Tough Break
Hour 1 The beautiful blue waters splash along the shore of San Francisco. Along the beach are two RVs, each with the maximum capacity of at least ten people but small enough to be safe in public. One of them is purple with an eagle logo on it and the other is orange, bearing a picture of a tiger on the side. In the middle of the bay is an island where a certain familiar red dog stands, awaiting the arrival of thirteen brand new players for a new type of competition on SoFurry. "Greetings fans!" Toner greets. "You better grab a fresh pair of pants because this show is going to probably make you wet yours." He snickers a little before saying, "I'm just kidding. Thirteen new players in an all new challenge around the country. Except this one will be like never before. So get ready, grab some popcorn, sit back, and relax because it's time for season one of..." He throws on his shades. "... Road Trip!"
"Welcome back to Road Trip. Thirteen brand new contestants are already on their way towards Alcatraz Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay." The sounds of engines fill his ears. He gets out his binoculars and sees about a dozen jet skis carrying a staff member and one of the players. "Speaking of which, here they come now." The first player is a polar bear with beige fur. She steps onto the dock and joins Toner. "I come here for money, yes?" Her tone is not one that the dog expected; low and a bit confrontational. "Uh... Alisha, right?" Toner asks. They awkwardly shake paws. "I don't ever recall you saying that you were from Canada." "I'm not. I hail from Dutch land. My grandmother grew up here. We go through rough times so we money, yeah?" "Sure..." Toner directs her to the side, secretly getting the chills. The next one up is a familiar chubby cheetah that everyone knows; but instead of his ZPD uniform, he's dressed in a casual green shirt and jeans. "Ladies and gentlemen... Benjamin Clawhauser!" The ski stops in front of him and he helps Ben onto the dock. "It's finally great to meet you, Toner!" the flamboyant feline says. "Judy has told me a lot about you from the Race show... Please don't hurt me." The dog chuckles in a completely guilty way. He wraps and arm around Ben and says, "Oh, Ben. You know I'm going to at one point." He pats him on the shoulder and sends him off towards the polar bear. Contestant number three is a green badger who stands on the back of the jet ski as it glides through the water. Once she sees the group on the dock, she waves over to them. "Hi Toner! Hi!" However, she loses her balance and falls into the water with a splash. Alisha immediately runs to the rescue, jumping into the Bay and swimming after her. A minutes later, she comes back with the badger in arms. "Who is crazy girl?" Alisha asks. "This is Chrissy," Toner explains. The badger shakes her fur dry and hops out of the bear's arms. "Well, yeah! But my real name is Christina." One thing everyone notices right away is that she talks fast. "But I don't really like Christina, so people call me Chrissy. Ooooh! What're we doing at a prison? Are we going to do something awesome?! Is there free lunch?!" Toner looks towards the audience. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say she's on some kind of medication." The next one to show is a black and white husky with a crown on his head. "Ah, yes; our Prince Charming of the Planets: Eclipse. Nice to meet ya." Eclipse looks around, but only seems to notice the giant scary-looking facility behind them. "I did not sign up for a Trip that started at a prison," he points out. "Actually, you did." Toner holds up the paperwork to prove it. "Besides, wouldn't it be great to live up to your friend Felix's name after he went far in the last race?" The husky sighs and walks over to join the others. Next up is a vixen with a nice shade of grey fur. Once she gets in the island, she shrinks in on herself and waves nervously. "Eileen," Toner greets. "Glad you could make it." He holds a paw out for her to shake, but she blushes and backs away a couple steps. "Too shy, huh?" Eileen nods. "Listen, sweetheart, I don't blame you for being shy; but you've got to talk at one point in the game. Just try to make one friend and I guarantee you will not be kicked off too early." She blushes more before going over to the rest of the players. Player number six is one Toner has personally been looking forward to meeting. Maybe it's because they have the same shade of red. "Everybody, this is Faith." A vixen with the same red fur as Toner comes up from the dock to greet the others. "Hi," she waves. "It's