Survival Island: Anniversary Edition

[Authors note: With many thanks to my good friend and fellow author Leoblade. On with the show!]

"Stark? Roman Stark?"

Roman looked up, tilting his black hat up from shading his eyes. He'd been cat napping to avoid the hustle and bustle of the others filling the large hanger like space. Infact he was pretending to ignore them. They were all going to be competitors in this event. After all... this was Survival Island: 25th Anniversary Edition. And things were going to be a bit different.

Instead of crates of supplies, there would be hidden, trapped or guarded caches and possibly occasional supply drops. Smaller, more valuable and necessary to survival and lasting upon The Island... and dangerous for other reasons. Puzzles and riddles were also implied in the literature he had read.

The island would be less malleable and changing then previous incarnations but much bigger too. A variety of different biomes in different areas to enable more creation of basecamps by the players to operate from. Securing, utilizing and defending certain resources would be a strategy for long play.

Also different was that found Characters would retain their knowledge of being prizes in a game and encountered "wild" Characters would regain that knowledge upon being defeated and "claimed". They'd also be prohibited from acting violently against their "owners" from that point on through control collars though they would still need to be **** into being helpful one way or another.

This time there were also a greater number of contestants that would be competing and vying with one another. There was the potential for teaming up and working together... but also betrayal and ultimately conflict.

Winners take all. The money, the prizes, the glory, the fame... and the Characters. Killing was "prohibited" but accidents happen. "Referees" would be monitoring the contestants vitals through trackers and drones. Recording not just for the show but if a contestant met the criteria for being counted "out" or not. Dehydration, starvation, taking "lethal" damage from illness or injury, etcetera. To make things interesting any "judging" of these states for disqualification, as well as color commentary on the action, was being done by a panel of past contestants. Roman smiled thinking about how that probably included his Uncle Jamie.

"Roman Stark?"

Roman sighed. The voice calling out his name sounded slightly irritated now. He raised his hand seeing a Weiss Schnee with a clip board. "Yeah. Over here, Ice Queen."

The Weiss rolled her eye's and flounced over in her combat skirt. "Har har... You're so funny," she deadpanned. "I've only heard that one a million times before!"

Roman shrugged. "Sorry. Didn't mean anything by it. One of my mothers is a version of you as well as your mother and sister. Term of endearment."

Weiss paused and gave a slight smile at that as she handed over the clipboard. "Verify the information and sign here please. Oh, is that so? Well it happens. So you're father's a RWBY collector but you obviously aren't a Schnee yourself." She looked him over her curiosity peaked. "No white hair and blue eyes is a dead give away. Hmm... dark hair and that colorful pinkish streak. Li Ren... or a Pyrrha or Nora?" She guessed taking in his Athletic build.

Roman smirked as he finished signing the boilerplate of stuff and pushed up the brim of his hat. "Not quite," he said giving her a wink.

Weiss frowned slightly as her eye's met his heterochromatic ones of brown and pink. "Neo," she said taking in the black hat, though it was more of a fedora style than a bowler. "And you were named after that Torchwick guy?" She guessed nodding towards his cane as she took back her clipboard. "No accounting for taste. I take it that's your chosen gear? Specialty modded multiweapons are against the rules you know."

Roman spun his cane and tucked it under his arm. "It isn't. It's made of a very special and exceptional material... but other than that it's just a simple stick."

Weiss shook her head checking the forms. "Looks like it's already been inspected and signed off on. Well it's your funeral with your basic fancy stick. Most folks are talking a gun or a sword or something. It looks like the other basic gear you've selected from our list for bringing with you are the basic knife, canteen and backpack in your pod as well as your... hat?" She blinked. "Is there something special about it?"

Roman winked. "Yeah. It keeps the sun out of my eyes."

"Right," Weiss said snorting softly. "I'm sorry I asked. Well it looks like everything checks out. She pulled out a bracer and handed it to him. "Put that on please."

"What is it?" Roman asked closing it on his left arm. "Some kind of Pipboy tech?"

