Reviewer Response:
N/A
I have another episode done now! I should probably note that I am trying out a new way of setting out the confessionals, so don't be too caught off guard by them, I'll get more into it at the end of this chapter. Aside from that though, I hope you enjoy part one of the episode! Part two should be out on the weekend/possibly on Friday depending on where you are based on time zones.
Not gonna lie, I'm kind of nervous and feel like I'm forgetting something, but I think this is good to post so I'm hopeful that I didn't screw up that much!
Without further ado though, it's time to begin the next episode!
In contrast to previous episodes, a far more morose Chris stands at the dock, while barely holding back tears, he starts saying, "L-last time on Total Drama Elemental Islands, the final eleven took part in a paintball challenge."
"S-Scuba Bear and Jemma formed an unlikely partnership after the Bear was put with the Lions for the challenge. To the point whereupon Jemma's defeat, Scuba Bear's rage sent Nadia and Jake running for the hills." Footage of Jemma and Scuba Bear's team up and Scuba Bear's bottomless anger at the pair is shown.
Chef Hatchet then walks over before Chris pauses, and starts to cry. "Can you finish this Chef!" He yells before hugging his co-host.
"I-uh, alright?" The Co-host comments, before saying. "Well, that Tiger team lost the challenge and then uh… the angry girl got voted off. This caused the fangirl to gain an ally in the leader guy. Who's going to go next? What drama will be formed today? Find out on uh. Total. Drama. Elemental Islands?"
"You could have probably done that better," Chris mutters, still upset but wiping away the tears. "It was good enough though."
"Well 'scuse me for not expecting you to throw that on me, I wasn't ready!" The annoyed Chef rolls his eyes before the episode fades to the intro.
Opening Guitar Riff:
The intro starts with the rock theme that is known so well to Total Drama fans, before a camera pops out from under some water, a microphone comes from the side towards some ground that hasn't been touched by raging fire around it. A light turns on from the side of a cave, illuminating it and a second camera pops from the bottom of a chunk of land floating, with a gopher holding on to it.
Dear Mom and Dad I'm doin' fine,
The camera zooms past the dock speeding through the elimination area and the cabins before it goes towards one end of the island.
You guys are on my mind.
The camera goes past Chris arguing with Don before it zooms into the sky showing all five islands and zooms to Water Island.
You asked me what I wanted to be
On Water Island, Hannah and Tegan, both in Scuba gear, attack each other angrily. Meanwhile Jake and Nadia find a yellow rock before Nadia turns around and angrily yells at the two fighting above.
and now I think the answer is plain to see,
Inside a cave on Earth Island, Myron, Megan and Carol walk inside, with Carol holding up a comic book and excitedly commenting on it to a not interested Myron and Megan, who look at each other worried about the cave.
I wanna be famous.
Susan writes in a small notebook furiously while making a small smile before she looks at the camera and smiles and waves at the camera.
I wanna live close to the sun,
Inside the confessional, Lauren looks around excited before she looks at the camera and makes a determined smile to the camera.
Go pack your bags, 'cause I've already won,
On Air Island, Bob punches a punching bag clean off what was being hanged, while Jemma watches and writes something on her notepad before Scuba Bear comes out of the bushes and prepares to attack them, which scares both of them.
Everything to prove, nothing in my way
Xavier is seen showing Gary a few costumes, first a cowboy costume where he's swinging his hat on his finger, then a 1930s mobster suit and making finger guns and finally a rapper costume where he pretends to rap. Gary isn't paying attention and instead makes a small smirk.
I'll get there one day.
Fire Island appears with Richard standing there bored before he looks at the camera.
Cause, I wanna be famous!
Morgan then runs over and pushes him over so he can appear in the camera lens. An angry Rory then runs over and helps up Richard, who just sighs and shrugs.
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!
Back at the dock of Base camp, Alfred looks at the camera, a smug smile plastered on his face before he starts bossing around a couple of interns, including Katrina who was chatting with them before. Katrina and the interns get annoyed and push him into the water, the resulting splash of water covers the camera and the time changes to night.
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous (Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!)
Rory and Susan look at each other lovingly before they lean forwards, only for Chris to get up and blast his megaphone, making them jump back in surprise, Susan puts her hand on her heart in shock and Rory holds his head, as the camera zooms out to the rest of the campers whistling the closing notes of the song.
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous
The episode begins with Jemma walking outside. She starts to think to herself before writing nothing of note on her notepad and looking out at the contestants currently outside. With a smile, she nods her head and walks down the stairs.
Confessional:
Jemma:
"Well if you haven't noticed, after my alliance got kind of… decimated, I started playing more under the radar than I was before. It's not much, but if it can let me stay in while I improve my social game I'll be alright."
Confessional Ends:
Walking ahead, the Journalist notices Bob walking around causing her to pause. With a frown, she thinks about whether or not to say something to him but Bob simply walks past her, quickly averting his eyes.
"Maaaan," she mutters to herself.
A few moments later, Gary walks over to Jemma and says, "Over this way."
"Alright."
"Shut up and let me talk," Gary simply says as they walk off.
The scene changes to Jake, walking down the stairs in the Tiger's cabin with a tired expression on his face. He looks over and notices Lauren trying to subtly wave at him so he rolls his eyes and nods a couple of times before walking over.
"Hey buddy, how are you doing?" Lauren asks him.
"Fine."
"You don't look fine?"
"I just woke up and it takes me a few minutes to wake up properly and get more animated."
"Oh, alright."
"I'm guessing you want an alliance meeting," he notes. "Since… we're an alliance now and everything."
"You don't have to be so upset about it," Lauren smirks at him.
"Again, not upset, just tired."
"Anyways," Lauren shrugs. "I don't bite, and he doesn't either."
"He?"
Morgan walks over, before commenting, "So… you're in an alliance with her now too?" Jake quickly wakes up at this reveal, alert to the situation now.
"You're working with… Morgan? But he's out?"
"So?" Lauren questions. "He's still on the islands, isn't he? And he's just as useful as if he was still in the game.
Confessional:
Lauren:
"For one, he grabbed the votes that confirmed you were one of the low-life jerks that voted me off when Myron went home. I do see the use in keeping you, though, so I guess I have to avoid revealing this to you for a while, unfortunately. But I'm going to enjoy throwing your butt onto the fireworks when I get the chance."
Confessional Ends:
"Anyways guys, I'll be needing both of you today," Lauren announces.
"You never told me what your strategy is anyways?" Jake adds.
"Oh," Lauren shrugs. "Well, I like to call it… Operation Cupid."
"Cupid?" Jake questions. "Cupid got people to fall in love though…. What's your endgame here? Do you want Rory and Susan together again or something?"
"Yes," Lauren smirks. "So we can make their eventual split, all the more painful, and throw whoever isn't booted off their game. I'll cover the hard part of it, you two just try your hardest to get Susan and Rory to at least be friends again."
"That's messed up though!" Jake complains. "Can't we just, convince Rory to vote for Susan or something?"
"I mean… maybe," Lauren shrugs. "There's always the chance he could say no though, and then vote us off. Operation Cupid is an almost foolproof way to get us further in the game!"
Confessional:
Jake:
"Almost foolproof?" Jake questions.
Lauren:
"Almost foolproof in the sense that if this backfires, it's most likely gonna screw you over more than it does to me," Lauren's smirk is evident. "Even if it doesn't," she pulls out the immunity idol and waves it at the camera confidently.
Confessional Ends:
"Hey," Morgan shrugs. "Chris kept me here to cause drama, I can live with this."
Jake rolls his eyes in annoyance. "Why did I join this alliance again?"
"Because you're a target," Lauren responds. "Welcome to the club."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Jake groans.
"Anyways, it's really that simple. Morgan, Jake, you two try to get Rory and Susan to be friends again, leave the rest for me."
"Sure," Morgan shrugs, while Jake grimaces and pauses for a few moments, before eventually nodding.
"Alright."
"Pleasure doing business with you," Lauren jokingly states before walking away, with Morgan following after her, leaving Jake to sigh behind them.
The scene cuts to a few moments later, as Carol walks out of the cabin and looks around, spotting Jake. She quickly runs over to him and asks. "Hey, Jake, can I talk with you for a minute privately?"
"… sure?"
Confessional:
Jake:
"I'd still say I'm friends with Carol," Jake admits. "In fact, I don't really blame her as much as I do for Susan." Jake pauses, trying to think of the right words to say.
"This is probably gonna sound mean-spirited, so I'm sorry in advance if you're watching this Carol… but she's kind of a follower. I get that about her, and I'd say we're still mostly cool, even if I'm disappointed she was probably one of the Nadia votes."
