Reviews finally came back! Thanks for keeping up with it all! Here's the conclusion for our guests in the Room of Knowledge! Remember to review, now I can read them!
As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?
Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina
Hellraiserphoenix: Sylvia's testing everybody. Hope it pays off.
KedharS: It's annoying sometimes.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Hope things go okay. What's so unusual about a tree having fruit?
Rosealine gold: Don't worry, Maddi's time is coming. Especially when we focus more on the Commander's faction in the next term. Plus she's got some battles of her own in the tube.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 193
The third room in the Room of Knowledge was the largest by far. The first room had been an office, the second and operating room, and this third…
Blake looked around uneasily. It looked like a therapist's office. There was a couch, of course, as well as a desk covered in papers, some bookshelves, and a cabinet. But there were some more things that drew the eye. On the far wall, away from the door, was a large map of the Kalos region. And most notably, the feature that captured the attention of everyone present, in the center of the room between the couch and the desk was a massive diorama replica of the Kalos region. Instinctively, Blake took a step towards it, only to find his passage blocked by something. There was a glass wall separating the portion of the room they were standing in from the portion of the room with the diorama. And at the far back of that section of the room… was a door.
So it seems we need to find some way to lift this partition, Blake reasoned.
"I think we should check the desk first," Julia declared, already heading towards it. Her competitive spirit had fired up, and Nikita wasn't far behind.
"Agreed," Nikita nodded, looking through the papers on the desk. "We're almost done, I can feel it!"
"What do the papers say?" Cynthia asked, walking around the desk.
"This one's another newspaper article," Julia replied, holding out another clipping, the same as the others, dated December 7, 2006. The picture accompanying it was a massive stone embedded on a dais.
"The rest of these… I don't know, exactly, but I think it's a diagnosis," Nikita said. "Though, it isn't really professionally done…"
She adjusted her glasses and took a look at the first page.
"'Today, I had another interview with Patient Jake. He described to me in great detail the catalyst for his… condition. He claims that each night, a demon comes to him and tells him to commit acts of violence. In this world of pokemon we live in, I suppose that anything is possible, but I find it hard to believe myself. I have heard many patients over the years rambling about demons and voices in their heads, but I never took one report seriously as anything other than a patient's own mental condition deteriorating. But Jake… the acts he committed are so heinous, and for such a young boy… could I call it anything other than the work of a demon? Jake was admitted here two years ago, in critical condition. Were the wounds self-inflicted? Another sign of his dissociative state? Or is the cause something else entirely? He's just begun the long process towards physical recovery, I can only hope that with further work and his cooperation, his mental recovery can begin as well.'"
"So clearly that's the setup," Julia sighed, Nikita flipping to the next page. Blake frowned.
"'I asked Jake once more to tell me what happened today, but according to him, the memories grow fainter and fainter. There are times when he can remember everything clearly, and times when his head is 'trapped in a dark fog' as he describes it. During the times when he is lucid, I have him record everything that he remembers about the incident. The details remain the same, but… he writes down a different date each time, and each time he draws a picture of a different place, where he insists the carnage occurred. No matter how hard I press, he refuses to elaborate further. When I try, he tells me that he remembers things a little more clearly each time. I believe that his words are intended to deceive. He gets the story exactly the same, recording each detail flawlessly, and yet for some reason he changes the time and place? It is almost like he is playing a game with me. I know, of course, the location where his heinous crimes actually occurred, and he must know that I know. So what would be the point? Why give me all these false clues? What secrets to his mind is he hiding within these lies? Is there some other message he is trying to tell me? I have made copies of all his records of our sessions, for further study. Perhaps, studying them in order will help me determine what he is trying to say… of course, it is important to note here as well that the town where this all happened, the place called the Village of Demons, is of course-"
Nikita set the papers down and looked up.
"That's it, that's as far as it goes."
"Of course," Julia said, rolling her eyes. "Not like they can just give us the answer."
They didn't need to. Blake already knew the answer. The answer to what, he wasn't sure, but it was clear now. Sylvia knew full well about the Village of Demons. Laverre City… did she know that he was involved? Or could it be a coincidence? Was that even possible? For Blake to coincidentally be conscripted into an escape room that was set up as a facsimile of his past? It was ridiculous. Even the name, "Jake" sounded like his. Sylvia knew. Or at the very least suspected. Then why the showmanship? Why get the events so wrong like this? Blake had never once been blamed for the incident, at least not directly. He had seen a therapist after the events, certainly, but had never discussed with him topics like this.
What, exactly, was she trying to say to him?
