The mighty oceans of Earth, places that had barely been observed by humans, despite how much people had thought they knew already, they truly were magnificent. A massive submarine dove down through the waters of the Atlantic, hardly stopping to allow its many passengers to observe the strange, nautical sights that surrounded them. This submarine had a set destination in mind: the lost city of Atlantis, which had accidentally been discovered by Chris McLean, Chef Hatchet, and twenty-five crazy kids that were onboard the space station with them. Within the space station itself sat those very teenagers, from last seasons competitors to the three interns that they had seen a few times: Amelia, Bonnie, and Zachary, every single person wearing a diving suit to obscure their appearance. Chef was piloting the submarine, of course, while Chris stood in the center of the submarine, taking roll call with a clipboard. Out of one of the windows, there seemed to be someone staring in at them, someone wearing a diving suit. Nobody noticed this person, of course, except for Bonnie, whose boy senses had started tingling. She glanced at the window, but as soon as she did, the observer had disappeared from sight. She shrugged it off before being struck in the head by Chris's clipboard, which he had tossed randomly, not caring where it went.
"Last season, on Total Drama," the host spoke with the same bravado and cockiness that he usually had about him, "Twenty-two contestants found themselves on board the one and only Chris space station, a beautiful place that was crafted by Starshine Industries as an apology for tasing me on live television! I think I deserved a little more than that, but I guess it makes up for some of the emotional damage I suffered. It was by far the most ridiculous and crazy season we've had yet, from having to deal with a jerkbag who was in love with himself, to a dude whose only priority was making bank, to a literal assassin that tried to murder me!"
"I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling Flint," Thomas commented as he shot a glare to Flint, who shivered in response.
"You damn near killed me last season," Flint shouted back at him, "Can't you just leave me alone already!?"
"Boys, boys, settle down," Chris continued, patting the two of them on the shoulders, though they still glared at each other, "In the end of it all, Gretchen was the one who proved that she has what it takes to bring home a prize as grand as five million big ones, winning in the finale against Archie, who put up just as much of a fight as she did. After that was all settled and over with, the space station was miraculously struck by an asteroid, which caused us to come crashing back to Earth, specifically to Atlantis, the lost city that has been told of for so long. Now, after striking up a deal with Poseidon of Olympus TV, we're on our way back down there for a season that'll surely top the last one! Everyone...welcome, to Total Drama: Lost City!"
The camera hovered over an ocean, quickly descending beneath the water and happening upon Atlantis, zooming in on the wreck of the Chris space station, where the host himself was on his knees, sad that there was an asteroid in his face, while Poseidon patted him on the shoulder and Amphitrite sighed in annoyance. Bonnie stood nearby ogling a mysterious boy who was climbing on the station, going unnoticed by the adults.
"Dear mom and dad I'm doing fine," the camera quickly shifted over to the carnival zone in Atlantis, showing Natt and Anne on a large Ferris wheel, enjoying their time together until it suddenly fell out of place and rolled away.
"You guys are on my mind," down at the controls, Zachary and Amelia were revealed to be messing with them, laughing maniacally until Vicente came over and bonked both of them on the head with plastic baseball bats.
"You asked me what I wanted to be and I think the answer's plain to see," in one of the carnival tents, March and Luna watched Benjamin in awe as he rode a unicycle while bouncing on a trampoline, juggling bowling pins, and holding a torch with his teeth.
"I wanna be famous!" Tony tossed a frisbee at the wheel, causing Benjamin to fall and the torch to set his shirt on fire before the bowling pins landed on his head, which caused Liz to give him a thumbs up with an evil grin on her face.
"I wanna live close to the sun," out in the ocean, Alex was in his diving suit, trying to catch a sea monkey, but failing utterly, just like he had when it was a space monkey, while Dusty shook her head in disappointment, lassoing the creature back to them.
"So pack your bags, cause I've already won," on the sea floor, Archie studied a squid closely until it shot ink all over his helmet's glass shield, which made Jianne giggle a little bit before wiping it off.
"Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day," not too far from where the two were, Damien and Gretchen ran away from a massive shark, which knocked them off to the side, showing that it was swimming away from Flint, who was throwing rocks at it while Alexis chased after him.
"I wanna be famous!" the camera switched gears to show a submarine, with arcade-esque machines in it that Taylor and Crustacean were fighting over.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na," zooming into a "pod" of sorts near the arcade games, a virtual world that was full of immaculate fantasy aspects and monsters was shown.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" Nicolás, dressed as a knight, was running in fear as blasts of dark energy were tossed at the ground behind him, each blast destroying part of the ground.
"I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!" the camera revealed Thomas, in dark mage garb, as the source of the blasts, floating in the sky and laughing manically until Maggie, dressed as a witch, flew over to him on her broom and tackled him to the ground, making out with him before he blasted the camera with one of the energy balls.
Afterwards, the whole group was seen on a Nautically themed aftermath stage, which Sebastian and Haley were at the center of, glaring at each other while all of the contestants, accompanied by Maggie, who was hugging Thomas tightly, whistled.
It wasn't long before the submarine finally got close to Atlantis, which seemed to be in a massive air bubble of sorts. As it made contact with the bubble, it seemed to simply slide through, not popping it or causing any water at all to get inside of it. The mysterious person, who had been holding onto the outside of the submarine in his diving suit, took this as an opportunity. He climbed up to the top of it, noticing the land before him, which seemed to be set up in several districts. There was a plethora of places for him to explore, and he was loving it.
"Ah, Atlantis," he spoke to himself as he pulled the helmet off of his head to take in a breath of the air, "Huh, who woulda thought it'd be so murky down here?"
