The first episode opened with none other than Chris McLean himself, stood on the very highest tower of the cybernetic castle with the biggest grin he could possibly muster plastered right on his face, "Welcome back, Total Drama fans! Did you miss me?" he asked, flashing an award-losing smile towards the camera.

"After a long, LONG hiatus, me and Chef," Chris pointed a finger towards his side, gesturing towards the burly co-host, who was stood with his arms crossed towards the camera, "Are back with our latest and greatest season - sixteen all-new contestants, competing inside THIS bad boy!"

Chris dramatically pointed below him, and the camera zoomed out in response, revealing the full scale of the castle for the very first time - it was at least five stories high, with a grand stone wall encircling it, a smaller tower at each corner. There were several windows, although all of them were blotted out in some way, whether it be through curtains or iron bars. The entrance was in full view as well, and Chris stood proudly atop the main structure.

The shot went right back to Chris, who proudly held up a tray of marshmallows for the world to see, alongside a single wooden Chris head, "Of course, we've brought back some old favourites, with a shocking twist to the marshmallow ceremony, and our immunity idol has been hidden by some of the most intelligent AI we could find!"

"Of course, that's not all we've got in store for our contestants, but we'll get to that later" Chris winked to the camera, "But what's the fun in telling you that? Find out on Total! Drama! Digital Mayhem!"

The intro song began with various cameras popping out of various locations, as is tradition - one came out of a bin, another poked out of the head of a suit of armor, and a third was haphazardly taped onto a banner with Chris's face on it.

Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doing fine, you guys are on my mind,

The camera began by speeding right past Chris and Casey on the main entrance bridge, the copycat copying every action the host did, much to his annoyance.

You asked me what I wanted to be, and now I think the answer is plain to see,

Once within the castle, the camera opened into the main hall, where Octavia was flirting with Rival, throwing a wink in the direction of the vocalist. In the corner of the room, Brooke raised an eyebrow, but chose not to comment.

I wanna be famous!

The camera then sped through towards a cluttered back room, where Tobias had set up his drumset, while Jezebelle was singing. Ember was hiding behind their laptop screen as the pair's different sounds overlapped, resulting in an argument.

I wanna live close to the sun, go pack your bags 'cause I've already won,

The camera then moved through the floor into a dark, below-ground room where Freddy and Kira were patrolling, the FNAF fanatic holding a torch. Suddenly, a pair of bright, yellow eyes illuminated before them, and the two gamers ran away. The lights lit up, though, revealing that they belonged to Doppel. Mikey was with the AI, and the jokester was giggling to himself.

Everything to prove, nothing in my way, I'll get there one day,

The camera soon shifted up to the kitchen, where Chef was preparing his mystery meat for the day. Behind the counter, Anu was dramatically reciting his quest to the cook, who, in annoyance, picked up Princess and almost put him in with the mystery meat.

'Cause I wanna be famous!

The camera soon moved towards a grand stage, where Jessica and Chander were performing to an audience of controlled suits of armor. The magician snapped her fingers, signalling for smoke to fill the room as Chander began to juggle flaming batons he couldn't clearly see.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na,

The camera soon moved towards a large hallway, where Jackie and Julia were racing to receive a flag set up on a pedestal. However, neither noticed the small red security lasers protecting it, and a trap-door sent them both hurtling to their 'dooms.'

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous! I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous!

The camera soon moved towards the higher rooms, where Kanna and Godfrey were both attempting to smooth-talk Doppel into giving them access to a secret room, neither of them getting the AI to budge.

(Whistling) I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

The intro ended with Chris and Chef holding up a tray of marshmallows in the entrance hall, the sixteen contestants sat around and whistling the theme song as the name 'Total Drama Digital Mayhem' flashed on the nearest screen.

Once the opening song was finished, the scene opened to right behind the castle, where sixteen different taxis were each lined up to bring the contestants to the show, each one the typical yellow you'd expect. Chris and Chef were both stood out there, the host smirking at the sight, "All sixteen of them are in those taxis right there, so we'll just let them get settled in while we wait."

The first one arrived opened up, and Rival walked out, the vocalist placing his hands in his hoodie as he walked out, a smile on his face as he looked up to the castle in slight awe.

"Looks like I'm the first to arrive, huh," he noted, looking around at the complete and utter lack of anybody else save for the two hosts, "It's pretty impressive, I've gotta say," he noted.

"That you are, Rival, and that it is," Chris nodded, pointing towards the side of the castle, "Just stand around while we wait for everybody else to join you, we've got a LOT of people to go through."

"Alright," he threw a quick thumbs-up, just standing around as the second taxi pulled up, and Jackie stepped out, a confident grin on her face as she took it in.

"Looks like I'm pretty early," the athlete noted, raising an eyebrow at the emptiness of the field. Rival threw her a wave from where he was stood, and the athlete threw one right back at him, not having an issue with him.

"Heya, the name's Rival," he introduced himself, offering his hand out for her to shake as she stepped forward.

"Jackie," she introduced back, taking the handshake before standing next to the vocalist.

"Are you an athlete?" Rival asked, giving out the simple observation, to which Jackie just nodded.

"You could tell, huh," she chuckled, giving him a small flex just to show off, "I'm pretty good, too. I'm here to win, so don't expect me to go easy on you."

"Aren't we all?" the vocalist asked rhetorically, brushing a bit of dust from his shoulder, "Honestly, I can respect that."

"Good to hear," Jackie smirked, crossing her arms as she looked up at the castle, before remembering something extremely important that hadn't shown up yet, "So, where's the-"

Jackie's question went unasked, however, as a third taxi soon arrived, dropping off none other than Anu, who bounded out of the taxi with Princess sat comfortably on his head.

"There it is, Princess," he narrated, placing his hands on his hips, "The Shrouded Castle of Fivefeetapart, and in there, we'll find the Prismatic Well of Nohomo."

Jackie and Rival exchanged an equally confused and concerned glance, as Anu noticed them, bouncing his way over to them, "Ah, hello there! I'm Brillup Lilyheart, the greatest adventurer of the Bullywag Swamp!" he proudly introduced, smirking to himself to increasing confusions.

A second glance was exchanged between Rival and Jackie, but Chris was the next to speak, coughing to catch everyone's attention, "Alright Anu, we get it, you're a nerd," he rolled his eyes, just throwing the roleplayer's name out there.

Anu frowned towards Chris, but didn't comment, choosing to instead just continue onward, "And you must be some of my fellow adventurers, am I right?" he asked, grinning towards the other two.

Rival just crossed his arms and shook his head, an easygoing-ish grin on his face at Anu's antics, "That we are," he played along, just deciding to go with whatever the frog lover was doing.

Jackie was just plain confused, and asked the big question, "Shrouded Castle of… what? And I doubt there's a well in there," she threw a finger over her shoulder to point at the castle, raising an eyebrow as Anu just laughed.

"Well, looks like somebody didn't read the quest description!" he chuckled, as Princess let out a low ribbit to go along with him, "But yes, our goal - me and Princess's - is to find the Prismatic Well of Nohomo and gather the waters within in order to brew a very special elixir!"

"You know what… sure," Jackie shrugged, seeing Anu as pretty much harmless, as a fourth taxi came in to drop off the fourth contestant - none other than Casey, who exactly copied Anu's bouncing gait.

"There it is, Princess," she narrated, copying Anu's voice pretty well (even if there were some differences), much to the roleplayer's dismay, "The Shrouded Castle of Fivefeetapart, and in there, we'll find the Prismatic Well of Nohomo."

Anu frowned at this mockery, and immediately reached for one of his bottles of 'elixir', "What kind of mimicry spell is this…" he narrowed his eyes in suspicion, as Casey just chuckled it off.

"Oh, copying YOU was simple - you're way too obvious," she bragged, smirking towards the role-player, who crossed his arms.

In response, Anu theatrically rolled his eyes, but placed the 'elixir' back down, "Alright then, mimic," he squinted, as Jackie stepped forward to ask the newcomer a question.

Jackie, on the other hand, had another question, "Okay, but how did you even hear what Anu said - you were in the taxi when he came out, right?"

"You know how the taxis have windows? I had mine open while you guys weren't looking," Casey admitted, laughing to herself, "That way I knew exactly what to say!"

The athlete nodded, accepting that answer, as Casey made her way into the group, standing just aside from the other three, brushing an imaginary piece of dust off of her shoulder as she stood to the side, being closer to Chris and Chef than the other three.

"They won't even know what hit them," she chuckled under her breath, keeping her voice quiet enough so that only the two hosts could hear her.

A fifth taxi came into view, and smoke was billowing out of the entrance, much to the shock of… everybody, really. Jessica dramatically made her way out, her helmet blocking her face from the others as she took slow, forceful footsteps towards.

"Greetings, Earthlings!" she greeted in a robotic voice, smoke gradually emitting from her boots, "I am Mysterio, the master of illusions… prepare to bow before your new overlord!" she laughed menacingly, as Anu stepped forward, the roleplayer brandishing a toy spear right at the magician's helmet.

"Stop right there, evil warlock! I, Brillup Lilyheart of the Bullywag Swamp, shall stop your schemes!" he declared, stopping Jessica right in her tracks as the magician stood in front of him.

