Culture Shock: A parody of Culture Shock from SpongeBob SquarePants with Total Drama characters.
Disclaimer for the series: Some (though far from all) chapters will contain moments of nudity or underwear due to the canon SpongeBob episodes' plots and gags, though it won't be anything that wouldn't happen in TD or SpongeBob. Credits to another user on FF for letting us use their idea, and another for their cast idea who wishes to remain anonymous. Some episodes may also take massive strays from canon in order for things to work. Feel free to leave a review, follow, or favorite if you enjoy it!
It was a rather slow day at Smoothie Clean. No customers had visited the shop all day, and almost all of the duties were done. The camera panned over to Chris, who was refreshing the Smoothie Clean website on his phone to see if the ratings would go up or to read any new reviews, then Noah, who boredly turned a page of a blue, hardback, and thick book, and it finally panned to Ella, who was cleaning off the tables and smiling when she saw her reflection. She was the only one who showed any emotion other than boredom. Aside from the squeaking noise from the cleaning the singer was doing, everything was dead silent. After a few minutes, someone decided to break that silence.
"Ugh, it's so boring around here! When are we gonna get a customer?" Chris complained before calling out the first name he thought of. "Noah!"
The know-it-all stuck his nose out of his book, but didn't reply, only giving a blank stare.
"There's gotta be some change around here! We've gotta get more customers!"
As the boss of Smoothie Clean continued his rant, a man walked in, making two out of three of the people who worked there gasp in excitement.
"Ella, give him what he wants, when he wants it!" Chris ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The princess chipperly responded as she walked over to the man. "Welcome to Smoothie Clean! May I take your order?"
"I-I just wanted change for the bus…" The man stammered as he held up a dollar.
"Oh, okay! Be right back then!" The singer took the dollar, ran off-screen, and came back with four quarters. She handed them over. "Have a good day!"
"Thanks." The guy muttered before he ran out the door.
Chris watched sadly as he sprinted.
"He must have been in a hurry." The songbird idly commented.
Her boss sighed in annoyance. "Have you two noticed how low profits have been this month?"
"Sure, but any less work is fine by me." Noah snarked, earning him a glare from Chris.
The older man continued once he was done glaring. "Anyways, do either of you two have any ideas? We've gotta think of a gimmick! Our ratings have been stuck at 4.2 stars all week!"
"I dunno, they get less social interaction when they order something?" Noah sarcastically suggested, making Chris's face fall into an annoyed expression.
"Ella, please tell me you have something." Chris begged in desperation.
"Well, you know, people do like to see people perform! Perhaps we could do something along the lines of a talent show!" Ella proposed happily as she clapped close to her chest with her eyes closed.
"Are people really gonna come to a-" The bookworm began before their boss cut him off.
"Hang on, she might be onto something. Think about how filled the place is gonna be! How often do you see a restaurant have one of these?"
"Never, and there's probably a-" Again, the know-it-all was interrupted.
"I don't wanna hear it! Smoothie Clean's first talent show, tonight!" The older man declared before the scene cut.
It was then nighttime, and the entire place had been redecorated to fit a talent show style. Things were looking far more formal on the dining side. Each table was covered with a white tablecloth, and the chairs were black with purple cushions to sit on. There was also a large wooden stage in the center. A purple curtain was behind it, and behind said curtain, there was a large area for preparation, which Chris, Ella, and Noah were all behind.
"So what time am I going to go onstage?" The songbird asked her boss.
"I dunno. You suggested this, dude." He dismissed before grabbing a pen. "You, uh… you can clean up after!"
"Well, I was more asking about-" By the time the employee tried to correct herself, her boss was already walking away.
"Places, people!" He shouted, leaving Ella alone.
"I wonder if, no, people already know I can sing, and I don't have any costumes." The singer mused to herself.
As she was pondering what to do, several patrons were sent to their seats. The girl peeked out from behind the curtain. "Goodness, Christopher was right! There aren't any empty seats! Ooh, and there are my parents! And my princess!" The princess squeaked excitedly but quietly. "My parents were always excited during my performances in high school! They'll still be so proud."
Two people who seemed to be in their early to mid 40s could be seen, one male and one female. The woman appeared to be of Asian descent of some sort, while the other seemed Canadian. Sammy appeared to be making idle chatter with them. Although the singer was curious, respectfully, she did not eavesdrop. She got back behind the curtain as Chris got everyone's attention.
