Time to find out what the human world is like; why did the Ritri Clan leave it? Why did the Subjects go there? What happened? All these questions will be answered.
"Words" Speaking
'Words' Thoughts
"Words" Demon Speech
'Words' Demon thoughts
Scene change
It had been a month since my arrival at Sigma labs. By that time I had gotten used to the routine of living there.
It was in the evening after dinner. Sunny went to the bathroom while I stayed in our dorm room to brush my teeth.
I was in front of the sink with the medicine cabinet open as I carefully and thoroughly brushed my teeth.
I did not notice the door open as I focused on my task.
When I finished, I spat the foam out and rinsed my mouth. I put my toothbrush back in its place within the cabinet and took a breath, the minty feeling of toothpaste still in my mouth.
'It's been a month since my arrival, and Sunny still shows no sign of revealing the truth of his past. What could have happened to traumatize him to such a degree?' I wondered as I looked down into the sink.
As I closed the medicine cabinet, the mirror on the other side showed what was standing behind me.
A figure in a strange robe with a gas mask on. Staring at me.
Before I could react, white smoke started to emit from the figure, reaching me within a second.
I tried to hold my breath, but I wasn't quick enough. My lungs filled with the gas, and its effects took place instantly.
My vision blurred as I fell to the ground, my muscles refusing to respond as my eyes struggled to stay open. I looked up at the masked figure as it loomed over me.
"Sleep well, Spencer." A deep, distorted voice said.
And like that, everything was black.
As soon as I closed my eyes, I opened them once more, but I was no longer in my dorm. I was now in what looked to be an elevator.
Silver metal walls surrounded me. The one in front had a split that looked like large elevator doors, complete with buttons beside it. The two sides had bars about halfway up across them and a set of controls underneath. Directly behind me was a large machine.
I examined my body to make sure I wasn't injured. While looking at my hands I noticed my watch, instead of the time, it displayed the number three with the word solo in the color red.
Suddenly a screen came to life over the elevator buttons.
"What?" I said out loud.
A white rabbit in a red and gold vest with a hat appeared on the screen.
"oh good, your awake! I am Zero the III! The king of this kingdom." the rabbit named Zero the third said in a high-pitched voice.
'Zero? And the third?' I thought.
"I'm sure you've got loooooots of questions! It just seems silly to have a big old chit-chat right now, soooo... I'm gonna give you a game to play!" Zero said.
"A game? I questioned.
"Yes, yes, yes! And I'm calling it... The NONARY GAAAAAME! AMBIDEX EDITIOOOON! BEEETAAAA VERSIOOOOOON!"
"..." I didn't say anything at the announcement of this game?
The weird digital rabbit continued. "There's more to it! Lots more! But if I told you now, that'd be cheating. So hurry up and get out! I'll be waaaaiting!"
"Hold on a sec! What is this-" I began to ask only to be cut off by Zero.
"Oh, right! I forgot to tell you the most. Important. Thing. This elevator you're in... It's gonna fall in a few minutes. Waaaaaay down."
"F-Fall?!" I said in alarm.
"Yes indeedy! So you'd better get moving. I'll see you later. Have a nice trick!" Zero the third said before the screen went black.
I rolled my eyes. "See you next fall. Haven't heard that before." I said with sarcasm.
I looked around the elevator once more, trying to find something that could aid my escape.
"Just like back at Sigma, this is just another escape room. I can do this," I said to myself.
I started to intently search the room, looking for the first step for the escape.
'I can't open the doors through brute strength. And I don't see anything to open.'
The next thing I looked at was the panel where the buttons for each floor were located. There were nine numbered buttons, the screen Zero was on and a grate with four shaped and colored screws.
'A yellow triangle, a blue circle, a red hexagon, and a green pentagon. If I had to guess, I'd have to take them off at some point," I thought as I continued my investigation.
Taking a step back, I looked at the large metal screen in the back of the elevator. A black screen reflected my face as I looked at it.
Under the panel was a medium-sized safe with nine buttons. I'd need a combination to unlock it.
I looked on the sides, noticing the railing. On each end were different colored handles.
"The colors look like…" I said, remembering the screws.
I fiddled with the yellow handle, noticing it was loose. I twisted it until it came off, revealing it to be a screwdriver without ahead.
Quickly I did the same to the other three handles until I had a complete set.
'Now that I have these, I need the shaped heads to unscrew the panel.' I thought.