He then sits up as he continues, "Back on track though. If there is any of that potential trio that I want to bring to the final five as Nadia recommended, it'd probably be Carol. Even then, I just want things to stay cool between us in general."
Confessional Ends:
After the two of them go to a secluded area, Carol sighs, before beginning. "I wanna tell you a secret. Can you promise not to tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you?"
"Well, uh, okay."
"I'm uh… I'm going out with Bob." Carol admits.
Jake freezes.
Confessional:
Jake:
"And she told me this?" Jake gasps, shock in his voice. "I mean, we're friends, but still, I'd expect Susan or Lauren to get told over me."
"Still, a relationship? I don't know whether to think it's smart to tell me 'cause I'm not who you'd expect to tell, or dumb to tell me cause I'm socially insulated and I can really tell anyone if I wanted to." His eyes go wide. "Not that I'm going to! I hold too much respect for her to do that. Just because I'm playing harder doesn't mean I'm gonna be a jerk about it."
Confessional Ends:
"You mean… dating?" Jake looks at her surprised. "More than friends?"
"Yeah," Carol nods. "I asked the question after we both got out in the last challenge and then we officially kissed and all that after the elimination."
"Well… that's not what I expected," Jake awkwardly chuckles alongside his comment. "I'm… sorry it's just I wasn't expecting something like that."
"No worries," Carol sighs, relief on her face. "You're just well… it feels like you're the most level-headed of my friends and you wouldn't take it the wrong way, so I thought you were the one I'd tell. I'm not letting it get in the way of challenges or anything, so don't worry. I doubt some of the people on the team would believe me saying something like that though."
"Thanks for the compliment, Carol."
"All good," the superhero smiles. "So you're alright keeping this a secret? If you do I'll try to avoid voting for you as much as I possibly can, how about that?"
Jake nods at Carol's words before adding, "I can agree to those terms."
"Sweet!" Carol smiles back. "Bob and I agreed that we didn't want this getting too far out there and well… after we had that chat after the fear challenge where I talked to you about the Susan stuff, maybe part of me thinks you should be the one that knows."
"Fair enough." He then nods. "Thanks for trusting me with this," Carol smiles back at him before they quickly high-five and then walk away.
Confessional:
Jake:
"I am keeping this a secret," he defiantly says. "Even if we weren't friends, and if it wasn't morally wrong, what do I gain by revealing that to people? Them being the targets temporarily? News flash, I'd also be the guy who revealed people's secrets, thus I'm less likely to be trusted by others. Also, both of them would be bound to be mad at me and I'd have two people going after me. Even if I didn't already like them, I lose more than I gain revealing it."
Confessional Ends:
The scene changes to Bob and Xavier chatting with each other. "So you said yes to her?" Xavier questions quietly.
"Obviously," Bob smirks back. "We're keeping it a general secret though, only me, you, Carol and whoever she lets know is gonna know we're going out right now."
"Got it," Xavier smiles, before high-fiving Bob.
Right after that, Katrina walks over to the pair, a frown on her face. "We're still good to vote for Gary at the next elimination, right?"
"Yeah," Bob shrugs. "Dude deserves it."
That goes double for me right now too," the Method Actor chuckles before stretching. "I mean, why wouldn't I? We all hate Gary, his elimination's basically a foregone conclusion, why go against the flow?"
Katrina's eyes narrow before she says. "Good; I just wanted to double-check." As she walks away, she quickly pauses before turning around and glaring at the duo. "You guys better not turn on me here."
"You're being paranoid," Bob shrugs.
"Yeah," Xavier looks at her confused.
"Okay, fair enough," she raises her hands before walking away. Xavier shakes his head in confusion.
Confessional:
Xavier:
"Okay, that was weird." He then comments. "Has anyone else noticed that Katrina's getting… really competitive recently? Seriously, she needs to take a chill pill at some point."
Confessionals End:
Elsewhere, Carol looks around before Susan goes to her and says, "We need to talk."
"Alright?" Carol shrugs before the two then walk over to a table.
"I wanna talk about the elimination," Susan admits.
"In what way?" The Superhero questions dread beginning to creep into her voice.
"I'm talking about Lauren," Susan responds simply. "She practically has to be the next target now, I just want you to be aware of that before things go ahead."
Carol groans before saying back, "She's my friend though."
"So am I, aren't I? Look, Myron and Nadia, I'll give you, they were good targets too, they put pressure on me, and I needed them out as well to manoeuvre around, but… who else on the team can we even target?"
"I don't know," Carol sighs. "I know you like him, but Rory could be an alright target potentially?"
"Don't say that." The Brainiac glares, "I'm still working on getting Rory back on our side again."
"Sorry," Carol rolls her eyes before muttering, "Master."
Confessional:
Carol:
"I mean… I just said I wouldn't vote Jake off," Carol notes. "I'm not gonna throw him under the bus!" She then sighs. "Anyways, we all know she's trying to lock lips with Rory again anyways, why'd I think he was going to be a potential target with her."
Susan:
"Am I getting overconfident?" Susan asks rhetorically. "I mean, I managed to claw my way back from the bottom and get two targets out in a row. Sure, I annoyed Jake, but hopefully, I'm just gonna force his loyalty to me as a result cause he can't go anywhere else. He's not really in any spot to vote for anyone but Lauren right now, let's be honest."
She then chuckles. "I'm not getting overconfident, I'm getting braver about my position, big difference."
Confessional Ends:
"That's generally it though," Susan admits with a shrug. "But I can talk about other stuff if you want. How's the comics stuff going?"
Carol stands up, before saying, "I'm uh… I'm actually gonna go, I need to do something."
"Alright?" Susan shrugs before Carol quickly leaves.
As the Comic Reader walks outside, Lauren notices her and quickly walks over.
"Oh uh, hey Lauren," Carol quickly says as she tries to go past.
"You seem a bit tense, is something wrong?" Carol rolls her eyes at Lauren's question.
"Ugh, I'm just… kind of annoyed."
"… because?"
"It doesn't matter," the comic reader sighs, but Lauren continues to push.
"You sure you don't want to tell me? I can keep a secret if something's bothering you."
Carol sighs in annoyance before saying, "Look, Susan's… being really annoying about something, okay?"
"To be honest, you're not giving me anything to work with. I wanna comfort you but I don't know what I'm comforting you for exactly outside of Susan being annoying, which is honestly normal for her."
Carol pauses before admitting. "She wants to vote you off, alright?" before quickly walking away.
Lauren shakes her head with a frown.
Confessional:
Lauren:
"Carol is instrumental in Operation Cupid," Lauren admits. "She's not aware of that fact and I don't want her to be, but still." She then rolls her eyes before saying, "I guess I'll give her time though, I've got until the next elimination I'm in to do this…."
Confessional Ends:
Rory runs back over to the entrance of the Tiger's cabin, panting. A few moments later, he stretches.
"Always good to stretch your legs in the morning," he mutters to himself.
"Hey, dude!" Jake calls out as he walks over.
"What's up?" Rory responds.
"Wanna chat?"
"Sure, what about?"
Jake pauses before saying, "I uh, I just wanted to talk with you and see if you're doing generally alright."
"Why? Does it seem like I'm upset or something?"
"Not really," Jake puts up his hands defensively, before saying. "It's just with everything going on, I want to check on the team and all that. A good leader does good for his group and all that."
"I mean… we won't be a team soon enough," Rory points out. "Don't get me wrong, thank you for checking on me, but it's just… you have to have some other motive or something, right?"
Jake pauses for a second before sighing. "Yeah…."
"What is it then?"
"I want to hear how you feel about Susan." Rory freezes up slightly.
"… I'm fine, why?"
"You don't look fine," Jake notes. "I want to make sure everyone's good emotionally and all that, that's all."
The jock thinks for a moment before sighing. "Look, I'm willing to treat her normally again, and I probably won't even vote for her if we have a better person to vote for, but I don't want to… y'know, get hurt again."
"I get that," Jake sighs. "I had to turn a girl down at one point before coming here, I didn't do it in the best way I could, so I broke her heart and uh… I've always felt bad for it, it's a different perspective on the whole relationship thing, but it's there."
"You don't seem like the heartbreaker type," Rory admits. "Though it probably would have been worse if you strung her along, considering you discovering your sexuality and all that."
"We're getting off-topic," Jake shakes his head.
"I mean… if you want to keep talking about it, I won't mind."
