Chris Recap
"Last time, on Total Drama Nialasach…
"Erin kept up the pressure on Gabriel to vote off Alison, forcing him to view her random act of kindness, making breakfast for everyone, with suspicion. As Gabriel pondered ultimatums to give Alison however, she continued her affair with Aaron, who even then tried planting seeds in Ellie so that he might jump ship again.
Over on Inari, Gran learned to never meet your heroes when Zaheen refused to teach him any magic tricks on the grounds that he always had fiercy accidents whenever he attempted them. Phooko and Rashi grew closer, causing Cherry and Zaheen to begin to worry, and Phooko started to get less and less inclined to keep Gran around for all the chaos he was causing.
Ultimately however, it was the Ebisu four's challenge to lose that week, and while Vanessa and Monica both went after each other, thanks to winning an arm-wrestle tiebreaker, Monica was able to remain in the game, alongside her still unused immunity medal. Her gloating did not sit well with Watts and Mirai, however, and the three members of Team Ebisu are returning to camp fractured. We have Twilight coming in today to host one of our most physical challenges yet! Who will be able to survive the battle, and who has already left the ring? Find out right here, on Total! Drama! Niiiiialasach!"
*Total Drama Theme Song Plays*
As the song starts, various cameras come out of the flora and fauna all around the island.
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine, you guys are on my mind
The camera zooms around all of Crios Cath before finally entering into the Nialasach Ruins.
You asked me what I wanted to be and now I think the answer is plain to see,
Aaron is on his skateboard, skating through the ruins, and as he moves forward, Claude can be seen following him, cleaning up the dust left by his skateboard tracks so that he can clear a path for Monica, who smiles at him, but ends up rolling her eyes, annoyed, when she's sure he isn't looking, and begins to pay attention to another part of the ruins, which the camera then shifts to.
I wanna be famous
Watts is looking over Erin's shoulder at an experiment she is working on, and she seems to be attempting to hide it from him, when the ruins wall explodes, causing Erin to fall back into Watts's arms before shoving herself out of them, the two then look over to see that the explosion was caused by Ash accidentally triggering a tripwire. She smiles and waves in an attempt to make the situation less embarrassing for her.
I want to live close to the sun
Camera switches to show Alison sitting on a beach chair and relaxing before waves come crashing in and ruin her clothes. She stands up with a huff and takes the beach chair further inland, but the same event happens, and she appears to let out a scream.
Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won
Camera shifts up to reveal that Simon and Arnold both saw Alison's ordeal, and while Simon starts to snicker at it, Arnold begins to flamboyantly tell Simon off, and Simon plugs his ears and walks away with rolling eyes.
Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day
Camera shifts to Upper Ceol Fields, where Zaiyrin is seen showering Cherry with all manner of gifts and compliments, and Cherry somewhat scoffs at them before blushing with a smile once Zaiyrin leaves and heading over to Ellie to talk excitedly with her about it while Ellie is working on a costume.
'Cause I wanna be famous
Rashi and Phooko both see the events with Zaiyrin, Cherry, and Ellie, and quietly laugh to each other as they both tend to a small garden of growing plants, with Phooko's plants looking quite healthy, and Rashi's plants looking unnaturally perfect.
Na na nananana nanananana na nanananana
Camera shifts to the Glas Woods, where Raul and Vanessa are sketching each other with smiles. Camera first hovers over Raul's shoulder showing a brilliantly done sketch of Vanessa, then switches over to Vanessa's shoulder, where a sketch of Raul can be seen, but Vanessa needs to keep adding wolves to the sketch as they crowd around Raul like he's part of their pack.
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous
Mark is playing music in Cailleach Bog, but immediately rolls out of the way of a falling tree, he looks over to see an almost seething Mirai, who turns to him and begins to smile sweetly as she begs him to play. Mark is a little nervous at first but as he begins to play, Mirai begins to cheer peacefully as the camera shifts to Lower Ceol Fields.
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous
In Lower Ceol Fields, Donny and Gabriel are engaged in a rather heated argument, and Christa and Jenae both walk up to Donny and Gabriel respectively, Christa tries to comfort Donny, but he begins arguing with her instead. Meanwhile, Jenae begins to continue to argue with Gabriel, but he stops her when he notices she's moving her hand down his chest.
As the other contestants whistle the rest of the tune around the Tine Naofa Bonfire, Gran and Zaheen both attempt to make the fire grow larger. Upon Gran's attempt the fire blows up in his face, causing Zaheen to snicker as she pulls off the trick perfectly and the flames begin to form the season title: Total Drama Nialasach
Location: Cailleach Bog
Contestant(s): Mirai, Monica, Watts
"Watts! Waaaatts! Wake Up! It's Time!" Mirai shook Watts awake.
"Time for what?" Monica yawned as she woke up from the noise as well.
"Time to…*yawwwn*... go to the Hayaji camp." Watts replied as he stretched. "We have to leave this early if we want to be able to get there and be back here in time for the challenge, which probably will happen in the middle of the day."
"Right!" Mirai nodded. "Time to finally go confront Aaron about all of this!"
Confessional: Mirai: Team Ebisu
"And for his sake, Aaron better hope this has all been nonsense, because he's in for a world of PAIN if there's any truth to these words!"
End Confessional
Confessional: Watts: Team Ebisu
"To be perfectly honest, while knowing how to approach Aaron is a plus, I'm much more concerned with Gabriel and Alison at the present moment. I'm sure Erin is doing her best to push him towards making choices without that harpy's input, but it would still be nice to confirm everything."
End Confessional
"In that case, let's all head over there together." Monica offered. "I realize my words might have gotten a little heated at Tine Naofa, so I'll accompany you two to make up for it. The trip can be a team bonding experience too!"
"I don't-" Watts began before Mirai answered, interrupting him.
"The more the merrier! Yay!" She jumped up and gave Monica a hug. "Let's go over there and bring the truth to light!"
"I guess we might as well all go together." Watts relented.
"Then it's agreed, wonderful." Monica gave a small smile.
The trio made sure that all their daily chores around camp were finished up as quickly as possible and began to walk northeast, towards the Cloc Mountain Range.
Confessional: Monica: Team Ebisu
"Mirai's growing on me a bit, and that's a good thing for her because it means she gets to stay if we lose again. In any case, while I confess that perhaps I put my foot in my mouth at the elimination ceremony, I am in no way actually remorseful. I need to go over there for my own reasons. Zaiyrin had the right idea in making a pawn out of Aaron, but he didn't have the right mindset for it. He's not a pawn for someone trying to play hero, he's a much better pawn for someone who doesn't care about being the villain though. Watts, Mirai, and their feelings on this whole deal all be damned."
