"Last time on Total Drama Action!" This was it! The very last episode of Total Drama Action! With only two competitors left, it would be nothing but a race to try and get the million dollars first. Only one challenge left to get through. But as usual before we start we have to have the usual recap, but…it wasn't Chris doing it. It was Chef doing the recap! Chris and Chef were sticking to their arrangement of trying to prove to each other about who had the harder job, so Chef would be hosting the episode while Chris would handle doing all of Chef's usual duties. "Our final three ladies took to the high seas to prove who was the superior pirate captain! Only one of them didn't get the memo and decided to be an admiral instead, but ended up getting first anyway. Meanwhile nature girl and the surfer girl engaged in a true pirate fight that ended up with the nature girl's ship sinking. Now it's a battle between surfer girl and ditzy girl! With one million dollars on their mind they gotta give it their all in this final challenge. Who's gonna win it? Well put down that clicker already and find out. I SAID PUT DOWN THAT CLICKER! You ain't gonna wanna miss who ends up being the big winner of Total. Drama. Action!!!"
Meanwhile, standing on the dock of shame next to Chef were Bridgette, Lindsay, and their teams they got from last episode with all of them now back to wearing their normal clothes. All of them looked confused to see Chef doing the recap with Lindsay looking over to her fellow finalist. "Are we being pranked?" Lindsay asked as she scratched her head a bit with Bridgette only being able to shrug in response.
With the recap done, Chef proceeded to reach into his pocket and pulled out a few queue cards that he got from Chris. With the episode officially starting, Chef began his 'nice and easy' hosting job as he approached the final two girls while reading from the cards. "So…dudes, good job reaching the final two," Chef was rather…stiff sounding as he read from the cards, even attempting to copy Chris' usual mannerisms and just…sounding really strange as the words coming out of his mouth weren't very Chef-like. "You two…dawgs must be really excited to have reached this point of the show!"
"Uh…y-yeah you could say that," Bridgette slowly nodded, she and everyone else struggling to process just what they were witnessing in front of them. Dude and Dawg just did not sound right coming out of Chef's mouth. "We're, uh…pretty excited to make it this far. But-But seriously what's going on here-"
But Bridgette was cut off as Chef began speaking again. "Well get ready, because by the end of the day one of you will be walking home with a suitcase filled with one million dollars…ya…dig?" Chef slowly said with that bit of news getting everyone excited and got them to briefly forget about Chef's bad hosting skills as Lindsay clapped in excitement while Bridgette smirked and attempted to pump herself up. "But you still got one more…bombastic challenge to win before ya can!"
"What's the movie genre for the last challenge?" DJ asked Chef with a raised brow.
"Ya gotta find where the final challenge is taking place first." Chef explained to them what they needed to do before actually being able to participate in the final challenge. Chef sounded a lot more normal as he said this as well, explaining challenges was at least something he's done a couple of times before. "First thing you need to do is find the mines located on the Island, that's where the last challenge will be taking place!"
"Where are the mines?" Lindsay asked.
"Ya got maps don't ya? Use em!" Chef told the final two competitors before walking off the dock of shame and hopping onto an ATV he left so he could make it to the mines nice and fast. "See ya there, and keep your crews with ya! They're gonna continue to help you throughout the final challenge!"
And once Chef drove off, both Bridgette and Lindsay brought up their maps that Chris had given them before they sailed off to the island. Looking at where Total Drama Island was on the map, they saw an X marked on it on the northern part of the island. "It looks like if we just head up north, we should make it there in no time," Harold said as he looked over Lindsay's shoulder to look at the map. "Maybe we can check the boat house and see if a compass was left in there,"
"Good idea Harold," Lindsay nodded at the idea, but before she and her team headed off Lindsay looked towards Bridgette. "Bridgette, wanna help us look for one?"
"Hm, really?" Bridgette asked, a little surprised that she and her team were being offered this rather than Lindsay attempting to get a head start by swiping a compass and heading off to the mines first. "You wanna work together to reach the mines?"
"Well yeah of course!" Lindsay nodded and sent Bridgette a bright genuine smile. "I wanna win but I wanna do it fair and square,"
"…Yeah, me too," Bridgette nodded at that, both finalists and their teams went off to the boat house to look for a compass to help lead them to the mines.
ONE HOUR LATER
Sure enough both teams were able to find a compass in the boathouse rather quickly and made their way to the north side of the island and soon enough both teams managed to reach the location of the final challenge. "Huh, what do you know," Bridgette said with a bit of surprise in her voice. They reached a cliff side that did in fact have not just one, but two entrances into a mine shaft. One on the bottom level, and one on the upper level of it. "This island really does have a mine shaft. How have we not seen it before?"
"Makes ya wonder why Chris never had a challenge here last season," Duncan brought up. Maybe the mines were made specifically for this challenge? Eh, who knows and who cares. Point is that they were here now and as they walked closer to the mines they saw quite a familiar sight.
There were two sets of bleachers with one having a picture of Lindsay's face on a sign above it and the other set of bleachers having a picture of Bridgette's face on it. And sitting on them waiting for them were all the past contestants. Just like last season two sets of peanut galleries were set up with the past players sitting in the one that had the picture of the contestant they were rooting for.
But there was definitely a clear favor to win just by looking at these bleachers. Sitting on Lindsay's bleachers was Tyler, Owen, Noah, Ronnie Anne, and Justin. Meanwhile on Bridgette's bleachers were Lincoln, Dawn, Mike, Gwen, Trent, Izzy, Ezekiel, Heather, Katie, and Courtney.
"What the, Katie?" Sadie questioned her best friend sitting on the bleachers of the finalist she wasn't teamed up with. "You're rooting for Bridgette?"
"Sorry Sadie," Katie apologized sheepishly to her best friend, expecting this type of response. She gets why Sadie expected her to root for Lindsay since Sadie was helping the ditzy blond out, but Katie just didn't have the heart to not root for Bridgette. "But I really wanna cheer Bridgette on to win,"
"Thanks Katie," Bridgette sent a supportive smile to the twin tailed girl. "I really appreciate that."
Meanwhile Lindsay couldn't help but frown a bit as she looked at how little people were cheering for her as opposed to Bridgette.
CONFESSIONAL – Lindsay
"Don't get me wrong, I get why Bridgette has so many supporters, a lot of them were on the same team as her after all." Lindsay pointed out, knowing that among the people that competed in the season, Izzy was the only one who wasn't with the Screaming Gaffers. "But I wish I had more people on my side…that's not petty is it?"
"Good to see you all made it, dudes," And stepping up to both teams was Chef, who was once again keeping up with the host slang and making many in the bleachers cringe in response to it. "Good to see ya, bros. I hope you're ready for the last spectacular challenge that'll determine which one of you…dudes, will win the one million dollars!"
"So…what is the challenge exactly?" Lindsay asked, deciding to just ignore the weird stuff Chef was doing right now. "And seriously, where did Chris go?"
"Before we get on with the challenge, we got one more thing we gotta do…bros…ah forget this! I can't keep up with all this dude stuff!" Chef ignored the second thing Lindsay said and also gave up with using the lingo that Chris usually says as he tossed the queue cards over his shoulders before looking at and speaking to the final two contestants with his usual tone and mannerisms. "If you win, what are your plans with the money? Surfer girl, you go first,"
"Oh, um, ok," Bridgette wasn't expecting to be asked that on the spot, but she should've probably been ready for it. Gwen and Duncan were asked the same question before the final challenge started last season so it was to be expected that she and Lindsay were gonna be asked the same. "Well, I actually wanna use the money to try and fulfill a dream of mine I've had since I was a little kid. I want to open up a surfing school, a place where people can go and learn how to surf. Me and my parents can teach there, I think it'd be really cool. Plus I'd turn our house into a total beach side cabana, I know that's been a dream of my mom's to have that as a house. Other than that I suppose I'd just put the rest of the money away, save it just in case, always good to save after all, especially if I'm gonna be running a business."
