It wasn't simply random, no. The competitors were chosen by the former Elemental. Someone in a high place of authority simply reads off the names on the list. It wasn't easy, either. People have to travel to the Elemental City if they are 14-19 years of age. The whole thing was idiotic, some thought. Anyways, moving on to the current moment in time. Everyone is gathered around a small stage, and the competitors are about to be announced. Cassandra Owens, apparently a distant relative of the first Elemental, and the one who has read the names off the list since the 20th Elemental, has said her beginning speech as usual. Most of the crowd is terrified, as she pulls out the list.
"The competitor for the Earth Nation is... Thomas Green."
Somewhere in the crowd, a 16 year old boy is dragged on the stage, behind the curtain.
"The competitor for the Fire Nation is... Scarlet Thorne."
A 17 year old girl is dragged on stage, like the boy.
"The competitor for the Water Nation is... Sebastian Ericsson."
A 19 year old boy is dragged on stage.
"The competitor for the Shadow Nation is... Luna Randall."
A 14 year old girl.
"The competitor for the Light Nation is... Kira Amani."
A 14 year old girl.
"The competitor for the Ice Nation is... Jack Fielder."
A 14 year old boy.
"The competitor for the Electricity Nation is... Harriet Evans."
A 15 year old girl.
"The competitor for the Magic Nation is... Finn Lupin."
A 14 year old boy.
"The competitor for the Air Nation is... Ethan Hektor."
A 15 year old boy.
"And last, but certainly not the least, the competitor for the Fear Nation... Delancie Devon."
An 18 year old girl.
A minute passes, and the curtain folds back, letting the shaking, frightened and crying kids be seen by everyone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, your competitors." Cassandra spoke once more, and the kids were whisked away.

The train (more like subway) ride was silent until Finn spoke. "Are we... are we going to die?" He choked, his eyes trained on Cassandra. She smiled. "Only the best of you will survive." She stood and left the compartment, leaving Finn, and the others, stunned. Finn was on the verge of tears, as were some of the others. They were all terrified, but who could blame them?

They sat in silence until they reached their destination. What they saw shocked them horribly; they approached a stone wall, which Cassandra pushed open. It was what was inside that shocked them. There were ten chambers that looked like prison cells, and a large table with several chairs surrounding it in the middle of the room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of cracked stone, and the room looked as if it would collapse at any minute. They were led to the table, and sat down in the chairs. Cassandra sat at the end of the table and began speaking. "This time around, the competition to become the new Elemental will be like no other. Starting tomorrow, there will be a challenge every day. After every 3-5 challenges, there will be a death challenge. As always, the souls of  your elements will be stored, to later be infused with the victor. What makes this different is that there will be challenges specifically made to help or kill certain elements. There will be a sort of point system. For every challenge you win, you gain 5 points. For every challenge you lose, you gain -5 points. When the death rounds come along, the one with the highest number of points will receive something that will help them. And the person with the lowest will have nothing but their powers to compete. Those of you with no points or are in between the two, you will have the standard tools for the challenge. There will be certain rules in certain challenges. I wish you all the best of luck." She pointed them to the directions of the cells, which had the element marking next to them. "Farewell, I shall see you tomorrow." Cassandra left them locked in their cells.

||THOMAS||
Thomas, to tell the truth, was scared. He couldn't recall a moment he'd ever been more scared. He took what little comfort he could in looking at pictures of his parents and brother. Although it helped some, it didn't help enough. He grew anxious, and started to cry. He curled up into a ball and cried. He held his pictures close to him and cried himself to sleep.

||SCARLET||
Scarlet was crying, many would in a situation like this, but she hardly noticed. She thought about what would happen if she died. If she did, her family wouldn't survive for much longer. Hell, she didn't know if they would survive even if she did survive. She was their main income of food. She clutched the heart necklace she got from her grandmother. It was the most expensive thing she'd ever owned, and even then, it wasn't worth all that much. She swore that she would do her best to win this sick game she was forced into.

||SEBASTIAN||
Sebastian felt guilty. For what, he had no idea, he just felt guilty. He thought about where he would be now if his name hadn't been called. If he haven't been chosen. He would be at home with his sister. His sister, he realized, was why he would try his damndest to survive. He needed to protect her at all costs, and dying wouldn't be helping in the slightest. She needed him to survive, and that's what he was going to do.

||LUNA||
Luna was surprisingly calm. She felt bad for everyone else, but she only had her father, and she didn't mean anything to him. What happens will happen, she decided. She curled up with her stuffed rabbit and tried to sleep. What happens will happen, that much she believes, but that won't stop her from trying.

||KIRA||
Kira was already planning out everything in her head. She was devising the best strategies to win this awful competition. If she became the Elemental.. no, when she became the Elemental, she would be sure to help all families and people throughout all of the Nations. She would send her deepest regrets to the families who have lost their child in this game. If anything, she would find a better way to pick a new Elemental. She was determined to.

||JACK||
Jack knew he didn't have what it took to be the Elemental. If he died, he could finally join his family. He wasn't going to give up entirely, however. He was going to find the person he thought would be the best Elemental, and help them win.

||HARRY/HARRIET||
All Harry wanted to do was find a way to make it so that nobody dies. But she knew that wasn't possible, so she was at least going to try. She was going to try to win, but hoped that if she didn't, someone who would be a great Elemental would win. She hoped that her family would forgive her if she didn't win. She started to cry, and cried herself to sleep. In all honesty, she was scared.

||FINN||
Finn was a bawling mess. He was scared to death, as anyone would be. He was only human, and didn't understand how anyone would expect him to be brave, like his mother told him to. He knew that he was going to die, wether it be the last death round or the first. He didn't feel like trying, but knew his family would never forgive him if he didn't. So here he lay in his cell, hoping to god that he could make it through alive.

||ETHAN||
Ethan barely understood what was happening, let alone why there was a horrible feeling in his stomach. He wanted to be brave, to make it through alive just to show that he could. He had no family except his sister Emma, and she was on her own now. He knew that no matter what happened, Emma was going to die. So he was going to try, try to win this stupid game because if he didn't, both he and Emma would be dead, and what's the use in that?

||DELANCIE||
Delancie was worried and anxious, but hardly scared. She wanted to be, she wished to be scared, but she just couldn't. Her element was Fear, but for some reason she couldn't feel it. At this point in time, she wasn't thinking straight, or else she could've drained the Fear from everyone. That would be the most useful thing she could do at this point, but she couldn't. Not yet, anyway. But because of her lack of fear, it made her more determined to win. If she won, all of this would be put behind her. She could finally live her life in peace. That's what was going to happen, at least that's what she hoped was going to happen.

Hello! Starting next chapter, every 3-5 chapters, I'll be having you vote for who you want to die. (damn, that sounds terrible) What I mean by that is I want you to tell me your least favorite character, and whoever gets the most votes will die. Bye!