End Confessional
Location: Upper Ceol Fields
Contestant(s): Cherry, Gran, Phooko, Rashi, Zaheen
The soaked rag swiped away the aged writings. The newer writings were more of a pain to scrub away, but not enough of a challenge to dissuade her from getting rid of them completely.
Zaheen pushed the rag back into a bucket of water and kept scrubbing. "If only an illusion could get rid of this mess." She muttered.
A drip of water hit her head.
Cherry scrubbed the ceiling from above, suspended by some rope tied from one end of the cabin to another. She sighed. "Presque fini." Her back slumped over the rope, her body bent in half.
Zaheen nodded and smiled. "Darling, don't break your spine."
"What are you talking about?" The contortionist replied, "I have no spine."
"Indeed you don't. Well, I'm off to go get some nourishment, darling. Want to join me?"
"Let me finish."
Zaheen smiled as she realized what Cherry meant. The illusionist stood beside the door to the cabin.
Confessional: Zaheen: Team Inari
"A tad prickly, darlings, but she seems to know the game she's playing."
End Confessional
"She's got to go, guys!" Gran pleaded to Phooko and Rashi. "She's flexible but she's too difficult to work with, and this is supposed to be a social game."
"I see where you're coming from," Phooko nodded. "She does have quite the amount of barbed words to offer whenever I try to talk to her."
"Same here." Rashi added. "The big problem I have with this though is that we might want to focus on being able to win what challenges we can."
"We'll be heading into two teams after this next challenge anyways." Phooko announced. "You might be able to get away from her then. Right now though, focusing on winning should be our top priority."
"Ugh, I guess you guys have a point." Gran sighed. "I just want it made clear that she's my number one to go if we lose."
"That seems fair enough." Phooko replied as he and Rashi both nodded.
"Alright, thanks." Gran headed off towards a river. "I'm going to get some water then."
"What do you think?" Phooko turned to Rashi when they were sure Gran had left.
"I think we should worry less about Gran and Cherry and more about Zaheen." Rashi replied. "She seems like a slippery one, and there's no way she isn't going to target one of us if we happen to lose. Power couple and all that."
"Well, we'll keep our eyes open." Phooko decided. "All three of them are pretty threatening honestly. Keeping Cherry hurts us socially, keeping Zaheen hurts us strategically, and keeping Gran, if he continues doing his magic tricks, will probably hurt us physically."
Confessional: Rashi: Team Inari
"So, I decided I might as well follow Gran, and I came across all three of them by the river! I was all like 'perfect time to play some detective!'"
End Confessional
"Alright Zaheen, now that I have you here…" Gran exclaimed to Zaheen as Cherry silently looked on. "It's time for a magic contest!"
"Darling, I thought I told you that you trying your hand at any sort of illusions was a bad idea." Zaheen sighed.
"Well, that's just your opinion. If you're so pessimistic about my chances, why are you trying to avoid the contest?"
"Because you'll hurt yourself and be embarrassed, darling." Zaheen tipped her hat. "I want to spare you the shame."
"Ooh, a magic contest?" Rashi asked as she joined up with the others. "I want in! It's been a while since I've told some fortunes."
"Fortunes aren't magic darling. They aren't even real."
"Oh, they're real and magic." Rashi crossed her arms. "I think Gran might be onto something with you avoiding this contest. You scared?"
"Actually, fortunes aren't magic." Gran took Zaheen's side.
Rashi was not amused.
"Fine." She sighed. "I'm just saying, if my fortunes aren't magic, neither are whatever tricks you guys decide to pull off." She sat on the riverbank. "Go ahead and 'wow' me and Cherry with your tricks then."
"Very well, darlings." Zaheen sighed. "Here it goes!" She lifted her fedora from her black pixie cut and held it out in front of everyone. She then made a kicking motion, and out of what appeared to be an empty hat came an american football, which rocketed up into the air before finally dropping back into the hat. Zaheen once again showed everyone that there was nothing inside the hat and put it back on her head. "That's act 1, darling." She winked at Gran. "Can you follow that up?"
"Please." Gran snickered. "I know exactly how that trick works. I use my shoe since I don't have a hat, but the same concepts apply."
"Neither of these are as mind blowing as predicting the future…" Rashi mumbled.
"Alright, watch on in amazement!" Gran announced. "As Gran the Magnificent outperforms his competitor!"
He allowed everyone to take stock of his shoe, and confirm it was empty. Then, using his foot, made the same kicking motion that Zaheen had made, and immediately found his clothes had caught fire as he dropped his shoe, and an american football with it.
He quickly jumped into the river to douse the flames and cool himself off.
Cherry couldn't contain her laughter.
"Oh, that was extremely embarrassing! I'm so glad you at least allowed me to see you make such a big fool of yourself before one of us was voted off! Hahaa!"
"Oh you shut the fuck up! I was on fucking fire, don't laugh at my suffering!" Gran snapped. "It fucking hurts, Cherry, you *BEEP*!"
"Oh, dear, they'll have to censor that one, darling." Zaheen shook her head. "And you brought this on yourself, you know."
"And of course you take her side, not because it's right, but because it's strategically expedient. You make me sick." Gran spat before rushing off on his own, past a confused Phooko.
"What… just happened?"
"Gran picked a fight and lost it." Cherry mentioned as she stood up. "And the dumbass is a sore loser."
"More accurately, darling." Zaheen turned to Phooko. "He challenged me to a duel of illusions, and I tried to avoid it, knowing how his attempts normally go, wishing to keep our team in peak physical condition, but he coerced me, and when he failed, as we warned him would be the case, Cherry laughed. He did not take kindly to it."
"I don't necessarily blame him for not liking being laughed at." Phooko looked from Zaheen to Cherry. "I'm sure even a circus performer like you gets tired of being the butt of every joke."
"That doesn't excuse his stubborn refusal of reality." Cherry stood up.
Phooko and Rashi exchanged glances.
Confessional: Phooko: Team Inari
"These kinds of situations need to come to an end, which means a few things. Gran needs to stop doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Cherry and Gran need to stop harassing each other, or one or both of them need to get off of our team, and it would probably be easiest to get rid of Gran, since he seems the least connected to anybody else here."
End Confessional
Location: Cloch Mountain Range
Contestant(s): Aaron, Alison, Ellie, Erin, Gabriel, Mirai, Monica, Watts
The mountains parted to reveal the Hayaji campsite. It had been ages since Monica had been there, but she still knew the way. It had been ingrained into her during her initial time in the area.
"We've arrived." She announced to Mirai and Watts, the latter of whom quickly found a nearby rock to rest against.
"Thank goodness…" He panted. "Not a fun climb after traipsing through the bog and forest as well."
"We did it!" Mirai cheered. "And there's no time like the present to go say 'hi' and get this confrontation under way!"
She began to strut into the campsite, Monica following close behind her.
Watts hung back for a while to catch his breath. He had not had sufficient time to acclimate to the mountain weather during his tenure on Hayaji.
