Diamond Dodos: Brooke, Chander, Jessica, Kanna, Mikey, Octavia, Rival

Pearl Platypuses: Anu, Casey, Freddy, Godfrey, Jackie, Jezebelle, Julia, Tobias

"Last time, on Total Drama Digital Mayhem," Chris announced from within the entrance hall, smirking to himself as he began the third short recap.

"We let our two new teams loose into the castle's local labyrinth, which we obviously filled with traps of a more… medieval variety," the footage showed several groups getting chased by the boulder and the suits of armor.

"Jessica proved her boots could do more than just illusions, and beheaded a suit of armor by throwing one right at it - bullseye!" the footage switched to the magician's ambush on Rival's kidnapper.

"Meanwhile, the Platypuses almost all wanted to vote out Godfrey, who's proven just one thing to them - he's an absolutely terrible teammate," the footage yet switched, this time to the charmer's various attempts at being a nuisance.

"But in the end, the Dodos lost, and sent home Kira after she was exposed for not only being super sketchy, but also a really, really, really sore loser, after Godfrey backstabbed her almost immediately after forming their alliance," Chris finished, as the last bit of footage showed the gamer's salt-flavoured elimination, "How tragic. Who else will go sliding the Pipe of Shame and find themselves locked in the Dungeon of Losers? Find out, on Total! Drama! Digital Mayhem!"

Hey what's up, I'm here to slay~ (dies)

In a private, host-only room that was, for lack of a better word, fit for a king, Chris was sat back, feet on his desk as he sipped from an expensive drink. Chef was also there, the cook putting his hat on as he prepared to leave when Doppel popped in on the one screen in the room.

"Good morning!" the AI called out loudly and abruptly, startling both of the hosts into turning towards them.

"What the- what are you doing here?" Chris turned towards the AI, annoyed at the sudden intrusion on his private time, "The challenge isn't for a few hours, anyways… shouldn't you be with that intern or something?"

"Well, Ember is still sleeping," Doppel noted casually, whistling to themselves, "And the contestants… I've been told not to bother them unless asked - so here I am!"

"Fine, fine - you know what the plans are for today, right?" Chris asked the AI - if he couldn't relax, he was going to at least get something productive done.

"Yep!" the AI confirmed, a sort of disappointed sigh, "I'm… not doing much today, then… just a few behind-the-scenes stuff."

"Well, you're kind of just a robot," Chris noted, "Just because you are this castle doesn't mean you'll be here all the time."

"I'm an AI… which is cooler," Doppel corrected with a hint of obvious bias, "I can control robots, though… so I could definitely do more than this…"

"Note to self… give Doppel a bigger job next time to shut them up," Chris muttered, when he felt the second person in the room touch him.

"Hey, Chris," Chef tapped the host on the shoulder, looking at the AI warily as he whispered something into the other host's ear, "You know… we still don't know much about Doppel. How the hell do they even exist, man?"

"True…" Chris nodded suspiciously, "It's making for great television, though… so why should I care that much?"

"I dunno man… it's been buggin' me a little bit, though," Chef crossed his arms, a frown forming on his face, "There's always the risk of… y'know, sci-fi movie shit. AI take-overs."

"I can hear you, since I do hear almost all here!" Doppel shouted out gleefully, "And to answer that question… I don't have that information! And I have no desire to take over the world anytime soon, either!"

"Let me guess… the intern knows?" Chris deadpanned.

"Their name is Ember, by the way - you might want to remember that! But yes, that's correct," Doppel nodded, closing their 'eyes', "I know how I exist, but that explanation is too wordy for anybody not incredibly well-versed in my programming to understand~"

"Well, that's a whole lot of not my problem," Chris handwaved dismissively, "Chef, if you wanna play detective or whatever… be my guest. But I've got a show I want to run first and foremost…"

Chef squinted, before he walked out to start cooking what should never have been cooked for our poor, poor castmates.

Confessional - Godfrey

"So… I narrowly avoided elimination last night," the charmer crossed his arms, "And my one alliance-mate was sent home. For all of her personality issues, Kira was still one of the bigger strategic threats on a first glance, so knocking her out so early isn't the worst outcome, I suppose. I would have liked to be able to see just how my team are when their chances at winning are on the lines, but… well, I think my pretty face would have been sent home, and none of us want that, do we?"

"Still, she could've done without stealing from me… however, rest assured that both me and my pretty face won't be beaten down by something that petty."

The charmer was sat in the cafeteria by himself early in the morning, eating Chef's gourmet slop when Jackie approached him, her own tray of gourmet slop in hand as she glared at the charmer.

"We both know why I'm here, so let's just cut to the chase," Jackie frowned, sitting down across from Godfrey, who gave her a knowing smirk, "I don't know what you're planning, but whatever it is, it ends now."

"Really now?" the charmer raised an eyebrow, "And… what do you gain from focusing on me? You know I'm a problem. But everybody else? Well, any one of them could secretly be forming alliances and scheming behind your backs. At least when I say that I'll be voting for you when we lose - which I will, by the way - I'm upfront about it."

Jackie frowned at Godfrey's reasoning, and scoffed, not buying it one bit, "As if. And besides, even if you were telling the truth, why would I even want to keep somebody on the team who's voting me every single time?"

"You make a point," the charmer conceded, scratching his goatee, "However, what good will gunning for me do for you? I thought you wanted to play the role of team leader… and focusing all of your efforts on me seems like a sure-fire way to fail that role spectacularly. I'm flattered you're paying attention to me, really, but if your leadership style is just one long hate train against little old me, then personally, I think you're a crappy leader."

"I'm not getting distracted by dealing with you, I'm getting rid of the obvious problem," the athlete stared down the charmer, "If anything, I'm doing this team a favour by getting rid of you so early, you're nothing but deadweight at best."

"Don't you want to win?" Godfrey asked Jackie to her confusion, but before she could respond, he continued, "I'm not exactly the strongest player around, am I? You could eliminate me whenever you wanted… most of our teammates would agree with that. Technically, I'm the least risky player here… everybody else is more of a threat. Wouldn't you like to get rid of somebody like Julia, who's at the very least good at challenges? All I'm good at is backstabbing my former alliance-mate."

"The merge is way-off, so that's all meaningless," Jackie rolled her eyes at Godfrey, a look of pure disdain on her face, "And besides, you're sketchy as hell anyways… I don't trust a word you've said… and you've not given me any reason to keep you around."

"Alright then," Godfrey clicked his tongue once in thought, "To prove that I'm not sabotaging you, I won't do anything during this next challenge… do we have a deal?" the charmer offered with a sly grin.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Jackie asked him with a glare, "You just told me you're good at backstabbing… so how am I supposed to trust you?"

"I won't do anything," the charmer repeated, extending his arm out, "I'll follow you around so you can make sure that I'm a man of my word. In fact, if I do try anything, you can go right ahead and send me away right then and there."

Jackie thought it over a split second, but eventually denied it, standing up and walking away, "I'm not buying it one bit… I'm not accepting any deals from you."

"Well, suit yourself," the charmer shrugged, going back to eating the slop as Jackie's eye momentarily twitched at his smug demeanor, "Now I get to do whatever I want during today's challenge… honestly, I like that idea way more."

Confessional - Godfrey

"I'd love to get my strategy rolling, however I should probably establish a safety net before then - and while we're here, I might as well talk about my teammates," the charmer noted, "Jackie's the biggest threat on the team, of course - strong social game and a challenge threat, and more personally, she's onto me. A.k.a., she's my first choice of elimination if I had my way around here. Anu and Freddy are probably both idiots, and if I need extra votes, they'll always be right there. I'm not that worried about them. Jezebelle and Tobias? Both very hotheaded. If one of them gets too mad, your boy could possibly scrape by."

"That just leaves Julia and Casey, the two people I don't have good reads on," the charmer mused, scratching his goatee, "They're the ones I'm interested in the most, and if anybody on this team is on my wavelength… it'll be one of them. After all, I'm pretty sure somebody willing to strategise would be more than willing to keep me on their side as an 'easy boot for later', wouldn't they?"

Confessional - Jackie

"I still don't trust a single word that comes out of that slimeball's mouth, and he's so gone the moment we lose," Jackie crossed her arms, "And I want to actually spend time with members of my team who aren't complete assholes, so no way was I gonna accept a deal like that. I do want to enjoy the competition while I win, you know."

While those two were 'enjoying' their breakfasts, Brooke and Rival were on the other table, the shopper and vocalist talking to each other.

"So, you mostly use thrift shops for your outfits?" Rival asked casually, giving his teammate a smile as he tried to stomach the slop, "Call me a bit judgemental if you want, but I wouldn't have taken you for doing that at a glance."

"Yep," Brooke chuckled, as she gave her own 'food' a tentative glance, "At first it was just a trend thing, in a way. But, like, I actually like the aesthetic and everything a lot, so, honestly, it's a win-win situation, I think."

"Well, can't say I've got any experience in fashion, so who am I to judge?" the vocalist scratched the back of his head as he looked up for a moment, "I don't really fashion myself as a fashionista anytime soon, I'm gonna be honest."

The vocalist chuckled at his lame pun. A cricket chirped… although really it was Doppel playing a sound from a soundboard because it felt appropriate.

"Yeah, because that's what you've got me for," Octavia, despite her height, managed to sneak up beside the vocalist, butting into the conversation and sitting right next to him with a smirk, as she examined Brooke, figuring out what to say, "And according to my professional opinion? Your clothes are… like, fine."

Brooke slightly frowned at Octavia's sudden entrance, and nodded slowly, in a way that suggested that she didn't fully agree, "I mean… that's what you think…"

"Yeah, but it's also true," the media darling rolled her eyes dismissively, causing the shopper to sigh as Rival saw the growing tension.

"Look, let's not argue right now," the vocalist raised his hands up, "And besides, if you really want to see a fashion disaster at work, well, I'm right here, aren't I?"

"...You're not really a fashion disaster," Brooke sweatdropped at the vocalist's redirection of blame, "You don't have have to lie about that, y'know? Not like… you're great at it or anything, but you're not bad… it's just, like, pretty simple, that's all."

"What she said, I guess," Octavia agreed, but of course she had to try and one-up the shopper, "But, like, you've got me, and, like, I happen to know fashion better than anybody else here!"

"I mean, if you say so," Rival shrugged, going back to his lunch as things got slightly more tense.

Confessional - Octavia

"Okay so, like, yesterday, somebody voted for me instead of Kira," the media darling rolled her eyes, "And I'm gonna figure it out. I'm so sure it isn't, like, Rival, and I don't think it's Mikey either. Which just leaves the performers and Brooke, and Kanna."

Confessional - Brooke

"It's not that I don't like Octavia - really, I don't hate her or anything, I think we've got some things in common, even," the shopper explained, "But… she is kinda full of herself, which makes talking with her around… not the easiest to do, honestly."

Confessional - Rival

"I am not escaping the harem protagonist allegations, am I now?" the vocalist chuckled lightly. shaking his head with a sigh and a hollow chuckle, "Still not ready for a relationship yet, guys… I should probably get that out there."

As the others tried to deal with lunch, Casey was creeping through the halls, looking warily from side-to-side with a sly grin on her face and a plan clearly in mind.

"Alright, alright, the coast is clear," she muttered to herself, before she called out to the AI, "Hey, Doppel, come out here - I wanna talk!"

With her shout, Doppel popped in nearby, "Hello!" they shouted as they blipped into the nearest screen, "What is it?"

"Where's the idol?" Casey asked incredibly bluntly, "You've answered other people's questions, so… get on with already."

"Let me see… I was told to specifically not do that," the AI recalled, much to Casey's displeasure, "I can say that nobody has it, but that's all you'll get."

"Shit," the copycat cursed under her breath, furious that her plan failed, "Well… can I at least get a hint?"

"It's in the castle!" the AI said back all-too cheerfully, prompting an eye-roll from Casey.

"Yeesh… what can you tell me?" Casey asked, wanting to at least get something usable from the AI.

"Well, I can't talk about actual strategy moves being made, or tell you where the idol is," Doppel explained, "Big spoiler territory there, stuff you're not meant to know yet. I also can't tell you much about anybody else, other than the basic information that I told Tobias and Jackie, 'cause Chris doesn't want that information out to you yet. That's it!"

"Okay… look, can you at least tell me about the challenge or something - I wanna at least get something usable out of this," the copycat complained, and fortunately for her, the AI complied, giving her the details of the challenge.

"...Well, I haven't been ordered not to!" Doppel obliged, cheerily giving the copycat the details of the challenge.

