Disclaimer:
I do not own the rights to, nor did I originally write, Battle Royale. Nor do I own any of the Movies, TV shows, Music or other products that may be referenced in this story. All of the characters seen in this story are of original creation; made either by me, or by others and used with their permission.
This story is rated M due to its graphic content, including scenes involving violence, strong language, sexual themes and others. If you are not comfortable with any of these then I advise that you do not read on and if you do and are offended then don't blame me because I did warn you.
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'Welcome, boys and girls, welcome, to the first ever Battle Royale competition. You lucky few have been chosen to take part in an event like no other, an event that will forever go down in history; hell, a few of you might even become famous. But, I'm getting ahead of myself; I suppose I'd better explain the rules to you before anything else.
'The rules of this Battle Royale are simple; there is only one way to win, you must kill; you must kill your classmates, kill every last person you see in this room with you now, except me of course, kill until you are the last person left. Then, and only then, will you be declared the winner, and then, and only then, will you be allowed to leave'
The man laid down the script on his desk with a sigh, before returning to pacing around the room; it was a rough draft for now but it would do. The Battle Royale was the perfect social experiment, you take a group of people, in this case High School students, place them all on a deserted island and tell them to kill each other or face death; it's amazing how quickly some people abandoned such things as friendship and morals in a situation like that. Cover the whole island with cameras and microphones and you've got a pretty good show as well.
A simple premise but one that required perfect execution. He raised his head as one of his subordinates walked in holding a clipboard.
"Are the preparations ready yet?"
"Almost, just bringing the last of the cameras online"
"Did you manage to get complete coverage? I don't want to miss anything"
"We've got cameras in all the buildings and most of the surrounding forest; there are a few blind spots but less than we actually expected. There are microphones in all the cameras and smaller ones in the collars as well, we should be able to hear anything they say. Preparations for the broadcast are ready as well; all the major channels will be taken over by our signal"
"Good, I don't want any mistakes this time. What about preparations for the capture?"
"Everything's in place. The "fieldtrip" has been organised, we've invited all the students, rigged the bus and bribed the driver"
"Which school did we end up choosing anyway?"
"Kinnsington High School"
****
Mr Edwards stood at the head of the large group of students, counting heads and preparing to tick off their names as they moved past him into the coach behind him. It had taken a year of countless school spirited events; bake sales, fundraisers and various others, but the sophomore class of Kinnsington High School had managed to raise enough money to fund their end of year, all expense paid trip. Most of the money had been spent just hiring coaches big enough to carry the one hundred and fifty plus students attending the trip; all of which now had to be accounted for and crossed off of the clipboard he now held before they could even leave. It was just another piece of useless paper work as far as he was concerned but it at least gave him a chance to see who exactly he would have to look after on the coach ride and which ones he would have to keep an eye on.
He began letting the students board the bus as the driver opened up the automatic doors, ticking off their names absentmindedly as he thought about the group. The football players were an obvious source of trouble; Vince Sullivan, Adrian Starr and Derrick Hudson. They were well behaved most of the time, barring the occasional prank or fight, but put a group of jocks like that in a confined space for a prolonged period of time and they'll get restless.
Next to board the bus were the outcasts, though how they could call themselves outcasts when there were a group of them he didn't know. The Goth's Chael and Trina along with the surfer Elliot certainly made up an interesting group with an eclectic group of personalities and interests. You could find at least one of them at the centre of every fight or disturbance in the school; never enough to get them in real trouble but enough to attract negative attention from the teachers. Mr Edwards held out his arm to stop them before they got onto the bus, looking a Chael in particular when he spoke.
"Mr Tovaras, mind opening up your jacket for me?" Chael let out a resigned sigh before complying, allowing Edwards to remove the cigarettes from his inside pocket. "There is no smoking allowed on this bus; I'll leave you your lighter as long as you promise not to set fire to anything like last time. Do I need to search you as well Mr Starlin" Elliot turned to Edwards with an attempt at an innocent expression.
"Nah, trying to cut back you know?"
