"Ah, morning in Muskoka." Chris was narrating while a calm, gentle theme played over footage of Camp Wawanakwa, looking surprisingly peaceful and pleasant. "The bird chirping. The loon calling. The majestic, gentle sounds of beautiful northern Ontario." As footage played of each thing described, the beauty was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a loud fart. It was after this that Chris rose into frame, wearing a blue and purple party hat.
"Welcome to the most dramatic and thrilling episode yet!" He pulled up a party horn that was also blue and purple to match the hat, giving it a toot. "It's been a long summer here at Camp Wawanakwa, and Total Drama Island is about to come to an end. Today, two campers remain. By sundown, only one will be standing. That camper will go home with a check for $100,000! Who will it be?" By now, the footage had been switching between Chris standing in various spots of camp, from the top of the Mess Hall roof, to the bonfire ceremony area, while continuing to narrate. Now, it showed footage of the two finalists as Chris described each. "Intimidating, athletic, powerlifter Eva? Or the lovable and oblivious goofball Ezekiel?"
Chris was now on the dock, as he would usually be for these intro narrations. "Go grab a snack. Have a pee if you have to. Sit your butt down, and get ready for the dramatic final conclusion of... TOTAL... DRAMA... ISLAND!"
*** Intro Theme ***
When the intro theme ended, the scene opened up on Chris sitting on one of the stumps at the bonfire ceremony. "Welcome back," he greeted, smiling as always. "We asked out finalists to record their thoughts in the confessional booth before going in to the final round."
*** Confessional: Eva, Ezekiel, and Chef ***
"All things considered, I had a pretty great time, eh," Ezekiel said to start things off, a neutral expression as he thought over the events of the season. As he talked, flashback clips played throughout, depicting some of Ezekiel's better challenge performances and good times with the likes of Beth, Harold, and Eva. "I was kinda worried how I'd fit in being home schooled and all, but things turned out pretty great."
"What was it like being here for the summer?" Eva asked as the confessional switched to her, her trademark scowl unsurprisingly as prominent as ever. "Most frustrating time of my entire life, that's for sure." Unlike Ezekiel, Eva's clips focused more on the negative, showing her losing her temper, having fights with Duncan, and even getting eliminated earlier in the season.
"You think it's easy cooking for 22 ungrateful teenagers?" Chef, for some reason despite not being one of the finalists, asked next, his large frame barely fitting inside of the confessional. "Man, I've had better jobs in prison."
"The food?" Ezekiel said, going wide eyed. Clips included him having to eat various disgusting dishes in the Brunch of Disgustingness, and Heather force feeding him too fast. "Uh... not exactly the best introduction to real world cuisine, eh. No offense to Chef, but is some of the stuff they feed us even legal?"
"Why's my food smell like a dumpster?" Chef whined in a mocking imitation voice. "Why's my eggs purple and furry? Why do I feel like I'm gonna throw up just smelling the food? Psh, I slave over a hot stove for nothing."
"The food?" Eva yelled, glare intensifying. More clips of Chef's gross Mess Hall meals, and some gross eating dares from the final three challenge played. "You guys think it's funny or something that you feed us that crap? You're lucky none of us got poisoned!"
"Less rat droppings," Chef continued in the mock whiny voice, going wide eyed at the camera. "Does this LOOK like a five star restaurant to you?"
"The people, though? They were pretty great!" Ezekiel smiled, though it faltered a bit as he pondered it a bit more. "Well, for the most part. Most of them were good people, though!" Clips played of Ezekiel's interactions with the others, celebrating with his team over wins and whatnot.
"The people here?" Eva scoffed. "They bit. Almost all of em were a bunch of wimps and weirdos. They were full fledged jerks." A clip played of Duncan and Heather smirking at each other after LeShawna's elimination. "Know it alls." Noah rolling his eyes during the dodgeball game. "Full of themselves." Courtney boasting after returning to the island. "Braindead." Lindsay confused after causing her team to lose the challenge. "Easily manipulated." Cody swooning after flirtation from Heather. "Clumsy." Tyler whipping out during his talent show audition. "Fragile." Justin running away in tears after being hit by a dodgeball. "Oblivious." Dual clips of first Trent being tricked into elimination by Heather, followed by Geoff quitting because he thought he was saving Bridgette. "Depressing." Gwen being irritable following Trent's elimination. "Loud." LeShawna getting into a yelling fight with Heather. "Insane." Izzy being Izzy at the Playa. "Gluttonous." Owen staring on in shock after eating his team's food during the cooking challenge. "Annoying." Katie and Sadie doing one of their duo squees. "IDIOTS!" Eva finished with a huff, breathing heavy before calming herself down. "I mean, I GUESS I don't have anything negative to say about Bridgette or DJ, though." A clip played, not from an episode, but just of Ezekiel, Harold, and Beth smiling towards the screen. "...And I GUESS I may have made a few friends on this dumb show. So I guess everything wasn't ALL bad."
"What's the one thing I'll be remembered for?" Ezekiel pondered, clips of his various stereotypical Canadian speak playing, using words like knob and ended many of his sentences with the word eh. "Hm... well I'd hope my great personality, eh."
"The one thing that I'll be most remembered for?" Eva continued. Unsurprisingly her clips consisted of her yelling and looking like she was about to hurt someone. She chuckled. "My great personality... alright, enough of this crap, we're done here."
*** In the woods ***
With the confessionals over, the shot finally switched to the challenge site for the finale, somewhere in the middle of the island's woods. Ezekiel and Eva stood on either side of the host, the later looking ready and determined, while the former seemed to be a mix of nervous, but hopeful. In the background were two sets of bleachers. The left bleachers sported a banner with Ezekiel's face on it, while the bleachers on the right had a similar banner with Eva's face.
"And now, welcome back the 20 previously eliminated competitors," Chris told the camera, getting a gasp from Ezekiel and a raised eyebrow from Eva. Zeke's surprise turned into a smirk, and he turned just in time to see a green and pink blur tackle him to the ground. Eva looked on in amusement and shared a high five with a passing Harold, while the other eliminated campers followed in behind him. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits and smiling, with Duncan and Heather as the only exceptions, bringing up the rear with their usual scowls.
Beth, meanwhile, finished squeezing the life out of Ezekiel with her death grip long enough to allow the country boy to breath. He smiled as his girlfriend helped him back up to his feet. "Looks like somebody missed me, eh?"
He got a quick kiss as a response before Beth then scurried off to catch up with the other former contestants. Chris then smiled and turned his attention to the bleachers. "Would all of the contestants who've walked the Dock of Shame, and left camp on the Boat of Losers, please take a seat in the Peanut Gallery of Failure. The side you choose should represent which finalist you want to cheer on in today's final challenge.
The campers did as they were asked and quickly took a seat in the bleachers of their choosing. Heather, Noah, Gwen, LeShawna, Trent, DJ, Katie, Sadie, Izzy, and Justin popped a squat on the Eva side. Meanwhile, Duncan, Courtney, Owen, Tyler, Lindsay, Bridgette, Geoff, Cody, Beth, and finally Harold sat on the Ezekiel side. The uber geek shot his more muscular finalist friend an apologetic smile, prompting Eva to roll her eyes yet also smirk to show that she was fine with it.
