Author's Note:

Alright, time for another group chapter! All parts will be updated simultaneously.

I've created a forum for those who are interested in discussing or adding theories, as well as for adding pictures that I've drawn myself :3
For the images, please refer to the corresponding "Team M Pictures" thread in the forum.

[M/R/C] RETURN TO EARTH [4]

A loud gunshot broke the silence. It felt like the banging sound echoed the room for ages. The announcer voice followed suit.

"Incinerator door... Is open. Incineration process... Terminated."

Skye opened the door with a careless force. She didn't have a crazy, or desperate look. Instead, she seemed to look sad, or rather, disappointed. She sighed of relief when she looked at Tracker and Marshall.

"Tracker... Tracker!" She quickly approached the male pair and grabbed the Chihuahua's head with her front paws. "Hey... You alright!? Are you hurt?"

"Ay..." Tracker whined of hurt. "Mis orejas..."

"Huh?" Marshall asked in confusion. The other male dog didn't take time to respond.

"My ears really hurt... They're killing me." He jerked his ears, as he wasn't able to move his legs at all. "That might've ruptured my eardrum..."

Soon after, the shackles of the mysterious restraint contraption fell off, making Skye give out another sigh of relief.

Marshall didn't say anything after that confused "Huh?". He couldn't believe he pulled the trigger. His head was crazy, thinking for a reason why did he do that. Was he because he preferred Skye over Tracker? Or was it because the grouped odds were better if he did so? He never considered Skye's feelings, and he knew that a storm of angry questions from the Cockapoo were going to be shot at him.

But instead, they walked off the incineration room through the blast door that had already been unlocked. Skye simply twisted the wheel and opened it. Now they were walking through a hallway with a similar look to the one that led to the incinerator room. It was then when she threw the question at the Dalmatian.

"What the hell were you thinking, Marshall!? Why did you pull that trigger?" She went into angry mode again. But the spotty dog didn't utter a word. Because he still didn't have a proper reason to explain. "We got lucky that it was a blank, but if it had been live, then Tracker -"

"Hey, it's alright. Todo ha ido bien." Interrupted the bilingual dog, in an intent to calm her down.

"There's no way I'll accept that the end justified the means!" Uttered the Cockapoo, punching a wall with one of her front paws. "Listen, it was Marshall's decision! It was his choice to pull that freaking trigger! Which means that she didn't care about the 50% chance you'd die!"

"Entonces, what are you going with this? Ha sido para salvarte. And that's what he did. You should even probably thank him."

Skye sighed once more, but this time, out of frustration. "Tch. I didn't ask for any help! I just couldn't..."

"Couldn't... What?" The Dalmatian broke his silence, which caused the Cockapoo to turn silent for a few seconds.

"Nevermind. We should continue moving." After that line, she ran off the hallway.

"H-hey!" Said Tracker, stopping for a few seconds, and then proceeded to move along her. "Espera!"

Marshall followed suit, as he didn't want to be alone. Tracker had a very concerned look in his eyes, whilst Skye's were very fired up, like if she was bestowing a large amount of rage on her eyes.

They eventually reached a series of wooden doors with golden plaques on them. The ones with the names "Recreation Room", "Library" and "VR Room" weren't opening, but the one with the plaque named "Sanitation Room" did.

Upon crossing the wooden doorway, they found a very packed up tight room full of sanitation related objects: A bunch of vents and pipes circulating around the room, and a row of showers, which seemed not operational.

The only thing that seemed out of place was an old television screen that seemed to be unplugged. "Ya me encargo", said Tracker as he pulled the plug to a power socket close to the cabinet that was sitting on. Marshall examined the cupboards below the cabinet, but there was nothing on it.

When Tracker plugged in the TV, it turned on and a video feed played automatically. A familiar evil figure appeared out of a sudden.

"It seems the entire team has cleared the incinerator room." Y's voice resonated into the pup's ears. "Congratulations for your successful escape. How are you feeling?"

"You bastard! What do you want from us now!?" Exclaimed the Dalmatian upon seeing the humanoid face.

"Please, do remember that these are pre-recorded footage. I will not be able to provide you answers to your questions. With that clear, I must say that this is not the outcome I expected. Remember that the X Door will not open unless six of you die." The trio stayed silent, as they continue hearing Y's explanation. "You must be dying to know whatever happened to the other pups. So, I will provide you a light to that question."

