"Previously on Battle of the Generations," Chris narrated. "We made our way down to the quaint town of Guatape, Colombia. Everyone was tasked to build a hang glider that they would then have to haul up a giant rock before using it to reach the finish line on a separate island. Between Sugar and Amy scheming, and Lighting almost fumbling his glider, it was a nice easy win for Team Old School. But what wasn't nice and easy was the fate for B, who got his singing machine sabotaged by our devious duo. Due to him not singing, it meant a big DQ for B! But some quick thinking on his part ensured that his team wouldn't be sending two people home.
At the ceremony, Amy and Samey found themselves in the bottom two. It should have been an easy win for the mean girl, but thanks to some work put in from her flirtmance partner, Samey managed to tie up the votes! So I just gave them each immunity and decided to delay double elimination for another day. Will today be the time to kick two suckers out at once? Can Amy and Sugar continue to stir up the doodoo? And will Team Old School finally do something major, because they've just kinda been vibing lately. We'll find out the answer to all of this and more, right here on TOTAL... DRAMA... BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS!"
*** Opening Credits ***
While things were getting pretty tense back in economy, things started out in the calm peaceful environment of first class. Beth and DJ were both getting pampered with facial mask treatments and a shoulder massage from the in flight masseuses. Courtney was close by, giving the duo a side eye while enjoying a manicure of her own. The others were on the other end of first class, chatting it up as per usual, so she made a quiet noise to try and get DJ and Beth's attention.
"Pssst... psssssst." The two finally looked at her direction, cucumbers still on their eyes. "We need to talk strategy sometime soon."
"Strategy?" Beth took one of the cucumbers off and popped it into her mouth. She kept speaking despite her mouth being full. "What is there to talk about when we're winning?"
The CIT wiped the spittle and cucumber pieces off her face with a huff. "Plenty, because who knows how the next challenge is going to go. It's better for us to be prepared in case Chris screws us over. I know you two aren't the most strategic, but we still need to map out a plan."
DJ sighed. Man was just trying to enjoy his massage in peace. "Well when do you propose we talk, anyway? Wouldn't it be kinda weird to do that while the others are around?"
Literally the moment after the question was asked, Cody had suddenly stood up from his seat. "Geez, I'm way too on edge right now. Think they already finished the ceremony?"
Trent shrugged. "We could always go check. I'm sure they've done the eliminations by now."
"I'll tag along," Leshawna added, doing what almost looked like a little dance. "Girl's gotta hit up the bathroom, so that's on the way anyway."
Despite the three having not heard any of the strategic conversation, they all left together anyway. The other trio blinked in confusion.
"Huh. That was convenient," Beth mumbled.
"No kidding." Shrugging, Courtney decided it was best not to question it. "So how are we feeling right now? It's been a bit since we had to vote off Harold so I think it's best to touch base first and see where everyone's head is at."
Beth almost instinctively touched her own head, as if to make sure it was still there. "I'm not sure I understand what you're asking..."
"I guess what I mean is how confident are we feeling and what do you two think our next moves should be? I have some ideas, but wanted to hear from both of you first."
DJ scratched at his stubble, not too sure of how to respond. "I don't know, I guess things feel pretty chill right now? I'm not like, nervous or nothing. I think we agreed last time we talked that if we lose again it's probably best to vote for Cody since he's easiest to beat in a tie breaker."
"That's assuming the tie breaker would strictly be something physical, who knows if Chris may spring something stacked in Cody's favor. Remember what happened with Gwen and her eucalyptus allergy?" Even Courtney was willing to admit the unfairness of the elimination with her grudge against the goth mostly subsided. "So it may be better to get rid of the biggest threat if we can instead."
Beth looked on quizzically. "I guess that would be Leshawna, right? She's super tough, but we could beat her if the tie breaker is like a dance off or something. Plus she'd have Harold waiting for her, so it'd probably sting the least for her getting eliminated."
Impressed, the latina nodded in approval. Truth be told, Leshawna was who she had been wanting to target recently as well. "Agreed. But IF the tie breaker is physical, that would pose a problem. So, we have to figure out how to break up their votes."
"But you've said it yourself, they're tight as glue," DJ pointed out. "How the heck do we do that?"
"We'll have to do it from the inside," Courtney explained, suddenly whipping out a chart she had prepared for just such an occasion. On one end of the paper was a column of drawings, Courtney at the top, DJ below her, and Beth at the bottom. An arrow next to each of them pointed to a different column of drawings. Courtney's pointed towards a Cody drawing, DJ's pointed at Trent, and finally Beth's at Leshawna.
"Wow, you came prepared." Beth giggled to herself. "And here I thought you would swear off charts after what happened in All Stars."
Courtney leveled a glare at the farmer and had half a mind to make a snappy comeback but was able to stop herself. "It just helps me feel organized, is all. Anyway, here's what I'm thinking. We each try to get in good with one of the others in an attempt to sway their vote the next time we're up for elimination. It's unlikely for all of us to succeed, but all it takes it one of them not voting together to ensure that we have the majority. Then we wouldn't even have to worry about winning the tie breaker."
The brickhouse let out a deep breath. "I don't know, Court. This all feels kinda underhanded. How do you even cook up schemes like this?"
"When you're on this dumb show for 5 seasons you may as well learn the ins and outs of it," Courtney said with a shrug. "It'll be fine, we just need to sway someone's vote once, then we don't have to worry about anything else. We'd be able to nix Cody and Trent after Leshawna, and I'm well aware that I'd be next if it came down to the three of us. It's an absolute win for you guys."
The two exchanged unsure looks, both mulling over the plan in awkward silence.
"I guess we can give it a shot," DJ eventually mumbled.
*** Confessional: Courtney ***
"Beth and DJ are nice. Real sweethearts." Her happy grin gave way to an annoyed scowl. "But I don't need nice if we want to win, I need allies that are willing to do what needs to be done. It's not like I have much to choose from. I doubt the other side of the team would exactly be welcoming me with open arms considering Gwen and I's... let's call it, storied past. Those two are my best shot, so hopefully I can whip them into shape. It'll be me in the tiebreaker with Leshawna, otherwise."
*** Outside Economy Class ***
Leshawna had already excused herself to the bathroom while Cody and Trent hung back in a hallway with Sammy. All three had varying happy vibes about them, with Cody looking especially relieved.
"So it really did work?" Trent chuckled. "Glad everything went down well in the end."
"Have you had a chance to talk to Beardo since the results?" Cody asked. "How's he holding up?"
"He looked pretty nervous after everything. He's probably pretty worried about Sugar and my sister getting mad at him for flipping." Sammy was looking around, making sure one of the mean blondes wasn't about to turn the corner and hear the conversation. "But with Dave on the team there's always the possibility they'll doubt it was him. And either way, there's no way my sis will switch to wanting him gone before me or Jasmine, so he should be ok."
Trent smirked, stretching and giving a fake yawn. "Well, glad to hear it. Guess I'll head on back to first class then."
He gave his friend a subtle nudge and wink before retiring back to the winner's compartment. Cody and Sammy both chuckled awkwardly, unsure who should talk first.
"So, uh, thanks again for helping us like that," the cheerleader eventually said. "Seriously, you didn't have to do that. Chris probably would have made me take the drop with B if it hadn't been a tie."
"Ain't nothing but a thang," he tried to say in a suave voice while leaning coolly against the wall. His nerdy efforts got a silent giggle that went unnoticed. "Maybe we could even convince Dave to turn against her too? That way you don't have to worry about Chris potentially rigging a tie breaker."
The nice twin waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, I'm looking forward to getting to humble her when I win it. Besides, I don't know how well that would even work. Dave's been acting weird ever since Shawn left. I don't know what's up with him, but I wouldn't even begin to know where to start with him."
Cody nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. And how about Jasmine? How's she doing now?"
*** Confessional: Jasmine ***
For a few moments the outback girl just starred off, lost in her thoughts all alone. Eventually she exhaled and looked at the camera. "So, it was a tie. And according to Sammy it was thanks to Beardo. I'm grateful, really I am, but because it was only a tie that means Dave still voted against us." Her expression grew more spiteful and she lightly kicked the wall. "Dumb little dingo. What's his damage, anyway? Ah well, I guess if we're not on our own anymore I should be happy. So... thanks, Beardo. We're not gonna take this for granted."
