Here's another chapter, the Room of Courage! The last chapter of the Escape Rooms! How will they solve the puzzles? What does Sylvia have in store for them?

As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?

Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina

Jay Hayden: Sylvia isn't an ordinary anything.

Hellraiserphoenix: Not exactly the same. Her motivations are a lot less respectable.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: How romantic, designing an escape room for a boy.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 194

Checking all the books in the library was clearly not an efficient plan. So the only other thing left they could think of was to take a look at the desk, the most notable thing about the room besides the bookshelves.

The desk was very basic, more a table than a real firm desk with drawers. So basic, that there didn't even seem to be anything hidden. Lined up in a row in the center were five books without titles. On the cover of the left-most book was a circle with a large black dot in the center. The book next to it was triangle with two black dots in the center, followed by a rectangle with three black dots in a row. A pentagon was on the fourth book, with four black dots arranged in a 2x2 formation, and on the final book there was a hexagon with five black dots gathered around the center, almost like a star.

Reiner picked up one of the books and flipped through it. The pages were blank.

"So clearly, we can assume that these are involved in this puzzle somehow," Reiner noted. In the meantime, Nick took a peak under the chair. Taped to the underside of the chair were a large, ornate brass key and a note. Nick peeled them off and stood up, flipping the note open.

"It says 'Complete the pattern'," Nick replied.

"A geometry puzzle now?" Will mused, glancing at Misato, who was staring at one of the bookshelves. "Hey, Misato. We might need your help with this."

"What is it you require?" Misato asked, walking over to him.

"Our hint tells us we need to complete the pattern," Will said. "From the looks of things that means we need to find another book with dots on it, so-"

"Negative," Misato denied Will's theory. "There is no pattern capable of being discerned involving all five of these books."

"What? But it's clearly a pattern, see?" Callie said, pointing at the shapes on the front.

"Negative. Four of the books here form a pattern. The fifth does not," Misato replied. Her finger moved to the book with the triangle.

"Starting from the beginning of the pattern there is a polygon on the cover of each book. In the center of that polygon are a number of dots equal to x-1 where x is the number of sides of the polygon. This is the pattern." Misato's finger moved to the book with the circle on it, and she pushed it aside. "But this book does not fit the pattern. A circle is a polygon defined by its lack of sides. A digon is the only polygon that is represented by two sides and two vertices. A digon is a degenerate type of polygon, however. By its nature cannot have any dot in its center. Therefore it is impossible to conclude that this pattern begins with a polygon that contains a single dot."

Misato moved the remaining four books to the center of the desk.

"So we need to find a pattern using these four books?" Nick reasoned, holding his hand to his chin. Kitty wasn't very good at math, and so she was just nodding her head in agreement. Since no one was paying attention to the circle book, Kitty picked it up. It really was empty. The cover didn't have anything on the back or the front except for the circle and the dot, and-

Kitty noticed something on the spine. In thin grey ink, a curve was drawn near the top, as well as a straight line through the center.

"Um…" Kitty tried to speak up, but the three boys were discussing the pattern and weren't paying attention to her. Luckily, Callie caught her eye, and nodded.

"Guys!" Callie shouted, startling Will, Reiner, and Nick. They all turned to look at her.

"Kitty has something to say," Callie huffed, nodding to Kitty.

"Uh-um, I-I was looking at this book, and I saw something on the spine…" Kitty replied, showing them the book.

"Huh, I wonder what these markings are," Will said. They checked the rest of the books, and found similar markings on each of them, but none were identical.

"This must be the pattern, I think," Reiner reasoned. "I think the covers are a smokescreen…"

"Okay, but what do we do with them?" Nick asked. "Maybe we can rearrange them so that the lines connect, and-"

"Negative," Misato interrupted. "There is no sequence possible with these five books that will result in the lines overlapping."

"How do you…" Reiner looked at her in confusion, and Will just sighed.

"I processed the possible combinations instantly," Misato replied.

Sylvia let out a sigh behind her screen. This puzzle was supposed to be time consuming, but… it looked like Misato was going to smash it in a moment.

Oh, well, I've already learned most of what I wanted, anyway, might as well let her complete the rest by herself.

