In an empty classroom, a male around the age of 16 woke up. He had pale skin, and some raven-black hair with blue highlights in it as well, with most of his face being covered by the hair. He also wore several piercings on his face and ears, as well as black eyeliner. Clothingwise, he had on a black hoodie with a skull on the front, black torn pants, and red sneakers. In short, he looked like an emo…
"Urggghh… Where am I?" the male asked himself. "Man, the last thing I remember was buying something for Tortilla Thursday, when I got injected by something… Last time I trust that restaurant with my food orders."
He soon got up.
"Okay, remember your bearings..." The male continued. "Now… What's my name?"
He done some deep thinking, as he remembered.
"Ah, right. My name's Sting." The male named Sting confirmed. "Now… What else can I remember?"
He tried to think hard enough, but he came up empty.
"...Man… I can only remember my name..." Sting said to himself. "Well, while I'm here, I might as well check around this place."
At that moment, the intercom buzzed to life.
"Will all students, once you awake, please report to the gym as soon as you can. Don't laze about, or else I'm dragging you there, and it ain't gonna be pretty!" a high-pitched, somewhat annoying voice said, before the intercom disconnected.
Sting was puzzled. "Who the heck was that? Nevermind; I should get over to the gym. Lest I wanna be dragged about."
He soon left the room, knowing and relieved that he wasn't alone in this crazy get-up.
::::::
"We are here live at-OW!" The voice yelled as Sting opened the door. Realizing he accidentally hit someone, he looked for the source of the voice. He found it fairly quickly: It had come from a young girl with darker skin, blue hair, glasses, and wore a grey t-shirt, khaki pants, black Nikes, and a winter cap. She had also toted a red backpack and a small notepad with a pencil.
"Oh crap!" Sting said, startled, "Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't know you were-"
"Don't sweat that, fam," the girl interrupted, "Didn't think the door was that wide…" Her attention shifted to Sting, as she finally noticed him.
"Oh!" She said, jumping up, "I don't think I've seen your face before! Uhm, Care to state your name and talent?" She said, having her notepad at the ready to write down the answers. To say this made Sting feel a little awkward is an understatement.
"Uhm…Sting," He began, "My name's Sting Fleetwood, the Ultimate…..I dunno?" The woman scribbled almost all of that, and who knows what else, onto the page the notepad was open to before closing it for now.
"Oh!" She said suddenly, "Where are my manners? Hello, Sting, nice outfit, btw, but anyways, I'm Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist!" She then added, "For my determination to seek the truth, the absolute truth, and NOTHING but the truth!" Her eyes seemed to hold burning passion as she said each word.
While Sting had never heard of someone with a last name of Joe Hanson, she seemed like a nice enough girl to hang out with.
"Hey, you don't mind if I come along?" Sting asked. Scarlet beamed
"Sure thing!" She replied, "The more, the merrier, as they say!"
:::::::
As the two made their way to the main room, they noticed another boy walking by. He seemed to not notice them, or perhaps he was trying to ignore them. Right off the bat, Sting noticed that the boy had a large blue cloak and brown hair.
"Uhm, Excuse me," Scarlet said, "Would you care if I took some of your time to ask some questions?" The boy didn't respond at first, but he did stop.
"A natural 20 in perception, hmm…" he muttered, before turning around suddenly, "Well, you definitely see me." Now his face was visible, and the two could that he had tan skin, green eyes, metal framed glasses, and wore a olive green shirt with a red stripe through the middle of it, khaki pants, and sneakers.
Sting nodded. "Of course we would; you kinda forgot your invisibility cloak at home."
"Very funny," the boy said, glaring at Sting, "What do you want, anyways?"
"Your name and talent, of course!" Scarlet piped, "I'm Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist, by the way, and this is my reporting partner, Sting, the Ultimate…." She trailed off at that.
"Even I'm not sure what my Ultimate Talent is." Sting shrugged back. The boy just chuckled before responding.
"Call me DM, Ultimate Dungeon Master," he replied. Scarlet's face sort of fell at that as she jotted down what she could.
"Annnnddd cue Ultimate Title Card graphic here." Sting added.
