I WAS going to update the Rescue Effort series, but… meh. My decision. The part 2 of that series will come later.

Time for a "remake" of an SR chapter that never existed!

Survivor:

Veilstone City, Sinnoh, 12 pm…

The entertainment centre that was normally filled to the brim with people was unusually empty this day, as it was not anywhere near the peak hours. Instead of hundreds of people filing in and out repeatedly, only a few people were present.

This day was a special day, as it marked the 1 year anniversary of all 19 Dex Holders meeting each other. It was a very special occasion… until more Dex Holders appeared from other regions, in which case the next year after meeting them would be special. But for now, X and Y were the youngest Dex Holders, and as the oldest, the Kanto Dex Holders have thrown a big party.

"Welcome, everyone!" Red said as the last group of Dex Holders arrived at the centre.

"This place is huge!" White said as she hurried over towards the others.

"Yes. Platinum told us that after 3 pm, it's like impossible to step inside because of all the people," Blue said as she welcomed her Unova junior. "So let's enjoy this peace while it lasts."

"Yeah. So let's kick it off!" Red declared. "And for the very first event… Green and I have a little bet. It's something we've been meaning to do, but we never got to it. But this time, we will settle our differences."

"Each of us will form a team," Green said. "And then we will compete in non-Pokémon topics and see who can lead their team better."

"The game we picked today is… paintball!" Red said. "The last team standing wins. And the losing team leader gets to pay for the paintballing. I hear each paintball is worth 200 PKD. So… that'll stack up quite fast. And we are NOT allowed to borrow money from Platinum, or get her to pay for the whole thing."

"Now boys, I think I'll stay out of this," Blue said. "If anything, I want to watch you two compete. If I join in, I'll just disrupt the balance. Yellow, you should stay out of this too. Your telekinetic powers are a little bit unfair in here. And you too, Dia. That way, it'll be an even 8 vs. 8, and you can start planning for dinner in peace."

"Great. So how do we divide our teams?" Gold asked.

Red and Green faced each other and readied their fists.

"Rock…"

"Paper…"

"Scissors!"

Green smirked as he glanced at his open hand and Red's closed fist. "Looks like I win." He looked over at each of the other Dex Holders, scrutinizing each of them. "… Rakutsu."

The Unova Dex Holder shrugged and moved over to stand on Green's side of the group.

"Again!" Red said, readying his fist. Green won again. "Damn."

"Sapphire," Green called out. "Ruby," he called upon winning the third round. "Emerald. … Silver. … Crystal." He smirked at Red, who stared at his hand in disbelief. "Ah, Red. You're so predictable."

"… This is quite the start, huh?" Red said with a feigned smile. "… I've never had a battle this one sided before. I mean, damn."

And for the 7th time in a row, Green won. "Hm. If I take Gold, that means I take all of the senior side of the Dex Holders. So I suppose I'll take Black instead."

"… Then by default, everyone else is on my team," Red said with a sigh. "So… Gold, Pearl, Platinum, White, Faitsu, X, and Y."

"Well, GG!" Sapphire said happily. "You guys are done for!"

"Hey! It ain't over 'till it's over, you little brat!" Gold yelled back.

Sapphire joyfully ignored him. "Good luck and have fun, Red team!"

Blue put her hands on Diamond and Yellow's shoulders. "Well then, Blue team, let's go set up some surveillance so we can watch all the action without getting messy."

…

Red led his team into the weapons area. There were all sorts of standard paintball guns, each with a label of its renting cost. Now he had a choice. He could get the more expensive paintball guns… and pay for all of it upon losing, or he could soften the economic blow by getting the cheaper ones.

"We should go frugal," White suggested. "We can probably move around fast. We don't really need heavy firepower, do we?"

"So we trade in power for mobility," Red muttered. "Hmm… I suppose. Alright. Arm up!"

