Damian stands on one of twenty-four podiums, surrounded by people that he used to call his friends. What were they now? Nothing had changed between them that would make him think differently. Most of the other participants he had known for years; Veir, Ai, Mustika, Drone, Lamitrov, Miracle, and even Hewitt. Was he really supposed to kill them? Was he really supposed to see them as threats who would kill him themselves without a second of hesitation?

The sun shown down on Damian, hot, but it actually felt pleasant with the breeze that rolled through the area around them. Heat meant that he was going to have to find water. There was plenty of it in the Cornucopia in the center, but also in the center were weapons and tools of killing. His friends, or whatever he could call them now, were going to grab those weapons for themselves and then they would try to kill him with them if they could.

Who could he trust? Why would he even bother, knowing that they'd just kill him anyways? How was he going to find water? How was he going to find food?

How was he going to kill his friends?

The reality of the situation hit him all at once. Standing where he was now, drinking in the smell of the forest and basking in the heat, actually having to plan and think out how to survive and how to kill twenty three other people, it was too much to bear. His life was spiralling and tossing and turning upside down and there was nothing he could do to escape it. He was going to starve or die at the hands of people he called his brothers and the thought of it burned his mind like someone had set it aflame.

"The Games will begin in ten, nine, eight..."

His ears perked. What was stopping people from leaving their podiums early? An advantage could save their lives. The only thing that could be stopping them now would be something that made saving your own freaking life not worth it. That meant...

Suddenly, Damian smiled. He knew how he could get out of this horrible reality that he did not want to be a part of. "I wish you all the best of luck!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that the others could hear him. "I'm sorry." He closed his eyes and leaned forward...

And he fell, off of the podium as the announcer had just reached three.

BOOM!

The ground beneath Damian exploded ferociously, and the top half of his body was incinerated at once. All that was left were the skeletal remains of his lower torso, and a pair of legs that still twitched where they sat.
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"ZERO!"

The countdown finished, decorated with the thunder of a cannon shot. Immediately, more than half of the contestants fled into the forest around them and disappeared into relative safety. Crustaceon, Vianbni, Kursura, Squidd, Scatter, Miracle, Ai, Drone, Veir, Darknesspawn, InnoSinn, Zero, they take a calculated risk. They knew the center would become a bloodbath. It wasn't worth dying to take a chance at better equipment. And so they disappeared.
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The mace felt heavy in Kazumi's hands, its metal warmed to an uncomfortable heat by the sun. Lifting it up was a struggle. How was she going to gather the strength to smash someone's head in with it?

The time would come sooner than she was ready for. Cybernetic sprinted towards her at a frightening speed, and before she could overcome her apprehension and rear back for a swing, the cyborg was on top of her and his all-too-human hands were wrapped around her weapon. "Hey! Let go!" Kazumi cried, trying to fight back. "Just leave me alone!"

"Reccomended status: Get fucked." Cybernetic replied, lifting a leg and booting her hard in the chest. The air left Kazumi in a rush and she tumbled backwards onto the dirt. She gasped, realizing the weapon was no longer in her hands, and she desperately tried to scramble to her feet before the robot could kill her with her own weapon...

But he was already gone.

"Oh, geeze..." Kazumi sighed. "I probably couldn't have used it anyways, but... Man."

She had risked entering the Cornucopia for nothing. At least she was still alive.
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"Well, then. A truce sounds pretty good right about now." Seagull and ErrorBlender had both rushed to the Cornucopia at once, unaware of the other. Almost like some kind of joke by a higher being, Seagull had gathered a jar of fishing bait, and ErrorBlender had grabbed a rod. Neither of them were any good without the other.

"No kidding." Error chuckled, unable to suppress his grin. "Come on, then. Let's find a place to do some fishing."

They walked off into the forest together.
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Gasping, roiling with adrenaline, Mustika sprinted into the dangers of the Cornucopia with her eyes locked onto a bag. She was just going to take it and get out of there as fast as she could. There was a mace and a pair of sais and a big container of water; the others would go for those and leave her alone, right?

Sprinting still, she reached out and grabbed the bag and took off, but at the exact same moment, Stracked had grabbed the bag as well. They were both jerked by the unexpected momentum and thrown to the floor, lying dazed for a moment or two. "Heh, I thought I was the only one who wanted this." Mustika forced a nervous laugh, looking up over to Stracked. "Could I have this? There's water right over there. I don't want anything else."

Slowly, Stracked climbed to her hands and knees. Her eyes were wild with something that Mustika didn't know could be found in a human being. "This is my bag. MINE!" She exploded at once. With the back still in hand, she bounded with feral grace and landed knees-first on Mustika's back. Sharp pain and horrible nausea exploded from her chest and she found it impossible to gasp in another breath of air. The slender hands of an anime character grasped her hair and reared back, slamming her head against the ground brutally, again and again and again and again. All Mustika could do was gasp and choke as her vision no longer made any sense, so disoriented that she didn't even notice the twine straps of the bag being wrapped around her throat. Until it tightened savagely and she could no longer think or breathe.

Her last thought was one of regret, that she never got to say her goodbyes to Kursura.
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For some reason, the others had kept a wide berth of Hewitt as he ran towards the center himself. There were a pair of sais lying on the floor of the Cornucopia, but no one opposed him as he strolled over and picked them up for himself. "Well, this is convenient." He said out loud, twirling the weapons in his hands. He had never used such things before, but they felt natural in his grip. "Still not better than a mace. But this'll do just fine."

He headed back out towards the forest.
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