"Oh come on! A pen name?" Scarlet complained, "Can you least give me your real name, so I know what it is?" DM just laughed at that.
"Hell no!" he replied, "you honestly think I would give you, total strangers, my real name? How stupid do you have to be?"
"Hey!" Sting interjected, "Can you tone down on the 'rude' meter, please? I highly doubt any of us would actually refer to you by your real name if you weren't comfortable with it." DM stopped laughing, sighed and turned to go away from those two. Before he left, though, he shot one last glare at Scarlet, as if he immediately didn't trust her.
"Everyone has a right to choose who calls them what. Remember that, journalist. Else, you are going to make yourself a lot of enemies," he said, mostly to her before leaving.
"Let's move on; he ain't worth it." Sting recommended towards Scarlet. She sighed.
"All right…" she said reluctantly, "If anything, I'll probably get it another time."
::::
Before long, the two had entered a massive room with a table big enough to sit quite a few people. At the table, there were two people this time: one, a boy, had pale skin, silver eyes, black hair, and wearing a white tee under a purple jacket, jeans with small chains following the pockets, and grey sneakers; the other, a girl, had peach skin, red eyes that looked tired, long, messy black hair, and wore a red tee with a black pentagram on it, black sweatpants with "OCCULT" written on the left side, black shoes, and a necklace with a six-pointed star emblem on it. Also on the table was a book. They seemed to be talking mostly about paranormal shenanigans and how they got into what that did.
"-and that's how I found that the paranormal was real and could be dangerous." the boy finished. The girl looked at him with this look of "what!?"
"Wait...hold up a second," she began, "you mean to tell me...That you went out and used an Ouija Board...in a fucking graveyard?!"
"Alone," he added, "At night. Let's not forget that." Given the look on his face, he didn't like where the girl was going with this. She grabbed him by the collar and shook him a bunch.
"You idiot!" she yelled, "Do you realize that those things have rules against that for a fucking reason?! You're lucky it wasn't one of those demons that would steal your body and never give it back!" Sting could only watch on, while Scarlet quickly scribbled down everything that was happening.
"Woah, chill!" the boy said, "I was stupid then, I didn't think demons were real! And it was a dare, too!" This seemed to only add more fuel to the fire that was this girl's anger.
"Dare or not, that was dangerous!" She replied, "and just because one thinks they're not real, doesn't mean they won't attack you!" To avoid this fire from becoming an inferno, Scarlet spoke up.
"Uhm, excuse me, who are you two?" she said, readying the pencil and notepad. The two looked up at her, and the girl let go of the boy before speaking as if nothing happened.
"Oh, hello there!" She said, "I'm Anna, the Ultimate Occultist...Sorry for that, you walked in at such a time!" She shot the boy a quick glare.
"I'm more or less glad you came in when you did…" the boy said, "at any rate, Anna here might have strangled me. Name's Kuro Adumo, by the way: Ultimate Paranormal Hunter."
Sting blinked a bit. "Did you actually attempt to summon a demon with an Ouija board in the middle of a graveyard?" Kuro just looked at Sting, wide-eyed.
"Wait, you heard the entire thing?!" he asked, getting red from embarrassment, "Goshdarnit, Anna! You told me no one else would hear that!" Anna just chuckled.
"From the sounds of it, it wasn't a demon he was going for," she replied, "Possibly a low-level spector. Ouija boards aren't normally used to call demons, but they can attract one to your location if, for example, you use it in a graveyard!"
Sting nodded. "Huh, I always KNEW that my 5th grade teacher was a demon in disguise… Who else would force us to read War and Peace over Christmas Vacation?" Kuro just rolled his eyes.
"Great, now I'm never going to hear the end of that," Kuro said, "by the way, who are you guys, even?"
"Ah! I'm Sting, the Ultimate… Emo or something." Sting introduced himself. "Even I'm not sure about my talent."
"Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist!" Scarlet said, "At your service!"
"Speaking of service, I think we better head to the gym, like that P.A. thing said," Anna stated, "we were out here long enough. Well, see you around, Sting and Scarlet," Anna said before grabbing the book and heading out. Kuro left without saying a goodbye to them: he was still too embarrassed over the fact that those two heard his conversation with Anna. Scarlet turned to Sting after they left.
