Battle Royal

Throbbing pain consumed Seto's mind as consciousness slipped back into it. He groaned while rolling from his back onto his left side. Although he was wearing a long sleeved sweater and his signature white coat he could still feal the brisk chill from the bare concrete floor beneath him. This alone would have sent up red flags instantly, but Seto was far to dazed by the overwhelming torture from his headache. He opened his eyes and after allowing the fog of sleep to clear he gazed upon his little brother, Mokuba who was passed out next to him. The room was dimly lit by only the moon light shinning through the single wall of large windows. This was most definitely not his office, which was the last place he remembered being, in fact he didn't even remember falling asleep. Seto stiffly propped himself up with one arm and placed his other hand on Mokuba. He rolled him onto his back and shook him softly trying to wake him. But something strange caught Seto's attention, a shinny metal collar wrapped tightly around Mokuba's neck. He brushed back his sleeping brothers lengthly black hair and ran his finger across the center of the collar. The middle of it was a silver, metal square with a black box covering most of it.

"What the..." Seto mumbled under his breath, he stopped mid sentence and jolted to his knees. With each breath he could feel the cold metal of the same necklace grip his throat. With both hands he grasped the collar curiously. "Mokuba! Wake up!" He yelled down to his brother with a slight sense of panic in his voice.

"Where the hell are we?!" The whinny, oh so familiar voice shot through Seto's ears. To him it sounded like nails on a chalk board. He turned around, but froze with shock when he saw what was behind him. The rest of the room was filled with twelve other people, all who were passed out on the ground, and the thirteenth person was up on his knees and was the one who yelled. Jounouchi. Seto ignored Jounouchi's question and scanned the room. He knew everyone by name, they were all either in his Battle City tournament, or his rival's cheerleaders. Otogi, Anzu, Miho, Mai, Shizuka, Honda, Ryou, Yami Bakura, Malik, Yami Malik, Yugi and last and most certainly least in Seto's opinion, Yami Yugi.

"Kaiba!" Jounouchi squealed. "What are you up too? Why are we here?" Seto growled and just continued to ignore Jounouchi. He turned back to his brother who now was just starting to open his eyes.

"Mokuba, are you alright?" Seto asked. He extended his hand out to Mokuba, offering to help him to his knees.

"My head hurts Nii-san." Mokuba grabbed onto Seto's hand and he pulled himself up onto his knees listlessly.

"Sorry, having troubles hearin' me over there?" Jounouchi sarcastically scowled from across the room. He just shook his head at Seto's stubbornness and looked down at the floor. Aznu, Yugi, Honda, Miho and Yami Yugi were all sprawled out on the floor and dressed in their school uniforms. So was Jounouchi, after all that was where they were, at least that's what Jounouchi thought. Last thing he remembered was being in Math class. "Hey guys, are you okay?" He called out to his friends, trying to wake them up. He grabbed Yugi's shirt and shock him rather violently. "Wake up!" He screamed.

"Shut up Jounouchi!" A female shouted from the other side of the room. "You're making my head hurt even more." Jounouchi looked up to see that it was Mai. He smiled stupidly as his eyes rolled over her body. She was wearing that same purple mini skirt and white corset that he loved so much. But she was also wearing a thin metal collar that seemed out of place.

"Mai, what are you doing here? Better yet, what am I doing here?" Jounouchi questioned.

"Where are we?" Anzu asked, still groggy from her sleep. She instantly noticed something weird. She curiously tapped the collar that was tightly placed around her neck. Jounouchi noticed what Anzu was playing with and glanced around the room quickly. Everyone was wearing one of those strange collars, even... Jounouchi eyes widened as he realized he too had one on.

The other people in the room were slowly starting to wake up one by one. Ryou and his Yami were in the corner, Ryou hated being around Yami Bakura it made him feel so uneasy, he wanted to get up and walk over to Jounouchi and his friends, but he knew Bakura would just stop him. Ryou was dressed proper in his school uniform, while Yami Bakura was wearing a blue and white stripped sweater, and a black leather jacket. Ryou looked over to Yugi, watching him as he was awoken by Jounouchi shaking him. Miho and Honda both quickly woke up, and finally Yami Yugi did. Ryou sighed and glanced over to his Yami, who was fiddling around with the same metal collar that was also strapped tightly to his own neck.

"What's with these collars?" Yami Malik demanded, while being the first person to rise to his feet. "Who is responsible for this?" He was dressed in brown cargo pants, a black tank top, golden bracers and a purple cape thrown over his shoulders to complete the outfit. Malik looked up at his Yami towering over him, they were wearing practically the same outfit, except Malik was dressed in a white shirt and wasn't wearing a tacky cape.

