Alright everyone welcome back, I'm SmartyMartyDiscoParty! Here is the latest update of the Timberlock Groves story! As you can see if you're on a computer I changed the story's cover art. I have also referenced other authors ocs/ characters, those nerds know who they are by default, but if you know who's who you can let me know in the reviews! Please enjoy the following chapter!

'Hello contestants! And welcome to the Total Drama scavenger hunt! We presume by now you have had your bags taken. Starting now, you'll be recorded for celebrity manhunt! Your first clue is in your envelopes. As a special treat, if you're first to arrive, you can choose a contestant to be on your team! Good luck! And remember, don't be boring to the viewers.'

After sending that group email, Aria received another text, which she looked through names like Eli, Shelly, Kit kat 333, Christie, to find it, and she reached 'Intern 2'.

'Aria, tell Ericka we don't want to do the robbing thing. Abe just got the shit beat out of him.'

Who's Abe? Oh right, Intern 1.

"So Ericka, you're giving us a live showing of the new contestants?" Josh quipped.

"That's right! We have set up cameras to watch the contestants, in fact, they're recording right now!" Ericka presses a remote, and a TV starts playing footage from various parts of LA.

From Patrick walking down the alley holding his nose closed, a girl with maroon hair exiting the gas station and spotting Lucas laying on the ground, Kylie checking her phone before approaching a vending machine where Livia orders a water bottle, and a rather short girl with medium brown skin and dark curly hair sitting on a park bench, waving away the interns as they take her bags.

"What the hell are those interns doing?"

"Well you heard it here folks, we're getting a first look at Total Drama's new contestants! Love it!" Josh cut off Ericka as he fistbumps Blainely.

"Stay tuned to watch these newbies live!"

The red light on the camera turns off, as Ericka turns to Aria.

"What are those interns doing?"

"I dunno, did you account for one of them getting beat up by the contestants before this?" Aria pointed out, as she showed Ericka the text, which she held back a scoff to.

"He's 6'4, and he caught 100 pound cheerleaders before dropping out! If he can do that, I believe that he can handle a fight!"

"1. How tall? I don't understand North America's system of measurement. 2, I don't think it works like that mo- Ericka." The edges of Aria's pink lips tugged widely into vicious sneer. After breathing deeply and counting to ten, Erika slumped.

"You should just let it go. We have much bigger fish to fry with this scavenger hunt. We need to impress everyone watching. Not to mention, we have until 9:00 PM."

Both of the women stared at the other, Ericka realizing that Aria was right. Hell, she could see Aria's nerves showing through, in how she clutched the fabric seating, and how still she sat. Ericka was pretty sure Aria was aware of her own nerves too. Possibly not, Aria was never the brightest person.

"Fine then. Make sure however they know now that not only that they have to do the laundry of the contestants for the rest of the show, catch your phone whenever you throw it, THEY now have to pick up your- how many birds was it again? Whatever they have to pick up those...droppings." Ericka shuddered, and Aria laughed out loud. Oh what a genius compromise she reached when she agreed to be on the show.

"You can say poop. And don't refer to all my 15 children as just birds."

Everything was dark inside the room, until suddenly the door opened. Noelani's yellow sandals stepped in first, and she felt around for a lightswitch. Haden and Jun held open the door.

"I got an email." Jun points out. "And Twitter's roasting Ericka's outfit." Jun holds up his phone to Haden and Noelani, where Ericka's red dress is displayed. One of the comments on the dress was 'This dress has the same material and color as target shopping bags.' Haden cringes seeing the dress.

"What's it say?" Noelani asked, pulling out her phone as a source of light.

"This dress has same materi-"

"No, the email."

"Welcome to the Total Drama scavenger hunt, a race across LA." Jun read aloud the email's topic line.

"Found it!" Noelani declared. Suddenly the room is blasted with light, blisteringly white and pristine, and set in the center is a steel table, with small shelves underneath. On the right wall were cabinets, reaching all the way to the ceiling. Directly in front of the three was a glass window, seemingly leading to nowhere, as there was what looked like a wall blocking the way.

"What's this?" Jun asked.

"It's the first stop, dumb*ss." Haden said matter of factly.

"Guys, guys, look under the table." Noelani crouched down and shifted through the shelves. Eventually she found what she was looking for. A cubby with the same red shade as her paper, and once she tugged on it, the speakers at the corner of the room cracked and came to life.

"Welcome to your first test. Your goal is to make 3 trays of marshmallows the color assigned to you. You must follow the directions the bakers behind the wall show you. Each cabinet door lowers a different section of the wall for 10 seconds. After that, that door cannot be used again. Your ingredients and your tools are also in the cabinets, so make wise choices. If you manage to finish off 3 trays of marshmallows, you'll be assigned the next part of this scavenger hunt. Good luck, and you better finish by 9:00."

"That doesn't sound too hard." Jun pointed out

"They were required to structure it like that so you could handle it." Haden snapped back

"Geez, so salty." Jun rolled his eyes.

"Ah, c'mon you guys. Let it go." Noelani brushed them off. "Now, let's get our dyes and start working."

After retrieving their dyes, the trio observed the cabinets.

"There's got to be some pattern to it. I mean we can only do this so many times before we run out of cabinets to open." Haden remarked

"Eh, who cares? We've got memory on our side if we don't pick out the right cabinets." Jun responded. Immediately he opened a cabinet, and as soon as he did a panel fell, but only to reveal the kitchen not in operation. As soon as it fell, the panel slid back up.

"Do they just not work if we don't go in the correct order?" Noelani asked.

"Jun, do the stupid sh*t again." Haden requested

"Ugh, I'm not stupid. Also, I'm not doing it again." Jun responded

Haden scoffed, then approached the cabinets. He opens one of the cabinets again. It lowers another panel, but it's a switch to the first panel. Immediately the chefs start working, and the panel starts to rise again.

"OH SH*T, WRITE THAT DOWN! GUYS GUYS!" Haden shouts.

"What are we supposed to write? They're just taking out the trays." Noelani points out. Immediately Haden remembers the trays, and looks to the cabinet he just opened. There was a shiny tray, but the cabinet slams shut. He tried to pry it open, however all that produced were clunking noises. Haden groaned.

"Nice going Sherlock, what now?" Haden turned to Jun after that comment.