*** In the Cafeteria ***
Breakfast on the Jumbo Jet was more or less business as usual this morning. Team Old School were peppy and relaxed thanks to their good night's sleep in first class. The others were a bit more grumpy due to Economy taking its toll, though many on Team Radioactive were still especially glum in the wake of B's elimination. While obviously not the most social teammate, he had been the team's brains and more than pulled his own weight.
Sensing a chance to try what the nicer folk called 'cheering people up,' Scott cleared his throat to get his team's attention. "Alright, let's not beat around the bush. With Bev out, we need to appoint a new person in charge of providing the smarts for the team. And it's all of your lucky day, because I accept the job!"
The plan worked and got the rest of his team to laugh, though his surprised reaction called into question if he was perhaps actually serious.
"Sha-please, dude. Even The Lightning could be the brains of the team before yo-" The athlete in question was cut off from a suffocating spray from Anne Maria's hairspray.
"Go sha-please ya self, bub," she snarked as Lightning nearly coughed up a lung. "Between the two of you combined that's like, what, three brain cells max?"
Brick chuckled at the ongoing shenanigans while also giving Scott's words some thought. Without B, who WOULD be the team's most dependable brains? Definitely not Scott or Lightning, but not Anne Maria either. He didn't mind being in a leadership role himself, but on the specific topic of smarts...
"I think Dawn has a good head on her shoulders," he eventually said, taking the moonchild by surprise. "She knows a lot about different places we've been, too! I'd trust her with providing the smarts for the team."
At first the dumber trio were silent, but after a moment they relented and nodded in agreement.
"Works for me," Anne Maria said. "Heck she gives us an edge over the others with her crazy mind reading mumbo jumbo."
"Good point," Lightning added with a finger pistol. "Yo short girl, can you use that psycho sha-nesis stuff to tell us what the next place we're going is?"
"Aura reading isn't the same as being psychic," she replied, puffing her cheeks out in frustration. "And while I appreciate the compliment, Brick, there's no way for me to know where we're going next. Your guesses are as good as mine."
"Well guess no longer," Chris suddenly yelled, having been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make himself known. His sudden appearance startled Dave so much that he nearly choked on his own eggs. "I come now to answer that very question. I figure some of you are getting pretty homesick by now, so..."
Chef ran out, proudly flying a Canadian flag on a small pole. He waved it around while Chris saluted. "We're going back to our homeland itself, Canada!"
"Our?" Anne Maria scoffed and returned to spraying her hair. "I'm from Jersey, ya block head."
"I ain't no Canadian, neither," Sugar grumbled before eating the rest of Dave's eggs considering how he was busy trying not to die.
"Do I even need to say anything?" Jasmine added, arms folded.
The host could only glare at the interruptions and blow a childish raspberry. "Well it's home for most of us, anyway. Specifically we're heading up to Montreal! Kinda crazy how we never visited Quebec back in World Tour, eh?"
"Montreal?" Beth repeated before raising a hand. "Are we gonna need to know French for this challenge? Because I went with Latin in High School when they gave us the choice."
"We'll be fine," Courtney assured her. "I'm not a fluent expert or anything, but I know quite a bit of French if we need it."
"Same here." Trent nodded. "You tend to pick up bits and pieces of a lot of languages when you're touring."
The other two teams exchanged some looks, seeing if any of their own would have some French knowledge if needed. Thankfully both Dave and Dawn confirmed having knowledge in the language, so they were all in business.
"We'll be landing shortly... oh, and don't egg on the paparazzi too much." Chris chuckled to himself. "Word got out that we'd be doing a challenge in Montreal, and now there's a huge crowd gathered where we're landing. Try not to let the mob devour you!"
"Easy peezy." Cody looked entirely unimpressed and waved his hand dismissively. "If you guys need any help knowing how to give the media a slip just let me and Trent know. We've become pros at it by now."
*** Confessional: Trent ***
"Dealing with reality show fans can get crazy enough as it is. Cody can especially attest to that. But you add boy band fans to the mix? Then mix them together into one big unholy stew?" A chill ran up his spine and made him shiver. "Sometimes having security isn't enough. You really gotta learn how to hide yourself."
"And yet you STILL can't remember how to lock a bathroom door," Chris yelled as he swung open the confessional door. Like previous times the guitarist jumped back in shock, though that soon gave way to a glare. "Seriously, buddy, you gotta work on that."
"Our tour bus bathroom doesn't HAVE a lock, sue a guy for making a habit of not having to do that." He huffed, folding his arms and scooching towards the wall in an attempt to maximize the distance between him and the host.
*** Outside the Montreal-Trudeau Airport ***
The jumbo jet made its descent into Montreal. Well, technically the airport itself was in a place called Dorval, a few miles away from downtown Montreal itself. But why sweat the details? Either way, a faint rumbling noise quickly amplified the closer the plane got to the ground. It was enough to make the inhabitants look out the windows to find the source of the noise. It was a crowd. A rather large one, in fact, just as Chris had warned.
Beardo gave a low whistle, looking on in awe. "Dang, that's a heck of a turnout. You guys deal with mobs like this often?" He gave a glance towards Cody and Trent specifically. "Well, other than y'all that deal with crowds for other reasons."
"Yes, though the turnouts would typically become smaller and smaller as the years went on and the show's popularity dwindled," Courtney answered, unable to hide a cocky grin when she spotted a large 'Courtney is a Queen' sign among the crowd. "I suppose the gap between your season and this one has made fans antsy to see it return, hence the turnout."
"Yo, do we get time to sign some autographs," Anne Maria barked out, pulling out a pen from her shirt. "You know your girl's gotta show her fans some o that TLC."
Chris and Chef were walking by, sizing up the sea of people outside. He shrugged. "I've got a few media interviews to blaze through when we land, so knock yourselves out. The interns are gonna try to keep the crowd under control, but don't come crying to me if you get eaten by the horde!"
Jasmine shivered at the wording. "Shawn would have hated this, he'd be convinced there's a zombie in that crowd. Guess that's the one upside of him not having to be here for this."
Either not caring about the fans, or perhaps assuming there wouldn't be many people out there for him anyway, Dave leaned against the wall and gave the host an inquisitive look. "What are we doing for the challenge, anyway? You haven't told us anything about it."
"Glad you asked, Davey Boy." Chris pointed some finger pistols his way and grinned. "Because we're treating this challenge as a big Canadian Homecoming, we're going to be heading down to the Olympic Stadium to compete in what I like to call the Canadian Grand Prix! Get ready for maple syrup chugging, curling, moose riding, and all sorts of great white North goodness."
Everyone took a second to process the challenge details. It didn't sound too crazy, but those not from Canada seemed a little more hesitant about it. Taking note of this, Beth elbowed DJ and smiled.
"At least we'll have the upper hand if there's like a Canada trivia portion or something. Our team's the only one to be fully Canadian!"
"Well, if you wanna get technical I was originally born in Jamaica." He chuckled at Beth's wide eyed reaction, that detail having apparently slipped her mind. "But for sure, I'm all about us cinching another win and keeping first class on lock down."
*** Confessional: DJ ***
"I've been pretty wary around interviews every since things went south with me and Momma's cooking tour. It doesn't help that all the interviews I took after World Tour kept bringing up animal curse this, and Team Victory that. It just wasn't a good vibe, ya know?" Taking a deep breath, he tried to shake off his nerves. "But that was years ago. I'm sure the fans have calmed down since then!"
*** Outside the Jumbo Jet ***
"O-M-G, MARRY ME, TRENT!"
The fans were uproarious, yelling out cheers to their favorite contestants left and right as the 17 of them approached cautiously. Every so often someone's voice would stand out among the mob and reach them.
"LESHAWNA, YOU'RE A GODDESS!"
"LIGHTNING IS THE BEST, LIGHTNING NUMBER ONE!"
"IF IT DOESN'T WORK OUT WITH SHAWN, CALL ME, JASMINE!"
"DJ, I'LL BE YOUR NEW BUNNY IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"
At first everyone just sort of looked around, not really sure what to make of the spectacle. Some were amused, others a bit terrified. Dawn spotted a sign that claimed she was "The best waifu," and while she didn't know what that meant she for some reason felt unnerved. Beardo was especially shocked to see a section of the crowd aiming their cheers at him, their calls of appreciation turning him a shade of red and making him cower back behind Jasmine.
