Chapter 49 - The Most Feral of Beasts

Tyler climbed the ladder, scaling the backside of Maclean Stadium. It wasn't easy, as every bar made him feel the pull of gravity increasing and the wind blowing harder. Maybe that was just because his injuries were starting to catch up with him and slow him down.

None of that would stop him, however.

"Just hang in there, buddy," Tyler growled, slightly muffled as he held his syringe in his mouth. The top of Maclean Stadium was getting closer to him, and he started to see the figure on the rim. There was no mistaking who that was, even at this distance…

"I'm coming," he continued to say, as he pulled himself up, bar after bar. "I'm coming… time is not up yet… I can still save you…"

(Hours earlier… at Maclean Stadium Cafeteria)

Belinda calmly munched on her breakfast. The food was well-prepared, as usual when Katie, Sadie, and Ezekiel were in the kitchen. They might have been trying to brighten everyone up with a hearty meal, as almost everyone was upset at yesterday's results.

A week long trip stuffed in a cramped RV with a bunch of people all suffering various levels of cabin fever hadn't been a very fun experience. Most of the contestants were still a little on the edge, either glaring at each other or mumbling how they hated Chris Maclean. That was another problem most had, they had really wanted to see the concert that the host was bragging about.

The clairvoyant surveyed the other contestants, trying to see if anyone had changed in attitude during their meal.

Eva sat, quietly munching on her breakfast, but she wasn't alone. Several of the other contestants, like Bridgette, Sakaki, and Sadie, were seated with her, trying to be of some comfort. Anita was also appearing upset, but not quite as furious as Eva (though who could be?). Rodney, DJ, and Courtney were with the bombshell, trying to talk casually with her.

The two women at hand, on occasion, glared at a certain young man seated all alone. Colin was chomping on his food, acting like a spoiled prince. He had been this way just to rub it in towards the others that no harm could come to him before any challenges.

Also, if the pattern of the challenges continued the way they did, today's challenge would be a VR Challenge, which meant no one was allowed to punch him or such when he was connected to the VR machine; inside the VR, one couldn't feel pain, so a beat-down wasn't going to be fitting for what the bully had done.

"Therapeutic, maybe," Belinda thought, considering what Anita and Eva, and several others, might do.

The clairvoyant continued to study the benches. Alfred and Arthur were casually discussing nerdy things, especially upcoming movies about comic book superheroes. Lindsay and Tyler were spending some quality time together, talking about their plans through the competition.

Leshawna and Harold were also talking, but it didn't look happy from what Belinda was seeing. The loud sister appeared to be nodding at whatever her nerd boyfriend was saying, without much consideration for what he was saying. Belinda mentally sighed, knowing this was a bad sign for their relationship; if Leshawna, who seemed focused on something else, had been listening, she would know Harold was still determined to help their friend Bridgette and get Geoff to talk to her.

Geoff of course was missing from breakfast, hiding as usual. Also hiding apparently was Izzy, who the clairvoyant hadn't seen.

Valerie wasn't trying to hide herself; in fact, her top seemed a bit further down in the neckline today. She was sitting next to Xander, and had on the most flirtatious smile as she slowly but surely scooted towards him. Her breasts kept rubbing against his side, though Belinda wondered if he could feel that through the leather jacket.

The clairvoyant had expected this, as Valerie had definitely started to show a more wild and vivacious side recently. Maybe being stuck in a room with three young men had made her like that, or maybe it was just her trying to earn new allies. Whatever the reason, she seemed oblivious to the fact that Xander was watching Crystal from afar.

The British romantic was talking with Noah about their favorite Doctor Who moments, since they had discovered the other was fond of the show. Clive sat nearby, listening but not adding anything to the conversation.

Heather and Ezekiel were seated together, though the former queen bee seemed rather upset. The prairie boy did his best to try and get her to open up, but this time, she appeared rather adamant on silently brooding. Still, Belinda thought it was adorable when he started nuzzling her neck, as even Heather couldn't help but crack a small smile when she asked him to stop.

Nearby them was Gwen, eating alone and still rather sour as she had been for the past few days. She kept glancing at Heather, frowning before returning to her meal. Belinda guessed it had something to do with Cody's elimination, and since she knew Gwen felt terrible for the way she had treated Cody in Total Drama Comeback, this could only mean the goth gal was planning something.

Also seated alone was Mandy, who had fallen asleep at her table, face-first in her food. The cultist chick must have been awake most of the night, and Belinda knew this was because Mandy had trouble adjusting back to a normal bed after the RV.

Yoshi and Zachary were seated tables apart, but continued to glare at each other. Yoshi would drag his plastic knife across his throat, Zachary would snap his plastic spork in half, the warrior would take a threatening bite off of a sausage, and the whiner would squash a handful of eggs in his palm.

"They are really gunning for each other today," Sebastian, seated across from Belinda, remarked. "Apparently, Zachary did something to annoy Yoshi, but I'm not sure what."

"Spying on my spying, are you?" Belinda asked, smiling at the philosopher.

"Your aura reads of someone who is hunting for answers. Of course, you normally are, with how well you perceive people, just today is a little more intense."

"You do realize if you psycho-analyze me, I can do the same right back to you," she teased.

"We could do that, or we can work together."

"Are you proposing an alliance?"

"I know that you are just as, shall we say, intrigued to find out who is involved in some of the more heinous eliminations on TDBG," the philosopher said. "And I know you would rather this contest be more civilized than what it becomes."

"Some would say that it is contest for five million dollars, and an elimination is not a death sentence," Belinda replied. She sipped her orange juice, then added, "But some of us are not Chris Maclean, so I say the Chris's of the world can suck it, we're going to put our minds to this."

"Excellent. I knew you thought the same as me, that Cody's brutal elimination was a sign that the ends do not justify the means."

"A saying used by people who want to cast personal responsibility aside to give grounds for their actions. Also," she sipped her juice again, and said in a friendly tone, "Izzy, did you want to comment on our conversation?"

Izzy poked her head up from underneath the table, on Belinda's side. The philosopher jumped when he saw her, and pursed his lips. "How long have you been down there?"

"Long enough to know that you two could totally be on my side," Izzy said, grinning her usual style of smile. "Listen, I wanted to listen in on peeps to see if they are on the same level as me."

"You appeared to be on the same level as my skirt a few moments ago," Belinda remarked. "I just thought you wanted to find out what color underwear I was wearing today."

"Green looks good on you," Izzy remarked cheerfully, then scowled. "But I know who is behind some of the worst eliminations here, especially my friend Cody! It's Heather! Heather is up to something, and I know it."

Sebastian cast a glance over at the former queen bee. "Are you sure, Izzy? She seems to be on the strait and narrow, especially with Ezekiel."

"She is corrupting my Zekey, and I will prove it soon," Izzy growled, clenching her fists. "For now, I need you two to trust me on this, just keep your big ol' minds open!"

"That can be arranged," Sebastian said.

"Though I may want to consider keeping my legs closed if you're going to spy on us like this in the future," Belinda said with a sly smile. "A girl's got to have a little privacy, you know."

Izzy giggled mischievously, then headed off under the tables. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at Belinda, saying, "You think she's off her rocker, as they say, or onto something?"

"It's Izzy, it can be both," Belinda remarked, finishing her juice. "But I do appreciate her honesty, I didn't think green was my color."

(Closet Confessional - Green isn't our color.)

Sebastian - "There's an old saying, 'Never argue with a crazy person, people might be able to tell who is who.' Then again, whoever said that never met Izzy. I may not believe the ends justify the means, but her methods have always been rather… interesting."

Belinda - "Truth be told, I know this is a competition and that someone needs to go every ceremony. Eventually, if I make it far enough, I will have to vote off people I like. If I make it, that is, there's only so far I believe I can go."

*She taps her chin, then smiles slyly.* "Of course, Izzy might not be the only one interested in what color underwear I am wearing. It would almost be too easy… but too predictable, so not so much fun for me."

"Heather's up to no good, pass it on," Izzy whispered from her spot under the table, crawling away having passed the word.

Arthur glanced under the table, watching the crazy girl scoot away. He came back up to ask Alfred, "You ever understand that girl?"

"Well, you know, if you wanted to get into a close-knit table of friends, especially a girls' table, underneath is the best way," Alfred said most cheerfully.

"Let me guess," Arthur said with a roll of his eyes, "you did that once."

"Nope, but my good buddy Keith did! He wanted to ask this girl out, but she was always with all her friends, so he tried sneaking under the table to ask her out. As it turns out, girls tend to kick really hard at someone under a table. Bruises on ninety percent of his body!"

"Yeesh. Guess that meant no date?"

"She did go to see him in the medical ward, though he still won't tell me what they said or did when she was there. Says a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

"A gentleman doesn't crawl under the table where ladies are seated too. But hey, if it works…"

"Yeah, we're hopefully desperate… girls really do have control over us, don't they?"

"Too true, my fellow sir, too true."

As they continued to eat, Ezekiel walked by their table. "Hey guys, why were you talking underneath the table earlier?"

"Izzy," Arthur replied.

"Oh," the prairie boy said with a chuckle. "She is a funny one, isn't she?"

"I heard she shot you in the butt with an arrow last season," Alfred cheerfully said. "That sounded awesome, dude, did she visit you in the medical ward after that?"

"No, Wawanakwa didn't have a medical ward at all, eh."

(Closet Confessional - No medical ward in here, but maybe a nurse costume…)

Arthur - "Can I just say how happy I am to be part of this season and not the last? No one should be trapped on an island under Chris's rule. Maybe after this, they should do a spin-off, where he does the same thing to people who deserve such punishment, like parole violators, or people who shout spoilers in public."

Alfred - *grabbing the camera* "Keith, you still gotta tell me what happened in that medical ward!"

When Ezekiel was emptying his tray at the trash bin, he turned almost walked into Bridgette. "Oh, soo'ry," he apologized. He then noticed how exasperated his friend was, and asked, "Bridgette, are you okay? I mean, I knoo' with everything going on…"

"No, Zeke, I'm really not," she admitted. "I haven't been able to see Geoff in what seems like forever, and after this ordeal with Cody and Eva, and Colin… this season is just so stressful.

"You want to hear something funny?" she said with a humorless smile and laugh. "When I signed up for Total Drama, I assumed I would just compete with and against other people, and either get eliminated fairly or win the money. I never expected to get so involved with everything!"

"Oh, surely noo'," he said chuckling a little, "with your big heart, you knew you woo'd be looking 'oot for others, eh?"

"I'm not as nice as all that, Zeke."

"Now that's not true, come here."

He pulled his friend in for a hug, which she returned. As she embraced this comfort, she failed to notice her boyfriend sneak into the cafeteria, sneak out with some food, and Harold, having noticed, in hot pursuit.

(Closet Confessional - We want a hug too! Have you hugged a closet today?)

Geoff - *panting desperately* "Okay, I think I lost Harold. That was close, who knew he could be so fast? I mean, I play football and surf, and work out! And he can still keep up with me?"

*He groans loudly, then scarfs down the eggs that are in his hands.* "I cannot take much more of this. I started rooming with that Dawn chick, who's really nice but she lets most of the animals stay with her, including the bear! I mean, I couldn't stay with Colin, after what that total jerk did to Cody. But that's why it is so bad, because-"

*There is a knock on the door, and he freezes.*

Harold - *sitting with his arms crossed and frowning* "Bridgette was always there for me, throughout all the troubles I had through the first two seasons. She has been a wonderful friend that I would do anything for, just like I would for Leshawna! But it pains me to say this, but I haven't been able to help her yet.