Weiss smirked. "Hey, good for you. You're smarter than you look. Yes the basic idea is that of a Pipboy but far more modern and sleek and less anachronistic. We can track and monitor your vitals with it and it'll make it easier for the cameras and drones to locate you as well as help record audio. It comes with a compass and mapping function that will be useful. The "rescue" option can also be accessed from it doing away with the need for the old awkward rescue phrases. Simply toggle it to "quit". Contestants who do choose to quit early however will lose half of their "prizes" earned."

Roman snorted and shook his head. "Who goes into Survival Island without knowing their way around? That's just stupid."

Weiss nodded but shrugged. "You'd be surprised, actually. That's one of the things that gets edited out of the show a lot. People lost and wandering around. Doesn't make for very exciting programing when they pass the same rock and tree over and over. These prevent that as well as making it easier to keep an eye on the contestants. It'll also help monitor any Characters you find as well as a new feature we're implementing, the "Token Reward System"."

"I heard about that," Roman said. "Something about getting tokens and the more you have at the end the bigger the prize reward?"

Weiss nodded. "Contestants will be awarded a token for every hour they remain on the island through the TRS. At the end of the contest tokens will be cashed in for roughly a hundred credits."

Roman whistled. "So roughly 2,400 credits for each day of surviving on the island and doing nothing else? Not bad but not exactly thrilling either."

Weiss smirked. "That's right... if they do nothing else! Tokens can be earned and rewarded for completing tasks and trials. Find a item cache or Character and you'll earn more far more tokens than are awarded in a day." She grabbed his arm to open up the display on the bracers to the "TRS shop" window. "You can also spend your tokens while on the island to have certain supplies or items dropped for you by drones, though not at equal market rate. A basic cheap 20 credit first aid kit you could buy in any store for example would cost 10 tokens which would be equivalent to 1,000 credits if one had saved them until the end of the game. Thats why there's an ammo cap for those bringing guns. They'll start with a big advantage but ammo will become costly. These "tokens" can also be traded amongst players as a type of currency to barter and exchange goods, supplies or services with and also Characters-"

"And they can be stolen?" Roman said grinning, catching on. "Or taken from defeated Players?"

Weiss huffed. "Now how did I know that you'd catch onto that fast? That's exactly right. Upon defeating another contestant you can open the TRS and can take possesion of their credits and/or Characters or the judges will automatically reward them to the opposing contestant in question."

"That does change the game. Interesting!" Roman said mussing. "So does losing all of ones tokens mean that they're sent home?"

Weiss shook her head. "Yes and no. Players can't lose all their tokens after the first week unless they spend or give them away. After the first week they have a minimum balance of one token for everyday spent on the island. Drop to that minimum or below and they're disqualified from play and removed from the island but at least they have something to show for their efforts. Their things can either be claimed by another contestant or in the event there's no other contestants present for whatever reason they'll be left as a cache and their Characters, if any, will be "wild"."

Roman smirked. "Yeah, a pittance. Still something is better than nothing for a consolation prize. Good for the producers too. It incentives longterm play but also spending their prize ahead of that time. Smart business... and devious. I approve."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'll pass that along to the higher-ups. Any special final requests or messages for home?" She asked pointing towards a floating drone camera. This one was visible while most of the ones on the island would be utilizing cloaking technology.

Roman grinned and signed, his hands moving as he spoke. "Hi, Moms. Love you!"

Weiss paused. "Okay... not what I expected. Well then if you'd please enter your pod?"

Roman stretched as he climbed into the pod next to him and settled in saying flippantly, "What's the in-flight movie? Hopefully not "Gumpinator 3: Rise of the Bubba" again or "RWBY does Dallas" as that'd be awkward. I'll take the fish for my meal by the way and a glass of champagne. First class all the way."

He finally saw this Weiss smile as she closed the hatch on him. He'd been joking, nonchalantly but strapped himself in properly before propping his feet up like he was relaxing. "Good luck, Joker," she said pressing the button filling his pod with the knock out gas. "I was going to ask him but I don't have too... He's one of those Starks."

Roman laughed as he settled back in the pod and got comfy. "Fortune and glory," he said to himself... though neither were exactly what he was seeking. It was the challenge that appealed to him and he already had a plan. "With a little luck I'm gonna run this game," he said sleepily closing his eyes. "Just wait... and... see..."

[Roman Stark will return in

The Island

Coming Soon]