"Last time on Total Drama Battle of the generations," Chris began. "The 20 remaining players were dropped off in Madagascar, emphasis on the dropped, and we tasked them to find three pieces of their team medallion scattered throughout the island. They searched high and low, coming up close and personal with a bunch of the local wildlife. Everything from small chameleons and lemurs, to the ferocious feline fossa!"
"Actually, despite resembling a cat, the fossa is actually more closely related to the mongoose," Chef pointed out in an odd British accent, having somehow acquired a pair of glasses. "Speaking of which, did you know that the male fossa has a spine covered and extremely long-"
Chris slapped his cohort upside the head, bringing him back to his senses. "As I was saying. The teams fought hard, but it was Team Explosive who bounced back to win thanks to Shawn and Jasmine's stellar tracking skills. On the flipside, Dakota let the stress of the challenge get the better of her, and Dakotazoid emerged with a vengeance! And by that I mean she almost got her entire team killed. Needless to say, it wasn't too much of a shock when she was the one sent packing."
The view moved back to the two hosts in the cockpit. "Things are getting nice and juicy. Relationships forming, alliances scheming, backs just begging to get stabbed! This should be one heck of an action packed episode, so sit right there and get ready for some TOTAL... DRAMA... BATTLE OF THE GENERATION!"
*** Opening Credits ***
Economy class was relatively quiet following Dakota's elimination. With Cody and over half of Team Radioactive away in the cargo hold, there wasn't much in the way of conversing going on. Beth was showing DJ how to make friendship bracelets, while Courtney watched in reluctant interest since there wasn't much of anything else to do. Trent and Leshawna were playing some sort of card game utilizing a deck that the musician had sneaked in to help pass the time. As for the other team, Lightning was utilizing the overhead storage area as a pullup bar. Had to work with what he had.
"You need me to keep count again or something?" Anne Maria offered from nearby. "I ain't got nothin better to do, so..."
"Nah, Lightning's just gonna keep going until it's time for dinner, gotta bulk up to carry this team so we don't lose again."
A bit miffed at the comment but not wanting to cause a scene, the Jersey girl just sat back and sighed.
*** Confessional: Anne Maria ***
"I don't know how Scottie boy did it, but it looks like he got in good with a bunch of the team. First Staci leaves over him and now Dakota? These other guys stupid or something?" She grunted in frustration. "Now I guess I'm on the outs with the team. It's probably me or Lightning going next, so I may as well try and work with him to watch each other's backs. Or if I gotta, maybe throw him under the bus to save my butt if we keep on losing. Girl's gotta stay in the game somehow."
*** In First Class ***
Sometime after the zombie search had come and gone, it was time for Team Explosive to retake first class. True to Chris' word, they were treated to an "all you can eat" surf and turf dinner. But clearly that label didn't account for Sugar being on the winning team, as the others had just barely been able to make their second plate before she had devoured the rest of the feast into the black abyss she called a stomach. She finished the food slaughter with a loud echoing burp that was likely heard by other planes in the surrounding sky.
"Lovely," Jasmine mumbled as she, Shawn, and Sammy moved to the other side of the room. "How is she still here again?"
"Same reason as Amy, they got lucky being on a team that keeps winning," Shawn pointed out, letting a bit of cockiness seep into his tone.
"And the whole Rodney thing in Amy's case, but no use dwelling on that," Sammy added, grinning. "But yeah, you two should really look into letting the masseuse give you a couple's massage. Your backs are probably pretty sore from carrying this team."
Both smirked, though Jasmine tried to wave it off. "Ah, come off it. Almost the whole team has been pulling their weight, don't undersell yourself."
Nearby, Beardo beatboxed to himself in between bites, trying to keep it relatively quiet so as to not disturb the others eating. Sugar took the opportunity to take a seat next to him and tossed over a deep fried ball of cornmeal.
"Saved ya an extra hushpuppy, bud," she said jovially.
"Thanks!"
While he continued with his meal, the pageant queen looked over the room to size up the situation. Shawn, Jasmine, and Sammy were gathered together in their own corner of the room, which was by now the norm. Amy was keeping to herself since she wanted to eat her food in peace, not that she was the biggest seafood fan anyway. Last was Dave, who was also eating solo and seemed to be in a bummed out state of deep thought. Inside her simple yet sinister mind, the cogs were turning.
*** Confessional: Sugar ***
"Getting on Beardo's good side was plum easy! Easier than I thought it'd be, really. So I've been thinking, why should me n Amy stop there? Sure, Beardo will probably vote with me, but that's still only three people. Just the same as the others. Dave's the odd man out. If we get Dave on our side." She chuckled darkly. "That'd just be right as rain!"
*** In the Common Area ***
Everyone shuffled in for the daily breakfast, though the food didn't seem to be ready yet. With nothing better to do, they passed the time by shooting the breeze.
"So each location has had an elimination thus far," Brick pointed out to the room. "You guys think we'll have a reward challenge soon like the original World Tour?"
"I'm not so sure," DJ said. "It had a bunch of them, but the cast in World Tour was a fair bit smaller. "Even back in the first season our cast wasn't as big and that had, what, two non elimination challenges?"
"Yeah, Brunch of Disgustingness and that time the final four were castaways." Cody chuckled. "Unless you count Mr. Coconut's elimination, I guess."
Leshawna grunted in frustration. "Tch, I shoulda been in that episode, still can't believe I got robbed like that when you fools had the chance to vote Heather off for free."
Beth smirked, putting her hands up innocently. "Hey, I'm clean! I would have voted for her if I had the chance before the others messed it up."
DJ and Cody nodded in agreement, though Trent and Courtney were forced to drop their heads in shame thanks to playing a part in that elimination years ago.
"You guys wanna talk about robbed?" Anne Maria waved her hand dismissively. "Our cast had plenty of that going around."
As Scott was sitting between B and Dawn, both gave him a pointed look that made him sink awkwardly into his seat with a chuckle.
"Would it be weird for me to say I always felt bad for Max?" Shawn asked his teammates. "He literally just said an offhand comment and Chris decided to eliminate him for it. I mean, yeah he was annoying, but it's not like he was the one to almost blow up the island."
"Ella got done pretty dirty too," Sammy added.
"She didn't get done dirty enough," Sugar grumbled from her seat, her belly growling for nourishment. "Where in the Sam Hill is our food at?"
On cue, Chef emerged from the cockpit with a rolling cart full of dishes. Though as he began to place them in front of everyone, they were confused to see spaghetti and meatballs, alongside bread sticks as their meal. As for DJ and Dawn there was tofu instead of meatballs.
"Not that I'm complaining, but who the heck serves spaghetti for breakfast?" Trent asked quizzically after prodding the meatball to confirm nothing was off about it.
Their answer came in the form of Chef brandishing an accordion from under the roll cart after he had finished passing out the food. He began to serenade the players with a shockingly well played rendition of Funiculi Funicula. Or the pizza song as some people knew it.
As everyone pondered what was going on, it was Chris' turn to make his entrance. Oddly enough, considering who was playing the accordion, he came in dressed with a stereotypical white chef's outfit, complete with a thick black curly mustache. In one hand he held a rolling pin while he made the standard Italian hand gesture with the other. Many of the contestants seemed flabbergasted, though Anne Maria looked ready to throw hands.
