The door locked behind them, the group walked down the cold hallway close to each other.
"Where's the damn game?" Katsuya complained.
"You're scared?" Hiroto smirked.
They walked for a few more minutes, eventually being met with a locked door with large words written on it.
"Death-T One…" Anzu felt shivers down her spine.
The door opened, revealing what looked like a sci-fi spaceship. There were a few vests and toy guns in the room.
Death-T 1
"Welcome to your first challenge," An hologram of Seto Kaiba appeared in the middle of the room, "The first game is a 4 vs 4 laser tag match, you win by eliminating all your opponents, have fun!" Kaiba smiled sadistically as the hologram disappeared.
"Okay, it sounds simple," Katsuya examined his laser gun.
"It can't be that simple, he probably gave our opponents real guns or something," Anzu held the gun, feeling its weight.
"I have an idea!" Hiroto explained his plan, the doors opened and the group quickly took cover in the arena.
"They're at Stardust Shootout, is our team ready?"
"Yes, Kaiba-sama!"
"Good," Seto grinned, "An assassin, a sniper and a green beret…Yugi's friends only have toy guns, but if those three lasers hit their sensors, they'll get a million volts shock!" Seto laughed, this was the best day of his life!
The group stayed behind the covers, trying to hear their enemies, but the room was completely silent.
"Jou, go!" Honda whispered to his friend.
"Come and get me, fuckers!" Katsuya jumped over the obstacles, quickly locating an enemy who was sneaking through the labyrinth. He jumped on the man and hit his head on the ground with all his strength, knocking him out.
"They got Johnny!" One of the enemies yelled and they started shooting Katsuya, the blonde quickly took cover.
"Now!" Hiroto gave the signal and they started shooting the now revealed enemies.
He hit their opponents dead-on, but nothing happened, "What?" A shot hit him on the shoulder and he felt a powerful electric current ran through his body, "Their weapons are different! Jou, get me his gun!"
Katsuya took the gun from his fallen enemy and regrouped, dodging and hiding from the enemies, "Here!" He handed the gun to Hiroto, the brunette managed to get a grazing shot at one of the enemies.
The man cursed with a pained expression.
"I knew it! They look the same but are completely different from ours!" He looked at Yugi with a thoughtful expression, "Yugi, I'm sorry, but I need your help," Honda explained his new plan to the short boy.
Yugi, Katsuya and Anzu walked out of the cover with their hands up, "Honda-kun, I hope your plan works…" The boy was terrified, but he trusted his friend, "We surrender! Take me to Kaiba!" He said.
"We're not taking prisoners, boy," One of the men smiled maliciously and pointed his gun at Yugi's vest.
Before the man could pull the trigger, Hiroto ran in, shooting the enemies with sniper precision and quickly taking them down.
"You're lucky that I'm a nice guy, I turned the voltage down enough for you to not die," He kicked the guns away from fallen enemies, "Let's go!" They walked to the next room, leaving the enemies twitching on the ground as the steel door closed behind them.
"We can beat anything that rich asshole throws at us, right?" Katsuya smirked.
"Jonouchi-kun! This is not a joke! We almost died back then!" Yugi frowned at his friend.
"He's right, Jou. You guys are lucky that I'm a good shooter, let's just hope that we can survive the next stages," Honda said.
The group walked for a few minutes, the steel hallway slowly morphed into bricks, or at least brick wallpaper, as they approached their next challenge.
"Kaiba-sama, they're approaching the Horror Zone! They're arriving in five seconds!"
"Got it," Kaiba frowned, that pointy-haired guy wasn't on his plans, but would Yugi's friends be able to carry him through the next attraction?
He smirked, "No, they're not getting past Chopman."
Death-T 2
"What's with the change of scenery?" Katsuya got one step closer to the rest of the group.
"Yeah, it's really creepy," Hiroto examined the surroundings.
"Hey, Anzu! You go ahead," The blonde pushed the girl forwards.
"Where did all that bravery from before go?" Anzu frowned and went ahead with the group behind her.
They arrived at their next challenge, 'The Murderer's Mansion' could be read on the sign above the gates.
They kicked the door and entered the mansion. The place was dark and decrepit, it looked like it was completely abandoned for decades, even the smell was terrible.
The door shut behind them.
"It's locked! Does anyone have two hairpins? I can unlock it in a few seconds!" Katsuya tried to force the door open.
"Sometimes your random skills scare me, and I don't use hairpins," Anzu answered him.
"Guys, we have to find the exit! This is an Escape Room game! Let 's split!" They split up at Yugi's suggestion.
Yugi looked through the entrance hall, eventually finding a message written with what looked like blood stuck on a suit of armor.
'bl↓ood'
"I think that this is a tip…but what does it mean?"
"Welcome to the Murderer's Mansion!" A voice said above them.
"Kaiba?" Jonouchi asked in confusion.
"It's an hologram, Jonouchi-kun," Yugi explained.
"You haven't found the exit yet? If you don't escape soon, something terrible will happen, you know?" Kaiba smiled sadistically.
"What do you mean?" Hiroto asked.
