Replies, looking all around:

Sephiria Arks- Cool theories! The villagers are very much on the backburner for now while I have a bunch of characters to work with. The further into the game, they will have much more active roles.

lordgemini- Thank you for the kind words! The past episode and this upcoming one are definitely going to set the stage for most of the season's plotlines, there's really only a few others I haven't introduced at all yet.

MorbidGinger- You're absolutely right, she earned everything, too bad her team is dragging her down so much.

Space Zodiac- Thanks for the super long review! I'm glad people are liking Syd, I was concerned I'd have problems writing a mute character but it sounds like I'm doing okay for now with her. The flirty people are definitely fun to work with, because normally you can be pretty broad with them, but since there's so many I really have to dive into their specifics and focus on the other aspects of their characters instead.

W.G. Fenter- Apologies again for that, eliminating anyone early is tough, and I've had my share of first-boots too. Harvey was really fun and it looks like the readers liked him a lot too! We'll have to see how he fares on Loser Island

Alright, let's see what happens next!

Episode 4: Paranoid Activity

The episode opened with Chris and Chef walking around Crevice as the sun was just about gone. "Huh, it does get dark here," Chris said with a surprised look. Chef let out a defeated sigh, clearly not wanting to deal with the host's antics. "Well, whatever. Last time, on Total Drama Ancient Abodes, we had a house day! Our contestants did the best they could to make their rinky-dinky shacks look like real homes." The opening clips of the episode were of Chander seeing the giant hole in his shack in the morning, as well as Syd sewing blankets for her and Persephone. "Persephone tried to take over her own team, which was shot down quick by Winslow and Alessia, at least one of them having ulterior motives." The next clips were of Persephone demanding everyone help her, and Alessia trying to get Winter to suggest something.

"Team Gorgeous, now fully mended, did a great job holding a lead the whole day, and it was Monty and Shion that ended up being the winning side of their team this time, instead of the losing side." The next clips that played were of Monty and Shion working together, Zev rolling the giant boulder up to Setsuna, and the challenge results being announced. "But, all is not lost on Team Gorgeous's gorgeous exterior. There may be room for conflict after all." The next clips of Team Gorgeous were of Sasha watching the card game analytically and her kiss with Kaif.

"At the end of the day, Harvey, for not really helping and just being full of chaos, was our first contestant to be sent to Loser Island, where we might see more of him soon." The final clips were of Harvey being voted out, Alessia ignoring him at the end of the day to talk with Winter, and Harvey getting dropped off at Loser Island. The camera flipped back to the two hosts. As they were walking, Rodin walked out of his hut, and Chris quickly looked away from the camera for a second. The fisherman raised an eyebrow with caution at first, then with a shrug, walked away. "We've lost our first one, but someone else goes today!" Chris whispered to not attract Rodin's attention. "Find out right now, on Total Drama Ancient Abodes!" He grabbed the camera quickly and ran off from Rodin's field of view.

Opening Sequence

[Various cameras and other director equipment came popping out of various points of Crevice. The first camera appeared as it popped out of the window to the blacksmith's workshop. The next one popped out of the ground in the training arena, where spear promptly severed it from its wires. Finally, a camera emerged from the dock that was connected to a small hut, this camera falling right into the water.]

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine,

[The camera zoomed from the top of the cliff all the way down into Crevice, where Chef was seen lifting a heavy piece of stone into place on a house, putting it into place, only for it to be knocked out by a rogue explosion from one of Chander's pranks. Chef sighed heavily as Chander laughed nervously at the result. Nearby, Klase watched this all unfold apprehensively.]

You guys are on my mind,

[The camera turned to the blacksmith, where Harvey could be seen wielding a giant sword he had crafted. He performed a pretty terrible swing at a target, and turned to look at a confused-looking Alessia, who merely sighed in frustration.]

You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see,

[The camera switched to the middle firepit, which Nicolette was assisting with the cleanup of. Nearby, Setsuna was pitching in on a rock move with Monty, the archeologist clearly saying some things that made Nicolette nervous and Monty angry. The bassist lost his temper, punching a hole into the rock which startled all three of them.]

I wanna be famous!

[The camera moved from the firepit to the meeting hall behind it, where Syd was tampering with a machine she had created. Meanwhile, Persephone watched her to the side, grinning excitedly as the machine began whirring and lighting up some of the lights that had been placed in there.]

I wanna live close to the sun,

[At the bridge connecting the village to the forest, Shion stood proudly, and acknowledging the camera, gave a wink. He then stared out into the forest, where a pair of eyes could be seen in the shadows.]

Go pack your bags cause I've already won,

[The eyes startled Shion, causing him to quickly turn around, and he ran into Winter, who had followed Shion out to the bridge. Shion sighed and helped Winter back to the village, the bandwagoner confused as to why they needed help.]

Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day,

[The camera flipped to the abandoned shaman temple, where Winslow was digging around in search of something. They encountered an odd staff that was still glowing, which only intrigued them further on what was going on with it.]

Cause I wanna be famous!

[Back in the meeting hall, Chris was having a discussion with Zenthus inside the leader's quarters. Zenthus was accompanied by the other three villagers. The room itself had a dark shadow inside it.]

Na na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na!

[Out by the dock near the hut, Zev was fishing with a very old rod as Sasha poked her head out of the hut, looking around for something, and then sitting down to relax. As soon as she did, Kaif appeared out of the water with a makeshift heart, which Sasha took. As soon as she did, Kaif went from flirty to confused.]

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous! I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!

[The camera transitioned to night, where Faye was gazing up at the stars. At one point, the camera zoomed in on one of the stars, which turned into a ball of fire. As the camera zoomed out, it revealed the firepit at night.]

I wanna be famous *whistling*

[The camera panned out further to show everyone circled around the campfire, where the villagers were present for as well, all very confused at the whole situation. Everyone whistled the theme song as Chris stood on the side, holding up a sign that the villagers could not see, which was entitled: Total Drama Ancient Abodes.]

TEAM GORGEOUS

"And...that's a clean sweep for me this morning," Monty said as he collected all of the twigs on the table. Only he and Shion were in their shack as it was still early. "You know, for as lucky as you were last night, today just doesn't seem like your day." Shion sighed and watched as Monty took everything. "That's enough team bonding for now, I think. I'm gonna sleep for a bit, don't bother me now."

Shion glanced at his cards before tossing them on the table. "I guess that's the end of having fun for me today." He stood up and glanced outside. "I'm gonna go see what the other team is up to, do you wanna come to that?" The groan in response was all Shion needed to hear for an answer. "Okay, suit yourself." He began to walk out the shack and see what was going on with Team Persephone.