great to meet everyone." "Oh, honey, we've still got another seven people left to introduce." His ears pick up the sounds of rock'n'roll music in the distance. "Speaking of which... number seven is Fritz." Two large feet of a sandy colored kangaroo hop onto the dock; sunglasses on and black leather clothes visible to everyone. It reminds Toner of a Seven & Stuart, the junkies who played in the first race. When asked, Fritz replies, "Yeah, they're my good friends. We hang out all the time. They convinced me to sign up for this show, thinking it was as good as the Race." "Buddy, this show is a lot different from the Amazing Race, trust me." The host's nose catches a familiar scent. A sweet one of dough and sprinkles. That's when player number eight shows up, a wolf with black, orange, and white patches of fur all over his body. "Ah, Glaze, that smell was coming from you. Now, tell me, why do you smell like Jolly Pirate's?" "Because I work at a donut shop," Glaze answers slowly. Toner chuckles and wraps an arm around him. "You must have proud of Karen & Carol from the Race." "Who?" The silence drags on for a minute until Toner gently nudges Glaze towards the other players. "Alright, that was number eight so we have five left." Number nine is a yellow cheetah with black spots all over her. She's thin; perfectly thin. She captures the attention of most of the guys there with her gorgeous blue eyes and her brown sundress. "Huh. Not too bad looking if I may add." She gasps when she steps on the dock and sees Toner. "Oh my goodness! It's so good to meet you... you... uh..." "Toner McAlister, host of the show." He holds his paw out and she takes it. "Oh that's right." She shakes paws with him before turning to join the other players. "Hi everyone! My name is... is..." "Jenna!" the red dog reminds her. "And be careful with her guys, she has memory issues!" He looks at her for a little longer than he thinks because the next player taps on his shoulder, bringing him back to the show. Number ten is a wolf with glossy brown fur. "Oh, I'm sorry, Natalie." "My name is Natasha," the wolf corrects him. Like it matters, he thinks. She looks over at the rest of the group and sees all sort of outstanding personalities and outgoing people (even the yellow cheetah, who's facing the other way for some reason). "Um... are these my competition? I-I don't know if I really belong with these kind of people." Toner steps in. "You'll be fine Natasha. Just don't go home first and everything will be fine." The wolf joins the others as number eleven arrives. This particular person is not one that Toner wasn't so eager to meet because of his intimidating predator look. A purple and orange sabretooth with black patches here and there on his body. He silently gets on the dock and walks past Toner without a word. "Ravertooth, it's great to see you." When he's out of frame, Toner looks to the camera and quickly shakes his head, already afraid of him. He stops at the end of the line of people, next to the cheetah facing the wrong way. "Hi! I'm Janine!" Jenna introduces, still not going the right direction. Glaze turns her around so she's facing the right way. "And your name is Jenna," he reminds her. "Oh. Right. Thanks, Glenn." The wolf's ears give a little flick. Player number twelve is someone Toner thinks he might enjoy. Until he hugs him too tight for him. "Toner!" the purple/white shepherd shouts. "Rio! Put me down!" he commands. "Oops. Sorry." Rio sets the dog back down on his two feet before trotting off to the others. Only one more left, the host thinks. And here she comes, a black hyena with orange stripes running up and down her back. She makes her way onto the dock, her fists twitching a little bit and she keeps rolling her arms around. "When are we starting the competition?" she asks. "What are you doing just standing there? Host!" Toner takes an easy step back. "Easy there, Chris 2.0." He refers to the wolf/husky hybrid who competed in the third race. "We're just about to get there." "My name is Sonya!" she shouts. The hyena goes over to the others, leaving Toner to wonder why he let a wrestling coach compete in the competition this year. He already made a mistake letting Helga & Gretel compete the first time. Whatever, it's time to introduce a little twist to the game. "Alright folks. Time to start the first season of Road Trip. It's going to be a little bit different from the Amazing Race. For example, in every episode, someone will be in danger of heading home." The crowd gasps. "Hold on, there's more. Instead of pairs, we'll soon divide you all into two