He chuckled to himself before adjusting the grey beanie that was covering most of his messy, blonde hair; barely the tips peeked out of it. His skin was well tanned, showing that he at least spent a good deal of time out in the sun. His eyes matched his beanie with that grey color, though, with the smile on his face, they made him look as if he was brimming with the excitement that the others had for visiting Atlantis, although he was excited for a different reason entirely. His diving suit was simply grey in color, but it hid the rest of his attire. He leapt from the top of the submarine, landing in a tree that had been conveniently placed, probably planted by Olympus TV's renovators. He climbed down it, noticing that Poseidon and Amphitrite were standing over by the docking area for the submarine. He smirked as the giant thing landed down, and waved to it before running off throughout a brush of bushes and trees. Then, the submarine dropped its door into a set of stairs, which landed right in front of the two adults that were waiting for the group.
The first two people to descend the steps were, of course, Chris and Chef, both of whom seemed to be glad to finally get out of such a small space closed in with those crazy teenagers. They stepped up to go face to face with Poseidon and Amphitrite, the former bearing a welcoming smile on his face while his assistant jotted something down on a clipboard, perhaps, she was taking a headcount.
"Chris McLean!" Poseidon happily greeted the show's host, shaking his hand excitedly, "I'm sure the trip here wasn't too bad? That Submarine of Losers was built with comfort as its primary goal, so it should-"
"Poseidon, dude!" Chris placed his hands on his collaborator's shoulders, staring at him with a deeply annoyed look on his face, "I appreciate the warm welcome, and yeah, the submarine was totally comfortable or yadda yadda whatever...but have you ever had to sit in a cramped space with twenty-five teenagers and a sweaty war veteran ever before in your life?"
"Hey!" Chef snarled before slapping Chris upside the back of his head, "Complain about me all you want, but at least I don't talk to my own reflection in a mirror!"
"Gentlemen, please!" Poseidon chuckled and shook his head at them, "I do realize that your long history and amount of time spent together may cause some tension, but I assure you, you'll both get to have some alone time to settle into your new lodgings soon enough. Let's just get all the kiddos out here, and we'll get the ball rolling, sound agreeable?"
"Fine," the two hosts grumbled, crossing their arms and turning their backs to each other before stepping aside.
"Now then," Amphitrite spoke up, adjusting her glasses and looking to the staircase, "Everyone, you can come on out now, we've got quite the busy schedule planned for today, I'm sure you can imag-"
"Woohoo!" Benjamin cheered as he rushed down the steps, pulling both Poseidon and Amphitrite in for a massive hug, "New hosts! New hosts! Aw, man, I'm gonna love you guys, you're gonna be so much nicer than that mean Chris dude."
"Uh, dude?" Chris glared at the boy, who whistled awkwardly in response.
Benjamin was dressed a lot nicer than before, donning a green button down shirt and topping it off with a grey vest and a white tie. He had a pair of blue jeans to go with the outfit, with a brown belt holding them up, black sneakers, and a grey hat that seemed...almost like a crown in shape. He had the same happy-go-lucky aura as he usually carried, if not even happier than before.
"Benjamin, my boy!" Poseidon shook the boy's hand with a smile, trying to make a great first impression, "You look even stronger than I imagined, I bet you could even pick up a mountain and carry it on your shoulders!"
"Ah, I would try, but boss told me not to strain my back with all the heavy-lifting, said he doesn't want me to get hurt too bad."
"Boss?" Amphitrite cocked an eyebrow at him whilst checking his name on the list, "Could it be that you're referring to Tony? I was under the impression that the two of you had ended your partnership."
"That jerky jerkface? Psh, no way! Of course, I'm talking about, ahem, the one, the only, grandmaster of the stage and the very art of theater itself-"
"Hey, man," Damien called down from the stairs as he descended them, and embarrassed blush sprawling across his face, "I told you, you don't gotta say all that stuff. And I'm not your boss, I'm just me."
Damien had undergone some drastic wardrobe changes, not to mention a dose of hair dye, which had made his locks turn a golden blonde color. He wore a blue blazer with yellow sleeves, one which had a "D" embroidered into the left side of his chest, and a white tee underneath it. Aside from that, he wore jeans, just like Benjamin, although his were a lighter color, and his sneakers were white.
"Damien, looking as charming as you always have!" Poseidon aimed finger guns at the boy, causing him to get even more flustered, "Gotta say, I love the hair, it suits you quite well, wouldn't you say so, Amphitrite?"
"Quite," Amphitrite simply nodded in response, checking Damien off of the list.
"This is a lot more than I expected," Damien continued as he reached the bottom of the steps, glancing about the premises to get a better look at it, "You did all this construction, and still found the time to plant all these trees and the grass? Pretty sweet, if you ask me."
"It's the least we could do to try and make this one of the greatest seasons the show could ever possibly have!"
"We'll see about that," Chris added, belittling the efforts of the man.
"Aw, come on, lil' buddy," Crustacean could be heard coming down the steps, "It won't be that bad, there's tons of water everywhere! You're gonna have a blast."
She had her hair down, and it was a tad longer than before, with the red streak still prominent. She wore a long-sleeved red shirt, though she had a tan vest buttoned over it, a pair of khaki shorts, with black cloth, presumably from a wet suit, peaking out at the bottom of the shorts, and black loafers with calf-high socks. Within her arms, there was a blue lobster, one which had three claws. It was easily recognizable for those who had seen her on Neptune, though it was still strange that she brought it all the way to Earth with her.
"Ah, Crustacean!" Poseidon beamed, holding his hand out for her to shake it, though the lobster snapped a claw down on it, causing him to yelp.
"Larry doesn't like it when people try to touch me, so I'd keep your hands to yourself if you don't wanna face the claws of justice."
"Those claws are gonna go in a hot pot if they-" Amphitrite's anger was cut off by Poseidon, who covered her mouth with his swollen hand, causing her to blush.
"That's alright, haha! Now I know for next time."
"Right," Crustacean rolled her eyes at him and stepped off to the side, glaring at Amphitrite as she checked her name off on the list.
"Aw drat!" Alex called down, elegantly sliding down the railing of the steps before landing just as elegantly in front of Poseidon, forcing a handshake before the man had a chance to greet him, "Ah woulda been out here first, but that gorgeous ocean floor caught my eye for a bit too long, mate!"