Eventually, the musician walked past the front of the meeting hall, where he could hear arguing coming from the villagers. Shion backed against the corner to listen in as much as he could. "I am stating my concerns as I always have, leader Zenthus," Thea said vigorously. "We are obviously being fooled by these creatures of the future. The amount of help we received is not even close to what it should have been."

"I am still with Zenthus on this," Croshia replied calmly. "Obviously our help is no good if they wake up to horrific conditions. We even made sure our conditions were set before we began the restoration we started on our own was done." She sighed. "It is true that there is reason for concern, but the proposal Zenthus gave is not without its merits, and that includes for you, Thea."

Zenthus cleared his throat. "Naturally. I would never subject you to that without there being significant benefit on your part." He began pacing the floor, which Shion was able to hear by the cane clacking. "Now that their conditions are set, food is the next most logical course of action. Training our new helpers in your style of combat may not be your idea of safe, but it is what will prepare them to assist you with food acquisition, which I remind you has become much more difficult, now that there are more of us here."

Rodin finally spoke up as well. "Plus, I am getting quite tired of bear meat. I know Croshia can cook that the best, but we need variety, and more people cooking and hunting means that I can fish more and deliver that variety." He shrugged. "And, if you are interested to know, Chris held his end of the bargain last night, and removed one of the children from our premises." He turned to Croshia. "It was the unruly one who was causing problems."

Croshia sighed. "I still do not understand why they let him show up in the first place. He was unfit for service." She stood up. "Well, Thea, I beg you to consider the proposal for the day. Chef Hatchet will be joining us soon to finalize the arrangements for the day. Until then, Rodin, you mentioned that you wanted to speak with me, so follow me outside, if you would." As she left, Rodin followed her out without saying another word.

Thea let out a grunt as they left. "Those two are also far too secretive," she stated bluntly. Zenthus shot her a disproving look, which made Thea instantly drop the accusation. "You are right, we cannot turn on each other, especially not now." She sighed. "Fine. I will accept the proposal for the day, but you need to know that I do this only for the good of Crevice."

The huntress exited the meeting hall promptly, leaving Shion stuck to hide behind part of the wall so he would not be spotted by the dangerous woman. Once the coast was clear, he sauntered over to the Team Persephone area, where he knocked on the door of one of the shacks. Chander opened up on the other side, surprised to see someone from the other team waiting for him. "Oh, it's you," the performer said with an odd expression. "What...are you doing over here?"

"Oh, come on, I can't spend my entire day with Monty, I've gotta branch out too!" Shion replied eagerly, inviting himself inside, where he saw Klase as well. "This seemed like the easiest place to go. You two seem rather calm compared to the rest of your team." He winked. "And, I'd be lying if I wanted to share I heard you gave Harvey the boot yesterday."

"He was a problem," Klase admitted bluntly. "But, from what I can tell, we're not exactly out of problems just yet, we have a bunch of them." He sighed. "This team is harder to manage than anyone thinks."

Chander nodded. "It's...coming together," he told Shion optimistically. "Right now, Harvey's antics proved we have no one leading us really. You all had Sasha taking the reigns yesterday, and it worked out great for you, I think, but we don't have a lot of options. I think most of the team wants Alessia in charge, and I guess I can't complain about that too much."

Shion laughed lightly as he went over to Chander's bed and relaxed on it. "Oh, I'm sure you'd do just fine leading too," Shion told Chander with a giant smile. "But, you all still seem chill, even if you don't wanna lead." He winked at them again. "You should come over for one of our card nights! It's so boring with just Monty and me sometimes, because my luck changes so much."

Chander looked taken aback by the sudden invite. "Um...sure, that would be fun I bet. We'll both make sure we're there at some point." He glanced outside. "Well, we should probably start working on breakfast, if yesterday's bear and salad was anything to go by, today could be pretty interesting." Shion took the hint and left the cabin with a grin.

Shion: "It's always nice to have connections," he said with a smirk. "Don't think I didn't see Sasha watching us play cards to see how we think. But, it does help that Chander's pretty cute too, and he's a circus performer, I bet he's got some muscle under that clothing."

Chander: "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to start off the day with an invite from the other team for hanging out. Hopefully Klase is okay going. He looked terrified the whole time that invite was happening."

Klase: "I really do not want to have to go hang out with the other team," he admitted nervously. "I mean, that's a good thing to do, but do I need more friends? I have Chander, and that's more than I started with."

Deep into the woods, Sasha waited patiently until Kaif finally presented himself. "There you are," she said with a slightly annoyed look. "We agreed to do this ten minutes ago. We're wasting valuable time." Kaif sighed loudly and exaggeratedly as he leaned up against a tree. "I'll just cut to the chase on this, because I think this could be good for us to get past." She looked him in the eyes. "Kaif, as respectfully as I can ask, are you asexual?"

Kaif's expression did not change past his typical neutral look. "That doesn't seem like the question you ask just anyone," he said back with a similar condescending tone that Sasha had. "I think you need to watch what you are saying." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Before I say anything else, why do you even care in the first place?"

Sasha sighed. "That, exactly that," she said, gesturing to him as to indicate his response. "You are clearly smart, and the way you spoke right now is exactly how I do. I think despite all the 'oh we're similar' things we have tried to pull on each other, we actually are really alike." She sighed. "Is it too hard to ask for someone who will actually be my friend?"

Kaif stood silently for almost a whole minute, and in that time, Sasha patiently waited. "We're alike," he eventually replied, "but not similar. We both like studying the mind, but I think we do it for very different purposes." Sasha raised an eyebrow at his statement. "I want to help people feel better about themselves, and you want to take advantage of others with it, similar to what you've been doing with me the past two days."

It was the temptress's turn to be silent. Eventually, she gathered enough words to form a cohesive statement. "Maybe," she admitted, "but I think my typical approach needs adjustment. On our team, there's you, who's a non-starter, Shion, who is a flirt of his own, Zev, who's made it very clear he's out, and Monty, who has and will be getting all the attention from everyone. I need real allies, and that's where you step in."

"You want me to use my brain knowledge to run the game, like you?" Kaif asked her. "Sorry, that's not my style. That's why we're different. I wanna help people, and you don't." He sighed. "This conversation is getting us nowhere. If you ever want my help, don't hesitate to ask, and you know exactly what I mean by that." With a deep breath, Kaif walked off and gave one final, "see you at the challenge, hot stuff," to Sasha before heading back to the campsite.

Sasha groaned as she sat by the tree and watched Kaif leave. "I thought for sure that was going to work," she said with a perplexed look. She let her voice get a little louder. "He's gone now, you can come out and say your piece."

On cue, Setsuna dropped down from the tree Sasha was leaning against. "Thank goodness it's summer," the archeologist said gratefully, "climbing icy trees would not have been fun. Anyway, looks like we're down an ally. Any other options?"