Once Bridgette was finished explaining her plans, everyone rooting for her began clapping and cheering, causing the surfer girl to blush a bit at the praise with a few members of her team also patting her on the back. The only exception being Heather who didn't seem to care, she wasn't really rooting for Bridgette but no way in Hell was she backing Lindsay up. "Nice and simple, not bad girl," Chef nodded in approval of Bridgette's plans before looking towards Lindsay. "And you? What're your plans for the money? Ya ain't just planning on buying a lifetime supply of lip gloss are ya?"
"Not a bad idea, but no. Well first off I really wanna go travelling! See some of the best sights and fashion that the world has to offer! Paris, Japan, Spain, London, New York, and of course I'd bring along my BFF and boyfriend for the ride!" Lindsay explained her plans with her team and most of her peanut gallery clapped in response with Ronnie Anne being the notable exception as she just decided to sit in the upper corner silently. But Lindsay wasn't done quite yet as she explained one more thing she wanted to. "But not just that…I'd also like to put some money aside for college,"
"Huh?" A few people from both peanut galleries let out, even Chef had a surprised look on his face as Lindsay said that.
"Well…during the season I wanted to try my best to prove to people I wasn't just some dumb blond and well…based on where I am I think I did a pretty good job at that!" Lindsay spoke up with confidence in her voice and many people nodded in agreement with her words. "So I wanna keep doing that when I get home! I wanna try and get my grades up in school and then eventually go to college and get a degree in fashion and start my own line!"
"Wow Lindsay!" Beth let out, giving her best friend a proud and impressed look. "That's actually really cool!"
"Yeeeeeeeahh!!!" Tyler cheered as he stood up from his seat and began clapping loudly for his girlfriend "Let's go Lindsay! Let's go! Let's go Lindsay! Let's go!"
"Let's go Lindsay! Let's go!" The people in Lindsay's peanut gallery, again barring Ronnie Anne who just covered her ears in annoyance, as well as her team began chanting and clapping for Lindsay. "Let's go Lindsay! Let's go!"
"Ok, that's pretty impressive," Noah had to admit as he cheered on Lindsay.
CONFESSIONAL – Noah
"What can I say I'm actually impressed with what Lindsay's accomplished over the season," Noah explained the reason why he was cheering for Lindsay. "She went from being a complete idiot to actually sort of clever and I gotta give respect where it's due."
"Alright that's enough of that!" Chef announced, cutting off the cheering as he stepped in between the two finalists. With all that outta the way it was officially time to start the final challenge of Total Drama Action! "Not a bad plan girly, but you gotta win the million first before you do all that! Which leads to our final challenge! The grand epic adventure movie genre!"
"Adventure movies?" Lindsay and Bridgette said in unison. Honestly it was actually pretty fitting for the last movie genre. A truly grand epic quest filled with twists and turns of all kinds, what could possibly be a better note to end the season on?
"I don't believe I stuttered!" Chef yelled, making the two flinch before he got to explaining the genre in detail. Well, as much detail as Chef could provide that is. "You know how it goes, some rag tag spunky explorer forms an unlikely team to find a treasure, they encounter obstacles on the way there, fight against an evil organization wanting to steal the treasure for some nefarious scheme, the good guys get the treasure but give it up in the end anyway for yada, yada, reason. The usual. And today your treasure will be the case that contains the one million dollars waiting for y'all at the end of the mine!"
"And don't forget facing whatever puzzles and booby traps there are on the way to the treasure," Harold brought up with a grin, this being another movie genre he was quite a big fan of. "Heheh, booby traps,"
"Don't steal my thunder kid, I'm trying to prove a point here," Chef narrowed his eyes at Harold, making him gulp a bit. No way was Chef gonna let one of these kids get in the way of proving how easy the job was to Chris. Meanwhile, Lily was watching the whole thing with a frown. She could tell this was all about what Chris and Chef were going through. She had to find a way to repair their friendship!
Suddenly a light bulb went off in Lily's head as the 6-year-old smirked before crawling underneath the bleachers to get away from her brother.
CONFESSIONAL – Lily
"I can't just stand by while Chris and Chef are being torn apart!" Lily said with urgency in her voice before smiling confidently. "But Lily Loud is on the job! I just need to find out what they're fighting about!"
"Here, put these on. No explorer goes anywhere without their whip and stylish hat," Chef said as he handed a hat and whip to both Lindsay and Bridgette, both putting them on with Lindsay striking a pose after equipping her explorer gear. "Each of you and your teams will enter the mines from either the top or the bottom, and a series of five different challenges and puzzles await you inside. At the very end is the million dollar case! The first one out of the mine with the case in hand will be the winner of Total Drama Action!"
"What about us?" Leshawna asked as she gestured to herself, the rest of Lindsay's team, and then Bridgette's team. "You said we'd continue helping em out,"
"You'll find out when you're in there!" Chef snapped towards Leshawna before looking towards Lindsay. "Alrighty girly, you got here first so you get to decide. Ya wanna enter the mines from the top entrance, or the bottom."
"Hmmmm…" Lindsay hummed a bit as she looked over the two different entrances to the mines a bit before making her choice. "We'll go in the bottom."
"Alright surfer girl, you and your team make your way up there," Chef announced as he pointed to a ladder that led up to the upper entrance. As both teams made their way to their respective entrance, Chef coughed a little before taking out a bottle of water. "Dang, ain't used to talking that much…"
As Bridgette's team went up the ladder to reach the upper entrance of the mines, Jasmine found herself looking inside before gulping and freezing a bit. "S-S-So you mean w-we gotta go in there…" Jasmine stuttered a bit as her claustrophobia began creeping up even before they made their way into the mines. "Oh crikey…"
"You'll be ok Jasmine," Bridgette comforted the Australian Amazon, holding onto her hand and trying to help Jasmine push past her fear. They really couldn't afford to have her claustrophobia slow them down at this point. "We'll all be there with you so there's no reason to be afraid."
"Besides you know what all those ancient temples are like," Cody brought up to try and help out as well. "The rooms are huge, especially if they have challenges and puzzles in them."
"Ok…Ok…" Jasmine breathed in and out, doing her best to steel her nerves. She had to push through this, she had to do everything she could to help Bridgette win the million. "I can do this…"
With both teams at the ready in front of their respective entrances, Chef pulled out a megaphone and called out to both teams. "Explorer's ready!" Chef yelled out as both teams took running positions and got prepared to run into the mines. "And…raid that tomb!"
And both peanut galleries cheered as both teams ran into the respective entrances, both intent on taking first place and ready to take the top of the podium of Total Drama Action!
"How long does this tunnel go on for?" Lindsay asked as her team continued to delve deeper into the mines. The team has been running for a good few minutes now and they were just continuing to walk down the path with it seemingly heading to nowhere. Didn't help that the farther in they went the darker things got and the harder to see everything became. "And does anyone have a light? I can't see a thing!"
"Hold on, feel around the walls!" Harold suggested as he began doing just that. Everyone raised a brow at this but with them trapped in darkness without much options on what else to do, they all did as Harold said and began feeling around the walls of the tunnel. After a good moment, Harold found something and based on the wooden texture it had it was just what he was looking for. "I found a torch! Anyone got a lighter?"
"I got one," DJ said as he pulled out said tool, lighting it up and producing a small flame that provided a small amount of light. But it was all they needed as Harold held the end of the torch towards the flame and lit it up providing them with a good amount of light.
