I'm Danganronpa trash again so expect more frequent chapter updates.
Thanks to zerowing21 for beta reading.
"When a murder occurs between you bastards, we hold a short period of investigation before the School Trial."
Monobear's words echoed in the heads of everyone in the room, including Brick, Sonya, and Monomi, who had just walked inside to see the group crowding around the dead body of Coop, the Super High-School Level Pilot. Edd looked like he was going to get sick as the bear continued to speak.
"You all must figure out the culprit!" Monobear laughed, "Find out who killed Coop!"
"This is impossible..." Suzy muttered, "We... Nobody could have killed him..."
"Don't act like that!" Monobear replied. "They'll think you killed him! Let's get this show on the road, the game has begun!"
"Don't listen to him!" Monomi cried out, stepping in front of the bear. "Don't listen to a word Monobear is saying!"
"Shut up!" Monobear growled. "Come on you bastards! The game is afoot!"
"A foot game?" Monomi question, "Are we playing soccer now?"
"Don't make me give you the boot, Monomi."
"The boot? But it's not the season to wear boots!"
"This joke is going nowhere..." Monobear sighed. He waddled over to Monomi before punching her in the jaw. "Let's forget the pitiful howling of the under rabbit, and start the investigation already. I want you to show me the love by suspecting and deceiving each other! Give it all you got!"
With that, Monobear disappeared; leaving a newly beaten Monomi alone with the fifteen remaining students and the corpse of Coop. Panic started to set in.
"What is going on!?" Suzy screamed. "I don't understand!"
"That bear wants us to search for Coop's killer..." Finn muttered. "He's treating this like a game..." His face appeared to be green.
"You mustn't doubt each owther..." Monomi said, rubbing her ears. "Ywou're all frwiends!"
"But Mr. Porkbelly Hick is dead." Numbuh Five said coldly. "If we don't find out who the killer is, then everyone is going to die."
"Damn it..." Yumi cursed. "I finally made some friends and now I have to be suspicious of them."
"Friends are supposed to trwust each other!" Monomi cried.
"Shut up." Mandy barked coldly. "You have nothing useful to say, so just leave, rabbit."
"Don't scwold me!" the rabbit cried. Edd raised his brow before looking to the group.
"It seems like we don't have much of a choice..."
"I hate this..." Betty sighed.
"As do I," Dexter said. "But Abigail is right. If we don't find out who the killer is, then we will get killed in the process."
"I just can't believe this!" Goo cried. "I refuse to believe any of us killed Coop, I mean he was a little annoying, but aren't we all? I'll never believe it so that's why I just decided that I'm going to investigate Coop's death, and I'll prove that it wasn't one of us who killed him! We're good kids, I believe that. My mama said that everyone has good intentions and I believe that, of course! I'm gonna prove that we can trust each other! We can't fight when there's Despair that's trying to overcome us!"
Goo was barely finished with her paragraph before she ran out the door, heading off to prove that Coop wasn't killed by her classmates. Sonya walked up and stood where Goo was, so she could be closer to the group, she raised her hand and spoke.
"May I speak?" she began. "Um... In normal mystery novels, this is the part where they decide who is going to guard the crime scene. Should we do that?"
"It would probably suck if the killer destroyed the evidence." Rex shrugged. "That would put us at a huge disadvantage."
"I'll stay." Suzy said. "I don't really have the drive to search for evidence right now... I just want to stay by Coop's side. That counts as guarding, right?"
"I have enough knowledge in the death field to examine the body." Mandy added. "I'll stay as well."
"What are the rest of us supposed to do?" Juniper asked. "I've never... Investigated a murder before..."
"Follow your intuition." Ben shrugged.
"Investigating a frwiend's death is so cruel." Monomi sobbed.
"I still can't believe that Coop's gone..." Zak said, shaking in his shoes.
"Oh, I forgot something!" cried out the voice of Monobear. The bear was sitting on a table holding a file. "I didn't tell you bastards about the Monobear file! This baby collects and confirms fact about the body, just for you! How convenient! I'm so kind to you kids. You amateurs couldn't find out this information on your own. They should start calling me the Mother Theresa of the mascot character world."
