Nicky Haugh: Thank you as always.

The Legendary Dragon Reaper: Fair point, maybe since I thought so much of the season was dumb, it got lumped in there.

SideshowJazz1: Yeah, when Ella's not around for Sugar to hate, Sugar can actually be a complex character. Totally agree about the insult to Sierra's intelligence, which is why I'm trying to do right by her. Cannot answer about Duncan and Gwen, but yes, there is more to be done with Alejandro when his love interest is removed from the situation.

Acosta perez jose ramiro: Thank you!

AnonBrowser: Those are some of the reasons why I had Heather eliminated. At this point, I might as well say yes, Sugar is the season's main villain. The rest will not be discussed due to spoilers.

Phenomenal Excelsior: Glad I improved Heather's elimination, and yeah, Sugar is getting really sneaky. That pretty much sums up plot progression. I don't know, do you sense a Coderra vibe?

Critica7: Thank you for saying Cast Swap is one of your favorites, it makes my day. The moon does add a difficulty to the challenge that wouldn't have been there before, and that makes the entertainment more interesting. Yeah, Topher has grown from merely trying to get Chris's attention since the last season. No, I have not read that story, but thank you for the recommendation.

That British Guy: Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the chapter.

QueenAzulaThinksYourWorthless: Me too.

SilentSinger948: Agreed, and who knows? The invincibility statue might just be found today. Yeah, hopefully.

Star Saber21: Eh, missed opportunity for them then.

I forgot to mention this last time, but I'd like to remind everyone that Cast Swap has a TVTropes page, and it's off to a great start, but it's always looking for improvements. Go check that out, and add anything if you can.

Alright, time to collect some mutant eggs, and find out where the mutants have gone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, or anything within the franchise. I only own a DVD of season one and some shirts.

Episode 6- A Scramble Between Good and Evil

"Last time on Total Drama All-Stars," Chris narrated as the episode began immediately with footage of the moon entering the Blue Harvest Moon phase. "The island was bathed in a rare Blue Harvest Moon that turns normally sweet creatures into pure evil." Example footage of the bear being attacked by the squirrel played, followed by other displays of animals acting out-of-character.

"Totally unsafe to be out after dark in that," Chris teased. The campers were then shown traveling through the woods while the blue moon was in effect. "So, I made it a night challenge. Heather pretended to be affected by the moon, and the Hamsters got split up." Heather could be seen skipping around cheerfully as she made her way through the challenge with her team, and the heroes were shown getting separated as a result of Cody tripping on a rock while running.

The next clip was of the elimination ceremony. "In the end, the Hamsters won the challenge, and Heather ended up eliminated as part of Alejandro's plan to start their relationship over." Heather's elimination was shown, as was her flush down the toilet. "You can do better than her, bro." The footage flash-transitioned to Chris in present time at the Dock of Shame. "Now what is Alejandro going to do with his love life out of the game? How long will Sierra last without her phone? Find out right here on Total Drama All-Stars!"

(cue intro)

Oddly, the episode started off in the spa hotel instead of the loser cabin. Sierra sat in one of the end chairs at the dining table with not a plate in front of her, but the shoe she had saved for Cody. Sighing, she stroked a finger along the footwear.

"Mate, you've got to eat something. We might have a challenge today," Jasmine insisted, sitting across the table from her in a zoomed-out shot of the room. Taking her own advice, she had a plate of eggs and toast with a side of milk.

Sierra shook her head, continuing to caress the shoe. "I can't. I'm worried about Cody being by himself on Boney Island with only one shoe, and I can't even update my blogs as a distraction since my phone broke."

"I'm sure Cody is fine," Sammy said with hesitation off to the side. Sierra looked up, seeing the cheerleader come up by her seat to take the one next to hers. "Nobody has come back from Boney Island badly injured. Cody is smart, so he probably found a way to keep himself safe." The butler brought to plates to the table, placing them in front of Sammy and Sierra. "Oh, thank you!" Taking a fork, Sammy began to eat, though she frowned in concern when Sierra ignored her meal in favor of playing with Cody's shoe.

(Confessional- Sammy)

"I feel bad. As much as I didn't like her taking pictures with it all the time, even I didn't want her phone to get busted. That'd just make me a jerk," Sammy reasoned. "I'd try and fix her phone myself, but I'm no tech whiz."

As Sierra toyed with the shoelaces, Jasmine glanced around the room. "Say, where's Duncan? Breakfast is ready, and he should've been here by now."

"I think I saw him walking around outside on my way down here," Sammy answered, rising from her seat. "I'll go get him."

Outside, Duncan paced back and forth. "Think, man, think," the punk muttered to himself. "How can I maintain my bad boy rep?" He looked off to the side, and noticed the jeep that Chris and Chef had recently been using to get around the island. "That's perfect! I'll drive Chef's truck into the lake." Hopping into the driver's seat, he tried to hotwire the vehicle, only for it to make a sputtering noise. "Huh, something must be wrong with the starter," he mused. Duncan climbed out of the jeep, and went around to the front hood. Popping it open, he reached inside and tinkered around with the engine until it sounded like the vehicle had turned on.

"Duncan, what are you doing?" The voice of Sammy inquired. Duncan nearly jumped at her question, banging his head on the raised hood. "Oops, sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

Pulling himself out from under the hood, Duncan raised a hand to rub his sore head. "It's fine. I was just messing with Chef's truck after it wouldn't turn on. It's on now, though."

Sammy blinked at him. "Wait, so you fixed Chef's truck?" She smiled sweetly at him. "That's so nice of you."

Realizing how the situation looked, Duncan quickly tried to correct her. "What? No, I was actually going to-!" He nearly jumped again when the hood slammed shut behind him. The punk and cheerleader both turned to face the source.

Chef had climbed into the driver's seat, grinning in delight. "Duncan, you fixed my truck. You're a good guy." The two contestants stepped to the side right before Chef drove his vehicle away.