"Since when did you start carrying around lighters?" Sadie asked DJ as the brickhouse put the lighter away.
"Jasmine recommended it to me," DJ explained with a simple shrug. "Says it always pays to be prepared! And looks like that paid off!"
"Let's keep going then," Lindsay suggested with everyone nodding as they continued forward with Harold taking the lead and using the torch to light their way. After a bit of walking they saw something up ahead with Lindsay pointing it out. "Hold on, I see something! Let's go!"
Running forward, Lindsay and her team managed to make their way into the first room of the challenge. It was completely shrouded in darkness other than the torch that Harold was carrying. But not long after they entered the room suddenly a series of torches hanging on the walls lit up and illuminated the room almost completely revealing how truly big it was.
But it was when they looked forward that they saw what was likely the first challenge of the mine. On the ground was a series of large tiles set up in a five by eighteen format with all the tiles having the faces of the various contestants in Action on them. "Woah, cool," Harold spoke up as he looked over the large tiles. "I know this puzzle! It's a classic tile puzzle, to progress we need to step on the tiles in the correct order. Failure to do so likely means falling into a pit that's underneath, probably filled with snakes."
"Snakes…" Lindsay gulped a bit as she imagined a giant pit filled with snakes underneath the tiles in front of them. "Why did it have to be snakes?"
"Aw snakes aren't so bad," Sadie with a fond smile on her face. "I have a pet snake back home and she is just the cutest thing!"
"They're not cute when there's a whole bunch of them slithering all over ya sweetie," Leshawna told Sadie as she and pretty much the rest of their team, especially DJ, would much rather avoid falling into a pit potentially filled with dangerous snakes. "Harold honey how do we solve this puzzle?"
Before Harold spoke up, the sound of feedback was heard inside the room as they soon heard the voice of Chef speak up. "Welcome explorers to the first room of the Temple of Drama!" Chef was continuing to take over the hosting duties of Chris, but once again the buff cook was sounding very stiff as he explained everything that was going down. "For your first challenge, you must jump from tile to tile in the correct order, or risk falling to a grizzly demise!"
To test the grounds, Leshawna picked up a nearby rock and threw it towards the tile with it landing on one that had Heather's face on it. A mere second after the rock landed on it, the tile fell from where it was, creating a hole in the floor and exposing a bit of, you guessed it, numerous snakes that were slithering around waiting for someone to fall in. "But luckily for your helpers, you're allowed to take the stairs across to the other side," Chef explained, getting Lindsay's helpers to raise their brows.
"Stairs?" DJ and the other members looked around and sure enough on the left wall of the room was a series of stairs that led to the other side of the room, completely bypassing the tiles. "Huh, how did we not notice that?"
"But as for the main adventurer, they can choose one of their helpers to aid them in figuring out this puzzle!" Chef continued explaining the rules of the challenge to everyone. "But choose carefully, once the puzzle is complete the helper will be booted from the temple and you will be unable to use them for the rest of the challenge!"
"So after every challenge I'll lose a helper," Lindsay hummed in thought as Chef went silent, the buff cook having finished explaining this to everyone. She had to make this choice count, if she was only able to use a helper once then each choice this challenge mattered. "Hmmmm…Harold, you said you know these puzzles. I want you to help me with this."
"I'd be honored to!" Harold saluted Lindsay as he stepped forward.
"You be careful baby," Leshawna wished her boyfriend luck as she kissed his cheeks before heading to the stairs with the other helpers. "Don't you go falling in with those nasty snakes you here,"
"Don't worry Leshawna, we'll get through this no problem," Harold reassured his girlfriend before stepping forward with Lindsay, the two being just a step away from the first row of tiles. "Hmmm, it's all of us who competed this season…"
"How do we solve it?" Lindsay asked as she tried to wrap her brain around the possible order they'd need to go in, in order to safely reach the other side. "Is there some clue inside of the room?"
"I don't believe so, but there must be some way to figure it out," Harold explained as he looked over all the tiles, see the different pictures of the various past cast mates on it. "These types of puzzles always have a specific order, it's never just random, otherwise it'd be practically unsolvable…hmmmm…"
CONFESSIONAL – Harold
"As a loyal member of team Lindsay, it was my sworn duty to do whatever I could to help her win this," Harold declared seriously as he punched a fist into his open palm. "I had to channel every bit of my mad puzzle solving skills to figure this out!"
Harold was silent as he tried to figure out what possible solution there could be to this. Looking at the first couple of rows again, Harold's eyes widened a bit as he noticed something, looking towards the first row again first. "Beth…" Harold pointed out before looking up at the second row. "Gwen…" And then the third row to make absolutely sure of his theory. "Duncan….I figured it out!"
"You have?" Lindsay asked with an excited grin.
"Just let me test it out first…" Harold gulped nervously as he steeled his nerves. He had to try this out so they could get past. Lindsay and the other helpers on the other side of the room, especially Leshawna, watched nervously as Harold took the leap of faith onto the tiles, first stepping onto the tile with Beth's face on it. Harold winced as he braced for a potential fall…but it never came. The tile was stable. Grinning widely, Harold then stepped onto Gwen's tile on the second row and then on Duncan's in the third row. And the tiles continued to remain stable. "It's the elimination order!"
"Elimination order?" Lindsay repeated before looking at the tiles again with her eyes widening as she soon connected the dots of it as she looked across the various rows. "Ooooooh!"
"We need to cross this in the order that everyone was eliminated in!" Harold explained as Lindsay nodded before stepping on the Beth, Gwen, then Duncan tile and standing next to Harold. "Just follow me Lindsay, next up after Duncan was Owen."
"Owen." Lindsay repeated as she and Harold stepped onto the Owen tile on the fourth row.
"Then Leshawna, Tyler, Trent, and Mike!" Harold listed the next four as he stepped on their tiles in the next couple of rows with Lindsay continuing to follow all of Harold's movements. "After that Justin, Jasmine, Heather, Izzy, and Lincoln!"
"Oh! I remember the next few!" Lindsay said after she and Harold stepped onto Lincoln's square on the 13th row. "After Lincoln was Geoff, and then you Harold, DJ after, and finally Ronnie Anne and Dawn!" And Lindsay was absolutely correct with that, but when it came to Dawn's picture on the 18th and last row it was…rather crude looking. "Is that supposed to be Dawn?"
"Well she was just eliminated earlier today, it was probably a rush job painting it," Harold explained with Lindsay shrugging, accepting that reasoning. But they didn't need to worry about that as they simply stepped off Dawn's crudely painted picture before securing their place on the other side of the room. "Yes!"
"We did it!" Lindsay cheered before the rest of the team joined them in throwing a little mini celebration. But it was cut short as the sound of a door open was heard as they looked to the wall next to them and saw a stone door move down exposing another pathway, and above the entryway was a sign that Lindsay read out loud. "Back to the entrance?"
"That must be for me, Chef did say after the challenge the person who helped you would be banished from the temple." Harold explained, repeating what Chef told them when they first entered the room. So this meant it was time for Harold to leave and go join the peanut gallery outside then. "Guess it's all up to you guys then, good luck Lindsay!"
"Thanks for your help Harold!" Lindsay told the ginger geek as she and the rest of the team waved to him as he went into the secret passageway, the stone door closing behind him once Harold was inside. "Come on guys, we gotta keep moving!"
MINE CONTROL ROOM
Currently with Chef, the buff cook was overlooking the challenge through a control room located in the very last room of the mines, the buff cook using a secret shortcut to get there as the finalists and their teams went through the two front entrances. He was able to watch everything going on through the cameras hidden throughout the mines as well as speak to everyone through an intercom system that was set out.
Currently both finalists were making their way towards the second room with Lindsay having cleared it thanks to Harold and Bridgette having Cody help her with it. All Chef needed to do was wait for the teams to reach their second rooms to explain the second challenge.
