Chapter 21: All-Star Maze- The Fourth Floor

Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama or Danganronpa.

Sorry for the long wait! :)

Also really surprised that this fic got up to 200 reviews! Thank you!

Noah trudged down the hallway, feeling the weight of his bag on his back. He tugged nervously at his collar, once he found himself in front a set of double doors. A bronze nameplate was bolted next to them, with the words, "Headmaster."

"Come in." The deepest voice that Noah had ever heard echoed through the wooden doors.

His hands shaking he entered the room, to find himself in a large room with bookshelves and picture frames lined up across the wall, in an orderly fashion. In the middle of the room was a large mahogany wood desk. A black leather chair was turned away from him, to the point where Noah could only see a wrinkled old hand, irritatingly tapping the armrest.

"Good to see you." The headmaster didn't even bother to turn around to address Noah. "You know why you're here?"

"Something about my talent?" Noah tried to act like his normal sarcastic self but his heart was racing.

The headmaster waved his hand. "Correct. You shall be the Ultimate Competitor with Dawn and Cameron."

Noah's heart plummeted to the depths of hell. "But Dawn and Cameron already have talents."

"Yes, the Ultimate Aura Reader and the Ultimate Genius shall keep their original talents, but they are a special case. They will have two talents."

"And me?" Noah knew he shouldn't be talking. He knew that this was useless. But he couldn't help himself. "My talent is Ultimate Competitor?"

"Yes." The voice was firm. "You were the least involved in any drama or relationships during your time on the show. For this reason, I thought you were the perfect person to accept into this school."

A cold fist closed itself around Noah's heart. "So... I'm really just a promotion tool for you?" he asked coldly. "Not a true student?"

The hand ceased its tapping. "Yes," the headmaster said after a long silence.

Noah figured. When he first got into the school he was told outright that he wasn't anything special. Hell, he even suspected it when he first got his letter. All he was to these people, was as an ad. Not a student or a person. An advertisement that literally said, "Come to this school, you might meet some of your favorite celebrities!" Chris was even planning on hosting a reunion in the school.

The headmaster continued to speak. "But that's why you have to wake up."

Noah looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

"Wake up." The room began to dissolve the world around him turning a blood-red color. "Wake up!"

Xxx

Noah slowly opened his eyes, to find himself staring up at the ceiling of his room. He could feel his blanket around his body and the slight breeze of his fan swirled around his room. He groaned, and tried to sit, but a splitting headache shot through his brain.

"You're awake." Dawn appeared in his view, as she placed a hand on Noah's forehead. "You don't seem to be sick," she said, with a sigh of relief.

Noah pushed her hand away. "Wh-what happened?" he managed to croak out.

Dawn gave him a weak smile. "I found you collapsed outside of you room." She paused. "What happened?"

Noah opened his mouth to speak of what he had heard of last night, but nothing came out. He cleared his throat. "Everything's gone," he uttered. "Everything you found in the hidden room in the bathroom. It's gone."

Dawn didn't seem surprised. "I figured," she said, glancing at the camera situated in Noah's room, for a second. "I did think that Monokuma would find out about it, sometime..." She sighed. "Too bad I didn't really find anything useful when I searched it."

Noah nodded, mutely, before looking at his clock, noticing the fact that it was around noon. "I've been sleeping for that long?" he asked in surprise.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah. Monokuma already told us about the new floor that opened up. The others went to check it out two hours ago."

"Have you checked it out yet?" he asked, propping himself up.

Dawn shook her head. "No," she replied truthfully. "I was planning on leaving, but you just woke up."

Noah looked away. "Thanks," he mumbled. Dawn looked up in surprise as Noah threw himself off of his bed and headed to the door. She got up to follow him out.

Xxx

"So the new floor that opened up was the fourth?" asked Noah, as he and Dawn walked down the hallway on the first floor that led to the staircase.

Dawn nodded. "Yes."

Noah sighed. "You'd think that this school would at least have an elevator, with how many floors it has." he muttered.

"I heard my name! Did someone call me?!" Monokuma suddenly popped out of nowhere. "What would you little kids like this fine afternoon?!"

Noah rolled his eyes. "No one called you," he muttered.