"Oh, Mirai, and Monica too?" Gabriel asked as he came out of the chicken coop. "How did Tine Naofa go?"
"Relax, I'm fine." Watts rejoined his teammates just in time for Mirai to reach the center of the campsite. "We came here because we heard some things from Monica, Vanessa, and Zaiyrin about-"
"AARON!" Mirai shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Ack- loud… " Gabriel covered his ears.
"What she said." Watts nodded towards Mirai as he covered his ears as well.
"What is it?" Aaron asked, adjusting his trench coat's collar as he walked out into the campsite to see Mirai. "Oh, Mirai! Hey, how's it going? Glad to see you're still on Ebisu!"
"Aaron, you better tell me the truth about this if you know what's good for you." Mirai warned. "I've been told by multiple people, Monica here among them," she gestured to Monica who was keeping her eyes trained on the area that Aaron had appeared from, "that you've been manipulating us all from the start, and your only real concern is controlling the votes. That you actively voted Raul off when he trusted that you were in an alliance together, and that you thought you'd be able to control me because I had feelings for you. Is this true?"
"Mirai, you've probably heard a lot of-" Aaron began to play defense. Watts was standing right there. He was so close to the player he wanted to interact with, but a scene could ruin that.
Mirai knew this too.
She didn't give him an out.
"IS IT TRUE, AARON?" She spoke louder.
This prompted the rest of Hayaji to converge in on the center of the campsite.
"I think it might be." Monica finally broke her silence.
She nodded towards where Alison was slowly slinking into view.
Behind the same tree Aaron had appeared from.
"Hey Aaron, your trench coat collar is up a little high." Monica snickered.
"It's cold out here." Aaron turned to face Monica. "Naturally, people wear their coats up when they're co-HEY!" He shouted as Mirai quickly brought his trench coat down his sleeves enough that his collar no longer covered the hickey on his neck.
Mirai noticed Monica's gaze and Alison and immediately put two and two together.
"This'll get loud guys…" Watts warned into a camera as he braced himself.
"YOU CHEATING, LYING, VILLAINOUS BITCHFUCK!" Mirai screeched at Aaron. "YOU ARE SO FUCKING DUMPED! AND NOT ONLY THAT BUT YOU'RE FUCKING DOOMED!"
"Mirai, Mirai!" Aaron thought quickly. "Wait, I thought…"
He wasn't going to go down like this. Not without taking others with him.
First, the person who left the mark.
"Alison convinced me that YOU and WATTS were having an affair, and she took advantage of me while I was heartbroken! I was duped just like you, I'm another victim here!"
"WHAT?!" Alison shrieked as she turned towards Aaron.
"You told me that Watts and Mirai were cheating on Erin and myself with each other!" Aaron stood confident in his lie.
"I wouldn't do that because I'm not a fucking shitty person!" Mirai shouted. "Even if whatever crap you're spouting is true, you aren't getting back into my good graces! Your game is done! I won't stop until I see you eliminated!"
"Speaking of crap that isn't true," Watts pointed out. "The last time I checked, I was very much a bachelor."
Aaron's face flushed.
This was news to him.
Erin's face also flushed.
She was hoping to be able to explain the lie later, in private.
"You already broke up with-" Aaron pointed to Erin who looked over to Watts.
"We can talk about this later, alright?" She asked.
Watts gave Erin a quick glare, judging whether he could even trust her words, but he saw too much opportunity in the moment to focus on that.
"More importantly." Watts turned to Gabriel. "Gabriel… this behavior from Alison is what I'm talking about when I say that you really can't trust her and she needs to be gotten rid of. In fact…"
"Don't you dare, James!" Alison warned.
"She did this same thing with Mark too." Watts went through with it anyways.
Gabriel turned towards Alison in shock as Aaron winced away from Mirai shouting obscenities, Erin looked on nervously, Monica grinned at the scene, and Ellie sat there, petrified at the drama unfurling before her.
"Ohmygosh Gaaaaaaaaabriellll…" Alison groaned. "You don't know how hard that was for me to do, and I only did it for us! He was going to target you if I didn't intervene on your behalf, you know how much disdain Mark held for authority figure types like yourself! And Watts knew about all of that this whole time, and he didn't tell you either, probably because he was waiting for an unfair opportunity like this one!"
She gave Watts a quick smirk. She was going to win this word battle. No goody-goody was going to get the better of her.
"You were holding my father's dog-tags hostage! I made the agreement not to tell while I was under duress." Watts pointed out. "That makes it null!"
"I don't know what the bloody hell you're going on about!" Alison boldly lied. "You still have those dog-tags around your neck, how could I be holding them hostage?!"
Watts took a step backward.
Had Alison really thought this far ahead during that deal?
She gave him another smirk.
She had.
But neither one of them had accounted for Ellie.
"Actually, he has those dog-tags because I stole them back for him." Ellie told her own bold-faced lie.
Team Ebisu knew this to be a lie, but kept quiet about it in order to see Gabriel's reaction.
They were not going to look Ellie's gift horse in the mouth.
Gabriel put his hands together at his mouth, took a deep inhale, and exhaled a long sigh.
"Okaaaaaay… There's a lot being shouted and revealed in rapid succession right now, and it's honestly overwhelming, so while I process all of it, here's what's going to happen. Any and all romantic talks or dealings are going to stop, and I mean STOP, until the competition is over. I'll figure out what to do on my own without anyone trying to sway me to do one thing or the other."
"Of course, that's perfectly fair." Alison was quick to agree. The water was hot and she needed to get out of it.
"This changes nothing, assmunch." Mirai stared Aaron down. "You are a villain and cheater both, and you'll have a fitting end." She threw a fake punch at him and watched him flinch before deciding he wasn't worth it and storming back down the mountain.
"Damn." Monica sat beside Aaron as everyone began to disperse and talk to each other in private. "Looks like you've lost nearly everything."
"Rub it in a little more, why don't you?" Aaron rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"I'm here to offer you an olive branch, doofus." Monica rolled her eyes. "I have a medal you know."
"Yeah, but that's only good for you."
"It's good for surviving the game." Monica continued. "And I can help you survive it."
"Why, when you clearly don't trust me and I have no reason to trust you?" Aaron wasn't buying this.
"Because, dumbass, you're a detective. You're good at reading people. I'm not. But I am good at planning and following through on plans, making sure they work out the way I want them to. You… really aren't. We can cover each other's weaknesses."
"Hm… fine." Aaron reluctantly agreed. "If only because I have no other avenues available to me."
Confessional: Aaron: Team Hayaji
"Yeah, like I'm about to trust this woman after she essentially tore down my reputation and laughed at it. The second I get my chance, she and her idol are flushed out of here."
End Confessional
Over at the nearby lake, Ellie, Erin, and Watts all met up.
