Total Drama X: Winter Warriors
Episode 18: Starting From The Bottom
Well, I haven't seen Drake's corpse, but he did not have a good year in 2024 and I'm not hoping that it says that way despite me not being a fan of his music.
That being said, a cave climb back to the surface is a challenge that might have been taken from several places within the greater fanfiction world and thanks to the all of the eliminations being much harder, expect more than a few other random traps.
Just in case, there wasn't enough Chris made traps.
I will not reply to bots, especially to one that copy and pastes their message for some reason.
"Last time on Total Drama X, aside from the warriors hopping into some monster trucks and causing a little bit of mayhem, there was a few surprises! Mostly Emma, who's been kinda nice trying to send out MK for obvious reasons and also, Ramona who's been joining MK! The warriors did some monster truck jumps and some of them clearly didn't know any trucks or cars and bailed in crazy ways! And they did a race and surprise, surprise, MK apparently got some karma from the universe because her truck stopped working and she got the instant boot! Once Joe, Undyne and Bowser got immunity, it was time for Manolo to go, since he did get targeted and always did good in challenges!"
"From the mud into the ground, some of these guys aren't gonna like today's challenge and for all of the lava haters, we promise it or it's not called TOTAL DRAMA X: WINTER WARRIORS!"
there'll never be intro :)
With MK gone, the girls' cabin got a little more contentious thanks to Ermes being on the downswing and Ramona just so happening to team up with her secretly.
AKA it was time for moral condemnation for people that aren't so uptight.
"You should be ashamed of helping MK cheat! We're honest players of the honest kind!" Ashido shouted.
"Yeah, we wouldn't mess around with cheating." Undyne said. "You should be ashamed of yourselves and stuff."
"Uh, cheating is lame."
"That is true."
Surprisingly, not that many people joined on the random moral condemnation, as Sticks, Emma and Android 21 were a little too busy doing their own things somewhere else.
Mamizou was just watching the spectacles along with Ramona.
"Why the hell are you getting on my case for this now? It's a show where the mean girl won World Tour." Ermes spoke up. "Not to mention, you were fine with MK's craziness."
"That was Jasmine's idea, this is the merge and she's gone!" Ashido said. "Please play honestly."
"Don't worry, I'm not cheating in the challenges, I don't need to." Ermes said. "Got my Stand thingy."
"Come on, it's still a power!"
"Same thing goes for your acid."
Ermes and Ashido just kinda looked at each other.
"It's fine, it's actually a part of her and also, she'll definitely play more honestly this time around." Ramona huffed. "Plus why are you so high and mighty today?"
"I feel like she's been fighting a bit unfairly basically. Yeah, Mamizou and Android 21 have crazy powers, but like knowing the challenge ahead of time is kinda wacky." Ashido explained. "Somebody had to call it out."
"Yeah, thanks for that." Ermes sarcastically said.
"Happy to help!"
*Ashido's confessional*
The pink-haired girl looked confused.
"Look, I think getting a sneak preview of the challenges is just a little busted and faking an elimination's very, uh, busted! No hero would do that and only lame villains would do such a thing!" She was grandstanding for whatever. "It's kinda crazy."
*Confessional cut*
Speaking of Sticks and Emma, they were joining another men's duo company and it was nearly as sprited as the ladies in the cabin.
"I can't believe it. First, MK gets booted, which I'm surprised she didn't get booted and then the three guy villains get off scot-free." Sticks said. "Maybe the government wants them in?"
"I doubt it's the government, it's probably just Android 21 being really strong and people trying to split their votes so that Bowser's idol did not work." Emma explained.
"And now look what happened. The government-"
"Who would even care about a bunch of guys trying to compete for two million dollars?" Puss asked. "They might care about me giving back to the people, though."
"Uh, we're aliens obviously. Aliens stuck in some meh fanfiction, even!"
Puss rolled his eyes and Spider-Punk and Emma shook their heads.
"That's Sticks for you. So, all we have to do is go idol hunting, yeah, since we haven't really explored this winter wonderland!" Emma shouted. "So, let's do!"
"Mate, I haven't even said one thing and you guys have got a game plan. Man's gonna give those bad dudes the run-around." Spider-Punk remarked. "Emma, why are you doin' this, shouldn't you be enjoying the winter."
"I guess I'm a winter warrior now!"
"Alright, little anarchist, I'm not gonna let you say that again." Spider-Punk said. "Sticks, you couldn't have stopped from saying that?"
"Hey, there's been cringier kids in other seasons. Around all of Total Drama crossover fanfiction and also, this universe."
"My government-hating sista!"
Puss and Emma stopped getting the conversation about twenty seconds ago and they were just dumbfounded by the accidental fourth-wall break.
"I don't believe in multiversal colonialism and some universes have got their own Total Drama. My guy, it's simple."
*Puss' confessional*
He emptied a cup of milk.
"Wow, did I miss something or did the spider guy drink too much milk."
*Confessional cut*
Ken and Android 21 weren't exactly in the highest of couple spirits for surprisingly obvious reasons and right now, it was a interrogation of sorts.
"I am fine, but my interest is not holding back my powers!" 21 snapped. "And Chris isn't a good guy, you saw that first hand."
"I mean, it's a little bit complicated." Ken sputters out. "You turn pink and then you're starting to act a little weird...like weird, as in, doing bad things weird."
"Look, this is the merge, people do not hold back during the merge and even from this world's Total Drama data, you have some extremely unsavoury tactics. I'm just following the general trend."
"I get it, it's a little hard to deal with the merge. You watch a lot of reality shows and you start to get a little antsy, but nothing about letting Chris be hurt fits that type of business!"
"Well-wait, you watch a lot of reality shows?"
"Uh, Barbie used to sometimes and we hung out togetherr, it was pretty cool."
Ken just sighed.
"Are you sure you're not going crazy?"
"Of course, do you think that I don't have my faculties together or noticed that my genetics do not benefit me. Trust me, I will never betray you or do whatever bad girlfriends do." Android 21 technically assured.