"There's got to be some pattern to this. Jun, which cabinet did you open?" Haden asks

"Uh, that one. It had measuring cups in it." Jun points to the cabinet, at the bottom of the stack of cabinets, and 3 doors away from Haden's. Haden inspected the cabinet, took out a marker, and wrote '8' on it. Soon he marked down all the cabinets, 1-20. He looked up, and realized just how tall they are, as they were actually 5 x 20 cabinets. Right, So Jun's 8 opened the last panel, while his 5 opened the first.

"Maybe something to do with odd vs even numbers? Fives maybe?" Suggested Jun, and Haden hated to admit that Jun might have had a point so he ignored him.

Haden opened cabinet 3, and that opened a middle panel. Noelani and Jun press their faces to the glass, but are only able to few the room between the glass and the panels. Haden paused, before moving to panel 10. With a silver tray inside, he quickly snatches it away.

"It's opened the first panel!" Jun shouts. Sure enough, inside are the chefs, getting to work.

"Right, now let's see if we can figure the rest of this out." Haden remarked, chest puffed out. Jun stared at him.

"Uh, do I deserve a thank you?" He asked.

"We'll get to that later." Never, actually.

Lucas was still reeling on the ground, and he was staring at the camera in the bushes. He heard footsteps behind him, and the ding of the convenience store doors opening, with some crunching noises paired with them.

"Yo, are you a corpse?" Someone's voice asked. Clearly a girl based on the pitch.

"If you're dead, can I step on you?"

"Don't step on anyone, Jesus Christ! Besides he's alive, he's just probably convulsing" Another voice responded to her, this one belonging to a male.

Lucas pushed himself back up, mouth ajar slightly revealing his tooth gap, to see the two people. The lights of the store blinded his vision of them, but after a few seconds he spotted the pair. The girl who asked him if he was a corpse was munching on a taco. She was also very punk-y looking, she had a widow's peak, wavy maroon hair reaching her shoulders, an eyebrow, lip, and nose piercing, and sharp hazel eyes. The other guy was very handsome and muscular, he had a black pompadour style, with a matching blazer, a white T-shirt, and a red tie.

"Oh it's no big deal. Just your average day where you are being recorded, and have to do some stuff or something." Lucas piped up.

"Ok, he's not dead." The punk-y girl pointed out her excitement at the thought of a corpse dampened. Whatever, that's not his focus, his screen lit up with a notification, and he checked it. The other two felt their phones vibrate, and they checked theirs too.

"I knew it! They would just steal our bags for the drama." The pompadoured one exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" The girl asked.

"Wait a minute." Lucas stopped. "When you say they, do you mean two people in hoodies, one's pretty tall, other's pretty short?" Lucas asked the boy.

"Yeah. Wait, you too?"

"No, they told me they didn't want to rob me because one had a bleeding nose!"

The black haired one laughed "Ohoho, yeah I did that to him." His tone was rather casual, and Lucas shivered in response.

"You hit someone?" The girl asked, raising her eyebrow. "Hang on, I know two people that match that description! They asked for my bags and had 'TD' on their hoodies."
"Yeah! That's them!" Lucas confirmed.

"So wait. If we all had the same experience… does that mean you guys signed up for Total Drama too?" The red haired girl asked. Lucas and the other guy nodded.
"Welp, nice to meet ya. I'm Sydney."

"I'm Lucas."

"Patrick. I think we need to go somewhere, it said here to head to 2049 Cederstalk, any of you know where that is or can look it up?"

"Yep, give me a sec." Sydney responded, and went inside. Once she came out, she pointed in a direction.

"Ok, if we go down this street, going straight for a while we can find another gas station, and across from that there's Cederstalk ST."

And so off they went.

After reading the email, Laurie and Cassian both got up and started walking to 2049 Cederstalk.

"What's your color? Mine's WATER BLUE." Cassian asked, as both traversed the street past the shopping centers.

"Uh, it's PINK ROSE." Laurie responds, then zoned out while staring at Cassian.

Taking the time to inspect Cassian, she truly took the time to look at his face. Features she didn't notice earlier were his vivid green eyes, surrounded by long lashes and strands of his shaggy black hair falling in front of them. Were those freckles too? Yeah they were! There was also his stubble. He was very, very pretty to look at, so much so it was kind of unfair to Laurie. 'I really can't compete, sure I'm blonde, but I have dull brown eyes!". Maybe she could beat him in terms of strength? No, he was probably stronger than her, no matter what she learned over the years. Hell, he could have had a loving girlfriend, and a lovely family. Maybe some siblings, a dad, and...a mom. Probably very nice too, maybe his whole family had nothing but support for him.

"You ok?" Cassian asked, snapping his fingers. Laurie's eyes widened, and she looked away while tugging her white knitted cardigan closer around herself.

"You cold or something?" He asked

"Oh, no." Laurie insisted.

"You sure?" asked Cassian

"I'm doing fine." Laurie brushed him off.

"Ok then."

"Seriously." Cassian looked at Laurie again for that response, and she looked down.

"Uh, I dunno if you're feeling down or something, but I would like to know what you like." Suggested Cassian, and Laurie looked to him.

"Wait, what?"

"What, is that crazy or something? You like things like I dunno, books, TV, food?" After Cassian asked that, Laurie took her time trying to settle on an answer. Something he wouldn't judge.

"I like cooking." She decided on that.

"That's it?" Cassian raised his eyebrow, and Laurie cracked.

"Ok, I like comic books. I also like playing the flute and watching TV."

"There you go! What was even holding you back from saying that?" Cassian asked enthusiastically, and Laurie looked away.

"I dunno." She lied, but Cassian didn't have to know that she was. He did have a point though. What was there to worry about? Her Dad and brothers weren't here.

"Umf!" Grunted Cassian once he ran into a red brick wall, then Laurie looked around, then spotted a street sign: 2049 Cederstalk. There was a narrow metal door with a cool light peeking through. There was also someone standing guard at the door, legs crossed and pressed against the red brick wall. After Cassian rubbed his cheek, this person turned to Cassian and Laurie.

"Proof of identity please?"

Laurie was perplexed, and so was Cassian, until the man sighed.

"Can you show me your letters?"

Both handed him the letters, he nodded and handed them back.

