The first thing Cody did was take stock of what he had on hand.

Despite having had ample time to prepare for Total Drama Island, he originally hadn't packed much. Clothes, a few games, candy, a first aid kit, and his keyboard were pretty much the only things he thought he'd need.

After all, Cody thought they'd be staying at a nice resort - not the crappy summer camp that was Camp Wawanakwa.

He still had a full day before he was shipped off to the island, but what could he do in that time?

Prepare.

Cody hadn't brought much money with him, not expecting to need it while staying at a nice resort that would cover all of his expenses. But he had enough that he could buy a few supplies that he would definitely need. Bug spray, sunscreen, and some more appropriate clothing were all on the agenda.

A shudder at the memory of how he was originally eliminated from Total Drama Island, and suddenly bear repellant was the number one item on his list.

–

An hour and the vast majority of his money later, and Cody had returned to his room with all the supplies he could need. Or at least those that he could find use for. He had to be tactical from here on out, so some corners were cut.

As much as he would've liked to get a whole new outfit for this new beginning, money was even tighter than he assumed, so clothes were on the bottom of his list of priorities.

Bear repellant, sun screen, bug spray, and a pocket knife (he really wasn't taking his chances with bears now, even if it likely wouldn't do much) were easy enough to get. But afterwards, his funds were low, so the only other things he bothered with were a breathable t-shirt and shorts for the days between challenges, and a scarf. The scarf was easy to explain - despite it being summer, Wawanakwa got cold at night, and Cody hadn't been too keen on cold weather ever since his experiences in the Yukon during World Tour.

Speaking of World Tour, Cody had gotten into a surprisingly decent shape as a result of the season. Despite it not being very noticeable, Cody was in excellent health for most of the trip - except for all the times Sierra, Duncan, and the rest of the cast took their turn abusing him.

He would never drink tea after China. Ever.

So, during the days between challenges, Cody would dedicate himself to working out and improving his physique. It might not do wonders for him like he hoped, but getting into shape was never a bad idea. Besides, some of the challenges got rough later on, and he needed all the help he could get. And it was much easier to work out in a t-shirt and shorts than jeans and a sweater, so…

The only other thing Cody did for the rest of the day was write down everything he could remember regarding Total Drama. Seasons 1 through 6, anything he could recall went onto the paper. The biggest advantage he had at this point was knowledge of the future, but he could only rely on his memory for this. It wasn't like he could just watch reruns of the show to refresh himself, all he had was his previous recollections.

It was a good thing Cody had a very good memory. And that Total Drama was one of the biggest impacts on his life. And that he rewatched the show a lot. And that -

Cody sighed. He better get writing.

–

Cody, despite his best efforts, didn't get a lot of sleep that night. But could you blame him? Every time he closed his eyes, he was haunted by visions - being mauled by a bear, falling off the Dock of Shame in his wheelchair and sinking into the icy water, almost being eaten by a shark in Hawaii, Alejandro and Duncan's sneering faces, Sierra…

Plus he was pretty excited about getting to compete on Total Drama again, that was a pretty big deal.

So, after a long and nearly sleepless night, he was up bright and early, ready to be taken by car, and then yacht, to Camp Wawanakwa.

As he neared the island, Cody took a look out the window and idly realized that there seemed to be a lot less people there than the last time he arrived. If he remembered correctly, he had originally arrived after… Ezekiel? Whether that was right or not, Cody knew for a fact that he was one of the later campers that arrived last time.

So he had stayed up late playing video games and reading comic books and nearly slept in. Sue him!

Now, however?

The only people on the dock (besides Chris) were Beth, DJ, and Gwen.

His heart lurched at the sight of his old crush, but he forced those feelings away as he stepped off the boat and onto the dock with his belongings, steeling himself for a snarky insult that was sure to come from the sadistic host -

"Cody! The Codester! The Codemeister!"

Cody blinked, taken aback by the rather… friendly introduction, before letting a bright smile make its way onto his face as he returned the high five Chris offered him.

"What's up, Chris?" He replied, letting his enthusiasm bleed through his words, "Psyched to be here, man!"

Cody forgot how… laid back Chris had been for the first few seasons of Total Drama. He seemed much more at ease than Cody remembered him being during World Tour, at least, and the man was definitely nicer than he had been during All Stars.

