AN: And now the real fun begins! Whenever a number appears, there are notes at the bottom.
It had been a long flight.
Carlotta slept most of the plane ride. She found it all too easy to fall asleep considering the bout of insomnia she'd had just days before. She was forced to say goodbye to someone important to her, and she didn't know when she'd see him again. He told her she would leave but not when she'd be coming back and the concept had shaken her. She had been plagued with sleeplessness for days. Even with his constant urging, Carlotta couldn't sleep, and she could barely eat.
Now that she'd left her home and was in the air, there was nothing she could do but succumb to sleep in the stuffy atmosphere of the airplane. It seemed the second she had laid her head on the pillow she'd fallen into lethargy. It was an exhaustingly long distance from Europe to the Pacific.
The plane was traveling to the legendary island of D'faensti: An island so difficult to pronounce, that most people didn't even bother; an island most people had never even heard of.
Carlotta knew what she was going for, but she didn't exactly know why. She was flying out to participate in a fighting competition nicknamed Battle Royale. But she wondered vaguely what her purpose for doing so was. She usually just did what her partner, Tace, told her to do.
But Tace wasn't with her anymore. He wasn't watching her every move. And she hadn't really wanted to leave her home. Tace had said he had signed her up for the competition on a whim, but that it would be good practice for 'the real world' as he liked to put it.
On the day she left, Tace managed to give Carlotta a reason to want to win DABR. "As soon as you win, you can come back to me, Lotty," he said. Carlotta realized she indeed would have a motive for competing in the contest.
The plane jerked and Carlotta awoke.
The fluorescent lights of the plane were dim. Carlotta felt a wave of airsickness wash over her. The plane was trembling; thrashing from side to side. "What's going on?" she said quietly. The lights of the plane flickered and the young woman was thrown from her makeshift bed and onto the floor.
It seemed the plane was caught in a storm of sorts. As Carlotta tried to crawl back to where she'd been sleeping, the pilot spoke over the loudspeaker, "Attention all passengers…" Carlotta wondered why they spoke as if to multiple people. She was the only person on the small plane. Her thoughts were ripped from her mind as she was tossed once again into one of the plane's walls. She tried to steady herself, to hold on to anything in order to keep her from flying.
"We're… experiencing… minor turbulence," the pilot's voice skritched.
"You think?!" Carlotta yelled angrily as she was hurled across the plane violently.
She heard a rumbling behind her. She caught the edge of the bent back seat she'd been lying in and hopped into it. Carlotta was just in time to watch a bowling ball roll by in the light of a blur of lighting outside her window. "What in the name of…?"
Her voice was drowned out in a crash of thunder. The pilot calmly informed her through the microphone again, "We are now approaching the drop point. You will find your parachute tucked under your seat and your assigned weapon… rolling on the floor somewhere."
Carlotta's face paled. It was a literal drop point?
As long as she could remember she'd had a fear of falling. Dropping from the sky?! But now wasn't the time to argue. She dug under her seat looking for the parachute the pilot had said would be there. Sure enough it was exactly where the pilot had said. Carlotta hastily shoved her arms through the straps, sliding the parachute onto her back over the small pack she was allowed onto the plane. (She had been somewhat irritated when her stapler had been discarded from her belongings.)
She scrambled out from her seat and onto the ground, trying to find the bowling ball some idiot had assigned her as a weapon. How in God's name would a bowling ball be able to help her? She wasn't sure. It was a difficult question. A bowling ball's weight would be as disadvantageous to her as it was to her opponents…
Another flash of lightning appeared just as Carlotta reached the bowling ball. She pounced on the heavy object right before she was blinded.
The smell of smoke greeted her petite nostrils as she stood up. She turned and it seemed the end of the plane was on fire. The lightning must've struck it.
An alarm blared though the plane, growing louder and distorted as red lights flashed on and off. Carlotta moved with her things to the exit door of the plane.
This is crazy, she thought as she slowly pulled the door open. It was a heavy and troublesome job, especially one-handed. Her left hand held the granite bowling ball.
As soon as the door was open, the wind whipped around Carlotta's face and stung her eyes. Outside of the plane was dark as hell. That made it even scarier for her to jump. She couldn't make out where the ground was or whether there even was ground beneath her.
Another shock of lightning poured down with a roar of thunder. Carlotta saw the shadow of a figure behind her and went to turn, but she was pushed and tumbled out of the plane; she was falling.
There was nothing but frigid air underneath her. The fingers of her left hand still were clutched into the holes of the granite sphere. Her left arm felt like it was being yanked out of her socket. The granite bowling ball was heavy enough to drag her down at an odd angle so within a second she quickly readjusted herself into a crouching position over it.