The blonde doll had a real sincere smile.
"Nice, I knew you weren't going crazy. Just being, uh, strategic and stuff!"
"Of course, those things are beneath me."
These two had a hug and then the white-haired android had a little bit of a malicious smile on her face.
*Android 21's confessional*
"If there's one thing that I want to do. I want to make sure that I get the money that I can figure out how to re-order my Majin genes so that my evil side does not take over...and it's not cheap. Sorry, Ken, I really do like you, but a lady's got her priorities."
*Confessional cut*
Tengen was seeing that Joe and Robotnik were in some type of Tom and Jerry madness and he was looking at them rather happily with the other remaining Japanese contestant.
"There is no way that he didn't anticipate this." Tengen observed.
"So many IQ points and he could not figure out a riddle that even a simpleton wouldn't have trouble answering. He's gonna eliminate himself sooner rather than later." Mamizou said. "Frankly-"
The ninja got the tanuki oldie and got them in a two-man huddle.
"This is literally the first time you've sat over here and you know about me knowing about your old alliance." Tengen said. "Unless you're feeling alone, you know how it is."
"Funny, you are smarter than you look, mortal human. If we team up together and get enough people to vote with us, then Robotnik should be out."
"He's easy pickings. I'll consider it."
"Good, then-"
"Campers, make you to a giant hole that just opened up in the ground." Chris said. "Trust me, it's gonna answer."
Tengen got up before Mamizou, who was deep in thought.
*Mamizou's confessional*
She was looking surprisingly shaken.
"I do not know where this panic has appeared from. I should be safe, especially with the total lack of votes, so what is intended to happen here?"
*Confessional cut*
The 17 remaining winter warriors were looking down at a massive hole that seemingly opened up on its own and there was only one way to get down to the floor of the cave.
"That slide looks like it was built with hatred and haste." Robotnik commented, rolling his eye. "Joe's going to say something unrelated."
Joe looked at him suspiciously.
"I'm going to slide down it, my fellow man!"
Joe went down wheelchair-first.
"You heard the guy, let's slide, guys!" Ken exclaimed.
And then they were all at the bottom, though not without a little bit of motion sickness and also the slide just fell apart in a very specific way that harmed contestant nor hosts.
"Welcome to the caves for the second time, campers, heard you liked it here last time and this time, you're all against each other! Oh, this challenge is gonna be fun for the viewers...and me, of course. All you guys have to do is climb back up to the surface AKA where the cabins were AKA that special entrance that wasn't there yesterday!"
"Aha, I knew there was something wrong with that hole! What else you got?" Sticks exclaimed.
"Stuff that the interns really didn't like! They're still alive at least, but they're mad and it's gonna be an awesome surprise for me to watch! Oh yeah, no flying back up, last one to reach the top will be automatically eliminated! That got you guys mad!"
"YEAHHHHH!"
Robotnik was hiding from the screaming Joe at this point.
Everyone was seemingly waiting for a starting shout.
"GO, KNUCKLEHEADS!"
Chef absolutely put their butts into high gear, most of them at least pairing up with either friends or potential enemies, deep in this confusing and labyrinthe cave system that was as natural as the first challenge.
Which wasn't very surprising, even if for one of them their situation was terrible.
*Mamizou's confessional*
"Nothing I can do other than survive another challenge, which for someone like me, will definitely be easy pickings even with an obtuse path." She sighed. "So much for Robotnik's elimination."
*Confessional cut*
Aside from that, Ermes was walking on her own and Ramona quickly followed her into the same cave, understanding one thing.
"Last time, I checked you didn't like my style of play." Ermes said.
"That was the pink lady." Ramona said. "She's not the smartest lady in the game."
"I agree, but what's your problem with her?"
"Can I not say that she's dumb, I've really got no problems with her!"
These two weren't being carefuly, pulling their weapons and Stand out, having long become wise to Chris' chicanery and their steps were much loader than their following discussion.
"So, I heard you tried to team up with MK, huh?" Ermes asked a little too aggressively. "Wise idea."
"Geez, I'm just trying to play the game." Ramona whispered. "Besides, we're both women doing their own thing."
"Yeah, I don't mind that, especially since those asshole guys are messing up the place." Ermes whispered. "They sabotaged MK, I'm not letting that stuff slide."
"Well, yeah, that's why I wanted to do this alliance. You're probably next."
"You don't think I know that! Welcome to this team, Canuck."
Ramona and Ermes shook hands, both understand what needed to be done.
*Ramona's confessional*
"Now that you mention, it's kinda like this one show that I did watch and if you were not in an alliance, you were getting the boot and it's the same thing here! I'd like to not get sabotaged."
*Confessional cut*
The move was probably a decent time coming with how many people were left and how the challenge was gonna go and Tengen had different plans for his game.
Mostly because he was sprinting through his own first section with him leaving behind the "deadly duo" of Emma and Undyne, actually having jumped over a notable gap just by his lonesome.
"Well, we're not gonna be first." Emma warned. "But we're not gonna be last!"
"Exactly, that's the spirit. Kinda sounds like an anime thing!" Undyne noted. "Since I kinda watch anime in my downtime."
"Nice. But how are we gonna do this?"
"The same way that we do it! GO FOR IT!"
These two kinda screamed, as they went around the outside of the gorge, slowing down substanially compared to the shinobi ninja guy that was tussling with a bear blocking a path.
"AHHHHHH-oh, there we go." Undyne calmed herself down. "Seriously, Tengen's just gone already."
*Tengen's confessional*
The white-haired guy was relaxing on the seat.
"As much as I want to help take down some pretty flashy villains, this is also a competition for a million bucks and uh, once we solve the villain problem, I'm about to make this game a festival!" Tengen shouted.
*Confessional cut*
As expected, it was gettin' a little wild.
"Bruv, why are you in my lane?" Spider-Punk questioned. "I'm not mad about it since we're both captalism's enemies, but why?"