It was then I looked at the wall and saw an odd poster.
The picture on the wall had drawings of humans of different ages, some young and some old.
Above the railing were more numbered buttons with a picture on them on either side. One had a picture of a baby, and the other had a person hitched over with a cane, probably an old person.' I thought as I looked back.
I counted the number of old people and the number of babies, seven and four respectively.
I pressed the buttons, but nothing happened. 'Must be missing something.'
I continued to look around and saw a fire extinguisher case with a step-by-step process on top of it.
The picture shows someone pulling out the pin from the fire extinguisher then using it to open the fire extinguisher box.
On the other corner was a fire extinguisher, so I took out the pin, which was a key.
I used the key to open the box. Inside was a smaller box with slots for the four screws and four tips for them.
I took the tops, applied them to the proper colored screwdriver, and unscrewed the great.
Inside was a tilting puzzle, where I had to get the green box to the blue slot in the bottom right corner.
Not being my first time with this type of puzzle, I quickly solve it, causing a green memory card to pop out of the puzzle box.
I picked it up and looked around, trying to find a place to insert it.
The screen panel in the back of the room had three memory card sockets. When I put the memory card on, the screen turns on but displays nothing.
I thought back to the poster with the old and young people and looked back to the elevator doors when I noticed the panel to the side had the same-looking buttons with a rabbit picture above them.
'There aren't any rabbits in the picture, so the number should be Zero.' I thought as I pressed the button. Instantly a red memory card was spat out at me, forcing me to catch it.
I quickly inserted the memory card into the back panel, causing the screen to display a near-eventide image to the safe under it.
On the bottom row of the screen was a star, a sun, and a star once again.
Quickly I entered the code into the safe to which it opened, revealing a key.
"Now, where do you go…" I thought as I looked for a keyhole.
Just below the screen, the third appeared on a red button behind a locked screen.
I quickly unlocked it and pressed the button.
A noise like doors unlocking sounded, but the elevator door didn't budge. Instead, the ceiling hatch opened up, revealing the escape route.
I used the device in the back to boost my jump to hoist myself up and out.
When I stood on top of the elevator, I noticed six others lined up next to mine, the far most right door.
Looking around, I saw I wasn't in an elevator shaft at all but a warehouse.
There were three colored doors: magenta, yellow, and cyan, along with a large door with a red number nine painted on it.
On the wall to my left was red graffiti that said, "two milkmen go comedy."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned out loud.
Then I heard a voice calling to me from the other side of the warehouse.
"Spencer! Over here!" K yelled and waved. Besides her were Ryan, Mathias, Akiza, Penny and Tikvah.
I climbed down the elevator to the ground and ran to the others.
"Guys! What's going on? Where are we?" I asked in rapid succession.
"No, we don't. I haven't been out here much longer than you." Tikvah said.
"They grabbed you too, huh?" Mathias guessed.
"Grabbed? Oh yeah! When I closed the medicine cabinet in our room, I saw a person in a gas mask. Then a white gas started to emit from them. I breathed it in and passed out." I said.
"I think we all shared that particular experience. The smoke seems to be some kind of general anesthetic. When I woke up, I was in one of these 'elevators.' As Zero called them." K said.
"So everyone was in an elevator?" I asked.
"No, Mathias and I were in one together. We were the first to escape. Then K and Ryan, then Tikvah. And now you." Akiza told us.
Mathias continued. "We were in the one third from the right. K and Ryan were the second out. Coming from the elevator was second from the right. The Third was Tikvah, who climbed out of the left most elevator. Penny came out of the elevator next to Tikvah. Then Spencer came from the far most right elevator." The eldest summarized.
"So then the elevator third from the left must be Sunny and C," Penny concluded.
"... While we wait, can I see your bracelets?" Mathias asked.
"Oh sure," I respond by reaching out my wrist.
"Hmm. So Spencer's says three solos in the color red. Akiza's says the same as mine, pair in the color blue. K and Ryan's says pair in red. Penny's says solo in blue. Lastly, Tikvah says solo in green." Mathias observed.
"So if we go by that pattern, Sunny and C's should be a pair in green," Ryan predicted.
"That's a safe bet." K responses.
"Ryan and I are the red pair. Mathias and Akiza are the blue pair. Each pair got put in the same elevator. But Spencer, Tikvah, and Penny were all solos, so…" K Summarized.