"You wish for a lot of things that won't happen!" Monomi barked, throwing her claws in the air.
"Oh, the useless, meaningless mascot Monomi is still here." the bear laughed. "Don't you have something better to do, like dying?"
"Don't make up a mascot genre for me!" Monomi barked again.
"Whatever." Monobear growled. "The file is on your NanoCom I.D. Now I have to take care of my little sister." The bear waltzed over to his rabbit counterpart, tugging her by the ears.
"Watch the fabric!" Monomi cried. "It hwurts!"
"If you continue talking I'm going to water board you with Chemical X." Monobear giggled. "It's time to go!"
Monobear waved to the students before dragging Monomi out of the cabin. The students stood in silence for a moment before a few of them pulled out their NanoComs to read the file Monobear told them about. Dexter studied the file before reading it out-loud to his classmates.
"The victim's body was discovered in the lobby of Hotel Mirai's old lodge. The time of death was approximately 11:30 PM. Cause of death was multiple stab wounds in the region between the abdomen and the throat. There are no other fatal wounds on the body, and there is no trace of poison or drugs in the victim's body."
"Alright, kids." Brick said. "It's time to rev this into gear."
"Get to work." Betty nodded. "Our lives are at stack here."
The students all nodded in agreement with Brick and Betty, beginning to disperse. Edd looked around, unsure of what to look for first. He looked over to the table Coop was laying under. The only thing on top of it was a small table lamp. Mandy was kneeling down, examining the body. The first strange thing Edd noticed was that the Monobear file told them that Coop was stabbed several time in the chest, but he was lying face down; his left hand reaching out.
The next eyesore was the fact that he was lying next to a pair of night-vision goggles and the knife used to murder him. Edd wondered how a murder weapon even got in there, since Ben patted down everyone who walked in. The hero immediately went to the top of Edd's suspect list, above Mandy, who threw the party. Mandy noted that there was green paint on the handle of the knife.
"There's no trail of blood, just the pool." Mandy said to Edd, noticing he was also looking at the body. The boy nodded in response.
"It's so... gruesome..." he muttered.
"You get used to it." the girl replied, pulling a piece of packing tape from underneath the table. It was also stained with green paint. Suzy walked up behind the two before turning away.
"How could this have happened!?" she cried to herself. Edd turned to her, remembering the position she was in when the lights came back on.
"Hey, Suzy?" he began. "How did you end up with that food and liquor on you?'
"Gah, that's so embarrassing!" she cried again. "I was distracted by the blackout and felt someone grope me. I fell back and ended up like that in front of everyone! I can't believe that happened..."
"At least you have an alibi." Edd said. "Coop was with us when the lights went out, but was dead when they came back on. They were only off for a few moments."
"If we can figure out what happened during the blackout, I think we can figure out who killed Coop." Suzy said. "But in the meantime, please forget about what happened to me..." Edd nodded, respecting the girl.
He looks around the room, seeing several of his classmates looking at other various clues. He walked out of the cabin, seeing Goo sitting outside. She was rubbing her chin with one hand and twirling her braids with the other. She noticed Edd exit the cabin and sprung to life, heading over to him.
"Hey, Double-D, I have a very important question!" she said, almost standing on top of Edd's shoes. "During that blackout everyone was screaming and yelling different things and it was very loud and just a little bit annoying but I picked out Coop's voice. He screamed; 'Watch it!' He was also nowhere near that table when the lights went out. So much to take in, I'm glad I have a great big brain."
"Um..." Edd was still trying to comprehend everything Goo blurted out. "That's a good clue. We should remember that for the trial."
Meanwhile, Ben and Rex were standing outside Coop's cabin. They seemed to be trying to get inside but the door was locked.
"This is B.S." Ben sighed. "You'd think Monobear would open the door for us to investigate."
"Did someone call?" the bear said, suddenly behind the two.
"Since when did you get control of that thing!?" Rex cried.