"Bongiorno," Chris announced in a butchered thick Italian accent. "It's a me, Chrisio! Today we got a spicy meat-a-ball of a challenge!"
"Is this racist or REALLY racist?" Brick asked Dawn in a whisper, genuinely unsure how offended he should be.
If she had a sleeve, Anne Maria would be rolling it up as she approached the host with her nail file held threateningly. "Yo, if you wanna make us out to be a joke, I'll show you how Italians react to disrespect REAL quick, bucko."
Sensing a genuine threat, he motioned for Chef to cease the music and ripped off the fake mustache. "Now now, we're just having a bit of fun. As you may have gathered by now, we're heading off to Italy! Specifically, we're going to the beautiful town of Venice."
There was an array of happy mumbles, with Jasmine in particular looking optimistic at the prospect. "Hey, Venice is pretty romantic. It's one of the places I've always wanted to go with Shawn."
"It's definitely gorgeous and rich with history." Dawn frowned a bit. "It's just a shame that heavy tourism and pollution has made its natural beauty have a harder time coming out in recent years."
"I'm just surprised he's not going to Rome to make up for that World Tour gaffe," Trent pointed out. "But yeah, Venice is awesome! We always roll through here when we're doing shows in Italy."
"And as for what challenge you'll be doing there." Chris was handed three pizza boxes by Chef and sat them down with a loud thud. Or at least as loud a thud as three empty cardboard boxes could manage. "Pizza time!"
No one seemed to know what Chris meant.
"... You'll each be preparing a pizza to be enjoyed by yours truly! Best pizza as judged by me wins themselves a night in first class."
"So that's it? We're just baking a pizza and we're done?" Dave asked.
"Well obviously there's more to it, but we'll go into the details when we land. For now, your task is to simply choose a head chef to oversee what kind of pizza you'll be serving your beloved host."
As host and co-host took their leave, one contestant was already getting plenty of encouragement from their team.
"DJ's probably the best cook that's ever been on the show, we make him our head chef and we've got first class as good as won," Courtney said, receiving numerous nods of approval.
"No arguments here, I'd trust homeboy's cooking to pull us through any day of the week," Leshawna added.
While he was appreciative of the praise, the brickhouse in question wasn't looking so sure. "I don't know, guys. Knowing Chris he'll want some meat on his pie and it's been a long time since I've cooked up anything that wasn't vegan friendly."
"Well knowing you, you'd probably make a vegan pizza more delicious than the others without any meat needed," Trent reassured with a pat on the shoulder. "You got this, big guy."
Meanwhile with Team Radioactive, it was clear who wanted to take the reigns more than anyone else.
"Ya girl's got Italian blood pumping through her veins. I'm down in little Italy every week having the best pizza New York has to offer." Anne Maria cracked her knuckles for added effect. "You let me take the cooking and I'll blow his dang socks off."
No one felt the need to argue since it was clear she was the only one eager to take the job. The rest had varying degrees of cooking experience, but they all seemed to agree that Anne Maria would be the best suited to make this one. But while they seemed to have reached a consensus, Team Explosive was looking fairly hesitant.
*** Confessional: Shawn ***
"A cooking contest is pretty much the one thing not suited for Jasmine and I's skillset," he said while scratching his chin in thought. "I mean, I'm pretty good with cakes and pastries, but outside of that I've always been a canned foods kinda guy when I make my meals. This might actually be pretty tough for once."
*** In the Common Area ***
"So... any takers?" Jasmine asked, feeling the tiniest bit nervous while noticing the confidence radiating from Anne Maria and DJ's team.
"I don't really know much about cookin pizza, but I always like eating pizza so I know my way around what's yummy or not," Sugar offered.
"Somehow I doubt that's a good idea," Dave shot back. "You'd end up eating the pizza before we could give it to Chris, kinda like Owen back in season 1."
Amy and Sammy exchanged glares. Both knew that neither of them were too proficient with cooking, and they were prepared to call the other out on it if they decided to volunteer. Finally, Beardo was the one to raise his hand.
"I mean, I wouldn't call myself like an expert or nothing, but since I've been living on my own in an apartment for the last year I cook a bunch of my meals," he explained. "That's included a few pizzas. If no one else wants to do it, I'm down for giving it a try."
After one last scan to confirm no one else was interested, Jasmine nodded in approval. "If you're up to it, then that sounds good here mate. Can't say that I've ever baked a pizza myself, so your bit of experience is better than none."
With the head chefs all squared away, it was just a matter of waiting for the plane to land. As they descended over the waterway filled city, they actually landed on a long island nearby known as Lido di Venezia. Technically part of Venice, kinda, but situated away from the main landmass. Soon enough they were lead to a beach where three large gondolas awaited them. While Chris was back in his normal outfit, Chef was now clad in full gondolier outfit complete with white and black striped shirt and straw hat.
"So here's the rundown," Chris began as he motioned to the gondolas. "Venice is best known for its various canals that are navigated through by their signature gondolas. So obviously, we'll have you guys traveling in style."
Once all three boats were in place, Chef joined the host's side to display a map of Venice. "While y'all are gonna be allowed to go up the smaller paths if ya need to, the main trip is gonna take ya straight down the Grand Canal. Ya gonna have five stops along the way to get your pizza fixings."
Indeed, there were five red dots throughout the Venice map, with a gold dot near the end of the canal path. Chef pointed to the red dots one at a time. "First up you'll park ya boats near Doge's Palace to head into Piazza San Marco. You'll get the stuff to make your dough there. Next ya got Palazzo Grassi, where you'll get the stuff for your sauce. After that you'll be going under the Rialto Bridge, and danging underneath that will be your cheese supplies."
Noticing some confused looks as to what dangling meant, he merely chuckled. "Y'all will figure it out. Next you'll stop near Marco Polo's house, around it will be all the different toppings you could ask for. Finally, near the end you'll get to Chiesa di San Simeon Piccolo. One of Venice's big fancy schmancy old churches. Seasonings, herbs, spices, and all that jazz will be chilling there." He pointed to the final gold dot on the map. "After all that you'll meet up on the Constitution Bridge, we've got you some ovens set up there to put it all together."
"You guys get all of that?" Chris chuckled. "In short, there's five spots on your gondola ride between here and your final destination. Once you're at the end, you'll make your pizza and I'll judge who our lucky winners and unlucky losers will be."
"How are we gonna hold all of our ingredients?" Beth asked. "Do we just leave it laying on the floor of the boat?"
Chris shrugged. "Pretty much. But since I'm feeling generous, we'll give you some old sacks to haul your stuff with in case you kids are thinking of making something fancy. On that note, be finalizing what kind of pizza you each want to make, because presentation can play a factor."
Chef passed out the rucksacks to the teams. They were fairly large, but probably wouldn't be able to fit everything after all five locations had been visited.
