The camera hovered over the island, until it slowly panned down until the dock was now in view. On the dock, Chris was standing with his rather iconic grin. "Last time, on Total Drama Island, I figured that the campers needed a challenge to really grow closer as a team. So I threw them into a forest with limited supplies. One team thrived, rarely running into any kind of issues." The camera cut to show the Screaming Gophers getting ready to play some DnD. "While the other team ran into… some issues." Cut away to Bella and Christopher falling down the side of the steep hill. "In the end, it became a close race to the finish line with the Killer Bass leading near the end, having sacrificed much of their sleep to pull ahead. Unfortunately, due to them missing two members of the team, and one of the markers being missing, they lost the challenge. After a very close vote, Matthew was the one who went home when he lost one of the markers due to his recklessness." Cut away to him being attacked by the bear, and losing the necklace. "This time, we'll be trying something different by not throwing the campers into any immediate danger. Will the Killer Bass finally catch a break, or will the Screaming Gophers continue their minor reign of terror? Find out this time, on Total! Drama! Island!"

Cafeteria

Twice in a row was a bit much, and the fear of it becoming three times in a row did exist. Of course, Josef was trying his best to not let it get to him. It had been two days since the ceremony, so they were allowed to have some form of break. His temper from a few days ago seemed to mostly be gone now.

"We need a plan." Nila declared to the rest of the team. She was going to say something else, but was cut off.

"A plan on who to vote out next time we lose?" David perked up. "Great idea. I'm thinking of someone like Christopher."

"H-hey! Why me?" The boy blinked a few times.

Jeremy shrugged. "You were just first alphabetically."

"But-" Bella began to say but realised it wasn't worth it.

"This is not what I meant by plan." Nila called out, finally having her voice be heard again. "I meant to win the challenge. Then we would not need to vote someone off."

"It's simple." Enima tilted her head to the side. "We sabotage the other team."

"Huh?" The military trainee shook her head. "Absolutely not."

Mindy frowned slightly. "What? It almost worked last time. If Matthew hadn't lost his marker, we would have won." She played around with the marker she stole from Ashton. "It's not like we'd sabotage someone by hurting them."

The shady guy let out a sad sigh.

"Maybe…" Christopher thought for a moment. "We should just see how the other team is? Maybe they get along really well."

"Robin. Why the hell did you do that?" Jack called out from the other table. "You have all the healing potions, get me up."

"Hmm…" The strategist hummed to himself. "Maybe you should have chosen a melee wizard instead. Or stayed away from the enemy."

"They ran at me full sprint." The critic tried to defend himself. "You were supposed to hold them off. And don't even get me started on you, Marisa."

"Hey, they haven't even spotted me yet, not my fault."

Christopher had been staring from his table the entire time. "See, they seem to be getting along great."

"I think both teams are hopeless…" Josef shook his head.

"Wait, where is the rest of their team…" Nila pointed out.

Outside

Given how loud the four of them were being, it's only natural that the rest of the team was elsewhere after they were done eating.

Jared was actually on his morning jog at the moment. It felt nice to not have a challenge first thing in the morning so he could get back into his routine. Although, he hadn't expected anyone to join him this morning.

"So how long do you normally do this for?" Ashton called out, running right behind him.

He didn't normally spend his time talking, but he could humour him for now. "Normally for about an hour straight. Then I take a break before running the last thirty minutes."

"That's… a lot of time. Don't you have other things to do?"

Jared found that to be a bit rude, but he wasn't going to comment on it. "I have to make sure my body stays in shape."

"But I don't do that, and my body is in perfect shape!" The racer countered. "So I guess just take it easy or something…" He rubbed the back of his head.

Putting that to the challenge, the cadet began to pick up the pace. Ashton was able to keep up with him, but after a certain point, he began to drag behind.

"Hey! Wait up! I'm still in shape, I swear!" But by this point, his voice was a bit distant.

He didn't want to ditch the racer, but he felt he needed to make a point.

However, his wishes to be alone in his run didn't last long, as he ran into somebody else again.

This time, it was Talia, but she seemed to be wearing a different attire from her usual style. Was she also doing some exercise? "What are you doing out here?" He called out.

"Getting away from people like you." She answered bluntly. "But it seems that you all go wherever, so."

Damn, is this how he was to Ashton. "Ah, I was just doing my morning jog. Sorry, I'll be on my way if it's a problem."

Talia spent a few seconds looking at him before her eyes drifted over his shoulders, spotting Ashton in the distance. "Is he… with you?"

"Not really, but he wanted to go on a jog with me. I was trying to create some distance to… prove a point."

It was likely that if Jared left, Ashton might pester her or something. She'd take her chances with the cadet. "Then let's jog together, or whatever." Not that she'd like it, but she couldn't lie that she needed to bond with some people.

Confessional: Talia

"If it was really up to me, I'd keep interacting to a minimum, but then I'd probably just get picked off by a larger group. And Jared just seems like he wouldn't notice me using him for safety. He hasn't really made any enemies, so." She trailed off.

"Ah, you want to jog with me?" He didn't hate the idea, but he just ditched Ashton, so it wouldn't look great on him. When he looked up to give his answer, Talia had already gone off sprinting. "H-hey! Wait up!" He took off after that.

A few seconds later, Ashton would finally reach where they used to be, a little out of breath. "Man… I am not cut out for this running business. Maybe I drive around too much…" He concluded.

Forest

Having two days in a row with nothing to do felt nice. It meant Eleanor could focus on enjoying her surroundings for once. Of course, even then there was work that could be done. The food at the cafeteria wasn't exactly the best, so she had opted to go around foraging instead. Having made a makeshift basket, she got to berry collecting.

"Isn't it dangerous out here?" A voice called out to her, slowly approaching.

She had almost dropped the basket out of shock. Looking over at who it was, it was Xi. "Oh, well, I don't plan on going too deep into the forest. Besides, I've dealt with animals before, so I'm not too worried."

"Still…" He trailed off, looking at the surroundings. "I heard the other team ran into some bear issues during the last challenge. Just trying to make sure nothing happens to you, is all."

"That's very kind of you." She stood up, holding out her basket. "Would you like to join me? I'd feel safer with the two of us, then."

Not really, but he wasn't going to turn down such an opportunity. "Just berry collecting?"

"Yes. It's the easiest thing to collect." Eleanor squatted back town to collect from the bush she had found. "Although, they can be a little dangerous if you find a bad bush. Especially since not all of them are edible."

"Poisonous berries?" Xi called out, doing the bare minimum in his efforts to collect berries.

"I haven't seen them yet, but I don't know what the flora of this island is." Once the bush was picked empty, she moved to the next one. "Do you think the team would like to have berries? Maybe we should get enough for them."

Taking a glance into the basket, the psychologist raised an eyebrow. "This seems like more than enough for our team already. I don't think many of them will stuff berries down their throats."

"Ah, but I might…" She took a glance in the basket. "Honestly, I could probably eat this entire thing alone."

"Basket included?"

"Ah-" She let out a small laugh. "Maybe." She took out a berry from the basket. "Want one."

"Not particularly. We should bring them back and wash them up first, no?"

He had a point there. "Alright, then let's finish up here and head back to camp."

Camp

After two days, things had gotten quiet. Seems they had briefly forgotten what they had to be worried about. With one loud blare of the megaphone, everyone was reminded just why they were here. "Everyone! Meet up at the campfire! It's time to get ready for your next challenge!" Chris called out.

It took a bit, but eventually everyone was there, (with most being ready for the challenge).

"Alright now that we're all at the campfire." He raised the megaphone again. "Everyone, meet up at the outside auditorium."

"Then what was the point of making…" Jack was going to complain, but decided to drop the issue.

Auditorium

Christopher looked around the place. "When did we have this?"

Bella blinked a few times. "I… I think this was built yesterday."

"Lay it on us, Chris." Catrina called out. "The last two have been a breeze."

"That's because you didn't pay attention." Jared pointed out.

After a few seconds, she finally responded. "What?" He seemed to be proving all sorts of points today.

"After the last two challenges involved a lot of physical work, I figured I would let you all have a break this time. No need to go running into the forest in a race of some kind."

"Oh thank god…" Historia mumbled out.

"So no running is necessary?" Robin crossed his arms. "Is it mostly a stationary challenge?"

"That mostly depends on what you think you should do for the challenge. It's all up to you, honestly." He wasn't going to stop them from running or anything. He wasn't a monster. Yet.

"Today's challenge is a simple talent show. Each team will pick three members and have them perform in front of our live judge, where they will then be scored based on how well they did. At the end, after all three teams went, the team with the highest overall score will win immunity, sending the other team to the elimination ceremony, to vote off a camper."

