1 The Contestants

Welcome! This is the seventy-seventh season of the popular System Marathon Competition. We're ready to bring you our twenty contestants today. All of which have no experience with a system or knowledge of other worlds. Also, again, none of the contestants are from any of the worlds watching this show.

Each contestant is from varied backgrounds and skills. No system for each of our contestants is a duplicate and all of our contestants very willingly joined when we took them from wherever they happened to be at the time the show was about to start. We received no complaints from the contestants, so we take this to mean they're all happy to be participating.

Now let us meet who the participants are…

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Elmo groaned as he moved. His head hurt, but couldn't remember a reason why. Last he could remember was that he was getting a ram memory card for his computer. He had made the purchase at the Best Buy he lived almost next to, then on the way to the parking lot, he didn't know what happened after that. All he knew was he was waking up wherever this was.

It was just his luck that this would happen during one of the rare times he ever went outside. While he didn't have a 'phobia' or anxiety-disorder that kept him from going outside and interacting with others, he had heard others in his family describe him as painfully shy. Which he didn't care to complain about, since it wasn't really anything bad, though he sometimes did wonder about that.

He sat up slowly, trying to keep his aching head from hurting more. Though, as he did, he noticed something that caught him off guard. He wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. Not only that, but there wasn't any sign of where his clothes were at all.

He did a quick mental check to make sure he didn't have any holes in his memory or anything that would indicate a serious problem. He was Elmo Garcia, the third child in the third generation of his family after they'd moved to the US. He had black hair, stood about five foot eight, brown eyes, and a perpetual tan,. He was 20 years old and a self-taught coder that ran his own web business of managing websites. He ran over his phone number, social security number, and even his lists of passwords for his various accounts. Everything checked out for him.

He looked around the room and sighed when all he could find was a scrap of cloth that he might be able to use to make a rudimentary loincloth. While he found the idea distasteful, he didn't exactly have a better idea.

He moved over to it and began figuring out the best way to do that. Once he had it tied around his waist, covering pretty much just his groin and backside, he heard a voice echoing around him as well as inside his head.

The voice welcomed viewers to some weird sounding reality kind of show. He wasn't sure what a system was, but he got the feeling that he was one of the participants. Though, it was clear that whoever or whatever was announcing this, they were very liberal on the usage of 'willingly' and 'no complaints' in addition to 'happy to be participating.' No one asked him if he wanted to participate, no one asked if he had any complaints, and he certainly wasn't happy about it, and suspected the other participants weren't likely to be happy about this either.

"Our first participant is Frank Winchester with the Archer system. He is a mechanic that primarily works on diesel trucks in his world," the voice announced and Elmo heard something move nearby, but it didn't look like the room he was in was at least directly affected by it.

After that announcement, it took a minute before the voice continued.

"The next participant is Heather Goldblum with the Healer system. She is the valedictorian of her high school class and is expected to have a very bright academic future in her world."

Again the wait after the announcement. Elmo wasn't sure what the delay was about, but he was getting annoyed by it already.

"The next contestant is Michelle Baker with the Brawler system. This vixen is fresh out of military training and is expected to rise in rank pretty quick in her world."

Elmo got the sense that the delay was so whoever was viewing this 'program' could see each 'willing participant' as they were announced.

"Next up we have Bart McKenzie with the Staff system. Don't let this boy's size fool you. He has been the top of his class in anything physical since he was old enough for his world to care to start measuring."

Elmo sighed wondering if he should sit down. This was taking longer than he'd like and he still had no idea of exactly what was going on.

"Up next is Elmo Garcia with the Black Mage System. Which world he came from doesn't matter, but he is a web master for several websites of his world," the voice said, then suddenly part of the wall in the room he was in suddenly opened.

Elmo walked to the opening and realized that it had been a door that opened on its own or whatever mechanism whoever is behind this kidnapping show used to open it. On the other side of the door was a large room that had several other doors. The room itself was furnished with a few tables, chairs, couches, and rugs, but what occupied most of the space in the room, in relation of furnishings, was bags, weapons, armor, and what Elmo suspected was food.