"Right now, no," Sasha concluded. "The boys are all going to be a no, and Nicolette and Faye seem to be more interested in other things right now than the game's big picture. I might consider getting Faye soon, but right now I think it's just us." She smiled. "Could be fun, I mean, just two friends doing their thing."

Setsuna laughed. "Your brains and my brawn, we'll be unstoppable." She smirked. "But, next time, I wanna watch the card game. It'll also look suspicious if you never play." Sasha nodded, realizing the archeologist had a point.

Setsuna: "Sasha and I will probably make it into the merge," she said with confidence. "She might not want to make a move on Monty, but someone's bound to eventually. I don't want that alliance happening, so it's gonna be me who makes the move."

TEAM PERSEPHONE

Alessia wandered around for a bit in her now empty shack. Harvey's unmade bed was still on the other side. The streamer sat on her bed and looked across. "What a shame you were too unreliable," she said with a dramatic sigh. "If you were more consistently on my side, you'd still be here. I hate losing a semi-loyal pawn like that." She smirked and glanced out the door to the other side of the Team Persephone area. "Lucky for me, there's going to be some more here."

On the other side, in Winslow and Winter's shack, things were relatively quiet. "Winslow," Winter said quietly to get the wanderer's attention. "Do you think that the villagers have their own culture, and are we like, ruining it?" Winslow turned around, interested in the question the bandwagoner had asked. "I mean, what did they do before they got here?"

"Would it not be easier to ask one of them rather than me?" Winslow asked back enigmatically. "I had a rather pleasant conversation with Zenthus yesterday, so maybe there is some merit in speaking with them."

Winter perked up after she heard them say that. "Wait, you spoke to a villager about their lives here already?" Winslow nodded as they gazed outside blankly. "So...it wouldn't be the first time someone did it. We could totally make this a thing, everyone asks the villagers questions about Crevice." She jumped out of her bed. "I can go ask Croshia something I bet...not Thea. She's scary still."

The bandwagoner left the cabin to find Croshia in a hurry, but crashed into someone else instead on her way out. "Oh, hi, Winter!" Alessia said brightly as she helped Winter up as well. "I wanted to see if you wanted to do anything fun, since you had so many good ideas yesterday." She batted her eyes a few times. "If you want it to be just us, that's okay too."

Winter hesitated to answer Alessia instantly, completely losing her words for a second. "Um..." they opened with. Eventually, Winter caught herself. "That could be fun. I was hoping you could tell me more about your streaming job you do, since that's a super trendy thing." Alessia looked a little lost at the request, but did not let herself show that.

"Well, that sounds absolutely lovely," Alessia said with a wide grin. "It could be like a little date! I'd love to tell you all about my work! Are you looking to get into streaming?" Winter was about to answer, but Alessia put her hand up to the bandwagoner's mouth. "You know what? How about we wait until after the challenge, and then you can tell me all about what you're looking for out of this?" With a wink, the streamer walked off, leaving a completely stunned Winter.

Inside the shack that they spoke outside of, Persephone sat on her bed with a scoff. "You hear that too, right?" the princess asked Syd, who was just laying down on her bed. "That girl is totally being played. The gamer girl is totally fake, don't you agree?" Syd sat up, realizing that she was being spoken too now. "Well, what do you think?"

Syd slowly nodded in response to Persephone's question. "I knew you'd see it my way. The two of us seem to be pretty on top of things. I think we need to stick together and make sure none of these other losers on our team vote us out. They almost picked me over Harvey last night, Harvey!" She growled. "I'm going to show them today that I can work hard, just you wait." Syd looked slightly interested at Persephone's proclamation, but chose to not continue the conversation.

Syd: She stared blankly into the confessional camera and gave a shrug, showing her indifference to her roommate.

RODIN'S HUT, CREVICE

Rodin closed the door behind him as Croshia joined him inside the hut. "Your 'statement' still does not make sense to me," the blacksmith said bluntly. "I understand you wanted to move further from Crevice, but you are still before the river, what good is that?" She sat down on a handmade bench with both wood and metal integrated into it.

The fisherman let out a huff. "That is not your concern," he said. "I made my message clear, and you clearly understood it." He sighed. "But, that is not what I wanted to speak with you about right now. I have been noticing...things that are off about our guests."

Croshia shrugged as she picked up one of the many fishing rods that were on the wall. "There are a multitude of things that are off about them," she reminded Rodin. "Most of them are children, some appear to not be very functional, and they are constantly being involved with things Chris McLean claims to be cultural rituals they are doing. What did you notice outside of that?"

Rodin was quiet for a second. "Well, nothing else of note, but I wanted to touch on that last item. This morning, I encountered Chris speaking to some sort of...futuristic box. When I walked closer, he attempted to hide it from me. I let him go because I could not be bothered to try harder, but it led me to think...what if Thea was not insane upon suggesting they have ulterior motives?"

The blacksmith thought to herself for a second. "Zenthus has expressed the concern too, but insists that 'help is help'. I will not argue that after yesterday, Crevice, while not perfect, looks much nicer. We have begun something of a beautification, and after today, them helping acquire food from now on should be effective." She glanced over to Rodin. "What did you have in mind to test your hunch out?"

"I would like to survey a singular member of their contingent daily," Rodin suggested. "Fully in secret, it could lead to us learning things that may not be revealed to us through normal means." Croshia instantly looked on board with this idea. "If either of us were to learn anything, we should report to each other only. I have little faith in the other two."

Croshia nodded. "I agree. Zenthus will not take action unless we have sufficient evidence, and Thea..." She paused and the two exchanged an understanding look. "Even before the avalanche, she was very headstrong about betrayals, and this has only worsened her more unfortunate tendencies." Rodin nodded in agreement. "So who do you propose for our first observation?"

Rodin looked out the window in the direction of the Team Persephone shacks. "I want to observe the quiet one. I believe Syd was her name. I saw her yesterday stitching up some old blankets in a peculiar manner. Either we learn something on interest from her, or we learn her sewing techniques. Either way, I consider it a productive day."

"Then there we have it," Croshia agreed. "We watch Syd today, and tomorrow, we can make it someone from the other group." The sound of a spear slamming into a target was heard nearby. "Ah, it sounds like the combat lesson will begin shortly. Good luck on your hunt." Croshia stepped out of the hut and went back to her blacksmith shop first to drop any suspicion off of the two.

Outside the hut, Zev had returned from exploring on his own when he overheard the entire conversation. He raised an eyebrow with some concern as he casually and innocently returned to his shack. "This is about to go bad quickly," he said with a nervous look. On his way back, he was stopped by Thea, who had a menacing look on her face, which was slightly obscured by her cloak.

