Chapter One "And We're Back!"

A car drives up to an old building. Current year is 2022, a fresh step into a new life for Diane McClean, daughter of famed TV personality Chris McClean. Since her dad went into retirement and made it big, there was really no need for him to continue the many shows he helped produce. For Diane, however, those shows were her childhood, and one show in particular was fading away, and she was not ready to see that happen. Diana was freshly 21 years old and shared similarities with her dad. Dark raven hair, often styled out of her face in a sort of messy fashion. Dark eyes and a clean face, however she was notably taller than him and walked with more confidence in her step since she had entered her fathers old career at a much younger age. The building she approached was a large production building that her father had once stepped inside to hear the pitch for the now out of the park slammer hit Total Drama and now Diane was here to pitch them the idea back and get her favorite show back to its former glory. There was just one obstacle in her way. As she stepped her way into the building and said a passive hello to some interns running with coffee, she noticed how much this place had changed. She had memories of coming here as a younger girl with her dad, and saw a lot of his personal accomplishments were taken off the wall and replaced with photos of younger, more higher strung stars. She knew who awaited her as she looked at the photos, and was not looking forward to this.

"Excuse me," Diane said as she approached the desk, leaning her body forward to press against the wood. "I had an appointment with Mr. O'Halloran. My name is Diane McClean." She smiled at the receptionist, hoping to make a small good impression on at least someone, knowing friends in this building were going to be slim. The receptionist was a middle aged blonde woman, seemingly more interested in whatever emails she had on her computer rather than Diane's request, even though it was clear that she had been heard. The woman scowled, Diane smiled.

"One moment. Let me tell Mr. O'Halloran, and see if he's ready to see you." She stood up, raising an eyebrow as she looked Diane up and down for a few seconds before walking back towards a fancier hallway and disappearing around the corner. Diane was mostly alone in the lobby now, awkwardly patting her legs and looking around the contents of the desk. Curiosity took over, and she stepped around to see what was on the computer screen. After scrolling through some emails, she saw the most absurd thing that drove her to want this project to be successful so badly. An ad for the newest reality show, "Big Sister." A show about a bunch of people living on a huge boat? Yeah right. Like that would actually work out well. Sure it had a fun concept, but they botched pretty much everything on the drama aspect. It would grow stale fast as they did the same thing every episode. Diane scoffed and closed the ad as she heard footsteps, and quickly went back around the desk as the receptionist turned the corner. "He will see you now. He has a haircut appointment soon, be quick."

Diane nodded, grabbing her bag and walking around the corner. Not the first time she had been to his office, so no need to ask where it is. She saw the huge red door down at the end of the hall and began to walk briskly past other people's offices towards her goal. Wilson was not an easy person to deal with, and they had reality show beef. Both of them were children of two very important figures in TV production, and that got their a guest appearance on an older show back in their teens, "Celebrity Business Wars." Her dad, Chris, ended up getting the job that Wilson's mom, Blainley, had turned down. Who knows if the show would have done better with Blainley, but she was willing to bet that it would not have been. Her and Wilson never really got along. He was snarky, prude, all around jerk. She hated him. The closer she got to his office, the stronger his smell of cologne from some new popular designer smelled. Like a damp Hallmark store. This idea would probably have slid through without issue had it not been for Wilson. He had managed a really high boardroom position at this stupid production company. His mom retired, but managed to set him up so she would never leave the spotlight after all. What a moment… She knew he would stop anything she wanted to do in its tracks, no matter how well she knew it would do. He hated her.

Before she could even knock, a deeper male voice came from inside the room. "Enter." Diane let out a breath, bracing herself for whatever crap was about to be thrown her way. She fixed her shirt, tucking it further into her pants as she pushed her way inside. The office was well kept together, but there was a notable maroon theme around. The curtains, the chairs, the carpet, pretty much anything that wasn't gold or silver was maroon. Wilson was a slim tall guy, a little older than Diane herself. He had wavy blonde hair, sculpted perfectly around his rounder face. Blue eyes that seemed to pierce your mind whenever he looked at you. She despised him.

"McClean. Pleasure. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He turned around, the usual smirk across his face as he gave a cocky white smile, a small gleam coming from his mouth. Diane took a few seconds to make sure she knew what she was here for, what she wanted to say, and how she wanted to say it. Once collected, she smiled happily and put her bag on the desk, undoing the straps as she spoke up to explain herself.

"Evening Wilson. Glad to see you're looking good. I had some of the stuff you wanted to see for the new Total Drama project-" Diane was cut off when Wilson cleared his throat, raising a hand up to cut her off. Diane stood there in silence as he lifted himself out of his office chair, leaning against the side of the desk she was closest to, and raised an eyebrow.

"You were really sneaky trying to get this project green lit without me knowing. I'm sure you remember my recent promotion, and that any claims to any old reality TV format coming back have to go through me. Reality shows are what I know, they are what I do. What's the real goal here, Diane? Your dad's show has sat in a corner collecting dust for years now. What's the point of trying to beat a dead horse?" Wilson took a drink of some light brown liquid sitting in a cup on his desk. "Total Drama lost viewership so long ago. It's dead."

Diane tried not to let anything get to her normally, but she knew the idea she had would sell. She knew it would rack in viewers, Wilson was just being stubborn as always. Diane stood up a little straighter, attempting to be just as tall as the blonde haired man, clearing her throat as she started up once again. "Well, I believe the idea I have is going to bring in viewers, and the company has to pay for less than half of expenses. The rest is coming from a fund I set aside just for this exact idea. We have the casting paid for, we have the plane paid for, everything is ready to go." Diane stared daggers at him. "I just need the yes from you. Then I'll be out of your hair."

Wilson tapped his chin slightly, smirking as he thought about the request. He didn't exactly care for anything Diane was saying even if he knew the idea would in fact sell. Total Drama was the show that ruined his mom's life after brutally injuring her to the point of no return for a few years. There was a small spark of anger, wanting Diane to feel everything his mom felt. Even if the anger was mostly directed at her father, she would be just fine as a substitute. "I'll humor you. Say I sign off on whatever papers you need me to put my name on, do you know what you're even doing? You've never been in front of a camera actually hosting. Would the audience even care for some random woman on their screens? The only reason the show worked so well last time is because your dad was such a… Charming guy. You don't really think you have the same wit and timing that he does for a project like this? Let's be reasonable." Wilson shook his head at her slightly, putting his cup down and wrapping his arms over his chest.