"Do you want me to unlock Coop's door?" Monobear asked, followed by a sigh. "Jeez, first I've got to turn the circuit breaker back on for you bastards, now I have to do this!" The bear smacked his paws together and turned around. "It's unlocked. Now quit askin' for favors!"
"Oh... Um, thanks!" Ben called out as Monobear walked off.
"That was really easy..." Rex shrugged. The two walked inside to see nothing out of the ordinary, beside an open letter on his bedside table. Ben picked it up and read it.
"The first murder will occur tonight. It's inevitable. Watch out." He looked up to Rex, who had the same horrified expression as him.
"Was that a threat to him?" Rex asked. "No wonder he's been so scared of everything."
"We should figure out the handwriting." Ben said. "The killer was the one who wrote this, there's no doubt about it." The screen in the room came to life, picturing Monobear on his throne, drinking from a bottle of rum.
"I'm so bored." the bear's voice came from the T.V. speakers. "That means it's finally time! Are you all ready for a school trial? On the central island here in Jabberwock, there is a mountain with my face carved into it called Monobear Rock! Please proceed to the underground elevator, accessible from a hidden secret entrance on that mountain. Upupupu! I can hardly wait!" The screen flipped off, leaving Ben and Rex alone in Coop's room. This same message was broadcasted on every screen on the island, so every student knew of the trial starting.
The students gathered around Monobear Rock, a small mountain with four Monobear heads carved into it like Mount Rushmore. The fifteen students stood by themselves in silence. Monomi was running towards them, failing her arms in the wind. Monobear appeared behind the group, weaving between their legs so he could get closer to Monomi as she neared the students.
"Stwop!" she cried.
"Monomi, why are you here?" Monobear asked. "I was just about to take our students to the underground courtroom."
"I-I-I..."
"What, do you want to join in on the fun?" the bear giggled. "Hilarious! You actually want to put your incompetence on display for everyone to see? You're so lucky I'm just a kind big brother. Monomi now has special permission to participate in the school trial! Don't wait up guys!"
Monomi stood in silence as Monobear disappeared from sight. The students looked down at her as she crossed her stubby arms.
"Stupid bear." she muttered.
"So, where do we go from here?" Zak asked. "There's no courtroom here."
As if on cue, the mouth of one of the carved Monobear heads opened up. An escalator began to emerge from the mountain, heading down to the students. It landed by them and revved on, the steps moving upwards towards the mountain.
"This is sketchy as hell..." Numbuh Five muttered.
"Is that even safe?" Finn added. Monomi waddled over and jumped onto the escalator, moving up towards the mountain. Sonya followed her.
"Guess we better go." Zak said. "We don't want to keep that bear waiting."
One by one the students followed Monomi and Sonya. They all were plunged into the rock Monobear's mouth, which turned out to be a giant room with locked doors. As the last student, Ben, filed in, the escalator retracted into the mountain, leaving the students with no way down. That is until the entire head began to move downwards. The whole thing was an elevator, taking the fifteen students to the courtroom Monobear was speaking of. The doors opened to reveal a large room.
All the lights in the room were tinted pink, and there were golden pillars supporting the room. In the center of the room were sixteen stands positioned in a circle. Each stand was labeled with a student's name. The stand labeled for Coop had a picture of his face sitting there in replacement. The picture had a red 'X' painted over it. Against the wall was a throne where Monobear sat, awaiting his students. Above the throne was a giant screen.
"Welcome one and all!" Monobear cheered. "Don't you just love it? It's our little courtroom! I handcrafted it from the bones of my enemies! This is where your bastards' fate will be decided!"
"To think you'd lock us in this vulgar place..." Rex muttered. "This is messed up."
"Yaawwwn!" Monobear giggled. "Go ahead, speak your mind! I'm open for constructive criticism. But there's no time! Take your seats! The class trial is about to begin!"
The students all walked up to their stands. A rope fell from the ceiling, grabbed Monomi and tying her up. The rope pulled itself to the throne, where Monomi would hang.