"I finally found one of you," Thea said with haste. "Gather the rest of your group. You have a lesson from me today." She walked back over to the training grounds and left Zev to grab the rest of his team.

Zev: "Well, that's a kicker," he admitted. "The first person to make the villagers suspicious of Chris's real intentions was Chris himself." He laughed. "I really thought it'd be one of us. But, we should be more on our guard now, since at least three of them are onto us."

TRAINING GROUNDS, CREVICE

Everyone was lined up in their teams, while Thea stood in front of all of them menacingly, with a huge spear that was longer than her, but she appeared to be handling it with ease. Chris and Chef stood behind the contestants, while Rodin and Croshia watched from afar. Zenthus stood right in front of everyone. "Thank you all for arriving quickly," Zenthus said to everyone. "The people of Crevice met this morning, and we decided that with the additional people, having extra people in the outskirts hunting can only benefit us all."

Zenthus continued as Thea began to pace back and forth. "So, today we will, or rather, Thea will instruct all of you on some proper fighting techniques, and we will test your learning at the end of the day with a mock battle between the two groups." Some of the members of Team Persephone now looked concerned that they were down a member. "I do not have much else to discuss here, so Thea, the grounds are yours to educate our helpers."

As Zenthus left, Chris stayed nearby to observe Thea's actions. "We recently learned that food is easier obtained in the places that you all hail from, but that is not the case in this area." She twirled her spear around as she spoke. "And so, today, you all will be using weapons I spent yesterday creating." She tossed everyone a five-foot-long stick that had an arrowhead attached to the end via a small rope.

"These are weapons that we typically used for the children of Crevice, so I believe it suits all of you rather well." It was hard to tell if she was joking or not, and but the fact that the huntress continued instantly led most to believe she was not. Once the weapons were all passed out, Thea brought out a bear model made of wood that had many holes in it already, likely from her. "We will begin with throwing."

Everyone lined up in front of the target while Thea stood in front of them, ready to demonstrate. "The spear is an extension of your own body. You must allow it to become a part of you. After that, it relatively simple." She adopted a throwing position. Position the leg opposite to your throwing arm in front, and be prepared to engage. Following that, twist your body with the spear, move your arm with the spear, and follow that spear all the way until it is out of your path."

Thea demonstrated a perfect form throw that sent her spear right through the eye of the fake bear, and into the rock that was set behind it. Everyone looked rather impressed with the huntress's throw. "It is your turn to try," she said bluntly. "Line up and throw."

The contestants lined up to throw their spear at the fake bear. Team Gorgeous ended up going first. Sasha stepped forward, and observing the spear in her hand, she mimicked Thea's positioning rather flawlessly. Her spear landed right in the middle of the bear. Setsuna went next, and her spear landed on the head of the bear. "Nice shot," Sasha complimented the archeologist.

Zev went next, and his spear also went right through the bear, in a similar way to Thea's. Thea watched from the side, and looked rather impressed with the large boy's throw. Following Zev was Nicolette, who threw her spear with a poor stance, and it ended up not even reaching the bear model at all. "Of course that happens," she stated glumly.

Monty went next, and threw his spear right into the back leg of the bear. He grinned as he picked up his spear and joined the rest of his team that had thrown so far. He noticed that Nicolette looked downtrodden by her fail still. "Hey, I think you gotta follow through on your throw." He demonstrated that with his arm. "That woman is nuts, but she's right, it's like the weapon's a part of you."

Monty: "She definitely needed that help," he said with a shrug. "She's also a nice person, and I don't her to go instantly when there's other people who probably...definitely deserve it more."

Nicolette: "So far I'm the only one who hasn't hit the target," she pointed out. "I really need us to win, but it was really sweet of Monty to give me advice."

Nicolette grinned at Monty's feedback. "Thank you, Monty, I'll think about that. I really don't want to let the team down in whatever comes next. Your shot was much better than mine." As they spoke, Kaif went up next, and while his throw had great form, the spear crashed into the bear and bounced off, not having enough power to stick into it. He sighed in an exaggerated way which caused Sasha to roll her eyes.

Faye went after Kaif, and in a very similar fashion, her throw went right for the middle of the bear, but lost its momentum and fell to the ground before it got there. "Yeesh, this looks tough," Shion thought. "I'm going to need a lot of power for this." He took a deep breath and threw his spear, but with a form worse than Faye's but similar power, the spear missed and slid off to the side.

Once all of Team Gorgeous had finished, it was time for Team Persephone to try and throw. "Perhaps it was smart to remove the one who is least trustworthy with a weapon," Winslow thought aloud to themselves as they were the first to throw. Using great form, they threw their spear at the bear, and while it stuck in the head part for a second, the spear then dropped to the ground. "Interesting development," they mused on their way to collect the spear.

Up next for Team Persephone was the princess herself. "This feels beneath me," she lamented. Around her, the rest of her team rolled their eyes. She threw her spear with a smirk, and it went right into the middle of the bear, and the first one to stick in it since Monty. The eye rolls disappeared as she sauntered up to grab her spear.

Klase went up next, and his throw lacked form and power, and ended up landing to the left of the target, but also short. "Good try!" Chander encouraged him as he went up next. Chander's spear effortlessly went to the neck part of the bear, a grin appearing on his face. "Oh, that's so awesome," he said with a giant smile as he went to pull out his weapon.

"That was such a good throw," Alessia complimented the performer quietly as he went back. "And it's so sweet of you to encourage Klase too. You're really something special." The words came as a giant shock to Chander who blushed slightly as he walked back, much to Alessia's delight. The streamer threw her spear next, and while it had some power to it, the spear totally missed the target. "Huh. Well, good luck, Winter!"

Winter sighed as they held the spear in her hand. "Two went in, two fell out," she said quietly to herself. "That means I'm the tiebreaker for which one is the trend." She sighed. "I guess Winslow's went in a bit, so I have to go for in!" They threw the spear with all their might, but there was not enough power to make it stick, and it bounced right off. "Oh."

Last up was Syd. Rodin and Croshia watched with more interest on this one from nearby. The mechanic used the metal arm from her backpack and threw the spear with that instead, giving it enough power to go right through the front leg of the bear. "I want to know what magic she uses to do that," Rodin whispered to Croshia. "I also would like to know how it can apply to fishing."

"She has not spoken a word since arriving," Croshia reminded him. "Perhaps she simply cannot. Regardless, that seems far beyond our regular capabilities. At least around half of them could match us. But, that makes me dread the next phase of the training."

Thea stood silent for a second as everyone turned to her. "I suppose that was okay for a first throw," she decided. "But, throwing means you are unable to fight with the weapon, so it is not something that you may rely on entirely. Should you miss a throw, you will surely provoke your prey, especially one as large as that." She twirled her spear around again. "I suppose it is time for our second half of training- fighting stances."

