Total Drama Guardian Dragon

by R0tatcid

22 teens went to distant Muskowka in Ontario, to the rundown summer camp of Wawanakwa to participate in the most absurd of reality shows, presented by the narcissist / indifferent Chris Maclain and his right hand Chef. Although besides them an ancient otherworldly presence from a forgotten era that has come out of hiding.

18. TDA Episode 4

Episode 4

Film set, night

Naruto returned from California with Kushina, Star and Marco riding on his back. He already gave the two kids a charm so that they wouldn't be recognized on national television. However, for some reason it didn't change their appearances in the eyes of everyone else. Regardless, he already started setting up what to do with Marco and Star once he arrived back at the set.

"I'm not even a contestant and this show is going to be a nightmare for me." Marco said.

"Don't worry about it, Marco. We've been through a lot of crazy stuff before." Star said, waving off his concern.

"Star, I just learned my ancestor is an apocalyptic dragon from a textbook from Mewni." Marco said.

"And the problem is?" Star asked, being ignorant.

Marco just sighed while Kushina giggled in the background while Naruto just sighed.

"Think of this as more of a training camp. Chris is already sadistic even without me providing him with resources." Naruto said.

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Marco replied.

"Get over it." Naruto said.

"Yeah Marco, stop complaining. Besides, I always wanted a break from Ludo." Star said.

Marco just sighed as he looked at the old abandoned set. He could then feel himself going through what felt like gelatin as they landed near the trailers.

"What was that?" Marco asked.

"It's a barrier, to keep out unwanted pests whether they are magical or not." Naruto answered.

"And it's my job to kick their asses if they somehow get through." Kushina said as she cracked her knuckles which made Marco nervous.

"Uh, okay, so where are we staying?" Marco asked.

"Tonight, I'll set up a room for you and the princess. You will be staying with the boys and girls in their respective trailers starting tomorrow." Naruto said before reverting to human form.

"That sounds fun." Star said.

"I guess so, it shouldn't be too different from high school." Marco said, knowing what crazy looks like.

Given that he's been around Star, Marco shouldn't worry about being around delinquents, nerds, pretty boys and large guys who fart too much. As for Star, her optimism might tell her to ignore Heather while just trying to maintain a strong friendship with Lindsay and the other girls who are only hostile when provoked.

"Well then, I'm going to bed. I'll see you two later." Kushina said as she yawned.

Before Marco could say his farewell, he was given a strong hug from Kushina that made him feel like he was being squeezed to death.

"Bye Grandson, bye Princess, bye Naruto!" Kushina said before leaving.

Marco then collapsed and let out a pain filled gasp. Leaving Naruto to drag him towards the room he will be staying at.

The next morning

Not that he needed much of a reason to do this but today was one of Chris' favorite movie genres. So he sounded a loud air horn and woke up everyone very early in the morning and earned Duncan's ire first.

"Again with the airhorn, Chris!?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah, can we not wake up like we're farmers!?" Leshawna asked as she came out of the girls trailer.

Chris just laughed before letting both groups notice that he's dressed like a police officer.

"I hope you're all ready to have a good day, because it's prison flick day!" Chris said, earning some groans.

They all turned and saw a prison set in the near distance which disappointed some but got a few others hopeful.

"At least we have the advantage of having an ex convict." Heather said, looking smug.

Duncan scoffed, "Calm down, juvie wasn't as intense. You just had to worry about the guy behind you shoving you, not stabbing you."

Heather frowned as she thought her team had the advantage. However, she did notice a knowing look from the Killer Grips who made Gwen look guilty. She didn't have time to guess what was going on between the goth girl and her ex-boyfriend's team as Chris blew the air horn again.

"Once you're done with breakfast. I want you all to meet me at lockup for the first challenge." Chris said before taking off on a jeep with Chef.

Everyone let out their tired sighs and went to get their breakfast. Leaving everyone thinking this was going to be an ordinary day. However, Heather looked like she was going to keep a closer eye on Gwen as the Killer Grips, Justin in particular, was giving the goth girl looks that made her guilty.

Heather's Confessional

"Look, I'm not a mind reader, but it doesn't take one to know Gwen is up to something with the Grips. I am going to find out what she's up to and if I don't like it. I'm going to make sure she's the next one getting voted off on this show." Heather said, looking angry.

Gwen's confessional

"I know, this is some kind of twisted irony. I gotta make up for Trent's mistakes by making my team lose. Karma and irony don't look too different right now." Gwen said with a tired sigh.

Just as Trent caused his team to lose so that Gwen could have a better chance at winning. Gwen had to help the Killer Grips gain the edge by making her teammates lose the next challenge. Only unlike with Trent who ignorantly believed that his teammates would forgive him, Gwen knew that her team would never forgive her for purposely backstabbing them.

"If we end up losing, can I get some karma points by voting myself off?" Gwen asked, almost looking worried.

Later on set

Just as the teams were about to arrive at the prison set. Naruto was getting the preparations set for the challenge. All the while he could see Marco and Star arriving wearing a jacket and hat with the show's logo.

"Are you two ready?" Naruto asked.

"We sure are!" Star answered enthusiastically.

"You have no idea what you're going to do, do you?" Naruto asked.

"Nope!" Star replied, maintaining her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'm kind of waiting for some instructions here." Marco said as he adjusted his jacket.

"For now, we're going to prepare for this challenge. You've seen prison movies, right?" Naruto asked.

"I got the gist of it." Marco answered.

"The first part is prison food. The two teams will basically make disgusting food to feed to one of their own. The first prisoner to vomit basically loses." Naruto explained.

"Yeah, that's uh, really gross." Star said bluntly.

"That's the point, so for your first jobs. You two need to go into a vault I set up and grab the ingredients. Grab anything that looks digestible but is not capable of killing someone." Naruto said.

"Okay, that sounds easy." Marco said.

Naruto then led the two to a nearby warehouse where they could hear something alive still inside. Then much to Marco's chagrin, Naruto gave them two cases of cooking utensils like tongs and kitchen knives along with gardening tools like shovels and pickaxes.

"Just in case things get too hairy or if there's an excess amount of ingredients. The gardening tools will help get everything moving." Naruto explained.

"Oh boy, we got a lot on our hands this time, Marco." Star said, making him sigh.

"Seriously, I'm not trying to be rude but I thought we were here to teach me how to control my– BLAH!" Marco cut himself off as he started breathing fire right above Star's head.

"Keep it in the warehouse!" Naruto exclaimed as he opened the doors.

The two teenagers could then hear the sounds of some kind of monstrous entity inside. Marco wanted to protest but once again found himself breathing fire again. With the fire hitting whatever was inside and angering it.

"Oh, I get it! This is like one of those karate movies!" Star said.

"What?" Marco asked.

"Marco, it's like all of your favorite movies. You gotta do boring chores and that somehow creates the muscle memory you need to fight, or in this case, use your powers." Star answered.

"I don't… actually, maybe it makes sense." Marco said, considering the idea.

Naruto then got behind Marco and kicked him inside with Star following closely behind her friend. Naruto then closed the door behind them and left while ignoring the sounds of Marco panicking and Star blasting something with her magic wand.

A few minutes later, on set

When the two teams arrived, they received the summary of what to expect in an average prison film from Chris. Chris also gave a detailed summary of the challenge that Naruto told Star and Marco. Now all that was left was for both teams to pick someone from their respective teams. Which led to Lindsay volunteering herself without fully understanding what was going on and Gwen volunteering as well, much to Heather's suspicion.

"Alright, now that we got our prisoners. Wardens!" Chris cried out a second later.

A pair of twin blond girls wearing prison guard uniforms appeared. One of them had an eyepatch over her right eye with her hair tied in buns, the other had an eyepatch over her left eye with her hair tied into a long braid.

"Everyone, meet Justine and Caroline. These girls may look young but they know discipline unlike you guys." Chris said.

"Does Naruto make these kids in a factory?" Leshawna asked.

"You can get a lot done within thousands of years of history." Harold pointed out.

"Whatever, can we get this over with?" Duncan asked as Caroline approached Gwen with a clipboard.

"Gwen, right? You're being found guilty of several counts of treachery." Caroline said bluntly.

Gwen almost gasped at how she was given such a charge. This may have all just been fun and games but she felt worried about that random charge.

"Attempted treachery." Caroline added.

Gwen took a step back nervously.

"Premeditated treachery."

Gwen started to look around.

"Conspiracy to commit treachery."

Heather began to give Gwen a suspicious look despite how silly this was meant to be.

"And finally, aiding and abetting in treachery. Anything to say or argue about?" Caroline asked, sounding ready to fight.

Gwen just groaned as she just began to walk up to the cage where she began to walk.

"Hey wait, I'll take her place! Gwen's not a traitor!" Duncan exclaimed.

"Okay." Caroline said before hitting Duncan in the knees with a riding crop.

Duncan cried out in pain as Caroline got behind him and twisted an arm behind his back. He tried to fight but Caroline had an iron grip.

"Nice try Duncan." Gwen said as she entered the cell.

A moment later, Gwen saw Lindsay enter the cage and noticed she was crying. Gwen thought the ditzy blonde girl was just overreacting until she heard what came out of Lindsay's mouth.

"Don't look at me Gwen, I'm a terrible person." Lindsay said, looking like she was having a breakdown.

"What did you do?" Gwen asked rhetorically.

