Hello!

Before we move on to the story itself, I'll introduce myself for those who are new to this series and pretty much don't know who I am yet: my name's minjiuu (not my real name), some of you may know me (formerly) as Candela Monsoon. I wrote the Act series way back in 2018 before I suddenly fell off from the face of the earth last 2021.

Why start with Act V? Where are Acts I-IV? To summarize, Acts I-III are in Archive of Our Own. I uploaded them there and deleted them from here when an issue came up. They are still in A03 and I'm currently having an internal debate on whether to reupload them here again or not. As for Act IV, that is an all star season for Acts I-III which hasn't started yet of course. We are starting at Act V here because Act V is basically the Act I remake, so we're getting a bunch of fresh new faces (except that we're still stuck with Chris and co.) and a plethora of new and freshly baked plot and characters arcs. And since Acts V-VIII will be the remade versions of Acts I-IV, which means all challenges from I-III will be used again! (do prepare yourselves since the original challenges were quite… crazy) The only difference (or will it be the only difference?) is the cast. I hope you guys are excited for that!

Why are we already starting Act V? I don't have a pretty definite reason actually, but two bits that I can think of at the top of my head are: 1) Act II is almost finished (around 5 eps left, so Act III will be underway), and 2) Grand Act (might) is going to flop so I need to compensate for that. Ik, technically OC-centric seasons aren't that big around in the fandom, but judging by how GA is going in regards to writing style and quality compared to other OC-centric seasons (which I have to be honest, are way better than GA if we are to compare for some reason… either that or it's probably because I don't do any advertising on it), I honestly don't think it will last long. Starting Act V will probably give me a new fresh start now that I only just recently returned to the fandom.

So enough with my 400 word author's note, let's actually dive into the prologue itself, shall we? Do take note that I do not own Total Drama, but I do own a character (or two?) that could possibly have a role as the story goes on.

Day 0, ?

It was in the middle of the night. The moon was up in a full moon and the skies were slightly covered with clouds. It gave a sense that it had just rained recently, but that was not the case.

Chris was seen walking in sidewalks of the city with a couple of papers in his hand. They were stapled together and were in some sort of envelope that he didn't bother closing. There was also a sticky note just on top of it, with an address written on it.

"0518 Sunrise St." Chris muttered to himself. Where could that be…

He stopped abruptly as soon as he saw a mailbox that had 0318 on it. It had the word Residence on the paper next to it but the part where the last name was supposed to be got torn off. Oh well.

He did not hesitate to approach the mansion that stood before him. It was delicately decorated with flowers and shrubs and an old cobblestone path. He looked at it from its entirety… and pressed the doorbell.

Ding.

The door had opened, and Chris had already prepared himself.

And the person who answered the door was a tall, bulky man with so much untrimmed hair on his face that it made him look like a dirty pillow. Compared to the luxury this mansion looked from the outside, he was… not so luxurious, as sporting a t-shirt with a few holes in it and cargo pants that looked as if it had seen better days. Not to mention, he smells like alcohol.

"I'm looking for—"

"She no live here 'nymore." The drunk man breathed. "Kicked her out with that 'ther kid."

"Huh?" Chris asked him in a rather mocking tone. "Tsk, this address—"

"I said skedaddle!"

Clank.

Pieces of glass from a wine bottle shattered as soon as it hit the cobblestone.

Yup, he was drunk. From the whole bottle too. Chris sighed. Just his night, so much for starting up a brand new season for himself. Where is he gonna get a lead now?

"Yeah. Thanks. Appreciate your help." Chris rolled his eyes in a very sarcastic manner and walked away from the mansion and out of the gate.

Now what?

There was the raven haired host, just walking on the street. There was a cafe down the road that seemed to be open. Figured he should go for a cup of coffee, that is, if he plans to stay up all night trying to find this person in particular.

So into the café he went. It smelled like mocha and freshly baked bread. Kind of odd for a time like this.

"Good evening, welcome to Sunrise Café!" greeted a chirpy woman behind the cashier as Chris unconsciously walked over the cash register. "What can I get for you on this lovely evening?"

"I'd like a—"

"Hey!"

Chris' train of thought was suddenly interrupted as he jerked his head over to his right, where we could see a young man working in the cafe and a little girl with dark skin and black hair, in a yellow dress fighting over what seemed like a loaf of cinnamon bread.

"Pwease!" the little girl pleaded. "I'm hungwy, I haven't eat yet!" she cried.

Chris had two thoughts in his head as this happened. One, he could just go for his normal nature and just ignore it. Or two, was that also his nature off-screen?

He walked up towards the minor argument.