"I haven't seen them like this in a long time," Leshawna eventually said, spotting her adoring crowd that was a mix of stylish girls and Harold-esque scrawny dweebs. "Kinda don't know how to feel. On one hand they're A LOT, but on the other hand it's kinda nice being this appreciated."
"No kidding," Beth agreed as she meekly waved at the nerdy section of the crowd cheering her name. "And they're all being so nice too!"
Well, not all of the words from the crowd were positive.
"YOU SUCK, AMY. WORST SISTER OF ALL TIME!"
"SUGAR? MORE LIKE, SOUR!"
"DAVE IS A DOODOO HEAD!"
There were, of course, supporters for those people trying to drown out the haters. Or at least there were Amy and Sugar fans trying to drown them out. But the jeers were heard nonetheless.
Dave could only sigh, at this point used to hearing heckling from Total Drama fans. Amy was doing her best to look unbothered by it all, long over all the criticisms of what a bad sister she was. Heard it a millions times, so their calls fell on deaf ears. As for Sugar...
"Y'all wanna say that to my face?" she challenged as she stomped towards one of her hecklers, picking up a rock to toss. "You prepared to get sugar'd?"
Before she could throw it, Jasmine plucked the stone from her hand and gave her a curt glare. "That's a good way to wind up with a lawsuit. Don't do something you're gonna regret."
All the while, a line of interns were doing their best to hold their formation and prevent any fans from getting in the contestants faces. Chris and Chef were off to the side, talking to a group of reporters with their cameras and microphones. Since the crowd wasn't getting any less energetic, someone had to make a move to appease them. Anne Maria was happy to oblige.
"Well they ain't gonna get any quieter from us just gawking at em." She ran up to a particularly vocal session, soaking in the cheers. "Hey, who wants an autograph? You want me to sign something, anything, I got you!"
"Who wants a picture with The Lightning?" The jock followed close behind, posing for the flashing cameras. "No rush, there's plenty of sha-goodness to go around!"
And so, everyone broke apart to seek out sections of the crowd cheering for them to take part in autographs and photo ops. It did seem to help lower the volume a bit, as now people were focused on trying to reach the front row to score an interaction with their favorite player. While most went off on their own, some stuck to groups such as Jasmine and Sammy. Cody and Trent had by far the biggest and most rabid group to attend to, so they made it a point to stick together.
As it turned out, Scott and Courtney's groups just so happened to be next to each other. And the occasional calls from their fans asking when they'd just get over it and kiss already weren't going unnoticed.
"If we could keep things away from irrelevant topics, that would be nice," Courtney told the group, earning mixed reactions for her efforts. "I appreciate your support, but it's exhausting hearing this over and over."
"Scott! Scott over here," a frumpy looking red headed fan in the front yelled out, waving her arm. "If she doesn't want you, I'm singl-"
The fan suddenly stopped herself, noticing a harsh glare from the CIT. A glare that Scott was all to eager to take notice of.
"Heh, looks like someone's jealous."
A male Courtney fan then squeezed his way to the front of the pack, waving enthusiastically.
"Courtney's the best! I want her to step on me!"
Now it was Scott's turn to do the glaring. "Hey! I'M the only one getting stepped on by her, got it!... wait, what does that even mean?"
Meanwhile with the Drama Bros duo, they were going down a seemingly endless line of fan girls, signing autograph books and constantly posing for selfies. Cody eventually took notice of one person in the line who looked especially shy and intimidated to approach them, and they were obscured by their hoodie with only their blonde pigtails poking out of the hood.
"Hey, want a picture with us?" he called out to the unknown fan, hoping that him doing the approaching wouldn't intimidate them. "There's no need to be shy, we'd love to!"
"Oh, you're too kind," a high pitched voice replied that almost sounded... phony? "I'm just so happy to see two of the Drama Brothers here in the flesh!"
"Well we're always happy to meet our fans," Trent added, leaning forward to try and get a look at the mysterious person.
"Fan?" Suddenly, the person started chuckling maniacally, looking up to reveal that they were wearing a gas mask that obscured their face. "Oh, I'm no fan. Though I wasn't lying when I said I'm happy to see you."
They then poked their hand out of the hoodie sleeve, revealing some sort of button. Once they pressed it, all around the crowd pillars of smoke began to rise. There was a quick chorus of startled screams and yells, but they were swiftly silenced as everyone simultaneously passed out. It was some sort of sleeping gas, a particularly potent concoction as it reached from them all the way down to Chris and the media. Everyone but the person with the gas mask was on the ground asleep. Looking over their handiwork, they bellowed a nefarious laugh. As they took off the hood, the pigtail wig fell off, revealing their actual purple hair underneath.
"Time to evil!"
*** Thirty Minutes Later ***
Chef Hatchet groaned, the first to stir awake. He rubbed his head, trying to get his bearings and remember what the hell just happened.
"Chris... Chris... wake up, darn it!" He kicked his cohort in the side, making him groan awake. "What in tarnation just happened? How'd we end up on the gosh darn ground?"
The host sat up, rubbing the area he had been kicked. "What are you talking abou... wait, what DID just happen?" He darted his head around, noting the various passed out fans, reporters, and contestants. "This wasn't supposed to be part of the challenge."
Something wasn't sitting quite right with Chef. Thinking quickly, he ran up to the closest contestant, Sammy, and shook her awake. "Rise and shine, maggot, we got a situation here!"
One by one the large man woke up all of the contestants, each feeling as groggy and confused as the last. Once it was all said and done, Chris quickly gathered them around while the members of the crowd were beginning to stir.
"Alright, so, does anyone remember what happened, because I'm lost right now." Chris surveyed the group, no body looking certain or raising their hands.
"I think I remember seeing some sorta smoke," Dave eventually offered. "But next thing I knew I was on the ground being shaken by Chef."
Murmuring broke out as everyone tried to recount what little they could about the incident, though it was clear that nobody really knew anything else. But Dawn had been looking around as well and eventually moved forward to tap Chris on the arm.
"Excuse me, but aren't we missing two people?"
The host blinked in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean, Chef woke everyone up."
"Everyone that was present perhaps," she replied. "But we're missing two people."
Dawn's deathly serious tone wasn't lost on the others. They all began looking around at each other and a voice quickly confirmed her observation.
"Oh no... where are Trent and Cody?" Leshawna asked, eyes nearly bugging from her head.
After a quick scan, the others came to the same conclusion. The two Drama Brothers were missing. By now Chris was breaking into a cold sweat, with Chef scooting up beside him and trying to whisper nonchalantly.
"Is... this part of the challenge?" the larger man asked.
"No," Chris hissed. "But just play it cool until we figure out what's happening." With that said, Chris cleared his throat and did his best to compose himself. "Haha, all according to plan, dudes! Now, your first task is... to figure out where the two of them are. First team to do so wins an advantage in the next part of the challenge!"
"Dude, if this is all just part of the challenge it ain't funny." Though despite his critique, DJ began searching around with the others all the same. Everyone searching what little surrounding area there was, while Chris and Chef huddled to try and get a grasp on the situation. Eventually, with the help of some fans that spotted it on the ground, Beth came running up with a camera in hand. A sticky note was attached to it that read "For Chris to watch," with an accompanying smiley face.
"This was laying on the ground near the fans they were with."
She handed off the device and Chris snapped his fingers to signal an intern to rush over a monitor and cable. They connected the camera to one of the inputs and once everyone had gathered around he moved to play the sole video saved to the camera on the TV.
Once the video started, they were met with an odd perspective. The camera was laying on the ground, recording a pair of feet as someone hunched over.
"Is this blasted thing on, already? We don't have much time before they all wake back up."
The voice belonged to the same gas mask wearing person from earlier, who actually leaned down and poked their head slightly into frame as they looked at the camera. "Ah, the red light is on, excellent."
Standing back up, he could be heard calling for someone off screen. Suddenly, a black car pulled up beside him and the back door swung open.
"Let me guess, you want me to put them in on my own?" The masked person was silent for a moment, then groaned. "Evil shouldn't be bossed around like this..."
They walked off screen for a few moments before they could be heard huffing and puffing. His feet came back into frame, and it seemed that he was dragging someone. From the clothes, it had to be Trent. With a strained groan, he hauled Trent into the back of the car, then walked off screen again. He then repeated the process, this time dragging Cody.