"...So they got put in their own separate elevators," Ryan said. "Guh! But what does "pair" and "solo" even mean! And what does the three mean!" He exclaimed
"... *sigh*… Don't got the foggiest idea." Mathias shrugged.
Ryan scoffed. "Well, that's helpful."
"Just a guess, but maybe it has to do with the "game" Zero was talking about?" Penny guessed.
"You guys saw him too, right? That... rabbit... thing?" I asked.
"Yes. In the elevator…" Akiza responded.
"He said something about the elevator falling," Tikvah added.
After they'd escaped from their own "elevators," the others explained that they'd gone around the warehouse-y room we were in and tested the doors. Unfortunately, it turned out they were all shut tight and impossible to open. They had been about to try and open this door- the one with a nine on it- when I appeared.
The seven of us approached the large door and looked at it.
"So... Any chance this one'll open?" I asked.
"You think we'd have done it last if there was?" Ryan responded.
Mathias piped in with, "There's some sort of... I dunno, machine, off to the left here, but…"
He was talking about a circular device with a lever and a rectangular screen above it, saying 'lock-in red text.
"Well, I'll give it a shot," Ryan said.
Ryan walked up to the device and pulled the lever. The lever shot back to its original position and the text changed to saying 'error' with a beeping coming out of it.
Ryan frowned. "Hm. Looks like force isn't going to work either. Damn...Well, I didn't really think that'd work anyway."
"All right, well... How about those three doors over there?" I ask, pointing to the colored doors.
"Each one's got a digital lock on it. We can't pick the lock, and we can't break down the door." Penny explained.
"You sure about that?" Ryan asked.
"I can recognize it, but I don't know the mechanics behind it. My gift won't be able to do a damn thing." She replied.
"Hmph. Okay, are there any other ways out?" I ask.
"No, unfortunately. Not that we've found, anyway. And I searched every inch of this warehouse." Akiza answered.
"So what now? Should we check on the other elevator for Sunny and C?" Tikvah asks.
"Yeah, let's see if they can hear us," Mathias said.
We approached the leftmost elevator, and I started banging on the door.
"Hey! Sunny! C!? in there? If you can hear me, just... I don't know, make some noise!" I yelled out.
We waited for a moment to hear a response, but there was nothing.
"Look next to the doors!" Penny pointed out.
The words "Ambidex Room" were printed out along with a box of some kind.
Akiza walks up and touches the box. "Is that some kind of card reader? Maybe it... unlocks it…" she speculates.
"There's one next to each door…" I said, looking out to the other rooms.
"What do you think "Ambidex Room" is supposed to mean?" I ask.
Stepping away from the box, Akiza looks back at us. "Maybe it has something to do with the game that Zero was talking about?" She guesses.
"Oh, the "Nonary Game, Ambidex Edition, Beta Version" Right?" I said.
Mathias shrugs. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't think we really need to worry about that right now, though. We should be figuring out what's inside this thing. Has anybody got a key card?" he asked.
"Naw. I got nothing, not even dirt." K said.
"So they've taken everything we were carrying? Wonderful." Ryan says.
The rest of us dug through our pockets as well, but it was pretty apparent that Ryan was right.
My own was completely empty- there wasn't even any lint in the creases.
Just then, we heard the hatch on the top of the elevator start to open.
"C! Sunny! Are you okay!?" Akiza asked.
Just as the words left her mouth, a blur of purple and black flew above me, landing behind the group.
We turned around to see C holding Sunny, who looked to still be asleep.
We rushed over to the two of them to make sure they were okay.
"C! Are you okay!? How's Sunny!?" K asked frantically.
"I'm fine sis, and so is Sunny. He's just asleep." C tells us calmly.
Gently C starts to wake Sunny up. And after he rubbed his eyes clean of the sleep, we told him the situation.
Seeing Sunny wake up made me think.
'How long had we been there? I still haven't entirely shaken the last traces of sleep out of my own head, and my brain feels foggy and cluttered. Had I been asleep for hours? Days? There was no way to know. With no windows in the warehouse, it was impossible to guess what time of day or night it was. Time could have stopped, and we wouldn't have had the first idea."
Tikvah looked at the wall and asked. "Hey... What do you think that is?"
"What?" Mathias asked.
"That graffiti over there. See? On the wall?" The young girl pointed to the red words.
"Oh, yes, that... I was wondering what that was. "Two milkmen go comedy." I'm... not sure what that's supposed to mean." Penny said
Mathias closed his eyes before replying. "I think it's somebody's way of saying hello."