*** Confessional: Beardo ***
"A'ight, so the way I see it I gotta get a little creative with my pizza choice to try and wow Chris. I ain't tried much in the way of weirder recopies, but my ma once gave me the idea for a Cajun pizza that was like..." He moved his hands in a "mind blown" fashion and did some fireworks sound effects for emphasis. "Hopefully it comes out good. It'll be a bit trickier to make, but I figure I can't just serve him a plain pepperoni pizza and call it a day."
*** In the Gondolas ***
"Ok, so we're gonna be doing a classic New York style pepperoni, heavy on the cheese," Anne Maria explained as her team loaded into their gondola.
"What, that's it?" Scott asked in surprise. "Shouldn't we do something more fancy to try and impress him?"
She waved her hand dismissively. "Well of course it's gonna have more fixings to it, but we gotta keep it simple. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Now who's gonna steer this thing?"
The team looked a bit unsure, but it was too late now to change their mind on the head chef. B decided to take over the gondola steering, with Shawn and Courtney on similar duties nearby.
"So y'all are cool with me going ahead with the vegan pizza idea?" DJ asked one more time, part of him nervous that he'd be in danger of getting votes if they ended up losing. "Since the others are probably gonna do their pizza normal style, I was thinking of trying out my deep dish recipe."
He received various nods of approval from his teammates, Cody even giving a thumbs up. "Stop worrying so much, man. You're like the last person that should be on edge in a cooking challenge, we trust you with this."
With everyone in position and ready to rumble, Chris gave a mighty blow from his airhorn. The teams were off... at a very leisurely pace. While all three of the contestants manning the oars seemed to do well enough steering the boat and propelling it forward, it wasn't exactly built for speed.
"Uh, can we get a move on?" Sugar asked impatiently. "Why ya taking yer sweet time for?"
"It's a gondola, not a speedboat," Shawn pointed out. "The whole point of these things is to stroll through Venice all slow and romantic. I can't really make it go any faster."
The first stop was a fair bit away, so all everyone could do was wait and take in the Venetian beauty. The weather was nice and sunny, some locals and tourists could be seen roaming the streets, and the faint echoes of street music could be heard. It was all quite beautiful, until Sugar leaned over the side of the boat and stuck her head into the water.
"What are you doing?" Sammy asked, unnerved.
"Thought I saw a fishy! Tried to grab it with my teeth, but the dang varmint got away." Settling back into her seat, she elbowed Beardo. "So what kinda pizza we cooking up, head chef?"
"I've got this Cajun recipe in mind that I've made before. Assuming they got all the stuff for it, I think Chris is gonna love it."
Deciding to give the boat ride a bit of ambience, Beardo began imitating an accordion playing Tarantella Napoletana. It could even be heard from the other two boats, though no one seemed to mind since it made for a relaxing atmosphere in a challenge for once.
"I think I can see that Doge's Palace place up ahead," Leshawna eventually said as she scanned the upcoming buildings. "Still a bit before we get there, but it ain't far."
"Heh, Doge's Palace." Cody snickered. "Wow. Very Italy. Such Venice. Much elegant. Wow."
He was promptly slapped upside the head by Trent, who checked to make sure the other boats hadn't heard him out of secondhand cringe.
After a few minutes of relatively peaceful sailing, Team Radioactive was the first team to come to a stop near Doge's Palace. B made sure to carefully position the boat in a way that'd be easy to get back into for his team, and the group was off with bag in hand. Team Old School was the next to arrive, with Team Explosive bringing up the rear. On the way to Piazza San Marco, they took in the surrounding architecture. Namely Doge's Palace and an elegant cathedral near it.
Brick whistled. "They got some real fancy looking places around here."
"Focus, big guy," Anne Maria urged as they came into the Piazza proper. It was a huge square space that gave view to not only the buildings they had already passed, but other unique locals like a clocktower. "A'ight, so if this is where we're getting our stuff for the crust we're gonna need flour, yeast, salt, olive oil, and water. And some sugar wouldn't hurt. I'll handle picking out the water, you guys pick something each and toss it in the sack."
"Watcha mean you're gonna pick out the water, it's water!" Lightning looked even more perplexed than usual. "What sha-difference does it make?"
"All the difference," she answered. "Now let's smoke these other bozos while we got first pickings."
Different stations had been set up in various areas of the Piazza for each respective part. Though some stations were time wasters that wouldn't be worth going towards, like the one where you could pick up nail clippings and shaved hair for your crust. Dawn retrieved a small container of salt, Brick located the yeast, Scott handled the sugar, and B found the olive oil. Lightning saw a few options of which flour to go for, but opted for the one that was higher in protein.
Last was Anne Maria, who found the water station. There was everything from bottles of water from a vending machine, to just a bucket of water from the canal. She scanned and scanned, tossing aside one container labeled sewer water until she finally located a bottle near the back that was listed as "New York City Imported Water."
"Ha! Found it." She kissed the bottle and ran back towards her squad, while members from the other two teams were now fanning out to get supplies of their own. Most of the players opted to just continue carrying their item back to the gondola, though B handed their head chef his container of olive oil since he would have to drive.
Team Old School and Explosive more or less picked identical items for their crust. They both went for standard local filtered water when given the choice, and the only difference came when Jasmine opted to also get the high protein flour while DJ picked out a more all purpose variety. It wasn't long before all three teams were back in their gondolas and sailing back down the canal.
*** Confessional: Trent ***
"I gotta say, it's a pretty rad change of pace to have a chill challenge for once. Not that I'm complaining, but it's pretty surprising having one like this considering how Chris is, ya know?"
Suddenly Chris shot the door open and poked his head in, startling Trent off the toilet. "Well my dude, the way I see it since I'm eating the food you guys are making, I'd rather not risk you messing up and feeding me something nasty."
"There was literal sewer water and nail clippings as cooking options down there!" Trent dusted himself off, still looking unnerved by the host's presence. "Also why do you keep barging in on me in here?"
"Well yeah, we put those options there because it's funny, but obviously you wouldn't pick them if you want to win. And because you keep forgetting to lock the door. You should work on that, by the way."
*** On the Grand Canal ***
Anne Maria took inventory of their current ingredient count, nodding in approval. She glanced up at B as he calmly steered them towards the Palazzo Grassi. "Yo big guy, think you can guard the goods while we get out for the next stop? Don't wanna risk someone from the other team being a sleazeball and tossing our stuff into the water while we're gone."
The silent genius raised his eyebrows in impressed surprise. He nodded and flashed a finger pistol in agreement.
"Hey, that ain't a bad idea," Scott noted, equally impressed with the thought. "Since we're in the lead and the others will be gone by the time we get back, we could-"
He noticed Dawn giving him an expecting look, then chuckled. "Nah, never mind. They'll probably pick out someone to guard their junk too once they see B doing it."
Sure enough he was right on the money. As they parked at their next destination and headed in while B lingered behind, the other teams took notice.
"I'll guard the boat and-" Courtney began
"Make sure our stuff is safe," Shawn finished from nearby.
Conveniently, the Grassi Palace was right on the side of the Grand Canal and had docks that made parking in front of it relatively easy for everyone. With every driver sticking back to keep the ingredients safe, now it was a matter of locating the sauce. It was a large art building, and they were getting turned around among all the displays and sculptures without finding any food.
Finally, after going past some columns towards a sculpture that resembled a balloon dog, it was actually Team Explosive to find the sauce station first.
