1.
Be-You-Tee-Full Beginning
- part I -
The camera zoomed in a few times before staying still. The image shown was a crowded street, and if you looked closely, you could realize the building fragments you saw were parts of skyscrapers. The noise was incredible, and mostly you heard the cars honking. Suddenly, the noise dimmed as Chris McLean slipped into view. Instead of his usual dark teal shirt, white undershirt, khaki pants and tennis shoes he was wearing sort of a suit, only the suit jacket was unbuttoned, and he lacked a tie or a bowtie. From next to him stepped Alisha Manson, in her all gorgeous bleach blonde glory. Her red dress stood out in the décor like a sore thumb, and the diamond earrings didn't help her to being less flashy, nor did the white feathery scarf barely covering her shoulders.
Both of them fake smiled at the camera, preparing to recite the speech for the beginning of the season.
"Hello watchers from all over the world. I hope you all were excited for the new season to start and now you are sitting comfortably on a couch, with your family, eating popcorn," said Chris. "Or eating your family, it doesn't really matter to us," he shrugged. "Also, this season, we will be joined by the beautiful Alisha Manson. I bet you all know her from the various movies she's played in and the magazines she was the cover for."
Alisha's eyes sparkled deviously and she gave a flirtatious wave to the camera.
"Now, we hope you are prepared for a lot of drama, challenges, danger, maybe romance, and even more drama!" she said, flipping her hair haughtily.
"We'd also like to present you our Aftermath hosts," Chris gritted his teeth slightly. "I bet you remember Blaineley and Josh. Or maybe you remember Mildred and Josh better?"
"Hey!" came and indignant shout from behind.
"Anyway, before we can get started, let's review some of the basic rules, alright?"
"Eighteen contestants will arrive in the city in the next sequence of the episode, and each of them will later belong to a team. The teams compete against each other in various challenges, and the winning team will get a reward at the end of the day. The losing team, however, will be subjected to an elimination ceremony in the Theatre Hall and the one they vote off will take the Crying Cab back home and will never, ever, EVER return!"
"Unless YOU decide you want them back," said Alisha.
"Yeah, yeah. Point is, they don't return otherwise. Now let's welcome the contestants."
"Were they taking the red bus," said Alisha, squirting her eyes. "Or the green one? Or blue? Yellow? Orange?"
Chris blanched, realizing he never asked Chef for the bus color or any recognition of it. They were now staring at a spectrum of buses, each one having the possibility of being the one filled with contestants.
"Hmm… Well, they can find us by themselves, right?"
Alisha rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, I'll take the limo to the Living Quarters until then. You stay here, introduce them to the viewers and then tell them the challenge while I'll be enjoying a massa—massive pile of work," she said, and then carefully slipped back into the limousine.
Chris scowled.
"One hell of a co-host," he grumbled as his eyes vaguely seen Chef's large, burly hand waving him over. He sighed, and then noticed he was still being filmed. He put on a fake large smile, he said, "But first up, before we introduce our fellow competitors, we'd like to introduce you to the interns. We got several complaints about how we don't give interns enough credit and what-not. We're also accused of mass-murdering them, what a joke. So, meet the interns."
He pointed to a guy black hair and grey eyes with his face set in a monotone. He didn't look like he enjoyed this so far.
"Here's Craig."
Craig said nothing, looking like he couldn't care less. When Chris narrowed his eyes slightly at him he grumbled a "Hi", his voice as cold and monotone as he looked at the very moment. The host gave up and moved on the next person.
"Terry."
Another guy, but with light brown shaggy hair and light green eyes winked and made a peace sign at the camera.
"Xi…Xiu… Xie," Chris scrunched his nose up.
"It's Xianghua," drawled a girl with chestnut colored hair and brown eyes. She smiled wryly at she camera, but her smile didn't reach her piercing eyes that looked like they could tear you open.
"Like she said. Next up, there's Luke."
Chris was referring to a guy with messy red hair and blue eyes who only at the host's loud insistences did he look up with a vacant expression. In both of his ears stood headphones attached to his iPod.
"Fine. Now meet Hunter."
A guy with chestnut hair and hazel eyes smiled and waved to the camera with a "Hi".
"And finally, Ed."
The last guy with brown hair and eyes also waved at the camera, sending his own salutation.
"Now that you met the interns and they're perfectly alive, as you might see, ("Uh, we're not in mortal danger, though, are we?" asked Hunter. Chris ignored his question.) we may start introducing the contestants."