"It's really annoying that I cannot find Geoff, I would think my awesome hunting skills and my incredible perception for detail would be enough to catch the guy. I'm going to keep on the look-out, and when I find him, I am going to make him fess up!"

*He stomps his foot, unaware Geoff is hiding under the seat inside the janitor's closet, right under him.*

Heather was calmly finishing her meal, when she saw Ezekiel hugging Bridgette. When they parted, he was still talking to her, holding her shoulders and assuring her over something.

Normally, this would send Heather into a jealous fit, and there was still some anger inside her; however, even she was startled how much she accepted this. She knew in her heart that Bridgette and Ezekiel were friends, that the surfer gal was going through difficult times, and he would be there for her.

It didn't mean he liked his girlfriend any less. And part of her realized in horror that she also felt this calm over this because she felt so guilty over what she had done.

"You've got to tell him," she thought. "I mean, who cares if the others get mad at you? He is the one you care about."

"But what if he doesn't forgive you for helping eliminate Cody? Again?" she thought as well. "What you did last season was all you, at your worst, and if you tell him that you took part in something like that again, he might think you're just the same!"

Sighing to herself, she shook her head in frustration. That was when she saw a certain crazy girl in green underneath a table, popping up to whisper something to Gwen. Heather felt her temper flare over this, and it only gave her minimum satisfaction when the goth gal bopped Izzy on the head, declaring that the redhead not startle her like that.

"Yeah, just try spreading the word like that," Heather muttered. "And you wonder why no one takes you seriously."

(Closet Confessional - Do people take us seriously?)

Heather - "I know what I did was wrong, but wasn't it a gray area? Cody could barely compete after what happened to him, and Colin can still assist a team. I mean, what if this next challenge, it's a VR, and Cody is uploaded with a broken arm and such? He'd be useless!"

*She sighs hard and shakes her head some more.* "You know, it's not just Ezekiel I want to do this before. If I saw myself a year ago, I would be appalled to hear me say… I want to be friends with his friends too. I mean, Bridgette and I buddies? Me pals with Tyler? That wasn't me… but now I want it to be.

"What have you done to me, prairie boy?"

Gwen - "Why is Izzy telling me Heather is up to no good? Does she not know me at all? When have I EVER trusted that witch?

"It makes no difference to me that Ezekiel is dating her now. I mean, he is a pretty cool guy, we've had our room to him and me for a while now, and he's a perfect gentleman. I wonder how much of that is him thinking of his dad telling him to "help the girls," or… naw, you know what? I may be in a foul mood, but I'm not going to rag on him. Just his witch-friend."

"You going to be ready for the challenge today?" Ezekiel asked Tyler and Lindsay, sitting down across from them.

"Sure am, Xylophone," Lindsay said with a cheer. "I am feeling so stoked, and me and Tyler are planning what to do!"

"It's probably going to be another VR," the prairie boy pointed out, raising an eyebrow at his latest name from Lindsay. "What if you two aren't on the same team?"

"We've both done pretty well in VR games, so we've decided to just do our best, man," Tyler said with a cheer of his own. "Just like you always told me, and this time, I'm sure I'm going to go further than ever before!"

"I'm sure both of you are going to, eh!"

Tyler and Ezekiel exchanged a high-five, and Lindsay giggled in enthusiasm. "I'm finally enjoying myself through some of these challenges! I just hope eventually they have a beauty contest, because, I, like, you know, would win! You think I would win, Zefer?"

Ezekiel chuckled nervously. "Never ask a guy with a girlfriend if there's another girl 'oot there prettier than her, because that's… joo'st not fair, eh!"

"Oh, sorry! Well, I guess the biggest problem would be against Agatha, since she's so pretty."

Lindsay pointed over at Anita, just as the bombshell let out a startled cry. She and the other members of her table were kicking at something underneath.

"Ow! Ow ow ow, stop kicking me," Izzy hollered, "I was just trying to tell you something, OW!"

(Closet Confessional - Why do we always try to comment on what was just said?)

Izzy - *with a few bruises* "Okay, that could have gone a bit better. Maybe I should stay above the tables to spread the word!

"But I will not be deterred by being kicked at! I know Heather had something to do with Cody's elimination, and if she didn't orchestrate it, she assisted in it. And after everything Cody and I went through together, I owe him to find out the truth!"

*She pumps her fists in determination, grinning. Then she ponders something, and grins most slyly.* "Also, red looks good on Anita! Aww, yeah, Izzy still has time for that, I can multitask like crazy!"

Lindsay - "To be honest, I forgot how hard this show can be when it's not a talent contest! Sometimes I feel like the money isn't worth it and I should just eliminate myself so I can chill…

"… But that would be really silly of me to do. I mean, vote myself off? How could I ever do that? Haha, oh me, I'm so goofy at times!"

At this point, most of the contestants were heading towards the arena of the stadium, finished with their meals. Courtney wiped her mouth and tossed the napkin into a bin, thinking to herself how the one side of being stuck in a stadium is that trash bins were everywhere.

She almost walked right into Ezekiel when she was thinking this. "Sorry about that," she said casually, "I just have a lot on my mind."

"You thinking a'boot Cody's elimination too?" he asked.

"No. Well, maybe a little. I mean, I," she started to say, then groaned. "It's kind of embarrassing to say."

"You knoo' you can talk to me a'boot such things. I mean, after all we've been throo'?" She sighed aloud, rolling her eyes. "You know, I'm supposed to be the consoler here, not you. I am a CIT."

Ezekiel clasped his hands over his face in fake shock. "NO! You? How could I have ever guessed?"

Even Courtney couldn't help but laugh at this. "Oh stop it, I don't bring it up that often."

The prairie boy disagreed, but didn't say that out loud. "Come on, Courtney, what's bothering you?"

"Well, you're not going to like this, but I keep remembering how when during Total Drama Comeback, I planned to get Trent eliminated as revenge against Gwen, but when it happened, Cody took the blame and it made her so undeservingly mad at her. And… well…"

"I knoo' that Heather orchestrated that part, eh. But she's different now, and wait," he stopped to stare at her, "you doo'nt think my girlfriend is behind this, do you?"

"No no no, I don't think she has done such a thing! I'm just worried that is trying to use the tactics to make it look like we hadn't changed. I don't want people thinking I'm still vindictive or anything, I think I suffered enough with how much everyone keeps reminding me!"

Ezekiel sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Yeah, I think people went a little too overboard too. But hey, Courtney, listen up. If we are on the same team this challenge, stick close to me. We'll try to plan something 'oot, get to the bottom of this. I won't let anyone try to frame you, or Heather, for what happened."

The CIT (did you forget she was?) stared at him. "Just how did you end up the way you did, Zeke?"

"Had to have a good smack to the face, so to speak, but I'm better now, eh. And so happy for it!"

(Closet Confessional - Closet In Training, passed that years ago.)

Courtney - "I know it comes across as a little sappy to say, and I don't like the idea that I owe people anything, since I work so hard to become my own person, but… I wouldn't be here without Ezekiel. He pulled me out of that dark place I reached last season, and though I would say the punishment has been a little bit overzealous… okay, a lot…

"I mean, really, noogies?! But I digress. Ezekiel is one of the people I'm glad to call friend. If he says he can help me get to the bottom of this, I believe him. No one is going to frame Courtney Satella!"

Ezekiel - *singing happily* "Sleepin' late but we're not lazy

Gettin' older but we're still crazy

I'm so glad that I have these friends o' mine~!"

(Maclean Stadium, Arena)

"Is this everyone?" Chris Maclean asked impatiently, watching the contestants crowd around in their designated area. "Come on, we want to make this a good one, we are riding on the hype of yesterday!"

"You mean the travesty to justice?" Eva barked.

"Oh don't tell me you're still mad about that," the host remarked. Then he tapped his lips, and remarked, "Then again, it is you, Eva. Anything you don't like would make you mad as if it happened yesterday."

"It DID happen yesterday, you pompous, ugly-"

Sakaki grabbed Eva's shoulder, silently reminding her to calm down. Nearby, Anita shook her head and said aloud, "Not everyone is here yet, Chris. Give them a few minutes!"

"Whatever. And don't be too confident in how long you'll be staying, Anita," Chris said with a scoff. "We brought you on for your looks, and you couldn't even charm a geeky teenager who likes hot girls? Someone get us a new bombshell, ours is defective!"

The not-defective bombshell felt her temper swell, and she started to shout, "You can bite me, you washed-up, Fame Town back-up singer-"

DJ held her shoulders until she calmed down, panting in exasperation. She smiled gratefully at her friend, but her temper still felt high, just like Eva's was.

Bridgette was standing in-between the two of them, feeling a bit uncomfortable. As she watched more of the contestants walk into the grassy field, and the audience booming approval for each one, she couldn't help but feel completely alone.

(Closet Confessional - Alone when no one is confessing.)

Bridgette - "Ezekiel was more true than he realized, I think I do care too much for my friends than I do for competition. If this had been a surfing competition, I could focus on that, but here…"

*She sighed heavily, covering her face in shame.* "I cannot get my boyfriend to talk to me, I'm totally distracted during challenges and letting teammates down, and all my friends are obviously worried about me. Can you believe that back home, I'm usually the one people come to when they have a problem?

"Even my mother said I sometimes feel like a consoler to people's problems. Now, I just sit around and watch my friends wallow in their problems, and Chris Maclean laugh at them. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself, I feel… useless."

"Is everyone here yet?" Chris angrily demanded. "Come on, I sit through a lot of make-up and hair checks to look this ruggedly handsome, I need to have punching bags to deck soon, if you know what I mean."

"They'll be here shortly," Chef muttered. "Calm down, you'll be putting them through suffering soon."

"Where's the interns? Can't we make them go fetch the contestants?"

"The producer had to hire a new one, since Dawn is taking a break after the challenge yesterday. She wasn't even supposed to be on the contest."

"What? That… wonderfully kind-hearted and sweet producer of ours gave one of the interns a break? Come on, they're not like actual humans, we can grind them like machines!"

"However the case, Billy is still on vacation and Dawn isn't available. I'll go see if the new girl is ready."

The large cook pulled out a megaphone, and bellowed, "New intern! Get your butt out here right now!"

A door alongside the arena wall, one that was connected to a corridor that led right to the cafeteria, swung open. A young lady with bright red hair came scurrying out, carrying a platter of fruit. "Coming, coming! Sorry, sorry everyone, sorry Chef, sorry Chris, I was just-"

"Excuses are not necessary," Chris Maclean said, holding up his hand as she smiled a bit in relief, "because I won't take any of them. Now!" He rounded on the now terrified looking young lady. "Did you get everything I requested?"

The intern gal glanced at a clipboard she had in her other hand, as Chris picked a piece of watermelon from the platter. "Well, I restocked your room with your favorite hair gel, and got this platter ready, as well as booked the masseuse you wanted at the exact time. But…"

She winced as she admitted, "I couldn't find that golden statue of you that you wanted for the center of this fruit platter."

The host swallowed the watermelon piece, and grumbled, "Yeah, I thought it tasted off."

With a deliberate swat, he knocked the platter out of her hand, spilling all the food on the ground. "Go get the rest of the victims for this contest, and then clean up the mess you made here, or you might not get paid!"

The girl sighed heavily, slumping over before turning around and heading towards the corridor. That was when she nearly crashed into Izzy and Mandy, the former telling the latter what she suspected of the latter.

"Watch out, you," Mandy spluttered, "you… who are you? And why do you have a flower in your hair?"

The intern nervously laughed, patting the flower she did indeed have as a hair decoration. "Um, hi, my name is Zoey. I'm here to help with the contest as an intern!"