"Who's the judge?" David perked up. "Did you bring someone from off the island?"

"I brought the person most qualified to be a judge." Drum roll! "Chef." He pointed towards the cook. Awkward silence.

"What's his credentials?" Marisa asked.

He didn't seem to like that comment. "I don't need credentials." If he was going to judge her, she was already getting points marked off.

"You have three hours to figure out who you want to send out. Maybe even time to practise your act. After that, you better hope you're ready."

With the host gone, the two teams got to brainstorming.

"Alright team!" Ashton called out, getting everyone into a huddle. "We just need two spots filled out.

"Two? He said three." Talia narrowed her eyes.

The racer flashed a smile. "Yeah, but I call dibs on one of the spots. So we only really need two."

"What do you plan on doing?" Arianna raised an eyebrow. Didn't really see him as the type to have some sort of talent for this.

"Oh, can I go!" Catrina called out. "Trust me! I'll be great."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves…" Xi shook his head.

"Wait, hear her out." Christopher said.

There was silence.

"How do you keep doing this?" Marisa asked.

He looked at everyone. "I like huddles." He was promptly kicked out.

"Do we have… anything else?" Jack crossed his arms.

Thinking for a few seconds, Talia let out a sigh. "I can maybe do something."

"Ah yes, being rude." The critic shook his head. "Next."

Standing up straight, Jared shook his head. "Hey, let's not just start turning down everyone, alright."

Humming in thought, Marisa spoke up. "Why not just have some sort of tryouts? Everyone shows what they can do, and then we decide as a team who would be the best fit to send up."

"Works for me!" Cameron called out excitedly.

As for the other team…

"So, one third of us…" Jeremy pointed out. "Tall order, given… what we have."

"Yes, I know…" Josef rubbed the temple of his forehead. "Anyone got anything good?"

Thinking for a moment, Christopher thought of something. "Ah, Historia is really smart. Can't she do anything?"

She didn't like this. "Being smart isn't a talent. It should just be something natural. But I see most people here lack it."

"Let me go." Enima offered herself up. "I'm a great painter, so I'm sure I could make something."

The wannabe host shot that down right away. "But that's boring to watch. We need to figure out something else."

"Well…" Christopher trailed off. "After the other team kicked me out, I overhead them suggesting some tryouts."

"Oh, that would be great." Nila clapped her hands together. "Then we could put it to a vote."

"Hmm…" David thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No thank you. I don't feel like participating in something like that." Looking around and noticing that the host was gone, he shouted out. "Hey Chris! Do we have access to any props?"

After a few seconds of silence, a voice could be heard on the intercom. "There should be a shed not too far from here."

He turned towards the rest of his team. "Then shouldn't we go there now? See what they have?"

"I suppose." Josef turned towards the shed that was in the distance. "But after that, we should start the tryouts."

Shed

Upon entering, everyone seemed to be assaulted by several layers of dust. Nobody had been here in a while.

Jeremy covered his mouth with his arm to let out a few coughs. "Did Chris buy the island with this already here?"

"He must have…" David mumbled out. He stopped walking when he noticed a costume hung up. "This place is full of old things."

"Oh." Mindy called out, stopping in front of a bucket of tools. "If we had a block of ice, I could try and sculpt something."

A heavy sigh from Josef. "Once again, art like that isn't one you can boast at a show. Dance is much more entertaining to watch." He pointed his cane at the girl.

"Well, we don't really have many options, now do we?" She leaned forward, hands behind her back. "So let's not discount any idea here."

"Do you think we can perform our talent anywhere, or does it need to be on stage?" Jeremy asked the rest of the group. "I have a pretty good talent, but it's pointless if we can't go to the beach."

"It's going to have to be on stage." Historia replied. "He's really limited us with what we can actually do."

"Then let's drop looking through here first, and try and do some tryouts." David suggested. "Without me, of course." He waved his hand dismissively. "I don't do talent shows."

He was about to leave the shed when a cane blocked him. "If you have some form of talent, I'm depending on you to use it reliably"

Pushing the cane out of the way, the shady guy shook his head. "Well, don't worry. I don't have any form of talent. Good luck, though."

Confessional: Josef

"We are on a losing streak right now, and he doesn't even want to consider trying to help his team. If we lose, he's the next one out, I'll make sure of it."

On his way out, though, he would spot something else.

"Hmm… a shed huh?" Xi had approached the building earlier, having spotted the other team going towards it. "Guess we could find all matter of important things in there."

David glanced back and shook his head. "Nah man, there's nothing of value in there."

"We heard Chris say to check the shed." He deadpanned.

"Old man was wrong." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Anyways, you have fun with the challenge. I'll be praying for your team's demise." He waved him off as he kept walking.

The psychologist just raised an eyebrow before glancing into the shed briefly. He had no reason to check it out now, but it would be good to keep in mind.

Cabins

The Screaming Gophers decided that the best place to set up was right in front of the cabins. The other team hadn't come back yet, so it was perfect.

"Alright!" Ashton called out. "It's time for tryouts!" He looked around at everyone eagerly. "Who wants to go first?"

"Why don't you go first?" Arianna pointed out. "It was your idea."

Not wanting to go first, he thought of a better idea. "Thank you for volunteering, Arianna."

"Huh… what? No-" Her protest went ignored as she was pushed in front of the entire team. "Hey, you can't make me…"

"Ah, but we need to see what everyone is capable of." Xi crossed his arms. "How can we know that if not everyone wants to participate?"

Letting out a small sigh, and choosing not to be difficult in front of her team, she fully took center stage. "Fine, but the only thing I can really do is act. Not much I can do that would be entertaining on my own."

"Imitate Chris!" Cameron suggested gleefully.

"I…" Although, it might not be the worst idea. "I can't really do a man's voice, but." She coughed a few times, thinking of what to say. "Alright campers!" While she was no voice actor, she seemed to perfect some of his mannerism pretty well. "For your next challenge, you will be tasked to go into the forest again." There was some brief silence, as if she was listening to some complaints. "I don't care that it's been like that for the last five challenges. It's an island, what do you want me to do? But don't worry, only some of you will die. And most of them will be quick. First team to come back alive receives immunity. The losing team gets to vote out someone from whoever survived." Then she paused. When nobody reacted she looked the other way. "Not exactly something that would do good on a talent show."

"Yeah, probably not." Ashton rubbed the back of his head. "But that should be fine!" He called out. "Next up…" He pulled out a list from nowhere. "Cameron?"

Without putting any thought into it, he ran up in front of everyone. "Well, don't mind if I do. You may all be wondering about my fantastic talent, but fret not, for it shall be shown to you." Waving his hand around, soon, he had a deck of cards. "Behold, magic!"

Arianna blinked a few times. "Wait, so you weren't just going to narrate a story."

He placed a hand on his hip, tilting his head to the side. "Wow, way to tear me down to just my most basic interest, instead of letting me have multiple different intertwining interests."

Robin hummed in thought. "Why magic though?"

"Because I want to be a sorcerer."

"Ah, there it is."

Giving his hand a wave, the cards were gone now. "But no, I pride myself on how great of a magician I am." And in his other hand, they reappeared. He started letting them fly out of one hand, intending on having them land in his other. However, the wind had other plans as it blew them away past the cabins. There was a moment of silence before he rubbed the back of his head. "I only knew card tricks…"

"Get out." Ashton ordered bluntly.

Beach

"This seems like the perfect spot." Nila pointed out, turning towards everyone. "So. Who is ready to show off some talents?" She clapped her hands together.

Silence.

Nobody wanted to be the first to volunteer, so Jeremy spoke up. "How about in alphabetical order?"

"Why do you have an obsession with that?" Bella paled up, realising that would mean she was first.

Christopher put his hands on her back and pushed her to be in front of everyone else. "Well, what are you waiting for! Just show them how talented you are!"

"But I…" She began to fidget a bit, covering her face. "I don't have anything special."

"Huh?" He blinked a few times, confused. "Sure you do. Do your bird thing!"

"Bird… thing…? Oh!" She let out a whistle, and in an instant, several birds were now hovering around her, doing circles. "I can… I'm very good with animals. They seem to like me." She held her hands together. "But I don't think it classifies as a talent…"

Josef looked at this with mild interest. "Are you able… to command them?"

She glanced up before extending her arm horizontally. Soon, a bird landed on her arm. "Somewhat."

"Is it just birds?" Enima raised an eyebrow. "If you can do that with anything, I can see you being able to put on a pretty good show."

