Acknowledgements:

Hello readers of the Total Drama series on Fanfiction. Man, starting with a greeting like that sounds like something Chris McClain would say. Seems kinda cheesy. But hey, you gotta work with something when trying to greet readers in your author notes. Just a heads up; most of this page will be author's notes explaining the summary, changes, inspirations, etc that I had for the story from the time I thought of it up til now. The actual story will be posted separately, assuming I get around to it. This is just something I'm writing so I can get something related to this off my chest.

How I Got This Idea: It all started during the early days of late 2011 when I discovered this website. I don't remember how, but I came across an in-progress Total Drama story at the time, which is now complete btw, and it gave my idea for the story I'm planning. Hm, mention the author, mention the author, should, I should I mention the author? Eh, what the heck, the author whose story that planted the seeds of inspiration in my head is Akela Victoire for her Keepers of the Elements story. If anyone reading this has read that story I'll let you know now that my story won't be similar to Akela Victoire's in terms of the Winx Club vibe I was getting from reading it, no offense Akela. The only thing I can think of now that is similar to the KotE story is that there's more to Zeke than meets the eye and him having an ulterior motive for being voted out first in season one. Small spoiler I guess. The plotting of the story didn't really start until Revenge of the Island started airing.

Original Plot for Story: Okay, I've had many ideas on what, when, & where this story was going to go over the past year, I think it's just over a year now, and the past ideas almost differ from the original idea I had. See during the early months of 2012, I saw the trailer for the first Peter Jackson The Hobbit movie. And as one would think, I wanted to familiarize myself with the movie-verse so I watched the first three LotR movies. With the movies fresh in my mind, most of the plot was similar to them.

No matter how many times I changed the story the only thing that hasn't changed is it taking place after season 4. It immediately starts after the last episode where the hazmat guys at the end are really minions of the overall evil in the story. Chief Hatchet drives the boat back to the island when he sees the small yacht with the 22 original, plus the three introduced in season 3, being chased by demons back to said island. Once back on the island, two contestants reveal themselves as part of the inner circle of the great evil in the story, while two or three others, along with one of the island's residential creatures, and a certain cook reveal themselves as part of the forces of good that fights this evil. And yes, one of them is Zeke.

After a battle with the good guys managing to keep the bad guys at bay long enough for the rest of the TD cast and the host to get away, they find themselves in what appears to be a train car lounge inside a giant worm. After a brief back story about whats going on and some mingling among each other, the worm train drops the cast of in an underground city halfway between the surface and the Earth's core. During their short stay there, the majority of the cast start warming up to Chris after he reveals a tragic loss of a family member that happened during his youth, as well as the scars to the face he gained during the incident that caused the loss (They're hidden under the face we see him with in the show). He also apologizes for the torture he caused to the cast on the show because they were his way of acting out over the loss of his family member. Little known fact, Serria's to smart to talk about this info knowing how sensitive the subject is to Chris.

Next thing you know, the enemy forces attack the underground city and the cast retreats into a tunnel system that leads to the inner world known as the center of the Earth. The trip in the caves is similar to the Mines of Moria leg of the LotR journey with someone mimicking Gandalf's part at the end of it. After that the cast ends up in... I guess the best way to describe it is that the wilderness of the inner world will be the same as the middle earth one, and the cities and architecture will be like what we've seen in Asgard in the Thor marvel cinematic universe movie, just to give you a mental picture of the place. The cast ends up in the stories version of Rivendale and they find out how much of an influence the dark lord's evil had on the reality show.

Okay, I think at this point I'm starting to bore some of you with this section and to avoid that, I'll just say the rest of it played out similar to the LotR trilogy. friendships are formed, death occurs, one person becomes the Aragon of the story during the adventure and the rest is history.

Changes: Like I said before, I've come up with a few changes during the plotting. One would be adding Cody among the good guys that fights the evil, weither as part of the group with Chief, Zeke, and them. Or he's a solo act that's aware of Zeke's group but they aren't aware of him. The underground city would be changed to look like a city from Tron: Uprising; with a couple of people living there acting as Cody's version of Zed and Mara. Not familiar with Tron, you probably won't get it.

Another idea came to me when I was watching an episode of Young Justice. A good guy turns traitor, then kills off another. In reality; the good guy is actually deep undercover and the death of the other was faked. That gave me the idea to make the TxG breakup to the forming of DxG a ruse to make a certain someone recruit a Ms. CIT over to darkness. But of course, Courtney would be undercover. For this to work, our most handsome host would have to be involved with the good guys and talk to the two couples in between season 1 & 2. Explained things and convince them to help.

