Episode 1

Episode 1a: Let’s Get This Terrible Party Started
'''Nineteen new contestants and one special returning one arrive to the High School in order to compete for another MIllion Dollars. After all of their greetings are done, Chris announces their first challenge; traversing a maze in order to pick out the teams.'''

Episode
A camera panned over the Total Drama City as dramatic music played. A familiar voice began to narrate, attempting a low and gripping tone.

“You’d think you’ve seen it all; we’ve been to islands, cities, all around the globe… you’d think you’ve seen it all, but truth is, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

The camera then zoomed in on the outskirts of the city, revealing a large, lush campus. Zooming in either further, the owner of the familiar voice came into view; naturally, it was none other than the Chris McLean. The middle aged man, well known for being a sadistic TV celebrity, was sporting his usual sneaky grin as he stood on the steps of a brick building.

“This season we’re bringing it back to one of the most dangerous, hellish, agonizing locations on this earth. A place that our contestants are hopefully familiar with- high school!” a shot of the entirety of the building panned across the screen, and a shiny silver plaque boasting the title “Total Drama High School” adorned the side of the facility.

“These twenty teens will be enduring the next couple of months here, putting up with all the ceaseless trials of high school- except way, way, WAY worse. Not only that, but they’ll have to put up with one another as friends, foes, and maybe even more as they fight their way through the competition.” Chris explained with an excited glimmer in his eyes.

“What could even begin to make this type of torture worth it? Oh, normally nothing could justify the things we’re going to put these kids through, but a most lucrative prize will at least keep them from suing!”

“Speaking of those poor and unsuspecting kids, I think it’s about time we meet them, don’t you?” he asked rhetorically. As if on cue, a large, iconic school bus wheeled up the avenue and stopped just outside the school’s entrance. Through the windows, various silhouettes could be seen moving about. Once the bus came to a complete stop, the doors squeaked open. However, nobody immediately emerged.

“Chef, send in the students!” Chris commanded regally, and the first person off the bus was the intimidating Chef himself. The tall man looked over his shoulder as he stepped off.

“Alright you little maggots; come off in single file, one at a time!” Chef instructed them, though naturally as soon as he said this, the first of the twenty burst forth with no regard for things such as order. Chef shot a glare at them, but they seemed not to notice, instead prancing up to Chris with a mischievous glint in their eyes.

“Helllooooo!” they sang out cheerfully in a high-pitched melody. Overflowing with energy, they grinned from ear to ear and pulled Chris into a tight hug.

Chris winced at the contact, quickly shoving the student away with an annoyed expression.

“You must be… Doll.” Chris said flatly, and the petite contestant gave a vigorous nod.

“You bet, you bet! It’s, like, so so so cool to finally be here, you know? Like, when I got the call saying I had been accepted for the show I almost, like, didn’t even believe it! Yet here I am! Here you are! It’s, like, totally a dream come true!” they spoke rapidly, their words occasionally slurred due to the fact that they were talking with a sucker sticking out of their mouth. They then looked as though they’d remembered something important, and reached for the backpack they were wearing.

“I even totally brought you a copy of my latest Chref fic! I uploaded it only a week ago but it’s already gotten 367 reviews and counting!” they boasted proudly, handing a thick stack of papers to Chris. Chris grimaced at the sight, not even wanting to know what was lying in the pages before him.

“That’s…. that’s just great.” Chris muttered hesitantly. “Doll, why don’t you stand over there while we introduce everyone.” he added, once again giving a worried look to the pile of literature he was given. As soon as Doll turned away, Chris shoved it into the trash bin.

“You really should have recycled that; though oh well, it’s not like I’m here to talk trash.” a woman said as she stepped off the bus. She grinned with delight at her pun, while Chris and Chef simultaneously face palmed.

“Oh, come on! That was a good one!” the girl insisted, placing her hands on her hips.

“Don’t tell me- you’re Quinn?” Chris guessed, and the girl nodded and snorted.

“That would be right– er, correct. Doll seems to be the one that writes.” Quinn joked. When Chris gave her an exasperated look in response, she chuckled again and quickly took her place next to Doll. While the next contestant stepped off the bus, Quinn put on her headphones, keeping one off of the ear so she could still hear what was going on while listening to her music.

The next one to emerge seemed completely unamused with the puns and fanfiction. He seemed done with everything, even though he’d just arrived. Sporting several piercings and a natural glare, he strode towards Chris, looked him up and down, and then continued walked straight past him. Doll and Quinn both gave friendly waves to the tall blonde, but he didn’t even look at them as he walked past.

“Whoah, rude.” Quinn remarked, huffing slightly.

“I wouldn’t take it personally; that’s Emeris, and good luck getting him to talk unless he has to.” Chris gave the brief bio, and Emeris simply nodded to verify this was correct.

“So, not a talker, Emmy?” Doll asked curiously, not quick to be discouraged. Emeris glared at Doll immediately.

“The name’s Emeris. Not Emmy.” he grunted through gritted teeth. Doll shrugged it off, leaning towards Quinn.

“His name should be Gus, given that grumpy ‘tude.” Quinn reassured Doll.

Doll seemed to be about to say something when the next contestant entered the scene with a boisterous shout.

“HELLLLLOOOOOOOO TOTAL DRAMA!” a tall woman in a disco get-up greeted, shimmying her way from the bus to Chris. “Lookin’ good as always, McLean!” she greeted, flashing a peace sign towards him and the other contestants.

“I know, I know.” Chris said, lacking any semblance of humility. “See? Why can’t you people take a page out of Starr’s book?” Chris said, glancing at the other students.

“Aw baby, you flatter me!” Starr laughed. “I would hug ya’, honey, but I wouldn’t wanna mess up that stylin’ look you got goin’ on!” she complimented him, striking a pose before moving on to greet the other contestants.

“How’s the weather up there?” Quinn asked, looking up at the exceptionally tall Starr. Her platform boots caused her to tower even higher over Quin and Doll.

“Good one, funny honey, but I’ve heard that a million times!” Starr retorted playfully.

“Hey now, don’t get too chummy.” Chris interjected, before giving a signalling nod to Chef. “Quick, send her out before they get too friendly!” Chris whispered sharply.

Chef then boarded the bus again. Muffled talking could be heard, and the bus gave a rumble before Chef walked back off, clearing the way for the next contestant. A fiery redhead stomped off the bus, hands on hips. She took one look at the group of students thus far, then paused as her sight fixed on Chris. She stopped in place and gave a salute.

“Cadet Riley Jordan Thompson is present and accounted for, Sir!” she proclaimed rigidly. This display of professionalism was jarring to those present. Even Emeris seemed to straighten his posture at the sound of her voice, if even just slightly.

“Wow, you even introduce yourself.” Chris was impressed, smiling as things seemed to settle with her introduction.

Riley marched towards her competitors, a stone-cold expression on her face. She observed each one carefully, taking place at the end of the line. She paused only briefly as she passed by Doll, but quickly fixed her composure and continued past the adorable teen.

“That’s more like it.” Chris remarked, and motioned for Chef to allow the next student off of the vehicle. A golden blonde lady in mary janes skipped off of the bus and made her way straight to Chris.

“Wow, how come everyone looks so serious?” she asked innocently. “I mean, I know it’s a competition, but lighten up!” she insisted cheerfully.

Chris eyed the lady carefully. “Let’s see…. are you… Addison, perhaps?” he asked, trying to deduce her identity.

“Wow, so observant! You bet I am!” Addison confirmed with a chipper tone. Her lax personality caused the others to relax a bit as well, save for the ever-staunch Riley. Addison looked down the line of students, as if weighing her options. Her gaze finally settled on Riley, who she approached.

“Well hi there! I think I saw you on the ride here? You were towards the front though, so, like, I didn’t get to talk to you! Not that we were even supposed to talk on the way here… but whatever! Nice to meet you, I’m Addison, like Chris totally just said!” Addison spoke in a sweet, airy tone as she extended her arm to shake Riley’s hand.

Riley hesitated, though then politely shook her hand.

“Same to you, ma’am.” Riley responded in a stoic tone. When she said nothing more, Addison simply stood next to her, albeit a bit close for comfort. Riley stepped a few inches away, though Addison quickly closed the gap once again.

“Whoa, so you’re like, the strong and silent type? I bet we’ll be such good friends!” Addison announced.

“It is disrespectful to chatter at this time; stay in line, the next one is arriving.” Riley commanded, gaze fixated on the bus.

The next contestant seemed to not be able to get off of the bus soon enough, quickly dusting himself off as he made it onto the sidewalk. He was a curious sight; tall, skinny, and wearing a mask over his mouth like the ones you would see people wearing at the doctor’s office.

“So filthy…. so musty….” he muttered, annoyed. However, as soon as he was in sight of the camera he quickly stood up straight, smiling under the mask and striding towards the group. He gave a respectful nod to Chris.

“Not a fan of public transportation, Cain?” Chris teased in amusement. Cain maintained a respectful demeanor, simply agreeing with a nod of his head.

“No, not particularly. But I make do with what I must.” he said politely, walking down the growing line of students.

“What’s with the mask, are you sick or something?” Addison asked curiously, not wanting to get infected if that were the case.

“No, no. I wear this so others do not get me sick.” he informed her, “People tend to not take the best care of themselves, after all.” Once again, he smiled underneath the mask to give off a friendly air.

“Ooh! Ooh! Is it like, a physical representation of a metaphorical mask you wear to keep others at a distance?” Doll hypothesized, the wheels turning in their head as they considered the plot of an upcoming story.

“I wouldn’t say that, but that’s awfully creative of you to assume.” Cain responded, chuckling.

Before the two could further chat, the next student stumbled onto the sidewalk, nearly tripping. Hoping nobody noticed xyr potential spill, xe quickly straightened out xyr skirt and approached the group cautiously.

“Hey there, sugar. No need to look so scared.” Starr called out, gesturing for xem to get in the line.

“Yeah, they probably won’t bite.” Chris added offhandedly. “Get in line, Chloe, next to Cain.”

Chloe obligated, standing next to the much taller student. Cain looked down at xem, taking note of xyr guarded disposition.

“Nervous?” he asked softly.

“Is it that obvious?” Chloe murmured, crossing xyr arms in a defensive pose.

“Perhaps- but we’re all a little bit anxious since we’re all getting used to what’s to come.” he assured xem.

“Yeah, I guess.” Chloe mumbled as a sudden melody filled the air. A tall man with a banjo then made his way towards the group, strumming at the instrument in his arms. He serenaded himself around, offering a friendly grin to his peers and to Chris.

“Well howdy, y’all! Glad to meet all of y’all!” he spoke slowly, in time with the twangs and strums of his banjo.

“Vance, the musical season was years ago. You can put the banjo away.” Chris informed him. Vance paused, slightly flustered, but then continued to play.

“Aw, come on. I know it ain’t a musical season, but I like to play anyways if you’ll allow me.” he plucked out a riff to accentuate his words.

“Well, there no way that could get obnoxious.” Chris muttered under his breath, then said in a louder voice, “Whatever, just get in line, Banjo Boy.”

“Sure thing, McLean.” Vance said simply, still strumming away as he took a spot next to Chloe.

“So, who’s next?” Chris asked, “And to think we’re not even halfway through with this cast of loons.”

To answer Chris’ rhetorical question, the next contestant dismounted the bus. She looked reserved and even slightly timid, her hands busying themselves by toying with the end of the blue hijab she wore.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted Chris and the others, “I assume we are all lining up for the time being?” she deduced given the sight of the other competitors.

“You assume correctly, Khadija.” Chris verified, able to tell who she was right away given that he recalled her to be the only student to wear a hijab.

“Wonderful.” she responded simply, stopping at the end of the line, just next to Vance. She was a bit caught off guard by the large, banjo-strumming boy, but he seemed to caught up in his instrument to try and strike up a conversation, which put her at ease. slid her hands into her pocket, carefully watching the movements of the others she could see at this point in time.

Just as Khadija settled in her spot in line, Vance strummed a chord that was clearly off, and rather loud. This startled Khadija, and she cupped her hand gently over her left ear, sidestepping a bit further from Vance.

“Sorry bout that! Seems I need to tune this here string; coulda sworn I’d taken care of that one the way.” Vance apologized quickly, though Khadija simply nodded to acknowledge his words.

Finally, a loud thud was heard, and the camera panned over to a ginger-haired boy on the pavement.

“I totally knew somebody was going to face plant- I just knew it.” Addison remarked. “Someone, like, always does.”

Quinn then gave a cheeky grin and called out, “Hey, have a nice trip, bro? I’ve heard this place is lovely in the fall!” Naturally, she meant no ill will of the remark, but couldn’t resist the opportunity for a good pun.

The boy who had tripped quickly picked himself up, grinning sheepishly as he trotted along.

“Man, what a first impression!” he pretended to lament, but snickered to show he was taking it in stride.

“You must be Wallace, the only tan ginger in existence.” Chris teased, and Wallace gave a thumbs up.

“You bet! So, what’re all lined up like a bunch of ducks for?” he asked curiously, though took his place beside Khadija regardless.

“Just waiting for everyone to get their proper greeting and introduction, I presume.” Cain remarked.

Next off the vehicle was a scrawny Asian man with green and black hair. He seemed to be a bit timid, but friendly as he looked onwards to the other students.

“Hello! It very nice to be in meeting with all of you!” he greeted jovially, waving at the others.

“Well there’s no doubting that you’re Phoenix, am I right?” Chris identified him immediately before sending him off to stand next to Wallace.

Wallace looked down at the shorter boy. “Hey man, that’s a cool name! Is it a nickname or something?” he asked curiously.

“No, my name is Phoenix, not Nick.” Phoenix clarified. Wallace didn’t have the heart to correct him.

“Oh, I see, thanks for clearing that up, Phoenix.” Wallace said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Phoenix looked as though he was about to say something else, but a laugh could be heard coming from the bus, so he held his tongue and looked to see who was next to arrive.

“Alright, good news everyone, I’m here.” the contestant said with mock vanity. She was the shortest to appear thus far, yet seemed intimidating with her jagged teal hair and piercings. She walked straight past Chris, looking Phoenix up and down before crossing her arms and standing beside him.

“Cool hair.” she said without even looking at him. Phoenix wasn’t sure how to respond, but smiled due to it being a compliment.