Red team scattered around the area to pick up the weapons they wanted to use. Red picked a standard rifle and a standard handgun. They didn't fire paintballs too quickly, but they were acceptable. The other male Dex Holders did the same, and all the girls opted to just take one paintball handgun.

Green team entered next. Green glanced at the weapons selected by Red team and smirked. Rakutsu went up to the young female clerk on the register and gave her a charming smile.

"Miss, where do you keep all your high-end gear?"

The clerk walked over towards the end of the room and slid open a section of the wall that wasn't recognizable as an open-able section.

"Ooh, that's fancy," Sapphire said as all sorts of expensive paintball guns became visible. She hefted a huge paintball gun that was even bigger than her. "I'll take this one! … It's pretty heavy, but it looks cool!"

"… Well, that's not fair," Gold said, watching Sapphire swing the paintball minigun around, testing its balance. "… I guess it's too late for us to change our weapons, huh?"

Red laughed. "Well… all we have to do is dodge. It's like dodge ball! Where they throw 20 more times than we do!"

Emerald took a paintball sniper that was longer than his height. He seemed to have gotten that comparison in his mind too, and grumbled something under his breath as he looked down the sight then through the scope.

A few members of Green team took normal paintball guns. But the others did not and opted for the more exotic weapons.

Black hefted the paintball rocket launcher and grinned. "This is going to be fun!"

White scowled at him. "If you shoot that at me, I swear you are going to regret it!"

"Yes, Miss President," Black said with a sigh.

Green tapped him on the shoulder. "I hereby order you to take out White."

"Oh. Well, there you have it," Black said. "I have no choice, Miss President!"

"Alright, everyone," Blue said as she entered the weapons area. "The spectators are in position. Everyone put on your safety goggles, and let's get the show on the road!"

Gold simply lowered his own goggles while everyone else put theirs on. Once everyone was ready, they opened the large double doors and entered the battlefield.

…

Blue lay face down on the invisible barrier created by Mr. Mime above the battlefield. From there, she could see the carnage unfold without getting paint splattering onto her. The battlefield was the size of a basketball court with all sorts of obstructions and walls. There were two buildings on the opposite sides of the area, serving as the bases. Red and Green teams would start from their bases once Blue gives the "go ahead" signal.

Diamond sat next to her, with a huge bowl of popcorn in front of him. Yellow was seated next to him, occasionally tapping the invisible barrier with her fingers.

"So, who do you think is going to win?" Blue asked as she watched Red and his team looking around his base.

"I want the Lady's team to win," Diamond said as he munched on some popcorn. "… But I think Green team is going to win."

"Yeah. I think Green's going to win," Yellow said as well.

Blue nodded. "I want Red to win… but I doubt that he will. But you never know! I wonder if it'll go down to Red and Green being the last members of their teams. Wouldn't that be interesting?" She cleared her throat and spoke through her Pokégear, which was connected to the sound system of the battlefield. "Alright everyone. Start! Good luck, have fun, and I will confirm kills if I think you're dead!"

"Whoever gets the first kill gets a bucket of chicken all to themselves!" Green yelled out to his team. "So go out there!"

Emerald quickly crawled up to the highest point in the base and dropped down onto his belly, with the sniper paintball gun aimed towards the other side of the battlefield. Due to the paintball limitations, the shots of the sniper were much smaller than a regular paintball gun, but shot a LOT faster. With this, he could shoot someone and hit them before they could even-

Emerald pulled the trigger. The paintball sniper went off with a crack, sending a small paintball flying towards White, who had peeked out of her cover to see who was there. The shot missed, since Emerald hadn't fired the gun before and as such didn't know how to compensate for gravity.

White shrieked and quickly hid behind cover. "That's… so unfair!"

Black snickered and tossed something small towards White. The small ball like object hit the girl on the head and bounced onto the floor. White rubbed her head and glanced at the object, and realized that it was a paintball grenade. She quickly kicked it away… accidentally towards Platinum. The heiress saw the motion and moved around the wall to hide herself.