"Huh, I ain't seeing no garlic," Beardo pointed out as they looked over the relatively small selection for sauce components. "I'm really gonna need it for this plan to work."
"It's probably at the last location, there isn't any oregano or other stuff you'd usually see in a pizza recipe here," Sammy pointed out, looking back to see Team Radioactive fast approaching. "If we wanna keep first pick though, we need to hurry."
Trusting that she was likely right, the beatboxer swiped up a can of fire roasted tomatoes and they were on their way out. Anne Maria took the lead ahead of her teammates and quickly scanned over the sauce options since Team Old School had heard the talking and were also closing in on the location.
"Surprised they didn't just give us whole tomatoes on their own as an option," she mumbled, eventually picking out her favorite brand of tomato sauce that she could find. "Alright, let's move it people!"
As Team Old School took their turn while Team Radioactive left, DJ ran into the same problem as Beardo before him. "They're missing a bunch of the fixings I'd put in the sauce, all they got here is the tomato. Guess we need to keep moving."
Once he had selected a can of tomato puree, it was back to the gondolas for everyone. Now Team Explosive was ahead of the pack, but the rest wasn't far behind. Once they had turned a corner of the canal it was a straight shot to their next stop, the large Rialto Bridge up ahead. Jasmine was able to scan the upcoming mark, eventually able to faintly make out their next challenge.
As Chef had hinted, the cheese options were quite literally dangling from the bottom of the bridge. As in packets of cheese attached to rope that was taped to the bottom of the bridge. While they weren't too terribly high up, it was just high enough where grabbing them would cause a bit of issue.
"I might be able to jump high enough to grab them thanks to my reach, but it'd be close," Jasmine said as the rest of the team looked at the upcoming obstacle.
"Well I'm gonna need mozzarella and gouda," Beardo explained. "And parmesan if it's here and not at the last location. We can't get all that with just one jump. This'll be tricky."
Sammy thought over their options, also noting how the height would make things pretty hard for the rest of their team other than Jasmine. Eventually an idea hit, though it wasn't one that made her thrilled. "Amy, if we can just put our crap away for a second, I think we might actually be able to help the others pull this off." Getting a confused look from her twin, she continued. "We can just bounce them up like we do to get the girls back home on top of the human pyramid."
As much as the mere thought of working with her sister repulsed the mean twin, feeling the looks from the rest of her team made her sigh in acceptance. "Fine. But we're gonna have a hard time hoisting up some of them."
"Dave, Jasmine, and Shawn would be the lightest options," Beardo pointed out. "I can take over driving for Shawn while y'all do your thing."
With the bridge fast approaching, the two boys quickly switched out while the sisters got into position with their hands at the ready. Jasmine was up first and she scanned the upcoming cheese bags until she spotted one labelled gouda.
"There. You galls ready?"
"Ready," the both said in unison. Taking a running start, Jasmine ran towards the two and jumped into their hands. Amy and Sammy both then used their combined strength to hoist her into the air, where Jasmine was able to swipe the bag of gouda from the rope. It was then that she realized they had forgot to work out the landing portion of the plan. She yelped as she quickly began to plummet towards the water, but was caught in the nick of time by her boyfriend.
"Guess I'll go next," Dave said as a bag of mozzarella approached overhead. He repeated what Jasmine had done, running towards the twins and jumping as hard as he could manage. Once again the cheerleaders used their experience to shoot him up with pinpoint accuracy, and Dave grabbed the cheese with no issue. Though with the survivalist couple still preoccupied, he was caught on his way down by Sugar. "Thanks, I owe ya one."
"I'll keep that in mind," she said with a jolly sort of ominousness.
Beardo had the gondola linger for a bit longer, but they couldn't find a bag labeled for parmesan. Figuring this must have meant it was at a later checkpoint, he passed the reigns back to Shawn and they continued onward.
Thanks to the straightaway portion of the canal they were on, both of the enemy teams had seen a faint look at how Team Explosive retrieved their cheese, giving them time to formulate plans of their own. In Team Old School's case, this simply came from Cody whipping up a makeshift lasso out of their currently empty bag. Though Team Radioactive wasn't yet at a consensus.
"Have y'all ever seen The Lightning's vertical?" The jock jumped in place to prove his point. It was an impressive reach to be sure, but was clearly not high enough. "Sha-no problem, let Lightning take care of the rest."
Brick noticed some of the others giving their teammate annoyed looks, so he quickly stepped in. "Now Lightning, I think we can all agree that you're our best jumper, but it'll waste us a lot of time if we don't get it on the first try."
"Lightning never misses, what you talking bout?"
"I just think it would work out better for us if we approach this with a bit more teamwork," the cadet continued. "Just give it a try. You'd be surprised how much smoother things go when you let your fellow soldiers help you out."
While Lightning didn't seem convinced, he was beginning to notice how annoyed some of the others were getting with him. Perhaps having flashbacks to his fate in All Stars, he huffed and folded his arms. "Sha-fine. As long as Lightning gets to be the jumper, then whatever."
Now with the jock's cooperation, B was able to direct traffic through Dawn's translation. Brick, Scott, and Anne Maria were positioned in a line with the first two kneeling in a way that created a sort of makeshift stair path. Once they had spotted a packet of full fat mozzarella that their head chef felt would be sufficient, Lightning took a running start at B's mark. He hopped from Brick's shoulder, to Scott's and finally jumped off the top of Anne Maria's rock hard poof. Thanks to the increased momentum and height combined with Lightning's vertical, he grabbed the cheese with ease and was caught safely by his teammates on the way down.
"Well done," Dawn complimented, with the others voicing similar approving comments.
"See? Told you that working together would make it a whole lot easier," Brick added with a firm pat on the back. Lightning looked around at the praise, not really sure how to react.
*** Confessional: Lightning ***
"Huh, Lightning's so used to carrying his team back home, he never really thought about working with the others to get things done." He looked on, deep in thought and perhaps on the verge of clarity. But eventually he folded his arms and gave the camera an unimpressed huff. "He still thinks he could have sha-made that jump himself, though."
*** In the Grand Canal ***
Now it was Team Old School's turn to bring home the cheese. Cody was stood atop Trent and Beth's shoulders, with Leshawna and DJ positioned on both sides and arms at the ready in case he fell. Courtney kept a lookout for the upcoming dairy, finally spotting a bag she thought would work well.
"Ok, we have mozzarella coming up so be ready to-"
"Is it vegan mozzarella?" DJ suddenly asked. "I mean, it would kinda defeat the purpose of the pizza theme if we don't make sure we go with a vegan option."
"... No, it wasn't. Hold on." Annoyed but not wanting to question the head chef, Courtney kept steering around until she finally spotted a bag of vegan mozzarella slices. "Alright, there it is."
"Come to papa!" Cody flung the lasso and successfully got a hold of the target. His aim wasn't perfect, so it almost came falling into the water, but Leshawna was able to catch it while the tech geek jumped down safely into DJ's arms.
"Should we be worried that we're still bringing up the rear?" Leshawna asked while she added the cheese to the assortment of ingredients.