"M-maybe…" She mumbled away. She did one last whistle, and the birds all dispersed. "But I'd rather not use animals for a talent show!" She called out.

But it wasn't about what people wanted to do. "Let's just forget it for now. We have other people to see…" Josef had taken down some notes, but he wouldn't show them to anyone.

Cabins

"Alright!" Catrina called out, setting herself in front of everyone. She had pulled out some equipment. "You must be asking yourself what my special talent is." She pointed to herself.

Jared had eyed all her equipment. "Where did you get all of this? It wasn't in the shed, was it?"

"Huh? No?" Why would it be? "I brought it from home. Most of my suitcase space was used for it."

This was a slight cause of concern. "What about your clothes?" Jack pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. "Pfft, what? We live on an island, I can wash them at any time. Don't act like we change our clothes anyways." But enough about that, she set herself up, plugging in her phone and taking a deep breath.

When the music began to play, it wasn't as loud as everyone had expected it to be, and it wasn't the genre everyone had expected from her. They were expecting something like punk, but it was actually pop, so not everyone seemed to hate it.

"OK, OK…" Ashton called out. "We get it!"

She didn't seem to like that one bit. "Hey! I didn't interrupt your performance, so don't interrupt mine!"

"But I didn't…" The racer started to mumble before shaking his head. "Onto the next person!"

Beach

"My mom always said I was funny." Christopher was now on center stage. "So let me think of a joke really quickly."

Historia seemed on the verge of falling asleep. "This is going to be boring."

"Hmm…" Mindy thought back for a moment. "Let's sneak back to our cabins, then."

Nila interjected. "But we have to watch everyone."

Enima leaned back in the sand. "Hmm… No. We don't. Josef seems to be judging. I doubt he'd see us leaving. Besides, Bella seems to be watching him too." The mysterious girl stood up. "Let's go." She pleaded.

The three other girls all looked at each other before all four of them left.

"Just so you know…" Nila trailed off. "I am only joining so you do not cause any trouble."

Screaming Gophers (Girls)

The girls had successfully snuck into the cabin.

"See." Enima pointed out. "It wasn't that bad." She plopped down onto her bed. "Besides, he already rejected two of our talents, and then there's Historia."

She didn't take too kindly to the remark. "Well I'm sorry my mom forced me to study all the time. Didn't really have time to take on any other interests."

And here's the reason she was here. To avoid them fighting. "Let us not do any fighting." Nila got in the way of the two girls.

"We're not fighting." The mysterious girl defended herself. "I'm just teasing her."

Raising an eyebrow, the unbearable scholar shook her head. "Doesn't really feel like that."

"Hey." Mindy called out softly, sitting down on her bed. "Why are there six suitcases here?"

"Did you forget about Bella?" Enima brought up.

Historia caught on to what Mindy was saying. "Forget how to count? We only have five of us."

Being the ever so curious girl, Mindy got down on the floor and pulled out the suitcase. "Doesn't this make it Jenna's?"

"Ah yeah, I guess so." Enima looked over at it. "Didn't she make a comment about not being able to get her suitcase first?"

A bright smile appeared on Mindy's face. "Let's go through her stuff."

"No!" Nila blurted out. "We should not go through stuff that does not belong to us. That is immoral."

The mischievous artist looked at her for a few seconds before clicking the suitcase open. "Luckily I don't have morals."

For the most part, it just seemed like boring clothes that she had brought. However, the jackpot was at the bottom. "What's this?" Enima pulled out a kit of sorts.

"It's a chemistry kit." Historia took a look at it. "Although… Some weird chemicals in here." She wasn't really a science girl, so she didn't want to mess around with it.

"Oh!" Mindy seemed even more excited now. "Do you think we could make some sort of acid?"

That was enough. Nila took the kit and put it back in the suitcase. "We should not mess with this. We do not want to hurt anyone."

"You're boring." Enima sounded annoyed. "But whatever. Fine by me. I just felt like some sort of sabotage would be nice."

A gasp escaped the trainee's voice. "But then we would not earn our victory fair and square."

Enima and Mindy shared a glance with each other before almost bursting out in laughter. "Come on princess, we're already on a losing streak. Unless you're saying we should vote someone else off."

"Well… no… but…" She hated losing, but there was nothing they could do if the other team was simply better. "We should go back before they notice we are gone."

"Fiiiiine." The mischievous artist realised if they didn't, they might deal with this the entire time. "Let's go."

Cabins

"And what do you have to offer…" Ashton tapped down on the imaginary desk in front of him.

Jack stood in front of everyone, slightly peeved by all of this. "I've told you for the thousandth time. I don't have any flashy talent. I only give reviews to pieces of entertainment."

That would be difficult, yes. "Alright, everyone start listing movies!" The racer called out. "Speed Racer."

"Shit."

"School of Rock." Catrina called out.

This got a slight smile from him. "Not half bad."

Cameron stood up quickly. "Dungeon and Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves!"

Oh, this seemed like a bad idea, given that now it didn't seem like Jack would shut up. "An amazing movie that perfectly captures just what it feels like to be a part of a campaign. The DM messing with their players, the out of nowhere solutions that needed to be introduced just so the players can have a chance at progressing the plot. All of it felt like so many-"

"Next." Ashton called out.

Dejected, the critic stepped off the fake stage.

"Hmm…" Robin hummed out in thought. "Who do we even have left that might be able to perform on stage. Cameron, have you found your cards?"

"I've collected the two of hearts!" He proclaimed proudly.

So that aspect was mostly hopeless. "Anyone else want to go?" The strategist looked at everyone else.

"I suppose…" Xi took center stage. "Though my only talent is with my words."

"Enough." Jared called out, shaking his head. "I don't think this tryout is working. We've let almost everyone go up, and we haven't really found anything of substance. Even I had nothing to offer except that I was good at running."

Eleanor held her hands together. "Then… are we just giving up on this? But we haven't found our three."

Given that Ashton wasn't being the best leader, it was time for the cadet to take charge. "If Cameron can find his cards, we can send him up as one of them. Then we can also have Catrina."

She hadn't expected her name to be called, so she was caught off guard. "Wait, me? You want me to go up?"

"Yes, I think you should be able to whip something up that the judge will like."

Now that she had a lot of pressure on her, her confidence had almost vanished. "A-alright…" She put on a smile. "Yeah, I've got this."

Next, Jared turned to look at Talia. "You said you had a talent, right?"

"Huh…" She glanced away. "Something like that. But given that we don't seem to have anything else, I guess I can go."

"Then with Ashton, that should be all three positions, right?" The cadet pointed out. "No need for tryouts. We just need to make sure everyone practices. We still have two hours before we need to attend the show."

"Then…" Xi moved away from the stage. "Shall we check out the shed?"

There didn't seem to be any objections.

Beach

Soon, all four girls would return to the beach, only to be greeted by a rather annoyed Josef. "You didn't think I wouldn't notice you all left."

"He noticed a minute ago." Christopher pointed out.

"Shush you." Seems they almost got away with it. He pointed his cane at the four girls. "We need to be practising for the challenge, and yet you all feel the need to step away. We've already lost David, so I don't need to lose you four too." When his eyes landed on Nila, he seemed a little more ticked off. "And you. I expected better than you."

She quickly got on the defensive. "I tried my best to convince them to come back. They are here because I managed to convince them."

Enima let out a sigh. "Learn to calm down, will you? We're here now."

He began leaning on his cane. "Well, so far we are still missing one person. Bella and myself shall be performing for the show."

"H-huh?" Clearly, the nature lover didn't agree to this. "But- I have stage fright."

"You shall do fine. Your animal mastery is surely a talent to behold." The wannabe host turned to look at the rest of the team. "As for the rest of you. Decide together what you shall do." Then he left the group to figure out their own problems. He was getting tired of helping out.

"Um…" Nila took a step forward. "There is one thing I could do…" She trailed off. "But I would need someone who would be good at fighting. So I doubt we could do that…"

Hearing this, Jeremy glanced off in the distance before walking away. "I'll be right back."

The group of six was left in silence, trying to figure out something they could do.

"Well, I guess I was turned down." Christopher seemed kind of disappointed. "My mom said I should become a comedian one day." He paused for a moment. "Was she… being mean?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Probably." Enima rolled her eyes. "Here we are, a team with nothing to actually do." She tilted her head to the side. "Well… there's one thing I can do… but it's kind of embarrassing." Her eyes drifted to the side. "Well, maybe not embarrassing, but it would give off the wrong message."

"What is it?" Historia raised an eyebrow.

"Huh…" The mysterious girl trailed off. "Never mind. It's best we see what other people can do."

