And we're back! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this story and I will update it whenever I can. But for now, enjoy the chapter.
The teens followed Chris inside of the manor, the foyer was moderately large. A large organ was between two sets of stairs leading to the second floor. However, what caught everyone's attention the most were two large portraits hung on the wall above the organ, they were of a man and woman, the names of the portraits were "HIM" and "HER" written in all capital letters and looked like they had been scratched into the nameplates.
"HIM" was of a man who wore a classic suit from the 1900's, he had brown hair, light green eyes, and a confident smile.
"HER" was of a young woman from around the same time period. Her hair was also brown, her eyes were sky blue, she looked ominously beautiful...
Chef entered the room, immediately seeing a problem.
"I thought we were supposed to have twenty-two kids this season?"
"We were." Chris answered, referring to January and Karlene. "I need you to call the network while I show them around."
Chef nodded his head and went into one of the rooms that Chris and Chef were using as their office. An intern brought out a board with the map of the manor. The map showed the interior of the manor and the surrounding areas connected to the manor.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Rosewood Manor. This manor has five floors, not including two basement floors and an attic. Follow me to our next destination." Chris explained. The teens followed Chris, except for Shawn, who seemed to notice something change in the paintings.
From the corner of his eye, both paintings now had a pitch black background as opposed to the normal light brown. The eyes of both paintings were pitch black and their skin went pale white. "HIM" now had a disturbingly wide smile showing his teeth. "HER" had a widened smile as well, though she seemed to have a slash going from her left eye to her now wide smile, though she didn't show any teeth, her hair was now black and wild.
Karlene and Andi noticed Shawn's trance and snapped him back to reality.
"Hey, don't get lost now!" Andi said.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want to get lost on the first day!" Karlene added.
The three of them went to go catch up with the others.
Chris brought everyone over to a train station that was shockingly part of the building!
"This is the manor's official train station, part of this nation's very first railroad system! But since trains have advanced a lot since those times, this subway now uses electric trains." Chris explained.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Edward asked.
"I was getting to that. This is where this season's eliminations will take place, you'll cast your votes inside of the ticket booth, if you're safe then you'll receive a marshmallow. But if you end up with the highest amount of votes, you'll be eliminated and will receive the train ticket to Train of Shame." Chris finished.
"So what are you gonna do about the teams, Chris? Or are you gonna do what you did last season and have one of us booted off before the teams are chosen?" Jason asked.
"I'll let you know once the tour is finished, now follow me." Chris answered.
Chris first brought the group into the library, which was lined with books and almost every wall of the massive room, the library itself was full of books of differing genres, categories, editions, dates, and there even appeared to be comic books and Japanese manga!
"Welcome to a bookworm's dream come true. This library is massive and full of books from around the world in several languages. We'll be visiting this room a few times throughout the game, but during any free time, you're welcome to stay here and get a good book to read." Chris explained.
The library was the first thing so far that seemed to actually interest Chelsea.
Chris brought everyone over to the halls next, it was here that an important question arose.
"Um, hey Chris, what are we gonna do about the bedrooms?" David asked. "Is there one for each of us or..."
"I was waiting for someone to bring that up. There are indeed enough beds for everyone, however, there aren't enough bedrooms. So each of you will have a roommate unless directly told otherwise. This floor specifically will be for the boys, the floor above us is for the ladies." Chris explained.
"Why do the guys have the lower floor?" Hester asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, why not have them be for both genders?" Cherry added.
"Do you want one of the guys snooping into one of your rooms at night?" Chris asked. Hester glanced at the guys and then back at Chris.
"Good point..." Hester replied.
"But don't worry guys, I'm not an idiot. If anybody goes into the wrong dorms without clearance, they will be punished for it, regardless of gender! Do I make myself clear?" Chris asked, everybody nodded in understanding. "Good, now let's move on."
