutant costumes like the rest of you. Figured I'd just wait until the end." Bonnie answered.
Kahlin and Toby shared a look after that, with Toby right away raising his parasol as soon as Kahlin looked at him. "Relax. Let's just cash in our win now." Kahlin told Toby, before walking over and picking Thomas up.
Toby nodded, still breathing heavily as he walked over to Trixie's unconscious body. "Thanks Kahlin... umm... sorry for getting all nasty back there." Toby apologized.
Kahlin just gave a wave of dismissal, having the same smile as always. "No worries! Just glad I was able to open your eyes there." Kahlin replied, laughing it off.
Soon enough, the three remaining Critics were in the cages of the Award Winners and Munchers, with the timer ended shortly after that. "That's game! The Mutant Movie Munchers and the Victorious Award Winners tie for first only losing two teammates each! Looks like the Toxic Film Critics got too caught up in the crossfire and now have to send someone home!" Chris now narrated.
The only Critics still awake were Flynn and Athena, who both just collectively groaned at their loss from within the Munchers' cage. "When the rest wake up, let them know, and I'll see you all later tonight for your double elimination ceremony!" Chris told them, before turning off the intercom.
The intercom then quickly turned right back on. "Oh! And to prevent any genetic damage from all your radioactive costumes, head down to the infirmary for a hose down courtesy of the interns!" Chris added, before turning it right back off.
-Confessional: Toxic Film Critics: Trixie-
Trixie let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head. "Stupid Thomas, dragging me out on that mission. Not only did I contribute nothing to the challenge, I didn't get to make any headway on shifting all the votes away from us. I'll try to friendship angle with Athena to keep her on my side, but with a double boot? I'm done for. At least I don't have to go out on those missions anymore."
-Confessional: Victorious Award Winners: Toby-
Toby was back in his normal clothes, although much sadder. "I... normally talk about how I feel to Luis. But, I can't let myself keep moping now that he's gone. I haven't forgotten why I'm here! My mom needs me to win for her, and Beck won't get away with just coasting through the game, not anymore! Not after killing Luis!"
-End Confessional-
Delanie had just finished her hose down and was back in her normal clothes, now on the way to the girls' trailer to rest after those fights. Trina had already done hers, and was waiting for Delanie inside. That was until Toby marched up to her, having a determined look on his face. "Delanie! Got a second?" Toby called to her.
"It's Counselor Debbie actually! But sure camper, what's up?" Delanie corrected him.
"I want to propose an alliance. Between the two of us." Toby proposed seriously.
Delanie raised an eyebrow, looking around briefly to make sure no one was within ear short. "Really? Now why would I make an alliance with you?" Delanie asked him.
Toby sighed, rubbing one arm. "Look, I know I haven't been playing strategically at all, and when I have, I've sided against you, but, that was then. Think about it, Chris said the teams are merging soon. You'll need all the people you can get to have a majority. Plus, Trina and I are already dating, so there's no risk of me betraying you guys. I trust you, and you can trust me." Toby explained himself.
Delanie rubbed her chin for a moment, before nodding and holding a hand out to shake. "Deal." she took the proposition.
"Deal!" Toby exclaimed as he shook her hand, relieved she actually accepted it.
Jim sat on the steps of the boys' trailer, still looking troubled. He already had his hose down, but the radiation wasn't what was bothering him. Athena walked by, having just finished hers, and she quickly took notice of Jim sitting alone. "Huh. There are better places to sit you know." Athena commented.
Jim looked up at Athena, groaning. "Really not in the mood for your poor comprehension skills." Jim replied in an annoyed tone.
"Well what are you in the mood for then?" Athena asked him.
Jim debated on whether he should tell her, before just deciding there was no harm. "Trying to figure out something. Kahlin saved me last night, and I still don't know why." Jim told her.
Athena tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean? He saved you from elimination?" Athena questioned him.
Jim nodded his head. "Yeah, he's been picking fights with me since we got here, booted out my alliance mate, and it just felt like he was going to vote me out last night. With everything between us, he should've. But he didn't. For some reason." Jim explained to her.
Athena thought for a moment, before arriving to a simple conclusion. "Maybe he just wants to be your friend. After all, he booted out your alliance mate instead of you. Maybe he's liked you for a while. He just hasn't expressed it." Athena guessed.