"I'm back." Oh yeah, Jeremy left. But someone was behind him. It was Chef.

The entire team stared at him for a few seconds. "Hey, whatcha got there…?" Mindy mumbled out.

"A smoothie." He was also holding a smoothie.

"Whadya bring me here for, boy?" Chef demanded.

Taking a long sip from his drink, he pointed over to Nila. "She says she can kick your ass."

That puny girl? "She what?"

"Huh?" The trainee paled up before looking at the surfer. "What is this for?"

He shrugged. "You said you needed someone who was good at fighting. So I brought you Chef. You can thank me later."

This is not at all what she meant, and now she had to try and explain her way out of this. "No… that is not what I meant." She quickly glanced around. She would have to make sure that she didn't fight him.

"You know martial arts?" Historia concluded. "That should be some kind of flashy talent. Just show everyone what you can do."

As Chef grew closer, she was running out of options. "Ah, but I am a pacifist. I cannot get into an altercation like this-" Now Chef was right in front of her. Without putting much thought into it, she quickly swept his feet with ease, and he slammed to the ground. "Oh! I am so sorry!"

"Hmm… No." Enima didn't find it interesting. "Tripping an opponent doesn't really seem interesting." She shrugged it off. "Back to the drawing board."

"And after I went through all that effort." Jeremy seemed disappointed. "Then I shall be your oppone-" He joined the ground too. "Hmm…"

"Alright, enough messing around." Historia didn't want to see senseless violence. "Enima, just tell us what you're good at."

"Well…" She trailed off.

Shed

The Screaming Gopher was the first team to make it back to check out what this place had to offer.

"You think I could find another deck of cards here?" The DM asked as he searched around the entire area.

Marisa shrugged. "I'm sure there's a little of everything here, so why not try looking?"

Talia glanced around the dusty room. She didn't want to be here, but she had no choice. "The thing I need might be here. I didn't consider bringing them, since I didn't assume anything talent related would be here." When she got to the sports equipment, she began searching through it all.

"What could you be wanting here?" Jared was standing right behind her.

Taking a deep breath, she looked over at him. "I don't need someone standing there. And if you're just going to talk, at least help me look."

He would love to… but… "I just asked you what you wanted so I could help you. Yet you evaded the question."

Well, he had a point there, but she found it hard to articulate what she wanted. "Roller…" She mumbled out. "Roller blades…"

"Roller blades?" He must be imagining things.

"Just look for them!" She barked at him. "The faster we find them, the more time I have to practise."

Alright, he got it. No more asking questions. He knelt down, looking through the various equipment. "I didn't take you as a roller skater."

"It was required for the job." She answered after some silence.

That only confused him more. "What job would you need that for?"

Too many questions again, but she would humour him this once. "I'm a waitress, and it's part of the uniform. To move around the restaurant quickly. Besides, the customers like it."

It made sense. Jared had seen places like that before online. He just didn't think Talia worked at one of those. Suddenly, he found exactly what she was looking for. "Will this suffice?"

She took a glance at it. "I'd have to try them on, but they might be enough."

"Ah-HA!" This snapped them both out of their conversation. "I found a new deck of cards." Cameron called out. "Prepare to be amazed by my magic!"

"Sorry." Ashton shook his head. "The slot is already claimed by myself, Catrina, and Talia."

"Oh… Right!" He seemed a bit dejected. But hey, at least he had a new deck of cards.

Confessional: Cameron

Shuffling the cards, he had a slight sinister grin on his face. "Chris, you'll never see these cards again. They are under my ownership now." The host would never emotionally recover.

Outside the Shed

The killer bass had finally made their way over to the shed. They knew mostly what their acts were going to be. Now it was just a matter of getting the correct equipment for it.

Jeremy was the first to speak up. "So, what are we thinking of getting?"

He said it to nobody in particular, but Enima was the one to respond. "Just what we need, nothing less, nothing more."

That was kind of a boring answer.. "Are you sure? Any decorations?"

"Oh!" Bella called out. "I would love some decorations." However her excitement quickly faded. "Ah, but I want to see if they have falconry gloves. Would help out with the birds."

Historia raised an eyebrow. "Out of everything, you think that would be there?"

"What if Chris loves birds?" Christopher suggested.

"I…" Nila trailed off. "Doubt it."

The group would arrive just as the Screaming Gophers were leaving with their stuff.

"Trying to hit up the shed, huh?" Xi crossed his arms. "Don't even bother. There wasn't anything of use in there for your team. I've already checked."

"You don't even know what we want." The unbearable scholar narrowed her eyes.

Well true, but he wasn't going to back down. "Nope. Checked everything. Nothing of use there."

"Not even a falconry glove?" Bella mumbled out.

"Well-" Jared had begun to say, before Talia covered his mouth with her hand.

Enima was getting annoyed by all of this. "Let's just go in. They're just trying to taunt us."

"What?" Xi feigned shock. "I would never." He bowed for them. "I wish you all the luck in the world. You might need it."

Once the Screaming Gophers were gone, the Killer Bass made their way inside.

"It's kind of creepy…" Bella mumbled out.

Mindy took a few steps forward, looking around. "I think it has its own charm to it."

The first person to begin searching was Enima, who started searching through various equipment. "I doubt what I want will be here."

Bella and Christopher went off to their own corner, looking for the glove that she wanted.

"Do you have a pet falcon?" He tried to make casual talk.

"Huh-" It was a weird question. "No. I just know about the gloves. And they work on more than just falcons."

Oh, well that was somewhat disappointing. "Are they your favourite animals?"

"No. I like bears more. They are very cute." She had a bright smile when she said that.

"Bears…" The animal that could maul them at a moment's notice. "Good choice."

"Ugh!" Enima called out. "Of course there wouldn't be any here."

"Might I ask what you are looking for." Nila approached the mysterious girl.

Well, she didn't want to say it, given that it would raise some suspicion. But she didn't want to be the only one looking. "I'm looking for one of those knives that you can use for throwing." She glanced the other way. "But I doubt something like that would be here-" When she looked back over at Nila, the girl was holding out the exact kind of knife she wanted. "How did you…?"

Realising the implications, she took a quick step back. "AH! Well… I found it a few seconds ago. I just thought it looked cool, so I kept it."

It was such an obvious lie, but it was in Enima's best interest to not pry deeper. "Thank you." Besides, the knife looked way too well kept to have been left in this shed. Taking a step back, she eyed the dart board at the end of the room. She let the knife fly out of her fingers, and it hit the bullseye of the dartboard. "Still got it." She said to herself before looking at some of the people watching her. She had caught the attention of Historia, Jeremy, Nila, and Mindy. The other two were too caught up in their world to see it.

"What the hell…?" Historia was a little shocked. Scared even.

Nila and Jeremy on the other hand didn't seem to mind. "Woah, that was cool." The surfer moved over to where the knife was. "So what, you just throw knives in your spare time?" He pulled it out of the dartboard, poking the tip of the knife to test it out.

The mysterious girl shrugged. "It's what you do when you live in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do."

"It doesn't make it any less concerning." Historia pointed out.

Once she had taken the knife back from Jeremy, she began twirling it between her fingers. "Trust me. This thing is safer in my hands than any of yours."

"Found it!" Bella cried out with joy. This caused everyone to look in her direction. She was now wearing a falconry glove that seemed… just a tad too big for her.

Christopher looked on with amazement, before a question popped up in his head. "Are we able to adjust the size?"

"Not any smaller than this…" The nature lover seemed slightly disappointed. "But it should be fine."

"Did we get everything we came for?" Seems Historia was ready to leave. "We don't have much time before we need to be there for the show."

Enima made her way further into the shed. "Well, I need some targets for my show. Unless some of you want to be the targets."

"OK." Jeremy was down to die.

Shoving him towards the door, Historia shook her head. "We aren't letting anyone become a target here."

Leaving Enima alone, the rest of the Bass left the shed to set themselves up for the show.

Auditorium

The campers had time to practise their talents, and now, it was finally time to show them off to the world. No pressure.

Chris stood up onto the stage. It was outside, but there was still a ceiling that managed to shroud most of the stage in darkness. That is, until the stage lights came on, showing him in all of his beauty. "Welcome campers." He greeted everyone. "You've all had time to get yourselves ready for this. Chef is ready to judge you all." The camera cut to Chef, who'd rather be anywhere but here. "I'll have both teams send a representative to inform me of who will be participating in the talent show."

Ashton was the one who went up for the Screaming Gophers, while Josef went up for the Killer Bass.

