Predator and Prey
is a Total Drama fanfiction written by Sakura Blossom Storm.
Set during Total Drama World Tour, this fic takes a look at Bridgette's developing feelings for Alejandro during her time in the competition and gives us a much darker explanation for why she started falling for Alejandro - all while remaining faithful to everything that we saw in the show. And after Bridgette returns to the Aftermath, she finds herself facing a furious and heartbroken Geoff who breaks up with her on the spot for cheating on him. Can Bridgette get Geoff to forgive her and to understand that it is he and not Alejandro who is the man she truly loves?
It also has a sequel titled Keeping It Together, which follows Bridgette and Geoff's experiences on the Aftermath and behind the scenes. But with so many challenges, from Blaineley's antagonism towards the couple to Bridgette having to face Alejandro once more, our blonde surfer lovebirds will find their relationship being put to the test once again. And furthermore, how will Bridgette's traumatic experiences in the competition affect her and Geoff now that her boyfriend knows the horrifying truth about why she was so easily manipulated by Alejandro?
Predator and Prey and its sequel contain examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: The fic is basically meant to be a full telling of what happened between Bridgette and Geoff during World Tour, including both the parts we see in the show and plenty of new scenes that reveal the horrible truth about why Bridgette fell for Alejandro and how it affects her and Geoff.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Alejandro was never implied to have any real interest in Bridgette except as someone to manipulate. Here, Alejandro has a sexual predator-like Villainous Crush on Bridgette and wants to take her away from Geoff for himself.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Bridgette's guilt over allowing herself to be seduced by Alejandro is worsened in this story by the fact that Alejandro raped her, horrifically traumatizing her and causing her to develop Stockholm Syndrome. This also leads to her and Geoff breaking up between her elimination and the first Aftermath, causing her to become extremely depressed to the point of briefly contemplating suicide.
- Adaptational Explanation: Due to the story expanding upon the events of World Tour by showing what happened off-screen, there's plenty of this.
- Bridgette was more seriously impacted by Alejandro's charms than all the other girls he flirted is because Alejandro sexually abused and raped her during the flight to Egypt, causing her to develop Stockholm Syndrome.
- Bridgette's apology song is explained here as being written by Trent to help her with winning Geoff's heart back, since he and Justin both believe she would never have willingly cheated on Geoff and thus side with Bridgette when Geoff breaks up with her.
- Noah's Ship Tease moment with Bridgette in the Yukon is explained here to actually be him intent on getting closer to Bridgette in an attempt to warn her to stay away from Alejandro for her own good. However, the author speculates that Noah still actually has a crush on Bridgette.
- Ezekiel's feralization is explained here as the result of him getting a brain injury while hiding in the cargo hold when the plane crashed in Jamaica, causing him to lose the ability to speak properly and most of his higher mental functions.
- Beth's inability to answer the question about Duncan in Aftermath Aftermayhem is explained here to be intentional on her part (since Action established that she knows everything about her fellow contestants) as part of the Peanut Gallery's gambit to get rid of Blaineley.
- We also see how the contestants survived the volcano's eruption in the finale of World Tour; they were all rescued by the interns and taken home to Canada safely (except Alejandro, who is left for dead by everyone).
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In canon, the little we saw of Blaineley's co-host Josh suggested he was every bit as sleazy and shameless as her. In this story, he's an Ascended Extra who is relatively friendlier towards the contestants and despises Blaineley as much as they do.
- Adaptational Villainy: In canon, Alejandro was never implied to be anything more than a manipulative flirt and charmer who only saw Bridgette as a pawn to get ahead in the game. Here, he's an incredibly depraved rapist who madly lusts after Bridgette and is obsessed with sexually assaulting her for his own pleasure.
- Ascended Extra:
- Due to the focus being on the Aftermaths rather than the competition, the Peanut Gallery get a lot more focus here compared to the competitors. Trent and Justin in particular get a lot of scenes where they chat to Geoff about various things.
- Josh goes from simply being Blaineley's co-host on Celebrity Manhunt to being one of the producers of Total Drama.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The sequel's alternate ending, where Alejandro wins the million. Like in canon however, Ezekiel still falls into the volcano with the money and Alejandro is still trampled and engulfed by lava.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Alejandro and Blaineley both serve as the story's villains.