Now these changes haven't gotten anywhere past their settings so I can't really say I moved forward with them. However, I built upon my next idea for my current change to the story.

Current Story Plot/Ideas: I'd been listening to the Code Lyoko: A World Without Danger song on youtube a few times last summer and it got me thinking to add certain elements of the show to my story. The super computer, the return to the past, and the virtual world. The only differences are is that the virtual world will be like The Grid in the Tron movies, and the return to the past would only be used to return to the point when the super computer was last turned on. The only people who would remember the past world would be the programs in the virtual world and the people(not counting programs) who managed to make it to the safe zone in the V.W. before the function can activate. As time went on, the stuff in this paragraph would eventually become part of the back story in the overall plot. I haven't figured out the whole plot of the back story, but I do have the beginning and end figured out. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to get from beginning to end. I will say that the ending of the back story will lead to the main Total Drama continuity timeline (mainly up to the end of season 4). And the TD characters that will be in the back story are Cody and Gwen.

I've always thought those two could be really good friends. I know they're kinda friends in the show, but I was thinking the kind of friendship that doesn't involve him crushing on Gwen, and she not thinking of Cody as "an annoying little brother". So I thought the growing friendship would be put into the back story as well. Not sure if I should give too much away, but I will say the back story ending will somewhat explain why the two are acting like the way they are on the show with no mention of any past interaction whatsoever. Feel free to take a guess based on the info from this paragraph and the one before. Since I don't have the back story completely figured out, I'll just put mentions of it in the story and sort it out later if I can.

Oh and can someone clarify for me on where Cody's family stands in terms of wealth. On the Total Drama Wiki site in the Character Families page, in the trivia section, it says he come from a rich family while on the Total Drama Island contestants biographies page, on the same site, it says he's "an only child from the suburbs who's been spoiled all his life". I've seen a couple of stories here on FanFiction that, in one way or another, involve his family's state of wealth and I'd like to confirm this state of wealth so I can work it into my story better. You know, if he's living in a rich suburb somewhere in Canada I think I can make it work.

Anyway, enough with the back story. Time to move on to the real thing. As usual it starts out after season 4, this time Chris is hosting a TD Reunion at the island and all 38 contestants are being forced to attend (Chris: Hehe, gotta love contracts). Yeah, the majority of the contestants figure he's planning on roping them into a season 5. They're right, but it's not gonna happen. Too simplify, island gets attacked, secrets revealed, and the cast escape on a starship that looks like a cruise ship, but with thruster engines at the stern. If you haven't figured it out, the story will be a sci-fi/fantasy one.

Okay, I think that's enough of telling anyone who's reading this about how I want the plot to work out. The title of the story is based on a certain card game anime show I've watched. Another clue on what happens in the story. Now I want you to think about the number. The number. What comes to mind when you think about the number and how it relates to Total Drama?

While you're thinking about that, I'll talk about the other inspirations/ideas I had for this story. I recently got interested in the Starcraft video game series last month, just days before the latest game was released. After watching the walkthroughs on youtube, I decided to add elements from the franchise to the story. I'm also thinking of adding a Zeratul like OC in there as well. Anyone familiar with the game series will know what I'm talking about. As I thought of this, I was also thinking of making one of the new contestants of season 4 related to one of the original 22. I'll most likely make them cousins since I can't picture them living under the same roof together considering how one of them's been behaving since last time we saw him/her. I'll leave you to guess who the two are.

I also got interested in the Mass Effect video gome trilogy this month. And yes, after watching walkthroughs with close to the preferable choices I would've made, I'll be adding elements from that game series as well. Hm, I was considering using a similar ending to the game series for the story as well (Those of you familiar with Mass Effect should know what I'm talking about with choosing how you'd want the story to end). Then I thought; that wouldn't be very original would it.

Reasons Why I Haven't Started to Write Story: First of all, and I can't stress this enough, I'm lazy when it comes to putting thought on paper for fan fiction stuff. Yeesh, I already mentioned that in my profile page and my author's note of my first story post, I feel like I'm gonna mention that a lot when I start posting more stuff.

Another reason I haven't started writing it is because I don't think I can keep the Total Drama cast in character. I could leave out characters I probably won't use as much, or at all, but I wouldn't wanna leave anyone left out of the adventure. Also I don't think I can write very good action sequences. I mean I can imagine it in my head but I can't really put it on paper. Come on, I'm not the only one who has that problem right?