"Before we begin, let's set a couple things straight." Monobear began. "Your task is to point out who the blackened student is. If you figure out the culprit, they alone will be punished for their crimes. However, if you fail to pick up the correct killer, then everyone except the culprit will be punished, and the killer will be forgiven of their crimes and be allowed to leave the island."
"Those wules are so crwuel." Monomi sobbed.
"May I ask if one of us is actually the killer?" Juniper asked.
"Well, of course!" Monobear cheered. "The murderer is definitely one of you! By the way, this trial is 100% fair. After Monomi, favoritism and injustice are the two things I hate the most."
"You rweally hate me that much?" the rabbit cried.
"Anyways, let's begin!" Monobear cheered again.
"Begin where?" Yumi asked. "How do you even start this out?"
"I say we roll our sleeves up and talk with our fists." Brick growled.
"Did you even listen to the rules?" Betty asked.
"I think we should talk about the very, very, very important-interesting fact first!" Goo said.
"That would be...?" Zak asked, intrigued by Goo's run on sentence.
"Well, the location of the body is really, really, really strange, don't-cha think?" she answered. "Under the table! Like, what? That's so weird! How did he even get there!?"
"Well, it would make sense if the killer wanted to hide the body." Zak said.
"Yeah, they definitely dragged him over there." Finn added.
"That's not true." Mandy said. "Did you remember what the crime scene looked like? There was a pool of blood that he was laying in, but no evidence to prove he was dragged. If we was murdered and hidden, there would have been a trail of blood."
"Awe man, I thought I was onto something." Zak whined. Numbuh Five chuckled.
"Maybe next time, kid." she laughed.
"Kid?! I'm older than you!"
"Now, now!" Dexter called out. "Order in the court."
"If the body wasn't dragged there, why was it under the table in the first place?" Yumi asked.
"He was murdered there." Edd said.
"He crawled under the table for some reason and that's where the killer got him?" Suzy confirmed, questioning how that would work.
"Maybe he panicked when the lights went out and took cover." Sonya suggested.
"Or because he had a good reason to crawl under there." Edd said. He looked to Mandy. "The knife."
"The murder weapon?" Betty questioned.
"Coop most likely knew the knife was hidden under the table." Mandy explained. "The knife had green paint on the handle, along with a piece of packing tape that was on the bottom of the table. I assume its glow in the dark paint."
"What would make you assume that?" Ben asked.
"Because how would he be able to see it if it was dark?" Mandy answered, making a 'duh' facial expression. "If he couldn't see the handle, he could have cut himself on the blade."
"How did he know it was even under the table?" Suzy rubbed her chin as she spoke. "Did he see someone go under the table? Did he plant it there?"
"Upupupu!" Monobear giggled. "Things are getting too spicy for the pepper!"
"How would he even see anyone crawl under the table?" Finn pointed out. "It was pitch-black."
"I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face." Juniper added before demonstrating herself putting her hand in front of her face.
"No, Coop could see!" Edd blurted out. "He had night-vision goggles, remember. His hand was reaching out for them."
"Your reasoning is flawed!" Suzy yelled at Edd.
"W-What?" the sock-capped teen gasped.
"It's obvious that it was the killer who was wearing the goggles, not Coop." Suzy continued. "Think rationally about it."
"Where's your evidence?" Edd asked the girl.
"Wearing those goggles is the only way someone could have killed Coop in the dark." Suzy spat. "... Duh. In order to do that, the culprit brought the goggles to the party."
"Nope." Ben spoke up. "When I was doing the pat-downs, Coop had the night-vision goggles on him. I didn't think anything of it."
"Damnit, Ben." Mandy barked. "You had one job."
"He didn't have the knife on him." Ben continued. "That had to have been planted there before the party."
"The packing tape holding the knife to the bottom of the table." Numbuh Five said.
"Ben and I found something in Coop's room." Rex called out over the group. Ben pulled out the letter they found.
"This says that the first murder was going to happen tonight and to watch out." Ben added.
"It's like a threat." Rex said. "Coop knew something was happening tonight. He knew someone was going to die tonight."