The huntress held her spear in a more defensive position. "Fighting includes weighing all options at any point," she explained. "The enemy could be threatening your life, or worse, your home." She glanced over to her two village comrades. "Croshia, if you may." The blacksmith sighed and walked over to her. "I trust Croshia with my life, which is why none of you are invited to train with me. Ever."

Croshia grabbed a second spear from the rack at the edge of the arena. "Spears will be your primary weapon here. We use spears exclusively for combat, so it is the superior item to have with you. We use spears for offense and defense. Observe."

The two Crevice members engaged in a small battle. Thea opened with an aggressive thrust, which Croshia chose to dodge rather than parry. With the opening, Croshia attempted to swat down Thea's spear with a downward swipe, but Thea had retracted her weapon rather quickly. Croshia pivoted from her original attempt to try and land an upward thrust on Thea, but the huntress parried the attack, knocking the blacksmith off-balance.

"Quit holding back, I know you are much stronger than this," Croshia sneered with a jab forward. Thea replicated the move that Croshia attempted just a second ago, and disarmed the blacksmith instantly after she spoke. Thea rushed forward and held the spear directly to Croshia's neck, earning some gasps from the audience. "I concede," Croshia said dully, and instantly, Thea lowered her weapon.

Thea turned to the cast. "As you can see, you have a wide variety of attacks you can try at your disposal. We will practice briefly before engaging in our mock battle. Pair up with someone who performed about the same as you in the throwing exercise." The groups began to form. In Team Gorgeous, Sasha and Setsuna teamed up, Zev and Monty teamed up, Faye and Nicolette teamed up, and Shion and Kaif gathered together.

On Team Persephone, Chander and Persephone grouped up, Alessia and Winter teamed up, and a group of three was formed with Klase, Winslow, and Syd. "You will spar with your partner for now, as a final practice before the mock battle." Thea instructed. "If you throw or stab, use the blunt end of the weapon. Go ahead." The first group to do something was Monty and Zev. Monty attempted a swing from the right side, which Zev blocked with ease.

"Woah, you're strong," Zev complimented the bassist. "I guess we're gonna have to try." The two began blocking each other's blows back and forth, gaining the attention from a lot of the people around them.

Faye: "I can say with confidence that I am happy both of them are on our team. I truly have no clue how Team Persephone plans to beat us."

Over on Team Persephone, Chander and Persephone were engaged in a fierce battle too. "You're actually pretty good at this," Chander said with a surprised tone. "You...do you like, do this with a butler or something?"

Persephone responded with a thrust right at Chander's chest, that connected perfectly, knocking the performer back. "I'm good at everything," she said back arrogantly, but her words were backed up by a final thrust that completely disarmed Chander. "Case in point. You spoke of us needing a leader. I assure you it is still me, and with good reason." Chander held up his arms in defeat.

Over in the group of three, Syd fought with her own hands as Klase and Winslow engaged in a free-for-all with her. Winslow attempted a disarming attack, but Klase parried it cleanly, knocking the spear out of Winslow's hands. The wanderer picked up their weapon with a surprised look. "Astonishing reflexes," they told the pianist. "Perhaps you are best suited for close-range fighting." Syd nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, everyone on Team Gorgeous was busy watching their physical powerhouses in a stellar fight, but Kaif and Shion continued to practice instead. Their match was much less impressive. Kaif attempted to swat down Shion, but the musician had slightly faster reflexes and timing. "You're good," Shion said playfully, "too bad I wanna end it." With a twirl and a swat, Shion quickly disarmed Kaif with a confusing strike.

Thea then clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. Most people had finished their small fights, but Monty and Zev had to stop on their own. "Time is up," the huntress told them. "You will now engage in your mock battle, which Chris has offered to take charge of." She pulled out her large spear. "I will be off procuring your dinner." Thea left the area, but Rodin and Croshia were still present, still watching Syd.

Chris nodded. "With pleasure. Come on, kids." The fifteen contestants followed Chris behind the blacksmith area, where a bridge led to the woods. "I have been informed that the woods are dangerous around here, so I would take extra care of those wooden sticks you've got." The host constantly checked behind him to see if the fisherman and blacksmith had followed them, and they were still there. "Need to get them off my back," Chris complained to himself.

Once they arrived in the heart of the woods, the two teams stood on either side. "You will have 3 minutes with your team to strategize, and then you will begin your battle. Disarming or pinning down an opponent will result in a 'kill', and the battle will end when only one team has people still standing." He glanced at the cast. "Remember, this will be a difficult challenge. It might be bad to be on the losing end of this." The contestants got the message. "Good. Your three minutes start now!"

As the teams broke into their huddles, Chris approached the other two. "Do you two need to be here? If there are other things that need to happen, I can watch the kids. Chef's fixing up the cooking area in your shop right now, Croshia, by the way. Is that safe to have the food in there with the metal?"

"We discovered small bits of iron add to a balanced diet," Croshia explained. "There was a decision to move the cooking area from the meeting hall to there, and it made things convenient, as I do most of the cooking." She shrugged. "We are actually on a break for now, so we would like to observe the battle for some time, if that is okay."

Chris sighed. "Right, right...well, we will likely do some sort of cultural...ceremony later at the end of the battle, so I'll ask you respect our traditions by keeping a solid distance from that. I guess you can watch them tear each other apart though."

WOODS, CREVICE

Team Gorgeous gathered in a secluded area to discuss strategy. "We need to hunt in packs of two," Setsuna offered. "The safest way for everyone to split up is if someone is constantly guarding them." She winked. "But here's the catch- we only send in one person while the other one is waiting. That way, they have no clue what's coming for them!"

"That's really sound reasoning," Faye agreed. "If we keep the element of surprise, then we can always pick one of them off before losing a person, even in a losing situation." She looked around the team. "I suppose we should choose pairs, but I move that we can also just keep the ones we had in sparring practice. We know the skill level of those people, and it lets that group be a team." She pointed right to Zev and Monty.

Setsuna sighed. "I guess I was hoping for some extra protection from Monty myself, but that can wait for another time." She nodded. "Okay, then keep to your groups. I'm with Sasha, Monty's with Zev, Shion's with Kaif, and Faye's with Nicolette." She pumped her spear in the air. "Come on, Team Gorgeous, let's show them what we've got!"

Team Persephone was a few yards to the south trying to group up their team. "We need to break up the group of three," Chander suggested. "They should be divided around, for extras protection. I can take Klase with me, how about the others?"

Persephone was quiet for a second, but sighed in annoyance. "Fine, I suppose I can take my buddy Syd." Syd looked indifferent to being selected. "That leaves Winslow, Winter, and Alessia. Do we think that's a good group to send out as the big one?"

