Author's Note: Hello, again! It's nice to see you all!
Onto the reviews!
Dunsparce519: As far as how the explosion happened, I actually left that intentionally vague, so I'll leave it up to your imagination :) And thank you, I'm glad you liked the interactions!
siramay: Thank you!
LuckyLucyy17: Thanks!
Oh, and one last thing: I have a Tumblr now! So, if you want to chat about this story (or just talk to me in general), feel free to find me at stawberrymixt. Alright, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"Last time on Total Drama Island, things really got cooking between the campers! Hilarious shenanigans ensued, Leon had a rough day, and Hiro came across the cursed statue, which ultimately led to him burning down half of the kitchen. ...Somehow."
"Anyways, it was finally time for Hiro to go." The footage switched to Chris, and he continued. "Now that the curse has been lifted, will the Bass finally bounce back? Or will the Gophers keep up their winning streak? And just how much trust do the campers have in each other? Find out this week, on...
Total...
Drama...
Island!"
Episode Ten: Who Can You Trust?
The episode opened with the familiar dark-skinned arm of Chef Hatchet scooping a pale orange mixture onto an empty tray.
"Today's breakfast," Chef announced as he stuck a straw into the pile, "is Japanese-French fusion casserole!"
Junko took th tray and stared at the food with an upturned nose. "Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure this is just leftovers from the cooking challenge."
"Yeah, that's right!" Chef snapped. "You got a problem with that?!"
"No, sir!" Junko saluted at him, and Chef saluted back. She then turned on her heel to find a table to sit at, but not before exchanging a glare with Leon who sat at the table closest to her. Sayaka, who sat at the table with Leon, shot them both a worried look that went unnoticed.
Meanwhile, at another table, Maki was eating her breakfast alone when someone took a seat in the empty chair across from her.
Maki stopped eating her breakfast to look up at the person, eyebrow raised. "...Rantaro? What do you want?"
"Hey," he started with a wave and a grin. "Just wanted to say, I tasted those eclairs you made yesterday and they were pretty good."
Maki shot him a skeptical look, but replied nonetheless. "Uh... Thanks? I don't know why you bothered trying them."
"Well, Chris never actually got to try them because of the whole kitchen mishap, yeah? It'd be a shame if they just went to waste."
Maki didn't respond and opted to play with her pigtails. "Why are you even telling me this? You're not trying to be friends with me, are you?"
"Well... Yeah."
Maki huffed. "Well, you can stop right now. There's no point being friends with me?" With that, Maki stood up and walked away from the table, not even to bring her unfinished breakfast with her.
CONFESSIONAL - MAKI:
"I don't understand why Rantaro of all people is trying to befriend me," she said, arms crossed. "It won't work. I haven't made any friends since...since..."
A touching and emotional tune began to play as the host stood somewhere in the forest.
"Hi," he began sadly, "Chris here. Sometimes, teams just...don't get along. So, the producers and I thought the best way to work through the group friction would be..." His melancholic frown suddenly twisted into a mischievous grin. "To exploit it for laughs! This is gonna be awesome!"
Both teams now stood on the Dock of Shame, while Chris stood before them.
"So," he began, "last week's challenge exposed a few Bass issues."
As he said that, Leon and Junko exchanged a glare.
"And... I'm sensing a bit of a disturbance over in the Gopher team as well."
Maki crossed her arms and side-eyed Rantaro, who didn't seem to notice.
"So, this week's challenge is gonna be centered around building trust, because, all good things begin with a little trust!"
CONFESSIONAL - CELESTIA:
"Trust is for the weak," she stated simply.
"There will be three major challenges that will have to be completed by two or more members of your team. Normally, we like to have the campers choose their partners, but not this time! More fun for me!"
The camera skipped ahead to show the campers assembled at the base of a small cliff.
"Okay!" Chris announced. "For the first challenge, you'll be doing a extreme free-hand rock-climbing adventure! Junko and Tenko will play for the Bass, Mikan and Kaito for the Gophers."
"O-Oh..." Mikan squeaked as she stared up at the daunting cliff.
"Here's your belay and harness." Chris tossed the equipment to the respective teams.
When Kaito caught the equipment, he turned to Mikan. "I have the better strength, so I should be the one holding you up, okay?"