"I don't have too much time before I need to head back to the Ebisu campsite." Watts announced. "So, I'd like a nice and succinct explanation for why they think you're my girlfriend, Erin."
"I told them I was." Erin admitted. "I felt like I was on the bottom of the team and needed friends. I also knew both Aaron and Ellie were hoping to talk to you, so I said I was your girlfriend to give me both leverage and protection." She turned to Ellie. "Thank you for that quick thinking to keep Alison cornered by the way. It ensures that I'm not on the bottom."
Confessional: Erin: Team Hayaji
"The drama bomb that went off this morning is, I think, a setback for everyone who happened to be present for it, but it is also an opportunity. I now have Watts and Ellie in the same spot, which means numbers going forward."
End Confessional
"I'll be honest…" Watts bit his lip. "I'm not sure how to feel about this. I mean, uh… do you… do you want to keep pretending to be my girlfriend? Like, say we actually got together and keep the lie going?"
"I…" Erin thought about it as her face blushed a bit. "I think it would, ahem, be, well, prudent to, in some form or other, keep the, ahem, keep the act up. For safety's sake of course."
"Right, right, absolutely." Watts nodded. "That's uh, settled then. We'll keep pretending."
Confessional: Ellie: Team Hayaji
"Oh my island gods, why do they even need to pretend?"
End Confessional
"Okay, you two 'fake' lovebirds." Ellie used finger quotes as Erin and Watts both rolled their eyes. "Finally I can formally ask for an alliance, and I can offer Cherry as a possible number going forwards, as well as this." She held up her Fox Immunity Medal.
"That's good, that's four of us." Watts agreed. "We need five to have a merge majority though, and until Gabriel sorts himself out, I don't want to put the pressure on him yet."
"Then I suggest Mirai." Erin shrugged. "Clearly she's not about to team up with Aaron or Alison or whoever works with them any time soon."
Confessional: Watts: Team Ebisu
"Okay, so it wasn't with the person I initially wanted, so that's a shame, but an alliance is an alliance, and my instinct about Ellie being a powerful player was right on the money. Now, assuming Gabriel can regain his senses and Mirai agrees to this plan of action, we might be able to have an alliance of six at the merge! Oh man, sounds great!"
End Confessional
Location: Glas Woods
Contestant(s): All Remaining
"Come on in, everybody!" Chris called out as the three teams of a silent and distrustful Hayaji, a shrinking and desperate Ebisu, and a fractured and frightened Inari all made their way into a clearing in the Glas Woods where the host was waiting, alongside a young woman, with choppy and uneven brown hair hanging down over her heterochromatic eyes of blue and green. As she flicked her head for greeting, her one strand of pink highlight became noticeable to those who had yet to see it.
"This…" Chris introduced the woman. "Is Twilight Church! The architect and assistant host of today's challenge!"
"Alright." Twilight sighed. "Listen up because I'm not going to repeat myself. Today's challenge is an island wide game of manhunt. You will be hunting the members of other teams. However, because your last two challenges were pansy challenges for pansies that couldn't handle roughing around the island, this challenge needs some more physicality to make up for it. Instead of just 'tagging' your quarry, you're expected to get a genuine hit in on them. The chest/back area specifically. No kicking below the belt, no blows to the head. Furthermore, you can block your attacker using her forearm or legs and what-have-you."
"It's like a sparring match." Mirai tilted her head.
"At least one of you understands, good." Twilight confirmed. "Once you are legitimately hit, you are out of the challenge. If you sock someone in the head, you are out of the challenge. If you actively hit below the belt, you are out of the challenge. The first team to be completely out of the challenge will go to elimination. The last team to have any members in the challenge will spin the Wheel of Reward. Any questions that don't involve me repeating what I've already told you?"
"I have one." Aaron raised his hand. "Say I try to hit someone and they just headbutt my hand. Is that an out for me?"
"I'll be monitoring the challenge to look for situations like that." Twilight responded. "For the most part, if they were using their head to counterattack, it would count as a block and no one would be out. But remember that there are eyes and ears all over this forest. No one will be able to 'fake' a head hit."
Confessional: Alison: Team Hayaji
"It's too bad that I'm not allowed to beat up Aaron for this challenge. I'll have to settle for those Ebisu snots that ruined what I had going on over here! All my hard work, brought down in a single freaking morning, they are finished!"
End Confessional
Confessional: Gabriel: Team Hayaji
"Maybe this challenge will be good for me. I need to take my mind off of what happened this morning. And exercise like what Twilight is explaining should help with that."
End Confessional
Confessional: Cherry: Team Inari
"Finally, I was getting bored of those pageant-y challenges. Time for something more on the speed of an actual competition."
End Confessional
Confessional: Gran: Team Inari
"I'll show those guys, I'll do freaking AMAZING, and they'll realize that they're all sleeping on me as a physical asset!"
End Confessional
Challenge: Martial Manhunt
Rules: Contestants will start in different areas of the island and hunt down the contestants of other teams. Getting a hit in on an opposing contestant means they are eliminated from the challenge, but only torso, stomach, or back hits count. The first team to be completely out of the challenge will be sent to Tine Naofa. The final team left in the challenge may spin the Wheel of Reward.
CHALLENGE START
Chris hit a gong, and the sound echoed throughout the island. Crows took off from the trees, and the contestants, all in different starting areas, began racing through the biomes of the island.
The first two to run into each other were Rashi and Mirai.
"Oh good, Ebisu's the easiest to take out for this challenge." Rashi smiled. "Let's boogie!"
"Wait!" Mirai quickly blocked each one of Rashi's strikes as the latter backed her up towards a thick gathering of trees, cutting off possible routes of escape. "Hayaji is really fractured right now! Focus on them!"
"Sorry, but I can't let you leave in case you take more of my own teammates." Rashi shook her head. "I have my own safety to consider."
"Ugh, fine." Mirai rolled her eyes as she kicked towards Rashi, who deflected and countered with a left hook.
Mirai caught the punch. She brought up her knee.
A direct hit on Rashi's stomach.
"And that's out for you, miss 'safety'." Mirai snickered. "I told you, you should have gone for Hayaji. My assmuncher of an ex-boyfriend most especially."
Rashi's brow rose.
She opened her mouth to ask Mirai more, but she had already rushed off, to find her next opponent.
Shift Camera Focus
Cherry noticed Aaron below the trees she was using to traverse the forest.
Prey. Quick target.
She descended from her perch, readying a punch, and watched in shock as her fist connected with Aaron's.
"I fear it is not you who has ambushed me." He grinned. "Rather, I have effectively lured you out!"
Cherry wasn't in the mood for talking. She was in the mood for winning the challenge.
Fist after fist, foot after foot, she came at Aaron who almost effortlessly deflected all of them.
