There was a sharp crackle of thunder as a bolt of lightning struck the earth below. High atop a long forgotten abandoned hill in the middle of Ontario stood a castle. Within its walls were two figures, one a hulking man shrouded by a cloak, standing next to a lever. The other figure was scrawnier, also wearing a cloak and disguised by the shadows. Cackling to himself, he approached a massive slab in the middle of the room. The room was lined with various torches to illuminate the area. Throughout were many pieces of equipment and batteries, most attached to the slab the figure looked over proudly. What was on the slab could not be seen, as it was covered by a very large sheet, though it was certainly massive. The figure continued to laugh sadistically as the thunderstorm intensified.

"The time has come for you to finally live once again," he told whatever was on the slab, oozing with excitement as he grinned wickedly. Turning to his companion near the lever, he pointed dramatically to the heavens, where a hole was in the ceiling large enough to accommodate the slab. "Now!"

Nodding silently, the larger figure slowly flipped the switch. The machines throughout the room beeped and booped to life, mixing with the sounds of the storm to fill the room with noise. As the lights from the devices flickered, the slab in the center of the room slowly began to rise, supported by heavy chains at each corner. As the slab continued to rise, so too did the laughter of the figure as he watched the ascension with the utmost glee. When the slab had reached the top of its climb, it lied prone to the mercy of the storm raging above. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck whatever was beneath the cover, causing the machines in the room to surge with power. Another bolt struck, and the devices would intensify even more. After the third bolt had struck, the figure held his hands up joyously, filled with euphoric glee.

"It's alive! It's alive! It's aliiiiiiiiiive!"

"Chris, this is a lot of got dang fanfare over a stupid airplane," the other figure in the room suddenly cut off, removing the hood of the cloak to reveal himself as a large, bald, muscular black man sporting some sweet facial hair. Indeed, it was the one and only Chef Hatchet. Annoyed at his counterpart's antics, he flipped the lever once again, and the slab began to descend.

"Uh, it's not an airplane, Chef," the first figure corrected, their hood finally falling off to reveal a handsome Caucasian man with stubble and windblown hair. Reality TV's most infamous host, Chris McLean, in the flesh. The slab had finished his descent and Chris eagerly took hold of the cover, yanking it off of whatever was beneath. "It's a jet!"

Indeed with the cover off, the massive figure underneath was revealed to be a jet. But not just any everyday ordinary jet. No, this was THE Total Dram Jumbo Jet. Last seen in Total Drama World Tour before being blown up to kingdom come by Sierra, it was now perfectly rebuilt and in working condition. At least, as good a condition as it was for World Tour. That being, not very good condition at all and with questionable safety. But by damn, it was rebuilt all the same.

"Whatever, man." Chef threw his cloak over his shoulder, walking over to join the host in looking over the colossal airliner. "Did the lightning even do anything? I mean really, why couldn't we just rebuild the darn thing and leave it at that?" He threw his hands up, rolling his eyes. "But nooo, we gotta drag it to a gosh darn castle and get all Dracula on the stupid thing."

"First of all, that's the wrong story," Chris corrected, still choosing to leave the cloak on for dramatic effect. "And yes, it was very much necessary. A return this great deserves a grand entrance." Suddenly, he turned away from Chef and towards the camera, flashing a bright grin as it panned out to get him, Chef, and the jet all in shot. "It's time for another World Tour, baby! All Stars part two! And it's coming at you right now!"

The host posed dramatically, motioning at the Jumbo Jet as a crack of lightning emphasized the segway. Chef, meanwhile, simply groaned, rolling his eyes as the show finally went to intro.

*** Opening Theme ***

*** Outside an airport somewhere in Toronto ***

Now cloak free and in his classic normal attire he had worn for all previous seasons he had hosted the show, Chris walked into frame. While he tried to always have his cheeky grin, he had a special sort of smile that only came with the excitement of a fresh new season. That meant new drama. New grueling challenges. New pain and suffering. All some of the host's favorite things.

He stood outside the entrance of an airport, standing in the middle of a road meant for shuttles to load and unload passengers. Eager to get into it, Chris wasted no time. "Long time no see! No, your eyes don't deceive you. It's really me, your favorite loving reality show host with the most! And this is the start of the newest season of Total Drama!"

Taking a quick pause to let it sink in, Chris motioned off to the side where a shuttle bus strolled in from off screen, coming to a halt next to the host. "We're bringing back the World Tour! We're bringing back All Stars! But this time it's gonna be bigger. It's gonna be better. It's gonna be totally freaking awesome!" Smiling as the doors to the shuttle squeaked open, Chris approached the door. "So how about we start out by seeing who's joining us this season. First up, from Total Drama Island, welcome back Izzy and DJ!"

First off of the bus was a flash of green and orange. The red headed girl landed into a cartwheel, spinning up to the host as she exuded her limitless energy. Making a simple, normal entrance was something out of the question for her as she grinned wildly and waved for the camera. On the other end, behind her came a large, muscular, yet kind looking man, stepping out of the bus carefully. He had known better as to try and depart the bus before her, knowing fully well that it likely would have led to him being sent tumbling down the shuttle's stairs due to her pushing her way out from behind. The boy of Jamaican-Canadian decent gave the camera a warm smile, but was quickly thrown off guard as the girl emerged from behind and jumped on to his back spontaneously.

"Woohoo!" She cheered loudly, not considering how her scream was right next to the boy's ear. "We're finally back! Can you believe it, Deej?"

DJ grimaced at the loud noise that was suddenly assaulting his eardrum, but he was too kind to chastise her, knowing her well enough to realize she wasn't intentionally meaning harm. This was just how she was. "Yeah, it's pretty cool, Izzy. Feels like ages since last time."

As Izzy jumped off of her fellow cast mate's back, Chris wouldn't miss a beat as they took their place next to him. The introductions continued on. "The ever sassy Leshawna, and always long winded Harold!"

"I'll have you know that many people find my trivia both interesting and mentally stimulating," an offended nasally voice answered from within the bus before the source stepped out. A scrawny red headed nerd adjusted his glasses, leveling a glare the host's way. "You clearly just don't know how to appreciate expanding your knowledge, gosh!"

"You tell em, honey!" The speaker with the much louder voice was out next, a curvy sister that radiated sass and confidence. She patted the nerd on the back while he grinned and his cheeks blushed red. "Only things McLean knows about in the noggin of his is beauty products and how to torture people a third his age."

Chris' eye twitched a bit, but he would not let his trademark grin falter so soon on the first day of a new season. "Yes, you all should be quite familiar with the later. Care to volunteer as an early reminder, Leshawna?"

The soul sister rolled her eyes, paying him no mind as she turned back to the nerd. "Don't let Chris' salty behind get ya down, Harold. You keep being you."

Harold nodded in understanding, still blushing due to not having seen Leshawna in so long. "But of course, m'lady. He's just jealous of my wicked skills. What else is new?"

Ignoring Chris, Harold and Leshawna gladly went to chatting up DJ and Izzy. Annoyed, but not about to let the young adults sense it, Chris kept the ball rolling. "Up next, we have a former finalist, farm girl Beth! As well as lover boy turned wackjob, Trent."

First of the pair off of the bus was the male of the duo. Normally with a cool, calm, and collected demeanor about him, the musician exited the bus with guitar case in hand, his expression showing disgruntlement. "Gee, thanks for the killer introduction, Chris. I totally appreciate the constant reminders of something that only happened in one season."

"Says someone who was only in two seasons," Chris shot back without missing a beat, still grinning while Trent's expression soured further. His attitude was calmed, though, when he was approached by a short bespectacled girl with an odd sense of fashion.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with having only been on two seasons," she pointed out, patting Trent on the back reassuringly. She smiled, motioning at their luggage. "Plus now we're about to be on a third, right?"