"Hey, those marks are here, too!" Callie called. She was staring at the bookshelves. There were grey lines written along the spines in symbols so light they were nearly invisible. They were hard to see unless you were clearly looking for them.

"I'm assuming that means we should try and find spots where these books fit in," Reiner said.

"I can." Will glanced at Misato in surprise. Misato walked to the nearest bookshelf, her eyes scanning over them. She yanked one of the books out, and replaced it with one from the table. She walked along the walls, repeating this process a few more times. Some shelves had an empty gap, other shelves just had books that were out of place. Sometimes, one of the books she removed from one slot would be placed in another slot, rather than just being replaced by the books from the table. By the time she was done, three books were remaining in her hands and the shelves were filled. As she placed in the last book, the light in the room snapped off, bathing them in darkness. The symbols written on the spines lit up in the darkness with a shimmering glow, much to the surprise of everyone but Misato. A thin crack of light pierced through, growing wider as part of one of the bookshelves swung open to reveal the next room.

Will swallowed. How long would they have had to spend on a puzzle like that without Misato's help? 20? 30 minutes? Misato cleared the room in less than five.

They walked into the other room, and they were in for quite a surprise.

Kitty gaped in shock and Callie's expression turned angry.

"What the heck?" Wiill exclaimed. Nick was equally flabbergasted.

The room looked like a drawing room. A drawing room that hosted a party, for which they were not the only guests. Posed on the other side of the room, still as statues… were the six of them.

"What is this?" Reiner asked, confused. He walked closer to the replicas of them, but was stopped by a glass wall that cut the room off.

"Wh-why are they posed like that?" Kitty asked quietly, pointing at her copy. Nick looked at the six replicas. His copy was sitting at the table, talking with Callie's copy, who was holding her sides and laughing. (Even Callie's COPY was wearing her Meditite costume!) Kitty, though, she was dancing with Reiner, which was a little awkward due to their respective sizes, along with other reasons. But the most uncomfortable pairing was elsewhere.

Will had never felt so embarrassed staring at his other self. He was leaning on the loveseat, and lying on top of him, with her lips pressed against his was…

Will's face was bright red.

Reiner snapped the walkie-talkie off his belt and turned it on. "Sylvia!"

"Testing, testing, this is Sylvia here, over." Sylvia's voice crackled from the other side.

"What the heck is this?! How do you have these… statues of us?" Reiner demanded.

"Long story, over." Sylvia said.

"Shorten. It."

"Well, it's not what you're thinking, over."

"Have you been planning this?"

"Well, yes, but that's neither here nor there," Sylvia replied. "You see, these escape rooms were made with the help of my dear sweet Dusk. I had him create illusions of the six of you in this room, when you entered, over."

"Why?" Reiner asked.

"…Are you asking for a hint, over?"

Reiner growled something unrepeatable and took his finger off the button.

Put on a good show for me, thank you, Sylvia smiled.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Callie demanded, walking up to the glass wall and rattling her knuckles against it. "How about…"

Callie pulled her fist back, and wound up in preparation. Nick grabbed her hand.

"What are you doing?" Nick sighed.

"Well we're trying to get out, right?" Callie said. "Look!"

Across the room was a large door, identical to the one they'd entered the room through.

"I betcha that's the exit!" Callie said.

"Well, we aren't going to break our way through," Reiner said. "There's got to be another way out."

Reiner glanced around the room. Something about this room was certainly weird. He could tell something was off, but he wasn't sure what yet, until…

"Wait, guys, look," Reiner said. "Isn't that weird?"

Reiner pointed at the large grandfather clock beside the entrance.

"It's a clock," Kitty said, frowning.

"But why does a room need two clocks?" Reiner asked. Across the room, next to the other door, there was another clock identical to the first.

"Oh, that is odd," Kitty said, nodding.

"That's not all," Will said, glancing at the pair of bookshelves pressed against the wall, sandwiching the glass partition. "Look, two bookshelves."

As they took in more of the room, they saw that nearly every piece of furniture came as a pair. Two loveseats, two desks, two large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There were two large stacks of shelves, one against the back wall by the clock and the other in the center of the room, filled with an assortment of baubles. There were two large tables filled with wax food, and two large cabinets filled with dishes, glasses, and silverware. Near the bookshelves and behind the loveseats were two paintings of little girls standing in fields of flowers, bright smiles on their faces as the sun touched their white dresses.