"Aw, come on," Duncan griped as his opportunity to cause trouble left him, causing Sammy to glance at him with a confused expression.

(Confessional- Duncan)

"I'm really losing my edge, here. I need to do something bad that can't be mistaken for something nice, and fast." Duncan frowned, trying to come up with other ideas within the confessional outhouse's privacy. "Maybe Gwen could help. She knows me pretty well."

Later on that morning, Alejandro leaned against the porch railing of the loser cabin. As he watched the scenery, a green apple was thrust into his sight.

"Apple?" Topher offered. He had another apple in his other hand, it already missing a bite.

"Where did you get this?" Alejandro took the apple, not biting into it.

Topher shrugged. "I was really hungry last night, so I smuggled out a couple when we swapped cabins." He saw his alliance partner begin eating his apple, and continued to eat his own. "So, what's the plan now that both of our initial targets are gone?"

Chewing thoughtfully, Alejandro swallowed before speaking. "I think it would be prudent to go after our teammates with connections to the other team next, meaning Gwen and Shawn."

The wannabe host considered that for a moment. "That sounds right. Shawn was a hero before the switch, and Gwen's boyfriend is currently one of them. If they reach the merge, they could team up and make our own time at that point harder."

"Exactly my thinking," Alejandro agreed. "And since Shawn cost me our victory at the third challenge, I propose we go after him first."

"He was a major threat last season," Topher added, "and Gwen hasn't been much of one since season two. Yeah, I'd say Shawn has to go next."

Unbeknownst to both of them, Shawn had been up on the roof above them. He frowned at the information he heard. Not wanting to give himself away, he remained still and quiet.

(Confessional- Shawn)

He huffed, his arms crossed over his chest. "Pfft, to think I was getting along fine with those guys. They're not getting rid of me if I have anything to do about it."

Inside the loser cabin, on the girls' side, Gwen was rummaging through the drawers. Sugar sat on one of the lower bunks, touching up her mascara with a brush and a hand mirror. The latter looked up from her task, and cocked an eyebrow at the former.

"What're you doing?" Sugar wondered.

"Looking for my diary," Gwen answered sharply, slamming a drawer shut. "She could've at least told me where she hid it before she left."

Putting on a kind smile, Sugar offered, "Maybe I could help. Her kind and mine are pretty alike, so maybe I could figure out where she put it. What's it look like?"

(Confessional- Sugar)

"I already know what it looks like," Sugar explained, "but I can't let her know that I know that. She'd figure out it was me all along."

A seagull with a six-pack ring stuck around its neck attempted to nest in one of the loudspeakers, but soon found out it was a bad idea when it was rudely woken up by the loudspeakers turning on.

"Get your butts to the docks, campers!" Chris ordered. "It's challenge time!"

A flash transitioned to Chris standing before the two teams on the Dock of Shame.

"Welcome, all," Chris greeted. "Today's challenge involves a trip to the Fun Zone." Chuckling, he blew a noisemaker. His enthusiasm spread to Sierra, who earned weird looks from her teammates.

"What's the angle?" Sugar regarded the host skeptically. "Is the whole place set on fire?"

"Nope," Chris shook his head.

"Is it a pit full of intestines?" That question came from Duncan.

"Would that be fun? You've had it kinda rough lately, so I figured- okay, the lawyers figured that you deserved a treat," Chris responded, correcting himself mid-thought. "But, if you'd rather do something else…"

The Vultures had smiled when the lawyers were mentioned, but when they saw Chris considering a second option, which was likely to be even more dangerous than his original plan, they glared at him, shouting, "No!"

Chris walked to the edge of the dock. "Fun Zone, it is," he declared. As if on cue, the Boat of Losers arrived with a groggy Cody on board. "Ooh, here's our ride."

"I'm back from exile," the geek reported. He had been about to disembark from the boat, but Chris extended his arm out and shoved him back on.

"All aboard!"

"The Fun Zone is on Boney Island?" Duncan clarified incredulously.

"Yep, it works as a surprise better that way," Chris said over a shot of Boney Island's infamous giant skull cavern.

Another cut later had Chris leading the two teams through Boney Island's woods. Cody still appeared tired, but he now had both of his shoes back.

"Ugh, I forgot how much of a dump this island was," Gwen grumbled.

Chris smiled at the campers. "Come on now, maybe someone will finally find the invincibility statue."

"I searched the island all night while avoiding the animal attacks, and found nothing," Cody protested, jabbing a finger at the host. "Please say that you lied, and that the statue has been back at camp the whole time."

"The statue has been on Boney Island the whole time, but it's hidden in the Fun Zone, and whoever finds it gets to keep it," Chris said.

The campers began to cheer.

A flash transition showed everyone standing in front of a stone building surrounded by a wall of tall, upright logs. To make it look festive, balloons were tethered to either side of the metal gate, and a wooden deck chair sat off to the side with a flat-screen TV and a deck umbrella standing tall over the chair.

Chris spread his arms wide in introduction. "Welcome to the outside of the fabulous Fun Zone!" The camera panned across the reactions of Sugar, Shawn, Gwen, and Sierra. Sugar and Sierra had excited smiles, but Shawn and Gwen had nervous frowns. "Patent pending." Taking out a remote, he pressed the button on it, opening the metal gate. "Alright, let's move it, people! Keep a steady pace!"

A quick flash showed the cast inside the entrance/exit. To one side of the exit was a giant, red bowl with the Villainous Vultures' team logo, and a yellow one with the Heroic Hamsters' team logo was on the other. The moment the campers stepped inside, they could hear the screeches and hoots of the various occupants of the Fun Zone.

Chris gave a brief, cheeky wave before the gate slammed shut, causing the campers to whirl around in shock. A large monitor that hung over the doorway turned on, showing the host lounging in the deck chair.