The adventurous boy's fedora was perhaps the only thing about him that stayed the same, even his once bare face had a perfect five o'clock shadow, which was, in a way, akin to Chris's. He had on a red fishing vest, draped over a white tee, black jeans, and brown combat boots. All in all, he looked more ready to take on this next big adventure more than ever.
"Alex, you're even more personable than I expected!" Poseidon complimented the boy's demeanor, his kindness to the contestants throwing Chris off greatly, "I expect you'll have a wonderful time down here, you do love taking on great new adventures, right?"
"You bet your ponytail Ah do! Ah just can't wait for the whole shebang to go down! We're gonna have a great time under the sea!"
"Ha!" Crustacean scoffed at the boy, "You may have a good time, sure, but none of you guys are even gonna have half the amount of fun that I'm gonna have!"
"Save the spite for the game, girl. You don't wanna get voted off super early for being nasty again, after all."
Damien and Benjamin snickered upon hearing Alex's comment, though they were quick to shut up when Crustacean shot a glare at them. The adventurer then walked over to the other boys, patting them both on the back with a smile on his face, while Amphitrite checked his name off of the list. Then, down the staircase, came Vicente, who looked as if he hadn't gotten a good night's rest in about a week or so. He did look quite dapper, all in all, with his grey fedora being swapped out for a black one with a white band, and a matching black vest, which was buttoned over a white dress shirt, and complimented by a red tie. He had on a pair of brown dress pants, as well as a nice pair of leather shoes.
"Vicente...I must say, you look a tad under the weather," Poseidon gained a worried look on his face as he saw the boys weakened state, "Whatever is the matter?"
"Let's just put it this way," the reality show star started in a tired voice, "When you're stuck baby sitting two grown teenagers who like acting like children all the time, they tend to get angry, and will make sure your life is a living hell in anyway they can. I can't tell you how many windows I've had to replace because they were pelted with rocks."
"That's awful! Well, you'll be able to rest up easy once we get all of you settled in your bunkrooms. You need a key to get into them, so I don't think you'll have any issue with, I would assume, Zachary and Amelia."
"Let's hope you're right...those two are really crafty."
Vicente passed the man by, barely even noticing Chris, Chef, and Amphitrite as he walked over to the other contestants and immediately fell down into the grass before him, though Benjamin and Damien quickly pulled him up to his feet, while Alex fanned him to make sure he was alright. Then, along came Flint, who rushed down the stairs like the speedster he is. He had a red hoodie on, one which was left unzipped over a white tee with a black stripe going through the middle of it, light blue jean shorts, and red and white running shoes, fitting for his hobbies. He stood proudly before Poseidon, fully healed from the injuries he sustained from Thomas back at the Playa Des Losers.
"Flint, haha, you look like you've healed well," he greeted the contestant with the same positivity he was sharing with everyone, "You seem like you're ready to take on the world!"
"Eh, I think I'm good with the whole taking on the world thing," Flint rubbed the back of his head and shifted his glance off to the side, "If I'm gonna end up in a wheelchair after taking on one person, imagine how badly messed I would be if I went after the whole world! No thank you."
The boy passed the man by while whistling a tune, eventually stopping and standing over by Crustacean, who crossed her arms and slid over to the side a little bit. Amphitrite marked his name off the list and turned her attention back to the stairs, where two people where now coming down from. First, was Liz, who looked all too pleased to be back in the competition. She wore a black lab coat of sorts, with a black, long-sleeved shirt underneath it, maroon pants, with black leggings that could just barely be seen at the ankles, and black platform shoes, which raised her height a few inches, although she was still much shorter than the rest.
Then, behind her, was Tony, of course, who had a massive grin on his face as he noticed all the nasty looks he was getting from the crowd. He had slimmed down quite a bit from his last appearance, though he was still somewhat of a big guy. He wore a red leather jacket, leaving it slightly open to show a lighter red tank top and a golden necklace with the letters "TL" dangling from the chain. He also had white dress pants, which fit him well, and black shoes that shined as if all the dirt that touched them simply bounced right off. His fingers were bedazzled with several golden and gem encrusted rings, as well as a gold bracelet on his left wrist, one which had a large emerald imbued in it. They both approached Poseidon, who had a judging look upon his face.
"Well, Tony and Liz," his voice was still kind, despite the fact that he was somewhat disappointed in the two of them, "You two seem like you've been going stable for quite some time now...perhaps that'll keep you from causing too much mayhem while you're here?"
"Ha!" Tony let out one loud laugh at the man, whose face slowly started to frown, "No promises, big guy. After all, mayhem is just another opportunity for me to get closer to five million big ones!"
"And besides," Liz butted in before Poseidon could respond to Tony, "If we were to sit idly by and let these...for lack of a better term, idiots do whatever they want, where would be the fun in that. Deep down, you know that the viewers love us."
"You got that right, babe!"
Tony leaned down to kiss Liz on the forehead, who blushed in response as they both walked towards the others, still relishing in all the glares and hate they were receiving, especially from Benjamin, who had his eyes fixed angrily on Tony alone, even forgetting that there were other people around him.
"They shoulda made you stay up on land, you...you...butthead!" Benjamin spoke the childish insult with as much anger as he could carry, which, considering who the boy was, really wasn't much.
"Oh, ouch!" Tony placed his hands over his chest, pretending as if he had just been shot by the boy, "That really smarts, Big Ben. How could you say something so mean to your ex-partner?"
"Don't bother, Ben," Damien stepped in and stood in front of Benjamin, staring at Tony with anger in his own eyes, "He's not worth your time, trust me."
"Yeah, Damien is a way better boss than you ever were, you jerkaholic!" Benjamin put on a proud grin, though seeing Liz giggle at his inept insults, quickly made him switch it back out for a frown.
As the boys continued to bicker, Amphitrite marked them off the list, looking back over at the stairs and waiting for the next contestant to come down, which didn't take very long. There she was, Amelia, who looked just as elegant as always. She had a navy blue bell sleeve top on, exposing both her shoulders and a small bit of her midriff, while she wore designer black pants and matching black platform heels. She blew kisses to the other contestants, though Vicente was clearly unamused by her appearance, glaring at her as she walked over to Poseidon, giving him a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek, which caused him to blush and Amphitrite to snap her own pencil in her hand.