Alessia nodded. "You bet! Plus, you and Chander were the best spear fighters in our group, so you'll both be great protectors I'm sure! I can make sure Winter is safe with me! And Winslow will hold their own probably!" Winslow stared at Winter to try and see her response to that statement, and the bandwagoner was totally lost in thought and staring at Alessia.

"I suppose there's nothing else for it," Winslow commented. "I will travel with the pink one and the short one." They followed the other two in the group slowly behind them, watching their interactions as much as possible.

Winslow: "I have a sneaking suspicion that Alessia's motives are not parallel with anyone else's," they observed. "So soon I may attempt to sway Winter away from her. If that fails, so be it."

Nicolette and Faye were out together in the woods. "That was awesome of you to think of those groupings that fast," the saint complimented Faye. "I wish I knew more about thinking of team plans and all that. It definitely feels like you can do almost everything here."

Faye smiled. "Well, that's nice of you. It wasn't anything too complicated anyway. I'll have to be the one who teaches everyone how to tell time though, that will be the tough thing." She laughed. "Anyway, tell me more about yourself. You said you're from America, right?" The astronomer gripped her spear tightly to try and hold a defensive position.

"Yeah, I'm from Illinois," Nicolette confirmed. "I wouldn't say my life has been super interesting. You definitely sound like a more interesting person. When did you learn to tell time with the sun?" Both of them paused for a second when they heard a rustling in the woods, but after some time, nothing came.

"I mean, it's just a skill you pick up when you study space and the sky as much as I do," Faye replied slightly snootily. "My whole family...is...involved with space stuff, and I want to work at NASA in the future." She caught her own pause in the middle of the sentence and quickly shook her head to shake off the experience. At that moment, there was more noises. "Take the front, I'll catch them off-guard."

Faye disappeared into the woods nearby while Nicolette took a defensive positioning with her spear. She shuddered as she held the weapon, and then jumped back when she encountered Winter, Winslow, and Alessia. "Oh no," Nicolette said slowly, "this isn't going to work with three of them."

Alessia laughed lightly as she aimed her spear at the saint. "Well, this doesn't seem really fair," she said with a laugh. "How about I bow out for now, okay?" Winslow and Winter rushed Nicolette, and despite her best efforts, she got cornered against a tree by the bandwagoner and the wanderer pretty quickly. Alessia smirked before seeing someone else approaching them. "Winter!"

The streamer ran forward to try and protect Winter with a thrust, but Faye emerged from a bush quicker and pinned Winter onto the ground. Winslow was broken free by Nicolette, but Alessia and Winslow quickly put her back down. "I...I give up!" Nicolette finally shouted as the two lowered their spears. "Sorry, Faye."

Faye sighed. "I guess I should have seen it coming that there'd be a group of three somewhere." The astronomer also lost her fight between Winslow and Alessia rather quickly. "I guess that's three of us out." Nicolette, Faye, and Winter all returned to the starting area in defeat, leaving only the two members of Team Persephone who made it out.

Winslow shook their head. "Alessia, this means that the other groups are likely attempting a similar tactic. We need to be extremely cautious of Team Gorgeous members going forward." The streamer nodded, gripping her spear a bit more tightly, constantly looking backward to see if she could still see Winter leaving.

Kaif and Shion quietly moved through the forest. "Do you really think this plan is going to work?" Shion asked Kaif bluntly. "If you ask me, we might run into trouble if we find the wrong people. Both Chander and Persephone looked rather skilled." Their thoughts were stopped by movement. "We need to hide." The two hid behind different trees, Shion to the left and Kaif to the right.

The sounds that approached them were clearly loud chatter. "Anyway, that's why I only play tennis. It's really just as physical as anything else, but it also makes me look amazing when I do it." Kaif readied his spear to throw from the back side of the tree. Once he had a solid aim, he threw it as hard as he could. Persephone noticed the throw just in time, and deflected it to stop Syd from getting hit in the back. "Close one."

Kaif hid quietly behind the tree with a nervous look, now that he was unarmed, but Shion stepped out instead, the spear being held behind his back. "There's someone!" he said with a wave. "Sorry about that throw, you know how this challenge is supposed to go."

Persephone laughed haughtily at the musician. "Shion, I hope you don't also plan on underestimating me, because I can assure you that will not end well for the likes of you against me." She pointed her spear at Shion, and kicked Kaif's off to the side. "You have not given up yet despite your ever so precarious position." She smirked, switching her spear around to the blunt end. "Let us end this."

Syd noticed that Shion still had his spear, and as Persephone went for a brazenly strike with a ton of openings, Shion revealed his and made his move. Syd managed to block the strike from Shion, and then rushed to the other side of him. Shion now had a Team Persephone member on either side of him. "Huh, guess that's annoying," Shion said. "Too bad you lost the other spear." Persephone looked to the side and noticed Kaif's spear was missing. "Kaif!" Shion tossed the spear to the lover, who caught it and took a position next to Shion.

Syd rolled her eyes at the tactic they had used against them. "I agree," Persephone said. "They are getting exhausting. Let's finish this!" Persephone's skill outdid the other two, and once the open free-for-all had started, it was not long, before Persephone took advantage of Shion and Syd being locked down that she used the blunt end of her spear to hit Shion. "Ha!"

At the same time, Kaif used his blunt end to throw right at Syd, who was knocked back by the blow. Both of the two who were hit were out of the game now. "Looks like it's down to us," Kaif said with a flirtatious wink. "You know I wouldn't want to hurt a lady as competent and beautiful as yourself." Persephone blushed for a second at the kind words. Kaif used that chance to try and strike her, but he didn't have nearly enough power.

After two minutes of dodging, blocking, and missing, Persephone parried a strike perfectly from Kaif, making his spear fly in the air. "Looks like it was not meant to be," he lamented. He pulled Persephone's hand in and kissed it. "I will see you later, my lady." The princess looked more confused than anything at Kaif's reaction to being out of the challenge.

Persephone: "It's a common pattern I deal with," she explained with a shrug. "People underestimate me, I dominate, they want to be my friend or ally." She laughed. "I really am too good."

Zev and Monty were walking around in relative silence. Zev hid slightly behind Monty as the one who would come out in surprise. "We haven't spoken much," Monty said to the serious-looking boy. "You seem chill, I wish the rest of the team had your level of ability to read the room."

Zev laughed as the two began to reach a clearing. "Well, to be honest, I'm only being quiet right now because I know you like quiet. I am more of a listener than a conversation starter too, so there's that." He twirled his spear around. "Who do you think we'll find?"

Monty shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really care. I don't think we're gonna have a problem with any of 'em." He then noticed a group of two ahead of him. "Look, Alessia and Winslow," the bassist said. "From what I saw they weren't that good. Do you wanna do our strategy or just go for them?"