"You're not getting out of it that easily," Jake jokes back. "Look dude, basically, the game isn't going to last forever. Unless you want to feel guilty years from now about how you did something… I think it might be worth it to get everything you want to talk about out of the way, if not now, then after the season at the resort."
"That's… not a bad way of thinking," Rory admits. "Still, I wanna think about it first."
"Do it then, sorry if it sounds like I'm pressuring you, I don't mean to do that."
"All good, it didn't seem like that much." The two guys then fist bump.
Rory then feels his forehead before chuckling. "Anyways, I'd kill to have a shower, I feel so sweaty."
"Do it then," Jake smiles. "I won't take up any more of your time."
"Sweet, see ya!" Rory runs off.
Confessional:
Jake:
"Lauren better know what she's doing… and it better not be too harsh."
—-
Rory:
"Maybe I should say something," the jock shrugs. "I mean, Jake is perfectly fair with what he said, that's actually a pretty decent way of seeing it."
Confessional Ends:
Bob looks around quickly, before running behind the cabins. At the same time, Carol walks around the corner before the two of them embrace.
"It's good to see you again!" Bob says with a smile.
"Same babe!" Carol responds.
"How are things going on your end?"
"Nobody suspects a thing!" Carol smiles. "Well… aside from Jake, but he's who I told specifically, so that's a given."
"Hopefully he doesn't snitch," Bob smiles at her.
"Speaking of letting people know though," Carol begins. Did you tell anyone aside from Xavier on your end?"
"Nah, still just Xavier for me, I might have considered telling Jemma too but uh… considering how things are going with us… yeah. Anyways, why Jake of all people?"
"I… only really felt comfortable telling him, with all the drama on the team. I should probably tell someone like Lauren or Susan, but uh… they might accidentally reveal it or use it to have a go at me. I trust Jake to keep it secret."
"I get that," Bob nods back, before changing the subject. "Anyways, there's only ten of us left, so it's nearly half of us gone, you think you're ready for the merge?"
"With you on my side. Yeah!" Carol nods before saying. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure I'm the generally safest contestant on the Tigers at this point, and you have Xavier and uh… maybe Jemma too? If you and her work things out anyways."
"I'm just waiting for her to talk to me really," Bob admits. "She's gotten mad at me when I tried to explain, but I know she probably just needs time and then she'll come to me when she's ready."
"I mean… she was one of the people that found out about the blackmail from Nadia's whole thing," Carol says back, "maybe you should go talk with her?"
Bob sighs. "That makes sense, but I don't want to have to get her to say no again. If she wants to talk to me, she'll talk to me."
"If you really want to, I guess." She then shrugs "I'm not gonna force you or anything though."
"I'll be alright," Bob holds Carol's hands and stares into her eyes. "Anyways, Gary's an easy boot for the Lions if we lose, we're both at least safe today so there's more of a chance of her talking to me."
"Great!" Carol smiles. The two then kiss, before smiling at each other.
Confessional:
Carol:
"Hiding this relationship is like keeping a secret identity in a sense," Carol explains to the camera. "A lot of trouble, but needed if I want to keep my loved ones safe." She then scoffs, "Still, if there's anyone who can hide a secret identity or relationship in this case, it's a superhero! Just like me; the Golden Swan!"
Bob:
"Carol and I can manage the whole relationship." Bob nods. "If there's anyone who I trust to manage this, it's her."
Confessional Ends:
"Let's have another proper chat after the challenge, alright? Carol smiles. Bob nods back. "Cause I don't know how long we can talk without our teams getting suspicious."
"Yeah, we'll talk as soon as the challenge finishes," Bob responds.
"Deal," The comic fan smiles back. "Or at least as long as one of us isn't pulled away and can't get out of it."
"And if that happens we can just apologise and say that happened," Bob nods. "I'll be alright if that happens to you."
"Exactly," the two hug one more time before walking away, smiling at each other.
The scene flashes to another part of the island, with Gary and Jemma standing around, one in a far worse mood than the other.
"You seem a lot more… angrier about Katrina than before," Jemma notes. "What's up?"
"Katrina kicked me in the stomach last challenge! I want her out ASAP!" Gary's face looks furious. "When we lose she's going down."
"I want to try and win this challenge," Jemma starts. "So don't even try to say what I think you're gonna tell me."
"I'm not saying to throw the challenge," Gary rolls his eyes. "I mean… now that you mention it though, I might…."
"I'm voting you out if you specifically throw," Jemma says quickly. "Fumble the ball at the end, sure, I can forgive that, I'll still potentially vote Katrina, but no, you aren't throwing it, got it?"
"Sure, whatever," Gary puts his hands up.
"Look dude," Jemma begins with a sigh. "If the stomach kicking is real, then I feel for you, I really do. That's too far, but we've won three challenges in a row. I'm not gonna just break that streak to throw, especially seeing how badly we started this season. We might actually have a chance to have more members than the Tigers into the merge now."
"Sure, whatever," Gary rolls his eyes.
"What is that? One of your ten whacky phrases? Where's the string I pull?"
"Sure, wha-."
"I get it."
"Look," Gary admits with a groan. "I hate saying something like this… but thank you, for helping me." Gary fakes gagging.
"That's a sudden thing to be thankful for," Jemma notes. "Anyways, what if I just decide to flip to Katrina's side?"
"You aren't going to… right?" Gary asks.
"Maybe, maybe not." She then shrugs. "I'm out of here though."
Confessional:
Jemma:
"Suddenly thanking someone after an entire chat where you've been a jerk to them is textbook emotional manipulation," Jemma notes. "It's almost like he wasn't even trying to hide it."
She then rolls her eyes. "Anyways, something interesting to note is that, while Gary's basically neutralised right now… how long can we say he's neutralised for? Next thing I know, he'll be a threat again. Still, he has the stuff with Bob to deal with, which will make things worse for him for a while. It's a guessing game, and I need to decide what the right time is."
After a moment she sighs. "Speaking of Bob, I've been thinking… I need to talk with him at some point. I was gonna wait for him to say when he wants to talk, but he hasn't… have I scared him off?"
Confessionals End:
Lauren finishes writing something on a piece of paper with a smirk on her face before standing up and walking off.
As the fangirl walks along, she walks past Susan. The two bump their shoulders into each other, causing Lauren to drop what she's holding.
"Let me help you," Susan quickly says, calmly.
"That isn't necessary!" Lauren quickly calls out, Susan's eyes narrow at this.
"Well, considering you just said that, it just makes me want to see what you've dropped even more."
"N-no!" Lauren quickly says, but Susan is faster.
"What is this?" The genius looks at it before gasping. On the first paper is some writing, which she starts to read out quietly.
"Dear diary, it feels so good to write in you again. Seriously, I've been waiting for a while because, to be honest… Carol's an annoying piece of-."
Susan pauses, confused. "What's your game plan here?"
Moving to the next paper, she reads.
"Rory just broke up with me. Gotta admit I'm hurt but purely because he was such an easy minion for my alliance…."
"Wow… how could you say something like that?" Lauren awkwardly and half-heartedly comments, quickly looking around to see nobody else nearby.
Susan glares at the fangirl, her temper flaring up. "You did this to set me up, didn't you?" After a moment, she frowns. "This feels too simple though."
"Okay, well that's just mean," Lauren grumbles back.
"This is sloppy, even for you," Susan notes. "Still, on the off chance you actually did do it to drag my name through the mud, I'm going to dispose of these myself."
"W-wait!" Lauren balks.
Susan then feels something bigger, before pulling out a box, and commenting, "Hang on a sec, what's this?" Opening the box, she finds a harmonica inside.
"G-give me my harmonica back?" Lauren asks, unsure.
"Oh, okay, I think I see your plan then, you were gonna let me grab these and then cry foul that I stole your stuff!" Susan chuckles. "Well nice try," she then throws the box into Lauren's hands before walking off with a chuckle.
"I uh…," Lauren begins as Susan leaves. However, after a moment, Lauren simply smirks confidently.
Confessional:
Susan:
"Okay, let's see… a note about how much I hate Carol, another one about Rory, and me being a jerk to Nadia and Jake simultaneously." After a moment she rolls her eyes before saying, "I've gotta say, including Nadia in this was a good touch, but holy crap she's desperate."
A moment later she grabs another piece of paper from the back. "Hang on a sec, this is a chart on how 'useful' the Tigers are to me." She chuckles. "I'm gonna have to show that to someone, that's just funny." She then picks up one of the other pieces of paper and rips it, before dropping them into the toilet to flush.
"Oh yeah," she grabs out a pen. "Gotta get some insurance, just in case this slips out of my pocket or something," before writing on the back.