Not wanting to be last, the wannabe host called out first. "We are sending myself, Bella, and Enima up for the show."

Well, he didn't get to be first, but that wasn't going to stop him from shouting his answers. "As for us! We're sending Catrina, Talia, and myself! I'll be the closer!"

Hearing that, Chris nodded his head. "Very well. Then we'll start with the Killer Bass, since they called out their team first."

"Dammit…" Historia mumbled out from the sideline. "Going first isn't exactly good for us…"

Jeremy shrugged. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine. No need to panic about it."

The unbearable scholar glared at him. "But now we can't see how well the other team will do until after we go. And that means we won't know what score we have to beat in the final round."

"That shouldn't matter…" The surfer looked away. "We should be aiming for a perfect score anyways."

Josef approached his team. "If you have any problems with how I did this, please, speak up now." He had a bit of bitterness in his voice. "I, for one, think we should open the stage. If we perform something marvellous as an opener, the other team wouldn't possibly be able to follow up. We have to set a precedent." He gripped onto his cane first. "I'll go put on my costume, and then I'll take center stage."

It took him five minutes to get dressed, but once he did, he looked almost completely different. He looked like he lived a life on stage. "Wish me luck. This could very well result in our first team victory."

Historia narrowed her eyes. "He's so full of himself."

"Huh… What happened to Enima?" Nila finally spoke up.

Christopher took a glance around. "Huh? I thought she was here the entire time."

"Hopefully she is back soon…" Bella mumbled out. She may be last, but she still needed to perform.

"First David, now Enima. We can't keep a full team, can we?" Jeremy pointed out. "Ah, I'm sure it'll be fine. We won't even need a third performance. The first two will knock it out of the water."

"Um…" Bella's face turned red. "I don't think I'll be able to pull it off…"

The conversation was interrupted when a loud clicking noise was heard, and the auditorium got a little darker.

As Josef took center stage, the lights centred on him. "Now, I may not be the best." He started off, taking a more humble approach, after talking such a big game. "But compared to some other people here, I think I stand a pretty good chance." He gripped his cane tightly. His hand moved over to the hat he was now wearing, tipping it slightly down. Soon, his foot began to tap onto the ground in a rhythm.

He spun his cane around, and when it finally stopped moving, he began to dance around the floor, keeping a consistent beat with the tapping of his shoe as he did so. He did many simple tricks like flipping his cane around, tossing it in the air. It almost looked like one was transported in time to see a long forgotten dance of the last century.

Bella was moving her head side to side watching his performance. "It's kind of neat, actually."

Historia could only glare. Not because she hated it or anything, but because she recognised the type of dancing he was doing, and he was actually doing rather well. "Yeah, well… Whatever." She crossed her arms.

About halfway into the dance, he threw his hat amongst the tricks he would be performing. One hand was always focused on the hat, while the other played around with the cane, all while his feet tapped away to a beat that was becoming increasingly more catchy as time passed on.

Once the performance came to an end, Josef fell to his knees, extending his arms out towards the crowd, which consisted of Chef, and Chris, who wasn't paying attention.

Staring at him without any form of emotion, Chef raised a board that held a number.

"A five…?" The wannabe host gritted his teeth. Not a bad score per say, but he was hoping for something with a little more… value to it. But maybe this would show that scoring high would be near impossible. Maybe five was the highest number they would see today.

With those thoughts in mind, his confidence grew again, and he took a bow. "Thank you for watching my performance."

Wanting to cheer him up slightly, Bella began clapping as soon as he entered their team area. "That was really great."

Although, his smile quickly turned to a frown. "It could have been better. I feel like I failed." He covered his face with one of his hands. "Let's hope the other team performs worse, now." He surveyed the area when he noticed something. "Where… Where is… Why does this happen every time." He was starting to get pissed.

Nila let out a sigh. "I can go look for her if you want."

"No." He turned the other way. "Don't even bother with her. If she isn't here to perform, then I don't care anymore."

Nila just looked away sadly.

Confessional: Nila

"Everyday our team dynamic gets worse and worse." She looked at the ground, dejected. "Our members keep leaving in the middle of challenges, and it brings the entire team down. We need to do something about this soon…"

Auditorium (Screaming Gopher)

"I'm up first… huh…" Catrina seemed kind of nervous about the whole thing. "What if Chef doesn't like my music?"

"Don't worry!" Cameron shouted out. "You'll be fine out there. Did you see what the other team did? You'll blow it out of the water."

"Tsk…" Jack shook his head. "It wasn't too bad of an effort he made. I quite liked the dance." He seemed to be the only one as everyone gave him a weird look. "What? Just because I'm me doesn't mean I always have to be overly critical."

Feeling at least some level of reassurance, Catrina smiled and nodded. "Alright, I've got this!" She declared as she moved towards her equipment. Pushing it onto the stage, she turned towards Chris and Chef. "What you are about to witness may not soothe the ears, but it will pump your veins with so much adrenaline." She declared. She took a deep breath as she moved behind her DJ set up. "Let's get this party started!" As soon as she touched the turntable, everyone in the surrounding area would almost feel their ears pop with how loud it was. But it didn't sound horrible, and thankfully, it still wasn't punk. But the real talent didn't seem to come with the music. No, it came with everything else she managed to set up. As she changed the beat ever so slightly, the lights that were set up previously began to change in accordance.

"When did she set up a lightshow?" Historia mumbled out.

Christopher thought for a moment. "Is this really a talent, she's just remixing music." Then, as the beat dropped, fire erupted from some pyrotechnics, which caused the boy to gasp in amazement.

"Where did you even get that?" Josef called out.

Catrina, while still busy and engrossed in the music, turned her eyes towards him. "They were in the shed."

Historia narrowed her eyes. "We didn't find any."

The DJ shrugged. "Didn't look hard enough, I guess." But back to the music at hand. The whole thing had pretty much been consistently good. She was really putting her heart into it, and Chef could be seen tapping his foot to the beat. Although, his facial expression didn't seem to change at all.

When the music finally concluded, Chef moved his hand over to a piece of paper to write down a score. When he lifted it up, he scored the entire thing a seven.

"Bullshit!" Josef called out.

"AH!" She took off her headphone before looking over at the Killer Bass. "Suck a dick!" The impact of this was immediately lessened when she had to slowly push her equipment off stage.

Christopher turned to look over at Bella. "Hey, you've got this!" He cheered her on.

She still seemed rather nervous as she tried to put on the falconry glove onto her. "Oh… I don't know…" She glanced away. "It's not that great, is it…?"

"It will surely grant us victory." Nila reassured her.

A soft smile slowly appeared on her face, and she nodded. "Right. I've got this."

She stepped out onto the stage, stopping when she reached the middle. "Today, I will introduce you all to my talent." She was trying to be formal with it all, but that probably wasn't a good idea, given that at any moment, she was prone to breaking down into a stuttering mess. "My talent is… huh… It's- huh…"

Sure, it wasn't much of a crowd, but looking over at Chef and Chris, her nervousness became more apparent. "Ah… never mind. Let me just show you…" She let out a whistle, and soon enough, several different birds flew into the auditorium. More than she probably considered, but hey, she wasn't going to complain.

"For some reason, animals really love me, so today, I will be putting on an animal show." She extended her arm out, just to have a bird land on the glove. "I hope you like birds."

It wasn't as flashy as Catrina's show, but there was just some unique charm to Bella's. With all the birds there, she was having each one do it's own unique thing, so no matter where you looked, there was one doing something cool, and they were all being commanded by her with a simple whistle. She had a few hoops and stuff that the birds would fly into.

Chef definitely seemed interested in this one, his eyes flickering around to the next bird every few seconds.

However, her performance didn't go without any hitches. The sound of growling alerted everyone else of a presence on stage. When the nature lover turned around, she would spot the bear on stage. "B-bear? I'm only really good with small animals!"

Chris turned to look at Chef. "She even trained a bear."

He raised an eyebrow, because that's not what it looked like at all.

"Um…" Despite how unexpected it was, Bella still tried her best. She moved her hands around so the birds could move in formation. Suddenly, she extended her arms out so the birds would fly towards the bear.

Not liking this one bit, the bear ran off.

"I will get it!" Nila called out, chasing after the bear. She said she would get revenge for last time, and god dammit she was committed.

Once the bear was finally off stage, Bella let out a sigh of relief.

As a finisher, Bella extended her arm out to the hosts, and the birds flew in their direction, leaving out the only opening. When her attention refocused on the show, her cheeks turned red as she realised she did all of that in front of an audience. "U-um…! T-thank you for watching." She held her hands together, looking away.

