Total Drama Academy
The Reboot Paradox
a Total Drama fan fiction story
by Lord Akiyama
Author's Note: This is a reboot, or reimagining, of my original Total Drama Academy story, which is still active mind you. This universe is developed on the idea that there had been only three shows that were made roughly at the same time: Total Drama Island, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, and Total Drama: Pahkitew Island.
Chapter Eight
With great reluctance, the twenty-four reality television teens opened the double doors at the back of the Rue Plumet living area. Bracing themselves for whatever it was that awaited them on the other side. Which turned out to be an entryway leading to another set of double doors. They didn't know if they should be relieved or suspicious.
The walk through the entryway only intensified the unpleasantness of the impending ordeal. It didn't help that the walls were decorated with oversize frames. The contents of which displaying each of the former campers. Displaying them experiencing a moment of humiliation and embarrassment on the shows. A literal hall of shame they were being forced to pass through before entering the amphitheater proper.
Following many groans, grunts, and sighs, they opened the second set of double doors. Before them was dark open space. A space so big that a couple wondered if every other dormitory in White Rose Academy had arena-sized amphitheaters like this one. Though probably not as dark and possibly damp. Each footstep made by every person managing to create echoes added to the creepiness hanging in the atmosphere. All the more creepy when the double doors creaked and then slammed upon closing. The echoing they caused leaving some to shudder with fright.
The dim lighting was barely enough to make out some features that could be seen. Features like there being several rows of seats that a large crowd of people could occupy. The center space big enough for an equivalent of four basketball games to be ran at the same time without crossing into one another. The ceiling high enough to practically touch the clouds above. All things considered, and with how seemingly basic it looked, it was admittedly an impressive facility they found themselves occupying.
It wasn't too long before the mood dropped back down to the inevitable level of dismay. For the embodiment of all that they hated about their summer began to materialize before them. The hologram of Chris McClean being assembled before them from bottom up until he was fully realized. A wicked grin that many had grown to fear proudly displayed upon his face.
"Welcome, boys and girls, to the Rue Plumet Amphitheater!" the handsome host announced. The echo so loud that some covered their ears in the hopes that it would keep from overwhelming them. "And welcome to the first Challenge Night of...
"TOTAL!
"DRAMA!
"ACADEMY!
"ALL-STARS EDITION!"
"Is it really necessary to keep doing that?" Harold asked. He scratched the back of his head in an inquisitive manner.
"Yes," Chris replied. A bit of narcissism on full display in the moment. "Yes, it is."
"Whatever," Duncan scoffed. He rolled his eyes in displeasure.
"It'll be here that the twenty-four of you freaks will return to your roots and be put through the ringer for some cheap laughs and entertainment," Chris stated. He waved his arms out in an attempt to convey the entirety of the amphitheater. Though for a second it could have been easy to mistake it as introducing Chef, who sauntered into view with otherwise little fanfare.
"What's the point?" Heather questioned. She practically let out a snort of disgust. "No doubt our schedules limit how often we're to do this and you can't eliminate us. Why should we bother doing any of this crap?"
"You are correct that we won't be having these challenges as regularly due to your schedules," Chris noted. He didn't seem put off by having to make such an admission. Almost like he had something up his sleeve to serve as a counterpoint. "And I did say that we're not allowed to eliminate you, this is true. But I also said that we got some swank prizes to incentivize you lot to put forth some effort as a result."
"Swank prizes," LeShawna muttered. She followed with a sarcastic laugh. "That's rich. We practically have everythin' we need in tha livin' area."
"'ow's about yer own ride?" Chef grunted. Virtually everyone's ears perked up upon hearing this. Chef maintained a stone faced expression.
"What, like a car?" Sam inquired. Like the others, he wanted clarification.
"Eeyup," Chris replied. There was nothing about his body language that suggested he might be pulling their legs.
"You're serious?" Courtney gasped. The thought was too good to be true. But she didn't want to dismiss the notion on the off chance that it was for real.
"As a heart-attack," Chris responded. He chuckled at the sight of Courtney fidgeting with a mixture of disbelief and excitement. "The prize for tonight's challenge will be your choice from a selection of lovely vehicles for you to own. Of course, you can't drive 'em until you graduate. But you'll have a ride to get your life moving in style."
Even with low voices, the murmuring managed to echo a bit within the open space of the amphitheater. There was still some distrust at the notion that they would get something that was actually valuable from winning one of these challenges. But there was no denying the allure of winning something extravagant for a change.
"That's definitely tempting..." Shawn muttered. Even he found the notion enticing.
"Oh, and these prizes were already pre-established before your dad became a producer, Dakota, so it ain't coming out of his pockets," Chris said. Though he wasn't speaking directly to the quarry of his statement.
"It better not," Dakota growled. She merely shot a death glare at the handsome host. Nothing more happened. At least visibly.
"So we're competing for vehicles that we supposedly will own, but we can't use yet?" Bridgette asked. She wasn't the only one trying to make sense of it.
"School regulations prevent ya from drivin' even a Pinto 'round 'ere," Chef explained. This got a chuckle from a couple amused teens. "We'll throw in some scooters, segways, and mopeds ta choose from that ya can use ta get 'round faster than tha trolley at yer leisure in tha meantime. But tha vehicle proper will be essentially in storage, though ya can look at 'em whenever ya want and will definitely be in yer name and fully paid for." A few were a bit taken aback. This was the most they heard Chef speak. It was a little unsettling.
"You can already put tha Lightning's name on all of them cause there ain't no one who gonna win this!" Lightning proclaimed. He thumped his chest proudly. Oblivious to the fact that hardly any one paid him any attention at the moment.
"Well, getting a free car sure is a pretty good incentive to get at least most of us to compete," Sky commented. She took note of the few teens who didn't seem quite as excited as the others. It appeared that neither Bridgette nor Dawn in particular were all that keen on obtaining what were apparently pollution generators.
"You bet your ass it is!" Chris cheered. Letting out a proud chuckle afterward.
"Fine," Heather grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest. The only sign to show that she was at least mildly interested. "We're competing for a free car. What stupid obstacle are you gonna throw at us in order to get it?"
"Glad you asked!" Chris responded. He shot finger pistols at Heather in an amused manner. She rolled her eyes in disgust. "As this is all-stars, we figured our first Challenge Night would be nostalgic in nature. Having you kiddies experience some fond memories, both good and bad. And mix in some twists here and there to spice everything up."
"I cannot imagine there is too much of the old challenges you can do in here," Harold noted. He pointed up to imply the entirety of the seemingly dark and empty amphitheater. "We were on an island and most everything was based on being outdoors."
"And why you callin' it Challenge Night?" LeShawna questioned. She raised an inquisitive brow. "Ain't it just past noon?"
"In tha technical sense," Chef replied. He shrugged nonchalantly.
"What do you mean?" Trent asked. Like some of the others, he was sensing something fishy.
"I mean I push this here button and voila!" Chris answered. As he was talking, he had raised up a remote that appeared suddenly in his right hand. With a big red button at the center. Upon saying 'button', Chris pressed it with his thumb.
What little lights that were in the amphitheater turned off instantly. Complete darkness overwhelming the senses for a few seconds. And then a flash. Not quite as bright as would be expected, but it was nonetheless enough of a surprise that it made all twenty-four blink several times to get their vision cleared. What they saw left every single one of them in awe.
It was like they were in a completely different location altogether in a different time of day. It was night and they were standing around a campfire setting. The kind that looked awfully familiar to the elimination ceremonies from their shows. The temperature even seemed to have changed to correspond with the new scenery. One or two managed to develop the sense to see that even the ground they were standing upon was no longer flat, instead slightly uneven based upon where on the dirt covered ground they stood. Just about every single one couldn't help themselves as they exhaled gasps of breathtaking wonder.
"Whoa..." Beardo whistled. He was too impressed to make any sort of accompanying vocal noise.
"Holy dooley..." Jasmine uttered. She felt her knees shake a little and regained her composure so that she wouldn't buckle.
"Sh'yeah, really..." Geoff murmured. Like some of the others, he went around touching things to see if they were as solid as they appeared.
"This is some amazing technology," Cameron commented. After running his fingers upon one of the tree stumps, he held them close enough to the burning campfire. The senses were on point. "Feels like the real thing." He then watched in horror as a hand went right into the fire without hesitation. He jumped back to see that it was Izzy. The look on her face implied that she was not feeling any sort of pain. Something that disturbed the former bubble boy.
"Yep!" Izzy announced. She giggled while still keeping her hand in the fire. Even though it was starting to blacken. "Totally real!" She turned and called out to her hefty beau. While at the same time finally pulling her hand out of the fire. "Bust out the graham crackers, Owen! We're having s'mores tonight!"
"Alright!" Owen cheered. Pumping his fists in the air with further excitement. "S'mores! I haven't had that in ages!"
"Dude, we had s'mores before we left Wawanakwa a couple months ago," Duncan noted. There was nothing aggressive in his tone. Mostly because he was too preoccupied admiring his surroundings than to properly care about what was said.
"That long?" Owen said. He blinked and then let out a defeated moan. "Aw, man. That's even older than I thought."
Sam was feeling one of the rock walls that was a few feet behind the tree stumps. He turned to Dakota, about to say something to her. He stopped himself upon seeing that she was looking downward. Her demeanor telling him that she was brooding. He stepped over to her and leaned slightly. The expression on her face was dark.
"You alright, Dakota?" Sam asked. He placed a hand on her shoulder. Causing her to immediately shoot her eyes up.
Dakota eased slightly upon seeing Sam. When he tried to give her a reassuring smile, she hesitated. She closed her eyes for a second and turned away. When she opened her eyes, they were bathed in fury. Directed at the handsome host and his stupid grinning face. After exhaling, she marched over toward him. Most everyone stepping back to give her room.
"You shouldn't be using mommy's stuff!" Dakota yelled. She raised an elongated, sharpened finger up at Chris. Had he not been a hologram, it would've pierced a proper hole through his face. There was silence for a second before he answered after taking a deep breath. Even Chef stepped back slightly, if only to avoid getting cut.
"If it'll make you feel better, your dad is restricting us heavily on how we're using all of this," Chris proclaimed. He emphasized 'heavily'. Seemingly in a manner that was not to his liking. "Not to mention we're legally obligated to return everything to him after you graduate." He stopped to see if Dakota would react to this information. She did not.
"What's this about your mom's stuff?" Bridgette inquired. She wasn't the only one as most of the others turned to Dakota.
"She invented some of the tech being used," Sam explained. He let out a cough, looking to see if Dakota would react to his speaking on her behalf. She looked back at him for a second and then nodded. "Like the bus, the hologram, and this."
"This was in the prototype phase," Dakota added. She slowly pulled away from Chris and made her way over to Sam. Moving rather sheepishly. "Mommy still had a thingamajig or two to deal with still. Previously, the most she could get was full immersion within a fifty yard radius from a stationary spot." She looked up at Sam, feeling rather embarrassed. She was met with a genuine smile that had yet to really fade. She tried to smile in return.