"For scrawny pop band pretty boys they are deceptively heavy," the masked person complained before finally also getting Cody inside and slamming the door. Finally, he went to pick up the camera and bring it to eye level. The gas mask was removed to reveal an all too familiar face. A pasty, pudgy boy with dyed purple hair and an unfortunate haircut.
"Greeting, Chris McLean. It is I, the Master of Evil, Max!" He attempted his best maniacal laugh, though it was a bit too much of a strain after his heavy lifting so it made him start coughing for his efforts. "Anywho, you likely thought you had seen the last of me. Well think again! We have taken Trent and Cody hostage. If you want them back, you will deliver the million dollars to this location at Mount Royal within the next three hours."
Max held up a note with a set of coordinates. They were sloppily written, but legible enough. "If you do not, then we will go public with the kidnapping and let their beloved fans pay the ransom! If you think losing the million is bad, just imagine the bad press and lawsuits that will follow when the media gets wind of your incompetence. Why, Total Drama as we know it may even get canceled!"
He pulled off a halfway decent sinister chuckle. "The clock is ticking, Chris. Your reputation, and perhaps even the show's future, is on the line! We'll see you soon."
And with that, the video ended. Silence followed, everyone just sort of digesting what they had saw. Sammy eventually spoke up.
"You seriously brought Max back to help with the challenge? I thought you said he and Scarlett were banned from ever returning."
"She is," Chris answered without missing a beat. "B-but... I gave it some thought, and realized there was no reason to keep punishing Max for what she did. So to make up for snubbing him from the cast, uh, I brought him back to cameo in a challenge! See, I really am generous! And look at how into character he got, he was made for the role."
Dawn looked the host dead in the eyes, nearly staring a hole through him. "He's lying."
"Huh?" said a few contestants.
"Lying comes second nature to him, it's all over his aura," she explained. "And he's lying right now. So please, tell us the truth, Chris. Is this truly part of the challenge or have Cody and Trent been legitimately kidnapped?"
All eyes were on Chris. The host chuckled awkwardly, looking to Chef for any help. The big man just shook his head and gave him a stern look that confirmed that the jig was up. He eventually sighed and motioned for the contestants to crowd around.
"Ok, everyone just stay cool. If you do what I say and keep this all on the down low I can get the network to pass you all a stipend. You all like free money, right?" He paused for a second to let them give him odd looks, but didn't wait for a literal answer. "Anyway, yeah, this is legit. BUT, we can work with this. Edit it later to all seem like it was according to plan. New challenge, you guys are gonna track Max down and save the boys so we don't have to give him the cash."
"You're trying to make a challenge out of this?" Jasmine practically yelled, getting a panicked shush out of the host. "Are you daft? This needs the authorities involved, this isn't a bloody game, Chris!"
"I WILL get them involved," Chris assured everyone. "But we need to keep up appearances in the meanwhile. Plus who knows how long it'll take them to get here. The sooner the guys are found the better, so we can kill two birds with one stone by letting you guys investigate while making it look to the public like it's a challenge!"
There were varying degrees of disgust on the contestant's faces, mixed in with a bit of anger and concern just for good measure. Leshawna in particular was looking furious, pointing a threatening finger Chris' way. "You just better hope the two of them are alright once we find em. Them getting snatched is on YOU, so there's gonna be hell to pay if they're hurt."
*** Confessional: Leshawna ***
"Just when I think this man's hit rock bottom, he whips out a shovel and shows off a whole new low." She shook her head in disbelief. "The absolute nerve of this fool, using my homeboys well being for a damn challenge. If anything happens to them, I'm taking care of Chris myself... I just hope they're ok."
*** Undisclosed Location ***
A low groan escaped Trent as he finally began to regain consciousness. What the hell just happened? Last he remembered, him and Cody were just meeting with fans, nothing out of the ordinary. And then... what happened next?
"Hey, Trent. You're finally awake."
Hearing his band mate's voice, the guitarist saw him sitting nearby on a bed, his hands handcuffed behind his back.
"You were trying to meet with the fans, right? Walked right into that sleeping gas ambush, same as us and that cockroach over there."
Trent stared at his friend for a silent moment before shaking his head. "What?"
"Sorry, I tend to reference stuff to try and ease the tension," Cody answered, chuckling awkwardly as he noted Trent also being in handcuffs. "Anyway... any idea where the heck we are?"
The two looked around, trying to take note of everything around them. They appeared to be in a sort of jail cell, as iron bars lined from wall to wall, preventing them from escaping. There was a locked door in the center of the iron bar wall, though thanks to there being no windows the only light source they had was a single light bulb dimly dangling from the ceiling. Inside their cell was a bed that Cody was currently on, while Trent was leaning against the wall opposite of the bars.
"This has gotta be part of the challenge, right? Chris knocked us out and now we gotta do a prison escape themed sorta thing?" Trent didn't sound fully confident in his own explanation, but he had to try and keep calm."The whole thing about the Canadian themed challenges was just to make us lower our guard."
"I guess that makes sense," Cody admitted, though he was still especially unnerved by the handcuffs. "But he's never hired so many extras like those fans to be part of the challenge. That short girl with the gas mask was especially weird..."
"Weird? Weird isn't a proper enough word to describe such evil!"
The response came from an unknown third voice, startling both boys. They peered into the darkness until the figure finally stepped into the light.
"Personally, I would go with sinister! Or perhaps diabolical! Frightful, devilish, heinous... there's quite a few options, really."
After a brief confused pause, Cody finally broke the silence. "You're that guy from last season, right? Are you part of the challenge?"
"But I thought Chris said that him and that crazy librarian chick that tried to kill everyone were banned from returning," Trent pointed out, only growing more and more confused.
"Hmph, you're one to talk about looking crazy Mr. Number Obsession. And no, I am not just part of some challenge. I'll have you know that you've been kidnapped! Brought here to my top secret lair of evil!" Max held out his arms for added effect, though nothing changed. He looked off to the side and seemingly remembered something. He quickly waddled off, found the light switch, and flicked it on before running back to his arms held out position. Cody and Trent were momentarily blinded by the room's lights flickering on. When their vision returned they were met with a grisly sight...
Various means of torture lining the walls and floor. A torture rack, stocks, what looked like an iron maiden, and various sharp weapons on the walls. Axes, swords, you name it. Even with Max's goofy appearance, the visual of the various deadly devices were enough to make the duo white as bed sheets.
"Wh-what are you gonna do, torture us?" Cody stammered, scooting back defensively.
"Hm? Oh! Heavens no, that would be far too messy." Max shuddered at the thought alone. "I detest the sight of blood, it makes my delicate tummy feel queasy. This all just looks quite neat, doesn't it? Befitting of the hidden lair for the world's greatest evil mastermind!"
Trent just gave his friend a blank look, not really sure how to feel about any of this anymore. "So... why did you kidnap us again?"
"For the ransom money, of course." The wannabe supervillain rolled his eyes. "I left McLean with an ultimatum. Either he gives over the million dollars, OR we go to the media about your kidnapping to reveal the show's negligence to the world. And what better target to get the news talking than two world famous pop stars?"
"Actually, I'd like to think our sound has matured from just being pop, we've incorporated a lot of electronica and-"
Cody was elbowed in the side before he could continue.
"So fret not, whether it be Chris or your adoring fans that pays the ransom you'll be free to go soon enough," Max continued. "But it won't be a moment sooner. No one else dares know where my hidden lair is!"
"Max, dearie, do you and your friends want any Hot Pockets?" a older lady's voice suddenly yelled from the top of the stairs leading to the makeshift jail cell. "I'm about to put some in the oven."
Max groaned and stomped his feet. "No, mother, we're in the middle of... actually wait, yes I'd like some." He glanced over at his two prisoners. "Do you guys want any Hot Pockets?"
Cody and Trent just stared at him. Eventually he shrugged, figuring he could eat their's if they didn't eat them. "Make some for all three of us. And don't forget the ranch!"
While he moved to go help his mom with the gourmet cuisine, Trent moved towards his band-mate to whisper. "Are we... just in his mom's basement?"
"If that's the case, the others are bound to find us soon enough, right?"
*** In the Streets of Montreal ***
The other fifteen contestants were currently trying to figure out where to even start with their rescue mission. All they had to go off of right now was that Max was the perpetrator, and that Cody and Trent were hauled off in a black car. Other than that, nada.