"It's obvious no one knows the answers to any of these questions or someone would have said something by now, so just save your breath and stop asking." Otogi was the last person to regain their composure. He too was dressed in the standard Domino High school uniforms, except he was also wearing a tight red and black head band.

"Jounouchi!" A shrill voiced girl squealed in joy. The voice drilled through Seto's already aching head. He wanted to curse at the girl for being so stupid but he bit his tongue to spare is little brother the fowl language. Shizuka, the owner of that annoying voice bolted to her feet and raced across the room.

"Shizuka, what are you doing here?" Jounouchi vacant expression faded into one of happiness and awe as his sister tackled him onto the floor with a loving embrace. However their reunion was cut short by the thunderous bang of the metal doors of the room crashing open. Every pair of eyes in the room turned their attention to the door. In stormed a set of at least twelve men dressed sharply in military fatigues and each armed with an assault riffle slung over their broad shoulders. Everyone was in shock, they just sat in silence while the men lined up against the far wall. The final soldier to march into the room dragged in with him a large metal cart, packed with bulky green backpacks.

"What is going on here?" Seto was the first one to break the eerie silence with is deep, silky voice. He got no response and just a blank glare from the line of Army men. "Well?" he growled with rage building in his voice.

"Yeah, what's the big idea bringing us here like this?" Jounouchi coaxed angrily. Ignoring the pleas from both kids, the man in the dead center of the line stepped forward. He was the only one wearing an officers cap, it was obvious he was in charge.

"Welcome." he spoke with a proud rough voice and stood in perfect stance. "You are the lucky few chosen for this year's Battle Royal."

"Battle...Royal?" Yugi whimpered in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"You have been brought to a deserted island, it's approximately ten kilometers around. Everyone has been evacuated. The island is divided up on a simple grid into many zones, every six hours you'll hear a broadcast update about which zones are becoming danger zones. You don't want to be anywhere near a danger zone." the stern man continued, completely emotionless.

"Answer the damn question, what the fuck is a Battle Royal?" Yami Malik who was still standing up, crossed his arms in protest as he barked each word like a demand.

"Battle Royal is a game. The object of this game is to eliminate everyone you see in this room." As those words escaped the mans lips there wasn't a single kid in the room who didn't glance around at their apparent opponents. "Now about those collars you're wearing. They're one-hundred percent water proof, shock proof and permanent. They monitor your pulse informing us of your exact location and every movement. So if you linger in one of the danger zones or cause trouble we can identify you instantly, and by using radio waves we can transmit a signal that will trigger an alarm and then boom." He said still will no expression. "Explosion." every female in the room let out a gasp and jolted back in surprise. Yugi gripped onto his Yami's arm and Mokuba did the exact same to Seto's. Seto glanced down at his brother, picking up on his fear.

"This is ridiculous." he blurted out with some attempt to comfort his brother, "I have a business to run, you can't expect me to play your stupid game." with a confident stride Seto rose to his feet and pulled his little brother up to his side. He began to walk towards the door, he wasn't planning on stopping but the intimidating 'click' of the safety being switched off from a gun knocked his self-assurance down a bit with each of the ten times he heard it. Mokuba clutched the back of Seto's leg desperately at the sight of ten, fully loaded assault rifles being pointed in his direction.

"Sit down." The officer threatened and Seto retreated to his place on the floor, defensively pulling Mokuba into his arms. The officer cleared his throat and began again, "If you try and rip it off it will explode too." He glared in Yami Bakura's direction who was still fiddling with his collar, "So don't try that. Oh, I forgot to mention, this game has a time limit of three days. If we haven't got a winner by the end of the third day all of the collars automatically explode, and no one wins."

"So you're telling me we have to 'kill' each other?" Honda choked on the word ''kill.'

"If you seriously think any of us are going to commit murder, you're sadly mistaken." Yami's coarse yet desirable voice delivered a much needed reassurance to his friends.

"You are sadly mistaken if you think we wont Pharaoh." cackled Yami Bakura as he rose from his knees. "I never thought I'd get to have this much fun again." he let out a bone-chilling laugh.

"You'll each leave the room one by one, but first you'll receive a backpack. Inside is food, water, a map, a compass, a flash light and a weapon." The word weapon perked the interest of Yami Malik, who let a very disturbing grin spread across his face. "Each weapon is different, not just guns either, it's random so maybe you'll get lucky, maybe not. This method will eliminate natural advantages." Hearing 'natural advantages' made Seto snicker.

"If it was just down to natural advantages you geeks would be toast within the first hour." Seto taunted with a cocky laugh. As light-hearted as he sounded Seto was worried. The man said their could be only one winner. He clutched Mokuba tighter and pulled him into his chest. It didn't matter to him, Seto knew that both him and Mokuba would be leaving this place. Alive.