The weapons were swords, axes, spears, daggers, and the like. While the armor were the kind he would have expected knights to wear, though some looked lighter and made of leather and other materials, while some were even more like padding than actual armor. Almost like they were put in a medieval setting.

He could see the other participants who he guessed had already been announced out in the room. The one that caught his eye first was a boy he assumed was Bart. The boy looked like he was twelve at the oldest. The other one that looked rather young he assumed was Heather. She looked like she probably might still be in high school, unless she managed to move ahead some grades.

She looked like she was mid-way between four and five feet tall and reminded him of his younger sister. Especially with the way her brown eyes analyzed her surroundings and how her wavy black hair hung to just below her shoulders and even was allowed to hang over her shoulders.

Although, those in the room were dressed with more than a loincloth. What that was about, Elmo couldn't say. The boy looked like he was European but wore what looked like a Japanese kimono. For the others, the high school girl wore a nightgown, the woman wore a yoga outfit while the man wore a casual t-shirt and jeans.

What the hell is this thing about? He wondered as he stepped through the door and the voice announced another participant.

"Our next participant is Charles McCoy with the Berserker System. He is a lawyer in the world he came from and is considered one of the best."

Another door opened almost on the other side of the large room and after a minute, a blond man came out of the room, wearing nothing but a pair of dress pants. Elmo estimated he looked like he was in his late forties, if not in his fifties. Although, it was too far to really make out any significant details.

Why do all of these people get something better than this stupid loincloth? Elmo screamed in his mind. In fact, why is everyone wearing something completely different from each other? He was starting to suspect that the garments had likely been left in the rooms each of them came from with care rather than randomly throwing stuff in the rooms.

"The next participant is Sonya Harris with the Shape-changer System. She is a world class gymnast in her world and recently won the world champion title just last month."

The woman that came out of the next door stood looked to be around five feet tall. She had shining black hair that came down to her waist and piercing blue eyes. She also had on button up pajamas.

"Next up is Elin Davies with the White Mage system. She's a sweet one who's lived a life of luxury. She hasn't had to do any actual work in her world. In fact, she hasn't even left the house she was born in until now."

The door opened was the one to the immediate left of Elmo's room. The woman that came out looked like she'd rather hide in the room rather than be around the people in this room. Despite that, it looked like she was forcing herself to enter this larger room. What she was wearing was a white with red trim hooded robe that she held close in front of her. She also had her hood up, so Elmo couldn't see her hair color, but her amber eyes shone clearly and he estimated she was just under five feet.

"Now we have Stanley Clinton with the Politician system. Never play cards with this one, he's a bona fide card shark and will take what's in your wallet as well as the wallet itself when he mops the floor with you."

Elmo was starting to get tired of these introductions. However, he still looked to see who came out. Stanley looked to be in his mid-thirties and wore a kilt. He had brown hair with emerald eyes. He looked like he was about six feet tall.

"Up next is Kim O'Hare with the Fighter system. She's had a job that isn't your usual job for anyone. She works as a professional thief. What makes her different in this aspect is she only uses her skills to test the security systems many employ to protect their valuables."

The woman that came out was wearing a floral dress that did not match her expression. Kim was looked to be close to six feet with blazing red hair that came down in ringlets to her mid-back and ice blue eyes. Elmo also couldn't help but shrink back away from her when her glare moved across him, despite the fact that she was on the other side of the room.

"The contestant up next is actually an oddity. This contestant is actually two people, two brothers in fact. Welcome Leon and Elwin Bell with the Polar system. This system is unique in that both brothers have to be together for them to even check their status, let alone use their abilities. Anyway, these brothers worked as mercenaries most of their lives and now they're here for the competition together."

Two men walked out of the next door wearing hospital gowns. Very authentic ones from what Elmo could see, that even didn't have anything for the back. One was blond with hair that was neatly trimmed and stood at around six and a half feet while the other had red hair that came to his shoulders and looked like it was allowed to grow rather wild and stood close to six feet. Both had cornflower blue eyes.