But before that, the door to the control room opened up with Lily stepping inside. "Excuse me," Lily spoke up to get the buff cook's attention. "Is it ok if I come here?"
"Lily? What are you doing here kid?" Chef asked, though he wasn't complaining on seeing the six year old again. "I thought you were sitting in the peanut gallery with your brother,"
"I was, but I decided to step away to see how you're doing," Lily told Chef with concern in the young girl's voice as she walked up to the buff cook. "Are you doing ok Chef? You've seemed off ever since this morning? And why are you hosting the show?"
"Hmph, proving a point to Chris how easy his job is," Chef stated as he crossed his arms and held his head high. So he wasn't quite used to everything, but he was still proving his point that anyone could be a host with hardly any effort. His throat was a little sore right now but that was a small price to pay for being right. "That pretty boy thinks I just do nothing all day while he does all the hard work, hmph, well by the looks of things I'd say he's being put in his place."
Chef pointed to one of the monitors in the wall and Lily saw Chris inside one of the rooms struggling to move large cubes of stone around with Edward nearby. "So you and Chris are fighting about which of your jobs is harder?" Lily asked with Chef nodding in confirmation. "But why? I know you two can sometimes butt heads but this seems a bit more…intense than usual,"
"Because when I told Chris I was finally leaving this show when the season was over, he threw a hissy fit!" Chef ranted out to Lily, explaining to her the argument he and Chris had before the start of the pirate challenge. "Said I had no right to leave due to how 'easy' my job was compared to his job! So we made a bet, I'd take over hosting this episode and he'd take care of my job. And so far I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job showing just how easy this job,"
"Uuuum…yeah…" Lily slowly said, not wanting to tell Chef what a horrible job he was doing at hosting. Granted she didn't think his job was easy based on what she's seen, but still Chris was such a good host due to the energy he brought, his rather high charisma, and just how well he spoke up in front of everyone. "But why do you wanna leave the show anyway? I thought you liked being a part of Total Drama."
"Simple kid, it's time I move on to a new path in my life," Chef tried his best to explain this in a way that Lily would understand. He didn't want to flood her head with complicated adult stuff. "Especially to a job where people would actually appreciate me!"
"You just wanna be appreciated?" Lily asked as the gears began turning in her head. So this was what it was all truly about…Chef just wanted to be appreciated. "Chef, Chris appreciates you,"
"Heh, yeah right," Chef rolled his eyes before sighing and looking around. "Chris doesn't appreciate no one but himself, you've seen what he's like kid. He just treats me like I'm some grunt, like he'd ever admit to appreciating me."
"So you just want him to admit he appreciates you…" Lily muttered at a volume Chef couldn't hear. She had to do something to get Chris to admit that he truly appreciated Chef. "Well…I can understand Chef. I better go before Linky starts worrying about me, good luck with everything!"
CONFESSIONAL – Lily
"So to fix Chris and Chef's friendship, I just need to find a way to get Chris to say that he appreciates Chef! But how can I do that?" Lily pressed a finger against her chin as she brainstormed ideas on how to get Chris to say that. And well…she was struggling a bit. "Hmmm…I doubt I could convince Chris to just say it to Chef's face, Chris can be stubborn like that…"
Lily seemed to be completely stumped by this…until she looked forward at the confessional camera with a lightbulb going off in the six-year-olds head. "Unless Chef doesn't have to be around when Chris says it~" Lily grinned deviously before looking to see if no one was around. Once she confirmed the coast was clear, Lily reached out for the confessional camera. "I'm just gonna borrow this~"
As Lily went to pull the camera out of place, the feed glitched a few times before completely going static.
"Uuuugh…c-c-come on…" Chris was in a position that he wasn't used to at all. Manual labor! Currently the host with the most was keeping to his end of his and Chef's little arrangement. While Chef was taking over his hosting duties, Chris was taking care of the usual stuff Chef would take care of. At first it was fine, he had to paint Dawn's picture on the last row of both first challenge rooms for Bridgette and Lindsay and that was easy as pie…granted it could have come out better but still he did it.
But it was when it was time for the second rooms that Chris found himself struggling as he had to push a bunch of stone cubes into place on a grid that was on the floor. And not just once, but twice. Thankfully he was just about done with the second room, all the while Edward was watching. "Good…God!" Chris grunted out as he finished pushing the last block into place. "Who's bright idea was it to use real stone blo-oh…..right…"
"Brbrbr," Edward spoke up to the host with a deadpan expression. "Brbrbr, brbrbr,"
"I will not admit defeat!" Chris claimed, while he didn't understand what Edward was saying, the host could get the general vibe of what the semi-aquatic mammal was talking about and remained stubborn. "Besides, I got this finished didn't I? And once I finish preparing the fourth challenge I'll be all done and can just stand around doing nothing, like Chef does most of the time! That'll show him which one of us has the harder job!"
"Brbr…" Edward simply rolled his eyes in response. Before the platypus could say anything else, the sound of many footsteps were heard and stepping into the room was Bridgette and her team, now down Cody after Bridgette enlisted his help to solve the tile puzzle in the previous room.
"Chris?" Bridgette said in surprise as she and her team saw the host, looking quite sweaty, leaning against a stone block with Edward standing nearby. "We were wondering where you went, what are you doing down here? Are you here to explain the second part of the challenge to us?"
"Well to answer your first question, I'm here proving a point!" Chris stated as he crossed his arms and rose his head up high. This…only posed more questions than answers for everything as they grew more confused. "As for the second question, oh you don't need me to explain. Just leave that to 'Mr. Personality' and his expert hosting skills!"
Before anyone could ask about any of that, the intercoms within the mines went off as everyone heard Chef speaking up to them. "Congratulations spirited adventures on making it to the second part of the temple, you are one step closer to claiming the ultimate treasure of Total Drama Action!" Chef began explaining what this room would be all about, all the while his stiff sounding voice made Chris's jaw drop at just how bad the buff cook sounded. "For this next challenge, you'll put your strength to the test! You must arrange the stone blocks in a certain way to form a picture! Once the picture is properly formed the door to the next part of the temple will open! Like with the last challenge you can choose a helper to aid you, but you will lose them when the challenge is over!"
"What is he doing?!" Chris yelled out once the intercoms went off. The whole time Chef was talking Chris felt like pulling his hair out. That's what Chef called hosting?! You'd think after being around him for two seasons Chef would have at least picked up a thing or two about proper hosting, but he guessed not! "He's putting the audience to sleep with hosting like that! Ugh! At least I'm proving that I was right, now if you'll excuse me I got another challenge to prepare before I kick my feet up and do nothing but stand around for the rest of the day!"
Everyone then silently watched as Chris opened up a secret entrance with him and Edward disappearing through it and leaving the five teenagers alone in the room. "…Anyone know what that was all about?" Duncan asked, being the one to finally break the silence.
"Nope and I would rather not spend the time trying to find out." Bridgette shook her head, deciding to push that to the back of her mind. She didn't need whatever Chris and Chef were going through to distract her, she had a million dollars to win! Looking over the challenge in front of them, Bridgette saw that there were 29 clocks in a 6 by 5 grid, and the tops of the stone blocks had a part of the picture on it, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the complete picture would be of a Gilded Chris award. "Ok, one of those sliding picture puzzles, I need to figure out the correct way to push them into their correct place. Eva, mind helping me push the blocks?"
"Sure," Eva shrugged as she cracked her knuckles before stepping forward to go and help Bridgette. Over time, Eva had let go of her grudge against Bridgette on the island, she's been putting her energy into other things while at the hotel and was fine with helping her out with the challenge the room provided.