"Yeah, your dad mentioned all that when we asked about it," Chris noted. He seemed unphased by anything that had happened in the last moment. "Fortunately, we happened to be in possession of a few components that kicked this baby into being bigger, better, and badder. We're talking absolute, like being able to get around the entirety of Wawanakwa while still technically being within the confines of the amphitheater."
"Must've been some really powerful components to pull that off," Cameron commented. Unbeknownst to him, that caught someone's attention.
"Powerful components..." Sky muttered. She thought for a moment. And it hit her. "Wait a second! Did you just combine her mom's prototype with tech from Pahkitew Island?" She was joined by Jasmine, Shawn, and Max in looking at host in dread.
"Maybe," Chris answered. He appeared to be focused on examining his nails.
"You fool!" Max cried. He was being highly dramatic in an over-the-top manner. "How could you do something so impetuous?"
"Mate, ya really a stubbie short of a six pack?" Jasmine questioned. While nowhere near as dramatic as the wannabe super villain, she was nevertheless aghast.
"Aw, man!" Shawn moaned. He slumped in place looking dejected. "At least tell me there aren't any more of those bots."
"Bots?" Ella squeaked. She was quite perplexed at the dismay the others were displaying. "Oh dear. Was there something we missed?" She was joined by Beardo in seeking answers.
"That's right," Sky sighed. She rubbed between her eyes for a second before turning to Ella and Beardo. "You two got booted before everything malfunctioned."
"Malfunctioned?" Courtney uttered. She was confused herself, but in a more concerned manner. "Did something happen on your show we should know about?"
"Pahkitew Island was a Clayton's island," Jasmine answered. It took her a moment to realize that her words didn't quite register with most of the others.
"I d'oon't get it, eh," Ezekiel muttered. He scratched the back of his head beneath his toque.
"It was not a real island," Sky clarified. She was still met with disbelief over what they were hearing. She let out another sigh. "It was artificial." Now it was making sense to the rest. Though that didn't drop their disbelief, just for a different reason.
"Yer frontin' me," LeShawna gasped. She could only imagine the kind of chaos that was met on Pahkitew Island compared to Wawanakwa.
"Whole thing was run off some kinda central computer, I dunno," Shawn said. He gave up when he found that he couldn't say well enough what he was trying to properly explain. "All that gizmo stuff wasn't my kinda thing. Which made it all the more creepy, not knowing if something was flesh and blood or a cyborg or a zombie."
"You mean the animals weren't real?" Ella asked. Such a revelation was unfathomable to her.
"Nope," Sky answered. She shook her head for effect. "They were robots." Ella looked to be on the verge of being horrified upon hearing such confirmation.
"Dang," Harold uttered. While he seemingly didn't sound too different from his normal speaking tone, he genuinely was as surprised as the others. "You had to deal with actual robots?"
"That venomous viper of a double-crosser Scarlett better be paying for trying to upstage me!" Max proclaimed. It was uncertain if he intentionally moved the conversation in a different direction, but he probably wouldn't have cared so long as he got to say what he wanted to say. "That she nearly got away with it makes it worse!"
"'elluva way ta find out about all that, ya boofhead," Jasmine retorted. She gave the smaller boy a grimacing glare that made him step back slightly. "Gettin' us ta stop 'er and stop tha self-destruction wit' only minutes ta spare."
"You almost got blown up?" Bridgette cried. Given all that everyone had been through, it really shouldn't have been as shocking as the surfer girl was making it out to be. Nevertheless, the very thought of full scale destruction left everyone feeling uncomfortable.
"Even we didn't think tha 'ole place would malfunction and revert ta self-destruct mode as a result of numbnuts over 'ere throwin' up on some circuits that got exposed," Chef mentioned. He nodded his head over to Max when identifying who was responsible for vomiting.
"And you guys got to pull it off with some wicked sweet tricks up your sleeves," Chris added. A sense of pride happened to be present in his voice. Though most everyone failed to pick up on it. "Certainly won my respect."
"Like that means anything," Heather scoffed. She crossed her arms over her chest in a huff.
"So why the hell would you use components from Pahkitew Island?" Duncan asked. In his own way, he had been trying to process all this strange information that was being thrown around. Trying to make sense of it all without it going over his head. He seemed to be getting there.
"They were the only tech powerful enough to get the full immersion needed outta the prototype on short notice," Chris explained. His walking around often made a few of the teens forget that he was presently a hologram before them. "Besides, we got a whole butt-load of folks keeping an eye on things so that everything stays at the most minimal of settings." He nodded his head in Dakota's direction. "Folks her dad hired, by the by, so that should ease you lot just enough to know that all is being done to keep things from going off the rails."
"You'll forgive me if I call bull-/censored," Gwen stated. She was far from pleased with everything that she had heard thus far.
"And I do forgive you, Gwen," Chris responded. One would think that his tone of voice was that of him being condescending. As this was Chris speaking, it was more than reasonable to presume this was the case. "Given the number of times all three shows had moments of going way south that even production was scrambling, it's not hard to imagine the probability that something may go wrong. Moreover, I can't promise a malfunction or glitch won't happen. But you can at least be rest assured that we're doing all that we can to try to keep everything running smoothly as best as possible throughout the next two years. There will be no malicious intent on our part." Most everyone was too stunned over what, or rather how, he said to react. This was nothing like what happened over the summer.
"Sure," Gwen muttered. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. "Whatever."
"That was strangely articulate of you, Chris," Trent noted. He had raised a curious brow.
"Oh, really?" Chris uttered. He blinked and thought for a second, rubbing his chin. "Huh. Guess them HR folk Dakota's dad brought in for mandatory sensitivity training got to me a little bit. Could've sworn they were boring and ineffective."
"It 'elps they don't use tha dungeon," Chef grunted. He was once more stone faced.
"There is that," Chris concurred. He let off an amused shrug. "Worse than jail, the dungeon."
"So about getting a car for winning the challenge," Courtney said. She looked as though she was starting to get rather anxious.
"Right," Chris coughed. He cleared his throat some more before continuing. "Challenge Night. So let's get this blood bath started by splitting y'all into three teams."
"Teams?" Heather repeated. She growled when she quickly came to an apparent conclusion on the spot. "Goddammit. I should've seen it coming. We let our guard down over the idea of winning a car so you can pull some crap to say it's one car for an entire team."
"Everyone on tha winnin' team will get their own vehicle of choice," Chef responded. His unwillingness to break from his stone faced expression made him less believable.
"Then tha vehicles are probably a buncha awful tin buckets like a Reliant Robin or somethin'," Lightning stated. He threw his nose up with displeasure.
"Nope," Chris proclaimed. He added a chuckle for amusement. "As funny as it would've been for your first ride to be a Reliant Robin, it wouldn't incentivize you to compete."
"How sweet are these rides?" Geoff asked. Attention had seemingly shifted back to the prizes that would apparently be worth competing for.
"Win and you'll find out," Chris answered. He flashed a gleeful grin.
"Dick," Gwen murmured. She continued to look away as much as she could.
"Can we get on with it so I can try to win a goddamned car?" Courtney cried. Many practically jumped upon hearing how loud she had gotten. She had moved past being anxious as her bottom right eyelid began to twitch.
"You have no idea how badly she wants a car," Duncan explained. There was an delighted smirk on his lips as he spoke.
"Love how motivated you are, Courtney," Chris chuckled. In amusement, he clicked his tongue and shot finger pistols at her before continuing. "Any way, splitting you into three teams. You'll note there are twenty-four tree stumps by the campfire, kinda like for our dramatic Elimination Ceremonies. Difference here is that each stump is drenched in one of three colors: Blue, Red, and Yellow. To start, I would like all the veterans of Pahkitew Island to take their seats on the yellow stumps."
"It's so wonderful to be teaming with you all again!" Ella sang. The others from Pahkitew Island had time to register that they were being addressed when the girl danced over to Sky and pulled the aspiring Olympian over. Sky still trying to comprehend what was happening, but went along regardless. "I'm sure things will turn out even better with us staying together!" Beardo would let out a triumphant musical sound.
"So long as tha drongo stops bein' a stirrer," Jasmine muttered. She had just started moving when the individual she referred to responded.
"Your slander is unacceptable!" Max declared. He clearly took offense to the perceived insult. "That I have to team with the likes of you is abhorrent!"
"Feelin's mutual, mate," Jasmine retorted. She merely rolled her eyes and otherwise ignored him while they joined the others.
"Next, I would like those who survived Revenge of the Island to take a seat on the red stumps," Chris announced. There was no fanfare from anyone within the called upon group. Most merely shuffled over to their assigned seats in a rather melancholy manner.
"Tha Lightning is displeased," Lighting grumbled. He kept his nose up and arms crossed over his chest even as he sat down on one of the red colored tree stumps. "Better off being tha sha-solo than teaming wit' all these losers." He completely ignored any of the glares he received from some of the others, which included those who were not his cast-mates
"Well, at least we know what we have going into this," Cameron sighed. He had just barely sat down when a noise caused him to flinch and fall over. He thought it sounded like an owl, but he wasn't entirely sure.
"The sudden concern you feel about whatever chances we may have for victory is well founded, I'm afraid," Dawn stated. She was in a meditative position upon her tree stump with her eyes closed. Cameron had a second's thought to wonder how she managed to get there as quickly as she did. He ultimately dismissed it.
"I kinda didn't wanna have it said aloud, but I guess the cat's outta the bag," Cameron responded. He laughed nervously as he pulled himself into sitting on his tree stump.
"Guess we're taking the blue stumps," Bridgette noted. She was about to move when an arm shot out that caused everyone to stop in their tracks.
"Hang on a second," Courtney called. It was her arm that grabbed everyone's attention. "There's only eight seats for twelve of us." A second for the others to investigate confirmed this notice. There were also unoccupied tree stumps that were red and yellow.
"Keen observation," Chris said. Most were not comforted by the grin he had on his face. "It would obviously be unfair for all twelve of you to team together against the other two teams of six. So we're gonna move some you folks over to them. But at the very least, Owen, Gwen, and Ezekiel will be seated on the blue stumps."
Owen cheered at this would be revelation. Though this was probably more from the fact that he was getting to sit down. Ezekiel shook with terror, the feeling of the spotlight being placed upon him rather suddenly. Gwen merely raised a suspicious brow. She hadn't connected the dots yet, but she was certain this was not going to be pleasant. Nevertheless, all three proceeded to take their seats upon the blue colored tree stumps.
"Why them?" Bridgette asked. Speaking aloud the first thing that came to mind for those who, for whatever reason, had to remain standing.
"Owen was tha winner, Gwen was tha finalist, Ezekiel was tha first booted," Chef answered. It was blunt, but to the point. "Clear representations for yer sho'."
"Fine," Heather scoffed. She was very eager to get this over with as quickly as possible. "What about the rest of us?"
"I'll go ahead and say it," Chris stated. He cleared his throat just because. "The heart of tonight's challenge will be centered on those who got eliminated first. This is an opportunity for them to show they had more to offer than their disastrous first impressions might've led y'all to believe. So with that being the case, let's have Ezekiel pick out three of you to join what is essentially the blue team."
"Eh?" Ezekiel uttered. He really didn't like the greater attention being placed upon him.