"Oh, fresh meat, how sweet," Izzy said with a big grin. "You going to work with Dawn, that'll be most interesting for us!"

"Bah, we don't need another pretty face assisting Chris," Mandy scoffed, crossing her arms and turning away. "She and that blond hippie will just make trouble here! Well I say, they can make out of here instead!"

As Zoey started to turn a little red in the face, Izzy giggled and said, "Ignore her, she has no brain filter. So, Zoey, you're pretty cute! I'll be you are quite popular back home."

"Oh, not really," Zoey admitted. "I'm kind of not noticeable in my home town and school."

Izzy glanced down at Zoey's top, specifically her cleavage. When she didn't stop, the intern felt herself blush more in embarrassment. After a few more seconds of Izzy peering down at her breasts, the crazy girl looked back up and said, "Seriously? Do you have the plague or something?"

(Closet Confessional - Never caught the plague! See, we keep referring to the last line, it's a bad habit.)

Mandy - "What is up with the employment here? I mean, normally, you'd think staff would be a thing, but we have to make our own food, drive our own cars, sharpen our own sacrificial blades! Meanwhile, they have two teenaged girls as interns, a couple cadets for security, and a bunch of animals as, I dunno, mascots!"

Zoey - "I really need this job, I need to earn money for college, and unfortunately, I come from this little sports-heavy town where everyone gets sports scholarships. Even the nerds! The nerds aren't even really nerds, they're jock-nerds!

"But… wait, am I allowed to use this confessional? I am supposed to be looking for the contestants for the challenge…."

*She is suddenly startled when someone climbs out from underneath the seat.*

Geoff - "The challenge is starting? Oh, thanks for letting me know, Red!"

*He bolts out, leaving a very confused Zoey.*

Zoey - "… Is it always this startling here?"

"You know, I wouldn't have minded some of that food," Chef Hatchet grumbled.

"Yeah yeah, and I wouldn't have minded a golden statue of me, but we cannot get everything we want. Except me! Haha!"

Chris dusted off his hands, watching as the rest of the contestants filed into the arena. Grinning, he swept his arms wide, and declared, "Welcome, once again, to TOTAL! DRAMA! BATTLEGROUNDS!"

The crowd roared in approval, and Chris drank it in. As he did so, Zoey came wandering back out, not sure where she was supposed to be.

"Today, we delve into another Virtual Reality challenge," Chris Maclean declared. "And we know you love those, they get the best ratings! Especially since we can see all of our lovely and not-so-lovely contestants get horribly mutilated! Man, if only they could feel pain, that would make it perfect, am I right?"

Groans and frustrated sighs rose from the contestants, and Chris laughed even more. "But today, they are not going to get horribly mutilated by monsters and such, no no! That is because today, they are going to horribly mutilate each other!

"For today, Vera will be taking them into… THE WEREWOLF CHALLENGE!"

Vera, the gigantic virtual reality machine, rose up from the platform underneath the arena. The four screens on top, big enough for everyone in the stadium to see, were blank. In fact, she seemed to be rather powered off, which was unlike the other times they had seen her.

Chris raised an eyebrow, lifted a remote, and pressed it. Vera didn't turn on. He pressed the button again, and again, and again, but Vera wasn't complying. With a frustrated groan, he marched over to the manual panel, and started hitting random buttons.

"Come on," he shouted. "Work with me, Vera!"

After a minute, it was obvious that he was going to get no results. So he spun on his heel, and shouted, "Chef, get that new mechanic of ours! The one we hired because Joel refused to help us!"

"Why are you telling me that like I'm a moron who wouldn't know?" Chef muttered. When Chris merely snickered, the cook grumbled most angrily and lifted his megaphone. "MECHANIC!"

Another door on the stadium's lower wall opened, and a large, young man stepped out. His clothes appeared rather normal for a mechanic, including a baseball cap upon his head. Nothing else was out of the ordinary with him, except for his impressive goatee.

"Hey you," Chris declared. "I never bothered to learn your names, what was yours again?"

Zoey stepped forward, glancing at her clipboard. "He likes to go by B, sir Chris."

"What? He just wants to be known as a letter? Actually, haha, I like that! I'm going to call you A, because I'd rather refer to you like that without having to learn your name. Wait, no, you're C, A is that blond girl who is only slightly more incompetent than you."

As Zoey sighed sadly, B walked up to Vera, and knocked on the side of it. He approached a computer screen, and typed on the keyboard for a few moments. After a while, he turned towards Chris and shook his head.

"Oh come on, you cannot fix it?" Chris declared. B shook his head again, and the host growled. "Do you talk?" Another shake of the head, and Chris rolled his eyes. "Well, can you at least tell me what's wrong with it?"

B typed on the screen for Chris to see, "Vera is too complicated for me to just fiddle with, even though I know my way around advanced machines. You'll need the original creator, someone who knows her."

"What? But he… I… argh, fine!"

He pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number on it, and then spoke. "Duncan? Hey buddy, yeah, can you come here and deliver Joel to us? … What's in it for you? I'll tell our new security team not to stop you from sneaking on later if you want! Fair? Fair."

After waiting five minutes, the Bus of Losers drove into the stadium. The doors swung open, and Joel stepped out grudgingly. The bus then drove off, as Chris walked up to him, the biggest of his Chris grins on his face.

"Joel," he declared. "Buddy, pal, co-host!"

"Whatever it is, Chris," the inventor said, crossing his arms, "the answer is no!"

"Come on, Joel, Vera needs you! Besides, it wasn't my fault you got voted off!"

"Voted off means nothing to me, Chris, it's how you treated Hannah! And I won't be a part of this show as long as that's your mentality!"

"But, we need Vera up and running for the challenge today! Think of all the people who want to see her running, the painless competition you are providing for your friends! I mean, yeah, it makes me sad to know it's painless, but it's traumatizing in a way, so I…"

"Yeah, lovely," Joel said, turning his head. "But I read my contract, and I am not obligated nor forced to repair any machines I may have made for the show. So you can send vikings, a sea serpent, or even Diabolik after me, but I'm not budging!"

B flashed a thumbs-up at his fellow inventor and creator, while the host growled in frustration. He glanced around at the crowd, and could hear the unamused, angry grumbling from so many people already. There was going to be a riot if he couldn't deliver.

"Okay, what do you want?" Chris asked. "You want back on the show?"

"I couldn't care less about being back on the show. I just want Hannah to-"

"Perfect! Easily done," the host interrupted, pulling out his cell phone again. "Duncan! Hey buddy, swing by again and drop off… yes, I know you were just here, I am not blind! Well, things change and… look, do you want special access to your girlfriend's room or not? Then come back here, and drop off the blond one!

"… No, not Owen, the blond girl! Hannah, I think it was!"

After one minute, Duncan's Bus of Losers raced into the stadium again. The doors opened, Hannah was pushed out rather unceremoniously, and then the bus raced off.

"Hannah, sweetheart, lovely lady," Chris said with a rather cheesy grin, "Joel here has negotiated for your return to Total Drama Battlegrounds!"

"What?" Hannah asked, her blue eyes wide in shock. She rounded on Joel, and declared, "Joel, I didn't want you to do this! I didn't want to return to the show!"

"I didn't ask for your return, I know you didn't want to come back," he replied to his girlfriend. "What I wanted was for an apology to be offered!"

"What?" Chris balked. "Oh. Well, okay, sorry. Yeah, sorry, Hannah, big time sorry here, I just feel terrible for… whatever it is we did to you. Totally uncalled for and everything, though I'm sure it wasn't my fault, but yeah, big whoopsie-daisy."

Hannah sighed, but managed to keep a patient tone in her voice. "Joel, maybe you should help anyway, the VR challenges are best for everyone."

"You're too kind for your own good," Joel said, patting his girlfriend's shoulder. He walked over to Vera, then to the computer that B was standing close to. He started typing in a bunch of code lines, and after a short while, he turned towards the host.

"Did you use her again, Chris?" he snapped. "I told you not to do that, you beatnik!"

"Who said I used Vera?" the host responded, eyes guiltily glancing side to side.

"Listen, I told you once before, Vera can be a sensitive machine. She is affected by those she connects with, and when someone like you with an ego as massively strong as Hercules connects to her, she can get overwhelmed."

"Gosh, how bad was it?" Hannah asked.

"Let's just say, according to this data," Joel said with a most unhappy frown, "Chris Maclean taxed Vera with so many demands that it was like trying to explain a space war to a teenaged caveman."

B winced without a noise, then face-palmed. "Yeah, I know," Joel remarked, shaking his head. "Chris, this will take me a lot of time to fix, I hope you have a new plan for the challenge."

Before the host could respond, Zoey stepped forward. "Um, Mr. Maclean? I just got a call from someone about a shipment of Resmelum, as well as a bunch of other things?"

Chris Maclean's face lit up as if it were Christmas, or maybe the administrator for the next Spanish Inquisition. "Brilliant!" He ran back to the stage, and held up his favorite megaphone. "Folks, we may not be able to bring you a VR challenge, but I have something much better in store, a much more grizzly challenge that I have been wanting to do for a long time!

"We just need to assemble that emergency medical squadron I hired for this challenge specifically, get the medical ward ready, and let animal control outside the stadium know what's about to happen!"

As Chris pulled out his cell phone and started making some calls, the contestants all started to become rather riled and worried.

"An emergency medical team?" Xander asked aloud. "Well, that's not concerning at all, is it?"

"Leshawna," Harold said, placing his hand on her shoulder, "I promise, even if we're on different teams, I will protect you from… whatever it is we will be fighting soon!"

"I can take care of myself, crazy boy," she assured him.

"So is this a hunting challenge?" Eva asked those around her. "Like, we hunting animals?"

"We get to actually hurt something?" Colin declared, clenching his fists in excitement. "Hot damn, this is awesome! Hey, Eva! Maybe unlike your stupid boyfriend, I'll be harming something that can put up a fight!"

Eva turned purple with outrage, her face almost as dark as her clothing. Sakaki gently grasped her arm, pleading with her eyes to tell her friend to calm down for her own good. It took a herculean effort on the bodybuilder's part to settle back down, especially with Colin laughing.

(Closet Confessional - Hunting donkeys, maybe? Get it? Because he's an…)

Eva - "I used to think bench pressing my weight times four or five was a massive work-out for me. But having to put up with that… that… I cannot even think of words to describe him, except for words I promised my mother I wouldn't use on television. But… I'm lucky I have good friends to help me through this.

"Because when this challenge starts, there is going to be nothing to stop me from-"

*She starts using a great deal of words she had promised her mother she wouldn't use, but is doing so anyway.*

Colin - "If this challenge is about hurting animals, I'm all for it. I mean, sadly, animals don't cry as much as little kids when you hit them, but-"

*Okay, we're cutting him off here, we have to have SOME standards.*

Zoey was pushing a giant mountain of boxes, something rather difficult for a rather slim girl like her. She was heaving in exhaustion as she managed to nudge them into the stadium. The amount of heavy shoving took its tool, and she collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.

"Well, it's about time," Chris barked. "Honestly, do you even like being paid? Maybe I won't even call you C, but Zed. Haha, you're Zed now!"

Zoey was too tired to protest, but she did notice when Chef came over, picked up all the boxes with one arm, and carried them off effortlessly. She covered her face in embarrassment, sobbing a little.

"Now everyone, let me begin this challenge with a rather important announcement," Chris Maclean said, addressing the contestants. "This one is going to be far more dangerous and painful than a virtual reality battle or a vehicle race! No no no, I am finally going to put you ungrateful brats through some real pain, the kind only Uncle Chris can cook up!"

