Cycle 7

Cycle 7: Air Supply is the seventh installment of Battle Royale.

State: South Carolina Winner: Erin Rosenfeldt Runner Ups: Location: An unknown island

Summary
Originally, the supply packs were supposed to be distributed at the same time the students were released via parachute. However, technical difficulties rendered the second helicopter unable to take flight as scheduled. The supply distribution was delayed, leaving the students without weapons or supplies for eight hours into the game. During this period, four students were eliminated (one broke her neck due to a complicated parachute landing, two by accidental collar detonation, and the fourth by strangulation).

When the supply helicopter was finally able to reach the island, it suffered from an unknown malfunction that caused it to dramatically lose altitude. It finally crashed in the northwestern sector of the island, causing the deaths of all personnel on board. Following the sights of the crash as well as the GPS signals of their supply indicators, a good number of the students converged on the crash site.

What took place over the following two hours was one of the largest and most chaotic bloodbaths in Battle Royale history. The battle likely would have continued indefinitely if not for the bushfire that was caused by the crashed helicopter, which had spread to a large part of the forest by the game's eleventh hour. Thirty-two students were participants in the ensuing fight, leading to the eliminations of eighteen contestants (including two by smoke inhalation; a third student later expired from burn injuries sustained in the fire). All but three of the survivors were wounded to varying degrees, though not all were able to escape with weapons or supplies.

Though the fire was eventually extinguished by use of a fleet of airtankers (as well as a timely period of rainfall), the poor conditions had a negative impact on not only the students' comfort, but the broadcast quality as well. A considerable amount of equipment was damaged in the fire, forcing the technical crew to take on mass reparation and replacement in short time. Much of the surviving footage was obscured by smoke, while audio was all but entirely lost due to the impaired transmission. In the final release, most of the dialogue had to be revoiced by professional voice actors.

Notable Participants

 * Erin Rosenfeldt, eventual winner of Cycle 7, was a solitary participant for the entirety of the game. Though she was not an enthusiastic player, her opportunistic play coupled with a determined nature earned her a deserving win.
 * Markus Dijon was the game's most prolific killer at eight kills.
 * Robb Lowell
 * Ruthie Cathleen
 * Timothy Cooper was the leader of a small but vocal group of non-compliant students. He led an attempt to hijack one of the technical crew's speedboats on the second day.
 * Maré De La Rosa

Notable Eliminations

 * Pete Smith's parachute was caught in the branches of the island's foliage, leaving the boy suspended thirty feet in the air. He was unable to escape for forty-two hours, at which point fatigue and dehydration caused him to pass out. Shortly afterwards, he was killed by Phoebe Cho, who climbed a nearby tree and shot him twice in the head. His death along with the early elimination of debate team captain Tracy Stroud remain the strongest arguments for the design failures of Cycle 7's contestant release.