"They're a wild duo, huh?" She asked.
"I dunno," Sting replied.
:::::
Soon after, they heard loud guitar noises coming their way. When they turned to see who it was, they found it came from a boy with light skin, blonde messy hair dyes light green at the tips, large sunglasses, and wore a black tee with a bat with no eyes on it and "BATLESS" written under it, spiked wristbands, jeans and blacks sneakers. He didn't seem to notice Sting and Scarlet, and was strumming his electric guitar.
"OMG, could you STOP making those loud obnoxious noises with you damn guitar?!" A girl said, covering her ears. She had light skin, cold blue eyes, light blonde hair, and wore rainbow star earrings, a purple tee with netted sleeves and had "Kill Joy" written on it, jeans stained green at the ends, 2 red studded belts, gray shoes, and 3 bracelets of varying size on each of her arms. The boy just turned to her.
" Hey, these loud noises are music to my ears," He replied, "I can't quite pipe down what music I enjoy, even for you, darling." The girl gave him a funny look at that.
"Do not...call me that...ever again," she said. Scarlet looked at the girl in delight.
"Wait, SHE'S here!?" Scarlet asked before bolting toward the girl in question.
"OMG, I can't believe it!" Scarlet squealed, looking at the girl, "Diane?! Is that really you?!" Her eyes sparkled as "Diane" looked at her.
"Oh, so it seems I have a few fans here," She said, "I am indeed Diane McCathy, the Ultimate Pop Star!" Sting just looked at her funny.
"Diane?" he asked, "I don't recall that name." Diane looked up at Sting, insulted.
"What?!" She asked, "You mean to tell me you never heard of Diane McCathy, THE Pop sensation? Were you living under a rock until now?"
"Not really." Sting answered back. "Unless you count my house being on a concrete foundation, then I was living ON a rock all my life."
"Not the same, emo," Diane retorted. The boy just looked at her.
"Hey, simmer down a little, Diane," he said, "there were some people around here that didn't know who I was. Probably the same case here."
"Rock isn't Pop, genius," she scoffed, "of course you would have a couple people not know you." Scarlet finally noticed the boy at this point.
"Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to completely ignore in my fangirling, uhm...Who are you?" She asked.
"No offense taken here," he said, waving it off, "I'm Rex Trisket, the Ultimate Rock Guitarist." Scarlet quickly scribbled this down.
"Huh," she said, "well, thanks for your time!"
"Not a problem," Rex replied, "now if you'll excuse me, I've got to head to this 'gym' the PA spoke of. Lemme know if you wanna sample of my music. I can give one at any time." He left, but not before bumping into a wall next to the main room exit.
"I might as well leave too," Diane said, shaking her head, "There isn't a purpose to stay here any longer."
"Hey, Wait!" Scarlet said before Diane could leave, "before you leave, can I-uhh...Can I get your Autograph?" Diane just sighed.
"Fine.." she replied. She took the pencil and notepad Scarlet had, went to a blank page, and did a quick signing before handing it back. After that she left. Scarlet hurried back to Sting.
"Sorry for leaving you behind like that," she said, "Diane is like, really good at what she does! Her music is awesome! I would show you some of her tracks...if I had my mp3 with me…" her face fell at that.
"I'll keep an eye out." Sting responded towards Scarlet.
::::
In another hall, the duo had a feeling that they were being watched from behind. They didn't really want to turn around, as they didn't want to be jumped at by whoever or whatever was keeping their eyes on them.
"So… Which one of us should turn around and see who's behind us?" Sting asked. Without much warning, Scarlet whipped around to see who was behind them.
"JOURNALISTS SHOULDN'T BE AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN!" Scarlet shouted. At first it seemed like no one was there.
Sting blinked. "...Nobody."
But soon, what appeared to be a teenage girl around the age of 16 approached the duo. She had long, blonde hair and a black bowler hat on top of her head. She also wore a black t-shirt with a smiley face on the front over a pink sweater, lime green pants, purple shoes, and had large sunglasses over her eyes, which was opaque enough to hide her eyes.
