Elwood City, circa. 2005.
Elwood City in the country of Alamania was under totalitarian dictatorship, as well as a very oppressive regime under the rule of bear president Pete Carleston, but all residents name him "Grand Father". Ironic to the nickname itself, he was the youngest looking "grand father" you have ever seen. He was in his 50s, and despite his superior appearance, he carried out several of the strictest and most undesirable laws you could ever imagine, and arguably the ruler of the most oppressive regime in the world.
And not just the laws stating that you were not free to vote, not free to own private property, not free to have sex except in arrange marriages, not free to do nearly anything, as you could argue.
If you dared object, the sentence would be death, by beheading. They would take you to the Spare Room to perform the horrible deed, whilst the stomach-strong jury and lawyers and judge sat there, watching the punishment take place. It was alright for them as the regime has been occurring for 75 years.
You were always under surveillance 24/7. You never knew that every place had installed security cameras, so there was little to no privacy no matter where you go. And these cameras had sound tracking devices, as well as chemoreceptors and thermoreceptors. If you dared lay a finger on them, you would be in the court immediately.
Life at Lakewood Middle School was nevertheless a burden for students. Being shut off completely from the outside world, all news and lesson materials were filtered only through the city.
No one was even looking forward to the future, as after high school, came compulsory labour and military service.
"Are you excited about going to the military?" asked Arthur sarcastically.
"Yeah," responded Buster, "and for the Rulers Party too, there is no other party other than the one and only created by the Grand Father."
"Very true." said Muffy.
"I don't believe that - " Francine began, but remembered that alike everyone in the classroom, she was under surveillance, "the military and labour work would be so fun."
"Very fun." said the Brain sarcastically.
The bell rang, and instantly their teacher, Mr Elkin, came in.
"Good morning class."
"Good morning."
"I have some very good news for you."
The students' eyes widened in surprise.
"We are going on a field trip to the forest!"
The class cheered, finally been given a break from school, which never seemed to be enjoyable.
The next day, the students headed off for school, but waiting for them nearby was a bus, ready to take them to the forest.
The students hopped in and began practically dancing and prancing around, free from school.
Muffy pulled out her camera and started taking pictures of her friends.
"What a cool camera!" exclaimed Francine.
"What model is it?" asked Sue Ellen.
"A MegaX."
"Where on earth did you get it?" asked Fern.
"My daddy got it for me on my birthday. He said it was intended to be a big surprise."
Whilst they were chatting, Binky, Buster and Arthur were talking to each other.
"Girls...they always talk too much about girly stuff and technology." Binky scoffed.
"Yeah, girls!" agreed Buster.
"I have something even more fun to do." Binky pulled out a container of live worms.
"Binky, no!" protested Arthur.
"Why not? It's fun!" said Binky.
Binky crept up to the girls and poured the worms down the blouse of Muffy's school uniform.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Muffy.
Francine gritted her teeth. "You will pay for this!"
Eventually the heated chaos died down and soon all the students were asleep as they drove through a long dark wide tunnel. Everyone, all but one. Arthur woke up with a start, noticing that he was the only one awake.
He walked off his seat and began wandering around the bus, but was stopped by the bus lady, holding a bat.
Arthur tried cowering away but he could only do much so, since the bus was still moving at an insanely fast speed. Without hesitation the lady whacked Arthur in the head with a bat as he passed out on the floor.
Eventually Arthur woke up in a dark gloomy classroom, and this was definitely not a classroom back at school. He breathed out a sigh of relief, his head was better but still in pain from the hit. As he breathed, he felt something tight and uncomfortable and cold attached to his collar. He touched his neck and felt something cold, hard and metallic. He tried jerking it and twisting it around, but it was perfectly glued to his neck.
"Arthur," wept Buster, "What the hell is this?" he asked referring to the necklace on his neck, "And you have one too?!"
The necklace looked exactly like his own, metal, cold and tight constricting his throat. It was a collar that looked more like a dog collar made out of metal.
"How do I get this off?" complained Francine, "It's stuck tight and I'm the most athletic girl at school!"
"This is so unfashionably atrocious!" wept Muffy, "I can't stand this, it's cutting my neck!"
They did not have to wait that long before the lights turned on, revealing that soldiers were standing in every single corner of the classroom, and in stepped Mr Ratburn.
"Good evening class." said Mr Ratburn in a normal voice, "And welcome back to class."
"Mr Ratburn..." Fern gasped.
"It is a pleasure for all of us to reunite once again as a family," he began, but bellowed, "Now SIT UP STRAIGHT AND LISTEN CAREFULLY!"
Mr Ratburn walked to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the board.
"North Korea, China, Japan, Soviet Union, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Libya, Cuba, what do all these countries have in common?" asked Mr Ratburn.
The Brain raised his hand.
"They have all been involved in war or conflict."
"Excellent observation Alan. These countries have been involved in war, and like them, you will be experiencing a war right now, because you have all been invited to the game of..."
Mr Ratburn went back to the board and scrawled an enormous B and R.
"BATTLE ROYALE!"
