Phobia Factor
POV. Third person
Chris is standing in the dock of shame, "Last time on Total Drama Island, the campers had their survival skills put to the test when they spent the entire night camping in the woods", both teams prepare their tents, "Noah expressed his concerns to Owen about his partner Cody, who convinced him that his friend is a good person.", Owen and Noah talk in the woods, "Geoff tried to compliment Bridgette but failed miserably, while Duncan pissed off Courtney and then stole her bra to fulfill his bet with Cody", Duncan leaves the tent and goes to the forest, "Katie and Sadie got lost and argued, questioning the authenticity of their friendship.", Sadie and Katie walk through the woods and argue, "In the end, thanks to Cody's excellent navigation skills, the Gophers took a shortcut and arrived at camp long before the Bass, who were already angry and took it out on the late-arriving BFFs. Sending Katie off the island and making Sadie burst into tears", Katie rides away on the loser's boat and Sadie cries on the dock, "yep, challenge was rough alright, and if I have anything to say about it, today's will be even more brutal, luckily I do, what fresh horror have we planned for our campers? Find out next on TOTAL… DRAMA… ISLAND!".
-0-
POV. Cody
It was night and we were walking towards the campfire. After consuming so many snacks, something rotted inside Owen and we had to evacuate until the smell went away, so we were going to pay a visit to the Bass who were still comforting Sadie, who we could already hear.
I wonder what Chris will do to get our fears out of us now that DJ is not there to be scared.
We arrived at the bonfire and as expected Courtney was in no mood to greet us, "oh, what do you guys want? Come by to rub it in?" Yes, she is not in a good mood.
"We got some extra dessert after our tuck shop party, thought you might want some", said Trent.
"So what? You're just being nice?".
"Not all of us are like Heather, you know?" Noah commented indifferently, she was going to say something, but in the end she stayed quiet.
"Besides, Owen stank up our cabins and we need some time to air out," said Gwen.
At that moment Owen had another leak, "ugh, dude" Trent said to him.
While Courtney was rejecting the green jelly, I caught a glimpse of the chef behind some bushes dressed in a cool ninja outfit, he opened a cage and something came out of it. My eyes widened when I saw what it was, that this was his plan.
"Bawk, bawk", Tyler froze at the familiar clucking sound, he looked down and saw a chicken standing there, staring at him.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" He jumped into Duncan's arms, who dropped him in annoyance.
"Dude, you're afraid of chickens? Wow, that's really lame, man", said the delinquent.
Sure, because a cardboard cutout of a singer is much scarier.
"I don't know about that, but I'm terrified of ninjas," Harold commented.
Confessional.
Gwen
"So, suddenly everyone's having this big share-fest by the fire, like Beth went on and on about how her mortal fear is being covered by bugs, and even Heather admitted she's afraid of sumo wrestlers".
Cody
"I wonder if anyone noticed that we were saying our fears on television".
End of confessional.
"What's my worst fear? I guess being buried alive," said Gwen.
"Walking through a minefield, in heels", said Lindsay.
"Flying, man. That's some crazy stuff", said Owen.
"I would never go up in a plane, never", now I know Izzy was lying about her fear, I wonder what she's really afraid of.
"I'm scared of hail, small but deadly, dude", said Geoff afraid.
"Being left alone in the woods", said Bridgette.
"Bad haircuts", said Sadie crying.
"Oh, okay I change mine, that's so much scarier than a minefield".
I think you need to get your priorities straight Linds. Finally, it was my turn, "having to defuse a timebomb under pressure", it was never really a fear, but it was better than giving Chris ammunition to shoot with.
"I'm not really afraid of anything", I have to admit Courtney, you were the smarter camper this time, too bad Chris is always one step ahead when it comes to looking for secrets.
"Baloney" Duncan coughed into his hand.
"Oh, really? well, what's exactly your phobia, Mr. Know-it-All?", we all looked at Duncan expectantly.
"Agh, Celine Dion music store standees".
"Dude, did you say Celine Dion music store standees?", Trent asked, and Duncan just covered his face, someone is ashamed.
"Oh, I love Celine Dion... what's a standee?" Lindsay asked.
"Those life-size photos they put outside music stores", I told her.
"Ohh".
"Don't say it, dude" the delinquent growled.
"Kinda like a life-sized but flat Celine", said Trent mocking Duncan.
Everyone continued telling their fears, until in the end only one remained.
Noah dropped his book before our expectant gazes urging him to tell what he was afraid of. I didn't even know, he never told me.
Finally, my know-it-all friend succumbed to the pressure, "ugh, okay, I'm afraid of sports mascots. Happy? They're one of the many reasons I don't play sports. They're weird, they stink, and you don't know who the hell could be inside".