"You are now in the Fun Zone, aka, the most dangerous place you've ever been," the host informed the contestants. "Your challenge is a homage to season three's condor egg hunt. The twist is you'll be putting eggs in a basket, and the eggs found in the Fun Zone belong to all the terrifying mutants from season four, who will try to smash your bodies and eat you."

Shawn went wide-eyed at the last bit, as did several of his fellow players. "What is fun about that?"

Chris hemmed and hawed, "Um, it's fun to watch?"

"All we have to do is collect the eggs?" Alejandro steered the conversation back on track.

"You'll be fine. They're just wild mutated beasts trying to protect their unborn babies. How bad can it get?" Chris changed the picture on the monitor from himself to an image of the Vultures' bowl with mutant eggs in it. "The first team with six eggs in their basket wins."

Duncan raised half his unibrow. "What if an egg hatches?"

"As long as you keep whatever hatches in your basket, it counts. And, as a special bonus, whoever collects the most eggs for the winning team gets a special reward. So, excited?" Chris concluded his explanation of the challenge rules.

(Confessional- Sierra)

The blogger squealed, clapping her hands together. "I am totally excited. I love eggs, and babies. I've got great maternal instincts. If anything hatches, I'll gladly be their new mommy."

The red bowl received a close-up. "The red basket belongs to the villains, and the gold one is for Duncan and the rest of the do-gooders." The punk growled at the tease. "I'd wish you all good luck, but it's bad for ratings, so I hope some of you get really hurt." Raising his air horn, Chris signaled for the challenge to start. "Begin!"

As the teams split apart, Sierra immediately grasped Cody's arm. "We should look for eggs together."

"Good idea," Cody agreed, looking into the mutated forest. "Definitely don't want to be looking around here alone."

Alejandro stopped Topher before he could get too far. "You go with Sugar, and convince her to vote Shawn in the case we lose. You know her better than I."

"Do I have to?" Topher griped. "She's so… ugh, and you're great at persuading people."

"It has to be you. The two of you have history, and she reminds me too much of Owen for my liking," Alejandro said.

Topher groaned. "Fine, but you owe me one."

A flash cut showed a bush rustling, followed by Shawn poking his head out. "Better be careful. I'd climb to higher ground, but who knows what lurks in the trees? Probably some kind of flying, brain-munching squirrel or something."

A pale hand tapped him on the shoulder. The conspiracy nut jumped out of the bush, flailing.

"Zombie!"

"Hey," Gwen calmed him down, "it's just me."

Shawn slowed his breathing, turning around to face her. "Don't do that! For all I knew, you could've been a brain muncher trying to grab me so you could feast on my mind."

The loner girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, crazy aside, want to partner up for the challenge? One of us can run interference while the other one gets the eggs."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's do that," Shawn consented.

Jasmine and Sammy walked through the forest, chatting as they made their hunt. "It's just," Jasmine was saying, "he's always bringing zombies up in every conversation, and then he's got that apocalypse training thing, and those movies and games he plays. It's all just too much."

Sammy shuddered. "I'm not really a fan of all that either. I always cover my eyes during the gory parts. I dunno." The cheerleader shrugged. "Maybe if we both tell Shawn to dial all that stuff back, he'd listen?"

"Maybe," Jasmine considered. "I just want him to live more in the moment, instead of thinking all that stuff is real and let that decide how he lives. You know?" She glanced down at her friend.

Her friend nodded in agreement. "Yeah." Sammy looked forward, and gasped. "Hide!" She grabbed Jasmine by the arm, and pulled her behind a large bush nearby. They hid out of sight just in time for the enormous crab from last season to waddle past.

Once the creature was far enough away, Jasmine and Sammy poked their heads up. The explorer turned towards her friend. "Look at you, saving me this time around."

"I guess I did," Sammy giggled into a hand. "Come on. Maybe that crab has an egg we could borrow."

Sugar and Topher stood underneath a ledge, where a flying goat's nest sat on said ledge with a light blue egg inside it.

"You're not going to get it," Topher told the pageant queen, who was tossing a small stone up and down in her palm.

She pointed at him. "I am too. I once got a loonie in a vending machine from twenty-feet." Sugar chucked the rock at the nest, where it bounced off the egg, and the egg tilted right out of the nest into her hands. "Hah!" Cradling the egg with one hand, Sugar poked Topher in the chest. "That's for doubting my awesome skills!"

The pair hurried back to the baskets, and Sugar put the egg in their team's red one, cuing a triumphant horn blow. The sound was succeeded by an announcement from Chris. "First egg goes to the Villainous Vultures!" Elsewhere in the forest, Gwen and Shawn cheered. "You better get your butts in gear, Hamsters!" Cody and Sierra exchanged a look at the host's suggestion.

Sugar and Topher made to go out and find more eggs, but Topher, apparently thinking of something, stopped and turned to address the monitor. "Hang on, what's to stop the other team from taking eggs from our basket?"

"Integrity?" Chris shrugged.

Sugar walked back, and scowled at Chris. "Integrity? This is a pageant! There ain't no integrity!"

"I didn't make it a rule, so I guess they can," Chris replied.

Sugar shoved Topher closer to their team's basket. "You stay and watch whatever eggs the others bring back. I'm going hunting for more."

While annoyed with the shove, Topher called after her, "Don't forget to think about voting Shawn out!"

Meanwhile, Jasmine and Sammy didn't have luck with the crab, so they kept searching. Peeking from behind a tree, Jasmine pointed at something for Sammy to see.

"Look, it's Larry," Jasmine said. "And he's got an egg." Chris's mutant plant pet was in the ground, with a tentacle wrapped protectively around a large, green bulging egg.

Sammy raised a confused eyebrow. "Wait, so Larry's actually a girl?"