Chef thought for a moment before writing something down. When he revealed it, she had scored eight points.

"E-eight?" It was much higher than what she thought it would be, but here she was, with almost a max score. Out of three people who went, she had performed the best so far.

On the other side of the auditorium, the next performer did not wait for her teammates to say anything encouraging. Talia skated her way onto the stage, stopping roughly in the middle. She turned her heels towards the two hosts. Unlike Bella, she didn't have anything to say as an introduction. She was here to perform and that was it.

"We never got to see what she could actually do, right?" Ashton pointed out.

Jared shook his head. "No, but she seems to know what she's doing, so I have my confidence in her."

Taking a deep breath, the rude waitress got ready to move around.

Some of the stuff she needed set up was already there, so she had no prep to do. Instead, she just let the movement speak for herself. She seemed to be really good with the rollerblades, managing to move around backwards, and even performing a few tricks with the ramps set up around the area.

She was flawless in her execution of most of the tricks she was performing, all while her face portrayed boredom. She was doing all of this without breaking a single sweat. Almost like it was natural to her. Backwards, forward, a flip. She could all do it. She even added a bit of dancing in it, almost as if to one up Josef. She could do some dancing and much more.

When she finally finished her dance, she took a small bow, before looking up at the hosts.

Chef had to put a lot of consideration into this. It was better than both Josef and Catrina for sure, but it was hard to beat Bella. Except for the fact that Talia put all the work in herself. Soon, he revealed the score he gave her. It was an eight.

"Ah…" Bella mumbled out, upon seeing that.

The rude waitress held her hands together. "Thank you." She said emotionlessly, before skating off stage.

"That was…" Jared mumbled out. "I didn't think you'd do that good."

She glanced over at him. "What? Didn't have any confidence in me?"

"No- That's not-" But it was too late, she had already moved on.

Confessional: Jared

"You ever mean to say something, and then somehow say something completely different. That's what I just felt like I did at the moment." He crossed his arms, looking away. "It's not that I didn't think she'd do good. I just didn't think she would tie Bella." A pause… "Wait no that's not what I meant either! I knew she could do it!"

Josef was growing increasingly more nervous with each ticking second. "Let's see…" He started to count out some points. "We have a total of thirteen points, while they…" He trailed off. "They… They have fifteen points. We aren't behind by too much!" He was choosing to stay optimistic.

"But…" Christopher trailed off. "Wouldn't we need to score two points above them just to tie?"

Jeremy nodded his head. "Right, if we score only one point above them, we lose. Which means we have to hope that they really suck."

"N-no matter…" He didn't want to lose three times in a row. He eyed their part of the auditorium. That's when he noticed something that immediately soured his mood. "Where… Where is Enima? And Nila, for that matter. And Mindy!?" Where was half the team, almost. He didn't even bother asking about David. "And where the hell is my cane?" He had no idea how he let that out of his sight.

Historia let out a small sigh. "Mindy went out searching for Enima, and Nila is probably still chasing that bear, but none of them have returned yet."

"Can the Killer Bass please send out their next performer?" Chris called out, growing slightly impatient.

"All that work…" Bella mumbled out. "What are we going to do?"

Suddenly, all the lights turned off in the entire auditorium, shrouding everyone in darkness for a few seconds.

"What the hell?" Historia looked around.

"Hey! Who turned off all the lights?" Chris called out. "Chef?"

"I haven't moved." He didn't seem pleased to have been accused.

The lights on stage flickered on, but they weren't pointing to the stage itself. They were pointing to a spot well above it. On top of one of the support beams, stood a figure, draped in a costume and mask. They wore a cape behind them. "Ladies and gentleman!" They called out, their voice muffled. "Have you all been sufficiently entertained? Of course not, none of those were real shows." They lifted one of their feet, hovering it off the edge. "Let's get to a real show." Letting themselves slip off the support beam, they landed slowly and neatly onto the ground. That's when they revealed an object they had been holding. A cane.

"What the hell?" The wannabe host was ticked off. "One of you stole this from me."

"I did." Jeremy admitted, despite still being right there.

The lights on stage dimed a bit, just until the only thing illuminated was the costumed figure, who had their head tilted towards the ground. "Nobody made enough use of their surroundings." They pointed his cane at one of the lights, which increased in brightness instantly. Then, they pointed it towards the other light, producing a similar effect.

They spun the cane around, similar to Josef, almost hitting themselves with it. Seems they weren't as proficient with it as he was.

Then, out of nowhere, the pyrotechnics that Catrina had set up burst to be life.

"Hey!" The DJ called out. "They're using my hard work. Let me at them!" She tried to get on stage, but Eleanor held her back.

The figure moved back, and for a split second, wires could be seen attached to their back, with one of them in their hand. They opened their hands, and soon, they were pulled up by the wire. Seems a pulley system was implemented for this.

Once they were back up, they opened up their cape. "That's just the beginning!" They called out. Soon, the birds that Bella used flew out of their cape.

"Hey!" She called out. "Those are mine!"

"The birds are wild…" Historia put a hand on her hip. "I don't think they belong to anyone."

At this point, the only act they hadn't stolen from was Talia's.

"Are those roller blades?" Robin called out, despite there not being any. "Seems he stole from all of us."

"Oh shut up, I'm still wearing them." The waitress shook her head.

Once the birds had flown off, the person jumped off, opening their cape to try and glide a bit.

Although, they plummeted much quicker than they would have liked, almost slamming into the ground. They were able to save themselves by rolling on the ground. Quickly after the roll was finished, they stood up, spinning the cane around. After that, the pyrotechnics went off again. "Are you amazed?"

Chris seemed to like the cinematics, but it was up to Chef to give out the final score. Thinking for a bit, he wrote down a number, revealing it to be an eight. Great! But that meant the Killer

Bass still had to hope the other team failed spectacularly.

Josef looked at the rest of his team. "Alright…" He counted out the points. "Twenty one… This isn't looking good…" He mumbled out.

"They have to score a five just for us to win…" Jeremy let out a sigh. "We can maybe hope for a tie, and we have someone go out for a tie breaker."

A tie breaker… "Then we'll need to figure out who would go out for that."

"I'll go!" Christopher offered himself out, just to be met with an orchestra of no's.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the stage,

Ashton watched on, with a bit of horror. "That was-" And soon, reality began to creep up on him.

"Ashton!" Chris called out. "You're up next!"

Well, he might have talked big, but something was quickly going to be revealed.

Confessional: Ashton

He had his arms crossed, and eyes closed. He had a lot on his mind, and he didn't know how to say it. Finally, he spoke up. "Alright, maybe I got too much ahead of myself back there. I assumed based solely on the other team's performance, that they wouldn't have had anything good for this. Nobody seemed especially talented. And since I hadn't provided enough effort to the team yet, I was hoping to make it up for this challenge." He gave himself a fist bump. "The only problem! I have no other talent besides driving."

He had to come up with an excuse soon. "I'm feeling kind of under the weather." He rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe someone should cover?"

"Oh no you don't." Arianna crossed her arms.

Cameron took a step forward, shuffling the deck of cards. "I'd be willing to showcase my magic if he is feeling sick." Without waiting for anyone's approval, he stepped out onto the stage. "Behold, everyone!" He turned towards Chef.

"You ain't Asht-" Chef began to say, before being cut off.

Cameron struck a pose, cards in hands. "You might have thought the last performance was one for the centuries!" Shuffling his hands smoothly, the cards transferred hands. "But allow me to show you what real magic looks like!" The cards shuffled in his hands. "Be ready… to be amazed!" He struck another pose. Then, abruptly, he walked plainly over to Chef. "Pick a card, any card." He offered.

Jared looked slightly annoyed. "Is this really what we are relying on?"

Chef spent a few seconds picking a card, before pulling one from the middle.

Cameron moved the deck away from him. "Take a good look at your card, and show the audience."

Chef took a glance behind him, only to reveal nobody there. "Whatever." He gave the card back to Cameron, who began to shuffle the deck.

"Now, the trick to tricks like these is a trade secret, so unfortunately I can't reveal how it works." He turned his back towards Chef, but kept the cards right in his sight. "Alright!" He pulled out a card at random. "I think I've found your card!" He revealed it. "It's the two of hearts-" He froze. "Wait, that's from my old deck-"

"And it's wrong!" He felt like he had his time wasted just now.

The DM shook his head. "Allow me to try another-"

"Chef." Chris walked up, having left to get some coffee. "This wasn't who was supposed to be performing."

He shrugged it off. "Boy said he felt sick, so someone replaced him."

A grin slowly crawled up Chris' face. "Well, then that means that they don't get any points at all unless Ashton performs on stage."