"Wilson… All I'm asking is a chance. I know we've had our differences, but think of the new viewership we can bring in by bringing this show back one more time. Older viewers will tune back in, newer people will turn on their TVs for a new experience with an amazing concept, and it barely costs you guys anything. This is worth it." She was trying to be firm, but not appear pushy. Wilson chuckled under his breath, glancing down at a pen on his desk. He grabbed it, waving it around slightly in front of her face.

"Sure Diane. Sure. I'll humor your idea. Minimum viewership has to hit 800k per episode, and we are not paying for much. Just the bare minimum to get you up and going. We will also get to edit the show how we see fit. No funny business. Deal?" Wilson waited, shaking the pen around. Diane took a deep breath. Less creative control. She would have to deal with this before the deal was off the table. After some hesitation, she reached over and shook his hand firmly. Wilson smirked at her, Diane gave some half made smile back as she knew with this opportunity, she would launch herself back into the good graces of this production company…

======= TWO WEEKS LATER =======

The runway was packed with small trucks coming and going with packages being loaded up into a large gray plane with the show's logo on it, the letters TD inside of a funky looking globe, four fists coming together in different colors to go against each other. Diana stepped out of her private bus as she smiled at the camera, her dark hair waving as she began her announcements as the plane was getting prepped for take off.

"Welcome back to Total Drama everyone! It's been quite a long break, but here we are back again with another journey around the globe! Total Drama Around The World will feature 32 new whacky contestants separated into four teams, forced to compete in brutal challenges in different places around the world. I think I see some of the buses with our new cast approaching now!" Diane smiled as she looked down a narrow road where 4 buses were driving up the roadway at a steady pace.

The first bus was a red bus with an angry looking Koala on the front of it. Inside the bus, 8 competitors sat in the seats, waiting for their arrival to this new journey. The first seat on the bus was occupied by a girl, tall and heavily muscular. She had wavy brown hair that went down to her neck in a bob with dark green eyes against her otherwise tan skin, clearly from some sort of latina decent. She was currently listening to music as she waited for the bus to arrive, one earbud hanging out of her ear. She had on a blue sweatshirt top with some gym logo on it, and baggy black jeans with some rips in her knees, as well as some heavy looking combat boots.

Behind her, another girl, way shorter with frizzy blonde hair puffed up to both sides of her head and bright blue eyes was attempting to pull herself up to see over the seat, the bandana on the top of her head keeping her messy hair out of her eyes. She had on a bright pink jacket with a baby blue undershirt that had stars printed across it that had a shiny plastic golden tint to it, and long tight blue jeans, complete with purple and yellow stockings tucked into pink slides. She managed to pull herself over the edge of the seat, smiling wide as she looked down at the first girl. "Hey! Guess we're on the same team! Name is Kaycee." She put her hand out to shake, getting mostly in the way so the taller muscular girl couldn't see her phone in her hand the music was coming from. The girl looked at her hand and sighed hard, putting her own hand out to give a firm shake.

"Carly, nice to meet you- OW!" Carly yelled out, a shock coming from Kaycees hand as she pulled it back and glared slightly. "What the heck was that?!" Carly rubbed her fingers as Kaycee began to laugh, falling back into her seat for a second before coming back up to look over the top of the seat.

"Just a new state of the art shock ring. You are just the first person I've had the pleasure of using it on!" Kaycee cackled, steadying herself against the seat as she tried to calm her laughing down. When she saw Carly didn't think it was that funny, she awkwardly laughed, a slight deadpan expression across her face as she rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I just thought I'd lighten the mood. Everyone on this bus seems so moody."

Carly shrugs, rubbing the pain out of her hand before looking around, scanning her bus mates before sighing and rubbing her head, trying to assess the situation she would be dealing with, already under the assumption that these were her team members. There was a boy in one of the front seats who looked particularly annoyed, leaning back in his seat with his arms behind his head. A light tan across his skin and dark brown eyes, complete with black short hair with the sides buzzed and a messy brushed styled hair on the top of his head. He was wearing an expensive looking black jacket with white stripes down the sides and a gray shirt underneath that. He had baggy looking sweatpants and a pair of sturdy looking sneakers that matched his sweatpants. He seemed mostly over the entire situation, but as Carly looked him over and tried to get a read on him, Kaycee attempted another hand buzzer prank before Carly yanked her arm down.

"Hey, guy sitting over there!" Carly waved to get his attention. "What's your name? You seem a little antisocial over there. If we are gonna be teammates we should at least get to know each other beforehand, yeah?" She tried to give the best genuine smile she could, but the boy didn't seem particularly excited to make conversation.

"... I mean sure, something like that." The boy awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, clearing his throat in the process before sitting up and kicking something on the floor in front of him, some random trash laying there so it slid across the floor. "My name is Carson. Not much to it."

"You don't seem super excited to be out here…" Kaycee raised an eyebrow, playing with the electric buzzer between her fingers, smirking a bit as she leaned forward in her seat. "A free trip around the world is not enough for you to at least be a little more talkative right now?"

"It's not like I haven't been to probably more than half of the locations we are gonna be going to, so there's no point in getting excited for stuff I've already seen." Carson rolled his eyes slightly as he explained why he seemed less than enthusiastic to be sitting here. "Plus my dad is already rich… More money than this competition is offering. It's not like winning will do me much good."

That seemed to tick Carly off slightly as she adjusted herself in her seat, leaning over to confront Carson after he was finished speaking. "So you decided to audition for this show without needing… Or even wanting the prize money? Some people could really use One Million Dollars ya know?" She narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "What if you took that spot away from someone who could have used that prize money?"

Before an argument began to spiral out, an elderly man stepped forward. It was clear he was a contestant, everyone had seen him on the bus since they boarded. He had little to no hair left on his balding head, and what was left was very gray in color. He had wrinkles covering his forehead and a chunky pair of black glasses on his face. He was wearing a brown sweater with a scarf around his neck, a pair of light green slacks and brown loafer shoes.