Indeed, Trent's attitude was helped immensely by her kind comforting. He chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Fair point, Beth, fair point."

The two approached the growing crowd of familiar contestants, Trent immediately offering a high five to Harold after spotting his former band-mate. Beth exchanged a hug with Izzy, though quickly found out it was more than she bargained for when the red head picked her up and squeezed tight.

"And last but certainly not least from this lot," Chris announced. "Fan favorite geek Cody, and everyone's favorite uptight CIT, Courtney!"

Letting out a small cheer as he jumped out of the shuttle, another scrawny boy, though this one with brown hair instead of red and a gap in his teeth instead of glasses, raised his fists to the air. "It's good to be back! I was starting to think it was never going to happen again."

He rushed off immediately to join Harold and Trent, both giving a greeting of "Codemeister!" as he approached and shooting the nerdling finger pistols. As Cody started to greet old friends, the aforementioned final member of the group exited the bus. An attractive Hispanic girl dressed professionally and glowing with confidence, she looked on with a mix of emotions as she surveyed the cast of former players she hadn't seen in quite some time.

"Hey, guys," Courtney greeted, giving a small wave as her fellow veterans looked her way. "Long time no see."

Some of the fellow TDI alum weren't too sure how to react to Courtney's arrival. Harold rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, recalling their storied history of not exactly liking one another. Beth similarly looked away and tapped her fingers together, remembering the times they had butted heads during her second season. DJ was the one to eventually break the silence, offering a kind grin and wave back.

"Yeah, it's been way too long," DJ greeted, looking around at everyone. "It cool seeing y'all again. We should really start doing reunions or something every once and a while."

The mood lighthearted and fun, Courtney smiled and entered the chit chat as the eight former TDI competitors began conversing together. They talked about what they had been up to, and reminisced on the old times from past seasons. It was a feeling of camaraderie and friendliness that, quite frankly, made Chris feel sick to his stomach.

"No worries," he thought to himself. "They'll be at each other's throats before they know it."

Clearing his throat loudly, the host got the attention of the eight young adults, some looking annoyed at the interruption to the conversation. Clapping his hands together, he looked them over with the grin they had long since grown to hate. "Now then, let me be the first to welcome you guys back to Total Drama. For some of you, it's been quite sometime since we last saw you in action."

"Yeah, uh, not to butt in or anything," Cody said suddenly, butting in anyway. "But isn't eight people kinda small for a full season?"

Normally Chris would have enjoyed this opportunity to lambaste the geek for interrupting him so rudely, but they were on a schedule that he didn't want running late. "Well, Cody, the response to that is quite simple. This is only the first group of victims being brought back into the fray this season." He looked off to the side, beaming as he saw a second shuttle approaching. The first had departed after all contestants had exited, and this one now took its place. "And here comes the next group now!"

Once the bus had halted to a stop, the fumes from the exhaust caused the eight contestants already present to cough and hack. The door creaked open once more. The host rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Now this second group of players, for the most part, might not be quite as high profile as you lot," Chris introduced, getting looks of intrigue and confusion. "But that just means they'll be all the more thirsty to prove themselves! Up first, the suffocating Jersey girl Anne Maria, and the pants wetting private, Brick!"

As soon as the introduction was done, the first of the bus' inhabitants practically jogged down the steps, standing up straight and putting his right arm up in a salute. With a buzz cut, army boots, and dog tags, he was unmistakably an army cadet of some sort. Though at this point it was possible he had advanced farther than simply cadet. "Sir, Brick McArthur returning for durty, Sir!"

His tone was loud and stern, and he stood up straight with the poise that only a military buff could accomplish. His composure was thrown off, however, when he was suddenly barraged with a cloud of hairspray that sent him into a coughing fit. While Brick clutched his throat for air, the next contestant casually scooted him aside, continuing to apply hairspray to her hard-as-brick mane.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all know who you is," she said dismissively, taking a break from her hairspray application to strike a pose to show off her features. "And we all know who I am!"

Indeed, she was a hard sight to miss. While she was arguably the curviest of the lot, perhaps only challenged by Leshawna, her skin was an unusual Oompa Loompa orange, a result of fake tan overuse. And her face was smothered in enough makeup to make a professional clown jealous. In the sea of Canadians, her thick New Jersey accent stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Finally, someone not so eager to be all nostalgic and goodie two shoe," Chris exclaimed, beaming with satisfaction at Anne Maria's display. "Great to have you back, Anne Maria."

"You know it," she replied, a cocky air to her as she took a place on the other side of the host. Brick had since recovered enough to be down to slight coughs and followed, taking care to stand on the side of Anne Maria where the hairspray wouldn't flow.

"Next," Chris continued, "We have the cool and silent B, and the uncool and chatty Staci!"

Chatty quickly proved to be an accurate descriptor. As if on cue, with the introduction done Staci had jumped straight into a tirade to the silent comrade behind her.

"Did you know that my great great grandfather Eustace was the one to invent buses?" She asked her counterpart, though she didn't pause for an answer, not that he would have given one. She was a rather large girl, wearing a bow on her head and speaking in a sort of German accent. "Yah, before him if a bunch of people needed to go someplace at once they'd all have to cram into a car like clowns."

The boy exiting the bus behind her listened to the tall tale, mostly because he was more of a listener than a talker. Like Staci he was rather large and chubby, though he did have an air of coolness to him. With dark skin and a large coat, he offered the camera a simple finger pistol before going back to hearing the end of Staci's story.

"And he probably got the idea from my great great great great aunt Ingrid, who invented the bench." Staci nodded in a matter of fact way that made it seem like she genuinely believed the obvious baloney that she was spewing. B simply looked at her, slightly annoyed and slightly amused. "Yah, before her-

"As riveting as this is, Staci, we do have other contestants to get through," Chris barked impatiently, signaling for her and B to join the rest of the Revenge of the Island alumni. After they had done so, the host cleared his throat. "As I was saying, next we have fan favorite weirdo Dawn, and one of our resident mutants, Dakota!"

No one really reacted to hearing Dawn's name, but hearing the host mention Dakota raised some serious eyebrows from the TDI vets that had watched the season. The last Dakota had been seen, she had been mutated into a hulking Goliath with super strength. Where would the fairness be for anyone not on a team with her?

As they pondered this, the first of the two off of the bus was instead a short, pale blonde wearing a green sweater. When exciting the bus she had her hands up in a meditative pose and her eyes closed, though she eventually opened them and waved politely to the others. "Hello, friends. I hope you're all doing well. The tea leaved predicted that today would be a rare day of calmness before great hardship, so it would be best to savor it."

Chris chuckled, the others exchanging looks of fear or nervousness as the reminder of the show's intensity dawned on them. "For once I can get behind some of the craziness she spouts. First time for everything, I suppose."

Paying the host no mind whatsoever, Dawn stepped aside for the next competitor to exit. To their surprise, what came out was not a mutated behemoth, but, well, Dakota. Or at the least, it more closely resembled Dakota before she had suffered her body changing. She no longer sported a tail, spiked teeth, or spikes protruding from her limbs. She wasn't without reminders of what once happened to her, though. Her hair was still a toxic waste colored green, spiked but shorter than it had been on Dakotazoid. Her skin had a bit of orange hue still, but it looked more normal than what Anne Maria's tan had going on. Perhaps most curiously was her change in attire. No longer did she have her former pink pants and shirt. Instead she wore a sort of jumpsuit, though it was still pink and made stylish in only the sort of way someone like Dakota could make work.

There was stunned confusion among everyone but Chris and Dawn. Anne Maria eventually broke the silence. "Yo, what happened to her? She actually looks normal... ish."