"The garbage here is better than whatever Chef cooks and you're cool." Sticks answered. "So, what do we do about...those guys?"
"Well, we've started the anti-bourgeoisie resistence, even if they kinda started it themsleves and uh, sorry to say this, but we've gotta do a little groundwork."
"Groundwork's my speciality! You never know the things you can do with dirt!"
"Aight, I'm gonna let that stuff slip outta my head, do ya know what I mean, bruv?"
"Yeah!"
These two were somehow in the same entrance, trying to figure out how to climb a very odd wall that had that Chris classic of many bomb that still managed to raise an eyebrow.
"Does Chris love bombs?" Sticks asked.
"I don't believe in bomb love!"
Sticks didn't care anyways, as Spider-Punk casually looked up at the almost sloped cliff without a care in the world and decided to get climbing real quick, explosions all around.
These two managed to get on top of the underground cliff.
*Sticks' confessional*
She was eating some garbage, probably better than whatever Chef cooked today.
"I like actual food not cooked by a corporation, mole people or aliens! You're an alien that only does data stealing, Chef."
*Confessional cut*
Ratigan was climbing and doing nothing interesting, you know, having to deal with winding cave paths, a random trampoline that he stylishly jumped off, a dead end-
"Of course, it would be a dead end." Ratigan mused. "This game is trying to keep my genius down."
But it was never that simple with the criminal genius, carefully looking at the wall for a switch of some kind and then he clicked something interesting to be met with another lava pool and a bridge of wood.
He couldn't stop to baulk, looking at the room that somehow had Bowser at the other side of it.
"Ratigan, dude, looks like you're reunited with at least one person!"
"WOW, IT'S GOOD TO SEE YA! THOUGHT I'D BE WAY AHEAD, BUT BAD GUYS STICK TOGETHER!" Bowser screamed, as Ratigan didn't look too happy.
"Well, yes, yes, it should be as simple as walking across this bridge." Ratigan stated, slowly stepping on the wood.
And then the wood slowly split away.
"THAT GIVES ME AN IDEA-"
"Just go!" Ratigan commanded Bowser. "Your lava idea wouldn't work anyways!"
*Bowser's confessional*
"I swear it's like people forget how good I'm at this stuff, I design stuff like this all the time, Chris ain't got nothing on me!"
*Confessional cut*
Joe and Undyne were a power duo and they weren't hiding it by any means, staring down a whole bunch of robotic critters with only their fists and spears.
"Just try to keep up, I'm gonna have the most takedowns today." Undyne cracked her shoulders. "I bet your wife's grateful!"
"Nah, she'd said that I wouldn't last too long mostly because of the wheelchair stuff, but I bet she'd want me to win." Joe responded honestly.
"Nice."
These two then went to town on some robotic bears, squirrels, deers, a robotic duck and a robot chicken, those two being the most troublesome for obvious reasons.
Joe threw a few punches down into the chicken's unmentionables and did a little bit of damage to that robotic guy, but he reallly had nothing against those damn lasers until Undyne threw a lil' spear into the animatronic's CPU.
Undyne had a much easier time, as the robot duck was just trying to beat up her legs repeatedly with no effect, the fish lady just wanting to ask an question towards it right before the duck gave her a weak shin kick.
And then fish lady accidentally kicked it to go help Joe's robot chicken problem.
"Is it kinda weird that Chris would even make these?"
"Nah, dude, this is Pahkitew. Please tell me that the robots are unharmed!"
These two just accepted that answer, a random elevator finally opening up for the duo for beating up many robots and they didn't give a single care to the host with the most.
"HEY, WAIT!"
Mamizou was fast and was a Touhou character and I would say more, but she easily managed to fly past through any obstacle that she'd could be stopped by with either a beam that made a bear cry or transforming a rock into a melting teapot.
That turned back into a rock.
*Mamizou's confessional*
She was looking at the camera.
"I am starting to think that you likely made this challenge without really finalising the cast, Chris, because unfortunately for you, this old lady makes this challenge comedic!"
*Confessional cut*
Now for slightly less overpowered people stuck in relationship drama!
"Ken, what is your problem!" 21 shouted. "It's not even hard to understand."
"I don't know, it's hard to understand for me, man." Ken said. "Why would leave a guy like that hanging!"
Android 21 kept on walking with Ken, as though she wasn't frustrated with him and wasn't helping him to shoot down whatever was in their way.
"Listen, Chris is a terrible man that has done terrible things, he definitely deserves a little bit of punishment." 21 stated. "Not to mention, he's got quite the history."
"Still doesn't mean that you can't save the dude. We can beach him off later!"
"Yeah-"
Android 21 looked at her boyfriend horrified, basically sharing a similar expression to her boyfriend realising she wasn't really empathetic for a mad man.
In other news, Tengen and Mamizou were actually moving so fast compared to everyone else that it kept Chris and Chef's eyebrows raised permanently just waching the two of them break through obstacles.
Tengen, the three wives ninja, was sliding down a small cave that led right back into a higher level of the cave with smaller walls.
Mamizou, one of the oldest beings of Gensokyo, casually pet a confused laser squirrel and she did it right before carrying it into a teapot that was previously a rock.
"Listen, I'm betting on the ninja with three wives, you can't just compete with a man like that." Chris proclaimed.
"Chris, Chris, I know that you're only betting on him because you're scared of the flying tanuki lady!" Chef said.
"Don't say that, dude. Does she have three wives that all know about each other and still love him?"
"No. But can he fly-"
"It doesn't matter, dude!"
These two were bound to run into each other.
Ashido got lost.
"How do these turns look like all of the other turns!" She complained. "These caves, I swear, are changing around!"
The pink-skinned hero was having a hard time, considering that she was one of the less strategic players around this island and it did not help that the caves were "designed" to be awkward to navigate.
Ashido stopped in the middle of an torch-lit atrium and the walls turned around for some reason to block off a normal-ish path and right into a smaller path that she just went down.
