Disclaimer: Disclaiming KHR.
"What are you doing?" Crystal curiously asked.
Selina, still continuing to throw candy replied, "Mmm…I'm finding the path."
"Eh?" Crystal said in confusion, "What path?"
"I'll explain it to you guys in a moment," Selina answered absent-mindedly, "Just give me a few more minutes to do this." Selina went back to throwing pieces of candy on the square tiles. Some tiles sprung traps while others did not. Selina yawned. "Mmm…I'm tired…"
Crystal incredulously stared at Selina as she continued to work and said, "How can you be tired after getting drugged and being asleep for who knows how long?"
"Mmm…" Selina mumbled.
Crystal sighed. Standing up, Crystal turned around and began to walk away. "I'm going to the rest of the group, so tell us how to get past the trap ASAP."
"M'kay," Selina answered without turning her head.
Crystal walked a couple of steps and got to Esa and the others, who were discussing things amongst themselves.
"…I'm telling you, it was Anrya who drugged the cookies and milk," Esa argued, "I'm pretty sure of it too. I mean, Anrya was the one who made, baked, and served the cookies so who else can it be?"
"Well…she seemed like such a nice and normal girl to me…" Rai mumbled.
Esa snorted and answered, "Nice? Normal? Those aren't the first words I think of when I see Anrya. I'm not saying she's mean or anything, but…I've known her for a while and weird and scary are the words I think of when I see Anrya."
"Plus, no one is normal in this world," Jasmine added.
"Well, you never know Jasmine-chan, Esa-chan~!" Rai said, "The world is full of surprises, and so are people!"
"If the world's surprise for me is inviting me half-way across the world, then making me meet my boss/friend who I haven't seen in a while, then getting drugged and kidnapped and put in an unknown place with a perv (Rai: "Huh? What perv?), then going through a frickin' long corridor with other people who are either weird, non-social or completely silent, then entering a room that is hazardous to my life; then life needs a several bitch slaps to the face cause I say screw you life."
"Wow, that was one of the longest statements I've ever heard come out of your mouth Esa," Jasmine said.
"Yeah, I liked it," Crystal piped in.
Esa swiveled around to see Crystal standing behind her. "Oh hey, when did you get here?"
"Since a while ago," Crystal replied, "You were so busy talking that you didn't notice me."
"Oh," Esa said. Then turning back to Rai, she flatly said, "Well that's my opinion on life, I'm not even going to start on how I feel about some people, life was crappy enough."
"Well, as the saying goes: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" Rai cheerfully said.
Esa narrowed her eyes and replied, "How about I get those lemons and shove them down your throat, cause unlike you, I'm not an optimist."
"Heh~" Rai nervously laughed. And the conversation continued.
From a distance, Darke watched and listened to the multiple conversations that were being held. "…." Ryo, who was next to Darke, chewed on some bubblegum that he had found in his pocket. Turning to his brother, Ryo asked, "Onii-san, when are we going to get out of here?"
Without turning his head, Darke answered Ryo's question with only one word: "Soon." Ryo remained silent after that and blew a bubble.
"Whoa, you two are brothers?" Crystal said in disbelief. She, as well as the rest of the group, walked towards Darke and Ryo's location in hearing their voices.
"Sorry if I'm being rude or interrupting your conversation but, did you guys just become social for like five seconds? I'm mean, you finally had a short conversation," Jasmine said.
"Yep, it seemed as though they finally came out of the EMO corner," Esa added in.
Darke and Ryo returned back to their silent selves as the swarm of people gathered around them.
"I think we just ruined their talking time," Jasmine said, "Yeah…we did."
"But I still can't believe that they're brothers! I mean look! They look nothing alike!" Crystal said.
"Yeah, I guess you can't tell from just their looks alone," Esa said, "Darke has raven-black hair while Ryo has light pink hair…"
"True," Crystal said.
"Hey guys, I just noticed that all the guys except for Darke have colorful hair," Jasmine said, "I mean, like me, Crystal, and Selina all have some kind of hair coloring, but not in colors that are so…eye-catching."
"Yeah, you're right," Esa said, "Well, between Ryo and Rai, I can't tell who has the more 'eye-catching' hair. Light pink is pretty unusual for a guy, but so is red and green…"
"It's maroon and green," Rai corrected.