"There ya go lad, let them know just how great you are. Back in my day we didn't need to join fancy shows like this to get money. We worked for it! I worked at the shoe factory shining shoes and polishing the rubber." The elderly man shook a metal pole around slightly, a light blue tennis ball attached to the end.

"Yes, because we were all wanting to know what the senior home wanted to say in this specific situation." Kaycee chuckled slightly, gently knocking her fist into Carly's arm. The taller girl brushed her away, still slightly irritated with everything Carson had said.

"Eh? What did you say? Sorry, I got my ears full of hair, so you gotta speak up a little." The old man shouted slightly right next to Carson and Kaycee's ears, causing both teens to cover them and cringe a bit the higher he raised his voice.

"All I said was…. What's your name, sir? Happy to have so much life experience on our team." Kaycee slowly showed her bright white teeth, a fake smile across her face so he wouldn't be able to see that she was being sarcastic, hoping to tease him further about his age. The man smiled proudly at the compliment, adjusting his scarf and slicking back whatever strands of hair were left on his head.

"Name is Chuck Little Weathers Michaels. I am currently 68 years old, but I got enough kick left in my step to keep up with all you kids. Mark my words!" Chuck laughed out loud, his voice booming around the bus as he held his belly and tried to appear stronger than he probably really was. However when Carly stood up to take another seat away from this crowd, he seemed much weaker in comparison.

Towards the back of the bus, the remainder of the team was sitting in mostly silence. It was mostly quiet until a woman wearing a long brown and gold dress stood out of her seat and belted out a high note unlike any other. Everyone in the bus, except for Chuck, held their ears as she sang. Once finished, she bowed her head and waited for the applause. She had rolled up red hair tucked away under an elegant tiara that matched her shimmering dark purple eyes. She was a bit chubbier than most people her age, but in more of a curvy way than anything.

"Jesus lady!" One of the boys in a seat yelled out, scowling as he rubbed his ears off. "Little warning next time you wanna blow up my ear drums!" The boy was more scrawny and short than everyone else on the bus. He had messy orange hair and a slightly oversized camo green hoodie slung over his pale skinned arms that hung lazily at his sides, and black gloves. He also had baggy black jeans with way too many pockets up and down the sides, all filled with small items evident by how much the pockets bulge out.

"Apologies young one!" She laughed a hearty life."Sometimes you just need to let your soul out. It's not everyday you get the opportunity to spread your talent around the world… Unless you're me of course! Aha!" She posed nearby the boy's seat, leaning down a little so she could be near his height. "My name is Bertha, Big Bertha, Bertha the Great, any of those will do." Bertha laughed a bit more as she batted her eyelashes at him. "And who do I owe this pleasure to?" She held her hand out to kiss.

The boy slowly pushed it away from his face, raising an eyebrow as he listened to her introduction. "Sorry, I'd rather not but uh… Edison. Nice to meet you, I think?" Edison gave a soft wave as the bus hit a bump, and due to her standing up, he watched Bertha fall to the ground and held back a chuckle as best as he could. A girl gasped, hurrying over to see if she was alright. She was of average height and wore chunky red rimmed glasses with a black cord around the ends so they could not fall off her neck. Her hair was puffy and a bright red color, and it was very natural as seen by similar shaded eyebrows. She had freckles dotting her face, and a little too much makeup on in different colors. She wore a green apron with a candle logo on the little pocket in the corner of the apron. Under the apron you could see a pair of faded blue jeans and a puffy yellow shirt with some ruffles around the sleeves. She had on red and white sneakers with the laces triple knotted, and some dog tags hanging around her neck.

"Oh gosh, are you okay?!" She quickly helped Bertha to her feet, frowning as she helped steady herself after the bus resumed back on its course. "Maybe you should sit. These buses already don't have seatbelts to begin with. Here, take a candle." She gently handed Bertha a candle, smiling and clasping her fingers together as she watched Bertha inspect it.

"Oh, yes…. Uh…. What does it do?" Bertha looks at the inside of the glass, then the bottom, then poked at the bright yellow wax inside. "Does it aid with how long you can hold a note? I heard some high class candles do that."

The girl shook her head, pulling her glasses off her face to wipe them off with a small cloth from inside her apron pocket. "Well, no. They usually just smell nice, but I have candles that help with anxiety or sleeping, many things." She smiles, pushing some of the hair out of her face. "My name is Rebecca, but usually people just call me Becca. I prefer Becca as well. Really nice to meet you." She shook Bertha's hand and nodded, proud of herself for sharing her candle.

Edison shook his head slightly, knowing that the science of candles was super easy to understand, so her being obsessed with them wasn't really something to be proud of. Nowhere near his own accomplishments. He glanced back at the final seat, figuring that they might as well see their final team member, but blinked a few times as he saw the seat which formerly had a person in it was now empty. "Hey, didn't we have a guy sitting here a little while ago?" He gestured at the leftover bags. The screen cuts to a boy standing on top of the bus after climbing out of the window and taking in the rush of standing on a moving vehicle. He was a lanky guy, pale skin and black long hair that blew behind his head in the wind. He was wearing a black tank top that was a little dirty, and a puffy winter jacket over that which seemed ripped up and over used. He was a bit creepy looking, and had on a bunch of jewelry that seemed worn and over used.

"Wahoo! Enjoy that free ride of life!" He shouted out loud, his arms outstretched to let the wind blow against his body, his eyes closed and head tilted back as his hair blew in the wind behind him. "Oscar is out here living large! Hello America!" He waved excited at the camera following the bus, smiling ear to ear as he took in the moment.

The camera pans away to the bus behind the first one, a pink painted bus with some stars along the edges. Once inside, 8 people were sitting, although this bus seemed more verbally active compared to the previous one. The first person focused on is a girl with blonde hair, very petite and short. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, the beads a sparkling purple color that held it up in place. She was wearing a tight red crop top shirt with black straps holding it up around her shoulders, and a purple shining belly button ring, and a matching nose ring. She had tan jeans with a black belt holding them up, and expensive looking black sandals, her bright blue eyes shining as she raised her phone up, doing some dance as she mouthed along to some words, specifically the Total Drama theme song, which she didn't even seem to know all the words to.