Carlotta narrowed her eyes. She could see the island now but it was so dark she couldn't tell if her depth perception was correct. Then lightning flashed. The entire sky was illuminated and she could see clearly she was only eighty feet or so from the ground. She jumped from her bowling ball, using its own weight to throw herself upward enough to slow her fall and yank the strap of her parachute.
It seemed even the storm stopped for a second. Carlotta's plummet to what might've been her imminent death had slowed to a graceful floating. She landed in a crouch on the clearly-outlined drop point landing pad with her parachute falling around her. By then, the sun had spread its light thinly across the eastern horizon.
Behind her, Carlotta felt the tremors rip through the soles of her feet. She covered her eyes as she turned to watch the granite bowling ball spray sand everywhere in its landing. She walked over to the decent-sized crater it had formed and thought, Oh dear… That could have been me…(1)
She picked the ball up and looked it over. It was scratched on the side where it had hit the island sand. The rest of its surface area was still perfectly polished and smooth.
Carlotta looked around her. She was supposed to find a location referred to as 'E3' in order to battle her first opponent: Aaron Ways. She could've sworn that she was given a map along with her food rations.
She easily pulled the parachute from her back and commenced searching for the map she knew to be hidden among her things. It was nearly a minute before she found it; she never was good at packing for these sorts of things. She flattened out the creases of the paper miniature of the island and looked it over.
D'faensti it said in nice bold letters at the top. Carlotta let her eyes meander over it. They stopped at the square marked 'E3'. "Damn," she said. It was practically halfway across the island.
"Well…" she looked at what her route would be. It would be a lot less confusing if there was a key to how many paces this all is… First I have to cross barbed wire… I'm not sure if I'll go under or over that… Next is… Well, there's a path… I could follow the path to the bridge, almost… I have to get over the bridge in order to arrive in 'E3'… Hopefully I'll have enough time to get to a position I can use to my advantage.
She folded the map back up. Her first stop was the barbed wire. The map had said to go southwest in order to get to 'E3' but she thought she'd try and be a little craftier than that. She smiled. "This is perfect," she said.
Carlotta moved quickly, even under the bowling ball's weight. Before setting off in the Northeast direction, she had used some of the rope from her supplies and woven it around the bowling ball in what seemed to be a crudely made mesh bag with a rope handle leading from it. The ball was now as easy to wield as it was to grip. She imagined it would function much like a medieval flail.
Carlotta came to the Northeastern edge of the barbed wire. She found she was correct in thinking it didn't lead out into the sea. It stopped a mere two feet into the tide. She grinned broadly as she quickly pulled off her shoes. No cuts for me! No sirree! she thought happily.
She stepped into the cool ocean water of the Pacific. It wasn't until she had soaked her feet that she realized how nice the cold water felt contrasted to the hot and humid air of the island. Maybe I should take my coat off when I get to the other side… She took another step into the water.
Beep.
Carlotta jumped backwards onto the sand. The high-pitched noise had startled her greatly. But seeing as she wasn't sure where it was coming from, she walked back into the ocean.
Beep! Beep!
Again, Carlotta fled back onto dry land. What is that? she asked herself blatantly. It had sounded so close… She looked around wildly, trying to see if she could locate the source of the mysterious beeping noise. To anyone else she might've looked funny acting so paranoid, but to her it was a scary thing indeed.
After a moment's hesitation, she decided to make a run for it. All she had to do was wade in a little bit and run back out on the other side of the barbed wire.
Carlotta sighed in an attempt to calm herself. Her heart was racing. Three… Two… One…!
She ran into the waves, the rope-tied bowling ball held with one hand and her shoes in the other. Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep beep beep! Beeeeeeeep!
As she rounded the bend of the barbed wire, she realized the metallic noise was being emitted from the region of her neck. Damn! she thought. What is this thing?!
She dove and skidded into the sand on the other side of the barbed wire; like a baseball player would into a homerun.
The sand clung to her wet legs. She inhaled slowly, realizing the beeping had stopped. She had dropped her shoes and weapon beside her and reached up to feel the metal collar around her neck. What the… Since when has that been there?
The electronic necklace was blinking, flashing a bit, the red light that stood in the center of the device. Carlotta tried to think. She definitely hadn't been wearing it when she got on the plane… Could someone have put it on her while she was sleeping? It was a possibility.
But she had to keep going with it on. Carlotta wasn't sure what the piece of metal was intended to do, but she knew beeping wasn't usually a good thing, especially if disarmed by a novice. She hoped it wasn't like a time bomb.