"Heh, yeah, I figured you guys might be confused," Dakota answered innocently, looking around awkwardly at all eyes being on her. At the start of Revenge of the Island this would have been exactly what she desired, but that was quite some time ago. "So to make a long story short, I was actually kind of enjoying the mutant life. But it turns out it's really really really hard to find clothes that fit someone that size. And it makes going on flights sort of impossible." She looked down at her hand, counting off on her fingers. "And riding in limos. And going through doors. And... well, you get the point."

"Fair enough," Cody replied, still a bit disappointed since he had watched Revenge of the Island and had momentarily been excited at seeing Dakotazoid in person. "But that doesn't explain how you changed back to normal."

"I sense a dark red aura dormant deep within," Dawn suddenly added, leaning in and looking at the former Fame Monger in concern.

Dakota chuckled awkwardly, taking a step away. "Yeah, I wouldn't exactly say completely normal. Daddy got together with some of his scientists friends and they worked on helping me get back to how I was. I knew Sam really liked my mutant form, but he was still supper supportive about me changing back. That's why he's the best!" She sighed dreamily, staring off into space before snapping back to realization. "Oh yeah, but anyway, those scientists were able to get me back to normal for the most part, but I still have the hair and my skin is still kinda orange."

A few of the others gave a side glance Anne Maria's way, all thinking something along the lines of "You're not the only orange one."

"And uh... well even they MOSTLY got rid of Dakotazoid... I still sorta... kinda go back to it sometimes." She noticed everyone giving her concerned looks of panic, and she waved her hands dismissively. "But it only happens when I get too angry! And I change right back afterwards. That's why they made me this outfit, it doesn't rip in the off chance I accidentally become Dakotazoid."

"Wicked!" Harold's huge grin and twinkle in his eye showed just how excited he was. "So you're just like The Incred-"

Suddenly, the nerd's mouth was covered by Chris' hand, the host staring daggers down at the dork. "Finish that sentence and you're the one that has to pay copyright infringement fees."

Not in any sort of financial security to do so, Harold shut up as he was told. Since Dakota's situation seemed to have been thoroughly explained, her and Dawn joined the other season four alumni, allowing Chris to finally continue.

"As I was saying," he said. "Rounding out this group, some definite familiar faces. Former finalist and turbo jock Lightning, and our scheming dirt bag turned lovable oaf, Scott!"

At hearing the later name, Courtney's eyes went wide and she buried her head into her hands. "Oh lord."

Those that had watched Total Drama All Stars, the poor souls, turned to face Courtney after her reaction. Some looked on in sympathy, others in amusement. She heaved a sigh, raising her head just in time to see the farm boy exit the bus. Wearing his same usual white wife beater and blue jeans, he had a bored sneer when exiting the bus. That changed when he took notice that Courtney was among the crowd. Flustered, he began stammering to find something to say. It was futile, as before he could get out anything resembling words, he was pushed aside by the final shuttle occupant.

"Sha-score," he exclaimed, the origins of why he adds Sha to the start of words remaining a mystery to this day. He was of similar build to DJ. Tall, muscular, clearly athletic, and with dark skin. The difference was that while DJ radiated an air of kindness and positivity, Lightning expelled cockiness and competitiveness. Either unaware that he had shoved Scott aside or just not caring, he flexed his arms and grinned for the camera. "The Lightning is back for round three! Y'all may as well get back on the bus and leave now."

Lightning's comment probably would have come across as cooler had the bus not already departed as soon as he had exited. Unfazed, he simply went and joined the remaining season four alumni next to Chris. Scott followed behind, exchanging an awkward look at Courtney as he passed by. Chris took notice of the exchange and grinned devilishly.

Soon enough, a third and final bus appeared before the contestants. Once again the fumes seemed to nearly suffocate all there, with the exception of Anne Maria who was unsurprisingly building up an immunity to such fumes. The door popped open and for the third time Chris began his introductions.

"And finally, we have our third group of contestants. You can probably already guess what kind of group it'll be if you've been paying attention." Chris chuckled, motioning to the shuttle exit. "Let's get to it. Up first, we have the southern pageant queen Sugar, and the love struck farmer Rodney!"

First off of the third bus was an absolute mountain of a man. Struggling to even squeeze his hulking tree trunk-like arms through the door, he nearly stumbled once he finally worked his way outside. Between the freckles, gap in his teeth, and worn overalls, the farmer moniker shouldn't have come as a surprise. Getting his bearings, Rodney had intended to greet his fellow cast members, but something made him freeze.

There were a bunch of smoking hot babes here that he'd never met. Sure, as someone that tried out for the show in the first place he had watched seasons of Total Drama before, but seeing them in person was something else. Should he look at Leshawna? Perhaps Anne Maria? What about Courtney? It was too much beauty for his small mind to comprehend.

"Uh... umm... p-puppies and... daffodils and chocolate-" Rodney began to stammer, probably trying to envision what he wanted to say but unable to figure out how to speak properly. Since his gibberish made Staci and Izzy sound sane by comparison, he was thankfully cut off by the loud cheer of the next Pahkitew Island alumni.

"Yeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaw," an even thicker country accent than his called, jumping out of the bus with a toothy grin. Speaking of which, like Rodney she had a gap in her teeth, though while she sounded to be just as country as him, her oddly small pink top was more suited for the beach than a farm. Also like her fellow farmer she was large, though not with muscle like her counterpart.

"It's about gosh dern time we had another season, what took ya so long?" she barked at Chris in annoyance, fists on her hips. She didn't wait for an answer, as once she noticed Rodney next to her she scooted him along. "Well don't just stand there, Rodney, you already had yer screen time."

Chuckling at the newcomer's antics, Chris motioned for Rodney to stand behind him to start the third group of players. "Glad to see the enthusiasm, Sugar. But I have some more victims to introduce, so if you'd be so kind as to join us." Seeing the pageant queen fold her arms and narrowing her eyes in rebellion, he had to keep it going. "Not to worry, you'll have plenty of screen time to take in soon enough."

With a huff, but knowing there was nothing to be gained from holding up the show, Sugar slumped over to where Rodney stood, arms still folded. "Fine."

Satisfied, Chris motioned everyone back to watching the bus. "Moving on, here's two contestants that know each other very well. The popular, talented, and successful cheerleader Amy... and also her sister Samey, I guess."

"It's Sammy," a voice corrected, part annoyed and part hurt. Out stepped a petite blonde in, what else, a cheer leading outfit. She was frowning from Chris' remark, but her mood wasn't going to get any better when she was promptly shoved out of the way by someone who looked almost exactly like her, save for a mole Sammy did not have. And unlike her twin's more kind and timid demeanor, this one gave off the air of someone who cared for no one other than herself.

"No, he got it right the first time," she spat dismissively, giving her sister a sinister smirk. "Unless you would have preferred Sparemy."

"You can't talk to her like that!" A sudden third voice boomed from behind the meaner twin, taking Amy by surprise. Chris too, since this messed with the two at a time mojo he had tried to establish. But sure enough, out now was yet another large contestant. Though unlike Rodney and Sugar she was fairly lean, the size came from her immense height that caused her to tower over the rest. Her attire made it seem like she was ready for a safari, and she spoke with the lone Australian accent of the group.

"Uh, Jasmine, I didn't introduce you and Shawn yet," Chris pointed out, irritated at the flow being disrupted.

"Wait, did he just give me my cue?" Another new voice asked, stepping out of the shuttle suddenly. He was a scruffy looking boy, also looking dressed like he was about to spend the night in the woods. Once exiting the bus, he darted his head from side to side. Those that knew him figured he was likely scanning the surrounding area for zombies. "I thought he had some sort of pairs thing going on."

Not amused, Chris's happy expression finally faltered to narrowed eyes and a frown. "I DID, but I guess that's gone out the window now." Sighing, he gave a lackluster motion towards the new arrivals. "The Zombie Nut Shawn, and the Amazon Survivalist Jasmine, everyone."