"Guess so. Here's the plan, I'm going to steal the flower and Larry will chase me. Once we're away, you take the egg and get it to the basket. Alright?"

Sammy frowned as Jasmine climbed up the tree they were hiding behind. "Okay, but be careful!"

Within minutes, Jasmine swung over Larry's open maw, yanking the flower from last season's final three challenge. "Up for a chase?" Clearing Larry's range, Jasmine dropped from the vine she swung in on and sprinted away. Larry snapped their jaws shut, and effortlessly rose out of the ground to give chase.

Sammy went to the egg, and struggled to pull it free from where it was rooted into the ground. "Yikes, this thing might even be bigger than I am."

Larry might've sensed their egg being ripped out because they roared loudly. Figuring now would be the time to lose the mutant plant, Jasmine threw the flower up onto a flying moose with three eyes. The moose blinked at the flower entering its vision, unaware it had landed on its nose until Larry snaked a root limb around the flying mutant and pulled it out of frame.

Jasmine tipped her hat to her opponent. "Thanks a bunch, mate!"

At a bog-looking area, Duncan lifted up a rock to check for potential nests underneath. "Come on, there's got to be one stupid egg around here."

In his search, he didn't notice the bubbling in the murky water getting nearer and nearer to him. A purple tentacle reached out of the water, and dragged him in by the ankle. Moments later, he was thrown out, hitting a tree with his back. The impact made a white egg wobble out of a knothole in the tree.

Seconds after he fell to the ground, the egg landed in an awkwardly stretched out hand. "Yes, and ow!" Duncan cheered momentarily before the pain of the throw set in.

"Hurry, get in the basket!" Jasmine directed as she and Sammy returned to the baskets, where Topher stood guard over the Vultures' collected egg.

The egg the girls retrieved from Larry began to thrash in Sammy's arms as they neared. Before Sammy could hoist the egg into the golden bowl, it began to kick more wildly.

"Uh oh," Sammy whimpered, having an idea of what was coming.

The egg exploded in a mess of green goop, covering the cheerleader in the stuff. She and Jasmine groaned as half a dozen little mutant flytraps tottered away from the basket. Topher watched them waddle away until his eyes went wide in horror at one of them that appeared to have an uncanny resemblance to Chris.

The host and Chef, who had arrived at some point, both watched a close-up of the Chris-lookalike flytrap. Seeing it, Chris darted his gaze away, whistling innocently.

Back inside the Fun Zone, Duncan arrived with the egg that had fallen into his palm, and he set it in the heroes' basket. The horn blared a second time.

"And the score is one all," Chris declared on the monitor, using his megaphone to make sure everyone heard the message.

Jasmine and Sammy cheered, sharing a high-five.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Duncan boasted, giving a thumb-up to them.

Jasmine shifted her attention to him. "Since you're here now, mind watching the basket? It's just that…" Unable to properly explain without badmouthing anybody, she merely indicated Topher standing several feet away with a cocky expression.

"Hm, good point," Duncan noted, accepting the task.

"Thanks," Sammy said, bidding him farewell as she and Jasmine jogged away to resume the challenge.

Once the girls were gone, Duncan sauntered over to the Vultures' basket. "So, how's Gwen doing?" He asked Topher. He then gave the wannabe host a curious look. "Uh, whatcha got there?"

Topher had one hand holding a bunched up part of his shirt that seemed to be- squirming? He shrugged casually with his other hand. "What are you talking about?"

Still curious, Duncan smacked Topher's hand that was holding his shirt, forcing his former teammate to let go with a yelp. The Chris-lookalike flytrap fell to the ground, and waddled away at speed. As it fled, Duncan cast a glance at Topher that demanded explanation.

"I was just going to sell it on Fred's List," Topher stated, shrugging his shoulders.

A flash transition turned the focus to Shawn and Gwen, who were hiding behind a large boulder to avoid being seen by one of the crocodiles with tentacles that Shawn's half of the cast dealt with the previous season.

"Figures Alejandro and Topher would work together. They're both full of themselves," Gwen muttered.

"We'll have to be careful for the challenges leading up to the merge, and make sure Sugar is on our side. As long as we have her, we'll have the majority," said Shawn.

"I'd rather avoid needing the majority, and the only way to do that is to win the challenges."

"I'm not exactly comfortable losing, either." Shawn peeked around the boulder. "Coast is clear. Come on." He ran from their sheltered space, and Gwen followed closely.

Sierra and Cody returned to the baskets, with the blogger carrying a white egg that was beginning to crack. She put it in the heroes' basket, allowing the horn to blare just as the egg hatched completely.

"That's two eggs for the heroes," Chris updated.

A pair of conjoined rats popped out of the egg, both snarling. Duncan and Cody, for once not sharing a moment of animosity, both took a step back in terror. The snarling didn't faze Sierra, who instead chose to coo at the new hatchling.

"Aw, it thinks I'm its' mommy," Sierra gushed, scooping up the conjoined creature. "It's adorable."

Cody winced. "A really weird definition of adorable."

"Yeah, maybe you should stay," Duncan suggested awkwardly, "while I go find more eggs."

"And I'll go too, so I don't have to deal with- that," Cody added, pointing at the rats Sierra was cradling.

Sierra looked hurt at Cody. "But, aren't you going to stay and be their daddy?"

"Nah, their 'daddy' has to go to work. See ya later," Cody dashed off after Duncan.

The blogger gazed sadly at her friend's exit. "Did I say something wrong?" She asked the conjoined rats. The one that hung upside down merely replied by vomiting.

The pause icon appeared over the image, making the puking action freeze.

A cut showed Chris had stopped the footage, and the host said, "It's hard-boiled down to two eggs for the heroes, and one for the villains. But, the challenge is far from over easy. Who will win?" He pulled out a sheet of paper that he and Chef read with awkward smiles. "Your quiche is as good as mine?" Chris's tone was full of confusion as he read the last sentence, causing Chef to chuckle beside him. Throwing the paper away, Chris continued, "Stay tuned to Total Drama All-Stars!"