"Ezekiel, Eva, this is your chance to tell the Peanut Gallery of Failure what you would do with the money if you won," Chris explained once everyone had taken a seat. "And why you deserve it. Eva? Care to start us out?"
Eva shrugged indifferently but spoke up anyway. "Sure, whatever. Basically, I've always wanted to make it into the Olympics. You know, compete on the big stage and bring home some gold. The equipment and resources needed for that kind of training ain't exactly cheap. So that's where the prize money would be put towards for me."
LeShawna whistled. "Dang, girl, I'd hate to be one of the sorry women that gotta compete against YOU in something like that. Shoot, that's pretty much a guaranteed Silver Medal or lower for them."
"Yup, it's neat that you got dreams, Eva," Chris added, the brutish athlete giving off a surprised eyebrow raise due to the compliment. "Boring," he continued, returning Eva's expression back into a glare. "But neat. Ezekiel, how about you?"
The homeschooled kid grinned and held up a finger as he prepared to talk... only to drop it with a confused expression. "I... still haven't really figured that out yet. My folks already sat me aside a college fund if I need it, so that isn't really a problem, eh." He scratched his head in though, looking over to the peanut gallery where he noticed Beth smiling back at him. "Actually, I'd probably put most of it towards getting to experience more of the real world off of the farm, especially getting to visit Beth."
Ezekiel's sentiment got a chorus of 'aws' from the peanut gallery and a bright red blush from the girl in question, though Duncan rolled his eyes and Heather pretended to throw up. Chris, too, seemed unimpressed due to his bored glare and shook his head in disappointment.
"That's even more boring than the last one!" The host frowned. "Don't you guys want to do anything exciting?"
"Oh, oh oh! I have an idea," came the sudden voice of Owen as he hopped up from his seat in the stands and raised his hand in the air. He chuckled as the others turned their attention to him. "Check it out. How totally awesome would it be if you guys threw the biggest party ever with some of your prize money? And invited everyone here!"
There was a pause, Ezekiel and Eva sharing a look as they thought the idea over. Eventually, the both shrugged and turned back to the peanut gallery.
"Sure, eh," Ezekiel said.
"I guess we could do that," Eva added.
Suddenly, the bleachers erupted into cheers, with those standing around Owen patting his back in appreciation for the idea.
"Now THAT'S more like it," Chris said merrily, smiling at the high energy. "Well then, no use in wasting any time. Lets get to talking about the Final Challenge!"
Ezekiel and Eva shared a smile and a nod before turning to Chris and listening carefully.
"This challenge is known as the Rejected Olympic Relay Race," the host continued, the footage cutting to Chef running in a Tyler-like tracksuit, carrying a toilet plunger that was set ablaze like a torch. He jogged over to a toilet that was set atop a winner's podium, only to dunk the plunger into the toilet. "Each of the three parts was submitted to the committee, but was sadly rejected as an Olympic sport."
Chris then took out a cow hat, tossing it to Eva, and a chicken hat from the first challenge of the season, tossing it to Ezekiel. Eva took one look at the cow hat before glaring back up at the host. "You can't be serious."
"You should know the answer to that by now," Chris replied, winking with a cheeky grin. "Dressed as a cow and a chicken, run to the first location and shimmy up the pole to grab your flag." Chris motioned mover to two poles that were propped up a few feet away from where they were standing. One pole was flying an orange flag, and the other a purple flag. "If you don't have the flag, don't bother coming down off that pole."
Ezekiel frowned nervously while Eva just shrugged indifferently. "Easy," she mumbled.
"Next, you'll cross a 300 meter balance beam," Chris continued, the camera panning over to a gorge where two balance beams had been placed leading from one side to the other. "Suspended across a massive gorge, while carrying an eagle's egg."
Even Eva had gone a bit wide eyed at the challenge, with Ezekiel looking nearly ready to shake from nervousness. "W-well, I guess it could be worse, eh?"
"I'm glad you pointed that out, Zeke," Chris piped in, placing an arm around the country boy's shoulder. "Because waiting for you at the bottom of the gorge is your friends, the rare but real, man eating freshwater sharks!"
The camera panned back over to the beams, showing the water below where two sharks were indeed swimming around, licking their sharky lips in anticipation.
"Had to ask, didn't ya?" Eva mumbled gruffly, while Ezekiel just groaned.
"The final leg of the race is a long distance run," Chris continued. "Returning to the finish line here. The first camper to cross the finish line wins!"
"Simple enough," Eva said, slipping on the cow hat while Ezekiel stretched the chicken hat over his usual toque. "Good luck, Zeke. If I somehow do lose, you'd be the one I'd be ok losing to."
She offered her friend a handshake, which he accepted despite gulping and looking over the challenge area nervously. "Yeah... same to you."
"Whoa now, who said I was finished explaining?" Chris suddenly exclaimed, getting between the two finalists. "Because I'm not!"
Eva narrowed her eyes, pushing the host away from them. "What do you mean, McLean?"
"Well, ordinarily this WOULD have been all there is to it with this challenge," Chris replied, grinning. "That's how it was when we originally planned this finale. However, we weren't anticipating this particular final two to make it this far, so we find this finale in a bit of a unique situation."
"And... what does that mean?" Ezekiel asked, confused.
Rather than reply to him directly, Chris instead turned around to face the Peanut Gallery. "Tell me, Peanut Gallery of Losers. Are there any concerns that jump out to you when it comes to this finale matchup?"
"The fact that Eva was eliminated fair and square already and shouldn't be there?" Duncan suggested without missing a beat.
Eva, of course, rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Pft, yeah, FAIR and square my butt."
"A valid point, Duncan," Chris continued. "Anyone else?"
"The fact that Zeke's scrawny behind doesn't have a lick of chance beating Eva in a finale this physical when she's her and he's him?" LeShawna asked from the other bleachers, before looking at Ezekiel and smiling sheepishly. "Uh, no offense, sugar."
"No, I'm with you on this one," Ezekiel added. "I'm kinda hosed, eh?"
"Not necessarily, Zeke my man," Chris said. "So basically, we knew that both of these points were going to be concerns going into this finale. So, we decided to kill two birds with one stone by addressing both problems at once!"
Confused yet, curious, the finalists watched as Chris motioned off into the distance. "If you'll please turn your attention to Chef, you'll see that he's set up a few extra challenges."
Off in the distance, Chef was standing next to a table with a sinister grin. On the table were all too familiar dishes of food, and behind him was a mud track with a water ski parked at the edge. "During her time away from the competition, Eva missed three challenges," Chris continued from off screen. "First, there's the Brunch of Disgustingness, so she will have to start her challenge by eating all of the same dishes that Ezekiel ate during it."
"And they're leftovers from the challenge itself, so they've got to sit and marinate for a few weeks," Chef yelled tauntingly, making Eva actually look genuinely shocked and disgusted.