"Just wait for those two to finish in there, and you'll be let in."

So the two waited, and minutes later out stepped two people, both rather average to unattractive to put it in kinder terms. The shorter girl had black thick glasses, ashy brown hair straight as a hay bale, warm skin, and held her own camera, which she held up like a second pair of eyes. She fixated that camera on Cassian and Laurie, who both flinched. The larger man in their duo turned to the girl with hay hair. This one had a big chin, looked like someone with orange boogers snorted onto his face, and had a black derby hat.

"C'mon Char, they clearly ain't comfortable with that stuff."

He tugged her away, and she followed him, both holding a small device neither Cassian or Laurie could make out. The man guarding the door then held open the steel door, and the pair were blinded by the lights inside for a second, before both headed in, but not before two girls, one tan with a red cheer uniform and a high brown ponytail, and the other with black feather-y hair walked up to the guard.

Livia shivered, the sun having set a few minutes ago, and the abundance of clouds in the sky having darkened the sky even more. Kylie turned to her, and tugged at her leather mini jacket.

"You ok?" Asked Kylie, and Livia shook her head.

"Nah, not really."

"You can have my jacket if you want." Kylie offered, and she was just taking the jacket off her sleeves, but Livia interjected.

"Nah, you keep it, it's chill."

Hopefully the couple who were inside would be done soon, Kylie's teeth were starting to chatter. Now there was another girl who showed up. She grunted once she was refused entry, and she stomped over to where the pair were sitting on the asphalt. She took a quick look, then instead of sitting, she leaned against the wall. Not that any person who cared about their clothes blamed her for. Half her wardrobe consisted of white. White headband securing her dark curly hair, white pants, the only clothes that weren't white were her purple peasant top and her purple platform sandals.

"You stuck here too?" Livia broke the silence first. The other girl didn't flinch, just slowly blinked.

"I'm Livia, this is Kylie." Livia gestured to Kylie, again no reaction. Kylie decided to speak up.

"You know, I think if you partner up with people for this part, you can get in earlier, get this part done faster, and you choose a member of your team." Kylied bribed her, and this new girl blinked faster then turned to them.

"What if I don't want you on my team?" She asked.

"You don't have to, you'll just finish this hunt faster and increase your chances of being first. So what do you say? Wanna team up?" Kylie asked.

New girl slowly nodded, Kylie smiled.

"What's your name? I need to know in case I need to shout at you."

"Donatella. My name's Donatella". Ah, there's the new girl's name.

"Well, Donna" Kylie tests, and seeing no reaction from her, she gestures to herself and Livia "I'm Kylie, this is Livia. I've got red and she has magenta-"

"It's STRAWBERRY and MERRY MAGENTA" Livia corrected

"Right, what'd you get." Kylie nodded, then looked at Donna.

"ROYAL PURPLE." Donna responds.

Wow, Noelani and Haden would make such good friends and teammates. Yeah that was sarcasm, Jun was royally pissed. After figuring out the number patterns behind the cabinets, Noelani and Haden ran ahead with their device and ditched Jun. What award winning friends, Jun was so not going to choose them for his team. So he stood in the alley, and kicked some stray stones on the asphalt. Behind him he heard a pair of footsteps, and he turned to look at the pair, resulting in Jun dry heaving.

"Howdy!" Waved the larger one, all the smaller one carrying the camera said was "Hi.".

"You have a problem with us or something? Your gagging indicates some problem." Asked the smaller one, nad Jun threw out his arms gesturing to the pair.

"Yes! God your fashion really sucks. It's a shame too." Jun pointed out.

"Hey!" The larger one was caught between laughing, and being slightly insulted.

"Whatever." The smaller one mumbled.

"Don't listen to him Charlotte, you're fine just the way you are." The larger one tried reassuring

"Don't worry Duke, I don't care." Charlotte responded.

"Y'know, I could try fixing you up." Jun offered.

"Sorry, but-" Duke started, but Charlotte beat him to respond.

"Maybe I could let you, but can you cooperate with us? Just for now, we don't have to be on the same team." Charlotte offered. "We just finished doing a-uh thing and now we're going to this thing." Charlotte finished awkwardly, and played a recording on a small device, one that Jun recognized.

"Well done! And now for your next hint: Once an average selachimorpha, this creature used to navigate the isles. After years of isolation, death had claimed this mutilation. Now up for anyone to see, he fascinates everyone now on the mainland, far from the sea. Travel tooth and nail to Halkers lane, he hangs out, but now incredibly plain." The recording ended after that, until Jun nearly shouted.

"Wait, that's the same device those two jerks took off with!" It dawned on Jun.

"You got left behind by your group? Well, I don't blame them." Responded Duke.

"Shut up!" Jun scoffed, and Charlotte pursed her lip and lowered her brows.

"You could always take up that offer, your cooperation for a makeover. What do you say?" Jun quickly held out his hand for a handshake, and after hesitating, Charlotte shook hands with Jun. The group started walking again, and it was not even 5 minutes before Jun spoke up again.

"As for that deal, do you have any favorite clothing choices?"

"She lied to you 100%. She ain't into much stuff I say I say." Duke laughed a little

"What? No, she has to like something. And it can't be movies." Jun responded sharply, to which Charlotte glared at him.

"What's wrong with film? I think it's nice."

"Oh, it's nothing. I just want to know if you like anything else. Like, I dunno, clothes, makeup, boys, or something!" Insisted Jun.

"I like film." Charlotte insisted, and Duke agreed

"Yeah, I think it's fine I say I say."

"It is fine! I'm just trying to say, you got. To have. Something. Else. You like." Jun punctuated each of his sentences with a clap.

"Can't we just focus on this?" Asked Charlotte, to which Jun brushed off.

"Give me a second dearie, I just need to prove him wrong." Jun said, pointing at Duke, who rolled his eyes.

"I want to finish this challenge." Charlotte snapped back, then Jun paused for a moment

"Well, if you don't like things, then what do you don't like?" Charlotte immediately responded.

"Michael Bay." She grumbled the name out, and both Jun and Duke had a moment of silence. Right after both started chuckling.

"What?" Charlotte stared at the two men laughing, and both calmed down.

"Nothing, that was just really funny." Remarked Jun after his chuckling, then he looked up.