"So does anyone have some ideas, because I got nothin," Anne Maria said, the crew for now just kinda inspecting the general area the car had driven off from. There were skid marks, but that did them little good.
"We could always send one of our fast guys running after the car and have em break out a window to get them boys free," Sugar suggested. While most people immediately disregarded her, Lightning gasped.
"Sha-yeah, the Lightning could totally catch that car no problem!"
"If we knew WHERE the car was you could," Dave pointed out. "But we don't. We have zero leads right now."
While the others were brainstorming for clues, something hit DJ. Literally, it was bird poop that landed on his shoulder. "Ah come on, now that's just rude... wait a minute."
He glanced up at a group on pigeons atop a light pole near the airport. Were they there the whole time? If they were...
"Dawn, you think you might be able to talk to the pigeons? If they were here when the kidnapping went down they might have seen which way the car went."
The mystic was a bit surprised at being put on the spot at first but quickly smiled at the suggestion. "It's certainly worth a shot. Though they get an unfairly bad reputation from humans, pigeons are quite observant creatures. I can see what they may know."
Both animal lovers cautiously approached the light pole to get the birds attention while the others could only watch and wait.
*** Confessional: DJ ***
"Dawn's pretty cool... kinda weird, but in a good way, ya know? I've never met anyone that can talk to animals as good as her. Probably because I've never met anyone that can talk to animals period. Izzy used to say she can talk to camels, but it's kinda hard to believe anything that chick says. I wonder if Dawn could teach me how to do it, I always wanted to know what bunnies think!"
*** Confessional: Sugar ***
The pageant queen stared out the window with a glare. "I don't know what it is about that Dawn girl, but there's something about her I ain't liking. She's skinny as a twig, walks around acting all quiet and sweet-like, trying to carry herself like she walked out of a gosh darn fairy tale. And she does that annoying singing every other episode!" Sugar was ignoring the part where literally everyone had to sing every other episode. "If she's still around when the merge comes, she's gotta be the first to go!"
*** In the Streets of Montreal ***
Turns out, one of the pigeon's decided to follow Max's car for a while after shit went down! The pigeon, who Dawn claimed was named Slapjack, had informed her that after recording his video Max hopped into the car with the two boys and was now flying them the direction they went.
"I can't believe we're following directions from a stupid bird of all things," Amy grumbled, but following along with the others all the same.
"It's unorthodox, but there's no need to doubt Dawn's abilities," Brick assured her. "They're the real deal! And at least it's progress, every bit of help we can get we should take it."
Beth grimaced as she ran along, something on her mind that was bother her. "Um, so since we're not doing anything else but running after the pigeon for now, there's something that's kinda been bugging me. Who was the person Max was talking to on the video? We know he wasn't alone because he wasn't the one driving the car."
Everyone was silent, pondering who it could have been. Sure, it could have been someone they didn't know, but why would someone want to get roped up in a kidnapping scheme? It had to be someone willing to do something illegal, and there WAS someone who fit that bill with an association to Max.
"Could it be Scarlett?" Sammy finally said. "I mean, I know Max likes to think that he's some evil genius but he doesn't really strike me as someone who can come up with a plan like this all on his own, much less follow through on it. But her..."
"She's trouble," Jasmine added with a nod. "Max is just a little goober, but if Scarlett is involved in this then those two could actually be in some deep trouble. This wouldn't be the first time she used contestants to demand the million bucks as ransom. Me, Sugar, Shawn, and Sky damn near died because of her."
"But didn't she hate Max's guts?" Dave pointed out. "Like, even more than anyone else. If she was behind it she surely wouldn't want him involved, right? So it's gotta be someone else. One of Max's friends or something."
Amy snickered. "Who would want to be friends with that weirdo?"
"Well I don't care who the heck it is. Max, Scarlett, whoever else." Leshawna cracked her knuckles with a fire in her eyes. "Once I get my hands on em for messing with Trent and Cody they're gonna WISH they never crossed us."
Not long after that warning they suddenly found themselves coming to a stop near a busy park by the name of Angrignon. The pigeon took a seat on a nearby tree and cooed.
"Hey, what's the hold up?" Anne Maria asked. "Homebird get tired of flapping its wings or something?"
"Unfortunately it would seem this was as far as Slapjack followed the car," Dawn said apologetically. "He got distracted by all the activity going on in the park and then eventually circled back to the airport. The last he saw before he stopped following the car was it going north."
Slapjack cooed again in confirmation. His job done, it flew back towards the airport to rejoin its bird friends and maybe go poop on some cars.
"So we're back to square one then. Great." Scott kicked at the tree in frustration, prompting a walnut to fall from it and bonk him in the head. More mildly annoyed than anything, he rubbed at the sore spot it left on his head. "Now what? It ain't like the next hint is just gonna come right up to us."
Suddenly, by sheer coincidence, the group heard some squealing as two fan girls excitedly ran up to them.
"O-M-Gosh! You guys are from Total Drama," one of them said to state the obvious, a shorter girl with blonde hair that had blue streaks.
"Are you guys doing like a challenge or something? We heard about you showing up at the airport but we only got off work a few minutes ago and couldn't make it," the other added, a taller girl with short black hair.
The crew just sort of exchanged looks, not sure how to respond. While most of them wanted to divulge the truth, Chris would possibly take to punishing them if they spilled the beans on the kidnapping. Plus they were on the clock and couldn't really afford to stand around talking to fans.
"Er, yeah, you could say that," Brick finally answers, thinking over the best way to word it. "It's a sort of... riddle based challenge! So we're just trying to figure out what we do next."
"Mhm, really complicated stuff," Courtney added. "So we can't really stop to chat, I'm sure you girls understand."
"Ohmygosh, of course," the shorter one replied. "Sorry, we didn't mean to bother you guys, it's just hard not to fan girl ya know?"
Her friend nodded along. "Totally, we don't see many of you making appearances around here usually. Well except Max since he lives in the city, but still."
Everyone paused. They took a second to let that sink in. Finally, Beardo made a record scratch sound and spoke. "Max lives here in Montreal?"
"Yeah!" the blonde replied. "Didn't you guys know that? Sierra lists the home town for everyone on the blogs she dedicates to them."
"That's totally not creepy at all," Amy grumbled. "If she knows that then she probably knows our actual addresses too."
"Knowing her I wouldn't be surprise-" DJ stopped and shared a look with his teammates. Surely it wouldn't be that easy, would it?
"Could you girls do us a favor?" Leshawna asked. "Sierra probably has a contact email on her blogs, right? Could you send her one saying we need Max's address for a challenge? Chris brought him in for a cameo if you can believe it."
"You could attach a picture of us standing here to show that it's really us asking," Beth suggested. "Oh, and tell her that Cody's in danger because of the challenge, that'll probably make her reply super quick!"
Both girls looked at each other and snickered before the taller one snapped the photo of everyone. "Sure, sounds like fun!"
"She thinks she's actually important to the plot," her friend whispered, fighting the urge to laugh. "Adorable."
Beth's face fell as the two worked on sending Sierra the email.
*** Confessional: Beth ***
"Not important to the plot? Did those two forget that I won us our first challenge back in Nashville?" She paused, the silence starting to get to her. "Di-did they really forget? I thought it was a big deal, surely people don't think I'm an afterthought on the team, right?"
*** Max's Basement ***
A partly unnerved and partly bored Trent and Cody sat around wondering what they could do, a half touched plate of Hot Pockets next to them.
"I gotta say, we've been through a lot of weird stuff on this show but this is definitely extra strange," Cody said, sighing. "I'm still not entirely convinced this isn't part of a challenge."
Trent shrugged. "I'm assuming it's legit. Chris doesn't miss a chance to gloat and explain the rules of a challenge, we would have heard from him by now. Plus he seems to genuinely dislike this guy and he's not really the type to actively hand out TV spots to someone he hates."
"Well I could always tranquilize the two of you if it'll make you stop beating this dead horse of a talking point," Max whined as he returned to check in on his prisoners, snacking on a few Hot Pockets of his own. "Then again, I may have to do that soon anyway. The time to meet McLean for the exchange is fast approaching."
"Chris wouldn't even give up the money when your girlfriend threatened to blow everyone up, what makes you think he's actually going to pay up to save us?" Cody saw Trent grow even more concerned due to his comment and shrugged. "I mean I wanna be optimistic, but this is CHRIS we're talking about here. He'd probably give up his own family if it meant saving his money instead."
