In the boys' dorm, Damien slept soundly in his bed. While he slept, his hands were tucked underneath his pillow with a smile on his face. Then, out of nowhere, a deafeningly loud electronic track started to play. Damien shot awake, while in the corner of the room, Iko flinched and cringed hard by his newly plugged in soundboard.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

Damien let out a soundwave rippling scream. Within milliseconds, the other guys in the dorm, Holden, Caleb, and Kobe woke up. Caleb fell out of his bed, then Holden fell from the top bunk and landed on him. Kobe shot his head up from his pillow, slamming his head on the bunk above him, then groaned. Holden finally shut Damien up by grabbing a book from a nightstand and slamming it against his nose. He fell backward, finally silenced.

"What a way to wake up," Kobe murmured.

"You done?" Holden snapped. "You ready to shut the fuck up, Dickmien?"

"Shit, man, I'm sorry. I had no idea what that damn sound was. Scared the shit out of me. Well, maybe not the 'shit'," he elaborated with air quotes. "I didn't just shit myself."

"Why were y'all screaming in the first place?" Kobe wondered.

"It was some instrumental or some shit," Damien replied.

Iko awkwardly rubbed his bangs out of his face and waved to the others. "I, uh... sorry about that, guys."

"No worries," Holden answered, feigning a cordial tone. "Just make sure not to wake us up with that again. Otherwise, I'm going to diddle you."

"Yeah," Iko chuckled, "I- wha?"

Screeching on from numerous different corners of the campus and the academy building, Mercutio's voice came on loudspeakers to address the contestants. Sitting in a patch of grass out in front of the academy, Fish groaned while he and Londyn pressed their hands to their ears.

In the library at one of the tables, Noah and Alanna did the same. Next, the camera panned to MK in the girls' dorm, crying out in her bed just before she fell off her bunk, smacking against Queen on her way to the carpet. The next shot showed Holden walking back from several bushes outside his dorm, zipping up his pants while his hair dangled into his face.

"Goddammit..."

"Students! Heh, wasn't that humorous? I said 'students' even though you're all contestants on my television show. Ah, I amuse myself."

Noah and Alanna looked up from their books and exchanged bored glances.

"Everyone, come and meet me out by the road where the Bus of Shame dropped you all off. If Tracy's quite done with his breakfast duties, he'll be in attendance alongside me."

Herded by Mercutio and Tracy, the twenty-one contestants gathered along the sidewalk out in front of the academy's campus. Also in attendance was the intern, Brook. Soon enough, a bus came down the endless road, letting out its steam noise as it came to a stop and lowered for the contestants to come aboard.

Inside the bus as it left campus, Mercutio stood in the center of the aisle and addressed everybody.

Seated by Queen, Jill peeped, "This is just like middle school! Oh, the memories on buses like these."

"It wasn't like this in London..."

"Students!" Mercutio boomed. "Today's major will be something a little different than last time."

"Isn't that how having something new works?" Holden asked half-heartedly.

"By that, do you mean it won't be boring as fuck?" Jayshawn retorted.

Zee sneezed. "'Scuse me."

"Tracy insisted that we up the ante just a tad," Mercutio explained. "Don't worry, there won't be any real danger... I'm not Chris McLean, after all. Though, you may expect some 'fireworks'." Mercutio chuckled. "Today's major is fire science! For the rest of the day, the lot of you will be honorary firefighters! Congratulations on your status."

"Fire!" Izzy cackled. "Me likey."

"That sounds a little terrifying," Londyn commented.

"More like a little thrilling," Fish replied, grinning at her.

The model felt her heart swelling. "Oh, my."

"Has the area been decontaminated?" Damien urged.

"I better not get one scratch on this body, let alone a burn..." Bowie murmured.

"Not if you aren't careful! Don't worry, these flames are controlled. There won't be any casualties. Currently, we're headed to a zone I've paid for ahead of time for challenges such as these-challenges that can't be contained back at the Million Dollar Academy campus. In twenty minutes or so, we'll be arriving at a vacant lot where the first of two firefighter-themed challenges will be commencing."