They had stopped in front of a museum. This museum was block y, squeezed between two more buildings, tan, dull, with tall windows, too tall for the building's sake. The most eye-catching part of this building was the orange banner with a shark clearly traced over from the Jaws movie poster, and green cursive font advertising for a shark exhibit.

"Why are we here?" Asked Jun, to which Duke answered.

"Selachimorpha are sharks. You could get that from context." Jun opened his mouth, exhaling and raising his hand. Then he stopped. Then he put his hand down and closed his mouth. 'Not now. You could fight him later.' Jun's mind explained.

They head inside, and immediately to their left was the room displaying sharks, the larger paintings and pieces of work were haphazardly stuffed at the corner of the entrance room. There were open jaws, jars with shark teeth, statues of shark anatomy, and multiple models of shark bones. Some obviously fake, others it was harder to tell.

"Sharks don't have bones though. At least they don't look like that." Charlotte observed, then Duke looked down.

"Guys, I need to come clean. I'm kind of sh*t at reading."

"What!?" Jun and Charlotte shouted in unison.

"Yeah, I grew up like this, but don't worry I can read! I just am barely meeting basic literacy."

"Well, thanks for being honest with us, but god this could really-" Jun was cut off.

"No wait! Jun maybe we can use this someday!" Charlotte shouted, and Jun rolled his eyes.

"But we can't right now!"

"It's fine. We just have to find Fang out of all these statues." Charlotte tried reassuring. The group looked around at the skeletal statues. Looking at them, a few of them were rather glossy, as well as anatomically incorrect. However some looked like real deal shark bones. Despite being a smaller museum, they have created a maze of these skeletons left and right, some in the middle of the floor, and if you looked up, there were some on the ceiling!

"We can narrow this down! This is the real deal we have, so the fakes all must have the worst anatomy!" Duke tried to reassure everyone.

"Listen. Fang is a mutant shark, with arms and legs!" Jun pointed out, jaw clenched tightly, and hands to his face in agitation. "How is he supposed to be anatomically correct?"

Charlotte and Duke stared off in deep thought, before coming back down to Earth.

"You think that could be the point?" Asked Duke. Everyone paused before looking around again. A lot of the sharks in the room had been a few ribs off from being accurate, but there was a particular model, hanging from the ceiling and pointed down at any guests. This one had too many ribs, large jaws, a lack of fins anywhere, and a nub on it's spine.

"You think that's him?" Asked Jun.

"It could be! Very smart move actually!" Charlotte praised, and Jun smiled a confident grin.

"You think we need to tug on his tooth or something?" Jun suggested. Charlotte reached up and pulled down on the tooth. Nothing happened, at least for a few seconds. One employee of the museum held onto their headset, one eye closed and scrunched up with a grimace.

"Yeah yeah I get it, here you go you dumb*sses." He handed a red sheet to the trio before shaking his head and walking off. Duke held onto the sheet, then flipped it over to see a bass fish on the paper with a note.

"Ok so, 'you're more than halfway there, now it's time to go up. Climb up the nearby apartments, just don't let a fear of heights of heights erupt."

"Oh god, how tall are these apartments then?" Asked Jun.

"Dunno, but we're f*cked." Remarked Duke, as the trio pushed out the glass doors of the museum. Jun stared at both of them, although Duke was a c*nt, Charlotte wasn't a half bad investigator.

Cassian held up the metal mixing bowl, as Laurie scrapped out her pale pink marshmallow mix into the tray.

"You're really good at this." Cassian confused.
"Huh?" Laurie reacted.

"Yeah, you're really good at cooking. I could never be as good as you." Cassian admitted.

"Oh, thank you.." Laurie trailed off.

"What is it?" Cassian asked.

"Nothing! I just have done this for a long time."

"Like ever since you were a kid?"

"Exactly how did you know?" Laurie asked sharply, taking her plastic glove covered hands and pressing down gently on the pink glob in the tray.

"I guessed?." Cassian responded. Both set down their trays of marshmallows, 3 deep blue, 3 pale pink. One of the chefs came out of a door to wheel away the pastries. Before he left, he handed the two of them a recorder. They both listen to it.

"Okay, so this is clearly talking about a shark, maybe we should go to the beach?" Cassian suggested.

"I don't know, this said something about being on the mainland, so further inland possibly?" Laurie suggested

"Yeah, but from where we're standing, we'll still go through the city. Who knows, maybe we'll find it while walking to the beach, or nearby the beach" Cassian added

"Ok, so I guess we can go to the beach first, then go through the city. After all it's only...8:03." Laurie pointed out

"We don't have to go, we can do your plan first." Cassian suggested.

"No no no, first yours." Laurie insisted.

"Are you sure?" Cassian asked

"Uh, sure we can if you want." Laurie hesitated

"I want to." Cassian remarked, and Laurie gave in.

"Alright then!"

The pair came out of the alleyway, and mainly stuck together, until something caught Laurie's eye. As Cassian walked away from her, Laurie stared at a comic book cafe, playing an episode of WWE. As if Cassian was a weakness for her in human form, this place was a weakness for her in 'terms of interests' form. She continued staring into the cafe, then looked at the time. 8:09, she could take a quick break, but she had to catch up with Cassian as soon as she was done. So she stepped inside, and the walls were colorfully painted, with panels of comics from the 1940s to the 60s, the tables secluded from every other table.

"Hey, would you like to order something?" Asked a barista from behind the counter.

"Uh-uh I uhm." Laurie responded. The Barista then stared at her, impatient, which resulted in more stuttering from her, as well as sweating and blushing.

"Are you gonna get something? Get something or get out."

"I-" "Hey dude, she's with us, she just doesn't get out much." Shouted someone from across the room, and awkwardly waved her hand. She too was rather colorful to look at, but in a much different way. She was covered in paint stains, had a 'Pat the Bunny' T-shirt, (whoever that was) and had an orange backpack, with a ukulele strapped on tightly. In the captain's chair next to her's, there was an equally overwhelmed boy with freckles, glasses, black hair, headphones, and a red hoodie. Slowly Laurie nodded and seated herself next to them.

"Hey there! My name's Tess! This here's Jeremy!" She then noogied the boy, who awkwardly looked away.

"I'm Laurie."

