A/N — EW TWO MONTHS! Honestly, I had trouble writing this chapter bc I didn't know what to write, but after two months, I've finally decided to post this! It seemed extremely short when I first read it (like all my other chapters I've been posting recently), but of course, I will try to lengthen it even more as the story progresses. I have something in mind, so maybe that'll work. Anyway, onto the story, here's the new chapter and sorry for the wait!

But first, to my reviewers :)

Guest — lol same, but I'd probably think of my laptop being damaged!
KingKagura — Everyone is trying lol in their own ways I guess. As for Ruby and Emerald, I can't say they do, but I'll say they get the gist. I suck at equally splitting up parts in this story based off of being biased, but I'll try to write some future scenes to show where they stand! Also, as for your other guesses, you're on point! As for Dia... hmmm... I don't know X3 Thanks for reviewing though and sorry for the wait! School has been ripping me apart.
Just Another Kid — Yeah, it was hard for me to write it XD I hate it when people fight, but I needed more drama in this story just 'cause. Green will forever be a Jerkwad, but you know, he's trying. As for the fight and characters, as the writer, I am not biased against anyone since everyone has their own conflicts in their own ways. Also, LOL. Behind the Scenes is literally the story I use to help mellow down a lot of things XD Compared to my other stories, it has less conflict! But thanks for the compliment :))) and I'm happy that you got invested XD As for everyone's build up trust issues, I dunno how long I'll play it out, but hopefully, things will end better! They have to work together whether they like it or not anyway. Thanks for all your thoughts XD It was interesting to read how you thought of the whole chapter XD


Chapter Nineteen — Trust Is Needed


Green's POV

Okay, this is officially the dumbest situation I have ever been in, and I've been in a lot. We were all sitting in a circle, confessing our feelings and usernames as if we were in a mental home of troubled teenagers with problems. Well, we did have a problem, but this isn't because of us, but because of something else. And to me, confessing our 'feelings' was just a waste of time, too. But Diamond kept insisting we do this so that we could understand each other more clearly and work together to solve the problem. Though it sounded decent and I agree with that part, the method chosen to do this... was stupid. I wasn't really involved in a fight either. I was even preventing that pesky woman from going off and stopping a fight before it escalated, but noooo, I need 'therapy' at Gold's cramped dorm with thirteen other people.

"Green, it's your turn," Red said, nudging me in the side.

I pushed his elbow away from me and didn't even bother to stand up. "I'm Green, and my username is LeafGreen. I don't care. Can we get on with this?" And thus, I sat down.

Hey, I told my feelings, didn't I?

This is so annoying.

"I'm Yellow!" Yellow introduced, standing next to me. "I'm Healer, and umm... my feelings about this is that I'm confused, I guess? I'm not terrified, but I wouldn't say I'm relieved either. All I know is, we have to stop this problem before anybody gets hurt. And umm... yeah. By the way, I don't like fighting and I'm a pacifist, so..." She awkwardly took her seat afterwards, not knowing what else to say in her introduction.

"You guys already know me as Blue," Blue said in confidence, looking less peppier than usual. "I didn't want to admit this... but I'm," she groaned in between, "Aoi. I really didn't want to reveal my username, or the fact that I play for many reasons. However, this is an inevitable thing, so I guess I'll just do it. My feelings about this? I want to crush whoever is behind the scenes of this stupid thing." And with that, she sat down and finished the introductions.

I already knew she plays the game by how she acted with Yellow and Silver, but her as Aoi caught me off guard. Well, they did share many similarities when it came to that teasing personality, but something was different? I don't know. There's always something off about that pesky woman— so obnoxious.

"I don't get why we're really introducing ourselves since we've known each other for awhile, but whatever," Sapphire commented, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm Sapphire Birch. I play the game as Sapphoro! I don't really know what's going on, but I want to kill Ruby. I'm done." With that, she sat down again.

Ruby, who was next to her, gave her an offended look. He stood up since it was his turn. "You already know me, so I'm not going to introduce myself. My username is Sparkles though. As for my feelings, I really don't want to do this, but apparently I'm forced too. Also, I would like to say that I'm innocent, and Sapphire has something against me for no reason."

"What'd ya say?!" Sapphire growled, standing up again.

"Well, you can't blame me! It's not my fault you forgot what happened that night!" Ruby retorted.

"I thought Sparkles was a girl— a reliable girl I looked up ta! Instead, she's a 'he' whose personality is annoying and picky!" Sapphire insulted.

"Dude, I thought Sparkles was a girl too," Gold spoke up, cutting into their conversation. "I have so many questions for you and your username."