Max chuckled darkly. "It's simple, because this time his very reputation and the future of the show is on the line. No show means no income for Chris. It's the smart thing for him to do in the long run."
"Ok, but what if you get caught before you can even make off with the money?" Trent pointed out. "I'm sure the authorities are already on it, and who knows what our friends could be up to. I wouldn't be surprised if they're knocking down your mom's door any minute now."
The wannabe evil mastermind scoffed and waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, pshaw. Your misplaced faith in your friends is as boring as watching you on the show."
Genuinely not expecting that dig, a look of hurt came over the guitarist. "I am not boring! I've done plenty of exciting stuff on the show. Like... uh." He looked over at Cody. He figured bringing up anything related to Gwen would be an awkward topic. That meant he could bring up... wait, what all had he done on the show not related to Gwen? "Cody, I'm not boring, am I?"
"No way! We've been bros for years, I know better than anyone how cool you are." He almost felt the need to point out how not-boring the whole 9 breakdown was, but it probably wasn't the best thing to bring up. "Remember what Justin said, dude, just ignore the haters. And you're probably right, the others will be here to rescue us any minute now!"
Suddenly the ringing of the doorbell echoed throughout the basement. All three boys went wide eyed, though Max had to quickly compose himself as hope began to grow for the captives. "It's merely a coincidence, fools. I'll have you know mommy and I were in the mood for pizza so she ordered delivery. But don't worry, I asked her to order a pizza for the two of you... and I told her to order Hawaiian!"
He cackled evilly as he ascended the stairs to assist with the pizzas. Trent and Cody could almost cry after hearing the blasphemous insult of a pizza they were about to be fed. Truly, hope was fading more and more as the minutes passed.
"Mother, do not tip them any more than 5 percent, he's over 5 minutes la-"
Max stopped in his tracks as he turned the corner. There was his mom at the front door, and on the other side of it were 15 certain competitors with varying degrees of anger and cockiness.
"Oh Maxie, some more of your Total Drama friends are here to visit," his mother said.
"Sup?" Leshawna added, cracking her knuckles.
"Um... hello, everyone," he greeted awkwardly, even adding a little wave. "Now if you don't mind, I'm just gonna..."
He didn't bother to finish the sentence, instead bolting for the basement as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.
"Get em," Sugar yelled, everyone running after the supervillain. Max had only just managed to shut and lock the door mere moments before the faster competitors reached him. He damn near fell down the stairs as he stopped to catch his breath while the door was banged over and over.
"That's one aggressive pizza guy," Trent quipped. They could make out the yells from various fellow contestants, with Leshawna being the loudest. "Guess your plan hasn't worked out so well, has it."
Max gave him a glare, still heaving a bit from the panic. "Evil always has a backup plan. And thankfully your friends took much too long to get here."
Suddenly he whipped out a walkie talkie. "Be outside ASAP, we have a very urgent situation. Those fools tracked down my house."
Once that was done, Max removed a tarp that revealed a dolly underneath. Wide enough to conveniently fit two skinny dudes on.
"I mean, you got yourself caught," Cody pointed out. "What's the next step of your master plan?"
Rather than answer, Max just straight up pulled out a gun and shot Cody with it! I mean, it was a tranquilizer gun so all it did was put him to sleep, but the surprise was still enough to make Trent yelp and jump backwards. The supervillain then tranquilized the guitarist as well, finally unlocking the cell door to drag them on to the dolly.
"It's a good thing I installed the top secret emergency exit," he said proudly, pulling out a certain button. "Evil always finds a way!"
Upon pressing the button, a curtain fell off a part of the wall to reveal... a garage door opening. Making sure Trent and Cody were secured, he quickly ran outside with the boys and closed the door behind him. Just as it was being lowered, the other door at the top of the stairs was finally opened and the others scrambled into the basement just in time to see Max fleeing. Jasmine dived to try and stop the garage door from closing but it shut just before she could reach it.
"Damn it, I told y'all we shoulda just busted it down instead of getting the key from his mom!" Leshawna groaned as turned to go back up the stairs. "Come on, he's just outside, let's get him!"
Knowing fully well that he had little time to spare, Max scanned the horizon for the black car from earlier but it was nowhere in sight. "Hurry up, hurry up! What's taking so long?"
And then suddenly a new voice piped up. "Uh... did somebody order some pizzas?"
He looked over to see a scruffy looking pizza guy in his 20s, thoroughly confused at what looked to be a gremlin karting off two corpses on a dolly. But Max didn't have time to question it, he promptly whipped out his tranq gun and sent the pizza man to the ground.
"Evil must be able to improvise!" He rushed over to the man's delivery car, dragging him out of the way so he could stuff Cody and Trent into the back seat. He then looted the keys from the guy's pockets and rushed off in the pizza car just as the others ran outside to try and meet him.
"Aw come on, really?" Beardo provided the sound of a censor bleep, kicking at the ground. "How the heck are we gonna catch up to him now?"
"Oh, oh, oh, Lightning's got this one!" From out of nowhere the turbo jock whipped out a set of car keys, jingling them in the air. "He sha-swiped the keys to little dudes mama's van."
He pointed a thumb over his shoulder, pointing to a large purple van parked in the driveway.
"Yo-you took her keys?" Brick asked. "Why?"
"Well when we were running up to this place, Lightning couldn't help but notice the car parked there," he explained. "He likes him some sha-purple whips, ya know? But when he saw that it was a van he thought to himself, damn, why does old girl need something with that much junk in the trunk? Thing can probably fit like 15 people. Then it hit Lightning, ya know he ain't great at math, but he remembered that there's 15 of us! So then-"
"Who cares? They're getting away!" Courtney swiped the keys from his hand and ran for the driver's seat. "Everyone get in!"
The situation was thoroughly confusing, but nobody really had any time to question her. With Leshawna taking up the passenger seat and everyone else piling into the back of the van, they sped off in hot pursuit of Max's pizza mobile. Meanwhile, Max's mom had heard the commotion and walked outside to see her own van speeding away while some random guy laid passed out in her front yard.
"Oh that mischievous son of mine, always getting into wacky hi-jinks." She shook her head and what sounded like canned audience laughter echoed in the distance.
Now the chase was on. Max had the head start, but he had to stop for a bit at a red light to take the time to adjust his seat. Dude had short legs. Just as the light turned green, he noticed his mother's van quickly approaching in the rear view window.
"They dare to pursue evil even still?" he said. "Fine then! Try and keep up."
Putting the pedal to the medal, Max rocketed past the light, nearly hitting an SUV in the process. Courtney wasn't about to stop and kept her eyes glued to their target while swerving around traffic. The pizza car would sometimes swerve left or right at the last minute towards different roads, but she did her best to keep on it. Multiple cars nearly got swiped in the process, but miraculously no one was hurt. Yet.
"How's this dude able to swerve all over the place like this?" DJ asked as he and the others slid around in the back of the van. "We're gonna lose em if this keeps up."
"Well he does live here, he's gotta know these streets a lot better than we do," Beth pointed out, rubbing her head as she slid against the wall. "Is there a map in the glove box or something that could help us?"
Leshawna tried it out, and as luck would have it was able to produce a map of the Montreal roads. "He's probably heading to Mount Royal, right? That's where he's gonna meet Chris for the exchange."
Courtney nodded. "Yeah, probably... actually, now that I think about it, that gives me an idea."
After waiting a few minutes for Max to take another erratic turn, as soon as he did Courtney continued to drive in the direction she had been going, not following the gremlin boy.
"Ha! It would seem my evil outsmarted those fools. As if there was ever any doubt."
The coast seemingly clear, Max continued on normally towards his destination. The pre-established coordinates at Mount Royal, near a large transmission tower situated in the park. As he pulled up on the area, sure enough there was Chris and Chef waiting for him with a briefcase under the host's arm.
"Chris McLean," the supervillain greeted as he exited the car, grinning wickedly. "It's been a long time since we last met."
"Let's just get this over with, dude," the host grumbled, holding up the briefcase. "I brought the stupid money. Where's my contestants at?"
Man went to open the back door before pausing and raising a suspicious eyebrow at Chris. "How do I know that briefcase really has the money and isn't a decoy, hm? Evil demands proof!"
Chris groaned and rolled his eyes. He popped open the briefcase, revealing fat stacks of hundred dollar bills within. "See? It's the real deal, I didn't fill it with lettuce or something. Now where's my guys at?"