A noisy static footage suddenly appeared on the screen, and after a while, a camera feed was being displayed. The heads-up display showed the location of the video camera on the facility: "SECTION D / -45 meters / Sewers". Three pups were in the shot. They looked like a chocolate Labrador, an artificial looking puppy, and a dog whose breed was hard to identify.

"I'll grab two of these! I might be able to light this up..." Said the mix-breed dog, grabbing some rubble stones and approaching what it looked like a coil fuse. A small spark caused by the contact of the stones lit the fuse, and the frozen pipe that was right above it started melting.

An announcer's voice cued a few seconds later: "Gas current has reached sufficient temperature. Incineration process will begin now according to the protocol."

The three pups were shocked. Tracker yelled out of confusion. "Qué?! No puede ser!" Tracker couldn't believe what did he saw.

But it only lasted for an instant, because the footage got cut with another static footage, followed by a footage that seemed familiar to them. The HUD displayed: "SECTION A / -30 meters / Incinerator". The pups gazed their past selves performing the actions that they were doing moments ago. Tracker was within the restraint seat, Skye was trapped within the incinerator, and Marshall was holding the gun pointing directly at Tracker's head. The sinister Y's announcement voice echoed soon after.

"Pull the trigger-" The Chihuahua noticed that something happened to the audio, like if it was edited in purpose. "-And the door to the incinerator... Will automatically open and halt the incineration process the moment it detects the sound of the revolver's discharge."

Another audio pop was detected by the Mexican breed's ears, and a gunshot followed. Suddenly, another static clip cut the footage. Tracker was confused. "What? It didn't even bother to mention the odds!"

The video footage didn't end there, as another clip was displayed with the HUD "SECTION A / -45 meters / EDC ". This time, it was a cylindrical shaped room, with various piles of black dust, and three dogs: A bulldog, a German Shepherd, and a Husky.

The female announcement voice from before cued once again: "Incineration process has been terminated. The exhaustion valves will open now."

Marshall cued the next line in shock. "No... No way..."

The video footage made another static cut for about half a second, and displayed the same room, only a few moments later. The trio were knocked out, close to the door that was opening besides them. The clip made a final noisy transition before showcasing once again the scary figure of Y.

"As you can see, your actions have endangered the lives of others." Said Y in a lower tone. "So, I will give you a chance to bring justice to those who have tried to kill you. Whether if they have succeeded, or not."

Marshall barked in anger. "Bastard! We didn't... We didn't kill anyone!", whilst Skye silently looked down. She seemed very depressed, like if the weight of guiltiness crushed her moral state. Tracker simply continued looking at the screen attentive.

The screen switched to a window displaying two options. The upper one displayed "Team R", while the lower one displayed "Team C".

"The team names of your newfound enemies should be displayed on the touchscreen monitor." Explained Y. "Choose the team you've decided to... Eliminate. Each team gets one vote. The leader must submit it for the group. You have 23 minutes to send the vote; any team that hasn't voted before the time limit is up shall be penalized two votes. The group with two or more votes will lose, which means that every member of that team... Will be penalized with the injection." The sinister person reiterated the situation by mentioning the following: "Of course, if a pup who is already dead is penalized, the injection will be pointless."

Nobody said anything, as every pup were either completely submerged in a moral dilemma, or shocked by the feeling that they had to try and kill somebody... Again. "Without further ado, let us begin."

Image 1. Killing Vote

There was almost no room for doubt between the two male dogs about which team should they vote, but not for the female pup.

"Team R, right? Esos malditos tried to kill us!" Uttered the Spanish speaker dog. The Dalmatian nodded to his proposition and approached the screen. But...

"Wait." The Cockapoo pushed forward and stood between the male dogs and the touchscreen. "Don't you think it's a little too soon to vote for Team R?''

"Are you really thinking on voting for Team C, Skye?" Refuted the spotty dog, trying to make a way through the female dog. "Move!"

"Don't be selfish! Team C might think that we could try to kill them as well. The video was clearly edited: I'm pretty sure the other teams think we killed Tracker to save you!"

"That doesn't change the fact that we all saw Team R trying to kill us." Suggested Tracker.

"Exactly! Team C might think that the other teams are trying to kill them. Which means they have no idea which team to vote for." That line of thought seemed right to both male pups, but they had lots of arguments to back up with.

"If we vote for Team C, it's very likely that we might end up killing them." Argued Marshall with a howl.