Lauren:
"And now she thinks that's my plan," the fangirl smirks. "Good. Just what I wanted to happen."
Confessional Ends:
As Lauren leaves the confessional, Chris calls out over the loudspeaker, sadness in his voice. "Come to the campfire pit for the challenge, campers… I guess."
"What's up with him?" Lauren questions herself.
The scene then cuts to the final ten all standing at the campfire pit, Chris and Chef stand at their stations.
"Yeah, uh… welcome to the challenge campers." Chris looks upset, which causes everyone to look at him with raised eyebrows.
"What's up with you?" Jemma asks the host.
"N-nothing," Chris quickly says. While the contestants don't believe him, they simply shrug it off.
"Look, let's just get this out of the challenge early," Katrina shrugs. "Just tell us what to do."
"Yeah, whatever," Chris sighs. "Today's not actually one challenge. It's a bunch of smaller challenges combined into one."
"Which are?" Susan jumps in.
"Give me a few seconds and I can actually explain." Chris now seems a lot more annoyed. Noting this, Chef walks over.
"Dude," Chef starts, sounding somewhat worried. "Do you just want me to explain it? You don't sound like you're holding up too well."
"No," Chris says, determination and anger on his face. "I'm doing this because I'm the host, it's my job to do the challenges and it's my job for the rest of the season!"
"Well excuse me for wanting to make things a bit smoother for you."
As Chris and Chef continue to squabble, Jemma looks at her team and shrugs.
Confessional:
Jemma:
"I may as well try to motivate the team. Considering we've won all the challenges we've done it'll probably be easy, right? Anyways, I've seen dad do his motivational talks a few times with people, maybe I can use some of his skills?"
Confessional Ends:
"Okay guys," Jemma steps up. "We can do this! We'll rock the socks off the Tigers and then get the win! Then boom! That's a fourth challenge in a row where the Lions get the win, 'cause that's what we do!"
"I've heard better," Gary rolls his eyes.
"Well okay, you try to motivate the team then." The journalist rolls her eyes, before sitting down. All four other sets of eyes on the Lions turn to Gary.
"Uh, well… we're going to win?"
"Good job!" Katrina sarcastically claps. "We're bound to win that challenge now!"
"Okay, that's enough," Jemma quickly says.
"To each their own, but he still probably needs more," Katrina smirks.
Confessional:
Xavier:
"Geez, Katrina's been really malicious lately," Xavier notes. "I mean, I don't like Gary either but even I feel a little bad for him at this point."
Confessional Ends:
Over with Chris and Chef, Chris sighs before saying. "Whatever, sorry dude I guess… it's… just hard with everything going on."
"No problem, man, I'm here for you if you need me, just… you might just have to put on a smile for the campers or something."
"Good advice dude," Chris sighs before taking a deep breath and then forcing a smile on his face. Chris then looks around, before noticing the Lions.
"So we're gonna kick their butts, aren't we?" Jemma smirks at her team.
"I don't know why you're getting yourself ready," Chris looks confused. "I haven't even explained the whole challenge yet?"
"I mean, not going to elimination again is a big plus," Gary notes.
"If we feel good maybe we can try just that little bit harder?" Jemma adds.
A few seconds pass, and Chris blinks a few times. Chris's face cracks into a grin. He begins to laugh uproariously, causing everyone to look at him confused.
"You really think you're…? Okay, okay. I needed that, thanks campers, that was a good pick-me-up."
I wanted to save this for after the challenge but I'll say it now. Both teams are going to the elimination ceremony today! The person going home from the winning team just gets the better spot in the overall rankings."
"WHAT!?" Everyone yells out in shock. Chris raises his arms up defensively.
"Hey, hey, don't blame me. Blame Mr 'I had to drown and make the episode a non-elimination,' over there," Chris points to Xavier, who pokes his tongue out at Chris. "We only have a certain amount of episodes set for the season, I had to either improvise somewhere or deal with the producers acting like babies to me again."
"So we have an eight-person merge with an eighteen-person season?" Katrina asks, "Wow, good math, that's totally half left."
"Anyways, I half-lied here," Chris ignores Katrina's snark. "It's not just the better overall ranking the winning team's gonna get. Becaaaaaause, each survivor on the winning team gets a reward in the next challenge as well."
"Did… did you just ignore me?" Katrina seems too surprised to say anything snarky.
"But yeah, any of you could be one of the two people going home today!" Chris calls out, again, ignoring Katrina.
Confessional:
Lauren
"Well," Lauren begins. "I'm going to elimination either way. Ah well, I'm still going to try and win though with that reward in place. Anyways, Operation Cupid's gonna help too."
Gary:
Gary puts his head into his hands and groans. "OF COURSE I'M GOING TO ELIMINATION EITHER WAY!" He then looks up. "Whatever, sure, let's just do it."
Confessional Ends:
"You didn't even explain what the challenge is outside of the fact that it's a bunch of mini ones though?" Rory questions.
"Oh yeah," Chris shrugs. "You'll all be competing in what I like to call, the 'Pentathlon of Pain!'." The host chuckles, his regular glee starting to return. "Each of you will be competing in a one-verses-one challenge, against someone on the other team, based on old Olympic sports."
A moment later, Chris continues. "It'll be six challenges-."
"It's a Hexathlon then," Chris looks at Susan, who cuts him off. "Six challenges, wouldn't that mean it's a Hexathlon?"
"The first challenge doesn't count for points" Chris glares back. "That means there'll be no ending with the same amount of points today." After pausing for effect, Chris continues, "However, if one team gets three points before the challenge ends, we'll still be doing the remaining challenges, you all have to do it, don't try to worm your way out of it."
"And this island we'll be on is going to be…?" Katrina pries for more answers.
"That's the thing," Chris' face twists into a trademark smirk for the first time. "It's not going to just be one island. Say hello to a first, you will be competing on both Fire AND Water Islands!" The contestants gasp in surprise.
"To decide who's gonna be facing who, we've got a little challenge for you all to compete in, which doesn't count for points and thus means we get to call it a Pentathlon!" Chris glares at Susan while forcefully saying the last few words. The girl simply shrugs.
The scene changes to the contestants on Fire Island, standing on flat ground.
"Up first, we'll start off with a good old game of discus!" The ten contestants look unimpressed. "Hey, this wasn't specifically part of any Pentathlons, but it's always been a staple of the Olympics'."
"It should still be a Hexathlon then!" Susan yells out over everyone.
"Nope! Now shut it!" Chris smirks. "This is basically just setting up the order. The best performer on the Tigers faces the best performer on the Lions. Worst faces worst. Etcetera, etcetera."
Confessional:
Jemma:
"I mean, Xavier, Gary and I are around the same strength-wise," Jemma notes. "It's not gonna be likely that I'm last place for the Lions."
Confessional Ends:
"Okay everyone, get ready to start!" Chris presses a button on a remote, which causes ten discus' to appear out of a hole in the ground.
"Are they weighted or anything?" Bob asks, lifting one up.
"I dunno, they're metal, but they shouldn't be specifically heavier than normal?" Chris's confusion causes Bob to smirk.
"Good."
Confessional:
Bob:
"I'm almost definitely going against Rory or Carol," the giant admits. "Whoever gets first for the Tigers anyways. Still, I need to find some point to play a little weaker when the merge comes around so that I don't seem like as much of a big threat or something."
Confessional Ends:
"Aaaaand, GO!" Chris yells as everyone starts to pick up their discus'.
After doing so, Katrina quickly runs over to Bob and taps him on the shoulder right before he's about to start spinning.
"What?" He whispers.
"I've got an idea. It'll give us a free point." The giant raises an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"Do as badly as possible," Katrina reveals. "You'll get paired up with someone on the Tigers who did as bad as you, and you can kick their butts."
"And wouldn't that mean you guys are stuck with the stronger members of the Tigers?" Bob questions.
"Their only specifically strong ones are Rory and Carol. I can deal with one of them and I'm sure the others can manage the other, especially the comic dweeb."
Bob frowns, both at Katrina's insult and due to being stuck in thought.
Confessional:
Bob:
"It's a risk," Bob starts, before pausing…. "Yeah that's it, it's a risk. I can see where she's coming from, but it's not a risk I want to take." He then frowns. "Anyways, why'd you have to insult Carol like that!?"
Confessional Ends:
"Why don't you do it then?" Bob asks her.
"Well, you're the strongest."
"So it'll be obvious if I do it, right? What's to say Rory's not gonna do the same thing after seeing me throw this bit?"