He turned at the interns, who were all staring expectantly at him. He rose an eyebrow.
"Weeeell? What are you standing here for?" he asked them. "Do you think I actually pay you for doing nothing? I'll answer you: No, I don't! Get to work, slackers!" he turned and pointed at Hunter. "And you, make me a hotdog and a latte… And bring me an aspirin since you're at it."
The interns took a way, a little begrudgingly, to start their assigned job. After all, no matter how depressing and demanding were their jobs, they wouldn't want to be in the contestants' places, under mortal peril. Oh, how naïve were they.
"And now, Chef, you may open the door. I think it's getting cramped in there," said Chris, jerking his thumb at the bright red bus.
Chef grumbled and opened the door, yelling, "One at a time! Just one at a time!" and a girl stepped out.
She had dirty blonde hair and teal eyes, and a sketchbook clutched under her right arm. She looked around, confused.
"Uh, hi?"
"Hello, Tristan," Chris greeted, and pointed at the bus stop. "Take a seat and wait until we introduce the rest of the contestants, because it's obviously in the rulebook."
Tristan hesitantly took a seat on the uncomfortable plastic chairs.
"Alright…" she mused to herself and started to doodle.
Out of the bus now stepped a auburn haired boy. His brown eyes scanned the surroundings and he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Hello, Chris!" said Chris, his smile brightening up. "Good to have you here! I bet you're proud to meet your namesake, eh?" Chris lightly elbowed the younger Christopher. "Eh?"
Christopher gave him a hesitant smile. "Uh…" he drawled. "I don't mean to be rude, but, are we sleeping here?" He looked around. All he saw were buildings, but none stood out to him as a hotel, and besides that, there was a row of plastic chairs, exactly 18 at number.
Tristan looked up as Chris waved him off.
"Take a seat, take a seat."
Christopher went and took a seat before exchanging a slightly worried, bordering on disturbed glance with Tristan.
"Lil JJ! What's up, man?" Chris yelled the upcoming contestant, a black haired guy with brown eyes. He grinned back at the host.
"The sky's up, and so will be this show when Lil JJ wins this thing," he said, and exchanged a bro fist with the host.
"Take a seat back there, with the other two."
Lil JJ shrugged and went to take a seat on the bright plastic chairs.
Chris turned to the next contestant getting out of the bus.
"Had a good trip, Jacob?"
The guy with jet black hair shifted his light blue eyes to Chris and grinned.
"Sure I did."
Chris gestured him to the seats, where he stood down and studied his concurrence. Tristan was still sketching, Christopher was looking into space and Lil JJ was lounging on his seat. Jacob was sure that, until now, he wasn't in much of a challenge.
"Kai, welcome to the city!"
The new contestant was obviously asian, and he had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was smiling hesitantly at the other contestants.
"Hi, everybody," he awkwardly greeted, before Chris showed him to the seats.
Another greeting was heard, but it came in a girl's voice, and instead of hesitant, it was energetic and joyous.
"Hello everybody! I'm Samantha!" the girl with a white bob exclaimed. Her brown eyes glowed with a smile as she spoke.
"Welcome to the city, Samantha. Please just take a seat and try to leave everything in one piece, because my mouth already hurts from greeting everybody," said Chris, who was clearly displeased, and not even half the contestants arrived yet.
"Well, isn't somebody grumpy?" muttered Samantha under her breath, raising her eyebrows.
Chris glared at her back, and sighed.
"Okay, now, who's the next—"
Chris was cut off by a hand that, with a swish, nearly took off his neck when he turned around. Nothing happened however, as the hand was inches from his face and its owner, a black haired guy with gray eyes retracted it. Chris's face changed to a monotone, his lips drawn in a straight line.
"Hello, Allen. Next time, try to rip my neck open, will you?"
Allen grinned apologetically, and said, "Well you should never let your guard down, Chris."
Chris blankly pointed to the seats and Allen moved towards and sat down on a plastic chair.
The next contestant was a girl with browning red hair and green eyes. She smiled warmly at the contestants, then at Chris.
"Hello. It is my greatest pleasure to meet you all. And Chris, allow me to say you look absolutely marvelous in this new outfit," she said, in a voice as sweet as her smile.
"Why, thank you, Irene. You don't look bad yourself," said Chris, threading his fingers in his hair not as discreetly as he would have liked to think.