"Ohoho… thank you. Now I've got just the plan for this… hehe," she snickered deviously, seemingly more than pleased with the knowledge she just obtained from the AI (that, obviously, you won't see yet). Doppel waved her off, both through the monitor and through a nearby suit of armour, just for effect, unsettling the copycat just a little bit.

Confessional - Casey

"Okay, so it wasn't what I wanted," the copycat rolled her eyes, "But… I can definitely work with just learning the challenges from them for a while until I can find a loophole somewhere. In fact… if I could somehow strike a deal with Doppel, I'll know this castle's every weakness eventually."

"Rest assured, I'll know all the secrets of this place eventually. Then winning this show will be so, so much easier! 'Sides, with Godfrey running around and putting a target on his back, going undetected is so much easier, hehe."

While Casey teetered on the edge of cheating, Tobias was engaging in the much more honest way to pass the time known as playing the drums, which he had packed in one of his bags. The drummer ran a small riff across the drumset he had packed with him (while stood atop a stool he had packed too, since he was like four foot tall), grinning as he finished it, "Hell yeah - glad I managed to sneak these bad boys in! Gotta get some practise in while I'm here, after all."

Tobias's playing attracted none other than Mikey, who peered into the not-girls' bedroom with an interested look, "Oh hey, that's sweet!" the jokester complimented, strolling into the room with a grin on his face, "You're really good… despite being… you know…"

"Go on…" Tobias edged the jokester on, frowning and clenching his teeth as a bead of sweat rolled down Mikey's face as he realised his mistake, "Despite being what, huh?"

"Uh… short?" the jokester shrugged out the honest answer, seeing no point in lying to the drummer, "You're just standing on a stool, how do you even play the drums like that?"

"Like how you just saw, obviously!" the drummer shouted out, glaring daggers into Mikey's face, "Just 'cause I was born this way doesn't mean I'll let life beat me down because of it!"

"I was surprised, that's all," Mikey hand-waved like a small chuckle, "You don't usually see somebody so small do something like that-"

"If you don't shut the hell up and think about what you're saying for once, I'll break your fucking kneecaps!" the drummer shouted up at the jokester, shaking a fist in his four feet of sheer fury, "I am not dealing with the short jokes now, you hear me?!"

"Okay, okay," Mikey raised his hands in surrender, his face turning panicked as Tobias got angrier, "I was just saying, you're really good at the drums, y'know?"

"Maybe next time, just stick to that," the drummer sighed with a hint of anger seeped in, grabbing his drumsticks and tapping them against the drum, "If you think you're funny with the short jokes, you're not the first, and you aren't gonna be the last, that's for sure."

"Sheesh…" With that, Mikey realised he should probably leave soon, and after pulling out a spray bottle from his bag, he did leave, letting Tobias remain in the room by himself.

Confessional - Mikey

Mikey spray painted the wall of the confessional outhouse with what looked a small portrait of Chris's head, with stink lines and supposed-to-be crossed out eyes, "Hey, this looks great! Thought I'd spice this thing up, it was kinda boring beforehand."

Confessional - Tobias

"I don't wanna just be known as the short guy who gets angry really fast," the drummer admitted, making sure to not stand in the toilet of the outhouse, "Unfortunately, I am a short guy who gets angry really fast… but some people just push my buttons the wrong way."

While Mikey left the not-girls' room, Jezebelle was in the girls' room, practising her singing with a grin on her face, singing a song that didn't happen to be a lullaby for once… probably for the best, honestly. She was prancing around the room like there was nobody else there, even though the door had been left wide open.

From the outside of the room, Kanna was passing by, whistling a tune to themselves as they heard Jezebelle's singing, "Huh… I feel like this moment just happened but with different people…" they mumbled under their breath as they walked in, giving a small wave towards the sassy puffball, which went ignored, "Singing, I see."

When Jezebelle didn't respond, Kanna simply waited for her to dance close to them… before they suddenly tapped her on the shoulder, startling the puffball into being aware of her surroundings again.

"What do youse want?" she questioned snappily, pointing a finger at the 'girl', "And hey, why are you even here anyways, I thought youse slept with the guys anyways."

"Easy - I was just wandering around, and, well, you were interesting - and Tobias kicked Mikey out of the guys' room, so I'm not taking my chances there, hehe," they shrugged with a grin, "Honestly, just surprised you aren't singing a lullaby, since you seem to love them so much for some reason."

"I can diversify!" the puffball puffed up, flaring at Kanna, "But I got my favourites too, y'know? Might seem childish or whatever, but I don't really care what youse say about it!"

"Neither do I," Kanna shrugged flippantly, poking their tongue, "'Sides, I was just messing with you really… though I do think it is weird you keep singing them when you drop right asleep afterwards."

"I can sing what I wanna sing, can't I?" the puffball raised an eyebrow in challenge, "Not your problem if that happens, ain't it?"

"Yeah, sure," Kanna shrugged, turning on their heel, "But it's not my problem if it annoys somebody less laid-back than I am, but you do you, I guess."

With that, Kanna left the room, leaving Jezebelle in a slightly worse mood than she was prior. Good job.

Confessional - Kanna

"So… gonna mess with Rival during the challenge, that's for sure," they shrugged, a small grin on their face, "Out of the people here, something tells me he'd be the most entertaining to troll."

Confessional - Jezebelle

The puffball rolled her eyes, "'Course I know lullabies put me to sleep, ain't that what they're supposed to do? It would be way weirder if they didn't, wouldn't it?"

"'Sides, I'm not some sort of idiot who'd sing one in the middle of a challenge, so why does she care anyways?"

Meanwhile, Anu was patrolling the halls of the castle, Princess perched on his shoulders as the roleplayer looked around, "Well… I might have lost my map. But that's a minor setback for Brillup Lilyheart!"

Freddy was also with him, mostly just because he wanted the company and everybody else was busy. The FNAF fanatic's head perked up at the mention of a map, remembering something he had seen during the last challenge, "Wait, you made a map?" he asked curiously.

"I used the finest quills to make it, too…" the roleplayer sighed, looking down dejectedly, "Alas, I lost it during our adventure in the labyrinth…"

"A map?" the FNAF fanatic recalled, remembering that Julia found one such thing on the floor of the last challenge, "I might've seen one around… but you never know with this place. There might've been another map as like, some sort of secret collectible or something."

"My map's one of a kind," Anu reminded him, "I decorated it with images of beautiful frogs."

"I didn't see what was on it super well," Freddy poked his top hat, "So it might've been yours… I don't think we'll be able to go back into the maze if it's still there…"

"Ah…" Anu sighed, "An unsealable dungeon… well, I'll just have to design a new one if I can't find the original… but the Shrouded Castle of Fivefeetapart is too vast for me to not wish to map it - otherwise, I may get lost."

"I guess," Freddy trailed off slightly, before he thought of a new topic, "Anyways… what's your favourite horror game?" he asked, changing the subject to something far easier to talk about.

"I…" Anu put his hands to his hips and closed his eyes in thought for a moment, "Have never played one!"

"You haven't?!" Freddy gasped out in shock, as if that knowledge shook him to his very core - not playing FNAF was one thing, but not having played any horror games at all was a whole other beast entirely, "You're missing out on so many amazing games!"

"Well… if I had played them, I would've probably heard of the mythical Freddy Fazbear!" Anu declared, "And I haven't! When you're adventuring like Brillup Lilyheart so often is, you meet all sorts of legendary creatures… all of whom are in the Monster Manual! The Freddy Fazbear… is not."

"Okay, consider me your expert on all things horror games, then!" Freddy declared, "Starting with the best one, Five Nights at Freddy's - the Fazbear, that is, it's definitely not me, but it's a really funny coincidence anyways. I know I've already told you a bit, but-"

Confessional - Anu

He was frantically checking the pages of the monster manual, "Chica… Bonnie… Foxy… Purple Guy… none of these things are in the Monster Manual. Our party member Freddy must know all sorts of unique creatures, then!"

"We still lack any leads on our missing map… however, Princess's tracking skills are unparalleled! So I'm not worried, it'll show up eventually."

Princess was eating flies for a light snack, and getting dangerously close to falling into the toilet again.

"...and we have to meet up for the challenge too, I guess."

Confessional - Freddy

"I really think he's just playing up the character, hehe," the FNAF Fanatic chuckled, "It's hard to find somebody who doesn't know who Freddy Fazbear is, at least."

"I'm just happy somebody on this team's still thinking positive," he smiled, "I didn't tell him Julia had the map though… it'll just cause more drama, I think."

Speaking of Julia and the map she had technically stolen, the runaway was currently reading over it, walking through the castle with it open in her hands, avoiding the areas Anu had presumably checked before her.

The runaway eventually came towards the same locked door that Anu had found and failed to open previously, and put her hand on the door. She tried to pull it open… which failed despite her best efforts. Once that proved to be useless, she pushed the door open… and, to her mild surprise, the door opened right up.

Julia raised an eyebrow, surprised that she could open it, but opened the door fully anyways, revealing… what was very clearly Ember's personal bedroom. A bed was set up, there was a small desk set up near said bed, and a small mini-fridge was also set up in there. There was also a monitor for Doppel to pop into the room, and as for the programmer themself… well, they were typing away on their laptop, sat down on their bed when they heard the door open.

"Gyah! H-how did you get in here?" the programmer stammered out, practically jumping up in shock as they saw Julia enter, "The door should've been locked, unless-"

"The door was unlocked," Julia deadpanned, looking back towards the open door. Their eyes scanned the room over for the idol… and found nothing out in the open, at least.

"J-jeez…" Ember sighed, "Well… could you leave? Like right now? This is my bedroom… there's no idols in here, why would I hide one where I want nobody to go, if anything it'd-"

"Fine then," Julia raised an eyebrow at that, but turned away nonetheless… the runaway quite frankly didn't care enough to stay in the programmer's room, and they could at least understand why the idol wouldn't be in there… which sadly left an entire castle's-worth left for it.

Once outside, Julia took one look at the map, and sighed, "Not getting any closer to the idol, I see…"

She heard the door's lock close behind her, and decided now would be a good time to at least get some breakfast before the challenge.

Confessional - Ember

"Haha… that was awkward…" the programmer chuckled out, "At least it was Julia and not like… Casey… ugh."

The programmer crossed their arms over, and looked to the side with a frown, "I'm uh… not gonna lie… I am not super happy right now… well right now it's more of a 'annoyed' than 'angry' but y'know… "

They blinked, realising that they'd gone off-track, "Okay, to make it more simple, I spent all my life making Doppel, and they get treated as a cheatsheet - that'd make anybody mad, wouldn't it?"

Confessional - Julia

"That didn't do much, really," the runaway admitted, holding the map in one of their hands, "I'm surprised Anu couldn't enter that room, really."

"...Still. I'd rather find that idol before anybody else does. It'd make winning this show a whole lot easier - I'm clearly not too well-liked.."

While others hunted for the idol, Chander and Jessica were instead simply looking around - and the two performers found a room that clearly appealed to them.

"Woah… that's a big stage!" Chander grinned, the acrobat looking at the grand stage that was sat in the center of the room. There were seats set up all around it, and curtains that billowed with an unseen breeze (also known as fans) were put on, in order to open up for any performances, "I'd love to perform here… we should have a chance, right?"

"Oh, absolutely," Jessica nodded in agreement, the magician equally impressed, "I haven't got to show off my tricks yet, after all."

"Y'know, there's a ton of performers here," Chander noted, tapping his chin, "I know Tobias is a drummer, I've heard Jezebelle sing a few times, and I think I overheard Rival talking about being a vocalist at some point last night. Maybe we could all do like… some sort of big performance here at some point? That could be cool, right?"

"Oh, I'd be so down for that," the magician smirked, although her smirk dropped when she noticed a lack of some very important things, "But there's no equipment here? I brought my whole 'Mistress of Illusions' outfit with me, but like…"

"Aw man… that sucks," Chander snapped his fingers in disappointment, "I just brought a few smaller things with me since I didn't expect to see a stage here. Maybe there's some just lying around or something? I hope there is, 'cause I'm at my best when I perform, y'know?"

"I'm with you there," Jessica chuckled along with him, before she her hands over her eyes to scope out the room, "Even without it though, we could probably make one hell of a show, right?"

"You're completely right!" Chander grinned… although his grin fell when Chris and Chef entered the room.

"Huh. Guess you two were early to get to the challenge, huh?" Chris snarked as he looked at the two, "Just wait or something, I've got an announcement to make."

Confessional - Chander

"If this is what I think it is, I am so ready," the acrobat gushed, crossing his fingers, "Please, please tell me we've got a performing challenge today!"

