The air in the tropical clearing was tense as Merida and Izzy stood beside a swirling, brightly lit portal, and Team E-Scope, Gwen and Courtney stood on the opposite side, staring at their friends in put, dumbfounded shock. It was almost like the jungle itself was waiting on bated breath to see what would happen, especially since the portal was making a bunch of alien, otherworldly sounds.
Noah kept looking between Merida, Izzy and the portal, his original question still hanging in the air.
Merida let out a heavy sigh, and took a few steps forward. "Okay, so, we didn't want to drag you five into this… but I guess at this point we don't have any choice."
Courtney took a few careful steps forward, passing the princess and walking around the glowing mass with confusion and curiosity. "What… What even is this?"
"It kinda reminds me of that weird arc thing you accidentally broke back in Area 51…" Gwen said as she joined the Ex-CIT.
"It's how we get around", Merida explained bluntly. "It's… Our little way to just visit each other."
"Wait a minute…" Eva mumbled, squinting at the portal. Her eyes then bugged out and lit up in realisation. She looked at Izzy, who flinched under the gaze. "This was that weird light we saw you disappear into back during Action!"
Izzy shrunk a bit into herself, but nodded nonetheless. "Y-Yeah, that's h-how I disappeared w-without a tr-trace." She swallowed thickly and dashed behind Merida, making the Fitness Buff look horrified and scramble to apologise.
Noah pat her on the shoulder and approached the two redheads, his earlier shock now discarded for curiosity and intrigue. "So… What, you two can just open… portals… with no restrictions?"
Merida shrugged. "That's kind of what it feels like, yeah. But of course we can't, and you five are a prime example as to why."
Owen blinked owlishly and walked forward, joining Gwen and Courtney in investigation of the swirling bright light. Izzy watched as he stuck his hand in slowly, and reached it back quickly, like it was going to be eaten or something.
"Where… Where does this thing go?" The loveable lug asked, looking to Merida for an answer. Gwen and Courtney joined in and walked closer to their friend, looking at her as well for an answer.
Merida glanced at Izzy in concern, but when the Psycho Hose Beast nodded, the princess answered. "To our home away from home. Where our friend… Caleb… lives. It's a weird place, and it took me a while to get used to it because of how… foreign I was to all of it. But trust me, it's great."
The other five all shared a look, then looked back at the princess. "So… What do we do, then?" Gwen asked. "Just let you two go, hang out with your friends for a bit, then come back while we just go?"
The princess shook her head. "No. No, that's not right. You lot helped us through so much, and… and I'd rather not leave you all in the dark. So you're coming with us."
The five all shared shocked looks. Are you okay with that, Iz?" Eva asked carefully.
"Yes!" Izzy shouted suddenly, looking like she just down way too many cups of coffee. "Yes, you guys can come! I'm still kicking myself for not telling you three, my Team E-Scope, about my second life. So I want you guys to tag along and see what I've seen. Meet who I've met, all of that. You guys all deserve that… after all you've done… and after everything I put you through…"
Noah frowned and walked up to the wild child, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We get it, Iz. You were going through a lot, so don't beat yourself up over it."
She nodded, and looked away partially. The group all huddled up closer, then looked at the portal.
"So, how does this work?" Courtney asked.
Merida shrugged bluntly. "Honestly, I have no idea. Caleb's parents are kind of in charge of this sort of stuff, and even they don't fully know how this blasted stuff works. But what I do know is it's basically an open door."
"We just walk in?" Eva asked, looking at the redheads with a flabbergasted look.
Izzy shrugged, although still looked a bit on edge. "Yeah, that's the idea."
Owen reached his arm in again, then pulled it back out. "How long is the trip?"
"Just a step", the princess said. "Right through there is our little getaway place. Just be a bit careful, because walking though might still make you a little bit dizzy."
As the two redheads walked up to the portal, the other five shared looks. They were in this deep already, there was no going back now. Plus, Noah, Owen and Courtney were genuinely curious what could be waiting on the other side. Eva and Gwen were more unsure, but going along with it anyway. So the five of them followed the pair, feeling far more nervous when they watched Izzy and Merida step through and vanish into the blinding light. So the group closed their eyes, and each stepped in one by one.