"Listen, Marshall. If we vote for Team C, that leaves out four possibilities:"

1. Team R votes for Team M, and Team C votes for Team R. Nobody is executed.
2. Team R votes for Team M, and Team C votes for Team M. Team M is executed.
3. Team R votes for Team C, and Team C votes for Team R. Team C is executed.
4. Team R votes for Team C, and Team C votes for Team M. Team C is executed.

"Out of those possibilities, which one seems most likely?" The Cockapoo asked a tricky question.

Tracker's eyes rolled out for a couple seconds, while Marshall looked up, trying to think. "Bueno, Team R will probably vote for us. I mean, they tried to kill us once." Supposed the Chihuahua.

"This means that either we die, or nobody does. That depends on Team C's vote. But what if we had voted for Team R? The possibilities are like this..."

1. Team R votes for Team M, and Team C votes for Team R. Team R is executed.
2. Team R votes for Team M, and Team C votes for Team M. Team M is executed.
3. Team R votes for Team C, and Team C votes for Team R. Team R is executed.
4. Team R votes for Team C, and Team C votes for Team M. Nobody is executed.

"Since Team R is probably going to vote for us, it's impossible we get a chance for everyone to survive."

Skye's logic made sense. But Tracker wouldn't let that slide. "Aren't you considering that we probably could've killed Team C? Voting for Team C would be pointless!" The Chihuahua clenched his teeth and growled. "And even if we didn't, we put their lives in danger. Do you think it's right to kill someone who didn't do anything wrong?"

The two pups started barking nonsensical words as their language turned dirtier. The female one had desperate feelings hidden by her angry emotions. She did not want to kill any more people. Even if it meant the risk of losing Team C, she would try everything to keep everyone alive.

The male bicolor dog, on the other hand, was against that idea. Simply thinking that destroying three innocent lives was "muy injusto", simply very unfair. And he'd never forgive himself that action.

Suddenly the barking and growling turned into fighting, as Tracker pounced Skye, the latter swiftly avoiding the attack, followed by the Cockapoo biting the Chihuahua's tail. Stunned by the violence of their attacks, Marshall couldn't do anything but watch the two puppies confront in not just a moral battle, but a physical one. His legs were trembling, and started panting heavily out of nervousness. The spotty dog's tail went down between his back paws and started whimpering. He wanted them to stop fighting, after all, it was the blue-eyed Dalmatian who had to cast the vote.

The struggle continued, with the Cockapoo being rolled over by the stronger Chihuahua, who pressed his paws against Skye's belly in a signal of dominance. In a defensive response, Skye started shaking her paws to confuse his attacker.

"Oh, no. I have to stop them, before they start trying to kill each other..." Thought Marshall, took a deep breath, and tried to liberate his nervousness. "STOP!" Marshall, now calm and collected, and charged onto Tracker, tackling him out of the way and hitting the wooden door. "Seriously pups, you must stop all this quarreling."

"Then choose!" Said both pups in unison. "There's no time left!"

Confused, Marshall looked at his bracelet out of instinct. He noticed that a countdown had started and was now being shown on the display. Only 2 minutes and 3 seconds remained on the clock. "Whoa! Damn!" Marshall quickly got up, and turned to the touchscreen device, without tripping with Skye out of the hurry and falling to the floor. "Argh! Ow!"

The black and white spotted dog was now looking at the screen. He had to touch either "Team R" or "Team C". It was his decision, after all. Skye and Tracker approached him after a couple seconds of whispering in constant pitch and intonation swings. "Oye, Marshall." Called out Tracker.

"Just wanted to let you that whoever you're casting the vote to, we accept your choice." Skye continued, as if it were almost in sync with the Chihuahua.

The spotty dog simply nodded, lift his paw, and with 1 minute and 32 seconds in the clock, he casted the vote.

As he did, the window in which the two buttons closed, revealing a message.

Your vote has been recorded.
Thank you for your participation.
A reward will be dispensed after the results of the voting.

Results will be automatically displayed 24 seconds after everyone has voted.

STATUS
(According to Team M's perspective)

Team M:
Marshall (ALIVE), Skye (ALIVE), Tracker (ALIVE)

Team R:
Rocky (ALIVE?), Zuma (ALIVE?), Robo (ALIVE?)

Team C:
Chase (?), Rubble (?), Everest (?)