These past few weeks have been comprised mostly of outlining the elements of the story, and studying for AP Chem midterms. Sorry for the incredibly late update, but once I started writing again, I couldn't stop. Remember to leave a review if you enjoy what this story has to offer!

Now, we enter The Game.

Chapter 2

Red's POV

I awoke, my eyes fluttering open. I saw a wide blue expanse above me. Huh. Maybe I had painted the ceiling of my room... I couldn't remember. Wait.

This isn't my room, I thought as a slight breeze gently nudged my messy black hair. I pulled the baseball cap I wore loosely on my head down, and slowly sat up. Next to me I saw a familiar face.

On the bed of grass lay Yellow, my best friend. Unconscious, her long blonde hair spilled onto the ground. I struggled to remember what had happened here. Why I woke up next to her in a huge grass field. My mind came up blank, as it often did when I woke.

I scanned my surroundings. There was a forest maybe a mile away, but no sign of human life in front of us... I turned and looked the other way. The sight horrified me.

In the field, that one small area, maybe three hundred feet away, a large group of people lay. Not a person was above another; they all lay side-by-side, in a huge mass of bodies. Maybe eight thousand, nine thousand. They all looked to be dead. I froze up. I'm in a field... Filled with dead people. Then it hit me. Yellow.

I didn't know what to do. So, getting to one knee and preparing myself to explain, I grabbed Yellow's shoulders and tried to shake her awake. I did so gently at first. "Yellow..." I hissed. "Get up! Please!" Unfortunately, I received no response.

I shook her shoulders slightly harder, as I didn't want to hurt her. Her facial expression remained the same, and she continued to lay there, asleep. Or in a coma, I had no idea. This wasn't good. My friend had always been a light sleeper. Could she be...

No, Yellow couldn't be dead. If she were, would that mean all those people we lay away from were dead too? Unlikely. For whatever reason we were brought here, wherever this was, I doubt it was for a thousand people to die. As I thought this, images flooded my mind.

A greenish storm cloud, appearing in the sky. The streaks of green-yellow lightning in the vortex. The lights, falling from the sky, ramming into Yellow and I. And the pain. The pain came back to me last. I remembered the burning sensation consuming my body, intensifying until at last I blacked out from the agony. I remembered all the events up to my fainting. Did that green vortex have anything to do with our being here? I turned my attention to my friend.

Yellow's face was still tranquil, and it looked as if she really were dead. I lay a hand on her wrist to check her pulse. To my relief, I felt a gentle beat. Her arm was somewhat cold, but she was alive, and that was all that mattered. Maybe once she got up, we could check on the mass of people laying there. I didn't want to leave her side, in case she woke up. So, I decided on something else.

I stood up. Cupping my hands around my mouth, I yelled out. "Hey! Anyone awake? Where are we? Hello?" I got no response, and my words echoed back at me. Hello... Where... we... I thought I saw a few heads pop up and stare at me in surprise from the tall grass on the far side of the field.

Just then, I heard a sound echo throughout the small field where everyone lay. Coughing. Lots of it. It was truly a startling sound, considering that nobody else had made a sound in the last few minutes I was awake. The sickening sound that came from a thousand throats combined into a chilling, bloodcurdling symphony of pain. In the crowd of people, I saw them flailing around, overtaken by coughs and unable to get up.

I looked down in shock and saw Yellow convulsing on the ground, covering her mouth as she let loose one hacking cough after the other. This had to be a nightmare. "Yellow! Are you okay?" Whatever this was, it couldn't be happening.

I saw her look up in shock to see me, holding that expression until the fit took her again. I could barely hear it, drowned out by all the others.

I helped sit my friend up, and soon she stopped the violent hack that so many others kept up. I saw words form on her lips, but heard nothing but the chorus of coughs. Deducing that I couldn't hear her, she pointed. I followed her finger to the giant mass of people.

Shrugging my shoulders, I looked at her questioningly. Then Yellow shook her head and pointed more frantically. I followed more closely, and saw a circle of kids closing in on the center. A circle we were part of. There were two boys helping a girl with light blue hair to the center, each with an arm over their shoulders. A girl with aquamarine hair tied into two symmetrical, gravity-defying tails, had already made it, and was helping those in the center with stopping their cough, sitting them up then moving to the next patient. She seemed to be very proficient at it.