"Hey, Maddi, what do you think about- Maddi?" Cynthia called out to Maddi, which drew Blake back into the game. He'd been focused too much on his own thoughts.
Maddi, meanwhile, was ignoring the desk, and staring up at the map hanging from the wall.
Cynthia walked over to her.
"What's up, Maddi?" Cynthia asked. Maddi didn't answer, and only pointed at the map. Cynthia took a closer look, her eyes wide. "Wow, guys, check this out!"
With the exception of Caelia, who did not really care, the group gathered in front of the map to see what Cynthia and Maddi were indicating. The map was ordinary, with one exception: over each landmark was a hole about the size of a finger. There was a hole over each town, each route, each place of interest.
"What could this be for?" Julia murmured.
"We might have to put something in the holes," Nikita reasoned. Cynthia resisted the urge to scream "that's what she said!"
"In that case, we should probably start looking around," Blake said. "Check the bookshelves, the cabinet, the desk, everything."
The group of six went to search different parts of the room, while Blake stared quietly at the map.
"Hey!" Cynthia exclaimed, having opened the cabinet. "There's a safe in here!"
"A safe?" Nikita asked.
"Yeah, with four digits," Cynthia replied.
Julia blinked, and looked at the last of the slips of paper they hadn't found a use for, the one she'd found in the first room with the combination of 1-1-3-4.
"Try 1-1-3-4," she suggested. Cynthia nodded and entered those numbers on the pad. The safe swung open. Inside… was a laptop.
"It's a computer!" Cynthia gasped, taking the computer out of the safe and walking over to the desk. "Nikita, you're a computer person, right? Come check this out with me. The rest of you, keep up the search."
Nikita agreed and came over to Cynthia's side. Cynthia plugged the laptop into the wall, and turned it on. On the screen, a notice popped up.
"This device contains sensitive files pertaining to patient Jake XXXXXX. To proceed, please enter the appropriate password."
A prompt to enter a password popped up. Cynthia glanced at Nikita, who shrugged.
"Well, so much for that, I guess," Cynthia sighed, as they resumed the search. Since she was already sitting at the desk, Cynthia tried the drawers. Each of them was locked, with no visible keyhole, save for the very bottom one, which popped open. Inside, Cynthia found a rather large box. She took it out and set it down on the desk, pushing the laptop off to the side. The box was made out of wood, and it had five gaps in the top. One was a rectangle, the next a circle, the third an indent similar to a pyramid, and the fourth a diamond. They all matched the different blocks they'd found over the course of the escape room. But there was a fifth slot as well. This one was in the shape of a star.
"Guys, I think I know what the blocks go to," Cynthia replied. "And also, we're missing one."
Julia looked up from the wastebasket, putting a note on the table. "I think I have an idea, too."
Cynthia glanced at the note. It showed a rectangle with the number "3" in the center.
"Well, I think I can guess what this means," Cynthia frowned. "Guys, find any notes with shapes and numbers on them?"
"I did," Blake said, walking up. "It was sitting on the windowsill."
Blake nodded at the "window" built into the wall, even though it was clearly not showing anything outside. Cynthia took it. It was a diamond with the number 1.
"So diamond block first, then something else, then rectangle block," Cynthia said. "But still, does it stop at 5? How many notes are there, I wonder?"
In the meantime, Maddi and Nikita were going through the bookshelves. It helped that a lot of the books were props that couldn't be removed. Maddi found a note with a pyramid labeled 2 tucked away in one of the real books, and Nikita found a circle with a 5 on the shelf itself. Inside the cabinet, Blake found a note with a star and the number 4.
"Okay, so it looks like the pattern is Diamond, Pyramid, Rectangle, Star, Cylinder," Nikita deduced. "Unfortunately…"
"Unfortunately, we only have four blocks," Blake continued. "We need to find the fifth one, the star one." They went back to searching the rooms for whatever clues they could find. Unfortunately, this was the last room, and there wasn't much left. The only things of note were the slips themselves, and the two books they could remove from the shelves. One of them, where Maddi had found the pyramid note, was a puzzle book. Sylvia, or someone else, had meticulously gone through and solved every puzzle, just to be an annoyance. The other book was a science fiction novel titled "The Star Suspended in Time". Neither seemed particularly helpful, and there weren't any other hidden details, like a false back. Nikita, having been fooled once already, checked the desk for any trick panels or false bottoms, but couldn't find anything. Meanwhile, Blake looked over the books.
Then he had an idea. It was an insane, crazy, "no rational person would think this way" idea, but it was the only thing he had to go off of.
"You guys keep looking," Blake said. "Cynthia, come with me."