"I understand," Lindsay said with a shudder, "John the possum, he was the reason I left cheerleading, not even a bad haircut compares."
How bad these two's experiences at school must have been? I know that the mascot at mine wasn't necessarily charming.
"Alright Courtney, you're afraid of something, spit it out" good try Trent.
"Nope, nothing" she said proudly.
"That's not what she said last night," Duncan scoffed.
"Duncan, did you ever consider that maybe I was humoring you and your lame-o story?", sure.
"Sure, sure, princess, whatever floats your boat".
"Shut it".
-0-
I woke up the next day in my bed, the strange dream this time being nothing more than a skydiving contest... with pigs and dolphins, along with the usual guys.
I didn't think about it too much, a few days had passed and today would be the phobia factor challenge, there wasn't much I could do for the others, these were individual challenges after all, not to mention that we won this challenge by a wide margin last time, Let's see how it all plays out.
...
We were having breakfast in the main lodge when Chris arrived to announce the next challenge.
"Campers, your next challenge is a little game I like to call 'Phobia Factor!' Prepare to face your worst fears".
"Oh great", Noah commented indifferently.
"Now, for our first victims".
I put my hand on Heather's, stopping her from taking her cup.
"Heather, meet us all in the theater, it's sumo time!", her eyes widened at this.
"Gwen, you, me, the beach, a few tons of sand", the cruel host said, surprising her.
"Wait, how did they know those were your worst fears?", asked Lindsay.
"Because we told them," It dawned on Gwen.
"We are on television; they are always listening" Noah said to her.
"Chef Hatchet, didn't you have a special order for Tyler here today?", the big man nodded, then pulled out a whole roasted chicken for Tyler.
He took it and bit the head, "bawk", and a live chicken came out of it. I still wonder how the chef did that.
"AHHHHHH!", the boy shouted.
-0-
We were in front of a pool full of worms. Owen fainted.
Beth didn't think twice before jumping in, "And Beth sets the bar way up there."
Owen got up to celebrate, but immediately passed out again.
...
Chris put a wig on Sadie, but this time Lindsay wasn't with her.
...
Owen and Izzy boarded the plane, which was falling apart, with the chef dressed as a stewardess, "good luck you two," I said goodbye to them.
"I'm going to die today," was the last thing I heard from Owen.
...
It was LeShawna's turn, she ran away from the chef poorly disguised as a spider. Heather slapped face slapped. That costume was terrible.
...
We were in the amphitheater. On stage were a shivering Heather and a sumo wrestler, she ducked as he came towards her, causing him to trip and roll into the woods, "Heather stepped up to the plates, scoring the Gophers their second point on the board," Chris announced.
...
Bridgette had been left in the woods and would have to be there for about six hours, now it was Noah's turn and surprisingly Lindsay's as well.
"Alright guys, we brought a special guest for you today, hahahahaha" Chris said, laughing evilly. A worn-out possum costume came out of some bushes, one eye was hanging off, and it had dirt stains on it, as well as some flies. "It's John the possum! Who wants to give him a hug?" Chris asked as the costume extended its arms in sign of a hug.
Noah went stiff...and then he just passed out, Lindsay ran away screaming, "AHHHHHHHH!".
"Apparently no one," said Chris, the possum, turned to him, "wow, what are you doing buddy? Wait, no, Ahhhhhhhh!", the presenter also ran away, running away from the costume. The rest of us just stood there with our eyes wide open, What the hell was in that suit?
...
Now we were at the beach and Chris was pouring sand into Gwen's coffin, while Trent gave her some words of comfort.
"And time starts now," Chris said when he finished burying her, "well meanwhile, Cody, you're up," he said to me, it seems that without DJ my test has come forward, finally, time to see what I can do now.
-0-
I was standing in front of the garbage time bomb, "Alright Cody, this garbage bomb is going off in exactly 10 minutes, everything you need to know to defuse it is on these schematic blueprints", said Chris to me.
I took a deep breath, "fine, give me those blueprints".
He handed it to me and left, "good luck" was the last thing he said to me.
When he left, I saw the diagram he left me. The first time I was so nervous that I didn't even bother looking at them and looking at them now, I understand that they would have been of no use to me. To begin with, the words were in Russian, and the drawings were too complicated to understand. My sixteen-year-old self would never have defused this bomb, but I was no longer the same as I was before, I now knew a little Russian, so I understood several of the words on the map and once we learned the procedure for disarming bombs at my job, as part of the preparation for a police game. Curiously, the ones who went to give the demonstration were officers Sanders and MacArthur, who competed in the Ridonculous Race.