"Same difference," Jasmine retorted, "Either way, your hair still looks something like a Christmas tree.
Rai pouted at the comment.
"This is my natural hair color," Ryo quietly said, staring off into space, "I never colored it."
"Really? That's so cool!" Crystal commented, "What about you Rai?"
"The maroon is my natural hair color and the green tips are highlights," Rai answered, still pouting. As the conversation continued, Selina finished her work and came over to the group with her feet scuffling on the ground.
"Hey guys, I'm ready to tell you what I know about the trap now," Selina said, approaching the group.
"Finally," Crystal muttered.
"This may take a while so…sit down if you want to," Selina said. Selina sat down and the rest followed. "Ok, so, to simply put this, we have to go through the tiles and get to the door on the present over there, ok?" Selina looked around to see if everyone had followed. Everyone nodded. "But that explanation is only in a nutshell. There are many other things you have to keep in mind. You have to remember to be cautious of where you step and go because this room is full of traps. Also, since there's a certain path we have to take we can't just stroll through this place. And one more thing, we need four keys to open that door on the present. If you look at it carefully, you can see the four key holes. You understand guys?"
Everyone nodded again.
"Now then, I'll be going into detail."
"The tiles on the ground are in the colors of the rainbow as you can see. Each tile seems to be a two meter by two meter square. That area is large enough to fit the seven of us. From the door we've just came through to the first row of tiles are a void space. They don't have any tiles, therefore, no traps. On the tiles though, there are certain tiles with traps and certain ones without them. Through springing some traps with some candy that I had, I was able to find a path/pattern. The path goes in rainbow order starting from red. Assuming that we follow the path, we should be fine. I've already said this but I'll repeat it again: Make sure you don't step on the wrong tile, not even a little bit, because you will get hurt. Also, the same trap can be sprung more than once."
"Oh joy," Jasmine muttered.
"And, along this path, I assume that we're going to find the keys that we need for the door. As you can see," Selina pointed toward a tile, "there's a purple key hanging from the ceiling above a purple tile. Following the path, that tile will probably be the seventh tile even though it's only two rows away from us. And…I think that's it. That's as much as I know anyways."
"Wow Selina-chan," Rai said, "You're very smart. How did you figure that out?"
Selina shyly smiled and said, "Well, I didn't figure the whole thing out. Some details were found by accident, some were pointed out by Darke, but most of the information was from the directions engraved on the ground. I only put them together like a puzzle."
"Still, you were able to tell that really difficult plan to everyone else," Rai said.
"Mmm…" Selina said with a slight shrug, "Someone had to talk."
From the left, Crystal came walking up and said, "Hey, remember how you said that the purple tile with the key is only two rows away? Since it's only two rows, couldn't we just jump over one tile to get there? I mean, it's quicker."
"That's true," Selina said, "But do you think you can jump that far?"
"It doesn't seem that far," Crystal said with a shrug, "If I had a running start, I could probably make it…"
Selina disagreed with Crystal's thought. Taking out her iPhone, Selina went to the converting app and checked what two meters equaled in feet. Finding the answer, Selina looked up and said, "Crystal, two meters equals 6.56168 feet. If we round that, it's about 6.6 feet. Do you really think you can jump that far?"
"Uh…I guess not," Crystal mumbled.
"Did these people purposely make each tile two meter by two meter so that we couldn't jump tile to tile and get through this place quicker?" Esa said scowling.
"I guess so," Jasmine said.
"That's the least of our worries," Selina said, "Look." Pointing at the purple tile that was approximately four meters away from them, Selina showed the others what she saw. Hanging near the top of the ceiling was an oversized, purple key. Encircling around the key were panels of glass attached to an invisible wire. If a person just glanced at that direction, they wouldn't notice any of the panels. Only if you looked at it from the right angle where the light touched upon it, were you able to see them. Basically, that whole structure looked like multiple glass swings that spiraled up like an invisible spiral staircase.
"That looks safe," Jasmine commented.
"What the heck," Esa muttered.
"How the hell are we supposed to get up there?" Crystal said, "The key is like twenty feet up in the air with a very unsafe looking 'spiral staircase' around it."