"Um," Mikan started, only to be interrupted by Chris.
"You won't be holding her up exactly. One camper pulls the slack through the belay as their partner climbs. If their partner falls, the belay will stop them from crashing." Chris demonstrated using his own set of equipment while the campers stared with inventive eyes. "The catch? Both the side and the base of the mountain are rigged with a few minor distractions, like... rusty nails, slippery oil slicks, mild explosives, and a few other surprises."
"Oh, great," Junko groaned.
"The person on belay must also harness their partner up," Chris continued. "It's all about trust, people! And remember, never let go of the rope! Your partner's life depends on it!"
CONFESSIONAL - JUNKO:
"Do I trust Tenko?" she asked. "Yeah, but not with something like this! The only reason I'm doing the climbing is because I know I'll be better at it than her." She sighed, and clasped her hands together. "Please don't mess this up, Tenko..."
"I still don't really get why you want to climb," Tenko commented as she secured Junko up. "Won't your nails get in the way?"
Junko examined her nails, the freshly coated red nail polish gleaming in the sun. "Nah, I do stuff like this all the time."
"Really?" Tenko briefly glanced up at Junko with a curious glint in her eyes. "Did you go to summer camp too?"
"Sure," was all Junko replied as Tenko finished fastening her harness.
"There!" Kaito exclaimed as finished hooking the harness onto Mikan. He then gave her a pat on the back. "As safe and secure as I can make it!"
Mikan stared down at the concerningly convoluted amount of loops running through and around her harness. "Th-This isn't very comforting..."
The camera then skipped ahead to a close-up of a patch of nails as a slender hand grabbed onto the ledge between them. The viewpoint switched to show Junko and Mikan making their way up the cliff, the former in a slight lead.
"Uwahh..." Mikan whimpered as she pulled herself up on a ledge. Suddenly, a detonation went off just to her left, startling her and causing her to lose her grip. Fortunately, she regained it just in the nick of time. Unfortunately, another explosion went off right in front of her, causing her to fly backwards.
Kaito immediately pulled on the rope and stopped Mikan's fall. "Don't worry, Mikan! I've got you!"
"I promised surprises!" Chris smiled, leaning into shot with a large water gun. "Habeñero pepper sauce, anyone?" He lined up the shot and fired, the spicy sauce hitting Tenko right in the face.
"Gah!" she cried, letting go of the rope to try and get the sauce out of her eyes. "My eyes!"
Meanwhile, Junko grimaced at the noticeable slack in the rope, but kept climbing nonetheless.
"Muy caliente!" Chris exclaimed, flashing a grin at the camera. He shot another stream of the hot sauce, this time at Kaito. Kaito managed to duck and narrowly dodge the stream, however, not taking his eyes off of Mikan as she began to climb again.
Chris frowned at that, then looked over at the camera. "Don't we have anything else?"
Continuing with the challenge at hand, Mikan was slowly but surely catching up to her opponent. "At least I know where the obstacles are now... I-I think. Um, let's see... Nails... nails... grease... explosion!" She giggled lightly to herself as she dodged each obstacle, speeding up.
Junko looked down and groaned to see Mikan growing closer and closer, forcing her to speed up as well.
For a few minutes, both girls were making good progress on their climb. At least, until Mikan put her hand on a hidden cache of dynamite. It promptly exploded, and she fell yet again.
Kaito stopped Mikan's fall, and she was able to return to climbing quicker than last time. However, by the time she got back into her groove, Junko had already reached the top of the cliff.
"And the Killer Bass win the first challenge!" Chris announced.
Junko let out a heavy sigh—both out of relief, and because she was winded from the climbing.
Two lights came on in the restaurant to illuminate two tables on either side of the screen as a pair of contestants from each team rose from behind them, as though they were being raised mechanically: Celestia and Leon for the Bass, Kirumi and Ryoma for the Gophers.
Suddenly, a third light illuminated a podium in the center as an unnamed intern somersaulted through the air and landed behind it. Seconds later, Chris popped up from behind the podium and dusted off his shirt as if he'd done the stunt himself before shooting a cocky grin at the camera.
"And now, round two! The extreme cooking challenge! Each team must choose who cooks, and who eats."