"I'm from Australia, ya wombat," the survivalist snarked back, knowing fully well what the host meant but feeling the need to give him sass anyway. Turning back to Amy, she jabbed a finger at the mean twin. "And as I was saying, if you think you're going to get away with torturing your sister for another season, you've got another thing coming."

"Oh yeah?" Amy challenged, stepping forward defiantly. "And what are you going to do about it?"

Not expecting her to actually do anything, Amy's eyes went wide when Jasmine stood up to her, glaring down at the mean twin and showing off just how drastically she towered over her. Shawn scooted up to the scene, looking on in half concern and half entertainment.

"You sure you want to challenge her like that?" he asked, exchanging a smile with Sammy. "Because believe me, she'll take you up on it."

While Amy thought quite highly of herself, even she wasn't dumb enough to fool herself into thinking she stood any sort of chance against Jasmine. Feeling a rare sense of defeat, she mumbled something under her breath while storming off to join the other Pahkitew Island veterans. After giving her tall friend an appreciative smile, Sammy followed with Jasmine and Shawn in tow.

"And finally," Chris continued, returning to his former happy demeanor now that the situation had blown over. "Last and... well, arguably least. The human soundboard Beardo, and the friend zoned romantic, Dave."

The first of the final two contestants exited the bus, each step he took giving a booming sound of the earth shaking whenever a foot made contact. Which was strange because he was a short, scrawny little guy, dressed neat and looking timid. Once he was out of the bus a new sound effect echoed, this time of an angelic chorus giving his entrance a dramatic flare. Though he seemed to be fed up as he turned around with a glare.

"Can you not?"

It was revealed that he was addressing the final contestant to leave the bus. In contrast to him, this boy was on the larger size, with darker skin and one hell of an impressive beard. But even the beard paled in comparison to the guy's absolutely massive afro, easily giving him the biggest hairdo of the cast. Also revealed was the fact that these sounds were, as Chris had mentioned, coming from him. He decided to give his own descent down the stairs the sound of "Also sprach Zarathustra," the tune made famous in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Each step he took was accompanied by one of the grand brass tones from the piece, with the loudest drawn out note playing when he touched down with his arms spread out for added effect.

"Seriously, cut it out," Dave continued, forcing Beardo to end his tune short with a record scratch sound effect to emphasize the point. "I'd imagine you don't want to be eliminated first again, so cool it with the sound effects."

While dejected at his talent being received so negatively, Beardo couldn't deny that there was a point to be made over him not wanting to be another early boot again. Using the sound of a zipper closing, he motioned his hand across his mouth and flashed the germaphobe a thumbs up. Rolling his eyes, Dave just shrugged at the gesture and joined the others with Beardo behind him. The final bus drove off and finally the crew was assembled.

A huge satisfied grin on his face, Chris stretched out his arms and looked around at the cast of young adults. "And with that, we have our full cast for the season!"

The 24 contestants looked around at the competition, sizing each other up. With the exception of Courtney with Lightning and Scott, those from different generations had yet to compete against or even meet the others. All they had to go off of was what they had seen from watching their seasons on TV. And maybe a short cameo appearance or two in the cases of DJ and Izzy.

"This is an, uh... interesting cast," Dave observed, looking from Beardo, to Staci, to Izzy.

"Thank you, Dave," Chris said appreciatively, despite Dave's tone not being a complimentary one. Gesturing with his hand for the group to follow them, he began leading them through the airport.

"So as the twenty four of you may have already guessed from the lack of newbies in this cast, this is a new All Stars season." As Chris continued on, Courtney exchanged a look with Scott, both then looking away with the former scowling and the later looking awkward. Lightning, meanwhile, frowned at the mention of All Stars, the memory of his early elimination in it rushing back. "And as you also may have guessed by now, we're not doing Heroes vs Villains this time. It's gonna be a Battle of the Generations!"

Indeed, most of the contestants had already guessed as much due to each generation have a gender balanced eight participants each, but it was good to have confirmation. Shawn and Jasmine exchanged a high five, Harold pumped his fist with a "Booyah" while Leshawna smirked next to him, and B raised an eyebrow while giving a glance to Scott.

"Casting the lot of you was an interesting process," Chris continued, spinning around to look at the cast as they had made it outside of the airport building and out on to the runway. He first looked at the Revenge of the Island alumni. "You guys were probably the easiest. We brought back all six of you who didn't compete in the first All Stars. But since that left us two more male slots in need of filling, we had to choose two of the dudes from All Stars."

Frowning a bit as he recalled something, Chris shook it off. "Fans made it apparent they didn't want to see Mike or Cameron back, so we went with Lightning since he was the first of the All Stars eliminated."

"And why him over Sam?" Dakota asked, pointing a thumb at Scott with a glare. She was irritated but making sure not to get angry since this wasn't something worth going Dakotazoid over.

Chris shrugged innocently. "Scott's better for ratings, what can I say." Scott noticed the glare Dakota was giving him, as well as the other looks from his teammates since the attention had been drawn to him. He chuckled awkwardly. Chris, meanwhile, turned his attention to the Pahkitew Island crew.

"As for you guys, it was also a little bit of an easy process. Max and Scarlett are permanently banned from ever competing on the show ever again, I hate Ella, and Topher is stuck on... duties elsewhere." Chris chuckled mischievously, though the others had no idea why. "And since Sky is busy training for the Olympics, that just left you lot."

"Uh, no it doesn't," Sugar interrupted, hands on her hips and looking disappointed. "What about the wizard? Why ain't he back?"

The host's eye twitched, turning away from her to face the season one veterans instead. He took a deep long breath, turning his head up dismissively. "I have no idea who you're referring to, Sugar. Sounds like you're talking about some sort of dirty TRAITOR to me."

Silently, everyone took a second to process what Chris had meant. Nearly everyone there had seen The Ridonculous Race, and were well aware that Leonard had been part of the cast. While he didn't make it far, Ridonculous Race had been the biggest hit for the network since Total Drama, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to know this was what he was referring to. DJ and Courtney exchanged a look, both having come to the conclusion that this was likely why Owen, Noah, Geoff and by extension Bridgette weren't invited to this cast.

"And finally, we have our TDI vets," Chris finished, regaining composure and returning to his smiling self. "For you guys we went with Wannabe All Stars. People who probably could have made the cut to be on the first All Stars, only for us to end up thinking they weren't up to snuff. Bridgette was going to be the eighth member of your team, but due to... reasons, we decided to bring back Courtney from the first All Stars instead."

Looking over at Scott with a cheeky smirk, Chris chuckled. "Though we had our other reasons to bring her back as well."

Courtney sighed in annoyance, not even giving a look the dirt farmer's way. While she wasn't complaining about another shot at prize money, being the only former All Star on her team made her feel like a target could be on her back. Scott, too, was starting to feel this. Lightning wasn't, however, because when does he ever worry about anything?

The explanation on the casting done, Chris came to a stop in the middle of a runway strip, looking up at the sky and grinning. "And now, may I present to you the truly greatest return out of anything on this season. Please welcome back the Total Drama Jumbo Jet!"

Those from the season one cast gasped, everyone looking to the sky as the very same jet descended from above. Piloting with an annoyed glare, Chef brought the plane down the runway, expertly coming to a stop right next to Chris and the others.

"No way," Izzy said in awe. "We're having another World Tour?"

"Well I mean, they brought us to an airport, wasn't that obvious?" Harold pointed out, though Izzy either didn't hear him or ignored him.

"But didn't Sierra blow it to smithereens back in season three?" Beth asked, both confused and intimidated since this would be her first time flying on the deathtrap.

"Apparently globe trotting themes are big with fans right now," Chris answered, trying and failing to hide any bitterness to his tone. "So the producers gave us the budget needed to repair it. But hey, I guess I can't complain. I missed the big thing. And it looks good as new!"