Izzy watched as her fellow contestants came through one by one, stumbling as they attempted to regain their bearings. Merida laughed as she caught sight of their closed eyes, and watched as they all stumbled over to the railing of the balcony to try and steady themselves.
Slowly, the five all opened their eyes, and immediately were snapped back to full attention as they looked over the massive courtyard filled with exotic, wild and unbelievable plants. They all looked up and slowly panned their gazes to the right, seeing the museum and the sprawling city just outside of the wall.
Owen turned around fully, and with a look of disbelief he turned his gaze up. "Sweet sarsaparilla…" He whispered in shock. The other four all looked at him, then up, shocked and floored at the gargantuan castle they were before. Split so it was entirely white on one side and black on the other, with three spires pointing to the rainbow high above, it was like something out of a kindergartener's drawing.
Merida cleared her throat, and the five all looked at her with wide eyes. The princess grinned as she gestured up to the massive palace. "Welcome to the Castle Of Creation, Caleb's home and where we go to just… hang out. C'mon." Merida began to head towards the one large door that went inside, with Izzy following closely behind.
As the others ran to catch up, Merida continued on with her explanation. "Now, I will say all of our friends are over. So it might be a bit overwhelming, but they're just doing their best."
"Just how will we know when we run into them?" Gwen asked as they all walked inside. Before the princess could continue, someone came barreling down the hall to the left and jumping onto Izzy happily.
"Iz, you're alright!" Iris cried. She beamed up at her friend, who sighed happily and hugged her close. "I was so worried. The others were all starting to get antsy and plotting to come and just get you out of there, but luckily Ruby talked them out of it."
"I… I'm glad to hear that…" Izzy said happily.
Iris beamed brighter, then looked at Merida. "And I'm glad you're okay too, Merry. After you were eliminated we were all really upset."
The princess rolled her eyes with a smile and ruffled the cyclops' hair. "Yeah yeah, glad to see you too." She faced the others who were looking at Iris in shock. "Guys, this is Iris, one of our friends."
The perky cyclops looked at the other five, who all stared into Iris' single eye in shock and horror. After a while of them not saying anything, Iris' neutral expression became a frustrated one.
"If I knew they'd just stare like that, I would've just left…" She hopped out of Izzy's arms and walked down the wider and brightly decorated hallway. Her jab made the others shake their heads, and they all looked at Izzy in surprise.
"That's one of your friends?" Eva cried out. "She… I don't… What the heck is going on?"
"All will be explained", Merida said firmly. "C'mon." The princess began to walk down the corridor, with the others following closely behind. As they walked, the five newcomers looked around to take in the sights. The painted walls were beautifully done, and each door had its frame decorated to look like something in particular. And above each of them was a name.
Ralph, Manolo & Maria, The Doctor, MeGee… They even spotted Izzy's room, which had a bunch of jungle trees painted around the frame.
As they approached a door with a lot of activity sounding off from the other side (Iris slipped inside just before them), someone walked out with something on their shoulder and something else hovering next to them. The five stopped as they took in the appearance of this boy… And it clicked.
His messy mop of brown hair, his baggy shirt, bold glasses, comfy jogging pants…
It was the boy. The intern from Action.
The boy who left behind a hundred mysteries.
The five watched as the boy turned his head lightly, eyeing them all carefully. The odd thing on his shoulder, which appeared to be some kind of sentient plant with a face, glared at them, while the flying sword remained almost completely still.
After a while, the boy looked at Izzy with a gentle smile. "Hey there, Iz… Couldn't stay away till the end of the show?"
The Psycho Hose Beast shook her head slowly as tears started to pool in her eyes, and she walked forward and wrapped him in a hug. As they hugged, the boy glanced at Merida, and smiled sadly at her. The princess smiled sadly back, and walked over, planting a kiss in the boy's messy mop of hair.
When Izzy broke off the hug, the boy faced the others again. "Well, I bet you five are really confused. So I'll explain everything to you. But first… Introductions…"
He shot them all a smile, and they blink simultaneously. "My name is Caleb. And I'm the kid that dragged Izzy on a wild and crazy adventure. C'mon, I know you want to meet the others."
