Chapter 1: Fortress Experiment
In the Republic of Greater East Asia, an annual project is played simply dubbed "The Program" where 42 High School pupils, 21 male and 21 female and usually of the same class, are forced to fight to the death with no chances of escape.
Though malicious and a staple to the totalitarian regime, there was promise for god fortune upon those who remained of the teenagers. Each survivor every year was rewarded a lifetime pension and a card autographed by the Great Dictator. Of course, the true prize was far more significant, the guarantee that such a fate would never befall the survivor ever again, a silent promise that their eyes will never glaze over the red that flowed from their friends ever again.
In one handshake, that promise would be destroyed.
Three weeks after the latest Program came to an end with Kazumaru Saotome leaving the program with a red and wet cleaver, the 523rd Great Dictator made a speech. A speech that raised a new fear among The Republic's youth:
"My beloved comrades of The Republic of Greater East Asia. It has come to my attention that as our nation grows, so do the threat of attack from nations outside our own. I talk of the evil that is America and the rest of the vile Western world that challenges us. With this possibility, comes fear...fear that unless we brace ourselves for a war to guard our freedom, then the West will take this Republic, and the Imperials will rise again to enforce a dogma no comrade should ever come to bare!"
Many a cry of outrage erupted from the streets of loyal supporters of the Republic flooded to see the image of the Great Dictator. Kazumara proceeded to hear this news from the radio that proved as his only contact outside his dilapidated apartment thanks to the Republic of Greater East Asia:
"In face of this threat, I have announced an amendment to The Program. 'The last 18 survivors shall be recruited into a specialised training program where they shall fight each other in teams of 9. For every fatality, a new survivor will take their place until one of the teams has been absolutely defeated. The victorious team will then be rewarded, their images engraved onto the propaganda of our armies, their training leading our battle-worthy comrades against the enemy, their strength shall hold the Republic of Greater East Asia higher until we stand as giants over our enemies!"
The Dictator was then interfered by a combustion of approving cheers and roars. Kazumaru gasped, "No...no way!" He jumped out of his seat and paced around the house distressed as the Dictator continued as the audience calmed:
"An associate and loyal supporter of the Republic of Greater East Asia, Mr Saxton Hale, has informed me that the survivors will be ensured the highest end training his company of comrades Mann Co can provide. Not a single coin shall be spared on his part from the contribution to the survivors' training. At this very moment, the survivors are coming forth to take arms in the extension to the program, the Fortress Experiment it shall be-"
As if on cue, Kazumaru's door echoed the hefty knocks of armed soldiers, Kazumaru opened the door to the men, accompanied by a tall woman in a peculiar half-red and half-blue business suit with an armband with an old-fashioned microphone printed on it. The woman exhaled nicotine smoke over Kazumaru's shoulder, her aged appearance and cold eyes left Kazumaru dark and barren.
"You are Kazumaru Saotome correct?" The woman hissed, the vapours of smoke curling like a serpent's forked tongue as she asked. Kazumaru nodded weakly, resistance from the "Fortress Experiment" was dead before it could even see life. The woman inhaled her cigarette once more, "Good, now come with me!" she ordered, marching away from Kazumaru's apartment, the soldiers trained their rifles at Kazumaru's head, the slightest twitch could kill him, destroy him, join him with his lost friends.
The woman lead Kazumaru to a van, its detail seemed dull, only with thick plates of grey metal seemed visible. A soldier threw the back doors opened and another hoisted Kazumaru and tossed him in, his head dazed from the impact on the back wall and his stance crumbled to his knees. "Now Master Saotome, before we continue, I'd like to give a word of congratulations to surviving the Program, if it is as vile as I hear, you'll be perfect for this job." The Woman hissed.
Kazumaru faced the woman and stammered, "Wh-who are you?"
The woman replied, "My name will be of no importance to you Master Saotome so don't bother trying to learn it." She puffed another cloud of smoke before adding, "However, seeing as you had the intelligence to ask, I shall reward you with this: I am called the Administrator, and you'll address me as such."
Kazumaru groggily lifted his left leg in a bid to stand, as his foot was placed on the floor a soldier loaded his gun. "Don't move!" the loaded gun man commanded as another soldier cuffed Kazumaru's wrists behind him. Cuffed, Kazumaru was tossed back first to the side as the soldiers then took to their seats.
"Do not worry about the pain you are feeling, you will get used to it." The Administrator concluded as the doors closed, light of the outdoors dying away at the Administrator's final words: "Over time."
Huddled among armed men, Kazumaru drifted into the past, the van's bumps rocking him into a memory:
"...Every one of you will kill each other until only one remains. That survivor will be rewarded with a lifetime pension and, the greatest gift of all, a card autographed by the Great Dictator himself." Hiro Takeshi announced.
A student, Matsuda Tajiri, rose from his desk and ranted, "This is an outrage! None of us here deserve to turn against each other under the name of a man we know nothing of! Worst of all, you choose to murder our teacher before us just to make us comply? I refuse to-"
Mr Takeshi fired a bullet into Matsuda's forehead, the corpse stood momentarily before the force of three more bullets into Matsuda's stomach knocked the cadaver onto its seat. The body tipped towards Kazumaru's desk, the head knocking onto it facing Kazumaru.
Several student's shrieked before another round was fired, this time in the air, Mr Takeshi sneered, "If anyone else wishes to register a complaint, simply put it, don't!" Kazumaru watched over the frightened students including one girl, Naomi Takami gently sobbed as those close to her were slowly fading from life...
Kazumaru's memory faded as he regained awareness of the present, he woke up in an area that proved to be in no way, shape or form to be the inside of the van he last recalled being.
He stood up to look around him, he was inside some kind of locker room from what Kazumaru could tell, cabinets on either sides with an assortment of clothes and belongings stuffed in them, on one wall stood a tall silver locker with a first aid insignia on it, along with another sign which Kazumaru concluded was ammunition.
Kazumaru walked towards the metal locker and opened it, the doors swung open, revealing a crate crammed with an assortment of bullets, rounds, grenades, rockets and so on, a medical box and the odd object placed in there perhaps for safe keeping...though Kazumaru was left wondering what a jar of urine was doing inside.
Kazumaru then noticed a pinned up notice addressed to him. Kazumaru tugged the paper off and opened it, reading:
"As you are the first one here, you will have to wait before your team is fully ready. Change into your uniform provided in the cabinet with "Soldier" written on it. Your weapons will also be in there."
Kazumaru turned around and investigated the cabinets. It didn't take long for him to reach the one named "Soldier", as it was the second closest to the far wall, leading into a small room with transparent glass doors. Kazumaru changed into his uniform, the red jacket with three grenades strapped on a belt that wrapped around it, a large helmet proved so large it obscured Kazumaru's vision, a pair of combat trousers and of course a pair of tough though worn boots.
In his uniform, Kazumaru then glimpsed down at the weapons, one was a small flip head shovel the second was a pump action single barrelled shotgun and finally, a large rocket launcher.
Kazumaru lifted the rocket launcher, turning it around and gazing at it in different directions, "What have I gotten myself into?" Kazumaru whispered to himself as he observed the weapon and its components.