"Only three?" Jasmine questioned. She was among some from the other shows who were now becoming curious as to how this was going down.
"Beardo and Staci will get ta pick from those left in tha litter they'd like ta 'ave on their teams," Chef replied. The lack of emotion in his voice had been unwavering all day.
"A hell of a way to put pressure on Ezekiel to make his picks important then," Duncan commented. He seemed rather indifferent to the prairie boy shaking and shifting himself into a fetal position at hearing his words.
"I know, right?" Chris chuckled. He was clearly getting a kick out of this. "Didn't get to shine the first time around and now everything is on him in order for his team to win."
"Good pep talk, Chris," Gwen said. It was clearly sarcastic in nature, given that Ezekiel was now desperately trying to pull his toque down over the entirety of his head.
"Thank you," Chris responded. He mocked a bow at the goth girl before straightening himself. "Any way, make your picks, Zeke."
Try as he might, Ezekiel realized how hopeless it was to hide beneath his toque. There just wasn't enough of it for him to fit inside and completely disappear. That didn't make him any less scared of what was being asked of him. He looked about the various bodies that waited for him to pick them to join him, Owen, and Gwen.
First instinct that came to mind was to figure whatever method he could to avoid coming off as sexist. But he didn't know how to accomplish that. The thought came to mind that he should appease Gwen. Perhaps doing that would be a good idea. Granted, it was clear that she was, for the most part, indifferent to the whole thing. Though perhaps there was an exception.
"Um..." Ezekiel squeaked. He swallowed to clear his throat. "Trent?"
Gwen's attention was piqued. She looked over to see her boyfriend chuckle before making his way over. A smile slowly beginning to form on her lips. They stopped caring that others were probably watching them in this moment. Regardless, they played their own little game of flirting as he casually passed by to sit directly behind her.
"Guess this team won't be too terrible, huh Handsome?" Gwen purred. She looked over her shoulder just enough for him to be in view.
"Might have a shot after all, Beautiful," Trent answered. He let out another chuckle as he leaned forward only slightly.
"Ugh, could you hurry up so we can get this over with?" Heather groaned. She rolled her eyes in annoyance. Timing it so that she could avoid whatever glares were shot at her.
Seeing that Gwen was apparently satisfied, Ezekiel looked over to figure out who to pick next. The thought of romance suddenly weighed on his mind. His eyes looked over at Owen. The hefty boy seemed to be waiting with anticipation over the prairie boy's next pick. Still, he figured it would be another step in the right direction to making amends with girls in general. Even if the pick would have been concerning no matter what.
"Er..." Ezekiel uttered. He nervously swallowed again. "Izzy?"
"Never fear!" Izzy proclaimed. It was so sudden that it caused nearly everyone to flinch. "Team E-scope will be victorious!" The crazy girl immediately leaped into the air and landed gracefully into a perch upon her boyfriend's shoulders. Cackling along the way.
"That's us!" Owen cheered. As if the realization that he would be on the same team with his girlfriend finally dawned upon him. "Woo hoo! Team E-scope all the way!"
Ezekiel exhaled with relief. So far, so good, it seemed. Now he had to pick one more person. This one was going to be slightly more tricky. Most, if not all who remained were in relationships with one another. To pick someone from within this group would run the risk of breaking them apart. Which wouldn't be a good thing. Not to mention he would receive some bad looks as a result. But he had to pick someone. Though it seemed he might have been pondering on this for just a little bit too long.
"Come on, loser!" Heather growled. Her impatience getting the best of her. "Pick!"
"Eep!" Ezekiel yelped. The suddenness of being yelled at caused him to nearly fall over. It also caused him to blurt out the first name that came to mind. "Heather!"
Heather was as taken aback as everyone else that her name was called. Hardly any one expected her to be picked, certainly within those from her cast familiar with her dastardly deeds in an attempt to claim victory. Pretty much all eyes were on her and they were far from pleasant.
"Goddammit," Gwen grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest and slouched.
"Whatever," Heather scoffed. She attempted to hold her nose up to seem disinterested in the negative attention she was receiving as she went over to sit upon one of the blue colored tree stumps. She was certainly avoiding the death glare Gwen was giving her.
"So the blue team presently has Ezekiel, Gwen, Heather, Izzy, Owen, and Trent," Chris announced. A result that amused him enough to let out a gleeful chuckle. "A lovely representation of your show, all things considered."
"Bite me, Chris," Heather hissed. She kept trying to turn her nose up and away from everyone.
"No thanks," Chris responded. He gave out another chuckle before turning to the others. "So that leaves Bridgette, Courtney, Duncan, Geoff, Harold, and LeShawna to be sorted. Let's have the yellow team get first dibs. Beardo, please choose two you'd like to have join you guys."
"Harold and LeShawna," Beardo said. It was immediate enough that it took everyone a second to register that he spoke.
"Yes," Harold uttered. He pumped a fist with excitement and made his way over to join those seated on the yellow tree stumps.
"Fine wit' that," LeShawna murmured If anything, she was glad to be away from the few she did not want to be stuck with. After letting out a nonchalant shrug, she followed along with her lanky boyfriend.
"Staci," Chris proclaimed. Loud enough to startle the girl for a second. "I'd like for you to choose two from the remaining four to join the red team."
"This reminds me of my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Uncle Cornelius," Staci stated. It appeared she completely forgot about what she was actually supposed to do. "He was the first to use 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' when picking someone, yeah. Before that, people were chosen by how long they could sing 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm' without repeating any animals."
There was a brief silence that followed after Staci's latest made up factoid. It was actually fairly common for there to be silence after she said anything. Which she was rather acutely aware of, believe it or not. Just as she was far more mindful of others not believing her. As such, she was used to folks shaking their heads or groaning in response.
So she was surprised that her teammates reacted differently. They seemed dispirited. From Cameron burying his face in his hands to Dakota dropping her head upon Sam's shoulder with a sigh. Lighting had his nose up completely in disgust. Dawn looked like she was meditating, but then the spiritual girl never really expressed emotion all that much. This look of dejection was hardly what Staci expected. It left her quite unsure with what to say.
"Um..." Staci uttered. Taken aback by the gloomy reaction that it took her a second to remember why she was speaking in the first place. She was supposed to pick two people to join her team. She swallowed and took a look at her available options. "I mean... I pick "Bridgette and Geoff." The very presence of the party dude alone strolling over to join them curiously brought the mood up a little. The surfer girl's presence amplified it slightly.
"Man, this is whack!" Lightning stated. He let out an annoyed snort. "They gonna be suckin' face tha whole damned time! Hell, we got two couples that gonna be doin' that! Tha Lightning don't like this team baloney."
If Lightning was going to do or say anything more, it was stopped cold by a hand dropping onto his shoulder. A hand that felt like it was getting heavier with each passing second. He looked over to see that the hand belonged to Dakota. Staring back at him with a look that sent shivers down his spine.
"Don't," Dakota uttered. Her voice was low, yet no less dark. "Insult. Sam." It didn't take much to recognize that Lightning got the message.
"It is what it is, kid," Chef noted. He seemed to be speaking to Lighting, though he appeared oblivious to Dakota threatening the other. That or he didn't care. "Which means Courtney and Duncan will be on tha blue team."
Duncan shrugged, seemingly indifferent to the whole thing. Courtney looked fairly uncertain. The belief being that she was probably upset that she was not picked first or at least among the first picked. At the same time, a couple others figured she might be content with being on the blue team irregardless of how as there was at least a sense of familiarity with them. Most agreed that she was ultimately fine with the outcome as it meant she and Duncan didn't have to be around Harold and LeShawna.
"This should be rich," Heather scoffed. Speaking under her breath so that neither Courtney nor Duncan could hear as they took their seats. Only someone else managed to hear her.
"Keeping talking if you want them to cave in your bald head," Gwen stated. It was hard to tell if she was joking or being serious. Around Heather, it was probably the latter.
"I'm not bald anymore, weird goth girl!" Heather hissed. She mustered all that she could to stare daggers into her nemesis.
"Weaves don't count," Gwen responded. She couldn't help but form a smirk upon saying that.
"F-/censored/ you, bitch!" Heather screeched. This only elicited laughter from the other as well as the rest of the teens, in particular LeShawna. Furious and upset, Heather crossed her arms over her chest and brooded.
"The energy you guys have is off the charts," Chris chuckled. He was clearly enjoying the fun that was being displayed. "But you're gonna need them for the challenge, so rein it in for a sec while I explain the 411."
"Say what now?" LeShawna uttered. She was not the only one to give Chris a look for daring to speak such slag before them.
"This challenge will essentially be a three-in-one combo platter," Chris continued. He ignored the teens and focused on hearing his own voice. "As in we're gonna take a challenge from each of the three shows and mix them together to create a super duper one."
He pulled up the remote to show off pressing the big red button again. The scenery that surrounded them changing to a far different environment. One that was cold and freezing, no thanks in part to all the snow. Most of the competitors began to shiver at the sudden change in temperature. A few groaned at the realization of where they were.
"Aw, man," Sam sighed. Like just about everyone else, he rubbed his arms in an attempt to stay warm. "We really have to be on Mount Looming Tragedy for this one?"
"You best not try ta upstage tha Lightning again," Lightning noted. While he was cold, he did whatever he could to not seem like he was all that bothered. "Callin' yerself tha thundah." He was about to say some more, but then remembered he had been warned not to bad mouth Sam. Seeing the dark look on Dakota returning was enough to get him to stop talking further.
"Mount Looming Tragedy?" Cameron muttered. He scratched his head and thought for a second. "Hang on. Isn't this where we..."
"That's right!" Chris announced. Seemingly confirming whatever it was Cameron was about to theorize likely for the hell of it. "In Revenge of the Island, the kiddies arrived at Mount Looming Tragedy for a lil' game of capture the flag."
"Ugh," Heather groaned. She ignored any of the hard glances or rolling eyes that might have been directed at her in reaction. "That's so elementary school."
"Not when there's a secondary objective in melting the other team's base," Cameron stated. Hearing this caused a couple to raise their brows in interest. In particular Duncan and Max.
"Won't be an objective this time around," Chris said. He ignored Max cursing under his breath. "I mean, you can try to melt the enemy bases if you wanna. But that'll leave you open for the defenders armed with these."
Chef had reappeared fully dressed in his drill sergeant attire. No one could figure when he had disappeared beforehand to change and brought forth the crate he was easily pushing toward them, but then they didn't seem too bothered by it either. They quickly shifted whatever concern they had on what the contents of the crate would be. Seconds later, Chef slammed a fist upon the top of the crate, managing to flip it off completely. Inside the crate were some objects that the teens from the first show were quite familiar with.
"Again?" Courtney moaned. She sulked further as the head and belt components that made up the deer costume were revealed.
"Afraid we'll abandon the challenge in favor of hanging out in the bushes?" Duncan whispered. His attempt at being seductive in a way that would actually be flattering needed work, but it nevertheless got a blushing reaction from his girl.