"Maybe if one person climbed up the panels very slowly, they could probably get to the key," Rai said doubtfully.
"And who's that person going to be?" Esa retorted.
"Let's just get going guys, we'll figure something out when we get—"Selina was cut off as Darke ran past her in a quick and lithe movement. Gaining some speed, Darke suddenly unleashed a mysterious glow of purple flames. His scarf undid itself and seemed to have multiplied. Then the multiplied scarves tied themselves onto each other and partially stayed on Darke. Using his scarf as a spring board, Darke was able to jump over the yellow tile and onto the purple one. His scarf returned to him, and wasting no time, Darke jumped from panel to panel with the help of his scarf and retrieved the key. By the time Darke got back to the ground, everyone was gaping at him from the other side.
"Well that solves that problem," Jasmine said.
"Whoa, those flames…" Rai said.
"Yeah, Cloud flames. It matches in color and description," Esa said.
"The letter described something like this, but I really didn't believe it till now," Rai said in wonder.
"Hey guys, let's not keep him waiting," Selina said, "Let's go." Selina led the rest of the group to the first red tile and then through the path until they reached Darke.
"Nice," Rai complimented. Darke remained silent and casually tossed the key to Selina. Catching the purple key, Selina pocketed it. "Let's go."
Selina, Darke, and everybody else continued to follow the path. Soon, the group had to cross diagonally from the green tile to the blue one. Reminding everyone to watch their steps, Selina jumped to the next tile, making sure not to step on any unnecessary tiles. Near the back of the group, Rai was beginning to get bored of walking in silence. Several times he had walked alongside Crystal or Jasmine, but they didn't talk for too long. Eager to quench his boredom, Rai sneaked up behind Esa, brought his lips close to her ear and purred playfully, "Esa-chan, your hair smells delicious. What shampoo do you use?" and spazzed her quickly.
In hearing this odd statement and being spazzed, Esa completely freaked out and went into you-better-not-do-something-perverted-to-me-or-els e-I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass mode. Esa swerved around to Rai to give him a good shove as well as a death glare. In mid-swerve though, Esa lost balance and began to fall backwards. Flailing her arms, Esa grabbed onto anything that would help keep her balance. Unfortunately, Esa grabbed onto Rai's shirt collar which choked Rai, and in turn, made him lose balance too.
"Ouch," Esa said, falling on her butt.
"Ahhh!" Rai yelled as he, unfortunately, fell on his back.
Esa and Rai had both fallen…..on the red tile.
"Ugh," Esa muttered, "Looks like we fell onto the red—oh shit!"
A clicking sound came from the red tile as it suddenly revealed many tiny holes. Slowly from one side of the tile came a row of needles shooting out of the ground like bullets.
"Aw fuck," Esa swore and scrambled to get up and out of the way.
Rai rolled over and he too, tried to escape the wave of needles that were advancing towards him. Rai and Esa were quite close to the safe blue tile so they only needed to crawl to get out of the way. As the two crawled towards safety, the rest of the group shouted in warning. Esa, now safely on the blue tile, turned around to see Rai almost to safety. Then, in hearing the rest of the group's warning, Esa looked around Rai to see a needle going for his head. Without thinking, Esa ran to the edge of the blue tile, stuck her arm out…and gave Rai a smack upside the head. The momentum from the smack made Rai stumble onto the safe blue tile a tad bit quicker. Esa then pulled back, but not before a needle struck her arm.
"Ow. Ow. Ow," Esa said while hissing in pain. The needle stuck in her arm was swiftly removed, for it was not that thick. Looking at her arm, Esa saw a small blob of blood swelling up.
"Are you ok Esa?" Selina worriedly asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok. I've had paper cuts that were bigger than this…" Esa replied.
"Um ok."
"Are you ok?" Jasmine asked as well.
"Yes, I'm fine," Esa repeated.
"Are you ok Esa-chan?" Rai asked.
"Yes. I'm. Fine," Esa repeated once again.
"Well, thanks Esa-chan," Rai said with a smile, "You saved my life again…though I don't know how to react to the method you used to save me…"
Esa snorted. "Just be glad you're not dead."
"Aw, Esa-chan, thanks for caring about me. I know you're a bit tsundere, but don't be shy about it~"Rai teased.