"Well, you were Head Chef last time and we won, so I'll trust your cooking," Ryoma said as he turned to Kirumi. Kirumi nodded in agreement.
"Of course, you will be preparing the food," Celestia decided, glancing over at Leon.
Leon shrugged. "Sure, whatever."
CONFESSIONAL - LEON:
"Yeah, there's no way in hell this is gonna end well for us," he groaned. "I doubt Chris is gonna give us anything easy."
"Today, you'll be preparing fugu sashimi, the traditional Japanese poisonous blowfish," Chris announced.
Chef rolled a cart onto the scene. A large fish tank sat upon it, with two wide-eyed blowfish inside. Then, a gong sounded as a Japanese tune played.
A diagram of where to cut the fish was displayed on the wall behind Chris as he pulled out a pointing stick to aid in his explanation. "The fugu blowfish contains enough lethal toxin to kill thirty people."
Chef tapped the side of the tank, causing the two fish to puff up. "Fishies, meet your maker!" He reached into the tank and grabbed them by their tails, tossing them onto the cutting boards in front of Kirumi and Leon.
"They must be sliced very carefully to cut around the poisonous organs," Chris continued. "The poison paralyzes the nerves, and, there is no antidote..." His tone became worryingly light as he finished with, "So, no worries!"
Celestia stared at Leon with a hint of worry as he stared at the fish with a knife, deciding where he was going to cut it first. He jabbed it somewhere in the middle, only for it to immediately deflate and fly across the room. It shot into the kitchen, and made evident by the sounds, crashed into some pots and pans.
Some time later, a stack of sashimi rolls on a plate were shown as a sprig of parsley was placed on top by Kirumi. "I have finished."
"Uh... I'm finished too," Leon spoke, hesitantly holding up his plate of pink mush.
With a smile, Kirumi pushed her plate towards Ryoma. He picked one of the rolls and, after examining for a moment, ate it. Everyone in the room watched in anticipation as he swallowed. Ryoma looked around for a moment, then nodded and gave a thumbs-up.
Chris and Chef then looked over at Leon, who gave his plate to Celestia. "Well... Here you go."
The camera did a close-up on Celestia as she stared at the fish. A few tense moments went by, and she ended up placing the plate back on the table.
"Nope. I refuse."
"Uh... Does that mean I have to eat this, then?" Leon looked around the room with uncertainty, then sighed. Picking up the fork, he stabbed the fish then shoved it into his mouth. He swallowed, and for a moment, he seemed to be fine.
Suddenly, Leon's stomach gurgled, and he clutched his chest as he fell over. "I blame...the diagram!" He started to twitch, and vomit pooled out of his mouth.
"It's cool," Chris assured as Ryoma and Kirumi rushed over to look. "Give him twenty-four hours and he'll be up walking and breathing good as new." The host began walked away nonchalantly as the three other campers stared at him in disbelief.
As Leon continued to twitch on the ground, Chef, dressed in a nurse's uniform, appeared and leaned down to give him mouth-to-mouth. The teen gurgled in horrified disgust as the screen faded to black.
At the Dock of Shame, Ryoma sat at the edge, looking out at the water with a longing expression.
Not too long after, someone walked over and sat down right next to him. Ryoma curiously looked over to see Kaede staring back at him, a warm smile on her face. He looked back at the water, flipping the candy cigarette in his mouth.
"Did you need something?"
"I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now, actually," Kaede replied. "I haven't been able to because I was busy with...stuff."
"Really? What could you possibly want with someone like me?"
"That. You always keep putting yourself down and I want to know why."
Ryoma let a puff of air escape his lips. "It's pretty deserved, if you ask me."
"...What do you mean?"
"To put it simply... I'm a loser. A loser who threw his future away thanks to a game of tennis."
Kaede furrowed her brows. "Wait... Are you the guy who took out an entire mafia with a tennis ball?"
"So, you've heard of me." Ryoma flipped his cigarette again. "Yup, I killed them. Went to prison for it, and I've been there ever since."
"Hm. So how did you here, then? Did you finish your sentence?"
"Nope. But they said if I won the money, I could use it pay off my bail and get out of prison early. It's a good deal, too. Prison is...a place you definitely don't want to be sent to, let's just say that."