"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Ryan says with a sneer.
"It's an anagram," Akiza tells us.
With the tip of her boot, Aki spelled out two sentences in the dust on the floor.
'Two milkmen go comedy!'
'Welcome to my kingdom!'
"Seems like somebody was expecting us, doesn't it?" K said with a frown.
"Yeah, but…" before I could finish, we heard giggling coming from a wall next to the anagram.
"Ge ge he...Eee he he he he he he... Eee he he he he he he he he he…" a familiar voice said.
On the wall showed a projection of the rabbit we saw in the elevator.
"Zero," Akiza said with displeasure.
"Shame on you, Rosy! You can't say what I'm about to say before I say it. I've got a plan, you know. I can't just tell you everything at once. Although things are starting to get exciting... Eee he he he…" the digital rabbit said.
"Where are you, you little bastard!? Too scared to come out and face me like a man?!" Ryan said aggressively.
Zero sighed and shook his head. "Are you an idiot? I'm a rabbit. Do you really think a talking rabbit is a real thing?
"Of course, I don't! You're some kind of CG rabbit or something, probably. That's not what I meant, though!" Ryan responded in defiance
"Ooooh, you meant you want to see the person who's controlling me? I guess God touched this one a little too hard. He he," Zero giggled.
"The fuck you say to me!" Ryan said, red with anger.
"I said your slow Rynasorus. I can't be there In-person cuz I'm not a person, duh."
"You're an AI?!" Penny asked with excitement.
"Yepperony Panini. I'm an artificial intelligence-powered by a quantum computer. Zero is the one who built me, of course." Zero the third explained.
"And who is Zero?" Mathias asked.
"Now, now Matty. That would be telling!" Zero said cryptically.
Crossing his paws, the rabbit continued. "Now, with that said, I guess I should probably tell you that I'm not the one who brought you here. I mean, obviously. I don't even have a body... I'm just the... facilitator for this facility. I just do what I'm told to do!"
"And what do you... facilitate?" C asked.
"Didn't I say that? The game, of course!" Zero bounced with excitement.
"Oh, the... Nonary Game, Ambidex Edition, Beta Version...?" I said, remembering the earlier announcement.
"Correct! It's my job to make sure it runs smoooooooothly." Zero replied.
"So... what is the 'Nonary Game'?" Tikvah asked.
As if reading a dictionary, Mathias explained. "The word 'Nonary' refers to a base-9 numeral system but can also mean something that is, in some way, related to the number nine. "Nona" can also be used as a prefix, where it essentially means the same thing. Therefore it stands to reason that the 'Nonary Game' is a game that deals with the number nine in some way."
"Exactly. Nine is a very, very important number in this game. After all, nine is your goal!" Zero tells us.
"Goal?" K asked.
"Yes, goal! You see that door in front of you? That's your door. If you can open the door with a nine on it... you can escape." The rabbit says.
"What do we have to do to open it?" Tikvah asked.
Zero looks down at her in frustration. "Yes, yes, yes. Let me explain. Look at your left wrists. You see the bracelet? Of course, you do. Now tell me, Rosy, what number is on yours?" He asked.
"Three." She replied
"What about the rest of you?" Zero asked again.
"They're all the same. We've all got threes." Akiza said.
With a smile, Zero starts the explanation, "Exactly. I'm going to call those numbers 'Bracelet Points!' If you're feeling lazy, you can just call them 'BP.' Only the people who can get their number to nine or more will be able to open the door with the nine on it and escape. See the box on the wall? That's how you'll get out. Anyone with greater-than-or-equal-to-nine BP can pull that lever, and the door will open."
Slowly crossing his paw-arms and puffing out his chest, Zero continues.
"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEVER! There are three rules you carrot forget! One! The number nine door will only stay open for nine seconds. When your time is up, it'll close automatically! So be careful. Two! The number nine door only opens once. Once that hoppens, it's allllll over. It'll close for good after nine seconds, so if you're not careful, you could get stuck. Three! Now, maybe some of you are thinking. You're thinking, 'Oh ho... If my BP is too low, then I'll just have someone with enough BP open the door... and I'll just slip through when it's open…' Well, that's not gonna lapin! If you think you can be sneaky, well…" he leaves off.
"Well, what?" Ryan asks impatiently.