"Finally, someone who's acting like they're excited to be here!" Chris cheered, casting a glance backwards at the group of teens who had already arrived. "You three could learn a thing or two from him, you know."

Gwen just glared at Chris, while DJ and Beth had the decency to look sheepish at being called out. Cody didn't blame them, though - he wasn't exactly thrilled about being lied to about staying at a five star resort either originally, but he didn't let it bother him then. And to be honest?

He kind of missed Camp Wawanakwa.

Cody gauged the reactions of his fellow teenagers as he approached them, offering them a bright smile and friendly wave as he approached and set down his luggage next to theirs.

"What's up, guys?" He introduced, trying not to let his nervousness get the best of him, "I'm Cody. Nice to meetcha!"

"What's up bro?" DJ greeted him with a fist bump, which he gladly returned. Beth offered a shy wave, and Gwen pretty much ignored him (why did that bother him so much?).

"Kinda messed up that we don't get that sick resort from the brochure, huh?" DJ asked the group, trying to make small talk.

Cody shrugged. "I don't mind too much," he admitted, "Sure, it's pretty lame, but it can't be that bad, right?"

"You sure we're looking at the same place?" Gwen snarked at him, causing Beth to let out a snort and DJ to slightly nod in agreement.

Cody just shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing we can do about that now, might as well make the best of it right?"

"I like that attitude, little man!"

Cody jumped slightly at the voice, recognizing it as Geoff - it looked like the rest of the campers were going to arrive in the same order they did last time, with Cody being the sole exception.

Geoff introduced himself to the little group, similar to how Cody had, and the rest of the introductions continued as normal, except for one.

When Heather stepped off the boat, Cody was conflicted. He was immediately flooded with a collage of memories - her being a complete bitch in Island, her conniving that got so many people, including himself, eliminated, only to lose it all right before the finale thanks to Gwen and Owen. Then, he saw her humiliated and shaved self during the hunt for the million dollars and during Total Drama Action, where she seemed to be forced to repent for her actions and make amends with many of her former adversaries, only to be eliminated anyways right before the merge.

Cody saw her during World Tour, belittling him and ordering him around for the first half of the season like the rest of the Amazons, only to seemingly come around and actually start treating him like a fellow person during the remainder of the season. He saw her as she distracted him during his tiebreaker with Alejandro, and he saw as he reignited that spark in her, encouraging her to not give up when all hope was lost, and saw her as she finally beat the manipulative bastard who had ruined so many people's lives on the show.

Needless to say, there were a lot of conflicting thoughts and feelings circulating through his mind at the moment.

He opted not to talk to her - she certainly wouldn't appreciate it, especially after Beth had accidentally spat all over her while introducing herself. Besides, it took a lot to get her to warm up to the rest of the cast in the original timeline - this Heather had been through none of that, and would be at her most dangerous now.

However, emotion trumps reason, and so when Tyler wiped out while water skiing during his introduction, Cody moved fast and pulled Heather out of the way of the splash from the luggage that landed in the water.

Heather had originally been attempting to call her parents to get her out of the show when she was splashed, and that was still the case this time around, so she was completely unprepared for Cody grabbing her and dragging her to the side of the wave. A flurry of emotions crossed her face, from surprise, to rage, to realization, before she finally settled on a scowl, pulling her arm away from Cody and huffing as she turned to look away from him.

Oh well. It wasn't like Cody was expecting a thank you. It still would've been nice, though.

At least she didn't kick him in the crotch.

Geoff seemed to be the only one to catch the exchange, the rest of the group too focused on Tyler's wipeout, and he gave Cody a sly grin and thumbs up at his quick reflexes.

By the end of the introductions, Chris had directed the group of teenagers to the other end of the dock for a picture, and Cody knew exactly what was coming.

He thought about trying to avoid ending up in the water, but quickly dismissed the thought. What would the point be? If he timed it wrong, he'd end up looking like an idiot at best and a crazy person at worst (which he was still slightly worried he was), and even if he did time it right he'd still look pretty suspicious.

So there he kneeled, behind Beth and Ezekiel, and all he did as the dock broke beneath the combined weight of twenty-two teenagers all he did was brace himself for the shock the cold water would give.

"Everyone say Wawanakwa!"

"Wawanakwa-"

Cody pulled himself out from under the water as quickly as he could, only to hear Chris's chuckling and the gasping for breath from his new competitors.