"Ah, M-Miss Amelia," Poseidon backed up a few paces from her, clearing his throat, "What a pleasure it is to have someone experienced in the Hollywood game, as yourself, in this game. Though, I do hope you ease up on Vicente, you and that Zachary seem to be causing him quite a good deal of stress."
"Whatever do you mean?" she asked innocently with a sweet smile on her face, "I don't even know who Viconi is!"
"I'm just warning you that going after someone for no good reason is a surefire way to get on the bad side of the rest of your team. It'd do you well to keep that in mind, if you want to stay in the game, that is."
"Hmph, I'll try to remember that on my path to victory. I'm sure I'll have impressed all of you by that point."
Poseidon let out a sigh as the girl passed him by, and Amphitrite, red with anger, used her now broken pencil to check Amelia off the list, though she more or less just scribbled the name out entirely. Then, along came the next two contestants, who held each other's hand as they came down the stairs. The first was Luna, who was showing off her skills as a model in a new designer outfit. Her top was a lilac and white striped turtleneck sweater, with her moon necklace still dangling from her neck elegantly. She also had a pair of reddish-brown pants, which were fitted, and lilac sneakers that must've cost her at least a hundred dollars.
March was with her, having undergone a makeover, possibly with Luna's help. Her hair was cut a lot shorter, in sort of a messy bob, and instead of having her rose gold ombre, she had a tuft of rose gold hair among her bangs. She had a light blue crop jacket zipped over a light purple, long-sleeved shirt, white pants which were cut right after her knees, calf-high white socks, and lilac shoes that matched Luna's. The two seemed happy with each other, though they could both feel the misery emanating from Damien, who refused to look at them.
"Luna, March," Poseidon nodded his head at the two of them, with Amphitrite marking them off of the list, "The two of you look wonderful! Certainly the time together since the last season has treated you both kindly?"
"You bet!" March smiled brightly before pecking Luna on the cheek, "I just hope all the negativity from last season has cleared up...it was a little awkward."
"Now, March, you must admit that you had a good hand in the negativity, don't you agree? I mean, you did-"
"Let's not talk about that!" Luna covered the man's mouth with her hand, stopping him from mentioning whatever it was, "I think everyone did what they should've done afterwards, and it's time to let dead things be gone with the wind."
"Of course you two feel that way," Damien mumbled under his breath, "After all, you guys didn't get humiliated in front of millions."
"What was that?" Tony held a hand to his ear, leaning towards Damien with a smirk on his face, "I couldn't hear you over the sound of that grudge your holding."
Damien simply rolled his eyes at the boy as the girls joined the group, though they both stood a good distance away from him and Benjamin, adding insult to injury. Then, after them, came a chuckling pair, one with a happy tone to it, while the other completely lacked any sort of tone to it. Natt, of course, owned the toneless laugh, it seemed that, no matter how strongly he felt about anything, he was always going to sound like that. He had let his black hair grow out a bit, and had done it in a low ponytail with a red and green striped band, perhaps a gift from Anne. His eyes lacked the overarching tiredness that they used to carry with them all the time, and he seemed to be a lot more content, with a smile plastered on his face. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt, with a lighter colored vest over it, and a necklace with a gold medallion on it, perhaps a locket. He still had the same baggy, black pants, and black shoes, but despite the lack of color in his ensemble, he truly looked a lot happier.
Of course, where there was Natt, there was Anne, who looked as if she had taken a job in a circus. She wore a red, cyan, and yellow striped shirt with frilly sleeves, seeming to be something that a clown would wear, as well as green and white striped bellbottoms that were cut past her knees, and, finally, she had a bell tied around her neck. Who knew what sort of reason she had for it being there? Nobody, but everybody had a feeling that it would be the source of some annoyance sooner or later. The two walked up to Poseidon as Amphitrite checked them off of her list, still giggling to themselves.
"Alright, alright, tell another one," Natt managed to say between his chuckling.
"Okay!" Anne stopped her own laughter and cleared her throat, "What do you call a toothless bear?"
"I have no idea..."
"Pfft...a gummy bear!"
The two burst out into laughter while Poseidon could only cock an eyebrow in interest. The group of teens behind him found themselves all cringing at the mediocrity of the joke, but Natt seemed to think it was funny enough, so he didn't question it.
"Natt and Anne," he greeted them with his warm smile, "It's so wonderful to see you two! Fun little fact, did you guys know that you were the favorite couple of the previous season? People were talking about how wholesome you two were constantly, it was pretty sweet."
"Well, I don't know if I would put favorites on things like couples," Natt chuckled awkwardly, a blush across his pale face, "As long as the two people love each other, that's good enough right?"
"Yeah!" Anne nodded her head up and down at a comedic pace, "That's more than we can say for...well, you'll get to those two eventually. Just be ready for some sort of drama explosion when they're out here!"
"Ah...alright?" Poseidon was a little unsure of what she meant, though they passed him by too quickly to be able to ask further questions.
When they got over to the group, Anne saw Alex and ran over to him, giving him a high five before the two of them aimed finger guns at each other, "shooting" them, and slumping over to the ground as if they had really shot each other. They got some weird looks from the others, but they were enjoying themselves, which they made clear as they rose back to their feet, laughing like the pair of goofballs that they were.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Alex spoke as if they hadn't seen each other in a great long time, though, to be fair, a year is a bit of time, "Ah love that you're still the same ol' knucklehead we got to know on the station."
"And I love that you still have that funny hat!" Anne giggled and tapped the hat with her finger, "Oh! I hope we're on the same team this season! That'd be awesome!"
"It sure would! We'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out, won't we?"