"You're very nimble." He observed as he threw a couple punches and kicks of his own, and watched Cherry elect to dodge each one rather than block any. "If only you'd be more nimble socially as well. I might be able to tell you how your friend is faring on my team."
"She's smart. She's fine." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"Oh? I don't think so. After all, she's been looking to make allies behind your back."
"Well, of course she's making allies. We need them." Cherry sighed as if talking to a toddler. "Now go away, or I'll force you out of the competition."
Aaron noticed a figure approaching in the distance. He smirked. "Have it your way."
He began to rush towards the figure.
"Get back here!"
"Gabriel, get down!" Aaron tackled Gabriel to the ground and allowed Cherry to finally hit him. "Run!" He announced.
Confessional: Aaron: Team Hayaji
"Nothing like a little bit of self-sacrifice to buy me some points with everyone's favorite political pawn."
End Confessional
Confessional: Gabriel: Team Hayaji
"Like, if Aaron could have turned Cherry the other way, I would have easily gotten her. Yeah, he's not getting anywhere with that stunt. I really rather we don't lose, but if we do, I think his time is probably up. At least Alison is a devil I know."
End Confessional
While Gabriel tried to escape, Aaron's tackle and willingness to let Cherry hit him had sealed Gabriel's fate in stone. The contortionist managed to get a soft kick in on Gabriel's back.
"Whew." She sighed. "Only three more of you to go."
Shift Camera Focus
"So sorry darling…" Zaheen said as she appeared before Ellie. "I've got you cornered. The mine entrance is the only way in and out of this little shaft here."
"This is definitely not a good match up." Ellie bit her lip.
"Unfortunate though it may be, I still must dispose of you."
Zaheen threw a punch that Ellie managed to block.
She retaliated with a desperate kick.
Zaheen dodged.
Ellie struggled. She pushed and kicked and punched and dodged and rolled and blocked.
Zaheen smiled. She evaded, she parried, she predicted and counterattacked.
"You're certainly… holding… your own… " Zaheen observed as her clash with Ellie continued.
"I'm… surprised… you couldn't… hit me… yet… " Ellie responded cheekily.
"Unfortunately darling… " Zaheen grinned as Ellie backed up into the wall of the mineshaft. "You've been cornered."
One blow.
In her gut.
Ellie knelt down.
Zaheen smiled. "Good game, darling."
She then left Ellie to go look for other marks.
Shift Camera Focus
"Gyaahh!" Monica shrieked as Gran jumped out at her from behind a dune of sand in the Ionad Desert. "No, no no!" She began to run away from him.
"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes." Gran laughed as he easily caught up to Monica and managed to get a hit in on her back. "Later hater!"
Confessional: Monica: Team Ebisu
"Look, I'm not a martial artist. I'm a planner. A talker. Probably a better politician than Gabriel. And quite frankly, Gran scared the shit out of me with that ambush. Thankfully, I wasn't the last member of Ebisu left standing, but even if I had been, or if we do go to elimination, I'm at least sure I'll be safe."
End Confessional
Confessional: Gran: Team Inari
"Okay, that's one Ebisu down at least. Maybe I should look for some Hayaji though. They are more populated and are probably the bigger threat to Inari to consider."
End Confessional
Shift Camera Focus
"Oh, hello darling!" Zaheen appeared in front of Mirai, who immediately went on guard.
"I've already eliminated Rashi for attacking me, so think carefully about whether you want to step up where someone stronger than you physically failed, or you want to go after Team Hayaji instead."
"I'd love to go after Hayaji, darling, but I have no way to find them. I can only fight with whomever I come across, and that happens to be you."
"I guess this is the end for you then." Mirai smiled before launching herself into Zaheen's stomach at a bullet like speed.
"H-" Zaheen coughed. "How?"
"Because I train for things like this." Mirai winked.
Confessional: Mirai: Team Ebisu
"Woo! Go Mirai! Go Ebisu! Let's freaking WIN this challenge, show Twilight that we're the strongest despite our numbers disadvantage!"
End Confessional
Confessional: Zaheen: Team Inari
"How intriguing, darlings… It seems that Rashi was eliminated before I was. Perhaps I can use that as leverage when talking with Cherry about which of the two of that power couple to eliminate between Rashi and Phooko. The druid's days are nearing their end, I believe. No one needs magic to see that coming."
End Confessional
Shift Camera Focus
"Cherry, Cherry, wait!" Watts pleaded as Cherry chased him through the Cailleach bog.
"Why should I?" She called ahead.
"Ellie! Ellie! I'm on your side! We have us three, Erin, and Mirai!"
"Vetoed." Cherry shook her head. "I'm not working with that woman. One loud obnoxious idiot in Gran is enough."
Confessional: Watts: Team Ebisu
"Ideally, Cherry vetoing isn't that big a deal. I'd just replace her with Gabriel. But until I know he's got everything going on with him sorted out, I can't do anything like kick out Cherry. Especially not when it's Ellie with the real power right now. Ugh, all these freaking medals. It sure would be nice if FUDO still had theirs in play. I'm starting to not like that decision back then."
End Confessional
"I'll… I'll let you hit me if you let Mirai in for at least a little while." Watts tried his luck.
Confessional: Cherry: Team Inari
"The Ebisu cow keeps coming back to haunt me, but if it helps me win the challenge faster, fine. I'll let her into this little club."
End Confessional
"Bien." Cherry nodded.
Watts stopped running.
Cherry gave him the most powerful punch in the gut she could.
"Gahhh!" Watts buckled over. "What was that for?"
"Don't throw challenges again. We need numbers for the merge. Monica has an immunity medal. If you lose, I don't think she goes home."
"Oh… oh yeah… I guess I sort of got some alliance tunnel vision for a second."
Confessional: Watts: Team Ebisu
"Well, I guess it's I wasn't the last one left. No announcement was made. That's good. I hope whoever is still left on our team can at least make sure either Hayaji or Inari loses first."
End Confessional
Shift Camera Focus
The wind shifted in the Neart Highlands as Mirai and Alison came face to face with each other.
"You Dumb Bitch!" Alison called out.
"You Filthy Whore!" Mirai responded in kind.
"You've ruined everything!" They shrieked at each other.
The wind continued to blow. A pebble bounced across the rocky terrain.
Within moments the women had closed the distance in between each other.
Mirai threw a punch that Alison blocked as she brought a knee up.
Mirai quickly spun out of range of the attack and attempted a roundhouse, but Alison was able to cartwheel over it.
Alison threw the next punch and Mirai used her head to block it.
"You think that'll get me out?" Alison scoffed.
"No, but at least I'm using my head and not relying on looks."
"Don't be jealous of me for being better than you!"
The two continued to punch and parry, kick and dodge each other's attacks.
The camera view circled around their fight as dramatic background music picked up.
"Being a homewrecker doesn't make you better, it makes you worse!" Mirai shouted. "Once both you and Aaron McBitchballs are out of this game, the better!"
