Authors Note: One more to go, and then I can get to the actual story. Hang
in there, dear reader.
Chapter 2
When the class came to, they were very confused, and for good reason. The first thing they noticed was that they were in a classroom. Not their classroom. The second, it was fairly dark. The third was that they all seemed to be wearing strange metal collars.
Gourry sat up and rubbed his eyes, glancing around where his classmates were slowly coming to. He noted the previous changes, but what struck him as most odd was two young men sitting upon desks in opposite corners in the back of the room. Gourry didn't recognize them. Neither boy seemed to pay much attention to what was going on.
The class had awoken and milled about, chattering confusedly. Zangulus sidled over to Gourry, and Lina dragged Sylphiel and Filia to the two boys. They sat down, and thusly did the chattering begin.
Lina spoke first, as she usually did, "What the hell is going on here?"
Gourry scratched his head inarticulately.
Sylphiel wrung her hands nervously, "I'm worried."
Zangulus merely shrugged.
Filia fidgeted with her collar, "And what are these things? I can't get it off."
There was a dull buzz as students chattered and expressed their worries. The conversations were short lived before a commotion interrupted them. The door to the classroom burst open and a small flood of soldiers marched in all, armed and displaying their weapons prominently. Two pushed in a cart bearing a television and VCR.
But as confusing as that was, the students were even more shocked by the next arrival. They heard it before they saw him. The tap of metal. And inwards walked the principal of their high school. He strode into the room with a purpose, aided by a metal cane as he had a pronounced limp. Perhaps the strangest thing about him, however, was his strange clothing and lavender hair.
Lina blinked, 'Principal Rezo?"
Sylphiel had a slack jaw, "Why?"
The murmuring grew, before Rezo nodded to one of the soldiers.
The soldier stepped foreward, "Sit down!"
Slowly students found chairs, and some sat on the floor, all in their little groups. They spared glances, but for the most part their nervous attention was focused on their principal.
The principal nodded at the class, and spoke in his almost disturbingly soft voice, "Hello class. You all know me, Principal Rezo. I've taken over your class for now, so let's try to get along." He glanced at the back of the class, first we have two new exchange students."
He pointed at the first one, "Greywords." Several students turned to look. He was dressed in an off-white jacket, with a turtleneck that was drawn up to cover his mouth and chin. His hood was up, allowing the students a view of only a few strands of hair similar to their principal's. What was striking though were narrowed, ice blue eyes that stared out with cold hatred at the one in charge.
Without pausing, Rezo moved on to the next, "And Metallium over there." This student smiled briefly. Long purple bangs covered his eyes, but for a moment Lina thought she saw yellow. She shook this off as being ridiculous. This young man was wearing a typical school uniform for boys, colored dark blue.
Rezo continued, "Be sure to make them feel welcome." Turning to the blackboard of the classroom, he picked up a piece of chalk. He wrote briefly, 'B. R. Act' upon the board.
Zangulus stood up, "Where the hell are we?"
Lina joined him, "What's going on?"
And finally Amelia piped in as well, pointing at the soldiers, "What are they here for?"
Rezo turned coolly and tapped his cane against the concrete floor of the classroom before pointing with his free hand to the words he'd written. "Are you familiar with this law?"
Silence.
Rezo shook his head, "That's no good at all." He paced in front of the classroom, "Do you know why this country is in such poor shape?"
Back at the group, Filia leaned over to whisper something to Lina, but was rudely interrupted by a piece of chalk thrown at her.
"No whispering!" Rezo yelled, and yet it was delivered with that same chilling calmness that he had about him, "When your teacher is talking, be quiet and listen."
Another voiced popped up. This time Sylphiels as she raised her hand, "Principal, can I go to the bathroom?"
Rezo sighed, "Can't you hold it?"
Sylphiel was silent.
Rezo continued pacing, glancing about, "I see some familiar faces." He stopped, and looked at Zangulus, "Ah, Zangulus. You know, that's how I got this limp. Wasn't nice at all to do that. I thought that I told you not to come back to school. That you were just a punk. In fact, I still have your knife."
Zangulus made a face in defiance. For it, he received a firm slap upside his head. He blinked confusedly.