"Uhm….hi?" Scarlet said, "What's your name and talent?!"
"Oh!" the girl said, "heh, didn't mean to creep you out like that. I'm Omelette, Ultimate Teacher. And you guys are?" she tilted her head a little as she looked at the two.
"Scarlet Joe Hanson! Ultimate Journalist! And, well, I'll let the man introduce himself." Scarlet replied.
"I'm Sting, the Ultimate… Whatever I am." Sting answered back. "So, why were you even tailing us two?"
"Eh, nothing. Just been eying your… Nevermind, forget I ever tried answering that." Omelette responded back. This however perked Scarlet's interest even more.
"Our what?! Spit it out! Our what?! Butts?" Scarlet asked, then guessed. To say she was determined was an understatement, as she was looking Omelette dead in the eyes, waiting for an answer.
"Well, uhm…." Omelette blushed a bit. "You're right on the money! I'm sorry, but you two just have some pretty awesome butts!" Scarlet just looked at Omelette shocked.
"Wait, really?" She started, "I-uhm, I just guessed that randomly, I didn't actually think I would get that right…" She turned beet red from what seemed to be embarrassment, before turning quickly and bolting out of the hall, leaving Sting alone with Omelette.
"Hey, wait!" Sting called out, running after her. Omelette just stood there for a few moments in silence.
"...Was it something I said?" She asked, to no one particular.
:::::
When Sting rounded the corner after in a sprint, he ran right into someone. They let out a yelp, and both the person and Sting fell.
"Ow…." Sting groaned as he got up.
"Watch yourself next time!" the person, a boy, said as he got up. Sting finally got the chance to see who exactly he ran into: the boy had light skin, red hair, green eyes, square glasses, and wore a long sleeve with a "Y" on it, khaki pants, and grey shoes.
"Sorry…" Sting said, trailing off a little bit, "Hang on, do I know you? ...Nah, I am all sorts of lost today." The boy just shook his head and chuckled.
"Of course. Amnesia." he said, pushing his glasses up, "I'm Yentoulis, Ultimate Robotics Engineer. Remember that, cause I'll be famous one day."
"Really?" Sting asked "Ah, neat. So, what kinda robots do you construct?"
"The kinds meant for miniature robot fighting, Pinhead." Yentoulis answered back. "Do you even watch TV at all?"
"Nah, not since they rebooted Daria and titled it 'Daria MOAN'." Sting responded back, "But, changing the subject, have you seen someone with blue hair run by here?"
"No, I didn't." Yentoulis answered back. As if on cue, a loud scream suddenly sounded the halls, catching both Sting's and Yentoulis's attention.
"Who was that?!" Sting asked.
"Beats me, Pinhead. Why don't you check it out?" Yentoulis offered, as he made a shooing motion towards Sting.
Sting understood, as he left Yentoulis to his own devices.
::::
When Sting got to the source of the scream, he found that it had come from Scarlet herself. She was against a wall, shivering in fear, looking at something in the shadows.
"Scarlet?!" Sting asked, surprised to see her here after...that, "What happened? Are you okay?" Scarlet just looked at him wide-eyed.
"S-s-so b-b-b-big…." Was all Scarlet could manage to say. She pointed to the shadows after she said that, and Sting followed with his eyes to see what this "big thing" was. It was too dark to see fine details, but sure enough, there was someone there, and they were extremely tall. Sting searched for a light switch, hoping to shine some light onto the situation. It didn't take long, and once he flicked it on, he was now able to see this tall person in detail. He didn't look as scary as Sting imagined he would be. In fact, it was a boy with light skin, black hair, grey eyes, and wore a purple shirt under a faded blue jacket, red pants, and green sandals. He looked at Scarlet in shock, as if her fear was not intentionally caused by him.
"W...Who are you two?" The male asked nervously. Once Scarlet could see him clearly, she turned to Sting, her shaking not really calming down.
"I-I don't k-know what's worse: me getting scared b-by this guy, or the fact that I said 'Journalists shouldn't fear the unknown' and here I am getting scared by someone I didn't k-know…." Scarlet whispered, "You go first please...I uhm-I need to get my bearings together…"
Sting approached the newcomer.
