Cleo was on the show's set, sitting with her slender legs crossed atop one another. She was using the back of a naked, blindfolded and gagged brunette bound on all fours to the floor as a chair. She wore her usual impossibly tight, hole-riddled jeans and her leather jacket, but a dark crimson pillbox hat was now also sitting on her head. The Host was resting her chin against her closed fist, still as a statue except for the fingers of her right hand that repeatedly tapped against the creamy skin of her thigh through a tear in her jeans.
In front of her, two staff members, easily recognizable thanks to the word 'staff' written on the back of their black overalls and the white mask over their face, were strugglingly holding a massive and heavy-looking digital clock steady. On the comically oversized device, red seconds ticked down steadily and only a few remained. A drone silently filmed the scene, focusing mostly on the countdown and Cleo's bored face.
When the clock finally read 00:00:00, Cleo sprung to life like a jack-in-a-box. She jumped to her feet, sending her elegant hat flying, and grinned, stretching her arms and neck. "Time's up♪! Our contestants' leisure stroll in the playground is now over!"
While the two staff members carried the clock away, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, Cleo approached the gray, polished rectangle on the set's floor and picked up a discarded tablet. Humming to herself, Cleo repeatedly tapped the screen, her smile widening everytime her fingers touched the device.
The feed switched to the image provided by another drone flying between the tall wall that surrounded The Game™'s playground and the edge of the jungle. Two orange lights began blinking on the wall along with a resounding alarm then a large mechanical double door steadily slid open, seamlessly disappearing into the wall itself until it immobilized with a loud clang. The lights and the alarm stopped as suddenly as they had started.
"Ready or not, here they come! Our huntresses join the fray!" Cleo's disembodied voice commented excitedly.
The theme's song of The Game™ played loudly as four women stepped out of the open door in a single line. They all wore camouflage track pants and shiny leather combat boots, but their tops were different, allowing the viewer to quickly identify them at a glance.
The leading one was the tallest and meanest-looking. She bore dark red hair tied in a ponytail and wore a tee-shirt adorned with flames of all shades of red, orange and yellow. Smirking, she stared at the drone hovering high above her and flipped a finger at it before disappearing into the jungle.
"The star of our show, the legendary, unforgettable Ares! She will bring ~hell~ to our contestants!"
Next in line was a bouncy blonde with flowing long hair and an apple green shirt. With a faint smile on her lips, she thoroughly ignored the flying drone and entered the jungle in turn.
"Artemis! No matter how far you run or how well you hide, she will find you!"
The second to last huntress was the shortest of the bunch. She had pink, fluffy twintails and both the front and the back of her white tee-shirt was covered in small pink hearts. Passing under the drone, she winked and blew a kiss at it.
"No one is safe from her outburst of violent, plentiful love! Aphrodite!"
The last huntress was the one with the less defined style. Yet, with a black ponytail and a plain, black tee-shirt, she was the one that blended in the shadows of the jungle the best. In sharp contrast with her fellow huntresses and their well-practiced entrance, she awkwardly stole glances at the drone while heading into the jungle.
"Last but not least, Athena the rising star! She will make sure that she is deserving of this title."
The feed faded back to Cleo's set right as the doors began to close with a mechanical whining. An holographic projection of each huntress stood behind the Host with a nameplate at their feet. The Huntresses were at least as important for the show as the contestants, and Cleo was more than happy to capitalize on their fame and infamy. She lavishly posed in front of each of them one by one, careful not to obscure their name to the camera.
Suddenly Cleo did a little bounce, making her breasts uncontrollably jiggle, and clapped her hands. "Wasn't that exciting? Are your pants already down?" Cleo sighed and shook her head. "Well, hold your horses, because it'll take time for our huntresses to catch up with our contestants. Don't edge right now, you won't last long enough." She added mockingly.
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Evelynn, the contestant number five, was down to one knee, retying the laces of one of her shoes that had become loose. Suddenly, a roaring alarm was heard in the distance. Evelynn's ears perked up and she took a deep breath as she rose to her feet. Scanning the trees that surrounded her, she quickly found what she was looking for, a concealed camera.
"Heard that?" She asked the camera with a smile. "The Game is on for real now, the huntresses have entered the playground. This is why I took a power nap earlier. The huntresses are only human, they will have to rest as well, but for the first night you can be sure they will keep trucking forward, and so will I. I hope I can reach the second biome tomorrow, the further in the lead you are, the safer."
The contestant picked up her backpack and slung it on her shoulders then, with a last wave to the camera, took long strides in the jungle.
As the camera kept filming Evelynn slowly disappearing in the jungle, Chibi-Cleo appeared on the feed, frowning. She stayed silent for a few seconds until even Evelynn's conspicuous turquoise hair wasn't visible anymore.
"Cunt." She spat curtly.
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"There's little I despise more than people not playing their part." Cleo pouted exaggeratedly before continuing. "It really pains me to say it, but someone's hardly playing right now."
On the show's set an holographic map of the jungle appeared behind Cleo. On the viewers' feed a simplified version of the map appeared on the lower right corner. The biome took the shape of a semicircle, the straight line atop was the edge of the next biome and the curved line below the entrance of The Game™'s playground.
Two white dots showed up on the map, respectively labeled 5 and 1. They both were more than half-way through the jungle.
"We have some speedy contestants this season." Cleo chuckled. "They are still far away from their victory though, I hope they still have some gas in the tank."
The next two dots were much closer to the start than the finish. Still, the one labeled 3 was still quite further ahead than the one labeled 4.