“And Kara has arrived.” Chris noted, checking another name off of his list. “So far everyone has gotten here in one piece, how lovely.” he mused ominously, then broke into a laugh. “Kidding, kidding! We wouldn’t do anything to hurt you before the cameras start rolling.” he insisted, but somehow that didn’t make them feel any better.

In contrast to the exceptionally short Kara, a large and husky man stepped off the bus after her. He was over a foot taller than her, and towered over everyone as he joined the others. Even Chris seemed daunted by how tall he was in person, craning his neck up to see his face.

“So then…. are you, perhaps, Roo?” Chris cleared his throat and asked. At first, Roo seemed to be intimidating and even threatening, though the beefy man then broke into a smile, nodding.

“Yep, that’d be me, alright! Great to meet you!” he said, and vigorously shook Chris’ hand. Unbeknownst to Roo, his strength caused Chris’ whole body to be shaken even though only their hands made contact. Rattled, Chris dizzily pointed Roo in the direction of the others.

Roo immediately knelt down to greet Kara, as he’d ended up next to her.

“Hey there, little buddy!” he exclaimed cheerily, though Kara shot him a glare upon being called “little buddy”.

“No.” Kara said simply, giving no other explanation than that. Slightly crestfallen, Roo stood back up and looked around. Seeing Doll down the line, he immediately caught sight of their lollipop.

“Whoa, got any more of those?” he called out to Doll. They nodded, tossing another sucker to Roo.

“You bet! Want sugar? I got sugar for days!” they boasted proudly, pointing to their backpack. Roo’s eyes lit up at this statement, and suddenly hoped he would get to spend more time with Doll soon, if only for the potential sweets.

Amid the bartering of sugar, a scrawny young boy scampered off of the bus, pausing at the steps of the building as he wasn’t sure where to go. When all eyes turned to him, he took a step backwards and stared up at them with his pale lavender eyes, the dark circles underneath being especially pronounced.

“You okay there, kiddo?” Vance asked, seeming a bit worried, “You look a little, er, pale.”

The wiry boy shook his head, clearing his throat.

“No, no. This is just, uh, how I look.” he explained, though was hard to hear due to his soft voice. He then looked to Chris for direction.

“He looks ill.” Cain murmured under his breath, glad he was far from him.

“Jasten, go stand next to Roo- the tall one on the end.” Chris instructed him, snickering. Jasten nodded and diligently obeyed without hesitation, though shivered slightly as he was next to the tallest of the other students.

“You sure you’re alright?” Roo asked, kneeling down so he was closer to Jasten’s height. “You look just about paper thin, buddy.” he added his observation, wondering if the sinewy kid should even be there to compete.

“Like I said… this is just how I look.” he insisted again, trembling.

“If you insist- just be careful.” Roo advised in a gentle tone before turning his attention back to the bus, wondering who would emerge next.

“I swear, that bag is NOT mine!” a voice came from the bus, and a short lady daintily stepped off. Chef was holding out a black handbag adorned with bat wings, insisting it was her possession.

“You tellin’ me that it’s got your name on it for no reason?” Chef irately retorted.

“That… that must be a mistake!” the lady proclaimed, and turned away from Chef before they could further debate the owner of the bag. Looking at the group on the stairs, she strutted forward, sweetly smiling at everyone she saw.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet all of you! I’m Calliope DuBois and I SO look forward to meeting you all!” she spoke in a regal manner, like a true elite.

“Yeah, yeah. Get in line.” Chris ordered, actually mildly offended that he hadn’t gotten to introduce her.

Calliope saw Jasten at the end of the line and gave a curtsy as she took a place beside him.

“Oh, what lovely colored hair! Did you dye it yourself?” she asked the pale boy.

“It’s actually… not dyed.” Jasten admitted quietly. “It’s just like this.” he added.

This seemed to surprise Calliope, and she clapped her hands together with delight.

“Oh, really? How interesting!” she exclaimed, giggling. “How lucky you are, to have such a unique hair color.”

“Lucky? Thank you, I think.” he mumbled, smiling timidly.

The air suddenly smelled strongly of flowers, and the contestants looked over to see the source- a lavender-haired boy standing just outside the bus. He was holding a small bouquet, and handed the first of many flowers to Chris as he walked up the steps.

“Charmed to meet you, McLean.” he greeted in a suave tone, handing Chris a tulip. The show host raised a brow, though felt compelled to put the flower in his front pocket.

“Looks like we’ve found this season’s pretty boy, Angelo.” Chris remarked, snickering.

“Well I am quite pretty and also a boy, so I’ll take that as a compliment!” Angelo announced joyfully. He then strutted down the line, handing a flower to each contestant he passed by. Extending his hand towards them, he gave a flirtatious remark with each flower he handed out.

“What sleek headphones- do you like music, then?” Angelo asked to Quinn.

“Yeah, music is a note-worthy hobby of mine.” she replied cheekily.

Angelo gave an amused chuckle, giving her a pink rose.

“My, my, then I hope we may make some music together if we’re given the chance.” he cooed, winking as he continued down the line.

Chris watched as Angelo proceeded to flirt with every contestant on the steps. “This can be edited out, right?” he asked the cameraman. The camera tilted up and down to signal a ‘yes’, and Chris sighed with relief.

“Alright, alright. Bring out the next one- we have a time limit to keep to!” Chris barked out the order.

As Angelo persisted in his flirtations, a tall yet scrawny teen was pushed off of the bus, looking irritated as they took out a black parasol. Chris raised an eyebrow at this, put upon catching a glimpse of snow white hair he understood.

“Not a fan of the sunshine, Leo? It’s a beautiful day!” Chris egged him on, and Leo scowled.

“Why can’t we do this inside?” Leo asked irately as they walked straight past Chris and took a place next to Angelo, who had just finished his attempting courting.

Chris shrugged, and Angelo turned to Leo, grinning happily.

“Were I taller I would guard you from the sunlight, though alas I’m not of help- my apologies.” Angelo said sweetly.

“Whatever, it’s fine. I got my umbrella.” Leo murmured, rubbing their eyes sleepily with their free hand. “I just hope our challenges are indoors… and not so early in the morning.” they added in a grumbling tone.

“Not a morning person?” Angelo inquired curiously.

“Not at all.” Leo mumbled.

Angelo left it at that, not wanting to perturb the groggy teen. While all this took place, another contestant emerged from the bus, though almost went unnoticed due to her quiet and humble demeanor.

She approached Chris as she fixed her maroon hair, offering a wave and a friendly smile to the group.

“How’s it going, everyone?” she asked in an amiable tone.

“Everyone, this would be Rosemary.” Chris introduced her.

Rosemary nodded to verify approaching the tired Leo at the end of the group.

“Good morning! I love your hair.” she compliment them.

“Thanks.” Leo responded, trying to muster up the energy to care about anything, but so early in the day it was hard for them.

Rosemary noticed their despondent attitude and wondered if she’d offended them. Jasten leaned over, trying to get Rosemary’s attention.

“I think they’re really tired in the morning…. I wouldn’t take it too personally.” he whispered softly, and Rosemary then understood. She smiled and nodded.

“Thanks for the heads up, little man!” she thanked him and got back into line. As the nineteen contestants stood side by side, Chris grinned.

“Alright- looks like there’s just one left. And I think some of you will recognize her.” he cackled, looking to Chef. The two shared a brief signal before Chef unlatched the storage space under the bus. A woman with brown and pink hair rolled out, coughing.

“You couldn’t have given me a separate car or something? I mean, I get you wanted to keep it a surprise but I don’t appreciate being shoved under a bus for seven hours and–” she began to rant then caught sight of the group and smiled, dusting herself off.

“Hey all! I’m Katie. I was an intern in Total Drama City and a contestant on the cancelled season, Total Drama Video Game. And now? I’m back, and back to win!” she introduced dramatically.

“Normally I’d be irked that that you didn’t let me do the introduction, but that was pretty good. Get in line, Katie.” Chris said, and she obliged.

Calliope squealed with excitement, running up to Katie.

“Oh. My. GOSH! I never thought I’d meet a contestant from the show before– this is so cool!” she exclaimed giddily. Katie laughed and shook Calliope’s hand.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Though now you’ve met a ton of contestants, since that’s what you all are now, you know.” she reminded her, and Calliope’s eyes widened at this sudden realization.

“You’re… you’re right!” Calliope giggled happily.

“Alright, alright, get back in line! Now that you’re all here and accounted for, it’s time to get this party started!” Chris said, putting his hands on his hips. The bus then started up again and rolled away, leaving them on the campus grounds for the next indefinite period of time.

“First things first- welcome to Total Drama High School- your personal hell and my personal amusement for the next however many weeks.” Chris announced with a sense of pride, though this was not a comforting statement to the twenty teens.

“Now we can really get the ball rolling. Assuming you’ve all seen Total Drama before, you’ll know we need to break you off into teams.” he began. “However, in the true spirit of a school we’ll be splitting you into four houses- each with their own dorm. Your house will function as your team, so the people you end up with can make or break your chances in the competition.”

“And that brings us to the first challenge- The Sorting Maze.”

Suddenly, the high school doors flung open, revealing a long, ominous corridor.

“This will be a personal challenge more than anything- split into group or go on your own. The goal is the make it to the dining hall. The journey there isn’t as straightforward as it may seem, though. Not only do you have no knowledge of the layout of the school, but the places you will find yourself will test your character and sort you accordingly.” Chris elaborated on the challenge, grinning from ear the ear. The contestants looked surprised as such a daunting task was placed before them.

“Come on, we may not know the area but it’s just a school, right? It can’t be that hard to navigate the area.” Khadija said optimistically.

“If you insist, then step right in and see for yourselves.” Chris challenged them, then turned toward the cameraman.

“It’s a mad dash to class on the first day of school! Who will start the semester with perfect attendance and who will flunk out before they can be saved by the bell? Found out after the commercial break, when we return to Total. Drama. HIGH SCHOOL!” he shouted enthusiastically before the camera cut to the black.

Staff

 * Chris McLean
 * Chef Hatchet
 * Unseen Camera man

Contestants

 * Addison (First Apperance)
 * Angelo (First Apperance)
 * Cain (First Apperance)
 * Calliope (First Apperance)
 * Chloe (First Apperance)
 * Doll (First Apperance)
 * Emeris (First Apperance)
 * Jasten (First Apperance)
 * Kara (First Apperance)
 * Katie (Returns from Season 3)
 * Khadija (First Apperance)
 * Leo (First Apperance)
 * Phoenix (First Apperance)
 * Quinn (First Apperance)
 * Riley (First Apperance)
 * Rosemary (First Apperance)
 * Roo (First Apperance)
 * Starr (First Apperance)
 * Vance (First Apperance)
 * Wallace (First Apperance)

General

 * This makes the first part where all the contestants are seen together.
 * The order the contestants arived in is: Doll, Quinn, Emeris, Starr, Riley, Addison, Cain, Chloe, Vance, Khadija, Wallace, Phoenix, Kara, Roo, Jasten, Calliope, Angelo, Leo, Rosemary, and finally Katie.
 * This episode's title was created by Jack.

Episode 1b: The A-MAZE-ing Race
'''Our twenty contestants split themselves up into an assortment of groups and find themselves splitting up and facing various challenges in the maze; all based around whatever room they get trapped in. Some make it through unscaved, others...not so much.'''

Episode
After a substantial break, the camera cut to the contestants intermingling across the front lawn of the campus. When Chris realized they were back on air, he picked up a conveniently placed megaphone, shouting through it.

“Gather ‘round, kids! It’s time for the challenge to begin!” he barked through the device, causing many contestants to shudder. Jasten practically fell over from the sudden loud noise, while Khadija covered her ear in mild irritance.

“Good luck, and don’t die! It’s too early in the season to have to deal with that kind of lawsuit!” Chris announced through the megaphone even though it was now quite unnecessary. However, it was this that signaled the beginning of the challenge, and the contestants all ran into the school, pausing at what they found.

The main hallway was seemingly endless and lined with doors that presumably lead to classrooms. As the group paused, may realized it would be best to break off.

“So are we going to split into groups, or what?” Wallace wondered aloud, glancing at the others. “I mean, you guys are great and all but I can’t imagine this going well if we all try to stick together.” he pointed out.

“Who said anything about sticking together? This is a competition, remember?” Katie reminded him.

“Yeah, but who knows what’s goin’ ta be beyond these doors. I don’t want ta see any of you anklebiters getting yourselves into trouble. And we’ll all be in teams soon enough, so why not start now?” Roo proposed with a pronounced accent, and after a pause the group collectively seemed to deem this a good idea.

At that point came the awkward time where they would branch off into groups. Although they’d had a substantial break before the challenge to mingle, most people were still hardly on a first name basis, and still scratching the surface of one another’s personalities.

Addison was the first to make a move, heading towards Katie. She figured it would be wise to stick with the most experienced player, at least in the beginning. After putting on her friendliest smile, she tugged at Katie’s sleeve.

“Hey, wanna, like, team up for this challenge? I bet we could totally make it through in no time. Two heads are better than one and all that, right?” she insisted firmly. Katie looked her up and down, and since she couldn’t find a reason to turn her down, she nodded her head.

“Yeah, sure. I can’t object to that logic I suppose.” she agreed, causing Addison to grin merrily.

“Fantastic!” Addison exclaimed with glee.

“Though we should probably pick at least another person to come with.” Katie added, surveying the group when she caught sight of Cain, who seemed to be looking around with no clear direction. Katie, although more reserved in nature, forced herself to approach him.

“Cain, right? Want to come with me and Addison? We could use a third person, and you look both cautious and capable.” Katie said, figuring a bit of flattery would help. Cain took a look at the two girls, smiling under the mask.

“If you would like to have me along, I certainly can’t say no.” he said politely, joining the group. Addison didn’t even seem to be paying attention, but rather watching the way Katie interacted with him. Frankly, Addison didn’t care much about Cain, but in the end he was an extra body that could help them through the maze, right?

The group then seemed to set into motion, with the remaining contestants scrambling to find their own sets to traverse with. Roo looked around with a slight urgency, hoping to gather his new friends- especially those whose safety he was constantly concerned with. He first saw Doll, and remembering that they carried a hoard of sugar with them, Roo tapped them on the shoulder.

“Hey, how about you and me team up for this?” Roo suggested as Doll took out another lollipop for themself. They seemed to consider this offer for a minute.