"They found out I accidentally gave fashion advice that was out of style already. I committed a fashion crime, no! A fashion felony!" Lindsay cried out.

Gwen looked over at Justine, the calmer twin, who just gave Gwen a blank stare.

"I was merely messing with her and she took things more seriously than they should be." Justine said.

Gwen sighed and looked outside as Naruto arrived with two troughs full of disgusting ingredients. He poured them both onto the two tables and stood back as Chris gave them their instructions.

"Now you gotta work with what you have to make the other team's prisoner throw up. The first prisoner to puke loses and the winning team gets a reward to help with the next part of the challenge." Chris explained.

Duncan scoffed, "Okay, now this should be easy."

"You're telling me, I get sick just looking at this. What's that skinny girl's diet anyways? Half a french fry and iced tea?" Leshawna asked, thinking Lindsay had a weak stomach.

As for the other team, they just hoped Gwen was also weak. At least in the sense of not being able to handle the ingredients in front of them. Which looked like various animals which had been crudely butchered.

"I'm gonna vomit." Beth said as she covered her mouth.

"Wait, if one of us vomits. Does that mean we still lose?" Owen asked.

"Focus! We gotta make the most disgusting meal for Gwen! Well, you need to because I can't touch any of this without gloves." Justin said, sounding disgusted by the end.

Beth took a deep breath and grabbed what looked like some squid legs. Only to nearly "scream" as she saw the legs tingle.

"No, I got this! I got this!" Beth said as she got to work.

Chris just chuckled as he saw what was on the tables. He wondered how good a doctor Lisa is if she ends up having to heal Gwen and Lindsay when this is over.

"Naruto, what are you feeding them?" Chris asked.

"I can't remember, I had someone else retrieve ingredients." Naruto said as he looked around for a moment.

Chris then turned his head as he heard someone scream. He saw what looked like stone or clay coming to life only for Naruto to stab it with his talons.

"I guess one of them is a golem." Naruto said before ripping out the idol within it.

Naruto then double checked the ingredients to make sure everything was still dead. All the while everyone was making things that would give people heart attacks.

"Somehow, this all feels healthier than processed fast food." Heather said.

"Hm, there's so little flavor here. Don't even get me started on the amount of nutrition." DJ said, putting his concerns in the wrong place.

"We're not making healthy food. We're making disgusting grub." Duncan said.

DJ sighed before pulling out some special spice his mother uses and sprayed it all over the food. He desired for the food to at least taste good which ultimately defeated the purpose of the challenge.

"Time's up! It's lunch time!" Chris announced.

Caroline and Justine took the plates of food and stumbled towards the two cages. Justine approached Gwen while Caroline approached Gwen.

"Eat it and shut up!" Caroline said as she shoved the food into Gwen's cage.

Gwen just stared at the mess she saw and felt like she would literally die before losing.

"Can I get a napkin? Maybe a drink? An EpiPen by chance?" Gwen asked.

"I'm not a doctor. Take it up with someone else." Caroline said before leaving her alone.

Justine on the other hand, was more courteous but decided to be blunt with Lindsay.

"We have what appears to be a Thanksgiving dinner composed of eels with a side of brains followed by a lion's paw and I believe this is a manticore's tail. Oh and a side of a fire breathing turkey." Justine said.

"Ew! No! …I'm on a chicken free diet." Lindsay complained.

"I said turkey." Justine replied.

"Fine, I'll take it. There's no MSG, right?" Lindsay asked.

Justine handed Lindsay the food and backed away quietly.

"Prisoners ready? Start!" Chris commanded.

The two girls immediately began to force feed themselves but to the surprise of Lindsay. She actually began to enjoy it and took her time to taste the food.

"It's like being fed by an angel!" Lindsay cheered.

Gwen didn't know about DJ's spice and just thought Lindsay either snapped or was always crazy. She didn't care as she could see herself vomiting some time soon. She wasn't sure if the next scoop she took a bite out of was calamari or some kind of eldritch monster from Dungeons and Dragons.

Perhaps Chef could make some money by testing the food ingredients and making a cookbook about it.

Regardless, nothing exciting occurred until Gwen ended up almost choking and coughing up something metal. She just looked at it strangely before watching Beth pick it up.

"My retainer! I'm so glad I found it!" Beth said cheerfully.

Then without doing so much as wiping it clean, Beth shoved her retainer into her mouth. Which just bothered everyone and seemingly sickened Lindsay who suddenly vomited. With enough impact to fire like a laser and hit Gwen had Justine not gotten in the way and blocked the vomit with an umbrella.

"You are fortunate that Canada prohibits torture in prisons." Justine said, sounding apathetic.

"Thanks, I guess." Gwen said, looking weirded out.

Justine then unlocked both cages just as Chris walked to Gwen's side with a bag of tools.

"Gwen has won it for the Screaming Gaffers!" he announced, making the Killer Grips groan. "For winning, Gwen has earned an advantage for her team.

Gwen then received the bag of tools and raised a brow in confusion.

"What am I doing? Going to Woodshop Class?" Gwen asked.

"Oh Gwen, isn't it obvious? You gotta escape from prison. Mind you, it's not going to be easy. The tools are basically to make it less impossible." Chris said with a chuckle.

Gwen sighed and briefly glimpsed towards the other team who gave her a mix of disappointed and annoyed looks. Then she got anxious as Lindsay almost ruined everything by what she said next.

"Seriously Gwen? How do you screw up our deal?" Lindsay asked, earning even more suspicion from Heather.

"What exactly is Lindsay talking about?" Heather asked.

"Lindsay… I don't know." Gwen quickly lied.

"You don't know?" Heather asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, Lindsay isn't the brightest, remember? I thought you would know given you used to tell her what to do. Not that you cared enough to know anyone." Gwen shot back.

Heather glared in annoyance while the rest of the Screaming Gaffers just shrugged it off. Heather wouldn't give up no matter how realistic that statement sounded.

A while later, outside

The two teams were then taken to a large yard that was filled with traps and some holes on the ground next to a large wall covered in barbed wire.

"This looks really tame, which means Chris is waiting to add a special surprise." Harold said.

"Mhm, Leshawna ain't no bloodhound but I can smell the trouble a mile away." Leshawna said.

Chris playfully whined as he approached the teams.

"Leshawna, do you think that low of me?" he asked, pretending to be sad.

"I don't think low enough." Leshawna said.

"Good, because without surprises. This show wouldn't be exciting." Chris said.

"Without surprises, this show would be less dangerous." Justin countered.

"And where's the excitement in being safe? You think people wanna see, "Total Safe Action"?" Chris asked.

"It sounds like something Marco would watch." Star said as she arrived wearing a towel over her neck with a new uniform.

"Hey Star, where's your friend and Naruto?" Chris asked the princess.

"Oh, uh, Marco got into a bit of trouble so his grandpa is helping him out." Star answered.

The teams were confused by Star's appearance and had various guesses as to who or what she is.

"Let me guess, if she's not one of Naruto's kids. She's secretly a winged creature or something that summons zombies." Heather said, taking a guess at Star's origins.

"No. What kind of guess is that?" Star asked.

"Everyone, meet Star Butterfly, she's a princess from a magical world called Mewni and will be joining us as an intern with her friend Marco. The latter you will soon meet." Chris said.

Beth gasped, "A real life princess? A magical one too?"

"That's right? I got my wand and everything right here." Star said as she reached for it.

Heather scoffed, "Sure, a princess? Any other wild stories or are we throwing titles just to "spice" up the show? You know what? I think at this point, we're too desensitized at this point to even care or find anything interesting on this show."

As Heather ranted about the wild things that she's seen and participated in with it no longer being interesting. She didn't notice Star fumbling with her wand and accidentally blasting Heather with something.

"Uh oh!" Star exclaimed.

A second later, Heather looked like Cousin It from the Adams Family and she started screaming in frustration.

"Hang on! I got this!" Star said as she used another spell.

Everyone was then subjected to Star trying and failing to help Heather. They watched as Heather turned into a sentient rainbow, became a squid person, had her gender swapped and was named Horace for a few seconds and finally ended with Heather going back to normal with all the excess hair falling off, leaving her bald again.

"Sorry Horace." Star apologized.

"My name is HEATHER!" Heather yelled.

"Oh, my mistake. I'm sorry HEATHER!" Star shouted back.

Heather just blinked very slowly and turned away from Star before anything else occurred.

"If it helps, you're not bald anymore. Well you sort of are, but your stubble is growing." Star said.

Heather scoffed before reaching for her head as she felt some hair growing rapidly. Not enough to where she had her original style back or looked like Cousin It. Rather enough to where Heather could feel like she would grow a pixie cut in a couple of hours.

"My hair! It's back!" Heather exclaimed.

"Yeah, nice. Now we don't have to stare at your bald dome. Anyways, let's get started with this challenge." Chris said before giving the instructions.

Chris gave a straightforward task that involved getting through a series of obstacles and reaching the end point which was the wall. After that, they would go down the holes and dig their way out and reach the finish line which was on a train. They were free to dig all the way to the end but were also free to reach the surface early and go on foot. Regardless, there were going to be other things that would try and catch them.

Which included a certain pair of twins who would chase them down along with their equivalent to bloodhounds.

Chris also added that the bag he gave to Gwen would help them with the digging as well as overcome other obstacles beyond the wall.

"Are both teams ready? Start!" Chris shouted.