A far shot of Boney Island was shown, and Chris could be heard saying, "Yeah, I'm going to fire whoever wrote that." Then the show faded to black for commercial.

When the show returned, Gwen and Shawn were walking through the forest, and the long-eared rabbit that the Mutant Maggots had dressed up for season four's fashion challenge could be seen flying around, still wearing the costume in the background. In the foreground was the three-eyed teleporting frog.

"Yeah," Gwen drawled as she glanced around, "so glad I wasn't on your season."

Shawn shrugged. "Meh, if anything, the mutated effects made for good research towards the zombie apocalypse as one of the potential causes." Something grabbed him by the leg, pulling him forward. "Whoa!"

One of the giant, blind gophers from the mine last season emerged from the ground, holding Shawn's leg with one of its paws. Experiencing her first real encounter with a mutant, Gwen screamed in terror with Shawn. Though, Shawn's terror didn't last as long as hers.

"Seriously? You again?" Shawn complained once he recognized the enemy, taking on an annoyed expression. As he was lifted up by his foot, he extended his arms, allowing his armpits to breathe. "Remember this?" He quipped.

The mutant gopher quickly discovered Shawn's scent, which stunk as horribly as ever, and squealed in recoil. It dropped Shawn, and hastily dug back into the ground. It was so concerned with getting away from Shawn's stench that it didn't even realize it had shoveled a dark blue egg out behind itself.

Once Gwen noticed it, she fumbled to catch it before it broke.

"Wow," Gwen said, somewhat stunned. "I don't know if this is the gopher's egg, or something else's, but I'm not complaining." She smiled down at Shawn, who was laying on the ground. "Nice job scaring it away."

Groaning, Shawn returned to his feet, dusting himself off. "That was just one of the many reasons I don't regularly bathe. Come on, let's get that to the basket before it hatches." The pair ran off back to the entrance.

Once he and Duncan had left the basket, Cody went on his own. He recognized that it was a dumb idea to try getting eggs from big mutants by himself, so he stuck to hunting for small mutants with nests. That was how he ended up swiping an egg from a mutated maggot.

"Ew, ew, ew," Cody griped quietly while nudging the sleeping maggot parent curled around its egg to release said egg and remain in the nest. The egg itself was covered in maggot vomit. Once the egg was away from its parent, the geek allowed himself to cheer. "Yes!" He hurried away with his prize, hoping not to see the maggot wake up and realize its egg was missing.

A flash cut to the baskets showed Alejandro and Sugar having returned with eggs in tow. Sugar placed the team's second egg inside the Vultures' basket, and Alejandro one-upped her by bringing two.

"And the villains are up four to two!" Chris updated after the horn fanfare.

Sugar scowled at Alejandro. "What are you? Some kind of show-off?"

Alejandro boasted a smile. "Whatever do you mean? I merely went out to retrieve an egg, and happened to pick up a second one on my way back."

The pageant queen got in his face. "I know your angle, mister. Making it look like you're the most valuable person here so the other dummies don't vote you off. Well guess what, you're not the most valuable. I am, and I'm gonna prove it." Stomping away, she went to go find more eggs.

Topher watched her go, and then pointed at her while glancing at Alejandro. "Are you sure we shouldn't just get rid of her now?"

Alejandro raised a placating hand. "Be patient. Her time will come later on."

The wannabe host sighed. "Fine. I'm gonna go find some eggs. You stay and watch the ones we've got."

Alejandro shrugged. "Fair enough. I deserve a break after collecting two at once." He watched Topher leave, and then leaned against the team's basket casually.

Panning over to the Hamsters' basket, Sierra sat inside it with the team's eggs along with the hatched conjoined rats. "I'll call you, Blog," she said to one of the two, "and I'll call you, Post. That way you're Blog Post! Hehe, get it?"

Topher poked his head up from behind a rock, hearing Sugar's shout of "Would you buzz off? Or baa off, or whatever you do?"

Sugar was higher up on a ledge where another flying goat's nest was, another blue egg tucked under one arm and a stick in her other hand. The stick was on fire from the fire breath of the goat she was fending against.

"Fall. Do it. It'd make great TV," Topher muttered quietly.

He soon got his wish when the flying goat rammed at Sugar, throwing her off the ledge.

On the ground, Sugar got on her hands and knees, and was about to look for the egg she had tried retrieving, only to find an interesting development.

"Well, lookie here…" She said.

The egg had fallen a few feet from her, and had most definitely broken open, but the contents inside were not that of an egg yolk. Somehow, inside the egg shell was the invincibility statue. Sugar reached out, and picked up the statue to look it over.

Topher's jaw dropped. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Sugar stashed the statue in a pocket of her jeans, and started climbing back up to the goat's nest, unaware someone had observed her discovery.

(Confessional- Sugar)

"I don't know how that statue got in that egg, but I don't care. It's mine now!" Sugar flaunted the statue at the outhouse camera. "And I didn't even need to stash it somewhere and fetch it later after the challenge was done. Thank you, jeans with deep pockets!" The pageant queen patted her jeans proudly.

(Confessional- Topher)

Topher had his face in his hands. "Sugar. Of all the people that could've found the statue, it had to be Sugar?" Taking his hands away from his face and setting them on his knees, he stared at the camera seriously. "I have to warn Al, and convince him to go after Sugar sooner instead of later, otherwise we'll never get her out."

Sugar was back at the nest, the goat that had been protecting it gone, and she picked up the last egg remaining. "Another goat egg? Where's the challenge in that?" She heard Topher remark faintly from below.