Somehow, there was a water slide down in these caves and she happily jumped into it, squealing the whole time while it was winding around.
"YEAHHHH!"
*Ashido's confessional*
"These challenges have been nothing but mean obstacles put down by a villain of reality TV! Even if the water slide was awesome!"
*Confessional cut*
Puss was almost in the same situation albeit, he was enjoying his fight with what could have been his robotic double.
"Sorry, gato, but I have better things to deal with than you!" He shouted, escaping the dance with a laser cat.
Puss poked it with his sword and then the apparent doppleganager chased the real deal right into a sort of vault with a cave bridge that could really collapse.
The bounty hunter kept on rolling right out of the laser cat's eyes and right before he kicked it off into a weird pond.
"Well, that was one impressive-"
"AHHHHHHH!" Ashido finally fell off the slide. "HI, PUSS!"
"Senorita Ashido, look down!" Puss shouted.
Ashido then landed in the pond where the robotic cat was fizzling out.
"I'm okay, but I'm way ahead of you!" Ashido said.
"Wait, are you sure?" Puss questioned. "I have the high ground!"
"Don't care."
Puss felt the rocky bridge give way and sprinted fast enough to avoid certain doom and an uncertain elimination, leading him to a path that sloped upwards.
*Puss' confessional*
The cat looked solemn.
"No, she can't be eliminated. Those pendejos can't keep getting away with their schemes!"
*Confessional cut*
Meanwhile with the two potential first placers, they were about to come to a collision course with each other thanks to their sheer speed and abilities that would've killed a Victorian child.
Tengen, by himself, slid right into a slightly higher level through a surprisingly small cave and he had the smile of a winner.
"You can't keep the God of Festivals down, can you?" Tengen called out to no-one in particular. "Well, the light's looking brighter than ever."
The ninja swore he could've seen something brown coming his way at a similar speed albeit with a little surprise along that thing's side and that thing so just happened to run right into him.
"Well, I am pleased to know that I can be competitive with you while holding back less of my strength." Mamizou remarked.
"Yeah, you bet your ass I'm not letting you have that special reward-"
Tengen saw that she was actually carrying a laser squirrel.
"-especially with that thing besides you!"
And just like that, Tengen saw that the tanuki had been gone for a few seconds and immediately followed her onto the same path that had special markings on it.
"And it looks like both Tengen and Mamizou are kinda tied! Seriously, though, these two are kinda overpowered compared to everyone else." Chris announced.
"Coulda thought of that before you decided to pick 'em." Chef said.
"Shut up." Chris wasn't on the microphone.
The "overpowered" duo both used their skills to further increase their speed, Mamizou just plain floating off the ground and Tengen showing that he's a real shinobi.
And then they stopped at a fork in the cave that both led to different tunnels of light.
"You know it's funny how much you held back before the merge." Tengen said. "And let the cheater into your grasp."
Mamizou looked quite astounded, but not surprised.
"So, if you have knowledge of every alliance through your ninja ways, why did you hold off on giving everybody your knowledge?"
"Because there would be more of the flashy villains and dealing with them here would be a problem."
"I see. A game is rather complicated, I must thank you for being smart."
"You're welcome-"
Tengen saw that Mamizou took the left path already.
*Tengen's confessional*
"Something tells me like she's like if those demons decided to stop eating people...or like Nezuko if she was very smart." He looked straight at the camera. "Yeah, she's not making it past next round mark my words!"
*Confessional cut*
While the overpowered twosome were leading the race, Robotnik wasn't having a fun time, but he had the tech to easily combat it which meant that eventually.
A massive load of water couldn't get past his self-made shield.
"Aha, this shield is doing wonders for me!" Robotnik shouted. "Only thing better than that is that Joe ends up right in front of me!"
"HOW DID YOU GET HERE!"
Of course that would happen.
Joe, Robotnik and Undyne were all back together again.
"I walked with a fancy new tool. Like the shield?" Robotnik turned to his enemy.
"NO!" Joe screamed.
"Can't believe you're jealous of my new shield."
"Your dishonesty's gonna catch up to ya!" Undyne shouted. "Me and Joe will be coming for your friend group!"
Robotnik skipped away giddy like a child, as Joe and Undyne caught up to him.
"And then what, the both of you win the million dollars?!"
Joe and Undyne stopped for a second to look at each other...
...right before the water came out of Robotnik's side way cave to make the ground that little bit slippery which almost meant nothing right until it started to get towards foot level.
"I'm not gonna let you have the two million." Undyne spoke honestly.
"Good, because when we get to the finals, I'm gonna be kicking your ass like it's no problem."
Both of the cops saw Robotnik slip on the water to get dunked into the ankle-high water and nodded to each other for seemingly something important because the water broke out of a side cave and immediately rushed in.
"GOGOGOGO!"
Undyne's instincts kicked in so fast that she actually carried Robotnik.
*Robotnik's confessional*
He just shook his head.
"If it was up to me, somebody would end up in a very watery grave full of that H2O." He rolled his eyes. "Besides, those two million dollars could be used for important robotic projects that to help rule the world. Instead of family or whatever human nonsense they've got."
*Confessional cut*
These three escaped the water trap that almost swallowed them seeing it from a higher vantage point that they somehow managed to get into and the water literally swallowed itself right into a hole.
"Goddamn Chris, I don't know what I expected."
Chris and Chef was at a finish line that was right besides the cabin and obviously, they were standing there and waiting for the first person to reach the finish line.
"Did you warn them about the traps?" Chris asked.
Chef nodded negatively.
"Good because I have a feeling that most of them will be out soon!"
Tengen sprinted right into the view of the two hosts with the most, carrying a decent amount of snow alongside the game.
"Is no-one here?"
"Nope! You're the first person to make it out of the cave, Tengen, you get the special prize, but you're going to have to wait for your cohort!"
He could only grin at his success, albeit somebody with a big bushy tail walked in with a quite the impressed look.