"Do you not want to be able to bend over permanently?" Courtney hissed. The blush on her cheeks was as much out of anger and embarrassment as it was out of her being turned on, as exemplified by her squeezing her thighs together. Duncan stayed silent, though the slight smirk appearing on his lips indicated how willing he would be to endure such pain from her.
"The deer costumes will only be for the flag runners," Chris announced. It was uncertain if he was oblivious to Duncan and Courtney's exchange as he tried to come off as, but it was of little concern to most everyone else given that they just wanted to get this over with. "Everyone else will be decked in camo and armed to the teeth with paintball guns, like some of you first show contestants will remember."
"I count three deer costumes," Cameron said. Only a few were interested in taking notice and confirming his observation at first. "If there's three teams, then each one is gonna have a single flag runner in this challenge?"
"Bingo!" Chris declared. He chuckled while the teens were getting more uncomfortable with how long this was taking. "And since we're focusing on those looking to redeem themselves for their early exits, it will be Ezekiel, Staci, and Beardo as the flag runners."
Chef proceeded to toss out the costumes to everyone. That they managed to catch them without issue was a bit of an accomplishment considering their full attention was upon the three assigned to be the flag runners for the challenge. Staci looked to be rather excited at the idea that she would be able to prove her worth. Beardo seemed chill and content. Ezekiel wanted to hide within his toque to no avail. This was going to be quite the spectacle.
"But wait!" Chris cried. Speaking loud enough so that it would guarantee attention was brought back to him. "There's more!" He then turned toward the yellow team with a mischievous grin. "We had a fun little challenge on Pahkitew Island that should spice things up even further." As if on cue, Chef started to pull out a trio of balloons. The sight of which made most of those who competed on Pahkitew Island to groan. "That's right! Pop these babies and something bad will happen. What something bad will happen? Who knows. They're random!"
"Just fortunate that my body could handle so many bee stings," Sky murmured. Out of instinct, she scratched her back.
"It's not healthy to mix relish, mustard, and dirt together," Ella noted. She swallowed more in an effort to not make a disgusted sound. "Not enjoyable at all."
"Wimps," Izzy mocked. She waved her hand and chuckled. "Bees and a mixture of relish, mustard, and dirt are nothing. One time when I was playing balloon wars with my cousins, I got hit with a balloon one of the buys filled with skunk musk. Took a week's worth of showers to get the whole stink off me." She sounded rather proud of this having happened to her, much to the discomfort and slight horror of the others save for Owen.
"Right..." Chris uttered. He coughed and looked to do whatever he could to forget what he had heard as quickly as possible. "Any way, these balloons will be strapped to the flag runners. The defenders will want to target these babies when firing upon them as a popped balloon will eliminate the runner regardless of whether or not they managed to take hold of a flag. The challenge ends when either all three runners have been eliminated or a team has managed to secure all three flags at their base. Obviously whoever has the most flags wins, but if there's a tie of sorts we'll calculate how far a runner got based on proximity and whether or not they have a flag in hand."
"I am not sure that makes a whole lot of sense," Harold commented. He was rubbing his chin as he tried to take in everything that had been said at this point. Only a few others tried as well with the rest not even bothering.
"Better make it make sense, maggot!" Chef barked. This caused some of the teens to flinch in horror. "Yer about ta start right about..."
Chris raised up a bullhorn in one hand. Then he raised up an air-horn in the other. Nearly everyone dropped down and covered their ears as quickly as they could before he activated both noise makers and combined them to create the more terrifying sound imaginable.
(Confession Cam)
Chris - "This challenge took a lot outta the kiddies, so you won't be seeing this here room too much. Enjoy the show!"
Perhaps as was expected, the teens were forced to figure out where their bases were on their own. After what seemed like hours, but was probably fifteen minutes, each team was able to locate their respective garrisons. They wasted no time in getting the flag runners dressed up in the deer costumes and strapping the supposedly dangerous balloon targets to them. Attempts were made to position the balloons in a way that it would make shooting at them as difficult as possible. The rest dressed in hunting camo and loaded their paintball guns to maximum capacity before they began the dull task of strategizing.
The yellow team listened patiently to Beardo as he laid out his idea for how to successfully retrieve the flags. Though for the majority of the team, they quickly got concerned. A given as he explained through pantomime and sound effects. Harold seemed to be the only one actually taking whatever idea his friend expressed seriously. The others were internally screaming by the time Beardo capped of with cannon fire and the last of what had been repeated quacks.
"There's... some problems wit' yer plan, mate," Jasmine said. Wanting to say something critical without making the other feel too bad.
"It is the most injudicious of foolhardy plans a simpleton as you could possibly think up!" Max declared. He had no concerns about how Beardo would feel. "No person in their right mind would be daft enough to fathom you being a duck that they would let you stroll in and steal their flag without resistance."
"'ate ta agree wit' shorty, but there's gotta be a bettah idea than lettin' you try ta sneak in wit'out some sorta support," LeShawna added. She focused more on Beardo being crestfallen than she was at Max angered at the apparent slight he received.
"You know, Chris never said anything about a couple of us going along with him," Harold noted. It was sudden enough that it caught everyone by surprise.
"Isn't the challenge designed to place greater emphasis on Beardo doing the heavy lifting?" Shawn questioned. He considered saying more, but then someone else spoke.
"Actually, Harold's on to something," Sky responded. She waved a finger at Harold to further bolster the notion before elaborating.
"I'm the flag r'oonner, s'oo I have t'oo capt'oore the flag," Ezekiel explained. Just managing to speak was taking a great deal of effort with the entirety of the blue team looking at him. There was definitely sweat running down the side of his face. "The rest 'oof y'oo are defenders. B'oot that d'ooesn't mean y'oo all have t'oo defend the base, eh." He paused and slowly began to shrink into himself. "Maybe a c'oople of y'oo could defend me?" He grabbed his toque and was ready to pull it down.
"Honestly, that's not a bad idea," Trent said. He gave out an shrug, much like a few of the others. Enough to ease Ezekiel a little.
"You're kidding, right?" Heather scoffed. The only one who would seemingly have something negative to say. "Have a couple of us be his friggin' bodyguards?"
"Better than having to pin the whole thing on him doing this alone," Gwen noted. She let out a shrug of her own. Seeing that everyone else appeared to be of the same mindset, Heather had the wherewithal to speak no further and just sulk.
"Sergeant Izzy reporting for protection detail!" Izzy proclaimed. She had seemingly slid up from behind Ezekiel without notice and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He appeared far from comforted as a result.
"Oh, and Private Owen, too!" Owen cried. Running up as though it was an obligation to do so.
"Probably a better idea if Princess and I guard the prairie boy," Duncan announced. He expressed the unease many of the others were feeling at the idea of Izzy and Owen being the defenders of their flag runner.
"Huh?" Courtney uttered. It was as if in that second she realized she had been mentioned as joining her punk boyfriend in the venture. "Why us?"
"Tha Lightning ain't no defender!" Lightning declared. He crossed his arms over his chest and threw his nose up. "Tha Lightning is an offender!"
"Um..." Bridgette murmured. She was having trouble comprehending that what Lightning said was what he meant. "I don't think that's the word you should be using."
"But we still get the point," Cameron said. He gave a nervous chuckle to the surfer girl, as if to tell her to not bother trying to correct the jock. He swallowed before he resumed speaking. "And it would be better to have Sam here as I think his video game playing skills would be better suited helping the rest of us defend."
"Sure, I guess I can do that," Sam responded. He initially gave off a nonchalant shrug before he felt himself getting wrapped up in the excited arms of Dakota. Which in turn made him smile, if rather shyly.
"Looks like that leaves me and Bridge to defend Staci," Geoff determined. He looked over to Bridgette, whose own shrug indicated she was fine with this. "We're cool."
"This is so exciting!" Staci cheered. Her enthusiasm visually matched by clapping her hands rapidly and hopping up and down. "I get to be like my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Michelangelo. He came with the idea of sneaking round without making any noise, yeah! Before him, people would pass themselves off as ghosts by covering themselves in salt and sugar glued onto their skin!" She was too caught up in her own enjoyment to registered the concerned looks she received.
LeShawna felt quite concerned for Beardo almost as soon as they left their base. For one, it was fairly open landscape for a good mile or two with only a couple feet of snow allowing for any possible cover. While the winds helped in obscuring vision beyond a yard, it was dying off. Looking like a poor attempt at a deer made the human soundboard a far easier target to spot once the weather was clear. It didn't help that he was making sound effects as he moved along. Humming to a certain tone while trying to seem like he was crawling through the snow. Harold was amused, but she wasn't.
"You know, I'm all fo' you gettin' tha chance ta prove yerself wit' yer skills," LeShawna said. Her speaking aloud caused everyone to stop in their tracks. "But maybe you could do so a lil' more quietly?" She watched Beardo pause for a moment, perhaps in thought, before he responds by sounding out quiet squeaks while slowly tip-toeing through the snow. This caused her to let out an amused sigh.
"They came in handy once before, Beardo," Harold injected. With the winds dying down and visibility clearing, he bothered not to move closer. "I am certain they will come in handy here. You just need to wait for the opportune moment. Often when it is least expected."
"Now that is solid advice," LeShawna laughed. It was affectionate enough that it caused her man to blush. "My sugah knows a thing or two about comin' in clutch from outta nowhere. It's a mattah of knowin' when ta bust it out. Tha right time will be rewardin' as 'ell. Tha wrong time, on tha other hand-"
The three separate sounds of snow being crunched at the same time was what caused everyone to react almost violently. Where they all stood made it seem like they formed a triangular perspective. At one point was Harold, LeShawna, and Beardo. At another point was Bridgette, Geoff, and Staci. And at the third point was Courtney, Duncan, and Ezekiel.
Ezekiel had already dropped down in a desperate attempt to be covered, pulling his toque down over his eyes. Courtney and Duncan had their paintball guns drawn and were waiting for an excuse to fire. Staci had the wherewithal to at least be behind Bridgette and Geoff, who had their paintball guns up nervously. Harold and LeShawna were quick to draw their paintball guns up while Beardo tried to find a place to hide. A Mexican standoff in the alps, as it were.
"Oh boy," Bridgette murmured. She swallowed softly, trying to avoid making any loud sounds.
"You should probably take cover, kid," Duncan called. He didn't move his eyes away from the opposition before him, but it seemed Ezekiel understood that the message was for him and scrambled to find a spot that would put him out of view.
"This is just like my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Aunt Beatrice, yeah," Staci whispered. Her speaking and not hiding filled Geoff and Bridgette with a sense of dread. "She was the first to devise the game of chicken. Beforehand, people would just point and shout until someone's feelings were hurt enough to run away."
"God, why do you have to blabber such fallacious nonsense?" Courtney groaned. Her eyes shot over at the source or her annoyance without moving away.
"It's true!" Staci cried. She boldly stepped forward. "You're just jealous that my-" The sound of a paintball gun being fired came seconds later. After the paintball had already exploded inside Staci's mouth. She choked violently, both from having been shot in the mouth and with her mouth being filled with paint.
"Whoa, whoa!" Geoff cried. He jumped in front of Staci and waved his arms. "There really isn't any need, dudette!" Even he knew that, under the circumstances of the challenge, that was an incredibly stupid thing to say. He hoped that Courtney would be taken aback by the idiotic gesture to cease firing.
