Good things come to those who least expect it
Or at least, that's what most people claim.
The McLean Manor was truly something to behold for anyone who came across. Situated in one of Ontario's gated communities, it served as the residence for some of Canada's most richest families. The McLean's. Namely, Chris, his wife Cassandra, and their daughter Christmas who was often just nicknamed 'Chrissie'. While the outside of the manor resembled something of a neo-classical government building, the inside of the manor resembled a truly luxurious home. All of the furniture was meticulously designed by professionals, the staff of the family dusted and polished 24/7 with both a day staff and a night staff. The opening room had no carpet, only finely cleaned tiled floors and expensive luxury rugs.
You might remember Chris McLean's name from the television series 'Total Drama', and you'd be right. He was and is the main host of the series, which spawned six seasons and a spin-off series due to how successful it was across Canada. For many, it was a simple, campy reality show which humiliated teenagers from across the country in various ways. However, in truth, there was a secret behind the series. A secret which only now, after the Pahkitew Island season, was going to come out.
Chris McLean himself, a man of 30 with waving black hair and beady eyes, could and did not have any idea what was in store for himself as he returned home after spending a short vacation in New York, USA. As such, it was all that was on his mind as he parked his fancy luxury car and made his way for the front door of his home:
"Cassie didn't sound happy when she told me to get back home ASAP", he thought to himself, "Not happy at all."
Then he lightly laughed.
"Then again, that woman ain't ever happy half the time."
Most would have thought that Chris would feel happiness returning to his luxury home, but in truth not long after that short laugh the feeling of dread returned to his face just as he reached the 'welcome' mat on the front door and wiped his feet on it:
"I know when I open this door I'm either gonna to have fire breath down my neck or be told by Chrissie what she wants me to buy her for the week. And those women wonder why I wanted to have a cottage all to myself so badly."
He then let out a sigh as he put his hand on the doorknob, unlocking it before he slowly began opening it - as if to not make much noise.
"Can't delay this forever."
With that final thought he took one deep breathe and did his best to return his voice to it's usual 'surfer dude' casual demeanor with the first things he said once he was actually in the first room of the residence:
"Cassandra! Chrissie! I'm home!"
"Finally", and there she was: Cassandra McLean, strutting down the stairs towards Chris. Her black hair tied into a bun style glistened under the elegant lighting right along with her golden jewelry. Her rich egyptian blue formal dress both showed off her beautiful figure well and moved along with her legs and hips, though she stopped about half of the way down the stairs as if to purposefully remain looking down at Chris as she continued her speaking, "I have been waiting for you all day! What took you so long?", she continued as she went down the stairs to face her husband.
"I was in New York", as he approached the stairs Chris himself wasintimidated by her as he layed eyes upon the look on her face - one that was not pleased.
"You could have been faster than that. New York is not that far from Toronto! Or were you being lazy?"
"Have you seen the-"
"I am not done talking."
"S-sorry, Cassandra.," Chris spoke weakly,something common in their relationship.
"It's no matter, I have more important things to do than remind you to do what I say when I say it. Follow me. There is a Total Drama staff meeting, and it is of up most importance that you take part in it."
"Then why are you dressed like that...honey?"
"Because I have a certain campaign fundraiser to be held right after the meeting", she stated for him as she put on a pair of elbow-length blue gloves handed to her freshly washed by a home staff member, "Now of course one of the idiotic interns just had to make me spill wine on my gloves. But don't worry, the punishment is coming as we speak. That's why I didn't call you earlier."
By that point both McLeans were walking back up the flight of stairs. There was no hug to welcome each other, no kissing, no sign of affection at all. One might wonder why that is, but for the McLeans it was usual.
"Yes, I remember that...and what is this meeting about?"
"I was getting to that you dolt", Cassandra snapped at him, making him flinch, "It's about the latest Season of Total Drama that we're going to have. Unless, you want to be replaced by someone else, which with my authority over you, I could always do."
"N-n-no, Anything but that!"
"That's what I thought."
It was with those words that they had made it up the stairs and on their way to the upstairs dining room of the manor. Some would question why a manor would have two separate dining rooms, but that's just how it's nearly always been in the McLean household at times. To be fair, however, the upstairs dining room was more often than not used for Total Drama staff meetings between the Producers - which included Cassandra - and sometimes the hosts rather than actual family dining. When Chris and Cassandra entered the room they were face to face with none other than Chef Hatchet and the two other producers - Ejiri Misato and Thomas Pertchgill.
Ejiri Misato was a woman with a cold demeanor to herself from the very moment one saw her. A Japanese immigrant, she almost always dressed like a typical beaurecratic businesswoman, and sported a grey streak in her black hair as well as glasses. Her hair was usually in a fancy ponytail fashion whenever it wasn't down, like it was at this very meeting itself.