"Alright contestants, welcome to your third challenge!" Chris announced to the now full cast, "Much like any good castle, the subjects should try and entertain the king - and for that, you need a stage - and this stage is particularly special. Doppel, take it away!"

"Aye aye, captain!" the AI mock-saluted, as the stage sunk down… only to be replaced by a complete circus set, much to Chander's glee, "It can change to have whatever is needed for an act!"

"But… that would be boring to let you all have whatever set you want," Chris gleefully rubbed his hands together, "Which is why instead… we've selected four random set-ups… two for each team. You've gotta pick any number of your team members to perform, and they'll only get to know which set they've got after they've told me, Chef or Doppel that they're performing - whether solo or as a group. And believe me, some of these sets are a little bit wild."

"But don't worry - to those of you not performing, you'll get to add… effects to the performance. Doppel, you know the drill," Chris continued.

Just then, a small jet of flame erupted on the stage, burning a tightrope, as Doppel giggled… it was nowhere near as funny to the rest of the cast, though, who all jumped back in slight fear. Chris nodded approvingly, "There's two rooms to the sides with stages and the consoles needed to add effects, and you'll all get to rehearse whatever performances you wanna do in there. To win, each act has got to impress our panel of judges - me, Chef and the intern. You can do whatever, but I would say to use whatever set you get to your advantage if you want those extra points. We'll grade both performances out of 30 - 1-10 points per judge - and whichever team gets the highest combined score wins. Doppel will be holding the scores to avoid cheating. Any questions?"

Several hands raised, but as always… "Good! Now - Dodos to the left room, and Platypuses to the right room! You've got ten minutes max to pick your performers - and go!"

Confessional - Octavia

"I think it's clear who should perform today," the media darling posed with a self-assured smirk, as the confessional was silent for a moment, "It's obviously me, by the way. Who else could steal the show like yours truly?"

Confessional - Jessica

The magician had put her helmet on, and was testing out the smoke from her boots and gauntlets… the entire confessional was covered in smoke, even. The smoke didn't even clear as her voice could be heard, "Consider this… the Mistress of Illusions' grand debut here! I think it's obvious I'm gonna try and perform here, isn't it?"

Confessional - Kanna

They opened up the confessional door, letting out a whole ton of smoke and clearing it out, coughing as they did so, "Jeez… was somebody cooking in here or something? Why's there so much smoke, damn."

"Whatever, I'm probably just gonna backseat for this one. Might just mess around with Rival and Octavia a bit, y'know?"

The Dodos had gathered in one of the side rooms - there were two small stages, and two consoles to set up effects, alongside a small pile of assorted props. But of course, one discussion had to be had immediately…

"Obviously, I, like, have to perform. I'm amazing at singing and dancing," Octavia proudly boasted immediately, "So… it's, like, obvious I should be the star of the show! Who else could it be, let's be honest here?"

"Not to brag or anything… but I'm an acrobat!" Chander butted in, "This is my chance to really show off my skills, hehe."

"And I happen to be a magician," Jessica pointed out with a small grin, "I think my illusions would make for a perfect performance, especially without Doppel judging."

That left Rival, Mikey, Brooke and Kanna on the sidelines, the four looking on at the three performers.

"So then… who are we picking?" Mikey asked nonchalantly to the other three, resting his hands behind his head, "I think we've gotta go with Chander and Jess, right? The other team has Jezebelle, and she's obviously gonna sing, y'know?."

"You got a point there," Kanna whistled nonchalantly, smirking as Octavia's attention was immediately pulled towards the non-performers.

"Oh, puh-lease, like I'd be outdone by anyone," Octavia brushed her hair over her shoulder with a self-assured grin, "Like, no offense to you guys, I'm sure you're both great performers and all… but look at me for five seconds and say I shouldn't be up there, hm?"

"We only have two slots…" Brooke sighed, rubbing her elbows at the rising conflict, "But like… we could maybe let Octavia have one, right?"

"Yeah, what she said!" Octavia pointed towards the shopper, before she squinted suspiciously, "Wait, whaddya mean, maybe?"

"I mean like…" Brooke twiddled her thumbs together with an awkward chuckle, "We've only got like two spots… so I dunno who we should pick…"

"Chris did say that we could pair two people up," Rival noted, raising his index finger up, "But unless they're fine tag-teaming, that's two bad for us…"

A cricket chirped, although it was just Doppel playing a sound effect.

"...puns aside," Chander sweatdropped, as Rival chuckled awkwardly, "I mean, I'm fine either way, I'd just really like to be on-stage, you get what I'm saying?"

"Personally… I'd definitely prefer to act solo," Jessica said, her Mysterio helmet under her arm, "Sorry, but my illusions would work best if I could do them by myself."

"Well… that's a real pickle…" Mikey sighed, "I'm not a performance-y guy though, unless you count spray painting, hehe."

"Dude, like no offense, but that so doesn't count," Octavia rolled her eyes dismissively, "And like, Rival is more of a performer than you."

"I'm letting you guys take center stage," the vocalist shrugged half-heartedly, "I don't think we need four rivals fighting for the slots, do we?"

Another cricket chirped. Great job, Rival.

"Love the comedic timing," Kanna snickered at Rival, as the vocalist sighed at his failed attempt at comedy, "But whatever… I'm fine with literally whatever really, not like I'm performing now, am I?"

"So… we've gone nowhere with this," Rival sighed, "And unless we can reach some sort of compromise… somebody's gotta sit out."

"Well-" Octavia was about to say, but she got cut off.

"We get it, Octavia, you're great," Mikey chuckled, "But I'm just saying, we go for Chander and Jessica! The other team's probably doing music stuff, aren't they?"

"He's got a point…" Brooke sighed out, "I'm, like, pretty sure Jezebelle is their best performer, and she, like, sings, right?"

"Oh, that's right!" Chander piped up, "Trust me, I'll set the stage on fire… metaphorically, obviously, haha~"

"Eh, I say we go for him and Jess," Kanna whistled, giving Octavia a smug grin, "Might knock Octavia off of her high horse too."

"The hell was that for?" Octavia shouted out, but Jessica spoke up.

"My illusions should be enough to wow the hosts," the magician boasted, "So… I'd be more than happy to perform for us!"

"So… we're in agreement about Chander and Jessica, right?" Rival made sure, to which everybody agreed to, with the obvious exception, "Sorry Octavia… but it looks like all of them think they'd the better picks today. You'll probably get your shot later, though."

"Hmph… that's like, fine," Octavia huffed as Mikey went to tell Chris, "It's totally fine."

Confessional - Octavia

"No it's not!" the media darling shouted out, "My one chance to perform and it's taken… I guess I'll cheer them on, I don't wanna lose, obviously. Unless it was one of them who voted for me, 'cause I sure didn't forget about that. Why would anybody vote for me when Kira was right there?"

"But I'd still be the better choice."

Confessional - Rival

"Honestly, after eliminating Kira, our team's doing pretty well, for the most part. Sure, Octavia's a bit of a drama queen, and Kanna's just kinda messing around, but otherwise nothing bad's happened to us so far. So I'm just hoping we can keep this pace up, y'know?" he blinked, as if he realised just what he said, "I might've just went and jinxed us there… damn it."

On the Platypuses, though, they were also figuring out who they wanted to put on stage, with one particular person immediately shooting her shot…

"Youse all know that I gotta perform!" Jezebelle bounced up and down, nominating herself for the job, "I can sing just great!"

"Yeah, we know," Casey rolled her eyes, "Anybody else here actually good at performing… at all?"

"I'm a drummer," Tobias provided with a prideful puff of his chest, "So obviously, I'm in the running, right?"

"I get you wanna be on-stage, but I think the judges have to see the performers actually perform, right?" Casey noted, smirking towards the drummer.

"The fuck does that mean-?" Tobias glared up at the copycat, clenching his fist at her with equally clenched teeth, "I can-"

"Okay, what I think she's trying to say is that a drummer by himself, isn't the best choice for a performance challenge," Jackie butted in before the argument escalated, "She's got a point there."

"Did she have to word it like that, though?" the drummer scoffed, "Sheesh… fine. I'll play back-up music for Jiggles if that's what you all want me to do."

"Sounds good to me," Jackie gave him a thumbs-up, before she turned towards the rest of the team, "So, can anybody else here perform?"

"Princess can perform the glorious song of his people," Anu proudly presented the frog, who let out a hearty ribbit to the crowd. Godfrey audibly laughed at this, with Jezebelle, Casey and Tobias all holding in snickers to varying levels of success, "We'd gladly offer our help to sing to the kings of the castle!"

"...Anybody else?" Jackie asked the same question again, hoping that she did not have to resort to Princess, of all people, to perform.

"I can sing a FNaF fan-song!" Freddy offered with a wave, a grin, and an adjustment of his hat, not necessarily in that order.

"It's better than nothing, isn't it?" Godfrey shrugged off-handedly, "As for myself, I don't have any talents there - which leaves Julia and Casey, then… or Freddy if it comes down to it."

"Princess is still an option, too!" Anu shouted out, but he was promptly ignored due to just how nonsensical that idea was.

"I'm not a performer," Julia confirmed bluntly, which was… pretty much expected from them, really.

Casey crossed her arms over, before a small idea came to her mind, a grin accompanying it, "Let's just have somebody sing some kind of Chris suck-up song… we know he likes those, right?"

"That's… not a bad idea," Jackie nodded, thinking it over, "Of course, somebody would need to write it, and somebody else would have to sing it."

"Just leave the writing to me," the copycat grinned, pointing her finger at her chest with a proud smirk, "I'll write a song so good it'll blow Chris's pants off."

Confessional - Casey

"Like hell am I writing a Chris love song, what kind of weirdo fangirl do you take me for?" the copycat rolled her eyes, the mere suggestion being enough to disgust her, "I've already written a Chris hate song, obviously - I did that after learning what today's challenge is. If Chris hating it means we lose, then I can finally put my real plan to action and get somebody else like Jackie or Julia out. And I can just use the excuse that I was trying to be funny and appeal to Chef and Ember, can't I?"

"Princess could sing it, perhaps? He can croak with the best of them, after all," Anu unhelpfully offered again, and Jackie was about to ask for even a half-decent idea from (almost) anybody else when Godfrey butted in.

"If Princess wants to sing the Chris song, why should we stop him?" the charmer shrugged, snickering to himself at the absurdity of Anu's ridiculous suggestion, "It'd be funny, at least."

"There's many reasons," Julia bluntly noted, leaning against a wall since they were definitely not performing. But she also didn't want to lose, so she had to shut down that idea before it actually went anywhere.

"Alright then…" Jackie folded her arms over her chest, thinking over the options, "Our options are either Freddy, Casey, or I could potentially do it myself… or Anu, I guess."

"Why not me?" Godfrey simply asked, and Jackie simply answered in turn.

"I'd rather have Princess up there than you,' the athlete deadpanned towards the charmer, "

"Oh no, that wasn't me offering, I have no intentions of making a fool of myself singing something like that," he said with a mild tone of disgust, "Go on, then."

"I'll do it!" Freddy waved on, eager to help out his team, "It might not be a FNaF song, but I think I could do a parody-ish song like this really well, har har har!"

"Alright, looks like we have our performers then!" Tobias cracked his knuckles, "Somebody tell the hosts who we've got performing, and let's see what we're gonna have to deal with!"

Confessional - Jezebelle

"Well, youse know I'll be singing up there, right?" the puffball grinned, "Double singin' might be a bit much, but I've got a backup drummer, and the other song is gonna literally suck up to Chris. I'd say we've got this one in the bag!"

Confessional - Jackie

"That went well enough," the athlete nodded, seemingly pleased with how things went, "Even Godfrey didn't act up that much. If our team can keep up the pace like this, I think we've got a real winning streak on our hands!"

Confessional - Anu

"You know, Princess, I think your talents are greatly underappreciated around here," Anu held up the bullfrog, who let out a single proud croak… before he jumped right back into the toilet, startling Anu, "NO NOT AGAIN-"

Both teams approached Chris with their choices, and, turning to Doppel, the host nodded, "Both teams have made their choices… so now you get to see just what kinda stages you'll be dealing with… ehehe!"

On the Dodos, the team was looking at the two sets in front of them. Chander's set seemed fairly normal, not including the ominous trapdoors littered on top of it. However, Jessica's set on the other hand…

"Why is there a snake…?" Brooke sweatdropped, looking at an Octavia-sized python that was patrolling the stage, as if it had claimed it for itself, "This isn't safe… like, at all."

"Do you have any idea what show you signed up for? Heck, this is nothing compared to last challenge," Kanna snarked playfully, looking at the python with a shrug, "Besides, it's not like it's hurting anybody, is it?"