"I want him gone now too, you imbecile!" Alison shouted. "But because you and that nerd couldn't leave well enough alone, I have an insane amount of damage control to do, so I wouldn't be on any sort of moral high ground when it was you who went snooping around areas you had no right to even be in in the first place!"
"There's a huge fucking difference between going to a campsite to have a talk and stealing someone's boyfriend!"
"Then I think you should be awa- OWWWWW"
Alison bit her lip in agony as Mirai grabbed her hair during one of her many missed blows, and used it to immobilize Alison.
"Not the fucking… this is not allowed!"
"If you're playing dirty, so will I!" Mirai shouted as she kept Alison's hands from grabbing onto her own hair. "There's no rule against grabbing your hair. Especially when you've applied so much spray to it that it no longer even feels like hair!"
Mirai brought up her foot and kicked Alison in the stomach, causing the filthy rich chick to cough up some bile from the force of the blow.
Mirai let go, and Alison immediately returned the favor.
"You might not be out, but so help me, your days are fucking numbered!" She shrieked at Mirai as some interns came to pull her away from the challenge. "You hear me you stupid bloody *BEEP*? You're toast! You're bloody fucking toast!"
Confessional: Mirai: Team Ebisu
"Did I just become mortal enemies with one of the biggest villains and strategic threats of the season? Probably. Do I care? Hell no! Bitch is going down! No amount of her grandstanding is going to be able to contain me. I won't let her play her game, and I won't let Aaron play his, now that I know what both of them are! Bring it on, ritch bitch! This bitch will come out on top!"
Confessional End
Shift Camera Focus
Erin noticed Gran running toward her.
She stopped.
The heat waves of the desert made it hard to see completely clearly, but she'd spent the whole challenge so far getting used to them.
Confessional: Erin: Team Hayaji
"In a situation like this one, it's most prudent to stay put and survey your surroundings so you can keep tabs on approaching hostiles. Take Gran for instance. He's running up to me to try and get me out, but during that time, anyone could run up to him and take him out and he wouldn't be able to react because he's too focused on the chase."
End Confessional
"Finally caught up to you!" Gran smirked. "Now's the time to unleash my greatest trick yet and- *sniff* *sniff*... Is Tine Naofa lit?"
"You are." Erin pointed to Gran's melting shoes as she quickly dumped sand over them, making sure to give Gran a gentle punch in the chest as she did so.
"Ah, shit." Gran clicked his tongue.
"You know, you really should stop getting so worked about when you're about to perform your little tricks." Erin yawned. "You tend to start shaking more rapidly than should be possible and the friction creates the heat that constantly ignites. It also doesn't help that you've been making a conscious effort not to fart since you've got here. Go off on your own once in a while and expel that gas. You'll probably find you're less of a walking fireball."
Confessional: Gran: Team Inari
"Is… has it really been that simple all this time? Holy crap if that's true, boy do I freaking owe Erin. Alright. Time to do this. Calmly. I've already farted so… " Gran slowly does a simple card trick of pulling out his desired card from behind the camera. His face grows wide with joy as he realizes nothing has broken or caught fire.
End Confessional
After Gran, Phooko was the next one to arrive at Erin's camp.
"Sorry about this." He mentioned as he threw his punch.
"I'm sorry about this." Erin shrugged as she just sidestepped his punch and tripped him.
She lightly kicked his backside.
"Oh come on…" She groaned as she looked up at the sky. "There's still people left out there?"
Almost as if to answer her question, Chris chimed in on his loudspeakers.
"And we're down to the final member of each team! Erin for Hayaji! Mirai for Ebisu! Cherry for Inari!"
Confessional: Erin: Team Hayaji
"Are you kidding? I'm the last one left? The heck has the rest of my team been doing? And for me to be up against both Cherry and Mirai?" She gives a small sigh. "No, this is alright. Stay put Erin. They have to come to you. This gives you time. Use it."
End Confessional
Later
Cherry and Mirai both noticed each other as they made their way towards the Ionad desert.
They frowned.
They nodded.
They had their target, and just for now, it would not be each other.
They noticed Erin.
Erin took a breath.
5
They drew closer.
4
Erin crouched down.
3
Their figures were now easily recognizable.
2
Erin put one foot behind her.
1
They were upon her, the whites of their eyes visible.
Erin jumped back.
Just.
In.
Time.
Cherry and Mirai found themselves caught in separate hidden pits beneath the coarse sand.
Erin put a hand to her heart as she let out a relieved breath.
She elected to punch Cherry first. Inari had more people after all, and two of Ebisu were her allies.
Mirai followed shortly after.
"And this challenge is OVER!" Chris announced. "Erin has WON it for Team Hayaji, while Team Inari has LOST and will be heading to the Tine Naofa Bonfire for elimination later tonight."
"So, where's the Wheel of Reward?" Erin asked as everyone reconvened.
"I have it here, don't worry." Chris sighed as interns brought out the wheel.
Erin wasted no time in spinning.
The prize was the Cabin.
"Oh come on!" Cherry complained. "We'd just cleaned it of all that graffiti too!"
"Wait, you cleaned it?" Both Watts and Alison asked, shocked.
Watts turned to Alison. "Wait, why do you care?"
"Um, hello?" Alison mocked. "Because I'm glad it's been cleaned. It'll make it easier to avoid nerds like you. Why do you care? You aren't even on this team anymore."
Confessional: Watts: Team Ebisu
"There's no way. She has to know what those strategies were. Otherwise she wouldn't sound shocked. She'd sound relieved or indifferent."
End Confessional
"In any case… Hayaji, Ebisu, Inari, head back to your campsites." Chris announced. "I'll see you all later tonight."
Before anyone who noticed could ask what Chris meant by 'all', the host had left the area.
Location: Inari Campsite
Contestant(s): Cherry, Gran, Phooko, Rashi, Zaheen
Cherry and Zaheen met up with each other using a firewood run as pretense.
"Who are you thinking, darling?" Zaheen smirked.
"Rashi." Cherry answered without hesitation. "She's romantically involved with Phooko and might have loyalty to some of the Fudo members. She's too socially powerful for us not to take this chance."
"I was thinking the same thing, darling." Zaheen nodded. "I came across a tidbit that Rashi was the first of us eliminated in the challenge as well, which helps lend credence to our argument if we want to make one based on performance."
Confessional: Zaheen: Team Inari
"Time for the lovely druid to bid this natural preserve adieu."
End Confessional
Meanwhile, under the pretense of foraging, Rashi and Phooko met up on their own.
"Listen, Phooko, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I feel like our best play right now is to get rid of Zaheen. She's alright in terms of camp chores, but she has too much strategic clout and will underperform Gran or Cherry in most challenges, especially those that require endurance."