Rezo walked onwards, "You see, it's because of children like Zangulus here that this law was passed. " He pointed at the chalkboard, "Battle Royale."
Stunned silence met him.
Rezo smiled before continuing, "So today's lesson is... You kill each other off. Until there is only one left. Nothing is against the rules."
It was Filia who spoke up, raising her hand as she spoke, "Principal. I don't understand. This can't possibly.."
Rezo cut her off, "Now now, all will be explained. We're going to watch a video now. Don't fall asleep." He nodded at one of the soldiers near the VCR, who pressed the 'Play' button dutifully.
What greeted the class was a rather strange sight indeed. What they saw was a particularly cheerful girl wearing a gadily colored shirt, schoolgirl skirt, and a collar similar to theirs. She was also clad in a beaming smile as she spoke, "Hello everyone in class B! You are the lucky students chosen for this year's Battle Royale!"
Rezo smiled at the class, "Aren't you lucky?"
The girl continued, "Now I'm going to explain the rules to you. Listen up and fight with gusto!"
The camera zoomed out to a bluescreen, showing a computer schematic of an island, "You are on a deserted island that looks like this! It's about ten kilometres around, but we evacuated everyone so it's completely empty!"
Someone in the room was mumbling. Rezo paused the tape and stood, reaching back to get another piece of chalk, "I said no talking!" What flew from his hand was not chalk however. There was a glint of metal before a knife seemed to sprout from a student, causing the green haired girl to keel over.
The class all moved away from the scene, some screaming. Rezo walked over to the girl and leaned over her, shaking his head, "Sorry, I suppose it's against the ruled for me to kill anybody." Reaching out, he pulled the knife from the girl.
Whatever control the class had was gone in that moment. There was a stampede for the door, soldiers or not. Commotion, panic. Every man for themselves. This was only broken as the soldiers began firing their rifles into the ceiling. The sound enough to resinstate calm in some as they fled to the back of the room.
Not Zangulus, however. He instead charged Rezo, a scream of rage in his throat as he launched his fist at the mans head. Rezo swept the blow aside easily with his cane. With his other hand, he stabbed the knife he held deeply into Zangulus' leg. Shoving the boy to the back of the room, Rezo smirked, "What goes around comes around, eh Zangulus?"
Zangulus, his leg unable to support himself crumpled to the floor. Gourry yelled in rage, throwing himself at his friends assaulter only to be restrained by several students.
Rezo walked back to the front of the room, waving at the soldiers to regain a more neutral pose. Turning to the class, he spoke, "Back to the video." And the video started anew.
The happy girl continued as the diagram of the island was divided into square sections, "The island has been divided into numerous zones. Every six hours, your principal will broadcast updates about which zones are becoming danger zones. If you're in these zones, you should leave in a hurry. Because the danger is."
She apused, then smiled, "Okay, now about the collars you're wearing. They're totally waterproof, shockproof, and permanent. It monitors your pulse and tells us of your location and movements. So, if you dawdle in a danger zone or cause trouble, we can identify you. Then we can send a signal which will activate and alarm and. Boom! It explodes!"
Naturally all hands in the room went to the metal collars they wore, mutterings and whimperings heard as they considered the thought of such a grim fate. And of course wondering how they could get the damned things off.
"If you try to rip it off, it explodes, too. So try not to do that, okay?" The girl looked with faux sadness out from the TV for a moment.
This was all too much for Zangulus, who stumbled to his feet and approached Rezo once more, "You bastard! You're insane!" He got a good distance before two soldiers grabbed him, pushing his head back.
Rezo sighed as he pointed what looked like a remote control at Zangulus, "I hate to do this." He pressed a button with a frown.
A small red light began blinking on Zangulus' collar, a small beep corresponding with it. Zangulus grabbed at it, the color draining from his face as he spoke weakly, "Wh.. What is this?" The beeping started to grow more rapid.
Rezo smirked, "Better run, students."
Zangulus grew panicked, "What the hell is going on?!" He ran for a group of his fellow students, "Help!" He was pushed back into the center of the room as the students sought to get as far from him as possible. Zangulus spun in a circle, "Somebody help me!!"