“Hmmm….. sure! Sounds good to me!” they exclaimed, not having to consider it for long. “Want some sugar to put a pep in your step?” they asked with a grin, and Roo practically drooled in response. He crouched down to their level, nodding.

“I got ta say, I can’t turn that down.” he admitted as Doll opened her backpack to reveal a hoard of lollipops, candies, and other sweet treats. Roo gently plucked a cherry lollipop from the bag and immediately indulged in the sugary item.

However, Roo then realized he was getting distracted and stood up straight, clearing his throat. “Oh, wait! We got ta find Phoenix and Jasten, too. I got ta make sure they’re okay.” he said adamantly, and Doll gave an understanding nod.

“That’s fine by me, but can I pick someone to bring with?” they asked cheekily.

“Sure, sure. Who ya got in mind?” he asked, though when he turned to ask, Doll had already skipped off towards Angelo. Roo chuckled and went back to searching the group, seeing Phoenix looking mildly confused.

“Lil’ Possum!” Roo called out, waving down Phoenix. “Come on, you should partner up with me and Doll.”

Phoenix looked surprised that someone invited him to their group, and beamed with excitement.

“Oh! That sound great!” he agreed wholeheartedly. “We be like bird in the weather, right?” he tried to make use of the idiom, but as usual mistook the phrase just enough that it made no sense.

“Bird in the weather? Er, okay. Sounds good ta me I guess!” Roo brushed it off and gave a jovial laugh.

Meanwhile, Doll had bounded over to Angelo, tugging his sleeve.

“Hey! So me and Roo are teaming up and we think you should come with! You in?” they asked, the stem of the lollipop sticking out of their mouth. “Roo’s really big and strong-looking, so I bet it’s a good idea to come with us!” they added.

“Well, with an invitation like that, how could I refuse?” Angelo rhetorically asked, and took Doll’s hand in his own. “Lead the way, if you will, lovely Doll.”

Doll grinned mischievously. “Perfect! Gosh, I love the way you talk. It’s, like, SO perfect for a character I’m writing right now. This will be such a perfect opportunity to get some more ideas!” they giddily schemed.

Angelo raised an eyebrow, but didn’t want to open the metaphorical can of worms that was fanfiction. Instead, he diligently followed Doll back to Roo, who was now joined by Phoenix. When Phoenix saw Angelo alongside Doll, his eyes lit up with excitement.

“Romeo! You are going to be join with us?” Phoenix asked hopefully.

“Of course, dearest Juliet.” Angelo cooed and winked. Phoenix’s eyes widened and he blushed at the remark, confused as to why he would be given such a high compliment.

“Oh my, you are too kind! I am not like Juliet, she so wise and strong-” Phoenix began, though Angelo shook his head, which caused Phoenix to pause.

“Don’t sell yourself short, fair Juliet. I find you to be enchanting, and with your love of the literature I cannot help but see you as wise, too!” he persisted.

Roo watched the two flirt, or at least watched Angelo flirt and Phoenix swoon. At the same time, Doll had taken a notepad out of their backpack and was writing down the conversation verbatim.

It was at that point that Roo realized he hadn’t found Jasten yet. When he turned to look for him, though, he saw Rosemary walking up to the pale boy. This reassured him; he didn’t know Rosemary too well yet, but she seemed protective and nurturing. He figured Jasten would be okay with her.

“Hey, Jasten! What do you say you come with me? We could chat more about those fascinating machines you were talking about.” she said, smiling in a motherly fashion. Jasten nodded right away.

“O-okay!” he agreed readily, feeling happy that someone had approached him and not forced him to impose on anyone. “Though… can we bring Chloe? I told Chloe we could go through the maze together.” he explained.

“Of course, Jasten. The more the merrier, really.” Rosemary said, and spotted Chloe across the room. The duo approached xer, and Chloe noticed them right away.

“Hi again, Jasten!” Chloe greeted, then looked to Rosemary. “And hi to you, Rosemary.” xe said with similar enthusiasm.

“Care to join us?” Rosemary asked.

“I mean, if you still want to go with me.” Jasten added sheepishly. Chloe smiled and nodded.

“Of course! Is anyone else going to join us?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know; do you have anyone in mind?” Rosemary inquired. Chloe tapped xer chin as xe thought about this, then looked around.

“Well, how about we ask Khadija to join us? She seems very smart, so she would be a good person to have around.” Chloe recommended.

“You’re right; we should ask her to come with.” Jasten chimed in quietly, having remembered seeing her reading.

“Fine by me! Come on, kids.” Rosemary said, leading them over to Khadija. She was putting her book away at that moment, getting ready to invest herself in the challenge.

“Khadija! These two kiddos were just telling me how you seem like a sensible and smart person; would you be so kind as to join us?” Rosemary asked casually. Jasten was impressed by her nonchalance in approaching people.

“Well, I suppose so.” Khadija said after a pause. “It would be wise to stay in a group of some sort, and a group of four seems most well-rounded.” she murmured quietly. She knew the other three to be relatively calm and reserved, and saw them as the ideal people to partner with given that she would need to partner with someone.

Having a group of four, Rosemary stood at the head of the pack. “Alright, onward!” she called out enthusiastically.

Starr saw the quickly diminishing group left undecided, and knew she needed to spring into action. Taking an inventory of who was left, she eyed Riley and immediately approached her. She had hoped to snag Jasten in order to further boost her image by helping the sickly kid, but he had already wandered off, to her annoyance. “Riley, baby! Why don’t we join forces this time around? Better than trying to conquer all this alone, am I right or am I right?” Starr pointed out, smiling.

Riley placed her hands on her hips, the wheels turning in her head. Sure, a team functioned better than an individual unit, but that was when all pieces of the team was competent, which Riley wasn’t sure she could say of the other contestants.

“Only if you follow my lead, ma’am.” Riley said finally, after weighing her options. Starr seemed skilled enough to be relied on for the challenge. Well, “reliable” wasn’t exactly right, but Riley figured she was one of the more preferable competitors to ally with.

“All right, I’m down.” Starr said, though slightly resented that Riley planned to take charge. She shrugged it off for the time being, though, as she wanted to be in her good graces. “So should we grab one more babe to party with or are we going at it as a duo?” Starr asked, eyes scanning the crowd.

“Most others seem to be gathering in groups of more than two, so I would not be opposed to one more.” Riley declared. Looking around, she saw that Chloe and Doll were already in groups, which was a relief, as there wouldn’t be a temptation to throw her off of her game.

Riley looked at her remaining options, wanting to at least call over someone she’d spoken with. Seeing Calliope, she figured the prep school girl would do well enough. “Miss Calliope!” Riley called out, catching her attention.

In truth, Calliope had finally worked up the nerve to go ask Emeris to partner up, but when Riley called her over she knew it would be rude not to see what the cadet wanted.

“Yeah, what’s u– I mean, whatever is it that you would like to speak about?” Calliope asked sweetly, catching herself from using slang.

“Starr and I would like to formally invite you to join our troop in this challenge.” Riley said, crossing her arms. Calliope looked conflicted, as she really wanted to partner with Emeris… but she didn’t want to come off as rude, especially not so early in the game. Afraid to offend, she gave up her pursuit of Emeris for the moment.

“Why, of course! I’m pleased that you want me to join you two.” Calliope said thankfully, convincing herself Emeris would have turned down her offer anyways.

“Awesome, honey! Then let’s get a groove on- no point in loitering around any longer.” Starr declared, and Riley lead the group out.

Vance was tuning his banjo during the entire ordeal, and when he was finally satisfied with the result, he found that many of the other contestants were gone. “Hey y’all! Wait up!” he gasped in surprise. He looked around, slightly frantic, and saw several others were yet to form a team. He wandered towards the first person he saw, who happened to be Wallace.

“I look up and suddenly all y’all have up and left me here! You seem to still be sticking around; wanna team up and tackle this maze together?” Vance asked him, plucking a couple of chords on the now-tuned banjo.

Wallace wasn’t one to deny a chance to get to know another competitor, and agreed readily.

“Sure thing! We can be the tall and tan alliance!” he joked merrily, bouncing around slightly on the balls of his feet. “That wasn’t a dumb joke, was it?” he repeated aloud, though more to himself than to Vance. Vance assumed it was direct at him, and responded.

“Oh, don’t worry! That was pretty clever if you ask me.” Vance assured him.

“You two could be the Tan Man Clan.” a girlish voice called out, and Quinn approached them with a cheeky grin. “Had a nice ring, doesn’t it?” she added proudly.

“It actually does!” Vance agreed and laughed. Wallace looked at Quinn, remembering her to be the fairly easygoing pun-maker from earlier.

“Oh, you’re that funny chick. Wanna come with the two of us?” Wallace invited her along, a tad nervous simply because he was always a bit nervous around people.

“Funny chick? Well, I’m no bird but I’ll waddle along with you guys if you don’t mind- which I assume you don’t mind since you just invited me along.” she remarked, looking rather proud of her wordplay as per usual. Wallace and Vance laughed at her jokes, finding them to be funny despite being corny.

As they were about to leave, Quinn spotted Leo standing alone, seeming relieved to be inside though still incredibly sleepy. Feeling bad and assuming they’d get left behind if nobody kept an eye on them, Quinn ran over to Leo, grabbing them by the arm and tugging them to the group.

“Leo, come with us!” she insisted, not even asking but demanding. Leo looked alarmed at first when they were grabbed, then irate as they were forcibly dragged to the group, but settled themselves down quickly enough. They didn’t have the energy to be angry at that point, and simply pulled their arm away from Quinn as soon as they’d joined the group.

“I guess I don’t have anyone else to be going with… but don’t grab me like that. I don’t like it.” they mumbled, and Quinn giggled apologetically.

“Sorry about that, I just didn’t want you to get left behind!” she insisted, trying to make sure he knew her intentions were good.

“Now that we’ve got our motley crew of four, how about we get rolling?” Wallace suggested.

“I’d rather walk than roll, honestly.” Quinn retorted, sticking her tongue out playfully as the group began to move along.

With them gone, only two people were left: Emeris and Kara. Emeris did this on purpose, as he planned to go alone. He had briefly considered tailing Jasten through the maze, but after seeing him tag along with another group he figured the scrawny kid would be just fine. Even if he wasn’t, he actually didn’t care all that much, and shrugged aside the matter entirely. As he turned to explore the maze, Kara tapped on his shoulder, standing on her tiptoes to reach.

“Hey! You- tall, dark, and scary. I’m going to tag along with you.” she decided. Not being given the option irritated Emeris slightly, and he simply glared at her.

“Don’t bother.” he grumbled.

“Oh, come on. I don’t want to deal with this alone. It puts me at a disadvantage. Besides, I’m not trying to get chummy or anything.” she insisted and crossed her arms. “I’m not taking no for an answer- now let’s go before we end up way too far behind everyone else.” she directed.

Emeris groaned audibly, deciding to humor her. He didn’t need to be making enemies right away, and figured he could always just walk away if she became too obnoxious for his liking.

“Fine. Though keep chatting to a minimum. Ideally none.” he grumbled, following her down the hall.

The camera cut back to Rosemary, Khadija, Jasten, and Chloe as they found themselves surrounded by doors. Khadija paced up to each one, observing a small plaque upon it.

“These appear to be classrooms.” Khadija murmured, pointing to a plaque that read ‘Chemistry Lab’ on it. Jasten decided to investigate as well, and walked to door next to where Khadija was standing.

“It seems to be the case; this one says ‘Physics Room’.” Jasten read aloud.

Chloe tapped xer chin curiously. “I wonder if the type of classroom holds any significance?” xe thoughts aloud, and Khadija and Jasten nodded in unison as they pondered this as well.

Rosemary took a step forward, making sure to keep a close watch on everyone. “Which door should we go through? What are all of our options– wherever we go, we need to go as a group.” she said firmly.

Khadija scurried around, reading every name out loud: Chemistry Lab, Physics Room, Biology Lab, Robotics Lab, Environmental Science, and General Science Room.

“So it’s all science, then?” Chloe mused curiously. “I guess that makes sense that all classes of a given topic would be in a similar area.

“How about environmental science?” Rosemary suggested, reaching for the doorknob. However, she paused and waited to see if the others would follow.

“I prefer biology, personally. Though does it matter?” Khadija said, pausing. “Knowing the nature of this challenge, it must matter.” she reasoned.

“It honestly doesn’t matter much to me… I’m not a huge fan of the sciences.” Chloe confessed meekly, stepping forward to follow Rosemary.

“I love just about any type of science.” Jasten said amiably. He turned to follow Rosemary and Chloe, though out of the corner of his eye he spotted Khadija drifting towards the biology lab.

“Khadija, where are you going? We need to stick together!” Rosemary called out with worry. Khadija seemed to be in a trance of sorts as she opened the door to the biology lab. Rosemary sighed slightly. “Okay, fine, we’ll go your way–” she moved to follow Khadija, but her feet wouldn’t move. She felt drawn to the environmental science room that she’d initially gone after.

“What the hell? Is this some kind of trick?” she exclaimed in disbelief. Frightened by Rosemary’s sudden exclamation, Jasten stumbled towards Khadija.

“I, ah, I’ll go with Khadija and make sure everything is okay… okay?” Jasten said to Rosemary.

“No, I should go with you–” Rosemary said as she opened the door to the environmental science room. Chloe watched with wide eyes, torn between going with Jasten and Rosemary. Xe promised Jasten they would go together, but couldn’t bear the thought of Rosemary going alone.

“I’m sorry, Jasten. I really am! But I need to make sure Rosemary will be okay, okay?” xe explained apologetically. Jasten nodded his head just as he disappeared into the biology lab with Khadija. Fairly confused, Chloe then turned and followed Rosemary into the environmental science room. From the perspective of the camera, the viewer could not see inside of either room, but an audible gasp from all four contestants could be heard before the doors slammed behind them.

The camera shifted to a shot of Riley, Calliope, and Starr. Riley had taken charge quite well, navigating them through a series of narrow corridors. She was silent as they moved along, which felt quite awkward to Calliope.

Starr begin to hum “Uptown Funk” under her breath to fix the silence, though Riley came to a halt and turned to quiet Starr.

“We don’t know what lies around here- we would be better off to remain silent.” Riley warned in a hushed tone.

“Aw, honey! I’m sorry, but silence is just so dull– besides, whatever comes this way? We can take it! Not that there should be anything too wonky, babe. We’re in a school, after all.” Starr pointed out, whilst Riley rolled her eyes at being called names such as “honey” and “babe”.