DJ shook his head. "Nah, next section is toppings and they'll probably be going for meats and stuff. Obviously we won't have to worry about missing out on those when we're doing a meat-free pizza."
Sure enough, the first thing on the other two team's mind was meat as they neared their next stop. For once they actually had to steer off of the Grand Canal and take one of the smaller branching paths to reach the former home of Marco Polo. His house itself was actually rather normal, almost resembling an old apartment building. It was also shut, and the various topping stands were instead spread throughout the streets leading towards the house.
All three gondolas had docked nearby before any team was done with their scavenging. They had to seek out toppings they actually needed, ignoring the stands for things like anchovies, pineapple, or bacon. In a twist, Team Old School actually returned to their gondola first. Per DJ, they had settled on onion, spinach, green bell pepper, and button mushrooms.
However, the only reason Team Radioactive wasn't the first team back was because it had purposely been made for pepperoni to be the hardest topping to seek out. They eventually found it tucked around a narrow alley corner.
"You're positive that we shouldn't get any other toppings?" Scott asked once more as they passed by the mushrooms. "You don't want to put anything else here on the pizza?"
"Nope," she answered simply, the first to arrive back to their gondola. "We'll get all the stuff that gives us an extra kick at the last stop."
As for Team Explosive, Beardo had passed a few sausage options before he found one that he felt would work best for the pizza. Also in the haul was red bell pepper, onion, and most interestingly shrimp.
"Can't say I've ever thought of putting seafood on a pizza before," Shawn commented as he rowed the boat back towards the Grand Canal once the whole team was back. "But if we're going for Cajun I guess it fits."
"Yeah, I'm kinda banking on the whole unique factor blowing him away." Beardo took count of their haul as one of the final stretches for the challenge began.
The path to the final supplies location was a longer one, giving the players some downtime to relax and formulate their plan for the baking phase of the contest. Among all three teams they began pairing off each other to cover various aspects of the cooking. A sauce team, a dough team, and an oven prep team for the members less confident in handling the food. Or because the team wasn't trusting in letting her near the food in Sugar's case.
With Chiesa di San Simeone Piccolo eventually approaching, Cody looked poised to make another comment. Trent gave him a stern look. "Dude, I know what you're thinking and don't even say it. Not everything is some kinda anime reference just because of the name."
It was then that the Chiesa came into view. It was a large church with a fancy column littered entrance. But its most pronounced detail was the huge dome-like green roof on the main building.
"Normally I'd see your point, but the thing is literally green," Cody pointed out. Trent shrugged.
"Fair enough, I'll give you that one."
Like with Marco Polo's house, the church itself was actually closed, so instead various booths for the different supplies were scattered around the front of the building. All three teams ended up taking crushed red pepper and parmesan for their pies. For Team Old School they also grabbed basil, thyme, some cloves of garlic, and oregano. Team Radioactive didn't go too hard, opting for some garlic powder alongside some basil and oregano as well. Last up was Team Explosive, who added a more unique Creole seasoning selection alongside their basil and cloves of garlic.
With everyone's assortment of ingredients finally complete, now all that was left was to cook. All three teams were more or less neck and neck as they approached the Constitution Bridge. Though the ovens weren't actually on the bridge itself, rather they were waiting at the bottom of the stairs on one end of the bridge. B, Shawn, and Courtney ensured they were parked safely as members of the team carefully relayed their supplies among each other from the gondola to their respective ovens.
The ovens were classic wood burning brick pizza ovens, each with a tiny team flag poking out from the top to signify who would use each. In front of each oven was a large workstation with plenty of bowls and pans for everyone to do their stuff. All three head chefs took up crust duty, with Beth, Brick, and Sammy helping them out respectively. Notably, Beardo had taken a hairband to tie back his massive afro. On the sauce squads we had Courtney and Leshawna, Dawn and B, and finally Jasmine and Shawn. The others prepped the oven and helped with carrying over ingredients as they were needed.
Anne Maria and Beardo were both working out a standard classic circular dough for the crust, but because DJ was opting for deep dish he actually had to fashion the dough into a bowl-like affair inside of a tall cake pan. As they were mixing together the fixings for the crust, Brick raised an eyebrow at Anne Maria's water specifically being labeled as New York imported.
"So you said the water makes all the difference, is that really true?"
"Bro, New York's water is like the champagne of the water world," she assured him. "Pizza joints all over the continent import water from the area just to make their pies taste better. Like I said, I know what I'm doing."
The cadet seemed like he now had more questions than answers, but kept quiet.
*** Confessional: Brick ***
"I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of importing water just for pizza. You don't even ever really think of the water when it comes to the crust steps." He tapped his chin in thought. "Maybe if there's any left over after we're done, I might try and sneak a sip to see what all the hype is about."
*** At Constitution Bridge ***
After some time had passed, progress was coming along smoothly for everyone. Anne Maria event attempted to do the classic twirling the dough into the air trick, which temporarily sent Brick into a panic before she caught it successfully. Occasionally the sauce squad would ask their respective head chef what order they wanted the ingredients added to the sauce. Between all the garlic mincing, onion cutting, and mixing going on, it was starting to smell like a genuine Italian joint around them.
"I'm liking what I'm smelling," Chris announced as he and Chef checked in on the contestants. Notably, Chef had a slick new pair of sunglasses while Chris had a fancy new scarf. "We got so sidetracked checking out Venice's shops we almost forgot that we had a challenge to come judge!"
"Do we get to go shopping once the pizzas are done?" Amy asked hopefully.
"Ha! Of course not. Except whoever gets shoved out the plane, they're free to go shop all they want afterwards."
Scott leaned against a wall with his arms folded. "So it really isn't a reward challenge? Geez, we're blazing through people."
"The benefits of having a large cast, dude." Chris took a sip of macchiato that he had the whole time. "Let's pick up the pace, people! Your beloved host is feeling peckish."
With the crust done for each team, the head chefs moved on to helping finalize the sauce. Team Radioactive's was definitely the most simple, but Anne Maria used a wooden spoon for a taste test to confirm that it was good to go. DJ and Beardo had their sauces finished soon after, with the later noting a good kick from his thanks to the creole seasoning. The sauces were poured onto the crusts, or more into the crust in DJ's case since he had to utilize more sauce than the others to fill out the cake pan.
Now it was time to apply the cheese and toppings. Anne Maria added a bit of extra mozzarella to the mix to up the cheesiness, while Beardo also utilized the gouda. For the toppings, DJ's carefully placed the spinach, cut up pepper, and mushrooms across the top before applying another coat of sauce above them. Beardo went all out spreading across the sausage, pepper, and shrimp. Looking at the more detailed toppings for the other teams had some of Team Radioactive nervous when Anne Maria simply applied pepperoni to their pizza, but they were long past the point of no return.
With their creations nearly complete, all that remained was the baking. The pizzas were slid into the ovens and... then they waited.
"So like, do we get to have what's left of the pizza since you're only eating like a slice each or..." DJ trailed off.
"No can do," Chris answered. "Turns out we forgot to load up the intern's food for the next leg of the flight, so these will have to hold them over until we get to our next location. Hopefully you made them actually edible for them so they don't starve. Looking at you Ms. Courtney McCruddy Sundae."
