Total Drama Eden

by TheRabbidRabbit

Total Drama is back! This time, the show's 52 contestants are joined by 31 participants from the Ridonculous Race and 25 newcomers in a big competition set on a one-of-a-kind island called Eden. Friendships and rivalries are formed and ended, hearts unified and shattered. Who will win? And how could Cody defeat a nemesis from his past. [Reboot of Total Drama Apogee]

5. Ep 1, Pt 1: A Motherload of Campers

AN: I suppose an apology is in order for taking me this long to update, keeping you readers waiting for about a year and few months until a new chapter is added.

But in defence, I am not without my reasons. Believe it or not, the late-2017 had been a hectic time for me. Despite schoolwork, I did have plenty of time to write but not the motivation, and I don't want to half-ass my undertaking with the barest of efforts.

Another, and perhaps the primary reason, would be my demoralisation following the… meagre and simple reviews in the previous chapter. Despite placing a lot of effort in making it 20k, it only garnered over 4 reviews. Seriously, the other contestants were disregarded in favour of this fic's main antagonists - the Black Round Table - and the puzzle at the end. It dismayed me greatly, but not that I can blame you. I can understand that minds get hooked with whatever's exciting and are likely to comment on that. But still, I encourage readers to try doing better reviews.

I have a new rule in place for this fics by the way. Reviewing about the ANs are now strictly prohibited, the reviews are intended for the main content of the chapter and not the words of the author. If you want to say something about the chapter's AN then send it via PM instead and not here in the review section.

With all prologue chapters published, we finally arrived at the official start of the fic. This chapter serves as the first part of the introductory episode and consists of roughly 30k words. I concur that its plain overkill, but I'm justified here; I set my word count to 10k but I greatly underestimated the number of contestants, so I wound up having more. The next chapter might feature less word count since it's just the OCs needing to be introduced.

While writing this chapter, I used GoldEmblem's Total Drama Supreme as a template for the introductions of the Veterans. So don't be surprised when you notice some similarities.

Huge credit to my partner in crime Skillet28561 for helping me out here. I return the favour by helping him with his fic Malevolence.

Also, big thanks to Rufus T. Serenity for Beta-reading this chapter.

With all said, let go!

---

A Motherload of Campers

---

"We'll be live in ten seconds, Mr. Mclean."

The famed Chris Mclean grinned in response to the cameraman as he stood ramrod straight on the docks. His face clean, and clothes immaculate from any flaws that would present an unfavourable view to the camera.

Here he was, standing on Eden Island – the setting of this new season and the property of the world-renowned trillionaire Lord Nemo Vaughan. The man was here with him, and Chef on the island, but elsewhere since he intended to appear later. Furthermore, he was occupied with running diagnostics on the island to make sure everything was going smoothly – quite a display of meticulousness.

One glance alone and one could tell that there was a lot of new things this season.

The island itself was – for the lack of better words – possessed a landmass larger than Wawanakwa and Pahkitew combined. It had the general feature of the green and lush scenery very common among islands as every corner teemed with life, but the vegetation seemed to be dense from a local viewpoint. However, what gave the island a geological uniqueness was the large lake at the centre; connected to the ocean through a network of small narrow rivers carving the island.

Although unlike Wawanakwa or Pahkitew, it seemed to have semblances of the two in the form of cliffs and hills decorating the island – as if made it in memory of the two islands of Total Drama before their untimely demises; Wawanakwa sank into the deep crushing abyss while Pahkitew was seized by the Canadian Government after the Scarlett Disaster. Nevertheless, Eden Island would carry on as the next setting of the contest.

The docking area was very different, linear in shape and attached to a large horizontal platform on the beach itself. It was made of strong wood and supported by pillars of the same material above the sea and sand.

Given the number of contestants arriving individually, It would certainly be a long wait – one that would test the physical and mental endurance of the arrivals under the slow march of time – to completely deliver all participating personalities here in the island. Chris would've enjoyed such bloodless torment of aching legs, but overruled it in favour of saving the torment for this season' myriad of challenges. Therefore, large wooden bleachers were erected on the beach – large enough to accommodate the whole cast. It had seven rows and divided into three sections by two aisles.

Across the beach weren't run-down cabins where the contestants would sleep that could be recalled from Wawanakwa. Rather, a foliage of trees dense enough to obscure the island from the arrivals.

The opening of this season diverged from those of its predecessors. Right now, the first moments of the Contest were being televised not under the birth of a new day, but rather it's passing into night. A sunset hung over the western horizon – to the left should one use Chris as a positional index. This was planned by Chris Mclean, who – in a rare act of charity – allowed the contestants a peaceful night in the island before putting them through the strenuous series of challenges.

"We're live in five… four … three… two… one…"

"Weeeeee're back folks!" Chris started in complete jubilation; to be before the eyes of millions around the world once again after six months of interval felt refreshing for a man with titanic ego. "Total Drama has reeeturned! For six seasons, you have watched our contestants battle their way in the competition for the grand prize of one million dollars. You've also seen sadness, laughter, angry words, heartbreaks and humiliations. Our ratings have been golden ever since… though I have to say that Revenge and Pahkitew's slumped, and we all know why."

Obviously, a significant portion of the fandom wasn't thrilled about the induction of new contestants into the Show; having grown fond of the first generation - the originals - and consider them solely worthy to compete in Total Drama. Therefore, sidelining them wasn't well received.

"To thank you all, we prepared something very special. This season will be the greatest because all previous contestants of Total Drama will be competing… altogether!" Chris announced. "And all the action will be set here on Eden Island." Thumbs were pointed down. It wasn't long before the faint sounds of a watercraft reached his ears. "Now let's welcome our returnees."

The first boat arrived and parked beside the dock's linear pathway, where the show's sassy sister waved at the camera with a smile etched on her face. "Hey y'all, this girl's back in the house." She waved to the viewing world with vigour accumulated from inactivity as the boat made a U-turn, before returning to where it came.

"It seems like our Bootylicious Leshawna is the first to come." Chris remarked. "Ready to dominate this competition?"

"Certainly. This time imma win myself a million bucks." The contestant walked past him towards the end of the dock, where she sat in the centre.

The second boat came with a muscular Jamaican on-board. "DJ." The Host greeted before teasing him over his exploits during his latest participation. "Ready to hurt more animals this season?"

It made the arrival cringe, remembering well what happened in World Tour. "Ain't gonna happen again, I promised myself to be extra careful this season." He then joined Leshawna, who gave him a hug.

Another boat arrived and a skinny girl stepped off. "Katie and…" Chris paused, noticing something very very odd. "Hey wait, where's Sadie? Isn't she supposed to be in the same boat with you?"

For reasons unknown, Katie frowned at that name. She was quick to inform them the justification for such expression unfit for her kind-hearted nature. "Oh, about that Chris. I just want you to know that we're not friends anymore."

Chris was taken aback. "Really! What happened?" Of course, his reaction was entirely a facade to conceal his foreknowledge about them.

"Yeah girl." Leshawna pointed out. "We thought you two were inseparable?" Of course, it was an unexpected development unforeseen by anyone familiar with the BFFFLs.

"We got into a fight sometime after World Tour." Katie nonchalantly explained. However, Chris – along with Leshawna and DJ – leered at her suspiciously and it took her a few seconds to realize what are they're thinking. "And no! It's not about Trent or any boy. Cross my heart guys." She said, holding her arms up defensively before joining the others.

The fourth boat arrived and stomping out is someone that made the first comers anxious, for it was someone known for her irascible personality and thought to be never to compete again after the first season. But seasonal mandate and popular demand overturned such fate.

"Eva!" Chris called the woman with faux jubilation. "Finally back after her short time in the first season."

The Iron Woman of Eastern European origin wordlessly paced towards the bleachers, the perpetual frown ever remaining on her face. She didn't bother to even look at the Host and but she could notice the sham in his expression. She sat far back from the gathered contestants, given that most find her short-temper uncomfortable enough to associate.

Another boat arrived, bringing a red-headed boy to the dock.

"Harold, the nerd with the mad-skills."

Harold smiled at Leshawna upon seeing her, but was saddened when she responded by shaking her head. Deflated, he walked towards them.

"Don't worry man, you'll get her back… maybe." Chris implored at the depressed teen with a tint of mockery.

"Look, it's Tyler!" DJ pointed his finger at the large body of water as the aforementioned contestant sped towards the dock in a jet-ski. Unfortunately, his clumsiness proved itself once again as his watercraft hit something and tumbled, sending the jock spinning out of control in mid-air before crashing face first on the dock; loud cracks sounding audibly from the harsh contact, eliciting a round of cringes from everyone.

"Ohhh, that's gotta hurt!" Chris winced, with the others following suit while the downed jock just crawled towards the contestants with his mostly intact hands.

"Didn't he do something like that back in TDI?" Harold asked as Tyler crawled beside him using his hands, vividly remembering the stunt he pulled in the very first episode of Total Drama.

"Yeah." Eva answered. "But this one's much more painful."

The seventh boat arrived to deliver the next arrival, her face in a scowl that showed intense displeasure. "Gwen, happy to compete again?" Chris casually mocked, only to recoil back moments later as the Goth brought her face to his.

"Not. Even. A F/BLEEP/G BIT!" Gwen screamed in evident anger. She then walked to the bleachers and was immediately hugged by both DJ and Leshawna. Instantly, her anger subsided as she returned the favour accompanied by a smile creeping on her face. 'At least my friends are here with me in this hell.'

Hell. That's how she could describe this show, forced to partake in dangerous schemes by an increasingly sadistic ringmaster.

Another boat came, and stepping out was an Asian girl with a scowl that was more than capable of matching Gwen's.

"Heather." The Host introduced as she walked towards, or rather stomped towards him.

"Happy to abuse us again are you, Mclean?" Heather glared at the Host as she crossed her arms.

Chris just pointed his thumb at the gathered contestants in annoyance. "Just go where the others are." He said rather impatiently. With a groan, she complied.

"Welcome back to the competition, spoiled daddy's girl." Leshawna jeered her rival as she took the left aisle, lips twisted into a sneer.

"Yeah." Gwen snickered, joining Leshawna's attempts to make Heather's mood sourer. "Hope you last long this season without experiencing any major misfortune – like in TDI and TDWT."

Heather could do nothing but growl as she sat further from the two. Her hair being shaved and losing the well-deserved million dollars were some of the worst moments of her life.

"It's called karma, White Girl. Karma!" Leshawna added in an effort to aggravate the Queen Bee even more.

The ninth boat arrived. As opposed to the two previous girls, the passenger was – for the lack of better words – fired up for the competition.

"Geoff-ster." Chris high-fived the ever-enthusiastic cowboy.

"Sup brah!" Geoff fist-bumped him. "Can't wait for this party to start."

"So am I man!"

The tenth boat came and dropped an obese teenager.

"Owen." Another person disembarked the boat. "And Noah?! Aren't you supposed to be on a different boat?"

"Actually, this is my boat." The Schemer explained, a thumb at the watercraft. "Owen's broke down, so he had to hitch a ride here."

"Well that explains it." DJ said.

Either because he was too absorbed in his own thoughts or Owen found some arcane trick to enable size-defying speeds, Chris suddenly found himself in one of the Big Oaf's crushing bear hugs.

"Chris, It's so great to be back." Immersed in euphoria, Owen was unable to notice the pure discomfort written in the Host's face as he struggled in vain to escape. Laughter rang out from the bleachers at his own misfortune, perhaps happy to see him on the wrong side of sadism.

"Yeah." Chris struggled with what little air remaining in his lungs. "Please... put me down… NOW!" Owen did so, now seeing the discomfort in his face. The Host hunched down, his lungs thirsting for air. The two made their way to the rest where most contestants hugged the lovable Oaf, his sarcastic friend smiling at the sight. Owen chuckled. "Oh man, I missed you guys so much."

"So were we, Big Guy." Tyler replied. Heather simply rolled her eyes away whilst Eva just ignored them.

The 11th boat came with Total Drama's buxom blondie.

"Lindsay... welcome... back." Chris introduced her amidst his bout of wheezing.

"Thanks Caleb." Chris stood dumbfounded and correct her as she mispronounced his name once again if he wasn't wheezing, letting her walk past him instead. In the bleachers, she sat beside a recently recovered Tyler and they embraced in a kiss.

This elicited aws from the assembly with the exceptions of Eva and Heather, the latter gagging mockingly.

"Taylor, we get to be with everyone again." Tyler simply gave a smile even though his girlfriend forgot his name… again.

The 12th boat arrived. Having recovered from Owen's crushing bearhug, Chris prepared to introduce the new arrival. However...

"Bridgy-bear." Geoff called happily as he ran forward. Sure enough, Bridgette opened her arms to embrace him, their lips making a connection immediately.

"More aws anyone?" Everyone found themselves complying with Gwen's proposal, still excluding Eva and Heather. Chris however, was getting annoyed by this antic.

"Okay, move it you two. We don't have a lot of time, you know." The couple went to the bleachers… while making out. "I don't even know how you ever do that." Chris muttered as the 13th boat came forward. The moment it reached the dock, a blur of green and orange leapt out of the bow and tackled the Host to the ground.

"What the heck! IZZY, get off of me!" Chris screamed in shock and irritation. Izzy smiled down at him, but it was more of the smile from someone who should be confined in a mental asylum.

"El Tigre has arrived!" It was well known to the contestants that Izzy regularly adopts personas out of whim. Now it seems that she'd taken another in, inspired by a land-based apex predator [01]. To emphasise this, she did a tigerish roar that would seem authentic enough were it not for the feminine human voice.

"Wonderful, she adopted a new persona." Noah deadpanned, eye-rolling but amused nonetheless at his friend's antics

"I'm willing to bet fifty bucks that'll get her eliminated again." Leshawna joked regarding the trend that this strange girl caused her elimination several times. But she sincerely hoped that it wouldn't be her team that Izzy will be a part of.

What Izzy did next add to the peculiarity felt by her compatriots. The Crazy Girl leapt off of the Host and ran to the bleachers on all fours, her limbs perfectly synchronised as any quadrupled animal when running. Most didn't expect her to sit beside Eva, something which the iron woman wasn't bothered with.

"Eves." All of the sudden, a surprised Eva found Izzy's long arms wrapped around her body, long arms trying to crush her thick figure. This action was accompanied by a nickname no one has ever heard before. "It's good to see your finally competing again." Below, most watched the scene anxiously, thinking that Izzy just lit the powder keg.

"Thanks." To their surprise, Eva seemed to appreciate this gesture; her once flat lips curling into a small smile.

The next boat arrived and the passenger's mood was identical to that of Heather and Gwen in their first arrival. Most of the contestants frowned, displeased to see this mocha-skinned latina.

"Courtney." Chris had just recovered from Izzy – or El Tigre as she calls herself now – when he introduced the new arrival. He turned to see the stare given by everyone. "Not receiving a warm welcome I see." He said with a smug smile, trying to evoke a reaction from the contestant.

"I don't want to be back here Chris." Courtney hissed with a tone of venom, baring her black eyes in a piercing glare. Her attention shifted upon noticing that the person she despised the most had arrived already. "Especially with her."

"The feeling is mutual." Gwen hissed with equal intensity. She hadn't forgiven the CIT a bit for her deception in All-Stars by rekindling their friendship to conceal her plans to eliminate her. She will never trust or befriend Courtney again, the girl was too laser-focused at the prize alone.

Those beside the Goth moved away, anticipating a fight to happen but it was all for nothing. Courtney huffed as she walked forward to the bleachers and up the aisle on the left, sitting far from Gwen. Being her only remaining friend in this god-forsaken show, Bridgette changed her seats to sit beside Courtney. Geoff was fine with her decision, familiar with the value of friendships in his social life. The surfer placed a comforting hand on her shoulder with an equally comforting smile. The heartfelt gestures from a friend seemed to ease her mood when she smiled in return.

"Here comes... Trent everyone!" Chris struggled to keep his tone in check as the boat carrying the guitarist arrived. Gwen grinned at the sight of her ex-boyfriend exiting the boat, something that has not escaped Leshawna's notice.

Leshawna leaned to her ear and whispered. "Planning to rekindle with him, are you?"

"You guessed right." Gwen remarked. Her breakup with Duncan gave her the opportunity to restart her relationship with Trent – and it was one that she wouldn't slip past her hands.

"Chris." In spite of the relaxed body, Trent approached the host with a mild sense apprehension. "It feels great to be back. Still looking good I see." He tried easing the Host's nerves by feeding his narcissism, but it would appear to have no effect whatsoever. It made him feel on the receiving end, given the fact that the man before him is the father of his yet-to-be-introduced girlfriend, who does not approve of the said relationship.

"Yeah, I know. " Gwen and the contestants noted how the Host's tone changed from the usual amusement into that of stark coldness, emphasised by the crossed arms and dismissive face of Chris Mclean as he eyed Trent intensively. It took Trent less than a second to predict the cause.

"Seriously man, we already told you that the nine-thing is gone."

"I'm not taking any chances." Chris glared at him before getting close to Trent's ear to whisper a warning to the recently arrived guitarist. "Also, don't make any mention of her until her arrival with the others, I don't want the cast knowing anything... yet. Just... go where the others."

Without a word escaping his mouth to argue or converse further, he joined the others.

"Geez, that was kinda cold for Chris. What was that about?" Harold asked his arriving bandmate regarding the matter.

"Sorry, but I can't say." Trent smiled. "But you'll find out soon, very soon."

Loud sirens drew everyone's attention to the approaching watercraft. It was a police boat, and at the bow are two officers flanking a young man in handcuffs scowling all the way. Chris made a smug grin while the others just looked in either indifference or surprise… or dismay in the case of Courtney and Gwen. Having been arrested in All-Stars on the charge of property damage, the contestants were rightfully surprised to see him return.

"Duncan." The notorious delinquent hopped off the boat along with the officers as they walked towards Chris. "A changed man, I see." The Host mocked.

It did nothing but make the contestant growl. "How about I change that smug face of yours McLean!" The self-proclaimed bad-boy hissed and was prepared to attack the host until the officers intervened.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, chump." Called one of the cops with a stern look on his face.

Duncan turned to sneer back. "Oh yeah! What's stopping me?!"

"Mr. McLean has the authority to warrant your arrest under any event of misconduct, given how he's the one who personally bailed you out." He explained. Duncan tensed and his face turned to fear before turning back to see the devilish face of Chris Mclean.

"You hear that Duncan, your fate. Rests. In. My. Hands." Chris exaggerated each word with a look of satisfaction, his widening grin proportional to the enlarging eyes of disbelief by the felon. "Anyway, officers please kindly remove his handcuffs."

Without a word, the other officer removed the Delinquent's handcuffs and departed with the boat

"So… enjoyed your time in prison Duncan?" Chris approached him with a mocking tone before noticing the dark circles around his eyes. "And did you have any good night's sleep?"

"I'd rather go back to juvie than return to that hell-hole." Duncan ignored the Host's second question as he walked – more like shambled – to the bleachers. Once he was close enough, everyone took notice of his eyes as well.

"Duncan, you look like you didn't get any sleep dude."

"Because I didn't Geoff." Duncan went to his seat with a tired yawn. "Six months in prison was hell, folks are way nastier than in juvie... Can't sleep much because I gotta keep a close eye on everyone… especially my cellmate."

"You didn't drop the soap, did you?" Noah quipped, uncaring as some erupted in laughter over the implication of this joke, including Chris.

Duncan did nothing but frown as he walked forward. Once, he found the joke hilarious. But now having a first-hand experience of prison life, treating it as a laughing matter is no longer viable. He would've bothered to argue had his tiredness not weighed his body and mind down. For now, he'll let this impudence slid on his skin because he wasn't in the mood to talk back.

Gwen and Courtney tried their best to ignore his presence as best they could, but it was the ex-convict took decided to probe in.

"Hey Patsy." From Gwen, his gaze switched to his older flame. "Princess. Wanna make out together?" He teased. The repulsive proposition elicited the predicted disgusted expressions on their faces.

"Ugh gross! In your dreams, Ogre." Courtney huffed with a furrowed glare at her ex-boyfriend.

Despite sharing the same sentiment, Gwen chose to be gentler than her Hispanic counterpart. "I'll pass Duncan." She peeked over the side of Duncan to stare at Trent, who was too immersed in his conversation with his conversation with Harold to even return the favour. Her heart hopeful to start their relationship anew into a possibly more powerful bond.

The 17th boat came and the show's fan-turned-contestant hopped out, giddiness visible in her face.