"That's… a good point actually," Katrina relents, "Okay, you try your best then if you really want to."
Bob then spins his discus before throwing it, sending it flying far off. "Boom!" He cheers.
Xavier looks down at the discus with a smirk, before nodding, picking it up and starting to spin it.
Susan lets go of her discus… which only goes a few metres ahead. The Brainiac groans.
"Come… on!" She yells out in annoyance. "I can't be that weak, right?" A second discus lands a couple of metres in front of Susan's, though still not too far ahead.
The discus, now revealed to be Lauren's, causes her to groan. "How am I only a little bit stronger than her? I can at least hold up a twig, that's more than her entire body weight!"
Jake, Carol and Gary all let go of theirs, with Carol's going the furthest, however still behind Bob's. Jake's going in the middle and Gary still making it in front of Susan and Lauren's discus.
Jemma's discus lands between Lauren and Gary's discus' while Rory's lands between Carol and Bob's. Katrina's one lands just before Rory's.
"Okay… looks like we've all thrown," Chris notes.
"What about him?" Gary questions, pointing at Xavier.
"What?"
Chris looks over at Xavier, who still appears to be spinning.
"Uh…." Jake begins. "What's… he doing?"
"Dude, throw it already!" Chris yells as he runs over.
"I'm. Still. Getting. More. Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!" He screams, continuing to spin even faster, screaming. Everyone looks at him concerned.
"Throw it in the next few seconds or you're out of the challenge and the Tigers get a free point!" Hearing Chris's ultimatum causes Xavier to let go of the discus, somehow, luckily in the direction of everyone else. It flies through the air, before landing just in front of Jake's, making his the 5th farthest thrown.
"Woooooooo hoooooooo! Thaaaaaat's further than Boooooob!" Xavier deliriously says before promptly falling to the ground face-first.
"And it didn't even beat me or Bob…" Katrina notes, eyebrow raised.
Confessional:
Xavier:
"Okay, was that a little bit too far?" Xavier begins. "Maybe? But it was fun!"
Confessional Ends:
"Okay, now, everyone's thrown!" Chris comments with an eye-roll.
"Hang on a sec," Katrina begins. "How are you gonna tell who threw which discus?"
"We're using technology here." Looking at the closest discus, a label appears, saying….
'Susan, 10th/5th'
"That's just embarrassing," Gary says with a raised eyebrow, Susan looks away, flushed embarrassment on her face.
"Well in any case," Chris begins, pressing a button that brings all the discus' back and puts them in order. "We now have our pairs for the challenges!" Chris then begins to read off them. "Today's biggest losers? Susan and Jemma."
"I still beat two of them!" Jemma complains, pointing at Susan and Lauren.
"Nobody cares, you're still last place for your team. The actual rankings overall didn't matter." Jemma rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything to Chris' comment.
Confessional:
Jemma:
"I so don't deserve to be called the weakest!" Jemma grumbles, arms folded. "I could totally beat Gary at least at this, I was just having an off day."
Confessional Ends:
"Second worst, slightly better than the first, Lauren and Gary!"
The two glance at each other, before nodding.
"Here's a good one! Middle of the pack, Xavier and Jake!"
Jake looks at Xavier, concerned. "I'm facing off against Xavier?"
"Well, that shouldn't be that much of an issue, right?" Susan raises an eyebrow at the leader, who gulps.
"Y-yeah!"
Chris cuts everyone off by saying. "Next, the second best performers for their teams, Carol and Katrina."
"Alright, I can manage her," Katrina nods.
"As if!" Carol smirks. "You're going down!"
"And finally, Rory and Bob, the best performers, you'll be battling it out as well!"
"Good luck," Rory nods at his opponent.
"Same to you," Bob nods back, but as they turn away, Rory frowns slightly.
Confessional:
Rory:
Rory sits, eyebrow raised, before saying, "I've… never really liked Bob all that much." He then shrugs, "he gives me bad vibes, what can I say? I feel like one day he's gonna snap and fold someone like a pretzel. Still, I can't wait to try and beat him in the challenge."
Confessional Ends:
"To decide the order of the pairs and the challenges, we have the help of these two beauties!" A couple of objects under some tarps are pushed out by Morgan. Chef then pulls off the tarp to reveal a couple of spinning wheels. "The Wheels of Spinning Misfortune!"
Both wheels appear to have five spots on them. On the right, the numbers 1-5, and on the left appears to be, a bow, a sword, a horse, a shoe and some waves.
"Uhh, so I hate to complain any more than I already have," Jemma begins. "But what if it lands on a challenge or a person twice?"
"We've got that covered," Chris smirks. As he says that, Morgan and Chef hold up paint cans as the latter rolls his eyes.
"The quick-dry kind," Morgan notes to nobody in particular.
"Well before you use that paint," Chris begins. "It's time for the first spins of the wheels!"
The ten contestants stand around the wheels as Chris puts his hand on the one with the numbers.
"Alright!" Chris yells. "It's time to see who's going first!" Chris spins it as the rest of the contestants watch on with bated breath, before eventually landing… on the number five.
"Ooh, big, bad five! It looks like Rory and Bob are already competing!"
The two guys look at each other.
"Good luck," Rory nods.
"Same to you," Bob smiles back.
"And as for the challenge!" Chris continues, before spinning the wheel. A few moments later, it lands on… the sword icon.
"Ooh," Chris responds to the outcome. "We've got the fencing challenge already."
"Wait, fencing?" Jemma perks up, interested in this.
"Fencing?" Rory questions. "How is putting up a fence, an Olympic event?" Bob nods along in agreement
"Fencing is also sword fighting!" Susan explains to them. "It can also mean selling stolen goods, but I doubt that's what they're referring to either."
"That… makes more sense considering the sword symbol," Rory admits, before shrugging.
"Can't say I've ever tried using a sword," Bob admits.
"Actually, these ones are named 'foils'," Jemma adds. "Well, I guess there's also sabres and épée, but the foil seems like the most likely cause it's the most commonly used."
"Like… aluminium foil?"
"Well… yeah I guess?"
"Are they wrapped in it or something?"
"No, they aren't!" Carol calls out. "They've like, full-on swords. Well, I guess they've got little dots on the end but aside from that they look sort of like a rapier if you recognise them."
"How do the girls know so much?" Rory questions Carol, Susan and Jemma.
"Eh, general knowledge from living in the area I do," Susan shrugs.
"As a superhero, I have to know the weapons my supervillains will use," Carol adds in with a slight chuckle.
Jemma shakes her head. "I did a bit of fencing when I was younger. Oh yeah, and that dot thing is true by the way." She then turns to Chris, "Speaking of which, are they gonna have the padding?"
"Nah," Chris shrugs. "Just don't cut the other one up too hard and it'll be all good."
Jemma quickly whispers to Bob, "don't worry, they're not usually sharp."
After that, Bob and Rory walk over to a platform and Chef brings them a couple of foils.
"These feel… flimsy."
"I mean, you're built like a brick house," Gary responds. "Most things probably feel flimsy to you."
"Fair."
Confessional:
Jemma:
"Actually, foils are pretty weak," she notes. She then puts up her hands defensively, "what? I didn't feel like it was my place to say that there. Anyways, you never know if I'll have to use it to defend myself. I'd prefer if people in the game didn't know that."
Confessional Ends:
The guys look at their foils before Chris calls out, "Alright, we've got a schedule to follow here," Chris says before clapping. "Take your positions."
"Which are?"
"I dunno, whatever you feel like," Chris shrugs. "You just have to sword fight." Jemma cringes in the background.
"Seriously?" Bob questions.
"What else do you want me to say? Push the opponent off the end they're standing on? There, that's it."
Confessional:
Jemma:
"Have any of them actually seen a fencing match in their lives?" The Journalist questions, annoyed. "You're supposed to poke your opponent in the chest with the foils, not do some weird sword fight right out of a movie!" She then groans.
—-
Chris:
"We here at Total Drama wish to say that we hear your complaints about it not being how fencing works. However, none of us felt like watching a match and we know better than you because we can actually make it fun. You want to do a fencing challenge? Run your own season!" [1]
Confessional Ends:
"Anyways!" Chris yells. "It's time we started the challenge! Round one will begin in… THREE! TWO! ONE! FIGHT!"
The two guys awkwardly look at each other before running over and locking blades with each other.
Bob uses his strength to push Rory back, causing the Jock to look surprised. "What's wrong?" Bob questions. "Am I too strong?"