"Yeah!" Bridgette injected. She nervously joined in on her boyfriend's attempt to de-escalate the situation before it got real bad. "I mean, we're more trying to defend our respective flag runners. Right? And what better way to do that than to avoid getting yours and ours into an unnecessary firefight. Right?"
There was silence for a moment. The kind of silence that was generally accompanied by the majority of those in view looking and feeling incredibly perplexed. This was a strange situation they had found themselves in and were not entirely sure what they should do as a result. A hesitation that Geoff and Bridgette were hoping would linger long enough that they would be able to start convincing everyone else carry on as though this encountered had never happened. The length of the silence had them believing they just might succeed.
"You know, it was my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Aunt Evelyn who invented paint, yeah," Staci said. Her breaking the silence this was made Geoff and Bridgette blanch with terror. "She actually used a mixture of baking soda and frog tears. Without her, people would've have used bird feces and ant carcasses to colorize things." There was another moment of silence that followed, but it was extremely brief.
"I'm gonna shoot her on principle," Courtney declared. She was in the process of raising her paintball gun when she felt something explode upon her right shoulder. She yelped as she took a step back before regaining her senses.
"Harold!" Bridgette cried. She was quite horrified at how quickly everything descended into absolute chaos with just a simple action.
"If she was going to shoot on principle, then I can, too," Harold stated. There was a split second in which the seriousness of his tone and demeanor caught LeShawna off guard almost in worry. Such impressions were instantly gone when an explosion hit the side of Harold's head, sending him falling to the ground with a cry of pain.
"Well, alright then," Duncan proclaimed. There was no question he was the one who fired the paintball that fell Harold.
"Oh sh-/censored," Geoff uttered. He took a step back.
"You payin' fo' that, punk!" LeShawna hollered. Rage instantly overwhelming her.
"He deserved it!" Courtney screeched. She was equally enraged. "He shot at me for no reason!"
"You deserved it!" Harold cried. He had managed to stand back on his feet. Looking just as pissed as the girls were. "On principle!"
"Then I'm gonna keep firing on you, four-eyes!" Duncan yelled. His anger was more subtle. Yet it was still as recognizable as it was for the others. "On principle!"
"Like hell you are!" LeShawna declared. She raised her paintball gun.
"Bring it!" Duncan roared. He raised his paintball gun.
"Staci, run!" Bridgette called. She was not able to see if Staci did as she was told before her vision was obscured by multiple colors.
It didn't matter how far away the bases were. The screams of rage were loud enough to not need any bolstering echoes. The same could be said with the cries that were more out of terror, in particular the one that was extremely high-pitched for a male. The sounds that did echo were those that sounded like ammunition fire and explosions. These lasted for a good few minutes before things died down enough that the whisper of the blowing winds were left. A sense of dread falling over everyone as they were left to their imaginations over what happened.
"Well..." Shawn uttered. He scratched the back of his head beneath his beanie. "Maybe Beardo managed to avoid getting eliminated from that?"
"I do hope so," Ella said. Still speaking in a sing-song tone despite sounding worried. "It would be unfortunate and sad."
Jasmine was about to join in on what seemed like was the beginning of a conversation. Only something caught her attention. The sight of Sky. Looking very anxious. The kind that made clear that she was not content with standing by. Gripping the railing regardless of how cold they probably were in this temperature. Wanting to get out there and do something.
It took a minute for Sky to take note that she was being watched. Slowly moving her eyes over to see that she was being looked upon by her friend. Concern painting on the other's face in seeing her like this. Sky let out a heavy sigh. If asked to, she would stay back. It wouldn't ease her down, but she would be accepting of whatever was believed to be would be best for her as part of a team. Jasmine knew this. Which was why she let out a heavy sigh of her own.
"No one's stoppin' ya, sheila," Jasmine stated. It wasn't a whisper, only barely loud enough for the other to hear.
Sky did nothing at first. Than she nodded. In a flash, she leaped over the railing and dropped down to the ground. In less than a second, she was off. Moving as fast as she would be able to across the snow covered landscape.
"What the devil is she doing?" Max yelled. He was gobsmacked at having watched Sky take off like she had before the others knew it. Shawn and Ella looked out to see what the wannabe super villain had seen.
"Trying to see if we can still salvage this challenge, I guess," Shawn responded. Letting out a defeated shrug. Nothing more was said upon seeing how resigned Jasmine appeared. No one really knowing how good of an idea this was and forced to hope for the best.
"I sense her aura is clean," Dawn announced. Her being in a meditative state was not surprising to the others. It was more of the assurance in her dreamy voice.
"So..." Dakota uttered. She thought for a second more before deciding to continue to ask what she was going to ask. "That means she's still active?"
"For now," Dakota replied. The assurance had not wavered.
"Maybe we still have a chance," Sam said. He attempted to sound uplifting at what had been reported. "Positive vibes and all."
Lighting rolled his eyes. He was bored out of his mind. All this waiting was far from his liking. He wanted to get something done. To prove that he was the best. Defending a base was not what he should be doing to accomplish this. He looked out over the snow covered landscape. Hoping to catch sight of anything that would allow for him to spring into action. A few seconds later, he managed to find such an anything.
"Oh, uh-uh," Lighting muttered. He didn't bother to confer with the others before leaping over the railing. "You ain't gettin' tha best of tha Lightning in this, midget." He was off running as soon as his feet touched the ground. Ignoring the looks of disbelief from his teammates.
"We're just gonna let him go off like that?" Dakota questioned. She was flabbergasted at witnessing Lightning seemingly abandon the team just then.
"It's not like he was gonna willingly defend the base otherwise," Cameron sighed. With those words, a dreaded sense of dejection washed over everyone.
"Well, this is just lovely," Heather complained. She leaned against the railing with a huff. "The sexist pig probably got himself eliminated. Some help those two turned out to be."
"Look, there's no indication that he's been eliminated, alright?" Trent reasoned. He didn't like having to say anything to Heather. But he hated hearing her complain even more. "I'm sure Chris would've announced it had that been the case."
"He does love hearing the sound of his own voice," Gwen added. She was in the same boat as her music man boyfriend and figured coming up with common sense will get the queen bee to shut up. "And he would gladly look for any excuse for us to have to listen to him."
Though she let out a disapproving scoff, Heather none the less turned her head away and kept her mouth shut. Much to Trent and Gwen's relief. They were not fond of having to essentially wait for something to happen, but absolute quiet was far better than hearing Heather bitch and moan. Even hearing Owen chew loudly on some snow he decided to eat was a more pleasant sound.
"If only there was something we could do," Owen murmured. It was an impressive feat that he sounded as clearly as he was despite all the snow in his mouth. "What do you think, Izzy?" He looked over to where he last saw his crazy girlfriend. And found nothing there. "Izzy?"
The others were instantly on alert. Looking over to confirm that Izzy was indeed nowhere to be found, discomfort and just a little bit of terror filled their beings. There was no comprehending what the redhead was bound to do having essentially gotten loose.
"It's scary that I can't tell if this is good or bad," Gwen muttered. One of the few instances of genuine fear in her voice.
Beardo was not going to question a forested area being present on what was supposed to be a mountain top. If anything, he felt fortunate to have found such. Believing it to be an ideal setting to stay hidden in as he made his way to one of the opposing bases. Which meant that it didn't take too long for him to get comfortable enough to make noises as he went. While he was mindful to keep the noises quiet and low, he was nonetheless making them. Be it birds fluttering about or crickets chirping, there was nothing silent in his presence.
Lightning chuckle softly as he positioned himself. A clear shot at the target making enough noise to be heard from his distance, being several dozen yards away. Hidden beneath snow covered foliage in a way that, should Beardo suddenly feel like he was being watched, he wouldn't be able to see the hunter about to strike him down. It was from his sides that Lightning was exposed, but it was highly doubtful any one could spot him without knowing for sure he was there. It was too easy. Just the way he liked it.
"You bettah be watchin', midget," Lightning whispered. His confidence as high as it could be in this moment. "Cause yer about ta see why tha Lightning is tha sha-bomb."
The generally believed average time it took for a paintball to hit a distanced target upon being fired was about one-third of a second. Hardly any time for any one or any thing to possibly react in time as soon as the trigger was pulled. Beardo would not know he was being attacked until well after he would have been hit. Rather, that would have been the case had something improbable not occurred. That being another paintball managing to hit Lightning's paintball just feet away from Beardo. The impact resulting in only small bits of paint splattering onto the unaware target.
The sound of paintballs impacting was what aroused Beardo's attention. The reaction time was seconds after the fact, he nevertheless looked around to see if he was in danger. As he was investigating, Lightning was in a stunned state. Taken aback that his shot had been prevented. Too bewildered by this impossible feat that he couldn't function for a moment. He was just starting to formulate the conscious thought of trying to figure how his shot had been blocked when the answer slid into view.
Beardo nearly jumped back. Fortunately, he recognized the sight of Sky sliding in to ease down a little. Even if was seeing her back and she appeared to be holding her paintball gun in position to fire again. He considered her a friendly and relaxed.
"Stay hidden," Sky stated. Her voice was low and yet still carried commanding weight. Enough to make Beardo nod in agreement. "And please stay quiet." Beardo hesitated for a second. More to show that he would uphold the last request. And as quietly as he could, he slipped away towards some bushes to hide behind.
Lightning silently growled. Sky had managed to stop his shot. He did not like that one bit. And she was aiming way too close to his position for comfort. She hadn't fired yet, meaning she was waiting for him to make a move. This was not how things were supposed to go. Sky was somehow getting the better than him. He could not allow this to be absolute. So he made his move. He was better being on offense than he was on defense, any way.
It didn't matter who made the first move. They both fired as soon as a sound was heard and it was on. Lightning moving in an attempt to be the one applying pressure and maintaining offense. Sky moving to draw him open and perhaps score the decisive hit while doing what she could to dodge. The landscape of white snow and some hints of greenery from the flora turning into a nearly psychedelic burst of colors from all the paintball splatter.
This seemed to be going on for a very long time. Long enough that Sky ducked behind a tree to catch her breath. She wasn't entirely sure she got some hits on Lightning. She could feel her left shoulder was sore from a well placed shot. And she was quite certain that she was running low on ammo. This was the sort of thing she could not afford to get herself mixed up in, and yet here she was.
"Some fancy moves ain't gonna top tha Lightning, midget!" Lightning called. There was confidence in his voice. Most of it cocky, perhaps a little hint of trying to be self-assuring. "When I'm through wit' you, they ain't never gonna let you be an Olympian! They'll give yer spot to tha Lightning!"
Flashes.
Perhaps it was the soreness on her shoulder. Perhaps it was the building frustration of having been pulled into something ridiculous. Perhaps it was the feeling of exhaustion from engaging in a very elongated shoot-out with Lightning. Perhaps it was Lightning's seemingly never-ending need to put her down in some feeble attempt to prove he's better than her. Perhaps it was a combination of all that and then some. Whatever it was, it was the last straw for Sky.
Flashes.
