Seth Williams, a husband and father of two kids, was walking to the bathroom connected to the master bedroom of his house. He was holding eight identical action figures that looked like modern US soldiers dressed to camouflage in a desert. There were also two dolls that looked like nurses with him, and they were around the same size. His kids had taken both kinds to a playground and played with them in the sandbox located there. As a result, sand grains were all over them. Seth had a habit of talking to himself when no one was around, and here, he said to himself, "The kids played with these in a sandbox. Even though we already have six other nurse woman dolls, action figures that were based on soldiers from a war that ended over 200 years ago in the attic, science fiction soldiers camouflaged for a forest to promote a TV show, and Soviet soldiers from World War II camouflaged for winter. Ugh. Soviets. I remember the threat of nuclear war. Has that actually gone away?"
As he was about to turn on the sink to clean them off, an alarm on his watch reminded him he needed to get to work. He set them down behind the shower, where the kids had set up tents when playing with them, and he rushed to his car, turned it on, and left to go to work. He didn't even bother to close or lock the door, but he trusted his neighbors.
As he left, the toys he was about to clean off got up on their own. One said to all of the others, "Mr. Williams mentioned other action figures of soldiers. We want to be the kids' favorites, right?"
They all replied, "Yeah!"
Another said, "We should destroy any soldiers not part of our team! We'll be the favorites by default!" The rest shouted in agreement. A third said, "This will be our base. Four of us will stay behind, the medics and two others. The two others that stay will have better weapons and be guards."
They all agreed, and once they decided who would be the guards, they went to base. A guard said, "Medics, you also have grains of sand on you, and you have yellow paint splattered on you. Let's call ourselves Yellow Team. The rest of us will be soldiers."
The rest accepted.
In the computer room of the house, where the kids left eight action figures that looked like Soviet Union soldiers from World War II camouflaged for winter, as well as two nurse dolls, they all also got up on their own. One said, "The kids love to play with us, but do we want to make sure that we're always the favorite toys?!"
The others replied, "Yes!"
A second said, "We were left in the freezer overnight last night. Water froze onto us, so we have ice on us. Will that slow us down?"
The others besides him replied, "No!"
A third said, "Since you two nurses are splattered in white paint and have ice on you, we are all White Team. This will be our base, hidden by the couch. Two of us Soviet toy soldiers will stay behind with the nurses, and we'll call you two ladies Medics for the time. The two others that stay behind will be Guards, with better weapons than the rest, who will be called Soldiers."
They accepted this.
In the attic, which could be accessed from a room connected to the master bathroom, another group of toys started moving on their own. This group was made up of eight action figures based on American soldiers from the American Revolutionary War. They also had two nurse dolls with them with them, and theirs were splattered with blue paint and, like the soldiers they were left with, had quite a bit of dust on them. There were also tents left up there, with a vent system that had an opening that led directly to their base. One of these soldiers said, "Why were we left up here while less worthy toys get played with on the main level?!"
Another replied, "Yeah, and we've been up here for years!"
A third said, "That's it! We're going to go down to the main level, kill the toy soldiers that are certainly stealing what is ours, and become the kids' favorites!"
The rest replied, "Heck yeah!"
A fourth said, "Two of us older soldiers will stay behind with better weapons and become Guards. You two ladies are now medics. The rest of us are soldiers. Since the medics are splattered with blue paint, we are Blue Team!"
They all agreed with that despite not having a formal leader.
In the front yard of the house, a fourth group of toys got up on their own. The eight here were soldiers with armor that was colored to camouflage in a forest, and they were made to promote a science fiction movie that came out in the mid 2000s. They had been left outside for a week, so they and the medics had grass and dirt stains. The kids had set up a base for them when playing, and there were popsicle sticks positioned to serve as a wall. Once they were sure no human could see them, one said to the others, "The kids must not like us to leave us in the elements for this long!"
A second replied, "They probably play with other toy soldiers now instead of us. Us! Soldiers made to promote a movie!"
A third said, "We are going to go inside, deal with the ones that took the kids' attention away from us, and become the kids' favorite toys!"
They all agreed to that. A fourth said, "Two of us with better weapons and the nurses will stay behind, becoming guards and medics. The rest will be soldiers. Since you two ladies have green paint splattered on you, we are Green Team!"
The rest shouted in agreement, healed up, and prepared to go inside.
By then, the battle royal had started. No hostile encounters had happened yet...
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Action Figure Battle Royale
ActionFour teams of ten living action figures each. All want to kill the other teams to make sure they're the kids' favorites by default. One school day, and rules and instinct forbidding them from moving on their own when a human can see them. Which team...