The group moved past him to take their seats, soon followed by Kevin Landers. Another jock from the football team, though markedly more well behaved seeing as how he spent more time with Samantha, his girlfriend from the track team, who was currently by his side, as opposed to with the rest of the team.
Next to join those already on the bus were Jennifer and her followers; there was one group like them in every school, the popular girls. Edwards couldn't help but sigh as he ticked off their names and let them onto the bus; if it were up to him he wouldn't have let them on the trip, he really didn't want the headache that having students like that around brought. Still, there was nothing he could do about it.
Distracted, Mr Edwards almost would have missed the next set of students if they weren't so distinct in appearance. Throwing out his arm once more he stopped the student from entering.
"Now, I hope you're not going to cause any trouble on this trip Gerald? It would be a shame for someone to ruin it for everyone else after we all worked so hard for this" Gerald Smith, one of the more unsavoury students to attend Kinnsington High School. A known delinquent in school and a known menace outside of school; he'd been held back a year through a combination of lack of effort and the fact that most of his teachers had either given up or were too afraid to try and teach him.
"I'm just here to enjoy the trip; I've got no reason to cause trouble and as long as nobody gives me one we'll be fine" Gerald pushed past him onto the bus, taking a seat midway down the aisle by himself.
Sighing once more Mr Edwards followed him onto the bus and the driver closed the door behind him. He was just about to tell him it was ok to drive off when a student ran up and started banging on the door to be let on. He told the driver to open the door, despite shouts from the back to 'just leave him' and stepped aside to let the latecomer past him.
"Good timing William, we were about to leave without you"
The kid smiled briefly at him before shuffling down the aisle and taking an empty seat near the front. Ticking the last name off his list he stood at the front and looked over the forty something students he'd been charged with chaperoning, his own homeroom class plus that belonging to Mr Phillips, who'd somehow managed to avoid having to ride along with them.
Standing at the front of the bus he prepared to make the usual speech asking the students to behave themselves and stay in their seats, knowing they'd just ignore him; as long as no one got hurt he didn't mind but it was required of him.
"Alright everyone, settle down, we've all worked long and hard to pay for this trip and it would be a shame if you ruined it now by causing trouble. Before we set off there are some ground rules I have to cover; this is your trip, you earned it, but this is still a school sponsored event, so I want everyone to be on their best behaviour. No fighting, no hitting, no illegal items, and since you're all underage that includes alcohol and cigarettes. Other than that have fun; nice, safe, legal fun, okay?" He sat down in his seat directly behind the driver and leaned forward to speak to him.
"Are we ready to go?"
"Yeah, everyone's accounted for; how long a drive are we looking at anyway?"
"Couple of house at the most, barring anything unforeseen happening"
He let his vision drift back to the students, the more 'spirited' of which were already out of their seats and causing trouble. Two hours stuck on a coach with this lot.
"It's going to be a long trip"
****
An hour into the trip most of the students had calmed down and settled into quiet conversation. Mr Edwards stretched in his chair and turned to look out of the window; the view on either side consisted of a few rows of trees and seemingly never ending fields; out the back window you could just about make out the lights from the buildings just disappearing out of view.
He looked behind him quickly to make sure the students weren't up to anything before turning back to face the driver and leaning forwards to speak to him. "This place sure is a long way out isn't it?" The driver looked back at him momentarily before turning back to the road.
"We haven't got much further to go now, like you said we'll be there before you know it. Don't worry about it, I'm this trip will be one that people will remember for a long time; well, the ones that survive certainly will"
The driver's last words were cut off as he pulled a military issue gas mask over his face. Edwards was just about to ask him about this strange act when the vents above him began hissing as a cloud of white smoke seeped out and dispersed into the air.
He stood up quickly and walked into the aisle. Turning around he saw that the other vents on the bus were doing the same thing and that many of the students were starting to panic while others seemed oddly calm. He took a few steps before he began to feel light headed and stumbled into the aisle, just managing to catch himself on the back of one of the chairs; he tried to steady himself but couldn't do anything to prevent the gas' effect on him. His vision began to blur and the last thing he saw before he descended into darkness was the ground rushing up to meet him.