“You said you would follow my lead, ma’am.” Riley reminded her. “Now quiet yourself before it lands us in trouble!” Riley grumbled.

“Uhm… you guys?” Calliope interjected softly.

“What did I just say?” Riley snapped, looking to Calliope.

“I’m sorry… but… where are we?” she asked, and the trio then looked up to see they were in a pitch black room, save for where they were standing.

Riley’s eyes widened.

“That doesn’t make sense, we were in the hall just a minute ago. We didn’t enter any rooms.” Riley tried to rationalize the situation as they stood under the only light in the room.

“Better roll with it, honey.” Starr said with a shrug, though she was glancing around with narrowed eyes to see if she could make out any object in the room.

Calliope boldly stuck her hand into the darkness, feeling nothing. She dipped her toes out of the spotlight they were standing beneath, to make sure they hadn’t walked into a trap of some sort. As she did this, two ends of the room suddenly lit up. At one end was a theater stage; at the other was a basketball court and a door labeled “weight room”.

“Well that’s just impractical.” Starr pointed out bluntly. “Why waste half of the room here when you could fit some seating around the stage?” she contemplated out loud. Riley rolled her eyes, unamused.

“Let’s head to the court side. There’s a door there, it can lead us along further.” Riley reasoned.

“Or it could be a trap. When has a little time onstage ever been a bad thing? Come on, let’s go to the theater half, honey.” Starr insisted with a cheerful smile.

Riley shook her head. “No, the court makes more sense, ma’am. I’m the one leading this group, remember? And as your leader I say we should go this way.” she declared, motioning towards the court.

Starr frowned. She didn’t want to start anything, but she could practically hear the stage calling her name, and found herself unable to resist. She quickly switched her game plan.

“Oh, honey, I bet either way is fine, though just be sure how about we just split up? We can check out each side and then convene.” Starr suggested with a friendly tone.

Riley placed her hands on her hips. “Going rogue? Fine. Calliope, follow me.” she huffed.

Calliope hesitated, looking towards Starr as she made her way onto the stage.

“I think… I better go with Starr. I mean, a weight lifting room sounds like it could be dangerous… and probably smell really bad, you know?” Calliope said. Not only that, but Riley intimidated her a little, and she’d rather find herself with the hippie-eqsue disco queen if given the choice.

“Fine! Go your own way then.” Riley said through gritted teeth, marching to the court while Calliope joined Starr on the stage.

“See anything of note?” Calliope asked, though just as she did, the stage suddenly opened beneath them, sending them falling into the darkness. As the two shrieked in surprise, Riley looked over her shoulder only to see the tip of Starr’s afro disappear into the gaping hole on the stage.

“Where did they– oh, I knew I was right! I shouldn’t have let them be so irresponsible!” she cursed under her breath. Riley was tempted to go after them, but had no idea what was at the bottom of the pit they’d fallen into. Instead, Riley shook her head with dismay and made her way into the weight room.

Further away were Katie, Addison, and Cain. The trio seemed like an unlikely group, yet they got along just fine as they traversed the hallways. Katie seemed to be leading the group with Addison walking right beside her, and Cain trailed behind a few paces.

“I swear, there’s, like, a million doors!” Addison exclaimed in awe. “Do you think we should go into any of them, or are the hallways our safest bet?” she asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Cain mused as he read each door’s placard as they passed. Addison rolled her eyes in disdain, but neither Katie nor Cain saw.

“Oh, you’re still with us Cain?” she asked in an overly sweet and clueless tone. “I thought you’d have wandered off by now or something.”

“No, I just haven’t much to say, if that’s alright.” he responded in a polite tone. He felt off-put by Addison’s sweet demeanor, but said nothing on the matter as he played nice for the time being.

“That’s totally fine. I was just chatting with Katie anyways– you know, girl talk.” Addison said in a way that would keep her from seeming rude, but rather sparing him from stereotypical feminine discussion.

“Mhm.” Katie murmured as she heard her name, but she wasn’t really listening. Well, she was listening- just not to Cain and Addison. She kept herself alert, trying to find any source of sound beyond the doors. Addison ignored her steady concentration and tried to strike up conversation again.

“Katie, those shoes are totes gorgeous! Like, heeled converse? SO trendy! Where did you get them?” she asked with what appeared to be harmless curiosity.

“The store.” Katie said blandly, suddenly coming to a halt as she heard a typing noise from beyond one of the doors. Addison frowned slightly at the lack of response, but when Katie stopped, she paused to see what was going on.

“What is that incessant noise…?” Cain wondered aloud, picking up on the click-clack melody from behind the door.

“So you hear it too.” Katie was relieved that it wasn’t just her imagination.

“Oh, I hear it too!” she added. In truth she couldn’t really hear it, but didn’t want Cain to be more in Katie’s good graces than she.

Katie read the placard on the door aloud: “Algebra III”

Cain grimaced slightly underneath his mask. “Math? I’ll pass. Besides, I don’t like that weird clicking noise; it’s probably something troublesome.” he reasoned.

“No, I think we’re supposed to go this way.” Katie insisted, grabbing the doorknob.

“Katie’s right! She’s the one with more experience, anyways. I’m going with her. Feel free to find your own way.” Addison told Cain and giggled. Her chipper tone made it hard to find any malicious intent in her words. Cain shrugged her off for now, assuming she just wanted more girlish bonding time with Katie.

“Good luck.” he wished them well and turned away, bumping into something. When he looked down and saw what his hand had brushed against, his eyes widened in horror. He could think of no better reaction than to scream. His terrified shout rang down the hall, and caught the attention of a group that wasn’t too far behind- Emeris and Kara.

“The hell was that?!” Kara exclaimed suddenly, looking slightly nervous.

“Someone screaming, probably.” Emeris bluntly remarked. The two had been walking in absolute silence up until this point, which had been pleasant enough for Emeris. He internally cursed at whoever the owner of the scream was, as it spurred Kara to talk to him.

“Should we go after it? Someone could be seriously hurt…” she mumbled, her first impulse being one of concern, though she quickly shook it off.

“Not our problem.” Emeris grunted, and Kara nodded in agreement.

“Damn, you’re right. And to think I was about to run after it- I shouldn’t risk my ass just because someone else probably hit one of Chris’ dumb traps.” she rationalized, crossing her arms. She felt slightly embarrassed that she’d reacted so strongly to the scream. She couldn’t help but be spooked by it, after all.

Emeris, naturally, could not care less if Kara was bothered. The two hit a fork in the hallway and readily went away from where they heard the shout sound from.

As they once again fell to walking in silence, Kara suddenly began to hear voices from all around. This was a familiar sensation to her, but it still bothered her deeply as it occurred.

“Do…. you hear anything?” she asked finally, hoping Emeris would assure her that she was not hallucinating. After all, if Emeris was hearing the same things she was, it’s not like he would comment on them anyways… right?

“No.” Emeris grumbled, glancing around as they delved deeper into the labyrinth of halls.

Kara groaned slightly, covering her ears with her hands. The voices persisted, speaking in a cacophonous discord. She clenched her jaw, gritting her teeth as it became more and more unbearable. The hallway before her suddenly seemed to stretch on longer than before, as if it was growing while they were still walking on it.

“Ugh- I can’t take this!” she exclaimed suddenly, which actually caught Emeris off guard. Kara turned and ran into the nearest room, hoping the voices would stay in the hall. Emeris halted, trying to process whatever had just happened. As the wheels turned in his head, he was interrupted.

“Holy sh– what is this!?” Kara exclaimed from within the room, and without thinking, Emeris turned and ran after her. He didn’t know why, really. If something had come at her in the room, he wanted no part in it, as it could possibly harm him. But for some reason he still found himself drawn to the room. His eyes caught sight of the plaque on his way into the room, furrowing his brow. It was the home economics room- what was hiding in there?

When he caught sight of the room, he stopped in his tracks. He wanted to exit as soon as possible, but as soon as he turned to leave, the door slammed shut.

“What the f-” the camera quickly switched to the next group before Emeris could finish that statement.

Roo, Doll, Angelo, and Phoenix seemed to be getting along quite nicely as they ventured out and about. Roo was at the head of the group, ready to take on any approaching threat to his newfound friends. Phoenix and Angelo walked side by side, chattering happily, while Doll took the rear of the group in order to observe and write down ideas in their notebook. Roo looked surprisingly sullen as he lead the group, keeping his eyes peeled for any form of danger.

“I really hate mazes…. it’s so cramped in here.” he mumbled, furrowing his brow. “Sooner we get on outta here, the better.”

“I wonder where in world we are?” Phoenix asked aloud, looking at each door they passed. They seemed to be limitless, much like the hall they were walking along.

“I’m less concerned about where we are, so long as I’m able to be with you, Juliet.” Angelo cooed sweetly, trying to calm the group. Doll giggled and jotted this line down.

“You call me that again!” Phoenix exclaimed, though in embarrassment and shock rather than irritance. “I am not deserving of such title!”

“If it bothers you I’ll most certainly stop- I just rather like to call you Juliet because you are as lovely as she, if not ten-fold.” Angelo insisted and winked.

Phoenix’s cheeks flushed a rosy hue, and he couldn’t even look Angelo in the eyes as his feet shuffled along.

“If… if you want then I do not mind. But it truly not fitting name for me. I wish it were.” Phoenix said meekly, staring at the ground. Angelo scooted closer, placing a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder. Phoenix looked up instantly upon being touched. Angelo eyed him curiously.

“Is this okay?” the lavender-haired boy asked gently.

“Yes, it fine.” Phoenix insisted, relaxing immediately. When he looked up, however, his eyes grew wide with shock. Angelo raised a brow.

“Something wrong?” Angelo asked with concern. The two stopped, causing Doll to walk right into Angelo’s back. They stumbled, but caught themselves before taking a spill.

“Wow! Warn me if you’re putting on the breaks!” they implored, giggling.

“My apologies, Doll.” Angelo said. As he turned to look at Doll, he caught sight of what Phoenix had eyed.

It was a door to a classroom, however this one was unlike the dozens they’d passed before. The placard to the room read “European Literature”, and there was a poster for the Ashland productions of “Romeo and Juliet” on the the door.

“I think we go in here!” Phoenix said, smiling jubilantly. He seemed almost unable to contain his excitement.

Angelo chuckled, nodding. “That’s fine by me. If you’ve got a good feeling about it, I’ll follow.”

Doll quickly agreed. “Same here! You two are too juicy not to– I mean, I figure we may as well stick together, right?” they pointed out.

“Then it decided! Let go in and- wait, Roo not with us at moment?” Phoenix then realized, looking around as the gentle giant was nowhere to be seen.

“Did he not stop with us?” Angelo wondered aloud.

“We need to be finding him!” Phoenix then said, though Doll shook their head.

“He’s probably long gone. It’d be more dangerous to go look for him. Besides, I gave him some candy so he’ll have plenty of stamina to get through!” they insisted.

Phoenix was conflicted; he wanted to go make sure Roo was okay, but the literature room seemed to be calling his name like the sweetest of siren songs.

“You right, he very strong and big. He will be fine.” Phoenix agreed reluctantly as he pushed open the door to the classroom. The trio entered the darkened room, though as soon as they were all beyond the door, it slammed shut and the lights came on.

Meanwhile, Roo was still walking down the hall, listening for any sign of a threat. After quite some time, he reached the end of the hallway.

“Did we hit a dead end?” he asked, facing the final door of the hall. He turned to consult with his three group members, though when he saw they were all absent, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

“Doll?! Angelo?! Lil’ Possum!?” he exclaimed frantically. “Aw crikey, did I lose them? I was so focused on making sure nothing came at us that I didn’t notice them– what do I do now?! Do I go back and look for them?” he soliloquized his anguish, turning to look back at the door. It was labeled “Art Studio”.

“No, I got ta go back and find them.” he decided audibly, and turned to run back. However, when he turned around this time, there was a wall instead of a hallway. He was trapped in a narrow space between the wall and the art studio, which instantly caused him to begin panicking.

“Looks like the only way out ta this one–” Roo growled frenetically as he shoved past the door to the studio and shut the door behind him. It closed with a click, locking.

“You’ve got ta be kidding me.” Roo groaned as he looked around the room.

Across campus was the final group, and the only one not to have split thus far. The two tall and tan competitors, Wallace and Vance, walked in the lead while Quinn made sure the ever-quiet Leo wasn’t going to get lost from the group.

A lull had happened in the minimal conversation they were having to begin with. Normally they’d want to get to know each other better, but in the middle of a somewhat creepy school maze, they weren’t as eager to chat. Vance then pulled his banjo off his back, plucking at it.

“Mind if I play a tune? It could lighten up the mood.” Vance offered cheerfully. Quinn made a face, but he didn’t see it as he was walking in front of her. She didn’t want to come off as rude, but the idea of listening to banjo music for an indefinite period of time was enough to drive her up a wall.

“Fine by me.” Wallace said simply, then added, “So, uh, do you think any of these classrooms mean anything? Should we go into any of them?”

“Perhaps.” Leo mumbled, reading each door as they passed. “We appear to be in the wing of math and sciences.” he observed, quietly wondering if there was an astronomy room.

“Do y’all think we could avoid anything with math in it? I hate the stuff.” Vance admitted, plucking a tune on his instrument.

“Math not your forte? Oh wait, music is your forte. Music is forte in general.” Quinn joked, feeling better about the incessant banjo playing as long as she could make punny remarks about it. Vance and Wallace both laughed, and even Leo looked a bit amused.

“You’re real good with that wordplay stuff, aren’t ya Quinn?” Vance caught on. “Seems like just about everything you say is some kind of clever joke.”

Quinn beamed proudly, now feeling bad for being so irate towards his music playing. “Yeah, it’s just what I do, I guess. Thanks.” she said humbly.

Suddenly, her headphones fell from around her neck, as if someone had pulled them off. Turning to pick them up, she came face to face with a large placard reading, “Chemistry Lab”. Wallace and Vance kept walking, unable to hear her walking away over the sound of the banjo.

“Oh hell yes!” Quinn exclaimed under her breath, grinning as she didn’t even hesitate to venture into the chemistry lab. Leo paused as well, seeing her go off on her own. He didn’t want her to find herself in a bad situation alone, and she’d been nice enough to make sure he had a group to begin with, so he followed her into the chemistry lab, also going unnoticed by Wallace and Vance.