"Let me explain why this place is called the 'Murderer's Mansion'...Do you remember that incident last summer at the camp near Domino Lake? Ten boy scouts were murdered in one night…the murders put the whole city in fear! The bodies were cut in so many pieces that no one could assemble them completely, because of this the suspect became known as 'The Chopman', I don't think I need to say more, do I?"
"Do you mean…?"
"Yes! The Chopman is in this house right now! If you don't escape, you die! Let me give you a tip, do you see those holes on the wall behind you?" The wall had four holes with the numbers '00', '01', '10' and '11', "The wall has switches behind it, press the right switch and the exit will reveal itself. Now, get your courage and shove your hands in the holes!"
"This is a trap!" Yugi frowned. It didn't get past Kaiba's gaze.
"Suspicious, Yugi? You'll not escape unless you do it!" The rich teenager chuckled.
"He's right, we have no choice!" The group went to the wall and put their hands on the holes, a contraption locked their hands in place. Something shined over their heads, an object that they only noticed now that their eyes had adjusted to the dark.
A guillotine.
"Only one switch is the correct one! Press it and you escape! Press the wrong one and the guillotine will fall immediately! You have 5 minutes until the guillotine chops your hands off! Good luck! The tip was hidden somewhere in this room!" The hologram disappeared.
"How the hell are we going to know?!" Katsuya screamed.
"The numbers are all ones and zeroes! Do any of you know binary?" Anzu asked.
"Do I look like a tech expert?" Hiroto answered.
Yugi took the paper he found earlier out of his pocket, "Guys, I have the tip!" He passed the note around.
"Blood? How the hell is this going to help?" Katsuya gave the paper back to Yugi.
"Yugi! You solve it! If someone can, it's you!" Anzu gave him a thumbs up.
"Okay…give me a minute!" He took a deep breath.
"Okay…Bllood, with two L, the second one is shaped like an arrow pointing down, this is a tip! Blood…it doesn't make any sense! I need to find out the actual answer!"
"Yugi! Think faster!" Katsuya screamed.
"I'm trying!" He focused on the second L, why was it shaped like an arrow? If his theory was correct then 'Blood' was not the answer, it had something to do with numbers! Bllood…bllood…wait a second! "Anzu, it's your switch!"
Anzu pressed the button and the guillotine stopped, the contraption released their hands right after.
"You did it! How did you get the answer?" Anzu asked.
"At first I was trying to see some hidden meaning in the word 'blood', but that wasn't the answer! The actual answer was the shape of the letters! 'bllood' was actually '10-11-00-01'! And if you analyze it, the second 'L' is shaped like an arrow pointing down! The exit is in the basement! And the answer to the guillotine was '11' because that's the number with the arrow!" Yugi was proud of himself, it wasn't everyday that he saved the day instead of his alter ego.
"Look! The floor is opening!" Hiroto pointed at a spot on the floor. The floor opened, revealing a trapdoor with 'exit' written on it.
"Let's go!" Katsuya happily opened the trapdoor, but a hand snatched him away.
"Jonouchi!" "Jonouchi-kun!" The trio ran after their friend, finding a locked door. They looked through the small window covered with steel bars on the door, finding Katsuya chained to a huge brute, the chain was going through a small pillar in the center of the room..
"Stay back!" He said without taking his eyes off the huge enemy.
"Allow me to introduce you to my friend here, this is Chopman! The rules of this challenge are pretty simple, as soon as the game starts, pick one of the weapons hanging on the ceiling and fight to death! The key to open this cell is hidden on his body, so the only way to escape is to kill him and loot his corpse! Be careful to not slip on the oil on the ground!" Kaiba's voice said from a speaker hidden somewhere.
"I'll cut you! I'll cut you up!" The murderer said with visible excitement.
"Shit…" Katsuya frowned.
"Game start!" Kaiba said.
"Fuck…if I had a hairpin or something to unlock this crap!" Katsuya tried to think of a way to not get killed by the behemoth of pure muscle in front of him.
"What to choose…what to choose…" The serial killer analyzed his weapon choices.
"Guys, get me a hairpin or something! Anything long and pointy will do!"
"We'll try, Jonouchi-kun! Please don't die!" Yugi yelled from the door.
"I'll choose this!" The Chopman settled for a chainsaw.
"Crap!" He tried to run, but the enemy pulled the chain, making Katsuya slip on the ground.
"Jonouchi!"
The Chopman tried to slice him, but Katsuya dodged, making his enemy attack the podium where they were chained together and getting his weapon stuck.
"Jonouchi-kun, I have a plan!" Yugi called the boy over.
"Do you see that candlestick? It probably has a spike to stick the candle on!" Jonouchi quickly got the candlestick and took the candle out, revealing the small spike. He unlocked his shackle.
"And I know the perfect way to unlock this door without the key!" He attached the chain on the door along with the candle, now, he only had to wait.
"I got the chainsaw free! Prepare to die!" The Chopman yelled from the other side of the room and pulled the chain with all his strength, but instead of pulling Jonouchi, he ripped the door from its frame.
"Bye bye!" He turned around as the candle fell on the oil, incinerating the serial killer, "Let's go! I don't wanna see this!" The group left the burning man behind.