As the two rekindled their friendship after the time apart, the next contest came down the steps, swinging a lasso through the air before catching Liz in it and pulling it tight, causing her to fall into the grass, where she was stuck until Tony pulled her up. Of course, it was Dusty, who, not for nothing, had a fairly large grudge towards Liz, due to her behavior last season. She was wearing a plaid tee shirt, which was tied in a knot, exposing her belly button piercing, blue jean shorts with her belt still around her waist, comically large belt buckle still present, and her classic boots, which had some mud stains scattered about them.
"Dusty, it's wonderful to see you," Poseidon said politely, though he was a tad nervous about what Tony and Liz were going to do about this, having glanced over at them to see how angry they looked. "I see you're still upset about Liz getting you eliminated last season."
"Darn tootin'!" Dusty snarled, crossing her arms and pulling her lasso back to her, after Tony had undone it, "And if that lil' rascal thinks I'm gonna let her go around and ruin my chances again, she's got another thing coming!"
"Right," Amphitrite noted before checking her name off on the list, "Just try not to focus only on Liz. That is, if you still want to win the competition."
"You bet your funny hairdo I wanna win the money! Heck, I don't just wanna win it, I'm gonna win it!"
"Lots of confidence coming from the girl who can't handle being tickled," Liz grumbled at her as she dusted herself off.
"I'll have ya know that I ain't ticklish no more! I trained myself to resist it over the break, so ya got nothin' on me, pipsqueak!"
"Nothing other than a superior intellect, dirt-brain."
"Why you-!"
Dusty chased after Liz, the two running circles around the group before the cowgirl tackled the scientist to the ground, pinning her arm behind her back until she was pried off by Natt and Flint, the latter of which was shaking his head at her in disappointment.
"You're supposed to be my rival!" the speedster said, sounding offended, "You can't just go and pick someone else to go against, that's like...cheating!"
"I don't think it's as bad as that, dude," Natt mumbled, still sounding emotionless.
As Dusty finally relented her chase on Liz, and the latter returned to Tony, the next contestant came down the stairs, wearing a black trench coat, a fedora, and sunglasses that completely obscured his appearance. As he approached Poseidon, the man couldn't help but wonder who was behind the mysterious guise.
"Ah, I don't know if I'm all too familiar with you, sir," he spoke with a hint of wonder, "Who are you, exactly?"
"Who am I?" the boy chuckled, taking his sunglasses off to reveal black eyes that had an intimidating stare to them, "I'm a lot of things...I'm justice, I'm vengeance...but most importantly..."
The boy pulled the trench coat and fedora off to reveal himself in a bat guy costume, taking a fighting stance and startling the group, all except for Amelia, at least.
"I'm Batguy!"
"Ah, Zachary! You managed to land the role as Batguy again? I thought they gave it to Christian Hale?"
"Ah...they did...but I'll get it back someday, I swear it!"
He tore the costume off to reveal his real clothing, it was a marvel how he could be wearing three layers and not be sweating like a dog. He had a white polo on, with the buttons undone, of course, blue cargo shorts, which seemed a bit too big for him, and white tennis shoes. He had also ditched the man bun, letting his hair flow out, revealing that it was quite shaggy.
"Looks like the trash wandered back on set," Amelia leered at him, sticking her tongue out at him as well. "When are you gonna learn that you'd be better off staying as the coffee boy?"
"The same day that you learn that you've always looked like your face is plastic," he retorted, causing her to glare at him, "I'm au naturel, no work done on my gorgeous mug ever, and there never will be!"
"We'll see if you're still saying that when your cheeks are drooping down to your shoulders, won't we?"
"Children," Amphitrite spoke up, annoyed with their behavior while she checked Zack off of the list, "That's quite enough bickering, just sit and wait for further instruction, please and thank you."
The two former actors rolled their eyes at her, though Zack still reluctantly joined the rest of the group, standing over by Vicente, who glared at him with his tired eyes. Along came the next two contestants, both of which didn't look all too pleased to be back on the show. Archie, the first of the two, had undergone some serious changes since his last appearance on the show. His hair was a lot longer, even covering his right eye due to how long it had gotten, and he had a red paperboy hat on over it. He wore a grey, long-sleeved shirt, although there was a black vest buttoned up over it, red slacks, and black loafers.
Behind him, there was Jianne, whose hair had gotten longer as well, though it was neater than Archie's. She had a white shirt on, with a black, elbow length jacket on over it, and a simple necklace with a silver medallion on it dangling from her neck. She wore blue jeans, those of which had a tear in the right knee, and a chain connecting from her left pocket to a belt loop, and black platform boots with a silver buckle on them. They were marked off by Amphitrite the second they approached Poseidon, but they still didn't look all too happy.
"Archie, Jianne!" Poseidon greeted them with the enough excitement for all three of them, considering how unenthusiastic the two of them seemed. "It's wonderful to see you two! I assume you're still going steady, since you seem to be floating near each other."
"Not that it's any of your business, but yes," Jianne still kept the rude tone she normally had with strangers, "So, how long until we start this thing and I win the money? Waiting is boring."
"Ah...it'll start soon enough, but surely you don't think it'll be that easy? The other competitors are just as strong as you are, you know."
"As strong as her?" Archie scoffed, "She could whoop half of them around the corner and back, she's way tougher."
"I see her ego has found its way over to you. Very well, why don't you two go join the others? I'm sure there are some friends you've been dying to see for some time now."
"Whatever," the two of them replied in unison as they started on over to the others.
Damien waved over to Archie, who smiled over at him, but instead of running over to greet him, he ran to March and Luna, causing the actor's heart to ache. Benjamin patted the boy on the back, causing him to smile ever so slightly, but it still hurt. Along came the next contestant, one who hadn't seen much screen time on the last season, though he seemed to grow quite a bit from the person he used to be. Nicolás was a lot more confident, which could be seen from his walk alone. He had grown a small goatee, which seemed to suit him well. He wore a blue and white striped polo tee, with a white, long-sleeved undershirt, white khaki pants which were held up by a brown belt, and black and white sneakers.
"Nicolás, you look like a million bucks!" Poseidon jokingly nudged him with his elbow.
"That's weird...I'm pretty sure I just look like a guy," Nicolás replied, still having a bit of his social awkwardness about him.