teams. Every day, we'll go to a new location for a new challenge. The winning team wins a few luxuries as well as a Headstart. The losing team, however, is at risk because they have to vote one of their own out of the Trip. The last person standing will win... One. Million. Dollars!" The thirteen standing there break out in a cheer. "However, I got one last twist up my sleeve," Toner continues. "Everyone, would you please turn your heads to the left a little bit." Once everyone does, they widen their eyes in shock at what they see. That can't be possible, most of them think. A yacht makes its way towards the island with five people aboard. But these particular five are familiar. Each of them are past racers that have tried to win before and lost. From season one, our lovable lame-brained lion, Sara. "It's so crazy to be back here," she says. Next to her is everyone's favorite human, Brent. "I don't know why I did this," he says. "It's not that I particularly like being around Toner Mc-Crazy again." On the opposite end of the ship are those from season two. One of whom is the cuddly, tubby tiger, Griffin. "Wow! I never thought I'd get to see this island up close!" Twist number four is the Olympic red skunk known as Tammy. "Stay out of my way, cat, and we'll get along just fine," she says. After she lost the race, her and Rachel parted ways and are no longer friends. Now she needs an ally to stick with during this competition. Griffin is obviously not a very good choice. The fifth one, though, is nowhere to be seen. Toner swore that he was on board with the others. Where could he be? Suddenly, smoke comes out of nowhere, making everyone jump back. "Abracadabra!" Parker, the black tiger magician from the Race, appears out of nowhere. We need a bell on him, Toner thinks. Once the five returnees make it to the island, the thirteen originals start to bicker and argue over what's happening. Toner grabs a whistle and blows it to shut them up. "Relax everyone! They're not here to compete against you. They're here to compete with you." Everyone looks confused for a second. "Except these five are after a different prize at the moment: a fourteenth spot in the competition. "Over a while, they'll compete with you guys, but they will not be scored. Every once in a while, we will have a special episode dedicated into sending one of these guys home." He indicates Brent, Sara, Griffin, Tammy, and Parker. "I personally like to call this twist: Team Inception. Get it? A comp within a comp?" Crickets are his response. Toner moves on. "Anyways. It's time for your first challenge in the Road Trip." He pulls out his whistle again and blow on it. "Guards!" Suddenly, a few muscled wolves come out with handcuffs and start cuffing the contestants. "What in the world?" Faith asks. "Hey! Nobody is arresting me on my watch!" Sonya shouts. "I just got on parole!" "This is ridiculous!" Ravertooth growls. Hour 2 All thirteen real players slowly wake up to find themselves locked into one of the cells in the prison. They head out towards the aisle to search for an explanation. They see five guards down below, but a closer look reveals that it's just Team Inception. Loud boot steps echo through the hall. A red dog with "Warden" on his cap walks down the hall. Toner. "Yo! You better give is a big explanation of what's happening!" Sonya yells. "Why did you lock us up in here?" "Yeah!" Fritz joins in. "I can't afford to go back to juvy! You know what my parents will say about that? And why are those five wearing guard outfits?" The host brings up a megaphone and turns it on. "Welcome to Alcatraz, players. Your first challenge is escaping the prison grounds. Our 'guards' here are can either help or hinder your game." He lets those words sink in, knowing Tammy will get ideas. "Each one of them is armed with a flashlight, a set of keys, and a map of the prison. If they decide to let you out, you are free to go. "But, stick together! This place is crazy haunted by past prisoners before this place was shut down. I recommend groups of three or more. The easiest way out is through the dungeon and into the yard, but that place is the scariest and most haunted. So, in my opinion, I'd try to go through the showers and out the kitchen doors. The only reports in that room are cold chills and sounds of banjo music. "Once you're out of the prison, swim your way across the Bay towards the shore where one of two buses will be waiting for you. The first person back wins for their gender, meaning it's guys versus gals. The winning team gets a ten-minute Headstart to our next destination. Your