"Ok, let's look at this," I finished reading the plans and approached the bomb, "it says I have to cut the yellow first… then the green… followed by the blue… braid the yellow with the blue... set the clock time to 12:12 and... now, cut the red wire", I cut the last wire and to my relief the bomb timer stopped, "Ugh, that was intense", I cleaned myself the sweat of the brow.
Confessional.
Cody
"I want to thank two people who will remain anonymous, for teaching me how to defuse a time bomb."
End of confessional.
Now that I had finished my challenge, I started heading to the beach, on the way I ran into Bridgette who still had two hours to go, so I just said hello to her in passing, she would probably finish her test since I didn't scare her this time, but I wasn't worried, plus I know that Bridgette was grateful for being forced to face her fear, it would help her cross the Amazon, if she didn't get expelled in the Yukon.
...
Finally, I arrived at the beach, I saw Trent running away from a mime, I approached Gwen's grave to keep her company.
"Hello, somebody there? Trent, where are you?", asked Gwen through the radio.
I took it and answered, "hey Gwen, it's me, Cody".
"Cody? What happened to Trent?".
"Chris brought a mime to chase him around the beach, he probably wanted him to leave you alone so you would give up."
"Argh, I hate that damn little man so much".
"You still have two minutes left, I'll let him know when your challenge is over. In the meantime, I can tell you how Trent is doing with the mime."
"There's no wall there, man, stop being creepy!" Trent yelled to the mime.
"I won't lie, he could do better."
"Great", she responded sarcastically.
"If you're feeling lonely, I can bring Heather over to give you a hug," I could literally see the ground move from Gwen's punch.
"YOU THINK YOU'RE SO FUNNY!? YOU'RE SO LUCKY I'M DOWN HERE... You're making me angry so I don't think about my fear, right?".
"Did it work?".
"You're a fool, but thanks... Still, watch your back, nerd, because I'm going to get revenge."
"I'll keep that in mind," I replied without much concern, I watched Trent jump into the water from the dock, "looks like he made it, and your five minutes are up, I'm going to go find him and dig you out."
"Good".
I walked to the dock, where Chris was already, "Hey guys, Gwen's five minutes are over" I told them.
"Gwen" Trent said when I handed him the radio, "I'm sorry for leaving you, I had to deal with a mime."
"It's okay, I'm glad you made it too, but please get me out of here now!"
"Ok, so Cody, Trent and Gwen, you completed your challenges, congratulations," he tossed us some shovels, "unfortunately things aren't going so well for our dear friend Geoff."
As we dug up Gwen, we watched Geoff run away from Chris's remote-controlled hail cloud. That thing was impressive for its time.
...
After digging up Gwen we all gathered outside the cabins. Owen and Izzy returned from their little flying excursion and Sadie took off her wig.
The count up to this point was the same as last time, we were ahead by four points and now it was Tyler's turn with the chickens.
"Tyler, for your challenge, you need to get into this pan for three minutes with these chickens", Chris said, uncovering a box with a hen and her chicks.
"You can do it Tyler", Bridgette cheered him.
"Yeah, unless of course you're a chicken," Duncan mocked him.
To my surprise, Tyler was shaking, but he wasn't collapsing yet.
Confessional.
Tyler
"I haven't been able to show Lindsay what I'm capable of in the last few challenges, but I know that if I show her how brave I am, she'll come back to me."
End of confessional.
Tyler stood in the middle of the pen shaking. Chris freed the chickens which went about their business. Tyler remained standing through it all. It really looked like he was going to make it.
"Bawk", until a chicken stood on his shoe, Tyler's entire body froze and went stiff, he didn't blink either.
Chris walked over and waved his hand in front of him, but he didn't react, "yeah, I think we lost him."
"I think he froze due to shock," Noah commented.
Courtney approached him to yell at him, "Tyler wake up! If you don't react we will lose, we can't afford another loss!" Courtney ranted.
"You guys can't really win, we beat you by four points," Heather commented happily.
"Not necessarily, we've got another challenge set up", said Chris looking at Courtney.
"Who? It can't be me, but I didn't...", said Courtney.
"You didn't have to, we're always watching you and your reactions", said Chris.
"Oh, who cares? It's not going to make a difference", she protested.
"Let's make it interesting then, I'll give you triple points if you can complete it", announced Chris.
...
We were next to a pool that the chef was filling with green jelly.
"Hehe, you're afraid of jelly?", Duncan asked Courtney mockingly.
"Shut up! Only the green kind, it's like sugary jiggly snot", you have a peculiar imagination Courts.
"And I bet they taste the same," Noah scoffed, Courtney turned green, how ironic.
"You can face your fear and dive straight into this pool of jelly... or let your team lose another challenge", Chris said to her.