It seemed going into the ocean had caused the neck tag to frenzy. The metal was warm now against her skin. This is not what I need right now…
Carlotta turned in the direction of the sun. It must've been over an hour since she arrived. She really should by hurrying. She brushed the sand off her legs, pulled on her shoes, took her jacket off (folding it and placing it into her pack), picked up her things and headed Southwest. But she didn't need much direction for the first part. All she had to do was follow the edge of the barbed wire fence.
It was pretty easy for Carlotta to figure out when to stop following the barbed wire and head down the footpath. The uneven dirt path led right up to the barbed wire, so the second Carlotta spotted it she ran right for it.
She had to watch her step as she jogged along. It wasn't considerably difficult to navigate the path as it was decently worn and didn't branch out at all, but after a while she wondered when she should turn off.
Carlotta quickly pulled out her map. Her brow was dampened with a light sweat from the jogging but it wasn't anything problematic. She knew how much energy she could exert without becoming tired.
After confirming the map's directions, Carlotta again looked to the sun as her compass. It had risen and its light had swept over the entire island, but she could just tell which direction was South, towards the bridge. She hoped she would be able to cover a good distance before high noon.
She deviated from the path now, covering the last of the distance until she reached her destination. She was lucky; she had thought the bridge would be made of rope and extremely rickety to cross. Instead she found it to be a wide wooden bride that crossed the river. But then again, if it did happen to break… it was a long way down.
Carlotta stood at the northern end of the bridge. She swallowed and tried to calm her breathing. She didn't like the idea of falling. And precarious high places put her into a dangerous state of fear.
Damnit, Lotty, she told herself, you can't let fear lead you. Isn't that what you've always said? You can't let Tace down either. He expects you to show no signs of weakness!
With a deep breath she stepped forward slowly, purposefully. Her weapon was swung over her shoulder heavily by the rope. She held onto it with her left hand while her right was used to grasp the railing of the wooden bridge. Her foot landed gently on the first wooden board of the only way across the river.
Carlotta looked down. Normally this might scare someone who was afraid of falling; seeing the ground so far below. But the fact that the bridge wasn't crumbling beneath her left her feeling more relieved than scared. The bridge seemed sturdy enough. She took another step, then another, commanding herself not to look down so much as straight ahead. She had to keep her goal in mind.
She smiled after a time when she realized she had crossed the halfway mark. It was only a few short steps to the other side! She took a few more confident steps forward.
Crack!
Carlotta's face paled, her heart immediately panicking as well as her mind. Not wanting to look down and thinking only of getting across the damn bridge, she rushed forward, scared out of her wits.
She was almost there! Almost there!
CRACK!
Carlotta screamed as one of her legs fell through the flimsy wood under her. Her left leg had found sanctuary on the plank before, but she could hear the entire bridge creaking under her weight. "Ahh!" She let out a cry as she dragged herself sideways back onto the bridge, the bowling ball resting on her back.
She wasn't sure whether it was a better idea to get completely upright again. She believed there was a good chance she would fall through again. It seemed the wood was more rotted on this side.
She crawled towards the other side as carefully as she could.
Five more planks! Four more planks!
She began to think maybe she really shouldn't have rushed so hard getting to the bridge. She was tired now. But she still knew she couldn't get out of her fight. She would have to deal with it.
And then she had made it. She fell panting against the grass that grew on that side of the bridge. Funny, the map hadn't mentioned grass in that area… Maybe it was because she was in closer proximity to Mount D'faensti than she'd previously thought. The map had shown trees and shrubbery to exist around there.
Carlotta closed her eyes. Note to self: Make sure to find a nice hut to sleep in when you're through with Aaron Ways. That is… if you do get through with him…
She sat up slowly. Now wasn't the time to rest. She wasn't sure what her opponent was wielding. But she knew, whatever it was, it couldn't be any worse than a bowling ball.
She began to wonder what her opponent would really be like as she stood up and stretched, grabbing her meshed sphere of granite and walking away from the bridge. He was probably tall and muscular, she imagined. His name sounded foreign to her country... She wondered what his hair color was… or his eyes…
She had walked a little ways without thinking much of where she was going. The trees had gotten greener and more lively although it looked more like she was at the edge of a forest.
"Hm, now where would I hide if I was Aaron Ways? Climbing up the watchtower might help… or searching from the top of Mount D'faensti might be productive. Wait…" She thought about it a bit more lucidly. If he had wanted to hide he was probably in the forest. The rest of the land in 'E3' was pretty barren, and if she stood from a high place they'd both be easy targets. But if she went into the forest and Mr. Ways was already hidden there… he would have the element of surprise. "Damn," she said. "It really is a test of time. Whoever gets to the Northwest corner of 'E3' most likely gets the biggest advantage… not considering weapons, of course. He probably already has the upper hand on that one."