"What's going on here?"

"This girl is stealing bread. No wonder why these past few days, there was always a shortage of cinnamon bread. We've checked our logs and no one has been purchasing the cinnamon bread for three days so it's impossible for it to just go away." The baker raged. "And it's all thanks to this… this tiny bread-snatching thief!"

With one grand pull, the baker gained back the loaf and the girl fell onto her bottom, ultimately giving up.

Chris had one eyebrow up, and decided to take this onto a different route. "You know, aren't you glad that there's someone who actually likes your cinnamon loaf? Because judging by that sob story you just made, people probably don't like it."

The baker froze. "Well… yeah, but she needs to pay for all the loaves she stole!"

"Here." a teenage girl approached him and handed him some cash. The girl had sleek long black hair but looked as if she hadn't combed it. She just wore a white shirt that looked worn out and black shorts that went above her knees. Both she and the little girl wore only slippers. "That's the last of my cash. Now please, just leave my sister alone."

The baker scoffed. "Huh, your sister? You two don't look alike. Perhaps you're adopted?"

"Hey, that's enough." Chris dismissed the baker and turned to the little girl and the teen. "Let's go outside. I've got a few questions for you."

The three exited the café. The cashier had a pure shocked expression and the baker just scoffed and walked back to the kitchen.

Once they exited, Chris immediately asked one question, and it was definitely not 'who are you.' "You don't happen to live at 0518 Sunrise St., do you?"

The girl recoiled herself and had her little sister close to her as if she were holding on to for dear life. "No! Don't mention that address, I just—"

Chris handed her the envelope. "Looks like I've found you."

The teen girl shakily took the envelope from Chris' hands and her eyes widened. "Isn't this… the application I sent to you?"

"Yes. Was gonna contact you either way and tell you that you're in but you weren't answering any of my emails. And since your house… or… former house is just right there, then I figured I should just pay you a visit." Chris scoffed but was proud of his decision. "Guess I know why that happened."

"I'm Lily!" The little girl grinned. Her face showed a smile but she was still kind of sad. "You can call me Lily!"

Chris grimaced. "Okay… anyway I'll show you the theater where you'll be hosting along with me and another person whom I haven't contacted yet…"

The teenage girl gave him a questioning look. "And… who is the other girl?"

Chris looked at another envelope. "Sua Choi. She's just in the dorm of the studio she's in. Anyway, I'll take you to the theater. You'll find a place to rest your heads there."

When the two gave him a nod of approval, they made their way to the theater. Chris had a small checklist with him that had two names.

The name Sua Choi did not have a check yet, but now, he checked in the other name: Yves Jimenez-Chiu.

"One more to go."

*0518, May 2018, the date when the original Act I was published

**this wasn't supposed to be called Act V in the first place but hey, it's better than Act I remake

So there is the prologue! And what's this? Yves and Sua are hosting with Chris? Yup, you heard that right! I am honestly hesitating about bringing them back but somebody's gotta compensate for the lack of Don and *cough*Candela*cough* this season lol. And we all for sure know that no one in Grand Act is currently capable of that (well… besides maybe Tracy XD unless y'all want Juliana to host this too T_T)

A little bit about both of them as OCs: First with Yves, she's an OC I made during covid season, and she got pretty popular in the SYOC fandom since she's in a lot of SYOCs a couple of years ago. Some of the SYOCs she's in that I can name of are "Mega Mechas" and "Scrap Island" by Clown Princess Phoebe, and "Back to the Islands" and "Lights, Camera, Action, Finale" by BaseballCapClyde, both authors are some of my friends, btw. She also made a cameo in Episode 9 of Act II and is currently competing in Act III.

Sua on the other hand, was created shortly before my hiatus. She used to be my favorite OC back in the day and I submit her a lot though she's not as popular as Yves. Her notable appearances as a contestant include "Carnival Calamity" by BaseballCapClyde and "Knightfall" by my brother, Obsidian Paragon. Act V though will mark her debut in the series. We'll see her in the next prologue.

Now enough blabbing from me, let's get down to the actual SYOC. Those of you who submitted to the previous Acts before, (Acts II and III specifically) will remember the Performance portion of the app. However, since Act I was primarily focused on singing (unlike the latter two which focus on dancing, vocal, and acting), the Performance portion of this app will also focus on singing. No more codes unlike the past seasons since those are now starting to confuse me lol.

I won't post the rules and form here since they will be in my profile. But while you guys are here, feel free to answer these quick questions. Completely optional of course.

1. Have you read any of the Act series? (whether here or in A03)

2. (For funsies) Who is your favorite contestant from the series so far?

That's all and good luck!