Jessica stood still for a second, in sheer shock at the spear pointed right at her, as she slowly took her helmet off. The magician was still laughing, however any sense of malice was clearly gone by now, "I was just kidding… could you put the spear away?" she asked Anu, who obliged, lowering his weapon.

"Anyways, I'm Jessica," she waved to the others, getting a wave back from Jackie and a small nod from Casey… while Anu just bounced back to where he was standing before, seemingly content with her now, "Master magician, at your service."

Rival, on the other hand, noticed her smoke-emitting boots and curiously asked her a question, "Hey, did you create those boots yourself? They're pretty cool, I've got to admit - not something you see every day."

"A magician never reveals her secrets," Jessica put a finger to her lips, just letting the mystery sink in as she laughed, leaving Rival dumbfounded as she moved next to Jackie.

The sixth taxi soon arrived, and Octavia stepped out, leaning over as she left in order to not hit her head against the taxi. She towered over those already there, as she flashed a confident wink towards the camera.

"Hey, everyone! You can all pack your bags and leave right now, because Octavia DuPont is here to win it!" she boasted, strutting her way right to the group, revelling in the attention… even if Anu seemed to be more focused checking through his Monster Manual on a page labelled 'giant', trying to match the image to Octavia.

Rival was about to introduce himself, when he was beaten by Casey, who, in her best Chris impression, decided to… introduce the media darling, "Everybody welcome Octavia, who will definitely win, all because she said so!" she smirked, getting less than favourable reactions with the other contestants there - while Chris looked visibly insulted and turned right to Chef.

"Is my voice really that annoying?" he asked the cook with a worried glance, who shrugged uncaringly as Octavia turned to face Casey with a smug grin. Chris was smirking at the drama, just enjoying how things were turning out so far.

"Of course it's not just because I said so - I know I've got like, the skill to win this," the media darling boasted, running a strand of her hair through her hands as Casey just poked her tongue out at the taller girl.

Before the argument could further escalate, however, a seventh taxi arrived, and Tobias hopped out, a frown set on his face as he saw Octavia… who took one look at him and just laughed at his short height.

"Okay, who, like, brought their lost child onto the show?" the media darling snarked with a giggle, getting a death glare from Tobias in exchange.

"Real original, asshole" he snarled back, looking right up at the media darling with a scowl, "At least I can see where I'm walking, how's the weather up there?"

Rival and Jackie exchanged a nervous glance between each other, neither wanting this to escalate any further. The vocalist calmly walked up between the two, holding one hand up and one hand down to block the pair.

"Can we not fight right now?" the vocalist begged, looking between the two, "We're not even in the castle yet, could you please stop?"

"Tch… fine, but this isn't over," Tobias reluctantly obliged, crossing his arms and turning away from Octavia, "Name's Tobias, anyways."

Rival let out a sigh of relief, as Octavia, too, joined the main group, placing herself on the opposite side of the main group near Jackie.

"Aw man, I probably just missed something interesting," Kanna pouted playfully as they stepped out of the taxi, watching Tobias and Octavia make their ways to the opposite sides of the main group, still glaring at each other (mostly on Tobias's side)

"Not much really… just a small argument," Rival simply confirmed, giving the newcomer a wave as he'd done to the others. Kanna gave him a small nod of confirmation, however the gears were turning in their head and they had to actively hide the small grin that was growing on their face.

As the 'girl' walked along, they flashed a quick wink to Rival, who simply smiled somewhat good-naturedly at the attention, not thinking too much of it yet, "Well, whatever, and because Chris doesn't seem to be introducing me, I'm Kanna."

Chris immediately piped up the mention - or more likely, the minor insult - and coughed to get everybody's attention, "Hey, I'm just not introducing anybody because you guys are doing my job for me - worse than me, but still for me."

"Didn't you introduce Anu though?" Jackie asked, folding her arms over her chest as Chris raised his arms up in mock surrender, "So why just him, anyways?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, I had no idea if he'd even introduce himself as anything other than 'Brillup Lilyheart', I call it a safety net, since I don't want to explain the obvious fake name away," the host exclaimed, pointing both his fingers and the blame towards the frog roleplayer.

Anu pouted, briefly considered pointing his spear at Chris for those comments, but he chose not to, instead crossing his arms and letting out an indignant huff, "Brillup Lilyheart is a great name, I don't know what you're talking about!" he argued back, as Chris just gave the role-player a small but very obviously smug smirk.

Kanna simply shrugged it all off, just laughing lightly at the antics going on, joining the group as a ninth taxi arrived. Chander, in a movement too fast for almost anybody to see, swung himself onto the top of the taxi, immediately grabbing everybody's attention.

The acrobat flashed a wide smile from the top of the taxi, and grabbed two batons from who-knows-where, juggling the two of them in his hands, getting some people incredibly curious as to where he was going with this. The acrobat then threw both of them ever-so-slightly forward in the air and jumped off of the taxi, managing to perform a single flip mid-air as he landed firmly on his feet.

The acrobat held his hands out wide, and closed his eyes, clasping them both shut and… bam! Both batons landed firmly in his hands, and the acrobat let out a grand bow, "Ta-da!" he proudly announced, to various rounds of applause at his incredibly flashy entrance.

"Haha, thank you all!" he beamed, bounding his way over to join the group, standing next to Jessica, "I'm Chander, might as well get that out of the way, y'know?"

The magician turned to him, pleasantly surprised to see another performer at the scene, "That was impressive, I've gotta say," she admitted, her helmet still held firm under her left hand as she spoke, "Where'd you learn those moves?"

"Oh, just the circus, haha," he rubbed the back of his head bashfully, chuckling at the magician's curiosity with a grin, "I'm an acrobat, things like this just come naturally to me!"

The acrobat puffed out his chest proudly, as Jessica smirked, "Well, have you seen anything like… this?" she dramatically stomped her boot against the ground, letting smoke emit and fill the surrounding area, much to Chander's delight.

"That's new to me!" he beamed, grinning at the sight. If Jessica had more gadgets like that… who knows what sort of performances could happen?

The group's attention was soon brought back to the taxis, though, as taxi ten soon arrived, Julia stepping out quietly, in massive contrast to Chander's over-the-top introduction before her.

"Julia… are you gonna do anything interesting?" Chris heckled, the host already getting bored of the runaway's quiet introduction, "Like, at all? Because you're being a real bummer right now, dude."

"Nope," they flatly stated, clearly not wanting to interact with the others. They only proved their point when they moved to the outskirts of the group, not really joining in with any of the others just yet. Most of them were still doing their own things too, being too preoccupied to talk with the runaway - other than Casey, who didn't really care (Or she was just imitating Julia, but that was unlikely).

Unfortunately for her, the passenger of the eleventh taxi wasn't pre-occupied. Mikey stepped out, a dopey grin wide on his face as he looked over the… curious group in front of him, "Wassup?" he asked the group at large, waving towards them with a big smile, "I'm Mikey, nice to meet you all!"

Rival and Jackie both waved back, as did the two performers, while Anu waved his toy spear around. The role-player was about to go talk to Mikey when he accidentally hit Tobias on the head with the spear, causing the drummer to angrily turn to the frog guy.

"Well, I could just talk to… her," he muttered under his breath, pointing his head towards Julia after noticing how isolated she seemed to be, "She looks pretty lonely, maybe I can cheer her up - I do that pretty well."

He strolled over to her, an easy-going smile plastered on his face as he stood next to them, "'Sup?" he asked casually, just trying to spark conversation with the stoic, "I'm Mikey… buuut I just told everybody that, haha!"

"Nothing," the runaway simply replied, crossing her arms over her chest as she kept her focus away from Mikey, not looking him in the eye. The jokester frowned at the lack of response, and quickly came up with a response in his mind.

"Nothing? Well, that's cool too, y'know," he smiled, resting his hands behind his head as he spoke, "Anything you want to talk about? Anything at all?"

The runaway gave Mikey a long look before shaking her head 'no', causing the jokester to sigh, and reluctantly move over to join the main group.

Taxi twelve soon arrived, and Kira was almost dropped off… key word almost, since she seemed reluctant to leave. The gamer was about to step out of the vehicle, however she looked down to see… grass. She scrunched her face up in mild disgust, but stepped out anyway, finally touching grass after who-knows-how-long without it.

"Dang… I thought I wouldn't have to touch grass here," she commented, pulling her hood up just to block the sun out, "Why aren't we in the castle, anyways… aren't we supposed to, y'know, be there?"

"That's what I was saying," Jackie agreed, turning towards Chris with a raised eyebrow as some of the others also agreed with her.

"Exactly! I was hoping I'd get to see all the cool technology inside," Jessica lamented, crossing her arms as she turned to the host.

Chris's smirk only grew at the contestants' frustrations, and the host shook his head, "Patience, jeez. But don't worry, you'll be in there soon, haha," he chuckled to himself, getting a few worried looks exchanged between the more Total Drama-savvy contestants.

"Eh, whatevs, I can live with whatever," Kira shrugged lazily, walking over to join the others, "And if this is my competition… nyeh, I can win this easily."

Jackie raised an eyebrow at the gamer's bold declaration, but gave a challenging smirk anyways, "Well, I'll prove you wrong, then," she challenged, as Kira just smirked.