"Now let's see…" Bridgette began thinking about the correct way to push the blocks to get each part of the picture in the correct place.
MINE CONTROL ROOM
Back with Chef, the buff cook was once again chugging a bottle of water after his throat began getting sore from all the talking he's been having to do. But…it was a small price to pay for proving Chris wrong! All he had to do was talk it up but he saw Chris through the cameras in the mines, he could tell Chris was struggling with putting all those stone blocks into place. It was about time that pretty boy felt for himself just how hard his job could be!
And speaking of Chris…
"What are you doing?!" Chef frowned as the door to the control room opened up, though instead of Lily entering the room it was Chris who was giving Chef quite the miffed look. "You call that hosting?! You sound like a robot dude!"
"I didn't ask for your advice ya know," Chef spoke up as he turned to look at Chris with a glare. "And who cares how I sound? Hosting is hosting, ya just gotta keep talking."
"Hosting is so much more than that!" Chris stated with a mix of anger and passion as he crossed his arms at Chef. "You gotta keep a certain energy, really help engage the audience and get them hyped up for what's to come! You're putting everyone to sleep with the vibes you're sending out!"
"At least I'm not constantly complaining like you are!" Chef yelled back as he pointed at Chris, showing how mister good looks wasn't doing quite well with his new job himself. "I heard you through the two way mics! You probably got everyone changing the channel because they're sick of how much whining you're doing! By the way, don't you still have some work to do~? Time to see how well you do in the kitchen~"
Chris narrowed his eyes as Chef pulled out a whisk to hand Chris with the buff cook having a smug smirk on his face. Chris didn't say a word as he snatched the whisk before walking out.
"Push…Push…" Lindsay let out as she and Leshawna pushed the last stone block into its proper place before both wiped some sweat off their heads. "Phew…"
But once everything was in place and the image of the Gilded Chris put together, the blocks all sunk down into the grid before the door leading to the next part of the temple opened. "Alright!" Lindsay cheered as everyone else smiled with them successfully completing the challenge. "We did it!"
But along with that door, similar to after the end of the first challenge a smaller hidden door opened up that was reserved for Leshawna who would have to leave now since she had helped Lindsay out with this challenge. "Well, guess that's it for me," Leshawna shrugged as she went over to the secret door and prepared to make her way to the peanut gallery outside. "Good luck baby! You go and win this thing alright!"
"You bet I will Leshawna!" Lindsay waved Leshawna off as the secret door closed off once the girl with a tude went through it. "Alright gang, let's go!"
Everyone nodded as they followed Lindsay through the open door and began making their way deeper into the mines and closer to where the million dollars lie. Soon enough the group of now four made it to the next room of the challenge and saw that the room contained eight different colored tiles on a two by eight grid with the colors of the tile being red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, white, and black.
"Another tile puzzle?" DJ questioned before the intercom turned on again and the voice of Chef was once again heard.
"Congratulations you spunky bunch of explorers, you are nearly halfway to the treasure you oh-so-desire," And with the return of Chef's voice came the return of his cringe hosting skills, but still cringe or not he provided them the necessary instructions to know what to do for this part of the challenge. "Now the challenge in this is a good old fashioned game of Simon Says. The tiles in front of you will light up and you need to step on it, after each round more tiles will light up and they'll be faster. To open the door in front of you, you must complete 25 rounds! Mess up and you'll have to start all over!"
"Oh man…that's a pretty steep requirement…" Lindsay scratched the back of her head nervously. Granted Bridgette would probably have to face the same challenge as her, but still one slip up with this could end up costing her the game if she screwed up when she was in the high rounds of it. As Lindsay was contemplating this, she and her team looked forward and saw the red tile light up, indicating that it was the first one that needed to be stepped on. But before Lindsay started, she needed to see who would be the best helper of her remaining teammates to aid her with this. "Any of you three good at simon says?"
"Oh! I am! I'm great at memory games!" Sadie eagerly raised her hand as she jumped up and down in excitement. "I have a great system that works for it, you just turn the steps you gotta take into a little song and it's much easier to remember!"
"Really?" Lindsay asked with a small smile.
"Really, just check it out! Red~" Sadie sang out as Lindsay went to step on the red tile. After doing so the red one lit up again with the purple one also lighting up. "Red, Purple~" Sadie sang again with Lindsay following the steps before the red, purple, and now black tiles lit up. "Red, Purple, Black~"
And again Lindsay began stepping on the tiles while using Sadie's singing to help her keep track of the order.
MEANWHILE WITH CHRIS
"U-Ugh this is disgusting!" Chris let out as he tried his best to face away from the…'dish' he was preparing for the fourth part of the temple challenge. Although the thing he was preparing was hardly able to be called a dish as he essentially glopped together random assortments of Chef's mystery meat before putting them into a mold that would shape them like a brain. "What kind of sicko would actually approve…right…nevermind…"
As Chris was putting together the mystery meat, Edward was simply standing to the side and watched Chris do the usual jobs of Chef. Seeing the whole argument going on between Chef and Chris was rather sad…funny, but also kind of sad. The two were really not meant to handle the job of the other.
But it seems like a savior would soon come by to help save things as Lily poked her head into the room and called out to Edward. "Psst! Edward! Over here!" Lily whisper-yelled out to the platypus with Edward waddling over to the six-year-old who revealed the camera that she "borrowed" from the confessional. "Listen, I have an idea on how to fix things between Chef and Chris! Make sure you record everything here ok?"
"Brbrb!" Edward nodded as Lily strapped the camera to the platypus' back before heading over to Chris, with Edward making sure to keep the camera pointed at the both of them.
As Lily went over to Chris, the six-year-old frowned a bit as she heard sniffling coming from the host with the most…Chris was really torn up about Chef leaving the show. Well it just gave her more incentive to try and fix things between the two! "Hey Chris, what's wrong?" Lily spoke up to Chris with a sympathetic voice. "Are you chopping onions or something?"
"O-Oh, um, n-no not exactly…" Chris let out as he wiped his eyes to try and keep any potential tears from falling out of them. "It's complicated kid…"
"Come on, you can tell me," Lily insisted to Chris with a small smile on her face. "I promise I'll understand,"
"Well…it's just…" Chris began before sniffling again as he let it out. "Chef is leaving the show!"
"I see…" Lily let out, keeping the fact that she already knew about this a secret. She just had to get Chris talking with this. "But why would Chef wanna leave the show? You two are a team!"
"That's what I said!" Chris yelled as he raised his hands up, a bit of frustration coming out. "But I guess working side by side for the past couple of years along with two seasons of a popular show doesn't mean anything!"
"But why though?" Lily once again asked with the tilt of her head. "Chef doesn't seem like someone to do something for no reason, did he say anything about why he was leaving exactly?"
"Well…he thinks that I take him for granted…" Chris explained to Lily as he looked down and remembered his argument with the buff cook earlier. "And I don't appreciate him…"
"Well…maybe Chef is just lonely," Lily suggested as she put a supportive hand on Chris' leg, trying to get Chris to open up with Edward recording every bit of it. "I mean it can't be easy for him cooking all day in the kitchen as well as setting up the challenges, maybe he just wants some more attention from you?"
"…Ya think?" Chris asked hopefully as he looked towards Lily.
"Totally! I know Chef values his friendship with you, he probably just wants to hang out with you more!" Lily told Chris with a grin before getting into the real meat of this conversation. "And well…you do appreciate Chef, right?"
"…Of course I do…" Chris admitted with the host having a surprisingly genuine voice that was free from all lies. Normally Chris wasn't one for getting all sappy and emotional like this…but what can he say, Lily just somehow brought it out of him. "I mean…without Chef I wouldn't be able to even have this show…"
"Then why don't you tell him any of this?" Lily asked with a small frown.