"Only Monobear could have sent him something like that." Zak growled.
"It wasn't me!" the bear giggled.
"Is that the truth?" Monomi whispered.
"I only tell white lies!" Monobear laughed.
"That's still a lie!" the rabbit cried.
"Stop fuckin' around!" Brick yelled. "Who wrote that letter!?"
"The killer." Rex guessed.
"Forgive me for a second, but since I'm guessing the killer won't speak up about writing the letter, I want to go back to a previous topic." Juniper said. "If Coop was wearing the night-vision goggles, how did the killer... Well, kill him?"
"If they didn't wear the goggles, they can't see anything." Zak added to Juniper's question. "So they couldn't have gotten the knife from under the table and used it to kill him."
"Incorrect." Dexter retorted. "Did you even listen to Mandy? The knife and packing tape had glow-in-the-dark paint on them."
"That means the culprit knew the power would go out in advance." Suzy said.
"That means the killer is the one who turned the lights off!" Ben yelled. "And Sonya was the only one not in the room when that happened!"
"I'm not the killer." Sonya sighed.
"She's rwight!" Monomi sang from her hanging rope. "I was outside with hwer the whole time!"
"So if Sonya didn't turn the lights off, who did?" Yumi asked.
"What if nobody turned the power off?" Betty shrugged. "You know, I was checking the storage room during the investigation and found three irons plugged into the wall, all three sitting on an ironing board. Who plugs in three irons at once?"
"The irons must have been eatin' up the power." Numbuh Five concluded. "That's why the power went out."
"Then that means that the killer left the hall to go turn on the irons!" Brick barked. "You're back to square one! Nobody left except for Sonya and she has an alibi!"
"The killer set up something in advance!" Finn called out. "I was checking the air conditioners in the lodge when we were investigating and there were two in the building. One in the party room and another in the office next to the circuit breaker. They were both set on a timer to turn on at 11:30 PM."
"That's the time Coop was murdered." Dexter said, connecting the evidence. "The moment the air conditioners flipped on, the breakers flipped and the power was cut. The irons were plugged in before the party."
"They might have even asked Monobear about the power limit to know how much to use." Sonya suggested.
"Gasp!" the bear cried.
"Did she hit the jackpot?" Monomi asked. "You deserve to die a thousand times over!"
"A thousand times?" Monobear killed. "There's enough models of me to-"
"Hush." Mandy barked. "We still don't have a lead on who the killer is."
"I mean it can't be that hard to figure out a suspect based on the evidence we have, right?" Goo began. "I mean what can some filthy murderer do against us? We're the students of hope so I have a lot of hope that we can defeat the killer with our hope! Hope always wins in the end!"
"Are you ok, Goo?" Edd asked, rubbing his sock-cap. "I mean, up until now you've been sure that none of us killed him."
"I did, wow, that's so weird!" Goo giggled. "But we should go back to discussing the incident, guys! We know how the power outage was set up now but now we just have to figure out who set it up and then we find the killer! Anybody could have done it!"
"What are you trying to say?" Juniper asked.
"She's saying that in the end, we still haven't figured anything out..." Finn sighed.
"Yeeep!" Goo sang. "We've talked about the crime so much that we haven't found any leads! But, is that really a surprise? None of us could have possibly killed him!"
"You changed your mind again!?" Edd yelled.
"... ANYWAYS, do you guys ever feel like this?" Goo started, yet again. "It probably feels better to die trusting your friends and classmates than to survive suspecting that they committed crimes, yeah?"
"Are you saying we should give up and die...?" Suzy questioned.
"What's wrong with you?" Zak muttered.
"It's not what's wrong with me; it's what's wrong with you!" Goo giggled. "Y'all keep blamin' and accusing each other of manslaughter and to be honest, I think that's absolutely absurd! We don't actually have to find a culprit. I hate it! We're all friends here! None of us would dare to hurt another!"
"I don't like it either..." Zak agreed.
"I just want to go home..." Betty sobbed in agreement with the two.
"S-Stop!" Edd yelled. "Everyone needs to calm down!"
