The Nervous Mother And The Excited Daughter
~~Campfire~~
It was the same night as the end of the Relay Course, the Killer Bass could be seen sitting at the campfire with somber expressions.
They were currently waiting for Chris to tally the votes to figure out who was voted out, this caused an air of nervous anticipation to surround them. Some looked confident while others held looks of worry; this was decided by how well they had competed in the previous competition.
Eventually, Chris stepped up to the podium, a large grin on his face. This only seemed to worsen the atmosphere, some from the group even sending Chris heated stares, their looks containing the question, 'Why are you so happy?'. Still, Chris ignored these gazes with a contemptuous ease, clearly having quite a bit of experiencing dealing with similar gazes.
Chris spoke up with his patented grin plastered across his face, repeating the same words the Killer Bass had become accustomed to over the past few weeks, "If I call your name and throw you a marshmallow, then you're safe from elimination!" Chris chose to skip the formalities, assuming the group to already be used to his more long-winded speech.
Chris then seemed to grab a plate containing exactly eight marshmallows on it, enough for all but one member of their team.
The nervous atmosphere seemed to grow upon the sight of the plate, the group clearly already understanding what it signified.
There were a few who didn't seem nervous however, namely those who had confidence that their name wouldn't be chosen. Chief among this group was one Noah, he viewed his previous actions to have been enough for him to not be voted out.
Chris seemed to notice this, his grin somehow growing even wider, as if a shark who had smelled blood in the water.
With a little laugh, Chris began to list off names one by one, some sighing in relief while others seemed to have already expected the result. "Courtney!", after each name, Chris wouldn't forget to leave a dramatic pause to increase the nervous atmosphere.
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Eventually, there were only two names who hadn't been called, the two people having similar expressions on their face that would seem odd for their current situation. These two people were Duncan and Noah, who both sported looks of fury, clearly having not expected this outcome.
The reason for Duncan's name not being called was obviously the previous competition; while he had managed to complete his task successfully, Duncan had been injured by the bear, something that made him seem worse in comparison to his competitor, Justin.
Duncan seemed fit to burst at the rest of the team, sending them a rather fierce glare.
While some looked nervous, others seemed to have no care for his look, some even returning it with their own. Chris paid no mind to them, choosing to instead finally call the last name, "Duncan!" Throwing a marshmallow toward him, something Duncan caught with a scowl still on his face.
Though there was another competitor whose face held an even bigger scowl; that being Noah. He, of course, felt it undeserved for him to be voted out.
What he didn't know, or rather, didn't want to admit, was that if he had just simply explained his reasoning for forfeiting, he wouldn't be in his current predicament. Essentially, the reason for Noah being voted out simply boiled down to his unwillingness to communicate with his team. This was why the smarter members of his team who had long figured out the reason behind his forfeiting felt no sympathy for the man; he was trying to play solo in a team based game, he was bound to lose.
Noah carried that same scowl on his face all the way down the dock of shame, even when he was flung off the island by the giant fake grizzly bear that was the prop Chris had chosen for this round of elimination.
Even with Noah's very apparent anger, he was surprisingly not the most angry of the people there, that position would belong to none other than Chris.
Chris was more than upset, he was beginning to become furious. His roiling emotions stimmed from the Screaming Gophers winning the competition; Chris was beginning to become worried that the show would lose some of its fan base as the Screaming Gophers seemingly put on an invincible act, not losing a single competition.
Chris became even more determined; he had to make sure that the Screaming Gophers lost at least once before their three missing members returned, understanding their chances would only dwindle even further with the return of the three best members.
Chris got a brilliant smile on his face, his mind coming up with a rather devious idea.
With Chris being in a world of his own, he'd forgotten that the members of the Killer Bass were still there, all of them shuddering at the rather malicious light that was currently shining in his eyes.
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~~Gwen's Mother~~
Stephanie watched on with worry as her daughter took on crazy challenge after crazy challenge, feeling both nervous and excited at her daughters decision to join this insane competition. (The name's made up, couldn't find one for her and this one seemed to fit.)