"Yay," Gwen said with all the enthusiasm of a woman walking to her execution.

Bridgette was raising her hand in near-desperation. "Chris," she called out, "I heard something about Resmelum! You're not using that, are you?"

"Hold your questions, please," Chris requested, "forever. Now, this challenge, I am calling the Resmelum Round-Up!"

"What?!" Bridgette hollered, the utmost horror in her voice and face.

"Delivered to us right now, right on time! Well, it would have been on time if Zed wasn't such a lame-o!" The host glared at Zoey, who was struggling to stand up. Ezekiel had headed over to help her, and she was pretty much a rag doll in her exhaustion; even the flower in her hair appeared wilted.

"What's this about?" Yoshi asked. "And why have I vaguely heard about that thing you keep saying, Resmelum?"

"I'm glad you asked, because today's challenge is going to be involving," Chris lifted his arms for the audience, "wild animals, and your ability to round them up when they're riled into a frenzy!"

"You gotta be kidding me," Noah muttered.

"Aren't animal rights activists going to be upset over this?" Leshawna spoke up, noticing just how terrified Bridgette was becoming.

Chris snickered. "This is reality TV, we get a pass for that kind of stuff. Now, I will be dividing you all up into two teams. Next, through some volunteer or forceful shoving, each team is going to move a member into a cage with a wild animal of some kind. Your job is to tranquilize them with these!"

The host gestured towards Chef, who opened one of the boxes to produce slingshots, and a bunch of purple pellets in transparent pouches. "These pellets are actually tranquilizers, or rather, sleeping dust formed into a ball. They will explode on impact, and could put a person to sleep for a couple hours. But they might not work immediately on a rampaging animal… at least, not just one!

"Maybe we should test it out to make sure they work before I stick you all in a cage with fierce creatures… hey! Zed," Chris called out. "Where are you? Come on, I'm going to give you a nap break, aren't I a nice boss?"

Zoey hid behind Ezekiel and DJ, the two kind-hearted souls doing their best to shield her from Chris's view. However, both were kind of bad liars, so the jazz hands seemed semi-suspicious.

Luckily, Chris was too excited to pursue his quick search for the intern, and continued. "Now then, we'll keep having the teams send or force in members until either A.) the animals maul every member of one team, thus that team is disqualified, or B.) all the animals are tranquilized and thus the team with the most accomplishments wins the challenge!

"Either way, all members of the losing team will be voting tonight for one person to go home, and never, ever, not in a million years, come back!"

"This sounds horribly unsafe," Hannah, someone who had been voted off but was here now, said.

"Too true," Joel said as well, tapping his foot on the grounds that he allegedly wasn't going to step on for a million years.

"Oh, and I almost forgot," Chris said, laughing, "we will be using Resmelum on the animals to make them extremely violent! It's gonna be awesome! Chef, have you got the rifle out of the boxes yet?"

As Chef threw styrofoam peanuts everywhere, hunting through the boxes, Bridgette appeared to be having a nervous break-down. Finally, when Gwen nudged her, the surfer girl shouted loud enough to startle everyone, "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

Chris glanced over at Bridgette, frowning at her. "Uh, yeah I can. I'm the host."

"You cannot use Resmelum! That stuff is horrible, it does serious harm to the animals! It's nearly illegal!"

"Yeah, nearly illegal, Bridge," Chris pointed out. "They've been using it on lesser reality shows, but it took a real genius to discover how to use it! Luckily for us, since it hasn't been outlawed in Canada yet, I am so going to show the world how amazing it can be."

"There is nothing amazing about that evil, hurtful, disgusting drug," Bridgette shouted, "that doesn't have any purpose except to turn a poor animal into a horribly violent monster!"

"Haha, you just defined 'amazing' there! But seriously, Chef, go get the starting challenge ready, I'll get the rifle myself."

As Chris started shuffling through the boxes, grumbling about having to do everything himself, Bridgette was close to hyper-ventilating. "No no no," she declared. "I won't stand for this! We have to do something!"

"Bridgette, please, calm down," Leshawna requested, holding her friend's shoulder.

"This stuff isn't lethal or anything, is it?" Gwen asked. She normally wouldn't care much about this, but seeing her close friend so upset, she couldn't remain passive.

"That's not the point! Yes, there's an antidote for Resmelum, but it's horrible what it does to the animals!"

"If anyone wants my opinion," Valerie said, "the one who it is most horrible for is us, if we're going to stuck in cages with animals hopped up on this stuff!"

"Yeah," Sakaki said with a whimper. "Maybe I'll sit this one out."

"Maybe it'll only be small animals, like badgers and squirrels," Sadie said, trying to be of some comfort. "Things that couldn't eat us."

"Nope," Chris said with a laugh. "I got animals of all size for this challenge, and I haven't been feeding them that much, just for this challenge! Haha, they are so going to think of you as walking steaks!"

"That's it," Noah spoke up, "I am going to shoot myself in the foot so I cannot go to war."

"Me too," DJ declared. "Volunteer for foot shooting, sign up now!"

"No one is shooting anything," Chris shouted, "except for me! With this baby!"

He pulled a rather long and impressive looking rifle out of the box, studying it in adoration. Then he fished back in the box, and pulled out a large container. He opened it to reveal a collection of rather large darts, full of foul-looking green liquid.

"One shot of Resmelum, prepped and ready," the handsome host said, almost shaking in his excitement as he started to load the rifle.

(Closet Confessional - Have we mentioned we're afraid of needles?)

Chris Maclean - "Haha! This is going to be my favorite challenge yet! I mean, all I did the first season was sent them to look for a duck and a deer and something, second season I had them take a zebra and a rat for a walk! This season, I'm going to be putting them in cages, in front of a gigantic audience, to fight against creatures!

"This stuff is like super rabies and steroids all mixed in one! I cannot wait to see what happens, and I'm sure you all do to! Here's hoping your favorite contestant isn't one of those about to be mauled!"

Zachary - *appears to be holding a rifle in his hands, pointing it downwards* "Hold still, man, I gotta shoot you in the right place of the foot!"

Clive - "I don't think this is going to work…"

Zachary - "Why not?!"

*The camera zooms out to reveal that Zachary is pointing a paintball rifle at Clive's foot.*

Zachary - "We're going to shoot ourselves with red paint so it looks like we got shot in the foot! Hold still!"

*poont!, splat*

Clive - "…"

Zachary - "Oh. Well, if you tell everyone you're actually an alien, they might believe your blood is green."

"Now then, where is Chef Hatchet?" Chris asked aloud, glancing around. "Zed, go fetch Chef for me, and while you're at it, get me another fruit platter! And you'd better make sure to get that statue of me in the center, but I'll take platinum or silver at this point."

"Mister Maclean, I don't think this is legal," Rodney protested. "And please, you're really upsetting Miss Bridgette!"

"You know what? I honestly don't care if she's upset," Chris snapped, his frown intensifying with how impatient he was getting. "I had to get so many rare animals for this challenge, I'm not going to let this go to waste. Do know how much it costs to get a peacock? Or a platypus? Or a gorilla? Not to mention I am pretty sure some of the beasts I got are endangered, but hey, for the sake of a reality show, it's worth it!

"You've all had it too good lately! Total Drama is about pain and misery! It's time to go back to our roots, and respect the ancestors of reality TV! And most importantly, time for me to have some fun!"

Clive sighed aloud at the words, as he kicked some green paint off of his shoe. "Well, at least someone can enjoy it. The rest of us just wallow in said pain and misery."

Bridgette was becoming inconsolable at this point. Before she could say anything more, the host gleefully laughed, and said, "And here comes Chef, with your opening challenge!"

Chef Hatchet was carrying a small cage, the metal bars around all four sides giving everyone a good view of what, or rather who, was in there. Bridgette gasped, and she wasn't the only one shocked.

"Chico?" Courtney exclaimed, now genuinely concerned.

"lol, i iz teh jaylburd now," Chico the Raccoon proudly declared. He seized the bars of his cage, and squeak-roared, "ur barz'll nevah hold mae! no wun lawcks up Cheeko!"

"Wait, him?" Izzy asked, now rather off-put instead of the eager grin she had earlier. "No wait, I don't want to hunt Chico!"

"Come on, man," Tyler cried out as Chef set the caged raccoon down on the ground. "He's our little buddy! He rooms with Sebastian and me! Don't tell me we're going to have to shoot our buddy!"

"No one's going to shoot him," Chris said as he walked down from the stage, wearing a comforting grin on his face, "except me, that is! I'm going to give him a nice dose of Resmelum, and he's going to be the fiercest raccoon this side of North America!"

"No," Bridgette exclaimed. "You can't do this!"

"rawr, feersuh," Chico said, holding up his paws and flexing them. "imma gunna git ya, wid mah feersness!"

"See, Bridgette?" Chris Maclean said, pointing at the raccoon. "He's perfectly happy with this! Maybe you can support him instead of thinking for yourself for once!"

"No, don't you dare do anything to him," she shouted, her green eyes full of her own fierceness. "Do you have any idea what that will do to him? Most of his fur will fall out, his skin will turn all sickly, and he'll behave as if he is on a horrible case of rabies and rage!"

"Don't forget his claws are going to grow longer and sharper, ensuring that he is going to tear some of you apart," the host said with a hearty laugh. "I'd watch your toes and fingers if I were you, people!"

"Chris, please," Ezekiel called out. "Chico is like family here, we doo'nt want to shoot the little guy!"

"I said, you aren't shooting him, I am! Your job is to tranquilize him and shove him back in his cage. The first person to do this will give their team a benefit in the next part of the challenge, but I'm not telling you the teams just yet! After all, if you end up tranquilizing or harming someone who turned out to be on your team, you could…"

He grinned over at Eva and Anita, "You could accidentally give that person immunity if you disable them before the real fun begins."

Both girls growled in utter annoyance, but their ire was nowhere near as big as Bridgette's. "It doesn't matter if we tranquilize him and give him the antidote," she pleaded with the host. "The antidote has been reported to not fully work! He could end up changed forever, he's such a small creature and that amount of Resmelum…"

"Oh boohoo, like we don't have enough raccoons in the world. It's just one little rodent, Bridgette, stop crying as if I was going to shoot a family member or something!" Chris shook his head and laughed. "Chef, start passing out the slingshots and pellets, this critter's going to be loose soon!"

"I'm really not okay with this," Ezekiel said aloud. He turned to his girlfriend, and whispered, "Can't we do something about it?"

"What can we do?" she asked. "I mean, we cannot just step out of the contest in protest, then everyone who does want to harm animals are going to be left in the game."

"Come on, man," DJ protested to Chef as the large man handed him a slingshot and a bag of pellets. "I cannot do this, I like animals!"

"This is most unethical," Rodney whimpered. "I don't like this, I don't like this at all!"

"rawr, i iz abowt to b tawp uf teh fud chayn," Chico cheered, stomping his paws around. "dis gunna bae gud! i willz appeer mur manlee fur Breegeet!"

Upon hearing her name, something snapped inside Bridgette. She stared at the cute critter inside the cage, remembering when she had first seen him, when she had saved him from a snare trap, when he asked her out on a blimp ride. The surfer gal had read articles on the shows that had used Resmelum, it made her want to stage a protest.

All of her frustrations over feeling helpless, her boyfriend avoiding her, and a combination of other things, coupled with Chris's smug grin as he prepared his rifle, led her to a heated decision.

"No," she shouted, throwing her slingshot and bag of sleeping pellets to the ground. "No, I am not going to let you do this, Chris Maclean!"

"Not really up to you, Pocahontas," Chris said with a chuckle. He didn't notice she was storming up to him, until she grabbed at the rifle.