Zev gripped his spear. "Let's be honest, I don't think that's necessary." The two exchanged a look, then rushed the streamer and the wanderer with as much strength as they could. "Look out!" Zev called out playfully as he launched his spear at Alessia. The streamer gasped and dodged it at the very last second. "Welp, shouldn't have yelled out my attack," he said with a laugh.

Alessia had an offended look on her face. "Hey! Watch it! I'm just a defenseless little girl!" she whined. As she charged at Zev, Monty and Winslow began to go at it. Despite Monty's raw strength being much better, Winslow was able to keep their pace and hold on just barely. "Remember, they probably have someone in the wings waiting to take us out," Alessia reminded Winslow.

Zev slid under Alessia's thrust and grabbed his spear that he threw. As he did, someone else appeared out of the bushes too. Klase ran out and made a thrust forward onto Zev, which ended up backfiring. Zev dodged both and began engaging both at the same time. "Monty, they've got others with them!" he called out desperately, trying to block both members of Team Persephone. Eventually, he disarmed Alessia and collected her spear. "I got one!"

Just then, Chander appeared out of the other side and began attacking Monty. "I've got two now," Monty complained. He made a giant swing at Winslow, this one finally getting the wanderer. "Okay, two down, but we've got another two." Klase then suddenly shifted his attention to Monty also. Klase's dexterity was able to match Monty's, and the two were nearly evenly matched.

"I...I'm getting him!" Klase celebrated. Chander was now on Zev, but the performer quickly switched on Klase's cue. With Monty fully engaged in his fight with Klase, Chander landed a stab onto the bassist, putting him out of the challenge, and then back to Zev. "We got him!" Klase celebrated.

Klase: "Feels good to actually contribute," he pointed out. "I'm really glad Winslow recognized my abilities. That felt good."

Right at that moment, Klase got hit by a spear in the back, putting him out too. Setsuna and Sasha walked out, joining Zev to make a three against one fight versus Chander. "Sorry it took so long," Sasha taunted as she picked up the spear that hit Klase. "We knew you two would abandon the strategy we made, so we wanted to see you pay for it." She smirked. "Let's make this quick."

Chander sighed. "It might not be over, I don't know who else is out there." Chander ran back into the woods, forcing the other three to chase after him. Chander scaled a tree that had a vine coming down, then sliced the vine when he reached the top. "You're going to have to try harder than that to get me!"

Setsuna grabbed the vine, and like a whip, used it to get herself up in the trees as well. "You're not the only one who can climb!" she shouted back. She darted from branch to branch to try and find Chander, but he was nowhere in sight. "Wow, he can really move," she said to herself. "Here I go!" Just then, Chander appeared above the archeologist, grabbing her spear out of the hand and knocking her out of the tree, putting Setsuna out of the challenge. "No!"

Sasha sighed. "He went to the forest to pick us off," the temptress deduced. "He knew he couldn't win one-on-one so he's changing up his plans." She smirked. "I'll have to wait for him to come to me then. Zev! Back to the clearing." She started making her way back.

Zev followed Sasha back to where the big duel was before, and the two waited with their backs to each other. "This strategy would have worked so much better in pairs of four than two, but I guess it's a little late for that now," Zev joked. Chander then jumped down from the tree, and engaged in combat with Sasha. Before Zev could get over to defend her, Chander had made a strike on Sasha, and Zev just barely landed a strike on Chander.

Zev panted for a second. "Wow, that kid was fast." He looked around, and there was no one else around. "Did...I win? Chris would have said something by now." He continued to grip his spear tightly as Sasha and Chander left for the edge of the forest. "There has to be one more...we took out Alessia, Winslow, Chander, and Klase here...that leaves Winter, Persephone, and Syd...did any of them make it?"

Just then, a spear flew past Zev's head, putting itself in a tree. Zev turned around, but there was no one there. "Underestimating me is your biggest mistake!" Persephone taunted from behind. Zev turned around again to see Persephone with her spear, having made it completely around the serious-looking boy. "Prepare for a duel!"

Zev smiled. "I guess it's down to us! Here I go!" Persephone opened with a flurry of stabs, which Zev avoided by simply taking a step backwards. Persephone's shorter height made it harder for her to even get attacks. The princess then went for a sweep of the legs, but her attack just bounced right off of Zev's legs, not moving him at all. "Yeah, that won't work on me." Zev countered with two swipes from either side. Persephone dodged one swipe, but got her spear thrown in the air with the other one.

"No!" The princess called out, running backward. She jumped up and grabbed her weapon before it hit the ground, and went right back into the fight. Zev made another strike, which Persephone parried this time, but Zev held his spear with an iron grip, and followed up with a second attack that caught the princess off-guard. Her spear flew out of her hands, and Zev took that opportunity to land a stab with the blunt side, knocking Persephone onto the ground and out of the challenge. "No!" she called out again, this time in desperation but also defeat.

Chris then entered the clearing, this time with the rest of the fallen campers and no Rodin or Croshia in sight. "We finally have some peace from those nosy people," he told them. "Despite the thrilling fight, Zev wins the challenge for Team Gorgeous, giving them their second win!" Team Gorgeous celebrated their victory with Zev, while Persephone fell to her knees, completely shattered by her failure.

"Team Persephone," Chris said, "you all fought hard, but a loss is a loss. I'll see you tonight for elimination." Persephone stood up with a huff, leaving her team behind, and everyone began to go back to the shacks.

Back in Crevice, Rodin and Croshia met inside Rodin's hut. "Suffice it to say we learned nothing today," Rodin lamented. "I am starting to doubt whether or not this investigation is worth it. Zenthus would not want this to be happening, so why should we bother in the first place?"

Croshia shook her head. "It was not useless. I think we picked a poor target. I think Chris may have been unnerved by our presence, though. Perhaps for now only one of us needs to investigate?" Rodin tilted his head in confusion. "Stay here for the night. I will speak to Zenthus for an idea on how to earn more help from the group tomorrow." Croshia left the hut, leaving Rodin confused, but not confused enough to act on it.

Persephone: "This isn't right," she said with a huff. "I do not deserve to be on this team of losers. I carried them like crazy today, so I hope they can see reason."

TEAM PERSEPHONE

Winter knocked on the door of Alessia's shack. "Um, Alessia?" the bandwagoner asked. Alessia waved her hand and let Winter inside. "You said you know a bunch about streaming, right? How many trends happen there?"

Alessia giggled. "You are just so funny! I don't really follow everything, but I'll tell you what I know!" She twirled her hair as she spoke playfully. "It's all about playing what's popular, which sometimes isn't as fun. I love playing games with a cool story, and sometimes I can't because I have to play one that's popular." She gasped. "You know, I only collab when it's super good for me, but a fellow Total Drama contestant would be the perfect collab! I could get you trending!"

