It is a terrible thing to lose ones friends. It is even more terrible to be the last member of a group to die. No one knows this better than Dawn Strazinski. Dawn is sole surviving contestant from Total Drama, the once popular game show that subjected its participants to unbearable tortures for the chance to win one million dollars. How Dawn came to be the sole survivor is a mystery even she does not understand. She has spent countless days and nights searching for an answer to that very question, but she has found no answers. And, in the end, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that Dawn is still here and her friends are not.

It has been twenty years since since Total Drama All-Stars ended and in that time things have gone from bad to worse at every turn. All-Stars was the final season of the TD franchise, though it wasn't supposed to be. There had been another season in the works, one that promised to introduce a whole new cast, but the show had been abruptly canceled for no apparent reason. After that, host Chris McLean went off the deep end and the former contestants were left to try and return to their normal lives. It hadn't been easy, but most of them had managed, at first. Some, like Mike and Zoey found solace in each other. Others, like B and Gwen and Dawn herself, had been relieved to put the fame behind them. But some, like Courtney, Heather, Alejandro, and Scott hadn't been so easily subdued, and it was they who started the trouble.

Dawn, of course, had tried to stop them and she hadn't been alone. Gwen, B, Cameron, Mike, Zoey, Bridgette, Geoff, D.J., Trent, LeShawna, Harold, and Beth had helped her. Eventually Izzy, Duncan, Sam, Brick, Dakota, Katie, Sadie, Staci, Noah, Owen, and Cody had joined them as well. Jo, Anne Maria, Sierra, Eva, Lindsey, Tyler, and Ezekiel had done their best to stay out of the whole thing, though they had ultimately failed. And Courtney, Heather, Alejandro, and Scott had been joined by Justin, Lightning, Chis, and Chef in their attempt to either get Total Drama back or find some other way to stay in the spotlight.

And so the war had raged and in the end it consumed them all, save Dawn, who somehow managed to escape unscathed. But in the process she was forced the bear witness to the full scope and range of the darkness that dwells within each of us. For in their fight, the former contestants, those from all sides, resorted to any means necessary to win and that attitude destroyed them. Not all of them succumbed to the war, however. Some abandoned the fight, only to fall to some other evil or be swallowed alive by the very industry that had made them famous to begin with. But whether by drugs, murder, suicide, accident, or some other means the outcome was the same. All of them met their end in some untimely manner and Dawn was left to pick up the pieces when the smoke had finally cleared.

And so, here she sits, the last remnant of a once proud franchise, the final witness to the end of an era. She has kept record of all that transpired and she will share her story with any who ask, though it is little comfort to her anymore. For all that is left to her is bitterness and despair as she sits and recites, "Nobody knows the trouble I have seen. Nobody knows my sorrow."

A/N: And that's the beginning of my new Total Drama project. Let me begin by reminding us all that Total Drama is not mine. It is the property of Teletoon, Inc. and its creators. I will continue to work on the Consultant series, as well as my other ideas, but I felt compelled to start on this sad tale now, while it was still fresh in my mind. This story is not connected in any way to the Consultant, other than that they share a common category in Total Drama. As stated on my profile, this was originally planned as a one shot, but will now consist of multiple chapters, each focusing on one or more of the other characters from the first five seasons of TD. This chapter acts as the prologue and the other chapters will explain exactly what happened to the other characters. I am sorry this is so short, by the way, but most of my prologues are, so there you go. Anyway, that's all I have for now, so I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction and I look forward to your feedback. Cheers, KT.

P.S. Please let me know if I've forgotten any major TD characters. I think I have them all, but sometimes I forget one or two.