The next destination was a garden in the backyard of the manor. The entire backyard was about the size of an acre. One section of the acre was crops that Chef would be using to cook with, another portion was a garden was for flowers which littered the garden with a multitude of colors and differing varieties, there was even a hedge maze that took up a good portion of the garden as well! Strangely though, there seemed to be a path leading from the garden and into the woods...
Nobody seems to notice the path though, they were all in awe at the garden, which now had an orange glow about it thanks to the orange sky brought by the setting sun.
"Woah..." Santiago said, admiring the view.
"Man, look at this place!" Felicity added, taking a deep breath and enjoying both the view ND the fresh air.
"Tres magnifique!" Nanette said in awe.
"I am so drawing this later!" Charlotte noted, trying to get a mental image of the backyard.
Chris blew an airhorn to get everyone's attention.
"You can admire the view later. This is the backyard, as you can see, it's a big place, so any challenges that require extreme physical activity will be done out here. If you ruin any of the crops, you'll have to deal with Chef and everyone else for spoiling their food. Now let's keep moving."
Meanwhile, Chef was calling the network executives about January and Karlene gate crashing.
"Uh-huh... nah, he'll enjoy them being here... hehe, yeah I'll enjoy breaking them... alright, thank you."
Chris brought the group over to the dining room, which had to tables set up for the two teams. There was also an opening in the wall revealing Chef in the kitchen, he seemed to be beginning to prepare something. Chris approached him and the two whispered to each other.
"So what did they say?" Chris asked.
"They're cool with the two girls staying, more kids for you to mess with and more slop I can make to make em' hurl!" Chef replied.
"Nice!" Chris whispered. He turned back to the contestants. "Good news! January, Karlene, you're welcome to stay."
The two girls squealed with glee and went into a group hug with Nanette, who cheered with them.
"Now this is the mess hall, you'll have all of your meals here, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now there's another thing that I need to mention, in the past seasons, the confessional cam has usually been in an outhouse. But since the bathrooms in this manor are a bit too big, you'll be using the supply closet on the second floor. It's right between both of the staircases, you can't miss it."
*confessionals*
Chelsea: Can we just get to the challenge so I can go home already? I never wanted to be here, my parents just made me send in an application to "get me off the computer because it's unhealthy". The library does seem kind of cool though.
Jason: Nice place! Something isn't right though, this place just looks too perfect.
Nanette: Honestly I'm glad to have my best friends competing but, what would happen if we were to all make it to the merge? I don't want our friendship ending because of this game.
Felicity: I am so pumped to start this game! I saw the season's before this, if ordinary people like Chuck, Owen, Zoey, Sky and Asuka can get far in the game, how far far do you think my sister and I can go?
Toshiko: After last season, my brother Kenji and I immediately sent in an application when we found out there would be a new season. What I didn't anticipate though was Kaz also sending in an application, and smuggling in the girls. He's up to something...
January & Karlene: Karlene: EEEEEE! Chris said we can stay!
January: I know! This is so awesome!
Both: EEEEEEEEEE!
*end confessionals*
"Now that we've got everything settled, I think it's for the teams to be decided. During the tour our interns have written all of your names on both silver and bronze pieces of paper. These papers will be selected randomly."
An intern handed Chris a shoe box with several silver and bronze pieces of paper inside of it. Chris picked out twelve of each color.
"Ok, if I call your name, stand at the table to my left."
"Andrew."
"Chelsea."
"Hester."
"Emma."
"Karlene."
"Nanette."
"Clara."
"Kazuki."
"Edward."
"Adrian."
"And Shawn."
The teens all went to their respective tables, some were more hesitant than others to go to the tables since they were separated by either friends or family.
"What?! Why can't Emma and I be on the same team!" Felicity argued.
"And why can't I be with Nanette and Karlene?" January added.
"Hey, it's random selection, I don't decide the teams. Speaking of which, the twelve of you that I called from this moment will be part of, The Bronze Bats!" Chris announced, Chef tossed Kaz and Edward a tablecloth that was bronze in color, they opened it up to reveal a bronze bronze colored silhouette of a bat in a circle.