"Oh... I, um, really shouldn't say that yet. All you need to know is that anybunny who tries to sneak out" Zero started before changing his pitch much deeper and more menacing. "gets hit with a biiiiiig penalty."
"And what the hell does that mean!?" Ryan asked with even more impatience.
"Down in front! I'll tell you later! So cram it!" Zero tells the angry brawler.
"Umm…" Tikvah said.
"Yeeeees?" Zero said to the young girl
"Why did you start making... rabbit... puns?" The girl asked.
"Uh... well... Um... 'cause I felt like it? I thought it might make me sound cute… hu hu." The AI said.
"Never mind that. You still haven't told us what we need to know the most. How do we get BP?" Mathias asked.
Waving at him, Zero tells us. "Oh, that's easy! Just use the Ambidex Room. If you like abbreviations, you can always call it the AB room instead."
"You mean those... uh... Elevators?" C guessed.
"Gold star, Carbon!" The rabbit praised.
"So, how do we go about using them?" Akiza asked.
"How else do you use a room? You go in." Zero says.
"You mean through those hatches?" Penny asks.
Zero shakes his head. "No. I had a hunch you might try that, so I closed those uptight while you were talking. So don't be hatching any hatch plans, you understand? I live in the master computer. That means all the electronic doors in this whoooooole warren are under my control." The rabbit tells us.
"How do we get in, then? We tried the doors on the front. They're all locked." Ryan tells the rabbit.
"There's a card reader next to each one, isn't there? All you've got to do is slide a card through, and there you go!" Zero explained.
"Where do we find those key cards?" I ask.
"I think you'll find what you're looking for behind the Chromatic Doors," Zero says dramatically.
"Chromatic Doors?" Tikvah parrots.
"Right hare! You see the three pretty doors just to your right?" Zero said, gesturing to the colored doors.
"Huh? Hold on... I thought those doors were locked…" Penny says.
"Penini," Zero says.
The original girls looked up to the projection in response.
"You see those buttons on the sides of your watch? Can you press them at the same time?" Zero asked
"Why?" Penny says with suspension.
"To make little girls ask questions. Just press them, please. In fact, why doesn't everybunny press their buttons as well!" Zero orders.
We all do the same to our watches and the three changes to the numbers 00:10.
"Hey... What's this number?" I asked.
"The two digits on the left show hours, and the two on the right show minutes." The rabbit tells us.
"Does that mean it's 12:10 in the morning?" Akiza guessed.
"No." The digital rabbit answered
Suddenly the number goes down to nine.
"Oh! The numbers are going down…" Tikvah observed.
"So... That would mean this must be counting down to something, right?" C asked.
"Correct. I don't even need to explain the rest, do I?" Zero says.
Zero jumps up with his paw pointing up. "All right! Lettuce review what we've learned: In nine minutes, the Chromatic Doors will open automatically. However! Just like the number nine door, they won't stay open forever."
After a moment of silence, he continued, "You have 5 minutes to get in. Once your time is up, the doors will close no matter what, so I hop you've gone through by then! That's just the primary door…"
The confused look on my face seemed to get across to Zero the need for an explanation.
"Each door in this warren has a twin! Isn't that nice? The Chromatic Doors aren't any different. There's one door on this side... One door on the other side. Unfortunately, the secondary Chromatic Door on the other side is locked too." The AI tells us.
"Couldn't make it easy for us, could you…" K says with a frown.
"Of course, I couldn't, Potassium. What's kind of game would be fun to play if it was easy!?" Zero exclaimed. "Now, of course, you'll all have to split up," Zero says.
"Slit up?" C asks.
"Yep. Tiki, can you tell me what the three primary colors of light are?" Zero asks the young girl.
After a moment of thought, the girl answered, "You mean red, green, and blue? You're supposed to be able to make any color by mixing them, right...?" Tikvah responds
"So which colors would you mix to get magenta?" Zero asked.
"Red and blue…" she answered.
"How about yellow?"
"...Green and red."
"What if you wanted cyan?"
"Blue and green." She answered the last combination.
"That's right! Now take another look at the nice bracelets you're all wearing. Notice how they come in three vibrant colors?" Zero says.
With a wave of her and Akiza interjects. "Yeah, yeah. We get it already. The red and blue bracelets can open the secondary magenta door together. Green and red can open the yellow one... …And blue and green can open the cyan door. I miss anything?"
