Total Drama X: Winter Warriors
Episode 19: Cannon-nicity Implied
Do you want to see people get shot out of cannons in a challenge that may be a mix of at least two challenges from the reboot and somewhere else?
Well, actually yeah, although thanks to some parachute, it's not going to be the easiest to achieve thanks to some rings, a few flying robots and everyone willing to throw down with each other!
Chris would love that especially after getting embarrassed by the old man and getting some stuff stolen by alien Lindsay that can shoot acid and also expect more Chef.
"Last time on Total Drama X, Joe was in the middle of enacting his revenge on Robotnik and the rest of the campers watched. The villainous guys' alliance somehow was surprised, but they tried to keep their next strategy simple with a random map and the rest of the cast were doing their own stuff, including Ken figuring that his girlfriend might be acting a little evil!"
"Onto the challenge, which was just these 16 warriors climbing up from the bottom of that same ice cold cave that has a bajillion traps, leading to many hilarious bails, falls and even a legal climb! For some reason, probably spite, Tengen and Mamizou both won their still unrevealed special prizes and because she went in many circles and saw fake gems, Ashido got booted, no votes, just the drone! Yeah, those were indeed fake, totally not REAL GEMS and the 15 on TOTAL DRAMA X: WINTER WARRIORS!"
Ashido wasn't killed last round, she was murdered by being really bad at the previous challenge and an obvious target for a surprising amount of people, which got some of the other ladies bugging because this is the merge and you shouldn't really chill at all.
"What the hell was that elimination even about?" Ermes asked nobody in particular.
"I don't actually know, but she did get last place in the race, nothin' we could do about it." Joe remarked. "Beat her with the wheelchair."
"You can say that stuff again, she got her ass whooped basically."
"Yep. Is it weird that we're talking like you're not a prisoner and I'm not a cop."
"Yeah, not my problem."
Joe and Ermes scooted far away from each other, even far enough to even budge and nudge a very much conflicted android and her literal boy toy by accident.
"Hey, watch where you're-Oh, it's you!" Android 21 was just surprised.
"Yeah, it's me, bitch. What's your problem?" Ermes said.
"I do not know what your problem is, but I'd suggested you don't make it my problem."
"Sorry, just wanted to sit away from a cop and the other cop!"
Android 21 just blinked in surprised, mostly because she was mostly fine sitting with Undyne in all those team challenges, but the android had better things to worry.
Mostly because Ken wasn't really that interested in her anymore.
"So, what about him?" Ermes asked. "He doesn't like you being evil?"
"I don't know if I would call it that, but essentially yes." 21 stated. "But this is the merge, I can't afford to be nice or the team mom!"
"You make it sound like you're naturally a bitch."
"That is somewhat true, comparative speaking. I'm a scientist by trade and one whose science is combat, I cannot help when my fight instincts kick in."
Ramona slinked right into the conversation, as the two mean ladies were having their talk.
"Damn, you're the same as me. When you cause problems with me, you're gonna get hit!"
Sticks, Emma and Spider-Punk were somehow together in the same kind of area and this time, they were not going to talk about their usual things.
"What just because of Discord? The place where you can say whatever you want!" Sticks shouted, hoping that her wall break got ignored. "Sorry, where was we?"
"Oh yeah, okay, so I was just trying to get a kebab and as an guy who doesn't like fascism, the whole squad of pigs were after me, full on riot gear and batons! The lot weren't having it, like they were packing mad heat and I was just flipped over them, webbed them up and I just booked it. Kebab probably sucked, but anything would taste good when the cops can't taste it!" Spider-Punk retold his half of the story.
"No way, they don't even deliver?!"
"Uh, yeah, they do deliver. Unfortunately I'm on a watchlist for being a hater, so got delivered a few bombs instead, kicked 'em outta my face!"
Sticks and Emma were a little surprised.
"I'm not surprised why you like him so much." Emma chuckled. "So, uh, how about those votes?"
They all got serious.
"No way that this goes to automatic elimination, which I'm already tired of. When can I turn this Robotnik guy into a egg man!" Sticks ranted. "Oh, much better, just an egg!"
"Yeah, he sucks and he keeps on doing bad stuff, but I don't think turning him into an egg would help." Emma feebly countered.
"I KNOW, BUT I'M SO MAD THAT I COULD PROBABLY DO AND HE'LL RECOVER NEXT WEEK!"
Emma looked a little disturbed, as Spider-Punk was keeping it silent.
"The automatic elimination really did affect you, didn't it."
"Yeah."
*Spider-Punk's confessional*
"The only reason why I ain't saying is because as much as I don't want to think about it, those wannabe badman probably have idols stocked up on dem."
He had a think about it.
"When has it stopped me from spreading knowledge?!"
*Confessional cut*
Then the conversation went quiet.
"You know, mans got idols, enough to essentially expose ourselves." Spider-Punk said. "I bet those guys are thinking of that."
"Uh, obviously, they're smart and evil. What else are they supposed to do?" Sticks asked. "Plus, uhhhh, I got nothing."
"There's no rule against using multiple idols at once and if those guys think we're all united voting against one person? Any of the good guys could go home." Emma kinda explained. "It kinda sucks that the bad guys have us like this."
"And I bet they're watching us with some drone." Sticks made a quip.
Emma and Spider-Punk just got a spark of an idea.
"You're not gonna say something funny or what?"
...
Robotnik was watching through a "definitely not stolen" monitor, one of his smaller sentries that were doing their business keeping watching on the anti-government trio.
Bowser and Ratigan were both ready to snap for the same reason that Robotnik was keeping watch, the merge tends to create alliances that wouldn't normally form otherwise.