"I'm Sting. And who are you?" Sting asked.
"...I'm Drake. W-Where are we?" The newcomer named Drake asked.
"Y-y'know, I've been wondering that...myself," Scarlet replied, "Do-do...what is the last thing you remember before you were...y'know, here?" She was definitely trying to not seem scared around Drake, but she did not move from her position against the wall.
"I… Can't remember." Drake recalled back. "Everything's all f-fuzzy…" Scarlet's shaking ceased at this point, and her face changed from fear to concern.
"Str-strange…." She recalled, "I-I can't recall much, either. Aside from some personal information, like my name and such, all my memory is just filled with...noises? There's no pictures, but there are noises, from what I can't exactly pinpoint." She turned to Sting, hoping maybe he recalled something. Sting just looked at her and shook his head slowly.
"Same here," Sting replied sadly, "It's all black for the most part." Scarlet's face fell at that.
"Aw, crud…" she cringed, "Dog gone it! I should've asked those other peeps we bumped into about that, too! Oh, I'm an idiot!" She looked to Sting, with all previous signs of fear having long since vanished.
"C'mon, we better hurry and interview the last of the others, before that...whatever it is decides to drag us to where it wants us to be!" She said, running in place. She then turned to Drake.
"OH! Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist, at your service!" She said, "Say, what's your talent, Drake?" Drake just looked at her funny before responding.
"I'm… the Ultimate Cartoonist." Drake answered back. "H-Have you ever heard of Pogo Peki?" Scarlet could only stare blankly at him, as if she's trying to process what she was asked.
"...Huh?" She asked, "What is that, even? Is that a cartoon?" Drake's face fell at her response.
"No…" He replied, "It's a...well, given your response, you-you probably would never have heard of the game." Scarlet turned to Sting.
"Hey, uhm, can we go now, before this gets any more awkward?" She asked, looking more than ready to get away from Drake. After a few moments more of staring, the two finally left, to see who else found themselves in this place, and who possibly held the key to how they ended up here.
::::
As the finally reunited duo made their way to the gym, they noticed a series of doors in the hallway, namely a door with a controller icon on it.
"Hey...I wonder if there's anyone inside…" Scarlet pondered as she looked at the door. Sting shrugged.
"Well, only one way to find out," he said, as he opened the door. Inside, there was an array of TVs with different consoles connected to them, as well as arcade machines and a few shelves with board and card games carefully stored away, as well as a table to set up explicently to play those board and card games. And at said room, two people, a male and a female, were huddled around a table, as a stack of cards were in front of them.
The male had brunette hair with a blue dyed fringe, a black and orange shirt with the letters NTDO on the front, blue jeans, and surprising enough, was barefoot.
The female was mocha-skinned and had a blue beret over her black, messy hair. She had a pair of purple framed glasses over her eyes, and wore a green t-shirt with the words 'Dungeon Queen' on the front, blue scrubs, red sneakers, and a pink sweater over her waist.
"Thou shall cast Evil Eyeball on your Ruiz Knight!" The frizzy haired girl announced. Scarlet looked at the two funny.
"Uhm, what are you guys playing?" She asked. Both the male and female looked up from their game at Scarlet.
"Ah, just the most awesome game in the world: Atifact!" The male answered back. "...Marissa here's teaching it to me."
"You betchya!" Marissa responded back. "I'm quite surprised that Ellis here hasn't knew about it yet."
"You know; extremely religious grandma, and that whole Anti-Sataniac crap." Ellis grumbled. "So, how about you two?" Scarlet made a weird sound along the lines of an "eep" at first, as if she didn't expect to be asked questions first.
"Uhm.." She started, "guess there will be times where the questioner becomes the questioned, heheh...Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist, at your service! And this is Sting!"
Sting observed Marissa. "Hey, aren't you Marissa Lambert, last year's Atifact champion?"
"You betchya!" Marissa answered back. "Managed to defeat AlcaPony 0-3 AND Brigand Kevin! Kev kept on declaring his moves for Mexico. And for some reason, had a bandana of the Canadian flag on top of his head. It's how I got the job class 'Ultimate Card Game Player' and sent here." There was a sudden air of awkwardness around Scarlet, as she just looked at Marissa, then to Sting, and back again.