Clapping his paws excited, Zero explained, "Wonderful! I think you rabb-it. There is one other little thing, though…"
"You're talking about what happens if you've got two of the same color, right?" Mathias says.
The rabbit nods. " Yep yep, yep! If you want to open a door but all you've got is one color, then you can use that to open a door with the complementary color to the one you've got."
"I see. So if you've got red and red, you can open the cyan door... Blue and blue can open the yellow door... ...And green and green can open the magenta door." Mathias concluded.
"Ding sing ding, we have a winner! Now Let's continue, shall we? There are two types of bracelets: Pairs and solos. That means there's two types of players too! Pairs and solos. In this game, the two members of a pair are considered to be a single entity, which means they share the saaaaaame destiny. Isn't that a good deal? I mean, you get two for the price of one! Unfortunately, it also means they carrot split up. Aww... Both members of a pair have to go through the same Chromatic Door. Solos don't have any restrictions like that, though. I mean, why would they? They're forever alone. But that means that they can go whereeeeeeever they want! Yaaay! Now, let's take another look at all of your bracelets. We'll start with you, Rynasorus. What color is your bracelet?" Zero asks.
"Red," The buff boy answers.
"Are you a pair or a solo?" The rabbit asks.
"I'm a pair." Ryan answers.
"Potassium is next! Tell us about your bracelet."
"It's just like Ryan's. Red and a pair."
"What about you, Spencil?
"It's red, and I'm a solo," I answer.
"Matty? Rosy?" The rabbit asks.
"We're Blue, pairs," Akiza answered
"Panini! Carbon! Tiki! All at once!" Zero says.
"I'm a blue solo," Penny says.
"I'm a... green pair," C says.
"And I'm Green solo," Tikvah says.
"And finally, Sunbun. What are you?" The rabbit asked.
Sunny looked up at the rabbit and showed his watch to the projection.
"Uhh, I asked you what's on your watch, I uhh, I expected a verbal response…" Zero says awkwardly.
There was an awkward silence as Sunny continued to look at the rabbit.
Zero sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Look, kid, you're the only person who hasn't talked to me. I try to communicate with as many people as I can. It helps me improve, you see. I'm trying to get into the rabbit of doing it all the time. Now, answer my question. What's on your watch?" Zero asks.
There was another moment of silence as Sunny looked down at his watch, contemplating his response.
I put my hand on Sunny's shoulder. "It's okay if you want me to say," I suggest to the black-haired boy.
Sunny shakes his head in response.
"... … Green… pair…" Sunny says softly.
"Okay! I'm glad we got all that bracelet business out of the way. Now, lettuce return to the subject at hand... How do you open the secondary door? So, Potassium, what would you do to get through the yellow door?" Zero asks.
"Well, I'm a red pair, so Ryan and I have to go together, so we'd have to pair up with Tikvah to get through," K responds.
"Or you could pair up with Sunny and me. We're greens too!" C says.
"Whoops! Oh celery sticks, I forgot to tell you. You have to have exactly three people in your group to open the secondary door. That means you can't have two people, or four people, or, well, anything other than three really." Zero explained.
"Then our only choice is to pair up with Tikvah," Ryan says.
"Pretty much. Aaaaand I guess I should probably tell you that the secondary door won't open until the primary door closes. It's made that way to keep out cheaters. We didn't want a fourth or fifth person just running in at the last minute like "AAAAAAAAH WAIT FOR ME" when the right people open the door. But if the primary door closes first, then that's impossible! You see? It all makes sense." Zero tells us.
"Well, that's about everything. Might have run a hare too long in my explanation, but now that I'm aaaaaaaaall done. Any questions?" Zero asks.
After the A.I. rabbit said that, a jingle rang out of the warehouse, and the Chromatic Doors opened.
The P.A. system crackled on, and a voice of a middle-aged woman came through. "Chromatic Doors have opened. Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close."
"Ohhhh, so sorry, guys, but it looks like your time's up. You'd better hop to it and get those secondary doors open." Zero teased.
Ryan raised his fist at the projection. "Fuck that! We aren't going to open shit! You can take your Lameary Game and shove it up to your ass! If you think we're just gonna swallow your psychotic crap and play along, you've got another thing coming, you smart-ass little rodent!" He yelled out.
"... I'm a rabbit…" Zero said.
"Shut up!" Ryan responded.
"Well, shoot... I thought you might say that. Unfortunately, you have no choice but to follow the rules…" Zero said.
"Why is that?" I ask.