A boy nearby got hit in the face with her hand. Instead of looking angry he just looked confused as he looked over to watch her. The boy had slightly spiky and styled brown hair, and had a slim face. He was wearing stylish white rimmed glasses and had what looked like green contacts in his eyes. He was wearing a blue jean jacket on top of a striped gray, green and purple shirt. His jeans had some rips in them at the knees, and he was wearing a pair of green light up sneakers.

"Hey, are you doing a tik tok trend? I think you got some of the words wrong." He carefully pointed out. He leaned a bit closer so he got into the frame beside her, smiling a bit as she stopped lip syncing and paused the recording and glared at him.

"Yes. I am, actually. Not like you would know much about it, I have 6.7 million followers." She smirked smugly, pulling her page up. "My username is TripWithParis, and my army of high school boys and adult men is mountains heavier than most peoples fanbases." She turned her phone off and sighed happily. "My name is Paris by the way."

The boy laughed a bit, fixing his glasses as he looked at her, starting to pose when she introduced herself. "I figured. Context clues." He pulled out some of his recording equipment and turned. Making sure his camcorder was on before starting to talk. "Well guys, first day here in the competition and I'm already meeting a celebrity. Didn't think it would be possible."

Paris blinked a few times, thinking that this little display was cute as he talked to his little camera. "Oh, that's nice. Talking to your camera like there's actual people on the other end."

"He is talking to actual people on the other end, idiot." A boy spoke up. He had on a purple T-shirt with the Twitch logo on the front and white stripes at the short sleeves, one arm having a black long sleeve coming out of it. He had on some baggy looking black pants with a few stains on it, but otherwise the boy was tall and muscular looking, with messy orange hair and some small specks of beard on his chin. "That's Jake Dowell, he's a Youtuber."

"A… Youtuber?" Paris quickly whips her head back to Joey, squinting as she sized him up, then stared directly at his camera and tried to figure out if it looked expensive or not. "For what, like 200 subscribers? Still impressive for a guy like you. Lots of twinks out there trying to make videos nowadays."

"Actually I started making videos about 3 years ago, I've got about 9.3 million subscribers at the moment." Joey scrolled on his phone to check his account, looking at some small graphs on the screen and a bunch of numbers, then showed Paris the screen. "I usually just record my day, show people stuff me and my friends do, and play with my dogs. Then every two days I will hop on my Twitch channel and play games with some friends."

"Hence why I know you." The boy in the purple shirt chuckled. "I'm a streamer myself. Small channel, but I'm hoping to get some more people after this show." He looked at the camera pointed at the window and walked straight over to it, leaning over another contestant to get to it. "Hear that world?! My name is Ulysses and my channel name is RageGamer12, go subscribe to me on twitch right now! I'll wait." He crossed his fingers and waited a few seconds. "... Did you do it?"

The contestant he leaned over seemed to be a bit more ambiguous to what they wanted to present as. They had on a black sleeveless shirt with some black bunnies on it, and fishnets as sleeves with some gold and metal jewelry as rings and bracelets around their fingers and wrists. They had short blonde hair with some hints of brown roots coming back in, and bits of blue and pink on the tips despite the sides of their head being shaved. They had on a black button up skirt and wore fishnets that tucked into their maroon boots with white shoelaces, some buttons with different pride flags pinned to the sides of their boots.

"Those aren't two way microphone cameras. They are just cameras. You aren't gonna hear anything back from them." They said, a bit annoyed, trying to push Ulysses off of them, but they were no were near strong enough. "Now please get off me."

"Eh? Oh sorry, didn't even see you there." Ulysses pushed himself off and dusted off his priceless shirt, raising an eyebrow as he sized up his team member he was just hovering over. "Huh. Guess we know who one of the first easy boots would be. This…. Person."

"This person has a name. Charlie. Ask for it next time before you climb on top of me like some sort of weird dog." Charlie cringed slightly, fixing their shirt and trying to get comfortable again in the cheap seats. "And since I'm introducing myself, I wanna make it known that I go by they/them pronouns. It's something I take personally so please try to respect it like I'm going to respect all of you." Charlie said this to the people nearby. Ulysses snorted and shrugged.

"I stream on twitch all the time. I've run into people who go by some drastically different stuff. That ain't the problem. The problem is we need a strong team. Do you have any special talents or anything? All I'm seeing right now is another really small person who might not have much to offer like the other one." He pointed his thumb back at Paris.

"Joey, he's talking about you." Paris said, not even looking up from her phone as she stalked Jake's channel. Jake blinked a few times and scratched the top of his head, looking confused.

"It's Jake." Jake smiled slightly as he cleaned his camera lense.

Charlie shook their head, leaning forward in their seat and shakily stood up. This was more confrontation than they hoped to have upon arriving, and all they had done so far is introduced themselves. "Look, you haven't seen how we operate as a team yet. I suggest watching and waiting before making snap judgments on people." Charlie poked their finger into Ulysses's chest, raising an eyebrow despite being almost a foot shorter than him. Ulysses opened his mouth to bounce back with a response, but was cut off by someone putting a finger in his face.

The boy who had stepped up was probably younger than most people on the bus, maybe about 13 or 14. He had messy black hair tucked into a backwards baseball cap. He was a bit plumper than everyone, and had dark brown eyes and a darker skin tone. He was wearing a slightly too tight hoodie with some anime characters on it.

"Stop right there, pal. We respect Non-Binary people on this team. Won't have you trying to say anything negative while I'm around." He said angrily, finger shoved against Ulysses mouth in disapproval. "Big idiots like you need to stay in your lane." That comment was enough to send Ulysses over the edge as his face began to get red, and was about to explode until there was a blast of white light from the back of the bus.

Everyone, except for Paris who was too busy stalking to see, turned to look at the light as a girl stepped out. She was a glowing example of beauty. She had caramel skin, tanned beautifully with an amazing afro styled to perfection and flawlessly put together. She wore a flannel tied around her waist with a white long sleeved shirt that sat against her body just right. She had thigh high black leather boots laced tightly. She strutted slightly to the front of the bus and posed in the middle of the isle as a camera flashed from either side of her from seemingly nowhere.