- Break the Cutie: Bridgette is traumatically raped by Alejandro and ends up succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome because of it. Things get worse for her before they get better when she returns to the Aftermath studio.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The angry Blaineley fan Bridgette is sent to Siberia to interview ends up being the very same guy who helps her reunite with Geoff in Hawaii. Also the interns who accompanied her in Siberia are the ones who save all the contestants from the erupting volcano.
- Darker and Edgier:
- Despite none of the events from canon being changed at all, the fic still manages to be this. For starters, the story begins with Alejandro sexually abusing and then raping Bridgette. This traumatizes her to the point where she develops Stockholm Syndrome, and afterwards, she becomes near-suicidally depressed by Geoff breaking up with her for it, has a Pregnancy Scare, and needs to get therapy to get over her undesired feelings for Alejandro.
- In a weird kind of way, the story's explanation for what happened between Alejandro and Bridgette on World Tour makes the implications of some of her and Geoff's negative remarks about him on the Aftermath much darker. For instance, Geoff says Alejandro is like a jaguar because "you shouldn't leave them alone with your kitten" on the final Aftermath, which in canon, was merely a statement about Alejandro manipulating Bridgette into cheating with him, but here, its meaning is much more sinister.
- Determinator: Ezekiel is so determined to punish Alejandro for hurting Bridgette that after he is eliminated in Egypt and returns to the Aftermath studio, he immediately leaves to catch a flight to the Yukon and sneak aboard the Total Drama plane.
- Drowning My Sorrows: While grieving over her breakup with Geoff and her unwanted feelings for Alejandro, Bridgette steals some booze from her hotel room's mini-fridge in an effort to feel better and gets a bit drunk.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Bridgette and Geoff go through some of the stormiest seas their relationship has ever faced (with Bridgette having some horrific experiences as well), but come out even more devoted and in love with each other than ever before.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Heather is so utterly revolted to learn of Alejandro's rape of Bridgette that it destroys all her feelings for him and prompts her to focus on winning the million instead.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite her (and everyone else's) dislike for Heather, Bridgette chooses to share her rape story with Heather because she fears that Heather's feelings for Alejandro will result in her experiencing the same traumatic horrors that she did.
- Failure Gambit: Trent and Gwen convince Beth to pull one in order to get Blaineley shipped off to the competition during Aftermath Aftermayhem.
- Faux Affably Evil: Alejandro, even moreso than in canon. Here, he's only a manipulative charmer with an agenda when the cameras are rolling; off-screen, he's an insatiable rapist who shows no remorse for the emotional pain, trauma, and suffering he causes to Bridgette. However, only Bridgette and a select few know this; even Chris and the producers are unaware of it.
- Hated by All: All of the Peanut Gallery and many of the behind-the-scenes people hate Blaineley, to the point where they throw a huge party in celebration of her being shipped off to the competition.
- He Knows Too Much: Like in canon, this is why Alejandro had Noah voted off. Unlike in canon, this is because Noah had secretly witnessed him raping Bridgette.
- Hidden Depths: Justin displays a knack for identifying when a woman is being manipulated by a man into developing feelings for him and when others are sexually frustrated, thanks to his own experiences with both. As he says himself, he's more than just a pretty face.
- Hurt/Comfort Fic: The story is about Bridgette being raped by Alejandro and then developing feelings for him, as well as the terrible results it has on her and her relationship with Geoff.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Alejandro does this to Bridgette at the start of the story, and tries it again towards the end when he arrives in Hawaii and catches her alone.
- Ironic Echo: What're the first words Geoff says to Bridgette when he sees her again? "We need to talk." The exact words she said last season during his Captain Hollywood phase.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Despite Geoff's refusal to help Bridgette get over the trauma of being raped and him accusing her of making it up, even Bridgette can't defend herself when he asks about what she meant when she said to Alejandro "I kind of have a boyfriend" and then leaned in to try and kiss him.
- Mind Rape: Alejandro's physical rape of Bridgette has this effect on her, as the trauma messes her mind up very badly and causes her to become increasingly vulnerable to his flirtings. Even she realizes something's wrong with herself when she starts seeing Alejandro's head on Geoff's body when she tries to mentally remind herself that she has a boyfriend.
- Moment of Weakness:
- Noah witnesses Alejandro raping Bridgette but does nothing to stop it because he doesn't want to attract attention to himself or from the cameramen and believes he isn't strong enough to save Bridgette.