"Hold on, do you think you could ever see Tengen?" Bowser asked.
"He is a ninja with three wives, a man with those skills and that much motivation would be impossible to catch!" Robotnik shouted. "And Ratigan, a ninja is someone that specialises in stealth in Japanese."
"Yeah, I think he gets it."
Ratigan was quietly thinking about it.
"I already knew about such a concept!" Ratigan unconvincingly answered. "This is just a distraction from our talks of strategy, about how Tengen and Mamizou should be our next targets!"
"Those two beat almost everyone, I don't see a reason for not taking it easy on Joe and letting us get an easier win." Bowser said. "Plus Joe and Undyne are probably organizing an all-star cast of people against us."
"Yeah, yeah, of course, but Joe embarrassed my reputation!" Robotnik shouted. "As a man of science and robotics, that is much more problematic to us than those two currently! And the likelihood that we'd be able to get Tengen is very unlikely."
"So, Joe and Mamizou's the play?" Bowser said.
"Yes, I don't see the problem?" Robotnik said. "Joe is very capable of doing ludicrous things in a wheelchair and Mamizou has a reputational hurdle that could work against us!"
Ratigan thought about it for a few seconds.
"A little pedestrian, even if it is currently the best move that we could do. Undyne will come next, right?"
"Pffft, obviously!" Robotnik said.
"Campers, you better get ready for today's great challenge! No matter what, it's gonna be cannon!"
*Ratigan's confessional*
He was rubbing his head in a comical fashion over a very real frustration.
"The real problem to a criminal genius such as me is having to avoid putting obvious targets for elimination because of my two other alliance partners. Knowing that they'll send me out instantly does make my frustration obvious!" He seethed.
*Tengen's confessional*
He thought about it.
"As much as I want to warn Mamizou, she did dig herself into the hole's she now in and a lot of the players that I'm allied to are doing pretty good. Just gonna need to give one cop an idol!" He had a confident smile on his face. "Coming from the God of Festivals, that's going to be easy."
*Confessional cut*
There was a pit and above it a platform a human-sized cannon and a decent amount of volleyballs, way more than enough for what the logical challenge would have been.
The pit had snow and mattresses that represented the target rings by the way.
"Campers, your next challenge is kinda simple by this island's standards. Basically, all you have to do is shoot yourself into the pit to earn your bucket and the closer to the centre, the better! The outer ring only gives you a small bucket, the middle ring gives you the medium bucket and if you hit the bullseye, you get a big bucket! You miss all of the rings, you get no bucket, which matters!"
The contestants may have had questions a month ago or ten episodes ago, but a lot of them were worn down by the constant consistent danger.
"How is this safe?" Undyne asked.
"Helmets, that's how! The interns only got slight concussions, which is kinda dissapointing, but the next part kinda makes up for it. Kinda!"
"You shouldn't have asked, dumbass." Ermes called out, which prompted an eyeroll.
All of the remaining players got their helmets slammed on.
"Alright, you guys are going in the same order as you finished the last challenge, so Tengen, get in the thing!"
"Way ahead of you, Host with the Most!"
Tengen was already in the cannon, deflating Chris' energy and he was completely blind to why he just did that and he tried to jiggle out of the cannon's barrel.
"Don't forget to aim, it will help you!" Chris sarcastically shouted.
The ninja got blown slightly downwards, making sure that he could use his skills to control his descent and he actually did a flip to figure out what he was gonna do.
Land with his feet in the outer ring.
"And you earned this small bucket! Mamizou, aim the cannon."
She rotated, turned and shifted the thing around until she found her appropriate angle, getting into the cannon quickly.
"I have actually done worse-"
No matter what, she got shot out to land in the middle ring and it earned a decently-sized bucket that was a little unwieldy to carry, but just about the right size.
"Next, Spider-Punk!"
He just hopped in the cannon and manage to fire it off himself somehow, literally flying in the same trajectory...right before using his web to slam down in the bullseye.
"Oi oi."
He got thrown a whole giant basket that he could still carry.
"WHAT, he can't do that [short]!" Ermes screamed.
"Yeah, what the hell was that?!" Undyne also complained.
"Sorry, but you can use your powers if you can even do that. Sticks, be ready!"
She easily used the thing, but not exactly in a delicate fashion, swinging it around and shifting before hopping in.
"If I die, carry my legacy of-"
She got blown into the middle ring, face down and the bucket landed on top of her.
"And she gets her bucket! Joe, how are we gonna do this?" Chris continued like he wasn't asking an important question.
"Do you even need to answer?"
Chris looked at Joe and the wheelchair cop reciprocated the feeling back.
"WOOOOO!"
Joe landed in the bullseye.
"I don't like that I'm with the anarchist, but-"
"Undyne!"
Undyne tried to turn it leftwards and unsurprisingly, only got a medium bucket.
"Robotnik, are you gonna join the crowd?"
"I don't need to, I've already calculated my angle." Robotnik was already staring down the hole.
Robotnik joined the bullseye duo with ease.
"Aurgh." He squeaked out, flat in the middle.
"Umm, Puss, are you ready for this?"
"I am always ready for a good stunt!"
Puss only landed in the outside, in trying to figure out the right angle and his boots were on the ground.
"Huh, I guess you always land the right side up!" Emma joked.
"Orphan Emma, I feel guilty." Chris' just piped up.
"You should!"
*Ramona's confessional*
"Chris is messed up for picking up a 13 year old orphan for this show. Not like I'm that much better, but you know, it's stupid!"
*Confessional cut*
The kid orphan tried to push the cannon to the right, but it ended up being a little too low to properly shoot and uh, it actually went pretty well.