Gourry stood stunned as his friend spun about, too afraid to move. He felt like this wasn't happeing, like it was all just a bad dream. Zangulus stopped turning, and their eyes met. Gourry reached out to his friend, "Zangulus!"
Zangulus reached for Gourry, "Gourry!"
There was a flash of light, a loud bang. And Zangulus fell to the floor. There was no sound at all but for the hushed breathing of the students.
Gourry stood, stunned. Hesitantly, he walked with jerky steps toward the body of his best friend. Gourry knelt, lightly placing his palm on Zangulus' back, as though by touching him, his friend would come back to life. However, it was not to be. Gourry leaned over his fallen brother, and wept.
Sylphiel watched in silence, her face drained of all color as she saw Gourry's body wracked with sobs. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him.. But she couldn't. She couldn't move a muscle in her body.
Rezo shook his head, "That's too bad."
Gourry slowly stood. His usual cheery demeanor seeming as though it never existed as he coldly eyed Rezo.
Rezo raised an eyebrow, "What's that look for, Gabriev?"
Gourry got two steps before he was tackled by Lina. Not expecting it, he fell easily and was pinned to the ground, almost embarrassing for him to be overpowered b someone smaller than him. Almost.
Lina hissed down at him, "Save it."
Gourry fought for a moment, but saw the reasoning in Lina's crimson eyes, and relaxed.
Rezo nodded at the soldier at the VCR, and the tape started up once again.
The girl put a hand to her chest, surprised, "Oh, I forgot one important thing. There's a time limit on this game! Three days. If we haven't got a winner after three days, all the collar simultaneously explode, and nobody wins. So fight hard and make sre that doesn't happen, okay?"
The class might have been shocked earlier, but know all they could do was stare in grim fascination and the bubbly girl on the TV screen.
Rezo faced the class, "So, do we have any questions?"
A short young man with short, black hair, named Kijan raised is hand, "If I win.. Do I get to go home?"
Rezo nodded, "Yes. Provided everyone else is dead, of course."
Filia raised her hand, "Why were we chosen?"
"Impartial lottery."
Silence. Rezo nodded, "Just remember that life is a game. So fight with all you've got, and find out if you're worth it." As rezo finished, large doors at the back of the classroom opened up. Large carts were brought in by soldiers, each filled with black duffel bags.
The tape was restarted, and the girl spoke, " You'll leave the room one by one, but first you get a kit! Inside each is food, water, map with compass, flashlight, and weapon. So be sure you check yours out. You can also bring any of your personal effects with you if you want. And about the weapons. Each is different, and they're not just guns and knives! It's random, so you might get lucky, or you might not."
The girl reached into the bad in front of her, and came up with a wood chopping axe. She beamed bright one, "Oh! This one is super lucky!" She stepped away from the bag, "Now you'll be going by class number. So when I call your number, get you bag and go for it!"
The class watched dumbly as the names began to be called.
"Number 1046. Inverse." When Lina was called, she strode proudly to the front of the room with her backpack. Taking a bag, she spared one glance at Gourry and her friends before disappearing down the hallway of the school the classroom was in.
"Number 1237. Saillune." Amelia hesitantly tiptoed to the front. Gingerly taking a bag, she slowly made her way out.
Number 1573. Gabriev." Gourry glanced at Sylphiel before walking to the front and slinging his bag over his shoulder, and marching down the hallway. "Number 1602. Metallium." The boy known as Metallium jogged to the front. Catching the bag tossed at him by a soldier, he sprinted down the hallway and out into the night.
"Number 1726. Lahda." Sylphiel numbly walked out. When her bag was offered, she threw it to the floor and left, bursting into tears on her way out.
"Number 1854. Greywords." Zelgadiss stormed to the front with slow, deliberate steps. His eyes never left Rezo as he took a bag from the pile. Pausing, he knelt down to pick up the bad that Sylphiel had discarged. Turning his back, he jogged down the hallway and into the dark.
"Number 2017. Copt." Filia piked herself up and walked o the front of the room, mutely taking a bag and turning down the hall, a slight air of confidence about her as she walked out.
The names continued, until the classroom was empty but for Rezo, the soldiers, and two bodies. Rezo walked from the room, leaning on his cane as he made his way to the command center, his cane tapping all the way.