"You? Okay, I'll admit, you might be a threat - or something like that," she admitted, even if it was a half-truth, but then she pointed towards Anu and Tobias, "But are you really gonna tell me that those two are anything to be worried about?"

Jackie followed the gamer's finger, where Anu was still profusely apologising to an irritated Tobias after the whole 'hitting him on the head with a spear' fiasco, "I don't know, they might surprise us, um…,"

"Kira," she introduced, pointing towards herself with a self-assured smile, "And sure, you might be right… buuut experience has told to keep expectations really low."

"What experience?" Jackie raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest, just curious to see where the gamer was going.

"Gaming," Kira proudly stated, seeming content to just leave Jackie ever-so-slightly confused at the simple answer.

"I see," Jackie squinted suspiciously at the gamer, who just grinned.

Taxi thirteen soon arrived, however, nobody was inside. Or… so they thought, since Freddy quickly jumped out, letting loose a loud scream, getting quite a few scared reactions from the crowd… mostly due to the shock factor.

Once he had finished, though, the FNAF fanatic began laughing to himself, "Sorry about that, but I just had to try and jumpscare you, har har har!"

Kira was quick on the uptake, and the gamer took one look at Freddy's outfit, "What, like in Five Nights at Freddy's?" she guessed, scratching her chin with a confident look on her face.

"Oh, absolutely!" he confirmed, throwing Kira a thumbs-up much to her delight, "I'm Freddy, by the way - y'know, like Freddy Fazbear?"

Kira let out a snort at the coincidence, while a few of the other more game-savvy contestants snickered. Anu, on the other hand, simply looked mildly confused, having managed to deal with Tobias.

The role-player squinted in suspicion at Freddy, knowing one thing very well, "There's no Freddy Fazbear in the Monster Manual!"

"Dude, you don't know FNAF?" Kanna raised an eyebrow, a small but mildly astounded smile on their lips as they turned towards Anu.

Freddy just shrugged, happily moving over to join the frog furry, "Oh, I can tell you all about FNAF, then!" he beamed, getting a small, if slightly scared, nod from the role-player.

"Oh god, the FNAF lore… we're in for a ride," Kira sighed under her breath, tugging on her hoodie strings as Freddy was eagerly about to tell Anu all about the wonderful world of Five Nights at Freddy's. Anu's eyes widened, but fortunately he was saved.

Key word being about, as Godfrey stepped out of the fourteenth taxi. Much like Octavia, he was playing to the camera, flashing an award-winning smile towards the nearest one.

"Godfrey here, and I'm assuming this is the right place?" he asked, looking towards the rest of the group, really just wanting to break the ice, more than actually questioning it.

"Yep," Rival simply shrugged, the vocalist looking back at the… eccentric group, "Meet the crew, Godfrey."

"That I will," he smirked, moving towards them with a grin.

Godfrey seemed pretty amused by them, all things considered, as he looked them over. The charmer decided to talk to Casey, of all people, walking over towards the copycat.

The charmer flashed a grin, and the copycat openly gagged at the act, "Sorry, pal, but I'm not interested," she snarked, emphasising the word 'pal' to get her point across.

"Is that what you got from my smile?" he questioned, mildly amused, "I didn't mean to come across like that, really."

Casey squinted at him, pretty suspicious of the guy already. Just from his demeanor, he was giving off Justin, or Alejandro vibes - she didn't trust him at all, "Are you serious - you're already acting like one of those 'pretty boys' who'll just backstab us to win. Y'know, like Justin… or Alejandro."

"Here's the funny part - you're right," Godfrey laughed, quietly enough so that only Casey could clearly hear him, whispering to Casey - everybody else (save for Julia) were too busy mingling with each other to notice, "I'll do just that, you've got me. No use trying to hide it, really."

The copycat was just plain confused at the declaration, while Godfrey listened in to some of the other conversations going around.

Just as Godfrey was getting settled in, taxi fifteen arrived. Brooke stepped out of the taxi's door, the shopper waving towards the others, hoping to give off a good first impression.

"Heya! I'm Brooke!" she introduced herself, walking towards the rest of the contestants with a confident strut. She got a few waves or nods from most, although decided to stand near Octavia.

The shopper looked over the media darling's outfit and nodded, seeming content with what she was seeing, "Nice outfit!" she complimented Octavia, who grinned at the praise.

"Of course it is, I, like, picked it myself," the media darling boasted, flipping her hand through her hair with a proud grin, "So obviously it's the best - like me!"

Brooke chuckled at the response, a smile on her face as she continued, "Oh, that's pretty cool," she grinned, before she pointed towards herself, "I do a loot of that myself - but I prefer thrift-shopping, y'know?"

Octavia just nodded, as the sixteenth and final taxi arrived, dropping off Jezebelle. The puffball bounced out of the taxi, and - after a quick count - smirked as she realised that she was the final one there.

"Looks like youse saved the best for last," she smirked, a confident glint in her eye as she bounced her way over to the others.

"Best for last? Um, like, no, have you seen me?" Octavia gestured towards herself, getting an eye-roll from the puffball.

"Yeah I have," she sassed right back, getting an annoyed glare from the taller girl in response, "And I stand by what I said."

"Tch, like you're much better than the gnome over there," Octavia pointed towards Tobias, who cracked his knuckles threateningly towards her.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" the drummer shouted at her, clearly ready for a round two of arguing as Jezebelle crossed her arms.

"Coming from the girl as tall as her ego, that's rich," Jezebelle snarked right back, siding with Tobias more out of a shared dislike of Octavia.

"Guys… can we not fight right now?" Brooke blocked the two, "We haven't even really started and you're all fighting."

"You missed them earlier," Jessica shook her head, recalling the earlier fight between Tobias and Octavia, "They're not gonna get along."

"Alright… fine," Jezebelle sighed, letting out a small huff as she moved aside, "I'll stop, that good enough for ya?"

Brooke gave her a thumbs-up, but at this point Tobias was clearly ready to actually fight Octavia… or break her knee-caps, given the insane height difference between the two.

Chris, seeing that they were all there, pulled a megaphone and cleared his throat, the 'ahem' alerting everybody - including the two about to fight, "Alright, Jezebelle, Octavia, Tobias, that's enough. But anyways, contestants, I heard earlier that some of you are a little bit confused that we aren't in the castle I promised you'd stay in."

"Yeah, what the heck is that all about?" Tobias crossed his arms, still ticked off after dealing with Octavia.

"Well, for our first challenge… you're going to have to find a way in there!" Chris announced, shouting loudly through the megaphone with a gleeful glint in his eye, "We've got our… shall we say, security system," he added with a small, cheeky wink to the camera, "Working on overdrive just to keep you kids out. Like this."

Chris snapped his fingers, and a small cannon appeared on the top of the wall. A second snap triggered the cannon to fire, sending a tennis ball hurtling at rapid speed towards Mikey, hitting the jokester where the sun doesn't shine.

He fell to the ground, groaning, as Chris chuckled, "Don't worry, though - Chef and I have prepared some… choice items to help you!"

Chris pointed towards a small clearing, where Chef was driving a large yellow dump truck. True to the vehicle's name, the cook was currently dumping a pile of assorted objects and basically junk behind him, "You can use whatever garbage you find in that to help you, all that matters is that you enter the castle WITHOUT breaking the walls - that's my job, not yours."

"If you don't make it in, you're out," Chris announced gleefully, much to the horror of the contestants, "As in, out of the competition. We can't have a competition in a castle if you're not in the castle, can we?"

"Like, right there?" Brooke gasped, taken aback by the news.

"Absolutely," he affirmed, "No teams, no castle, no nothing. Just the long, sad road to loserdom, and trust me, you do NOT want to walk that road."

Chris pointed out towards the road - the taxis were all long gone by now, "You've all got around two hours to go…"

"And go!" the host shouted out, prompting all sixteen to run off - Mikey getting picked up by Freddy so that he wasn't left behind.

Confessional - Chris

The host was sat inside a… surprisingly clean porta-potty, considering the show's track record of terrible confessionals, "We've got this temporary confessional set up in case they want to air any dirty laundry already… nothing like the good old Wawanakwa outhouse, I'll tell you that much."

Confessional - Kanna

The 'girl' was simply leant back, a small grin on their face, "First confessional, huh? Well, I'm already liking the rest of these guys - there's some people here who'd be really fun to mess with, if you get what I mean," they winked towards the camera, throwing a small peace sign at it.

Confessional - Casey

The copycat rested her hands behind her head indifferently, "Sooo… I'm a massive fan of Total Drama, y'know, so that means that I'll be thinking about this strategically. And who better to take inspiration from than some of Total Drama's greatest strategic minds, am I right? So my team won't know what hit them!"

She punched her open palm in declaration, but soon blinked in slow realisation at what she said, "Once I have a team, that is. Can't mess with a team if you're not in one."

Chander was one of the first to reach the junk pile, and the acrobat was seemingly rummaging around in it without any particular item in mind, "Hmm… what to use, what to use…" he muttered to himself, looking up at the wall when he noticed… aha! An open window on the second floor, "I can make that, definitely!"