"Next is the X-Treme Sports challenge, where Ezekiel scored his team victory by getting all the flags in the on land water ski portion," Chris continued, the camera showing the very mud track that was used in the original challenge. "So, Eva will have to repeat this by ALSO scoring all of the flags. And her water ski driver will be none other than Chef!"
Chef cackled mischievously, patting the water ski while Eva looked on, determined.
"And finally, we have Chef's Boot Camp."
"Hold on," Ezekiel interrupted. "That challenge took place over a few days, eh." He frowned. "I know I'm slower than Eva, but I'm not gonna need THAT long to finish the challenge."
"Relax, relax, I was getting to that." Chris cleared his throat. "It was a bit hard to figure out how to successfully fit this challenge in for Eva due to it being such a long one. But then we came to a realization. Let's be honest with ourselves, had Eva been in the game during that challenge, she would have won it easily. Without a doubt."
The peanut gallery all murmured and nodded in agreement.
"So, we figured there was no point in making her do stuff like hang from a tree, or hold up a boat as long as Ezekiel had to, because by then he will have definitely won the challenge." Chris chuckled. "However, because Eva will surely be a bit disoriented after the food and the water skiing, she will still have to also complete Chef's obstacle course." The camera panned to the left of the mud track, where Chef's boot camp obstacle course had been completely rebuilt as it was in the original challenge.
"Once Eva completes all three of those challenges, THEN she can begin with the remainder of the finale." Chris turned to the peanut gallery, smiling. "So, we give Ezekiel a head start to even things out, AND Eva completes the challenges that she missed so that her being a returnee is no longer an issue. Everything sound good?"
Once again, the peanut gallery nodded and murmured varying degrees of agreement, with Duncan in particular smiling in satisfaction. Ezekiel smiled sheepishly at his fellow finale contestant, while Eva just huffed.
*** Confessional: Eva ***
"I'm not gonna lie, this definitely makes things a bit less certain. Look, Ezekiel is a good friend and all, but make no mistake about it. I have every intention of winning this thing. I'm gonna have to make quick work of these extra challenges. I'm not about to underestimate Zeke and hand him the win by taking too long with them."
*** Confessional: Ezekiel ***
"On one hand, I feel kinda bad for Eva having to do all of those extra challenges while I don't. Buuuut on the other hand, it IS kinda nice actually feeling like I have a chance at winning now." He chuckled nervously. "Eva's really tough. This is gonna buy me some time, but not a lot. I gotta make the most of it, eh. Who knows, maybe I can actually pull it off. Everyone loves an underdog story."
*** At the Starting line ***
Ezekiel and Eva stood side by side, looks of determination on their faces as they readied themselves for the final challenge to start.
"On your mark," Chris said from behind them, the Peanut Gallery cheering in the background.
"Get set..." Ezekiel looked over at Eva, who looked back at her friend. He smiled, giving her a small nod for good luck. She returned the gesture, before the two once again turned their attention to the challenges before them. This was it. The season had some to an end. And there could be only one winner. Both were determined to make that winner themselves.
"GO!"
Still being cheered on by their fellow campers, the two finalists took off as fast as they could. Eva, unsurprisingly, took an instant lead. She sailed past the two flag poles, immediately coming to a stop next to the table of disgusting food. As fast as humanly possible, she snatched a handful of the bull testicles and scarfed them down, fighting through the chewiness like it was nothing. By the time Ezekiel had reached his flagpole, she had finished the plate.
"Geez, already?" he commented, looking on in shock as she moved on to the slimy earthworm spaghetti. Behind him, Beth, Harold, and some others from his side of the followers had followed to help cheer Ezekiel along.
"Don't worry about that, just climb," Harold yelled, snapping Ezekiel back into the game. Nodding, he got a jumping start before latching on to the pole and shimmying his way up. Meanwhile, with a pained but determined look, Eva moved on to chugging the bunion soup with nail crackers.
*** Confessional: Eva ***
"Ok, seriously, can't they get sued for some of the crap they fed people in that challenge? Let alone feeding the weeks old leftovers to me?" She groaned in pain as her stomach gave off a mighty grumble. "I'm thinking I should force feed this to Chef and see how HE likes it."
*** At the challenge site ***
Ezekiel had reached the top of the pole, grabbing his flag. He let out a cheer, raising his arms in excitement. "I got the fl-" And it was then he had realized in doing so that he was no longer holding on to the pole. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAG!"
"I got him, I got him," Owen said from the bottom of the pole, spreading his arms to catch the falling finalist. He had underestimated just how fast Zeke was falling, so the catch sent Owen to the ground, but on the bright side it had successfully broken Ezekiel's fall.
"Great job, Zeke," Beth cheered as her and Harold helped him to his feet, flag still in his hand. "But you gotta get moving!"
The three looked over at Eva, who had just finished scarfing down her dolphin dog. "Done!" She glared over at Chef, who was already in the driver's seat for the water ski. Wasting no time, Eva jumped on some skis and took hold of the handle. "Gun it!"
With Chef beginning his driving, Ezekiel got things into gear and took off in a sprint towards the balance beams, his supporters following behind. From the bleachers, Duncan watched on nervously as Eva grabbed her first flag in the water ski challenge. "Come on, homeschool, pick up the pace already."
Heather, who was also watching the big TV at the peanut gallery along with the delinquent, hummed in smug agreement. "Mhm, to no one's surprise, Eva's gonna be done in no time. Most boring finale ever."
The Queen Bee walked off, leaving Duncan to think things over. Meanwhile, Eva had grabbed all but one of the flags in the water ski course. Chef, being Chef, was giving Eva quite the hard time as her driver. He was turning erratically, swinging the skis this way and that way as he drove, making it impossible for even Eva to be able to grab the final flag. Understandably, this was starting to frustrate the fitness buff.
"Where in the hell did you learn to drive?" Eva barked out from below, glaring at her driver. "You're not even giving me a chance to grab the dang thing!"
Chef just snickered and continued his crazed driving. This was going nowhere and Eva was well aware that she didn't have the time to spare. After passing the flag again, she quickly hatched an idea. Taking all the flags in one hand and holding on to them and the handle tight with it, she used the other hand to scoop up a big ol glob of mud. Once they were preparing to approach the flag again, she lined up her shot and beaned Chef right in the back of the head with the mud.
"What in tarnation?" he yelled, frantically trying to rub away the mud in surprise, having been taken off guard by the sudden assault. This distracted him momentarily at just the right time for the water ski to proceed normally and allow Eva to reach out and grab the final flag.
"YES," she yelled, the water ski coming to a stop across the finish line to the mud course. Grinning confidently as she ran past a scowling Chef, she made her way over to the final obstacle. Her stomach was beginning to rumble in pain from the earlier food, but she shook it off and continued running.
"And Eva completes the second of her three challenges," Chris announced over megaphone. "Soon enough she'll begin on the main course!"