The game had begun.
Chapter 2
When the class came to, they were very confused, and for good reason. The first thing they noticed was that they were in a classroom. Not their classroom. The second, it was fairly dark. The third was that they all seemed to be wearing strange metal collars.
Gourry sat up and rubbed his eyes, glancing around where his classmates were slowly coming to. He noted the previous changes, but what struck him as most odd was two young men sitting upon desks in opposite corners in the back of the room. Gourry didn't recognize them. Neither boy seemed to pay much attention to what was going on.
The class had awoken and milled about, chattering confusedly. Zangulus sidled over to Gourry, and Lina dragged Sylphiel and Filia to the two boys. They sat down, and thusly did the chattering begin.
Lina spoke first, as she usually did, "What the hell is going on here?"
Gourry scratched his head inarticulately.
Sylphiel wrung her hands nervously, "I'm worried."
Zangulus merely shrugged.
Filia fidgeted with her collar, "And what are these things? I can't get it off."
There was a dull buzz as students chattered and expressed their worries. The conversations were short lived before a commotion interrupted them. The door to the classroom burst open and a small flood of soldiers marched in all, armed and displaying their weapons prominently. Two pushed in a cart bearing a television and VCR.
But as confusing as that was, the students were even more shocked by the next arrival. They heard it before they saw him. The tap of metal. And inwards walked the principal of their high school. He strode into the room with a purpose, aided by a metal cane as he had a pronounced limp. Perhaps the strangest thing about him, however, was his strange clothing and lavender hair.
Lina blinked, 'Principal Rezo?"
Sylphiel had a slack jaw, "Why?"
The murmuring grew, before Rezo nodded to one of the soldiers.
The soldier stepped foreward, "Sit down!"
Slowly students found chairs, and some sat on the floor, all in their little groups. They spared glances, but for the most part their nervous attention was focused on their principal.
The principal nodded at the class, and spoke in his almost disturbingly soft voice, "Hello class. You all know me, Principal Rezo. I've taken over your class for now, so let's try to get along." He glanced at the back of the class, first we have two new exchange students."
He pointed at the first one, "Greywords." Several students turned to look. He was dressed in an off-white jacket, with a turtleneck that was drawn up to cover his mouth and chin. His hood was up, allowing the students a view of only a few strands of hair similar to their principal's. What was striking though were narrowed, ice blue eyes that stared out with cold hatred at the one in charge.
Without pausing, Rezo moved on to the next, "And Metallium over there." This student smiled briefly. Long purple bangs covered his eyes, but for a moment Lina thought she saw yellow. She shook this off as being ridiculous. This young man was wearing a typical school uniform for boys, colored dark blue.
Rezo continued, "Be sure to make them feel welcome." Turning to the blackboard of the classroom, he picked up a piece of chalk. He wrote briefly, 'B. R. Act' upon the board.
Zangulus stood up, "Where the hell are we?"
Lina joined him, "What's going on?"
And finally Amelia piped in as well, pointing at the soldiers, "What are they here for?"
Rezo turned coolly and tapped his cane against the concrete floor of the classroom before pointing with his free hand to the words he'd written. "Are you familiar with this law?"
Silence.
Rezo shook his head, "That's no good at all." He paced in front of the classroom, "Do you know why this country is in such poor shape?"
Back at the group, Filia leaned over to whisper something to Lina, but was rudely interrupted by a piece of chalk thrown at her.
"No whispering!" Rezo yelled, and yet it was delivered with that same chilling calmness that he had about him, "When your teacher is talking, be quiet and listen."
Another voiced popped up. This time Sylphiels as she raised her hand, "Principal, can I go to the bathroom?"
Rezo sighed, "Can't you hold it?"
Sylphiel was silent.
Rezo continued pacing, glancing about, "I see some familiar faces." He stopped, and looked at Zangulus, "Ah, Zangulus. You know, that's how I got this limp. Wasn't nice at all to do that. I thought that I told you not to come back to school. That you were just a punk. In fact, I still have your knife."
Zangulus made a face in defiance. For it, he received a firm slap upside his head. He blinked confusedly.