"That's because it's hard to tell my gender if I were to use a feminine name! It's all about underestimating!" Ruby explained. "Anyways, I really don't want to do this, so we can just move along! I don't even like half of you in this room!"

"I'm hurt!" Blue said, placing a hand on her heart. "Your personality is the third worst one out of all of us!"

I didn't know who the first and second were, but after all the arguments we had, I can guess I'm one of them. I don't care though for her approval.

"Well, you can't blame me! Look at what you guys actually wear for casual clothes," Ruby pointed out, gesturing around the room. "Like, really, Caveman? You had to go to war in those shorts. That t-shirt is hideous too!"

I glanced at Sapphire who was just in plain P.E. shorts and a t-shirt. She started growling, and I was sure she was going to pounce on him.

"Ya—"

"—Just sit down and finish the introductions before more arguments happen," I interjected, shutting everyone up. "I'm not trying to stay here until dawn."

They actually listened, and everyone who was standing up earlier sat down. Next to Sapphire, Soul stood up next. She was the second to last one left.

"Hey, so I'm Soul as you already know, and I play as Kotone," she introduced awkwardly. "Look, we've only known each other in real life for a couple weeks like what Sapphire said, and we're not exactly the best group altogether. Honestly, I'm scared of what's going to happen next and the probability of losing my life next week. Something weird is going on, and I really want answers. So I ask you all, let's get along and get through this together."

She politely bowed before sitting down in her seat and looking at the floor to hide her embarrassment.

Finally, the last one stood up. "Yo, so you guys know me as Gold. I'm Awesome, of course. You guys have the lamest usernames by the way. Anyways, I don't know what's going on like most of you guys, but I'll help with the situation the best I can. Me and Ataro, of course!"

He took out a pokéball from his pocket and threw it into the air. An aipom emerged from it, jumping around and full of energy. After looking around at everyone, the aipom latched onto Gold's arm and climbed up onto his shoulder.

"Oh... so that's the aipom you saw," Soul muttered to Crystal, nudging her.

Crystal slapped her forehead in reply and groaned. "Why didn't I realize it sooner...?"

I didn't know what she meant, but I'm guessing Gold screwed up somehow. I quickly brought the attention back to the group now that introductions are done.

"Okay, so let's get down to business. We're going to obviously get attacked, and in a way, I don't want any casualties even if most of you guys annoy me to death. The question we should be asking ourselves is, should we trust this person? What should we do? If we do trust Anonymous, then what should we do about Lt. Surge?"

I, for one, don't trust anyone. Not only is this group lacking in so many skills (whether it's online or offline), we were not the best combination. However, I am upset that this stupid game tries to threaten me and act like it can run my life all of a sudden, and these people are only choice I have. Well, at least I trust them more than Anonymous and Lt. Surge. I hate that guy, he's so annoying.

"... I don't think we can trust someone who just hacked our group," Emerald stated, frowning. "I mean, it's okay if the person is helping us and everything, but what happens if we believe it and change our attention to something other than the actual culprit? That'll be bad. We have no proof that loud teacher is behind everything too."

"But then again, there's also the factor where the person could be actually helping us and we'll miss a warning," Yellow pointed out.

"Ouch, my head hurts just thinking about it," Pearl muttered, holding his forehead.

"I feel like we should trust Anonymous," Red suddenly said, catching everyone's attention. He had that furrowed eyebrow expression, the one that means he's extremely concentrated. "I know it's weird to trust someone that we don't know, let alone trust each other, but didn't you find it kind of weird that it was the detention crew? The same one that Lt. Surge picked out. There's also the fact that those other girls were involved, but we're the only ones with punishment."

Red didn't seem like much since he's always saying weird things, but I know he has a brain in there. He's right to point that out. I was thinking about it when I first got dragged into the punishment by Gold. Now that it correlates how the game relates to the detention group, it's starting to make more sense.

"What other girls?" Emerald asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The annoying fangirls that threatened Yellow because they thought she was too close to Gold," Blue answered.

"Aren't they cousins?" Crystal pointed out, giving a puzzled look.

"They didn't know," Sapphire replied, waving it off. "But yeah, back ta the point, I agree with Red. We should be on our guard and work together."

"Should we delete our accounts?" Diamond suddenly brought up, looking hesitant. At that, everyone else in the room seemed reluctant about the idea too. They had unsure faces, and some gave him a shocked look.

"What?" he asked, noticing the looks he was given.

"I just won the championships! I've finally accomplished my dream, and deleting my account is..." Red trailed off.