Smirking confidently, Max opened the door, allowing the still sleeping bodies of the duo to fall out. Cody landing on top of Trent may have seemed like an eyebrow raise worthy position, but at least no ear kissing was involved this time.
"They're safe and sound," the supervillain confirmed, Cody's snoring proving his point. "Now then, toss over the briefcase and I'll be on my way."
Chris and Chef exchanged a look, the larger man nodding. Chris moved like he was about to throw the heavy briefcase but then suddenly stopped and smirked.
"Hmm... actually, nah, I don't think I'll be doing that. No use paying up to someone who's about to spend a lot of time behind bars."
Suddenly, various Canadian offers popped out of the woodwork, some emerging from bushes and others dropping from trees. They had their guns, taser guns that is, fixed on the gremlin boy and were ready to fire.
"An ambush? Ha! You think someone with an evil genius mind such as myself didn't anticipate this as a possibility?" Max quickly hid behind the car door and dragged the two boys back into the backseat. "I'll merely make my escape and go public with the kidnapping as promised! Well done, Chris, prepare to have your reputation permanently tarnished beyond repair!"
Max crawled into the driver seat, preparing to take off as the officers tried to close in on him. But just as he was about to drive away he heard a loud screeching of tires behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and gulped as he saw the 15 other contestants piling out of his mom's van, having just parked directly behind him and preventing his escape.
"We took the scenic route to make you think you lost us," Jasmine boasted.
"Remind us to thank your mom for keeping a map in the glove box, dork," Scott added with a sneer.
With the van blocking him from behind and the officers now surrounding his front and sides, Max was fully boxed in and with nowhere to run. Chris strutted up to the car confidently, reveling in the boy's growing panic.
"You lose, Max. Give it up, already."
Max looked around, weighing his options. But he truly didn't have any, between Chris and Chef, the 15 competitors, and all the officers, there was no way to get out of this. Gulping and shivering, he held up his hands. "Ok, I surrender! It was never TRULY a serious kidnapping, honest! You have to admit, we at least gave you good material for an episode, didn't we?"
Chef raised an eyebrow. "We? What do you mean, we?"
On cue, familiar pillars of smoke suddenly erupted around the crowd of people. Some tried to hold their breath or get some distance away from the smog to avoid getting knocked out, but it was futile. Much like earlier, everyone around the car were put to sleep one after another. Only Max was still awake once it was all done, thanks to being inside the car with the windows up.
"Oh thank, heavens." He wiped some sweat from his brow. "Evil like mine does NOT need to be subjected to prison."
"Give it a rest already, Max."
The voice came from a slender figure emerging from the shadows, gas mask on and observing their surroundings. They made it a point to confirm that each and every person was indeed asleep and currently poised no threat. Once that was done they approached the car, their long red hair the most visible detail.
"I would say I'm surprised that you completely botched this plan, but I'm not. You truly are inept when left to your own devices."
Max pouted. "That's no way to talk to a supreme overlord of evil, minion. Honestly, I-"
He was cut off as the door was flung open and the person yanked him out by his collar, bringing him face to face. Or rather face to gas mask.
"Do you need another reminder of why you're never to call me that, you insipid moron? You're lucky I allow you to even speak my name."
"Y-yes, Scarlett! My apologies!"
Indeed, the figure tore off her mask to unsurprisingly reveal the true evil genius of Pahkitew Island underneath. She narrowed her eyes but ultimately scoffed and dropped Max to the ground.
"Quite honestly it's a miracle you even made it to the attempted trade off portion of the plan. I half expected you to get apprehended while keeping them hostage at your mother's house. I TOLD you that a more obscure hiding place was necessary, but NO why would you ever listen to reason?"
As he dusted himself off, Max gave her an annoyed glare. "They almost DID corner me there, and it was no thanks to you! Where were you when I called for you on the walkie?"
"Finishing preparations," she answered simply, motioning for him to follow her to the black car. "Now hurry up, they won't be asleep for long so we should get moving while we can."
Max groaned. "And I suppose I'll have to move those two boy band fools on my own again?"
"No, leave them. That plan was always temporary. It would have been NICE for it to work, but it hinged on you actually being competent so I anticipated its failure."
Now he was confused. "But the whole point was to take the million dollars from Chris! Just how do you intend to do that if we're abandoning the ransom plan?"
"While you were busy failing spectacularly, I took the opportunity to do some work of my own while Chris and the contestants were occupied," Scarlett answered. "Namely, I was able to sneak aboard the jet and gather intel. What locations they'll be visiting, what flight paths they'll be taking, things of that nature."
To prove her point she whipped out a small flash drive. "I'm planning something much more serious. And when the time is right, THEN the plan will spring into action and the money will be mine."
"Ours," Max corrected. "You need me to help, you know."
"Very debatable," she grumbled, nearly pushing him into the car as he was taking so long. "You'll be lucky if I give you ten percent. Regardless, the authorities will be looking for us after this, but they'll be searching less aggressively so long as we don't still have the hostages. They can have Cody and Trent back, they're irrelevant to what I have planned for the future."
"They'll be looking for both of us?" Max asked curiously. "They don't even know that you're involved as of right now, do they?"
"Oh, they will." Scarlett smirked deviously, starting to drive off from the scene. "I left Chris a little message for him to throw into his episode. It makes it more fun that way, letting him know that this isn't over."
*** Confessional: Scarlett ***
"If there's one thing that idiot is good for, I suppose it's being a distraction," she said, looking out the window to ensure no one was coming near the jet while she was snooping. "Now then, McLean. Long time no see. If you were under the impression that the insufferable purple haired gnome was the only thing you had to worry about, let this be your rude awakening. You and I have unfinished business. I'm still owed that million dollars, and rest assured that when this hostage situation likely fails due to Max's incompetence, it won't be the last you've seen of us. So keep your guard up, we'll be meeting again sooner than you think. Those that get eliminated before then? They'll be the only truly lucky ones."
Her piece said, she finished with a maniacal cackling that signed off the confessional.
*** On the Jumbo Jet ***
Sometime after everyone had woken up and realized that Max was long gone, everyone was returned back to the Jet to figure out what the hell they would do next. Chris was on the phone with the mayor of the city, supposedly in the middle of an argument on them not using the Olympic stadium for their challenge.
"Yeah, well who's fault is it that we didn't have better security at the airport to ensure none of our contestants got kidnapped?" the host barked into the phone. "No it's not my fault, you guys should have been prepared if you wanted a big media appearance out of them!"
As the phone debate raged on, Chef utilized some bolt cutters to undo Trent and Cody's handcuffs. Everyone looked mostly relieved to have them safe and sound, but there was clearly an air of unease due to the confusion on how the situation ended with them all getting knocked out again and Max disappearing afterwards.
"And y'all don't have any idea where he might have scurried off to?" Leshawna asked. "Because homeboy is in for a world of hurt if we can track him down."
"As much as I'd like to see you wallop him, we got nothing," Cody admitted.
"I guess we just have to move on from it and be glad we didn't actually get hurt," Trent added with a shrug.
A few more heated exchanges were passed back and forth between Chris and the mayor until they seemed to reach a conclusion. "Uh huh. Yeah. Sure, you got a deal. Now let's keep this on the down low and pretend this never happened."
Chris pocketed the phone, took a second to compose himself, then turned to greet the contestants with his trademark grin acting as nothing had happened. "Alright, so, heck of a day am I right guys? I don't know about all of you, but I'm suuuuuuper tired. Guess that'll do it for our Montreal pit stop."
"Don't just act like everything is normal," Trent said, pointing at his wrists that still had red markings from the handcuffs. "What are you gonna do about all this?"
"What we're gonna do is pretend that none of this happened," Chris replied. "I cut a deal with the mayor, since we both seem to be pointing fingers at each other. She'll wave the fee from us reserving the Olympic Park, I'll convince the network to start the next Ridonculous Race season from there instead of Toronto, and we'll mutually agree not to go public with this whole attempted kidnapping nastiness."
Seeing that a chorus of objections were about to ring out, he was quick to hold up his hands. "AND as previously promised, you all will get a stipend in exchange for not bringing up this whole mess. We're just gonna act like this stop didn't happen and that we went from Colombia straight to the next place."