"Next we have Jonas McCain with the Rogue system. He's never had a real full-time job, but he has been the guest of the police so often that you could list the address where he lives as that jail. He just gets into bar fights almost every night he isn't in jail."

The man that comes out of the next door that opens has short brown hair and striking grey eyes, stands about six feet and is wearing a toga. Elmo stops at the sight of him. It's almost as if the rest of the world disappears and all that's left is this man.

He'd never been interested in anyone before, but now he can't think of why he hadn't met this man before. The man looks to be in his late twenties and Elmo decides then and there to learn as much as he can about this man.

However, as the man turns away from Elmo, the spell he'd been under suddenly went away and he became aware of the rest of the world again.

"Our last contestant is Owen Andrews with the Esper system. He is a janitor in his world. Spends most of his time cleaning up after the children of the elementary school he works at."

A man comes out of the last door after it opens wearing a towel. He had long blue hair, brown eyes, and looked about just above five feet. He looked like he was in his early twenties.

As Elmo saw Owen wearing nothing but a towel, he couldn't help but consider him lucky. A loincloth at least felt like it covered more than a towel did.

He quickly looked around and noted that everyone was wearing something different. Maybe there's other clothing out here, but it was clear that whoever or whatever set this up had deliberately given them each a different kind of garment. If that was important he couldn't say, but since he didn't know anything about what they were doing here, he had to at least consider that a possibility.

"Now that we have introduced everyone, we'll explain the systems. For those of you who don't know what a system is, and that's probably most, if not all, of you. These systems will help you complete the challenges. You can look at your statistics at any time by saying 'status.' You will then be able to see your stats as they currently are. However, unless you use an item or ability, you will not be able to see the stats of anyone else. Each system has a tutorial feature that will help you understand how using your abilities can work.

"In regards to the challenges, our first challenge is a dungeon crawl. If you don't know what that is, then that's a disadvantage you'll have to deal with. Also, the longer you take to complete most challenges will make the challenges more difficult. We won't say how for any of the challenges that this applies to. Any individual contestant or team of contestants that complete all of the challenges will be able to return to their world with whatever rewards come with winning this game. If you die in the challenges, then you're out and good luck in your next life. However, we ask that you try not to die at night. While we show highlights from the activities through the night, our viewers prefer to see contestants dying live. However, we can't make you survive until the morning if you don't really want to.

"You can form teams or disband the teams whenever you want. Anyone who reaches the end as part of a team will not be penalized for doing so. If it's a team that reaches the end, then all members of that team are considered to be winners. Lastly, any of the items you want to take with you from this room are available. You can take all you can carry. You may also remain in this room as long as you want, but the food will not be replenished at any time. However, once you leave this room you will not be able to return. If you have any other questions, please consult the tutorial aspect of each of your systems."

At that point, a very large door begins to open at the end. Outside that door looks like a stone corridor that leads into darkness. Elmo wasn't sure what was down that corridor, but we was pretty sure that he'd need to be with a team, or party, in order to survive himself.

He looks around and sees others talking amongst themselves. A few were staring at the air in front of them while others were staring around, not sure what to do.

Elin was one of those, though as she moved, he caught a glimpse of her bare thigh through an opening in her robe. He noticed there were ties along the front that apparently Elin hadn't noticed. So, he went over to her and started tying those to help her keep it closed. At first Elin looked frightened of Elmo, but once she realized what he was doing, she lost most of that fear.

"Get off her!" Elmo heard someone say behind him as he finished the last tie before he was pulled away from Elin.

He saw Kim glaring at him. Elmo nodded and started to walk away. One thing he definitely didn't need at this moment was to get in a fight. Especially with a woman who would clearly be able to mop the floor with him with ease.

"Sorry for any trouble," Elmo said, hoping Kim would let it go at that and started to turn to leave. He only stopped when he felt someone grab his wrist. He turned and saw Elin was the one who stopped him.

"He- he was helping me," Elin said, so quietly that if he hadn't been that close to her, he wouldn't have realized she'd spoken.

Kim merely glared at Elmo. Elmo wondered if he'd found the first members of the team that would at least keep him alive for the near future. At least if he wasn't killed by one of them first.