"... Girlboss." The younger boy whispered to himself as he stared in awe.

"Everybody. We mustn't fight amongst each other. This is a team game, friends. Instead of ripping each other to shreds, why not just bask in my glory and beauty?" She brushed her hands up her body and sighed with a large smile across her face as she bat her eyelashes. "What is your name, young one?" She teased the younger boy by taking his hat and putting it slightly over her hair, striking another pose.

He drooled slightly, appreciating the iconic moment that was happening right in front of him. "D… David… My name is David… And you are a goddess…"

"David, what a name. My name is Caliandra." The girl slowly put the hat back on his head and stepped around his little puddle of drool and walked past Ulysses while rubbing the side of his head and slinking into one of the front seats on the bus. "We will be just fine as a team. We will come together and triumph!"

"You said it!" Jake chuckles, looking over at Paris who was leaving many comments under one of his most popular videos. "Oh, people really liked that video. It got like 4 million views in its first week."

"..." Paris glared at him before pulling herself away from her phone and staring at the light still shining from the back of the bus. "Where is that even coming from?It's just random lights."

Caliandra blinks a few times before turning to look over her shoulder, grimacing slightly. "Oh. There was a girl back there who I thought was like an assistant or something. I think she is just doing her job." She snapped for the lights to go off, and once they shut down there was a girl shakily holding up a huge flashlight. She had a lightly tanned tone of skin with frizzy brown hair. She was a bit thicker than some of the other girls on the bus. She was wearing a pink fuzzy smaller jacket with a lime green shirt underneath it. She had on a pair of very light blue shorts and off white sneakers. She continued to struggle to hold the light until she dropped it, shattering the glass.

"Crap! I'm sorry!" She rushed to try and clean up the mess as little glass shards went everywhere. "That was getting really heavy, but I was trying to keep it up!"

"Why do you look like someone threw up all over you after eating a package full of skittles?" Paris said harshly, more of a statement than a question as she looked over the girl's messy wardrobe choices.

"Huh? I mean, I picked all these clothes out… I was told I looked great, but… if you don't like it, I will change…" She scowled, putting some of the glass onto a nearby seat and rubbed her hands off, sighing hard and frowning. "I have some more stuff in my bag."

"You mean this bag?" Another girl in the back of the bus was digging through the luggage, her legs sticking out of the hatch door that held the bags inside. She quickly fell out and landed back on her butt, holding someone else's bag. She had a green mohawk that was split evenly into small spikes, and the rest of her head was shaved off. She wore a black jacket with zippers all over it. She had a bright neon green skirt that had plaid stripes going up and down the designs, a faded gray color lined the red stripes. "I found it! Here, change now!" She threw the bag at her and smiled, hopping up on the seat nearby. "The bag says Michelle on it. You're Michelle right?" She grinned ear to ear.

Michelle frowns hard as she catches the bag, holding it tight between her hands and slowly nods. "Yeah… That's me, but how did you know? There's so many bags in there."

"Oh that's easy. I looked at everyone's personal belongings while I was locked in there." She laughed and brushes her shoulders off, some dust blowing off as she does so.

Everyone was silent and confused. Finally Ulysses raised an eyebrow and walked over, arms crossed over his chest. "You were locked in there this entire time and didn't even say anything? No knock to let us know, no contacting the FAQ on the staff for the show to let you out?"

"Nope!" The girl laughed and perched up on the seat, going through Ulysses pockets as he stood there. The boy just blinked and watched. "Trust me, If Marley needs help, she will ask for it. Besides, it was comfy in there!"

"And I'm assuming you're Marley?" Ulysses asked point blank, glaring down slightly as the girl pulled his wallet out of his pocket.

"Yuppers!" Marley smiles up at him and looks at his ID. "Ulysses huh? Greek name, or at least something similar. You know cocky guys like you end up meeting their end on this show a lot sooner than people think. I'm gonna guess in the fourth or fifth episode we are gonna see you booted. Nothing to be ashamed of though! Better than last place!"

Ulysses felt his eye twitch, slowly tightening his fists as he watched Marley walk to the front of the bus. The camera panned out of the second bus and went back to the third bus, directly behind them. The bus had some green stripes along the side of it, a picture of a rattlesnake on the side. The people inside the bus were less talkative, but more active for sure. The camera focused on a boy with a crew cut haircut, shaved on the sides and a sharp straight hairline in his dirty blonde hair. He had dark green eyes and tanner skin, as well as bulging muscles that showed off as he did some jogging in place while holding some weights in his hands. He had weighted wristbands that were a dark green camo color that matched his camo shirt and black jean shorts that were about knee length. He had on specific white running shoes that were a little dirty. He was sweating a bit, and flicked some sweat off his forehead and it splashed nearby onto a girl who was sitting on the seat near him.

"Ew… Okay, maybe we can not do that again?" She grunted. She was a taller and broader Mexican girl, curly brown hair that twisted into braids that settled neatly onto the edges of her head. She had deep brown eyes and plump lips with freckles that dotted her face. She was way more muscular than the boy near her, even taller than him as well. She was wearing a bright blue cardigan with a black T shirt underneath it, as well as black jeans with a blue belt and white shoes. "It would do us a favor if you would just sit and relax. We aren't even there yet."

"Can't sit actually! Forgot to do 5 hours of jogging in my morning routine. Gotta stay fit!" He huffed as he kept jogging, wiping his head off with a rag as he continued to run. "I'll try not to get you in the splash zone next time, though!"

"It's okay Annabela. This is just a part of the experience!" The girl next to her spoke up, a bright smile across her face. "You know we were bound to meet some odd balls out here. That's just what we signed up for!" The girl was almost like a shorter, thinner, weaker version of Annabela. She had brown curly hair, though was slightly darker skin toned than Annabela. She had freckles dotting her face, and deep brown eyes as well. She was wearing a dark red top with the top half showing off her shoulders and neck, and it ended at a midriff showing her belly button. She had long black leggings on, and black boots.