“MOTHER OF SCIENCE!” Quinn exclaimed from within the room before the door noiselessly closed behind her and Leo.

“And that was Wonderwall” Vance said as the camera panned back to him and Wallace.

“Wow, I have to say I’ve never heard a cover of it on banjo.” Wallace said, clapping.

“What did y’all think?” Vance asked, turning to look at Quinn and Leo.

“….did they not like it?” Vance asked obliviously, but didn’t seem to concerned by their absence in general.

“Nah, they probably just got sidetracked. This is a maze, after all.” Wallace assured him, and Vance smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sure hope they’re okay, though.” he murmured and began strumming his banjo again.

“Do you think we should go into one of these classrooms? They probably did.” Wallace asked again.

“Nah, who knows what’s behind those doors? At least this way we got a straight shot to the finish.” Vance reasoned.

“Who says this will lead us to the finish? It could just lead us to a dead end, you know.” Wallace pointed out.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get there, buddy.” Vance said in an easygoing tone.

“You mean…. we’ll cross that bridge when we get there?” Wallace clarified.

“Whichever works.” Vance said simply and shrugged, chuckling as he began to strum out a traditional country song, trekking down the endless hallway alongside Wallace.

The camera briefly cut to static, before reconnecting in the biology lab, where Khadija and Jasten had ventured into. They were standing near the door, and before them was an army of reanimated frogs. There were dozens scattered through the room, all stitched up messily as they eyed the duo with malice.

Jasten’s eyes widened with horror, and he hid behind Khadija. “What do we do?! Those things look angry….”

Khadija took a step back, guarding Jasten carefully. She eyed the upsetted zombie amphibians. “That is… so inhumane!” she gasped in shocked, narrowing her eyes. “We need to put them to rest.” she said resolutely.

Suddenly, the frogs leapt towards Jasten and Khadija. Khadija grabbed Jasten by the arm, weaving between the creatures.

“This is a biology lab…. where are the scalpels?” she wondered aloud. Jasten pointed across the room.

“There! Do you think… they’ll stop moving if we re-dissect them?” he asked. Khadija nodded.

“That would make sense. Are you up for it?” Khadija looked at the timid boy whome she was still dragging around.

“Of course! I… we can do this!” he insisted, breaking free from Khadija to show he was not as frail and weak as he seemed. Khadija smiled, and the two bolted across the room, where most of the lab supplies seemed to be kept. As they ran, the frogs followed them. Khadija kicked aside any of the creatures that came at them. “Sorry, little frogs…. I don’t want to hurt you but this is not medically sound!” she declared, opening the drawer and grabbing several scalpels.

Jasten eyed the surrounding supplies and formulated an idea. “Khadija, can you hold them off for a minute?” he asked hopefully. She nodded, wondering what he was up to.

“Great! Thank you.” he said gratefully, and set to work, facing the counter and grabbing dissection trays, wires, and other materials. As the pale boy worked diligently, Khadija neatly sliced the frogs that came at her, severing the thin metal staples and threaded stitches. Her hands moved rapidly, removing the brains of the creatures.

Jasten looked up a few minutes later. “Khadija, stand back!” he shouted, and she stepped aside as he tossed a dissection tray across the room. It was wrapped in wire that lead back to Jasten, who was wearing rubber gloves that he’d found.

“Grab the counter, Khadija.” he directed, and she obeyed as he inserted the wire in the power outlet. Suddenly, the frogs were pulled to the dissection tray, sticking against it. Consequently, other objects began to get pulled towards the electrified tray. Khadija felt a slight pull on the metal of her belt, but the rest of her was of a strong enough mass to keep her anchored.

“It worked!” Jasten exclaimed with delight, and ran to a door at opposite end of the room from which they’d entered. Opening the door, he motioned for Khadija to follow. The two escaped the biology lab, leaving the frogs stuck against the makeshift magnet.

As soon as they’d exited the biology lab, the duo looked at one another, breaking into nervous laughter.

“That was brilliant, Jasten!” Khadija complimented him, smiling. He fidgeted humbly and looked at the floor.

“You think? I just… ah… whoever reanimated those frogs did a poor job. They tried to use staples!” he pointed out.

“I saw– who even did that? That’s twisted!” she said, remembering her anger at the crime against medicine. “I swear, Chris is going to get an earful……” she mumbled furiously.

“By the way, you did really amazing back there. You were like those ninjas from movies!” Jasten remarked, recalling a trailer he’d seen for such a movie. Khadija giggled.

“Oh, I try. To be honest I’m surprised at myself. My athletic skill isn’t the best, but my hand eye coordination seems to be better than I assumed.” she mused.

Looking around, the duo found themselves in an unfamiliar hall. “Alright, let’s keep going then, Jasten?” she proposed. Jasten nodded, and the two continued onward.

The next scene showed Rosemary and Chloe in the environmental science room, standing before a venus flytrap that was twice as tall as Rosemary.

“Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best route to take.” Rosemary conceded. She turned to go back into the hallway where they just were, but the door had locked behind them. “What the– did it automatically lock behind us?!” she exclaimed in surprise.

“It looks like there’s only one way out…” Chloe murmured, pointing at the door across the room. As fate ((or rather, Chris)) would have it, the giant plant was in the way of the door.

“How do you suppose we get past that thing?” Chloe asked with concern. As their presence became known, the venus flytrap suddenly craned it’s neck-like stem towards the duo, snapping its jaws menacingly. Chloe jumped back, pressing xer back against the wall.

“Don’t worry, Chloe. I’ll think of something.” Rosemary assured xer sweetly, not wanting her to fret.

“Wait- I can help, you know.” xe insisted, not wanting Rosemary to be doing all of the work. “I just… need a minute. This is crazy.”

“Fair enough. It can’t seem to reach us at this end of the room, so let’s come up with a game plan.” Rosemary agreed.

The two looked around the room, surveying what they had to work with.

“So it appears to be an overgrown venus flytrap- does it behave like a regularly sized one?” Chloe pondered.

“Perhaps, but it did just lunge at us, which I don’t think regular fly traps do. Is this what happens when illicit plant breeding goes unstopped?!” Rosemary groaned.

“If it’s like a normal venus flytrap, then we just need to feed it? It’s only snapping at us because it’s hungry, I bet!” Chloe hypothesized.

“I don’t see any food around here, do you?” Rosemary asked, staying close to the wall so that the plant could not reach them.

“It’s not like they have eyes. I bet we could feed it a chair and it wouldn’t know until it’s too late.” Chloe joked, though then looked to Rosemary as if a lightbulb had just went off over xer head.

“Chloe, you’re a flippin’ genius!” Rosemary said enthusiastically, and Chloe blushed.

“Do you think you have a good throwing arm?” Chloe asked curiously.

“Oh, I got this. Just watch.” Rosemary assured xer, cracking her knuckles. Rosemary then grabbed a chair from the nearest desk and began to run straight for the overgrown venus flytrap. As soon as she was within range, the plant lunged at her with jaws open wide. Rosemary then threw the chair into its jaws, which snapped closed around it right away. She then backed up, waiting to see if their plan worked.

Sure enough, the plant tried to consume the chair, but it got stuck in the jaws, rendering it useless. Rosemary grinned with delight and ran back over to Chloe, picking xer up and pulling her into a tight hug.

“We did it! We did it! We showed that green giant who’s boss!” she cheered with delight, carrying Chloe across the room and to the door that was once guarded. The jammed flytrap drooped, unable to open its jaws. Rosemary and Chloe then disappeared into the next room, where Rosemary then put xer down.

“Okay, so what do we do next? Please tell me that was the worst of it.” Chloe said softly, looking around a quiet and doorless hallway.

“Well this isn’t creepy or anything…” Rosemary mumbled, standing close to Chloe as they moved onward. “Let’s proceed with caution. Who knows what else we’ll find?”

The camera returned to Calliope and Starr, picking up just after they’d fallen through the trap door. The duo fell through the darkness, screaming with terror. It seemed like an endless drop until suddenly, they hit something soft.

“Oh my God… am I dead?” Calliope called out, coming up from the soft pile they’d landed on.

“I hope not, because as cute as you are, honey, you’re not what I expected the afterlife to be like.” Starr said with a laugh.

Calliope then stood up, investigating where they’d landed. “….clothes?” she murmured, picking up an 18th century dress.

“Looks like a bunch of crazy costumes.” Starr observed, pulling a mask off of her afro. On the inside of the door of the room, there was a sign. “Wardobe Room”

“Why is the wardrobe storage in a basement below the stage?” Calliope wondered. “It seems awfully out of the way; I’m starting to question the layout of this school.”

“Well, there’s no point waiting around here. Let’s see if we can get back up to where we were.” Starr said, helping Calliope out of the pile and towards the door. It creaked open, and revealed a tall, spiraling staircase.

“Hope you brought your climbing boots, honey. Let’s groove!” she said, and stepped onto the first of the wooden steps. Upon making contact, the stair shattered, crumbling beneath Starr’s foot. “Oh come on, that’s just insulting! I’m not that heavy, hon!” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

“How will we make it up if they all break under us?” Calliope asked with worry. “I’d rather not be trapped down here inevitably.” she mumbled softly.

Starr laughed. “Oh, don’t you worry ‘bout it, baby. We’re getting out of here right now.” she said, and pulled out her iPod. “I just need some tunes to get me in the groove.”

Starr flipped through the device, then put on a playlist. “Uptown Funk” began to play at maximum volume, and Starr’s hips began to sway.

“Can I have this dance, sugar?” she asked coyly before picking up Calliope in her arms. Then, in time with the music, Starr began to dance up the staircase rapidly, climbing to the next step just as the one before crumbled. Calliope marveled in amazement as Starr boogied her way out of harm’s way and got them up the staircase with ease just as the song came to a close.

Starr wiped a bead of sweat from her brow as she set Calliope down, smirking. “Well that was a workout.” she remarked, seeing the stage out of the corner of her eye. “But we’re back where we were.”

Calliope looked around cautiously, and she saw a door on stage right. Taking each step slowly, she moved the red curtain aside, and motioned for Starr to follow.

“This seems to be the exit. Better go this way before we fall through another trap.” Calliope remarked, and Starr followed her. The backstage exit lead to a narrow hallway. In the distance, music was playing.

The duo looked at one another, shrugged, then began to approach the sound of the music.

Meanwhile, Riley had pushed past the weight room door. As with all other doors thus far, it shut tightly behind her and locked itself. Riley observed this, scowling before turning to get a good look at the room.

The floor around her was slick with oil, and across the room was a door. Between her and door was a mock obstacle course, also covered with oil. Riley huffed smugly.

“That’s it? A greased-up obstacle course? Nice try, McLean.” she mumbled. However, she caught sight of a large key next to her, with a sign on it that read “you’ll be needing this”. Squinting, she was able to spot a massive keyhole in the door.

“Oh you sick son of a–” Riley cursed under her breath, picking up the giant key. It weighed at least fifty pounds, which wasn’t a terrible problem for her, though considering it was also covered in oil, she had a hard time gripping it. She immediately dropped it onto her boot and let out a loud curse that would be censored in post, lest the network want another season of Total Drama to be cancelled.

Rolling up her sleeves, she wiped her oily hands on her pants and tried again at lifting the key. This time, she dug her hands into the grooves of the slender end, hoisting it up and sliding it under her belt. The knob-end of the key caught on her belt, staying put. She grinned victoriously, then looked at the obstacle course ahead of her. It was relatively simple- at least, it would have been were there no oil to hinder Riley’s movements.

There were hand weight swinging like pendulums from ropes mounted on the ceiling, and benches stacked in a wall to be passed. Taking a deep breath, Riley pushed forward, attempting to maintain controlled movement through the oil. That failed miserably, and no more than three steps into the course, Riley lost her balance and slid forward, narrowly missing a ten-pound weight coming at her face going twenty miles per hour.

She quickly changed her strategy, shifting to her stomach and sliding across the floor like a penguin. This kept her out of the way of the swinging weights. She could not stop once she began sliding, though, and slammed into the wall of weight-lifting benches that was stacked high. The top row wobbled and fell, plummeting towards her.

Rolling swiftly, Riley got covered in oil as she dodged the falling benches. She then stumbled to her feet, using a skating-like motion as she made her way back to the wall and grabbed an opening in the faux wall. Realizing, her feet would not get a hold while her boots were covered in oil, she took them off and tossed them to the other side, then begin to haphazardly climb.

Normally she could climb a wall with no trouble, but when lugging around a fifty pound key and being half-covered in oil, it was a nightmare. Resilient and strong, Riley powered through, making it over. She fell down the opposite side of the wall, landing next to her boots. She slid them back on, mumbling a string of expletives that would cost a small fortune to bleep out in editing. Putting on her shoes, Riley stood up and furiously jammed the key into the door. However, instead of opening the now unlocked door, she kicked it clean off the hinges in a rage, storming forward down the hallway.

The scene returned to Katie and Addison, who has ventured into the Algebra III room in order to discover the incessant clicking noise. Upon entering the room, they discovered rows upon rows of calculators, all autonomously clicking away. For each click, a pencil dropped into the room. At this point, there was already a thick layer of pencils that evenly covered the entirety of the classroom.

“Okay, now this is just bizarre.” Katie said in disbelief. “Who comes up with this?!” Katie rolled her eyes and turned to open the door from which they’d come, but it was locked. “Oh, perfect…”

“That’s okay! We’ll, like, find another way out.” Addison said optimistically.

“Do you see an exit?” Katie asked, looking around. She had to talk loudly over the clicking and clattering both the calculators and the dropping pencils.

Addison stepped forward curiously. She practically tripped over the scattered pencils, and tried to gain stable footing. In the process, she slid forward, stumbling all the way to the front of the class, where she fell against the teacher’s desk.

“Agh! Son o– I mean, oh dear!” she exclaimed. As she looked up, she caught a glance at the whiteboard, this time reading it. “Do you think this means something, Katie?” she asked, motioning for her to come over.

With careful footing, Katie navigated her way over towards Addison, reading the board. “No leaving until you’ve completed your exam. When you’re done, put down your pencil and leave quietly.” she read out loud.

“We have to take a test? Ugh!” Addison exclaimed in dismay. “At least I’m good at math.” she added, placing a hand on her hip.