"Ah...it was just a joke, no need to take it so seriously, buddy."
"O-oh! I see! Yeah, I knew that! I definitely knew that! ...Haha!"
The boy covered the shame on his face, running on over to the others and hiding behind them, with some of the snickering at the fool he had just made of himself. Amphitrite marked his name off, but her attention was suddenly grabbed by an explosive entrance from the next contestant. Taylor didn't look much different at all, considering her outfit had remained essentially the same, though her hair was a decent bit longer than before, and she had a new tattoo of the Space Station logo on her her shoulder opposite the one with the fire tattoo, exposing it for the world to see.
"I'm back bitches!" she shouted crudely, leaping down from the top of the stairs and landing right in front of Poseidon, "And I'm ready to win this damn thing!"
"Taylor, as...er, bold as ever, I see," Poseidon gulped as she stared him down with her fiery gaze.
"Hey, Chris," she ignored Poseidon, glancing over at Chris himself, "What's this shlomo doing here?"
"Dude's kind of a big deal for this season, so we're gonna have to deal with him for a little while," Chris said with a sigh, "I know, it really is a pain, isn't it?"
"Better than dealing with you all the time," Chef grumbled, "This dude seems like he'll treat them with a lick of respect at least."
"Dude, why are you on his side!?"
"Maybe because you don't pay enough for what I do and they do?"
"Woohoo!" Taylor cheered, "Fight about it! And then kiss and make up, there is so much tension between you two!"
"Ew," the two hosts replied to Taylor together, causing her to roll her eyes as she approached the group.
"Woah, woah, woah!" she stopped to look Amphitrite up and down, "Who's this piece of eye candy?"
"Uh," Amphitrite cleared her throat as she checked Taylor off the list, "Maybe stick to people of your age, I'm thirty four."
"Ooo, cougar. I like it."
"Taylor!" Nicolás called her attention over, trying to distract her to get her off of Amphitrite's back, "It's been a while!"
"Ayo, Nicky!"
Amphitrite let out a relieved sigh as Taylor rushed over to give her friend a noogie, and she looked back over at the stairs, noticing the next contestant coming down the stairs. Alexis had let her hair flow down, deciding that the ponytail was out of style, and it dropped just past her shoulders. She still wore her light colored jeans and pink sneakers, though her pink tank top was exchanged for a purple one, and she had a pink crop jacket on over it, though left unzipped. As she approached Poseidon, Flint's jaw dropped almost immediately.
"Oh, geez," she mumbled, blushing a little bit from the embarrassment at seeing the boy like that, "Come on, Flint, I don't look that much different, do I?"
"G-g-gorgeous!" was the only word that Flint was able to speak, as his face flushed with red.
"Alexis!" Poseidon stood in front of Flint, blocking his view of her, though he simply climbed on top of him to see her again, "Agh! Flint really seems to be a pretty big fan of you, doesn't he?"
"Yeah...I just hope he's done calling me queen all the time. It gets a little weird after a while, you know?"
"Oh, I can imagine. Amphitrite, would you mind taking care of this boy?"
"Yes, boss!" Amphitrite blushed, pulling Flint down from his shoulders and tossing him back into the growing crowd of contestants before marking Alexis down on the list, "There, all taken care of, sir!"
"Why, thank you!"
Flint rushed to stand next to Amphitrite, staring at Alexis with heart eyes, while the woman with the clipboard seemed to do the exact same, only towards Poseidon. Alexis let out a sigh, seeing the irony of it all, and joined the group, where Flint rushed to stand next to her. Then, along came the next contestant, one who stole everyone's attention. No one said a peep, not a single word, as he descended the stairs, a grin on his face. He tossed a pocket knife from hand to hand before eventually tucking it into the holster on the left side of his brown belt. His black and white shoes stomped on each step with a certain maliciousness, keeping everything still in their wake. His red shirt was menacing, with the left sleeve rolled up to reveal his tattoo, that which was a skull with a knife in it, on his shoulder. His blue eyes were hidden by red contacts, which pierced the souls of each contestant and host that he looked at, and a scar on his left eyebrow, from a fight with a certain other contestant, reminded everyone of how close he got to his goal.
"T-Thomas," Poseidon gulped, stepping off to the side as the boy approached him, "I was under the impression that you were going to be accompanied by a supervisor...given your...history."
"I'm afraid they're letting me roam free," Thomas smiled a toothy smile at the man, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head at him. "After a little running man humiliated me, my business has...how do you say it...let me go. Mess-ups aren't tolerated at all in my line of work. Looks like I'm harmless to you...for now."
"R-right...why don't you...uh...stand off to the side...just not near Flint."
"Near Flint, you say? With pleasure..."
Thomas whistled as he made his way over to Flint, pulling him in close with one arm and holding him to his side while he checked his other hand for dirt in his nails, or perhaps he was moreso looking for blood.
"Hey, little buddy. I hope you're just as excited for this season as I am...I do so hope we get to be on the same team, this time around. I'm sure our time together will be...spectacular."
"Is it too early to quit?" Flint asked sheepishly as he tried to free himself from Thomas' clutches, "I'll drop out right now if it means I don't have to deal with this guy."
"You're not going anywhere, friend. Not on my watch."
Amphitrite checked Thomas off the list, her hand shaking slightly from the first impression from the boy. Then, a girl burst out of the submarine, playing the guitar loudly as she hopped down each step. Gretchen had let her hair grow out a fair deal, though she still kept it in a ponytail, it seemed to be a staple for her. She had a silver earring in her left ear, a new addition to her wardrobe, and she was wearing a dark green hoodie, which she left unzipped to reveal a dark green shirt with the white silhouettes of her, her father, and her brother on it. She also had matching dark green cargo pants, and dark green boots with white laces. The green suited her well, and she had to have known it.
"A-ah!" Poseidon spoke up, still a little nervous from the entrance of the boy before her, "Gretchen, the winner of the previous season! How's it feel to be back on Total Drama after winning? Are you excited?"