On cue, one of the engines on the right wing sputtered and blew a concerning amount of smoke out. Those that had yet to ride the plane looked on in worry, but those that had knew this was going to be par for the course. One particular contestant was starting to look more concerned than the rest. B tapped his fingers together nervously, and Dawn took notice.

"Excuse me, Chris?" Dawn asked politely, raising her hand. "Will the required singing be returning for this season as well?"

"Pfft, required," Cody snarked in a voice low enough to not be heard. He knew very well that he had failed to sing in the vast majority of the songs he could have taken part in but didn't, yet nothing was ever done to him. But he wasn't about to bring this up to Chris.

"Why yes, Dawn, yes it is," the host answered happily, smiling directly at B, knowing fully well that he was the reason she had asked in the first place. "And unlike last time where the rule was hardly enforced after Duncan's ejection, we're going to make sure that EVERYONE present for a song will participate. Doesn't that sound great, Cody?"

"Well crap," Cody thought to himself, busted.

Meanwhile, B was beginning to sweat, something Chris took quick notice of. "However, we're on a tight schedule this season and those songs take up a lot of precious screentime, so we won't be doing them every episode like last time. Something more like every other episode instead. So no singing for today, at least." Seeing the silent genius relax a bit, Chris continued. "However, as I said the rules of singing will be STRICTLY enforced. If you don't sing, you're out. No exceptions."

That all said, Chris moved toward the Jumbo Jet as a set of stairs had lowered from the now open door in the side of the plane. B gulped, Dawn patting him on the arm reassuringly.

"There there, you'll think of something," she offered, trying to relax the normally mute genius.

"Maybe you could just do one or two words per song?" Brick added, also seeing his teammate's concern and feeling a need to help. "As long as it counts, that way you can get it out of the way."

While the Revenge of the Island cast tried to calm down B, Jasmine was giving Shawn a concerned look. "Are you gonna be alright with us up in the air in a closed in space?"

The zombie nut had been looking over the jet, taking it all in while tapping his chin in thought. He nodded at his girlfriend. "I'll have to give the plane a thorough checking each time we take off to make sure no lurchers snuck their way on board, but after that I should be fine. Being up in the air is a pretty safe place to avoid zombies as long as there aren't any already on the plane."

"Or you could just not since they don't even exist," Amy pointed out. She soon came to regret it as she once again felt the icy glare from Jasmine staring a hole through her. Deflated, she looked off and huffed. "Whatever, do what you want, I guess."

"AHEM." Loudly clearing his throat, all eyes turned back towards Chris, now standing next to the stairs leading up to the jet. "If you kids are done, we have a tour to go on. Even if you've watched World Tour before, we gotta cover all our bases."

Nobody really having anything to add or reply to with that, everyone followed the host on board. They were first brought to the large dining area. There were three plain tables spread throughout the room, with eight metal seats surrounding each. There was a small wooden shelf on one side of the room with a water pitcher, plates, and cups resting on top, and another shelf nearby with condiment bottles like ketchup and mustard on top.

"Here is, of course, your eating quarters," Chris said to point out the obvious. "Our Head Pilot Chef will so graciously be serving the lot of you three meals a day, giving you the best that airline food has to offer! It's also a nice little place to hang out and mingle if you need a change of scenery from where you're sleeping."

"Did you know my great great great grandfather Kevin was the one to invent plates?" Staci suddenly offered, getting a mix of confused or annoyed looks her way. "Ya, before him everyone just had to eat with their hands and get food everywhere."

"Uh... huh," Chris replied, not amused at the sudden input. "Moving on."

Next the contestants were brought to a room that consistently mostly of two simple wooden benches lining both walls. Above the benches attached to the walls were multiple arm straps that looked about as comfy as a root canal. Rodney had been chosen to demonstrate the straps, and the farm boy could be seen cringing as the flimsy straps struggled to go over his massive arms.

"Here is where our losers will be sleeping if they weren't fortunate enough to win the challenge," McLean explained, motioning to Rodney to prove his point. "You get a nice hard bench to rest your rear end, and some safety straps to keep you from getting ping ponged around the room in your sleep when we hit some turbulence."

"It was actually my great third cousin twice removed Cynthia that invented the seat belt," Staci once again added, earning a sigh from Chris. "Ya, before her if someone got in a crash they just flew out of the window!"

Nobody wanted to comment on the obviously fake tangent. Harold sucked in a breath, feeling the urge to point out the actual inventor of the seat belt, but he had watched Revenge of the Island and didn't want to seem mean by shooting down Staci's story.

"We all know that's a bunch of bull, but whatever," Chris continued, not feeling the need for restraint that Harold felt. "Moving on, let's see where our winners will be staying!"

The contestants were brought to a room that actually resembled what one would expect on an airplane. A fairly nice one at that. The room was well lit and colorful, a departure from the dull gray that the rest of the plane had been thus far. Comfy yellow seats lined the walls, and at the back of the room was even a mini bar with various beverages and treats sat behind glass. All non-alcoholic of course, since most of these players were too young to drink.

"And here we have the Winner's Area, a first class section made for comfort," Chris pointed out, walking down the room while many of the contestants tried out the chairs to confirm how pleasant they were. "Leshawna, Harold, and DJ, as alumni of Team Victory you might not remember it too well since you never stayed here."

"Actually I did make it here a few tim-" DJ began, only to be cut off by Chris suddenly starting again.

"ANYWAY, anytime your team wins a challenge, you get to stay here until we arrive at our next destination. If you don't want to need a chiropractor after the season from sitting on those loser benches too much, I'd prioritize trying to be here as much as possible."

Trent rubbed the armrests of a seat, Beth sitting next to him. "These ARE pretty nice. They must have replaced the seats after the old ones got blown up last time."

Suddenly, the musician felt something strange as he reached a bit farther down the side of the seat which had a wood siding. Looking down, his eyes went wide as he saw the source. Carved into the wood with a knife was a picture of Gwen's face. Those that had watched season three would remember that Duncan had carved it after her elimination. Looking over to see what Trent had found, Beth chuckled awkwardly.

"I guess some seats survived and got reused?"

Suddenly the scene changed to show Trent sitting in the jet's bathroom. It was a rather cramped room, just with a simple airplane toilet, sink, and a window on the side, but it was comparatively quite clean when stacked up to the usual outhouse confessional.

*** Confessional: Trent ***

"Look, I got over me and Gwen breaking up a long time ago," he explained to the camera. "And I was all for her and Duncan becoming a couple... not that he really treated her well and not that they lasted long, but still. I was cool with it. But I'm not gonna lie, seeing a reminder of her every time we stay in first class sucks a bit."

"What an excellent segway into introducing the confessional, Trent," Chris practically yelled as he suddenly threw open the door and barged into the confessional, making Trent yell and scoot back in shock. "Everyone group around, this is the confessional cam."

The remaining players all crowded around outside the bathroom, with Sugar and Lightning even managing to poke their heads in and make it even more cramped for Trent.

"Despite everything, something you all have in common is making confessionals on the toilet, so you should all feel right at home here when you feel the need to vent your frustrations." He chuckled, smiling at the still shocked musician. "Just remember to lock the door unlike our friend Trent here. Alternatively, we have a confessional in the cockpit. It didn't see much use last time, so feel free to try it out!"

*** Cockpit Confessional: Dave ***

Dave looked around at his surroundings. It was as Chris said, the cockpit of the plane. There were various panels, buttons, and such at the front of the plane all shoddily held in place. There was a pilot and co-pilot seat, and sat in the pilot seat was none other than Chef in his blue pilot outfit. He faced forward away from the camera, focusing on flying. On the dash were little bobble heads of Chris and Chef, and parachutes were attached to the backs of both seats.

"Huh, don't know why they wouldn't use this one more often. It definitely beats talking to the camera in a gross bathroom every time."