“So is this the test?” Katie asked, pointing at an equation towards the bottom of the board. It was a long, complex equation that made Katie’ head hurt just looking at it. Addison eyed the problem, tapping her chin.

“Oh I see. That’s definitely a toughie, but I should be able to figure it out.” she said happily.

“Great, but maybe try to hurry up?” Katie suggested, the pencils now stacking up to the height of their shins. “Is it speeding up?” she wondered, listening to the rapid clicking. As several pencils fell, they knocked Katie’s hat off her head. Addison reached backward, catching it.

“Got it! Here, I’ll hold onto this for you.” Addison said sweetly, placing Katie’s hat on her own head. “Consider it my thinking cap!” she added before Katie could protest.

Addison then set to work on the problem, picking up a dry erase marker and writing vigorously all over the board. Meanwhile, Katie investigated the calculators, finding that they were all connected by wires.

“This is so weird….” she mumbled, then glanced to see the pencils were rising even higher. “Addison, maybe hurry a little more? If I die by pencil, I will die again of embarrassment.”

“Almost finished!” Addison called back. After a few more scribbles, she stepped back, smiling at her work. “There! All done!” she declared. However, the pencils would not stop raining down.

“Are you sure about that?!” Katie said, running over to take a look. “Because we’re still being buried alive.”

“But… I solved it?” Addison said again, this time confused.

Katie looked over her work, trying to understand the problem. Something then caught her eyes. “Addison, you subtracted her when you should have added…. I don’t think I need to point out how ironic that is.”

“Oh! Wow, you’re so smart, Katie!” Addison gushed, quickly fixing the equation. In an instant, the pencils stopped falling, and a ladder came from the hole in the ceiling.

“Wonderful, looks like we’re going on up.” Katie remarked, mounting the ladder and heading towards the ceiling. Addison followed, emerging in yet another hallway.

Back with Cain, he was staring in horror at the object which he’d just brushed his hand against. He looked even paler than normal as he backed away from the terrifying object in question- a drinking fountain.

“Oh no. No no no no no no no no– so many germs!” he cried out, pulling a bottle of hand sanitizer out of his pocket. He squirted a generous amount between his palms and rubbed it around vigorously. “Chris McLean you are a very dead man.” he mumbled under his breath. As he moved to put the hand sanitizer back into his pocket, he was suddenly sprayed in the face by the water fountain. His mask was soaked, clinging to his face. In a hurry, Cain ripped off the mask, backing up.

“What the–” he began to say, but was cut off as the fountain shot another stream of water as him. The fountain seemed to be controlled by some external force, and detached from the wall as it set its sights on Cain. When the drinking fountain began to move, Cain’s eyes widened.

“Get away from me, you filthy contraption!” Cain shouted. The fountain responded with another jet of water, this one more powerful, and dampening Cain’s pompadour.

“Stop that!” Cain protested. He wondered if he could outrun it, but didn’t want to go there. He would just about die if anyone were to witness him running in terror from a drinking fountain.

“Alright…. just gotta knock this tin can out…” he muttered, looking around. Not too far was a fire extinguisher, encased in the familiar red box. Cain made a break for it, and was followed by the robotic water fountain that continued to spray at him in a frenzy

Smashing the plastic shield with his fist, Cain pulled out the fire extinguisher and quickly aimed it at his attacker.

“Never used one of these things, let’s see how this works….” he mumbled, shaking the plastic shards off of his hand as he shot the extinguisher foam towards the walking fountain. The pressure punctured a hole in the fountain, compromising the wiring and shutting down the robot. Cain was knocked backwards by the forced, falling onto his bottom as he clung to the fire extinguisher.

“Damn… that was the weirdest thing I’ve seen all week.” he huffed, getting back up. He kept the extinguisher with him in case he came across anything else peculiar on his journey.

“Better keep moving.” he sighed to himself, pulling a fresh mask out of his pocket and putting it on. He reapplied the hand sanitizer, picked up the extinguisher, and headed down the corridor while grumbling under his breath due to be drenched from the fountain.

Not too far from Cain, actually, were Emeris and Kara. They had entered the home economics room, Emeris having followed Kara in after hearing a shout. When he entered the room, he could see why she was so alarmed. There were several sewings machines roaming the floor, stitching everything in sight together.

“Okay really what the actual f-” Emeris was cut off as one of the machined whirred past him, striking a stitch through his jeans. Emeris felt the thread scrape his skin, almost going right through it. Surprised, he kicked the sewing machine, though as he was now attached to it, he was dragged with it, falling over. The machine turned back to him, aiming to clip him once again.

“*bleep* this *bleeping*ing mess I swear to *bleep*ing *bleep*!” he exclaimed angrily before tearing away the small piece of his pants leg, separating himself from the machine. There was now a hole just above where his pants tucked into his boots. Now beyond irritated, he glanced at Kara.

“Are you going to help or what?” he snapped. She rolled her eyes.

“No need to be an ass about it.” she retorted. In truth, she had been paralyzed by shock, but knew now that she needed to step in. “What do you suggest?” she asked in a patronizing tone, dodging an oncoming machine. She jumped back, bumping into a shelf of fabrics. Emeris saw this.

“Toss me a roll of fabric and follow my lead!” he commanded. She nodded, and quickly reached for bright pink satin, which she threw like a javelin towards Emeris. He caught it, raising an eyebrow at the color.

“What? Gonna bitch about the color?” Kara asked.

“Hell no. I don’t care much for any color is all, pink or not.” he shot back, then focused back on the problem at hand while Kara reached for a roll of teal fabric for herself.

Emeris then began to unravel the fabric, purposefully throwing the end towards one of the sewing machines. It latched onto the fabric, unraveling it across the room. Other machines soon hooked onto the shiny pink fabric. Kara observed this and mimicked his actions, trapping the remainder of the sewing monsters.

The machines were all caught on the sheets of fabric, unable to untangle themselves from the mess. Emeris then sprinted to Kara, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her to the door across the room. They burst through the door, slamming it behind them.

Kara caught her breath, practically unable to believe the events that had just transpired. “Did we really just have a near-death experience via sewing machine?” she asked, cupping her face in her hands as she groaned.

“Get over it. This is just the beginning of the competition.” he grumbled.

Kara huffed. She found Emeris to be near impossible to work with on a social level, yet they somehow made along quite well in the thick of the event.

“Man, you are just the most lovely ally ever.” she said sarcastically.

“It’s a gift.” Emeris replied in a deadpan tone. Kara laughed, and the two made their way along the corridor before them.

While that was taking place, Roo was alone in the art room. Well, alone was a poor choice of wording, as there were numerous marble statues facing toward him. This was unsettling to him, and he waited to see if anything would jump out at him. When nothing readily did so, he stepped forward. This seemed to set everything into motion.

Detecting movement, the statues all suddenly took a step forward as well before freezing again.

“What on earth…?” Roo eyed the marble pieces carefully, taking another step to be sure. Each statue took one step in unison, then froze.

“Do they only move when I do?” he asked, though nobody would answer, naturally. To test this, he took one more step, this times towards a door he spotted at the opposite end of the room. The statues took another step, now dangerously close to him. The rocky figures looked at him with malice, one of them raising a fist.

“This is some kind of puzzle! Not a fan of this, not a fan at all.” he mumbled, trying to calculate how he could get to the door without being attacked by the sculptures. His head was spinning, and he couldn’t piece it together. “I’m not built for this kind of thinking!” he exclaimed, then smiled.

“Though I am built for this-” he declared, making a dash for the door. As one of the sculptures caught up to him, he punched it in the throat, cracking the marble and sending the head of it flying across the room. “Ah, they’re not so scary after all!” Roo laughed.

“Sorry to all you lovely statues.” Roo apologized as he pummeled his way through the group, reducing many of them to rubble.

One statue caught up and tried to trip him, but Roo ended up kicking it in half as he stumbled to the floor.

“Aw, crikey. That didn’t feel too good.” he sighed, brushing himself off and getting back up. His fists and foot were now sore from assaulting the sturdy marble of the sculptures, but he would worry about that later. At this time, he simply wanted to get out of the room before anything else caused him trouble. He burst through the door, finding himself in a wide pathway.

“Well at least this is less cramped.” he murmured, following the path to see where it lead.

Angelo, Doll, and Phoenix were still in the European Literature room by Phoenix’s suggestion, and after entering the lights flicked on and revealed a mountain of papers, filling the room. Angelo and Phoenix looked taken aback, while Doll approached the pile fearlessly.

“Come on you guys, my desk looks WAYYYYY worse than this little pile!” they joked, picking up a stack and skimming it. “Oh, looks like a script.” they remarked, flipping through it at lightning speed.

Angelo and Phoenix then joined Doll amid the papers, looking through the pile. Angelo picked up one script, reading the first line he saw. “A consummation devoutly to be wished- this is Hamlet?” he mused.

Phoenix cleared his throat, reading from his script with perfect pronunciation. “Beware the ides of March– ah! It from Julius Caesar!” Phoenix recognized the work immediately. “Not nearly good as Romeo and Juliet, but still good.”

“Are these all Shakespeare plays?” Angelo asked aloud, finding another copy of Hamlet which he readily tossed aside.

“It seems so.” Doll replied. “Though what’s the point of it?” they added, trying to avoid a papercut as they rummaged about.

“Well, Romeo and Juliet was the poster on the door. Perhaps we’re looking for that script?” Angelo offered hypothetically.

“That make sense to me! So wise, like Friar Lawrence.” Phoenix remarked, beginning to dig through the scripts.

“Okay, but what’s the point in finding a script?” Doll asked, leaving Angelo and Phoenix to keep sorting. They paced up to a door across the room, investigated it. It appeared to be locked. “Well, for now I guess that’s out best bet.”

Angelo and Phoenix were knee-deep in the pile, tossing aside copies of King Lear, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth as they searched diligently. While at work, Angelo and Phoenix’s hands brushed against one another’s, startling Phoenix. The green-haired boy pulled his hand away instantly, catching it on a script in the process which gave him a gruesome papercut. He yelped in surprise, alarming Angelo.

“Are you okay, dearest Juliet?” he asked with great concern. Phoenix nodded quickly.

“I am fine. I just was sliced by papers.” he said meekly as his hand began to bleed. Angelo pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapping it around Phoenix’s hand. “This will have to do for now.” Angelo murmured in a calming tone. “Once we get out of here we can disinfect the wound.”

“Thank you!” Phoenix responded, blushing. He looked down to see that he’d gotten blood on one of the scripts, and picked it up. He was about to throw it aside, but saw the title and immediately Phoenix’s eyes grew wide.

“This it! I found script!” Phoenix cried out joyfully, waving it in the air. As he did so, a small key fell out. Doll caught sight of it and lunged forward, catching the key before it disappeared into the mass of papers.

“That was close- that must be our way out.” they remarked, dragging Phoenix and Angelo towards the door. Upon further inspection, Doll spotted a small keyhole that seemed to be made for their find. Sure enough, the door unlocked and gave way for the trio to advance to the next corridor.

“Man, you must have some kind of, like, spiritual connection to Romeo and Juliet! I guess you could say it’s even in your blood!” Doll joked, grinning.

“I’m certainly glad we had you with us for this challenge.” Angelo insisted and smiled at Phoenix, whose cheeks further darkened.

“You…. you too kind.” he stammered, not used to such high praises, much less being wanted around.

“This is part where you two kiss, right?” Doll suggested, winking. Angelo chuckled, while Phoenix blushed profusely.

“No! That not- I-” Phoenix exclaimed sheepishly.

“Juuuuuuust kidding!” Doll interjected, giggling in amusement.

Angelo gave an amused laugh while they pressed onward.

Meanwhile, Vance and Wallace were still in the hallway which they ventured down from the start, chatting and playing music.

“You know, I really wonder if this leads anywhere.” Wallace muttered.

“It has to lead somewhere!” Vance insisted.

“I bet you anything it’s a dead end.” Wallace said ominously, then chuckled. “Or not. Guess we’ll have to find out.”

As he said this, the duo suddenly had the feeling that they were being watched. Wallace looked over his shoulder, grabbing Vance’s arm and pointing behind them.

“You… you might wanna see this.” Wallace murmured. Vance turned around, nearly dropping his banjo. They had come face-to-face with a tall, metal robot that vaguely resembled Chris. It stared down at them with red, glowing eyes.

“Present your hall passes.” the robot demanded in a cold, hollow tone.

“Hall pases? We weren’t given no hall passes, buddy.” Vance tried to explain peacefully.

“Present your hall passes.” the robot commanded again.

“I just said–” Vance began to repeat himself.

“I don’t think he wants to listen to our excuse.” Wallace interject with a worried expression.

“Then what do you figure we do?” Vance asked while the robot menacingly glared at them.

“Run.” Wallace said simply before turning and booking it down the corridor. Vance followed suit, quickly passing Wallace as he was considerably more athletic. The robot followed suit, chasing them relentlessly.

“Violators will be terminated.” the robot declared while malevolently pursuing them.

“This is NOT how I want to die! Let’s duck into a classroom!” Wallace called out, though when he looked around, he noticed there were no longer countless classrooms lining the hallway. “Or… not.” he murmured grimly.

“Present your hall pass or be terminated.” the robot threatened them. Frantic, Wallace stopped and turned to face the robot.

“Yeah, well where’s YOUR hall pass?” Wallace retorted. This actually caused the robot to take a pause, now conflicted.

“I… do not have one.” the robot confessed.

“Well that’s silly. You were getting on our cases and yet you don’t have a hall pass either?” Vance pointed out. The robot looked as troubled as a non-sentient being could, then drooped his head.

“I… cannot process…” it mumbled before smoke proceeded to fuem out the tin neck of the robot. It seemed to be malfunctioning, and a burning smell filled the corridor.

“We should get out of here.” Wallace warned, and the two ran off. Just as they were out of range of the robot, it combusted, bursting in a spectacle of flames. The duo looked at one another in terror, then made their way along. Although they had not changed routes, the hallway they traversed now seemed somewhat different than the previous one.

Back in the chemistry lab, Quinn and Leo had found themselves facing a giant vat that bubbled and simmered before them. Next to the vat was a table with dozens of unmarked bottles, all seeming to contain some sort of liquid.

Leo paced forward, looking at a notecard that was on the table of bottles. They read it outloud in a tried, dreary voice. “To find the exit, finish the formula.”