"Yes Esa-chan~" Jasmine mimicked, "Don't be shy, why don't you give him a hug."
Esa glared at both Jasmine and Rai. Giving Jasmine a punch to the arm, Esa turned to Rai and said, "Rai, SHUT. UP."
"Um…guys, can you stop fighting so that we can get the next key," Selina said.
Esa, Jasmine, and Rai glanced at Selina and nodded. In front of the group was a tall maze that stood on an indigo tile. The maze took up the whole tile, and its walls were made of mirrors.
"This shouldn't be so hard," Crystal said, "The maze in only on this tile so it shouldn't be that large."
"Such a small maze shouldn't even be called a maze," Esa said with a snort.
"Then let's go," Selina said.
As everyone entered the very small maze, a sliding mirror blocked the way they came through and a heavy mist settled in.
"Uh…special effects?" Crystal said in confusion.
"Who cares, let's just get through this," Jasmine said.
The group started walking through the maze in a single file. There seemed to be only one path that led the way.
"Wow, this is so stupid," Crystal said, "What kind of maze only has one path?"
"Meh," Esa said.
"Is anyone else slightly creeped out by the really tall mirror/walls and the thick mist?" Jasmine asked.
"Nope," Esa, Crystal, Rai, and Selina simultaneously answered. Ryo and Darke continued to remain silent.
Continuing to walk through the maze, the group took turns in several places. After a couple minutes passed, Jasmine started to get worried.
"Why aren't we there yet?" Jasmine asked.
"We're probably almost there," Crystal answered in a bored tone.
"But it's true that we've been walking around for a while," Esa commented, "This tile isn't big enough to contain an actual maze so we should've already been to the end."
"I guess so," Crystal said with a shrug.
"Maybe we've been going in circles?" Rai said unsurely.
"It's hard to tell since I can only see about three feet ahead and the view to the ceiling and tiles are blocked by the walls and mist," Selina said.
"Maybe we can stick something to the floor and go around again to see if we've come to a full circle," Esa suggested.
"Ah, I just want to get out of here," Rai mumbled. Rai turned his back to the wall and leaned back to rest on it.
"Waah!" Rai yelled as he fell through the wall and disappeared.
"Huh?" Esa said in confusion.
"Is it just me or did Rai just fall through the wall?" Jasmine questioned.
From the front, Darke and Ryo came walking to the place where Rai had fallen through. There were no holes or blemishes on the shiny mirror surface. Placing his hand on the wall, Darke found that his hand went through. Everyone looked at this with shock. Darke, along with Ryo, walked through the wall and disappeared. Esa, Jasmine, Crystal, and Selina all exchanged glances and walked through the wall one by one. When the four got to the other side, they saw the three boys already there. In the center was an indigo key that hung from a string. Darke reached for the key and took it off the string.
"Ow," Rai said, rubbing his back, "That's the second time I fell on my back today."
"Sucks to be you," Esa said with a smirk.
When Darke pulled the indigo key out of its string, the mist around and above them began to clear and a sign on one side of the wall could be seen. The sign read: EXIT :P.
"What's the colon and 'P' for?" Jasmine asked.
"It's like the exit sign is sticking out its tongue at us," Crystal said.
"I bet the jerk that made this is having fun watching us go through this," Esa muttered.
"Let's go~!" Rai said, enthusiastic once more. Recovered from his fall, Rai walked towards the exit sign and prepared himself to go through it…but instead, smacked headfirst into it. "Ow," Rai muttered, rubbing his face. The mirror/wall in front of them fell down and the tiled floors could be seen once again. Behind Rai, Esa and some others laughed.
"I guess that's what the sign was sticking its tongue out for," Crystal said while laughing.
"Hmph," Rai shrugged.
When everyone had finished laughing, they walked onto the purple tile and continued through the path once more. Red…orange…yellow…green. When the seven came to the green tile, they all stopped walking. On the green tile, there stood a stand with a green key on it.
"Well that's easy," Crystal said, and walked up to the stand. Picking up the key, Crystal gave a satisfied smile…that is, until a wall of electric sparks blocked the way to the next safe tile. "Tch, I should've known…"
Looking at the wall of electric sparks, the group gave a sigh.