"Why would someone design a room with such redundancy?" Reiner asked, frowning. His eyes landed on the mirror on one of the desks. It had a big red circle drawn on it. The other mirror on the other desk was turned down, however. Unless…

"It's a mirror!" He exclaimed.

"A mirror?" Callie asked, confused.

"Oh!" Nick gasped, nodding. "I think I get it."

"What?" Callie asked him.

"The reason why there are copies of us is because we need to set up a mirror image," Reiner said. "I think that might be the key to getting out of this room."

Reiner walked up to the glass wall.

"This wall is made of glass… but it might be intended to serve as a mirror," he explained. "I think it's worth trying, anyway."

Reiner went back to the desk and turned the mirror over like on the desk on the other side of the glass.

"What about this shelf, then?" Nick asked. "It's not in the same location as the other side."

"…Guess we have to move it," Will sighed, not exactly looking forward to physical exertion.

"I will," Misato replied. She walked up to the shelf and pushed forward, the shelf scooting across the carpet.

"W-wow, how heavy is that thing?" Kitty asked, surprised. "She's pushing it so easily."

"Yeah, nice job, Misato!" Callie cheered. "Give it the ol' HM 04!"

Misato pushed the shelf into place, so it was a reflection on the other side. But that didn't change the contents of the shelf at all. The objects on it were different.

"Let's split things up and see where if we can make out any differences," Reiner replied.

"Found one," Will noted. "The clocks."

Reiner glanced at the clocks. He saw what Will meant. The grandfather clock behind the glass was set to the time 9:30. The one on their side of the room, however, had both hands over the 12. Unfortunately, the clocks were stopped, and they couldn't turn the hands themselves.

"It's an old clock," Reiner said. "We need to wind it by hand, with a key."

"I don't suppose the key Will found would help," Will sighed, shaking his head.

"Okay, we're getting all over the place," Reiner said. "If we spread in too many directions we'll get lost. Let's start one section at a time. What's the desk like?"

Reiner walked over to the desk on their side of the room. There was an old dusty book sitting on top of it, alongside a pen and paper, the mirror he turned over, and a small candle that wasn't lit. Glancing at the other side of the room, he could see that the candle over there was burning, and while the mirror was turned over, and the pen and paper were still there, there was no book. And unlike the desk on that side, the desk on their part of the room had no chair.

"So we need to find a way to light the candle, we need a chair, and we need to remove the book," Reiner said, picking up the book. "Let's check the bookshelf next, then."

Spotting the differences between the bookshelves was a lot easier, since they were right next to each other. And unlike in the previous room, this shelf was elevated over a small cabinet, and only had three rows of shelves. On the top row, there was a large gap, where on the other side a large dusty book could be seen, identical to the one in his hands. He slid the book into place.

"That's not the only gap missing," Nick noted, pointing to the other empty slots on the bookshelves. Reiner glanced at the other side of the glass, spying the covers of the books that were on that side. His eyes widened.

"Misato, we need those books you brought in from the library."

"Affirmative." Misato brought the books over to him, and handed them off. Reiner took the books, and put them into place as well. He knelt down to the cabinet section next, and opened it up, revealing a chess set.

"Chess?" Reiner asked, confused.

"There's a chess set in the corner, see?" Callie said, pointing across the room. Next to the glass wall, on the end table, was a chess set in the middle of a game. The end table on their section of the room was empty.

"I didn't even notice," Reiner said. "I'll go set it up as a mirror. You guys keep looking for more stuff."

"What else do we have?" Will asked, reaching into his pocket. "We might have uses for the items we didn't have a use for until now."

He placed the green gem, the magic wand, the Solrock carving, and the empty vial on the desk. Nick walked over to join him, setting down the large bronze key, and studied the area around the desk while Callie and Kitty went to go look for more stuff around the room. Misato stood in the center, not being told to do anything.

"I wonder why there's no chair," Nick mused. "You don't think we need to bring in the chair from the other room, do you?"

"Maybe," Will said, nodding. "Misato, can you go bring in the chair from the other room?"