The CIT just glared back at the host in response.
*** Confessional: Courtney ***
"Ugh, that stupid sundae challenge... if I only ever have to hear about it one more time in my life, that'll still be one time too many."
*** At Constitution Bridge ***
Time took to finishing cooking the pizza varied depending on the team, but it was Beardo's that finished baking first, followed by DJ, then Anne Maria shortly after. Each head chef cut a slice from the pie and brought it over to Chris, who had been given his own little table and chair to eat at.
"Finally! We may as well do this in order of who finished their pizza first, so we'll start with Team Explosive."
Beardo looked on at his team nervously, turning back to the host with crossed fingers and providing the nervous sound of comically loud chattering teeth for added emphasis. Chris seemed to raise an eyebrow when he noticed shrimp on the slice, but shrugged it off. After one bite he recoiled, nearly giving the beatboxer a heart attack in the process. But then he smiled and continued scarfing down the slice. When he was done he took a drink of water before addressing the team.
"Ok, wow, wasn't expecting that pizza to have a kick to it. But as for my verdict... I'm impressed." He gave two thumbs up. "That was really something different, I really dug it dudes."
Many of his teammates gave Beardo approving cheers while he wiped the sweat from his brow. Next up was Team Old School's pizza.
"I went with a vegan deep dish pizza," he announced while placing the slice before him.
"If it's deep dish then that ain't a pizza," Anne Maria protested. "It's a dang casserole."
"Now now, we don't have time for one of these pizza debates on the show. I'm still counting it as valid." Using one hand to balance the deep dish slice from the bottom, Chris took a big bite of the vegan dish. Hearing it described as vegan made him a bit hesitant, but his worries were quickly washed away as he was treated to the flavors that only DJ could provide.
"Ah man, that's great!" He finished the rest of the slice, with DJ beaming proudly. "Who knew you could make pizza vegan and it doesn't suck? Nicely done, my dude."
Anne Maria frowned, not impressed since she considered making pizza both vegan AND deep dish nothing short of hearsay. She wasted no time putting her slice in front of the host, which was notably larger than the previous two slices.
"If ya think that's good, get a taste of genuine New York style." She grinned confidently. "With a slice so big you'll have to fold it!"
Chris was actually surprised to see what appeared to be a normal slice of pizza with just plain cheese and pepperoni after the previous submissions. He shrugged, folding the slice and taking a bite.
Many gasps rang out when the host's eyes went wide and he dropped the slice back to the plate. He stared off in pure shock, unresponsive.
"Does... does the pizza suck?" Brick asked cautiously.
"This... this..."
Concerned at Chris' well being, Chef rushed over and poured the glass of water on him in an attempt to bring him to his senses. Chris shook it off, looking down at the pizza in utter bewilderment.
"This pizza. It's so... nostalgic!" Anne Maria perked up, everyone else just looking more confused. "Why it reminds me so much of the pizza that my mom... used to order because she was too busy to bake one herself."
A zoom in on Chris' eye revealed a flashback that went unseen by everyone else. A young Chris McLean, who somehow still had the same hairdo back then, tugged on his mother's dress as his stomach growled.
"Moooom, I'm hungry. Where's the grub?"
"Not now, Christopher, mom is on an important business call," the woman said off screen, as all that was shown in the flashback was her legs stretching up out of screen. "I left you some pizza from Rafael's on the table."
The boy pouted at the lack of attention but was too hungry to continue pestering her. Young Chris walked over to the table in a huff and retrieved a slice of pizza. After one bite his worries were washed away and he continued to scarf down the pie. The camera then came back out of current day Chris' eye, ending the flashback.
"So... does that mean we win or what?" Anne Maria asked hesitantly.
Chris stood up, looking her dead in the eyes... and giving a thumbs up. "Heck yeah! For giving me a taste of my childhood, Team Radioactive finally wins a challenge and tickets to first class!"
It took a second for the others to react since the whole series of events was so odd to begin with. But once it finally registered, Anne Maria's teammates cheered and all ran up to congratulate her on the victory. Unfortunately for DJ and Beardo, though, this left them to look from each other to Chris nervously.
"So... who's kicking someone off?" Beardo eventually asked.
"Hm... that's tricky since you both actually made really good pizzas." Chris rubbed his chin, looking between the two choices. He took another bite from both pies to weigh his options. "They're both drastically different types of pizza too, so it's hard to compare them."
"You could always call us both winners and make it so no one goes home today," DJ offered optimistically.
"Ha! Good joke, bro." After cutting out another slice and trading notes with Chef, Chris eventually looked at the two hopeful teams after much deliberation. "Alright, so, after giving it some thought I think I'm gonna have to also give safety to...
Team Old School."
DJ sighed in relief, getting showered with praise from his team as they also felt the fear of elimination wash away. Team Explosive, on the other hand, went through various disappointed expressions with Beardo dropping his head in shame.
"What can I say, it really impresses me that they pulled off a vegan pizza I actually really liked." Chris shrugged innocently. "So that means Team Explosive is sending someone packing! See you kiddos later tonight."
Everyone began making their way back to the Jumbo Jet, Team Radioactive looking like they were on cloud 9 while Team Old School was just happy to be safe. Team Explosive were all crestfallen, though some looked more nervous than others. Amy was at the rear of the team, so Sugar sneaked back to join her.
"Psst. I've been doing some thinking," she whispered.
"That's concerning," Amy snarked. Sugar either ignored or didn't register the mild insult.
"It's pretty important, but it's something we're gonna need to do right now before we vote."
She jerked her head in Dave's direction, who seemed to be the most indifferent about his team's loss. Quickly picking up on what she was getting at, Amy smirked devilishly.
*** Confessional: Amy ***
"I'm kinda shocked, who knew Sugar was actually half descent at scheming." She smirked. "Gotta say, I'm a little impressed."
*** On the Jumbo Jet ***
Team Radioactive partied their way to first class, still soaking in their first win. Since they had nothing better to do for the time being, Team Old School just went to chill in the common area. Sammy and the power couple decided they may as well get a head start on voting and zeroed in on the confessional. Though not before Jasmine and Shawn exchanged a long kiss to lift their spirits from the loss. Dave was lagging in the middle of the group, thinking over how to vote while a still dejected Beardo also passed. Suddenly, the germaphobe looked around to see Amy on his left and Sugar on his right.
"Howdy!"
"Uh..." He backed away in concern. "Can I help you?"
"Look, we'll just get to the point," Amy explained. "We want to team up with you. Vote together and all that junk."
He eased up. "Ah, that makes sense. I guess you're feeling pretty nervous after the last ceremony we went to."
Her eye twitched, but she kept up a cheery facade. "Well of course I'm nervous, but even still I think it's just the smartest thing for all of us to stick together."
"Now I know what ya may be thinking," Sugar added. "I know you and Shawn were buds back in our last season. But when ya really think about it, Jasmine was the one to turn Sky against ya when she switched teams. And I should be able to get Beardo to vote with us so-"
"Sure, I'll do it."
There was a pause, Amy and Sugar both being caught off guard.
"Really?" The mean twin asked. "Just like that?"