He then dismissed Irene to a seat, where the contestants made the most of it trying to busy themselves while waiting for everybody to arrive. After all, there was only at some extent Chris gave somebody else than himself a compliment, and that one had been more than enough.
"Uh, hi. Is this were we're staying at?"
The one who talked was a guy with scruffy brown hair and brown eyes. He was looking hesitantly at the chairs where the other contestants stood.
Chris sighed, "Jake, sit down and I'll explain everything later."
Jake took a seat next to the contestants who were awkwardly staying on the matching chairs. Nobody has attempted ever so much a conversation because every time one of them made a sound, Chris would turn around and give them the evil eye. Not that it wouldn't be fun to spite him, but they wouldn't rather him dump them out of the season and they wouldn't put it past him to make them sleep on the street, next to the plastic chairs, just because they annoyed him, so they didn't make any remarks, for now at least.
The new contestant that got off the bus was another male, with light brown hair and brown eyes. He grinned at the surroundings, before his grin slipped and he furrowed his brows.
"Are we sleeping here?"
A vein popped on Chris's forehead. He's had it, and it was only the first day. Haven't the brats ever heard of patience, and curiosity killed the cat?
"Is the sky purple?" he asked sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.
"Uh—"
"NO!" The contestants flinched when Chris yelled it through a megaphone. "It's not! Now sit down and don't ask any questions!"
"…But what does the sky have to do with—"
"Sit. Down!" Chris bellowed.
Max, as well as the other contestants, winched, but sat down nonetheless. It was apparent somebody didn't know how to control his temper.
Chris rubbed his temples in frustration and cussed his life. Not long after, he put on another cheeky grin, directing it to the contestants. The message was clear, keep your mouth shut until the time comes.
Greeting a new contestant, Chris's smile directed to a blonde girl with orange eyes, clutching her emo doll to her side and beaming brightly.
"Hi everybody!" she exclaimed. "Hi, Chris! Did anybody get their fingers burnt off from the light of your teeth yet?"
Chris forced a smile and resisted to roll his eyes in annoyance. "No, Uzuri. I don't think that's even possible. Go take a seat and please leave your pet rocks inside the luggage."
Uzuri happily skipped off to the seats, holding on her prized emo doll. She was a little bit displeased at the fact she couldn't take out her pet rocks, they were probably dying out of suffocation, but she took a seat on a plastic chair.
"Ahem?"
Chris turned around and gave Chef a sharp look. The dark skinned chef shrugged, and a hint of a smirk could be seen on his usually stoic face.
Chris tried to hide his sigh as he greeted.
"Hello Stacey! Had a nice trip?"
The blonde girl narrowed her blue eyes the slightest bit.
"It could have been better. I mean, they didn't want to give me the VIP seats. I totally deserve them, though," she told Chris, flicking a strand of her bleached hair.
"Yeah, that was an error on our part. Sorry," said Chris. He definitely didn't look sorry. "Take a seat next to the other contestants."
"Do you have any color other than red? It doesn't go with my outfit."
"There are no other colors," said Chris, putting emphasis on 'no'. "These were the only seats they had for sale. So take a seat, and wait."
Stacey huffed and walked to the seats.
"Scoot over," she barked at her brother, Jake. "I still can't believe they've chosen you," she said as Jake moved over from his original seat. Stacey had found that one particularly better than others. "They must do more errors than they think. Well? You don't think you're going to stand next to me, right? Take another seat. There, at the loser corner."
Jake slumped his shoulders and moved over to another seat. As long as it kept him away from Stacey, he didn't mind too much. The other persons in the 'loser corner' weren't happy at all, however.
In a puff of colored smoke, the next contestant appeared as if out of thin air. Chris coughed a few times, before the smoke cleared and instead of it, a guy with brown hair and brown eyes stood, along with his luggage.
"Dashing entrance, Joseph," Chris remarked, dryly, while some of the contestants clapped. He would've had it without the coughing fit. "Take a seat before you actually burn something down."
"Sure, but are we—"
"Take. A. Seat."
Joseph went over and took a seat, while some of the contestants showed praise in hushed voices. It was going to be easy.
Chris cleared his throat, "So, the next contestant is—"
A series of thuds were heard, along with some squeals as a brown and dark blue blur stumbled around, landing with a crash in the open trashcan on the road.
"… I take it it's Gail, right?"
The trash can was lifted off the ground, but was now attached to a body, replacing the girl's head. She spoke in a muffled voice, barely comprehensible because of the trash can.