"Oh, a near accidental team-kill!" Blue said through her Pokégear. "It looks like White is quite inexperienced!"

"Sorry, Lady Platinum!" White said.

Platinum didn't respond, and stayed in cover. White felt embarrassed at having made such a… stupid mistake. With clenched teeth, she popped out of cover and shot her paintball gun blindly, hoping to catch someone off guard. Her blind fire made the others take cover, including her own team, which greatly hurt her pride. With a growl, she reloaded her paintball gun and proceeded to fire again.

From the other side, Black snickered again as he hefted his paintball rocket launcher. He set his sights on… White. He was ordered to take her out, after all. So he was going to do just that. Also, seeing her absolutely freak out would be a bit funny… since she couldn't murder him for this. He had an excuse!

White, unaware of the situation, kept popping out of her cover at regular intervals. Black timed the appearances and shot the rocket, which was basically just a single giant paintball. The rocket flew straight towards White's position just as the girl popped out once more for her blind shots.

There was a loud splat and a pained and furious scream. Black quickly took cover to avoid White's wrath and waited for Blue to confirm the kill.

"Ooh, a headshot!" Blue said in the sound system. "That has got to hurt! White is dead! … And Black might be too in 10 seconds or so!"

Black could hear a furious set of footsteps and braced himself. The moment he blinked, he saw a pair of feet on the floor right in front of him.

'Uh oh…' He gulped nervously and slowly craned his neck up. He had to hold his breath to avoid snickering despite the fact that he was staring at his death, when his eyes reached the top half of White's body. And from there, all he could see was a giant blob of red paint that vaguely resembled White's upper half.

White wiped away the paint on her goggles and bared her teeth as she snarled in anger. Black took a nervous gulp again just as she reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Why you…" she growled out, leaning dangerously close to him, while pulling him off of the ground. The paint from the strands of her hair began to slowly drip onto his face. "… Do you have any idea… how long it's going to take me to wash all this damn paint from my hair?!"

"I was ordered to do this!" Black said in his defense. "I had no choice!" White skill kept her murderous glare (or what he assumed underneath the thick layer of paint), so he tried to… bargain with her. "Uh… I'll share some of the chicken with you," he said, his voice shaking. "I mean… I did get the first kill… so I get a bucket all to myself. I'll share with you… if you let me live!"

White growled some more but eventually released him. "Hmph. Fine." She held a strand of her hair in her hand and stared at the thick paint in disgust. "… You're lucky that I'm hungry right now. Or you'd wish you were back in the Light Stone."

…

Green watched Faitsu in the distance. The young girl was quite inexperienced as well. She didn't even shoot her paintball gun, as she was afraid of getting picked off by someone she couldn't see. Either that, or she was patiently biding her time. If the former, then she was just a free kill. If the latter… she would have to be removed quickly.

He looked over at Emerald and caught his attention. He gave the Hoenn Dex Holder a series of instructions with his hand, and got an affirmative nod. Emerald relayed the information to Rakutsu, who had been acting as his spotter… sort of.

Rakutsu took a paintball grenade and lobbed it towards Faitsu's cover. The girl was still hiding when the grenade hit the floor next to her, a little too far to kick it away. With a shriek, she quickly ran out of cover to avoid the blast. Emerald saw his chance and shot the paintball sniper, hitting the girl right on the side of the head.

"Oh, a headshot!" Blue declared over the announcement system. "Faitsu is down!"

Red saw the girl fall and decided that this wasn't going well at all. "Regroup! Team, fall back!"

The remaining team members soon gathered in the base. Gold stayed near the window to see if there was an assault coming, but still close enough to hear everything his team said.

"Okay, so we can't take them head on," Pearl said with a grumble. "Their firepower is too much."

"We sort of planned to stay mobile," Y began. "But… it's hard to do that when Emerald is picking us off from the distance."