"Yeah, I finally got to the level that grants me the access to the Battle Frontier fight stage," Emerald added.

The others started to throw a fit about it as well, and even though they were irritating and annoying, I had to agree with them. I just became a gym leader two weeks ago, and I kind of wanted to stay as one. But if something that's trying to cut my neck comes crashing in, then it's different.

"I don't think we should," I spoke up. "I know it seems better to just cut him off completely, but who's to say they still won't come after us after we delete our accounts? Also, if we don't have the game, we won't have contact with the freak mastermind and we'll never find out who's messing with us. If anything, we'll just attack blindly. I think it's best if we just find out what's happening on our own."

"He has a point," Silver grumbled, barely audible. I'm surprised he actually agreed with me. It was obvious that guy hated me because I call Blue a pesky woman. Hatred or not, my approach wasn't dumb.

"Umm... yeah, I think so too," Soul said quietly. "So, do you guys have a plan? I'm just asking before we turn on each other."

"Fighting with fire seems best," Pearl suggested. "That's what this is for, isn't it?"

Yellow wrinkled her nose uncomfortably and sunk in her seat, obviously showing distaste for the idea. I've tutored the girl before in self defense. She cried when I hit a tree with the football on accident, so of course she would be against it. Yellow isn't weak though when it comes to strength or technique, so she shouldn't be too bad. She's still lacking in a lot compared to me though, and that's a problem.

"You can't just run into a place loaded with attackers without a plan," Platinum chided.

Immediately, the plan was shot down.

"I mean, what else could we do?" Diamond wondered. "We're just kids in high school. I don't know any form of combat unless you count shoving people (he's probably talking about football) as one."

Diamond was a pretty good player for defense, sturdy and strong. I don't know if it's because of the fat he gained from eating so much, but he was valuable when it came to using him as a lineup for defense. I wonder if I can make a set up and utilize that.

"If it's about combat, I take karate," Crystal announced.

Oh yeah, Crystal is actually really talented and known in the program for her strong legs. That could be helpful too.

"I know how to use a gun," Red informed, earning looks from everyone. He waved his hands in defense to reassure them it wasn't in a bad way. "I just go to the shooting range sometimes, so I somewhat know how to defend myself."

"If it's for self-defense, then I'm pretty sure you could use it," Gold said.

Red shrugged his shoulders then looked over to me. "Green, you know how to use a katana, right?"

Blue raised an eyebrow. "Katana?"

"Oh yeah, Green also takes kendo and akido," Yellow informed. I tried to teach her in akido, so of course she would know.

"Really? That's so cool!" Sapphire complimented. "I'm not into karate or akido, uhhh... but I'll try my best."

Emerald adverted his eyes to the resting hockey stick and helmet Sapphire brought. "You could literally kill someone with that stick." Sapphire was too oblivious as to what he meant and exchanged an innocent look. Knowing her, she could just kill them in one swoop. I've always wondered why she's strong for her age and gender. I see her tackling huge guys down during football games.

"Yeah... I don't do combat. I'm a pacifist," Ruby brought up. "I'd like to be less involved in this as possible. The less blood and scratches I have on me, the better."

"I'm pretty sure everyone here doesn't want ta be in this predicament," Sapphire snapped. "Suck it up, Prissy Boy."

Just when Ruby was about to open his mouth to retort, Soul interjected quickly, "Guys, I know this is bad and it's serious, but do you think we can continue this later? This is too much to handle, and I need time to sink it all in."

"I agree." Platinum stood up from her seat. "I have violin lessons at this time, and I need to do something urgent."

Red ran his hand through his black hair and replied, "Well, this was somewhat unexpected and it's a Saturday, so I think it'll be best to just call it done here." He turned to me with hopeful eyes. "I think we should talk about this later at school or something. What do you think, Green?"

As much as I want to continue this meeting to actually counter a plan, it was obvious that everyone wasn't in the condition to work together, especially since we literally had an argument before coming here. It would be best to let them settle down for a while before continuing.

"Yeah," I responded.

Red turned to everyone else. "What about you guys?"

"Yeah, I'm with Soul on this one," Emerald agreed. Everyone else did as well, and we weren't able to actually plan anything together.

In the end, Yellow offered everyone drinks to lower the strong atmosphere and fighting tension, but everyone rejected it and went out on their way.


Crystal's POV

"Wait, Crys!"

I heard Blue's voice call me when I was going down the stairs outside, and I turned around in response. Soul turned as well and gave her the same quizzical look I had. I didn't expect it, but Blue was there, looking less confident and loud. She stood there, glancing to the side.