"...You know this person?" She asked, "I feel so behind not knowing this person existed nor the game Atifact…." She cleared her throat, then continued, "Say, uhm, Ellis, I presume? What's your talent?" Ellis just looked at her, unsure of how to respond to this.
"I'm the Ultimate Awesome!" Ellis declared, as Marissa giggled.
"Ummm… Even I don't know myself." Marissa shrugged. Scarlet sighed, then repeatedly hit her forehead with her notepad in annoyance.
"This. is. the. THIRD. Time! That not information was available!" she said between smacks. She then stopped and felt her forehead. "Ow, that actually hurts, don't do that."
"Say, Sting! What's your talent?" Ellis asked.
"Beats me…" Sting grumbled, as he blew at the hair covering his face. "I have no clue about this deal as well." Right about then, the door opened, and DM entered the room.
"Huh, so this is the game room…." He began, "I wonder if this room hold any supplies for D&D.." He then noticed Scarlet and Sting in the room, as well as Ellis and Marissa.
"Oh, I see we meet again, Sting and Scarlet," he noted, but left it at that. Marissa's attention perked at the word "D&D".
"Hey," Marissa asked, "I heard you mention Dungeons and Dragons. Do you like that tabletop RPG?" DM chuckled.
"Of course," he replied, "I wouldn't be the 'Ultimate Dungeon Master' if I disliked the game, now would I?" A conversation about the game soon ensued between DM and Marissa, leaving the others feeling a bit awkward. Eventually, Sting and Scarlet left the room to see what other things the hall of various rooms could hold.
:::::::
The next room the two visited appeared to be a large storage room filled with supplies. There were rows and rows of shelves, each filled to the brim with a variety of items, from your typical items, like boxes of recreational equipment and mats, to the absolutely bizarre, like sharp knives and bottles of cyanide. Sting couldn't help but stare in awe at the sheer variety of items that were inside, while Scarlet jotted notes about the area. There was also the faint sounds of music playing….And upon closer listening, it was "We are Number One."
"Who the heck is playing that song in an area like this?!" Scarlet asked, annoyed. Sting shrugged.
"I personally have no idea," Sting replied, "but the only way to find out is to track that music to its source." And so they went. It took them awhile, but eventually they found that the source was a battery operated radio, seemingly tuned in to a meme music station, and nearby was a girl with peach skin, blonde hair tied up into 2 fluffy ponytails, blue eyes, and wore a rainbow tank top, orange pants, and black shoes. She didn't notice the two at first: she seemed too into her meme music, as she was just dancing. Out of annoyance, Scarlet shut off the radio, which caused the girl to stop dancing and look up.
"Awww…" She said, "Why'd you shut it off? I was listening to that." Scarlet sighed.
"Not everyone likes the memes you like, uhm...Who are you?" Scarlet stated. The girl just gave the goofiest smile she could before answering.
"Yo yo yo! It's ya boi, Xina Morph, the Ultimate Prankster, comin' at ya with some spiiiicy memes!" She replied, pointing finger guns at Sting. "Bang, Bang, what's y'all doing for now? Any fine memes you're indulging in?"
"I dunno…" Sting blinked.
"Well, trying to get to know who's who, but from the looks of it, I can't tell if you're being serious or not," Scarlet replied flatly, "And no, I haven't indulged in any 'fine memes', whatever that means in your book." Xina gasped.
"Whaaaaaaat?" Xina asked, "Girl, have you never been on the internet? That's where memes, or internet jokes for you lame people, live and die. Jeesh, sounds like I would have to take you with me on the glorious adventure to find some good memes." Scarlet just looked at her funny.
"Are you...Like, not gonna ask who we are?" Scarlet asked, feeling more and more awkward around Xina. Sting wasn't sure what to make of Xina, either, as she seemed so bouncy and bubbly, but there's that whole bit with her obsession with memes.