"My my, how impressive."
Mamizou was now fully decked out in traditional Japanese winter clothing.
"I am not very surprised that you are here, but I am more surprised that there is nobody else."
"Mamizou, dude, you're second place and you also get the special prize that I will not even until a third camper gets here! Nice clothes, ma'am!"
"I'm not really messing around, but how did you get those clothes?" Tengen asked.
"It is part of my latent abilities." Mamizou said.
"...You can shapeshift clothes?"
"You think I can't?"
*Tengen's confessional*
"You know, as much as being a Hashira means you're real powerful, I bet there is probably other men or women in this multiverse thing that could put me and her to shame. But I've got better things to worry about back home!"
*Confessional cut*
The rest of them were in a gauntlet and Sakura wasn't really that big of a gauntlet fan, just moreso excited for yet another challenge for her to overcome.
Otherwise known as a boxing ring with a Chris-bot inside it.
"You deserve all of this, Chris, you suck!"
Sakura was just charging up her-
"SHINKU HADOUKEN!"
She blew that thing to kingdom come, which made Chris a bit more peturbed.
"Dude, you can't do that to my face!"
"Then stop putting supervillains on this show, they kinda make it suck!"
"Fine, I guess." Chris probably rolled his eyes, but the karate girl wasn't gonna see it.
The karate gal, aside from that, had a pretty smooth sailing cave ride which was about to get interrupted by two teammates reappearing by her side once again.
Or rather, getting bumped.
"Hey, Ermes, how's spelunking? Saw anything crazy?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, a crazy thing's chasing us, that how it's going." Ermes answered bluntly. "Run for your damn life!"
Ramona, Ermes and Sakura were currently being chased by Scuba Bear, who was packing a flamethrower for only one reason and one reason only.
*Sakura's confessional*
"I feel like I'm never going to ask this again on this show, but what is really up with Chris and fire? You can make some awesome challenges with basically every other element, but fire? You're not definitely Dhalsim, I can tell you that!"
*Confessional cut*
The odd trio weren't really looking at where they were going, for there was a bear shooting well-timed flames that made the three girls basically go in blind.
"Where'd this [ayhole] come from?!" Ermes shouted. "Bear's got a damn flamethrower."
"Hold up, do you think that the bear's trying to mislead us? It's kinda slow." Ramona said.
Sakura, Ermes and Ramona were all watching the bear stare right at them.
"Go swing on that dumbass, then!" Ermes taunted her ally.
"Alright, alright!"
Ramona then walked up to the bear, Scuba Bear shooting out some more flames and the officially red-haired woman side-stepped those flames and to smash the bear into an unworkable exoskeleton.
Several times.
On the head.
"LET'S GO!" Ermes shouted. "Finally, that bitch's dead."
"Oh man, look at that, it's standing behind a cave!" Sakura said. "Let's beat those villains!"
"NO, not Scuba Bear II! He died too young!" Chris announced. "I'm going to release some more animals!"
Bowser was just watching Ratigan slowly step on the wood, hopping from plank to plank in quite the dignified manner and despite the fact that it seemed like a lifetime had passed by during his hot tiptoeing.
"GO, GO, GO!"
"Shut up, you'll make my attempt worse!" Ratigan screamed.
"Alright, I just wanted to cheer my fellow villains on." Bowser grumbled.
Ratigan just leapt quite the distance from a part of the bridge right to Bowser's floor and the rat just tried to keep his rage in sort of.
"ERUGH!"
"Good on ya, let's just get outta there."
These two were going quite fast, not caring for any obstacle that was in their way, nothing could've stopped them now and there was nothing to bring 'em down.
Aside from one little gato that brought them a little bit of fear.
"Wow, it's been that long since we did anything interesting, huh?" Bowser asked.
"Wait, I thought it wasn't that long-"
Puss hopped over Ratigan's cane swing.
"-but it has been an hour."
"Yeah."
These three knew what they had to do next, Puss already trying to jump on top of Ratigan's perfectly tussled hair and top hat and the criminal genius slapping him off the top.
"Aye, let's dance, el canalla."
"Now you've done it!"
Ratigan tried to take the swipe, Puss actually managing to slip through to not be the last one at the top and he sprinted outta of there wisely, Bowser was going right after him and Ratigan actually got a good look at this cave hub, trying to get an intiution of his surroundings.
"GET BACK HERE!" Bowser shouted. "I KNOW YOU WON'T, BUT WE'RE NOT FRIENDS!"
And there was a well-hidden elevator shaft in a initially hard-to-see cave.
"Well, well, Puss, looks like my advantage is well-earned." Ratigan whispered to nobody in particular. "Ah-hah."
*Ratigan's confessional*
The rat was enjoying his elevator confessional.
"Something tells me that Puss is in the middle of some alliance and it's not just intution. Being a criminal masterminds means that you will always get targetted and with my unique status as a returning player, there is bound to be an alliance against me."
The elevator opened to see a cave that was almost at the surface, the enjoyment sapped instantly out of his face.
"There is a trap over there isn't there?"
The animal seeked to introduce himself.
*Confessional cut*
Ken and Android 21 were well on their way to the finish, judging by the second open atrium that was definitely way smaller than the main one obviously.
"Man, isn't it crazy how one dude can build an island like this?" Ken asked. "An island where you can do whatever you want?"
"Yes, what kind of sane man would do this?!"
"I don't know, Chris seems like a crazy dude. I think he's kinda cool for that."
Android 21 was a little silent for once.
"You know now that you mention it, the fact that he's doing all this just to entertain the masses and to torture the contestant does make him better than some people."
"Ah, you get it, he isn't a supervillain?"
"So setting people on this island isn't a supervillain's endavour?"
"No! There's money!"
Android 21 just shook her head, as Ken looked baffled.
"There's money, you and I made a bunch of friends and these challenges are kinda nice!" Ken argued. "This show wouldn't be made by a supervillain."