"As for the other team, you twelve will be known as, The Silver Scorpions!" An intern tossed Kenji and Santiago a silver tablecloth that had a silhouette of a scorpion on it.
"Scorpions?" Kenji asked. "Sweet."
"Like your team name? Good. Now about your dorms. Like I said, you'll be dorming with someone, draw a number and you'll meet your roommate if you have consecutive numbers like one and two. However, if a boy and girl get consecutive numbers, they can't dorm together and will be split up." Chris explained.
"Aww, come on Chris, we may be teens but were not like that!" Cherry giggled, everyone was silent for a moment before Chris spoke up.
"O...kay? Guys, you can go first."
David, Andrew, and Santiago sent to go get the first pick, shoving each other. Edward sighed and drew the first pick, getting number 4. Kazuki went next and got 3.
"Looks like we got our first roomies!" Chris announced. Kaz and Edward gave each other a suspicious look...
Andrew, Adrian, and Shawn got 7, 5, and 1 respectively.
Everyone continued to draw their numbers until everyone was paired up.
"Alright looks like everyone has a roommate, let me just jot this down... Ok, so the pairs are Kaz and Eddie, Shawn and David, Adrian and Josh, Andrew and Kenji, Jason and Santiago, Brian and Ben, Cherry and Emma, Chelsea and Andi, Felicity and January, Hester and Karlene, Nanette and Charlotte, and finally Toshiko and Clara. Any questions, objections, etcetera?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, can I be put on the same team as my best friends?" January asked.
"Nothing important to say? Good! Now last season I had an elimination on the first day, but I've decided to give you all a break since it's your first day. You're free to explore the manor and get settled in, dinner will be ready in about an hour. But don't rest easy, there will be a challenge an elimination starting tomorrow. Until then." Chris explained, the teens then dispersed.
*confessionals*
Karlene: This might sound mean but... Hester kind of freaks me out. It's not because of her piercings or clothes... Ok maybe just a little but people and things that are goth just seem to unsettle me...
Kazuki: Edward could prove to be an... interesting roommate. He hasn't said much since he arrived, knowing this show and the sort of people that have acted the same way like Drake and Scarlett, I feel like he's up to something.
Ben: I gotta be careful around my roommate, I'm trying to think of a strategy to win and I can't let him mess it up.
Cherry: I can't wait to get to know my new roommate, Emma's super shy so I'm hoping to bring her her out of her shell a bit.
Kenji: I'm kind of relieved that I won't be dorming with Kaz, I fell sorry for Eddie though...
Chelsea: So I get to spend an entire day here before I can get booted off, super... At least I can see the library.
Toshiko: Clara seems nice enough, she should be a nice roommate. But with my brother Kazuki on the show, I can only expect trouble.
*end confessionals*
Chris waited until everyone left the dining hall to sign off.
"With everyone now growing accustomed to the manor and getting a roommate, the game can begin. Tomorrow, the two teams will face off in their first challenge, which team will win the first challenge and which one will send someone home? Find out on the next episode of Total Drama Rosewood Manor!"
Hours later in the middle of the night, everyone was fast asleep. However, the organ in the foyer was playing on its own, the melody was somber, low, and depressing. On the third floor, Andi walked out of her room, careful not to wake Chelsea or anyone else up. She was still a bit drowsy as she made her way to the bathroom.
As she went back to her room after doing her business, she noticed that there seemed to be a person standing by the stairs, she couldn't make out the body shape but the person's head was pure white. It looked at her, which scared her almost completely awake. The face of the person was completely white except for its eyes and mouth, which were pitch black. The figures eye sockets lacked pupils and it's mouth was in a wide grin, mirroring the face Shawn saw hours before.
Andi shook her head and rubbed her eyes, thinking it must be her eyes playing tricks on her. She looked back at where the figure was but there was nothing there...
'Hmph, I must be more tired than I thought.' Andi thought to herself as she headed back into her room.
So what do you think of the teams and dorms? And what's up with the manor? You'll have to read on to find the answer to that question. Thanks for reading.