"OMG! I'm in the new season of Total Drama EEEE!" The contestant was giddy and squealed with delight. Given that months had passed since her latest participation, her short ponytail had grown back into a long braid.

"Sierra... Welcome back!" Chris forced a smile, even as memories of the Jumbo Jet's destruction resurfaced. "Too bad your knight in shining armour by the name of Cody isn't here yet."

At that moment, her mood changed. She stopped still as her face fell, the happiness vanquished in an instant. The contestants watched in confusion as Sierra fell to her knees and wailed towards the orange sky.

"NOOO! Why is fate so cruel? This is the first time I'm going to see and hear my Codykins again, he's been ghosting ever since!"

Upon hearing what Sierra just said about their friend, Trent and Harold froze. "Wait, Sierra you're being ghosted too?" Trent asked in a grave tone, with Harold sharing the same reaction after hearing what Sierra just said.

"Yes." Came the dejected response before realisation sank in. "You guys as well?"

Both Drama Brothers exchanged alarmed glances before nodding back to Sierra. Gwen decided to interject. "What is this about Cody?"

Her inquiry lingered for a few moments. Sierra was too depressed to answer the question and Trent was too worried to do the same, so Harold took it upon himself.

"We hadn't heard anything from Cody from the past months. The last time we're with him was a day before All-Stars premiered, when we decided to pay Sierra a visit before we go on our planned road-trip."

It was common knowledge for most of the first-gen that the Drama Brothers had scheduled a vacation in the United States of America, as a relief and potentially even perform one of their songs in front of their fans. After all, even their fame reached the youth of the Land of the Free.

"Sierra took the three of us on a tour around the hotel for about an hour while Cody excused himself to go back in the room, saying that he forgot something. We waited for some time before we just continued without him. When we got back, we discovered that he was already gone without even informing us and just left a note to say why."

Silence. One none of them dare break for a moment in anticipation of Harold's resumption.

"What did the note say?" Gwen pressed further. Seeing the genuine concern on their faces, she felt inclined to worry as well.

With a mind as sharp as a peerless knife, Harold recited the contents of the note.

"'I'm sorry I had to leave guys, but there's a problem I need to deal with. Go on without me to the States… and good luck Sierra.'. That's what he wrote."

Gwen blinked, underwhelmed and raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" She could probably just rule this out as an overreaction from Sierra and the two Drama Brothers. "Honestly, that doesn't sound like a serious issue. You know, maybe he just lost his phone or something-"

"It seems that way, but Cody isn't the type to forget, especially if it involves friends. He was also often online in social media networks and all of us bandmates talk regularly. But he hasn't been there ever since!"

"Then you could've just visited him to see what's wrong-."

"We did! Me, Justin, Harold and Sierra. But we found a different family living in their house. We asked his neighbours, they said that the Andersons moved out some time ago. Complicating matters is that even they didn't know why." Trent disclosed as the despairing Sierra limped towards the group. Chris mused that perhaps he's the only person other than Chef to know the reason behind Cody's ghosting, recalling the Cooker's words last month.

"I was driving over a meadow when I found him; lying on the ground… barely conscious and severely beaten. He was battered to the point of near death; having suffered bruises and broken bones all over his body, even cuts and burns. I took him as fast as I could to the nearest hospital I can find before informing his parents, who were equally horrified as I am. A few days after the doctors let him out, he went to my house, asking me to train him so he wouldn't be weak anymore. I tried asking who did 'that' to him but he just kept his mouth shut, so I just gave up and trained him."

From what I know Chef found Cody about a day after Pahkitew ended and trained him for several months. Maybe that's why he's off the grid for a long time, knowing that Chef forbids anything that would distract his trainees, well…mostly gadgets. He brushed it aside with that conclusion. After all, he has a show to host.

Bridgette immediately consoled the despairing fangirl. "Don't worry Sierra you'll see him again soon, I'm sure he's fine." She looked at Chris. "He's here... right?"

Chris groaned. "Yes, I did say that everyone's competing in this season."

The next boat arrived at the dock. Whatever attention the subject of Cody gathered has dissipated in place of the shock that seized the cast, with the exception of the Host who grinned at their surprise.

"SERIOUSLY!" Eva screamed in anger at the Host, whose face was indifferent this time. "You brought homeschool BACK!" She fumed, pointing her finger at the show's sexist camper as he returned an indifferent stare at his fellow generation.

"What's more important is how he is even back to normal." Noah deadpanned. It was true; Ezekiel's appearance reverted to normality, devoid of the sickly green skin and feral behavior of a hideous goblin. The prairie boy had somehow retained sanity during the course of six months.

"Intensive physical and mental therapy." Ezekiel explained indifferently. "Paid by the show, eh." He continued, directing a smug smirk at the host. Everyone looked at Chris, who was frowning at Ezekiel's words.

"His family threatened to sue." He explained, displeasure evident in his tone.

Courtney snickered, her lips curving upwards into a genuine smirk. "And I thought I was the only one here who does that."

"But seriously brah, your family let you in. After all you've been through?" Geoff asked the approaching contestant, perplexed at the situation.

"Well, Chris and his contracts, there's nothing we can really do about it eh… and I really need to get out the house." Ezekiel sat beside Owen, one of the very few people that he's sure would tolerate his presence.

"Is this all of us?" Gwen inquired noticing the absence of some batchmates. "I mean, all contestants of Total Drama would compete, right? So where's the rest of us… originals."

"And where's my Codykins?!" Sierra bellowed from her seat, but was ultimately ignored by the Host.

"The rest of the first-gen would make a late arrival, some of them for a special reason."

That emphasis raised more than one eyebrow among the cast.

"A special reason?" Leshawna repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Better wait and see, I hate spoilers, you know?" Chris replied before hearing the oncoming sound of a boat. "Now let's welcome the second generation."

The first-gen watched as a military cadet disembark the watercraft. Having watched the seasons they didn't participate in, they know their behaviour well.

"Private Brick Macarthur, reporting for duty." The contestant said, standing ramrod straight, saluting the Host.

"At ease, soldier." Noah muttered with clear amusement over the behaviour of this second-gen.

"Brick, Glad to see you." Chris greeted, spanning his arms as if about to hug someone before subsequently loosening them. "Now…" He turned towards the large bleacher, pointing his finger at it for further emphasis. "I advise you to choose a spot for your generation, since mixing all generations in one group would be problematic."

Brick saluted once more before proceeding, sitting on a spot right-side of the first-gen.

"Hi." Being the lovable oaf he is, Owen extended an open hand at the new arrival with the clear offer of friendship. "I'm Owen."

Seeing the politeness, the cadet took the hand without a second thought. "Nice to meet you, campmate."

The 20th boat reached the dock and drops the next second generation contestant of Total Drama.

"Jo." Chris introduced the scowling jockette. "Just too bad that Brick got here first before you."

"That doesn't matter." Jo proclaimed as she began walking. "GI Joke here doesn't even have the same chance in the following challenges."

"On the contrary ma'am, I've been preparing for this ever since my graduation at fashion school and subsequent return to the boot camp, there's nothing you could outdo me this time" Brick proclaimed with prideful resolution as his rival stood beside him.

"Wait, you honestly graduated in that fashion school of yours?" Heather asked with surprise, remembering the Cadet's proclamation at the end of TDROTI.

The Cadet only nodded while the Jockette scoffed and rolled her eyes dismissively. "Pfft whatever." It was unnecessary to take his words for granted, it wouldn't matter way as it would just be put to waste by his magnetism to pain.

"Hey." Jo looked to the side where the first-gen had gathered and saw a muscular woman beside her, staring back with a neutral expression. This instantly caught the attention of everyone present. "Name's Eva, I've watched ROTI and AS and been focused on you; the dominance over the group and the drive to win..." The Iron Woman threw an impressed look at her. "Gotta say I like your style."

The Jockette's features relaxed as she made a friendly smile over the compliment from a fellow woman of her calibre. "Appreciated, it's Jo by the way."

This nascent interaction sent unseen waves of worry amongst Brick and the first-gen, as such is between two of the strongest and most competitive individuals they ever know. If such thing blossomed into a friendship then into an alliance, they'd be dealing with a force to be reckoned with; the ruthless stratagem and domination of Jo combined with the physical power and intimidation of Eva would be enough to steamroll any apprehension is concentrated towards Brick, Heather, Bridgette and Ezekiel; given the negativity of their relationship with one of them. The twenty-first boat arrived and the show's resident fame monger made herself known.

"Welcome back Dakota!" Chris forced another jubilant expression. Likewise with Ezekiel, Dakota had reverted back to the state of physical normalcy. The only remaining residues of her mutation were the few green streaks on her regrown long blonde hair.

"Hold on a minute! Didn't she became a 50-foot tall Godzilla back in Revenge, how is she back to being... you know, normalish." Gwen inquired at the silent behest of everyone. Seeing the Fame Monger again after these months, she recalled her time back in ROTI – in the challenge where Chris has yet again subjected her to her worst fear along with that Sam guy. Despite having been tossed aside like some garbage, she held no ill-feelings towards the rich girl since she was frantic to save her boyfriend.

"Three things: Daddy, a lot of scientists and most importantly, the Producers." The now-normal scioness elaborated as she directed a smug look at Chris, much to the host's obvious displeasure once again. Much like the parents of Ezekiel, Mr. Milton had sued them for the disaster that had befallen his daughter and even demanded to have him arrested, but such thing was averted through the producers agreeing to sponsor her treatment.

"Ugh... please don't remind me." The Narcissism Incarnate lamented as the new arrival walked past him. Though the producers paid for the treatment of Dakota and Ezekiel, the money was unofficially drawn from his pocket as the suing individuals pointed out that he's solely responsible for these unfortunate developments.

"It feels good to be back to normal, right eh?" Of all the people that could start talking to her, the person had to be Ezekiel. This fact didn't bother her a bit since it's obvious that he's just attempting to relate with a fellow victim.

Dakota nodded. "Yeah, but it's good to see that I'm not the only one." In spite of his bad reputation amongst girls for his previous sexism, she felt sympathy for the prairie boy since both of them had experienced the same fate of being transformed into a freak of nature against their consent.

Geoff patted Ezekiel's shoulder before muttering in his ear. "Congratulations brah, looks like you made your first female friend without offending her."

"It's an improvement, eh." Ezekiel replied as the 22nd boat docked.

"We have here is Anne Maria." Chris introduced the camper who is spraying herself with her inseparable tan spray.

"The diva has arrived, betta get outta the way 'cause that million dollars is all mi-YOU!" It took the quick reactions of Brick and Geoff to stop the now livid woman from laying her vicious hands on the visibly terrified Ezekiel, holding her at bay with their strength as her hands flailed around in defiance. "I'll make you pay for trickin' me with that fake a /bleep/ diamond that costs me the competition in ROTI!"

"Ma'am calm down." Brick advised in the struggle to contain the raging woman. "He wasn't normal back then."

"He's right, Zeke doesn't even know what he's doing back then. But I'm sure he won't do It again." Geoff joined in the same struggle as the cadet. It took a few more seconds of worthless scuffle from Anne Maria until she finally conceded.

"FINE!" She wordlessly walked to her spot without any further issue, there was no point of continuing with her attempt as it would be counterproductive and wasteful of strength for the first challenge. As soon as she went to her spot, she threw a throat-slash gesture at Ezekiel.

The next boat arrived and disembarking is an avid lover of videogames, somewhat ironic given the lack of any gaming console on his hands this time.

"Sam, nice to see you without any gaming console along for the first time." Chris remarked.

"Well, not really Chris." He tapped a noticeable lump in his pocket. "It's just here; I just thought that it would be good to minimize my time with video games and experience the outdoors more often." Sam explained the justification for the oddity. "Are you gonna... You know, take it away?"

"Nope."

This made him puzzled. "What? Why?"

"A reason that would be revealed later, but for now join the others" With that being said, Sam just walked towards his castmates who gave him a variety of greetings. Brick saluted his fellow comrade, Jo gave a cold glare at yet another contender for the prize money, Anne Maria waved her hand with a warm smile and finally, Dakota hugged him as soon as he came to her reach.

The 24th boat came to view. "Right now, here's…" Chris began with a bright expression, hoping that the next one would be entertaining. However, it ended with him being underwhelmed and dismayed as the passenger hopped off before the boat sped away as fast as it could. "Staci."

"Hi guys!" Staci – her hair having grown back – waved at the assembled contestants who returned her gesture with a deadpan expression. "You know, my-" Before she can blabber once again, Chris shut her mouth with his hand for the sake of his ears along with everyone else.

"Can it, Chatterbox. No one wants to hear it." Chris informed her of the rude truth. Staci simply shrugged her shoulders uncaringly and walked towards her fellow generation where she continued her rambling. "As I was saying, my great-great-great-great-great-great-." Again much like before, she was never able to continue as a fist flew to her face, knocking her unconscious.

This development prompted everyone to look at the perpetrator with either indifferent or angry expressions. "Consider it a favour." Jo crossed her arms, unmoved by the variety of stares at her.

"Thank you Jo." Chris said with satisfaction before turning his attention to the approaching boat. Making an appearance was an overweight genius that has never said a single word in his performance.

"It's Beverly!" Chris introduced the new arrival, much to the latter's annoyance.

"Call me B!" Gasps of arose from the surprised contestants and Chris.

"Did he… just talk?" Sam pointed in disbelief.

"That's impossible, his mouth didn't even move a bit." Heather remarked. Amused, the Silent Genius pulled down the sleeve of his right hand, showing something akin to a watch; though in the place of the clock is a circular speaker.

"Since no one can trust me anymore, I invented this thing to say anything I wanted to say." The intelligent giant's voice emanated from the speaker. "Advanced technology as you may say." [1]

"Cool." Harold muttered in fascination as Geoff thumbs-up the genius instead.

As soon as B reached his group, the 26th boat arrived and disembarking is a petite bubble boy that compensated his physical frailty with sheer intellect. The Host was about to introduce the newcomer when a blur of purple and teal barreled her way to the newcomer and put him in a bearhug.

"CAMCODY!" Sierra screamed in delusional delight as she tightened her already tight hug around the unfortunate fellow. It would appear that her delusion of him being Cody has not faded for even a bit. "I missed you so much, I was scared that something happened to you but now you're finally here with me!"

"HELLLP!" Cameron begged, reaching a hand to the assembled contestants. It was not fear that can be seen in his eyes. But rather desperation, begging to be set free from the totalitarian grasp of this obsessive amazon. Before anyone moved however...

"Chef!" Chris summoned his co-host, appearing in a dramatic entrance by hopping from the water below the dock clad in a diving suit. He forcibly separated both contestants. Sierra tried in vain to squirm free out of the cooker's grasp even though she wasn't strong enough. Seeing the opportunity, Cameron ran as fast as his feeble body could allow to the others and hid behind the large body of B where he quivered in fear.

"There, there, Short-Stuff. Crazy Gal isn't gonna hurt ya no more." Anne Maria attempted to sooth Cameron as she watched Chef sat with the first gen, keeping the rabid fangirl in his tight grasp in his drenched diving suit.

"Chef, please remain there until she calms down." Chris dictated to his friend.

"Also, what were you doing in the water anyway?" Noah inquired about the cooker's appearance and point of entry.

"I was collectin' 'em beautiful corals down there." Chef removed his goggles to get a clearer look at the contestant. "New hobby of mine."

"Wait, there are corals growing underwater?" Gwen asked, she and the fellow girls intrigued.

Chef nodded in confirmation. "There's many of 'em on the seafloor 'round the island, different colours, shapes, sizes." to prove his point, he pulled out one from his pocket for all to see. The girls, having a natural inclination for grandeur, were mesmerized by the glistening purplish surface of the object.

"Oooh, I want one." Lindsay muttered, tantalized by the object. Even Heather herself seems to share this opinion. Sierra seemed to have returned to her pacified state at the mere glance at the object as both Dakota and Anne Maria appear to drool at the sight of it.

"Well, pretty much all of us do." Gwen informed the Dumb Princess as she observed how everyone gravitated their attention to the coral. Noah would've voiced his skepticism at times such as this, given the show's liberal employment of props. But at one glance, the coral itself appeared to be authentic.

"If you could return your attention back here please." Chris called their attention back to the dock as the 27th boat arrived and disembarking is a white-haired black jock. Cameron whimpered as his already unfortunate situation worsened, he knew that all contestants would be participating this season, but he had been hoping beyond all hope that this contestant would never appear.

"Lightning's back to win this competition, so better get sha-out of my way!" Came a boastful declaration from the overachiever. Everyone just rolled their eyes at this display of boastfulness.

"No one sha-cares, so you better sha-tup!" The Overachiever frowned in response to Jo's insult. "Those are words coming from the mouth of someone who can't even guess my gender, not to mention losing to a wimp in ROTI." This elicited laughter from her fellow second generation, sans the nervous Cameron.

"Ohhh shots fired." Chris said in an attempt to further goad the jock to do something. "Are gonna let that slip away?"

What he received was not what he expected.

"Normally I would pounce on her, but I have enough sha-smarts to know mah priorities… so yeah. Macho-girl is not worth it until the competition starts, it would be a waste of my precious strength." With that, he kissed his biceps before jogging forward to them and standing far away from Jo then giving a death glare to Cameron, it's plainly obvious that his damaged ego still hasn't recovered from the loss that costs his father his prized rings. "I'm making this season a hell for you!"

The bubble boy gulped in further terror while 28th boat came forward and two individuals of opposite genders disembarked instead of the expected one, holding each other's hand along the way.

"Zoey and Mike, the winner and the runner-up of All-Stars respectively." Chris introduced the couple.

"Hi guys!" Zoey greeted the assembled cast, particularly those among the first generation that didn't participate in All-Stars. She was waving her hand a bright smile that radiated jubilance and optimism for this season of Total Drama to associate herself with more of the pioneers. Her positivity was returned with a series of welcoming waves and smiles from most.

On the other hand, Mike felt uneasy at all the attention directed at him by the contestants that ignored Zoey; falling into the category of cold glares, in the case of Courtney, Jo and Heather; or suspicious stares from Noah, Duncan, Eva and Leshawna. One look at these people and it doesn't take a genius to guess that they watched the All-Stars season and be aware of the Mal Situation that occurred.

Thinking back, it almost seemed like it happened just the day before, back at Tower of Malevolence during the final challenge of AS. At the last second of pushing the button that would reset his mind and absorb his personalities into himself, Mike quickly changed his mind and began destroying the place, choosing to draw out Mal instead of losing his personalities. Initially, they were opposed to this, trying to stop and convince him once again since it seemed that only he could push the button and make it function. His plan worked as Mal materialized into the room, vaporizing his own tower to prevent his quick defeat and then battling them all five. It was after some gruelling long minutes that they had overwhelmed Mal to the point that he faded away from existence. [2]

"Um… hey everyone. How's it been?" Mike nervously asked in an attempt to change the atmosphere into something more pleasant for him. But sadly, they weren't willing to buy it as the Mal Situation is still fresh in their minds. "There's no need to worry about Mal, you did watch us vanquish him for good."

"We know that man, but it's better if we keep an eye on you in case he comes back." Duncan implored cautiously as some of the suspicious nodded their heads.

"Not to mention he can perfectly mimic you." Noah added, sharing the sentiment of keeping an eye on the MPD diagnosed man. This guy has a personality that actually has no hesitation in killing people or causing suffering.

A desperate Mike turned his attention to his confidant, who shared the same suspicious look found in the others. "Even you Cam?" He watched Cameron lower his head in reluctant admission.

"Sorry Mike, but after All-Stars I'm not sure of who to trust anymore."

"Oh boo-hoo, too bad for you pentafreak you're on your own now." Heather snarled at the MPD contestant, remembering how Mal nearly killed her back at the final challenge in All-Stars.

"Hey! Layoff white girl!" Leshawna quickly came into his defence, both individuals may have the same body but this lad is free from the sins committed by his other.

"I nearly died because of him!" Heather protested as she brought her face up to her shorter yet larger enemy, eyes seething with burning anger.

"Woah, Woah, calm down both of you." Trent moved in between them in an attempt to defuse the rising atmosphere of animosity. It was a fruitless endeavour as the verbal debacle continues between Heather and Leshawna, though it didn't discourage him from trying despite his voice being drowned in the heated and disharmonious cacophony of their voices.

"Yo Mike." He found his attention drawn towards Anne Maria. "Rip yo shirt off and turn into Vito."

"No way in hell is that going to happen Anne Maria." Zoey said in objection as she glared at the tan-heavy woman, her mood bordering between anger and annoyance. "Especially with me around."