Overwhelmed with rage, Sky slipped out of her hiding spot and headed straight toward Lightning with unnatural speed. The trance she was under would allow her to be up in Lightning's face almost instantly. He had just looked over in the hopes of catching sight of her. And he did. He didn't expect her to be barely a few feet away. He barely had time to gasp before he was suddenly shot at by her. Paintballs exploding all over his body. It was all going way too fast for him to register how the hell this was happening.
Flashes.
Sky didn't let up. She unloaded on him. Keeping the trigger pulled as paintball after paintball shot out and nailed every inch of Lightning. She let out a haunting growl. Her eyes growing wider while her pupils shrank into the tiniest of dots. This was the definition of overkill as visualized in bright colors.
Flashes.
It was only when he had completely fallen into a crumpled position on the ground that she finally released the trigger. Though her fury remained. Breathing heavier and heavier while maintaining her aim of the paintball gun upon Lightning. He himself struggling to move as his body ached all over from the paintball explosions. He was fighting even to breathe.
"Ain't no way..." Lightning coughed. His attempt at crawling an inch a most pathetic sight. "Ain't no way... a midget is bettah... than tha Lightning... It's... It's praposturable..."
"Lightning!" Sky roared. She was so over this. "Shut the f-/censored/ up!"
She pulled the trigger once. The aim being on point for the paintball to explode at just the right spot on Lightning's head. He was completely out cold in an instant. Chances were that he would be unconscious for a good couple of hours, though Sky had no intention of sticking around to know for sure.
She grabbed the paintball gun Lightning was no longer using and checked how much ammo was left between the now two weapons in her possession. Less than a dozen. She muttered a curse under her breath that was disguised as a sigh. She did not want to be in this position, but she didn't have a choice. She took a second to take a deep breath and regain her composure before taking off to find Beardo.
(Confession Cam)
Sky - /Sighs./ "Kinda like the finale, you know. You really push my buttons or something completely unfair and unjust occurs, that's what it kicks in. Okâwîmâw calls it nôhtâwiy taking over. The warrior within being unleashed."
It never really crossed any one's minds enough to ponder the idea. After all, such a notion would be too preposterous to consider as even a fantasy. The possibility was as far-fetched as the most ridiculous of imaginations could ever be. Fact of the matter was that the very thought of Staci being remotely capable of anything beyond blabbing such an impossibility that no one entertained it. Yet here she was, managing to sneak her way into the yellow team's base without issue. A sight that not even a fever dream could conjure.
In all honesty, Staci wasn't very good at sneaking around. She wasn't in the ideal physical shape to do so and merely tip-toeing was the absolute best she could come up with at being stealthy. She just happened to be fairly quiet when she's not talking. And given her tendency to be a blabbermouth at any possible chance in a vain effort to make friends, it was easy to dismiss the notion that she could quietly move about. Allowing her to get past the yellow team watching out for her and none of them managing to catch sight of her.
So it would've been the most miraculous of miracles that, of all people, Staci would slip into an any base, capture a flag, and slip out successfully. But here she was, a mere several feet away from the yellow team's flag. The most inconceivable of events was about to happen. If not for someone stationed to one side of the base's entryway to surprise any one managing to bypass the initial defenses.
"So, you dare to rob me from beneath my nose," Max declared. It was sudden enough that Staci jumped before turning to see her friend turned opposition. "Just like that deceiving harlot Scarlett. Well, you won't be able to get away with this. I shall have to enact some evil punishment upon you, Shadi Staci." Max began to let out a maniacal laugh, only for it to be interrupted by a coughing fit. "Still need to work on that..."
"You know, my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Aunt Suzanne was responsible for making the first cough drop, yeah," Staci said. She took a couple steps gingerly toward the smaller boy. "Previously, people would swallow ladybugs coated in honey mixed from raw yak milk, fish guts, and black licorice whenever they were bothered by a cough."
"Hmmm..." Max mused. Whatever he had been doing or thinking about beforehand was lost instantly over hearing something that piqued his interest. "Raw yak milk, fish guts, and black licorice... Yes, we can definitely do something diabolical with such a disgusting combination. Sure to cause damage to one's bowel system, at the very least."
"That reminds me of my Great-Great-Uncle Samuel," Staci stated. When she was merely a few feet away from her friend, she began to step around him while keeping her body directed at him. "He invented the colonoscopy, yeah. Without him, doctors would still be using gerbils strapped to a stick to examine the rectum."
"Gerbils strapped to a stick..." Max muttered. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, not really paying attention to what his newly christened henchwoman was doing. "Yes, how could I be so foolish to not see it! There's nothing more devilish than the horrors that could be done with gerbils strapped to a stick."
It took a lot for Staci to keep herself from squealing with excitement. While it was at the expense of the one person who managed to become her friend, she was moments away from capturing a flag. Something that no one, not even herself, thought possible given her tendency to be easily dismissed because of her desire to be liked. It felt really good when she took hold of the flag. A feeling of accomplishment that was right up there with becoming friends with Max. This was turning out to be the best time of her life.
Rather curiously, a little bird suddenly fluttered into her view. A small little thing that was barely the size of a tennis ball, if Staci had to guess. It certainly looked cute enough for her to coo over for a brief second. She barely uttered a sound before the bird suddenly flew away in a flash. It flew upward, letting out chirps along the way. Chirps that were directed to someone who happened to be at the top of the base.
"What's that little friend?" Ella asked. She listened to the bird chirp to her and gasped. "Dear me! Someone is trying to steal our flag!"
Being unfamiliar with the singing princess, Staci was unable to react properly. It didn't help that Max himself seemed incapable of comprehending the cries that had just been heard. Whatever time there was to move, it was long gone when Shawn and Jasmine loomed above and rained paintballs down on any and everything within the room. More than enough to eventually pop the balloon strapped to Staci.
The Pahkitew Island survivors were of the opinion that the contents within the balloon would be in line with their experiences. Be it colored goo, sneezing powder, or a combination of relish, mustard, and dirt. But while they weren't entirely surprised with what would burst out of the popped balloon, they were no less repulsed by it being a stink bomb. And the massive amount that emerged was more than enough to cause Staci and Max to vomit buckets instantly. Shawn and Jasmine were quick enough to cover their eyes and mouth to avoid getting sick themselves. Ella had fortunately been far enough away to not witness the disgusting display, but did slightly gag at hearing the victims retching loudly.
When Max was finally able to cease regurgitating, he nervously looked up. As he had expected, Shawn and Jasmine were looked down on him. Shooting him with stern glares. He let out a very timid chuckle despite the knowledge that it was a useless gesture.
"I, uh..." Max squeaked. He swallowed in the hopes of sounding confident. "I kept her here so that you could get her?" It didn't work. As made apparent by the paintball hitting his groin. He managed to keep from screaming, though that did little to alleviate the pain he was feeling as he keeled over upon the vomit covered floor.
"Dipstick," Jasmine muttered. It wasn't known if she would have done any more damage to her supposed teammate. That's because the massive sound of a bullhorn being blown was heard, causing everyone to flinch.
"This just in, kiddies!" Chris McLean announced. His voice echoing throughout as there were no doubt dozens upon dozens of speakers all around. Just as he liked it. "Staci has been eliminated! But there's still a chance red team can squeak out a victory in this one! Just have to lock down Ezekiel and Beardo to pull it off!" The announcement confirmed what the Pahkitew Island gang had hoped.
"Well, at least we know Beardo is still active," Shawn stated. Though he shrugged, it seemed as though he was impressed. At least, as impressed that the first of their lot to be eliminated on Pahkitew Island was not the first out in this challenge. This turned out to be the most upbeat anyone in the group would be.
"C'mon, mates," Jasmine murmured. She looked out into the distance. Left with no choice but to wait for whatever would happen next.
"Well, we'll have to be on our toes if we're gonna try to pull this one off now that we know Staci's out," Cameron sighed. He turned to the others, seeing that they were just as crestfallen as he was over the recent developments.
"Kinda bummer that Lightning bailed on us," Sam commented. There was hardly anything positive that could be conjured under the circumstances.
"You guys sure we can do this?" Dakota asked. She nervously held up her paintball gun by her fingers and at a distance, almost afraid to even be touching it. "I mean... I'm not exactly useful with this sorta thing."
"Hey, you've watched me play those Space Spartan games," Sam noted. It was the first genuine attempt to sound upbeat. "I'm sure you managed to pick up a thing or two on how it goes." Though the biting of her bottom lip and slouching would seem to say otherwise, Dakota was appreciative of what her boyfriend was trying to do.
So preoccupied with evaluating their predicament were Cameron, Sam, and Dakota that they understandably forgot that there was a fourth person within their group. Then again, it was easy to fail to recognize Dawn. Certainly not when she was off to one side and in a meditative state. If they had taken notice of her, they might have just left her alone. Unsure of whether or not to even bother her.
Which could be considered a good thing as there was a reason for Dawn meditating. It enabled her to venture into the spirit realm. Physically, she was still at her team's base. In the spirit realm, her spirit form could float and venture about. Which she determined was the best way to presently help her team. That's because it allowed her to see. To see beyond her more immediate surroundings. To see if there was any one approaching the base.
And there was.
Several dozen yards away was a figure. Seemingly sitting behind a boulder. It wasn't a large boulder, just enough to complete cover the figure. A figure that was trying to meditate. Trying being the best way to describe such a rudimentary attempt at the practice. Dawn lightly laughed before approaching the figure.
"It takes a great deal of time, practice, and patience to be able to access the spirit realm, I'm afraid," Dawn said. Her voice was more dreamy and earthly than normal.
"Eep!" Ezekiel squeaked. He flinched enough to tip over and fall flat onto the ground. A moment later, he began to collect himself and then caught sight of Dawn's spirit before him.
"Even those who truly understand the art of meditation have a difficult time being able to enter the spirit realm," Dawn added. She began to slowly descend down toward him.
"B'oot y'oo make it l'ook s'oo easy, eh" Ezekiel noted. Though he was in awe of the spirit figure before him, he was nonetheless shaking.
"I happen to have a natural affinity with the spirit realm," Dawn responded. The tone of her voice made it difficult to determine if she was trying to sound sympathetic or not. The same with how she had been approaching him very slowly throughout the entire conversation until her spirit form was barely a foot away from his. Intentional or not, everything about her in this moment was intimidating.
That was until a true form of intimidation announced itself with a deafening sound.
"BANZAI!" Izzy cried. Loud enough that even the residents of the spirit realm flinched.
It was enough that even Dawn was taken by surprise. As evident by her suddenly being pulled out of the spirit realm and back to conscious being in mere seconds. Her eyes had shot wide open, the first time something had ever caused her to depart the spirit realm in such an unceremonious manner. And with just as many seconds to react as the unpredictable redhead began to fire wildly from the spot she was suddenly standing in.
"What the-" Cameron uttered. It was the most any one could say before paintballs began flying all around and every which way.
Cameron, Sam, and Dakota each took a couple hits before managing to find some place to hide behind. No one really noticed that Dawn was somehow able to create an invisible shield around herself. They were too busy trying to avoid the flurry of paintballs that emerged rapidly from the figure that was spinning and cackling maniacally. And for what seemed like hours when it was really minutes, the red team did nothing but peer around once in a while to see that Izzy's mayhem kept going and going.