"I suppose there won't be any 'science' part of the fire science challenge?" Matcha assumed.

Mercutio shrugged. "Correctly fulfilling these challenges can be 'gotten down' to a science. That's about as close as we're going to get. The education you receive here at the Million Dollar Academy isn't quite what you'd obtain from a 'real' academy."

Confessional - Cody

The geek remained silent at first, not at all playing the part of the smooth operator like usual. A beat later, he spoke.

"I-"

Back to silence.

"To see Mercutio talk to all of us for the challenge, like nothing was amiss... Did I- did I imagine what I saw back outside his office with Stephen? Am I losing my mind? Just what's going on here?"

End of confessional

Finally off the bus, the contestants found themselves in an empty plain, with fields of dead crops all around them for miles. The place was dismal, dry, with a tumbleweed floating by on its way to nowhere. Further off ahead of them was an abandoned, five story building. What it was before this fate was a mystery, though it almost resembled an ancient hotel, worn out with bare bricks showing from age. With the exception of a few dead trees around, there was nothing else as tall as the building as far as the eye could see.

"I would birth an infant in a place like this," Lauren squeaked.

"This place is, uh, home-y," Matcha murmured.

"This place is about as home-y as the scent of piss," Noah remarked.

"Sarcasm, dear Noah."

"Oh, I know it well; just needed my thoughts out in the open for our dazzling new host."

"Ah! Hey!" Damien yelped. "He just touched my ass!"

"No, I didn't," Fish quickly fired back.

"Welcome to the site of the first challenge," Mercutio began. "Fish, no assplay. This isn't the boys' locker room."

Confessional - Londyn

The model let out a wistful sigh. "I really think he'd be perfect if it weren't for the incessant ass-gripping he does with some of the other guys."

End of confessional

"What is there out here to catch fire?" Iko wondered.

Mercutio turned and allowed for a better view of the abandoned building.

"Oh, great."

"But this challenge isn't dangerous?" Matcha questioned.

"I-I-I don't know how to feel about burning buildings..." Athena mumbled, tapping her fingertips together.

"Don't worry; like I said, these flames are controlled," Mercutio reminded them. "Tracy and Brook are on standby with pails of water should the fire begin to burn too powerfully."

The two mentioned exchanged uncertain glances. Brook was too nervous to speak, so Tracy did.

"Uh, where-"

"Around the building. Other side. Go on now." As they headed to the backend of the dreary building, Mercutio continued. "The first part of the challenge will be a series of rescue missions. There will be three contestants to each mission, with two members of one team pitted against one of the other. To begin with, we'll be randomly selecting one member of the Dropouts to rescue another member from inside the burning building-once it starts to burn. However, they'll be tasked with carrying out this rescue mission in under two minutes, with a member of the Grads infiltrating, doing what they can to keep the mission from its completion.

"So, no matter how poorly you do, you'll only be spending two minutes at a time before the fire is killed and we reset. Points are earned based on whether each Dropout can rescue their teammate, or if the Grad keeps you from leaving the building. We'll do this four times, then the teams and their positions switch, with two Grads to one Dropout. Not everyone will be competing, based on the randomness of the selection process. Any questions?"

Matcha raised a hand. "You don't actually mean to tell me we have to rely on two people tossing buckets of water at a burning building to save us?"

"Of course not!" Mercutio let out a hearty laugh. "No, no, no. Interns will arrive shortly in a firetruck to quell the flames. When they get here, contestants will strap into protective gear to ward off the fire's intensity-and to keep yourselves alive."

"Shawn would've just shit himself," Bowie murmured.

"At least he would've been nimble enough to do this crazy shit," Fish responded. "Why didn't we get rid of Zee instead?"

"Yeah, man, Shawn was a vibe," Zee agreed.

"Alas, Shawn is no longer here," Mercutio rebutted, "and it's up to the rest of you to carry out the duty of saving lives against a raging fire."