"You think so? Ugh, those fights he picked with me were mostly just teasing. The reason he gave me when I confronted him about it made no sense too. But, I don't see why he'd want to be my friend. Especially throwing away a fine opportunity with Klaas and Nanashi to keep me around." Jim was still puzzled, the unknown reasoning getting to him.
"Yeah, sounds like he really wants to be your friend then. At least that's how I see it. Maybe you should ask him about it more. If he wants to be your friend, I'm sure he'll be cooperative. That's what Toby taught me, you just have to put yourself out there if you want to make friends. So you should try it with Kahlin and see how it goes." Athena suggested.
Trixie then walked up to the pair, having finished her hose down. "Athena, we need to talk." Trixie greeted her.
"Oh, okay. Sure. See you later Jim." Athena waved goodbye to Jim, then walked off with Trixie, leaving him with more thoughts brewing in his head.
Flynn was kicking a rock along as he headed back to the trailers, dreading the inevitable ceremony that would likely lead to his elimination. "Hey Flynn." Thomas greeted the pirate, catching up to him after his hose down.
"What ye want laddie? Comin' here to rub it in that ye and Trixie are makin' me walk the plank tonight?" Flynn asked him bitterly.
Thomas shook his head, raising an eyebrow. "Trixie and I aren't allied. We just have a mutual agreement to not vote for each other. No one dictates my votes." Thomas informed Flynn.
"Why are ye tellin' me this?" Flynn asked him.
"Because she's voting for you tonight, and wants me to do the same. But, I'd rather not go into the merge with no allies. And I know you would prefer to actually make it to the merge." Thomas answered.
Flynn now stopped walking, turning around to face Thomas. "Ye think me and you are allies? Ye barely talk to anyone on the team, let alone me! Yer as yella as any other pirate who sticks to cannon duty!" Flynn insulted him.
"Do you wish to be saved or not." Thomas asked him dully.
"Right. What's yer plan?" Flynn moved on to the important part.
Thomas made sure no one was nearby, then spoke slightly quieter. "Well you have Athena and Flaky voting for Trixie with you right?" Thomas asked him.
"Ye."
"So if you and I vote for one of the girls, then you will only have one vote. So you'll still be in the game. Only one condition to this." Thomas explained the plan.
"And what would thar be?" Flynn asked skeptically.
"You and I form an alliance." Thomas answered flatly.
Flynn right away held out a hand to shake. "Not a problem with me laddie! Deals a deal!" Flynn agreed to the plan, and Thomas shook his hand formally.
Grandiose music played after the confessionals, showing a highlight reel of all of Chris's best moments and expressions from throughout the series. Fireworks could be heard, and the reel panned out to show a giant Gilded Chris in the center of it all. Fireworks went off behind the statue and the music got louder, signaling that the award ceremony was about to start.
The five members of the Film Critics were seated in the stands, an anxious and tense air amid them. Flaky sat by herself in the front, hugging her knees nervously. Trixie sat across from her in the row, just having her arms crossed. Flynn had one hand on his hip as he sat in the back row, waiting for the ceremony to get going. Thomas sat in the middle of the row, stoic as ever. Athena was the only one in a good mood, smiling to as she waited to see how the ceremony would go.
Chris stepped onto the stage in his blue suit, with Chef dressed as Kingpin behind him. "So Critics! Wasn't your best showing today! Half the team was gone, your strongest tool was British flags, so many problems, and now you boot out two people over it!" Chris went over why they were here, laughing afterward.
As per usual no one laughed, so Chris sped things along. "Ohhhkay... we really need to get a laughter light for these things. Your voting devices are under your seats, cast your vote on who has to leave! Remember, first and second most votes get the boot tonight!" Chris reminded them.
Trixie voted swiftly, having decided who she was going to go for several episodes ago. Athena thought for a second, then cast her vote. Flaky voted, briefly glaring at the person she cast her vote for. Flynn cast his vote without a second thought, and Thomas just tapped his vote in without any flair.
"Aaaand the votes are in! Let's see who gets to stick around for another episode!" Chris announced, with Chef bringing over a tray of three Gilded Chrises.