"Right. So we have to deal with him first," Red said. "So here's what we're going to do…"

From the other side of the battlefield, Green watched the enemy base for movement and smirked. He knew what was happening. "Ruby, Sapphire," he called out. "Go out in the open field and start dancing. Silver, Crystal, go cover them. Emerald, keep an eye out for movement."

The team acknowledged his order and carried it out. Ruby and Sapphire put their weapons on the ground next to them in the middle of the battlefield and began to perform a slow couples' dance. Sapphire scanned the enemy base while doing so, and soon made eye contact with Gold. She gave him a wink and with Ruby, sped up the dance to something faster and fancier.

"Captain," Gold said to Red, while keeping an eye on the open field. "We're being BM'ed!"

"BM?" Platinum asked.

"The act of showing bad manners," Gold explained. "The two Hoenn lovebirds are showing us plenty of bad manners. They're literally dancing in the middle of the open, just letting us know that we're screwed so badly, they can waste time and allow us to take shots at them without losing." He observed around the dancing duo and spotted Silver and Crystal behind cover. "It looks like Silver and Super Serious Gal are waiting to ambush us. And Odd Boy is definitely providing cover with his damn sniper. We can't stop Fashion Boy and Wildchild Girl. All we can do is watch them dance."

Pearl's eyes twitched in anger. "The hell with that!" He tapped X on the arm. "Let's go teach them a lesson!"

"Wait! X!" Y tried to say, but X and Pearl have already charged out of the base. "Damn it! Not again!"

"Pearl! Stop!" Platinum shouted, but she knew it was futile.

Pearl and X stepped out into the open and began to fire their paintball guns. Ruby leapt into cover while Sapphire simply dodged the oncoming paintballs. With one hand on her hip, she tilted her head and shook a finger at them.

"So rude," she said mockingly. "Interrupting our dance like that. So very rude indeed."

Silver and Crystal popped out of their cover and began to fire. However, X and Pearl had planned for that happening, and Silver took a shot on the shoulder just as he forced the two charging Dex Holders back into cover.

"No! Silver is down!" Blue declared. "Ambush has backfired!"

But as X was heading into cover, Emerald had managed to shoot him in the back with his sniper, leaving only Pearl. Sapphire hefted her paintball minigun again and silently made her way towards him. Pearl was still in cover, and as a result failed to see her coming.

"Pearl! Look out!" Platinum shouted. "Senior Sapphire is coming!"

Pearl heard her and quickly readied his paintball gun. But it was too late, as the moment he decided to make a run for it, the first thing he saw was the paintball minigun that began to fire.

"Oh, X and Pearl are both down!" Blue said. "It's 7 vs. 4 now! It's not looking close at all!"

Green surveyed the situation and gave the order once more. "Everyone except Emerald! Breach and clear! Get in there and eliminate them!"

Red let out a sigh and put a hand on his head. "… My friends… hear me, for there is little time left…"

The survivors of Red team gathered around him. Including Red, there were only 4 left. The team leader glanced at his remaining team members, noting each of their expressions.

"… All that remains of our team… our pride… (and my wallet) are those that stand beside you now," Red said slowly. "… Trust in each other. And fight as one will. Let our last stand burn a memory so bright, that they won't BM us anymore!"

"Alright!" Gold yelled out. "Lock and load! Let them come to us!"

"There are two entrances to this base," Platinum said. "The front door is easily defendable. But the side door is not. If senior Sapphire kicks it open, we will be vulnerable."

"And they outnumber us," Y said. "Even with Green and Emerald not charging at us, I don't think we can hold this place long. … And I'm sure Crystal has a shotgun. It's not a good situation for us."

"In that case… we're abandoning base. But we'll wait until someone barges in, overwhelm them, and charge right through." Red glanced at both entrances. "… Preferably the side that doesn't lead us straight into Sapphire."

Gold climbed higher on the base to peek through the windows once more. "It looks like Wildchild Girl is going to barge in through the side door. Odd Boy's got the front door covered, I think."