"Now how do we get through this?" Jasmine asked.
"Well, there's a little weird looking rod coming out from the ground that's emitting the electric sparks. Maybe there's a switch or plug somewhere…" Esa said, her voice trailing off.
"Maybe we should come up with a plan? What if the only choice we have left is to go through one of the unsafe tiles?" Jasmine asked.
"I know!" Crystal suddenly exclaimed.
Jasmine turned to Crystal and said, "You have a plan?"
Crystal picked up the stand and answered, "Screw planning." Then Crystal threw the stand at the rod that came up from the ground and broke it. The electric sparks started dying out and with a final spark, it completely stopped. "Yeah!" Crystal cheered.
"Wow…that actually worked," Jasmine said.
Crystal smiled back at everyone and gave the green key a twirl. Facing towards the right direction, Crystal pocketed the key and led the way. Blue…purple…red…orange…yellow…green…blue.
"What the heck," Jasmine said as she and the rest stopped in front of the blue tile. The blue tile was not exactly a tile…it was more of a mini swimming pool.
"I don't want to swim again," Esa said in a sulky tone.
"You don't even have to swim in this," Crystal said, "It's only two meters long. If you just kick once in the water, you'll get to the other side."
"But I don't want to get wet again," Esa complained.
"Too bad," Jasmine said in slight annoyance, "If you survived going through a really big pool, then you can survive a two meter pool. Even I could do this."
"Mmmph…" Esa muttered.
Leaning over the pool, Rai squinted at the water. "Why is this water so…blue?"
"Well it's water no duh," Crystal commented.
"No, I know that," Rai said, "But this water is really blue…and kinda glowy too."
"Eh, probably chlorine or something," Esa said with a shrug.
"Ah! I see something else too!" Rai exclaimed. Kneeling on the ground and bringing his face closer to the surface of the water, Rai saw a blue key at the bottom of the pool. "Hey, there's a key down there!"
"I'm not getting that," Jamine said.
"And I can't swim," Esa said.
"Then I'll go get it!" Rai said enthusiastically.
"No, I'll get it," Selina said, "You need to carry Esa on you back since she can't swim. I'm a good swimmer so it'll be ok."
"Oh no, I do not want to get on the perv's back again," Esa said, "I can just hold onto the sides of the pool and bring myself to the other side."
"Esa, there is no side to this pool, at least not a blue tiled one. If you touch the sides, then you'll trigger a trap," Selina reminded, "This whole blue tile is the pool after all."
"Shit," Esa said with a scowl. "Hmph, then I'll try kicking my way to the other side. It's not that far anyways."
"Are you sure Esa?" Selina said doubtfully, "The pool is a bit deep, if you can't swim, then that'll be a problem."
"I'll manage," Esa stubbornly replied.
"O-kay," Selina said skeptically.
"Yay! Let's get going!" Rai happily yelled. Then he jumped into the water, as did Jasmine and Crystal.
"What the—" Crystal said as she hit the water.
"Huh?" Rai said.
"What's wrong?" Selina questioned.
"The water…it's like honey…" Jasmine said.
"Uh…what?" Esa asked, not quite understanding what her friend meant.
"It's like the water is slowing my movement," Jasmine said, trying to stay afloat.
"This water's weird," Crystal added.
Esa and Selina stooped down and observed the water. Dipping her hand in the water, Esa tested the water and found that she had some difficulty wiggling her fingers.
"I think this water is mixed with Rain flames," Esa said, "It fits the description anyways…"
"Yeah, I read about that too," Selina said, "If that's the case, then you have to get on Rai's back to get to the other side. There's no way you can get there alone."
Esa didn't like the sound of that but knew it was true. "Damn it."
"I'll wait until you guys get to the other side, then I'll dive in and try to get the key," Selina said.
Everyone nodded and continued to swim. Esa got down into the water and onto Rai's back as the rest of the group slowly swam to the other side.
"Hm?" Selina said as she turned around, "Darke, Ryo, aren't you guys going too?"
Darke just glanced at Selina and turned away. Grabbing onto Ryo, Darke unleashed his Cloud flames once more and used it to jump across the pool and onto the next safe tile.
"Not fair," Esa complained in the water.