"Eh?" Cynthia glanced at him in confusion. "Why?"
"Just do it, I think I know where the star block might be hidden."
Cynthia shrugged and followed Blake as he walked out of the room, but their exit was blocked by Caelia. Her expression was cold and flat, but there was an atmosphere around her that sent a shiver down Cynthia's spine.
"No," Caelia simply stated.
"This is important, I need her help," Blake said, a little confused as to why Caelia was getting in their way.
"I'll help. Not her."
"I can't," Blake said, glancing at Caelia's leg. "You're injured, I don't want you to get hurt."
"Oh, but you don't care if I get hurt?"
"You're lighter, I won't drop you."
"Drop me?! Drop me where?!"
"I don't need your consideration," Caelia icily replied. "I will help you. Not her."
"Caelia, no. We've had this discussion before. Hell, you dislocated your arm earlier, remember? I don't want you doing stuff like that. If you want to help, I don't know if I can keep you stable with your leg in that condition, and if I drop you and you damage something without knowing about it, then-"
Caelia's eye narrowed into a glare.
"I'm doing it."
"No."
Caelia fumed at him, her eye flashing with anger as she stared at Cynthia, who felt like she was about to get attacked. She'd thought that Caelia was a little off, a little withdrawn and anti-social, but now the girl was sending some serious red flags, and Cynthia wasn't really sure what the right move to make here was.
Caelia said nothing. She didn't step out of the way, so Blake and Cynthia walked around her. Blake glanced over his shoulder and felt a little bad by the way he saw the girl's back sink and her body visibly deflate. It seemed she really did want to help, and while he was grateful that she was finally getting into helping the team, this was something that really only Cynthia could help with. He turned and walked into the hall, which means he completely missed Caelia turn and follow after him.
As he stopped by the entryway to the first room, the clomp of Caelia's brace caught his ear. He turned to see her standing beside them, her blue eye staring coldly at the duo.
"Caelia, I-"
"Not helping. Watching."
Caelia's tone was insistent. Blake shrugged his shoulders and the three stepped inside.
"The first room?" Cynthia asked, looking around. "Are you sure?"
"I was wondering something in the office," Blake said, nodding, placing the chair up against the door they had first used to enter the room, the entrance to the Escape Room itself. "Why there was a book that we could take out, one that wasn't part of the clues. 'The Star Suspended in Time'. And that's when I thought…"
Realization dawned on Cynthia and she nodded her head vigorously. Blake leaned down.
"Get on my shoulders," he said. Cynthia used the chair as a stool and climbed onto Blake's back, squeezing his head between her thighs. Blake grabbed her ankles and stepped onto the chair.
Cynthia reached out to grab the clock. While a part of her wanted to give Blake some teasing about being in such close contact with her tights-clad thighs and butt, at the same time she could feel a menacing gaze aimed at her back. Maybe it wasn't the best idea. Caelia's response was telling her that she would have to get this done fast. It felt like the girl was going to kill her if this kept up.
Cynthia unhooked the broken clock from the wall, and lo and behold, nestled in an alcove behind it was a long block with five ridges, the flat sides resembling a star. She grabbed the block, and Blake stepped down.
Letting Cynthia down, Caelia came up to him.
"What?" Blake asked, looking at her in confusion.
"My turn," Caelia replied.
"What?" Blake repeated.
"Carried Cynthia, didn't carry me. Leg works improperly. Can't walk well. My. Turn." Her tone was icy and demanded compliance. Blake glanced at Cynthia, who shrugged, her face clearly worried about what was happening.
That made Sylvia burst out laughing.
Needless to say, when they reentered the final room, Blake had to duck low because Caelia was perched victoriously on top of him. The looks he received from the other three girls made his face go hot. Cynthia had moved past Caelia's prior animosity, and was relishing in Blake's slight humiliation at being used as a taxi service. He let her down.
"We found it!" Cynthia cheered, handing the star block over to Nikita. Nikita put the blocks down onto the slots in the order indicated, and the box popped open, revealing another newspaper clipping and a set of small, thin metal objects, a little like large thumb tacks with no sharp edge.
Blake looked at the paper. This one was dated November 18, 2007 and had a picture of a large windmill.
"Another newspaper, huh?" Cynthia said, frowning. "And next… look!"
Written on the inside of the box's lid, was a line that read "Oracle".
"Think that's the password?" Cynthia asked. Nikita nodded, and typed "Oracle" into the computer. The password was accepted, and the screen shifted to reveal a document, clearly the conclusion of what Nikita had been reading from before. She resumed reading.
"…Laverre City," Nikita said. "That's the name of the town where this all happened, I guess."
Blake winced. He'd known the answer, but still…
"What else does it say?" Cynthia asked eagerly.
"'Today, I went through some activities with Jake to help work his memory back. I had a diorama of the Kalos region made for him to play with, hopefully letting him work out his internal conflict in the real world, rather than the world of his mind. He seems to enjoy playing with it. He's caught up in his own little world. He keeps indicating the different locations in his play, pointing them out on the model. I've made a point to record their positions on my own map of Kalos for future reference. Tracing them out in order from beginning to end, maybe that can clue me in a little more to Jake's mental state. I can only hope that I don't miss anything grave…'"
Nikita looked up from the computer.
"That's it, that's all he says."
"So he's talking about where it starts, huh?" Julia mused. "I wonder… these papers all have different dates on them, yeah? And that map has all those locations…"
"Maybe they want us to put pins in the corresponding slots," Cynthia suggested.
"One problem," Maddi said, idly fingering the pins. "There's six of these pins, and seven papers."
Everyone looked at the gathered newspapers on the desk. She was right.
"So what order do we put them in?" Cynthia asked. "We should go by date first, right? So we start with 2003, which is the large tree…"
"That's Laverre City," Blake replied. "That tree is a sacred place there."
Cynthia's eyes widened.
"Oh, that's right! You're from Kalos! So you must know all these places!"
"So we should start with that," Julia decided, picking up the pins and walking over to the map. "No time to wait."
Julia put a pin down on the map, in the hole where Laverre City would be.
"Next one is 2004," Nikita reported. "It has a skyscraper…"
"That's the Prism Tower, the symbol of Lumiose City," Blake said. Julia put a pin down in Lumiose City.
Sylvia watched this exchange with marked interest. So far, Blake was only showing knowledge that anyone from Kalos would have. But the next one would be a little trickier.
"2005 is a weird old cottage," Cynthia explained.
"That's the Scary House," Blake said. "On Route 14."
Julia looked at him in surprise. That was an interesting note.
"I've been there before," Blake admitted. Julia found the creepy house on the map, with its own pinhole separate from the one on Route 14. She inserted the pin.
"2006 we just found, that's the big rock," Cynthia said.
"That's the sundial in Anistar City."
Julia marked Anistar City next.
"Two left," she called back.
"And here's the problem," Nikita frowned. "We have two papers dated 2007. The one with the worn-down building and the one with the windmill."
Sylvia glanced at Blake's face on the screen. She wondered which one he would indicate.
"Let's try the earlier one, then," Cynthia interrupted right as Blake was about to speak. "It's the weird burnt-out building."
Blake winced. He remembered the black flames.
"Where is that?" Julia asked, looking to Blake.
"It's an old hotel that was abandoned," Blake said. "Near Route 15."
Julia nodded, and checked off the building by Route 15.
"That means the last one would be 2008, and that's… the big palace." Nikita said.
"Parfum Palace," Blake informed Julia. Julia put the last pin in. But nothing happened.
"Looks like we got it wrong," Julia said, removing the pin from the old hotel. "Where's the other 2007 location?"
"Dendemille Town," Blake said. "That's the windmill located there."
Julia put the pin on Dendemille Town, but still nothing happened.
"Okay, now I'm stumped," Cynthia frowned.
"…Order," Maddi muttered. "Gotta do it in order."
"She's right," Nikita agreed. "Start from the beginning."
Julia grumbled and began pulling the pins out. When the map was clear, she put them back in the same order. When she slid the last pin into place over the Parfum Palace, a shake could be heard. The glass wall separating the other half of the room slid away, opening things up to them.
"Yeah, we're almost done!" Cynthia cheered.
"Don't cheer just yet," Julia said, pointing at the map. "Look."
After the last piece had been put in, the glass wall was not the only thing that had changed. Lit up in glowing letters over the map was a message.
"Congratulations on figuring out my plans. Sorry to say, but the doctor was a little slower than you were. Will you be able to get out and warn the others of where I intend to strike next, now that I have my freedom? Look carefully, now! If you want to find where I'm hiding and the key to your escape, then you have to look for where my story first began, way back when! But will you be able to find me then? I wonder! Ha ha ha!" –Jake XXXXXX
Blake was not amused by the words of his fictional counterpart.
Sylvia smirked. Technically, this was cheating. She hadn't left any clues to indicate the correct answer. In fact, the note indicated an answer that was completely wrong. But that didn't matter. It wasn't the point. Only one person in that room would know where to look for the key. None of them seemed to have any knowledge about the Village of Demons. Only Blake would know. If he was really there… he would know where it all started.
Show me, Blake! Prove me correct! I've set up this lovely stage for you, all you have to do is show me the truth!
"It says 'where my story first began' do you think it means we go back to the first room?" Julia asked.
"It's possible," Nikita agreed, "but I think it's referring to something else. 'My story' as in, where this all started."
Nikita turned to the diorama in front of the couch.
"This isn't here for no reason. They want us to search it, and find the key to that door." Julia went to go try the door. Of course, it was locked.
"So where do we look?"
"The doctor's notes says that it all started in Laverre City," Nikita replied. "That's where the actual event happened. And Laverre City is the earliest date out of the newspapers."
"It's the one with the big tree, right?" Cynthia asked, running over to the diorama and looking around the representation of Laverre City. "I can't find anything… maybe we have to pick something up? Does this move?"
Cynthia tugged on the tree, but it didn't give.
"We might have to solve more puzzles," Nikita frowned. "Or maybe I'm overthinking things, and we're supposed to go back to the first room after all?"
Blake watched them discuss. Nikita was probably right on the money the first time. Problem was, they were all looking in the wrong place. Jake's "story" didn't begin in Laverre City. It began somewhere else.
Blake glanced at the camera mounted in the corner, giving Sylvia an icy glare through the monitor. Sylvia smiled and waved back at him, though of course he couldn't see her.
Sylvia took this opportunity to speak.
"Attention, all players!" Sylvia purred. "We are now reaching the five-minute deadline before the first hour expires! Those of you trying to win our egg-quisite prize, you have five minutes remaining! Better get a move-on, folks!"
That should force his hand, she smiled. Just gonna let them spin their wheels, Blake? Run the clock out? Or are you going to strip down and expose yourself to me?
She already knows. If she didn't know, she wouldn't have set things up like this. Blake could lie. He'd gotten to be very good at it. He could continue to play the fool and watch them go in circles. But for what? Sylvia probably wouldn't stop suspecting him. She'd come up with a new way to get him to admit things. Do it now, or do it later, those were his options. She was a lot like Dakota. She'd dig and dig until she hit pay dirt.
"Okay, we don't have much time left, and we can't find the answer here, we'll go check in the first room, and then-"
"No," Blake said, a little louder than he meant. Nikita was shaken, glancing at him warily.
"Wh-why…"
"We made a mistake," Blake said. "It wasn't Laverre City."
"But the notes said-"
"It wasn't," Blake said, shaking his head. "Jake's story… I'm pretty sure it actually begins somewhere else."
"Where?" Cynthia asked, curious and a little frightened.
"That newspaper clipping… the duplicate from 2007."
"The old hotel? But why there?" Nikita asked.
"It's called 'the Lost Hotel' because that's what it was, once," Blake said. "A hotel. But it went out of business, and was repurposed by the cities of Laverre and Dendemille into an orphanage."
"An orphanage?" Julia asked, surprised.
"Right. Then it burned down one night, and was abandoned." Blake's tone was distant and cold. "So I was thinking… is it really a red herring? Or… a clue? That's where his 'story' had to start. An orphanage, it can't be a coincidence."
And he knew it wasn't. This was no coincidence. It was theater. A comedy of errors, with him as the pierrot and Sylvia as the sole member of the audience. Blake walked to the diorama, and gripped the burnt-out remains of the old hotel-turned-orphanage in his hand, and gave it a hard tug.
The model popped out, and revealed a small chamber beneath. Sitting in a chair was a small stuffed doll with brown hair, holding a key in his hands. Blake's scowl sent a chill down Sylvia's spine.
I knew it, Blake. I knew it! That performance was fantastic, but oh, such a lie! You knew where the key was hiding right from the start! Sylvia swooned, she had never felt this rush in her chest. She licked her lips. You really are that boy! How wonderful! How positively exquisite!
Sylvia clenched her thighs together and her cheeks flushed.
"I need to see more," she cooed. "Every last bit of you, my sweet demon child!"
Blake grabbed the doll and took the key from it, clenching the stuffed imitation tightly in his hand. For a brief instant he wanted to tear the damn thing apart, but instead he flung it at the couch (more angry than he'd intended to appear) and stormed toward the door. Caelia followed behind him as best she could on her bad leg, and the others glanced at each other in stunned silence.
"Awesome!" Cynthia was the first to speak, charging after the two. "We did it! Way to go, Blake! We're out, we're finally out!"
Blake unlocked the door and Cynthia burst through it, eager to be the first one out of the room.
Well, one group is finally finished! All that's left is the other! But which one of them finished first? That's the real question!