Courtney looked conflicted, but walked over to the ladder and started climbing. Gwen was making comments about how warm and snotty the jelly was, making her even more hesitant.
"You're not going to make me quit!" she defended herself, we'll see.
"That's it, keep climbing," Duncan said to her.
"She's just trying to psych you out," Bridgette said.
Courtney looked down doubtfully, "like you said Courtney, it's okay if you can't do it" Duncan offered.
"It is, but we'll lose" Bridgette told him. It seems like he doesn't really care about the impending destruction of his team.
For a moment I thought she would actually jump, she even took some distance and started running. But in the end she regretted it at the last moment and stood on the edge of the platform, "I can't do it, I'm coming down" The Bass lowered their heads in disappointment at this.
While we celebrate. Three wins in a row, that was crazy, the Bass were starting to look like Team Victory, although that was partly my fault.
"And there you have it, the Gophers win invincibility this week, again" announced Chris.
Confessional.
Courtney
She was sobbing, "I'm so embarrassed, it was our chance to recover, how could I be so weak!? I deserve to go home", she shook her head, "agh, stop it, you're pathetic, show some confidence Courtney", she continued sobbing, so she started slapping herself.
Heather
"Looks like Cody was right, focusing on the Bass instead of fighting each other was the right decision, I'll take care of my team when there are no fish to catch," she said with wicked humor.
End of confessional.
After Owen tasted some of the jelly we headed back to camp. Noah and I were on the stairs playing chess, when Lindsay appeared, "hey Linds, maybe you should go to the dock during the Bass bonfire ceremony" I told her.
"Really why?".
"Because Tyler and Courtney are going to be in the crosshairs tonight and that team can't afford to lose Courtney," Noah commented as he thought about his next play.
"Oh, I see... I guess I'll have to go say goodbye then," she looked quite sad.
"We'll take care of Heather if she asks about you, don't worry," I told her.
"We will do it?".
"Thank you guys," Lindsay walked past us gratefully and in her excitement she gave us each a kiss on the cheek, which quite surprised Noah who hadn't been paying attention to her.
"You know, I'm starting to understand why you do it," he told me mockingly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about buddy."
We continued with our game, which I lost by the way. Then Heather showed up looking for Lindsay, "hi Heather, we were playing poker, but do you want to play strip poker with us?" I told her, moving my eyebrows.
She just rolled her eyes, "thanks...but I have no interest in seeing Noah's heart boxers or yours. Where's Lindsay?"
"She went to the docks to say goodbye to her little boyfriend," Noah told her.
She didn't get angry like I expected, "I see...I guess it's fine if it's just to say goodbye," wow, I don't recognize you woman.
After that she entered her cabin and we continued our game. It's a shame she didn't accept my offer.
-0-
POV. Third person
"Killer Bass, last week I told you that I had considered putting your names on those seats hehehehe and the thing is, I actually did," each Bass was sitting on a stump with their name on it.
They did not share the presenter's joy, "Can you get to the point?" Bridgette told him.
"Wow, tough crowd," Chris handed out all the marshmallows and only Tyler and Courtney were left, "this, it's the last marshmallow of the night, you're both here for being too chickens hahaha Get it Tyler?"
He just covered his face.
"And the last marshmallow of the night goes to...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...Courtney".
"Yes", she celebrated.
"Sorry Tyler, you're going home" Chris said to the depressed jock.
...
Tyler walked sadly down the dock of shame.
"Tyler, wait," Lindsay said arriving at the dock, "I'm here to say goodbye."
"Lindsay?" He said surprised, but then looked away.
"Tyler?"
"No," he raised his hand to stop, "I don't deserve it, I failed miserably."
"Uh?".
"I'm sorry Lindsay, but I'm not worthy of you right now, I admit it, he's better for you than me" he said dramatically.
"Ty-."
"That's why! I will strive to become someone worthy of your affection again and the next time we meet, I will be a whole new man. Until we meet again Lindsay," he then climbed into the boat of losers and left.
"Uh, see you later... I guess?"
Confessional.
Tyler
"This is for the best; I'm sure Lindsay understands."
Lindsay
"I don't understand, what did Tyler mean? I'm so confused."
End of confessional.
Lindsay was about to head back to camp, "AHHHHHHHHHHH," when she hears Tyler's terrified scream in the distance.
"Tyler?".
Chris appears on the scene, "hahaha that was one of my best jokes, is this the end of Lindsay and Tyler?"
"Hey!".
"Do you mind? I'm closing the episode. Will the Bass do something good to win for once? Or is it their destiny to keep failing? Has Owen eaten all the jelly? What's next? Find out next. next week on TOTAL… DRAMA…ISLAND!".