After a few more seconds, the four in the water got to the other side and climbed out. Selina saw that everyone has cleared out of the water and dived right into the water. Hitting the surface, Selina was immediately slowed down by the Rain flames in the water. I better hurry and get that key, or else I'm going to run out of air… Selina thought. As she continued to sink into the water, she felt as if she was moving extremely slow. Inch by inch Selina moved down deeper. C'mon…c'mon… she thought, because by this time, one fourth of Selina's air supply was already gone. After a few more excruciatingly slow seconds, Selina's fingers felt the key. Moving her fingers as fast as they would go, Selina grabbed onto the key and turned her body around. When her feet touched the ground, Selina forced her leg muscles to spring her back up as fast as possible. Underwater, Selina grimaced. Almost all my air supply is gone now… Selina started to float up again. She looked up into the light as her air supply ran low. Almost there… Her vision started to blur slightly, but Selina continued to will her body to move up. After a few more slow seconds passed, Selina's head broke into the surface and she gasped for air.
"Are you ok Selina?" Jasmine called from the other side.
"Yeah," Selina answered, slightly short on breath. Taking her time to get to the other side, Selina made sure to keep a good grip on the blue key. When she finally got to the other side, Rai and Jasmine helped her up to the indigo tile. Selina took a moment to catch her breath and stood up.
"Let's go guys," Crystal called out.
The seven began to run through the path once more. Purple…red…orange…yellow…green…blue…indigo…purple… red…orange…yellow…green…blue…indigo…The seven people were finally in front of the present now.
"Phew, that was an adventure!" Rai said.
"More like the most hellish experience in my life," Esa muttered.
"Can you give me your keys?" Selina asked everyone.
Darke and Crystal handed Selina their keys and Selina took out the purple key from her pocket. Facing the door, Selina looked at the four key holes in front of her. The purple key goes first…then the indigo…then the green…and finally the blue. Placing each key in its designated key hole, Selina turned each one, one by one. When Selina turned the last key with a click, the door slowly opened inward to a dark room. The seven stepped in and the lights automatically flickered on.
"What the—" Esa said, staring at the center of the room.
"Anrya?" Jasmine said in confusion.
There in the center of the room was Anrya, tied up and hanging upside down from the ceiling. "About time you came," she grumbled.
"What do you mean? You're the one that drugged us and sent us to this place!" Jasmine accused.
"What's going on?" Rai questioned, still unsure of the situation.
Jasmine ignored Rai and continued. "You know how much we had to go through? That was the most uncomfortable situation that I've ever been in!"
"I'll explain everything to you, but first, can you get me down from here? All the blood is rushing into my brain," Anrya said in a slightly sick voice.
"Serves you right," Crystal said with a huff.
"Ugh…" Anrya groaned, "I didn't drug you guys, so let me get down so I can explain what's going on."
"I don't believe you," Esa said, crossing her arms.
"It wasn't that weakling that drugged us," Darke calmly said.
"How do you know?" Crystal questioned, but Darke remained silent after saying what he needed to say. "Ugh," Crystal muttered in reaction to Darke's silence.
"Let's just let her down guys," Selina said after a yawn, "I want to hear what she has to say." Walking over to the pick that held the rope, Selina began to pull it out so that Anrya could get down.
"WAIT!" Esa cried.
Selina glanced at Esa and gave her a questioning look.
"Just wait a moment," Esa said again. Rummaging through her pocket, Esa pulled out her cell phone and held it up.
"What are you doing?" Jasmine asked Esa.
"I'm going to take a picture of this," Esa said gleefully, "This is funny after all."
Jasmine raised an eyebrow, and then said, "Good point," and took out her own phone.
"You suck," Anrya muttered.
"Heehee~" Esa said with a smile. "Ok, you can let her down now."
Selina undid the ties on the rope, and the rope loosed up and dropped Anrya on the floor, face first.
"Ow, my face," Anrya moaned. Still dizzy from all the blood going into her head, Anrya remained on the floor and took heavy breaths. When her head had stopped pounding and her vision had returned to normal, Anrya sat up and looked at the others. Fixing her glasses, Anrya sighed and began to talk. "Ok guys, I'm gonna explain this quickly. One, I did not drug you, Zero did that—"
"Who's Zero?" Crystal questioned.