Quinn grinned from ear to ear, unable to contain her excitement. “You mean it’s time to science?!” she exclaimed giddily.

“It seems so.” Leo said simply, watching as she reached for a pair of goggles and gloves, tossing them towards Leo before equipping herself with the necessary safety gear.

“Let’s make some chemistry!” Quinn declared, eyeing the notecard. There was a long and unfinished chemical compound scrawled onto it. She eyed it curiously, though could not readily discern what it was meant to be.

“Looks like we’ll have to try a bit of trial and error. Let’s see if any guesswork will net us a reaction.” she decided coyly, picking up an armful of bottles. She poured the contents of the first in, and the mixture in the fat turned a bright pink, letting off a thick and foul-smelling cloud of steam.

“I did not get out of bed for this…” Leo grumbled, pulling their jacket over their nose to hide the smell.

“Oh, don’t be such a wimp! We’re making science here!” she said, trying for the next bottle. The mixture in the vat now stopped boiling, and began to harden. Quickly, Quinn sniffed the contents of a third bottle, pouring it in with discretion. She made mental notes as she observed each reaction.

“Ohhhhh, I see.” Quinn murmured under her breath, then dropped a bottle into the mixture. It turned lime green and boiled again. “Okay, nevermind.” she mumbled, starting over.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Leo asked.

“I bet if I can figure out the chemical composition, I can figure out what we’re supposed to get from this!” she reasoned.

As the bottled she’d dropped in sank through the mixture, Leo heard it clinking against another object in the vat. This caught their attention.

“Wait, Quinn. I think I know a quicker way to get out of here.” they said. Quinn looked at Leo curiously.

“Oh? Do tell!” she insisted.

“I hear something at the bottom of the vat. I bet it’s something we need. If you can just cool down the mixture, we can pour it out and get whatever is there, right?” they hypothesized. Quinn’s eyes lit up with delight and she nodded.

“I bet you’re right! Wow, nice observation, Leo!” she congratulated him, before reaching for a blue bottle on the table. “Now, let’s get to the bottom of this- literally and figuratively!” she joked, snickering as she took a whiff of the blue bottle.

“This should do the trick…” she murmured, pouring it out. Immediately, the concoction stopped bubbling. She cautiously stuck a gloved hand into the mix, and found it to be room temperature. “Perfect! Now step aside, Leo. I can’t find anywhere to put this… so I’m just going to dump it out.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” Leo complained, but Quinn tipped the vat before they could further object, causing the liquid to ooze out onto the floor. Once emptied, there was a key in the bottom of the vat next to the bottle, Quinn had tossed in earlier.

“Radical! We’ve unlocked this mystery, wouldn’t you say?” Quinn joked, grabbing the key and heading for the door. Leo followed, trying to avoid the mess of chemicals that Quinn has haphazardly spilled.

The duo pushed past the exit once it was unlocked, and carried on. At this point, the camera froze, and zoomed out to show Chris in an office of sorts.

“Looks like everyone is surviving their first day quite nicely. But they’re not quite out of the clear yet.” Chris revealed, smirking maliciously.

“Will these hapless students find their way out of the maze, or will it prove to be a test too tough for them to pass? Find out the conclusion of our season premiere when we return to Total. Drama. HIGH SCHOOOOOOL!” Chris gave the traditional outro, leaving the viewer to worry about the fates of those in the maze.

Staff

 * Chris McLean
 * Chef Hatchet

Contestants

 * Addison
 * Angelo
 * Cain
 * Calliope
 * Chloe
 * Doll
 * Emeris
 * Jasten
 * Kara
 * Katie
 * Khadija
 * Leo
 * Phoenix
 * Quinn
 * Riley
 * Rosemary
 * Roo
 * Starr
 * Vance
 * Wallace

Trivia
General
 * This episode's title was created by Jack.

Continuity
 * Like the previous part, the contestants are not placed on teams this part.
 * This part, along with the previous and the successor, are the first 3 parter in during the roleplay.

Episode 1c: Our House (Surprisingly Not in the Middle of Our Street)
'''The contestants make it through the final stretch of the maze, meeting other contestants that all happened to get seperated as well. Toghether, they emerge victorious from the maze in smaller groups of five each, and form the four main teams, or houses as they're refered to, this season.'''

Episode
“Welcome back! It looks like everyone has made it to the final floor alive, so let’s sit back and watch this mad dash to the finish!” Chris announced, leaning back in his chair as he oversaw a series of monitors.

Each contestant was pressing on diligently, more or less, as they traversed the halls. Some were distracted, such as Roo’s growing concern for the group members he’d lost along the way, but regardless they were heading towards the end.

As Khadija and Jasten made their way to the finish, Jasten glanced down and realized his leg had a small wound on it from the abominations they’d conquered minutes earlier. As Jasten stopped, Khadija did as well. Catching sight of the now bleeding wound, she gasped.

“Oh dear, I didn’t realize. Let’s stop and get that fixed up.” Khadija insisted, and reached under her hijab. Moments later, she pulled out a rather large first aid kit. It was unknown how she’d been able to fit such an item under her hijab, but Jasten wasn’t one to question people.

She opened it up and began to treat his wound, tenderly placing a band-aid over it once it was disinfected.

“That should remedy the problem.” she declared. “I was a minor wound, but it’s better not risk and infection.

Jasten nodded in agreement, pulling his sock over the band-aid to cover it. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks so much, Khadija!” he said with gratitude. She beamed slightly, glad to have been helpful. She tucked the first aid kit back under her hijab and motioned for them to keep moving. However, as Khadija turned to move on, another person collided with her, knocking her backwards. Hey eyes widened in shock as she fell to her bottom, and Jasten gasped in surprise.

“Are you okay?!” Jasten exclaimed with worry, looking up to see who’d caused the incident.

“Oh, gosh! I’m sorry!” Quinn apologized quickly. Standing behind her was Leo, who had been trailing behind at a more reasonably cautious pace. “Didn’t mean to make you fall- I had a little too much spring in my step, personally.” she joked to lighten the mood, as Khadija was visibly irritated by the occurrence. She got up, finding she’d sustained no noteworthy damage.

“Be careful, please.” Khadija advised, and Quinn smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah, I just– this is a race, isn’t it? I mean, I think it is.” Quinn pointed out.

“I don’t really know if it’s a race, moreso that we need to get through the maze.” Leo clarified. “Chris presented a time limit but didn’t say if there would be an advantage to arriving before the others.” they added.

“Good memory, Leo! Alrighty, well, since we happened to bump into each other, want to finish this out as a group?” Quinn suggested.

“That sounds good. A bigger group is safer, isn’t it?” Jasten remarked. Khadija reluctantly nodded, not sure how she felt about inviting the somewhat loud punmaker along. She didn’t have any hard feelings toward Quinn but was still sore from the fall.

“True enough. Let’s keep going.” Khadija said.

No more than ten steps after that, Leo was suddenly hit with a forceful blast that sent him flying down the hall. Alarmed by the noise, the remaining three turned around, only to see another competitor.

“Wait– oh, that wasn’t another crazy drinking fountain?” a voice called out and ran up. Their attacker turned out to be Cain, holding a fire extinguisher.

“Oh no, who did I hit, then?” he asked with a sense of concern, looking down the hall. Leo was covered in the extinguishing foam, groaning in pain.

“What the hell, dude?!” Quinn exclaimed in shock. Cain looked sheepishly apologetic, rubbing the back of his head.

“I am really, really sorry. I had not realized it was you all.” he tried to explain. “To make a long story short, I’ve had quite the time getting here and assumed you were another enemy.”

Khadija ran over to assist Leo as Quinn placed her hands on her hips.

“Well… if you didn’t mean to I guess it’s okay.” Quinn determined.

“Says you…” Leo grumbled from down the hall. Jasten followed Khadija to aid Leo, checking to see if they sustained any injuries. Khadija once again took out her first aid kit, handing it to Jasten to hold as she flicked the foam off of Leo.

“Besides the pain, did you sprain or hurt anything?” Khadija asked, eyeing them up and down.

“I don’t think so. It just hurts like hell.” Leo mumbled, clearly in pain. Cain now ran over to give his apologies once again.

“I really didn’t realize it was you. I am extremely sorry- it’s been a long afternoon.”

Jasten then realized Cain was damp from head to toe. “What happened to you?” he wondered aloud. Cain glanced down out at Jasten, taking a step back as he still wasn’t entirely sure if the kid was healthy.

“Don’t know if you’d believe me if I said.” Cain retorted with an exasperated chuckle.

“Well, Khadija and I just used magnetism to take down an army of reanimated frogs. Is it much stranger than that?” Jasten asked.

“Okay, maybe you would believe me.” Cain laughed. “I was chased halfway here by a demonic drinking fountain. Well, not likely demonic, more likely robotic. Either way, it got me drenched, and I’m still trying to dry off.” he elaborated.

“That sounds awful!” Jasten gasped.

“Well at least it was just a little bit of H2O. Water you going to do about it?” Quinn teased, unable to resist the opportunity for a pun. Cain feigned a smile, making himself laugh at the joke in light of not finding his plight funny at all.

“I just hope we’re almost done with this maze.” Cain sighed.

“I would say we’re just about there.” Khadija remarked, point ahead to an opening at the end of the hall. It appeared to open up to a wide room.

“Please be the finish line…” Cain murmured under his breath.

“Okay but are you going to leave me here? I can’t exactly walk well like this.” Leo reminded them, leaning against the wall in pain.

“Can somebody carry him?” Quinn asked. “I would, but I’m too short and not that strong.”

“Me neither, honestly.” Khadija admitted. Jasten looked at the ground sheepishly, and it was obvious he couldn’t carry anyone. Everyone’s eyes fell on Cain.

“Me? I….” Cain’s voice trailed off. Having to pick up another person, and a person who had just been on the ground? It made his skin crawl. But he couldn’t get people angry at him. He needed to make friends, or at least make people like him. And it was his fault that Leo couldn’t walk. Holding his breath and putting on a second mask over the one he was already wearing, he picked up Leo. Cain felt sick just touching another person, much less holding them close.

“Let’s get out of here.” Cain muttered and they sprinted to the end of the hall, which opened into a large dining hall. As soon as they arrived, Cain set down Leo at a table and pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer. He knew he’d need to be taking several showers that night.

As they all gathered at a table, Chris walked into the hall.

“Well would you look at that! The first team has crossed the finish line!” he said with a smile. Quinn, Leo, Khadija, Cain, and Jasten looked at one another.

“You mean this is our team?” Khadija asked curiously.

“Yes indeed! I mean, all five of you arrived together, so that must mean you were sorted properly.” Chris said vaguely, then looked at each of them.

“You five will be the house of Owlsward! Congratulations, I think.” Chris informed them.

“Owlsward? Well, let’s hope we’ll be birds of a feather- if we get along I bet we could really take flight as a team.” Quinn then went onto a series of bird-related puns.

“Do you always do this?” Leo asked in exhaustion.

“What can I say? I’m just a hoot, aren’t I?” Quinn retorted cheekily. Jasten laughed in amusement, enjoying her clever wordplay. Cain, Leo, and Khadija, on the other hand, looked at one another and exchanged tired glances.

“So now do we just wait for everyone?” Cain asked curiously.

“Yeah, pretty much. Chat it up, get to know one another now or something.” Chris suggested. Cain nodded, looking to see if he could strike up a conversation. He figured he ought to apologize to Leo once more for good measure, but they had fallen asleep already. Cain turned to the others, wondering who he ought to get to know first.

Meanwhile, Rosemary and Chloe were walking side by side. They moved at a decently leisurely pace, still recovering from their encounter with the monstrous plant. For a while they walked in silence, processing the events.

“Well that was one of the weirder things I’ve seen.” Rosemary said finally, laughing to lighten the mood. Chloe nodded xer head in agreement.

“Wait, just one of? Goodness, what sorts of things have you seen?” xe asked, raising a brow.

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, darling.” Rosemary informed xer. “I’ll have to tell you some time, really. All sorts of crazy stuff goes on in this big world of ours.”

As another lull in the conversation hit, a soft noise filled the air. Rosemary paused to listen to whatever it was that was playing in the distance. Chloe noticed as well, and they both listened.

“Is that… music?” Chloe asked curiously.

“Seems like it. It sounds like a guitar, almost.” Rosemary observed, closing her eyes and listening.

The sounds slowly became louder, and consequently more clear.

“Not that’s- that’s a banjo! Do you think that’s Vance?” Chloe exclaimed.

“Only one way to find out.” Rosemary said. “Let’s go!”

Rosemary and Chloe jogged down the hall, rounding the corner in pursuit of the sound. As they came closer, they could make out two tall figures in the distance. After a moment, they were clearly identifiable as Wallace and Vance.

“Dang, I didn’t know anyone’s voice could even go that low!” Wallace remarked as Vance finished another song. Vance smiled humbly, giving a slight bow.

“Why thank you!” Vance said, plucking at the strings. Wallace then looked forward, seeing Chloe and Rosemary.

“Oh, Vance! Other contestants!” Wallace pointed out.

“Really? I was thinking we’d lost all them for good or something.” Vance joked, chuckling. “Good to know we’re still in the school given how long we’ve been walking. Never seen a campus this big before in my life!”

Rosemary and Chloe ran up to them, waving.

“Hey, you guys!” Rosemary greeted. Chloe paused behind Rosemary, a bit intimidated by how tall the duo was. Xe relaxed slightly when xe realized Wallace was there, though.

“Good to see someone else around here. Got any clue where we are, perhaps?” Wallace asked.

“I was about to ask the same of you, darling.” Rosemary admitted.

“Well, may as well keep on walkin’.” Vance said in an easygoing tone.

“At least we know now to go down either hall the other has been, so that narrows done which direction to go.” Chloe observed.

“That’s true. Well, should we keep going, then? I just want to get out of here.” Wallace said, though the four suddenly stopped as thundering footsteps could be heard in the distance.

“WHERE ARE THEY!?” a frustrated ((yet frantic)) voice called out, causing Chloe to flinch in fear.

“Who…. or what is that?” Chloe asked with a worried tone.

Like a raging bull, the owner of the voice came storming down the hall, looking from side to side as if scanning for someone. At first they were so far that the four only saw a bulky and shadowy figure. Rosemary and Wallace shared a look at one another, then both grabbed the other two and pulled them against the wall, in case whoever was coming would not stop for them.