Dave nodded. "Yeah, I'll vote with you guys." He noticed that Amy was about to break out in a wicked smile, so he held his finger up to stop her. "On one condition."
"Condition?" Sugar looked skeptical. "What kinda condition?"
"You let me pick who we vote for tonight."
Both of them exchanged a look with each other, then looked back at Dave in bewilderment.
"Um, no?" Amy folded her arms. "We want to get rid of Sparemy tonight."
"And I'm totally cool with helping you do that," Dave said. "Next time, at least. So long as you let me pick who goes home tonight."
Once again the two looked at each other, thinking over if they wanted to commit to such a deal or not. As frustrating as it would be not getting rid of her sister now when they had the chance, Amy also knew that Dave's vote could just as easily cause her downfall now that they had given out the offer. If they didn't agree to his terms, who's to say he wouldn't just help vote her off with her sister and friends?
Eventually she sighed in acceptance. "Fine, it's a deal. So who do you want to vote off?"
*** Confessional: Dave ***
"So it looks like for once I can actually make sure things go well for me instead of making myself look like a fool." His normally disinterested and neutral expression gave way to an ominous smirk. "Nice. This should be an interesting ceremony."
*** In the Elimination Area ***
Once again Team Explosive filed their way into the elimination room for the second time. Many on the team were looking confident, with Beardo the only one looking truly nervous after he had failed to lead them to victory. Chris was chuckling to himself as he looked over the passports.
"Wow. I did NOT see these results coming." He shook his head in disbelief, smiling. "But hey, the unpredictability is why I love hosting this show so much!"
"I thought you loved hosting because you enjoy torturing people like us?" Sammy asked.
"Fine, it's one of many reasons why I love hosting the show." Chef brought over the plate of peanut filled barf bags, and Chris readied the first to throw. "Let's get a move on then. Barf bags going out to... Jasmine!"
The Aussie caught her bag with a cool smirk.
"Sugar."
She once again opted to catch her bag in her mouth, chewing up the peanuts with glee.
"Dave... and Beardo."
While the former said nothing at catching his symbol of immunity, the later sighed in relief and upon catching his recited the sound from Metroid when Samus finds an item.
"Gonna do that every time you get one of these, eh?" Dave asked, slightly annoyed.
Beardo shrugged. "There's a lot of video games I can pull from for it."
"And our penultimate barf bag goes surprisingly to... Samey!"
The nice twin was so busy glaring at her sister that she didn't register her name being called in time. Her barf bag simply smacked the side of her face and fell to the floor. "Wait what?"
Shawn raised an eyebrow, looking over at Amy. "You voted for me and not your sister? I didn't think that whole petty shtick of yours would let you vote for anyone else."
The mean twin elected to just say nothing, glaring at him and his allies. Jasmine, Sammy, and Shawn all looked equally perplexed but figured it wouldn't matter in the end anyway.
"So, Shawn and Amy. One barf bag left." Chris held up the final symbol of immunity, bouncing it in his hand. "And that's a wrap for whoever doesn't get it. The final barf bag of the night is going to...
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... Amy!"
"WHAT?!"
Shawn, Jasmine, and Sammy had practically yelled in unison as they all jumped from their seat in shock. A very smug and satisfied Amy caught her barf bag with glee.
"I know! Crazy, right?" Chris chuckled, Chef going over to stuff a parachute into the loser's arms. "But yeah, Shawn's out."
"How the hell?" He stammered, barely registering it when Chef handed over his parachute. "Why?"
He looked over his team, his mind racing. Jasmine and Sammy both looked just as shocked as he was. No way either of them would backstab him. Obviously Amy voted for him, Sugar too since she probably still held a grudge against him and Sky beating her. But that was only two votes to his three and there was no tie. Beardo? Well it was a possibility, he and the beatboxer weren't exactly friends. He didn't think they were on bad terms either, though. But even with him, that still meant they needed a vote from...
"Dave?" Shawn finally asked, a bit of hurt to his tone. "You voted for me?"
"Yup," the germaphobe replied without missing a beat.
"... Why? I thought we were friends."
He opened his mouth to answer but ultimately decided against it. Without saying a word, Dave simply got up and left the elimination area. Sugar smirked at the job well done, and also took her leave while motioning Beardo to come along with her. Amy was the last to leave, giving her sister a pointed glare before she was gone. The remaining three could only stand there in stunned silence, processing what just happened.
"Yeeeeeah, I know this is a huge blindside and all, but Shawn ya still gotta go dude." Chris pointed a thumb at the now open hatch. "Hop to it."
Shawn was still staring off in disbelief, eventually shaking himself back to reality with Chris' urging. "Hold that thought." Suddenly, he pulled Jasmine down and gave her a long kiss. It was a solid ten seconds before they finally broke it and he noticed the host giving him a weird look. "Heard through the grapevine that you booted Harold off just before he could kiss Leshawna, figured I'd beat you to the punch before you had the chance."
"Huh, very smart." Chris nodded in impressed approval. "Go ahead and say your goodbyes."
Jasmine and Sammy lead Shawn towards the open hatch, all still looking flabbergasted.
"Shawn, I am so sorry," Sammy said. "I have no idea what just happened."
"It isn't your fault, don't beat yourself up over it." The zombie nut scratched his head in confusion. "I think we all just got blindsided by that."
"Rest assured, we'll figure out a way to get payback for this," Jasmine added, a bitter anger to her tone. "I promise."
He nodded. "I know you will. It'll be tough, but I know the both of you can get through th-"
His words of encouragement were promptly cut short by the Boot of Shame swinging down to send him plummeting. His call off "Watch out for zombiiiiies," could faintly be made out before the hatch was closed once more. Sammy patted her friend on the back for comfort, though she was having a hard time hiding her nervousness.
"How ARE we going to get out of this?" She whispered. "This means the whole team is against us."
"... We'll figure it out," Jasmine spat, nearly shaking with rage at seeing her boyfriend leave. "We have to. Can't let that arse of a sister you have get the last laugh."
The two of them shared a determined look before finally retreating back to Economy Class.
Back in the cockpit, Chris whistled. "A nice juicy drama filled elimination ceremony. Just what the doctor ordered! Gonna be hard for the next episode to top it."
"Well the next episode is an Aftermath, so there's that," Chef pointed out.
Chris blew a raspberry and waved his hand dismissively. "Those don't count. All I know is, things are about to heat up! Has Amy and Sugar established an alliance that can't be beat? Will Jasmine and Samey be able to fight their way out of the danger zone? Will their first taste of victory go to Team Radioactive's heads?"
He pulled out another slice of Anne Mara's pizza, saying the rest of his sign off in a muffled food filled voice. "You'll have to tune in next time to find out. Next time on TOTAL... DRAMA... BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS!"
Voting Confessionals:
Amy looked slightly annoyed as she stamped Shawn's passport. "This is dumb. Perfectly good chance to boot off Samey, and that nerd wants us to put it off? Whatever, he better cooperate next time or he'll be the one we vote off after her."