Monokuma looked a bit sad. "Sorry," he apologized, a tear forming in the corner of his eye. "I just thought you kids would've liked to learn about the elevator…" He started to walk away, staring at the ground.

"Wait!" Dawn words stopped the bear. "What elevator?"

Monokuma's strange half-smile stretched across the right side of his face. "An elevator!" he replied. "I decided to open it up for use since all you poor kids must be tired walking up and down those terrible stairs all day." He sighed dramatically. "Oh the inhumanity! The inbearity!"

"That's great," drawled Noah. "Very beautiful. Can we just see the elevator?"

Monokuma pointed behind him. "Right there." A sudden ding was heard as a pair of metal doors lid open to reveal a small area with metal bars and red walls.

Noah and Dawn walked inside with Monokuma following them. Noah looked at the buttons and noticed something strange. "Why is there only buttons for the first and fourth floors?" he asked, staring at the bear.

Monokuma chuckled awkwardly. "Well… the elevator only goes between the first and fourth floor." He twiddled his paws. "It was a stupid design choice of the people who made this stupid building."

"I highly doubt that," Noah pointed out dryly.

"I don't think the people who planned out this building wanted it like this," Dawn eyed Monokuma. "What's really going on?"

Monokuma pouted. "Fine, I changed it. I thought it might cause some problems with the trials before so I kinda…hid it from everyone." He twitched as if expecting to be hit.

"I'm not surprised at this point," grumbled Noah, clicking a button. The doors closed, as they felt the elevator starting to move up. After a few seconds, they heard a small ding as the doors opened again, revealing the fourth floor.

Xxx

The floor split off into three directions with each one connected to the clearing Noah was in currently. They seemed to be equally sized with the hallway to the right leading straight to another staircase. However, Noah wasn't focused on those details.

Instead he was staring right in front of him at the pair of doors at the end of the hallway. Next to the doors was a bronze nameplate emblazoned with the words, "Headmaster."
"That was… in my dream!" Noah raced to to the doors, while Monokuma and Dawn watched confused.

"Dream?" Dawn repeated, following him.

Noah reached the doors and tugged at the handles, expecting to be greeted to the same scene he had seen in his dream, but…

"It's locked." Noah turned around and glared at Monokuma, who seemed clueless as to what was going on. "Aren't you going to open it?" he asked.

Monokuma tilted his head. "Why?"

"Because…Because…!" Noah couldn't find the right words to form a reason. He suspected that Monokuma wouldn't open the door just because Noah had seen it in a "dream."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright, Noah?"

He definitely didn't feel alright, but Noah nodded anyway. "Yeah…"

Dawn looked unconvinced, but she nodded. "Okay, if you say so." She turned around. "I-I think I'll go now."

Noah blinked. "Why?"

She took a deep breath. "I just need to think over some things for the rest of the day. Sorry." Looking about as shake as him, Dawn walked away, before entering the elevator. She offered a small smile, as the doors closed, whisking her away from Noah's sight.

There was silence for a few seconds, before Monokuma whistled. "Noah and Dawn sitting in a tree-!"

"How mature," Noah interrupted sarcastically, walking away. Before he turned the corner, he noticed that Monokuma had completely disappeared.

With a shrug he threw open the doors of first room he saw, only to walk into an impressive sight.

With his mouth wide open in astonishment, Noah looked around the huge room. Most of what was taken the room's space was… well the actual solar system. Or at least an accurate model of it. One that all the planets suspended by a wire, slowly rotating around the model sun. Looking more closely at the entire model, Noah could see some of the planet's surfaces actually moving, with the clouds swirling and inching themselves around some of the planets. A couple, like Earth and Mars, actually had moons orbiting them and, in between Mars and Jupiter, was the Asteroid Belt.

Noah turned to the far left corner of the room, to see someone looking through a giant telescope that extended into the ceiling. He strolled over and tapped said person on the shoulder.

Of course, given the fact that the person in question was a hardened cadet, he just winced in surprise, Noah reasoned. Brick definitely didn't scream like a little girl, before Noah had to calm him down.

Yep, that never happened.

Once Noah calmed Brick down, he smiled at him. "So what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing much." Noah looked around the room again. "Just pretty surprised that something like this in here. Especially that." He pointed to the solar system model. "Are those holograms?"