She gained the middle bucket.
"Ratigan, are you good?"
"Not particularly." Ratigan said.
"Listen, rat guy, there's always a first for everything-"
"SHUT UP!"
Due to his rage, he was seething inside the cannon that was definitely aimed wrong and he landed in the-
"Outside! Sorry, but you're going to rely on your own hands! Bowser, are you up for it?"
"More than Mario that's for sure!" Bowser declared. "Please see me, Peach."
"Enough of that junk, she doesn't want you." Android 21 snapped. "Creep."
"Oh yeah, she can see this!"
Bowser dug himself into the bullseye, earning a bucket that he could easily carry.
*Bowser's confessional*
He had a simple sneer.
"I'm about to win that immunity and help Robotnik along the way! Ratigan's chances are pretty nice as long as he doesn't make anyone mad."
*Confessional cut*
"Android 21, no flying."
"That's understandable."
She got shot out and still managed to slot right into the bullseye, earning the biggest bucket.
"Just Ken, the dude who likes me!"
"Uhhh, sure, man." Ken wasn't sure about that.
He was sure about not having any bucket because he landed way off the mark, even if he didn't land that badly.
"No bucket, blonde man! Ramona, you're gonna join your co-patriots?"
Ramona definitely noticed the fact that everyone was watching.
"Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?"
She went flying straight and it was almost right into the wall, before she actually bounced off it and then landed in the outer ring.
"Ermes, some people think you should be shot out of the cannon."
"Some of them should have been acting better than that." She referred, angling the cannon properly.
Her stand Kiss helped to basically fly into the middle in ways that got a lot of people looking at her worsel.
"And finally, last and almost least, Sakura!"
"...Hold on, is this a fun challenge?" Sakura genuinely questioned.
"Maaaaybe."
Sakura aimed her cannon and missed all of the rings.
Almost all of the rings.
"And Sakura has the small bucket, but it's better than nothing! Trust me, you're gonna need to carry these, meanwhile you'll have some time to yourselves!"
The two hosts were back in action, still at the top of the massive pit with something interesting lined up for the 16 remaining players that were stuck inside said pit.
Joe's wheelchair got set down.
"Okay, no more funny business, why the buckets?!" Sticks demanded.
"And why is the cannon still up there?" Ermes shouted.
Chris and Chef were chuckling up on the platform, as they had a special announcement.
"Now here's part two! Balls."
Sticks tried to not chuckle and Ken failed at holding in his feelings.
"Wow, that was funny!" Ken exclaimed.
"Haha, you're going to wish that you didn't laugh! Yes, Chef and a colourful assortment of animals from the last challenge are going to rain down balls upon you for one awesome reason!"
The walls of the pit opened up to reveal baskets that had chutes for the balls to actually be inserted, somehow looking like a hastily made contraption for an legally questionable arcade.
Also, they were each positioned to be as far away as possible.
"These baskets are your key to actual victory, as all you need to do is put the balls into these six baskets. The only problem is that you're not only fighting each other, but really annoying robot raccoons and for the record, the interns still survived this one! Just not as strong."
Ristarte and Tohru were just watching the rest of the random animated teens sit down on the medical beds inside of the special tent.
"Simply put, you're going to need to brave the pain, the attacks and the drops to get as many random balls as possible to get immunity! Only the top 2 are safe from tonight's campfire ceremony and the bottom 2 have to share the pain of the penalty vote! You do not want to have an extra vote against you!"
A lot of gasps could be heard, as Sakura shook her head.
"Besides tonight's a double elimination. For real!"
More gasps.
*Sakura's confessional*
She sighed happily.
"I guess the third time's the charm! Still doubt that Chris can make this challenge unfun, I'm collecting balls-
*Robotnik's confessional*
"As far as I know, Agent Stone told me that whoever gains the penalty vote does not tend to last long. Even if there wasn't much strategy to Ultimate Islands most of the time." He looked reasonably worried. "Oh, to lack any machines!"
*Confessional cut*
"This is the lamest challenge you, how is this even good-"
Ramona got hit by the basketball cannon twice.
"You warriors have already started, no MOVE IT!" Chef called out.
Basketballs were cascading down like hailstones and also were hitting like them, at Chef's behest.
"OH GOD!" Joe basically blocked the basket-storm with his bucket. "What the hell is this?"
"Eh, it's something terrible, don't worry about it." Ramona managed to grasp hers easily.
Ramona picked up as many basketballs as the basket could really carry, but the basket basically filled itself with balls that had some notable velocity and one even managed to hit her again.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no."
Joe, in comparison, was making light work of it, his wheelchair actually deflecting the balls without that much of a sweat and he finally managed to grab at least two.
"Suck on these!"
His bucket was easily equipped to get random basketballs that could easily fit inside it, though the wheelchair actually made it a little awkward to actually collect an substanial amount of balls.
Spider-Punk literally had the exact opposite situation, trying to dodge a few swings from the angry rat that wasn't interested in being friends.
"Bruh, I don't give a scooby that you're losing." Hobie weaved around the rat's swings.
His British enemy was actually doing something quite impressive, while the anti-authority hero was deftly getting around the cane swing, the balls were indeed being missed.
Spider-Punk could only use his webs to carry some of the balls, but he was seeing Bowser just carry his first load all of the way into one of the baskets.
"Bowser's got his first drop of 6 balls and he's back out there just like that! Undyne only has 3 points, but they're on a collision course with each other!"
Emma had a whole different plan, having a very cheeky smile and looking very...battered while standing on the edges of the pit where balls were still dropping.