"Give that to me!"

"No, it's mine, I get to shoot things with it!"

"I'm not letting you! Give it over now!"

(The Closet Confessional, several minutes later…)

*The room is dark, save for a few candles being used to keep it lit.*

Bridgette - *She has her face in her hands, unmoving except for her shoulders. When she looks up, her eyes are red, and her face is wet from how hard she has been crying.*

"I never meant for it to happen… I never should have tried to stop him… I… I…

"Oh God. What have I done?!"

Bridgette and Chris Maclean struggled with each other, tugging on the rifle, trying to wrench it out of the other's hands. Some of the contestants moved to try and stop this, but Chef Hatchet stood between them and the fight.

"I got five bucks on Bridgette," Eva said with a laugh. "You go girl, you take him!"

"I got ten on Maclean," Valerie exclaimed. "Come on man, she's a granola girl, you can overpower her!"

"This is really not safe," Rodney called out, holding onto his helmet tightly. "You shouldn't fight over a rifle!"

"The kid's right," Ezekiel declared. "Bridgette, Maclean, stop fighting, please!"

"Give it to me," Bridgette shrieked, desperately trying to pull the rifle from Chris's hands. "You horrible man!"

"Do you want to be penalized? Lay off, blonde," Chris shouted. "All I want is to turn harmless animals into killers and stuff you all into cages with them!"

"Cage match has started already, apparently," Heather said.

"Bridg-ette~! Bridg-ette~! Bridg-ette~!" Izzy chanted, shaking pompoms that she somehow procured.

"I SAID GIVE IT TO ME," Bridgette barked, tugging at the rifle. "You're not! Hurting! Any animals!"

"Can one of you get the violent hippie off of me?" Chris shouted. "Didn't we just get security?"

"Will someone stop this?" Mandy asked aloud. "I mean, someone who's willing to get in-between two people fighting with a rifle!"

"Okay, Chef, move over," Ezekiel growled. "Someone has to stop this fight, eh!"

"Seriously, where are the new security guards?" Crystal cried out, as several of the contestants started to move towards the fight. "I mean, not just over this fight, but this is the least bally safe procedure I have ever seen-"

FFFFTEW!

Every one of the contestants heard the rifle fire. Neither Bridgette nor Chris knew which of them had triggered the rifle, they were desperately trying to pull it away from the other. But they stopped when they heard the sound of the dart hitting someone, and the pained cry of who it struck…

…

…

…

…

…

"Ah… ck…"

Ezekiel slowly tugged the dart out of his neck, gasping for breath as he could feel the Resmelum coursing through him. A quick glance at the dart said it all: he had gotten the full load.

He dropped it, feeling an intense shiver rocket through his body. Glancing around, as the world started to wobble and tilt, he could see the stares of everyone else, including his friends, his girlfriend, and…

The last thing he could consciously remember was staring at Bridgette. He opened his mouth to say something, possibly to cry for help or get the antidote. But he didn't have enough time to get the words out.

His entire body shivered, then felt like it was set on fire from the inside. With a howl of pain, he knelt down, grasping the grass of the stadium. His breath was pained gasps, then raspy, growl-like exhales.

Heather ran towards him, but Arthur, realizing the danger, held her back. She screamed to him, as did his friends, most of whom were also being held back by others for their safety.

Ezekiel's skin warped before their eyes at an alarming rate, turning a sickly green. His fingernails grew into claws, sharpening fast enough to glimmer in the light. When he reached up to grasp his head, his mental state deteriorating quickly, a good portion of his hair came off of his head. It fell in a mess on the ground, along with his toque.

"Ohhh," Chris Maclean said aloud, turning towards Bridgette. "Look what you did!"

Most of Ezekiel's hair fell out, leaving a few ugly strands atop a green scalp. His toenails grew into claws as well, shredding through his shoes and leaving him barefoot. When he opened his eyes, they were yellow, and focused like an alpha predator.

The former prairie boy suddenly stood up straight, and let out the most inhumane shriek that any of those present had ever heard, making their ears vibrate in pain. He flexed his clawed hands, then let out several raspy gasps as he started to collect his bearings.

"Oh this is priceless," Chris Maclean burst out laughing. He nudged Bridgette, who had long since let go of the rifle, staring in utter shock and horror. "You wanted to save the animals, and you turned Ezekiel into one! Ha ha HA!"

"No," was all Bridgette could muster to say.

Chris wasn't done with his laughing or mocking. "You did this, and girl, I have to thank you so much! I've been wanting to get back at that little twerp for ages! Haha, look at him! You made him into a monster!"

A thick strand of drool spilled down Ezekiel's mouth, through his now razor-sharp teeth. When he glanced around, the contestants recoiled in fear. Some of them were still being held back by others.

"Ezekiel," Heather cried, Arthur still holding her back. "Ezekiel!"

"My Zekey," Izzy screamed, squirming to escape from DJ's hold.

"Dude, bro, Zeke," Tyler stammered, as Xander and Yoshi held him back. "No! No, buddy! Buddy!"

Chris continued to laugh as the now feral Zeke started panting, glancing around in confusion. "Well, Bridgette, you got your wish! You don't have to hunt the raccoon now, you just have to hunt a bigger, more unwanted pest! Ha ha HA!"

At that final laugh, feral Zeke turned towards the mocking, grating noise. He saw the rifle in Chris's hands, and heard that horrid noise coming from the man. Somewhere in Zeke's changed mind, something clicked.

…

…

…

"RAAAAAWWWWWWWGGGH!"

Feral Zeke lunged at Chris Maclean, claws extended, teeth bared. The host only had one moment to say, "Huh?" before the green-skinned ghoul-boy tackled him, sending them sprawling a few yards away from the rest.

And then, Feral Zeke proceeded to maul and beat the ever-loving stuffing out of Chris Maclean.

WHAM! POW! SLASH! CLAW! CHOMP! PUNCH! CRUNCH! SLAM! RIP! REND! SCRATCH! MAUL! CUT! POUND! BITE! TEAR! SNAP!

The flurry of green arms with lengthy claws was just as uncontrollable as Chris's screams of pain, cries for help, and a consistent request for Ezekiel to not attack the hair. The aggressive slashing and punching by the enraged, feral being was not showing any mercy at all.

And now, most of the contestants couldn't tell if they were horrified or delighted.

"Someone stop him," Rodney screamed. "He's hurting Chris Maclean!"

"And we're supposed to stop that?" Eva asked.

"Ezekiel," Tyler cried out more, still struggling with Yoshi and Xander. "No man, no! Buddy!"

Bridgette fell to her knees, staring helplessly at the scene before her. She had tears spilling from her eyes, but she wasn't sobbing. "No…"

Valerie was the one to step up first, possibly the only one who had a desire to save Chris. Loading a pellet into her slingshot, she aimed at Feral Zeke and fired. As she had ever fired a slingshot in her life, the shot went over Zeke's shoulder.

The green-skinned hunter paused his beat-down on Chris when the pellet exploded into smoke a short distance away, the scent in the air. He turned around to see who this attacker was, and Valerie squeaked in terror, running back towards the others.

"Get the antidote," Heather shouted, finally wrestling herself out of Arthur's grasp. "Get it now, hurry!"

Izzy also managed to wrestle out of DJ's grasp, mostly by tickling his side and having him release her. She bolted towards the stage alongside Heather, and started searching through boxes. The former queen bee angrily shoved Izzy out of the way, and frantically inspected the box.

"What are you doing?" Izzy growled, picking herself up. "I'm trying to help!"

"I don't trust you, you probably like him like this!" Heather snapped, throwing styrofoam peanuts everywhere. "He's turned as crazy as you!"

"You ungrateful cow, I don't want to see Ezekiel like this," the crazy girl retorted. "I'm going to help you find the antidote, whether you like it or not!"

Feral Zeke delivered one more punch to Chris's face, before the sound of the argument caught his ears. Again, he was barely sentient and in a berserker rage, but part of his mind could comprehend what was being said, particularly one word.

Crawling away from Chris and onto the stage, he growled ferociously at the two girls searching through the boxes. When both noticed he was staring them down, they froze, and whimpered at the same time, "Ezekiel?"

Feral Zeke sniffed the air, then growled again. With a sharp shriek, he leapt towards the boxes. In the process, he clotheslined his girlfriend and close friend, sending them crashing into the boxes with him, all tumbling off the stage.

With the very painful and loud crashing sound echoing around the stadium, Hannah was the first to reach the scene. She called out to Heather and Izzy, only to see Feral Zeke rise from the enormous pile of styrofoam peanuts. He sniffed and huffed angrily, then set his sights on Hannah. Bloodlust still not sated, he snarled and prepared to pounce again.

Hannah, panicked and unable to think of what to do, screamed in fear. Joel rushed over to help her, but B managed to get there first. Just as Feral Zeke lunged at Hannah, B shoved her out of the way.

With the increased strength from the Resmelum, Feral Zeke bashed into B and sent the big guy flying backwards. The silent mechanic slammed into Vera, which triggered an electrical overload on impact. B was lucky enough not to be shocked, but the intense amount of power that was used for the Virtual Machine back-fired.

All of the power in Maclean Stadium died then. The stadium lights all went off, as did the ones in all of the corridors and rooms. As it was still morning, everyone could see perfectly fine out in the area, but the inside of the stadium was pitch black.

Sensing this darkness, a safe place where one could hunt easily, Feral Zeke ran on all fours into one of the corridors, huffing and growling all the way. He disappeared into the dark hallway, gone as quickly as he was created.

While the audience for Maclean Stadium were either murmuring in fear and/or excitement, or considering getting the heck out of there, the contestants of Total Drama Battlegrounds and the present staff were all stunned silent.

It was the smallest voice that brought them back. "wut happind?" Chico the Raccoon whimpered. "wur did Zeekie go?"

"This is not happening," Courtney chanted, eyes darting around as if trying to find an answer. "This is not happening. This… is not… happening…"

Several of the contestants ran towards those fallen. Valerie arrived at Chris Maclean, asking him the rather pathetic question of, "Are you okay?"

Chris Maclean had a broken nose, several teeth missing, two black eyes, most of his exquisite hair slashed off, multiple broken bones, and an impressive amount of bruises and cuts. And yet, when Valerie asked him that question, he pointed up at his head, and asked through the intense agony, "How… is… my hair?"

"Um," Valerie managed to fake a smile, "it looks good compared to… um… it's fine? Yeah, totally fine!"

Hannah and Joel were checking on B, as a few of the contestants checked on Izzy and Heather, who had to be found under all the styrofoam peanuts. Both girls were lying still, covered in bruises from the intense fall. Dazed, confused and injured, neither of them were going to get back up anytime soon.

Harold went to Bridgette, who was staring helplessly at the corridor Ezekiel had retreated into. The nerd held her shoulder, and tried to talk to her, snap her out of shock, but she just whimpered, "It's my fault… it's my fault…"

"LET GO OF ME," Tyler's desperate hollering startled everyone, as he fervently struggled against those holding him back. "I gotta go save my friend! Let go! LET GO!"

"He'll rip you apart," Yoshi tried to reason with the near-hysterical jock. "Think this through!"

"I don't care, let me go!"

"EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!"

Chef Hatchet had bellowed into the megaphone, powerful enough to create a gust of wind. When there was a quiet over the contestants, he continued. "That's better. Now, I'm in charge, as I think Chris is a little out of commission.

"New plan, new challenge! We're going to hunt down Ezekiel, and give the boy the antidote! Speaking of which, new intern!"

Zoey, having watched everything that had happened with the utmost horror, squeaked when Chef called out to her. "Y-yes?" she asked.