“Doll?! Phoenix?!” the voice called out, and as it approached, an accent became noticeable.

“Is that–” Chloe began, but was cut off as the frustrated figure came into view. It was Roo, frenetically searching for his little friends.

When Roo saw the four of them at the end of the hall, he couldn’t make out exactly who was there. In a hurry, he bolted towards them, stopping just inches before inadvertently colliding into them. Roo visibly calmed as he’d found more people, looking at the group of four.

“Uh… hi Roo.” Wallace said awkwardly, waving. “Something wrong?”

“Hey… I… I lost my group and I’m trying ta find them. Who knows what could’ve happened?!” he exclaimed, horrified at the thought.

“Well you found us, and it’s probably smarter to stick together.” Rosemary advised. “Come on, we can look together. Just calm down a bit, okay?”

He paused, sighing.

“I’m just really worried about them.” Roo confessed sadly.

“It’s okay- I promise! We lost most of our group earlier, but I bet everyone is just fine, really. Chris couldn’t do anything to seriously injure us, right?” Chloe tried to reassure Roo.

“Wouldn’t put it past him, honestly.” Wallace mumbled, though Rosemary quickly elbowed him as that remark would not help the situation. Wallace flinched, though quickly understood, shooting an apologetic glance at Rosemary.

“Alright, alright.” Roo conceded, joining the group. Seeing that Chloe had made it this far was reassuring to him, since xe was another of the smaller folk.

The group, now five members strong, turned down a hallway that none had ventured thus far, and after a short trek they saw a light at the end of the hall.

“Hey, looks like that’s the end!” Chloe exclaimed with joy.

“Maybe your other friends have even finished by now.” Vance offered positively, and at that notion, Roo grabbed his team and sprinted to the exit with them.

As they burst forth, they found themselves in the cafeteria. The already present Owlsward team looked at them. Jasten smiled and waved at Roo, causing him to run over and pick up the smaller boy.

“Hey there, kiddo!” Roo greeted, hugging Jasten before setting him back down. Jasten trembled at the sudden contact, and Roo quickly apologized.

“Sorry, sorry. Just was worried ‘bout you.” Roo insisted, and Jasten nodded with understanding.

“It’s okay. I…. ah…. th-thank you for worrying.” Jasted murmured sheepishly.

Chris looked at the new arrivals, clapping his hands together.

“Alright you five, pick a table and start getting to know your team. The five of you finished together, and just taking one look at you lets me know you’re the team of Dovelea.” Chris bestowed the title upon them.

“Dovelea? How lovely.” Rosemary murmured, giving the unintentional rhyme. From across the room, Quinn gave a laugh.

Rosemary, Wallace, Vance, Chloe, and Roo all took their seats, but Roo looked around nervously.

“This is everyone who has gotten through the maze so far?” he asked with concern.

“Don’t worry, big guy. They’re all alive in there.” Chris informed him, rolling his eyes. “Some more than others.” he added under his breath.

Still in the labyrinth was Riley, who was constantly trying to rid herself of the oil she’d gotten coated with as she cursed under her breath. Needing to calm down, she reached into her pocket to take out her iPod. She was alone at the moment anyways, and could benefit from a bit of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to ease her mood. However, her pocket was empty.

Riley stopped in her tracks, checking every pocket on her person before she realized she did not have the iPod with her.

“Did I… did I lose it in that damned obstacle course?!” she exclaimed in horror. “I can’t have anyone find that- I’d never hear the end of it.” she grumbled, thinking of how much anime and J-Pop music she had on the device. She turned to go back when suddenly two people were calling out to her.

“Riley! Rileyyyyy is that you?” a familiar voice asked. Riley turned, seeing Addison approach her. Addison looked as though she was about to hug Riley, though took one look at her and decided against it.

“Oh my gosh! What happened to you?” Addison asked in horror. Katie took one look and laughed slightly. Riley glared at Katie with irritance.

“Think it’s funny? I found myself in one hell of an obstacle course.” Riley informed them icily, before looking down to see that Katie and Addison had small cuts and wood shavings on their legs. “And how did you fare?”

“Algebra III and raining pencils.” Katie said, unable to even begin to elaborate. Riley looked confused, but decided not to ask.

“Good thing math is my best subject!” Addison boasted cheerfully.

“Trust me, math is usually easy for me. I think my brain is still on mute from that damn bus ride, though.” Katie sighed, not wanting to be considered below her potential.

“Oh, I bet! Just having a bad day is all.” Addison agreed, smiling.

“Can we talk about this later? We should be getting out of this maze.” Katie reminded them.

“Actually, I–” Riley began, but Addison interjected.

“Riley, come with us! The more people, the better, right?” Addison insisted adamantly. Riley wanted to say no, but in truth she wanted to get out of the maze as well, especially as she needed a long shower as soon as possible.

“Very well, ma’am. Let’s make haste, troop.” Riley commanded with a bit of reluctance, and the three headed onward.

Not far from those three were Emeris and Kara, who had returned to silence after escaping the home economics room. Kara was mildly embarrassed that her hallucinations had put them there to begin with, and was thankful Emeris didn’t make any comments on it.

After some time, Kara could hear Addison and Katie chattering in the distance. However, she mistook this for more of her hallucinations, and began to worry.

“Mind walking faster? We should be getting out of here by now.” Kara grumbled. Emeris glanced at her.

“What? You want to see who’s making all that racket up ahead?” he asked with an uninterested expression.

“Wait- you can hear them too?” Kara shot back, raising a brow.

“You think I can’t hear? Not sure who it is… don’t really care. One of them sounds like Addison though.” he observed, which made Kara realize they were listening to real people. Needing verification, she sprinting down the hall, and Emeris felt obligated to follow her.

“Quiet, troop! I hear someone coming.” Riley exclaimed, turning to see Emeris and Kara. Kara stopped before the group, actually relieved to see them. As Emeris caught up, he stepped in a trace of the oil Riley had been tracking around, and slipped. On the floor, he slid and crashed into Addison, knocking her down as well.

She faceplanted the floor, her makeup smearing. Emeris groaned, getting up and looking to Riley, who he saw was covered in the oil that had made him slip. Complete ignoring Addison even though he’d caused her fall, he scowled at Riley.

“It’s rude to make such a mess.” he snarled in irritance. Riley placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes.

“Yes, because I very much like being covered in oil, sir.” she shot back, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“A little help here?” Addison called out, trying to mask her own anger at having been knocked aside and not even offered assistance.

Katie turned to Addison, reaching out to help her up. “Uh…. you may want to find a mirror.” Katie remarked, taking her hat back as it had fallen off of Addison’s head in the fall.

Addison returned to her feet and took a small mirror compact out of her pocket. It was cracked from the trip, though she could still see her lipstick smeared across her face. Addison shrieked in displeasure, throwing the mirror into a trash bin and wiping the lipstick from her face.

“You can pretty yourself up later, princess. Let’s get out of here.” Kara said to the group, growing exceedingly frustrated with the maze.

“That’s fine by me.” Katie added, and with everyone more or less intact, they rounded a corner, seeing an opening at the end of the hallways.

“That better be the end.” Kara grumbled, and Riley nodded in agreement. Addison walked behind everyone, glaring hatefully at Emeris, who wouldn’t have care even if he did notice. As the five emerged into the dining hall, the other two teams looked up. Many were confused at the sight of Riley, but none dared comment.

“I don’t want to hear it!” Riley shouted, crossing her arms.

“I knew you’d end up in the weight room.” Chris snickered, and Riley shot him a threatening glare.

“Let’s see…. one, two, three– yup, there’s five of you. Take a seat at an open table, Eaglemoor.” Chris instructed them.

“You mean this is our team?” Kara asked, raising a brow as she turned to look back at them.

“Oh, don’t act so surprised. You all ended up here together, didn’t you? It’s like destiny!” Chris told them.

“Or a carefully engineered trick.” Katie retorted, knowing Chris’ ways all too well. Chris rolled his eyes.

“Oh, just sit down already.” Chris dismissed them.

“Sir, permission to go shower?” Riley asked.

“Permission denied! We have one more team to see cross the finish before we’re done for the day.” Chris said, and Riley, sighed with resignation, sitting down uncomfortable.

Doll, Angelo, and Phoenix were wandering a corridor, chattering all the while as they explored the area.

“So you write many thing, Doll?” Phoenix asked them curiously, realizing he hadn’t really acknowledged Doll much during the challenged. He didn’t do so intentionally, but they made themselves so inconspicuous that Phoenix often forgot they were there.

“You bet! I write, like, all day every day! I mean this challenge alone has given me SO many story notes, you know? This is sooooo perfect.” they remarked gleefully.

“How fascinating! It must take quite the dedicated and concentration to be a writer.” Angelo complimented them, and Doll laughed softly.

“I guess, but it doesn’t feel like that when it’s so fun!” they pointed out.

“Ah! Like they say, ‘if you do glove for a living then you never work a day in strife’” Phoenix tried to quote the idiom, though ended up confusing the other two in the process.

“Yes, of course.” Angelo said, not wanting to correct him. “So do you think we’re towards the end of this labyrinth?” Angelo then changed the subject, genuinely curious. He had no gauge of where they were, and his feet were growing quite tired.

“I think we’re near the end.” Doll observed.

“What make you think that?” Phoenix asked curiously.

“Well, we spent a while getting into groups, we got split up from the group, we faced a climactic challenge, and now we’re in a quiet corridor. If I was writing this I’d say we’re just about finished, since we’re probably in the falling action.” Doll explained casually.

“Interesting perspective. I suppose I can’t think quite as abstractly- that’s a wonderful talent to have.” Angelo remarked, winking at Doll.

“You guys do hear musics?” Phoenix asked suddenly, and the group paused. Sure enough, a funky fresh beat sounded in the hall.

“AH AH AH AHHH STAYIN’ ALIVE! STAYIN’ ALIVE!” Starr sang out passionately as she came around the corner, swaying her hips from side to side. Beside her, Calliope was trying to beatbox, but was quite poor at it.

Starr laughed, shaking her head. “Honey, I appreciate the effort but perhaps you should go after another instrument.” she advised teasingly.

“Yeah… I, I’ve never tried beatboxing before.” Calliope admitted softly. “It was fun to try, though. It at least made the time pass.” she added optimistically.

“Damn right, sugar! I bet we’ll be out of here any minute now.” Starr said with a nod.

“I hope so. This is kind of exhausting- I wonder how long we’ve been in here?” Calliope asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Starr said dismissively, her gaze catching sight of the trio ahead.

“Well would you look at that!” Starr remarked, pointing them out. Doll, Phoenix, and Angelo strode to Calliope and Starr, waving.

“How maze treat you all?” Phoenix asked, wondering where they’d found themselves during the ordeal.

“It was alright. We took a bit of a fall, but neither of us got hurt. It’s good to see other people around here, though. You’re the first contestants we’ve seen since we got split up from Riley!” Calliope informed him.

“Same is true of us! We lose Roo long time ago and have no clue where he end up.” Phoenix explained.

Calliope nodded, then saw Angelo. She blushed softly and waved, while Angelo walked towards her, smiling flirtatiously.

“I’m certainly glad to hear you didn’t get hurt or anything of that sort.” Angelo said with relief. “I figured you would do fine, though. You may be stunningly beautiful, but I doubt you’re fragile.” he complimented her, and she giggled meekly.

“You’re too kind, Angelo…” she said softly. Starr rolled her eyes, pretending to be amused.

“Well if we’re done flirting, we should head along. We’ve got to get out of here.” Starr reminded them.

“Fair enough.” Angelo agreed, standing between Calliope and Phoenix. Doll vigorously wrote down ideas in their notepad, following the group.

As with the others, they ultimately ended up in a hall that opened into the dining area. Seeing this opening, Calliope’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, I think we’ve made it!” she cheered jovially, skipping towards the end. The five them emerged into the dining hall. As soon as they arrived, Roo sprang up, running to Phoenix, Angelo, and Doll.

“There you kiddos are! I’m so sorry I left you- I didn’t even realized you’d gone and I was so worried that y’all had found yourselves in some sort of trouble!” he spoke a mile a minute, and Doll giggled.

“Don’t sweat it! We did just fine, man.” Doll assured him, and Roo nodded. As he was about to speak, Chris grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back to Dovelea’s table.

“You can chat later.” Chris told him, and Roo sat down reluctantly.

“Looks like the final team has crossed the finish line!” Chris announced. “Find a table, Swanfen.”

Starr was surprised as she realized this was her team. She wasn’t sure if this was advantageous or not. Her team was fairly scrawny, but full of charming and likeable people. She would have to consider her next moved carefully.

“See? Everyone made it through the first challenge just fine.” Chris told them, grinning cheekily. “Because I’m feeling awfully generous, there will be no elimination ceremony tonight. However, starting at the next challenge, you’re competing for real! And even though there’s four houses, you’re all fighting to win. There may be weeks where only the last place team is on the chopping block, or weeks where all but the first place team are at risk. So get to know each other and come to the next challenge with your game faces on.”

“Now you all will get to go to your dorms soon enough. Be thankful, they’re actually pretty nice. Each house has their own dorm, and each contestant gets their own room- fancy, right? I knew we were giving you guys too much leeway by using a prep school, but whatever.” Chris said with a shrug.

“After dinner, go check out your dorms and get well-rested or something.” Chris suggested offhandedly, then turned to the camera.

“There you have it, folks! Four houses, competing for the million! It looks like the first day of school went by smoothly enough, but will lightning strike twice? Find out next week on the most controversial reality short on air- Total. Drama. HIGH SCHOOOOOOOOL!” Chris signed off, and the credits rolled.

Staff

 * Chris McLean
 * Chef Hatchet

Contestants

 * Addison
 * Angelo
 * Cain
 * Calliope
 * Chloe
 * Doll
 * Emeris
 * Jasten
 * Kara
 * Katie
 * Khadija
 * Leo
 * Phoenix
 * Quinn
 * Riley
 * Rosemary
 * Roo
 * Starr
 * Vance
 * Wallace

Trivia
General Continuity
 * The contestants are put into teams this episode.
 * The four main houses this season are revealed to be; Owlsward, Eaglemoor, Dovelea, and Swanfen, which were revealed in that order.
 * This episode's title was created by Devo.
 * Like the previous part, most of the contestants are with at least one person that they partnered up with to traverse the maze.
 * The majority of this episode takes place in the maze from the previous episode.