Chris McLean frowned as he looked at his phone, while Chef Hatchet was sat in the driver's seat of the blue car the pair were in. The two original hosts of the Total Drama series were driving along a single road through a forest, making their way to a particularly large castle in the distance. The castle, at least on the outside, appeared to be pretty standard - large grey walls, a few towers, essentially the typical castle deal. However, on closer glance, both hosts could see the wires that crossed the outside of the castle, and it was pretty obvious that it was created fairly recently - or at the very least, well-cared for.

"There's the place, Chef," Chris noted, the host rubbing his chin in anticipation, "A lot smaller than what I thought it'd be, honestly. But whatever, if we can just improve it a little bit, my comeback will be a blast!"

The host let out a chuckle, prompting Chef to roll his eyes at his co-host's antics, "Yeah, right," he snarked, as he started to park the car, settling just outside the building's grand entrance door, which was a particularly grand door that looked wooden at first glance.

"Look, I've lost my island and my other island, and the producers won't give me back my film lot, so I've got to have my comeback in the most over-the-top way I can think of to really put salt in the wound," the host grinned, leaving the car and approaching the door, "So far, so good, I gotta say."

"Looks kinda creepy to me," Chef noted, as the two approached the door. Curiously enough, when they got too close, the door whirred itself open, causing Chris to jump into Chef's hands, screaming in fear, causing the burly co-host to grumble under his breath.

"Don't mention that ever, dude," Chris 'threatened' the cook, as the two moved into the castle, the pair taking in the room. Upon their entrance, the room's lights whirred to life, revealing yet another room that kept with the traditional castle theme - there were a few candles mounted to the walls, and a pair of rather intimidating suits of armour poised either end of the room, blocking two other hallways. The other wall just had a blank screen instead. On a closer glance, the two noticed that the candle flames were entirely artificial.

"This place gives me the creeps," the host commented, moving towards the exit, "But I think it'll do nicely, so-"

Before Chris could finish, the two suits of armour whirred to life, mechanically moving to block the two from leaving, "Take Chef, I'm too handsome to die!" Chris panicked, hiding behind Chef.

"C-could you just… stop with the threatening?" a meek voice requested from one of the other hallways, and at their command, the two suits of armour complied, moving aside.

The speaker quickly revealed themself, and they were a 4'9 very pale teen with wispy auburn hair. They were very scrawny, however it hard to see that under the massively oversized dark grey hoodie and grey sweatpants they wore. They also wore orange sneakers, and had a pair of black and orange headphones around their neck, adding some colour to an otherwise grey ensemble. Their amber eyes seemed to dart around awkwardly, actively avoiding Chris and Chef, both of whom were looking at them in suspicion.

"Okay, who are YOU?" Chris asked them, narrowing his eyes, "I won this castle fair and square, so you better explain yourself!"

The newcomer gulped, reaching into their hoodie's pocket and pulling out some cards, reading from them as they spoke, "I'm Ed- I mean, Ember," they introduced themselves, letting out a little sigh of relief, "I uh… sort-of-kind-of own this place? Technically? It's hard to explain and-"

"Just cut to the chase," Chris frowned, annoyed with the programmer's stuttering already.

"Okay so, um, I created an AI and now it's pretty much possessing this entire castle, not sure how or why this place was even created and I kind of feel bad but-" Ember began to derail their thoughts, as Chris grinned to himself.

"Even better than I thought," he stage-whispered to Chef, before turning back to Ember, "You know what, kid. How would you like to share your project with the reality TV world? What's it called, anyway?"

"I'm not telling you!" Ember suddenly shouted, clearly not liking the sound of that, "I wanna keep this a secret!"

Unfortunately for the programmer, their AI had a different idea, as the sole screen turned itself on, revealing an anime-styled face not too different from Ember's own, "Okay, sounds fun!" the AI immediately replied, getting a grin out of Chris, an indifferent shrug from Chef, and a betrayed sigh from Ember.

"Doppel, why…?" they complained, realising that they name-dropped the AI far too late, "Dang it…"

Chris smirked victoriously, "Well, since you're outnumbered three-to-one, I think it's safe to say we get to make our season here, right?"

"...fine," Ember sighed, as Doppel's 'screen' devolved into a wave of confetti. By this point, Chef had just taken to leaning against a wall passively, as a sole sheet of paper flitted in from a higher floor, landing on top of Chris's head.

"Just sign this thingy here - I wanna make this all official-like!" Doppel informed the hosts, as Chris shrugged, ignoring everything written down and just signing his name on the end, passing it to Chef, who did the same.

"Alright, I'd say we've got some time left before we gotta head back - I wanna get a quick look at the castle before we head back," Chris proclaimed to Chef, getting a nod from the co-host.

Doppel's face lit up again, as the AI pointed to the left hallway, "Ooh, I can show you all the cool things I can do while you look around!"

The two hosts left, and Doppel's screen clicked itself off, as Ember sighed defeatedly to themself, "What just happened?" they muttered in shock, as the short prologue ended.

Yup! Gonna try my hand at writing an SYOC after my ill-fated first attempt, with a long break and writing some of my own OC-only compfic putting me in a much better spot compared to back then! As for why this theme… I wanted to write Ember, since they're my favourite OC from my personal list not competing in Stardom. I hope to show off a bit more of the theming in the other prologue(s), and I think this'll be really fun to write going forward. Of course, Ember, Doppel, and the theming aren't the stars of the show here - that's where you guys come in!

I'll be aiming for a cast on the smaller side - I'm aiming for 16 people, however I might (although this is very unlikely) extend that to 18 if I really can't choose in the end. Character-wise, please don't just send me people who'd thematically fit - I wanna see a fun variety of characters. That doesn't mean I don't want some people who do fit, though.

Anyways, I'm pretty relaxed with my rules, but other than the common sense stuff, my two rules are that I won't accept any review apps; and one accept per person.

You've probably got around 3 weeks from me posting this before I do a reveal - whether it's the full cast or half of it will be decided when I get there. The app will be on my profile, so you guys can copy-paste it for easier sending.

So with all that out of the way, make sure to stay hydrated, and Kadachi out~