- Bridgette's loneliness without Geoff during the competition leads her to trust newcomer Alejandro when he asks her to come down with him to the cargo hold and chat in private. This is where she gets raped, and the resulting Stockholm Syndrome she develops makes her even more vulnerable to Alejandro's flirting later on.
- More than Mind Control: Alejandro's rape of Bridgette is what makes her vulnerable to his manipulations. The trauma of the incident causes Bridgette's mind to get all jumbled, and she starts helplessly falling in love with Alejandro despite fully knowing that she should be hating him and loving Geoff.
- Nightmare Sequence:
- During Bridgette's Pregnancy Scare, Geoff has one where she announces she is indeed pregnant with Alejandro's child and has decided to leave Geoff for Alejandro.
- During her time on the Siberian fishing boat, Bridgette has a brief one where she dreams of making out with a pole that talks like Alejandro and then transforms into him.
- "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: Alejandro uses this to justify his rape of Bridgette, which is only worsened by Bridgette's Stockholm Syndrome confusing her feelings towards him.
- Not So Stoic: The normally apathetic Noah shows a deep amount of concern and pity for what happened to Bridgette, and even completely flips out on Alejandro and tries to beat him up for his actions.
- The Power of Love: Bridgette's love for Geoff helps her to muster the courage to face him on the first Aftermath, as Bridgette realizes that she still loves Geoff too much to keep hiding from their relationship crisis. Afterwards, their shared feelings for each other allow them to reconcile during the Total Drama Smackdown segment, as they cannot bring themselves to hit each other, and realize that they are both tired of being unhappy with each other all the time and have to stop with it if they are to save their relationship.
- Pregnancy Scare: Bridgette has one after she returns to the Aftermath studio when she fears that she may have conceived Alejandro's child when he raped her.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Alejandro's rape of Bridgette is treated with utmost contempt and disgust by everyone who learns of it, even moreso than other aspects of his villainy in the show.
- Saying Too Much: Geoff accidentally spills to Trent and Justin that Alejandro raped Bridgette when talking about how worried he is for Bridgette when she's sent to Siberia.
- Second-Act Breakup: Geoff, outraged and heartbroken by what happened between Bridgette and Alejandro (and unwilling to believe her side of the story), breaks up with her immediately after she returns to the Aftermath studio.
- Secret-Keeper: Noah, Geoff, Leshawna, Gwen, Trent, Justin, and Heather are all this in regards to Alejandro raping Bridgette. Ezekiel is a interesting case, as he also knows Alejandro hurt Bridgette, but unlike the others, he doesn't know what happened exactly.
- Sex God:
- Bridgette discovers Geoff to be this when they have sex with each other for the first time.
- Justin is also implied to be this; if Trent complaining about having to hear stories of his escapades all the time means anything.
- Shipper on Deck:
- All of the Peanut Gallery want Geoff and Bridgette to get back together after he breaks up with her over the incident with Alejandro, due to their anger and sadness making things awkward and uncomfortable for everyone.
- On the other hand, all of them are against Duncan/Gwen, due to them feeling it messes up the group dynamics and has made Courtney totally unbearable due to her constant ranting about their relationship.
- Their First Time: Bridgette and Geoff consummate their relationship after they reconcile as a reaffirmation of their renewed and now immensely strengthened love for each other.
- Those Two Guys:
- Trent and Justin are depicted as this, mainly when they're with Geoff.
- Also Greg and Eric, the two interns who survive Bruno's attack and accompany Bridgette through her trip in Siberia.
- Villainous Crush: The cruel and greedy Alejandro has one on the sweet and gentle Bridgette - albeit in the manner of a sexual predator lusting after his favourite victim. Unfortunately for Bridgette, her Stockholm Syndrome causes her to develop unwanted feelings for him.
- We Used to Be Friends: Happens to Bridgette and Courtney, as the latter's feelings for Alejandro and immense hatred of Gwen for "stealing" Duncan drive a wedge between them, since Bridgette remains sympathetic to Gwen and is unhappy with Courtney's unyielding support for Alejandro.
- Why Can't I Hate You?: Bridgette feels this way about Alejandro, as she starts developing undesired feelings for him after he rapes her and becomes increasingly confused, disturbed, and frightened by it all.
- You Need to Get Laid: During Bridgette's separation from Geoff in Siberia, Justin and Trent tell Geoff this when they notice he's acting unusually depressed and irritable. As it turns out, they're right; Geoff was sexually frustrated from being separated from Bridgette for so long, with two months having passed since they first had sex.