Elsewhere, Ezekiel was running along with Harold, Beth, and others behind him. He gulped nervously upon hearing the announcement.
"Don't worry about that, you're still in the lead," Harold pointed out.
"Yeah, just keep going, you're doing great," Beth added.
Ezekiel smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, guys, I- WHOA!" Ezekiel skidded to a stop as he and the others reached the beginning of the balance beam. To his right was a nest holding two eggs. As explained earlier, it was straight up just two narrow beams of wood, stretching across a gorge to the other side of the course. He glanced down to see the freshwater sharks smiling up at him, licking their sharky lips and waving tauntingly.
"Hoo boy," he mumbled nervously, shaking as he stared over the balance board. "This could end really badly, eh."
Suddenly, Chris' voice once again rang out over the air. "And Eva completes the boot camp obstacle course in record time! Now she can move on to the actual challenge!"
Wide eyed, Harold shoved an egg into Ezekiel's arms. "There's no time to think about that, gosh! Just stay calm, clear your mind, and don't think about the dangers. You can do this, we'll meet you on the other side."
"You've got this!" Beth gave Ezekiel a quick kiss on the cheek to help calm his nerves. "Now hurry up and cross, you have a challenge to win!"
Nodding, Ezekiel took a deep breath and carefully stepped out on to the board. Keeping his eyes forward, he began progressing across. Back at the beginning, Eva was running back towards the flag poles. She was going fast, but was momentarily slowed as her stomach gave off a roar, making her wince in agony. "Ugh, stupid food."
She took a glance up at the flags, steeling herself in determination. "I am NOT gonna let some leftovers slow me down now." Getting a running start, once Eva was close enough to the pole she jumped off the ground as high as her legs could take her. Which was pretty damn high, considering how once she grabbed hold of the flag pole, she was within arm's reach of the flag itself.
"Too easy!" Swiping up the flag with ease and tucking it into her shirt, Eva then dropped down from the pole, rolling on to the ground before regaining her momentum and taking off in a run towards the next portion of the competition while her supporters cheered her on.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, not among those supporters was Duncan. He watched the scene from the starting line bleachers, an annoyed scowl pointed at Eva as she ran off. "Tch, this bites. At this rate she's gonna pass Zeke and take the win in no time."
"Serves that little twerp right," Heather commented from nearby, looking down as she filed her nails, not paying the race a bit of attention anymore. "What did he think was going to happen when he brought Eva along with him to the finale?"
"Right? Freaking moron." Duncan huffed, side glaring as Eva and her supporters ran off. He sighed. "Still, I'd rather see him win over Eva."
Heather rolled her eyes and pointed the nail file at Duncan. "Then how about you shut up and do something about it, and leave me alone, hm?"
Duncan raised an eyebrow, seeming to take offense to that, but just as he was about to respond he looked off to the side. Suddenly, an idea had hatched, and he grew a sly smirk. "Ya know what? That's not a bad idea."
Grinning to himself, he ran off in the direction opposite of where the finalists had gone. When he left, Heather rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Geez, obsessed much?"
Elsewhere, Ezekiel took his time delicately making his way across the plank. He was about three fourths of the way to the other side. "Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down," he continued mumbling, eyes straight ahead. His whispering seemed to be having the opposite effect, however, as they just made him more tempted to look down. Sweating nervously, he took a quick peek down, just in time to see one shark brandishing a fork and knife, while the other was putting on a bib. He yelped, momentarily losing grip of the egg, but catching it back before it fell away.
"What do we even need the eggs for, eh?" he complained as he tried to regain his balance. At the end of the plank many of the supporters for both finalists watched on, with Harold and Beth just joining the group.
"He's almost across!" Beth cheered and clapped excitedly.
"Booyah," Harold added, pumping his fist. "As long as he keeps his lead he should be good."
Gwen, one of the Eva supporters hanging around at the end of the ravine alongside Trent and LeShawna, went from looking at Beth and Harold to off in the distance. Suddenly she smirked, pointing a thumb to the other side of the gorge. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
Sure enough, over at the start of the balance beam, Eva had finally arrived. She came to a halt once she reached the gorge, taking a quick breather as her stomach cried out in agony from the filth she had to eat previously. "Bluh, dumb food." She looked to the side, grabbed the other egg, and took her first step on to her plank. "Sorry, Zeke, but your lead is about to come to an end!"
"Already?" Ezekiel yelled in shock, looking back in horror as he saw Eva slowly but surely making her way across. "Could this get any worse?"
Funnily enough, as if on cue, a loud angry bird noise was suddenly heard from above. Ezekiel and Eva both looked up to see two very pissed off eagles flying full speed at the duo. The spectators watched on in shock, while Chris popped up from outta nowhere with a smile on his face.
"Ticked off eagle parents," he commented. "THAT'S what the eggs are for!" The host chuckled at the situation. Ezekiel yelped as he ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding an attempted peck from the eagle mom. Meanwhile the dad tried to dive at Eva, but she was able to sidestep out of the way. Both had to catch their balance, nearly falling off the beams into the water below.
The spectators watched on, fearing for the lives of the two finalists. Trent gaped at the sight before glaring over at Chris. "Dude, they could seriously die here, is this even legal?"
"Honey, that can't be the first time you're asking that after everything we've been through this season," LeShawna pointed out.
Trent raised his finger and opened his mouth to reply, but stopped once he realized she had a point. "Huh. Yeah, fair enough."
Eva and Ezekiel continued to struggle with the angry eagles, narrowly avoiding attack after attack. Eventually the mother eagle let out a vicious screech and came flying at Zeke with such speed that he fell to his needs to avoid the bird. He couldn't move any further as he had to struggle to not only stay on the plank but not lose the egg. "Can we just give them the eggs back before they kill us?"
"Nope, failing to deliver the egg to the other side here would result in disqualification," Chris replied, patting the nest they needed to deliver the eggs to with a smug smirk.
Eva keeled over in pain as her stomach let out a growl, inadvertently making her avoid an attempted dive from the father eagle. She gritted her teeth and growled in frustration, noting her lack of progress across the ravine. "Oh screw this, I can't put up with this AND those leftovers messing with me." The daddy eagle let out another screech and dove at Eva once more, but he immediately regretted his choice. With one hand holding the egg, Eva used the other to grab the eagle by the neck. Then without missing a beat she lined up the shot and threw the daddy at the mom eagle like a damn javelin just as she was about to dive at the prone Ezekiel.
The parent eagles collided, sending feathers flying and making both let out angry bird cries as they plummeted below. They fell so fast, in fact, that the freshwater sharks watching the scene didn't have enough time to react as the birds nailed them in the face, effectively knocking out all of them. They would be otherwise fine later, but for now they were all unconscious. Chris and the spectators watched in awe, before Gwen folded her arms and shook her head.
"Animal rights activists aren't gonna be happy about that one, Chris." The goth shot Chris a side glare. He just chuckled nervously in response. Suddenly, Duncan jogged on to the scene, dragging Justin along with him.
"Whoa, the heck did I miss?" the delinquent asked, ignoring the mean looks he was getting from Beth and Harold.