"Dandy," Alanna remarked.

"Really not so sure about this one, chief," Caleb added.

"Nonsense!" Mercutio swished a hand through the air. "You'll be fine. Tracy and Brook will operate the firetruck and keep you safe, should you be chosen. Now then, let us await the firetruck, then when it arrives, I'll get the building burning, you'll get suited up for the task at hand, and Grads, you'll do your best to stop the Dropouts from rescuing each other. Sound good?"

"Nice and sadistic," Noah commented.

"I am nothing of the sort. I'm merely promoting safe, entertaining television."

"Yeah..."

After a period of waiting, just as Mercutio stated, the firetruck had arrived. After every last contestant was suited up in protective, beehive-attendant-like gear, the host began to stoke a fire within the etched building. Smoke billowed out of the ratchet windows as fire began to build in the building. Several of the contestants watched in horror. Meanwhile, Tracy operated the firetruck and pointed a crane up near the top of the building. This granted leverage for putting out the fire once the time came.

Mercutio pulled out a smartphone from one of his pockets. "With this, I shall randomly select two Dropouts and one Grad to start us off. Ready?"

"This is seriously scary!" Athena cried.

"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe." Mercutio clicked a wheel on his phone three times. Moments later, with the crispness of the fire building in the background, he announced, "Ah, all right. Jill."

The girl jolted.

Confessional - Jill

"Why did it have to be me going first?"

Confessional - Iko

"Why did it have to be her going first?"

End of confessionals

"You'll be rescuing Damien. Damien, if you'd be so kind, climb up into the firetruck and climb the steps of the crane. Brook will assist you in dropping down into the building."

"What? Ain't no way that thing was random!" Damien exclaimed.

"Don't think you're so special. Careful, Jill, your rescue mission may be thwarted by... Londyn!"

"Oh, dear," she peeped.

"Ha!" Jayshawn burst. "This lil' thing? She ain't gonna do shit to stop you!"

"I appreciate the encouragement," Londyn retorted in her unintentionally soft, damsel-like voice.

"Jill goes into the building with a thirty second head start to get out with Damien, then Londyn enters after the allotted time to stop them. Somehow." To the center camera, "I'm just as curious as you to see how exactly that happens."

Confessional - Londyn

"God... I don't know if I can go through with this. I'm supposed to foil a rescue mission? That feels so... so... so dirty. Not the safer kind of dirty I profit off of."

End of confessional

"B-be careful, Jill," Iko stammered.

She smiled at him. "Thanks, I'll, uh, surely try."

Within minutes, Damien climbed the crane, trembling up a storm. He stood several feet above a hole in the roof of the building, him and Brook staring down at the blazing flames lit within. The fire reflected in their terrified eyes. Damien turned to Brook and shouted, "So, I'm supposed to just... jump in there?"

Brook responded, inaudible.

"What? I can't hear you! You're too quiet!"

"Go on, Damien!" Mercutio ordered. "The fall is minimal! You'll be perfectly safe; Jill's coming to help you!"

"Oh, god! Oh, Jesus. Well..." Damien opened up a little door to the crane's platform enclosure. "Here goes nothing!" he cried, leaping down into the blazing building.

"I can't watch!" Athena squealed.

"I can," Zee responded, "but I'm still pretty scared."

"The challenge begins!" Mercutio declared.

Out from the cluster of contestants standing a safe distance from the building by the bus, Jill took a deep breath, then raced inside. She crashed open a wooden door to find flames brewing all around her. Luckily, the steps leading up to the upper floors of the building remained durable enough for her to scale up to Damien's location. Breathing deeply, she felt her chest pumping and she eyed all around her. Nothing seemed to be left of this building, with spray painting on the abandoned walls with nothing but stone and burning, wooden structural support around her.

"Gotta go up," she decided. "Gotta go up, gotta go up."

"Jill!" Damien cried from upstairs. "Jill! I'd come down there and find you, but I think it's against the rules!"