After a moment, Rory quickly sidesteps and slashes at Bob, who quickly catches it with his foil, however, this gives Rory the chance to push back and gain back some distance. "Nah, I'm alright."
"Smart idea," Bob nods with a smirk, before quickly clashing blades again and pushing him back again. "Good to know you're doing that."
"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" Rory calls out, panicked.
Susan watches the scene unfolding, worry on her face before an idea crosses her mind and she smirks.
Confessional:
Susan:
"Okay, so I hate to go into the 'mean popular girl that bullies people' stereotype," Susan begins. "But to be fair, I want that reward… whatever it is."
Confessional Ends:
"Come on Rory!" Susan yells out. "You can beat him! I mean, Bob already admitted he can't even tell the foil apart from aluminium foil! He's obviously an idiot."
Bob pauses at this, but he recovers quickly enough to stop an attack from Rory, though not without taking a quick step back, which Rory notices and capitalises on, pushing his advantage.
Lauren catches onto Susan's plan and smirks. "Yeah! I'd say he's dumber than a bag of bricks, but that's just mean to the bricks!"
"Ouch," Jake mutters under his breath, turning over to the two girls, not knowing how to answer their insults.
Carol also watches on worried, but clearly unsure of how to respond as well.
Jake goes, "Uhh," before getting cut off by more of Susan and Lauren's jeering.
Bob focuses on the insults, quickly looking at the girls with a hurt expression. His face moves over to Carol, who looks a mix between shocked and terrified. Bob then realises the challenge is still going and quickly parries another blow from Rory.
The giant then turns around, seeing he is barely away from the line. It seems like he's just about to lose, causing him to say, "Crap."
Carol's worried face changes to a glare of annoyance before turning to her team and whispering to herself. "I've gotta do it."
Jake quickly picks up on Carol's expression as his eyes go wide in realisation. "Carol?" Jake turns to his teammate, before leaning in and whispering. "What if you reveal it?" The Superhero ignores him.
"Hey, guys!" Carol calls out, annoyed at her teammates before Susan and Lauren quickly look at her. "Can we like, not insult Bob, please?"
"Why?" Lauren looks at her confused. "He's on the other team."
Carol's eyes go wide as she quickly realises how careful she has to be and quickly backpedals, "Uh, y-yeah, my bad. Must have forgotten that!"
Confessional:
Carol:
"Did I seriously just say that I must have forgotten that he was on the other team?" She then groans, before saying. "I could have said anything else…."
Confessional Ends:
"Carol… you've been on the Tigers for literally the entire game?" Susan looks at her confused.
"Are you sick or something?" Lauren adds. "Or did you hit your head?"
"I… I was on the Lions at the very start, wasn't I?" Carol's excuse causes Susan to look even more confused.
"For all of two minutes!?" Carol doesn't seem to have a response to Susan's yell, causing her to simply looks away quickly, embarrassed.
Jake looks over at Carol, who is trying to hide her embarrassed expression. Jake's eyes go wide for a second before he snaps back to reality.
Raising his voice, Jake quickly says. "It's all good Carol, we were going more than a little overkill with the insults, weren't we?" Lauren and Susan look at the leader confused but shrug it off.
Confessional:
Jake:
Jake looks worried at the camera, groaning before trying to defend himself. "Look, I want to target Susan more than anyone else. I'm not gonna let Carol paint a target on herself by letting it get out that she's in a cross-team couple." He then pauses for a moment before sighing.
"Okay… look. With my thing with Xavier… if I just threw Carol to the wolves like that it'd be really hypocritical. Plus I… get her worries, when you have to try and balance something like this, I… I felt bad for her, so I helped out a little."
Confessional Ends:
After the yelling stops, Bob closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Using this opportunity, Rory jumps and tries to hit Rory on the chest with the foil, which bounces off Bob's chest as he stands his ground.
On this note, the giant's eyes open, a determined glare forming as Rory looks worried before Bob starts to attack, quickly beginning to gain ground on Rory.
"Ooh, and Bob's making a comeback!" Chris calls out in excitement.
"Crud!" Rory calls out in worry as Bob continues to stab at Rory with the foil, sending him stumbling back.
Lauren and Susan quickly stare at each other with worry on their faces.
"What are we gonna do next?" Lauren asks her teammate.
"You're asking me?"
"Come on brainiac," Lauren rolls her eyes, annoyed. "We're the only two that are working on trying to help Rory win this challenge. If I have to help you out with that, I'll put aside my pride."
"Fair enough," Susan shrugs. "Any ideas on your end?"
"I dunno," Lauren shrugs. "Maybe we can trip Bob or something?"
Rory overhears this and calls out, "No! I want to win this fairly!"
"But it's our best chance of winning," Susan explains. "It's moral cheating."
"Moral cheating, really?" Jake questions, Carol and Lauren look just as confused at the oxymoron.
"Look, I just can't accept winning by cheating," Rory admits, standing up straight as Bob pauses, looking on confused. "Mocking the opponent is already a grey area but it's technically not cheating so as much as I don't like it I will begrudgingly not get mad at it."
"Thanks for the support," Bob deadpans. Carol also frowns at this in the background.
"But this is straight-up cheating!" Rory complains to the girls. "Don't try it."
As this happens, Chef walks out holding some popcorn, to which Chris grabs a handful. Morgan also walks over to get some.
"Popcorn is for me and Chef only," Chris glares, Morgan rolls his eyes before glowering and walking away.
"Seriously, it doesn't sit right doing it by cheating," Rory begins. "Anyways, it's a risk, what if Chris doesn't allow it?"
"He's literally standing there listening to us argue," Lauren notes. "If he was going to get mad at us for it he would have said it after I said the idea initially."
Susan pauses, before closing her eyes a moment and then smiling.
"Well, he doesn't want to, we shouldn't force him to accept outside help," Susan draws both contestants' eyes with her remark.
Confessional:
Susan:
"Hey, if I can agree and get his ire after Lauren… it's a win/win, right?"
Confessional Ends
Xavier walks over to Chris and Chef, noticing the popcorn. Chris holds the bucket out and Xavier grabs a handful. Morgan stomps back over.
"You just said-."
"Shut up, this is interesting," Chris cuts him off.
"Not you too!" Lauren groans. "What is this anyways? Another one of your brilliant schemes to get him on your side again?"
"No, I'm just saying he's a human with his own thoughts and feelings and should be respected for that."
Lauren pauses, before exhaling and saying, "sure, you win." She then walks away.
Confessional:
Lauren:
"That… wasn't my proudest moment," she admits. "That wasn't even part of a plan I was just genuinely getting into the game then."
Confessional Ends:
"Whatever," Rory rolls his eyes before pausing to think out loud. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."
"Hey uh," Bob begins. "How about someone? We had a whole challenge to do… right?"
"Oh yeah," Rory starts, turning around. Bob then launches an offence, pushing him off the platform in three slashes from the foil.
"How's that for a bag of bricks?" Bob says disdainfully before Chris jumps in to announce.
"And the Frozen Lions take the first point!"
"Aww," Rory groans as he stands back up. Bob cheers before running over to his team, high-fiving them all.
"We could have had that point without straight-up cheating!" Susan groans. She then turns to Carol and annoyedly says. "Okay, Carol, do you remember who's on the team now? Cause it's kinda sad you suddenly forgot."
Carol gulps before saying. "Y-yeah."
Confessional:
Carol:
"Well gee," Carol starts. "Maybe I'll just start mocking Rory, eh?" She then groans. "Okay… Susan doesn't know Bob and I are together, I get that, it's fair if she thought that was a good strategy, but it's still annoying basically being expected to join in with bullying my new boyfriend."
Confessional Ends:
As the Tigers walk away, Carol walks over to Jake and whispers, "thanks a tonne, I owe you one there."
"Don't mention it," Jake responds back.
Chris then turns to the ten campers. "Okay, give it a few minutes and we'll spin for our next lot of contestants and challenges."
"Why don't we just go now?" Gary questions.
"Cause I want to do something for a few minutes first, okay?" Chris shoots back before walking away.
Gary puts his hands up saying, "Geez, don't have to get so pissy." Katrina walks over to the Theatre Kid.
"You should follow your own advice," Katrina notes.
Gary glares at Katrina before saying. "Hi pot, I'm the kettle, say, why are you calling me black again?"
"Touché."
Chris holds his phone in his hand, beginning to dial. After a few dials, it doesn't go through.
"Come on!" Chris yells in annoyance. He sighs, saying, "Answer the phone already!" The next ring fails too.
"You might need to find someone else," Chef shrugs as he walks over to Chris.
"Who then?"