"I'll tell you what you haven't missed," Eva barked out, beginning to make her way across the plank once more. "You're just in time to see me take the lead and win!"
"Is that right?" Duncan asked, giving a cocky grin as he brought Justin into Eva's eyesight. "Well, guess I'll have to fix that." In one swift motion, Duncan ripped Justin's shirt right off of his body. It came off ridiculously easily, it was as if he wore some sort of easy to rip shirt for just such an occasion. The model then struck a pose, allowing everyone to bask in his hotness. Gwen, LeShawna, and indeed even Eva stopped to gape at the gorgeous sight.
"Thanks for the help, big guy," Duncan told Justin, patting him on the shoulder before running off. "Just hold that pose, I gotta go."
While Duncan was leaving, Trent frowned as he watched Gwen and LeShawna gawk at the man candy. "Justin, what the heck, man? I thought you were on Eva's team."
"I was, but I don't pass up an opportunity to grace the world with my beauty," Justin replied, continuing to pose and generally be a distraction. "Just drink it in, maaaaaan."
While Trent looked at the guy in utter bewilderment, Ezekiel had been shimmying his way to the end of the plank. With Eva distracted and no eagles to hinder him, he finally reached the end and quickly rushed the egg over to the nest. "I did it!" He took off in a run, bringing Harold and Beth along with him. "Let's go!"
*** Confessional: Ezekiel ***
"Ok, so, I know that it was a pretty dirty move Duncan pulled to distract Eva, but what was I supposed to do?" He shrugged sheepishly. "If I waited for Eva to cross too, she would have easily beat me in the running, eh. I had to take what I could get."
*** Back at the gorge ***
The girls were still entranced by Justin and his hypnotic physique. Even the sharks and eagles had regained consciousness and were now also gawking at him. Noah, who was here the whole time probably, was fed up with this foolishness. He had retrieved the ripped off shirt and draped it over Justin to block the view of his bod. "Eva, if you don't get a move on, you're gonna end up being known for losing a footrace to Ezekiel. Just saying."
Shaking herself back to reality, Eva quickly got a hold of her surroundings and finished her trek across the plank. Feeling awkward, she placed the egg in its nest and gave Noah a nod. "Uh.. thanks." She took off at a full sprint, wasting no time to try and catch up. Nearby, Trent was giving LeShawna and Gwen a raised eyebrow and shake of the head as they also recovered from being entranced by Justin.
"What?" Gwen asked.
*** Confessional: Eva ***
"Let's get one thing straight right now," she said to the camera with an intense glare and raised voice. "I was NOT distracted by that brainless piece of eye candy, alright? It was just that nasty food I had to eat slowing me down. GOT IT? JUST THE FOOD!"
*** In the forest ***
The challenge had entered the final portion. Ezekiel was huffing and puffing from how fast he was running, with Beth and Harold behind him looking equally exhausted trying to keep up, but he wasn't going to slow down anytime soon.
"I didn't... even know... you could run... this fast," Harold wheezed out between breaths. Beth nodded in agreement.
"I guess $100,000 is pretty good motivation, eh?" Ezekiel replied, chucking before his chuckles turned into tired coughs. "But I may need CPR after I cross the finish line."
"I can help with that," Beth piped up, raising her hand, momentarily having to come to a stop to catch her breath. "At least, I can once I'm able to breath again too."
As Beth was taking her quick pause, she heard a faint approaching rumbling coming from behind. Eyebrow raised, she looked over her shoulder before gasping as Eva sprinted past her at breakneck speeds. Ahead of her, Harold and Ezekiel also looked back and gasped before being blown off their feet as Eva ran by, the pure force of her speed pushing them down.
"Sorry, Zeke, but this is game," Eva called back, only a tiny bit of sympathy in her tone as she was much too focused on the intense run she was giving towards the finish line. Meanwhile the three nerds watched on in shock. It took a few moments for everything to finish processing. Eventually, Ezekiel sighed sadly while Harold shot up and motioned for him to follow.
"C'mon, Zeke, we gotta catch up," he urged his friend, trying to help him to his feet.
"Catch up to Eva?" Ezekiel looked at Harold like he was a lunatic. "That's impossible."
Harold frowned, taking a stern expression and pointing off into the distance wherever the finish line was. "It isn't over until it's over, gosh. At the very least, you want to go down fighting instead of sitting on your butt. That's the way Eva would want it, isn't it?"
Harold and Beth finished helping Ezekiel up, with the homeschooled kid looking back and forth between their encouraging looks. Smiling, he took off after Eva, who was by now a faint blue blur in the distance.
*** Confessional: Harold ***
"I knew that time I spent at Motivational Steve's Motivational Speaking Camp would come in handy one day," Harold said proudly, puffing out his chest. "I mean, yeah, Ezekiel probably is screwed, but it looks cooler to go down fighting!"
*** In the forest ***
Everybody else with the exception of Ezekiel's group, Eva, and Duncan had returned to the starting area and watched the ending of the race on the screen. This somehow even included Trent, Gwen, LeShawna, Noah, and Justin despite how they were previously behind the finalists at the ravine area. On the screen currently was Eva, running all fast and furious ahead of Ezekiel, who was still giving it his all.
"Dang, Eva's a beast," Geoff commented while the screen focused on the girl in question. "Poor Zeke, man. Dude never stood a chance."
"At least he ain't giving up, though," Tyler pointed out as the screen switched back to Ezekiel, keeping up his pace even if he wasn't getting any closer to Eva. Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest a few yards away from the finish line, an unseen Duncan was getting done placing some leaves and twigs over top something. After he stepped back to observe his work, it was revealed to be some sort of rope trap. There actually seemed to be a few of them lining the area. Duncan smiled before hearing a rumbling coming from behind. He quickly hid behind a tree and peeked around to see Eva approaching.
"Let's hope this works," he mumbled, ducking down while still keeping an eye on Eva. She, meanwhile, was far too focused with her running to notice the odd leaves and twigs covered patches that she was for the most part stepping over.
Unfortunately for her, a pained growl from her stomach slowed her for just a bit, and she ended up landing on the final trap Duncan had just concealed. Once her left foot stepped down on the hidden trap, a knot tied around her foot and hoisted her into the air. She grunted in surprise and looked around in confusion after the rope stopped and she was left dangling below a tree branch. Duncan emerged from behind the tree, cracking up.
"Holy crap, that actually worked!" He hunched over in laughter. "I didn't know if it would, I was kinda hoping Justin would distract you long enough, but I ain't complaining."
"Are you KIDDING ME?" Eva yelled, wiggling around in anger as she tried to free her foot. "You're STILL not over it? Are you even allowed to mess with the finale like this?"
Back at the finish line, the former contestants all looked at Chris, whom was sipping on a coffee casually. He looked around at their stares and shrugged it off. "Eh, nothing in the rule book that says he can't."
"There's a rule book?" Cody asked Noah skeptically in a whisper.