I saw her look over to us, taking a split second to wave then continue on her way. I watched as she efficiently rolled over one flailing girl, who seemed to be about thirteen. She grabbed the girl's shoulders and yanked her up. Then, she ran off so quickly I barely noticed her leave. Yellow was struggling to stand, so I helped her, and draped her arm over my shoulder as I saw the two boys doing with the barely-conscious girl. Why they had been bringing her to the mass of coughers was beyond me.

Yellow and I made it to the center, and I let her down. She still seemed to be weak. Whatever had caused the cough wasn't normal. But what really had me wondering was why I woke before everyone else. And not just that. Why did they all wake up when I called out? And why did they cough when they woke? All questions I had that couldn't be answered. Well, not yet, anyway. I was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Be right back." I said to Yellow. She nodded, and I went into the field of writhing, convulsing kids. Our age, many of them. I saw one or two adults, helping them to a sitting position as I went. A middle-aged man waved to me as he caught his breath. I walked away and nodded as if to say 'You're welcome'. For some reason, they couldn't sit up on their own while coughing. The girl I'd seen before had the right idea. We had to help everyone, and organize to find out where we were and why we were here.

In the next five minutes, I must have helped sixty people. I went from one person to the next without wasting a step. My abdomen ached from the strain of pulling people, each at least 100 pounds, to an upright position. I managed, though, and focused only at the task at hand.

After another ten minutes, I had just helped a plump, freckle-faced boy up and was on my way to the next person when I saw their face.

It was Tim Porter. He made eye contact with me and I saw the fear and hate fill his eyes as he continued to hack and cough with his hands over his mouth. He struggled to get up but was unable to do so. I narrowed my eyes at him, and grabbed his shoulders, dragging his enormous form to a position that was acceptable enough that he stopped coughing.

He glared at me, and I gave him one last look before moving on. Talk about ungrateful. Just then, there was a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see who the hand belonged to.

I saw a girl's face staring back at me, with glittering, wild blue eyes. She had long, matted hair, and wore... clothes made of leaves. Thankfully, they covered her chest, and she had a crudely crafted skirt of long frond leaves around her waist. She was skinny, and most of her ribs were visible. Her abdomen was the part that I couldn't stop looking at. Though it was defined, she had scratches crisscrossing all over her belly. The girl must have noticed me staring because her face turned as pink as my own was by this point, and covered herself with her hands. Anger contorted her previously mellow face.

"Stop starin', will ya?! I didn't choose to wake up here." The girl clamped her hand around my shoulder again. "Now. Let me help ya get these people to stop makin' that racket." I nodded.

"Alright. Just sit them up. They should be fine after that." I said. "By the way, I'm Red. From Pallet Town." The two of us had to yell over the noise.

Her eyes widened. "Wait. Yer from Kanto?"

I nodded again, and brushed some of my wild black hair out of my face. "Aren't you? This is where I blacked out... I think. Well, either I blacked out here and my school disappeared, or we were somehow moved here."

"Who would move this many friggin' people? I'm Sapphire, by the way. From Hoenn."

Hoenn. Okay, now this was getting weird. People were here from a whole other continent? This is bad, I thought. Just exactly what was going on? I was about to ask when she grabbed my hand, and yanked me after her. What a bossy girl, I thought.

Sapphire and I helped the sick people twice as effectively, maybe more. She was freakishly strong for her small frame and thin arms. We called them sick when talking to each other as an assumption, we still had no idea what gave them the terrible condition.

What could have been an hour later, Sapphire and I helped the last of the sick people and I led her back to Yellow, who sat where I had left her, next to a raven-haired boy wearing a hat similar to my own. A pair of goggles were strapped to the top. He held a billiard cue in one hand and was driving it into the earth, while he and Yellow spoke.

I approached the two of them, Sapphire behind me. We came up from behind the boy, and stood on either side of the two of them. "Hey, Yellow." I said. The boy looked up in surprise.

Yellow gestured to the boy. "This is Gold. He's from Johto. New Bark Town, to be specific." she said.

"Yo." Gold said, holding out his hand." I shook it, and he turned to Sapphire. Immediately he looked her up and down. "What's with the leaves, babe? Not that I mind, of course," he said, giving an obviously perverted stare. He held out a hand to her, but she ignored it. I gave Yellow a look, and she dropped her gaze but smiled a little.