challenge begins... now!" He blows an air horn and runs off. Brent, Griffin, and Parker immediately huddle together. "Listen, boys, we need to split up," the human suggests. "I saw each of us take two other boys and we head separate ways." There are only six guys and seven girls in the Trip so far, so Brent's thinking that the guys are going to need as much help as they can get. "Alright," Griffin says. "I'll take Fritz and Glaze out. Parker, you handle Ravertooth and Rio." "And I'll take care of Ben and Eclipse. Let's go!" The boys quickly move to free the male "prisoners" from their cells and split up into their respective groups. Brent's group decides to head for the showers, Griffin's go towards the dungeon (despite Toner's warning), and Parker's bunch goes directly for the main entrance. Tammy and Sara work together to free all the female players. Their idea was that if all nine of them stay together in one large group, they can have better progress. "So, what your strategy?" Alisha asks. "My plan is for all of us to work together," Tammy explains. "Every year it's the same thing: the guys work together and pick us all off one by one. It's time we started turning this game around. It's time for a female to win. Who's with me?!" "I am!" Chrissy shouts. "Woohoo let's do this!" She runs off in a random direction, laughing hysterically. This is going to be a long season, Tammy thinks. All nine girls head towards the library (which is where they hear Chrissy heading). Meanwhile, one group is reluctant to head into the dungeon. Griffin, Glaze, and Fritz stand at the top of the stairs where it leads down into the darkness. "You go in there first," the tiger says, hiding behind Glaze. "It looks a little freaky down there." "No way." The wolf pushes himself behind Griffin. "I'm too young to die. I haven't had the chance to fulfill my dream of baking the world's largest donut." The others look at him like he's crazy. "What? It can happen!" The kangaroo, on the other hand, rolls his eyes and hops down the stairs. "You guys are such babies. There's absolutely nothing down there except a dark hallway." Fritz's ears pick up a small sound that is similar to footsteps. "And nice try, guys. I'm not going to be fooled by a bunch of fake footsteps." "Umm... that wasn't either of us," Griffin reveals. "And there's no one else around..." Fritz then hears the sound of a distant moan, and not one that he would normally like to hear. "Ok, now this is some freaky shit!" he shouts. "Grif! You have a flashlight; why don't you turn it on?!" The tiger snaps out of his senses, digging into his pocket where a foot-long flashlight sits. He turns it on, revealing a bright beam of light and shines it down the stairs. "Hey!" Fritz says when he feels his retina burning slightly. "Point that away from me!" "I'm sorry!" Griffin shouts. He turns to Glaze and wraps an arm around him. "Shall we head down together?" It sounded like the tiger was going to pee his pants any second. So the wolf slowly inches his way down the stairs with him at his side. When they reach the bottom, Fritz is nowhere to be seen. They look around, but the roo has somehow disappeared. "Fritz?!" Glaze shouts. "Where are you?! I thought we had to stick together!" He feels a slight brush on his shoulder and spins around to only see Griffin, who's several feet away. "Ok. Now I'm officially scared for my life." "BOO!" A voice behind him makes the wolf shriek and take off down the hall. A laughter reveals that Fritz was hiding in the shadows. "Man, that was so awesome. Did you see the look on his face?" Griffin scowls at him. "What was that about? You just scared our teammate away and..." He sniffs the air when a foul stench starts to consume it. "... and you made him piss himself." Three other boys make it into a room that they believe was once a dining hall. "Woah. It's kind of sad to see something like this," Brent says. "Although it's a little cool." The human leads the husky and cheetah through the room towards the kitchen. Once they're in the room, they find that the doors there are blocked by a few purposely places boards. "How in the world are we going to get out of here?" Eclipse asks, slipping into a state of panic. "Relax, English mutt, I've got this." Brent goes to the windows for inspection. He presses on them a little and sees that they open, but are barred shut. He takes a few steps back before swinging his leg out and hitting the bars with his boot as hard as he can. "Ow! That really hurts!" Pain spreads across his foot, making it numb. "You can't break the bars?" Ben asks. Brent shakes his