"Am I excited!?" Gretchen laughed loudly, swinging her guitar on it's strap so it swung around to her back, "Of course I am! It's great to see all of these guys again! Well, most of them at least...Thomas."
"Hello there, love," Thomas grinned at her, waving with his free hand while pulling Flint in closer, "Great to see you again as well."
"Ease up on the little guy, you're gonna pop him like a grape if you squeeze him too hard!"
"Ah, yes. My mistake."
Thomas let Flint go, and he gasped for air, quickly hiding behind Alexis in fear. Gretchen glared at the assassin, heading over to join the others while Amphitrite marked her name down. Then, along came someone who had only barely been seen by the group. Bonnie, the intern, looking just as cutely creepy as she usually did. Her messy, ginger hair draped down to her neck, and her blue eyes wandered from boy to boy, ogling each of them. She had her purple, striped sweater on, with her matching purple leggings and boots, with a green skirt on over her leggings. She still, as always, looked like a grape.
"Bonnie!" Poseidon seemed relieved to see her, "I'm so glad you're here! We have a lot of stuff for you to do as an intern, you will be getting paid for your work, of cou-"
"Hush your lips, stud muffin," Bonnie placed her finger on his lips, shifting her glance back to the boys, "Money, schmoney, I don't need that stuff. All I need is muscles...oho, I love muscles so much. Look at that cutie pie over there-"
She gestured over to Benjamin, who pointed to himself in question.
"-I could just eat him up, and you bet your ass I'm gonna."
"Ah...right," Poseidon rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as Bonnie stood near Amphitrite, waving to the rest of the boys with a perverted smile on her face.
"Slut," Amelia mumbled, though Bonnie completely ignored her.
"One person's slut, is another's wife material," Zachary pointed out, a cheesy grin on his own face, though Bonnie seemed to completely ignore him for the most part, she was too focused on Benjamin.
Amphitrite checked the intern off the list, noting that only two people remained on the list, and, as if on cue, they left the submarine together, both shouting at the top of their lungs.
"You are such an asshole, you know that!?" Haley screamed in the boys face, shoving him aside and coming all the way down the stairs.
She had an angry face plastered on her, her arms crossed to add to that angry look. She had a brown baseball cap on it, one with some red lettering on it that mentioned a fighting game of sorts. Her blonde hair was done in a ponytail, pulled through the hole in the back of her hat, and she wore a brown jacket over her white blouse. She had on dark, blue jeans, with white and black running shoes, fitting for someone as athletically apt as she was.
"I may be an asshole, but at least I'm not a whiney baby!" Sebastian replied, just as angry, as he stormed down the steps and joined her over by Poseidon, gritting his teeth.
His hair was still a bleach blonde color, whatever Belladonna had used on him seemed to have a lasting effect. It was a bit longer than before, and it flopped down on his head, rather than sticking up, thanks to the gel he usually used, but had since stopped using. He had a pair of sunglasses on, hiding his angry eyes behind them, but the furrowed eyebrows made it obvious how he was feeling. He wore a dark green jacket, one that had spikes on the shoulders and was half zipped up to reveal a lighter green tee underneath it. He had on a scuffed pair of blue jeans, with a brown belt, which had a chain on it, and black and white sneakers.
"Are you kidding me!? You are too a whiney baby, remember when you lost the color in your hair? You cried about it for days!"
"Better than crying about everything all the damn time!"
"You bastard, I do not!"
"You do too!"
"Haley, Sebastian!" Poseidon interrupted their fighting, a worried look on his face, "I...take it from all the yelling that you two are no longer together, am I correct in thinking that?"
"No way would I ever date this sleezebag ever again!" Haley hissed, "He reeks of egoism, and I was dumb to fall for him in the first place!"
"Cry me a river, tutz," Sebastian rolled his eyes at her, "At least I don't need somebody to guide me through living life as a teenager."
"Oh...well, that is truly concerning..."
"Pardon me, sir," Amphitrite spoke up from the awkwardness of it all, "But...I find it odd that you didn't see this coming. After all, the two were coming apart at the seams in the last season...they were bound to split eventually."
"Oh dear..."
"What's the problem, old man?" Sebastian asked, getting all up in his face about it, "This throw a wrench in some stupid plan of yours? I'm better as a solo act, anyways. I don't need that clown dragging me down."
"I'm not a clown, you dick!" Haley shoved him again.
"It's nothing really, I just-" Poseidon was quickly cut off by Chris, who saw this as an opportunity.
"Oh, you two are gonna love this!" the host snickered to himself, causing the former couple to cock their eyebrows at him out of curiosity. "See, Mr. Poseidon here figured that it would be a wonderful idea to have the two of you host this show's aftermath together! Didn't consider the possibility that you might split up before it came to that!"
"Wait a minute, we aren't gonna be able to compete!?" Sebastian stomped his feet out of anger, "That's no fair, I want the five million dollars! I deserve it!"
"And I don't wanna be stuck working with him, that's not fair!" Haley whined, "Can't you just toss him out for the sharks or something?"
"Nuh uh, it's already been decided by our partner, you can both thank him for this!"
Chris snickered while Haley and Sebastian both fixated their glares on Poseidon, both crossing their arms angrily. Amphitrite walked over to the two of them, dragging them up the stairs with her and tossing them back into the submarine before setting up an auto pilot inside it.
"You two have the whole trip to your new lodgings to settle your hate between each other," she mentioned as she left the submarine, "Of course, you're planned to be paid for this, as well, so maybe don't get so upset at being stuck together for now."
"This is ridicul-" Sebastian was cut off as the stairs closed up back into the submarine, and it started off into the distance leaving the rest of the group behind.
"Man, I was really looking forward to more drama from the two of them," Chris said with a sigh, "But at least we can get to the teams now. That's right, folks! I, the awesomest host that this show will ever see in its entire lifetime, have already made a decision as to who will be on what team!"
"Ah, yes!" Poseidon clapped his hands together, keeping his happiness about him, despite the rude attitude from Chris. "I'm sure you did a wonderful job with them, too!"