"We're all friends here on this wonderful island Usami brought us to!" Goo continued. "Friends would never kill their friends! It doesn't happen!"
"Then why the hell is Coop dead?" Mandy laughed.
"WHO CARES WHY!?" Goo screamed. She paused for a second and giggled. "I mean, let's just give up, yeah? We've used all this evidence to get nowhere, so there's really no point if you look at it in hindsight!"
"You've got that wrong!" Sonya cried out. "I think."
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Goo asked.
"We've already found a clue that leads us to the culprit, haven't we?" Sonya asked the group. "I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure the clues point us to one suspicious person."
"Please explain." Dexter demanded.
"First, we need to think about how the culprit got the knife in the blackout." Sonya began before getting cut off.
"Duuuh, we already figured that out!" Goo said with an annoyed tone. "The paint on the knife was glow in the dark! I wish I had that as a kid!"
"Before that." Sonya quickly answered. "The culprit would have had to found their way to the table in the dark."
"The lamp!" Edd cried. "The culprit used the lamp to find the table!"
"What, they used the light?" Rex laughed.
"No, the power cord for the lamp!" Edd continued. "If they followed the cord, they could have found the lamp in the dark. And the lamp was on the table that we found Coop under."
"The only person close to that table at the time of the blackout was you, Goo." Sonya pointed out. The students all agreed with her.
"She was..." Zak muttered.
"That's just a coincidence." Goo said. Strangely enough, that was the only thing that came out of her mouth this time, unlike every other time where she spits out a three page essay with citations and an MLA-Format heading.
"Goo had the perfect opportunity to hide the knife under the table." Sonya added to the argument.
"While she was cleaning in preparation for the party." Mandy muttered to herself. "She had the time to set that up while she was cleaning the lodge. No wonder you were so eager to get in here. You were planning a murder."
"N-No!" Goo yelled. "It's just a coincidence, I swear on my mother's life, and she's alive and kickin' and a wonderful lady who has taught me a lot of life lessons like, for example, DON'T KILL PEOPLE!"
"Two coincidences are a little much." Sonya laughed. "I don't know if she's the culprit or not, but if the shoe fits..."
"And your little act you just put on," Brick growled. "You were trying to shit on our spirits so you could get away with it!"
"If you have a value counterargument, we'd like to hear it, Goo." Dexter demanded, yet again.
"Agh!" Goo screamed before laughing like a maniac. "The Super High-School Levels are all standing together and rising above the Despair of their friend's death! This is such a beautiful sight to behold! Let me start from your conclusion. You're right!"
"What!?" Edd screamed in shock.
"It was me who set up the knife before the party started!" Goo said proudly. "I did use the power cord to find the table in the dark! And, you guessed it; I was the one who set up the power outage in the first place! I had to! Like, I couldn't just grab the knife and go while everyone was watching, right? I'm not stupid!"
"It's like she's a completely different character..." Suzy said with a forced laugh.
"But I didn't plan for the fact that Coop would bring night-vision goggles to the party!" Goo sighed. "I mean, what kind of loser actually brings night-vision goggles to a party!? Thanks to that, we confronted each other under the table, and you know how that ended. Thanks to that unexpected occurrence, we had a brand new mystery to solve!"
"You've been deceiving us the whole time?" Ben cried. "A sweet little girl like you?"
"Oh, no way!" Goo laughed. "I could never deceive you guys! I even wrote that letter to Coop! Who else would have such pretty handwriting? Somewhere deep in my heart, I thought if I gave him a warning, then he could stop me from performing these dark acts. Do I get sympathy for that?"
"Why would you kill Coop?" Juniper muttered in a sob.
"He was a good dude, probably." Goo shrugged. "He was a whiny cry-baby, but everyone's a sucker for the big, fat, lug character. Someone like him getting murdered would be really, really Despair-inducing, right? He was a perfect stepping stone! That's why I did it all!"
"Enough of this bullshit." Rex barked. "Let's get to the vote, Monobear."