"Don't care princess goody-goody" Anne Maria protested in a bossy manner."I wanna see my baby. We have a lotta things to do; like kissing, cuddling aaaand f/bleep/g"

Gasps of shock arose from everyone over Anne Maria's shameless declaration, even the scuffle between Heather and Leshawna came to a halt as they joined the others in staring wide-eyed at the Jersey Shore Reject. Mike went red as a tomato while Anne Maria just licked her lips seductively.

"D-Did she just say-" Jo tried to confirm what they all just heard when a furious Zoey cut her off.

"Why you-!" Mike was quick to hold his livid girlfriend from rushing forward and beating the crap out of their fellow second-gen, who was just about to do so.

"What! You gonna go commando b/bleep/h on me red, bring it on I ain't afraid a bit!" To prove her point, Anne Maria pulled a bottle of hair and tan spray from the large poof that is her hair and held herself in a battle-ready pose. Once again this made both Brick and Geoff stiffen in preparation in the case she either runs towards the restrained Zoey.

"Ok, enough!" Chris, mildly exasperated and mostly annoyed, took it upon himself to diffuse the situation. Sure he likes the current situation for the drama it entails but the show hasn't even started yet. "Both of you knock it off. We haven't even started yet and now you're ready to go at it. Keep it to yourselves for now else I'll eliminate the one who makes the first shot."

Seconds pass before the two women calmed down and diminished the energy that built-up in their body in preparation to fight. Hate still lingered in the air though, as their glaring stare down never ceased even as Mike wisely guided his girlfriend to a spot far from Anne Maria.

But all that negative energy is redirected as the 29th boat arrived and stepping out is someone that caught the glares of the entire second generation, along with Courtney. The rest just stared with indifference yet evident dislike such as Noah, Heather and Leshawna.

"Now we have Rat Boy Scott." Chris mocked him, remembering how Courtney drew him in a rat-like effigy in her written plans back in All-Stars. This gibe earned him an immediate growl from the dirt farmer.

"Don't call me rat boy." Scott shouted in annoyance. "Just because my ex drew me like that it doesn't mean I'm one."

"So how about Fang's favourite chew toy?" A round of chuckles came from the two generations over Jo's suggestion.

"Like hell." The Schemer fumed over the further ridicule of his character, casting a scowl towards the entire grouping. "Just so you know, I conquered my fear of sharks. Now if there should be anyone cowering, it would be Fang and his kind. I'll be the one eating them this time." He proclaimed as he crossed his arms.

Of course, everyone didn't buy it. Clearly, this proclamation of his is nothing but a boastful façade.

"Thanks for remindin' me of somethin' maggot." Chef told him before putting his fingers to his mouth in a whistle. Apparently, the Cooker made a deal with someone in exchange for helping him with his coral-harvesting.

Moments later, something emerged from the same spot of the water where Chef came, and the dirt farmer screamed in terror upon recognising who it is.

"FANG!"

Indeed it is. Standing beside him is the humanoid shark himself. Whatever courage he boasted about had immediately evaporated as he let out a high-pitched scream before running towards the second generation and hid behind everyone, who was laughing with amusement.

"You were saying, man?" Duncan asked rhetorically.

"Now that Scott's here." Chris wiped away the tear from his eye as he asserted his normal composure back. "We'll all just have to wait for our last second generation contestant."

"I'm already here Chris."

The Host found himself startled by a familiar voice before discovering that the final contestant is standing behind him. "Dawn! How did you get here?"

"Creepy girl has supernatural powers remember." Eva reminded the Host as she and her fellow contestants found themselves in varying degrees of surprise over her sudden appearance behind the host. All of them were well-aware of the supernatural nature surrounding Dawn and unanimously agreed that it's true, even smarter individuals such as Noah and Heather had conceded to that conclusion. As ludicrous as it seemed, no one can deny the mystical nature surrounding the Moonchild given her logically unexplainable actions back in ROTI such as reading auras, arriving ashore completely dry and even talking to and understanding animals in a manner of human communication. But of course, this doesn't mean she's not a threat to their progression in the competition. Dawn could easily discern your best-laid well-kept plans, memories that could be exploited and predict your future as easy as reading an open book.

"Oh, I-I took a sh-shortcut." The girl looked shaken. But still, she tried her best to present a smile towards everyone, with minimal success that is. "In actuality, I was already here before everyone else did. I spent my time exploring this wonderful island as I await the arrival of everyone."

Inevitably, Chris noticed the oddity in Dawn just like the campers. "Yeah, but what's with the face? You look like you been scared or something."

"Oh this is nothing, I recently woke from my nap after a bad dream." Dawn became defensive, even putting up her hands. "A very, very bad dream."

"Ok, move along." Regardless of the veracity, Chris seemed unconcerned and instead directed a thumb at the assembly behind him as Fang dived back to the water. "I still got some contestants to introduce."

With that, Dawn wordlessly walked towards her group and sat between her friends B and Mike.

"With the second-gen rolled in, let's welcome the third generation." Chris continued as the 30th boat came docked and instead of coming out like the usual contestants, the passengers performed an acrobatic flip that triggered whistles of impression from everyone and landed with grace beside the host.

"Now that's some grand entrance you made there Sky." Chris complimented as the said contestant rose to her feet before turning to the assembly of contestants behind them. "Just like I've said with the second-gen, feel free to choose a place for your team to gather."

"Sure." Sky acknowledged the privilege and moved forward.

"That was some move you did back there, you should totally hang out with me." Not even a day has passed and Lightning is already quick to flirt with the aspiring Olympian, flexing his biceps to further impress her. The reaction of most was split, some looking in bewilderment and some doing eyerolls.

"I'm flattered but I'm not planning to bother with relationships right now, my focus will be the competition alone." The Lady of Cree Lineage said as she chose the spot left-side of the first-gen, who are now evidently flanked by the two successive generations of Total Drama. As the 31st boat docked, everyone is startled by what can be guessed as the horn of a cargo ship. It wasn't long before the source stepped into the dock.

"Beardo." Chris introduced as the said camper approached him. "Our great beatboxer. Just hope that you get that thing under control to last longer in this contest, unless you want to be an Ezekiel 2.0." From the bleachers, the aforementioned contestant groaned over that remark. Beardo's reply took the form of a cha-ching sound before walking past the Host.

"Beatboxing is sick brah, you should totally come to my parties." Geoff complemented with Harold giving a double thumbs up at the beatboxer.

"Sure thing man, I'd love that." Against their expectations, Beardo parted his mouth to speak words instead of sounds. After that, he went beside Sky.

"You speak now maggot?" Came a rhetorical question from Chef Hatchet, remembering how his noise-production signed his status as the first PI contestant to be eliminated.

"Yeah, I'm taking a 'speak and help more, beatbox less' sort of approach for this season, so I wouldn't get the boot early."

The next boat came and stepping out are two contestants.

"Jasmine and Shawn, welcome back." Chris greeted. "So how has our lovely couple been?"

"Oh, all is well between us." Shawn answered. "Jasmine just returned from her vacation in Australia about a week ago. Other than that we're looking forward to the competition."

"So." On the other hand, Jasmine surveyed the island in the background with interest. "This is the new island you were talking about; I hope it ain't nasty like Pahkitew."

"Why you don't have to worry Jasmine." Dawn called the Australian Amazon, her anxious look seemed to have disappeared momentarily. "I can assure you this island is living and not artificial like its predecessor. While the animals are still machines, most of the environment is natural from what I garnered from her."

"Wait!" The contestants' eyes' were quick to turn to Chris, surprise was written all over his face. "You talked… to her?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Why yes, she's quite very informative to me." The Aura Whisperer answered in delight with a smile, remembering her pleasant conversation with the person she's referring to. But of course, this did nothing but inflame the curiosity of everyone surrounding her and it wasn't long before someone finally found the courage to ask.

"Her?" Gwen sought to satiate everyone's curiosity by making the inquiry herself. "Who's her? Who are you two talking about?"

Unfortunately, it would seem that they must delay their gratification for the moment Dawn began to open her mouth, Chris was quick to intervene.

"SOMEONE!" Chris shouted at the top of his lungs, immediately bringing everyone's attention back to him as he fixed a hard frown at Dawn. "We're going to meet later on, don't even think of ruining the surprises else you'll quickly get the boot."

Many remained silent, though there are those that complain due to unsatisfied whims; justified due to the implication of many great things this season but Chris still hasn't disclosed even one.

"Come on Chris! That ain't even fair." Leshawna pouted along with others.

Even though she hasn't read any auras yet, Dawn could understand the justifications for his threat; these surprises of his are big on the scope, things that would deliver a new experience in not only her participation in Total Drama, but everyone's as well.

But now that she'd thought of it…

Dawn felt the temptation in her mind, begging her to peer into the unperceivable aura of Chris Mclean. But ultimately, she conceded to entertain the host's wishes.

The 33rd boat arrived and coming out is someone that garnered not only the hate of the assembled third-gen, but also from almost everyone.

"Howdy y'all! The prettiest, cutest and most beautiful lady is now here. Best to quit now and save yourselves of the trouble, 'cause this pageant queen's gonna win this show. YEEHAH!"

"For someone who's the complete opposite of everything she just said, that's the richest thing I've heard from you, Sugar." Jasmine snarled, backed by the nods of some contestants. "Furthermore, your talent performance is absolute garbage."

"Giant Girl's right, you've got some serious issues." Heather joined in on the insult. Honestly, she's just disgusted with Sugar's attitude and treatment to Ella as everyone else, sure it may be comparable to her and Lindsay but at least she treats the latter with some respect.

"For once we agree on something." Gwen agreed with her arch-rival. This is not some shocking development since all of them watched PI as well and Sugar was quick to earn their collective hate.

"Watch it Gothy! I've got the stuff to win this here pageant and you know it! And I'll make anyone who says otherwise pay for it!" Sugar smacked her hands together as she began to walk forward.

"Or what? You're going to sing us a little carptry number?" Jo mocked the approaching self-proclaimed Pageant Queen, drawing a number of chuckles.

Being his snarky self, Noah joined in on the fun. "Don't give her any ideas; I forgot my ibuprofen back home." Noah regretted making the sarcastic insult moments later as Sugar curled her hand into a fist and sprinted forward akin to an incited bull, raising her hand to strike him square in the head. Trent resolutely placing himself between them and Chris stepping in were all that prevented it from happening.

"Settle down people. We wouldn't want you hurting each other…Yet!" Chris claimed with his usual devilish smirk. "With that said, let's move on."

Even with the diffused situation, Sugar continued her grumbling. "Stupid pieces of s/bleep/t where… where do they get off making fun of me like that!" Behind her, Leshawna and Anne Maria had the similar idea of flipping her off.

"Well to be fair Sugar you haven't exactly been the kindest person in the game. Remember how poorly you treated Ella months ago?" Dawn pointed out in a disdainful expression as opposed to her usual innocence.

"Oh great another one!" Sugar slapped her forehead with ever-rising irritation before angrily facing Dawn with a scowl. "Listen you fairy princess! I'm the one who's gonna win this pageant and no goody two shoes are getting in my way this time."

"You do realize this isn't a pageant, right? Half the people here are dudes and I'm hardly the type of girl to be into that thing." Gwen rolled her eyes dismissively. "And to be honest, you're more of being the repulsive, meanest and ugliest b/bleep/h we've ever met."

The resounding laughter from everyone riled Sugar into getting up into Gwen's face, who stood her ground much like her ex-boyfriend did. "I'll make you eat those words Gothy!" The Pageant Queen then proceeded to walk away in a huff.

"We'd like to see you try piggy!" Eva called from above as the new arrival did her best to ignore them.

Making sure the mean-spirited girl was out of earshot, Dawn whispered into Gwen's ear. "What a nasty f/bleep/g coloured aura!"

Gwen was surprised. "I never thought you're the person to curse Dawn."

"Normally, I wouldn't. But for her…" Dawn's face contorted into hate as she turned to Sugar's direction, who stood further from her fellow castmates in TDPI with an infuriated expression. "I'd make an exception."

There was chuckling in the background. "Good one Gwen, you've hit her where it hurts."

Gwen blinked. Is she dreaming? Because Heather just complimented her for something.

The debacle had ended only a few seconds ago, but it would seem that fate is not done with inciting the Pageant Queen.

"Ohhhh, I've reached the newest land of promised lands..."

As the new boat approaches the dock from the shallow water it sails, they could hear the faintest voice imposed by the distance and the limitations of the human throat.

"To this season I start anew..."

"Is someone... singing." Gwen asked rhetorically as they watched the arriving boat. A couple of sea creatures - including Fang - arose from the water as their aerial equivalents flew above from the lush forests, circling around the watercraft and chirping lively. Their attention locked to the oncoming boat where the pleasing song originates. [3]

"With every boy and girl that are not so few..."

"Yes." Chris looked displeased as memories of one PI contestant surfaced in his mind. "You can guess who it is."

"Who is it?" It was difficult to determine whether Sugar was feigning ignorance over the subject, considering her relationship with this person.

"Now here I stand…"

The boat finally reached the dock and a passenger appeared in ballet hop, her arms and face up high to the orange sky. Her eyes closed and lips stretched to an innocent smile.

With her appearance is the sharp intake of air to Sugar's mouth. Shock and disbelief were well written on her face. "No. It can't be!" It took less than a moment for her expression to turn into a murderous glare, so full of unreasonable hate and boiling fury that would melt the willpower of weak-willed men such as a fellow contestant named Dave. Hands and teeth clenched as well, in synchrony with her emotion.

"On beloved Eden IIIIIIIsland!"

Ella gave a bow at the end of her performance. The song's conclusion gave rise to applause from almost all assembled contestants, the symphony of claps ringing all over the area in grateful disharmony. Even personalities situated on the mean spectrum - namely Jo and Heather - did so out of impression. Sugar however...

"Ella, what do you think you're doing!?" A livid Sugar stood from her seat.

"Why singing." As always, Ella remained oblivious of Sugar's true nature. "I must express my joy for being able to compete once again." Sugar roared once more and ran towards her, knocking out Shawn off her path and only to be tackled down and restrained by - shockingly - both Ezekiel and Sam.

"Don't even... try." Sam struggled as the so-called prettiest, cutest and most beautiful lady tried to get away from their grip.

"It's a good thing you and I had the same thought... eh." Ezekiel complimented as Jasmine rushed past them and escorted the songbird to safety while Sky helps the zombie nut. The 35th boat arrived and coming out is someone that quickly changed the mood of Sugar.

"It's the wizard, he's back!" With a surge of newfound strength, she pushed both away and ran towards Leonard to hug him.

"Leonard." Chris introduced as he approached the two. "I wonder what magical nonsense you have in store for this season."

"Please Sir Mclean, my magic is a hundred percent authentic. I even bought a new spellbook. Allow me to demonstrate." Leonard pulled a small book from an unseen pocket and flipped to a few pages. "As my number one fan, I gave you the privilege to be invisible" Sugar stepped back as Leonard pulls his stick to perform his thing. "Invisibus Totalicus."

"Eat that non-believers, you can't possibly see me now."

"Yeah, we can't see you... If we're blind that is." Once again, everyone laughed at another one of Noah's well-done quips. Needless to say, this particular person along with that goth girl and pixie princess is starting to get on Sugar's nerves.

As Leonard begin to ponder why his magic trick yielded nothing yet again, Chris immediately shooed him and his volunteer away as the 36th boat came to view. "OK, OK move along. The next one is here." He honestly hopes that this one would be entertaining than the ones that arrived so far.

His high hopes were crushed when the passenger stepped out; annoyance immediately filled the gap as he groaned.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen of the world to the newest season of Total Dra-!"

"Shut it Topher, this is my show so don't even bother trying to steal the spotlight." Chris throws an annoyed frown at the contestant that attempted to upstage him. Originally, he planned to throw a smug comment until he began acting like he hosts this show once again. He'd protested with the producers on bringing this particular contestant back, yet all of it fell on deaf ears since it's been guaranteed that ALL Total Drama contestants shall compete. "Don't think I forgot or forgive what you tried in PI, I'm keeping a close eye on you."

Topher scoffed, gone was the façade of being an admirer of the host, having shed that skin to reveal his ambitious persona. "It doesn't matter. I'll eventually replace you as the host of Total Drama, in one way or... another."

"One Chris is already bad, another one is even worse." Gwen muttered in distaste. Jasmine was quick to agree with her in spite of the generational gap. It was the point of this season anyway – to bridge all that ever competed in this show for the biggest season yet.

"You got that right. Some of our challenges got harder because of him."

The 37th boat docked and coming out is another PI contestant, his burly body making him identical to Disney's Wreck-it-Ralph. "Rodney, welcome!"

Leshawna threw a gaze at the third-gen, mainly directed to the female members. "Isn't this the guy who gets lovestruck with most of y'all in the season?"

"Yeah." Jasmine muttered indifferently, as Rodney began to take notice of the assembled girls while walking. "To be honest, someone should help him understand a few... things outside country life."

"Wooow, a lot of pretty babes." Rodney mutters to himself, unknowingly drawing a variety of looks ranging from amusement or disgust.

"Womanizing weirdo." Heather sneered at the oblivious hopeless romantic, who is apparently too immersed being lovestruck that he didn't even hear her.

The next boat came forward and coming out are two contestants in the middle of a physical quarrel, exemplified by the fact that they disembarked by tackling the other to the dock. Both of them identical in appearance and clothing, but differentiating them from another is the colour of their respective cheerleading outfit.

"I'm prettier!" The red one proclaimed as she pulled her sister by the hair. Her beauty mark contributing to the difference.

"No, I am!" Defied the one wearing blue. The dissimilar colouring allowed a simpler method of differentiating who's who aside from the beauty mark and attitudes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce you to Amanda and Samantha, better known as Amy and… Sammy." Chris introduced quarrelling twins. Either by a stroke of luck or well-timed remembrance, Chris had managed to utter the correct pronunciation of the latter's name. [4]

Even as she fought her sister, Amy had heard it with perfect clarity. "It's Samey, because she's a spare me!"

"My name... is Sammy!" Declaring herself, the one in blue clawed her mean sister right in the face which only intensified the quarrel.

"CHEF!" Springing into action at Chris' command, Chef Hatchet released the now-pacified Sierra from his grasp and pulled the twins away from each other. Unfortunately, this made Cameron nervous at the now unshackled fangirl and hid behind B once again.

Even after Chef pulled the feuding twins away from each other, they continued their fight on a verbal front as Amy continued her screeching. "You're a bad sister! I'm the better twin so you should do as I say!"

"I don't have to listen to you anymore Amy. And I'm not letting you change my name to stroke your f/bleep/g ego." Sammy growled in defiance. Ever since Pahkitew Island, Sammy had stood up for herself more often. This didn't sit well with Amy, who constantly attempted to place Sammy under her heel again.

"You should be grateful. If it weren't for me you wouldn't be on this show!"

"Bulls/bleep/t! I auditioned myself and you just hitched a ride. The only reason you auditioned was so you could keep ruining my life on the island miserable. So don't even imply that I only got on the show because of you!" Sammy yelled back.

Knowing Chef was about two seconds away from separating them again, Noah made one of his usual quips. "Normally I don't get involved in family squabbles, but we all know that Sammy's right. You're a b/bleep/h."

"Her name's Samey egghead! A spare me! A lesser me! A worthless me!" Amy emphasised each word with adamant intensity. Needless to say, this level of dehumanisation she's displaying made everyone dislike her even more than watching it on television.

"Actually, I clearly heard Chris and she say her name was Sammy." Dawn pointed out.

This resulted in Amy baring her venomous fangs at the moonchild. "Mind your business!"

"Ahem! Trying to host a show here!" Chris cleared his throat in annoyance as Chef moved to the third-gen's spot while continuing to deal with the twins. Things turned for the worst when Sammy managed to tear a handful of her sister's hair strands.

"My hair!" Amy screeched in horror as everyone and even her sister became silent for a moment. Riled up at the desecration of her hair, she began reaching her vicious hands on her sister with a ferocity that was even too much for the Cooker to handle.

"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" Fed up, Chef unceremoniously threw Sammy into the vigilant hands of Jasmine and slammed a knife-hand at the back of Amy's neck. The force incapacitated her instantaneously, brief paralysis coming first before unconsciousness followed afterwards.

Sammy sighed in relief and began to breathe easier. "Good for her." Everyone watched as Chef places the mean twin on a one-armed bear grip just like he did to Sierra. The python that was his arm strong enough to keep her from the ground. The 39th boat arrived and disembarking is a contestant of the shortest stature in the competition.