"Pepper, this is a game. Just so you know, we can't take everything for granted. We might not be at the runway yet, but the show has already started." Annabela raised an eyebrow down at her, her hand gripping the smaller girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, I know! But think about how much fun this is gonna be! Meeting all these new people, seeing all the sights around the world! I'm getting so pumped just thinking about it!" Pepper fist pumped the air in front of her, smacking the seat in front of her slightly and smiled wide up at her older sister.

"Eh, you two seem like you know each other. Nice." The boy jogging spoke up, smiling as well. "Sisters?"

"Yeah. She initially auditioned alone but my parents wouldn't let her get on the show unless she had someone going with her. So they talked to the producers and got me cast as well. Someone dropped out at the last second I guess." Annabela shrugged, looking the boy up and down. "Why do you ask?"

"My brother and I both tried to get on. I felt bad because I was doing it as a joke, he was taking it a bit more seriously. He ended up not even making the cut, but they casted me on. Not sure why, he has way more brains than I ever will. Name's Terry by the way." He saluted slightly as he kept jogging in place.

A girl suddenly shot up from in front of them, pulling a sleep mask off her face and looked angry. She had bright platinum blonde hair and deep red eyes. She was wearing a fluffy pink short dress that didn't do her much favor in covering up the lower half of her body, so she had an even fluffier pink jacket tied around her waist. Her heels were pink as well with the back end having some fluffy feathers sticking out. "Excuse me, some of us are trying to get our beauty sleep! If you keep talking about crap that doesn't even matter, I'm gonna lose my cool, and you do not wanna see that. So cram it!"

"Sorry…" Pepper laughed a bit. "We just figured we should get to know each other now. We might not have much of a chance later if they throw us into a challenge." She glanced at her older sister and Terry and shrugged a bit.

"Challenge? You're worried about challenges. You should be worried about being the annoying one. Nobody cares about challenges. If we lose we lose. Just be pretty like me, you won't be voted out." She applied some lipstick since she was already awake, going back to sitting in her seat normally.

"You think being pretty is gonna save you?" Annabela raised an eyebrow and towered over the girl's seat. "You don't value hard work? Dedication? Loyalty?" She scolded her. "Why are you on this show then?"

"Duh, I'm here for exposure. The more people who know about my upcoming makeup brand the better." She pulled out a compact makeup kit before smiling at the camera, her bright white teeth flashing and sparkling as she stared right at the camera. "Bright Beauty Pallet for the Bright Minded by Naomi. Out soon in stores near you." She winked, smirking as the kit seemed to sparkle as well. Annabela slowly just blinked and sat back down awkwardly.

"Who are you looking at?" Terry asked, confused, looking around with a concerned look on his strong face. "Nobody told me there would be a live studio audience."

"She's talking to the camera." A boy explained as he approached, leaning against a nearby seat. He had a charming look on his face. White skin, styled black hair, smooth green eyes and neatly trimmed facial hair. He had on a black long sleeved button up with the top slightly unbuttoned that showed off the white shirt underneath. He had on black jeans and black brand new shoes, as well as some rings on his fingers. "It's right there, pal." The boy pointed it out for Terry. Terry looked right at it and squinted.

"Yo, am I on camera right now?" Terry stopped jogging and covered his face. "I didn't sign up to be on camera this soon. I'm all sweaty!"

"Well this is a reality show. They are probably gonna have us on camera 24/7. There really isn't much luck in avoiding it." The boy looked over at Annabella, but looked past her as he finally saw Pepper. She caught his glance and stared slightly, her cheeks going red as he winked at her. "Evan. My name is Evan. Heard a gang was introducing themselves back here so I figured I would too."

"Nice to meet you, bro." Terry gave him a firm fist bump, then stepped aside so he could talk to Pepper and Annabella. "Met these two. Really nice people. Not sure about that one up there, but these two have been a pleasure."

Evan nods, reaching a hand out to shake Annabella's hand, which she returns firmly. "Pleasure." He smiled and looked back at Pepper who was attempting to scoot up so she could talk to him as well.

"Hello! My name is Pepper. This is my sister Annabella. It's so cool to meet you, I'm really having so much fun already meeting all these new people already! It's crazy!" Pepper laughs, taking hold of his hand with both of hers and shaking it a little too hard.

Evan laughed as he held his ground and felt his hand get tossed around by this girl. He smirked a bit and nodded, appreciating the talk. Annabella just stared at him as this interaction went on, a small glint of doubt appearing in her eyes.

Up towards the front of the bus, something was cooking up, literally. A boy sitting in one of the front seats was wearing a full chef's uniform, had black shaggy hair that was tucked up into a fleece black hairnet. He was smiling ear to ear and stirring a pot of soup slowly as the smell wafted around the bus nearby. "Perfect. This will taste amazing, might as well blow your socks off! Or just take your socks off yourself, either one works as long as you can eat!" He took a small sip of his soup and closed his eyes, his face blushing at the taste.

A girl in a nearby chair scrunched her nose up, pushing her glasses up her face. She had a more tan skin tone, but frizzy orange hair that settled down her shoulders and along her back. She wore a dark green crop top with a bunch of different necklaces around her neck, and blue jeans with a tight black belt keeping them up, finished with tan sandals. "That smells like you put too much pepper in the water to heat up whatever soup that is. You should probably toss it and start over."

"Start over?!" The boy looked flabbergasted, blinking a few times as he put the soup pot to the side, digging through a nearby bag to find some more ingredients. "Nothing should be thrown away unless there is no hope of it being fixed!" He grinned ear to ear and took a sip from a spoon while he put some spice into the boiling water.

"Right…" She pushed her glasses up again and cleared her throat. "My name is Lisa, by the way. You are?"

"Derrick, But everyone back home calls me Chef Derrick. You guys are a little lucky to have me on your team, honestly. Five star food all the time!" Derrick flicked a strand of hair out of his face and shrugged a bit. "Plus with us going around the world, I can show you all the best places to eat. We are gonna be the best team ever, thanks to me!"