*Emma's confessional*
She looked quite happy.
"I'm going to win the challenge to support my alliance and you know, kick out those bad guys with strategy and my hands and a bucket!"
She was struggling to handle it properly.
*Confessional cut*
The orphan was actually scoring a few consistent balls by avoiding the fray that was happening in the center that practically involved half of the cast for obvious reasons.
"Hey, Sticks, do you think they're going to win?" Emma asked.
"Nah, we're all dealing with the mind control of Total Drama."
Emma was gobsmacked by the answer.
"Uh, okay?"
"Just wanted to drop the truth on ya."
Sticks then dumped her bunch of basketballs.
"Sticks got 4 points away from everyone having a basket-brawl right in the middle!" Chris announced. "And it's gonna get a little bit worse, for the cold campers anyways."
Joe and Robotnik were just one small part of it, Joe trying to not get hit by the bucket and Robotnik actually managed to getting run over by his former copatriot.
Bowser, for obvious reasons, was throwing down with Undyne, the two of them using their fire and spear to cause each other trouble and there was the aforementioned Ratigan and Spider-Punk's battle for the top Londoner and uhhhhh.
Ramona, Android 21 and Ermes somehow got pulled into the nine-way brawl and there was plenty of dropped balls that the rest were picking up with ease.
"What's up with your girlfriend, she's fighting for no reason?" Sakura asked.
"Uhhh, she's definitely fine, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Ken called out, using some accidental sarcasm.
"Oh yeah, she turned evil."
"No way, she did not turn evil."
These two were now carrying as much as they could take and were on the same path.
"Come on, if you don't wanna talk then just take a different path!" Sakura called out.
"Yeah, I will!"
Ken looked to his right and saw Tengen do his usual thing of making the challenge so easy that he probably would have broken a scale.
"I'm going over there!"
*Sakura's confessional*
"Man, it feels good to not get crushed by people who are pure evil. Just getting crushed by Chris, which is different, trust me." She mused. "Maybe because I don't have to sleep with him-"
*Confessional cut*
Tengen and Mamizou were settling their own battle, one using their own strength to make the many basketballs an easy catch and the latter using some of that "rock technology" to do a little trickery.
Mostly because the very old tanuki knew someone that might fall for such things in a rush, but partially because she could see something in an old friend that wasn't working out too well.
Android 21 sped right past her, affected by her cells.
"It's sad to see someone lose their way." Mamizou said.
"Do not talk condescendingly to me, someone who knows my body the best." Android 21 commanded.
"Ah, you know what it is that causes your nature to flip."
"Yes, I do, getoutofmyway!"
Mamizou blocked the android's energy ball like it wasn't a problem.
"If you don't get out of my way, the balls get it." Android 21 clarified.
Tengen quite literally slipped right into her and recovered quite simply, stealing a few balls along the way.
"Thank you for the basketballs." Tengen said. "I wasn't interruptting something, wasn't I?"
"Nope." Mamizou smugly replied.
Tengen just went on his merry way, as the two ladies got ready to tango.
"Uh oh, the two most powerful women are about to give each other a beatdown!"
That announcement couldn't be more clear to the rest of the cast, Sakura now trying to dodge some "special" stuff along with Undyne, almost getting a beach ball slammed down on her.
"Whoa, that actually look like it'd hurt!" Sakura gasped.
"Geez, you don't need to tell me." Undyne said. "Real talk, what's up with you?"
"Uh, same thing you're doing, trying to avoid rocks."
"No, I mean outside of the game. I've barely heard about it!"
Sakura and Undyne almost managed to get hit by a dunked basketball and they noticed there was no dunk.
"Talk to ya later when I'm not getting-"
Sakura just barely managed to parry a gold basketball and had to look up at the hosts who were about to announce something special in a very good way that totally didn't disrupt the game.
"Listen up, dudes, there's gold basketballs coming down that are triple the points, but they're just a little bit bigger. Just to mess with ya baskets."
These two picked up two gold ones and instantly got a more than a few of the competitors buzzing around their side of the quarry-shaped circle, starting to sprint together.
"Man, why did ya even sign up for this show?!" Undyne asked.
"I wonder how I'd do in the challenges and Dan told me to be ready for everyone else to be a challenge!" Sakura answered.
Sakura and Undyne jumped over Bowser doing an impressive dropkick.
"Can't believe I was surprised by this."
"That's awesome! Papyrus sent me a invite my way and I thought that my future wife would love to see me here!"
Sakura and Undyne dunked their balls into one of the buckets.
"Sakura got 4 points with the gold and Undyne got 12 more! Power of the gold basketballs by the way."
These two looked at each other quite seriously and realised that they were indeed, all out of options.
*Sakura's confessional*
"Just wanted to talk because we were on the same team and we really don't know that much about each other! Wasn't expecting to be in the middle of a war!"
*Confessional cut*
Spider-Punk, Emma and Sticks were all fighting a fight of their own, which was surprisingly unrelated to the epic showdown that was still happening in the middle.
We should get to that, huh?
"What the hell is your dang problem?" Joe shouted. "Aside from me having a wife."
"Really, I just want to beat you and rub the money in your face with my robots. And then make my own empire." Robotnik replied, having a few balls being carried by a sentry or two.
"Yeah, I'm not letting that happen on my watch!"
"Watch me from your world, then."
These two were having a little bit of a brawl, as Bowser was watching some balls slip away from his fellow antagonists while only grabbing some of his own.
*Bowser's confessional*
He was steaming.
"Uh, HELLO, we need to win, because everyone's gonna be on MY butt when YOU love, Robotnik! Doubt it's even a strategy thing now!"