"You really are serious about bribing us into being quiet, huh?" Beardo shook his head in disbelief. "Unbelievable..."
Chris shrugged innocently. "If it were to go public that could risk the show getting put on pause or even canceled. That means no million big ones, and by extension means you all would have done this season for nothing."
The room went silent. No one really wanted to just brush the day under the rug, but making the whole season amount to nothing? Even Cody and Trent looked to be in begrudging agreement that it was the better course of action.
"This better not happen again," Cody warned.
"So how's elimination gonna be handled?" Anne Maria asked. "Ya know, since we didn't actually have a challenge or nothin."
"You guys can treat this as a non-elimination stop, I guess," Chris explained. "For the sake of continuity we can't kick anyone off. Furthermore, we'll have to keep Team Old School in first class since they were the last winners. Consider that my way of making it up to you two dudes."
Cody and Trent just gave him unimpressed glares.
"That should pretty much cover things, I guess." The host looked to his larger companion. "Chef, go make em some not-sucky dinner, will ya? Might help lift the mood."
Chef groaned but wouldn't object. As he left to go cook and Chris left to do Chris things, that left the 17 contestants to stand around awkwardly and wonder what to do next. None of them really had an answer, so with some final well wishes to the Drama Bros duo over their safety, everyone dispersed as they waited for dinner.
*** Confessional: Cody ***
"Welp, I think it goes without saying that this was probably the weirdest day I've ever experienced on this show. And I had to spend a whole season with Sierra!" He paused, chuckling awkwardly. "Though apparently she helped everyone out today somehow? I don't really get how since she isn't part of the cast this time, but... thanks anyway!"
*** On the Jumbo Jet ***
Meanwhile in the cockpit, Chris and Chef were watching back Scarlett's confessional on a dashboard monitor. They exchanged a worried look, unsure what to make of it.
"Man, you sure you don't wanna put the season on pause or something?" the larger man asked. "She damn near blew us all up last time, chick means business."
"It's... probably fine. Just have the interns scan the jet from top to bottom and make sure she isn't trying to hide out like a Zeke." Trying to keep his upbeat demeanor, he laughed it off. "I mean come on, we're flying all over the world! She can't try and keep up with us when we're in a different continent almost every day."
Chef didn't look so convinced, but he knew there wasn't much he could do to change Chris' mind. He was almost ready to go return to cooking when Chris suddenly broke out into his outro monologue.
"How will Trent and Cody fair after their brush with danger? Can Team Old School continue to keep their hold on first class?"
"Why the hell are you doing an outro if we're supposed to act like this wasn't a real stop?" Chef asked. Chris merely replied with rolling up a newspaper and whacking him in the head.
"It helps me feel better, shush." Chris cleared his throat and continued. "Where will we head next to take our mind off the weirdness of today? Will someone wind up in even bigger danger? And who will we kick off to make up for lost time? You'll just have to tune in and find out, next time here on TOTAL... DRAMA... BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS!"
Voting Confessionals:
N/A
Bonus Clip:
A briefcase was flipped open, revealing a cackling Max as he peered inside.
"Mwahaha! Evil has succeeded! This is what happens when you aren't very observant, Scarlett."
"What are you blabbering about?" she asked from the driver seat, not paying attention to her cohort.
"Behold! I have procured the million dollar briefcase!" He stuck the briefcase of cash in her face. "Chris brought it with him to the ambush, the fool, and I made sure to grab it before we drove off. You may have overlooked such an important detail, but evil never forgets!"
Scarlett sighed and just slapped Max in the head. "It's not real money, you imbecile. Look at it again."
Doing as he was told, Max pulled out one of the wads of 100 dollar bills... at least they appeared to be 100s. But upon closer inspection the face on the bills was actually that of Chris, with a picture of Chef on the back. They were fakes.
"Oh... well that's disappointing."
"Chris is a simpleton, but he's not stupid enough to bring the actual million dollars with him when he doesn't intend on giving it away," Scarlett explained. "Now get rid of it, they may have put a tracking device in the briefcase."
Max pouted as he rolled down the window and chucked the briefcase out. "Well I thought it was a smart idea..."
As the briefcase went flying, Slapjack the pigeon had just so happened to be following their car once again. Had being the keyword as the briefcase struck the bird out of the sky and it landed in some grass doing the Family Guy pose. With there now nobody on their tail, Scarlett and Max continued to disappear into the night...
Remaining Contestants:
Team Old School: Beth, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Leshawna, Trent
Team Radioactive: Anne Maria, Brick, Dawn, Lightning, Scott
Team Explosive: Amy, Beardo, Dave, Jasmine, Sammy, Sugar
Elimination Order:
18th: B
19th: Shawn
20th: Dakota
21st: Rodney
22nd: Harold
23rd: Izzy
24th: Staci
Author's Note:
Hoo boy am I glad to finally have this chapter done. Due to the lack of elimination and song I think I can talk more about miscellaneous stuff here, but as always let's first start with the chapter details.
So this was definitely one of the weirder chapters I've written for a comp fic before. Namely because there wasn't a challenge at all. I struggled a bit figuring out how I wanted the events to play out since it's an unorthodox chapter, and I worried if I was making the whole kidnapping storyline too serious or silly at points. I do hope people enjoyed this change of pace kind of chapter, but I guess what I'm saying is I won't be surprised if it didn't vibe with everyone. Max and Scarlett are two characters who I didn't really think fit on the BOTG cast proper but made for good ideas you can theme an episode around. Will Scarlett make good on her threat and come back for another round? We'll have to wait and see. Oh, and don't worry about this being a non-elimination episode. There are very few of those in the story and the first half of Antarctica already counts as one of them. It won't become a reoccurring thing. As for the location, picking Montreal seemed like a no brainer. With TD being a Canadian show, the writers make it a point to frequently feature Canadian locations in the likes of World Tour and Ridonculous Race. Like they even centered an episode around Drumheller, who outside of Canada even knew anything about Drumheller prior to that episode? Because of that, I find it surprising that Montreal and Quebec in general never got visited throughout either season. So since we were due for a Canadian location, it seemed like an easy fit. I also needed a location that I could believably claim Max lives in, so one of the largest cities in the country seemed like a good bet. I'm genuinely curious to see how people react to this chapter. Lot of little moments I amused myself writing and it was fun getting to utilize someone like Max. As for the next location? This may narrow it down too much, but it's actually a country that's part of TWO continents rather than just one.
That's all I got for the chapter itself, so now on to the misc gunk. This chapter took a bit longer than I was hoping it would, I wanted to at least try and get it done by my birthday as a sort of gift to myself, but at least I still made it within the month. Still, while not as huge a gap between chapters as I've had in the past, it was significant enough. In the time since last chapter I've had some opportunity to think over stuff and thangs. So to get to the point? I think this is going to be my last big fan fic. Don't get me wrong, I love writing, I love fic. I'm having a lot of fun making BOTW. But obviously it's gonna be like mid-2021 at the earliest when I finish this thing and I'm left asking myself, do I really wanna start another big fic project after that? I do wanna write, but I really want to look into starting an original project. And the longer I focus on fic instead, the less time I'm doing that. Furthermore, keeping up with big fic projects will start to get harder as big life events happen. I'm very likely to have a child in the next few years. There's no way I can still be actively making fic once that happens, right?
So that's where I'm kinda at right now. Projects like Revenge of the Rejects and Personality Swapped Island? I'm thinking I gotta ice em. I was thinking of ending my fic writing career on Rejects since it felt fitting, I'll always be most known for Total Drama Underdogs so ending on an all underdogs season would make sense. But getting there would take so long, even with my proposed shortened version of the season. Honestly, I love how Battle of the Generations is shaping up. It isn't perfect, but I'm proud of it. So I feel happy with it being my finisher, honestly. Not that I would completely abandon those other story ideas. If this is the path I choose, I think what I'll do is make one of those "What If" type stories where I can write a few prompts of show hypotheticals, and then I can detail what I would have done with these seasons under the guise of prompts like "What if there was a Rejects season?" etc. I'm the kinda guy that has bad issues letting things have no closure, so giving a rundown on what the story would have been would put me at ease and I think be more satisfying for readers than if I just dropped it with no other word on it. Could I change my mind? Eh, maybe, but the more I think it over the more I think this is what I'll do. I would still be open to doing one-shot projects, but I think this will be my comp fic last hurrah. Time will tell, I suppose.