Rezo walked onwards, "You see, it's because of children like Zangulus here that this law was passed. " He pointed at the chalkboard, "Battle Royale."
Stunned silence met him.
Rezo smiled before continuing, "So today's lesson is... You kill each other off. Until there is only one left. Nothing is against the rules."
It was Filia who spoke up, raising her hand as she spoke, "Principal. I don't understand. This can't possibly.."
Rezo cut her off, "Now now, all will be explained. We're going to watch a video now. Don't fall asleep." He nodded at one of the soldiers near the VCR, who pressed the 'Play' button dutifully.
What greeted the class was a rather strange sight indeed. What they saw was a particularly cheerful girl wearing a gadily colored shirt, schoolgirl skirt, and a collar similar to theirs. She was also clad in a beaming smile as she spoke, "Hello everyone in class B! You are the lucky students chosen for this year's Battle Royale!"
Rezo smiled at the class, "Aren't you lucky?"
The girl continued, "Now I'm going to explain the rules to you. Listen up and fight with gusto!"
The camera zoomed out to a bluescreen, showing a computer schematic of an island, "You are on a deserted island that looks like this! It's about ten kilometres around, but we evacuated everyone so it's completely empty!"
Someone in the room was mumbling. Rezo paused the tape and stood, reaching back to get another piece of chalk, "I said no talking!" What flew from his hand was not chalk however. There was a glint of metal before a knife seemed to sprout from a student, causing the green haired girl to keel over.
The class all moved away from the scene, some screaming. Rezo walked over to the girl and leaned over her, shaking his head, "Sorry, I suppose it's against the ruled for me to kill anybody." Reaching out, he pulled the knife from the girl.
Whatever control the class had was gone in that moment. There was a stampede for the door, soldiers or not. Commotion, panic. Every man for themselves. This was only broken as the soldiers began firing their rifles into the ceiling. The sound enough to resinstate calm in some as they fled to the back of the room.
Not Zangulus, however. He instead charged Rezo, a scream of rage in his throat as he launched his fist at the mans head. Rezo swept the blow aside easily with his cane. With his other hand, he stabbed the knife he held deeply into Zangulus' leg. Shoving the boy to the back of the room, Rezo smirked, "What goes around comes around, eh Zangulus?"
Zangulus, his leg unable to support himself crumpled to the floor. Gourry yelled in rage, throwing himself at his friends assaulter only to be restrained by several students.
Rezo walked back to the front of the room, waving at the soldiers to regain a more neutral pose. Turning to the class, he spoke, "Back to the video." And the video started anew.
The happy girl continued as the diagram of the island was divided into square sections, "The island has been divided into numerous zones. Every six hours, your principal will broadcast updates about which zones are becoming danger zones. If you're in these zones, you should leave in a hurry. Because the danger is."
She apused, then smiled, "Okay, now about the collars you're wearing. They're totally waterproof, shockproof, and permanent. It monitors your pulse and tells us of your location and movements. So, if you dawdle in a danger zone or cause trouble, we can identify you. Then we can send a signal which will activate and alarm and. Boom! It explodes!"
Naturally all hands in the room went to the metal collars they wore, mutterings and whimperings heard as they considered the thought of such a grim fate. And of course wondering how they could get the damned things off.
"If you try to rip it off, it explodes, too. So try not to do that, okay?" The girl looked with faux sadness out from the TV for a moment.
This was all too much for Zangulus, who stumbled to his feet and approached Rezo once more, "You bastard! You're insane!" He got a good distance before two soldiers grabbed him, pushing his head back.
Rezo sighed as he pointed what looked like a remote control at Zangulus, "I hate to do this." He pressed a button with a frown.
A small red light began blinking on Zangulus' collar, a small beep corresponding with it. Zangulus grabbed at it, the color draining from his face as he spoke weakly, "Wh.. What is this?" The beeping started to grow more rapid.
Rezo smirked, "Better run, students."
Zangulus grew panicked, "What the hell is going on?!" He ran for a group of his fellow students, "Help!" He was pushed back into the center of the room as the students sought to get as far from him as possible. Zangulus spun in a circle, "Somebody help me!!"