Jessica ran up to him, and the magician cast the acrobat a nod before noticing where his focus was, "Looks like we'll be trying to go through there, then," she noted, getting a grin from Chander.

"Of course, all we need now is a way up," Chander commented, as he still rummaged through the pile, holding a few boards up, "Maybe something with these?"

The magician put a finger to her chin, before an idea came to her with a snap of her fingers, "How about a see-saw? I saw your entrance, so I think it'll work."

Chander nodded, seeing exactly where she was going with this, "Alright then!" he declared, as he looked for something, anything, within the pile of junk to keep it together, "We'll need something to keep it together and something round, but I we can find them, easy."

Jessica nodded, as the two got to work. Jessica grabbed a barrel, which Chander swiftly followed by finding a bundle of rope. Chander threw it towards Jessica, and the magician tied it up, connecting the barrel and board.

"And… I think we're ready. If I'm right, you should be able to send me flying up there," Jessica smirked, as Chander nodded. Unfortunately for the two, however, the cannon from earlier had set its sights on them, sending a full armada of tennis balls flying right at them.

The two dived for cover behind the see-saw, thankfully dodging the balls… however they were now faced with another issue, "How're we gonna get past this now?" Chander commented from his place on the ground, as Jessica smirked as a plan came to her head.

"We need a distraction, and fortunately, I'm great at those," she declared, pointing to herself with a self-assured nod.

The magician quickly stomped her foot onto the ground, letting smoke emit from her boots. The impromptu smokescreen, for a moment, didn't work, with the onslaught of balls seeming to never end.

That was, until the cannon switched its target to another group, suddenly pelting Rival with balls, causing the vocalist to scream out in pain. Jessica and Chander exchanged a slight nervous glance, the magician in particular chuckling nervously, but they quickly got back on track.

After some short maneuvering, Chander was stood on one end of the see-saw, while Jessica was visibly struggling to hold up a particularly heavy-looking iron ball.

"And… go!" Chander declared, as Jessica practically dropped the ball on the other side, however the sheer weight of the ball was enough to give Chander the momentum… to go flying right through the window, fortunately.

Unfortunately, it was clearly a rough landing if the loud crash signalling his landing was anything to say about it, but Chander soon poked his head out of the window with a thumbs-up, "Don't worry, I'll drop something to bring you up!"

Jessica soon moved to where Chander was stood previously, and waited as the acrobat grabbed the first heavy-looking thing he could find - a fairly large box, which he shook just to make sure it was dense enough.

Satisfied at the rumble of whatever was packed inside, Chander threw the box at the see-saw, with the force of the box being enough to fling Jessica up to join him on the second floor.

Just in time, too, since the box promptly exploded, destroying the see-saw, "I… did not know that'd happen," Chander grinned sheepishly, as Jessica raised a concerned eyebrow, "Stuff like that happens a lot when I'm around."

Jessica shrugged at the admittal, as an intern soon appeared behind the two, tapping them on the shoulders.

"Follow you? Alright," Jessica got the message, and the two made their way through the castle, guided by the unnamed intern.

Confessional - Chander

"So," Chander began, resting his hands behind his head in the confessional, "Jessica's definitely my type of person, y'know? We're both performers, so I can definitely see myself getting along with her."

Confessional - Jessica

"As you probably already heard, I am Mysterio, the master of illusions!" Jessica dramatically threw her arms out, "Honestly, I'm very excited to see what's in store for us - as long as it isn't more balls, that is."

Elsewhere, Rival was practically dragged by Octavia over to the pile, avoiding barrages of balls, where Brooke was currently eyeing up the same window that Chander and Jessica had jumped into.

"Well… what's the plan?" Rival asked weakly, the vocalist still in pain from the brunt of the attack, "We can't use the see-saw… since it got destroyed. We could climb up there, I guess."

Octavia and Brooke both shot him a dirty look, neither wanting to do that. Rival nodded, getting the message pretty quickly, "Okay I get that, I was just throwing it out there."

Brooke snapped her fingers, as an idea soon came to her head, "Why don't we just, like, make a ladder? It'd be way smoother than just climbing the wall, y'know?"

"Sounds good to me, and with what we've got I think it's doable. Octavia, you in?" Rival asked the media darling, looking directly up to her.

"I'd be totally fine with that," Octavia confirmed, not noticing Kanna, who was sneaking up behind the trio, "So let's, like, get going then!"

"Count me in!" Kanna gave the three a thumbs-up, catching them all off-guard.

"Alright - wait when did you get here?" Brooke jumped, surprised at Kanna's sudden entrance. Octavia and Rival reacted similarly, but the trio soon recovered.

They snickered at the shocked reactions, "Well, what are you waiting for, didn't you guys want to build a ladder or something?"

"Yeah, yeah, the ladder," Octavia rolled her eyes as she leant down, grabbing some scrap metal and a plank of wood, "Let's get actually making that, then."

The group of four all grabbed some supplies each, with Kanna notably noticing a wheelbarrow that was formerly flipped upside-down. The 'girl' flipped it over, letting loose a family raccoons that immediately attacked them at being disturbed.

"Okay, so the plan is just to, like, rush the wall, got it?" Octavia told the others, getting a nod from Rival and a thumbs-up from Brooke. She turned around to face Kanna, and the 'girl' threw the last raccoon towards the pile, causing it to scurry off elsewhere.

"Yup, all ready," they grinned, if a bit disheveled after their brief encounter with the raccoons. The 'girl' placed everything else they had into the wheelbarrow, and the four began the mad dash to reach the wall.

The cannon soon aimed itself right back at them, Rival in particular. Not wanting to get hit, the vocalist raised the log in front of him, fortunately blocking most of the hits. Octavia and Brooke soon coped him, with Kanna just running slightly faster so that they were behind Octavia.

The four soon made it to the wall, and let out a collective sigh of relief as the cannon no longer could aim at them due to being right below it.

"Alright, does anybody here know how to build a ladder?" Rival asked, to no response, as expected, "Well, that's not… good per se, but we can manage, right?"

Confessional - Brooke

"We couldn't," the shopper shrugged in mild defeat, "We tried our best, but…"

The quartet's finished ladder (if it could even be called that) was truly… something. It looked… less like a ladder and more like a large assortment of who-knows-what haphazardly stuck together with duct-tape, hopes, and dreams.

"I'm sure it works," Rival smiled, although it was clearly slightly forced, "I'll just… climb up it like this…"

The vocalist made his way up the 'ladder', almost falling when a stray stick broke off beneath his feet. Eventually, though, he did reach the window, "I made it! If it worked for me it should probably work for you guys, too!"

Kanna audbBrooke gulped, but followed after Rival, fortunately having a slightly smoother climb up the pile. The shopper breathed out a sigh of relief at the top and gestured for Kanna to make the climb, but they were intercepted by Octavia.

"Move it, I'm not waiting all day," the media darling impatiently declared, as Kanna shrugged incredulously, "If I'm not doing something, the camera won't even be on me, it's my turn now!"

Unfortunately for Octavia, the pile clearly wasn't stable underneath her… size (as she was significantly taller than Brooke or Rival), and visibly shook, even more so than when Brooke or Rival climbed up it. The two exchanged a worried glance, and Kanna stepped back nervously, as Octavia kept on climbing.

The 'ladder' shook even more violently, and Octavia let out a small scream as it wobbled. The media darling kept on climbing, anyway, and eventually made it up to the top of the ladder… however there was one problem. The pile was wobbling violently, and Octavia clearly didn't want to reach off (for obvious reasons).

"Just jump, I'll catch you!" Rival called out, opening his arms out in a gesture, and Octavia nodded. The media darling made the leap… and landed right next to the vocalist, missing him entirely.

"Are… you okay?" the vocalist asked, getting a quick thumbs-up from Octavia.

"I'm, like, fine," she claimed, getting up from the floor with a small groan, "It just hurt a little, that' all."

"You coming up?" Brooke poked her head out of the window, as Kanna considered their options - either the safe(ish) way of using anything else… or the decidedly less safe method of using the ladder, with was even more uneven after Octavia's ascent.

"Here goes nothing…" they sighed, putting one hand on the pile as they climbed up.

"Don't worry about it, if you can overcome this… rival, I doubt anything Chris can come up with will be this unstable!" Rival encouraged from the window, trying to lighten the mood with a bad joke.

Confessional - Kanna

"If he isn't a real-life harem protagonist, I don't know who is," Kanna snickered, laughing lightly to themselves.

Confessional - Kira

"Okay, these people are putting way too much effort into this," she smirked, rubbing her nose with a smirk on her face, "Chris technically didn't say we had to go in through the wall… so I had a better idea."

"Least effort needed, that's what I always say."

Kira was simply… walking alongside the wall, her left hand held against it as she walked, "Too easy, honestly."

The gamer's odd method caught the eye of Godfrey, who was looking over a pile of junk, trying to figure out just what to do with them, "What's she up to?" he pondered, scratching his goatee as he decided to approach her.

"What… exactly are you doing?" he questioned, his sudden appearance catching the gamer off-guard for a split second, "Because right now, you're just walking. Do you even want to win?"

"Of course I do," Kira smirked, turning around to face him, "You see, Chris never specified that we had to go in through one of the windows, did he?"