"Gilded Chrises go to..."
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"Thomas."
Thomas nodded and caught his award, fully expecting to have been safe.
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"Flaky."
Flaky let out a huge sigh of relief, catching her award with a small smile. "My s-shroomy efforts weren't for n-nothing..." she said to herself.
That left the bottom 3, bigger than the amount of people were already safe. Athena raised an eyebrow, a little confused as to why she was here. Trixie sighed, not confused at all to why she was here. Flynn glared at Trixie, already knowing where her vote fell. "You three, all suckered into team politics! The only one who did well this challenge was Flaky, so that's already good enough reason for any of you to go. But who outplayed who tonight?" Chris asked them.
Chris paused a moment for dramatic tension, watching the bottom three exchange looks. "Yeah, some of you might have connected the dots. If you didn't, your loss! But the final award of the night goes to..."
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Athena still didn't look worried, just waiting in anticipation. Trixie had a defeated look on her face, slumping in her seat. Flynn was still glaring at Trixie, grinning from beneath his beard.
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"Trixie!"
Athena sighed and Flynn gasped as the final award was tossed to the thief. "No way!" Trixie and Flynn both let out, varying in emotion.
"Way! Flynn, you had two votes against you, as did Athena! Trixie only had one!" Chris corrected them, delighted at their reactions.
Thomas briefly smiled at Trixie's safety, with the thief looking back at him and seeing this. "Ye pulled a fast one on me!? Arrgh, avast ye, I been bamboozled!" Flynn let out angrily.
"Guess you didn't have as tight of a hold on Athena as you thought!" Trixie remarked triumphantly, taking credit for his boot.
Flaky got a big sinking feeling as she registered what this meant, now slumping in her seat. "Oh n-no..." Flaky murmured.
Flynn glared at Trixie and Thomas, already putting together what happened. "I'd warn who's left, but there's no one left to warn, ye ran this team into the ground Trixie! Stay safe Flaky, you've got me rootin' for ye!" Flynn told them, giving Flaky a wave before heading down the Walk of Shame.
Athena took a deep breath, then just smiled. "Thanks for keeping me as long as you did guys! I came into this game not really feeling like I fit in, that I was useless. But leaving after being schemed against? I'll take it. Good luck guys. Trixie, even if you were just stringing me along, it was nice being appreciated by you. If you want to make it real when this is over, I'm open." Athena thanked them.
Chris rolled his eyes, then pointed to the Lame-O-Sine. "Yes yes, very nice, now go catch your ride before it speeds off with Flynn." Chris told her, to which Athena nodded and strolled away.
Thomas and Trixie got up and left together, while Flaky just sighed in defeat. "A pirate and Brit, didn't think either last long but they're gone now! How will Trixie and Thomas proceed from here? Will Flaky keep some of the confidence from her persona? Can Toby manage without Luis? Find out these and more next time, on Total, Drama, Reeeeevenge of the Film Lot!" Chris concluded the episode from the podium, with Flaky just walking by the stage sadly to head back to her trailer.
Teams Remaining:
Mutant Movie Munchers: Melissa, Kahlin, Bonnie, Klaas, Jim
Victorious Award Winners: Delanie, Beck, Trina, Toby
Toxic Film Critics: Trixie, Thomas, Flaky
Placements:
13th: Athena
13th: Flynn
15th: Nanashi
16th: Jack
17th: Esteban
18th: Kylie
19th: King
20th: Freddy
21st: Lilac
22nd: Vergil
23rd: Diamond
24th: Maxine
25th: Donna
Author's Note:
Yeah... this was a long one. There was a lot I wanted to cover ground on here, and with a double boot, I had to squeeze as much as I could out of this one. Thank you to Tech-Star for letting me use Flynn and Livi C for letting me use Athena! They were both fun comic reliefs to write, and giving them their serious plotlines to contrast them was a fun experience. Athena I had pegged to go much further in some drafts, but with the merge plot coming up, I think you'll soon see why it was better for her to be excluded from it. Flynn was a fun rival for Trixie, but he also had to go eventually. This was probably my favorite challenge to write, just because I'm already a fan of the genre, so I hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to leave a review to let me know what you thought, join the Discord (code on profile) to join the discussion, and I'll see you all next time!