Top of the mornin to ya laddies, my name is… Y'know what, no. I can't do that. Hey everybody, welcome to chapter 5. I'm safe and sound, listening to the snowfall and the clacking of my computer. I know you've wanted to hear more on what's been going on with Zac. Otherwise, you'd have probably found another story to read. Well, without further ado, let's stop stalling and get into it.
Zac's heartbeat continued to race as the man removed his hand from his mouth. The owl, which had been circling the room, landed on the seer's shoulder as he completed the action. The seer then stood up and straightened himself out. " My apologies for the intrusion. I noticed Fiona coming from the room and figured now would probably be the best time to speak with you." Zac looked on with a confused glance, trying to figure out why this strange man had decided to invade his room now. He had already been intruded by some horn tooting lady and got attacked by a demon of some sort. Now, an owl tooting weirdo has him trapped in his room. "I wonder if it's too late to leave?" Zac thought. "So, you're here in my room now. What can I help you with?" Zac asked, seeming desperate to get back to sleep. The seer, who was rubbing his owl's head, turned back towards Zac. "Ah, yes that. As you know, I am the Seer. Though, I just go by Eli Clark to those in the manor. I have come here to get a better grasp of you as well as give you an idea of how to survive in this manor." Before Zac could say anything else, Eli placed his hand on Zac's head. As he did so, he began to mumble something under his breath. As Eli did this, Zac felt something on the inside unlock. Upon feeling this, he immediately jumped away from the seer. "What was that?! What did you just do?!" "I have unlocked your persona gates. These will keep you alive during battle. Normally, it would take a lot to unlock the nodes of your persona, but it seems like your gates have been opened somehow." Eli said as he began to walk out of the room "Wait, persona gates? What are those, how do I use them? Hey, come back here!" Zac yelled as he charged out through the portal Eli had just left through. As Zac went through the portal, a wave of nausea hit him automatically. As he came out the other side, Zac immediately hit the floor and began vomiting. Looking up, he saw Eli casually walking away, his owl looking back at him. "Wait, explain this to me. What is this?" Eli glanced back, almost as if to answer, but simply turned away and continued down the hall. Afterwards, Zac just laid there until Emily came down the corridor. "My doctoral senses told me that someone was ill," she had said while dragging Zac down the hall to her medical room. Zac spent the rest of the night in Emily's office while she had Jose and Kreacher clean up the mess he made. As Zac lay in bed, he kept thinking about what Eli had done to him. "Persona….. Is this truly a new power to use? How do I make use of it?" This was Zac's last thought before passing into sleep.
Zac woke up in the doctor's office to the sound of someone knocking on the door. Emily was sound asleep at her desk, so Zac decided to check it out himself. As he opened the door, Zac came face to face with Tracy and Helena. "Oh, so you were in here. We were wondering where you were." Tracy said, with Helena nodding beside her. "Yep, I was feeling sick from last night. So Emily gave me some medicine and I rested here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go change in my room." When Zac said that, both Tracy and Helena turned to face each other and gulped. As Zac neared his room, he heard the sounds of tools being used. When Zac rounded the corner, he noticed Emma busy working on the door to his room. "Ummm, Emma? Whatcha doing?" Zac asked, worried as to why his friend seemed to be breaking down his door. Emma turned to face him and a shocked look came onto her face. "Oh, I'm not doing anything. I was just fixing your door. It had a squeaking sound and I decided to fix it with my toolbox!" Emma held up the toolkit as she said this. She then left around the corner, skipping on her way downstairs. Zac could only look on in confusion as to what just happened. "I wouldn't worry too much. She's just a very eccentric girl." Zac looked over to see Jose, carrying a mop and bucket. "Yeah, I kinda gathered that. Why was she about to dismantle my door though?" Zac asked. "Eh, Tracy, Helena and Emma all came to your room a bit earlier. I told them that you had fallen ill in the night. Emma then began to knock on your door while the other 2 simply went to check Ms. Dyer's office. The knocking persisted until she went to grab some of her tools. My guess is, she either thought you were super ill or maybe just ignoring her. Kreacher attempted to say something, only to be completely disregarded. Poor guy just sulked down to the kitchen." After hearing Jose, Zac kinda shrugged the news off. Seeing how Emma was after his first match, he could tell she was still antsy about his situation. "That's interesting to hear. I'm going to head downstairs then." Zac said as Jose simply nodded and made his way down the hall. Zac then proceeded down the stairs with Tracy and Helena close behind. As he got downstairs, his nostrils were hit with a certain smell. The smell wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best either. Entering the dining hall, Zac noticed a buffet was set up for breakfast. Zac quickly grabbed a plate and made his way down the line. The table was filled with all assortments of food. There was porridge, oatmeal, sausage, eggs, biscuits, bacon, and more. "Wow, this looks pretty good. Who made it?" Zac asked. "Heh, it was something we all whipped up." William answered, filling up his plate, "Just because you're a baker and all doesn't mean we have to rely on you all the time for food." Zac simply shrugged at this statement and began to fill up his dish. He ended up grabbing a bit of everything before he made his way to the dining table. There, Zac saw Fiona and Eli sitting with another woman. They both looked up at him, but only waved before returning to their meals. Zac felt the urge to ask them about the night before, but simply let it go for later. After all, the dining area wasn't exactly the room to ask about such things. Finally seated, Zac picked up a biscuit and proceeded to take a bite. To say the biscuit was rock hard would be an understatement. Immediately after he took a bite, he heard a loud cracking sound. Putting his finger in his mouth, he noticed he had chipped his front tooth. He took a drink of the milk next to him, only to find it a bit chunky. This caused him to choke a bit before swallowing the chunky ball of dairy. "Yeah, some days we get good stuff and some days it's William's cooking." Tracy said as she picked through the eggs on her plate. Zac looked over to William, only to see him happily munching on the exact same stuff Zac had attempted to swallow. William just seemed to chug it down and move on to the next. Looking around, Zac noticed everyone had picked similar food except him and William. Zac was about to scoop up some porridge before Helena put her hand on his. "I wouldn't attempt that if I were you." Zac was about to ask why when something tugged on his spoon. Looking down, he only saw his utensil sinking into the bowl. A gurgling sound was emitted afterwards. Zac, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore, immediately jumped up and left the table. "I'm going to go look around the manor," he said. Tracy and Helena simply gave a thumbs-up as they finished up their meals. With that, Zac made his way down the hall. Looking around the corridor, he settled on a door that was down a short diverging hallway. When he stepped through the door, he was face to face with a beautiful garden. There were flowers and small trees all around the room. As he began to walk through, he was halted by someone yelling "STOP!" At that moment, Zac froze and looked around to see who had screamed it. Looking to his side, he noticed someone in a beekeepers' mask walking towards him. In an instant, the person lifted up Zac's foot and stuck her's under it, bringing out a tiny insect. "You almost stepped on him. All life is precious no matter how small the creature is," the person, who Zac believed was a woman, said. "I'm very sorry, I didn't notice him, miss…" "...Miss Plinius, though Melly will do as well." "Right, my apologies Miss Plinius." Zac said. Melly simply nodded in his direction as she began to walk the other way towards a bench. Zac noticed that, for the entire time she was walking, she seemed to cradle the small insect with her hands. He also noticed that other insects seemed to gather around her as she sat down on the bench. Zac estimated there were about 100 or so bugs just crawling on her clothes. He shuddered at this as he turned the other way. Zac was so caught up with what he had seen that he didn't realize it when he bumped into something. Zac was only aware after he heard the sound of something clattering on the ground. Looking forward, he noticed that he had knocked over a canvas and easel. As he went to pick it up, he was immediately pushed aside. "Step away, you oaf. You've already done enough damage to my artwork. I don't need your hands to sully my newest masterpiece." Looking up, he noticed the slender figure of a guy standing over him, fixing the toppled canvas and easel. Needless to say, Zac wasn't happy about being shoved. "Hey, what's the big idea with pushing me? I know I knocked over your stuff, but you didn't need to do that." The guy, who seemed to be around his age, simply glared at Zac before speaking. "How dare you speak to me like that. I am Edgar Valden, heir to the Valden family. The only reason why I don't have you beheaded is because your meal from the other night is miles above the slop that the others have served me thus far. Therefore, I am willing to overlook this transgression. You're welcome." With that, Edgar proceeded to pack up his art supplies and leave the garden. Zac, taken aback by what was just said, began to take off after him before he felt someone grabbing his arm. Looking over, he noticed Melly holding onto him, shaking her head. "I wouldn't bother trying to argue with him. He is one who will never admit when he's wrong," was all she said before making her way back to her seat at the bench. Zac, seeming defeated, simply continued to look around the garden. While touring around, something caught his eyes. In the corner of the room, next to a few flowers and bushes, was a scarecrow. The scarecrow looked old and beaten up all over. What really caught his eye was the color. While some parts of the scarecrow seemed to be a brownish color, most of it looked to be char black. Almost as if it had been set on fire or burned before. Zac began to look at it closer until he was startled by Emma, who had decided to hug him from behind. "There you are. I was looking all over for you. Didn't think you'd be here." Turning around, he was face to face with a smiling Emma. "I was planning on showing this place to you on a tour later, but I guess you already explored it yourself. Did anything exciting happen?" Zac spent the next few minutes explaining what had occurred to him before she had arrived. He thought she might have had something to say about this, but Emma just had a calm and composed look on her face throughout the entire spiel. When he had finished, Emma only seemed to shrug. "Well, not everyone is going to be positive around here. There's bound to be some negative people. Come on, I wanna show you more of the manor." With that said, Emma dragged Zac out of the garden. Zac saw Melly waving goodbye as he was pulled out of the room. On their way out of the door, they met up with Tracy and Helena. Both of which were excited to show Zac around the manor. Their first stop was the laundry room. Inside, it was filled with a few hampers, 2 washing machines and a clothing line that led to another room. "We have 2 separate laundry rooms here. One for males and another for females. We used to have two until Mike pulled that prank." Tracy said, shuddering a bit. Zac noticed Helena and Emma shuddering as well. He soon felt he was better off not knowing what the prank was. Afterwards, they made their way down to the shop. Inside, the place was full of costumes and what looked to be accessories. "Wow, this place has a lot of color. Who are these decorations for?" Zac asked, astonished at all of the different costumes which were available. "Why, they are for survivors and hunters alike," came a voice from behind him. Hearing this caused Zac to jump up in fear. Looking behind him, he saw the figure of Miss Nightingale. "You! What are you doing here?" Zac exclaimed, panic clear in his voice. Miss Nightingale simply laughed at his shock. "Do calm yourself Mr. Flaine. I mean you no harm. This is simply my realm of existence. This is my home turf, if you will." Zac gripped his cane tighter as the others just looked at them in confusion. "Zac, why are you on edge? She's just the lady who sells the outfits and accessories. Sure, she looks funky, but she's no danger." Tracy said, with Emma and Helena nodding behind her. Zac glanced at Miss Nightingale who held a smile on her face. "Yes, I'm only here to provide people with outfits to wear in their matches. The host believes that people may get bored wearing the same things over and over again. So, to curb this problem, everyone is given multiple outfits to wear. We call this a shop, but it's more of a place to pick up new clothes for all who live in this manor." Zac, though still nervous and wary, lowered his guard a bit. "So, uh, can I get one?" Miss Nightingale seemed to laugh at this question. "My apologies, Mr. Flaine. We do not have any costumes for you at this time. You are still relatively new. We do not have anything ready for you yet." Zac seemed to deflate at this sentence. "Don't worry Zac, it was quite some time before the rest of us received some costumes as well," Helena said, attempting to console her saddened friend. With that, the four of them left the shop. The three girls cheerfully waved goodbye to Miss Nightingale while Zac cautiously glanced back at her, still wary of her motives. "There's no way she's just a kind, old shopkeeper. Not with what I've seen her do," Zac thought as they made their way down the hall.
As they continued through the manor, Zac took time to admire all that he saw. While their 'jobs' were dangerous, this certainly wasn't a bad place to live. It seemed as though the host wished to keep them satisfied while they stayed here. His train of thought was interrupted, however, when he was suddenly hefted up by his shoulders. Zac heard Emma and the others call his name as he felt himself being dragged down the hall to a room. He attempted to yell, but his mouth was quickly covered. Outside of the dark room, he heard sets of feet going past the door. As the sounds of footsteps subsided, the voices in the room grew louder. "Man, this never gets old!" "Hurry up, let's start this initiation!" "We really need to come up with a better way to do this." "No way! With this method, the new initiates will have their hearts racing!" Zac struggled a bit as two sets of hands grabbed his arms. They slightly dragged him forward until they stopped and let him go. When they did, Zac immediately scrambled to his feet and took a more defensive position. "What's going on?! Where am I and who are you people?!" No one spoke for a bit until one of them began to snort. Then, almost all of the group began to laugh at his question. "Ok, ok, turn on the lights. We've had our fun," one of them said. Another member of the strange gathering went over to switch on the lights. As the light bulbs came on, Zac recognized everyone as other survivors. "Wait, it's just you guys? What's this all about?" Zac questioned, embarrassment and anger clear on his face. The group moved apart as Martha and Naib stood in front of Zac. "My apologies for the brash treatment. Some of our members continue to use this method even though we talked about a different way of doing this." Martha said while glaring at William and Kreacher. Both just looked back at her with a smile, no shame on their faces. "As for the reason this was done, this is an initiation into the group. Well, an inner part of the already small group of survivors." Martha explained. As she said this, another man stepped forward. Zac noticed this man was wearing some miner's gear and had what looked to be multi colored skin. He wanted to say something, but decided it would be best to hold his tongue. "Let me be the second to apologize on the group's behalf. In case you forgot, the name's Norton Campbell. Allow me to be the first in welcoming ya to the chasers." The rest of the group applauded with a few of them whooping in the background. "I'm sorry, the who?" Zac asked, completely confused on what was happening. Naib stepped up to answer his question "We're the survivors who can help in the games by having skills which involve us chasing the chaser. Our abilities benefit us best when in close proximity to them. Our job is to basically keep the hunter distracted while ensuring the safety of others. Normally, we'd need a bit of time to allow someone into the group. However, after your match against the bloody queen, some of us feel like you've got the makings of a good chaser. Course, you're more of an honorary member. Not too sure you can do as much kiting with that cane though." Martha punched Naib in the shoulder while a few others sighed. Martha then turned to Zac with a small smile. "While Naib doesn't speak for the group, we can agree you're an honorary member until you've proven yourself to be a full fledged chaser. Granted that your food does look as though it can provide some effects beneficial to the team, we still need to go over this in detail. Once you've proven your skill and we have no doubts in our minds, then you shall officially join our ranks." As Martha said this, William put his arm around Zac's shoulder, "Till then, you'll be working alongside us for a bit. Even if you're only an honorary member, you still gotta keep your stamina up. We'll make you into an unbeatable machine!" Zac could only whimper at hearing this. "What is going on?" he wondered as he heard a knocking at the door. Everyone in the room froze upon hearing this. "Someone's coming! Quick, through here!" Picking up on this, Zac had a bag thrown over his head. "Sorry bud, you're not 'in' enough to know about this. Gotta cover your eyes," Zac heard William whisper. Zac struggled until he hit his head on something, knocking him unconscious.
When Zac awoke, he found himself on a table. When he sat up, he noticed someone sitting in the chair next to the table. "Who's there?" Zac inquired suspiciously. As he asked his question, Zac heard a small bark and saw Wick running up to greet him. Seeing Wick, Zac relaxed and looked at the figure who turned out to be Victor. "Oh, Hi Victor," Zac said. Victor smiled and helped Zac to his feet. "Oh, my head. Where are we?" Victor pointed to a sign in the corner. When Zac went to read it, it read "pet room." "Pet room? This place has pets?" Zac pondered as he felt Victor pull him into another room. Inside, there were tons of cages and pets scattered throughout the room. Each creature varied differently from one another. Some were the usual cat or dog while others were creatures Zac had never seen before. He even saw an interesting looking cat wearing a mask. He could have sworn it was trying to talk to him, but Zac thought his mind was playing tricks on him. "A talking cat? No way." As he made his way further into the room, Zac noticed Eli in the corner. Before Zac could say anything, Eli's owl made a small noise. "I know Brooke, I sensed him too. Hello Zac, what brings you to the pet room?" Eli asked, not taking his eyes away from where he was looking. "I just woke up here, then Victor urged me in this direction," Zac answered, rubbing his head. "I see, I suppose Victor wished to introduce you to our animal friends. Maybe even have you adopt one. Is that correct?" Victor nodded at this statement, then looked back to Zac. Zac, a bit shocked, looked between the two survivors. "Wait, adopt one? While I wouldn't mind doing that, how would I even choose one?" As soon as he said that, a crashing sound came from a corner of the room. Zac looked over to see two very big dogs, one was black and the other was white, standing outside of their cages. They immediately jumped up and began circling Wick. Victor instantly went over in an attempt to help Wick, only to pull back as the big dogs growled and nipped at him. Wick began whimpering as the two dogs closed in on him. Zac began freaking out as he turned to Eli. "Can't you do something?" Zac exclaimed, considering using his cane to save Wick. Eli only smiled a bit before answering, "No need. Salvation has arrived." Zac was about to ask how when he saw a flash of white and red. Looking forward, Zac noticed a new figure had stood itself between the 2 dogs. The 2 canines immediately stopped circling Wick and focused their attention on the new threat. Wick took this time to jump into Victor's open arms. Zac was glad Wick was safe, but he worried about the newcomer that's standing before the 2 snarling dogs. Looking over, Zac saw a cat figure. What really intrigued Zac was that this cat held a mini katana in its mouth. The two dogs began to circle the cat before deciding to jump it. The cat immediately bounded upwards and hopped onto their backs. It then used that time to cut some fur off of the dogs' tails. Both dogs howled at this and ran back. Seeing them run, the cat seemed to strike a pose, not knowing that the black one was attempting to strike again. Seeing this, Zac stuck his can out and blocked its attack. The cat, looking surprised at this, began to hiss and claw like a normal feline. Faced with this, the black dog began to pull back. Both canines sulked off into a back room. It was then that Eli stood up. "I best go get Gerri and Ferri back in their cages. Though, it's been a bit of time since I've seen Kotaro around. I wondered where he had been." This was all Eli said before entering the back room. It was then that Emma, Tracy and Helena came rushing in. "Oh my gosh, we heard fighting! What happened?" Emma asked, looking over all of the animals. "Two dogs, Eli called them Gerri and Ferri I think, tried to attack Wick. They would have hurt him if it wasn't for this guy." Zac replied as he pointed to the cat by his feet. Helena and Tracy cooed over him. "Oh, it's Kotaro! We haven't seen him since a year ago. Where have you been?" Helena asked. Kotaro refused to glance at them and kept looking towards Zac. Zac, a bit weirded out by this, decided to head for the exit. As he attempted to do so, he felt something tugging on his pant leg. Looking down, he saw Kotaro holding on with his mouth. It then let go and appeared to bow towards him. "Wow, it seems Kotaro likes you. What did you do to get him to do that?" Tracy asked, still trying to pet Kotaro. "I don't know. All I did was stop one of those dogs from attacking him," Zac answered. He sought to walk out of the room again, only for Kotaro to follow right after him. "Well, it looks like he took a fancy to you. Not many people got him to do that. Do you wanna adopt him?" Emma asked, stars in her eyes. Zac looked down at the cat as it bowed its head once more in his direction. He sighed before saying, "Sure, I could use the company." So, after filling out the necessary paperwork, Kotaro was registered as Zac's pet. The cat nimbly climbed on top of Zac's head and perched himself there. Zac sighed again before walking out of the door. "Well, this should be interesting."
End of Chapter 5
Ok, ok, let me explain.
Yes, this chapter is quite short compared to some others. Remember, today was Zac's day off. I wanted to see this as some things happen, but not anything crazy as if he was in a match.
I can say that we did get some stuff done today. Met some characters, met the chasers and even got a pet.
I will be honest: I was very biased when choosing a pet. I absolutely love Kotaro. He was my first pet when I started Identity V. Ever since I got him, I kept him on my main, who is Gardener, and haven't taken him off. I started this game during season 3, so I'll let you do the math on how long that is.
While this chapter was lacking, the next chapter will be our thanksgiving special followed by a very interesting featuring of one of the more loved hunters. (No, it's not Wu chang or Geisha. I have a plan for them.)
Until next time TTFN- Ta Ta For Now