Topher was now out in the open, and Sugar hopped down with the egg to join him. "Chris never said we could only use one egg from each animal, so I figured since I knew where the goats' nests were, I'd just get all of my eggs from there." She stared sharply at her teammate, putting her free hand on her hip. "What are you doing here, anyhow? You've been following me like a dog all day. I get it, already. I'll vote for Shawn or Gwen at the next bonfire. Now beat it!"

Topher raised his hands in a defensive motion. "Okay, okay. I was just saying that getting all your eggs from the same place is kinda boring. I mean, there are probably lots of nests around here, and you decide to just use one nest. Talk about lame."

She rolled her eyes at him. "How'd you ever get to the final four when you're so stupid?" Turning away, she started the trek back to the basket.

"At least I didn't quit because of a stupid rock," Topher shot back. He continued to follow her. "And my game was better than yours!"

"I've never seen a chicken that huge, or with that many eyes," Sammy remarked as she walked with Jasmine. "That's probably going to haunt my nightmares for a while, but at least we lost it."

Jasmine nodded. "And with how long of a chase we gave it, we can get back to its nest first." She grinned, looking ahead. "There it is!" The explorer and her friend jogged over to a large nest with a lot of purple eggs.

"Wow! If we brought all these back, we'd win by a mile!" Sammy exclaimed, peering into the nest.

Back at the baskets, Sierra was now standing outside of the basket, stretching her legs as she cradled the conjoined rats. Duncan soon arrived with an egg small enough that he could carry it with two fingers.

The horn sounded when the punk dropped the egg into the gold-colored basket. "And it's four to three, Villains!" Chris declared.

Duncan puffed his chest out. "Check it. I had to fight a crazy monster to get this egg. It was half lion, half bear, and half poison."

"Oh," Chris said, making Duncan's pride deflate. "If only there was a way to go back in time to see this epic battle. That would be fun. Oh, what do I have here?" On the monitor, Chris held up a remote.

Duncan's eyes widened. "Aw man…"

Chris's image on the monitor transitioned to where Duncan was minutes beforehand. He sat on a branch in a tree next to a pudgy, blue, almost normal-looking bird in a nest. He had the egg in hand, and was speaking to the bird.

"I'm only borrowing this egg. I promise I'll bring it back," the punk promised.

The footage cut forward to the bird crying. Duncan grew a concerned expression, and tried to calm it down. "Oh no, please don't. Look, I can't stand the sight of you crying, so… I'm just gonna go, with your egg, and yeah… be back soon." Awkwardly, he dropped off the branch, leaving the bird there as it cried.

The video ended, and Chris returned to the screen. "When do you punch the pudgy in the face?" The host teased, emphasizing his question with a punch into his own palm. He saw Duncan stalking away with his shoulders hunched, and continued his ribbing before the punk got out of hearing range. "We're bringing you back for the next all-star season! It'll be total sweethearts versus total bigger sweethearts." Alejandro watched the scene unfold, taking pleasure in Duncan's embarrassment, and Sierra actually took a moment away from the rats to gaze at her teammate in concern.

(Confessional- Duncan)

"Sweetheart?" Duncan repeated in outrage. "That's it! I'm doing something bad, and I'm going to do it today!"

With Sammy in front and Jasmine in the back, the duo decided to carry the whole nest back to the starting point instead of just carrying the eggs.

"The score is still four to three, but I see a lot of eggs approaching. It's going to be a close one," Chris said over the loudspeakers.

Shortly after he made that announcement, Shawn and Gwen returned with the egg they had received from the mutant gopher.

"Nice!" Shawn cheered as the horn blared.

"The score is now five to three for the villains," Chris corrected.

The rats in Sierra's arms began to thrash, and Sierra did her best to calm them down. "It's okay, Blog. It's okay, Post… ow!" She yelped when the rat named Post bit her finger. "Since you just hatched, I really hope you don't have rabies."

Outside the Fun Zone, Chris and Chef watched the blogger interact with the mutants. "You know," Chris mentioned to his work buddy, "we should only bring back the sane contestants."

Chef nodded in agreement.

"What is that?" Gwen asked, pointing as Cody arrived with his team's fourth egg. The horn blared again, but nobody paid attention to it.

Nearing the baskets, Jasmine and Sammy upgraded their stride into a jog. "My arms are getting tired," Sammy said.

"Just a bit further, we're nearly there," encouraged Jasmine.

"The heroes are up to four, but they're still one behind the villains!" The host updated as the contestants stared tensely at the girls coming with the large nest.

Not too far behind the girls, Sugar and Topher ran to catch up, the former with her third egg in hand.

Glancing at the opposing team for a moment, Alejandro hollered, "Sugar! Throw the egg to me!"

Sugar hesitated for a moment, huffing, "Fine, but this is my egg, you hear?" She chucked it over.

Sammy and Jasmine both gasped when they saw the egg zip by them. "No!" Sammy even cried out.

Alejandro held out his hands to catch it. Sugar stopped running, and Topher halted next to her, his eyes wide.

The egg spun through the air.

The charmer caught it expertly, and turned around to set the egg in the basket. The horn sounded a final time.

"Six to four, the villains win!" The villains started to cheer, and the heroes groaned at their defeat. At that point, Duncan came back from wherever he was sulking. "Now, before we head home, did anyone leave anything behind that they'd like to go get?" While most of the cast exchanged confused gazes, Sugar hid a sneaky smile and Topher scowled at her out the corner of his eye. "Just checking," Chris said when nobody moved, or somebody gave him a strange look.

The campers and their host prepared to leave Boney Island. Walking down the beach with Alejandro, Topher leaned over to whisper in his alliance partner's ear.

"We have a problem. The invincibility statue has been found," Topher informed him.

Alejandro frowned, ceasing his walk. "And how exactly is that a problem?"

Topher stopped next to him. "Someone else has it." So as not to look suspicious to the others, he continued walking.

The charmer scowled deeply, and pursing his lips, followed his partner.