Godfrey nodded along, "I think I know where you're with this," he commented, as Kira threw him a small finger gun.

"Well, maybe you do, maybe you don't," she grinned, looking up towards him with a self-satisfied smirk on her face, "So because doing it the hard way is… too much effort for me, I'm just gonna walk around it and find the front door. Too easy, really."

The charmer raised his eyebrows, internally cursing himself for not realising the loophole, "Impressive," he complimented, following Kira as the gamer resumed their path.

"What, are you just gonna follow me or something?" she questioned.

"That's the plan," Godfrey confirmed, giving the gamer a thumbs-up (despite her being in front of him).

"Go ahead, it's not like it matters in this challenge or anything," she shrugged one-handedly, "This is just a warm-up round, if anything."

"I've gotta agree," the charmer nodded, as the two passed around a corner, "Good to know that Chris is up to his old tricks, at the very least."

"You know what, Godfrey, I've got an idea," Kira let a devious grin cross over her face, "How about an alliance, you and me. Since I'm smart, and you've probably got something going for you, right?"

"That's a horrible idea," Godfrey bluntly admitted, confounding Kira for a split second, "I'd betray you eventually, you know, since somebody's gotta betray people around here."

Kira just shrugged, not seeming too off-put by Godfrey's honesty, "Fine by me, I'd do the same thing really, it's just a game after all. So… do we have a deal?"

"Alright then," Godfrey agreed, crossing his arms as the two soon found themselves standing right in front of the main doors, "One more thing. We keep this this alliance deal a secret."

"Works for me," Kira shrugged, smirking at the main

"And we're at the main doors, just perfect!"

Kira walked right up to them, cracking her knuckles, "Alrighty then, I'll just open them like this and…"

As the gamer tried to push them open, the doors whirred themselves open without her, getting a deadpan reaction out of her, "Oh come on, I was gonna have a cool moment there," she sighed, before she walked, "Whatevs, it's easier this way, I'll take it."

Godfrey followed her inside, and the two just stood in the empty lobby for a second as they pondered what to do, "So… now what?"

"I dunno, I didn't think this far!" Kira laughed, snickering as Godfrey crossed his arms in disbelief, not being too impressed with the gamer.

They were met with Chris, who just looked shocked (and confused), "How did you guys even get in here so fast, the interns were supposed to take you from that wall to me!"

"We went through the front door," Godfrey pointed behind him, "You never specified that we had to go in through the wall, so we-"

Kira coughed, not wanting to share the praise, and Godfrey begrudgingly corrected himself, "She had the idea to walk to the front door."

"Impressive," Chris scratched his chin, "But don't do that again!"

"If you say so~" Kira gave a mock salute as she spoke in a sing-song voice, poking her tongue out towards the host.

Confessional - Godfrey

"Kira? She's an alright alliance partner for now, even if she's… not good company. Believe me, I have no intentions of letting her reach the merge, but it's much, much easier to have her on my side," Godfrey told the camera, "As she'd probably say, it's just a game. I simply plan on winning it."

Back with the groups attempting the challenge the intended way, Jackie took one look at the ladder and shook her head, "Yeah… no," she crossed her arms, looking on as the ladder shook, threatening to fall apart at any additional weight.

The athlete turned turned back towards the pile, attempting to find something of use within the pile, when she overheard Casey muttering to herself.

"Wait a second… is that a bridge or something?" the copycat was peering at the wall, at a section far from the ladder, with another entrance. She was hiding behind the relative safety of a pile of junk, and Jackie turned to look at what she was looking at - and much like what Casey said, there was a 'bridge' consisting of several pieces of wall that had seemingly pushed themselves out, leading towards another window.

Confessional - Casey

"Okay, at this point I'm just convinced that they're leaving all these windows open on purpose," Casey snarked, raising an eyebrow.

Julia seemed to have the same idea, and the runaway was the first of the three to make the dash, clenching her teeth as she braved the field between the pile and the wall. The runaway managed to make it over to the other side with minimal issue, letting loose a sigh of relief as she made it, only getting some minor wounds caused by the ball cannon.

The athlete was not to be outdone, and swiftly shot off, managing to avoid the balls through sheer speed alone. Once she'd managed to make it to where the route up began, she flashed a cocky grin towards Julia, "Am I good or what?" she bragged, as Julia shrugged, "I'm the fastest in my track team, too."

"Uh, yeah," the runaway simply shrugged, not really sure what to say as Casey piled in. The copycat seemed to have had the same idea as the other two… but had clearly failed, if the bruises adorning her body said anything about it.

"Never… again…" she groaned, letting her face hit the floor with a thud. Jackie and Julia exchanged a brief look of concern, as Casey propped herself up against the wall, Jackie supported her up, letting the copycat catch her breath.

Confessional - Jackie

"I didn't want to just leave her there - not before the game's really began, at least," the athlete nodded, crossing her arms.

"My plan is to win pretty honourably, at least," she explained with a confident grin on her face, "Once the real game begins, though, expect me to ace most of the challenges."

Julia, not really seeing a reason to stick around, turned to the obstacle at hand. The path up was a variety of wall segments that seemed to have been pushed out… somehow, with them ascending higher and higher to form an array of staircases and bridges up to the door they wanted to reach.

They let out a small breath, before beginning to start the climb, ascending up a pair of block-like steps. From where they where, she'd probably need to climb… around twelve steps total, she estimated, as the steps were decently high-up, reaching around her waist-level each. The runaway managed to climb up two more steps before reaching a fragmented 'bridge' across to the next steps, as several blocks were flat-out missing.

Meanwhile, Casey had got back on to her feet, and Jackie looked up to the steps, the copycat in particular almost regretting her decision.

"You go first," Casey offered, stretching her arm out in a nearly-dramatic gesture.

Jackie cracked her knuckles, and immediately began to climb up the stairs, following after Julia. The runaway was not to be outdone, however, and began to cross the uneven staircase, jumping from block to block in order to avoid falling down below. Jackie, and then Casey, both followed, and Julia soon managed to make it to some more steps, beginning to reach some more levels.

"Oh no, you're not getting ahead THAT easily," Casey glared, not liking how far ahead that Julia was, as she reached into her pockets to grab something - anything - to disrupt her, "Dang it pockets, why can't you have something useful in you for once?"

Jackie gave her a curious look at the complaint, but the athlete soon made it to the bridge section. The three kept going up the bridge, until Julia had almost reached the window. By this point, Jackie had managed to catch up, while Casey was… clearly lagging behind.

Not even noticing Jackie at all, Julia jumped into the window, followed shortly by Jackie. An intern was waiting for them, but they gestured to wait for Casey to finish. The copycat managed to reach just outside the window, but unfortunately, reach before it, the block beneath her feet sank into the wall, causing the copycat to almost drop, if it weren't for her clinging onto the windowsill.

"Come on…" Jackie pulled her up, straining her breath as she managed to bring Casey up to the room, getting a thumbs-up in response, "Phew."

"No thanks to you, huh?" Casey glared at Julia, who just gave her an almost uncaring look in response.

Confessional - Julia

"What? I want to win, and she's an obstacle to that," Julia reasoned, crossing her arms, "I wouldn't leave her to die… she probably would've landed on the grass, at least."

Confessional - Mikey

"Back home, people consider me weird," the jokester chuckled, leaning against the confessional camera, "Buuut compared to some of these guys, I'd say I'm actually kinda normal, haha. Not that that's a bad thing, these guys are the best kind of weird!"

Mikey himself was currently looking through the pile, a small bundle of assorted items - some fireworks, a skateboard and some cardboard, among others - sat under his right arm, kept together loosely with some rope.

"Where to go, where to go…" the jokester muttered, as he looked between the two used entrances he could see, and shook his head, "Nah, I wanna try something different…"

In the same general junk pile, Anu was also figuring out how he wanted to attempt the challenge, and his attention was immediately brought towards a vent fixed on the wall, "Well, Princess," he narrated, the bullfrog sat comfortably on his shoulder, "I think we've found our way in."

Mikey, hearing Anu's voice, ran around the pile to see what the role-player was up to, "Where?" he asked simply, catching the roleplayer's attention.

"Our plan is to sneak in through that vent right there," the role-player pointed his spear at the vent in question, which was just out of bouncing reach, "Unfortunately, we couldn't find any rope to climb up, but we've had far tougher challenges before! But I've just had a brilliant idea…"

Mikey, curious, raised an eyebrow, "My firework powered skateboard idea was cool… but what's your way in, then? I've got rope, if you need it."

Anu just grinned, pointing to his scarf, "No need for that, and it's a secret! But, while you're, why don't you join my party - the more the merrier!"

"Why not?" Mikey grinned, accepting the offer as he dropped his pile, "So… we just run to the vent?"

Anu scratched his chin for a moment, thinking it over, before he shook his head in disagreement, "We'll do that… in a moment. But first, we should see if anybody else needs our assistance, no? I wouldn't be the greatest alchemist in the Bullywag Swamp if I didn't at least try to help those in need!"

"The… what swamp?" Mikey was slightly confused at the roleplayer's 'homeland', "But sure, there's only a few people left so why not?"

"The Bullywag Swamp, of course!" Anu proudly puffed his chest out, as he told the tale of his 'homeland', "It's just east of the Wollyhop Marsh, and south of the Great Hydra Forest… we don't go there often."