Brick shook his head. "No," he replied. "It's just a projection." He pointed up to a small projector that was following the movements of Saturn. "He makes the clouds look like they're moving. It's really just a sheet of paper around a metal ball."

Noah looked at him suspiciously. "And how do you know this?"

Brick shrugged. "It's pretty old. Some of it is falling off, already." He pointed at one of the planets. Looking closely, Noah could see some of its paper skin peeling off.

"And that?" Noah looked at the giant telescope that extended out into the ceiling. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

Brick winced. "It'd be better if you checked it yourself," he muttered.

Noah frowned, before peering into the eyepiece of the telescope only to see…

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was only a strange red splotch, that obstructed most of the telescopes view. Dissatisfied, Noah reared back his head and glared at the giant object. "Doesn't even work," he muttered. He looked at Brick. "Do you know what's wrong with it?"

Brick shook his head. "Looks like something is blocking the view." He shrugged. "But I have no idea what."

Noah gazed at the telescope. "Well, since it's technically outside the school, I doubt it has anything to do with us…" However an unshakable feeling of concern enveloped Noah.

Brick nodded, seeming to have the same unsettling feeling as Noah. "The others are in the other rooms," he offered. "Can I come with you?"

Noah shook his head. "No thanks," he replied.

Brick shrugged. "Fine, I'll just head back to my room then." Clearly hurt, Brick made his way out the door and disappeared.

Noah took one last look at the observatory, before walking out.

Xxx

The room next to the observatory was a small classroom. Most of the room was mostly desks, but a corner of the room seemed to be reserved for holding filming equipment. A bunch of cameras, GoPros, and computers. The wall at the very back had been painted green Aside from that it looked like a normal classroom that someone would find in a normal school.

Lindsay was staring at the numerous cameras with curiosity gleaming in her eyes. She bent down and picked one up, before examining it.

"Um.." Noah said, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"Ack!" Lindsay dropped the camera and whirled around. Noticing Noah standing there, she fell down onto her back. "Don't… Don't kill me!" she pleaded holding her arms in front of her face.

"I don't think a killer would come and make himself known like that," Noah drawled, looking around the room.

Lindsay got up still shaking. Noah eyed her with some pity. "Are you still going over what happened, yesterday?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant, as he picked up another camera to inspect it.

"…Yes," whimpered Lindsay, looking off to the side.

"Okay…" Noah said, as the atmosphere suddenly turned awkward. He didn't know what to say, and just stood there examining the camera, feeling quite stupid.

"Do you think we'll make it out of here?" asked Lindsay curling herself into a ball.

Noah nodded. "Monokuma can't keep us in here forever," he reasoned.

Lindsay seemed to looked less hopeful. "What if it can?" she asked, wrapping herself in her arms. "What if-?"

"It'll be fine," insisted Noah, trying to get her to stop talking. "Maybe you should just calm down."

"I'm not stupid!" snapped Lindsay, starling Noah. "I'm not. I know what's going to happen. We're all going to die." She stared at the floor. "It's hopeless."

"Um…" Noah was a at loss for words. He took a few steps backward before turning suddenly and exiting the room. He sighed as he closed the door behind him and looked at the final room on this hallway. At the end of the hallway was another staircase presumably leading up to the fifth floor. Noticing a door near the staircase, he headed towards it, trying to forget about Lindsay for the moment.

He stopped in front of it, but before he could open it, the door slammed into his face knocking him back. "Well this is karma," he thought bitterly, before looking up to find Jo, smirking down at him, wearing a karate gi.

"Man," she scolded, shaking her head. "You really need to work out more."

"Haha," Noah replied, getting up and dusting himself off. "I really don't have the time to do that as of now."

Jo shrugged. "Fair enough."

Noah pushed past her an walked into the room, suddenly understanding why Jo was wearing a karate gi.

There were two parts to this room. The first part had a glossy wooden floor with lockers to the right of him and a strange display of samurai armor to the left. In front of him stretched a small garden, with cherry trees growing near the side and targets placed at the far back. The floor was green grass, surprisingly.

"What is this place?" wondered Noah aloud.