The two teams got to work and found themselves going through two paths that were surrounded by electrified fences. It was pretty painful for someone as big as Owen as well as an inconvenience for Leshawna who had larger curves.

"OW! That hurts and– ooh! I smell toast!" Owen said, unaware that he could smell his own burned flesh.

"You better not eat yourself, Owen! I know you'll do it!" Justin exclaimed.

"OW! You have got to be kidding me! These things are too narrow!" Leshawna shouted as she got shocked in the butt.

"No, it's just that you're too big!" Heather replied, earning a glare in return.

The whole time, Gwen was going through the bag and wondering what would help her team. As much as she hated to do it, she needed to sabotage her chances of winning. That's when she had the misfortune, or good fortune, of finding the flute.

'No!' Gwen thought.

Just then, Harold noticed Gwen grabbing the flute and smiled.

"Gwen, give me that. I'll hang onto it for you so we can save it." Harold said.

Gwen tried to hide her disappointment and gave it to Harold who grabbed onto it.

However, Harold couldn't celebrate the extra advantage he got as he stepped on a bear trap. He cried out in pain and stumbled around before stepping on another bear trap. Harold managed to grip the flute the whole time despite his limited strength and how clumsily he moved.

That's when Gwen had an idea and ran closely behind Harold. Where she pretended to try and help him.

"Hold on Harold, let me hang onto the flute while you get out of those traps." Gwen said.

"No, I got this! I just need to–"

Harold didn't notice Gwen subtly shoving him with her elbow and making him hit the electric fence. Harold let out another cry of pain as he lost his grip and accidentally tossed the flute onto the other pathway. Where it landed in front of Beth who fell down after avoiding a bear trap.

"Huh? Hey, it's the flute!" Beth exclaimed.

Everyone on the Screaming Gaffers except for Heather glared at Harold who tried to defend himself. While they blamed Harold for seemingly being clumsy, Heather looked at Gwen suspiciously.

'That was no accident.' Heather thought.

Heather couldn't pin the blame on Gwen as the rest of the team was focused on the challenge. She had to settle with the tool bag Gwen still had by the time they reached the hole.

"Give me that before you cost us the challenge!" Heather commanded as she ripped the bag away from Gwen.

"Okay, fine. Don't complain if you break a nail." Gwen said, earning a glare.

A while later, both teams got to work on digging with the Killer Grips deciding to save the flute for when they got through the tunnel. With them deciding to dig just enough to where they could dig upward and take the risk of running on the surface.

However, even the digging wasn't going to be made easy as Justine and Caroline approached the holes with Bradley.

"Did you eat today, Bradley?" Justine asked.

Bradley rubbed his stomach as he gave them a sad look. He then watched as Caroline rolled her eyes and gave him some Mexican food which he quickly ate. Once the skunk was full, he bent down over one of the holes and prepared to let out some gas.

A while later

The Killer Grips were struggling to dig far due to having only their hands to get through. It didn't help that Justin was just sitting back and staring at his handheld mirror.

"Justin, can you please help?" Beth asked.

"But why? You're all doing amazing. Besides, if I dig, I'll ruin my manicure and potentially lose out on my hand modelling contract." Justin said as if he gave the best excuse in the world.

Beth just sighed and continued digging until she heard loud farts. She turned and glared at Owen knowing this was a terrible time to stink up the tunnel.

"It wasn't me, it came from all the way back there." Owen said, pointing at the beginning of the tunnel.

"Who would even fart from there?" Justin asked.

Owen couldn't answer as they watched as a giant cloud of green smoke came. Beth and Lindsay were digging faster than their bodies would allow them to move. All the while Owen started trying to tear through the dirt above them and tunnel out. Leaving Justin to just flail, scream and beg.

"Let me out!" Owen screamed before breaking through.

The girls gasped at the hole Owen made before following him out. A moment later, Justin threw himself out of the hole and took cover as a geyser of Bradley's farts came out.

"Oh my… I'm alive! I'm alive and still handsome!" Justin cried out before sniffing the air.

"But the stink is still there." Beth said as she pinched her nose.

Then they heard the sounds of wild animals growling in the distance.

"Forget the stink, they got wild dogs after us!" Owen screamed as he began to run.

Justin and the girls looked back and could see a pack of direwolves running towards them. They could see Ranga leading the pack as they snarled at the group.

"Time to run!" Justin shouted.

"Great idea!" Beth and Lindsay shouted as they ran behind him.

Justin's Confessional

The confessional started with Justin having his face done with makeup and other cosmetics to maintain his good looks for the audience.

"Great idea? I guess that makes sense. I mean, all thanks to my brain. It's the one muscle I hardly use, but I guess that means I need to stop neglecting it." Justin said, feeling proud of something simple he said.

Back on set

The Screaming Gaffers were having a bit more of an easier time than the Grips. The tool bag didn't have much outside of a few small shovels that did cut down on the digging effort. It also came with a map and compass that helped Harold try and navigate their way towards the finish line.

"Hey Duncan, I know Juvie was different but how much better is digging than just running on top of the ground?" DJ asked.

"It's a matter of perspective, but digging is harder than it looks. Still, if you can handle it and don't get lost, it's easier than running. At least then the–"

Duncan was interrupted by the sounds of barking above them. The Gaffers paused for a moment and waited for the barking to pass by.

"The dogs, I meant to mention the dogs. Although, there's nothing stopping real prison guards from chasing you from a car or a helicopter and just shooting you." Duncan said, scaring DJ.

"There's also the chance they could just follow us." Gwen added.

Duncan scoffed, "Sure, they could do that but they can just drain the hole or even find out where it leads and cut us off there."

"So out of curiosity, would you recommend digging up to the surface?" Gwen asked.

"Don't even think about listening to her! I am not losing this challenge!" Heather yelled.

"Calm down, Bald– er, Pixie Cut. I was about to say it was a bad idea anyways. Especially since Naruto probably loaned Chris his giant pet wolf." Duncan replied.

"Don't forget those girls. They look so adorable in those costumes, but they're vicious." DJ pointed out.

Before Gwen could try and find a new way to slow down her teammates. She suddenly felt sick and smelled a terrible smell.

"Is Owen down here? What is that smell?" Gwen asked.

"It might be, the big guy sure knows how to make earthquakes with that gas of his." Leshawna said with some sass.

Then to everyone's horror, Bradley's stink hit their tunnel and began to flow towards them. Duncan and DJ immediately started digging faster and managed to break a few more feet of ground.

"We are NOT dying to a giant fart cloud!" Heather screamed.

"I don't see you doing anything!" Duncan yelled back with a glare.

Harold started digging through the tool bag before finding one respirator, but nothing else. He looked at himself and at the others before being pinned to the ground by Heather who tried to take the respirator for herself. With Leshawna trying to pull her off the scrawny boy.

"Screw it! To the top it is!" Duncan shouted as he dug up to the surface.

The adrenaline boost was enough for Duncan to drag himself out and escape. Followed by DJ who screamed the whole time and finally Leshawna who pulled out Harold.

"Gwen, hurry up!" Leshawna shouted at the hole.

"I would but… ow! Heather!" Gwen shouted as Heather held her back.

"Oh no! You get what you deserve!" Heather shouted.

"Deserve what!?" Gwen asked.

"I know you're sabotaging us! You must be working with-"

Heather was interrupted by Leshawna throwing a rock at her head. Resulting in Heather falling back and losing her grip on Gwen. Just as Gwen escaped before the fart guyser appeared, Heather took the full hit and lost her hair again.

"NO! NOT AGAIN! GWEN! LESHAWNA! I SWEAR, I—"

Heather was cut off by her hair reforming into a pixie cut again. Despite the terrible fumes going on around her, Heather lost her fear as she saw Star's magic added a restoration to her hair. But that wasn't something she could celebrate yet as she climbed out of the fart infested tunnel.

It didn't help that Heather smelled so badly that she caused some of the nearby plant life to die. It even made her teammates back away from her.

"I think this is a war movie now, because Heather is the victim of a war crime." Gwen said as she pinched her nose shut.

"Heather is a living war crime, but now she just added some more charges." Leshawna said as she pinched her nose.

Heather couldn't argue back with her teammates as she heard the sounds of the direwolves. Which got her motivated to run away as they started to approach.

"Get 'em Ranga!" Caroline yelled as she rode on Ranga's back.

With the Killer Grips

After a long while of running, Owen collapsed and the rest of his teammates leaned against a rock hoping they shook off the direwolves from their trail.

"Did we lose them?" Beth asked only to hear some snarling.

"I think they just found dinner elsewhere." Owen answered.

Justin began to pant and struggled to fight back the need to sweat as it would ruin his image. He looked at Beth and saw she was still clinging onto the flute.

"Beth, we can't move like this. You gotta use the flute. Maybe Naruto will send someone with a helicopter or something to help us." Justin said, looking desperate.

"Ooh! Or maybe he'll take us to the finish line on a private jet! I always wanted to ride on one!" Lindsay said excitedly.

Beth looked at the flute and how far away the finish line was. She wanted to save it for an emergency, but thought it might be better to use it before the danger comes. So after a second of hesitance, Beth played the flute as best she could and hoped help would come.

Elsewhere

After cleaning up, Marco was forced to do some basic training with Naruto. At least in the sense of trying to learn partial transformation. It was considered useless to most but Naruto said it's good for the sake of practice or when needing a swiss army knife when you don't have a swiss army knife.