"Would you pipe down already?" Chef suddenly barked back at the germophobe, making him jump back and hold his arms up defensively. "I'm trying to fly a gosh darn plane over here!"

Returning to his flight position, Dave slowly eased up, giving the camera a wide eyed stare. "Aaaaand, now I see why they didn't use this one more often."

*** In the cargo hold ***

With the confessionals done for now, everyone had gathered in the largest room at the back of the plane. It was a spacious cargo hold, filled with various crates, boxes, and bags. Shawn had wasted no time in scurrying around the area, getting the heebie jeebies from the cramped cargo. He had to make sure it was clear of the zombie menace before one ended up popping out from around a corner.

"As you can see, this is the cargo hold," Chris pointed out, paying Shawn no mind. Nor did he pay any mind when B had started rummaging through various crates and boxes. "There isn't really anything game related to do here on a surface level, it's just where we store all our supplies and such for the show. Buuuut it makes for a pretty good place to sneak off to when you kids want to plot and have secret meetings."

Everyone took in the area, thinking over the potential of its uses. Since it was so massive and filled with junk, it definitely would be easy to get into some shenanigans in it without being caught. Sugar rubbed her chin in thought and Lightning grinned.

"And finally, we have one more room of importance to check out," Chris said, now noticing Shawn and B doing their own things. He snapped his fingers to get their attention. "Yo, you guys can mess around in here all you want when the tour is done. Get your butts in gear."

As the host led the cast away to their next destination, Shawn reluctantly so, Sugar noticed a strange door between the cargo and first class area. "Oooh, what's in here?"

Inviting herself in, Sugar shoved the door open to reveal the most lavish room yet. A top of the line flatscreen TV, a hot tub next to a wood burning oven. There was a piano, a comfy chair next to martini glasses, and a king sized bed.

"Well dang, ain't this place swanky," she observed, the others filing in after she had barged into the room, forcing Chris to follow her. "What if I wanna stay in here?"

Chris opened his mouth to reply, but Harold beat him to the punch. "This is Chris' room, it's off limits to us. It's also where most of the budget went to for this jet. You'd think they'd skip this part when they had to rebuild the thing, but I guess not."

"There's perks that come with being someone important, Harold," Chris replied matter of factly, sending a glare to him and then Sugar. "Now if you two are done interrupting me, I still have one more place to show you."

The final location Chris had brought the contestants to was a small room with a set of bleachers. There were spotlights shining down on to a stage that had a floral curtain backdrop and a sort of podium made from a drum. Nearby was an exit door, with a large tiki face on each side.

"And thus we come to my favorite part of the jet. The elimination ceremony!" Chris stood behind the drum podium, pulling a disgusting looking bag full of peanuts out from seemingly nowhere. "Every time a team loses, they'll be forced to vote off one of their own teammates. Those safe receive these barf bags full of peanuts."

"Didn't you give up on handing those out like as soon as Team Victory was gone?" Cody asked, getting the bag the host was holding thrown into his face as a response.

"As I was saying," Chris said, leveling a glare the geek's way. "The person that does NOT receive a barf bag will be promptly removed from the Jumbo Jet and get sent packing with just a parachute to protect themselves. And while we're on the subject of teams, even if you already know who you're on a team with, we need to make things official."

"Hey, this reminds me about how my great great great uncle Boris was the first person to serve peanuts at the circ-" Staci began to say, getting an intense glare from Chris as she started, but her mouth was quickly covered by the hand of Anne Maria, giving her talkative teammate a look that told her that she needed to be quiet.

"Hehe, you were saying?" Anne Maria asked.

*** Confessional: Anne Maria ***

"Look, I don't watch too much of this show, but World Tour was one of the few seasons that I did. And that freaky green kid that tricked me with that fake diamond ended up getting targeted by McLean when he wouldn't shut his yap. The last thing we need is Chatterbox getting thrown out, stowing away in the plane, and becoming like him. Plus we don't need to be down someone already, especially if the big guy ends up not being able to sing."

*** In the dining area ***

Chris had eventually motioned everyone back into the dining area, making all of the generation teams stand on separate circles placed apart form each other. Those from Total Drama Island stood on a blue circle, Revenge of the Island reps stood on a green circle, and Pahkitew Island alumni on a red circle. Walking down the room, Chris first came to a stop at the red circle.

"Those of you from the third generation. From now on you will be known as... Team Explosive!"

On screen a red team logo appeared, showing a stick of dynamite with the fuse lit. The host then moved down to the green circle.

"You guys from the second generation? You all will be known as... Team Radioactive!"

Once again the team logo flashed on screen, this time in green. It was a vat of leaking toxic waste with a skull symbol on the front. Finally, Chris arrived at the blue circle.

"And of course, my veterans from the first generation. Collectively, you all make up... Team Old School!"

The final logo to appear, this one in blue, displayed the thousand foot high cliff from Camp Wawanakwa.

As the teams murmured in discussion about these names and logos, Izzy looked let down. "Aw come on, that name's kinda boring compared to radioactive and explosive isn't it?" She motioned at the other logos. "I mean those sound all exciting and dangerous, and ours is just all bluuuh."

Folding his arms, Chris gave the lunatic a curious look. "And do you have a better suggestion?"

"Hmmm." Izzy rubbed her chin, thinking over her options. Team Explosivo? Nah, that was so season two. Team Victory? No, that didn't work out so well for the last team to try it. "How about-"

"It was a rhetorical question," Chris cut off, placing a hand in front of her face to prevent her from finishing. "It's Team Old School."

Ignoring the glare now being sent his way from Izzy, Chris walked off to his personal quarters for what he felt was well earned relaxation time. "You may all now do as you please until we arrive at the location of your first challenge. I'll be relaxing in the meanwhile."

"If you don't mind me asking, what IS the first location?" Sammy asked curiously.

"Why yes, yes I do mind you asking," Chris replied, narrowing his eyes at the nice twin before returning to his smile. "But eh, what the heck, I'll tell ya. So last World Tour, we were able to hit six out of the seven continents throughout the season. We decided to start things off this time by hitting the one we missed first."

Realization quickly dawned on those that had a basic memory of geography, with those in outfits made more for warmer environments beginning to look nervous since they hadn't packed anything other than more copies of the same outfit, per their contract's orders.

"I'm going to go ahead and guess that we aren't going to be provided coats to protect from the Antarctic cold, right?" DJ asked.

"You kids know me so well! You really ARE All Stars!" With a last mischievous, taunting laugh, the host took his leave.

*** Cockpit Confessional: Scott ***

The devious leaned his back against the co-pilot seat, giving the camera an annoyed glare. "Right now my plan is to lay low and not make any big waves. Other than Lightning, the last thing most of the guys on my team remember me for is getting their butts kicked off in season four. I can already tell the mutant has it out for me since they brought me back instead of her boyfriend. Last thing I need is getting kicked off early because these people don't know how to let go of a grudge."

"He probably just wants to stay because he wants to try hooking back up with Courtney," Chef commented from his seat, not bothering to turn around. Flustered, Scott stepped towards the pilot with a puffed out chest.

"I want the money, she ain't the only reason I want to stay!"

"Yeah, but she's the main reason," Chef shot back, chuckling as he turned to face the farmer. "Don't kid yourself, dirt boy."

Scott simply turned away with his arms folded, mumbling obscenities under his breath but failing to deny the accusation.

*** In the cargo hold ***

With the required tour over, the cast's zombie fanatic was ready to resume his jet search, making sure the vessel was free of the undead. Due to the massive size of the cargo hold, but mostly just to remain in each other's company, he had two tag alongs in the form of Jasmine and Sammy. As they entered the room, the trio were surprised to see that they had actually been beaten to beginning their investigation. Dawn and B were looking through one crate, with Brick looking through another nearby. Curious, Shawn approached the group.