"Get on the phone with those people who delivered this stuff, see what you can find out about Resmelum, and what happens when it is injected into a person!"

"Okay," Zoey said, then took a deep breath, and repeated herself with much more strength to it. "Okay! I'm on it!"

As she started her phone call, Chef walked over and took her clipboard. "Right, here's the deal, everyone! We're going to divide this into two teams…"

"Teams?" Tyler repeated, spitting out the word. "Teams? Who the hell cares about teams, we gotta save Zeke!"

"Sorry, kid, but this is still a contest. You can help each other if you want, but whoever administers Ezekiel the antidote first wins their team immunity, and the other team has to vote someone off!"

"Why are we supposed to do this?" Mandy asked angrily. "I mean, I don't want to sound callous, but shouldn't we let someone professional handle this? Like security? Or Dawn, who can talk to animals? Or that duck that has enough weaponry to level a city all on his own?"

Chef Hatchet scratched the back of his head. "They, um, aren't here, on account of an emergency that happened this morning."

(At a nearby animal clinic, some distance from Maclean Stadium…)

"Wounded incoming!" MacArthur declared as she kicked the front door open, startling everyone in the clinic. "Soldier down, requesting back-up! Medic! MEDIC!"

The receptionist at the front raised an eyebrow and said, "Can I help you?"

Sanders ran in, carrying Groucho the Duck in her arms. "We have an injured duck here, who needs medical attention!"

"Oh, save this poor soul," Dawn cried out, holding onto Harpo the Unicorn, as comfort to herself and the pony. "This innocent soul of the universe, please tend to his dire wing injury!"

"What happened?" the receptionist asked.

"I believe," Sanders said, "he dislocated his wing when he was testing out a new RPG launcher."

With a frown, the receptionist looked at the duck, and said, "Really, Groucho? Again?"

"I'll be fine," Groucho the Duck grumbled. He overheard Harpo remorsefully playing taps with her horn, and ordered, "Stop that! Just hurry this up, who knows what's going on at the stadium without me being there!"

(Maclean Stadium, Arena)

"So what we are going to do," Chef Hatchet continued to speak up, "is have everyone pick up their slingshots and sleeping pellets. Go out there, find Ezekiel, and do whatever you can to subdue him before you administer the antidote!"

"Where is the antidote?" Tyler asked desperately.

"Um, somewhere in that gigantic pile of boxes, styrofoam peanuts, and other random items," the cook said, pointing at where Izzy and Heather were laying down. "When I give the word, go find as many as you can for your team. First come, first serve!"

"Why are we still treating this like a competition?" Geoff spoke up for the first time. "Why don't we just grab it and go?"

"Sorry kids, but I am contractually obligated to take over the show if Chris Maclean is out of commission, and I daresay he is. I will be fired if I don't turn a situation into a challenge we can film, no matter the calamity."

"Even a zombie apocalypse?" Alfred inquired.

"Even a zombie apocalypse."

"Whoa, that's hardcore!"

Meanwhile, Zoey was on the phone, speaking with someone with a rising concern in her voice. "Listen, I know you are a busy man, and it may be your break, but we have someone in trouble here, so could you please help me RIGHT NOW?!"

Her holler of concern made some of the contestants glance over at her, and she smiled sheepishly. "Um, sorry for yelling, but please! Hurry!"

As Chef Hatchet scanned the lists on the clipboard, several medical teams arrived with stretchers. They hurried to lift Heather, Izzy, B, and Chris Maclean onto their stretchers, and started to carry them off.

"Team Survivalists will consist," Chef barked out, "of the following members:

"Leshawna, Tyler, Clive, Gwen, Lindsay, Valerie, Mandy, Xander, Colin, Harold, Noah, Yoshi, Courtney, Heather, and Zachary!"

"But Heather's been taken out of the game already," Courtney protested.

"Yes, and that reminds me, if every member of a team gets sent to the medical ward, they lose automatically. But I digress…" As Chef quickly studied the clipboard, he failed to notice that his boss was being carried off in the wrong direction. Chris Maclean was being hauled off on a stretcher up the stairs of the bleachers, while the rest were going into the corridor, holding flashlights for the black-out.

"Team Beast Masters will have the following members:

"Alfred, Crystal, Rodney, Anita, Izzy, Sadie, Arthur, DJ, Sakaki, Belinda, Eva, Sebastian, Bridgette, Geoff, and… oh, Ezekiel. Wait, that means the teams aren't even! Shoot, I could get in trouble if they aren't… ummm…"

He turned around, and saw Hannah with Joel, both watching B being slowly but surely carried away by two impressively strong paramedics. "Hey you," Chef declared, "blond girl! Former contestant! Didn't we bring you back into the game?"

"What?" Hannah asked, confused. "No, Chris changed that condition."

"Well, I'm un-changing it! You're back in Total Drama Battlegrounds officially, because we need the teams to be even for this! You're part of Team Beast Masters!"

Hannah winced, glancing between the cook and her boyfriend. Joel pat her shoulder, and said, "Go on, they need your help! I'll try to fix the power, just stay safe, please!"

"Of course I will."

Giving her boyfriend a quick kiss, she hurried over to the others, where one person was rather upset to see her return. "Oh no way," Colin declared. "She kicked me in the freaking face when she was last here!"

"Ah, good times," Eva said with a grin.

"Hannah," Chef said as he studied the clipboard, "don't kick him in the face again, that's all I ask of you."

Colin scoffed, then grinned unpleasantly at her. "Oh, well, we need meat shields anyway. Maybe you'll go back to the Bus of Losers in a body cast, right next to Cody! HAW HAW HAW HAW!"

The bully's laugh echoed around the stadium, and right afterwards, a predator's shriek followed from inside the corridors. Feral Zeke came barreling out of one of them on all fours, into the arena, charging towards the contestants.

"HUNTER," Alfred yelled as he jumped out of the way.

Most of the contestants either leapt out of the way in terror, or fired and missed with their slingshots. Colin didn't have fast enough reaction time, and thus Feral Zeke grabbed the one who had made that really awful noise.

Colin was dragged, kicking and screaming, into another corridor. The sounds of very painful scratching and punching, with high-pitched screams of terror and pain, echoed from within the pitch blackness.

"Okay, note to self," Noah said as he brushed himself off, "never laugh aloud near a Resmelum-induced person. It may be obscure, but it's a fact that'll save your life."

(Closet Confessional - The more you know!)

Eva - *She grins and pumps her fist.* "Thank you, karma goddess, for that sweet payback! Haha, oh man, and the best part of it is, he got a serious beat-down without me getting into trouble over it!

"Now, originally I was going to ask his team to throw the game so we could vote him off, but I don't think that would be appropriate now! Jeez, who knew Homeschool could turn into a badass monster like that? It's actually kind of cool… in a really, really bad kind of way, I mean."

Rodney - "I wish it could be under happier events that Hannah joined the game again. I mean, she's so nice, I'm sure she wouldn't consider Colin getting torn up by a feral creature who used to be a friend of hers to be a good welcoming gift."

Xander - "I was actually kind of looking forward to the challenge of wrestling with beasts. But after seeing what Resmelum does to a mellow and kind person like Ezekiel, I'm not sure I want to go up against a gorilla or a tiger with that in its system. Hard to say if we dodged a bullet or not, however."

Zoey hung up the phone, and she walked over to Chef. "I think I got all the information. Shall I tell it to you so you can do the announcement?"

"Girl, just tell us," Chef declared, gesturing towards all of the contestants. "We don't have Chris here, so you don't have to…"

He stopped when he noticed the paramedics carrying his boss were heading up the stairs. Growling in frustration, he hollered into his megaphone up at them, "The medical wing isn't that way, fools!"

"What?" one of the paramedics shouted back. "You mean we have to go through the corridors with that thing lurking in the darkness?"

"Stop whining, you're the only people who are getting good pay on this show," Chef barked. "Bring him down here, and go the right way!"

"You heard the man," Chris said, woozy from all the pain. "Just… remember… I can deduct your salary for going slow…"

The paramedics groaned, then started to head the opposite way; however, the one lower down the stairs caught his foot on one of the seats, and he lurched forward. This pitched the badly injured Chris off the stretcher, and down all the steps they had climbed thus far.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. WHUMP.

"That," Zoey said with a wince, "probably broke more of his bones."

"Chris, you alright?" Valerie called up to the host with the most broken bones.

"How," he whimpered in sheer agony, "does… my hair… look?"

"Fine!"

At the same time, Colin was thrown like a rag doll from the corridor he was dragged off to. Covered in brutal scratches and bruises, he moaned in pain, unable to stand up. Another team of paramedics put him on top of a stretcher, and carried him off.

"Wow, those medics are really fast," Sadie admired. "Very efficient!"

"Yeah," Zachary said with a nervous frown, "makes me wonder just how crazy-prepared they were going to have to be for the original challenge!"

"Um, excuse me!" Zoey called out to the contestants, but didn't come off quite loud enough to get their attention. So Chef used his megaphone to get their attention, and the pushover intern spoke again. "I'm afraid I have some bad news, some very bad news, and some extremely terribly bad news."

"Girl, just tell us what you know, so we can go," Leshawna declared.

"Right, sorry! Okay, um, first the bad news! Apparently, the Resmelum, if injected into a human, makes them super strong, fast, have night vision, and an advanced sense of smell. Also, they say the howl of someone on Resmelum can inspire something along the lines of a blue harvest moon in other animals… but I don't know what that means."

"This stuff has been used on people?" Noah asked incredulously.

"It was accidental, so I'm told. But the very bad news is that anything on Resmelum can smell the antidote, and they'll try to avoid or destroy."

"Oh no," Leshawna blurted out, slapping her forehead. "That's why he dove for the boxes, and clobbered Heather and Izzy, he was going for the antidote."

"I don't think he got any of it," Anita said assuringly. "But Zoey, what's the extremely terribly bad news?"

The redhead winced and glanced to the side. "Apparently, if the antidote isn't administered to the victim in the next twelve hours," she paused, unwilling to say what exactly, especially with how Ezekiel's friends were reacting to what was happening already. She managed to find her courage, and spit it out.

"If we don't administer the antidote to Ezekiel within the next twelve hours, he may never return to his normal self again."

Bridgette let out a wail, covering her face as she started to sob uncontrollably. Tyler shivered, then declared, "That's it, I'm not waiting anymore! I'm going, come on, people!"

The contestants, for the most part, rushed over to the mess of boxes and styrofoam peanuts. They were throwing things all over, some of them stepping in pieces of fruit, until Sakaki found a metal container, with thirty syringes containing the antidote.

"Okay, everyone gets one," Sebastian instructed, him and Sakaki handing them out to everyone. "Be careful, conceal them from view, you don't want Zeke destroying them. Hopefully, he cannot smell them."

"Will that mean he'll be able to smell us coming?" Lindsay asked, horrified at the thought.

"We don't know. No one go alone, stick together! We don't want him picking us off one by one."

Leshawna was the last one to take one, and noticed four were still there. Doing a quick head count, she realized three should be remaining, what with Colin, Izzy, and Heather out of commission. When she glanced around, she saw Bridgette hadn't moved from the place she had fallen on her knees.

Quickly rushing as fast as her legs could take her, she gave an antidote syringe to Joel, Zoey, and Chef Hatchet. At first, the cook wouldn't take one, but she pushed it into your hand. "I don't care if you aren't allowed to interfere, Chef, but you're the most intimidating guy here, you're the least likely one to be attacked! If it all comes to worst, at least you can be holding one for anyone left standing!"