"I think I got it! Look, I can make claws!" Marco said as he started scratching the air.

Naruto didn't look impressed but before he could put pressure on Marco. He heard the flute and immediately had an idea as he saw Marco scratch at the air. He dragged his descendant across the set before digging a hole with a small tunnel in the direction of the Screaming Grips. He stopped after a brief period before jumping out and throwing Marco inside.

"You're burying me alive!?" Marco asked.

"No, the Killer Grips used a magic flute which is a cheat tool here. Now I'm giving you a training mission and it's to find them." Naruto answered.

"What?" Marco asked.

"You're going to dig a tunnel to the Grips using your claws. They're thick enough to tear through metal so dirt shouldn't be difficult." Naruto explained.

"Wait, so I gotta look around for one team and just dig my way there?" Marco asked.

"Yes, unless you want a more difficult task." Naruto said in a normal yet menacing tone.

Marco gulped before giving his ancestor a salute and receiving an earpiece.

"I'll navigate you to the Grips from the sky. Just move as quickly as you can." Naruto said as he extended his wings.

"Okay." Marco said with a tired sigh.

Marco then began the grueling task of digging through the dirt while Naruto guided him from the air.

A few minutes later

The Grips continued their walk while wondering when their help is coming. When they suddenly saw the dirt tear open and saw Marco poke his head out.

"Uh, who are you?" Owen asked.

"I'm Marco, I'm uh, your cheat guy or whatever. Listen, I just got told to dig a tunnel to the finish line and here it is." Marco said as he climbed out of the hole.

"Wait, are you one of Naruto's–"

They were interrupted by the sound of the direwolves in the distance. They threw away all questions and jumped down the hole before moving as quickly as they could. Marco tried to follow after them but he was tackled down by one of Ranga's pack members.

"NO! BAD DOGGY! BAD!" Marco yelled as he tried to pry it off of him.

Justine then arrived and gave Marco a blank stare before bending her knees to look at him.

"Oh, you must be my distant nephew. I see you are still in your adolescent stage." Justine said, sounding emotionless.

"I don't know what's worse. The scary giant wolf, or the emotionless little girl who sounds like she's mocking me." Marco said as he continued to struggle.

"Grow at a faster rate and perhaps I will encourage you. I will not be as kind as my sisters, brothers and other nephews." Justine said.

Marco decided that being belittled by Justine was worse than the direwolf.

A while later

Chris was standing outside of a prison bus being driven by Chef which already seemingly had a prisoner. Before Chris said anything, he saw Owen and his team escaping a nearby hole and running towards the finish line.

"Killer Grips, here I thought you were losing again. Oh well, Chef get the bus ready." Chris said as the Grips crossed the finish line.

Minutes after the Grips arrived, the Screaming Gaffers managed to arrive but stopped as they realized they lost.

"Are you serious!?" Duncan asked.

"Aw heck no!" Leshawna exclaimed.

"This is so bogus." Harold said with a tired sigh.

Heather just glared at Gwen who looked away from her. She then watched as Heather gave them a smug look.

"Gaffers, you lost your winning streak. You know what that means." Chris said.

"Oh, I know what it means. In fact, I know who is going home today." Heather said as she glared at Gwen even harder.

"Cool, but first." Chris started to say as Chef parked the bus next to them.

In an instant, Chef began handcuffing the entire team and loaded them onto the bus against their will.

"Chef will personally drive you to the Gilded Chris awards." Chris said as Chef forced them to all take a seat.

That's when Naruto arrived wearing a security guard uniform of his own.

"Chris, did you forget the surprise?" he asked.

"Oh right, might as well get it out." Chris said as he nodded at Chef.

The Gaffers then watched as Chef escorted the extra prisoner out of the bus. They noticed she was wearing a prison jumpsuit with a bag over her head which obscured her appearance. The prisoner was then brought before the Grips and had the bag on her head removed to reveal a smiling Izzy.

"Hey guys!" she greeted.

"IZZY!?" the two teams asked.

"Yup, I'm back!" Izzy said.

"That is not fair! She was eliminated!" Heather angrily shouted.

"No I wasn't." Izzy replied.

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

"Hm, I don't remember."

"Well you… augh! I hate you!"

Izzy just laughed as she wiggled in her handcuffs before Naruto started reading from a paper.

"Due to Izzy refusing to be acknowledged by her legal name. Chris registered "Kaleidoscope" as being eliminated a while back. Therefore, Izzy wasn't officially eliminated from the game." Naruto explained as Izzy laughed.

"So, Izzy is still in the game!" Owen exclaimed.

The Gaffers looked annoyed as the Grips got an extra member back. They then watched as Naruto uncuffed her and let her run to her teammates. Before they could utter another word, Justine and Caroline entered the bus.

"Inmates! You got a long drive to the awards ceremony! So take this time to vote on who's going home!" Caroline said as she smacked a nearby seat with her crop.

"She is right, you will be expected to have voted before you are escorted outside." Justine said as she handed them their tablets.

Gwen sighed and looked out the window just as Chef returned and started driving. The goth girl knew what would happen and how this would end. She didn't need to let Heather ramble on until they humored her and voted her off.

That night, Gilded Chris Awards

After being dropped off at the awards ceremony, Chris already got to the point and received the results. He hid his surprise and just nodded at what he saw before turning to Medusa who had the tray of Gilded Chris'.

"I hope you haven't gotten comfortable, because someone is going home in cuffs again." Chris joked.

Chris received mixed reactions with a couple of the Gaffers complaining about the show being uncomfortable to be in as it is. Regardless, he was going to hold up his promise regarding being handcuffed.

"But those who are definitely staying are DJ, Leshawna, Harold and Duncan." Chris said as Medusa threw the awards.

That left just Heather and Gwen who both didn't show any emotion and just waited for Chris to ramble on to make the elimination more tense.

"Gwen, Heather, Karma takes its sweet time to act. Kind of like home insurance, but it's here. But it works in weird ways. Which is why Gwen isn't staying." Chris said as Medusa threw a Gilded Chris at Heather.

Heather raised her hand but instead got hit on the head, knocking her backwards.

"I guess Karma is working overtime." Chris commented as Gwen got up.

Medusa sighed as she saw Gwen getting handcuffed by Chef and lead towards the Lame-O-Sine.

"Aw, she was one of my favorites. Hopefully Masrur doesn't feel vengeful when he comes to visit the set." Medusa said, getting the Gaffers nervous.

"Wait, isn't that the kid who turned into a lion!?" Harold asked.

"And he just got a growth spurt." Medusa added, making them more nervous.

"Karma is doing triple shifts today. I wonder how the little guy is." Chris said, imagining Masrur to be a giant like his father.

Just as Gwen was about to be put into the Lame-O-Sine, Duncan stepped forward and tried to block the way.

"Hey, don't take her. Take me instead." Duncan said.

"Duncan, you know I voted myself off, right?" Gwen asked.

"Seriously?" Duncan asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, I, uh… dumped Trent after realizing he threw the challenges for me. I get it if you're mad that I decided to throw the challenge." Gwen said, lowering her head.

"...okay, now I'm slightly disappointed but traitor or not. You're cool and I'll take your place." Duncan offered, still seeing Gwen as a good friend.

Chef nodded and blew a whistle, resulting in Duncan being shoved to the ground by Justine and Caroline.

"Hold still, Inmate!" Caroline yelled as Justine got the handcuffs.

"I was kidding!" Duncan shouted.

Gwen snickered, "Nice try Duncan, you're not getting off that easy. Besides, maybe Karma will decide that we're even."

Gwen was then put into the back of the vehicle and driven away. Leaving Duncan to be left alone as he was allowed to stand up. He just watched as Gwen left and let out a sigh.

"Well, I guess that means Heather is right and she's going to rant about it." Duncan said as he walked away.

That night

The boys and girls were ready to head back to their trailers when Naruto dropped off Star and Marco. The two sides were confused as they saw that the two had bags.

"Uh, what's up with the interns?" Owen asked.

"You all met Star already and she's going to be staying with the girls. I had to speak with her parents but don't worry. She's mostly behaved." Naruto said.

"Hey guys!" Star greeted.

"The magical princess is here!" Beth said, squealing alongside Lindsay.

"Oh boy, this is going to be a headache." Leshawna said.

Heather just groaned as he already had to put up with Izzy again. Now she had some magical girl to deal with. Then again, she thought this might work to her advantage given that Star helped her hair finally grow back.

As for the boys, they saw Marco give them an awkward wave.

"And this is Marco, he's here because he's got a condition that makes him struggle to control his powers." Naruto explained.

"Is this one of your sons?" Harold asked.

"No, he's my great-great grandson or along those lines. I lost track but he's training by being an intern here." Naruto answered.

"Hm… I guess bloodlines do extend." Harold said, trying to understand how big Naruto's family line is.

"Geez, how many grandkids do you have? I'm barely capable of keeping up with your regular kids." Owen said as he scratched his head.

"I'm not even going to say anything." Justin said.

"Me neither, I stopped questioning it along time ago." Duncan said as they started going inside.

As the boys got into the trailer, DJ gave Marco a comforting hand on the shoulder.

"Nice to meet you, Marco. I'm DJ, don't worry about the other guys. Some of them can be cool. Just keep a gas mask under your bed in case Owen eats late." DJ said before heading inside.