Carlotta went silent. She stood at the boundary between the forest and the rest of 'E3', which apparently also seemed to be the boundary between a dark foreboding twilight zone and the hot noon sunshine, respectively.
She stood still a moment, losing her thoughts to the trees. They groaned occasionally with the passing wind.
When she had gathered herself, Carlotta entered the forest and stepped forward into the shade of the trees. With every stride she took, her surroundings grew increasingly darker. She could still see, sure, but the trees blocked out most of the sunlight. And they were confusing so close together.
Carlotta figured she might lose her sense of direction. But that was okay, she'd deal with it later. She was pretty sure she had a compass on her person, anyway. Usually the sun was easier to use, but the compass could be used in the darkness.
She walked for a while, never making a sound except for an occasional crunch of her foot landing on a branch. She tried to be quiet though. She also didn't light her torch. She didn't want to give Aaron a head start on finding her. There was still the possibility of her finding him first.
Suddenly a twig cracked behind her. Her body turned at a one-eighty to prepare for an attack. But there was nothing there. There was a moment of deafening silence except for the sound of her heart racing in her ears. She was still in a fighting stance but nothing stirred.
Another snap resounded through the area. Carlotta spun on a dime and found the handsome figure of Aaron Ways staring down at her from mere inches away.
He was a brunette. His hair framed his face, spiking out here and there. He's better looking than I thought he'd be, Carlotta mused. Her heart felt like it had stopped for a moment because of both the snaps and now her opponent was standing right before her like this. It really was quite startling.
"Carlotta, I assume?" the young man questioned. He had a deep and romantic voice. Carlotta would've thought he was trying to be seductive if it didn't sound so natural. It seemed to just be the way his voice was.
"Yes, I'm Carlotta." She smiled, never moving from her defensive stance, "And call me Lotty. I insist."
"Lotty," the young brunette smiled a smile that probably could've won him an academy award. "And I am Aaron Ways." His smile vanished. "It seems we are destined to fight, at least according to the Battle Royale party."
"It does…"
Neither one of the two went to move, trying to guess how the other would act. Then in one swift movement, Aaron pulled a six inch dagger from a sheath that was belted to his waist. "You're pretty," he said to Carlotta, but as he said it he wasn't looking at her face. His eyes were drawn to the miniskirt that clung to Carlotta's thighs. "But unfortunately, only one of us will survive this." His eyes darted back up to meet hers. "I intend to be that one. But it really is a shame to kill you." He grimaced.
Carlotta's eyes widened. She dove out of the way as Aaron slashed the air where she'd stood.
In the momentum of her dash, Carlotta turned full circle and threw the weight of her crudely made medieval flail at the young man. He moved out of the way just in time to avoid being hit, but Carlotta felt the rush of air pass over them both with the bowling ball's momentum.
"I see you've gotten creative with your assignment," Aaron noted, referring to Lotty's rope-woven bowling ball. He made a pass at her again, attempting to get a slash in towards her neck.
"I have!" Carlotta backpedaled, whipping around her bowling ball in an attempt to injure, or at least ward off the handsome man. She was lucky; one of her specialties in one-on-one fighting was dodging her opponent's blows. She was extremely agile and quick when she needed to be.
She kicked out at Aaron, trying to draw his eyes away from the bowling ball. Her plan succeeded and he went to stab down at the incoming leg. Carlotta moved it at the last second, leaving Ways to only scratch the skin, barely drawing blood. But the effect was worth it. He had bent into a position that he thought would help him ward off attacks but in actuality it only made it easier for Carlotta to bring her weapon down at him.
Her strike hit, but not quite at its intended mark. Aaron had dodged at the last second. The result was instead of bashing his head in; Carlotta merely hit his blade-wielding arm and his ribcage. The target yelled in pain.
Mr. Ways flew sideways on impact. Lucky shot, he thought. He clutched his ribs with both hands and dropped his dagger in his fall. As soon as he was on the ground, he rolled, picking his head up off the dirt and reaching for his dagger.
Seizing her chance, Carlotta dove at the young man, throwing the granite sphere down with all its weight upon his torso.
But he scurried away. The attack only hit his legs. He cried out in pain again.
Carlotta went to deliver a final blow but Aaron completely avoided it. He tumbled and jerked away and onto his knees, picking himself up slowly but surely.