He walked into the room with the plant and sword still next to him, and things quieted down as he did so. Merida and Izzy followed shortly after, and things picked right back up again as excited and concerned calls flooded the air.
Noah, Owen, Eva, Gwen and Courtney all shared apprehensive looks, and walked in after the twin redheads. As soon as they stepped inside, things fell silent as the collection of bizarre and clashing people all looked at them with varying looks.
There was the sound of a Knife being drawn, and the five looked to the left to see a man with an open golden dress shirt and eye patch giving them the stink-eye as he cleaned a very elegantly decorated knife.
"So you're Team E-Scope, huh?" The strange block man said from one side of the couch before them. "I'll be honest… I was half expecting you guys to be taller."
The five newcomers all gaped at him as some of the others all began to giggle. Caleb rolled his eyes with a smile and walked around the couch so he could sit on it. Merida and Izzy joined him, with the princess leaning against the arm while the Psycho Hose Beast sat on her lap and leaned against her.
Noah looked around, taking in all the unfamiliar and strange faces… until he caught sight of a familiar face.
"Zomboss?" The bookworm said in surprise. The others looked over at him, and they cringed when they took in his appearance.
The zombie overlord rolled his eyes and walked over, eyeing the boy all over. "It's nice to see you again, Noah. I can see… You haven't changed much."
The bookworm shot him a flat look. "And here I thought we'd get a warm welcome."
A flower that was resting on the head of a bipedal rabbit laughed. "Okay, I like this kid. Can we keep him?"
"Shut up, Flowey", a woman that looked to be made out of wood said strictly.
The five all shared looks, their unease slowly vanishing, and they all looked at Caleb again. He smiled at them reassuringly.
"Find a seat, there's a lot of explaining that needs to happen..."
~X~
The five newcomers, all sitting on a spare couch, gave Caleb wide-eyed expressions that showed a varying array of emotions. From shock, to horror, to disbelief, to realisation. Izzy and Merida were asleep, snoring lightly next to their friend as he finished explaining to the other Total Drama contestants… everything.
Noah blinked and looked down at his hands, then back at Caleb. "That… That explains so much…"
"So we're just a bunch of cartoon characters?" Owen said in shock. He then smiled. "That's awesome!"
Caleb winced at the shout, frowning a bit. "Might be to you, but it's why Iz was so… out of it, over the course of the show."
Owen frowned and looked extremely apologetic. Eva gave him a stern look before looking back at Caleb. "And… What, she watched our show?"
"She asked", a somewhat elegant British voice said. The group of five turned around to see Scrap Baby leaning on one of the DVD shelves, idly looking at her claw. "Like the rest of us, she wanted to know the full story. It affected us all differently than most others. Izzy took it the hardest."
Gwen cringed at Baby's intense aura. "But… What did she watch?"
The clawed animatronic grabbed a DVD from the shelf behind her with her normal hand and tossed it over to the five. Courtney caught it, and they all looked at the case. Their eyes widened when they saw it was a DVD that had all of the first season of TD. But seeing it like this… They were just art. They looked just like how they did on the case's cover.
The Ex-CIT looked over at Merida, and it clicked. "And… And Merida isn't from our Earth, is she?"
Baby silently reached behind her and tossed them another DVD case, this time for Merida's own movie. Noah was the one that caught it this time, and he was gobsmacked at how much it made it clear Merida looked nothing like them.
The bookworm set the DVD on the coffee table and let out a rough sigh as he buried his face in his now free hands. "This whole time… This is why Iz has been so weird for the past year…" He sighed sadly. "No wonder she didn't tell us anything…"
"I just can't believe Merida's been from a movie this whole time!" Gwen cried out. "So everything she told us was, what, a lie to hide the truth?"
"Merida doesn't lie", Caleb affirmed. "Whatever she told you guys is true… Just twisted to make more sense."
"So she really fought a giant turtle?" Owen asked innocently. The others rolled their eyes, only to pale as Dry Bowser in all his skeletal glory stomped past.
"I'm not just a giant turtle…" He grumbled bitterly, shooting the group a glare.
They watched him leave with terrified expressions, which just made Majima and Flowey laugh up a storm. Caleb shot them both a glare, and Jenny smacked them both on the backs of their heads. As they shut up, all the five newcomers shared unsure looks.