"All that effort-" The DM cried out, but was quickly booed off stage by Mindy, who had just now returned to the stage.

"That was terrible magic!" She called out.

Ashton stood by the curtains, frozen. "What do you mean he can't just replace me?" Seems like he would have to face the music himself.

"There's a reason we had everyone declare their members upfront. That way no one could switch in at the last moment." The host explained.

But something caught Marisa's attention. "But what about that masked figure? We don't know who that was."

Chris turned towards the Killer Bass.

Josef shrugged. "It was Enima."

Good enough for him. "Ashton, you have one minute to get on stage, or else your team will receive zero points for round three."

"W-wait!" Ashton called out, but he was promptly pushed on stage by Catrina. "Huh…" He looked around, nervously. This isn't how he thought any of this would go. He hadn't expected the masked figure to suddenly make an appearance, so he thought he was in the clear. He coughed a few times, trying to think of something. "So, how's that airline food?"

He was kicked off stage.

Josef was finally ecstatic. They had won a challenge! Sure, it was through the ineptitude of the other team, but it still stood. "This is cause for celebration!" He looked at the five other people here. "Let's feast tonight-"

"The food here is shit." Historia pointed out, ruining the mood.

"Hmm…" Well, that did put a damper on things.

Of course, Mindy was to the rescue. "Let's just steal the good food!"

Yeah! "Let's just steal the good food!" Josef declared.

"No!" Nila panicked, as she approached the group just as they were talking about stealing.

The mischievous artist let out a sigh. "What a buzzkill…"

"Why are we celebrating?" Enima had finally joined up with the group. "Did you guys crush them or something?"

The cheering stopped as everyone collectively looked at her.

"Didn't you…" Christopher began to say before shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. Maybe we can have a beach party."

Hearing that idea, Jeremy slid over to him. "Now you're speaking my language. Who wants to try and surf?"

"Oh, I would love to." Nila smiled brightly. "I have never done that before.

The surfer nodded his head. "Then it's a plan.

(Cafeteria)

As for the other team, it was finally their time to come face to face with this decision.

"So…" Jared closed one eye, deep in thought. "The first time we're voting someone off, huh?"

"Yeah…" Eleanor frowned, looking the other way. "This doesn't feel great."

Ashton looked around the room, trying to figure something out. "Look, I know I let you down, but the other team definitely cheated!" He declared. "There was no way that was Enima!"

"Save it." Jack had his eyes closed, and arms crossed. "I don't want to hear any excuses from the man who lost us the challenge."

Seems his team was going to be hostile towards him.

"Hey, it's not his fault he was sick." Catrina placed a hand on her hip.

Arianna narrowed her eyes. "Is he really sick?"

Xi moved a hand over towards his forehead. "His forehead seems to be extremely hot. I think we should cut him a break."

Confessional: Xi

"Cold as the night." He admitted, leaning back, arms crossed. "But it's gotten me thinking." He looked directly into the camera. "I could try and save some of the people who are up for elimination. They could provide a loyal ally in the future."

Ashton shook his head. "No." He already felt guilty about lying earlier, and he knew he dragged the team down. "I'm not actually sick… I wanted to participate for the team, and thought I could come up with something before then… Only to realise I can't do anything." He leaned his head down. "I'm a failure, aren't I?"

"D-Don't say that." Eleanor shook her head. "Not everyone has immense talent."

"Still…" Jared trailed off. "If you didn't have anything to begin with, we should have sent Cameron."

Jack scoffed. "Not like it would have made a difference."

"Ah-HA!" He pulled out a card from the deck. "This was his card!" He showed off the seven of diamonds.

Marisa let out an amused laugh, before turning back to the more important conversation at hand here. "Still, we have to take into account the performances that went up." Her attention turned to Ashton. "So, unfortunately you did drag us down."

Yeah, things weren't looking good for him. He stood up from the bench. "I think I need some fresh air." Had he known things would turn out like this, he would have let Cameron go up instead of him.

Outside

He needed to think of what to do. He could vote off Cameron for a lacklustre performance, but in the end, it didn't matter, and at least he tried to do something. He also didn't want to pin the blame on one person and ruin their chances.

"Hey." A voice called out to him. When he looked over, it was Xi. "Seems you're having some problems…" He trailed off, tilting his head to the side. "I'd be willing to help, you know." He extended his arm out.

The racer was surprised by such an offer. "What kind of help would you provide?"

Seeing that Ashton didn't return the handshake, he put his hands in his pockets. "I can see where you are coming from. Wanting to be a reason a team won is important to you, especially after what happened last time."

Seems someone had finally noticed. "How was I supposed to know they would steal the tag in the middle of the night? Had the other team not lost one…" It might have been him going home last time. "I just wanted to prove I was reliable!" He clenched his fist. "But I jumped the gun and couldn't back down."

Someone like this could be useful. "Well, like I said, I have an offer." He extended his hand out again.

And yet, the racer still refused to shake his hand. "And what would that be?"

A smirk slowly appeared on his face. "We could save you, at the cost of someone else. There's someone else I fear might be a problem for the team…" He had to find the right words to use. "You saw his sorry excuse for a performance earlier, right? Cameron." In truth, the performance had nothing to do with it. He just wanted to sow seeds early on.

"Cameron…?" He rubbed the back of his head. "Are you saying we should go behind his back and vote him off?" Seemed scummy.

"Something like that." The psychologist tilted his head to the side. "We can't just admit that we're voting him off, now can we?"

True, but still, making a deal like this felt wrong. "No, I think I'm going to have to decline." He knocked Xi's hand away, who was still waiting for a handshake. "Or at least, give me time to think about all of this." If Cameron was going to go home, it would require other people thinking so. And honestly, he didn't think Cameron deserved to go home. Sure, his performance was awful. But he made up for it with pure energy. A guy like that deserved to make it further than this. "I'm going to go now."

Confessional: Xi

"Offer a man a way out of his dilemma, and he chooses honour above anything else." He seemed ticked off. "That's what I get for trying to extend a hand out." He straightened himself out. "No matter, there will be other times we will lose challenges… I can strike deals then. Still, it wouldn't hurt to put a little fear into his eyes…" He trailed off.

Beach

After their first victory, all eight of them were at the beach, just relaxing. They had finally earned it. Everyone was here- alright, David wasn't, but he didn't help one bit in the challenge.

"See…" Nila had moved over to sit next to Josef, who was just enjoying the sunset. "We finally won now. You can relax a bit."

He didn't reply immediately. He was taking it all in. Soon, a smile slowly slid onto his face. "It feels great, doesn't it?" Of course, it wasn't a fair win, but after two losses, he wasn't going to be picky. "It seems we might have the chance to even the fields out a bit."

The trainee nodded her head. "Exactly! Now they will only have a one person advantage." It was nice being able to talk to him without all the yelling.

"Oh, that's where everyone is." David soon arrived at the beach, wearing swimwear. "Guess we won if we aren't worrying about voting someone off."

Josef wanted to say so much right now, but he didn't want to ruin the evening, so instead, he just ignored him.

Nila, on the other hand, stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "No thanks to you. You cannot just run off like that. You have to cooperate with the team."

David rolled his eyes, a smile appearing on his face. "Sure, whatever you say angel. Now I'm going to go for a swim." He looked towards the water, spotting some of the other team members already there. "Good job on the victory today." He moved away from the two of them.

The trainee let out a sigh. "This team feels doomed already."

Josef shook his head. "If he doesn't smarten up, his time will surely come."

Well, she prayed that they wouldn't have to vote anyone else off, but given their streak. "Perhaps so." Watching the others in the water, she turned her attention back over to Josef. "Are you going to join us in the water? Everyone seems to be having fun."

He contemplated it, but ultimately decided it was for the best to stay here. "I already know the team doesn't like me too much, given how strict I am." He crossed his arms. "I'm fine staying over here."

"If you say so." But Nila wasn't going to just sit here. Instead, she ran off towards the beach, where the rest of the team was.

Elimination Ceremony

The full team of twelve each sat on a different stump around the campfire. They hadn't had the dishonour of being here until now, so the mood was tense. Most of them knew the outcome of the night, but there was always that air of uncertainty, given how the game may inevitably play out.

Chris stood by the podium, plate in hand. On the plate, there were only ten marshmallows left. "Screaming Gophers." He said calmly. "This is your first time at the ceremony. You almost survived an entire week without voting anyone off. But you couldn't quite make it, could you?"

"With the amount of challenges, it was going to be next to impossible to go a week without coming here." Marisa pointed out. "This is the third ceremony, and it's only been six days. For all we know, there could have been a challenge tomorrow."