Meanwhile, Eva continued fuming, becoming more frantic as she tried to pull herself up to free her foot from the rope. "When I get down I'm gonna cross that finish line and shove my 100k check so far up your-"
"Hey, careful, don't just squirm around like that," Duncan cut off, watching as part of the rope seemed to begin tearing. "If you don't watch what you're doing it's gonna-"
RIIIP. Too late, Eva's might coupled with her erratic movements to free herself caused a part of the rope to tear. Unfortunately for her, she was unaware of the tearing and was caught off guard when she suddenly began plummeting back down to the ground. She wasn't too far off the ground so she didn't have enough time to adjust her landing and ended up landing with her left foot at an awkward angle.
"GAH!" Eva yelled out, clutching her foot in pain. "My freaking ankle!"
Duncan's eyes went wide as he looked on in shock. Those waiting at the finish line turned their attention to Eva, since she wasn't too far away, and looked on in concern.
"Eva?" Ezekiel, Harold, and Beth finally caught up to the scene, but the sight of his friend on the ground in pain took the finalist's mind out of the game as he came to a stop. "What happened?"
Rather than answer verbally, Eva shot Duncan a hatred filled glare that made him step back with hands raised. "Whoa, come on now, I didn't do this on purpose. You were supposed to dangle there safely until Zeke crossed the finish line."
"What?" Ezekiel yelled. "I didn't ask for your help, ya knob!"
"Well it isn't like you were gonna win without i-" Duncan was suddenly cut off when he began to be dragged away. He looked up to see that it was a disgruntled DJ hauling him off. "Dude, what are you doing?"
"You've done enough for today, man," DJ replied simply. He continued dragging Duncan along until he reached the destination he had in mind. The confessional toilet. Just as the two approached, Owen suddenly emerged from within, waving his hand in front of his face before noticing the others.
"Hey guys! Did I miss seeing who won?"
"Nah, thanks to Duncan, not yet." Casually, DJ opened the outhouse door with the arm not dragging Duncan before he tossed the delinquent inside. He slammed the door shut and quickly barricaded it with a nearby log to ensure he couldn't escape the confessional. "Come on, let's hurry back before we miss it."
Confused as to whatever just happened, but not wanting to question it, Owen shrugged and followed DJ back to where the others were.
*** Confessional: Duncan ***
Duncan groaned as he rubbed his sore head, readjusting himself from the awkward position he had landed on the toilet within the confessional. He noticed the closed door and quickly tried to open it to no avail. "Ah, DJ, come on man, it was an accident!" He tried his best to force the door open but was having no luck. "Ya can't just lock me up like this."
As he continued trying to open the door, green wafts of stench rose up from the abyss of the toilet. Poor Duncan got a whiff of it and immediately covered his nose in disgust. He started pounding on the door with one hand while the other covered his nostrils. "Dammit, Owen!"
*** In the forest ***
Back at the spot of the accident, Ezekiel and the others were looking over Eva's ankle while she just looked on with gritted teeth and eyes narrowed.
"Is it broken?" Beth asked, concerned.
"No, I... just think I sprained it." Eva let out a pained gasp as Harold curiously felt part of the ankle, which made him jump back apologetically in response. "It still freaking HURTS, though."
Glancing over at the nearby finish line where everyone else was waiting, Eva just sighed as she shook her head and looked at the ground. "Zeke, just go cross the finish line already."
Ezekiel stepped back, mouth agape at hearing Eva seemingly accept defeat. He looked over at the finish line, then back to Eva. "But... it doesn't feel right, eh. You would have already crossed it and won if it weren't for Duncan. That ain't fair to you."
"Why should you care?" Eva glared up, pounding her fist into the ground. "It isn't your fault this happened. I'm the one who slipped up and fell for the stupid trap... so just go ahead and win so they can get my ankle looked at."
Beth and Harold exchanged a look, not knowing what to say. They looked to Ezekiel, who looked like a deer in headlights as he stood back and processed everything. Those at the finish line also grew silent, waiting to see what would happen. He went to take a step forward, but after taking another glance at his fellow finalist, he shook his head and walked over to her. He extended a hand, her looking at it in bewilderment.
"Nope. Not gonna win that way, eh." Ezekiel gave Eva a stern look of determination. Confused, she nonetheless accepted the hand and pulled herself up, wincing a bit as she planted her hurt foot. "I feel like you still have enough fight in you to try and cross the finish line. And someone once told me that it's best to go down fighting, eh."
"Yeah, I said that like five minutes ago," Harold pointed out, only to get elbowed in the side by Beth for interrupting.
Eva looked from them and back to Zeke, still utterly confused. But she could tell he was serious, so she chuckled and shook her head. "You're really sure about this?"
Ezekiel nodded. "Yup."
She smirked, giving him a tough pat on the back before nodding. "Alright. One last race to the finish. May the best one win."
Ezekiel returned the grin and took a running position. Eva followed suit, testing her hurt foot a bit before steeling herself and taking a big breath to brace herself for the bit of pain the running would cause. "Alright. Then we'll go in three..."
"Two..," Ezekiel added.
"... One," they said together. And then they were off.
Both took off as fast as they could, the race neck and neck. Eva was naturally faster, but the injured foot caused a surge of pain whenever that foot hit the ground, giving her a sort of limp that allowed Ezekiel to keep up the pace with her. But even if it slowed her down, it wasn't stopping her, nor was he stopping.
"Here they come," Chris yelled, everyone jumping from their seats as they watched the finalists close in on the finish line. "Who's gonna take it?"
Eva inched ahead, but then she would slow a bit and then Ezekiel would pull ahead. Then Eva would pass him over more, only for him to regain the lead. It was a back and forth continuously changing, but the finish line was fast approaching.
The injured foot was definitely a handicap Eva was feeling, but she was doing her best to ignore it. With the finish line now a few mere feet away, the injured foot was brought down a bit more intensely, sending a big surge of pain up Eva's leg...
"AAAAAH." With a mighty yell, Eva used the pain to just propel herself farther ahead thanks to the pumping adrenaline, rocketing past Ezekiel with his mouth agape. The crowd, both supporters for her and her opponent, cheered as she triumphantly dived across the finish line and finally got to get off of her feet.
"Eva wins!" Chris shot his arms up in excitement, everybody else cheering and crowding around Eva. Some people moved to hoist her up victoriously, but her quick sharp glared stopped them in their tracks.
"Touch me and your arm gets ripped off," she barked, intimidating those that had tried to hoist her up, but not stopping the outpouring of cheers. The cheers were so loud, in fact, that even Duncan could hear them from within the confessional toilet. Raising an eyebrow, he banged on the door.
"Yo, who won?" Unfortunately for him, his distraction from the cheers made him remove his hand from his nose. This was quickly changed as he once again caught wind of the stench, gagging.
Back at the challenge site, Ezekiel also crossed the finish line with a bittersweet smile as he watched the crowd cheer for Eva. She was partially annoyed by the outpouring of attention, though a slight smirk was beginning to form as her victory sunk in. Harold and Beth approached from behind Ezekiel, also smiling at Eva's victory.