This was a lot to take in, especially considering how… colourful all these characters were. And it was just shocking to Noah especially, who thought he'd seen it all, now just found out about this double life Izzy has been living. He let out a breath and stood up, walking off elsewhere into the room, what was dubbed 'The Rec Room'.
As we walked off towards the end closer towards the area for reading, he found his eyes wandering up the wall, which was filled with photos. Probably from taken over the past year. There were pictures that featured all of these varied personalities, but it was the bigger ones that caught Noah's attention.
It was big group shots, with the groups playing video games together, celebrating at parties, singing karaoke, all of that. It… It made a bubble of jealousy slowly well inside of himself. That he felt left out.
He saw Izzy in the photos, and frowned lightly seeing at how happy she looked. She looked like herself, so alive and trauma free. It irked him, making him wonder if Izzy was just happier here than in their world.
"She loves you all dearly", a voice said next to him. The bookworm jumped when the stoic Galacta Knight suddenly appeared next to him.
"W-What?" Noah stammered, slowly coming off his sudden fright.
"Isabel", the knight elaborated, gesturing the pictures. "I can see you're wondering why she stays in your world when she seems happier here."
The bookworm blinked down at the winged warrior, then over at the still sleeping Izzy. "Yeah… Kinda."
"Well, don't worry about that. She loves you, Owen and Evaline. She's just scared. Scared of what she says could hurt those she loves. She's made it clear she hasn't told even her own mother the full story about all of this…" The knight gestured to the rest of the room, making the bookworm look around a lot more.
He could already tell there was a bunch of history here, even from the singular year these guys were all together.
"We all work to build each other up", Galacta continued. "After our grand and impossible adventure that took us to all of our worlds and more, we realised we needed to be there for each other. Especially after two key moments."
"What were those?"
"The first was when we found ourselves in a universe falling apart at the seams that was desperate to try and kill us. The second was the aftermath of a very emotional and stressful meeting where Caleb was dragged in and forced to admit to some very deep trauma." The knight looked at the boy as Owen picked him up, making the knight's eyes dim slightly. "That boy has been through hell… and he was beating himself up constantly over what was happening to Isabel."
Noah's expression became a lot more dower as he looked at Caleb. "He really blames himself for what happens to Iz? But… Why?"
"It's his anxieties and fears. He loves us all so much, and wishes to just burden our pain for us. He's a very kind and patient boy… But he struggles a lot. And all of this that happened with Izzy left its mark on him."
The bookworm frowned fully, and glanced at the knight for a moment before making his way back over to the group. Gwen and Courtney were with Scrap Baby and the Powerpuffs, having a quiet conversation amongst the six of them. Eva was sizing up Ralph, seemingly seeing whether she could actually throw him or not.
And Owen was still with Caleb, the Wasabi Whip Maple and sword Gladius still attached to his hip.
Izzy was finally awake at this point, and she was watching the whole thing happily. As she watched her friends all interact and mingle, Noah sat next to her.
"Hey there, Iz", Noah said with a light smile. "How are you holding up?"
The wild child shrugged. "Better… But still not the best…" She was quiet for a moment. "Caleb said he and Kat would try and book me an appointment with a therapist for after the show…"
The bookworm nodded, glancing at the still sleeping Merida. "Just… Remember we're here for you, Iz. No matter what. Even if all of us have to adjust to… all of this, we'll do it for you."
Iz smiled at her friend.
"Well I can't say anything for Gwen and Court, but for me, Eva and Owen? I can guarantee it."
Izzy giggled, only to be pushed aside when Merida awoke suddenly as an alarm The Doctor set went off. The madman with a box looked at his watch, and hissed sympathetically. "Well, hate to break up the fun, but I believe this is the best time for Izzy, Merry and the rest of ya' to get back to your show. If you're quick, no one will know you were gone."
The Dun Broch princess nodded and yawned, stretching as she stood up. Izzy joined her and followed closely as the rest of the Total Drama contestants slowly joined them. Everyone else bid them farewell and good luck, with Caleb and Gladius joining them to see them off.
As the group all walked back out onto the balcony, Courtney looked back at Caleb curiously. "So you just live here, huh?"