She couldn't believe she'd allowed her daughter to convince her to let her go onto this show, and she had come to regret the decision quite severely. As she watched the latest episode, she held her sons hand and squeezed with nervousness, feeling both relieved and worried at her daughters rather tame choice in competition.
Stephanie felt a great deal of relief at her daughter not choosing to do something as drastic as fighting the bear, choosing to leave that job to a member of her team who was more fit for that role.
As she watched on, Stephanie couldn't help but to remember back to the conversation her little girl had had with that rather strange boy Aoife. At the time, she felt a great deal of anger toward the boy, seeing as he played a rather major role in her baby's decision to stay in the competition.
Now, she had no clue how to react; she could feel both pride and anxiety warring in her heart at the sight of her daughter taking on a leadership role in this competition, understanding that the boy's words more than likely lead to this outcome.
Still, as she watched her daughter make great decision after great decision for the roles of her teammates, Stephanie couldn't help but to think of her late husband and how proud he'd be at his daughter's change.
With a smile slowly replacing the nervous expression she once held, Stephanie watched on as the Screaming Gophers won the challenge, her smile stretching just a bit wider.
Recalling her earlier emotions toward the young man named Aoife, she couldn't help but to feel a bit ashamed; it seemed her daughter needed that little push to grow into who she had now become.
With the boy now on her mind, she could feel a hint of her nerves return once again as she thought about what the boy must be going through right now, practically all alone.
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~~Gwen~~
Gwen was currently lying on her bed, her face buried in her pillow to suppress the slowly blossoming smile that adorned it.
She shook her head, trying to forget about what was causing that smile, or rather, who. She was thinking about Aoife and his previous actions, and along with the thought sprouted the smile that she seemed incapable of suppressing.
As she thought over their previous conversation again and again, Gwen couldn't suppress the smile on her face. She couldn't wait for him to come back to thank him, he'd been the one to push her to be better than she was before after all.
As she thought about Aoife however, she couldn't help but feel a bit of nervousness creep into her thoughts as she remembered his current predicament.
Along with this nervousness sprouted some anger for Chris as well, he was the one to push Aoife into his current situation after all.
Gwen thought about what Aoife must currently be going through, but found herself to have faith that he could pass any trials before him. This faith sprouted from his previous actions; she knew he could survive in the wild, that he was rather athletic, and smart to top it off.
As her thoughts spun round and round, it seemed Gwen hadn't noticed her thoughts seemed to suggest that she may have developed a crush on the boy; he had been the one to spark a change in her after all.
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~~Aoife~~
At the same time Gwen was having such thoughts, Aoife had long arrived on the deserted island in which he would spend the next week with only he and the two girls who had been brought along with him.
The three were currently together, having decided that hunting together would make the process easier than all trying to head separate ways.
Aoife could currently be seen at the top of a tree, a rather weird looking contraption in his hand. If one were to look closely, they'd notice that he actually contained two connected objects in his hand, one a spear, and the other something that looked rather odd.
At this time, a rather loud whistle sounded, something not too out of place among the strange wildlife of the island. However, while it wouldn't be seen as strange, it seemed to cause a change in Aoife, as he seemed to use the rather weird contraption to launch the spear, as if the whistling sound were a signal.
The spear seemed to be launched far faster than one would expect possible from a human, but if the spectator were to know a bit more about survival, they'd recognize the object in his hand to be an atlatl.
The spear seemed to launch far into the distance, picking up speed as it arched downward. It seemed to travel for a couple meters before slamming down. Surprisingly, it hadn't hit the ground, but instead a rather large creature.
As the spear pierced the creatures face, taking out one of its eyes, Aoife couldn't help but to marvel at the beast.
That was because the creature was one Aoife had never seen, something that seemed to be far beyond the norm.
The creature stood at an imposing eight meters in height, something that would even trump an elephant. It resembled both a tiger as well as a gorilla in appearance, carrying both the imposing muscles of a gorilla as well as the long arms, while holding the feline shape of a tiger. The beast could be described as nothing short of imposing, something that had led to the group of three deciding it would be their very first conquest upon stepping on the deserted island.
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next chapter will be focused on Aoife and his companions. Sorry for not uploading in a while, chose to take a small break while destressing from school.