*Confessional cut*
Bowser did manage to slap Puss, but somehow not get anything out of it.
"Don't worry, Senor Bowser, I won't go down without a fight!" Puss called out, making shots like it was nothing.
"Nah, I got something much better." Bowser shrugged, collecting balls like it was nobody's business. "What you got?"
Puss didn't want to dignify the shelled bully with an answer, as he kept on collecting those balls with only his bare claws...and tried to keep on hooping to no avail.
The two most powerful ladies were kinda going at it in the most creative way, which was definitely not breaking the challenge in creative ways.
"How about a little bit of this?" Mamizou suggested, creating a field that sent many balls into her basket.
"Really, I could easily raise those numbers through simpler, less incredulous means." Android 21 had a basketball and threw in the basket.
"Okay, I finally got this thing turned on, it was not broken, if that's what you're asking!"
Tengen Uzui: 51 points
Android 21: 47 points
Bowser: 46 points
Spider-Punk: 42 points
Mamizou: 40 points
Ermes: 38 points
Undyne: 35 points
Sticks: 31 points
Sakura: 29 points
Robotnik: 28 points
Orphan Emma: 26 points
Joe Swanson: 18 points
Puss In Boots: 14 points
Ramona: 11 points
Just Ken: 9 points
Ratigan: 8 points
"You guys are halfway through this challenge and I just wanted to show you that because it'd be cool to see some more fighting, okay?"
That was the score mid-game and it entirely changed the dynamic of the challenge to some people, which were not many.
"So keep on getting some web balls, a'ight?" Spider-Punk asked. "That's what happening here."
"Yeah, I would help myself to some, but uh, I don't want to die from falling over and getting hit with those basketballs." Emma innocently asked. "This isn't fun, right?"
"Nope."
"Good."
*Ratigan's confessional*
He was disheartened and might have been a teensy bit mad.
"I am behind some doll with blonde hair, horrid fashion sense and an impressively indistinct look despite his generally attractive demeanour. Oh, how I hope that the next challenge is not made to spite me!"
*Confessional cut*
Joe and Robotnik stopped brawling once they both realised that they could be out of the immunity zone, both of them leaving each other's grasp to actually do the challenge.
"Watch yourself, Robotnik."
"Much obliged, Mr. Swanson."
These two were on each other's warpath, noticing that Tengen was going pretty fast despite her lacklustre bucket and Android 21 was pulling a pro-gamer move.
Using her beams.
*Joe's confessional*
He sighed.
"The only superpower I've got is making my wife happy in bed, which involves a lot of cuddling. I'm making damn sure that my game doesn't end here, I've got stuff to do with that cash!"
*Confessional cut*
Joe wheeled faster than ever, purely willing to take down whoever else to get some more basketballs in his quite sizable bucket and take down he did, Sticks finally getting her first smack on the night.
"Why are you going wild today?" Sticks asked.
"You know the answer, just let me go."
Sticks blocked his way with only a stick, but Joe swatted like it was nothing.
"What the hell's up with ya?!"
Joe got way more points from his basket dunk.
"Nothing personal, just trying to do the same thing and Robotnik's an ass."
Sticks rolled her eyes, as the wheelchair cop left her in the dust.
Spider-Punk looked at her, as he was dumping some more balls into the basket.
"Man, this challenge is making us act like we're in a rat race." He observed the sheer chaos of this challenge.
Android 21 and Mamizou were going stupid power for stupid power, as the android actually got pinned down by a giant teapot courtesy of the morally questionable bake-danuki.
Sakura and Ermes were going fist-to-fist for reasons that were almost beyond them, although Ramona was quickly trying to catch as many balls as she could with that small bucket.
Meanwhile, he was snatching balls like a spider could.
"Yeah." Sticks commented. "Joe fights like he's in line for concert tickets."
"Oh man, that is very true!" Spider-Punk winced.
Joe wheelchair charged Ratigan for no gain, but he felt good doing it and as for Robotnik, he had much more creative methods for gathering balls that might have been illegal.
And also reminded the watching duo of Dr. Octopus if he actually exercised.
*Bowser's confessional*
He had a good smile.
"All I'm saying is I like the fact that everyone's trying to get on my level. Too bad you don't mess with the king and his fellow alliance partners!"
*Confessional cut*
Ramona dumped more balls into the basket, but she saw that Robotnik was doing a very questionable move and decided to take some more action.
"Hey, wise guy!"
She got the attention of the showy scientist, who scoring quite a few points at a decent pace and that was despite the fact that she couldn't really been seen anymore.
Robotnik rotated around his view, seeingly everyone but the mysterious New York transplant doing their battle and Ermes looked quite surprised at her alliance partner's disappearance and even more so at a door that appeared above the bald scientist.
The door opened and out came that now teal and red-haired Ramona with that hammer that knocked out the evil scientist.
"Geez, that was insane!" Ramona called out. "I'd thought I'd only hurt him."
"Listen, Ramona, he deserved that. [A-hole] tried to take over the world with some mustache machine." Ermes commented. "Now let's beat him at least."
Undyne looked quite concerned about her enemy's state, as did Ramona.
"Why are you worried, he actually survived way worse." Ermes bluntly said, causing Sakura to glance at her.
*Undyne's confessional*
"Even when us monsters weren't exactly big fans of humans for oppressing ladies like me, that would have been brutal. Sick moves, Ramona."
*Confessional cut*
Orphan Emma was in the corner trying her best to not get hit by any stray attacks, Sticks actually helping her out with only her natural tools (and boomerang) and Spider-Punk wasn't bowing down to the establishment (by grabbing balls with webs.)