"Okay guys, dry off and meet at the campfire pit in ten!"

Cody just sighed. He wished he could've at least kept his shoes dry.

–

The rest of the introductions were a blur, going the same way they had last time, and so Cody had sort of zoned out through the majority of it. The teams were the same, Duncan noogied a deer, Lindsay got Chris's name wrong - nothing special.

He had to hold back a laugh when Duncan joked about bunking under Heather, though. As much as he detested the guy for his actions during World Tour, even Cody would feel bad for him if he had to deal with Heather that much!

Cody let his thoughts occupy him as he finished setting his things up in the cabin he had once called home, reminiscing about all the good the times he had spent -

"Hey man, nice keyboard! You play?"

Cody was pretty surprised to hear anyone trying to talk to him - the first time around he had been busy making a fool of himself following Gwen around for most of the time they had before their first challenge - but he wasn't going to complain.

He turned to face Trent with a sheepish grin. "Yeah! I actually used it in my audition tape," Cody explained, "But I'm pretty rusty. Feels like I haven't played in years!"

That last part was technically the truth, but Trent didn't need to know that.

"Aw dude, same!" Trent gestured to his guitar, which was currently leaning against the bunk Cody had claimed half of. "I performed a song for my audition, but one of the strings snapped on her right at the end. I guess they still liked it enough to let me on, though."

Cody held back a wince. "I don't know if I'd call what I did a song. It was pretty…"

"Rough?" Trent offered.

"Something like that, yeah."

Trent laughed, and a moment later Cody joined in. There was something about Trent and his easy going personality that just put Cody at ease. It helped that they were friends back on the island originally, and he couldn't help the dumb grin that wormed its way onto his face at the opportunity to talk to him again.

It had been so long.

"Mind if I claim the top bunk, man?" Trent asked after a beat had passed.

"Sure!" Cody responded, excited. Originally, Cody had been the one without a bunkmate - Trent and Justin shared a bunk, and Owen and Noah shared another, leaving Cody the odd man out of the group and feeling a little left out. Things were already off to a great start!

"Sick, thanks!" Trent didn't bother unpacking his stuff yet, just tossing his guitar and backpack onto the bed before turning back to Cody, eyeing his keyboard again. "We should definitely get a jam session in sometime, I'm always down to playing with a fellow musician."

"For sure! I just need to -"

An ear-piercing scream echoed through the cabin, causing Cody, Trent, and the other guys to pause and glance at the other guys worriedly. It had come from the girl's side of the cabin, and Cody immediately remembered exactly what it was.

Trent rushed over to the other side of the cabin, Cody slightly behind him, arriving just in time to watch Duncan split the small cockroach that caused Lindsay's freakout into two.

They were also treated to Tyler's sweet, but at the same time kind of dumb, attempt to flirt with Lindsay. Trent was shocked that it worked somehow, but Cody merely smiled at the pair. They always were a cute couple.

A cute couple that were missing a few brain cells, but a cute couple nonetheless.

"Should we be worried about that guy having an ax?" Trent whispered to him.

Cody started to reassure him, but stopped himself.

How did Duncan get an ax?

–

"Listen up! I serve it three times a day, and you will eat it three times a day! Grab a tray, get your food, and sit your butts down now!"

Cody stared at Chef Hatchet the same way the rest of the cast was, but not out of fear or awe at the man. Instead, he looked at the man with a mix of shock and pity.

What had happened to him?

The Chef Hatchet he remembered was bitter, aged, and tired. The man who stood before him now looked, well, still pretty damn angry, but also looked so much younger than he had during World Tour. He had no wrinkles, no bags under his eyes, no deep scowl - almost looked content.

Cody idly realized that the line had moved decently far while he was lost in thought, and hurried to catch up. He tripped over his own two feet, however, and nearly bumped into the person ahead of him.

He caught himself just in time, right before he would've collided with Ezekiel.

"Eh, are you okay?"

Cody liked to consider himself a social, outgoing person, but he was not prepared to talk with Ezekiel. He knew that he had to do something, anything, to keep Ezekiel from going down the same path that turned him into a feral monster, but he didn't know what.

It hurt seeing the homeschooled, wide eyed teen in front of him now, knowing what he could become because of this show.

