Prologue
2019
After the events of the Battle Royale Program in 1997, the Republic of Greater East Asia (RGEA) set its sights on extending its hand of domination beyond the likes of what was formerly known as Japan and China. However there was no violent conflict… Not out in the open at least. Officials from the RGEA slowly managed to infiltrate the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia. The wise ones knew that resistance would result in a slow and painful death. The not-so wise ones discovered this fact the hard way. Once the RGEA representatives had wormed their way into the higher reaches of government, treaties were signed with the RGEA effectively extending the power of the RGEA southwards. Australia has been the RGEAs most recent acquisition. Australia made the mistake of relying on the help of the United States and the United Kingdom should they ever become a target. No sooner than the Prime Minister of Australia requested assistance, the President of the United States decided that getting involved would greatly jeopardise his electoral campaign for the coming year.
Gone was the Union Jack from the Australian flag. In its place was the insignia of the RGEA. There are still flags with the Union Jack around the place… However if they're flown without government approval (Like that ever happens…) The owners seem to come down with a mysterious case of bullet-in-brain. Australias international sporting bodies were now limited to playing against teams that reside in the RGEA. This may not sound so bad, but there are only so many times playing cricket or soccer against the same handful of teams is amusing. Any attempts at restoring the once famous international sporting body are met with being refused on account of too many countries teams being refused entry due to their 'Imperialistic ways'.
One generation has had to deal with the takeover, but this new generation has only known life under the RGEA. They know nothing of the Ashes cricket tour against England, what was the most well known and celebrated rivalries in sporting for the past century. There has been one critical difference between the new Australia and the remainder of the RGEA. Australia is yet to hold its first Program. This is set to change this year. It has been decided that a group of school seniors will take part once a year at an undisclosed location. The 'lucky' individuals are the senior class from St Jonathans High School in Adelaide, South Australia. #
# I made the name of this school up off the top of my head. If this is actually a real school, I assure you this wasn't intentional.
(I'll probably give a few disclaimers like this in the story... I know it's probably nothing to be worried about, but you never know these days with people kicking up a fuss over menial things)