Mikey nodded along, as if he understood a word that Anu was saying (he didn't).

"But I'm getting off-track! For now, we shall build up our party!" Anu declared, "We'll meet up right back here once we have!"

"Can't argue with that, I'll be back," Mikey smiled at Anu's plan, as the two split off - Mikey going north and Anu going south.

Mikey went north, coming across Freddy and Jezebelle - the former was currently looking through a pile, while the latter seemed to be preparing to make a break for the wall. Mikey, thinking quickly, had a perfect idea. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he took a deep breath and shouted.

"HEY GUYS!" he called, getting just the reactions he'd hoped for - Freddy perked his head up, and Jezebelle immediately span on her heel to face him.

"What do youse want?" the puffball raised an eyebrow, as Mikey just grinned, internally pleased that his plan had worked, "Can't ya see I was about to make a break for it?"

"Well, me and Anu just came up with a great plan - you see that vent," Mikey pointed towards the vent, "We've got some rope, and we're gonna climb in!"

Jezebelle nodded, seemingly content with the reasoning, but Freddy had an… important question, first, "The vents? Aren't you worried that there's something like… an animatronic hiding in there? Like Springtrap?"

In response, Jezebelle just rolled her eyes, but Mikey shrugged, "Youse seriously believe that there'll be something like that in there?"

Mikey just shrugged, "Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Who knows?"

"Exactly," Freddy grinned, liking Mikey's response, "But I'm good with taking the risk, so count me in."

"Eh, whateva, I'm in," Jezebelle agreed, and Mikey internally pumped his fists.

Confessional - Freddy

"Usually, I'd be fairly confident in saying that there aren't any animatronics hiding around - they're not exactly quiet," Freddy explained, adjusting his bib with a chuckle, "But this whole castle screams 'animatronic hideaway', so I'm gonna be just that little bit cautious, you know?"

The trio soon re-grouped at the pile, where Anu was waiting for them, joined by Tobias, who had his arms crossed, giving the rest of the group a look-over, "This is our squad? Eh, I've worked with worse," he affirmed, giving them a small nod.

Mikey and Freddy ignored the minor insult, while Jezebelle rolled her eyes. Anu slammed the blunt end of his toy spear onto the pile, standing tall over his 'party' as he stood on top of a pile, "Alright, here's the plan! There's a secret entrance to the Shrouded Castle of Fivefeetapart-"

"What the heck is he talking about?" Tobias stage-whispered to Mikey, who simply shrugged.

"Best to go along with it, I don't really know either," Mikey whispered back, prompting an eye-roll from the drummer.

To his credit, Anu ignored the comments, and continued on with the speech, pointing towards the vent with his right hand, "-right through there, so we just-"

Before he could finish, though, the role-player was struck in the back of the head by a ball - turns out, standing on top of a pile in plain sight leaves you firmly in cannon range.

The frog man fell face-first onto the ground in front of him, causing the other four to all bounce back to let him fall… except for Mikey, who fortunately picked him up, "Don't worry, I got him. As he was saying, we just go through that vent. So let's run before somebody else gets knocked out!"

The other three all exchanged nods, and ran straight through, the cannon as usual firing right at them. Mikey lagged behind since he was carrying Anu, but fortunately the cannon didn't hit him… it did strike Anu once, forcefully enough to wake him up.

"Princess… did we find the well yet…" he slurred out, clearly out of it, as Mikey ignored him, eventually reaching the wall with the vent, and the rest of the group.

Mikey took the scarf from around Anu's neck and was about to throw it up, when Jezebelle realised something, "Hold it! How's the rope gonna stay up there, there ain't anything to wrap it around!"

"Oh, that's true!" Freddy agreed, looking through his pockets to try and find something to throw up to the vents, "I haven't got anything on me though to throw up there… do you guys?"

Mikey shrugged, while Anu was only just returning to reality, so that left…

Confessional - Tobias

"Usually, I'd never do what you're about to see," Tobias let out a long, annoyed sigh, "I might hate being this short, but it has some perks. My bandmates are never gonna let me forget this…"

"Mikey, get me up there," he told the jokester, a stern look on his face as Mikey looked taken aback, but shrugged anyways.

"If you say so…" he agreed, picking up the drummer, struggling slightly but managing to do so, before he took a quick look up to the vent, "Here goes nothing!"

He took a deep breath, before quite literally throwing the drummer up to the vents, Tobias diving in to safely land. The drummer turned around, and reached through his pockets, before finding one of his drumsticks, "Eh, this'll have to do… bring me the rope!"

Freddy threw the scarf up to the drummer, who wrapped it around the stick before stabbing the drumstick into the vent with his full force, lodging it in there.

"You can go up now, all thanks to me!" he boasted, getting three cheers from Freddy, Mikey and Anu and a small grin from Jezebelle, as the group began to make their way to the vent.

Confessional - Jezebelle

The puffball just shrugged, "Well, the vent ain't my choice of entrance, I'll be honest, but I ain't looking a gift entrance in the mouth."

Confessional - Anu

The frog roleplayer was adjusting his scarf, giving it a small swing as Princess ate a few stray flies out of sheer boredom, "This scarf? It's made from the finest materials in the Bullywag Swamp, so I knew it'd be able to carry me up there!"

In the main hall of the castle, Chris, Chef and the other eleven contestants were all lounging around, waiting for the final five to enter.

Chris himself was impatiently counting the contestants, using his finger to point at them from his position in front of a large, blank screen, "One… two… four… six… eight… ten… eleven. We're missing five. What's taking them so long?"

Chef shrugged, letting out a small laugh, "Beats me. Who knows, maybe they got eaten."

Chris awkwardly joined in, but their laughter was interrupted as a vent on the floor shook violently, startling them all. The vent lid popped open, and Tobias poked his head out, looking around, "Yup, this is the right one. Everybody out."

Kira simply had one thing to say at that, a grin on her face, "Are you the imposter? 'Cause that's kind of sus-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up," Tobias glared at her, basically speaking the entire communal opinion as several others groaned at the joke.

The drummer was the first to leave the vent, followed shortly by Anu (who fortunately had his scarf back), Mikey, Freddy and Jezebelle brought up the rear.

"Finally!" the puffball sighed in relief, grinning as she looked around, "I was gettin' real tired of crawlin' around!"

"You… went in through the vents?" Brooke questioned, visibly astounded as Freddy nodded in glee.

"Yep! And we all made it out alive, so all's good!" the FNAF Fanatic cheered, as Chris cleared his throat.

Coughing to get their attention, the host grinned, "Yes, yes, it's all good. But now the REAL fun begins. As you could probably tell from the cannon and wall, this is no ordinary castle!"

"We all read about it when we signed up, we know there's-" Octavia butted in, rolling her eyes before she was cut off by Chris.

"Quiet, I'm building tension here!" the host glared, "And don't interrupt me again. As I was saying, this is no ordinary castle! And that's-"

As if to add insult to injury, Doppel's face popped onto the screen, shocking everybody, even those who probably claimed they weren't shocked, "Hello!" the AI cheerfully greeted, as Chris pouted. Most of the contestants were naturally shocked, a few (namely Freddy and Anu) letting out gasps.

Chris growled under his breath, getting a few chuckles from Chef and most of the contestants at his misfortune, but he continued on, "Thanks for that, Doppel," he snarked, giving the AI a glare.

Doppel's 'face' shifted to a cheeky grin, as Chris continued to explain, "As you all know by now, this here is the one that was shooting you, not me… for once."

"Just call me Doppel!" the AI introduced themselves, throwing a small peace sign towards the contestants, "And welcome to me! Since I am basically the castle~"

"That's kinda gross," Chander commented, looking warily at the AI.

"Pretty cool find, right guys? Honestly I'm surprised we're even allowed them, but who cares?" Chris announced, before scratching his chin, "And all sixteen of you made it in… good, I didn't want to have to promote an intern or something."

"What about teams?" Jackie raised an eyebrow at the lack of them.

"Geez, patience, I was getting to that!" Chris spread out his arms at the athlete, "Seriously, have some patience people! Anyway, me and Doppel will each take it in turns to pick somebody for our teams."

"Then… what was the point of the challenge?" Jessica asked, raising an eyebrow as Chris smirked.

"Because I thought it'd be funny?" Chris grinned to a collective groan, as he and Doppel began to look over the cast.

Confessional - Chris

The host was now sat in the iconic outhouse confessional, and took a deep breath, "Ahh… the sweet smell of nostalgia. We've brought back the iconic outhouse confessional too, so our contestants can confess to whatever they want right in there, without Doppel ever knowing!"

Confessional - Julia

The runaway was looking up at the top of the confessional somewhat appreciatively, before she turned to give the camera her usual blunt look, "Honestly… I'm just here to win," she admitted, "I don't really see the point to making too many friends while I stay, if I'm being honest."

"Since I'm the host… I get to go first. Octavia, stand on the blue mat!"

Chris gestured to a blue mat on the floor, and the media darling grinned as her name was called out, "Good to see somebody has taste around here."

Doppel immediately knew who they wanted, "I pick Jezebelle!" they called out, "And you can stand right here!"