"Affirmative." Misato turned and pushed the door open, walking into the next room. Meanwhile, Nick and Will kept digging around the drawers of the desk, but they were empty. Nick pulled the last one open, with the only other drawer left unchecked being the one on top, which was locked with a visible key hole.

"Hey, look," Nick said, pulling out a blue gem to go with their green one.

"That makes two gems," Will said. "I wonder what we need these for…"

"Guys!" Nick and Will looked up to see Callie waving them over, she and Kitty kneeling on the ground. Nick and Will walked over to her. They were in front of the shelves Misato had moved. Like with the bookshelves, underneath the assortment of baubles was a cabinet. The cabinet was open, and the two girls had removed what was inside. It was a box with three indents on the top, in a straight line that pointed towards the latch on the front, which was locked shut with no visible way to open it.

"I think it's a puzzle box of some kind," Callie said. "But I don't know how to get it open…"

Nick took a look at the box, while Will scanned the shelves. He saw statues of various pokemon, a stand for what looked like it should be a pen, but there was no pen in sight, as well as an assortment of strange things, a small potted rose, a pair of wine glasses, a small skull belonging to a pokemon (that he hoped was fake) a stuffed Shuppet doll, a red gem, an elegantly designed knife in a glass box, and… a small, oddly shaped metal object. It was like the key to a wind-up toy…

"Reiner," Will called, Reiner looking up from his work. Will held the key up. "Is this a clock key?"

"Looks like it," Reiner said, nodding. Will walked over to the clock, and began cranking it. The hands of the clock began to turn, and Will moved them into place. As he did, he noticed something peculiar. Where the hands had been was a sticker depicting three dots in pillar, hidden until now. Green was on the top, right under the "12" with a red dot under it, then a blue dot.

"I know what the indents mean," Will said, ripping the sticker off. He walked to the desk and picked up the green and blue gems, and then moved over to the shelves. He found the red gem there, as well.

"What?" Callie glanced up at him.

"We need to fit these gems into the top of the box, I think," Will explained, setting the green gem in place at the top, then followed with the red and blue. All three gems began shining, and the box popped open. Inside were a box of matches and a black queen from a chess set.

"I guess these are for lighting the candle," Nick said, picking up the matches. "Hey, Reiner! Are you still setting up the chess set?"

"Yeah, almost done, why?"

"We found a black queen. You got one?"

"Yeah, I think… wait."

Reiner took another look at the black queen. While it was certainly a queen from chess, and was black… it seemed to be from a different set entirely. A glance at the other board confirmed it. The two queens looked almost identical… but they weren't. There were slight differences that his discerning eye could see.

"No, turns out I don't," Reiner said, shaking his head. Kitty scurried over and handed him the queen. Reiner put it into place, looking at the other one in his hand. It felt… wait. He could hear a faint rustle when he picked it up. He shook it, and the rattling grew louder. Reiner turned it over, looking at the bottom. He reached down, and tried unscrewing it. There was certainly something in there. The bottom popped off, revealing a key inside. Reiner pocketed the queen, holding the key up.

"I found a key. Are there any other locks we need to check?"

"There's a lock in the desk drawer," Will said. He had moved on to look at the shelves with Nick. Callie put the box back in the cabinet, since there wasn't a box on the other side of the room. Reiner walked over to the desk. There was a chair that hadn't been there before, but otherwise things looked mostly the same as on the other side, except for the large key and the other objects they'd brought in from the other rooms.

Reiner slid the key into the drawer, and opened it. The drawer was empty, except for a note that read "Where's my friend?"

Reiner blinked. What the hell? He looked up. Across the room was a painting of a young girl with a smile on her face. Friend?

Reiner took another look at the other side of the room. He saw another painting, the reverse of the first one, and-

Reiner's face went pale. Due to the arrangement of the paintings and the furniture, he hadn't noticed it until he looked at it from this angle. But nestled between the bookshelf and the painting, almost covered by the loveseat, was a smaller painting… of a doll.

"Oh, goddamn it…" Reiner cursed.

"What's wrong?" Kitty asked worriedly.

"We need to go back," Reiner growled. "Look."

He pointed out the painting to Kitty. Kitty's pale skin blanched even more.

"Th-that's the same painting as in the hallway!"

"What's this now?" Will and Nick walked over as well, along with Callie.