"Wait!" Numbuh Five cried out, causing the room to go silent. "What if... What if Goo isn't really the killer?"
"But she just confessed!" Zak screamed. "She stabbed him in the chest!"
"There's something that concerns Numbuh Five." the K.N.D. agent continued. "That knife doesn't seem to be the murder weapon. I investigated the body after Mandy did. Coop's wounds showed that the murder weapon should have been probably five millimeters in diameter."
"That's thinner than a knife." Finn said to himself.
"What Abigail is trying to say is," Goo giggled, rubbing her arms. "We can't be for sure if the knife is the murder weapon, which means we can't be for sure that I'm the culprit!"
"Are you trying to tell us someone else is the culprit?" Suzy questioned. Goo pointed over to Numbuh Five.
"She said it, not me! I'm a good noodle!"
"I feel like Goo is still hiding something." Sonya sighed. "Like something happened between Coop and her that we don't know about." Goo had no response.
"Of course she goes quiet now, of all times." Betty barked.
"What else happened during the blackout?" Yumi asked the group. "Our lives are on the line, guys. We gotta consider everything."
"But, nobody could see anything in the dark so I guess we're all out of luck!" Goo shrugged. "Except for me, since I'm the Super High-School Level Good Luck."
"But you're wrong!" Edd cried out. "Just because we couldn't see doesn't mean we couldn't hear! You said it yourself, Goo! You heard Coop yell; 'Watch out!' or something."
"There was a thud too." Goo added. "I was counterattacked by Coop, it was so scary! The truth is that I got pushed away from Coop while we were under the table. I was only trying to get my knife and he met me there. That's when he pushed me. I'm such a fool! I couldn't even get my own knife!"
"You got pushed away by... Coop?" Zak asked.
"Yep and after I was pushed, I lost the cord and the knife's location." Goo whimpered. "I had to join you guys in confusion. But then the lights came back on and we found Coop under the table, I was as surprised as you were!"
"You're not the killer?" Ben questioned.
"This time we really are back at square one!" Finn cried.
"If we all agree the knife isn't the murder weapon, then Goo really isn't the culprit." Mandy said.
"She said she was pushed away, but we don't have any proof!" Zak yelled. "She's trying to lead us astray!"
"Goo also didn't have any blood on her, and the blood was everyone." Sonya pointed out. "There was blood splattered on the tablecloth too. It was everywhere. If she killed him, she would have gotten blood on her clothes. Perhaps the culprit didn't stab Coop under the table."
"Impossible." Dexter said. "The victim died under the table in a pool of blood. It would be extremely difficult to avoid getting blood everywhere."
"There was a crawlspace entrance in the storage room." Betty pointed out. "The floor in the party room was wooden with spaces between each plank. What if the killer stabbed Coop from there?"
"From the crawlspace?" Zak asked.
"That would explain how there was no blood anywhere else." Juniper nodded.
"And it would explain the bloody tablecloth in the storage room." Betty added. "The killer must have covered themselves in it to avoid getting blood on them, and then hid it in the storage room."
"The person who did that would have had to step away from the party." Ben said. "Brick did that."
"TO USE THE SHITTER!" the Rowdyruff yelled.
"He was gone when the lights came back on." Suzy added.
"I have an alibi for him." Sonya spoke up. "He ran out of the lodge to go use the bathroom in his dorm."
"He swure did!" Monomi added.
"We could also bring up the fact that there was a gas stove in the kitchen to provide light." Numbuh Five said. "And there was one person who was in and out of the kitchen."
"Upupupu." Monobear giggled.
"I assigned Zak to get the food out of the kitchen." Mandy explained. "The kitchen has a door that exits to the hallway, which leads to the storage room door."
"What!?" Zak cried out. "Getting the food doesn't mean I'm the killer! Plus a crawlspace is dark too!"
"But you would have been able to see the glow in the dark paint on the knife through the slits in the floor." Dexter nodded.
"Aim for the paint when it moves!" Finn yelled.
"I swear I was in the room with you guys!" Zak cried.
"... Then what happened when the lights came back on?" Suzy asked the boy.