Jo shrugged as she walked back into the room. "It's a Dojo," she said, as she went up to Locker #5 and placed something inside the small metal slot that was on the outside of all of the lockers. She opened it up, revealing her normal clothes inside. "I've been training here in case someone tried to kill me!" She flexed her arm with a grin.

"And in case you wanted to kill someone," Noah mumbled.

Jo leaned in and narrowed her eyes at Noah. "What was that?"

Noah quickly shook his head. "Nothing! It's nothing."

Jo nodded. "Good." She swung a towel over her shoulders and picked up her clothes. "You're welcome to work out here," she smirked. "You need it." She walked out of the room.

"You need it," Noah mimicked in a squeaky voice, looking annoyed. He looked around the room for another second before sighing. "There isn't going to be anything here," he mumbled. He quickly left.

Xxx

Noah headed into the opposite hallway which was the hallway that had the elevator. Shrugging, he walked into the room next to the elevator.

This room had various wooden tables, with blocks of wood pilled on top of them. There was several saws and knives. The floor was covered with wood chips, with most of them near the tables themselves.

Noah spotted Gwen hanging out near the corner, a block of wood and whittling knife in her hands. Mike was near her, looking at her in worry.

"Are you okay?" asked Noah, shooting a look at Mike. He just shrugged.

"I'm okay," growled Gwen. "Just peachy. My friend turned out to be murderer was executed and turned into sushi." She rolled her eyes and went back to her project.

"Sorry, I asked," grumbled Noah, before turning to Mike.

He nodded. "I heard," he said solemnly. "Brick told me about it last night." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I...I just can't believe it. I should have been angry with Sam. It's...all my fault."

Noah groaned. "I don't think that fact that you were angry with him had anything to do with it. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Mike tugged at his shirt collar, looking nervous. "It's just… Can I tell you something-?" He was interrupted by Gwen who had violently stabbed the knife into the block of wood in anger.

She stood up clenching her hand, angrily. "I'm going to go get a drink." She stomped away.

Mike and Noah watched her leave the room, with confused looks. "Is she really okay?" asked Noah, skeptically.

Mike sighed. "It's my fault," he replied miserably. "I was asking her about the trial last night and…" He didn't need to finish his sentence.

Noah frowned, before shrugging. "It's fine," he assured. "I'm pretty sure she was feeling like this before you talked to her." He paused, not knowing exactly what to say. "just leave her alone for a while."

Mike nodded. "Fine."

"What were you going to ask me, by the way?" Noah asked. "Before Gwen interrupted us?"

Mike winced. "Uh… It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Noah was suspicious, but decided not to press it. "Fine," he said, turning around. "I'm going to check the last room on this hallway if you don't mind."

Mike smiled. "It's fine. See ya."

Noah nodded, still feeling a bit suspicious, before leaving.

Xxx

Noah walked into the next room, which had taken up most of the fourth floor hallway. Various high tech gear was scattered around the room and various machines were against the wall. Judging by the lights the were blinking on the consoles they were still working. In the middle of the room was a giant machine, that was giving off a loud hum. The top of the machine was a giant sphere with tubes extending out of it and it looked like it was controlled by a set of computers connected to the machine.

Geoff was staring at the machine with a dark expression written on his face. Monokuma was next to him, covering his mouth.

"Um…" Noah frowned. "Is everything okay Geoff?"

Monokuma turned to Noah and giggled. "I just told Geoffy here that this machine is a time machine!"

Noah looked skeptical. "A time machine?" he repeated. He shot a sideways glance at Geoff. "Please don't tell me you believe this…"

A moment passed before Geoff answered. "Of course I don't… it's just…" He lifted his head to look up, revealing tears streaming down his face. "Bridge…"

Noah winced.

Monokuma continued to laugh. "Well you don't have to blame your girlfriend! After all someone voted for her to get killed! You should go after that person!"

"But…but…" stammered Geoff. "If I do that then I'll get killed too. Bridge wouldn't want that to happen too me…"

"It's for revenge!" Monokuma insisted. He suddenly blushed, as if coming with a new idea. "In fact, I'll help you with your revenge!" He disappeared.

Noah glanced at Geoff, before looking at the giant machine in front of him. "It's just an air purifier, apparently," he said. He turned back to Geoff to find him on his knees, with tears still going down his face. "Should I…I don't know if…"

Noah opened his mouth to say something, but paused when he heard the intercom's usual static fill the room.