Kaede looked away briefly. "Oh. Well, still, I don't think it would hurt for you to try and open up to the team."
Ryoma's gaze darkened unexpectedly as he pulled down his hat some. "Hmph. I think it would be best for everyone to stay away from a murderer like me. That includes you, too."
With that, Ryoma stood up and turned around, beginning his trek back to the island. Kaede's frowned, unable to do anything but watch him go.
CONFESSIONAL - RYOMA:
"Yeah, I might've been a bit harsh back there," he started, "but it's true. It'd be a waste of time for anyone to try and befriend a murderer like me. All I want to do is continue laying low and hopefully win the prize money."
Unbeknownst to Ryoma, a certain someone was listening in on his confessional.
CONFESSIONAL - CELESTIA:
She wore a smirk on her face as she said, "Hmm, so we have a convicted murderer among us, do we? I shall make very good of this information..."
The camera switched over to a hospital, where Leon was lying in one of the beds. He was still gurgling as Chef, still in the nurse's uniform, walked over to him holding a syringe filled with a purple substance.
"This won't hurt a bit," Chef smirked with a tap of the needle, "it'll hurt a whole lot."
"Good news," Chris smiled; he and the campers were standing in a clearing in the forest. "The third round involves three more challenges. They are the three blind challenges! It begins with the Blind William Tell, followed by the Blind Trapeze, and culminating in the treacherous Blind Toboggan!"
Chris put an arrow on top of Kaito's head, giving him a pair of orange-tinted safety glasses to put on. Chris then stood next to a barrel of apples some distance away. "Like legendary marksman William Tell, you'll be knocking arrows off your partner's head with crab apples."
"Actually," Kirumi corrected, "I believe it was the other way around, and—"
"Shush!" Chris interrupted, pulling out a white blindfold. "Also, the shooter will be blindfolded!"
A few campers' eyes widened as they stared at Kaito and slowly backed away from him.
"The person who knocks off the arrow while causing the least amount of facial damage wins." A now blindfolded Chris readied a slingshot with one of the apples; he fired, and the shot hit Kaito right in his crotch. The teen groaned in pain as he fell to the ground.
"Ah, nuts!" Chris exclaimed, lifting his blindfold. "Makoto and Sayaka, you'll be one team. Rantaro and Maki, you'll be the other."
"Neat," Rantaro smiled. Maki crossed her arms. Meanwhile, Sayaka and Makoto smiled at each other.
"Okay!" Chris said. "Let's rock and roll!"
When the scene skipped ahead, Rantaro and Makoto were wearing the safety glasses, and each had an arrow on top of their heads. Across the clearing stood Maki and Sayaka, blindfolded. Chris and the rest of the campers stood off to the side.
Both shooters shot their first apples; Sayaka's came up short and hit the ground before reaching its target, while Maki's hit her teammate's chest.
"A little higher, Sayaka!" Makoto called as the shooters readied their second shots.
"Okay!" Sayaka replied, and she and Maki fired again. Sayaka's went high this time, while Rantaro was struck in the shoulder.
Sayaka's third apple was shown whistling through the air, soon followed by Maki's.
"You—!" Makoto started, only to wince as the apple hit him in the arm. "You can do it, Sayaka!"
Sayaka frowned but continued to fire, as did Maki, who gritted her teeth in annoyance. Several more apples flew across in rapid succession as the two girls tried to hit their targets.
Then, Maki steeled herself and let one final apple fly. The camera followed it as it hit the arrow straight on, knocking it clean off Rantaro's head. The Gophers cheered, and Maki lifted her blindfold.
"You did it, Maki," Rantaro congratulated when he walked up to her.
"...Yeah," Maki replied, shifting awkwardly. A few moments of awkward silence ensued between the two until Maki broke it. "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"
"Nah," Rantaro replied, waving a dismissive hand. "You're fine."
Maki nodded, and the two made their way over to their cheering teammates.
The camera skipped ahead to show the campers still in the forest, gathered in front of a tall wooden structure suspended over a pond of water.
"And now," Chris announced, "the Blind Trapeze! To avoid serious injury, the trapeze has been set up over this pond," he gestured to said pond, "which is full of jellyfish!"
The electricity from the jellyfish caused the water to crackle, and the campers gasped.