"Y-yeah, I'm good. Sorry about that." Cody apologized, slightly stammering out of nervousness. He knew that there was nothing wrong with Ezekiel, and that he was just a kid who didn't get out much, but that didn't stop the memories of the feral animal he had become rushing to the forefront of his mind.

"It's fine, eh. No worries."

Cody took a breath. Now was as good a time as any.

"Thanks. By the way, my name's Cody. Nice to meet you."

Ezekiel smiled, leaving his crooked teeth proudly on display. "'M Ezekiel, but you can call me Zeke."

Ezekiel stuck out his hand to shake, causing Cody to snort at him, but not in a mean way.

"Dude, a handshake is way too formal for making friends," Cody explained quietly, not wanting to make the poor guy stick out even more, "Try a fist bump!"

"A fist bump?" Ezekiel asked, confused, "What's that?"

Cody held back a sigh. Of course he didn't know what a fist bump was.

"A fist bump is a way people greet each other, or something people do when they appreciate something they do," he tried to explain, "Just put your fist in the air, like this."

Ezekiel did so, and Cody gave him a light fist bump.

"Cool!" Ezekiel exclaimed, causing Cody to give him an awkward smile. Ezekiel's stomach then started growling, and the prairie boy had the decency to look a tad embarrassed, surprisingly.

"I'm gonna get my food now," he said, turning his back to Cody, "But we can talk later. Bye!"

Cody facepalmed. He knew Ezekiel was pretty sheltered, but he really needed a lesson on how to interact with other people.

Cody just hoped he had the chance to try and teach him.

–

Lunch was a quick affair, and pretty quiet as well - everyone was too preoccupied with trying to decide if it was worth it to starve or not after taking a look at Chef Hatchet's food.

Everyone except Cody, at least.

He had grown used to the man's food pretty easily during his rather short stay on the island last time, and even more so during World Tour. He wouldn't say he considered it good, per se, but he wouldn't complain about a somewhat okay free meal.

Especially after having to learn to cook for himself once he decided to live in isolation. It wasn't easy to prepare a meal for himself, much less twenty two ungrateful teenagers.

Of course, it was a bit awkward having his entire team watching him eat in a mix of surprise and disgust, but he could live with it.

Especially when that moment was compared to what was happening right now.

Cody remembered finding Leshawna and Heather's argument and subsequent jumps off the cliff pretty funny, but now he just felt uncomfortable, and a tad bit worried about Heather.

He knew the jump was safe and all, but Heather's scream didn't exactly reassure him. A pang of pity went through him, but he ignored it.

It would definitely be used against him.

While he was going through that slight inner turmoil, he failed to realize that everyone except for Beth, Owen, and himself had already jumped. He was snapped out of it by Owen's massive splash, and suddenly it was just himself, Beth, and Chris left atop the cliff.

"Okay guys, good work so far! Only one of you has to jump to win those sick pull-carts. And word to the wise, you're probably gonna want them!" Chris encouraged them, which kind of took him off guard before remembering how… normal the host had been so far today. It was an even bigger juxtaposition than Chef had gone through - all his memories of Chris painted the man in a much less favorable position.

Beth suddenly seemed to be reminded of what the challenge was, and Cody could easily see how scared she was. This time, he didn't ignore the pity that he felt for the girl.

"Uh, Cody, right?" Beth asked him. At his smile and nod, she continued, "I'm not so sure about this, uh, this challenge. Would it be okay with you if I just chickened out and you jumped?"

Cody was about to agree, it wasn't like he would ever not jump, after all - but something stopped him. Would it really benefit Beth to just agree with her, and not let her face her fears with a friend?

Also, they got a crate for each camper that jumped, and Cody was a pretty big fan of hot tubs. He was positive that he could outdo the relatively good one they had made originally, especially with a whole extra crate of supplies.

"Actually, Beth, I was thinking. Maybe we should both jump?" At her horrified look, he tried to backtrack, putting his hands up placatingly. "Look, I get you're scared, and I am too (he really wasn't)! This is pretty terrifying. But if neither of us jump, we might lose, and one of us could go home."

He could see that she wasn't fully convinced, but he had definitely made some progress. There was a chance.

"Look, maybe it'll be easier if we jump together," Cody held his hand out to her, smiling softly, "Facing your fears is always easier if you have a friend to do it with."