(Confessional- Alejandro)

"Someone else has the statue, he says," Alejandro said, his arms folded over his chest. "By that context, I can only assume that our plans now have an obstacle. I am not looking forward to finding out who the new owner is."

Later that evening, Gwen stood on the porch of the spa hotel. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. She walked down the steps towards something the camera couldn't see.

The angle shifted to show the mess hall, which has been mostly untouched since the season started. Duncan sat on the steps leading up to the lodge, poking at the dirt with a stick.

"What are you doing over here?" Gwen inquired, coming into the camera's view.

Duncan smiled at her arrival. "Hey, babe. Nothing much, just needed time by myself. Congrats on winning the challenge."

Gwen shifted uncomfortably at the kind words. "Uh, thanks. Mind if I sit?"

"Go ahead."

The loner girl sat beside her boyfriend, silently watching Duncan prod at the dirt for a moment. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Sure, what?" Duncan continued messing around, not even looking up at the tone in his girlfriend's voice.

"Duncan, I can't do this anymore."

He paused, and looked up at her this time. "What do you mean? Are you going to quit the game?"

"No, I'm not quitting the game," Gwen clarified. "I meant I can't do this anymore. Us." She gestured to the two of them.

Duncan grimaced. "Aw crap, is this because we haven't spent enough time together lately? It's that stupid swap's fault, but if we stick it out a few more rounds, we can hang more once the teams merge."

"It's not that. I just don't have feelings for you anymore!" She blurted out, and then covered her mouth when she realized what she just said.

He stared at her, stunned. "Babe…"

At his nickname for her, she pulled her hands away from her mouth. "Please don't call me that again."

"Why," Duncan began to ask, but the one word was enough of a question for her.

"Because the spark is gone, okay? The last time you kissed me, I didn't feel anything when I usually do." Gwen stood up, moving around to stand in front of him. "And since we found out Courtney wasn't on the season, I've felt more and more uncomfortable."

Duncan raised half his unibrow. "Since when does Courtney have anything to do with our relationship?"

"I don't know, everything!" She snapped, spreading out her arms incredulously. "We kissed while you two were still together, she got upset, and every time I tried to apologize, she wouldn't listen! I got put on the villains' team for this! What we did was cheating, Duncan, and I'm done living with the guilt!"

Duncan stood from his seat on the stairs. "So what if she got upset, she gets upset if her orange juice is too pulpy. So what if you were put on the villains' team, bad guys are cool. Why should any of that matter? I love you."

"Well, I don't. Not anymore. You cheated on your girlfriend, with me, and I had too many feelings for you to realize that until it was too late." She stared him straight in the eye. "Do you really want a relationship based on cheating someone else? Because that's not okay."

Duncan stared back at her, not saying a word.

Gwen nodded to herself. "That's what I thought. Look, you're one of the best friends I've ever had, and we can still have fun hanging out, but being in a relationship just isn't for us. I'm sorry it had to end like this, but I'm not sorry for what I said."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them, neither unsure what to say next.

"Are you okay with all this?" Gwen checked when Duncan averted his eyes.

He sighed heavily. "No, not right now. But I'll probably be fine after a while."

"That's all I'm asking for." She gave him a grateful smile.

"Hey campers," Chris's voice announced over the loudspeakers, "It's ceremony time! Get your butts over to the bonfire, and I'll see you in a few! McLean out!"

"Guess we better go," Duncan said once the announcement was finished.

"Yeah." The now former lovers walked beside one another in the host's indicated direction.

A flash transition showed the Vultures sitting in the peanut gallery. Alejandro and Topher sat in the top row, leaving Sugar, Shawn, and Gwen on the bottom.

"Congrats on the victory, villains," Chris complimented, "and Sugar, since you brought the most eggs back to your team's basket, you win a special surprise that'll come in handy at the next challenge." The Vultures exchanged devious grins at the mention of an advantage. "But, I'm keeping it a secret until then because why spoil the surprise?" The host then turned his attention to the losing team of the night. "Tonight, a hero goes home. Time to vote!"

(Confessional- Cody)

"It's all your fault that Gwen's on a team that makes her miserable," the geek said as he scribbled on a picture.

(Confessional- Duncan)

Duncan angrily drew on a picture. "You've been asking for this, dork."

(Confessional- Sammy)

The cheerleader looked between two photos, unsure which one she should pick.

"I've tallied the votes," Chris informed the losers, standing before them with a single picture in hand. "Tonight's flushee is… Duncan!" He held up the punk's photo with a big, red 'X' crossed over it.

Cody pumped his fists victoriously. "Yes!"

The newly eliminated camper snorted, sneering at his former team. "Real nice, guys."

"Duncan, what happened?" Chris asked, almost mocking as he dropped the photo without a care. "You were such a good guy doing such good deeds and being such a good team player."

The punk scowled at the host's jeering, and got up from his stump seat. He marched over to Chris, and grabbed the collar of his shirt, glaring directly into his eyes. "Let's get one thing straight, McLean. You can put me on a team of heroes, but I'll always be a bad guy."

The viewpoint shifted momentarily behind Chris's back, where Duncan's free hand swiftly snatched a leather wallet from the host's back pocket.

The viewpoint returned to the regular one, and Duncan roughly shoved past Chris, heading down to the dock.

Chris frowned at Duncan, wiping imaginary dirt off his shirt, and resumed his smile when he turned his attention to the peanut gallery. "And who's heading to Boney Island?"

Shawn voluntarily rose from his seat. "I'll go. I kinda want to investigate the Fun Zone some more."

(Confessional- Shawn)

"And get away from those guys planning to eliminate me behind my back. What if they become zombies in the middle of the night, and decide to try and make me one of them first?" The conspiracy nut reasoned.