"You two," Chris tossed blindfolds at Celestia and Ryoma, "will stand blindfolded on the platform until your partners tell you to jump." The two looked over at their assigned partners, Junko and Kaede.
"And then?" Celestia questioned.
"And then hopefully they catch you," Chris replied. "Otherwise, that's gonna be one heck of a painful swim. Okay, hut hut!"
Kaede and Ryoma had taken their positions after a bit. Kaede was hanging from her knees on the trapeze, while Ryoma stood on the platform, blindfolded.
Kaede stared worriedly at her teammate, to the point where it took her a moment to notice what she was supposed to be doing. "Oh! Get ready to jump now!" She suddenly realized something—she was nowhere near catching range."N-No, wait! Not now! Not now!"
It was too late, however. Kaede missed matching Ryoma by a yard and he plunged into the water, sending up a wave of water and jellyfish. As the jellyfish stung him, Kaede and most of the other campers could only stare on in horror.
"Okay, Bass!" Chris smiled, unfazed by the whole scene. "Your turn!"
And so, Celestia now stood on the platform blindfolded while Junko swung from the trapeze.
"Okay," Junko said. "When I say "three", I want you to jump, alright?"
Celestia nodded.
"One..." Junko began slowly. "Two... Three!"
With little hesitation, Celestia jumped and Junko caught her easily. As the two swung over the pond, the Killer Bass cheered.
"And the Bass have secured themselves another point!" Chris announced.
CONFESSIONAL - CELESTIA:
"Hmm..." she started, folding her hands together. "Now that I think about it, Junko would be a perfect fit for my replacement alliance member, from what I have observed. Of course, I am still keeping my options open, but I will keep an eye on her."
The footage cut back to the hospital, where Ryoma trudged inside, scratched up and a jellyfish on his head. Chef turned around to level him with a stare, and Ryoma gestured to the jellyfish.
"Happen to have anything for jellyfish stings?"
Chef nodded, and Ryoma gave him a nod as he made his way up to one of the rooms.
A pair of toboggans that laid against a nearby tree caught the campers attention as he began to explain the final challenge.
"And now, the final leg: The Blind Toboggan Race! Each team will have a driver and a navigator. The driver steers, while the navigator shouts directions. Oh, yeah! And the driver will be blindfolded!"
"Not many of you left, huh?" Chris noted as he looked over the campers. "Keep losing you guys!" He laughed. "Oh well. Ah... Maki and Mikan. Tenko and Makoto."
The scene briefly switched to the non-competing contestants standing at the finish line, before showing the four competing contestants at the top of the highest hill on the island.
"So, uh," Makoto started, looking down the daunting path before turning to Tenko with an expectant look. "Do you want to drive, or...?"
"Hmm..." Tenko hummed as she thought about her options. "Yeah, I'll drive!"
"Huh, that was easier than I thought," Makoto mused to himself. His eyes wandered over to Chef, who was brushing something oily onto the bottoms of the toboggans.
"Just lubin' them up," Chef explained at Makoto's quizzical look. "Get a little more speed going."
"Right..."
Makoto stared back at the cliff, and soon after, the scene changed to the designated teams sitting on the sleds, with Tenko and Maki wearing the blindfolds. Chris and Chef stood behind them, a foot on their respective sled, with the former holding an airhorn.
"On your marks! Get set!"
Chris blew the horn, and he and Chef pushed the sleds down the hill, with the focus on Maki and Mikan.
"L-Left! Right!" Mikan called. As Maki steered the toboggan, Mikan wrapped her arms around her waist to keep a firm grip on her partner. The pair soon passed by a large tree, allowing the focus to switch to the other team.
"Right!" Makoto exclaimed, and Tenko steered the sled accordingly. "Watch out for the tree!" Tenko steered to the left this time, and Makoto looked behind him, making Maki and Mikan the focus again.
The two hit a sloped rock, sending them high into the air.
"Are...we in the air?" Maki asked.
"Um, m-maybe?" Mikan replied, her untruthfulness clear in he voice. "You might want to brace for impact, though!"
A splash was heard as the girls landed in the river, only for them to fall off a waterfall and hit a log wedged between two rocks, sending them up in the air again.