The now three-person alliance was indeed working together to bring a little area of peace inside a pit of chaos and destruction, mostly borne by Bowser throwing Ken and stealing his balls.
"Ouch, what did I ever do to you aside from good fashion choices?" Ken asked.
"Nothing, just getting my victory!"
Bowser laughed as he ran away to take Ken's extra balls.
"Ten minutes left and you know what, I'm feeling extra generous today. Here's a little bit of a surprise that you won't be excited for!"
"What kind of surprise would it be?" Robotnik, who had finally woken up, questioned.
"If I had to guess another of those ingenious robotic animals to cause a little bit of trouble." Ratigan drawled. "Can I get the schematics for those things?"
"Yep, but-"
A few robot cassowaries popped up.
"-do you want to tussle with these for the deets?"
"I'll find other ways for peering into these machines." Ratigan surmised grumpily. "Help an alliance partner out, Robotnik!"
"I would, but a win from Bowser or me would actually help you out." Robotnik vaguely answered.
Ratigan could only walk away in anger, avoiding a cassowary.
Android 21 and Mamizou looked at the familiar and misplaced robotic bird without that much dread, sending one down to the Robotic Shadow Realm with a beam swipe.
"Now, where were we?" Mamizou slyly remarked. "Oh yes, making that your victory is much harder to obtain."
"I'd figured that you would run interference against me, but why?" 21 spat.
"Because of your condition."
"I told that I have everything under CONTROL!"
The two most powerful contestants were going spell-to-beam with each other, keeping their distance while absolutely blasting their opponents with energy that popped more than a few balls.
Meanwhile, for reasons that were beyond her, Emma rode the cassowary to surprisingly great results which could definitely not be said for everyone else.
Ken looked at the flightless Austrailian bird with a little bit of hesitation, but that bird ended up grabbing him by the winter pants to lay the literal beak smackdown upon him.
Joe was wheeling away from another one, carrying his ball and trying a little something with it.
Too bad it pushed him into another cassowary and he was getting ping-ponged all around.
Emma was catching so many balls, by the way.
*Orphan Emma's confessional*
She had a nervous smile.
"It feels nice to have a little bit of mercy for once! Plus the bird is cute, but it's not as cute when it's trying to hurt my friends and former teammates."
*Confessional cut*
She visibly tried to stop her from giving Undyne some good exercise.
"Stop, weird-looking bird!" Emma called out. "STOP, PLEASE!"
"Emma, how are you even riding those things!" Undyne was both impressed and fearful.
"I don't know, but I don't want to murder you!" Emma commanded. "Stop, cassowary-esque bird!"
Undyne then turned around to see that the bird slid to a stop, anticipating its next move with her spear and Emma wisely hopped off the bird.
"Sorry, Mr. Cassowary, but you cannot murder my friends."
"Aww, Emma, I'm about to make mince metal outta this FLIGHTLESS LOSER!"
"You got thirty seconds left, guys, make the baskets count!"
Emma sprinted away, as she got stepped on by another Cassowary.
Meanwhile, Undyne managed to jump into the air with one sick backflip that almost got Emma's old cassowary robot to catch it, but it was no dice as the fish warrior decided to do a little poke.
Just kidding, the spear went all of the way through and hit the ground with enough force to stay up, leading to one massive explosion that shook the entire cast and made Undyne fall down from her great landing.
Balls were dropped, baskets were dropped and the campers dropped.
"HOLD UP!"
Everyone get back up, minus Tengen and they recovered for a second before starting to run again-
"AND TIME!"
"I thought this was fun!" Sakura shouted.
"Hey, it's fun to watch from a comfortable place, that I can admit!"
Sakura saw a cassowary walk by and pick up a ball like it actually cared about her and it even gave her the puppy eyes.
Right before she kicked the ball off and the bird saddened to go along with its mechanical brethren.
*Ratigan's confessional*
His suit was torn in a few places.
"Those accursed things should be under my control! Me! I wouldn't use them to put them onto unwilling participants in some boorish competition, rather something that has actual purpose."
He looked at the camera carefully and looked around the cabin.
"In things that I will not elaborate on."
*Confessional cut*
The 16 players were all lined up, looking bruised, beaten and their winter warrior clothing a little torn up from all of the kicks, punches and bird attacks that happened in the pit.
"Look, I know that this one was a little bit awesome. But it's not actually that surprising to see who won this challenge and the scoreboard should show it!"
The board came up and showed...nothing.
"Hold on, lemme do some troubleshootin'."
Chef just kicked it to reveal the points.
"Okay, there we go! Here's the rest of you guys!" Chris announced.
Android 21: 84 points
Mamizou: 82 points
Ermes: 78 points
Sticks: 71 points
Robotnik: 69 points
Undyne: 65 points
Orphan Emma: 66 points
Sakura: 59 points
Ramona: 50 points
Joe Swanson: 42 points
Puss In Boots: 34 points
Just Ken: 29 points
Ratigan: 22 points
"And the top three should be kinda obvious! In 3rd place, the ever loud, proud man of the people or whatever's going to call himself next week, Spider-Punk, who has 104 points!"
Spider-Punk looked a little shocked at his position, considering he mostly stayed out of the drama beatdown.
"Ay, big man looking like a hundred pointer out here."
"Enjoy 3rd place. Second place, with 119 points and charging past everyone in his way, it's the Koopa King, Bowser!" Chris announced. "You can give immunity to anyone below you and-"
"Ratigan gets it. Guy's tough, but this challenge was made to be against him!" Bowser declared.
Ratigan almost teared up, but he kept his composure.