"When the time comes, those three doors will automatically close. If anyone is left outside after they close, they'll…" Zero trailed off.
"They'll what?" Tikvah asked.
"They'll be penalized." The rabbit said.
"You keep saying that! What the hell is this 'penalty' anyway?!" Ryan asked, very irritated.
"Well... Death." The A.I. says bluntly.
There were gasps among the nine of us.
"Your bracelets contain two drugs. The first is an anesthetic called Soporil ß. The other is a muscle relaxant called tubocurarine. Your bracelet also has a bunch of needles on the inside. If you break the rules, those needles hop out and inject you." Zero explained.
We look at our watches, trying to see the needles.
"I don't recommend messing with the watches. Messing it up too much will cause a penalty." Zero tells us.
We all suddenly stop messing with the watches.
"First is the Soporil, which puts you to sleep. Nine minutes later, the tubocurarine is injected, numbing your respiratory muscles. I guess you could say it'll really take your breath away! You should know that the Soporil is only there out of the kindness of Zero's heart. Oh, and I mean the real Zero, not me. Zero just doesn't want to see anybunny suffer. Isn't that just soooooo compassionate? If I had a heart, it'd be melting right now! Anyway, all it means is that you'll die pretty painlessly, so hey, there's nothing to worry about, really. Of course, none of that will happen if you just follow the rules…" Zero tells us.
The P.A. system once again comes to life. "Three minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close."
"Well then, looks like it's time for me to hop on out of here. Good luck, guys! See you all later! Have a nice trap!" Zero announces before vanishing from the screen.
After a moment of silence, Akiza spoke up.
"What are we waiting for?! We need to go! We need to get through those other doors!"
"But... how do we figure out which door to go through?" I asked.
"You still don't get it? Fine. Just pay attention. We don't have much time. Zero's explanation was pretty confusing, so let me put it in small words for you: There are only three possible options." Ryan said, then held up one finger. "Option A. K and I pair up with Penny. Our red and her blue can open the magenta door. That would mean C and Sunny would go with Spencer. Their green goes with his red to make yellow. That leaves Mathias and Akiza as the blue pair and Tikvah as the green solo. The only door they can open is the cyan one." Ryan explains.
Holding up a second finger, he continues. "Option B. K and I go with Tikvah, so we can use red and green to make yellow for that door. That means C and Sunny pair up with Penny to open the cyan door. This leaves Mathias and Akiza with Spencer, and together they can open up the magenta door."
Holding up a third finger, he concludes. "And finally... Option C would pair up with like colors to open complementary-colored doors. That means K, Spencer, and I go through the cyan door... C, Sunny, and Tikvah go through the magenta door... Mathias, Akiza, and Penny go through the yellow door. The problem is, which do we choose?"
Once again, the announcer says, "One minute remains until Chromatic Doors close."
Mathias spoke up. "Okay. Akiza and I will go with Spencer into the Magenta door." He decides.
"That means C and Sunny will go through the Cyan door with Penny, and Ryan and K go through the yellow door with Tikvah," I said.
"I'm okay with that," C says.
Sunny nods in approval.
"No issue here," Penny tells us.
"Same here." K shrugs.
"Whatever." Ryan scoffs.
"I'm good!" Tikvah says.
"Ten seconds remain until Chromatic Doors close. Nine... Eight... Seven…" the announcer starts to count down.
"We need to hurry!" C said alarm.
"Alright, guys! Let's get moving!" Mathias yells and starts running to the magenta door.
"Three... Two... One... Zero. Chromatic Doors closing." The countdown starts to end.
We just made it into the doors before the magenta door closed behind us.
We found ourselves in a small room with a cyan door in front of us. Above us, a scanning contraption lowers as it scans for our watches.
After the scan is complete, the new door opens to reveal a hallway with an arrow pointing to the right. At the end of the hallway was another door that was labeled Lounge. As we approached, the door opened automatically.
Chapter 19, end.
SORRY SORRY, THIS TOOK WAY TOO LONG. During winter break, I traveled with my family, so I didn't get any work done, and school/work has been swamping me. I plan to continue this story, but as I have stated many times before, updates are random and slow. I want this leg of Spencers Story to be 3 or four chapters. After this, ill do another 2 or 3 chapters of Spencer telling more personal stories to people, like Makoto to Yugo and Lucan and Sunny to his friends, and one last story to Emma and Ray before moving on to the non-original content.