Beth still looked somewhat torn, and went to say something, but Chris cut her off.

"As sweet as this is, I think I should remind the two of you that everyone is kinda waiting on you guys." He tapped his foot against the ground and gestured to the other twenty teens on the beach for emphasis. "So if we could get a move on here, that'd be great."

Cody moved towards the cliff, keeping his hand extended towards Beth in case she decided to jump with him, though his hopes had diminished significantly when he saw her make no move to join him.

Just as he prepared to take the plunge, he finally felt her grab his hand, her face pale and her hand nearly crushing his.

"T-together, right?" She asked, clearly still scared.

Cody just gave her a massive smile.

"Together."

And so, hand in hand, the two of them jumped into the lake, hearing the ecstatic cheers of the Gophers and the resigned groans of the Bass all the way down.

—

Confessional - Beth

"Cody was sooooo sweet today, helping to get me jump and all!" Beth blushed beet red at the memory, giggling quietly to herself, "The way he held out his hand and how gently he was talking, and the way his face lit up when I grabbed his hand…"

She sighed dreamily at the camera, her blush spreading further across her face.

—

Getting the crates open with just their teeth proved to be a pretty rough experience, same as last time, but by copying Izzy and using a rope the same way she did, Cody and her made quick work of the boxes.

"So," Trent asked the team once they had finished gathering all their supplies up, "Does anyone have experience building a hot tub?"

Cody seriously considered not speaking up - the Gophers were pretty much guaranteed to win already, and he didn't really want to put so much attention on himself. But on the other hand, Cody didn't exactly have a lot of chances to prove his usefulness to the team, outside of maybe Dodgebrawl, and just having friends only got you so far in the game.

Well, unless you were Owen.

Also, he really wanted to build an awesome hot tub.

So Cody sheepishly raised his hand, to the surprise of pretty much everyone. The feeling of everyone's eyes immediately shifting to him didn't help.

"If you'd believe it," he said awkwardly, "I've actually built a hot tub from scratch before, with even less than what we have."

A couple of eyebrows went up, and he was fairly confident that at least half of his team didn't believe him, but Trent just nodded at him.

"Alrighty then, Cody, you're the boss!" Trent sounded confident enough that there were no objections to his statement, even if it looked like Heather was about to step in.

"Okay," he began, still rather nervous, "So the first thing we need to do is build the frame…"

As he gave out his orders and doled out tasks to everyone, his confidence slowly rose, and the team morale rose with it.

And once there were no more people waiting for a job, Cody grabbed a hammer and joined in on the challenge with them.

It was time to get to work.

—

Confessional: Trent

"Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I was more than a little skeptical of Cody's claim of building hot tubs," he began, leaning on his right leg that he had propped up on the seat of the confessional, "But I sure am glad I decided to put my trust the little guy. He was like a machine out there!"

Trent threw his arms out to emphasize, but accidentally hit the wall with one of his hands. He winced, and the camera cut out just before it picked up the curse he spat out in pain.

—

By the time the Killer Bass had arrived, the Gophers, under Cody's guidance, had not only almost finished, but also completely put their former hot tub to shame.

It was at least twice the size, with a pair of stairs on either side, and a bench on the inside ring of the tub that allowed for people to sit down comfortably inside. It even had a filter, which meant the Gophers could get a lot more out of it this summer than they ever could previously since it could clean itself.

When the Killer Bass had arrived (without Katie and Sadie), he was pretty sure he saw most of them, Courtney especially, die a little bit on the inside once they got a good look at their unfinished tub.

"What's wrong, fishies?" Heather taunted, "Never seen a hot tub before?"

None of them even bothered responding. They were too defeated. Honestly, Cody felt a bit bad -

"Enough!" Courtney's shout of defiance took pretty much everyone by surprise, but the Gophers didn't let it distract them for long and quickly got back to work.

"So what if their hot tub is really good! So what if we're behind! We can't just give up! We can still win this!"

Her encouragement got a rise out of her team, surprisingly enough, but Cody didn't think it would matter. Even if they somehow did create a hot tub, there was absolutely no way it could match Cody's creation. They were also down several members, as Katie and Sadie were still nowhere to be found, and Courtney, while doing a decent job leading, seemed to be getting distracted by her eye, which was getting redder and nastier by the second.

