Young Writers Society

Luna

Perfect, I thought. It would give me and France a chance to work together.

I wasn't at all surprised that it was us who were picked; they always called on the newbies. I had been picked my last two times here. Both times I was the only one who got out in one piece, and, my first year, with their humanity chip in place. These sneak attacks, they were dangerous. A full team waiting for the attack, and only two meeting them. That's why the newbies were chosen; they were expendable. If either Kirill or Ivan were taken out, or even injured, we were doomed. Period.

I walked over to France. As always, he looked nervous, scared. I figured he was as much; all newbs did. I did. I wouldn't doubt even Kirill and Ivan and Kai did, ruthless and frigid though they seem.

"You excited?" I asked France, who looked over at me, looking like a frightened deer.

France

I looked over at Luna with wide eyes before calming down and shaking my head.
"If nervous counts as excited, then yes. Extremely excited." She shrugged and followed behind with me as the group started into the islands forest.
"They always send in the newbies," she said while shaking her head. "Were expendable." I glanced over at her before running a still shaking hand over the blade of my scythe.
"I'm sure we'll make it out okay. I mean, they will be on backup after all." She looked over at me with a dull look in her eyes.
"Think of this as an initiation, France. We have to get through on our own." I glanced over at Luna with slightly wider eyes, but she was already dispatched, lost in her own thoughts. Time to toughen up, Francy. My thoughts were paired with a shaky sigh.


"Okay," Ivan started once we'd found a good enough spot to stay before going out to search for the other team, "let me warn you all, there is some big game here. All of the normal animals that some of us may know have been scientifically altered to be bigger and more deadly."
"Just don't be surprised if we come across a eight foot mouse," Kirill cut in, smiling slyly. I groaned and looked down at the ground, the butterflies in my stomach that had calmed down were now rampaging.
"Luna and France," Ivan stated, his voice just as even and hard as usual, "get ready for your mission."

Kirill

"You know what to do," I said with a small smile, "find the base, choose a victim, and take them out." Kai nudged me on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that's right! Thanks, Kai, I almost forgot! You guys also have to crush the chosen victim's Humanity Chip. Now, set out." Luna nodded stiffly and drew her weapons, France still looked a bit nervous but that was normal for a newbie. I'd say he was doing much better than I was my first time on the Toy Box.

"You'll be fine," Selene said dully from her spot on the ground. France glanced over at her and nodded before running off to catch up to Luna who'd already started off. Once they were gone, I slumped down to the floor and took off my hat.

"You think they'll make it out okay," Ivan said lowly, leaning against a tree beside me. Kai tilted her head and smirked evilly.

"Oh, stop it," I snapped at her, "they'll be fine!" She just rolled her eyes. Deciding not to argue with her, I drew my name in the ground with the tip of my sword.

"As much as I'd love to continue discussing the newbies, we have bigger matters to discuss," Ivan stated. "We need a game plan, a backup plan, and a back up plan for that back up plan." Surprised, I looked up at Ivan, searching for the faint smile he usually held when he was joking, but it wasn't there. He couldn't possibly be serious! Ivan's usually the go with the flow type of guy, he hates planning. Looking over, I saw both Selene and Kai with confused looks on their faces.

"Ivan, what do you mean?" He just shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Something just seems wrong this time around. I just want to make sure everyone makes it out in one piece."

Luna

France and I set off into the woods, keeping our eyes out for the enemy camp. I wasn't sure how many other dolls we would meet--they rarely made the teams even, and with so many experienced dolls with us, the odds were most likely not in our favor.

We stayed to the forest, but right on the edge by the shore--any careless dolls could easily be seen from there. We kept quiet, and communicated with hand gestures. I heard a crackle of leaves and motioned for France to stop. I sent him a look that said "watch your step" and slowly, making sure not to rustle any trees, and crept further into the forest.

I could hear them before I could see them. They were loud, and in distress it appeared. It sounded as though some animal was attacking them. My first guess was that they were trying to find food when they hunted the wrong wild boar. I knew it was that kind of animal from the angry squeals it let out.

Me and France pushed our way to the edge of a clearing, and when we peered through the foliage, we saw two dolls, amateurs at best, trying to fend off an overgrown pig. One's leg was completely shattered, and the other was unsuccessfully scrambling up a tree.

That doll fell and landed with a thud, attracting the attention of the boar. The boar charged the doll and hit its midsection, ramming it into a tree where its torso and head cracked. I grimaced; I knew how painful that could be.

I chirruped, calling the boar to me ever so gently. Almost reluctantly, it changed course and followed my voice. When it neared us, I unsheathed my sword and held it i position.

At my side, France looked at me like I was suicidal. In a way I was. It didn't matter; we had to win and this was the way to do it. I gave him as reassuring a glance as I could, then lunged into the clearing, slashing at the boar.

It squealed as I sliced its hind legs. I pulled up and plunged the sword into its heart. It gave one last pathetic squeal, then toppled over, clearly dead.