"Aw, why can't you just introduce yourselves whenever? You don't need me to be asking you scrubs for your names and whatnots" Xina asked, "Just freakin' drop 'em as if they were lyrics of a rap battle!"
"Okay, you need to simmer down with the memes," Scarlet stated, "Scarlet Joe Hanson, by the way: Ultimate Journalist."
"And I'm Sting , the Ultimate….Uhm, finger guns?" Sting said. Xina just shook her head.
"You're doing it wrong, Sting," Xina said disapprovingly, "You don't say it, it's an action...Dog gone, Visit me at some point so I can teach you memes 101. You definitely sound like you need a lesson on that." After that, Xina turned back on the radio, just as "Running in the 90s" was starting.
"And you, Scarlet...You just need to be on the internet more, learn to appreciate it," Xina said, before returning to dancing, even dabbing at one point. The two left the room, not really wanting to stick around someone who seems too absorbed into her own little world, and brought that world with her whenever she talked to someone.
::::::
On their way to the gym, Scarlet realized she didn't have her notepad anymore for some reason.
"Ugh, where is it?!" She asked after checking her pockets and her bag.
"Maybe you dropped it somewhere between here and the storage room?" Sting suggested.
"Not possible," she said, "I placed it in a pocket in my bag that I made SURE didn't have a hole in it, let alone one big enough for a notepad to slip through." When she looked up, she noticed someone with bright blue hair, a red jacket, blue jean and black boots holding a notepad in her hand. It didn't take long to conclude that the person was holding Scarlet's notepad. Scarlet bolted after the person, then grabbed their arm, demanding that they give back her notepad. Once the person turned around, and Sting caught up to the two, the person's face was more visible: it was a girl. She had darker skin, faded blue eyes, multiple piercings on her eyebrow, ears, nose and belly button, and also wore a torn purple shirt under that jacket, which had a yellow parrot icon on it.
"Oh for the love of God...Can you please give me back my notepad?" Scarlet said after multiple demands falling on deaf ears.
"Eh, maybe in a little bit; Mecca wants to see what kinda juicy secrets you got in here!" Mecca responded back, sporting a grin. Scarlet tried to snatch it out of Mecca's hand at that, but surprisingly, Mecca had a tight grip on the notepad.
"Uh, No you will not!" Scarlet said, "Given how you just stole it five seconds ago, I have no reason to trust you with valuable information!" She struggled to pull it out of Mecca's hand, but to no avail.
"Sting!" Scarlet said, "Stop standing around and help me get my notepad back!" Sting jumped a little, but couldn't budge. Then a click and flash, as if someone used a camera. This blinded Scarlet long enough for Mecca to regain her grip on the notepad and open it.
"Okay, who's the jerk who took a photo of me?!" She asked. At first, there was just a laugh, then the wielder of the camera approached.
"Ha! Blackmail! Let's see you wiggle your way outta this one, twerp." A female voice responded out loud. Standing there was a girl with peach skin, light brown hair, sly green eyes, and wore a light blue blouse, pink skirt, knee high socks, and pink sneakers. She also had 2 piercings in each of her ears, and wore a gold necklace with an "S" symbol as the emblem.
"Gh-Blackmail?!" Scarlet asked, shocked, "What the hell are you even talking about?! Why should I even fear you?" She then remembered her notepad, and went back to grab it, this time successfully pulling it out of Mecca's hand...But not before the girl got yet another photo for her. This seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as Scarlet looked at the girl in sheer anger.
"Stop fucking taking photos of me, you prick!" She said, not realizing what came out of her mouth until it was too late. The girl just smiled at Scarlet's reaction.
"You should know your place, idiot." The mean girl responded towards Scarlet. "Or not. More fun for me when I send this all over the Internet."
"Er, Mecca tried. But we don't have any bars here." Mecca said out loud. "Or any reception." Scarlet looked the girl in victory.
"HA! Score one for the truth!" She said. Sting finally decided to speak up after having to witness a serious catfight go down.
"Uhm, excuse me, who are you? The one with the 'S'?" Sting asked.
"Finally, someone recognizes me…" The mean girl answered back. "I'm Steph George, and it would be best to stay on my good side. I can already tell that blue haired, book bag toting idiot already disobeyed that order."
