Halo Fanon:Survival of the Fittest/Season 3

Prologue

 * Release Date:5/27/10
 * Summary: A select group of highly skilled individuals from the multi-layered universe of the Halos have been taken from their own realities and delivered to that of another. As they awaken and begin to come to terms with their strange new environment, some visitors will help them begin to understand the full reality of their situation.

It was cold, dark, and as far as Arnold Leroy Lewis Junior could tell, he was naked.

The SPARTAN-I Marine sergeant stretched out his arms and, after realizing that he couldn’t seem to reach anything, stretched out his legs as well. These met nothing as well, giving Arnold the impression that he was just floating in some dark void of nothingness.

What the hell is going on? he wondered furiously. Was this some sort of psychological test? Were his superiors trying to test how he could get out of whatever this was, or were they just trying to see how he reacted to being plunged into a strange new environment. If this was the case, then they could go ahead and make a note on their clipboards: it would take more than some fancy simulation room and the loss of his clothes to scare Sergeant Major Arnold Leroy Lewis Junior.

Still trying to deduce what exactly was going on, Arnold struggled to think back to what he had been doing before he had suddenly awakened in this blackish void. To his shock, he discovered that he couldn’t remember anything leading up to this. All of the memories of his life and military service were intact, but he couldn’t remember anything recent. It was as if someone had just stepped in and removed a portion of his recollections.

Seriously, Arnold thought. He was beginning to get a little freaked out now. What the hell is going on?

He spoke aloud into the void. “Hello?”

His first thoughts were: What a stupid thing to say.

His next ones were: Wait, I can hear myself?

That, coupled with the fact that he was breathing, indicated that there was air here. This tidbit of information meant that wherever here was had to be a part of something that was providing the aforementioned air. This realization offered Arnold a strange amount of comfort. At least he was somewhere physical.

“Arnold?”

The SPARTAN-I jerked in surprise at the woman’s voice. It seemed to be coming from both all around him and directly in front of him. And, more importantly, it was strangely familiar...

“Arnold, can you hear me?”

He hesitated only a moment before responding. “Yeah, I can hear you. What the hell is--”

“Please Arnold,” the woman’s voice interrupted. “There isn’t much time.”

Jared-091 blinked as a sudden beam of pale light cut through the darkness around him. The SPARTAN-II had just spent the past few minutes floating in this odd spaceless environment, trying to keep his head as he weighed his options, and now it looked like he would finally be getting some answers.

“What’s the matter, 091?” snapped a familiar, commanding voice. “Cat got your tongue, trainee?”

“What?” Jared asked as a figure began to solidify before him. “Trainee? Just who are--”

He stopped short as the figure condensed to show the face of a man he had known and revered since he was six years old. Chief Petty Officer Mendez’s face glared at him.

“I thought I trained you better than this,” the legendary SPARTAN trainer growled. “Stop gawking and start listening, because we don’t have all day!”

The second he realized that he couldn’t touch anything, Simon-G294 began to flail around desperately in the darkness. He had to find a handhold or surface and he didn’t quite care where it was. He just needed something, anything, to assure him that he was, well, somewhere.

“Disappointing, as usual,” drawled a casual voice that seemed to come from all around him. “Get it together, kid, or you won’t last a day where you’re going.”

“Venter.” Simon’s eyes narrowed at the sound of the hated voice and he spun around in an attempt to find the owner.

“Try looking up, would you?”

Simon snapped his head up and saw Redmond Venter hovering several feet above him. The man’s body was made completely visible by a stream of light that cut through the darkness like a knife. The Insurrectionist leader waved down at his former subordinate. “How’s it going?”

“John?” Riker-012 gasped in amazement. “I thought you were dead!”

“Riker, there’s not much time.” John-117’s voice was tinged with an uncharacteristic urgency as he faced his stunned comrade. The war hero’s olive green MJOLNIR armor was in stark contrast to Riker’s own naked body, a fact of which Riker was keenly aware.

“Alright, what is it?” Riker finally managed, surprised by John’s grave tone. “Why are we here in this... place?”

“Just listen to me. You’re about to be fighting for your life against more than two dozen people who will all have one thing in mind: survival.”

Strifalex Benvora glared up at his former teacher. “What are you talking about?”

Zeratanis Benvora’s voice contained no accusation or any other acknowledgement of Strifalex’s past betrayals. “There are many others, all of them handpicked warriors of high caliber. And you will have to fight them all if you wish to emerge victorious.”

Strifalex had no doubts in his mind that he could defeat any warrior that came up against him, but he was still confused by this sudden declaration. “Victorious from what?”

Suddenly, he was seeing images flash before his eyes. Pictures of a forest, mountains, a desert, a station deep in space.

“You will find yourself somewhere in this place,” intoned Zeratanis. “You must be constantly on guard, for it has many guardians.”

Images of lizard-like creatures and hulking, hump-back warriors replaced the landscapes, and although he had never seen them before, something in Strifalex’s mind seemed to identify them as Saulosians and Hai.

“Wait!” Arnold yelped as the pictures of the creatures faded from view. “What the hell are Hai? Saulosians? Who are these people I’ll have to fight?”

The image of the woman he had once had an affair with shook her head. She looked exactly as she had the last time he had seen her, when she had told him she was pregnant with his child. “I can’t tell you everything. You’ll be given the weapons and equipment you need to survive, but the rest is up to you.”

“I’ve told you all that I can,” Mendez said firmly. “Get ready, 091. The second you hit the dirt out there, you’ll have to watch your back. They’ll all be trying to kill you, so don’t trust anyone.”

Jared had more questions that hadn’t been answered, but Mendez was already fading from view. “Don’t disappoint me,” his former teacher warned.

“Suffice it to say, all of the other contestants have been selected because of their outstanding skillsets,” Venter finished in a bored tone. “This means that just about all of them should be able to kill you easily--unless you use your head to stay in the game.”

Simon glowered up at the man who had taken him in and then betrayed him. “Why the hell should I trust you?”

Venter shrugged and began to fade from sight. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But that just means you’ll die sooner rather than later.”

“John!” Riker shouted as his comrade vanished. “Wait! You still haven’t--”

And then everything went dark again.

Ashton Graves awoke from the dark void and realized that he was standing in a forest full of trees and shrubs. No longer naked, he wore the standard gear of a New Harmony soldier and clutched a battle rifle in his hands.

He wasn’t sure what it was his former drill instructor had been talking about, but he was sure that he had to get moving right away. The stuff the DI had told him hadn’t sounded good.

He sprinted across the forest floor and took cover behind a log, scanning the area with his rifle. Nothing.

As Graves began to plot his next move, he heard a rustling in the trees above. Frowning, he looked up.

The last thing he saw before he was torn in half was a massive armored creature that soared down from the trees like a demonic messenger.

Episode Two: Blood, Sand, and Bullets

 * Release Date: TBA
 * Summary: Plunged headfirst into a brutal kill-or-be-killed environment, Lazlo-108, Lionel Jackson, and others must battle their way across a scorching desert as they are threatened by both swarms of Hai warriors and their fellow contestants. Elsewhere, Rikier-012 awakens inside a mysterious labyrinth of corridors and tunnels where he is set upon by Saulosians and contestants alike. Who will remain standing once the smoke has cleared from these opening clashes?