"Your welcome," I said to the broken dolls in a triumphant air, knowing they were done for. I walked over to the cracked one. I'd put her out of her misery first, the poor thing. I smashed her humanity chip and she fell over, lifeless once again. "Your welcome," I said softer, knowing that I had really just helped her.

Then there was the one with the smashed leg, who was trying to hobble away as France went to end him.

Just then a rustle of leaves rang out and I perked up.

Three more dolls walked into the clearing, each heavily armed and looking merciless.

France

I locked in on the doll I had to demolish. Poor thing, he just looked so helpless, but this is my mission and I have to finish it! With a deep breath, I raised my scythe high in the air before bringing it down swiftly, aiming for the neck. A high pitched ring filled the air before being replaced by a head hitting the ground somewhere off to the side. Quickly, I ran over, grabbed the disembodied head, and torn out the Humanity Chip, crushing it beneath my boots.

"Done," I said lowly, turning around to get Luna so we could just leave, but before I could even put up my weapon, someone emerged from the bush in front of me. I almost dropped my scythe at the scene. "Umm..Luna," I whispered while backing up. She didn't respond. The thought that she might have been silenced for good crashed through my mind and I quickly whipped around, only to find her facing two more people.

"Get your guard up, newbie," she said to me without turning around. I nodded and gripped my scythe. Just slice the heads off I chanted to myself. It'll be a piece of cake.

Luna

I backed up slowly, one tiny step at a time, until me and France were back to back. The three other dolls circled us, and one walked up to France. I leaned my head back, so that I was slightly over France's shoulder.

"Duck when I count to three," I hissed, making my voice inaudible for the other team's dolls.

"What?" asked France.

"Three!" I yelled. I swirled around and swung my sword neck height. France almost didn't have time to react; some of his hairs were decapitated as the blade flew over his dropping form. Unfortunately, the other doll caught on fairly quickly, and I only scraped his neck.

After sheathing my blade hurriedly, I grabbed France's hand and yanked. "Run!" I dragged him to his feet and together we frantically ran away, the other dolls hot on our trail.

"Now I know why no one ever makes it back from this," France yelled at my shoulder. "You always break them first!"

"Hey!" I yelled back at him. "That only happened once!"

It wasn't until after the words left my mouth that I realized he probably was kidding. I looked and saw that his face had paled and he had slowed a bit. So much for gaining his trust in my abilities.

"Come on!" I screamed, yanking on his arm.

Up ahead was a waterfall and a cliff hanging over a river. There was no bridge, and the cliff was too wide to go around without getting slaughtered.

When I didn't slow down, France yelled at me," Hey! That's a cliff; what are you doing?!"

"Cliffdiving!"

He probably would have stopped, but I still had his hand. I pulled him over the edge along with me. It was an eighty foot drop to the waters below.

Come on people, post! I am having WAY too much fun with this SB. Seriously, it's almost sad how much I enjoy SBs where the point is to kill other people in a game.

Ivan

Kirill yawned somewhere next to me, her eyes already getting heavy.

"Where are they," she groaned. Kai shrugged and looked off into the woods.

"I don't either," I replied. "They were supposed to be back a long time ago." Kai smiled and looked up towards they sky.

"They did not die!" shouted Kirill.

"We don't know," I retorted. "Maybe they'll be back soon."

Kai

I doubted the newbies were healthy. Not dead, maybe; Luna was too smart. But there was no way they were getting off without a scratch. But the look on Kirill's face was priceless whenever I questioned it, so you couldn't blame me for playing up that angle. I laid back on the ground and tucked my hands behind my head, rubbing a lock of hair with my thumb. The stars were always prettier from here than Seattle.

My sword was itching to be swung, my knife begging to cut, cut, cut. I whined a little in the back of my throat, and Ivan looked over. I waved my hand at him and he shot me a look before turning back to Kirill. I scowled and started drawing in the sand some more. My name. Ivan's face. The trees. Seattle. Rough sketches in damp sand were better than eternal boredom.

"Do you really think they're dead, Kai?" Kirill says. I thought she sounded scared, very. I shrugged.

Maybe they were. Maybe they weren't.

Maybe drawing in the sand had no point.

Maybe this battle really wasn't different than the others.

Luna

The warm water sliced at my porcelain skin. As always, I knew that the water should be frigid, chilly, but it wasn't. It never was. It defied nature, but, then again, so did we.

The sound of rushing water swarmed my ears as I plunged to the bottom of the river. I opened my eyes and saw France slowly float downwards. Time to save the newbie, I thought swimming towards him. I grabbed his arm and kicked my legs, slowly ascending to air. It wasn't easy dragging France with me, and it was slow, tedious work. By the time I broke surface, my lungs were burning and a slight buzzing sound filled my head. I needed oxygen.

When we made it above shore, I gasped, taking in gulps of air, and an awakened France did the same. Now that he was conscious, we could each swim to shore, and it went faster, though far from fast.