Anrya stopped mid-sentence and answered, "Some person I know. He's part of an organization, but his story can be saved for later…Going back to what I said, I did not drug you guys, what happened was this:"
*FLASHBACK*
"Oh yeah, by the way, a guy that I know wants to give us some kind of physical test thing…I don't know what it is or when it is, but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Um, I'm going to be getting the cookies now." Anrya walked out of the living room and went to the kitchen.
Walking through the mini hallway, Anrya reached the kitchen. Inside the kitchen was a guy, around 17 years old, who had snow white hair and wore a long black coat. His outfit was quite peculiar since it was black and lined with silver. On his left arm was a gold 'Z' and under his coat, he wore a maroon shirt. The strangest thing about him was his mismatched eyes. One was red while the other was silver.
"What are you doing here Zero?" Anrya asked as she entered the kitchen.
"I'm just preparing things for the physical test that I'm about to give you and your guardians~" Zero answered.
"Um…ok?"
Zero walked up to Anrya and gave her a smile. "Prepare yourself for this test Anrya-chan~"
"Wait, what's this test going to be like? I—"
Anrya was cut off mid-sentence as Zero swiftly injected something into Anrya's neck. Yelping, Anrya fell to the ground in sudden dizziness.
"Hmhmhm~ Now, I just need to call my accomplice~" Zero picked up a glass cup and promptly dropped it. The glass cup shattered to a million pieces and made a nice piercing sound.
-Back in the livingroom-
"So, how do you guys like this place?" Ace asked
He was answered with some comments like: "I like this place" or "This place is huge" and etc. As Ace opened his mouth to ask another question, a yelp was heard from the kitchen followed by the shattering of glass.
Ace sighed. "Wait a moment guys, I'm going to go help Anrya with the broken glass," he said as he walked away.
-At the kitchen-
Ace entered the kitchen and gazed at the scene around him. Zero stood in front of him holding an injecting needle while Anrya was sprawled on the ground. "You ready Zero?"
"Hmhmhm~ Of course I am~" Surrounding his body, an eerie indigo flame transformed Zero to look just like Anrya.
"You pulled that off nicely."
"Of course I did, I'm a top illusionist after all~" Zero chuckled in Anrya's voice.
"Yeah…" Ace glanced at Anrya. "Just make sure to actually act like Anrya."
"Hm~" Zero smiled and took the plate of cookies and handed the tray of milk to Ace. "Let's get going Ace, we shouldn't keep our guests waiting~"
Ace sighed and shook his head.
"I drugged the cookies and milk, but just in case, I'll hold on to a tranquilizing gun."
Zero/Anrya and Ace left the kitchen and headed for the livingroom.
On the floor of the kitchen, Anrya let out a last groan. "Damn it."
*END OF FLASHBACK*
"Wow…" Jasmine commented.
"Whoa," Crystal said, "It's like one of those things you would see in movies or animes. Pretty cool."
"NOT cool," Anrya said firmly, "If you ever had a tranquilizing dart jabbed into your neck, and had your hands and feet tied up, I bet you wouldn't say 'cool'."
Esa gave a quiet snicker.
"Two," Anrya continued, "this test isn't done yet. Before I was hung up here, Zero was "kind" enough to tell me that we had a final stage after this…"
"Aw, c'mon!" Jasmine whined.
"Yeah, I know it sucks but deal with it," Anrya said, "The next stage should be starting around—"
Anrya was cut off by the shaking of the present. All eight people in the room tried to stay balanced as the room shook.
"It's starting!" Anrya shouted.
The walls of the present collapsed and the ceiling lifted up and away. Now, the present was no longer enclosed. The rest of the large tiled room could be seen.
"Hello everyone~" said a voice from above.
All eight people looked up to see a guy with white hair and mismatched eyes staring down at them as he floated.
"Zero!" Anrya shouted.
"Hi~" Zero said giving a slight wave.
"End this test already!" Esa shouted, "I want to get out of here!"
"No can do Esa-chan~" Zero said with an alluring purr, "First you'll have to finish this final stage~"
"What is this final stage?" Anrya asked.
"You'll be facing an opponent—" Zero replied.
"What!" Jasmine exclaimed.
"—and your opponent…will be me!"
owo Hi.