It took Sam a moment to conjure an epiphany. There was no precision to the firing. They were as random as they were wild. Dakota wasn't getting angry. She was getting annoyed, but not in a way that would cause her to change. There were plenty of openings for him to take advantage of and return fire. Only engaging Izzy wasn't what they were supposed to do. They were supposed to defend their flag. That was their objective. An objective they were forgetting about because Izzy had pulled all of their attention onto her. A brilliant distraction.
"Keep her occupied!" Sam yelled. He honestly wasn't expecting any one to catch a word he said through all the noise being generated by the whirlwind of chaos firing at them, but Cameron managed to be close enough to at least register what he said.
Sam positioned himself over the railing. He brought up the paintball gun and held it like he would a sniper rifle. He looked around before he happened upon what he was looking for. A fairly small figure moving away from the base as quickly as willing. The flag in hand. Given the size and distance, he was not going to get too many shots off in order to take out the target. Each shot needed to count.
It took two shots. The first hitting the back of the right knee, forcing the figure to buckle and fall. It also allowed for the balloon to be exposed, if only for a brief moment. It was enough of a brief moment for Sam to take advantage of, firing at it without hesitation. Exploding out of the balloon upon being popped would be the most disgusting amount of foul smelling manure Sam could imagine if he had been anywhere near it. Which was unfortunate for the figure as it was completely drenched in it.
"Got 'em!" Sam cheered. He shot jumped up in victory, forgetting for a moment that the crazy redhead had yet to stop firing. As such, he took a random hit to the left shoulder before the whirlwind of chaos ceased.
"Oh, poo!" Izzy pouted. The fun was over, it seemed. Punctuated by the bullhorn sound that made most wince. Izzy appeared to be unaffected.
"Attention, contestants!" Chris announced. His voice echoing as loudly and as clearly as it had before. "Ezekiel has been eliminated! That leaves Beardo to try to achieve victory for the yellow team! Will he do it?"
Cameron sighed as he was allowed a minute to ease down. Dakota immediately ran over to Sam with concern, having seen him get hit a second ago. He gave her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up for further confirmation. Satisfied, she glomped him in celebration for having stopped Ezekiel from completely getting away with their flag. No one paid any attention as Dawn gently brought her telekinetic shield down while not letting any paint to touch her. Not when the focus was on Izzy, who giggled in a disturbingly nonchalant manner.
"Hey, that was fun!" Izzy proclaimed. She skipped over to the railing and waved at them. It was unclear if she registered the perplexed looks she received, or if she even cared. "Let's do that again next time, savvy?" They watched in a helpless manner as she winked and clicked a finger pistol at them before back flipping out of the base.
"What's the point in keeping watch?" Heather moaned. She lacked the enthusiasm to even cross her arms sternly. "The sexist pig just got eliminated."
"He still could've gone farther than the others," Trent reasoned. He was doing what he could to not sound as annoyed as he felt at having to respond to Heather. "Like Chris said, in case of a tie, the winner is determined by distance if they had a flag in hand."
"I highly doubt he was able to get his grubby hands on any flag," Heather grumbled. She leaned up against the railing with as much contempt as she could muster.
"Look, you clearly don't wanna do this any longer than you have to," Gwen stated. She had no problem expressing how annoyed she was at having to deal with Heather. "But this challenge doesn't end until all three runners are eliminated. There's at least one left. If he's not taken out, we have to keep playing. Get it? Got it? Good!" It was enough to get the other to stop complaining, even if only for a moment.
"Izzy!" Owen called. He waddled around, still looking for his crazy girlfriend. "Did you hear that? We have to keep playing!"
"Ugh!" Heather groaned. The moment of her not complaining having ended. "This is absolutely pathetic having to wait here with you freaks."
"Feelings mutual towards you," Gwen retorted. She cared little for the finger she received from her disgruntled rival.
"If you really don't wanna be around us, then maybe you could drop down and be on guard around the flag," Trent suggested. His patience was wearing thin.
Lacking any alternative that would be of benefit to her, Heather rolled her eyes and sighed. She pushed off the railing and shuffled over to the passage below. Doing her best to ignore whatever looks she was receiving from the others, though she doubted Owen was paying any sort of attention. Her desire to convey her displeasure wasn't quite working in any way that might have made her feel better. She let out a heavy sigh before dropping down into the room below. Upon standing up, she found herself face to face with Beardo holding their flag.
"Ah!" Heather screamed. Loud enough that Beardo nearly fell back in shock. "He's in here!" Him moving even an inch caused her to whimper in horror as she started to back away.
"What the hell are you waiting for?" Gwen called. How suddenly this seemed to happen to them caused those above to spend too much time scrambling before they could get to the opening to be of any reasonable help. "Shoot!"
It was actually a split second, but it felt like it was minutes before Heather remembered she had a paintball gun in hand. Shaking, she tried to bring it up in an attempt to fire. Plenty of time for Beardo to react by swinging the flag at her and knocking the paintball gun out of her hands. She screamed over losing her weapon as opposed to doing anything about it. Giving Beardo the chance to run.
"Owen, get down there!" Trent yelled. It took hearing that to get Heather to stop screaming about losing her paintball gun for a second.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Heather cried. She ended up screaming about something else. She had tripped in a clumsy attempt to move out of the way and just barely crawled enough away to avoid being a landing pad for Owen as he dropped down in the literal sense.
With Heather unarmed and Owen being dazed for a moment as a result of his essentially falling onto his back, Gwen and Trent had to pick up the slack. Trying to catch whatever sight of Beardo they could through the opening from above and fire down quickly. But just as each started to pull the trigger, their guns were suddenly snapped out of their hands. It took them a second to realize they were essentially shot out of their hands. And the one responsible was rushing in their direction with a paintball gun at the ready.
"Keep going, Beardo!" Sky called. Having only just arrived, she was hoping that Beardo was at least attempting to capture the flag and then making a run for it. She lacked the ammunition to properly cover him and had little choice but to focus on obtaining more by relieving the opposition of their paintball guns.
"You almost crushed me you fat slob!" Heather shrieked. She was clearly far more focused on her own well being as opposed to the challenge at hand.
"Shut up and shoot!" Gwen yelled. Everything was moving so fast. She couldn't properly focus. Not when she and Trent could not react quickly enough to retrieve their paintball guns before they were snatched by Sky. Everything was moving so fast.
The aspiring Olympian immediately utilized her newly acquired pair of paintball guns to fire down at the opposition below. She had no trouble taking out Heather, who screamed in horror as paintballs exploded upon her body. Sky then turned to Owen. It took a few hits for her to realize that his hefty body would likely be ineffective in stopping him as it absorbed the impact of the paintballs. Which meant he wasn't being halted from making any attempt to fire upon Beardo. Worse yet, from her vantage point, his body also obscured whatever view she tried to find of his paintball gun. Seconds later, there was a popping sound.
"No!" Sky uttered. Speaking quietly as the room below filled suddenly in white. The kind of white that didn't quite harden to a solid state, but it made moving about extremely difficult. And for a moment, all was quiet.
"That amount of glue can't possibly be safe to be trapped in," Trent commented. It took another moment for his words to sink in before he, along with Gwen and Sky, began digging through the glue to get the others out. Then came the screeching sound of the bullhorn.
"And Beardo has been eliminated!" Chris announced. Possibly louder and more clearly than before, as it were. "That's game, everyone! Let's shut this baby down so we can announce the winners, shall we?"
Before any one knew it, everything that had been the island setting had faded out of existence. This seemingly included the glue Gwen, Trent, and Sky were trying to dig through as they were suddenly running their hands and arms through air. And apparently their elevated state was such that they were in floating for a miraculous second before dropping to the ground. Whatever distance had been between various group of people was immediately filled in the blink of an eye as everyone was now within a couple dozen yards of one another to certain degrees. The hologram technology succeeding beyond comprehension in serving its purpose.
"You okay?" Sky muttered. While she asked Gwen and Trent following their sudden fall, she was also asking the others who had been trapped in glue seconds ago. Gwen and Trent merely nodded. Beardo raised a thumbs up from his face down position. Heather shot up gasping for air. Owen looked crestfallen. He apparently had been eating the glue.
There was barely any time to really take in that the amphitheater was back to normal when they heard some clapping. The initial reaction was to groan as they figured it was Chris applauding them in a mocking fashion. But when one managed to actually look over, they were taken aback to find that it belonged to an unexpected figure.
"Bravo!" Frances called. She threw in a whistle to her enthusiastic clapping. "That was fun!"
"Frances?" Cameron uttered. His speaking would cause the others to look over and see what was up. They were just as surprised as he was to see her, let alone any one.
"Tha one an' only!" Frances proclaimed. She was sitting in a random spot within the otherwise empty stands with popcorn and soda in hand.
"What tha hell ya doin' 'ere, shorty?" Chef barked. He marched suddenly out into the middle of the amphitheater and looked sternly at the apparent intruder.
"Watchin' tha sho'!" Frances answered. She flicked a popcorn into her mouth.
"There's supposed ta be one way in tha amphitheater and it's locked off when tha immersion system is online!" Chef stated. To say that he was heavily displeased with someone apparently breaking and entering under his watch would be an understatement. "How did ya manage ta get in 'ere?" The response he got was her merely tapping the side of her nose and grin. With a growl, he was ready to march on towards her until he was stopped by the materialization of Chris' hologram right in front of him.
"Hmmm..." Chris murmured. He rubbed his chin in a rather inquisitive manner. "Watching the show..." He moved his hand over so that he could call out his next words directly to Frances. "Say, kid! You mind meeting with me when I'm all done with these guys? I gotta... business proposition I wanna run by you!"
"A what?" Chef heaved. This seemed to be an unexpected turn of events.
"A way to get back a few bucks we lost from our salaries getting slashed," Chris explained. He did so quietly, though he probably didn't care if any of the students, least of all Dakota, managed to pick up on it. Which they didn't. "You in?"
"Yeah, whatevah," Chef grumbled. He let out a snort and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What do you say, kiddo?" Chris called. He sounded curiously excited.
"Yer speakin' my language, mate!" Frances replied. It sounded like she shared in the host's enthusiasm over this newly developed partnership.
"I bet," Chris chuckled. He then jerked his thumb at the teens behind him. "Lemme finish dealing with this lot and we can meet out front!" Frances gave him a thumbs up. Satisfied, Chris and Chef turned back to face the former campers.
"This is appalling!" Max cried. While the environment they had been in was a hologram, his vomit was as real as he was. "I'm covered in my own disgusting sludge!"
"Oh, stop bitchin' an' moanin'!" Jasmine huffed. She was loud enough to make the smaller boy flinch. "Ya get yerself in yer mess, so deal wit' it!" Max could not muster the courage to answer back at her.
"I got 'em, Izzy!" Owen declared. The second he saw his redheaded girlfriend skip over to him he had to let her know. He was seemingly oblivious to her holding a curled up Ezekiel by his coat and swinging freely despite how it was terrifying the prairie boy. "I stopped them from stealing our flag!"