"The front door it is," Red said. "Emerald might hit one of us, but Sapphire will hit all of us. We'll take the chances."

"That cop dude and Dream Boy are coming up in the front door," Gold said. "We can take them."

"Alright then, get ready!"

…

Green still observed the enemy base from his own base. So far, no movement. And that could mean one thing. Red was planning to charge out of the base. In that case…

"Sapphire, kick the door," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Sapphire said. She hefted the paintball minigun and slowly made her way towards the side door of Red's base. Ruby and Crystal stood by her side with their own paintball guns, ready to storm the base. "Alright! Breach and clear!"

After taking a breath to get ready, Sapphire delivered a strong kick to the side entrance of Red team's base, smashing the door wide open. She then immediately opened fire with the minigun, in case there was anyone hiding in the shadows.

"Hey, hey! Take it easy! Each shot costs 200 PKD, you know!" came Red's voice from further inside the base.

"Sorry, Red!" Sapphire yelled cheerfully. She continued to fire. "This thing fires 20 shots per second! It's hard to fire one shot at a time!"

Crystal peeked over her junior's shoulders. "… I think Red and the others left through the other door."

"Then let's go get them!"

Red signaled his team to go. Y kicked the front door open just as Black was about to open it from the other side, effectively slamming the door onto his face. Rakutsu quickly leveled his paintball gun, but Gold had grabbed the stunned Black and used him as a shield just as Rakutsu fired.

Gold shoved Black's body into Rakutsu, knocking both Unova Dex Holders down. He then rolled forward to dodge Emerald's sniper fire, and ducked behind cover. Platinum followed and took cover as well, but after quickly searching through Black's jacket pockets for anything useful. Y finished off Rakutsu and joined her teammates after looting the rifle off of the Unova Dex Holder. The moment Red arrived as well, the four resumed moving.

The four quickly made their way towards Green's base, being careful to stay low to avoid being picked off by Emerald.

"I got them!" came a loud voice from the side.

Red glanced to the side and saw Crystal making her way over. Which meant that Ruby and Sapphire were moving to surround them from all sides.

"Everyone, split up!" Red said. "Or we're doomed!"

"I got this!" Gold yelled as he charged at Crystal, with his billiard cue fully extended.

Crystal quickly aimed at him, but he whacked the gun with his cue, forcing her to miss. She kept trying to fire, and Gold kept whacking it to the side, or even directly blocking the barrel with the cue. Occasionally, Gold tried to shoot back, but Crystal used her foot to knock his gun aside.

Crystal momentarily stopped firing as she had to load in more paintballs. Gold took the opportunity to swing his cue at her, forcing her to block with the paintball shotgun. He swung harder and harder, and the girl kept blocking.

"Hey, that's dangerous!" she yelled. "You're going to really hurt someone with that!"

"Says the girl firing her shotgun nonstop in point blank range!" Gold yelled as well. "This is war!"

"In that case!" Crystal parried the oncoming cue and delivered a spinning back kick to send the cue flying away.

Gold aimed his paintball handgun and shot multiple times in succession. Crystal jumped to dodge, but after the spinning kick, she wasn't able to regain balance fast enough. She took a shot to the shoulder, and it caused her to drop her weapon and stagger backwards.

"Oh, Crys is wounded!" Blue declared. "She's still in the fight, but is wounded badly!"

"Looks like I win this round, Crys," Gold said with a grin, aiming his paintball gun right at Crystal's head.

Crystal smiled while holding her "wounded" shoulder. "Or so you'd think, Gold," she said calmly. She quickly jumped to the side just as Sapphire began to fire from her minigun.

Gold saw the Hoenn girl appearing out of nowhere and jumped in surprise. "Holy sh-"

"And Gold is down!" Blue yelled with a laugh. "He never stood a chance!"