Sapphire crossed her arms over her chest. "Would ya stop staring at me? Like I said to Red, I didn't choose to be brought here. I was doing fieldwork for my dad, then these green clouds appeared above me, swirlin' like a hurricane. Something flew down and smashed into me right here." She pointed to her arm, where the image of a leaf glowed bright green.

Gold oohed, and Yellow gasped. I looked at it in awe. "What is that? Plus, Yellow and I were hit with those things from the sky as well. I don't know whether or not we have marks like you." I said.

Sapphire shrugged. "It just appeared when I woke up. The feeling was the worst, though... It was like having the life sucked out of me. But maybe your marks are where you got hit."

I nodded. "Great idea! I got hit here." I gestured to the area of my chest where my heart was fused with that strange object. Lifting my shirt, I saw the image of a flame glow orange. "Whoa." Gold, Sapphire and I said simultaneously.

Yellow's cheeks turned slightly pink and she looked away. "Mine hit me in the back of the neck, but I can't see it. Can you look?" I nodded. She turned, and showed me the place where she was struck. I saw the symbol of an eye glowing purple where her neck became her back.

"Uh... Yeah. I see what looks like an eye. It's glowing pinkish-purple." She ran her hand across the back of her neck.

"I can't feel it. What is happening to us? Do all of us have this?"

Yellow looked at the ground, in deep thought. "We know that at least the three of us had been near the vortex of green clouds when we were hit with the lights. And so far, we are the only ones we know to be hit. I assume we each blacked out from the pain and woke up here. Most, including myself, entered a really bad coughing fit. I think that's all we really know. Gold, did you get hit by one too?"

The raven-haired boy sighed. "I was riding my bike when something slammed into my hand so hard that it threw me off. It felt really bad, like I was slowly being filled up with sand until finally it reached my head and I fainted. Then I woke up like everyone else, and started coughing like everyone else. Some girl with beautiful blue hair helped me up..." He trailed off, and held up his left hand. There was the image of a lightning bolt on the back of it, emitting a yellowish glow.

Sapphire broke in. "Well, not everyone started coughing when they awoke. I woke up outside from the mass of people. I saw a boy running from the outside to the people, so I did too. Gold, I think I saw you near me when I woke too."

"Yeah, I woke up away from everyone else." He said.

"This can't all be a coincidence. I don't know what's going on, but we were put here for a reason," I said, clenching a fist. "And I'm going to find out what that is."

I walked away, but I could tell that the three of them were following me. As we went, we asked people what happened to them before they woke up here. All of them mentioned the green vortex. Not a single one said anything about a light hitting them. Some said they saw strange glowing objects flying in various directions, but no one was hit.

Soon, we reached the other end of the crowd. They were mostly beginning to be able to walk around now, as many hadn't recovered as fast as Yellow and apparently Gold had. Over to the side, leaning against a large rock, was a boy with spiky brown hair. He seemed to be about our age. Since he was obviously well, I decided to go talk to him. I walked over, leaving Gold and Sapphire to argue about something or other with Yellow trying to mediate them.

When the boy saw me approaching, he regarded me for a moment, then returned to staring off at the people struggling to get onto their feet. I thought I might have seen that one blue-haired medic, but it may have just been my mind playing tricks on me.

I stood adjacent to him, and he paid me no mind. I raised a hand in greeting. "Hi. I'm Red." I said. "Were you sick with the rest of them? You seem like you recovered really fast!" I said.

He glared at me and shook his head. "No. I woke up along with you and those three on the outside circle. Something most people overlooked." he said, with a flat expression. I figured he must have seen each of us from where he woke up. "I don't know where we are, but I'm only sticking around to find out why we're here." The boy studied his palm, then showed it to me. "I have a feeling that it has something to do with this rune." I studied his hand, to see the bright blue image of a snowflake glowing, branded into his skin. He had a mark, like us.

I was confused at his wording. "Rune?"

He nodded. "Yes. I would expect that you learned about Kanto's history, but it would seem that you are not so cultured as to know about the ancient tribes who lived there."

I sheepishly shrugged. "Sorry. History was my worst subject. But what do these tribes have to do with the runes?"

He sighed. "Well, according to legend, there were seventeen native societies that fought over the control of the continent. They warred for hundreds of years, until there was a form of divine interference."

"A form?" I asked, puzzled. "So, a god or whatever just came down and stopped the fight?"