Meanwhile, Tenko and Makoto were still maintaining their lead.
"Right!" Makoto directed. "Left!"
Unexpectedly, Maki and Mikan landed directly in front of them.
"Uwah! L-Left!" Mikan exclaimed in a brief panic. "Left!"
"Right!" Makoto exclaimed as well. "Right!" Then, out of nowhere, an explosion went off right behind him, causing him to hold onto Tenko in a panic. "What the heck was that?!"
"Hey, get your hands off me, degenerate male!" Tenko snapped.
The camera briefly cut to Chris holding a blasting machine, a shit-eating grin on his face as he pushed down on the plunger.
"We had a few explosives left over," he explained as one went off in the distance, "and I'd just hate to waste."
Another explosive went off, and this time, it sent Mikan and Maki flying into the air and effectively destroying their sled.
Makoto stared at the scene that had unfolded in front of him in shock, almost unaware of the big tree in their path. "L-Left! Right!"
At the finish line, the Bass were cheering for their teammates, while the Gophers looked in the distance in concern. Shortly thereafter, Makoto and Tenko slid into the tape that stretched across the finish line, breaking it and winning the challenge.
And shortly after that, Mikan and Maki came falling down nearby. Maki managed to stick the landing relatively unscathed. Mikan, however, hadn't been so lucky as she came crashing to the ground with a sickening crack. Several of her teammates gasped and rushed over to see if she was okay.
Just then, Chris walked in on the scene, chuckling. "Well, thanks to the epic wipeout by Maki and Mikan, the Bass are the winners of the toboggan race!" The Bass cheered as Chris continued, "Gophers, you're headed to the elimination ceremony tonight."
CONFESSIONAL - MIKAN:
Mikan's arm was now in a sling and all casted up. She stared at the camera with a saddened look.
"Well, they told me that my arm is definitely b-broken, so... I don't really have a choice but to leave the competition. After all, I can't really do much until it heals, and that won't be for weeks..." She ended her confessional with a sigh.
The elimination ceremony began with the Gophers (including Ryoma, who seemed to recovered from his injuries) staring at the smiling host holding the plate of marshmallows.
"Who wants a treat?" he asked. "A tasty goody that represents exemption, security, peace of mind—"
"Must you do this every time?" Kirumi interrupted.
Chris rolled his eyes, but ended up speeding up his monologue. "And if you don't get a marshmallow, you have to walk the Dock of Shame and you can never come back. Ever!" Resuming with his normal voice, he began giving out marshmallows. "Let's see... One for Kirumi, one for Rantaro, one for Ryoma. Maki and Kaito, you're also safe."
Kaede nervously glanced over at Mikan, who stared at the host with an expectant but disappointed look.
"Only one marshmallow left," Chris said, looking between the girls. "The final marshmallow goes to..."
...
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...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"Are you gonna say a name or not?" Maki asked.
"Don't rush me!" Chris protested. "The audience eats up this dramatic tension!" Maki rolled her eyes, and Chris finally announced a name. "Kaede."
Chris tossed the marshmallow at Kaede, which bounced off her forehead and landed perfectly in her hands.
Mikan sighed, standing up. "W-Well, I suppose it could've been worse... The people here are p-pretty nice." She paused. "Er, m-most of them... And I even made a friend!" She turned and smiled at Kaito, who grinned back. "Um, well, goodbye everyone!"
Mikan made her way to the Dock of Shame, and Chris addressed the remaining Gophers. "The rest of you are safe. For now." Turning the camera, his parting words were, "So, what do we have in store for our campers moving forward? Find out next time on... Total! Drama! Island!"
Killer Bass - Celestia, Junko, Leon, Makoto, Sayaka, Tenko
Screaming Gophers - Kaede, Kaito, Kirumi, Maki, Rantaro, Ryoma
Eliminated - Toko, Mondo, Shuichi, Ibuki, Kazuichi, Komaru, Kokichi, Hiyoko, Yasuhiro, Mikan
Author's Note: Well, there's Mikan down. Not much to say, she doesn't have much plot relevance now.
Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter, I'd appreciate it!
I'm definitely looking forward to writing the next chapter, considering it's my all-time favorite episode of Total Drama Island. But that's for next time, so I'll see you then. As always, thank you for reading!