"Turns out when Nick went back into the first hallway to grab that drawer key back then… there was something else we should have grabbed, too," Reiner said. "We need to go back to get the painting of the small doll, and hang it up next to the little girl."

Everyone collectively groaned.

"I will go." Misato's voice came as a surprise.

"Really?" Will asked.

"It is the most efficient method," Misato explained. "My abilities will let me retrieve the painting within the shortest amount of time. Efficient time management is the goal of this activity. By measuring the traveling speed of everyone-"

"You're wasting time by talking about it," Reiner interrupted. "If you want to go, then go."

"Affirmative."

Misato turned and walked swiftly out of the room, retracing their steps back towards the first hallway.

While she was off doing that, the other five got back to work. Reiner checked the cabinet with the silverware. Inside, he found a carved Lunatone doll as well as a small bag filled with smooth stones. Besides those two things, the only other things he saw were the silverware and plates, which the other cabinet didn't have.

"Well, there's no silverware," Callie said, glancing at the other table, where six places were set around a pile of wax food. Reiner and Callie had a simple solution to each other's problems. While Callie set the table, Kitty and Nick tried their best to replicate the food on the plates. Meanwhile, Reiner and Will went over to the shelves, bringing everything they'd gathered with them.

"You've got good eyes, right?" Will asked. "Tell me what to remove and what we'll need to add, and how to arrange it."

Reiner peeked at the other shelf.

"The top shelf… On the far left is the knife. So put that on the far right. It should be in profile, with the tip pointing inward."

Will removed everything from the top shelf and placed the objects on the flat area made by the cabinet section. He put the knife on the right corner of the top shelf, and pointed the tip away from the edge.

"We need more wine glasses over here," Callie called. Reiner and Will glanced at each other. There weren't any wine glasses on the other shelf, so that was another simple fix. Kitty came over to grab the glasses.

"Next, we need… the skull. It should face outwards. The rose is next to it."

Will put the skull down, facing out into the room, and placed the potted plant on the shelf beside it.

"Last thing is the small bag," Reiner said, handing Will the bag he'd found in the china cabinet. Will nestled it into place in the corner.

"This look right?"

Reiner glanced at it, and nodded. Will moved down to the next shelf.

"The empty vial is next, put that on the right again."

Will put the vial on the bottom right. There weren't many objects left.

"The Solrock Carving comes next, and after that the stand," Reiner said. "The stand… it's not for the pen. It looks like it's for the magic wand."

Will nodded. That made sense. He put the Solrock statue down next to the vial like when he'd first discovered it, and pushed the stand into place as well. He set the long wand down on the small holders, a thought occurring to him.

"Can you see which direction it's facing?" Will asked. Reiner walked a little closer, pressing his nose to the glass and squinting.

"The tip looks like it's facing away from the Solrock and towards the Lunatone."

Will set it back into place facing that way. Reiner walked over to him and handed him the Lunatone carving, which he set so that it was sideways, facing the wand.

"All we have left is the bronze key and the Shuppet doll," Will said.

"I don't see a key. All I see is the doll," Reiner said. Will nodded, setting the doll into place, facing outward.

"I think that's everything," Will said. "We just have to wait for Misato, I guess."

"Unnecessary. I am here." Misato walked into the room, holding the painting up. She handed it off to Will, who walked around the loveseat, seeing a small hook between the bookshelf and the other painting, where he could hang the doll.

"Okay, and that's everything," Reiner said, taking a look around the room. The remaining things, such as the spare queen and the box of matches were placed in one of the desk drawers. "I think we're almost done. How much longer do we have?"

"At the time of your inquiry 53 minutes and 37 seconds had elapsed since the escape room began," Misato explained. "More time has elapsed since that moment."

Reiner blinked.

"Well, I think we're almost done anyway, so-"

"Negative." Misato's voice cut Will off. "The two rooms are not yet identical."

"What do you-"

"Attention all players!" Sylvia's purring voice came out over the loudspeaker. "We are now reaching the five-minute deadline before the first hour expires! Those of you trying to win our egg-quisite prize, you have five minutes remaining! Better get a move-on, folks!"

Sylvia couldn't wait to see this last part. It was sure to be quite the show.