"I dunno, the Rich boy's dad?"
"That kid… his dad is… Archie Stockton, isn't it?" Chef nods to Chris' question. "That… might actually work." Chris thinks for a second before saying, "I'm still gonna try my contact, but I think I can mix these two ideas together potentially. If I don't get her today though, I'll fully do your idea, alright?"
"You're actually listening to my advice?" Chef questions. "Wow, you really are scared."
"I'm desperate, okay?" Chris jokes back.
Elsewhere, Susan walks over to Rory, before saying, "So uh… you wanna talk or something?"
"I mean… not particularly, but uh… if you really want to?"
Confessional:
Rory:
"I may as well give her a chance to say whatever she wants to say… especially after my chat with Jake earlier. The game's not gonna last forever and I'd rather finish it without any lingering trouble than with some."
Confessional Ends:
"So you want to say…?"
"Well, not say, I wanna show you something."
"Okay?"
Susan turns to her ex and then says. "Okay, before I say anything, I've just got to say now, this was faked by Lauren, if you want proof, the handwriting is completely different from my usual writing, I've got some of my own on the back of this."
Susan holds out her notepad to show her writing as proof.
"So what were you going to show me?" Rory questions. "Cause you're just immediately jumping to defend yourself."
"Because Lauren wrote a fake 'chart' for me saying who's 'useful'." Susan then pulls Rory aside before showing the paper she had before.
"Well… being first place aside from you is pretty nice," Rory notes so Carol in second, Jake in third, Nadia in fourth and Lauren in last." The jock thinks out loud before continuing. "So you're saying… Lauren made this?"
"Afraid so… and I only found this out by accidentally bumping into Lauren."
"So let me guess, you're about to say she was going to hand it off to us to drag your name through the mud again."
"That's my best guess."
Meanwhile, Lauren watches the scene chuckling.
Confessional:
Lauren:
"She actually took the bait even more than I thought she would here. I just took the chart idea from Courtney in All Stars to whip Susan into a frenzy but she's full-on showing it to only Rory? Not even Carol? She's probably just made Jake and Morgan's jobs easier. For a smartie she's pretty dumb!" The fangirl chuckles evilly, "just how I like it."
Confessionals End:
"So… why are you showing me this?" Rory's face shows confusion.
"To basically show you proof that Lauren likes to mess with me and that she isn't as pure and innocent as she lets on."
"Okay, duly noted if it's true I guess," Rory responds before Susan folds back up the chart and they rejoin everyone else.
"Are you feeling better about me?"
"Literally every time we talk you ask that exact same question without fail," Rory notes. "Seriously, it's starting to get annoying." He pauses. "Still, I think we need to put a stop to this, so let's have a talk after the challenge… a proper one about everything."
Susan pauses before asking, "Wait, really?" Rory nods, before Susan quickly adds, "Deal!"
"Look at the two of them," the scene cuts back to Lauren, talking with Carol. "Looks like they're getting along pretty well again."
"Yeah, good to see the two of them are starting to get back on the same page," Carol nods. Lauren sighs.
"Must be sad to know you're back in Susan's at most third-place slot, right?"
"What do you mean?" Carol responds.
"Think about it," Lauren begins. "If she and Rory get back together, or even if they become friends, you're going to be her friend sure, but not her closest ally. Rory's gonna be, so she's probably gonna truce with Rory against you at the final three."
"I trust her enough not to do that!" Carol quickly calls out.
"I mean… you've seen how Susan acts, right?" The two look back to a blushing Susan as Rory walks off. "For supposedly being the 'popular kid,' she sure doesn't seem like it with how she approaches relationships. Though… I guess she knows a bit of the stereotype at least, and what does the smart, popular girl with an ego have?"
"What?"
"Disposable assets; or I guess I should say… disposable friends. I mean, you, Rory, Jake, the potential for the people on the Lions like Jemma or even Gary… something's gotta give at some point, and with your skills in challenges, maybe it's not straight away, but after Bob or something, you might be an acceptable loss to her, even before the final three."
Carol's face goes white. "O-okay…," she mutters.
You're who I want to take to the final two anyways," Lauren shrugs. "I mean, I'd say we're basically besties at this point." Lauren then pauses before sighing. "Anyways, I'm probably just being paranoid, the fact that both teams are going to send someone home messed with me pretty bad, I do admit. See you 'round!" Lauren then walks off as Carol leans against a tree, taking a deep breath.
Confessional:
Lauren:
"Okay, hopefully, that plants more doubt in Carol!" Lauren smiles. "Maybe I can make a final two deal with her or something and we can vote off Gary or Bob after I've finished with her?" She then says, "as for bringing Carol to the finale? It's between her and Gary, and I trust Carol a lot more than Gary, so right now, so yeah, it's the truth."
Carol:
"After… Bob?" Carol gulps. "I… I… she's not going to get him out… right?" Carol shivers, before sighing. "I… I'm friends with her though, she wouldn't just turn against me. If it's me, her and Rory as the final three she's gonna play fair… right?"
Confessional Ends:
A few minutes later, Chris walks back over to the contestants, saying, "Okay, I'm ready now. For an update, we have one point to the Lions and none to the Tigers. Let's keep going!"
"You had to remind us," Rory snarks. Chris ignores him.
"Okay, let's spin the wheels to find out challenge two!" Chris then spins as the contestants watch on.
…
The left wheel lands on the water, while the right wheel lands on the three.
"Xavier, Jake. Looks like you're doing some swimming over on Water Island!"
"Seriously? Swimming?" Xavier groans.
Confessional:
Xavier:
Xavier facepalms before annoyedly saying. "Of all the challenges I could have been put in, it's one, against Jake, and two, swimming? After the last time I went swimming I'd rather just do it again after the season. Or maybe a few episodes later or something?"
Confessional Ends:
As Jake and Xavier start to walk further ahead than everyone else, they turn to talk to each other.
"So it looks like we're uh… we're competing against each other," Jake begins, awkwardly.
"Yep!" Xavier quickly calls out, nervousness on his face.
"You… doing alright?" Jake questions.
The method actor quickly yelps, "Fine, yeah… I'm uh, I'm doing completely fine!" Jake stares at him with a deadpan expression.
"You scared about the water or something?" Xavier glares at Jake's comment, which causes him to explain. "Well, considering… well the last challenge we had there it would make sense."
"Well," Xavier puts up a veneer of confidence. "Water is just like ice, and as the performer of Snow Miser for five years in a row at my local theatre's yearly 'Year Without a Santa Claus,' I think I can deal with a bit of ice… or I guess water in this case."
"You sure?" Jake asks. "Cause you look a bit worried."
"We had this really cool effect where I'd turn away from the audience while I was holding that elf's hat and then drop it into a hole below the stage. Then I'd turn around and throw some paper mache upwards to imitate turning it into snow!" Xavier tries to ignore what was said by Jake.
"Dude, we're," Jake leans in and whispers, "basically going out, you don't have to hide anything from me if you don't want to."
Xavier pauses, before sighing. "Okay, fine, I'll spill. I'm just a bit nervous about the challenge, it's the first time I've swam since the whole… drowning thing. I don't think I'm traumatised or anything but I'm just… really anxious about it in general."
"I probably shouldn't be saying this considering we're… going against each other and all that, and that we lost the first challenge," Jake pauses for a second before continuing. "But you're stronger than you think, you can do it! Swim for it and maybe you can even win."
A moment later, he continues, "I'm not gonna make it easy for you though, I've got to try and win the challenge as well."
"Y-yeah," Xavier nods, before pausing and taking a deep breath. "Thanks for that, I think I needed a pep talk."
"No worries," Jake smiles.
The two then get on a boat that starts to carry them away. Another boat pulls up to grab the other campers.
Confessional:
Jake:
"Comforting my opponent before we do our challenge…," he begins. "That's not something I thought I'd be doing, to be honest." After a moment, he shrugs, "it's Xavier though, so it's worth it."
Confessional Ends:
Further back, Carol walks over to Susan and quickly taps her on the shoulder. "What's wrong?" Susan asks.
Carol gulps for a moment before saying, "So… we're allies and all that, so can I… ask you something quickly?"
"Sure?"
"I think we can make a pretty solid ally out of Bob," Carol admits. "We're pals, and as long as you don't insult him any more than you already have, then we might be able to get him as a vote against at least a few people. So can we get him in the alliance maybe?" Susan pauses, before thinking.
"I'll think about it."
"Thanks!" Carol smiles back.