Gourry stood stunned as his friend spun about, too afraid to move. He felt like this wasn't happeing, like it was all just a bad dream. Zangulus stopped turning, and their eyes met. Gourry reached out to his friend, "Zangulus!"
Zangulus reached for Gourry, "Gourry!"
There was a flash of light, a loud bang. And Zangulus fell to the floor. There was no sound at all but for the hushed breathing of the students.
Gourry stood, stunned. Hesitantly, he walked with jerky steps toward the body of his best friend. Gourry knelt, lightly placing his palm on Zangulus' back, as though by touching him, his friend would come back to life. However, it was not to be. Gourry leaned over his fallen brother, and wept.
Sylphiel watched in silence, her face drained of all color as she saw Gourry's body wracked with sobs. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him.. But she couldn't. She couldn't move a muscle in her body.
Rezo shook his head, "That's too bad."
Gourry slowly stood. His usual cheery demeanor seeming as though it never existed as he coldly eyed Rezo.
Rezo raised an eyebrow, "What's that look for, Gabriev?"
Gourry got two steps before he was tackled by Lina. Not expecting it, he fell easily and was pinned to the ground, almost embarrassing for him to be overpowered b someone smaller than him. Almost.
Lina hissed down at him, "Save it."
Gourry fought for a moment, but saw the reasoning in Lina's crimson eyes, and relaxed.
Rezo nodded at the soldier at the VCR, and the tape started up once again.
The girl put a hand to her chest, surprised, "Oh, I forgot one important thing. There's a time limit on this game! Three days. If we haven't got a winner after three days, all the collar simultaneously explode, and nobody wins. So fight hard and make sre that doesn't happen, okay?"
The class might have been shocked earlier, but know all they could do was stare in grim fascination and the bubbly girl on the TV screen.
Rezo faced the class, "So, do we have any questions?"
A short young man with short, black hair, named Kijan raised is hand, "If I win.. Do I get to go home?"
Rezo nodded, "Yes. Provided everyone else is dead, of course."
Filia raised her hand, "Why were we chosen?"
"Impartial lottery."
Silence. Rezo nodded, "Just remember that life is a game. So fight with all you've got, and find out if you're worth it." As rezo finished, large doors at the back of the classroom opened up. Large carts were brought in by soldiers, each filled with black duffel bags.
The tape was restarted, and the girl spoke, " You'll leave the room one by one, but first you get a kit! Inside each is food, water, map with compass, flashlight, and weapon. So be sure you check yours out. You can also bring any of your personal effects with you if you want. And about the weapons. Each is different, and they're not just guns and knives! It's random, so you might get lucky, or you might not."
The girl reached into the bad in front of her, and came up with a wood chopping axe. She beamed bright one, "Oh! This one is super lucky!" She stepped away from the bag, "Now you'll be going by class number. So when I call your number, get you bag and go for it!"
The class watched dumbly as the names began to be called.
"Number 1046. Inverse." When Lina was called, she strode proudly to the front of the room with her backpack. Taking a bag, she spared one glance at Gourry and her friends before disappearing down the hallway of the school the classroom was in.
"Number 1237. Saillune." Amelia hesitantly tiptoed to the front. Gingerly taking a bag, she slowly made her way out.
Number 1573. Gabriev." Gourry glanced at Sylphiel before walking to the front and slinging his bag over his shoulder, and marching down the hallway. "Number 1602. Metallium." The boy known as Metallium jogged to the front. Catching the bag tossed at him by a soldier, he sprinted down the hallway and out into the night.
"Number 1726. Lahda." Sylphiel numbly walked out. When her bag was offered, she threw it to the floor and left, bursting into tears on her way out.
"Number 1854. Greywords." Zelgadiss stormed to the front with slow, deliberate steps. His eyes never left Rezo as he took a bag from the pile. Pausing, he knelt down to pick up the bad that Sylphiel had discarged. Turning his back, he jogged down the hallway and into the dark.
"Number 2017. Copt." Filia piked herself up and walked o the front of the room, mutely taking a bag and turning down the hall, a slight air of confidence about her as she walked out.
The names continued, until the classroom was empty but for Rezo, the soldiers, and two bodies. Rezo walked from the room, leaning on his cane as he made his way to the command center, his cane tapping all the way.
The game had begun.