I wonder how Will is going to react to what he has to do to make this work? Sylvia smiled.

"Quick, we need to get in place," Reiner said, noting the positions of their duplicates. Callie and Nick sat down at the table like their other selves, Callie making an exaggerated laughing face.

Kitty and Reiner stared awkwardly at each other, standing in the center of the room. Reiner held Kitty's hands and looked down at her, as Kitty looked tentatively up at him. They were both oozing discomfort.

"Nikita canNOT know about this," Reiner reminded her.

"O-of course!" Kitty agreed. "Don't tell anyone, either, got it?"

They both agreed to remain silent.

The last couple, though, was where the real juicy portion was, at least in Sylvia's eyes. She watched Will and Misato standing in front of the love seat.

"Sit." Misato instructed. "I will maneuver your body into the proper position."

"Er…"

"Is it that you do not want to escape?"

"N-no, I'll do it!" Will said, his face hot. He sat down in the seat. Misato climbed on top of him. He was surprised. He expected that her weight would crush him, being a robot and everything, but she was only moderately heavy. Still more than would be expected from her size, but a weight he could bear, at least.

Will felt flushed as Misato moved her face closer to his.

"Your hormone production has increased and your heartrate has sped up," Misato commented, her voice soft enough for the others to not hear. It was a surprisingly thoughtful gesture considering who it was coming from.

"O-of course," Will whispered.

"These symptoms occur quite regularly with you. Your system is flooded with tension. Identify the stimuli that have caused this tension. That will allow me to replicate these feelings in later encounters."

Will didn't want to say that the stimulation was the softness of her body, so he averted her eyes.

"To complete the puzzle it is necessary for us to engage in the act of kissing," Misato told him. "You are wasting time."

"I-I know," Will muttered. "But it's embarrassing."

"Elaborate."

"I can't!"

"I do not understand."

"It's… it's just…" Will stuttered. It's fine, it's fine. This doesn't count. We're just doing it for the puzzle, it's not like this is my actual first kiss, or… wait, why am I thinking like that?! She's a robot! This doesn't count as my first kiss period!

Will resigned himself and opened his mouth slightly. Misato came closer to him. Not feeling the breath of the other person was kind of weird, but he put up with it. Misato pressed her lips against his. They were softer than he imagined, and warmer too. He stared into Misato's eyes. Even when they were kissing, he couldn't see a trace of emotion in their dull glimmer. Suddenly, something ran against his tongue, causing him to gasp. Misato's tongue was lashing against his, almost violently. It felt like he was under attack. Misato was overwhelming him. And yet as aggressive as she was… he didn't feel any actual passion from her.

Sylvia had not expected Misato to be so… wild. Between what Blake was doing in the other room, and what Misato was doing… Sylvia was feeling quite hot under the collar. She licked her lips and pressed the button to recall the glass wall.

Thank you for the meal, Misato. That kiss wasn't exactly steamy… but I bet you certainly enjoyed it a lot more than your circuits would tell you, eh?

A loud ding interrupted the two, the glass wall sliding away. Misato removed herself from Will with mechanical speed and precision, leaving a hot and flustered Will sprawled on the loveseat, panting.

"Let's go!" Reiner said, taking the bronze key out of his pocket and running toward the far door. Kitty, Nick, and Callie followed after him. Misato wiped Will's saliva from her lips and walked towards the door, Will catching up to her.

"What was that?!"

"Elaborate. I am not aware of what 'that' entails in this context."

"Why did you use your tongue?!"

"Is that not the correct action for a kiss?" Misato questioned. "Elaborate. In the books I have read, the use of tongue in the act of kissing is commonplace. It was described as a method of increasing pleasure. In order to perform the act with the greatest authenticity I replicated the sequence stored in my records flawlessly."

"Yeah, but…" it didn't stop Will from being embarrassed. "Next time don't do something that… aggressive, okay?"

"Affirmative." Misato agreed. She turned and walked towards the exit. She saved an audio record of two important words that she would refer to moving forward.

Next time.

Will had stated there would be a next time. Misato was quite grateful that he had agreed to kiss her in the future in order to assist her in exploring human interaction. She already had her processors working out potential scenarios for when the next time would come.

So now both groups are done! But which one of them won? We'll have to find out next time!