"You'll be here for eight weeks. No need to rush through everything." The host pointed out. He looked around the campers. "As for your loss, many things could be blamed here…" He trailed off, eyeing everyone. "But there's no point in bringing that up when some people are guaranteed safety… When I call out your name, you are safe." He grabbed the first marshmallow off his plate. "The first marshmallow of the night goes to… Talia." He chucked it at her.

Her expression didn't really change when she caught the marshmallow. She knew she'd be safe.

"The second one goes to… Jared."

As much as he wanted to keep his serious expression, he looked a bit relieved. Not that he was ever in any danger.

"Next up…" The host trailed off. "Marisa… Robin." He chucked one to each.

They both caught it with no issue.

Marshmallows were running low on his plate now. He only had six left. "Next… Eleanor."

"Oh!" She seemed pretty happy to receive one.

Slowly picking up the next marshmallow, he looked at the crowd. "This next one goes to… Christopher."

He caught i-

"How!?" Marisa stood up. "How does he keep getting here?"

He blinked a few times. "Oh! I just wanted a marshmallow." He was promptly chased off.

Now Chris was left with one less marshmallow. He shrugged. "They'll just receive the plate, I guess."

"Arianna, Catrina." Chris continued, tossing the next two.

Arianna caught it with a bit of grace, but Catrina just opened her mouth. When it landed perfectly, she stood up. "Didya see that?"

That left only two marshmallows… "Ashton… Cameron… Jack… Xi… There's only two marshmallows and a plate left. One of you is going home tonight." Not the bottom four he expected to see. "Ashton, you really let your team down when you failed to perform, and caused your team to miss out on points. Cameron, even if you had gone up and performed your talent, your score wouldn't have helped the team. Your recklessness also prevented you from applying as one of the three members." Then came the other two. "Jack… I just don't think people like you."

"Eh." He shrugged. He didn't care.

"And lastly, Xi. Do you think you might have done something that pissed someone off?" The host was being vague, but the psychologist knew what it could be.

"I have no idea." He feigned ignorance. "It's so weird how these things happen, you know."

Reaching over for one of the marshmallows, Chris took a deep breath. "Jack." He chucked it at him.

However, he didn't even bother to catch it. He didn't want to eat it. "Who knows how bad those are."

Catrina picked it up from the ground. "They're actually the only good food here."

"Oh!" Eleanor stood up. "I found some berries!"

"Sit down!" The host ordered her. She was getting in the way of the ceremony. "The next one belongs to… Xi."

Unlike Jack, he gracefully accepted the marshmallow. "I will not tarnish something like this." He sent a glance towards the critic, who only glared his way.

"There's only the plate remaining tonight…" He lifted it up in the air, looking at both Ashton and Cameron. "One of you is going home tonight."

Ashton knew what he did wrong.

Cameron was very confused. "Why am I in the bottom two?"

Chris shrugged. "You got votes, so that's all that matters." He waved the plate around. "The only plate of the night GOES TO…" He trailed off, looking at both campers remaining.

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"Cameron." He tossed him the plate.

He caught it gleefully, holding it up. "Yes! A plate!" He declared.

Ashton let out a sigh, slowly standing up. "I figured as much." He crossed his arms. "It's my fault for letting the team down!" He clenched his fist, a more angry look on his face. "But I wasn't going to go out like a coward." He had noticed that Cameron had received some votes. Did that mean an attempt was made? He turned towards Chris. "Alright! I'm ready to head home!" Seems he didn't have as much to say as the other campers. He had tried his best, or at least he thought he did.

Making his way down the dock of shame, he saw the boat already waiting for him there. "Eh…" He let out a small laugh. "To think it would end so soon…" But hey, the week he spent here was fine. "Alright! Chef? You here?"

There was no answer. Chef hadn't made it to the boat yet.

Looking both ways, Ashton quickly got onto the boat. "Nobody here?" Then that meant he could have all the fun he wanted. He got his hands behind the wheel. "Never tried a boat before."

As Chef ran down the dock to try and catch up to Ashton, he took the boat and left, never to be seen from again (probably).

"And that concludes tonight's episode of Total Drama Island!" Chris called out, not really caring about the lost boat. They'd get it back. "After so long, the Killer Bass finally won a challenge. However, was that just a stroke of luck, or are they finally starting to make a comeback. And will I ever get the boat back? Find out next time on Total! Drama! ISLAND!" And the camera cut off.

Votes

Jack: 1

Xi: 1

Cameron: 2

Ashton: 7

Vote Confessionals

Arianna

She didn't seem too happy. "I would vote for Ashton, because who else would I vote for? But Xi seems to have a plan in mind. He says it won't affect much, but I figured I might as well go with it. So my vote will be for Cameron."

Ashton

"I see what's going on…" He had his head tilted towards the ground. "They think they can use me?" He clenched his fist, turning his attention towards the camera. "Well I won't let them do that? Xi! I see right through you! So that's who my vote is for!"

Cameron

Shuffling some cards around, he seemed mostly unbothered. "Sucks that I failed my magic trick, but I didn't have much time to practise since I was told I wasn't performing. Had Ashton let me go, I'm sure we would have won!" He declared. "Sorry Ashton, but I have to vote for you."

Catrina

"What the hell? All my hard work for nothing?" She put her hands on her hips. "I went out there and bled my heart out for a performance. Only for Ashton to pretend to be sick so he didn't get caught as being talentless. We would have been way better off with Cameron." She glanced the other way. "Goodbye Ashton."

Christopher

He was sitting down in the confessional, eating the marshmallow he had stolen. "It would feel weird if you didn't insert a confessional of me right here. So I'm giving the editor some content just for that. Also I like having a marshmallow after every challenge."

Eleanor

"I… Don't like this part of the game. I thought it would be easier if we never had to vote someone off. But I guess that's wishful thinking…" She glanced away, letting out a sigh. "But if I have to choose someone, it would be Ashton."

Jack

"He sets himself up as team leader for the challenge, only to drag us all down to our first elimination ceremony. Pathetic." He glared at the camera. "To think we'd let someone as barbaric as him lead the team for even a minute. They should just put me in charge. Oh well, it's an easy vote for me. It's what you deserve, Ashton."

Jared

"I feel this is partially my fault…" The cadet hummed out in thought. "I should have jumped in when I had the chance to. And now, because I let him take the leadership role, we lost." He slowly nodded his head. "Ashton, you will pay for the crime of letting this team down."

Marisa

"I really don't think this is a hard decision. And I assume everyone else is going to vote pretty much the same. As in, they'll vote for Ashton." An easy choice for her. "At any point he could have backed out, but he kept insisting. He brought this upon himself."

Robin

He thought long and hard about this. It was such a difficult choice. "Ashton lost us the challenge, which makes him a prime candidate to be voted off…" He slowly nodded his head. "As such, the rest of the team will vote for him. Which means I can vote out the real person who should go home. That's right, I'm talking about Jack. Maybe he will think twice about yelling at me in DnD."

Talia

"Ashton." She kept it nice and brief, given that she didn't want to waste anymore time. Besides, she was already in a bad mood after her performance meant nothing overall.

Xi

"Now, Ashton turning down my offer wasn't the greatest. I could have put in the effort to at least save him. Maybe get Eleanor to vote with me, and find someone else to help us out… But alas, he didn't wish to be saved." Not that he really cared. "Still, an opportunity is still here. My vote will be for Cameron. He's gotten himself a nice alliance of four people, and it worries me. Might as well demonstrate that people want him out…"

Campers Remaining: 19

Screaming Gophers:

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Arianna Rodriguez: The Popular Girl

Cameron Parker: The Eccentric DM

Catrina Rwuicks: The Outgoing DJ

Eleanor Eden: The Sweet Gardener

Jack Bunda: The Cynical Critic

Jared Caertas: The Law Abiding Cadet

Marisa Campbell: The Excited Journalist

Robin Fuego: The Snarky Tactician

Talia Wayward: The Rude Waitress

Xi Loung: The Manipulative Psychologist

Killer Bass:

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Bella Fiore: The Quiet Nature Lover

Christopher Hide: The Happy Go Lucky Idiot

David Talon: The Shady Guy

Enima Palapeli: The Mysterious Painter

Historia Lenz: The Unbearable Scholar

Jeremy Cloud: The Fearless Surfer

Josef Osapuoli: The Wannabe Host

Mindy Misuto: The Mischievous Artist

Nila Darabond: The Soft Military Trainee

Eliminated: Jenna, Matthew, Ashton