"Guess that's that, eh," Ezekiel commented. "Eva did it."
"You gave it your all," Harold pointed out, patting his friend on the back. "It was a heck of a final race!"
"Yeah, we're still proud of you even if you didn't win," Beth added, giving him a tight hug.
Zeke smiled, exchanging a grin with Eva as she nodded his way. "Meh, I still feel like a winner anyway. And besides, she deserved it."
As the cheers faded out, day turned to night, and everyone was gathered around the bonfire ceremony for one last time. Some had to stand in the back due to lack of seats. At the very end of the seats was Eva, now with a small cast around her injured foot and a pair of crutches.
"And here we are at the final Bonfire Ceremony," Chris announced, excitement and joy in his tone. "It's been one heck of a season and now it is my pleasure to announce your winner of Total Drama Island... Eva!"
Everyone whooped and hollered while Eva hoisted herself up with her crutches and hobbled over to Chris as Chef came from behind to present her an over sized check for her prize money. She grinned, leaning against a crutch with one arm so that she could hold up the check victoriously with the other while the audience clapped.
"What can I say, McLean," Eva replied, some cocky snark to her tone. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect to be standing in this very spot at the start of the season."
"And now, I present to you the ultimate symbol of survival," Chris continued, pulling from behind him a single marshmallow. "The final marshmallow!"
She raised an eyebrow as she leaned the check against her leg to accept the treat. Chuckling, she simply popped it into her mouth before grabbing the check back. "Yeah, that's nice and all, but I think I like the check more. And on that note, I'm also gonna like what it's time for now."
"... time for?" Chris asked, confused. He looked over to the crowd where DJ, Geoff, and Owen were giving him mischievous smirks. The shot cut to the docks where the three were carrying Chris above their heads while Ezekiel, Harold, and Noah followed behind to watch. "NO! Dude, my hair, DON'T!"
"One... two... three!" The boys tossed Chris into the lake against his will, with the host flailing his arms before falling into the water. More campers showed up to clap and laugh as he surfaced and spat out some water. Among those laughing was Chef, who took great pleasure at seeing Chris suffer.
"Ha! I've been meaning to do that all summer!"
Just as Chef folded his arms, he looked around to notice that Geoff, Owen, and DJ were now smirking at him.
"Oh Cheeeeef," Geoff taunted.
"You're next, dude," Owen added, making the cook jump back in shock. He took off in a run, with the others hot on his tail. Eva laughed in amusement from the docks while watching them try and chase Chef down. Behind her, Duncan approached, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"So, uh, how's the foot?" he asked, genuinely concerned, though Eva still shot him a skeptic glare.
"It could be better," she grumbled. "But they said it's only a sprain and not broken, so there's that."
"Well that's good." Eva's glare intensified and Duncan put up his hands. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?"
"Really?" Eva deadpanned. "You? Sorry?"
"Yes, really," Duncan replied, annoyed. "It was a dick move, I'll admit it."
It wasn't clear if Eva was convinced or not. She looked the delinquent up and down before suddenly pushing him off the side of the dock into the lake below. When he surfaced, he coughed out the water before glaring up at his rival on the docks. "The hell was that for?"
Eva shrugged innocently. "You smelt like crap. Thought you could use a swim."
Duncan seemingly was about to simmer in anger after being surprised by Eva's answer. But the anger didn't come and instead he snickered. Eva began laughing and he followed suit. The two continued to laugh while in the background Chef was continuing to be chased around by the boys and the camera slowly panned out and faded to black.
The End
Or is it the end? Is that truly how it happened? Was this really the ending?
... Yes, yes it was. But it could have happened another way, and here's how.
"Alright. Then we'll go in three..."
"Two..," Ezekiel added.
"... One," they said together. And then they were off.
Both took off as fast as they could, the race neck and neck. Eva was naturally faster, but the injured foot caused a surge of pain whenever that foot hit the ground, giving her a sort of limp that allowed Ezekiel to keep up the pace with her. But even if it slowed her down, it wasn't stopping her, nor was he stopping.
"Here they come," Chris yelled, everyone jumping from their seats as they watched the finalists close in on the finish line. "Who's gonna take it?"
Eva inched ahead, but then she would slow a bit and then Ezekiel would pull ahead. Then Eva would pass him over more, only for him to regain the lead. It was a back and forth continuously changing, but the finish line was fast approaching.
The injured foot was definitely a handicap Eva was feeling, but she was doing her best to ignore it. With the finish line now a few mere feet away, the injured foot was brought down a bit more intensely, sending a big surge of pain up Eva's leg...
"AAAAH!" Eva stumbled, halting momentarily to instinctively grip her foot out of pain. Unfortunately for her, this pause was all the time Ezekiel needed to not only take back the lead, but also propel himself across the finish line as the others, both his supporters and her supporters, cheered on.
"Ezekiel wins!" Chris shot his arms up in excitement, the others cheering and crowding around the winner. Beth squealed, running up from behind to tackle hug him to the ground while the celebration continued.
"I did it..." Ezekiel looked at Beth, then around at the others, grinning from ear to ear in awe. "I actually did it!" The cheers intensified as some of his supporters hoisted him up above their heads in celebration. The cheers were so loud, in fact, that even Duncan could hear them from within the confessional toilet. Raising an eyebrow, he banged on the door.
"Yo, who won?" Unfortunately for him, his distraction from the cheers made him remove his hand from his nose. This was quickly changed as he once again caught wind of the stench, gagging.
Back with the others, Eva hobbled across the finish line and watched the celebration with a mix of emotions simmering before sitting back down and feeling her hurt foot. Harold approached from behind, kneeling down to place a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You doing alright?"
"I'll be fine," Eva said, a bit of bitterness and disappointment to her voice. Though when she looked over at Ezekiel soaking in his victory, the two exchanged a look and Eva gave him a smile and nod. "I won't lie. It sucks. But hey, I made it this far, and I'm happy for Zeke. He deserves it."
"And hey for what it's worth, this whole season made sure everybody knows how awesome you are at least," Harold pointed out, getting a chuckle from her.
"Yeah, you're damn right." The two chuckled as they watched their friend get paraded around.
As the cheers faded out, day turned to night, and everyone was gathered around the bonfire ceremony for one last time. Some had to stand in the back due to lack of seats. At the very end of the seats was Eva, now with a small cast around her injured foot and a pair of crutches.
"And here we are at the final Bonfire Ceremony," Chris announced, excitement and joy in his tone. "It's been one heck of a season and now it is my pleasure to announce your winner of Total Drama Island... Ezekiel!"
Everyone whooped and hollered as Ezekiel eagerly ran up to Chris while Chef emerged from behind to present him an over sized check for his prize money. Ezekiel grinned and gladly accept the money, holding it above his head and jumping up and down in joy.
"I still can't believe I did it," he said, gaping at the sight of the huge check. "I'd be lying if I said I actually expected to be standing here at the start of the season, eh."