"Some of those guys seem nice." Marco commented.

"Just try to avoid taking sides or getting caught in the middle of a fight." Naruto warned.

"Is that possible on this show?" Marco asked.

"I said "try", didn't I?" Naruto asked before flying away.

Marco sighed and lugged his bag over his shoulder before heading inside.

The next morning

Star woke up and immediately got to work on trying to befriend the girls. Starting by properly introducing herself and trying to show off some magic to mesmerize them. While hoping to avoid alienating them as she did with Marco during her first day on earth.

"Good morning everyone, in case you don't remember. I'm Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension." Star said as she used her wand to create a rainbow.

Lindsay gasped as she approached the rainbow and gently tapped it.

"Oh my gosh, I always wanted to touch a rainbow and… maybe taste one. Does it taste like cotton candy?" Lindsay asked.

"I don't know, this is the first time it didn't catch fire." Star answered.

"I wanna touch it!" Beth said as she ran up to stroke the rainbow.

Once Beth had enough of rubbing the rainbow, Izzy suddenly popped up behind it.

"Hey, since no one tried it yet, I can taste it." Izzy offered.

Before anyone could respond, Izzy bit down on the rainbow with her sharp pointed teeth. Which just resulted in Izzy breaking the rainbow as if it were made of glass.

"Gross, it tastes like sand and limestone." Izzy said as she rubbed her gums.

Star then quickly began cleaning up the broken rainbow shards before using her wand to summon pieces of candy.

"Anyways, since I'm bunking with you guys. I wanna offer you all this housewarming gift." Star said, hoping it was enough.

Lindsay and Beth quickly took the candies and immediately accepted Star's kindness. Leshawna just smiled and nodded while Izzy was still picking her gums. All the while Heather wasn't sure how long she would be able to put up with Star.

"You seem cool, welcome to the girls' trailer, Star." Leshawna said.

"Thanks, Leshawna was it?" Star asked.

Leshawna nodded but before she said anything. One of the pieces of candy came to life and turned into a spider-like creature. The girls began to back away only for the spider to jump at Heather's face and caused her to run around and scream in terror.

"Hold still! I got it!" Star said before firing a beam from her wand.

The result ended in a large explosion that shook the trailer. Followed by Leshawna opening the door while dusting off some glitter that was on her clothes.

"She may be cool, but I think she might be a bit crazy." Leshawna said as she was followed out by Lindsay and Beth.

"She could work on her spells though." Beth said as Lindsay nodded.

A moment later, Star and Izzy ran out just as Heather dragged herself out of the trailer while covered in paint, glitter and something that caused her butt to literally smoke.

Heather's confessional

After being cleaned up, Heather glared at the camera while adjusting her hair.

"Okay, I'm not sure how I'm going to last with that magician or whatever she calls herself. For once in my life, I'm going to play nice because I know how well things turned out once I pushed Lindsay and Beth "too far"." Heather said as she crossed her arms.

Back on set

Some time passed and the two teams had their breakfast. It was a little while in that no one saw Chris randomly appear and announce what challenge they were doing. At the same time, Naruto entered the kitchen where Chef was working on some leftovers to use as dinner.

"Chef, I need a quick word with you." Naruto said.

"Oh, uh, okay." Chef said cautiously.

Naruto and Chef spoke in the back where hopefully no one could overhear them.

"Listen, I know about the alliance with DJ." Naruto said, making Chef wish he tripped on a landmine. "Frankly, I don't care but I have a proposal and you'll be compensated with more than just a half million dollars."

Chef looked unsure, but he had to shake off any fear he had and remind himself that he was a former soldier. He decided to humor Naruto while hoping he wasn't going to force Chef into a dangerous situation.

"I wanted to ask if you could take Marco under your wing. At least in the sense of doing what you were doing with DJ. He can handle himself but needs a bit more discipline." Naruto said.

Chef looked outside and saw Marco sitting next to Star. When out of nowhere, the boy's power went off and he accidentally breathed fire on Harold's head.

"And what do I do if he does something like that again?" Chef asked as he pointed at the accident.

"I'll get you the resources. Feel free to do whatever you want." Natuto answered.

"Okay, but at least give me an idea of what to do with the kid." Chef said, thinking he might be more limited with Marco compared to DJ.

"Don't worry about it, but if it helps. I'll write down a general plan. Marco has seen wild things so I doubt a former drill sergeant should scare him." Naruto said.

Chef sighed and decided to listen in and see what he could gain from this. It would end up paying off, literally and figuratively.

That evening

The contestants were told to take it easy for the day, or at least that's how they interpreted it. Due to some technical stuff that Chris and the producers were very vague about. The two teams decided to take the time to relax without the worry about Chris putting them into another dangerous challenge. However, there were some that kept their guard up and prepared for anything.

"I know Chris is gonna show up any minute now, give us our challenge and catch us at the worst time." Heather said out loud.

"Leshawna hates it when she has to agree with you, but that don't mean she ain't gonna relax in the meantime." Leshawna said as she lied back on a lawn chair.

"Yeah, we deserve some time off. Especially with the fact we were almost buried alive in toxic gas." Beth said, referring to Bradley farting down the hole.

"Yeah, I'm still traumatized from that." Lindsay added.

Heather rolled her eyes as she walked away from the group. She believed she was going to be the most prepared for whatever craziness Chris would throw at her. Which made sense considering that Chris had unconventional ways of surprising everyone and then deciding to tell the truth about what the next challenge would be.

"Hey, has anyone seen DJ? He's been missing since breakfast." Harold pointed out.

"Oh yeah, what a shame. I guess that means we won't save any of these delicious sandwiches for him." Duncan said, eating from a nice plate of food.

"Yeah, they're so good, I'm starting to cheat on my diet more. Did the show hire new chefs or something?" Justin asked.

"Nope, this is definitely Chef's cooking. I overheard that they're only stepping in to give Chef all the ingredients and tools he needs." Owen answered.

"And just how do you know that?" Duncan asked suspiciously.

Owen began to laugh nervously as he looked around.

Owen's Confessional

"Okay, so maybe I was trying to sneak in seconds. I didn't hear a lot but heard a lot of stuff about Chef not wanting assistants. So the crew, probably Naruto's guys, are only giving him a bunch of kitchen stuff." Owen explained as he ate more delicious sandwiches.

DJ's Confessional

DJ could be seen changing shirts as his first shirt was covered in mayonnaise and a few other condiments. He then wiped his brow and turned to the camera.

"Sorry about that, but all that cooking was hard work. If anything good came from Chef's harsh training, it was being able to develop more cooking skills. Albeit, Chef could work on adding love to his cooking style." DJ said with a bright smile

Meanwhile in Chef's kitchen

DJ may be a bit more content with Chef putting less effort into turning DJ into a "man" through different discipline styles. But he did feel bad for Marco who was having a harder time given what he heard about Naruto putting his descendant through rigorous training.

"Now you gotta wrestle the fish in here." Chef told Marco while pointing at a container filled with water.

"There's no way all that is fish. Let alone normal fish." Marco said as he saw a moving octopus tentacle inside.

Chef chuckled, "Of course it is, these are normal fish that don't need any magical background to exist."

Marco sighed as he looked and saw some scuba gear and a harpoon gun. He looked at DJ who just shrugged and then at Chef who told him not to argue with him. So Marco grabbed the equipment and stuck his head inside where he was immediately attacked by some dangerous piranhas from South America.

"Don't let it bother you! You literally got thick skin! Do you know how thick dragon skin is!?" Chef asked, not wanting to hear Marco complain.

Marco panicked as he tried to pull away only for the octopus to pull him back inside.

"Uh, Chef." DJ tried to say.

"Don't worry about him. Just focus on making pizza. Use extra cheese." Chef said.

DJ nodded as he grabbed the containers filled with cheese. He was told to make the best pizzas he could make for everyone. But like them, he was given next to nothing regarding the information about the upcoming challenge. Which only helped Chris as Chef was obviously not going to tell DJ about what the next challenge was.

Besides, Chef was capable of making gourmet food but didn't want to put in the effort given he was dealing with angsty teenagers. He decided to let DJ take the helm and entice them with food that's actually edible.

'I better double check the labels. I don't want him finding out about the itching powder and other stuff.' Chef said as he backed up to check the storage closet.

"Hey Marco, I'll leave you a slice for when you finish." DJ called out.

Marco let out a scream as he pulled the squid away and started punching the octopus.

"Thanks DJ, leave me some ranch if you have any." Marco said before diving back in.

DJ nodded and continued cooking while trying to drown out Marco's cries.

That evening

Everyone seemed to be happy with the easy day and as the sun began to set. They were all getting ready to go back to bed.

"Okay, that was relaxing. All I needed was a manicure and a facial and it would have been perfect." Justin said, feeling fulfilled.

"The day isn't over." Heather said stubbornly.

"Heather, do you have to be so negative?" Beth asked with a light glare.

"Yeah, we haven't seen Chris all day." Lindsay added.

"And I didn't get a notifice or anything but just in case." Star said as she pulled out her wand.

Star then tampered with it and started using it like a two way radio.

"This is Delta contacting Alpha Base, over." Star said.

Then to everyone's dismay, Star's wand sounded like a very loud stereo.

"ALPHA BASE TO DELTA! NO PRESENT ORDER, STANDBY! OVER!" The voice replied loudly.