Carlotta lunged again, tossing all her weight combined with that of the bowling ball in an attempt to at least knock over her opponent. He was stronger than she anticipated, and clearly he had a high tolerance for pain (considering she figured she'd already broken one of his legs and a few ribs, at least).
Aaron was standing now and wielding his dagger again. He was a little shaky on his injured leg. He couldn't tell himself what the degree of injury was but he guessed it was a fracture. He could still move, but he wouldn't want to worsen the condition in this battle. If he did, he was screwed. "Come here, beautiful!" he yelled to Carlotta, full on running at her with his dagger.
Carlotta swung the granite sphere at him by its rope but he ducked at the last minute. Aaron brought his blade up and in one swipe cut the rope Carlotta had been using to wield the bowling ball.
The ball fell to the forest floor and bounded several feet away. It was more than out of reach to Carlotta whose opponent stood between her and her weapon.
Carlotta's mouth opened in shock. She hadn't seen that coming and now she was completely unarmed except for a short length of rope.
The handsome man in front of her snickered at the look on her face. "Brilliant!" he cried, rushing forward.
Carlotta dove and evaded the knife he wielded, but Aaron caught her by her hair. He laughed as he tugged at her scalp, watching her cry in pain. He pulled her by her locks until her head rested against a tree and then he put the dagger to her throat. "We don't have to fight to the death in all seriousness," he chortled. "We can still have fun with this, ne, Lotty?" He sneered, "You ever had a boyfriend?"
Carlotta narrowed her eyes and did the only thing she could think of. With a cry of rage, she kicked Aaron right between his legs. It was unprofessional, but quite effective. He let off on the dagger just enough for her to smack it away and deliver her fist into his face.
It was a powerful punch. On a normal basis, Aaron would've been able to block it, but he was too concerned with his balls. He was thrown backwards a bit, just enough to topple him over on his bad leg.
Carlotta made her move. She threw the rope she had left around his neck and tugged backwards, dragging the good-looking boy towards her bowling ball and away from his dagger.
Aaron clawed at the rope and gasped for air the entire way. It was a short distance, but a long dragging. Carlotta found that he was heavier than she'd thought.
When at last she'd reached her bowling ball, she let go of the rope and quickly picked it up. Aaron only had enough time to gulp down half a breath of air before Carlotta bashed the granite sphere into his head. "That's for coming onto me!" she yelled. She was holding onto part of the rope still attached to the ball in an attempt not to get her fingers dirty as blood splattered everywhere. And with a final blow, she yelled, "And this is for my fate in this goddamned tournament!" There was a sickening crunch as what was left of Aaron's head exploded all over the ground, on Carlotta's shoes, and some on her clothes. If the boy could've ever been called handsome, now was not the time.
When Carlotta arrived at the infirmary on the east side of the island, it was practically nightfall. She wanted to get her wounds treated before she went to sleep in one of the island huts. She had the cut down her thigh as well as a small slice across her neck from Kyoden's dagger. She also realized after the fight that she seemed to have pulled the muscles in her arms a bit from wielding such a heavy weapon.
"I'm going to need to give you a few stitches on this one," one of the nurses said to Carlotta, gesturing to the moderate gash on her leg.
Carlotta nodded.
As she let the nurses of the infirmary tend to her, she recalled the aftermath of the fight. Not wanting to stick around too long after bashing Aaron's head in, she quickly robbed him of all he was worth. She took the dagger from where it had fallen on the ground and grabbed the sheath to it as well, tying the belt of the sheath around her own waist.
Carlotta even dug through his bag, but besides the food and rope he had, she found nothing of interest. After stuffing his rope and food supplies into her backpack, Carlotta used her compass to head east through the forest, followed the edge of Mount D'faensti, and went straight for the infirmary. She had decided to keep the bowling ball just in case. You never knew when something like that would come in handy.
"You're all set. You can go now." The nurse smiled, putting her equipment away.
Carlotta admired the careful stitching on her leg. A large Band-Aid was located across her neck. "Thanks," Carlotta said, managing a smile.
She had a lot on her mind as she headed off northeast towards the closest sleeping huts. She wouldn't mind sleeping for a week, trying to forget it all. But she didn't know who her next opponent would be or when she'd have to fight them.
Once Carlotta arrived at the huts, she was so exhausted, the only thing she could do was go to sleep. But right before she drifted off, a thought ran crystal clear through her head. Well, Tace, I did it. I did it and I'm coming back as soon as I can. I've only four more opponents to go.
1) I know that technically the bowling ball would've fallen BEFORE Carlotta, but I just don't care.
2) Tace is a shortened (pet name) version of Tacite Santino.
AN: Review Please. Ironically, I wrote this chapter before I'd seen the BR movie.