"I'm coming, Damien!"

On her way up the staircase, she yelped as a piece of the floor above her crumbled down in a flaming smithereen mess. By the time she reached the top floor, Londyn entered through the open doorway, damn near paralyzed with fear at the flames around her.

"This is insane!" she cried.

Meanwhile, Damien pranced over to Jill as smoke filled the room. He let out coughs and the redhead slung his arm over her shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

"My all-" Cough. A cough and a sneeze. "I'm having allergies up in here! I guess I'm-" Sneeze. "Allergic to fire!"

"I'm allergic to this challenge! Let's move!"

Londyn scaled the stairs up to the second level, tensed up and terrified as she navigated the scorching building.

"What do I do?"

Suddenly, Jill and Damien appeared from the stairs to the third level of the building. Londyn froze as they rushed towards her.

"Londyn!" Jill yelled.

"I'm freaking out! I'm flipping out! I can't do this!"

"Let's go, all of us!"

Mercutio and the contestants gathered outside watched the entrance with anticipation. The host looked down at his phone to announce, "Ten more seconds, Tracy! Then you can let the water flow!"

Before the ten seconds could end, Jill, Damien, and Londyn all rushed out of the opened doorway. Damien collapsed, wheezing, sneezing, and coughing all together in an ugly harmony.

"There's gotta be a leak in this suit or something!" he croaked.

Jill got down to check on him as Mercutio announced, "Time's up. Tracy! The hose!"

In the interior to the firetruck, Tracy activated the hose mechanism, splattering water from above and into the building. Within a matter of fifteen seconds or so, the fire was put out, though Brook had also been soaked in the process.

"Sorry!" Tracy yelled.

"Londyn," Mercutio started, "you weren't supposed to flee the building with the Dropouts, you were supposed to thwart them."

"I... I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm sorry, team."

"H-hey, no problem," Cody stammered.

The two met eyes for a moment. Londyn forced a smile, and Cody smiled back at her.

Confessional - Cody

"Wow! Did you see that? That look in her eyes. That feeling of connection. Oo-wee! I haven't felt sparks fly like that since I last watched The Princess and the Frog! That made me almost forget about Mercutio choking me! Almost."

End of confessional

"Maybe a little bit of a problem," Jayshawn muttered.

"The first point goes to the Dropouts, to Jill and Damien," Mercutio announced. "Jill's rescue mission was complete in under two minutes. Very impressive."

"Oh, thanks," Jill gasped, still shaken to the core from her experience.

"The next randomized trio will be..." The contestants waited in suspense as once again, the host spun a wheel on his phone. "Kobe rescuing... Caleb against... Fish."

Fish cracked his knuckles and started to chuckle to himself.

Kobe placed a suited-hand on his teammates's equally-suited-shoulder. "I gotchu, bruv. Don't even worry about it."

"Hey, not a doubt in my mind."

The camera flashed forward in time, giving a shot of Caleb screaming and dropping down into the fire-blazed building. In the same instant, Kobe barged through the front door, this time dismantling it at its hinges. He threw a hand into the air to hold off the brightness of the fire around him.

"Fucking-a, man... aight, Caleb, hold on, bro! I'm coming up!"

Caleb winced in a relatively dry corner as Kobe raced up the flight of stairs leading him higher and higher. He cringed at the sight of wooden debris crashing down, leaving a burning hole in the steps beside him. Shaking it off, Kobe kept scaling, and soon enough, Fish crept through the entrance after him.

At the top floor, once he arrived, Kobe gestured Caleb over to him.

"Yo, Caleb!"

"Let's go!"

Wisps of flame fluttered by their masked faces as they headed down.

"Making good time so far," Kobe commented.

Onto the second floor, Kobe and Caleb crashed aside as Fish smashed into them out of nowhere. The pair tumbled over, reeling from the shock.

"What was that for?" Caleb snapped.

"You're a lot brazier than the other chick," Kobe mentioned.