She then dashed over to Bridgette, and knelt down next to her friend. "Bridge, girlfriend, you gotta get up! We got to go look for Ezekiel."

The surfer girl didn't acknowledge her at first. When she finally did, it was merely a glance over at her close friend. "I can't," she weakly said. "I… I did this."

Before Leshawna could say more, Anita knelt down next to Bridgette on her other side. "I'll watch over her," the bombshell offered. "She's in shock, I will take care of her, make sure Ezekiel doesn't harm her."

"Anita, you sure, girl?" Leshawna asked.

The raven haired gal smiled and wrapped an arm around Bridgette. "What can I say? I guess I have a habit for getting more involved with my teammates than the contest. You go, I'm sure you of all people can handle this challenge."

(Closet Confessional - The Hunt for Green Ezekiel!)

Leshawna - "At first, I thought Anita might go on a bit of a self-pity party, what with losing Cody to Eva and all. Girl keeps impressing me with how tough she can be. But now, it's time to show how tough I can be. I've seen scarier faces at family reunions, Zekey-boy, I'm coming after you!"

Anita - "Truth be told, I was raring to go save Ezekiel, since he's always been so kind to me and I want him back to normal. But Bridgette needed someone to be with her, she blames herself so strongly.

"I couldn't leave her there alone! Joel was working on the power, Zoey appears nice but a major push-over, and Chef? He probably cares about us just as much as Chris did."

Chef Hatchet - *sobbing into a handkerchief* "Not Ezekiel! Boo hoo hoo, he was SO young! I'll never for-for-forgive myself if something happens to him, or any of the other darn kids! Boo hoo hoo! … Except that Colin kid, he's kind of a jerk."

With everyone armed with a slingshot, sleeping pellets, and a syringe with the antidote, the two teams separated to discuss plans. Both of them split into smaller, more manageable groups, with Team Beast Masters going down the corridor Feral Zeke had been seen last going down. Team Survivalists were heading down the corridor where he had first gone into the arena.

That left Zoey, Joel, and Chef Hatchet at the arena, with Anita holding Bridgette close and trying to comfort her. The audience was leaving, since with no power, it appeared the challenge wouldn't be visible today. Not to mention, most of them were not keen to stay if Feral Zeke was loose and quite vicious.

Zoey tucked the antidote into her pocket, holding her clipboard again. She walked over to Joel, and watched him work. "I hope I'm not distracting you," she said, "but what do you plan on doing if you get these working again?"

"Vera is connected to the cameras inside the stadium, and also the loudspeaker," Joel explained. "If I can find out how to turn those back on after the damage that's been done, it'll make finding Ezekiel easier."

"You sure he won't come back here?" Zoey asked nervously. "You really think he'll stay inside?"

"We're dealing with a creature with quite the bloodlust and a hatred for stupid laughs, apparently," Joel said, turning towards the scared redhead. "I would say, don't think of any bad jokes while he's around, and we should be alright."

She swallowed nervously. "Any… anything I can do to help you? Get us water? Fruit? Plate armor?"

"There is something really bothering me, something I think I'm missing," he admitted. "But maybe I'm just worried about Hannah… still, go over all of Chris's schedule today, just ignore the parts about him. Something is tapping the back of my head, and I cannot get it out."

Zoey nodded, clutching the clipboard tightly to her chest. "I hope your girlfriend will be okay, and everyone else."

"Trust me, some of the toughest people I have ever known are in this contest. I know they can handle this!"

(Team Beast Masters)

"Noooooooo-ho-ho-ho! You cannot make me go! I'm allergic to Resmelum, even if I just heard about it today! I'm already breaking out in a rash! See? See right there?"

DJ began scratching himself fervently, as Arthur and Sadie exchanged frustrated glances. "Just great," the loner griped. "The one contestant in this game who I think is possible of punching through a brick wall has the spine of Courage the Cowardly Dog."

"Aw, I loved that cartoon," Sadie chirped.

"Now is not the time to fully reminisce on cartoons. Let's keep our ears open, it might be our only way of telling if he's around." Sadie nodded, holding up her phone with the flashlight option on. She swallowed nervously, and listened as hard as she could. "You really think he could sneak up on us?"

"Sadie, you know as much as I do, what makes you think I would know any better than you?"

The three continued, DJ scratching himself all the more to convince them of his allergy to Ezekiel. They were quiet, for the most part, except for Sadie doing things with her phone while she had it open as a flashlight.

"And this is one of Katie and me when we went camping," she showed a frowning Arthur. The matching camper outfits were cute, but the loner was really not in the mood for such a trip down memory lane.

He was just about to say something, when he heard voices in the distance. Motioning for the other two to be quiet, he tried to focus on what was being said.

"Is that Ezekiel?" Sadie whispered in fright.

"Sadie, it's two different people talking, and Ezekiel lost his ability to speak, I don't think he's suddenly chatting with someone."

"But you said earlier you don't know any more than I do-"

"Quiet," he hissed at her.

They listened, as the voices grew slightly closer. "All I am saying," an unfamiliar voice was complaining, "is that this feels like a horror movie! There are no lights, a monster is afoot, and we're just the nameless extras who walked into the middle of it! We're cannon fodder!"

"I have a name, it's Steve," the other voice replied. "And besides, this cannot be a horror movie, it's missing one crucial element!"

"What's that, Steve?"

"Tension. And because I haven't heard anything but the complaining between you and this guy, there's no way anyone could be horrified! Just annoyed!"

"You're rude, Steve."

"Can you guys move a little faster?" came the whining, pained voice of Chris Maclean. "I don't feel so good…"

"That's probably because you have set a record number of injuries without passing out, Mr. Maclean," the non-Steve paramedic said.

"I… am a host. I cannot faint… ever, on camera. Fainting costs careers… I taught myself to never faint…"

Arthur motioned for Sadie and DJ to be quiet. "Just let them go by, we don't need to startle these guys, they seem spooked as it is."

Sadie nodded, and waited for the paramedics to approach. Just when they were in range, and she was waving to them, someone called out from the darkness.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

Valerie appeared from behind the paramedics, turning on her cellphone's flashlight. Behind her were Xander and Yoshi, keeping a close eye on their surroundings.

"What's going on?" the politician in the making asked. "Are we just all gathering here for a coffee break?"

"We just were making sure not to scare the paramedics," Sadie said, pointing at the two men carrying Chris on a stretcher.

"Well, stop wandering around, and get serious on this hunt, I say," Valerie snapped. "Even if you aren't on my team, I want this challenge over so I don't have to risk my life in these lightless corridors!

"Although," she grinned a little, glancing back at the two men with her, "it's kind of nice, being alone with two men in the darkness. I see you got the same thing going on there, Sadie."

As Sadie giggled a little, despite it all, Arthur groaned loudly. "What you need to find is a bucket of ice water, pink lady."

Valerie scowled at him, then felt a droplet of water of her shoulder. "Ugh, it's bad enough the power's out, but now we have a leak."

"A leak?" Yoshi asked. "What could possibly be leaking from the ceiling? We're in a stadium, not a sewer."

Sadie shone her phone's flashlight up at the ceiling. Clinging to it was Feral Zeke, his drool dripping down on them.

…

…

…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sadie shrieked.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" DJ hollered.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Paramedics Steve and Not-Steve screamed.

"RRAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Feral Zeke replied.

DJ and Sadie sprinted away, but they didn't look in the direction they were retreating. Knocking over Arthur and trampling him was something the two didn't even notice they had done. Feral Zeke, sensing a hunt, dropped from the ceiling towards them.

It was at this point that the paramedics, both Steve and Not-Steve, dropped Chris Maclean on the ground as they both retreated. If the sudden impact wasn't painful enough for the host, Feral Zeke landed right on him. Then, digging his claws into Chris's body, he used Maclean as a vault. The amount of pain that the host felt was as high-pitched as the shriek Feral Zeke let out as he galloped after DJ and Sadie.

"Ow," Arthur groaned as he strained to get up.

Chris didn't say anything, just a pathetic whimper. Slowly, very sluggishly, he lifted a hand upwards. One finger, clearly broken in more than one place, pointed towards his head.

"Hair still looks fine," Valerie offered.

(Closet Confessional - Hair always looks fabulous!)

DJ - "Okay, I may have gotten a teensy-bit lost and separated from Arthur… and Sadie… and everyone else. So I diverted a bit, and made sure Bunny was okay. Then I took him up to the medical wing to ensure he would be safe, because that's where they are taking the injured. Now, time to find my team again, before someone kills me…" *gulp*

Sadie - "I could really do with Katie being here with me! I am more scared than that time when I was really, like, totally scared! You may not understand, but that's the most scared I ever was… until now! This is scariest! Most scary!"

Yoshi - *He doesn't say anything, he just mimes with his hands the recent event of Feral Zeke dropping from the ceiling, landing on Chris Maclean, and bouncing off of him. Then he bursts out laughing, mimes it again, and laughs harder.*

Valerie - "Am I the only one who feels bad for Chris Maclean? I mean, he's had his handsome face smashed in, his gorgeous hair slashed off, and that perfect body of his trashed! Just because you don't like a piece of art doesn't mean it should be destroyed, people!"

Yoshi - *mimes the bouncing bit yet again, and cackles more*

(Team Survivalists)

Noah stayed close to Leshawna and Tyler, holding up his cellphone as a flashlight. "So," he said, trying to do anything to stop that horrid feeling of inevitable doom, "either of you ever use a slingshot before?"

"Only during Total Drama Island," Leshawna admitted.

"No," Tyler growled.

"Good, then we all have little to no experience. Perfect for taking on a vicious, feral beast."

"Hey there," Tyler barked. "That is not a monster, that is my best friend!"

"Your best friend has sent five people to the medical wing in a manner of thirty minutes, Tyler. Pardon me if I don't try to be politically correct in how I categorize him right now."

"Boys, we really, really should not be fighting," Leshawna snapped. "I know it's hard, one of you a nerd and the other a jock, but we're doing this for Ezekiel."

"That's all I'm doing it for," Tyler replied, his eyes and ears still peeled for any trace of his friend. Noah was about to say something, but the sporty guy heard something in the distance. He held up his hand, and shushed the others.

As it turned out, it was members from the other team: Sakaki and Crystal. The two girls waved sheepishly at the veterans, who waved back.

"Any sign of him?" Tyler asked.

"No, not really," Sakaki admitted. "Though I don't know if that's good or bad at this stage."

"It's bad," the jock exclaimed, despite the others desperately trying to shush him. "We have less than twelve hours to find him!"

"We'll have left than twelve minutes to survive if you keep yelling," Noah snapped.

"Please, calm down, Tyler chap," Crystal said, placing her hands on his shoulders. "We're going to find him, we will, okay? Just we need to keep our noggins atop our shoulders, and not go flying off the handle! Savvy?"

Tyler took several deep breaths, and nodded in agreement. It was then that the five of them heard some low growling.

"Please tell me," Sakaki whimpered, "that one of you skipped breakfast."

The growling intensified.

"And possibly dinner last night?"

They scanned the area, and that was when Feral Zeke dropped from the ceiling behind the girls of Team Beast Masters. Sakaki screamed and fired her slingshot at Ezekiel wildly, missing every time. Crystal saw the green-skinned teen prepare to lunge, and she dove to her teammate, knocking them out of the way just in time.

"ZEKE," Tyler shouted, and launched a pellet right into his friend. The powder exploded all over his face, it had been an incredible shot…

And all it did was make Feral Zeke sneeze.

Growling in frustration after his nasal bluster, Feral Zeke kicked at Tyler, slamming the sporto against the wall roughly. Knocking over Leshawna and Noah along the way, he sped off through the dark corridors.