"You guys checking for zombies too?" he asked, unsure why else they'd all be here as well.

"Not quite," Dawn answered without looking up from the crate. She picked up a small busted speaker, showing it to B who smiled and nodded. He look the piece and tucked it away into a pocket while the search continued. "We're rummaging through the cargo to help B with something."

"Would you care to help us?" Brick asked, offering the Pahkitew alumni a warm smile. "We could really use some more hands on deck."

The third generation trio exchanged looks of uncertainty. Jasmine decided to voice the obvious. "I don't know. No offense, but it's probably not a great idea to be helping the enemy right out of the gate."

"Technically the competition hasn't truly started yet," Sammy pointed out. "So they're not our enemies right now."

Seemingly at an impasse, the girls looked to Shawn to break the tie. The scruffy boy stroked his stubble in thought, weighing their options. "Well, we DO need to look through the cargo anyway, so it would be easy to help." He snapped his fingers, thinking of an idea. "Tell ya what, since this could end up helping you guys in the long run, we'll help under the condition that you guys help me with my zombie checks as long as you're still in the game. This cargo hold is pretty massive, so the extra help would definitely make things more efficient."

There was a mix of reactions from the second generation trio. Brick seemed the most confused of all, though if his puzzlement was over the zombie subject or just from committing to such a long term deal was up to debate. Dawn, meanwhile, smiled in response. She seemed to have no objections with the deal. After looking down and pondering it, B finally flashed the conspiracy nut a thumbs up, accepting the conditions of the deal.

"Sweet!" Shawn and the others gathered around to join the Revenge of the Island competitors. "So what are you guys looking for?"

*** Confessional: Jasmine ***

"I'll be honest, I still don't fully understand Shawn's fascination with zombies," the Australian admitted, having to hunch over a bit in the bathroom due to her immense height. "But hey, I like that he's so weird. As for those Team Radioactive guys, they seem alright enough. I'm not too crazy about helping them out, but if they're willing to help keep Shawn at ease then I guess it's a fair trade."

*** Somewhere over Antarctica ***

The plane ride to the first destination was largely uneventful. Outside of the cargo hold group, the rest of the competitors stuck mostly to their own teams to catch up and discuss potential strategies. They all stuck to the first class area since there was no reason to stay in economy until they had to. Eventually, they could look out the window to see miles upon miles of ice and snow. Landing the Jumbo Jet on the ice would be no easy feat, but Chef was a talented man when he cared and he pulled it off.

Eventually everyone found their way outside after a slide emerged from one of the exits to bring everyone down to the ice. The crowd of competitors shivered, hugging themselves in a fruitless attempt for warmth. Chris, meanwhile, joined the group while wearing a large comfy coat, snow boots, and thick cozy mittens. He was as toasty and comfortable as anyone in Antarctica could be, but no one from the cast bothered to complain since they knew this would always be the case as the difference between their treatment and the host's.

"Welcome to the site of your very first challenge of the season," McLean started, motioning around him to ice, ice, and more ice. "Antarctica is the world's lowest populated continent. That might have something to do with it also being the coldest, windiest, and driest continent. Not a whole lot to do here unless you really REALLY like ice skating."

Chris moved in front of three huge slabs of ice, each clearly holding something frozen within, though it was hard to see through the thick ice. "Your challenge is a throwback to the first challenge from World Tour. But instead of racing to the Nile, you'll be racing to the South Pole! We've traded the desert for a tundra."

"Actually, most of Antarctica could still be described as a desert due to the low amount of precipitation," Courtney pointed out, receiving agreeing nods from Cody and B. "Not all deserts are the hot sandy kind, a lot of them are like this."

The sinister host narrowed his eyes at the former All Star, disappointed. "Court, I expect those kind of dumb tangents out of Harold, not you."

*** Confessional: Courtney ***

"Being compared to Harold... yeah, not sure if I've ever been more insulted."

*** In Antarctica ***

"As I was saying," the host continued, motioning to the huge blocks of ice. "You all will be racing to the South Pole. Inside these blocks of ice are three things you'll be needing. First is an eight seated snowmobile, which will be KINDA useful to make such a big trip. Next is a GPS which will give you directions to the South Pole, equally useful. And perhaps most useful of all if you want to win is a flag baring your team's logo. The first team to plant their flag next to the South Pole wins first class. The team that does it last gets to be the first team of the season to send some sorry loser packing!"

The crowd looked each other over, feeling the sense of competition. None of them wanted the distinction of being the first person eliminated. Beardo and Staci exchanged a look, both having realized that unless this was a surprise double elimination, at least one of them would avoid being the first boot again. Heck, if Team Old School lost maybe even both of them. Some like Lightning and Shawn looked confident. Others like Beth and Sammy seemed nervous. And then there was Izzy, but no one dared to wonder what was going on in her mind.

"Part one is simple, retrieve everything you need from the ice by any means necessary." Chris looked over at the jumbo jet where a ramp had just opened, making it possible to enter the cargo hold. "Anything you can find in the cargo hold is fair game to use, so go wild. First team to get everything out of the ice will receive a reward that will help during the race. The team that frees everything last will get a handicap. So don't be last!"

Reaching into his coat pocket, Chris pulled out an item the contestants recognized well. His trusty air horn. Plugging their ears, they braced themselves just in time for the host's mighty blast with the device. "Begin!"

Everyone ran up to their giant slabs of ice, though no one made an immediate move to do anything to it since they were far too massive for it to be an easy endeavor. Shawn was the first to make a call after looking from the ice to his team.

"Alright, I'd say we probably have the most potential body heat out of any of these teams," he pointed out, noting the size of both Rodney and Beardo. "We could have our larger teammates working on melting bits of the ice while the rest of us check the cargo for something useful."

"I don't know, could we really do much to it just using body heat?" Rodney asked skeptically, in awe at the size of this ice. It was an absolute unit.

"It'll be fine," Jasmine replied. "Some gradual progress is better than no progress. Shawn, Sammy, and I already did some looking around in the cargo hold so we can afford having less searchers."

The outback girl gave Rodney a look to see if he had been convinced. As it turns out, looking into her eyes made Rodney sigh dreamily, throwing up an approving thumbs up. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

"Alright, then Jasmine, Sugar, Rodney, and Beardo will stay out here and try to melt some of the ice while the rest of us hit up the cargo," the zombie nut continued, pointing a thumb at the plane. "Since me and Sammy already got a feel of the place, Amy can search with me and Dave can search with her."

Shawn wasn't particularly thrilled at the idea of pairing up with Amy to search for things to help with the ice, but he knew fully well that pairing the evil twin with her sister was a bad idea for everyone involved. It was for the good of the team that he be the one to deal with her. Dave and Sammy exchanged a nod and jogged off towards the plan, while Amy rolled her eyes and reluctantly followed the defacto team captain.

The other teams, meanwhile, had all chosen to begin searching the cargo hold. Of the two, however, Team Radioactive had the distinct advantage of also having members who had previously searched the area. With Dawn and B directing traffic, Scott, Anne Maria, and Staci carried pickaxes out to their ice. Meanwhile, Team Old School was searching more or less blindly for anything of use.

"I wonder if Chris has any flame throwers lying around?" Izzy wondered out loud as she and Trent searched through one of the crates. "That would help!"

The musician chuckled awkwardly, half from amusement and the other half from the scary thought of Izzy being allowed to use a flame thrower in the first place. "Yeah, somehow I doubt we're gonna find one of those just lying around."