…

Y peeked over her cover. Emerald was… aiming directly at her! She quickly ducked just as a paintball exploded on the cover just inches away. She moved away a bit and poked her head out for a split second before she ducked back again, just before another paintball exploded nearby. Okay, so the Hoenn Dex Holder was aiming almost exclusively for her. … Perfect.

Emerald watched through his scope as Y dashed and took cover behind another low wall. Though he couldn't see her directly, he could see her long blonde hair sticking out of the cover. The girl looked around for a second, indicated by her ponytail turning left and right, before she dipped lower into the cover for a few seconds.

Emerald relaxed a little when the girl's ponytail was back in his scope sights. Y's current location was a little hard to see from his current position, so it was possible for her to slither away unnoticed. But unfortunately, her long hair was giving away her position. And as long as he could see the hair through his scopes, Y wasn't going anywhere.

For a long while, Y didn't move. Emerald frowned a bit, as he expected her to poke her head out at least once or twice. But she wasn't moving at all. There was absolutely no motion… was there something wrong? Or…

Emerald suddenly felt the barrel of a paintball gun being pressed onto his back. He jumped in surprise and quickly looked up and saw… Y?

The girl was grinning from ear to ear and was crouched while keeping her paintball rifle aimed at his back. And surprisingly, her hair was suddenly really short.

"What the…" Emerald muttered, looking back through his scope. Y's hair was still there… "… What?"

Y laughed a little. "Hair extensions," she explained. "I've been using them while my hair grew back, ever since Team Flare almost cut my head off." Her smile suddenly vanished and she sighed. "… Look, don't ask…"

Emerald looked through the scope again and Y's hair suddenly fell towards the floor. And he could see that the girl's hair extensions were actually attached to Gold's billiard cue that was just resting against the cover…

Emerald chuckled and looked up at his junior, who was smiling triumphantly. "… Clever girl…"

"You know it," Y said happily. She pulled the trigger.

…

Red and Platinum slowly approached Green's base. Now the tables had turned! Soon, Green would know what it feels like to be raided… And they had to hurry as well, since Ruby and Sapphire were on their way. Although Y would be able to assist as well…

Green suddenly popped out of cover for a split second and shot a single paintball, which hit Platinum in the chest. Fortunately, the paintball was from a small gun, so the heiress wasn't instantly "killed". The girl screamed and fell into Red's arms and dropped her weapon.

"Oh, Platinum is wounded!" Blue declared. "She'll die in less than a minute!"

"Whoever manages to kill Platinum gets a whole box of pizza for themselves!" Green yelled out, moving back into his base.

"Alright!" Sapphire shouted from somewhere in the distance. "I'm getting hungry too!"

"Hey! Who gave you the power to make such decisions?!" Red yelled from below.

"All you have to do is win, Red," Green said. "And then my offers will backfire."

"Oh, I will win! You'll see!"

Platinum gasped as she pretended to be rapidly bleeding out. She leaned against the cover and appeared to be extremely tired.

"Senior, I cannot go on," she said between breaths. "If I continue, I am breaking the game's rules."

"So what, are you just going to sit here and wait for someone to confirm the kill?" Red asked worriedly.

"In a manner of speaking," Platinum said as she fished out something from her pocket. "I have a nasty surprise prepared for my Hoenn seniors. I shall go out with a bang, as senior Gold would say."

Red slowly nodded and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "… Good luck."

"Senior… please win."

"I'll do my best."

Red gave her a nod before quickly moving away. Platinum remained seated and held the surprise in her hand, concealed from view. She had to act like she was dying, which involved hyperventilating. It was rather difficult to do, but for the sake of realism…

She paused when she heard Ruby and Sapphire coming near. She held the surprise tight and waited for the opportune moment. Ruby and Sapphire soon came into view. Platinum put on a pained expression and weakly looked up at her seniors.

"Sorry, Platinum," Ruby said as he aimed his paintball handgun at Platinum's forehead. "But you know how it is."