Thomas John Pertchgill was the only male producer, and had a similar fashion sense to that of Ejiri, wearing predominantly bureaucratic business attire. He sported green eyes, though had a completely bald head that at times glistened when sunlight touched down upon it. He was at least the same age as Chris, or perhaps but a few years older. Either way, he was less intimidating than Ejiri though still could send shivers down one's spine due to his famously deep voice that sent shivers down Chris' spine each time he heard it.
The other person in the room, Chef Hatchet - first name undisclosed - was an intimidating African-canadian man with a very large and muscular physique by comparison to that of either McLean or even the other producers. He sported a mustache and a soul patch, though otherwise was bald. Along with the other two he looked right at both Chris and Cassandra the moment they entered the room.
"Chris. Cassandra", Thomas said, "Glad you finally arrived."
"Yes", Cassandra took her seat at the front of the table and her husband right next to Chef, "Well you know how Chris is. He always has to be fashionably late."
"New York Traf-"
Chris' complaint was stopped by nothing short of a cold stare from Cassandra. It was enough to send yet another shiver down the man's spine, but also get him to immediately stop saying what it was he was going to say. This allowed Cassandra to get to the core of what she wanted to discuss during this staff meeting:
"We're not here to discuss who's late and who isn't. We're here to discuss the next season of Total Drama."
The others silently nodded as she spoke those words.
"Now, as you also know, the All-Star season was...something we'd rather forget.", they nodded a bit more in response to that except for Chris, "We might have liked it, but our viewer base and the Network had a much different idea. Even Pahkitew, though more well received, did not fare as well as we had hoped. Now, I, after all we have worked to achieve over the years of making this show, am not going to let all of our plans to go to waste."
"Then what are we gonna do?", Chef questioned, "We've pretty much done every possible theme we can!"
"Simple", Cassandra bluntly spoke, "We're going to back to square one."
"Square one?", Ejiri questioned, "Is that a good idea? All-Stars went back to Square One!"
"Though", Thomas said, "An underwater season would be interesting."
"Though that is an idea", Cassandra admitted as she continued, "That is not what I'm proposing. As you all know, I am running in the Prime Minister elections this year, and I am every much expecting a clean victory."
"So we're doing an election season?"
"No.", Cassandra gave Chris a cold scowl that made him shudder in response to his sudden speaking, "We're going to do what Total Drama was originally intended to do.", Ejiri and Thomas nodded, they clearly knew from the start what Cassandra was talking about, while the likes of Chris and Chef were more than confused. Cassandra seemed to see this on their faces when she turned to them, and with a seemingly kind smile this time, she said to them: "Do not worry about it, you two. You will understand once you are done with the first episode. Your job is to find us an island. Preferably one as isolated from the coastline as possible. We will handle everything else."
"Alright...but, I got a weird feeling about this", was Chef's response to that.
"I know you do. But it's only because you don't know what we have planned. Don't worry. You just focus on finding the perfect setting for us, and we'll supply the contestants. In the meantime, I have an election to win aswell. Once I have won, this season will begin."
"Why is that important?", Chef asked, "Why would you need to be P.M. just for this season to happen?"
"Once more", Cassandra reiterated, "You both will learn the answer to everything in due time. You two just go and find the island for us to use in this season, and I will handle all of the other arrangements."
"That's it?", Chef spoke back, "You called me at 3 in the morning for a meeting and that's all I'm needed for?"
"Yes", Cassandra was less friendly in tone now, "We just needed you two to know about your latest job. Me, Ejiri and Thomas need to discuss the rest of this season amongst ourselves. It's going to be, simply put, the most important season of the series thus far. Therefore, I would suggest you two not bother responding to me and just go out and do as I say already. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Ma'am!", both Chris and Chef said that in unison with each other, supplying Cassandra with a salute. She then pointed directly to the door of the room, and the two wasted no time in doing as she said in marching out of the door and back out into the hallway which preceded it. Once the door closed, they could only vaguely hear what Cassandra, Ejiri and Thomas were talking about behind it. The two continued on to begin walking down the hallway back towards the stairs as they of course, began discussing what they had just taken part of with intense curiosity:
"What was that all about?", Chris asked first, breaking the brief silence, "They always let us on in on the full plans for the seasons!"
"This must be something big. They wouldn't be so secretive otherwise."
"Yeah, you're tellin' me. What I'm wondering though dude, is how are we gonna find the island?"
"We could just bring Wawanakwa back up from the ocean!"
"No no no", Chris failed to understand he was joking and took Chef seriously, "We need to find a new island. Do you think we can use Pahkitew Island again?"
"No", Chef replied, "The current P.M. had to close it off due to complaints from the citizens worried about a robot take over after watching an episode of some cartoon about a bunch of underwater talking animals."
"Oh, yeah, right", Chris was clearly annoyed, "Then where are we gonna take the Total Drama Island train to this time?"
"Well", Chef then took out a map of Canada which he had in his pockets, it was in-depth enough to actually lay out every single solitary individual island in both Canada and Alaska, "We could use that island out in B.C. that makes Wawanakwa look like your old cottage."
"No no no", Chris wasted little time in saying back, "Remember, that one's reserved for the final season of the show!"