"Good evening, and welcome to Smoothie Clean's first ever talent show!" He announced through the microphone. "And now, let's welcome our smooth crew!" He waited a second for laughs, but no one did. "Eesh, tough crowd…" He muttered, loud enough to be heard. "Anyways, up first, we've got…" Chris dug through his purple tuxedo, read a cue card, and did his best to hide his groan. "Regular customer Sugar, with… uh, some sort of routine!"
"YEEHAW!" The country girl shouted. "Normally, people save the best for last, but this is fine by me!" She arrogantly claimed before running onstage.
"Smoothie Clean, most things are fine, but the girl behind the scenes hurts my spine!" She nonsensically rapped in an off-key tone as she jumped around the place, clearly not having practiced one bit. The crowd bounced up and down due to the girl's weight as she jumped.
"S-M-O-T-H-I-E C-L-E-E-N!" Sugar misspelled. She called out the name of the restaurant three or four more times, causing the audience members to fall on the ground. All but two of them. "Go team!" She finished while pumping her arms up.
Chris managed to crawl back onstage from behind the curtain. "G-give it up for Sugar…" He groaned.
Some gave pity claps, but all but two people in the audience were silent or grunting in pain. A faint "my leg…" could be heard.
Once the place was all cleaned up, we saw Chris introduce the next participant. "And now we have poetry." He blinked in confusion. "By Mittens."
The kitty was on a stool, purring and meowing next to the microphone. His meows truly had passion in his voice as he raised a paw up to the microphone.
"Gosh, such a way with words…" Harold complimented from the audience with awe in his voice.
Some other girls could be seen sniffling and crying, and two similarly-dressed girls were even hugging.
After the audience applauded and a few sniffles were heard, Max was seen onstage doing a magic performance.
"It is I, Magic Max!" The presenter introduced. "Extra evil!" He emphasized, pointing up to the ceiling. "Before your very eyes, I will set your expensive blinds ablaze! MUAHAHAHA!"
He clapped and set fire… to himself, making himself a pile of ashes. His eyes landed on the pile as he blinked. "Drat, foiled again!"
Chris laughed at the sight. "Yeah, nice try, Max." He sighed contentedly. "Man, that's always funny."
Ella stepped out from behind the stage and brushed the wannabe supervillain's ashes into a dust pan. She walked outside and put the dust collector outside the restaurant.
We then cut back inside the restaurant with Ella standing behind the curtain once more.
"What do you mean you canceled?! Fine, keep your logrolling bear!" Chris snapped at a man on the phone.
"Minor inconvenience, folks. We'll take this time for anyone else to come up on stage."
Crickets were heard chirping.
"Anyone at all?" Chris reiterated, a little louder.
"Me! Pick me!" Owen waved his hand enthusiastically as he shouted.
"Chubby guy in the back."
"No free refills. Spit that back out, Owen, and get up here."
"Okay!"
Owen runs up onto the stage, with a bunch of food bowls. He pulled even more food out of his pockets. "Today, I'm gonna be eating more than you've ever seen any other human eat!"
Owen cracked his hand, before tossing everything up in the air, and gulping down an entire plate of ribs.
Of course he couldn't catch everything, and the other small courses, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, causing many messy splashes.
It might have been impressive if the big guy had caught everything, but the audience was not amused. There wasn't a single reaction, good or bad, but just mere apathy.
Then, after a few seconds, some heckling came in. Various boos and insults were heard from the audience.
"My dog's more talented than that!"
"I get more entertainment by watching grass grow!"
The food lover dejectedly walked off the stage, and even if he was the one no longer being verbally hurt, the comments didn't stop.
"The best act has come from a cat! Put someone good out there!"
The scene cut to Chris and Ella backstage, ignoring the yelling as best as they could.
"Ella, this is a disaster! Go out there and clean up this mess!"
"Um, alright, Mr. McLean."
Ella stepped out onto the stage with a mop and a bucket to begin cleaning the stage. Some murmurs of quiet, positive discussion throughout the crowd were heard. She paused in confusion, making the audience also stop.
The cycle continued a few more times. Ella would mop, so the crowd would cheer. Eventually, this made her smile.
"Right when it seemed the show was at a stop, I made you all cheer with a bucket and a mop!" She musically rhymed, making the audience celebrate even more. The songbird beamed with pride.
"Oh, goodness! Thank you for all the praise, everyone!" She did a polite curtsey as she heard the applause.
The camera then panned to where Ella's parents and Sammy were sitting.
"I always knew she had talent!" The father proclaimed.
"Our daughter's a star!" The mother added, while Sammy just looked on with awe as she always had when hearing her girlfriend sing.
The scene returned to Ella on the stage as Chris poked his head out to talk to her again.
"Hey, you really turned it around out there! Let's do this again next week!"