"Thanks to you huh?" A boy walked over, smirking slightly with his arms crossed, and eyebrows raised. He wore a sleek black suit and tie. He had on a fancy bowler hat with a red stripe going through the middle of it. Clearly he was wearing a fake brown bushy mustache that didn't match his bright blonde hair that was lazily tucked up into the hat. "What makes you such a valuable team member? You aren't anything like me… The spy… TJ… Can't tell you what that stands for though, but I promise you it does not stand for Teddy Junior, so if you were going to guess that, you probably just shouldn't guess it."

Derrick and Lisa were both silent as they listened to TJ speak. The blonde haired boy smirked to himself from the awkward silence. "I seemed to have stunned you all. Good. People are normally in awe of my prowess." He chuckled and slunk away out of frome as the camera pulled away from the bus and finally settled into the final bus.

The last bus had some blue stripes on it with an angry looking Dingo painted on the sides. The first person to be focused on was a guy in a police officer uniform, though by looking at his badge you could see he was just in training. His skin was more on the pale side, and he had freckles all over his face. He was tall and lanky with dirty blonde hair that was kept cut down and neat. He was rummaging through some bags when a girl walked up behind him, eyebrow raised. She was wearing a hijab, a darker green one that matched the green color of her eyes. She had slightly darker skin and was wearing a long sleeved black shirt with a long sleeve loose jacket on as well. Her pants were a tan brown color that matched her shoes, laced up with black laces. She had some markings on her hands in red tint, very nice designs that complemented her skin perfectly.

"Hey, uh… If you are gonna be looking through everyone's stuff can you give me my bag? I have some stuff in there from home I'd rather nobody mess with." She peaked over his shoulder with her arms crossed uncomfortably over her chest as he stopped looking through the bags and looked back to stare down at her.

"Ma'am, I'm just doing the first routine check for our team to make sure nobody snuck in any contraband. Illegal snacks, drinks, performance enhancing drugs, you know the deal." He was holding a bag and looked between the name on the front of it and the girl. "Name?"

"Bushra… And yes, that's mine. Can I have it?" Bushra put her hand out to take the bag from him, smiling slightly once she got it. "Thank you. My parents were already freaking out when I told them I was coming here, so they packed a ton of stuff for me to take."

"Must be a close family. My name is Victor. Professional safety expert and this team's leader, probably." Victor nods and stands up right with his arms behind his back. "Assuming, of course, but I am probably the only one with any sort of leadership qualities about them here as far as I've seen this."

"The only one?" A girl walked over. She was very tall and had curly black hair. She had darker skin and looked a bit more nerdy than most people on the bus did. Braces, glasses and had a large orange backpack over her shoulders. She was wearing suspenders attached to a black and orange skirt. Her shirt was an orange vest on top of a black short sleeved shirt, as if it was a uniform from a private school. "I'll have you know I have studied this game for years. Total Drama is what I wrote my final essay on, and I got an A+. I am going to be the leader of this team."

Bushra gulped slightly, taking a step back and watching her approach Victor with a vengeance. "I mean… The game just started, are we even sure we need a leader yet? We don't know how well we are going to do in challenges…"

"Who cares about challenges? We are gonna crush all of them." A guy spoke up from a nearby seat, tossing a pocket knife up in the air and catching it. He was slightly muscular, intimidating for sure, but had tattoos up and down his arms. He was wearing a sleeveless white shirt and a jean jacket with the sleeves cut off. He had a head of brown hair and very tall spikes along his head with the tips dyed blonde. "Anything physical I will take care of. You guys do all the smart stuff and we will be fine."

"Sure… Look, just stay out of this. If you're gonna be a follower rather than a leader then you need to make sure you're at least useful. Name?" Sammarah asked as she pulled out a small notebook that was already filled with challenge percentages, predictions and information.

"Rodrick. Don't mess with me. I don't take direction well from nerdy idiots who wanna boss people around all day." Rodrick glares, catching the knife in his hands and wiping it out, smirking slightly. Bushra got uncomfortable and went to sit back down, passing by a girl who was swiping frantically on her phone.

The girl had a tight blonde ponytail and some small bows and flower pins in her hair. She was wearing a simple red dress and knee high long white boots. Her long red nails typed on the phone screen as she went through an app called Tyndar, attempting to match with some guys before the plane took off.

"C'mon, c'mon… There's gotta be something here! Someone! Anyone!" She whined slightly before Bushra stopped upon hearing her complaints.

"Is everything alright?" Bushra asked, putting her bag back down into a seat, slowly sitting in it and leaning back to relax, or trying to as the bus bounced around.

"No! It's a disaster! Nobody wanted to match with me here, how am I gonna get a boyfriend on this show if everyone keeps swiping left on me! Ugh! I'm gonna get voted out for not being interesting!" The girl began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks. Bushra blinked a few times, not sure how to respond until she stopped crying out of nowhere. "Okay, I'm good. That feels much better now. Yasmin, by the way. Just a simple girl in a simple world who wants a boyfriend. I came on reality TV because I dated pretty much every guy in my town and I broke up with all of them. It just wasn't true love, what can I say?"

"Oh… Wow. That's pretty interesting." Bushra nodded, a little uncomfortable talking to this person, but pushing herself out of her comfort zone despite her best judgment. "Well you could always just… Get with someone in the game right? Like another guy on our team?"

Yasmin gasped, leaning forward so her nose was touching Bushra's. "That's an amazing idea! Oh my god, you are, like, so smart! We should be best friends." Yasmin giggled and grabbed her hands, squeezing them slightly. Bushra cracked a small smile before Yasmin pulled away, looking around the bus. "But which guy? I don't like the cop over there, ACAB, and the guy with the mohawk would probably kill me in my sleep. That leaves the other two…" She pointed to two boys sitting in nearby seats. They were similar in vibe, athletic and tall, but seemed to be interested in different things.

The first boy had messy dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, his skin tanned from being out in the sun all day. He was wearing what seemed like a boy scouts uniform with his bulging muscles probably way too big for the tight short sleeved brown button up that was barely hanging on around his arms. Same with his green shorts, his legs a little too big for the slightly smaller pair of pants he was wearing. The sash around his chest was covered in buttons and pins.