"Bwuesed hu mee'chu."
Chris sighed and gestured Chef to the girl.
"Help her with that. Our audience doesn't speak nonsense, and nor do we."
Chef forcefully yanked the trash can off, and Gail clutched her head, muttering repetitive thanks.
"Take a seat and try not to trip and harm somebody on your way."
Gail gave him a shaky thumbs up and took off to the seats.
The next contestant arriving had spiky blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was nervously glancing around, his eyes shifting from side to side rapidly.
"Hello there, Willow. Had a good trip?"
Willow suddenly jerked his head to the side.
"I—ngh—It could've been a lot worse," he chocked out, fiddling with his fingers at an alarming rate.
Chris awkwardly pointed to the plastic chairs.
"You know what? Just go there, sit, and calm down. Okay?" he asked, and he did not even have to say it twice because Willow had taken off to the seats in the next second.
"Uh… Okay," Chris announced the audience, resuming his smile. "You met Willow, and now let's introduce another contestant and quickly, because we're running out of time."
Stepping out of the bus was a red haired girl with brown eyes. She grinned at the other contestants and at Chris.
"Hey Chris!" she called, and waved.
"Hello, Quinn, and welcome to the City," said Chris, opening his mouth to direction her to the seats.
"Oh, hello to you too," she said, as if noticing the host for the first time.
"…You meant your brother, right," Chris commented, glaring slightly at her. "Talking about your brother, why don't you take a seat next to him?"
Quinn walked to the seats, rolling her eyes at the host's predictable behavior.
The next contestant was a girl with deep turquoise eyes and black hair. She smiled serenely at the other contestants, and tried to keep her scowl to a minimum once she sighted Chris.
The host grinned mockingly at her, and asked, "Hello, Honey. Had a good trip?"
"Pleasant," the girl said, calmly, skipping to the seats without Chris needing to point them out for her. After all, it was quite obvious with the amount of people just sitting there, as disoriented as she was.
"And now, let's greet the last but not least contestant, Rebecca!"
The girl with curly blonde hair and brown eyes beamed at Chris and the contestants. She could hardly wait to start talking to everybody and make the best of this experience.
"Hello!" she exclaimed, with a bright grin, in a high pitched voice. "It's really nice to meet you all!"
"Take a seat, Rebecca," Chris instructed, and the girl did as told. "Now I'm sure you're thinking 'Is Chris mean enough to make us sleep here, on the street?'"
A couple of persons had things to say, but Chris silenced them with a hand.
"Answer is. Yeah, I'm probably mean enough to do so," he said. As soon as the contestants opened their mouth to protest, while some looked a little excited, he added, "But I can't do that. Can't afford a lawsuit."
That shut up the contestants and settled their worries just the tiniest bit. After all, when Chris didn't choose the nasty option, he went with the nastier option.
"Instead, you'll be sleeping at the Living Quarters, set up to accommodate both teams, along with a kitchen, bathrooms, all the luxury."
Some looked mildly surprised, some excited and some disbelieving. Mostly disbelieving. They had doubts about the standard of the luxury.
Quinn put her hand up. Chris rose and eyebrow and asked, slowly, "Yes, Quinn?"
"Are we getting sorted into teams right now?"
Chris's smirk widened.
"In fact… You get sorted into teams by completing a little, tiny challenge."
He got a few stares. Annoyed, worried, pissed off, bored, excited were along them.
"Oh, it's nothing big. The challenge is…"
"You'll have to get through the City, to the Living Quarters, guided by clues.
The arriving order will determine the teams.
If you don't get to the LQs… Well, harsh luck."
First up, truly sorry for the late updates. Second up, I hope everybody got a fair share of screen time. This is my first time writing using your characters, so please be tolerant with me and kindly tell me if I portrayed your character wrong, if you are not content with the amount of screen time, or if you have anything to add.
ON THE NEXT CHAPTER:
Cars, people, more cars, and people. But none that would guide the characters to the LQs. Why? Nobody actually knows where they are. Fun.
People throwing themselves over cars, threatening people, unmasking mysteries and searching for clues. Our contestants are sure sticking out of the crowd.
Who will be the first one arriving? What teams will there be? What happened to Alisha? Will Hunter ever come back with the hotdog, latte and aspirin?
Find out in the next chapter of Total Drama City.
brought to you by
AnnaLynn Rose and Winter Fay