"Well", and then Chef scanned the map again to look for other potential locations as the two were now walking down the stairs into the front room of the manor, "How about some place in Alaska?"
"I dunno, we've never done an island season outside of Canada before."
"But, we've done a season outside of Canada before. Even if we came back."
"True, but, I'd have to run it through Cassandra first. Besides, those islands might be too small or something. I think we need something in either the West Coast or the East Coast, or even in the Hudson, that fits the quota Cassandra set for us."
"Hmm...well, she wants it far from the coast", and as Chef took his next look at the map they were by then walking out of the front door and towards Chris' luxury car, "I got it!"
"You do?", Chris had just opened the door to his car, "What is it?"
"They call it", and as they stepped into the car and Chef still held the map, Chef built up a level of suspense up to the point in which both were seated in the car and he finally revealed the name of the island as: "Pomewin Island."
"Pomewin Island?", Chris raised a brow as he started his car to begin driving back the way he came, "What's that mean?"
"It's Cree for Despair."
"Oh...I like it. It's fitting, considering what we do to these kids on a regular basis."
"Exactly."
Once that word was spoken, the two co-hosts shared a laugh together as Chris drove off with Chef, most likely to locate the island, scope it out, and set up shop there - so to speak. As they did so, Cassandra watched them from above, the windows of the meeting room overlooking the front yard of the manor thus giving her a view of her husband and his trusty sidekick leaving the manor off to find the island. A smirk on her face grew as she turned back to Ejiri and Thomas, who had pulled out a blackboard so that they could put down all of the contestants planned to be involved in the season. With her smirk still upon her face, Cassandra looked directly at the blackboard. On it were code-names for all the contestants to be involved in the upcoming season, what they had picked were the 'perfect' ones to be brought back. All of it written in white coloured chalk, Cassandra examined all of the contestants carefully, her smirk turning into something more of a grin as she mentally repeated all of the labels they had went over:
Geek
Punk
Queen
Stalker
Spaniard
Clones
Eye Candy
Guitarist
Idiot
Idiot's Friend
Dumb Jock
C.I.T.
Goth Girl
Short Temper
Party Boy
Surfer Girl
Snarker
Dweeb
Bunny Lover
Psycho H.B.
Fat F-k
Hairspray
MPD
Dirt
Bland
Greenhorn
Jockette
Sha-noying
Bubble Boy
Chatterbox
Silent
Hippie
Clean Freak
Gymnast
Zombies
Giantess
Wannabe
Superior Twin
Inferior Twin
Boo Boo
Soundbox
Wizard
Country
Viking
Cynic
Stepbrothers
Haters
Dreamer
Vampires
Child
"So", Thomas broke the moment of silence once he was certain Cassandra had finished looking over all of the names, "Are you sure that is all of the ones we need?"
"Yes", Cassandra commented, "I'm positive that our experiment will run the best with this selection of our little rats", she then chuckled at her own analogy, "Soon we will know which one of them will be...perfect."
"Well then", Misato then spoke up, "How are we going to go about bringing all of these kids to us? I don't expect them to just willingly agree to sign up for another season no matter how much we bribe or coax them."
"True, but I've already thought of that", Cassandra then put her hands together and continued her series of devilish smirks, "They will have no choice but to participate."
"But", Misato pined, "The contracts."
"We won't need the contracts", Cassandra clarified, "Not by the time I'm in control of the season. Once Hale gets over his cold I'll tell him that he can be the one to oversee the conscription.", she was of course speaking of a fourth member of the Producers to the show, one which was unable to show up for the meeting this time around, "Once he has them all ready and I'm elected, we're good to go."
"How long will that all take?", Thomas pined, raising an eyebrow.,
"All but a few months", Cassandra assured him, "Do not fret, perfection takes time. In due time, everything will be going according to plan."
It is unfortunate how right Cassandra was in that regard. Indeed, the whole thing seemed to happen so quickly. It was very easy for the government to lend the underpopulated island out to Chris and Chef due to being, plain and simple, an unpopulated island that had no real natural resources on it for the Pre-Cassandra government to care about. Speaking of which, Cassandra was successful in the election for Prime Minister. She was able to easily gain support of the people through a mix of foreign donations into the 'McLean Foundation' for bribes, and her liberal views and values - even though most of it being very possibly a façade - was able to sway the hearts and minds of the Canadian people into voting her to office. The Monarch and Governor-General of Canada also had no qualms against her rise to power, with the mainstream media giving her unprecedented support against her opponents, though the details surrounding her rise to power are better left told somewhere else. The point is, she rose to power, and once she had that power she was able to get the RCMP to ignore the missing person reports from the various parents of the latest season's contestants when they awoke the next morning to find either their children missing from their rooms, or never pick up any of their calls to their homes depending on the living situation.
For all of them, it was a situation of 'like it or not', for the true face of Total Drama was going to show itself regardless of how they felt about their situation.
It was not going to be a pretty face to look at.