He shook his head. "No. In fact, they made it worse in some ways. The god, or 'alpha', in their language, gave away seventeen different aspects of power, one to the chief of each tribe. They were inscribed with runes, symbols that represented the powers they were given." He showed me the snowflake that had been fused into his skin. "This is the rune for ice."

I lifted my shirt, revealing the orange flame symbol above my heart. "What about this?"

His eyes widened. "You... You have a rune too? How did someone like you... Never mind." He paused, as if deciding whether I was serious. "That's the rune for fire, if you couldn't tell." I lowered my shirt and studied him. He had scary, cold green eyes, and wore a small jade-colored pendant that hung outside his black shirt.

I had more questions for him. "What were the seventeen aspects?" I asked.

He eyed my friends behind me, with Yellow still prying Gold and Sapphire from each other as they tried to murder one another. "Fire, and ice, the first two societies that made an alliance based on power. That's us. There's Dark, Grass, Electric, Ghost, and Psychic. That was the first major alliance. After that came the alliance between Water, Dragon, Steel, Rock, Normal, and Fighting. The two later merged, and became a joint power along with the Fire and Ice. The Poison and Flying clans stayed rogue or neutral for a while. But they quickly joined the cause of the others when they realized the true enemy." He stopped there.

"What was the enemy?" I asked.

"The Ground and Bug tribes. They wreaked havoc on the lesser nations while the others made peace with them. They attempted a genocide upon these less advanced nations, but were eventually stopped. The Psychic, Dark, Fire, and Ice leaders, the only ones still living, combined their power into one and managed to kill both of their enemies in one huge blast. As a reward for their work, the Alpha brought back their fallen allies, but without their powers."

He tried to sound indifferent, but I could tell he was very interested in the topic. I was too. "What happened to these... runes? After the owners died." I asked.

"The book I read this in just said that they 'were returned to the heavens'. What exactly that means, I don't know. But whatever these are... Whatever we are, we need to make the best use of them." He pointed to the large crowd of recovering people. I noted that he never said exactly how to use them. "And right now, that means getting them home safely. But, I have a question for you." he said.

"My name? Oh, it's Red. And yours?"

"I wasn't going to ask that, idiot. But I'm Green. What I intended to ask was whether or not your friends are like us."

This guy was really observant. "Well... Yes. Yellow has a purple eye symbol on her neck, Sapphire has a green leaf on her arm, and Gold has a yellow lightning bolt on his hand." I said, pointing to them respectively as I went.

He stared, gaping and wide-eyed. Green was about to reply when a deafening siren cut through the air. Brrrrrrm... Brrrrrrrm... The spiky-haired boy and I covered our ears, and fell to our knees.

It continued for a few minutes, then eventually ceased with one final beep. Seconds later, a deep, masculine voice thundered throughout the field. "Hello and welcome, players. You may call me Zero." The owner of the voice appeared in a large transparent window in the sky. He had short-cropped brown hair, and his lips were curled back in a horrifying smile. The man seemed to be very lean. "I apologize for the coughs. They are a mere side effect of interdimensional travel. Fear not, it will pass." Voices of confusion rose from the crowd.

He feigned surprise. "Oh, that's right. You don't know! Allow me to explain." He gestured to all of us. Behind me, I noticed Yellow and our two other friends approaching. "See, right now you are in a pocket dimension I like to call the 'Briefing Ground'. This is where you will be prepared to enter The Game. I control every aspect of this world and the one you will be transported to, as I have captured the legendary beings representing time, space, and antimatter. I could kill you if I wanted." He said, cackling. Voices rose even louder.

Zero sneered. "What is The Game, you may ask? Well, that very question is the reason you are here right now." He waved his hand, and a map of an island appeared beside his face. "This is Kaos, where the Game takes place. All seven thousand of you will be brought here, this time without the coughing. You're welcome, by the way." he said, grinning.

"You will all begin the Game with a weapon and a pocket guide. You will wake up within two miles of a top performer. These top performers demonstrated admirable qualities while assisting those who would have choked to death coughing. These three are- Red Ketchum, Sapphire Birch, and Crystal Kotone. Nine hundred and ninety-seven will start with Crystal, and three thousand with Red and Sapphire each." Our little group of people all exchanged glances, and Sapphire and I nodded at each other. She had a determined look on her face, her jaw clenched. She knew what this was. And so did I.