After what seemed like an hour of doggy paddling, we finally dragged ourselves onto shore. I started climbing the cliff side.

"Um, isn't that where the people that are trying to kill us are?" France asked, obviously skeptical.

Silly boy. When would he just learn to trust me? I knew what I was doing.

"Come on," I called down. "You'll see."

Apparently not wanting to be left behind, France started climbing after me, though he still didn't look sure of this plan.

About halfway up the cliff side, there was a slight ledge, maybe a foot or two wide, that I climbed onto. On hands and knees, I crawled along it, towards the waterfall. I looked back to see France following me. Once I got to the waterfall, the ledge got smaller, maybe a foot at best. I stood up, held my hands out to the side to balance me, and shimmied across the ledge.

At the middle of the waterfall, my ears were flooded with the sound of gushing water. I turned around--carefully--and felt around for a nook in the rock wall.

"Ah ha!" I gripped it with my right hand and pulled myself up a few inches, where I found another nook that I grabbed with my left hand. Using my upper arm strength, I pulled myself up, nook after nook, inches at a time. Eventually I was able to use my legs to push off. About ten feet of that later, I was almost to my destination.

Seven feet above me lay a ledge. The nooks had run out.

Ready, I thought. One, two, three!

I pushed off with my legs, and jumped up. I grabbed the edge, and strained my fingers, begging them to hold me. Flexing my very tired arm muscles, I pulled myself over the ledge, into the cave that lay beyond.

I peeked my head down and saw France at the little ledge, looking up at me, obviously confused. I shouted out instructions, and soon was pulling him over to by me.

"A cave behind a waterfall?" France said. "How cliched."

"Hey," I said. "No one ever accused the humans of being creative."

In the corner of the cave, I found flint stones and a torch. I used the stones to start the torch on fire, then dropped them back down.

"How did you know those were there?" France asked. "How did you know this cliff was here?"

"Easy," I replied. "This isn't the first time I've had to jump the cliff, and it won't be the last. Also, planted these flint stones and the torch here last time we were in the games. It makes going through the tunnel so much more pleasant."

"Tunnel?"

I swung the torch to the corner, revealing a small path. "Like I said, you really gotta start trusting me."

I walked into the tunnel. "This comes out close to camp. Come on, if we hurry we can get there before sun down."

France

Luna was crazy. I'm sure of that now. Jumping over cliffs. Caves behind waterfalls. It was all too much for a small newbie like myself. I guess I'm lucky to be paired with her.
"Thanks for not breaking me. Though I do believe you did crack my leg." I looked down and rolled up my pants leg and, sure enough, there was a crack there. Nothing big, I just hope I wouldn't hurt it anymore.
"Sorry," she mumbled, holding the torch up higher. "We're almost at camp though, you can ask Kirill to wrap that up for you. She's sort of a nurse around here." I nodded and followed closely behind her.
"Do you think the other team will follow us?" I asked, a hint of worry creeping into my voice. She just scoffed and laughed a bit,
"They wouldn't be crazy enough to jump that cliff," she said confidently.
"Only you," I said with a small smile, nudging her in the shoulder. She turned to stick her tounge out at me.

Luna

I was starting to like this France. When I was sent out with other newbs, they always acted like they had a plan, their plan was going to work, and I was crazy so they wouldn't follow me. France... well, he probably thought I was crazy too, but he listened anyways, which was how he was still alive. Smart boy.

Hopefully he would make it out alive. It was torture always being paired with the newbies, then every time, right after I got to know them, having them stomped out. But France seemed smart enough to listen to me, which would be enough so long as things didn't get too out of control. We still didn't know how many dolls there were, but there were at least five, two of which were dead. My guess was there were a lot more than three to kill.

We made our way by long, windy tunnel, led by torch light. A constant dripping sound echoed from a far corner, just like it always did. In a couple hours were saw natural light again. It was a miracle that it wasn't pitch black nighttime yet, though the sun was lowering towards the horizon. We would have to find camp soon.

I put out the torch and stashed it behind a huge rock and some bushes. "Remind me to replace the torch inside," I said to France. I had a feeling that was not the last time I would need that cave.

It was only about ten minutes before we neared camp. Stepping out from behind bushes, I said, "We knocked off two of them." I smiled my brightest smile, but made sure I could still see. I loved the look of astonishment I got every time I came back alive. Especially now that I wasn't the only one.

~Hey guys, can we get this going again? I do really like this SB idea, and stuff. But, if no one's interested in reviving it, would it be okay if I started a new SB about this? 'Cause I do really like this~

Ultra, I think most would agree with me when I said this was as good as dead. I do really want to continue it, I love my charries too much to just quit them, but, if this does not come back to life, you can make a new SB. In fact, you should start working on it now. I'll message the orignal members of this one and see if they would be interested in giving it another go.

Okay, I'll start making it.

Mail me the draft.