Everyone minus Star screamed as they held their ears in pain.

"Does it have to be that loud!?" Duncan angrily asked.

"Hey, is that music? All I hear is a "reeeeee~" sound." Izzy said, mimicking the ringing in her ears.

"Sorry, I think I set it to speaker mode." Star said.

Before she could adjust it, another loud voice was heard from the wand.

"ALPHA BASE TO DELTA! PREPARE FOR INCOMING EMERGENCY VEHICLE! OVER!" The voice said.

"There it is again! Reeeee!" Izzy said, mimicking the noise again.

Heather growled, "I knew it! Chris is pulling something!"

"What?" Everyone asked, unable to hear her clearly.

Moments later, an ambulance drove by and recklessly turned a sharp corner where its back doors opened, the doors then dropped a gurney with a large body shaped object covered with a blanket. The contestants were immediately startled by the sight and had bad thoughts about what it was.

"Is that a dead body?" Beth asked.

"Uh oh! Someone get a shovel!" Star shouted.

The blanket was then thrown off and revealed Chris who was lying on a stack of books.

"Surprise!" He exclaimed.

Everyone muttered some insults and angry comments that Chris chose to ignore.

"Don't be like that, I brought you two gifts. One, study material for your next challenge." Chris said.

As the books weren't enough of a hint upon first glance. The doors to the ambulance opened and revealed Naruto in a paramedic outfit and Lisa dressed like a doctor with a normal lab coat.

"We're playing Doctor?" Beth asked.

"Yeah and here comes your second surprise." Chris said before Star's wand went off.

"Standby for pizza delivery. Over." The voice said more quietly.

"Hey, it's fixed!" Star said.

Suddenly, Veldora and Marco pulled over in a car with a pizza logo on the side. While Marco struggled to take the seat belt off, Veldora opened the driver's side door open too wide and hit Owen who was running towards the car.

"Free pizza!" Veldora announced.

"Free pizza!?" Owen asked as he started running again.

"That's what I just said, free pizza!" Veldora said as he reached for the back door handle.

Only for Marco to free himself and accidentally kick the button that opens the backdoor. Which ended with the door barely missing Veldora and hitting Owen again.

"AHH! I just want free pizza!" Owen cried out.

"What is going on!?" Duncan angrily asked.

"Free pizza, how hard is it to understand?" Veldora asked as he opened one box.

Then instantly, the teens were once again shown the rare sight of tasty food. Not that they were aware of what was used to make it. Which already got half of them suspicious.

"That beautiful work of art is all the knowledge I need." Owen said as he grabbed the first pizza box.

"Hold up! Leshawna knows something is up! There's no such thing as a free lunch!" Leshawna said.

"...I mean according to an economics class. You're right." Chris said.

"No, I mean this food ain't coming without no price. What's going on? We gotta pay you back by playing doctor?" Leshawna asked.

"Close, it's more of a little motivational tool for your next challenge." Chris said.

That's when Lisa stepped forward and grabbed some of the books.

"Tonight, I'm here to present you all with these medical textbooks. You will study human anatomy as it will be part of your next challenge." Lisa said.

"Oh good, dissection." Duncan said sarcastically.

"Oh I see, you're trying to make us throw up by reading about gross stuff. Nice try, Chris." Harold said with a smirk.

"The food is just a reward, Harold. Besides, you guys need to be up early tomorrow morning. So why not stay awake with a late night snack?" Chris offered.

Everyone groaned as they hated hearing that. Although some thought they could at least survive by trying to enjoy the food which smelled nice.

"Late night eating and late night studying, of course." Heather said with a sigh.

She was unaware that insomnia and stomach troubles were the least of the issues that Chris was going to force onto them.

"So this is basically that dumb challenge where we had to stay awake." Duncan said as he crossed his arms.

"It is, isn't it? Except you only fail if you don't study." Chris replied.

Everyone groaned and started grabbing some books and pizzas from the car. Everyone except Leshawna thought that eating and studying at the same time was a bad idea. So she just grabbed a book and went inside of the tent to see how much she could study.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow morning." Chris said as he got off of the stretcher and walked away.

Naruto then turned to his adoptive mother who sighed.

"I suppose this "game" will be light hearted. How do you handle it, son?" Lisa asked.

"The whining teenagers or the sadism?" Naruto asked with a blank face.

"The second one, I believe your growth already taught you how to handle the first one." Lisa answered.

She briefly looked at Veldora and saw him dragging Marco out of the car after the boy somehow got himself stuck in the seatbelt again.

"Well, at some point. You either stop caring or think of this as watching children grow." Naruto told her. "Besides, that's how I learned to let Veldora run free."

Then they heard a snap and saw Veldora ripped off the seatbelt and pulled Marco out.

"Let us go, grandnephew! While everyone studies, we can meet with your uncles and have a game night!" Veldora exclaimed.

"Actually, I think I'm gonna go–"

Veldora threw Marco over his shoulder and proceeded to run away into the distance.

"Hey, can I come?" Star asked.

"No girls allowed!" Veldora exclaimed as he kept running.

Star pouted before going inside of the tent to join her new friends. Leaving Lisa and Naruto alone before Medusa came and slithered her arms from behind Naruto.

"You should have seen how overprotective Naruto was over Veldora. It was the most adorable thing back then." Medusa said, smiling brightly.

Lisa smiled as she could imagine how her adopted son was as a father. She could see Veldora was far from perfect but understood that's just part of growing up, at least that's what she hoped. But she would give anything to see Naruto being a parent for the first time.

"Remember dear? How were you always anxious whenever Veldora started shooting lightning and hitting a random boat or an island?" Medusa asked in a teasing tone.

Naruto groaned as he didn't want his wife to be embarrassing him in front of his adoptive mother. He could see Lisa snickering as Medusa went on about Veldora's childhood. Eventually, Naruto had enough and gently removed Medusa's arms and carried her like a bride.

"Good night Mother." Naruto told Lisa before quickly sprouting his wings and flying away.

Lisa just smiled at the man's retreating form before heading back to rest for the night.

'That's my son.' she thought.

A while later, in the tent

Everyone was doing their best to stay awake and study the textbook's material. Almost everyone that is, Leshawna was ready to quit and go to bed while Duncan always hated studying. The delinquent obviously didn't go to bed as he was actually enjoying the pizza and wanted more.

"Hey! Save some for DJ and Leshawna!" Harold exclaimed.

"Baby, I don't eat while studying. That messes me up." Leshawana said.

"And it's DJ's own fault. He's hardly around anyways." Duncan said.

"Where is DJ?" Leshawna asked, not noticing DJ sneaking towards them.

"I'm right here, I was just, uh… bathroom! I was in the bathroom! For a REALLY long time!" DJ said, failing to hide his anxiety.

"You don't need to tell me any more, Brother." Leshawna said as DJ started eating.

DJ sighed in relief and enjoyed the pizza before grabbing a book and joining everyone else. However, he noticed a distinct taste in the pizza and wondered if Chef had to get some cheaper ingredients or something. He shrugged it off and started reading from the medical textbook.

Although some tried other methods to skim through it. Such as Star standing on a table and trying to play what looked like Family Feud with the girls.

"Name me something that leaks from the belly button." Star said, holding up a flash card.

"Mickey-Doo Quickie Doo!" Beth shouted.

"Show me Mickey-Doo Quickie-Doo!" Star said as she fired her wand at the air.

Suddenly, there was a scoreboard revealing "Mickey-Doo Quickie Doo" for 27 points. Which made Beth jump for joy before Star continued.

"Name me a condition where your nails turn green and curl." Star said.

"Juniper Growth!" Lindsay said.

"Survey says." Star began as she turned to the magic scoreboard.

Which showed "Juniper Growth" as being worth 12 points.

Heather started to feel annoyed by both the loud girls and the stupid study sessions. Just looking at the book gave her a headache and the nonsense written inside of them didn't make any sense.

"Have of this isn't even language! Who would name a disease "Oobi Doob Benooby"!?" Heather asked.

Suddenly, the scoreboard showed Heather's term as being worth 30 points.

"Hey, that's cheating! She's using a book!" Lindsay complained.

"Minus 30 points, Heather." Star said, making Heather groan.

At the same time, Justin was having a hard time as he sat across from Owen who was devouring another box of pizza.

"Owen, I swear this million dollars isn't going to be worth it. I'm going to wake up with crow's feet, or worse." Justin said.

"No you won't, you're still good looking. You'll power through it." Owen said, encouraging him. "But if you want, I could just read it outloud and you could lay down or whatever."

"Thanks Owen." Justin said as he lay down on the bench and closed his eyes.

Owen then proceeded to read out loud which resulted in him sounding like a drunk dyslexic person with partial blindness trying to read Dr. Seuss. But after a while, Justin and the others didn't mind as the late night studying started to give them insomnia. Even Izzy had no idea what Owen was saying but just smiled.

'I have no idea what's going on.' Izzy thought as she slowly became less sane with every minute she remained awake.

It didn't take too long before Leshawna stood up and put the book down.

"Hey, you guys stay up as long as you want but I'm getting some shut eye." she said.

"You think that's a good idea? We might lose the challenge." Duncan said.

"I need all my energy to put up with whatever Chris puts us through." Leshawna said.

"Fair point, I hate studying." Duncan said before throwing away his book.