"Well… I can't practise as easily with it there," Jessica crossed her arms, "And performing would be more difficult, too…"

"It's just… kinda moving around though right now," Rival noted, "So if you maybe keep it down, you could practise your… well, whatever you do?"

"Heck, maybe you could get in on it!" Mikey offered with a chuckle, "Y'know, charm it or something? I don't really know all this stuff that well, haha."

While Jessica thought that over, Kanna moved over to the buttons and pressed one, which opened up a trapdoor on Chander's stage. The acrobat moved next to it and peered down, only be face-to-face with a dark void, "I was hoping for that circus set… this kinda sucks."

"Okay, next one!" he gestured to the 'girl', who gave him a thumbs-up and opened trapdoor #2. This one just let out a single, definitely-safe-for-use-inside firework into the room, startling everybody, "Whoa!"

"What the hell?" Octavia shouted out, jumping backwards in shock. The firework of course, also woke up the python, with glared angrily at the cast before returning to its nap with a robotic creak.

"...Don't press that one in here, got it," Kanna smirked, "Hey Rival~ wanna hit the last button?"

"I guess so," the vocalist opened the last trapdoor, which instead let a single platform, complete with a golden, buff statue of Chris, appear. Rival had one word for that, which pretty much captured the entire team's opinions of the accursed thing.

"Why?"

Confessional - Chris

"Sometimes, you've just gotta waste money on things that make you look good," the host answered, "I thought they'd appreciate seeing my glorious visage, but I guess they just aren't cultured enough for it."

The vocalist immediately sent it right back to where it came from, and Octavia rolled her eyes, "Thank god it can go away… I was not about to share a room with something like that."

Chander rested his arms behind his head as he thought it over, "Well, I could use it for my performance maybe? I could maybe swing from his arms or something like that."

"Honestly, just do your circus show and we're all good," Kanna threw him a small nod from the console, leaning very close to Rival. Chander ran off to grab his bag that contained all of his performance stuff, leaving the six other members of the Dodos in the room without him.

"Okay, how are we dealing with this python exactly?" Mikey cut in, "'Cause I am no snake charmer and frankly, I have no idea, hehe."

"We could throw it?" Rival offered, scratching his head for thoughts, "Not the best idea, but it's all I could come up with… at least it's not poisonous."

"I'm not too-" Brooke tried to discuss, however they were immediately interrupted.

"That's a great idea!" Kanna offered with a wink, though Rival held in a sigh at their flirtiness.

Confessional - Kanna

"Jeez… I try flirting with the guy who was nicknamed the Harem Protagonist of our team just to mess with him, and he ends not really being super receptive to it at all," they rolled their eyes, "It's like he knows I'm just trolling or something like that. It's not fun being caught out like that, y'know?"

Confessional - Rival

"Honestly, Kanna's flirting is harmless," he shrugged, "So I've got no reason to really stop it, do I? Either way, I just don't think I want to run into a relationship this soon - I know I've said that before, but my point still stands, right?"

Meanwhile, the three Platypuses performers looked at their own stages - Casey's looked like a complete and utter wreck, to say the least, with trash and the like scattered all over it. Jezebelle and Tobias's set, on the other hand, was made up of several pillars that raised up and down as controlled by the console. Jezebelle, although she was struggling a bit, could reach up and climb up them… Tobias not so much.

"Who the fuck designed this shit?" the drummer's eye twitched, as Godfrey moved a pillar down to let him get on and move his drums up too.

"Probably somebody of an average height," the charmer commented with a smirk, as Tobias's eye twitched at the insult.

"I was born this way!" Tobias shouted at the charmer, who simply shrugged uncaringly in response.

"I'm aware of that," Godfrey nodded along, "Besides, I'd not get too mad right now… after all, you do have a song to prepare, don't you?"

"Hm… you're right…I've gotta focus on the challenge," Tobias calmed down slightly, as he turned to face Jezebelle.

"As always," Godfrey boasted to himself, as he walked off to go find his other teammates that, quite frankly, he was more interested in.

"So, youse got a beat ready?" Jezebelle smirked down at the drummer, who gave her a quick thumbs-up (even if, logically, he couldn't, as he had no idea what Jezebelle was going to sing).

"Obviously," the drummer smirked, puffing out his chest as he thankfully elaborated on his declaration, "You tell me what you're gonna sing, and I'll provide a perfect beat for it. But if I have to fucking drum to a goddamn lullaby-"

"Don't worry, I got this this one in the bag," Jezebelle rolled her eyes at the drummer's complaint, "I can sing more than those, y'know."

"Yeah, anything else would be fine," the drummer crossed his arms, "We've got enough time to figure out a song choice…"

Confessional - Tobias

"Godfrey? Obviously shady as hell," the drummer noted, not that you could see him since he was so short, "I'm with Jackie on just giving him the boot on the off-chance we lose… but credit where credit's due, I can at least respect the honesty about being a dick. Doesn't make him not a dick, but at least I know what I'm dealing with with him compared to some of these people."

"As for Jezebelle? Eh, she's nice enough. We're both pretty musically inclined, and we've both a fight in us, you get what I'm saying?" The drummer did not mention that they were also both on the shorter side.

Meanwhile, Brooke was doing… pretty much nothing, honestly, given that she wasn't performing or on the consoles. Similarly, Mikey was doing equally as little, for the exact same reasons, and as such the jokester decided to strike a conversation with the shopper.

"So… wassup?" he asked casually, giving her a light wave as he walked over to her, "Guess we're not gonna be doing much, huh?"

"Yeah," the shopper nodded simply, watching the rest of her team go about working on the challenge, "I hope we can win this one at least."

"Hmm…" the jokester swayed back-and-forth a little bit in thought, "Anything on your mind, then? As you can probably guess, I'll be here all day… probably."

Brooke crossed her arms in thought, "Well… you know Octavia, right?"

"How can I miss somebody like her?" the jokester chuckled, looking over to where the media darling was attempting to help deal with Jessica's python problems, "Not easily, that's for sure."

"Well… I kinda feel like she's just… talking over me a bit," the shopper noted, recalling their earlier interaction with Rival, "Like… I want to get along with her 'cause she's like, got a lot of interests that I do, but she's just so…"

Brooke trailed off, letting Mikey try and infer her next words, "Loud? Something like that, yeah?"

"Something like that," the shopper nodded, appreciating the polite way Mikey put it, "That's all I've got, hehe."

Mikey pulled his spray can out of his pocket, flipping it around in his off-hand, "Why'd you even feel the need to hang out with her, anyways? No offense, but she's kind of a jerk. Like not Kira levels of being a jerk, but still."

"Kind of like… a feeling, I guess," the shopper thought it over, providing a half-answer, "And like, if I wanna talk about my interests in fashion, I feel like she'd be the only other person here to really get it."

"Well… I can't argue with that," the jokester shrugged flippantly before he turned over towards the nearest wall with his spray can in his hand, shaking it slightly, "Hey, hit me with something and I'll paint it here, I've been trying to spice this place up a bit."

"Just do like…" Brooke trailed off in thought, thinking of the first weird thing that came to mind, "Why not a frog?" (clearly, Anu was unforgettable to anybody who has even been in his general vicinity).

With a few quick sprays, a rough frog was painted on the walls, with Mikey adding in Chris's face to the amphibian, and a few stink lines to boot, "Hey, I've gotta stick it to the guy a bit, right?"

Brooke chuckled at the jokester's spray paint, but an idea then came to mind, "Wait, couldn't you decorate the stages with that?" she suggested, and Mikey's face lit up.

"Wait, you're a genius!" Mikey grinned, running off to Chander's stage, "Thanks for the talk, Brooke! Hold up Chander, lemme see if I can decorate the stage before you burn it down!"

"And… now I'm by myself again. Huh," the shopper blankly sighed, before she walked over to Chander's stage as well, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see if there isn't, like, some way I could help him out."

Confessional - Mikey

"All I'm saying is, this place could definitely do with a bit of an… artistic touch-up," the jokester chuckled, pointing his spray can at nothing in particular.

Meanwhile, Julia and Casey were at the latter's stage, while Freddy and Anu were at the nearby console. The copycat was writing her script, while the FNAF fanatic and roleplayer experimented with what could be done with the wreck of a stage as Julia stood back and watched.

"Well… let's see what these do!" Freddy mused, pressing down on a button at random, blowing up a knocked over pillar, shocking everybody in the general vicinity, "Hopefully not that!"

Anu pressed a button himself, and the other knocked over pillar on the stage exploded in the same way, "At the very least," he raised a finger up with a smirk, "Unless there's some kind of regenerative magic in these walls, the rest cannot just explode more pillars."

Julia nodded, getting the logic in Anu's statement, as Freddy turned to her with a wave, "Oh, hey Julia! We're just testing out the console here… it's in a weird sort of way like the cameras from Five Nights at Freddy's! In the whole… you press a thing and then it does a thing sort of way, otherwise it's not like it all really. There's no killer animatronics here… yet!"

Freddy made a dramatic fake growl with a chuckle at that, as Julia rolled their eyes and Anu bounced back, playing along, "Well… at least you have Brillup Lilyheart to defeat them if they do come!" he declared, before he pressed another button, which just dumped paint all over the stage (somehow avoiding hitting Casey).

"Let's stop hitting random buttons," Julia deadpanned, making the rational guess that just maybe, there was nothing to be gained from these buttons.

"Yeah, she's probably right," Freddy frowned, resisting the temptation to hit another one, "So… what do we do now, then?"

"Well, Jackie is with our two dwarven teammates," Anu noted, "And… I've got no idea where Godfrey could possibly be. I suggest we… maybe try assisting Casey?"

"I've made a few fan songs," Freddy thought it over, not noticing that Julia had left the two in the same way Godfrey had left the shorties, "They weren't super good, but I think some of those skills have got to carry over to Chris fan song-writing, right?"

"Probably," Anu nodded in agreement, "Were those songs about the legendary Freddy Fazbear, by any chance?"

"Some of them," Freddy shrugged, before he caught himself getting off-track, "We're getting side-tracked here, let's just go and help while we still can - right, Julia?"

Julia wasn't there.

"It appears… that she has cast a teleportation spell on herself," Anu deduced, his hand scratching his chin in thought.

"And just when I thought we might've been friends, too," Freddy sighed, "Oh well… if she needs space, I can't really blame her for that, can I?"

"Exactly! Now then… let's assist our teammate - Julia is probably just trying to help out in her own way," Anu bounced over to Casey, followed shortly by Freddy, who looked back to see if Julia was there.

Confessional - Julia

"I wasn't going to be helpful with that," the runaway reasoned, "So I left to do something I could've done well. It's that simple."

Confessional - Freddy

"I just think Julia needs a friend, and I'll be that friend if I have to!" the gamer noted, "And… I'll still try and get Anu into FNAF at some point… assuming that he isn't already into it and he's just playing up the whole 'Brillup Lilyheart' character? I'm a little confused, haha."

However, Godfrey had beat them to Casey, and the pair decided to make their presence known elsewhere, Freddy not wanting to interrupt them and dragging Anu with him.

"You know, I'm surprised you of all people accepted the performing role," Godfrey noted, alerting Casey to his presence.

"Yeah, well I'm adaptable," Casey sneered, looking up at him from where she was writing, "And what does the big bad villain of the team want with me, anyways?"

"An alliance," he offered plainly.

"What's the catch?" the copycat squinted at him suspiciously, as if even his mere suggestion was poisoned.

"There is no catch. You get an alliance with somebody who you very much could throw under the bus at any time, since this team hates me and all," Godfrey laid out the terms of the alliance quite simply, "Of course, I could betray you, but my position in this game is precarious as it is. That would just be a common blunder now, wouldn't it?"

Confessional - Casey

"On one hand… it's Godfrey," the copycat weighed her options out, "On the other hand, he makes a good point that he is easy to get rid of… hmm… I think…"

"I'll take the alliance offer," Casey smirked, looking up to face the charmer, "It's not what I was hoping for, but that went out the window when we won yesterday anyways."

Godfrey smirked, internally pleased that he had his safety net, "Just perfect. Believe me, this alliance is just what I need to do well."

Casey went back to writing the script, giving Godfrey a small grin, "So… we going to try and take Jackie out first, I'm guessing? She's the biggest threat here, after all."

"That was exactly what I was thinking," the charmer nodded in agreement, "Of course… we'll need to sow some doubt around her first, wouldn't we?"

"And what better way to do that then to have our good old leader fail a challenge," Casey snickered, flicking the script up so that Godfrey could see it, "Trust me, this script sucks so much ass that it's a guaranteed loss for us."

