This story is still in editing form until I get to the point that I'm happy with it. Please keep that in mind

I slowly stood up and tried to look around, but it was pitch-black. I thought I was alone, but the darkness made it impossible to tell. I stretched out my hands in various directions, trying to find something solid, but there was nothing there. At this point, I was starting to freak out, so I made myself sit down again and tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness. It didn't help. Either they never adjusted... or there was nothing to see.

I have no idea how long I was sitting there. It could have been minutes or hours, but it felt like days to me.

Without warning, there was light everywhere and I could see a man standing a few feet away from me. His carefully-styled black hair fell gracefully to just below his ears and he had piercing, dark-grey eyes that reminded me of endless tunnels into nothingness. The man didn't react at all when a giant stone platform erupted from the ground underneath him and propelled him ten feet into the air. Instead, he simply walked toward the center of the platform as soon as it stopped moving, bowed and then shouted, "Welcome to EXTRAORDINARILY RANDOM MOUNTAIN!"

Dumbfounded, I slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off myself. Ripping my eyes away from the strange man, I looked around me. For the first time, I realized that I was on top of a mountain surrounded by forest. There was snow on top of all the trees, but the ground was dry. I soon realized that the entire area was covered by a giant metal dome.

"That explains the darkness," muttered someone behind me, obviously having the same thoughts I was. I spun around, startled, and saw that there were about twenty other kids standing near me. They looked like they were roughly the same age as me and all of them seemed to be just as confused as I was.

The man on the rock spoke again. "Sorry for all the confusion, but we had to knock you out in your sleep." His voice suddenly grew much louder, as if he were addressing a television audience instead of a group of twenty children. "Let me introduce this season's contestants!"

"Now everyone, my name is Chris MacClean but you all can just call me Chris," said the man on the stage. Then he pulled out a list from his pocket. "Now as I call your name please come up here. Nadia!" he announced and a pretty girl with longish brown hair and stunningly blue eyes walked up. "Go stand over there somewhere," he said, absently waving his hand to the left of the stage.

"Next….Scott!" he cried, and a scary looking guy came up, his black hair hanging down in his face. He had no visible piercings but looked like he could have had many.

"Ariela!" A girl with glasses and curly black hair stood and walked up to the stage to stand with the other two.

"Travis!" And a guy with shaggy brown hair bounced up. He was wearing a neon orange shirt that could have been visible for miles.

"Elizabeth!" Slowly and shakily a girl with light brown hair stood and tried to rush over to the stage, but tripped over the steps. She turned bright red and stumbled over to stand over with the others.

"Aaron!" A tall figure pushed himself off the ground and shoved his glasses up his nose so he could see better. He walked over to the rest of the people on the stage.

"Juliet!" yelled Chris, and a girl stood up. Setting a quick pace, she walked over to the group and everyone could clearly see the smirk evident on her face.

"Justin!" Lazily, a lanky boy ambled over to his team, standing slightly off to one side.

"Adam!" A boy with longish light brown hair jumped. Slowly, an embarrassed smile crossed his face, and he hurriedly ran onto the stage to stand behind everyone else.

"Emily!" Shocked, a short girl rose to her feet and rushed to the stage, a worried expression covering her features.

"Austin!" Another boy stood up and walked to the stage with great reluctance. He looked like he wanted to run far away and never come back.

"Kat!" A pretty girl with light hair and eyes stood up. She walked confidently over to the stage and wore a look that pretty much said "I'm going to own this".

Chris looked up from his list and over to the people standing on his left. "You eleven will be known as the Pretty Ligers." As he said this everyone grew even more confused. They looked uncertainly at each other for answers that no one but Chris knew.

"Now for the rest of you. Colin!" A blond boy in the crowd jumped up, surprised. He rushed up to the stage, then paused, not sure of where to stand. "You will be to my right," said Chris, indicating where with his hand.

"Evie!" Very slowly, a dark figure stood. She glided up the steps, her face expressionless.

"Derek!" A geeky looking boy with a lot of hidden energy bounded up to the stage.

"Angela!" Smiling, a pretty blond girl walked over, kindly waving to everyone as she did so.

"Nathan!" Tripping over his own feet as he stood, the slightly embarrassed kid managed to make it to the platform without further incident.

"Rachel!" The smart looking girl bounced up and followed Nathan with big hearts in her eyes.

"Beth!" Blushing for no evident reason, a small, pale girl scurried after the rest like a mouse.

"Riley!" A nice looking guy with spiky hair trekked from the back to where Chris and the others were standing. He chose to climb up the edge of the stage in one big leap rather than use the steps like everyone else.

"Glenna!" Swiftly, a kind girl stood up and walked over to the stage looking very excited.

"Sean!" A kid in all black stood up and in a slow, depressed manner walked to the stage.

"Christi!" With an elegance not many possess, the girl walked smoothly up the steps and over to her teammates.

"Nik!" A blond guy with a camouflage baseball cap on stood up. He wore army fatigues and looked pretty mean. You could practically hear the "Rock Them" theme rolling off of him like an aura.

"You eleven will be known as the Soft Goats," Chris said, and now everyone looked really confused. "To explain! The twenty four of you have been chosen to be on this new show called EXTRODINARILY RANDOM MOUNTAIN where the winner will receive fame and a hundred thousand dollar prize. Which, knowing you guys, will probably be blown in a week." He faced both teams. "I will be your host and will continue to be so for the next eight weeks. Every three days one team will win a prize and the other will watch one of their teammates leave via helicopter. To win all you need to do is be the last one on the mountain top! Any questions?"

"I have one," Sean said, stepping forward. "What if we don't want to be here?"

"Play the game the worst you can and make your team lose…I'm sure that will also give us good ratings!" Chris answered. "Any other questions?" No one answered. "Wow, you are all a quiet group! But that will change once you see the first challenge..."

To Be Continued!