Lastly, I think it's the last, I haven't finished sorting out a few things in the story yet. As well as figure out who gonna be part of the... okay I'll stop right there cause I don't wanna spoil anything yet. Anyone who's figured out the meaning of the title might get what I'm talking about.

Conclusion: To end this incredibly long author's note, I've set up a sort of prologue explaining the history of the universe my TD fic hails from. It may shed some light to what's gonna happen in the story. Think of it like a voiceover that someone would do at the beginning of a movie. Or you could think of it as some sort of log entry. Hey that's the best description I can come up with here. Just read for yourself and tell me what you think okay. And now without further ado I present...

Total Drama 9D's

Prologue.

"Earth. Birthplace of the human race. That is what the earth-born of the planet believes. But they do not know that the history of their kind began long before their planet was even habitable.

"The stories tell of a Golden Age long ago, when humanity's civilization spanned the galaxy. Though their lifespan was short compared to most species, humanity was well-respected by the other races of the galaxy. It was a bright and hopeful time, but it didn't last.

"Something hit them, knocked them down and tried to stamp them out. No one knew exactly what, but we did know this: very few of them survived. And those that did owe their lives to The Draco, a serpent like entity charged with protection of the galaxy.

"Legends say that The Draco sacrificed itself to save not just humanity, but all life in the galaxy. For if the threat had spread to other races in the galaxy, who knows what would've happened. The years that followed the collapse of the Golden Age were hard for humanity. But with the help of a few sympathetic races, they slowly came together and built colonies on suitable worlds in the hopes that humanity could thrive one more. Soon they began to venture back into the wild, only to discover something completely unexpected.

"Strange, deadly, and unknown intergalactic races had occupied their old worlds, declaring war against humanity, trying to stamp them out for good. But still, no matter how small in numbers humanity had become since the Golden Age's collapse, they still held their own against the unclassified enemy. Soon, the war spread to the rest of the galaxy, and it became evident that the rest of us would have to choose a side to aid in battle. Some races like those of my ancestors chose to fight alongside the humans, forming the United Races of Allied Systems, while others, believing humanity's time had long past expired, chose to side with the unknowns, becoming the Exterminators of Species Long Overdue for Extinction.

"Soon the war, which the E.S.L.O.E. have since called The Eradication War, came to a secluded system in the galaxy. In that system both sides discovered a planet third from its sun that was home to billions of humans. Primitive humans that had no contact from beyond the stars. The U.R.A.S. chose to help the primitive humans of the planet, advancing their cultures, architecture, their way of life, slowly but surely, forward into the future. Meanwhile, the E.S.L.O.E. did what they could to stop them at every turn. Realizing the planet, now dubbed Earth, was at risk of being destroyed in the war, U.R.A.S. managed to lead the E.S.L.O.E. forces away from the system all together. But it would not be long until both sides realized the other left a small force behind to watch over the inhabitants of Earth. Our presence on that planet would soon fade into the inhabitants' myths and legends.

"Time had passed and The Eradication War came to a halt with no side either winning or losing. A cautious truce was created between the leaders of both sides and everyone began the process of rebuilding their claimed territories. As for the Earth, it's system was declared neutral territory with both sides free to come and go as they please, as long as they never interfered with each other or the people of Earth.

"Too this day, the uneasy truce still stands, but questions still remain. What caused the near extinction of humanity? How powerful was it that it forced The Draco to sacrifice itself? Where did the newcomers of the galaxy come from? These questions and more have yet to be answered, but I feel that we may find them very soon. And when we do, I fear we may regret searching for them.

"Something moves within the shadows of the void unseen, I've sensed it. Whispers of a nameless fear grow with each passing day. Some say the end is coming, I believe they're right. Whatever hides within the darkness of the void, I feel it is somehow responsible for the collapse of the Golden Age, the Eradication War, and everything since then. I know not of what it seeks to accomplish I only know that it must be stopped. That is why I seek the gifts left behind by The Draco.

"When The Draco sacrificed itself, it separated its essence into 9 pieces and scattered them across the cosmos in search of beings capable of wielding the power within each fragment so that should the time come, the galaxy would still be protected, either by the chosen or their descendants. It is the descendants of the chosen that I must find if the galaxy has a chance to survive the coming storm. In a sense, I have only found one after my long years of searching. Time is running out. I sense the evil within the void growing stronger each day. I fear I may not find the others in time, even with the help I've found.

"The great battle of our time is about to begin..."

Well there it is, the beginning of my story. As I've said before, and possibly multiple times in the future, it's gonna be awhile before I even think about starting the first official chapter, so I figured there'd be no harm in spoiling some of the story. Just hope this will have to do. Don't forget to review.