"I guess…Chef is just hard to talk to is all…" Chris explained with a sigh. "I mean you've seen how he can be, he'd probably just think of me saying it would be some kind of prank anyway…and I'd like to hang out with Chef during off time, I just never thought he'd be interested…"
"I think you'd be surprised…" Lily said with a rather sly smirk. This was it, she had everything she needed to mend the two's relationship. Looking to Edward, Lily saw the platypus grinning confirming that he captured everything.
"Well…thanks for chatting kid but I gotta finish this up..." Chris said with a small sniffle as he gestured to the mystery meat he was putting in the brain molds which made Lily cringe in disgust. "You should meet up with your brother again…"
"I have another idea~" Lily whispered as she walked away towards Edward, taking the camera from the platypus and the two heading back to Chef together.
"Oh gosh…" Bridgette found herself and her remaining teammates cringing at what they saw. Simon says was tough, especially with Bridgette's clumsy footing nearly costing them the final round. But luckily they were able to do it in one go, especially with Duncan helping her and the two splitting the memorizing in half between them. But when they got to the fourth challenge they saw it was easily the most disgusting one.
The room just had a single table in the middle with a chalice that looked like a monkey's head with the top half of it cut off and inside of it was some random assortment of meat that was in the shape of a brain. The three remaining members of Bridgette's team cringed at the sight as Chef's voice was again heard coming from the intercom. "Well explorers, it looks like you're crawling closer and closer towards your treasure! But your journey is not over yet, especially since you all must be hungry after your little journey," Chef chuckled as he was obviously talking about the little 'meat dish' in front of them. Chef's voice also sounded more normal than before, must be because it was an eating challenge which was right up Chef's alley. "To open this door you must eat the dinner of a true explorer, monkey brains~"
"Ugh…" Jasmine's cheek puffed up at the thought. She doubted they were real brains, but still the thought of it made her nauseous. She's eaten some rather unconventional things before during camping trips and such when she much preferred to hunt for her own food, but never anything like that.
"Once the brains have been consumed, the door will open, bon appetit~" And with that Chef's voice cut off as Bridgette walked up to the bowl of 'monkey brains' and put on a face of complete disgust.
"So…which of us is helping you with this?" Jasmine dared to ask as she looked between herself and Geoff.
"…I'll do it," Geoff said as he walked forward and grabbed the monkey head bowl off the table before looking towards Bridgette. "Bridgette…can I please just say something? Just this once,"
"…Fine," Bridgette relented as she crossed her arms, willing to at least hear Geoff out on what he needed to say.
"Look…I'm sorry for everything I did during the season. Listening to Ronnie Anne, not trusting you, eliminating Lincoln…just…everything…" Geoff gave his ex-girlfriend a completely heartfelt and sincere apology for the actions he did after the course of season two. "I really don't deserve a girl as awesome as you…I won't ask you to take me back, I don't deserve that. But…I still wanna support you and help you win this thing in any way I can."
"Geoff where are you going with-" Bridgette asked before her and Jasmine's eyes widened as Geoff opened his mouth up wide and shoved the entire brain shaped meat into his mouth at once. "O-Oh God…"
"Mmmmmm…" Geoff's eyes teared up as it took all of his will power to keep the entire brain in his mouth as he chewed it up and swallowed every bit of it. But sure enough, this paid off as the door opened up as the entire thing entered Geoff's stomach. "G-Go…Go win Bridgette…"
"…Thank you," Bridgette told Geoff before she and Jasmine ran to the next room. The secret door for Geoff to take him back to the entrance also opened up…but Geoff needed a minute to collect himself after that.
"Well…that was nice of him," Jasmine told Bridgette as the two ran towards the last room the temple had to offer.
"Yeah…Yeah it was…" Bridgette had to admit with a nod.
"Oh…Oh gosh…" With Lindsay, she and her remaining two teammates of DJ and Beth were also faced with the monkey brain challenge and Lindsay was having difficulty even starting it. "I don't know if I can do this…"
"Me either…" Beth gulped, praying this wouldn't be where Lindsay asked for her help.
"Don't worry, I got just the thing for this!" Luckily for Beth, DJ was the one to step up as he walked up towards the brain and pulled out his super secret weapon. "Behold! Momma Spice!"
Lindsay and Beth watched as DJ pulled out a spice container. "Momma Spice?" Lindsay repeated after seeing DJ begin to sprinkle the spice on the brain. "What's that?"
"A special spice made by my momma, using nothing but pure natural and organic ingredients!" DJ bragged about his momma's creation as he finished covering the brain with just the perfect amount of spice. "Meant to be used in only the most dire of cooking emergencies! Give it a try Lindsay!"
"O-Ok…" Lindsay was still unsure about this, but she knew she could trust DJ. So, taking a bite of meat off the fake brain, Lindsay popped it into her mouth…and her eyes completely lit up. "OMG…that's…the most delicious thing ever!"
"Really?" Beth asked in shock as DJ nodded in pride.
"It's like every good flavor combined into one and multiplied by 100!" Lindsay said before diving her head right into the brain and eating it rather savagely, making Beth back up a little in disgust. But in just a matter of less than a minute, Lindsay completely consumed the brain and let out a small burp in satisfaction. "So good…"
And with the bowl empty, the door to the next part of the mine opened up along with the secret door meant to take the teammate that helped back to the entrance. "Well, guess I did help by using my momma spice so I guess it's time for me to bail." DJ accepted this as he went over to the secret entrance while waving the two girls off. "Good luck ladies! I'll be cheering you on!"
"Thanks DJ!" Lindsay and Beth waved the brickhouse off before the two BFF's went off to the last challenge in the mine.
MINE CONTROL ROOM
"Chef! Chef! Chef!" Chef jumped in surprise as Lily rushed into the room, having a camera in her hand and Edward following behind her. With the recording of her and Chris, Lily just had to show it to Chef to prove to the buff cook that the host did in fact appreciate him and what he did. "I need to show you something!"
"Woah, where's the fire kid?" Chef asked as he stepped up to the six-year-old and the platypus. "What is it?"
"I need to show you something," Lily repeated as she held up the camera to Chef who took it from her. "Take a look!"
"Hold on a minute…" Chef took a moment to look over the camera before his eyes widened as he realized just where this camera came from. "Young lady, is this the confessional camera?!"
"I know, I know, I'm sorry for taking it but it was for a good reason!" Lily explained to Chef as she continued to urge him to watch the recording on it. "Just please, play back the recording ok? You're gonna wanna watch it, trust me!"
Chef was a bit skeptical, but did as Lily asked and replayed the recording that was on the camera. And Chef…saw everything. The entire conversation that went on between Chris and Lily earlier, including everything Chris had to say. Chef had a look of disbelief on his face, but when it came to the last part of the conversation…
"Totally! I know Chef values his friendship with you, he probably just wants to hang out with you more!" Lily told Chris with a grin before getting into the real meat of this conversation. "And well…you do appreciate Chef, right?"
"…Of course I do…" Chris admitted with the host having a surprisingly genuine voice that was free from all lies. Normally Chris wasn't one for getting all sappy and emotional like this…but what can he say, Lily just somehow brought it out of him. "I mean…without Chef I wouldn't be able to even have this show…"
"Then why don't you tell him any of this?" Lily asked with a small frown.
"I guess…Chef is just hard to talk to is all…" Chris explained with a sigh. "I mean you've seen how he can be, he'd probably just think of me saying it would be some kind of prank anyway…and I'd like to hang out with Chef during off time, I just never thought he'd be interested…"
"He…He actually said all that…" Chef asked after the recording was cut off. Chris…actually did appreciate him? Even more than that, he valued their friendship? Chef never thought Chris actually did appreciate or even valued him. To see those words come from his mouth…
"And he meant every word of it," Lily told Chef with a soft and sincere smile with Edward nodding in agreement. "He just doesn't know how to approach you about it."