"Can I... umm... talk to you?" she asked. Her eyes flickered over to Soul who was behind me. "... Alone."

I glanced at Soul, and she gave me a look and a smile, gesturing me to go talk to Blue. Before I could say my answer, she spoke up, "I'm going to catch a ride with Black. He should be in White's dorm. Don't worry about me."

After that, she left, and Blue and I went over to the sidewalk to go talk. I was about to mention the fight we had since it was essential to address it, but she cut me off before I could say anything.

"Look, I'm sorry." I'm surprised she apologized first.

"I shouldn't have said that to you, and I was literally trying to force it on you. I... I've been in the craziest situations this month, besides the wedding details with everyone. Earlier today, I was just pissed off at what Green said, and I went too far as to accuse you and got mad. I'm really sorry, Crystal. After revealing our problems to each other and thinking about the situation more clearly, I've calmed down, realizing it wasn't right to start a fight in the middle of the chaotic situation. I hope you can accept my apology. We really need to stick together, even if you don't fully trust me, which I can't really blame you for. Trust is what gets you in trouble sometimes, and I understand how you feel."

I let out a deep breath, feeling guilty now that I looked back on the words I said to her. After yelling at Blue earlier, I felt like all of my stress and everything just poured out.

"No, I was in the wrong. I was accusing everyone left and right because I was being too paranoid and was scared about Soul's safety instead of everyone's. My twin sister means everything to me, so I overreacted and even yelled at Gold even though he was the one who took a bullet for me. I shouldn't have said that to you either because you were in a similar situation with Silver getting hurt. I'm sorry for accusing you when you were hurting inside. It's just hard to trust when there's so many who can back stab you. It's going to be hard, but it doesn't mean I can't try. After talking it out, I think it's best."

In the end, I don't trust anyone. Is it because I'm afraid they'll backstab me, or they'll leave me? I don't know. But in the end, we're in the same predicament, and we're experiencing the same things, and it's insensitive of me to only think of myself and Soul in this situation when everyone got hurt in some way.

"So, are we good?" Blue inquired, putting her fist out.

I smiled back and bumped fists with her. "We're good. Let's keep our usual acquaintance relationship."

Blue frowned and cocked an eyebrow. "Huh? Acquaintance?"

"Well, yeah, that's our usual relationship. We only talk after school because we have to. We've known each other for a short time too, and you do the worst things to me. I consider you as an acquaintance."

I didn't really know if I can call her my friend since we're pretty friendly already, but just in case, I'm going to use this term.

"I am so hurt, Crystal! I thought we were friends!" Blue exclaimed.

"You tackled me on the ground yesterday in front of everyone," I pointed out.

"Oh, don't tell me you're upset because it was in front of Gold!" Blue started, smirking at me. I honestly don't know how he keeps coming up.

I rolled my eyes and shoved her shoulder playfully. "Blue, stop it!"

The brunette burst into giggles, keeping her playful smirk. "Oh my dear, Crystal, if only I could. I can't help it," she joked, winking.

"... Crys."

"What?"

"You don't have to call me Crystal. You can call me Crys," I told her.

My nickname was usually used for people closer to me, or people who just hears and calls me it for convenience (sometimes even Gold says it when he's not using that dumb nickname). It feels weird when someone calls me by my full name now, especially if I'm considering Blue as a friend.

Blue smiled in response. "Sounds good, Crys!"

I nodded, satisfied that she was using my nickname. I'm happy that we ended up apologizing and the tension between us weakened. I don't know about what's going on, but if we want to get past this game drama, we have to pull ourselves together. I hope I don't get into more arguments with them.


Platinum handed her butler her bag and immediately went straight to her room. Once she was alone, she flopped onto her bed, trying to release the stress brought down onto her from the last three hours. It didn't last long, and she heard someone talk beside her. When she looked over, she saw Marley sitting there on her computer chair. Platinum found it odd that she didn't even notice the girl when she first walked in.

Marley took a seat on her bed, next to her. "Hey."

Platinum sat up. "I need to tell you something."

"If it's about the whole 'Anonymous' that appeared, I just want you to know that it's me," Marley said, telling her right away.

Platinum widened her eyes. "You're Anonymous? Why did you text us that? How do you know about Lt. Surge?"

Even at this point, Platinum still didn't get Marley's motives, or what she was planning. She didn't even know a single thing about the girl.

"I didn't want to say it earlier, but I overheard a conversation someone had, and they mentioned Lt. Surge. I don't know for sure, but I need you to avoid him as much as possible," Marley advised. "I also need you to tell the others and convince them. I'm pretty sure you met with them today, right?"