"As you can see, you will be literally in a battle. Since the world is no good and full of wars, civilians like you need to fight and kill off once another to survive. And this is exactly what you will all be doing in this game of Battle Royale. Yes Muffy?"
"Why are we all here?"
"Because it's all your damned faults. You are all the cause of the crisis happening in this world right now, yet all of you have to live with it and suck it up to survive. If you want to live up to your life expectancy, you must fight off every single student in this room right now, in order to survive. Some way war is peace. And for this we are taking a step forward and following this motto, since you will all be killing each other. A soft spoken, shy and quiet person will never make it into this world. And for that, you will all be participating in this game and giving it your all. Now listen carefully as the rules of this game will be explained to you all."
A soldier switched on the interactive board, being the only electronic device in the room, and started pressing the play button, revealing a footage of Mr Haney.
"Greetings, everyone, and congratulations for having been selected to play in the 2005 Battle Royale. It is my honour to selecting you all to participating in this game and I wish you all the best of luck. What is Battle Royale? It is a game where you must kill off every single student in order to survive. If you want to be the winner and return home, you must kill everyone, even if it is your friend or relative. If you want to live you must be able to do this."
"As you are wondering right now, we are located on a remote island in the middle of the ocean. The island has literally nothing but just forests, beaches, and only five shelters, excluding this classroom, so you may use them as hideouts for defence against weapons."
"And by the way, you are all probably wondering, what is on my neck? Well, it is an electronic collar. It has chemoreceptors, thermoreceptors as well as sound tracking devices so no matter where you go, your teacher will always hear you. They are waterproof and shockproof, so they cannot in any way get damaged. You can forget about taking them off. If you jiggle with them for a prolonged period of time, attempt to rip it off, or disrespect your teacher, he or she has the right to activate it. A red dot and beep will sound, indicating that it will explode and kill you. They are controlled by a special remote control, which is owned by your teacher. If a button of a particular number is pressed, it means that the number represents the student as of the seating plan back at school that is to have their electronic collar exploded, so don't mess with your teacher."
"That's correct!" yelled Mr Ratburn maniacally, holding the remote control.
"You will all be assigned a particular weapon, it could be a knife, axe, sword, you name it. You will be told then which weapon you will have. You also have a map of the island and the compass so you don't have to worry about getting lost. Speaking of that, as this game takes place over THREE DAYS, danger zones will be activated at 6AM, 12PM, 6PM and 12AM. The danger zones will have the bombs planted in the ground activated, so you'd better watch out! There are speakers everywhere in the island so you don't need to worry about whether you are too early or too late to listening for the danger zone locations on the map."
"You also have two bottles of water, a packet of tissues, a bag of food which consists of a loaf of bread, an apple, a bag of potato chips and three chocolate bars. You will need your energy and nourishment if you want to fight."
"All right!" Buster yelled after hearing of the fatty foods, jumping up. An awkward expression eventually crossed his face when no one else responded and continued to stare at the screen.
"Shhhhhh!" hissed Mr Ratburn.
Mr Haney continued, "For the female students, individual toiletries are provided so you don't need to worry about finding a bathroom. We do everything we can to make sure our contestants are fully prepared for the game."
"Any questions?" asked Mr Ratburn, "Arthur?"
"How will we tell our parents?"
"We already notified your parents through phone and email, so don't worry about it. Fern?"
"What if several students remain?"
"Then all collars will explode. So don't even think about resting and helping one another. Francine?"
"Can we go home after this?"
"Yes, only if all the other students are killed."
Mr Ratburn continued the footage.
"A list will be read out, containing the names of all the students and their assigned weapons. When you hear your name, please step forward and collect your necessities."
#1 Arthur Read - knife
#2 Francine Frensky - axe
#3 Buster Baxter - gun
#4 Muffy Crosswire - bow and arrows
#5 Alan Powers - mirror
#6 Fern Walters - scalpel
#7 Alex Thompson - sword
#8 George Lundgren - scythe
#9 Jenna Morgan - fan
#10 Ladonna Compson - barbed wire
#11 Sue Ellen Armstrong - razor
#12 Maria Tildas - whip
#13 Binky Barnes - ice pick
#14 Molly McDonald (exchange student) - matches
#15 Rattles Bower (exchange student) - knitting needles
#16 Slink Smith (exchange student) - pen
#17 Kieper Johnson (exchange student) - electric shaver
#18 Billy Jones (exchange student) - chopper
#19 Prunella Deegan (exchange student) - strigil
"Oh," said Mr Ratburn, "I nearly forgot. We have six exchange students joining you. Make sure to keep them in, as they will get to know you better. They are pretty dangerous looking as they have been former gang members, so watch out for them."
"Bring it on, baby!" hollered Billy, clutching his chopper as he swung it in the air maniacally, smiling wickedly.
"Oh Francine," wept Muffy, "You can't die!"
"I'm so scared," cried Fern, "I can't die."
"Arthur," wept Buster, "This may be the last time we ever see each other. I don't wanna die."
"Don't worry," said Arthur, "If we have to die, I'll make sure that we do together. You were more than a friend to me since we were in Lakewood Elementary."