"Most of these challenges are poorly disguised torture fests, most of these people do not really deserve it and almost all of them objectively do not deserve it!" Android 21 shouted. "Almost."
"Listen, let's just agree to disagree before we both get kicked out of the game?" Ken asked. "I'm sorry, babe, but you can't convince me."
"Agreed, I'm going to ignore your wrongness."
They kept on going, even if their first rift was a little bit deeper than a one day conversation and man, it's not fun to deal with other people's real situations unlike...
Sticks and Spider-Punk were actually having the time of their lives despite half of the cast being in some form of a questionable situation thanks their combined skills.
"Is a fascist somebody that controls leaves and wood?" Sticks asked.
"Stop throwing some dumb questions at me! Yeah, mate." Spider-Punk stated.
Even if their conversations are really weird, they were in the middle of running up a ramp from all of the robotic animals that didn't have their CPUs beaten down, slowly climbing up.
"I don't believe in evil animals!" Spider-Punk said in a panic.
"Glad you see it my way!"
The two of them had finally went up the ramp to jump onto the wall, probably realising that it was a legitmate way to get towards the surface because of a hilarious loophole.
They just kept on climbing like the animals were flying right at them, even if they were flying in awe of them messing with the rules in a honest way by climbing up a artificial shaft at a slow speed.
*Spider-Punk's confessional*
The mandem was hanging from the ceiling.
"Aye, I bet there's no rule against this."
*Confessional cut*
Sticks and Spider-Punk actually managed to get to the surface, probably breaking a rule or two and they were getting chased by animals that couldn't really handle the two of them.
They just kept on running quite confident and run they did.
Right into the finish line in the right direction with a peeved Chris and Chef.
"Why are you sending those animals directly to us?" Chris asked. "My hair got messed up today."
"You're an architect of the robot apocalypse, but I can't really tell the difference." Sticks said.
"I don't believe in you being ugly!" Spider-Punk shouted, raising everyone's eyebrows.
"Dude, you get 3rd and Sticks gets 4th, but you two aren't getting a special prize!"
Sticks and Spider-Punk didn't look too impressed.
"You ain't getting something special, does that not hurt you!" Chef shouted.
These two nodded affirmatively, but then another pair of people came from the catacombs looking way worse for wear and angry.
"CHRIS, HOW IS THIS LEGAL-"
"Joe Swanson, congrats on getting 5th! Undyne, you got 6th!" Chris announced, fearing Joe's wrath. "You enjoyed the challenge?"
Joe, Sticks and Undyne gave their best unamused faces, while Spider-Punk kinda bucked the trend.
"Not my idea of fun, no." Spider-Punk answered.
"Sweet! And there comes Robotnik, coming in 7th place!"
Robotnik wasn't looking too hot, mostly clothes wise, but he did wear an damage-resistant suit underneath all of his other duds and it was fine.
"YOU!" Robotnik screamed.
"Yeah, it's me!" Undyne kept in upbeat. "Stop being a bad guy."
"Umm, coming from an unintelligent lifeform, I will not answer to your words."
"Just give it up, you're not gonna win."
And then there was eight other people remaining and there was three of them were stuck in a sticky situation.
"Okay, this island is definitely artificial, can somebody explain all of that sap?!" Ermes shouted.
"The island's fake." Ramona offered it up quickly. "How do we deal with this?"
Ermes looked at it and also at Sakura, who tried to leap at it and found out that she could only trawl at it, the two ladies getting their thinking caps on to avoid their loss.
"Hey, girls, if you don't wanna lose, you better get stuck in it!" Sakura encouraged.
"Shut up, I can get over this thing!" Ermes snapped back.
Ramona was doing a backflip jump when no-one was looking.
"Then do it, already-"
"Alright, alright!"
Ermes tried to do an "air dash" over the sap trap and she landed right in the middle of it, behind both Sakura and Ramona, who was waving from the other side.
"Hey, guys."
Sakura and Ermes were gawking at her in sheer awe.
*Sakura's confessional*
"I have seen crazier, but that was still pretty impressive! Another tough lady that I wanna fight one day!" She had a mad grin on her face. "Just hope that I don't lose this one."
*Confessional cut*
Bowser and Ratigan had encountered a bunch of hornets, the big Koopa kahuna being forced to body block all of them by the rat himself and it was a little bit of a painful experience.
"Couldn't you just find a way to rush through this?" Bowser asked. "These things sting!"
"To elaborate, it would really take too much time to find a proper solution, so this is the best that I could manage." Raitgan was using his cape.
"Yeah, but it still stings."
"A minor setback for an advantageous position in the game-"
"Puss in Boots, you've got 8th place."
Bowser and Ratigan gritted their teeth.
*Bowser's confessional*
"Yeah, I have been listening to all these announcement and the good thing is that Joe, Undyne and the heroes haven't really won anything. The bad thing is Tengen and Mamizou's got the skills to snatch the prize without even trying, so we can't really kick them both out next round without messing with the votes and Tengen's probably gonna change them back anyways!"
He growled.
"Damn merge, giving me this situation and the hornets!"
*Confessional cut*
As for Ashido, we haven't seen her in a decent while and she has to be doing better, right?
RIGHT?
She kept on running as fast as she could and even managed to get confused for a monster by somebody that was still in these caves alone.
"Hold on, it's me!" Ashido shouted. "Emma, what happened!"
"AHHHHHHhhhhh."
Emma slowed when she realised that she was with somebody that wasn't Joe or Undyne.
"Hey, Ashido, you got lost too?"
"Uhhhh, no, all these caves look the same!" Ashido shouted in frustration, even scratching her hair.
"Calm down, calm down. It'll be okay, I feel like it will be like that."
Ashido and Emma then walked straight onwards towards their destination, which was a well-lit cave with an actual lightbulb and several paths that each led into different location, both of them trying to get a feel for which one would lead them to success.
Mostly because all five paths had very different vibes, the leftmost being oddly dark for a well-lit cave, the second and fourth being rather nondescript, the rightmost path being a literal ladder and the middle path had signs that said "KEEP OUT, NOTHING HERE!"