"Thank you for the much appreciated gift." The rat thanked. "Look at me, winners."
"Tengen, you've literally won by 6 points, dude! Enjoy your immunity and your edible dish served by Chef himself, who's got a new show coming out!"
Tengen really appreciated the win.
"Here's to all of the flashy guys." He congratulated his friends. "Also, that was a real unflashy challenge, it nearly killed half of us."
"Well, campers, you guys are alive and well at least! By the way, Just Ken's got the penalty vote because he bombed this challenge."
"You're kinda evil." Sakura hissed. "What did Ken ever to do to you?"
"Thanks, I'm always trying my best and he'd be a great stylist obviously."
Ken beamed up, as 21 and Sakura stared right at the guy with some skepticism.
"Thanks, I'm doing it Ken-style!"
"He's not going to pay you much." 21 retorted.
"Hey, he'll be rewarded handsomely if he gets the job. Definitely, but see you people at the campfire!"
*Robotnik's confessional*
He was definitely worn out.
"I think I know how to put it on and I hope that his looks should be more than enough to send him home, but the question is which one should be booted." He mused.
*Spider-Punk's confessional*
"The man down the pub might not like this elimination. Sorry that I'm not voting out both morally dubious ladies of power."
He shook his head.
"Wait, man, I'm cooked!"
*Confessional cut*
The whole cast weren't exactly surprised that Tengen won the immunity, considering that he was a trained shinobi that had additional abilities that wiped the floor with everyone else.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up too much. You made a great attempt." Tengen stated. "You know for being an ass."
"I just wanted to win the challenge!" Joe complained. "Also, your fashion sense is terrible."
"Is it the nails?"
Joe looked way closer at them.
"Why are you wearing so many diamonds as a ninja?"
"Because I can, why do I need to answer you?" Tengen asked.
These two were together in a weirdly discreet place for one reason along with Puss, who was tagging along for the ride.
"Listen up, you two, those three manly villains are about to get real flashy with an idol in play and unless they've got some other plan, I'd suggest that you split your votes between Robotnik and Bowser, okay?" Tengen told them.
"Uh, thanks, but I've got a bigger worry. Those overpowered ladies could blow us all to kingdom come and I'm not interested in findin' out how." Joe disagreed.
"I'm with the ninja guy." Puss argued. "Those villains have gotten away with it for too long."
"Look, I'm going to defeat Robotnik man-to-man, you understand?"
"Uh, yeah, sure."
Puss and Tengen looked at each other with a little bit of worry, as Joe rolled away from the scene and then the cat hunter and flashy shinobi slowly walked away from each other, knowing that these villains had a good plan.
*Puss' confessional*
He stared right at the camera.
"I will not back down from voting for the robot guy and his evil turtle friend. Come for me if you dare!"
*Confessional cut*
Some distance away, the villainous duo of Robotnik and Ratigan had already set up in a classic tactic that had been done in some shows, but not this one.
"So, how do you think Bowser's doing at sowing seeds of doubt?" Robotnik asked.
"I'd argue that he would be perfect for it. He knows how to put on a show!" Ratigan exclaimed, laughing. "That will be good enough for him to survive tonight!"
"I agree on that front. Manipulating minds is still a tough job, no matter what it may be."
"Basil will be astounded by my performance and he'll show respect for me! I always put on a performance for him!"
Robotnik tried to not spill out his cup of warm coffee-like liquid, as his eyes widened and stay widened from the accidental admission.
"Ah, I miss home. Time to make my grand return!" Ratigan declared.
*Robotnik's confessional*
He looked disgusted.
"Come on, I've started my journey of seeing Mexican soap operas and I might be seeing a little too much into this. That's the start of a couple that will not last, Sonic loathes me, I despise the rodent and it'd be wrong to mess with it."
*Confessional cut*
Ermes found...a stack of random piece of paper in the middle of nowhere that just so happened to contain something that was a little insane.
"Gonna vote for the tanuki chick." Ermes said. "She betrayed me and is kind of a villain."
"Yeah, I'm with you there."
These two were carrying some pieces of paper, as the other ladies were just staring right at them for some reason.
"So, tell me what the hell this is."
"Oh, it's an flyer for...votes?" Sakura asked.
Most of the girls were at the cabin and were reading this short advert that was literally just "Please vote for Spider-Punk and Mamizou because they are major threats and could win the game quite easily. Especially the spider guy because he's ready to break the rules, do you want him to win?"
Everyone was agape at the sheer audacity at this thing.
"Look, there is no way that this should work." Ramona remarked. "This is an obvious tactic."
"Those guys know that we can't believe them. But at the same time..." Sakura went quiet.
"Hold up, what's going on?" Ken asked. "Did you guys make this?"
"No, dumbass, somebody dropped this out of nowhere." Ermes said. "And I'm not gonna lie, this thing is making great points."
Ken just shook his head at what kind of absurdity was happening.
*Joe's confessional*
He looked at the flyer.
"Yeah, this thing's not flying."
*Confessional cut*
Emma and Sticks were a little suspicious of the second-place guy for rightful reason and that popped up a little more so when a paper got dropped off by their alliance partner of all things.
"Who was that?" Emma asked.
"Somebody we shouldn't trust." Sticks shrugged. "Probably a telemarketer or an android friend."
"Hey, whoa, whoa, I just found this outside my cabin. No doubt it's suspicious activity going on!" Spider-Punk said. "Targetted harassment even."
"What do you mean targetted harrassment, I-"
The three of them opened their eyes in shock.
"-No way that somebody printed off that you should be off along with that young tanuki girl who speaks weird!"