"And… they won't vote you off for it?" the charmer questioned, looking at the lyrics Casey had cooked up, "I was going to suggest we find a way to set somebody else against Jackie myself…"

"Good point…" Casey grumbled, before she shoved the script into Godfrey's hands, "New plan - I'll go make sure the other performance gets sabotaged so one of them gets mad… probably not at her yet, but it's a start, and you make sure this script keeps on sucking."

"I wouldn't tell me that, but go off," Godfrey somehow agreed, as the two villains split off to do their things.

Confessional - Godfrey

"Safety net, obtained," the charmer smirked, rubbing his hands together, "Now then, I think my game truly has begun - if anything, my horrible reputation should work nicely in my favour when working with Casey here - I doubt she'll get rid of your man Godfrey here while she could get rid of somebody else."

"As for the script - I'm taking credit for it, and I'm making sure to mention Casey too. If I can force Casey to have to play my game… that makes two targets."

Confessional - Casey

"Yeah, yeah, making a deal with the devil and all that jazz," the copycat rolled her eyes, "But think about it this way. One: I've got the easiest to rid of person in this entire show just… right there. Two: Even if I tell him my plans… what the heck is he gonna do about it? Tell people? Who'd trust him to tell the truth? He might say he's playing an honest game… but I doubt that's what people think."

"I'm nowhere as salty as Kira, either, so I doubt I'd make her mistake and overreact, hehe. Trust me, this is almost entirely going to work in my favour."

Confessional - Octavia

"Just 'cause I should've been performing doesn't mean I'm, like, gonna take it out on Jess or Chander or whatever," the media darling flipped her hair around like the diva she was, "What idiot would do something dumb like that?

Meanwhile, on the Dodos, Octavia and Kanna were at Jessica's console, while the magician herself was practising her illusions on the robo-python, wearing her full magician suit.

"So… I see you've got your eyes on my man," Kanna teased Octavia, trying to poke a reaction out of the media darling.

"I am, like, not into him," Octavia denied quickly, flipping her hair with a roll of her eyes, "He just happens to be, like, one of the only people here who listens to me."

Kanna's smirk only grew, "Uh huh."

"I don't really think that means she likes him romantically," Jessica offered, emitting smoke from her boots that covered up the snake, "That can just be platonic, after all!"

"Listen to Jessica!" Octavia pointed at the magician, who returned to her practising, grinning as the smoke cleared and the snake disappeared (using the magic of the console, which triggered a trapdoor), "Yeesh, you'd think all you did was flirt… like, I've hardly seen you do anything else."

"And all you do isn't talk about yourself?" Kanna smirked lowly at the media darling, a mischievous glint in their eye, "Let's face it, I've got a better shot here, haven't I?"

"Um-"

"This never was a competition, or, like, even a thing!" Octavia crossed her arms at the 'girl', "We're just friends - like, all you're seeing him as is something to flirt with, jeez."

"Hey-"

"Ow, you wound me," Kanna mock winced, before bouncing back, "So what? Can't a girl have a bit of fun?"

"Guys-"

"Yeah, you're like, just being an asshole," Octavia declared, "Don't even talk to me about flirting when you're being such a tryhard about it yourself! Hey, I bet you've done this song and dance tons of times!"

"Again, so what-" Kanna was about to respond, but they couldn't ignore the third member of their squad much longer, who raised her voice one more time.

"GUYS!" Jessica shouted, sick of being ignored due to a petty argument.

"What is it?" Kanna turned to the magician, only to realise just why she called on them - the snake hadn't returned again.

"I cannot do the illusion without the python returning, and this illusion needs the extra help!" the magician explained exhaustedly, "Please focus!"

"Aye aye, captain," Kanna mock-saluted, pulling their tongue out at Octavia as they returned to business, side-eying the other warily.

Confessional - Jessica

"Well, I can certainly see that things are getting heated on the team… and it's the drama's about somebody who's not even here. That's just rude, I think," the magician was still in her full get-up, "However, I'm sure they'll all be equally amazed by the Mistress of Illusions when I take the stage!"

"That's exactly what'll happen… hopefully!"

Confessional - Octavia

"Like, sure, I've spent more time with Rival than a lot of the others," Octavia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "But that's, like, it really - I'd wanna, like, spend maybe a little bit more time before I started flirting with him."

"And besides, we weren't even together last challenge, so we haven't even talked that much," Octavia remembered, "It's like Kanna's just pulling things out to try and get on my nerves - well, I'm, like, not gonna deal with it. Nuh uh. We can just, like, get rid of her if we lose, right?"

"So, you managed to figure out a song yet?" Tobias turned to Jezebelle on their stage, the drummer having moved his drums over to practise slightly, "We probably don't have much time left before Chris wants us to perform, do we?"

"You ain't gotta worry, I've just figured out my song!" Jezebelle puffed her chest out proudly, "It'll blow them away!"

"Hit me with it, then," Tobias raised an eyebrow, challenging her to prove it.

Confessional - Tobias

"It wasn't what I was expecting, but I can't say I'm against it," the drummer shrugged, "Bet they'll air this confessional to censor the song choice or something like that, suspense and all that jazz."

"Oh, I can definitely drum to that," the drummer accepted the song choice, "Let's get practising, then!"

"Youse know it!" Jezebelle bounced up and down, more than eager to begin.

"Hold up-" Tobias interrupted her, realising something as he called out a teammate who wasn't doing much, "Yo, Jackie!"

The athlete turned towards him from where she stood overlooking the team, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Mind manning the console so nobody else touches it?" the drummer asked of her, "Don't want Godfrey or some other shady asshole messing up whatever practising me and Jezebelle get done."

"Sounds like a plan to me," the athlete nodded, jogging over to the console (Casey immediately redirected herself at that) and beginning to watch the two, "'Sides, I wanna watch you guys practise."

"Enough distractions already!" Jezebelle shouted out impatiently, "Let's get dis show on the road!"

Tobias let out a small drum riff with a grin, and the pair began their practising, Jackie watching with a small smile on her face, happy to see her team doing well.

Confessional - Jackie

"I'll be real with you here, I sing a little bit in my spare time… usually when nobody's looking," the athlete chuckled, "And if I had to, I'd have nominated myself up to sing - but if Casey wanted to, well, she isn't being a Godfrey, so I don't have any real reason to go against it."

Meanwhile, Chander was practising for his own performance, the acrobat having brought all of his stuff over from his bags. Rival was manning the console, listening to what the acrobat had to say.

"So… you want me to bring the firework out… after you swing off of the statue's arm," the vocalist repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion and amusement.

"Well, that's the plan," Chander grinned, twirling a flaming baton in his hands carelessly, "It'll add a real spectacle to the show!"

"Are we really sure we wanna use fireworks indoors?" Rival asked cautiously, noting that fireworks very much should not be used inside, "That's a textbook bad idea on paper…"

"Well, I think there's nothing flammable in the castle at least," Chander shrugged, returning to the stage, "So there's nothing to really worry about… I think."

"I guess you've got a point there," Rival rubbed his head, looking at the metallic surroundings, "And last time we set it off, it didn't do that much harm… sure. I'll go along with your plan."

"Perfect!" Chander grinned, as he prepared to practise his routine again, "That'll be the cherry on top of our spectacle here! It's still… super weird to swing from… the statue, but I've gotta work with what I've got, right?"

"Yeah, you do," Rival exhaled out, avoiding looking at the epitome of Chris's narcissism, when Mikey ran in, trailed by Brooke.

"Hold it!" Mikey shouted out loudly, his can of spray paint ready to decorate, "We're gonna spice this stage right up!"

"Oh, that's a great idea," Chander let the jokester do his thing, painting on the floor (and on the statue).

"Well, it was Brooke's idea, but y'know… I'm the man with the can," Mikey chuckled, as the metaphorical bad joke crown moved from Rival's head to his.

"I'm guessing you'll do Jessica's stage after this?" the vocalist commented, assuming their plans.

"Well, that's what I was hoping for… but like," Brooke looked over, seeing the obvious tension between Kanna and Octavia from where she stood, "Looks like things are getting kinda tense over there…"

"Ooh, that's pretty bad," Chander winced, "I'd love to try and sort things out but…"

"You've gotta practise, right?" Mikey filled in the obvious, "That'd be tough no matter what, and I'd love to help but I am not-at-all qualified for this stuff."

Confessional - Rival

"I have a sinking feeling this is somehow related to me," the vocalist crossed his arms with a frown.

Confessional - Chander

"I'm just hoping we win this one," Chander rested his hands behind his head, whistling a tune to himself, "It'd help team morale a ton, and while I don't think we need it as much as the other team does… well, it'd always help to have more of it, y'know?"

"And that's all the time you've got for practising!" Doppel called out to the cast, "Just grab your stuff, and go back to the main room!"

"Well… we didn't help out much, besides me rambling about FNAF to you the whole time - we didn't even see Julia," Freddy sighed to Anu, who just shrugged, "But I bet our team's got something really good for their performances, so I'm not worried!"

"Let's see what our party's managed to prepare, then!" Anu declared, as the Platypuses left their room… except for Casey, who trailed at the back, giving a devious look towards Jezebelle and Tobias's stage.

Confessional - Anu

The confessional toilet was covered in rainbow duct tape to stop Princess from falling in, the roll of which was hanging out of his pocket (the words 'Frogproof Coating' written on the inside of the roll in marker), "Well, me and Freddy… did not assist our party… which is a shame. However, I have now finished the entry for the Freddy Fazbear in my Monster Manual, so I don't consider this a total loss!"

Anu showed the Monster Manual, which now included a clearly taped-in and homebrewed page about the animatronic bear.

Confessional - Julia

"There wasn't much I could've done to help," Julia commented, "So I just observed the team. Godfrey and Casey are bad news… obviously. I'd rather have Freddy and Anu leave me alone, though."

They looked at the duct tape that was still on the seat, and gave the camera a deadpan, "I'm not even going to ask."

"Welcome to the one and only Digital Mayhem performance show!" Chris announced as the teams sat in the stands in front of the main stage, "Me, Chef and the intern will be your judges!"

"I uh… have a name," Ember meekly commented, but they went ignored entirely as Chris continued. The programmer was sat to Chris's left, while Chef was sat to his right on a panel of judges. The cook gave a silent nod to the camera.

"We've got four acts today, so for our first one…" Chris pointed towards a screen, where Doppel was spinning.

"It's Chander!" Doppel revealed, as a spotlight shone over the acrobat and the stage switched to his one with the three trapdoors, "You're first!"

Chander exchanged a glance with Rival, and both the vocalist and the acrobat moved over to the stage to begin the performance (Rival was still at the console)… even if Chander quickly rushed to his team's side room to do something, much to Rival's mild confusion.

Confessional - Chander

"Just had a little extra thing I prepared just in case I had to perform, y'know?" Chander chuckled lightly, "I'm so glad I get to use it for this!"

When the acrobat stepped out of the side room, he had swiftly changed his outfit - he had swapped out into a cyan tank top and purple latex trousers. Two gold clasps attached some deep purple suspenders and he swapped his boots out for small black ones. He somehow had a star painted in a cyan shade on top of his right eye in that split second, which Brooke was quick to note, "Ta-da!"

"That was really fast," the shopper whispered to the nearest person, Kanna, who nodded in agreement, "Guess Chander's probably done that a lot…"

The three judges looked towards the acrobat curiously, Chef in particular being appreciative of the change in outfit… likely due to how often he changed his own during some previous seasons.

"Welcome, one and all!" the acrobat bowed for dramatic effect, immediately being at home on-stage. All of his equipment having been moved onto the stage before he even stepped onto it, "For the opening act tonight… I'll be showing off my acrobatic skills - but first, a little… warm-up."

He cast a cheeky wink towards the stands at his pun, before he pulled out his flaming batons, looking up at a hoop that had been suspended from the ceiling. He dipped the baton in fluid and set it alight, repeating the process a few times with more batons as he started juggling the previous ones. He simply juggled them for a few seconds, before he threw one right through the hoop… then another… and then a third and final one went through the hoop… but also brushed against it, setting it alight… much to everybody's shock, including Chander himself.

Confessional - Tobias

"Swinging into a jump through a flaming hoop? Hardcore stuff," the drummer grinned, standing on the frogproof seal of duct tape, "Mad respect, I gotta say."

Confessional - Chander

"That… was unexpected," the acrobat sweatdropped, chuckling nervously, "I was not planning. But… I've come this far - so… I can't really go and disappoint the crowd after promising a show, can I?"

Rival exchanged a nervous look with Chander, mouthing a 'you sure you want to go on with this?' to the acrobat… however, Chander was determined to see this through. All three judges looked more interested than ever, with all three of their attentions intensely focused on the performance.