He suddenly thought of the first aid kit he had packed, and the small pack of eyedrops he had within. It might not help Courtney - hell, she might not even accept them if she treated Cody the way she had during World Tour - but the least he could do was offer them.

He was here to make friends, after all.

After getting confirmation from his team (who really were only just filling the tub at this point, they were so close to finishing), he took a two minute break to grab the eyedrops from his bunk to give to Courtney.

She didn't notice Cody until he was right behind her and tapping her on the shoulder, causing her to jump in surprise, before burning a hole through his head with an icy glare.

"What do you want, twerp?" she hissed, "Here to gloat like the rest of your team?"

Cody put his hands up in surrender. "Not at all! I just saw your eye, uh, acting up, and thought you might need this." He showed her the eyedrops, but that only seemed to tick her off even more.

"I don't need your pity, get lost!" She yelled, causing Cody to shrink back a tiny bit before he decided he'd had enough. He wasn't going to take this from someone wearing a chicken hat. Much less someone who had already put him through this before, even if she didn't know it and it technically hadn't happened yet in this timeline.

Damn, time travel was confusing.

"It's not pity, it's just kindness," Cody began, surprising Courtney slightly, "Something you're clearly lacking. I saw you and your team working their asses off to try and keep up, and I felt bad that you were obviously struggling because of something out of your control. But forget it!"

He dropped the eye drops into the grass, and began to walk away, no longer concerned for her well being.

"Use them, don't use them, I don't care." He stated, not bothering to turn back and give her the satisfaction of seeing his upset visage.

Courtney paused for a moment, conflicted, before shaking her head.

"Wait," she called out quietly to him, bending down and picking up the eyedrops in the process, "Thank you."

Cody stopped, but didn't bother to respond, and merely went back to work on the mega tub the Gophers had constructed. Courtney just sighed, and returned to her team as well, eye drops in hand.

Somehow, the exchange had gone unnoticed by most of the other competitors, with the exception of one gray-haired girl, who had observed the whole thing.

—

Confessional: Courtney

"Well," she began quietly, her voice cracking slightly, "That could've gone better."

—

Confessional: Heather

"I don't know why that geek decided to go and help the other team, but I'm watching him!" She glared at the camera. "He's just lucky that we beat the Bass so badly that no amount of help could've saved them from the embarrassment that was this challenge. Heh, maybe that's why he did it, just to show them how pointless they're efforts were."

She smirked at the thought.

—

A few minutes after Courtney and Cody's brief exchange, Chris had arrived to judge the hot tubs.

As Cody thought, it wasn't even close.

"Gophers," Chris began solemnly, "In all my years on this Earth, I have never seen… such an awesome hot tub! You guys win, hands down! This wasn't even close!"

A cheer went up from the group, only to be interrupted by an indignant shout from someone on the Bass.

"You haven't even judged ours!" Courtney argued, "You can't make a decision yet!"

It was clear that she was just saying it to make a point, and pretty much everybody rolled their eyes at her. It was a better hot tub then they had made in the previous timeline - it was an actually functioning hot tub this time - but it didn't matter. Regardless, Chris gave their hot tub a once-over before speaking again.

"Yeah, okay. As I said, the Gophers win! They're safe from elimination, and they get to rock this incredible hot tub for the rest of the summer!" Chris announced, before turning to the other eleven campers, "Killer Bass, sucks to be you right now. I'll see your sorry butts at the bonfire tonight. I'm a fair man, though. You can still use your hot tub whenever."

The Bass just sighed, a few of them glaring at Courtney, and made their way back into their cabin.

"Awesome job, guys!" Trent cheered, with most of the team joining in, "I think we've earned ourselves a party tonight! Who's with me?"

This time, every Gopher joined in on the victory cheer.

Well, they did until Owen burst out of the hot tub butt naked, causing most of the team to recoil in disgust.

Cody just laughed.

–

Cody sat in the main lodge, quietly eating his dinner while trying to eavesdrop on the Killer Bass's conversation about who they were going to vote off. His team made it rather difficult, though, with their ample and energetic conversations permeating throughout the room. He didn't say anything though, not wanting to spoil everyone's good mood.

Besides, a sinking feeling told him that he was about to find out who was going home.

Sure enough, after enough time had passed, Ezekiel had eventually made his stupid comment about guys being better than women, gaining the ire of both his team's and most of the Gopher's girls - those that had heard him, at least.