"So what brings you here? I wanted to see some of the local artists here, sure I mean, me and Jeremy here gotta do some scavenger hunt for this show, but we got lost and I saw this place and I knew I had to come inside."

Wait

"Scavenger hunt? For Total Drama?"

"Yeah! You in it too? Are you going to be my teammate?"

"Uh, there's a chance."

"C'mere! We need a group hug or something!

"Wait wait wait!" Laurie shook, and Tess stopped herself from hugging her.

"You're lost?"

"Uh, very." Responded Jeremy.

"I know where you first go. Maybe I could show you?"

"That would be such a nice thing to do. You're adorable." Tess commented. Laurie shrunk in on herself.

"Is that a yes?" Asked Laurie.

"It is." Piped up Jeremy.

The trio headed out of the shop, and went straight back to 2049 Cedarstalk. Meanwhile with Cassian, he had reached the beach, but there was no sign of confirmation about the challenge being there, so he had to walk out of there with no progress being made. He suddenly spotted another fellow nearby, with dark skin and eyes, slightly taller than him. He had a USA helmet on, which was certainly a unique thing to wear out in LA. Cassian had a small respect for it, but at the same time it was kind of silly.

"Are you ok?" asked Cassian

"Nah, just some Nazis took my stuff." Cassian flinched at this comment

"Woah, that's a really really harsh thing to say."

"Yeah, but it really sucks to have your bags stolen."

"Hey, are you competing in Total Drama?" asked Cassian, to which the other boy nodded.

"Okay. I'm one of your fellow competitors. We're doing a scavenger hunt, and they took our bags first. So, I'd say don't blame whoever took your bags?" suggested Cassian

"You're right...it's the people behind this fault!" This guy suddenly shot up.

"Calm down, please just calm down. With the way you act you make me afraid you'll sudden pull out a machete of some kind." Cassian expressed, and the other man stared at him.

"Wait, you don't do that?"

"Who raised you?" Cassian asked, distressed. "Never mind, the first part is this way."

Both parties took off, and raced back to the factory. Both leading their parties, although Cassian's was neck and neck.

"Ok, so here it is." Laurie stated, then turned to Jeremiah and Tessa "You guys need to make marshmallows, that's pretty much it."

Jeremiah and Tessa nodded, and walked inside, but both were joined by another guy. The door locked, then both Cassian and Laurie turned to the other.

"Oh uhm" Laurie started, but was cut off by Cassian.

"Hi again"

"Hey" Laurie waved to him awkwardly.

"Hey's for horses, so anyways, what's up?" Cassian joked, and chuckled to himself, but that went away as Laurie wasn't laughing with him.
"Oh, I got distracted, and I ran into some other competitors. Sorry for that" Laurie apologized, and Cassian shook his head.

"Don't worry, I did it too." Silence befell between the pair again.

"So, you think we should wait for them to finish up?" Laurie broke the silence first.

"I guess, I mean, I feel like we kind of owe them." Cassian pointed out.

"That's probably true." Responded Laurie. They both looked away, then Cassian spoke up.

"I hope we're on the same team" Laurie was caught off guard.

"You mean us?" Laurie asked, pointing to herself.

"Yup." Cassian nodded.

"You and me?" Laurie squinted, don't get her wrong, she did deep down want to get to know him better. But still, why her?

"I mean who else?" Cassian teased, and Laurie started picking at the skin around her fingernails.

"Yeah you're right, that was stupid of me." Laurie nodded, and pulled off a bit of skin. Cassian immediately grabbed onto her hands and held them down.

"Hey hey hey no worries it's fine. Besides, I want to be on the same team, so please don't say stuff like that." Cassian reassured her.

"Okay, me too. But what if we aren't?" Asked Laurie, and Cassian smiled gently to her.

"You need to stop being such a Debby Downer, I'm sure it'll be fine." Responded Cassian as he held onto Laurie's hands, and she felt warmth around her wrists and knuckles.

At last at the museum, Haden and Noelani stepped inside the exhibit with all the shark skeletons. Noelani stared at the skeletons everywhere for a few minutes, while Haden replayed their recording. Eventually Noelani looked at Haden, who played the clip again.

"You're pretty stiff, you know that? I mean, you were pretty harsh on Jun." Noelani commented, and Haden scoffed

"He has a thick head, maybe he needs to be loud to hide some sort of insecurity deep down." Haden snarked back, and Noelani raised her hands in mock surrender.

"Hey, hey, even if you're right that's not a really nice thing to say." Noelani half scolded, though her lips started curling up on her face. Haden shrugged.

"I can see you love it." He responded bluntly, and Noelani feigned innocence.

"Who me? I couldn't do such a thing." She responded curtly, and he chuckled.

"You're lying." and Noelani froze.

"Fine, so what if it's kind of funny?"

"Nothing, I don't care that much." And that conversation ended on that note. Haden looked up from his golden pocket watch (which, Noelani realized was broken as soon as neither of the hands moved), spotted fang's skeleton, strutted over, and tugged on his tooth.

A certain employee just rolled his eyes and handed Haden a flag with a gopher on it.

"Alright, we're pretty much done here." Haden remarked.

Jun, Charlotte, and Duke all ended up in front of some very, very tall buildings. At the very top of a housing complex, was their flag. Jun spotted the entrance to the front doors of the stores at the bottom of these apartment buildings. He walked over to the door, and pulled on the door. Nothing. Jun tried again, much more aggressively.

"Maybe it's a push door?" Asked Duke. Jun tried again, this time pushing. Nothing.

"Ugh, f*ck this." Jun groaned, and picked up a stone, and started to charge at the glass door.

"No!" Shouted Duke, and he scooped up Jun, pinning his arms to his sides.

"LET ME GO YOU SMELL SH*TTY!" He shouted, kicking out his legs. Duke just shook his head.

"Say, we've got those fire escapes up there." Charlotte pointed out.

"I guess you'll just magically jump up there, as if that wasn't the height of three of you combined." Jun retorted, as he rolled his eyes. Charlotte frowned.

"You make a rude, and valid point."

As soon as that was said, Duke just took a look at Jun, a solid 5'10 man. Whom he managed to hold with relative ease. He then looked at Charlotte, who was around 5'4. Then he looked at the height of the fire escape. He then dropped Jun and held up Charlotte.

"Hey! What's this?" Shouted Charlotte.