"I…I didn't mean to close myself off or anything…" Chef slowly said as he scratched the back of his head. "I just didn't think Chris really saw me as a friend is all…"
"But he does, Chef. Look, if you really wanna leave the show, it's up to you. It's your life after all and you should be free to do what you want," Lily said as she went and put her hand on Chef's own. "But you should talk to Chris about this at least before you leave, you both deserve to have some closure before you both go your separate ways."
"...." Chef was silent as he thought long and hard about this. Not just about talking about this to Chris, but everything in general when it came to his decision in moving on from the show. After a good moment, Chef made his decision as he handed the camera back to Lily before walking off. "Take over explaining the last part of the challenge, I got something I need to do."
"Yes sir!" Lily saluted Chef, with her and Edward sharing a high five once he was gone.
CONFESSIONAL – Lily
"Yes! I did it! I did it!" Lily cheered, the six-year-old having returned the camera to the confessional once she was done with it…only with one small issue. She accidentally put it back upside down so now it was looking like she was sitting on the ceiling. "That's just the magic of Lily Loud!"
With one challenge left, it was neck and neck between Bridgette, Lindsay, and their remaining helpers. Both having cleared the last challenge rather quickly and easily due to their helpers and now it was time for them to face the last challenge the mines had to offer! "We made it!" Both Bridgette and Lindsay said in unison as both gasped as they looked at the other, seeing they were now both sharing this room and had made it at the same time.
Both Lindsay and Bridgette felt a competitive fire light up inside of them as they narrowed their eyes at each other as the intercom turned on again, only it wasn't Chef's voice that echoed throughout the room. "Greetings explorers!" The four girls' eyes widened as they heard the voice of Lily yell out throughout the room. "It's time for you to face the final test in your quest for the million dollar treasure!"
"Lily?" Jasmine asked with a raised brow. "First Chef and now she's hosting? The heck's going on around here?"
"Behold! The obstacle course of doom!" Lily announced as all the girls looked forward and saw that the room consisted of a long hallway that led to an open door at the end. But it would be easy to just walk down there as suddenly a large number of obstacles began turning on throughout the hallway, consisting of arrows shooting through the walls, fire spewing out from the ceiling, spikes shooting up from the floor, large axes swinging from the ceiling, and the end of the hallway having a floor that looks like it's just ready to crumble and fall apart. "In order to reach the room that contains the million dollars you need to reach the end of the hallway, bypassing all obstacles in your way! After that, the million will be yours to take! But in order to officially win it you must be the one holding it when you leave the mines! Good luck everyone!"
And with that, Lily's voice disappeared and it was officially a race to get through the deadly hallway first and reach the million dollars. Lindsay and Bridgette just had to be the one carrying the case when they left. Jasmine could see the fire in Bridgette's eyes and smirked before cracking her neck. "Hah, this is nothing but a warm up for me back home." Jasmine was determined to help Bridgette make her way to the end and grab that million. So grabbing the surfer girl, Bridgette let out a gasp of surprise as the Australian Amazon held her bridal style. "Better hold on mate, because we're about to take it into overdrive!"
"O-Oh boy…" Bridgette could barely get ready to brace herself as Jasmine took off like a rocket, heading first into the obstacle course. "AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Come on Beth!" Lindsay grabbed her best friend's wrist, a fire lighting in the blond bombshell's eyes as she looked forward with a fearless smile. "We got a million dollars to win!"
"Oh no…" Beth letting out, being able to tell what Lindsay was about to do and knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. "If there's a God up there…please let my death be quick and painless! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
And Lindsay and Beth raced through the obstacle course as well, attempting to catch up to Jasmine. The Australian Amazon showed off her sheer toughness and immense athletic ability as she passed everything in her way fearlessly while holding on tightly to Bridgette while the surfer girl kept her eyes sealed shut.
Meanwhile Lindsay and Beth were no slouches themselves, with Lindsay being fueled by pure determination to overcome everything in her way with Beth following close behind and just doing her best to not be killed.
Soon enough both made it to the end of the hallway and instead of taking a risk and walking through the broken looking ground, Jasmine threw Bridgette across the floor and Lindsay took a good step before long jumping over it, with both blonds landing in front of the door at the same time. "Go Bridgette!" Jasmine called out to Bridgette, urging her to get back up. "You gotta get there first!"
"You can do it Lindsay!" Beth cheered her best friend on. "Show you're the best one here!"
Both girls heard this and immediately sprang into action, gaining their footing back. The two blonds took off as fast as their legs could carry them down the door that led to the end of the mine. Both didn't let up for a second until they reached the final chamber of the mines. "Wooooah…" Both girls let out as they looked at their surroundings, it really did resemble a treasure chamber you'd see in an adventure movie. Large gilded Chris statues were set up across the walls, plastic treasure of all kinds were piled around the room, as well as props from all the various movie challenges that took place across the season were stacked on columns throughout the room. It truly was a grand ending.
But there was only one item in the room that the girls were interested in and it laid in the middle of the room. "There it is!" Lindsay called out as she pointed to the very center of the room where, sitting on a truly grand looking column was the silver case from all the way back in the secret last challenge from season one. "The million dollars…"
"So this is really it huh?" Bridgette let out as she and Lindsay stared at the case for a brief second before turning towards each other. This was it…the case was right there just waiting to be grabbed.
"…" Both girls were silent as they looked at each other in the eyes…before bolting towards the case.
CONFESSIONAL – Bridgette
"I can't hesitate now," Bridgette let out with crossed arms, the camera still upside down from when Lily put it back. "It's do or die time and after all this I refuse to die!"
CONFESSIONAL – Lindsay
"This is my only chance to take home the win!" Lindsay grinned with excitement and determination. "I'll prove to everyone just how far I've come by taking home the million!"
"Grrrr…come on, come on…" As the two girls raced for the case, on an upper level of the chamber was a giant boulder hidden from sight, and behind it trying to push it down was Chris to…minimum success. "Just…move…already!"
"Hey." A familiar voice spoke up towards Chris, stepping up to him and out of the shadows was none other than Chef. "Need some help?"
"I mean…sure…yeah," Chris nodded slowly as Chef stepped next to Chris and put his hands on the boulder. "If you're not doing anything…so hey…I…had a chance to think about it and well, if you really wanna leave the show, it's cool. Good luck,"
"…Nah," Chef shook his head, making Chris' eyes widen in surprise. Chef had some time to think about it after Lily showed him the recording and well…Chef couldn't just leave Chris high and dry.
"W-What?" Chris blinked a bit as he looked up at Chef. "You're not leaving?"
"I also thought about it and well…I can't just leave you here by yourself. You're not that good. Gotta help you out at least one more time." Chef told Chris with a grin, making the host grin and nod in agreement. "Besides, I still gotta get my pilot's license,"
"How long will that take?" Chris asked.
"Bout a year," Chef estimated with a shrug. "More or less."
"So you're really staying?" Chris asked with a hopeful grin, wanting to make sure that Chef wasn't joking around with him.
"Yep. On two conditions!" Chef brought up with Chris willing to hear Chef out. "One, I wanna raise. Two, a vacation, just the two of us,"
"…A week from now, after everyone's gone from chilling at the hotel," Chris already knew the perfect place they could go. "The Bahamas, sound good?"
"…Heh, strong push on three," Chef chuckled and nodded as he and Chris got ready to push the boulder down. "One…two…"
"THREE!" Both said in unison before managing to push the boulder off and roll it down towards the chamber.