"Yep!" Caleb said happily. "It's great, so hopefully you guys can visit more often. We've got our own kind of afterparty for after World Tour planned, so hopefully you five like this."
"Your friends are great, dude!" Owen said happily. "I'd love to come back here anytime!" His smile fell. "How would we do that, though?"
"Don't worry, there's a little surprise Z-Tron stuck in your luggage", I gave Merida a wink, who shared a suspicious look with Izzy.
"Who the heck is Z-Tron?" Gwen asked with a raised brow. Her question was answered immediately when the miniature Zomboss ran by and activated his rocket jets to perch himself on Caleb's shoulder.
The five newcomers' eyes bugged out when the familiar robot made himself known. "That's a mini version of the robot that ripped apart the movie lot!" Eva cried out, pointing at Z-Tron in an accusatory way.
The robot made an offended noise, and I giggled. "He's a bit prideful, so be careful. Because he won't be afraid to shove a missile in your mouth." The Fitness Buff shut her mouth up instantly, making Z-Tron let out a robotic laugh before jumping back down to the ground and running inside.
As Izzy activated the portal once more, Caleb gave them all a reassuring look. "You guys just have the finale left and you'll be free. And we're all rooting for you."
They all shared looks, with the twin redheads sharing a smile. "But we aren't in the game anymore." Courtney said flatly.
Caleb just shrugged with a smile. "I can still support my friends."
"So do your best, all of you", Gladius said gently. "Because even if you think it's over, there's always something that could happen. So be vigilant, and just remember to be yourselves."
The group all looked up at Gladius, and they all nodded.
"Well, good luck guys!" Caleb said happily. "Iz?" The Psycho Hose Beast perked up and looked at the boy. "When you show up here again, we'll get you the date of your first therapy appointment, I promise."
"Thanks, CC", the wild child said with a warm smile. "Love you, bro."
"Love ya' too, sis!" Caleb turned and left, gently singing a song as he left. When he was gone, the Total Drama contestants all looked at Izzy and Merida.
"So what's the plan now?" Gwen asked.
"We support Cody no matter what", Merida said firmly. "And if he loses just before the finale somehow, we still cheer for him. Because what matters is we are just better than Alejandro and Heather. Got it?"
The others all nodded, and one by one they stepped into the portal. Before Merida stepped through, however, Izzy stopped her by holding her hand. The princess looked at her, and was confused by the relieved look on her girlfriend's face.
"What's going on, Iz?" The archer asked.
"I just… I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for all of this, Merry. You're amazing, and I don't think my life would've been as amazing as it is now without the others and especially you. This… I want this to last."
The princess smiled warmly, and kissed Izzy on the cheek. "Trust me, Iz. I'm the exact same way."
There was a girly squeal, and the two redheads looked over to see Star and some of the others all looking at them. The Mewman was bouncing in excitement, and the two redheads blushed in embarrassment, waved goodbye, and stepped through the portal before they could be teased by the others.
~X~
And this is it, people! The finale and epilogue is all that's left! We are officially at the end of this wild journey of a story, probably the strangest TD fic in existence (I'm only joking, but let a guy dream). And… I'm kinda sombre about this, tbh. Captain Crashing is at the end, and we'll be moving onto WorldWide Wreck-It shortly after, which is just wild to me.
But, I will say this too: We hit another milestone for this fic! What is it? 200k total words, baby! And because of the first chapters of the other three stories in the DCT chapters being out, that means we're over 130 chapters with a total of over 700k words. This is insane for me, and if I keep this up, I'll hit one million words when I get to working on DCT2.
Anyways, about this chapter. It was fun! It was nice getting the group together again (they are all there, I just didn't think to make them all say something). This was just nice, especially to give Izzy that little bit of an emotional break. It was needed.
Special shoutout time! I want to give a callout to my friends in the TDWriters discord server, who helped me see how to approach writing a TD fic, and it was great to be able to finally make a complete TD fic after the disaster of Galactic Conquest Of Wawanaka (if you follow my account, you'll get what I mean).
Well… This is it. Catch you all soon, this fic will end with such an amazing and bombastic bang.
Up next: The finale of World Tour is here! It's Alejandro vs Heather, but Team E-Scope (now with three new additions) decides that maybe they could make this a finale to remember…
~Caleb~