A white-coloured mat on the floor suddenly lit up, eliciting insulted gasps from Chris and Octavia and a grin from Jezebelle.

"Why can't I get a glowy mat…" Chris whined, getting an eye roll from Chef and a mischievous poke of the tongue from Doppel in response.

"Knew youse would choose someone good!" the puffball cheered, as she moved to the white mat.

"Well, I pick Rival then!" Chris crossed his arms, as Rival moved over, giving his teammate a wave.

"Dang, looks like we're on the same team, huh," he shrugged, getting a smirk from Octavia.

Doppel pondered their choice for a while, but eventually chose somebody, "Anu, you go here!" they called out, getting a slightly suspicious look from the roleplayer, who otherwise moved to join Casey.

Confessional - Anu

The roleplayer was frantically searching through the pages of the monster manual, "Okay, I can maybe excuse Freddy Fazbear, maybe that's just an owlbear who happened to be named… for some reason. But Doppel? They don't match anything in the Monster Manual… at all!"

It was soon a quick back and forth between the two hosts.

"Jessica, blue mat!" Chris called for the magician, who gave her team a grin as she moved to join them.

"Casey, I choose you!" Doppel ordered the copycat, who just grinned as she moved to join her team.

"I'll take… Mikey," Chris decided, getting a dopey grin from the jokester. He gave his teammates all high-fives as he joined, even if begrudgingly from Octavia.

"Godfrey!" Doppel simply shouted out the charmer, who moved over to his team with a charming smile. Casey threw him a distasteful look, but Jezebelle and Anu both welcomed him in.

"Fine, I pick Kira then!" the host shouted for the gamer, who lazily strolled over to her team with all of the patience in the world, resting her arms behind her head.

"Well, my next pick is Julia," Doppel picked, getting a nod from the runaway, who simply moved to join her team with little fanfare.

"Kanna, you're with me," Chris pointed to them, and Kanna moved to join their team, throwing a wink towards Rival… which Octavia clearly didn't like, if the sneer on her face said anything about it.

"Tobias, this way!" Doppel called for the drummer, who threw a 'rock-out' gesture as he stepped on the white mat.

"Well, I'll take Brooke then," Chris pointed to the shopper, who grinned at being put on the same team as the rest of the 'ladder' squad.

"Jackie, looks like you're with me!" Doppel called for the athlete, who nodded and ran to join her team, even if she was a little annoyed at being left to second to last.

"Chander, you're on the blue team!" Chris called the acrobat, who grinned and joined his team with a cartwheel… just to show off, getting a few approving nods.

"And guess I've got Freddy! Welcome to team Doppel!" the FNAF fanatic beamed at finally being chosen, and moved on to the glowing white mat.

Confessional - Jackie

Jackie shrugged, but had a small smirk on her face, "My team? Honestly, it looks pretty good, we've definitely got a good mix of skills and personalities here. I know I can lead this team to victory, I think."

Chris let out a smirk as he saw the teams get filled out, "Alright then. Everybody on the blue mat, aka team me, aka the better team, you are now known as… the Diamond Dodos! That's Rival, Octavia, Brooke, Kanna, Kira, Chander, Jessica and Mikey!"

Doppel's face was soon replaced by a logo of a dodo protectively clutching a diamond, in a vivid blue colour, getting some cheers from the team.

"Obviously I'm a diamond, hah!" Octavia boasted, getting an eye roll from some of her teammates.

"Oh, that looks cool!" Chander grinned at the logo, exchanging a high-five with Jessica as he did so.

"And as for team white, aka the lesser team because I didn't pick it…" Chris turned to the team on the now no longer glowing white mat.

"You're the Pearl Platypuses!" much like with the Dodos, Doppel's interface changed to display a platypus holding a pearl, running away from who-knows-what.

The Platypuses looked at their team-mates, with most just giving each other small nods of acknowledgement… save

"What?" Tobias questioned, raising a confused eyebrow at the logo, "What the hell do platypuses and dodos have to do with a castle, or AI?"

"Nothing at all!" Chris proudly stated, "We just thought they were funny and went with it."

"Rule of funny, I can respect that," Kanna shrugged, as Chris continued.

"Thank you Kanna, and we've got one last announcement before I give you guys some free time - we've also hid the one and only Chris McLean brand Immunity Idol within the castle!" Chris held up a replica in his hands, as confetti filled Doppel's screen, "We asked Doppel to hide it somewhere in the castle - not even I know where it is!"

The contestants (mostly) gasped at the news, with Casey in particular seeming particular pleased with the announcement.

Confessional - Freddy

"You know, Doppel being able to see everything in here makes them so much more terrifying…" the FNAF fanatic chuckled, a small bead of sweat rolling down his face, "And awesome… but still terrifying. Some of both, really"

Confessional - Casey

"See, my strategy is to copy one of Total Drama's best strategists… Scott," she smirked, "He made it to the final four twice, so he knew what he was doing, all I gotta do is tweak his plan a bit and I'm golden. But anyways, that idol is perfect for my plan… I just need to use it well, and I'll get the biggest threat out… which is obviously Godfrey. Seriously, he TOLD me he's a villain… why would I want him around?

Confessional - Godfrey

The charmer scratched his goatee in thought, "Well, I definitely want that idol," he simply stated, "But who doesn't, let's be honest. The only real threats here strategy-wise - at first glance - are Kira and Casey, and I'm working with one for now and can easily get rid of the other like this."

He snapped his fingers, chuckling to himself, "As for my own strategy? For now, I'll just lay low and figure out the dynamics, if I'm being honest. But I've got bigger plans in store, don't you worry."

Chris just chuckled at the reaction, "Cool, cool. All you need to know is that your rooms are thataway," Chris pointed towards a specific hall, "Boys, on the left. Girls, on the right. Due to the… uneven gender ratio here, one of the somebody's gotta go with the guys."

The girls all exchanged looks, before Kanna shrugged, "Eh, I'll do it," they shrugged, as Chris nodded.

"Alright then," the host agreed, just happy for the simple response, "Now, you guys can explore this area for a while…don't worry about luggage, it'll be in your rooms. And don't bother me, I'm gonna in my private hot tub!"

Immediately, most of the contestants piled out to go to their rooms, many simply wanting to relax. Freddy was near the back of the pack, and the FNAF fanatic was about to enter his room when he tripped into something… or, more accurately, someone.

That person was none other than Ember, who immediately scrambled back upon being bumped into.

"Oh, hey!" Freddy waved towards the programmer, who awkwardly waved back towards him, "You look kinda familiar… do I know you from somewhere?"

Ember just let out an awkward chuckle, avoiding eye contact, "Um… no? We've literally never met, haha…"

"Wait a minute, you kinda look like Doppel, that's where I know you from!" Freddy remembered, giving the programmer a nod, "What's the connection here? Did they steal your face? Or…"

"Where did that come from? No, nothing like that, I'm just their creator, that's all, nothing more to see here, haha," Ember chuckled lightly, before they muttered under their breath, "Using my own face probably wasn't the best idea but it was all I had, if you get what I mean."

"You said you created them? That's so cool!" Freddy praised the programmer, as the two were now the only ones still in the halls - everyone else was already in the bedrooms, "How'd you even… y'know, get this whole place set up, though?"

Ember just rubbed the back of their head, "Well, it's a long story - probably too long for me to tell you right now - but it really isn't that interesting so it doesn't really matter if you get what I mean."

Freddy gave the programmer a blank look at the over-explanation, but shrugged anyway, "Well, it doesn't matter, this place is really cool - are you sure there aren't any animatronics hiding in the walls, though?"

Ember flinched back and raised their arms in surrender, caught entirely off-guard by Freddy's question, "Animatronics? Ob-obviously not, why-why would there be animatronics here, haha, it doesn't even make any sense…"

"If you say so," Freddy nodded slowly, before he turned back to Ember, "So… what can Doppel do, anyway?"

"Well, uh, a lot really," Ember explained, "They pretty much control the whole castle… so if anything gets a little bit, um, quirky, it's their fault."

"Makes sense to me," Freddy grinned, as Ember continued.

"So if there are animatronics in here - which there shouldn't be - Doppel's probably controlling them too," Ember reasoned, "But as I said, there-"

"Well, I've seen enough horror movies to know where this could go," Freddy laughed, cutting Ember off, as they let out a small sigh at the implication.

Confessional - Ember

Ember gave the camera a single, longer sigh in defeat, "Every time - well almost I guess. Almost every time I show somebody Doppel, they always think they'll turn evil because they saw a movie with an evil AI… I'm kinda sick of it, not like I'd tell anybody but still."

"Have you seen Doppel? I don't think it's possible for them to turn evil, they might be a bit mischievous but they're mostly harmless, haha."

Freddy offered Ember a small high-five, "Well, I should probably get going now - I wanna be ready for tomorrow's challenge. But honestly, this is still awesome, um… what's your name."

Ember awkwardly followed through with the gesture… in the most pathetic way possible, admittedly, since it did just flop against their hoodie, "Oh, sorry about that, I'm Ember, haha. Not like you'll need to remember it much though… I'm not a contestant!"

"Don't worry, I'll keep it in mind!" Freddy called out, as he walked off to the guy's dorms, leaving Ember to sigh in relief at a somewhat successful social interaction.