"Grrrrr!" Bridgette and Lindsay both grunted, the two having grabbed the case at the same time and began an intense game of tug-a-war with the one million dollars.
But the rumbling of the ground soon got them to stop as Lindsay spoke up. "Do you hear that…" Lindsay let out as both girls looked behind them and saw the boulder rolling towards them.
"Of course…" Bridgette eeped out.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Both girls screamed out as they began running away as fast as they could as the boulder continued to roll after them. But both girls kept their hands on the case as they tried to pull it away from the other as they made their way back into the obstacle course hallway, all the traps being deactivated now.
But the Boulder continued to pursue them as it easily crashed through the walls of the temple.
Both girls continued to run and run while trying to take the case for themselves, running past the rooms that contained the previous challenges as the boulder continued rolling after them and crashing through everything in their way…
Meanwhile outside, all of the peanut gallery were on the edge of their seats as they waited to see who would exit the mines with the case in hand. Lindsay and Bridgette's team were back outside and sitting in the bleachers of the person they were helping out, and Chris and Chef were also outside with Chris taking back his position as host. "It's neck and neck people!" Chris announced as he kept an eye on things through a tablet. Bridgette and Lindsay were close to the entrance of the mines and both were still fighting for the case. "Bridgette and Lindsay are nearly out of the mines but it's still anyone's game!"
CONFESSIONAL – Katie
"Oh this is so exciting!" Katie squealed as she put her hands to her cheeks. "Fingers crossed for Bridgette!"
CONFESSIONAL – Tyler
"You can do this babe!" Tyler cheered his girlfriend on. "Bring home the gold!"
CONFESSIONAL – Ronnie Anne
"I just want this to be over with…" The Hispanic teen grumbled.
CONFESSIONAL – Mike
"It's so cool to see who's gonna win in person! This is awesome!" The tanned teen let out with a grin…before looking forward and being the first one to notice what was wrong with the camera "Hey why is the camera upside down?"
As everyone waited to see who would be the first one out with the million dollar case, they felt as the ground began to shake. "W-W-W-Woah!" Owen let out as he held on tightly to Mr. Coconut to keep him from potentially rolling away. "Earthquake!"
And before anyone else could react-
CRASH!
Everyone watched as Lindsay and Bridgette jumped out of the bottom entrance of the mine before the boulder crashed into the exit, finally stopping and getting stuck but not before kicking up a large dust cloud that covered both contestants. "Bridgette and Lindsay have made it out of the mines!" Chris announced as everyone had a tense look on their face. "But who has the million dollars?!"
"…" Everyone was silent as they continued looking at the dust cloud as it slowly began clearing.
…
…
…
Eventually enough of it cleared to reveal Lindsay groaning on the ground…her hands empty.
And Bridgette laying next to her…with the case in her left hand.
"BRIDGETTE WINS!!!"
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Everyone sitting in Bridgette's stands cheered loudly as the ones in Lindsay's stands, while disappointed, clapped good naturedly for Bridgette's victory. All except Justin who merely let out a huff, and Ronnie Anne who merely got up and walked away now that the winner was decided.
"W-What….I…I won…" Bridgette let out in disbelief, unable to believe what she just heard. Until she looked towards the case in her hand…she did it…she won! "I…I actually won! I won!"
"YEAH!!" Lincoln loudly cheered as he and Dawn helped Bridgette up, both sporting large smiles on their faces. "I knew you could do it!"
"BRIDGETTE! BRIDGETTE! BRIDGETTE!" Everyone chanted out as Jasmine once again picked Bridgette up and put the surfer girl on her shoulders, Bridgette began smiling and laughing as she listened to everyone cheer her up. "BRIDGETTE! BRIDGETTE! BRIDGETTE!"
"I DID IT!!!" Bridgette yelled out in victory.
"Hey Lindsay," Meanwhile with the runner up of Action, Beth and Tyler went over to her and helped Lindsay up with Tyler speaking up to her. "You doing ok?"
"Yeah, I am," Lindsay admitted, though a sad smile was on her face. "I wished I had won but I can't be mad that Bridgette did, money would have been nice though."
"Well hey, you know you don't need the money to start doing better at school." Beth encouraged Lindsay, putting a hand to her BFF's shoulder. "You have what it takes all on your own! And if you ever need help studying, you can always call me!"
"…Thanks guys," Lindsay teared up as she wrapped an arm around both Beth and Tyler. "You two really are the best."
THE WINNER'S CEREMONY
The sun had set and stars littered the sky. Everyone was back at the film lot at the Gilded Chris stage where everyone sat in the stands as Bridgette stood next to Chris on the stage with the host having a microphone and Bridgette carrying her hard-earned prize of one million dollars still safely contained in the case. "Bridgette, I think it's safe to say you'll be walking out of this film lot today a different person than you were at the beginning!" Chris said to the surfer girl, rounding out the season with a celebration towards its winner. "You've battled through hardships, heart ache, and 25 different movie genres! But out of the 20 contestants that entered, you were the sole winner and will be walking away here with the sweet suitcase filled with One. Million. Dollars!"
"YEAH! WOOHOO!!!" Everyone, sans the obvious three of Heather, Justin, and Ronnie Anne, clapped and cheered for Bridgette with the surfer girl smiling and blushing at all the praise.
"And not only that, I would like to reward you with the ultimate symbol of survival and movie stardom!" Chris waved a hand gesturing Chef, who looked to be in a rather good mood, to carry something out that was covered with a sheet that Chris soon removed. "Behold! The Platinum Chris Award!!!"
Standing on the cart was an award, a real one, with a stand that had a plaque on it that read out 'Total Drama Action Winner' with the award itself resembling a Gilded Chris award. But instead of a sparkling gold, it was a shining platinum color. Chris picked up the award and handed it to Bridgette who happily took it in her free hand.
"Thank you so much Chris," Bridgette said, unable to express just how much joy she was feeling right now. "I still can't believe I actually won!"
"Speech! Speech! Speech!" Everyone chanted for her to give one last victory speech.
"Here," Chris rather kindly offered, holding the microphone up to Bridgette's mouth seeing as how her hands were full right now. "Better not keep the public waiting."
"Heheh, w-well, I really don't know where to start. I'm a little overwhelmed right now. But I guess I can start off by just thanking all my friends that were there for me! All the members of the Screaming Gaffers, I couldn't have asked for a better team! Same to the people who helped me during the last two challenges, I couldn't have made it without your help at the end." All members of said team smiled in pride as Bridgette talked about them with Cody, Duncan and Eva also smiling a bit as Bridgette mentioned them. "But not just them! Lindsay, Izzy, even if we were on separate teams, you were both such good friends to me! Courtney too, you may not have competed this time but last season you were such a good friend to me."
The three girls cheered as Bridgette mentioned them and the surfer girl thought of what to say next. "And you know…this season was the hardest trial I've ever faced for…multiple reasons," Geoff had a guilty look on his face as Bridgette said this, but the surfer girl kept going. "But despite all this hardship, I still prevailed as the winner! So to anyone watching who may be struggling…I need you to know that no matter what you may be going through, as long as you have the support of people who truly care about you, you can do anything you set your mind to!"
Once Bridgette was finished, Chris took the mic back as everyone cheered for Bridgette again. "All right you all, you've all earned some R&R. So you'll all get a week to hang out at the hotel before you all head home! For real this time! Promise!" Chris vowed as everyone cheered again at the thought of getting a week of fun and luxury before heading back home. Chris then turned to the camera and started the last outro of the season. "And for those of you watching at home, thank you all for tuning in! Is this the end for Total Drama? Hmmmm, give us a year and we'll get back to you on that~ But for now, I've been your host Chris McLean, and this has been…"
"Total. Drama. Action!"