"Kaiba! No one is killing anyone! We can find a peaceful way out of this if we work together." Yami Yugi spoke strongly and nodded to his small group of friends, who each nodded back.

"When I call your name come up and get your bag, then exit through that door." The officer commanded condescending tone. "Ryou Bakura!" Ryou instantly leapt to his feet.

"This can't be real." He mumbled while making his way through the room towards the Army men. "This just can't be real..." The very last soldier to enter the room swung the first bag off of rack and threw it to Ryou. He staggered back with the weight of it then glanced back towards his Yami. Yami Bakura had that almost demonic look in his eyes.

"Oh you'd better run Ryou." He threatened, and with that Ryou shrieked and took off down the hall way.

"Yami Bakura Ryou." with a sinister laugh he dashed to the other side of the room.

"I LOVE Japan." he laughed as his bag was tossed to him. He raced out the door after Ryou.

"Honda Hiroto" Honda stood up and caught the bag the man threw to him.

"Yugi, we're in this together! And Miho... Don't you worry, I will protect you. No matter what." he smiled at Miho then strolled out the door.

"Malik Ishtar." he stood obediently, took his bag and raced out the door without making eye contact with anyone.

"Yami Malik Ishtar" His demonic laugh was enough to even give the Army man who handed him a bag a shiver down his spine. He glared in Yami Yugi's direction, then turned his gaze to Seto Kaiba before making his exit.

"Mokuba Kaiba." Hearing his brothers name being called made Seto wince. Up until this point he must of been in shock or something because after those words left the mans mouth, panic instantly set in. He swallowed coarsely and rose to his feet, dragging Mokuba up with him. The office noticed him rise with his younger brother and for the first time he smirked. "And of course, Seto Kaiba." he announced, almost sarcastically. Seto swung the first backpack over his shoulder and gripped the other in his left hand. He extended his free arm out straight and pointed to the remaining kids on the ground.

"I want to make this perfectly clear. If any of you get in my way I will not hesitate to kill you." While speaking he slowly moved his hand, warning each person left in the room by passing his figure by them. He stopped in Yami's direction.

"KAIBA!" Yami angrily roared. "Don't be a fool, we can get out of this together." Seto didn't even speak, he continued to point at Yami, raised his thumb to make the hand gesture of a gun and with an almost sadist wink he jolted it up, imitating it firing.

"Nii-san..." Mokuba's plead could be heard from down the hall as the Kaiba brothers made their exit.

"Jounouchi Katsuya." He turned and smiled and Yugi then pulled himself to his feet.

"Don't worry Yug, we'll get out of this together. And kick Kaiba's ass too!" Jounouchi confidently flashed a thumbs up sign to his buddies then left the room with his bag in hand.

"Shizuka Kawai" Jounouchi froze when he heard her name in the distance. He was still standing in the long, narrow hallway that led to the exit when he heard it.

"Onii-chan, wait for me!" Shizuka called, racing through the hall towards her brother.

"Mai Kujaku" She stood up quietly with her head lowered to the ground. She paced slowly, almost depressingly towards the exit.

"Otogi Ryuuji" Otogi dashed for his bag. Before leaving the door he turned back to Yugi.

"I don't want to die..." he paused for a moment then walked out.

"Miho Nosaka" she squealed obnoxiously as her name was called. In a panic she stood up and tried to catch the bag that was thrown to her only to miss and have it fall to her feet.

"Miho is scared, Yugi." she whinnied, looking for some reassurance from Yugi.

"Don't worry Miho, everything will be okay." Yugi said with a smile, but even he was uncertain. She shuffled out the door slowly.

"Anzu Mazaki" before she had a chance to stand up Yami grabbed her wrist and pulled Anzu towards him.

"Anzu, we will be okay, I know you're worried but we can make it out of this. Together." Just hearing Yami's voice gave Anzu more comfort then his words ever could of. She smiled and felt tears form in her eyes. She didn't want to embarrass herself by crying so she jumped to her feet, got her bag and left. After Anzu made her leave, the only two kid left was Yugi and Yami. They looked at each other and smiled. "Yugi, we can do this." Yami cheered before standing up.

"Yugi Mutou" He too stood up and walked over to the soldier.

"I will never play your sick game." Yugi starred into the eyes of the officer and spoke with courage. He scooped up his bag and waited for Yami to follow.

"Yami Yugi Mutou"

"Me and my friends will walk away from this, I promise you." Yami vowed, walking past the officer to collect his bag from the idle soldier.

"If that's what you want to believe..."


[[Long, dull chapter. Yes I know. But it has to exist, important plot details and what not. I promise chapter two will be MUCH more interesting. ;3]]