Plot Summary

The Upstarts become involved in a game, the prize being acceptance into the inner circle of the Hellfire Club.  The parameters of the game are dictated by the Gamesmaster: capture each of the remaining New Mutants and Hellions.  Dubbed the Younghunt, the various members, Graydon Creed, Trevor Fitzroy, and Shinobi Shaw, are spurred into action by stiffer competition; namely Siena Blaze and the Fenris team.  The game: collect the various mutants and get points.  High scorer wins.
 
Fenris is first to capture someone.  They travel to Brazil's Nova Roma to capture Magma and Empath.  Magma falls without a hitch, but Empath is able to escape to his encampment where Moonstar waits to ambush the Fenris twins.  After doing so, she and Empath travel to Madripoor to warn Karma about the game.  Siena Blaze shows up and Karma manipulates the hopeful Upstart's mind into taking the three into custody so as to get to the heart of the Gamesmaster's plans.  Reaching the site of the game, however, proves more than the young mutants plan for because the Gamesmaster is one step ahead of Karma's schemes. 
 
In Kentucky, X-Force tries to discover what happened to Cannonball and Boomer.  Paige Guthrie relates how they had been taken by Siena Blaze.  Trevor Fitzroy then shows up to collect Rictor and Warpath.  In the ensuing battle, Warpath discovers Fitzroy's secret to teleporting: a little guy named Bantam.  They use Bantam, as well as Fitzroy's power against himself, to open a portal to Shinobi Shaw's house in Tokyo.  They learn from Shaw where to find their teammates and teleport to Switzerland.  All the while, Paige Guthrie follows the team undetected.
 
Meanwhile, the New Warriors are at odds with the game in play.  Justice had been undercover at Shinobi Shaw's and had learned about the Younghunt.  He agrees with Shaw to deliver Firestar, a former Hellion.  Before this happens, however, Graydon Creed makes his move by sending his Tribune troops to the New Warrior base.  After defeating the grunts, Justice delivers Firestar to Shaw and the rest of the team makes a visit to Creed.  Creed bows out of the game and tells the New Warriors where they can find their friends.
 
Meeting up in Switzerland, the New Warriors and X-Force team up to make an all-out assault on the Gamesmaster's base and reclaim their teammates.  The Gamesmaster uses his captives against their friends and completely nullifies any attack.  Paige Guthrie, however, stops the Gamesmaster from killing his prey by proposing a new game.  She proposes that the Gamesmaster focus on swaying the future mutants before any other teachers, like Professor Xavier or Cable, can point them in the right direction.  The Gamesmaster accepts and leaves the team to lick their wounds.
 

Effects

X-Force

Seeing how messed up the world was, Paige Guthrie would become one of the founding members of the Generation X team.  Cable showed a hint of his abilities as a telepath, which would be expanded in the near future.  Moonstar showed an ability to be good, but remained a member of the Mutant Liberation Front.
 

The Upstarts

The group almost completely disbanded. Team Fenris did try to take Wolfsbane, but was thwarted by X-Factor and taken into custody.  Siena Blaze would continue to attempt earning points but would ultimately never make it into the Hellfire's upper echelon.