That was when they heard someone else shouting. "Oh, Homeschool," came Eva's voice from somewhere in the corridors. "Time to finally dance, see if you can take on someone who can actually fight, huh?!"

"Eva, no," Hannah shouted.

The sounds of blows landing could be heard, feral screaming and really aggressive bodybuilder's battle cries. But after a minute, with the groups trying desperately to find the fight, it began to sound incredibly one-sided. Eva was crying out more in pain than in combat rage.

By the time the collection of five contestants had found the fight, Feral Zeke was scurrying off. Hannah was clutching her stomach, having taken a gut shot from the feral teen, but wasn't done. Eva, however, was done, covered in scratches, cuts, and bruises, appearing quite terrible.

"No no no," Eva growled, painfully crawling after Feral Zeke. "You don't… run… from me!"

"Eva, stop moving," Sakaki instructed her. "Please, you have to let us take over from here. You're badly hurt."

"I can still fight," the fitness buff strained to say.

"No, I'm sorry, you're going to do a lot of damage to yourself if you keep moving!"

"She's right," Hannah said, slowly recovering from her blow. "You gotta trust us to do this."

Eva growled in frustration, then reached into her pocket. Her syringe had been demolished in the brawl. "He even got the antidote, damn it!"

"Why on Earth did you try to fight with the super-powered, feral guy," Noah asked, "and not shoot him with the pellets?"

Despite all the pain, Eva chuckled. "Got my own style, bookworm. Gotta stick to that."

"Oh man, you were thinking of Cody, weren't you?" Noah groaned. "Man, you really would have been just as impressive if you had KO'ed Zeke with a few pellets."

"I actually managed to hit him with a few pellets," Hannah said. "It barely affected him."

"Me too," Tyler balked. "What is going on, I thought these were a sleeping powder to knock out wild beasts?"

"Looks like Maclean went the cheap route yet again," Leshawna remarked, shaking her head.

(Janitor's Closet - Or Closet Confessional, one of the two.)

Noah - "I would almost be impressed by Chris Maclean's ability to get the very worst of supplies to save money for him, it's like seeing the most shrewd bargainer. Then I think of where that's got us, and my mind mentally replays his beat-down with the chorus of "Hallelujah" at the same time."

Sakaki - "It took a little while, but I managed to find the paramedics and get them to carry Eva to the medical wing. I almost wanted to stay there and make sure she did too, she's so determined, especially after yesterday. But… I have to help my team, and maybe everyone in general, if I can."

Crystal - "I thought I was safe enough, and able to protect Sakaki, since I know karate. Then I saw Eva beaten down by that feral bloke, and I realized how bally serious this is. Just… why was any bleeding idiot making something like Resmelum in the first bally place!?"

(Maclean Stadium, Arena)

Joel worked fervently to fix Vera, while Zoey paced back and forth, trying to think of what she could do. Chef Hatchet was keeping look-out at the empty bleachers, having procured a pair of binoculars.

"um, hallos?" Chico the Raccoon called out. "kin aneewun maybee let me owt uf teh kayge now?"

"Oh, um," Zoey said, hurrying over, "sure thing, talking raccoon."

"kawl mae Cheeko, brown i's," the talking raccoon said as Zoey unlocked his cage. He scurried up her arm and perched himself on her shoulder. "tis gettin bery bery spoopy heer!"

"You can say that again," Zoey remarked.

That was precisely when Feral Zeke burst out from one of the corridors into the field. Zoey and Chico screamed in terror, Joel grabbed the largest wrench he could, and Chef Hatchet picked up a slingshot.

"You messed with the wrong cook," Chef snarled as he took several shots at Feral Zeke. All of the shots missed, and at this point, Zeke was dodging them with little effort.

Joel was watching the green teen running now, and noticed that his yellow eyes were scanning all over the place. It was as if he was looking for something, hunting, as he ran to the opposite side of the field from them.

Anita was holding Bridgette close to her, as the surfer girl had begun trembling all over again when Feral Zeke showed his face. The bombshell watched him hurry to the other side of the field, and start climbing up the wall. "Is he trying to escape?" she asked aloud.

"Oh man," Joel said, grimacing. "If he starts running around the city, we may never find him in time!"

Anita winced, and grabbed Bridgette's shoulders. "Look at me, girl. No, Bridgette look at me!"

The surfer girl's pale green eyes, red from sobbing, stared into Anita's. "Listen, I know you're upset, and I know you're blaming yourself, and nothing I can say could change that right now. But we need you! Ezekiel may be heading out of the stadium, and if that happens, we need everyone available to help!

"You cannot give up, I know you are stronger than that, Bridgette! You won Total Drama Comeback, you ride tidal waves for a sport, you have carried on through some of the worst crap I have ever seen! You can do this!"

Bridgette stared at Anita silently at first, then she opened her mouth to speak. It was at that exact moment that a sharp howl could be heard from the other side of the field.

Feral Zeke was standing on the top of the wall, but he wasn't bounding over the roof to freedom. He instead was standing there, howling loudly.

"What… what is he doing?" Bridgette asked, pointing at him. "Is he taunting us or something?"

"Maybe he's just letting the animal side of him take control?" Zoey suggested.

"It's an unnerving noise, whatever it is," Anita said, standing up. "Come on, while he's boasting, we can get a clear shot!"

As Anita started to walk towards Ezekiel, a bit of distance, something started to click in Bridgette's head. It was something that Zoey had said earlier.

"Also, they say the howl of someone on Resmelum can inspire something along the lines of a blue harvest moon in other animals…"

The surfer girl's eyes went wide, and she bolted to her feet. "Anita, wait! His howl has something along the lines of a blue harvest moon! He's basically driving all animals around him into a frenzy to attack!"

"Is that what that is?" Anita asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, what's he going to do? Summon a flock of angry pigeons to attack us? We still gotta try to take him down!"

The howling was bringing most of the other contestants from both teams out of the corridors and onto the field. Only a few of them, lost within the inside of the stadium, were missing out on the howl-fest.

"Okay, he's starting to sound like those stray cats that live in the alley near my house," Mandy exclaimed. "Let's go get him!"

The tapping at the back of Joel's brain finally managed to make an impact. He had been thinking about what Bridgette had said, and then he remembered why this was a very, very bad situation…

"Oh, crash of the blue harvest moons," he declared. "Everyone, I know what he's doing!"

"What?" Hannah asked. "What do you mean?"

"You remember how Chris said he had a bunch of animals for this challenge?"

Just as he said this, a thundering pounding shook the entire stadium. From out of a special holding cell on the other side of the stadium, a gorilla had punched its way through, then stomped into the arena. Nearby, a very angry peacock had clawed and pecked its way through his.

A platypus slammed through its cage and stomped onto the field. Several ostrich walked into the arena, heads bobbing around until they focused on the humans. A kangaroo hopped onto the field, cracking his knuckles. Fuzzy Wuzzums the Bear huffed as he stepped in as well, joining the increasing amount of animals.

A half dozen wooly beavers burrowed their way from under the ground, up to the surface. Their sharp buck-teeth gleamed in the light, all of them directed at the humans.

"Oh," Harold was the first to speak, "gosh."

"He just summoned a bally army," Crystal exclaimed.

"dis lukin purdee bad!" Chico the Raccoon remarked, clinging to Zoey in fright.

Zoey nodded, then glanced at the furry creature on her shoulder, holding onto her head. "Wait, why haven't you gone berserk too?"

"i gues it no wurk on tawking aneemuls!"

Sakaki was ready to run away and hide, especially with so many fierce animals now staring in her direction. "We're without Eva, or Izzy! I'd even take Colin in this situation!"

"They look pretty angry," Rodney observed, hiding behind Belinda.

"Yeah, Chris said he hadn't been feeding them in a while," Sebastian said. He sighed, corrected his glasses, and said, "Well folks, looks like we'll be having that cage match after all."

"You want us to go against all of them?" Courtney asked incredulously. "Against all of those animals whipped into a frenzy, as well as Ezekiel?!"

That was when Tyler stepped forward. He cracked his knuckles and his neck, then stared beyond the frenzied animals. All he could see was the feral version of his friend, staring back at him with razor teeth exposed in a cruel smile.

The sporto turned back towards the others, said, "For Ezekiel," and then sprinted directly towards the danger, hollering as loud as he could.

Very shortly after, right behind him, Bridgette charged forward. Next was a tie between Alfred and Yoshi, then Harold and Hannah and Leshawna, then everyone.

The animals let out roars, squeaks, squawks, and grunts as they all started charging in return. Zoey and Chico watched in horror, as the frenzied animals pumped up by Feral Zeke stampeded towards the Total Drama Battleground contestants.

(Closet Confessional - Man (and Women) versus Not-Quite Nature)

Tyler - "I won't let you down, buddy! I will NOT! LET YOU! DOWN!"

Hannah - "Maybe this is my purpose for returning to the show. Maybe I will help save Ezekiel in some way. I don't know if it is a sign or not, but I will choose to take it as one. That will give me proper motivation to save my friend, to save a good soul."

Tyler - "I promise you, man! You're my best friend, and I'm not going to let you turn into a permanent freak! After all the times you helped me, I don't care if I break every bone in my body, I don't care if I get eliminated today, I am not going to let you down!"

(Maclean Stadium, Medical Wing)

The medical staff were working with the patients they had. Heather and Colin were unconscious, B was patiently allowing the nurses to inspect him, Eva was struggling with the staff to let her go back out there, and Izzy was fighting to stay awake.

"Zekey," the crazy girl whimpered. "Zeke… can't… let… this happen to you…"

As she, like Eva, tried to leave the medical wing, Chris Maclean was finally brought in by a panicked Steve and Not-Steve. The two placed him down on a bed, and proceeded to hide under it.

"Get back out there," Izzy shouted at them, finding her second wind. "The others may need you!"

"It's scary out there," Not-Steve declared. "I am just a paramedic, I'm not trained for emergencies!"

As Izzy tried to reason with them, in only the way Izzy can, Chris Maclean started whining. "Medical attention," he begged. "Please! My face… let the others die, just save this face! This face… is everything that matters."

He turned away from Izzy, sick of seeing her, and came face to face with Bunny, in his cage. "Aren't you DJ's rabbit?" he asked the cute critter. "Well, maybe they can prepare you for my first meal here, I refuse to eat hospital food."

Amid Izzy barking at the paramedics, the staff moving about, and Chris's whining, Feral Zeke's howl managed to reach the medical wing. Bunny's large ears perked up, then his cute eyes narrowed. With a few swift kicks, he knocked open the door to his cage.

Chris watched as Bunny bared his teeth, and lunged directly at the host's face.

…

(11 hours until the Resmelum permanently changes Ezekiel.)

…

Team Beast Masters:

At the Battle Arena - Alfred, Crystal, Rodney, Anita, Sadie, Sakaki, Belinda, Sebastian, Bridgette, Hannah.

Lost in the Stadium's Corridors - Arthur, DJ, Geoff.

Out of Commission - Izzy, Eva.

…

Team Survivalists:

At the Battle Arena - Leshawna, Tyler, Gwen, Lindsay, Valerie, Mandy, Xander, Harold, Noah, Yoshi, Courtney.

Lost in the Stadium's Corridors - Clive, Zachary.

Out of Commission - Heather, Colin.

…

The Predator - Ezekiel.

…

Other Participants - Chef Hatchet, Joel, Zoey, Chico the Raccoon.

Others Out of Commission - Chris Maclean, B.

Janitor's Closet Decorations - Candles set up to counter the black-out.

…

Next Up - Dark fashion joins the hunt.