"Just pretend death is a conspiracy made up by religion, or whatever people say to comfort people!" This was screamed rapidly, before Duke threw Charlotte up onto the fire escape. She screamed, and Jun's eyes nearly popped out their sockets, and his jaw could have dropped to the floor. Charlotte landed with an 'UMPF', her glasses flew off her face and skidded across the fire escape. She then flailed out her hands before coming to a gentle crawl, feeling around for her glasses before her hand landed on them.

"What the hell- you could have killed her!" Shouted Jun.

"Char, you ok?" shouted Duke, and after putting on her glasses, she gave a small thumbs up. Charlotte then walked to the edge of the fire escape, and lowered down the ladder.

"Don't do that again you stupd f*ck, jesus christ I could've had a heart attack.." muttered Jun, shaking his head while climbing the ladder.

"You're not the one who was thrown up there." Duke shook his head "But still, an apology is in order: I'm sorry for scaring you. Char."

Jun groaned, and he scrambled on the ladders going further up the fire escapes.

"Why is everyone so salty today?"

"Maybe you caused it?" Suggested Duke, and Jun shook his head.

"No way, this one guy earlier was an *sshole. For no reason either."

"You insulted our clothing actual seconds after meeting us." Charlotte pointed out.

"I'm just saying the truth." Jun argued. The winds picked up, and the clouds grew closer.

"Maybe some people just don't care about what could be superficial to them, and insulting them based on that is just seen as rude in the end?" Suggested Duke.

"Give me a break, I'm not going to be fake while criticizing an art. I'm going to say when an art is nothing more than a bunch of toilets screwed together and has no merit to it at all." Retorted Jun.

"Doesn't the usual best critique come in the form of a sandwich? You get into what's good, then what's bad, then improving points? If you just say it's bad, it's not actual critique, it's just insulting." The metal under Charlotte's blue vans creaked, and she stopped. She slowly started making her way up the metal steps again.

"F*ck me, you want me to get into specifics up here?" Asked Jun. "We've got other things to worry about." They had reached the top balcony, and the trio came to a stop.

Duke's 6'1 was overshadowed by the height to the roof.

"Maybe I could jump-" Duke started.

"NO!" Jun finished. The metal creaked again, a long croaking sound, and everyone looked down. The ground was tiny specks, the garbage bins smaller than Charlotte's pinky finger. Everyone held their breath as the creaking silenced itself again, and once it did everyone held their breath longer. Finally once everyone started breathing again, Charlotte asked a question.

"Jun, are you willing to volunteer to get on the roof?" Jun pursed his lip and looked anywhere but down. Eventually he came to a conclusion.

"Fine." Nodded Jun

"What were you scared of or for then? It's not being thrown that's for sure." Asked Duke as Jun tried to get onto his shoulders

"Charlotte's life." Jun retorted immediately, before his eyes widened, and he remained silent as he was hoisted up onto the roof.

The winds were nearly unbearable from up this high, and Jun clutched at his blazer as he slowly took one step after the other. The flag flapped aggressively in the wind. Jun looked up, and realized that he would have to climb up to retrieve it. The metal of the pole was cold, but Jun had to bear it. His hand eventually gripped tightly onto the flag, the wind threatened to blow him down to the grounds below, which Jun looked down again to. The streets were a long way down, Jun suspected that he could be killed by the fall if he just made the wrong move, and fell the wrong way. Slowly Jun slid down the pole, and made his way back to Charlotte and Duke. Before he climbed down the wall to the fire escape, Duke made an observation.

"Any of y'all friendly with whoever's down there?" Asked Duke. Jun and Charlotte looked down, and saw more people arriving. They then looked around, and the surrounding buildings also had various flags. Charlotte immediately pulled out her camera, and Jun just stared down at the newcomers.

Earlier…

"Finally!" Shouted Livia as she hopped out of the factory. Behind her were Kylie and Donatella, Donna holding onto the recorder. Behind them, another trio consisting of two men and a woman in all red entered, and a group of 5 arrived at the scene. Not that it bothered them.

"You're very quiet, you know that Donna?" Asked Kylie, looking down at Donna. Donna looked away.

"Come on, let's just move on." She responded.

"Ok then." Shrugged Kylie, but Livia didn't back down.

"C'mooooon, you like something right? It's gotta be fashion, I mean I really like your outfit." Livia smiled.

"Your's is ok too. You really, really dress for the job you want." Donna snarled, and Kylie frowned.

"Huh?" Livia responded.

"Did you just?" Kylie asked. Donna's eyes widened.

"Nevermind, let's just focus ok?" Donna quickly asserted.

"Fine." Nodded Kylie.

Patrick came to a stop in front of the apartments, Sydney and Lucas behind him. Looking up, he spotted another three people.

"Shit, we're behind! Come on we need to move it!." He snarled. Lucas eyes immediately shot around the area.

"Up there!" Lucas pointed up, and their flag was up there, a red fist.

Sydney looked up, and then around the area, and passing by a trash can, she stared at the brick formation, then the rain pipe. She jumped up, and gained a grip on the pipe. As she was climbing Patrick inspected his surroundings, and spotted a large sturdy garbage can. He then looked to the other trio's fire escape, as they were rapidly descending the stairs. He then swiftly held the can over his head, and a loud BANG echoed in the night. Another bang, and another, and the final ladder on the Jun, Charlotte, and Duke's fire escape was mangled. Everyone stopped shrieking and flinching, and looked at the carnage.

"YOU SON OF A B*TCH" Shouted Jun as he looked down from the 7th fire escape, and he started making great jumps down the fire escape.

"Great job and all, but we need to run!" Shouted Sydney, lowering down her group's ladder. 'Note to self: See if Patrick will be on your team' thought Sydney. Lucas climbed up first, Sydney held out her hand and pulled him up. Patrick jumped on the ladder behind Lucas, and as Lucas was re-gaining his footing on the platform, Patrick reached the top of the ladder and stood still.

"You guys go ahead, I'll stand watch."

Sydney nodded, and after hesitation, Lucas followed her the way up. The winds picked up on the way up, but neither made any commentary to the other. Sometimes Lucas would lag behind, and Sydney would roll her eyes and tell him to go faster.