head, stepping on his foot to test it out. "Well, what else are we going to do?" The three look around the room to try and find something that will break the bars. The only way to break it is to hurl something heavier and harder at it. Like a wrecking ball. Brent's gaze wanders over to what look like two large silver bullets. The larger one looks like it can fit a person in it. He then looks back at Ben, with a gut that looks like a perfect fit. Eclipse recognizes the look on Brent's face. "You've got a plan, don't you?" he asks. "I can tell. That's an idea face." Indeed, he does. "Hey, Ben. How much do you weigh?" he asks. "Around four hundred pounds. Why?" Brent rests a hand on his shoulder, giving him an evil plan grin.
"This is not something I wanted to be doing." Ben looks at the window as he's stuffed into the larger bullet that Brent ripped out of the ground. Him and Eclipse hold the cheetah up as they prepare to send him hurling through the window. The human gets another grip on him. "Just stay calm and keep your arms in at all times. Eclipse, on three. One... two... three!" Both boys throw all of their strength pushing Ben through the air. The collision of the silver container and the barred window makes a loud noise that echoes throughout the prison. Ben ends up outside onto the ground with a possible bruise on him somewhere. "Awwww yeah!" Brent roots. "First place, here we come." "I'd like to see the girls try to beat that," Eclipse says. All nine girls are in the library, finding the same thing those in the kitchen found: boarded up exits and barred windows. They hear a large sound echoing around them. "What in the world was that?" Faith asks. "It better not be a ghost," Sonya says. "Otherwise, I'm going to destroy Toner!" She pounds her own fists and growls a little. Tammy and Sara hop on top of a desk to try to get the others' attention. "Listen up everyone!" Sara shouts. "Whatever the sound was, we're not going to let is scare us. The last thing we need is to be a laughing stock of the boys. Now, it looks like we're going to have to get through the windows in order to exit. Anyone know how to get though bars?" The sea of seven remain completely silent. Until when Jenna speaks up. "Hold on there, what are we doing again?" Some of the females facepalm and others groan. "We're here to break out of prison," Alisha explains. "What did I do to get here?" "Why don't I just take you away from here to other side of room?" The bear nudges the cheetah away from the rest of the group and heads for the other end of the library. At this point, it just seems like the girls are splitting up to find a way out of the prison. Natasha and Eileen go off to one corner to think by themselves. Chrissy just runs around like a maniac, which leaves Faith and Sonya. Tammy rubs her forehead. "Great," she says. "I came all the way back to this kind of gaming and I'm stuck working with a wrestler on steroids and 'Girl Next Door'." Faith blushes and pins her ears back. "How much longer am I going to have to listen to you?" Sonya complains. "I'd rather just go back to the cell blocks and bash my head over and over again on the cell doors!" She brings her head down on one of the old shelves hard and ends up breaking it to pieces. "Oops... None of the rest of you saw that. Got it?!" The other women nod quickly. The insane hyena starts to scale the shelves to one of the windows. Tammy and Sara then turn to Faith, who was yet to give an idea. A sane one. "Well, you've got something?" Sara asks. "Because we've got zip." "Um... well, those bars are not easy to break," Faith points out. "The only way out of here is through one of the doors, which are all barricaded. I don't know what Toner is trying to make us accomplish with this task-" "The dog is sadistic; did you now know that?" Tammy asks. "Have you not seen all three seasons of the race? He's completely bonkers." She's interrupted by the loud sound of screaming. She whirls around in time to see Sonya having ahold of the bars and ripping them out of the walls. This girl is completely scary, Tammy thinks. She's got to go sometime soon. "Found the way out," Sonya calls over her shoulder innocently. She crawls out the hole in the wall and drops to the ground on her two feet. Tammy comes out next followed by Sara. Natasha slowly walks over to open hole where everyone else is going. "This is pretty exciting, isn't it?" she asks Eileen. The sky vixen just gives a shrug of her shoulders. "You don't talk much, do you?" Eileen shakes her head no. "Don't worry, I promise that I can fix that by the time this whole