"She's a lot of things-all of them good for my willy, none of them good for rescuing people. I'm gonna touch you, big man," Fish said with his fingers waggling.

"What?" Caleb burst.

Fish grabbed Kobe by the upper arm, pulled him up to his feet then tossed him over a fire into a wooden beam. Fish rushed over, and instead of attacking him, he merely flailed his fingers about in a ticklish motion.

"The fuck are you d- hey, get outta there! Get out of my ass, boy! The fuck are you doing in there?"

"Uh..." Caleb murmured.

Within moments, a ginormous splash of water buffeted the boy and the two others. It didn't take long for Tracy to quell the fire raging all around.

A bit later, Kobe, Caleb, and Fish exited the building to see Mercutio, Holden, Matcha, and Alanna approaching.

"Is Caleb all right?" Queen urged from the crowd.

"I'm fine. I'm not the one who got, erm... tickled..."

Matcha raised an eyebrow. "Oh...?"

"Fish," Mercutio intervened. "I can't say I approve of your methods, but you got the job done. The score is 1-1. Matcha, ascend the firetruck crane and get into position as I light the fire."

Flashing forward, the fire raged once again, with Matcha eyeing her surroundings in horror at the top floor of the building. As part of the roof came apart nearby, Matcha stood and muttered, "Fuck this, I'm not waiting around to be rescued."

Holden raced upstairs to meet Matcha halfway.

"Aren't you supposed to idle around until I-"

"Yeah, yeah, no, I'm not doing that."

"Fair enough."

Alanna entered the building, creeping along at a sloth's pace as the fire burned everything at all edges of her. She kept tense, not daring to inch any further than she had to. The volume of heat inside had her nervous about even reaching the first flight of steps.

"Oh, god, fuck this."

Out of nowhere, Matcha and Holden appeared, racing back out of the building. As they zoomed towards Alanna at the entrance, the "rescue" part of the mission wasn't very noticeable.

"One side!" Holden shouted, and he barged Alanna right into a wall as he and Matcha charged outside.

Once out of the building, Tracy washed out the fire again, and Matcha and Holden caught their breath as Alanna scrambled out after them.

"Fuck you, man," she wheezed, letting out a series of coughs.

"Second point for the Dropouts goes to Holden and Matcha!" Mercutio announced.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Matcha scolded her partner. "We could have just as easily walked by her."

"Well, if she wanted to win, she would've tried something, so I had to account for that variable."

Matcha frowned. "In the least respectful way possible, I see."

"'Respectful'? You think respect means jack on a show like Total Drama? I'd have knocked her teeth out if I had to."

Confessional - Matcha

"Coming on Total Drama, I knew there were gonna be a few sour apples. I was ready for it. Holden's definitely one of them. Getting proper teamwork of any kind with him is gonna be tough, especially when it seems he and Queen are consistently ready to tear each other apart at the seams. I'd consider voting him off soon if it weren't for, well... frankly, weaker links on this team to think about first."

Dropouts: Caleb, Damien, MK, Scary Girl, Athena, Holden, Iko, Jill, Kobe, Matcha, Queen

Grads: Cody, Izzy, Noah, Alanna, Bowie, Zee, Fish, Jayshawn, Londyn, Stephen

Some quick OC descriptions:

Athena: orangey-blonde, orange contacts, black and white dress

Holden: long, scraggly hair, heavyset, short, leather jacket

Iko: slim-fat, short, stylish overcoat and vest

Jill: athletic build, red hair, tan skin, emerald green eyes

Kobe: tall, big afro

Matcha: brunette, business casual

Queen: purple hair

Alanna: tall, brunette

Fish: typical influencer look

Jayshawn: fit, muscular, dreads, gym tank/shorts

Londyn: brunette, face tattoos, gorgeous features

Stephen: early 2000s emo look

Mercutio: chiseled face, suit, wide-framed

Tracy: slim, suspenders/bowler hat

Brook: silver hair, oversized cardigan