"Ok, I think we could get up there if one of us lifts the other up. Wanna rock paper scissors? Loser will have to climb." Sydney held out her hand, and Lucas held still, his hand outward, in a vaguely flat gesture

"Scissors! You lose, now climb up there!" Sydney declared as she hefted up Lucas.

Lucas, having observed his group earlier, ended up keeping his mouth shut the entire ordeal. Once he retrieved the flag, and as he climbed down from the roof, another loud clang was heard. The duo looked down, to see their bottom ladder had been vandalized too. Racing down the stairs and looking across, they saw Jun pulling himself together after throwing something -which was later learned to be a large plant pot- with a small smile on his face. Lucas stopped in his tracks, while Sydney bolted down the rest of the stairs, ramming herself against the railing facing the other group once at the first platform.

"HEY, WHAT THE F*CK?!" Shouted Sydney, and Lucas shrunk himself into a corner of the balcony 6 floors over his new 'friends'. Would they be worth teaming up with? They were strong and all, but was it worth it?

Meanwhile, as the turf wars began, Tessa and Jeremiah were halfway up their fire escape, and started staring at the two trios. Tessa's face scrunched up and she flinched, seeing one of them chuck a plant pot at the others, missing them and hitting the wall.

"Oooo, that's really not good." Responded Tessa in response to seeing Jun and Duke both flipping the finger to the others, and Patrick struggling to hold onto Sydney before she jumped onto and off the railing with her arms outstretched.

"Kind of reminds me of" She stopped "Never mind, actually." Tessa looked back to the ladder she was climbing up and resumed climbing, stopping once she reached the next platform and holding out her hand for Jeremiah.

"What?" Asked Jeremiah, and Tessa looked at him.

"You wanna know?" She asked, and he paused before nodding slowly.

"Well, my parents aren't really the kindest of people. They would scream at me. A lot." She sighed. "I mean, I get they want the best out of me, but I didn't like what they were trying to make me do. You know, with schools, social status, you know what I mean?" She asked Jeremiah, who stared at her for a moment then spoke.

"Uhm, yeah actually" he shuffled his leg back and forth "I mean it's not exact, but it's feeling like people want something out of you that you don't want or can't give. That it?" He asked, and Tessa nodded.

"Sometimes I'd just start crying whenever I was told I shouldn't like musicals, or made to do homework for people I didn't care for. That sounds so baby-ish saying it out loud." Jeremiah remarked.

"Ugh, people sometimes. But there is one thing: For every person who tries to do something like that, there will be someone who doesn't mind, that's pretty much what I learned while traveling." Tess pointed out, and Jeremy nodded.

"I get that, but I haven't found that yet."

"Oh shoot we need to focus, come on!" Tess grabbed his arm and shot up to the top of the fire escape. She first pushed up Jeremy, then climbed onto the roof herself.

"Oh." Both noticed the flagpole, just on the edge of the roof, blowing in the wind in the direction of the street below.

"I can go." Tess offered.

"Can I?" asked Jeremy

"Do you want to?" Responded Tess, and Jeremy looked down.

"No." Admitted Jeremy.

"Alright, I'll do it." Tess inhaled and exhaled, handed Jeremy her ukulele and backpack, and walked to the pole, steadily sliding up to the flag.

"I've got-" The pole bent outward.

"OH CRAP!" Shouted Jeremy, and he rushed over to her. Tess's breath caught in her throat as she looked down. Taking a deep breath, she jumped down onto the roof.

"You ok?" He asked and Tess nodded.

"Yeah, that was a bit spooky though, wasn't it?" She pointed out, and both started climbing down the fire escape, as Tess read aloud the next instructions.

"You're almost there-Yay!-but here's your next location Sammy's barbecue house, on Sparkton Road, in front you'll be provided with your ticket into the show."

More people gathered them, such as a brown haired girl with braids and a boy with blonde curly hair in the building next to them.

Noelani and Haden stepped onto solid ground, and Haden pulled out his phone, holding down his hat. Although the wind was worse higher up, on the ground it was still unbearable. If you were to light a candle outside, the breeze would blow out the match before you even struck the box.

"Ok, so maps...perfect, now we can head over." Haden commented, and him and Noelani set off from the alleyway.

"Look, they know where the next stop is." Pointed out Tessa, and she and Jeremiah followed behind at a distance.

Lucas spotted the pairs leaving, and he stood up, and looked at the jump down. He could survive, but he might break his bones, and he couldn't afford that. Not all of the contestants would be jerks, and wasting his bones only to find out the rest of the cast was fine wasn't a risk worth taking. So he spotted the garbage bin below him, held his nose, and jumped inside.

"WAIT FOR US!" Sydney shouted, and she and Patrick landed next to Lucas. They all jumped up and dashed after the other two.

"Oh no, if they think they could just get away, they have another thing coming!" Declared Jun, and he pushed Duke down on the fire escape. Duke gripped onto the edge, and Jun went next, grabbing onto Duke's leg on the way down-Duke's howl of pain didn't bother Jun at that point- and then Jun dropped down the rest of the way, rushing after the trio that caused him so much trouble. Duke followed suit, catching Charlotte as she jumped down, and giving her a piggyback ride following Jun.

Donna, Kylie, and Livia had just arrived to the apartments, when they spotted everyone going one way. Kylie and Livia thought to ignore it, until Donna pointed out something.

"Look, they have the Total Drama team flags." Kylie and Livia took a closer look, and sure enough Donna was right.

"Let's follow them." Suggested Kylie, and the three become part of the parade. Cassian, Laurie, Dean, had arrived on the scene too, but then spotted everyone leaving.

"I see Tess and Jeremy." Laurie pointed out.

"Let's follow them." Cassian decided. Another two joined the rest of them -with their flags-, one with brown braided hair and glasses, and the other with blonde curly hair.

"You think they're going the right way?" Asked Trinity.
"Who cares." Responded Axel.

Various footsteps echoed across the way, nobody acknowledging everyone else there, and as soon as everyone realized that the other was there, they just walked into plain sight and kept following the other. Soon a large group had been formed of everyone following the other, and Haden felt something -something gleeful- that just grew inside him at the thought these people were following him. He could make a wrong turn and everyone would be lost. What was that point of doing that though? Sure there was that offer to have someone on your team, but he couldn't just eliminate someone out the gate, or the last people there wouldn't be cut from the show. So there was no point in that idea.