Beardo still seemed on edge after he stamped Shawn's passport. "Geez, I'm worried about tonight since my pizza didn't cut it. Sugar even thinks I might be in danger, but she said the smart move right now is to break up Shawn and Jasmine. That they're too much of a threat together. And honestly? I kinda have to agree. They're both beasts on their own, but together they're almost unbeatable. I guess voting for one is the best move we can make for now."
"Shawn has everything so good," Dave lamented while stamping the zombie nut's passport. "His perfect girlfriend, got to make it to the finale, has countless fans. Well now it's his turn to see what tasting failure is like. Doesn't taste so great, does it buddy?"
Jasmine smiled happily after giving Amy's passport a stamp. "So long and good riddance."
Much like the last time, Sammy gave her sister's passport multiple stamps for good measure. "Second time's the charm, I guess. Amy can go back to being mom and dad's problem to deal with."
"Damn, I knew this would be one of the few challenge types where we'd be in danger." Shawn shrugged and stamped Amy's passport. "Oh well, at least we're not losing much by cutting Amy loose. We'll bounce back again."
"I'll be honest, I'm kinda glad to be voting tree boy out before Samey anyway." Sugar happily stamped Shawn's passport. "This is what you get for being able to say you beat me in a talent contest! I shoulda won that, I'm the most talented person on this whole gosh dern plane!"
Votes for Shawn: 4 (Amy, Beardo, Dave, Sugar)
Votes for Amy: 3 (Jasmine, Sammy, Shawn)
After the Boot of Shame:
Shawn held on to his beanie to keep it from flying off his head. He sighed heavily, his elimination still not fully sunk in yet.
"Alright, I'll admit it, consider me officially blindsided." He deployed his parachute so he could focus more on his parting words. "I mean it would have been equally bogus for Sammy to have been eliminated anyway, but I have no idea why Amy suddenly stopped beefing with her to target me. Like what the heck did I ever do to her?"
He shook his head in disbelief. "But whatever, it's done. I'm worried for Jazz and Sammy, but they're tough. I know they can pull through this somehow. It'll be hard, but I think they can do it. With all the zombie survival wisdom I've passed on, they should be well equipped for anything."
Since his fall trajectory had him about to hit a building, he positioned himself in a way that allowed him to slide down the railing. Removing the parachute, he somersaulted through the air and stuck the landing on a passing gondola below. Both the couple that had been riding the gondola and the gondolier recoiled back at the sudden intruder in shock, though Shawn was none the wiser to them.
"Well as long as I'm here, maybe I should pick some sort of souvenir for Jasmine." He scratched at his stubble, weighing his options. "I wonder if they have any commemorative shot glasses somewhere around here."
Remaining Contestants:
Team Old School: Beth, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Leshawna, Trent
Team Radioactive: Anne Maria, B, Brick, Dawn, Lightning, Scott
Team Explosive: Amy, Beardo, Dave, Jasmine, Sammy, Sugar
Elimination Order:
19th: Shawn
20th: Dakota
21st: Rodney
22nd: Harold
23rd: Izzy
24th: Staci
Author's Note:
And thus, the first arc of the story comes to an end. We're ending this first quarter of the story on what I'm anticipating will be a potentially shocking and maybe even controversial elimination. So hopefully we can take a moment to breathe and keep it cool (Knifez pls don't stretch the review page again). With that being said, I'll go ahead and dive right into it.
Yep, Shawn is out. I know it likely became obvious what was happening once the scene with Dave, Sugar, and Amy unfolded, but I'm hoping the fact I chose Shawn to boot in the first place is a surprise. Don't get me wrong, I adore the guy. Alongside Harold, he's one of the few characters in my "Top Tier" when it comes to favorite TD characters (If you're wondering, the other members of that tier are Lindsay, Heather, Scott, Alejandro, Izzy, and Jasmine). So why's he gone? Well, as many of you probably figured, he was always sort of doomed thanks to his former finalist status, especially being the most recent finale in this story's universe if we don't count RR. He's a huge threat, comes pre packages with two loyal allies in the form of Jasmine and Sammy. All reasons for characters to want him gone. But the deciding factor in universe was Dave. Obviously if Amy had the say, it would have been Sammy going home, but Dave forced her hand. As we go forward it'll become more apparent, but since it won't be addressed next chapter due to it being an aftermath, I can explain Dave's choice a bit. In a nutshell, Dave is incredibly bitter and petty. He may not have been showing it thus far, but we know those emotions are in him if we saw the TDPI finale. Dave was embarrassed on national TV and ended the season with nothing. Shawn is everything he's not. Shawn was successful in PI. Shawn got the girl. Shawn has loads of fans while Dave is possibly the most hated character on the show (seriously look up tier lists for TD characters on YouTube, they almost always rank Dave dead last despite characters like Rodney or Staci being right there). And while Shawn wasn't actually doing it, Dave felt like Shawn flaunted how well off he was, especially his relationship with Jasmine. So Dave wanted have the tables turned. Now things will unfold from there. Now again, I love Shawn and I had a blast writing him and his relationship with Jasmine, but he was always doomed to eat an early boot. I know booting him and keeping Amy may irk some people, but I gotta tell the story I wanna tell.
Now for the chapter's minor notes. We did indeed end up going to Italy as some predicted, and specifically Venice which is a location I think multiple people expected. Yeah, Italy was another one of my locations that was on the "Must Visit" list, and it was basically a question of if I wanted to do Venice or Rome. I decided on Venice since it's so unique and recognizable. I also went with a significantly more laid back challenge where for once the contestants weren't in any sort of danger at any point. In general it felt like TD challenges would get more and more over the top with each season, but I think it's nice to have the occasional breather challenge. Plus in general I felt like this was the perfect location to do a cooking related challenge. Also, show of hands, how many of you were successfully tricked into thinking Anne Maria was being set up for elimination due to making a more basic pizza? I wanna know if I'm doing a good job with fake outs like that. As for the next location, I'll do a hint for it in next chapter's author's note. So for this one's question I guess I'll ask who you think will get a song in the Aftermath chapter.
What was that? Ah yeah, I decided to add a song into each aftermath chapter. I should note that Aftermaths don't affect the song order for normal episodes, so the chapter after that will still have a song also. I decided on doing a song per aftermath to help highlight one or two other characters in a fun way. I'll also remind about the Aftermath peanut gallery poll on my profile one more time before I give it a rest. Vote on that to help decide who I put as guests in the 3rd Aftermath. In general I know aftermath chapters aren't everyone's cup of tea since they're usually filler and don't have an impact on the game itself, but I'm hoping to utilize them to give more time to shine for our losers. Also, on the topic of songs, I'll go ahead and confirm that I'll be implementing a suggestion from multiple reviewers. Going forward, each song will have a notice at the beginning to let you know what song is being parodied, that way you can go ahead and pull it up in another tab as you read it the first time. This'll be extra handy to implement on AO3 since I can just straight up link a video to the base song there. Can't link them here, though. Thank you FFN, very cool. As for if I keep my current formatting of the songs or use the other method I suggested, I'm undecided. I may experiment by using the other method for the aftermath's song, and we'll see if that reads better than what I've been doing. If so, I can make the change permanent. If not, I'll keep doing what I've been doing.
And that's all from me, glad to have gotten out another quick update and hopefully you'll all be seeing the first Aftermath very soon.