Confessionals:
Susan:
"I mean, I guess as a vote against like… Gary or something," Susan shrugs. "Carol likes Bob though… so maybe it is worth it to keep her happy for a bit by keeping him in since Lauren's probably going tonight." She then pauses.
"Okay, so I'm aware Carol's upset about having to vote for Lauren and y'know what? I completely understand that. If I was in an alliance that wanted to vote Carol off I'd feel crappy about it too, even if another person in there absolutely hated Carol. I want to give her something in exchange, so I guess I'll try to ally with Bob if he's willing to listen to reason."
"Anyways, getting her something in return is gonna keep Carol loyal to me, so it's both good socially, and game-wise."
Confessional Ends:
Susan decides to give her answer. "Sure, we can potentially get Bob in an alliance."
"Wow, you thought about that fast," Carol notes.
"The perks of being smart," Susan chuckles.
"So… that's it? He's in if he accepts?"
Susan shakes her head. "I'm gonna need to set a few ground rules, alright? Firstly, it'll have to be in the next episode when we've merged. Also, he's bottom of the alliance so we're voting him off if we have to target one of us. Got it?"
"I can agree to that," Carol nods.
"Sweet," Susan responds back before walking away.
Carol walks away, muttering to herself, "Better than nothing I guess."
Confessional:
Carol:
"Call me paranoid," Carol begins. "But that feels like it's code for an 'I'm going to pretend we're targeted early so he can go,' situation," the comic nerd sighs.
"I shouldn't be so worried about Susan, but… I kind of am. She's somehow gone from the bottom to right near the top socially, and I'm kinda scared I'm just a stepping stone, and that she's gonna target me or Bob at some point soon."
Confessional Ends:
The scene cuts to Water Island, where Chris watches the duo of campers competing, now wearing their swimsuits while everyone else stands on a boat some distance away.
"This challenge is pretty simple," Chris notes. "Swim from one raft platform to another."
"What's the twist?" Xavier asks.
"I'll leave that for the two of you to find out." Xavier and Jake look at each other awkwardly and fearfully.
Confessional:
Chris:
"The twist is that there is no twist!" Chris reveals, laughing evilly. "But they don't need to know that, do they? It's better to psyche them out, have them scared."
Confessional Ends:
"For now though, it's just a simple swim, where Chef will judge who got there faster if it looks like a tie from our end."
"O-okay then," Xavier breathes in before he and Jake stand at the edge.
"Now, ready to start?" Chris questions.
"Not… not really," Xavier admits.
"Too bad!" Chris yells.
"Good luck," Jake says to his opponent with a nod.
"Three!" Chris yells, causing the two guys to prepare to jump. "Two! One! Go!"
Jake quickly jumps into the water, while Xavier pauses.
"Jump already!" Katrina yells from the boat.
"O-okay," the Method Actor pauses, before sighing and jumping into the water himself.
The two men start to swim ahead, with Xavier straining to catch up.
A few moments later, Xavier catches up, leading to the two contestants being neck and neck.
"I'm doing it… I'm doing it!" Xavier calls out between breaths. "Yes!"
"See!" Jake responds between strokes. "You're doing great!"
"Th-thanks dude," Xavier smiles, before pulling ahead.
"Hang on a sec buddy, you aren't getting ahead that easily." Jake then manages to catch back up without much trouble.
The two then stop talking to focus on swimming ahead. A few minutes later, the two of them notice Chef approaching in the distance.
Seeing him, Xavier slows down slightly to catch his breath before starting to think.
Confessional:
Xavier:
"The Lions already have our first point and I don't want Jake's team to get annoyed at him, I can probably take the loss as long as the team doesn't realise it's me throwing and we get more wins after. Anyways, both teams are voting someone off so it's not like it's my fault we're going to elimination, right?"
Confessional Ends:
Xavier stops in his tracks as Jake swims past him for a few metres. The Leader notices Xavier stopping and quickly turns around, asking, "Why'd you stop?"
"Why are you stopping!?" Katrina yells out to Xavier.
"Ever heard of catching your breath?" Xavier yells out, before quickly turning to Jake and whispering, "Quick, go win the challenge."
"You're… letting me win it?" Jake responds, baffled.
"Consider that… repaying the favour for getting me back in here. Now quick, get it, I don't want them to put two and two together." Jake nods before swimming forward. Xavier smirks before continuing onwards, noticeably slower than Jake.
A few moments later, Jake reaches the platform before quickly climbing aboard, with Xavier not too far behind. Xavier sighs as he climbs aboard. "Damn, you beat me, that sucks," Xavier sighs before quickly winking at his opponent.
"Church boy wins," Chef calls over a loudspeaker.
"Seriously?" Jake questions, exasperated. "I'm called church boy?"
"Electric Tigers! You have your first point!" The Tigers all cheer as the boat rides over to pick the duo up.
"Greaaaaaaat," Katrina sighs, angrily.
"It's just one point," Jemma reminds her. "We already have one of our own and we can probably get two more of them easily."
"Fine, yeah…" Katrina sighs.
"Wait, was there even a twist here?" Jake questions.
"I don't think there was!" Xavier responds as the two guys look at Chris angrily. Chris simply cuts them off.
"And the Lions and Tigers both have a point each! We still have three challenges left though, so it could be anyone's game! Who will win? Who will lose? Find out, after the break!"
After Chris' announcement, the camera fades out.
Aaaaaand that's where I'm going to end part one! Both teams now have a point each, and we've still got three challenges left to do! Originally I had the next challenge in this part, but I moved it over for pacing reasons.
I better start with the elephant in the room that also got mentioned in the starting author's note but I still want to mention it anyways.
So with this new episode, I wanted to try something new with how I write confessionals. It's been difficult sometimes finding a spot to slot something like "Jake says," or "Katrina nods to herself," into the confessionals. However, I do need some way to show who the specific person speaking is.
So I decided to try something new and put the name of the person using the confessional above the confessional itself. This is a test thing, so if you don't like it, then let me know, but I wanted to at the very least try it out for this episode and see if it works well.
Anyways, this episode has been one I've actually been looking forward to writing for pretty much the whole season.
As for the double elimination, I'll get more into it with the second part. Though I will say two things. Firstly, what Chris said was true from my perspective as well, episode 8 was going to be an elimination but I changed it. Secondly, if you are curious, there will specifically be a 10th and 9th place, whoever is going will not share a rank.
I think this is mostly it, but I do have one more thing to quickly go over before I sign off.
This season was planned and made before the new seasons were announced, as have some tentative plans for follow-up seasons at this point.
As such, this was before the new cast was announced. So as a result, I think I'll temporarily replace the poll for the favourite EI camper for an episode or two with a new question.
'Should I try to make the 2023 seasons canon to the EI timeline?'
If yes is voted I cannot guarantee that I will be able to make them canon, there is a chance that I will not be able to fit it in, but I will attempt to do so. I might also be able to slot the newbies in, but not as contestants, though that will most likely be a last resort. I might even find a way to get them in using the season when it comes out if it slots into the timeline well, idk, but still, I want to ask it.
Also, I've been tossing up the idea of a RR fic planned in this universe, so you could see some of that cast there if I can fit it in.
Oh yeah, and the planning will probably have to start when we get a trailer or an episode out of the season, but that's a given.
Anyways, I've talked too much here, the ending stuff is more than a page long. So I'll finish off now and have a couple of notes below for the challenge if you want to see them. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you again when the second episode is out!
[1] The views represented by Chris and the production team are not that of the writer of this story. I wished to make a joke of how they're not following any of the rules and considering how spiteful Chris' confessional here is, I think I need to specify that it's not coming from a place of genuine anger on my end lol.
Rankings in the first challenge:
1st: Bob (Frozen Lions 1st)
2nd: Rory (Electric Tigers 1st)
3rd: Katrina (Frozen Lions 2nd)
4th: Carol (Electric Tigers 2nd)
5th: Jake (Electric Tigers 3rd)
6th: Xavier (Frozen Lions 3rd)
7th: Gary (Frozen Lions 4th)
8th: Jemma (Frozen Lions 5th)
9th: Lauren (Electric Tigers 4th)
10th: Susan (Electric Tigers 5th)
1st – 10th: ? (Find out 10th and 9th in part 2)
11th: Nadia (The Hot Blooded)
12th: Myron (The Ungifted Nerd)
13th: Tegan (The Complainer)
14th: Morgan (The Perfect Guy) (Though he isn't off the islands)
15th: Megan (The Quiet Band Girl)
16th: Hannah (The Jerky Contrarian)
17th: Richard (The Incredible Bore)
18th: Alfred (The Influential Rich Kid)