Platinum smiled. "Yes. I do know…" She opened her hand, revealing the paintball grenade that she had looted off of Black. "Sorry, seniors." With her "dying" breath, she threw the grenade directly at Sapphire, hitting her in the chest.

Meanwhile, Red had regrouped with Y (who had reattached her hair extensions) and was about to charge into Green's base when he heard a loud scream from where he had left Platinum. And the scream was Ruby's, most likely freaking out about the thick layer of paint that had now gotten onto his clothes. … Come to think of it, it was a miracle that he even agreed to play this game…

"Oh, Platinum is dead!" Blue declared over the sound system. "But Ruby is dead! Sapphire is dead too!"

"Well played, Platinum," Red muttered silently. He glanced over at Y. "Are you ready?"

"Yes sir," Y said with a determined look on her face. She readied the stolen paintball rifle. "Let's do this."

Red slowly signaled a 3 count. When the count ended, Y kicked the door open and aimed her paintball gun. There were no movements and no sounds could be heard. She held her breath and stepped inside the base, quickly aiming her weapon to the right of the doorway. Nothing. In a split second, she swiveled around to aim the paintball gun the other direction. But it was too late.

Green was standing right in front of her as she faced the left of the doorway and the moment that Y jumped in surprise, he grabbed her gun to stop her from shooting him, and shot her point blank in the stomach with his own paintball gun. He then pushed her back, and as she staggered backwards, he shot her three more times in rapid succession.

Y let out a short gasp (as the paintballs stung in point blank), and realizing that she was now "dead", acted her part and staggered into the far wall before slowly sliding down to the ground.

Red saw Y "die" and realized that an enemy was right there. After mentally counting to 3, he charged inwards, running into Green. The Gym Leader aimed his own paintball gun and the one he took from Y, but Red was too close. Red managed to knock Y's weapon away, but had his own weapon knocked down as well. He quickly smashed his hand into Green's paintball gun to knock it away and drew his paintball handgun just as Green drew his second paintball handgun as well.

The two now faced each other with their paintball handguns aimed at each other's chest. Both didn't blink or move an inch.

"… It doesn't have to end this way," Red said slowly.

"No. But it does have to end," Green said.

Red nodded. "On that, we agree. We've been competing with each other for our whole lives. And where do we end up? Staring at each other down the barrels of our paintball guns. Nothing's changed between us."

He swallowed nervously. Green had better reactions than he did. Probably. Maybe. And Red knew that his paintball gun didn't have many shots left. How many did Green have? He didn't shoot for the entire game. … So in short, Red was at a disadvantage. … Maybe he could…

He smiled. "I know you, Green. You wouldn't shoot an old friend, now would you?"

Green started to laugh. And Red felt that his old friend was about to lower his guard… But then he felt the shot of a heavy paintball gun that hit him right in the back, which forced him to stumble a few steps forward.

"You're right Red," Green said as he lowered his paintball gun. "I wouldn't shoot an old friend."

Red regained balance and turned around. … Who else was left alive that could do this? When he looked back, he saw Crystal smiling while holding a paintball shotgun with one hand.

"Sorry, Red," she said as she lowered the gun. "But this is a better outcome, no? Now we'll never know who would've won in a direct confrontation between the two of you. Or whether any of you would betray the other's trust."

"So, now that that's over," Green began. "Who got the final kill on Platinum? Who gets the pizza all for themselves?"

"Platinum blew herself up," Red said. "The paintball grenade that she looted from Black. So I guess she gets the pizza."

"I suppose so." Green shook Red's hand to signify a game well played. "Now then, let's go eat. I hope the royalty you get from that robot TV show is enough."

"Yeah, yeah," Red said as he left the base. "But hey, it's for the juniors, right? I'll manage." He laughed for a few seconds before he slowly rubbed the back of his neck. "This was really fun. We should do it again some time. … Without putting money on the line. But we'll see, I suppose. But for now, let's eat! … I'm… buying."

And now to continue on with the Rescue Effort series. Unless something else gets in the way. You never know.