"Max, the self-proclaimed evil incarnate who's actually nothing more but a pathetic excuse of a villain." The manner in which Chris did the introduction offended the said contestant.

"YOU LIE, MCLEAN!" Max boomed with hurt pride. "I truly am the purest form of EEEEVIL, my ideas and inventions alone in the previous season explains it – utterly diabolical and causing misery to others." The third-gen groaned as he let out his trademark evil laugh.

"Oh please, you're forgetting that your schemes only worked because Scarlett bothered to help you. Without her, you wouldn't last long in the contest. But I agree that you're the purest form of evil, but only a specific type; you're the personification of incompetent evil."

"How dare you fool?! Such evil will not allow insolence in their presence!" Max got up into Noah's face as some contestants erupted in a fit of laughter. "I have become so evil since Pahkitew Island, even Scarlett would tremble before me!"

While Max broke out into a fit of evil laughter once again, Chris only smirked as he knew what would happen next. "And here comes our next contestant... Scarlett!" Loud sirens were heard once again as yet another police boat approach the dock. Everyone winced in horror as they saw Scarlett by the bow, wheeled in a straight jacket and lacking her trademark glasses and bun that kept her waist-long orange hair above the neck.

Like Duncan, she was flanked by a multitude of guards. However, instead of normal police, guarding Scarlett is an entire SWAT team, donned in full-body armour that concealed every part of their body, even their face. It definitely seemed overkill from an observer's standpoint yet given her action in PI, it's completely justified.

Whatever boastful aura Max had have instantly evaporated upon gazing at his former sidekick. Superposing the confident facade was factual terror as he screamed and ran towards the petrified contestants.

"Have you lost your mind Chris?!" Shawn asked horror as Scarlett was wheeled before the host with her armed escort.

"Why are you letting her back on? She tried to kill us all just so she could win the million!" Jasmine followed her boyfriend with her own objection.

"It's Chris, what do you expect?" Noah's dry comment looked slightly choked due to the twinge of apprehension from Scarlett's arrival.

"It's the rule. Everyone who has competed in Total Drama must compete this season… Even felons such as Duncan." Chris replied to their complains with absolute nonchalance over their well-being as he faced the arrival while her escort wordlessly stood by, ready in case Scarlett tries to go violent. "Scarlett, enjoyed your prison sentence just like Duncan? After all, both of you are criminals."

"There's a big difference between a vandal and an attempted murderer you know – an attempted mass murderer, I may add." Duncan clarified the massive gap between them in terms of criminality.

"And another difference would be me not being a sweetheart." A vein bulged in Duncan's head over Scarlett's retort.

"Point taken." Chris said with minimal hints of amusement before returning to his serious demeanour. "But don't think we forgot what you tried to pull off in Pahkitew, try something funny and we won't hesitate to give you a full prison sentence."

Chris turned his attention to her SWAT escorts, gesturing at her restraints. "Officers, if you would." The SWAT team began unstrapping Scarlett's bonds. It would appear that the reveal of her true nature had removed the purpose of her previous clothes, which served to cement her image of innocence in PI. The yellow sweater and teal skirt were replaced by a white long-sleeved polo shirt buttoned just below her neck and a checkered skirt with the colours of burgundy and black, only the black shoes remained as the white socks were replaced by their dark brown above-the-knee counterparts. [5]

Finally released from her shackles Scarlett stepped off into the wooden surface of the dock, the snapping of stiff bones audible from stretching. Scarlett wordlessly walked past the host and into the group Chris as he sent her SWAT escort away.

"You guys can't be serious right?" Someone from the first-gen called out to the retreating enforcers of the law. Ironically, it had to be Duncan himself. "She tried to murder several people to make a quick buck and you're just handing her back as if it was nothing?"

In response one of them stopped to stare at Duncan, the sunset on their left momentarily inverting the dark black visors of the officer into transparency.

"Orders are orders kid, get over it." He retorted in a deep gruff voice. Shivers ran across his skin upon catching sight of what lies beneath - a full-head balaclava covered everything save for the area around the man's eyes, showcasing the pale-white skin tone and pitch-black eyes, before he turned back and proceeded to the boat.

Great, now I'm seeing things. I need some sleep as soon as this is over. It seems like sleep deprivation is also affecting Duncan's ability to distinguish reality from his imagination...

Or so he thought.

What he didn't know is that it wasn't any sort of hallucination, as Dawn had seen it as well in her own eyes. Perturbed, she broke her vow and tried perceiving their auras as they got on the boat, feeling even more unnerved as she cannot perceive any surrounding them as anyone should. Never in her life has she encountered something like this.

It was as if either... Something is shielding them… or they lacked an aura to be even seen in the first place.

On the other hand, every contestant had their eyes glued to the approaching Scarlett, emotions ranging from fright to wariness as she towered before the diminutive form of her master.

"Hello Max." Her voice hissed with pure venom, making Max quiver even more as her green eyes casts an intense gaze capable of igniting wood and shattering rock.

"S-S-Scarlett, h-how nice to s-see you again." Max stammered underneath that fearsome gaze. "I like your new look, it suits you very well if you'll be my sidekick once again." Before he even knew it, Scarlett lifted him by the collar in one hand and brought him to her face, her rage even more evident upon hearing that damned sobriquet.

"I'm not... your SIIIIIDEKIIIIIICK!" Scarlett screamed at the top of her lungs before throwing Max over the bleacher and into the water, where Fang immediately attacks him. Whereas everyone peered to watch with even the slightest twinges of concern, Scarlett watched the entire ordeal with satisfaction, particularly when the mutated shark managed to trap him in his jaws.

The ordeal lasted long enough for the next boat to come to view. Max managed to climb back to the dock, panting in terror and with bruises in his body; to which he sat away from Scarlett.

"And here's our last contestant for the third-gen... Dave!"

Shock and disgust overwhelmed everyone over the appearance of the aforementioned contestant, especially those who participated in PI with him. Though his hair regrew back to its original state during the final challenge in PI, the same cannot be said to his face. It was not as it used to be, long claw-mark scars now lay carved on his face and has remained there ever since.

Being the sadist he was, Chris had to make a crack about it. "Welcome back Dave. You're looking great as always."

What he wasn't expecting was for Dave to get up into his face. "Oh really McLean? Maybe I should make your face look that too? I've got a lot of experience hurting people in the past six months." As opposed to it's whiny, dorky tone from Season 6, Dave's voice now had the hushed bloodlust one would expect from a slasher villain.

Despite being frightened by his former friend's new attitude much like most of the contestants, Shawn stepped forward in an attempt to calm him down. "Chill bro, threatening people isn't gonna get you very far."

"Yeah, you're being kind of scary." Sky advised cautiously at the angered Dave, which backfired due to his burning hatred of her.

"You think I'm scary Sky? Well I'll tell you what's scary. Being left all alone... on a mechanical island... WITH A DERANGED ROBOT BEAR WHICH MAULS YOU AND CLAWS HALF YOUR FACE OFF!" Dave practically screamed, scaring both Shawn and Sky.

Luckily Leshawna intervened before things got any worse. "Whoa there boy, I'm not saying what you went through was right, but threatening people like that is way too far."

"Whatever. Stay out of my way you fat nigger!" Everyone gasped at how overboard Dave's response went, insulting not only Leshwana, but also every person of African descent. [6]

"WHA' DID HE JUST SAY!" Anne Maria thundered. Lightning was about to eat a protein bar until he crushed the snack in provoked rage as a stirred Leonard pulled out his spellbook with an intent of casting an offensive spell towards his castmate. Even those of benign such as B, DJ and Cameron were frowning.

"Man! You just got yourself in a big trouble." Jo mocked the unfortunate contestant before exploding into laughter, who remained resolute and unmoving from his spot with a face that said he meant it.

"Oh no. No. No. No. No." An ominous form of Leshawna manifested as she walked forward, something even Heather herself dared not unleash. "You did not just say that. I repeat, you did not JUST SAY THAT!" Leshawna growled and began to lay a fierce beatdown on Dave for his words, to which he meets head-on.

"Should we do something or..."

"Nah. Let's just move on." Chef cut of Trent and rolled his eyes, miffed with Dave's racist comment.

Despite so, the lean Dave appeared to have withstood everything the stout woman inflicted. He kicked her away from pinning him to the ground. As he rose, Leshawna charged once again but he delivered a direct kick on her gut. The kick itself was made without mercy nor regret, and strong enough to halt her advance. It was followed by a right hook on the face that actually sent the sassy sister far into the ground reeling in pain.

"Leshawna!" Screamed some of the first-gen, chief among them were Harold and Gwen. Everyone just remained still, stunned over the display of violence from someone they remembered as overtly benign.

"Dave you've seriously hurt her, stop this!" As shocked as everyone was, Sky desperately pleaded with her friend as he began walking towards the fallen sister.

"Dave, hold yourself. Should Leshawna be unable to compete because of you, you're getting the boot on the spot." Chris quickly explained.

The scarred contestant stopped and considered for a moment. He could simply finish this right here and right now. After all, he doesn't want any more business with this damn show that cost him dearly. On the other hand, he could hold himself for now and participate once more, where he'll have the opportunity to get revenge on those that wronged him.

Drama in the vocabulary used by the Host with the Most.

Ultimately, he conceded to the latter.

"Fine! I made my point anyway on this nigger." Dave walked past the reeling sister as Gwen and Harold ran to aid their friend, exchanging glares with them, particularly Harold, as they cross paths. The next glaredown would be that of the black contestants in the assembly, matching them all in intensity.

"Seriously, what has gotten into you?!" Crying out in disbelief was Shawn, eyes critical and unable to believe the act done by his friend.

Dave looked at him coldly. "Two things: Keith... and SCUBA BEAR!"

"Christ dude, that's about six months ago. You should just let go of the past." It earned the Zombie Nut nothing but an enraged Dave closing into his face.

"Try letting go of the past with a broken heart AND A FACE LIKE THIS!" He emphasised by pointing a finger to his face.

Terrified at what his friend has become after his misfortunes, Shawn and Sky and pretty much everyone in the third-gen kept their distance from him with varying degrees of apprehension. Even Sugar kept her distance from the clearly deranged contestant. Meanwhile, many of the black contestants still kept glaring daggers at Dave for his use of that hated racial slur.

"OK, now with that settled. Let's move on." Despite being shocked at how Dave changed in the course of six months, Chris decided to continue. "Now with you guys here, save for some of the first-gen, now's the perfect time for me to give you what you've all been waiting for in six months – a series of reveals exclusive to this season alone."

"The first of those would be-." He was cut short by the ringing of his phone. "Chris here." It was the producers. "I've told you sirs, any Ezekiel or Dakota-like disasters won't happen again as I've promised... Okay fine, so you still don't trust me much that you've decided to put a safeguard, lay it on me." Chris ended with a smile on his face, clearly assuming that this safeguard the producers have in store would benefit him...

An assumption proven wrong moments later, as his unicoloured eyes went wide with both shock and disbelief.

"WHAT!" The Cast plus Chef jolted at the sudden rise of the Host's voice, whatever the subject of the conversation made him unhappy. "You can't be serious?! T-THIS IS MY SHOW! He can settle with that race-ripoff of his!"

"Race ripoff? Hold on. Is he talking about-" By a rare display of intelligence, Geoff seemed to have guess what was the subject about and would've been given the opportunity to continue further if not for an interruption.

"That's right!"

From the hand-glider soaring overhead, a man dropped before the bewildered form of the host. This man has a well-known connection with Total Drama for his spin-off show. Despite this fame however, most contestants seemed to not recognise him save for a few and the four that competed in his show.

"Who's that guy?" Duncan asked, moments before Noah spoke in disbelief.

"Don? What are doing here?" The Smart Alec asked the million dollar question he's certain that Geoff, Owen and Leonard have in their minds as well. The participants of the Ridonculous Race were mentally scratching their heads over the unforeseen appearance of it's titular presenter here on the newest season of Total Drama.

"As you've heard from Chris, the producers aren't quite trusting that he'll prevent any more lawsuits. So they hired me to watch over the well-being of the contestants by hosting this season of Total Drama with him." Don explained.

"Wow, colour me surprised." Noah remarked with a smirk as Owen seemed more prepared for the season.

"Oh man, this is soooo awesome. Now we have two hosts for this season, can this possibly even get better."

"T-This can't be happening!" A still wide-eyed Chris exclaimed as he continued to converse with the producers. "I'm not doing this with him, this is my show!"

"You don't have a choice Chris." A smirking Don turned towards the host. "And before you can even ask them the producers presents you an ultimatum: host Eden Island with me… or be fired from the network."

"WHAT!" The Host hollered.

"That's right you heard me Chris, you'll be sacked out of the network and have all of your benefits revoked. Since you pretty much depend entirely on us to support your lifestyle, you'll go broke in a matter of time. What do you think would she think?" Out of the sudden, Chris grabbed Don by the collar with a dramatic change in expression. Everyone tensed at how quickly things turned south.

"I'm fine agreeing with the producers since I definitely have no other choice. But don't you even mention her when coercing me, GOT THAT?" Don nodded nervously as he was released, having realised too late that he crossed a line when dealing with Mclean. "And since I have nothing to do with the next reveal, feel free to do them." Chris walked past into the contestants in a mildly foul mood.

"What was that about?" Zoey inquired to Chef while Chris grumpily sat beside him on the bleachers. The cooker paid her no mind as he narrowed his own eyes at the chestnut-haired man.

"You shouldn't have included baby-girl in this subject Don." Chef shook his head.

"Yeah man, Chris gets nasty in an instant." Trent added, unintentionally drawing the attention of his castmates.

"You seem to know who they're talking about?" Gwen inquired curiously towards her ex-boyfriend. Trent fell into anxiety over the attention.

"Well… uhh..." One glance from Chris' menacing eyes was enough to derail him from speaking the truth. "Have you seen how Chris got angry, he must not like talking about her. Just saying."

It was a rationale well enough for them to accept. But still, some questions remain unanswered.

"Ignoring them, Chris just said that he has nothing to do with the next reveal that he was about to announce. What does that mean?" Noah asked inquisitively. Don continued standing casually from the query of the Schemer, but he couldn't help but express the knowing devilish sly smirk growing on his face. "Wait a minute! Are you telling me that the second reveal is-"

"That's right. The participants from the Ridonculous Race will be competing as well."

Whereas most of the cast registered this news with predictable surprise, the effect on the four was stronger – their features brightening akin to the fireworks of a grand celebration commemorating an event.

"For real Don-brah?!" Geoff implored, overjoyed by this prospect.

"Goodness gracious, this is the greatest thing to transpire." Leonard came next. On the background, Owen howled a hossana that expressed his happiness as this season just became more… awesome.

But out of the three, it was Noah who has the strongest reaction.

"YEEEEES!" Everyone was startled as Noah had just lost his calm and collected demeanour, standing and stretching his arms as high as it can get and screaming joyously at the orange heavens. More out of character acts followed; he ran towards the end of the aisle at the top where he did a spinning backflip down to the dock.

"OH YEAH!" He returned to the same pose, an uncharacteristically enthusiastic expression visible to all. It was during the awkward silence that Noah came back to his senses and realised what he just did. Now everyone is gawking at him as a result.

"Umm..." Embarrassed under the collective gazes of the cast, Noah slowly and wordlessly retreated to his spot.

While this first reveal is the source of excitement for the four, the rest haven't much any idea regarding the subject matter.

"The Ridonculous Race? What about it anyway?"

Beardo made a disk-backtrack to further emphasize the anti-climatic moment.

"What?! You don't know?" Don stared disbelievingly at the skinny girl.

"Well… we do know, but the funny thing is none of us bothered to even watch it except Sierra, who blogs as usual. Heck we just knew Noah, Owen, Geoff and Leonard have competed." She clarified sheepishly.

"Same with us." Sam called for his generation while the third followed with a wave of nods.

Each response furthering the host's incredulity. The Ridonculous Race was advertised worldwide and got the attention of many people as it would to Total Drama even if it's just a spin-off. Yet only one of the originals even watched it?!

"Ha! At least most of mine stayed loyal to me, save for a few of course." Having subsided his anger before, Chris happily jeered his fellow host with Chef Hatchet trying his best to suppress his chuckle.

"Like hell we're loyal to you." Duncan snarled.

"OK, how's that even possible." Called out a similarly flabbergasted Noah. "It has 'Total Drama' on its title and yet none of you guys didn't even bother to check it out as you would to any other episodes?"

"Well, we assumed that our contracts were finished since It's been so long since we've participated. It continued until we've received the announcement form via email." DJ proclaimed innocently as he scratched the back of his neck.

Heather turned to the only person other than the four to know this RR greatly. "Sierra, since you're the only one who watched it, care to tell us something?"

Sierra felt the gaze of all veterans fall down to her. "I don't wanna spoil. But all I can say is that RR is very entertaining and similar to the World Tour season, save for the singing though. Don continue, it'll be dark here soon."

Though he was still in disbelief, Don forcefully asserted back his composure upon remembering that it was only a matter of time before the first boat containing the RR participants arrived, not to mention the setting of the sun to transition the day into night.

"Thank you for that Sierra. Unbelievable as that may be, prepare to meet them nonetheless. Boats would arrive here in this dock the same manner as the Veterans of Total Drama did, but each one carrying a team of the Ridonculous Race."

Relief materialised in the sleep-deprived expression of Duncan. "A boat for each team? Man this ordeal would be over real quick. We can wrap this up-"

"I hate to interrupt Duncan. But by team, he meant a pair of contestants and not like TD's usual definition. That means this won't be over quickly." Noah corrected his fellow generation member, who groaned in disappointment.

"Without further ado, here come the teams." Don observed as the first boat came to view. It wasn't long before it reached the dock and the first pair disembarked. "Welcome… Carrie and Devin – Formerly competing as the Best Friends, but now I'd rather call them… Love Birds."

"Awww… That's like a sweet name for us Don, we appreciate it." Carrie said

"Are you two still calling each other homie?" Don inquired.

"We're past that." Devin informed as he pulled his best friend-turned-girlfriend to his body. "It's honey now."

More aws came from the Veterans and it was starting to get on the Host's nerves.

"Will you cut it out with those aws for God's sake!" Chris complained out loud, but none paid him any mind.

"Wow, didn't know the two of you got married. Congratulations." Noah called out in a mix of complement and sarcasm.

"Thanks Noah." Both Carrie and Devin praised their fellow racer.

"Unfortunately." Don called their attention back. "Most space in the bleachers is already occupied by the Veterans. That means you'll have to stand up in front of them for the duration."

"Hey, don't worry about it! We'll help you guys out." Duncan called before trading looks with his generation. After a few moments, the entire first-gen stood from their original positions and moved upward along with Chris and Chef, vacating the first two rows near the ground for the new arrivals to sit in. It spread like lightning among the others and they did the same. Of course, not all wanted to offer such generosity, but their peers made them concede otherwise.

"I take back what I said. The first two rows are now free for accommodation." Don reaffirmed his previous statement as Carrie and Devin went towards the bleachers and sat before the first-gen.

Soon after, the next boat arrived and coming out is another pair of individuals. Before Don could even introduce them however…

"Hey Court! I didn't know you have a sister!" Scott teased his old flame over the carbon copy standing before them all. Everyone actually believed this and stared at the CIT as a result.

"I don't have a sister! I've never even met her before." as much as she's surprised just like the others, Courtney was quick to clarify things.

"Ellody and Mary… Welcome to Eden Island!" Don introduced, getting back his attention to the new arrivals. The Geniuses paid him no heed however and resolved to fix the awkward situation of it's other member.

"I can't proclaim that I'm shocked by this instance of mistaken identity. I've been mistaken for you ever since the original airing of Total Drama Island on Wawanakwa Island, Lake Muskoka, Ontario, Canada." Ellody said in her normal pernickety nature. This did little but augment the astonishment of everyone, with Courtney looking even more flabbergasted than she was before.

"Wooow... and she sounds just like you." Lindsay pointed out to Courtney, genuinely amazed. [7]

"Seems like eons ago." Mary snorted over her partner's explanation. "Of course not literal eons, I was just using a metaphor."

"A rather good usage my compatriot." Ellody complimented her partner.

"Great more nerds, just what this stupid show needs. Can we go on with me winning the prize money already." Heather complained to the hosts, causing Don to roll his eyes.

"Seriously, how do you put up with this?"

"Ibuprofen, and tranquillizers. Mostly tranquillizers." Chef answered.

"She does look a lot like you Courtney." Bridgette pointed out to her friend. "And as Lindsay pointed, she sounds exactly like you actually."

"They could be twins. Possibly separated at birth." Duncan followed, this did nothing but earn him a glare from his ex.

"Highly improbable. Though skin pigmentation and voice would say otherwise, I'm of Indian descent while Courtney's birth records from shows her as Hispanic, born in Ontario from Colombian immigrants." Ellody disclosing this amount of personal information earned her the stares of everyone. "I got the information from – the treasure trove of everything TD-related and managed by hers truly."

Of course, when one seeks to know something about the show or the people in it, they just need to put Sierra's blog site on the search engine.

"Ok, I get it we look alike. It's not that big a deal!" Courtney implored her lookalike for a resolution, mildly aggravated by how a sheer coincidence was perpetuated in the subject.

"Not like it matters. The million's going to me anyway so you might as well give up losers." Scott sneered.

Mary snorted. "A definite improbability from someone who exhibits magnetism to physical injury and sharks." Both she and Ellody went beside the Love Birds.

The 44th boat reached the dock and disembarking are another pair of contestants.

"Fashion Bloggers Tom and Jen, your timing is impeccable."

"Did somebody say fashion." Lindsay stood from her seat with genuine interest written on her face. "And you have a blog about it?!"

"Yup, updated and managed 24/7 regarding current trends or new ones." As they approach, Jen strikes up a conversation with the veteran blondie. "We have about a hundred thousand followers all around the world. In fact, we just updated this morning regarding a new two-piece swimsuit." She pulled out her phone when they're close enough and handed it to her. More of by natural human curiosity, those near Lindsay leaned in to take a peek.

"Wow." Lindsay cooed over the picture of an aqua-green swimsuit as the others whistled. "It's gorgeous. I just hope that I find one that's my size." With that she stared down at her chest, It was then the Fashion Bloggers realised a body complication that is her large chest, making the situation more awkward was that it's something they just noticed right now.

"Oh." Being a man, Tom's cheeks reddened slightly more than Jen's over this discovery. "Umm… don't worry. In addition to being bloggers, we also serve as fashion brokers. We can adjust the clothing to accommodate certain sizes."

Like light, the appreciative smile of the veteran competitor fell to him. He smiled in return, albeit with exposed teeth and reddish cheeks. He was soon pulled away by Jen after taking back her phone and sat beside the Geniuses while the 45th boat made land. Waves of impression resonated at how massive and ripped one of them is.

"Ryan and Stephanie, everything good between you Daters?" Don asked the approaching African-Canadian participants.

"All's been better since the Race." Stephanie answered before lovingly hugging her mountain-of-a boyfriend. "My man here helped me make up for my faults back in the Race, we'll do much better here."

"Great, more niggers. Just what we needed." Dave muttered in a tone of pure unmitigated loathing. He didn't know it was loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"EXCUSE ME!" Stephanie threw a glare at the Indian man along with her partner, the African-Canadians in the bleachers had their anger reignited upon hearing that odious African term. Don was taken aback at the audacity of the veteran contestant to say this on live television.

"Dave, you have to stop saying that." As much as she's enraged like the rest of her ethnic kin, Jasmine endeavoured to pacify the changed contestant that was once kind. "You'll only leave a very bad impression and many enemies in its wake. You need to ease your-."

"SHUT UP, I DON'T ASSOCIATE MYSELF WITH SLAVES!"

That proved to be the final straw for one Afro-Canadian contestant.

"WHY YOU!" Again, Brick and Geoff moved in time to restrain a raging second-gen contestant. The difference is that it wasn't Anne Maria this time, rather it's Lightning whom they're holding down from wreaking vengeance upon Dave. Seeing this, Dave moved his gaze from the shocked Jasmine into the furious white-hair and kept a close eye on him in preparation of defending himself.

Fully incensed and seeking to use this distraction, Stephanie turned to Ryan. "Throw me." The burly man was more than happy to comply and hefted his girlfriend, hurling her to the offender afterwards like a steel javelin. Dave was caught off-guard by the punch to his face and neither was he able to present a proper resistance as Stephanie assaulted him relentlessly.

A stunned audience watched. Most, particularly the black contestants, don't even consider stopping the Dater as he certainly deserved the punishment. Some do, but they can't afford the risk of receiving her hate. Stephanie ceased beating Dave after he soon slipped into unconsciousness and pulled away, watching as Sky and Shawn attend to their friend with looks of worry.

"F/bleep/g racist!" She snarled before wordlessly taking her spot beside the Love Birds with Ryan, their good mood soured by a single event. In the background, some of the black contestants were giving her approving looks.

After that fiasco, an aghast Don remarked. "Well that went explosive. To the non-black folks watching this, let what just happened serve as a forewarning why the N-Word should never be said."

The black contestants on the background nodded approvingly even more to those watching them.

The 46th boat arrived and the Veterans, sans the four and Sierra, were surprised to see elderlies before them. But it wasn't all that surprised them, what did even more was that one has a striking similarity with the Host with the Most.

"Gerry and Pete, the Tennis Rivals." Don introduced, mere moments before his counterpart mocked him.

"You have old geezers competing for your show?" Chris called to Don in a rhetorical manner. "It must have been weak and lame compared to mine, seeing how you have flimsy contestants."

"Oh come on, Chris. Is that what you're gonna say to your old man after a long time apart?" It was Pete who spoke first in amusement. Meanwhile, some contestants are looking back and forth between the two men whose ages were years apart.

"Umm… are you two related?" Sky inquired. "Because he looks like you in some way."

"Probably his dad." B shrugged his large shoulders. This reasoning earned approving nods among them.

"Why didn't I even notice that back in the Race?" Noah let out a rhetorical question.

Chris groaned in annoyance and resolved the situation before it became a big issue like that of Courtney and Ellody. "No, he's my uncle. He and my dad are identical twins." [8]

Understanding dawned in their expressions as a chorus of 'Ohhs' resonated over the dock.

"Yep, completely identical. Of course, I'm the handsome one." Pete gestured to himself with a smile.

His partner snorted. "Oh yeah, what does your brother look like, Bigfoot?" Gerry rolled his eyes before both of the old men burst out laughing.

"This just got so much easier, if we're playing against old farts!" Heather sneered at the Tennis Rivals.

"Must be harder for you girly. At least teenage boys like farting!" Pete quipped, causing him and his rival to chortle again.

"We might have trouble against her actually. She played like Ripley from Alien 3 in Action. Or at least she looked like her!"

While Heather gasped in an offended manner, several of the first and second generation contestants burst into laughter as well. Despite still reeling from the pain, Leshawna joined in. "Ohoho they roasted her like a ham!"

Heather was visibly fuming from the spot as the two old men approached and would've already seated in their chosen spots before the third-gen until they noticed something.

"Whoa, what happened to him." Gerry asked regarding the unconscious form of Dave.

Neither Sky nor Shawn had the chance to explain as the Daters had taken the lead. "The guy's racist. So Steph taught him a lesson." Ryan explained, throwing a scornful look at the KO'd contestant.

"Why be angry? He's as dark as you folks." Pete jested before laughing, thinking such statement as adorned with hilarity. This – however – drew gasps from everyone, even his partner.

Anger that had subsided within Stephanie is rejuvenated. "You think this is funny?!" She asked angrily, not even after some challenges this competition is already testing her patience. Her fellow kin leered at the laughing senior.

Gerry crossed his arms with a scowl. "That's actually crossing the line you know."

"Not cool man, not cool." Chris shook his head disapprovingly. Pete stopped after finally noticing everyone's reaction and sat along with Gerry. The 47th boat came forward and the passengers disembarked… or rather, tried to… and failed miserably, crashing into the dock the moment they left.

"Mickey and Jay, looks like the Adversity Twins aren't looking well." Don remarked. True to his word, the twins looked sick. Their skin waned into a lighter shade as their bodies hunched down and their eyes slightly narrowed, bespeaking their lightheadedness. "What happened?"

"The boat... too fast." Jay began, struggling to speak in his weakness. "N-N-Not good."

Mickey's cheeks bloated and retched his stomach's contents while Jay collapsed on his limbs, coughing loudly and uncontrollably as if something has caught itself inside his throat. The display was enough to make Don back away for the sake of his own health. Whether this affliction is infectious or not, like he's taking any chances by being in close proximity with them. Sure enough, the Veterans mimicked him in a reactionary sense. They were taken aback by the degree of physical frailty the twins demonstrated, so much that they may even consider Cameron a pinnacle of physical perfection.

"Wow... And I thought smart guy here's weak." Lightning jabbed a thumb at the Bubble Boy near him.

"Yeah right, It just proves that this Ridonculous Race of his must be a… completely Ri-donkey-lous Waste." Jo quipped in a sarcasm rivalling that of the Schemer named Noah. It invoked laughter from those either mean or indifferent to the spin-off. But perhaps, it was Chris' himself that was the loudest. Some fixed them annoyed glances however, mostly from the participants of the Race.

"Oh don't be quick to judge. The first to arrive are the lame ones, you haven't seen the more interesting pairs yet."

"HEY!" The RR contestants cried out at Don.

"Can we pay attention to the fact that they're sick." Bridgette protested with Courtney nodding in agreement. "They should be in a hospital! Not in the contest."

"The last thing this show needs is for someone dying out due to some untreated malady." The mocha-skinned latina added.

Don rolled his eyes. "Oh don't be silly, it's nothing serious. It's just an exaggerated sea-sickness that'll go away soon. Besides, you're looking at soft meat… very soft meat. In fact, I'd be surprised if they lasted long in this season with all you guys around."

"Soft may they be, but they make it up for tenacity." Noah muttered to those near him, including Bridgette and Courtney, as the twins walked forward and sat before the second-gen.

The 47th boat arrived and bringing in another pair for Don to introduce… If he wasn't interrupted yet again like in the Geniuses' arrival and by the same person nonetheless.

"Hey Dawn, you didn't tell us your people are competing." Scott taunted the contestant below him, an act that resulted to B smacking him in the head. Dawn was as surprised as everyone is by this fact.

"One flower kid is already enough, two more is worse." Jo muttered in a sour tone. Compared to most of the first and second-gen, she doesn't have any big issue with the Moonchild, aside from her beating her first in everything of course.

"Maybe they're magical just like her." Everyone rolled their eyes at Lindsay's dumb suggestion.

"Can I please make an uninterrupted intro over here?!" Don protested before turning back to the arrivals. "The Vegans Laurie and Miles, ready for something meaty this competition?"

Upon hearing that word, Laurie grabbed Don by the collar. "Don't. You even remind us of that! Ever since the Race we've had trouble sleeping because we're having nightmares about the animals we've eaten in the Iceland challenge." She hissed venomously at Don, who could do nothing but gulp in apprehension.

"And let's not forget about the island of cannibals." Miles added her two cents in, crossing her arms in disdain. Don was eventually released and the Vegans proceed to the ever-growing assembly of contestants.

"Wait! You have a challenge set in a cannibal filled island?! Your Host must be as demented as ours." an appalled Courtney remarked to the RR participants below.

"Well, not really." Devin came to Don's defence. "There's never a cannibal island challenge, their plane crash-landed on one and it wasn't even an hour before a team rescued them. To top it off, Don's actually caring and attentive to us during the show. Despite being indifferent to our sake, we see Don as favourable to a degree."

"Despite being an ass sometimes." Laurie, the same Laurie who relentlessly assaulted Don after the non-elimination challenge in Iceland, begrudgingly admitted. She and Miles had stopped before the assembly during Don's apologism by Devin.

"I can't find any fault in his words. They're genuine." Having examined the Auras of each and every RR participant, Dawn confirmed this axiom. The three-gens were tempted to repudiate this apologism if they didn't notice how passionate Devin was.

"You hear that Chris. Unlike yours, my contestants see me in a positive light. Because I'm a fair person showing actual concern for his contestants." Don felt empowered by pride from his contestants' favour. Had his emotional endurance been weak, he would've burst into tears of joy.

"Perhaps, Chris can learn a thing or two from you." Noah dryly suggested.

Chris scoffed. "Never gonna happen. Unlike mine, his show lacked drama and the challenges are not even a torture to be entertaining because he's too soft, that's why your Ridonculous Race will always remain in the shadow of Total Drama, because you don't have the guts to be ruthless."

Noah looked at Chris. "Umm… I would like to point out that the more appropriate term would be a sadistic s/bleep/ead."

"No one cares Know-It-All!" Chris screamed in annoyance under the chuckles surround him.

"Well at least I have contestants who like me and no prison record. Unlike you. Not to mention having a racist contestant." Don said as he pointed dismissively at Dave.

Chris groaned. "I didn't even know that what made him go racist. Anyway, the next boat's here." he said, pointing to the approaching watercraft.

Meanwhile, few noticed that the Vegans went in front of the second-gen. "I'm sure you two would get along with our friend here." Zoey told the Vegans, motioning to Dawn who was beside her. "She had friends but she could use some who she can relate to."

"Sure." Miles said as they sat in front of the second-gen.

"Lightning's gonna sha-steamroll you weaklings. There ain't no protein in you to build muscles like mine." As a show of force, Lightning flexed his biceps and kissed them to prove his point.

Abashed at her competitor's behaviour, an embarrassed Zoey turned to them with a meek smile. "Ignore him."

"Sorry if my generation if my generation can be a bit harsh. I'm Dawn."

"Oh I know you, you're the one who can actually see auras." Miles almost immediately recognized her.

"Lucky, we usually have to guess what ours look like."

"I'd consider you the lucky ones. You've got Don and not Chris." Dawn gestured a hand to the Host in the bleachers.

"We don't like him. Mr. Mclean has garnered a bad reputation in the Green community for repeated animal and environmental abuse. But the greatest would be the toxification of Camp Wawanakwa." Laurie explained as both Vegans leered over the unknowing Host. The 48th boat arrived and needless to say, the Veterans were quite perturbed by their skating outfits and seemingly perpetual smile towards the camera.

"Well, well if it isn't the Ice Dancers Josee and Jacques. Not exactly I'm hoping for but at least one of the interesting pair of RR."

"Hello to our fans, we feel honoured to participate before your eyes once again in this grand competition." Jacques waved to the camera in synchrony with his partner, effectively ignoring the Host before them as some sort background figure.

"This time, we assure you that the gold shall be hours." Josee declared as her expression morphed into that of a vicious determined one.

Chris whistled in amazement, genuinely impressed. "You had the Olympic figure skaters Jacques and Josee in your Ridonculous Race. Now that's impressive, I have to admit. This is something. You guys must've rocketed your way through the Race eh?"

"Since when did you began imitating Ezekiel... eh?" Noah joked before revealing the dirt on the Skaters' names. "They did rocket through the competition – by frequently playing foul and sabotaging teams left and right in their ruthless obsession for first place."

"Well there goes my respect for them." Sky mumbled under her breath, making sure it's inaudible lest she end up like Dave during the Daters' arrival. As an aspiring olympian she held those that participated in the Olympics in a high regard, but that same respect evaporated upon the revelation of their unclean sportsmanship.

Duncan's expression brightened after a stray memory about these two crossed his mind. "Hey. Aren't they the ones that got humiliated in the Olympics after he dropped her on ice?" that statement of his had unintentionally drawn a glare from the Ice Dancers.

"Yeah. It was hilarious." Chris found himself chuckling at it with Chef. For once, even Don joined in; laughing at the Ice Dancers' expense.

"I remember that, did you enjoy kissing the ice back then. You seem so because your entire face is touching it." Several laughed at Jo's jest to the female ice skater. "Seems you've taken the passion for ice skating to a whole new level." These witticisms served nothing but inflame the skaters for their misfortunes.

"Don't you dare remind us!" Josee snarled over the assembly, she was already at the edge of throwing one of her notorious tantrums. Something everyone save for those that participated in the Race fail to realise. "We may have lost both the Olympics and the Race, but we still have the will for the GOLD! And we'll make you see IT!"

"Oui, our honour as winners will be restored and the prize money ours!" being a mere follower of his female partner, Jacques followed suit with his own declaration. [9]

Suddenly, the laughing stopped all the sudden and their expressions were replaced with pure terror. At first, they assumed this to be the result of their pledges and allowed the twinges of pride flow outward before it evaporated courtesy of realising that they're staring at something past them and Noah telling them the truth.

"I hate to break it up to you guys, but I think you should all run back while you still have the chance." Heeding his words, the Don and the Ice Dancers turned and matched the same level of apprehension felt by the others upon realising why as the sound of a motor engine getting closer… and louder.

On the ocean, the 49th boat was approaching the dock. While this is not a cause of concern under normal circumstances, one should note that the speedboat itself was accelerating towards the dock.

In panic, all three found themselves running to the Assembly before they even realised it. The boat made a sharp turn and came to a screeching halt just beside the end of the dock, unintentionally conjuring a large wave of water beneath the broadside and sending it crashing to the entire second-gen.

Greatly annoyed, a round of complaining took place from the main victims of this development. "WHAT THE F/BLEEP/K!" Jo cursed, furious as she and the others were drenched in ocean water.

On the other hand, Chris was cackling in delight at this stunt. "That was golden. I gotta know who these guys are."

Sure enough, the perpetrators disembarked into the dock.

"As I've expected." Don remarked as he approached the arrivals, visible displeasure written on his face. "Police Cadets Sanders and Macarthur – the winners of the Ridonculous Race."

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!" An exasperated Jacques screamed at their rivals. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!"

"Well, well if it isn't bronze gal and bronze dweeb. Long time no see. Competing for another streak of bronzes this competition?" Macarthur mocked their rivals, making sure to emphasise the 'bronze' word audibly.

"Don't you… SAY THAT WORD TO OUR FACES!" Josee's eye was twitching, appearing as if her rage can no longer be contained and was about explode from her mortal coil. The argument was about continue until Don had reasserted control over the conversation.

"Can you guys honestly explain what were you thinking?!" Don gave newly arrived duo a look that asked 'seriously?'.

"When she heard that the Ice Dancers were nearing the dock, Macarthur wanted to go now despite the fact that our schedule to arrive later; leading her to forcefully commander the boat from our driver." Sanders pointed to her partner then to the boat where a shaken intern arose beneath the windshield, who finally manned the wheel and went away.

As much as Josee wanted to argue further, she and Jacques left to sit down with the Tennis Rivals. But their glares remain glued to their rivals.

Chris whistled. "You have cops in your show as well? Now we're talking."

"Great, now the law is following me here." Duncan grumbled despondently and crossed his arms.

"We still haven't graduated the academy, so that makes us P.I.T - Police-in-Training." Sanders clarified.

"Wow, your course is just in the same field my friend." Bridgette placed an arm on Courtney's knee. "She's a Counselor-in-Training."

"Really? Where do you train at?" Sanders didn't sound generally impressed. Nonetheless, she inquired to better know someone who is undergoing a preparatory process like them. What's more is that their professions are in the same realm of the law.

"Summer Camp."

"We don't want any more of you in-Trainings here to boss us around, B-I-T-C-H over there is more than enough." Jo interjected, bisecting the conversation with her usual dismissive and authoritarian tone at the arrivals as she threw a glance to Courtney. The Jockette was obviously miffed by the stunt they've just pulled and now here she is, drenched in ocean water with her fellow generation from the mini-tsunami they've spurred.

"Hey!"

"Hey, you're not the boss of us. Sanders and I will win this contest just like in the Race!" the bad cop of the duo boasted with a look of fierce determination written on her face.

"I'm the one winning the million dollars, not some fatso cop and her weak-a/bleep/s partner!" Jo jeered the Police Cadets. From the third-gen's corner, the Ice Dancers began laughing at their mocked rivals.

"Really?" Macarthur muttered as she narrowed her eyes dangerously at the Jockette, glaring daggers that seemed to shine under the light of the descending sun.

"Macarthur that's enough." Sanders tried to curtail her partner's rising aggression. Should these two fight right now of all times, she would be inevitably dragged into the altercation.

"Stand down Sanders, it looks like someone's looking for a fight." It served as the death knell to her attempts as her partner's body stiffened in preparation for combat.

Jo stood from her seat. "Bring it on, I've got my own partner right here!" Sanders swallowed the lump in her throat as Eva rose to her full height. Her thin frame wouldn't stand a chance in a fight against this iron woman. Those who were sitting between the two pairs of women parted, not wanting to be trampled in the approaching brawl.

A brawl that would've happened if Don didn't quickly intervene. "OK, both of you calm down." He dashed between the pair on the verge of fighting, a look of concern etched on his face. "Save your newfound animosities for the contest. Go sit and wait else whoever does the first strike will face instant elimination."

With some begrudging reluctance, Jo submitted and returned to her seat along with her new friend Eva. The pacification took longer for MacArthur as anger is known to easily entrench itself in her heart, but calmed down nonetheless. Her eyes never leaving Jo's as her partner guided her to sit in front of the first-gen.

"You sure make enemies fast." Sanders sarcastically remarked.

"She started it!" The Bad Cop pouted to her more level-headed partner in a manner similar to a small child assigning the blame to another. But Macarthur is no longer a small child, and it wouldn't work.

"And you were quick to take the bait." Sanders proceeded to chastise her partner. "You really should consider what would happen before acting, like me. We're here to win the competition, not start more rivalries other than the Ice Dancers that would be nothing but obstacles. If not, then it might not only cost us the prize money. But maybe even more than my arm." She raised her left arm to her face if it would prove her point, having healed from the skeletal damage months ago.

Macarthur reeled back from the arm that had been a victim of her brashness in the Race. A memory like a sieve materialised in her incorporeal mind's equally incorporeal eye, the first time she bare sight to Sanders' broken arm, twisted in unnatural angles by high-speed blunt force trauma she caused. The bad cop blinked to vanquish that echo of the past.

The 50th boat docked and disembarking are two girls of substantial age gaps and vested in what can be described as expensive clothing.

"Let's give it up for Mom and Daughter – Kelly and Taylor. The two of you left the Race in good terms. Does it still stand up to this day?"

"Of course. In fact, she's spending more quality time with me as opposed to just her father. After revealing the truth, my husband and I decided to hire some instructors to improve her physical fitness and take measures to unspoil her, if you know what I mean."

"Adjusting to the changes was difficult I admit; spending time every day to tire yourself and learn new things while your privileges were decreased to enforce manners. But you'll get used to it. I admit that it's dissatisfying at first, but hey, it's for your own good if you really want to be something you thought you were." Taylor revealed in her normal supercilious tone with a confident smile.

"Well then I hope you've trained hard, this contest will see if your workouts are worth the time and effort." Don remarked. With that, the two women strode forward to the assembly.

"Did you honestly even put any effort in any of your supposed training? I don't see any developments in your body." Noah asked dryly towards yet another of his fellow Ridonculous Race participants.

"Hey, I would have you know that I worked hard to make myself fit. Just because I'm pampered that doesn't mean I'm a lazy girl, You really shouldn't judge a book by its cover." Taylor retorted in a dismissive tone, which seemed to take some of them aback after assuming the rich girl to have a likeable personality.

Noah rolled his eyes. "We'll see if you live up to your claims."

"On the second thought, how about you invest some time on physical activities. I'm surprised at how an underdeveloped body could support that big brain of yours." Taylor's comeback drew a chorus of 'Ohs' directed at Noah. The Know-it-All could do nothing but remain in stunned silence after being effectively dissed by the arrival. It was a long moment where the feelings of both impotence and embarrassment ran high.

"Great, just what we need in this contest, another spoiled rich white girl like Heather." Leshawna voiced her dismay. She was one of the few that didn't react to the dissing of Noah, too preoccupied with her opinion on the new girl to even bother.

Gwen sighed in disappointment. This contest has enough room for these type of people, one snobby rich girl is bad, another would be too much to take. "This contest is just getting more interesting."

These nascent opinions made them forget to conceal these statements in hushed mutterings, drawing a response from the woman in question. "Excuse me, do you have any problems with me?" Taylor asked to the two first-gen contestants.

"First impressions alone, I can already tell you as mean and snobby. It's either you're gonna behave... or you and i are gonna have a problem… a big problem."

"Like that's going to intimidate me. I'll be looking forward to it, what a better way to test myself." Taylor challenged the veteran, confident about her physical fitness. "Also, how about you get a diet. Your fat a/bleep/ seems to be taking up a lot of space on that bleacher."

Insults about her body figure is one of the most common ways to agitating Leshawna. "Why you!" An arm on her shoulder quickly brought her rise to a halt before she stared at the perpetrator.

It was Gwen.

"That's enough. Let it go for now. You're still hurt from what happened earlier." The Sassy sister of the first generation took a few seconds to concede to her friend.

Heather found herself fascinated with Taylor's attitude. "Now that's interesting. I can see ourselves getting well acquainted."

"Couldn't agree more." Taylor returned the compliment with a gesture of a smile, before heading to her seat in front of the third-gen. It was a logical choice since the first and second-gen are out of the question; she just made an enemy in the former and the latter was still wet with water, and she's not going to get this skirt drenched.

It was in this awkward moment of tranquillity that Kelly opted to speak again. "You're making friends fast sweetie… and enemies."

Taylor would've replied to her mother if she didn't notice the unconscious contestant near her. "Umm… what happened to him?" The question was directed to the third-gen, but it was Ryan of the Daters that answered.

"Guy couldn't shut his racist mouth, so Steph put him to sleep." The hulking bodybuilder explained with a look of malice directed at the unconscious contestant.

Taylor snorted. "Big mistake."

The next boat finally arrived and instead of dropping a pair of contestants, four disembarked the watercraft. All of them wearing the same dark purple t-shirt bearing the design of a horned frog head.

"Stepbrothers Chet and Lorenzo along with the Rockers Spud and Rock..." Don introduced the four new arrivals. "Wearing the same shirts, I wonder why?"

"Well, after the Race they invited us to play video games over their house. One of the games was the latest Guitar Hero and we can't help but be impressed at how good they play. So we decided to invite them to our band, it's good that we're still open for membership." It was Rock that first spoke to explain the predicament.

"Lorenzo and I took the offer and really appreciate our time in the band. Now here we are, four members of the Devil Frogs." Chet said; his shirt different for featuring torn sleeves to expose the entirety of his arms.

"So that makes you four a single team now?" All four nodded to Don's inquiry. Symbolising their status as one unified group, they began to move for the assembly. Not five or even two seconds though...

"Huh? Where are we? This isn't the hotel." Out of the sudden, Spud's face transitioned from expressing blankness to surprise as he registered the radical change of surroundings. Gone was the pristine appearance and air-conditioned atmosphere of the hotel where they stayed since yesterday and now all that replaced it is a green vegetation and temperate air of the area.

As usual, his partner was there in another instance of his periods of dubiety.

"Umm… Spud. We have arrived on the island…" Confusion remained latched on Spud's face, the answer was insufficient to abate the confusion in his mind. So his friend continued. " In Eden Island… where the contest is set."

Realisation finally dawned on him. "We're in a contest? Awesome!" He exclaimed at the top of his lungs, fists raised towards the orange sky.

"GO DEVIL FROGS!" Lorenzo shouted. Hyped by the sudden adrenaline of their band name being used as a rallying cry, all four went ahead doing an air-guitar. Surprisingly, Don joined the fun as well for the sake of it. The RR participants smiled at this spectacle, some even cheering along.

The feeling was different for the Veterans however. The air around them was thick with envy at the Racers having a host this compassionate, one that actually considers his contestants as human beings as opposed to valuable props. Instead, they have Chris – whose mind is a foul clockwork of sadism and egoism.

"I know nothing of this Don guy. But the more i watch him get along with these folks, the more I kinda wished that he's our host from the beginning." Leshawna remarked, clearly jealous at how they got a compassionate host.

Noah couldn't help but nod. "Absolutely seconding that. This guy will treat you as a human being and not some animated prop to dispose after outliving your usefulness." With that, he threw a dirty glance at the silent Chris Mclean as murmurs of agreement broke out among them. The Host with the Most furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance at the positive sentiments directed Don, not even noticing Noah's amused stare.

Chris grumbled as he even heard Chef mumble something positive about Don, something about a higher pay-grade.

"It must be awesome to be in a band dudes. What do you guys play?" Geoff was the first to greet Chet and Lorenzo, having competed with them in the Race.

"Chet does drums while I do guitar." Lorenzo explained, followed by Chet doing an air-drum and onomatopoeic percussions synchronised to each beat. The Devil Frogs moved on and approached Harold and Trent.

"You're Harold and Trent of the Drama Brothers. I can't believe the day will come where we'll actually our idols, it's an honour to compete with you guys." Chet said in amazement at meeting their idols.

From above, Trent gave a flattered smile along with Harold. "The honour is all ours."

"Your songs are really good. In fact, The Drama Brothers inspired the formation of the Devil Frogs." Spud explained, immersed under the same feeling of awe and admiration at meeting the famous boy band. Different the musical genres may be, but the music is all that matters.

"Anyway, where's Justin and Cody? Aren't they supposed to be with you."

"They still haven't arrived yet for some reason, but we can assure you that they're competing." Harold informed regarding the absence of half of the Drama Brothers.

"Well that's a bummer… Can we at least get your autographs?" Although mildly disappointed over how they only get to meet half of the Drama Brothers, they brought out copies of their albums forward. The Shadows of Elvis Presley and Napoleon Dynamite brought out their ballpoint pens in return

Chris allowed the autographing to be finished before calling Don, his mood still sour at his contestants' patronage to the RR host and it influenced his words. "Would your people hurry up, I still have many things to introduce for this season, and it's only a matter of time before it gets dark!"

For reasons defying logic and weather, lightning flashed with thunder at its tail as two figures seemingly materialised in front of the assembly.

"We're next." The voice from one of the figures was monotone, devoid of emotion and life that is natural whenever someone is supposed to speak. Spooked, Chris let out a girly scream upon seeing their terrifying appearance and leapt into the arms of a startled Chef. The others would've been snickering if they didn't have the same reaction.

Undaunted like most of his contestants, Don let out a short laugh after seeing his reaction. "These are Ennui and Crimson - the Goths. And yes, they never stop doing s/bleep/t like that." He said, having gotten completely used to them.

Duncan sniffed something afoul in the air and turned to Chris. "Did you just piss yourself man?"

"No! It was… Chef!" Chris tried to hide his embarrassment, by putting the blame on his large assistant as an arm unseen slithered into the pocket with cash in its hands. Chef merely rolled his eyes but didn't complain nonetheless in this act of bribery. While the antic is annoying, he could at least appreciate the tip for his services.

The feeling of fear was universal among most contestants, some felt only twinges and goosebumps at the extreme mien of this gothic pair whereas those more weak-willed were shivering at the sight of their appearance. The only exception to this was those who competed on the Ridonculous Race, Gwen, and Duncan.

"You don't look like any other goths we've seen before." The Delinquent-turned-Felon ask in a calm posture antithetical to most of the cast. His relationship with Gwen exposed him to the domain of gothic subculture, allowing him to approach those similar with relative ease, even in the other parts of the spectrum. "Pasty looks like a cheerleader compared to you guys." He jabbed a thumb to his ex-girlfriend. The first generation's resident Goth wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult, but she decided to let it slide for the moment.

"We're hardcore goths. You've only gotten used to softcores like Gwen." Ennui explained himself and Crimson to those unfamiliar with them.

"That's true. By the way, I like your contacts Ennui. Do you know where I could some like them?" Gwen complimented them with a smile, clearly impressed with their Gothic style. Extreme may it be, but it's still in-line with the gothic fashion.

"It's the place for any gothware if you were wondering."

Heather momentarily regained her composure and snorted with a faux courage. "Great, just what we needed. More gross gothiness to muck everything up."

Lightning flashed anew, and before their disbelieving eyes did Crimson disappear. They were startled and completely unnerved. When it died down, Heather felt this unnatural instinct gnawing her very soul, imploring her to turn to her side. Against her rationality, she obeyed and the instant she does...

Back then, Heather could tell that Crimson's not that tall from her vantage point, possibly around the height of either Gwen or Katie. But to see her standing on the seat beside her envisioned her as a towering mistress of darkness; her emotionless but menacing stare adding to the effect. Sure enough, the others took notice of her transition and were startled.

"What was that?" Came Crimson's monotonous question even as the Queen Bee screamed in terror, scampering back away with her hands and feet just to widen the gap between her and the hardcore goth. "I didn't hear you."

Heather's terrified screamed was brief, but her immortal soul was expelled from her body. Her skin was some shades lighter because of the fright as goosebumps arose throughout her nigh pasty skin.

"Huh, as I've expected." Without another word, Crimson walked down the aisle and sat beside Ennui, whom everyone didn't notice sitting with the third-gen and some people away from the Ice Dancers. The situation became uncomfortable for those between, remembering the animosity between the two teams. Jacques and Josee glared but the Goths didn't return the favour. Instead, Loki popped out of Ennui's shirt and growled, baring his teeth menacingly and they reeled back in fear; the black rabbit not having forgiven them for his masters' elimination.

On the other hand, a shivering Heather was lying in a fetal position, too traumatised to even react to Gwen and Leshawna doubling over in laughter.

"I have to ask for a clip of this." Gwen laughed once again.

"Seems like the Goths made a strong impression." Don said to the camera, amused at the turn of events. "Now then, while we get Chris and Heather a nice change of undergarments and some psychiatric sessions, let's welcome two halves of two teams from the Ridonculous Race." The next boat finally boarded and the passengers stepped into the light.

"Brody of the Surfer Dudes and Dwayne Junior of the Father and Son, welcome to Eden Island." Don greeted the two new arrivals. "You boys ready to start this party?"

"Is that even a question Don-brah? I'm totally hyped for this contest, especially I'm getting to compete with my buddy Geoff over there!" Brody pointed towards his friend on the bleachers.

"Alright!" Geoff cheered in response.

Don levelled his gaze into the petite form of Junior. "Junior. In the Race, you competed alongside your father for the purposes of bonding. It succeeded and you left in good terms. But now, you're here in a new season standing on your own feet for the first time. How do you feel?"

Despite the small twinges of anxiety wracking his heart, Junior fixed a confident smile. "A little nervous, that's how. But I'm fired up for the competition."

"Hold on a minute!" Gwen called out from the bleachers, her black eyes scrutinizing every inch of the petite form of the new arrival, who resembled more like Cameron in terms of physical stature. "How old are you? You look just like Cameron, but I can tell from your voice that you sounded younger."

"I'm thirteen." Junior admitted nonchalantly and watched as the astonishment that followed. He was unsurprised, having anticipated such kind of reaction due to most of them being in their early adult years. He felt Don's hand on his shoulder as he addressed the Assembly.

"Yep, that makes this little boy here the youngest competitor of Total Drama." Junior wasn't sure if Don was relishing their surprise or not. Not like he cares about it. Instead, he cared about being referred to a pre-pubescent person.

So he looked at him with a frown. "I'd prefer to be called a man, Don. I may just be thirteen, but that makes me one now."

Don didn't bother to look at him as Gwen spoke once more. "Yeah, but there's an age limit you know. Ages sixteen and above are the only ones eligible to compete in Total Drama."

It was true. One of the stipulations in the contract was that the participant must be sixteen years of age or more in order to enter the competition.

"Yes, the rule stands… but understand that it only applies to Total Drama seasons under Chris Mclean." Don turned to Junior with a smirk. "But since this little boy competed in the Race..."

"Man!" Junior cried in annoyance.

"You bypassed a loophole." Courtney concluded. Don had to bit back his annoyance after being interrupted once again. Seriously, this has quickly evolved into a routine and he had to ask Chris if he even enforces discipline on his contestants. But given his personality, that's highly doubtful not due to negligence, but his casual disregard for their welfare would be an incentive for this behaviour.

He'd kept his face in its happy expression all the time. "Correctomundo!" Without further ado, Don gestured the two recent arrivals to go to the awaiting bleachers as he saw the next boat from afar.

"So, this is the famed island by that super rich guy – Eden Island." Junior observed. The vegetation was omnipresent and dense to the point of shrouding the entire island from the view of the arrivals. "I wonder what makes this place so special, the view is pretty much generic if you ask me."

"None of us have any idea as well youngblood." Leshawna explained along with an appropriate sobriquet for the new arrival. "Chris wouldn't spill the beans until all of us are here." the sassy sister threw an annoyed glance at the impassive form of Chris Mclean.

"Just trust me. It'll be worth the wait."

"I guess we'll see." Junior shrugged before sitting alongside Brody, who sat beside the Police Cadets in the spot bordering between the first-gen and third-gen.

Seconds later, the 54th boat boarded and three contestants disembarked into the dock.

"At long last, the last of our Racers have arrived. Please give a warm welcome to Tammy, accompanied by the Sisters – Emma and Kitty." Don introduced the final batch of RR contestants, who were all girls. Needless to say the stout girl's valkyrie outfit had raised more than a few eyebrows that spoke parallels with their resident wizard, and they stared at him to gauge a reaction.

Leonard was waving to his fellow LARPER smiling along with the ever friendly Owen. Tammy returned the favour. Sugar raised an eyebrow that bespoke of naked curiosity over the relationship between the great magician and this new girl. "Mr. Wizard, who is that gal?"

Leonard looked at her, the friendly smile still on his face. "Oh that's Tammy, she's one of my friends and my partner in the Ridonculous Race." Leonard explained. "Anyway, Tammy did you bring with you my new spellbook?! I forgot to put them in my luggage!"

"I sure did!" Tammy raised the aforementioned book enthusiastically. "You should prepare your stuff next time though."

"Thanks." Leonard said. Beside him, Sugar leered suspiciously at the viking-dressed short girl. Tammy pulled out her ocarina and began playing an unknown tone.

"Umm… what's she doing?" DJ asked.

Tammy finished musical articulation and leered at the contestants. "I'm casting a spell to curse you in the competition, so me and Leonard can TRIUMPH!."

A heavy silence followed as everyone raised their eyebrows. Apparently, they now understand why this Racer reminded them of their resident wizard - they were cut from the same cloth. At this point Tammy strolled forward to her seat in the third-gen, leaving the Sisters to take the spotlight.

"Wow, Eden looks way cooler than I imagined! I can't believe we're playing Total Drama with everyone!" Kitty excitedly looked around before pulling Emma in and snapping a picture.

Gently pushing off her younger sister, Emma sternly told her. "Yeah, I know you're excited. But this time around we're going to make it all the way. So we can't afford any distrac-" The law student's speech trailed off when she saw someone in the audience, who smiled at her. "-tions."

"And here we go." Kitty deviously grinned as her sister began pacing forward, knowing full well who her older sister was staring at.

"Looks like we'll be playing with the girls again. Good news, eh Noah?" Owen tried to tease his best friend, only to find him gone. "Noah?"

"He already went down." Sierra pointed this out to Owen, being the only non-race contestant to know of Emma and Noah's relationship. Needless to say, it took her all her willpower to not squeal in delight or even grin ear-to-ear lest it'll spoil the surprise.

Others were confused however.

"Huh? Why's he walking towards a girl from this Ridonculous Race?" Bridgette asked, intrigued seeing their Indian compatriot close distance with an Asian woman.

Meeting on the middle of the dock, Emma smirked as she assessed her boyfriend. "Don't think I'm going to hold back just because you're cute Noah. You have played this show more than once after all." Her voice was loud enough to be heard by everyone. Whether this is intentional or not is irrelevant in the mind of the Smart Alec as he decided to follow suit.

Noah smirked in return. "Indeed I have! And speaking of which, there's some business I have to settle concerning a rumour." He walked beside Emma and faced everyone. "I'm sure most of you still buy into the idea that I'm gay."

"Yeah, that's because you are Egghead." Duncan brushed the Bookworm off, not really caring what he had to say. "You kissing Cody and having no girlfriends proves that you're a queer."

Some roared into boisterous laughter at such demeaning insult. But Noah let it slid down his proverbially oily skin as he stared into the eyes of Emma with a knowing smile, a gesture that bespoke of his intentions. Emma - reading her boyfriend's body language quite clearly - understood and returned the favour. The laughter began dying down as people started noticing their strange behaviour. It was when the Smart Alec made his move, and the myth of his homosexuality perished.

"Nope." His lips gently met Emma's, who accepted it without protest nor resistance. It transitioned into a french kiss with an intensity putting Geoff and Bridgette's to shame. The Racers were astonished that the couple went this far but responded with smiles and swoons nonetheless. The Veterans however...

"Y-YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!" Chris exclaimed as he and the others gaped in shock at this revelation. The shock was even enough to snap Heather out of her terrorised stupor.

"Wow, I never saw this one coming." Gwen muttered with her own wide eyes. The sight was euphoric for Sierra, who finally opened the floodgates holding back her excitement for the couple and unintentionally startling those in proximity with her high-pitched cry.

"Aren't they cute together?!" She remarked with her voice trailing in a swoon. Her happiness for Noah stemming from two halves; one for finally achieving a romantic relationship with the opposite, given his supposed homosexual orientation prevalent among the TD Community following the airing of TDI's third episode. Internally, she groaned upon remembering that particular scene with Noah and Cody. Therefore, it's a relief that Emma came into the picture to help bring an end to that abominable shipping.

Secondly, the confirmation of Noah's true sexuality removed him as a romantic contender to Cody. Not that she believed that there's a genuine attraction between them, of course she and pretty much the entire cast are well aware of Cody's obvious sexuality. Heck, some people even pair Noah with Izzy or even Eva. It's rather due to the massive cult following NoCo had accumulated over the years. There were already stories circulating in Fanfiction, ranging from innocent romance fics to full-blown lemons. She'd been engaging in a crusade against this blasphemy in the form of flames and harsh criticisms that unfortunately led people to believe that she's homophobic.

Following this allegation, her account has been suspended numerous times.

"Hold on. Sierra, you knew?" The Uber Fan's mind snapped back to reality by Gwen's innocent question.

"Of course, I'm the blogger of Total Drama right?" At first, Sierra looked innocent. But the moment she brought her face close to Gwen's did she changed in an expression befitting a lunatic; a pair of manic eyes with an equally manic grin. "I. Know. ev-ery-thing." It was followed by a twisted mockery of a giggle that was more than enough for her to back away, too unsettling for her to just ignore as a part of the usual Sierra weirdness. Why Is she acting like this?

Possibly, because of her six-month Cody-deprivation. Loath to say it but she really needs to have the Geek here this instant.

"Yay, Noah's not a virgin anymore!" Izzy raised her arms in a cheer. This wasn't appreciated by the cross-generational couple; Emma blushed while her boyfriend looked unamused.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha, very funny Izzy." Noah deadpanned. Though a jest, it seemed like the proclamation had garnered the interest of not only his fellow Veterans, but also the Racers.

"But… you're still one right? Did you guys-" Being the one with perhaps in the most intimate relationship, Bridgette tried to inquire but was immediately cut-off by an annoyed groan from the Schemer.

"Must you be everyone be so nosy? Of course not, we haven't done anything intimate yet in our relationship." Noah looked at his girlfriend with a small smile on his face...

One that allowed Emma mustered a bit of courage to speak. "And to be honest, we're still in the early stages to even do that."

Sierra nodded. "I have to agree guys. Even If they did start to get more than smoochy-smoochy, I can guarantee you that I'll be the first one to know."

Emma recoiled from the level of Sierra's bizarreness and gazed at her boyfriend in search for answer. "Is she always like this? She asked, concerned.

"You'll get used to it."

The couple walked forward with Kitty in tow towards the first-gen, Noah relinquished his original spot to sit beside Emma.

As the scene ended, Don turned to the camera. "Now that all contestants of the Ridonculous Race have arrived, let's go back to Chris as he introduces the remaining Veterans."

On cue, Don marched forward to take his seat alongside his contestants. Chris stood from his seat and walked down the aisle, having nudged Chef to accompany him. Time was running out so he stayed near the bleachers, sparing himself from walking all the way to the dock to greet the arrivals the moment they appear. They would have to come to him. Don passed them and sat alongside his contestants, besides Noah specifically.

"I gotta say, you did a good job out there Don."

"Thanks. Though the Goths' entry is my favourite, along with the Sisters' because of you." Noah chuckled at the reference earlier. It irked Chris to no end at the Bookworm's blatant display of betrayal.

"Thank you Don." Chris began as he tried to suppress the irritation. "With the Racers all here, let's continue the roll-call with the six remaining first-gen." Chris said as the next boat came to view from afar.

"You told us earlier that you arranged them to arrive much later than ours. In fact, it was long enough for the people from the Ridonculous Race to arrive. But the question remains as to why would you do that?" Bridgette asked in curiosity. Everyone latched on to this question with interest. After all, you don't delay someone unless you have a good reason for it.

Chris smiled. "Good question. The reason is that I'm pretty sure that they would invoke strong reactions from you guys, but the three would, without a doubt, surprise you all."

"Strong reactions? Then why me and Dave are already here? You've seen clearly how everyone reacted." Scarlett inquired before everyone noticed that Dave has just reawakened from Stephanie's beatdown. The scarred contestant spent a moment examining the new faces that he missed during his blackout while avoiding the gaze of the black contestants. Likewise, Stacy had awakened as well and doing the same.

"Never came to my mind… Sorry." Chris replied nonchalantly, causing Scarlett to roll her eyes. "All I can think of is the first-gen since they've been out for a loooong time...save for those in All-Stars though."

"This must be what you meant earlier this episode." Noah remarked as he digested what the Host said about the latecomers, recalling what the Host said earlier to explain the absence of some contestants from the first-gen. Truth to be told, it wasn't that much climactic as he expected it to be since they already know their missing batchmates.

Emma looked at him, oblivious to whatever he's referring to. "Umm… what do you mean Noah?" Soon enough, the other Racers diverted their attention to Noah with the second and third-gen behind them, having the same look of curiosity on their faces. Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but Noah took the spotlight since he was the one who started the subject.

"Earlier this episode – when it was just us first generation – Chris explained that the reason some of us aren't here yet is because of something special...." the Bookworm halted, making quotation mark gestures. "... about them."

"So Chris delayed six of you guys just because of what, audience feedback?" Mike wondered out loud as he stared at Chris.

"Nope, you got it completely wrong." Chris affirmed and shot down Noah's assumption, much to his dismay. "I did say that some contestants coming late for something special, but it's only for half of them."

Half? The first-gen are missing six contestants who are all due to arrive, and whatever surprise Chris is speaking applies only to three of them.

"My Codykins is one of them right? Right?!" Sierra asked, getting more uneasy from her seat. Her tone bordering between desperation and impatience to see her dearly beloved once again, missing not only his words but the very fibre of his body as well and craving to feel the very warmth of his flesh in her arms. Though, the Cast wasn't sure what she's referring to by them. It's either the special or non-special half.

Maybe they'll just have to see.

Chris sighed. "Yes he will, I just said that the latecomers are coming now."

The 55th boat arrived and disembarking is without a doubt the embodiment of flawless masculinity. "Let's give it up for resident eye-candy - Justin!"

As expected whenever Justin makes his presence known, the most of the womanhood of the cast are gushing over him; even those with romantically involved. The guys were divided overall; those smirking in amusement which was mostly the first-gen. The rest were divided between whistling in awe or looking envious.

"Wooow… he's sooo hot!" Stephanie said, completely enamoured by the Hawaiian Adonis before them and not minding her boyfriend beside her.

Owen chimed in, being the only male to fawn over Justin. "I know right? I've always dreamed of sampling those ripped muscles." he mumbled, but it was loud enough for Stephanie to give him an incredulous look.

Justin flashed the crowd a smile as Chris observed the spectacle. "The Charm is still there, eh?"

Just like everyone's reactions, Chris' remark was flattering. As a handsome person, he was used to people being captivated by his looks alone. Even the beasts of nature, creatures God created to be subjects and companions of Man, would submit in the same manner. Because of this, Chris started to call this innate ability of his as the Charm during behind-the-scenes, and soon the name got stuck.

"Yeah, it never goes away." Justin walked forward and sat beside his fellow Drama Brothers. Below in the Racers' rows, the Devil Frogs presented their albums - the same albums that were autographed by Trent and Harold - to the recently arrived band member. Voicing the reason was unnecessary as Justin calmly grabbed and signed each copy.

"I think that's the reason why Chris delayed Justin, he wants to see the girls' reactions." Noah remarked.

"Next up in our latecomers, the Latin Liar and Arch Villain of Total Drama World Tour, Alejandro Burromuerto!" Chris announced the arrival of the Spaniard, while Don held in an instance of laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Doesn't his name translate to 'dead donkey' in Spanish?" Don said while snickering. Given that most of them have little to no understanding in the said language, some of the contestants couldn't suppress their chuckling upon discovering the full meaning of the Spanish Serpent's familial name.

"Real mature." Alejandro glared at those laughing as he stepped off the boat, before greeting his competition with artificial politeness radiating off of him. "Why, buenos tardes my old and new friends. It's wonderful to see you all again, and I do hope your inevitable defeat by me won't sting too much."

"Great, this loser again." Scott glared down his teammate from All Stars. This was a sentiment shared by many contestants from both the first and second generations, most notably those who fell victim to his schemes in World Tour such as DJ, Bridgette, Leshawna, and Noah, as well as his on and off again girlfriend Heather.

However, contestants from the third-gen and the Ridonculous Race seemed to have a more neutral reaction to the Arch Villain, with only a small handful of both casts having actually seen most Total Drama seasons. In a similar case with Justin, the person's graceful features were enough to beguile most of their womenfolk. But unlike with the Eye Candy, the scope wasn't universal since the rest were already aware of his true nature.

Being in close proximity, Junior was somehow deemed as the logical choice by an equally confused Leonard. "Who is this apparently black-hearted knave with the elven haircut and 3+ defence boots?" he whispered into his ear.

Junior played enough fantasy games to comprehend the sort of vocabulary used by the LARPer. "Beats me. My parents didn't let me watch World Tour." He said out loud. That comment earned him some weird looks. "It was my Mom's least favourite season!"

"I can see why." Leshawna said through gritted teeth as she glared down Alejandro.

"Now Leshawna, you aren't still mad about your unfortunate elimination all that time ago are you? If you think about it, you're really the ones at fault for falling for my choice words aren't you." Alejandro smugly said to Leshawna. Even with her injuries from her fight with Dave now numb, Leshawna would've lunged at him if she wasn't held back by both Gwen and Harold.

"No, my queen; we'll have our time to get revenge soon enough." Harold said in an attempted samurai dialect, which came out as more awkward than anything.

"As much as I hate to admit it, that Dweeb is right about something." Having recovered from her ordeal with the Goths, Heather brought Alejandro's attention over to her. Her eyebrows furrowed in disdain. "Your little fake nice guy gameplay won't fool anyone this time around. You won't last three rounds this time around Al."

"Believe me, I have made heavy adjustments to my gameplay for this particular season. Especially for a particular I hadn't considered last time." Alejandro said while leering at Mike from the bleachers, still bitter at Mal causing his elimination back in the heavily panned fifth season. "I won't be outwitted again."

From his seat, Mike could do nothing but sheepishly chuckle at the sort of look Alejandro was giving him. Zoey didn't like this and retaliated with an intense leer of her own, presenting herself as a bulwark of Mike against another member of the Anti-Mike bloc – Mal's lasting legacy and contingency should his inevitable defeat ever came.

"Just keep telling yourself that... Al." Bridgette taunted the Latin from her position on the bleachers, and savoured the look of irritation in the Spaniard's twitching eye.

Losing composure and all sense of civility, Alejandro growled at them with balled fists. "Don't. Call. Me. AL!"

Owen observed how the Arch Villain seemed to detest his nickname so much. So – in an act of friendliness – he came up with something better. "Sure thing... Al Dente." [10] Though intended as a friendly jest, the Assembly misinterpreted this as a new insult and roared in rambunctious laughter with the loudest coming from the likes of Leshawna, Bridgette and Heather and the other victims of the Spaniard's seductions. From his spot, the new epitaph alone sent shivers all over Alejandro. That nickname was far, far worse compared to its predecessor and given the choice, he'd prefer to be called by the detestable Al over Al Dente since it's far more disturbing.

It was certain the José's watching his participation from their home along with his other siblings just like in World Tour, and there was no doubt that he'd quickly make use of this new name.

"Now that's even better, an Italian serving." Don hollered laughing his guts out.

Alejandro narrowed his eyes at the perpetrator of his humiliation – Owen. The Big Oaf was too preoccupied laughing to even notice the fire in his eyes. He'd make sure that jovial fat bastard would pay for this.

Seething internally, he marched towards the third-gen – a logical choice given that the first-gen and second-gen would be less welcoming of his presence. The third-gen and these Racers on the other hand, barely knew him from their confused expressions. He smiled, they were untapped resources for him to manipulate and do his bidding.

The laughter died down soon after. "So… who's next?" Bridgette asked, not knowing the smile still on her face.

On cue, the 57th boat docked and she got her answer.

Bridgette felt her mood overturn instantly upon recognising the new arrival, disdain materialising in her face instead. "Oh… her." People would argue whether it was a hiss or growl, but it's irrelevant as they can understand the sentiment it carried. Geoff matched her along with a certain number of first-gen, though Owen seemed to be the only one happy.

Chris was wearing a snide look and a smirk. "Now let's give a warm welcome to Mildred everyone." He introduced, making use of the arrival's true name and emphasising it for all to hear. Of course, it wasn't well received by her.

"IT'S BLAINELEY!" She proclaimed with a glare towards the Host with the Most, having preferred her own stage name in place of the one given to her at birth. "My name... IS BLAINELEY!" Blaineley walked forward, not bothering to throw another glance at the man who took what was meant to be hers.

Chris was unmoved by the entire ordeal and gave her the liberty of walking peacefully. He decided to spare himself from giving a formal welcome to the Diva, who's more of a sycophantic nuisance than a contestant in his eyes just like Topher.

Jen leaned down towards Ellody. "Isn't she that the mean hostess in the Aftermath episodes, who became a competitor in World Tour by accident?" she whispered, having watched the Show prior to her participation in the Ridonculous Race.

"Precisely. Not only that but originally, she's also the intended host of the Total Drama series." Ellody replied, having been one of the few Racers to have prior knowledge of Total Drama before her participation in the spin-off as well.

Jen was surprised. "Really?! What happened then?" She asked, so shocked was she that she forgot to dampen her voice into a whisper and the question was said out loud instead…

Loud enough for the Aftermath Diva to hear.

"Because I turned it down!" Both girls flinched and saw that Blaineley stopped a few meters away from the bleachers, feeling uneasy at receiving the full brunt of the Diva's leer. "The first time the Producers gave me the offer, I thought Total Drama would be just an unpopular one-shot season about a bunch brats stuck on an island. So I rejected their offer to spare myself of the time and effort. I've got better things to do back then anyway… or so I thought."

Chris snickered. "Big mistake in judging a book by its cover. But I have to thank you though, your decision made me who I am right now – one of the most famous individuals living on the planet!" Chris boasted, spanning his arms sidewards in an apparent gesture of power as if his prestige elevated him to godhood. Naked pride oozing from every fibre of his mortal body, which was too rancid for Blaineley to ignore.

"Gloat however you want Mclean." she hissed. The venom she laced with his name was enough to make some contestants shiver. "I may have lost the fame of being Host to you Chris, but winning the Prize will compensate for that."

"And just how would winning the Contest make you that famous?" Heather asked, having first-hand experience on popularity following her triumph against Alejandro even though she lost the Prize. "I mean, you do get your share of fame with a million dollars. But that isn't much."

Blaineley chuckled. "Because you don't know everything honey." she said. "Thanks to our newest benefactor, the Show had enough budget to elevate the sum of the Prize to heights worth killing for."

The news fascinated the Cast. The prize money elevated from their usual million dollar sum? One can only imagine the implications it would have on the contest and contestant performance. But the question is to what heights? Is it now in double or triple digits? They would never know for the time being.

On the other hand, Chris was shocked. But if one would look at either Chef or Don, their faces were impassive to the news, as if the revelation itself was just the passing of the wind instead of the strike of concrete.

"What the- how did you know about this?" He demanded immediately. As far as he can recall, the only individuals aware of this information are him, Chef, Don, the Producers and the senior members of the Show. So it begs the question of how did the leak came to be?

"Simple. I asked the producers." Of course, how could he forget? Despite her status as a contestant, Blaineley is still a senior member of the show just like him, Chef and Don, with the clearance to know of this information. It now explains why the two were unsurprised unlike him.

Satisfied with her meagre victory, Blaineley sat down with the third-gen. The areas in front of the first and second-gen are already getting crowded due to the simple fact that none had the desire to sit with the second-gen, even though the bleachers and contestants were already dried by the warm radiation of the sun.

"OKAY." Chris continued, reasserting his poise from the shock. "Moving along, that was about half of the late coming first-gen. Now let's welcome the special half, I'm sure you're wondering why we've held off the returns of three specific contestants till now, correct?"

"Not really." Katie rolled her eyes with a frown. Now the first-gen wondered once more what drove a wedge in their unbreakable bond, one that was forged since birth. It was intriguing to no end, even the likes of Heather and Eva gravitating to this. The strong friendship between Sadie and Katie was palpable ever since they stepped foot in Wawanakwa years ago, the thought of a rift developing – one strong enough to actually shatter the said bond – was almost impossible.

Until now it seemed.

Sierra was having none of it though, as her mind is focused only on a particular person. "WHERE'S MY CODYKINS?!"

Chris frowned but chose to ignore the rambling fangirl and went ahead. "We've held them off because out of all of our contestants, these three have gone over major physical changes! You may not even recognize these guys nowadays."

Predictably, It seized the Cast by surprise; eyes widened and mouths fell open as air rushed inward. The only ones impassive were Chris, Chef, Don and Blaineley given their foreknowledge as members of the Show; so they took the liberty of savouring their reactions.

"No way!" Katie exclaimed in shock.

"Are you serious?" Duncan asked the Host with equal surprise.

Chris smirked. "As a heart attack Duncan, as a heart attack."

In response to this, Lindsay immediately began squealing with excitement. "I can't wait to see how Beth looks now!"

Heather scoffed. "Please, as if that tiny little dope could ever look even remotely attractive."

"For once we agree on something." Courtney conceded with her fellow Amazon, remembering the last time she participated with Beth in TDA. "Perhaps she gained a few more pounds." Both Amazons snickered at that thought while receiving a glare from Gwen and Leshawna. Even though it was a guess, it would still be entertaining to see her as a pudgier contestant.

Out of the sudden, Sierra lounged into Chris. "But what about Cody? Is he okay? Did he break his bone or lose a hand?" She began shaking Chris in a manner befitting a ragdoll and not a Human being.

The Host barely sustained his own balance from her action, and forcefully shoved the fangirl off. "Chill Fanzilla, the Codemeister's in perfect physical condition." With that, Sierra stormed back to the bleachers with a suspicious look. Upon seeing he was being given a dirty look from Chef, Chris whispered to make sure he couldn't be heard. "Relax, I said physical condition. No one has to know about that incident." That served to pacify the retired military man as both redirected their attention to the approaching watercraft.

"Since they've changed, I see it fit to give them new labels as well. For the first of our changed contestants, let's give a warm welcome for Beth – The Aspirant!" Chris said as everyone watched the 58th boat approach.

Soon, someone disembarked the boat and waved at the cast with friendly vigour. Silence reigned for a moment until gasps rang around the bleachers. None of them couldn't believe that Chris was indeed telling the truth. They knew Beth as the farm girl with a pudgy figure and a sweet personality, but standing here is a girl with a slim figure, wearing her complete apparel including the trademark glasses. As much as they want to reject the truth, there's no denying that this is the person they knew.

"No way!" Heather and Courtney gawked with disbelieving eyes.

"Is that really Beth?" Duncan said, the surprise temporarily overpowering his drowsiness.

Savouring their reactions at the great transformation of the contestant was the Host with the Most. "The one and only."

"Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I've competed." Those were her first words, her teeth still sparkling white, well-ordered, and braces-free. Despite having apparently matured into a young woman, her infantile manner of speaking still persisted.

Lindsay ran forward and embraced her friend. The Cast observed how Beth had grown a bit the last time they saw her, her height is now at the eye-level of Lindsay.

"Wow Bertha, you look so different!" Lindsay said, amazed by her friend's transformation just like everyone else.

"Thanks Lindsay." Beth replied. Both friends walked towards the bleachers.

"Seeing you like that was really a shock, Sugar. what made you work out?" Leshawna asked.

"I became interested in athletics recently. It was difficult at first since I have to be dedicated in my workout, I was about to give up until Brady helped me out. I wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for him." Beth explained, speaking gratefully about her boyfriend.

Knowing that the day's clock is ticking and he has a lot of work to do before the day's end, Chris quickly interjected before anyone can pose another question. "OKAY, we're about to be finished anyway so can you just stand beside me and Chef? Your new look definitely an eye-catcher." The proposition was met with indifference but understanding by the cast, an ostentatious display of her and the other two like a batch of pristine trophies as if he'd a hand in their transformation.

"Sure why not?" Beth agreed less than a second later. Why not? She'd been sitting in the dock for an indefinite amount of time anyway. Beth nodded to Lindsay and she returned to her seat.

Chris was grinning ear-to-ear at the astonished cast. "Shocking wasn't it? Well prepared to get even more shocked since coming now is Sadie – the Fitness Chick!"

"Chick? Fitness? Are you telling us that-." Bridgette would've continued had the aforementioned girl not stepped into the light.

Katie found herself surprised, but quickly hid it in a glare. She hadn't been in touch with Sadie for many months, no longer seeing the point after their break up. This even went as far as unfriending her in all her social media accounts, something her former friend had in mind as well. It came as a surprise to their parents about the new status of their relationship, which was now exuding empty coldness instead of the palpable warmth that bound them together in a monist state.

Which is why Sadie's new look was astounding for her.

Much like Beth before her, Sadie shed a considerable portion of weight in favour of a slender physique. But unlike Beth, she no longer retained her original clothing – having discarded it since their friendship became null. In its place is a new outfit that exaggerated her now svelte figure; a black sports bra emblazoned with the nike symbol along with matching sweatpants and running shoes with white laces

Quite befitting for her new label.

There was also another thing different about Sadie. She once had this childish character that she shared with Katie. Now, she stood uptight with an air of coolness and a confident smile in her face. Her eyes were placid, but one can see the blazing determination within those black orbs.

Sure enough, everyone was gawking at her as she walked towards them. Looks of disbelief were replaced by looks of awe and desire at someone they never expected to become attractive. Some whistles came from the boys, those romantically involved were reprimanded by their girlfriends by slap and words.

Even Heather and Eva were speechless at the sight of the girl, but were highly impressed nonetheless; Eva for the newfound competitive determination in the girl; Heather for getting herself in shape, something the Queen Bee can relate to in the years before Total Drama.

"Whoa... Sadie?" Tyler muttered from his gaping mouth, one of the many across the cast.

Chris faced the cast and bobbed his head. "Yep. Amazing isn't it? She used to be overweight the last time we saw her. Now, she's back and looking drop-dead gorgeous."

"Not to mention looking quite fit, you can see her muscles." Eva pointed the muscle tones noticeable on Sadie's exposed skin, plain results of dedicated physical activity for an indefinite amount of time during her absence.

She reached Chris. "Welcome Sadie, looks like you' came prepared for this season."

"Pretty much." She replied with a slight flush on her cheeks. Given her proximity to Beth, she looked slightly taller in comparison.

"Wow, you look so different now Sadie." Beth remarked before both of them embraced one another. Though her words applied to them both, she found it more applicable for Sadie given how her stance implied that she matured more than her in the span of six months. In fact despite her growth, Sadie remained taller than her, albeit roughly. A minor dismay but irrelevant nonetheless.

Sadie released her hug. "Thanks Beth. I should say the same to you. Chris wasn't kidding when he said you've changed as well."

"I appreciate that, I had Brady to encourage me. So what made you get fit?" Beth asked the now christened Fitness Chick. Sadie took a moment to gather her thoughts while everyone leaned in to listen.

"I started to become more considerate about my body figure and hired a fitness instructor to help me. I've been at it for some months, quite tiring but worth it in the end." She regarded her new figure with pride.

"Are you planning on doing athletics like Beth?" Bridgette inquired.

Sadie shook her head. "Not exactly. I've been fat for my entire life so i thought it was best for a change. It wasn't easy because I have to adapt my diet."

Katie snorted. "Oh please, if you think your new look will mend our friendship, you have another thing coming."

"And who says I want to become friends again? Let alone bringing myself to shape just to come back to you. If that was the case, I wouldn't have bothered." Sadie snarled. "All this...is for personal achievement. At least, I made progress while you stagnated as the woman-child you are. Did puberty just affect your body and not your head, or was it too thick to even mature?"

Ohs, damns and hisses rang out the dock from the stunned contestants and hosts, taken aback from the comment. It doesn't take a genius the likes of Noah, Cameron or Scarlett to know that that definitely stung.

Aghast, Katie immediately retaliated. "I can't believe I'm spending this season with you. If it wasn't for Chris' damned contracts I would've have already left this island."

"Oh trust me, the feeling is mutual." Sadie crossed her arms. "It's been months but I still can't stand that face of yours. Unlike me, you haven't matured even a bit like me; still the same Sweet Girl you are since birth. When do you ever plan to grow up?" She continued. Everyone was unsure whether this condescending attitude is part of the new Sadie or just to rile Katie, they sincerely hoped it was the latter since no one wants another Heather in this island, especially the first-gen. Still, It seemed successful given how Katie's scowl deepened, the acrimonic furnace in her eyes intensifying.

The now-christened Fitness Chick turned back, but gave a last momentary sidelong glance. "But no matter, I'll see you eliminated from the Contest… one way or another." Her words rang in the air for a few seconds, letting the Cast settle on digesting the implication of her oath.

"Man... that was intense. Now that Sadie's here, we only have to wait for one more contestant before we start."

Duncan groaned. "The Geek better hurry up, I really need to get some sleep." It seemed like prison hasn't dampened his dislike for the brown-haired pipsqueak. Thinking back it's been almost an eternity since he'd seen him compete in Total Drama, his latest season being World Tour.

He grimaced, remembering their rivalry due to his relationship with Gwen, whom the Geek's been crushing on since TDI's first episode. Their kiss wasn't well received by Cody and motivated him to stand up against him despite their asymmetric body figures.

A boat appeared on the horizon, carrying the final competitor to make his entrance. "That's Cody over there right? Right?! RIGHT!" Sierra cried out once again, looking more and more desperate as time marched onward without her precious in her sight or arms. "Why's he taking so long? Was it because he's hurt? I need to go back and see my precious!"

Unnerved at such abnormal behaviour, Don leaned towards Chris and Chef; mouthing words that both understood well.

"Yeah, she crazy." Chef muttered in a vain attempt to no be heard while Chris continued with his intro.

"He's still far away folks, but he's what would I call a 'hunk' that the ladies would get their claws on. Coming now is Cody – The Casanova!" He finished with a proud flair, emphasising the word 'hunk' and each syllable of the label.

But instead of being intrigued, Chris and Chef were stunned to hear the reaction of the cast.

Laughter.

Chris felt irritated. "What? I'm not lying this time! Why would I save him for last if it wasn't something big?"

"Oh yeah, this is really big! That annoying little pipsqueak has become big brawny man." Duncan briefly managed to get out through his laughter before he broke out in more laughter with the others.

"Like that little pipsqueak could be even remotely attractive to anyone with ovaries besides Fanzilla over here." Alejandro joined in, infuriating the purple haired fangirl sitting not far away from him.

"Excuse me!" Sierra growled in Alejandro's face, resulting in Heather having to separate them.

"Calm down Sierra. We don't need to draw anymore attention to our generation this early!"

"You're just jealous!" Sierra continued shouting at the Latin Serpent, who merely rolled his eyes.

"Of what? His inability to attract someone without erotomania? Some of us are actual casanovas mind you." Alejandro said smugly.

"No offence Sierra, but the whole thing does sound pretty ridiculous." Gwen said, notably trying to hold in her laughter.

"I mean, the little guy's pretty cool and all, but I wouldn't describe him as some sort of casanova." Trent followed up, which earned both him and Gwen glares from the obsessed fangirl.

"Well, you'll be eating those words when he shows up." Chris irritably folded his arms. "And speak of the devil!"

As the boat drew nearer, everyone could see more than meets the eye. Slashes and punctures decorated the hull of the ship, exposing the dark mechanical interior light was unable to reach. Some gashes appeared to be very deep, it was a miracle that the watercraft remained functional despite the sort of ordeal it went through. Still, it was comparably slower compared to the others they've seen; probably due to the engine and rotor taking damage.

All in all, it fueled the continued mockery of the arriving contestant. "Looks like our casanova has arrived in his faulty chariot." Alejandro quipped, to the amusement of some.

"Hey Codemeister, what happened to the boat?" Chris called over the docking speedboat, perplexed at its current state.

Sure enough, someone jumped down the mangled transport and into the wooden surface of the dock. "Fang and his pals attacked us on the way here." He walked. "We've already made it this far to even go back, so I insisted the driver to continue to Eden and stop here for repairs." A brief explanation, satisfying enough for Chris.

Meanwhile, the Cast were dead silent. The jeering and tension in the air vanished as the truth is finally before them, stretching their faces in surprise once more. Not a single word was said… nor even a breath for a few seconds. While Beth and Sadie's changes were impressive, Cody's new appearance was tad unbelievable – unimaginable even!

"Oh… my god." Bridgette muttered in complete disbelief.

"No f/bleep/g way." Duncan followed, the surprise numbing his drowsiness.

"This is what shortstuff looks now?" Leshawna was both quizzical and shocked.

"Cody?" Trent and Sierra muttered together.

"And also..." Cody stopped before Chris. The Host was smiling, partly feeling smug at the Cast's reactions but ultimately because the man of the hour has finally arrived. "Please don't call me that. I may have the looks now, but I consider myself a ladies' man no more." His manner of speaking was also different from what they were accustomed to.

The Cast was so surprised by Cody's transformation that they just started delineating his overall appearance. That once fleshy bag of skin and bones have been stuffed with a musculature worthy of an olympian athlete – a harmony of speed and strength. His hair retained its original style, but noticeably shaggier and wider.

Surmounting that robust figure was a new layer of clothes: A white hoodie zipped halfway upwards, showing a white shirt with a blue V-neck beneath along with a dark set of jeans that looked newly bought and a pair of white sneakers with blue highlights.

"That can't be helped man. Considering how you look now, the ladies are seriously going to fawn over you." Beside Chris, Beth and Sadie were also amazed just like the rest of the cast. This was truly unexpected, more so than theirs.

Sadie whistled, admiring the firm musculature of the Cassanova. "Wow, looks like someone's building up some muscles."

Beth nodded. "You tell me, he looks completely different the last time we saw him."

As they continued to scrutinise the reshaped form of the boy named Cody Emmett Jameson Anderson, other generations made their thoughts vocalised.

Jo raised an eyebrow. "This is Cody?! That horndog pipsqueak known for chasing after goth ball?"

"A geek turning into an athlete, that's something I've never sha-expected in my entire sha-life." Lightning admitted. The idea of a technical-oriented nerd working out was plain mind-boggling for his jockish mentality. "I respect you brother."

Dakota nudged her boyfriend's hand. "Maybe you can learn something from him."

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know Dakota. I mean, PE isn't exactly my sort of thing to begin with; I get tired easily."

"Cody definitely looks like an athlete now. I wonder what prompted him to work out?" Sky wondered out loud.

"He probably prepared himself for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. After all, you can't survive with just brains and no brawn, so you have to balance them out." Shawn blurted out.

"Or maybe he decided to change in order to find his princess." Ella said as she dreamed blissfully, swooning over the prince in front of them all. Both Zombie and Disney-nut earned weird looks from the entire Cast; a scowl in Sugar's case and a glare from Sierra.

"Okay, timeout!" Noah broke the cacophony around him. Standing, he spoke. "Chris are you sure this is even Cody and not some imposter you dressed up to look like him?"

Gwen joined Noah. "Another thing would be the looks. I know Cody since World Tour, and he's definitely not the type to go bodybuilding for any reason; willingly I might add. He's a geek down to the core, lacking any physical inclinations – and a full-time pervert I might add." That offhand comment summoned a groan from Cody.

"He's the original by a hundred percent! Why can't you people just believe me!"

"Because it's very hard to believe Mclean, this guy completely different from Cody just by seeing how he looks and talks." Gwen countered him.

That caught Chris' tongue. He never anticipated to deal with this scepticism, assured that the introduction of the final contestants would proceed smoothly without any obstruction… until now it seemed.

Luckily, Cody came to his aid. "Hey, it's really me guys. I've just trained under Chef for the past months, that explains my new look."

It sent a wave of understanding and shivers throughout the first-gen and those that watched TDI. They knew firsthand how gruelling it was to endure Chef Hatchet's training regime.

Chef nodded. "That's right, this maggot asked me to make a man out of him months ago. What i put him through makes what you maggots experienced back in Wawanakwa look more like an exercise for wussies!" He proclaimed, pride being at the work he'd done on the contestant. Of course, it wasn't easy transforming a frail body into a strong one so he had to make radical adjustments; amping the training to considerable heights over time, which seemed dangerous even for him. An ordinary cadet might've collapsed under the sheer intensity, but sheer willpower allowed Cody to thrive in an otherwise unbearable environment.

Which is why he'd become his pride and joy, a praiseworthy only to him.

If the previous statement made them shiver, this one made them tremble on their seats. So much that even the rest of the contestants followed them.

"How could you even survive that?!" Duncan implored, amazed how the Geek alone survived such experience.

Cody shrugged his shoulders. "Determination, that's all."

"Cody!" Trent called at the behest of Harold and Justin. It still felt weird to see how different his friend looks now. "This training with Chef, is that why you've been dark for the past months?"

Cody nodded. "Chef forbids any electronics during training." He summed up, shooting a thumb to the stern-looking diving suit-dressed Chef Hatchet.

"Distractions - especially any of those techno-gizmos you maggots are so obsessed these days - are prohibited under the oversight of your Master Chief! DID I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!"

"Yes Master Chief!" The Cast was startled as the first-gen – sans the auxiliaries known as Alejandro and Sierra – erupted in affirmation; a behaviour drilled into them since the Basic Straining challenge in TDI. Oddly, even Brick joined the chorus given his boot camp background.

At least, they uncovered why the former Geek was ghosting them – he's been eschewed from technology by Master Chief Chef Hatchet.

Oddly, Noah and Gwen hadn't reacted even a bit to all that they said and narrowed their eyes. "I'm still not buying it, you have to prove it to us. I've told Cody some private details about my life, so let's see if you can answer them." Noah challenged, unknowingly piquing the interest of Emma.

Gwen nodded. "Same here, only the real Geek could answer them."

Cody smirked in a display of confidence. You'll regret this.

"Noah, you always bring a stack of playboy magazines whenever you compete and hide them in your backpack, and always share them with me if when there are no challenges. Gwen, you were once considering breast enhancement that you even entrusted me your new bra." Cody withdrew the aforementioned item from his pocket. It looked fit for Courtney, coloured in deep purple with a decor of mini-bats and mini-skulls.

A deep shade of crimson manifested on Gwen's face as everyone threw her a look, either incredulous or amused considering her personality as a goth. She felt every fibre of her being burned under the collective gaze of the Cast, it was like each of those gazes were the heat vision of Kryptonians that is unbearable to one's mortal body.

On the other hand, Noah had to endure the leer of his girlfriend. Emma wasn't amused about this sort of discovery on her boyfriend. "We're going to throw those away tonight, got it!?"

"Yes ma'am." Noah replied anxiously and uncomfortably. But at least he'd cleared this new arrival as the real deal.

With all settled down, Kitty approached Cody. "Can we take a selfie?"

The Cassanova fixed a grin, not for concupiscent intent but to amuse the Racer. "Sure." Both came to position, then a flash... and a crash. The picture would've been taken perfectly had a purple blur not tackled the pig-tailed Asian.

"Stay away from my Codykins!" Sierra was grasping both wrists.

"What the- calm down it was just a selfie!" Kitty defended herself, hoping to reason with an unknowingly unreasonable girl when in regards to romance. The grip forced her to release her camera and she was glad that It fell beside her head.

"I won't let you take him away from me, not after six months!" Sierra squeezed her wrists further, eliciting a cry from the Racer as her nails dug into her bare skin. It wasn't sharp enough like a blade to puncture and draw blood but the sensation was painful nonetheless. Kitty retaliated with her legs, kneeing and kicking her sides in an attempt free herself.

Concerned, Emma stood from her seat in order to come to her sister's aid. But Cody reached out an arm. "I got this." Cody assured the Mature Sister before he went over down the quarrelling girls. The Cast watched the scene intently, especially those that hurled jibes at the now-proven Casanova. Firm hands on waist, Cody hauled Sierra away from the downed girl with a strength deficient on his original body – proving that the new is far better than the original just like a new brand of a product.

"I appreciate you missing me Sierra, but that wasn't cool." He shook his head at the Fanzilla's aggression while Kitty escaped to her sister's side. Noah placed himself in front as a precautionary measure should Cody fail to restrain her.

"But Codykins, I haven't seen you for a long time!" Sierra defended herself, snatching any thought that would justify the course she'd taken. "And I'm not letting other hussies take you away from me now that you're not only back, but also new!"

Cody released Sierra and she turned to face him, his features relaxing a bit in understanding. "I miss you too Sierra, along with the rest of my friends. I really thought I'll never see any of you again." His tone softened as he regarded her then his friends in the bleachers. Chef noticed this look – it's one he'd seen many times since that day he went to his doorstep. The Cooker concluded long ago that Cody will never be the same due to whatever happened to him. The young lad bore scars in both his body and soul, rehabilitating him to his original state is a lost cause as he'd learned during the training.

Chris cleared his throat. "As much as I hate to break this tender moment, I have to ask Sierra to kindly return to the bleachers after making a scene. It's getting dark soon and I'd prefer that we're all done before that."

Cody gave Sierra a reassuring look and she returned to her place without another word. Cody returned to Chris' side, standing beside Beth and Sadie like those that have changed.

Duncan yawned. "OK, everyone's here Mclean. Let's wrap it up and go to our cabins, I could use that sleep now."

The Cast prepared their joints to move. "Actually..." Chris stopped them with an open hand. "We aren't done yet Duncan, we still have people to wait for."

A wave of confusion washed the Cast. Mental gears turned as they processed that statement with dubiety. Wasn't everyone already here? They looked around and scrutinised the concentrated mass of contestants sitting on this wooden monolith for anyone absent; there were none.

"What do you mean? Everyone's already here; us Vets along with those Racers of Don, so who else should we wait for?" Duncan feeling annoyed that the Host with the Most was stalling with a fallacious statement when all contestants are already here.

Chris said nothing, standing impassively at the annoyed gazes of both Racer and Veteran. However, even those not sharp-eyed could perceive the smirk on his face like he's waiting for them to come to a discovery.

Then it clicked. The lightning bolt of insight struck their minds and delivered a divine revelation by the Gods from above.

Like the Cast, Duncan wore the mask of disbelief. "Wait! Are you saying that-?"

"That's right! This season will not only feature the Veterans and Racers in one big competition, but joining them are the next generation of 25 new contestants!"

---

NOTES:

[1] This is a reference to GoldEmblem's Total Drama Supreme where B debuted with robot enabling him to talk without actually speaking. But I opted for something more convenient (ie. Wristwatch)

[2] I decided to have Mike retain his other personalities since, in my opinion, they're an integral part of his character. Unlike in Supreme, the others are aware of his condition.

[3] Yet another reference to Supreme. Ella sang as she arrived on the island, which was well received by virtually everyone save for Sugar obviously. But GoldEmblem never detailed her song, so I gave it my own twist.

[4] The names Amy and Sammy are obvious abbreviations of their real names.

[5] Scarlett's new look is based on a Deviantart work by Galactic-Red-Beauty named MalxScarlett - Evil Chemistry. Be sure to check it out.

[6] Let's just say the rejection from Sky, discovering that she has a boyfriend back home, being abandoned and nearly dying at Scuba Bear doesn't sit very well for Dave.

[7] Emilie-Claire Barlow is the voice actress of Courtney and Ellody, so it's natural that they sound alike. She also voices Laurie, but is distinct from the other two.

[8] It puzzled me to no end how come neither Noah, Owen, Geoff and Leonard notice the physical similarity between Chris and Pete.

[9] Given their sporadic usage of French in the Ridonculous Race, the Ice Dancers clearly originated from Quebec, which is the sole francophone region in Canada. Their names and accents are enough to validate this.

[10] This is a reference to AnonymousPoet's Total Drama Royale! Where Noah convinced Alejandro to tolerate Owen's constant calling of 'Al' lest he be called 'Al Dente', which was enough to make him shudder. In Italian cuisine, Al Dente is a type of pasta cooked to be firm to the bite.

---

AN: That wraps up this chapter folks, I hope it was worth the wait.

And yes, Don is hosting this season alongside Chris. I figured that the Racers would feel… alienated since they'll be bossed around by someone they lack familiarity with. Therefore, i decided to include Don to put them at ease.

Don certainly left an impression on the Veterans for being an antithesis to Chris Mclean. While a vain narcissist, he showed himself as a compassionate person which the Veterans envy so much.

Rewrites are abound to some OC sections in the previous chapters, either because there were changes in their character or just because I want to improve their scene.

Next chapter will conclude this introductory episode through a tour around Eden Island and the intro of the newbies.

Lastly, congratulations to my friend Skillet28561 for solving the Puzzle.

'Til next time.