Confessional - Freddy

"Y'know what, Ember's pretty cool," he decided, "Sure, they're awkward, but they made something like Doppel, well, real, and that makes them cool in my book, at least! Doppel's terrifying, but in a cool way."

Elsewhere, in the girls' cabin, most of them were busy setting up their bunks. There were four pairs, and they'd all quickly chosen who to bunk with - Jackie above Octavia, Jezebelle above Kira, Jessica above Casey, and Brooke above Julia.

Most of the pairs had simply given the other a nod of acknowledgement… well, Octavia begged for a top bunk that Jackie refused to give her, but other than that, most of the pairs hadn't acknowledged each other yet. Almost all of them had left the room for one reason or another, with the exceptions of Brooke and Julia, both of whom were still unpacking.

The shopper turned to the runaway, giving her a small smile and a wave, "Hey, what's up?" she greeted, trying to spark some conversation with them.

"Not much," Julia responded bluntly, the runaway clearly not wanting to talk.

"It doesn't look like 'not much', to me," Brooke let out a small chuckle as she rummaged through her bag, "You haven't like, talked to anybody at all, really."

Julia raised an eyebrow at Brooke, but stayed silent as she continued, "So… what's up with that, then?"

"I don't want to talk to people, that's it," Julia stated, turning her head to the door, "Not much wrong with that."

Brooke scratched her chin, giving it a though-over, "I know we're, like, on different teams and all, but wouldn't people just vote you off for not getting along with them?"

"Then I just won't lose, then. It's that simple," Julia decided, crossing her arms and giving a small nod, "And if I don't interact with them, they don't really have any reason to dislike me."

Brooke chuckled, getting a confused raised eyebrow from Julia, "Really? I don't think that's, like, even possible…"

Julia shrugged, "It probably isn't, but I'll still aim to win, at least."

"Well, what're you gonna do with the money if you win, then?" Brooke asked curiously, "I know I'm gonna use it to, like, expand my own fashion business, probably."

"None of your business, really," Julia bluntly stated, walking out of the room and leaving Brooke by herself.

"Oh… kay then," Brooke said, unsure just how to react to that.

Confessional - Julia

The runaway shrugged, "Honestly, I'm just aiming to win… isn't everyone? Brooke's probably genuine, I think, but there's some people here who I definitely don't trust."

Confessional - Brooke

"What was that for?" the shopper questioned, sat with her legs crossed, "I'm not sure what her whole deal is, if I'm, like, being honest. If she wants to keep her reasons for winning secret, I'm, not gonna pry… but I am gonna guess, probably."

Meanwhile, in the not-girls dorm, the guys (and Kanna) had similarly managed to set themselves up with very minimal issues. Anu above Godfrey, Freddy above Mikey, Tobias above Rival, and Chander above Kanna. Freddy was just walking out the door, having been late into the room, leaving just Kanna and Godfrey as the only ones remaining.

The charmer had one question on his mind as he ran a hand through his hair, "So… why'd you decide to switch to the… shall we say, guy's room, Kanna?" he asked, catching Kanna's attention.

"There's two reasons. First is that I'm not a girl," Kanna answered vaguely with a smirk, as Godfrey frowned in confusion.

"So, are you non-binary, then?" Godfrey assumed, scratching his chin.

"Never said anything about that," the top of Kanna's lip twitched slightly higher, as Godfrey's brow furrowed, trying to answer.

"Well, what do you identify as?" the charmer inquired, crossing his arms as he tried to figure them out.

"A man," they answered simply, confusing the charmer further, "People get it wrong all the time, don't worry about it."

"But, Chris said that there was an uneven gender ratio… doesn't that imply that you're at the very least not male?" the charmer questioned, giving them a suspicious glance.

"Well, he's Chris, he's unreliable and just that little bit old and kinda senile, isn't he?" they gave Godfrey a side-eyed look, their eyes twinkling mischievously as he tried to figure them out, "So he just got fooled by me being very feminine appearance-wise, that's it."

Godfrey shook his head, "You know what, it doesn't matter. What's your second reason for wanting to go here, then?"

"Well, you know how I said that, well, Chris thinks I'm a girl? Well, turns out basically everyone thinks that… so, y'know," Kanna gave Godfrey a smirk, "I'm just gonna mess around with that, especially with Rival."

"And you're telling me this… why?" Godfrey's growing confusion was evident, as Kanna shrugged.

"Eh, you're not on my team, so it doesn't matter anywhere near as much if you know or not," they admitted, throwing their arms out, "And you're in on the joke, just enjoy it."

Confessional - Kanna

"Okay, I might as well clear this up for the audience - I'm non-binary, they/them," they shrugged, giving the confessional a laid-back grin, "Buuut… I wanna have a little fun and mess with everyone, so I told the application people that I'm a girl just so I can mess with everyone, Chris included."

In the hallways between the rooms, most of the contestants were simply looking around their new home for the next few weeks, with many just taking in the surroundings. Jezebelle was one such person, and the puffball was simply giving the rooms nearest the dorms a quick look - usually just opening doors, giving the room a look-over and moving on to the next. Most of the rooms were unremarkable, many just being plain and having a few decorations, but nothing of note… save for one room with

The puffball approached the last room much like the last, and opened the doors to find what was clearly a dining hall - everything from the two tables, to the seats, to the booth towards an open kitchen clearly gave it away. Chef was already preparing what could potentially be called food by some, getting a wary glance from Jezebelle.

The puffball gave it a small nod, satisfied with what she saw, before she turned around… only to be face-to-face with Tobias as she stood in the doorway, "What do youse want?" she asked the drummer, looking down towards him.

"I just want to get in, is that too much to ask?" he looked up at the puffball, the two engaged in a silent staring contest, both of them refusing to budge… until Jezebelle finally rolled her eyes, moving aside.

"Fine, I was about done here anyway," she shrugged, as Tobias made his way to check the dining hall.

"Heh, the old stare-them-down trick, that always works on my bandmates. Knew it'd come in handy here," the drummer smirked, giving the room a look-over, reaching the obvious conclusion as he turned back around to Jezebelle, who was now curious.

"You're in a band?" the puffball commented, looking at the drummer incredulously, "I just figured you were an angry child going through a phase or something."

Tobias cast the puffball a distasteful glare, "Oh come on," he groaned, "Just 'cause I'm short doesn't mean I'm a goddamn child."

"Yeah, but it kinda makes you look like one," Jezebelle noted, causing Tobias to growl slightly under his breath.

"I've heard that one before," he rolled his eyes, "But back to the point, my band's called The Rogue Penguins… our guitarist Brandon found it on a generator and thought it was hilarious, so we're stuck with it. Not what I'd pick, but it could've been better."

Jezebelle let out a small chuckle, "If you think you're good at music, wait until you hear my singing," she boasted, as it was now Tobias's turn to roll his eyes in doubt.

"What, and you're gonna send me to sleep or something?" the drummer snarked right back at Jezebelle, who grinned.

"Well, since you asked for it, I think I'll show you best performance…" Jezebelle took in a deep breath, confusing Tobias.

"Wait, right here? Right now?" the drummer questioned, as Jezebelle gave him a small nod, not wanting to waste her breath.

The puffball immediately burst into a lullaby, confusing the drummer immensely, "A… lullaby? Is this seriously your best song?" he questioned, scratching the back of his head.

Of course, this was Jezebelle who was singing, and the puffball's eyelids drooped shut, and she soon fell asleep, further confusing Tobias, "And… you're asleep now? The hell?"

Confessional - Tobias

"I have no idea what that was all about," the drummer commented as he stood in his full formidable height on the confessional, "But honestly, it could've been worse. At least I'm not with Octavia, so that's something."

"I swear, I hope the Dodos vote her off soon… at the very least I'll be able to kick her ass in the next challenge, so that's something"

The camera then cut to Chris stood just outside his hot-tub, in a very highly decorated and very Chris McLean-themed room, soaking wet, "And that's all for the first episode of Total Drama: Digital Mayhem!"

The host raised his arms out with a wide grin eager to get back, "Which team will win? Who will lose? And which unlucky resident of Castle McLean will go home first? Find out next time, on Total! Drama! Digital Mayhem!"

Doppel's voice called out around Chris, "Wait, you named my castle after yourself?"

"Of course I did," Chris nodded, "It was missing that… McLean spark, y'know."

"I don't," Doppel bluntly stated, getting a disappointed shake of the head in response.

"AI's still got a long way to go then," Chris decided, as the episode finally ended.

Diamond Dodos: Brooke, Chander, Jessica, Kanna, Kira, Mikey, Octavia, Rival

Pearl Platypuses: Anu, Casey, Freddy, Godfrey, Jackie, Jezebelle, Julia, Tobias

Author's Note: And that's the first episode of Digital Mayhem, finally out! While I'd probably not do everything the same if I wrote it now (i.e. Doppel would probably have been in the entire chapter instead of debuting halfway through, and some intros definitely would've gone differently), I'm still incredibly proud of myself for getting this out like this.

Since nobody went home today, I don't have a lot to say, but some questions for now - did I get your character right, and who do you think is going home first?

As always, happy writing/reading, and Kadachi out~