"I don't know if we should go anywhere but left?" Emma asked. "Why is that cave so dark for no reason?"
"Because it probably leds nowhere! The sign definitely leads to an elevator!" Ashido shouted. "But if you wanna be wrong, then be my guest."
"Wait, but that's not how light works!"
"I dunno, I'm going through those signs no matter what!"
"Wait-"
Emma couldn't stop Ashido from running into those signs, as she kept walking into the cold dark empty space.
*Emma's confessional*
"I don't exactly know what happened to her, but I feel people wouldn't really leave an orphan on their own to deal with a deadly obstacle course, I'm just saying." She admonished the show, obviously.
*Confessional cut*
Back near the surface, Bowser and Ratigan were skalking around a certain few animals that were big fans of messing with anybody sentient that walked.
"You know, I'd thought that I would never live to see the day that cassowaries could be turned into cold hard steel. I would appreciate it more if they weren't trying to murder me." Ratigan appreciate those cold hard fiends.
"Yeah, yeah, don't wake them up. Those hornets only gave me a little bit of pain." Bowser's voice was slightly strained.
These two were about to get a slightly nasty surprise in the form of a girl that got teleported right above them and landed on top of the rat, which surprised Bowser.
"Did you enter an invisibile pipe or what?" Bowser mocked.
"I just got teleported here." Emma whispered. "These things look like that they could kill us."
"Maybe you, but definitely not me."
Emma got off the enraged rat and made a run for the ramp up to the snowy surface and so did Ratigan, albeit without trying to wake up the cassowary, which almost worked.
Emphasis on almost because Bowser just coughed loudly, letting the steel cassowaries rise from their slumber.
"Guys, we like causing trouble. So, can you please cause a little less trouble for me?" Bowser desperately asked.
The cassowaries seemingly laughed in his face and Bowser cracked his fist.
"Ehehehe, you messed with the wrong guy!"
*Emma's confessional*
She had quite the sad face.
"Even if they're robots willing to make us scream in pain, it still hurts seeing villains hurt the animals for no reason. They just wanted to be loved."
*Confessional cut*
"Emma, 9th place! Ratigan, 10th!"
Emma went up to hug Undyne.
"Wait, who won out of all these contestants?" Ratigan asked.
"It's not really hard to figure out, they are also the two most powerful people in this season." Robotnik said.
Ratigan and Robotnik could only glare at Tengen giving the rizz eyes to a random intern and Mamizou casually planning her next move while smoking like a real douche.
"Honestly, how did those two survive so long?" Robotnik said.
"That is definitely not much of a trick question, since they're both more pleasant and sociable than your average strongman." Ratigan said. "So, let's give them the boot."
"Agreed-"
Bowser silently came in, covered in spots of oil and what must have been a few fake cassowary heads and he had a frown on his face.
"Hey, where were you?" Bowser asked. "I was fighting those things and looking like how I should when I was doing it!"
"Getting to the finish line." Ratigan defended himself. "You know how I wouldn't last dealing with those accursed creatures!"
Bowser was boiling over in rage.
"Bowser, you've got 11th place and you're still in!"
"I guess I will accept it, but I don't have to be happy about it!" Bowser complained.
"Yeah, it's down to the final six! Which one of the 18 will lose because it's not looking good for every single one of them in the game!"
*Ashido's confessional*
She was scratching her hair.
"I should've turned around when I heard that, but those signs were too suspicious."
*Confessional cut*
Ken and Android 21 were rather quiet mostly because even with the artificiality of the island and the animals that were trying to get a bite on them, they appreciated the caves.
"According to my data, this place should not have any crystals at all. So why are they here?" Android 21 asked.
"Because they're here, what's the problem." Ken said.
"We are stuck on an island that has entrapped us with promises of fortune. So why is it beautiful?"
"Like I said, the guy knows how to make a show and an island apparently!"
These two then looked up at their final obstacle and realised that it wasn't going to be easy thanks to the obstacle being a bear that blocked the path and wasn't interesting in them escaping.
"21, shoot the laser." Ken spoke with apphrension. "Please."
Too bad that Android 21 was already on top of that, slicing the bear into bits with her laser and then throwing an energy ball on top of it for seemingly no reason.
She breathed in and out, almost realising that she just wailed on a metallic bear for no reason.
Ken had a look of sheer shock, as he pointed towards the new open exit and the metallic guts that was previously a bear.
*Android 21's confessional*
She look ashamed.
"Please tell me that my genetics aren't fighting against my better nature once again." She spoke in hushed tones. "Last time it happened, I had to...had to...do unthinkables to myself."
*Confessional cut*
Ashido ran through more than a few signs that told her to stop her journey to potentially find a way up to the top of the game even when the cave seemed to go downwards slightly each time and the signs got more and more desperate.
"Seriously, what's down here that is so important?" Ashido asked. "A man cave? A bear factory, the control room?"
The pink-skinned hero suddenly realised that it quite wasn't the right way back to the surface, but she kept on going anywhere thanks to a weird red glint that she was starting to see.
"Well, there's only one way to find out."
She hopped down a slide right into the source of the ruby-coloured light, which unsurprisingly was-
"MY RUBIES, DON'T TAKE ANY OF THEM OR YOU'LL BE CURSED FOREVER!" Chris just shouted at her. "By me, if you wanna know."
"Okay, then, try me!"
Ashido pocketed a few and thanks to the red glint, could actually see a special elevator that definitely went somewhere interesting, but really only skalking towards it with potential riches.
"Android 21, you've got 12th! Ken, 13th place!"
*Spider-Punk's confessional*
"I don't believe in ruby stealing!" He remarked, aware of lawyers that would slap him into the earth. "For any lawyers, I'm gonna go down there later for no reason at all."
*Ken's confessional*
"You know how it is, your girlfriend kinda goes crazy for a second. What's really happening with her because it's obvious that she's not fine."