Duncan then grabbed one more slice of pizza before following Leshawna back to the trailers. Unaware that the true purpose of tomorrow's challenge was already taking place.

The next morning

Naruto woke up early and went to Veldora's room. He didn't bother to knock and just opened up to find his eldest son passed out with the same being said about some of his other sons who were present. He then noticed Marco lying face first on a beanbag while holding a game controller in his hands.

Naruto let out a sigh and bent down to shake him awake. When that didn't work, he generated a bit of electricity to force him awake.

"AHH! What the heck was that!?" Marco asked before finding Naruto above him.

"The challenge is starting. You and Star need to meet up with the two teams." Naruto said.

"Seriously? What time is it?" Marco asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"8:00 am, now hurry to the hospital room set. I don't expect much from Veldora but I expected better from the other boys." Naruto said as Marco nodded and got up.

As Marco reached the door, he looked back and saw Naruto gently moving some of his sons to the side. Only treating Veldora roughly by blowing an extreme amount of fire onto his back to wake him up.

"AHH! This is cruel! I'll tell Mother!" Veldora cried out.

"Good, tell her that you stayed up all night." Naruto said as he woke up the other boys.

Marco just snickered at the reply before heading off to the set. Leaving before Naruto took drastic measures to wake up some of the heavier sleepers in the room.

A while later on the set

Everyone but Leshawna and Duncan looked exhausted and those two would not regret possibly failing the challenge. Luckily the more vocal contestants like Heather were too tired to notice and say anything. What they did notice was Chris who was fully energized and smiling brightly as usual.

"Good morning everyone, feeling rested?" Chris asked, receiving groans in response. "Glad to hear it!"

A moment later, they saw the tarps of two large vats covered in a mystery liquid being removed.

"I hope everyone's excited to test their smarts because that will matter." Chris said.

"How will it matter?" Leshawna asked.

"Firstly, you gotta find different parts of a body and put them together by bungee jumping. After that, you gotta bring them to life." Chris said as he pointed at a bed connected to life support.

"Okay then where does all that late night studying come in? I can't have sacrificed my looks for nothing!" Justin said as he pointed at his eyebags

"That's the fun part, Justin. All of you have to answer questions with answers from the book. Whoever answers it right first gets to try and retrieve a body part." Chris explained.

"Okay, this just got hard." Leshawna whispered to Duncan who sighed.

"That reminds me, it's none of my business and I really should say this but Star and Marco are failing biology." Chris suddenly said, making the two blush.

"Haha, that's lame but relatable." Duncan said.

"And why does that matter to us?" Heather asked.

"They gotta earn extra credit, which means they get to be the ones to help both teams put the body parts together and prep them." Chris said.

"What!? Are you serious!?" Marco asked.

"Hey, tell great-granddad or great-grandma that you want to quit." Chris said as he pointed at the catwalk above them.

Naruto's eyes glowed red as he watched them from afar. Which made Marco shiver and Star go stiff.

"Extra credit, here we come!" Star said, trying to be optimistic.

"Also another thing, this is a reward challenge." Chris said, making everyone sigh in relief. "But only one member of the winning team can have it."

That made everyone groan and bicker a bit.

"So what's the point of trying to win?" Duncan asked.

"A challenge is a challenge." Leshawna said, sounding tired.

"That's right and only the one most deserving and putting in the most effort deserves it." Heather said, mainly referring to herself.

Chris then finished up with the rules and allowed Lisa to come in as she came in with some flash cards to test everyone.

"Hello everyone, I hope you're all eager for today's more "educational" challenge. Today, I will be handling the quiz portion myself." Lisa said with a bright smile.

Somehow seeing the only person with some sense of humanity in her made everyone feel better. However, they ended up briefly forgetting that it didn't mean Chris was no longer involved in the challenge.

"Now then, how do you treat someone with a bean stuck in their nostril?" Lisa asked.

Beth raised her hand up,"I know! Administer two CCs of pain meds and probe the affected area with a sterile swab."

"Correct!" Lisa said.

Beth was then hooked up by Star who then started adjusting the bungee cords. Once ready, Star launched Beth into the air and let her fall back down.

"You got this, Beth!" she cheered.

Only to watch Beth trying to crawl out as some zombified hands tried to pull her down. Beth screamed and forced Star to raise up her wand and start blasting the zombie hands.

"What the heck was that!?" Beth asked as Star dragged her out.

"Good question, what is that?" Lisa asked, looking concerned.

Chris laughed, "Oh, well I should have been more specific. Beth is supposed to look for a cadaver. As well as avoid the undead trapped in there."

"Undead!?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry. The body part is fresh and shouldn't be hard to miss." Chris said reassuringly.

Beth was not reassured at all as that just told everyone that it would be harder to navigate with the undead trying to pull everyone down.

Lisa looked towards her adoptive son who just gently lowered a holy charm to protect her. She just sighed and decided to put her faith in the survival skills of the teens.

"Next question, how do you diagnose a patient with inflammation on their buttock? Other symptoms include itching." Lisa asked.

Heather answered, "Diaper rash, apply salve to achieve humectant dispersion."

"That is correct." Lisa said, gesturing for Heather to dive down.

Marco was the one to help Heather get set up and had her fly into the air before going down. He then heard her scream as she waved a fresh looking arm in the air. Marco was about to reach out for her when he accidentally burped fire at her. Resulting in the hands turning to ash and Heather's hair being burned off.

"My hair… again!" Heather shouted before her hair returned yet again.

This time in a bob style cut.

"Oh, that's a good sight, but could it give me anything less tacky?" Heather said as Marco helped her out.

Lisa let out a tired sigh before shaking her head and continuing. After a few questions, she drowned out the sounds of panicking as the two teams seemed to get used to the hands trying to pull them down. By this point, the undead creatures seemed to be more of an annoyance at this point.

"Back off, handsy!" Izzy shouted as she slapped the arms away.

As the bodies were being put together, the teams started noticing that their respective cadavers looked unique. The Screaming Gaffers had the body of what appeared to be a knight from the crusades while Killer Grips had the body of a world war era soldier. They didn't think much of it as they assumed it was just part of a scare or decoration.

After a few more questions, the two teams got the last parts of the two bodies. With the Killer Grips getting all their parts first.

"We got the last piece, what do we do now?" Owen asked.

"You gotta bring them to life. Use the revival stuff." Chris said as he pointed towards the defibrillator.

Izzy grinned and grabbed the machine and started powering it up.

All the while the Screaming Gaffers just received their last body part and started doing the same.

"Oh boy, I don't even want to imagine what's going to come next." Marco said before he suddenly spawned a tale. "I really need to fix that."

"Marco, let me take a look at that. I haven't been able to properly diagnose you." Lisa said as she rushed up to her son's descendant.

Marco sighed in relief but before Lisa could try and treat his condition. They both heart a shriek from Heather who pointed at DJ.

"DJ, what is that!? It looks contagious!" Heather shouted.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" DJ asked as he saw a red spot on his arm.

"That looks super familiar. It also looks contagious." Harold said suspiciously.

"Hey, Owen has one too! What is this!?" Justin asked.

"AHHH! I can't be sick!" Owen shouted as he tried to shake off the red spot.

Lisa sighed and saw the mark and prepared to diagnose what looked like something small and harmless. Only for Naruto to come down and quickly scoop her up in his arms.

"Naruto dear, what are you doing?" she asked innocently.

"Quarantine." Naruto answered as he carried her away.

Lisa couldn't say anything as everyone started to get sick. She briefly noticed Beth was sweating profusely, Justin's lips began to swell up and a few other disturbing things.

"Uh oh! I think everyone's got the plague or something!" Leshawna exclaimed.

Suddenly, everyone heard a thump and saw Izzy collapse as her skin turned slightly green. They could see the girl's eyes spinning as she began to speak in tongues. What they didn't notice were the small bite marks on her shoulder. Leaving them to focus on everyone else who had various symptoms.

"Explosive diahrea, hot flashes, itchy lips, sea sickness, speaking in tongues and temporary blindness? That sounds like Mortatistical Crumples disease!" Harold exclaimed before his vision became impaired.

"Hey, what the heck!? We can't literally be dying from sickness!" Leshawna shouted at Chris.

"Yeah, uh, we're going to have to quarantine like Naruto said!" Chris said as he ran out.

The doors leading to the set were immediately barricaded by Naruto's minions who then began to guard the door. Leaving the two teams locked inside with no way out.

"What the heck!? They can't leave us here!" Marco yelled as he tried to push the doors open.

"Hang on Marco, I'll get us out of here!" Star said as she raised her wand.

Only to end up summoning an angry two headed goat that headbutted Marco across the room. The goat proceeded to bite down on Marco who only fought back against the pain because he grew dragon scales on accident.

"Star, that's not helping!" Marco shouted.

"Right!" Star said before trying again.

All her attempts either ended with someone else getting hurt or the magic bouncing off of the doors.

"Star, I've placed an anti-magic barrier. You won't be able to break through with force." Naruto said over the intercom.

"Oh… yeah, we're doomed." Star said, making everyone panic.

Before anyone could lose their minds, they heard Chris speak over the intercom.

"Hey everybody, there's no need to panic. I mean, you're free to panic all you want but we have contingencies. You think with the fact that I discovered Acnologia just a few months ago, this show wouldn't be ready for anything?" Chris asked, making everyone calm down.