"And now, I present to you the ultimate symbol of survival," Chris continued, pulling from behind him a single marshmallow. "The final marshmallow!"
Zeke put his check down momentarily to gratefully accept the token of survival. He smiled down at the treat before pocketing it in his jacket. "Thanks. I'll definitely treasure it. But I can't say that you're gonna treasure what it's time for now, eh."
"... time for?" Chris asked, confused. He looked over to the crowd where DJ, Geoff, and Owen were giving him mischievous smirks. The shot cut to the docks where the three were carrying Chris above their heads while Ezekiel, Harold, and Noah followed behind to watch. "NO! Dude, my hair, DON'T!"
"One... two... three!" The boys tossed Chris into the lake against his will, with the host flailing his arms before falling into the water. More campers showed up to clap and laugh as he surfaced and spat out some water. Among those laughing was Chef, who took great pleasure at seeing Chris suffer.
"Ha! I've been meaning to do that all summer!"
Just as Chef folded his arms, he looked around to notice that Geoff, Owen, and DJ were now smirking at him.
"Oh Cheeeeef," Geoff taunted.
"You're next, dude," Owen added, making the cook jump back in shock. He took off in a run, with the others hot on his tail. Eva laughed in amusement from the docks while watching them try and chase Chef down. Behind her, Duncan approached, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"So, uh, how's the foot?" he asked, genuinely concerned, though Eva still shot him a skeptic glare.
"It could be better," she grumbled. "But they said it's only a sprain and not broken, so there's that."
"Well that's good." Eva's glare intensified and Duncan put up his hands. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?"
"Really?" Eva deadpanned. "You? Sorry?"
"Yes, really," Duncan replied, annoyed. "It was a dick move, I'll admit it."
It wasn't clear if Eva was convinced or not. She looked the delinquent up and down before suddenly pushing him off the side of the dock into the lake below. When he surfaced, he coughed out the water before glaring up at his rival on the docks. "The hell was that for?"
Eva shrugged innocently. "You smelt like crap. Thought you could use a swim."
Duncan seemingly was about to simmer in anger after being surprised by Eva's answer. But the anger didn't come and instead he snickered. Eva began laughing and he followed suit. The two continued to laugh while in the background Chef was continuing to be chased around by the boys and the camera slowly panned out and faded to black.
Alternate Version End.
Final Results:
Winner/Alternate Runner Up: Eva
Runner Up/Alternate Winner: Ezekiel
3rd: Duncan
4th: Harold
5th: Gwen
6th: Heather
7th: Noah
8th: Beth
9th: DJ
10th: LeShawna
11th: Bridgette
12th: Courtney
Teams Merge, Eva and Courtney return
13th: Geoff
14th: Trent
15th: Cody
Eliminated: Eva
16th: Owen
17th: Lindsay
18th: Tyler
19th: Katie
20th: Izzy
21st: Justin
22nd: Sadie
Eliminated: Courtney
Author's Note:
It. Is. Over. Finally and truly over. Eva has won and that's the end of that. So... let's talk about it.
I believe it was either in the rundown or Triple Dog Dare You AN that I said this chapter wouldn't have an author's note, but I believe with how long this chapter took it's worth having one. I may come back and edit out this AN in a month or so, but I've got some stuff to talk about for now. I'll go ahead and get the obvious out of the way. "Shed, ya frickin knob, what took so damn long?" I honestly haven't checked reviews that have popped up for the past few months due to be ashamed that I wasn't updating and knowing people just wanted the chapter. Well if you've been following this story for a while now (I'm really sorry if you have, and am really thankful if you stuck with me and are reading this), I got into one of my many ruts. This year honestly flew by for me in the blink of the eye and I got little to nothing done. Other than one particular life changing thing I did last year, I honestly couldn't tell you anything else I did in 2017. While finishing this story never left my mind, I'd probably just end up playing video games or hanging out with friends, and those were on my productive days. This story could and should have been finished ages ago. I'm sorry that it took so long.
In general, my writing is in a weird spot. I honestly think my fan fiction writing days are numbered. I truly do love writing, and I want to make my own original stories some day, but there's only so much time I'll have left to do this. I intend on finishing my other unfinished stories, and I want to at least do the three stories I've invested a fair amount of planing to (Battle of the Generations, Personality Swap Island, and Revenge of the Rejects) but I think that'll be about it. I've always said I wanted to write for more than just the two big fandoms I've written for but one if confirmed to be ending in a few years and the other, this one, is finally returning to TV as... a Tiny Toons esque pre-school spinoff. So needless to say even the fandoms I do write for are running low on steam. I'm hoping having a more focused scope on my remaining stories and also starting a new one finally will help get the creative juices flowing.
But enough about that crap, let's talk about this chapter specifically. Some people may be surprised at Eva winning. But the results of that poll that's been on my profile (for over two years now, smh) has always leaned a vote or two ahead in Eva's favor. And yeah, while the story has always been more heavily about Ezekiel's story and how him being spared from elimination changes the events of the season, him being the winner has always been the "obvious" choice. Eva was more of a wild card that was still a vital part of the story, and I'm kinda glad having her as the "canon" winner since it's less predictable. Of course Zeke still has his ending, so if you truly wanted him to win, just imagine he's the ending that plays in Canada so that the wiki would count it as the "canon" ending.
I hope you guys enjoyed this version of the finale. I wanted to try and keep things interesting. Having Eva do abridged versions of the challenges she missed is something I've had planned for a while and felt it was an effective way to give Ezekiel a bit of a head start. Because realistically, if this was a normal version of the canon finale, Eva would steamroll any opponent in it, not just Zeke. As I write this I realize I didn't really utilize her damage from those challenges much after the giant egg carry, but this chapter has already gone long enough without being uploaded. I don't think anyone will be too irked about the queasiness not showing up again much after that point. We also had the bit with Eva's ankle being sprained due to Duncan's meddling backfiring which was my solution for how to put her and Ezekiel on equal footing for the end stretch so both could believably have an ending. I feel like the sprained ankle thing will have a mixed reaction, but it was the idea that clicked for me. This is another idea I've had for a long time, and I remember having an explanation for where Duncan found that rope, but I can't recall it and again don't think people will be too questioning of it. I believe it belonged to Chef and it was stored somewhere Duncan knew about or something. I also wanted to try and give a few characters some lines or moments throughout this chapter outside of the finalists and him. DJ got to stick Duncan in the confessional ala LeShawna to Heather in canon. I enjoyed writing the little thing with Justin, Trent, LeShawna, Gwen, and Noah. And of course I had to give Harold and Beth some love. I think I gave Harold one of m favorite comedic lines in the story here. Good or bad, please let me know what you thought of how everything went down in a review.
Well, that's all folks. Closing the book on this story after six long years. I do still intend to go back and edit those rough af earlier chapters at some point but it's low on my priority list for now. It'll happen eventually, but for now this story is done. Whether you were a newer reader or an older one, thank you all so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed the ride, even if it was a bumpy and long one. See you on the next one if you choose to join me. Love ya guys.
- Shed