*Confessional cut*
Ramona was sprinting forward the finish line on her own, which had absolutely nothing to do with the horde of bats forcing her towards a random cave.
She kept on going, anyways, actually managing to get up to the surface through some very inconspicious stairs that she rushed through towards the finish line and then she walked up with a quirky one liner.
"Chris, why are you so mad?" Ramona asked. "Not enough torture."
"Ramona, you've got 14th place, please stop Ashido from stealing my rubies!"
Ramona shrugged.
"I bet you stole 'em."
"Dude, it's part of my epic fortune-"
Ermes kept on punching a whole lot of bats that were trying to stick to her with her own stand, Kiss, and she shook them all off with only a few strong punches.
"Bitch-ass bats."
"Ermes, you've got 15th! It's down to Sakura and the girl's who stealing my rubies."
Ermes smiled.
"Personally, gimme that [shaft, but you deserve to have your stuff stolen-"
"ENOUGH ALREADY!"
*Ermes' confessional*
"Where the hell is Ashido and can she give me some of those? Gonna need some of them to get out
*Confessional cut*
Ashido's elevator trip actually ended up in a weird pit that was actually unfinished and also happened to be-
"Hi, Ashido, I'm not letting you win!"
-where Sakura got herded to by a bunch of bats and there was all sorts of construction chicanery that was deliberately left in, steel walls left uncovered and rocks left strewn in the sizable pit.
Ashido and Sakura were looking at each other as they were jumping all across the construction site.
"Can you slow down for me, you don't need the money!" Ashido shouted.
Sakura kept on sprinting.
"Not really, I've got a few people that need it more than me!" Sakura replied.
These two were not letting up, even as they jumped off a crane that just so happened to be situated perfectly to be jumped off and both of the girls rolled onto the ground.
There was only a few temporary steel flight of stairs between safety, elimination, the two teens not letting up on each other in any way and they both made it back to the surface.
Ashido tried to use her acid to skate through the snow, but combine that with the rubies that she somehow carried to the end, it did not end well for her or a random tree.
She slipped into the tree, the rubies flew up into the air and those rubies were definitely caught, but Sakura won out in the end with quite the perplexed look.
"And Sakura takes 16th place! Mina Ashido, your butt is out of the competition!" Chris announced. "Also, those rubies are not quite yours."
"I mean, they are not exactly yours either, but no-one's questioning you." Chef got a glare from Chris.
Ashido finally got the finish line.
"Well, I did last longer than Monoma...which kinda sucks that I think about it." She lamented. "I will miss a lot of you guys! Minus those villains who are doing bad things!"
"Whoa, whoa, it's not that serious. You actually did pretty good!" Sakura patted her friend on the back. "Plus those bad guys aren't on top of anymore!"
"It's okay, I was talking about Ermes."
"Yeah-what?"
Sakura was confused by the stray.
*Ermes' confessional*
"Not gonna lie, MK actually plays the game. I don't know what the hell your problem was with me!" Ermes complained. "Maybe you're just salty."
*Confessional cut*
Ashido technically got a goodbye party and the emphasis was on "technically" because the girls were obviously not a united front and the guys much more so.
"Does this count as a celebration party?" Sakura asked.
"It's the merge, this absolutely counts!" Ashido shouted.
It was a whole mess in the cafeteria, Joe and Robotnik were having a brawl, Bowser was seething at Mamizou's success, Ermes just shaking her head at the celebration girl, Emma and Sticks had gotten blown up by something and a whole lot more was happening that I don't care to elaborate about.
The remaining contestants were not in.
"Because it seems like everyone's mad and wants to go to war with each other." Sakura stated. "And the rest are not staying here!"
"Come on, everyone's at least here for me!" Ashido said.
"Yeah, that's not really it. The author just wanted to extend the chapter for no reason and we got blown up!" Sticks shouted. "At least we can fight the robo-apocalypse together!"
"What did I do this time, actually?!" Android 21 was being held up.
Life was confusing and I unfortunately don't have a good way of ending this chapter.
...
...
...
Ashido walked down the pier that at least 30 other contestants had walked down in a so-called "reboot" and this wintry madness and she looked around the place.
"You know, I made it to the merge and I did okay! That's all that matters!" Ashido kept her attitude up. "I'm gonna miss most of the guys that left."
*Ashido's confessional*
"Uraraka told me that you kinda don't need a strategy and I didn't need a strategy, but someone had to go for this challenge and it just happened to be me! Wow, I actually miss UA, but all of the schoolwork? Well, I'm gonna be stuck inside forever!"
She just sighed.
"I wonder what's happening back home."
*Confessional cut*
Ashido got picked up by the suitcase and she kept on carrying it.
"Well, I might actually miss her if she didn't take the rubies-"
Chef ran up to the host with the most with quite the tense attitude.
"She might have taken some rubies." Chef whispered.
"Then I will NOT miss her at all, SHE took part of my small fortune and NEXT EPISODE, the challenge will be a little bit more painful for those Winter Warriors!"
Chris composed himself, as Chef pointed to a filming camera.
"On TOTAL DRAMA X: WINTER WARRIORS!"
To be continued in Episode 19, which does involve some cannon action because Chris is a madman, even if they don't shoot cannonballs and moreso act like your average on rails shooter.
No seriously, there's pain, shooting and probably an robot made out of an Xbox.
Not gonna lie, Ashido is both really lucky to make it this far and really unlucky to not make to the top 6 considering her social skills and incredibly strong powers. That being said, she is just TDI Lindsay with the ability to shoot acid, she was bound to get carried wherever by social ability, villains shooting bigger targets or being pretty nice, so she ain't gonna last long in this kind of merge.
Wherever it's Tengen getting the info advantage, Emma finally doing something according to a Romanian dude, Spider-Punk and Sticks doing anarchist things like getting milk or Joe and Robotnik doing it like Drake and Kendrick, she got left by the wayside.
Even writing wise, but don't worry about it.