Chapter One

To say the bus was crowded would have been an understatement. Even when using his bag as a barricade, Cho was still squished, prodded, and just generally uncomfortable. Television equipment was littered everywhere. Every bump of the road sent a camera or mic into his face. He was surprised he hadn't gotten a black eye or any sort of bruise yet with as many times as that has happened. And if that wasn't bad enough, the people definitely made worse. The filming crew was also on the bus and refused to remain seated. There were always at least five people in the aisle of the short bus, risking the extremely bumpy road. A couple times Cho had someone sitting on his lap.

'I figured they would have at least had the contestants be on a separate bus than the crew,' he thought to himself as he remained pinned between the window and his bag.

When he had signed up for the show, this was not what had had been expecting. He had caught glimpses of some of the seasons of Total Drama and The Ridonculous Race, and while it wasn't always first class, their accommodations seemed a lot more… accommodating than this. A sudden bump and elbow to his face made Cho begin to regret signing up for the show. As soon as he saw the rundown bus pull up in front of his house, he should have refused down right. Was the prize really worth getting a concussion from some dude named Sal?

Cho went to look out the window at the sad excuse for scenery – nothing but flat farmland – waves of honey-coloured hair instead blocked his view. Surprised, Cho jumped a bit where he sat, almost head-butting the girl hovering over the seat directly above him. He quickly instead shifted and looked up at the girl. The caramel-skinned girl was smiling at him with a kind, gentle smile.

"Hi," she said, giving him a slight wave. "You're also a contestant, right? I thought I would say 'hi' and introduce myself."

"Hey?" he said. "How long have you been there?"

He didn't feel like he was being watched all that much. But the way the girl was standing there, she looked like she had been there a while.

"Long enough to see you take an elbow to the face. Don't worry, I've had it happen to me three times in the past half-hour," she said. Without much more of a word on that, she extended her hand to Cho. "My name's Monica Gomez, though you can call me Moe."

Cho let out a little sigh. He hadn't really wanted people to see him like that. It wasn't really all that cool. But it seemed like he wasn't alone on that ship, so he didn't feel all too embarrassed. And at least this "Moe" seemed nice enough. It was a bit refreshing compared to all the rushing, but silent crew members and interns. He grasped her hand and gave it an awkward shake.

"My name's Chieko Matsuoka," he said.

"Chieko? That's a bit… girly," Moe said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well blame my parents," he said, trying to brush it off but failing. "My friends call me Cho."

"Well, Cho it's nice to meet ya'," she said.

"Could you guys just shut up?" a voice snapped from behind both of them.

Moe turned around and Cho popped his head up. A couple seats behind Moe sat a guy slouching in his seat; arms crossed over his chest and his head tucked down. If looks could kill, he would have been a mass murderer. His blue eyes were sending everyone who looked in his direction the death glare, especially Moe and Cho. To add to the intimidation, have of his fiery orange hair was shaved off, leaving only orangey stumble along the left side of his head. The rest of his hair fell along his head down to his shoulder, making him look rebellious, or at least a type of rebellious cliché.

"You guys don't even know if you're going to be on the same team or not, so why are you guys being so friendly to each other," he said. "You guys right now are competition until told otherwise. It's stupid to be friends with your competition."

Moe just cocked her mouth to the side and rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to Cho. However Cho looked put-off. He was frowning and raised his eyebrows in an inquisitive manner.

"Why not?" Cho asked. "Why can't you be friendly to your competition?"

"Heh," the guy chuckled. "Have you ever seen one of these shows before? Do you know how they work? Oh well, that's okay. You'll end up leaving sooner than later with that prerogative."

Cho bit his lip, holding back comebacks. It was probably for the best anyhow, as Cho was never the best at being sarcastic and making quick snippet retorts. And as Cho thought this, Moe ended up speaking instead.

"Just ignore him," she said. "It isn't worth our energy to retaliate. Don't let him faze you."

"I'm not fazed," Cho quickly said.

"Yeah, yeah," the orange-haired fellow said with a heavy-handed sarcastic tone. "And I'm the Queen of England."

"Just shut it already," said another voice.

This time attention turned across the aisle towards the front of the bus. The girl was slouching a bit, but the others were still able to make out a bit of her from her side. Her long brown hair was pulled out away from her face, revealing a picturesque profile. She continued to look forward and pout; her expression didn't waver as people stared at her.

"No one wants to listen to your stupid fight," she said, putting emphasis and drawing out her last word, similar to those overly-stupid preppy girls you would see on TV.

Moe looked down at Cho and shrugged, sitting back down in her seat. Before doing so though, he caught the quick but meaningful smile she gave him before disappearing in the seat behind him. Cho sighed and slouched. At least he didn't have to deal with that guy anymore. He could hear a huff from a few seats behind him. The guy must have been upset about the girl telling him to shut-up. Thankfully he listened as Cho didn't hear more than that huff from him. The girl seemed pleased with herself and situated herself back in her seat, staring forward.

Maybe the rest of the contestants are like Moe and are friendly, Cho hoped. Though he knew he would only be holding his breath wishing for that to happen.

Sorry this took so long. With the holidays and work happening, I've been swamped. I'll try to at least update every other week. I should be able to do at least that. Chieko – or Cho as it was – was created by soapsuds153, Moe by shianen, and the other two unnamed – for now – characters were by me. It was only a peak at the characters to be featured in the story. Unlike many other Total Drama stories, I don't want to rush into introducing the characters, like with an "introductory episode"-type of thing. While I won't be spreading out character introductions over a multitude of characters, I want to give the characters, well, some character. More characters will be introduced next chapter.

To all of my Americans, happy Fourth of July. And to all my other readers, have a nice day and see you next chapter.