"Hm, it seems Haden here is in a lot of control, Noelani could have a dark side, Jeremiah and Tessa seem to be bonding! Two nerds that have loads in common! If only he'd let his guard down!" Josh declared, and Aria and Ericka nodded with anticipation.

"Kylie, Livia, and Donatella seem to be forming the girl power group!" Blaineley stated with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, and Aria and Ericka both flinched.

"That's great!" Aria nodded, her fingers clutching at her seat.

"What have you got planned for them next?" Asked Josh.

"The weather." Responded Ericka with a small smile forming and a glint in her eyes.

"Guys, I don't mean to alarm you, but it's now 8:47!" Jeremiah pointed out, and everyone started jogging.

Then they start shoving the other. Thank god that Haden stopped, and said "We're here" before everyone could re-enact Lord of the Flies in under a second. Sitting outside the barbecue house were the two hooded people, now un-hooded. The male was still nursing his nosebleed, and the petite red-head female spotted everyone in the front and made a beeline for inside.

"Right, so everyone gets these torches" This intern reached under the table and pulled out a large basket-tray with many torches inside, all unlit and laying on their sides. Everyone started shoving the other again, and he glared at everyone

"EVERYONE GET IN A LINE!" He shouted.

All the contestants groaned and soon, the contestants reluctantly formed a line. Obviously some of the contestants cut in front of the other, and some pushed the person in front of them out of line and went "Oh no, you need to go to the back now". The man glared at them, and soon the line was in order. The redhead then came out, with chunks of uncooked meat, and a small bonfire. Pulling out a lighter, this small bonfire lit aflame, and the man handed out large unlit torches, everyone then noticing the metal pins inside the torches. The men demonstrated what to do, setting aside an unused extra torch, grabbing a slice of meat, and setting it on fire.

"Don't let it go out." He then waved it aggressively, and the meat on the stick flew off and onto the asphalt with a loud SPLAT, and the man cursed and stomped on the meat.

Once everyone's meat caught on fire, Patrick spoke up.

"Guys, it's supposed to rain soon."

As soon as that was said, there was a drop on the ground. Then another. Then another. Soon the ground was sprinkled with damp drops, and they became more clear in the air around them.

SPLASH!

Everyone turned, and saw the redhead shaking an orange beach bucket, with the small bonfire nothing but wet ashes, and the smell of smoke.

"Have fun avoiding the rain, no takesies backsies. Just go back to the factory." She waved them off before going inside, the man following soon after.

"OH FOR F*CK'S SAKE." Jun shouted as he ran under the roof, Lucas, Jeremiah, and Tessa following him.

"NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT!" Shouted Livia as she, Kylie, Sydney, Axel, and Dean sped off into the night, the rain getting worse and worse.

"Welp, I'm going before it gets worse." Cassian stated, and Laurie followed him. That idea resonated, and soon Trinity, Donatella, Duke, Charlotte, and Patrick followed. The remaining people under the roof paused, until Trinity had enough.

"Yeah, it's like, 8:54, we gotta get going."

Slowly everyone rushed in the rain, some ahead of others, some stopping under roofs because their torches nearly went out. Jun's meat fell off the torch, and he had to quickly transfer the meat back on as the skin on his hand burned. Once the meat was back on, he sucked on his right hand's fingers and pressed on. Soon they all nearly arrived at Cedarstalk ST.

"Look at this door." Haden pointed out a small brown door with a gold star on it. "No need to thank me." Noelani facepalmed, and Jun considered spitting on Haden's black dress shoes, but held back, puffing out his cheeks. Tess looked around, everyone waiting for someone to make the first move. When Haden tried the door, Patrick, Sydney, and Axel immediately tackled him, and Duke, Cassian, and Dean rushed over to help. As quietly as she could, she then knocked on the door. Then a gruff voice called out to everyone, giving away Tessa's position

"Password?"

"So, what did you think of that?" Ericka leaned forward in her seat, her platinum blonde angled bob cut tilting. Aria sat up, and looked to Josh and Blaineley. Aria's phone had been going off with notifications repeatedly, that the notification sound had become a single sound, playing all her notifications all at once. Aria's hand clenched on the fabric of her seat, her toes curled in her shoes, and she sucked her cheeks in.

"They're all so…" Josh started, and Aria's throat was airy, her stomach a bottomless looping pit she felt the walls of.

"We'd like more of this cast!"

Her stomach's pits suddenly went into reverse. They were going to let them inside? Aria looked to her right, and saw them all enter, Tessa stumbling in first and scrambling to get away from everyone else. They all stood there, soaking wet, and Ericka stood up and stared outside. All the torches were still lit.

"So that's it for tonight! We met our new cast, our new hosts, and exactly what's in store! Aria, would you like to end this episode?"

Aria suddenly felt air leave her body, and she nodded.

"ALL ABOARD!" The bus driver shouted at the new cast, and everyone -now with their bags- climbed onto the dingy green bus. Aria smiled her signature smile, wide and goofy, stretching to the edges of her face and wrinkling her bulbous golden eyes. Ericka whispered to her, and Aria spoke.

"You have it here! Tune in next time right here! On Total! Drama! Timberlock Groves!" Aria nearly screeched out, and Ericka rolled her eyes.
"Not bad, but-" Ericka started.
"Shut up." Aria cut off.

And after that, all the contestants climbed on the bus. Ericka and Aria, hazy and exhausted, went back to their hotel room and packed their bags. As soon as they both boarded the plane, and Aria's eyes were closed, Ericka looked to Aria, and she frowned. Her phone then vibrated -Yes Aria, she's not just any boomer, she was an advanced one- and she picked up.
"You think Aria's cut out for the job?" Ericka asked.

"She doesn't have to be. Her fans just need to watch."
Ericka's heart cracked a bit, and she looked to her sleeping daughter.

9,969 words, nice. If you would like to tell about any criticism you have for the story, please mention it in the reviews. Also, another thing I am going to do is sometimes ask questions about your characters, because I botched some parts of the application. My bad! Anyways, this week's question is: I'll spare your characters by saying they all packed tents for this occasion, but what else do they have in their bags besides their sleeping bags and extra clothing? Have a good day campers,

SmartMartyDiscoParty out!