Cody felt bad, but it wasn't like there was much he could do about it. If he decided to interfere, Eva might just send both of them home in body bags. It was too late to do anything about it anyways, as half the Killer Bass had stormed out the door once Geoff was finally able to cool the situation down.

Cody had thought about talking to Ezekiel beforehand, and telling him to keep quiet about any opinions he had on the opposite gender, but honestly?

Cody was a bit afraid.

He knew that he had the power to change the future now. Getting Beth to jump with him had led to a waterfall effect culminating in the absolute crushing blow his team had dealt to the Bass. If he had gotten Ezekiel to keep quiet, anything could happen, causing his knowledge of the future to be put in jeopardy. He'd no longer have the biggest advantage he had over the rest of the cast. Even if it wasn't his intention to win, it would still be a nice bonus to his actual goal of making the most of his time on the island.

Also, Ezekiel needed to learn his views were wrong. Cody could kind of forgive them, since he grew up in a sheltered environment and was likely influenced by his parents a great deal, but if he held onto those ideas, it would likely do more harm than good to him in the long run. Better to face the music sooner rather than later.

But he would be there for Ezekiel.

–

He watched the campfire ceremony from a respectful distance, standing by the Dock of Shame as the results came in. Interestingly enough, the bottom two weren't Courtney and Ezekiel this time around, but rather Sadie and Ezekiel.

It didn't matter, though, and Ezekiel was given the honor of being the first one booted off the island.

Again.

As Ezekiel walked down the Dock of Shame, head hung low, Cody decided now was as good a time as any to make his presence known.

"Hey, Zeke."

Ezekiel jumped at the voice, before calming down once he realized it was just Cody. His eyes brightened for a moment, before dimming again once he remembered why he was here.

"Hey, Cody," he muttered, staring at his shoes, "Looks like we won't get to talk more after all, eh?"

Cody smiled sadly at his friend, before putting a hand on Ezekiel's shoulder. "It sucks getting voted off first, I'm sorry man." He offered delicately, trying not to dampen his spirits even further, "But it could be worse!"

"How could it be worse?" Ezekiel countered, sighing despondently.

"Well, we could've never met, and you could be walking out of here alone."

That seemed to finally get through to Zeke, who gave Cody a small smile as the Boat of Losers finally arrived.

"Look, I don't know what's gonna happen after you get on that boat," Cody lied smoothly, "But no matter what, just remember that we're friends. We'll see each other again."

It seemed that Cody had finally succeeded in cheering Ezekiel up, and the prairie boy just quietly offered his fist to him. With a grin, Cody fist bumped Ezekiel one last time before the boy turned around, hopped onto the Boat of Losers, and was shipped off to Playa Des Losers.

That night, after the party had finally ended (Cody skipped it - he wasn't in the mood anymore), he dreamed of Ezekiel, and the horrible thing he had become thanks to Total Drama Island. Suddenly, the world shifted, and he saw the same boy, a few years older, now normal and relaxing on the beach as he hung out with his friends.

Cody smiled in his sleep.

—

A/N:

Yeah, I really did write this in two days. Probably not gonna happen for the next chapter. I really need to finish the next chapter of Wanderer, I'm so close!

But yeah! Some relationships are formed - some better, some worse - and we get to see some of the impact Cody has already made on the show. Unfortunately for Beth, Cody does not realize the impact he had on the ladies this time around.

Also, yes I took the idea of Cody trying to help Courtney with eye drops from Time Brand, as well as pulling Heather out of the way of Tyler's wipeout. Sorry, but I like those scenes too much. The further we go, the more original things will become, I promise. The first few chapters will be pretty similar to canon/most other fics I fear - they just don't have that much wiggle room. The next chapter in particular, however, will be a bit more unique (I hope)!

Also, not relevant yet, but does everyone want to see how votes/eliminations are? I've seen most fics do it, but I've yet to see the appeal. I'll add it in if everyone wants it, though.

Remember to review if you liked it! Or don't. I don't mind! But I do like to hear everyone's opinions!

P.S. I finished this at like 3 in the morning, as usual, so if there are any typos I missed, whoops! I'll have to go back and check later. Also, almost forgot but everything in this chapter was on camera. I'll make in more clear whether or not future scenes are when they're not.

Hope you enjoyed it!