Down at the Dock of Shame, Shawn boarded the Boat of Losers. Having been his team before the swap, Cody, Sierra, and Sammy all waved to bid him farewell for the night while Jasmine merely watched him leave. Once the boat left, the Hamsters turned to watch Duncan be flushed. As a new amicable ex-girlfriend, Gwen came down to see him off as well.

"I'll be rooting for you, Gwen," Duncan said from inside the giant toilet bowl.

Gwen gave him a wave of her hand. "Thanks! Bye, Duncan!"

The toilet's flush was activated, and the punk screamed as he spun around before disappearing down the drain. A wave of water splashed out of the toilet bowl upon the flush's completion, and Chris managed to open his umbrella before he got hit. Gwen and the heroes didn't have that luxury.

Several of them groaned in disgust while Cody shook his soaked arms once. "Seriously? Again?"

Smirking, Chris tossed his remote and umbrella aside to make his outro. "Four heroes and five villains remain. Who's next to be thrown home by the throne? Find out when we return with more Total Drama All-Stars!"

(cue end credits)

Bonus Clip

The footage faded into a calm beach scene. All seemed peaceful until a rough wave crashed onto the shore. When the water receded, a thoroughly wet Duncan was left lying on the hot sand.

"Augh," the punk groaned in pain. "I'm pretty sure that's not how toilets work."

Two pairs of sandaled feet walked into view next to his head. One pair of feet was white and thinner, and the other pair of feet were tanned and thicker.

"You okay, dude?" A familiar voice asked, causing Duncan to look up as best he could.

The camera changed to Duncan's viewpoint, showing none other than Geoff and DJ, the former smiling down at his friend while the latter had a concerned frown.

"Oh man, am I glad to see you guys." Duncan grinned, his mood changing as he pushed himself up. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to get you, man." DJ clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder, smiling now that he saw the punk was okay.

Geoff bumped fists with Duncan. "Dude, you could not have picked a better place to wash up. Easter Island is awesome!"

The view zoomed out to show the familiar rock heads of Rapa Nui.

"Seriously? That dumb toilet sent me all the way out here?" Duncan looked around, disbelieving.

DJ nodded in confirmation. "Somehow, yeah." He frowned as a thought came to him. "Sorry about your break-up, man."

Duncan's unibrow shot up. "You know about that?"

Geoff said, "Yeah, everybody back at the hangout knows, well, except Courtney and that Amy chick. They weren't there."

"Where are they, then?"

DJ shrugged helplessly. "Not sure. Chef didn't say when he came and got them."

Geoff added, "Last we checked, Noah was looking into it. Seriously though, you going to be okay after what happened?" For all the party boy's optimism, he knew when to show concern.

"Ask me again in a few days or something. After that, I'm kinda glad to be out. I need some space away from her now," answered Duncan.

Geoff wrapped a comforting arm around his friend's shoulders. "When we get back, we're going to get your favorite pizza and soda, and watch all your favorite movies until you feel better. And it's all on me and Deej."

"I'm down for that," DJ agreed before hesitantly adding, "except the scary movies. Count me out for those." He motioned with his hand. "Let's get going. Our ride's this way."

As the three friends left the beach, Duncan spoke casually, though his tone had a slight boast. "Thanks for the offer, but… what if we got everything on Chris's dime instead?"

Duncan- 10th

Heather- 11th

Beardo- 12th

Scarlett- 13th

Owen- 14th

Thus, Duncan got an elimination that didn't involve him getting arrested. That was my biggest issue with his original elimination, another being it saved Cameron again (as much as I love the little bubble guy) so he could get injured by Ezekiel. I tried to make a more satisfying ending to Duncan's bad boy on a hero team arc that didn't drag out until the merge. He got a sorta bittersweet ending, Gwen broke up with him, but he finally found a way to reclaim his badness that wasn't as outrageous as blowing up the former Playa. Also, he finally has a pre-merge exit that he can't return from. Just a note, Chris did not feel the theft, and didn't find out about it until later. The theft is what I'd call my signature scene because whenever I end up writing Chris in a story, somehow his wallet always ends up getting stolen by Duncan or someone else.

Despite not being outright said in the original, the challenge was clearly a nod to World Tour's egg hunt on Easter Island. Here, I made sure to have Chris mention that as he has been doing with challenges so far. And because Alejandro already blindsided Heather, I decided I needed a new title for the episode. I like to think the title has a double-meaning, referencing the egg hunt between the two teams as well as Duncan's struggle in proving which side he's on. Meanwhile, Sugar managed to find the statue and earn the advantage. When I determined that the Vultures were winning this episode, I decided that the advantage for the next challenge should go to Sugar. Alejandro's epic showdown with his brother is too good to pass up, I lined up an interesting opponent for Topher, picking an opponent for Shawn was easy, and Gwen... not saying anything there. Aside from Fang, I couldn't come up with an interesting enemy that Sugar may have an issue with or fear of, so she got the reward by default.

Gwen and Duncan's breakup was easily the most important scene of this episode. I wanted it to be more like Gwen's more sympathetic breakup with Trent, instead of that angry 'We're done!' from her and Duncan's inability to process how fast it went. The line "What we did was cheating, Duncan, and I'm done living with the guilt!" by Gwen was the first line I thought up for that scene, and I've waited for months to use it. And as AnonBrowser pointed out a couple chapters ago in a review, it was Duncan who cheated on his girlfriend with Gwen, not Gwen stealing Duncan from her, and that needed to be said. As I have never been in a real relationship or experienced a real breakup, I asked SideshowJazz1 for feedback regarding the scene, and made necessary tweaks she advised.

Rapa Nui was chosen as the next flush location because of its tie to the day's challenge, and it's one of my favorite Total Drama locations. Mostly because I really enjoy the giant rock statues of everyone voted off and the jokes that came with them. Geoff and DJ were an easy choice to pick up Duncan, they're his best friends on the show and it's been way too long since we saw the three of them hang out.

Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome!