Now, let's begin All-Stars! Thanks for reviewing, Ali6132.

One year later...

I stared at my computer screen. I couldn't believe it.

Me, Shannon Taylors, an All-Star? That was surreal enough. But to be asked back to Total Drama, to do a new season since Chris was on parole from prison...more like nightmare fuel than surrealism. But my contract said I had to. And on the bright side, I'd get to see seven of our season's cast, and seven from the previous seasons. Of course, I'd seen some of the old cast briefly – Izzy, Bridgette, Lindsay, Gwen, Duncan, Heather, DJ...but who knew who the All-Stars would be? Well, to be fair, I expected Heather and Duncan. After all, they'd both won a season, and Heather had made it to the final three in another season. And Duncan had made it to the final five every time he competed. I wasn't really in a hurry to face either of them again, though. Sigh.

I sent Facebook messages to the rest of my group, asking them if Chris was making them compete. I didn't get messages back from everyone (among the people not answering were Mike and Cameron), but two that I did get stood out.

Zoey's message said: Yes, Chris asked me back! I don't know whether to be excited or terrified! I can't wait to see who else is coming.

I smiled at that. Of course Zoey would be back – we tied for third place last season. I hoped we'd be on the same team again. I counted her among my closest friends.

The second message that stood out was from Scott: I'll be there. By the way, are you still with Cameron? I can't wait to see you.

That one made me sigh. Ever since Scott had recovered the use of his limbs and come out of the trauma chair, every message he'd sent asked me if I was still in a relationship with Cameron. Yes, I was. Albeit an extremely slow-moving relationship, but I didn't mind. It was enough that Cameron, a boy who had barely spoken to anyone the same age until Revenge of the Island, was able to get used to having a girlfriend. After a year of dating him, he was finally becoming comfortable with initiating kisses, and we could hug and hold hands like any couple, like it was no big deal. But I knew that it was, since Cameron had confided that he was still trying to get used to any kind of human touch.

But sadly, my stalker from the show still had some kind of crush on me and made no secret of it. I could only hope he wouldn't do anything I'd have to slap him for. Not for my sake – for his. I'd taken up Kendo a few months back, and I could probably overpower him. I might not slap him – I could very easily end up kicking him off a cliff. And I didn't want to kill him. He'd survived Fang's first attack, but the mutant shark was probably still around, and he wouldn't let Scott survive a second time.

After a couple of weeks, the day arrived. I was driving to the place where we'd be picked up with a cylinder-shaped bag full of clothes, pyjamas, and sealed snacks (I wasn't about to take another season of just Chef's food and a few marshmallows), and quickly made a stop to pick up Zoey from her house, sounding my horn. After a few minutes, I stuck my head out of the window and yelled "Zoey, if you're not here within a minute, I'm leaving without you!"

"I'm here, I'm here!" As I had started yelling, the door had opened and Zoey raced outside with an outsized backpack, flinging herself into the passenger seat. "Sorry."

I started up the car. "No matter. So...any word from anyone else? I know Scott, Sam and Jo are going to be there, and I know Brick and Dawn aren't, but I couldn't get hold of anyone else. Not even Cameron answered my messages, and I haven't seen him since the day before I got the message."

Zoey frowned thoughtfully. "I haven't been able to get hold of Mike or Cameron since, either. I hope they're okay. Mike's been acting a little weird recently, anyway. I'm not sure why."

But when we got there, both boys were there. I ran up to Cameron, and hugged him, while I saw Zoey doing the same to Mike out of the corner of my eye.

"Did you get my message?" I asked.

"I thought I'd surprise you." Cameron answered with a little smirk.

At that moment, I heard high-pitched squealing behind me. I'd never heard them before in real life, but I could pick them out anywhere. I turned around to see a girl that was almost twice my height.

As a fan of the show, I'd watched all three of the seasons before my debut. And stalker though she was, superfan Sierra was one of my favourite competitors. And now, I was standing, looking up at her. I'd never realized she was quite so tall. I knew she was taller than her obsesson, geeky but adorable Cody, but still...

I smiled. "Hi. Sierra, isn't it? I remember you!"

"I remember you too!" Sierra gushed. "Shannon, I am SO excited to finally meet you! Last season was amazing, I can't wait to get started on this one!"

Chef was flying us to the island in a plane. Well, more like flying onto the shore and then letting us dive out. In the plane, there was a speaker that obviously connected with Chris' mic, so if Chef wasn't grabbing hold of us and kicking/dropping/pushing us out, we'd know when he was introducing us and jump out.

"Say hello to..." Chris began as Chef pushed the first contestant out. "Multiple Mike, aka Chester, Svetlana, Vito and Manitoba!" Mike hit the water as Chris finished introducing him, moving on.

"Mike's crush, pushover turned powerhouse, Zoey!"

"Mike!" Zoey called out anxiously, diving into the water.

"Athletic non-supporter, Lightning!" Yes, the retarded brawn was back. Joy.

"You call that a dive?" Lightning scoffed. "Watch this! Sha-" I burst out laughing as Chef kicked him out.

"Bubble boy braniac, Cameron!" Chris continued.

"This is highly illogical!" Cameron protested as Chef threw him out.

"Mutant-loving gamer, Sam!" Yep, Sam was back! Maybe I'd get to know him this time. And it sounded like he was still with Dakota (I didn't get to know her, but like Sam, I liked her better as the Dakotazoid).

"Not cool!" he called out.

"Vicious pint-sized pixie, Shannon!" My turn. The minute I heard "pint-sized", I knew Chris was talking about me, so I dived before Chef could kick me out.

"Enough with the size jokes!" I yelled as I fell. Finally, I landed beside the others who had dived. I couldn't hear what Chris was saying, but I heard Scott's scream as he fell and Jo's yell of "You're a dead man, McLean!"

That was everyone from our season. Now it was time for the veterans. First, Courtney was dropped. Eh, she could be okay, but she could also be a nightmare. "This is NOT in my contract!" she shrieked. Who wants to bet she'll mention her lawyers before she gets eliminated?

Whatever Chris said warranted the answer of the next one – Gwen. It must've been something about her being with Duncan before he dumped Courtney. "He wasn't her boyfriend at the time!" she screamed. Um, actually, he was.

Duncan himself was also back, just as I'd suspected. "Bring it on!"

And Heather. "I hate Chris!"

Lindsay was back, too. "I'm flying!" she exclaimed, but then she realized she wasn't, and started screaming.

Sierra cannonballed down, crying out "For Codyyyyyy!"

The last All-Star was just a prank. Chris brought feral Ezekiel in, then the robot beside him grabbed the guy in mid-air and threw him to the other side of the island.

"Greetings, old friends!" the sadistic host said as we got to the shore. I wished I could've taken a "shortcut" like Dawn, who made it to shore dry last season.

"I am not your friend." Heather scowled, coughing up a starfish.

Lindsay smiled at her. "Awww, somebody misses her honey bunny."

"Who?" Heather said. "Alejandro? As if! I'm glad he isn't back, that handsome jerk." I couldn't help snickering, remembering the third season. Alejandro may have been a villain, but he was Heather's perfect match. Granted, she was a villain herself. They were both just as sneaky and manipulative as each other. That said, I agreed with what Heather was saying – I was glad Alejandro wasn't back. He was a tough competitor. And seductive. After what he did to Bridgette, Leshawna and Courtney, I would feel so unsafe if he was there.

"You're going to pay for my dry cleaning." Courtney told Chris.

"No, I'm not. New contracts, 'member?"

There were a lot more changes, besides the old competitors' new contracts. First, the island was free of toxic waste (Sam was disappointed, since he only wanted to come back so he could become a mutant like Dakota – poor him). The living arrangements had been upgraded. The losing team of each challenge would take the usual cabins that night. The winners would get that night in the McLean spa hotel, and wow, did I want in!

Finally, Chris had decided the teams based on everyone's past performance – Heroes vs Villains. That was what made me do my first confessional of the season. "Okay, so why did Chris bring me back? I'm not a hero or a Villain. So I manipulated Lightning to help me win one of the challenges, kicked Scott in the balls after he got Mike eliminated, and did a lot of slapping and shoving, but I also tried to help Mike with his personalities, set up him and Zoey, and supported Cameron. How much does that count for?"

Chris called out the names. "Heather, Duncan, Shannon, Lightning, Jo, Scott and Gwen. From now on, you're the Villainous Vultures!"

"Sha-team!" exclaimed Lightning. I wasn't bothered about my status. But I wasn't too pleased with my team. Seriously, I got stuck with Jo again? And I had to deal with Lightning too, and what if Scott kept pestering me? And I couldn't imagine that Heather would be nice. Plus, Zoey, Mike and Cameron were all on the opposing team.

"Wha?" cried Gwen. "Why am I on the Villains' team?" I couldn't help wondering the same thing. Courtney was much more of a Villain than Gwen, what with her lawsuits and going psycho after Gwen and Duncan became a couple.

Speaking of Courtney, she spoke up. "Because you stole my boyfriend and became the new Heather!"

"Yeah, what she said." Chris confirmed.

"But I've done so many good things! I'm not a villain, I'm nice!"

"Being bad is cool." Duncan told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And now we're on the same team, so that's good, right?"

"I guess." murmured Gwen.

My friends had Sam, Courtney, Lindsay and Sierra on their team, and they were the Heroic Hamsters. And since Chris had lied about there being fifteen All-Stars, he ended up giving us the robot. It started beeping as it wheeled itself over to our team.

"I thought the robot could talk." Scott said.

Chris said something about the communication chip not working in some weird techno-slang that made Lindsay ask "Was that English?"

The robot edged up close to Heather. "Keep your distance, toaster!" she snapped, pushing it a little.

Then Chris told us that the challenges would be variations of the old ones, and our first challenge would be like the first one of the first season – we had to find the key to the spa hotel by cliff diving into shark-infested waters.

I heard Scott audibly gulp when I heard that. Although he'd recovered completely from Fang's attack, I understood why he'd freak out at just the mention of sharks.

Basically, each team member except one would take turns jumping into the water and grabbing a key imbedded in the sand while avoiding the sharks. Then, the non-diving teammate would take us to the spa hotel in a baby carriage like the ones from the New York challenge in the third season. Whichever team found the right key and opened the door first won.

"Meet me at the base of the cliff in ten minutes, chop chop!" Chris said, climbing onto a truck an intern was driving.

"Wait!" Mike called after him. "Shouldn't we change into our swimsuits or something first?"
"Sorry! No time!"

All of us had to walk through the forest together. My friends gave me sympathetic looks. Heather was still yelling at the robot to keep away from her, Courtney was glaring at Gwen from where her team was walking, and Scott caught my eye and gave me a flirtatious wink. In reply, I shot him a hard glare and held up a fist.

Then Jo and Heather started shoving each other. Gwen tried to make peace. "Guys, just because Chris labeled us Villains doesn't mean we have to act like villains. We're a team! We should work together as a team!"

All six of us make sarcastic remarks at this. As for me, I said "Got no problem with it. It's the others that I have a problem with, so good luck."

Later on, I made a confessional about that. "Did I have to get stuck with these people? Seriously, I don't trust anyone on this team. Gwen's being pretty naive about it – it's kind of cute. Maybe I trust her – I know she's a good person, and somehow, I don't think she's going to steal my boyfriend. But no one else." (Ironically, later on, Gwen and Cameron became very friendly, but I trusted Gwen by that time).

When Gwen noticed Courtney glaring at her and pointed it out, Duncan gave her a glare back. Courtney looked away instantly.

"Um, hello? Courtney? Hey!"

I went up to Duncan to ask "Why do you care if Courtney's blanking you? It's not like you guys are together or anything any more." Personally, I always thought that Duncan just wanted Courtney to stop blanking him because it was weird. She used to yell at him all the time. It didn't matter whether they were dating or not – she'd yell at him no matter what.

At the beach, our carriages waited – red for us, yellow for the Heroes. First, we had to pick our carriage driver.

"I'll drive!" Scott volunteered.

"No, I'll drive!" Jo snapped.

"Sha-please, you're the slowest go-kart driver ever!" Lightning argued.

"But I'm also the shopping kart racing circuit champion!"

"No such thing." I muttered under my breath.

Jo turned on me. "I heard that, Strawberry Shortcake! What, you think you could do it better?"

"Call me that one more time..." I said threateningly. "And no, I think someone who's scared of sharks could do it better. Unless you're more of a wimp!"

Jo might've given in to that jibe and let Scott drive if Gwen hadn't tried to be more tactful about it. "Jo, wouldn't you make a better diver since you're so athletic?"

Yeah, I already knew that Jo didn't react to flattery. Her reply? "Nobody tells me what to do, goth ball, and don't even try to kiss me!"

Gwen gasped, and I couldn't help letting a chuckle escape. What was with the kiss thing? Gwen is straight, and she's not as stupid as Lightning – she can tell Jo's a girl.

Speaking of which, "Tell that one to Lightning." I whispered to Gwen. "He thought Jo was a guy for ages. I saw a clip when I re-watched one episode. Jo said she'd never kissed a guy, and Lightning looked at her weird and then said he didn't judge."

We ended up letting Jo drive, while Courtney made her team choose Lindsay.

I offered to make the first jump. "The sharks probably won't even notice me." Okay, so that was before I realized Fang was in the water, but when I tried to step back, someone pushed me. I'm not sure who, but my bet was on Heather. I already knew she despised me for landing the zeppelin when she tried to steal the money. But at least the time spent falling gave me a chance to perfect my diving position. I gracefully went down, found a key, then raced to our carriage and jumped in.

As Jo ran, I knew she was going to say something about being in charge, so I said it first. "I know, you don't like me, I don't like you. But I made it further in the game than you did last time, and I won that challenge, so if you dare try to boss me around again, you'll be the first one we send home."

Jo rolled her eyes. "As if the team would listen to you! You get in my way, and I'll make your life hell."

"Same to you."

As it was, I had the wrong key, but we still had a lead. Lightning, our second jumper, left with Jo, just as Lindsay was on her way back with Courtney, the Heroes' first jumper. But Lindsay struggled so much that by the time Gwen, our fourth jumper had her key, Lindsay had just come back with Sierra, and it was time for Mike, their third jumper, to go. Then it was Sam and Heather's turn.

We only had two more team members left, and to be honest, I thought it was a little cruel to make either of them jump – or fall, in the case of the robot.

"It's your turn, man." Duncan said as Lightning attempted to pry Scott off a rock.

"No! You can't make me!" he cried.

"Oh yes I can!" Lightning answered.

"You have to dive!" Duncan reasoned. "It's you or the robot, and I'm pretty sure the robot isn't waterproof!"
"Yeah, but it's shark proof!" Scott stammered, refusing to jump.

"DIVE!" our whole team yelled.

In the end, wouldn't luck have it, the robot ended up on the edge of the cliff, which crumbled. It fell into the water.

"So long and good riddance!" Heather proclaimed. Seconds later, there was an explosion, and a silhouette shot out of the water, holding a key. It was...

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Heather screamed.

Alejandro. The one person I thought I'd been lucky enough to avoid was on this season, on my team. It turned out he'd been in the robot suit ever since the end of the third season when Heather had pushed him off the volcano, then he'd been trampled by the rest of the cast and covered in lava. He seemed all right now, though. It had been more than a year. Well, he couldn't walk, but when Jo got him to the spa hotel, he had the right key and opened the door. Our team had won!

That night, the eight of us sat in a little place as the peanut gallery, while the Heroes voted off their first teammate. Before the bonfire ceremony began, Gwen went up to Courtney. "Hey. Although I technically didn't do anything wrong, I'm really sorry about the way the whole Duncan thing went down. Here," She held out a bouquet she made. "I picked these just for you." In reply, Courtney sneezed.

"Oh no, you're allergic?" Gwen exclaimed.

"Told you you're a villain!" Courtney scowled. Honestly, couldn't she get over it?

As Gwen went back to us, I muttered to her "Ignore it. I've seen what Courtney's like in the show – she doesn't forgive and forget easily, does she?"

"Before we start," Chris said, "I need one winner to volunteer for a special reward."

"Ha! Sha-Lightning!" the brain-dead jock exclaimed. Honestly, he should've learned that when Chris said "special reward", it couldn't mean anything good.

Well, I was mostly right. Lightning was sent to spend the night on Boney Island, but that was also a chance to find an invincibility statue hidden there.

"Now he tells us." Scott muttered crossly.

The voting process this year was to put a cross on a picture of the face of the competitor the person wanted to eliminate. Thing is, I could tell that Lindsay had voted for herself, because she put a cross on her own face.

Finally, there were only two left. "Lindsay, you're on the chopping block for your terrible driving skills, and Courtney, you're on the chopping block for making Lindsay drive." Chris explained.

"Yeah," Lindsay added, "What's the matter with you?" But she seemed pleased to be eliminated. Although she wasn't so happy when she was put in the elimination device – a giant toilet called the Flush of Shame. And I thought the Hurl of Shame was bad!

Us Villains didn't stay to watch Lindsay being flushed. Once we got into the spa hotel, everyone seemed at least a little bit more relaxed, if only a little. I talked to Gwen a little bit, since she seemed down. And I needed to find out how to get along with the old competitors.

"Sooo..." I said casually, "You've played with Heather, Duncan and Alejandro before. Any advice on how to get along with them?"

"I haven't actually ever spoken to Alejandro before." Gwen admitted. "But I know he's focused. You know, won't stop until he wins. He'll probably leave our team alone until after the merge. As for Heather...don't bother trying to get on her good side. She doesn't have one. This is my fourth time on a team with her, and I still can't stand her. She's better than she used to be, but trust me, it's a waste of time. And Duncan's usually okay with everyone. Just don't underestimate him, and you guys'll get along fine."

I grinned. "Well, I should return that favour, I guess." I lowered my voice. "Keep an eye on Scott. Last year, his team lost every challenge but one, and by that time, he'd switched teams. Lightning's easy to manipulate, but he's strong. So he's pretty useful, but only as a pawn. Jo's not too bad of a leader – she's just really mean, but as long as you listen to her, she'll leave you alone."

Gwen chuckled. "Somehow I can't see Heather doing that. She's always the one trying to take charge."

I burst out laughing. "Let the fireworks begin!"

Before I went to bed (two to a room, so I shared with Gwen), Scott sought me out. "Hey." he gave me his old half-flirtatious grin. "So...you still dating Cameron?"

"Yes." I said impatiently. "I thought we talked about this. I really thought you weren't going to do this any more!"

"But sweetheart, I still like you. A lot." Scott protested. "How am I supposed to let you stay with him when you could date someone who's a better match for you?" He paused. "Like me."

I shot him a glare. "Due warning, Scott. I have no problem if you want to be friends with me, but one more attempt to ask me out or flirt with me, and I will slap you. Or knock you down – I'm taking martial arts classes."

Scott opened his mouth, but then cut himself off, giving a sigh. "Okay. Night, sweethea – I mean, Shannon."

"Night." I answered, smiling a little.

There's the first chapter! I actually did this twice, but the first six All-Stars chapters I'd written got deleted. Luckily, I had four of the drafted chapters printed, so I only have to rewrite two. But still...anyway, please review!