"Students!" Monokuma announced. "Please meet me in the gymnasium for an important announcement, right away! That is all!" The intercom shut off.

Noah turned to Geoff only to find him already heading towards the door. Feeling like something bad was about to happen, Noah followed him out.

Xxx

Noah walked into the gym, feeling, once again, a sudden emptiness. The last time that they were in here for one of Monokuma's speeches, there were around fourteen of them. And now…eight. Only eight of them were left.

Eight.

The number rang in Noah's head. How many of them were going to be left when after this motive? Who was going to be killed? Who was going to be the killer-?

Eight.

Noah grabbed his head, curling his hand in frustration. No. He shouldn't be thinking like that. He should be focusing on the problem at hand. What new motive Monokuma managed to cook up this time was his number one priority.

But… Why did Noah have such a bad feeling?

"I am here!" Monokuma bounced onto the stand, before placing his paws onto his belly. "What can you do for my students today!?"

"You were the one who called us here," Geoff said, his eyes dark and wet from his tears.

The bear tilted his head. "I did?"

"Yes you did! You even told me about it!" Geoff shouted, clenching his hand in anger. "Now can you hurry up!"

Monokuma chuckled darkly. "You seem to be in a bad mood, party boy," he noted. "Are you alright? Would you like to sit down? Maybe have a bit of sushi?"

With a roar, Geoff tried to charge at Monokuma, but Brick and Jo held him back again, wrapping their arms around his waist. "You already tried this!" grunted Jo. "Stop it already!"

Lindsay and Gwen looked away trying to not get themselves involved. Noah could understand the feeling. Despite their outward appearance, they were still shaken from seeing six people dying yesterday. They just didn't… want to get involved.

Mike took a step forward. "Come on, Geoff," he said in a shaky voice. "You need to calm down."

"I'll calm down when I bash that stupid fucking bear's face in!" he snapped, his face twisted into a snarl.

Monokuma was still giggling. "Well you all seem to be in a stellar mood! I guess I shouldn't really tell you that there's traitor among your puny group!" Monokuma laughed.

Noah's blood ran cold. "Traitor?"

"Yep!" The bear covered its mouth. "Someone standing in this room is a traitor!"

Geoff stopped struggling. "And this traitor… Were… were they the one who voted for Bridgette to die? Were.. were they the one who killed her?!"

"Maybe," replied Monokuma, before spreading out his arms. "And I'm offering a reward to whoever can kill the little bastard. Whoever kills him, gets a free pass out of execution!' He clapped his hands together. "Isn't that great?!"

"Free pass?" repeated Dawn with a frown.

Monokuma nodded. "Yes! If someone manages to kill the traitor, we will not be having a class trial for him or her! Fair, don't you think?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing," he answered. "You just get to have revenge on someone who has been constantly telling me of everything you all are doing being my backs!" He guffawed. "Hell, even I'll be getting my revenge since he betrayed me!"

Noah froze, when he remembered what had happened the night before. If only he could remember some more…!

Geoff interrupted Noah's train of thought. "So are you going to tell us who it is?" he asked sharply.

Monokuma just shook his head.

"Fine." Geoff grinned. "I swear, I'll find out who this traitor is. And… I'll kill them!"

New Rooms- Elevator, Physics Room, Observatory, 2nd Locked Room, Dojo, Woodshop, Filming Clubroom

Xxx

Alive- Noah, Dawn, Gwen, Geoff, Mike, Brick, Lindsay, Jo

Dead- Katie, Lightning, Sadie, Zoey, Anne Maria, Sierra, Cody, Trent, Duncan, Courtney, Scott, Heather, Izzy, Alejandro, DJ, Bridgette, Sam

Survivors: 8

Man I'm out of practice!

Sorry if some of the things in this chapter seem a bit rushed and what not. It's just school has been really against me and I can never seem to find time to work on this.

So, since Monokuma didn't reveal the traitor this time who do you think it is? Also who do you think will murder this time? What will be the weapon?

Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!

Also I recently posted a new story called "Evil." It's pretty much about my favorite PI contestant, working part-time as a cashier. I'd appreciate any reviews on that! :D