"And now, for the main event!" the acrobat announced (throwing two of three burning batons into a bucket of water as he did so (the third landing on the metal floor)), as Rival pushed a button to rise up the accursed Buff Chris Statue, which the host appreciated (Chef and Ember very much did not, though), "I'll swing from this statue…"

The acrobat pointed towards a trapeze that was also hanging from the ceiling, "Onto that trapeze, then through the…" he gulped slightly, "...Burning ring of fire…"

"And then, right back to the ground!" the acrobat finished, before he attached himself to a first trapeze, swinging back and forth as he aimed for the statue's arm. The cast watched on intently, as Chander made the jump… landing perfectly where he aimed for, the statue's arm! He swang back-and-forth once off of Chris's bicep, before he made the leap towards the trapeze… the momentum sending the monument to the host's ego toppling to the ground behind him, landing on the burning baton in a blaze of fiery glory… setting the stage on fire, much to the shock of the rest of the cast.

"Holy crap, it's on fire!" Kanna called out in shock, although Chander was too far in the act to stop now… and if there were sprinklers, Doppel sure didn't use them.

Chris looked appalled at the treatment of the statue, however Chef was snickering to himself, "Heh… serves him right for spending so much of the show's budget on himself…"

"Ehehe… yeah…" Ember nodded in agreement, lightly snickering as Chris stared on in silent horror, his eye twitching unstably.

Chander was unfazed with his performance, though, and with a dramatic flourish he flung himself…

Right through the ring of fire! The crowd (mostly) let out a gasp of awe as the acrobat managed to squeeze between the hoop, and Rival, although similarly shocked by the burning of the stage, pressed the button to send the firework up… finishing the performance with a grand KABOOM as the acrobat stuck the landing.

"Ta-da!" he posed with his arms up, his breath heavy as he looked at the crowd expectantly - several people were already clapping for him, though, including Chef, "That's all, folks!"

Just then, Doppel turned the sprinklers on to, y'know, not risk more fire, and the water that sprayed down was enough to cause the acrobat to bounce off the stage in a sudden panic, although he managed to calm himself down once the stage had been cleared.

"That aside…" Chris rolled his eyes, not caring for his cast's fears, "I've gotta say, it was impressive. But you did destroy a statue of me and the stage, and the art on the stage, so you're only gonna get a 6 out of 10 from me."

"8 out of 10," Chef nodded simply, looking towards nothing wisely, "Skills like those are hard to come by… and knocking down a monument to his ego is good, too."

"I… uh… also give it an 8, hehe," Ember twiddled their thumbs awkwardly, "I mean, I liked it, but I guess I'd like other things more…? But uh, I guess I liked the part going through the hoop? Yeah I'll just say that, haha…"

"Just the number would've been enough," Chris deadpanned towards the programmer, who shrunk into their seat.

"S-sorry…" they muttered under their breath.

The screen flashed up with a large number and a lot of confetti - 22 - while both Chander and Rival returned to their team, amidst a series of cheers and applause from almost everyone around.

Diamond Dodos: 22

Pearl Platypuses: 0

"Congrats man!" Mikey offered a high-five to the acrobat, "I was not expecting you to set everything on fire like that, but I wasn't sure what to expect, I'm not gonna lie!"

"I wasn't expecting it either, but it worked out," Chander chuckled, taking the high-five with a grin as he sat next to Jessica, "Well, you're up soon… good luck with that."

"That's… a tough act to follow," the magician noted, a slight frown forming on her face as she watched the scorched stage sink into the ground, "But I'm sure my magic can be a perfect following act… I think."

"If I can get a 23 with an act I only somewhat rehearsed, I'm sure what you've got will blow it out of the water," Chander encouraged with a grin and a thumbs-up, "Especially since it'll all go to what you've planned, right?"

Jessica looked towards Kanna and Octavia, and chuckled nervously, "Right… just as we rehearsed… I know my illusions will work but my backups are…"

Speaking of the two, Rival made his way over towards them (and Brooke), waving to them, "Well, I can't say that went poorly…"

"Yeah, now all I've gotta do is, like, make sure Jess's magic show does even better - which it will, because I'm helping out," Octavia put a hand to her chest with a smug smirk, "We're so gonna win this one, let me tell you that."

"Don'tcha know I'm also supposed to be there," Kanna looked towards Octavia with a smirk, "And if anybody's winning this lil' fight for harem protagonist here, it'll be me, hehe."

"Wait wait wait, are you seriously fighting over me?" Rival groaned, rubbing his head in mild irritation, "That label's gonna stick, isn't it…"

"I'm not!" Octavia clarified annoyed, looking down at the 'girl' with an agitated stare, "But she's making a whole deal out of it, so like, if anything's an issue it's that."

"Either way, I'm just not looking for a relationship so soon," the vocalist said simply, "Later on… maybe. But so soon… I'd rather not."

"Aw man… you're no fun…" Kanna sighed, still moving closer to the vocalist anyways.

Confessional - Kanna

"Well, if he's gonna be like that…" Kanna shrugged, "Might as well go the whole way with the joke anyways, that'll hopefully still be pretty funny. I'm not worried about going home over this or anything, Octavia's not exactly super liked either 'cause she's so full of herself."

Then, the second stage appeared - the one for the two shortest members of the cast, Jezebelle and Tobias. Jackie walked up to the stage alongside the pair, and Casey used that opportunity to whisper something into Godfrey's ear, which the charmer simply nodded in response to.

"For the next performers, we've got Tobias and Jezebelle from the Pearl Platypuses!" Chris announced, as Jezebelle picked out a microphone and Tobias pulled out his drum set, "And it looks like Jezebelle will be singing shortly…"

Tobias rolled his eyes, tapping his drumsticks together to create a beat as Jezebelle began to sing a loud, high-energy pop song that he effortlessly kept up with. The puffball was dancing around the stage, and most of the crowd were gladly listening to the pair.

Confessional - Tobias

"Again, sure as hell ain't my preferred genre," the drummer said, standing on the frogproof seal again, "But it's what we settled on, and it'll definitely get us a higher score than a lullaby, that's for sure."

Just then, the seal was broken, and the confessional feed cut out to a lot of swearing from the drummer as he met the same fate Princess did.

"Damn… she's good," Mikey noted from the stands, as the puffball continued to sing out to the crowd.

"They might beat us if they keep this up…" Brooke worried, gulping nervously even if she was enjoying the show.

The puffball grinned as she saw the reactions, seeing that even the judges looked like they were enjoying the show. Tobias made a small gesture towards Jackie, signalling for the athlete to start using the console.

Jackie pressed on one of the buttons, which raised one of the pillars up - Jezebelle deliberately hopped onto it, and Jackie pressed another button to raise another pillar… however, it never rose up, leaving the first one to just keep rising.

"Wait, what?" the athlete questioned for a moment, her gaze immediately turning towards the Godfrey-shaped individual sat in the stands for blame. Jezebelle was looking down at her expectantly, still singing but getting gradually more annoyed as… nothing happened.

Confessional - Casey

She held up a row of duct tape, "Stuck this stuff to the bottom of every button… and I messed with the console too so she couldn't press the first one again either and she'll just keep going up. We're so losing tonight."

"What the hell?" Tobias frowned, looking up at Jezebelle's predicament and stopping his drumming.

"I didn't agree to this!" Jezebelle shouted down at Jackie, stopping singing entirely as she flipped into speaking in Spanish, "¡Bájame ya!"

"Something's up with the console!" Jackie shouted back up, even if she (presumably) didn't understand what Jezebelle was saying.

"Well, let's fucking do something about it!" Tobias shouted out, stepping aside from his drumset to move over to the console (which was only just shorter than him so he wasn't gonna be able to do much).

Jezebelle was still furiously ranting in Spanish, and it was clear that this was… a complete dumpster fire of a performance. Anu and Freddy exchanged nervous looks, while Godfrey and Casey shared a knowing look.

Confessional - Jackie

"Okay Godfrey, I know you were behind this," the athlete crossed her arms, "This reeks of the guy."

Confessional - Jezebelle

"Like hell it just stopped workin'!" the puffball frowned, jumping to conclusions, "I bet she was sabotaging us or something!"

"I might be getting mad quick, but youse would all be mad if you were stuck like that, be real here!"

"Let's just… sort this out…" Doppel inferred that the performance was pretty much over, and used the power of doing it themselves to lower the puffball's podium down with a whistling sound, "And… down you go!"

Jezebelle huffed, crossing her arms was an annoyed glare at her teammates. Tobias looked similarly agitated, if slightly less so, while Jackie was throwing a death glare at Godfrey.

"As entertaining as that trash fire was," Chris spoke up from the judge's seats, "You didn't really sing that much. But, I do like a good mess up… so I'm giving that a seven out of ten!"

Chef held up a four, "You started off really strong, then totally blew it," the cook reasoned.

"Uh… what Chef said," Ember rubbed their arm awkwardly, "But I'll just give you a five… kind of a consolation or something I guess."

Doppel's screen popped up with a 16, revealing the combined score for the Platypuses - a 16.

Diamond Dodos: 22

Pearl Platypuses: 16

"Seriously, that's it?" Tobias frowned at the score reveal, "We could've had it if the fucking stage, oh I dunno, worked like it should have?"

"Yeah - I was doing so well too!" Jezebelle complained loudly, her eye twitching, "Which one of youse messed with the stage, huh?"

"For what it's worth, it wasn't me this time," Godfrey shrugged lazily, "I haven't touched this set at all."

"I… can sadly say that he's telling the truth," Jackie sighed as the charmer grinned, knowing far-too-well he was right, "He went to Casey once… but that's about it."

"Maybe it was the other team?" Freddy offered, adjusting his hat as he tried to keep up,

"Never even entered the room," Casey shrugged, "Really, only Jackie or Julia coulda done it, y'know? Nobody saw Julia for most of the practise time… and Jackie was the only other person at the stage."

"I never touched that stage," Julia said in their own defense, not elaborating at all as she glared at the copycat.

"Are you seriously accusing me of sabotaging my own team?" Jackie turned towards Casey, crossing her arms at the copycat, "Why would I do that?"

"I'm just saying who it's most likely to be," Casey raised her hands up in mock surrender, "I never pointed any fingers."

"So it was one of youse two!" Jezebelle pointed at the two J-name 'traitors', "Whoever it was, fess up!"

"Yeah!" Tobias backed up her up, cracking his knuckles in anger, "We coulda won this if it weren't for you!"

Confessional - Jackie

"Okay, Godfrey, cleverly done," the athlete begrudgingly gave her nemesis praise for something he didn't even do, "It's clear he's behind this, isn't it?"

"Here I was hoping I could try and enjoy being with my team… but it looks like I'm just cleaning up his mess again."

Confessional - Godfrey

"Now, I said I was playing a game without lying," the charmer shrugged, "However, I never said that my very temporary allies had to do the same. I'm throwing her under the bus with this script nonetheless, so it doesn't matter to me."

Confessional - Tobias

"Fuck this shit," the drummer grumbled, "Whoever the hell ruined by one chance at showing my drum skill to the world is gonna pay, lemme tell you that much."

Confessional - Anu

"Well… we won't appeal to the kings of this castle like this, that's something I can tell without any spells or potions," Anu sighed, "Inter-party conflict is a big no-no, so I've got to keep my morale high for the sake of the party!"

"And for the next performer from the Diamond Dodos… everybody give it up for Jessica!" Doppel decided to take charge next, as the python-containing stage popped into existence as Octavia and Kanna, stepped up to the console - the former glaring at the latter.

However, Jessica did not appear immediately… instead, smoke covered the stage and area (and python), as the magician appeared in her full Mysterio gear. The magician activated her gauntlets and boots, sending out a gust of wind that blew the smoke into the crowd.

Amidst a series of coughs from the crowd, the smoke dispersed, revealing that Jessica was stood on the stage… without the python there at all, the snake having mysteriously disappeared, "Greetings - it is I, Mysterio, Mistress of Illusions!" the magician re-introduced herself, her voice distorted through the helmet, "Now then… be prepared to not believe your eyes… as I show you a variety of illusions the likes of which you have never seen!"

Jessica's gauntlets emitted another array of smoke, as the magician began to fill the room with illusions of all kinds in the smoke - ranging from a frog (Anu was particularly pleased with that), to a snake, to a giant rendition of Doppel (which Ember liked).

While Jess wowed the crowds, Kanna whispered towards their fellow backup, Octavia, "Okay… let's see if we've got anything we can do to spice it up… or heck, at least mess around a bit in the back or something."

"Well, we, like, have no clue what this even does," Octavia gestured towards the console, "I mean, I'd obviously be great with it, but I've got no clue what it, like, actually does."

"And whose fault is that?" Kanna smirked smugly, "Actually, don't answer that."

"Yeah, yeah," Octavia waved her off, "We at least got rid of the python, right?"

"I thought you did that," Kanna shrugged lazily, "So nope, it's still around somewhere… whoops, I guess."

"You're like, the worst thing since Kira," the media darling pointed towards the troll and pushed them aside, "This thing's gotta be like, a remote control for the snake or something, right?"

While Octavia tried to deal with a python-related issue, on the stage, Jessica was still performing phenomenally, all three judges being very entertained by her performance, as more and more elaborate illusions filled the room.

Then, suddenly… "What the-" Chris shouted out, as a giant, mechanical python… rammed straight into him from behind, knocking him right off of the judge's panel.

The host's sudden shout caught the attention of everybody, including the still performing Jessica, as both Ember and Chef immediately jumped out of the way of the rampaging snake.

"How'd it even get over there?" Octavia shouted out angrily, "This is why you're, like, totally useless!"

"Uh-huh," Kanna just rolled their eyes, as the media darling tried to figure out what the buttons did - however, every press just made it lash out even more, "I think you're making it worse by the way."

"Uh, how - it literally moves on its own, how could-" Octavia questioned, however… the python was now on Ember's head, chewing away as the programmer looked up at it in sheer terror.

"Why me…" the programmer pleaded tearfully, as Jackie and Freddy tried to pry the snake off of their head.

"Oh - let me fix that!" Doppel chimed in, using their powers of castle control to disconnect the snake and stop the programmer from being eaten, "Wouldn't want to have my creator be eaten or anything, hehe."

While this was happening, Jessica simply looked on in horror, turning off her gauntlets and boots as her show was ruined.

Confessional - Jessica

"That's… certainly one way for a show to go," the magician rolled her eyes in defeat, "Now I get how Jezebelle and Tobias probably feel - if it goes poorly, I'd at least like it to be my own fault and not two people… being so busy arguing that they don't get rid of the one thing that could ruin this."

"I'm sure my illusions could get some points for us, though - right? Here's to hoping the other team's final act fails even more than this one, though."

"Well… that was another wash-out," Chris snarked, "I give it a five, though - the illusions were cool and all, but your backup, for lack of a better word, sucked… and I did not want my hair to be ruined by a snake off all things."

"Seven," Chef bluntly stated, "I haven't seen anything like those illusions before… must suck to have it ruined. Still… I can commend your effort. Your teamwork though? That was awful."

"One…" Ember was shaking in their chair, muttering out their single point as they rocked back-and-forth, hugging their knees.

Diamond Dodos: 36

Pearl Platypuses: 16

"Aww man…" Chander sighed, giving Jessica a sympathetic nod as the magician returned to the seats, "If it's anything, the actual illusion part was amazing, though - I'm not forgetting that for a while, hehe."

"Yeah, thanks," the magician turned to face him with a small nod, having taken off her magician helmet, "At least I can say that my illusions were fantastic - they wowed the crowds for sure!"

"Well, yeah," Brooke agreed, "It wasn't, like, your fault at all that things went wrong at all. And those illusions were just… wow!"

"Thank you," the magician gave a small mock bow, happy to know she wasn't being blamed for the failures… unlike a certain media darling and troll.

"Okay… what was that even supposed to be?" Mikey immediately questioned Octavia and Kanna as the pair returned, "I think you guys had… one job or something? How could you screw that up?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Kanna raised their hands up, pointing towards Octavia, "She was the one who started pushing buttons like a headless chicken, not me."

"Okay, let's just calm down and think about this reasonably before we start to point fingers at each other," Rival raised his hands up to try and calm the pair down, "Either way, it looks like you both didn't… get rid of the snake - that's what I'm getting from it, anyways."

"'Cause she kept being annoying," Octavia pointed down at the troll, "She kept, like, saying I was into you and shit like that."

"And you're not…?" Kanna smirked up at the media darling, "'Sides, he's my man, so hands off."

"Seriously… what is it with my love life and being poked fun at here?" Rival whispered that last part, "Either way… sorry to have to put it so bluntly, but I'm not gonna rush into any relationship at all while I'm here. I was fine with you messing around earlier… but at this point the flirting's hurting the team. And I Kanna-t say that I want to lose twice in a row… I do like all of you guys."

"Eh, can't say I didn't see that coming. but you're still missing out on a lot here~" Kanna shrugged, sitting down, "Either way, all I did was say a few jokes. Octavia was the one who took them seriously and didn't figure out what to do, you know."

"And you didn't spend the entire time just trolling?" the media darling called out Kanna's hypocrisy with a roll of her eyes.

"Look, let's just sit back and hope the other team does worse," Mikey offered, poking into the conversation, "And we can deal with this after the challenge - that sound good?"

Confessional - Kanna

"Well, looks like this joke's almost over," the troll shrugged, "Sucks too, I was enjoying it. Might as well see if the big twist can at least get a reaction or something, hehe."

Confessional - Brooke

"So, like… things are not looking good for us," the shopper sighed, "I'm just hoping the other team has worse teamwork than Octavia and Kanna do…"

"And for the final performance, Casey!" Doppel announced, as the copycat took the stage, Godfrey lazing at the console, much to the rest of the team's concern - especially those who knew about the exploding pillars and spilling paint.

"I wrote at least half of this garbage," the charmer handwaved it off dismissively, "I think I deserve to be up here more than people who hardly helped out."

"...Surprisingly, fair point," Jackie conceded, seeing that he was, in fact, right.

"Why thank you," Godfrey cast her a smug smile, just to try and get under her skin, but all eyes were on Casey, who looked at the script with a snicker.

Confessional - Casey

"Wow, I've gotta hand it to him. Script-writing really isn't one of his strong suits," the copycat snickered, waving the paper around, "This shit sucks, which is exactly what I was hoping for..."

"My dignity is completely dead after this, but much like every past contestant, it died the moment I signed up for this show. Here we fucking go."

"Okay so, before we start, this one goes out to a very, very notable person here," Casey smirked, as a microphone dropped in from above (thank you Doppel!), "And I'm sure they'll know exactly know they are."

With a small tap of the extremely conveniently placed microphone, the copycat began to sing, being only somewhat decent at it, "Chris~"

Upon the first word though, Chris's eyes lit up, while Ember and Chef exchanged a mental eye-roll (or a physical one, in the latter's case), both already predicting where it was going.

"~You're uncool."

At the second line, the expressions on the judges swapped around - Chris raised his eyebrow, confused at the sudden, if lame, insult, while Ember and Chef perked up.

"And all this time you look like a fool,"

"Chris, understand,"

"Your hair's graying 'till the very end."

"It's what?" Chris looked up at his hair, before he reached down. Casey continued singing, with increasingly nasty insults coming out - much of the cast were laughing at the host's expense, with the two other judges bowled over in laughter - even Doppel had joined in.

Fortunately for this writer who very much didn't want to write many, if any, lyrics, and less fortunately for Casey who had to sing those lyrics, Chris had had enough of the slander. The host used the first projectile he had at his disposal - which happened to be none other than his shoe, striking the copycat square in the forehead with it, shutting her up, "Enough already!"

Just for effect, Godfrey made a fallen pillar explode as the host did so, signalling the abrupt end of the show.

Confessional - Casey

She had an ice pack, and was rubbing her head with it, "I think this is why past villains never made Chris hate songs, y'know? I said I'd be losing my dignity with this thing, and I think shoe-to-face-impacts count to that."

"Well, if most of these performances were going to suck, I guess it's only fair we ended with the worst of the bunch," Chris scowled, "You're only getting one point, and that's entirely because the literal rules say I can't give you a zero."

While Chris was spiteful, the other two judges were anything but, still chuckling to themselves about… everything, from the song to Chris's reactions.

"Ten out of ten," Chef revealed, still snickering as Chris looked at him, betrayal in his eyes, "Funniest thing I've seen all week… always good hitting his ego like that."

"I, uh, give ten points as well, hehe," Ember chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of their neck, "I thought it was funny…"

"Okay, seriously?" Chris glared at his fellow judges, "Traitors…"

Doppel's screen lit up with the final score for Casey's performance - a 21, making it one point behind Chander's and enough to put the scores at…

Diamond Dodos: 36

Pearl Platypuses: 37

"And, loathe as I am to admit it," Chris glared towards the winning team, "The Pearl Platypuses win what can only be described as the worst talent show in history! How almost everybody screwed this one up, I have no idea, but it turns out the Diamond Dodos are going to be seeing me again tonight… so I think you guys know what that means!"

Some of the Platypuses cheered at this, while the Dodos… generally looked disappointed they had to be back so soon.

Confessional - Casey

"Fuck, the other two judges liked the song enough to let us win," Casey sighed, "I swear, I come on stage trying to pull a Scott off and make us lose, and then somehow, I made us win instead. There goes the idea of pulling out "

"Maybe that plan was a little short-sighted… I guess I should've expected that the other judges would like the Chris slander. Well, whatever, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that it gives me another day to look for the idol, and another day to figure out what sort of deal I can make with Doppel. Even computers have gotta have things they want in 'life', right?"

Speaking of the Pearl Platypuses, they were having an impromptu team meeting in the cafeteria after their victory, with Anu, of all people, taking the lead.

"Congratulations to Casey!" the frog man celebrated, "But truthfully, our whole party performed amazingly today!"

"Wow," Godfrey deadpanned towards Anu as if he was stupid, "That's a naive way to look at it… and also wrong. Like, very wrong. Need I remind you that somebody sabotaged our first performance? It was Casey by the way. And I know this because she was stupid enough to tell me."

"I wouldn't do that!" Casey rolled her eyes at Godfrey, "He's just trying to point fingers at me!"

"I've played an honest game, really," the charmer just shrugged it off dismissively, "I was right about Kira, wasn't I? I'd trust me more than most of you, but it seems I'm the only one taking this game seriously around here."

"Deflecting blame, are we?" Jackie rubbed her forehead, "You're not fooling anybody with that 'honest game' talk, Godfrey."

"I'm still not 100% sure youse ain't the one responsible," Jezebelle pointed at the athlete, "You were the one at my console, weren't ya?"

"I… believe you're all overreacting!" Anu cut in, pointing out his toy spear into the conversation, "I don't think discovering the identity of this scoundrel will help right now - and the magic in that stage might've just gone haywire due to amateur magic use! It's that simple, really."

"What the hell does that even mean, dude!" Tobias clenched his fists, staring up at Anu with a glare, "But he's got a point anyways. Godfrey or Casey or Julia or whoever the fuckin' hell did it coulda snuck out during Chander's random arson too, so we ain't got any way to really tell when it was tampered with."

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger now," Godfrey leant back in his chair, raising his hands up with a smirk, "I was just giving my fellow competitors a warning about Casey the traitor - is that so bad?"

"And you're not a traitor yourself…?" Jackie raised an eyebrow at him and his half-hypocrisy, before she turned to look away, taking a deep breath, "Well… we still won nonetheless, so we've got another day to figure out the truth behind this… even if this is probably just Godfrey trying to trick us."

"Reminder that I wrote half of the script of our actually decent performance," Godfrey rolled his eyes, "I'm part of why we won, and if anything, you're part of why we lost."

"He's kinda right, you know!" Jezebelle shouted, "Youse did press the button that made me float up!"

"Hey, I wrote the other half!" Casey butted in again, "And I had to sing that hot garbage too! Why would I sabotage our own performance like that if it's a team effort?"

While the rest of the team were arguing, Freddy was sat at the end of the table with Julia, his face stuck in a small frown, "Aw man… the team's arguing," he lamented, "I don't know what to do…"

"I don't think Godfrey's completely lying," Julia noted, eyeing the team's shitlord for a moment, "At least about Casey sabotaging."

"You think?" Freddy turned towards the runaway, "Where were you during the challenge, anyway - we were looking for you."

"It's none of your business," the runaway bluntly ended the conversation, turning away from the FNAF fanatic, "We're not friends."

Freddy frowned at that, as Princess, who had gotten loose during the argument, hopped in front of his face on the table.

"Okay, for the next chapter, you're staying in the party backlogs! I don't think we'll be finding the Prismatic Well of Nohomo so quickly, anyways, so please pipe down!" Anu grabbed the frog, oblivious to Julia leaving.

Confessional - Jackie

She took in a deep breath, "Calm down. Okay, so Godfrey's managed to sow more discord among the team… and as their self-appointed leader, I think I have to get him out to deal with it. He's the root of all of our issues, I can feel it."

"Other than that, I'm still happy we've won two times in a row, obviously," the athlete grinned, "That's something to be proud of, for sure."

Confessional - Godfrey

"I might've failed to bring Casey down to my level of infamy, but prompting Jezebelle to have a less-than-stellar view of Jackie is certainly a worthy compromise," he shrugged, "And there'll still be some suspicion about whether I was right, so honestly, this is just a win for me. Still, I want us to actually lose soon… once I know just how these people vote under pressure, it'll be easier for me to know how to play going forward.

Confessional - Julia

She held up the map, "I was using this to search for the idol instead of helping with a challenge I can't help much in. Having that in my pocket would be great for me."

Confessional - Anu

"Well, while victory is very appreciated, I feel like we might have lost some grace with King McLean with our last song," the roleplayer sighed, shaking his head, "However, we're definitely in the good graces of King Hatchet and… well, the role Ember plays here. I'm assuming they're some kind of necromancer, perhaps? If they summoned a spirit as powerful as Doppel, they'd have to have magic like that, I think."

"Either way, my party's teamwork isn't good at all - and if we are to reach the Prismatic Well of Nohomo, we'll need a strong party! Freddy is very obviously my most trusted party member and he's clearly got the same goals there!"

While the Platypuses were having an argument on their table, the mood was duller on the side of the losing Dodos.

"So… we need to figure out what we're doing with the vote," Rival noted, starting off a conversation of sorts, "Personally, I'm not sure who to vote…"

"Personally, I have some people in mind," Jessica turned towards Kanna and Octavia with a glance, "They've been fighting during the challenge… so it'd only be natural to vote one of them off, right?"

"Makes sense to me," Mikey affirmed, "So one of them, right?"

"Who was it that let the python eat Ember…?" Kanna smirked up at Octavia, "That's all the reason I'd need to vote Octavia, that's why they only gave us one point for Jessica's illusions."

"Well, who was it that never did their only job?" Octavia glared at them, "It wasn't me, I'll tell you."

"You coulda done it for me if it was that big of a deal," Kanna looked at their nails, "I dunno why you even came down there, really, since you did nothing but ruin the show."

"Well, you both ruined the performance, really…" Brooke sighed, "I don't mean to be rude… but… your petty argument was why we lost. I think we should, like… vote for who started it."

"Look, why don't we just all vote without discussing it?" Chander offered, "Or… we could try and sort this argument out, 'cause this isn't helping us that much, I think."

"She started it," Octavia pointed at Kanna, "Some dumb shit about, like, me being into Rival and all that."

Confessional - Mikey

"You're telling me… the argument that lost us the game was a romance drama?" the jokester chuckled, "Man, that's just ridiculous…"

The rest of the team was unimpressed with the two of them, and Kanna shrugged, "Hey, I was just messing around. She was the one who took it seriously, not me."

"Your messing around… like, almost got somebody eaten," Brooke noted, "So like, it might be a bit more than that, I think."

"Wow… you're no fun," Kanna sarcastically, "Anyways, Rival's on my side, right?"

The vocalist, who had been silent up to this point, blinked, "I mean… well, flirting's fun and all, but I don't want somebody to get hurt because of it, y'know?"

"Yeah, listen to him!" Octavia backed up up, purposefully ignoring that she was the one who controlled the python.

Kanna smirked at that, which agitated the media darling, "Well… it was Octavia, not me, who went and button-mashed the python, so..."

"True," the vocalist crossed his arms, "I think I need to think this one through a bit… I like being around both of you… so this'll be a hard vote for sure."

"Well, I'm this team's strongest member," Octavia reminded them, "Sure, Chander's pretty acrobatic and all that, but I'm, like, more athletic than the rest of you… no offense. So you guys need me, trust me on that!"

"Personally… I think Octavia's probably more effort than she's worth," Kanna shrugged, "That's all I've gotta say on this."

With those arguments, the team split off to figure out who they were going to vote once the ceremony began.

Confessional - Kanna

"Y'know, I wasn't expecting to be in the bottom two so early," Kanna sighed, "Screw me for having fun, I guess…"

Confessional - Octavia

"This almost being voted off thing is so not my style," Octavia rolled her eyes, "There's no way they'd, like, vote off for real. I'm, like, way too good to go home so soon, right?"

Confessional - Jessica

"I believe my vote's the better choice," the magician crossed her arms, "Both of them ruined my amazing illusions… but I think one of them did so more… I'm still not over my one shot at performing being ruined."

Confessional - Rival

"Well, I think I've made up my mind on who I'm voting for," the vocalist decided with a sigh, "It wasn't easy, but… unlike the last vote, I can see why you'd vote for either of them. But I've made my choice… just gotta hope it ends up being the right one."

Once again, the Diamond Dodos had arrived at the elimination room, one less member than they had the last time. The same set-up was used from last time, with the eight Platypuses all sat in the peanut gallery, less invested in this elimination than the last one other than a few individuals - the rest were spending their time doing very worthwhile things like playing Rock-Paper-Scissors. Ember, Doppel, Chris and Chef were all in the same spots, too.

"Diamond Dodos. Welcome back to the loser room!" Chris waved the seven in, "Frankly, I think you deserved to win, and if I had my way, I would have eliminated Casey right then and there for that stunt. But unfortunately, I can't get what I want, and neither will one member of your team, who will be saying hello to Kira in the Dungeon of Shame. But first - Doppel, Chef, take it away with who royally screwed up today - I feel like naming and shaming a few people."

Really, there were only two options, and the AI knew just that, as their screen shifted to show Octavia pressing random buttons on the console, "Octavia… you were the reason why Ember got attacked by the robot python, and you've been fighting Kanna. I don't know humans too well, but that's obviously not good."

"Well, Kanna started it! How many times have I got to tell you that?!" Octavia's eye twitched.

"And Kanna, you, according to Octavia, started the argument that ended in your team losing," Chef crossed his arms, glaring at the troll.

Kanna just shrugged, "So what? I can have hobbies and stuff, right?"

"I… don't think that's the problem…" Mikey rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle, "Hehe…"

"There's really no point in naming anybody else," Chris deadpanned, as he held out a plate of Gilded Chris statues, "For today, Gilded Chris statues - not just because they fit the theme, but they're also a reminder of how great I am. In a few years, these will be worth a fortune, by the way."

"The first Gilded Chris goes to… Jessica, for being the only person here to do everything right today!" Chris threw the statue out to the magician, who caught it with a grin.

"Why thank you," the magician bowed, happy to take a victory after her big failure.

"Also getting Gilded Chris statues are Mikey and Brooke, 'cause neither of you really did much of anything today," Chris threw two more statues to the pair, both of whom failed to catch them, getting hit in the chest and forehead respectively.

The two exchanged looks of relief, as Chris turned towards the remainders, "Rival, you're safe too!"

The vocalist nodded he caught his statue, before he turned to look at the final three people.

"And Chander, you're also safe," Chris threw the semi-final statue at the acrobat, who caught it with a grin and exchanged a high-five with Jessica.

"We all knew it was coming down to you two," Chris turned towards Kanna and Octavia, both of whom looked pretty confident, "So, got anything to say?"

"I'm, like, seriously annoyed that I'm back here again!" Octavia frowned, "At least, like, last time, it was Kira and probably like Kanna or somebody voting me! But I'm sure I'm great enough for my team to want to keep me around."

"Honestly, I'm just pretty sure Rival, will, y'know, keep the person into him around," Kanna threw a wink at the vocalist, "Call it a hunch, ehe."

"Well then, with a four-to-three vote ratio… the final Gilded Chris statue goes to…

...

...

...

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Octavia! Kanna, sorry, but you're outie!" Chris threw the final Chris statue at Octavia, who grabbed it with a smug smirk.

"Aw man…" Kanna sighed, "And I was having so much fun here, too…"

"Sorry about that…" Rival rubbed the back of his neck, "It was a hard choice, but…"

"I'll be real here, I was just messing around, I wasn't even into you, Rival Survival~" the 'girl' winked with a sly smirk, as Rival looked confused at the name, "'Sides, I'm not even a girl, either, so~ guess what's been flirting with you the whole time~"

Doppel pulled out the cricket chirp again, as everybody just stared at them.

"I don't think that's, like, the gotcha moment you think it is," Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Well… how was I supposed to know…?" Rival sweatdropped, as Kanna's face fell, "So, are you a guy, or-"

"Man… fine, I'm non-binary, yeah," Kanna rolled their eyes, "Send me down to the gamer basement already, I wanna see how much Kira's been seething down there."

"Okay!" Doppel cheerfully affirmed, as Kanna was set hurtling down to the Dungeon of Shame.

"The rest of you, I'd suggest trying to clean your act up for tomorrow's challenge, 'cause losing over and over again makes for bad television," Chris pointed out, as everybody filed out of the room - first the Platypuses, followed by Jessica, Chander, and then most of the other Dodos, aside from Rival and Octavia, who stayed behind.

"Well, let's try and win tomorrow's challenge," Rival told her, turning around with a small smile, "Even if you're not in the entire team's good books, Octavia, I'm sure you're not a bad person. Personally, I voted for Kanna 'cause… well, I don't think they'd be good for the team going forward."

"Well, I'm, like, not gonna let this keep me down," Octavia stood up, as the pair made to leave, "It's, like, only two losses. So I'm totally convinced I'll be able to win this, just you watch!"

The two left, leaving only the staff members in the elimination ceremony.

"And that makes two!" Chris butted in, "I'm not gonna miss them too much, but I'm sure somebody out there will. Now then, will Casey actually make her team lose next time? Will Octavia not be in the bottom two? And will people's footwear actually manage to stay on their feet? Find out next time on Total! Drama! Digital Mayhem!"

Elimination Confessionals

Brooke: "I'm, like… gonna put my vote in for Kanna, I think. I just have, like, way more in common with Octavia."

Chander: "Octavia for sure. You don't just go and ruin somebody's performance like that, and even besides that… she's not the nicest person around."

Jessica: "Obviously, Octavia. Apologies, but I'm not over my performance being… completely ruined thanks to her."

Kanna: "Octavia, duh. Like I'd vote for anybody else."

Mikey: "Well, I'm gonna vote Kanna. I'm closer to the performers, true, but I think Octavia's right when it comes to who's starting the argument."

Octavia: "Like, of course I'm gonna vote for Kanna! She's, like, the worst, and I had to deal with Kira only yesterday!"

Rival: "Tough choice… but I think I'll go for Kanna. I think she's more of an issue… and I think I could try and help Octavia out with her own issues, at least."

Diamond Dodos: Brooke, Chander, Jessica, Mikey, Octavia, Rival

Pearl Platypuses: Anu, Casey, Freddy, Godfrey, Jackie, Jezebelle, Julia, Tobias

16th: Kira Mitchell - The Opportunistic Gamer (Me)

15th: Kanna Horvat - The Popular 'Girl' (Grape Escape)

And here we are with chapter three of Digital Mayhem! It's been a while… and it probably still will be for the next update, ahaha…

All that aside, I do think most of the characters who didn't have too much screentime beforehand (i.e. a lot of the Dodos) had their time to shine in this chapter compared to the previous ones, and I feel like this chapter has way more focus than those past chapters too, with more things actually… mattering, I guess I could put it. Again, focus was imbalanced here, but we've still got a big portion of the cast running around. Doppel was also included in that counter, but while we still have most of the cast around I think they can take a backseat… next challenge, however, they will play a big role, though, I can assure you that~

The challenge was designed specifically for the four non-Casey performers to shine, and I also wanted a low-key challenge as well compared to the first two so yk it all added up nicely, and there were still some antics… and this might be the biggest wash-out of any challenge ever rip. I'll also say that I didn't want to write any lyrics besides the few ones written down for Casey's dumb song, which is why Jezebelle's wasn't even written in at all (or even namedropped for that matter)... and that'll be the route I take for all non-joke/intro songs in any of my fics. If you want a tune for what you got of Casey's song, imagine it being to the tune of Peaches from the Mario movie… because it was the first song I thought of and it was funny. I'm not finishing it because fuck you, those four lyrics were so hard to come up on their own. (I take back the fuck you, everybody who reads this fic is based).

As for our newly eliminated contestant, Kanna… similarly to Kira, they were originally going to last a little bit longer, and several other characters were considered for this spot. However, they mainly had one thing to do, which was mess with Rival and Octavia, and they did that well in a short run, while the others had longer lasting storylines. In comparison, I felt like the person who was here originally just ended up slotting into my plans a whole lot better than they did. Still, they were a fun character to write, I do like a good troll after all. The furthest they placed in a draft was 13th.

With all that out of the way… hydrate or die-drate, and Kadachi out~