"Yeah, yeah, shut your yap, guy. Alright, everybody, time to throw you all for a loop and mix up the teams from last time. Get ready to be split from your friends, there is no guarantee you'll get to work with them again!"
"Just get to it already, man!" Chef snarled, clearly annoyed by the deliberate wasting of the runtime Chris was doing.
"Alright, alright! Jeez, can't get a break around here, I swear! Ahem...Flint, Crustacean, Natt, Amelia, Tony, Liz, Luna, March, Nicolás, Thomas, and Archie! From now on, you guys are going to be known as...the Cosmic Crabs!"
The group stood together, with a blue icon with a starry background and a blue crab on it flashed in the upper corner, though many of the contestants had questions about the...not very fitting team name.
"Uh...Cosmic Crabs?" Liz asked, amused by the host's lack of a better name, "You didn't feel like being all to creative this time around, did you? I mean, you just switched Guppies for Crabs."
"Hey, zip it! Do you know how hard it is to host a big show like this, and think of interesting team names? It's not easy! I haven't been able to get all five of my weekly spa visits done for the past month because of how busy I have been! I've been down to four."
"Oh, that's oh so sad," Tony laughed at him, "Come on, you definitely can do better than this."
"I could care less," Crustacean piped up with a smile on her face, "Our team name has crabs in it! Those are almost as cool as lobsters, right, Larry?"
Her blue lobster friend spat out a couple of bubbles in response, and she gave him a big hug, causing some of her teammates to look at her with concern.
"Imagine being so strange that the only friends you can make are lobsters," Amelia jested, nudging Luna on the shoulder, though the model ignored her, "What? You don't feel like being social?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Luna glared over at the fallen actor, "You did hold up my girlfriend at gunpoint, correct?"
"It didn't have bullets in it!"
"Oh, that makes it so much better," March snapped, "Seriously, what's wrong with you?"
"Ugh, such a drama queen."
"Personally, I love how the teams are set up!" Thomas grinned at Flint, "Don't you agree, buddy?"
"Can I formally request a team switch?" Flint asked Chris, though the host simply shook his head at him. "Dammit..."
"Alright, Nicolás," the nerdy boy attempted to hype himself up, "You can do this...you can do this...just think positive thoughts, and don't be such a scaredy cat about everything."
"Boo," Archie lightly said while standing behind the boy, causing him to scream and leap into the air, "You've got a ways to go, my man."
"I guess we're gonna be on different teams, eh?" Natt frowned a little at Anne, though she kissed him on the nose, causing him to blush.
"Oh, it's alright!" the jokester said sweetly, "We'll still do fine without being on the same team, I just know it!"
"Yeah...you're right. We're gonna kill this competition."
"Heck yeah, we are!"
"And as far as the other team goes," Chris interrupted the "meet and greet" of the newly formed team, "Vicente, Jianne, Dusty, Gretchen, Benjamin, Damien, Taylor, Zachary, Alexis, Alex, and Anne! You're going to be known as...the Atomic Sharks!"
The team formed in their group, and a red icon flashed in the upper corner, one with a darkened shark clamping its jaws down on an atom. Jianne rolled her eyes at the host, who knew exactly what she was going to say.
"I don't wanna hear anything else about team name this, team name that! Just zip your yaps and try not to bum me out so much!"
"Whatever, Chris," Jianne let out an annoyed sigh, "Seriously, how could they not find anyone better than you to do this job? It can't be that hard."
"Oh, I know!" Zachary boasted a prideful grin, "They should've gotten someone young and handsome, if only I knew a guy like that! Oh wait, I do! He's-"
"While I appreciate the compliment, I don't think I'd like being a television host," Benjamin admitted, rubbing the back of his head with a goofy smile on his face.
"Not you, you oaf! I was talking about-"
"Oh, the boss! Damien, you would be a great host for a show like this, like, the best ever!"
"Oh, I don't know about all that," Damien blushed and looked down at the ground, "Chris does a good enough job, I think."
"Not good enough if he let's miscreants like lil' Liz run around buckwild," Dusty glared at the scientist from where she stood, "If I was the host, we would never have to deal with anyone as rascally as herself."
"Yeah, yeah, keep saying that," Taylor yawned at Dusty, "But hey, at least if you were the host, someone hot would be in charge."
"You don't know the meaning of subtlety, do you?" Vicente tiredly responded to Taylor, though he was ignored by her as she turned her attention to Gretchen.
"This team is gonna be rockin'!" the previous season's winner cheered, "I can't wait to get to work with all these new people!"
"Ah'm sure we're all gonna have ourselves a blast!" Alex patted Gretchen on the back, bearing a contagious smile, "And just think of all the adventures we'll have! Ah can hardly contain my excitement!"
"Woop woop!" Anne pretended to raise the roof, "We're gonna party!"
Though most of the team had their fair share of excitement, Alexis seemed to be more worried than excited, causing Anne to tumble over to her, confused about her behavior.
"What's the matter, Alexis?"
"Oh, nothing's horribly wrong," she replied, a faint smile on her face, "I'm just a tad worried about Flint, him being on the same team as Thomas, I mean...I don't want him to get hurt."
"Well, I'm sure Thomas won't last very long here. They'll probably vote him off after they lose their first challenge, he's kinda of freaky to be around."
"Yeah, you're probably right. At least, I hope you are."
"But will she be right?" Chris popped up between the two of them, wearing that nasty grin that he always had about him, "There's only one way to find out...you're gonna have to catch up with us next time, on Total Drama: Lost City!"
As the host did his little outro, Poseidon could be seen off to the side, applauding him eagerly, causing him to glare over at him before stomping off angrily.
Author's Notes:
*Okay, I know it took a really long time to get this done, but I am really happy with how this episode turned out, even though it was pretty much only introductions. I'm not sure when the next update will be, since I'm not doing weekly updates anymore, but I wanted to get this done at least since I haven't updated anything in a little while. As always, let me know what you thought in the reviews, and I hope you're as excited as I am for the new season!