Zero continued. "These leaders will have to help the masses of their group survive in the harsh conditions of Kaos. Starvation, monsters, and freezing to death are all dangers faced by the players." The crowd began to howl in protest. I felt Yellow's grip tighten on my arm, and Sapphire growled. Gold stamped his foot, driving his cue into the ground. "But all that can be found in your pocket guide. Let's move on to the important part." He cleared his throat.

"Seven thousand players will enter, as I have said before. There is only one way to win the Game, and that is to find the World Door, and leave through it. But-" he waved a finger, and that hideous smile appeared on his face once again. "Now the fun part. Only one hundred players will be able to leave." He laughed for what could have been a full minute, and the crowd once again screamed at him in protest. He waved his hand, and all were quiet once again.

"Now for the Rule. This is the only rule that applies, though extremely difficult to follow in Kaos. And it is one that is punishable by death, even in modern society." Zero's eyes flashed. "Don't die." He said, smiling. The window closed, and that was the last that many of us ever saw of him.

"Teleportation will commence in two minutes." said an electronic female voice.

Platinum's POV

Nothing could have prepared me for that. Not the careful training I had put myself through to keep calm. Nor the countless books on meditation. I took deep breaths, and tried not to think about it. I sat like that for about a minute, until I felt a hand on my arm, and I heard a soft female voice.

"Hey. It'll be okay. Don't worry, we're all scared. We can only hope that together, we can all make it through as a team." When I didn't reply, whoever it was started to laugh. "Besides, I bet you anything he's lying about at least some of it. Who believes in monsters, anyway?" They had a point.

I looked up, and wiped my eyes. I hadn't even noticed that I had been crying. The heiress to the Berlitz family did NOT cry. I ignored it, and the person seemed unfazed by it. She was about my height, with long brown hair and thin lips. She wore a pink, short skirt and a cyan shirt. Her eyes were a light blue, soft but mischievous. She ruffled my hair, to my surprise. "There you go. It'll be okay." She repeated.

I backed up from her. "Do not touch me." I said, my voice as emotionless as I could get it. She waved her hands in front of her.

"Oops. I'm sorry. It's just that I'm scared too. I'm Blue. And what's your name?" She held out a hand.

I folded my arms. "Thank you, but I do not shake with commoners. My name is Platina, and you will address me as such should we ever meet again." I stood up and walked away.

I sighed after a few moments. Why had I been so cruel? She had been nothing but kind to me. Turning, I looked back to where she was. Sadly, she had vanished. I continued on my way.

The electronic voice spoke again. "Thirty seconds until teleportation." Fear rushed through my body, making me shiver. Ever since waking up, nothing good had happened. I ran my hand over my collarbones, in the center of which was the glowing grey image of a ghost. I'm a freak, I thought, as I pulled my pink scarf over the rune. I had read the histories of Kanto enough to know what this meant.

The holder of the Ghost Rune could never die at the hands of another, I knew. And it was I who now held it. Maybe, in this madman's arena we were being brought to, it would come in handy. Then I thought about the sensation of when it embedded itself in me. The feeling of dying fifteen times, one for each year I lived. I shuddered, and fell to my knees. I was now outside the crowd, away from the men and women who screamed and cried in protest.

"Fifteen seconds until teleportation." said that cursed electronic voice. When I got out of this death trap, I would find whatever caused it and destroy it with my own two hands. I clenched my fists.

The prison we were being sent to would not contain me, I thought. "Ten seconds until teleportation."

No madman's trap would hold Platina Berlitz. I had to preserve my family's honor. And my own. I would find the way out, and lead not just one hundred people out. No, not just one hundred. "Five seconds until teleportation."

I, Platina Berlitz, would bring everyone home. And nothing would stand in my way. "Four, three, two, one... Prepare for teleportation."

The storm opened beneath us, and led many a person to their graves.

I feel like I'm focusing too much on Red, so next chapter will start with maybe one of the Johto or Sinnoh Dex Holders. But, I felt he was a good perspective to have on the story as it went. I'm also planning to add non-Dex Holder main characters, but I might be a little more ruthless in their deaths.

So, I'm beginning Chapter 3 now, where the Players will wake up in Kaos, the world of the Game.

I'm going to try to make it as unlike The Hunger Games as I can, while keeping it still somewhat similar, if that makes sense. Please tell me if I am straying too far from originality, and I'll make sure to revise.

Thanks,

dicyy out.