"What do you mean?" Zak barked back. "Mandy found Coop. That's it."
"What happened to me?" Suzy added to her question.
"Yeah, if you were in the room with us, you would have remembered that sight." Edd said.
"I even know what happened to poor Suzy!" Goo giggled. "I have an alibi too! I'm not the killer, I'm not the killer!"
"I must have forgotten." Zak muttered.
"Forgotten about this?" Yumi growled. "I don't think so."
"Goo, say something!" Zak yelled at the girl.
"I have nothing to say!" Goo replied before miming zipping her lips shut.
"And since Zak was in the kitchen, he took a skewer from there to murder Coop." Mandy smirked. "The wounds on Coop's chest match those of a skewer stab, not someone who was stabbed with a knife. The weapon was then hidden in the kitchen, correct?"
"Correct!" Monobear's voice cried. The bear was sitting at his throne eating from a whole turkey. "It's so delicious! You guys are good cooks. Maybe cook it with a little less murder next time." The bear pulled a bloody skewer out of the meat and tossed in the middle of the courtroom. "Shall we vote now?"
"I do believe we should end this." Sonya nodded. "Zak used Goo's set up to his advantage."
"Please use the switches in front of you to vote for the killer." Monobear said as switches appeared on everyone's stands. The votes were placed and a slot machine appeared on the screen above Monobear's throne. All three slots landed on Zak's face with the word 'GUILTY' flashing above it. "Upupupu! You bastards are right! Zak Saturday murder Coop Cooplowski!"
"N-No!" Zak screamed, now in tears. "I swear! I was trying to stop Goo from murdering someone! I was in the lodge earlier! I saw Goo laughing to herself! I knew she was planning something!"
"Well that's too bad!" Monobear laughed. "It's time for the punishment! Did you forget?"
"P-Punishment?" Zak whimpered. "I didn't mean to kill Coop! I thought I was killing Goo!"
"You still killed someone!" Monobear roared. "Murder is worthy of a punishment!"
"My parents need me back home!" Zak cried. "They're waiting for me to graduate from Hope's Peak! They're so proud of me!"
"You cwan't!" Monomi cried while trying to wiggle out of the rope. "You cwan't punish him!"
"Upupupu!" Monobear giggled as a large button rose from the floor in front of his throne. He pulled out a large mallet and hovered it over the button. "Watch me." he giggled before slamming the mallet down.
GAME OVER. Zak Saturday has been found guilty. Commencing execution...
In the blink of an eye, mechanical hands shot out of the throne Monobear was on. They grabbed Zak by both of his arms, ripping him to a separate room. The other students looked up to the screen where surveillance cameras showed what looked like a jungle. Zak was suddenly flung into the middle of the leaves and dirt before the words; 'Cryptic Situation' flashed on the screen.
Without warning, the roars of several Fusion Cryptics rang throughout the room. Zak took off in a dash, seeking help and shelter. Monobear pressed a button at his throne, causing the vines from the jungle trees to fall down to attack Zak. He was tangled in the mess, tripping and falling over. This left him vulnerable to the Fusion Fiskerton that was creeping up behind him. The Fusion towered over Zak before plunging his face into the teen. Zak's screams echoed in the courtroom as the screen turned to static. Monobear looked to the remaining students and giggled.
"How extreme. It's a shame he broke the rules."
"That was cruel..." Betty said her face green with sickness.
"Oh shit!" Monobear cried. "I just remember that I now owe you bastards a favor."
"Our memories." Dexter said. "You said you'd give us our memories back if we started killing each other."
"Correct!" Monobear giggled. "You know, I just haven't decided when to give them back to you... Eh, I'll sleep on it."
With that the bear disappeared. Monomi finally wiggle free from the ropes, falling to the floor. Sonya ran over to see if she was ok.
"Thwat Monobear!" Monomi cried out. "I have important business to attwend to!"
Following suit with her older brother, Monomi disappeared as well, leaving the students alone in the courtroom. The Mutual Killing had finally set in. Despair was looming.
Fourteen Students Remain