"I see where you're coming from." Phooko nodded. "I also think we should consider that Gran is a little bit of a wildcard. He isn't really controllable. He's more of a go with his chaos kind of person."
"I DID IT!" They both heard Gran yell from a nearby confessional can. He rushed out into the fields and, upon noticing Phooko and Rashi, happily showed them his card tricks.
They both clapped, pleasantly surprised about the lack of explosions.
"Well… I suppose with the threat of physical pain nullified…" Phooko admitted as Gran went off to find the rest of the team to continue showing off. "That certainly helps me feel better about keeping him."
"We owe whoever figured out his problem a huge favor, for sure." Rashi agreed.
Confessional: Rashi: Team Inari
"Alright. We have three magic users on this team, but two magicians is one too many, and Gran is less likely to slink away from us. Sorry Zaheen, but your bell is tolling."
End Confessional
Location: Tine Naofa Elimination Ceremony
Contestant(s):
Participating: Cherry, Gran, Phooko, Rashi, Zaheen
Watching: Aaron, Alison, Ellie, Erin, Gabriel, Mirai, Monica, Watts
"Welcome, Inari" Chris mentioned as a confused Inari walked up to their seats at the bonfire pit, noticing the other two teams looking on. "As an addendum to Twilight's challenge, the other two teams have been invited to watch as she does the same."
Twilight gave everyone a wave. "Just want to see who is eliminated, then I'll dip when the ceremony ends."
"Which brings us to the ceremony." Chris grinned. "Cherry. Give me a ballpark about how you think this vote might go tonight."
"Vous savez, Chris… '' Cherry crossed her legs. "C'est difficile, ce choix. You have to choose between someone who might be a threat because of social alliances, and someone who might be a threat due to their incompetence."
"Oh, FUCK you!" Gran groaned loudly. "I know you're talking about me with that incompetence crack!"
"And what if I am?" Cherry shrugged. "You are. Until you can get that temper under control that's all you'll ever be."
"I don't know where you've been, but I've been doing pretty damn well at holding my own in challenges! And for your information, I've fixed my magic problem!"
"And you would have fixed it faster if you'd just stopped continuously trying to overcome it, you fool!"
"I'm the fool? You're the one blinding trusting that illusionist!" Gran pointed to Zaheen. "There's no way she has your best interests at heart."
"No, but mine and hers coincide right now." Cherry didn't back down. "If there's ever a time yours and mine coincide, I'll consider working with you as well. Even if you'd only drag me down."
"I can't possibly drag you down any lower than you drag everyone's morale. Worst entertainer I've ever seen."
Everyone watching on looked at each other.
Some with grins.
Some grimacing.
Some snickering.
All gossipping.
Rashi and Phooko locked eyes to confirm their plans with each other.
Cherry and Zaheen did the same.
"Well, as entertaining as this blow up has been…" Chris smiled. "It's time to vote. Cherry, you're up first!"
Cherry walked up to the voting booth, and scribbled down her chosen name.
Confessional: Cherry: Team Inari
"Au revoir."
End Confessional
After Cherry, Gran was next.
Confessional: Gran: Team Inari
"You've had this vote coming for some time now. Hopefully the others see it the way I do."
End Confessional
After Gran returned, Phooko was sent up.
Confessional: Phooko: Team Inari
"Here's to hoping this works."
End Confessional
Next was Rashi.
Confessional: Rashi: Team Inari
"I could see clearly in the stream today. No more smoke and mirrors for you."
End Confessional
Finally, Zaheen was sent up to the voting booth.
Confessional: Zaheen: Team Inari
"Time for the real magicians to take the stage, darling."
End Confessional
"I've tallied the votes." Chris announced after a while as he appeared with a platter of four medals. "I have four medals with me. If I call your name, come up and receive a medal, you are safe for another round. If you do not receive a medal, you must immediately enter the Tomb of Shame. Without further ado, I'll hand out the medals. The first medal goes to...Phooko."
Chris tossed Phooko a medal.
"The next one goes to…
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… Gran." Chris tossed Gran his own medal. Gran caught it, relieved, and stood near Phooko.
Chris turned to face the remaining three contestants.
Two medals remained.
"Next medal… " Chris announced.
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"… Cherry." He tossed Cherry her medal. "Ladies…" He turned to Rashi and Zaheen. "This is the final medal of the night, and it goes to…
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… The winner of this week's tiebreaker!" Chris exclaimed.
Rashi and Zaheen narrowed their eyes at each other.
"In the spirit of all this talk about magic, let's make it a magic contest! Our judge will be Twilight!"
"Oh." Twilight sighed. "Great."
Confessional: Twilight
"Knew I should've just dipped right away, but no, my freaking curiosity had to get the better of me."
End Confessional
Magic Show Time
Zaheen motioned for Rashi to go first. "We'll save the true magic for last, darling." She mentioned.
"Hm~." Rashi smiled. "Indeed we shall. Zaheen, dahling, would you be a dear and grab any flower you see from the forest?"
Twilight quirked a brow. "You know if you try to do anything, I'll stop you and end this tiebreaker right?"
"I understand." Rashi smiled. "All I need from Zaheen is a flower she's picked out of the earth herself. And I'll need some paper and a pencil from you if you have any."
"Very well…" Twilight sighed as she allowed for Zaheen to head out into the Glas Woods.
Not long after, Zaheen returned with a bright and yellow daffodil.
"Oh, how interesting!" Rashi grinned as she studied the flower and began to write things down on her piece of paper. Yes, that's incredible! Oh… ooooh, that's cool! And… there we go!"
She finished writing.
She folded the paper in half and handed it to Twilight.
"Do I-?" Twilight began to open it up, but Rashi stopped her.
"No, not yet. I'll tell you when. In the meantime, let's let Zaheen do her act."
"Very well, darling." Zaheen smiled.
She took out some tape and some cards as the interns brought over the voting booth.
As Zaheen began to move the cards across the line of tape she'd placed in the middle of the table, all the viewing contestants gasped in awe as they changed color, from red to blue, and back to red again.
She stopped a card halfway through the tape and lifted it up.
Surely enough, it appeared to be half red and half blue, and it's number side was entirely unaffected. Still a 5 of spades.
Then things got more interesting, as she placed a coin on one side of the table.
As she moved the cards through the tape, they all seemed to magically transform into coins.
Twilight had remained silent through this whole magic show, but was nodding along, clearly impressed.
Zaheen changed a few of her coins back into cards and soon those cards began to disappear, vanishing into thin air.
The audience gasped excitedly.
And one by one, each of the coins began to vanish as well.
Finally, Zaheen flipped one coin into the air, and it never came back down.
She took off her hat and the cards all spilled out onto the table.
She bowed as most of the audience cheered.
"That's pretty impressive." Twilight nodded. "Whatever you wrote down on this paper, better be able to beat that, Rashi."