"Yeah, mate, you two should be voting for Bowser. I'm gonna vote for the tanuki girl because she looks like some kind of 1 percent lady." Spider-Punk answered. "Plus she could blow us all to kingdom come!"
"And so could Bowser." Sticks said. "There is no way that his friends didn't print this, we should-"
The megaphone "woke up" to signal a very special announcement.
"Winter warriors, come to the campfire for your special double elimination." Chef announced. "Did that sound right?"
"Yeah-"
The megaphone cut off, as Emma and Sticks looked at their unfriendly neighbourhood Spider-Man with some sense of finality.
"Someone should tell the other players!" Emma shouted. "I can't see you go!"
"Listen, if they're going to vote me off, then let it happen." Spider-Punk told them. "These alliance guys know what's up."
"Yeah, I'll definitely miss-"
"I'LL FIGHT FOR YOU, COMRADE IN REALITY SHOW ARMS!" Sticks screamed, as Emma looked confused.
The campfire ceremony was a classic-
The 16 remaining players were enjoying the warm campfire that contrasted with the winter "wonderland" that Pahkitew Island had become and the fact that a few of the players were not ready for the cold.
"Alright, alright, time for yet another double elimination ceremony! Yes, Tengen and Ratigan are both immune despite their opposite places on the scoreboard!"
Tengen and Ratigan were smiling at their silver marshmallow.
"With that said, these votes won't be as surprising as you think, but that doesn't mean they're not interesting!"
When Chris beamed, a few people got the fear of drama put into them.
"Mamizou or whatever it is-"
"You actually got it right!"
"-people think you're mean and a little too strong, but is that reason enough?"
She had a very serious look on her face.
"Android 21, I'd say the same thing because it is actually the same thing, but some people think you've changed!"
"I cannot lie and say that I have stayed the same." 21 admitted shamefully. "But the game-"
"Spider-Punk! Your refuse to not mess with the game by being an anarchist, which some people think means you're playing a much better game than some!"
*Hobie's confessional*
"Bro, I'm asking that too! What kind of privlieged nonsense was that letter, it don't even make sense, I performed good in the challenge because I did it for Gwen, okay?"
He made a quick correction.
"Gwen's a friend down the pub, yeah!"
*Confessional cut*
...
"Joe Swanson!"
"Sticks!"
"Emma."
"Sakura."
"Undyne."
"Ramona!"
"Ermes!"
"Puss."
They joined Tengen and Ratigan in having their own marshmallow.
...
"Ken, you only had one vote and it's a penalty, enjoy it!"
...
"Android 21, you got two votes, but enjoy your marshmallow."
"That can't be good." 21 realised.
Tengen also realised it.
...
"Robotnik, you got three votes."
"Well, that's a nice 'mellow." Robotnik said.
...
"Bowser, Mamizou and Spider-Punk! One has three votes, one has four and the last one also has four and it's real missed up today!"
...
...
Bowser looked understandably smug.
Mamizou wasn't really satisified, moreso impressed.
"Screw this, man, those three played a mean game tonight." Spider-Punk spoke up.
"HEY, don't interrupt me."
...
...
...
"Bowser somehow only has three votes! Spider-Punk and Mamizou both share the four-point threshold, sending them to the Drone of Shame. Or Drones of Shame!"
There was a whole argument that was so furious and volatile that it could actually go to blow, but right now, there was yet another double elimination that was blowing up.
Spider-Punk had an idea, though.
"Hold up, some guy from another universe's messing with space and time. Man's gotta catch him!"
"Wha-"
He made his portal and hopped right in there, leaving Mamizou and Chris stunned.
"Yeah, he might not be coming back for next season. Mamizou, your time has come and I still have no idea why you're here!"
She casually waited for her drone.
"Because it is fun to cajole with the humans, even if most of them could be considered yokai or something similar in my world."
Mamizou casually rode her own drone.
*Spider-Punk's confessional*
By the way, he was chilling in the seat.
"Sometimes it feels like that it wasn't my game to win, even if I'd use it to give back to the community back in my home world, it ain't good for them there, yeah? Not a big fan of labels, you guys are gonna need sentences to describe my game! The alliance of men, they're on some real badman ting, okay?"
*Mamizou's confessional*
She was smoking in the confessional.
"I have learned a lot, I have done a lot and this place is definitely not a very good way of learning the behaviour of my human co-patriots. Nevertheless, this is a good way of figuring out how to deal with the more morally dubious people wherever I may travel..."
She blew something out.
"...but the seat of Sado Village is empty and others are trying to claim it, so I must return lest the whole yokai world get thrown into my dealings."
*Confessional cut*
"I would have a proper conclusion, but there is an absurd amount of drama behind me! There's gonna be much more of that on TOTAL DRAMA X: WINTER WARRIORS!"
To be continued in Episode 20, where there's going to be a little bit of love in the air once again thanks to the people that want themselves for Valentine's-OH DARN, IT'S GONNA BE OUT IN APRIL!
That being said, they will only either get their greatest sycophant, greatest rival, best friend or in rare cases, their actual wives or husbands to suffer through some insane challenge.
Chris really does have love for insane challenges doesn't he?
Speaking of odd choices, Spider-Punk wouldn't be your first pick for elimination despite the fact that I really like him and he has the skillset to absolutely make it to top 4 minimum. But he did get caught by being an obvious threat, even if it was due to shenanigans within a part of the game that arguably makes sense.
Mamizou's not that much of an add choice, considering that she's arguably the second most overpowered character, maybe the first and she hasn't been the most pleasant to be around, alliance status nonwithstanding.
An awkward choice and a not so awkward choice, which might be a good way to describe both roster choices.