Only for them to panic as several people in hazmat suits came and started grabbing most of them. Half of them ran like chickens missing their heads as they were shoved into plastic bubbles filled with air. This included Owen, DJ, Heather, Lindsay and even Izzy who was barely able to form sentences.

"Don't worry, we'll get this outbreak under control. For now, we gotta keep you all locked in there until Lisa cooks something up to treat everything." Chris said before cutting off the intercom.

"But I need to pee!" DJ whined.

"Let me out! I don't wanna be in a bubble!" Owen cried out as he began to run around like a hamster in a ball.

As everyone lost their minds and either gave into insanity or potentially dying. Leshawna, Duncan and Marco were the only ones who were trying to figure out a solution. Leshawna noticed that only herself, Duncan, Marco and even Star were behaving normally. Well, normal might be a loose term for Star who was trying to find a way to cure everyone.

"Beth, hold still." Star said as she raised her wand over Beth.

"A magical cure!" Beth said excitedly.

It resulted in Star accidentally summoning a baby narwhal and sending it crashing into Beth's face.

"Oops." she said.

Leshawna rolled her eyes before huddling with the two boys.

"Look, clearly the three of us are more or less fine. So something is up." Leshawna said.

Marco shivered, "I can tell, but isn't that disease contagious? How do we know it won't be a few hours before we get sick too?"

"Listen here, if we want to get out of here. We can't all be safe and cautious." Duncan said with an eye roll.

"Hey, I can take risks!" Marco argued.

"Sure." Duncan replied sarcastically.

"Listen, we gotta find a way out and make it fast. The last thing we need is to be gone too long or get noticed." Leshawna said.

"So what do you want to do? How are we supposed to find the cause of all this?" Marco asked.

"Leave the investigating to me, but as for finding a way out. I think our local juvenile delinquent should get creative." Leshawna said, looking at Duncan towards the end.

Duncan smirked before pulling Marco aside and whispering something into his ear. He watched Marco sigh before putting on a serious face and running up to Star.

"Star, I got an idea. I need something oily. Do you think you can conjure up something like that?" Marco asked.

"Maybe, why do you ask?" Star asked.

A few minutes later

The whole hospital room shook as a loud explosion went off. For a brief moment, Duncan and Leshawna were able to move freely and escaped the set before anyone noticed them. They briefly looked back and saw Marco distracting everyone as a crew came to try and patch up the damage he caused.

"Okay, maybe mixing dragon fire and oil was a bad idea." Marco said, playing dumb.

"Nice." Duncan whispered as they around the set to investigate.

It didn't take too long for Leshawna to try and investigate what made everyone sick. After a long search, she rewinded towards last night's events and realized what happened.

"It's that Med School Syndrome I heard about." Leshawna said as as she gave Duncan one of the textbooks.

"The books are fake too." Duncan said as he ripped off the cover. "But what does studying late at night have to do with anything?"

"It means everyone didn't get enough sleep and decided to be stupid. Now they think they got everything in the book." Leshawna said before looking around Chef's kitchen.

It didn't take too long for her or Duncan to find itching powder and other dangerous materials in the ingredients used for the pizzas. This helped with explaining why some conditions were more realistic compared to Harold claiming to be suddenly blind.

After that, they sprinted back to the medical room set and snuck in just as the crew arrived to further fortify the quarantine.

"Leshawna! Duncan! You're back!" Marco exclaimed.

"Yeah and we learned that this is all a sham. There's no disease, you're all just crazy." Leshawna said.

Heather was about to snap at Leshawna for the comment when she vomited into a bucket.

"You fools barely slept and spent the whole night reading these books. Now you think you got every disease in it." Leshawna said.

Duncan was about to add some information of his own but suddenly ran to a nearby portable toilet.

"But that can't be true. Look at Justin's lips and both Lindsay and Duncan have diarrhea." Beth pointed out.

Leshawna revealed the cheese container and ripped off the label, revealing itching powder.

'Did Chef put that in the pizza!?' DJ wondered as he looked shocked.

"They had to guarantee that we would fall for it. That's why some of you got itchy lips and diarrhea. Even those red spots are just pepperoni slices." Leshawna said, prompting Owen to peel off his red mark and eat it.

"It is pizza!" Owen exclaimed before farting in his bubble.

"But what about Izzy? She can't be faking it even if she is crazy." DJ asked.

That's when Milim kicked the barricade open and came in wearing a paramedic uniform. She then rushed to Izzy and poured a liquid into Izzy's mouth. Making the crazy girl gasp and sit up.

"HAHA! I'm back!" Izzy said before Milim hugged her.

"Dad! You cruel jerk! You poisoned Izzy!" Milim shouted as she looked at the doorway.

Everyone turned to see Naruto enter the room with Chris holding up a platter.

"Actually Izzy got bit earlier by one of your sisters. I don't know what she was doing but she ended up being poisoned." Naruto explained.

"Haha, oh right. I got a bit wild last night." Izzy admitted with a laugh. "By the way, I agreed with Leshawna. I tried saying something but then I forgot how to talk, then I forgot my name and then you showed up and gave me the cure, Bestie!"

Milim just sighed in relief as she forgot how fragile humans are. She still glared at her father and blamed him.

"To be fair, it would defeat the purpose of the game. If I poisoned Izzy, I would have had to poison Leshawna but then she wouldn't have figured out the game's purpose." Naruto explained.

"Which is why the Screaming Gaffers win!" Chris said, making everyone suddenly feel better. "Not only that, but it's time to announce the reward!"

Chris opened up the cover of the platter, revealing photos of everyone's favorite person. From Harold's cousin to Duncan's parole officer, for whatever reason, were there.

"You all get to spend a night away from the film lot at the spa with your best friend. So I'll let you all decide who gets to go." Chris said.

And then everyone went back to bickering but it ended in a few seconds as Leshawna suddenly broke down. For the first time, the tough girl broke down and fell to her knees which even caught Heather off guard.

"I'm sorry, Leshawna is always tough but this time. I was actually scared that I was about to lose you all." Leshawna said, looking genuinely worried.

The Gaffers were touched, even Heather and it quickly made them sway their decision on who should go.

"I think we can all agree on this one and say Leshawna deserves the prize." Duncan said as they all nodded.

"No, No I can't accept this." Leshawna said, still crying and trying to be modest.

"You deserve it girl. Now get on out there." DJ said while still waiting to be freed from the bubble.

Leshawna sniffled and thanked everyone as they helped her out. All the while not realizing that Naruto and Milim sensed something off about her.

'Why does she feel excited?' Milim wondered.

Soon enough, Leshawna was taken to a limo where her cousin was waiting for. The Gaffers waved as Leshawna left to the spa, unaware that Leshawna tricked them in order to get the prize.

Naruto's Confessional

Naruto sat in front of the camera with his arms crossed, "For those that don't know, Leshawna was crying crocodile tears. She just wanted that prize."

Naruto then leaned back and sighed before closing his eyes for a moment.

"To those that haven't seen the show that Bridgette and Geoff are hosting. My mother, Kushina, made a prediction about who would win. She believes Leshawna would be a winner but to win this game you have to be selfish. Something tells me despite this, the Gaffers will take this "betrayal" to the extreme." he explained.

Lisa's Confessional

Lisa took a minute to work with the camera before putting on a proper and professional pose.

"While I do not support most of the cruel acts on this "show" as you call it. I did believe that this challenge would be educational. I just did not realize that all the teenagers would take it too far. However, for all the scholars watching this. Do be careful in your studies. Eat properly, sleep well and do not stress yourselves out too much." Lisa said, giving a motherly smile.

Back on set

While Star was hanging out with the girls again, Marco got a small lecture from his ancestor who had to remind him that he practiced safety too much.

"While I do respect caution and do like your attempt at creativity. Your training will not progress if you don't take risks." Naruto told him.

"How many risks do I need to take?" Marco asked.

"That depends on how well you can think and react." Naruto said simply.

Marco looked confused but wasn't able to get another word out as Naruto continued to go on with a small lecture. One that went on about needing to be daring but also knowing the difference between taking risks and just being stupid. Which only confused Marco because he saw desperate acts as both since he can't think on the spot.

"I'm guessing you're gonna make Chef teach me all this?" Marco asked with a sigh.

"No, Chef will continue to teach you how to man up. I'll worry about the next lesson shortly." Naruto said before dismissing Marco.

Marco sighed and left to go do his training under Chef. Leaving Naruto to look at the two teams who were recovering from the challenge. Some just needed water and rest while those like Justin and Lindsay needed proper treatment.

Naruto then looked towards Duncan who was downing some liquids that Lisa gave him to handle the diarrhea.

'Maybe I'll have to make a second deal.' Naruto thought as he planned out the next stage of Marco's training.

His thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of an explosion coming from the girls trailer. He watched and saw puppies shooting lasers from their eyes coming out and chasing Heather.

"AHHH! OW! STAR! I SWEAR YOU— OW! OW! OW!" Heather shouted as she was chased by some of the puppies.

Star sheepishly stuck her head out of the trailer before sticking it back inside and closing the door.

"Aw, these little guys are so— OW!" Beth shouted as one shot her in the eye.

'And let's not forget the princess who has no idea how to use her magic. There's also her parents I still have to get in contact with.' Naruto thought with a frown.

Whenever Naruto gives himself one task, three more somehow spring up. Then again, it was better than just laying around and silently watching human civilization continue to move on.

TO BE CONTINUED…