"Well… now that we've all seen it, why don't you read it?" Rashi smiled. "After all, you can confirm you've been holding onto it the whole time, so there's no way I could have tampered with it."
"Alright…" Twilight opened up the piece of paper and cleared her throat. "Zaheen will begin her trick by stringing a line of tape from one end of the voting booth to the other. She will use playing cards and change their colors to get the audience's attention, making a big deal of how crossing the line changes the color by showing one card mid-transformation. This change will only affect the top of the card, not the number side. The card in question she will show everyone will be a 5 of spades. She will get more confident and start changing the cards into coins before changing a few back. She will finish off with a grand disappearing act of the cards and coins, before flicking a coin into the air and letting all the cards fall out of her hat and back onto the voting booth table."
Twilight looked up at Rashi.
"How the fuck-?"
"The daffodil, duh." Rashi smiled. "I looked at its size, at its coloration, how healthy or withered it seemed to be at the time of it being picked, etc. Using those features, I predicted Zaheen's mindset and the trick she intended to do. In other words…" She turned to Zaheen. "I used magic to learn her illusion."
"God fucking damn." Twilight looked around. "That's definitely a far more impressive feat for sure."
"Oh, well played, druid, well played." Zaheen tilted her fedora. "I can concede defeat. Perhaps I should have been more accepting of your magic from the start, darling."
"It was a wonderful illusion." Rashi smiled as she held out her hand and Zaheen shook it. "You could hear me reacting to it as I wrote down what you were going to do."
"This belongs to you, Rashi." Twilight handed Rashi the final medal of the evening.
"Zaheen." Chris smiled. "I'm sorry, but it's time for you to go."
"It's been a wonderful evening darlings!" Zaheen bowed to the rest of the cast. "I hope you all enjoyed our performances! You've been a wonderful audience and competition! Until next time, loves!"
"Rashi, you freaking did it!" Phooko and Rashi embraced.
"Gran, your spite vote just freaking doomed us." Cherry chastised Gran.
"Nope, it doomed you…. dun dun dun." Gran snickered, riding his high of being able to do tricks without self harm anymore.
"I wouldn't be so sure about any of that…" Chris announced.
A few of the players watching groaned.
They knew what was to come.
"Because Team Inari is about to be retired. We're shuffling the teams again, into two teams of six! Tonight, you'll all be camping here, because the prize you'll be competing for will be a deluxe camp with all the luxuries located in the Lower Ceol Fields. While the losers of the next few challenges will have to retire to a camp with nothing over in The Glas Woods! So, without further ado, everyone come up and grab a rock from this bag. Do not look at it. Clench it in your fist and hold it out palm up."
Everyone, one by one, reached into the bag, and one by one, lined up where Chris instructed them to, holding out their arms.
"3…" Chris announced. "2… 1… Reveal!"
Everyone revealed as a myriad of white and blue painted rocks showed up on screen.
"If you are holding a white rock…" Chris announced. "You are part of the final Team Hayaji. If you are holding a blue rock, you are part of the final Team Ebisu. Go ahead and separate into your groups!"
The contestants all shuffled around, until two huddled masses of six players each emerged.
"On the new Hayaji…" Chris smiled. "We have…
… Alison
… Cherry
… Gabriel
… Gran
… Rashi
… And Watts!
Confessional: Cherry: Team Hayaji
"The imbecile sticks by me like un brun de miel. Though he is decidedly less sweet.".
End Confessional
"And on the new Ebisu we have…
… Aaron
… Ellie
… Erin
… Mirai
… Monica
… And Phooko!"
Confessional: Phooko: Team Ebisu
"Rashi and I freaking conquer Inari despite the numbers disadvantage theoretically and literally right when we finally taste victory, Chris puts us on separate teams again. Ugh. Even more 'ugh' considering I have to deal with Aaron, who I'm pretty sure is villainous, Monica, who I'm pretty sure is villainous, and Ellie, who might be nice but certainly isn't my ally in this game, and probably has Erin's loyalty by now if nothing else. Something crazy better have happened recently or I'm toast."
End Confessional
"The final teams have been set!" Chris looked into a camera. "And the merge draws ever closer! How will this change coupled with all the recent blow ups and arguments affect everyones' games? Find out next time! On Total!
Drama!
Niiiiialasach!"
*Zaheen's Final Confessional:
"Well, it was fun darlings. I had a good time, and I hope you've had a good time as well. I hope you continue to have a good time watching the others. For now though, this illusionist shall return to the venues that suit her. Perhaps I'll perform on Total Drama's stage in the future, perhaps not, but I'll always be looking back on this experience fondly."
End Confessional*
The Votes for those who are curious
Cherry voted for… Rashi
Gran voted for… Cherry
Phooko voted for… Zaheen
Rashi voted for… Zaheen
Zaheen voted for… Rashi
AN: Ahhh Zaheen,
She was such a charm darlings. Incredibly fun to write. She managed to worm her way through quite a few stories and never really seemed to get scratched even in the midst of conflict. I enjoy characters like Zaheen a lot because they allow for more malleable strategies and story options. Less focus on any sort of perceived 'good guys vs bad guys' and more of a focus on 'how do I get farther' and that's it. A very good 'less is more' example right here.
Zaheen will return for the finale darlings! Can she give us a wonderful encore?
For those wondering, Zaheen's alignment was True Neutral
Having studied her actions throughout the season, Zaheen receives the status of: Neutral
I can understand if maybe some people want to link her to a more villainous kind of role, since she did seem to delight in causing some drama when she knew she'd be relatively free from the fallout, but sill, I really think she's ultimately a more neutral character, considering she never actively tried to pick on or target anyone for petty reasons.
Zaheen's best moment: This one's hard. Less because she didn't have many good moments, but more because she didn't have many stand out moments, and that was sort of the point of her whole strategy. I guess… I'll give it to one of the earlier moments this episode, where she continuously warns Gran that if he tries to compete with her, he'll hurt himself. Then he does… and does.
But that's all just my opinion. What do you guys think?
What do you think of these final teams?
Damon's challenge is up next! What do you think it will be?
AN2: Discord. Fun. Free. Entertaining. Yeehaw. Link on profile. You know what to do.
EN: French Translation from your Canadian that does not live in Canada
Bien: fine (normally, it means 'well', but context is a thing)
Vous savez, Chris… '' Cherry crossed her legs. "C'est difficile, ce choix…: You know, Chris, it's hard, this choice. (I might have needed to use connaissez, it's been a while)
Un brun de miel: A drop of honey.
We should've done translations a lot sooner than now, but eh.
EN2: Doobop, you gotta stop letting me affect the Nialasach plot based on stupid jokes I make.
AN3: I literally make sure that nothing deviates too far from the outline. If I think something has merit, I write it in.
AN4: And as always, thanks for reading!