"That's my man!" Izzy cheered. She dropped Ezekiel unceremoniously and instantly bounced onto his shoulders. They then engaged in what was seen by most of the others as a disgusting display of sucking face. It would stop, though, when the cold air of fury accompanied the arrival of Duncan and Courtney. Both looking quite disheveled and beyond furious.
"Don't," Courtney barked. It immediately came out the second it appeared someone was about to speak, whether intentionally or not. "Say. Anything." The two finished marching over and planted themselves behind the rest of their team. The others did as they were told.
"You guys okay?" Shawn asked. Speaking to Sky and Beardo as they slowly made their way over to rejoin their team. Disappointment present in their body language.
"Might have had a chance if we didn't run into obstacles," Sky answered. Beardo accentuated this with gunfire sound effects.
"They were that well defended?" Shawn questioned. Sky coughed out a chuckle. While it wasn't the correct hypothesis, it was close enough.
"More like we encountered a... separate situation along the way," Sky responded. Whether she meant to or not, the others did take notice of her looking over to the extremely battered Lightning crawling over to his team.
"I see," Shawn said. There was no need for further explanation. That was before Harold and LeShawna appeared to provide them with a change in subject.
"Sorry we weren't as helpful as we shoulda been," LeShawna sighed. She looked just as embarrassed as her nerdy boyfriend, unconsciously rubbing her forearm.
"Dudes, that was so whack," Geoff proclaimed. He appeared as melancholy as his surfer girlfriend when they approached their team.
"We should've bailed with Staci the second they showed up," Bridgette sighed. She nodded her head first at Duncan and Courtney and then at Harold and LeShawna.
"Misfortune, I'm afraid, was inevitable," Dawn stated. Perhaps for a change, the team let her words sink in and they felt all the more awful.
"Some all-stars we are," Cameron muttered. He hung his head in shame.
The mood shifted slightly when they heard the struggling grunts of Lightning approaching them. Mustering whatever strength he had to crawling. He was definitely the one person to come out the worse for wear. The team went from feeling dejected to being annoyed upon seeing him.
"Tha Lightning shoulda..." Lightning murmured. Gasping more frequently in an attempt to say something. "Tha Lightning shoulda..."
"The Lightning should shut the hell up!" Dakota shrieked. Most jumped back, fearful she might start transforming. Surprisingly, she did not. But she was definitely angry. "You abandoned the team because you wanted to go solo! And what happened? You got your ass whipped! Meanwhile, my sweet Sam was the one to make sure we didn't lose our flag! So if anything, he's the hero of our team! Whereas you, the Lightning, are just a loser!"
She crossed her arms sternly over her chest, turned in place, and stomped a foot down once. That would be the end of it. That much was understood by the whole team, Lightning included. It did take a moment before Sam stepped over and placed a comforting arm over her shoulders. She relaxed a little.
"Looks like you kiddies had a fun time with tonight's Challenge Night!" Chris proclaimed. He maintained a wicked grin on his face despite the death glares being shot at him. He had accomplished his goal any way, garnering their attention. "But now for the results. First off, kudos to Ezekiel, Staci, and Beardo. I rather think you three showed potential to at least hang with the others. Unfortunately, neither one of you managed to capture a flag successfully. So we'll have to determine who got the farthest. Chef?" All eyes turned nervously to Chef. The big man stepped up and cleared his throat, rather violently.
"Staci," Chef barked. The young woman flinched at hearing her name so suddenly and loudly. "Ya grabbed tha flag, but ya didn't move an inch before gettin' eliminated." Most of the red team continued to hang their head in disappointment. "Beardo. Ya grabbed tha flag and made a run fo' it, but ya didn't make it out tha door before gettin' eliminated." Sky patting Beardo on the back in reassurance led to most of the other members of the yellow team to do the same. "Ezekiel. Ya grabbed tha flag and made it out tha door. Just too bad ya didn't get far enough away to avoid gettin' eliminated."
"Which makes the blue team the winners!" Chris declared. Seemingly for no reason, the handsome host pressed a button upon a remote in his hand. Setting off a popping sound that was accompanied by blue confetti raining down upon the students.
The enthusiasm at winning was expressed primarily by Owen and Izzy. The two were hooting and hollering with delight. Most everyone else on the blue team were just relieved that they made it through the challenge with a positive outcome. Gwen and Trent content with snuggling into an embrace, Courtney and Duncan allowed themselves to ease whatever tension they retained through most of the day, Heather merely looking away in an attempt to not care, and Ezekiel exhaling with solace as he dropped into a sitting position on the floor. Hardly much of a celebration to be had. This was noticed by the other teams, though it did little in making them feel any less depressed. It took a moment before someone finally said something to break the mostly dejected atmosphere.
"So where's our rides?" Heather asked. The remembrance that there were supposedly sweet prizes for the winners started to dawn on the others.
"Waiting out front," Chris answered. He chuckled at how distrusting the students were at him from the glares they were giving him. Chuckling because he couldn't wait to see their faces turn once they got a good look at the prizes.
(Confession Cam)
Cameron - "Man, it's like there's all sorts of surprises up Frances' sleeves. Like you really don't know what she might do, in particular when you don't expect her at all."
/Frances rises suddenly up into view next to Cameron./
Frances - "Very kind of ya ta no'ice, mate."
/Cameron yelps and nearly tips over./
Cameron - "Oh my goodness! How did you get in here?"
/Frances taps the side of her nose and grins./
"Oh my God..." Courtney gasped. She was as speechless as most everyone else.
"Dude, you guys are so lucky!" Geoff proclaimed. He slowly removed his hat from his head as he looked on in awe.
"Man, those are some sweet rides!" Sam stated. He removed his glasses and cleaned them for a second before putting them back on.
"Dang," Harold uttered. He lightly kicked at the ground. "We could have gotten one of these?"
"Fo' sho'," LeShawna agreed. Though she tried to place a reassuring hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, she herself did not feel at all comforted.
The majority of the students were left open-mouthed as they looked out upon the majestic collection of vehicles parked in the garden. Top of the line cars, trucks, jeeps, and motorcycles displayed for all to see and admire. High-end vehicles that turned heads and were worth drooling over. It seemed too good to be true, which was a reasonable line of thought considering how the show operated. But all it took was Courtney gently running her hand against the front fender of an Aston Martin Vanquish and her shaking with excitement that confirmed the vehicles were real.
"Take all the time you want, blue team," Chris declared. He let out a chuckle watching the winning team slowly, yet surely make their way towards the vehicles. "Just remember that you each can only pick one. I will say, though, that, in the spirit of the challenge, it should only be fair that Ezekiel gets first dibs."
"Shouldn't be a problem," Trent stated. Like the rest of the team, he hadn't really been paying any heed to what the handsome host was saying as his attention was upon the vehicles he was examining. He was pulled away from them when he felt a tug at his shirt. The music man turned to see that it was a fidgeting Ezekiel responsible.
"B'oot..." Ezekiel uttered. He stopped upon sensing his voice was starting to pitch unusually high. He swallowed and resumed speaking sheepishly. "I d'oonn'oo h'oo t'oo drive, eh."
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to learn," Gwen responded. She slipped through to be closer with her boyfriend. "I imagine a place like this will get you up to snuff on driving in no time." This appeared to be enough to ease the prairie boy to at least properly scout for a vehicle that would be to his fancy.
"I'm fine with whatever is left over," Courtney said. Overwhelmed at the choices before her with a hand upon her cheek. "I'm getting a car. That's enough for me."
"It will indeed, Courtney," Chris commented. He was still chuckling with amusement. "As for the option of using scooters, segways, and mopeds to get around the school in the meantime, we'll keep 'em over yonder." He jerked his thumb in a direction behind him, knowing full well that hardly any one would actually look away from the vehicles.
"Yeah, whatever," Duncan uttered. With a wicked grin, he slid over to where Courtney was. He waited a second until she seemed fully occupied in looking over a Porsche 991. Then he positioned himself so that his mouth was practically up to one of her ears. "Can't wait for all the fun things we'll get to do inside of this, Princess." He got the reaction he wanted, watching her turned fully red, squeezing her thighs together, and shaking even more.
"Looks like you already have your pick, Handsome," Gwen whispered. She loosely wrapped herself around the music man from behind as he continued to look over an impressive looking Ducati Streetfighter, one of the few motorcycles present.
"Indeed I do, Beautiful," Trent responded. His chuckle as low as he could sound so that only his goth girlfriend could hear. "Can't wait to take this baby out for a spin with you."
"Tempting thought," Gwen purred. She was never one to be flirty, but enjoyed it whenever she found an opportunity to do so with Trent.
Only a few of the others were not looking upon the vehicles in awe. Having no need for such things, Dawn was perfectly content to meditate elsewhere in the garden. Already in ownership of her own luxury cars back home, Dakota wasn't all that interested in looking at the vehicles present any more than she had to. And while he did look with some admiration, his being with Dakota meant Sam was assured he'll get a cool vehicle of his own eventually. Bridgette wasn't all the fond of the prize being a pollution machine, but she was nonetheless impressed by what was displayed. Everyone else within the losing teams could only brood at the missed opportunity to claim one of the vehicles presented in the garden.
"So what happens now?" Cameron asked. The only one brave enough to bring this up as it seemed that Chris seemed content to let this scene play out for however long it would.
"We're done," Chris answered. He spoke definitively. "So unless you wanna stick around and descend into envy and jealously watching blue team pick their rides, you're otherwise free to go. Because of your schedules, it may be a good while before the next Challenge Night. But let this give you an idea of the kind of prizes you could win in the next one." The handsome host let out a laugh before his hologram vanished.
It took a while, but each member of the blue team eventually narrowed their choices down enough to essentially be their picks. Ezekiel was trying to figure which one would be right for him, though he found himself coming back to the Bugatti Veyron. Owen was ecstatic at being able to touch the Range Rover Evoque. Izzy was already in the driver seat of the Lamborghini Aventador and making high-speed driving sounds. Heather tried to present herself as being completely uninterested, masking the excitement building as she slowly circled the Ferrari SF90 Stradale she was claiming. With Courtney seemingly settling on the Porsche 991, Duncan would set his eyes on the Dodge Viper ACR. As Trent would surely take possession of the Ducati Streetfighter, Gwen eventually looked upon the McLaren 650S as her choice.
By this point, most of the others definitely scattered so as not to linger too long with probable spite. Though it was perhaps out of self-inflicted anguish that Bridgette, Geoff, Harold, and LeShawna stuck around a little longer. Tormenting themselves, perhaps, knowing that they were technically supposed to be part of the blue team, but had to be placed onto the other teams in order to make the challenge fair and balanced. They were not going to be able to sleep well for several nights after this.
Next Up: The Miseducation of Total Drama
This took way longer than intended. It didn't help that I practically started over at least a couple times. But now it's done and I can finally move on!
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Total Drama and its characters are copyright © of Fresh TV, Teletoon and Cartoon Network (and soon Max). This story was created purely out of sheer enjoyment so please don't sue. Or throw me off a thousand-foot high cliff into a shark-infested lake. That would so smarts.