Winter blinked. That just did not seem real to her at all. "I could be...trending? That sounds really amazing. What is trending right now that you know? Do you think that-" her excitement started to escalate, but Alessia cut the bandwagoner off, putting her hand up against her mouth.

"Come on, we have so much time, and if I tell you everything now, we won't be able to hang out as much. Plus..." the steamer's breathing started to get a bit heavy. "I think I'm scared. I didn't do so well today, and I think someone's after me. They don't want anyone getting in the way of their goals, you saw how hard they fought today." She looked right into Winter's eyes. "Could you...help me?"

The bandwagoner nodded. "That...I could do that for you for sure," she said with a smile. "I'm glad I met you, Alessia, you're a really fun person to be around." Alessia pulled Winter into a hug, which surprised them, causing a blush to appear on their face. "Um...you're welcome. But, we're only two votes, we need way more than that."

Alessia smirked. "And way more we will get. You better just watch how well I can handle the rest!" She stood up and winked. "Next time we hang out, I can tell you more about streaming, but I want to hear about you too." Winter was left completely dumbfounded in the shack that was not hers.

Winter: "Alessia is really nice," they said with a smile. "I'm glad I have at least one real friend so far. I wonder where she got other votes from..."

ELIMINATION III, TEAM PERSEPHONE

The seven remaining members of Team Persephone went to the middle of Crevice for their second elimination in a row. On one bench was Klase, Chander, Alessia, and Winter, while Syd, Persephone, and Winslow were on the other one. Chris approached the fire circle with six rocks. "Contestants, you lost your second challenge in a row," Chris reminded them. "How are you gonna bounce back from this?"

"It's going to be hard," Chander admitted. "I think our team's hunt for a leader is still lacking. We tried a democracy today, and let's face it, it didn't work." He sighed. "Maybe we ought to all meet tomorrow."

Chris nodded. "Interesting thought. I would have probably handled that before we got here, because one of you will not be part of that leader conversation." He tossed Chander the first rock. "But, Chander, it won't be you. You're safe." Chander grinned at his safety. "Also safe tonight, is Syd." The mechanic nodded to herself as she used a mechanical arm from the backpack to catch the rock.

"Klase is safe tonight as well." The pianist grinned at their rock, having actually felt like he earned it today. "Winter is safe too." The bandwagoner looked equally excited to be joining the trend of safe contestants. Suddenly, there were only two rocks left. Persephone looked worried, as did Alessia, while Winslow's reaction was much tougher to figure out.

Chris held up the penultimate rock. "Winslow," Chris said slowly, tossing out the rock to the wanderer, who caught it with both hands and nodded silently. "That leaves two. Alessia, despite being in two battles today, you really didn't contribute much, and Persephone, you were in two also, but lost both of them, including the challenge for the team." Persephone hung her head in shame. "Tonight's loser is...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...Persephone." Alessia smirked to herself as she caught the last rock. Winter looked just as happy to see her friend make it through. Persephone gasped. "Persephone, it looks like the team has decided you are out of here."

The princess shook her head. "That...that's not right. It's Team Persephone!" she said nervously. "My team! You can't have vote me off! I'm still useful!" Chef grabbed her arm to try and get her to the raft. "No!" she shouted, swatting his arm away. "I'll do it myself." She turned to the team. "I'll see you again. Just remember that when you end up where I am." With a huff, she turned her back to the team and strutted in style to the raft, where she was taken away.

Chris shrugged. "It's already like...ten times quieter," he said with a laugh. "Will Team Persephone be able to go on without their namesake? Will Winter get a clue at all? And will these villagers be off my backs a little more tomorrow?" he asked in a more irritated tone. "Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Ancient Abodes!"

LOSER ISLAND

As Persephone landed on Loser Island, she turned around with a growl, watching as Chef left. "I don't deserve to be here," she said with an angry look. She stomped to the middle of the island, where there was a poorly-made shelter and a singular sign. "What on Earth does this say?" she asked, reading it:

Welcome to Loser Island. This is not your end. There may be another chance to redeem yourself.

Persephone smiled. "I knew it. I said they'd see me again, but maybe, just maybe, it won't be here." She laughed to herself until a rock was beamed at her head. "Ow!" she shouted as she saw Harvey sitting to the side, tossing another rock up and down in his hand. "What are you-" her question was cut off by another rock. "Stop that!"

"Nah," Harvey said with a smirk. "This is my island now. I figured they'd send you packing quick. You were a total annoyance." He laughed. "I'm running this place now, and whenever we fight to get back in, I'm gonna cause all the chaos I-" he then stopped as Persephone turned around and went further into the woods of Loser Island. "H-hey, where are you going?" Harvey asked.

Persephone let out a huff. "To train. I'm getting back to that village, no matter what." Persephone then disappeared into the woods, leaving Harvey alone on the Loser Island beach, where he continued to pelt various birds with the rocks he had found.

Vote Confessionals:

Alessia: "With Winter on my side, and Chander on his way to folding too, I have three votes locked in, and Klase pretty much folds to Chander, so I already run this team on day three! How amazing!"

Chander: "Alessia made a good point to me. Persephone can't lead...I just don't want it to be me."

Klase: "You did better today, Persephone, but I'm not thrilled that we lost. You need to go."

Persephone: "Alessia is a big problem, I think. All talk, all fake. She can go."

Syd: She held up her paper that had 'Alessia' written on it.

Winslow: "I suppose Alessia is a larger problem than I thought. If the team lets her control Winter, she has two votes. I do not want that."

Winter: "Um...Alessia's voting Persephone, so I will too."

Current Teams:

Team Gorgeous: Faye, Kaif, Monty, Nicolette, Sasha, Setsuna, Shion, Zev

Team Persephone: Alessia, Chander, Klase, Syd, Winslow, Winter

Eliminated: Harvey, Persephone

It is with great regret that I report that Persephone has gone down. This was one of my favorite SYOC characters of all time, but with such a stacked cast of characters, her personality got tangled with the wrong people. Will this be the end of her? Only Loser Island will tell.

Today's challenge was incredibly interesting to write. I actually looked up spear techniques to help me visualize what was going on for this one, and the throwing portion was truly meant to let readers see who could throw straight, who had power in their throws, and who could follow directions.

Today we start one of the main villager plotlines: Rodin and Croshia's investigation. How will that pan out?

I tried to give characters that did not have as much screentime last time more today, and I think overall everyone got a pretty solid showing, especially in any part of the episode.

Anyway, I don't have much else for this one. We got this one out quicker than before, and I'm hoping to keep that pace up. Let me know what you thought of your character, or who you think is going to go next in the reviews. See you soon!