Eventually everyone had gathered the supplies they felt would work. Team Radioactive stuck with their pickaxes, getting to work on chipping away the ice. Team Old School had eventually stumbled upon a crate full of tools and decided to make due with that. DJ and Leshawna went to town on the ice with hammers, Trent and Courtney stood on opposite ends of a two handed saw to try and cut through the ice, with Harold, Beth, and Cody alternating from using whatever else they could find in the toolbox they brought with varying results. Izzy had elected to stay in the cargo hold to look for anything else of use that might help better. Her teammates allowed this to maximize the time they didn't have to worry about being around her using dangerous tools.

Unfortunately for both teams, though, they were quickly losing progress to Team Explosive. Shawn had located a crate holding ice climbing equipment during his zombie search, so he and Amy brought back enough for the whole team to use. Sammy meanwhile had brought back a camping stove she had noticed during the aforementioned search, lit it with a lighter found in the same crate, and was using it to help melt parts of the ice at a much quicker pace. Meanwhile she had directed Dave to bring back some old blankets found elsewhere to help those that had been formerly melting parts of the ice with their body heat. With Shawn and Jasmine calling directions, the team was making short work of their goal with ice axes and ice picks.

This early lead didn't go unnoticed by the others, with Lightning being the first to speak out about it. "Hey, we ain't about to let them noobies smoke us on the first challenge, are we?" He increased the speed of his work, hoping to single handedly catch up.

"Brother's right," Leshawna commented from the Gen One team's area, watching as Rodney lobbed off a sizable chunk with a single ice pick thrust. "At the rate they're going, our odds ain't looking too good."

Courtney didn't bother looking at the other team, focusing instead on her sawing. "Well hopefully Izzy finds something useful that can turn things around. For now just try picking up the pace and hoping for the best."

The team did just that, going faster to try in vain to catch up. But in vain it seemed to be, since Team Explosive continued to make good progress. Sugar lodged an ice axe into one section, putting her foot against the block of ice and pulling a chunk out with Beardo providing a guillotine sound effect as she did so. The two exchanged a high five and continued their work. Nearby, Dave and Amy had nearly made it to the GPS, a small black device with a screen.

Between the early domination from the Pahkitew alumni and the upped pace from Team Old School, Scott in particular was feeling the pressure. After all, he didn't know how well his odds fared if his team were to send someone home first. As he glanced over at Team Explosive nervously, he caught look of something. Nearby on the ground next to Sammy, who was focusing on melting the block, was a lighter. With such a puny flame by itself it wouldn't make much of a difference on its own, so it had already served its purpose for her. But ever the schemer, Scott had an idea.

Doing his best to go unnoticed by the focused Gen Three team members, he snuck over and swiped up the lighter. When he returned to his own team's block of ice, he went straight to Anne Maria. "I have an idea. I need one of your cans of hairspray."

The Jersey girl didn't seem too pleased at the offer, reeling away from the farmer and clutching her spray can protectively. "Excuse you? Nobody touches my spray, especially not a slimeball like you, capiche?"

"It'll be just for a second, you don't want us to lose do ya?" Scott asked again, trying to mask any frustration in his tone since he was feeling the urgency.

Dawn blinked, looking on at the former villain skeptically. But after looking for a bit she felt... nothing malicious? Sincerity in what he was saying? How strange...

"I think it's worth a try, it wouldn't hurt to let him have it momentarily," the moonchild commented, getting surprised reactions from B and Dakota next to her. "As far as I can tell, he isn't trying to deceive you."

Anne Maria was equally as surprised as her teammates to hear the support for Scott's suggestion. But after taking another look as Team Explosive to see that they had now retrieved their GPS and were now closing in on getting their flag, she sighed and shoved the spray can into Scott's arms. "Fine. But this betta work."

Scott, too, had not been expecting words of agreement from Dawn, so he was slightly caught off guard when Anna Maria handed the can over. But he had to work fast, so he held up the lighter in front of the nozzle and took aim at their block of ice. "You guys might wanna stand back."

Once his teammates had did just that, he held down the nozzle and lit the lighter. Just as planned, the highly combustible hair spray turned into a makeshift flame thrower, showering the ice in flames that quickly melted through it. Both of the opposing teams were caught off guard by the sudden blast of heat, looking on in shock.

"Welp, so much for avoiding getting our stuff last," Cody commented, knowing their team was still much too behind Team Explosive and that this would easily put Team Radioactive ahead of them.

"Aw, no fair! Using fire was my idea first." Those on her team looked over to the cargo hold ramp at the sound of Izzy's voice, their eyes all going wide once they saw her. "Also, look what I found, guys!"

The redhead ran over to her teammates wielding a chainsaw, revving it up to bring the device to life. As the tool whired and the saw spun, the members of Team Old School quickly dived out of the way. Once she had reached the ice, Izzy began cutting through it like butter.

"Woah..." Rodney looked on at his fellow redhead cutting up the ice in awe, having never seen a girl handle a power tool quite like that before. Needless to say, he was smitten. But he was quickly snapped out of it by a loud air horn blast. Or at least the realistic sound effect of one, courtesy of Beardo.

"We need to move quick," Dave pointed out, the teammates nodding in agreement. They had since freed their flag so now only lacked freeing the massive eight seat snowmobile. Everyone put their all to it, and the race became neck and neck.

Team Radioactive had to take short pauses between blasts of fire so that the items wouldn't be damaged by the fire. Once they had melted close enough, Lightning and Dakota dislodged both their GPS and their flag, allowing Scott to continue. Izzy, meanwhile, cut a small chunk out of the block that held their GPS, allowing DJ and Harold to easily free it nearby. She then did the same to their flag, with Beth and Trent also retrieving that. All three teams were down to just the snowmobile. It looked to be anyone's game. But eventually the confirmation came from Chris as one snowmobile emerged from the ice first.

"And the winners of part one are... Team Old School!"

The season one veterans cheered for joy, gathered around their newly freed ride. Izzy kissed the now turned off chainsaw, then held it up victoriously.

"And close behind them in second place," the host continued. "Is... Team Radioactive!"

Scott sneered over at the winning team, giving Anne Maria back her hair spray and tossing away the lighter in frustration. While they hadn't lost, the annoyance of coming so close to winning made second place feel just as bad. The feeling wasn't mutual for the Pahkitew newcomers, though. They looked on in disappointment, having just freed their snowmobile as well.

"Which of course means our losers for the first part of the challenge are Team Explosive," Chris confirmed, laughing at the team's misfortune. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote with three buttons, pressing the button colored red. "So they get the punishment!"

Suddenly, a mechanical click went off and the back two seats on Team Explosive's snowmobile detached from the rest of the vehicle. Chef emerged from who knows where, pushing away the dislodged seats off screen.

"As punishment, your eight man team will now be down two seats, making your ride to the South Pole all the more difficult." The host turned his attention to Team Old School. "As for our winners, they each get a reward that will help them in part two of the challenge."

Chef returned, passing out red stick-like instruments to each of the members of Team Old School. They were long with a rubber handle and two prongs at the end.

"Cattle prods?" Beth asked, the first to recognize the device. "What do we need these for?"

"What indeed?" Chris replied unhelpfully, turning to face the camera with his trademark smug grin. "Will I tell them what the cattle prods are for? How will the losers deal with not having enough seats for their team? And who will win the race to the South Pole? Answers will be revealed, next time on TOTAL... DRAMA... BATTLE OF THE GENERATIONS!"

The contestants watched with varying expressions of annoyance and disdain as their host signed off, with Sugar leaning over to Amy to whisper that actual last words some of the others had been silently thinking. "Kind of a long winded title, ain't it?"

Current Standings:

Voting Confessionals:

N/A

Remaining Contestants:

Team Old School: Izzy, DJ, Harold, Leshawna, Trent, Beth, Cody, Courtney

Team Radioactive: Brick, Anne Maria, B, Staci, Dawn, Dakota, Scott, Lightning

Team Explosive: Rodney, Sugar, Sammy, Amy, Jasmine, Shawn, Dave, Beardo

Elimination Order:

N/A