Platinum nodded her head to answer.

"I understand, but I have a question. If everyone... if they're all involved with the situation in the past— with Dawn... then can I tell them what you know? Wouldn't it be best if you were to reveal yourself?"

"You know that's not the best," Marley stated, denying it. "Laying low is best for me right now. I want you to tell them to trust Anonymous, but I also want you not to reveal me or the past I've told you."

"But we're supposed to be teammates, so—"

Marley quickly cut her off, "It doesn't matter. Just don't reveal me, or worse stuff will happen. Keep your focus on Lt. Surge and your archery practice if you know what's good for you."

Platinum started to hesitate with the decision. She didn't like how Marley was bossing her around, but she knew that the girl had the right moves and was only helping out in the situation. Maybe for now, she'll just go along and see how it'll go. After all, she wasn't sure about anything anymore.

"Okay, I won't."


Monday Morning

Blue let out a deep breath, bracing herself. With confidence, she entered the classroom and walked over to her seat. Yellow was already seated there, next to her, lost in her own world. Blue snapped her out of it by calling her name and waving a hand in her face.

"Blue!" Yellow exclaimed, noticing her presence.

"Hey~!" Blue greeted me with a wink. Her face quickly turned to a sincere expression. "Look, Yellow, I want to—"

Yellow cut her off. "—I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to apologize to me, right? I heard you doing it to Crystal the other night outside our dorm. It's fine. I wasn't hurt at all and I don't mind it."

Blue let out a sigh, feeling better. "It feels like something left my chest."

The brunette was thinking about how to apologize over the weekend too, so she was feeling bummed out for a while.

"More importantly, are you okay?" Yellow asked.

Blue blinked, not getting what she meant. "What do you mean? I'm not hurt."

"It's just— umm... I remembered you said you were stressed out and upset about everything that's going on in your argument with Crystal. I didn't say too much because I didn't want to confront you, but you don't seem like your usual self. I know you were upset at what happened with Silver where you went missing for awhile, and you're feeling a lot of things. I just want you to know that as your friend, I'm here to help if you want it."

Blue laid her head on the desk with a lopsided smile. "To be honest, Yells, there's a lot of things wrong that's happening right now."

"Well, yeah, I can't disagree with that," Yellow mumbled.

"But seriously, I'm fine," Blue reassured, giving her a small smile and sitting up. "I just need to get my priorities straight, and sooner or later, I'll get the answers I need. For now, I just can't lose myself, or let anything worse happen."

Yellow smiled back. "That's the spirit."

"I still have some in me!" Blue straightened up. "Oh, I still need to apologize to Red for shoving him into a fountain on accident. Even if I was mad, it was wrong to do that."

Yellow raised an eyebrow. "What about Green?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, him too. Well, I'm not really apologizing to him since I didn't do anything wrong, but I guess I should say he was right." Blue paused for a second, thinking it through. "Or maybe not. He'll have that smug face just 'cause he was right about one thing."

Yellow gave Blue an uneasy look. "I still don't get why you're hostile towards Green."

"I wouldn't say I'm hostile. I just don't like his personality much... even if he is one of the people that are easy to tease," Blue corrected. "I can't explain it, I don't know."

Yellow let out a nervous chuckle, wondering what Green's reaction would be if he were to hear that. "He's still Leaf, the person you look up the most," she reminded.

Blue groaned. "Don't remind me!" She slammed her forehead onto the desk, making Yellow's sweat drop.

"Besides the argument, you guys seem to be on better terms though. I can't explain it, but there's less... tension?" Yellow remarked. She didn't really know the word to describe it.

"You think so?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow. "After Saturday, I'm pretty sure he hates me. He might not look like it, but he really seems like he actually cares about Red."

"They are friends, so it shouldn't be surprising," Yellow responded. "Green might be really aggressive at times, but he's pretty nice when it comes to other things. He isn't that bad of a person. He just gets annoyed and impatient at times."

Blue shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I don't really hang with Green, but I'll try to apologize to him as well."

"Good," Yellow remarked.

"Hey Yellow! The principal wants to see you!"

The two averted their attention to one of their classmates. The girl went up to Yellow and handed her a pass to go there during lunch or something. Yellow's face looked nervous when she was handed the slip. Blue noticed it and patted her back in a supporting manner. She knew that the girl was obviously called to the principal office because of her gender. She lied about it to stay in the dorm with Gold and save money. When she was walking past the hallways that day, she could hear students chattering about the mess that happened, so it was inevitable for her to get caught by the administrators.

"Are you going to be okay?" Blue asked.

Yellow looked up and gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah. I'm probably going to need to get another job." She let out a sigh. "But it's fine."

"If there's anything I can—"

"—Hey Blue, I need you right now!" White interrupted, popping up out of nowhere. Without saying anything else, she grabbed Blue's wrist and dragged her out of the classroom from Yellow.


Blue was brought into a room along with Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl, and Red again. Seeing that the same main characters from the play were here, it was obvious that White was going to tell them that she wasn't going to change the roles. Blue's thoughts was answered correctly when White really did announce it in front of them, leading to protests going around.

"Dude, I'm playing a girl," Pearl spat, slapping his forehead and groaning. "This is going to be so lame."

Red let out a chuckle and comforted the boy by patting his back. "It's okay, me too."

"Save that for the homecoming ball," Black stated, snickering at the thought of Pearl in a dress. He wasn't too familiar with the boy, but he has chats from time to time with Red, who likes to talk about his friends and the football team.

"Well, this is actually pretty good for me. I'm fine either way." Ruby shrugged his shoulders as he held the script in his hand, not really caring. If Sapphire did it, he got to see the tomboy in a dress, but if she didn't do it, it would somewhat benefit the play, considering the lead herself couldn't really read the lines, and she has the most. The only downside was that they were a couple and they had to share a kiss scene, but getting a peck on the cheek wasn't going to make the world plunge into darkness, so it wasn't the worst thing. Plus, he had way more to handle with the other death thing going on.

"Sorry, but I'm not the one who decides things, just the one who reinforces it," White clarified, giving a sheepish look. "Anyways—" She pointed at the scripts. "—You guys will need to report here everyday at the time I told you last time. I heard they're not going to go over major subjects and topics and it's mainly review, so you won't have to worry about skipping class. Any questions?"

Everyone raised their hand except Blue and Ruby.

"If it's complaints then dismiss them."

They put their hands down.

White clasped her hand together. "Okay, I know you guys are older than me, but I need you to listen to me so that I could lead our high school's image to look amazing. I need you to report to the auditorium at 12 PM today so that we could start practice with the little time we have left. I also need to talk with the rest of the crew too, so it sucks for me."

"Wait, why'd you bring me here if I'm not one of the main characters?" Blue inquired. She had an equal role with Yellow as the stepsister, so it was odd for White to invite her, and not Yellow.

"I need you to help me with the schedule, so stay after," White responded. She turned to the others. "Let's make this a success! You all are dismissed right now."


Pearl groaned once again, unhappy about the arrangements made. Red would complain too, but even though he was a female character, he was pretty sure he didn't have to wear a fluffy dress like Pearl. If his memories served him correctly, the fairy godmother just wore rags, or something.

"It'll be over in a week, so don't worry about it," Red said optimistically.

"I guess it's good we got to at least skip class." Pearl sighed, trying to see the bright side.

The black-haired boy glanced over to Sapphire, who was strangely quiet for once. Sapphire was focused on her script, obviously bothered by the words since she kept fumbling them, and scrunching her eyebrows, showing signs of difficulty.

"Are you okay?" Red asked, genuinely worried.

Sapphire looked up, breaking her focus. "Huh? Sorry, I didn't catch ya."

"You seem really into this," Pearl remarked. He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why is that?"

"Because! I don't want ta be embarrassed in front of the whole district just 'cause I can't even read the lines! It's already embarrassin' enough when I'm chosen ta read during class!" Sapphire explained, letting out a stressed sigh. "This is all 'cause I worked as a field researcher and skipped all of grade school and junior high. I should've at least gone ta one of 'em..."

"It's not that bad," Pearl told her, shrugging. "I mean, you're pretty knowledgeable in things besides reading."

"Speaking of knowledge, why don't you ask Missy for help?" Red suggested.

"Missy?" Pearl gave him a questioning look.

"Uh... I don't know if I should ask her. She seems bothered by me sometimes," Sapphire told him, thinking back to the times she was paired up with her after school to do something.

There was this one time where they had to do flower arrangement. Sapphire just stuffed them all in a vase because she didn't care, and she felt like Platinum was giving her a judgmental look for her actions. It could've been just her thinking that, but she still felt awkward with Platinum since the girl would respond in curt answers as if she didn't want to talk at all.

"Does it matter? Green is bothered by everyone, yet he helps me in math," Pearl reasoned.

"Well that's 'cause ya told him that ya're gonna fail and ruin the football plan he made by not being able ta compete in the games," Sapphire pointed out.

"Yeah, Green doesn't care about a lot of things, but he cares about football," Red stated. He knew his best friend was not the type to accept failure, or any form of loss.

"I don't think Missy cares if I fail," Sapphire said, sighing. "Speaking of her, the only people I see her actually talk ta is Dia and ya, huh?"

"Dia likes her, and I just hang around them," Pearl replied. "But I guess you can say so."

"Wait, what? Dia likes her?!" Red exclaimed, completely surprised. "Huh. What a good kid."

"That's cute," Sapphire commented, thinking of them together.

"Oh, don't tell him I told you!" Pearl quickly said, remembering that Diamond seemed like he wanted it to be a secret.

"Remind me to never tell my secrets to you," Red joked.


This is the most awkward situation Soul has ever been in in her whole life, and she thought the meeting last weekend was already awkward enough. Well, that meeting somewhat made this situation awkward in the first place, but hey, she knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

Homeroom was very stuffy for her.

With a silent Crystal by her side, and Gold and Silver sitting across them at the table, it was tense. Crystal was ignoring everyone, constantly writing the notes the teacher had on the board. Meanwhile, Gold was trying to act like he was doing the same, but she saw him steal some glances at Crystal from time to time. And Silver... Well, she avoided eye contact with him the whole time, so she didn't really know what he was doing besides sitting there quietly. He had that rebel aura around him by not following the lesson. She couldn't really judge though since she was in the same boat because she kept worrying about the relationships between them.

"Soul," Crystal called, snapping her out her thoughts.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Gold and Silver look up, but ignored it. "Yeah?"

"During lunch, I won't be able to eat with you because I'm going to have karate practice," Crystal informed. "I mean, you can come if you don't mind eating on the dojo mats again."

Soul opened her mouth to reply, but a different voice came out.

"During lunch?" And that's when Gold butted in the conversation.

Soul averted her eyes to him, extremely cautious and curious as to why he entered the conversation like that. She was pretty sure that Crystal apologized to Blue about how she acted, but with Gold, it was a different story. She heard from Crystal that he used her to get in with her, and there was no way Crystal would apologize to him.

She looked over to Crystal to see her sister's reaction, only to find the girl making eye contact for a split second before looking back down at her notes and ignoring him.

Ooh, the silent treatment. That's got to hurt.

Gold frowned at her reaction to him, but continued— this time looking over to Soul. "You guys probably won't like this, but Green told us to tell you guys to meet in the computer lab during lunch."

At that, Crystal stopped her notes and snapped her head up at him. "What? Why?"

Without looking up from writing, Silver answered, "Isn't it obvious?"

A sinking feeling appeared in Soul's heart again as she felt the tenseness wash over her. Silver was stating the truth. It was obvious that they were meeting up for another discussion about the game. Though she didn't hate it and was now more comfortable since Blue finally stopped glaring the whole time, she didn't want to meet them. Sure they were a blast in detention and all, and they had really good times, but the meeting kind of changed the atmosphere she loves the most, and the conversations wouldn't be fun anymore. Plus, talking about death kept making her constantly scared, so it was a topic she prefers to avoid.

"Okay," Crystal replied for them since she stayed silent. The blue-haired girl went back to writing her notes again.

Silver did the same, and Gold quickly followed after glancing at Crystal one last time.

Soul let out a sigh. She could never catch a break anywhere.


Emerald walked into the computer lab with Ruby, completely ignoring the atmosphere given off in the room. He looked around the classroom, only to find them seated at an empty table in the middle of the room, barely fitting their own lunch trays on the table they shared.

He spoke up when he noticed something, "Hey, so are we the last ones?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Gold replied, sitting on a backwards chair. "So, how's life?"

Before Emerald could reply, he was interrupted when Green rolled his eyes. "Get serious." He flashed his green eyes to Emerald. "What should we do?"

"It'll be weird, considering we're meeting up with Lt. Surge after this and a few more hours of homeroom..." Red added. "There's also the fact that everyone is acting differently."

"I am the same," Platinum defended, folding her arms.

"Yeah, you guys are breathing down my neck," Gold complained, shrugging his shoulders and leaning more forward to rest his body.

"No kidding," Pearl muttered. He turned over to nudge Diamond to agree with him, only to find the boy missing from his side. He looked around for the boy, but he was nowhere to be found. "Hey guys, where's Dia?"

"Diamond excused himself to the restroom quietly a minute ago," Platinum informed.

"That was really quiet, even for him," Silver commented, finding something suspicious. They would notice whether the front door open, considering it had this small bell that hit the door when you enter, so it would be reasonable if Diamond were to—

Suddenly the computer closet slammed opened and something covered in a white dusty cloth emerged from it, shouting, "POKE-AYYY!"

Everyone had an immediate reaction. Well, almost everyone.

In all of the madness, Gold, Red, and Soul fell out of their chairs because they jumped in surprise. Pearl was on the floor next to them when Blue flailed her arms and punched him out of the chair, and Crystal was on the floor too because she grabbed onto Gold without thinking. Yellow was latching onto Sapphire too out of instinct, and Emerald, Silver, and Ruby didn't have large reactions and just tensed up at the surprise. Green was the only one who didn't show any reaction since he already knew what was happening.

The ghost-like thing (or so they assumed) took off its coat and revealed itself to be Diamond with a huge smile on his face. Everyone relaxed, and Crystal immediately got off of Gold when she realized she was grabbing him, a look of embarrassment on her face.

Platinum smiled back at him. "I think your prank has worked, Dia."

"What the heck was that for?!" Pearl questioned, shoving himself back up and grabbing the collar of his best friend.

Diamond grinned cheekily. "I thought it was funny! We should totally put it in our comedy act!" That comment earned him a smack on the head from Pearl.

"W-What are you doing?" Crystal questioned him.

Diamond rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I thought it'd be boring with all this talk about death, so..." Pearl let out an exasperated sigh as Platinum stifled a giggle, which Pearl pointed out and she denied over again.

Soul laughed at the scene, somewhat finding it amusing, and so did Yellow. Eventually, everyone either gave strange looks at the trio, or joined in the laughter, entertained about how well they mixed together in their little comedy act. Pearl finally noticed the laughter moments later after scolding Diamond, and turned to them with a questioned look.

"Hey! What's so funny?!"

"You!" Gold answered, pointing at the boy.

"Huh? What do ya mean?!" Pearl inquired, looking totally lost.

Gold snickered. "You young ones are the weirdest, huh?"

"Says the guy who named his character 'Awesome'," Silver deadpanned, earning a few chuckles from the others.

Gold turned to him, completely offended. "Oh yeah! At least it's better than 'Dark Hood' and 'Hacker'! What kind of lame names are those? Don't even get me started about 'Sparkles'!"

"Hey!" Ruby and Emerald barked. Silver only rolled his eyes, thinking Gold was just upset that his comment that he said that.

"For the record, it was to confuse people! It's called strategy, stranger danger you block head," Ruby argued, folding his arms.

"And Hacker is such a cool name! Unlike 'Awesomeness of all'! Like seriously, who names their characters that?" Emerald defended, glaring at the boy. Sapphire snickered, laughing at Emerald's comment while Soul tried to hold her laughter in.

"He has a point," Crystal agreed, shrugging.

"Okay, let's be honest, most of the names in this group suck," Pearl tried to make everyone come into an agreement.

"I resent that," Platinum disagreed, narrowing her eyes.

Beside her, Red let out a burst of laughter, finding the reactions kind of funny. "You guys are a riot!"

Yellow smiled at the less tenseness of the scene. It made her feel slightly more relieved and bearable to be around them. She glanced over to Blue, who was also smiling at the scene, finding it amusing. The brunette stopped her laughter though and returned a glance back at Yellow when she noticed a gaze on her.

"Something on your mind, Yells?" Blue inquired.

"I want to keep this nice atmosphere," Yellow replied. "But I'm not sure what we should do."

"Yeah... Now that you mention it, what should we do next?"

Everyone stopped their amusement and calmed down, now snapping back into the situation. For a minute, they forgot about assassination attacks.

"Oh yeah, we still need to figure out whether Lt. Surge is guilty..." Red stated, his face scrunching again. "I'm not a big fan of the guy, but I don't know about him being a killer."

The air turned quiet again as everyone started to think about it. Seeing everyone's expressions of deep thought, Platinum opened her mouth and spoke, "I think Lt. Surge is the enemy." The group looked at her, wondering why she suddenly just said that. Seeing the looks, she continued, "Anonymous is someone who we can trust, so if Anonymous says Lt. Surge is the enemy, then Lt. Surge is the enemy."

"How do you know that specifically though?" Emerald inquired.

Platinum thought back to the conversation she had with Marley Saturday night when she told them about their meeting. She really wanted to tell them so that they could actually believe her, but Marley told her not to reveal it and just get everyone on board with listening to her.

Keeping the promise she made with Marley, she only replied with, "I just know."