The second boy was just as fit as he was, but had frizzy black hair that was brought up in a loose ponytail and paler skin, some scratches and bandages on his arms. He had a huge backpack with tools and other items filled to the brim, almost sticking out. He was wearing a face mask that shielded his mouth, and a large overcoat that was tied around his waist and large heavy dirty looking black boots.

"Them..? Sure, I mean I don't see why not. You should introduce yourself." Bushra suggested, placing her hands on her lap and attempting to sit still as the bus hit a bump.

Yasmin gasped loudly and hit Bushra on the back slightly, her face brightening up as she got off her chair, climbing over Bushra to get out of her seat. "That's such a good idea! I'm gonna go do that. Be right back bestie!" She hurried over to the nearby seats, leaning against them and quickly putting on lipstick. "Hey boys… Don't mind me, just here to do a little bit of… You know, chit chatting before we get into this little contest. I'm Yasmin, such a pleasure to meet you. And you are?"

The boy with blonde hair pulled an ear plug out of his ear and smiled, standing up and saluting strongly as he prepared to introduce himself. "Salutations. My name is Zachary. Good to meet you. You said your name was Yasmin correct? I have a badge for remembering names, so I'll make sure to remember all two syllables of your name."

"Oh. Zachary… Yeah, I will definitely look forward to that… And what about you?" Yasmin looked over at the other boy who had not gotten up yet. He peered over at her and sighed heavily.

"Nick is fine. I don't really want to talk right now, if I'm being honest. Maybe when the game actually starts." He gave a simple reply, crossing his arms over his chest as he went quiet again. Yasmin made a slight annoyed face as she watched both boys drop every expectation she had about getting a boyfriend here. She heads back to her seat, feeling dejected as she sits back down. The bus came to a halt as the teens inside peaked around their seats to see the buses stopped in front of them. It was a sharp halt that made Rodrick fall out of his chair and grunt as he landed on the floor.

A girl with curly red hair gasped and bolted out of her seat. She was the final contestant that had yet to speak, only acting once someone was injured. She was wearing scrubs, pink ones in particular. She had on a pair of pink sneakers and broke out a first-aid kit pretty quickly as Rodrick looked up.

"Are you okay?! Where does it hurt, I have pretty much something for everything!" She smiled nicely as her name tag around her neck swung lazily from the lanyard.

"Nurse Ashley huh… I'm fine, get away from me. Never trusted three types of people. Cops, Librarians and Doctors." Rodrick pushes her away slightly and sits up, fixing his shirt as he glares at the bus driver for stopping so suddenly.

"Are you sure?" Ashley tried to help Rodrick up, a soft smile across her face. "I don't mind taking a quick check if you need me to. I have something for everyone! Bandaids, strips for burns, face wash." Ahsley took some random things out of her small kit as the door opened. A P.A waved at them to follow.

People began to walk out of their respective buses. All 32 contestants got to see each other for the first time. They stood on their respective team areas as Diane watched them all, her dreams of getting this show back up and going finally coming true. "Welcome everyone to Total Drama Around the World!" Everyone started clapping and cheering, for the most part, as Diane welcomed them to the competition. "We are about to embark around the world together. This competition is going to be long, tough, and the people standing next to you could be your future best friend, your worst enemy, or maybe something more! We will have challenges in iconic locations from around the globe, and after every contest, the losing team will vote somebody off the plane. The final one standing will win One Million Dollars!" The contestants all cheered again, getting hyped for the prize that awaited them at the end of this contest.

= Confession Cam =

Carly: Do you know what that much money could do for me back home?! This competition is going to me! Nothing could stand in the way of me claiming this prize.

Evan: I've been a really big superfan of Total Drama since I was a kid! This is a dream come true. I know I have to keep my wits about me, though, and keep playing up this sweet flirty guy act if I wanna get far into the game.

Charlie: Something tells me this contest is gonna take alot out of me, but I'm ready for every second of it. Nobody could use that million more than I could right now in my life.

Sammarah: I've done my homework on this little contest, I know how to win. There's a formula every season follows so this one will be no different. I have every little bit down to a T. (she pulls out a pie chart.) At least 65% of this game will be played in my current team, and the other 35% will be an individual game. That means right now I have a 1.0322% chance of taking this home! And I have a- (The screen cuts out while she calculates odds.)

= End Confession Cam =

The plane is wheeled out onto the plane runway. Unlike the previous Chris Jet, Diane was ready with a new state of the art plane that was pristine and ready for take off, no damaged product in sight. It stood tall and ready for boarding, the contestants luggage being wheeled into the storage. Diane turned to the camera and gave the audience a cocky grin.

"As you can see, the contestants are ready for the contest to start, and so are we! Get ready for an all out war season where only one person will come out on top. Welcome to Total Drama Around the World!"

(Credits Roll)

Hey everyone! This is my first real attempt at a TD story. A little bit of a longer quest to go on with 32 contestants, 30ish chapters, I just hope this is enjoyable!

The Killer Koala

Oscar (The Adrenaline Junkie)

Chuck (The Old Timer)

Edison (The Chemist)

Carson (The Rich Lazy Kid)

Becca (The Candlemaker)

Bertha (The Opera Singer)

Kaycee (The Class Clown)

Carly (The Bodybuilder)

The Perfect Panthers

Ulysses (The Twitch Streamer)

Charlie (The Natural Born Leader)

Jake (The Social Media Influencer)

David (The Social Justice Warrior)

Michelle (The Doormat)

Paris (The TikTok Star)

Marley (The Snoop)

Caliandra (The Model)

The Raging Rattlesnakes

TJ (The Spy)

Derrick (The Chef in Training)

Evan (The Secret Superfan)

Terry (The Athlete)

Pepper (The Social Butterfly)

Annabela (The Older Sister)

Lisa (The Nerdette)

Naomi (The Makeup Artist)

The Dangerous Dingos

Rodrick (The Convict)

Nick (The Homeless Kid)

Zachary (The Nature Survivalist)

Victor (The Mall Cop)

Yasmin (The Hopeless Romantic)

Ashley (The Nurse)

Bushra (The Girl with a Big Heart)

Sammarah (The Hopeless Romantic)