"I have a name, you know!" Scarlet retorted, "I'm Scarlet Joe Hanson, Ultimate Journalist. If anything, you should be careful of me, since I can tell you right now, the truth's pointing to you being the bad guy!"
"Ooh, catfight!" Mecca grinned, as she took out a bag of popcorn. "Mecca, the Ultimate Teaser has front row seats!"
Scarlet shot a glare at Mecca.
"You're not off the hook, either, Mecca…" Scarlet said, "And what are You, Steph, some kind of Ultimate Blackmailer?"
"I'm known as the Ultimate Texter." Steph answered back. "I can send a text to anyone within seconds. I've got some pretty light-speed fingers… Or I would send texts if we had any Wi-Fi." Scarlet just looked at her dead in the eyes, as if she wanted to strangle this person, but held back. She turned to Sting.
"grr..Let-Let's just go," Scarlet said, starting to walk away.
"Yeah, besides… I think Mecca can handle Steph." Sting responded towards Scarlet, as he walked alongside her.
Steph could only growl, as Mecca held out her hand.
"...Popcorn?" Mecca said, offering some popcorn.
"I have no idea where you got that, but no thank you," Steph replied, pushing Mecca's hand away, "You may have won this time round...But I swear, I will find your deepest secrets, and whip you back into shape with them… Scarlet Joe Hanson."
:::::
Before long, the two had located the gym. Or the gym lobby, to be accurate. It was a small room with a set of door on the other side. Other than that, it had nothing of interest, except for a person. It was a shorter male with peach skin, reddish-orange wind-blown hair, rich blue eyes, and wore a white tank top, blue shorts, Nikes, a red bandana tied around his neck, and a yellow one tied around his head. He didn't notice the two at first, he was kicking imaginary dirt and mumbling to himself
"By god, this place is so small!" he said to himself, "How the hell am I going to get any decent parkouring done with such little room to work with?"
"Uhm, Hi?" Sting said. The boy jumped and looked at Sting, as if Sting just came out of nowhere and jumpscared him.
"GAH!" He yelled, "What in the-grrr, Don't sneak up on me like that!" Scarlet just looked at him.
"We didn't sneak up on you: we literally were standing here for a good while," Scarlet corrected. The boy just sighed.
"Whatever.." he dismissed, "You guys are here now, what exactly are you looking for?"
"Uhm, I guess it's obvious: your name and talent!" Scarlet replied.
"Alright, fine…" the boy stated, "Name's Victor Vant, Ultimate Parkourist. Guess you two work at some news station?"
"Uhm, yes and no?" Scarlet replied, looking at Sting in uncertainty, "I'm indeed the Ultimate Journalist, Scarlet Joe Hanson, by the way, but...Well, Sting over here doesn't really know what talent he has." Victor just looked at Sting for a moment.
"Dang, sorry for your loss, bud," he said, "Must suck hearing all of these talents, and here you are without a talent."
"Uhm, I don't think I'm talentless," Sting corrected, "not knowing your talent and being talentless are two different things after all, and I'm 99% sure that just because I can't remember my talent, I don't have one to begin with."
"You get my point!" Victor said, irritated, "Still sucks regardless if you have an actually talent hiding away or if there isn't one to begin with." he huffed in annoyance, and turned to go through the gym doors.
"Hey, wait!" Scarlet called to him, "one last question before you go: Uhm, what's the last thing you remember before you were here?" Victor looked at Scarlet confused.
"The..last thing I remember?" Victor asked, "uhm...I, well…I remember a breeze? My guess on that would be I was last sitting on the roof of a building before I was here, but uhm, don't quote me on that." He pushed the doors open and entered the gym afterwards, not even saying "see you around". Without much else to explore, the two entered the gym after Victor.
A/N: This story is a collab between myself and BaconBaka on . As such, half of the cast is his characters, half are mine.
Sting, Omelette, Drake, Yentoulis, Ellis, Marissa, Mecca, and Steph belong to BaconBaka .
Scarlet, DM, Kuro, Anna, Rex, Diane, Xina, and Victor belong to me.
DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft