Here's a nice little breather chapter, a bit of a bonus. What could be more fun than seeing a group of friends all killing each other? I sure can't think of anything better.
Hellraiserphoenix: Friends seems unlikely, unless Elaina can get over the whole "Blake" thing.
KedharS: Maybe so.
DDDD1416: Maybe they make a good combination in other places, too, like the bedroom.
Thunder Fire: Definitely not looking good for them.
Aquahaze675: It will certainly be interesting.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Bonus Chapter 4: There is an Idiot Among Us
The Skeld
Cynthia, dressed in a red spacesuit, stood in the lobby of The Skeld, her hands clasped behind her back as she stared out into space.
"There are 2 imposters among us," she declared.
"Ugh, what a pain…" Sango, dressed in yellow, complained.
"Who the hell is it, huh?!" Kate, in purple, exclaimed.
"Imposters?!" Kitty, in pink, wailed. Her face went pale and she began sweating.
"Who cares about that, can someone tell me why I'm wearing the white suit?" Maddi demanded, looking at the white space suit she was in, shooting a dirty look at Blake, who was wearing the black one. Well, it was better than pink…
"There are bigger issues to worry about," Blake replied.
"Oh man, I'm so dead…" Nick wailed. He was wearing green. "I'm the minor character, I'm for sure the first one to die…"
"I could also be the first one to die," Reiner noted. He was wearing brown. "I feel like the guys here are kind of expendable, what with all the harem nonsense going around with Blake. The story is mainly about him and the girls, right?"
"What's this about a harem?" Ayame demanded, narrowing her eyes. She was wearing a cyan spacesuit the color of her ribbon. "Blake, are you cheating on me?!"
"Black kinda sus," Julia declared, nodding her head. She was wearing blue.
The crew of ten stepped out of the lobby and onto the spawn point of the ship proper.
"Okay guys, we've got a lot of tasks that need doing," Cynthia declared. "Let's all split up and handle them on our own, okay?"
The lights began to dim.
"Also, don't mind the flickering lights, certainly nothing to worry about."
Julia raised her hand.
"Yes, Blue?"
"Why are we splitting up to do our tasks when there are two imposters among us? Isn't that just providing them with an opportunity to pick us off one by one? Wouldn't it be better to stick together in a big clump in order to stay safe?" Julia asked. The others nodded in agreement.
"Do you have any idea how long that would take?" Cynthia asked, rolling her eyes. "That's not how the game is played. Let's just all get busy working on our tasks together, and not get involved. And remember the sign!"
Cynthia pointed to a large sign on the wall that read "NO IDLE CHIT-CHAT WHILE WORKING ON TASKS". She held her finger up to her mouth.
Everyone sighed and nodded, heading off across the ship to begin working on their tasks.
Blake and Ayame, as usual, went off to do their tasks together. There was a tentative "buddy system" strategy they were working with. The couple weren't allowed to speak to one another, but they kept sending each other furtive looks as they handled their assignments, or maybe only appeared to do so, as the group had disabled the animations.
Suddenly, a red light began flashing. Cynthia had called an emergency meeting and so everyone spawned in the meeting room.
"What's up?" Reiner asked.
"Is nobody dead?" Kitty asked, looking around before letting out a sigh of relief.
"Why'd you call the meeting then?" Maddi scowled.
"Because it's an emergency," Cynthia said, her voice grave.
"But no one's dead," Nick reminded her.
"This is more important than that," Cynthia said, shaking her head. She reached under the meeting table and slammed the wastebasket on top of it. It was filled to the brim with a mountain of crinkled candy bar wrappers.
"What's this?" Blake asked, confused.
"It's an emergency, that's what it is," Cynthia replied. "Someone has eaten my hidden supply of ragecandybars, and we're not getting back to our tasks until we find out who."
…
"Yellow kinda sus," Julia declared.
"Major sus," Blake agreed.
"Sus, sus, sus," the others nodded in agreement.
"Are you guys serious right now?!" Sango exclaimed. "I'm not the imposter!"
She reached up and smeared some chocolate off of her cheek.
"It's okay everyone, it's not a big deal," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "Besides, you guys were right. We have bigger things to worry about. Let's all get back to our tasks, sound good?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Yellow, you can handle all the tasks in Electrical by yourself," Cynthia ordered.
…
"So you're basically telling me to go die," Sango dryly replied.
Cynthia gave her a rueful smile.
"Don't eat my chocolate."
Sango rolled her eyes and sighed.
Vote Skipped.
The group went back to their tasks. Minutes later, another buzzer sounded. This time, a body was discovered, by Reiner.
Kate's dead body.
"Purple is dead," Reiner reported as they gathered together in the meeting room.
"Brown is a Self-Report Susan," Julia said automatically.
"Brown sus," Kitty agreed.
"I can account for Black," Ayame reported.
"I can account for Cyan," Blake said. "We were getting Med Scans together."
"Black and Cyan in Medical together?" Cynthia asked, raising her eyebrow. "Kinda sus."
"How is it sus? We were accomplishing our tasks."
"It's sus because you two are a couple, so of course you'd vouch for each other," Reiner said.
"That's right," Cynthia nodded. "Black and Cyan sitting in a tree, F-U-C-K-I-"
"Vulgar language, Red sus," Sango said.
"Oh come on, Yellow is just mad because I sent her to electrical."
"Red sus," Blake agreed.
"I'm voting Red," Ayame said.
"It's not me! I was with Pink and Green, we were together the whole time!" Cynthia protested.
"We were together for the beginning of the round," Nick confirmed. "But then you split off from Pink and I. Where was the body found?"
"The body was in Navigation," Reiner said.
"Where did Red go when you guys split off?" Maddi asked.
"We were in Shields and Red headed up," Kitty said.
"So Red would have gone past Navigation."
"It wasn't me!" Cynthia protested.
"I was in O2, and I saw Red running up," Maddi replied. "She didn't pass by Navigation so I don't think it was her."
"Thank you, White," Cynthia said, feeling vindicated.
"Well, White, where were you then?" Julia asked.
"I was in O2, cleaning the filter," Maddi repeated. "I was with Purple before that, I think she was emptying the chute? She left after I came in, so maybe she went to Navigation."
"So is Brown a Self-Report Susan?" Cynthia asked. "Unless White did it and is just pretending like she didn't, that isn't exactly an alibi."
"It could have been the vents," Ayame added.
"Pink, was Green with you the entire time after Red left?" Sango asked. "Because the vents in Shields connects to Navigation."
"How would you know that unless you were using the vents, huh? Sus." Cynthia said, narrowing her eyes and staring suspiciously at Sango, who glared back at her.
"Because I play this game a lot," Sango snorted.
"Yellow was in Electrical by herself the whole time," Blake said. "She could have been being a Gopher Gabby and hiding in the vents while being left alone."
"It wasn't me!" Sango protested. "I just know how the vents work because I use them a lot!"
"Ah! She said it, she's used the vents a lot!" Cynthia crowed.
"Sus."
"Sus."
"I meant in previous games!" Sango exclaimed.
"Look, are we voting or not?" Nick asked. "Because the only person I know for sure is innocent is Pink. So are we going to vote?"
They all began voting. 4 votes to skip, 5 votes for Yellow.
Yellow is Ejected.
Back to the tasks.
Cynthia, Nick, and Kitty stuck together close through the next round to make sure that they wouldn't be suspected. They all headed to Medical, when suddenly the warning light began flashing.
"Oxygen Depletion" began sounding out over the loudspeaker.
Cynthia glanced aside, and saw that Nick was leaving the room, leaving her alone with Kitty. Kitty looked at Cynthia as Cynthia began performing her med scan, and followed after Nick.
Julia and Maddi stuck together and headed to O2 as well.
Body Discovered!
"What? Brown died?" Kitty cried.
"Brown was in O2," Maddi reported.
"Confirm I came across Brown as well," Julia agreed. "It wasn't White or me. We were together the whole round doing our tasks. If she wanted to kill me she could have, so I think White is innocent."
"Not suspecting White, Blue is sus," Cynthia declared.
"Imposter 1 and Imposter 2," Blake agreed.
"We haven't seen Black or Cyan at all," Kitty said. "Where are they?"
"I was with Cyan in the Reactor," Blake reported. "But that was only for the first part of the game. In the second half, we went different directions. I went toward Security and she headed up north, I assumed she was going to fix the Oxygen Depletion."
"Wait, so did the imposter trigger a sabotage and only kill one person?" Nick asked.
"Maybe they killed Brown and then used the sabotage to make someone discover the body while they had an alibi," Maddi suggested.
"That's some big brain thinking right there," Cynthia said.
"So maybe it's Cyan?" Julia suggested. "If she did run off, then she might have had time to kill Brown when Black wasn't looking."
"It isn't Cyan, we scanned each other," Blake said.
"Oh, is that what they're calling it now?" Cynthia cackled.
"I vote Red," Ayame said, shooting her a dirty look.
"Same, Red," Blake agreed.
"I vote Red because she's annoying and I don't like her," Maddi said. "Red sus."
"Come on guys, we can't vote on seven people," Kitty reminded them. "We always do this, we vote on seven, and then the imposters double kill two of us and it's game over."
"Yes! Exactly! Don't vote for me!" Cynthia said.
"Green, where did you go?" Kitty asked.
"Huh? I went to go to O2," Nick said.
"I was following you," Kitty explained. "Because I thought we were going to go together in a group to avoid suspicion, but then you just left Red in Medical with me. Red could have killed me in medical but she didn't, so I think she's not the imposter guys. But I don't know about Green."
"Come on, Pink, I didn't kill anyone!" Nick protested.
"Maybe not this time," Kitty admitted, "but you still could be the imposter. So look, here's what I'm thinking. Green's partner does the kill in O2 after sabotaging the oxygen. Then, Green goes out to try and get another kill while his partner's kill count is going down, to try and get our numbers down to six. You guys, why else would he leave? Green is totally sus!"
"I was leaving to go fix the oxygen!" Nick protested. "Why did you leave?"
"Because if you were going to go kill someone, I wanted to catch you! But I was right in front of O2 and I didn't see you there at all! Blue, White, did you see Green around O2?"
"I didn't see him," Julia said, shaking her head.
"I saw Pink by O2," Maddi reported. "If Green was telling the truth and he really headed to O2, then doesn't that mean he should have gotten there before her?"
"I don't know what to say," Green said, shaking his head. "I was in Weapons on my way to O2, if Pink says she didn't see me she's either lying for some reason or she used a vent to jump there first."
"We came up from Shields and saw Pink coming down from Weapons but we didn't see Green," Julia said, shaking her head again. "Green is sus."
"Green is really sus," Cynthia agreed. "Why did you leave, Green? If Pink was the imposter she could have killed me when you left Medical so it has to be you!"
"Come on Pink, we were together the entire first round," Nick protested, "you know it wasn't me!" Everyone could tell that Nick was starting to panic. They all looked at each other. Nick was definitely behaving the most suspiciously out of any of them, and he didn't seem to have a good alibi. Kitty didn't have an alibi either, but Nick was definitely more sus.
"Look, I don't know if it's Green or not," Kitty said, her voice quivering. "All I know is that we shouldn't vote on seven. Let's just vote to skip, okay?"
"Yeah, I think Pink's right here," Blake agreed. "If we vote to skip then it isn't a huge problem. Green might be sus, but if he's telling the truth and it's not him, then if we vote him off it just gives the imposters the chance to win the game and we don't want that."
"Then why did he take so long coming down from the Cafeteria, huh?" Ayame challenged. "Cuz I just entered the Cafeteria before the body was found and I didn't see him there at all."
"I told you, I was in Weapons then," Nick explained.
"Still, very sus," Cynthia scowled, shooting Nick a dirty look. She leaned back in her lounge chair in the conference room and stretched, having zero clues about who the imposter might be. But Kitty's reasoning made sense. "It's really easy to get from Medical to O2, it shouldn't have taken you so long. Sus."
"Hey, come on, maybe he was getting a snack from the vending machine or something," Blake suggested.
"Wrong map, Black," Maddi said, rolling her eyes. "The Cafeteria here doesn't have a vending machine."
"Oh. I haven't been to the Cafeteria yet, me and Cyan have been making out in the Reactor this whole time."
"I KNEW IT! SUS! SUS!" Cynthia exclaimed, leaping out of her chair and jabbing an accusing finger at Blake.
Vote Skipped.
Blake and Ayame glanced as each other as they entered the spawn point. They both had a pretty good idea. Ayame followed Blake down into Electrical and the two finished up their tasks there. When they were done, they walked over to the vent and stood on top of it, looking at each other with knowing nods. They sat there for the rest of the round.
Meanwhile, Kitty went into Admin along with Cynthia and Nick, who were all keeping an eye on each other. No one trusted each other anymore, any of the three of them could be the imposter. It was unlikely that it was Cynthia who killed Reiner, she wouldn't have had the time. But she could have sent the sabotage order in order to lead Kitty and Nick out of the room and then just got unlucky that her partner stumbled across Reiner there while setting up a trap. Nick began to wonder if Cynthia was as innocent as she proclaimed to be.
Kitty checked the Admin computer and saw there were two people together in Electrical, just sitting there. She saw the three of them together in Admin, and two more people who were walking down from Navigation to Shields, and then from Shields into Communications. One of them left Communications and then headed to Storage. The other left Communications as well not long after that, and met up with the first person in Storage again.
Kitty closed the computer and turned around, heading to do a task in the Admin room while Cynthia headed to the computer to check for herself, and Nick did, as well. When all of them were finished with the computer, The warning lights began flashing. Another sabotage! This time, it looked like the Reactor was going to overload!
All three of them looked at each other and knew what was happening. There was no way that there were two imposters among them. If there were, then the third one of them would be dead already. So there was at most one imposter in their group of three.
If one of the imposters wasn't here, then that meant they were with one of the other people. Which means that if either of the groups of two went to the Reactor, they would be dead before they could do anything, if they weren't dead already, and the imposter could be preparing a trap to potentially lure someone else there. Alternatively, the imposter could just wait for the Reactor to blow.
That meant that they had to go to the Reactor. It seemed that the two people in Electrical still weren't moving, which meant they were going to need to be the ones to go. They all nodded in agreement, and headed off down to the Reactor.
As the group of three arrived at the Reactor, the lights still flashing, Maddi emerged from the Reactor and immediately killed Nick when he got there.
Body Reported!
"IT WAS WHITE! IT WAS SO TOTALLY WHITE! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU HAD THE AUDACITY TO KILL GREEN RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!" Cynthia exclaimed when the five remaining people arrived at the meeting room. Their numbers were cut in half. Nick had just been killed by Maddi, and Julia was already dead it appeared.
"…" Maddi didn't respond to Cynthia's accusations at all. She blinked.
"Well?! Anything to say for yourself, Miss Double Kill?!" Cynthia asked.
Maddi shrugged.
"Red sus."
"Oh, I'll show you sus!" Cynthia growled, leaping from her chair and lunging across the table at Maddi. Ayame and Blake had to hold the thrashing girl back. Kitty backed away from the table, trembling. She looked back and forth between Maddi and Cynthia.
"Red is right," Kitty said, nodding. "I saw White kill Green."
"Come on, guys, you can't believe this," Maddi said, shaking her head. She glanced at Blake and Ayame. "They're the imposters! They killed Green and Blue when we met up at the Reactor and now they're trying to pin it on me! Vote for one of them, or it's gonna be a game over as soon as we're finished voting."
"Oh, it's game over for someone alright," Cynthia snarled.
"It isn't me!" Kitty wailed. "White is trying to frame me, I didn't do anything! White killed Blue and Green, and now she's trying to get you to kill me, too! But I didn't do it!"
She was breathing hard, her eyes watering. She really hoped the others believed her.
Blake and Ayame looked at each other.
"Cyan and I were in Electrical the whole round," Blake replied. "We were standing over a vent. If one of us was the imposter, it would be easy for one of us to kill the other and then use the vent to get away. So the fact that we didn't means we can't be the imposter."
"I trust Black," Ayame agreed.
"So maybe Yellow was the other imposter?" Kitty suggested. "So if we vote White then we win."
"White did it!" Cynthia nodded in agreement.
Maddi rolled her eyes.
4 votes for White, 1 vote for Pink.
White is Ejected.
"…"
One of these bitches is lying, Cynthia mentally fumed. There was still an imposter remaining, clearly. But who? Blake and Ayame were together the whole time, so that left Kitty. Cynthia knew that SHE wasn't the imposter, but Kitty clearly had the opportunity, didn't she? It had to be Kitty, it just had to be.
Although, if it was Kitty, Kitty had several moments when she could have killed her before. When they were alone in Medical, or she could have followed Cynthia after Cynthia left Shields at the very beginning.
Cynthia was really regretting using her emergency meeting call on the candy bars earlier. Now she couldn't call for another vote.
She looked around. No one else was in the Cafeteria with her. Were they all together in a group, or did they all split up? Cynthia wasn't sure. She headed off on her own.
Well, if Kitty kills me, then that means the other two will definitely suspect it's her, Cynthia reasoned. She couldn't imagine Blake or Ayame voting against each other.
Body Discovered!
Ayame had been the one to discover the body this time. It was Blake who had been killed, in the hallway above Shields, clearly a vent kill.
"It's Pink! It's gotta be Pink!" Cynthia exclaimed. She'd been suspicious of Pink from the start!
"It's not me!" Kitty protested. "I didn't do it!"
"Where did you find the body, Cyan?" Cynthia asked.
"Black was in the hallway above Shields," Ayame reported. "He was right next to a vent."
"A vent kill! Hah! You and Yellow are always the Gopher Gabbies, always snatching those vent kills!" Cynthia turned to Kitty and gave her a triumphant smirk.
"But I didn't do it this time, you gotta believe me!" Kitty wailed. "Look, Red, you know I couldn't have!"
"Pink sus," was Cynthia's only reply to that statement.
"Black and I confirmed each other," Ayame said. "You can check the reports."
"Or maybe you just pretended to," Kitty scowled at her. "Red, she's clearly big braining us! She's super sus! She's been playing Black like a fiddle this whole game!"
"In that case, wouldn't I have killed you or Red, since I would know that Black would vote for me?" Ayame snorted.
"No, because you know that Black wouldn't leave you alone," Kitty reminded her. "And if Black saw you kill one of us, then he would eject you, even if he is your boyfriend."
Cynthia nodded, leaning in on the table and interlacing her fingers together. That made sense.
"Please, you're just saying that because you're trying to deflect suspicion off of yourself," Ayame said, rolling her eyes. "Look, the way I see it, the most suspicious death was Brown. That was the one where everyone didn't really have an alibi. I suspected Green, but it clearly wasn't Green. But White and Blue said they saw you there, Pink. So I'm guessing you went down through the vent in Admin to go to the vent above Shields, then to O2 and killed Brown. That's why you got there before Green!"
"Actually," Cynthia corrected her, "only White said she saw Pink at O2, not Blue. It's possible that she was lying and said that in order throw suspicion on Green, in order to get someone innocent voted out."
"No, but I was in O2," Kitty confirmed. "I don't know how I got there before Green, though."
"Then it had to be you!"
"Well if it was me, then why would I admit to something that sus, huh?" Kitty asked.
"You're the one accusing me of the sus!"
"That's because I know I'm not the imposter, and my susometer is going crazy trying to figure out who it is between the two of you!" Kitty exclaimed. "I know Red didn't kill Brown in O2, because I left her in Medical, which means it had to have been you, since White and Blue were together the whole time! Black said it himself, that you left him halfway through. Maybe the reason you didn't see Green in the Cafeteria is because you never went there in the first place!"
"Unless she used the vents," Ayame suggested.
"Huh?" Kitty tilted her head to the side in confusion.
"Think about it, there's a vent in Medical. After you left her, she could have used the vent to go to Electrical, then walk to Admin and vent to the hallway, go in, kill Brown, and escape to the vents in Navigation."
Kitty paused.
"No way I could have done that in the time it would have taken," Cynthia protested.
"But Red had a bunch of times when she could have killed me," Kitty protested. "She could have killed me in Medical, remember? Why would she let me live if she was the imposter?"
"Because killing you when Green left you alone would have been sus," Ayame replied. "She's clearly trying to keep you on her side so you'll vote with her against me."
"Umm…" Kitty looked desperately at Cynthia, her eyes shining with fear. Cynthia frantically shook her head. It wasn't her! But Kitty was looking at her like it was!
"It's not me! You were right from the start, Pink, it's gotta be Cyan! She got rid of Black and then reported it like a Self-Reporting Susan!"
"I-I don't know who to believe anymore," Kitty said, shaking her head.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" Cynthia exclaimed, standing up. "If it was, then wouldn't I have killed you in the Reactor after White killed Green? But I didn't, I reported it. If I was the imposter I could have won the game right fucking there, but I didn't! So it CAN'T be me!"
Kitty looked desperately to Ayame for confirmation.
Ayame knew that she wasn't the imposter. That left Kitty or Cynthia. Kitty didn't seem to be the imposter, she looked very worried and anxious. Cynthia did as well, but was a lot more confrontational and certain about it, none of the confusion that Kitty had. Would Cynthia have killed Kitty in the Reactor? Was she close enough to have done it before Kitty pressed the report button? Because if Kitty had reported instead of Cynthia, that would have been sus. Cynthia made a huge deal out of voting off Maddi. Was that all just an act, to get people to think she wasn't sus? So she could kill Blake, and then try to pin the blame on one of them, the way she was doing now?
Ayame looked at Cynthia, as red in the face as her hair and her spacesuit.
"Red sus," she declared, pressing her vote button.
Kitty smirked and nodded, pressing her button as well.
"Red sus."
Red is Ejected.
Imposters Win.
"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Cynthia screeched, nearly throwing her phone across the room. "HOW?! HOW DO YOU WIN AS THE IMPOSTER FOUR FUCKING GAMES IN A ROW?!"
"I overthought it," Ayame groaned, slapping herself in the face. "I fucking overthought it. I knew I shouldn't have let Blake out of my sight while I was finishing up priming the shields."
Blake sighed and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"Mwahaha…" Kitty cackled, smiling evilly as she kicked her legs back and forth from Cynthia's bunk, staring down at the foolish crewmates below her. She cradled her phone in her hands as her red eyes shimmered with malevolence.
"Kitty's too damn good at this, she sounds completely terrified whether she's a crewmate or the imposter," Julia noted. "We need to start distrusting her more."
"I knew it, too!" Cynthia groaned, tearing at her hair as she flopped down on the Sango's bed, staring up at the bunk above it, where Kitty was sitting victoriously. "I fucking knew it was her, but I let her talk me out of it because Ayame was acting so sus."
"Oh shut up, you ejected me over some candy bars!" Sango growled.
Cynthia tilted her head and gave Sango a dirty look, throwing the empty wrappers in her face as evidence.
"At least you didn't die first," Kate groaned. "She just came right up behind me and wham, I was gone. We'd just started, too!"
"One of my ballsiest kills," Maddi smirked. "Just stabbed you as I left the room and popped right over to O2, and I wasn't sus at all."
"I'm just glad I didn't die first," Nick said. "I totally thought I would be fodder."
"Had to kill you 'cause you kept throwing sus on Kitty," Maddi explained. "Figured Kitty could talk Cynthia into taking her side, but wow it was close."
"How did Kitty kill me, anyway?" Reiner asked.
"Ayame called it," Kitty said, snickering. "Gotta love those vents, it was a tight window but luckily Maddi had my back."
"Well I'm not trusting a single one of you again," Cynthia scowled. "Y'all are sus as hell!"
They all signed in to play again.
Just a light little breather chapter before we get back to the battles. Pink always sus.