thing is over." Somewhere towards the front of Alcatraz, the last group of guys enter a room that seems creepier than the cell blocks. On one of the walls are several booths with a small sliver of glass above them. "I think this was some sort of visiting room at one point," Rio observes. Parker looks around the room, noticing that there isn't a way for them to crawl out of here except the way they came. "I don't think we're going out this way," he says. "Well then, magic boy, why don't you just poof us out of here?" Ravertooth asks. "After all, you managed to get from that yacht to the dock without anyone knowing. Plus, I've seen you and Chloe in the third race. You two are good." Too good, he adds to himself. The black tiger shakes his head. "I can't," he says. "Toner said that if I used my magic to cheat in the game, he'd disqualify me. I don't know about you, but I can't afford that. I didn't come halfway around the country just to be cut on the first day. I came here to win." The three continue to look around the room in silence. They eventually leave when they hear something boom throughout the building. "What in the world was that?!" Rio asks, heart racing faster than before. "Please tell me is wasn't a..." He gulps. "... ghost." Raver rolls his eyes. "Oh please. There's isn't such thing as ghosts. Toner just said that try to and scare you guys." He leans against the barred door, thinking that these two were a couple of wimps. The sabretooth changes his mind when something bangs on the door behind him. Upon turning around, he sees nothing there but thin air. "Ok, I believe him!!!" The three run out as fast as they can. Eventually, they find the main entrance to the prison where it opens up to the Bay and the shore on the other side of the water. "There's Toner!" Rio points. Once all females are out of the prison safely, they run on up to the edge of the island where they see the several foot drop to where the water begins. "Alright. Who's first?" Tammy asks. No one steps up. Typical newbies, she thinks to herself. Then the red vixen steps up. "I'll do it," Faith says. She takes a few steps back. Getting a running start, she jumps off the edge of the island, plunging into the water without a scratch. The other girls cheer on and are about to join her when they see Brent, Ben, and Eclipse pass them and jump in without a question. "Crap! It's the other boys!" Sara shouts. The lion hops into the water. Chrissy makes the leap of faith next. Eileen seems a little nervous to go in, but with the help of Natasha, she jump in to join the other females. The three boys ahead of them look behind and see the sister tsunami heading for them. "Oh no, guys. It's the girls!" Brent shouts. He tries to swim faster, then realizes he isn't getting anywhere. Plus, the girls are still gaining on them. "Wait! I have an idea!" "Well what is it?" Eclipse asks. Brent has them loop their arms around each other's shoulders and start kicking their legs. Slowly, but surely, their plan starts to work. They start to lose the girls. Up ahead, Toner leans against the buses wearing a cowboy hat for some reason. It's tilted down as he takes a nap. The distant sound of splashing makes his ears stand up and he drifts out of his sleep. He adjusts his hat and sees three males and the whole sea of females chasing them. "This will be a close one," he says to himself. "The guys are in the lead, but Girl Power is about to take them by a storm." "Guys, I don't know if I can do this anymore." Ben's thighs start to burn the more they get closer to the shore. "Come on, big guy, just a little... bit... longer..." Brent coughs as he accidentally swallows some of the water, setting his throat on fire. Eclipse, seeing as they are close enough, slows down a little and carefully gets on top of Ben's back. "Sorry about this, bud," he says. Using him as a launchpad, the husky leaps off of him, leaving Brent to keep him afloat. Eclipse somersaults through the air and lands on his two feet in front of Toner. The host grabs his paw and puts it in the air. "In a close finish, the boys win!" Hour 3 All the boys are in the orange bus heading east. Some of them are handed towels to dry themselves off while others are just glad to be out of the scary place known as Alcatraz. Meanwhile, the girls are all damp and annoyed as they have to wait another ten minutes before their bus departs for the next location. "Who will win the first immunity task of the competition?" Toner asks. "And who will be the first person voted out of the show? Find out next time on..." He throws on the shades. "... Road Trip!"